Mother Mare's Foal Tales

Chapters

Luna and the Six Mares (+1 Dragon)
The Four Dancing Princesses
Sleeping Sombra
Maud and the Rock
Pinkie and the Beast

Luna and the Six Mares (+1 Dragon)

Once upon a time, there were two alicorn princesses born of the same parents but different in every way. The older sister, Celestia, was cherished by all for her beauty and grace, while the younger was treated with suspicion due to her dark appearance.

“What shall we do?” the queen asked her husband. “Our subjects fear Luna.”

The king looked down from the balcony at their kingdom below with a heavy heart. “I do not know, my love.”

In a neighboring kingdom, a cloaked figure watched the king and queen through a mirror. A cackle escaped from the shadows within the hood. “Mirror, mirror, on my wall, where is this pony feared by all?”

The vision swirled. Briefly, the face of a zebra peered back at the figure with a compliant nod, then faded into a view of a bedroom. On the bed was the young alicorn filly, crying into her pillows.

“Why does everypony hate me?” She sniffled. “What did I do wrong?”

There was a knock on the door.

“Go away!”

“Lulu?” came a soft voice. “Please, let me in.”

“No.” Luna hiccuped. “I just want to be left alone.”

Celestia put her hoof on the door. "Lulu, I know what happened today. I know that they threw things at you." She looked at the door with sadness. "I'm sorry..."

A strangled cry came from inside the room. As Celestia took a step backwards, her eyes widened when dark shadows crawled out from under the door.

"Luna?!" Her horn glowed and she blasted the handle off the door to obliterate the lock.

The door flung open with a loud bang, but she was too late. A menacing figure stood at the foot of the bed, which was empty and Luna was nowhere to be seen.

The figure spread a pair of black wings from beneath a cloak and whirled around to face Celestia with a wicked cackle. Her pupils were narrow slits filled with a dark fury.

"There can only be one beautiful gem of the night... And that gem is me!"

In a swirl of the suffocating dark blue miasma, the alicorn disappeared, leaving the filly alone with her tears as she cried, "Luna!"

Somewhere far away, Luna found herself in a dirty excuse for a room. Some straw and tattered blankets were in one corner, presumably to be a bed. She ran to the small window and gasped.

Gone were the beautiful sights of Canterlot. There were no happy houses or green treetops. Instead, she found herself looking out across a dreary landscape of twisted black trees and a cloud-covered sky.

Luna backed away from the window. "Tia?!" she called, looking around in desperation. "Tia, where are you!?" Her ears fell. "Where am I... ?"

"You are in the kingdom of Pełneigha," hissed a voice from behind her. "I am Nightmare Moon."

Luna screamed and ran to the furthest corner of the room and faced her abductor with terror.

"Tsk, tsk, little one," cooed the tall alicorn. Her bright blue eyes were fixated on the filly before her. "Is that any way to speak to your mother?"

"My mother? You are not-" Luna winced as the alicorn's horn glowed blue. Her legs trembled beneath her and she struggled to stay on all fours. "-my... mother..." Slowly, her eyes closed. "My... mother? ... Mother?"

"Yes, I'm here now." The alicorn scooped her up with both forelegs and cradled her. "Mother's going to make sure you grow up exactly as mother wants you to..." A sickeningly sweet smile graced her lips. The filly gave up the fight and fell asleep against her. "Wretched and unloved."

From that day onward, Luna grew up in the empty castle with the mare she called mother. She had no friends aside from the animals that dared to live in such a sad kingdom, which grew in number as she tended to them over the years. The castle's courtyard became her personal haven for various birds and critters, bringing some small bit of life to the otherwise desolate gloom.

Though Nightmare Moon treated her with cruelty, and though she remembered nothing of her life before she had been brought there, a part of her heart still clung to the love for her sister, manifested as a longing for any sister at all.

Luna hummed to herself as she trotted across the courtyard to fetch water from the well. A few birds swooped down to listen to her and she smiled at them.

"Do you want to know a secret?"

The birds nodded their heads and leaned in. She glanced around.

"Do you promise not to tell?"

More nodding from them and more smiling from her.

"We are standing by a wishing well," she continued in a sing-song voice. "Make a wish into the well, that's all you have to do. And if you hear it echoing, your wish will soon come true." She leaned in to the well and called sweetly down. "I'm wishing-"

"I'm wishing," her echo replied.

"For a sister of my own to find me, today. I'm hoping-"

"I'm hoping."

"And I'm dreaming of, the nice things she'll say."

"She'll say."

She sung a chorus of varying ah-ah-ahs as she went about filling the bucket with water.

Outside, a weary alicorn made her way toward the crumbling castle walls. Though her sister had forgotten her, she had never forgiven herself for being unable to stop the abduction. Years of loneliness and regret fueled her to continue onward across Equestria in search of the nightmarish alicorn she had seen for only a moment.

Her ears perked at the distant singing. "That voice," she murmured under her breath and ran toward an opening in the wall.

"I'm wishing," continued Luna. "for a sister of my own to find me-"

"Today!" Celestia interrupted as she burst into the courtyard, her wings unfurled.

"Oh!" Luna dropped the bucket into the well. She turned to face the white alicorn and flinched back a few steps at the unfamiliar mare.

Celestia's wings slowly closed. She looked at the other with a gentle smile, her voice equally calm as she said, "I'm sorry. Did I frighten you?"

Her smile fell as Luna turned away and ran for a door on the castle wall.

"Wait." She trotted forward. "Wait, please don't run away!"

Luna disappeared through the doorway. The heavy sound of them slamming shut echoed in the courtyard.

Celestia's head lowered, but she lifted it back up and sang with soft desperation.

"Now that I've found you, hear what I have to say.

One song, I have but one song,

One song, only for you.

One heart, tenderly breaking,

Never forsaking,

Constant and true.

One love, that has possessed me,

One love, seeing me through.

One lost, my heart keeps searching

For one lost,

Searching for you."

Her eyes searched for any sign of her sister through the windows along the walls, but she saw no movement. Her heart started to sink.

Inside the castle, Nightmare Moon stepped lightly through the corridor. "Slave in the magic mirror," she said as she entered her chambers, heading straight for the large mirror on the wall. "come from the farthest space. Through wind and darkness I summon thee."

The wind began to howl outside and the sky darkened.

"Let me see thy face!"

Lightning struck just outside the window, tearing bricks off one wall, though she cared not.

Zecora's face slowly faded into the green mist inside the mirror's glass. Her eyes opened and she peered at the alicorn with a blank expression. "What wouldst thou know, my queen? What wouldst thou like seen?"

"Magic mirror on the wall, who's the darkest one of all?"

"Famed is thy dark beauty, majesty. But hold, a darker mare I see. Rags cannot hold her ebony. Alas, she is far more dark than thee."

The wicked alicorn's face screwed up in disgust. "Alas for her! Reveal her name."

"Coat as dark as midnight,

Mane filled with starlight,

Eyes radiant as twilight..."

Realization struck Nightmare Moon with momentary horror. "Luna..." She twisted away from the mirror and the zebra faded into the darkness, dismissed. "Luna!" She scowled.

Pillows rose from the bed and flung in all directions. The furniture shook with her rage.

"I should have killed her. No!" One hoof scraped across the floor. "You thought yourself so smart, didn't you? Why kill her when you could turn her into labor? Yes, so smart of you, your majesty. Now what have you done! She has grown up more beautiful than you. If only you had killed her..." She slowly walked over to the window. "But it's not too late, is it?"

A gasp fell from her lips when she saw Celestia in the courtyard.

"The princess? Here?!" Her head jerked to the side. "Chrysalis!"

A changeling crawled out from the shadows where she hid. Her wings buzzed in anticipation.

"Get rid of this pest."

The changeling hissed a snicker. She lifted from the ground and flew out the window, shifting into a large raven as she dive-bombed the white alicorn.

"What's this?" Celestia jumped back to avoid the blow. "No! I will not leave!"

She tried to run to the door, but the raven swooped at her again. She landed on the ground between her and the door and started to grow larger and more intimidating.

"Luna!!" Celestia cried desperately. She tried to use her magic, but the shapeshifting raven seemed immune to it.

The giant raven reached out a claw and wrapped her sharp talons around the alicorn, then took flight.

"No! Luna!"

Unfortunately, Luna was too deep within the castle to hear her once-sister's pleas. She ran through the corridors to reach her mother's room.

"Mother!" She burst in through the doors. "Mother, the most wonderful thing just happened!"

Nightmare Moon was barely able to lift her wicked grin into a gentle smile. "What is that, my pet?"

Luna hopped from hoof to hoof with excitement. "I wished for a sister, and one appeared! I-I know you told me never to talk to strangers, so I didn't, but oh, please let her stay!"

"Let who stay, little one?" Nightmare Moon inclined her head to peer down her snout at the empty courtyard. "I see no one."

"What?" Luna hesitated, then trotted over. Her ears fell to the sides. "But, she was just there..."

"Oh, come now, don't cry. Mother hates it when you cry." She wrapped a foreleg around the other and pulled her close. "Why don't you go into the forest and pick some wildflowers? Perhaps if your figment reappears, you can coax her to stay with a gift."

"A gift? Yes..." She perked up. "That's a wonderful idea! Thank you, Mother!"

"Yes, yes. Run along now. Try not to wander too far."

"I won't!" Luna ran for the door, bubbling with new excitement.

Nightmare Moon leaned against the window and watched the younger alicorn when she exited the castle. At this point, Chrysalis had returned. The queen smiled at her arrival.

"Is the brat princess gone?"

"Yes, my queen." Chrysalis, still in the form of a raven, landed on the window sill. "What would you ask of me next?"

"Follow our dear little Luna, to a secluded grove in the woods. And there, my faithful changeling, you will kill her!"

The raven's beady eyes widened in shock. "Kill the little princess? But, your majesty-"

"Silence!" Nightmare Moon stomped a hoof. "You know the penalty if you fail."

The raven flinched away. "Yes, your majesty." She spread her wings and took flight once more.

It wasn't very difficult to find Luna in the forest. The young alicorn galloped through the woods in search of the prettiest flowers she could find, plucking them and carrying them all with the aid of her magic.

"One song," she sang loudly and happily. "I have but one song. One song, only for you..."

Chrysalis had followed her, but the unprecedented joy in the younger's voice halted her. Guilt crawled up from the depths of her heart, a feeling she had never felt before, and she stepped into the light. "I can't!" She bowed her head to the startled alicorn. "I can't do it. Forgive me. I beg of your highness, forgive me."

Luna gathered the flowers she had dropped from her broken concentration. She offered the changeling a soft smile. "I don't understand."

Chrysalis shook her head. "She's mad! Jealous of you! She'll stop at nothing!"

"But... But who?"

"The queen!"

Luna blinked a few times. "Mother?" She shook her head. "But why would she-"

"Quick, child!" She pointed a foreleg at the woods. "Run! Run away, hide in the woods! Anywhere! And never come back!"

Luna hesitated. The desperate sincerity in the changeling's voice gripped her heart and, feeling that she had no other choice, she swallowed her cries and nodded. The flowers scattered as she finally obeyed and ran into the dark forest.

"Go!" Chrysalis called after her. "Run!"

Luna ran without knowing where she was going. Eyes peered out at her from the shadows. The darkness suffocated her and branches reached out to scrape along her face and sides, but she continued onward.

Why would her mother be jealous of her? What had she done?

"Aahh!" she screamed as she fell down a steep hill.

She tumbled head over hooves and landed at the bottom of the hill, sprawled, exhausted, and sore. Finally, unable to run, she cried.

"Oh, what do you do when things go wrong?"

She pulled herself back up with a little strain. Her legs hurt from the fall, but she forced herself onward. In the darkness, she saw a distant light. With no other options, she made her way toward that light.

Eventually, she reached a small cottage in the middle of a clearing. It was an idyllic scene straight out of a picture, with green grass, colorful flowers, and a small stream with a bridge crossing over it. For the moment, she felt at peace by the sight of it.

"Hello?" she called. She trotted up to the door and knocked on it. "Is anypony home?"

The door squeaked open when she knocked. She took a tentative step back, then stepped inside.

"Oh, my..."

The whole house was a disarray of mixed decorations. It had an area that was perfectly neat, while another was covered in party decorations. Yet another corner was stacked to the ceiling with books. She walked through the main room with eyes wide in awe.

"It's as though there are many different personalities! But all under one roof?" She sat down in the center of the room and looked around. "Some things are such a mess... Perhaps I could tidy up just a bit and they will let me stay?" Her horn glowed as she started to clean.

Elsewhere, in a nearby village, six mares set about their jobs, one aided by a young dragon. Though almost all of them they were in separate places, the same tune kept their spirits up as they worked.

"We read," "help," "bake," "sew," "farm," "fly," "tend,"

"in our jobs the whole day through."

"To read," "help," "bake," "sew," "farm," "fly," "tend,"

"is what we like to do."

The end of the day came. Each of the ponies met up at the center of the village. The dragon rode on the purple unicorn's back. Happy to see each other again after a long day of work, they trotted in a group toward their home.

"Neigh-ho, neigh-ho,

Neigh-ho, neigh,ho,

It's home from work we go!

Neigh-ho, neigh-"

Spike tugged on Twilight's mane like reigns to stop her. The other mares crashed into each other from the sudden halt.

"Spike?! What's the big idea?"

He pointed a claw ahead and stared with wide eyes.

Twilight followed where he was pointing. She gasped. "Look, girls! The lit's light! I mean, the light's lit!"

"Jiminy Cricket!" Pinkie covered her mouth with both hooves.

"The door is open!" Applejack stared, slack-jawed.

Rainbow Dash crossed her forelegs over her chest. "Mark my words, there's trouble a-brewin'. Felt it comin' all day. My hooves hurt."

Fluttershy looked at the other pegasus with concern. "That's a bad sign..."

"What'll we do?" they all asked in unison, save for Twilight and Spike. "Let's sneak up on it!"

"Yes. Ahem." Twilight cleared her throat and put on a brave face. "We'll squeak up- I mean sneak up. Follow me."

Having to shh each other every few steps, they poorly sneaked up to their cottage. One would step on a twig while another would bump into somepony and startle them.

Reaching the door, Twilight said, "Careful, girls. Search every cook and nanny- uh, hook and granny- crooked fan- Oh, just search everywhere."

The door slowly creaked open and they all gasped.

"My balloons have been inflated!" Pinkie looked around with glee to see all of her balloons blown up and floating at various heights throughout the room.

"My books have been organized!" Twilight ran her hoof along the books stacked on the shelves.

"Hey, somepony stole my apples!"

Pinkie giggled and opened the cupboard. "They aren't stolen, they're hiding in the cupboard!"

Rarity looked with tired eyes at her sewing area, which had been left exactly as it was. "Well, I seem to have everything in order."

Twilight frowned at the long table in the center of the room. "Look what's happened to our stable- uh, our table."

Fluttershy gasped and squeaked happily, "Oh, flowers!"

Applejack lifted a hoof. She waved it in Fluttershy's direction. "No, don't do it! Take 'em away! My hay fever! You know ah can't stand it!"

They heard a gentle creak from upstairs.

Twilight lifted her head to look at the ceiling. "It's up there."

Fluttershy nodded. "Y-yeah, in the bedroom."

"One of us has to go down and chase it up. Uh, up, down." Twilight looked at Spike. "Here." A broom lifted from the corner of the room and floated over to him, forcing itself into his hands. "Take this. Don't be nervous." She nudged him toward and up the stairs. "Don't be nervous; we're right behind you."

The mares followed a few steps behind Spike. A soft yawn came from inside the bedroom and Spike tried to run back down the stairs, but they pushed him back to the landing. He gulped, pushed the door all the way open with the broom, and tip-toed inside.

They saw a lump under the sheets of one of their beds. They approached it carefully and quietly to surround it on all three sides. Slowly, the corner of the blanket lifted up and Twilight gasped, losing her focus and dropping the sheet back down.

"Why, it's a-"

"What is it?" Pinkie squeaked in a voice just above a whisper, her eyes wide.

"It's an alicorn!"

Luna, still asleep, rolled over, the sheets moving so that all could see her.

"She's mighty pretty," commented Applejack.

"Oh, she's beautiful." Fluttershy smiled.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes and turned away. "Beautiful, hah! She's an alicorn! And all alicorns are poison. They're full of wicked wiles!"

Fluttershy looked at Rainbow Dash, a bit of fear present on her expression. "Wh-what are wicked wiles?"

"I don't know, but I'm against 'em."

Twilight raised a hoof to her lips. "Shh! You'll wake her."

"Aw, let her wake up!" Rainbow dismissed her with a wave of one foreleg. "She doesn't belong here anyhow!"

At the increased noise, Luna began to stir.

Applejack took a step back. "Look out, she's movin'!"

Luna sat up, yawning, rubbing her eyes with one hoof. She blinked a few times at the many faces peering at her and smiled. "Oh! Hello! How do you do?"

Rainbow Dash frowned at her. "How do you do what?"

Luna's smile brightened. "I mean, how are you?"

"Bah." The pegasus turned away again.

Twilight lifted both hooves onto the edge of the bed. "Who are you?"

"Oh, how silly of me." Luna crossed her hooves delicately in her lap. "I'm Luna."

All of the mares gasped. "Luna? The princess?!"

Luna nodded. "Why, yes, that's me."

Twilight dropped back onto all fours and bowed low. The others, save for Rainbow, followed suit.

"We're honored, your majesty!" Her head lifted to peer at her. "But why are you here?"

Luna's smile fell. Sadness overtook her expression. "My mother, the queen... She wants me dead." Tears welled up in her eyes. "I don't know why, but all of a sudden she tried to have me killed! Please let me stay. I have nowhere else to go."

Rainbow scoffed. "If the queen finds her here, she'll swoop down and wreak vengeance on us!"

"But she doesn't know where I am."

Twilight moved to stand between Rainbow and Luna. "Of course you can stay."

Luna beamed at them all. "Thank you so much!"

Elsewhere, back in the castle, Nightmare Moon strode across her room with a wicked smile on her face.

"Magic mirror on the wall, who now is the darkest one of all?"

The green mist inside the glass swirled and Zecora's face appeared. "Over the six jewelled hills, beyond the sixth fall, in the cottage of the six mares, dwells Luna, the darkest one of all."

Nightmare Moon's smile twitched. "Luna lies dead in the forest. Chrysalis has brought me proof. Behold, her heart." Her magic lifted a small lockbox and opened the lid.

"Luna still lives as the darkest in the land. 'Tis the heart of a pig you hold in your hand."

"The... The what?" The lockbox fell to the ground. "The heart of a pig? The blundering fool!" She stormed out of the room and toward a spiral staircase leading down. "I'll go myself!" She quickened her pace. "To the mares' cottage, in a disguise so complete no one will ever suspect." Her horn glowed with furious magic. "Now, a formula to transform my beauty into ugliness..."

Her steps slowed until she stopped. She closed her eyes and focused hard on the task before her. A light blue aura seeped from her horn and began to swirl around her. Where the aura touched, she changed, becoming old and frail. Her mane of the night sky became grey and withered. Her coat became pale and sickly. She cackled, her voice now raspy and frail.

"A perfect disguise! And now, a special death, for one so dark..." She stepped out into the courtyard. An apple from a nearby tree plucked from its branch and floated toward her. It began to glow. "A poisoned apple! One taste and the victim's eyes will close... forever!"

Another menacing cackle echoed throughout the courtyard.

The mares and the dragon had finished their dinner. They all sat around Luna, looking up at her in varying degrees of adoration, including Rainbow's disdain.

"Tell us a story," Rarity said in a wistful voice, her dreamy eyes sparkling.

"Yes!" most of the others cried. "Tell us a story!"

Pinkie giggled. "A true story."

Fluttershy hid her flushed cheeks behind a hoof. "A love story..."

Luna thought carefully. "Well, once there was a lonely princess..."

"Was the princess you?" Twilight crossed her forelegs over one another and rested her chin on them.

"And she found a sister."

"Was it hard ta do?"

"Oh, it was very easy. Anypony could see that the sister was perfect. The only one for me."

"Was she kind? Was she caring and smart?"

"There's nopony like her... Anywhere at all." Luna sighed.

"Did she say she loved you?"

Luna looked out the window at the starry sky. "She was so amazing, I could not resist..." Her eyes closed slowly, a smile on her lips.

"Some day, my sister will come

Some day, we'll meet again

And away to her castle we'll go

To be happy forever, I know."

Rainbow rolled her eyes. "Hah! Mush."

The others glared at her and she huffed indignantly.

Luna's eyes blinked back open. "Oh! It's far past bed time. You all must get your sleep to rise early in the morning."

They started to climb the stairs, but Twilight stopped them.

"The princess should have our beds upstairs," she said.

"But where will you sleep?" Luna tilted her head.

"Oh, we'll be quite comfortable down here." She looked at the other ponies with a serious expression. "Isn't that right, girls?"

Rarity looked even more displeased than Rainbow Dash. "But I need my beauty sleep!"

Applejack nudged her with one leg. "Ahem!"

Rarity rolled her eyes, as did Rainbow, but they said nothing as the others chimed, "We'll be just fine!"

Luna started for the stairs. "Well, if you're all sure, then... Good night, everypony."

She smiled down at all of them before she walked into the bedroom and shut the door behind her. She sat down on her haunches beside the window and pressed her forehooves together.

"Bless these six mares, and their dragon, too, who have been so kind to me. And may my dreams come true." She looked up at the starry sky with a hopeful smile, then dropped her head back down. "Oh, and please make Rainbow Dash like me, too." before she climbed into one of the beds.

In the morning, Luna stood by the door to see all of them off to work. Twilight stood beside her to give her a thorough warning.

"Now, don't forget, your majesty. The old queen's a sly one. Full of witchcraft, so beware of strangers."

Luna nodded. "I'll be all right."

Applejack stopped to give her a warning of her own. "Be awful careful, 'cause if anythin' were to happen t'ya, I-... I-...!" Her nose twitched back and forth. "Be sure to watch ou- t'watch ou- t'wa-choo!" She sneezed into her hoof.

"Bless you." Luna giggled. "I'll be fine, I promise."

They all started off in single file, singing as they went, "Neigh-ho, neigh-ho..."

"Good-bye! Good-bye, everypony!" Luna waved from the door. She was startled when Rainbow Dash suddenly stalked out of the house, clearing her throat.

"Now, I'm warning you." The pegasus had her arms crossed, head inclined so she was looking anywhere but at the alicorn. "Don't let nopony or nothin' into the house."

Luna's face lit up. "Why, Rainbow Dash, you do care!"

"Whatever!" After stealing a quick glance up at her, Rainbow dashed away to catch up with the others.

"Good-bye, Rainbow Dash!" Luna leaned against the doorway and gave a heavy, happy sigh as she watched them disappear behind the rolling hills.

Lurking in the shadows at the edge of the forest, Nightmare Moon hobbled along with her saddlebags full of apples. "The little mares will be gone away, and she'll be all alone with a harmless old peddler mare." She snickered to herself. "Harmless... Hah!"

She limped into the light and up the path. As she drew closer, she heard Luna singing as she worked in the kitchen, the window open to let in the fresh air.

"Some day my sister will come... Some day we'll meet again..."

"All alone, my pet?" Nightmare Moon asked in a haggard voice, startling the princess.

"Oh!" Luna nearly dropped the pie tin she was carrying. "Why- why yes I am, but-"

The false peddler took a deep inhale through her nose. "Making pies?"

"Yes, gooseberry pies." She smiled innocently.

"Bah! It's apple pies that makes the ponyfolks' mouths water. Pies made from apples like this." She turned to face her side to Luna and nudged the flap open to expose the apples in one of her saddlebags.

"Oh, they do look delicious." Luna leaned out through the window to get a better look.

"Yes! But wait 'til you taste one, dearie." She held up an apple in one hoof. "Like to try one?"

The apple lifted from her hoof as Luna's horn glowed. Her bright eyes seemed to reflect the shiny red apple as they widened in awe.

"That's it. Go on." The wicked queen leaned in with hunger in her own eyes. "Take a bite."

"Just one bite..." Luna smiled.

The apple drew closer. Her lips parted. The sound of the crisp peel broken by her teeth resounded throughout the forest, which otherwise fell silent.

"Oh..." Luna's smile dropped. Her legs wobbled. "Oh, I feel strange."

Nightmare Moon's disguise faded and her cackle rose out, sinister and foul as Luna fell to the ground. "And now I am the darkest in all the land!"

"No! I won't let that happen!" came a loud, regal voice from the forest.

"Wha-"

Celestia flew out from the darkness and knocked Nightmare Moon to the ground. She put a threatening hoof at her throat. "I won't let you take my sister away again!"

Nightmare Moon looked up at the princess with a panicked look that twisted into a smirk. "You're too late. She's gone." She laughed. "She's gone forever!"

Celestia's horn glowed. "For your crimes against Equestria and the crown, I banish you, wicked queen!" A blinding beam of light exploded from the white horn.

The dark alicorn screamed as she disappeared into the light. Celestia was left standing alone outside the cottage. The forest went still and quiet.

"Luna?" she called softly. "Luna, please..." She stepped into the cottage and fell to her knees beside the motionless body of her sister. "Oh, Luna..."

She pulled her sister's head into her lap and stroked her mane with a trembling hoof. The pain and loneliness of the thousands of days they had spent apart bubbled up in her chest and she cried. There was no truer love than the one that brought forth her tears, which fell down her cheeks.

Pit. Pat. Pit pat. Pit pat.

The sound of her tears landing on Luna's chest filled the still air, followed by the startling sound of moaning. Celestia paused when she realized it wasn't her own ragged breathing causing the moans. She slowly opened her eyes to see Luna staring up at her.

"S-sister?"

"Luna?!"

The alicorns embraced, more tears flowing freely, but this time they were fueled by joy.

Reunited, and with Luna's memories returned, the princesses went to the nearby village to bring the good news and the first of many celebrations were held in that tiny village of Ponyville. The six mares (and one dragon) were rewarded generously for aiding Luna in her time of need before the sisters returned to Canterlot, where they lived happily ever after, never to be parted again.

The Four Dancing Princesses

There once were four princesses, each more beautiful than the last. They were all cherished by their father, but there was just one problem...

"Good night, Father," they all said ever-so-sweetly before retiring to their room.

They all slept in the same room and the doors were securely locked behind them. Guards were posted on both sides outside the room to ensure their safety, but more importantly, to ensure they remained in their chambers.

However, each morning, the servants would find the princesses' dancing shoes lying at the foot of their beds. The shoes were worn nearly threadbare as though the princesses had been dancing all night. The guards swore on their lives that no sounds of dancing came from the room and were rotated out for different guards who swore to the same story.

The king loved his daughters dearly and did not want to interrogate them, for he feared such an act would be too cruel for his delicate little girls. Instead, once he had exhausted his staff inside the kingdom, he had a notice drafted and posted in every town within his kingdom.

"Whosoever discovers the mystery of the dancing shoes and the princesses' midnight secret may have any of the king's daughters hand in marriage. However, if the secret is not discovered within three days and three nights of accepting the challenge, straight to prison the suitor shall be sent for wasting the king's time."

At first, many young men of varying backgrounds ranging from nobility to peasantry came to the castle to take on the challenge. When one by one they all failed and were confined to a prison cell, fewer and fewer suitors arrived. It soon seemed that all was lost for the poor king who refused to simply ask his daughters.

Flash Sentry was on his way to the castle for his first day as a member of the Royal Guard. As he traveled through the town just outside the castle, however, a cloaked zebra sat on the side of the rode. Being of good upbringing, he fished a few bits out of his saddlebags as well as a part of his bread rations and handed them to her.

"Why, young stallion, thank you. Let me give you something, too." Zecora lifted her head to look up at him. "Are you going to the castle? Stay a while and listen to an old mare babble."

Flash puffed out his chest with pride. "My first day on the Royal Guard, ma'am. Can't be late."

She smiled. "Oh, I understand. Why don't I give you a hand?" She undid the strap around her neck and folded up the cloak, which she held out. "Don this when the moon is high and invisible you will be to the naked eye."

Flash looked at the cloak, his pride replaced with confusion. "What do I need this for?"

"Why, for the challenge of the king! Don't tell me you've not heard of such a thing?"

Flash shook his head.

Zecora sighed and forced the cloak into his saddlebags. "Young stallion, it will do you good to listen well. The princesses will put you under a sleeping spell." She stepped back and sat back down on her little stool. "Partake not in their food and drink, or into the prison you will sink."

"But I'm just a guard..."

"No, my friend, you are destined for more than that. Now, carry on your way, but I thank you for this chat."

Flash Sentry looked down at her for a moment, but her expression glazed over and grew distant.

"I... um... thank you?"

She nodded to acknowledge him but said nothing further.

He continued on his way to the castle otherwise undisturbed. When he arrived, instead of being taken to the barracks as he expected, he was led straight to the throne room where the king sat. His face was heavy with the exhaustion from lack of sleep from the mystery that ate away at his sanity.

"Ah!" A look of hope lifted the shadows on his face. "Perhaps you will solve the mystery?"

Flash's well-practiced, soldierly composure dropped for the second time that day. He inwardly scolded himself, but quickly recovered. "If that is what you wish, my lord."

The king clapped his hooves. "Wonderful, wonderful! I assume you know the rules already."

"The... rules?"

"Yes, my dear stallion. Three days and three nights to solve the mystery of my daughter's dancing shoes."

Flash swallowed hard, but it was too late. His training taught him the most important rule of a royal guard: one never questions nor argues with the king. So, he humbly bowed his head.

"I will not fail you, my lord."

"Good, good, very good. Then please make yourself comfortable!" He welcomed the stallion with open arms, leading him to the banquet hall where all four of his daughters were dining in quiet.

The eldest, Celestia, inclined her head to look down her snout at Flash. "Oh, another one, Papa?" she asked, her tone laced with sarcasm.

Luna didn't look up from her meal, but she did pause to comment, "There will soon be no more room in the dungeon."

Cadence smiled at her dark sister. "But at least they'll have each other to keep company. I would hate to be down there alone, if I had to be down there at all!"

The youngest, Twilight, said nothing. She seemed to be the meeker one of the four princesses. Beside her dinner plate was a book that held her attention much more than the conversation.

Flash offered a formal bow of his head. "Your highnesses."

The king laughed and patted his hoof on Flash's back. "Don't worry, dear boy! They're only joking. My daughters have quite the sense of humor."

When he looked over at them, they all, including Twilight, looked up to smile so sweetly that it was a wonder that they didn't melt in the rain.

"Keep a good eye on them. They're in your care now." The king patted Flash one more time before he left the room, the guards shutting the door behind him.

Celestia eyed the stallion with disdain, then returned to her meal.

"Won't you join us, stallion?" Cadence asked as she started to wave a servant over. "I'll have a meal prepared just for you."

Remembering the warning he received, he shook his head. "Thank you, but no, your highness."

The princesses glanced at one another, each of them frowning, but they said nothing and resumed their meal while Flash stood near the door.

That evening, the princesses bid their father a sugary farewell and walked with Flash into their chamber. A cot had been set up in the foyer of their room for the challengers, which he climbed into.

Celestia came to his bedside with a glass of wine. "Care for a drink, dear stallion?"

"Oh, thank you, your highness." He took the glass and feigned taking a sip.

When she smiled and turned to walk away, he quietly poured out the contents into the plant sitting near his cot. He set down the glass, gave a dramatic yawn, and dropped down onto his pillow.

"Well, that was easy." Luna slid out of her bed and trotted happily over to where her chest of drawers rested against the wall. She retrieved her finest dress.

Flash began to snore.

"A little too easy," Twilight muttered, though she followed suit, putting on her dancing shoes.

Celestia rolled her eyes. "What do you expect, little sister? He had nothing to eat, so of course he would be more susceptible to the drink."

Cadence brushed her hair. She inclined her head to look at her sisters in her mirror. "Hush, now, so he doesn't awaken. Let us hurry!"

Twilight was the first to finish dressing, so she went over to the rug in the center of the floor. She pulled it aside to reveal a trap door, which she opened. Her sisters began to descend the stairs and she followed after them.

Flash took a deep breath. He retrieved the cloak from his saddlebags and threw it over his shoulder, then hurried quickly but quietly over to the trap door and down the stairs.

Unfortunately, he had misjudged how fast they were moving and caught up to them. In his haste, he accidentally stepped on the youngest princess's gown.

"Ah!" Twilight cried out and turned to face behind her. "Somepony stepped on my dress!"

"Are you sure you didn't just stumble over your own hooves?" Cadence giggled playfully. "There's no pony behind you. How could there be? Our stalwart guardian is fast asleep."

Twilight hesitated, unaware that she was staring straight at Flash. Her ears fell and she continued after her sisters. "I suppose you're right..."

Flash gave a silent sigh of relief.

The narrow corridor opened up into a vast underground grove. Trees with leaves of silver, gold, and glittering diamonds filled the rolling hill. Making sure their attention was focused ahead, Flash paused to snap off a twig of each tree for evidence, tucking them into his armor.

Upon cresting the hill, he saw a crystal clear lake with four boats waiting at the shore, each with a prince standing by. The princesses got into the boat, batting their long eyelashes at their respective princes. Flash follows the youngest princess because her smaller size would allow him to fit on the back of the boat unnoticed. However, the added weight gave the rowing prince some difficulty and their boat lagged behind the others.

"What is the problem?" Twilight frowned at the prince. "Why are you rowing so slowly?"

The prince smiled halfheartedly from the unexpected strain. "N-no reason, of course, my lady. I simply wish to enjoy my time with you."

Twilight sighed and fanned herself, looking away. "I wish to enjoy my time dancing, not sitting in a boat."

Once all the princesses were on the other side of the lake, they walked with their princes onto a marble platform and began to dance. They happily danced all night until their shoes became worn and they had no choice but to return to their chamber. Flash was just barely able to sneak out with them before Celestia shut the trap door.

Luna looked over at the cot in the chamber foyer. The lump of pillows tucked under the sheets was enough assurance to the princesses that Flash was still sound asleep. While they were distracted by undressing and discarding their worn shoes, he slipped under the covers.

The next night and the night thereafter were a repeat of the first night, though Flash was more careful to not alert the young princess to his presence. On the third night, he snuck a golden cup from the ball back to the castle above so that the next day he was fully prepared with evidence.

"Well, what say you, young stallion?" asked the king from his throne. The joy in his voice was gone, as he was expecting the worst.

"I have solved the riddle of the worn dancing shoes, my lord," Flash said, his head held high.

From the side of the room the princesses watched with varying skepticism. Celestia sneered at the stallion. Cadence preoccupied herself with her much more interesting hair. Luna rolled her eyes. Twilight hugged her book to her chest and bit her lower lip.

The king leaned forward, a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "You have?"

"Yes, my lord." From his saddlebags he produced the glimmering twigs and the golden cup. "There is a trap door in their chamber that leads to an underground grove where the trees of gold, silver, and diamond grow." He set the twigs at the steps leading up to the throne. "There, they dance with princes from another kingdom until their shoes are worn." He set down the golden cup beside the twigs.

Flash bowed his head as he stepped backwards and awaited the king's ruling.

The king tilted his head one way. He lifted his snout into the air. Finally, he looked over at his daughters in silence.

Twilight stepped forward. "There's no use in hiding it any more, my sisters!" She gazed at her father with sad eyes. "It's true, Father. Everything the stallion has told you is true."

Celestia groaned, placing her hoof to her forehead. "Twilight..."

"Well, it was starting to get boring, anyway." Cadence picked at her mane some more.

The king frowned. "But why? Why would you go to such lengths, when I have done everything I can for you, my darlings?"

"You never let us participate in the galas!" Luna stomped her hoof. "We sit and smile and greet guests as they arrive, and once they have all arrived, we sit and smile and watch as they dance. Then they leave! It's so boring, Father!"

The king looked at his daughters at first with regret, then with frustration. "Then why did you not simply ask to dance!"

The princesses were silent. The thought seemed to baffle all four of them. All their lives, they had simply been given what they wanted; to ask for things was not how they were raised.

The king shook his head, then looked at Flash. "You have solved the riddle, stallion, and now you may claim your prize."

Flash's cheeks turned a light red. "But, my lord-"

"You dare refuse my gift?" The king leaned forward.

"No, sir!" He flinched back. He looked at the princesses. "I... Then, I would like..." He walked over to them.

The eldest three looked at him with fear, but his gaze was locked on Twilight. Realizing this, they gave a look of relief.

"I would like it if you would accept me, your highness." He bowed before her.

Twilight looked around, her own cheeks reddening. "Me? Why me?"

"The champion of the riddle has chosen his bride," the royal guards on both sides of the throne said in loud, booming voices.

The very next day, as the king was not one to let debts hang in the air, the two were wed. The marriage was shaky at first, because they had been given very little time together, but over the following moons they learned more and more of one another and it became a happy, loving union.

Sleeping Sombra

There once was a faraway kingdom known as the Crystal Empire, renowned throughout Equestria for its splendor. Even the ponies that lived within its sparkling walls glimmered from just living in such beauty.

The king and queen of the empire were blessed one day with a child. He was quite different from the other crystal ponies. Where their coats were of different pastel colors ranging from green to pink, his was black. He was no less loved by his parents or their subjects, however, and a grand celebration was held to welcome the prince to the kingdom.

The banquet hall was brightly lit and filled with cheerful ponies. Galaxia and Cosmos themselves were invited to the celebration to bestow gifts on the young prince. When they arrived at the hall, the queen rushed through the crowd to greet them.

"Your majesties!" She bowed low. "It is an honor to have your presences in our castle."

Galaxia and Cosmos smiled and returned the bow. Galaxia's mane and tail billowed gently in a wind that wasn't there while her husband's seemed to flicker and swirl into nothing at the ends. They were a striking couple, nothing like any other pony or creature found anywhere in Equestria.

From behind them appeared two little heads, one light and one dark, as different as night and day.

The queen lifted her head. "Oh! You brought the young ones. An even greater honor for our humble kingdom!"

Galaxia looked down at her daughters. "Celestia, Luna, please greet the crystal queen properly."

The elder sister ran forward and skidded to a halt to kneel down into a bow. The younger ran as well, but didn't expect her sister to stop so suddenly and crashed into her. The two tumbled forward into a mess of giggles that was quickly silenced by a stern look from their father.

"Children, please," he muttered under his breath. He looked up at the queen with a strained smile. "I apologize."

"Oh, it's quite all right. I'm sure we'll understand soon what it's like."

"Yes, speaking of," said Galaxia while Cosmos tidied up the tumbled fillies. "Please, let me see the young prince."

The crystal queen beamed with delight as she led the alicorn to the royal bassinet set between the thrones. Galaxia lowered her head to look fondly down at the sleeping foal.

"He is precious." Her body glowed and the mysterious wind that could not be felt seemed to pick up, as her mane floated with more enthusiasm behind her. "I bestow upon the young prince the gifts of wit and charm. He will be as smart as his mother and as handsome as his father: a perfect combination of two perfect rulers."

Her mane settled and the glow faded. She inclined her head to look at her husband, who was still making his way across the banquet hall. He stopped to politely greet each of the crystal ponies along the way.

Celestia and Luna ran ahead of him to ascend the stairs leading to the thrones. Their little wings flapped just enough to lift themselves off the ground so they could each perch on the arm of a throne on either side of the bassinet.

"Look!" Celestia giggled and pointed with one hoof. "He's dark like Lulu!"

Luna frowned. "I'm not that dark, Tia."

Galaxia also frowned, but hers was significantly more intimidating than her daughter's. "Celestia, it is impolite to point. Luna, it is impolite to..." She paused. "Both of you, be polite."

"Yes, Mom," they moaned in unison and hopped down off the thrones to stand beside their mother.

Galaxia sighed. "Cosmos, dear. Please do hurry up."

"Ah, yes, darling, I'm co- Oh, hello. Hello, yes. Hello to you, too." He smiled, much too polite for his own good to pass up greeting anypony.

It was fateful that he was delayed by his manners, however, as a darkness exploded from a torch near the throne. A menacing cackle filled the banquet hall and resounded throughout the entire empire.

"Well, quite a glittering assssemblage. Royality, nobility, the gentry, and, how quaint, even the godsss' children," came a voice from the darkness, which dissipated some, revealing a terrifying creature.

He was an alicorn like Galaxia and Cosmos, but his horn was sharp and curved, fading from black to red. His eyes were green with red irises and slit pupils. His narrowed eyes shot across the room at the crystal king and queen, who stood protectively in front of their foal.

"I really felt quite dissstressssed at not recsseiving an invitation," he continued in a rolling hiss.

"We thought you would not be interested in such pleasantries, King of Nightmares."

The shadowed king blinked his eyes with feigned innocence. "Who, me? But do you not expect giftsss from the alicorn nobility for your precssiousss little princsse?"

The crystal queen and king glanced at each other, then looked to Galaxia and Cosmos for aid. The alicorns looked suspiciously at the nightmare king. The air was thick with tension as everypony kept perfectly silent.

"It would be rude to deny you your gift," Galaxia finally said.

"Thank you, Galaxssia." The shadowed alicorn walked past her with his head held high. "You're ssso kind, asss alwaysss."

He stood by the bassinet and looked down at the black foal. He said in a hauntingly melodic voice, "Lisssten well, all of you! The princsse shall indeed grow in gracsse and beauty, beloved by all who know him. But, before the sssun sssetsss on hisss eighteenth birthday, he shall prick hisss hoof on the Cryssstal Heart and die."

He threw his head back with a loud cackle as he disappeared in another explosion of black smoke. Purple tendrils of darkness reached for the young prince, but the crystal queen scooped him out from the blankets and carried him away from it.

The darkness and the cackling faded, replaced by the worried murmurs of the crystal ponies. The queen sobbed against her husband's shoulder.

Again, Galaxia was the first to speak. "Not all is lost, your majesties. Cosmos has yet to give his gift."

The queen jerked her head up with sudden hope. "Then he can undo this curse?"

Galaxia closed her eyes and shook her head. "I am afraid not. Powerful we may be, but a curse filled with such hatred is a vile and even more powerful thing."

Cosmos stepped forward and looked down at the prince, sadness on his face. "But I can ease the pain." His eyes closed and the starlight in his mane and wings swirled. "Sweet prince, if through this wicked king's trick the Crystal Heart should your hoof prick, a ray of hope there still may be in this, the gift I give to thee. Not in death but just in sleep the fateful prophecy you'll keep, and from this slumber you shall wake when true love's kiss the spell shall break."

The queen seemed calmed by the change in the curse, but the king did not look satisfied. He turned to look at his guards.

"Guards, take the Crystal Heart away from this place. Take it far away and hide it somewhere safe."

The guards glanced at one another. "But, your majesty... the Crystal Heart-"

"Do as I say, for my son, your future king!"

"Y-yes, your majesty." They bowed low.

Murmurs ran rampant through the crowd.

"He's taking away the Crystal Heart?"

"What will we do without it?"

"What will become of our kingdom if there is no Crystal Heart?"

The king stomped a hoof. "Silence!" He turned to face the crowd. "We are a strong people, and we will endure without the Crystal Heart. Upon the prince's eighteenth birthday I will have the Crystal Heart retrieved, and we will celebrate in twofold: for the safety of our prince, and for the return of our Crystal Heart."

The crowd still seemed unsettled, but they did not argue against their king.

Galaxia put a hoof on the queen's shoulder. "I am sorry, your majesty, that you must suffer through this."

The queen offered a weak smile. "At least, if it does come true, he won't die."

The king walked up behind her with a serious frown. "But it won't come true. I won't allow it to happen. No one but the guards shall know where the Crystal Heart has been taken." His gaze lifted to meet Galaxia's. "I humbly request of you, your highness, that the guards return to Canterlot with you upon their return to further ensure the safety of their secret."

"It shall be done." Galaxia nodded. "Now, let us depart from the topic and enjoy the present. The prince is alive and healthy in your arms." She smiled.

From a distance, a young filly sat by her father. She inclined her little head and though she was much too young to speak, but her desire was clear.

"You will see him, worry not, my dear." Her father, Crystal Varado, patted her on the head. "Have patience."

Autumn Gem huffed, gurgled, and reached out her forelegs for her bottle of apple juice.

Soon, a line assembled for the crystal ponies to meet their prince individually. Varado carried the foal on his back as she giggled in excitement. Once they reached the front of the line, he bowed his head with respect, then stepped forward.

"Look, darling; it's the prince."

Autumn Gem stared at the sleeping black foal for a moment. Startling everypony around them, she leaped from his back to land in the bassinet.

"Autumn!" Varado cried.

"What's going on?!" The king ran forward, then froze. His scowl lifted at the sight and he laughed.

Inside the bassinet, the young prince remained in deep slumber, undisturbed by the sudden companion. The filly was curled up beside him, already fast asleep.

Varado bowed low. "I humbly apologize, your majesty-"

"There is no need to apologize for the innocence of foals," the queen said as she gazed down at the two. "It is all right."

"Still, it is not like her to act this way. Come on, now, Autumn."

When the stallion tried to pick up his filly, she squirmed against him. He frowned.

"Autumn Gem..."

The moment she was separated from the prince, she broke out into loud wails. This stirred Sombra from his sleep and, not knowing what was going on aside from hearing another crying, started to cry as well.

The crystal queen looked at the crying foals, tilting her head.

"Perhaps, just a while longer?" She looked between her husband and Varado with a smile. "After all, they are only foals."

The king nodded and the stallion returned his daughter to the bassinet.

Autumn ceased her crying and snuggled back up to Sombra, who looked at her in confusion. He tried to wriggle away but caught up in his blanket, at which point he gave up and fell back asleep.

It was initially an uneasy relationship between Varado and the king, neither sure what to make of the friendship that suddenly developed between their foals. The queen, however, had utmost faith that it was healthy for the prince to have a foal friend his own age. Over the years, Autumn would frequent the castle to play with the prince.

"Three... two... one!" Autumn pulled her hooves back and looked around with a big smile on her little filly face. She galloped through the crystal blue halls. "Ready or not, I'm coming!"

Her giggles echoed off the walls. She ducked into the first room she came across, which was an empty meeting hall.

"Hmm..." She stepped slowly. Her ears twitched as she listened carefully. Then, with a sudden jolt, she jumped through the cloth that was draped over the table. "Ah-ha!"

Sombra pouted from his spot next to one of the table legs. "That's not fair!"

Autumn sat down and tilted her head to the side, one ear flopping lazily. "Huh? But I found you."

He stomped his forelegs. "But I'm the prince. It's not fair that you always win!"

Hearing the conversation from outside the room, the crystal queen paused and listened.

"So what if you're a prince?" Autumn rolled her eyes. "You're a bad hider."

He gasped somewhat dramatically. His lower lip trembled before he ran out from under the table. "Mama! Mamaaa!" He skidded into his mother's legs. "I want Autumn to go away!"

The queen smiled down at her foal. "Why is that?"

"She said I'm a bad hider."

"'Cause it's true!" The filly poked her head out, the cloth draping over half her face. "He always hides under the table!"

Sombra stuck his tongue out at her. "Then stop looking there!"

The queen put her hoof gently on top of his head. "So, you want me to send Autumn Gem away, do you?"

He nodded vigorously.

"Then who will you play with?"

This gave the colt a moment of pause. Finally, with his best attempt at a regal tone, he said, "I shall play with the servants, of course."

Autumn gasped at the idea of being replaced so easily. "But-!"

The queen silenced the filly with a raised hoof. "The servants are too busy to play with you, dear. And you've refused to make any friends other than Autumn. But, if you really wish for me to send her away..."

Sombra huffed, puffed, and gave in. "Oh, fine!" He got up and stomped over to the filly. "But we're playing a new game."

The queen covered her mouth as she tried to smother a giggle. The king came up behind her and peered into the room.

"Is everything all right, my darling?"

She smiled up at him. "Yes, of course. Just our son and his little friend."

"Yes, speaking of that... Is it wise to allow our son to play with her? How will he learn proper manners for a prince?"

Her smile fell. She stared up at him with a blank expression verging on a frown and pointed at the foals, saying nothing.

"Oh, woe is me," cried Autumn in an over-exaggerated tone. "If only I had a brave young prince to save me from the evil dragon!" She squirmed from her place beneath a chair.

A folded napkin in the vague shape of what was supposed to be a dragon sat between her and Sombra.

Wielding the magic spoon of truth, the brave prince Sombra charged at the dragon-napkin. He scooped it up and tossed it over his head, then set the spoon down so he could strike a valiant pose.

"I have defeated the dragon, my lady!" With all of his practiced poise, he offered his hoof. "Let us away to my castle!"

Autumn fanned herself with one hoof and put the other in his. "You're sooo brave, Prince Sombra!"

He smiled. "Yes, I am." His composure fell and he dropped her hoof. "That means I win!"

As they argued about who had won their roleplaying session, the king sighed reluctantly.

"I suppose it is good for him to be humbled..."

As they grew older, they played together less and less. Sombra's time was occupied with royal duties while Autumn Gem had to help her father with the bakery. However, once a month, they would meet for lunch at the castle.

"I'm going out!" Autumn Gem called over her shoulder, now a lovely young mare. Her crystalline purple hair fell down into gentle curls around her shoulders, held back with golden bands.

Varado looked up from the bread he was kneading and smiled. "Don't forget to harvest the wheat before it gets dark."

Autumn giggled. She wiggled her plot to show off her cutie mark of a single stalk of wheat. "Of course not, Father!" She waved to him before she trotted out the door.

The air was filled with the scent of wheat being ground into flour. Though she left the house in a good mood, something odd brought her down to a more sober mood: all around her, ponies were holding hooves and giggling over some kind of secret jokes. She paused halfway through the town and turned in a slow circle. No matter which way she faced, ponies were in love.

"I wonder," she began to sing softly as she continued to the castle. "I wonder... I wonder why each crystal pony has a somepony to sing to, sweet things to, a gay little love melody?"

On a balcony above, Sombra looked out across the kingdom. His gaze landed on Autumn Gem as she made her way through the crowd. He sighed and rested his snout on his hoof.

"I wonder... I wonder if I can keep this secret? Will I ever regret that someday, she'll leave me, and find her own special somepony?"

He turned away from the balcony and began to make his way to the stairs so that he could greet her. His heart was heavy with mixed feelings. Everypony around him, however, greeted him with big smiles and cheerful waves.

It was the day before his birthday, the day before his freedom from the curse. Yet he cared not for some words said on a day he couldn't remember. Why should he? The Crystal Heart hadn't been seen for nearly eighteen years. No, he was more concerned with more pressing, serious matters: his unrequited, impossible love.

"Hello!" Autumn hopped from hoof to hoof at the main doors to the castle that Sombra had the guards open for her. "I know it's early, but I won't get to see you tomorrow, so..." She pulled a red scarf out of her saddlebags and wrapped it around his neck. "Happy birthday, Sombra!"

He blinked a few times. He raised a hoof to touch the soft fabric. "Thank you?"

Autumn stuck out her bottom lip. "I made it myself!" She dropped down onto her haunches to show him her hooves. "And I don't have fancy magic like you, so it was hard."

His cheeks flushed at this, imagining the hooves waved in his face working diligently on the scarf he wore. He nuzzled his snout into it and breathed in the scent of wheat and sugar. A secret smile crossed his hidden lips. It smelled like her.

"Well, then, thank you for the scarf, though..." He inclined his head to look at the bright, sunny sky. "It does not snow in the Crystal Empire, you know."

She rolled her eyes. "You're always so short-sighted." She trotted past him. "After tomorrow, you'll be free to leave the castle!" A small, excited skip interrupted her pace. "You'll be able to go anywhere you want, so, thus, the scarf."

He followed after her. "But why would I want to go somewhere cold?"

"Because I made you a scarf."

He chuckled and shook his head. "I suppose now I am obligated, yes."

"Exactly." She took a turn to enter their favorite room, the meeting room they had played in so often as foals. "You'll have to write often so I don't get too lonely."

This gave him a moment of pause. He watched her sparkling purple tail as it disappeared around the corner.

Servants were already setting out their lunch, which consisted of little bite-sized daisy sandwiches and apple cider. Once the servants left, Autumn picked up one of the sandwiches and looked at Sombra with a frown.

"Why do royalty always eat such tiny portions? How are you supposed to stay strong and healthy on this?" She dropped the sandwich back down and set her saddlebags on the table.

Carefully packaged, full-sized sandwiches and assorted baked goods from the shop tumbled out.

"There, now that's more like it." She grinned at him.

He raised one eyebrow as he took the seat across from her. "You know the servants will be offended if they see this."

"Then we'll have to eat it fast before they see." She slid a sandwich and a muffin over to him. "Besides, if you don't eat it, I'll be offended."

He glanced between the sandwich and her. "That is a compelling argument." He sighed. His magic unwrapped the sandwich before him and lifted it up so he could eat.

"So, are you excited?" She beamed at him.

"I suppose," he said, his tone anything but.

She sighed and lifted her own sandwich. "You're being awfully boring, you know."

"I-!" He nearly choked and stared at her. "I know we're friends, Autumn Gem, but I am still a prince! You shouldn't speak to me like this."

He regretted the words as soon as he said them. She looked at him with a strange mix of confusion and hurt.

"That never meant anything before, except for when we were little..." She lowered her sandwich and slid out of her chair. "Well, I guess you have a lot on your mind. We shouldn't have scheduled lunch before such an important day." She turned away from him just before the tears hit her eyes and hurried out of the room.

"Autumn, wait!" He stumbled over his own hooves trying to get out of the chair to stop her, but she was already out of sight. He clenched his teeth and slammed his forehoof against the floor.

He stared at the scarf still wrapped around his neck with sad eyes.

"Curse me." He sighed as he stood up. "Why would I say that?"

He paused when he saw her saddlebags still lying on the table and a glimmer of hope sparked in his chest. He could bring the saddlebags to her and apologize then! However, he hardly made it out of the room with them before his mother and father approached him.

"Dear, I saw little Autumn running out of the castle. Is everything all right?" The queen looked at him with concern.

Sombra shook his head. "I said something rude, Mother. I need to go apologize to her."

The king raised a hoof. "Certainly not! We'll have a servant dispatch your message."

He frowned up at his father. "It was my mistake, and she is my friend, not a commoner to be dealt with through servants. I will apologize to her in person!"

"You will do no such thing. Now more than ever we must be diligent to not allow the King of Nightmares to wreak havoc on you or our kingdom."

Sombra took a deep breath. He understood his parents' concerns, but... He shook his head. "Don't send a servant. I will apologize to her myself when I am free."

He bowed before he turned and headed for the stairs leading up to his room, ears folded back. He set down the saddlebags by his door and collapsed on the bed, burying his face into the red scarf.

"My dear, beauty rare, color of amethyst in her hair, eyes that shame the rare blue rose..." He sighed and rolled onto his back to gaze up at the ceiling. "She'll walk in springtime wherever she goes..."

At the wheat field, Autumn tossed her head back and forth to slice the sickle she held in her mouth. Stalks of wheat fell in small bushels on either side of the rows as she worked furiously.

"Stupid Sombra," she grumbled after dropping the sickle at her feet and looking at the fallen wheat. "I'll show him! Prince or not, I'll make him apologize!" She sighed and bent down to pick up some of the wheat, then paused. "Oh... Shoot!" She looked at her bare back. "I left my saddlebags at the castle. Really?"

With a frustrated groan, she gathered the wheat up in a pile and did her best to carry as much of it as she could to the small mill near their house. She plopped down on the bank by the river and watched the current push the mill's wheel into rotation.

"Oh, don't be such a silly filly, Autumn." Her ears fell flat to either side of her head. "It had to end sooner or later."

Her watery reflection peered back at her with an expression that did not match what was in her heart. She felt angry, but looking into her own eyes she saw sadness. For some reason, it angered her more to see such a sad look on her own face and she stood.

"Says who? Why does it have to end?" She stomped a hoof. "I'll show him tomorrow at the celebration." Turning on her hind legs, she ran into town.

Reaching her friend's house, she knocked on the door. "Honey!" she called. "Honey, I need your help!"

The door opened. The pink pony named Honey Tone looked at her with a wide smile. "Autumn! What are you doing here at this hour?"

Autumn shoved her face in her friend's, a wicked grin on her lips. "Make me beautiful for the celebration tomorrow!"

There was a moment of pause before Honey returned the grin. "I thought you'd never ask!"

Back in the castle, Sombra was wandering the halls, his mind filled with dread. He couldn't stand the thought of leaving things as they were with Autumn. She had a good reason to be mad - normally, he never brought up his status as a prince. It didn't actually matter or mean anything to him. However, he was under so much stress lately to be on his guard that the constant drilling of his royal duty had filled his mind.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a flash of purple that caught his attention.

"Hm?" He tilted his head. "Is somepony there?"

The purple light flickered and disappeared around a corner. Unwittingly, he followed it, having no reason to suspect anything within the castle's walls.

He didn't notice that as he walked, black tendrils of darkness reached for his hooves.

He quickened his pace. "Who is that?"

A smile crossed his lips at a passing thought.

"Autumn, is this a game?"

He hurried, now desperate to catch up to the light until it suddenly faded and he skidded to a halt. He looked around.

"Hm, the throne room?" He began to pace around the room. "Autumn, I'm sorry. Please come out?"

The sound of stone grinding on stone came from behind him and he turned around to see the floor descending into darkness, stairs appearing where there were none before.

His smile fell.

"H-hello?"

The purple hues flickered in the darkness below. Somehow, it seemed to be calling him and his legs began to move of their accord down the stairs. He followed them for what seemed like forever until he reached the bottom.

The colors turned from purple to blue as his eyes fell upon the Crystal Heart, hovering in mid-air before him. It shone from an unknown source within it, shining on the crystalline walls and filling the small, circular room with radiant light.

"So... beautiful..." He stepped forward and raised one hoof. The blue reflected in his red eyes and filled his vision, the same color as the sparkling blue gaze he adored. "... Autumn..."

Just as the name passed his lips, he touched the crystal. His hoof found the sharp edges with unfortunate ease. A crack shot through the hard outer wall of his hoof and a single drop of blood fell from the tiny opening. It landed on the Crystal Heart, the red contrasting greatly with the brilliant blue.

When the blue and red mixed, his eyes rolled back and he fell forward. His vision went completely black and the last thing he heard was a menacing cackle echoing throughout the chamber. The darkness spilled forth from the throne room, encasing every room inside the castle. The guards, servants, and royalty fell to the ground in a sudden sleep.

The next day, the whole kingdom was filled with the cheerful laughter of the crystal ponies. They had all gathered beneath the castle, waiting for the sun to set so that their prince was safe and their Crystal Heart would return.

Autumn fidgeted in her gown, kicking her hind leg. "Have you seen Sombra?"

Honey shook her head. "I haven't seen anyone from the royal family yet. I guess they're playing it safe?"

"Well, too bad for them." She trotted forward toward the stairs.

"Autumn, wait!" Honey reached for her, but she was walking at a quick, determined pace. "You can't just go in the castle, especially not today!"

"Of course I can. I've been doing it since I was young." With a toss of her dolled-up hair, she marched up the stairs. When she reached the top, she looked at the guards with one brow raised. "Let me in."

The royal guard looked at her, a little startled. "Miss Gem, that is not an option today. You do not have an appointment."

"My meeting yesterday was cut short, so I'd like to get the rest of my time with Prince Sombra today."

"The royal family are very busy, Miss Gem."

She lowered her chin and looked up at him through her eyelashes. Her bottom lip stuck out in a small pout. "But I wanna see my best friend on his big special day..."

The guard's heart began to melt. He looked at the other guard for help, but he was steadfastly trying to not look at the pouting mare. "I..." He sighed and drummed his spear against the floor. "Let her in."

Autumn threw her forelegs around his neck. "Oh, you're the best!" She giggled and hurried inside.

However, when the doors shut behind her, everything was different. She could no longer hear the laughter outside, and there were no sounds or light inside the castle.

"Hello?" she called. "Your majesties? Prince Sombra?"

The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. For silence and darkness on such a glorious and wondrous, something had to be wrong. Her suspicions were confirmed when a voice hissed in her ear.

"Behold, in the Cryssstal Cassstle, dreaming of hisss true love, the princsse Sssombra."

Autumn whirled to face the voice, but saw nothing there.

"But sssee the gracssiousss whim of fate! Why, 'tisss the same peasant maid."

She flinched when she felt something brush against her flank and she kicked out with both legs. Behind her, however, were only curling wisps of darkness that retreated from her attack.

"Where is Prince Sombra?!" She ran after the darkness. "What have you done with him?"

"Ssshe isss indeed mosst wondrousss fair. Purple of amethyssst in her hair, eyesss that shame the rare blue rossse..." The voice laughed. "In agelessss sssleep she findsss her princsse."

As she turned a corner, she skidded to a halt. Her breath caught in her throat and her eyes widened.

Sombra lay on the floor. A light fell from above, shining on him, illuminating his sleeping features. His chest just barely rose and fell with his gentle breathing, reminding her that she wasn't.

She took a sharp intake of air and started to run forward, but was suddenly pushed aside.

"I'll save you!" A mare, dressed in the finest of silk and lace, ran forward. "Oh, poor Prince Sombra!"

"What?" Autumn watched in both confusion and surprise as the mare knelt down beside him.

The mare looked over at her. "Who are you?" She frowned. "A peasant? Did you think a peasant like you could save a prince?" She smirked, one hoof resting on Sombra's shoulder. "A prince needs a princess." Slowly, she leaned down.

Autumn could only stare. The mare put her lips to Sombra's and his eyes fluttered open.

"A... princess?" He smiled up at her. "You... saved me." He sat up. "I owe you my life."

Slowly, Autumn blinked. In the fraction of a moment her eyes were closed, her surroundings completely changed. She was sitting in a crowd of happy crystal ponies all staring in one direction. Her gaze followed theirs and a throb of pain shot through her chest. Sombra was standing at an altar with the very same mare, now dressed in a long white gown.

Though she fought against it, tears pricked her eyes and her lip trembled.

"Why?" She shook her head furiously and kicked the seat under her away, startling the ponies around her. "Why are you showing me this?!"

The nearest pony to her turned to her with green and red eyes. A purple mist emanated from the corners.

"How do you know it isssn't true? He isss a princsse, and she isss a princssesss. They belong together."

Autumn's head fell and she stared at the ground. The grass changed back to the palace floors. "Be...because..." She looked back up.

Sombra's body remained where it had been before. There was no princess and no wedding, just her and a dimly lit room.

Tentatively, she walked toward him.

"I know him,

I've known him since we were young.

I love him,

This feeling in my heart never before sung."

She sat down by him and stroked his cheek with her hoof. A smile crossed her lips.

"Yes, I know it's true

That with me he does not belong,

But if I know him, I know what he'll do...

He'll love me the same,

The way he did once when we were young."

The green and red eyes appeared in the darkness.

"You cannot know that. How can you be cssertain!"

The darkness began to close in on them at a rapid, desperate speed.

"Wait! Ssstop!"

She paid the voice no heed and lowered her face to his. As their lips touched, a light burst forth and drove back the darkness.

"What? No... No!"

Once all the darkness was gone, the sounds of the ponies outside and beneath the castle could be heard once again, at a distance. The other ponies within the castle, servants and nobility alike, awoke from a strange slumber that had overcome them.

Sombra's eyes slowly opened. His groggy vision tried to focus on the pony above him. "A... princess?"

Autumn choked. She raised a hoof to touch her hair. "N-no, I'm just... Autumn..."

He smiled and put his hoof on hers. "I know."

She returned his smile with a frown. "Then you know I'm not a princess."

"Mm." His hoof slid from hers to her neck and he pulled her down closer to him. "You're my princess, though."

A flush spread across her cheeks, but before she could think of a witty retort, he pulled her into a second kiss, this one he was able to return.

The king and queen, panicked by the unexplained sleep they had woken from, burst into the throne room at that moment. They stopped, however, when they saw their son alive and well, and backed out of the room to give the two a moment of privacy.

The king shut the door. "Well..."

The queen smiled. "We knew it would happen eventually."

"I suppose he apologized, then." He nodded, rubbing his chin with his hoof.

"I doubt that, dear. I know our son, and I know Autumn." She laughed as she began to walk down the corridor. "She forgave him before he could. I think they will do well together."

He sighed, following after her, though he took one moment to glance at the doors behind him. "Then, perhaps, there will be three reasons to celebrate tonight. Speaking of..."

That night, after the sun set, the crystal ponies cheered as the Crystal Heart was returned to its proper place. Sombra was then brought out for the announcement for both his eighteenth birthday as well as his engagement to Autumn Gem. In the crowd, Crystal Varado nearly fainted when the latter was spoken, but he recovered quickly to celebrate for his beloved daughter.

The entire Crystal Empire sparkled brighter than it had in the past eighteen years and during the wedding of Autumn and Sombra, their happiness radiated across all of Equestria in a brilliant display of blue, yellow, and pink lights in the skies.

Maud and the Rock

One fine evening on the Pie's rock farm, Maud was spending her free time playing with her favorite golden rock. She trotted around the rock in circles, semi-circles, and even figure eights, and was almost delighted when it stayed perfectly still.

However, as she was returning home with the golden rock balanced on her head, her hoof caught on a root raised above the soil. The beloved rock flew through the air and landed in the well.

"No..." Maud said in a slow, monotonous voice. She stared at the well with a blank expression. "I would give everything that I have in the world for my rock..."

Her gaze started to fall once she gave up hope on her rock returning when she spied another rock sitting by the well.

"Oh. Hi."

She picked up the new rock and put it on her head where the other rock had been, then resumed her journey home.

When she sat down for dinner with the family, her father commented on her new companion.

"What happened to your golden rock?"

"It fell down the well, so I got a new one." She slid her plate in front of the rock. "He's hungry."

Her father nodded and resumed his meal.

Maud stood up slowly, which was rather sudden for her. "Rock is tired. I'm taking him to bed."

Her father nodded again. "You're excused."

She carried the rock upstairs, set him on her pillow, and went to sleep. She had a wonderful dream where she was a rock surrounded by smaller rocks that adored her.

The next morning, Maud set the rock on her desk while she began to write a poem.

"Open the door, Rock.

Open the door to my heart, Rock.

And forget about the golden rock

Because now you're my rock."

She looked at the rock, which did not look back at her, or anything else for that matter.

"I dedicate this poem to you." She slid the paper over to it.

The rock didn't take it.

"Do you not like my poem?"

The rock said nothing.

"I wrote it for you, though."

The rock remained still.

Maud sighed and turned away. Her foreleg bumped against the desk and the rock tumbled off. It hit the ground with a light thud.

"Oh, no. I'm sorry." She stepped off the chair and leaned down to examine the uninjured rock. "That was an accident."

She felt a little guilty, so she lowered her head and kissed the top of the rock. Nothing extraordinary happened, but she smiled nonetheless.

"I'm glad you forgive me. Let's go."

And so she scooped up the rock and put it on top of her head, where it would always have a second home, its first being in her heart.

Pinkie and the Beast

Once upon a time, in the town of Ponyville, a young mare lived above a bakery shop. Although she had everything her heart desired, the mare secretly felt a sadness eating away at her. One winter's night, she looked in the mirror and saw her reflection, which spoke to her. The reflection offered her solace from her loneliness in return for telling the truth to her friends about how she felt.

Repulsed by the idea of being unhappy when she had so many great friends, she turned away from her reflection, but it warned her that she could not deceive her friends for long, for true happiness is found within. And when she dismissed it again, the reflection melted away to reveal a darker, more depressed version of herself.

The mare tried to ignore what she saw, but it was too late, for she had seen and knew no love for herself could grow in her barren heart. Ashamed, the mare concealed her feelings even deeper with a bigger smile, scared to let any of her friends know the truth.

However, the seed of despair had already sprouted. If she could let love for herself blossom within, then the dark feelings would be uprooted and she could, for once, be truly happy. If not, she would be doomed to have to lie to her friends and suffer alone forever.

As the years passed, she lost all hope, for who could ever learn to love a beast?

Pinkie rose from her bed one morning. Across from her, a mirror hung on the wall, and she stared at her bedraggled reflection. She hurried down the stairs and stepped out of Sugarcube Corner to greet the rising sun with a song to banish the dark feelings that had begun to stir.

"Ponyville, it's a quiet village,

Every day, great like the one before!

Ponyville, full of awesome ponies,

Waking up to say..."

"Hi Pinkie!" a yellow mare called as she passed by.

"Morning Pinkie!" a blue stallion chimed in.

"Hello!" Pinkie exclaimed, waving both of her forelegs before she dropped back onto all fours and began to trot down the main street.

"There goes the ponies with their work like always

The same old stuff and things to sell

Ev'ry morning just as same

Since the morning I came

To this awesome little town!"

"Good morning, Pinkie!" The owner of Quills & Sofas smiled at her.

"Good morning, Davenport!" Pinkie bounced over to him.

"Where are you off to this morning?"

"The library to see Twilight! I just thought of the most amazing party I could throw there, with streamers and balloons and-"

"That's nice. Marie! The quills! Hurry up!"

Pinkie smiled, shrugged her shoulders, and continued down the road.

A group of gossiping mares watched as Pinkie bounced by them.

"Look, there she goes," one whispered.

Another nodded. "That mare is sweet, no question."

"Always thinking of others, can't you see?"

"Never wearing a sad frown,"

"'Cause she's always being a clown,"

All of them nodded in agreement and said in unison, "No denying she's a funny mare, that Pinkie."

Pinkie poked her head into the circle from below, grinning up at them. "Hello!"

They smiled. "Good day!"

"How is your gossip?" She winked as they giggled. She trotted over to a merchant at a stall. "Hello!"

"Good day!"

Pinkie glanced over his wares with wide, gleaming eyes. "How is your profit?"

She returned to the main street to make her way toward the library. The door burst open with her entrance and she threw streamers in all directions. "Good morning!"

Twilight turned to look at her with a frown. Her expression caused the music in Pinkie's head to screech to a halt.

"Pinkie! Really? Do you always have to make a mess?"

A broom and dustpan floated over and began to clean up the party streamers and confetti.

"But it's not a mess!" Pinkie gave her biggest smile. "It's a celebration!"

Twilight sighed. She turned back away to face her book again while the broom finished the job cleaning. Pinkie watched the dustpan toss the brightly colored streamers into a trash bin. Her ears started to droop.

"I don't have time for this right now, Pinkie. I have a lot of studying to do."

Her ears perked back up. "Really?! That's great! Because I had the best idea for a studying par-"

"No, Pinkie. No parties. I need peace and quiet."

She bounced on the tips of her hooves over and whispered loudly, "Whatchya studyin'?"

A groan rumbled in Twilight's throat and she pushed her face closer to the book. "Something very important. Why don't you go bother somepony else? I insist!"

"Oh..." Her bouncing ceased. "Right." She backed out through the door and shut it behind her.

For a moment, she remained where she was, staring at the door. She turned her head to look at the ponies on the streets, still in little gossipping groups, but somehow their faces were different. Their smiles no longer looked friendly but instead seemed to be mocking.

"Look, there she goes."

"That pony is so peculiar!"

"I wonder if she's going to cry?"

Pinkie's lip trembled as the menacing whispers filled her ears.

"With a strange, sad little look,"

"One rejection was all that it took,"

"What a puzzle to the rest of us is Pinkie!"

She shook her head vigorously and the cheerful expressions returned to their faces. She walked slowly to the statue near the center of town and leaned against it, her gaze sliding across the sparse crowd. Nopony was actually mocking her. She sighed heavily.

Unbeknownst to her, just as she had left the library, Twilight picked up her book and darted outside to hide in the bushes nearby.

"Oh, isn't this amazing?" Twilight whispered to Spike from her hiding spot, watching Pinkie. "It's the strangest part because, you see!"

Pinkie closed her eyes.

"Here's where you'll understand what I'm saying, because now she's most unpredictable and crazy." Twilight lifted her notebook and began to take vigorous notes.

When Pinkie's eyes opened, the wide grin returned to her lips and she sprung forth to embrace the nearest pony. The pony cried out in surprise, dropping his bag of apples as she squeezed him tight. She pulled back and offered him a balloon full of all the apples he had dropped. He looked at her in confusion, accepted the apple-filled balloon, and carefully walked around her.

Twilight flinched back to remain hidden in the bushes, continuing in an even quieter whisper, "But behind that happy facade, I'm afraid there's something wrong. Very different from the rest of us..."

As Pinkie hopped down the road and away from the town square, all of the ponies whispered to one another, "She's nothing like the rest of us."

Twilight sat on her haunches to examine her notes. "Yes, different from the rest of us is Pinkie."

"Wow!" Spike hopped up to look at the notes with her. "You didn't miss a thing, Twilight! You're the greatest detective in the whole world!"

Twilight laughed a little haughtily. "I know!"

"No pony alive stands a chance hiding something from you."

"It's true, Spike." She leaned forward again to peek out from the bushes. "And I've got my sights set on Pinkie! She's the one! The lucky mare I'm going to fix."

"But she's-"

"The most interesting pony in town."

"I know but-"

"And don't forget she's my friend." She pulled back and frowned down at him. "And don't I deserve to help my friends?"

Spike rubbed his claws together. "Well of course, I mean you do, but-"

Twilight jumped out of the bushes. Her floating notepad and quill followed behind.

"Right from the moment when I met her, saw her," Twilight rolled her eyes, remembering the greeting she had received. "I said she's crazy and I knew." She held her head high. "Here in town there's only she, who is hiding something we can't see, so I'm making plans to help and fix Pinkie."

Twilight looked back at Spike. "Come on, Spike! We've got so much to do!"

Pinkie went to visit her other friends, but none of them were home. Not even Applejack was working on the farm, which struck her as most peculiar.

"Hmm..." She sat down and tapped her hoof to her forehead. "Think, Pinkie, think... Is there a party that you had planned that everypony's at?" She gasped. "Did you forget to invite yourself?!"

Pinkie jumped onto all fours and ran as fast as she could back to Sugarcube Corner. Her eyes lit up when she saw all of her friends standing there.

"It is a party!" She rushed forward and embraced as many of them as she could squeeze into one big hug. "I can't believe I forgot!"

Applejack, being the strongest, was able to push herself out of the tight squeeze. "Now, listen here, sugarcube, this ain't no party."

Pinkie blinked. She still held on to Rarity, Fluttershy, and Rainbow Dash, all of whom struggled at varying degrees. Fluttershy, of course, struggled the least.

Twilight had kept herself at a calculatedly safe distance and hadn't been pulled into the hug, so she cleared her throat. "Pinkie, we're here because we all care about you. You know that, right?"

"Well, d'uh!" She snorted as she giggled. She let go of the others. "We're all BBFUTEOT!"

They stared at her. She rolled her eyes.

"Bestest Best Friends Until The End Of Time!"

"Right..." Twilight cleared her throat again. "We feel the same way, so that's why we want to help you."

"Well, I could always use another hoof or two with setting up the party decorations."

Rainbow Dash groaned and buried her face in her hooves. "This is pointless!"

Fluttershy stepped forward. She lifted her head to look Pinkie right in the eyes. The serious look on her otherwise gentle face was unnerving.

"Pinkie... We're worried about you."

Pinkie returned the look with a blank expression.

"Um, that is, Twilight says she's noticed some things... I mean, not that there's anything wrong with you, of course. We love you as you are and we'll always love you, but... um..."

Rainbow pushed her out of the way and shoved her face into Pinkie's. "Look, Pinkie, there's no pony in Equestria that can be as crazy happy as you all the time!"

Pinkie giggled. "But I'm crazy happy! So doesn't that mean there is a pony in Equestria that can be as crazy happy as me?"

Rainbow pulled away. "It's hopeless!"

"What's hopeless?" The smiling pony tilted her head. Her smile grew even wider.

Twilight jumped forward, one hoof raised almost accusingly. "That's what I'm talking about! Look!"

The others leaned in with serious expressions as they examined her face.

"Pinkie, whenever we try to have a serious conversation with you, you just smile wider." Twilight's hoof lowered to rest on her shoulder. "Why can't you be serious with us?"

"But I am serious." Her eyes darted between all of their faces. One of her ears began to fold back.

Rarity lowered her head and peered up at her through her long eyelashes. "Darling, if you have something bothering you, you can tell us..."

Twilight leaned in closer. "Tell us, Pinkie! We're your friends!"

Finally, both ears snapped back and her smile fell. Pinkie waved both forelegs wildly to chase them away as she backed up. "Stop it!" Her eyes glossed over with tears. "I am happy! Why are you trying to tell me I'm not happy?!" Feeling the pressure caving in, she turned and ran away.

"Pinkie!" Rainbow flew after her. "It's okay to be sad once in a while, but you have to let us help you!"

Pinkie jumped up and turned mid-air to face her for a moment. She fired a party popper in the pegasus's direction and a burst of confetti, streamers, and flashes of multi-colored light knocked her off-balance.

"You don't understand!" she cried as she landed back on the ground and resumed running. "Just... leave me alone!"

When Rainbow Dash fell out of the air, the others ran forward.

"Rainbow! Are you all right?" Twilight offered a hoof to help her up.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just don't get it." She turned her head to watch the fleeing pink pony. "What does she mean, leave her alone? Doesn't that mean something is wrong, then?"

"I-" Twilight's notebook floated in front of her face and she skimmed her notes. "I don't know. I knew something was wrong, but..." She dropped her head low. "I've failed her as a friend..."

Spike gently punched her shoulder. "Who, you? Never! Twilight, you've got to pull yourself together!" He cleared his throat and drummed his fist against his chest. "Gosh it disturbs me to see you, Twilight, looking so-"

"Spike, this isn't really the time for a song!"

Spike blinked a few times. "Huh? But-"

"We've got to figure out what's wrong with Pinkie!" She got up and galloped in the direction Pinkie had left. "Come on, girls! We have to stop her!"

At that point, Pinkie had already made her way deep into the Everfree Forest. She slowed her running and gasped for air, looking all around her. "A-are they gone?" She dropped down and covered her face with both forelegs. "Oh, Pinkie, you almost blew it!"

Her sniffles and hiccups echoed throughout the dark forest.

She jumped when she felt something brush against her and looked around. "Wh-who's there?" She frowned. "Twilight?"

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of pink disappear around a tree. It was the same pink as her own tail, which intrigued her, since things in the Everfree Forest were rarely such a bright color.

"Hello?" She tentatively walked forward, but found nothing on either side of the tree. "Hmm..."

The pink reappeared and disappeared behind another tree further ahead. Without giving the possible danger too much thought, Pinkie started to trot after it, then ran as it got further and further away. Soon, the game of cat and mouse started to bring a smile to her face again until she suddenly found herself standing outside an abandoned castle.

"Oh." She tilted her head this way and that and scrunched up her nose as she stared at the open doors. "This seems like a total trap..." Her smile returned. "But what could really go wrong?"

Happily, she bounced through the doors, which slammed shut behind her. She squeaked and whirled around to look at them.

"Now it super-duper seems like a trap..." She hummed thoughtfully for a moment. "But, I'm already trapped, so here we go!"

She continued on her way into the derelict castle. She felt that she was being watched, but everywhere she looked she saw only mundane items leaning against the crumbling walls. There was a sack of flour and a pile of rocks to her right, and a bucket of turnips and a ball of lint to her left.

As she stepped into the main hall, she looked up to see a figure standing at the top of the stairs.

"Oh! Hello!" She waved both forelegs at the figure. "I found you, that means I win!"

"No, I'm afraid you don't." The figure stepped down the stairs and into the light.

Pinkie gasped. Her forelegs dropped back down to her sides.

There stood her reflection, but no longer trapped in the recesses of her mind. No, the sad, downtrodden face was there in the real world.

Pinkie nearly fell over herself as she scrambled backwards. "No, no, no!" She folded her forelegs over her face. "Go away, before anypony sees you!"

Pinkamena started toward her. "You were so scared of letting me out that you never let anypony in... And now you're trapped here."

Pinkie turned her head to glance at the shut doors at the end of the hall out of the corner of one eye. She gulped. "You've trapped me here?"

Pinkamena raised a hoof and pulled one of Pinkie's forelegs away to force the other to look at her. "Just like you did to me." She leaned in. "Why?" Her eyes - their eyes - were swimming with pain. "Why did you lock me away?"

Pinkie's lower lip trembled. "Because- oh, because!" She pushed her away and ran for the stairs. "Nopony would ever understand!"

"How do you know?!" Pinkamena called after her, hugging herself. "You never gave me a chance!"

Pinkie ran into the dark corridors, trying to escape the sound of the other's lonely voice. Her head spun with panic as she skidded into each room and looked for a way out. All the windows were barred and none of the boards were loose enough when she tried to push and pull them.

Finally, she found a room with a dusty bed and collapsed on it in defeat. She gazed up at the ceiling with wide, fearful eyes that slowly began to close and she drifted into a restless sleep from exhaustion.

Time passed, simply because it had to, but there was no way to tell whether it was day or not when she awoke. Had she slept only a minute? An hour? Was it a new day?

Pinkie sat up and blinked a few times when a blanket fell to her lap. She looked at the doorway and frowned to see Pinkamena standing there.

"You looked cold, so I-"

"Go away!" Pinkie threw the tattered blanket at her.

Pinkamena flinched, but didn't dodge the throw. She lowered her gaze to the floor. "Why?"

"Because... You can't be real." Pinkie's chest rose and fell with ragged breaths. "Ponies aren't sad, not like you are."

"But I'm you."

"No, you're not!" She clasped her hooves over her ears. "You can't be me! I'm happy!"

"But-"

"Just go!"

Pinkamena sighed and stepped backwards, shutting the door behind her. Pinkie listened to the hoofsteps as they moved further away before she collapsed back onto the bed.

"Yes, I made the choice. For them, I kept her at bay..." She gritted her teeth. "But I don't deserve to lose my freedom in this way, you monster!"

Out in the main corridor, Pinkamena crumpled to the ground and closed her eyes. "If you think that what you've done is right, well then... you're a fool. Think again!"

Pinkie slid out of the bed and walked carefully to the door, then hesitated. She looked around the dusty, dimly lit room. "Is this home? Is this where I should learn to be happy?"

Pinkamena lifted her head to look up at the cracked stones that made up the ceiling. "Never dreamed that a home could be dark and cold." She sighed and lifted back to her hooves. She continued down the corridor and turned the corner.

Pinkie pulled the door open and looked around. She saw nothing, so she stepped out of the room. "Am I here for a day or forever? Shut away from the world until who knows when?"

Before she could get too far from the room, a flour sack hopped out to greet her.

"Bonjour!"

Pinkie gasped with surprised joy when the flour sack spoke and she hopped toward it. "Hello!"

"Oui, zat is what I said." The flour tilted some in the middle. "So, you are madame Pinkie?"

"Yeppers!"

"I see!" The sack hopped forward. Puffs of white flew out every time it hit the ground. "I am Madame le Flour. It is good to meet you, oui oui."

Pinkie smiled wide. She reached out and hugged the flour sack. "It's super-duper great to meet you!"

Madame le Flour went completely limp when she hugged it. Pinkie pulled back, stared at it for a moment, then gave it a small shake.

"Uh, Madame-"

The sack straightened back up and seemed to be staring at her, assuming they were facing each other. "If you are going to pretend to be happy, zen I am going to pretend to be a flour sack."

"But you are a flour sack, silly willy!" Pinkie snorted as she giggled.

The sack did not seem to enjoy the same humor. "Non, madame. I look like a flour sack, but I am, in fact, not a flour sack. I am Madame le Flour." One of its floppy corners pointed up at her almost accusingly. "And you, madame, look like a happy mare, but you are not. You cannot lie in this place."

Pinkie's mouth twitched. "Who says I'm lying?"

"We do." The bucket of turnips hopped forward with a loud clunk, clank. "We are friends with the real you, Pinkie."

Pinkie pushed the flour sack away, causing it to stumble into the bucket and knock the turnips over. She watched in slight dismay as the sack helped the turnips back into their bucket.

She shook her head and said softly, "That... that monster isn't me. I'm me!" She pressed her hoof against her chest. "I'm the real Pinkie!"

Pinkamena walked around the corner at that moment. "We're both you, Pinkie." She frowned. "I'm you." She stepped closer to the other.

Pinkie took a step back. "How can you be me when you're so sad? No pony is sad. So you're not real!" Her lips twitched into a broken smile. "None of this is real, is it? This is just a bad dream and I'm going to wake up and then I'll throw a 'I'm not a crazy pony who feels sad' party to celebrate getting rid of you!"

Pinkamena stopped where she was. The hurt was plain on her face. "Dinner... will be served soon." She turned away and walked back down the hall.

Pinkie let out a slow, jagged sigh and slumped against the wall. She looked at the animated objects. A bouncing lint ball had been added to the group.

"Forget having a party later! Let's have a party now!" She pulled out a bunch of streamers and threw them in the air. "It'll be a- Hey, where are you going?"

The others kept hopping away, but Madame le Flour paused to respond. "We are leaving. We have no eenterest in a fraud."

"Oh..." Pinkie watched the colorful streamers fall to the ground. She slumped down to the ground and poked at them with one hoof. "I see." She forced her lips into a smile. "That's okay! I can have a party by myself. I'm not..."

When she looked up, the animate objects were gone.

"... lonely..." Her ears fell.

She sighed and pushed herself back to her hooves. She walked down a hall that had stained glass scenes in place of windows. Having nothing better to do, she paused to examine the first one.

It was instantly recognizable: it showed five snapshots in time, each being when she met each of her friends. She smiled at the fond memories of all those meetings.

"Hello, I am- oh! Darling! What ever happened to your hair? It's so... wild! Do you need to borrow a brush? Perhaps two?"

"H-hi... my... n-name... is, um, Fluttershy."

"Well howdy! I guess yer here to pick up the apples fer the Cakes?""

"Hey, I'm looking for a pegasus named Fluttershy. Do you know her? I'm Rainbow Dash, in case she's mentioned me, which I'm sure she has. We're friends."

"Come on Twilight, just try!" "Um... hello?"

Pinkie giggled. The sound echoed down the halls after she had stopped when she noticed something else. At the side of each scene was Pinkamena.

"Well that's not right!" She frowned. "She wasn't there."

Somewhat annoyed, she walked over to the next window.

"Hey! She wasn't there, either!" Even more annoyed, she stomped to the next and growled. "Now I'm not even in them anymore! What in the name of party poopers is going on?"

She dropped her plot down to sit with her forelegs crossed over her chest.

"Who does she think she is, putting herself in my memories where she doesn't belong?"

"Dinner is ready." Pinkamena kept her gaze on the ground as she turned back away to where she had come.

"Hey, wait!" Pinkie ran over to catch up with her. "You have some explaining to do, missy!"

Pinkamena didn't look at her. "They're our memories." She sighed. "You try to pretend I wasn't there, but..." She stopped suddenly, causing Pinkie to skid to a halt. She reached out a hoof and put it to Pinkie's chest. "You know you could feel me here."

Pinkie's eyes darted to look anywhere but at her. "I-I don't know what you're talking about. The only thing I can feel there is the joy of being alive and having friends!" She paused, then giggled. "And your hoof."

"How can you call them your friends?" She withdrew her hoof and continued toward the dining hall. "You don't trust them."

"Of course I do! I trust them with my life." Pinkie puffed out her chest with pride.

"But you don't trust them with your feelings?"

This caused Pinkie's pride to deflate some. "O-of course I do."

Pinkamena looked at her with a furrowed brow. "You don't even trust yourself with your feelings!"

Pinkie grumbled the rest of the way to the dining hall. The meal was ordinary and had in silence, both of them sitting on opposite ends of the unnecessarily long table.

Once finished, Pinkie returned to her room. She laid on the bed for a while, then bounced off and climbed underneath it. Surrounded by dust and darkness, she allowed herself to cry.

"Wh-why is she right?" she whimpered softly and buried her face against her folded forelegs.

Over the next few days, Pinkie grew less angry toward Pinkamena and even started to befriend the animate objects.

"You know," she commented, lying on her back and staring at Madame le Flour upside-down. "You kind of remind me of Rarity." She rolled over to sit right-side up. "I mean, you act like her, anyway." She giggled. "I don't think she'd like being called a sack of flour!"

Madame le Flour puffed white smoke. "I do not like being called a sack of flour!"

"That's exactly what she'd say!" She turned her head to look at Mr. Turnip. "And you're a guy, but you're, well, I mean, apples and turnips..." She threw her hooves in the air. "Are they really that different? You're totally Applejack!" Excited, she whirled around to face the pile of rocks. "And you're-" She stopped.

"I'm what?"

"Oh, well, I just realized there's only four of you and five of my friends, so these comparisons really don't work out."

Pinkamena stepped around a corner and commented, "I could stand in for one of them, if you want."

"Now that's crazy talk!" Pinkie waved a hoof absently, still examining Rocky. "You're me, of course!"

Both Pinkie and Pinkamena straightened up and stared at one another, the former in horror and the latter in surprise.

Pinkie scrunched up her face and stood up. She started to walk in a wide circle around Pinkamena, who held perfectly still.

"There's something familiar, and almost mine," Pinkie thought to herself. "I wonder why I didn't see it there before."

Pinkamena tried not to move as Pinkie examined her. "No- it can't be. I'll just ignore..." She looked at the other when the examination stopped and Pinkie stood in front of her. "But then she's never looked at me that way before."

Pinkamena cleared her throat. "Pinkie, I have something I want to show you. But you have to close your eyes. It's a surprise!"

"Ooh! I love surprises!" Pinkie clamped her eyes shut and allowed herself to be led by the other. "What is it? Can I open them? Are we there yet?"

Pinkamena smiled and finally said, "All right, all right. Now!"

Pinkie opened one eye, then the other as she gasped. "Oh! Wow! Oh my gosh!" She bounced in circles.

A room she had never seen before in the castle was brightly lit, unlike any of the other rooms. There were pink streamers and balloons everywhere and a large cake on a table decorated with pink flowers.

"I've never seen a party like it in my whole life!"

"You like it?"

"It's wonderful!" Pinkie spun in a circle.

"It's ours."

This caused Pinkie to stop. Slowly, she turned to look at Pinkamena, who was looking down at the ground.

"It's... the party I imagined you would throw when you finally told your friends about me." She sighed. "I've been saving it for so long."

Pinkie's brow furrowed. Her lips twitched. Her ears flicked back and forth. As her eyes started to gloss over, she pushed Pinkamena aside and ran out of the room.

Pinkamena stumbled into a chair, which she collapsed into. She sighed. "Oh, Pinkamena, you blew it..."

Tears fell down Pinkie's cheeks as she fled to the furthest room she could find. It was dark and grew even darker when she shut the door behind her.

For years, she had been drowning her loneliness in party after party. Never once had she considered what that was doing to the feelings she was suffocating, how they - how Pinkamena - truly suffered as she ignored them.

Across the room stood a tall mirror leaning against the wall. Pinkie slowly walked toward it and stopped in front of it.

Pinkie raised a hoof to gently touch her reflection in the mirror. It was a sad face, and yet, she recognized it as both Pinkamena's and her own. In that moment, they were one and the same.

Who was she? Was she Pinkie, or was she Pinkamena? Was she happy or sad?

She fell to her knees and cried freely.

The next day, Pinkamena came to her room. She refused to make eye contact with Pinkie, who refused the same.

"Pinkie, I..." She hesitated. "I can't keep you here any longer."

Pinkie lifted her head.

"You win." She rubbed her hoof against her other leg. "I don't belong in your world, and you don't belong in mine. So... go."

"I can just... leave?"

"Yes."

Pinkie sat there for a few moments. Slowly, she climbed off the bed. "Just like that, you're letting me leave."

Pinkamena finally looked at her with a scowl. "Yes, now leave before I change my mind!"

Pinkie dragged her hooves as she walked toward the door. She paused in front of the other. "I... I'm sorry." She shook her head. "I'm sorry!" She broke out into a run and hurried as fast as she could to the castle doors.

As she neared them, the doors opened of their own accord. She ran through them and...

... fell off the bed. She blinked when she landed, shook her head from the pain and the sudden bright light, and looked around.

"Huh?"

She was on the floor of her room with all of her friends standing around her. She blinked up at them.

"Oh, Pinkie!" Twilight was the first to embrace her. "Thank Celestia you're all right!"

Pinkie just blinked again. "What?"

"We found ya in the forest." Applejack lowered her head. "Pinkie, we're so sorry we tried to corner ya..."

"Can you forgive us?" Rarity's lower lip trembled.

Pinkie just blinked yet again. "... What?"

Twilight pulled back. "After you ran off, we tried to catch up to you. You were passed out in the Everfree Forest. We..." She teared up. "We were so worried!"

Finally, Pinkie leaned back against the side of her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "Oh. So it was a dream."

The others talked all at once, apologizing and questioning and babbling in general.

"I'm sad sometimes," Pinkie said softly, but her words silenced the others. "No..." She looked at them. "Like, a lot of the time." She grinned lopsidedly. "Is that weird?"

"What's weird is that instead of telling us, you just act crazy," Rainbow Dash said, rolling her eyes.

"But everypony is happy, especially in Ponyville..." Her grin fell.

"That's not true." Applejack sat down. "Why do y'all think I work so hard?" She looked around at all of them. "It's a distraction, like Pinkie's partyin'. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my family and the farm, an' I wouldn't change it fer nothin'. But sometimes I feel like I'm missin' something. Don't know what it is, so I just work to not think 'bout it."

Rarity nodded. "Oh, well, I suppose if we're being honest, I don't always have a client or a deadline. Actually..." She covered her face with a hoof. "I rarely do! I just try to make myself seem more popular by making dresses constantly!" She sniffed. "But other than around the gala, no one seems to want to buy my things..."

As Pinkie listened to all of them, a warmth began to spread through her chest, though she began to cry. "So... I'm not alone..."

"Of course not!" they all exclaimed at once.

"You just took it a little far with all of your partying." Fluttershy blushed. "I mean, well, I think that's what we're saying..."

Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around herself and hugged herself tight. "I'm not weird!" She laughed. "Do you hear that, Pinkamena? You're not alone anymore!"

Rainbow Dash raised one brow. "Well, that might be a little weird..."

Somewhere deep in Pinkie's heart, Pinkamena sat alone in the darkness. She sighed. "So, she really left..."

"I knew it, I knew it!" Rocky grumbled. "I knew it was foolish to get our hopes up!"

Madame le Flour nodded. "Maybe it would have been better eef she had never come at all!"

There was a loud knock on the castle doors.

"Could it be?" Mr. Turnip hopped forward.

"Is it she?" Sir Lintsalot rolled over to a window and gasped.

The others joined him both in looking out the window and gasping. Madame le Flour, despite her heft, was able to move the fastest, so she bounced all the way to the room Pinkamena was in. "Pardonnez-moi, madame, but we have visitors."

Pinkamena lifted her head and stared at the sack with confusion. "Visitors? But that's impossible."

She started to hop away. "Come see for yourself, madame!"

Pinkamena hesitated before she followed behind her. The doors burst open just as she reached the main hall and she froze in mid-step.

Twilight stepped into the room with a bright smile. Light followed with her, spreading from the open door and running all along the walls and floor. The disrepair began to lift, the cracks disappearing and the dust vanishing. As the light reached the animate objects, they transformed one by one. Madame le Flour became Rarity; Mr. Turnip, Applejack; Sir Lintsalot, Fluttershy; Rocky, Rainbow Dash.

"You're not alone anymore," Twilight said in Pinkie's voice before it returned to her normal one. "We're here."

Pinkamena's jaw hung open before her mouth lifted into a smile and she hugged herself, eyes clenched shut to try to stave off tears. When she opened them, she was not hugging herself, but Pinkie was before her, hugging her instead.

"I'm here, too!" Pinkie hugged her even tighter. "So you don't have to cry alone."

A tear fell down both of their cheeks. The tears fell at the same time and landed on the ground near each other. Pinkie looked down at the fallen tears and gasped loudly.

"Look! Ohmigosh!" She crouched down.

Pinkamena crouched with her and they both exclaimed, "It's a heart!"

Back in her bedroom, her friends came forward for a big group hug.

Pinkie returned all the hugs as tightly as she could. "I'm the luckiest pony ever!"

"Why is that?" Twilight asked.

Pinkie smiled earnestly big and wide. "Because now I have, like, twelve BBFUTEOT! Or do I count myself three times? Hmm..." She tapped on her chin. "This will need some serious thought..."

Rainbow Dash slapped her hoof against her forehead. "I thought we were done with the crazy talk!"

Pinkie laughed. "No way, silly!" She waved a hoof dismissively. "This is who I am when I'm not sad!"

"Oh, great, so you're saying you're going to be even crazier now?"

"Isn't it great?!" Pinkie threw her hooves in the air. "We should have a crazy party!"

And so they did have a party, but not a crazy party. Instead, they had a slumber party, where each of them shared their insecurities all through the night. Each one of them grew stronger from the unwavering support of their friends and, more importantly, learning to love themselves for who they were.