Canterlot Tails Season 1: Star Power

by Sunnyside

Rating: everyone
Tags: Comedy, Adventure, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Original Character
Length: 27195

Young ponies in Canterlot stumble upon a conspiracy to corrupt the royal princesses

Have you ever wondered what it meant that the Stars aided in the escape of Nightmare Moon? Why does Celestia seem to troll her subjects from time to time? Could it be that something is influencing her, perhaps the same force that turned Luna into Nightmare Moon one thousand years ago?

Published 2011-09-28 04:40:04 UTC
Last updated 2011-12-19 06:31:18 UTC

Episode 0: Introduction

This fic came about as a result of a tabletop RPG using the Primetime Adventures ruleset. We wanted to explore the behind-the-scenes politicking of the Court of Canterlot and figure out what it meant that the Stars aided in the escape of Nightmare Moon. We are also inspired by the possibility of strife between the royal sisters. The plot is not guided by any single game master. It often manages to surprise us and make us laugh, and that's the sign of a successful game. We hope you enjoy the story we are creating, too. (Edit, now that Season 1 is complete: Most of the players definitely didn't expect when we started out that'd we'd be having musical numbers of our own!)

Dramatis Ponysonae (Our Mane Cast):

Sunnyside (Son of Lady Shelly of the Egg Family and Lord French Toast, a foreign cousin of the breakfast families; pegasus): A golden-haired colt with wild pink mane, Sunnyside is a natural explorer who is being groomed for diplomacy in service of the crown. For his part, he can't wait to get out of the city and will be just as happy if he doesn't run into any 'civilized' ponies out there. One of the things pushing him out of Canterlot is the fact that his two closest friends are fillies from rival families who can't stand each other. He doesn't want to lose any of his friends or shirk his responsibilities, but things would be so much simpler out in the wilderness. His cutie mark is a sunrise in which the horizon is a spyglass.

Sugar Scoop (Daughter of Lady Double Scoop of the Ice Cream Family; pegasus): A filly reporter who shocked her family by abandoning the sacred art of ice cream making to become a reporter for a newspaper called Equestria Daily. As we shall see, she later dashed any remaining goodwill her family may have had for her. Sugar Scoop struggles with journalistic ethics, not considering the consequences of her articles. After all, "The ponies have a right to know!" Her coat and mane are various shades of grey, reminiscent of newsprint. Her cutie mark is an interrobang: "!?"

Fizzlespark (a unicorn commoner): A vivid green colt with a spiky purple mane, Fizzlespark is known throughout Canterlot for his flashy experiments in Science! His laboratory is a tangle of levers, tubes, bubbling test tubes, and unidentifiable devices. He is deeply frustrated by the difficulty of repeating any feat of scientific engineering, envious of the repeatability and reliability of the magical arts. Still, there's no denying that Fizzlespark has a talent for getting machines to do what he wants. His cutie mark is an Erlenmeyer flask. He also has a clockwork dragon that follows him around named Spring.

Long Tail (a unicorn commoner): A blunt filly with a long blue mane and tail, Long Tail has a talent for telling how likely events are to occur, based on the information she's able to collect. Long Tail served in the Equestrian military as an advisor, but General Gemesis did not take well to her critiques of his plans, and she was dismissed. Since then, she has supported herself by telling fortunes along the road. Long Tail is seeking a higher cause for her talents, and hopes to find it in Canterlot. Her cutie mark is a graph showing a Lorentzian probability distribution.

Glitterdust (an earth pony commoner): A delivery filly with a constantly put-upon demeanor, Glitterdust is extremely conscious of the class divide in Equestria and Canterlot in particular. The nobility and the delivery pegasi may ignore her as they flit to and fro among the towers of Canterlot, but Glitterdust is determined to prove her worth somehow. She joined the delivery service to help connect people together, but it hasn't given her connections of her own, unless you count her unpredictable boss, Derpy Hooves. She has a glassy mane and a cutie mark of a sack.

Notable Families of Canterlot:

The Cake Family: The pegasi of the Cake Family are the lords of baking in Equestria. Their vassal families include both unicorns and earth ponies, with talents ranging from pastry to bread to cookies. Fat Rascal and French Fancy are the patriarch and matriarch of the family. One of their daughters, Red Velvet, is a close friend of Sunnyside's. The Cake Family is the arch-rival of the Scoop Family. Family Motto: "Let Them Eat Cake"

The Egg Family: The Egg Family controls key hatcheries that supply eggs for consumption, for use in baking and ice cream, and for military applications. The Benedict Bombers of the Egg Family have fiercely shelled the enemies of the crown in all the great conflicts of history. As they are feared by evil-doers across Equestria, they often appear in official propaganda. Sunnyside's big brother Scrambler is the current Captain of the Benedict Bombers, and doesn't have a lot of patience for 'diplomatic' solutions. The family is loosely allied with various breakfast-related families. Family Motto: "All Your Eggs, in One Basket"

The Scoop Family: The matriarch of the Scoop family is an enormous mare named Double Scoop. Too fat to fly, it is whispered behind her back that the reason her husband is rarely seen is because she's sitting on him. No wise pony would say this to her face, however. The Scoop family is wealthy and powerful, with ties reaching as far as the snow-making pegasi of Cloudsdale. Sugar Scoop and Sprinklebelle are daughters of Double Scoop. The latter is an obedient daughter, diligently studying the ancient Scoop recipes and turning out exquisite frozen treats. Sugar Scoop, on the other hoof, turned her back on the family's ways to become a muckraking reporter for some common newspaper. Family Motto: "We All Scream for Ice Cream"

Episode 1: The Stars Will Aid in Her Escape

Sunnyside had spent all night rubbing shoulders with the nobility of Canterlot, waiting for sunrise and the Summer Sun Celebration. Like most high-society parties in Canterlot, it was dreadful. When the steward announced that dawn was near, Sunnyside took the first opportunity to hop outside and flew to the tallest tower of Egg Manor, his favorite spot in the city. Sunnyside often came here to be alone, to look to the horizon and daydream about what lay beyond. This morning, though, his gaze was drawn up to the stars. Were they... moving?

Yes, unmistakeably, there were four stars drifting across the sky, converging on the Moon. He watched, entranced. When the stars reached the Moon, there was a flash of light, and then the Moon itself had changed. The dark patches that looked like a unicorn mare were gone. Sunnyside lifted his trusty spyglass to one eye, but saw nothing further.

The Royal Sunrise Fanfare began playing, and Sunnyside gazed eastward. The fanfare went on longer than usual, then faltered. The timing had been right, the Sun should have risen... but it hadn't.

~~~

The ponies of the city had been in a raucous mood, ready for the day's celebration after a night of anticipation. Now herds of tired, confused, frightened ponies stampeded about Canterlot.

Sugar Scoop's keen reporter sense cut through the confusion and directed her to the lab of the Mad Scientist Fizzlespark, where there just happened to be a new, large contraption protruding into the sky. Unable to see anything of interest through the windows, she flew into one of the large pipes opening up from the roof, clattering through a maze of tubes and finally spilling out triumphantly into the laboratory. At the same moment, the delivery pony Glitterdust opened the front door to the lab and walked in. Sugar spared Glitterdust an irritated glance before confronting the Mad Scientist.

"Fizzlespark, what are your demands!?"

The unicorn finally looked up from the lab bench where he was laboring. "Huh? Demands?"

Sugar advanced on him. "For the return of the Sun. What is it you want? Money? Power? Fillies? Or did you just block out the Sun because you can?"

"Ooh, the Sun. No, it's nothing like that. The Sun isn't actually gone. It just looks that way as a side effect of my latest invention. You see, we're actually invisible!"

Sugar and Glitterdust looked each other up and down. "Uh, no?" Sugar observed. "In fact," Glitterdust agreed.

Fizzlespark rested a hoof on his forehead in exasperation. "Not to one another, but to anypony outside-"

A loud knock rattled the door.

"Now who could that be?" he mused, opening the door.

It was approximately everypony. The new protuberance extending from Fizzlespark's lab into the Canterlot skyline had not gone unnoticed.

Sugar and Glitterdust gave Fizzlespark a skeptical look. The ponies outside seemed to have no trouble seeing those in the lab.

"It bends sunlight around the whole city," Fizzlespark said. "Canterlot is effectively invisible to anypony outside. Of course, one side effect is that we can't see the Sun from inside Canterlot. But the important thing is that it worked. It worked!"

A burly police pony entered the lab, surrounded by fellow officers. "So it worked, did it? Well, you just un-work it this instant. You're in a heap of trouble already."

Fizzlespark sighed and started pulling levers, turning cranks, and pushing buttons.

"Cousin Bobtail?" The officer turned at the voice of Long Tail, who wove through the crowd and into the lab. "Why is everyone messing around here instead of doing something about the Sun?"

"Hi Cousin Long Tail," Bobtail said, nodding politely. "We are doing something about it. This pony here stole the Sun and he's about to bring it back. Isn't that right." It wasn't a question.

Fizzlespark threw up his hooves. "I didn't steal the Sun! I just... prevented any sunlight from reaching us."

"You see? I've heard enough," Bobtail declared, gesturing for his officers to take Fizzlespark in. "And I thought I told you to turn your machine off."

Now Fizzlespark was genuinely puzzled. "I did. The Sun should be visible now."

Bobtail glared. "We'll get our answers at the station. Take him away, boys!"

Before the police ponies could reach Fizzlespark, he leapt onto his helicopter escape seat, and lifted off into the maze of pipes dominating his laboratory, cackling triumphantly. Everypony's eyes followed the clattering noises as Fizzlespark progressed through elaborate loops and twists on his way to freedom. Unfortunately, one of the pipes had been bent during Sugar Scoop's forced entry. The din intensified, drawing startled shouts from the fleeing colt.

The empty escape copter seat tumbled out of one pipe and fell to the ground, while Fizzlespark careened out of another pipe on the smaller escape copter designed for escape from his escape copter, in case of just such a double emergency as this. Fizzlespark's mini-copter veered straight into Glitterdust, and the two were left in an unceremonious pile on the laboratory floor, the now-spent mini-copter twitching beside them.

"Now that is assault and battery, or at least reckless endangerment," Bobtail announced. "He's coming down to the station. Bring the earth pony, too, as a witness." Glitterdust sighed from underneath the mad unicorn.

Long Tail walked in front of Bobtail and looked him in the eye. "But this pony didn't do it! We need to find out what really happened. Have you contacted Princess Celestia?"

"Cousin, I'm sorry, but this whole crisis is above my pay grade. The word came down that this pony is to blame, and I'm taking him in. My hooves are tied." Sugar Scoop leaned in, interested to hear that Fizzlespark was apparently being scapegoated. Bobtail noticed the reporter and excused himself. "That's all I can say."

Sunnyside landed as Fizzlespark and Glitterdust were led out by the police. "What happened here?"

Officer Bobtail gestured to Fizzlespark. "This pony is responsible for blocking out the Sun, and we're taking him in."

Sunnyside nodded gravely. "Alright. But what did he do to the Moon?"

Everypony turned their eyes upward, noted with relief that the Moon was still there, then realized that something was off. In the shadows of a nearby alley, a pony dressed all in black narrowed its eyes, glaring at Sunnyside.

Fizzlespark spoke: "Huh. I honestly have no idea."

Officer Bobtail was rattled, and wanted nothing more than to wash his hooves of the whole situation. "Tell it to the magistrate," he said, getting the police force moving again and leaving the scene.

"How could somepony block out the Sun?" Sunnyside wondered aloud.

"He didn't," Long Tail put in. "That's what I've been trying to say. There's only a seven percent chance that he could have accomplished this result, and I think we can shrink that probability even further by examining the equipment he used for his supposed 'invisibility' effect."

Sugar Scoop, Sunnyside, and Long Tail introduced themselves, then put their heads together and filled one another in on what they'd seen, stepping out of the busy street and into a quiet alley.

"Someone in Bobtail's chain of command knows Fizzlespark isn't really responsible," Sugar reasoned. "We could talk to the commissioner."

Long Tail shook her head. "There's a seventy percent chance she wouldn't even speak with us, a twenty-five percent chance she'd say that the order the scapegoat Fizzlespark came from over her head, and a ten percent chance that she'd judge us to be a problem she needs to deal with because she's actually a significant player in whatever's going on."

"Long Tail, how exactly is any of that useful information?" Sugar demanded. "We still have no idea what's actually true or what she might say if we actually went and talked to her."

Long Tail scowled. Before she could retort, Sunnyside stepped between the two fillies to smooth things over. "Now hang on, Long Tail's talent could be useful for figuring out what to ask. Or..."

"Or who to ask," Sugar mused out loud.

"Sure!" Sunny quickly agreed. "Long Tail, who do you think would know something about what's going on?"

Long Tail's ears perked up. It seemed Sugar and Sunny had finally hit upon a useful question to ask. "Why, most likely the ninja hiding behind me on the roof of the blue building, spying on us."

On the rooftop, moonlight reflected off of the eyes of the silhouetted ninja pony: two discs widening in surprise. Long Tail's mane fluttered as her two pegasus companions burst into flight and pounced onto the rooftop. The ninja unfurled her own dark wings and dove into the alley on the other side of the building, with Sugar and Sunny close behind.

Long Tail looked up forlornly at her vanishing friends as the shadows of the alley began to close in on her. "Of course, that ninja isn't the only lead..."

~~~

Sugar and Sunny were oblivious, focused on the fleeing pegasus. The three ponies wove among the buildings and spires of Canterlot. The ninja tried to lose the pursuers amidst the tangle of Old Canterlot, the domain of the nobility, but Sugar and Sunny were both familiar with its twists and turns. In desperation, the dark pegasus darted into a window of Cake Manor. Sunnyside barreled in next, but while the ninja was able to dodge around the red-maned filly inside, Sunnyside crashed right into her, tumbling head over hooves into a wardrobe full of fancy dresses. Sunny found himself muzzle-to-muzzle with Red Velvet, looking into her wide, orange eyes, feeling more than a little woozy, when Sugar shot past, the way now clear of obstructions.

The ninja had landed in a crouched position, breathing heavily. Sugar Scoop almost had her! The ninja leapt into action at the last moment, desperately slamming shut a heavy door. Sugar tried in vain to halt her forward momentum, then collided with the door face first and slid to the floor.

"Ow." The reporter rose unsteadily to her hooves and bent her snout back into position. She grouchily opened one eye, and what she saw made her forget her pain. A clue! The ninja had closed the door on her own uniform, and a scrap of cloth had torn off. Sugar opened the door, and while the ninja was long gone, the scrap of cloth was all hers. She unfolded it and grimaced at what she saw.

Hearing the other pegasi, she put the cloth away and walked nonchalantly back into Red Velvet's boudoir, where a furiously blushing Sunnyside was apologizing ceaselessly to Red Velvet as he attempted to extricate himself from the clothing that had been dumped out of the filly's wardrobe on top of the pair of them. Red Velvet had risen, taken a few steps away, and was now watching Sunny sidelong, her own white cheeks nearly as red as her now-disheveled mane. She spotted Sugar Scoop and startled, her demeanor shifting.

"What are you two doing in my bedroom?" she demanded.

Sunnyside finally rose, covering his eyes with one hoof. "Red, I'm so sorry for barging-"

"Stop apologizing," Sugar Scoop interrupted, annoyed at losing their prey. To Red Velvet: "We were chasing a ninja who knows something about what happened to the Sun."

"And who knows Old Canterlot really well," Sunnyside added, blindly trying to work his way towards the exit. "Like somepony who grew up here." Sugar's eyes darted from side to side. Sunny went on, "It's a shame we weren't able to figure out who it was!"

"Yeaaaah," said Sugar. Red Velvet was watching her intensely. "So, Sunny, we should talk. Let's go."

Sunnyside turned his head as Sugar Scoop led him away. "So long, Red. It was, uh, good bumping into you!"

"Oh Sunnyside," Red Velvet shook her head at the departing pegasi. "You simply must stop associating with those Scoop fillies. They're nothing but trouble."

~~~

Meanwhile, at the jailhouse, Officer Bobtail interviewed Glitterdust about the assault. Glitterdust held an ice pack to her head and sighed.

"Can I go yet?" Glitterdust asked

"Just a few more questions..."

For his part, Fizzlespark decided he needed a nap, which meant he needed an alarm clock. Using the materials available, he devised a a mechanical contraption that he wound up, and which would knock on his bed when it had unwound. He settled in for a snooze and was snoring moments later.

None of the police ponies noticed Fizzlespark's tinkering. As he was working, a grey filly with a blonde mane trotted into the station, right up to Officer Bobtail, and stared him right in the eyes, her jaw protruding with determination. Her yellow eyes held his for a moment.

"Er," the police pony began. "Can I help y-agh!" Those yellow eyes drifted disconcertingly in different directions. The new arrival's expression softened to a vapid grin.

"According to Section 173(g) of the Equestrian Martial Code," the filly began. "In times of emergency, delivery ponies shall not, er... derp."

Bobtail looked at Glitterdust, who shrugged. "I think the boss wants me to get to work," Glitterdust offered, looking hopefully at Ditzy Doo.

"Hurp. In times of emergency, delivery ponies shall not be hindered in delivery of parcels related to the defense of the realm." Ditzy pointed out the door with one hoof to an overflowing cart full of envelopes bearing the seal of the Royal Army. Glitterdust grimaced at the number of letters – she'd have her work cut out for her.

Officer Bobtail started to object, but one of the other police ponies had pulled out a copy of the Equestrian Martial Code. "Bob, the delivery pony's right! We have to let Glitterdust deliver those military notices."

Ditzy nodded vacantly and derped out of the police station, absently dropping an envelope on her way. Glitterdust followed, snatching up the envelope and stopping just outside to take a peek. It was addressed to Ditzy, and bore the seal of the Royal Army. The seal had been broken, and Glitterdust took out the message inside. It was an order to deliver a huge number of military notices today, but it was dated a week ago. Somepony had known in advance that there was going to be an emergency. Glitterdust read on. The order was signed by General Gemesis. Glitterdust held in her hooves actual hard evidence that the General knew of the catastrophe in advance.

Fizzlespark's timer ran down, and he was awakened by his device prodding his bed. But "prodding" is not quite the right word. A more accurate description might be "hurling with explosive force."

The rocketbed – with Fizzlespark and his clockwork dragon holding on for dear life – crashed out of the jail cell and shot out of the station, spewing fire and smoke and carrying him off into the night.

Glitterdust stood in front of the station, holding a pile of ashes in her hooves where once there had been an incriminating letter. She sighed, then checked the enormous cart full of mail she had to deliver. Some had been scattered about the street, but the envelopes all seemed intact. She dusted the ashes off her hooves, gathered up the scattered mail, and diligently carted it off to start her deliveries.

~~~

Sunnyside and Sugar Scoop returned to the darkened alley where they had left Long Tail, but she was gone. Inspecting the ground, they found a long, blue hair and scuffed hoofmarks, as if there had been a struggle. They shared a look, their faces grave. Sugar Scoop spoke first: "They've taken her."

(The program ceased for a "commercial break," during which we ordered pizza, then resumed)

After fruitlessly searching for a trail, the two pegasi slumped against the alley wall in defeat. Sunnyside spoke first: "You know what we need?" Sugar Scoop cocked her head. Sunny continued: "Breakfast."

The two soon had a table at Pony Joe's Donut Hole.

"How are we going to find Long Tail now?" Sunny asked. "We haven't got a clue!"

"Actually," Sugar began hesitantly. "There is one thing."

"Oh?"

Sugar surveyed the cafe. As usual, there were quite a few police ponies at the Donut Hole. She cautiously placed a scrap of cloth on the table, positioning herself so the police in the cafe couldn't see.

"The ninja's uniform got caught in the door at Cake Manor," Sugar explained. "This tore off."

The dark fabric was emblazoned with an ice cream cone, with a crescent moon prominently displayed on the scoop of ice cream.

"The old Scoop family war crest?" Sunny asked, incredulous. "That hasn't been used in a thousand years!"

Sugar nodded.

"But, if the ninja was from your own family..." Sunny's face was quizzical.

"Why show it to you?" Sugar put the fabric away and snorted. "I'm not exactly on good terms with the rest of the Scoops."

"I know Lady Double Scoop wasn't happy when you gave up ice cream making to go into journalism, but it's hardly a reason to disown you."

"That's not the only thing Mom was unhappy about." Sugar chewed her lip. "I wrote an exposé on the Scoop family history. Professor Greenhorn's latest archaeological dig turned up evidence that the Scoops had supported a pony known as Nightmare Moon... a pony who tried to overthrow Princess Celestia and brought civil war to Equestria."

Their waiter, Pancake, arrived with breakfast, giving Sugar a wink and a broad smile. Naturally, the Cake family had been pleased when scandal hit the Scoops.

Pancake left, and Sugar Scoop continued between bites of breakfast. "That article made my career. But now... I wonder if it gave my family ideas."

"It's hard to imagine anypony making war on the Princess, and that Nightmare Moon stuff is ancient history. Literally!"

"Hello, remember the ninja?"

"Point taken. So... I suppose the place to look for Long Tail is Scoop Manor." Sunny finished off his last pancake and grinned. "I knew breakfast would help!"

~~~

Sunnyside and Sugar Scoop headed to Scoop Manor in search of Long Tail. The Scoop estates were expansive, and included some of the tallest towers in Canterlot. There was a pervasive chill from all of the ice cream refrigerated here, a chill that was accentuated on this occasion by the unnatural night.

The two pegasi walked up to the door of the manor, and Sugar Scoop got out her house key. The lock, though, refused to budge.

"They've changed the locks!" Sugar grimaced briefly, then perked back up. "Good thing they keep a spare key under the mat."

Sugar lifted the doormat with one hoof, then gasped in surprise. "They've changed the mat!"

Sunny placed on hoof on his temple and walked up to the door. "Why don't we just ask your sister Sprinklebelle to let us in?"

Sunny knocked on the door, and Sugar quickly stepped off to one side. After a moment, Sprinklebelle peeked through the peephole in the door and, seeing only Sunny, happily opened it.

"Sunnyside! What a pleasant surpri-" she spotted Sugar Scoop and frowned. "Sunny, why don't you come in," Sprinklebelle quickly suggested, yanking Sunnyside through the threshold before slamming the door in Sugar Scoop's face.

Sunny started explaining the situation, but Sprinklebelle was too distracted to listen. Sugar Scoop plastered her face against the window, shouting unintelligibly. Sprinklebelle shut the curtain. The process repeated with several other windows until the room was shut off from the outside. Sprinklebelle breathed a sigh of relief, smiled at Sunnyside... and the doorbell rang.

She turned to the door, at the end of her rope. "I THOUGHT I TOLD YOU TO GET LOST!"

An unfamiliar voice responded. "Delivery for Lady Double Scoop. High priority." Sprinklebelle was taken aback. An urgent message for her mother? She looked through the peephole suspiciously. She saw an earth pony mail carrier, but she didn't spot Sugar Scoop, who had plastered herself flat against the wall, out of sight. Sprinklebelle opened the door.

Sugar Scoop charged in, holding the incriminating scrap of ninja garb in front of her. "You've got some explaining to do, sister! Just what is the meaning of THIS!" Sprinklebelle was backed against a wall, with the scrap of cloth so close to her face she was staring at it cross-eyed.

"It's our old family crest," Sprinklebelle replied. "So what?"

"So it's our battle crest from the days of Nightmare Moon. It's treason!"

Sunnyside butted in: "That was a thousand years ago. Probably someone just used the wrong crest by accident."

Sugar Scoop looked at Sunny incredulously "Then why are there Scoop family ninja prowling the streets?" She turned to her sister. "Why do we have ninja?"

Sprinklebelle blinked. "Ninja?"

Sunny interrupted again, gently separating the two Scoop sisters. "Actually, the reason we're here is to find our friend Long Tail. She might have been injured by, um... somepony... and maybe taken here?" Sprinklebelle looked puzzled. "You know, maybe to the infirmary?" Sugar opened her mouth to object but Sunny shot her a look that said it was time for a gentler touch.

"Oh," Sprinklebelle's expression softened. "Yes, we would certainly not leave an injured pony to fend for herself."

At this point, Glitterdust the delivery pony cleared her throat. Sprinklebelle had clearly forgotten the common Earth Pony was even there. "Oh dear, the letter, yes. The Lady is in the kitchen. We were preparing some special flavors for this afternoon's celebration."

Sugar Scoop gulped. "Mom's here?" she squeaked, eyeing the exit.

Sprinklebelle spoke again to Glitterdust. "Close that door, won't you?" Glitterdust shut it, still patiently waiting for the chance to deliver her message and thinking of the hundreds of others still waiting for her to deliver.

Sprinklebelle glared at Sugar Scoop as the door closed. "We don't need anypony else barging in uninvited."

Sugar Scoop's retort was just reaching her lips when the door crashed in off its hinges and Fizzlespark tumbled across the room, the remains of his rocketbed belching smoke and shedding gears and springs in all directions. Sunny leapt in front of Sprinklebelle, taking an errant gear in the snout. Sprinklebelle fell back on her haunches, stunned. The smoke left the ponies coughing briefly, then cleared, exposing the disoriented Fizzlespark. Glitterdust, now flattened under the door, sighed resignedly.

Sunny rubbed his bruised snout. "Hey, that's the pony the police took in for blocking out the Sun!" Sprinklebelle gasped. "But Long Tail said he didn't, probably." Sunny stopped rambling, thinking again of the missing filly. Long Tail.

Sugar Scoop caught on and went to the battered and soot-covered Fizzlespark. "I think this pony needs to be taken to the infirmary!" She announced. "That bruise looks pretty bad. It must hurt a lot, huh?"

Fizzlespark looked at the reporter pony, who had one hoof ready to give him an ugly looking bruise if necessary. "Yes!" He agreed, urgently. His gazed passed back and forth between Sprinklebelle and Sugar Scoop. "Ow?" Sugar Scoop lowered her hoof.

"You should get some ice on that," Sprinklebelle said absently, pointing a hoof in the direction of the infirmary. She turned to Sunnyside, still dazed. "Do you need me to come along? I should get back to helping in the kitchen."

"Oh, I don't want to keep you from your work," Sunny said, relieved. "Go ahead. And I'll let the cleaning ponies know that they're needed here, okay?"

"Yes, good. Thanks for stopping by, Sunny." Sprinklebelle slowly rose and left the room.

As the stunned filly drifted out of the room, Sunnyside lowered his head and breathed a sigh of relief. "That could have gone worse."

Sugar Scoop regarded him skeptically.

Glitterdust, sturdy earth pony that she was, helped Fizzlespark rise to his hooves.

Sugar Scoop walked to the middle of the room and spread her wings for attention. "There's no way they took Long Tail to the infirmary." She regarded each other pony in turn. "She's going into the Deep Freeze, below the manor." The other ponies regarded her quizzically.

"The Deep Freeze is a facility for keeping things frozen. Most commonly, ice cream." Sugar's expression grew dark. "But the Scoop family is not above freezing ponies there to keep them out of the way. Long Tail's talent is the greatest threat there can be to this conspiracy. There's no doubt in my mind – they're going to put her on ice!"

Sugar led everypony out of the building and into an interior courtyard. The ponies spotted a small window at ground level covered in ice crystals. Sugar Scoop wiped it off so the ponies could see inside.

There was Long Tail, standing amidst rows and rows of freezers, arguing with a couple of Scoop family flavormeisters about their selection.

"Why would you stockpile all this strawberry? What are you going to do with this year's strawberry harvest? It doesn't make sense. Unless there's going to be a shortage for some reason, and you somehow know in advance. And no mint chocolate chip? It's been a hot summer so far, and when it's hot, ponies love their minty flavors, so..."

Another group of ponies stood a distance away from Long Tail and the flavormeisters, obscured by mist speaking in hushed tones. Here and there, the glint of armor could be seen.

"It looks like she's holding her own for now," Sunny remarked. "But we have to find a way to get all those other ponies out of there so we can rescue her."

"Are you kidding?" Sugar said. "I'm not letting them get away without snapping a couple of choice pictures!" She hefted her camera. "If only there were better lighting..."

"Better lighting..." Sunny repeated. "Why, that's it! Okay, here's the plan..."

The four ponies conferred quickly in the moonlight, then Sugar Scoop and Glitterdust found the stairs and descended to the Deep Freeze, hiding behind some large cartons of ice cream. Long Tail was still stalling the flavormeisters, and the mysterious group of ponies were at the other end of the chamber, near another set of stairs.

Meanwhile, Fizzlespark and Sunnyside waited at the window.

"Okay," Sunnyside said. "On my mark, I need as much light as you can give m-" Sunnyside noticed Sprinklebelle through the nearby kitchen window and darted into hiding. "Oh, horsefeathers... I forgot the kitchen was right there. What if Sprinklebelle sees? It'll look like we're melting the ice cream, or lighting the manor on fire!"

Fizzlespark hadn't ended up going to the infirmary, and was still pretty out of it from his various painful escape attempts. "Fire?" he mumbled in response.

Fizzlespark's clockwork dragon perked up at the command word. "FIRE!" It announced enthusiastically, spewing a gout of orange flame from between its metal teeth.

Sunnyside didn't have time to check if Sprinklebelle was still at the kitchen window. He leapt out of hiding and spread his golden wings to reflect the light of the fire, focusing it on the window to the Deep Freeze. Slowly, he raised the focus of the reflected light. From inside, it looked just like:

"Sunrise!?" Light from the window crept up the length of the shadowed pony, exposing his expertly-pedicured hooves, his barrel chest, his flowing blond mane, and his cutie mark, an eight-pointed star. "Then Aunt Luna, Nightmare Moon, has failed us!"

Sugar Scoop simply stared, slack-jawed, her camera forgotten. Why is Prince Blueblood in my family's basement!?

"Well, never mind," the Prince continued, quickly regaining his composure. "That just means it's time for Plan B: Operation Solar Flare. Ahahahaha!" His haughty laughter filled the room. "Come, peons, there is much for you to do." With that, the Prince and the other ponies left the flavormeisters and Long Tail alone in the Deep Freeze.

"Now's she's definitely heard too much," said one flavormeister.

"Time to put her on ice," said the other, advancing menacingly.

"Not likely," Long Tail said, her head held tall. Glitterdust and Sugar Scoop burst out of hiding and charged, the shock knocking the flavormeisters back on their rumps. Long Tail and the others dashed out of the Deep Freeze, but something caught Sugar Scoop's eye.

Surely she had misread, in her haste to escape. "Cake Batter Ice Cream? Why would anypony create such an abomination?"

The three ponies emerged into the courtyard, only to be blinded by sunlight.

"Wow, Sunnyside, you've outdone yourself," Sugar said, squinting against the brightness. "You can cut it out now."

"That's not me," said Sunnyside, a contented grin on his face as he soaked up the light. "That's the real thing. The Sun is back!"

The ponies whooped in celebration -- except for Long Tail, whose expression was serious: "But the danger is just beginning."

Episode 2: Stars Are Made, Not Born

Princess Celestia had returned to Canterlot, along with Nightmare Moon. Rumor had it that the two were going to share power. Suddenly, the feature piece that Sugar Scoop had done linking the Scoop family to Nightmare Moon didn't seem such a liability for them. They had a the esteem of a pony to rival Princess Celestia herself, and everypony knew it.

The high and mighty ponies of Canterlot had been summoned to Court for the presentation of "Princess Luna," the politically-correct name for Nightmare Moon. Sugar Scoop was in attendance thanks to her press pass, and Sunnyside had pulled some strings and arranged for Long Tail, Fizzlespark, and Glitterdust to attend. The five friends were united by their awareness of the conspiracy to free Nightmare Moon, and this gathering of Canterlot's movers and shakers provided a chance to learn more about the threat to Equestria.

The crowd fell silent as the royal fanfare played and two alicorns rode into the courtyard on the royal chariot. Nightmare Moon was not what anyone expected. She looked young and small next to Celestia, nothing more than a gangly filly. There was none of the expected triumph or haughtiness in her eyes.

The chariot came to a halt, and this "Princess Luna" spoke first.

"I come before you, ponies of Equestria, to confess my crimes, and ... beg your forgiveness." She stared at her own hooves, a lock of pale blue mane obscuring her face. "A thousand years ago, I led a revolt against – I mean, I turned against my sister, and tried to bring eternal night. I did this because... because... I was so jealous of the beautiful day time, and how everypony loved Celestia and not me, because her day time is so warm and fun and pretty." Celestia nodded. Luna sighed and averted her eyes. Or had she rolled her eyes?

"In my madness, I became Nightmare Moon, and Celestia had..." Luna's voice trembled. "No choice but to imprison me in the moon... forever." She choked on the last word. It seemed she couldn't go on, but after a few moments, she found her voice again.

"Yesterday, I escaped, still deranged, but Celestia and these six ponies cured me of my madness." Luna gestured at a motley group of ponies. Most bowed, but the pink one just grinned and waved energetically.

Luna continued. "For their help, I am grateful. I am now Princess Luna again, the same princess who ruled alongside Celestia, and I am ready to resume my royal duties." For the first time, Luna stood tall and proud. The crowd was silent, watching for Celestia's reaction.

The elder princess smiled and rubbed Luna's head with one hoof. "Of course, little sis! Why don't you raise the moon for us this very night?"

The crowd cheered, and it was difficult to spot through the herd, but Sugar thought she saw Luna gritting her teeth, and maybe even shaking a little bit as Celestia affectionately noogied her before the court.

Refreshments were brought out and the ponies began to mingle. Princess Luna was quickly swarmed, and seemed none to pleased about it. Glitterdust overheard some of the pony nobility expressing disbelief that those six common ponies from Ponyville could have defeated Nightmare Moon.

"I understand Twilight Sparkle was personally groomed by Princess Celestia," said one pony in a monocle. "She must have some highborn blood, and she is the leader."

"Yes, indeed," spoke another, whose cutie mark was a top hat. "And you're not going to tell me that white unicorn was born and bred out in the sticks. She managed to find something halfway decent to wear."

Sugar Scoop intended to speak with Princess Luna, but found herself among the Ponyville Six and decided to try interviewing one of them.

"Oh, you want to interview little me?" The unicorn said, with a rising inflection. "I suppose that's all right, only don't keep me too long. This could be my chance to meet him."

"Him?" Sugar Scoop asked, not knowing what she was getting into.

"Why, Prince Blueblood, of course! The most eligible stallion in Equestria." And a traitor to the crown who conspired to unleash Nightmare Moon. Why does this "Rarity" really want to meet him, I wonder...

As Sugar Scoop grilled Rarity on her interest in the Prince, Fizzlespark tried to make his way into the circle of ponies surrounding Luna. It wasn't going to be easy. His longtime rival, Twilight Sparkle, was watching him suspiciously. He to Sunnyside for backup, but Sunny's Scoop family friend, Sprinklebelle, had latched onto him and was keeping him well clear of the other troublesome ponies who had burst into her home and gotten him involved in dangerous matters better left undisturbed. She caught Fizzlespark's gaze and gave him a curt headshake. No help there...

"Who are you calling a rotten egg?" came a pugnacious voice, not far from Fizzlespark. He turned and saw Twilight's brat Spike picking a fight with his clockwork dragon, Spring. Spring replied in broken draconic, and Spike turned red with fury. "My mother was a classy lady!" he shouted, charging at Spring. Like his master, Spring understood that discretion was the better part of valor and high-tailed it away, passing under several dessert carts and lady's dresses in the attempt to lose the pursuing ball of claws.

"Spike! No!" Twilight yelled, clearly mortified. "Just calm down."

While she was distracted, Fizzlespark slipped into the crowd around Luna. Well done, Spring!

~~~

Sugar Scoop was still occupied with Rarity.

"I don't suppose you've had the opportunity to interview his Highness?" Rarity asked.

"Well, I've met him," Scoop said.

"You've met Prince Blueblood?" Rarity gasped.

"Yeah, I mean, I am part of the Scoop family. But... it's not like he hangs out in our basement or anything." Sugar watched the unicorn's reaction carefully.

"Oh, no, his place is among the castles and gardens, not shut away below ground. Beauty such as that exists to be displayed, to be adored. Believe me, I should know." Rarity gave Sugar what she seemed to think was a winning smile. She's actually serious, isn't she, Sugar thought. She doesn't know anything about his conspiracy.

"Right," Sugar said, taking a step away. "So, good luck with your boutique and all that-"

"Don't go, not when we're getting along so well." Rarity took hold of one of Sugar's forelegs. "Tell me, since you know the Prince, what is his favorite color?"

How am I supposed to know? Sugar wracked her brain, trying to come up with something to help her get away from this crazy pony. What does he like? Well, drinking... "Uh, burgundy?"

Rarity squealed. "Burgundy! Of course, it's so strong! And rich! And regal!" The moment passed abruptly. "Oh, why did I have to wear blue? It's his name, it was just... the obvious choice. I suppose every filly wears blue for him. He must be sick to death of it. Why was I such a foal?" The unicorn seemed on the verge of tears.

Sugar looked around helplessly and caught the eye of Red Velvet, the Cake family friend of Sunnyside whose home they had invaded last night while chasing the pegasus ninja. Red looked concerned and started approaching, but Rarity caught sight of her long, burgundy hair and growled.

"He's MINE."

~~~

Long Tail was wearing her all-white military uniform, which she was allowed to keep after honorably leaving the service. She was also standing stock still, all of her concentration focused on not butting in to correct the delusions of the ponies around her as they speculated on the secret history of the Ponyville Six, or observed that Princess Luna had favored them with a special glance.

She was doing quite well, not saying a word, but the strain was getting to her. She nearly jumped when somepony addressed her.

"Why hello, officer," the pony greeted her cheerfully. He was an earth pony with bright yellow fur and a fluffy white mane. He was well-dressed, in a mock military fashion, displaying a white pie cutie mark. "May I ask you a question?"

Long Tail's eyes widened. Only if you don't mind being horribly offended and disappointed and possibly going insane when your narrow worldview is shattered into a thousand tiny-

"Do you like periwinkles?"

"Do I-" Long Tail stammered. "You want to talk about periwinkles? I mean, yes! I love periwinkles. I could talk about periwinkles ALL DAY LONG."

The Pie pony cocked his head and smiled.

~~~

Spike pounced on Spring, smashing the clockwork dragon into a heap of gears, widgets, and doodads. He crossed his arms and harrumphed to himself in triumph.

Until the heap began to move. Slowly, the components pulled themselves together, reforming until Spring stood once again, eyes glowing red. Spike's expression turned to horror. The tables had turned.

As Spike desperately fled before the clockwork monster, Fizzlespark introduced himself to Princess Luna.

"Now, if I could just ask a couple of questions about the Sun and the Moon," he began. His horn glowed as he unfurled a half dozen charts and diagrams, largely blocking out the other ponies attempting to speak with the Princess. "I'm very curious about the mechanism by which they work. These are my observations and theories so far."

Luna looked at the diagrams with interest. "I can see what you were thinking," she said, pointing a hoof at one particular diagram. "But you don't know what the Sun looks like when it's behind the horizon. It's not cantilevered like this..."

The other ponies managed to stick their faces past the various sheets of paper Fizzlespark had put up, but remained silent. Luna hadn't said so many words to anypony. What was this pony's secret?

Twilight scooped Spike up and admonished him for causing trouble, then made her way to the throng around Princess Luna just as Fizzlespark was rolling up his diagrams and leaving. He nodded smugly, and she picked up her pace to speak with the other ponies.

"What did he say? What did they talk about?" And why did she open up to him and no one else?

Still new to friendship, it didn't occur to Twilight that Fizzlespark was the first pony to treat Luna not as a tool, not as an object of fear or ambition, but as somepony interesting to talk with. All she knew was that Fizzlespark, that mad pony with some chip on his shoulder about the entire practice of magic, was trying to get to Princess Luna, and was succeeding. She would have to warn Princess Celestia to keep an eye on him.

~~~

Glitterdust had commandeered a tray of hors d'oeuvres and was orbiting Prince Blueblood. Aside from nearly tripping over a rampaging baby dragon, the vigil was uneventful until the very end of the gathering. Blueblood seemed impatient by this point, putting on a charming air for the ponies he spoke with, but dropping it at once when he thought nopony was looking. When a servant brought the Prince an envelope, his Highness didn't even bother to be civil. His horn glowed and he snatched the envelope away from the messenger, turning at once to read it. Glitterdust couldn't see the words, but caught the Prince muttering to himself.

"Keep me waiting, will she? Four stars needed, and one can't even show up on time. She'll regret that when I'm King. I suppose I'll just have to amuse myself until tonight." The Prince's expression was predatory as he began scanning the crowd for somepony to "amuse" him.

Glitterdust walked quickly into the crowds to gather her friends and warn them that the Stars had something planned this very night.

~~~

That evening, the ponies gathered to honor the first moon to be raised by Princess Luna in a thousand years. Sprinklebelle was chosen to lead the Moon Hymn.*

Moon, moon -- shine tonight.
Hold us in your silver light.
Soon, soon -- glowing bright.
Come and touch our lives tonight.
Moon, moon -- taking flight.
Fold us in your cloak of night.
Soon, soon –- magic light.
Bring a dream of peace tonight.

Luna seemed comfortable, even confident, presiding over the moonrise. Red Velvet approached Sunnyside.

"I still don't trust her," Red whispered in Sunny's ear. "So I'm going to be her bestest friend ever." The comment was said so sweetly, yet so ominously, that Sunny had to suppress a shiver. Red smiled broadly, then turned and approached the Princess.

"Your Majesty," she began. "I've just had the most marvelous idea: Classical. Era. Revival. Fashion. Tell me, what kinds of clothes were in fashion a thousand years ago? What do you miss?"

Luna thought for a moment. "Well, I notice nopony is wearing any socks..."

"Oh, tell me more!"

Sunnyside took this moment alone to confer with his friends. The palace labyrinth was the perfect place for conspirators to meet unobserved, so the odds were good that Prince Blueblood's mysterious ally was somewhere inside.

Long Tail could use her prediction magic on anypony waiting suspiciously alone in the gardens, but would need some way to easily search the maze. Fizzlespark promised to solve that problem. All that remained was to find some way to delay Prince Blueblood.

"I think I can take care of that," Sugar Scoop put in. "Oh, Raaaarity!"

Five minutes later, Prince Blueblood was trotting about the maze trying to lose the obsessed filly from Ponyville who was relentlessly trailing him. Long Tail was strapped into a helicopter harness that carried her over the labyrinth hedges. As the helicopter whirled into the sky, it caught the attention of Twilight Sparkle. She quickly tracked it back to its source.

"Fizzlespark. I should have known."

"You mean you didn't recognize my handiwork? You're getting sloppy."

Spike and Spring glared at each other from behind their respective ponies.

"Why were you asking Luna about the magic for moving the Sun and Moon?" Twilight demanded. "They're the only ones capable of that level of magic power, and you... you're not even any good at magic, just your weird inventions."

"Why do you always assume that anything worthwhile has to be done with magic? Because it's the only thing you're any good at? Sure, you were born with a lot of magic power. That doesn't give you the right to look down on everypony who has to work hard to succeed."

"It's not everypony I have a problem with, it's you, Fizzlespark!"

The two unicorns were engaged in a shouting match near the labyrinth, and it was beginning to attract attention. Sunnyside spread his wings and opened his mouth to intervene, but suddenly Sprinklebelle was there cramming an ice cream cone in his opened mouth.

"Don't, Sunny," she said, putting herself between the diplomat-in-training and the quarreling unicorns.

Sunny folded his wings and removed the ice cream cone. "Mm, Blueberry Mint, that's new."

"We made it specially in honor of Princess Luna." Sprinklebelle smiled. "It has that rich purple color, and a cool, nighttime flavor."

"But," Sunny said, leaning to one side so he could see the snarling unicorns. "I should go help Fizzlespark."

Sprinklebelle put her hooves on Sunny's shoulders and looked at him gravely. "He's your friend, but he's also a colt who was in jail last night, and she's the hero of the day, Celestia's protege. That's not something for you to get in the middle of, especially not right in front of everypony here."

Fizzlespark now had a large diagram displayed on an easel and was pounding it with one hoof. Twilight tossed her head dismissively. Sunny looked back to Sprinklebelle. Her eyes were pleading now.

"Please," she said. "Don't be such a martyr all the time. I- I don't want to see you get hurt."

A lump formed in Sunny's throat. How could he disappoint Sprinklebelle, then go take sides between his friend and Princess Celestia's prize pupil?

"O- Okay," he said. Sprinklebelle brightened immediately. "Let's go explore the labyrinth. I hear they changed the layout recently."

~~~

Long Tail's tail brushed the tops of the hedges as she drifted over the labyrinth. She passed a variety of ponies playing and exploring and chatting, then spotted one waiting, nervously, all on his own. She gestured to Sugar Scoop, who pulled on her Scoop Family Ninja disguise and slipped up to the suspicious pony, a colt with chocolate brown hair and a mane of white and tan.

"Cousin Sugar?" The pony said, surprised. He positioned his body to obscure some object in an alcove behind him.

"Uh, hi Rocky Road," Sugar responded, disappointed that her disguise hadn't done her much good. She pulled it off her face and nodded toward the hidden alcove. "Whatcha got there?"

Rocky's normally stoic face contorted into one of fear and resentment. His cheeks darkened a shade. "Dammit, Sugar. You already know, if the family sent you out here to confront me about it. Well, you can just tell them I don't care what they think! I love her, and that's all that matters!" Rocky turned and snatched a bouquet of roses from the alcove with his teeth before galloping off into the maze.

Sugar facehoofed, then glared up at Long Tail. "Nice going."

Long Tail was unapologetic. "He was the most likely suspect, based on the observable data." She swished her tail. "Are you ready to try suspect number two?"

Grumbling, Sugar pulled the ninja mask back over her face and again took to the shadows.

~~~

"Oh Pri-innnce!" Rarity was sure he'd gone this way. She was so close to actually meeting him, but a glimpse here and there was all she'd managed. "If I could just catch his eye..." She pouted at the new dress she had prepared for the evening. "That pony at the fabric store has led me astray. This fabric is cranberry, not burgundy!"

A six-way intersection confronted her. "Don't give up, Rarity," she said to herself. "Not when you're so close. Aha!" She caught a glimpse of a sturdy white flank, an eight-pointed star, a flowing blond tail. She stood tall, made sure her mane had the proper bounce, and was about to step into the intersection when a pale earth pony with a glassy mane and a bag for a cutie mark meandered into it and the earth just collapsed. Glitterdust tumbled away down a chute into the darkness, and the trap door closed, leaving the intersection looking pristine and harmless. "Yaaaaaaah!" she called.

Blueblood leaned around the hedge, grinning, bur his jaw dropped and his eyes widened when he saw Rarity standing on terra firma across the intersection. "Um."

Rarity stared across the intersection.

"Um," he repeated once more, before collecting himself. He reared up on his hind legs. "Never fear! I'll save her at once!" With that, he charged off into the maze. Curse that interloper! What will it take to be rid of this blasted unicorn? If I never see her again, it'll be too soon!

"How gallant..." Rarity swooned.

~~~

"The next suspect is on the other side of this hedge," Long Tail explained. "That's all I have time to explain."

"What? Why?" Sugar asked. She looked up at the airborne unicorn.

Long Tail didn't answer. The problem was obvious. Her tail had gotten caught in the helicopter's rotor and was being slowly wound into the mechanism. She dangled stoically, like a captain going down with her ship. Sugar resisted the urge to salute, then resisted the urge to giggle as the last of the slack in Long Tail's tail was taken in and the yank momentarily disturbed her stoicism. The unicorn plummeted from the sky, arms flailing, landing somewhere outside the maze. Sugar was on her own.

She rounded the hedge, and for a moment thought there was nopony there.

"His Highness didn't deign to come himself?" came a whispered voice. Sugar turned stiffly, able to discern the outline of a pony in the shadows. Squinting, she made out a cutie mark of two coins, one with a Sun and one with a Moon.

"He is otherwise occupied," Sugar replied, suppressing a grin. "I am here on his behalf, in furtherance of Operation Solar Flare."

The shadowed pony was silent for a moment. "Very well." The pony tossed an envelope at Sugar's hooves. "Here is what he needs to know to do his part."

Sugar leaned down to retrieve the envelope, and by the time she straightened, the mysterious pony was gone. She squinted at the shadows one last time, then galloped off to find the others.

~~~

Sunnyside, Fizzlespark, and Sugar Scoop had gathered around Long Tail, who was a bit scuffed from her crash landing, but seemed mostly alright.

"But where's my helicopter?" Fizzlespark asked.

Long Tail gave him an unreadable look, then knocked one hoof on her own tail, with a metallic clank.

"Ah."

Sugar tore open the letter and read it aloud to everypony. It described a magical process that could channel a pony's negative feelings and amplify them with something called "Star Magic" to transform their own magic and persona into an "empowered" version of themselves. There was some suggestion that those performing the ritual could somehow control the emotions of the pony so transformed.

The envelope also included a diagram of a ritual chamber.

"Hey, does that diagram say those stairs go to the North Pool?" Sunny pointed. "That's not so far from here. So this chamber would be somewhere under the labyrinth." Sunny looked at the nearby hedges, then looked around at the group again. "Hey, has anypony seen Glitterdust?"

The ponies looked at one another and shrugged, except Sugar Scoop, who looked thoughtful.

"Rarity said somepony fell into a trap door and Prince Blueblood was charging off to save her," she offered.

"There's a trap door on this diagram, too," Sunny observed. "I think I can navigate us to that point in the labyrinth."

Everypony but Long Tail got up to go. She looked at Fizzlespark. "Fizzlespark, Could you please remove your helicopter from my tail?"

He considered a moment, looking down at her. "No."

"I was worried you'd say that."

Fizzlespark's horn glowed and the myriad metal components lodged in Long Tail's tail lifted off the ground. "But I'll carry it for you."

Without another word, Long Tail rose and everypony followed Sunnyside to a certain six-way intersection in the maze. They paused while Sunnyside checked his navigation by getting an aerial view, and Fizzlespark went to work re-assembling the components in Long Tail's tail into a "device for busting ponies out of trouble."

Long Tail couldn't bring herself to watch. She asked Sugar Scoop, "How does my tail look?"

"Oh, um, fine. It looks normal."

"Normal?" Long Tail gasped, a pained expression on her face. "Not Lorentzian!? Noooo..."

"Um... there, there?"

Sugar Scoop was grateful for the interruption when Sunnyside landed among the other ponies. "This is the right place, I'm sure of it."

"I'm just ... about..." Fizzlespark's horn glowed and the last piece of his contraption snapped into place. "Done!"

Long Tail finally turned her head. The device was nearly the size of a pony, acorn shaped, with a drill on the bottom. Her tail was wrapped tightly around the top.

"Oh, no, no, no..." She said. "This is..." Fizzlespark tugged her tail away from the drill, spinning it up as the tail uncoiled. It cracked through the trapdoor, destroyed its supports, and the entire intersection collapsed into a chute leading downward. "... a baaad plaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Sugar and Sunny reflexively took to the air as the ground collapsed, then shared a look and dove in after their friends.

~~~

Glitterdust had been minding her own business (well, spying on Prince Blueblood), when a trap door had dumped her underground in the middle of a spooky, glowing circle. Then there was a flash of light, a cold, itchy kind of sensation, then darkness. She wasn't sure how long it lasted, or if she had been unconscious. She stood up.

"Hello?" she tried.

"Velcome!" erupted an energetic voice, to Glitterdust's surprise. "Mein newest Star to shine across Eqvestria. I haff zeen your ambition, your chealousy. You hahnger for de greatness. Now your chourney ist complete!"

Spotlights shone on Glitterdust from all directions, blinding her. She shielded her face with one hoof.

"Vat? You are not her. Vere..." The oddly-accented voice rose to a shout. "Vere are de magicks?"

Glitterdust heard a clop of hooves. "Take avay this unfabulous pony." Strong ponies grasped Glitterdust from either side and led her into the darkness. As her eyes adjusted, she saw the reflection of two red lenses, watching her expressionlessly.

"I vill haff Rarity to lead mein Fashion Police, von day, ven her chealousy and ambition again consume her!"

A grating, crunching noise began to emanate from the ceiling. The pony in the red lenses looked up for a moment, then looked back to the captive Glitterdust. "Now, I go!"

Glitterdust was tossed into a nearby cell, but it wasn't long before a loud crash came from the main chamber.

"Everypony okay?" Sunnyside.

"I thought you said Glitterdust would be here?" Fizzlespark. Her friends had come for her.

"She should be?" Sunnyside again. "Oh, shoot, she's probably under this debris. Lend me a hoof."

Actually, today has been surprisingly free of crushing by falling debris, Glitterdust thought. Then she winced, cautiously sending her gaze upward. To her relief, the ceiling did not immediately collapse on her.

"I'm over here!" she called, still watching the ceiling suspiciously with one eye.

Sunny trotted up. "Thank goodness! We were worried you'd been turned into some evil version of yourself, a sinister pony named 'Cloudkill' or something, infuriated at the working conditions in the postal service and about to rampage!"

"Nope?" Glitterdust replied.

"It's called going postal," Long Tail added, helpfully.

"The ritual works by twisting your inherent magic," Fizzlespark said. "Since Glitterdust is an earth pony, it wouldn't have any effect on her."

"So that's what that weird pony meant by 'de magicks,'" Glitterdust mused.

The others freed Glitterdust and had started comparing notes when a loud hissing interrupted their conversation. It was emanating from a darkened corridor nearby. Spring toddled up and sent a small burst of flame to illuminate the darkness.

Three large dragons stared back, then shot their own flames towards the ponies, who fled into the main chamber. The dragons' eyes and flames glittered with sparkles and purple haze.

In the main chamber, two more dragons blocked the stairs out. The ponies backed away from the beasts in a tightening arc.

"Fizzlespark, would you build something that makes a really big explosion?" Long Tail asked.

Sunny objected. "No exploding in the Castle!"

Fizzlespark seemed offended by Long Tail's suggestion. "My inventions never explode!" Everypony gave Fizzlespark a skeptical look, but he studiously ignored them.

"We need another way out," Sugar said, backing up quickly before a lick of dragon fire and bumping into the heap of debris.

Clicks, whirs, and revving sounds erupted from the debris, and Fizzlespark's Pony Escape Device started spinning again, eating straight through the floor, out the bottom of the castle, and falling away below.

Sugar raised an eyebrow at Fizzlespark. "What?" he said. "Sunny said to make a Pony Escape Device, and we need to escape. Did you think it was just a simple gyroscopic drill? Oh ho, no."

"Whatever," Sugar responded, clambering down the pony-sized hole.

"Go ahead," Sunny said. "I've got an idea. These look like dragons from the magic school, and those dragons can be reasoned with." Besides, I let Fizzlespark down earlier by running away when he was facing off with Twilight Sparkle. I can't just run again.

Sunny pulled an egg out of his vest pocket and cracked it open, pouring its contents on the flame-heated stone floor. It sizzled, and was perfectly cooked in moments. "Who's a good dragon?" he cooed.

Fizzlespark and Glitterdust scrambled down the drill hole as the dragons surrounded Sunnyside. Long Tail walked over to the hole, then looked over her shoulder at Sunnyside. Was he bravely covering their escape, or...

He looked at her. "They're perfectly nice dragons. See? They're eating right out of my hooves!"

"Sunny," she said, turning around and trotting towards him. "That only works until you run out of eggs!"

He poked around his vest for more, but didn't seem to have any. He offered a nervous smile to the dragons, whose expressions turned dark. One of them reared up and roared. Long Tail bit Sunnyside's tail and yanked him out of the way before the dragon's jaws snapped shut where his head had been moments before. She tumbled backwards into the hole, teeth still clenched onto Sunny's tail. They tumbled out of the castle together, pursued by purply flame. Flapping his wings wildly, Sunnyside veered their path towards a nearby hot air balloon, and they joined their friends in grasping onto the ropes dangling off its sides.

As everypony else breathed a sigh of relief, Glitterdust noticed the emblem of the postal service on the side of the balloon. She looked up to see the grey face of her boss, Ditzy. The mare's yellow eyes were akimbo, which somehow added to Glitterdust's vertigo.

"Good timing, Dusty!" the pony sang. "It's time for your shift!"

~~~

* Astute readers may note similarity to the Moon Song of the Fraggles. Historians believe the Fraggle version came first and was adapted by ponykind.

Episode 3: Even the Smallest Star (Might One Day Shine Bright)

One of the mail ponies on the delivery airship approached Long Tail with an envelope in his mouth. She levitated it and opened it.

"As I suspected," she said. "I will need to be away for some period of time."

"Away? Why?" Sunny asked.

"I can't say," Long Tail said. "Which, in itself, is enough information for you to assign high probability to the likelihood that it is a secret military contract matter. So I suppose I shouldn't have said anything at all."

"Oh! But, how do we contact you if something comes up with our secret matter?"

"Here," Long Tail levitated a scroll to Sunny. "This spell can be cast by any unicorn, and will let you contact me, briefly." The airship docked at Canterlot. "Now, I must be going!" She galloped off.

Meanwhile, Glitterdust was valiantly trying to avoid taking responsibility for six large sacks of mail.

"In fifteen seconds, I need a distraction on that side of the ship," she whispered to Fizzlespark as the mailponies approached her with the sacks of mail.

"Glitterdust, you're supposed to-" One of them began.

"Look there! A distraction!" Glitterdust pointed with one hoof at the space between two piles of mail. Nothing was there. Dammit Fizzlespark.

Something rose into the air from behind the empty airship, Glitterdust's hopes rose, but were quickly dashed as she stared into the eyes of her boss, Ditzy. Well, she stared into one eye at a time, anyway. The mailponies buried Glitterdust up to her mane in the six sacks of mail, then turned to Sugar Scoop and Sunnyside, who were chatting nearby. Sunny had mail!

"Oh, a note from my cousins in France. I think I'll head to the tower and read it in peace and quiet. Care to come, Sugar?"

"I've got writing to do! Catch you later, Sunny."

With that, the Pegasi flew back to the city. When Glitterdust surfaced, she was alone, with only six huge sacks of mail for company.

***

After a grueling morning delivering mail, Glitterdust reported back to the post office mailroom, where a mountain of mail waited to be delivered. As she walked in, she heard Peaches and Cream, two pegasi, speaking in hushed tones. She picked out two words: "conspiracy" and "stars." The pegasi left – without even punching out. Glitterdust looked after them, then looked at the mountain of mail. There was no time to follow them and deliver all this mail. Unless...

Glitterdust snatched a couple of bags of mail in her teeth and dropped them into Peaches and Cream's bins, then followed after the pegasi.

***

At the palace, Luna was surrounded by ponies of the nobility, all dressed in splendid socks, as was the latest fashion. They walked through the gardens, talking. Well, Luna wasn't talking very much. A line of guards blocked the gate leading outside, where a herd of commoners tried to get a peek at the Princess.

Sunnyside was young, but would one day be important enough that he was able to get into the inner circle, at least briefly. He noticed General Gemesis striding toward Luna with extreme confidence, regarding her almost as an inferior.

"Princess," Sunny began, before the General could speak. "What do you think of the skirmishes with Griffindor?"

"Well," she said, eyes downcast. "What do you think?" She looked up and seemingly realized that Sunny was a new arrival, not one of the overbearing ponies trying to push her this way and that. "And how are the Egg family hatcheries?"

Sunny was surprised. "Er... The hatcheries are producing nicely, but eggs do have many non-military applications. It seems to me that there must be a diplomatic solution with the Griffons. There's really no good reason for us to be at each other's throats, not that I can see."

The General snorted. "It is fortunate that your brother is more hard-boiled. He understands the basic strategic reality that we simply cannot permit an egg gap. At present, a strategic egg exchange between Equestria and Griffindor leads to acceptable losses. But Griffons... Griffons produce their own eggs. Monstrous things. Our projections show that, within five years, they would have an overwhelming advantage in egg power."

The projections sounded like something Long Tail would compute. Or be able to refute, at least. He looked about for his friends. Red Velvet was keeping Photo Finish busy talking about socks. At the gates, he saw Sugar Scoop passing Officer Snapdragon a tall cone of soft-serve. He looked the other way as she slipped through the lines. However, she was stymied by the phalanx of nobilities who regarded her with an icy glare, then studiously ignored her. She tried her best ambush journalism, but en masse, the nobility ignored her. Except, of course, Sunnyside.

"Where's Fizzlespark?" he asked.

"How should I know?"

"He should be here. If there is war, it's the common ponies who will suffer most. But Princess Luna is letting these courtiers insulate her from them. If Fizzlespark were here, I think she'd go and speak to him."

"Well, he knows how important this is."

"You're right. I'm sure he'll get here in time. You try and stall them. I'll watch for Fizzlespark and get him past the guards."

"Sounds like fun." Sugar grinned and darted back to the group of courtiers, ramping her antics up.

Sunny flew over to the line of guards and gazed out over the crowd, watching for Fizzlespark's distinctive purple and green colors. Gemesis and his flunkies guided the Princess over to the edge of the courtyard, shoving Sugar Scoop casually aside. Sunny glanced back and forth between the Princess and the Crowd.

One of the general's burly peons sat on Sugar Scoop as Princess Luna was led through a doorway. As the door shut, Sunny frantically searched the crowd. The door shut with a thud, and Sunny slumped over a crenelation on the castle wall, resting his chin on his hooves and sighing into his white-and-gold socks.

"Fizzlespark... where are you?"

***

Sugar found Sunny on the wall. "There's another way into the area where they took Luna," she said. "But we'll need a mail delivery pass to get in there. We'd better find Glitterdust."

"Maybe her boss knows where she is."

Sugar and Sunny flew to the post office and found supervisor Ditzy Doo.

"We're looking for Glitterdust," Sugar said, getting right to the point."

"Derp. Half price at Chic Boutique."

"Chic Boutique, eh?"

"Derp. Or the scroll shop. Level 2. Conjuration. No Save."

"Chic Boutique or the scroll shop, okay. Are those the only places?"

Ditzy hesitated.

"Please, Ms. Doo," Sunny put in. "It's very important that we find Glitterdust."

Whisper: "Alley behind the Prancing Pony. Uncut. Derp!"

"Oooookay!" Sugar said, dubiously.

"Thanks," said Sunny.

Ditzy chomped joyfully on a muffin as Sunny and Sugar galloped out.

"The Boutique first," Sunny said. Sugar looked at him curiously.

"I'm almost out of my imported shampoo," he explained.

They arrived at the boutique short of breath and scanned the shop.

"Aha!" Sunny declared. Sugar perked up, only to see him pointing to a bottle of French shampoo. "Just put it on my account and deliver it to Egg Manor, won't you?"

"Very good, monsieur," the shopkeep responded.

"But no sign of Glitterdust," Sunny said.

"I wasn't sure you'd noticed," Sugar responded wryly.

"Gleettehrdust, eez eet?" the shopkeeper asked. "We do 'ave zee dust. For you, 'alf price."

He gestured to a shelf bearing a variety of tins.

"'Glitterdust,'" Sugar read. "'A delightful sight to light up your night'?"

"Ooh, a glowing cosmetic powder? I'll take a tin."

"Sunny!"

"Look, when the Sun goes down, I lose my pizazz. I'm just no good at moonlight!"

"Whatever. We've wasted enough time here. Let's try the scroll shop."

"Okay," Sunny agreed. The pegasi trotted out of the shop, passing Peaches and Cream on the way. As they departed, Glitterdust arrived outside the shop, hot on the trail of Peaches and Cream.

***

Sugar and Sunny landed at the scroll shop, the downdraft from their wings sending papers flying. The wizened unicorn mare behind the counter flailed with her horn and her hooves.

"Glitterdust!" Sugar shouted. "Is she here?"

"Oooooh yes," the unicorn crooned. "Heh heh."

"Well?" A scroll tipped off of a shelf, landing on Sugar's snout. A small quantity of glitter spilled out. Sugar's nostrils flared, and her eyes crossed.

"Looks like another dead en-" Sunny began. Sugar inhaled sharply. "Sugar? Are you-"

"Ah-CHOOOO!"

Sunny flailed and tumbled backwards. Sugar wiped her nose with one hoof and shook her head before glaring at the unicorn. "Never mind. Let's go, Sunny."

Sunny extricated himself from the pile of scrolls and the two launched out of the scroll shop window. Peaches and Cream landed outside and walked in.

"Hey," Sugar said. "Weren't those two pegasi at the Chic Boutique?"

Sunny looked. "Yeah, and I see what you're getting at – their cosmetics look like they came from a chain store!"

"Er, right."

"Well, that's suspicious and all, but we can't get distracted. We need to find Glitterdust."

"Fine, let's go."

They launched and vanished into the night sky. Glitterdust crept up to the scroll shop and peered in, keeping her eye on Peaches and Cream.

***

In a dark alley behind the Prancing Pony, a dark pony waited in a trenchcoat. He beckoned to Sunny and Sugar, who were standing at the end of the alley, and grinned slyly. The pegasi shared a dubious look, then shook their heads. They started to turn away, then did a double-take. Glitterdust was just galloping past the other end of the alley. They took flight after her.

***

Peaches and Cream had enjoyed a quick steam at the Chic Boutique's spa – during which they had steamed open a secret letter – written in code. They stopped at the school shop for a quick deciphering spell. As the words became readable, they shared a look of horror.

"They have Princess Luna already! We have to get to the hedge maze!" Peaches cried.

Glitterdust, listening in, resolved to get there first. She galloped off at top speed, stopping only to deliver mail at the mailboxes along the street. At one such stop, Sunnyside and Sugar Scoop caught up. She filled them in on the way to the hedgemaze.

Sunny thought it was possible that Peaches and Cream were trying to investigate, and weren't part of the conspiracy at all. Glitterdust, knowing the two postal pegasi to be self-centered social climbers, didn't think it was likely they were doing anything out of altruism. If only Long Tail were there, she could tell them the likelihood of each possibility.

They came upon Fizzlespark, fiddling with an unidentifiable contraption near the hedge maze. Fizzlespark could contact Long Tail, he had the magic scroll she had provided.

"Magic, schmagic." He was not impressed at the suggestion. "There are much better ways to get a message to her."

"'Better'? Or..." Sugar was dubious.

"Behold!" Fizzlespark reared on his hind legs and held aloft a bird strapped to a long tube... with a fuse. "My rocket propelled homing pigeon." The unicorn quickly jotted down the group's question, lit the fuse, and tossed the pigeon into the air. With a burst of sparks and a trail of black smoke, it rapidly made its exit.

"The poor bird," Sunny observed.

"How does it find Long Tail?" Sugar asked.

"The pigeon knows," Fizzlespark responded smugly.

"Okay... but how does the pigeon steer the rocket?"

"Ah. Well. That feature will be included in Version 2."

Glitterdust put one hoof to her forehead and sighed.

But Fizzlespark wasn't ready to give up. "Just to be sure, I'll send a rocket propelled messenger tortoise, too. Just a moment..."

Sunny changed the topic. "In the meantime, if Peaches and Cream have something to do with this conspiracy, they'll probably the heading to that trap door in the maze."

Sunny and Sugar flew overhead and guided the others to the door. Sugar was jumping up and down on the panel, trying to get it to open.

Glitterdust walked into the intersection. "Let me he-" The ground gave way under her hooves and she slid face-first down the chute. "-eeeeeeeelp!"

Sugar and Sunny flew down after her. Fizzlespark finished strapping a rocket and a pigeon onto his messenger tortoise, gave the pigeon a tiny pole to hang onto, and tied a carrot onto the end. The pigeon looked around, picked a direction, and steered the tortoise using the dangling vegetable. Fizzlespark nodded, ignited the rocket, and the tortoise shot straight through the hedges, unerringly seeking Long Tail.

Down below, Glitterdust, Sugar, and Sunny found themselves back in the Star Chamber. A light was emanating from one side passage, and they headed that way. Their progress was quickly blocked by a sleeping dragon.

It was one of the ones they had faced before, and it was now wearing Sugar Scoop's hat, which she had dropped in the escape. Fizzlespark caught up, and the group crept past together. Sugar waited until the others had passed, then pulled out a hat of folded newspaper. She carefully, tensely placed the hat on the dragon's head next to her own hat, then snatched up her prized hat before the dragon noticed the change in weight. The dragon snorted, and Sugar remained stock still. It settled down, she flipped the hat onto her own head in triumph, and started walking away.

Just then, a hissing noise rapidly approached and the rocket-powered pigeon collided with the dragon's flank, causing it to awaken with a roar that shook lose stone from the walls. Sugar galloped off after the others, a wall of flame close behind.

The four ponies scrambled through the tunnels with the dragon hot on their hooves – and gaining. Sunny shouted to the others.

"Find the Princess! I'll lead the dragon off." He turned and tossed an egg to the dragon, who crunched it and gobbled it up. "There's more where that came from." Sunny dodged a burst of fire and flew off down a side passage, with the dragon in pursuit.

The others caught their breath for a minutes and proceeded through the tunnels after some searching, they came to an elaborately decorated door bearing the arcane sigil of Starswirl the Bearded.

"This looks like the place," Glitterdust observed.

A high-pitched voice spoke from another passage leading into the area. "What was your first clue, Glitter-Clutz?"

Glitterdust scowled. "Peaches." She turned to face the newcomers, and was surprised to see Sunnyside walking between the two fillies.

Sunny noticed the surprise. "After I lost the dragon in the hedgemaze, I ran into these two. We were heading the same way, and they seemed to know where they were going, so..."

"The dragon's loose in the hedgemaze?" Sugar asked.

"Er. Do you think it's smart enough to get out?"

***

Flames engulfed the castle and surrounding buildings. The screams of children were heard from all around. One enormous, scaled claw cracked off the tallest castle spire.

Then the camera zoomed out. The dragon had burned a path out of the hedge maze and found children playing with a dollhouse castle. Its godzilla instincts had kicked in, but the children had safely galloped away.

***

"Nah, I'm sure it's fine," Sugar said. Just then, a tortoise arrived with a note from Long Tail, bumping into Sugar's hoof.

Seventy percent chance they really are trying to save Luna, for personal fame.

Fizzlespark mumbled to himself. "The tortoise needs to be faster... maybe a propeller?"

Sugar read the note and shrugged, then returned to the task at hand and got her camera ready. "Let's go."

Peaches and Cream shoved Sunny out of the way and charged toward the front. "Us first!" "You're not taking the credit for this rescue!" A few collisions between ponies and doors later, the rescuers made their dramatic entrance, mostly lying in a pile behind the stunned Glitterdust, who had been nearest the door in the first place and found herself shoved to the fore, sitting on her rump.

Princess Luna was trapped in a magical circle of sparkling energy. Photo Finish stood outside with her lackeys and cameras. All of them stared uncomprehendingly at Glitterdust, who swallowed hard.

"Um..." she began.

The ponies behind her started to get their act together. Sunny flew in and posed behind her, hooves on his hips and golden feathers resplendent. Fizzlespark rose and nodded reassuringly at the Princess. Peaches and Cream tried to move to the front, but made the mistake of getting in the way of Sugar's shot, and were themselves bumped off to the side as Sugar sprang to her hooves, camera at the ready.

"Vat ist hahppening?" Photo Finish cocked her head.

Glitterdust rose to stand on all fours. The camera zoomed in on her face. The soundtrack went silent. "... We're rescuing the princess?"

The other ponies clamored their support behind a crescendo of dramatic soundtrack music. "That's right!" "Especially us, Peaches and Cream!" "I'm here for you, Princess." "Everypony will know of your scheme!"

"She ist yours," Photo Finish said, grinning. "If you kan reach her." The sparks around Luna flared and she was engulfed in darkness. Photo Finish turned to Sugar Scoop. "But no pictures of mein self. I belong on ze other side of ze kamera."

"Not this time, Photo Finish," Sugar replied. "You're exposed!" As the bulb flashed, Photo Finish pulled a backdrop between her and the camera. Only the tip of a blue hoof could be seen. She reappeared behind her own camera.

"Who ist to say, was not ze notorious Feezlespahk making ze black magicks." Photo Finish's bulb flared, and her camera spat out a photograph of Fizzlespark standing over the magic circle, his horn aglow. He was speaking to Glitterdust, and pointing one hoof towards the magic circle. In the light of the flashbulb, Luna could be seen, watching the two ponies with concern.

"Dammit Fizzlespark," Sugar shouted, pointing one hoof at Fizzlespark. "Stop looking so suspicious!"

"Und ze mastermind," Photo Finish narrated. "Fraulein Scüp, ze outkast, directing ze konspirators." She snapped another shot, but a golden blur entered the frame at the last minute. The picture came out awash in white, unrecognizeable. "Vat?" Photo looked back at the scene, and the reflective pegasus Sunnyside stood on his hind legs with wings outstretched. He dropped to all fours.

"You can't dress this up in a fabric of lies and expect people to buy it!" He declared.

"Just vatch me! Ist vat I dü." The fashion pony backed into the shadows. Her flunkies brought her replacement bulbs for her camera.

"Sunny," Sugar said. "I need better lighting, and I need to get Luna in the background. Cover me. I'm heading for that pillar." Sugar galloped from cover to cover as flashbulbs flared. She hoped Sunny could cover here if she found herself caught in the open.

Meanwhile, Glitterdust steeled herself to enter the ritual circle. Luna had been looking to Fizzlespark for help, but now seemed wracked by pain, and was no longer watching them. And Fizzlespark couldn't help her – the circle would take him. As an Earth Pony, it should have no effect on Glitterdust, though. She stepped through the dark curtain.

As Glitterdust dragged the kicking Princess from the circle, Photo Finish noticed. Sugar Scoop had evidently been chased off by her fiendishness, so she turned her attention to the new threat.

"Do not. Deesturb. Ze magicks!" She charged, goggles gleaming murderously, and Sugar Scoop leapt from hiding.

"Now, Sunny!" The golden pegasus spread his wings once more – this time at an angle to the flash, to provide lighting for Sugar's perfect shot: Photo Finish delivering a painful blow to Glitterdust's kidney as the Earth Pony dragged Luna from the darkness.

Glitterdust staggered, and Fizzlespark pulled Luna the rest of the way out, with the help of his mechanical dragon Spring, how had also entered the darkness. "We knew thou wouldst save us," Luna said weakly. Glitterdust clutched her side in the background as Fizzlespark grinned back at Luna.

"Vere? How?" Photo Finish looked around for Sugar.

The reporter pony popped up next to her. "They don't call it ambush journalism for nothing!" she gloated. "I can see the headline now: Photo FINISHED!"

Sugar Scoop turned, swishing her tail in Photo's face. "Well, I'll catch up with you all later, I've got to get this to print, pronto!"

Sunny grabbed her tail with his teeth. "Ftop. Iff we pubbif it, vey'll know we know. We fhould at leafk afk fome queftionf firfth."

"Fine."

The ponies interrogated Photo Finish, using the threat of exposure as leverage. They decided to hold onto the incriminating evidence. But what to do with Photo Finish now. What to tell everypony?"

Princess Luna had recovered, though her coat was darker, and her mane sparkled. "We shall imprison her. We see no need to explain this action to anypony. We are one of the Royal Pony Sisters, after all. Besides, we may have a use for this one. Dost thou recall the six ponies from Ponyville? The wielders of the Elements of Harmony? If this one will use her abilities to investigate them and report back, perhaps she should be spared." Luna's horn flared with magic and Photo Finish disappeared.

"Your Highness," Sunny said. "There is one other thing we should mention, about this conspiracy. We overheard some ponies talking and it sounded as if their intention was to target... your sister." Luna looked shocked. The camera flew out of the tunnels, up to Celestia's tower, where she was lowering the Sun. There was dramatic music and then... darkness.

***

*theme music and credits*

Episode 4: Daystar, Part 1 of 3

Glitterdust trotted up to Fizzlespark's lab, where the rest of the group was waiting for the mad scientist to get his gear together.

"Congratulations on your promotion, Postmare General," Sunnyside said, in greeting.

"A royal decree can do wonders for your career," Glitterdust replied, modestly.

"What's Ditzy Doo up to now that you've replaced her?" Sugar Scoop asked.

"I think she got promoted, too. She said she's 'supervisor of all the mails!' now." Glitterdust shrugged.

"Glitterdust!" Fizzlespark shouted, raising a sliding door to reveal a huge cart piled high with equipment. "Thank Celestia you're here!" His horn glowed and the other ponies instinctively cringed, but all that happened was that a harness levitated through the air and attached to Glitterdust's sturdy, earth pony body. "We're going to be late to the Magic Fair. Hurry, hurry!"

With effort, Glitterdust pulled the huge cart out of its garage and into the streets. Fizzlespark shut his shop and caught up, leaping on top of the cart and gazing towards the fairgrounds. Sugar and Sunny flew up to speak with him.

"Did you actually get an invitation this year?" Sugar asked.

"Sure did!" Fizzlespark produced a purple envelope labeled "Magic Fair Invitation" and stamped with Princess Luna's royal seal.

Long Tail gestured for the pegasi to come back down to the ground.

"Princess Luna probably wants to talk to Fizzlespark and the rest of us about the plot against her sister," Long Tail said.

The pegasi agreed that this made sense.

The cart arrived with the fair in full swing. Everywhere, unicorns were displaying their special talents and swapping spells. Important pegasi had also come to observe the festivities, and the noble houses had set up refreshment stands with ice cream, fried dough, and other treats. Far off, at the other side of the fairground, the Royal Sisters presided from their Royal Booth.

"They don't seem to have reserved a spot for me," Fizzlespark said in disbelief. The cart was now blocking the main entrance and overhanging the booths of two irritated unicorns.

"Never mind your booth," Sunny said. "We should go talk to Princess Luna."

"The cart's not going to fit further in, so... Sorry, what was that, Sunnyside?"

"I was saying, forget the booth-"

"Right! Setting up the booth!"

"-and let's talk to the Princess."

"So you're going to get crepes, while I set up the booth. Okay, good plan."

Sunnyside just cocked his head and blinked in confusion at the unicorn.

Fizzlespark spoke again. "No time to waste!" His horn glowed and components began flying about the area. The other ponies scattered and regrouped down the lane a short ways.

"I don't know if there are any crepes," Sunny said. "Do you think fried dough would be okay?"

"Luna!" the others cried, in unison. Sunny covered his face with one foreleg.

"Well, yes, of course," he said, lowering his foreleg. "But Fizzlespark is counting on me to find him a snack, too."

Sugar Scoop rolled her eyes.

"Let's split up and look for clues, and meet up at the Royal Booth," Glitterdust suggested. The ponies all nodded and trotted off down different paths.

***

"Long Tail? Is that you?"

Long Tail turned, and her ears tilted down. "Twilight Sparkle. Hi."

"Isn't this fun?" Twilight bubbled.

Long Tail looked over her shoulder, scanning for an exit.

"There are so many spells to learn!" Twilight continued. "Have you learned anything new today?"

"No."

"Oh. Well, do you think you could teach me your weird prediction spell?"

"Probably not."

Twilight frowned, but was undeterred. "You know, Long Tail, I've been learning about the Magic of Friendship at Princess Celestia's orders and-"

Something caught her eye. "-what in Equestria is that?"

Probably Fizzlespark's fault. Longtail turned to look, and saw a bulky object the size of a small building that was hopping erratically across the fair, gradually growing closer.

Yep.

***

Glitterdust stumbled across the judging booth. At present, the judges were out among the tents, choosing the few competitors who would appear on stage at the highlight of the event. One judge was nearby, a blue unicorn with a sky-blue mane, critiquing a unicorn juggler.

"So us all a favor and stop before we pass out from boredom," she said to the crestfallen performer. "The Great and Powerful Trixie was more entertained by the contents of her kerchief the last time she sneezed."

There was one on every panel. That judge who couldn't find anything to like, and tore apart even the most talented performers. Glitterdust didn't know where the Great and Powerful Trixie had come from, but she had a fearsome reputation. Evidently she'd gone up against Twilight Sparkle and come away unscathed.

Circling the judges' table, Glitterdust noticed strange patterns in the earth under most of the chairs. All but one, in fact. She pulled aside one of the chairs to get a better look. Sniffing the ground, she could tell it had been disturbed. With one hoof, she started digging at the suspicious earth. Clearing some of the soil away, she found a seam, which came to a corner. She realized what it was, moments before it became obvious.

Trapdoor!

The earth quickly swallowed Glitterdust up and the door closed itself behind her and she was lost in darkness.

***

Sunnyside was chatting with Pancake at the fried dough stand, hoping Sprinklebelle wouldn't think he was playing favorites by getting the fried dough instead of an ice cream cone. His ears perked up when he heard some panicked screams from nearby and a heavy thud shook the ground. He started taking to the sky, but was interrupted by a great, metallic mass that was tossing booths and fair projects through the air in all directions.

The dough stand collapsed on top of the pegasus, and the contents of another booth were tossed on top. Sunnyside popped his head up through the mess and spotted Sugar Scoop talking urgently with Sunny's brother Scrambler, captain of the Benedict Bombers, the elite flying force of the Equestrian Military.

"Scramble the Bombers!" he shouted, voice carrying across the fair. He gained some altitude and then swooped down for a run at the rampaging contraption, his bright orange mane trailing like fire behind his white-and-gold dappled body. He wasn't afraid of anything.

Sunny's gaze turned downward, but what he saw captured his full attention. An ice cream stand had been hurled on top of the dough stand, and sitting before him, on a plate like a pedestal, was a delicious, hot piece of fried dough with a glob of fresh chocolate ice cream melting on top of it. Sunny's eyes widened and he took the treat in both hooves.

Cakey. Ice creamy. Hot. Cold. The flavors galloped back and forth across his tongue, stamping out the din of the chaos unfolding all around. He closed his eyes and savored it. He might be the first pony ever, in the history of Equestria, to taste something so delicious: the forbidden union of cake and ice cream.

Gradually he realized that it actually had gotten quiet all around him. He swallowed – a gulp, really – and opened his eyes.

Red Velvet and Sprinklebelle had come to see if he was alright, and were staring with twin expressions of horror at the half-eaten, hybrid treat monstrosity he held in his hooves. He looked back and forth between them, and they met his gaze with the same look of shock and reproach. His cheeks burned and turned bright pink. Red Velvet seemed about to speak, but Sunny pre-empted her.

"I'd better go help Scrambler with that thing!" he belted out, as fast as his mouth could work, before erupting out of the wreckage and racing into the sky in a random direction.

***

Fizzlespark wandered nonchalantly through the fair, eventually bumping into Long Tail. She gave him a warning look, which he ignored.

"There was no room on the ground level, so I figured I'd build up and put my booth on top of some others," he explained. "But I probably shouldn't have reused my pogo-sticks as the structural supports."

"I could have told you that," Long Tail said. "But we should go. You-know-who is here."

"Fizzlespark!" Twilight shouted. "What do you know about that out-of-control bouncing booth?"

The science pony turned slowly to regard the contraption as if it were the first time he was seeing it. The Benedict Bombers were slowly weighing it down with shattered egg mass, but in the meantime it was careening through the fair, dropping mysterious alchemical concoctions that burst into multicolored smoke. He turned back to the purple unicorn with a thoughtful, cornered expression, which eventually relaxed into an unconcerned one.

"Ah, Twilight, it's been too short a time since last we met."

"Don't change the subject. Turn that thing off!"

"Why don't you just stop it with a giant blast of magic, hmm? Miss 'my special talent is magic so I can do anything better than anypony else."

Twilight's little dragon butted in. "Jealous, much?"

Spring hissed and locked eyes with Spike.

Long Tail interjected. "There's no point berating Fizzlespark now. It's out of his control. Anyway, Scrambler should be able to take it down with that giant banner he's got."

Twilight groaned in exasperation. "I can't believe you're defending him when this is all his fault." A flash of realization hit her. "Wait, does this mean- I can't believe it. Long Tail, are you Fizzlespark's friend? You have a friend? That's so nice." Twilight seemed sincere, but realized she had put her hoof in her mouth. "I don't mean- It's just- you never had any friends, so- and I'm not one to talk, but- and friendship is so important-"

"Hey, what's that?" Fizzlespark was looking up at the top of a stone column nearby, where a gemstone had just started pulsing with magic, sending out little waves that dripped sparkling motes of starlight.

The other unicorns looked. Long Tail answered. "Probably the Nightmare Moon plot."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "The what!?"

***

Scrambler had an idea. This four-legged, bouncing monstrosity couldn't stay standing if he bound those spindly legs. It'd be just like hog-tying womp rats in Egger's Canyon. Grasping the longest banner he could find between his teeth, he sped around the contraption, banner streaming behind.

"One... more... pass..." he said through gritted teeth.

Out of no where, Sunnyside popped up. "Hey, I'm here to hel-"

Scrambler tried to veer out of the way, but his momentum was to great. He crashed into Sunnyside and the two of them tumbled into a pile of debris. The bouncing platform burst free of the banner and hopped off.

"Y'all awright, cuz?" Yolkel asked, hovering over his Egg family cousins and chewing on the stem of a plant.

"Fine," Scrambler said, his voice carefully level. He extricated himself, frowned at Sunny, then took to the air without another word.

Sunny slumped in the wreckage as the others rejoined the rest of the Bombers.

***

Princess Celestia peered out over the fair. It seemed things had gotten out of control. Should she intervene?

A sniffling sound disturbed her thoughts, and she regarded her sister.

"What's troubling you, little sister?"

"It is nothing." Luna turned away and crossed her forelegs over her chest, extending her wings as a screen. Celestia craned around them.

"You can talk to me. What's the matter?"

Luna hesitated another moment, then relented.

"I was expecting somepony to come and visit me here, but he- er, nopony did." Luna glanced furtively at her sister, who caught the look and smiled knowingly.

"Remind me to show you those friendship reports Twilight Sparkle is sending. 'Never lose faith in a friend,' she wrote."

Luna nodded, but didn't seem convinced. Did she even have any friends, really?

***

Glitterdust tumbled down a chute into a heavy iron cage, which clanged shut once she was inside.

"Ho ho ho. Ah ha ha!" The chuckle of an older male pony echoed in the darkness. "Welcome, postmare general. We knew you couldn't resist a trap door!"

A grey light twinkled in the darkness, and the wizened Arch-dean of the magic school was thrown into stark relief. Glitterdust glared through the bars.

"So it was you, Fizzy Wizard! Wait... it was you?"

"You haven't begun to see the fiendishness of my plan! But with you trapped here, your bumbling compatriots pose no obstacle to my masterstroke."

"You don't mean..." Glitterdust egged the villain on.

"Yes! The entire fairground is circumscribed with a transformation ring. In mere minutes, every unicorn in Canterlot will be mine!"

***

Above, Long Tail, Fizzlespark, and Twilight had reached a similar conclusion. Sunnyside and Sugar Scoop rejoined them, and were soon put to work. Working from Fizzlespark's calculations, Twilight devised a counterspell that could drain the power from the magic gems, but they'd need to deactivate all of them before noon. A single one left active could re-ignite the rest and trigger the spell. The unicorns whipped up the draining tools and passed them out.

"Sunnyside," Long Tail said. "If you could get some help from your pegasus friends, that would greatly increase the odds of getting this done before noon."

Sunny grimaced, not wanting to face his friends or his brother after the day's events. "I'll fly as fast as I can," he said.

And he did. The small team managed to very nearly do the rounds of the pillars before noon. But not quite.

All around the circumference of the fairground, the pillars flared to life, spewing motes of colored energy into the assembly of unicorn ponies. The unicorns cried out in pain and terror, some collapsing, others running blindly. The pegasi just tried to stay out of the way of the rampant magic, a few motes clinging to them as well, no matter how they tried to brush them away.

For a moment, everything stopped. The flow of the motes halted, then they started to drift upward. Slowly at first, then like a torrent. The pillars were emptied, and the motes were drawn back out of the ponies below. Up they traveled, into the sky, seemingly into the Sun itself, for Princess Celestia was overhead, delivering the ponies from the evil magic.

The streams of motes stopped, the last of them devoured by the light of the Sun, and Princess Celestia hung in the sky for one glorious moment before she crashed down to earth.

"Princess!" Twilight galloped to her mentor's side. Princess Celestia seemed badly injured. Clouds gathered overhead, blocking the Sun, and Princess Luna advanced through the gloom to her sister's side.

Fizzlespark, Long Tail, Sugar Scoop, and Sunnyside approached from the other direction, but stopped and Twilight cried out. "Don't let them near her! They're responsible for this all!"

Princess Luna gazed intently at Fizzlespark, then let roar in her royal voice.

"WHAT HAST THOU DONE?" Thunder and lightning erupted from the clouds that had gathered overhead.

Twilight answered for him. "I had a plan to stop the ritual. It should have worked. They must have sabotaged it."

Betrayal and hurt showed in Princess Luna's eyes. "SEIZE THEM!"

Bedlam broke out once again. Fizzlespark and his friends dove into a nearby cloud of smoke and ran for the twisting alleyways of the city, pursued by the royal guard and, hesitantly, the Benedict Bombers. When they caught a moment to breath, Fizzlespark shoved some papers into Spring.

"Bring those to Princess Luna," he said, sending the clockwork dragon off on its own.

The group had reached the outskirts of the city and stood at the top of a tall cliff when the Bombers caught up with them.

"Turn yourselves in," shouted Scrambler. "It will go over easier for you."

Everyone looked to Sunnyside, whose mouth was working, but no sound was coming out. He turned away from his brother to gaze out at the horizon. At freedom.

A sproinging noise interrupted the standoff. The bouncing booth landed squarely overtop of the escaping ponies, who grasped its underside as it continued bouncing. Quickly, they were carried down the mountain and away from the city, to safety and exile.

***

Glitterdust heard the commotion overhead, then quiet. Fizzy Wizard left briefly, then returned and opened Glitterdust's cage. He led the mail pony to the stairs leading back to the surface.

"You're letting me go?" Glitterdust asked.

"Your friends are on the run," Fizzy Wizard gloated. "And Princess Celestia will awaken as Daystar Nova. There's nothing you can do but drink the cool, refreshing draught of defeat!"

"Daystar Nova?"

"A wicked mare of burning flame. There's no reason to hold you any longer. You can't stop it."

Glitterdust turned to face the exit. "But I can stop you."

She reared up and delivered a solid kick to the wizard's smug face. He crumpled like a sack of mail.

"By the power vested in me as Postmare General, I place you under arrest for conspiring against the crown, and obstructing a postal officer in the course of her duty." No one could hear, but Glitterdust felt good saying it. She tossed the traitor over her back and ascended to the fairground.

Princess Celestia was beginning to stir. Glitterdust approached warily, but the Princess seemed herself. The same flowing mane, pinkish white coat... not a wicked mare of flame at all.

"Your Highness," Glitterdust said. "I've captured one of the ponies responsible. He admitted it to me himself."

The Princess opened her eyes, and Glitterdust was startled by the red iris.

Twilight Sparkle spoke. "Fizzy Wizard ... Fizzlespark. I should have known they'd be working together. But thanks to the Princess, their scheme fizzled out! Ha!"

Princess Luna made an indistinct noise, then closed her eyes and walked slowly away. Ponies parted for her, of course. Twilight cast a suspicious glance after her. Long Tail had let slip some comment about Nightmare Moon's plot, something Twilight couldn't stop thinking about.

The clouds parted and the Sun beat down on the fairgrounds, particularly on Glitterdust and Fizzy Wizard. The unicorn stirred and seemed quickly to grasp the situation.

"Your Highness-"

"SILENCE." The Princess paused to make sure her command was obeyed. "THOU HAST SINNED AGAINST THY LIEGE. THOU ART SENTENCED TO BANISHMENT, AND IMPRISONMENT IN THY PLACE OF BANISHMENT, AND ONE THING FURTHER."

The alicorn's horn ignited with orange flame, and the wizard's horn did the same. He cried out as his horn was pulled forcibly from his skull, leaving a smooth forehead in its place. The onlookers gasped, some clutching their horns reflexively. The Princess shifted the gaze of her red eyes to Glitterdust.

Oh no. No no no n-

With a thud, the Princess planted the horn in Glitterdust's head. It burned, and the pain spread throughout Glitterdust's body along with dancing ribbons of flame. Her legs trembled, but she remained standing. Her new horn tingled with sensation.

"For your loyalty," the Princess said, sweetly. "Now come, we have matters to discuss."

Swirling flame enveloped the Princess, Glitterdust, and Fizzy Wizard, and they vanished from the field, reappearing with a whiff of sulphur inside the Castle.

"It occurs to me, dear Glitterdust, that your talents have been under-utilized." The Princess walked onto a balcony and looked out over the city. "Treachery hangs over Canterlot like a stinking cloud." She turned to the postmare. "I want you to serve me as Agent Cloudkill."

Glitterdust gulped. "Of course, Princess." The horn weighed strangely on her head when she lowered it, but she hoped the discomfort didn't show.

"I'm assigning you a team of... inspectors. Postal inspectors, officially." The Princess grinned. "For starters, find out what this ex-wizard knows."

Fizzy Wizard was curled into a ball on the palace floor, hooves grasping his bare forehead and body shaking.

"I'll expect your report in the morning. Now go."

There was another flash of heat, and Glitterdust found herself and the prisoner in a dungeon beneath the castle. It was equipped with a comfy chair, a soft cushion... everything Glitterdust needed.

Episode 5: Daystar, Part 2 of 3

The four fugitive ponies rested in the wilderness outside of the city, in a forest clearing. Long Tail, and Fizzlespark were lost in thought. Sugar Scoop was penning her account of the day's activities, sure she'd earn a Mule-itzer prize for this one. Sunnyside flew up to perch lightly in a tree and gaze at the horizon.

"I'm free," he said, to no one in particular. "No one in Canterlot ever wants to see me again. They think I'm a traitor. So I can just... go." He gained a little more altitude to peer westward. He knew that Princess Celestia had been hurt stopping the ritual, but surely she'd be okay. Nothing could really hurt the Princess, right?

Sunny noticed Long Tail watching him. She seemed about to say something when a scroll fluttered into the clearing and hovered in mid-air. Sunny had a bad feeling.

Sugar Scoop spoke: "It's addressed to you, Sunnyside."

A very bad feeling.

"Oh no... no..."

"It's not from Explosive Runes, is it?" Fizzlespark asked.

"That poor pony," Long Tail said. No one ever read letters from Explosive Runes, even party invitations. Her only talent was writing letters that explode.

"It's from my stupid sister," Sugar said. She wrote to Sunnyside instead of me?

"What does it say?" Sunny asked with trepidation, not really wanting to know.

"It says 'blah blah I'm a stupid foal overreacting blah blah stupid family meddled in idiotic things and finally going to get what they deserve, Princess Luna's missing, etcetera.'"

Sunnyside perked up and took the letter. Sprinklebelle had written to say that Princess Luna hadn't been seen since the magic fair, and she was worried that Luna and the Scoops might be in trouble with Princess Celestia, who was being very severe all of a sudden. Since Sunnyside seemed to know what was going on Sprinklebelle was hoping he'd clue her in.

Sugar Scoop grumbled to herself "'Sunnyside knows what's going on'? Of course you wouldn't ask your sister, the investigative reporter..." She angrily finished her article as the others discussed the matter.

"Princess Luna – missing since the fair?" Sunnyside mused. "Say, when's the last time anypony saw Glitterdust?"

Long Tail and Fizzlespark looked at each other and shrugged. Long Tail spoke "Not since we all split up to investigate the fair."

The ponies resolved to return to Canterlot to try and help Glitterdust and Sprinklebelle. There was going to be a masquerade ball in Canterlot the next night. It would be the perfect opportunity to mingle incognito.

For his part, Fizzlespark would travel to the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters in the Everfree Forest in hopes of finding Luna. Long Tail put the odds of her being there at only 40%, but it was worth a try.

Sugar scoop insisted on sneaking into the city as soon as possible, so she could submit her article to Equestria Daily. She'd bring the Scoop Family Ninja outfit she had acquired, while Sunnyside and Long Tail worked on costumes for the masquerade. Fizzlespark stayed to devise a contraption to wind up Long Tail's tail so it wouldn't be so conspicuous, then headed out. By the end of the process, Long Tail had a metal pack that would unfold into a Mechanical Pony costume for the masquerade. Sunnyside met up with his rural friend Moon Pie, who helped him dress up like a pie stand and gave him an evening's supply of moon pies, which he intended to use to pass secret messages at the party.

***

Sugar Scoop was the first to slip into Canterlot. As she dropped her article into the submission slot at Equestria Daily, she realized she wasn't alone. She spun around and came face to face with Officer Bobtail.

"There's a bulletin out about you, Sugar Scoop," he said.

"Is it my Mule-itzer prize?" she asked, grinning innocently.

The police pony cuffed her to himself. "... no."

***

Glitterdust nervously approached the royal chambers. As she reached to open the door, she was surprised that it started to glow and open. She yelped and jumped back, only then realizing her own, new horn was responsible. She crossed her eyes to stare up at it, unhappily, then sighed and entered the royal chamber.

Princess Celestia was standing on her balcony once again, gazing out over the city. She spoke without turning.

"Agent Cloudkill, you are to serve as head of security for this year's masquerade party."

Glitterdust bowed as low as she could and remained silent. Princess Celestia turned and fixed her with one red eye.

"It will no doubt be a hotbed of treason and deceit. You and your postal inspectors are to locate any such traitors and take them into custody. Understood?"

"Yes, your Highness."

Princess Celestia nodded and turned back to her overwatch of the city. Glitterdust crawled backwards out of the chamber and shut the door before trotting off and quickly as she could without drawing attention. She wondered if the stress of this job was what had gotten to Derpy...

***

Once Glitterdust had left, Princess Celestia's eyes glowed and glazed over. She was watching events unfold from the perspective of the horn she had taken from Fizzy Wizard and bestowed upon Glitterdust. Her own magic had infused the horn, and it was hers to command, should she so choose. You can never be too careful when your own sister may be plotting against you.

***

That evening, Glitterdust fully expected the other ponies to try and enter the city. She had to find some way to contact them, to help them. With this in mind, she camped out near the lowest point in the wall, a spot she had used herself to sneak into the city if she'd been out after curfew. Delivering mail, of course, not out doing anything fun. It was hard for an Earth Pony to make the expected rounds. But she'd never given up, and now she was Postmare General!

Damn.

Sure enough, Glitterdust heard Sunnyside and Long Tail crossing the wall during the night. They each carried saddlebags (containing their costumes), and Sunny had lowered a rope to help Long Tail get up. After they hopped down into the city interior, Glitterdust emerged from the shadows, one hoof to her lips.

"Shh!"

Sunnyside and Long Tail turned, startled, but Sunny quickly smiled and flew closer. "Glitterdust! I'm so glad you're alright!"

"What are you doing here?" Glitterdust whispered. "It's crazy, coming back into Canterlot."

"No, no, we have a plan," Sunnyside said confidently. "We-" he looked back to Long Tail, who was mouthing "No" while shaking her head and gesturing for him to keep quiet. Sunnyside turned back to Glitterdust "We, uh... hey, your new horn looks lovely." He smiled unconvincingly.

Long Tail spoke "No, it doesn't. It's terrifying. I-" Sunny turned to shake his head and mouth "No" at Long Tail.

"I'm just telling the truth," Long Tail said, looking a little guiltily at Glitterdust, who seemed none too happy at the moment.

"Oh, Long Tail, don't you see?" Sunny flew back to her. "This is just what I've been talking to you about." She nodded and the two broke into song.

To the tune of Giggle at the Ghosties:

When I was (you were) in the army and the general was a doooooolt,
I (You) called him on his errors in front of all the other cooooolts.
He ignored my (your) good advice
And he set me (you) up for a fall
That's why Sunnyside says that isn't the way to deal with fools at allllllllll.

Glitterdust: Then what is?

He says (I say): Long Tail, you've gotta shut your mouth.
Learn diplomacy.
You'll see, things go better
If you don't make them all angryyyyy.

Sooooo

Curtsey at the clueless.
Nod nicely at the numbnut.
Smile at the sillies.
Bro-hoof with the bumblers.

And if it looks like they're getting upset and you can't convince them it's just a big misunderstanding then you can always run away because the most important thing to remember is...

Taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaact!

Sunnyside and Long Tail were left breathing hard, forelegs outstretched in a dramatic pose to accompany the conclusion of their song.

Applause broke out all around them, where a ring of Postal Inspectors had gathered while they were singing.

"Oh, we were sneaking, weren't we?" Sunny said, blushing with embarrassment.

"We were," Long Tail said, with more regret than blame.

The two shared a look. "Remember what I said about running?" Sunny asked. Long Tail nodded. "Let's do that."

As Sunnyside and Long Tail bolted, Inspectors in pursuit, Glitterdust cried out. "Wait! I can protect you! Trust me!"

But as she did so, her horn lit up, and a window shutter flew open right into Sunnyside's path. Fortunately, Long Tail caught him on her back was he was falling towards the ground, and the two made good their escape, leaving Glitterdust sitting on her haunches, cursing her own horn.

***

Sugar Scoop was cooling her hooves in the Police Stable when Officer Snapdragon came to her cell and brought her to another room for questioning. He didn't speak during the short walk, and Sugar Scoop didn't either.

In the next room, Officer Bobtail was waiting in front of a small pile of paperwork. Bobtail nodded politely to the other two as they entered. Snapdragon spoke at last after he shut the door.

"I've looked the other way for you sometimes, Sugar Scoop, but plotting against the Princess is way over the line!"

"Now now, Snapdragon," Bobtail put in. "Perhaps she can explain herself. Can you explain, Sugar Scoop?"

Sugar held up under the officers' grilling, until another police pony knocked on the door.

"Sirs, Agent C-c-cloudkill is here," the nervous pony quickly stepped aside. A bank of mist rolled into the room, and Glitterdust emerged, a glowing horn gracing her brow.

Snapdragon coughed as the mist reached him. "Did you leave the fog machine on, Benny?"

The nervous pony reappeared. "Oh yeah! S-s-sorry sirs!" There was a click, and the mist began to dissipate.

"Much better," Snapdragon said. "No, Agent Cloudkill-"

Glitterdust interrupted, her voice low and ominous. "You are dismissed, officers."

Bobtail and Snapdragon gulped and glanced quickly at one another before bowing their heads and leaving the room, closing the door behind them.

"Is that your masquerade costume?" Sugar Scoop asked, pointing at the horn.

"No," Glitterdust said, miserably, before sinking into a chair.

"Hey, do you want my hat then, to cover it up?"

"Sure," Glitterdust said. (Back on her balcony, Princess Celestia scowled as her view of the room was completely obscured and she could no longer read Sugar Scoop's lips.)

"What happened to you at the fair?"

"Remember those trap doors I found?"

"Sure."

"They were a trap."

Sugar Scoop cradled her face in her hooves. "You don't say."

"Fizzy Wizard was behind the whole scheme at the fair."

"So tell Celestia!"

"She knows! I even brought him in, and for that she gave me his horn!"

Sugar Scoop shuddered and shook her head.

"Why are you here, anyway?" Glitterdust asked.

"Oh, I had to turn in my article!"

It was Glitterdust's turn to bring a hoof to her face in exasperation. "Of course you did."

"Also, we have a plan to contact allies inside the city..." Sugar Scoop quickly filled Glitterdust in on the plan for the masquerade ball.

"...but those officers confiscated my Ninja outfit. Say, do you have a spare Postal Inspector uniform?"

Glitterdust nodded. "Sure. Let's get out of here." She opened the door and announced to the police: "This one's going to have to come with me." The police looked unhappy about it, but didn't say anything.

As Glitterdust led Sugar Scoop away, two Postal Inspector pegasi watched from the shadows, grinning evilly at one another as they saw how chummy Glitterdust and Sugar Scoop were when they thought no pony was watching. Chummy like Peaches and Cream.

***

Everypony convened at the masquerade. Glitterdust wore no costume, just her official Postmare General uniform. Sugar Scoop and a dozen other ponies in Postal Inspector uniforms accompanied her. Sunnyside was dressed like a walking Moon Pie stand, passing out crème filled chocolate pies and not-so-subtly invoking thoughts of the absent Princess Luna. Long Tail was encased in a mechanical sheath, her tail carefully wound around a drill component re-used from a prior contraption. Fizzlespark still hadn't returned from his own trek.

Sunnyside made sure to deliver his 'special' Moon Pies, each containing a secret note. He almost handed Sugar Scoop's off to a Scoop Family Ninja, since that had been her planned costume, but the real Sugar Scoop bumped the ninja out of line as the last moment and grabbed the pie.

Long Tail encountered a pony dressed as an Ursa Minor, talking at length about the Elements of Harmony in a lecturing cadence that could only belong to Twilight Sparkle. Long Tail took studious notes, and the other pony was happy to go on at length about her friends and confronting Nightmare Moon.

Glitterdust passed through the party like a specter of death, with few approaching her willingly. Peaches and Cream followed behind, trying to catch some evidence of treason or slacking.

Later in the evening, somepony passed Sunnyside a cupcake. He unwrapped it, finding that it was Red Velvet cake. Did that mean he was forgiven? He munched on the cupcake, then noticed writing in the paper wrap that had been around the base.

Princess Celestia has something terrible planned for the Grand Galloping Gala!

Sunny scanned the crowd for the costumed pony who had given him the treat, but she was no where to be seen. A short while later, another pony passed him an ice cream cone – with sprinkles! – with a bit of paper wrapped around the cone. When he finished the cone, he read the paper.

Prince Blueblood has something terrible planned for the Grand Galloping Gala!

The news weighed heavily upon him, like a cold lump in his stomach. No, actually, that was the ice cream. Tasty. But the news was troubling, to be sure.

As Sunny was considering what to do, Long Tail was walking and talking with the pony in the Ursa Minor costume. She didn't realize that her tail had gotten snagged on something and was slowly unwinding as the walked. Not until somepony tripped on it: a grey pegasus with a yellow tail, bubbles on her flank, and a brown paper bag completely covering her head.

"You might want to work on that costume before the next party," Glitterdust advised the bag-headed pony.

But everyone else's attention was on Long Tail. The tug had dislodged a key component of her costume, which clattered to the ballroom floor in a thousand pieces. The Ursa Minor pony gasped and opened the bear's jaws wide, revealing that it was indeed Twilight Sparkle. "Long Tail! You were trying to trick me into telling you the secrets of the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight glared and her horn lit up brightly.

"No, Twilight!" Long Tail said. "We're trying to help..."

The other ponies started clamoring loudly for someone to seize the traitor. Sunnyside started towards Long Tail, but found himself held from both sides. Red Velvet and Sprinklebelle had raised their masks slightly and each held him with one hoof.

"Don't go," Sprinklebelle said. "I'll hide you at Scoop Manor."

"No," Red Velvet said, glaring at Sprinklebelle. "I'll hide him."

Sunnyside looked at each of them, then gritted his teeth and burst out of their grip, his Moon Pie Stand costume tearing off in the process. He streaked gold across the ballroom to hover near Long Tail and Twilight.

"Listen, everypony," he said. "Canterlot is in danger." The crowd murmured at this, but his dramatic appearance was enough to command their attention for now. He continued.

"Nightmare Moon wasn't just the product of Princess Luna's jealousy. Somepony corrupted her on purpose. Those same ponies are at large today, trying to undermine our society."

As Sunnyside gave the high-level overview, Long Tail took the opportunity to fill Twilight in on the details. She told her about the transformation circles, how the Star Ponies had tried to make Luna into Nightmare Moon again, how they had created the ritual that had disrupted the magic fair. She stopped short of sharing their conviction that Princess Celestia had been corrupted by absorbing the energy of that ritual. Sharing that Twilight's mentor and role model had succumbed didn't seem very... tactful.

"Something doesn't quite add up," Twilight said, still suspicious. Long Tail hoped Twilight would figure it out. She wasn't sure she could restrain herself from blurting out the truth.

A masked pony in the crowd shouted at Sunnyside. "Why should we believe you, who fled from the scene of the crime?" Long Tail recognized the voice. Scrambler.

Sunnyside didn't let it show if he recognized the voice of his brother calling him a criminal. "You can't afford not to..." Sunny hesitated before going further, then glanced at Long Tail. She understood, and nodded. Sunny continued.

"Because the magic that created Nightmare Moon has now turned Princess Celestia into a tyrannical mare of flame: Daystar Nova."

Long Tail quickly turned back to Twilight and saw understanding dawn in her eyes. Twilight regarded Long Tail with trust for the first time.

"I don't think I can wield the Elements against my mentor," she said. "But I'll try to help you. The Elements reside in the hearts of everypony."

"Could you be more specific?" Long Tail asked, impatient to escape the party.

"Honesty, Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Loyalty. When these five elements are united, a spark will cause the sixth element to appear. The element of Magic."

A group of postal inspectors approached. Twilight hurriedly levitated Long Tail's tail off of the obstruction it was caught on and closed her bear costume. "You'd better go, now," she said.

The overall mood of the gathering was sympathetic, though. Sunnyside in particular had spent the evening sewing the seeds for this revelation through judicious sharing of moon pies with secret messages, and over half the ponies began speaking of the need to oppose Daystar's tyranny. Behind the safety of their masks, they planned their next moves, spoke of the need to recruit Princess Luna to their side, and then scattered before the royal guard arrived to arrest everypony.

The Lunar Resistance began that night.

Episode 6: Daystar, Part 3 of 3: Midnight Sun

The Lunar Resistance operated in the shadows and the darkness of night. A nocturnal agent, an owl, was dispatched to maintain contact between the Canterlot cells and Twilight Sparkle.

Meanwhile, tales of Princess Celestia's caprice spread. It was murmured that she had tricked a big-hearted pegasus into thinking a pet bird had died, when in fact it was an immortal phoenix. She had reportedly mocked hosts giving her tea. Most shocking of all, she had reportedly vaporized the wings of a contestant in the Young Fliers' Competition with solar energy, causing the contestant to plummet nearly to her death.

"Trollestia," they called her. "Tyrant."

They rallied around Princess Luna, their only hope against the power of Daystar. They spoke of Long Tail and Sunnyside, the Golden Egg, the two ponies who had openly opposed Daystar's power and since been forced into hiding.

Outside the walls of Canterlot, Long Tail and Sunny met with their friends to plan their resistance. Long Tail had learned that Nightmare Moon had been cleansed by using the Elements of Harmony, and the group hoped to do the same with Daystar.

"The Elements of Harmony?" came a chipper voice from just outside the circle of friends. "That package has already been delivered! Derp!"

Ditzy cheerfully joined the circle and sat herself down, her eyes independently scanning the group.

"Hi boss," Glitterdust said, apparently accustomed to such interruptions.

"Delivered where?" asked Sugar Scoop.

Ditzy considered for a moment. "The vault at the castle! Princess Celestia puts her horn into the lock and it says 'That's the magic of the Prin-cess! I'm gong to open now!' Already delivered."

All the ponies perked up at that, and looked in unison at Glitterdust, who was wearing Sugar Scoop's hat to cover the horn Daystar had bestowed upon her.

"We have a horn with Celestia's magic!" Fizzlespark announced.

"Let's use it to get the elements!" Sugar Scoop agreed.

"Okay, I'll let the princess know you're coming!" Ditzy said cheerfully, taking to the skies.

"Oh, shoot, is she actually going to warn the princess?" Fizzlespark asked.

Long Tail concentrated, and her horn glowed. "Probably not for eight hours or so."

"We should distract her somehow!" Fizzlespark decided.

"What does she like, Glitterdust?" Sunny asked.

"Well... mail and muffins."

"Okay," Sunnyside said. "I have cousins in the breakfast families that can whip up some muffins."

Fizzlespark pulled out a beaker and some envelopes. "I'll make shiny mail with my spare radium!"

"Is that safe?" Sugar Scoop asked.

Fizzlespark frowned, then pulled out a marker and wrote "DO NOT LICK" on the envelopes. "Sure!"

"How are we going to seal them without licking them?" Sunnyside wondered aloud.

"Details!" Fizzlespark got to work.

Long Tail watched with a dubious expression, then her horn started to glow. Her mind filled with visions of mutated envelopes menacing the city, of the rebels being blamed for a terrorist attack using the mail, of the muffin family in irons for collaborating... so many possibilities, terrible possibilities. Her eyes glowed blue-on-blue, then white symbols appeared and she passed out.

When she awoke, the plan had been enacted and there was no time for concern. The ponies returned to their planning for retrieving the Elements of Harmony. Their best opportunity would be that very night, the night of the Grand Galloping Gala, when there would be plenty to distract Daystar and the royal guards. Assuming Ditzy took her time getting to the Princess, Daystar hopefully wouldn't be forewarned about what the rebels planned.

They still weren't sure just how much support they would have at a gathering of the elite. Sugar Scoop suggested putting an ad in Equestria Daily. Sunnyside got a nervous look, and glanced to Glitterdust, who looked guilty. Fizzlespark spoke before Sunny could stop him.

"Did you hear the government shut down Equstria Daily? For all the lies and slanderous fanfic? There's a new, official newspaper, the Daily Sun."

"WHAT?" Sugar, always black and white, was turning red all over.

"Have you read the propaganda that's replaced it?"

"Like a said, a new newspaper."

Sunny, who had been gesturing wildly for the two unicorns to stop adding fuel to the fire, ducked behind a stump as Sugar howled in journalistic rage.

***

Ditzy hummed to herself as she merrily delivered mail. Her work took her all over Equestria, from Canterlot to Ponyville to other places she didn't even remember all the time. It was fun, but sometimes she wondered if-

MUFFINS!

Just sitting there, in a cute little row on the ground.

"Muffffffins..."

She pounced from mid-air, loosing a cloud of mail, and scarfed down the first muffin.

"More muffinff!"

Ditzy followed the muffin trail until it ended, just in front of a golden-shod, white hoof. She looked up and smiled, cheeks round with muffiny goodness.

"Hi Prinfeff!"

***

Our heroes returned to Canterlot under cover of night, and to the tune of At the Gala:

Long Tail (Fluttershy's verse):
At the gala, we will heal her
Elements of harmony
Cel-es-ti-a, We will free you at the gala~

With their friendship, and our cunning,
Twi-light's friends and our crew,
We will mitigate disaster-
Prob'ly- at the Gala! (at the Gala!)

Sunnyside (Applejack's verse):
At the gala
I will save them
All the Scoops and all the Cakes
I don't really know how...
But I'll do whatever it takes!

And I'll be reconciled
With the whole Egg Family! (at the Gala!)

Glitterdust (Rarity's verse):
At the gala, I am watching,
The Princess carefully
Got to make sure nothing happens in the ballroom (at the Gala!)

And I'm hoping, and I'm wishing,
That all my friends will be
At their places, all together,
and on time to the Gala!

Sugar Scoop (Rainbow's verse):
We interrupt this party to bring you a breaking story.
Four stars and magic tricks, turned Celestia into a witch.
The stars were kind of witless, but can we stop the princess?
I'm Sugar Scoop reporting live here at the Gala!

Fizzlespark (Pinkie's verse):
I am here at the grand gala, for it is the place to be,
For it's here the rebel plot is going down in history,
And I have to help my friends out with my wonderful machines,
Machines glowing,
Machines sparking,
With me at the gala!

Daystar flies overhead, royal music trumpeting.

Daystar (Twilight's verse):
At the gala,
All my subjects,
They will worship only me
It will be like old times,
All Equestria will see.
Princess Luna must be punished
For inciting treach-er-yyyyy~

At the Gala!

***

Fizzlespark reconfigured his Pony Rescuing Device to enable part of the team to tunnel into the castle from below. He calls it his Pony Anti-Rescuing Device, and acknowledges that the name is a work in progress. He and Long Tail will enter by the subterranean route, white Glitterdust and Sugar Scoop infiltrate in postal uniforms and Sunnyside uses the Wonderbolts performance as a distraction to do some aerial scouting.

Underneath the castle, the Pony Anti-Rescuing Device disgorged Fizzlespark and Long Tail into the underground caverns. Fizzlespark had Spring along, as well, carrying the clockwork dragon on his back. The two made good progress, until Long Tail brought them to a stop.

"We probably should have gone left back at the last fork," she said.

"What? Why?" Fizzlespark asked.

Long Tail remained silent to let the emerging star dragons speak for themselves, but it was another pony who spoke.

General Gemesis stepped forward, his crystalline armor glinting majestically even in the meager light of the cave. "I have you now!"

***

Sunnyside glided silently past the Wonderbolts performance, noting the locations of the guards and counting their numbers on his way to the citadel where the Elements were locked in the royal vault. It was a party, so he had dressed in his tuxedo jacket, and his mane was carefully combed and slicked back, a far cry from his usual wild look. His last task on scout duty was to make sure Daystar was attending the celebrations, and was thus accounted for.

As the golden pegasus came into view of the royal booth, he say Daystar was indeed there, and had already been watching the very spot he now occupied. Sunnyside saw her grin, but there was no humor in it, just the smug pleasure of a predator that had cornered its prey.

The Wonderbolts had just executed a loop in formation, and were barreling towards him. He dove out of their way and into the artificial canyon of the city streets, but they wheeled to pursue. It seemed their performance was over, and the chase was on.

***

Spike wandered dejectedly through the corridors of the castle. Somehow, all of his friends had gotten distracted with some obsession at this party. It was almost as if someone didn't want them to be able to watch out for one another and act as a team. But that was crazy. Who would want to do something like that?

Deep in thought, he didn't notice for a moment that he had wandered into a chamber with a group of slavering dragons, three unicorns, and... Spring.

Spike's eyes went wide and he leapt back to cower against one of the dragons.

"Guys! We've gotta get out of here!" he cried. "That thing! It's- It'll- just run!"

The star dragons exchanged a nervous look. Spring hopped off of Fizzlespark's back and opened it's mouth, emitting a tiny, tinny roar. Spike ran as fast as his little legs would carry him, and the dragons followed, disappearing into the darkness.

"Wait!" Gemesis shouted. "I'll feed you gems! Rubies! Sapphires! Diamonds!"

It was too late. They were gone. Spring sat back on his haunches, a self-satisfied expression gracing his metallic face.

Long Tail seized the moment. "There's no need for concern. We're on a mission for the Princess even now."

Gemesis narrowed his eyes. "I wasn't informed."

Long Tail scoffed. "If the Princess didn't think you needed to know, then I suppose you don't need to know."

Long Tail was obnoxious, but she had never lied to him before.

He hesitated, and Long Tail spoke again. "If you need to escalate, then escalate, but stop wasting my time."

Gemesis gritted his teeth. "Oh, I'll escalate. I'll escalate bigtime!"

With that, he stormed out of the chamber, leaving Fizzlespark and Long Tail free to continue their trek through the tunnels.

***

The Wonderbolts were hot on Sunnyside's tail. He tried every trick he could think of, but they matched him loop for loop, and they were fast. Before long, he found himself in a dead-end alley, gasping for breath as a phalanx of Wonderbolts glided down the alley to hover in a semicircle before him.

Rapidfire, a Wonderbolt colt with a grey mane, flew into the lead position.

"Egg, when we're through with you, all Luna's fillies and all Luna's colts won't be able to put you together again."

Sunny glared defiantly at the Wonderbolts, but defiance turned to shock when a large egg splatted into Rapidfire's head from above and knocked him to the ground.

Scrambler stood on the rooftop, looking down over his snout at the Wonderbolts, righteous anger in his gaze and in his voice. "No pony picks on my little brother."

On queue, the other eleven Benedict Bombers rose from their positions, eggs at the ready. Scrambler gave the Wonderbolts no chance to surrender, he simply swept down his hoof and the Bombers unloaded with military precision. After a brief but messy battle, the Wonderbolts slunk off with egg on their face.

"All these eggs are making me hungry."
"Shut yer pie hole, Soarin'."
"Mmm, pie..."

Scrambler hopped down to ground level.

"You alright, Sunny?"

"I'm fine," Sunnyside said, looking gratefully into his brother's eyes. "Thanks to you! If you hadn't..."

Scrambler blushed. "Aw, bro, don't go all runny on me... You know how it is. No pony picks on my little brother... except me!"

With that, he pulled Sunnyside into a headlock with one hoof and noogied him with the other. Sunny's carefully-groomed mane reverted to its wild, forward-swept poof.

"Ack! Scrambler! Leggooo~!"

***

Glitterdust and Sugar Scoop were unimpeded as they made their way through the castle. Partially, this was because the Princess had commanded that all guests line up to receive her blessing, which kept them (and her) somewhat occupied. They had also taken special measures to ensure Prince Blueblood would not be able to enact his plan, whatever it was, by making sure Rarity knew just where to find him.

As Glitterdust and Sugar approached the vault, they overheard two royal guards discussing the new Daily Sun.

"This newspaper is so much better than the old one! Just check out the fillies on page 3!" The guard whinnied.

"And the horoscopes – they're so true! Let me see mine for today... let's see... 'You will capture a fugitive pony named Sugar Scoop who is standing across the hall from you... see picture...'"

Glitterdust just kept moving, but Sugar Scoop stomped over to the guards and tore the paper from their hands, rolling it into a bludgeon.

"Journalistic integrity cannot survive without an intelligent readership!" she screamed, beating the two guards with the rolled up paper. "You get the media you deserve!"

Glitterdust tried to calm Sugar Scoop down, but was whacked in the snout for her trouble, dislodging the hat covering the unwholesome horn Daystar had given her.

Meanwhile, Daystar was in the greeting chamber, welcoming each pony with spoken pleasantries and a single word burned into their minds.

OBEY.

With Glitterdust's horn exposed, she paused and narrowed her eyes, taking in the scene. Nothing escaped her sight, not even the Scoop family pony shrouded in ninja garb positioning herself to save Sugar Scoop. Her eyes narrowed and she turned her head to regard Philomena, her loyal phoenix. The firey bird nodded its understanding, and flew off to the scene of Sugar Scoop's assault on the royal guards.

Philomena swooped down just as the Scoop ninja reached for Sugar Scoop, forcing the ninja back. The Postal Inspectors Peaches and Cream grabbed Sugar and forced her to the ground. With her face planted against the stone floor, she read a brief excerpt from the paper in front of her: her horoscope.

"You will be made an offer you can't refuse," it said, with an asterisk after 'refuse.' The footnote read: "Or else."

The Inspectors hauled Sugar Scoop into the line of ponies waiting to receive the blessing of the Princess. All too soon, she found herself before Daystar.

The Princess's horn glowed as she spoke. "How good to see you, Sugar Scoop!" OBEY. "Where are your friends?" OBEY. "I'd hate to miss them tonight." OBEY. "I'm sure if anyone can persuade them to come see me, you can." OBEY.

Sugar Scoop gritted her teeth. "I- this new newspaper is a travesty!"

To Sugar's surprise, Daystar nodded her head. "I wanted to discuss just that with you." OBEY. "I would like you to head a new journalistic organization devoted to the truth." OBEY. "I call it the Sunlight Foundation." OBEY. "You will shine the light of truth into all the dark places where traitors scheme, and expose them for all to see." OBEY. "Doesn't that sound nice?" OBEY.

"Now go, and return with your friends, so we can bring them into Harmony." OBEY.

"Y- yes, Princess," Sugar Scoop said, as if in a trance. Then she bowed and trotted off to find the others.

***

Fizzlespark and Long Tail arrived at the grand cathedral, where the great feats of ponykind were recorded in dazzling stained glass. Glitterdust soon joined them, and Sunnyside thereafter, having managed to extricate himself from his brother's embrace.

"Where's Sugar Scoop?" he asked Glitterdust.

"She was taken to see Daystar," Glitterdust said, glumly.

"Then we're down to just four Elements?"

Fizzlespark spoke next. "I'm still not clear on how we were supposed to get the sixth."

Sunny answered. "When the five elements are brought together, a spark causes the sixth to appear."

"Pfft." The science pony was not impressed. "It'll just conveniently happen?" He rolled his eyes. "I suppose that's magic for you."

"If Sugar Scoop is with Daystar," Long Tail said. "We should be able to get five Elements together, each wielding one."

The others nodded. Glitterdust removed the hat from her head and thrust the horn Daystar had given her into the lock of the vault. It glowed a vibrant, sky blue, but a blue that drizzled with stars. Even so, the large door ground open to reveal a jeweled box. Long Tail moved to retrieve the box, but Glitterdust's horn glowed again, more brightly, and blue light filled the cathedral.

The ponies blinked against the brightness, then winced as a high-pitched, scraping sound assailed their ears. The glow dimmed, and they found themselves facing a large, stained glass version of Daystar, who had peeled out from one of the images lining the room. The light glinted off of the razor sharp horn and hooves of the glassy menace.

It immediately went on the attack, scattering the ponies in all directions. The ponies hooves simply bounced off of it – the glass was too hard to crack. It seemed there was no hope, but the ponies refused to give up on retrieving the Elements, even as their reflexes slowed from fatigue and each near miss became nearer and nearer to a fatal blow.

Long Tail charged for the Elements while Sunnyside buzzed the monster's head to distract it, but the creature was too fast. One wing knocked Sunny out of the way, and a hoof slammed down, right onto Long Tail's tail.

Time seemed to stop. The room was silent. Long Tail gazed in horror and disbelief at the pitifully short, mathematically irrelevant puff of hair left on her behind. Her lips trembled, and she inhaled and shut her eyes to scream.

But before she did, Fizzlespark leapt in front of her, an amplifying bullhorn clenched between his teeth. The shriek blasted out of it with visible force. The glass Daystar held one wing to shield herself, but the wing slowly cracked, then gave way. Glitterdust's horn was glowing blue, holding the creature together, Long Tail's shriek shattered the glass creature and every window in the cathedral. When they burst, so did the unnatural horn on Glitterdust's brow.

Everypony hunkered down, hooves over their ears, and waited for the rain of glass to subside.

"Everypony alright?" Sunny asked. Fizzlespark and Glitterdust nodded, but Long Tail just stared at her lost tail, lying lifeless and flat on the stone tile.

Sunnyside walked over to her and put on hoof on her shoulder. "It'll grow back."

She looked at him with wet eyes. "But what are the odds it'll grow back anytime soon?" She shook her head. "Surely too negligible to even bother casting my prediction spell."

"But we have the Elements!" Fizzlespark announced, the six items of jewelry glittering as he levitated them out of their box.

At that point, Sugar Scoop flew in through one of the shattered windows. She seemed to take the destruction in stride, which was only natural, considering that she'd seen Fizzlespark in action before.

"We should go to the Princess," she announced.

"Yes!" Fizzlespark said. "Everybody take a necklace."

He tossed the necklaces out to the other ponies.

"Sweet, a lightning bolt," Sugar Scoop said.

"Say, this butterfly matches my hair," said Sunnyside.

"What's this supposed to be?" Glitterdust wondered. "A kite?"

"I've got a hot air balloon," Fizzlespark said. "And I'll hold onto this crown with the explosion on it."

Long Tail frowned. "This isn't Mane-delbrot's Set. It looks like an apple. That's not any kind of probability distribution."

"Maybe it's in polar coordinates?" Fizzlespark suggested. That seemed to satisfy Long Tail, who turned back to her lost tail and gathered it up in her mouth.

"Let's go to the Princess," Sugar said. The others enthusiastically agreed.

***

Red Velvet spotted Applejack entering the royal kitchens and followed her. The earth pony seemed lost in the vast facility where the royal feasts were made.

"I saw the entire thing," Red said sympathetically, walking up to the orange filly.

"Ah just cayn't imagine what she sees in that stuck up, good-fer-nothin' Blueblood," Applejack said. "But it ain't no concern o' mine. Ah gotta come up with somethin' fancy, right pronto, or ah'm agonna miss mah chaynce t' earn the bits ah need t' fix Granny Smith's hip, an' the ol' barn."

Applejack gave Red Velvet an appraising look, taking in her elaborate green dress, her carefully arranged mane, and the fine jewelry she wore.

"Say, yer lookin' pretty fancy yerself," Applejack said. "So, uh, what does a fancy pony like yerself fancy, apple-wise?"

Sunnyside had apprised Red Velvet of the plan. It was obvious to her, after seeing the incident at Applejack's cart, that Rarity was reaching the limit of her willingness to tolerate Blueblood's constant attempts to get rid her. If she gave up on him, and stopped distracting him from whatever his plan was, they would need a Plan B to take him out of the equation. Let him eat cake.

"My dear, are you familiar with Apple Cake?"

Applejack lit up. "Am ah ever! Why, t'ain't a birthday without one o' them big ol' apple cake's to celebrate. But..." The earth pony's enthusiasm waned. "They take a while t' fix up, 'specially if'n we're gonna gussy it up all fancy-like."

"Oh ho ho," Red Velvet chuckled, softly. "Perhaps I should introduce myself." She stood tall, and spread her wings. "I am Red Velvet, of the Cake Family. We'll have a world-class Apple Cake in ten minutes flat."

"Well, gee, Miss Velvet, it's mighty kind o' you to help out. The name's Applejack." She grasped Red Velvet's hoof and shook it vigorously. "It's a real playsure t' be making yer acquaintance!" She let the pegasus's hoof go, and pursed her lips. "But ten minutes is awful fast. You sure 'bout that?"

"Trust me," Red said. "It'll be a piece of cake."

***

As Sugar Scoop and her friends galloped towards the great hall, a sudden shaking almost knocked them to the ground. It repeated, a heavy thudding, a few times each second, growing closer. The water in a nearby fountain rippled with the impact, but the ponies found their footing and pressed on.

They soon encountered the source of the disturbance: Lady Double Scoop was galumphing down the corridor, using her wings for a bit of lift, each bound causing her massive bulk to impact the floor and rock the castle to its foundations. She was accompanied by Sprinklebelle and Sprinklebelle's cousin from out-of-town, Lickety Split.

Doublescoop stopped at the sight of Sugar Scoop, and spoke. "It's chaos in the Gala. Someone launched a cake at Prince Blueblood, the statue of Celestia has been shattered, and a swarm of beasts was loosed into the hall. Come with us, daughter. We can protect you."

Beside her, Sprinklebelle's eyes held the same message. Come with us, to safety. She directed her gaze briefly at Sunny, but those eyes found her sister as well.

Sugar Scoop didn't hesitate, but her voice was unusually tender. "No, I must bring my friends to the Princess. It's the only way to make things right."

Double Scoop waddled closer, never taking her eyes off of Sugar.

"Then at least take this." She held out a tall ice cream cone. "It's dangerous to go in there."

Sugar felt tears rising in her eyes, and fought to hold them back. "My favorite flavor..." She took the cone, reverently. The other Scoops continued their escape, but stopped when Sugar spoke again.

"Mom, Sprink, I'm..." Her face contorted, her eyes clenched shut. "ss- I'm ssso- ss- sorr- I'm..." She exhaled and opened her eyes. "I'll write!"

Sprinklebelle and Double Scoop smiled and nodded, and Sugar and her friends continued their gallop towards the great hall.

They burst in, finding the décor in tatters, but it was hardly the scene of chaos and panic the Scoops had described. The guests were seated in precise, orderly rows, gazing at Princess Daystar, whose pastel mane had been replaced with roiling flames. Twilight Sparkle and her friends were nowhere in sight.

As Sugar and her friends walked into the chamber, everypony turned to watch them in unison. The door behind them slammed shut. But that was alright. They had no intention of running.

"Ah, my faithful Sugar Scoop," Daystar said, her voice reverberating with power. "You brought your friends, just as I foresaw."

Sugar Scoop kept walking forward, but the other ponies halted.

Long Tail dropped her severed tail from her mouth to speak. "Oh, you foresaw that, too?"

Daystar smiled indulgently at the flippant unicorn. "You will now join the rest of us in Harmony, and put aside this foolish rebellion. Sugar Scoop will realize her greatest dreams as the head of my new Sunlight Foundation. With the authority of the throne, no one will deny her investigative privileges."

"Daystar," Sugar said, angrily. "I'd like to deliver a special report... on tyranny!"

Everypony gasped. Everypony but Daystar.

"Before you do, you should consider the consequences of not accepting the role I've selected for you. There won't be much news to report... on the MOON."

Sugar Scoop still hesitated, looking back towards her friends.

Daystar leaned down to speak with Sugar once again. "Discord cannot be tolerated. You can't even imagine what will happen if it is allowed to run free. Trust in my wisdom, and OBEY."

Sunnyside turned to Fizzlespark. "We could really use Princess Luna to wield that sixth Element right now. You're a spark. Could you use your friendship with her to make her appear?"

"That's just ridiculous," Fizzlespark replied. "Friendship doesn't just 'make' ponies appear."

Sunnyside was crestfallen. "But-"

"SO, MY SISTER LUNA WAS PART OF YOUR SCHEME," Daystar howled, in her royal voice. "I KNEW SHE COULDN'T BE TRUSTED. VERY WELL, LUNA, I DARE YOU TO SHOW YOUR FACE IN THE LIGHT OF MY-" The chamber rattled, and fire burst from Daystar. "MIDNIGHT SUN!"

The Sun blasted into the sky, blowing the moon down past the horizon. The fierce light of high noon beat down into the chamber.

"That might be a problem," Fizzlespark observed.

"EVERYPONY. SEIZE THE TRAITORS."

The orderly ranks of ponies rose and moved to restrain Sugar Scoop and her friends.

Long Tail turned to Sunnyside. "So, are we running away, or using tact?"

Sunnyside and Fizzlespark shared a look, then Sunny nodded grimly. Fizzlespark answered for him.

"We may have exhausted the limits of tact." As he spoke, his horn flashed, and a variety of fearsome weapons deployed from his saddlebags, notably his rocket-launching morningstars.

Sunny had a pair of eggs in at the ready. "So it's come to this."

Glitterdust tossed her mane, relieved not to feel the weight of Daystar's horn on her head, and scraped at the ground with one hoof, ready to charge.

Long Tail nodded at the others, are carefully levitated her severed tail into a safe corner before turning to face the masses of mind-controlled ponies that had moved to separate them from Sugar Scoop.

Daystar was content to watch, with Sugar Scoop seething at her side. Until she spotted Fizzlespark setting up a particular device.

"The sun-blocker," she muttered. "A blasphemous contraption. Philomena, destroy it."

The phoenix saluted, but before it could fly off, Sugar Scoop whirled and thrust the ice cream cone her mother had given her straight into the firey heart of the bird. It sizzled and steamed, but in the end, it was overcome, with both hooves on the cone, Sugar forced the smouldering bird to the ground, where it lay in an expanding pool of ice cream soup.

As a last, pitiful croak escaped the phoenix, Sugar recited her family motto. "We all scream for ice cream!" Then she whirled and took to the air.

"Everypony, listen! Thinking for yourselves is important!" Sugar shouted.

"Thinking for ourselves is important," they replied, in unison. Sugar pressed one hoof to her brow in frustration. Daystar chuckled.

"It's not right for a ruler to exile everyone who disagrees with her! Ponies must enjoy basic dignities – rights of free expression, freedom from arbitrary punishments... don't just lie down and accept dictatorship!"

A few ponies stopped their pursuit of Sugar's friends, gazing confusedly at her instead, but the thralls vastly outnumbered them.

Daystar narrowed her eyes. "ENOUGH." Her mane flared, and an intense beam of light burst from her horn. It sizzled through the air towards Sugar Scoop, but she ducked out of the way at the last moment, the beam so close it burned a hole straight through her hat.

Which left the beam arcing across the room towards Red Velvet. She had fallen under Daystar's thrall, and was about to drop a pair of hefty cakes onto Fizzlespark to stop him from operating his machine. As the lance of solar energy neared her, it was met by a golden streak. He blocked the laser with his body, and reflected light flared blindingly for one golden moment.

Red Velvet blinked, the haze in her eyes clearing. In confusion, she let the cakes slip from her grasp. Below, Fizzlespark pulled the final switch and announced that he was done, just before being buried in cake.

Looking around, Red found Sunnyside amidst some rubble on the ground, steam rising from his body. She dove to his side as Sugar Scoop continued exhorting the crowd to resist Daystar's mental shackles.

"What she can't control – she would destroy. Just as she has tried to destroy your minds, the essence of what makes you Pony."

"I'll stand with you." It was Officer Snapdragon. Sugar was touched, and smiled appreciatively.

"Me, too!" shouted Red Velvet, from next to Sunnyside.

"And me!" "Me as well!" "For freedom!" A wave swept over the crowd, and Daystar's spell was extinguished.

Daystar took a step back, surprised at the display of defiance.

As she did, a shadow began to sweep across Canterlot. Fizzlespark's light-bending contraption rose again, as it had during the Summer Sun Celebration, and blocked out the sun itself. As the line of darkness crossed the ballroom it revealed Princess Luna, who now stood among the crowd of ponies opposing Daystar.

"So she did appear!" Glitterdust said.

"Yes, but it wasn't magic!" Fizzlespark replied vehemently, cleaning the cake off of himself with a rotary licking device. "I sent rocket pigeons." He gestured to a window, where Luna's chariot could be seen, rocket pigeons attached at the front.

Daystar spoke to Luna, again in her royal voice. "DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE YOU CAN DEPLOY THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY AGAINST ME? THEY'RE BOUND TO MY PUPIL. YOU AND THESE PONIES, WHY, THE SYMBOLS DON'T EVEN MATCH."

Luna's eyes flashed white, and thunder boomed. The Elements changed into a beaker, a bag, a Lorentz distribution, a spyglass, an interrobang, and a crown bearing a crescent moon, which Luna levitated to her own head. Four ponies gathered in formation around her as the Elements glowed bright.

"YOU'RE GOING TO THE SUN, SISTER," Luna said, in her own royal voice. "TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU'VE DONE. TO THESE PONIES. TO ME."

"Wait, what?" Long Tail cocked her head at Luna's plan.

"IF YOU USE THE ELEMENTS AGAINST ME, YOU'LL COMPLETE THE CYCLE OF DISCORD," Daystar warned.

Luna ignored her. "I INVOKE THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!"

"LOYALTY!" Sugar Scoop swooped into the air to gaze down at Daystar, then glowed brightly. The room thrummed with gathering power.

"GENEROSITY!" Glitterdust stood sturdy as a rock, magic energy pulsing through her.

"LAUGHTER!" Luna smiled at Fizzlespark. "Laughter?" he objected. "Science is serious business!" This just made Luna smile more broadly, and Fizzlespark ignited with the glow of his element.

"KINDNESS!" Somepony was missing from the formation. Luna's gaze swept across the room to find Sunnyside, charred and still smoking, groaning in pain. Sprinklebelle had returned, and held an ice pack on his head, while Red Velvet dabbed his brow with a spongecake. His necklace flickered faintly.

"OKAY... WELL... GOOD ENOUGH," Luna said. "HONESTY!"

"I honestly think this is a bad idea," said Long Tail, as Luna turned to her. The power of the Elements faded and snuffed out.

"BUT," Luna said. "WE THOUGHT YOU WERE OUR FRIENDS. IT HAS BEEN SO LONG, WITHOUT A FRIEND, PERHAPS... WE WERE MISTAKEN." Luna hung her head and looked sidelong at Fizzlespark.

"IT IS THY JEALOUSY," Daystar said. "AND THY TREACHEROUS SCHEMES THAT PREVENT THEE FROM KEEPING FRIENDS. WE OFFERED THEE OUR FORGIVENESS, OUR FRIENDSHIP, BUT THOU HAST REPAID US WITH REBELLION."

"That's not right, either!" Long Tail objected. "Princess Luna, we are your friends, but we need to use the Elements to heal your sister, the way Twilight Sparkle and her friends healed you. We can't just banish her to the Sun! That probably won't solve anything."

"She's right," Sugar Scoop said, placing one hoof on Luna's shoulder. "You have to stick by your sister, because that’s the only way they’ll learn sense. And one day, when you’re in trouble, they’ll come to help you out – because that’s what –" Sugar sniffed, and blinked away tears. "That's what family’s all about.” Sugar Scoop smiled at Luna, then her ears suddenly perked up and her smile flipped upside down. She turned slowly, and noticed Sprinklebelle was in the room. “Oh no! Did you hear all that!?”

Sprinklebelle just nodded, with tears of her own.

Next to her, Sunnyside's eyes were open. He struggled to his feet and flexed his wings. They were blackened and wouldn't open all the way, so he walked slowly forward.

"I thought my brother had lost faith in me," he said, a little hoarse. "But when I was in trouble, when I needed him, he came through. Family always does." Sunnyside took his place in formation around Princess Luna and smiled at her. " And so do friends."

"EVERYPONY," Luna said. "YOU ARE RIGHT. WHAT WE WANT, MOST OF ALL-" Luna's voice cracked, just a little. "IS TO HAVE OUR SISTER BACK."

Light gathered around the assembled ponies as Luna called upon the Elements.

"LOYALTY!" Sprinklebelle had joined the circle, and Sugar Scoop was embracing her. Light burst forth as Luna announced Sugar's Element.

"GENEROSITY!" Glitterdust's necklace glowed, and she levitated into the air as energy gathered around her.

"LAUGHTER!" Fizzlespark had somehow attached Spring to his necklace, and was cranking him furiously, cackling maniacally as he did so. Sparks flew from the Element, joining the cascade of power building in the center of the room.

"KINDNESS!" A sheath of light enveloped Sunnyside's whole body, healing his injured wings. He leapt aloft to shine like a beacon, and extended one hoof to Daystar in a gesture of friendship.

"HONESTY!" The power washed over Long Tail from head to tail, then kept going, sweeping back in a graceful arc of mathematical purity. Of, if not certainly, then quantifiable uncertainty.

"THESE FIVE ELEMENTS TOGETHER, CREATE THE SIXTH ELEMENT. THE ELEMENT OF..."

"MAGIC!" cried everypony in unison (except for Fizzlespark, whose shout of "Science!" was drowned out by the rest).

Luna lowered her horn and took aim. The multicolored energy of the Elements coalesced around her, then swept out from her royal horn in a spray of colors.

"NO!" Daystar cried. "OBEY ME! OBEYYYYYYYYY..."

***

When the light from the Elements faded, it was nighttime once again. The Midnight Sun had passed, and the Moon shone down, illuminating the platform on which Celestia now lay. Her mane was pastel again, but unmoving, lying still on the ground.

Princess Luna alone seemed unharmed by the experience. In fact, she seemed to have grown in stature, similar to Princess Celestia herself. She galloped to her sister's side.

"Tia?" she said. "Are you alright? Please wake up?"

"Hmmph?" Celestia responded. Her mane slowly began to undulate, but she didn't open her eyes. "Wake up? But it's the middle of the night. Did you have that nightmare again, with the butterflies..."

Luna blushed and looked back to see if anypony was close enough to hear. "No, shush about that! It's the night of the Grand Galloping Gala. Don't you remember?"

"Oof, no. It must have been a good party." Celestia finally opened her eyes and saw where she was. "Oh, oh dear."

The other ponies were starting to recover from the force of the Elements, as well.

"You know, Luna, it being nighttime and all, why you handle this?" Celestia said, taking in the chaos. "I'm going for a cup of coffee. Fill me in at dawn, okay?"

As her big sister left, Luna grinned broadly, turning to the assembled ponies. Tia was finally trusting her to handle things like a Princess.

"WE THINK THIS CALLS FOR A CELEBRATION!"

A cheer rose from the crowd, and the players took up their instruments once again to play a joyful tune.

***

The soundtrack continued the joyful music as scenes from a subsequent day played on the screen. Glitterdust and Ditzy Doo took the stage beneath a banner announcing that the Pony Express mail service was now an Equal Opportunity employer.

In the audience, Long Tail pulled out a copy of the reinstated Equestria Daily newspaper, where the front page announced that the army was being recalled from the border with Gryffindor, and war was averted. The byline was Sugar Scoop's, and below her file photo the paper acknowledged her receipt of a well-deserved Mule-itzer prize.

The camera zoomed in on the photo, and transitioned to Sugar Scoop standing outside the front door of Scoop Manor. The door opened, and Sprinklebelle launched out of the doorway to embrace Sugar.

Red Velvet and Sunny were standing outside as well, and Red Velvet walked forward and tapped Sprinklebelle on the shoulder. The two smiled and shook hooves. Sunny looked as if he was about to say something, when Scrambler swooped out of the sky and gave him a surprise noogie.

Sunny swatted Scrambler's hooves away, then leapt into the air to give chase. The two flew high and twisted around a tall tower, laughing. The camera panned away from them to a large, towertop structure studded with telescopes, gears, and steam vents. Fizzlespark and Princess Luna were cutting the ribbon on the "Canterlot Academy of Lunatic Science."

Propellers sprouted from the top of the building and spun up, carrying it high into the sky. Fizzlespark rode it into the air, while Luna waved goodbye and walked into her study.

Owlowiscious was waiting. Luna's horn glowed, and a copy of the book Elements of Harmony rose from a side table and opened, revealing hidden compartments. Next, the Elements appeared, reverting to their original shapes. She carefully placed them inside the book. As the cover shut, the screen went blank and the credits played.

***

END OF SEASON 1