Harvest Day....Wait, who are you?
Ponyville’s market place was filled with music and games as the sun was finishing it’s daily travel across the sky. ponies wandered around from stall to stall, examining their wares. For today was the harvest festival. A yearly celebration in recognition of every pony’s hard work bringing the food into the silos for the winter. Parents, Children And lovers all enjoyed the sights and sounds. All except for a certain purple unicorn and her number one assistant.
Spike felt his claw begin to cramp as he sat on a stool in the main room of the tree. Scratching his quill against parchment, trying to follow Twilight’s words about her latest adventure with her friends about hard work and friendship. Rolling his eyes for the tenth time as he wrote the letter, believing she had learned this lesson already. Alas there was nothing he could do, once Twilight had decided to write princess Celestia, there was no stopping her.
“Your Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle” She cheerfully dictated to Spike. Quickly finishing, Spike inhaled and blew a small green flame, allowing the ashes to fly out the window off to their destination. Both were relieved that it was over.
“So NOW can we go to the harvest festival?” Spike pleaded with Twilight.
“I don’t know, what does the checklist of things I need to do by the end of the day say?”
Sighing spike pulled the long roll of parchment from the desk. Quickly scanning the list he found the next unchecked box. It read ‘Ask The Princess about possible mystery pony spotted in Everfree’, but it was the next entry that caught his attention.
“Enjoy the Harvest Festival with friends!” He cheered excitedly, tossing the list to the side. He hopped from his perch and raced for the door, only to be engulfed in a purple glow of magic.
“Aw Come on Twilight, The festival only happens once a year, and I want to see everything!”
“Oh you only want to see rarity in the pageant” Twilight teased.
That brought a red glow to the scaled face of the dragon. true if they left now he would be able to watch the whole pageant from a decent seat. Seeing this Twilight decided to let him down and motioned her head towards the door. within a moment the door swung open with the sound of feet running in the distance. Rolling her eyes Twilight followed her assistant into the festival air.
They eventually crossed paths with their close friends who were also enjoying the many things the festival had to offer. Rainbow dash was challenging any pony who would try to bob for freshly picked apples. Apple jack was running the Sweet apple acres booth, which had all manners of foods and drinks. Fluttershy was making sure the goldfish were finding good homes, while not drawing attention to herself.Not surprisingly of course Pinkie Pie was bouncing from place to place trying to be a part of it all.
As the evening went on they eventually called the crowd over to the stage set up in the square, for the Miss Harvest Festival Pageant. Spike wiggled his way through the sea of hooves to get to the front. In front of the stage sat a table for the judges, Fancy Pants, Mayor Mare, and special guest Princess Luna. The crowd seemed to quiet down as the Master of ceremonies , also known as Pinkie ‘Announcer’ Pie, bouncing onto the set.
“Hello Every pony! Who is ready for this year’s Miss Harvest Pageant?!” she cheered into a microphone. Which was met with a loud cheer, and one sound pony having a heart attack from the feedback. As she bounced around the set she explained the rules, No biting other contestants, no hits below the belt, Etc. It was shortly after that a stage hand walked on stage and handed Pinkie the actual rules.
Looking slightly disappointed, Pinkie pie read the rules and began to introduce the contestants one by one as they gracefully trotted onto the stage to their marks. In all there was ten contestants of various ages. The cutie mark Beauty queens, Diamond tiara, Lyra, Rarity, Octavia, Roseluck and others were in their most elegant saddles and dresses.
Well almost every pony, some pony let Sweetie belle design the cutie marks dresses. They resembled something more fit for nightmare night rather then Harvest festival. Snickers and muffled laughter affected some of the crowd, but the trio heard none of it. The Pageant moved on schedule as competition after competition passed. Evening gown, Swimsuit, Talent and Q&A all passed without much incident.
Finally the moment had arrived for some pony to be crowned the winner. As Vinyl Scratch queued up the music for the final dance something strange occurred. Pinkie pie and the contestants stood ready for the envelope announcing the winner to arrive. However there was an awkward silence as Pinkie said the words which signaled the stagehand to walk out with it again.
“May I have the results pretty please with a ton of sugar and whipped cream on top?” She asked getting slightly annoyed. The curtain drew back as a hooded pony walked over to Pinkie pie. The crowd seemed uneasy as He drew closer to her and the crown.
“That gem...the emerald one on the crown....where did you find it?” The figure inquired. It was distant and strange, almost like a growl of a timber-wolf. The crowd moved back, this stranger frightened them for some reason. The only one who seemed calm was Pinkie Pie. She gasped, realizing that this was a new pony she had not met before. A plan for a party formulated in her mind as she zoomed away from the stage to gather supplies. This action caused the Stranger to pause before resuming his walk over to the crown.
“At last...” he muttered. A burst of magic placed something in the path to the crown. Raising a concealed eyebrow, he looked upon a purple unicorn and several other ponies.
“Stop right there, Who are you and why do you want the crown?” Twilight asked. Her friends slowly taking positions behind her to show support.The stranger chuckled as the torches around the stage began to darken.
“Well, Well, Well, If it isn't Twilight Sparkle and her closest friends. If you must know I am Lord Showtune” He stated, lowering his hood. He was an older unicorn with orange fur. His hair had long lost it’s color and had become dark grey. However the true sight that drew everypony’s attention was the dark eye-patch over his left eye. It was most strange to see such an eye-patch, for many medicines or healing magic had eliminated the need for them.
“Your..Your eye, what happened?” Twilight’s voice had a slight shiver as her eyes seemed locked on on the dark fabric.
“Oh this old thing, There are more ancient things that even healing magic can take care of Twilight, Now if you’ll excuse me I am in need of that gem” He said calmly walking towards the ponies.
“Wait... you called yourself Lord Showtune. What are you lord of?”
“Why the Everfree forest of course.”
“That’s impossible no pony has ruled, let alone lived in there since my sister an I first turned discord into stone” Princess Luna added, finally gathering an idea that this was not part of the planned evening. She landed on the stage alongside Twilight and her friends.
“Ah Princess Luna, I was wondering when you would finally return from your imprisonment, has it been so long that you have forgotten me? I’m actually rather hurt.” Showtune mocked. Causing Luna to enter a slight rage. Never in her life had she been mocked so, only her sister could possibly get away with it. Why would a pony be so rude to the princess of the night?
Chuckling Showtune turned his attention back to the crown. A slight shimmer ran across it’s surface as he stared deeply into it. Giving a moment’s pause, he lowered his head.
“Perhaps I am already too late, oh well much to do, much to do.”
“You not going anywhere!” Rainbow dash yelled at the stranger, in a blink of an eye she was face to face with him. Try her best to seem intimidating to him, she flared her wings and let a puff of air from her nostrils. To which he stood there, his face showing no emotion.
“You are kidding right?” He said slyly giving a smirk. That sent both Rainbow Dash and the princess over the edge.
“THOU HAST GONE TOO FAR!” Announced Luna.
“THOU HAST INTERRUPTED THE EVENING’S FESTIVITIES, INSULTED MINE HONOR AND ENRAGED MINE SUBJECTS AND COMPANIONS! EXPLAIN THY ACTIONS!”
The sky seemed to follow her into her rage as thunder clouds and lightning began to dance in the sky. The crowd began to move back fearing the Princesses’ wrath might accidentally hit them. Even the bearers of the elements of harmony seem taken aback at this sudden outburst.
“I don’t have to explain anything to you. Woona”
A gasp made it’s way through the crowd. He had insulted a princess not only once, but several times. All eyes fell upon the princess wondering what her reaction would be. Luna simply stood there, her jaw hung open. Taking advantage of this, Showtune ran over to the crown and then vanished. Unknown laughter was heard all around the fair.
Suddenly appearing on the stage was Pinkie Pie with a bundle of supplies,
“But you’re going to miss your party!” She yelled after him.
Author's Note
And that's Chapter 1, wow you actually read this part. YAY!! Kind of an idea that popped into my head after TONS of MLP RPG SUV! Hopefully you enjoyed this and see you in chapter 2 : Getting answers. See ya then!
