Gaia

Chapters

Chapter 1 The Apprentice
Chapter 2 Broken Dream, New Beginning
Chapter 3 More Elements?!
Chapter 4 Trixies Challenge
Chapter 5 Tale of Two Stories
Chapter 6 Alicorn Power Activate!
Chapter 7 Sponsorship
Chapter 8 Discord
Chapter 9 Let the games begin!
Chapter 10 The Race
Chapter 11 Duel of Magic
Battle Royal Chapter 12

Chapter 1 The Apprentice

Gaia

BY. Puking Coyote

Chapter 1

The Apprentice

It was a dark night in Equestria for Luna being in a bad mood didn’t put her usual effort into the stars glow. She had just heard of “Trixie the Great and Powerful’s” takeover in Ponyville and even though Twilight had taken care of her and reclaimed the Alicorn necklace she was still going to give Trixie a piece of her mind. The only thing she was waiting for was for the trouble causing young unicorn to fall asleep so she could, as they say, chew her out.

“At last” Luna mumbled as Trixie’s sleepy presence entered her conscience. Immediately Luna connected to it and projected her mind into Trixie’s dream. It was a simple enough dream, Trixie was there on a rock farm slaving away on a mountain of stone while Twilight and her friends stood around laughing at her. Suddenly the dreams scenery started spiraling around Trixie as she cowered before a very large Twilight Sparkle who disappeared into a large laughing mouth which insulted her to no end.

“The great and powerful, more like Great and wussy” Rainbow dash’s voice could be heard.

“Couldn’t even defeat an Ursa minor how pathetic!” Pinkypie’s voice also ranged out.

“And that getup, how atrocious” Rarity chimed in.

The huge face of Twilight returned looking down at a clearly distraught Trixie “Face it, I will always be better than you.”

“No!” Trixie yelled with tears running down her face. “You can’t be…I...I will defeat you!” Twilight started to laugh all the more at this comment.

Luna shook her head in disgust at Trixies view of Twilight; this was not the Twilight that freed her from the nightmare at all. “That’s enough! She called out and the dream instantly faded away leaving nothing but her and Trixie. Trixie saw Luna and eeped as she covered her eyes and hugged the ground. “Look upon us child!” Trixie regrettably did. “We haft herd disturbing tales of thou’s antics in Ponyvill of late. What have thou to say for thyself?”

Trixie could barely say anything for she was trembling too much, some from the dream she just had but mostly from Luna’s threatening appearance as she towered before her. “Prrrincess LuLuna….I…I...”

“Silence! We know what thou wilt say for thou’s dreams give thou away. Thou must be punished for such actions.” Luna at first was going to just give Trixie a good scare and a warning but after how she saw her view of Twilight and her friends her mind had changed on the matter.

“Wwwhhat are yoouu going to do to me? Trixie asked trembling more and more.

“That we know not, our mind is not set on a punishment as of yet, but it will come soon enough.” Actually Luna had already decided on a punishment of making Trixie do community service under Twilights care to help curve some of her ego, but she wanted Trixie to sweat a little before she told her this. A ponies mind can be their worst enemy and it will surely torment her not knowing what is to come. “We will send word tomorrow night of what thou art to do.”

With that the dream disappeared taking Luna with it. Trixie woke up in her little made shelter of a tarp lean tube tent and stared out at the woods edge. She was on the skirts of Ponyville where just yesterday she was the ruler. The Pegasus were hard at work preparing for tonight’s light shower with some scattered lightning. Suddenly the memory of the dream flooded into her sleepy mind making her jump up and start to pace now fully awake.

“Princess Luna? Was it just a dream, no it was real! She rarely comes into ponies dreams, she must be really mad at me! What is she going to do to me put me in prison, turn me into a slimy creature, banish me to the moon?!” Trixie started to panic and nervously stomp the ground under her as if about to run, her head twitched around as if expecting Luna to appear out of the shadows and carry her away to some uncertain doom. She then at the sounding of a twig breaking to her left bolted away wailing bloody murder for a good long time before resting under a tree.

She stayed there hoof on her chest trying to slow down the beating of her heart. “It’s ok Trixie, you just can’t go to sleep, nope, never again.” Silly as this may sound to anypony else it did bring her some calm for Luna could not give her judgment in her dreams if she never fell asleep. Embolden with this false hope she even managed to laugh “The Great and Cleaver Trixie has done it again” she stated to herself. She then got up, but after looking around the Great and Cleaver Trixie found that in running away in her panic that she was now in the heart of the Everfree Forrest.

In a sudden uncontrolled panic Trixie began to scream for help in a most desperate and ear splitting way “Help! Somepony help me, please!”

A sudden voice came from a cloaked stallion in the woodline “Excuse me?”

“Help!” Trixie continued not hearing the voice.

“Hello?”

“I don’t want to die in here!”

The cloaked stallion rolled his eyes and used his magic to shut Trixies lips. She turned around and stared at the dark stallion and reeled back clearly frightened only to trip on a log and fall straight on her back knocking herself out.

The cloaked stallion rolled his eyes again then threw her on his back and disappeared through the trees.

Trixie woke up on a soft bed in an old musty stone building much like the interior of a castle or what she thought a castles interior would look like. Quickly she got up and turned around only to find herself face to face with an enraged manticore. “Augghhh!” she screamed but the manticore did not move.

“O, for the love of…will you knock that off! It’s a statue Trixie” a voice complained behind her. Trixie spun around to see who it was addressing her. “I don’t even know how you can mistake that with a real manticore.” At a wooden table mixing some sort of concoction in a stone bowl was a stallion. The stallion’s features were hidden beneath his brown cloak. Except for his light brown eyes nothing could be seen in the cloaks hood, it was as if magic was keeping his features muttered in shadow.

“Who are you?” Trixie demanded.

“Nopony special, you can call me Gaia.”

“Why did you bring the Great and Powerful Trixie here?”

“You would rather me to have left you in the woods? Then you might have woken to a real manticore instead of a statue. By the way, why did you come into this forest? The last I saw of you Twilight tricked you out of that silly necklace of yours.”

Trixie stomped the ground “The Great and Powerful Trixie tricked, ha! I’m just luring her into a false sense of security.” Her eyes then slanted “How did you know about that though?”

“Oh, I hear things.”

“Indeed.”

“You have not answered my question though.”

Trixie stirred uneasily as she remembered Luna’s words from her dream. “Let’s just say that what I did in Ponyvill has caused an unhappy pony to seek a punishment and I was running from it.”

“Oh, who is that? I thought that Twilight had forgiven you.”

“She did, I think for the most part was to embarrass me, making the other ponies think that she is more merciful than The Great Merciful and Powerful Trixie. No the pony that I was trying to escape from is much closer to my level.”

“And that is?”

“Princess Luna of course.”

Gaia’s ears twitched at the name, “Luna” he said under his breath in disgust. “She is far beyond your caliber kid." The stallion replied with his voice taking on a more grainy sound than before. “Tell me the whole story” he said. Trixie was at first unsure but in the end she complied with his demand. Gaia sat there motionless after the tale was told then after a few moments he finally spoke “If you are trying to escape Luna’s wrath you will surly fail, but perhaps…yes, I will help you, if for nothing else then to teach that old bat lover some humility.”

Trixies ears perked up straight “You will?!”

“Of course it’s a complicated spell, but it will prevent any interaction with the Realm of Dreams.”

“The Realm of Dreams?”

“Yes, the Realm is where dreams are formed and also one of the many places that Luna’s power engulfs. With this spell though I’m afraid you will experience no more dreams is that ok with you?”

Trixie thought about it but the fear of whatever Luna had prepared for her was more terrifying than never dreaming again. “It is” she finally replied then held still as Gaia’s magic flowed over her closing her mind to the dream world.

“There you go” Gaia stated as his magic ended “sleep now without fear, for not even Luna can find you now.

“Oh, thank you!” Trixie yelled excitedly. “However, The Great and Powerful Trixie could have done the same thing” she said trying to recover some of her lost ego.

“I’m sure you could have, with the right instructor that is.”

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked.

“You see, I have watched you and Twilights rivalry and how she had beaten you time and time again. Twilight has pulled away from you so much that she is now in a different league.” Trixie was about to object but Gaia held up his hoof to silence her. “The reason that this is is simple, Celestia has been personally training Twilight, and so it’s only natural that she progresses faster than you. In order to keep up you need to have a master of magic to train you as well.”

“And you want to be that master, why?”

“Because your rivalry is entertaining, also because I am no great friend of the royal sisters and having my pupil stomp Celestia’s would be most satisfying.”

Trixie thought about his offer and how much fun it would be to wipe that smug look off Twilight and her friend’s faces. Gaia’s mastery of magic that he shown in his spell was also extraordinary, with that type of mastery Trixie knew that she would indeed be better than Twilight. “Ok, you have yourself a deal Master Gaia” she replied.

“Good, now first things first, I need you to scrub all the walls in this castle.”

Trixies jaw dropped to the floor “What!? You can’t expect the Great…”

A zipper suddenly closed Trixies mouth “Honestly, if you say Great and Powerful Trixie again, I will scream. Believe it or not this is part of your training, now if you will” Gaia levitated a scrub brush and pale to Trixie “Scrub the walls.”

Trixie who was not in the best of moods did as she was told. It was during this time that she learned from Gaia that the castle was in fact the same one that Nightmare Moon held up in until Twilight defeated her with the Elements of Harmony. “So why do you hate the royal sisters so much?” Trixie asked as she started scrubbing the second floor of the castle.

“That is a personal matter my dear” Gaia replied “and I wouldn’t say that I hate them, we just had our disagreements in the past.”

“Oh, like what?”

“Never you mind, and I would appreciate it if you didn’t scrub the paint off the Weeping Pegasus” he replied.

Trixie then realized that while talking to Gaia she lost track of what she was doing and was now scrubbing one of the paintings on the wall. “Sorry!” she replied clearly embarrassed.

“No more multitasking, I will be in my study on the top floor. When you finished I have made you a bed in the second room on the third level.”

“Yes sir” Trixie replied then watched Gaia leave the room and head upstairs.

Trixie finished late in the night and went to bed only to be woken up a few hours later to start breakfast then after that she was instructed to scrub the floors. “Master Gaia why do you have me scrubbing the castle? I thought that I was going to learn magic not be a house maid!” Trixie exploded while they were cleaning up breakfast.

“Because at your level you can’t handle the magic that I will teach you. We need to build up your stamina. Answer me this, what would happen if I put too much pressure on an egg?”

“It would break of course.”

“And so would you, my magic is not to be taken lightly and can do tremendous harm if you are not physically and mentally prepared for it.”

“But master…” Trixie began.

“You must trust me on this” Gaia cut her off. Trixie slowly nodded her head and left the table grabbing the scrub brush and bucket on her way. About midday Gaia said that he had to run an errand and he would be late for dinner, once gone Trixie licked her lips and rushed up to his study room. Surely she could find a few spells to learn there, when she came to the thick stone door however it was impossible to budge. Strong were the door and the magic holding it in place. Trixie after many failed attempts to break in gave up and went about what she was doing.

Luna could not believe it, that pony Trixie was nowhere to be found. She had wanted to scare her but not cause her so much fright as to run away. She sent a letter to Twilight regarding this and also sent out a search party to look for Trixie. But nopony had seen her since she left Ponyville. Luna after a week of sending out search parties regrettably concluded that Trixie was long gone and stopped looking for her.

A few weeks had passed before Gaia decided that Trixie was ready to start her training in magic in which he started her out with the basics and helped refine those abilities. He decided to rebuild all her spells from the ground up and helped to improve them.

“Nice teleporting Trixie, now I will teach you a particular handy spell for dealing with animals in this forest. I want you to shoot your sleeping spell at me.”

“Yes sir!” Trixie immediately shot her spell at Gaia learning that if she didn’t comply immediately that it usually ended with her being suspended upside down in the air while Gaia took his evening tea. Gaia was still a mystery to her but she trusted him completely and surprisingly for a pony who did not take off his cloak he had become a dear friend to her almost like a father. Her shot came out of her horn like a torrent for her magic was far superior to what it once was. She hoped one of these times to make contact and maybe knock that cloak off Gaia to see what he looked like. The beam shot quickly at Gaia but not quick enough for he simply sidestepped it then stood there horn glowing. It wasn’t until she looked at her hoofs that she even noticed what he did. He shot his own sleeping spell at her but not through the air but underground. Even now the spell was wrapped around her legs in the shape of a ghostly snake ready to sink its fangs into her leg and inject the sleeping spell.

“You see Trixie, having a powerful spell is no use if it doesn’t make contact. Deception in battle is the key to a quick easy win. You should know this from when Twilight tricked you and stole a sure victory from your hoofs. Now try this spell and once you have it down we will try it on the dragons in the swamp.”

Trixie moaned she hated the swamp, the mud always ruined her main and the stench took days to get out. Once she was ready and learned the spell they headed out. The trip there was uneventful and once they got to the swamp she managed to take down three water dragons before they headed back home. Unfortunately just like before Trixie was an absolute mess and was leading the charge back to the castle where the shower was, that was however before Gaia made them stop. “What is it Master Gaia?” Trixie asked.

Gaia looked up towards the sky in deep concentration “I’m needed it seems at the Wonderbolt Academy.”

“You work for the wonderbolts?” Trixie asked wondering if this may be a clue to his mysterious past.

“Nope” Gaia then casted a spell on him and her “this spell will keep you from falling through the clouds” he then teleported them both away to the Academy.

Chapter 2 Broken Dream, New Beginning

Chapter Two

Broken Dream, New Beginning

Once they arrived Trixie fell over with the shock of appearing high on the clouds, her surprise however turned to anger as she saw Rainbow Dash zooming through the air. Gaia immediately put up an invisible barrier hiding them from prying eyes but not before Dash caught a quick glimpse, but after rubbing her eyes and not spotting them again she decided that she was just seeing things and continued her training.

As they entered the lonely barracks crying could be heard in the corner from a lone light green Pegasus with a light yellow and orange striped main, she was packing a suitcase. This Pegasus who had a cutie mark of a lightning bolt was crying over a Wonderbolt Academy T-shirt “Who is she?” Trixie asked Gaia.

“Her name is Lightningdust and she is one of the latest victims of Twilights friends, but this time it cost her career and dreams of being a wonderbolt.”

“Shame, I know how she feels.”

“You know I can hear you talking, I’m not deaf!” Lightningdust replied “and how can you even know how I feel?!” imagine her surprise when she turned around and saw nopony there to have been talking. Just as Lightningdust was contemplating her own sanity Gaia ended the invisibility spell making her jump into the air. “What in Celestias name are you trying to do? You almost gave me a heart attack!”

“I assure you that is not my intention” Gaia replied.

“Well not like it matters” Lightningdust replied. “My life is over anyway, and it’s all that Rainbow Dashes fault!”

“Yes, it was quite unfair to throw you out for trying to push yourself beyond your limits. Dashes friends weren’t even supposed to be there, its restricted airspace, this is a training ground for goodness sake!” Gaia replied.

“I know! I was in the right. We come here to get stronger not fly in circles while others try to keep up” Lightningdust replied.

“Spitfire should have more common sense than what she did.”

“Excuse me” Trixie called raising her hoof as if for a question. “But can somepony please tell me what’s going on?”

“I thought you knew what happened” Lightningdust replied. “Sounds like your friend was here to see it though.”

“Actually we just teleported here” Gaia stated.

Lightningdust turned to Trixie “Then how did he...?”

“I don’t know either, he just knows things, it’s infuriating!” she took a step closer. “By the way my name is The Great and…” a sudden look from Gaia made her stop “err I mean Trixie, my name is Trixie.”

“Mine is Lightningdust please to meet you Trixie and you are…?”

“Gaia.”

“Please to meet you two, now tell me what on Equestria do you want? As you can probably see I am busy packing for my trot of shame back home.”

“I am here to simply give you a choice” Gaia replied.

“What choice is that?”

“The choice to as you said go back home in shame or to come with us and continue your training.”

“What do you get out of it if I come with you?”

“Somepony who can beat Rainbow Dash in a race and help me humiliate Celestia’s champions.”

“Forget it bud, I’m not interested.”

“If that’s your decision, we will not trouble you any further” Gaia started walking away with his very confused apprentice trailing behind him.

“Wait!” Lightningdust called dragging her luggage in her mouth. “Can you really improve my skills?”

“exponentially” Gaia coolly replied.

“And I will be able to defeat Rainbow Dash and Spitfire in a race?”

“Yes.”

“Well it’s not like I have anything better to do, fine, if you can do what you say I will come.”

“Welcome to the team then Lightningdust” Gaia said with a slight smile and teleported them from the barracks just as Rainbow Dash was coming in. Again she rubbed her eyes and not seeing the three ponies she thought she saw there decided that she trained to hard and needed to lie down for a while.

“How about a warning next time buddy!” Lightningdust yelled more from surprise of being teleported than anything else.

“Sorry, but time is of the essence and we must start your training immediately if you hope to take down Rainbow Dash and a veteran such as Spitfire.” Gaia replied already stepping outside the castle floating clouds around in the air with his magic.

“Listen, I don’t know what you are thinking; the academy’s obstacle course is more of a challenge that a few clouds in the sky.” Lightningdust stated watching him work. “I could show…you… What is that you’re spelling?”

Trixie almost burst into laughter; she knew what was coming for Gaia made her do this type of training before. Once the clouds were in place this is what it read. “Dragons Dragons full of lice, dragons dragons have no life. Dragons smell that they do, even more than my left shoe!”

“What the hay?!” Lightningdust yelled as Gaia teleported her up to where the clouds were. “Hey pal what are you doing?” she demanded. However the only response she received was Gaia creating a huge magical dome around the castle grounds so she could not leave. The sudden growl from underneath in the woods made her gulp as she looked down only to see three huge dragons flying towards her. She let out a scream and dashed away from the clearly enraged dragons. “Listen I didn’t do it! I didn’t write that in the sky, I was framed!” The dragons were not having any of it and kept on her hoofs breaking their formation and flanking her everywhere they could.

“You certainly love using those dragons Master Gaia don’t you?” Trixie stated.

“Why not? They are the most ferocious creatures in Equestria after all. If she can dodge a dragon, she can dodge anything.”

“I don’t want to do this anymore!” They heard Lightningdust cry as she speed past the castles window. She of course could not get into the castle itself for she was also held out of it by Gaia's magic.

“I almost feel sorry for her” said Trixie.

“Almost” Gaia agreed. “Keep an eye on her Trixie, I’m hitting the sack.”

“What?! She’s being chased by three dragons! You can’t take a nap, what if she is caught?”

Gaia looked at Trixie with a slight smile “You still know that spell I taught you?”

“Yes” Trixie replied not liking where this was going.

“You will be fine.” With that Gaia teleported away leaving an anxious Trixie and a very distraught Lightningdust to the dragons outside.

“Ok, Trixie you can do this” she said to herself as she watched Lightningdust fly with amazing grace dodging the dragons after her. “Please don’t get caught” she thought to herself.

Four hours Lightningdust flew in the sky and for four hours the dragons were after her. As time sped by the writing in the sky had attracted seventeen more dragons to the area and even though they could not leave the barrier Gaia’s magic did let the new arrivals in. The sky was alive with dragon fire and sparkling scales as they chased poor Lightningdust who was nearly spent. Suddenly she was clipped by a dragon’s wing and went spiraling towards the ground but she never hit the ground no, she fell into a dragons open claws.

“Lookie here I caught me a little birdie!” the dragon called as he landed in front of the castles gate. Lightningdust struggled to break free of the dragons grip but was easily overpowered.

“Good job Snog, now we can teach this rodent a little lesson for her writing in the sky.”

“What should we do to her?”

All the dragons chirped in their opinions but they finally decided on Grogs who was a particularly foul and large red dragon. They were going to singe her mane until she was bald.

“No please!” Lightningdust pleaded “I didn’t do it…I didn’t…”

“That’s enough!” Trixie’s voice could be heard. She even used the Canterlot voice that Gaia taught her to put extra umph into her demand.

The dragons backed away that is all except for Grog “Another little pony wanting to play, you better get out of here pipsqueak before you get hurt. Trixie didn’t respond but was busy forming the magical snakes around all the dragon’s legs.

“Aren’t you going to answer him…you…little (yawn) troubllllllleeezzzzzzzzzzzzzz” Snog said as he fell asleep.

“(Yawn) Snog this is no time to be napping. We…need to…zzzz” Grog followed him and soon after all the dragons were fast asleep.

Lightningdust pried herself out of the dragon’s claws clearly worn from the day’s activities. “Thank you Trixie, I thought I was a goner.” She said looking at the dragons with a new found respect for their flying abilities and ferociousness.

“I’m just glad that they stood still for me to cast my spell” Trixie replied a little shaken from the experience.

“Where is Gaia? I want to give him a piece of my mind.”

Trixie bit her lip “napping in his room.”

Lightningdust’s draw dropped “What?! He left me out here alone to fend off all these dragons which by the way he sent after me and he has the nerve to take a nap!”

“You weren’t actually alone you know” Trixie replied sounding a little crossed.

“Yes” she blushed “thank you again but I don’t think that I can do this, you know. This type of training is a little much.”

Trixie shook her head “I thought the same thing at first but give Gaia some time. His methods are odd, insensitive, and sometimes downright horrific nightmares but it gets results. I wouldn’t be the mare I am today if it weren’t for him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well” Trixie replied thinking about her answer “I was in a bad spot, much like you, when Gaia found me lost in Everfree. He saved me from the woods and even from myself, he gave me a home and a purpose, I owe him everything.” She then told Lightningdust her story and in turn Lightningdust told her story. Both seemed to have a similar goal to not only become better but to defeat Twilight and her friends. During that conversation a friendship was formed between the two girls.

Lightningdust kicked at the dirt “Alright Trixie, I will give Gaia a chance.”

“Excellent!” Trixie exclaimed giving Lightningdust a hug “I am glad.”

“Me too.”

Gaia who was perched on top of the castle roof watching the whole ordeal for the last four hours to see the progress of his two protégées and to make sure they remained safe, gave a slight warm smile. “Way to go Trixie” he said silently to himself “Good job Lightningdust.” He then waited for the two girls to go inside then cleared the castle grounds of the sleeping dragons then he himself went to sleep.

Chapter 3 More Elements?!

Chapter Three

More Elements?!

The next two months Trixie and Lightningdust had become best friends as they trained under the watchful eye of Gaia. They during that time made a game of trying to figure out what Gaia looked like under his cloak.

“I bet he has scales” Lightningdust said to Trixie as they were drinking shakes at the table. Gaia had gone out earlier that day and they were discussing what was under his cloak.

“No way, it’s a body made up of eye balls, has to be to see everything he does” Trixie snickered back.

“Maybe there’s nothing in the cloak and he’s a ghost” both girls laughed at this but soon became silent as the idea crept into their minds. Their conversation was cut short however by the boom of the castles front door as Gaia came in and for the first time that they knew him he seemed troubled.

Gaia started pacing the floor “That fool! Celestia, how could you?”

“Master Gaia, is everything alright?” the girls asked in unison.

Gaia turned to them “you know what Celestia did today?” they shook their heads “She told Twilight to release Discord!”

“Discord?!” They both asked in fear for they knew what the spirit of chaos did last time he was loose and it was not good.

“Yes, Thousands of years trying to lock him up and just like that they freed him. It’s absurd it is!”

“What should we do?” Trixie asked.

“Nothing, for now” Gaia replied. “Celestia is taking a huge risk and I pray that it works, but in case it doesn’t and the Elements of Harmony are defeated, we need to be ready.”

“But how can we defeat Discord if the Elements can’t?” Lightningdust asked.

“The ponies of this age do not remember, but there are other elements besides that of harmony. One of these elements is the Element of Wisdom and Knowledge and that is the element which will defeat Discord.”

“Where can we find this element master Gaia?”

“Right here, we are the elements.”

“WHAT!” They both gasped in surprise.

“Well, there are two other elements that you have yet to meet who were elsewhere finishing their training. But yes, you two are elements, that’s why we were drawn together.”

This was just a little too much to take and they both sat down staring dumbfounded at Gaia “but how? I don’t understand” Trixie replied.

“All will be made clear shortly on this matter; the other two elements have just arrived.”

“There here?”

“Yes, I sent for them earlier.”

“Who are?” Trixie began but before she could finish two ponies entered the castles front door one of which she recognized from her time in Ponyville. The first which was the one she recognized was a unicorn with a mint green coat and a cutie mark of a Lyre. The second was a bright yellow earthpony with a fiery red swooshy main. The unicorn introduced herself as Lyra and the earth pony introduced herself as Wildfire.

“What’s up Gaia?” Wildfire asked “Why call us back so soon?”

“Discord is free again.”

“That’s not good” Lyra stated eyes wide open “is he going to make things all loopy again?”

“Perhaps” Gaia responded “but with the five of us here we will be able to defeat him if he does.”

“We will still have to defeat him even if he doesn’t cause trouble” Wildfire replied while she raided the kitchens pantries.

“Wait, were going to fight Discord even if he doesn’t do anything wrong?” Lightningdust asked.

“Only if he stands in our way and trust me he will” Wildfire replied. “Where’s all the good food around here?”

“You mean junk food” Lyra replied.

“So what if I do?” Wildfire shot Lyra a nasty look “A couple of hay fries never hurt anypony.”

“Yes, but a lot can make them fat” Lyra replied with a slight smirk.

Wildfire was about to shoot back a comment when Gaia stepped in “girls if you please I didn’t bring you here to fight. But I want you to meet the last two elements of Wisdom and Knowledge. This is Trixie and this is Lightningdust.”

“Trixie? I remember you! You’re that traveling magician that Twilight beat” Lyra replied. Trixie cringed remembering all the ponies that witnessed her downfall. “You know, I actually enjoyed your act when you were in town.”

Trixies ears perked up “You did?”

“Of course I did, after all you really weren’t that full of yourself with The Great and Powerful Trixie stuff, it was just an act right?”

Trixie blushed “Partially, but I’m not the same pony that I was then. Gaia had taught me a lot about humility.”

“But I imagine that you still will want to defeat Twilight though?”

“Yes” Trixie then looked at the two ponies “What about you do you have something that you’re here for?”

“I want to find the truth about humans” Lyra answered. “I know that the government is hiding their existence from us.”

“Humans?”

“You don’t know about humans?!”

Wildfire rolled her eyes “O great, you had to ask. Before you get bored with her three hour long lecture they are just tan hairless bipedal creatures from legend” she then looked hard at Lyra “they don’t exist.”

“Unbeliever” Lyra grumbled.

“Nut job” Wildfire grinned back. “As for me” she continued looking at Trixie “I’m just along for the ride and hope that something fun comes from it.”

“Not to mention she’s a complete pyro.”

“Shush, no commentary from the lunatic wing if you please.” Lyra gave Wildfire an extremely dirty look in response to her comment.

“Wildfire you know you shouldn’t make fun of her, after all her type of thinking is what makes her an important part of the elements of Wisdom and Knowledge” Gaia stated.

“What is her element and for that matter what are our elements?” Lightningdust asked.

“Don’t you know? Look deep into yourselves” said Gaia “Once you have found out what you are, your eyes will be opened to your destiny.”

The four ponies did and one by one found their elements. Here is who was what in the Elements of Wisdom and Knowledge.

Trixie was found to be the element of Willpower the ability to go on even when all doors are shut.

Lightningdust was found to be the element of Self Improvement for she always strove to be better than she was yesterday.

Lyra was of course curiosity for she’s always asking questions and looking at what things could be instead of what they are. (Yeah try to figure that one out, she could!)

Wildfire’s was Passion, the driving force of any action a pony takes.

Gaia’s element was of course Power, for knowledge brings power to those who have it.

These five elements unlike the Elements of Harmony were not contained in jewelry but were instead at the moment of realization inscribed in glowing gold words on the front right leg of each pony. With these markings also came a deeper understanding of the things around them which included the true power of the cutie mark.

“This is incredible!” Wildfire yelled with joy as she casted a fireball into the air. She actually used magic to create fire, an earthpony did that.

“Listen to this” Lyra said as she strummed her Lyre with such grace and beauty that that nopony dared to breath in fear of wreaking such a masterpiece. “Not bad ehh?” Lyra stated when her song was done. One by one they shook their heads as if coming out of some type of trance.

Lightningdust gave a lightning crack across the castles ceiling as applause for the music “That was so cool!”

“Lightningdust” Trixie scold.

When Lightningdust looked around the castle she saw that all but Gaia’s manes were standing up from the lightning’s static. “Oops, sorry about that everypony but this is so cool, were like superheroes!”

“How is this possible Gaia?” Trixie asked as she played with her new hologram ability.

“You know how the Elements of Harmony comes from each of its elements in beams of light to strike a foe?” They nodded. “The elements of Wisdom and Knowledge does the same, it just uses your special talents as its catalyst.”

“Our cutiemarks.”

“Exactly, this way if there is just one element it can still work in an effective way, even with the absence of the others.” Gaia looked at each of them “They didn’t used to but I engineered them that way.”

“You created the elements?” they all asked in shock.

“Of course not! Who do you think I am, God?” Gaia replied. “The elements are energy, they cannot be created or destroyed; I just designed how their powers are to be used. This is the same way that Celestia created the Elements of Harmony, but instead of putting the key to releasing the power into the pony like I have done she separated it into Jewry. I think she did this as a safety feature incase the pony uses the power for evil, she always was so paranoid on these matters.”

“So us and the elements are one?” Lyra asked.

“Yes, and I just gave you the key to release your elements. I wanted you four to be more ready for this day but the sudden turn of events changed all that.”

“Well what are we waiting for then, let’s bring down Discord!” Wildfire yelled in excitement.

“Yes, I will show Twilight and her friends that she is not the only one who can bring that monster down” Trixie replied.

“Me too” Lightningdust echoed “what about you Lyra?”

“I guess that I could always ask Discord about the humans, he might even give me a straight answer since it’s against the governments will.”

“That’s the spirit!” Wildfire laughed and hoofed Lyra in the shoulder.

“Not so fast girls!” Gaia yelled as they began for the castles front door.

They spun around and looked at Gaia in confusion “What is it?”

“You four still need to learn to control your elements, by putting the key inside you it’s harder to control than the Elements of Harmony’s jewelry is.”

“What are you talking about Gaia?” Wildfire spoke up.

“Umm Wildfire?” Lyra asked.

“Were in complete control of our elements” she continued not hearing Lyra.

“Wildfire.”

“I’m ready for some action, let’s do this!”

“Wildfire!” Lyra finally had to shout.

Wildfire spun around to look at her “Huh?”

“The carpets on fire.”

Wildfire jumped into the air for where she was standing was now in a full blaze. Trixie quickly put it out but it was enough to make the girls see that they were not in full control of their elements yet.

“See, undisciplined you are” Gaia stated with a big grin. “Teach you I will.”

“How do we know you’re in control of your element?” Lightningdust asked.

Gaia rolled his eyes “trust me I am in full control of my element, after all I had many years to work on it.”

“I want to see it!”

“Me too!” Lyra joined in.

“No, you will see it soon I promise but not here, far too dangerous.”

“What if we are outside can you show it to us there?” Trixie asked.

“You don’t understand Trixie if I use my element Discord would recognize it just as he would Twilights tiara. I dare not use it especially when all five elements are needed to defeat him and you don’t have full control over your elements yet.”

“What do we do then?” Trixie asked. “Let Discord rampage throughout Equestria?”

“We train and hope that Celestia’s plan doesn’t backfire on her. If we are lucky then Twilight and her friends will either keep him in line or turn him to stone again. Personally I would prefer stone, less for us to worry about. Our greatest ally is secrecy, if we can train just a few more weeks we will be ready.

The girls saw the wisdom in this and decided to follow his plan of action. The five of them stayed in the castle for several weeks waiting to see if Discord would bring chaos into the world but surprisingly he did not. I would seem that Celestia’s gamble paid off and the little yellow Pegasus Fluttershy tamed Discord with nothing else than friendship. The irony of it all to Gaia was that chaos not creating chaos was in itself chaos. As they waited all those weeks they trained in their elements until each of them had mastered their own abilities.

Chapter 4 Trixies Challenge

Chapter 4

Trixies Challenge

Princess Celestia sat proudly watching as her star pupil was crowned a princess of Equestria. Her beaming eyes and the brightness that radiated from her was proof of this. Even the sun shown with more vigor than usual which seemed to clash with the just as strong night sky of princess Luna who was also enjoying the exciting celebrations or in other words “fun.” The day was perfect with not a rainy cloud in the sky which was a testament to the outstanding work of the Pegasus’s of Cloudsdale. Getting a new princess was a very special event and all the ponies in Equestria were brimming with joy in knowing that the element of magic Twilight Sparkle was to be one of the rulers of the land. Everypony that could came to Canterlot to see the new princess. News of Princess Sparkle’s crowning spread quickly across Equestria and even managed to bring one sore pony into Canterlot to watch the ceremony. There Trixie sat with her legs crossed giving out a death glare to Twilight from the crowd as if by some way it could ruin her day.

“Look at that Lightningdust! Celestia gives everything to her hoof and foot. She’s even getting her own summer home castle in Ponyville, can you believe that?!” Trixie mumbled to LightningDust who was enjoying a purple snow-cone while wearing a Twilight Sparkle hat she picked up in the gift shop. “Will you take that off! You’re supporting my nemesis.”

“The proceeds go to helping orphan ponies and besides, don’t we have our own summer home castle in Everfree?”

“But Celestia just made her an alicorn! How can I defeat her now?” Trixie stated more to herself than Lightning Dust. “What was all that training for? Every time I get close, Twilight just moves on up to another level.”

“It’s not that bad Trixie, here have a bite of my haydog” Lightningdust passed Trixie a haydog but when Trixie saw that it was in the shape of Twilight, she casted it on the ground in disgust. “Hey! All you had to do was say no.”

Trixie looked at her again “will you please take off that hat!”

“No, I kind of like it” Lightningdust replied more for getting revenge for her ruined haydog than anything else.

“Fine” Trixie replied “have it your way” she then left only to shortly after come back wearing a t-shirt with Rainbow Dash doing a rainboom on it.

“Now that is evil.”

“Not as evil as this” trixie replied then showed a poster of Rainbow Dash with the word Loyalty under her much to Lightningdust’s dissatisfaction. “I think it will look good above the mantel, don’t you?”

It can be said that the two of them went on like this for some time and when they finally quit the gift shop owner had to reorder more supplies. On the other side of the crowd were Lyra and a bored Wildfire who unlike her friend did not find anything too exciting about the ceremony, after all there were not even any fireworks. Lyra however was busy listening to the speeches being made and drawing wild conclusions from the supposable secret messages in them about the existence of humans. She had a hay day when Prince Blueblood gave his speech to the crowd.

“I wish Gaia was here to hear these wonderful clues that the royal ponies are giving us about humans!” Lyra told Wildfire who was staring at a statue wondering just what the heck it was supposed to be.

“He would probably say that your nuts and go back to the Griffin kingdom to talk about their sponsorship or whatever it was that weird griffin messenger Gilda told us.

“I thought you liked her?” Lyra asked still listening to the speech being made.

“She’s ok, grouchy but ok. At least she doesn’t talk about humans all day long.”

“Just wait until the truth gets out then you will see.” Lyra’s ears then perked up “Did you hear that Wildfire?! He said that Twilight is the key to opening a new door to our futures. That proves humans are real!”

“What, how did you get anything regarding humans from that?”

“Don’t you understand? Doors and keys are human inventions. Since he mentioned a human device being the item to our future he therefore said that finding the humans and learning from their vast wisdom is their goal.” She stated smiling as if it was laid out in plain canterlotish for Wildfire to understand.

Wildfire stared at Lyra wondering not for the first time if she should take her to see a doctor. After a moment she shrugged off the idea, rolled her eyes and went back to investigating the statue.

After the ceremony was over the four girls headed back to Ponyville in the train, for unlike Gaia Trixie could not teleport them such distances. Gaia had been gone much of the time in his visits to the griffin kingdom and left them mostly alone in the castle. So, it was only natural that in their boredom they decided to come to the ceremony today even though none of them except for Lyra really wanted to go.

“I tell you, she may be an alicorn and have a castle and be a princess who was trained by the most powerful being in Equestria and have servants and be the element of magic and…”

“How is this suppose to help Lightningdust?” Trixie asked cutting her off. “What’s your point?”

“My point is that even with all these things I still believe that you can defeat Twilight.”

“Do you really think so?”

“Of course she doesn’t, Twilights an alicorn now, she’s beyond you” Wildfire responded.

Trixie thought to herself for a while, bothered by what Wildfire said “No, I can beat her!” she finally stated. “The Great and Powerful Trixie will challenge the new princess to a duel!”

“The Great and Powerful Trixie?” the other three girls repeated giving Trixie weird looks in the process, they then broke down in laughter.

Trixie becoming aware of the fact that she used her old title which she would even now have to admit sounded arrogant tried to recover from the slip. “I mean, I mean, um…I…look over there!” she pointed behind them.

None of them fell for the trick “Seriously?” Lightning Dust asked not sure whether to laugh harder or be insulted by the sad attempt at a distraction.

As the train ride continued and they had their fun at the expense of Trixie the girls fell asleep in the trolley all except Trixie who was still fuming over Twilight. So enraged was she that she decided the first chance she got, to challenge her nemesis to a duel, and nopony was going to stop her. Trixie did not know it at the time but Twilight was also on the same train in the royal compartment celebrating a fantastic party that Pinkypie was throwing in her honor.

“Twily I am so proud of you, you know that?” Shining Armor said to his little sister.

“Yes, you will be a fine princess” Princess Cadance echoed in Twilights praise along with many other ponies in the car.

“Thank you everypony” Twilight replied. “I just hope that I can live up to all of your expectations.” Twilight was indeed nervous about her new role “If only there was a book about being a princess” she thought to herself.

“You will do fine sugar cube” Apple Jack replied.

“Yeah, after all you saved everypony from Nightmare Moon, dragons, an Ursa minor which the Great and Wimpy Trixie caused. (Trixie at this time sneezed for no apparent reason) From Discord and a very upset King Sombra.”

“I couldn’t have done those things without you guys; you are the real heroes of Equestria.”

“Besides, I think it was I who defeated King Sombra” Spike spoke up clearly trying to impress Rarity.

“Oh, Spike” Twilight laughed.

The party in its height became so loud that it reached Trixies ears and when it was Twilights turn on the twister board such a cheer of “Twilight” came from the royal coach that Trixie could not stand it any longer. Not knowing that Twilight was on the train she marched right into the party cart slamming the door open with such ferocity that it caused Twilight to trip on her new wings falling on top of Rainbow Dash, who in turn kicked a table over causing a punch bowl to land onto of herself to Dashes great displeasure.

“Will you keep it down? Some ponies are trying to sleep here!” Trixie screamed as she entered the door. But oh! What a surprise it was when she saw Twilight in her royal party garb that Rarity made especially for her. “YOU!” Trixie exclaimed with a snarl.

“Trixie…what a surprise, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked.

“Trying not to barf for one.”

“Hey!”

“That was a mean thing to say” Princess Cadance replied to Trixie.

“I will not have you talking to my sister that way” Shinning Armor stated stepping in front of Trixie.

“It’s ok brother” Twilight said putting her hoof on him calming him down before approaching Trixie. “Your still mad at me, I can see it in your eyes.” Trixie did not reply but just stared at her trying to keep her anger under control. “Why do you not like us?” Twilight asked.

“Because you were handed everything while I actually worked for what I have and you have the nerve to call yourself princess? You are no princess!”

“What do you mean?”

“Tell me Twilight” Trixie replied with a slight smirk for she now knew what she wanted and how to make it happen. “Of all the enemies that you faced how many of them were not with the help or guidance of your precious princess Celestia.”

Twilight did not appreciate the tone Trixie had with mentioning Princess Celestia but she had to admit that Trixie had a point. All of her enemies were defeated by her only with help of Princess Celestia. “What are you saying Trixie?”

“I’m just saying” Trixie laughed remembering the theory Gaia had given her on the matter. “Isn’t it funny that all the trials you faced, that Celestia had a hoof in them? They were a test Twilight, Celestia orchestrated the whole thing. After all it wasn’t a coincidence that you were sent to find friends so the Elements of Harmony could defeat Nightmare Moon. It wasn’t coincidence that Celestia left you alone to fight Discord then in the end gave you the very weapon to defeat his hold over you which she obviously foresaw happening. Celestia even told you that King Sombra was a test and when you failed it she still passed you. She used them to test you even when she could have stopped them herself and saved many ponies the fear that they brought with them.”

“You’re wrong” Twilight said “The Princess would never do that!”

Trixie was pleased with how Twilight was reacting and saw the button she must push to get Twilight to agree to her duel. “She used them and you. I bet that your crowning is just another manipulation to cause some other calamity elsewhere to help her own goals. She doesn’t really care about the ponies of Equestria why else would she leave such huge responsibilities to protect Equestria’s citizens to somepony that would likely fail. ”

Twilight hearing enough slander against Princess Celestia stomped her hoof down “Stop it Trixie, your wrong!”

“Then prove it Twilight. Tomorrow morning in Ponyville’s town square!”

“Not another duel, don’t you remember how she whipped you last time Trixie?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“No” Twilight said to Dash raising her hoof to silence her before looking back at Trixie with a ferocious hungry look that any warrior with hot blood had. “I think that she needs to be taught a lesson, and I will be the teacher.”

Trixie who had the same wild look as Twilight to the knowledge of the upcoming fight gave a short snort at Twilight then walked out of the room slamming the door behind her.

Those in the room seemed to have slunk towards the far walls during the intense confrontation, startled by the sudden mood change in Twilight they just stared at her. Twilight after Trixie left turned around to them then put on the most innocent smile one could imagine “Who wants cake?”

As trixie slammed the door close she came face to face with Lightningdust and the other girls who were listening to the conversation. “Are you nuts Trixie?” Lightningdust asked her. “Gaia is not going to like you doing this.”

“Gaia promised that if I train I would be able to defeat Twilight so that’s what I plan to do” Trixie replied as they headed back towards their car.

“You know you’re going to mess up whatever plan he has right?”

“Well if he is not going to tell it to us, then I have to make my own plan now don’t I?”

“But she’s an alicorn!”

“Let her do it!” Wildfire cut in. “Honestly I want to see what this Twilight can do, she’s famous enough for defeating powerful enemies. It will be fun.”

“Well I’m going to record it with my magic” Lyra stated “who knows what mysteries can be unraveled in this fight.”

The train stopped in Ponyville early the next morning and even though there were just hours of warning before the duel it seemed that everypony came out to watch the fight between Twilight and Trixie. Even the local newspaper reporters were there to cover it. Nopony knows how but Pinkypie even managed to make a huge banner that had Trixie and Twilight on it in full boxing attire and read Princess Sparkle V.S. Trixie.

As Trixie came into the towns center she was greeted by a wave of boo’s. She looked back at her three good friends who in pure confidence of her magical abilities and capability to defeat Princess Sparkle each decided to wear a paper bag over their heads. “Remind me to thank you for your show of confidence later” Trixie mumbled to them.

“Hey, at least we came didn’t we?” Lightningdust replied.

“Last chance to take back what you said about Princess Celestia” Twilight called from across the stone road where they meet in front of a statue.

“I tell it the way I see it Twilight” Trixie replied.

Spike came between them “You both still want to do this?” they both nodded. Spike rolled his eyes thinking the whole thing foolish. “Then begin” he quickly got out of the way as the two girls stared at each other horns glowing.

“Go ahead Trixie” Twilight stated fully confident in her abilities to counter anything Trixie sent her way. Twilight however did not know that Trixie had already sent her spell underground and the snake was already wrapped around her hoof pouring in its magic. Soon Twilight started to get woozy.

Just as Twilight who was trying to figure out why her strength was leaving her collapsed Trixie gave a small “boo” knowing full well what the media would do with what she said and Twilight collapsing.

The crowd was silent nopony could believe that Twilight just fainted. Trixie just stood there also in shock that Twilight fell so easily, maybe Gaia was right and Celestia did overly help Twilight in her accomplishments. Trixies friends quickly took her and walked her away from the shell-shocked crowd to their castle in Everfree.

“I can’t believe that was it! Got myself worked up over nothing” Wildfire stated. “I’m going to bed” she then left going upstairs to her room feeling let down by the quick duel.

Lyra started to play the fight over and over with her magic video to see if there was any clues to government conspiracies.

“I wonder how Gaia’s going to react?” lightningdust replied.

“Like it matters, I beat Twilight! She was an alicorn and I beat her, I beat an alicorn!” Trixie replied very proud of herself.

That night Trixie could barely sleep she was so excited about her fight she had even forgotten to eat dinner. The next day as the girls were in town all the newspapers had one story on the front page New Princess faints in Duel. All of the news ponies just as Trixie thought heard her saying boo, and since no magic could be seen that was used, concluded that Twilight fainted from fear of Trixie.

According to the newspaper Twilight left Ponyville for Canterlot last night obviously embarrassed from losing the duel. “Serves her right” Trixie stated “it’s just like how I fled when I was beaten and disgraced.” They did not notice since the crowd was parting for them anyway from fear of Trixie that there was another among them listening to their conversation as they looked upon the newspaper.

“So what if she comes back looking for a rematch?” Lyra asked.

“Then I will just beat her again” Trixie replied proudly.

“We do not think so Trixie” a voice suddenly came from behind them. They all turned to find themselves face to face with Princess Luna. “This is twice that thou disobeyed us. First thou ran from the punishment we had for you. Second thou still sought vengeance upon our friend Twilight, your princess, this thou must answer to our sister for.” She then looked at the other three girls “all of you.” Trixie already began her sleeping spell just as she was trained to do but for some reason it was not getting through. “Interesting spell this is, the same that defeated Twilight if we art not mistaken.”

“Yes” Trixie replied.

Luna stared at them “thou’s trump card is useless for we unlike Twilight will not be fooled by such meager tricks of the hoof. Will thou now come quietly or might we be force to make thee come?”

Trixie looked at the other girls who she could tell were not fond of the idea of fighting Luna. Trixie immediately teleported them all to the outside of town but when they materialized Luna was there waiting for them. “How?”

“Thou forgets we haft been teleporting for thousands of years. There is no escape, so if thou will come peacefully we may even forget that thou disobeyed us a third time.”

Wildfire stepped up “O well, I was looking for a good fight anyway” she then shot her element at Luna who cast it away with ease.

“An earthpony that uses magic we haven’t seen such a thing before” Luna replied curious.

“Oh, were full of surprises” Wildfire replied and ran towards Luna catching fire.

“I’m sorry princess but I have to stick with my friends” Lyra said as she pulled out her lyre and began to play using her element. Lightningdust then shot her element at Luna and so did Trixie.

All the elements came barring down upon Luna who wrapped herself in shadow and disappeared before they could strike. She then materialized in the middle of the group and with one great blast of energy blew them away into the trees almost knocking them out. The girls slowly got back up but they now knew they were too weak to face a force such as Luna.

“What do we do?” Lyra asked Lightningdust.

“I don’t know” she replied.

A sudden net made of shadow wrapped over the girls restricting their movements.

“Well we gave it our best shot” Wildfire replied trying to sound brave but she like the rest of the girls was terrified.

“Thou were right for thou were full of surprises” Luna said. “Our sister will like to hear all about how thou received such gifts.” Luna then looked up to her chariot descending from the sky “worry not, for our sister wants to just talk to thou.”

“I’m sure she does, but I doubt the girls will want to be bored by that old windbag” a sudden voice ranged through the air.

Luna’s shadow holding the girls suddenly was severed setting them free “Who art thou? Speak! Thou who dares speak ill against our beloved sister.”

“Beloved sister?” Gaia laughed materializing between Luna and the girls. “Wasn’t it you that wanted to cast your sister away and bring eternal night?”

“We did, but now we rule with our sister once again. We must ask thou to step away from those girls, we must take them back to Canterlot.”

“Nope.”

“Thou refuse our order?”

“Order all you want doll, but I am not yours to command.”

“Fine, we shall take you in as well, o stallion hidden and cloaked, thou shall not be cloaked for much longer.” Luna burst into a dark blue mist in the air and rushed at Gaia who at the same time dissolved into a green mist. When the two clouds collided there was such an outburst of raw power that it was a miracle the girls weren’t blown away from the blast. Soon the sky was streaked with the two fast paced mists colliding with each other through the air. Sometimes when Gaia or Luna would land a big hit on each other their shapes would appear again before becoming mist again. After a few minutes of this both of them landed on the ground, in their solid states, shooting beams of magic at each other before they stopped.

“Worthy foe thou art” Luna replied. “Who art thou?”

“Like you said, I am he who is hidden and cloaked.”

“Then we shall rip off your cloak for no shadow can withstand our powers” Luna’s magic then pulled the shadow from Gaia’s face revealing its features. His eyes as we know were light brown and his coat could now be seen as green. He had what could be best described as large red scars of glowing soft red plasma on his body one of which ran straight down his right eye. His mane was a mixture of blue and green with cloudy white tips. Gaia had a very handsome face for a stallion and showed confidence though its features.

“How unfortunate” Gaia sighed. He then looked at Luna “Hello Luna.”

“Gaia…no, that’s not possible, can’t be!”

“Guess I can fight for real now, hope those years on the moon haven’t dulled your abilities little Loon.”

Luna gave a shriek and fled from Gaia with all the strength she could muster. Gaia just watched her leave already recalculating his plans based on what happened. “You four had me quite worried” he said looking at the girls “I came as fast as I heard about Trixies and Twilights duel, just glad I made it in time before Luna had a chance to take you to Canterlot. Trying to break you four out would have been a tough one even for me.”

“Master Gaia? Why did Luna flee from you? Trixie asked with a newfound respect for Gaia.

“Because I ate my garlic today that’s why, let’s not doddle shall we? I would hate to be here when the big fish shows up.”

“Who would that be?” Lightningdust asked.

“Discord of course” he then worked his magic around the four girls and teleported them not to the castle but into a bush just outside of Twilights summer home. “Stay here and out of sight” he stated as he grabbed a book from the ground then left the bushes cover. Gaia’s target was obvious to the girls for he made no alterations on his way to the library.

“Halt! Who goes there?” a guard that was stationed at the libraries front door called out to the hooded figure.

“A friend” he answered.

“What’s your purpose, speak!” most ordinary ponies would have been frightened by the booming voice of the guard and fell into its swoon of authority over them. Gaia however was not moved by the guard and held his ground calmly.

“I have come to return a book to the library my good sir.”

“Libraries closed” the guard bluntly stated.

“Please!” he began with some worry now surfacing in his throat. “It’s due today and I have never been late” he took a few steps closer “I must return it today” he stomped his front hoof down on the word today to emphasize its importance.

The guard looked at Gaia and partly rolled his eyes “Fine I will take it in for you citizen” he replied. Gaia then levitated the book to the guard.

“Oh, thank you! I have never been late before and I just couldn’t be late today and break my record. It was quite a challenge to make it here today with the other things that I have to do but made it I did…” The guard just nodded as the Gaia rambled on about perfect attendance and marks as he worked to lower the shield around the libraries entrance.

“There we go” the guard stated to himself as the last barrier fell.

“Good night” Gaia said calmly with a small grin as the book that the guard was holding exploded into an array of dust. The guard gave a short eeap before collapsing onto the floor snoring loudly. It didn’t take Gaia long to drag the guard into the tree house he then motioned the girls to come inside.

“What are we doing?” Lyra asked horrified. “This is breaking and entering we will be arrested if they catch us!”

“We were going to be arrested even before this” Wildfire bluntly stated.

“Oh, yeah.”

“Not while I’m here you won’t” Gaia replied. “Besides were not stealing nothing that doesn’t belong to us already or should I say nothing that doesn’t belong to Trixie” he then held up the Alicorn necklace for them.

“I don’t get it Gaia?” said Trixie.

“This is yours is it not?”

“Well yes, but…”

“Good then take it” he then flung it to Trixie and she caught it.

“Won’t it corrupt me though?” she asked looking at it.

“Not with your level of discipline, besides you’re only going to use it once then it will be quite worthless.”

“What do you…?”

“Lets be off” Gaia cut her off as he grabbed an old book off the mantel, he immediately teleported them to a clearing deep in the woods.

The clearing was thick with fog and clouded their vision that is all but Gaia’s, to the girls he seemed to be on edge, almost agitated by some unknown thought to them. After they waited for what seemed like forever Gaia relaxed “Ok, girls” he said turning to them. “We will make our way to the castle from here. Once they reached the castles gate it was well into the night, once inside Gaia took the old book and plopped onto a couch and started studying it with great curiosity while the girls went to another room.

“I can’t believe that we stole from Twilight! That can’t be right, were fugitives, I knew that this was going to be a bad day, I just knew it!” Lyra whimpered on the verge of crying.

“Is Gaia a bad guy then?” Wildfire asked the group.

“No, he can’t be! He saved us from Luna don’t you remember” Trixie replied. “Besides he was right this necklace is mine, I worked very hard to afford it.”

“What about the book?” Lyra asked. None of the girls had an answer for this.

“What I want to know is what is up with that scar on his eye?” Wildfire replied.

They all looked around the corner to take a look at Gaia as he read the book. This was the first time that any of them have seen any of the features on his face. It was not the hideous face that one would expect to be shrouded but instead it was a very handsome young appearance, rough yes, but handsome. The girls slunk back behind the wall.

“Maybe he was a victim of some great battle?” Lightningdust replied.

“Yes, that might also explain why he isn’t fond of the princesses he must feel that they wronged him or his troops in some way” Lyra replied now fully engulfed into the conversation since it became that of conspiracy.

They all then peeked around the wall again and began staring trying to figure out the mystery that was Gaia. Gaia who knew what they were discussing rolled his eyes and continued reading the book. Finally he was finished and called the girls into the room.

You have a lot of explaining to do Gaia” Lightningdust said as they entered the room.

“Do I?” he replied.

“Were wanted ponies now because of you so yes, I think that you do” the other girls nodded to Lightningdust’s argument.

“I suppose your right, but first we need to help Trixie.”

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked.

“I told you before that I will help you stay on Twilights level if you became my apprentice, did I not?”

“Yes.”

“I was planning to do this when you defeated the alicorn Twilight, however I had a bigger audience in mind than what you had. The way you did it though was very effective in humiliating Twilight and Celestia. For one it made Twilight look like a coward which I suppose was what you were going for” Trixie nodded at this conclusion. Gaia gave a small grin “Your duel also humiliated Celestia who as you could tell by Luna being sent to retrieve you that she was not happy to hear that her star pupil was defeated so easily.” Gaia then walked up to her “You may not realize this but you are the first unicorn in history to defeat an alicorn. You showed Equestria that alicorns can be defeated. As you imagine Celestia could not have this so she sent Luna to fetch you for her. Luckily I knew how she would respond when I heard the news of your duel and just made it to save you four from the dungeons.”

A strange mixture of pride and fear filled Trixie “what should I do now?” she asked.

“Fight.”

“What?!”

“Twilight will challenge you to a rematch and Celestia will have taught her how to block the spell you used on her by then. I would also imagine that since she by now knows that I had a part in this Twilight would have learned a few powerful spells by then as well.”

Trixie was silent for a moment before speaking up “I will not fight her again then.”

“You won’t have a choice Trixie.”

“Luna showed me the debt of an alicorns magic and I cannot defeat Twilight a second time through trickery. I was just lucky that Twilight did not launch an attack.”

“No, you were smart to use her weakness to your advantage” Gaia replied. “This time though she will not fall for such a trick, you will have to match her blow for blow.”

“But I can’t!” Trixie cried. “I don’t want to lose to her again Gaia! I finally just won I don’t want to lose that.”

Gaia gave a soft mile “Neither does anypony else want to lose what they earned, the question is what will you do about Twilights future challenge to keep what you have?”

“What can I do?”

“Become an alicorn and defeat Twilight straight up so there is no doubt.”

Trixie sat there quietly trying to process what Gaia had said “An Alicorn?”

“Yes.”

“How is that possible Gaia” Lightningdust asked “Only a princess can become an alicorn.”

“That is not true, when a pony reaches the height of their power and know who they truly are, then and only then with some magical help can they become an alicorn. It does not matter if one has royal blood or not.” He then looked at the rest of the girls “If you keep up your training and find that magical spark deep inside, you can become an alicorn too.”

They started to whisper amongst themselves “Why wouldn’t Celestia tell us this?” Wildfire asked.

“It’s a conspiracy!” Lyra replied.

“Your right Lyra, it is” Gaia replied to everyponies shock. “The only thing that keeps the royal sisters in power is the mere fact that they are alicorns. Take that away and make everypony an alicorn and they are no longer relevant.” Gaia became solace and looked out the window “She believes that only with a powerful figure head like her reigning indefinitely will there be true peace, even if that means the ponies being mortal.” He looked back at them “I did not agree.”

The ponies stared at him now seeing some hidden truth coming to light one of ancient and significant proportions. Trixie walked up to Gaia “who are you exactly?” she asked.

Chapter 5 Tale of Two Stories

Chapter 5

Tale of Two Stories

Celestia sat in her throne room going over some important documents, but although she was busy her mind was elsewhere. “How could Twilight be defeated so easily?” she asked herself. Trixies trick was indeed ingenious, a sleeping spell from underground. However the magic and concentration needed for that type of spell was enormous and Trixie just a few months ago according to her student had neither of those. Her mind searched for memories of lost libraries or scrolls of magic in Equestria trying to find some answer but the fact was nopony except maybe Starswirl could have done such a thing. She knew from her research that Trixie was a descendent of his but all of the scrolls and books Starswirl wrote were confiscated, so the knowledge could not have been passed down by a family heirloom. She looked at Twilight who was busy working beside her also seeming troubled by her defeat. No, not by her defeat but by her humiliation. All the ponies in Equestria thought that she simply fainted being frightened by the duel even though she insisted that Trixie beat her with a sleeping spell. Neither outcome was good, one showed her to faint at the first sign of trouble and the other showed that an average unicorn defeated an alicorn. Celestia snorted at both ideas.

“Augghhh, it’s just so…so… infuriating!” Twilight suddenly exploded. “I did not faint! It was a spell.”

Celestia put her hoof on Twilights shoulder “It’s alright Twilight, Luna will soon bring Trixie in so we can get some answers.”

This seemed to help Twilight but only very little. As if by cue Luna’s voice could be heard outside. Celestia immediately straightened up to welcome her guest, Trixie. Luna burst through the door clearly disturbed but there was no Trixie with her. “Sister there thou art, we have a problem.”

“What is it Luna, could you not find Trixie?” she asked seeing that Luna was alone.

“Oh, we found her alright, her and her three friends” Luna replied coming swiftly towards them.

Celestia stood up “Surely they did not slip past you?”

“Course not! We captured them.”

Celestia relaxed and sat back down “Good, bring her forward.”

“Nay dear sister, they were taken by another” Luna stated apologetically.

“You are one of the best warriors in all Equestria Luna, who could have done such a thing? If it was Discord I am going…”

“Nay sister, Discord had nothing to do with it” Luna replied “It was Gaia.”

“WHAT!!!” Celestia screamed almost falling off her throne. Her guards came rushing in at the sudden outburst but on the sudden demand from Celestia for them to get out they scrambled away from the chambers faster than any pony should have been able to run. “You’re telling me that Gaia is here?!”

“Yes sister, we fought him, there is no doubt.”

Celestia leaned back and rubbed her temple “After all these years he is back, you are sure?” Luna nodded her head.

“Who am I?” Gaia asked the girls who were now in front of him. “Since Celestia already knows by now that I am here it wouldn’t hurt to tell you four” he then took off his cloak. Gaia’s coat as the girls had guessed from what they saw when his face was uncovered by Luna was indeed green a bright deep green a wonderful green like the grass of a thick prairie. The girls however, were not expecting Gaia’s whole body to be covered in red moving plasma lava stripes much like a zebras but smaller and less numerous. On his rump was the image of the globe. They looked upon him in awe as he stretched out his wings, yes wings, for he was indeed an alicorn.

“You’re an alicorn?” Trixie asked.

“That I am” Gaia replied. “One of the big three to be exact.”

“One of the three?”

“Yes, all alicorns are connected to certain energies and that’s where they draw their power. As long as even a fragment of that energy is still in existence, so will the alicorn exist. Out of all of the energies that there are, there are three that we know of which are the most powerful, these are the Sun, Earth, and Moon and amongst these three the Sun is the most powerful but not by much.”

“Excuse me Princess but who is Gaia?” Twilight asked once her mentor settled down.

“Gaia, he is the most fearsome foe I ever faced. He is a creature who wants nothing more than to rule Equestria the way he sees fit and will stop at nothing to accomplish this” Celestia replied.

Gaia looked out the window “Celestia and I were once rivals; like I said she didn’t think that a land could be ruled by many alicorns and wanted a monarchy of a few. However I thought that it could and favored a democracy in Equestria. We had many battles between each other in which I do regret many ponies were hurt.”

“But you defeated him didn’t you?” Twilight asked Celestia.

“No, I faced Gaia many times but never once was I able to defeat him.”

“Then who did?”

“That would be us of course” Luna replied quite proud of herself. “Our outstanding abilities finally took the tyrant down.”

“She sideswiped me” Gaia told the girls recalling the story. “During the last battle Celestia’s little sister Luna seeing that her big sister was going to lose became an alicorn and just as Celestia’s defeat was within my hoofs she clocked me from behind.” Gaia laughed at this “I should have known that she would have figured out the mysteries of the alicorn. She was always a cleaver girl. Luckily I was able to create a dirt clone of myself and hide before they swooped upon me. Otherwise I would be imprisoned in the sun instead of it. After that I decided facing the two of them would bring too much destruction on the world and possibly my own downfall so I took on a hermit life keeping careful watch incase Equestria needed me.”

Twilight looked at her mentor “How did he escape if you trapped him in the sun?”

“I do not know Twilight” Celestia admitted. “He was always a cunning one and I guess it was unavoidable that some day he would find a way to escape.”

“What are Gaia’s plans now?”

“That I do not know, for not only was Gaia a cunning warrior he was also the only opponent that I could not figure out” Celestia admitted. “My guess is that he wants to finish what he started and try to take over Equestria again.”

Gaia thought about Trixies question “I don’t know, I won’t try to make war on Celestia again if that’s what you’re asking, too many ponies were hurt last time. Besides her monarchy does seem to make them happy, if she does starts getting too power hungry though I will have to step in. For now though I am complacent to stay in the shadows.” He then looked at the girls with a slight grin “However that doesn’t mean that I won’t have a little fun and will aggravate her to no end, after all she did try to trap me in the sun and I so hate warm climates.”

“So, you don’t hate the royal sisters” Trixie asked.

“No, I don’t have any particular love for them either.”

“Tell me Gaia, if the sun is more powerful than Earth how were you able to almost defeat Princess Celestia?” Lightningdust asked.

“That is an excellent question, but easy to answer. You see the closer we are to our energies the stronger we are. Since Celestia was on Earth and some distance from the sun she was weakened while I was strengthened.”

Twilight thought about how to defeat such a force as Gaia “What of the Elements of Harmony Princess?” she asked. “Can we not defeat him with those?”

“No Twilight, because in our battles both him and I used Elements to try and get the edge over one another. I used The Elements of Harmony while he controlled the Elements of Knowledge and Wisdom we found that they simply cancelled each other out. It would appear that element users are unaffected by other elements. The only way to defeat him is with magic and trust me he is a master of it.”

“I can learn Princess” Twilight replied trying to please her troubled mentor.

“No! This is not like the other foes you had faced. Gaia is far beyond your capabilities, you must leave him to me and Luna. I do want you to train like you have never before though, Trixie is somehow mixed in Gaia’s schemes and I want you to defeat her and find out what she knows.”

“I will do that right away!” Twilight replied and took off to study.

“Wait!” Celestia called. Twilight stopped and stared at her. “You will not find what you need in the library. Since Gaia’s involved you will need to learn more powerful spells than you had before.”

“Where can I learn these Princess?”

“I will have to teach them to you” she replied.

“So you are Prince Gaia then?” Lyra asked.

“Ha! No, like I would want such a silly title. I told you, I believe in democracy” Gaia laughed at the thought of such a thing.

Gaia looked at the girls “I think you are ready to hear my plan. For years now Celestia has been able to manipulate everything in Equestria to train Twilight for princess hood. In that course of time she even dabbled in things that she should not have, dangerous things. She even used her own possessed sister as a test for Twilight, how Luna managed to forgive Celestia is beyond me. Celestia is a cleaver pony but I fear her overconfidence will eventually get the better of her, if she is not reminded that not all plans work out the way they are supposed to. Soon, I fear that she will keep pushing her experiments and unleash unspeakable evil into this world.”

“Experiments?” Wildfire asked “like mixtures that blow up!”

“Some” Gaia replied. “Being connected to the Earth has allowed me to see many things going on in it.”

“That’s how he does it!” Trixie replied stomping her hoof in triumph.

“Anyway, Celestia was able to manipulate Discord to her side and now she has been dabbling with the idea of trying the same with some of the creatures of Tartarus. I have been to that land on my travels and let me tell you some of the creatures there will befriend her and as soon as her back is turned Equestria will be in ruins. Some of those creatures won’t even wait for her to turn her back. There is evil in there that Celestia does not understand.”

“So how will you keep her from going forward with these plans?”

“I believe that if we defeat her champions at the Equestrian games in the Crystal Empire this year and knock her ego down a few steps that she might abandon her plans. If she is reminded that alicorns are not the only powerful forces in this world and there are smarter beings than her, then caution might be put back into her actions. If it doesn’t then we still humiliate her and try to find another way to stop her plans.”

“Can you really outsmart Celestia?” Lyra asked.

“When we battled long ago she fell for every one of my traps, hopefully she will do the same today. I have been talking to the Griffin kingdom to sponsor us in the competition, I must ask though, would you four be willing to participate in the event?”

“Will I be able to beat Dash and Spitfire?” Lightningdust asked in which Gaia nodded “then I’m in.”

“Sounds fun, count me in” Wildfire agreed.

Lyra thought about it “all of the different kingdoms coming together to play games against each other. This would be a chance to learn some more clues and hear nifty foreign songs, I’ll do it.”

Trixie thought for a moment “I will have to face Twilight again, wont I?” Gaia nodded “and to do so I will have to become an alicorn, wont I?” again he nodded in response. “I guess I have no choice then, I’m going to end up dueling Twilight again anyway. I’ll do it then and beat Twilight once and for all.”

Chapter 6 Alicorn Power Activate!

Chapter 6

Alicorn Power Activate!

Gaia looked at the four ponies and felt a sense of pride in how far they had come “Thank you” he replied. He turned towards Trixie “Do you still have the necklace that I gave you?”

“The Alicorn necklace?” she asked Gaia who nodded in response. “Right here” she then took the necklace out.

“Good now put it on please and we will begin” Trixie did so nervously as Gaia motioned the girls to form a circle around Trixie. “Long ago there was a mighty magic user called Starswirl the bearded who after mastering many of the spells in this land decided to challenge himself to the secret of the Alicorn. This is a secret known only to the royal family, myself, and a select few creatures in Equestria. After many years Starswirl managed to comprise a mighty spell and wrote it inside of this book” Gaia held up the spell book that he took from Twilights for them all to see. “While writing it down he realized that to work such a spell he had to make a powerful catalyst for its magic. So he went to the heart of the Crystal Empire and managed to find the legendary jewel of Gol which was guarded by the fierce dragon Klypther. After a long battle Starswirl defeated the dragon and claimed the jewel for himself. He then had a legendary smith create with his guidance a rare and powerful necklace.” Gaia pointed to Trixies neck “That necklace was none other than The Alicorn necklace which Trixie wears upon her neck this very moment.”

“Wow really?” Lyra asked looking at the necklace with awe.

“Yes, with this necklace in his possession Starswirl decided to cast his spell on himself. Sadly Starswirl without the proper knowledge of the Alicorn secret made a fatal flaw in his calculations. The necklaces magic although it is powerful, doesn’t have the magical strength needed to trigger an Alicorn transformation. Starswirls spell backfired and scrambled his thoughts in such a way that he lost all enthusiasm for magic and instead took on the role of an earthpony. He raised a family and lived out his life in peace but I still think it a shame that he never knew how close he was to solving the Alicorn mystery.

Trixie looked at the necklace around her neck “I had no idea” she stated.

“Of course you didn’t, although it is curious that you out of all ponies were the one to buy the necklace from that shop. Maybe deep down you knew its significance.”

“What do you mean?” Trixie asked looking up at Gaia.

“You are Starswirls direct descendent Trixie.”

Trixie stood there jaw dropped “You’re kidding me.”

“Nope” Gaia replied. “You are Starswirls heir to all that he left behind. You see, when Starswirl disappeared Celestia confiscated everything in his lab including this book and necklace. Since then they had been all but forgotten, that is until Twilight came along. Celestia wanting to test her gave her Starswirls book of spells to see if she would figure out that she needed to take the power needed for the spell from her friend’s elements. If she figured this out she would have solved what Starswirl could not and be ready to join the ranks of the alicorns.”

“So that’s why we’re in this circle, to use our elements on Trixie” Lightningdust replied.

“That’s exactly right.”

“Wait so if Trixie is a direct descendent of Starswirl then the book belongs to her?” Lyra asked. Gaia nodded “Then were not thieves!”

“You’re not thieves” Gaia assured her. He then turned to Trixie who seemed to be lost in another world. “Are you ready Trixie to follow in your ancestors footsteps and accomplish his goal?”

It took Trixie a moment to come back to them “um…yeah, I’m ready Gaia.”

Gaia then cast a spell upon them “this is to keep our actions a secret from Celestia or more importantly Discord.” He then joined the circle around Trixie and coached her in casting the spell in the book. Once done a huge surge of energy started to be drawn from their elements as the magic took effect “Now all you girls direct your elements to me as I feed it into the Alicorn Necklace.”

“Why not to Trixie?” Lightningdust asked.

“Because we need a catalyst to keep the surge of power from harming her” the girls hearing this directed their elements to Gaia who then feed it into the necklace as it started to work with the spell.

Suddenly there was a bright flash of light and Trixie found herself in some other dimension. There she could feel the presence of all the Princesses in Equestria that had at one time been in this strange world. Luckily Gaia’s enchantments had worked and nopony knew that she came into this world. Soon a barrage of her own memories and the mysteries of the Alicorn entered her head “What is this place?” she asked herself in awe.

“This is the world between reality and fiction” Gaia replied appearing before her. “In this world is the mysteries of oneself as you may have already figured out. Here you will see yourself for who you are and realize what you are connected to in this world and reality. This is the world that all Alicorns are connected to but also at the same time we are separate from it. This is a world not to be understood but felt. Do you understand what I mean?”

“No” Trixie replied “but I do feel it, I cannot explain what it is but I feel like it makes all the sense in the world.”

“That which cannot be understood is only understood when you don’t understand it” Gaia said more to himself than anypony else.

“What?” Trixie looked at him confused.

Gaia simply shook his head “never mind, Trixie do you understand a little of what this world is?”

“No, I wouldn’t even know where to begin.”

“Quite right, even I am still finding things in this realm and I have been around for thousands of years to study it. One thing that must be made clear is that this realm is everything in our world and others mixed together. This realm that you now behold can best be described as the universes DNA.”

Trixie looked at the realm again with wide eyes “The Universes DNA” she muttered to herself. “I bet Starswirl would have loved to see this” a sudden sense of sadness swelled inside her for her distant ancestor.

“That he would have.” Gaia then looked up at the dark plasma filled sky “however, I think that he would be proud of you for finding this place.”

“I couldn’t have done it without you.”

Gaia looked back at her “Everypony learns from one another. It is true that I did teach you, but ultimately it was your decision to seek the knowledge I had.” He looked at her as Trixie began to glow a little “the spell is taking affect. Tell me what element are you connecting to?”

“What do you mean?”

“Every alicorn is connected to something, Celestia is connected to the sun, I am connected to the Earth, Luna to the moon, Cadance to love, and Twilight to friendship. What are you connected to?”

Trixie thought about Gaia’s question and started to search the new knowledge that the place was feeding her. As she search, the strand that tied her to her new element soon grew like a tidal wave and engulfed her. Right then she became aware of her connection and what a wonderful and thrilling thing it was; the connection would have made her ancestor Starswirl proud indeed. “I can feel it Gaia” she finally said eyes shut focusing on it.

“What is it?” Gaia asked although he already had an idea of what it was.

Trixie opened her eyes which were now pure white and glowing “Magic.”

“Well done Trixie” Gaia said giving a slight smile “just what I would expect from Starswirls heir.”

They then left and returned to their world. Barely anytime had passed in the real world compared to what they spent in the other realm which was normal from what Gaia told Trixie. The other girls were still around in the circle when Trixie appeared in front of them with wings spread out in full alicorn attire and her now regular dark eyes fiercely glowing.

“Look at those wings!” Wildfire whistled as they stared at Trixie wrapping their minds around the idea that she was now an alicorn.

“You did it!” Lightningdust called as she ran up and hugged Trixie who not being prepared for the assault tumbled back nearly hitting Gaia as he reappeared from the other world.

Gaia teleported out of reflex to the other side of them as they crashed where he was just a millisecond before. “The spell was a success” he stated without skipping a beat. “Trixie has become the alicorn of magic and rightfully so if you would ask me.”

“Does that mean that you can control a unicorns magic?” Lyra asked.

“No, I cannot do that” she then thought about the question “but I believe that I can deny magic to them if I wish.”

“Oooo do it to me!” Lyra asked as she levitated a book into the sky. Trixie easily found the magic that was being used to hold up the book and simply kept it from flowing to it. The green aurora surrounding the book suddenly ceased and the book dropped upon the ground “That was so cool!”

“Twilight doesn’t stand a chance now” Lightningdust stated.

“No, she still does” Gaia replied.

“How’s that? She will not be able to cast any spells.”

“Twilight is an alicorn she has her own force to draw upon to cast magic.” Gaia then floated the book into the air “sever my connection to the book Trixie.”

Trixie looked and looked in the vast amount of magic that she now controlled but she could not find what was holding the book up “How is that possible?” she finally asked Gaia.

“Because magic is just a different form of energy and there are countless forms of it. Mine comes from the Earth, I could, if I wished, use your magic to cast a spell. Just as you can use my Earth to grow crops, but we ultimately receive our powers from the element we control.”

Trixie looked at him and sighed from the sheer vastness of knowledge that she was learning “I still have so much to learn.”

“Don’t worry” Gaia laughed “now that you’re an alicorn and can handle more powerful spells, we can start your real training.”

“Oh, goodie” Trixie mumbled. Even though she knew that the training would be hard she was excited to try out her new abilities and learn the extent of an alicorn’s power.

Chapter 7 Sponsorship

Chapter 7

Sponsorship

Gaia trained the girls ruthlessly as the games came closer. All the girls truly had a rigorous training schedule to follow but noponies schedule was harder than Trixies. Not only was she to learn the more powerful and very complicated spells from Gaia and her own elements abilities, but she also had to learn how to fly with her new wings. Trixie knew when she first agreed to be Gaia’s apprentice that the training would be tough but she never knew just how tough it would be especially when she became an alicorn. The magnitude of the spells that she was learning were immense and some so strong that Gaia had to teach them to her in deserted parts of Equestria in case she messed them up. One such spell was the same one that Gaia and Luna battled with not too long ago, yes that would be the spell to become your true element or what a common pony might call, their mist form. As one may recall Luna during the fight became a dark shadow mist much like the night, for that was her element, the night. Gaia however became a green mist like the blades of grass growing on the Earth, for the Earth was his true element. Gaia told her that Celestia when they fought was a bright warm hazy gold mist and as much as he hated to admit it, was quite beautiful to behold. This magic was one of the most powerful spells for it used the pure form of an element which also made it the most dangerous to learn, but learn it Trixie did. It took a while and a few large craters where she messed up but finally she managed to fade away into her element and melt into a sparkling silver dust of magic. Her form glided over the prairie like a glistening ghost which Luna’s stars would even be jealous of. At first Trixie could barely move herself in her new form but as Gaia directed her to flow as one with magic instead of trying to move it as a separate being she became swifter. Trixie quickly realized how Luna had moved so fast compared to her in their last encounter.

“Feel it with not just your mind but also your heart, you and the magic are one let it wash over you, become one with it” Gaia coached her as they trained on top of a snowy mountain. Gaia was very pleased with Trixie’s progression; her abilities were progressing at a very reasonable rate. “Feel the magic; it is now a limb to your body flex it to your will Trixie!”

“Yes, I feel it” Trixie replied as she reached out into the magic around her. The energy and amount were immeasurable and threatened to overwhelm all of her senses which was exactly what Gaia wanted. She pressed on and then all at once all she could feel was magic as it completely engulfed her entire being. She understood now that she was the magic; it and she were the same. If magic had a will or mind of its own they would have been melded together into one. Magic obeyed her whim and just as a head will turn when the brain told it to, so did the magic around her. This is the best that the relationship can be explained between an alicorn and its element but let me tell you it is so much more than can be written down. Trixies body flashed and started to glow as her power grew then in a sudden moment she was washed away by her own magic. Mind you her body wasn’t literally washed away but it was her mind which couldn’t cope with the intense power and not being prepared for it was brushed aside.

Trixie had no clue as to how long she stood there numb engulfed in pure magic but as she started to come too she became aware of another force that was hard at work pulling her mind back into focus. That was of course Gaia for he knew what happened and how to fix it. Trixie finally came back still engulfed in her full power but her mind now knowing how strong it was had begun placing barriers against its overwhelming nature.

“Good, very good Trixie” Gaia stated as she began to get a hold of herself. “Now you know what your true power is.”

“What happened?” she asked a little afraid.

“Sometimes the mind cannot cope with the sheer power of a element and if an alicorn is pushed to fast in their training they will be overwhelmed by it.”

“Why did you force me to go so fast then?” she asked.

“I am forcing you to learn at a faster pace because you need to defeat Twilight, and she has had more time to figure out her power. Don’t worry though, as long as I was here you were in no danger of losing yourself. I had a powerful spell to keep your mind from being hurt from the training.”

“I guess that makes sense, what shall we work on now that I found my true power” Trixie asked almost afraid of his next lesson.

Gaia shook his head “You must explore your element now on your own, I can’t help you there for I cannot see what you see just as you cannot see what I see through my element. But for now rest, and start your exploring tomorrow.”

Trixie cocked her head questionably “but master Gaia, there’s still so many spells that I need to learn…”

Gaia held up his hoof to stop her “Yes there is and I will teach you them in time. But for now you must learn more about yourself before you learn anything else.” Trixie nodded to his statement. “You should…” Gaia then frowned and looked beyond the horizon towards Everfree which was hundreds of miles away. “It seems that Gilda has come back with the Griffin Kingdoms reply.” It still amazed Trixie that Gaia knew so much that was happening around them, he would truly make the perfect secret agent. “Can you teleport back to the castle?” he asked.

“I think so” Trixie replied.

“Let’s see it.”

Trixie worked her magic and teleported herself. She had never attempted to teleport so far before and if it wasn’t for Gaia correcting her as he teleported next to her she would have materialized miles from the castle. As it was, they materialized at the front gate right in front of Gilda who jumped with an ear piercing scream that only an eagle could make as they popped into existence in front of her.

“Gaia one of these days you’re going to do that and be meet by some griffins talons!” Gilda yelled while trying to calm herself down.

“You’re probably right” Gaia replied shrugging off her warning. “What news from your father?”

“That’s the clan chief to you buddy.”

Gaia gave a grin “What does he have to say, is anything wrong with our arrangement?”

“I am afraid that there is” Gilda replied.

“Oh, and what is that?”

“Celestia has made a decoration that anypony or creature that supports the one named Gaia which is of course you, will be punished severely. She claims that you are a great threat and will bring calamity upon Equestria if given the chance.”

“I guess that the chief had decided to not upset Celestia even though he is not under her rule?” Gaia replied not too surprised by this news.

“He believes that something as trivial as sponsoring you for the games is not worth straining the Griffins relationship with Celestia.” Gilda then made a tight fist with her claw “I think it a disgrace for our clan to back down so easily, just because Celestia said to.”

Gaia shook his head “Your father is doing what he thinks is best for your clan and he is right, it is not worth straining their relations with Celestia. You must respect his wishes.”

“Your right” Gilda nodded “it is for the best.”

“Give my best wishes to the chief and my apologies for putting him in such a situation.”

“I will, goodbye Gaia” Gilda then spread her wings and flew off.

They watched her go then to Trixies amazement she heard Gaia mutter to himself “I knew it” he then went inside the castle in a sour mood.

“So what does this mean?” she asked trotting next to him “will we still get to play in the Equestrian games?”

“Were not going to play in the games?” Lyra asked disappointed overhearing Trixie’s question. This of course brought the rest of the girls into the room from their training wondering what happened. Gaia quickly told them the Griffins response.

“We need a sponsor though to play and I don’t think that you will count Gaia, especially since Celestia will oppose anypony in connection to you” Lightningdust replied.

“Your right” Gaia affirmed her statement. “The group to sponsor us must not be under her direct rule and be strong enough so she will not oppose their candidates.”

“Who is there then if not the griffins? Certainly not the dragons or Tartarus?” Wildfire asked.

“No, the dragons think that such things are beneath their notice and there is nopony that I can think of that would care to sponsor anypony for the games from Tartarus.” Gaia then bit his lip as a slight flash of dread crossed his face “the only other creature that I can think of is her.”

“Who’s her?” Trixie asked.

“Somepony I would rather forget” Gaia replied. He then quickly went up to his study looked at an old map while he put on his cloak then came back down. “I will be back” he told the girls then teleported away.

Lightningdust looked at Lyra “Did you put it on him?”

“Yep” Lyra proudly replied.

You see, while Gaia was up in his study the girls decided to find out who had him so worried and took a vote to have Trixie cast a quick tracking spell on a sticker which Lyra placed on Gaia’s cloak when he came down. Trixie after Gaia left worked her magic and focusing on her tracking spell teleported them all too where Gaia went. The girls landed in a tall black bush in a very rocky dark forest. Gaia who was fully focused on his mission didn’t even sense them following him but went on through the dark deep woods.”

“Owww, get off!” Wildfire moaned to the three girls on top of her.

Lightningdust looked at Trixie very annoyed “Worst…landing… ever.”

Trixie slunk down embarrassed by what happened. Once they managed to get up and clear the brush which unfortunately for them was not soft but instead a thorny and very painful bush, the four girls began to explore the area. The scenery to say the least was very intimidating, the plants and trees were black and sickly looking very much like a bad omen for those unfortunate enough to be in the land. Even the ground was different and glowed a light green in spots which Trixie thought at first was some kind of slime. As they viewed the many dark black rocky hills of the area they saw that many went up into great spirals with an impressive amount of cave entrances. The entrances were illuminated from the inside by the same soft green glow.

“Look there are ponies moving on that hill” Lightningdust said pointing to a partially nasty looking hill which clearly had dark ponies flying in and out of the caves. It only took a moment for them to realize what they were seeing, the creatures were changelings and the giant hills were their hives.

“Why would Gaia come here?” Lightningdust asked. “Nopony is foolish enough to mess with a changeling no matter who they are.”

“I agree with Lightningdust” Wildfire replied “Gaia’s over his head if he thinks that they can help us.”

“Maybe he is a changeling” Lyra stated in which none of them really wanted to believe.

“No, he can’t be” Trixie replied. “He doesn’t use the same energies that changelings do.”

“Um did Gaia ever teach you that invisibility spell trixie?” Lightningdust asked.

“Yes, why?”

“You might want to use it” she said pointing to a cluster of changelings moving in their direction.

Trixie immediately racked her brain for the spell and cast it just as the changelings were coming around into view. The changelings not knowing that the girls were there almost smacked into Lyra as they flew past them to another hive. “”Whew, that was close” Wildfire stated as they watched the swarm past. “I knew that I should have packed my bug spray.”

The girls laughed at her comment and started on their way again all the time following the tracking spell on Gaia which lead them into a very nasty looking hive. Down and down they went walking down slimy crusted stairs which followed dimly lit halls of glowing green rock. When they finally reached the bottom it opened into a huge cavern which was brightly lit by deep magic. Magic that Trixie didn’t recognize, it was similar too hers but at one time it was twisted in such a way that it was now unrecognizable as magic. They moved further into the cavern which was comprised of tall pillars with bright green lanterns hanging from them all the while keeping next to the walls in the shadows. Even though Trixies spells kept them invisible they did not want to chance bumping into one of the many changelings that moved throughout the cavern. They spent much time sneaking around the labyrinth following the tracking spell until at last they were face to face with two big black heavy doors with a multitude of changelings guarding it.

“Now what?” Lyra asked as they stared at the impenetrable defenses.

“Gaia is in there” Trixie replied. “We just need to find a way in.”

“Let’s just take out the guards” Wildfire commented. The girls just stared at her “or maybe not.”

“I got it!” Lightningdust replied.

“What?!” the girls all asked her at once.

She just pointed above the door where there were small decretive cracks above it some just big enough for a pony to squeeze through. “You are a genius Lightningdust” Trixie replied.

“I know” she smirked back “you take Wildfire and I will fly Lyra up there.” They did and to the girls amazement none of the changelings noticed a thing. As they squeezed through the cracks they found themselves on a dark ledge overlooking a beautiful throne room. Along the throne room walls were five large pillars on each side which were draped with fine cloth. The whole room seemed to be made of jade which came to a platform where a single stone chair stood magnificently carved in ancient art. However resting upon the throne was the dreaded foul enemy of Celestia Queen Chrysalis who was busy in council with her five changeling generals.

“You mean to tell me that out of all the ponies that I told you to switch places with that you only managed to capture Prince Blueblood?!” the queen rebuked the poor changelings who cowered at her words.

“I’m sorry my queen but since our initial attack the ponies had increased their defenses against us. The Prince was the only one we could capture; actually he surrendered as soon as he saw us.”

“He also groveled for us to spare him” another changeling replied.

“And there was some crying involved” another chimed in.

“Enough!” the queen screamed and started to rebuke her general’s incompetence in full force.

“Trixie” Lyra whispered poking her on the shoulder.

“What?” she replied.

“Over there.”

She looked at where Lyra was pointing and on the other side of the ledge was the distant shape of Gaia still cloaked. He was listening the queen’s conversation intensely as if still unsure he wanted to be there. They watched him as he seemed to ponder what to do.

Gaia actually had decided many times to interrupt the queen but every time he was about to he would learn some new piece of information such as Prince Bluebloods capture. The queen was planning to attempt another takeover to get revenge for her last defeat but was having a hard time about it.

“What of your forces training?” the queen asked. “Their lack of ability cost us the last battle.”

“Going well my queen but they are simply no match for the royal guards” he replied to the queens question. “The royal guard’s magic is stronger than ours.”

“Surely our sheer numbers will break them.”

“My queen if I may?” another one of her generals who was braver than the others spoke up.

“Yes?”

“Last time we had the element of surprise, your power being feed by Prince Shining Armor, and the elements of Harmony in our possession.”

“Your point is?”

“We were still beaten by Princess Cadance and Prince Shinning Armor, and now they have another alicorn Princess Twilight and Discord on their side. We cannot win if we attack again surely you know this.”

The queen hated to admit it but her general was right, any chance she had of expanding her territory disappeared long ago. “I just can’t leave Celestia thinking that she won” she finally replied. “Thousands of years of scheming against each other and this is how it ends? No! Even a manitcore will strike the ground in furry before it is finally brought down. I must deal a blow against the Princess and show her that we are still strong!”

“What are we to do then my queen?” the commander asked.

The queen stood still for a few minutes “What about a sleeping spell in the palaces water?”

“That still will not solve our Discord problem.”

“Augghhh, why did he have to turn? How did Celestia ever manage to manipulate him like that?” the queen fumed. She saw now that any plan that she may had come up with would not work. “In all these centenaries that Celestia and I fought, I never truly beat her, do you know that? Sure, I captured her last time but she still won!” The generals stood still afraid to say anything “What I would give to beat her once, just once and show that smug alicorn that she is not the smartest creature in Equestria.”

Gaia knew that this was the opening he was waiting for and summoned a giant dark cloud in the center of the chamber. The cloud quickly took shape into an exact image of himself fully cloaked with face wrapped in shadow. The five generals immediately pounced upon the projection but simply collided with each other as they passed through. “Chrysalis Queen of the Changelings, if you truly wish that, I can grant your request.”

“Who are you?” The queen stood up stretching out her wings in anticipation of a sudden attack the changelings on the other side of the door burst through and were now waiting for the queen’s orders to attack.

“Have you forgotten me already, you old fart?” Gaia’s image replied.

“Old fart?! When I get my hooves on you! I will…”

“Miss me entirely, slip on a banana peel, and fall into the water hole” Gaia replied smugly.

The queen stood there wide eyed and shell shocked “Wha…the only pony….no, it can’t be, Gaia?”

“Not a bad memory for being so long ago Chrysalis” Gaia replied right in the queen’s ear making her jump. During the distraction with the magic image Gaia glided directly behind the queen and her first intimation of his presence was when he spoke to her not even a few inches away. “I see that age has not dulled your memory, can’t say the same for you looks.”

She turned around and frowned at him as he lowered his hood to reveal his face “Gaia dear, you’re looking good for roasting in the sun for all those millennium” she squinted her eyes at him in slight aggravation “Shame you’re not still there.”

“I missed you too” Gaia replied with a grin of satisfaction. “However you are mistaken though, I was never trapped in that accursed sun.”

“You mean to say that you have been wondering this world for so many years and never even gave me the decency of a visit?”

“Would you?”

“Jerk.”

“Lunatic” Gaia quickly replied back in defense.

Chrysalis waved her minions out of the room and sat back upon her throne. “So what’s the game Gaia, why are you here?”

Gaia walked over to her “I want your sponsorship for the Equestrian games.”

Chrysalis sat there perplexed from his request “why? I don’t see what you have to gain from such a thing.”

“I have everything to gain. Celestia as you know is the undisputed ruler of this land.”

“Because you failed to defeat her” Chrysalis pointed out.

“It is true, Luna took me completely by surprise, but that is in the past. I will bring about my democracy by more peaceful means than random destruction of war.”

“And these games will help you accomplish that, how?

“Simple, when Celestia’s champions are defeated in the games the other kingdoms will start to realize that Celestia is not the all knowing being that they thought she was. She will lose some of her monarchy authority and the council will naturally make a power grab, the beginning of a democratic country.” Gaia then looked at her seriously “Celestia has also mentioned making deals with the creatures in Tartarus to expand her influence.”

The queen sat up at this news “That fool! Not even I mess with those creatures. The only one that could even understand them is maybe you.”

“Barely” Gaia replied. “I understand them enough to realize just how dangerous they are. But Celestia has been emboldened by her victory over Discord and is planning how to manipulate those creatures as well.”

“She will fail if she tries.”

“Exactly, that’s why I need to cut down her credibility. If she’s busy trying to piece back her reputation to retain her power then she will not do such a foolish thing.”

The queen became quiet as she thought about what Gaia said “your killing two birds with one stone” she finally spoke up.

“Exactly right.”

“You know that I do not support your ideas” the queen stated. “However, as you likely know the way that things are going now and the strength that Celestia has gained over the past few years cannot be ignored, else my land will be overwhelmed. I will sponsor you in the games but you better not lose Gaia, or I will make you wish that you were trapped in the sun.” Chrysalis looked up at the ledge above the door “are those girls with you are should I have them arrested for spying on our conversation?”

Gaia opened up his senses and found that the girls had somehow followed him, it didn’t take him long to find the tracking spell on his cloak. He was so focused on his confrontation with Chrysalis that he forgot to keep his senses open for others that might be following him. A strange sense of embarrassment that he was followed without his knowing and pride in Trixies accomplishment welded inside of him. “Come on down then girls” he called. The girls now knowing that their cover was blown decided to follow his direction and came down.

“So you are going to try to change the government after all” Trixie accused Gaia. “I thought that you said that you were not going to wage war again.”

“And I am not” Gaia responded. “The way that I am going is peaceful so as to hurt nopony.” Trixie not having response to this did not reply but she felt a little hurt that Gaia never told them this part of his plan. “I am sorry girls, but this is just something that I have to do. I believe too much in the good that will come from it.”

Chrysalis studied the girls and raised an eyebrow when she saw Trixie “Another alicorn?” she asked.

“Yes” Gaia replied “this is my apprentice Trixie. Next to her are Lightningdust, Lyra, and Wildfire. They will be the four you will be sponsoring.”

“Trixie? Oh, yes! You’re the one that defeated Princess Twilight” Chrysalis replied with some enthusiasm. “Gaia has done a good job for once in training you.”

“Um, thank you?” Trixie replied not sure how to respond.

Chrysalis looked back up at Gaia “Of course, with all his failures he is bound to do something right once in a while.”

“Better than failing all the time, antenna head” Gaia shot back. They gave each other cold looks before they both snubbed each other and continued the conversation.

“So you finally found all you needed to create an alicorn then?”

“Nope, we just glued wings onto her” Gaia replied.

“Oh, yes. The jokes and sarcasm, how I missed your abundance of wisdom” Chrysalis mocked.

“I would say that I missed yours but you never had them to begin with.”

“Insolent jerk!”

“Swiss cheese legs!”

“Control Freak!”

“Slimy bug!”

“Slimy bug?! At least I am not a Spineless worm Gaia dear.”

“No, you’re more like a crusty old cockroach” Gaia replied slanting his eyes.

“I don’t know why I bothered even talking to you, even after so many years you’re just the same immature stupid boy.”

“I wish that you didn’t, hearing that scratchy voice of yours will drive any pony insane.” Chrysalis looked like she had been slapped in the face by this comment. Gaia realizing what he said tried to take it back “Listen…I didn’t mean…”

“I hate you!” Chrysalis screamed and ran off down the hall to her private chambers slamming the doors behind her with such force that the chamber shook.

“Crap” Gaia said under his breath and teleported to the front of Chrysalis’s doors.

The girls just stood there dumbfounded at what they just witnessed. Not sure what to do they followed after Gaia who was already talking to Chrysalis through the doors.

“Chrysalis, I’m sorry” Gaia said through the doors to where Chrysalis was laying face first in a pillow on her bed. “I forgot that was a sore subject with you, but that singing competition was so long ago and I don’t care what those ponies said you have a beautiful voice.” Gaia knocked on the door “Chrysalis please open the door.”

Chrysalis stayed in her room not answering him, she knew that Gaia probably did not mean it but it still hurt and she would not be seen crying, that she was determined of. After a while of silence she heard Gaia talking to the young girls that were with him.

“Umm Gaia, what was that just now?” Lightningdust asked.

Gaia who was now sitting leaning against the door looked up at the girls “Oh, I forgot you were here.”

“Obviously” she replied. “But I want to know what that was all about.”

“Oh, that? We fight all the time; it’s more like a second nature now.”

“But why?” Lightningdust pressed letting Gaia know that she was not going to drop the subject.

Gaia sighed to himself “Well, you see…Chrysalis and I, we used to be engaged.”

“WHAT!!!” all four girls shouted at once in pure shock and disbelief.

“It’s true; I first meet her at a meeting with many other powerful leaders of the different tribes of Equestria. That was of course before she became the Queen of the Changelings.” Gaia looked at the door “She used to be a beautiful alicorn princess. That was a long time ago though, before her father King Sombra went insane and did unspeakable experiments on the creatures in Equestria. He was actually the one that made the changelings with his dark magic. He wanted to make an army that could disguise themselves as anypony and find those who were plotting against him. The experiment was a success and he decided to make Chrysalis a changeling as well so she could take charge of his new army.” He looked at the door again “It is true that I meet her before that, but during that time Celestia, Discord, The Griffin king Mad Beak, the rouge tribes, and I were busy fighting for control of Equestria. I only really had the time to get to know Chrysalis after she was changed. Her father and I had a temporary alliance against Mad Beak. During that time Chrysalis and I fought together and I will admit, we fell in love. Every chance we had we would meet each other, fight our enemies together, and hold important council together in the wildflowers staring at the night sky. Then one day we even became engaged, it was a truly happy time.”

“But it didn’t last?” Lightningdust asked.

“No, the king found out and severed our truce by attacking my forces, catching us by complete surprise. I should have expected it, during that time it wasn’t uncommon for alliances to be made and broken, sometimes in the same day. I guess that I didn’t want to believe that it could happen. Eventually we beat them off but Chrysalis and I in that one move were forced to be enemies. Eventually the King was forced into a corner and defeated but not before he vanished along with the crystal kingdom. After that though Chrysalis and I never meet again.”

“So you two are enemies?”

“No, it’s complicated, really, really complicated.” Gaia looked at the girls “We just drifted apart.”

“Not to mention” Chrysalis shouted through the door “that he had a direct role in my father’s demise.”

“I thought that you hated your father for changing you into a changeling” Gaia replied through the door.

“I did, but he was still my father, besides I kind of like the way I am now.”

“I just wished that they could have seen what you looked like before, it would blow their minds.”

“They can” Chrysalis replied and opened her door. The pony that was standing there was not the buggy looking queen that they saw before but was instead a beautiful gold alicorn. Being from the Crystal Empire she had a crystal coat which shimmered in a radiant glow about her. Her main looked like it was made of rich deep blue sapphire which was mixed of all kinds of different shades. Chrysalis’s wings and horn though were the most amazing of all her features for they were clear but when light shown upon them they radiated with all the color’s known to ponykind and even some that were not. Her features and beauty were unmatched by nopony in Equestria. The one thing that remained though were her dark green eyes which were like jade.”

“You’re beautiful” Lyra commented.

“That she is” Gaia replied “always thought it a shame that your father didn’t think so though.”

“Yes, I believe that is one of the reasons that he changed me into a changeling. I reminded him too much of what used to be, the happy times, before he became mad” Chrysalis replied. “However I now can understand his actions better” she replied dropping the shape of her old self and becoming the changeling queen once again.

“She used to be called the most beautiful pony in Equestria, funny how ponies change their minds so quickly when a ponies looks change.”

“I still had callers even after I changed!” she protested.

“Really?”

“Of course, I remember one strong upstanding Stallion who had a particular fancy towards me. We even went out before I found out what an insignificant, scruffy, no good, contriving, deadbeat he was.”

“Really? I never knew that you had such a promising offer” Gaia joked. “What happened with you and this outstanding gentlecolt.”

“We got engaged” she replied with a smug grin. All the girls laughed at this comment even Gaia gave a slight chuckle; he had a feeling that was where she was going with that story. “However there was one particular Stallion Youngberch, do you remember him? He was the prince of the Island of Jade long before I was changed.”

“I remember him, he was a scrappy little fellow” Gaia replied.

“He once asked my hoof in marriage and when I refused, he locked himself in his tower for three years. When he finally came out he was completely mad and married himself to a piece of moss convinced that it was me.”

“A suitable substitute” Gaia replied getting back at her for the last crack she made about him.

“I walked right into that one didn’t I?”

“That you did, you’re out of practice.”

Chrysalis looked at the girls “You four must be starved.” She then called to one of her minions who came swiftly into the room “prepare a banquet for my guest” she ordered him. The changeling saluted and scurried off into the dark tunnel. “Come girls” she said and started to follow the same path that the changeling had taken. The feast that the queen had prepared was marvelous and the girls ate without any sort of table manners showing just how grateful they were for the food after a whole day of nothing to eat. The table was long and filled with all sorts of fruits and grasses which were soaked in soup broth. But two at the table didn’t seem to notice the splendor upon the table and was not lured to it although the smell was enough to beckon anypony to any of its juicy portions.

Gaia sat there and just poked his food not having any sort of appetite which could also be said of Chrysalis who spent most of her time at the table staring at a cup of grape juice thinking deep thoughts, some of which were from ancient times. When the meal was over it was getting very late indeed. Gaia looked at the four girls who having their stomachs filled were now on the verge of sleep and barely could keep themselves from nodding off. They went to the hives exit where Gaia instructed Trixie to teleport the girls back which she did. Once he saw them off he turned to Chrysalis.

“Thanks for the hospitality, dinner was quite satisfying” Gaia replied. “I see that your minions cooking have improved over the years. I still can’t get that gruel’s taste out of my mouth from the war.”

“That was one of the first things that I had to change once the war was over.”

“As you should, that in my opinion, out of all the evil powers that were used in the war was the most horrid of them all. I’m surprised that I ever survived it.” Chrysalis was quite unsure what to say and stood there her body shifting with uneasiness. “I should go” Gaia finally replied.

“Wait!” Gaia turned around to see Chrysalis walking over to him and to his surprise she embraced him in a hug not a hard or awkward hug but a soft and mellow one “I missed you” she began to silently cry. The changelings that were near enough to their queen to hear the conversation stared at her dumbfounded but she did not care what they thought. “Why didn’t you let me know you were not trapped in the sun?”

Now it was Gaia’s turn to shift uneasily “I couldn’t, not after what I did.”

“That’s in the past Gaia, I’m not mad about it anymore” she replied.

“You don’t understand Chrysalis, I caused your grief. It was I that defeated your father and his army and it was I that forced his exile. I even failed to save him when he came back, now he is in the ether, to mad to make it back, he is lost.”

“I know, by the time I heard of his return it was too late. The Crystal Empires stone eradicated him from existence. I had hoped that he would come back, but like you said I don’t think he knows how to anymore.” She then began to cry even louder “First father disappeared then I thought I lost you to Celestia, I couldn’t bear it and swore vengeance upon her. I was alone…so alone.”

Gaia hugged her close “I’m sorry, I didn’t think that you would want to see me again after what I did, but you’re not alone, not anymore.”

After a while she looked up at him “You still want to continue with your plan?”

“Of course, I have a promise to keep to those girls, after all; they have their own demons that they must face at the games.”

“Just like you” Chrysalis said drying her eyes “Stubborn as always.”

“Would you want it any other way?” he joked.

“No, I guess not.”

They ended their embrace and Gaia started his magic “See you later bug face” he smiled.

“Until then, lizard breath” Chrysalis smiled back as he teleported away.

The queen stared at the spot Gaia was long after he had teleported away then with a heavy sigh she headed back into the hive.

Chapter 8 Discord

Chapter 8

Discord

How splendid! Discord thought as he watched Celestia pace the throne room from the stain glass window, the word of Gaia’s return from her infernal sun had certainly made things interesting around the dusty old castle. Discord remembered how much fun Gaia made the war in the past, “ahh the past” Discord sweetly mumbled to himself. “How wonderful those times were when chaos ran rampant across the land and its leaders. Much more fun than this boring harmony filled civilization that Celestia had made. If it wasn’t for Fluttershy I would have turned this dank little castle into a stack of waffles long ago.” Discord stayed there remembering fondly the time when his chaos was all around for all the ponies to experience and enjoy. Suddenly his tail twitch and somehow a ponies hat became a fish bowl, which was upside down. How this happened Discord would tell you he had no idea, but in his grin of satisfaction of the drenched pony which just happened to be of the upper class told it all.

He moved to another part of the castle where Luna fast asleep was having a terrific nightmare, “fantastic” Discord said as he wrung his hands. He soon worked a little of his chaos and created a giant bubbly cloud which showed the dream she was having. He materialized a lawn chair and some popcorn and ooo! Don’t forget the soda! And watched the dream unfold.

Luna who was in a very small childlike form was running through the woods sweat beading down her brow. He was right behind her, the monster, just inches from her hoofs. She had to move faster! A slight clearing was coming up before her its bright light showing deliverance from the woods dark shadow. She was almost there, running faster she came closer to it but something was wrong. The trees had begun to close in around her their branches grabbing at her slowing her down. The strength of them were tremendous and their roots strong and hard to break. Still she reached for the light and just as her hoof was about to reach it the woods closed on her leaving nothing but darkness. Then she saw it two glowing brown eyes one of which had a tremendous red scar of moving plasma upon it.

“Augghhh!” Luna screamed sitting up in a cold sweat. She looked around, it was her own room, her own dresser, her own bed, her own lawn chair with popcorn spilt upon it…wait… She looked around and saw a tail hanging from the chandelier above the chair. She grabbed onto it with her magic and pulled the creature down. “Discord?!”

“Hi Luna” Discord replied giving a sheepish grin “lovely day to dust the chandelier isn’t it?”

“What art thou doing in our courters?” she then noticed the giant cloud which read upon it “The End, this dream was a Luna production. Copyright laws apply.” Luna’s rage to say the least boiled beyond its limit “DISCORD! WE WILL DESTROY THEE!!!”

“Discord rolled down his sleeve, well actually his fur, to reveal a giant watch “That time already? I’m late! I’m late! I’m late!” He then disappeared into a cloud of confetti which then exploded ink dye all over the room.

Luna who was now covered in multiple layers of ink that now matched her ruined room ground her teeth in rage “We shall get thee for this” she growled.

“Ho hum, what to do what to dooo.” Discord hummed to himself as he appeared on top of a giant mountain “What a drag this world is!” He looked at the sun “I could turn it into a skittle” he thought “but then Celestia will turn me back into stone.” He put his paw onto his forehead and gave a drama queens performance to nopony in particular. “Oh, woe is me! Chaos in an unchaotic world. Who would have thought such a thing? If I be true to my nature then stone I shall become. Shall I go on pretending that which I am not? Just to avoid the judgment of others? my life shall never be true again!” He looked upon the fields and after another twitch of his tail the flowers all started to clap at his performance and threw themselves at his feet. “You like me! You really like me!” he exclaimed with joy.

“You are such a drama queen!” One of the flowers shouted at him followed by a “boo.”

Discord waltz up to the flowed, not walk he waltzed, then plucked it from the ground “now you hush” he said sternly and tossed it into the air in which it became a balloon and floated away. “Any more critics?” he asked in which all the flowers shook their heads no “Wonderful!”

He soon got bored with the flowers and disappeared to another mountain. If one thing is to be known about Discord it is that he gets distracted easily. As he appeared on the next mountain landing into a puddle of chaos made chocolate he sensed something odd. He again waltzed over to a dirt crater and sniffed its surface “An alicorn has been here” he said to himself “but not the sisters nor Twilight or Cadance Hmmm.” Suddenly a duster jacket and a hat appeared on him. He took a pipe from its pocket and smoked a very odd spiral ring out of it. “I do say old chap, it seems that we have a mystery here.”

“Hmm, quite right” Discords tail which had the same getup replied.

“Onward and upward then my good fellow!”

“Yes, onward then.”

Discord began to scour the country side finding many more such craters in which it seemed that an alicorn had been busy performing magic. Discords mind came to one conclusion, Gaia. He followed the trail which had no pattern to it, it was completely random but what is random to ponies makes absolute sense to him. In its chaotic pattern since there was no pattern a pattern of chaos showed before him as he traveled it like a giant map. Once he finished the map pointed to one direction straight down and to the left. He followed it and found himself within the Everfree Forest.

“Lovely” he grinned as he came upon a very huge and menacing castle. “This place needs a makeover” he then summoned a giant tube of lipstick and sent it towards the castle but as it came closer it was stopped by a barrier, a powerful barrier. “Oh, cleaver spells!” he chimed and went up and embraced the barrier in a hug. “Yes, three parts fire and one part wood, its Gaia alright.”

He made a rip in the air like one that is made on a paper set and stepped halfway into it. He was going to tell Celestia where Gaia was like she told him too but then another idea came into his head. “Surely Celestia would not mind if I bring him in myself? After all I never had the honor to test him during the wars.” Discord stepped back out then put on a football helmet and rammed the barrier shattering it with chaos.

The girls were busy packing for the games as Gaia visited Queen Chrysalis to go over the details of his plan. “I can’t wait until the race!” Lightningdust exclaimed excitedly.

“The music competition will be cool to be in as well” Lyra replied packing her Lyre.

“”I’m looking forward to the jousting contest myself” Wildfire replied. “I am going to kick some serious flank!”

“It’s going to be Epic!” Lightningdust confirmed. “What about you Trixie?”

Trixie looked back at them “I’m sorry, I wasn’t listening what did you say?”

“Something on your mind?” Lyra asked.

“She’s just nervous about the competition, that’s all.”

“If it does turn out that Twilight goes into the competition then I will have to fight her, and in front of all those ponies. What if I lose?”

“Don’t worry about it” Lightningdust replied giving her friend a pat on the back. “You already defeated her and besides we don’t care if you win or lose you will still be our friend.”

“Thanks” Trixie replied looking at them “I just hope that…” suddenly a crashing sound happened all around them. Trixie looked at the wall and knew that the shield protecting the castle was shattered. “Quickly, let’s get out of here!” but before she could do anything Discord popped into the room wearing a toga.

“I think that would be very unwise my dear” he stated like a scholar. “Unless you want to leave your friends that is.”

Trixie tried but Discords magic kept her teleporting magic from reaching her friends. “You’re Discord aren’t you?” She asked.

“Why yes! I see that my reputation precedes me.” I must say though that you are nothing like I imagined you to be Gaia.”

“Gaia?”

“Oh, don’t you do that. The I have amnesia trick and don’t know who I am doesn’t work on me.”

Trixie looked at the other girls who shrugged their shoulders “Ok, I guess that I am Gaia then” Trixie replied not knowing what else to say. “What do you want with me?”

“What else? I want to have some fun!” Discord replied and flung a cream pie at her. Trixie glanced it away with her magic “What if I don’t want to play?”

“Then I will just bring you to Celestia and go ice-skating afterwards.”

“I want to go ice-skating!” Lyra replied.

Discord snapped his fingers and an ice-skating rink appeared below them “Your wish is my command” he replied. “A battle on ice, how deliciously chaotic this will be!”

“More like idiotic” Wildfire replied which earned a giant zipper closing her mouth.

“Quiet please while chaotic art is being made.” He then looked at Trixie and snapped his fingers causing a giant tidal wave of chocolate milk to flow towards her. Trixie not being fast enough was caught in it and was washed towards the far wall.

“Phew, yuck” Trixie spat out the milk.

“That was disappointing” Discord replied. “You’re the great Gaia who scares Princess Celestia and Luna and you can’t even dodge something like that?”

“I’m not Gaia!” Trixie shouted.

“Oh, ho I’m not falling for that one missy” he then summoned a giant net which fell upon Trixie. Trixie seeing this faded away into her mist state and slipped through the net. She stared at it not believing that she dodged it. However taking her eyes off Discord to do so was a huge mistake for when she turned around there he stood not even a foot away from her with a giant vacuum cleaner “who you goanna call? Gaia buster!” he said and turned it on. The vacuum soon sucked in Trixie into a clear glass tube where she became solid again.

“Let me out!” She screamed as she banged on the glass with her hooves.

“Tut, such a disappointment. If only Celestia fell for such tricks back in the war. You know I should have taken you on instead of her back in those days Gaia.”

“Let her go!” Lightningdust yelled as she came at him.

“Unlikely” Discord who was now in jungle clothing, binoculars and all, took a giant net and scooped her up along with the other girls who were struggling to get to him on the ice. “Ah, the rare speckled frogs at long last I caught them.” He then turned to Trixie “and the disappointing leopard toad.” He then turned around “Oh, it’s a beautiful day to go hunting in the marshmallow swamps of the grassy sky!” he began singing as he walked towards the castles door. Just before he reached the doors though a giant vine grabbed the girls and yanked them from his hands bringing them quickly to the far end of the castle wall. “I guess that it wouldn’t be that simple would it, still had a trick up your sleeve, did you?” Discord replied turning around to find himself facing not only the girls but also a strange cloaked stallion. “Who are you?”

“Focus your powers into me” Gaia whispered to the girls when they got Trixie out of the vacuum cleaners tank.

“Secrets don’t make friends” Discord replied crossing his arms. “You didn’t answer my question either, I think that you are very rude and…” Suddenly Discord saw the scar on the Stallions face and recognized it from Luna’s dream. “You’re Gaia!” he proclaimed clapping his hands. “Ha, I have been following the wrong alicorn all along!”
Discord thought about taking on both alicorns but decided to maybe retreat and do some surveillance, if for nothing else then to extend his fun. But as he began to work his magic he realized that it would not cooperate. What was worst he also found himself in a cage of iron strong brambles. “What? What did you do?” he demanded.

“Surely Celestia told you about the Elements of Wisdom and Knowledge?” Gaia asked.

“She may have.”

“Well they work different than the elements of harmony, which being opposite of chaos petrifies you. Our elements are not stopping you with its own force but with your own.”

“I don’t get it” Discord replied very much intrigued by the contraption and somewhat relieved that he was not being turned to stone again.

“This cage plays off your own nature, being that of chaos you must do what is least logical. So it would be easy for you to break that cage with your chaos but since that is the logical thing to do your nature will not let you do it. Also since that is what your nature dictates you to do being that of chaos you must go against your very nature and do the logical thing and escape with your chaos. You therefore to stay chaotic must not break the cage and so on.

“It’s a loop? I can’t do either because my nature is chaos.”

“Ah! But now that you can’t do anything you must do something.”

“Gaia, please. My head hurts” Trixie pleaded with him.

“Fine, in simple terms his power is fighting with itself nullifying all his abilities” Gaia replied.

“Thank you” all the girls replied at once.

“I can see why Celestia is so afraid of you now Gaia” Discord replied. “You are truly a worthy opponent.”

“I thank you for your comment, but it takes more than one to use the elements to their full extent” Gaia replied.

“So what will you do now Gaia?” Discord asked.

“You will read about it in the newspaper and don’t worry I won’t leave you here to rot; besides I always wanted a pet. How’s your parrot impression?”

“Actually, not bad” Discord replied. “I don’t plan on being in here to long though.”

“If you escape, you escape, as long as you don’t get in my way I have no quarrel with you.” Gaia then turned to the girls “let’s go” he then teleported them away to Chrysalis’s hive. Leaving discord alone in solitude.

Discord looked around the castle and seeing that he was alone sighed, his tail then rose itself to head height “Squawk, Polly wants a cracker.” He turned to his tail “Quiet this is your fault anyway.” The tail twitched “Squawk this is your fault anyway, this is your fault anyway, squawk.” Discord frowned “no, it’s your fault!” “Squawk your fault, squawk.” Discord shook his head knowing exactly where this conversation was leading.

Chapter 9 Let the games begin!

Chapter 9

Let the games begin!

Twilight woke up early in anticipation of what was to come, her first Equestrian Games as a royal Princess. There was so much to do, so much to prepare as the games were about to begin. She ran down the stairs jumping the last three steps as she slid into the libraries main room. Looking around making sure that Owlicious had everything in order she grabbed her saddle pack, the all to sound asleep Spike, and a few stacks of books for the train ride to The Crystal Empire. She arrived on the train extra early not wanting to miss it and headed to the royal car. The royal car was well furnished and had big fluffy couches for her and her friends. She went over and sat onto one of these couches and after placing the sleepy little dragon next to her she opened one of her precious books. She sat alone in the car until three and a half hours later or fifteen books later for Twilight before Rarity came trotting in.

“Oh, this car is just darling” Rarity stated “Don’t you think so AppleJack?”

“Yep, if you’re into all the frilly curtains that is” she replied not too sure what she thought about them.

“I know! Are they not just the most fantastic materials that you ever seen. Clearly they were made by an expert.”

“Yeah, that’s just what I was thinking” Applejack replied sarcastically rolling her eyes.

“Any trouble getting on board?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, Pinky however is having some trouble” Applejack replied. “The conductor seems to be having some trouble convincing her to leave her confetti canon.”

As if she heard the girls talking Pinkypie appeared from who knows where “I managed to sneak it in.”

“How did you do that?” Twilight asked.

“I have my ways, oh, I have my ways” she replied rubbing her hoofs together “Bwaahahaha.”

“O…Kay” Twilight then booked marked her spot in one of the advanced magic books Celestia gave her "Where’s Fluttershy?”

“Here” a soft innocent voice replied as the yellow Pegasus slinked into the room so softly that her hoofs made no sound whatsoever.

“Do you have your bird choir ready?”

“Yes, the poor dears had to be put into the luggage car. Oh, I hope they are ok, what if it’s dark in there and they get scared?”

“They will be fine Fluttershy” she said trying to help calm her friend’s worries. “Besides” said Twilight “the coach car is very lovely and it is lighted.”

“That’s good.”

“They will be comfortable and safe, so relax.”

“Ok.”

Twilight looked at the clock on the wall “it’s about time for us to start moving, where is Rainbow Dash?” None of the ponies seemed to know making Twilight frown “She’s the main part of the air show!” Twilight then teleported away to Dashes cloud where she found Dash sleeping giving out loud healthy snores. “Dash, Wake up!”

“Five more minutes” Dash said and rolled away from Twilight.

“Dash!” she began but Dash only waved her off. “You leave me no choice then” Twilight said as she summoned a bubble of water over her sleeping friend. “The trains about to leave and you need to wake up” she then let go of the water which fell onto Dash who jumped up with a start.

“Aww man, why did you do that!” She asked giving Twilight a mean look.

“The train is going to leave in just one minute! you needed to get up.”

“Oh that, I still had a fifty seconds.”

“But that only leaves ten seconds!” Twilight replied shocked. “Certainly you couldn’t make it in that time?”

“Of course I can, ten seconds flat” Dashes alarm then went off “speaking of which” She suddenly bolted out into the air disappearing into the morning sky. Twilight teleported back to the train to tell the conductor to wait for Dash but to her amazement Dash landed just a second after she materialized. “Told you!” Dash replied with a smug look and pranced onto the train.

Twilight followed her perplexed on how she made it in time. “All aboard! Next stop The Crystal Empire” The conductor announced then shut the train’s door. Soon the smoke from the train started to bellow out the locomotives stack as it slowly moved forward on its long journey.

“What are you reading there Twi?” Dash asked as she and the others raided the dessert bar.

“Some high magic from Celestia” Twilight replied not taking her eyes out of the book.

“Does it have to do with the other studies she had you doing?”

“Yes, Princess Celestia wants me to be prepared for when I next meet Trixie.”

“You mean so you won’t faint again?”

“I did not faint!” Twilight slammed the book closed making everypony stare at her. “I…umm, sorry I didn’t mean to shout.”

“It’s ok sugar cube, we know that you didn’t” AppleJack replied putting her hoof on Twilights back.

“Thanks” Twilight muttered now in a sour mood. “I just need to find her and get some answers.” Twilight wanted to find Trixie to get information for Princess Celestia about Gaia’s plans yes, but she also wanted to redeem herself in the eyes of her mentor who she felt that she failed. There was also another reason though that she wanted to find her and that was to ask about what she had said on the train. Celestia it did seem the more that she researched past events to have manipulated them to test her. She didn’t cause the events but Trixie might have been right about them being used as a test. Whether if it was a test to see if she could become an alicorn or something else she did not know and that’s why she needed to find Trixie again to learn what she knew.

“Which race was it you were in?” Pinkypie asked Dash as she stuffed a large slice of cake into her mouth.

“The Mountain Pass race” Dash replied “the most dangerous and famous race in all of Equestria. The track is on a floating island that is brought out for only one race in the Equestrian games and the winner is crowned the fastest racer of the year!”

“You think that you can win?”

“I hope, but competition is tough all the best flyers are in the race which includes the Wonderbolts.” Dash then became a little light headed “If I win they will surely ask me to join!” her imagination was then filled with her flying high with the Wonderbolts wearing one of their awesome uniforms.

“Helloo, Dashie?” Pinkypie waved her hoof in front of Dashes face.

“Wha?” Dash asked being snapped out of her fantasy.

“I asked if you wanted the last piece of cake silly.”

“No, go ahead Pinky.”

Pinky complied and flung it into the air and swallowed it whole “Have to practice for the pie eating contest.”

The girls talked about the games and what events they were going to participate in until they finally fell asleep. The next morning they woke up in the wintery weather of The Crystal Empire. They soon got off at the station and after a few sightseeing trips they headed to the castle. The streets were crowded and became more congested as they moved towards the castle. Twilight who was being pestered by so many ponies wanting to talk to their new princess finally had enough and sent for a royal escort to keep the crowd from her so she and her friends could get into the castle. Once they went inside they were meet by her brother Prince Shinning Armor “Twiley!” he shouted.

“How are you doing big brother?” she asked embracing him in a hug.

“It’s been busy but we are doing fine.”

“Is the stadium ready?” she asked.

“Yes, come and I will show it to you. The kingdoms athletes have been showing up all day and are warming up for tomorrows games.” He then led them to a huge coliseum filled with thousands upon thousands of seats. In the middle were the track field and the archery grounds along with the jousting area and many other wonderful games. The most magnificent part of the coliseum though was a giant magic crystal floating in the air which was showing all the different events around the city in its glassy surface.

“It’s beautiful” Twilight replied.

“Yes, Celestia and Discord helped with its creation. It will show all the events that are going on.”

“This is amazing” Twilight replied as they moved along the field in the center of the coliseum.

“No way!” Dash suddenly shouted. “That’s the famous minotaur Bullhorn on the shot-put range! Ohh! and that’s IronSide the Griffin warming up for the foot race along with the stallion Backfinder.” Dash suddenly became quiet for warming up with the rest of the Griffins was Gilda.

“Dash isn’t that Gilda?” Twilight asked.

“She was a meanie” Pinkypie replied.

Gilda looked up and saw them “Dash, I might have know you would be competing in the race.”

“You got that right Gilda” Dash replied.

“Too bad you’re going to lose. I’m going to win the race tomorrow.”

“As if!” Dash protested “I will be winning the race.”

“So naïve you are” Gilda mocked “see you at the finish line, at least if you even get that far.” She then walked away laughing.

“I will win tomorrow” Dash said to herself while staring at Gilda with a death glare.

They continued their tour of the games which were going to take two days to complete. When they came to the finish of the tour Shiningarmor lead them to the throne room where to Twilights delight Princess Celestia and Luna were already there talking to Cadance. “Twilight” Celestia called to her as they approached.

“Princess Celestia” Twilight responded. However she caught something in Celestias eye like a deep worry “Is something wrong?”

“No” Celestia quickly replied but then thought about something important “By any chance have you seen Discord the last few days?”

“No princess” she then looked at her friends who also shook their heads.

“What happened to Discord?” Fluttershy asked worried.

“Nothing he just has not been seen for a few days, I think he’s hiding.”

“Hmmph, after what he did he should hide” Luna growled.

“Huh?” Twilight asked.

“It’s nothing” Celestia assured her. “Besides we were just going over the forms from the kingdoms that are sponsoring their champions if you want to join us.”

“Yes, I would like that very much!”

“If it’s all the same to you Princess I think that I will start practicing for the competition tomorrow” Dash replied. All of Twilights friends agreed with this notion after seeing the stack of paperwork next to the princess.

“Ok, have fun then girls and be careful” Celestia replied. The girls soon left Twilight alone with the rest of the royal princesses.

Twilight quickly began on the forms finding each candidate very interesting however she stopped halfway through the stack perplexed by what she saw. “Princess Celestia, is this the same Queen Chrysalis that wrecked havoc during my brother’s wedding?”

“Yes, it is” Celestia replied. “I was very interested in that as well.”

“Surely you will not let her join the games?”

“She has too” Princess Cadance spoke up. “The law of the Equestrian Games state that to promote peace that even countries at war, if they come peacefully to the games, can compete without fear of being arrested.”

“These laws have been in place for thousands of years” Celestia stated. “Even if the changeling queen comes herself we cannot touch her or keep her champions from competing. This law is not our own but it is the law that all the kingdoms competing made and no country will break it for fear of the wrath of all the other countries in it.”

“But she’s evil!” Twilight protested.

“Being a princess means that sometimes you must do what you don’t want to in order to preserve and promote peace in Equestria.”

“I understand, it just seems wrong” Twilight replied thinking about what this meant “So who are her champions?” she asked.

“There are seventeen forms that were filled out and many changelings have been coming into the city as well.”

They are under tight surveillance of course” Shiningarmor replied.

“There are no names on them though” Twilight replied.

“They do not need them. Only when they sign up in the arena on the day of the competition will they have to give their names. But we can see them now if we wish.”

“That is a good idea” Luna replied. “We think that it would be wise to gain some information on what their plan may be.”

They all decided to head to the section of the castle where the changelings were staying. When they arrived they saw dozens of changelings in the halls but when the changelings saw the princesses and the stern prince with his guards they gave them plenty of room to walk. When they came to the main door Shining Armor knocked on it.

“Get the door will you?” they heard a very familiar voice call out. The voice they all knew from the wedding, it would seem that Queen Chrysalis herself came to the games. The door was opened by one of Chrysalis’s minions who strutted aside to allow them to enter the dimly lit green room. “Greetings” the queen said to them as she laid upon her stone throne. “What do I owe this honor?”

“You!” Shiningarmor hissed.

“Hello darling” Chrysalis replied presenting her fangs in a grin. Cadance took a step towards her enraged by the comment. “Na ah ah, I wouldn’t do that if I were you. Unless you want to break the Equestrian Game rules that is.”

“What is your plan this time?” Celestia asked the queen with slanted eyes. “Are you going to attack sometime in the games?”

“Has it ever occurred to you that I am here to just enjoy the games?” Chrysalis asked with a grin.

“If it were only that simple” Celestia replied.

“Believe what you want o paranoid one.”

“Enough of thous games” Luna cut in. “Tell us the truth!”

“That is the truth.”

Luna stepped closer to the queen “If thou art lying, we will personally hunt thou down and make thee suffer.”

Chrysalis was about to reply when a door opened on the side of the room and in walked Trixie “Oh, I see you are busy my queen” she replied. Trixie, who had no wings because of a spell put on her, looked like a regular unicorn to them “I will come back later.”

“Trixie?” Twilight asked completely shocked.

“Nonsense” Queen Chrysalis replied. “Come! Meet our host for these games, Princess Cadance and Prince Shinningarmor.

“I would rather not” Trixie timidly replied.

“Trixie” the queen called more sternly.

“Fine” Trixie rolled her eyes then gave the prince and princess a short curtsy.

“The rest of you I believe already know my new pet. She is Trixie the Great Alicorn Slayer and one of my champions who will participate in the magic duels.”

“Trixie, why are you with this fiend?” Twilight asked.

“Its…it’s a long story” Trixie replied.

“Enough chit chat, now if you please I need you to leave so my new champion can get some rest” Chrysalis stated.

“We will go, but know that whatever you are up to Chrysalis it will not succeed” Celestia stated then led her party out and back to the throne room. “I thought something was amidst with the changelings, it seems that Queen Chrysalis is trying to get revenge for us spoiling her last plan at the wedding.”

“What is Trixie doing with her though?” Twilight asked.

“I do not know, but Chrysalis might have recruited her in order to parade her around as the one who defeated you.”

“What should we do?”

Celestia thought for a long time then finally answered Twilights question “you must enter the games.”

“What?!”

“Princesses can enter the games although it is rare and has not happened for over a thousand years. You must fight Trixie in the magic duel and beat her, and then when she is defeated we will pry her for answers so we may know what is going on, what happened to Gaia, and why she’s not with him anymore.”

“Is there another way?” Twilight asked.

“No, my hoofs are tied by the laws. You must find out what is happening while battling Trixie.”

Twilight thought about it but not seeing any better approach eventually agreed to the Princess plan. “Sister” Luna suddenly spoke up.

“Yes Luna.”

“We know not what foul tricks Chrysalis has planned. If somehow Twilight is defeated by one such trick then we need another pony to be in the magic duels.”

“Who?”

“Why us of course dear sister.”

Celestia nodded “Very well Luna, we will have you both signed up right away.”

Twilight smiled thankful that not all the pressure was on her shoulders, but something still seemed odd about the whole ordeal.

“Really? My new pet!” Trixie scolded Chrysalis as Gaia removed the spell that was hiding her wings. “And what was the deal with Trixie the Great Alicorn Slayer? Makes me sound like some kind of monster!”

“I thought it sounded good though…” Chrysalis began.

“It was a good performance from the both of you” Gaia stated. “Celestia, if she stays true to her nature will have Twilight join the magic duels to face you and try to figure out our plans.”

“But why hide my wings?” Trixie asked.

“More incentive for Twilight to face you. By now Celestia had taught Twilight how to perform many deep and powerful spells and is confident that any unicorn even with some sly tricks will be no match for her. What better place to reclaim Twilights honor than at the Equestrian games?” Gaia then looked at Chrysalis “hopefully you got Luna riled up enough where she joined the magic duel as well. She always had warrior blood in her and when it is stirred she just has to fight.”

“When is the magic duel?” Lightningdust asked.

“The day after tomorrow” Gaia replied. “First we must focus on your race though; you must beat some of the fastest flyers in Equestria tomorrow.”

“It will be fine, I know what currents to expect and the courses dangers, besides with the training you gave me I cannot lose.”

“Confidence is fine but overconfidence will lose you the game” Gaia warned her. “Get the most distance that you can and keep the lead while preserving your energy for the last section, don’t even think about slowing down to mock the other racers. That can come after the race if you want, but not during it.”

“Right” Lightningdust replied.

“My queen” a changeling called coming into the room.

Chrysalis turned to him “Yes?”

“Word just came in, Princess Twilight and Princess Luna both signed up for the magic duel.”

“Just as you predicted Gaia” Chrysalis replied.

“I’m glad that Celestia is still as predictable as she always was” Gaia replied. He looked at Trixie and could see how nervous she had become. “You alright Trixie? You can still back out if you wish, you don’t have to do this. The plan is not too deep where we are committed yet.”

Trixie took a gulp; she had planned on fighting Twilight but Luna too? She looked around at them all staring at her waiting for an answer. “No” she finally replied “I have to do this, I will fight them in the duels.”

“You will do fine Trixie” Gaia replied. Suddenly a huge bell tolled in the stadium “well sounds like it’s about time for the opening ceremony to start.” They all got up and headed out the door but before Trixie went out Gaia stopped her and hid her wings again with magic. When he was done he grabbed a piece of cloth and gave it to her “Trixie I want you to have this.” Trixie took it and unfolded the cloth which was a deep blue cape interlayered with sparkling silver strands that reflected the lights in a sparkling fashion.

Trixie looked at the capes symbol which was a shooting star going into a gold goblet. “What does it mean?” she asked.

“That is your ancestors Starswirl the Bearded’s symbol. I think that he would have wanted you to wear it during the games.”

Trixie hugged the cape with a sudden appreciation of it “Thank you Gaia” she replied then went out the door putting the cape on as she went.

The opening of the games were spectacular with acts, music, fireworks, extreme shows of magic by the royal guard who’s magic danced around the crowds in wonderful fashion. Up in the private stands sat the rulers of the different lands in Equestria. There were the rulers of the Griffins, Minotaur’s, of course the royal sisters and the rest of the royal family but none made more noise of excitement or clapped harder than the changeling queen Chrysalis who the royal sisters stared at with extreme distrust. Chrysalis though did not care for marching behind the crystal ponies and in front of the griffins were her champions 13 caped champions like that of a secret cult and four nervous looking ponies one of which was Trixie who was wearing proudly the cape that Gaia had given her.

“Isn’t that Starswirl’s symbol?” Luna whispered to Celestia referring to Trixie’s cape.

“Yes, she must know that they are related” Celestia replied taking greater interest in Trixie now than she did before.

“Hey, that’s Lyra!” Twilight suddenly shouted.

“Who?” Shinningarmor asked.

“Lyra! She lives in Ponyville” she replied. “But why is she with the changelings?”

“Sister, those ponies…they art Trixies friends from before” Luna whispered to Celestia.

“The ones that Gaia was involved with?” Celestia asked.

“The very same.”

Celestia sighed she knew that something was amiss but whether Gaia was involved or not was becoming the real mystery. All the evidence seemed to point that Queen Chrysalis had picked up these four ponies from somewhere to help her chances in the games. However, according to what Luna had told her Gaia might somehow be involved and if he was involved then there was no telling what he had planned. This strengthened her resolve to find out from Trixie what she knew.

“What do you say, not a bad line up don’t you think Celestia?” Chrysalis called to her after her changeling team passed them by. Celestia did not reply but looked away towards the other ponies marching across the field. Chrysalis just chuckled to herself in a very good mood as she watched the ceremonies proceedings. After the ceremony had finished and the royal phoenix lit a giant golden torch the champions split up to their own rooms to prepare for tomorrows games.

Chapter 10 The Race

Chapter 10

The Race

“Did you see?” Rarity asked Twilight as they came into the throne room. “Lyra was with those dreadful creatures, what on earth is she thinking?”

“Who is this Lyra?” Luna asked.

“She is a pony from Ponyville who plays the Lyre in the park, her roommate is a candy maker called Bonbon” Twilight replied.

“Is there anything else?”

“She is quite the conspiracy theorist” AppleJack stated.

“Anyponyelse you recognized?” Celestia asked.

“Besides Trixie ?”

“Yes”

“No” they all replied but RainbowDash although she also said no did recognize another from the group. While staring awestruck at the famous ponies around her in the ceremony she saw Lightningdust in the changeling’s lineup. She was bound and determined to find out what she was doing with them. After they left to get some sleep Rainbowdash snuck out of her room and flew stealthily towards the changelings windows where she perched upon the windows ledge to listen for Lightningdust.

“Good night girls” Gaia said as they headed for their rooms but as Lightningdust was about to leave he called her. “How are you feeling about tomorrow?”

“A little nervous” Lightningdust truthfully replied.

“It’s only natural, but you have worked hard for this moment. You are much stronger than when I first meet you. Whatever the outcome tomorrow remember I am proud of you Lightningdust.”

“Thanks” she replied.

Gaia looked towards the window “It seems that RainbowDash wants to talk to you” he then left for his room.

Lightningdust opened the window with some force almost hitting RainbowDash as she did “RainbowDash, what a surprise” she said with a sneer. “What do you want traitor!”

“Traitor?! What are you talking about?” Dash asked taken aback.

“I know it was you who had Spitfire toss me out of the academy!”

“What?! I never did. If you were tossed out it was for your own reckless behavior. You almost hurt my friends!” Dash protested.

“Your friends were never supposed to be there in the first place! It was a training ground, not a place for visitors to be sightseeing!”

“You were reckless, a danger to the whole academy!”

“No, I was trying to improve myself and you! Pushing ourselves to the limits is the only way to make it to the same level as the Wonderbolts.”

Dash shook her head “Not when it puts ponies in danger it isn’t.”

“So if there is a danger of a runner pulling a muscle they should not run and improve themselves? Oh, what great logic Rainbow Dash! I guess that means that you will not be racing tomorrow then.”

Dash landed back on the windowsill “Oh, I will race and I will win, if for nothing else than to prove you wrong Lightningdust.”

“Go ahead and try but you will fail” she replied “our conversation is done traitor” she then closed the window in Dashes face who gave a dissatisfied grunt and flew off.

Lightningdash gave a low growl and now being reminded of her reason for coming here and with her rage towards RainbowDash rekindled she marched towards her room more than ready for the race tomorrow.

The games started in the early hours of the morning just as the sun was coming up which Celestia raised with a particular grace into the sky. The champions soon started to participate in the games. There was jousting, Barrel bucking, Fencing, Judo, Soccer, Baseball, Pie eating contest, races of all sorts, gymnastics, and so many more games that it was hard to keep track of them all. The beginning games which were the more physical activities the Minotaur’s and griffins took and won the coveted the gold medals but as the day went on the ponies from Celestia’s kingdom started to take the lead followed closely by the Changeling Empire. For even though the other changelings champions did not do so well in the games Gaia’s four students were more than making up the slack. Lyra had all but won the music division while Wildfire was busy fighting AppleJack for gold in the footraces. Trixie had even won gold in the events she participated in. As the day wore on the two kingdoms were tied with gold medals where only one last event was left the famous Mountain Pass race on the floating island.

“Are you ready?” Trixie asked Lightningdust as they approached the starting line.

Lightningdust glanced towards RainbowDash who was psyching herself up with some coaching from Pinkypie. “More than ready” she replied to Trixie then went to the starting line with two other changelings who were also participating.

“Lightningdust? Surprising to see you here” a voice sounded to her left. Lightningdust looked over and saw Spitfire “how have you been?”

“Not bad considering you squashed my dreams and all” she replied coldly. Next to RainbowDash Spitfire was the pony that she wanted to beat most of all.

“I’m sorry about what happened but I couldn’t let almost hurting Princess Twilight go unpunished you do understand?”

“You know you’re an interesting Pegasus at first you praised me for pushing myself then you do a complete 360 and decide its bad” she replied. “For a Pegasus that finds it so hard to make up her mind its surprising that you are the captain of the Wonderbolts.”

Wildfire slanted her eyes “For your sake, I will take that as just trash talk before the race trying to mess with an opponent’s mind.”

“Think what you will” Lightningdust grinned “but I will prove my point to you when I win.”

“I’ll tell you what; let’s make a wager shall we?” Spitfire replied. “Whoever wins owes the other an apology.”

“Deal.”

“Good, I have been the champion of this race for over twelve years Lightningdust so you have better get that apology ready when you finally make it across the finish line.”

They stopped talking when the flag bearer came in front of the track hovering over the cliff they were standing on the edge of. He looked at all the Pegasus, griffins, changelings, and other creatures on the line then waved the flag starting the race. Lightningdust dove straight down while the other creatures began to fly high into the strong air currents of the canyon the only other ponies who did the same thing were the Wonderbolts. Down and down they went until at the last second they spread out their wings snapping them back into flight just feet from the ground. Just as Gaia told her this cannons current was easier to fly through the closer to the ground which meant she would save valuable energy while the others tired themselves out above them. The only thing with being so close to the ground however was the obstacles of rock formations that they had to fly through. She had nearly missed a rock when Spitfire and the other Wonderbolts cut her off keeping her behind them. There was no opening for her to pass so content she had to be with trailing them through the tunnels of rocks until the next bend when it would become wider.

“How is it back there?” Spitfire asked looking back at Lightningdust with a grin.

She did not answer while she looked for a chance to pass them then. Finally she saw the opening she was looking for, kicking up speed she made a steep climb under the protection of a portion of the cliff then dove into the current once again just ahead of Spitfire who looked on with shock. Realizing now that Lightningdust knew more than she did at the academy and had significant practice since then, she decided to treat her as a professional racer which meant the gloves were coming off.

Rainbow Dash looked around at the group of struggling flyers in the sky who like her were fighting some strong wind currents. The two changelings and a third of the other creatures had already dropped far behind and were now clearly no threat. “What’s the matter pipsqueak? (Gasp) you had enough yet?” Gilda asked flying behind her.

Dash looked back rolled her eyes then took off faster separating their distance. One thing was bothering her ever since the races start she did not see Lightningdust or the Wonderbolts for that matter. As they turned around another cliff she was knocked around by a particular strong gust of wind she flipped around the now long and straight part of the cannon and by chance she looked at the ground in her spin and saw five fast moving dots far ahead of the rest of them. “No way!” Dash gasped looking at the dots. They had to be the Wonderbolts “the current must be better down there, they must know that” she thought to herself. Dash folded her wings and dove down from the rest of the group and opened them as she came close to the ground. “That’s it! The currents are better down here” she looked up at the struggling flock above her “see you” she said to herself then sped off towards the Wonderbolts.

If I catch up to them I might even be able to talk to them she thought to herself which helped quicken her pace as she went faster just pressing the limit before a Rainboom. “There they are!” she squealed to herself as they came into view. She knew that she shouldn’t waste so much energy catching up to them but should save it, but come on it’s the frigging Wonderbolts! The closer she flew though the more she could make out what was happening up front. The wonderbolts were in a tight battle for the lead with another Pegasus who was matching them in every way ducking under stone bridges and outmaneuvering them as they came to cut her off. It was the most extraordinary thing she had seen, usually the wonderbolts would just take the lead together and at the last mile of the race make a mad dash for the finish line but this time they were being challenged by an expert flyer. It didn’t take Dash long to see who it was for of course it was Lightningdash.

Lightningdash flew into position and made a quick right turn up blocking the wonderbolt who was trying to cut her off. “They’re much better than the dragons” she mumbled to herself as two other wonderbolts flew at her sides. They were trying to keep her occupied so Spitfire could take the lead.

Spitfire was impressed by Lightningdust and her abilities, surely if she had showed such grace in the academy she would have graduated the first day she entered. Her reflexes and the ability to judge what the currents were about to do were on par with any of theirs. However there was one thing that she lacked and Spitfire knew it, a team. She had chosen to race alone and while she was impressive, the other wonderbolts were wearing Lightningdust down while Spitfire was holding back saving her energy for the final push.

“Hey Spitfire!” Dash called to her. Spitfire looked around to see who it was and to make sure that other flyers were not behind her.

Spitfire knew the danger that Dash was especially with her rainboom but didn’t want to upset Princess Twilight’s good friend. “Hi RainbowDash don’t think this rude but I really can’t talk right now, we have our hoofs full at the moment.”

Dash looked at Lightningdust who was very busy fighting off the other wonderbolts for the lead “Oh, I get it. Can I help?” she asked hoping for the chance of working with the Wonderbolts.

“Nope, I think…” just then Lightningdust made a brilliant move that caused two of the wonderbolts to collide with each other. “Ok, I think this has gone on long enough Lightningdust!” she shouted and flew straight towards the front at high speed.

Lightningdust had just enough time to see the blur of Spitfire before she could clip her “Hey! What’s the idea?” she screamed at her but the only response she received was the wonderbolts making a circle around her and shoving her back into the slow moving circle when she tried to escape. As they did this Spitfire took the lead “Not fair!”

Spitfire looked back not proud of what she had her squad do but she had a reputation to protect.

“That’s not fair Spitfire!” Dash shouted to her.

“Actually it is” Spitfire replied. “I’m just sorry that I had to resort to it, actually Lightningdust should feel honored that she pushed us that far.”

“I don’t agree with it” Dash replied looking back at Lightningdust and the other Wonderbolts who had fallen behind.

“If you will excuse me?” Spitfire replied not wanting to talk about it anymore and speed up.

Dash looked at her speeding away and after fighting back the idea to speed up as well and try to beat her in the race she flew back towards Lightningdust.

Lightningdust was busy trying to force the wonderbolts out of her way but they would not budge. She glared at Spitfire who had taken a significant lead and growled “Dirty player!” She was about to shock all the wonderbolts into the next centenary with her element when Dash suddenly cut into the Woderbolts formation making an escape route “Rainbowdash?” she asked surprised.

“Hurry up and move Lightningdust!” she called as the Wonderbolts had already begun to adjust their formation. Lightningdust did and together they speed away from the frustrated Wonderbolts who followed closely after them.

“Thanks Rainbowdash” Lightningdust replied having an improved opinion of her.

“You think that I would let them get away with that dirty trick?” she replied. They turned the next corner and came upon the last stretch of the race where Spitfire had already gone to full speed and was way ahead of them. “See you!” RainbowDash called and kicked into her Rainboom heading towards the finish line quickly catching up to Spitfire.

“Nice try!” Lightningdust called pacing Dash.

Dash looked back and saw that Lightningdust had a lightning spark trail following behind her. Dashes eyes grew huge at the realization of what Lightningdust was performing. “What?!” she called out “Don’t tell me.”

“Yes, this is my Lightningboom” Lightningdust replied with some pride. Gaia had taught her some time ago how to perform such a feat which was the height of a Pegasus’s ability without the help of magic. She grinned as she remembered how she yelled at Lyra for falling from a high cliff making her go into her first Lightningboom to save her, then how she yelled at Gaia when she found that he and Lyra planed the whole ordeal to teach her this ability.

Spitfire hearing what could only be RainbowDashes rainboom looked back. Quickly RainbowDash was closing in on her but something was wrong it wasn’t just RainbowDash but LightningDust was there as well keeping pace with RainbowDash. Spitfire turned back around and flew with all her strength towards the cheering fans in front of the finish line “Just a few more inches…” ZOOM ZOOM two loud blurs flew past her just a few inches from the white tape. A few inches that’s all she needed just a millisecond more but there it was she had not come in first nor second but in third! She slowly glided towards the ground defeated, her winning streak crushed. Remembering her promise she went up to Lightningdust and swallowed her pride “I’m sorry” she said then walked away to join her teammates which were just crossing the line. Spitfire promised herself that next time she will have mastered the art of the Rainboom and Lightningboom that the two girls used.

“Who won?” the crowd began to murmur as the excitement of the final moments of the race died down. “How can we tell? They were going too fast.”

Soon the crowd began uproar as the judges were baffled “Not to worry” one of the judges called. “Just in case something like this happened we rigged the tape with magic so the first creature that touched it would be marked by the tape. The Judge picked up the broken tape from the ground and held it up to RainbowDash then as he held it up to Lightningdust it began to glow. “We have our winner!” the crowd began to cheer for even though she was with the Changeling team it was too good of a race not to cheer. They waited a good while so those still in the race could finish before the award ceremony. In which Lightningdust was awarded the coveted gold medal for the Mountain Pass Race.
After they were awarded the medals and the newspapers had their time to interview them LightningDust called Dash over “Here I want you to have this.” She replied giving the gold medal to RainbowDash.

“What? No it’s yours, keep it.”

“No, you should have won that race but you came back to help me” she insisted.

“I wouldn’t have had to if they didn’t play such a nasty trick. You would have been in the lead if it wasn’t for that and your Lighningboom was just as fast as my Rainboom. You won the race fair and square, keep the medal I will be winning the next one.” Dash held out her hoof “Deal?”

“Deal” Lightningdust laughed bumping hooves with her.

In the shadows of the crowded arena Gaia gave a small approving smile hearing the conversation between the two girls then he walked away disappearing fully into the shadows.

“You did it LightningDust!” Trixie and the other girls said and hugged her from behind almost knocking the wind out of her.

“Thanks girls” she managed to get out. “But I couldn’t have done it without RainbowDash.”

“I know” we saw it on the giant crystal” Trixie replied. She then looked seriously at RainbowDash “thank you.”

Dash didn’t know what to say, that was not the same Trixie she had known before “Don’t mention it…” she replied suddenly wondering if Trixie was a changeling. She gave a wave and flew off to ask the Princess what she thought leaving the girls to celebrate LighningDust’s win.

Of course as we know Trixie was not a changeling but over the course of time with Gaia she had changed. But Celestia not knowing this thought that it could be a real possibility and one worth taking into consideration.

Chrysalis ecstatically came into the room where they were celebrating “Were up by one medal on the first day! Never has such a thing happened before.”

“Congratulations, I knew that you had it in you” Gaia stated to the girls “and to you Chrysalis, a few of those medals were won by your minions.”

“Ahh, but you’re forgetting yourself Gaia dear.” She then raised a glass from the table “may our lead continue, to tomorrow!”

“To tomorrow” they all replied.

That night the girls celebrated until Gaia afraid that they wouldn’t get enough sleep sent them to bed. Even then they had a hard time getting to sleep so much so that Trixie had to put them under a sleep spell until tomorrow morning.

“Tomorrow is the big day isn’t it?” Chrysalis asked Gaia who nodded. “I don’t know what you have planned but it seems to be more than your crusade for democracy isn’t it?”

Gaia looked at her and gave a slight weary smile “Goodnight, antenna head” he said and went to bed.

Chrysalis watched him go then sighed to herself with a smile “you too cheddar head” then she also went to get some sleep.

Chapter 11 Duel of Magic

Chapter 11

Duel of Magic

Morning came quick for the girls who staggered out of their beds feeling a light buzz from last night’s party “Not the best idea we had” Trixie stated to a fellow champion who was a changeling. The changeling nodded in agreement knowing full well what Trixie meant. The games the second day seemed to be even louder and more energetic than before as word of the close race between Celestia and Chrysalis’s champions spread. The ponies were more ecstatic though to see a rematch between Trixie and Twilight in the magic duels later in the day. The medal count stayed very much the same throughout the whole day where the girls worked hard against the other champions in their fields. LightningDust had won more races that day but these were less numerous than the ones the day before. The girls however were putting up a strong and very successful front to defend their lead from yesterday’s games much to Chrysalis’s delight. As the day wore on Chrysalis had her fun teasing the Princesses relentlessly while they watched the games in the stands.

“Ohh, were two medals up now! Look Celestia!” Chrysalis called as Wildfire pulled Applejack into the mud in the game of tug of war.

“Sister?” Luna began “can we please…”

“No” Celestia stated.

“But she is driving us insane! Just a little smack on the head.”

“No.”

“Fine! Have it thy own way.”

Chrysalis hearing what Luna said gave a little laugh “Such a sore loser you are Luna, I would think a princess would be more dignified than that.”

Luna gave her sister a pleading look “No” Celestia replied.

Twilight gave a nervous laugh with the rest of her friends as AppleJack crawled out of the mud. This was the last event before they came to the Magic Duels. They quickly made their way to the arena where the royal guards were busy preparing the magic field to protect the crowd from the duels that were going to take place inside. Shinningarmor being one of the strongest magic wielders was one of the ones putting up the shield “Good luck today Twily” he called from a platform “make me proud.”

She waved back “thanks, I will try” she then looked back at where she was heading, the champion’s quarters. “You can do this, you can do this! Just remember what Celestia taught you” She began to chant to herself. As she looked up though at the already large crowd that was gathering she was struck by her nervous fears once again. The long wait until the champions were to come out did not help either but Luna, who for some reason seemed to be in a sour mood, was there with her and helped keep her anxiety down.

The magic duels were not limited to magic but also allowed creatures to use other means to beat their foes but since magic wielders always seemed to win, it was named the magic duels.

“You ready young Princess?” Luna asked Twilight as the first two champions were called out. The first two champions were a griffin and a unicorn from The Crystal Empire who was immediately tackled by the Griffin and surrendered.

“I think so” Twilight answered back not sure, she was not so scared by the others in the rings or even the very large crowd outside but instead she was afraid of disappointing Princess Celestia again. The next two champions who were a Minotaur and a changeling came out to fight. The changeling was quickly flicked off the arena by the Minotaur’s finger.

“That’s one changeling down and one to go, then all that’s left will be Trixie” Luna stated with a grin of satisfaction. She thought about what Chrysalis’s face must have looked like seeing her minion flicked out of the arena in such an embarrassing fashion. The next champion was Trixie and a unicorn which she put to sleep in the same fashion as Twilight from before.

“That’s the spell!” Twilight exclaimed.

“Yes, but thou needs to fear it no longer. Our sister has taught thou well to make sure of it.”

Luna soon went out and faced her first champion a griffin and knocked her out with a karate chop to the back of the neck after the Griffin taunted her to fight with no magic. Luna came back to the astonished Twilight “What? After thousands of years one tends to pick up a skill or two.” Luna replied to her. “Thou art next!” she exclaimed and literally shoved Twilight out into the screaming stadium.

“This must be what Fluttershy feels like all the time” she thought to herself as she nervously waved to the crowd. Her opponent was another unicorn and as soon as the whistle blew the unicorn shot a magic blast at her. Twilight out of reflex grabbed the spell with her own and slung it back at the unicorn knocking him out.

“The winner is Princess Twilight!” the referee screamed as the stadium cheered.

She went back to where Luna was “Well done Twilight! Thou will make a fine warrior” Luna said patting Twilight on the back.

After the first couple of rounds six champions were left the first fight of these last six champions was to be Twilight v.s. Trixie the second the Minotaur Strong Hammer V.S. The Griffin Talons and the third was Luna V.S. the last poor changeling. “This is it Twilight” Luna coached her “remember thou must beat her and get whatever information thou can. Celestia will also question her when she is sent to the hospital wing to be checked out after losing.”

“Yes princess” Twilight replied and stepped out into the coliseum where Trixie was already waiting for her. Both of the girls were nervous but were determined to defeat the other. They stared at each other both recognizing the other as a true challenge “Ready for this twilight?” Trixie asked.

“Yes.”

“Good.”

The whistle then blew and Trixie immediately sent her sleeping spell underground knowing that Twilight was expecting it and would block the spell. She began to charge a second spell and as soon as Twilight blocked the first one Trixie hit her with the second causing Twilight to fly in the air and smack against one of the padded walls. Twilight looked up just in time to see Trixie rushing at her horn blazing but before Trixie hit her, Twilight vanished into a cloud of purple sparkling mist. Unfortunately for Twilight Discord had shown Trixie the weakness of this form. Trixie used her magic to create a bubble that surrounded the mist and forced Twilight to abandon the form to break the bubble with her magic.
Luna and even Celestia who was in the stands looked on dumbfounded at how well Trixie was handling Twilights actions and with such power! She had a mastery of magic such as they had not seen since Starswirl. Twilight looked at Trixie as they circled the arena sizing each other up. “Tell me Trixie, why are you wearing Starswirls symbol on your back?” Twilight asked. It was a silly question but it had been on her mind since she first saw it.

“I am his direct descendent” Trixie replied.

“Really? I had no idea” Twilight replied amazed by the news.

“Yeah, I just found out recently myself” Trixie replied as she shot another beam of magic at Twilight who repelled it.

“Is that why you are with Chrysalis, did she tell you that she would reveal who you are or something like that if you joined her?”

“Ha! No.”

“Then why?”

“You will have to beat me to find that answer, that is if you can” Trixie then crouched down horn glowing.

“Fine” Twilight replied then started to summon one of the more powerful spells Celestia taught her. They both fired their magic blasts at each other and to the everyponies amazement they collided with equal force then exploded sending the blast towards both ponies sending them flying.

Celestia stood up in shock “It isn’t possible!” the spells that hit both Trixie and Twilight casted them both against the walls of the domes shield that were there to nullify and block magic before it escaped into the crowd. When Trixie hit the barrier the spell to keep her wings hidden was neutralized revealing her alicorn state in all its entirety.

Twilight looked up at Trixie who was now floating above her wings spread out ready to fight “Trixie?”

Trixie looked at Twilight with her glowing pure white eyes, she didn’t expect the spell hiding her wings to be broken and it took her a few seconds to get her thoughts together. She then hoofed palmed her head “So much for making them think that a unicorn beat her again” she thought to herself.

“Trixie, how did you…?” Twilight began but Trixie flew at her cutting her off. Twilight also took to the air as they began a dance in the sky shooting their spells at each other. “Aughhh!” Twilight screamed as a partially strong spell hit her in the wing causing her to fall to the ground.

“Gotcha!” Trixie screamed but as she charged at her, Twilight summoned all her power and shot a final blast at Trixie. This spell which was one of last resort that she was taught by Princess Celestia and one of tremendous power. The spell used all of a ponies magic for an intensified beam of power and as a result caused the pony that used it to be left with no magic for a short period of time. The blast struck Trixie who barely even saw it because of its speed and sent her flying with such ferocity that she hit the wall and was knocked out cold.

The crowd began to roar as the nurses put the knocked out Trixie on a stretcher and took her to the hospital wing. “The winner is Twilight!” the announcer called making the crowd cheer even louder than before.

Celestia looked away from where the fight happened and realized that Chrysalis was gone. She took one last look at Twilight and teleported to the hospital wing determined to question Trixie.

“An alicorn” Luna stated in surprised. “We would have never guessed that’s how she beat thou last time.”

“No, her magic last time was nothing like what it is now” Twilight replied. “That change was recent.”

Luna looked out at the press who were still writing in their notebooks furiously “Do not tell the press that if thou is asked.”

“What of Trixie?” Twilight asked.

“Our sister is questioning her now, thou will shortly have the answers thee seeks.”

“She will be gentle with her, wont she?” Twilight asked. But before Luna could answer her back she was called away for her next match.

Trixie opened her eyes in a dark hospital room with a large bright light shinning in her eyes obscuring her view. She tried to get up but couldn’t it seemed that she was strapped down with magic cords. “Hello, anypony there?” she called.

“You are awake” a soft gentle voice answered behind her.

“How long have I been out, what happened?” Trixie asked trying to recall what happened in the duel.

“You have been out for almost fifteen minutes” The voice replied. “You fought a magnificent match but Twilight beat you in the end.”

“I was afraid of that” Trixie replied.

“Were you an alicorn when you beat Twilight the first time?”

Trixie grinned “Nope, I was all unicorn.”

“I see” the voice continued “how did you become an alicorn them?”

“It was because my ancestor left the clues to break the secret of the alicorn.”

“You mean Starswirl’s book?”

“Yes.” Trixie didn’t know why she was answering the voice it was as if it was interlaced with magic compelling her to answer it. Wait a minute, it was magic! Trixie quickly found the magic enticing her and guarded herself against it.

“Why are you with Chrysalis?” the voice continued but Trixie did not fall for its trick again.

“She offered me cookies” Trixie replied sarcastically.

“I see you had found my spell then Trixie” Celestia replied walking into view. “Only a highly trained magic user could do such a thing, who taught you?”

“Trixie looked up at the clock on the wall “you said that I have been out for fifteen minutes?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Ok” she replied. “I will tell you who it was, it was Gaia. I am Gaia’s apprentice.”

Celestia took a step back “I knew that Gaia had a part in this! What is he and Chrysalis planning?” Celestia then took a few steps forward “You know that Gaia is evil don’t you? If he is not stopped all of Equestria will suffer. Please for all the innocent ponies in the land what is their plan?” This answer though Trixie did not know. Gaia had instructed her to give one last piece of information but after that she did not know what would happen. Would Gaia abandon her to the dungeons after that? Why did he not tell her? No, she told herself. Gaia would never do that and whatever was going on she trusted him.

“Gaia wants to get rid of the monarchy in the country” she began giving her scripted message to Celestia. “He already defeated Discord and I would imagine Luna has been defeated by now as well.”

“What?!” Celestia replied.

“Why else do you think he had me fight in the duel? He had two plans one if I won and one if I lost. If I lost he knew that you would come to question me and leave Luna all by herself.”

“The larger changeling!” Celestia said to herself in fear. “I was wondering why he didn’t participate in any other events than the Magic Duel!” Celestia then took off out of the room with wonderful speed, speed that could be from one thing fear of being too late.

Right after Celestia left a pony nurse came strolling in but to Trixies delight the pony turned into Chrysalis. “I was wondering when somepony would rescue me!” she replied.

“Gaia wanted me to wait until Celestia left you to find Luna; it makes the rescue easier that way.”

“He planed it?” Trixie asked impressed.

“Of course he did, this is Gaia, he has a plan for everything” Chrysalis replied. She quickly unstrapped Trixie and they made their escape from the hospital wing.

Luna looked at the cloaked changeling “I am going to enjoy this little bug” she stated. “Then after you I will take down your arrogant queen.”

“You’re going to have a hard time of it then, because to get to her you have to get through me, little loon” the changeling replied.

Luna felt a shiver go down her spine and her skin go cold when the voice spoke, soon little beads of sweat appeared on her forehead as she slowly backed away but she was trapped by the shield. “Gaia” she hissed.

The changeling took off his cloak revealing the full image of Gaia underneath it “Your sister seems to be busy elsewhere” he grinned looking up at where Celestia was sitting before she left to question Trixie. “You’re on your own now little loon.”

“I’m not afraid of you!” she shouted but her trembling voice gave her away.

“Well then, shall we get started?” Gaia asked. Luna gave a frightful scream at this and shot a magic blast at Gaia who simply faded away letting it pass through him. “Come now little loon, you will have to give it some effort!” he replied fading back with a large grin on his face.

Luna went straight to her big guns and summoned three huge meteors flinging them down from the sky towards Gaia. Gaia, to show off his powers and to save the ponies that were going to get caught in the blast split a huge section of the ground wide open moving the ponies away from the meteors and letting the meteors have a place to fall to. As soon as the meteors fell into the earth’s crack Gaia snapped it shut.

“Please Luna let’s keep it civilized so not to hurt the spectators” Gaia stated.

Luna who was filled with an ancient fear of Gaia seemed to lose all her senses and went to fly away but a huge hand of rock shot out of the ground and caught her in its grip. A giant golem then appeared from the soil breaking the magic seal around the stadium, Luna tried to break free but the golem held on tightly as it stood towering over the crowd. “You remember my golems, don’t you?” Gaia asked.

“How could I forget? Your army of rocks all but destroyed our country” Luna sneered.

Gaia flew up to Luna “that’s enough from you" he then cast a spell on her “sleep.”

Luna fell to his magic and went into a deep deep sleep; the golem then melted into a rock cage and sunk deep into the Earth.

“What did you do?” Twilight yelled running up to where Princess Luna had been.

“Taking a hostage” Gaia replied like nothing just happened.

“I know you, you’re that alicorn Celestia warned me about, your Gaia!”

“Give the pony a prize!” he called out to the now petrified spectators in response.

“I will get you for what you did to the Princess!”

“I know what spell you used against my apprentice; you cannot do anything even if you wanted to. Besides, I haven’t done anything, yet” Gaia replied slanting his eyes. “Nor will I as long as you help me accomplish my goal.”

“Why should I help you?”

“Seriously, I just told you. Or did you forget about your precious Princess Luna so soon?”

“No, of course not!” Twilight answered defensibly.

“Good, then follow me” Gaia then used his magic and teleported them to the top of the Crystal Empires tower where the crystal heart was. “Ahh, I missed the view from up here” Gaia replied looking out into the crystal land glistering in the sun.

“Why are we here Gaia?” Twilight asked.

“Patience young one, patience. I thought that would have been the first thing that Celestia had taught you.”

“Don’t even speak about her!” Twilight yelled. “When she finds you…”

“I will bring him to justice” Celestia finished the comment floating down onto the ledge in front of them.

“Princess!” Twilight shouted with joy.

“Celestia, my old friend” Gaia replied. “How are you this fine evening?”

“Better than you will be Gaia, if you hurt my sister” she replied.

“Your sister is safe in my Earth; just as I am sure I was supposed to be safe in your sun, Celestia.”

“You will give her back Gaia, right now!”

“Not until my demands have been meet, then she will be free to go where she will.”

“What demands are those Gaia?” Celestia asked circling him.

Gaia suddenly became very serious “I will have Twilight and her friends work their Elements of Harmony for me.”

“What! I will do no such…” Twilight began but Celestia put her hoof up stopping her.

“Why? What will you do with the Elements power?” Celestia asked.

“If I tell that, you will then know my plan then try to stop me.”

“If it’s any consolation I was planning to stop you anyway.”

“I know.”

Suddenly the two alicorns took off into the sky in a great display of power. Twilight spread her wings to help the princess but a sudden voice from behind made her stop “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Twilight turned around to see Chrysalis, Trixie, and the rest of the girls. Along with them were Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Pinkypie, Fluttershy, and AppleJack all trapped in separate floating green magic fields.

“What did you do to my friends?”

“Gaia told me to bring all the elements so that’s what I did” Chrysalis replied.

“What is Gaia planning?!” Twilight demanded.

“Even I do not know, Gaia always liked keeping things close to the chest. Personally, I think that the old boy has trust issues” Chrysalis replied with a chuckle. “Wouldn’t trust his own shadow if you ask me.”

Twilight was about to respond but a sudden eruption from the ground as three huge volcanoes in the distance rose from the ground and erupted. Above the smoky black volcanoes away from the city were Celestia and Gaia fighting in the sky. Above the sun’s rays seemed to pour from the sky into Celestia who was now shinning with such brilliance that most ponies couldn’t even look at her. The ground beneath the two alicorns were moving with hundreds of stone giants flinging rocks at Celestia who repelled them with pure power as she glared at Gaia. Suddenly they both dissipated into two huge clouds of mist and began to rapidly shoot spells at each other which collided between them with huge impressive explosions. Already they showed such masteries of magic that it left both Twilight and Trixie awestruck as they wondered how such a feat was possible.

“Look well little ones” Chrysalis stated. “This is a battle between the two most powerful alicorns known to ponykind. Such battles are rare to witness even in alicorns lives.”

“Such power…” Twilight stated in an awe struck tone.

“This is just a warm up for what is to come.”

The ponies all stared at Chrysalis not seeing how that was possible however time soon proved them wrong.

“Don’t you see Celestia? This is how it was meant to be!” Gaia laughed. “You and me, the sun and the Earth, just the two of us in an epic duel to see just who is the most powerful.”

“Your plan will not work Gaia. Whatever it is I will stop it then rescue my sister” Celestia replied then summoned huge columns of light which shot out at Gaia. Gaia seeing this summoned from the three volcanoes huge streams of lave which flew into the air like long tornadoes of fire and meet the beams of light stopping them. Soon the sky was filled around the two alicorns with these and formed a loose cage around them. Then in a sudden wave everything escalated and the very air around the girls who were far away from the fight began to be drawn towards Gaia.

“Here we go” Chrysalis stated to the now scared group. Shinning Armor thankfully sent the guards to set a barrier around the empire but even with that in place the power from the fight could still be felt.

“Look!” Rainbow Dash shouted pointing towards the sun. They all did and saw that it had intensified and was now throwing out huge solar flares as if boiling on its surface. Suddenly the ground began to shake and felt as if the whole Earth was shifting in its sleep. The tremors did not stop but intensified as the battle continued. They looked out at the battlefield and were shocked to find that around the entire area the Earth was being lifted up into floating islands as if the sheer power under its surface was pouring out into Gaia, which it was.

Gaia ground his teeth and in a show of raw power, the Earth shot up in huge pillars of rock, water, wind, and fire towards Celestia who at the same time was drawing power from the sun. She shrouded with power flew at Gaia like a missile steadily cutting away the elements he shot at her. As she approached Gaia who was shrouded by tornadoes of fire she began to stagger as vines shot out of the floating rocks entangling her. “Same old tricks Celestia” Gaia stated.

“This is a new one though” she replied and shot a huge beam of energy at him not from herself but from the sun itself.

Gaia took the brunt of the attack being engulfed by the light. The vines around Celestia however did not slacken but grew stronger as the airs flow began to increase. When the attack was done and the light dimmed she gasped at the fact that Gaia was still there seeming unaffected.

“How?” she asked.

“The most important thing about the Earth is the life on its surface, and how does that life get its energy to grow, Celestia?”

“The sun!” she gasped. “You used my own power against me!”

“Exactly right” Gaia replied. He then flew at Celestia and slammed into her with his own body and drove her into the Earth which opened up like a hungry mouth of lava to receive them. The ground then trembled even more for a few minutes then dissipated to a slight rumble.

“What happened? Trixie asked Chrysalis.

“I managed to stall her for a little while but cannot hold her and Luna for long” Gaia replied melding out of the ground before them. “We must act quickly!” He then went to the crystal heart and began to activate it with his horn. “Trixie, Wildfire, Lyra, Lightningdust gather around, come on come on, we haven’t more than a few minutes.” The girls quickly gathered around.

“What is going on Gaia?” Trixie began but was cut off.

“Questions take time apprentice, something we right now do not have” Gaia replied. “Girls focus please; pour your elements into the spell I am casting.”

The girls reluctantly did so for even though Gaia’s actions were questionable they still trusted him. “No!” Twilight suddenly screamed seeing what was happening “he will trap the princesses in the Earth with that sort of power.”

The thought had occurred to Gaia and as tempting as it was to finally defeat the royal sisters he would not. Being true to his word to bring about democracy by peaceful means he decided long ago to use this power for another reason. The girls looked at him questionably as he started to rip the very fabric of time and space before them opening a channel to who knew where.

“What are you doing?!” Twilight shouted. Suddenly a force so evil that it would give Parliament itself a run for its money could be felt coming from the rip. “Don’t let those creatures in here!”

“Too late, once opened the portal cannot be closed, it is made of chaos” Gaia replied.

Twilight who had a moment ago regained some of her magic popped the barriers surrounding her friends “We will stop it!” She along with her friends started to glow with the Elements of Harmony.

Gaia laughed on the inside for this was the last key needed for his plan to succeed. If Twilight would have even thought for a second about why he brought the Elements of Harmony here instead of letting her emotions cloud her judgment then she would have thought better of what she was doing now. Gaia keeping up with the act started to light his horn as if about to stop her “No you don’t!”

“Too late Gaia!” Twilight screamed as the elements collided with a magic beam that Gaia shot then into the portal closing it with a snap.

Gaia’s magic was never designed to stop the Elements of Harmony like the girls thought but it was meant to redirect it to his main target in the rip. “How about that Gaia? We stopped your evil plan!” Rainbow Dash mocked.

Gaia just stood there and grinned at them as Twilight and her friends celebrated. Trixie and the girls however knew all too well from Gaia’s expression that Twilight had done exactly what he had planned. “Gaia, what are you doing?” Trixie asked afraid of the answer.

“Correcting a mistake” he replied.

Suddenly the Earth began to quake with such intensity that it forced all the girls onto the ground as the grounds surface behind Gaia shattered into a gaping hole. Coming out of the hole eradicating the vines and magma rock trying to draw them back in were Luna and a very angry Celestia. Gaia teleported in front of them “Looks like you two had fun” he stated.

“We will get thee for that!” Luna replied.

“Emboldened you are with your sister by your side. I guess that in this fight you will not scream and try to run away?”

“It is true that we fear thee but with our sister by our side thou stands no chance. Now prepare yourself Gaia.”

Battle Royal Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Battle Royal

The stars in the heavens and shadows on the Earth began to waver and move as Luna charged her horn. At the same time the sun flared as Celestia charged hers. Gaia quickly took his stance away from the city ready for the battle to come. “No!” Chrysalis said to herself seeing the seriousness on Gaia’s face. She had seen this before long ago, it was the look a true warrior gave when the outcome of a battle was uncertain in his mind. Suddenly a torrent of magic came out of the two sisters stripping the ground beneath its path towards Gaia who at the last second dodged it. The sisters let out cantalot war cries as they charged after Gaia in a blaze of fury and magic and began to beat him back. There was such a movement of Earth and Heaven that it is indescribable to put upon paper but imagine every rock, shadow, and light dancing everyway with the dazzling speed of magic around you and then you may be able to see a fraction of what this battle was like.

Gaia, although he was an expert fighter, was hard pressed to defend himself from the sister’s onslaught. Even one mistake meant certain doom.

“No!” Gaia growled as his magic slammed into Luna only to pass through her.

“That’s right Gaia” Luna said behind him.

Gaia grinned she had tricked him with a shadow clone “Well done” he thought and prepared for the strike that was to come. However it never did, just before Luna could strike the finishing blow she was struck herself by Queen Chrysalis, Gaia did not know it but while he concentrated on the battle another battle had taken place between the girls who wanted to help him and Twilight and her friends who were trying to stop them. Chrysalis was the only one who made it to Gaia and just in time too.

Chrysalis and Gaia pressed backs against each other as they each faced their opponents Gaia to Celestia and Chrysalis to Luna. “Thanks” Gaia said.

“Couldn’t let you have all the fun now could I?” Chrysalis replied.

“Just like old times.”

“Now that you mention it" she replied thoughtfully "this does seem awfully similar to the Siege of Glour.”

“Well, we won that battle and we will win this one now!” Chrysalis gave a quick nod of agreement at Gaia’s comment then stared harshly at Luna as the sisters slowly glided around them sizing up their enemies.

“We had forgotten about thee Chrysalis” Luna stated “we will enjoy this.” Then with a screech she and Celestia charged at them.

In the city Trixie and the girls fought hard against Twilight and her friends, they filled the tower and sky above it with such displays of magic, Elemental powers, and confetti that the ponies found it hard to decide whether to watch them or the battle between the alicorns outside the city.

“Nice try” Trixie screamed at Twilight as a particularly powerful blast zoomed pass her.

“Why Trixie?” Twilight asked as she blocked Trixie’s retaliation. “You know that Gaia is evil, why are you helping him?”

“You wouldn’t understand! He took me in after you destroyed my life, he gave me purpose! How could I turn my back on him now when he needs me the most?”

“But he tried to destroy Equestria!”

“I don’t believe that! He would never do such a thing.”

Twilight sighed to herself “Then I will make you see.” She then charged an ancient spell one that Celestia had just completed teaching her before the games. She in concentration closed her eyes but when they opened again they blazed with blue fire as she sent a magic blast in the form of a long dragon after Trixie. Trixie tried to dodge the blast but the dragon was fast and slippery and any attempt to attack Twilight directly was stopped by a powerful shield made from the dragons tail.

“What is this?” she yelled.

“This is Goria The flames of Truth” Twilight replied. “He will continue to chase whatever it was sent upon even to the ends of the Earth until it has been defeated.

Trixie was about to respond but suddenly the dragon was upon her and with the snapping of its jaws caught her. The spell then diminished as Twilight glided towards her fallen foe. “Hopefully, you now see the truth that Gaia is evil” she said landing where the collapsed Trixie was.

“No, he is good and I will show you that!” A voice reigned behind Twilight who only had enough time to catch a glimpse of Trixie before she slammed her with a blast of paralyzing magic. Twilight laid on the ground unable to move, defeated as Trixie towered above her.

“How?” Trixie gave a grin and created a hologram of herself. Twilight knowing that she tricked her with this only had one other question “When?”

“As soon as you shut your eyes to concentrate on Goria” Trixie replied satisfied that her gamble paid off.

“Trixie…don’t…Gaia is….evil” Twilight said then passed out.

Trixie looked upon her fallen foe “Your wrong” she finally replied then flew off towards where Gaia was still fighting.

“Chrysalis behind you!” Gaia called as Luna melded out of the shadows behind her. Chrysalis looked back in horror as Luna emerged from her own shadow then leapt out and shot a blast but not at Chrysalis this one she shot to the side striking Trixie who had just come into striking distance.

“We art not about to let ourselves be struck from behind again.” She stated as Trixie fell defeated by Luna’s blast.

“Well that didn’t last long” Trixie told herself as she tried to move but couldn’t. She laid on the ground aggravated by the fact that she failed so miserably to help Gaia. She however gave Chrysalis the chance to jump away before Luna could strike her as well.

“Where are you looking Gaia?!” Celestia asked as she dove towards him.

“The local café, this battle is boring, I thought that I would get a coffee to keep me awake” Gaia replied blocking her.

“Well let me spice it up then!” she summoned giant flames from the sun that streamed towards Gaia who blocked them with streams of magma from his volcanoes. Gaia and Celestia blasted tremendous power at each other and were in a very complicated struggle when the worst happened. Luna managed to send a blast into Chrysalis side making just enough room to fly past her and come barreling towards Gaia.

Gaia looked about him, if he moved Celestias magic would overtake him and if he didn’t Luna was going to get him. “Lovely” he sarcastically said to himself and focused all his magic towards Celestia who was steadily losing ground but not quickly enough.

“Now sister!” Celestia yelled.

“We know!” Luna replied then looked at Gaia with a warriors smile. “To the moon with thou!” She summoned her magic and like an arrow flew at Gaia glowing with a dark sparkly purple color of the night.

Gaia looked at Chrysalis who was flying after Luna trying to stop her, seeing that she was not going to make it he closed his eyes and awaited Luna’s strike. “Sorry Trixie, Wildfire, Lyra, Lightningdust I will not be making it back.” He then looked at Chrysalis and as they meet eyes she knew what was coming and screamed at the idea. Gaia then looked at Luna who was very close now “I will not be held by you forever little loon, time is my ally now” he said.

Luna gave a scream as she came upon him striking his powerful aurora made of crystals; no, not his. She was suddenly repelled back and staggered before Chrysalis shot her out of the sky with magic. Gaia finally pushed Celestia away overcoming her in their power struggle. Chrysalis quickly came to Gaia’s side almost knocking him out in an embrace of joy and relief.

“How?” Chrysalis asked.

Gaia looked up into the sky where Celestia was also looking “It was him.”

As Chrysalis looked up her jaw dropped, there in a majestic royal garb floating above them was her father, King Sombra. “H…how?’ she stuttered.

“It was Gaia” Sombra replied floating down to them. “I saw him through the rip in the void beckoning me to come towards it.” He turned to Celestia “As I did filled with hate towards him I was engulfed by those silly Elements of yours Celestia, and they brought harmony back to my chaotic and mad mind.”

“He did that, when?” Celestia asked.

“When you and Luna were trapped in the Earth” a voice replied. They looked over and saw Twilight supported by Rainbow Dash as the rest of the girls made their way to the area.

Celestia looked at Gaia “With the crystal heart?” she asked Gaia who simply nodded “you could have trapped me and Luna in the Earth with that power, why didn’t you?”

“Years ago I would have, but for now I am content to try to fix the wrongs I have done in the past, you know, before Judgment Day and those trumpets sound. Besides that what good would trapping the two of you do? It would only cause more war and strife, besides my goals have already been accomplished and their results will come about soon.” He then looked towards Chrysalis “I made some bad mistakes in my long life most of which I can never correct and some I still need to correct; I just wish that some didn’t take as long to correct as others.”

King Sombra looked at his daughter who was practically in tears “I know what you mean my lad. Even after so many years my madness taints her who is dearest to me.” He went up to Chrysalis “I warped the very fragment of your being to match the darkness that was in my heart, I am so sorry.”

Chrysalis couldn’t hold it in any longer and hugged her father tears now streaming down her face “I am too” she replied.

After a while the king looked at Gaia “You were right my lad, all those years ago, to stop me. I would have just done more harm to the world if you didn’t defeat me.”

“I am sorry that I even had too” Gaia replied. “I knew who you were before the madness and regretted what I had to do.”

“I’m sorry” he then looked at Celestia and Luna “you two ladies have changed since the last we meet, became an alicorn did you Luna? Congratulations are in order.” He then looked around “So much has changed but yet so little, I would very much like to see this world of the future.”

“It is your future too” Chrysalis replied still hugging him.

Gaia looked at Celestia “I think that for now I will leave you and your sister alone” he stated. “I would hate to ruin such an occasion with more bickering and fighting amongst us.”

“Thou thinks that thou can just make such havoc and leave, just like that? Thou art mad!” Luna replied.

“Yep” Gaia smirked.

“We should…”

“Sister” Celestia interrupted “We lost, but the outcome of it is not disagreeable.”

“Yes, but…”

“We will meet again soon I would think” Celestia replied smiling slightly to Gaia who returned the gesture.

“That we will” Gaia replied.

Celestia then turned to her sister “Come, those in the city might need us.”

Luna shifted her eyes nervously between Gaia and her sister “but…”

“Come” Celestia said more sternly and Luna obeyed. Celestia then looked back to make sure Gaia was going to let them leave then gave a small almost nervous smile when she was satisfied that he would, “until next time Gaia.” The royal sisters then flew off towards the crystal empire with the elements of harmony following closely behind.

“Why did they leave?” Trixie asked.

Gaia glanced at his young apprentice “because she lost. She will now wait and watch to see what my plans are if she stays true to her nature. She also knows that without Discord it would be foolish to fight me and Chrysalis with King Sombra around.”

Trixie nodded at this explanation “So to free King Sombra and fix his mind was your plan all along and not to unleash the forces of darkness onto Equestria?”

“What?” Gaia laughed. “Unleash the forces of darkness? Is that what you though I was trying to do? My, how wild a young pony’s imagination can be!”

“But.”

“It was an act Trixie, I would never let any creatures of darkness come into this land on purpose, unless I really had to even then I probably wouldn’t.”

“So what now Gaia?” King Sombra asked severing the conversation. “You had rescued me from myself but I wonder what other plans you have underway?”

“Like I said I will leave the royal sisters alone for now. Don’t worry though I will be back soon to cause some more mischief as for now though I have a promise to keep, Lyra?”

Lyra’s ears perked up “Yes?”

“I once told you that if you came with me you would find the truth about Celestia hiding information about humans.”

“Yes!”

“Celestia when she said that she has no knowledge of them ever existing is telling the truth. There is no evidence of this legend ever being true.”

Lyra looked down at the ground crushed by Gaia’s words “but I was so sure…” she softly said to herself on the brink of tears.

Gaia went over to her and looked her directly in the eyes “This is understandable though, for it is not her realm, but mine.”

“What do you mean?” Lyra asked.

“Humans are creatures of dirt and as surely as I speak to you they exist but not in our world but in another, just beyond reality. Years ago while studying different dimensions I found them, these dirt people living in their magnificent clay houses. There is no magic in their world so I could never visit it but watch them I did. They are a creature with an intelligence that is unmatched by any other I have seen. They need no magic because they have their inventions, wonderful artful creations that have all but outdone most of our magic today. The only reason that I ever found them is because of my connection with the Earth so I am convinced that Celestia knows nothing about them or their world.”

“So they do exist, I knew it!” she then turned to a wide eyed Wildfire with a look of I told you so. “Can I see them?!” she excitedly asked turning back to Gaia.

“Yes, I will show them to you, but be warned that since they are of a higher intelligence they also learned to do horrible things. I had learned much from watching them which is a big reason that Celestia has never defeated me. There is evil at work in that world that I cannot describe, but fear it I do. If you come with me to see these beings you will not come back as the same pony that you were, there is a reason that our two worlds were made to never come together. Do you still want to come even though it means giving up yourself, your innocence, are they worth such a price too you?"

Lyra thought long and hard about the question but she finally replied “yes.” After taking a quick gulp she continued “All my life I have known that humans existed and had been searching for them. If I give up my search now it would mean all those years were wasted, no! I have to see them, I do not care about how horrible you seem to think they are I still want to see them with my own eyes.”

“I never said that I thought they themselves were horrible, they have actually gained my respect” Gaia replied. “I even modeled my golems after their likeness. But learning more about them will change you forever.”

“I have to see them, my mind is made up.”

“So is mine” Wildfire replied walking up to her friend’s side much to Lyra’s surprise.

“If you want to go I will give you the same warning” Gaia then looked up at his apprentice and Lightningdust “all of you.”

“Honestly I didn’t think they were all that bad” Chrysalis replied.

“The humans have changed tremendously since that time” Gaia replied. “Besides think about the time we grew up in with the wars and all. We were used to violence and destruction, these four are not.”

“Sooo these humans, they cannot come into our world right?” Lightningdust asked nervously.

“They cannot.”

She then gave Trixie a look that said I will go if you go. Trixie thought about the offer and figured that if this world gave Gaia such insight that she would learn its secrets too. Trixie nodded her head in agreement and the two girls decided to go.

“Fine” Gaia replied “Trixie teleport the girl’s home” Trixie was about to protest that it was too far for her and that she would get lost but Gaia held up his hoof to stop her “Focus on the Alicorn necklace Trixie and its magic signature to guide you there.”

Trixie nodded, then after finding the necklaces signature she teleported them back to the castle where they were welcomed by the sight of Discord still trapped in the cage of vines wrestling with his own tail which was insulting him between parrot like squawks. The girls could do nothing but just stare at the spectacle.

“I must go, goodbye Chrysalis” Gaia said “King Sombra, always a pleasure to see you and welcome back.”

King Sombra shook his head “you should slow down Gaia, after all, you were just in a fearsome fight.”

“There’s always something to do” Gaia replied. “Always something to accomplish, this keeps the wisdom of rest from my ears.”

“Someday that will change, especially when that special gal comes into your life, yes, it will change.”

“Unlikely” Gaia laughed.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because" he replied "there’s not a girl that can catch me.” He gave a challenging grin to Chrysalis when he said this then teleported away.

Chrysalis stared at where Gaia was then back to her father not knowing what to do but thankfully the King had an answer “Go, follow your heart, I will be fine.”

“But…”

“He is escaping” he replied then gave a fatherly push to his daughter teleporting her away to where Gaia had gone. The King smiled to himself, Gaia’s trail was easy to track which meant that he wanted his daughter to follow him. He stared at the spot where Chrysalis was before he sent her away and sighed “After what I have done, you deserve to be happy” he said before flying off to explore this world of the future.

The End.

Stories Stinger

Deep Deep in the dark bowels of a lost forgotten land a slimy cold serpent like creature with a head of a jackal and arms of a dragon slithered between the shadows of a jagged cave with its serpent body. The dripping noises of a boundless body of water above trying to penetrate the caverns strong structure could be heard in the distance. High above on a mound of wet stone slept a dark figure not unlike a horse with faint glowing symbols from an ancient world on its body. Long and strong were the breaths of this creature masked in the cold shadows of the cave. The serpent stealthily moved towards the mound but was stopped by a most disturbing dark voice from the seemingly sleeping creature.

“What is it havoc? Despised spirit of destruction and ruin. Have you come here to make sport of my suffering in this place?”

“On the contrary my friend” the serpent Havoc replied in a fast wispy voice much like a salesman “I offer you freedom from this prison most foul.”

The creatures blood red eyes turned towards Havoc making the serpent recoil from its powerful gaze “You know better than to play these games with me.”

“There is no game.”

“Liar! Be grateful that this cage separates us or I would rip your forked tongue from your face! Go back to your world and leave me be” a slight shimmer of a barrier showed around the creature’s mound as his power raked against it.

“I am truly sorry to find you in such a sour mood o dark one” Havoc replied then started to slither away.

The creature laid back down his head “good riddance.”

“Oh, there is just one other thing that you might want to know about” Havoc replied turning his head slightly to look back at the mound.

“Unlikely” the creature snorted.

Havoc playfully disappeared and reappeared just outside the cage “Oh, I doubt that, you see I have just come from an extensive vacation in Equestria where a certain alicorn that you may know has been causing quite a delicious disturbance of late.” The creature rose his head now curious “you know who I am talking about” Havoc replied as he cast a spell to dissolve the invisible cage around the creature “Gaia has returned.”

“So” the black creature replied getting up with fangs showing in the dark “My little brother has returned.” He stepped outside of where the prison’s wall stood just a few seconds before and looked towards the caves ceiling where high above he knew was the land of Equestria. He then gave a menacing grin as he stretched out his large bat like wings “I think it’s time for a reunion.”

Story to continue in: The Unknown, Return of Gaia.