It was a picture postcard afternoon in Canterlot. Everything was perfect – it was a crisp autumn day, the sky had just the right mix of clouds to sunshine, the leaves on the trees had turned a myriad of colors, and Canterlot castle was perfectly framed between two of the prettiest trees. It was an artist’s dream come true and Toola Roola had all the ingredients for a perfect landscape present and accounted for: she had inspiration, a blank canvas, and all of her paints. But try as she might, she was having a hard time focusing on her latest painting.
A persistent droning buzz was breaking her concentration. The pastel pink earth pony sighed, blew a few strands of her rainbow mane out of her eyes, and finally gave her full attention to the source of her irritation.
“…Furthermore, you need to stop painting these cutesy animal pictures and these bright and cheery landscapes. That is unless you desire to barely eke out a living selling your paintings to the parents of five-year-old fillies instead of seeing your work hanging alongside the masters in the Canterlot Museum of Art.”
“I don’t paint to make a profit, I paint for myself. If five-year-old fillies appreciate my art, that’s enough for me.”
“I’m sorry you feel that way. Because unfortunately that’s not enough for me. You sell these pathetic paintings for five bits each. My ten percent cut comes to half a bit per painting. Every month I get a check in the mail from you for less than ten bits and I ask myself why I continue to spend thousands of bits to sponsor your scholarship to Canterlot University. And each month I remind myself that you’re an incredibly talented artist with much potential. But you refuse to see the light and the time has finally come to cut the connection. Here’s your last check back: six and a half bits.”
Toola’s resolve disappeared instantly. “You can’t drop me, Upper Crust!”
“Actually, I can, and I just did. It’s in the contract you signed. If you fail to perform adequately I reserve the right to terminate our agreement at any time. And your performance has been so far below adequate that I should have dropped you six months ago.”
“But my grades are well above the minimum requirements.”
“That’s only one aspect of your performance metrics. You may be passing your courses but you’re failing to meet sales expectations. And you’ve just stated you have no desire to improve your numbers. I invested in your future in the hopes of making a significant return on that investment. As it stands, I’m going to have to request you pay me back with interest for what I’ve paid out to date. Of course since you have a net worth in the low triple digits I’m probably going to have to write off a substantial loss thanks to you. The princesses may move the sun and the moon, but money, my dear, makes Equestria go round.”
“But…but…but…”
“We can spend all day talking about your hindquarters, but that’s not going to change my mind.” With that parting remark the yellow mare returned to her waiting carriage.
“I’ll do it. I’ll…I’ll sell out.” She cringed as she said it. The very thought made her skin crawl. “Just… please don’t take my scholarship away from me.”
“You have one month. And if you don’t have something I can sell to a museum for at least one thousand bits your scholarship is canceled and I’ll require you to start reimbursing me. And when you go bankrupt I’ll own your sorry flank. I’ll make sure you never pick up another paintbrush ever again. You could be my personal attendant. How are you at cooking?”
“I know twenty-seven different ways to prepare grass. It’s not the tastiest food out there but it gets the job done. And it’s completely free.”
“Hmn, no, that simply won’t do. But that’s okay because my husband, Jet Set, owns a number of businesses around the world that are always in need of able young bodies. You’re an earth pony, so you must like digging in the dirt. I think I can arrange to have you sent to one of our diamond mines.”
“Wait. What? You can’t do that!”
“Sure I can. See, the mines aren’t in Equestria therefore they fall outside of the princesses’ jurisdiction. Oh yes, that will do nicely. Those diamond mines are such retched places. A mile underneath the surface: dusty, dark, dirty, and infested with diamond dogs. The perfect place to send deadbeat ponies.”
“That’s despicable.”
“Oh, it’s not so bad. You’ll get paid in accordance with local minimum wage ordinances so you can buy your way to freedom once your debt and all accrued interest is paid off. Let’s see, local wages come to half a bit per day. You owe me approximately twenty thousand bits in principal, and we’ll set the interest rate at the maximum allowed by Equestrian law: 29.9%, compounded daily.”
“That’s slavery.”
“I know! Isn’t it great? And the best part is it’s totally legal!” She climbed into her carriage and her chauffeur charged forward. Within seconds Toola Roola was left stammering her rebuttal to a cloud of dust.
Toola Roola turned back to her perfect landscape and was disappointed to see that the sun had now been completely obscured by clouds, and she had lost the intricate light patterns that had so captivated her earlier. Not that she was in the mood to paint anything now anyway. She sighed as she packed up the canvas and painting supplies and trudged back towards the university.
Upper Crust glanced back in Toola Roola’s direction. She had to give her credit – the artistic mare always managed to pick scenic locations for their meetings. She tapped a hoof on the side of the carriage, nervously. It had been almost a year since she had met Toola Roola, and in all that time she had yet to figure out how the artist ticked. She was obviously overly idealistic, but usually time spent in the real world killed that pretty quickly. Still, until now she had never run into somepony who would rather eat grass than make money. Upper Crust tried wrapping her mind around the concept of suffering for one’s art but she just couldn’t see the appeal. Of course, Upper Crust’s idea of suffering was a three star hotel.
There was no denying the mare’s talent. She could capture a scene so perfectly that it was better than a photograph. You could feel the emotions in her paintings. But her choice of subject matter just wasn’t popular among Canterlot’s elite. They wanted dynamic, cutting edge art. They wanted conversation pieces. A landscape, no matter how beautifully it was painted, was just a pretty picture to all of them.
She sighed in frustration. That was the problem with scouting artists – talent was easy to spot, the problem was trying to read the general public’s taste. With a discerning eye and all the right contacts, she knew exactly what was popular at the moment. All she needed to do was nudge Toola Roola down the right track to unleash her full potential. She had tried a full scholarship, and when that hadn’t worked she had offered financial incentive to the tune of acting as an agent and letting her keep 90% of her profits, a much better deal than most artists received. Even that hadn’t motivated her into painting anything remotely saleable.
So in a last ditch gamble she had tried idle threats. “The poor dear believed every word too. All those years of lording over the Canterlot snobs comes in handy from time to time,” she thought.
As she cantered back towards the university, the pastel pink mare’s scowl slowly turned into a smile. She just couldn’t help it – Nightmare Night was fast approaching and Canterlot was decorated accordingly. While not her favorite holiday, she still enjoyed dressing up in costume and eating candy. The frown returned to her face. Due to her newly questionable scholarship she was now going to have to figure out how to make a costume with absolutely no budget whatsoever. Good thing creativity was her strong point.
She had already dismissed most of Upper Crust’s threats. While the older mare could pull the scholarship, the rest of her threats were highly implausible. At worst she would be forced to repay the scholarship due to breech of contract, though probably without interest. There were laws regarding these things and she made a mental note to study up on them over the next few weeks. As for being forced into slavery in another country – that would fall under the category of ponynapping and would definitely be illegal. Still, it wouldn’t hurt to consult with Star Catcher. If Star Catcher didn’t know, she could always ask Princess Celestia on her behalf…
She was so engrossed in her thoughts she failed to notice a pink pegasus had fallen into step alongside her. The pegasus silently observed the artist for several blocks before finally speaking up, “Why the frown?”
Toola Roola jumped in surprise. “Ack! You startled me, Skywishes! I may lose my scholarship. I can’t afford the tuition otherwise so if I lose it I’ll have to drop out of school.”
“Oh no! What happened?”
“My sponsor decided I’m not economically viable as an artist and gave me a month to prove otherwise. Just once I wish somepony would appreciate my artwork for what it is.”
“Is that an extra special wish?”
“I guess so. Why?”
“Well, I’ve been working on something,” replied Skywishes. “As you know my area of study is in wishing. In particular I’ve been researching how much impact wishing has on magic and vice versa. Can a magic user make something happen just by wishing hard enough for it? I think they can.”
“Well, that’s great for unicorns then,” Toola Roola said as she ran a hoof through her multi-colored mane. “But that leaves earth ponies like me and pegasi like you out of luck.”
“Not necessarily. How would you like to be the first to try out a new experiment?”
“Like what?”
“Make a wish. I think I can make it come true. What have you got to lose?”
“You know what? You’re right. I have absolutely nothing left to lose so it can’t possibly hurt. So my extra special wish is for ponies to appreciate my art for what it is.”
Skywishes’ kite cutie mark glowed and a matching kite appeared in the sky. “Catch a kite, and you catch your wish.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
Toola Roola shook her head and galloped after the floating kite. This had to be the stupidest thing she had ever heard of, but if it worked… well, what harm was there in a little foolishness?
Skywishes grinned as Toola ran off. “All right, Star Catcher, the coast is clear. You can come out of hiding.”
A large white pegasus landed next to Skywishes. Her glittery pink and teal hair fluttered in a nonexistent breeze and her heart cutie mark sparkled in the late afternoon sunlight. A few rainbow-colored butterflies flittered around her, but neither of the pegasi paid any attention to them.
“This is just like the old days when we were growing up in Cloudsdale!”
“Indeed, Skywishes.” The heart on Star Catcher’s forehead glowed as she maneuvered the kite to and fro. It was always just a little out of Toola Roola’s reach, but never out of her sight. The idea was for her to catch the kite, but she had to earn it. The more she desired the wish, the more effort she would expend catching the kite.
“We were fifty-one for fifty-two on wishes granted!”
“No, my little pony, we were fifty-two for fifty-two.”
“But what about Fluttershy's wish for Rainbow Dash to become a Wonderbolt?”
“It's getting closer to coming true. She’s not quite there yet but her wish has guided her and prompted her to overcome her laziness and train hard.”
“She’s never going to believe that her wish had anything to do with it.”
“She doesn’t have to. More than any other pony she’s truly earned her wish through hard work and practice. The talent was there, the wish merely made her more determined to achieve her goal.”
Miles away in Ponyville, Fluttershy had her friends over for afternoon tea. She had been careful not to refer to it as a ‘tea party’ as Pinkie Pie was out of town visiting a fillyhood friend in Canterlot and Pinkie Pie hated to miss anything remotely resembling a party. It was probably a good thing that she was absent as there was already enough chaos to go around, thanks to Discord. Fluttershy watched what had once been her toaster run through the kitchen chasing Angel Bunny. She sighed and reminded herself that he had only been trying to help – bringing her appliances to life it would cut down on cooking time. In theory, anyway. It was harmless chaos, but it was still chaos in her house and she wasn’t pleased about it. But that was just Discord being Discord. She couldn't be angry at him.
The toaster stopped in its tracks as Discord felt an odd tingling sensation. Somepony was using chaos magic without his expressed written consent. “Star Catcher.”
“Hmn, did you say something?”
“Nothing at all, Fluttershy. As much as I hate to leave your little soirée, I need to take of some unexpected business in Canterlot.”
“Oh be sure to give my regards to Pinkie Pie while you’re there. She’s visiting her friend, Minty, for Nightmare Night, and… Oh, you’re already gone.”
“Where did Discord go?”
“Eep! Oh, Rainbow Dash! You startled me. He just needed to go to Canterlot for business.”
“And you let him?”
“Well, it’s not like I can stop him…”
Rainbow Dash and Rarity shared a quick look.
“Darlings, I just remembered, I have an order for a very important client due tomorrow. I regretfully must take my leave. Oh! And I must also take Rainbow Dash with me.”
“Hey!”
“Sorry, but this very important client is a pegasus and I need a model!” Rarity dragged the struggling pegasus out the door.
“And just where in tarnation do the two of you think you’re going?”
“To keep an eye on Discord. I don’t trust him and he’s headed for the same city Pinkie Pie’s in. Just keep Fluttershy and Twilight from freaking out or interfering with our surveillance.”
“You got it, sugarcube.”
“I knew I could count on you! Now come along, Rainbow Dash!”
“I’m way ahead of you.” The cyan pegasus rubbed her chest and took to the air, scooping the white unicorn up in her forelegs as she did. Seconds later Dash dropped her off at the train station. “I’ll meet you in Canterlot.”
As she stood on the platform waiting for the train, Rarity could see the exploding ring of color that indicated Rainbow Dash had performed a sonic rainboom. “Show-off,” she muttered under her breath. “Hmn, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash unsupervised in Canterlot. I suppose this isn't the most ideal situation. I do hope that this Minty is a responsible pony that can keep them both under control until I get there.”
“Woooo!” Minty stood up from her drum set and took a bow. The mint green earth pony had a pink and white mane and a trio of mint candies adorning her flank.
“Totally epic drum solo, Minty!” Pinkie Pie replied. The pink party pony was sprawled out on Minty’s bed. It was covered in mint green sheets that matched the mint green walls, mint green carpeting, and the mint green drapes. Every surface of the room that could be painted was a shade of green; most of them lighter greens such as mint or sea foam. Oddly, she lacked a roommate so she had the entire dorm room all to herself. Which was probably a good thing as there were piles of socks scattered throughout the room, mostly near the dressers that were overflowing with the small articles of clothing.
“Yeah! That’s why The Gee Threes recruited me! We’re totally recording an album. You wanna be on it?”
“Sure!” Pinkie Pie giggled. “Like you had to ask!”
The sound of a hoof tapping on glass directed their attention to the window. “That’s weird. We’re on the fourth floor. Who could possibly be rapping on the window?” Minty pondered.
“Finally! Do you have any idea how many windows I had to look in to find you two?”
“Rainbow Dash! What are you doing here?” asked Pinkie Pie. She cocked her head in confusion.
“Discord is somewhere in Canterlot.”
“So? He’s a good guy now, remember?”
“I’ll believe that when I see it. I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”
“I’m okie dokie lokie! Pinkie Promise!”
“So you’re the famous Rainbow Dash!” Minty enveloped the light blue pegasus in a tight hug. “Any bestest ever best friend of Pinkie’s is a bestest ever best friend of mine too!”
Rainbow Dash blinked. “Uh, so you must be Minty?”
“The one and only! I’ve heard so much about you!”
“I, uh, I’ve heard very little about you.”
“Dashie! I was telling you all about Minty just the other day! Don’t you remember? You were sitting on your cloud and I was telling you all about my upcoming trip here to visit her.”
“My nap cloud?”
“Yes! See, you do remember!”
“No, Pinkie. If I’m on my nap cloud I’m asleep.”
“Oh,” Pinkie replied. “I guess that would explain the lack of replies from you. And all the snoring. Hehehe, silly me! So Dashie, this is Minty! And Minty, this is Rainbow Dash!”
“We’ve met,” replied Rainbow Dash. “And, uh, you can stop hugging me now. This is kinda getting awkward.”
“Oh,” Minty said, letting go. “Sorry about that. My professor hates it when I hug her too. But I can’t help it – I love hugging pegasi. Your wings are all so very soft!”
“Yeah, well, from here on out when it comes to me limit yourself to one hug per day lasting no longer than five seconds. And only when nopony else is around to witness it.”
“Oh, you can hug Dashie in front of me. I don’t mind!” Pinkie wrapped her forelegs around Rainbow Dash to demonstrate. “And you’re so totally not kidding about the wings. Squee! These feathers are so soft! And they tickle too!”
Minty joined in and suddenly Rainbow Dash found herself in the middle of a group hug. “Gah, how did this happen?”
The door opened and Rarity strode into the dorm room. “I hope I’m not interrupting anything.”
“Rarity! What are you doing here?” Pinkie Pie exclaimed, pulling the white unicorn into the group hug.
“How’d your train get here so fast?” Rainbow Dash asked. “I was going to take Pinkie and Minty down to the train station to pick you up.”
“Well, darling, it took the same two hours it always takes. I’m not sure what held you up as you should have been here in a matter of minutes with the speed you were flying.”
“I, er, uh, well I had a little trouble finding their dorm room. How did you find it so fast?”
“I asked.”
“Oh. Yeah, I guess that would have worked…”
Rarity facehoofed. “Minty, charmed to meet you.”
“Likewise! I just know we’re going to be bestest best friends forever! Any bestest ever best friend of Pinkie’s and Dashie’s is a bestest ever best friend of mine!”
“Your grasp of the Equestrian language is, um, just delightful. Yes, that’s it. Delightful and charming.”
“Huh, my professor calls it ‘tenuous at best’ whatever that means.”
“Well, if Pinkie’s not in any imminent danger, perhaps Rainbow and I should be going.”
“No way! The more the merrier! Like I was telling Pinkie Pie, we’re recording the first song for our album later. You two wanna be in it?”
“Yeah!” replied Rainbow Dash.
“Well, I suppose it couldn’t hurt to contribute. Why who knows, with my input it might even go all the way up to number one.”
“Star Catcher.”
“Discord?” The white pegasus blinked. A few seconds ago she had been in Canterlot standing next to Skywishes. Now she found herself on the astral plane. She stood on a small island in the middle of a pool of energy that bubbled all around her.
“So we meet at last. Years ago I could sense you tapping into my chaos magic while I was still imprisoned in stone. I didn’t think you’d be foolish enough to try that again after I was released.”
“Your chaos?”
“Well of course. Who else do you think would keep a large lake of unused chaos magic just lying around? This is the source of my power.”
Star Catcher glanced around, nervously. “Show yourself, you foul fiend!”
“Is that any way to talk to a newly reformed draconequus?” Revealing himself, Discord started skating around the pool as if it was a roller rink, despite the fact that the field of magical energy was neither liquid nor solid.
“If you were truly reformed you wouldn’t be here right now.”
“Touché,” replied Discord. “But in my defense I’m not altering anything. I’ve merely stopped time for the moment so we can have our little discussion unseen. Chaos is not inherently evil. Nor is it good. Random and neutral would be the best words to describe it.”
“So you created this?”
“Not exactly. Simultaneous creation would be more accurate – I don’t exist without it and vice versa. In other words, it’s mine. All mine. Are we clear?” He adopted a protective stance over the pool of energy. “Oh, wait, no. Celestia was quite insistent I start being friendlier as part of my work release or else it’s back to being an over-sized garden gnome. I know… why don’t I try this ‘sharing’ thing I’ve heard so much about?” A wave of energy raced through the lake and over the little island the pegasus was standing on, engulfing Star Catcher as she struggled against it. “Yes! Feel the chaos coursing through your veins!”
Discord laughed as he watched the white pegasus writhe in pain. “I suppose that’s enough to tide you over for now. A lot more than the mere taste that you’ve taken previously, but I’m not foolish enough to let a goodie four-shoes like you have access to all of my power. Still, if you show enough promise I might be tempted to give you more as time goes on.”
“But I don’t want your power,” Star Catcher said meekly. “I just want to make ponies happy by granting their wishes.”
“Well, my dear Star Catcher, you’re about to learn the true meaning of ‘be careful what you wish for’ because there’s one little thing I forgot to mention. I froze the kite but not that rainbow-maned artist chasing it. She’s just about to catch that kite so if you can’t stop her quickly I guess you’ll have to grant that wish. Remember, catch a kite and you catch a wish, muhahahahahaha!”
“No. Please. Punish me if you must, but leave the others out of it. Let me grant this one last wish and then I’ll never disturb your chaos again.”
“Where’s the fun in that? I want you to keep granting wishes, Star Catcher. But from now on there will be unforeseen consequences to them.” With a snap of his claws he was gone and time returned to its normal flow.
“We have to stop Toola Roola, Skywishes.” Star Catcher leapt into the air and started flying in the direction the pink earth pony had run.
“What? Why?”
“Discord’s going to corrupt the wish,” Star Catcher replied, as she pulled away from her smaller pink companion. But as she crested a hill she saw her efforts were all for naught. Toola Roola was already headed back, the kite’s string firmly between her teeth as it fluttered in the breeze behind her.
“Catch a kite, catch a wish! Caught a kite, gonna get my wish!” Toola Roola was bouncing up the hill, giggling uncontrollably.
“Oh Toola, I’m so sorry.” Star Catcher wrapped her forelegs around her friend, embracing her in a hug.
“It’s okay, Star Catcher! I caught a kite and my wish is going to come true. Everything’s going to be all right now.”
Tears fell from Star Catcher’s eyes as she held onto her friend tightly. “If only that was true,” she thought, sadly.
Toola Roola pulled away from Star Catcher and bounded towards Skywishes, showing off the kite. “I caught it! Now what do I do?”
“Your wish will come true on it’s own. You won’t even realize it until after it’s done.”
“Then I better go paint a few more pictures! I bet there’s going to be an increase in demand for them soon!”
Star Catcher walked up to Skywishes and the two of them watched in silence as their friend galloped back to her dorm room.
“What do we do now?” Skywishes asked.
“The only thing we can do. Wait and see what Discord has planned for Toola and then try to help her as best we can.”
“Hey Starsong!”
“Toola! You’re back! Where have you been? Wysteria’s been looking all over for you.” Toola Roola’s roommate was a purple pegasus with a pink and raspberry mane and two-toned star cutie mark.
“I’m about to lose my scholarship.”
“You’re kidding.”
“No, I’m actually quite serious about this,” replied Toola, frowning.
“You seem far too happy for somepony who may to have to drop out.”
“Well, I caught a kite and now my wish is going to come true and everypony will respect my artwork!”
Starsong opened her mouth to reply but no words came out. She waited a minute before finally replying, “Okay, why don’t you start from the beginning and pretend I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Toola Roola filled her roommate in on the events of the previous few hours while Starsong listened incredulously. “A kite? Really? And you believed this why?”
“I don’t know. Skywishes sounded sincere and it wouldn’t be like her to mess with someone who’s feeling down.”
“That’s true,” Starsong agreed. “Still, it seems weird to me. Regardless, Wysteria was by earlier and she wants to commission you to paint their album cover.”
“Awesome! See, my wish is already paying off!”
Starsong rolled her eyes and ignored that comment. “You may as well follow me over to their recording session.”
“Sorry about that, Fluttershy.”
“Oh, don’t worry about it, Discord. We were just curious about where you went off to.”
“I had to go give an important friendship lesson to one of the royal family about playing with toys that don’t belong to them without permission. Nothing overly important, but it needed to be delivered immediately.”
“See! I knew you could adapt to being good instead of chaotic.” Fluttershy beamed at him.
“A member of the royal family? You’re not tormentin’ the princesses, are you?”
“Of course not, Applejack. I just had to deal with some wannabe who isn’t even in charge of anything yet. She’s in line for the duchy of Cloudsdale at some point in the future.”
“Star Catcher?” asked Twilight Sparkle.
“Actually, yes. And I’m afraid curiosity gets the best of me. How do you know Miss Catcher?”
“Oh, I had some classes with her at Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns.”
“But isn’t she a pegasus?” asked Fluttershy. “If it’s whom I’m thinking of, I grew up with her. So did Rainbow Dash. She was always so very nice, I can’t imagine she would be so rude as to take something without asking for it first.”
“Yes, that’s definitely her. The school’s been accepting pegasi and earth ponies for centuries. I think they recently changed their name to Canterlot University to avoid confusion.”
“Ponies can change a lot over the years,” Discord replied, not looking at any of the three ponies present.
Wysteria stood in her dorm room, wondering just how many fire codes she and her friends were violating. They were currently triple the recommended room capacity with more than a dozen ponies present, and on top of that every available electrical socket had surge protectors plugged into them to give them additional room to plug in more devices. All it would take would be one minor problem and they’d be in major trouble. And since the accident-prone Minty was one of the ponies in the room, alarm bells were going off in her head urging her to panic.
Wysteria’s roommate, Sweetberry, wasn’t musically inclined in the least, but she enjoyed her roommate’s band and was doing her best to be a gracious hostess, offering every new visitor freshly baked treats and fruit punch.
The two purple earth ponies had painted their dorm room pastel lavender. Wysteria’s half was decorated with flowers, while Sweetberry’s side was dominated by cooking utensils and appliances – most of which were specifically for baking. The roses and chocolate brownies gave the room the same overpowering fragrance of a Hearts And Hooves Day display at a floral store.
The rest of the band The Gee Threes were sitting next to one another on Wysteria’s bed: Minty, Sew And So, and Razzaroo. Minty was lying on her back, head resting on Wysteria’s pillow. Sew-And-So, an orange earth pony with pink and purple hair and a button and sewing pattern cutie mark was sprawled out on her side, and Razzaroo, a purple earth pony with a turquoise and pink mane with a birthday present cutie mark, was leaning against Sew-And-So. Starsong was also laying down on this bed, as she was collaborating with the band on the track they were recording that day. She had been offered a position with the band, but had declined citing a desire to remain a solo artist.
Sunny Daze, a white pegasus with magenta, orange, purple, and yellow hair and a sun cutie mark, was on the floor, double-checking that everything was plugged in. Once she was done with that she would be checking all of the instruments and recording equipment to make sure everything was in tiptop condition.
Across the room Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Star Catcher, and Skywishes were all sharing Sweetberry’s bed. Star Catcher was lying on her belly and the other four were propped against her side.
“Hey lardflank, that wish still hasn’t come true.”
“And I keep telling you that it will eventually.”
“Oh yeah? When?”
“In exactly two years, four months, and sixteen days.” Star Catcher blinked, not knowing where that knowledge had come from. But she was positive of one thing – it was the truth.
“Hey! Why are you calling Star Catcher lardflank? That’s not very nice,” Pinkie Pie whispered to Rainbow Dash.
“It’s a long story.”
“Indeed it is, Pinkie Pie. You see, back when we were growing up in Cloudsdale…”
“You know, when I said ‘it’s a long story’ I meant I wasn’t planning on sharing it.”
“That’s okay, we’ll do it for you,” Skywishes said. “We were there too. Do continue, Star Catcher.”
“Back when we were fillies Rainbow Dash was the fastest pegasus in the skies. Nopony could catch her no matter how hard they tried. And then one day I transferred into her flight school. Up until then I had been here at what was then known as Princess Celestia’s School For Gifted Unicorns, but it was decided that in order to get the best possible flight training I should transfer to Cloudsdale for a few years, before finishing up my magical studies under Princess Celestia’s tutoring.”
“You can do magic? But you’re a pegasus!”
The heart on Star Catcher’s forehead glowed and she levitated a brownie off of Sweetberry’s plate and over to Pinkie Pie. “Does this answer your question, my little pony?”
“Sure does!” Pinkie Pie said, chomping the brownie out of midair. “But I think another demonstration is in order. Please?” She gave Star Catcher her best puppy eyes. Two more brownies floated over to Pinkie Pie and she happily gobbled them up as well.
“And that’s when the biggest, heaviest pegasus I’ve ever met broke all of my speed records. And then to make matters worse she and Skywishes here started up some scam where if you caught a kite you supposedly would have your wish come true. Ha, Fluttershy wished for me to be a Wonderbolt and I’m still not a Wonderbolt. So it didn’t work.”
“You’re not a Wonderbolt yet. Give it time.”
“I’ve given it the last ten years…”
Standing in the middle of the room Toola Roola’s face drooped. So her wish wouldn’t come true after all.
“Now listen up, Rainbow Dash,” Star Catcher had switched to the Royal Canterlot Voice. She flapped her wings and hovered in the air over Rainbow Dash. Her eyes glowed white as she continued, “I’m only going to say this once so you better pay attention: Your wish will come true on the date specified, but if you ask about it again I will personally see to it that it does not come true if I have to talk to Spitfire and Soarin’ myself. Am I clear?”
“Perfectly,” Rainbow Dash squeaked.
“Excellent. I’m glad we had this discussion.” Her eyes returned to normal and she paused, mid-flight, dropping to the bed. The force of her landing bounced the other four ponies off the mattress. Rainbow Dash and Skywishes caught themselves in midair and Dash made a daring swoop to catch Pinkie Pie just before she hit the floor. Rarity winked out and winked back in on the bed.
“Since when have you been able to do that, Rarity?” Rainbow Dash raised an eyebrow at her friend’s new talent.
“Er, Twilight’s been teaching me magic she feels might improve our performance when facing the various villains we deal with. This is actually the first time I’ve needed to use teleportation outside of training. It’s surprisingly intuitive.”
Skywishes landed next to Star Catcher. “What was that about?”
“I… I don’t know,” Star Catcher lied, galloping out of the dorm room.
“I’m going after her. The rest of you stay here,” Skywishes replied, chasing her friend through the hallway.
“While we wait, why don’t we all change into our Nightmare Night costumes?” Wysteria suggested. Minty started turning herself into a mummy by wrapping herself in medical tape while Wysteria inserted a pair of fangs and put on a cape.
“I’m terribly sorry, but the two of us were unaware this was a costume party. We haven’t a thing to wear,” Rarity said.
“Yeah, and my scholarship is in questionable status at the moment. I don’t have the money to get a costume.”
“You lost your scholarship?”
“Oh no!”
“What happened?”
“I haven’t lost it yet. But the odds are very good that I will lose it by the end of the month.”
“I know! We’ll have a fundraiser for you! I’ll buy a painting!”
“Yeah! Me too!”
“Me three!”
“And if I may ask for a donation of fabric, I’ll make you a Nightmare Night costume. And one for Rainbow Dash and one for myself as well. Pinkie, do you need a costume or did you know this was coming?”
“Oh, I knew in advance. See! I brought my own costume.”
“Is that… are you supposed to be a head of broccoli?” Rarity clutched her chest overdramatically.
“Yeah! It was totally the scariest thing I could think of!”
“Nice wrap, Minty,” Sunny Daze said, as she playfully pulled one of the bandages, threatening to unwrap her.
“Thanks! I figured going as a mummy would be perfect! For some reason Kimono always buys me medical tape and Band-Aids for every holiday. So I have lots and lots of it to use up!”
“Oh yeah, that’s a mystery all right…” Sunny Daze shook her head. Trust Kimono to always be prepared.
“I know, right? I mean she has the highest grade point average of anypony in the whole school! You’d think she could come up with better gift ideas.”
“Star Catcher, wait up!”
The white pegasus looked back towards Skywishes. “I need to get out of here before I hurt anypony else!”
“What happened back there?”
“Discord overloaded me with chaos magic. I can control it until somepony annoys me or angers me. I need to get to Princess Celestia without running into anypony else.”
“Want me to run interference for you?”
“That would be great.”
“What did you say your name was again?”
“Rainbow Dash.”
“That’s what I thought,” Wysteria replied, scribbling a last minute revision to her lyrics. “Now I think this song is finally ready! Is Heathspike here yet?”
“Right here!”
“Perfect. Here’s your part. Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, allow me to introduce my dragon assistant, Heathspike. We call him Spike for short.”
“You have a dragon?”
“Yeah, there was an incident about a decade ago where a very powerful unicorn hatched every dragon egg on campus. Her name was Twilight something or other. Anyways, to make a long story short there were a lot of dragons to adopt and I volunteered to raise Heathspike here.” Changing the subject she added, “So who’s ready to get started?”
“Let’s do this!” Minty exclaimed.
“Starsong, just a head’s up that I changed the lyrics here.”
“So I see. I think this works better too.”
“Great! Then let’s begin!” Wysteria started playing her keyboard as Minty started banging on her drums and Sew-And-So and Razzaroo started playing their guitars. Starsong waited for her cue and started singing, “Disco…disco Dash!”
Rainbow Dash’s jaw dropped. “If anyone asks I’m denying all involvement in this. Disco’s totally lame. Classic rock and heavy metal is where it’s at,” she thought. She delivered her lines, as did Pinkie Pie and Rarity, but when the recording was over Rainbow Dash was adamant that she not be credited for having appeared on this track.
“Star Catcher, it’s clear sailing from here to the castle. Star Catcher?” Skywishes looked over her shoulder and much to her horror discovered the other pegasus was no longer following her. “Uh-oh!” She continued flying towards the palace, hoping she could convince the Royal Guards to grant her an audience with Princess Celestia. Without Star Catcher in tow, this was going to be far more challenging than originally expected. Still, as Star Catcher's best friend and part-time assistant she was known at the castle.
She was flying flat out but the castle seemed to be getting further and further away from her. Curiously it also seemed like it was growing in size as well. By the time her brain processed that information and she realized she had been shrunk down to the size of a breezie, she had already been scooped up in a butterfly net and placed in a jar with some air holes drilled into the lid.
“I can’t believe we got it on the first take. Even with those last minute revisions to the lyrics!”
“That. Was. Awesome!” exclaimed Rainbow Dash. “You know, if it wasn’t a disco song.”
“So Toola, I was thinking for our album art, how about a giant scarab beetle?”
“A scarab beetle?”
“Yes! I think it’s mysterious.”
“Oh, so you’re not interested in this?” Toola Roola held up a freshly painted canvas of Rainbow Dash striking a disco pose with her right front hoof pointed to the sky.
“Hmn. Nah, I think I’d still rather go with the scarab.”
“I’ll, uh, see what I can do,” she said. She mumbled under her breath, “I guess Rainbow Dash was right – wishes don’t come true after all.” She trudged back to her room and set aside the disco Dash painting and gathered the rest of her unsold paintings. She set them up in Wysteria’s room and the other ponies all gathered around.
“Oh! I want the cute kitty picture!”
“Kitten painting sold to Minty!” Rainbow Dash called out as Rarity wrote it down.
“I love that landscape. I’ll take it!”
“Canterlot landscape sold to Sunny Daze.”
“This flower is simply divine.”
“Flower sold to Rarity!”
“Dash, you don’t need to call out my purchases. I’m most certainly capable of recording them.”
“Fine. Oh, and mark down the bunny picture for me. It’s uh, for Fluttershy.”
“Cutesy-wootsy bunny rabbit picture sold to Dashie!”
“Pinkie Pie.”
“What? You bought it, didn’t you?”
“That’s not the point… just never mind.”
Thanks to the generosity of her friends old and new all of Toola Roola’s paintings sold in a matter of minutes. Of course that would only cover a small portion of her student loans but every little bit would help.
“Toola?”
“Yes Sunny?”
“I was wondering if, you know, you could change this landscape from an overcast day to a bright and sunny one?”
“Well, yes, I could but this is exactly how I saw things that day.”
“Please?”
“Okay, fine.”
“Oh! While you’re doing that, could you paint socks on the kitten? Oh! And could you paint her green?”
“But, that’s my cat, Paintbrush. She’s a gray tabby.”
“Please?”
Toola Roola sighed. “Sure thing, Minty.”
“And I would be forever indebted to you if you could change these flowers from tulips to roses.”
“You got it, Rarity,” Toola replied through gritted teeth. “Does anypony else want their painting changed?” she asked sarcastically.
It was the wrong question to ask. “Oh! Me, me, me!”
“Yes Pinkie?”
“I want balloons and streamers added to my picture!”
“Pinkie, this is a picture of a wagon going up a hill.”
“Needs more balloons and streamers!”
“Let me go get my brushes and paints and I’ll make the alterations while you wait.”
“Star Catcher!”
“Toola Roola, just the pony I was looking for. Has your wish come true yet?”
“Well, yes and no. My friends purchased all of my paintings, but they don’t really appreciate them. Half of them want me to make changes to them.”
“Hmn, I do see how that would be problematic. But don’t worry about a thing. Your wish will come true, have faith.”
“Where did you run off to earlier?”
“Rainbow Dash was getting on my nerves so I needed to remove myself from the room before I did something I’d regret later. Please extend my apologies to Wysteria and the rest of the band. I hope the recording session went well and you’ll forgive me if I don’t return to the room with you.”
“Oh, of course. Rainbow Dash seems nice but I guess you two have a bit of a history with one another.”
“Unfortunately she knows just how to push my buttons. Have a good night and keep wishing.”
“Sunnier!”
“Greener!”
“More streamers!”
“Darling, I was thinking more along the lines long-stemmed red roses.”
Toola Roola’s left eye started twitching as the ungrateful ponies continued offering suggestions on how to improve her paintings. Paintings she had spent hours working on and considered little masterpieces. It was simultaneously breaking her heart and infuriating her – especially Minty’s changes to the picture of her beloved pet. “I never should have sold that one,” she thought, regretfully.
One by one the other ponies were satisfied with the changes they had suggested and Toola Roola started on the scarab beetle Wysteria had requested for the album cover. The purple earth pony stood over her shoulder, dictating her vision and Toola did her best to replicate it on the canvas.
One by one the other ponies decided that watching Toola paint was less enthralling than getting a good night’s sleep. First it was Sunny Daze, who cited wanting to be up at the crack of dawn like usual. Then Starsong left, taking Sweetberry with her – having swapped rooms with Toola Roola for the night so the artist could continue painting undisturbed.
Pinkie Pie and Minty lost interest soon after and dragged Rarity and Rainbow Dash back to their room with them, but not before Minty could offer her input on the album cover. Razzaroo and Sew-And-So stayed the longest, also to make suggestions about the cover for their album.
It started innocently enough – Sunny Daze found herself trotting through Canterlot on a cloudy day. The sun started to peek through the clouds. Dimly at first, but with each passing second it grew more and more intense. At first, Sunny Daze was delighted; she put her sunglasses on and continued trotting along. But it continued getting brighter and hotter until she could no longer stand it. Everything started melting away around her, the colors running and quickly dripping off of everything except her.
She awoke with a start. Much to her dismay, the source of her irritation wasn’t a dream. The sun in the picture Toola Roola had painted was glowing brightly.
“What’s the matter? I thought you liked sunny days.”
“I do, but this is too bright.”
“It wasn’t too bright earlier when you were demanding Toola Roola paint it sunnier.”
“Please, make it stop…” Sunny Daze shut her eyes as the colors started bleeding out of her dorm room.
“Make what stop?” Sunny’s roommate, Seaspray, woke up to Sunny’s whimpering. “What are you talking about?”
“Can’t you see it? The sun is coming to get me.”
“Uh…”
“Can’t you hear it talking to me?”
“No.”
“Isn’t it exceedingly bright in this room?”
“No.”
Sunny Daze tried to open her eyes, but the world was still white against her eyelids. She could feel the heat. “Then help me. I must be dreaming.”
Seaspray trotted over to white pegasus’ bed and threw the covers off of her. She was shocked to feel heat radiating off of Sunny’s body.
“You’re burning up. I’m getting you to the infirmary.” The blue earth pony with a starfish cutie mark eased Sunny Daze onto her back and took off running, her aqua, mint, blue, and purple hair streaming behind her.
“Meow.”
“Oh, a cute little kitty!”
A gray-striped cat jumped onto Minty’s bed and she started petting it. “Hey, you’re Toola’s cat, Paintbrush, aren’t you? You’re adorable! I’m like totally glad I bought that painting of you.”
“Then why have you mutilated me?” Green paint started dripping from the feline and she waved a sock-clad front paw in the mint mare’s face.
“I… I like green. And, um, socks…”
“And I like gray,” replied Paintbrush, as she dumped gray paint onto Minty.
“Hey! What are you doing?”
“Only what you’ve done to me.” Her claws tore the socks she was wearing to shreds and then they tore into Minty’s hide.
“Yeeee-oooooow!”
It was enough to wake up one of the other ponies in the room. “Hey, what’s the big idea, Minty?” Rainbow Dash asked, wiping the sleep from her magenta eyes.
“It’s clawing me! Get it off, get it off!”
“There’s nothing there, Mints. Go back to bed. Wait a second. You’re bleeding.” As Rainbow Dash watched, more lacerations appeared on Minty’s flank with no obvious cause.
On the wall over Minty’s bed, the colors slowly returned to the feline painting Minty had purchased from Toola Roola earlier. Restored to her original glory, Paintbrush smiled.
“I’m getting you to a doctor. Where’s the first aid station on campus?” Minty was too hysterical to answer, so Rainbow Dash scooped the green pony onto her back, opened the window, and took flight searching for any building with lights still on. It never occurred to her to close the window behind her.
Pinkie Pie was sleeping in a bed under the window. She hadn’t woken up from Minty’s cry of pain, nor did she wake up when Rainbow Dash whooshed over her for she was too busy living her own nightmare. A bunch of balloons had wrapped around her and were rapidly lifting her up to the sky.
Pinkie looked down and giggled. “Hey! I can see Sugarcube Corner from here! Like I’m totally way up high! There’s Cloudsdale! I should go visit Dashie!” One of the balloons popped and she quickly lost altitude. “Something tells me that’s on the bad things list.” Another balloon popped. “The very, very, very bad things list. Help!”
The remaining balloon popped and the pink pony plummeted to the ground, helpless. Just as she was about to become a smear on the pavement outside Carousel Boutique she noticed a big balloon tied to her tail. It lifted her up and dangled her far above Ponyville.
“Give me one reason not you to drop you,” the balloon sneered at her.
“Because that would be a very mean thing to do and you’re a balloon. Balloons bring happiness, not misery.”
“Not a valid answer. I’m not a balloon.” They started losing altitude again.
“Okay, how about I don’t want to die and you obviously don’t want me to die either or you’d have already killed me?”
“Very perceptive. Now I ask you, did this painting really need balloons?”
“Well, no. I suppose it didn’t. But I like it better with balloons. And uh…streamers…” Pinkie trailed off as she noticed streamers binding her legs. Another streamer bound her muzzle, making it impossible for her to talk.
“Who are you to dictate an artist’s vision? I should drop you for that, but alas, Mistress Roola wishes you to be alive. Dead ponies cannot appreciate art, after all.”
“I appreciate her art! I appreciate it!”
“You appreciate whose art?”
“Toola Roola’s!”
“And what are you doing floating outside?”
“Dashie? Is that you?”
“Yes, performing a midair rescue as always.”
Pinkie hugged the pegasus tight as she flew towards Minty’s dorm room. “It was the balloon. The balloon did it.” Pinkie cried on Rainbow’s shoulder. “Oh, it was so horrible. Balloons aren’t supposed to be big meanies but this one sure was! She threatened to drop me and everything!”
“Okay, I still have no idea what’s going on, but I just took Minty to the nurse. I got lucky I found the campus first aid station pretty quickly, ‘cause she was losing a lot of blood.”
“Minty’s hurt?”
“Yeah, it was the weirdest thing I ever saw. She started bleeding from slash marks that just appeared on her back out of thin air. As I watched more and more kept appearing. They stopped by the time I got her to the nurse though.”
“That’s horrible. Let’s go check on Rarity to make sure she’s okay.”
Rainbow Dash flew on toward the still open window.
Something brushed against Wysteria’s hoof, but she paid it no attention until it happened a second time. That’s when she saw the scarab beetles massing around her bed. There were thousands of them and they were all headed straight for her. Her screams were muffled as she was buried by them.
“Scarab beetles are mysterious. So much better than using a portrait of Rainbow Dash disco dancing for a song called Disco Dash don’t you think?”
“But that’s just one song on an entire album. It doesn’t make sense to use that picture as the cover. I mean if that was the name of the album instead of just one of the songs, it would make much more sense.”
“Well there’s your solution. Call the album Disco Dash and you’re set.”
“I will if you’ll stop these icky bugs from crawling all over me…”
“Wysteria? Wake up!”
“Toola Roola! I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to dismiss your artwork. We’ll use your picture of Rainbow Dash. Please just make it stop.”
“Make what stop?”
“The beetles. They’re crawling all over me. Get them off!”
“Wysteria, there’s nothing on you at all.” Behind her, the beetle reappeared on the blank canvas. The colors streamed back in one insect at a time.
“A bouquet of red roses? For moi? You shouldn’t have!” She took a sniff of them. “So fragrant, so beautiful.”
“Every rose has its thorns, Rarity.”
The white unicorn glanced over to the painting she had purchased earlier and saw thorny vines extending from the canvas, reaching for her. She screamed.
“That was Rarity! Come on!”
“You’re still holding me, Dashie. I can’t go any faster than you can fly.”
“Details, details…” The prismatic pegasus burst through the window and stopped in her tracks. Rarity was looking in horror towards the painting she had purchased from Toola Roola, but everything looked okay to her. That’s when she noticed Pinkie Pie edging towards the window. “What’s wrong?”
“Can’t you see it, Dashie? There are vines coming out of Rarity’s picture. And the balloons are still coming out of mine. Help!”
Rainbow Dash turned from one friend to the other. She couldn’t see anything, but she figured the best way to help was to get them both out of the room before anything else could happen to either of them. She grabbed one in each foreleg and hopped out the window. “Come on, we’re gonna figure this out. Let’s get everyone together and regroup in Wysteria’s room. Maybe Toola Roola can shed some light on this.”
As the three ponies approached Wysteria’s room they could see light coming from under the door.
“Well, at least we know we won’t be waking them up,” Rarity said.
Inside the room they found the two ponies they were expecting to see, as well as Razzaroo, Sew-And-So, Sweetberry, Starsong, and a blue earth pony they hadn’t been introduced to yet. Wysteria was sitting on her bed, visibly shaking, while Toola Roola had a foreleg wrapped around her trying to console her. The others had formed a semi-circle around the bed. Seaspray quickly introduced herself to the trio of newly arrived mares.
“None of you see the beetles?”
“Nope,” came the reply from most of the assembled ponies.
“I do.”
“Me too!”
Pinkie Pie and Rarity started backing up towards the door. Rainbow Dash trotted up to the painting of the scarab beetle, grabbed it in her mouth, and dropped it out the window. “There. That should solve this dilemma. Does anypony still see beetles?” Wysteria, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie all shook their heads.
“So you’re seeing beetles. Minty was bleeding from hundreds of little cuts, Pinkie was floating outside, and Rarity was trying to escape an invisible tangle of vines.”
“Wait. Did you say Pinkie was floating?”
“Yes. There was a white glow around her…”
“A magical aura,” replied Rarity. “A white magical aura…”
“Star Catcher!” the assembled ponies all exclaimed in unison.
“You call?” The white pegasus crashed through the window, sending shards of glass in all directions.
Seaspray leapt at Star Catcher but she dodged the attack easily. Wysteria flipped her bed onto its side and she, Toola Roola, Razzaroo, Sew-And-So, Sweetberry, and Starsong hid behind it.
“My little art critics, are you all having pleasant dreams?” Star Catcher laughed maniacally.
“Please stop this, Star Catcher. This isn’t what I wanted.”
“What’s the matter, Toola? This is what you wished for. Your friends appreciate your art now. Don’t you, my little ponies?”
The rest of the ponies surrounding Toola Roola quickly nodded their heads.
“Soon everypony in Equestria will appreciate your art!”
“But you’re hurting them. Minty and Sunny Daze are in the infirmary as we speak. Please stop hurting our friends.” Toola Roola stepped out from behind the bed and faced the glowing white pegasus.
Star Catcher landed in front of her and sank to the floor, crying. “Minty and Sunny Daze…are injured? Oh no, no, no, no, no, no.” She clutched a hoof to her forehead and moaned in pain. She was momentarily freed from Discord's chaotic influence, but her tears of sorrow stopped as she sprang back to her hooves. “I mean, yes, of course they are! Anypony who dares to defile your art must face the wrath of your paintings, any way they choose to dispense.”
“This isn’t like you, Star Catcher.”
“Do you like the new me? Discord increased my wish-granting powers. Soon everypony’s fondest desires shall come true…for a price!” She laughed as lightning flashed outside the room. “I’ve always wanted to do that!”
“Then join the Cloudsdale Weather Team. I do that on a daily basis. About time you did some real work for once in your life.”
“Rainbow Dash, are you really cracking jokes at a time like this? Don’t you know this is the time for panic, not false bravado wrapped in sarcasm.”
“I’ll give you false bravado, lardflank!”
Rarity grabbed Rainbow’s tail in her teeth before the brash pegasus could do something she’d regret.
“Oh my, unicorn got your tail? Now if only a cat would get your tongue and shut you up for once, Equestria would be a better place. Muhahahahaha! What's the matter, Rainbow? For somepony's that's best friends with the Element of Honesty, I'd think you'd be better at handling the truth instead of living in denial.” She cackled at the prismatic mare.
While she was distracted with her evil laughing, Seaspray lunged at the pegasus, knocking her to the floor. For her efforts, she was levitated and flung across the room. She impacted the wall and slid down onto Sweetberry’s bed.
“Nooooo,” Star Catcher once again clutched her forehead in agony. “I have to stop hurting my friends. Please, all of you, just stay back. It's for your own good...” Once again the clarity faded from her mind and she motioned to Rainbow Dash to bring it.
“I think we need the Elements of Harmony.”
“We’re three ponies and six pieces of jewelry short, Rarity. We’re going to have to solve this on our own.”
“But how, Rainbow Dash?”
“I don’t know. Twilight’s the smart one, not me!”
“As you just pointed out, she’s not here, darling.”
“Fine, we’ll do things my way. Charge!” Rainbow Dash swooped down on Star Catcher, crashing into her side. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just trying to fly across the room but this giant flank was in my way.”
“Well, well, if it isn’t the single biggest pain in my hindquarters.” Star Catcher grinned. “I would have waited eternity for this. It’s over, Dash.”
“Not until you grant that wish, lardo.”
“Oh it’ll still come true…posthumously!”
The two pegasi took to the air, a testament to each pony’s skill in the cramped and crowded room. Shoulder to shoulder they struggled against one another.
“Go Dashie! Go Dashie! It’s your birthday! It’s your birthday.” Pinkie Pie gasped. “It’s your birthday? And I totally forgot! I need to go get cupcakes!”
“It’s….not…..my…..birthday….Pinkie…” Unfortunately for Rainbow the momentary distraction was enough for Star Catcher to gain the upper hoof. The rainbow-haired pegasus found herself slammed against the far wall of the room and she slumped to the floor.
“Will anypony else attempt to fill her horseshoes? No? Pity. I wish for a challenge.” Star Catcher put a hoof to Rainbow's throat.
“That’s it! Somepony make a wish to stop her!” Toola Roola shouted.
“Yes! Wish! Wish! Wish! Wish!” Star Catcher echoed.
“My extra special wish is for everything would go back to normal,” Rainbow Dash whispered. It was hard to breath, let alone speak since Star Catcher was currently trying to force the air out of her larynx.
“I’m sorry, but please check the terms and conditions of extra special wishes: only one wish per customer, offer void in North Marolina and Ohayo. That leaves you out of luck my eventual Wonderbolt.”
“I wish Star Catcher would return to her normal, benevolent, caring self,” Rarity said.
“And that’s an extra special wish with whipped cream, caramel, chocolate syrup, nuts, sprinkles, and a cherry on top!” Pinkie Pie added. “A whole bunch of cherries on top!”
A kite adorned with whipped cream, all the various toppings Pinkie had named, and two-dozen cherries appeared in the room, bouncing from wall to wall.
“Catch a kite, and catch a wish!” Star Catcher’s tone made the once joyous words menacing.
Pinkie Pie lunged for the kite but it slipped out the window.
“Awww, too bad. It looks like that one got away. Anypony else got an extra special wish?”
“Not so fast! Don’t dismiss my wish that easily!” Rarity leapt out the window and Rainbow Dash leapt out after her.
“Rarity! Are you insane? We’re on the fourth floor!”
“You caught me, as always, didn’t you? Now let’s go catch that kite!”
Rainbow Dash gripped Rarity in her forelegs as she chased after the kite. Rarity’s horn glowed as she attempted to restrain it with her magical aura.
The heart on Star Catcher’s forehead glowed as she maneuvered the kite away from its pursuers. “Not this time. Nopony’s catching this kite.”
“Distract her. She can’t focus on all of us and the kite too.” Toola Roola stood up and grabbed a few paint tubes from her saddlebag. She jumped over the bed, squirting paint from the tubes straight at the pegasus.
Seaspray massaged her left foreleg, winced, and then leapt over the bed to join Toola Roola in distracting Star Catcher.
“What can the rest of us do?” Sweetberry asked Wysteria.
“Well, we’re dealing with chaos magic. Why don’t we unleash the most random force of nature on Star Catcher? Pinkie Pie!”
Sweetberry looked over to where Pinkie Pie was debating with a table leg. “I almost feel sorry for Star Catcher. She has no idea what she’s in for.”
“Pinkie.”
“Yes Wysteria?”
“You need to stop Star Catcher. No matter the cost.”
“Okie dokie lokie!”
“Pathetic fools. Is that the best you’ve got?”
“One shall stand! One shall fall!”
“Pinkie Pie?”
“Yup! And I’m totally gonna take you down, Star Catcher.” The pink pony whipped out her party cannon and Star Catcher was hit in quick succession with a flowerpot, a cupcake, a pear, a gift-wrapped present, Gummy, and then the flowerpot came back in for a second hit.
The dorm room door burst open as a purple unicorn entered. “It’s the middle of the night. What’s all the commotion…?” Kimono trailed off as she saw Pinkie Pie assaulting a member of the royal family. Her horn glowed and she restrained the pink earth pony. “What is the meaning of this? You don’t even go to this school!”
“No!” Toola Roola shouted. “Stop Star Catcher! She’s gone crazy!”
Kimono glanced around the room and saw that every mare in the room was in an offensive position around the white pegasus. “Sorry Pinkie.” She let go of the pink mare and turned her attention to Star Catcher. Her horn glowed purple. “Star Catcher, cease and desist or I will be forced to take corrective action.”
The white pegasus pondered her options. She was easily Kimono’s superior in magical ability, but engaging her in magical combat would run the risk of losing track of the kite. With Rainbow Dash helping Rarity catch it, it was a risk she couldn’t afford. She set up a simple shield as a defense as the unicorn launched a net towards her.
Toola Roola coordinated the earth ponies into bucking the magical barrier in unison, while Starsong dive-bombed it and Kimono strafed it with an arcane attack. Despite their best efforts, the shield was resisting them.
“I wish Minty was here. If anypony could break through, it’s her.”
“Yeah, she truly is the best at breaking things, Wysteria,” Kimono agreed. “We could really use another unicorn in here. Starsong, get Sparkleworks. She’s two doors down in room 416.”
“I don’t want to wake her up. Do you think she’s awake?”
“Trust me, nopony on this entire floor is sleeping with the racket we’re making in here.” She inhaled as she drew upon her magical reserves to launch one large attack. “Girls, get behind something.”
The bolt of arcane lightning cracked the shield, but didn’t penetrate it. The earth ponies returned to bucking it, weakening it further.
An orange unicorn followed Starsong into the room and quickly appraised the situation. “Uh, Kimono, I hate to ask you this but… I can break through that shield but only if you step out of the room first.”
“Why?”
“Plausible deniability. Look, you’re a Residence Assistant and I’m about to demonstrate something that could implicate me in a few unsolved pranks around campus. So unless you’re offering me some immunity I need you to leave the room.”
“Look, we can discuss what I did or didn’t see later, but right now we need to stop Star Catcher.”
Sparkleworks’ horn glowed and she teleported some fireworks inside Star Catcher’s forcefield. They burst less than a second later and the startled pegasus lost her focus on both the shield and the kite. As the barrier crumbled around her she stared dazed at the ponies surrounding her.
“You can teleport fireworks? That explains what happened to the colt’s bathroom three weeks ago.”
“I can’t hear you. Immunity, remember?”
Kimono just grumbled as Pinkie Pie started hitting the white pegasus with a foam finger, followed by licking her with her tongue.
“That’s disgusting.”
“Don’t blame me, blame the Fighting Is Magic game developers for adding it to my move set. Also, Cupcake Assault! Pinkie jumped into the air and walloped the royal pegasus with two dozen cupcakes, followed by a pie that caused her to bounce into the air and flip around. “Be right back!” Pinkie then popped out of the present and Party Pressed the pegasus from above. “Whee!”
“You seem to have more mastery of chaos magic than even I…”
“Nah. I just need a hug.” Pinkie’s mane deflated and her fur and hair turned several shades darker.
“Uh… that’s creepy,” Star Catcher replied, taking flight to avoid the deranged earth pony mare. “Also, ineffective.”
“Provides a great distraction though.” Rainbow Dash restrained the bigger pegasus while Rarity used her magic to jam Star Catcher’s. “We caught the kite. Now be a good lardflank and go back to being your normal self.”
“Awww, but I didn’t get my hug,” Pinkie sniffled.
“I’ll hug you!” Sweetberry exclaimed, wrapping her forelegs around Pinkie. It quickly turned into a group hug and Pinkie’s hair poofed back and her colors brightened to their normal shades.
“Starsong, help! I don’t know how much longer I can hold onto her!”
The purple pegasus exited the group hug and joined Rainbow Dash in pinning Star Catcher down, while Pinkie Pie ran to get Princess Celestia.
The heart on Star Catcher’s forehead glowed white and a swarm of butterflies gathered around her.
“Butterflies?” Sparkleworks cocked her head and peered at them. “What good are butterflies going to do?”
“Run!” Rainbow Dash said. She jumped out the window, and Starsong followed. Rarity shrugged her shoulders and teleported the rest of the gathered ponies to the dormitory’s lawn.
“What was that all about?” Sweetberry asked.
“Let’s just say I remember when Star Catcher’s cutie mark came in. There were butterflies everywhere. To this day Fluttershy counts it among the best days of her life. The rest of Cloudsdale, however… not so much. There was a lot of property damage that day. And every day thereafter until she finally learned how to control them.”
“So? They’re just butterflies. What can they do?” asked Sparkleworks.
The swarm of butterflies poured out of every window, door, and chimney in the dormitory and started heading towards the gathered friends. Once they were all outside they swarmed into a giant butterfly-shaped mass.
“Anything she wants them to,” Rainbow Dash replied.
Hundreds of ponies streamed out of the dorm and watched in shock at the events unfolding in front of them. A few ran – some back into the dorm and others to get help. Most, however, just stood there with their jaws agape.
Rainbow Dash flew straight at the mass of insects and then around them in a loop until she formed a vortex around them. A tornado slowly began to take shape as she flew faster and faster.
Rarity, Kimono, and Sparkleworks adopted offensive stances and aimed their horns at the monstrous butterfly in front of them. Toola Roola walked past the unicorns and up to the swirling vortex. “Star Catcher, please. I take my wish back. Just please stop this madness.”
“I wish I could. I extra special wish I could.” Inside the butterfly swarm, Star Catcher watched as time slowed to a crawl around her. She could pick out each individual butterfly. She could see each bead of sweat on Rainbow Dash’s forehead as she strained to go faster. “Not again. Not now…”
A slow clapping sound reached her ears. “Bravo, Star Catcher. I must admit, I had my doubts that you would be even remotely entertaining but you’ve exceeded my wildest expectations. Why, just look around you! It’s like Mothra versus Twister. Of course that would probably mean more to you if you knew what I was talking about, but I digress. In any event, your extra special wish is granted – I’m here to take back my chaos powers now. And I’m not even going to make you chase a kite! See, I can be a nice draconequus. This has been incredibly amusing. Let’s do this again sometime soon.”
“Never again.” Star Catcher struggled for breath. The exertions of the last hour had drained her, and without the chaos magic to sustain her she was feeling exceedingly weak. “Minty and Sunny Daze are hurt. I…I don’t know how badly. Please help them.”
“Rest assured their injuries were minor and both have already received adequate medical attention. Now, as for you, I think you have a lot of explaining to do and the authorities will be here shortly to talk to you. When I snap my claws time is going to start moving again, and you’re probably going to fall. I would recommend going limp, personally. They say that minimizes injuries. Toodles.” Discord snapped his claws.
Star Catcher dropped like a rock and the butterflies cleared a path for Rainbow Dash to swoop towards her. The prismatic pegasus struggled under the weight of the much larger pegasus. “Lardflank. And I really mean it for once.” The butterflies swarmed underneath the winged ponies, slowing their descent and depositing them on the ground, gently. Directionless, they fluttered around their fallen leader.
Kimono rushed over and started applying first aid to Star Catcher, while Toola Roola patted her hooves. “It’s going to be okay, Star Catcher.”
Princess Celestia looked over the devastation. Star Catcher, of the royal House of Hurricane, was bound – all four legs constricted against her barrel. Not that she was even attempting to struggle against the ropes containing her. Her eyes showed nothing but remorse as she awaited her judgment silently. Skywishes had been reduced to the size of a breezie. Minty was covered in bandages, and Sunny Daze was suffering second-degree burns over most of her body. “Do not worry, my little ponies, this won't hurt.”
The white alicorn cast a spell, and Skywishes returned to her normal size. Celestia touched her horn to Minty’s forehead and the lacerations healed immediately. The green earth pony ripped the bandages off, wrapped her hooves around the princess, and squealed in delight. The princess repeated the process on Sunny Daze and her burns disappeared instantly. The three mares all thanked her profusely.
She turned to the remaining pony and her horn glowed with her golden magical aura. The ropes binding the pegasus slid off and Princess Celestia touched her horn to the heart on Star Catcher’s forehead. The white mare squeezed her eyes shut as the princess reviewed her memories of the last twelve hours. Once she was done, Star Catcher opened her eyes. “I’m so very sorry, Princess Celestia.” She bowed to the alicorn. “As you can plainly see I’m unfit to rule and in accordance with Section VII Article III of the Equestrian Constitution I request that you strip me of my title. Furthermore, as punishment for my actions I ask you to exile me.”
Princess Celestia nuzzled her. “I will do no such thing. The only thing I can plainly see is that your actions were not your own.”
“That’s not true. You saw inside my head. I…I wanted to do those things. Those horrible, horrible things to my f-f-f-friends.” Star Catcher burst into tears. “Oh Minty, and Sunny Daze, and Skywishes how could I have failed you all so b-b-b-b-badly? They trusted me and I betrayed them.”
“While it’s true that you chose the actions you took, your thought processes were not your own. You're not a bad pony. All you wanted was to make life better for your friends. Your heart is pure. You’re kind, caring, and compassionate. You are a fit leader. I would be unfit to rule if I deemed you unfit to rule.”
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Take some time to compose yourself and then meet with Twilight Sparkle in the castle library for debriefing. You’re the first pony to have ever discovered how to access Discord’s chaos magic and there are a multitude of questions that need to be addressed. Afterwards you have some full scholarships to award. I have Ploomette drawing up the paperwork as we speak. As for me, I have a draconequus to discipline.” Princess Celestia disappeared in a flash of light.
Star Catcher walked into the library and sat at a table across from Twilight Sparkle. “I’m here to answer your questions about chaos magic to the best of my ability.”
Twilight took one look at the pegasus sitting before her and her heart melted. She had cleaned herself up as well as she could under the circumstances, but it was still obvious to the unicorn that she had been bawling her eyes out only minutes earlier. “Actually, I was thinking that before we start the question and answer session I should tell you about the ‘want it need it’ incident in Ponyville last year. See, it had been almost an entire week since the last time I sent a friendship report, and I was panicking about being tardy…”
Star Catcher couldn’t help but chuckle at the events as Twilight explained them. The fact that Twilight was blushing furiously the whole time only helped to endear her to the pegasus. “Sounds like quite the mess.”
“Oh, it was. Princess Celestia had to step in and fix everything. And then there was the time my friend Fluttershy took Princess Celestia’s pet phoenix. I thought for sure we were going to get banished. The point is we all mess up sometimes. Princess Celestia has already forgiven you. And while I don’t know your friends personally, I know Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie Pie. They’ve forgiven you and they’re positive your friends have too. But first you need to forgive yourself. You can’t beat yourself up over mistakes forever. They happen, and I’ve learned this lesson the hard way too.” She hugged the pegasus.
“Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” Twilight smiled. “Your friends are all worried about you so I’m going to make this a short interview. I’ll probably have more questions, later, but if you give me the basics I can get started on my research.”
“You can begin any time.”
“All right. First question – did you know that the magical energy you were tapping into was chaos energy, and if so did you know it belonged to Discord?”
“No. I used this same energy years ago when I was a filly. I have several dozen ponies that can verify I granted extra-special wishes back then. I honestly thought it was my own magical energy.”
“Do you harness that pool of chaos magic when performing routine magic, such as levitating an object?”
“No. Only when granting a wish.”
“How did you discover this pool of chaos magic in the first place, and how did you discover it had the power to grant wishes?”
“It all happened when my cutie mark came in. Somepony made a wish to benefit a friend and I thought about how nice it would be for me to grant that wish, and before I knew it I had done so. Oh, and there were butterflies everywhere.”
“That…sounds pretty chaotic all right.”
“It took two years to rebuild that section of Cloudsdale. I have no clue how there were no injuries when the property damage toll ran into the millions of bits, but I suppose that too can be answered by it being chaos magic.”
“So chaos magic doesn’t actually hurt anypony?”
“As far as I can tell, no. That wouldn’t be fun. For some reason chaos magic is all about having fun. Granting wishes is fun. Making the sky rain chocolate milk is fun. Crashing the moon into Fillydelphia at random is not fun. Dead ponies aren’t entertaining.”
“Fascinating,” Twilight said absentmindedly as she scribbled notes. “That actually explains a lot. Discord’s motives have always been, how shall we say, difficult to ascertain.”
“Think of it as a five year old colt playing with his toys. If he breaks them, he’s forced to either buy more or go without. But if you take care of your toys, they will provide years of amusement. In a way he reminds me a bit of my friend, Toola Roola. Ironically, she’s the pony who made the wish that started this whole fiasco in the first place. She’s an amazing artist. Discord is just as creative as she is, but his canvas is the world at large.”
“Unless you have anything else to add that concludes my questions for the time being.”
“I have a question of my own. What are you hoping to accomplish?”
“Well,” Twilight rubbed her horn thoughtfully. “Princess Celestia is hoping to find a cure for him.”
“A cure for chaos?”
“Yes.”
“A novel idea, but a flawed one. Discord would never be happy without chaos. It’s as much a part of him as reading is a part of you. The power withdrawal alone would probably kill him. I only had access to a tiny portion of that power for a few hours and I still feel myself missing it. That’s what worries me more than anything. Remember what happened to Princess Luna one thousand years ago?”
“There’s succumbing to temptation and having power thrust upon you unwillingly.”
“What if I succumb more easily now that I’ve had a taste? Twilight, I’m really worried here. I still have access to a pool of chaos magic. And I know enough about it, now, that I could completely immerse myself in it before Discord could stop me. And that’s assuming he would even try. He’d probably find it amusing…”
“You’re still the same pony on the inside you always were. The Star Catcher I know wouldn’t do anything that would jeopardize her friends or Equestria itself.”
Once she removed all the evidence of her breakdown, Star Catcher made her way over to Toola Roola and the rest of her friends. “I’m very sorry my actions have caused you pain. As a token of apology, I’ve come to offer each of you a full scholarship to Canterlot University. You will all be reimbursed for anything you’ve already spent, and from here on out everything will be completely covered by the school – including books, room, and board.”
“That’s all well and good, but we’re not students here,” Rainbow Dash piped up. Rarity thwacked her in the back of the head.
“Miss Dash, upon examination of the events, you were caused no physical or mental anguish. However, the good news is that your wish will still be granted on the date previously noted. You also get the satisfaction of knowing you bested a member of the royal family in battle without benefit of the Elements of Harmony. That said, I’ll remind you all that every one of you has already signed a nondisclosure agreement barring you from talking about the events of the past few days.”
“So I finally beat you at something and I can’t even brag about it?”
“Sorry.”
“Lardflank.”
“I’m choosing to ignore that. Rarity, I’ve taken the liberty of setting up your own designer label with a shop here in Canterlot. This is a five year deal that’s non-exclusive, meaning you’re free to explore other options as well.”
“This is the best possible thing out of all best possible things!” She levitated her fainting couch over and promptly collapsed on it.
“And Pinkie Pie, I really had no idea what to do for you, so I figured why not throw you the biggest party in Equestria’s history? So on your birthday, the entire country will grind to a stop and celebrate all things Pinkie Pie for the day.”
“That’s awesome! Woo, my own holiday! It’s exactly what I’ve always wanted!”
“Discord.”
“Celestia. I suppose this isn’t a social call.” Despite knowing full well why the princess was here to see him he grinned at the white alicorn.
“You broke the terms of your release.”
“Not exactly. I caused none of what happened. Star Catcher was attempting to use my chaos magic, and I gave her a larger dose of it to test its effects on her. All of her actions, twisted by chaos as they may have been, were her own and not mine. After defending my chaos energy I returned to Fluttershy’s cottage and I have three Elements of Harmony who can vouch for my whereabouts including your personal student, Twilight Sparkle, as well as the Element of Honesty herself.”
Celestia sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, she couldn’t return Discord to his stone prison. “You know you have me over a barrel, and I know you know it. But I’m still going to decree that you must allow Star Catcher access to your chaos energy to continue granting extra-special wishes. It’s the least you can do to make things up to her. She’s suffered a large blow to her self-esteem, not to mention her reputation.”
Discord stretched. “Oh please, you already covered things up like you always do. Her reputation will remain untarnished except among a few ponies that already consider her a friend and won’t hold this against her. But continuing to allow her to grant wishes is a bad idea, Celestia. What happened to hard work? A common wish is for money. If everypony wishes for a million bits, and they’re all granted that wish, do you realize what that will do to Equestria’s economy? I have one word for you: hyperinflation. And if everypony wishes for a million bits, but only a select few ponies are actually granted that wish, well, that would be true chaos. I think you should go with that last option, personally.”
“Star Catcher has always had veto power over what can and can't be wished for. Any wish for material gain is automatically declined. Any wish that would require overriding another pony’s freewill, such as making someone else fall in love with the pony making the wish is also out. Now asking for the name of your true love is allowed. But most extra-special wishes are, by their very nature, the ones made to benefit not the wisher, but a friend.”
“Very well, Celestia. As long as you recognize the potential for abuse, I shall let it continue. But I don’t have to like it.”
“It would mean a lot to both Star Catcher and Skywishes. I don’t have the heart to deny them. However, if you see any abuses, or if you see that either of them is being corrupted by chaos energy, you're to let me know immediately, without taking matters into your own claws. Are we clear?”
“Crystal.” Discord changed himself into a crystal draconequus. “As you can see for yourself. That reminds me, I haven’t seen Cadence and Shining Armor in ages. I should drop by to visit.”
Princess Celestia rolled her eyes. “You’re dismissed.”
Toola Roola pushed open the ornate glass door and strode into a modern office building. Ponies dressed in suits and ties sat behind desks while harried assistants dashed to and fro. Wearing a paint-splattered smock, the pink mare strode through the office like she owned it.
“Upper Crust.” It hadn’t been hard to find the mare she was looking for – her office was directly below a giant portrait of herself.
“Toola? I’m surprised to see you here. You’ve never stopped by my office before.”
“That’s because I’m here on business. You gave me a month to give you a painting you could sell for at least a thousand bits or to reimburse you for what you’ve invested in my future.”
“I know you’re talented, but I admit I’m a little surprised you managed to completely change styles in just a weekend.”
“Oh, I didn’t paint anything at all. Thanks to you I was too busy keeping my paintings from killing my friends.”
“Wait. What did I do? And if you don’t have a painting what do you have for me?”
“Money. Here you go; this is reimbursement for everything you’ve paid for my scholarship. In exchange I’m dropping you as my agent, effective immediately.”
Upper Crust’s jaw dropped. She tried to respond but was only able to stammer out one word. “How?”
“Full scholarship from the school. Retroactive and paid in cash. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have other business matters to attend to. Somepony wants to commission a painting and I wanted to make sure I’m off your payroll before she does.” Toola pushed her way out of Upper Crust’s office, while everypony else turned to look at their boss.
“Well, that backfired spectacularly.” Upper Crust buried her head in her hooves. Still, she had broken even on this venture so it wasn’t the worst investment she’d ever made.
“Star Catcher!” Skywishes burst into Star Catcher’s office and embraced her friend in a hug. Unlike Upper Crust’s office, Star Catcher’s was cozy, tucked away in the basement of Cloudsdale’s palace. The walls were covered in historical pegasus artifacts dating back millennia but the room was mostly nondescript otherwise. Sure, she had a much flashier office upstairs but anypony who knew Star Catcher personally knew that office was only for show – something to please pegasus aristocrats and visiting dignitaries. She spent the bulk of her time working down here where it was peaceful.
The royal pegasus wrapped her wings around Skywishes. “I’m so sorry for what I did to you.”
“You’ve already apologized a dozen times. You never hurt me – you just shrank me. It was a little disorienting at first but I’m no worse for wear. Besides, this is no time to be melancholy, your 11:30 appointment is here.”
Star Catcher glanced up at an ornate cuckoo clock that had been finely crafted in the Griffin Empire – a gift from their present ambassador. “Right on time.” She grabbed her regalia from a jewelry box neatly tucked between a complete collection of Daring Do books, autographed by the adventurer-archeologist herself, and a globe that had allegedly belonged to Commander Hurricane. Star Catcher had her doubts considering several of the countries outlined didn’t even exist in Hurricane’s era, and the boundaries of those that did were several hundred years more recent. With a flick of her fetlock the outdated globe squeaked loudly as it spun lazily in place.
Skywishes stepped into the royal office. Unlike the cozy basement corner Star Catcher preferred, the main office had been used by generations of pegasus duchesses. It was spacious with a high ceiling, perfect for impromptu aerial displays when the occasion called for it. And sometimes even when the occasion didn’t call for it… Rainbow Dash was flying around the room at breakneck speed, performing loops and dives for Toola Roola’s amusement.
“Ahem.” Skywishes cleared her throat to announce her presence.
Rainbow Dash landed next to the artist. “Heh, sorry about that. I got bored and decided to show Toola here some of my newest stunts up close and personal!”
“Star Catcher will be up momentarily. In the meantime do you think you can stay grounded?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“If you’re bored you can wait outside. Star Catcher’s business is with Toola Roola.”
“I asked her to stay. I’m a little nervous being this high up and if the cloud-walking spell wears off I don’t want to plummet to my doom.” Toola Roola gulped and looked at the cloud floor below her.
“And I have some experience at catching ponies falling out of Cloudsdale.”
“We know,” Star Catcher announced her arrival.
Skywishes bowed and Toola Roola followed her lead. Rainbow Dash remained standing. “I’ll bow to you in two years, four months, and fourteen days. I even marked it on my calendar. But only if I’m wearing a blue uniform with a big lightning bolt on it.”
“As you wish,” Star Catcher replied, motioning for the others to rise back to their hooves. “I hate this formality anyway.”
“Does that mean I can skip the formal announcement of your visitors?” Skywishes asked.
“Yes, I think we can skip protocol just this once considering that everypony here already knows each other.”
Skywishes took a seat along the wall as Star Catcher continued.
“Toola Roola, your skill and raw talent have made you one of Equestria’s top up-and-coming artists. As such, the House Of Hurricane wishes to commission you to paint a 72” x 120” portrait symbolizing friendship between the three pony tribes, in particular the unicorns Kimono, Rarity, and Sparkleworks, the earth ponies Toola Roola, Minty, Wysteria, Razzaroo, Pinkie Pie, Sew-And-So, Sweetberry, and Seaspray, and finally the pegasi Rainbow Dash, Skywishes, Sunny Daze, Starsong, and Star Catcher.”
“I would be honored to!” Toola Roola bowed before the white pegasus.
“Furthermore, I wish to commission you for an additional project. I know you primarily work with a canvas and paint, but if you accept this commission it will require switching mediums.”
“I’ll give it a try. What do you have in mind?”
“I’m sure you’ve noticed the lovely stained glass windows prominently displayed in Canterlot Castle. You might have also noticed that Cloudsdale Palace’s windows are plain. Your task is to create stained glass windows documenting great moments in pegasus history.”
“Waste of taxpayer bits,” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Starting with Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy at the very first Hearth’s Warming on the left side of the front entrance, the windows will wrap around the building clockwise chronologically before ending with last year’s totally radical sonic rainboom at the Best Young Flyers Competition on the right side of the front entrance,” Star Catcher continued.
“Best use of taxpayer bits ever!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed, pumping a hoof in the air.
“A team of pegasus historians is already at work debating the most important moments to replicate, but those two are for certain and can be started immediately,” Skywishes added. “All of your supplies will be provided for you and you’ll be compensated at the normal hourly rate for contractors for the duration of the project.”
“I would be honored to do so. Thank you!”
“No, it is I who thanks you. Now, there’s one last matter that needs to be settled,” Star Catcher continued.
“And what’s that?”
“You made a wish.”
“Didn’t it already come true with all those nightmarish apparitions?”
“No. That’s not what was supposed to happen, and thankfully your wish was granted before Discord could get to me. Have you looked inside your saddlebags at all since you made your wish?”
“No. I dropped all my paints when Skywishes startled me and they were leaking when I put them back into the bag. With all that running around I did to catch the kite that poor canvas has to be a mess.”
“A mess that you should take to the next art auction in Canterlot.” Star Catcher smiled as she continued, “I think you’ll find it‘ll draw some much-needed attention to your career.” She wrapped her wings around Toola Roola, hugging her. Skywishes joined in to make it a group hug. Star Catcher looked at Rainbow Dash expectantly. “I don’t require bowing, but group hugs, however…”
Rainbow Dash reluctantly wiggled in between the two pink ponies, a smile betraying her true feelings.
Toola Roola sat on her bed, looking at the paint-splattered canvas she had removed from her saddlebags. “This is popular art? It looks like something I would have done in kindergarten. You know, hoof-painting always was fun…” She giggled, took out another canvas, and smeared some paint on her hooves. If that was what qualified as high art these days, she would be happy to deliver. She laughed at the end result. “This belongs hanging on a refrigerator. Oh well, if I get five bits for it I’m happy. If I don’t, I’ll send it to Mom for Hearth’s Warming. At least I know she’ll appreciate it!” She signed it with the ‘R’ in ‘Roola’ backwards, just as she had as a foal.
A month later Toola Roola and her friends arrived at The Canterlot Art Gallery for the art auction. Minty and Sunny Daze went off to explore the museum’s cafeteria while the others decided to browse the artwork up for auction. Mostly that involved Wysteria, Razzaroo, and Starsong asking questions about the various pieces and Toola Roola doing her best to answer them. Though truthfully the artist’s vision defied even her best guess for a few of the works of art they examined.
It wasn’t long before the auction began and the six friends found their seats. As an unknown artist, Toola Roola’s pieces were among the first to be auctioned off. Bidding started at twenty bits for one of her finest Canterlot landscapes. Minty raised a paddle.
“We have twenty bits from the green mare in the back. Do we have twenty-five? Thirty? Thirty-five?” The price continued to go up and Minty kept raising her paddle. “Forty to the green mare in the back. Uh… forty-five also from the green mare in the back. Miss, you just bid against yourself,” the auctioneer stated.
“What are you doing?” Toola asked her in a whisper.
“Bidding the price up for you, duh!”
“Do we have forty-five bits? Going once, going twice, sold to the green mare in the back for forty bits!”
Minty put her paddle down, sheepishly. “I, uh, don’t suppose I could borrow forty bits from one of you?”
Wysteria handed the green mare four 10 bit coins and grabbed her paddle away from her. “No more bidding!”
“Oh, but come on. That’s the fun part! These auctions are soooooo boring otherwise.”
Toola Roola was surprised. That was eight times what she normally sold one of her landscapes for.
“Next up for bid, we have another painting from Toola Roola. We’ll start the bidding at one hundred bits.” He pulled the cover off the painting and revealed a swirled mess of paints. The colors had run and splattered, and Toola Roola held her breath hoping she wouldn’t be laughed out of the museum.
“One hundred to the stallion in the third row. Two hundred from the blue mare on the right side. One thousand from the stallion in the third row.” The price kept climbing higher and higher as half a dozen bidders vied for the honor of taking this work home.
“Am I dreaming?” Toola asked as the bidding passed one hundred thousand bits.
Minty pinched her.
“Ouch! What did you do that for?”
“To prove you’re not dreaming!”
The final bid ended at just under four hundred thousand bits, sold to a museum in Vanhoover. Toola Roola sat there in shock as her friends congratulated her.
“Our final piece from Toola Roola today is this one. Let’s start the bidding at five thousand bits.” He pulled the cover off of the final work, revealing Toola’s filly-style hoof-painting. “Of note, this does come with the refrigerator.”
“Such a daring piece!”
“It takes convention and throws it out the window.”
“Absolutely brilliant in its obvious satire of current art trends!”
The appreciative comments came almost as fast as the bids. As the price passed the previous painting’s mark, Toola’s jaw dropped.
“Sold to the Canterlot Art Gallery for five hundred thousand bits.”
“I didn’t think that would actually sell…” Toola stammered. “I guess I need a new fridge.”
“Something tells me you can afford one,” Sunny Daze said, giggling. “Or several hundred of them for that matter.”
