ShadowSide Talesby B-NavigatorChaptersProloguePortentsApples and CloudsPrologue¬ Princess Celestia floated above the lake, panting with exertion. Around her five stone spheres flew, trailing rainbow light as they circled the alicorn. Pushing fatigue aside she focused the magic of her horn, forming a shield of iridescent light before her just in time for a dozen arrows formed of blackness to shatter against it. "Tired so soon Sister?" Celestia looked across the surface of the water, where a great roiling mass of darkness seethed, her sister calmly floating in it's center. "The night is young. Forever young." Luna added, her eyes suddenly igniting with ebony flame as she reshaped the blackness into a huge spiral vortex of darkness. With a fierce stroke of her wings, Celestia fled skyward, her mind willing the sixth stone sphere floating just before her to keep drawing power from the other five Elements of Harmony. The continuing sluggish trickle of power from the elements made her teeth grind in frustration. Abruptly Celestia sensed a threat from above, and looked up, forming her defense moments before a blast of darkness struck, piercing her rainbow shield to slam into one wing. Celestia dropped from the sky like a stone, only to ignite her horn to land softly on the hillside at the last second. "Well caught Princess." Her sister's mocking voice declared as Luna floated down, stopping to hover a dozen feet above and before Celestia. "But you must have long since realized your power is insufficient to rival our own, not even with your precious little toys." Luna laughed, and more than anytime before Celestia was sure that there was another face hidden in the black aura laughing in sync. 'Can't run, can't keep fighting much longer, and I can't get the Elements of Harmony to give me the power I need! The only spell I can cast is a banishment … The only …' Celestia's thoughts churned as she looked up at her sister, Luna's kind face twisted into a mask of cruelty and hate. "I suppose it's time to end this then, sister." Luna declared. For an instant Luna's expression faltered with a flash of uncertainty, then sneer restored she gathered the darkness before her, weaving her spell slowly as though to show how little fear she had for Celestia. 'No choice, I can banish her before she completes her spell, it's the only thing I can do … It's the only thing I can do … while defending myself.' Her eyes narrowing with determination, Celestia dropped all her defensive enchantments, directing every shred of her personal magic into the sixth element, feeling it merge with the power of friendship it had gathered from the other elements and take the form of a single spell. "Goodbye!" Luna declared as she released her spell, the darkness lashing out to envelop Celestia, then hurling her into the sky as her sun rose above the horizon for a final time. Luna watched as her sister shrank as she drew closer and closer to the sun, vanishing into the fiery orb, a cruel smile on her face. Then her gaze snapped downward, toward the rainbow storm the elements of harmony had suddenly formed. An instant later the element of magic pivoted toward her and a rainbow shot forth from it, curving to envelop her dark aura in a sphere of rainbow light. "NO!" As the rainbow light pressed in boiling her shadow aura away, one final spell suddenly erupted into her mind with a surge of dark power. With snarl of rage and hatred she wove the spell and hurled it through the rainbow sphere, to shoot upward tracing the path Celestia had taken Then the rainbow globe imploded, it's light washing over her and piercing thorugh her. Luna screamed, but her scream faded as she felt the light's warmth, sensed the love that seemed to saturate it's every photon. Then light and darkness vanished, leaving the dark furred alicorn to drop to the top of the hill. Moments after hitting the ground, Luna shook her head and pulled herself to her feet. "What… Tia … Why …" She muttered in confusion as she looked skyward. Eyes widening she stared in horror for a heartbeat before the cry of "NO!" burst from her lips. The sun seemed to be shrinking, as though being pushed further and further away, and then, suddenly ripples began to shimmer in the sky around it, as though the sky were a lake and the sun a boat being lowered into it. Luna tried channeling her almost depleted reserves of magic to halt the Sun's withdrawal, then as it continued to sink into the darkening sky she ran to where the now inert elements of harmony lay. "Please," she whispered as she channeled all her remaining magic into the Element of Magic. "PLEASE." The rippling continued, now shifting as the slightly translucent darkness of the sky began to wash over the surface of the sun, it's fully visible portion shrinking rapidly. "please." Portents"Twilight, I don't see why you couldn't just have me send a letter," said the small dragon as he walked along the corridor. "I told you Spike, the situation's too important." The purple unicorn paused and looked out one of the plain windows spaced besides the stained glass ones. Far in the distance a huge black pillar topped with an equally black bowl rose from the land below. From the flames of constantly shifting colors in the bowl rose three great rainbows, each wrapped in a great spiral of black clouds as it arced across the sky. "The Twilight Lament Festival is also the date when all six lamps fully extinguish at the same time, and if I've read the signs right..." "That whole thing about Nightmare Moon, or Midnight Black, or Final Eclipse, or whatever those old stories called it?" "I like Sunbane myself. And I'm sure it's more than just an old story." Twilight responded curtly. "But …" Spike's stopped talking as they reached the doorway, looking at the two intimidating looking pegasus guards. "Hey, how's it going Iron Wing?" he called to one of the guards. Iron Wing allowed himself to grin slightly toward the dragon, and allowed it to remain as he shifted his gaze toward Twilight. "By order of The Princess, all visitors must blindly take two items from the bin and enter the room wearing them." Twilight nodded as she walked to the bin Iron Wing had pointed out and ignited her horn to first feel it's contents, then levitate four socks from the darkness. "That's a new one," she commented as she put an orange and a pink one on her front hooves, levitating the remaining yellow and blue socks to Spike. "Twilight Sparkle and Assistant," The bearded earth pony to one side of the doorway declared as Twilight entered the audience chamber. "Twilight!" Princess Luna called happily as she turned toward the entryway. She paused a moment, then ignited her horn while glancing toward a table on the other side of the room, causing a cascade of clicks as a dozen abacus's were briefly put to use. "So, what's so important my favorite student couldn't send me a letter?" Twilight took a deep breath. "She thinks Shadow Sunbane's planning to crash the Lament." Spike declared quickly. "Spike!" Twilight briefly directed a glair toward the baby dragon, then looked back toward the princess, her expression shifting from annoyance to worry. "Princess, I've been reading the signs, I've been pouring over all the old histories, and when I correlate accounts by Starswirl, Poplar, and Frostbite, everything points to the return of the entity who banished the sun when all six lamps extinguish for rejuvenation simultaneously. And the Twilight Lament Festival is when that will happen." Luna looked toward her student for a moment. "I see." She turned from Twilight and walked back to the wall she had been standing beside when Twilight had entered. Covering a large portion of it were dozens of sheets of papers messily covered with bright paint. "Would you take a moment to look at these?" She asked. Twilight sighed, but stepped beside her mentor. She paused, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breathes. 'Prophecy requires an uncluttered mind, clear everything and feel the patterns that stretch forward as well as backward.' Opening her eyes she looked at the mass of drawings. "Apples, Clouds, Ribbons, Birds, Cotton Candy and … a rainbow." Twilight sighed. "No clue if it means anything though." "Everything potentially has meaning, my young student." Luna responded simply. "I asked all the kindergarten teachers in Canterlot and the surrounding cities to have their students hoofpaint how they imagined The Sun had looked and send me the paintings." She looked toward the large array on the wall. "Do you think I should keep it for a few days? I rather like it." "Princess …" Twilight started, pausing as she tried to figure out what to say next. "Twilight, You've learned so much in your time studying here, but you may have been too focused on what you can pick up from books." "But…" "So, I'm charging you to personally take charge of preparations of this years Twilight Lament. And while your at it," Luna turned to look Twilight in the eye, "You also need to make some friends." The Princess cocked her head, glancing toward one of the windows. "Actually consider making friends your number one priority." "But..." Luna turned her head back toward the collection of hoof paintings, thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes, I think I will leave this up for at least a week." Nodding to herself she trotted over to the table with the abacus's. "But...." The door to Twilight's room opened and Spike walked in, followed by Twilight. "Ok, it's a short trip so just pack the necessities, right?" Spike asked. "Do what you have to do spike." Twilight commented as she walked to the closet by the wardrobe. "I've got some thinking to do." She commented as she opened the door and looked into the completely white interior. Spike scratched his head as he looked at the closet. "Um, didn't Princess Luna say the whole no distraction closet was a crutch..." "The fate of Equestria may be at stake, self-discovery and all that can wait!" Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she stepped into the closet. "The Light shines within to illuminate the cutie mark. Where light shines, so there is Shadow," Twilight intoned as her cutie mark went monochrome as her body began shifting and reforming, with patches of black crystal forming at a dozen points on her coat, and spreading across her body. Spike shut the closet door and sighed. "I'd better get the calipers just in case," he commented as he walked away from the closet. Apples and CloudsTwilight looked dejectedly over the side of the silver chariot as it flew through the sky, drawn by Luna's silver armored guards. "Cheer up Twilight," Spike said comfortingly. "All of Equestria may be in danger and when I tried to find the key to save it I wound up spending the night rearranging my room instead." "Well, Luna did say you needed to learn to confront your Shadow's problems instead of. . ." "I know!" "Well, you'll be staying in a library, isn't that a good thing?" Twilight pulled herself upright, looking from the lamps to the blazing moon floating in the sky like a lamp mounted in a mirror of dark blue frosted glass. "Your right Spike! That's resources to prove my theory as soon as I can wrap up preparations for the festival." "But when will you have time to make friends?" Twilight rolled her eyes, "The fate of Equestria doesn't hinge on me making friends!" Twilight looked up at the sign over the gate. "Sweet Apple Acres." "Providers of the food," Spike commented as he considered his clipboard. "You'll want to talk to a pony named Applejack apparently." "Ok, let's ..." Twilight fell silent and came to a halt as she turned toward a sudden burst of sound. In the orchard floated a pony, her burnt umbra coat and large butterfly wings inlaid with a dozens of spirals of every color sparkling with a thousand dots of light. And on her head where a tiara or hat covered with feathers would have fit perfectly, there was instead a jarringly plain light tan cowpony hat. 'Interesting Shadow Side,' Twilight thought as she listened to pony's wordless melody. As the pony stopped singing and just looked at the tree in front of her, Twilight slowly walked forward. "Hi!" Twilight called, prompting the pony to pirouette toward her. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, the princess sent me to oversee preparations, and I need to see ... Applejack?" Wordlessly the floating pony closed her eyes in concentration, and a black ripple shimmered across her form as her wings faded and her coat shifted to a solid orange hue. "That'd be me. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." She declared extending a hoof. 'Fast reversion, must mean she's very used to shifting.' Twilight considered Applejack as she extended her own hoof, then lost her train of thought as the high speed hoofshake sent vibrations all the way to the tip of her tail. "So, you're representing her majesty. What can I do you for?" Twilight shook her head. "As I said I'm overseeing preparations for the Twilight Lament," she explained as she looked around the farm. "And according to my list you are responsible for providing the ... Is that a ... Zap apple Tree?" Applejack winced slightly as she followed Twilight's gaze to the tree she had been singing at earlier. "No, That's a Midnight." "Oh, I'm sorry if there's something wrong, I was just checking about the food, and I've only read about Zap Apples ..." Applejack raised a dismissive hoof. "Don't worry, this ain't got nothing to do with the chow for the festivities, it's just that the Midnights won't finish ripening unless you sing to them shadow style and they want a different song from every pony. I'm still trying to figure what song they want from me." "Really, that's an unusually loose causal crystallization." Applejack blinked, "Beg Pardon?" "Well the theory goes that for new discoveries like these, any cause can trigger any effect, but the first time sets it permanently." Twilight looked at Applejack's confused face. "Well according to Summer Dawn, not that anyone but me seems to have read her book... " Applejack shook her head. "Well unless you know some fancy Unicorn trick for figuring out what I should be singing, I suppose we ought to be talking vittles." Twilight looked at Applejack, then at the tree, one hoof raised to rub under her chin. "Actually ..." her horn glowed as she reached out and grabbed a bunch of twigs and leaves from the ground around them. She swirled her collection in a whirling ball of magic that rose about eight feet into the air, then released the sphere and watched the contents drop to the ground before her and Applejack. Twilight cocked her head one way then the other, then with a nod she extended her hoof and drew a circle around one patch of earth. "What songs does that bring to mind?" "Huh?" Applejack asked, staring at Twilight a moment before looking to the ground. "It's a few twigs and three leaves in a circle." "Try to just clear your mind, look at it and identify any music related comparisons it inspires." Applejack raised a hoof to scratch her head as she looked down. "Well, it kind reminds me of this poster I saw in Manehatin back ... Are you sayin those trees want opera?!" Twilight blinked as she looked at the farmpony. "No, I..." Applejack cut her off with a big sigh. "Well, that's just typical. But I definitely don't wanna try that on an empty stomach. Care to sample the food for the festivities?" "Well ..." Not waiting for an answer Appjack had already sprinted to a hearby triangle which she rung loudly. "Soup's On Everypony!!" "I ate too much," Twilight moaned as she walked into town. "Who's next on the list? Spike looked over his scroll. "Well there's a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash who'd supposed to be handling the placement of the clouds." "Right," Twilight commented as she looked up to the sky, then her eyes widening. "She's not doing a good job." Above the central ponyville square sat a large glowing cloud, jagged multicolored sparks dancing across it's quivering surface, to signify the rainbow arcing into it's top. "Oh no, Lamp venting." She looked around the sky. "Blast it, where's that sky captain, she's supposed to be taking care of this sort of thing." "Don't worry, it should handle itself in a minute." A voice intoned from behind her. Twilight pivoted and looked behind her. A blue Pegasus with a wild rainbow mane sat on a cloud a foot above the ground casually polishing an apple. Twilight stared at her. "This is serious!" She declared angrily. The Pegasus casually responded "I know," as she took a bite out of her apple. "That's why I'm waiting." Twilight looked back to the cloud. "For what?" The Pegasus took another bite of her apple, and chewed a few times before swallowing. "There's a five minuite window. During that window, the number crunchers say there's a coin flip's chance that ... Ah, four minutes twenty five seconds," She concluded as she tossed away her apple and stood. Twilight turned to follow the Pegasus's gaze skyward. Suddenly a great arc of multihued darkness arced through the sky, slamming into a second cloud floating about thrity feet away from the cloud holding back the bright rainbow. "Wait, so there's a local patern for the lamps venting rainbows of darkness right five minutes after rainbows of light?" Twilight asked. The Pegasus rose into the sky with a few flaps of her wings. "You catch on fast." Abruptly the Pegasus shot forward, shooting into a superfast figure 8 patern around the two clouds, then shifted into a superfast loop around both in the opposite direction for nearly a second before flying right up to twilight and dropping casually to her hoofs. "Five, four, three," she counted while pulling out and putting on a pair of sunglasses, "Two, bang." As the clouds continued to slowly drift together, suddenly a spark of rainbow lightning jumped from the first cloud to the second, igniting a growing cascade of light and dark arcs leaping between the two clouds, then a moment latter the arcs of power climbed between the two rainbows like a gigantic jacob's ladder, their intensity growing all the time before with a fierce crack the two rainbows slammed together and vanished in a burst of light and noise. "Oh yeah," the Pegasus commented with a big grin as she took off her sunglasses. Twilight shook her head. "Ok, you're Rainbow Dash right?" With a grin the Pegasus responded, "The one and only!" She looked appraisingly at Twilight and added, "So you've heard of me?" Twilight looked up to the sky. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, I was sent to check up on preparations and I'd heard you were in charge of the sky." "Oh yeah, no worries am I right?" She responded with a smirk. Twilight looked at the scattered clouds in the sky. "While handling that venting was impressive, that doesn't guarantee that this level of cloud shielding will be sufficient." Rainbow scowled. "Are you saying I don't know my job?" Twilight shook her head. "No, I'm saying that because the lamp's so close to a full shutdown it's overall venting likelihood is going to increase dramatically." "Yeah I've heard that, that's why I set the triple cover pattern up there, no worries," Rainbow commented with a little wave of her hoof. "Worrying is my job!" Twilight declared as she looked skyward again. Suddenly there was a slight boom and a burst of darkness through the clouds. "Wow," Rainbow commented, raising a hoof to scratch her head. "Never seen separated vents so close together before. Ok, I can kick the cloud shielding up a few notches easily enough." Twilight sighed and smiled. "Thank you, that's a big reassurance." With a laugh Rainbow Dash gave her a light tap on the shoulder. "Funny, Twilight Sparkle." With a few flaps of her wings she rose into the air. "I can't wait to hang out some more!" She called as she shot upward. "Hmm, Two new friends already," Spike commented as he looked to the rapidly reshaping clouds in the sky. Twilight directed a weak glair at the young dragon. "That's not why ... Never mind, what's next on the list." "Town hall, Decorations," Spike read.
Prologue¬ Princess Celestia floated above the lake, panting with exertion. Around her five stone spheres flew, trailing rainbow light as they circled the alicorn. Pushing fatigue aside she focused the magic of her horn, forming a shield of iridescent light before her just in time for a dozen arrows formed of blackness to shatter against it. "Tired so soon Sister?" Celestia looked across the surface of the water, where a great roiling mass of darkness seethed, her sister calmly floating in it's center. "The night is young. Forever young." Luna added, her eyes suddenly igniting with ebony flame as she reshaped the blackness into a huge spiral vortex of darkness. With a fierce stroke of her wings, Celestia fled skyward, her mind willing the sixth stone sphere floating just before her to keep drawing power from the other five Elements of Harmony. The continuing sluggish trickle of power from the elements made her teeth grind in frustration. Abruptly Celestia sensed a threat from above, and looked up, forming her defense moments before a blast of darkness struck, piercing her rainbow shield to slam into one wing. Celestia dropped from the sky like a stone, only to ignite her horn to land softly on the hillside at the last second. "Well caught Princess." Her sister's mocking voice declared as Luna floated down, stopping to hover a dozen feet above and before Celestia. "But you must have long since realized your power is insufficient to rival our own, not even with your precious little toys." Luna laughed, and more than anytime before Celestia was sure that there was another face hidden in the black aura laughing in sync. 'Can't run, can't keep fighting much longer, and I can't get the Elements of Harmony to give me the power I need! The only spell I can cast is a banishment … The only …' Celestia's thoughts churned as she looked up at her sister, Luna's kind face twisted into a mask of cruelty and hate. "I suppose it's time to end this then, sister." Luna declared. For an instant Luna's expression faltered with a flash of uncertainty, then sneer restored she gathered the darkness before her, weaving her spell slowly as though to show how little fear she had for Celestia. 'No choice, I can banish her before she completes her spell, it's the only thing I can do … It's the only thing I can do … while defending myself.' Her eyes narrowing with determination, Celestia dropped all her defensive enchantments, directing every shred of her personal magic into the sixth element, feeling it merge with the power of friendship it had gathered from the other elements and take the form of a single spell. "Goodbye!" Luna declared as she released her spell, the darkness lashing out to envelop Celestia, then hurling her into the sky as her sun rose above the horizon for a final time. Luna watched as her sister shrank as she drew closer and closer to the sun, vanishing into the fiery orb, a cruel smile on her face. Then her gaze snapped downward, toward the rainbow storm the elements of harmony had suddenly formed. An instant later the element of magic pivoted toward her and a rainbow shot forth from it, curving to envelop her dark aura in a sphere of rainbow light. "NO!" As the rainbow light pressed in boiling her shadow aura away, one final spell suddenly erupted into her mind with a surge of dark power. With snarl of rage and hatred she wove the spell and hurled it through the rainbow sphere, to shoot upward tracing the path Celestia had taken Then the rainbow globe imploded, it's light washing over her and piercing thorugh her. Luna screamed, but her scream faded as she felt the light's warmth, sensed the love that seemed to saturate it's every photon. Then light and darkness vanished, leaving the dark furred alicorn to drop to the top of the hill. Moments after hitting the ground, Luna shook her head and pulled herself to her feet. "What… Tia … Why …" She muttered in confusion as she looked skyward. Eyes widening she stared in horror for a heartbeat before the cry of "NO!" burst from her lips. The sun seemed to be shrinking, as though being pushed further and further away, and then, suddenly ripples began to shimmer in the sky around it, as though the sky were a lake and the sun a boat being lowered into it. Luna tried channeling her almost depleted reserves of magic to halt the Sun's withdrawal, then as it continued to sink into the darkening sky she ran to where the now inert elements of harmony lay. "Please," she whispered as she channeled all her remaining magic into the Element of Magic. "PLEASE." The rippling continued, now shifting as the slightly translucent darkness of the sky began to wash over the surface of the sun, it's fully visible portion shrinking rapidly. "please."
Portents"Twilight, I don't see why you couldn't just have me send a letter," said the small dragon as he walked along the corridor. "I told you Spike, the situation's too important." The purple unicorn paused and looked out one of the plain windows spaced besides the stained glass ones. Far in the distance a huge black pillar topped with an equally black bowl rose from the land below. From the flames of constantly shifting colors in the bowl rose three great rainbows, each wrapped in a great spiral of black clouds as it arced across the sky. "The Twilight Lament Festival is also the date when all six lamps fully extinguish at the same time, and if I've read the signs right..." "That whole thing about Nightmare Moon, or Midnight Black, or Final Eclipse, or whatever those old stories called it?" "I like Sunbane myself. And I'm sure it's more than just an old story." Twilight responded curtly. "But …" Spike's stopped talking as they reached the doorway, looking at the two intimidating looking pegasus guards. "Hey, how's it going Iron Wing?" he called to one of the guards. Iron Wing allowed himself to grin slightly toward the dragon, and allowed it to remain as he shifted his gaze toward Twilight. "By order of The Princess, all visitors must blindly take two items from the bin and enter the room wearing them." Twilight nodded as she walked to the bin Iron Wing had pointed out and ignited her horn to first feel it's contents, then levitate four socks from the darkness. "That's a new one," she commented as she put an orange and a pink one on her front hooves, levitating the remaining yellow and blue socks to Spike. "Twilight Sparkle and Assistant," The bearded earth pony to one side of the doorway declared as Twilight entered the audience chamber. "Twilight!" Princess Luna called happily as she turned toward the entryway. She paused a moment, then ignited her horn while glancing toward a table on the other side of the room, causing a cascade of clicks as a dozen abacus's were briefly put to use. "So, what's so important my favorite student couldn't send me a letter?" Twilight took a deep breath. "She thinks Shadow Sunbane's planning to crash the Lament." Spike declared quickly. "Spike!" Twilight briefly directed a glair toward the baby dragon, then looked back toward the princess, her expression shifting from annoyance to worry. "Princess, I've been reading the signs, I've been pouring over all the old histories, and when I correlate accounts by Starswirl, Poplar, and Frostbite, everything points to the return of the entity who banished the sun when all six lamps extinguish for rejuvenation simultaneously. And the Twilight Lament Festival is when that will happen." Luna looked toward her student for a moment. "I see." She turned from Twilight and walked back to the wall she had been standing beside when Twilight had entered. Covering a large portion of it were dozens of sheets of papers messily covered with bright paint. "Would you take a moment to look at these?" She asked. Twilight sighed, but stepped beside her mentor. She paused, closing her eyes and taking a few deep breathes. 'Prophecy requires an uncluttered mind, clear everything and feel the patterns that stretch forward as well as backward.' Opening her eyes she looked at the mass of drawings. "Apples, Clouds, Ribbons, Birds, Cotton Candy and … a rainbow." Twilight sighed. "No clue if it means anything though." "Everything potentially has meaning, my young student." Luna responded simply. "I asked all the kindergarten teachers in Canterlot and the surrounding cities to have their students hoofpaint how they imagined The Sun had looked and send me the paintings." She looked toward the large array on the wall. "Do you think I should keep it for a few days? I rather like it." "Princess …" Twilight started, pausing as she tried to figure out what to say next. "Twilight, You've learned so much in your time studying here, but you may have been too focused on what you can pick up from books." "But…" "So, I'm charging you to personally take charge of preparations of this years Twilight Lament. And while your at it," Luna turned to look Twilight in the eye, "You also need to make some friends." The Princess cocked her head, glancing toward one of the windows. "Actually consider making friends your number one priority." "But..." Luna turned her head back toward the collection of hoof paintings, thought for a moment and nodded. "Yes, I think I will leave this up for at least a week." Nodding to herself she trotted over to the table with the abacus's. "But...." The door to Twilight's room opened and Spike walked in, followed by Twilight. "Ok, it's a short trip so just pack the necessities, right?" Spike asked. "Do what you have to do spike." Twilight commented as she walked to the closet by the wardrobe. "I've got some thinking to do." She commented as she opened the door and looked into the completely white interior. Spike scratched his head as he looked at the closet. "Um, didn't Princess Luna say the whole no distraction closet was a crutch..." "The fate of Equestria may be at stake, self-discovery and all that can wait!" Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath she stepped into the closet. "The Light shines within to illuminate the cutie mark. Where light shines, so there is Shadow," Twilight intoned as her cutie mark went monochrome as her body began shifting and reforming, with patches of black crystal forming at a dozen points on her coat, and spreading across her body. Spike shut the closet door and sighed. "I'd better get the calipers just in case," he commented as he walked away from the closet.
Apples and CloudsTwilight looked dejectedly over the side of the silver chariot as it flew through the sky, drawn by Luna's silver armored guards. "Cheer up Twilight," Spike said comfortingly. "All of Equestria may be in danger and when I tried to find the key to save it I wound up spending the night rearranging my room instead." "Well, Luna did say you needed to learn to confront your Shadow's problems instead of. . ." "I know!" "Well, you'll be staying in a library, isn't that a good thing?" Twilight pulled herself upright, looking from the lamps to the blazing moon floating in the sky like a lamp mounted in a mirror of dark blue frosted glass. "Your right Spike! That's resources to prove my theory as soon as I can wrap up preparations for the festival." "But when will you have time to make friends?" Twilight rolled her eyes, "The fate of Equestria doesn't hinge on me making friends!" Twilight looked up at the sign over the gate. "Sweet Apple Acres." "Providers of the food," Spike commented as he considered his clipboard. "You'll want to talk to a pony named Applejack apparently." "Ok, let's ..." Twilight fell silent and came to a halt as she turned toward a sudden burst of sound. In the orchard floated a pony, her burnt umbra coat and large butterfly wings inlaid with a dozens of spirals of every color sparkling with a thousand dots of light. And on her head where a tiara or hat covered with feathers would have fit perfectly, there was instead a jarringly plain light tan cowpony hat. 'Interesting Shadow Side,' Twilight thought as she listened to pony's wordless melody. As the pony stopped singing and just looked at the tree in front of her, Twilight slowly walked forward. "Hi!" Twilight called, prompting the pony to pirouette toward her. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, the princess sent me to oversee preparations, and I need to see ... Applejack?" Wordlessly the floating pony closed her eyes in concentration, and a black ripple shimmered across her form as her wings faded and her coat shifted to a solid orange hue. "That'd be me. Pleasure to make your acquaintance." She declared extending a hoof. 'Fast reversion, must mean she's very used to shifting.' Twilight considered Applejack as she extended her own hoof, then lost her train of thought as the high speed hoofshake sent vibrations all the way to the tip of her tail. "So, you're representing her majesty. What can I do you for?" Twilight shook her head. "As I said I'm overseeing preparations for the Twilight Lament," she explained as she looked around the farm. "And according to my list you are responsible for providing the ... Is that a ... Zap apple Tree?" Applejack winced slightly as she followed Twilight's gaze to the tree she had been singing at earlier. "No, That's a Midnight." "Oh, I'm sorry if there's something wrong, I was just checking about the food, and I've only read about Zap Apples ..." Applejack raised a dismissive hoof. "Don't worry, this ain't got nothing to do with the chow for the festivities, it's just that the Midnights won't finish ripening unless you sing to them shadow style and they want a different song from every pony. I'm still trying to figure what song they want from me." "Really, that's an unusually loose causal crystallization." Applejack blinked, "Beg Pardon?" "Well the theory goes that for new discoveries like these, any cause can trigger any effect, but the first time sets it permanently." Twilight looked at Applejack's confused face. "Well according to Summer Dawn, not that anyone but me seems to have read her book... " Applejack shook her head. "Well unless you know some fancy Unicorn trick for figuring out what I should be singing, I suppose we ought to be talking vittles." Twilight looked at Applejack, then at the tree, one hoof raised to rub under her chin. "Actually ..." her horn glowed as she reached out and grabbed a bunch of twigs and leaves from the ground around them. She swirled her collection in a whirling ball of magic that rose about eight feet into the air, then released the sphere and watched the contents drop to the ground before her and Applejack. Twilight cocked her head one way then the other, then with a nod she extended her hoof and drew a circle around one patch of earth. "What songs does that bring to mind?" "Huh?" Applejack asked, staring at Twilight a moment before looking to the ground. "It's a few twigs and three leaves in a circle." "Try to just clear your mind, look at it and identify any music related comparisons it inspires." Applejack raised a hoof to scratch her head as she looked down. "Well, it kind reminds me of this poster I saw in Manehatin back ... Are you sayin those trees want opera?!" Twilight blinked as she looked at the farmpony. "No, I..." Applejack cut her off with a big sigh. "Well, that's just typical. But I definitely don't wanna try that on an empty stomach. Care to sample the food for the festivities?" "Well ..." Not waiting for an answer Appjack had already sprinted to a hearby triangle which she rung loudly. "Soup's On Everypony!!" "I ate too much," Twilight moaned as she walked into town. "Who's next on the list? Spike looked over his scroll. "Well there's a Pegasus named Rainbow Dash who'd supposed to be handling the placement of the clouds." "Right," Twilight commented as she looked up to the sky, then her eyes widening. "She's not doing a good job." Above the central ponyville square sat a large glowing cloud, jagged multicolored sparks dancing across it's quivering surface, to signify the rainbow arcing into it's top. "Oh no, Lamp venting." She looked around the sky. "Blast it, where's that sky captain, she's supposed to be taking care of this sort of thing." "Don't worry, it should handle itself in a minute." A voice intoned from behind her. Twilight pivoted and looked behind her. A blue Pegasus with a wild rainbow mane sat on a cloud a foot above the ground casually polishing an apple. Twilight stared at her. "This is serious!" She declared angrily. The Pegasus casually responded "I know," as she took a bite out of her apple. "That's why I'm waiting." Twilight looked back to the cloud. "For what?" The Pegasus took another bite of her apple, and chewed a few times before swallowing. "There's a five minuite window. During that window, the number crunchers say there's a coin flip's chance that ... Ah, four minutes twenty five seconds," She concluded as she tossed away her apple and stood. Twilight turned to follow the Pegasus's gaze skyward. Suddenly a great arc of multihued darkness arced through the sky, slamming into a second cloud floating about thrity feet away from the cloud holding back the bright rainbow. "Wait, so there's a local patern for the lamps venting rainbows of darkness right five minutes after rainbows of light?" Twilight asked. The Pegasus rose into the sky with a few flaps of her wings. "You catch on fast." Abruptly the Pegasus shot forward, shooting into a superfast figure 8 patern around the two clouds, then shifted into a superfast loop around both in the opposite direction for nearly a second before flying right up to twilight and dropping casually to her hoofs. "Five, four, three," she counted while pulling out and putting on a pair of sunglasses, "Two, bang." As the clouds continued to slowly drift together, suddenly a spark of rainbow lightning jumped from the first cloud to the second, igniting a growing cascade of light and dark arcs leaping between the two clouds, then a moment latter the arcs of power climbed between the two rainbows like a gigantic jacob's ladder, their intensity growing all the time before with a fierce crack the two rainbows slammed together and vanished in a burst of light and noise. "Oh yeah," the Pegasus commented with a big grin as she took off her sunglasses. Twilight shook her head. "Ok, you're Rainbow Dash right?" With a grin the Pegasus responded, "The one and only!" She looked appraisingly at Twilight and added, "So you've heard of me?" Twilight looked up to the sky. "I'm Twilight Sparkle, I was sent to check up on preparations and I'd heard you were in charge of the sky." "Oh yeah, no worries am I right?" She responded with a smirk. Twilight looked at the scattered clouds in the sky. "While handling that venting was impressive, that doesn't guarantee that this level of cloud shielding will be sufficient." Rainbow scowled. "Are you saying I don't know my job?" Twilight shook her head. "No, I'm saying that because the lamp's so close to a full shutdown it's overall venting likelihood is going to increase dramatically." "Yeah I've heard that, that's why I set the triple cover pattern up there, no worries," Rainbow commented with a little wave of her hoof. "Worrying is my job!" Twilight declared as she looked skyward again. Suddenly there was a slight boom and a burst of darkness through the clouds. "Wow," Rainbow commented, raising a hoof to scratch her head. "Never seen separated vents so close together before. Ok, I can kick the cloud shielding up a few notches easily enough." Twilight sighed and smiled. "Thank you, that's a big reassurance." With a laugh Rainbow Dash gave her a light tap on the shoulder. "Funny, Twilight Sparkle." With a few flaps of her wings she rose into the air. "I can't wait to hang out some more!" She called as she shot upward. "Hmm, Two new friends already," Spike commented as he looked to the rapidly reshaping clouds in the sky. Twilight directed a weak glair at the young dragon. "That's not why ... Never mind, what's next on the list." "Town hall, Decorations," Spike read.
