MLP STORY BOOK: Collection Of One Shots and Short Storiesby PoniesAreMyObsessionChaptersChallenge For The ChipA Mare's HeroLittle DiscoveryRoyalty To RagsScavenger HuntA True PonyA Heart In HarmonyChallenge For The ChipChallenge For The Chip (THIS IS ROYAL FLUSH) It was an usual night in the flashy town of Las Pegasus. A Lavender mare was sitting at a table across from her challenger. She fixes her white cowgirl hat to show her shiny braided pink and purple mane. She waits for Fire-heart to make her move. She watches as the grey pegasus pushes two red chips to the center of the table. Then all eyes are on her. She examines her cards while keeping her face straight. "All in" she says and pushes her pile of chips to the center of the table as the ponies around her gasp. The dealer nods to Fire-heart. "I have a full house me lass" she says with a cocky smile. "Darn" the lavender pony says, "all I got is this here ROYAL FLUSH!" she shows her cards. The crowd cheers as the pony collects her chips. "Shoot, Royal Flush, ye beat me again" Fire-heart says. "Well, my name is Royal Flush" the lavender pony claims, "and this mark didn't appear for no reason" she points to a pink poker chip on her flank. "I guess not" Fire-heart chuckles. "Let me treat ya to a nice cold nectar" Royal Flush offers as they head to the bar. "One apple nectar and one lime nectar please" Royal orders as they sat on the bar stools. Just then a blue pegasus with a typewriter cutie mark flies up to her. "Wow Royal Flush once again, you've won the annual Equestrian poker tour" he says, "how do you feel?". "Amazing like I always do, but my friend here did awesome as well" Royal Flush answers looking over to Fire-heart. "It must be an awesome feeling to be the second best poker player around" the pegasus says. That comment took Royal Flush by surprise. "second best?" she asks confused. "Yes the only other pony who has won more card games then you lives in Appleloosa. He only plays locally though" the pegasus says. The mention of her home town makes her a little sad. "What's the pony's name?" "A stallion by the name of Braeburn" the pegasus says. The mention of his name brings memories back from her foalhood in Dodge Junction. When she was a foal she won every card game or any game you could bet on there was. She won a bag of candy playing jacks once. Then she was challenged by Braeburn. They were playing crazy eights for her golden poker chip. Her father gave it to when she won her first poker game and earned her cutie mark. To her shock Braeburn had beat her and she had to give up her priceless chip. "Mind if I put your winning streak in Ponyville's newspaper?" the pegasus asks bringing her out of her thoughts. "Sure thing Mr." Royal Flush says. When the pegasus flies off Fire-heart notices Royal Flush is deep in thought. "Ye ok there Royal?" she asks. "I think I'll make a special trip home" Royal Flush announces. "To dodge junction?" Fire-Heart asks sipping her apple nectar. "No, to Appleloosa" Royal Flush says, "Braeburn is an old challenger of mine from my foalhood". "Ah, he be the one who took ye chip" Fire-heart says. Royal Flush nods as she stood up and started her wings, "promise me you won't fly home if you drink more than two cups of nectar". "Ye got me word lass" Fire heart says as Royal hugs her and flies off. The next morning in a saloon in Appleloosa everypony was congratulating Braeburn on his big card game win the night before. "Wow cousin, glad I picked the right time to visit" Applejack says, "I've never seen ya play before and to see ya win is even better". "Ah shucks AJ, it's just luck" Braeburn says, "thanks to my golden chip" he pats his vest pocket. "You're luck is about to run out Brae" he hears a familiar voice say. Everypony looks toward the door to a pony with her cowgirl hat tipped down standing there. "It can't be" Braeburn says. "Can't be who?" Applejack asks looking at the mare confused. "Royal Flush?" Braeburn says scrunching his eyes to get a better look. "Yep, that's me" Royal says walking up to Braeburn and Applejack. "Who is she?" Applejack asks. "We're old friends" Braeburn says. "More like challengers" Royal Flush says, "that chip ya holdin is mine" Braeburn scoffs at Royal Flush, "It was until I won it fair in square". Royal Flush scrunches up her face. "Fine then I challenge you to any game and the winner keeps the chip" All the ponies look at Braeburn. "Deal" he said and everypony gasps. "Name the game" Royal Flush demands. "Crazy eights" Braeburn says with a wide smile. Royal's confident smirk falters for a minute, but she quickly regains it. "Let's play then" she says getting in braeburn's face. Applejack sets up the table and deals the cards. Royal Flush goes first. The face up card was a two of clubs. She places a five of clubs on top of it. Braeburn smiles and lays down a five of hearts. That sat Royal Flush back, she had no hearts in her deck. She had to draw and ended up with two aces before laying down a seven of hearts. The game went on. She had to play her hoof right. The suit of play was now spades. She only had one in her hoof. She lays an ace of spades down. Braeburn smirks and lays down his last card. A wild card. "I win" he says. Royal Flush was shocked. She thought for sure she had him this time. "Looks like the chip is still mine" Braeburn gloats. Royal's anger boils. "FINE!" she yells, "it's not likes it's the only thing you've taken from me" "What are ya talking about?" Braeburn asks clearly puzzled by her statement. She sighs and looks at him. "I love ya Braeburn. I have since I was a filly. That's why I always challenged you to games" she told, "and one day when we found the land for Appleloosa I told you how I felt, but you said you didn't have time for unimportant things like mares when there was a town to be built. That hurt like nothing else had, so I left for Las Pegasus" Braeburn was stunned silent, "I see I should have stayed there" Royal starts to walk out of the saloon. "Royal" Braeburn calls walking over to her. She turns to face him and he kisses her. That took Royal Flush by surprise and she blushes a little. "I've always loved you too Royal" Braeburn admits, "that's why I tried my hardest to win against you in games to impress you" "Really?" Royal Flush asks. "Yes, and I'm sorry I said something so mean, I was so caught up in having a town for us settler ponies to live in I wasn't really paying attention to who said what to me" he admits, "when I found out you left I felt so sad, I missed you Royal" "I missed you to Brae" Royal says and hugs Braeburn. "And this is yours" he says reaching into his vest pocket and taking out a golden chain. Hanging from the chain was her golden chip encased in a heart shaped frame. Braeburn puts the chain around her neck and they nuzzle each other. A Mare's HeroA Mare's Hero (THIS IS SURE SHOT) It was a quiet night in Ponyville. Until sirens went off. A brown pony galloped away from the local gem store as fast as he could. His saddle bags filled with expensive jewels. He heard screams and heard yelling at him to halt, but he kept going. He was about to the entrance to the forest when a blue flash tackled him. He hit the ground and the stolen jewels fell out everywhere. "Not cool" the pony who had him pinned down said. "Get him boys" he heard a male pony order. Two ponies stood him up as an unicorn pony used his magic to put magical cuffs on his hooves. "Who is this guy?" Rainbow Dash asked. "This is Sure Shot" one of the guard ponies said, "he's a thief we've been trying to catch for a year". "He's robbed ponies all over Equestria" another pony said. "You guys take him in and I'll return the jewels" Rainbow Dash said picking up the jewels. "You'll pay for this" Sure Shot said in a rough voice as they trotted passed Rainbow Dash. "Dude, don't do the crime if ya can't do the time" Rainbow Dash gloated flying off. The guards locked Sure Shot in a cell while they went over paperwork. He looked around the cell for anything he could use to get out. That's when he noticed he still had his saddle bags. All he needed to do was distract the guards so he could break out. He reached into his mane and pulled out a tiny green ball and tossed over to the guard's desk. It suddenly burst into a big green puff and knocked the guarding ponies out. He then took one of his arrows and shoved it in the lock. After a few minutes of fiddling around he heard a clicking noise and the door unlocked. He threw his saddle bags over his back and hurried out of the cell. He grabbed his Bow from the desk and dashed out of the guard tower and vanished into the forest. The next day Rainbow Dash and Twilight were sitting in the doctor's office. "Well Rainbow Dash, it's not broken, but you did sprain it" the doctor said, "so no flying for at least a week" "What?!" Rainbow gasped, "Doc, I gotta fly!" "No flying for a week Dash" Twilight said. "Ugh fine!" Rainbow Dash huffed as she crossed her front hooves. As Rainbow Dash and Twilight were walking back to Twilight's Library one of the guard ponies from the night before came up to them. "Rainbow Dash" he greeted, "we have some bad news" "What?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Sure Shot has escaped" The guard said. The girls gasped. "Escaped how?" Rainbow asked. "He knocked out the guarding ponies with some type of gas and used an arrow to unlock his cell" the guard pony told them. "So what should I do?" Rainbow asked trying not to sound worried. "Just don't go anywhere alone" the pony guard said trotting off. "It's settled Dash, you're not going anywhere without one of us with you" Twilight stated. As the days went by the officer ponies had yet to find Sure Shot. Rainbow was hanging out at Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was working on some special cupcakes. "Oh horsefeathers" Pinkie said with a sad look on her face. "What's wrong Pinkie" Rainbow Dash asked hovering over her. "I don't have the super sweet gummy berries I need for my cupcakes" she said as she looked at her cupcake batter. "Where do you get them?" Rainbow asked. "Just inside the Everfree Forest" Pinkie Pie admitted. "I can go get ya some" Dash offered. "I don't know" Pinkie said, "me and the others have been ordered not leave you alone" "Just going to gather berries Pinkie" Dash reminded. "Ok I'll walk to the forest with ya at least" Pinkie announced as they started toward the forest. "Ok pinkie you stay here and I'll gallop in and fill the basket with berries" Dash said as she grabbed the basket in her teeth and headed into the forest. Sure Shot was gathering wood for a fire when he heard hoof steps. He peeked through the bushes his was hidden behind and smiled evilly. It was Rainbow Dash. He grabbed his bow and slung his saddle bags on and quietly followed Rainbow Dash. Rainbow had just filled the basket with green, red, and yellow gummy berries. "Hello, Rainbow" she heard somepony say. She turned around and it was Sure Shot. She gasped and dropped the basket of berries. "You" she said. "You seem surprised to see me" Sure Shot said with evil laced in his words. "I don't want trouble" Rainbow said backing away a bit. "You should have thought about that before you tackled me that night night!" Sure Shot yelled as he grabbed his bow. Rainbow took off and he was right behind her. "HELP!" Rainbow called. Zenith Spark was doing what he loved to do, fly when he heard yelling. He looked down and saw a blue rainbow maned pegasus running from a brown earth pony with a bow. He knew right away it was Rainbow Dash and he knew she was in trouble. Dash hid behind a tree. She was trying to catch her breath when an arrow dashed by making a branch fall off the tree and she took off again. Sure Shot was right behind her. He was about to add another arrow to his bow when a yellow blur kicked it out of his hoof. He looked up and there hovering in the air was a yellow pegasus who also had a rainbow mane and tale. "What are you doing?!" Sure Shot screamed. "Stopping a creep like you from hurting anypony" Zenith said as he went to tackle him. Sure Shot dodged his attack and headed for his bow. He almost reached it when he was tackled. He and Zenith tumbled around until they stopped right at the the entrance of the forest. "That's it Rainbow boy!" Sure Shot threatened getting into his defensive stance. "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE SURE SHOT!" somepony said through a bull horn. He looked behind him and it was the guards. He started to take off into the forest again when Zenith once again tackled him. This helped the guards to cuff him and put him in their wagon. Pinkie and Twilight galloped toward Rainbow and hugged her. "Thank Celestia you're alright" Twilight said. "Thanks to this stallion over here" Rainbow Dash said pointing to Zenith. "It was no problem to help out a fellow awesome flyer" Zenith stated spreading his wings. "Maybe when my wing heals we can fly together" Rainbow Dash said. "Deal" Zenith said as they all headed back into Ponyville. "One thing that I don't get is how the guards knew we were in the forest" Rainbow Dash pondered. "I heard you yelling for help and dashed to get them" Pinkie said. Rainbow Dash smiled. "What's your name?" Twilight asked Zenith. "Zenith Spark" He said closing up his wings. Little DiscoveryLittle Discovery (THIS IS NORTHERN ROSE "Are you crazy Northern Rose?!" Rarity shockingly asked. looking across the room at a dark purple unicorn with an orange mane. "No" Northern Rose said, "I want to go and see what adventure awaits me there" "But it's Snowfire mountain!" Rarity exclaimed, "it's the most mysterious place in Equestria" "And?" Northern Rose asked filling a big bottle with water. "And" Rarity continued, "it's a completely out of whack place. It's hot during the day and freezing at night, and lava burns there all year around. Nopony has ever went there" "All the more reason I want to go" Northern Rose said floating a blanket into her bag, "after all I earned my cutie mark for exploring the diamond dog caves without them seeing me" "But, you just got into to town yesterday and you're leaving already" Rarity whined, "we haven't caught up yet". "Rarity, I will be back in plenty of time for us to catch up" Northern Rose said closing her bag and throwing on her cape, "now stop worrying and I'll see you tomorrow" she hugged Rarity, grabbed her bag with her magic, and headed toward the carriage that was waiting for her. She walked up to the carriage and laid her bag on the seat and climbed in. "Where to?" one of the stallions pulling the carriage asked. "Snowfire mountain" she said. "Are you sure?" one of the stallions asked. She nodded. The stallions looked at each other and shrugged and galloped off as she and Rarity waved bye. During her ride there she napped. She was jerked awake when the carriage stopped. She threw her saddle bag over her back and trotted out of the carriage. "Can you stallions come back tomorrow around this time?" she asked. They nodded and galloped off. She turned to look at the mountain before her. It was made of black stone. You could see through the cracks of the stone where lava was encased inside. She had heard tales of creatures who inhabit the mountain both during the day and the night. The creatures who thrived during the day were called molten cats. The ones at night where called ice wolves. Neither creature friendly. She started up the mountain's winding path way and could feel the heat of the lava and fire. She had been walking up the mountain for about half an hour when she stopped for a cool drink of water. She had enchanted her water bottle so her water would stay ice cold. She levitated the bottle out of her bag and and unscrewed the lid and took a big gulp. "Ah, ice cold water" she said to herself and put the water back in her bag. That's when she heard a growl and snapped her head up. There standing in front of her was a big cat. It looked as though it was carved out of the mountain. She knew it was a molten cat. It roared at her and charged. She zapped herself over it and started to gallop as fast as she could. She noticed a lava whole up ahead and jumped over it as high as she could. She still heard the molten cat right behind her as she landed. She saw a cave in the wall of the mountain as she ran. She knew it was her only chance and zapped herself inside it. She backed into the cave and waited for the creature to be far away. While in the cave her stomach rumbled. She reached into her saddle bag for a pear and ate it. When she decided it was safe again she continued her walk up the mountain. She had walked so long that the mountain started to turn cold. The lava that blazed inside the rock formation cooled off and were iced over. Frost and snow were starting to form on the mountain. By the time night completely casted snow covered the mountain. Northern Rose used her magic to wrap her cape around her to warm up. She was only a few miles away from the top of the mountain when she came across another cave in the wall. She decided to camp out for a while and rest. She entered the cave and conjured a fire. She sat there and let the fire warm her. She got her blanket out of her bag and wrapped up in it and decided to take a small nap. She rested against the wall of the cave and closed her eyes. That's when she heard giggling. Her eyes shot open. She noticed the shadow of what looked like a wing fly by. She got out of her cover and looked out of the cave entrance. She saw a black wing vanish over the top of the mountain. She knew she had to check it out. She packed up her stuff and threw on her cape and headed for the top of the mountain. She made it to the top faster than she thought and to be safe hid behind a snow covered tree. She heard the giggle sound again from above her. She looked up and in one of the clouds was a pony like creature. It was black and white and didn't look like a typical pony. It also had rather big wings for what looked like a younger pony. "Hello little one" Northern Rose greeted. The little pony like creature giggled and hid behind the cloud. "There is no need to be shy" Northern Rose assured it, "Please come down". The little creature smiled and jumped from the cloud and used it's wing to glide down and land in front of Northern Rose. The little creature was even more adorable up close. "What are you?" Northern Rose wondered out loud. "I baby" the little one said fluttering in the air. "Are you alone?" she asked the little one. It nodded it's head yes. "What's your name?" Northern Rose asked. "I Night Fwower" she answered. "What a pretty name" Rose complimented, "where are you parents?". "Doggy chased them" the little foal said. "Doggy?" Northern Rose said confused. Then she heard a loud howl that sent chills through her back. She looked behind her and there stood a huge ice wolf. It looked as though it had been carved out of a huge ice block. Her instincts kicked in. "Fly to safety!' she ordered to the little foal and it flapped it's wings and took off as she started to gallop down the mountain. She galloped as fast as she could. She was making a turn and tripped over a rock. She quickly got up and continued to run, but the wolf was right on her tale. She used her magic to untie he cape and threw it up behind her. It covered the wolf's view and bought her some time. She continued to dash down the mountain. Night Flower caught up with her just as the first cave she found in the mountain came into view and she heard the ice wolf howl. "Hold onto to me!" she told the foal. As she did Northern Rose started up her horn and zapped them inside the cave. They backed into the cave and watched as the wolf rushed by. "We'll stay here until it's fully daylight" she whispered to Night Flower. "Otay" the foal said back. She noticed the foal started to shiver so she took the cover out of her bag and wrapped herself and the foal in it. In minutes the foal was asleep. Northern Rose stayed up and watched as the sun was rising. When the mountain was fully black rock and lava again she woke up Night Flower and they started down the mountain again. She was relieved when they reached the bottom and the carriage was waiting. She galloped to it and they headed home to Ponyville. During the ride back they both slept. They reached Ponyville just as Northern Rose woke up. Rarity was waiting for her in the middle of town. She jumped out of the carriage and hugged Rarity. "Thankfully you're alright" said Rarity. Then she noticed the little winged pony. "What is that?". "This is Night Flower" Northern Rose said patting the foals head, "she's what's left of a species of ponies called Mountain Ponies". "What are going to do with her?" Rarity asked. Night Flower nuzzled Northern Rose, "Momma" the little foal cooed. "Raise her of course" Northern Rose said with a smile as she hugged her foal. Royalty To Rags(This is Sunset Sarsparilla) It was an amazingly beautiful morning in Canterlot as Sunset Sarsaparilla sat on the balcony of her room in the castle watching as Celestia raised the sun. She loved life in the castle. It was so much more beautiful than most other ponies thought. There was a knock on the door and it magically opened and in walked her fiance, Prince Blueblood. "My dear beauty, good morning" the prince said kissing her cheek. "Good morning dear" Sunset said with a half smile. She met Blueblood at the gala a year ago after Rarity went all mad mare on him. She thought Rarity completely over reacted when she splattered food all over his coat. "I've ordered us breakfast" Blueblood said as a maid pony rolled in a serving tray. "What is it?" she asked the maid. "The chefs' famous rose and daisy petal stew" the earth pony went to move the top off the bowl and accidently hit a tiny salt shaker spilling salt all over Blueblood's croissant. "You incompetent little foal!" Blueblood scolded, "can't you servant ponies do anything right?!". I'm so sorry sir" the pony coward. "You're extremely sorry, now get out!" he yelled as the maid galloped out of the room. "Blue, it was just an accident" Sunset defended. "Doesn't matter they need discipline" he stated, "but, let's not let ignorance ruin our meal" Blueblood sit across from her. "This looks yummy" Sunset said trying to sound genuine. Truth was she didn't care for rose petals. This was Blueblood's favorite meal. "So are you excited to meet your soon to be peasant ponies?" he asked. "Peasant ponies?" she asked back raising an eye to the prince. "Yes, the common ponies that will soon call you princess my love" Blueblood said. Sunset hated when he went on about the common ponies. Up until a year ago she was a common pony. If she were to be truthful with herself she didn't feel the same way about blueblood that she use to. When they first met he was actually sweet, but now she sees the true side of him. The side Rarity saw almost right away. "Are you nervous about our wedding, my love?" he asked taking a drink of nectar. "What's to be nervous about?" she responded. All though she knew marrying a pony she didn't love wasn't right. As they finished eating there was a knock on the door. A blue glow opened the door and in walked Luna. "Aunt Luna, good morning" Blueblood greeted and Luna nodded. "I'm here to take Sunset to get prepared". "Prepared for what?" Sunset asked confused. "Ah, I have scheduled a day for you in the castle grooming room" Blueblood chimed, "So that tonight you can greet your soon to be subjects". "Oh Blueblood dear, I don't think now is.." she started to say until she was cut off, "now now Sunset, the sooner the better" Blue said. "Shall we go then?" Luna asked. Sunset nodded and stood up to leave. "I will see that one of those foalish servants cleans up your room my love" Blueblood said as she and Luna headed out. As they walked down the hall of the castle Luna noticed Sunset's head was low. "Is something stressful young one?" she asked. Sunset wasn't sure if she should say anything. Luna was Blue's aunt and she didn't wanna lose the friendship of the princesses. "Just a lot on my mind" she finally answered. "Pre-wedding jitters?" Luna asked. "Something like that" Sunset said. "Maybe you need time to cool your nerves" Luna said. That's when an idea hit her. "Luna, do you mind if I skip this whole grooming thing?" she asked, "I need some time to think outside of the castle". "I agree, take all the time you need" Luna said. "Thank you Luna" she said hugging the princess and galloping out of the castle. She kept going until she reached the train station. She decided to visit her cousin in Las Pegasus. On the train ride she noticed a stallion looking at her. His coat was dark royal blue and his mane was red and black. She thought he was cute. She then felt a pang of guilt. She was engaged and to a prince at that. But she knew she wasn't in love so the guilt faded. When the train stopped she hopped out and galloped to her cousin's house near by. She reached the little house and pounded on the door. "Royal Flush are you home?!" she called. No answer. "She's on tour right now miss" she heard somepony say. She turned around and it was the stallion from the train. "Oh yeah, a card game tour" Sunset remembered "I'm Night Raven" he introduced. "Sunset Sarsaparilla" she said shaking his hoof. "I guess I can wait for the next train to come" she said. "Well I hope I don't seem rude, but while you wait mind if a treat you to dinner?" Night Raven asked. That's when she noticed her stomach rumble. "Sure" "Great, I know the best place here" he said as she followed beside him. They arrived at a beautiful Gazebo. It was lit up with beautiful rose shaped lights everywhere. "Wow" she said taking in the scenery. "Would you like a table or a blanket?" he said pointing to the ground around the gazebo where tons of soft colored blankets laid. Some had ponies eating and talking on them. "A meal under the stars would be so awesome here" she said. Night Raven asked a waiter for a blanket and as they sat and ate they talked under the stars. They talked about where they grew up, how they earned their cutie marks, and Night Raven even went on about how good he thought some of her nectar recipes were. "So any special pony in your life?" Night Raven asked sipping on his nectar. Sunset knew eventually he would ask. "Well yes, but I'm not happy" she admitted, "not like I was". "Oh, who is the stallion who can't see what an awesome mare he has? Night Raven asked. Sunset blushed at the compliment in the question, "Prince Blueblood". Night Raven's faced popped with shock. "I don't mean to be rude, but I've heard the prince can be a jerk". "He is a jerk, I just couldn't see that at first" Sunset said sighing. "So have you left the prince?" he asked. "No, but I'm going to" she admitted, "I get so tired of how he treats the castle servants and all his put downs toward common ponies. I mean up until a year ago I was a common pony". "Well, you gotta do what makes you happy, and if I may be so bold" Night Raven states, "I think you deserve better Miss Sunset". That made Sunset blush. She didn't know why, but this stallion was giving her butterflies. That's when she noticed just how late it was. "I guess I should head back to the station" she said getting up. As she started to walk she heard somepony gallop beside her. "Let me walk with you" Night Raven insisted. She nodded and they headed for the train station. On the way there they talked about the things they wish to do and places they had always wanted to go. Sunset wasn't surprised when she realized she was becoming attracted the stallion she just met. It was a feeling she had never really had with Blueblood. She was brought of out her thoughts by the gasp sound of a train. "Well I believe this is where you wanted to be" Night Raven said. "Thank you for such an amazing time Night Raven" she said not even noticing the flirty look she gave him. "It was my pleasure Sunset" he said and she noticed their faces were just inches apart. Not able to hold back the urge she touched her lips to his. *Sunset!" she heard just then. Their lips broke apart and coming down the road was a royal carriage with Blueblood in it. "What are you doing?!" he charged up to her and pushed between her and the stallion. "Blueblood, how did you find me?" she asked. "Doesn't matter" he answered, "why are you here and kissing some common pony at that?". That last comment made something inside Sunset snap. "THAT'S IT!" she yelled "I am so tired of you putting down ponies who aren't rich and stuck up like you!". Blueblood looked stunned. "I am not gonna sit and listen to it the rest of my life!" she announced. "You have the nerve to be ill with me and I catch you kissing another stallion" Blueblood said pointing to Night Raven, "what am I suppose to think of that?". "This" Sunset said as she took the ring off her hoof and tossed it to Blueblood. It landed right around his horn. "I can't marry you. I'd rather be a common pony". "Fine" the prince said as he climbed back in his carriage, "You're the foal giving up everything a mare could ask for!". She watched as the carriage sped off. She looked over at Night Raven and smiled. "Not everything" she said as she kissed him and they both blushed. Scavenger Hunt(This is Lunar Light) It was the end of the school day for all the fillies and colts in Ponyville and a little filly named Lunar Light was fluttering home. She was new to Ponyville. She was taken in by a stallion unicorn when a traveling orphanage came through town. She stopped by a veggie stand in town square and got some stuff her family needed for dinner. She fluttered inside her house and landed in the kitchen. "Hey little one" a stallion greeted. "Hey Fire Moon" she said as she galloped to him and gave the grey unicorn a hug. "Did you get the food we needed for my home made stew?" Fire Moon asked. "Yep" she reached into her little saddle bag and handed him the small bag of vegetables. That's when she heard little coos and ran to the living room. There she saw her three little cousins Flash Drive, Ember, and Pixel Heart. "Was Aunt Fire Heart here today?" Lunar asked. "Yes, we are keeping the foals for the weekend while she takes care of some things" Fire Moon said. Lunar Light gave each foal a kiss on the head and put her saddle bag in her room. "Can I go to the park?" she asked walking back into the kitchen. "Sure, just be back before dinner" Fire Moon said. She hugged him and flew off. Meanwhile Twilight and Applejack were on their way to the park too. "Twi, are you sure this is a good idea?" Applejack asked. "Yes, it'll help build their investigation skills and help them become more adventurous". Twilight answered. "if you say so" Applejack said as they reached the fountain in the park. "Excuse me fillies and colts!" Twilight called. All the little ponies in the park gathered around. Lunar Light Fluttered to the front of the crowd. "I have come up with a fun adventure for you all, if you parents say yes that it is" Twilight announced. "Adventure?" Lunar questioned. "Yes, a scavenger hunt!" Twilight smiled, "I had my friend Rainbow Dash hide a box of goodies around Ponyville somewhere and it's up to you to find it. Just take of one these permission slips from my friend Applejack and come back here tomorrow". All the fillies and colts rushed to get a form. 'May I have one?" Lunar Light asked. "Of course little one" Applejack said, as Lunar took a form and flew off. She could smell the stew when she walked in the house. She walked into the kitchen just as Fire Moon finished cooking. "hey, you're back in time for dinner" Fire Moon says getting two bowls out of the cabinet. "Yeah" Lunar said hopping onto her chair as he floats a bowl of veggie stew to her. "Hey Fire Moon can you sign this?" she asked pushing the permission form to him as he sets down. "What is it?" Fire Moon asked. "Princess Twilight is throwing this scavenger hunt for all the fillies and colts around Ponyville" Lunar Light said. Fire Moon read the form. "You're ok with being out there searching day and night" Fire asked. Lunar Light nodded her head. "Ok then you can do it" he said as he signed the form. "Thank you!" Lunar said and started eating her soup. The next day after school Fire Moon headed to the park with Lunar Light. "Please give all your forms to Applejack everypony" Twilight ordered watching all the excited little ponies run around. After all the ponies gathered around Twilight explained what to do. "Ok now when Applejack calls your name you will go up to Rarity and get your supply bag. Each bag holds a bottle of water, a bag of food, a flashlight, and a map of Ponyville". One by one Applejack called each little ponies name. Lunar watched as Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo put bags together as Rarity passed them out. "Lunar Light" Applejack finally called. Lunar galloped over to Rarity and she used her magic to strap the supply bag to her. "There you are Darling" she said. "Thanks Miss Rarity" Lunar said and Flew back to Fire Moon. After all the ponies had their bags Twilight cleared her throat. "OK guys here is what your map looks like" she used her magic to float a wide map of Ponyville in the air, "See the red dots? They indicate a rest stop. Each of my friends will be at one to make sure you're safe as you hunt". Fire Moon raised a hoof. "Yes?" Twilight answered. "So this game is safe right? " he asked, "no danger at all?". "None" Twilight said, "so are my little ponies ready?" All the fillies and colts cheered, "Then the hunt starts now!" "Remember to report back to the park by night time tomorrow!" Applejack called as the fillies and colts started off. Lunar looked at Fire Moon. "You have fun and be careful" She nodded and hugged him before flying off. She took out her map and looked at it. She decided to search town square first. She landed right by the pony statue that is part of the little fountain. She searched around it first. She didn't find anything but, a bunch of wishing pennies. Then she tried looking in the tents around town square, but found nothing. That's when remembered town hall. She trotted there and saw the mayor talking to Time Turner. She heard something about a town clock. Then she saw two fillies with the same bag she had and she hid so they wouldn't think to look where she was. She watched the two earth fillies pass and walked into the hall. It was empty and a little spooky. She looked up and didn't really see any place the box could be so she searched the seats. She was about to give up when under the last bench she saw a gray colored box. "That's it!" she said as she trotted to the bench and pulled the box out. "Wonder what Twilight put in here" She asks herself as she opens the box and tons of baby spiders crawl out. Lunar screamed and flew out of town hall and didn't stop until she reached the bridge. "Well, let's try this again" she said as she pulled out her map. She decided to search the school house. She trotted down the road until she reached the little red building. She made sure no other hunters where around and went inside. She searched the supply bens and the closet with everything in it. Just as she finished searching the teacher's desk she heard more fillies coming. She opened a window and Flew out. An hour later she found herself at the train station. She was starting to doubt she'd ever find the box. Then she noticed her stomach growl. She checked her bag for the food that was packed. She pulled out a medium sized white bag. She opened it and inside was tons of Pinkie Pie's hoof made rock candy. "Score!" she said as she took a red piece out of the bag and bit into it. She loved the crunching sound it made. She ate the last bit of the piece of candy she had and sipped some water. She noticed then it was dark so she got out her flash light and turned it on. She started to walk toward the Ponyville hospital. She was a little scared because she had to walk passed the everfree forest. As she passed the entrance of the forest she thought she heard somepony. She flashed her light down the entrance path, but didn't see anypony. She didn't know why but, she knew she had to go into the forest. She mustered up all her courage and headed down the path. She kept quiet and made sure to keep her ears open to any sound. She came to a fork in the road. She couldn't decide which way to go. Then she heard the voice again. It sounded like it was coming from down the left road. She started down that road hoping that the voice didn't belong to some crazy pony. She made it half way down the road when she heard growling. She saw a timberwolf out the corner of her eye and took of running. She could hear the wolf right behind her. She was so busy running she tripped over a log and dropped her flashlight. She heard the bulb of the flashlight shatter and then it went super dark. She couldn't even see her own hoof in front of her face. She heard the wolf growling and took off in any direction she could. She could hear the wolf not far behind her. Then suddenly a ray of moonlight shown down. It was bright enough to show her a cave up ahead. "Oh thank Luna!" she galloped as fast as she could toward the cave. She entered the cave and hid behind a big rock. She watched as the wolf searched around and then ran off when it heard a twig snap. She back trotted into the cave further. She wasn't sure how deep the cave went. Then she heard the mysterious whisper again. Only it was closer this time. "Hello?" she called, "is somepony in here?". She didn't get a response. She decided to walk straight in the direction the voice came from. She had been walking deeper and deeper when she noticed a big boulder at what she guessed was the end of the cave. She also noticed there seemed to be a sort of glow coming through the cracks around the boulder. She examined the boulder and thought if she flapped her wings hard enough she could pull it out of the wall. She placed her hooves on the huge rock and flapped her wings as hard as she could and pulled. She stopped to take a breather and pulled again. She heard a snap and her left wing recoiled in pain "OW!" she screamed as she landed and tried to stretch her wing. That's when she noticed the small rocks around the boulder fall. She slowly hopped onto the boulder and examined the small rocks. She realized with a little pulling she could clear them out. She grabbed the biggest rock and started to pull. After what seemed like forever the rock came free. Then others fell. Then she started to pull more of the rocks out until she could jump down the whole. She leaped down. When she landed and looked up what she saw amazed her. It was a big statue, of a pegasus pony. It looked like a mare. She circled around the statue and noticed a picture carved in her flank of a sun and cloud. That's when she noticed the bright light again. She looked in the corner of the room and there was a piece of stone on the ground. It was a clear multicolored jewel in the shape of the same symbols on the statue's flank. She wondered if anypony else knew this statue was here. She went to fly out of the cave, but the pain in her wing reminded her she couldn't. "I'm never gonna get out of here" she said to herself as she pouted. Then the cave seemed to glow a bright red, "how did y'all get stuck down there?" she heard a familiar voice say. She looked up where the whole was and smiled, "Fire Moon!". She never thought she's be so happy to see his weird glowing mane. "Are ya ok?" he asked. "No, my wing is hurt" she said pointing to her right wing. Fire Moon looked up at the statue. "How did that get in the middle of an everfree cave?" "I don't know" Lunar said, "but I think we should tell Twilight". Fire Moon nodded and lifted the filly up with his magic and placed her on his back. Later that day Twilight and her friends were in the cave looking at the statue. "Do you think it's a statue of a famous pony from way back when?" Applejack asked. "It could be" Twilight said looking at the base of the statue, "her name was Calming Winds". "Ever heard of her Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked. "No, but I will research and see if she comes up anywhere" Twilight promised. "What about the stone?" Lunar asked holding up the glowing rock. Twilight looked at it. Then looked back at the carved cutie mark on the statue. "That's weird" She said as she kept looking back from the stone to the statue. "What is it Darling?" Rarity asked looking at her confused. "The images on this stone, are exactly like the carved mark on the statue's flank" Twilight said as she held it up to the carving on the statue. "Sounds like we have a mystery on our hooves" Applejack said. "I'll meet you girls back at my library" Twilight said turning from her friends to Lunar Light, "and thank you for you telling us about this". "I knew you needed to know" Lunar said smiling. Twilight smiled at the filly and walked over to the statue. She put her hooves on it and her horn glowed. Suddenly she and the statue were gone. "Let's get goin" Fire Moon said. As they walked out of the cave following Twilight's friends Lunar Light noticed a flash behind her. She looked and squealed. On her flank was a small treasure box. "MY CUTIE MARK!" she called clapping her hooves together. "Looks like the special thing about you is discovering hidden things" Fire Moon said as they left the forest. A True Pony(This is Ember Flames) It was a sunny day in Ponyville as Twilight and her friends took the young fillies Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo on a walk through the safer part of the forest to check out the plant life. Apple Bloom thought it would be an easy way to earn their cutie marks if they could be good at something to do with nature. “Oh come on!” Sweetie exclaimed as she dropped a leaf, “we’ve been out here for an hour and no mark has showed up for any of us”. All the the girls just looked at each other. “Well why don’t you three take a break and enjoy this here picnic basket I packed?” Applejack suggested pointing to a picnic blanket up the path a bit. “Oh good!” Apple Bloom chimed, “I’m starvin”. “Me too” Scootaloo said as they trotted up the path. They ate and joked and Sweetie Belle even filled them in on her play and the story about what happened with her and Rarity. “Wow, wish we could have seen the play Sweetie” Twilight said. Suddenly a clap of thunder hit. “Welp, we better be getting on home, before it pours down” Applejack said as they packed up the picnic. As they trotted out of the forest, they didn’t see the pony watching them. “You’ve been studying ponies for a while, you can do this” she told herself, as she watched the group of ponies from the cave she lived in. The next morning She woke up and looked around at the pictures of ponies she had hanging on the walls. She spent every free moment she had since she ran, studying them. How they moved, talked, and even the colors of their coats, manes, and eyes. The hardest part to study about the ponies were their marks. She knew their marks were a big part of them. They symbolized something they were excellent at. After thinking on it a bit she decided to make a campfire mark since she pretty much knew how to camp since hiding in the forest. She walked out into the forest and up to a small rain puddle. She looked at her reflection. Her gray coat and blonde mane worked well to bring out her yellow eyes. She looked back at the cave she called home for so many weeks and then headed toward the train station while it was still early. She waited until the first train arrived and pretended she was a passenger in the crowd. As she entered Ponyville the warm filling she’s known her whole life in spurts was severely strong. She had to use all her strength to fight the urge she has come to know as part of what she was. She walked around watching all the ponies around her and taking in the scenery. The scent of something faintly sweet got her nose. “What is that delicious smell?” she asked herself. “YEEHAW!” she heard somepony call. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a huge apple farm. As she walked up to it, she saw a light orange pony with a blonde mane running around bucking every tree that had apples on it. Applejack bucked one last tree and then sat for a rest. “Phew” she said as she wiped her brow, “I am so tired”. “I bet” a little red maned filly said running to the other pony with an apple juice box, “With Granny Smith away and Big Mac on bed rest for his sprained hoof, I don’t doubt it”. “You never know how hard it is to tend to the orchid until you do it by yourself” the pony said standing up, “be nice to have another set of hooves around”. That’s what she took as her cue. “Excuse me!” she called walking up to the ponies, “I couldn’t help but, overhear you needed help”. “Uh yeah” the orange pony said, “um do I know you?” the pony raised an eye to her as she asked. “Oh no, I’m what you would call a drifter pony. My names Ember Flames” she said holding out her hoof. “I’m Applejack” the pony said shaking her hoof harder than she expected, “and this here is my baby sister Apple Bloom” she said pointing to the red maned filly. “It’s nice to meet you both. I’m new to Ponyville and am willing to work on the farm for bits” Ember Flames stated. “Oh, well ok sure” Applejack agreed, “can you buck trees?”. “I think I can figure it out” Ember said as they headed for some trees still holding apples. Ember studied the tree and then stretched her hooves. She was getting ready to buck one when a thought occurred to her. She flew into the tree and shook it and apples fell and filled the baskets below in no time. Applejack’s jaw dropped, “Well I’ll be. That’s that fastest apple bucking method I’ve ever seen”. “Really? You’ve never seen a pegasus buck before?” she asked. “Well my friend Fluttershy helped me out one time, but not that fast” Applejack admitted, “You’ll earn tons of bits with hard work like that”. Within about two hours over half of the apple trees were apple free and Ember Flames helped haul the apples inside the barn. "Well, I think that's enough Apples for today y'all" Applejack said as she searched through a little wooden box, " one hundred bits". She handed a small, Brown bag to Ember Flames. "Are you sure you wanna give me that much?" Ember asked holding the bag of bits up. "You earned em" Applejack said with a big smile. "Oh thank you Applejack" Ember said putting the bits in her saddle bag. "Do you have somewhere to stay Ember?" Applejack asked. “No, I’ll look for a place when I leave here” Ember said, “thank you for the bits”. “I won’t hear of it” Applejack announced, “you can stay in our guest room”. “Oh, I don’t wanna impose Applejack, the bits were more then enough” Ember said. “Please Ember, I wouldn’t feel right knowing you were out there without somewhere to stay” Applejack pleaded. “Only if I continue to help around the farm” Ember offered. “It’s a deal!” Applejack said as they shook hooves. “Now let’s get ya settled in, dinner is soon” Applejack said as they headed inside. Ember Flames sat in her room trying to stay calm. She had never ate pony food before. Or food period for that matter. She just had to eat and not show any sign of disgust if the food didn’t taste good. “Soups on everypony!” she heard Applejack call. As she walked down the stairs sweet smells hit her nose. “Their food sure smells good” she said to herself. She walked into the kitchen and saw a red stallion with a blonde mane sitting on the table. “Ember this here is my brother Big Mac” Applejack said pointing to her brother. “I am really sorry to hear you’re hurt” Ember said smiling at Big Mac. “Eeyup” was his reply. Ember sat at the table as Applejack and Apple Bloom rolled in a tray with bowls in them. “I hope you like this Ember” Applejack said, “it’s Big Mac’s favorite”. “Oh,what is it?” Ember asked as Apple Bloom placed a bowl in front of her. “It’s my hoof made apple petal stew” Applejack said, “as she sat at the table, “it has apples, apple broth, potatoes, and several types of flower petals”. Ember looked at the stew, it looked weird, but smelled amazingly sweet. “Go on y’all eat up” Applejack said digging into her bowl. “This is it” she said to herself. She dipped her spoon into the mushy food and brought it up to her mouth. She poured it into her mouth and studied the taste. The taste was foreign but, super sweet. She knew it wouldn’t make her full, but she could enjoy the taste worry free. “This is really good” Ember said as she took another bite. “I’m glad you like” Applejack smiled as she ate. As they ate and talked Ember eased. She knew she finally found home. Weeks passed and Ember Flames learned how to do the chores around the farm. One day she was resting in a hay pile when she heard Apple Bloom going on. “Ah, come on Sis!”. “No Apple Bloom” Applejack said, “I am going over to Twilight’s to search through her books for info on the statue that was discovered in the forest”. “Then why can’t I go?!” Apple Bloom pleaded. “You’ll set around, get bored, and then complain” Applejack told her. “Then let Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo come over here” Apple Bloom suggested. “AB, I have no problem leaving you at home alone, but not all three of you fillies” Applejack admitted. “I’ll watch them” Ember said as she walked out of the barn and up to the two sisters. “Are you sure Ember?” Applejack asked, “they can be a hoofful”. “I’m sure, I mean they can play outside while I gather more apples”. Ember stated with a smile. “If you’re sure fine” Applejack looked at Apple Bloom, “you and your friends better behave yourselves”. Apple Bloom nodded. “I’ll be back in a few hours Ember” Applejack said as she headed to Twilight’s. A little bit later all the fillies are playing in the yard as Ember is collecting apples. “I am so bored!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Well I am learning to loop de hoop for real this time” Apple Bloom said, “wanna learn with me?”. “Ok” Scootaloo said as Apple Bloom ran and got her loop de hoop. “I am learning to do this” Apple Bloom twirls the loop around her right hoof and then switches it to her left hoof as it keeps twirling. “Wow I wanna try!” Sweetie Belle chimed. Apple Bloom handed her the hoop. She started to twirl, but when she went to switch the loop flew off her hoof and over the fence and rolled into the forest. “My hoop!” Apple Bloom cried reaching a hoof out as to stop it. “I’m sorry Apple Bloom” Sweetie Belle said. “Calm down” Scootaloo ordered, “let’s just go get it”. “We can’t go into the forest alone” Apple Bloom said, “it’s too dangerous”. “Oh come” Scootaloo said jumping in between her two friends and wrapping her front hooves around them “we’re the cutie mark crusaders!”. “And?” Sweetie Belle asked raising an eye to her friend. “And we can do anything!” Scootaloo answered, “come on!”. She ran and jumped over the fence. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other and shrugged. They jumped over the fence. Sweetie Belle tripped and knocked a piece of wood of the fence and landed oddly. “You ok?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yeah, I’m fine” she said as they headed into the forest. Ember had just gathered ten buckets of apples and loaded the last into the barn. “Girls I hope your having fun” she said as she walked out, but didn’t see the girls. She figured they were in the house and went to check. “Girls!” she called as she trotted in and checked the living room, and then kitchen. “Girls!” she called again as she galloped upstairs and checked in Apple Bloom’s room. “GIRLS!” she called as she galloped back downstairs and searched outside. She check the apple fields, and the barn. “Great Shade!, you’ve lost three little fillies!” she scolded herself. Thats when she noticed the part of the fence that was broke and seen the forest beyond. “No! they can’t be in there!” she flew over the fence and galloped into the forest. The girls were looking in the brushes of the forest for Apple Bloom’s hoop. “Maybe we should head back y’all” Apple Bloom suggested. “We haven’t found your hoop yet” Scootaloo said as she checked behind a bush. “I can get a new one” Apple Bloom said, “I don’t like this place”. “Let’s just search a little more” Scootaloo said as they walked on, searching behind trees. “But what if Applejack comes home and we’re missing, I don’t want Ember to get in trouble” Apple Bloom reminded. “She’s studying at Twilight’s, she’ll be gone a while” Scootaloo said. They searched until they came to a fork in the road. “We’ll never find it “Apple Bloom said, “let’s just go back now”. As they turned to go back three timberwolves were coming toward them. All three fillies screamed and ran. Ember heard their screams and started to gallop as fast as she could toward the screams. She reached the girls and saw the wolves. “Girls stay calm!” she called. One of the wolves leaped at her and she slid under it and stood in front of the fillies and stared the mutts down. “Ember what are we gonna do?!” Apple Bloom pleaded. She looked at the three scared little fillies. “I’m gonna do something, but please don't be scared, ok?” she asked and the fillies nodded. She glared as she smiled wickedly. Her pony body seemed to drain away revealing the changeling she truly was. The girls gasped. “Bring it mutts!” she said in her slithery changeling voice. The wolves roared and started for the ponies. Ember used magic to toss them across the ground. Suddenly more wolves appeared, hearing the battle going on. She smiled and grinned and her horn glowed purple. All the wolves were grabbed in a purple mist and then in one flash were all turned to dust. “Apple Bloom!” she heard Applejack call. Applejack seen the changeling and stopped in her tracks. “Where are my sister and her friends?!” Applejack demanded as she dug her hoof across the ground getting ready to charge the changeling. “Applejack don’t!” she heard Apple Bloom demand as she and her friends ran to the changeling. “Girls get away from it!” Applejack ordered trying to stay calm. “She’s not an it, she’s a mare” Apple Bloom said. “She’s dangerous, now go home while I handle her” Applejack said shooting a stare of hatred the changeling’s way. Apple Bloom turned to face the changeling. “Show her” she ordered softly. She nods and Applejack watches as she seems absorb back into the pony she knew as Ember Flames. “What in tarnation?” Applejack asked with confusion on her face. “I’ve been living as Ember this whole time” she admitted. “Why?” Applejack demanded, “to feed off us?!”. “No, I would never do that!” Ember said with as much truth in her voice as she could muster. “Then why?!” Applejack demanded shooting a harsh look her way. Ember looked down and Applejack caught a glimpse of shame in her eyes. “During our attack on canterlot, I seen the fear clear on the faces of the ponies we were terrorizing” she started, “the group I was in cornered a small group of fillies and colts. I couldn’t feed, They were so small. When we were ran off I split from my family and have been living in the everfree forest ever since”. For a long time everypony was silent. Just when Ember didn’t think she could stand it anymore Applejack broke the silence. “What’s your real name?”. “Shade Bolt” she said looking Applejack in the eye. “And you swear what yer telling me is true?” Applejack asked. “If I were up to something wouldn’t I have done it by now?” Shade asked. “Applejack c'mon, you’re always going on about trust, show her some” Apple Bloom said. Applejack looked at her and then to Shade. “Shade, you can stay”. The girls cheered. “Please Applejack, call me Ember. I never wanna be Shade Bolt again. I’m a pony now” Ember announced. Applejack nodded, “I won’t tell nopony, I know I can trust you”. “Thank you so much Applejack” Ember Flames smiled. “Well let’s get out of this dreadful forest” she said as they headed back to the farm. A Heart In HarmonyThis is Symphony 15 years ago….. *The Ponyville school house was hosting a talent show for all the fillies and colts. So far it was disastrous. None of the acts were good and the audience both young and old sat still, bored out of their minds. A little green filly finished singing a very off tune song and when nopony clapped she ran off the stage crying. A little pink filly sat staring at the beautiful black piano on the stage. “So many ponies who may forever remain markless” he mother stated. Not wanting to be one of the ponies to be blank flanked forever she marched up the stage and sat down in front of the piano. The ponies watched as she sat and stared at the piano for a moment. Suddenly with a little force her horn glowed white. Suddenly music started to come from the piano. The little filly was confused at first. Then she noticed it was her magic pushing the keys to make the music. She smiled and started playing a song she knew so well. It was a lullaby her grandmother would sing to her. The ponies watching started cheering and clapping before she was even done playing. When she finished the pony in charge of the talent show handed her a rose and claimed her the winner. She noticed a flash form on her flank. She looked and it was a brown piano cutie mark. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!” she exclaimed as her mother hugged her.* *“Thank goodness you’re a pony with talent” her mother said. Over the years the filly enjoyed her talent to tickle the keys with her magic. She would play at family functions, birthdays, and any other event her mother could find. By the time she was fifteen though she was becoming well known, her mother’s constant managing skills were taking a toll on her. She loved playing piano. The beautiful music the keys created was the most amazing sound she ever heard. But as she played and learned new songs and traveled around Equestria to play, she felt a sense of loneliness. She would watch all the ponies her age over the years, play and make friends and all she had was her music and mother, who had become more of a manager then anything else over the past few years. She would sit and watch the ponies between shows, living a life of calmness and happiness. Longing for the same. She would look up to the stars and ask them if she would ever know that happiness.* ***Present Time…*** ***Symphony sat in her cabin on the train to Canterlot. Her mother had booked her to play at a party Princess Celestia was throwing for Twilight. In honor of her defeating Tirek and saving Equestria. She sat bored watching another pony her age, cuddle with her special somepony. Yet another feeling she had never known. She would often set and think to herself what her dream stallion would look like, and how he would act. “So dear, I was thinking for the princesses you could play the new song you’ve learned”. Her mother chimed. “Sure” she agreed with her mother. She never argued with her mother much anymore. It never got her anywhere. “So when we reach the castle we’ll meet the princesses first and then be escorted to our room to prepare for tonight” her mother informed. She just nodded. She wanted so much to go back to her foalhood home of Ponyville. Where her father and grandmother were. The train pulled up to the station in Canterlot and two guards stood watching as ponies trotted off the train. She and her mother trotted out last and a guard approached them. “Are you Symphony?” he asked her.*** ***“Yes” her mother chimed in.*** ***“Follow us” the guard said as they headed toward the castle. Twilight and her friends sat in front of the castle with Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. “I’m so excited” Fluttershy softly chimed.*** ***“I know you have to be Fluttershy” Twilight said, “ Symphony is your favorite musician”.*** ***“Oh yes, her music is so amazing” Fluttershy said, “ I hope she’s nice”.*** ***“Here they calm y’all” Applejack announced as they watched the group of ponies trot toward them. Symphony and her mother bowed as they reached the princesses. “Welcome Symphony, it’s a pleasure to meet you” Celestia greeted.*** ***“It’s honor to be here your highness” Symphony said with a smile.*** ***“Princess Twilight and her friends will get you settled in” Celestia said, “I must go and greet the guests for Twilight’s party” she nods and flies off. Twilight and and the girls walked Symphony and her mother to her room. “Now miss Symphony I do hope you like the dress I made you for tonight. I followed the design your mother gave me to a T” Rarity said as she floated a dress bag in the air.*** ***“You made a dress for me?’ Symphony asked a little shocked.*** ***“Your mother wanted you to look your best tonight” Rarity stated as she floated the bag into the bathroom. Symphony followed and closed the door. The dress fit amazingly on her. It was made of a soft green fabric and was trimmed with golden lace. Rarity had also added sunflowers in her mane. “You look amazing darling” Rarity said as Symphony looked at herself in a full length mirror. “Thank you Rarity” she smiled, “you’re a lovely designer”.*** ***“Please feel free to keep the dress Symphony, on me” Rarity offered.*** ***“Sweetie, they want you to go down and mingle for a bit before you perform” Her mother said trotting in wearing an elegant white dress.*** ***“Ok” she said as she followed her mother and the other ponies to the ballroom. When she walked in the ballroom her eyes widened at all the ponies in the ballroom. She swore almost everypony in equestria was there. “Now go meet your fans sweetie” her mom pushed.*** ***“Mom, these ponies are here for Princess Twilight not me” Symphony reminded her.*** ***“Doesn’t mean you can’t make it about you” her mother advised. Symphony was shocked at her mother’s idea. She wanted her to steal the spotlight of a princess if she could. She wanted so much to stand up to her mother, but in so many ways she still felt like a little filly. Wanting to get away from her mother she trotted around watching the ponies in the ballroom. She saw Princess Twilight’s friend Pinkie Pie stuffing her face with cupcakes and her friend Rainbow Dash hanging with the wonderbolts. She was walking to the refreshment table when she bumped into somepony. “Pardon me” She said as she stepped back. She saw a brown earth stallion with a blonde mane. “So sorry miss” he said as he smiled. That’s when she noticed his cutie mark. It was a guitar. “Ah a fellow music player” she smiles.*** ***“Yes, I love the sound of a guitar” the stallion said, “what do you play?”.*** ***“Piano” she said, “been playing since I was a filly”.*** ***“Oh, pianos do have a nice sound to them” he said, “I’m Meadow Song” he reaches his hoof out. “I’m Symphony” she said. When she touched Meadow’s hoof a weird feeling seemed to zap through her. “It’s very nice to meet ya Symphony” Meadow Song said and she noticed a bit of a country accent.*** ***“Like wise” she smiled and for some unknown reason blushed a little.*** ***“So many ponies here tonight” Meadow said, “Would you like to go stare at stars on the balcony?”.*** ***“That sounds nice” she smiled and followed him out. The stars above the castle where so bright, it took Symphony’s breathe away. “Luna sure does know how to make some pretty stars” Meadow Song said staring up at them.*** ***“They’re amazing, she must be so proud when she sees her subjects gaze at them” Symphony said. Meadow nodded.*** ***“So where are you from?” she asked him.*** ***“I grew up in Dodge Junction and recently moved to Ponyville” he answered.*** ***“I grew up in Ponyville” she answered, “been traveling Equestria since I was six years old”.*** ***“Sounds exciting to travel Equestria” Meadow Song said as they watched a shooting star go by.*** ***“It was at first but, now I just wish I could go home and stay” she said.*** ***“I’m a small town pony myself” Meadow said, “Nothin beats home”. Symphony and Meadow Song talked most the night about their likes, hobbies, even some embarrassing stories were shared. They spent so long talking Symphony had completely forgotten why she was there. “It’s been nice talking to such a sweet pony” she said smiling as she battered her eyelashes.*** ***“It’s been nice talking to such beautiful mare as well Symphony” Meadow said as they leaned in close to each other. Just as Symphony thought she was gonna have her first kiss, they were interrupted. “Symphony!”. She looked up to see her mother standing in the archway of the balcony.*** ***“Mother!” she said shocked.*** ***“I have been looking for you everywhere” her mother scolded, “You need to be inside playing, not out here being wooed by some common stallion”.*** ***“Mother that’s not..” she started.*** ***“Don’t argue with me young lady” her mother, “you don’t have time talk to anypony”. Symphony felt something in her snap and she couldn't hold it back anymore. “Thanks to you I don't have time for anything but, piano!” she shouted.*** ***“Symphony, don’t raise your voice to me” her mother ordered.*** ***“No mother!” she continued, “for fifteen years thanks to you I’ve been such a lonely pony!”. By this time all the ponies were staring at her, “ever since I was six years old and earned my mark you have made me grow up, without my family, no friends, and no chance at even having a special somepony!”.*** ***“I did it for you Symphony, to give you a chance at true fame!” her mother argued.*** ***“You did it for you!” Symphony said as tears started to fall, “to give yourself a chance to live vicariously through me! and what hurts most is you didn’t care how much you took from me! How much you hurt me!”. Her mother was too stunned to say anything back. “I’m done mother. As of tonight I retire. I’m going home!” and she rushed off to her room. She was packing her things when Twilight and her friends came to check on her. “I’m really sorry Princess Twilight” Symphony apologized, “I did not mean to ruin your party”.*** ***“You didn’t” Twilight assured, “a pony can only be pushed so far”.*** ***“Thank you for understanding” she said as she used her magic to pack her her last bag. The next night Symphony was laying in her own bed for the first time, in years. In her own home at that. She felt so much better being home. Yes she and her mother werent really talking but, she knew it would blow over in time. She was lost in thought when her grandmother trotted in. “You have a visitor dear” she said in her wisened by time voice.*** ***“This late?” she asked, getting up. She walked outside and there stood the stallion she met the night before. “Meadow?” she asked a bit confused. “Hi, I asked around to find your house” he admitted blushing a bit, “I had to talk to you again”.*** ***“I guess we didn’t get to finish watching the stars last night” she smiles as she sits next to him.*** ***“I really enjoyed your company last night” Meadow confessed, “mares tend to overlook an ordinary stallion like me”.*** ***“I don’t know why Meadow” she smiled, “You’re so sweet and surely cute”. Meadow blushes as he smiled, “One thing I wanna know though”.*** ***“What?” she asked a little intrigued.*** ***“Why didn’t you tell me you were the talented Symphony?” he looked at her with a smile.*** ***“Because for once, I didn’t have to be” she said, “it was so nice to talk to you and know it wasn’t because you were a fan”.*** ***“I have heard of you, but never heard your music” Meadow confessed, “to me you are just another normal yet beautiful mare”. Symphony blushes and smiled at the compliment. “Well you’re more than just some ordinary stallion Meadow”.*** ***“I’m a just a town pony, who can tickle the strings” he said with a chuckle.*** ***“Maybe I can hear you play some time” Symphony said. Meadow smiles and moves closer to her. “Maybe we can play together” he said as he leaned in close to her.*** ***“That would be nice” Symphony said leaning in too. Before they knew it, they’re lips met.***
Challenge For The ChipChallenge For The Chip (THIS IS ROYAL FLUSH) It was an usual night in the flashy town of Las Pegasus. A Lavender mare was sitting at a table across from her challenger. She fixes her white cowgirl hat to show her shiny braided pink and purple mane. She waits for Fire-heart to make her move. She watches as the grey pegasus pushes two red chips to the center of the table. Then all eyes are on her. She examines her cards while keeping her face straight. "All in" she says and pushes her pile of chips to the center of the table as the ponies around her gasp. The dealer nods to Fire-heart. "I have a full house me lass" she says with a cocky smile. "Darn" the lavender pony says, "all I got is this here ROYAL FLUSH!" she shows her cards. The crowd cheers as the pony collects her chips. "Shoot, Royal Flush, ye beat me again" Fire-heart says. "Well, my name is Royal Flush" the lavender pony claims, "and this mark didn't appear for no reason" she points to a pink poker chip on her flank. "I guess not" Fire-heart chuckles. "Let me treat ya to a nice cold nectar" Royal Flush offers as they head to the bar. "One apple nectar and one lime nectar please" Royal orders as they sat on the bar stools. Just then a blue pegasus with a typewriter cutie mark flies up to her. "Wow Royal Flush once again, you've won the annual Equestrian poker tour" he says, "how do you feel?". "Amazing like I always do, but my friend here did awesome as well" Royal Flush answers looking over to Fire-heart. "It must be an awesome feeling to be the second best poker player around" the pegasus says. That comment took Royal Flush by surprise. "second best?" she asks confused. "Yes the only other pony who has won more card games then you lives in Appleloosa. He only plays locally though" the pegasus says. The mention of her home town makes her a little sad. "What's the pony's name?" "A stallion by the name of Braeburn" the pegasus says. The mention of his name brings memories back from her foalhood in Dodge Junction. When she was a foal she won every card game or any game you could bet on there was. She won a bag of candy playing jacks once. Then she was challenged by Braeburn. They were playing crazy eights for her golden poker chip. Her father gave it to when she won her first poker game and earned her cutie mark. To her shock Braeburn had beat her and she had to give up her priceless chip. "Mind if I put your winning streak in Ponyville's newspaper?" the pegasus asks bringing her out of her thoughts. "Sure thing Mr." Royal Flush says. When the pegasus flies off Fire-heart notices Royal Flush is deep in thought. "Ye ok there Royal?" she asks. "I think I'll make a special trip home" Royal Flush announces. "To dodge junction?" Fire-Heart asks sipping her apple nectar. "No, to Appleloosa" Royal Flush says, "Braeburn is an old challenger of mine from my foalhood". "Ah, he be the one who took ye chip" Fire-heart says. Royal Flush nods as she stood up and started her wings, "promise me you won't fly home if you drink more than two cups of nectar". "Ye got me word lass" Fire heart says as Royal hugs her and flies off. The next morning in a saloon in Appleloosa everypony was congratulating Braeburn on his big card game win the night before. "Wow cousin, glad I picked the right time to visit" Applejack says, "I've never seen ya play before and to see ya win is even better". "Ah shucks AJ, it's just luck" Braeburn says, "thanks to my golden chip" he pats his vest pocket. "You're luck is about to run out Brae" he hears a familiar voice say. Everypony looks toward the door to a pony with her cowgirl hat tipped down standing there. "It can't be" Braeburn says. "Can't be who?" Applejack asks looking at the mare confused. "Royal Flush?" Braeburn says scrunching his eyes to get a better look. "Yep, that's me" Royal says walking up to Braeburn and Applejack. "Who is she?" Applejack asks. "We're old friends" Braeburn says. "More like challengers" Royal Flush says, "that chip ya holdin is mine" Braeburn scoffs at Royal Flush, "It was until I won it fair in square". Royal Flush scrunches up her face. "Fine then I challenge you to any game and the winner keeps the chip" All the ponies look at Braeburn. "Deal" he said and everypony gasps. "Name the game" Royal Flush demands. "Crazy eights" Braeburn says with a wide smile. Royal's confident smirk falters for a minute, but she quickly regains it. "Let's play then" she says getting in braeburn's face. Applejack sets up the table and deals the cards. Royal Flush goes first. The face up card was a two of clubs. She places a five of clubs on top of it. Braeburn smiles and lays down a five of hearts. That sat Royal Flush back, she had no hearts in her deck. She had to draw and ended up with two aces before laying down a seven of hearts. The game went on. She had to play her hoof right. The suit of play was now spades. She only had one in her hoof. She lays an ace of spades down. Braeburn smirks and lays down his last card. A wild card. "I win" he says. Royal Flush was shocked. She thought for sure she had him this time. "Looks like the chip is still mine" Braeburn gloats. Royal's anger boils. "FINE!" she yells, "it's not likes it's the only thing you've taken from me" "What are ya talking about?" Braeburn asks clearly puzzled by her statement. She sighs and looks at him. "I love ya Braeburn. I have since I was a filly. That's why I always challenged you to games" she told, "and one day when we found the land for Appleloosa I told you how I felt, but you said you didn't have time for unimportant things like mares when there was a town to be built. That hurt like nothing else had, so I left for Las Pegasus" Braeburn was stunned silent, "I see I should have stayed there" Royal starts to walk out of the saloon. "Royal" Braeburn calls walking over to her. She turns to face him and he kisses her. That took Royal Flush by surprise and she blushes a little. "I've always loved you too Royal" Braeburn admits, "that's why I tried my hardest to win against you in games to impress you" "Really?" Royal Flush asks. "Yes, and I'm sorry I said something so mean, I was so caught up in having a town for us settler ponies to live in I wasn't really paying attention to who said what to me" he admits, "when I found out you left I felt so sad, I missed you Royal" "I missed you to Brae" Royal says and hugs Braeburn. "And this is yours" he says reaching into his vest pocket and taking out a golden chain. Hanging from the chain was her golden chip encased in a heart shaped frame. Braeburn puts the chain around her neck and they nuzzle each other.
A Mare's HeroA Mare's Hero (THIS IS SURE SHOT) It was a quiet night in Ponyville. Until sirens went off. A brown pony galloped away from the local gem store as fast as he could. His saddle bags filled with expensive jewels. He heard screams and heard yelling at him to halt, but he kept going. He was about to the entrance to the forest when a blue flash tackled him. He hit the ground and the stolen jewels fell out everywhere. "Not cool" the pony who had him pinned down said. "Get him boys" he heard a male pony order. Two ponies stood him up as an unicorn pony used his magic to put magical cuffs on his hooves. "Who is this guy?" Rainbow Dash asked. "This is Sure Shot" one of the guard ponies said, "he's a thief we've been trying to catch for a year". "He's robbed ponies all over Equestria" another pony said. "You guys take him in and I'll return the jewels" Rainbow Dash said picking up the jewels. "You'll pay for this" Sure Shot said in a rough voice as they trotted passed Rainbow Dash. "Dude, don't do the crime if ya can't do the time" Rainbow Dash gloated flying off. The guards locked Sure Shot in a cell while they went over paperwork. He looked around the cell for anything he could use to get out. That's when he noticed he still had his saddle bags. All he needed to do was distract the guards so he could break out. He reached into his mane and pulled out a tiny green ball and tossed over to the guard's desk. It suddenly burst into a big green puff and knocked the guarding ponies out. He then took one of his arrows and shoved it in the lock. After a few minutes of fiddling around he heard a clicking noise and the door unlocked. He threw his saddle bags over his back and hurried out of the cell. He grabbed his Bow from the desk and dashed out of the guard tower and vanished into the forest. The next day Rainbow Dash and Twilight were sitting in the doctor's office. "Well Rainbow Dash, it's not broken, but you did sprain it" the doctor said, "so no flying for at least a week" "What?!" Rainbow gasped, "Doc, I gotta fly!" "No flying for a week Dash" Twilight said. "Ugh fine!" Rainbow Dash huffed as she crossed her front hooves. As Rainbow Dash and Twilight were walking back to Twilight's Library one of the guard ponies from the night before came up to them. "Rainbow Dash" he greeted, "we have some bad news" "What?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Sure Shot has escaped" The guard said. The girls gasped. "Escaped how?" Rainbow asked. "He knocked out the guarding ponies with some type of gas and used an arrow to unlock his cell" the guard pony told them. "So what should I do?" Rainbow asked trying not to sound worried. "Just don't go anywhere alone" the pony guard said trotting off. "It's settled Dash, you're not going anywhere without one of us with you" Twilight stated. As the days went by the officer ponies had yet to find Sure Shot. Rainbow was hanging out at Sugarcube Corner with Pinkie Pie. Pinkie was working on some special cupcakes. "Oh horsefeathers" Pinkie said with a sad look on her face. "What's wrong Pinkie" Rainbow Dash asked hovering over her. "I don't have the super sweet gummy berries I need for my cupcakes" she said as she looked at her cupcake batter. "Where do you get them?" Rainbow asked. "Just inside the Everfree Forest" Pinkie Pie admitted. "I can go get ya some" Dash offered. "I don't know" Pinkie said, "me and the others have been ordered not leave you alone" "Just going to gather berries Pinkie" Dash reminded. "Ok I'll walk to the forest with ya at least" Pinkie announced as they started toward the forest. "Ok pinkie you stay here and I'll gallop in and fill the basket with berries" Dash said as she grabbed the basket in her teeth and headed into the forest. Sure Shot was gathering wood for a fire when he heard hoof steps. He peeked through the bushes his was hidden behind and smiled evilly. It was Rainbow Dash. He grabbed his bow and slung his saddle bags on and quietly followed Rainbow Dash. Rainbow had just filled the basket with green, red, and yellow gummy berries. "Hello, Rainbow" she heard somepony say. She turned around and it was Sure Shot. She gasped and dropped the basket of berries. "You" she said. "You seem surprised to see me" Sure Shot said with evil laced in his words. "I don't want trouble" Rainbow said backing away a bit. "You should have thought about that before you tackled me that night night!" Sure Shot yelled as he grabbed his bow. Rainbow took off and he was right behind her. "HELP!" Rainbow called. Zenith Spark was doing what he loved to do, fly when he heard yelling. He looked down and saw a blue rainbow maned pegasus running from a brown earth pony with a bow. He knew right away it was Rainbow Dash and he knew she was in trouble. Dash hid behind a tree. She was trying to catch her breath when an arrow dashed by making a branch fall off the tree and she took off again. Sure Shot was right behind her. He was about to add another arrow to his bow when a yellow blur kicked it out of his hoof. He looked up and there hovering in the air was a yellow pegasus who also had a rainbow mane and tale. "What are you doing?!" Sure Shot screamed. "Stopping a creep like you from hurting anypony" Zenith said as he went to tackle him. Sure Shot dodged his attack and headed for his bow. He almost reached it when he was tackled. He and Zenith tumbled around until they stopped right at the the entrance of the forest. "That's it Rainbow boy!" Sure Shot threatened getting into his defensive stance. "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE SURE SHOT!" somepony said through a bull horn. He looked behind him and it was the guards. He started to take off into the forest again when Zenith once again tackled him. This helped the guards to cuff him and put him in their wagon. Pinkie and Twilight galloped toward Rainbow and hugged her. "Thank Celestia you're alright" Twilight said. "Thanks to this stallion over here" Rainbow Dash said pointing to Zenith. "It was no problem to help out a fellow awesome flyer" Zenith stated spreading his wings. "Maybe when my wing heals we can fly together" Rainbow Dash said. "Deal" Zenith said as they all headed back into Ponyville. "One thing that I don't get is how the guards knew we were in the forest" Rainbow Dash pondered. "I heard you yelling for help and dashed to get them" Pinkie said. Rainbow Dash smiled. "What's your name?" Twilight asked Zenith. "Zenith Spark" He said closing up his wings.
Little DiscoveryLittle Discovery (THIS IS NORTHERN ROSE "Are you crazy Northern Rose?!" Rarity shockingly asked. looking across the room at a dark purple unicorn with an orange mane. "No" Northern Rose said, "I want to go and see what adventure awaits me there" "But it's Snowfire mountain!" Rarity exclaimed, "it's the most mysterious place in Equestria" "And?" Northern Rose asked filling a big bottle with water. "And" Rarity continued, "it's a completely out of whack place. It's hot during the day and freezing at night, and lava burns there all year around. Nopony has ever went there" "All the more reason I want to go" Northern Rose said floating a blanket into her bag, "after all I earned my cutie mark for exploring the diamond dog caves without them seeing me" "But, you just got into to town yesterday and you're leaving already" Rarity whined, "we haven't caught up yet". "Rarity, I will be back in plenty of time for us to catch up" Northern Rose said closing her bag and throwing on her cape, "now stop worrying and I'll see you tomorrow" she hugged Rarity, grabbed her bag with her magic, and headed toward the carriage that was waiting for her. She walked up to the carriage and laid her bag on the seat and climbed in. "Where to?" one of the stallions pulling the carriage asked. "Snowfire mountain" she said. "Are you sure?" one of the stallions asked. She nodded. The stallions looked at each other and shrugged and galloped off as she and Rarity waved bye. During her ride there she napped. She was jerked awake when the carriage stopped. She threw her saddle bag over her back and trotted out of the carriage. "Can you stallions come back tomorrow around this time?" she asked. They nodded and galloped off. She turned to look at the mountain before her. It was made of black stone. You could see through the cracks of the stone where lava was encased inside. She had heard tales of creatures who inhabit the mountain both during the day and the night. The creatures who thrived during the day were called molten cats. The ones at night where called ice wolves. Neither creature friendly. She started up the mountain's winding path way and could feel the heat of the lava and fire. She had been walking up the mountain for about half an hour when she stopped for a cool drink of water. She had enchanted her water bottle so her water would stay ice cold. She levitated the bottle out of her bag and and unscrewed the lid and took a big gulp. "Ah, ice cold water" she said to herself and put the water back in her bag. That's when she heard a growl and snapped her head up. There standing in front of her was a big cat. It looked as though it was carved out of the mountain. She knew it was a molten cat. It roared at her and charged. She zapped herself over it and started to gallop as fast as she could. She noticed a lava whole up ahead and jumped over it as high as she could. She still heard the molten cat right behind her as she landed. She saw a cave in the wall of the mountain as she ran. She knew it was her only chance and zapped herself inside it. She backed into the cave and waited for the creature to be far away. While in the cave her stomach rumbled. She reached into her saddle bag for a pear and ate it. When she decided it was safe again she continued her walk up the mountain. She had walked so long that the mountain started to turn cold. The lava that blazed inside the rock formation cooled off and were iced over. Frost and snow were starting to form on the mountain. By the time night completely casted snow covered the mountain. Northern Rose used her magic to wrap her cape around her to warm up. She was only a few miles away from the top of the mountain when she came across another cave in the wall. She decided to camp out for a while and rest. She entered the cave and conjured a fire. She sat there and let the fire warm her. She got her blanket out of her bag and wrapped up in it and decided to take a small nap. She rested against the wall of the cave and closed her eyes. That's when she heard giggling. Her eyes shot open. She noticed the shadow of what looked like a wing fly by. She got out of her cover and looked out of the cave entrance. She saw a black wing vanish over the top of the mountain. She knew she had to check it out. She packed up her stuff and threw on her cape and headed for the top of the mountain. She made it to the top faster than she thought and to be safe hid behind a snow covered tree. She heard the giggle sound again from above her. She looked up and in one of the clouds was a pony like creature. It was black and white and didn't look like a typical pony. It also had rather big wings for what looked like a younger pony. "Hello little one" Northern Rose greeted. The little pony like creature giggled and hid behind the cloud. "There is no need to be shy" Northern Rose assured it, "Please come down". The little creature smiled and jumped from the cloud and used it's wing to glide down and land in front of Northern Rose. The little creature was even more adorable up close. "What are you?" Northern Rose wondered out loud. "I baby" the little one said fluttering in the air. "Are you alone?" she asked the little one. It nodded it's head yes. "What's your name?" Northern Rose asked. "I Night Fwower" she answered. "What a pretty name" Rose complimented, "where are you parents?". "Doggy chased them" the little foal said. "Doggy?" Northern Rose said confused. Then she heard a loud howl that sent chills through her back. She looked behind her and there stood a huge ice wolf. It looked as though it had been carved out of a huge ice block. Her instincts kicked in. "Fly to safety!' she ordered to the little foal and it flapped it's wings and took off as she started to gallop down the mountain. She galloped as fast as she could. She was making a turn and tripped over a rock. She quickly got up and continued to run, but the wolf was right on her tale. She used her magic to untie he cape and threw it up behind her. It covered the wolf's view and bought her some time. She continued to dash down the mountain. Night Flower caught up with her just as the first cave she found in the mountain came into view and she heard the ice wolf howl. "Hold onto to me!" she told the foal. As she did Northern Rose started up her horn and zapped them inside the cave. They backed into the cave and watched as the wolf rushed by. "We'll stay here until it's fully daylight" she whispered to Night Flower. "Otay" the foal said back. She noticed the foal started to shiver so she took the cover out of her bag and wrapped herself and the foal in it. In minutes the foal was asleep. Northern Rose stayed up and watched as the sun was rising. When the mountain was fully black rock and lava again she woke up Night Flower and they started down the mountain again. She was relieved when they reached the bottom and the carriage was waiting. She galloped to it and they headed home to Ponyville. During the ride back they both slept. They reached Ponyville just as Northern Rose woke up. Rarity was waiting for her in the middle of town. She jumped out of the carriage and hugged Rarity. "Thankfully you're alright" said Rarity. Then she noticed the little winged pony. "What is that?". "This is Night Flower" Northern Rose said patting the foals head, "she's what's left of a species of ponies called Mountain Ponies". "What are going to do with her?" Rarity asked. Night Flower nuzzled Northern Rose, "Momma" the little foal cooed. "Raise her of course" Northern Rose said with a smile as she hugged her foal.
Royalty To Rags(This is Sunset Sarsparilla) It was an amazingly beautiful morning in Canterlot as Sunset Sarsaparilla sat on the balcony of her room in the castle watching as Celestia raised the sun. She loved life in the castle. It was so much more beautiful than most other ponies thought. There was a knock on the door and it magically opened and in walked her fiance, Prince Blueblood. "My dear beauty, good morning" the prince said kissing her cheek. "Good morning dear" Sunset said with a half smile. She met Blueblood at the gala a year ago after Rarity went all mad mare on him. She thought Rarity completely over reacted when she splattered food all over his coat. "I've ordered us breakfast" Blueblood said as a maid pony rolled in a serving tray. "What is it?" she asked the maid. "The chefs' famous rose and daisy petal stew" the earth pony went to move the top off the bowl and accidently hit a tiny salt shaker spilling salt all over Blueblood's croissant. "You incompetent little foal!" Blueblood scolded, "can't you servant ponies do anything right?!". I'm so sorry sir" the pony coward. "You're extremely sorry, now get out!" he yelled as the maid galloped out of the room. "Blue, it was just an accident" Sunset defended. "Doesn't matter they need discipline" he stated, "but, let's not let ignorance ruin our meal" Blueblood sit across from her. "This looks yummy" Sunset said trying to sound genuine. Truth was she didn't care for rose petals. This was Blueblood's favorite meal. "So are you excited to meet your soon to be peasant ponies?" he asked. "Peasant ponies?" she asked back raising an eye to the prince. "Yes, the common ponies that will soon call you princess my love" Blueblood said. Sunset hated when he went on about the common ponies. Up until a year ago she was a common pony. If she were to be truthful with herself she didn't feel the same way about blueblood that she use to. When they first met he was actually sweet, but now she sees the true side of him. The side Rarity saw almost right away. "Are you nervous about our wedding, my love?" he asked taking a drink of nectar. "What's to be nervous about?" she responded. All though she knew marrying a pony she didn't love wasn't right. As they finished eating there was a knock on the door. A blue glow opened the door and in walked Luna. "Aunt Luna, good morning" Blueblood greeted and Luna nodded. "I'm here to take Sunset to get prepared". "Prepared for what?" Sunset asked confused. "Ah, I have scheduled a day for you in the castle grooming room" Blueblood chimed, "So that tonight you can greet your soon to be subjects". "Oh Blueblood dear, I don't think now is.." she started to say until she was cut off, "now now Sunset, the sooner the better" Blue said. "Shall we go then?" Luna asked. Sunset nodded and stood up to leave. "I will see that one of those foalish servants cleans up your room my love" Blueblood said as she and Luna headed out. As they walked down the hall of the castle Luna noticed Sunset's head was low. "Is something stressful young one?" she asked. Sunset wasn't sure if she should say anything. Luna was Blue's aunt and she didn't wanna lose the friendship of the princesses. "Just a lot on my mind" she finally answered. "Pre-wedding jitters?" Luna asked. "Something like that" Sunset said. "Maybe you need time to cool your nerves" Luna said. That's when an idea hit her. "Luna, do you mind if I skip this whole grooming thing?" she asked, "I need some time to think outside of the castle". "I agree, take all the time you need" Luna said. "Thank you Luna" she said hugging the princess and galloping out of the castle. She kept going until she reached the train station. She decided to visit her cousin in Las Pegasus. On the train ride she noticed a stallion looking at her. His coat was dark royal blue and his mane was red and black. She thought he was cute. She then felt a pang of guilt. She was engaged and to a prince at that. But she knew she wasn't in love so the guilt faded. When the train stopped she hopped out and galloped to her cousin's house near by. She reached the little house and pounded on the door. "Royal Flush are you home?!" she called. No answer. "She's on tour right now miss" she heard somepony say. She turned around and it was the stallion from the train. "Oh yeah, a card game tour" Sunset remembered "I'm Night Raven" he introduced. "Sunset Sarsaparilla" she said shaking his hoof. "I guess I can wait for the next train to come" she said. "Well I hope I don't seem rude, but while you wait mind if a treat you to dinner?" Night Raven asked. That's when she noticed her stomach rumble. "Sure" "Great, I know the best place here" he said as she followed beside him. They arrived at a beautiful Gazebo. It was lit up with beautiful rose shaped lights everywhere. "Wow" she said taking in the scenery. "Would you like a table or a blanket?" he said pointing to the ground around the gazebo where tons of soft colored blankets laid. Some had ponies eating and talking on them. "A meal under the stars would be so awesome here" she said. Night Raven asked a waiter for a blanket and as they sat and ate they talked under the stars. They talked about where they grew up, how they earned their cutie marks, and Night Raven even went on about how good he thought some of her nectar recipes were. "So any special pony in your life?" Night Raven asked sipping on his nectar. Sunset knew eventually he would ask. "Well yes, but I'm not happy" she admitted, "not like I was". "Oh, who is the stallion who can't see what an awesome mare he has? Night Raven asked. Sunset blushed at the compliment in the question, "Prince Blueblood". Night Raven's faced popped with shock. "I don't mean to be rude, but I've heard the prince can be a jerk". "He is a jerk, I just couldn't see that at first" Sunset said sighing. "So have you left the prince?" he asked. "No, but I'm going to" she admitted, "I get so tired of how he treats the castle servants and all his put downs toward common ponies. I mean up until a year ago I was a common pony". "Well, you gotta do what makes you happy, and if I may be so bold" Night Raven states, "I think you deserve better Miss Sunset". That made Sunset blush. She didn't know why, but this stallion was giving her butterflies. That's when she noticed just how late it was. "I guess I should head back to the station" she said getting up. As she started to walk she heard somepony gallop beside her. "Let me walk with you" Night Raven insisted. She nodded and they headed for the train station. On the way there they talked about the things they wish to do and places they had always wanted to go. Sunset wasn't surprised when she realized she was becoming attracted the stallion she just met. It was a feeling she had never really had with Blueblood. She was brought of out her thoughts by the gasp sound of a train. "Well I believe this is where you wanted to be" Night Raven said. "Thank you for such an amazing time Night Raven" she said not even noticing the flirty look she gave him. "It was my pleasure Sunset" he said and she noticed their faces were just inches apart. Not able to hold back the urge she touched her lips to his. *Sunset!" she heard just then. Their lips broke apart and coming down the road was a royal carriage with Blueblood in it. "What are you doing?!" he charged up to her and pushed between her and the stallion. "Blueblood, how did you find me?" she asked. "Doesn't matter" he answered, "why are you here and kissing some common pony at that?". That last comment made something inside Sunset snap. "THAT'S IT!" she yelled "I am so tired of you putting down ponies who aren't rich and stuck up like you!". Blueblood looked stunned. "I am not gonna sit and listen to it the rest of my life!" she announced. "You have the nerve to be ill with me and I catch you kissing another stallion" Blueblood said pointing to Night Raven, "what am I suppose to think of that?". "This" Sunset said as she took the ring off her hoof and tossed it to Blueblood. It landed right around his horn. "I can't marry you. I'd rather be a common pony". "Fine" the prince said as he climbed back in his carriage, "You're the foal giving up everything a mare could ask for!". She watched as the carriage sped off. She looked over at Night Raven and smiled. "Not everything" she said as she kissed him and they both blushed.
Scavenger Hunt(This is Lunar Light) It was the end of the school day for all the fillies and colts in Ponyville and a little filly named Lunar Light was fluttering home. She was new to Ponyville. She was taken in by a stallion unicorn when a traveling orphanage came through town. She stopped by a veggie stand in town square and got some stuff her family needed for dinner. She fluttered inside her house and landed in the kitchen. "Hey little one" a stallion greeted. "Hey Fire Moon" she said as she galloped to him and gave the grey unicorn a hug. "Did you get the food we needed for my home made stew?" Fire Moon asked. "Yep" she reached into her little saddle bag and handed him the small bag of vegetables. That's when she heard little coos and ran to the living room. There she saw her three little cousins Flash Drive, Ember, and Pixel Heart. "Was Aunt Fire Heart here today?" Lunar asked. "Yes, we are keeping the foals for the weekend while she takes care of some things" Fire Moon said. Lunar Light gave each foal a kiss on the head and put her saddle bag in her room. "Can I go to the park?" she asked walking back into the kitchen. "Sure, just be back before dinner" Fire Moon said. She hugged him and flew off. Meanwhile Twilight and Applejack were on their way to the park too. "Twi, are you sure this is a good idea?" Applejack asked. "Yes, it'll help build their investigation skills and help them become more adventurous". Twilight answered. "if you say so" Applejack said as they reached the fountain in the park. "Excuse me fillies and colts!" Twilight called. All the little ponies in the park gathered around. Lunar Light Fluttered to the front of the crowd. "I have come up with a fun adventure for you all, if you parents say yes that it is" Twilight announced. "Adventure?" Lunar questioned. "Yes, a scavenger hunt!" Twilight smiled, "I had my friend Rainbow Dash hide a box of goodies around Ponyville somewhere and it's up to you to find it. Just take of one these permission slips from my friend Applejack and come back here tomorrow". All the fillies and colts rushed to get a form. 'May I have one?" Lunar Light asked. "Of course little one" Applejack said, as Lunar took a form and flew off. She could smell the stew when she walked in the house. She walked into the kitchen just as Fire Moon finished cooking. "hey, you're back in time for dinner" Fire Moon says getting two bowls out of the cabinet. "Yeah" Lunar said hopping onto her chair as he floats a bowl of veggie stew to her. "Hey Fire Moon can you sign this?" she asked pushing the permission form to him as he sets down. "What is it?" Fire Moon asked. "Princess Twilight is throwing this scavenger hunt for all the fillies and colts around Ponyville" Lunar Light said. Fire Moon read the form. "You're ok with being out there searching day and night" Fire asked. Lunar Light nodded her head. "Ok then you can do it" he said as he signed the form. "Thank you!" Lunar said and started eating her soup. The next day after school Fire Moon headed to the park with Lunar Light. "Please give all your forms to Applejack everypony" Twilight ordered watching all the excited little ponies run around. After all the ponies gathered around Twilight explained what to do. "Ok now when Applejack calls your name you will go up to Rarity and get your supply bag. Each bag holds a bottle of water, a bag of food, a flashlight, and a map of Ponyville". One by one Applejack called each little ponies name. Lunar watched as Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo put bags together as Rarity passed them out. "Lunar Light" Applejack finally called. Lunar galloped over to Rarity and she used her magic to strap the supply bag to her. "There you are Darling" she said. "Thanks Miss Rarity" Lunar said and Flew back to Fire Moon. After all the ponies had their bags Twilight cleared her throat. "OK guys here is what your map looks like" she used her magic to float a wide map of Ponyville in the air, "See the red dots? They indicate a rest stop. Each of my friends will be at one to make sure you're safe as you hunt". Fire Moon raised a hoof. "Yes?" Twilight answered. "So this game is safe right? " he asked, "no danger at all?". "None" Twilight said, "so are my little ponies ready?" All the fillies and colts cheered, "Then the hunt starts now!" "Remember to report back to the park by night time tomorrow!" Applejack called as the fillies and colts started off. Lunar looked at Fire Moon. "You have fun and be careful" She nodded and hugged him before flying off. She took out her map and looked at it. She decided to search town square first. She landed right by the pony statue that is part of the little fountain. She searched around it first. She didn't find anything but, a bunch of wishing pennies. Then she tried looking in the tents around town square, but found nothing. That's when remembered town hall. She trotted there and saw the mayor talking to Time Turner. She heard something about a town clock. Then she saw two fillies with the same bag she had and she hid so they wouldn't think to look where she was. She watched the two earth fillies pass and walked into the hall. It was empty and a little spooky. She looked up and didn't really see any place the box could be so she searched the seats. She was about to give up when under the last bench she saw a gray colored box. "That's it!" she said as she trotted to the bench and pulled the box out. "Wonder what Twilight put in here" She asks herself as she opens the box and tons of baby spiders crawl out. Lunar screamed and flew out of town hall and didn't stop until she reached the bridge. "Well, let's try this again" she said as she pulled out her map. She decided to search the school house. She trotted down the road until she reached the little red building. She made sure no other hunters where around and went inside. She searched the supply bens and the closet with everything in it. Just as she finished searching the teacher's desk she heard more fillies coming. She opened a window and Flew out. An hour later she found herself at the train station. She was starting to doubt she'd ever find the box. Then she noticed her stomach growl. She checked her bag for the food that was packed. She pulled out a medium sized white bag. She opened it and inside was tons of Pinkie Pie's hoof made rock candy. "Score!" she said as she took a red piece out of the bag and bit into it. She loved the crunching sound it made. She ate the last bit of the piece of candy she had and sipped some water. She noticed then it was dark so she got out her flash light and turned it on. She started to walk toward the Ponyville hospital. She was a little scared because she had to walk passed the everfree forest. As she passed the entrance of the forest she thought she heard somepony. She flashed her light down the entrance path, but didn't see anypony. She didn't know why but, she knew she had to go into the forest. She mustered up all her courage and headed down the path. She kept quiet and made sure to keep her ears open to any sound. She came to a fork in the road. She couldn't decide which way to go. Then she heard the voice again. It sounded like it was coming from down the left road. She started down that road hoping that the voice didn't belong to some crazy pony. She made it half way down the road when she heard growling. She saw a timberwolf out the corner of her eye and took of running. She could hear the wolf right behind her. She was so busy running she tripped over a log and dropped her flashlight. She heard the bulb of the flashlight shatter and then it went super dark. She couldn't even see her own hoof in front of her face. She heard the wolf growling and took off in any direction she could. She could hear the wolf not far behind her. Then suddenly a ray of moonlight shown down. It was bright enough to show her a cave up ahead. "Oh thank Luna!" she galloped as fast as she could toward the cave. She entered the cave and hid behind a big rock. She watched as the wolf searched around and then ran off when it heard a twig snap. She back trotted into the cave further. She wasn't sure how deep the cave went. Then she heard the mysterious whisper again. Only it was closer this time. "Hello?" she called, "is somepony in here?". She didn't get a response. She decided to walk straight in the direction the voice came from. She had been walking deeper and deeper when she noticed a big boulder at what she guessed was the end of the cave. She also noticed there seemed to be a sort of glow coming through the cracks around the boulder. She examined the boulder and thought if she flapped her wings hard enough she could pull it out of the wall. She placed her hooves on the huge rock and flapped her wings as hard as she could and pulled. She stopped to take a breather and pulled again. She heard a snap and her left wing recoiled in pain "OW!" she screamed as she landed and tried to stretch her wing. That's when she noticed the small rocks around the boulder fall. She slowly hopped onto the boulder and examined the small rocks. She realized with a little pulling she could clear them out. She grabbed the biggest rock and started to pull. After what seemed like forever the rock came free. Then others fell. Then she started to pull more of the rocks out until she could jump down the whole. She leaped down. When she landed and looked up what she saw amazed her. It was a big statue, of a pegasus pony. It looked like a mare. She circled around the statue and noticed a picture carved in her flank of a sun and cloud. That's when she noticed the bright light again. She looked in the corner of the room and there was a piece of stone on the ground. It was a clear multicolored jewel in the shape of the same symbols on the statue's flank. She wondered if anypony else knew this statue was here. She went to fly out of the cave, but the pain in her wing reminded her she couldn't. "I'm never gonna get out of here" she said to herself as she pouted. Then the cave seemed to glow a bright red, "how did y'all get stuck down there?" she heard a familiar voice say. She looked up where the whole was and smiled, "Fire Moon!". She never thought she's be so happy to see his weird glowing mane. "Are ya ok?" he asked. "No, my wing is hurt" she said pointing to her right wing. Fire Moon looked up at the statue. "How did that get in the middle of an everfree cave?" "I don't know" Lunar said, "but I think we should tell Twilight". Fire Moon nodded and lifted the filly up with his magic and placed her on his back. Later that day Twilight and her friends were in the cave looking at the statue. "Do you think it's a statue of a famous pony from way back when?" Applejack asked. "It could be" Twilight said looking at the base of the statue, "her name was Calming Winds". "Ever heard of her Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked. "No, but I will research and see if she comes up anywhere" Twilight promised. "What about the stone?" Lunar asked holding up the glowing rock. Twilight looked at it. Then looked back at the carved cutie mark on the statue. "That's weird" She said as she kept looking back from the stone to the statue. "What is it Darling?" Rarity asked looking at her confused. "The images on this stone, are exactly like the carved mark on the statue's flank" Twilight said as she held it up to the carving on the statue. "Sounds like we have a mystery on our hooves" Applejack said. "I'll meet you girls back at my library" Twilight said turning from her friends to Lunar Light, "and thank you for you telling us about this". "I knew you needed to know" Lunar said smiling. Twilight smiled at the filly and walked over to the statue. She put her hooves on it and her horn glowed. Suddenly she and the statue were gone. "Let's get goin" Fire Moon said. As they walked out of the cave following Twilight's friends Lunar Light noticed a flash behind her. She looked and squealed. On her flank was a small treasure box. "MY CUTIE MARK!" she called clapping her hooves together. "Looks like the special thing about you is discovering hidden things" Fire Moon said as they left the forest.
A True Pony(This is Ember Flames) It was a sunny day in Ponyville as Twilight and her friends took the young fillies Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo on a walk through the safer part of the forest to check out the plant life. Apple Bloom thought it would be an easy way to earn their cutie marks if they could be good at something to do with nature. “Oh come on!” Sweetie exclaimed as she dropped a leaf, “we’ve been out here for an hour and no mark has showed up for any of us”. All the the girls just looked at each other. “Well why don’t you three take a break and enjoy this here picnic basket I packed?” Applejack suggested pointing to a picnic blanket up the path a bit. “Oh good!” Apple Bloom chimed, “I’m starvin”. “Me too” Scootaloo said as they trotted up the path. They ate and joked and Sweetie Belle even filled them in on her play and the story about what happened with her and Rarity. “Wow, wish we could have seen the play Sweetie” Twilight said. Suddenly a clap of thunder hit. “Welp, we better be getting on home, before it pours down” Applejack said as they packed up the picnic. As they trotted out of the forest, they didn’t see the pony watching them. “You’ve been studying ponies for a while, you can do this” she told herself, as she watched the group of ponies from the cave she lived in. The next morning She woke up and looked around at the pictures of ponies she had hanging on the walls. She spent every free moment she had since she ran, studying them. How they moved, talked, and even the colors of their coats, manes, and eyes. The hardest part to study about the ponies were their marks. She knew their marks were a big part of them. They symbolized something they were excellent at. After thinking on it a bit she decided to make a campfire mark since she pretty much knew how to camp since hiding in the forest. She walked out into the forest and up to a small rain puddle. She looked at her reflection. Her gray coat and blonde mane worked well to bring out her yellow eyes. She looked back at the cave she called home for so many weeks and then headed toward the train station while it was still early. She waited until the first train arrived and pretended she was a passenger in the crowd. As she entered Ponyville the warm filling she’s known her whole life in spurts was severely strong. She had to use all her strength to fight the urge she has come to know as part of what she was. She walked around watching all the ponies around her and taking in the scenery. The scent of something faintly sweet got her nose. “What is that delicious smell?” she asked herself. “YEEHAW!” she heard somepony call. She looked in the direction of the sound and saw a huge apple farm. As she walked up to it, she saw a light orange pony with a blonde mane running around bucking every tree that had apples on it. Applejack bucked one last tree and then sat for a rest. “Phew” she said as she wiped her brow, “I am so tired”. “I bet” a little red maned filly said running to the other pony with an apple juice box, “With Granny Smith away and Big Mac on bed rest for his sprained hoof, I don’t doubt it”. “You never know how hard it is to tend to the orchid until you do it by yourself” the pony said standing up, “be nice to have another set of hooves around”. That’s what she took as her cue. “Excuse me!” she called walking up to the ponies, “I couldn’t help but, overhear you needed help”. “Uh yeah” the orange pony said, “um do I know you?” the pony raised an eye to her as she asked. “Oh no, I’m what you would call a drifter pony. My names Ember Flames” she said holding out her hoof. “I’m Applejack” the pony said shaking her hoof harder than she expected, “and this here is my baby sister Apple Bloom” she said pointing to the red maned filly. “It’s nice to meet you both. I’m new to Ponyville and am willing to work on the farm for bits” Ember Flames stated. “Oh, well ok sure” Applejack agreed, “can you buck trees?”. “I think I can figure it out” Ember said as they headed for some trees still holding apples. Ember studied the tree and then stretched her hooves. She was getting ready to buck one when a thought occurred to her. She flew into the tree and shook it and apples fell and filled the baskets below in no time. Applejack’s jaw dropped, “Well I’ll be. That’s that fastest apple bucking method I’ve ever seen”. “Really? You’ve never seen a pegasus buck before?” she asked. “Well my friend Fluttershy helped me out one time, but not that fast” Applejack admitted, “You’ll earn tons of bits with hard work like that”. Within about two hours over half of the apple trees were apple free and Ember Flames helped haul the apples inside the barn. "Well, I think that's enough Apples for today y'all" Applejack said as she searched through a little wooden box, " one hundred bits". She handed a small, Brown bag to Ember Flames. "Are you sure you wanna give me that much?" Ember asked holding the bag of bits up. "You earned em" Applejack said with a big smile. "Oh thank you Applejack" Ember said putting the bits in her saddle bag. "Do you have somewhere to stay Ember?" Applejack asked. “No, I’ll look for a place when I leave here” Ember said, “thank you for the bits”. “I won’t hear of it” Applejack announced, “you can stay in our guest room”. “Oh, I don’t wanna impose Applejack, the bits were more then enough” Ember said. “Please Ember, I wouldn’t feel right knowing you were out there without somewhere to stay” Applejack pleaded. “Only if I continue to help around the farm” Ember offered. “It’s a deal!” Applejack said as they shook hooves. “Now let’s get ya settled in, dinner is soon” Applejack said as they headed inside. Ember Flames sat in her room trying to stay calm. She had never ate pony food before. Or food period for that matter. She just had to eat and not show any sign of disgust if the food didn’t taste good. “Soups on everypony!” she heard Applejack call. As she walked down the stairs sweet smells hit her nose. “Their food sure smells good” she said to herself. She walked into the kitchen and saw a red stallion with a blonde mane sitting on the table. “Ember this here is my brother Big Mac” Applejack said pointing to her brother. “I am really sorry to hear you’re hurt” Ember said smiling at Big Mac. “Eeyup” was his reply. Ember sat at the table as Applejack and Apple Bloom rolled in a tray with bowls in them. “I hope you like this Ember” Applejack said, “it’s Big Mac’s favorite”. “Oh,what is it?” Ember asked as Apple Bloom placed a bowl in front of her. “It’s my hoof made apple petal stew” Applejack said, “as she sat at the table, “it has apples, apple broth, potatoes, and several types of flower petals”. Ember looked at the stew, it looked weird, but smelled amazingly sweet. “Go on y’all eat up” Applejack said digging into her bowl. “This is it” she said to herself. She dipped her spoon into the mushy food and brought it up to her mouth. She poured it into her mouth and studied the taste. The taste was foreign but, super sweet. She knew it wouldn’t make her full, but she could enjoy the taste worry free. “This is really good” Ember said as she took another bite. “I’m glad you like” Applejack smiled as she ate. As they ate and talked Ember eased. She knew she finally found home. Weeks passed and Ember Flames learned how to do the chores around the farm. One day she was resting in a hay pile when she heard Apple Bloom going on. “Ah, come on Sis!”. “No Apple Bloom” Applejack said, “I am going over to Twilight’s to search through her books for info on the statue that was discovered in the forest”. “Then why can’t I go?!” Apple Bloom pleaded. “You’ll set around, get bored, and then complain” Applejack told her. “Then let Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo come over here” Apple Bloom suggested. “AB, I have no problem leaving you at home alone, but not all three of you fillies” Applejack admitted. “I’ll watch them” Ember said as she walked out of the barn and up to the two sisters. “Are you sure Ember?” Applejack asked, “they can be a hoofful”. “I’m sure, I mean they can play outside while I gather more apples”. Ember stated with a smile. “If you’re sure fine” Applejack looked at Apple Bloom, “you and your friends better behave yourselves”. Apple Bloom nodded. “I’ll be back in a few hours Ember” Applejack said as she headed to Twilight’s. A little bit later all the fillies are playing in the yard as Ember is collecting apples. “I am so bored!” Sweetie Belle squeaked. “Well I am learning to loop de hoop for real this time” Apple Bloom said, “wanna learn with me?”. “Ok” Scootaloo said as Apple Bloom ran and got her loop de hoop. “I am learning to do this” Apple Bloom twirls the loop around her right hoof and then switches it to her left hoof as it keeps twirling. “Wow I wanna try!” Sweetie Belle chimed. Apple Bloom handed her the hoop. She started to twirl, but when she went to switch the loop flew off her hoof and over the fence and rolled into the forest. “My hoop!” Apple Bloom cried reaching a hoof out as to stop it. “I’m sorry Apple Bloom” Sweetie Belle said. “Calm down” Scootaloo ordered, “let’s just go get it”. “We can’t go into the forest alone” Apple Bloom said, “it’s too dangerous”. “Oh come” Scootaloo said jumping in between her two friends and wrapping her front hooves around them “we’re the cutie mark crusaders!”. “And?” Sweetie Belle asked raising an eye to her friend. “And we can do anything!” Scootaloo answered, “come on!”. She ran and jumped over the fence. Sweetie Belle and Apple Bloom looked at each other and shrugged. They jumped over the fence. Sweetie Belle tripped and knocked a piece of wood of the fence and landed oddly. “You ok?” Apple Bloom asked. “Yeah, I’m fine” she said as they headed into the forest. Ember had just gathered ten buckets of apples and loaded the last into the barn. “Girls I hope your having fun” she said as she walked out, but didn’t see the girls. She figured they were in the house and went to check. “Girls!” she called as she trotted in and checked the living room, and then kitchen. “Girls!” she called again as she galloped upstairs and checked in Apple Bloom’s room. “GIRLS!” she called as she galloped back downstairs and searched outside. She check the apple fields, and the barn. “Great Shade!, you’ve lost three little fillies!” she scolded herself. Thats when she noticed the part of the fence that was broke and seen the forest beyond. “No! they can’t be in there!” she flew over the fence and galloped into the forest. The girls were looking in the brushes of the forest for Apple Bloom’s hoop. “Maybe we should head back y’all” Apple Bloom suggested. “We haven’t found your hoop yet” Scootaloo said as she checked behind a bush. “I can get a new one” Apple Bloom said, “I don’t like this place”. “Let’s just search a little more” Scootaloo said as they walked on, searching behind trees. “But what if Applejack comes home and we’re missing, I don’t want Ember to get in trouble” Apple Bloom reminded. “She’s studying at Twilight’s, she’ll be gone a while” Scootaloo said. They searched until they came to a fork in the road. “We’ll never find it “Apple Bloom said, “let’s just go back now”. As they turned to go back three timberwolves were coming toward them. All three fillies screamed and ran. Ember heard their screams and started to gallop as fast as she could toward the screams. She reached the girls and saw the wolves. “Girls stay calm!” she called. One of the wolves leaped at her and she slid under it and stood in front of the fillies and stared the mutts down. “Ember what are we gonna do?!” Apple Bloom pleaded. She looked at the three scared little fillies. “I’m gonna do something, but please don't be scared, ok?” she asked and the fillies nodded. She glared as she smiled wickedly. Her pony body seemed to drain away revealing the changeling she truly was. The girls gasped. “Bring it mutts!” she said in her slithery changeling voice. The wolves roared and started for the ponies. Ember used magic to toss them across the ground. Suddenly more wolves appeared, hearing the battle going on. She smiled and grinned and her horn glowed purple. All the wolves were grabbed in a purple mist and then in one flash were all turned to dust. “Apple Bloom!” she heard Applejack call. Applejack seen the changeling and stopped in her tracks. “Where are my sister and her friends?!” Applejack demanded as she dug her hoof across the ground getting ready to charge the changeling. “Applejack don’t!” she heard Apple Bloom demand as she and her friends ran to the changeling. “Girls get away from it!” Applejack ordered trying to stay calm. “She’s not an it, she’s a mare” Apple Bloom said. “She’s dangerous, now go home while I handle her” Applejack said shooting a stare of hatred the changeling’s way. Apple Bloom turned to face the changeling. “Show her” she ordered softly. She nods and Applejack watches as she seems absorb back into the pony she knew as Ember Flames. “What in tarnation?” Applejack asked with confusion on her face. “I’ve been living as Ember this whole time” she admitted. “Why?” Applejack demanded, “to feed off us?!”. “No, I would never do that!” Ember said with as much truth in her voice as she could muster. “Then why?!” Applejack demanded shooting a harsh look her way. Ember looked down and Applejack caught a glimpse of shame in her eyes. “During our attack on canterlot, I seen the fear clear on the faces of the ponies we were terrorizing” she started, “the group I was in cornered a small group of fillies and colts. I couldn’t feed, They were so small. When we were ran off I split from my family and have been living in the everfree forest ever since”. For a long time everypony was silent. Just when Ember didn’t think she could stand it anymore Applejack broke the silence. “What’s your real name?”. “Shade Bolt” she said looking Applejack in the eye. “And you swear what yer telling me is true?” Applejack asked. “If I were up to something wouldn’t I have done it by now?” Shade asked. “Applejack c'mon, you’re always going on about trust, show her some” Apple Bloom said. Applejack looked at her and then to Shade. “Shade, you can stay”. The girls cheered. “Please Applejack, call me Ember. I never wanna be Shade Bolt again. I’m a pony now” Ember announced. Applejack nodded, “I won’t tell nopony, I know I can trust you”. “Thank you so much Applejack” Ember Flames smiled. “Well let’s get out of this dreadful forest” she said as they headed back to the farm.
A Heart In HarmonyThis is Symphony 15 years ago….. *The Ponyville school house was hosting a talent show for all the fillies and colts. So far it was disastrous. None of the acts were good and the audience both young and old sat still, bored out of their minds. A little green filly finished singing a very off tune song and when nopony clapped she ran off the stage crying. A little pink filly sat staring at the beautiful black piano on the stage. “So many ponies who may forever remain markless” he mother stated. Not wanting to be one of the ponies to be blank flanked forever she marched up the stage and sat down in front of the piano. The ponies watched as she sat and stared at the piano for a moment. Suddenly with a little force her horn glowed white. Suddenly music started to come from the piano. The little filly was confused at first. Then she noticed it was her magic pushing the keys to make the music. She smiled and started playing a song she knew so well. It was a lullaby her grandmother would sing to her. The ponies watching started cheering and clapping before she was even done playing. When she finished the pony in charge of the talent show handed her a rose and claimed her the winner. She noticed a flash form on her flank. She looked and it was a brown piano cutie mark. “I GOT MY CUTIE MARK!” she exclaimed as her mother hugged her.* *“Thank goodness you’re a pony with talent” her mother said. Over the years the filly enjoyed her talent to tickle the keys with her magic. She would play at family functions, birthdays, and any other event her mother could find. By the time she was fifteen though she was becoming well known, her mother’s constant managing skills were taking a toll on her. She loved playing piano. The beautiful music the keys created was the most amazing sound she ever heard. But as she played and learned new songs and traveled around Equestria to play, she felt a sense of loneliness. She would watch all the ponies her age over the years, play and make friends and all she had was her music and mother, who had become more of a manager then anything else over the past few years. She would sit and watch the ponies between shows, living a life of calmness and happiness. Longing for the same. She would look up to the stars and ask them if she would ever know that happiness.* ***Present Time…*** ***Symphony sat in her cabin on the train to Canterlot. Her mother had booked her to play at a party Princess Celestia was throwing for Twilight. In honor of her defeating Tirek and saving Equestria. She sat bored watching another pony her age, cuddle with her special somepony. Yet another feeling she had never known. She would often set and think to herself what her dream stallion would look like, and how he would act. “So dear, I was thinking for the princesses you could play the new song you’ve learned”. Her mother chimed. “Sure” she agreed with her mother. She never argued with her mother much anymore. It never got her anywhere. “So when we reach the castle we’ll meet the princesses first and then be escorted to our room to prepare for tonight” her mother informed. She just nodded. She wanted so much to go back to her foalhood home of Ponyville. Where her father and grandmother were. The train pulled up to the station in Canterlot and two guards stood watching as ponies trotted off the train. She and her mother trotted out last and a guard approached them. “Are you Symphony?” he asked her.*** ***“Yes” her mother chimed in.*** ***“Follow us” the guard said as they headed toward the castle. Twilight and her friends sat in front of the castle with Princess Luna and Princess Celestia. “I’m so excited” Fluttershy softly chimed.*** ***“I know you have to be Fluttershy” Twilight said, “ Symphony is your favorite musician”.*** ***“Oh yes, her music is so amazing” Fluttershy said, “ I hope she’s nice”.*** ***“Here they calm y’all” Applejack announced as they watched the group of ponies trot toward them. Symphony and her mother bowed as they reached the princesses. “Welcome Symphony, it’s a pleasure to meet you” Celestia greeted.*** ***“It’s honor to be here your highness” Symphony said with a smile.*** ***“Princess Twilight and her friends will get you settled in” Celestia said, “I must go and greet the guests for Twilight’s party” she nods and flies off. Twilight and and the girls walked Symphony and her mother to her room. “Now miss Symphony I do hope you like the dress I made you for tonight. I followed the design your mother gave me to a T” Rarity said as she floated a dress bag in the air.*** ***“You made a dress for me?’ Symphony asked a little shocked.*** ***“Your mother wanted you to look your best tonight” Rarity stated as she floated the bag into the bathroom. Symphony followed and closed the door. The dress fit amazingly on her. It was made of a soft green fabric and was trimmed with golden lace. Rarity had also added sunflowers in her mane. “You look amazing darling” Rarity said as Symphony looked at herself in a full length mirror. “Thank you Rarity” she smiled, “you’re a lovely designer”.*** ***“Please feel free to keep the dress Symphony, on me” Rarity offered.*** ***“Sweetie, they want you to go down and mingle for a bit before you perform” Her mother said trotting in wearing an elegant white dress.*** ***“Ok” she said as she followed her mother and the other ponies to the ballroom. When she walked in the ballroom her eyes widened at all the ponies in the ballroom. She swore almost everypony in equestria was there. “Now go meet your fans sweetie” her mom pushed.*** ***“Mom, these ponies are here for Princess Twilight not me” Symphony reminded her.*** ***“Doesn’t mean you can’t make it about you” her mother advised. Symphony was shocked at her mother’s idea. She wanted her to steal the spotlight of a princess if she could. She wanted so much to stand up to her mother, but in so many ways she still felt like a little filly. Wanting to get away from her mother she trotted around watching the ponies in the ballroom. She saw Princess Twilight’s friend Pinkie Pie stuffing her face with cupcakes and her friend Rainbow Dash hanging with the wonderbolts. She was walking to the refreshment table when she bumped into somepony. “Pardon me” She said as she stepped back. She saw a brown earth stallion with a blonde mane. “So sorry miss” he said as he smiled. That’s when she noticed his cutie mark. It was a guitar. “Ah a fellow music player” she smiles.*** ***“Yes, I love the sound of a guitar” the stallion said, “what do you play?”.*** ***“Piano” she said, “been playing since I was a filly”.*** ***“Oh, pianos do have a nice sound to them” he said, “I’m Meadow Song” he reaches his hoof out. “I’m Symphony” she said. When she touched Meadow’s hoof a weird feeling seemed to zap through her. “It’s very nice to meet ya Symphony” Meadow Song said and she noticed a bit of a country accent.*** ***“Like wise” she smiled and for some unknown reason blushed a little.*** ***“So many ponies here tonight” Meadow said, “Would you like to go stare at stars on the balcony?”.*** ***“That sounds nice” she smiled and followed him out. The stars above the castle where so bright, it took Symphony’s breathe away. “Luna sure does know how to make some pretty stars” Meadow Song said staring up at them.*** ***“They’re amazing, she must be so proud when she sees her subjects gaze at them” Symphony said. Meadow nodded.*** ***“So where are you from?” she asked him.*** ***“I grew up in Dodge Junction and recently moved to Ponyville” he answered.*** ***“I grew up in Ponyville” she answered, “been traveling Equestria since I was six years old”.*** ***“Sounds exciting to travel Equestria” Meadow Song said as they watched a shooting star go by.*** ***“It was at first but, now I just wish I could go home and stay” she said.*** ***“I’m a small town pony myself” Meadow said, “Nothin beats home”. Symphony and Meadow Song talked most the night about their likes, hobbies, even some embarrassing stories were shared. They spent so long talking Symphony had completely forgotten why she was there. “It’s been nice talking to such a sweet pony” she said smiling as she battered her eyelashes.*** ***“It’s been nice talking to such beautiful mare as well Symphony” Meadow said as they leaned in close to each other. Just as Symphony thought she was gonna have her first kiss, they were interrupted. “Symphony!”. She looked up to see her mother standing in the archway of the balcony.*** ***“Mother!” she said shocked.*** ***“I have been looking for you everywhere” her mother scolded, “You need to be inside playing, not out here being wooed by some common stallion”.*** ***“Mother that’s not..” she started.*** ***“Don’t argue with me young lady” her mother, “you don’t have time talk to anypony”. Symphony felt something in her snap and she couldn't hold it back anymore. “Thanks to you I don't have time for anything but, piano!” she shouted.*** ***“Symphony, don’t raise your voice to me” her mother ordered.*** ***“No mother!” she continued, “for fifteen years thanks to you I’ve been such a lonely pony!”. By this time all the ponies were staring at her, “ever since I was six years old and earned my mark you have made me grow up, without my family, no friends, and no chance at even having a special somepony!”.*** ***“I did it for you Symphony, to give you a chance at true fame!” her mother argued.*** ***“You did it for you!” Symphony said as tears started to fall, “to give yourself a chance to live vicariously through me! and what hurts most is you didn’t care how much you took from me! How much you hurt me!”. Her mother was too stunned to say anything back. “I’m done mother. As of tonight I retire. I’m going home!” and she rushed off to her room. She was packing her things when Twilight and her friends came to check on her. “I’m really sorry Princess Twilight” Symphony apologized, “I did not mean to ruin your party”.*** ***“You didn’t” Twilight assured, “a pony can only be pushed so far”.*** ***“Thank you for understanding” she said as she used her magic to pack her her last bag. The next night Symphony was laying in her own bed for the first time, in years. In her own home at that. She felt so much better being home. Yes she and her mother werent really talking but, she knew it would blow over in time. She was lost in thought when her grandmother trotted in. “You have a visitor dear” she said in her wisened by time voice.*** ***“This late?” she asked, getting up. She walked outside and there stood the stallion she met the night before. “Meadow?” she asked a bit confused. “Hi, I asked around to find your house” he admitted blushing a bit, “I had to talk to you again”.*** ***“I guess we didn’t get to finish watching the stars last night” she smiles as she sits next to him.*** ***“I really enjoyed your company last night” Meadow confessed, “mares tend to overlook an ordinary stallion like me”.*** ***“I don’t know why Meadow” she smiled, “You’re so sweet and surely cute”. Meadow blushes as he smiled, “One thing I wanna know though”.*** ***“What?” she asked a little intrigued.*** ***“Why didn’t you tell me you were the talented Symphony?” he looked at her with a smile.*** ***“Because for once, I didn’t have to be” she said, “it was so nice to talk to you and know it wasn’t because you were a fan”.*** ***“I have heard of you, but never heard your music” Meadow confessed, “to me you are just another normal yet beautiful mare”. Symphony blushes and smiled at the compliment. “Well you’re more than just some ordinary stallion Meadow”.*** ***“I’m a just a town pony, who can tickle the strings” he said with a chuckle.*** ***“Maybe I can hear you play some time” Symphony said. Meadow smiles and moves closer to her. “Maybe we can play together” he said as he leaned in close to her.*** ***“That would be nice” Symphony said leaning in too. Before they knew it, they’re lips met.***
