Bow to Me!!

As Celestia promised, the mane six were called in time for the ceremony. Twilight was escorted onto stage to assist, while her friends had to watch from the first row in the crowd. The square in front of the castle was full of ponies and everyone was eager to see the princesses. Many of them didn’t sleep that night just to be sure not to miss the event and take the best seats… not that there were actual seats, but you know what I mean.

Twilight’s role as a princess in the ceremony was a mere formality, so she was spending her time watching all the ponies around her and couldn’t help but find strange that there was an unusual amount of guards and they all looked kinda absent-minded. No, they were weren’t distracted, they were just… staring at the sky?

“How odd” – she thought trying to follow their gaze, but found nothing.

“Is the moon of your liking tonight, Twilight Sparkle?” – said a voice from behind startling her.

“Princess Luna! I didn’t hear you, you scared me” – apologized the purple alicorn with a humble bow.

She was an alicorn like her and Princess Celestia, but the fur was dark blue and her flowing mane was like a corner of starry sky. Unlike her sister she looked strict and intransigent, but Twilight knew how childish she could be and her social awkwardness (one thousand years of exile to the moon don’t help). However, in such events her calm and composure sure were regal and her power to control the night and relinquish the nightmares of her subjects made her truly a powerful pony. She wasn’t Celestia’s younger sister just for show.

“The ceremony is about to begin. Try to look more dignified in front of our subjects” – she said in a stern tone.

Twilight lowered her head under her gaze. For a moment she thought the princess was angry with her for some reason she didn’t know, but then she noticed her bloodshot eyes and the nervous tic in her left eye.

“Princess Luna… is everything ok?”

“Of course everything is alright! Why shouldn’t it be? It’s a feast, right?! Everypony is happy, RIGHT?!” – she asked with a devious smile that made the younger princess flinch.

“…yes?” – she answered trying to be compliant.

“Then why does somepony have to mess with US?!” – said the blue mare nearly shrieking at the end.

She was really starting to lose her cool and that was really strange. She acted crazy only once before, during the first Nightmare Night after her return, but this time it looked like something really made her angry.

“Was somepony rude to you? You can tell me if it helps making you feel any better.”

Her words seemed to strike some kind of target. The night princess looked puzzled like someone waking up from daydreaming, or like realizing she did something she wasn’t supposed to do… or tell.

“Rude? To me? Not at all. Sorry, Twilight Sparkle, forget my words.”

“But you said before that somepony messed with you…”

“N-Never said such a thing. Now, if you excuse me…”

“Where are you going? We’ll begin in any moment.”

“Exactly. Who’s going anywhere? Surely not me.”

This time it was Twilight’s turn to be puzzled. Just to be sure, she checked if Pinkie Pie was in the crowd and she wasn’t talking to her friend in disguise.  No, she was waving at her. That made the situation slightly more disturbing.

“Princess Luna, are you sure…”

The sound of trumpets interrupted her question before she could finish it. Princess Celestia came onto stage with her big wings wide open to welcome the cheer from all the ponies in the square. The other two princesses immediately posed the same way, but the distraction gave the opportunity to Luna to slip away from Twilight who peeked at her with eyes full of suspicion.

“She’s hiding something from me. I don’t like it, but I don’t want to invade her privacy. I’ll stick to ignorance… even if I really don’t like it.”

She didn’t like being left apart from things. It reminded her of the time when she still had to find her role has the Princess of Friendship and all she could do was smile and wave, stuck in measly businesses during every official event. She was hurt at that time and in that moment she was feeling the same way. Even in that moment, what was she doing? The Summer Sun Celebration is an event where the two royal sisters lower the moon and rise the sun to celebrate the longest day of summer, what was her point for being there? Of course she understood that, as a princess, her presence was also important but Cadence wasn’t there and she never attended any Summer Sun Celebrations in the last years. She knew it was selfish since she was facing some important problems in the Crystal Empire, but she would have loved to have her sister-in-law with her. As she watched the two royal sisters float in the air and lighting up their horns to move the two greatest celestial bodies in Equestria’s sky, she couldn’t help but feeling a little useless in comparison.

“No need to get all depressed, Twilight. After this, Pinkie Pie is surely going to throw a party and you’ll have tons of fun with the girls. Just wait until later and everything will be just f-”

“WHAT THE HAY IS THAT THING?!!” – somepony shouted from the crowd.

It was purely on instinct that she watched towards the sky. As soon as she heard the scream, somehow she knew the danger was coming from above. And there it was: a bright light, like a second sun, getting bigger by the second. However, if that thing looked like a blazing meteor, the fear struck the young princess making her whole body like frozen on the spot. Something in that cataclysmic event took her breath away and not in the good way. It was something ancestral and powerful: the fear of death that filled her body with the wish of running away.

Doom was watching her from above like a vengeful deity and for a moment she truly thought to see something like a couple of cruel and cold grey eyes staring at her.

She heard the distant cries of the crowd and an angry hiss behind her, but every sound was cut off by the fear. Everything turned white… and then came the bang.

The fall was proceeding smoothly. The barrier he put around his body was easily keeping the flames at bay, but it was meant only to preserve his clothes. Of course they weren’t normal clothes, but burning them would have been a waste and he had to look a little bit dignified in front of his new slaves. Nobody would respect an half-naked man. That could bring unwanted mockery, a thing that had the bad habit to push his worst switch. Cities were burnt to ashes because someone told him the wrong thing at the wrong time, but he promised not to do it again. Three different times.

…

…

Well, people do say that the third time is the good one, but it was better to be cautious.

He tilted his head like he was listening to something. Faraway cries reached his ears announcing his sighting, but he was more interested in what his head was telling him: he was detecting a lot of pretty powerful magical auras and a very powerful one. So many powerful beings in one point could only mean two things: either there was a war or some kind of celebration, and since no one was already shooting at him the second option was most likely the right one. Or maybe they were still too confused to react.

“Tsk, boooring. Alright, how much do I destroy on the first day? I think killing half the population of the first city I see could send the right message to the rest of them. I’ll vaporize them as soon as I land using the strength of the impact and then I’ll go with the usual routine. Sigh, it has become too easy over the time.”

He would have liked to take it easier and have some fun, but he wasn’t there to do some sightseeing, not that time. Still, a little research could have been interesting.

“Maybe they have a new way to use magic I could learn or maybe some cool exotic animal to raise and genetically modify into a bloodthirsty beast. I still have to try out that project of the rabbit-monkey with laser claws…”

However, his thoughts were interrupted by something. His eyes caught a glimpse of something colorful between the flames. It was red, yellow, blue, green... like a rainbow. His mind labeled it as impossible. The air around him was scorching from the air friction against his barrier, there could be no water to form a rainb- and there it was again, and again, then suddenly there were four of them and they kept increasing.

“The fuck…? But I’m sure I didn’t drink anything before setting sail…” – he asked himself in disbelief.

Probably the reason was that the humidity in the atmosphere was really high. Nothing to worry about. Still, there should have been a lot of humidity to create fift-… sevent-…  so many of them and certainly there were no laws of optic that could explain the way they were trying to wrap around him.

His first thought was that someone was attacking him. The second one that the attacker was either a child, an homosexual or a deluded adolescent girl. Who the hell uses rainbows as weapons?! It’s idiotic and unpractical. Better teach him or her a good lesson about who was the top dog from that moment on.

The barrier protecting him doubled its width and completely surrounded him leaving no weak spot. That kept the rainbows from touching him hence he relaxed again waiting for the fall to come.

That’s when he looked up to the sky and froze. The shocking reality his eyes were showing him literally blew away his scientific beliefs and logical mind. He had travelled to many universes, but in each and every one of them some things never changed because there were undeniable rules which keep every universe in check.

One of them are the laws which dictate how celestial bodies move. Exactly the thing he was witnessing being completely overthrown: the previously completely still moon started moving one way and the sun to the opposite one, like if they accelerated on their own only in that precise moment.

“THAT’S MESSED UP!!!” – he screamed completely taken aback  - “I WANT TO SPEAK WITH THE ONE IN CHARGE OF THIS UNIVERSE!!”

It may not look that shocking to most people, but he was a scientist at heart and to someone like him the laws of physics were vital… and he was watching them being kicked right in the balls.

That’s why he lost his concentration for a moment and one little rainbow got inside his defense. After that, everything got pretty crazy.

Twilight Sparkle felt the blanket texture over her fur, a killer headache splitting her head. She moaned through the pain and her dry mouth only to be suddenly assaulted by something… pink.

“OH MY CELESTIA, TWILIGHT ARE YOU ALRIGHT?! My tail started twitching like never before and we all thought the world was going to end, at least I was thinking that, and then everyone started screaming and running for their lives flattening Canterlot to the ground!! Then there was the zombie apocalypse and alien pies took over Equestria imposing the Martial Law of Deliciousness by singing a song about raining colts and HALLELUJAH!!”

She knew that voice, but the amount of information left her speechless for a second. Pinkie was standing on her bed keeping her face so near to hers that her eyes were the only thing she could see.

“What?” – she groaned in confusion.

“But don’t worry, except that you didn’t miss anything important. Now I’m going to join the Resistance. Hasta La Equestria Siempre!!” – she stated before running out of the door in her usual hopping style.

With her random friend gone, the violet princess was able to look around the place. She was in her room in the Canterlot castle and nothing looked out of its place except for the headache. The curtains were closed, but she could see a little ray of light passing through so hopefully Equestria did not fall while she was asleep.

But why was she there? What happened?

Her memory came back to her unlocked by her questioning.

“The Ceremony… GIRLS!! PRINCESSES!!” – she screamed jumping off the bed.

That turned out to be a bad idea when her head started spinning. She would have fallen if a blue magical aura hadn’t appeared to support her followed by its caster in a nurse outfit.

“Twilight, darling, you shouldn’t put such a strain on your body after collapsing like that. Here, let me carry you to your bed” – said her friend Rarity with voice full of concern.

“But… the meteor… the Resistance…” – moaned the alicorn in protest.

The white mare looked puzzled.

“What are you talking about, sweetie? Did you have a nightmare perhaps?”

“B-but Pinkie…”

“She’s downstairs throwing the ‘Twilight Is Awake Party’” – she let out a sigh – “It’s the seventh party today. I think she’s really going to throw a bijillion of them and it would not sound so strange if we actually knew much a ‘bijillion’ is.”

She didn’t seem worried for anything except the conditions of her friend so Twilight calmed a little and listened to what Rarity had to tell. The Ceremony ended without any problem and the longest day of summer was shining on Equestria as bright as it was supposed to be. The only two strange things were the strange fireball in the sky and Twilight fainting as soon as the first phenomenon disappeared.

“Disappeared?! How?”

“Nopony knows, darling. It was there and the moment after that it exploded in a huge Sonic Rainboom. At first we thought it was some kind of fireworks, but the Princesses and the guards looked shocked as much as the crowd. It was exactly after its disappearance that we saw you unconscious on stage. My Celestia, we were so worried about you…”

Twilight, however, wasn’t listening to her anymore, absorbed in her own thoughts. She fainted from fear like a little filly in front of half of Canterlot, her friends and both of the Princesses. The embarrassment alone was enough to hope that the meteor – or whatever it was – had fallen on her head instead of vanishing into thin air.

‘Vanishing into thin air’, the phrase made her wonder if everything was really as easy as it sounded. All the overwhelming fear she felt right then, was it really caused just by the spur of the moment?

“Rarity, can I make a question?” – she asked softly.

“But of course, darling.”

“And you have to answer me sincerely.”

“I’m not Applejack, but you can be sure I won’t lie to you” – assured her with a smile.

The princess gulped.

“Do you think I fainted because… because I’m weak?”

The unicorn looked a bit surprised at the question and she didn’t answer immediately. However she understood that her friend needed some support, so she moved beside her and sat on the bed putting a hoof around her.

“Darling, nopony can judge you if you were a little… oversensitive. Don’t worry, you weren’t the only one. Just between the two of us, I think Fluttershy nearly died of an heart attack. And you should have seen Rainbow Dash’s face in front of that enormous Sonic Rainboom! She spent the next three hours mumbling about some ‘showoff pony who stole her best move’” – she giggled remembering all of that.

Twilight did the same. It was totally like her pegasus friend to feel competitive about something like that. Still, it wasn’t that the biggest reason she asked that question.

“I get it, but... did the Princess say anything? I let her down in such an important event, she must be mad at me…”

“So that is what’s on your mind? Worry not, darling, Princess Celestia only thought of your well being. She’s the one who carried you here, you know?”

Twilight shook her head.

“It’s not about that, I know the princess cares about me. It’s just that… I showed such a weak side of me in front of all those ponies and I’m afraid I let everypony down. Now that I’m a princess, I’m always scared of what ponies around me think of what I do or say. My action can have meanings I cannot even imagine and that simply scares me. What if me fainting was a problem for somepony else? What if it happens again when there’s a problem I’m expected to solve?!”

Rarity hugged her. That stopped her ranting before it could escalate.

The white mare knew very well of how her friend cared about being reliable for whoever came to her seeking help, be it a spell, a book or simply an advice.

“There there, Twilight. Nopony will think less of you because of such silly little thing. Look at me, I faint all the time and it’s not like ponies hate me. Au contraire, it’s really classy for a lady to faint every now and then. Now, give me a big smile or Pinkie is going to get mad at me after I insisted to be your nurse.”

The purple princess hugged her back, happy to have a friend like her around.

“Thank you, Rarity. I feel much better now.”

“You’re welcome, sweetie. Now lay under the blankets. I’ll call you as soon as your brother and Princess Cadence are here.”

“You’re right, this headache is killing me. One more thing… where did you get the nurse outfit?”

That definitely struck a nerve.

“The nurse outfit… yes… as I told Applejack, a lady must have a dress for every occasion. It’s as simple as that, ahah…” – answered the unicorn suddenly being conscious of her white dress.

“You mean you actually expected somepony to get hurt and you’d treat him? That’s actually really well thought” – said the princess a little impressed by her friend’s organization.

“Well… not… exactly.”

“Then why?”

“For now, let’s just say a mare can have her reasons to bring a nurse outfit with her when she goes on a holiday. Ehm… nopony can tell when it could be of use.”

That only made Twilight more confused. She knew some pieces were missing from the picture, yet she couldn’t imagine what these pieces could be.

“I still don’t get…”

“Now, look at the time! You better rest or you won’t get better!” – exclaimed Rarity with a hint of urgency in her voice.

She pushed Twilight down and tucked her blankets in a hurry before giving her a little white pill with a glass of water.

“Drink this and sleep well, darling.”

Still a little bewildered by her friend’s behavior, Twilight obediently gulped the pill and drank the water without making any other questions. The whole situation was pretty unclear in her head, but she felt positive nonetheless and that was a good starting point. Surely everything would have been better after she got rid of that annoying headache with a good sleep.

“And I’m so sleepy right now… the medicine must be really… effective…”

Next thing she remembered was being woken up by a screaming Pinkie Pie: her brother and sister-in-law were there. Oh, and for some mysterious reason Rarity was not wearing her nurse outfit anymore. How strange.

On the other side of Canterlot

One of the most powerful beings of the multiverse was in the middle of a fierce battle against reality. What does that mean? Well, everything began when he woke up with an excruciating headache. It had been a long time since he felt pain of any sort, so, more than the pain, it was the shock that baffled him.

“I just arrived and I’m already suffering! This world seems to be more dangerous than it looks. Now…it looks like I’m in a hospital room. Probably I passed out after that freaking rainbow accident. There’s light from the window and I can see buildings, hence I’m not in some sort of dungeon. I don’t sense any magic around me too.”

They probably didn’t think of him as a threat. That meant he was free to begin his rampage!

However, the world had other plans for him (AGAIN). The door of his room opened and the creature that walked inside caught every last bit of his attention: a unicorn with grey fur, green eyes and mane of the same color dressed in a doctor coat. He had a reassuring smile on his face and the stethoscope was dancing around as he walked in.

“Oh, you woke up! How are you feeling? My name is Hoofsmith and I’m your-… are you ok?” – he asked.

His patient nearly had his eyes out of his skull.

“…THE FRIGGING UNICORN IS TALKING!!”

“Mmh… maybe the dosage was a bit too much” – said the creature.

His horn glowed of green light and his medical records flew from his bed to him, levitating in front of his eyes. That puzzled the poor omnipotent being even more.

“THE THING IS DOING MAGIC AND I DON’T FEEL IT!! WHY CAN’T I FEEL IT?!!”

“Poor fellow, you must have hit your head pretty bad in that accident. Tell me, what’s the last thing you remember?”

“I’M THE ONE MAKING THE QUESTIONS HERE AND YOU GIVE THE ANSWERS!!” – screamed the guy jumping off the bed a walking towards him till he was face to face.

The doctor began backing, impressed by the sudden even if not violent aggression. Not yet.

“Now now, I understand you are confused, but there’s no reason to-”

“SHUT UP!!” – he looked around the room, then turned again to the scared doctor - “WHERE IS MY POUCH?! TALK, OR I’LL SKIN YOU ALIVE AND MAKE A PAIR OF SLIPPERS WITH YOUR COAT WHILE YOU WATCH ME DOING IT!!”

The doctor gulped. He was relatively new to the job and till then he hadn’t met any aggressive patient. This one, however, looked like he could really pull of his threats.

“P-Pouch?” – he asked while backing off until the door.

“YES!! A POUCH!! THE THING YOU WEAR AROUND YOUR WAIST! IT’S WHITE AND LOOKS EMPTY!!”

“I-If you had it with you w-when you were found, then the nurses must have it…”

That calmed the patient a little. Just a little. He still had that really dangerous looking glare. Really, if glares could kill somepony, that one could get him crushed by a stampede of elephants.

“Good. Now you bring me to the nurses, give my Pouch back and nobody gets hurt… for now” – he threatened poking the doctor’s nose with his index.

At least that’s what he tried to do. Poking a nose with a finger is kinda difficult if you don’t have the raw material. And no, I’m not talking about the nose.

“WHERE ARE MY FINGERS!?!?” – he screamed ever more freaked out than before.

He began to check every corner of his body with eyes filled with horror. Every limb, flank, tail or hoof looked to him like some terrible and hairy insect crawling onto his body.

“I’M A FUCKING HORSE!! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME!?!” – he shouted grabbing the doctor’s collar.

The poor physician was on the verge of crying. That crazy pony was going to kill him as soon as he got out of university and started working. He only wanted to help poor ponies, he didn’t want to die!!

“HELP MEEEEEEEE!!!” – he screamed opening the door and running away.

“WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU’RE GOING!?! I DON’T LIKE BLOOD ON MY SLIPPERS!!”

The pursuer followed after the terrified physician, but the first attempt to walk on his hind legs failed quite resoundingly and his face met the floor giving him pain for the second time that day. Quite strange since he got down the bed without any problem before. He was suddenly made conscious of his new body and was not sure of how to move it: every signal from his brain got lost on its way to the muscles. He needed a few seconds to stand up again and then he tried to run after his prey… with poor results and a lot of really peculiar and sea-related imprecations.

The ruckus was so great a lot of ponies poked their heads out to look what was happening.

“I’LL TEAR YOUR LIMBS APART AND USE THEM AS BAIT TO FISH SHARKS AND THEN I’M GOING TO HIT YOU TO A BLOODY PULP WITH THE SAME SHARKS!! I ALREADY DID IT AND I CAN ASSURE YOU I ENJOYED IT!!”

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!”

Nonetheless his poor running abilities, at some point he was able to corner the doctor. It was in that moment that the security ponies, lured by the screams, arrived to the scene and tackled the omnipotent overlord of ninety-nine universes.

What did he do in that dire situation? To the audience, it looked like he tried to puff them to death shouting something along the lines of “why aren’t you burning to a crisp?”. Well, that was something to tell their friends and families that evening.