Author's Note: Hey everybody, You're probably wondering about the side chapter thing. Well the side chapter thing is about how these chapters ended up focusing almost entirely on Rainbow Dash and were a little too distracting from the main premise. While too important to Rainbow Dash as a character to remove you can skip these chapters as there will be a plot summary for them in an author's note at the beggining of chapter nine. Well that's all for now.

Light streamed through the branches of the Apple Trees at Sweet Apple Acres illuminating the bright red fruits that were nestled within the foliage. Apple Jack looked out across the many acres that had been gifted to her by her parents when they moved to the town where her father had lived when he was younger. Unlike most earthponies her mother had decided to marry a pony from another tribe, something that was more common among pegasi and unicorns.

The two were never able to make it to the annual reunion, but Apple Jack always made sure to set some time away every year to go visit them for a week. Apple Bloom was the only one who ever really lived with their parents, but she always spent the school year in Ponyville because of the lack of a school where they lived.

Apple Jack’s breakfast had been like all of the others, hearty and with plenty of grains in order to be able to keep up with the farm work. Like all of her siblings Apple Jack enjoyed fruit more than any other food, a trait that most likely came from her father. Unlike every other food that tasted somewhat muted, fruits were always incredibly vibrant and full of flavor for her.

Standing beside her was her older brother, Big Macintosh, who had a large amount of gauze and bandages wrapped around his midsection. He wasn’t hurt too badly, but his sides were pretty badly damaged from having slid down an embankment near the edge of the farm when he was working on a new irrigation channel. He had managed to crack a rib after hitting it off a rock on the way down, but he was going to a doctor today in order to get it looked at.

Applebloom has taken things a little too seriously when her older brother came in with a bleeding midsection and instantly went overboard with the bandages. They helped stop the bleeding, but they also used every last piece of bandaging the ponies currently had. Applebloom was disappointed when she failed to get her cutie-mark, but at least her brother was going to be alright. Even after being told that he was going to go to a doctor anyways.

Unfortunately with Big Macintosh injured Apple Jack had to deal with all of the trees in the middle of Apple Buck Season. Normally she would have laughed at such a task, but that was because Big Macintosh did most of the work during this time, and other members of the family were usually around to help as well. Now Apple Jack had to harvest the hundreds of apple trees all by herself.

Her brother Big Macintosh enjoyed working the farm, and he was known for doing a large amount of the heavy lifting. Apple Jack did her fair share like the rest of those on the farm and was even beginning to show Apple Bloom how to collect the falling apples in barrels. Now she was staring at the vast amount of apple trees swaying before her in a light breeze and was considerably nervous.

“So ah guess ah have to do this myself then huh Big Mac.”

“Eyup.”

“Think ah can do it?”

“Nope.”

“Well why not!?”

“There’s too many trees an’ not enough ponies to harvest em. It just don’t add up.”

“It’s not mah fault that Caramel and the rest had to go up to Appeloosa to help with prepping the land fer next year after an incident occurred. An’ now ah'm saddled with an orchard that is so big even Celestia’s bum is small in comparison.”

“Don’t work yerself too hard sis.”

“Ah don’t have much of a choice now do I? Applebloom is too little, Granny’s too old, you’re injured, and the rest of the staff is helpin’ family elsewhere.”

“What about them friends ya made about a month ago?”

“Twilight’s gone half the time, Rarity wouldn’t even think about getting her hooves dirty, Fluttershy is too busy with the animals and takin’ care of Spike half the time. Cheerilee is flooded with schoolwork, and Rainbow Dash is probably asleep somewhere.”

“Ya mean like in that tree over there?” Big Macintosh said while pointed at a Cyan Pegasus sleeping in one of the trees.

“Rainbow Dash what are ya doin’ sleeping in my trees again?” Apple Jack yelled startling the cyan mare.

“Oh hey AJ. Sorry, I just get tired a lot.” The mare said while yawning, stretching, and eating one of the apples present in the tree.

“Dash if ya aint getting enough sleep do ya mind tellin’ me why ya like to nap in the orchard?”

“Well it’s not my fault that orchards are like a natural bed and breakfast.”

“Come again?”

“Ah forget it you wouldn’t understand anyways.”

“Look Rainbow I’d love to chat with ya but ah’ve got nearly a thousand trees to buck.”

“Looks more like three thousand.”

“What do ya mean?”

“I’m the head weather pony, duh. I’ve got to be good at guessing how many clouds are needed to be in a storm and all of that other boring math stuff. Seriously it’s like they invented paperwork in order to bore me to death. It also doesn’t help when I have to know how much rain your trees need.”

“Ah guess that makes sense, but why do ya need to know how much water the trees need?”

“I get all of the weather orders for the farm and I’m required to know how much water all of the trees need in order to make sure they’re healthy. Also tell Granny Smith she forgot to pay for this month’s shipment of clouds.”

“Don’t worry Dash the money’s coming…and isn’t there somethin’ that yer supposed to be doin’?”

“Uh, don’t remind me. I know I’ve got to work, but couldn’t they make it later in the evening. I don’t understand how farmer ponies can stand to wake up at the crack of dawn, I’d never be able to do it. Well I better get going I’ll at least be able to get work done early and get back to snoozing.”

“With how much you sleep Dash ah swear that ya stay up all night.”

“Yeah…he,he. Good one AJ. Well I’ll just be off then.”

Before Apple Jack could say anything else Rainbow Dash had zoomed off leaving the apple farmer to her business. Unfortunately that business involved kicking over two thousand trees repeatedly. Big Mac walked on down the path to the doctor's office that he was supposed to go to today, leaving Apple Jack alone among the gently swaying apple trees.

“Today is goin’ to be a long one.”

(_o_============================================_o_)

“Come on, don’t be shy. It’s only Twilight.” Fluttershy cooed to a growing mass of fuzzy, white bunnies and their offspring.

“Wow Fluttershy… there sure are a lot of bunnies.”

“Oh yes! Aren’t they just adorable? When I was younger I took a liking to them and Angel bunny has been with me since then.”

“How old is Angel?”

“Oh… I think his fourteenth birthday is coming up soon. Is that normal for bunnies?”

“I think the longest a bunny has been known to last is nine years Fluttershy. So Angel is ancient for a bunny then…yet he seems rather youthful…”

“Well…he isn’t exactly from Equestria.”

“Really? Where did you get him then?”

“Well…my father is rather wealthy so he decided to get a long lived breed from somewhere near the draconic lands.”

“Wow…he must be rich then considering very few ponies venture there and I don’t think the Longma merchants normally carry bunnies.”

“Oh yes he is, he's rather sweat though and he's the one who bought me my cottage and he pays for the animals food as well considering I don't make any bits doing that. He may have made a special request when a merchant came by…the Longma are such sweethearts when it comes to getting something for ponies.”

“Aren’t Longma one of the few races to fully understand dragon biology?”

“Um…I’d assume they would considering they live in the draconic lands and are part dragon…why do you ask?”

“Well I was hoping that maybe you’d be able to purchase a book on the subject considering I have to look after Spike and all. It would help to know some of the stuff if anything happened to come up.”

“Well…I do have a book on the topic that my father bought and gave to me…but it’s written in draconic runes and I’m afraid very few ponies know how to translate it…and the Longma are very protective of the language.”

“So they refuse to let ponies know what the runes say?”

“From what my father says they believe the runes to be deeply associated with magic and…well, they don’t want it to fall into the wrong hooves, although it's said that any creature with a dragon's eyes can read them.”

“But it’s just magic.” When Twilight said that Fluttershy visibly stiffened.

“I’m sorry…but shouldn’t you know that magic can be dangerous?”

“As long as the spells are relatively simple and not associated with dark magic they’re safe.”

“Oh…right, silly me. Well we better get back to counting the bunnies, even if I enjoyed talking about where Angel came from.”

Twilight had wanted to ask some more about the book and why Fluttershy seemed a little...tense after that comment about magic. Whatever the problem was Twilight couldn’t guess what it would be. Out of the corner of her eye Twilight could see Angel bunny giving her a glare, almost as if he was telling her that she deserved to go to Tartarus for having said that.

Twilight chose to ignore Angel and continued with her counting and briefly wondered if there was an easier way to do this…or why there was even a bunny census in the first place. Out of all of the things the mare did this one had to be one of the stranger ones considering there are no records of such a thing existing. Yet here was Fluttershy, now happily counting away as if the previous conversation never happened. Sometimes Twilight wondered if were even possible for Fluttershy to be unhappy for long.

The counting continued on for what felt like hours until Fluttershy stopped and went to prepare some food for Angel. When she returned Angel left to go inspect his meal leaving the two alone for a while. Fluttershy was humming an odd tune only she knew the rhythm to for a while until she stopped again and faced Twilight.

“I’m all done here Twilight, and it looks like you’ve only got a few more to count. So you can come inside when you’re finished and have some tea with me if you don’t mind.”

“Of course Fluttershy.” Twilight said not noticing the smiling bunny in the window.

(_o_============================================_o_)

Rainbow Dash, epitome of awesomeness, the fastest Pegasus to date, and the devourer of all things cheese flavored, was bored out of her mind. The paperwork she was forced to sift through was slowly but surely numbing her mind to the point where she was going to lose all cognitive function soon. The reason was because some ponies had mixed up everything and, to top it off, didn’t date anything. Now she had to sift through stacks of paper reading through all of the orders and placing already complete ones in their own stack.

Hoofsteps approached the closed door to Rainbow’s office before stopping and a prompt knock came from behind it before Cloud Kicker waltzed in without any other forewarning. True Rainbow Dash didn’t need privacy in a weather department’s office, but silence was generally appreciated when she was dealing with the paperwork. If there was anything to say about Cloudkicker than her generally abrasive nature it was that she loved the rain and she was known for speaking her mind.

“Hey boss, a griffin is here wanting to see ya. She said she was an old friend of yours or something. I think she said her name was Gilda.”

“Send her in but tell her I’m up to my nose in misfiled paperwork…again.”

“Are you alright boss? I’ve got it! You didn’t get any sleep and now you’re cranky. I’d totally be cranky if I didn’t get any sleep, doesn’t seem to make any difference for my brother though. Seriously that stallion only seems to run on coffee and bagels.”

“The only thing making me cranky right now is all of this mind numbing nonsense we call weather reports.”

“Heh I think I can understand why, well I’d better go and let Gilda up then.”

“Alright…just make sure she doesn’t try to break something…again.” Rainbow Dash said to a now empty room.

After what surmounted to an unbearably long period of time being alone with paperwork, Gilda finally made her way into the room. The griffin was looking well preened and her fur had obviously been brushed before entering the building. Normally something like this wouldn’t be a point of interest for Rainbow Dash, but the fact that Gilda was actually the one in question was jarring. There was no way that the griffon would willingly keep herself so well trimmed, unless…

“So Gilda have you found a mare-friend yet? If so is she a griffin or have you finally found a pony that is capable of handling griffish culture?” The cocky pegasus said with a wide grin.

Gilda’s face visibly reddened after those words left Rainbow’s mouth. It wasn’t exactly a secret between the two that Gilda wasn’t into stallions, or that griffins could be even more abrasive than pegasi…especially after an incident where Gilda found out Rainbow Dash was straight. Gilda’s embarrassment over the whole thing blew over when Rainbow had admitted that she didn’t care what Gilda liked…as long as she wasn’t dragged into it…again.

“Oh! Yeah I did, she is so tough that she makes that Apple stallion look wimpy, although we technically aren’t an item we’re more like best friends really. So, have you finally managed to catch the eyes of the Wonderbolts?”

“No I haven’t. Even after getting recommended to the princess all I was told was that I wasn’t ready yet. She was even told that I could do a rainboom and she didn’t even bat an eyelash. What the Fuck do I have to do to finally get in!? I’ve spent years going through all of the proper classes and everything. I-I’m beginning to wonder if they just don’t want me…but enough about me! Who’s the lucky mare?” Dash said going into an overly chipper tone.

“I’m hanging out with a pony named Daisy. Also those Fucks in the Wonderbolts don’t know an unbelievably talented Pegasus when they see one. It’s their loss, not yours. You could probably find a better use for your talents that will show them the mistakes they made by being a bunch of bitches.”

“Thanks for the compliment, as if I need it. But being a Wonderbolt is something I’ve gotta’ do, it's been on my bucket list for years. Also you’re best friends with Daisy? The Daisy? The one in the flower trio that is afraid of bunnies and other cute things? That Daisy?”

“Well, she’s obviously not much a scaredy-cat, even an enraged Griffin doesn’t send her running away. In fact griffins make her want to hit the sack if you know what I mean?”

“Ew! Please leave your sex life out of the conversation.”

“What? Is somepony grossed out by lesbian sex? If I had known that, Dashie, I would have included it in all of our conversations.” Gilda said with a mischievous grin.

“Do you have any sense of shame?”

“Not when it comes to sex, and I couldn’t care less what others think about it either. I’m me, and Daisy likes that, if she didn’t it was never meant to be…or at least that’s what my granny says.”

“How long have you been in Ponyville in order to get to know her like that anyways?”

“It’s been about a month.”

“…I’ll be here if you accidentally scare her off.”

“Hey Daisy’s a trooper. She doesn’t even flinch when it comes to gruesome stuff like when I go hunting or when we watch any of those scary movies. Anyways since I’m here do you want to go pranking or something?”

“I’d love to Gilda, but I’m swamped in paperwork. I’ll swing by Daisy’s later to tell her when we can hang out if that’s alright.”

“Got it Dash. Well I’ll leave you to this lame-o paperwork until we can hang out again.” The griffin said while leaving the room,a room filled with paperwork, Rainbow Dash's one true nemesis.

(_o_============================================_o_)

Artemis was having a rather normal day in the palace considering all of the trouble his sister likes to cause him. The last month had went rather well concerning his plans for improving the educational system. His sister wouldn’t know it yet but Artemis had asked the secretary to send all of the petitioner’s with inventions, patents and similar cases to be scheduled to meet with himself instead of Celestia.

So far he had approved some very neat and interesting inventions including a schematic for a carriage that doesn’t need magic or another pony to move it. There was the problem of controlling the device, but with a few tips the design was tweaked to be friendly to all three tribes of pony. Whether or not the device would be well received or not was up for debate, but Artemis knew that the nobles wouldn’t miss out on purchasing a new and expensive toy to play with.

As Artemis nibbled at his lunch his sister Celestia walked into the room followed by her current secretary. The stallion was busy regaling Celestia with all of the appointments that she had for the rest of the week while the princess didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the stallion. Artemis looked up at the expectant and…somewhat unamused eyes of the princess.

“So sister, how is everything going today? I hope you aren’t being troubled by the nobles too much, they do tend to stir up trouble at the most inopportune times.”

“The nobles are not the ones I am having troubles with brother. It appears that quite a few ponies have started putting new inventions on the market and even seem to have royal permission to do so. Normally I would suspect forgery, but all of their papers are surprisingly official and genuine, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about this would you?”

“Why of course dear sister, I am the one that gave them permission. Why just the other day a…hm…she appeared to be an earthpony mare, but I have feeling that she wasn’t an earthpony, the magic saturation in her body was completely incorrect for an earthpony, but anyway she came to me under the name of Amaryllis Graham Cracker Belle. She came to me with a device that combines the energy transference crystals with tuning crystals to produce a device that can contact any other pony with a transference crystal. The problem of gettign the exact frequency is still being ironed out though, and it’s a bit big in order to move around but the device is simply amazing, and a few tweaks could make them easily portable in a few years. Now multiple ponies can stay in contact without needing multiple energy transference crystals.”

“Hm…what’s next brother? Asking the changelings to assimilate the entire pony population into their hive mind? And would the common pony even be capable of affording such a device, and what good would such a thing bring about?”

“Of course! The changelings are a misunderstood creature and linking ponies to the hive mind would severely dampen disharmony among the ponies, and the changelings would benefit as well.” Artemis said while enjoying the horrified look on Celestia’s face before continuing, “Surely you are not so prudish to believe such thing would happen. Although I do enjoy watching your reactions to my jokes. As for the device, the mare in question is quite generous and is willing to produce the product for only a small amount of bits over what it costs to produce them. And I’m surprised you are so unimaginative that a benefit for having the device is not obvious.”

“I’m over two-thousand years old, I know what I am doing and being creative with things has had dire consequences, or do you not remember how the Smooze was brought back into existence.”

“But you do not try to console your subjects on the dangers that exist in all things. That is why you have produced bitter things when thinking outside of the box and it also why everypony is so naïve, and unimaginative that they don’t realize what they are even capable of. Now is there anything else you wish to bore me with before I go to attend a meeting tonight?”

“Maybe, and I do have other issues to address with you as well. As you may or may not know there is currently a second alicorn amongst the nobility.”

“Princess Cadenza I presume.”

“Yes, but she prefers to be called Cadence and would rather forgo the title of princess when in the company of friends, myself included.”

“It is a common thing to want to forgo titles when in the presence of those closest to you. Although if wished to only be called Cadence in any presence outside of friends and family, it would insinuate that she does not wish to be royalty.”

“Do not worry so much about that my brother, she has come to accept her title and is ready to marry the captain of my guard. As she is currently the ruling princess over the Crystal Empire I would wish for you to get to know her.”

“Such a strange title for the ruler of an Empire to bear. Am I to believe that your influence is involved? Certainly you would have let her take the proper title of Empress. And you mentioned her being ready to marry, but the way it was worded…makes this sound like an arranged marriage. Sister, is she truly in love with this stallion, or is he truly in love with her?”

“Titles are a trivial matter when comes to dealing with foreign dignitaries brother. In equestrian she bears the title of princess, in the Crystal Empire she is Empress and so on. I’m sure you remember the unofficial titles given to the royals of other nations. As for Cadence she is the alicorn of love and she is fully capable of loving anypony if she sets her mind to it.”

“Yes titles can be rather trivial, but only when that dignitary is present within said country are honorary titles used. To call another dignitary by any other title otherwise is considered quite rude…although you still refer to King Sombra as a king…hm maybe if he returns he will agree to be your colt-friend again.” Artemis said in a teasing manner before addressing the matters involving Cadence, “As for the couple I will judge their feelings myself and see if they truly care for one another, or if they are just another pawn to you.”

“Let’s move on from such trivialities brother. Even the nobles have a hard time finding entertainment in them.”

“So when do I meet the young alicorn?”

“She will be here any minute actually. I am also curious as to why you asked for the elements to be transferred from their bearers’ possession and placed in the royal vaults.”

“Only an immortal can be in the elements presence and not face mental warping sister. You do remember that light magic is dangerous to use. This is for their protection and I would advise that you take my advice. If they are left with the elements too long you may find that their personalities have been completely rewritten and burned away. So if you don’t want them to undergo a death of self I’d gather them before a year has passed.”

“I must admit I was foolish to forget to bring the elements with me and lock them in the vault where their influence on the bearers is minimal, but I’d enjoy it if you left philosophical deaths out of the matter.”

“Why? Are you admitting that there is some truth to it? Because anypony can agree that even though a pony looks identical and even has the same soul, mind, and memories…Their true core remains hidden. It may be possible for one soul to be the bearer of many different ponies, each similar, but none the same. If you were to look into the past and see the old you, you would say that you are both the same pony, but you are not. You have far more wisdom and experience than that other pony. You have lived longer and experienced things that they have not and been shaped by those events into something else.

Even every molecule in your body has been replaced by that point. You may be similar, but you are not the same. You were once that pony, but now you are something new entirely, but what happens to those other ponies? If the world threw something else at you back then would you even be the pony you are today? Celestia we learn and grow as an individual by going through life and learning from our choices and our mistakes.

We are as much a factor of shaping and defining who we are as the world is on influencing who we are. So yes…sister. If left to be warped by the power of the elements your student and the other bearers will have died, and become something akin to nothing more than a tool that wields the elements and nothing more. In a way they will nothing more than harmony’s puppets.”

Celestia started banging her head on the table completely oblivious to the smile Artemis had on his face. If there was one thing she knew about Artemis, it was that he took to his lessons in philosophy like a fish to water. Unfortunately she also forgot that he liked to talk at length about it if he had a reason to bring it up and get away with it. Then there was the fact that Artemis knew that she found talking at length about philosophy to be annoying.

Fortunately for Celestia, Cadence chose at that moment to enter the room while being followed by a train of crystal guards. The ponies guarding her were comprised of mainly crystal earthponies with a few crystal pegasi and one normal Pegasus. It seemed rather odd, but Artemis suspected that a memory of Twilight’s explains clearly why he’s guarding the crystal empire’s monarch.

“Ah you must be princess Cadence! I hope that the nobility haven’t been too troublesome and that the common pony hasn’t been overly zealous.” Artemis said while getting to his hooves.

“Oh my, you’re such a charmer! Don’t worry your ponies have been extraordinarily cooperative. Now you must be Prince Artemis, Aunty Celestia has been telling me all about you.”

“…I am quite certain we are not related.” Artemis said after looking the pink alicorn over.

“Oh, well Aunty adopted me into her family when I ascended, and she’s been there for me ever since. I’m still not quite as good at magic as Twily though. I hope she’s been doing alright, it’s been so long since I’ve last seen the most talented pony I’ve babysat.”

“Clearly your perception of ponykind as a species is lacking,but I may know why that is. Although I must agree she is quite talented. I am disappointed in a few aspects but overall she is a well-rounded individual.”

“Clearly you have never met the mare.” Celestia said to the group, “She is…my best student and her position has proven to be bothersome at the same time. She has shown severe favoritism towards her brothers, been caught sneaking around the castle and invading the restricted sections of the archives. She has…damaged many of her suitors and my adopted Nephew Blueblood, Cadence’s little brother, was even left with amnesia for an entire month. He acted so different during that month…and after it he’s never been quite the same...” Celestia trailed off momentarily before quickly restarting, “Then she had Flash Sentry deported to the Crystal Empire instead of deciding to get a restraining order. That is not to mention her constant manipulation of the guards in order to allow Sunset Shimmer to walk the halls freely when she is supposed to be under a disciplinary action and she blatantly lies about it, trust me she’s a terrible liar once you know the signs. Not to mention she is almost never there when I ask to call upon her, and her messages always have to be delivered later. She is constantly testing the limits of her authority and abusing it.”

“Some of her activities do warrant suspicion sister, but I have a feeling that what happened to Blueblood is what really has you irked right now.”

“Blueblood is the closest thing that I’ve had to family for a long time. Even Twilight wasn’t as close to me, mainly because she was always out and about. It was one of the reasons that I knew she would be able to wield the element of magic. She was a student and a friend, but Blueblood was family. Now he’s…acting different. He still treats me the same and everything, but there’s something that month did to him that I can’t quite place.”

“From what I’ve heard from him, this is probably the event that he says opened his eyes to something he is ashamed about.”

“And that would be?”

“He never said. He only trusted me enough to tell me that an event with a mare helped change the way he looked at himself. Nothing more was mentioned.”

“Well…Aunty.” Cadence said with a forced smile, “It’s been fun listening to you two, and you obviously have a lot to talk about, but I’d like to take Artemis around the town, he has been gone for over a century.”

“Yes I do believe that we have been standing around for far too long.” Artemis said while following the princess outside the castle.

(_o_============================================_o_)

Apple Jack wandered through the trees having thoroughly exhausted herself to the point where she had double vision. She seriously hooped that nopony would notice her fatigue until she finished with her chores, but that was betting on the unlikely chance that they were all incapable of noticing the obvious. Although with the way Ponyville generally did things Apple Jack felt like she had very good chances of winning that bet.

She was currently making her way into town to go tell her brother dinner was almost ready when she began to feel a faint rumbling. Of in the distance she could almost make out a massive, multicolored blob that was a little over seven inches in height making its way toward the town. Twilight and Fluttershy were tailing the stampede, and as it got closer Apple Jack could see Angel leading the entire bunny population into the town.

That rabbit was known for being generally rude and a smidge overbearing, but Apple Jack never imagined the little fur ball would do something like this without provocation. Yet there she stood watching the bunnies stampede into the town with little to no care for what was in front of them. Angel seemed to have a clear destination in mind though, as the mass of fuzzy cuteness made its way towards the residency. Unfortunately the stampede happened to be spotted by the flower trio as they were packing up.

“We’re Doomed!!” Daisy screamed.

“Eveypony run for your lives!” Lily screamed while Roseluck simply facehooved and walked home, unlike the rest of the town who went stampeding off to what they deemed as safety from the bunny invasion.

Unlike most ponies Apple Jack found the antics of the flower trio to be amusing. The three mares were known to over react to most things, including things that proved to be quite harmless. Although a stampede comprised of rabbits would be pretty bad for any pony who sold their favorite treats, but Twilight and Fluttershy looked like they had things under control.

Apple Jack would have left the bunnies to Fluttershy and Twilight considering it was just a group of hares. She did notice that Pinkie was sneaking around the cows with a grin on her face however. The mare was obviously up to something, but Apple Jack was sure it was just a silly prank. Unfortunately Apple Jack was right, and Pinkie let off a can of springy snakes scaring the entire herd into heading straight for the town.

“Why? Why am ah not surprised.” The mare said while leaping into action.

Sure Twilight and Fluttershy could handle the bunnies, but a full blown herd of cattle rampaging through the town was going to cause problems beyond getting bumped by a two pound rabbit. Fortunately Apple Jack was more than capable of handling the situation having been raised to deal with similar messes. Herding the cows without her dog Winona around was little more difficult than if her pet had been there, but she managed to keep the cattle from heading deep into town and calmed them down.

“Ah’m so sorry Apple Jack that pink filly scared us so bad back there and it just sent us into blind panic.” Mootilda said in a bovinian accent after having come to a stop with the rest of the herd.

“It’ll be alright, nopony was injured, although Pinkie needs to get a talkin’ to concerning what pranks are appropriate. Although she didn’t mean any harm…and if she did… ah’d better go get the doctor that overlooks her to make sure her condition isn’t acting up again.”

“Well we better head back to the farm. Although it looks like the mayor is wanting to talk to you.”

Sure enough the mayor was walking up to Apple Jack. Mayor Mare wasn’t the pony one would normally see on an average day, however things had been getting more hectic in town recently. Although stampeding cattle beat an enraged godlike being any day, although something deep inside of Apple Jack told her that she was going to be facing quite a few of them in the near future.

“Hello Miss Apple Jack. I saw what you did there and I couldn’t thank you enough for handling the situation. Now as you know we are holding a celebration tomorrow for those who have helped the town this year. I was hoping that you would make an appearance considering that you just saved a lot of ponies a lot of bits, and you maybe even saved a few lives.”

“Well thanks Mayor Mare but what about all of mah other friends like Rarity? They did help defeat the Nightmare.”

“Well a silly event such as this hardly amounts to what recognition the princess must has given you already. Besides I remember that party Pinkie threw after you saved the prince. Someday you would think that a mare wouldn’t need to rescue their prince after having him kidnapped by some eldrich monstrosity, but it happens apparently.”

“Yeah…recognition. Well Ah’ll be there and if ya could say something about the others I’d appreciate it.” Apple Jack said to the Mayor as she left.

“Appreciate what?” Rainbow Dash said while landing next to Apple Jack.

“Hey Rainbow, ah was just asking the mayor if she’d talk about us tomorrow at the festival.”

“Pfft! Like I need recognition at some lame festival. I’m Rainbow Dash the fastest Pegasus currently alive as far as I know, and I also helped save Equestria! Ponies know me when I walk by, but I guess a little more praise couldn’t hurt.”

“Well ah thought that maybe ponies like Rarity and the others would like to know that ponies at least appreciate their efforts to save them…unlike a certain somepony. Hint, hint.”

“Are you still pissed about only being offered an education?”

“Well sorry if it makes me feel like she thinks ah’m stupid, and ah really aint lookin’ to do more than what my job on the farm requires. But mah problem is that she acted like nothing even happened and that she didn’t even care that we brought her brother back. She should have been happy to have her brother back after so long, not indifferent.”

“Listen I know family ties in the Apple family are pretty strong, but as far as we know those two have annoyed each other since they were born. I wouldn’t read too much into it.”

“Maybe yer right, but ah’ve been thinking about things lately and they just don’t add up, especially since the elements went dormant after Celestia used ‘em. Ah guess ah might be looking fer things that aren’t there but ah don’t know what to think of her right now with all of this evidence pointing to her being a mite bit callous.”

“Sheesh and I though Twilight liked to over-think things. Well I’d love to just stand here and talk about conspiracy theories, but I’ve got to go tell a friend of mine when she can meet up with me.” The cyan Pegasus said before flying off in a blur.

Rainbow Dash didn’t have time to waste on trivialities currently. The sun was beginning to go down and there wasn’t much time left in the day. Rainbow Dash could feel her stomach complaining about being empty, but helping Gilda get used to Ponyville was more important at the moment. Especially since Pinkie lived in the town, although it was possible that Gilda had been in Ponyville for a while now, in fact she may have been at the Summer Sun Celebration.

The trip wasn't all that tough to make and it certainly didn't take too long to accomplish either. Daisy lived in a small building along with the rest of the flower trio. The three were inseparable and a few ponies thought that they were all sisters. Rainbow Dash had been around long enough to know this wasn't the full truth since only Lily and Daisy were sisters, Roseluck was just a good friend of the family.

Rainbow Dash knocked three times on the door to Daisy's apartment and waited semi-patiently...for all of ten minutes before her stomach started to growl its complaints so loud that one may have mistaken it for a timber wolf growling. Instead of Daisy opening the door Gilda opened it up and nonchelantly motioned for the rainbow maned mare to enter.

“So you finally finished that work huh?”

“Yeah, it completely threw off my schedule, but I'm just here to tell ya that we have all of tomorrow to ourselves.” Rainbow Dash said right before her stomach tried bringing the subject of food back to her attention.

“Hey want to stay over for the night? If you're hungry you just grab something from here.”

“Sorry G. but I gotta go. I'll see ya tomorrow!” Rainbow Dash yelled behind her as she left through the kitchen window.

(_o_============================================_o_)

Diamond Tiara had been having a pretty okay week so far. The local bully Apple Bloom had been sticking to herself, which meant that Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon didn’t need to do anything to get themselves in trouble…again. The new dragon in class had been really nice to them. That was until Apple Bloom stepped in and tried to convince him that Diamond Tiara was a bully.

Sweetie Belle was too busy admiring Spike at the time in order to say anything for or against that claim. Thankfully Spike wasn’t too hasty to jump to conclusions, even when Apple Bloom kept telling him that Diamond Tiara was just a spoiled rich filly who enjoyed bullying others. None of it was true though. Yes she enjoyed showing off her things, but it was only so that the other ponies could at least see something new.

She sometimes wondered if there was anything she could do that wouldn’t be misconstrued. Then when ponies did open up to her it was for all of the wrong reasons. After her first failure with those kinds of ponies she’d learned a few key aspects of when they were just being friendly because of what she has. If only that first time had never happened…but then she would probably have been worse off than before because of it.

It had all happened when she was six and still went to school near Manehatten instead of Ponyville. Her mother was still alive back then and she enjoyed spending her school years up in Manehatten with her and her grandpa. Her father usually stopped by once a week in order to stay in touch, and Diamond Tiara wished that her parents didn’t have to have jobs that kept them apart most of the time.

Silver Spoon was already her friend back then and they usually spent their summers in Ponyville together. Diamond Tiara loved her mother, but sometimes she got lonely when Silver Spoon wasn’t around. Other than Silver Spoon her family were the only real friends Diamond Tiara ever had, but she wanted to play with more ponies her age.

One such pony, a filly named Apple Crisp, was the second friend Diamond Tiara ever made. The two enjoyed each others company and they quickly became good friends. They played with each other for almost a year before Diamond Tiara had to go back to Ponyville. Over the summer Diamond Tiara couldn’t wait to talk to Apple Crisp again, and the two were overjoyed when they were reunited.

The two had set up a small club near the school and the two had stowed candy away. They enjoyed their time together and the candy was only reserved for use when they were both together. Halfway through the school year though when Diamond Tiara went to the usual spot the candy was all gone. She raced to find Apple Crisp to tell her that their treasure had been stolen.

When Diamond Tiara found Apple Crisp she was laughing with another filly who had transferred to the school recently, and was known for being increadibly wealthy. This would have normally been something Diamond would have overlooked if they were not eating the candy stash that had been previously thought to be stolen. When she confronted the pony she called a friend, Diamond was unceremoniously told to get lost and Apple Fritter never spoke with Diamond again unless it was to mock her.

It was for that reason that Diamond Tiara didn’t like Apple Bloom, Apple Jack, or the rest of the family. Their family was known to be exceptionally close knit and nothing was a secret among any of them, and that only made Diamond believe that they were all ponies who would exploit her eventually. Apple Bloom seemed no different in her attempts to undermine Diamond Tiara, and kept flaunting her limitless potential for greatness by being a blank flank.

From that day forward Diamond had only one true friend in Silver Spoon, and all of her current attempts had failed to produce another. Sweetie Belle seemed nice, and Scootaloo too, but neither of them enjoyed Diamond Tiara’s company and they often got into fights. Apple Bloom also seemed to take an interest in the only other ponies in their class to have not received a cutie-mark.

Diamond Tiara wasn’t exactly pleased with her own mark, nor did she want to know why the world was so cruel as to make her special talent so pointless. Maybe she could eventually find something in her cutie-mark that would be better than wearing a hat. Her father had tried telling her that maybe it meant she was destined to be a princess one day, but she highly doubted that. Nopony would want her as a princess, and she couldn’t see herself doing something like that anyways; she had seen what her father’s position of owning a business had done to him.

Her father had then suggested modeling, which Diamond Tiara just laughed at, she had no desire to let ponies throw her on some stupid pedestal to just look at. Diamond stopped thinking about her predicament in life and began to read one of her favorite stories, Daring Do and the Quest for Time’s Gate. Secretly Diamond Tiara wished she could be like Daring Do, but for now she just sat in her room, content for the moment. Silver Spoon lounged on a nearby beanbag chair while leafing through another book in the series.

Author's Note

I'm sorry this took so long, but I literally couldn't think of anything interesting to do with Apple Buck season, and I tried to alleviate it with some humor on my part. I also had to deal with finals, and moving back home for the summer.

No matter how good Artemis seems, remember he is doing this to undermine Celestia.

As a result I am going to go off of canon for the next parts of Apple Buck season to make it so that it's interesting, and not something that takes over a month to write because of how dully things are progressing. So there will be a bit of action in the next chapter that will set up Gilda as the reoccurring antagonist instead of Pinkie, who I rewrote to make more like Pinkie on the show personality wise.

[breakdown of the three major groupings of magic used: Light, normal, and dark]

Normal ponies barely venture out of using normal magic as it the most understood and therefore has the most uses. This magic includes teleportation and a few healing spells. This group of magic is broken down into several branches ranging from the illusion class to the battle class and there are twelve classes in total.

As for the dark magic...it's probably caused a little mental warping for Dusk Shine and Sunset, but nothing serious to the two ponies. Unlike other magics dark magic is the most unusual and has the worst reputation, although that didn't stop ponies from researching it to the point where it almost became as usefull as normal magic. All forms of it cause permanent mental effects, but it only becomes a real problem when higher accumulations of warp occur. Natural dark mages are born with the ability of being immune to warp, but these ponies are only rarely born and their cutie-marks almost always have something to do with dark magic. There is a legend if you delve deep enough into the dark arts the darkness and chaos of the universe will reveal eldrich secrets to a pony. These eldrich mages have never been named and nopony believes they exist.

Light magic is dark magic's exact opposite. It is a rareley explored field and contains several types of life magics, especially healing. Unfortunately, like dark magic, using this kind of magic causes mental warping, but instead of corrupting the pony it burns away their mind because the magic is to pure to handle. Only deity like beings are known to delve deeply into this field as it takes large amounts of energy to use and the fact that they are immune to most of the warping it causes, but they are not immune to dark magic's mental effects. Natural light mages are also immune to the mental warping caused , and like natural dark mages are rare. Natural light mages haven't been seen in Equestria for over a thousand years and the last one refused ascension and was put out of her misery by Celestia.

Well feel free to comment and tell me how I did, please tell me how to improve the story if you didn't particularly enjoy a chapter, and like I say I enjoy reading the comments.