Half Hour Horses: Legacy Prompts

Chapters

LP07: Fluttershy's Story [Slice of Life, Sad]
LP09: Fluttershy's Birthday [Slice of Life, Romance?]
LP11: Not a Pony [Adventure?]
LP14: Cold Hearth, Warm Heart [Slice of Life]
LP15: Home for the Holidays [Slice of Life]
LP17: Good to be the Princess [Slice of Life?]
LP18: Panem et Circenses [Adventure? Historical]
LP19: Among the Stars [Slice of Life]
LP20: Zecora [Adventure, Romance]
LP21: Can't Move the Sun [Slice of Life]
LP22: All the Time in the World [Sad]
LP22: Heartbreaks and Hoofaches [Slice of Life]
LP23: Political Party [Random]
LP23: Doctor Applejack [Slice of Life]
LP24: Masquerade [Romance]
LP25: Captain Dash [Sad?]
LP26: The Chase [Adventure]
LP27: Want-Pink-Need-Pink [Random, Slice of Life]
LP28: This Won't End Well [Romance, Slice of Life]
LP29: The Fifth Season [Slice of Life?]
LP30: The Range [Slice of Life]
LP31: I Can't Hear the Music [General]
LP32: Talk of the Town [General]
LP32: Ponies Talk [General]
LP33: Morning in Ponyville [General]
LP34: Final Exam [General]
LP37: Fleur Lis Dee [General]
LP38: Day Late [Comedy?]
LP39: Equestria Buck Yeah [Comedy?]
LP41: The Walls Fall [Drama?]
LP42: Don't Panic [Shipping, Drama?]
LP44: The Unicorn Twilight Sparkle [General]
LP45: The Return of Harmony (Sad? Slight AU)
LP46: The Queen's Day Off [Slice of Life]
LP48: In a Rush [Slice of Life]
LP49: Lessons Learned [Slice of Life]
LP51: Politics [General, Comedy?]
LP54: Moving On [Slice of Life, Dark? Sad?]
LP55: Two Views [Slice of Life]
LP56: A Duck [Slice of Life]
LP58: The Dark [Shipping?]
LP58: A Holiday [Slice of Life]
LP59: Nightmare [Dark? Sad?]
LP60: Las Pegasus [Slice of Life]
LP62: Element of Inspiration [General?]
LP63: Opposite Day (Slice of Life)
LP 64: Visions [General]
LP67: It's Just Dinner [Slice of Life?]
LP69: It's Over [General, AU]
LP70: Overthinking It
LP72: Paperwork [Slice of Life? Drama?]
LP74: Pinkie Pie [General?]
LP74: Mirror [Drama? Slice of Life?]
LP75: Overloaded [Slice of Life]
LP77: Prank/Counterprank [Slice of Life]
LP78: Flim Flam [AU, Slice of Life]
LP66: Served Cold [Drama?]

LP07: Fluttershy's Story [Slice of Life, Sad]

(Legacy Prompt #7: The prompt: Tell the scariest story Fluttershy knows.)

(I am tremendously out of practice with writing. This is shorter than I like and probably not the best, but I wanted to at least try to get back into the swing of things.)

Fluttershy smiled as she watched her friend Twilight Sparkle read the book of monster stories. She knew the stories were supposed to be scary, but sitting together in a sunlit room in Twilight's new castle made it hard to really be scared of monsters and dragons and things like that. Fluttershy wasn't even reading the stories, she was just there to spend a little time with Twilight.

But watching the princess read scary stories did make her think about them.

She had read books like that before. She thought it would help her get over her fears of everyday things, though that really hadn't worked. The stories were all alike in a way. They started off a little happy, a little ominous, and then built tension. At the end, there was always some monster, or dragon, or ghost pony to terrorize the characters and make you want to sleep with all your lamps on and an annoyed little bunny cuddled against you.

But being here and thinking about it made Fluttershy realize that if she had to pick the scariest kind of story, it wouldn't be scary because of the end.

Fluttershy looked at Twilight, as the princess read happily, the warm sunlight almost glowing on her mane, and her elegant alicorn wings rustling a little in anticipation of the story to come.

Fluttershy's scariest story didn't seem so bad. It started off happy, like most of them. With Fluttershy, and her friends, all celebrating something new. They would all be happy about it, and Pinkie threw the best parties when it was something that was really worth partying over. Fluttershy smiled a bit as she pictured the balloons and congratulations and streamers everywhere. If there was anything ominous at the start, she didn't know what it was, other than just that little bit of worry when something you really, really cared about was changing.

Twilight's wings flared as she started getting to the part where the tone changed, and she blushed a little, giggling nervously to Fluttershy as she refolded them behind her.

Her own story didn't get too dark even then. Fluttershy's scary story was full of happy moments, tender moments. Two ponies talking together, alone in her cottage, or in a bright, sunlit castle. Two ponies taking walks along the edge of the forest, where it was safe, but all their animal friends could come by and see them. There were little scenes where their friends would all still laugh and play together, and they'd still go on adventures. The adventure parts were often scary, but they always, always ended well, just like in real life.

Fluttershy's story was also full of tender, emotional moments. Two ponies nuzzling happily in the privacy of their homes. It told of them cuddling by the fire on a Heart's Warming Eve night, having a first kiss under the stars on a crystal castle parapet, or traveling to Canterlot to see plays and visit the castle archives. There were quiet nights spent together in a warm, soft bed. Fluttershy tried to keep her blush down.

Princess Twilight bit her lower lip nervously, her eyes flitting back and forth as she read the story, getting closer and closer to the ending, her body tense as though she expected a monster to jump right out of the book itself.

This story didn't end that way, though. It ended as it had started, happily. The same two ponies, standing in front of all their friends and family. Now that Fluttershy thought about it again, probably in front of hundreds of ponies. Maybe there were a few scary parts. But the two ponies were there for a happy reason. Two ponies becoming one, in a special way that Fluttershy only hoped that she could experience someday. A way that ended the story, but was really only the start of the two ponies making a new story, together, with all their friends and their new, joined family behind them.

Twilight made a startled noise, clapping the book shut in a panic, before blushing in embarrassment as she remembered that she was in a sunny, safe room with one of her friends. Twilight scooted over next to Fluttershy, and leaned lightly against her. Fluttershy hugged her friend comfortingly, trying to stop her own heart from beating as fast as the startled princess' was.

Most scary stories were scary because of the ending. Because of the monster that was standing right behind you, or the ghost that would visit you that night.

But as Fluttershy held Twilight close, and opened her mouth, only to close it again without saying anything...

Fluttershy knew that the scariest and saddest stories were the ones that would never really get the chance to begin.

LP09: Fluttershy's Birthday [Slice of Life, Romance?]

The Prompt: Happy birthday, my love.)

(Happy birthday Esle Ynopemos!)

On any other day, Fluttershy might have felt just a little bit silly taking so much care to hide behind bushes and stick to back roads and alleyways as she walked through Ponyville. It was true that Fluttershy was a very skittish and nervous pony, but she wasn't usually so scared of being seen.

But today was special. Today was her birthday.

Not too many ponies knew that. But at least five other ponies in Ponyville did. They were her friends, and they all loved her dearly. One beloved friend in particular.

Fluttershy was very grateful that she had such caring friends. Her life was infinitely brighter and more fun for knowing them, and every day she woke with a smile because she knew that she'd see at least one or two of her friends. But her friends were also very loud, excitable, and gregarious ponies. They loved birthdays and anniversaries, they loved excitement and dancing, and the really, truly loved parties of all varieties, even the very startling and scary surprise birthday party variety.

One beloved friend in particular.

This is why Fluttershy was almost a ghost as she trotted through Ponyville on her birthday, buying food for her animals. Any other birthday, she would have kept herself locked safely away in her cottage, but she couldn't let the little darling animals starve, even if it meant being outside today. Still, every errant hoofstep nearby, and every giggling voice or happy call from one pony to one of their friends sent shivers up her spine.

That barrel over there might not be full of rainwater gathered to spread on Golden Harvest's garden, it might be full of pink mane and tail, waiting to burst forth in a shower of confetti and party horns.

That huge package being carried around (with some difficulty) by the mailmare might not be full of books for Twilight's new castle library, but instead be full of the most excitable earth pony in all of Equestria, ready to rain down cakes and treats and dozens of excited fillies and colts all over the place in a huge, loud explosion of party favors.

Just around that next corner, there might be just a pleasant, quiet alleyway that leads to the next street over, and from there out of Ponyville and back to Fluttershy's nice, calm, secure cottage. Or, it might be a throng of ponies crowded into that same little alley, along with party cannons and dance floors and spotlights and everypony's eyes glued directly on the guest of honor, every pony in Ponyville staring directly at Fluttershy and listening to every little thing she said and noticing every awkward movement of her hooves and embarrassing flare of her wings and--

"Oh, hi, Fluttershy! Happy birth--"

"Eeep!"

Fluttershy's worst fears confirmed, she could only manage to squeeze her eyes closed and shoot of into the sky in a blind panic, blowing dust and fallen leaves all around the little back road between two houses, and leaving behind a very surprised and somewhat confused Princess Twilight Sparkle to finish her quiet congratulations in the empty alley. "...day."

Fluttershy was not a fast flier, typically. But when an animal was in danger, or one of her friends, or when she herself was in danger of being the center of attention, she could manage a speed that couldn't be matched. The thatched-roof buildings of Ponyville blew by her, giving way to a lonely, quiet pathway that lead out to the more secluded cottages and homes for quieter ponies. That pathway blurred as she flew over it in a teary-eyed panic, until that pathway gave way to a small, meandering trail left by only one pony's hooves over and over, to a little cottage surrounded by fences and animal homes, and bordering the dark and gloomy Everfree Forest.

She landed in front of the cottage and quickly bolted through the door, slamming it behind her and leaning back against it. Fluttershy clenched her eyes closed and tried to slow her panicked breathing and palpitating heart. After a few long, tense seconds of nopony knocking on her door or shouting for her attention, Fluttershy finally started to calm down. She was safe here, in her cottage, away from surprise parties and happy, well-meaning pink party ponies.

Fluttershy opened her eyes, and the calm from being at home helped her only jump slightly at the sound of a lonely, quiet party horn tweeting in the stillness of her cottage.

The paper tube on the end of the horn made a little noise as it wrapped back up into a spiral, next to the smiling lips of a single pony, alone in Fluttershy's cottage. Pinkie Pie smiled almost nervously at Fluttershy, standing there in front of a little table with a single cupcake in the center. The cupcake held one candle, softly glowing in the dark cottage.

Fluttershy stared blankly a moment, and then smiled.

Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie lay together on Fluttershy's couch after sharing a small cupcake together, and taking time to feed all of her animal friends, and listen to their congratulations on her birthday as well. Fluttershy found herself happily nuzzling Pinkie's mane, all of her worries from earlier in the day fading away. "Um, thank you for my party, Pinkie."

Pinkie Pie giggled and hugged Fluttershy close, giving a little kiss to the pegasus pony's nose. "You're super welcome, Fluttershy! I wanted it to be the best party for you, but I kept thinking of big surprise parties and how much you don't like those, and I can't be Pinkie Pie, Ponyville's Premiere Party Planning Pony if I don't make the best party I ever could for..." Pinkie's voice caught just a moment, the sound of the words still a little unfamiliar to her. "... for my marefriend."

Fluttershy felt her muzzle burning with blush, and buried her face against Pinkie's mane. The other pony just giggled quietly, and stroked Fluttershy's mane with her hoof. "Happy Birthday, Fluttershy."

LP11: Not a Pony [Adventure?]

(The prompt: One (or more) of the Mane 6 is not a pony.)

(Time in the last quarter or so. Not so much a story, and maybe not exactly what the prompt called for, but I like it.)

On her farm, Applejack was not a pony.

She was a machine.

Her hooves struck perfectly against the trunk of each tree, each well-practiced strike sending apples cascading down into the waiting barrels. She pulled each carrot up in one pull, and each new barrel of produce was packed in time and sent on its way. Her muscles drove her forward, dragging the plow behind her in the spring, and the wagons full of food for the town in the fall. She worked tirelessly, any unneeded rest was only going to be one less apple for some foal to eat this year. She kept the forest from encroaching on her land, she repaired the weather damage to her barn and home, and she provided for her family and for the entirety of Ponyville.

When the day was over and Applejack stood stamping and sweating from exertion, she could look back with pride at all she had accomplished.

At her cottage, Fluttershy was not a pony.

She was the warm, beloved center of an entire community.

Far from the shy, timid pony that the population of Ponyville knew, she smiled and trotted happily among her friends, laughing and talking easily with each one. She brought food to the feeble and infirm, she built homes for the newly arrived and the newly weaned. She taught the young birds to fly, and she mended injured bones and hides. She soothed pains both physical and emotional, and brought joy and life wherever she went. Animals great and small for miles around knew to come to her, and they treated all ponies all the better for knowing one like her.

Fluttershy smiled as her little friends all gathered around her, for once completely at ease in the middle of a crowd.

In her Boutique, Rarity was not a pony.

She was an artist.

Cloth fluttered through the air, and stitching ran perfectly down each seam. New ideas and inspiration flowed like wine, and each new idea poured immediately and stunningly forth in both design and execution. The trends of today were easily replicated, and the fashions of tomorrow were forged in the crucible of Rarity's magic, her eyes flitting from design to cloth as her magic cut and shaped the popular styles of seasons to come. Each tiny detail, the smallest stitch, all of these had to be just perfect, because these dresses were more than just dresses, they were expressions of Rarity herself.

As her latest clients left smiling with dresses and suits perfectly to their liking, Rarity felt complete.

At one of her parties, Pinkie Pie was not a pony.

She was a blur.

Pinkie Pie was everywhere and nowhere. Every time a pony needed a refill, she was there with a ladle of punch. Every time a filly's smile started to slip, Pinkie Pie had a joke or a new party favor. When the record player needed a new track, or the cake trays needed reloading, she was there in a flash. Pinkie Pie was the laughter behind each pony's joke, the squeal of excitement at a favorite song, the clopping of hooves on a polished dance floor, and the bright, shining happiness of a dozen friends enjoying their time together in the best day they had ever had.

After the party was over, and she looked over the messy, frosting-stained dining area of Sugarcube Corner, Pinkie Pie could only smile, and blow a party horn to start the cleaning afterparty.

In the sky, Rainbow Dash was not a pony.

She was awesome.

She was a bolt of lightning. She was a fresh gust of wind, or a howling hurricane. She was the end to all clouds on clear days, and she was the bringer of storms when the world needed rain. She could be here one moment, and across Equestria the next, leaving a shining rainbow contrail in her wake. She was a loyal defender of her friends, she was a blue blur, she was faster, stronger, and more daring than any Wonderbolt.

When the barrier broke, and the rainbow exploded in a boom around her, Rainbow Dash grinned in triumph.

In her archives, Twilight Sparkle was not a pony.

She was a genius.

Surrounded by the sum total of all Equestrian knowledge, Twilight knew she could do anything. Questions had only time to be posed before an answer was already in the works, her endless studies and knowledge working through her keen mind, seeking not only facts but wisdom. Her horn glowed and sparked, tracing lines of magic and weaving spells to fix any problem. Pages turned and bindings cracked as a myriad of books shuffled and flowed around her, with her eyes taking in every new note, every new fragment of the solution to anything that needed one.

When she could finally sign the report, when she marked down the last word of her answer, and with the last fleeting tendrils of magic finished on a new spell, Twilight Sparkle could only smile, and look forward to the next challenge.

These six mares stood together, at the feet of their latest adversary.

They were far from their places of comfort. This was not a party, or harvesting season. There were no books to review, and no stitching to be done. All of the animal life had fled, and now was not the time for flight.

But after every other pony had run, after the Princesses had been cast down, in Equestria's darkest hour, they were together.

As these six mares stood together to defend Equestria, they were not ponies.

They were friends.

And together, nothing could ever defeat them.

LP14: Cold Hearth, Warm Heart [Slice of Life]

The Prompt:

Warm Hearth, Cold Heart

OR

Cold Hearth, Warm Heart

It was cold. Freezing cold, and it had been for days. She wasn't sure as she trudged through the frosty forest, drifts of snow falling down from the laden branches. She wasn't sure if she would make it another night. The wind howled above the canopy, and the shaking branches threw down another blinding flurry around her, and it was all she could do to shake the freezing snow from her body.

No, she wouldn't give up. But the deadened feeling in her legs and the slow, sluggish way her mind was running certainly made it tempting.

The snow whirled and twisted in the nighttime darkness. It felt like this forest just went on forever in all directions. She knew, dimly, that this wasn't where she was supposed to be. But right now she couldn't remember exactly how to get where she wanted to be.

A faint twinkling of light shone through the snow, just for a second.

It was enough. Maybe it was a fire, maybe it was even a pony. Maybe it was just an illusion brought on by the cold. But it had to be something.

Fluttershy's cottage was quiet despite the winds that howled in the darkness outside. Fluttershy sat on her little couch, wrapped in a warm blanket with Angel Bunny cuddled up to her chest, reading by candlelight. She had never really enjoyed storms, but this one had no thunder to scare her. All it had was nice, isolating snow, and the kind of howling winds that helped her feel somehow more secure inside her closed, comfortable cabin... even if her firewood had run out the day before. She knew that the weather team would never have built this kind of blizzard, and she didn't doubt that her friend Rainbow Dash would be out there fighting back the clouds if there was any hope of stopping it from rolling in out of the Forest.

Fluttershy's ruminations and reading were both stopped short by a pawing, scratching noise at her door. She looked up sharply, eyes widened at the sudden sound, but then leaped up from her spot on the couch and galloped over, apologizing to the displaced bunny on the way. Some poor animal must be trapped outside in this storm! Fluttershy pushed on the door, and then leaned on it with her entire body, pushing against the winds and snow outside until it inched open enough to let the small, furry animal inside.

"Oh my goodness! What in Equestria is a little puppy doing out in this cold?" Fluttershy pulled the door shut and smiled down at the little, cowering puppy that had just come into her cottage. It was easy to see that the poor little thing had been lost for aw while now, mud and snow were caked all around its... her paws, and she was shivering and miserable there on the floor.

The puppy threw a longing glance toward the empty fireplace. Fluttershy's smile slipped only slightly, but then returned after a moment. "I'm sorry, I don't have any firewood for a fire. But let's get those paws cleaned!"

Fluttershy led the puppy into a small bathroom, and quickly washed away the dirt and grime a lost animal always collects, as well as melting away the snow. The puppy seemed to revel happily in the attention and care she gave it, and Fluttershy couldn't help but smile a bit. The water wasn't warmed of course, but she still had plenty of soft, clean towels. Soon the puppy was cleaned and dried, and Fluttershy led her back through the small cottage.

She couldn't help but notice that the lost dog didn't even so much as look at her stored vegetables and other food.

Still, the main problem was the cold. "Come on now, hop up here! I don't have a fire, but sitting together under the blanket should be warm enough for both of us."

Despite everything, the cold, the hunger, the lack of a fire... this pony did have a soothing voice. Weirdly, she was almost commanding in an undefinable, quiet, gentle way. The puppy jumped up onto the couch, only to find herself being stared down by a very irritated looking rabbit. The rabbit stood on hind legs with its forelegs crossed, and then thumped one foot against the cushion while staring daggers at his owner.

Fluttershy only smiled and shook her head. "Now now, Angel, we just can't turn her away! I know what you're saying, but we have to help anypon-- anybody that's lost in the cold."

The bunny, apparently named Angel, just glared at the puppy again before stomping over to the other end of the couch and burrowing his way under the loose blanket there. The couch shifted a bit as the yellow pony climbed up onto the cushion. She held out her forelegs invitingly, and after a moment's hesitation the puppy curled up against the pony's warm coat. A moment later, the pony pulled a soft, warm blanket down from the back of the couch, and wrapped it lightly around the both of them.

At first it was still cold, but after only a few moments, the puppy's shivering stopped. Pressed up against this loving, caring pony in her softly lit and comfortable home... it was hard to imagine that just a few minutes ago she had been wondering if she was going to freeze to death. A hazy, warm fog spread through her as she relaxed. She could feel her eyes closing on their own, as the safety and warm, loving feeling from the pony just overwhelmed her. In a few moments, she was asleep.

Fluttershy only jumped slightly as the puppy that lay against her flashed green. There in her forelegs lay a tiny, black changeling. It was barely bigger than a foal, it must be an immature nymph. She had known right from the start, of course. Changelings might be able to act like ponies, but Fluttershy knew all about animals, and it took more than looking fluffy to fool her. She felt the couch shake as Angel thrummed his foot against it again, pointing at the buglike creature against her. Fluttershy spoke quietly as not to wake her. "I know, Angel, but it's awfully cold outside, and even if she isn't what she pretended to be, I can't just let her freeze! Besides, she's so adorable curled up like this!"

Angel only frowned and burrowed back under the blanket again. Fluttershy smiled and nosed her book open again, returning to her candlelight reading. The little changeling shuffled in its sleep, and then relaxed again in the warmth and security of Fluttershy's cottage. The pony only giggled quietly, happy that she could help, no matter what the morning brought.

LP15: Home for the Holidays [Slice of Life]

(Prompt: Home for the Holidays.)

Sort of a loose interpretation of that prompt, but I wanted to post something.

"Is that really everything?"

Twilight Sparkle looked doubtfully up at the mantle over her new castle's hearth, and then around the large, empty room that held it. She counted the decorations without even thinking about it, even as Spike turned tail-up in the box looking for more. His voice broke her thoughts a moment later, along with a rustling of parchment and quill. "That's everything, Twilight! Decorate for Hearth's Warming, check!"

"Decorations are NOT checked!" Twilight stamped her hoof, and then had the decency to look a bit embarrassed for her reaction. "Just look at this place, Spike! There's hardly anything on the walls!"

Spike muttered some kind of half-hearted protest as Twilight looked around again. She sighed quietly. Spike had been correct. There were the four holly wreaths she'd purchased, and the ribbons. There were the two sets of bells, and she had a small fire in the fireplace. That and a few boughs posted here and there in the halls and... well, it had been enough last year! Last year, in her little library.

Twilight sat down heavily, and Spike rolled up the checklist before coming over and laying a claw on her shoulder. "Come on, Twilight. It looks fine! It's Hearth's Warming Eve, you love this holiday!"

She turned and gave him a weak smile, and opened her mouth to speak before they heard the door to the room open behind them. Turning around, they spotted Applejack walking in, pushing along a little wheeled cart. "Hey Twilight, howdy, Spike. Thought I might swing by an' keep y'all company. I know it ain't easy spendin' Hearth's Warming in a new house an' all."

Twilight laughed and welcomed Applejack happily, though she couldn't really help eying the cart. It was one of the ones they'd used to move all the furniture and other things into her castle to start with, but now it was laden with a few bales of hay, a barrel of what Twilight assumed was cider, and some kind of tin firewood holder. Applejack saw her looking, and chuckled a little, rubbing one foreleg with her other. "Uh, figured we might like somethin' to sit on, an' I know it ain't really fit for a royal castle, but I reckon you might not want to just set the firewood on the floor."

Hay bales and aged tin furniture really didn't fit the decor that the Tree of Harmony had built this castle with, but Twilight Sparkle only smiled and helped Applejack start setting out the seats and everything. They had only just finished tapping the barrel of mulled cider when they heard voices out in the hallway.

"You didn't bring anything? C'mon, Fluttershy, it's Hearth's Warming!"

"Um, well, Twilight isn't a pegasus, and I did bring Angel Bunny."

The two pegasus ponies entered the room shortly after, Rainbow Dash flying a few feet off of the ground, with saddlebags bulging with boxes, while Fluttershy trotted along on the ground, carrying Angel Bunny on her back. Angel, for his part, seemed content nibbling on a carrot and ignoring the proceedings entirely. Rainbow grinned as she landed near her friends, and shimmed her saddlebags to the floor. "Hey guys! Fluttershy and I thought Twilight might be by herself, so we came over. I brought presents! I know it's kinda a pegasus thing, but you know. You've got wings, so you're like... half pegasus anyway. Wait, is that cider?!"

Twilight opened her mouth to protest, but then just shook her head and smiled as Rainbow bolted over to the barrel and helped herself to a mug. "Thanks, Rainbow Dash. And hi, Fluttershy! I'm glad both of you could make it, and Angel, too!"

Fluttershy sat down to let Angel off of her back, and the rabbit happily hopped over to the hay bale nearest the fire, settling down on the warm hay just before Spike manged to get there. Spike managed to stop his glaring at the rabbit after only a moment or two, sighing and finding the second-best place instead. Twilight laughed and hugged Fluttershy in greeting, before the two of them started setting out the presents Rainbow had brought. "Uh, Rainbow? These presents aren't really..."

"Huh? Oh, right. I didn't have any Hearth's Warming paper, so they're wrapped in birthday paper. Doesn't really matter, right?"

Fluttershy smiled apologetically even though it was by no means her fault. Still, the brightly wrapped gifts might not have fit the color scheme of the holiday, but they were at least somewhat festive. The room seemed a little brighter with the gifts stacked off to the side, and with Applejack and Rainbow already laughing as they drank their cider a bit faster than anypony really should. The fire cackled hot in the hearth, and Fluttershy giggled as Angel kicked hay around to make a little bed for himself, even as it drew another annoyed glance from Spike. After all, he was always the one that got stuck cleaning up.

Twilight already expected more guests after all of this, so a few minutes later the sound of hooves in the hallway failed to surprise her at all. Nor did the identity of the voices she heard, given that only two ponies were missing from all this now anyway. Fluttershy smiled as she looked at Twilight's expression, and then turned back to warm herself by the fire.

"I must say, Pinkie Pie, you look simply beyond festive today. Though I can't imagine why you would need your party cannon for what will likely be just a small little get-together with Twilight and Spike."

"Well, DUH! You can have a party with just three ponies, Rarity! Besides, all our friends are gonna be here, just watch!"

Somehow before Pinkie even turned the corner, the party cannon peeked around and launched a chaotic mess of confetti and streamers out all over Twilight's otherwise fairly clean room. All the gathered ponies still couldn't help but laugh at the party horn and the mess though, and Pinkie's smiling face coming into view a second later didn't change it at all. In a blink Pinkie Pie was over next to the budding party, wrapping Twilight and Fluttershy both in a tight hug before zooming over to the cider barrel in a blur to hug the other two participants.

After Pinkie let her go, Twilight smiled to Fluttershy and then trotted over to greet Rarity as she came through the doorway, levitating a few silken ribbons and gem-encrusted draperies in her magic. Rarity stopped short after Twilight's hug, and looked at the gathering before her. She sighed and moved her decorations to hang on the little crystal settings in the walls, before shaking her head. "Hello, Darling. I'm afraid my contributions only made the decor worse. I don't know what sort of look we are developing, here, but I don't believe it has any sort of theme at all!"

Twilight Sparkle looked around the room again. Honestly speaking, it was still rather bare, but... there were bales of hay scattered a safe distance from the fireplace, some broken and bedded down by a bunny and a competitive baby dragon, there was a tin firewood holder and a wooden barrel of cider, a party cannon off to the side and streamers and confetti somehow still flittering through the air. The presents off to the side, still an unusual tradition to Twilight's mind, were wrapped in gaudy colors not fit for the season, and Rarity's silk ribbons and gems looked far too expensive for her own holly wreaths and bells. But...

Rainbow Dash and Applejack were both deep into mugs of cider, drinking as fast as they could while Pinkie played referee. Fluttershy looked a bit flustered as she admonished Angel and Spike for making a mess, even as the two glanced between each other and the remaining undamaged bale of hay. Rarity stood beside Twilight, looking at the utter disaster and mess filling the room. However, after a moment, a smile flitted across Twilight's face.

"No, Rarity. I think it looks great. It... it looks like... home."

Rarity smiled knowingly, and the two unicorns trotted in to join their friends.

Author's Note

You know, in light of today's episode 503: "Castle, Sweet Castle", this fit pretty much exactly the first half of it. Neat.

LP17: Good to be the Princess [Slice of Life?]

(The prompt: It's good to be the Princess.)

(This one is shorter than I'd like but what the heck. Also I suppose it hints towards some possibly unpleasant subject matter at the end.)

Princess Cadance walked slowly into her bedroom and slumped down onto the expertly woven sheets that covered her griffon-down bed. The unbridled luxury of it quickly sapped away the fatigue from her recent meeting with Celestia. As much as she couldn't let herself stop smiling during the exchange, Princess Celestia had a certain... way about her. Something in her eyes made Cadance feel as though she could see right through any sort of facade or misdirection without any effort. Though it plainly wasn't true, it was still exhausting.

She glanced over to the bedside table, her eyes met only by an empty platter and pitcher of lukewarm water.

"Another plate of these... chocolates, and a bottle of the Canterlot Vineyard."

The hoofmaiden, whose name Princess Cadance had already forgotten, nodded quickly and galloped off with the empty plate held in her mouth. Princess Cadance smiled as she looked around her bedroom. It looked much as she supposed it always did: various souvenirs and memorabilia from her life in Canterlot, interspersed with beauty products and very expensive-looking silks and tapestries. Fitting for a pony of her station, she thought.

She looked to the doorway, noticing one of the EUP guards there. For a moment she wondered how they all managed to have the same color scheme, and just how they all seemed so perfectly toned and trained. "You! Guardspony. Find a masseuse. A stallion; the one that Celestia prefers."

A moment of hesitation, and the guard saluted sharply. "Your highness!"

As he galloped off, Princess Cadance let a smile spread across her lips. There it was. That hesitation. That doubt in their eyes. The half-second glance to make sure the source of that commanding tone was really Princess Cadance of Canterlot. She couldn't deny that it pleased her that they felt used, or disrespected. It was to be expected, really. Though she supposed that, as fun as it was to tease and toe at the line, she should be a bit more careful. These weren't exactly her usual servants, and she couldn't treat them the same way.

A few minutes later, Princess Cadance found herself in absolute heaven. The silken sheets against her coat, the softness of the griffon down and the expertly firm pressure of the royal masseuse's hooves on her back, the lingering taste of the fine chocolates mixed with the absolutely sublime dessert wine, it all combined to give nothing short of perfect relaxation.

Princess Cadance, Mi Amore Cadenza, was finding that she understood precisely why Celestia preferred this masseuse. He seemed to know without prompting exactly where each press of his hooves should be, how to work the tension out of each and every muscle, and just the perfect way to touch her body to elicit the best of responses. It would probably be seen as somewhat improper, to be such putty in this stallion's hooves, but Cadance found that she didn't particularly care about that just at the moment.

Interestingly, that thought was not immediately followed by the wrong pony walking in. No, that only happened several long, blissful minutes later. Shining Armor's hooves gave a distinctive heavy, clopping report on the stone tile of the castle hallway as he walked toward the room. Cadance would know that sound anywhere, even after so short a time living in the same castle. Still, she only allowed her smile to change from blissful to a bit smug, and allowed the masseuse to continue his work.

The pointed clearing of a stallion's throat broke the stillness of the royal bedroom, and the royal masseuse jumped back from the princess as though the touch burned him. Princess Cadance turned her head toward the door, finding Shining Armor there in his EUP Captain's uniform, with a slight furrow in his brow that apparently had enough of an effect on her servants to send them quickly stammering and scattering away from her. She raised a hoof and spoke. "You're all dismissed. Come in, my dear."

The hoofmaidens trotted out of the room quickly, throwing nervous glances at Shining Armor, and the masseuse followed as well, mumbling an apology and something about following orders. Shining Armor's expression softened a bit as Cadance smiled at him, but he still didn't move further into the room than just the doorway. "Cadance, we're not really supposed to be seeing each other much before the wedding. I'm supposed to be greeting my sister and her friends tomorrow, and there are a lot of security measures I still need to-"

Princess Cadance's horn glowed a bright green as she pulled the door closed behind her fiance, and the telekinetic magic disguised a small spark of a spell that quickly worked to allay Shining's reservations and make up his mind to stay. Cadance rolled a bit to the side on the bed, smiling over at Shining with a strange light in her eyes. Her voice dropped the commanding tone from before, becoming syrupy smooth and inviting. "Shining Armor, surely you wouldn't deny your fiance? Don't worry about that stallion, you know that we share a love too powerful to be stopped."

Shining Armor's brows furrowed, and a slight buzzing headache suddenly made itself known, but he could... he could hardly say no to her when she asked like that.

As the soon-to-be prince walked across her bedroom floor toward her bed, Princess Cadance's smug smile returned. As a general rule, she didn't like to play with her food. But this particular morsel was just too sweet to resist, and she was finding that, as much as she knew herself to be a Queen...

It was good to be this Princess as well.

LP18: Panem et Circenses [Adventure? Historical]

The prompt: Sunshine, happiness, and rainbows.

No Celestia/Pinkie/Dash shipping here!

"So that's how it is, Clover. We're gonna have enough food for the winter, but only if we scrimp and save."

Clover the Clever's eyes darted left to right as she scanned through the numbers on the sheet. Smart Cookie would have dismissed any other pony as simply taking her word for it and making a pretense of looking it over. But she knew that this pony was bright enough that she was probably actually double checking all the math in her head. As the unicorn read through the production figures and estimates, Smart Cookie heard a fluttering of wings outside. She trotted lightly over to the door and opened it, smiling at the pegasus she saw. "Heya, Private. Come on in, we got the place to ourselves for this little meeting."

Private Pansy smiled at her, but then lowered her head slightly, as though she were afraid she might offend by what she was saying. "Um, actually it's 'Corporal' now. But just Pansy is fine."

Smart Cookie chuckled warmly and shut the door behind the mare. "'Cookie' then. How you doing, Pansy? Pegasopolis is looking bigger up there in the sky every day."

Both of them knew how their unicorn friend was when it came to work, so neither of them bothered her for the moment. Their conversation stayed almost forcedly light, drifting across Pansy's recent promotion to Cookie's new apple-farming coltfriend, and then back to the changes in Pegasopolis and round again to the new construction in Everfree. It wasn't until Clover clacked the sheets of paper against the desk to straighten them, that the two mares looked to their friend again.

Clover set the papers down again with a slight blush on her muzzle, and then sighed. "Hi, Corporal Pansy, and sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt. I'm done cross-checking and running through your numbers, Smart Cookie. It almost doesn't make sense. We have more ponies, and more food than last year, but the work is going slower."

Smart Cookie nodded, the lighthearted tone from her conversation with Pansy gone in a flash. "Sure is. I've been trying to keep everpony working, but... well, let's see how I want to say it. I reckon what I'm thinking is that back home, before the windigoes I mean, we had to work. Don't get me wrong, it wasn't just laying around all day. But we had good roads, and we had well-kept fields, and everypony had a solid, stone home to live in. Out here everything's still rustic. We have to turn up stumps when we're plowing, and clear forest to plant anything new, and even Puddinghead's house has more drafts than an empty field. I know the pegasus ponies are going all over heck and high water trying to find clouds to use, and just about every unicorn I see is black-coated with mine dust."

Corporal Pansy nodded her agreement, but didn't speak.

Clover's horn glowed as she shuffled the papers around, and nodded after a moment. "I know it's difficult. But look, the work on construction, meaning all three tribes, is going very well. Only by working together will the work get done! The schedules I've developed, along with the hot-bunking and rationing, will have everything completely finished in five years. Though the slowdown isn't even just linear, and inside of a year or two... hm."

The unicorn's voice trailed off to an unstated end. Smart Cookie waited a moment, and then spoke for herself. "In a year or two, we're going to have more ponies than we can feed, and that's even assuming we last that long. Last year we didn't even manage half the harvest before rot started setting in. This year's looking worse, even though it's only the start of harvest season. I can't keep pushing everypony so hard. Russet comes home hardly able to stand most nights, and I just can't bring myself to push harder."

Corporal Pansy looked at each pony as they spoke, while her wings rustling in worry.

"What do you want then, Smart Cookie? We can't just stop working! The unicorns need the gems for the magic to raise the sun, and the pegasus ponies have to have clouds to make it rain. Not to mention the food, which is the most important part of all! We can't just let ponies slow down! I know they're tired, we're all tired... exhausted. But we have to work, or we'll all be even worse off next year."

"Don't act like I don't know it. Clover, we've got fillies and colts out working the fields, and they're hardly weaned. Don't look at me like that, I know unicorns ain't doing any better. I'm not saying it's about what kind of pony I am. I'm just saying we can't keep on working like this, unicorn, pegasus, or earth pony."

"I don't see what else--"

The sudden clang of a mailed hoof on the floor of the house stopped the argument cold. Corporal Pansy maintained her furrowed brow for all of two or three seconds before wilting again, but she still held her friends' attention when she spoke. "Listen to yourselves! Um... this isn't how friends should treat one another."

A few seconds of silence passed, followed by muttered apologies from all three ponies. After that, however, the silence just hung in the room, growing heavier by the second.

When Smart Cookie finally broke it, her voice made the other two mares jump, despite her quiet tone. "I was thinking... Heh, sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I was thinking, one thing I miss from back home is the Running of the Leaves."

Pansy tilted her head slightly. "The Running of the Leaves?"

Clover spoke as though reciting verbatim from a book. "The Running of the Leaves is an earth pony tradition, found in many of the tribes, of having long ground races in the late fall. Its primary purpose is to shake down the leaves from the trees and prepare for winter."

"It ain't just-" Smart Cookie stopped herself, and started again with a calmer tone. "It's not just about the trees. The Running of the Leaves was a day everypony took off from work, just to watch the runners, or laugh and gallop through the forest. Ponies worked hard going up to it, so they'd have time to take the day off, and after that they felt a whole heap better. Competition brought folks together, and a day where nopony was expected to work is better than a week of shirking duties."

"That um... that sounds like the military parades we had in our old cloud cities. Work would stop, and everypony would watch the military ponies as we walked through town. It um... well, it made everypony feel better, seeing how strong and numerous our soldiers were."

Clover nodded slowly, looking through her gathered notes as she did so. "What was the last holiday we had? Oh, Founder's Day, the anniversary of when we started Equestria. That was over six months ago. You know, you ponies might be on to something! Everypony likes a party, and feasting and celebration both draws a community together and provides time for recovery."

Pansy smiled again, re-folding her wings and looking much relieved at the more relaxed atmosphere. "So, you're suggesting a holiday?"

Clover set the papers down, and closed her eyes for a moment, before smiling as she opened them again. "Actually, I'm suggesting lots of holidays. If we have a harvest feast soon, marking the start of the harvest season, then all the earth ponies will be that much stronger for the next few weeks. Those are the most critical times for the harvest, right Cookie?"

Smart Cookie nodded, still looking just a bit skeptical.

Clover continued unabated. "Even if we eat a quarter of our stores, and I don't think it will actually be that much, we'll more than double the harvest over last year. Probably, anyway. At the end of autumn, we can do the Running, to prepare for the work of preserving all the rest of the food over winter. Founder's day is during the winter months, and then afterwords we can... hm. Maybe we can do something with the cleanup to make way for spring."

Smart Cookie smiled slightly, looking a bit more confident. "Singing a song makes lighter work. I'll talk to some folks, we can come up with something."

Pansy looked down at her hooves, clad in clinking mail. "Um, maybe the miltary could avoid full armor in peacetime. We could change the name of the Weather Legion to something more... friendly. The weather team? Or... patrol? We could also work on making the rain stay on the fields, while leaving the town streets full of sunshine."

Clover smiled at the pegasus, and nodded again. "I think we're on to something. I was looking at this all wrong, with duty schedules and staring at numbers. We started Equestria, the three of us, by being friends. We started it with singing, and laughing. If we focus on that, and hold on to a sense of happiness, community, and levity, then all the work will seem easier for it."

The three friends smiled, and clopped their hooves together in agreement. They would make Equestria a land of parties, happiness, sunshine, and friendship. Hopefully, they would also make it a land of plenty.

LP19: Among the Stars [Slice of Life]

(The prompt: Our home among the stars.)

Magic crackled through the air, and small objects around the room began to lift off of the tables and floor. Princess Twilight Sparkle's horn sparked and shone, and somewhere amid all the chaos and swirling magical lines, a baby dragon dove for cover. The whirling winds and flashing light grew to a crescendo, then stopped, and Twilight Sparkle was gone.

When she opened her eyes, Princess Twilight Sparkle found herself in a familiar place. A quick, disbelieving look showed her that she was alone, and she allowed herself a little excited dance on her hooves. It had worked! All around her hung quiet, blue clouds of... something, and little star-like points of light, which signified... something. Twilight took a deep breath of whatever passed for air here, and tried to calm herself. This was new, this was something to be observed and studied. This was not a playground for full-grown mares to hop around like excitable fillies.

Now that she took the time to consider, Twilight couldn't help but feel that this place, or this other world, was deeply calming by nature. She remembered being here before, just before her apotheosis into an alicorn princess. She had been scared, she had been nervous, and uncertain of Princess Celestia's plans for her, but she had managed a remarkable calm and restraint despite everything. Now that she was here again, she could feel that same lightness and calming serenity creeping back in. Suddenly she wished that she'd had the foresight to bring quill and ink with her, as well as something to take notes on.

She looked down at her hooves, seemingly solidly planted on some kind of invisible floor. Stepping forward, like last time, continued on the same level as though there were something there. With no other options than to move forward for the moment, Twilight Sparkle began walking. Her hooves made no noise on these clouds, and watching the points of light pass her was soothing, if a bit alien and strange. As she walked, she had the feeling that she was moving while standing still, and it didn't make any sense when she thought about it. Twilight just placed that sort of thing in the same category as Pinkie-sense, and tried to just accept it as it was.

Her silent hooffalls and the calming, quieting effect of the place served her well, as out of the fog a figure of a pony appeared. Sitting at rest, with eyes closed and calm, easy breathing was the regal figure of Princess Celestia.

Twilight gasped quietly, but the Princess didn't seem to hear her. Something about the scene was so private and silent that Twilight quite nearly galloped off in a panic for having seen it, but instead she simply stood paralyzed by indecision a few moments. Something in the air must have changed, because a few seconds later Princess Celestia opened her eyes, and turned toward Twilight, and her eyes grew wide.

A silent moment hung in the air between the two alicorns, and the lack of a greeting formed into a slowly growing ball of panic within Twilight.

A ball of panic that was immediately dissolved by a warm and strangely lighthearted laugh from Princess Celestia.

"Princess Twilight, I should have expected you would find me."

Celestia's warm, proud smile made Twilight's heart leap in her chest. It was that same pride she always saw when she excelled at some test, or learned a new magical talent. It still managed to draw a faint blush to the young princess' muzzle. Twilight Sparkle hated how it always made her stammer in embarrassment, but even the calming atmosphere of this place had its limits. "I... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to intrude! I didn't even know you were here, I just wanted to try to come back here, and--"

Princess Celestia stood, and Twilight managed to stop blathering apologies. Celestia leaned her muzzle down and nuzzled against Twilight's mane, and Twilight just smiled and felt all her panic and worry disappear. "Twilight, don't worry. You are as welcome here as any princess. I assume Cadance showed you how? It is remarkable that you learned so quickly."

"Princess Cadance? No, I... well, I was studying that book that connects Equestria to Canterlot High, and I remembered that the first time I was here. I had noticed the resonance of this world, and..."

The look of shock on Princess Celestia's face was so unusual that Twilight couldn't continue speaking. Had it been any other pony, she might have thought it almost comical. She continued after a moment, the nervousness she felt creeping into her voice. "... I... modified that spell, myself?"

Another moment passed before Princess Celestia smiled, positively glowing with pride. "My dear Twilight, I have known you for years and you still surprise me."

Celestia pulled Twilight into a brief hug, and then sat again, resting in the trackless clouds and stars of this world. "I assumed Princess Cadance showed you the way, because it is not an easy spell to master. Cadance took four years, and my sister... well, she rarely comes here, even now. To think you created a spell for this, all alone... I believe Princess Luna would be quite jealous." Celestia's smile turned a bit wry. "Please do not tell her I told you that, Twilight."

"Of course not, Princess! But... where are we, exactly?"

Princess Celestia turned her head upward, looking into the stars around them. "I don't believe it has a name, Princess Twilight. Only alicorn magic can reach it, however. I come here often, for solitude, or rest from my duties."

Twilight immediately thought to apologize and tried to stand, but suddenly found Celestia's wing opened over her back, holding her in place. Celestia spoke again after a moment. "I don't own this place, Twilight Sparkle. Here I am not 'Princess Celestia'. We can just be two ponies, two friends."

A moment passed as Twilight Sparkle let that sink in. Back in Equestria, Spike was probably growing a bit worried about her prolonged absence. She wondered if the Canterlot Castle staff were getting concerned about the missing princess as well. But for right now, the biggest thing in Twilight's mind was the comforting warmth of her friend, and the softness of her wing over Twilight's back.

"Okay, Prin--- Okay, Celestia."

Celestia smiled at her. Smiling, they both just turned to look at the stars.

LP20: Zecora [Adventure, Romance]

The prompt: Somepony is falling for Zecora.

I've been wanting to write a Mac/Zecora for a while actually, though this isn't really it. Still, convenient prompt!

Big Macintosh's hooves thudded heavily against the ground despite the thick covering of fallen leaves and underbrush. Galloping through the Everfree Forest wasn't a good idea for any pony, even entering it at all was something Macintosh had only done once, and that was with two of his sister's friends that knew their way. Charging in alone, in a desperate panic, with no map and no true sense of direction was probably not the best of plans. But there was a time for planning and a time for action, and right now his sister was at home half out of her mind with fever from a timberwolf bite.

There had been a path when he'd started, he was sure of it, and last time the path lead to Zecora's hut. But that had been with Fluttershy and Rarity in the lead, and now the path had somehow disappeared right from under his hooves. The forest here was still peppered with the howls of timberwolves, just like the forest near the Acres. Macintosh wasn't an unintelligent pony, but he was ready to admit he didn't know timberwolves from manticores from dragons. All that Everfree sort of mess just ought to stay in this forest, and ponies ought to just stay out. But since a wolf had gone and bitten Applejack, he knew that the only cure for whatever was ailing her had to be in the forest too.

After what felt like an eternity of frantic galloping, but something his more reasonable mind told him was less than an hour, the almost familiar hut finally peeked out behind a pair of trees. Now that he looked, the path lead right to it again. Macintosh didn't have time to dwell on magic or lost roads, and just managed to check his pacing as he came up to the doorway. Blundering around the woods as he had been, there was no way she hadn't heard him. Still, after a moment's pause, he raised a hoof to knock at the door to the hut. He tried to keep his eyes off of the strange, misshapen tree that housed this place. It was too counter to the order that pervaded Equestria, something he'd always taken for granted until he saw what lay outside it.

A slight movement of a curtain at a nearby window caught his eye, and then the door opened a moment later. Zecora stood before him, and the unfamiliarity between them gave him just a second's pause. He'd met her before, of course, but only the once. She was taller than an average pony mare. Only slightly, but it was still obvious. Her mane stood straight out in an exotic, alien fashion, and her stripes combined with her frankly gaudy gold bands combined to make for a strange appearance that was somehow off-putting and interesting at once. Though Mac had been raised better than to admit it, this mare also didn't look especially feminine, by pony standards. Her muzzle was sharper, more angled than most any mare's and there was something off about her eyes as well.

After a moment of looking up at the stallion, Zecora broke the silence. "How strange to find a pony at my door, and Applejack's brother, what is more. What brings you here, colt? You look panicked and ready to bolt."

Her voice was a touch deeper than normal for a mare's, too. Mac shook his head quickly, to clear the thoughts, and worked his way through her rhyming. He was a touch out of breath, and his worry set his accent a little heavier than he liked. "Applejack's been bit. By a timberwolf. S'all red an' hot, an' I'm thinkin' it's more'n just a bite."

Zecora's eyes widened slightly, in a note of worry that only redoubled Macintosh's own concerns. The zebra mare turned quickly into her hut, and donned what appeared to be a sort of wicker saddlebag, before carefully placing a few ceramic jars into it, selecting them from her shelves despite the lack of labels. After a moment's hesitation, she flicked her tail upwards and knocked down another jar from one of the hanging vines, but kept this one on a small hook on the rings on her foreleg. "Every ten years the timberwolves spawn. To ponies and zebras they are drawn. To Applejack, with all haste, there is no time for us to waste!"

"Yup."

The smallest hint of a smile at his taciturn nature flitted across Zecora's lips, but neither took time to dwell on it. In a moment they were outside of the zebra's hut, and galloping at full speed into the forest. Big Macintosh had initially taken the lead, but soon found himself outpaced by Zecora. It was a rare mare that could outdo him physically. Still, Zecora seemed to know the way, and the path flowed quickly under their hooves as they galloped onward.

The forest leaves and tangled roots flew by them, but a sudden loud growl stopped both equines short. Three timberwolves padded around a corner in the close path. They bore the strange blooms along their wooden bodies that Macintosh had noticed in the one that had wandered onto the Acres, and he couldn't help but notice Zecora take a step backward. He quickly sidestepped, in front of the mare, and lowered his head to stare down the approaching wolves. The wolves for their part seemed unimpressed, still approaching at the same speed, padding forward and watching the two prey animals for signs of flight.

There was a note of reproach in her voice when Zecora spoke, but she didn't exactly seem angry. "Your heroic protection is brave, but silly. I am no defenseless filly."

Macintosh glanced back at the zebra, only to see her quickly take the bottle from her foreleg, throwing it into the air with her muzzle before kicking it forward toward the timberwolves. The clay withstood her kick but not the impact on the leader's muzzle. There was only the briefest glimpse of some rainbow-sheened liquid before the contents caught aflame, burning with a bright blue fire and causing an immediate panic in the lead wolf. It howled in a frenzy, and scattered the flames in all directions. In a moment one of the other wolves had caught fire as well, and both ran in a yelping panic. The third roared and leaped toward Zecora, wooden claws extended and teeth bared.

Big Mac was faster, and the buck from one hind leg was enough to splinter the forward half of the timberwolf into shards of broken wood and scattered leaves. The two shared a look, but that was all they could spare. The howling of the wolves in the forest broke any talk of their minor victory, and soon they were galloping ahead again. The trees soon ended abruptly, as the forest always seemed to, and the light and fresh air renewed Macintosh's gallop like nothing else could.

The sight of his sister with bark and leaves growing on her flank wouldn't leave him any time soon. Still, as quick as she'd swallowed the brew that the zebra had cooked, the bark had begun flaking and the leaves had browned and withered, and Applejack had managed to open her eyes and even make a weak joke. The pony stallion now walked along the road that lead off of Sweet Apple Acres, and eventually back to the Everfree forest. Beside him, the zebra mare kept pace, speaking quietly. "Her leg, I fear, will be quite stiff. But I think you know what would have happened, if..."

"Yup." He didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to think about it. Applejack was fine. She was going to be fine, so there was no need to worry.

She stopped, just past the edge of the Apples' land. Big Macintosh stopped inside the border. Now that he had a moment to look again, Zecora reminded him strongly of an earth pony mare. True, she had stripes. That coltish muzzle was still there, and her tail dock was strangely long and pronounced, but... still. He took a moment to try to clear his head. It must just be the relief that she'd saved his sister.

Zecora, for her part, stood silently watching him a moment before speaking. "Do not speak of thanks, out loud. For your own part, you should be proud. Your quick run and your skill in strife, have likely saved your sister's life."

The rhyming was annoying, but Mac appreciated the sentiment. Still... "Yup. But thank you."

Zecora smiled, and turned to go. He could only watch her as she walked away, though she paused after a few steps. She spoke without turning. "After the spawning, when it is not so scary... perhaps you can visit, when there's time to tarry?"

She didn't wait for an answer, but resumed her walking a moment later. Big Macintosh watched until the zebra's stripes blurred to a gray figure on the road. He wasn't sure what other ponies might think about what was going on in his head. He wasn't sure what he thought about it. But his Granny had always said a stallion knew when he'd found somepony interesting. Zecora was too far away to hear his reply, but he said it to the empty road anyway.

"Yup."

LP21: Can't Move the Sun [Slice of Life]

The Prompt: You can't move the sun, silly.

One of these days I'll actually get something written on Thursday instead of half a week later.

Late.

The sunrise was late. Those words barely fit together as a sentence in Twilight Sparkle's mind. The sunrise was never late. Well, that wasn't strictly true. Twice in her lifetime the sun had failed to rise on time, but one of those times was due to Nightmare Moon, and the other was due to Tirek. There had been no notice from Princess Celestia about any sort of problem, so that seemed unlikely. But still... it was three minutes late.

Twilight glanced at the clock on her wall. Four minutes late.

She felt her wings rustle behind her, still an unfamiliar feeling. She shouldn't teleport to Canterlot. Princess Celestia knew what she was doing. Maybe her clock was wrong. So, she wouldn't teleport to Canterlot. A few more minutes of waiting was okay, no pony probably even noticed yet. Everything was fine.

A thin line of light appeared over the horizon, and Princess Twilight Sparkle let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding. There. There, everything was fine. The line of light grew slowly, and Twilight smiled as she watched the sunrise. See? She didn't have to go to Canterlot.

The line of light thinned, and then sunk back behind the hills.

Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed.

The world rushed back in and Twilight found herself standing on the balcony that Princess Celestia stood on to raise the sun every morning. But the Princess, or rather that Princess, was not here. Princess Luna stood at the edge of the balcony, breathing heavily and somehow managing to scowl at the horizon even as she did. There were a few different polite ways to approach a Princess of Equestria, but Twilight didn't stand on ceremony this morning. "Princess Luna?!"

Luna started slightly, and then turned to look at Twilight with a slightly irritated look on her face. Twilight did her best not to shrink back. "Twilight Sparkle? Why are you here in Canterlot?"

"I... the sunrise was late, and then I saw..." Every word only caused Princess Luna's expression to darken, and Twilight soon found herself deciding to stop.

Twilight Sparkle started again after a moment. "Where is Princess Celestia?"

Princess Luna nodded toward the castle, at a balcony where Twilight knew Princess Celestia's room to be. "My sister is ill. Don't worry, Twilight Sparkle, it isn't serious. However, I am to raise the sun this morning."

After a moment's hesitation, looking up toward Princess Celestia's room, Twilight smiled at Luna. "Well, would you like some help? I've only done it once, but-"

"No." The answer was curt, and the tone made Twilight flinch. Princess Luna sighed, and spoke more carefully. "I'm sorry, Twilight Sparkle. I have... never done this alone."

Twilight looked up at the other alicorn for a second, and then smiled again as she realized what she meant. "Princess Celestia has always helped? I know you can do it, Princess. I'll just watch... if it's okay, I mean."

Luna nodded, and turned to face into the east again. Twilight watched as the older alicorn's horn glowed. Twilight Sparkle was the closest thing in Equestria to an expert in magic. She would never admit it, but her own casting often surpassed even Celestia's in certain ways. As she watched Luna piece together her spell, she did everything she could to bite back commentary. Princess Celestia did this every morning, and Twilight had often watched her. Princess Luna's casting was... not Celestia's.

Still, she was certainly trying. Twilight bit her lip nervously, and watched the horizon. That thin line of light appeared again, rising slowly for a few seconds. Then, Princess Luna let out a pained, undignified grunt of exertion, and the sun slipped back behind the horizon again. Luna stood there, panting heavily and sweating in the cool night air, and Twilight knew better than to say anything.

After a few moments, Luna spoke again, in a voice as far removed from her royal Canterlot voice as Twilight had ever heard it. "My sister... raised the moon for a thousand years."

Twilight Sparkle nodded, and spoke quietly as well. "She had to."

"I should be able to do this, for one morning. Without my sister's help."

Twilight took a hesitant step forward, and then reached up and placed one hoof on Luna's shoulder. "Princess Luna, one of the most important lessons I've learned is that we don't have to do things ourselves. Not when we have friends. So... can we try together? Without Princess Celestia's help, but with mine?"

Princess Luna looked down at Twilight, and then aside, and nodded almost imperceptibly. She turned again to the horizon, and her horn glowed. Twilight smiled, and stood resolutely beside the older Princess, lighting her own horn and filling in the cracks in Luna's spell, doing her best to help without overshadowing. Her horn glowed more brightly, and thrummed with the effort and the magical power required. Slowly, the horizon began to glow as well.

Princess Celestia turned to look out of her window, as the sun slowly crested distant hills, and the morning light filled her kingdom. It was late, but it was still done. She was awake, of course, despite her illness. She felt strange, watching the sun rise instead of actually making it do so. As the sun finally set into its course for the day, Celestia moved a little in her bed so that she could look down to the balcony. She smiled at the two ponies standing there.

Her former student and her younger sister stood together on the balcony, breathing heavily and obviously dizzy with magic use and exertion. They weren't talking, not that Celestia could tell, but she knew very well that her sister would have not allowed Twilight to help without at least some token resistance. After a few moments recovery, Twilight smiled up at Luna, and the two ponies shared an exhausted, perhaps slightly awkward hug.

Princess Celestia smiled and settled down into her bed again, secure in the knowledge that Equestria was in good hands.

LP22: All the Time in the World [Sad]

The Prompt: Heartbreaks and hoofaches.

"Um, I... didn't come here just to rest my hooves, Twilight." Fluttershy smiled, but it was such a paper-thin facade that Twilight Sparkle nearly flinched. "It's... Hearts and Hooves Day, and I, I wanted to tell you that I..." Fluttershy's wings rustled nervously on her back, and her voice dropped off with her failing resolve, until her last few words could hardly be heard. "I um... like you. Um, as... more than a friend."

With that, Twilight's world stopped moving.

Or rather, everypony's world stopped moving, and Twilight had a few moments to herself.

Princess Twilight Sparkle wasn't sure whether she should be thankful for the coincidence that she had recently been studying Starswirl's most advanced time spells, or if she should curse the coincidence. Because while she now had time to think about how to respond to her friend, she also... had time to think about it. She couldn't move while time was stopped, not without setting herself, Fluttershy, and probably her castle on fire. All she could do was sit here and try to think, while being faced with that nervous, near-panic, and strangely hopeful look, frozen on Fluttershy's face.

Fluttershy liked her. Fluttershy wanted her. She wanted Twilight, as 'more than friends'.

Twilight did not want that sort of relationship, with Fluttershy.

It wasn't that anything was wrong with Fluttershy. She was a kind, generous, loving, and beautiful pony. For as long as Twilight had known her, Fluttershy had always had a sort of natural beauty to her, surpassing even Rarity's make-up and fashion. Any stallion, or as Twilight now suspected, mare, should consider themselves very lucky to have a pony like Fluttershy interested in them. In fact, Twilight Sparkle had her suspicions that several different ponies would like nothing better. Though she couldn't be sure, she had her suspicions. It was a little saddening that she wasn't one of them.

It wasn't even that Twilight Sparkle did not consider mares as romantic options. Though it might be a bit strange to think about now, when she was younger she had always held... well, not exactly a crush, but something like that for her mentor. Even after that had faded, there were different ponies in Ponyville, mares and stallions, that had occasionally caught her eye. She had never really pursued them; it was too much trouble, and she certainly didn't have the first idea of how to actually do it. The few first dates that Rarity had set up for her with varying ponies, quite some time ago, had been complete failures. Rarity had actually stopped trying.

It certainly wasn't because Fluttershy was a pegasus; that had never mattered. Though it would be difficult for any normal pony, that is to say any pony that wasn't an alicorn, to date Twilight. There were all sorts of pitfalls and difficulties that could spring up. But tribe of pony, or even race of non-pony, had never been a big concern for Twilight. Even those strange creatures in the other world... one of them had held her interest for a while. Not that she had told him, but she expected he knew.

It wasn't even that Fluttershy was one of her best friends; one of the five friends that had thrones in her new castle. She had... considered some of them, in the past. If this was one of those ponies, and not Fluttershy, things might have been different. Or at least, less... not-different.

So, Twilight Sparkle couldn't place the blame on any one reason. She couldn't say it was because Fluttershy was a mare, or that there was some personality conflict, or that she was a pegasus, or that she was afraid for their friendship.

She just didn't want that sort of relationship with Fluttershy.

Twilight looked into her friend's wide, soulful, hopeful eyes. She still wore the same desperate, pleading expression, of course. She would never have done this on her own. The realization struck Twilight like a bolt of lightning. This means that at least one other pony most certainly knew she was here. Probably either Rarity or Rainbow Dash, now that Twilight thought about it. Either could have pushed her to actually confess it. They would know. Fluttershy would have to tell them, and it would crush her all over again. How long had Fluttershy felt this way?

The past, her entire friendship with Fluttershy, began to color in Twilight's mind. Had Fluttershy been extra kind to her this entire time, because of a crush? How many of their interactions were caused, or affected by it? Had she been struck at first sight? Was that why she had been so nervous to talk to Twilight the first time they spoke, but able to meet other ponies (and Spike) with so much less panic? When she had shouted down the dragon, or when she stopped Cerberus, or any of the other grand, wonderful, impressive feats that the shy, delicate pony had done... was that all just because of this hope that Twilight now had to destroy?

Twilight sparked her horn again, prolonging the spell for just a few more... seconds? She forced herself not to try to work out the wording.

But she had to tell Fluttershy that she couldn't do this. She didn't want to, she couldn't, she loved Fluttershy immensely, but as a friend and always, only as a friend. A friend who was still staring at her with all the hope and nervousness this moment had caused her, likely weeks or months at the least of fretting and worrying, and now... now Twilight was going to give her exactly what she had feared for so long.

Twilight Sparkle felt the spell fading, but she knew already that she'd never really have the right words.

Fluttershy's eyes sparkled, glistening with worry and the beginnings of panic as she waited for Twilight's response.

"Fluttershy, I... well, I..."

Something in Twilight's tone, or her posture, or something about her got through. Twilight watched at that bit of hope and relief in finally confessing disappeared from Fluttershy's eyes, and she watched as Fluttershy lowered her gaze to the floor. Twilight Sparkle winced as if the sight physically harmed her, even if she knew she had to do this. She knew she had to be strong enough to say no.

She only hoped that their friendship was strong enough to survive the day.

LP22: Heartbreaks and Hoofaches [Slice of Life]

The Prompt: Heartbreaks and hoofaches.

Silver Spoon ran. She galloped as hard as she could, even though she had no idea where she was galloping to. She ran, until she couldn't run any farther. Then, she kept running.

It didn't matter where shes was going, and she couldn't see through the tears anyway. She just had to get away from where she was, and away from... from Diamond Tiara.

Ponyville was a blur as she galloped teary-eyed through the streets. Voices called out to her, ponies all concerned about the panicked, crying filly, but no one chased her long enough to catch her. She didn't want to have to explain it anyway. She didn't want to have to think about it, or to have to remember it. As long as she was running, as long as she was out of breath and crying, she couldn't think of anything but the next step.

But eventually, "couldn't run any farther" became "absolutely had to stop right now", and Silver collapsed right where she was, panting heavily and almost delirious. She had stopped crying, mostly, but she still couldn't think. She could hear voices still, and she could think just enough to remember that it was bad, that she didn't want to be around other ponies. As she tried to catch her breath, the voices got a bit clearer.

"Is that Silver Spoon? What is SHE doing here?"

"She looks kinda bad, like kinda really bad."

"Hey! Come on you two, let's get her up into the treehouse!"

Oh. Them. Silver Spoon tried to stand up and argue, but she couldn't manage to make her throbbing hooves and exhausted legs obey her. She felt magic around her, but it didn't seem to be quite enough until two ponies lifted her up on their backs. She just gave up and let them carry her up the little ramp to their treehouse. She felt them shuffle her over to a little bed inside, and then listened to the three fillies chattering about what to do next. After a few more seconds, she opened her eyes as she heard hoofsteps coming closer.

Sweetie Belle smiled down at Silver Spoon, and set a little glass of water on the table next to the little cot she was on. "Um, here's something to drink, Silver Spoon. But you really just need some rest, so don't try to get up, okay?"

Silver reached out and took the glass in her hooves, suddenly realizing just how thirsty she was, and took a deep drink. She also realized suddenly that she was all sweaty and probably looked terrible, and also that everything was blurry because she'd lost her glasses somewhere during her run.

While she was running away from Diamond Tiara.

Silver Spoon set the glass down carefully on the table, and sank again to the cot. She mumbled quietly. "Thanks, Sweetie Belle."

"You're welcome! But hold on, you need to do this too."

A green blur filled her vision, until she realized that it was Sweetie's magic again, rubbing a towel all over her. The towel didn't smell as nice as the ones she was accustomed to, and the texture was rougher. After a moment or two though, Sweetie Belle tossed the towel aside, and pushed a pile of blankets onto the bed with her hooves. "Here. Get covered up. You'll get really cold if you don't, you're not supposed to sweat that much in winter."

Silver Spoon gathered the blankets around herself, and then finally took the time to look around the room. Applebloom and Scootaloo were sitting off to the other side of the room, playing some kind of two-player card game, and pointedly ignoring Sweetie and herself. Silver wasn't really sure how she'd manged to end up here, but she knew by the ache in her legs, the throbbing pain in her hooves, and the sudden chill that was creeping over her that she wasn't going to be running anywhere else. But the blanket was helping, and the water had been nice. "How do you know all this?"

Sweetie Belle blushed and giggled. "We tried getting out cutie marks in marathon running last year. But it didn't work out."

Silver Spoon looked down at the floor, and an awkward silence fell for a few seconds. The flipping of the cards in the card game across the room seemed weirdly loud, as did the rustle of leaves outside. After a little while of this silence, Sweetie Belle spoke again, much quieter and calmer than usual. "Was it Diamond Tiara?"

Silver nodded, trying to force herself not to start crying again. It wasn't easy. "I... told her. It's Hearts and Hooves Day, and I... I thought..."

Applebloom looked over toward her, but then Scootaloo pointedly knocked her hoof against the floor, and she turned back to her card game. Sweetie Belle nodded, just a little. "I thought it might be that."

Silver Spoon wiped her eyes with the back of her forelegs. "She could have just said no. She didn't have to say... what she said."

It took a second or two for Silver Spoon to realize what was happening. It was warm, and soft, and comforting. Sweetie Belle was hugging her. It was also... a little awkward. They weren't friends, if anything they were something like enemies. But still she was there, and after a few seconds, Silver Spoon hugged her back. They stayed that way for just a little longer, and then Silver Spoon remembered herself and pulled away. Sweetie let her go, and after a brief silence, Silver spoke again. "Why are you being so nice to me? I mean, after what we did, and..."

Silver Spoon couldn't help but notice Scootaloo's wings twitch, and a bit of an irritated expression on her face, but Applebloom put her cards down and Scootaloo frowned and started arguing about the cards instead. Sweetie Belle smiled at Silver. "Uh, well, we don't really hate you or anything. Besides, we can't just ignore a pony crying and almost passed out next to our clubhouse."

Silver wiped her eyes again, and sighed. She was pretty sure she wasn't friends with Diamond anymore. None of the fillies and colts at school would probably ever forgive her for what she did when she was. But these three ponies were different. They weren't her friends, or they weren't yet. But... "Thanks."

Another hug, much briefer than before, and Silver couldn't help but smile at the smile on Sweetie's lips. Maybe the end of her friendship with Diamond Tiara wasn't the end of the world. Maybe there it was just the start of something better.

LP23: Political Party [Random]

Prompt: (among others) Senator Pinkie Pie

This is a bit shorter than usual and a silly format, but I wanted to do it this way so nyah.

Just a note, all the senatorial names here are entirely fabricated, any resemblance to real legislators, alive or dead, is entirely coincidental. Also I don't really know all the procedures for the floor and I'm just sort of winging it here.

Congressional Record
128th Congress

The Senate convened at 9:30 AM and was called to order by the President pro tempore (Ms. Collins)

9:30 AM - Morning Prayer, Chaplain Dr. Henry Morgan.

9:32 AM - Pledge of Allegiance

9:33 AM - (Interruption) Sen. Pie (I - EQ) makes a request that "A bunch more stars and maybe some stickers" be added to the Flag of the United States of America. As Senator Pie has not been recognized, the motion is ignored.

9:35 AM - Recognition of Majority Leader Sen. Hermann (D - CA) as presiding officer.

9:37 AM - Floor is open for Morning Business, senators permitted to speak for 10 minutes, Republican party controlling the first half and majority controlling the final.

9:38 AM - Chair recognizes Sen. Hammond (R - TX).

9:45 AM - (Interruption) Sen. Pie (I - EQ) requests Sen. Hammond to "stop being boring and smile more". After returning to order, Sen. Pie requests that the record show that Sen. Hammond of Texas did not, in fact, smile.

9:49 AM - Chair recognizes Sen. Pie (I - EQ).

9:50 AM - Sen. Pie declares the end of "this lawyer stuff" and the beginning of the 128th Congressional Hula-Dancing and Pineapple Upside-down Cake Party

9:51 AM - Let the record show that the report of a cannon was heard on the senate floor, fired by Sen. Pie

10:28 AM - Floor has come to order, Sen. Pie (I - EQ) reminded that no ordnance of any variety (including 'party') is allowed on the Senate floor, nor, in fact, held above the floor by "some ropes or something". Police response to the noise and commotion filed separately. Sen. Pie's request to let the record show that "nopony[sic] in here is any fun at all" allowed for the sake of expediency.

10:30 AM - Morning Business concluded. Sen. Gambino (D - NY) moves to consider the bill S. 1209 - "To expedite the citizenship of one Sunset Shimmer, native to Equestria, as a citizen in good standing of the United States of America, considering her service in the defense of the nation from outside forces"

10:31 AM - Motion passed, floor open for comment

10:32 AM - Sen. Pie (I - EQ) recognized. Request to be referred to as "Pinkie Pie" rather than "Senator Pinkamena Diane Pie of Equestria" noted, overruled by presiding officer. Upon insistence, granted for the period of one day, for the sake of expediency.

10:38 AM - Bill S.1209 passed without preamble, by majority vote.

10:38 AM - Chair recognizes Pinkie Pie (Sen. Pie (I - EQ)). Pinkie Pie moves to adjourn for the day. Motion overruled by presiding officer.

10:40 AM - Chair recognizes Sen. Roberts (R - AL). Sen. Roberts moves to consider the bill S. 1227 - "To disallow further consideration of equine animals (not from Equestria) as citizens, for the period of one year. The record shows an objection by Pinkie Pie (Sen. Pie (I - EQ)). Voted by yeas and nays, bill passed without addendum or preamble by majority vote. (101-1)

10:59 AM - Chair recognizes Sen. Apple (I - EQ). Sen. Apple moves to consider the bill S. 1224 - "To allow the sale and distribution of natural produce and foodstuffs between the state of Equestria and the remaining states of the United States of America."

11:02 AM - (Interruption) Pinkie Pie (Sen. Pie (I - EQ)) seizes the floor. Let the record show that the senator was repeatedly asked to come to order and cede the floor, but ignored all warnings.

11:12 AM - Order restored, Chair recognizes Sen. Apple (I - EQ). Sen. Apple moves to expel Pinkie Pie (Sen. Pie (I - EQ)) from the floor for the remainder of the current day. Vote held by yeas and nays, motion passed by majority vote (101-1).

11:15 AM - Objection by Sen. Pie (I - EQ) that she would "be the most well-behaved pony here" and could be referred to as "Senator Pinkamena 'Serious' Diane Pie" noted.

11:15 AM - Sen. Pie (I - EQ) removed from Senate floor by security.

Senator Pinkamena 'Serious' Diane Pie trudged down the very official-looking and expensively decorated hallway. Nopony had told her this would be so boring! Even with one of Applejack's relatives on the staff, no one EVER took the time to just have fun! What was the point of being a super-powerful senator pony if you never even bothered partying? What better time to throw a party than when you're all gathered in a big, stuffy room full of over a hundred people already? Pinkie didn't even have to send invitations!

By the end of the hallway, however, Pinkie Pie was trotting happily again. Outside of the building a small crowd of reporters were waiting, as usual, but she passed them without comment. Just as a favor to Applejack and Twilight, of course! As her driver started the car and they began rolling toward her temporary home here in Washington, Pinkie Pie pulled a pen from the holder and started jotting down ideas for tomorrow. The fact that most, or maybe all, of her fellow senators were boring sticks-in-the-mud wouldn't stop her from trying her best to make the next political party a party to remember!

LP23: Doctor Applejack [Slice of Life]

Prompt: Doctor Applejack

"Now make sure you're lined up right. That looks alright. Lean forward, an' then kick out back with your hind legs."

Twilight Sparkle looked back toward the tree and felt just a bit silly as she wiggled her hindquarters a little to set herself in better position. "Thank you for teaching me how to buck apples, Applejack. I know you think it's dangerous, but I really want to see how do you your work."

Applejack sighed and then shook her head. "Don't you worry. If you listen to what I say and do it careful at first, you'll have it all figured out in no time."

"Right, so, I just kick back against the trunk?"

Applejack nodded, and placed a hoof on Twilight's back, pushing her front half a little lower. "Yep, just stay lined up right like that, and kick back. But start gentle, there ain't any need to buck hard as you can on the first try."

Princess Celestia had met all of Twilight's friends, of course. Though only a few times in the short while she had lived in Ponyville, so she hadn't exactly had time to sit down and tell stories of teaching Twilight Sparkle as a filly, and later as a young mare. So Applejack didn't know that 'moderation' was a concept that Twilight never really seemed to understand. Twilight Sparkle looked back to make sure she was lined up properly, and then turned around straight again, and stuck her tongue out a little in concentration. She made a little hop with her hind legs before leaning onto her forelegs to buck backward.

Applejack's eyes widened. "Hold on, you moved, don't-"

Twilight bucked as hard as she could back with her hind legs. One hoof struck square in the center of the apple tree's trunk, with a resounding crack that actually sounded quite nice. Her other hoof missed entirely, and shot out behind her to full extension, and then quite a bit further.

It took Twilight Sparkle a few seconds to realize who it was that was screaming. When she finally recognized that it was her, she didn't feel any better. Still, slowly the shock and panic faded, and she managed to bite back her yelling. She opened her eyes again, and found Applejack looking into her eyes. Applejack's mouth moved, but it took a moment for Twilight to listen. "... be alright, Sugar. Just calm down, and don't move your legs."

Twilight took a deep breath, and tried to let it out slowly. It almost worked. "My... my right hind leg hurts. I think I missed the tree, but.."

Applejack shook her head, and shuffled around a bit. Twilight didn't dare move a muscle. Applejack's hooves lightly pressed along her coat, and then even more lightly over her flank. Twilight yelped as Applejack's hoof brushed over the sore side of her hips. After Applejack pulled her hoof back, the sharp stabbing turned into more of a low, constant throb. Applejack sighed, and shook her head again. "Alright, I figured that's what it was. Y' threw your hip out a' joint. I told you not to kick so durn hard."

Twilight wiped her tears away with one foreleg, sniffling miserably. "I'm... I'm sorry, I..."

Applejack's expression softened immediately. "Nah, I'm sorry, Sugar. This ain't the time for I-told-you-so. But we need to get you to the hospital. No, don't try to stand."

Twilight nodded and stopped immediately this time. "You can't carry me like this either! Even just touching it..."

"I know, Sugar. I got an idea. Do you trust me, Twilight?"

She looked up into Applejack's eyes, and then nodded slowly. Applejack nodded back, and trotted over to another tree, reaching up and breaking off a small stick with her teeth. She passed it to Twilight, and moved back to the unicorn's side. "Now, bite down on that stick. You'll feel a whole heap better in just a second."

Scared, hurt, and embarrassed as she was, Twilight Sparkle was still not an unlearned pony. She knew full well that chewing on apple wood was not going to give any sort of help with pain. Still, she had said she trusted her friend, and she bit down on the stick, chewing the bitter and gross-tasting wood for only a second before Applejack responded.

Applejack pressed her hooves firmly and quickly. With a horrible grating feeling and then a sudden, gut-wrenching pop, Twilight's leg bone slipped back into joint with her hips. Twilight grunted out a loud, harsh noise of pain against the stick in her mouth, but that stick kept her teeth from grinding and muffled the noise. She whipped her head around to yell at Applejack in a panic, but before she could say anything, she realized that her hip didn't hurt nearly as much as before. "Applejack! What... that HURT!"

"But you had to get it back in place, or you'd never be able to move it right. Won't hurt as much, but you can't go walkin' on it for a few weeks at least. Come on, I'll pick you up and take you over to the hospital. Don't put any weight on that leg, use the other one, there you go."

Inside of a minute, Twilight found herself draped over Applejack's back in a very uncomfortable and embarrassing manner. Her muzzled was buried in Applejack's withers, but she still felt like she would be able to see everypony staring as they went through town. Every slow, careful step by Applejack still sent a jolt of pain through her leg, and Twilight soon found that she had to talk to get through this. "Applejack, how did... ow, how did you know all that stuff?"

"What, how to tell a hurt leg? Shoot, Twilight, I live an hour's trot from the hospital and my family does hard work every day. You don't get along too good out there if you don't know the basics." Applejack's gait changed a little, and Twilight's leg stopped shaking quite so much. "Listen, Sugar. I'm sorry about fussin' at you earlier. Being honest you had me scared half out of my wits. It ain't your fault you missed, and I shoulda been more careful about teaching you."

Twilight shook her head, even though it must have looked like she was nuzzling Applejack's mane to anypony around them. "No, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have ignored you, and... well, we can't both apologize. We can just call it an accident. Those happen. Besides, now I'll have an excuse to sit around reading all day."

Applejack chuckled warmly, and the sound broke the somewhat morose mood that had fallen over the two. "Don't you run Spike too ragged helping out. Tell you what, to make up for lettin' you hurt yourself, I'll come by as often as I can. You can teach me somethin' about how you do your own work, too. Hopefully I won't go hurtin' my head that way."

Twilight Sparkle smiled, and hugged Applejack tightly around the barrel as she was carried through Ponyville. Somehow, the stares she knew they were getting didn't seem to bother her anymore.

LP24: Masquerade [Romance]

The Prompt: Dance party.

You know, this just makes me think of the Japanese dub, where the Grand Galloping Gala was "Dansu Paati". Which is fun! I ended up running over on time here a bit, the limit was in the latter third somewhere. Whoops. Posting it anyway though. I didn't get the pacing right but I still had fun with it.

"Ooh! What's that, Twilight?"

Twilight Sparkle smiled at Pinkie, and levitated the little mask over to her friend. Pinkie Pie ducked her head a little, and then smiled as the mask settled on her muzzle. It was just a small one, that went over her eyes and just a little onto her muzzle. Twilight looked her over now that she had the mask on, and then smiled proudly. "There! It's a masquerade mask. I wanted this party to be a little different, so I made all of these!"

Pinkie turned to look into the mirror that Twilight gestured toward. She gasped out in surprise. There in the mirror was a white-coated earth pony, with a smooth, simple blue mane. It wasn't Pinkie Pie at all! Pinkie lifted her hoof to push the mask up. As it slid just a little too high, she changed back to pink. She laughed happily and put the mask back on properly. When she spoke, she was surprised that even her voice was different. "Wow, Twilight! Now nopony will know who I am!"

"I got the idea from the EUP guard uniforms. Well, that, and the old masquerade balls that noble ponies used to have. Anyway, remember that part of the fun is nopony knowing who anypony is, so even if you figure out who somepony is, don't tell anypony."

"Okie-Dok--" Wait, if she wasn't supposed to show who she was... She intentionally calmed her voice. "Okay, Twilight. Thank you for inviting me."

Twilight smiled at her, and then turned to visit Golden Harvest as she trotted into the small room. Pinkie Pie walked through the big doors into the ballroom in Twilight's new castle. Oh, it was THAT kind of party! There were streamers, but they were all black and white, and the band (all blue and white earth ponies due to their masks) seemed to be the same ones from the Grand Galloping Gala. There was a cider bar to the side, and a few tables of little fancy snacks and things. Despite all the fanciness of the room, it was still a ball, and quite a few ponies were dancing to the slow, formal music. Pinkie Pie trotted lightly down the short set of stairs to join the group of identical earth ponies all around the floor. The masks must hide horns and wings, too! With everypony looking the same, even if she already knew every pony in town, she could meet new friends anyway!

It was strange to Pinkie Pie, to be at a party and not be in control of it. Usually she would be zipping around from guest to guest, filling punch glasses and making everypony feel welcome. But here she wasn't Pinkie Pie, she was just another mare in a big crowd of identical mares and stallions. She wanted to dart out onto the dance floor and shake her flank, hop up and down, and join in with everypony's dancing, but then they'd all know who she was, and that would mess up Twilight's whole THING! Except, well. Pinkie was pretty sure that one mare surrounded by eight empty glasses and drinking a ninth glass of cider was probably Dashie. Which meant that the mare next to her that kept fidgeting around and messing with her mane like she was looking for something was probably Applejack missing her hat. With most of the ponies though, Pinkie had no way of knowing who was who.

So Pinkie held herself back from jumping up and dancing, and yelling, and being all loud and excitable. But that only meant she suddenly had no idea what to do with herself. Soon she found herself just standing against one of the walls in the big ballroom, with a couple other ponies that didn't seem to know quite what to do. She offered a smile to a nearby mare. "This is kinda fun, isn't it? Nopony knows who anypony is!"

The other mare smiled slightly, and nodded without speaking. After a moment, she spoke quietly. "... Yes, it is kind of fun. Though I don't know who my friends are, and that's... strange."

"But that's part of the fun! Now if we talk and talk, we still won't know who we are tomorrow. Or if I mess up dancing, and crash into a table, nopony can complain at me tomorrow either! It's like we're all invisible!"

The stranger took a moment to think, and then smiled again. "Well, would you like to dance, then?"

This pony was not very good at dancing.

Still, Pinkie was having a blast.

The other pony danced like she had never really had any practice dancing. But she did it with a sort of weird happy freedom that made Pinkie smile, and seeing Pinkie smile seemed to make the other mare even happier. So they danced together. They danced slow songs, cheek to cheek, swaying back and forth with blushes on their muzzles. They danced faster songs, holding hooves and almost tripping over themselves with inexperience and exuberance. They laughed, they hugged, and neither of them had any idea who the other was, or who any of the ponies watching and sometimes giggling at the spectacle were.

As the night went on, their dancing got slower, and eventually the other mare stepped back. "I'm sorry, but I... I can't keep going."

Pinkie just giggled and lead the way down toward the snack table. They both had a few sips of cider in companionable silence, and then the other mare turned and walked toward one of the small balconies off of the ballroom. Pinkie Pie followed, knowing that if she lost sight of this pony, she'd never find her again in the crowd of identical mares.

It was just a little cold outside, but the night wind felt nice on her coat after all the dancing and the crowd. The other mare smiled at Pinkie, and then looked up at the stars for a few moments. Pinkie Pie had to do everything she could to stop herself from just bursting out and excitedly trying to figure out who this pony was. The whole point was the mystery of it, and maybe knowing would ruin everything. So instead she just waited a few seconds, and then walked over and leaned lightly against the mare.

After a moment, the other pony turned just a little and nuzzled against Pinkie's muzzle. Pinkie didn't know who this was, but... but that wasn't just a friendly nuzzle. Somehow, she found herself nuzzling back in the same way.

The mare's voice was quiet again. "... I still don't know who you are. It's a little sad, that tomorrow we won't..."

Pinkie just made a shushing noise with her lips, and nuzzled the other pony happily. Maybe just a little too happily. When she opened her eyes, she found that the motion had pushed the other pony's mask up just enough, and now Pinkie could see yellow coat, and long, elegant pink mane, and it was all familiar enough that she knew immediately who it was. She must have changed how she was standing or something, because Fluttershy opened her eyes again, and then looked down at her hooves and gasped.

All that happy freedom and confidence was gone immediately, and Fluttershy's ears folded back in a terrified panic. "Um... I... um..."

Pinkie just reached a hoof out, and slipped Fluttershy's mask back into place. The magic changed her back again, and Pinkie couldn't help but giggle, and then it ended up with a little snort of laughter that sometimes happened. Flutter-- the other pony's eyes widened slightly, and the blush that had sometimes crossed her muzzle seemed pinker than usual. "Is... is that you, P-"

"Shh!" Pinkie Pie pressed her hoof to the mare's lips, and then giggled. "We're just mystery ponies, remember?"

The other pony looked down at Pinkie's hoof, and then smiled when Pinkie pulled it away. After a moment, her old confidence seemed to come back, and she leaned in and nuzzled her muzzle against Pinkie's again. Pinkie nuzzled back, and then blushed herself when she felt the other pony's lips on hers. The kiss only lasted a moment, but there was no way she imagined it.

The mystery pony looked up at the stars as they stood together on the balcony. There were a few seconds of silence before she spoke. "... Maybe we know each other already. Then... it wouldn't be so sad, would it?"

Pinkie couldn't help giggling again, and she buried her muzzle playfully in the stranger's mane. "Maybe we do!"

The two mares just smiled happily, feeling warm and happy together on the cold, windy balcony, and both hoping that this was only the first night of many.

LP25: Captain Dash [Sad?]

(The Prompt: Power Corrupts.)

(Wow, what's up with the low number of replies this week? I thought it was a decent enough prompt. Anyway here we go. The story didn't turn out quite as I'd expected, but I guess it sorta works.)

Captain Rainbow Dash flew silently over the darkened fields around Ponyville. Another normal patrol: boring, but orders were orders. It was getting easier lately anyway. The new Shadowbolt uniforms were form-fitting and sleek. With her new eyes, she could see much better in the dark, and since, well... all of her patrols were in the dark, it worked out pretty well.

It was pretty cold out tonight though. It had been getting colder and colder lately, and the whole squad was on wendigo alert. None had been found yet. The Queen had given her assurance that the cause would be found, and nopony could gainsay the Queen. Rainbow Dash frowned. A lot of ponies seemed to try to lately, though. Especially that pony she saw far below, pulling a cart toward the Everfree Gates. A cart that was late, and Rainbow could tell from here was also too empty.

Rainbow swooped quickly down, silent right up until she landed with a thud on the ground. The earth pony jumped a little at her sudden appearance, but then her face settled into a scowl that Rainbow couldn't help but grin at. "Hey, Applejack."

Applejack's eyes did that thing, that sudden widening when she saw Rainbow's new eyes. Normally Rainbow Dash liked that. It helped with her job, having slitted, cat-like eyes. Made it easier to see, and the fact that it unnerved other ponies made them more likely to listen to her. She was even thinking about getting the bat wings too. But for some reason she didn't really like seeing Applejack look at her the way she was. After a second though, Applejack just shook her head and spoke to her. "Hey, RD. What're you doin' out here at this hour?"

"It's 'Captain Dash'. And I'm out on patrol. You know how it is, gotta keep an eye out for traitors or whatever. Speaking of which..." Rainbow Dash grinned and tilted her head toward Applejack's cart.

Applejack frowned and shook her head again. "'Fraid not this time. Rainbow. There ain't any cider."

"WHAT?!" Rainbow Dash leaped up into the air to glare down at the earth pony, but was only met with the same steely look Applejack always seemed to wear lately. Rainbow threw her forelegs out to the sides in exasperation. "How can you not have any cider? It's part of your tithes! I already have to report you for not enough apples, and now you're holding back on cider?"

"I ain't 'holdin back'. There isn't gonna be any cider this year. Prob'ly never again. And my tithe's ten percent, same as anypony. This is a tenth of th' apples this year."

Rainbow's mouth hung open in shock a moment before she landed, glaring at Applejack again. "No cider? Why? And what do you mean this is all the apples? You used to give ten times this much!"

For some reason this was the statement that finally cracked Applejack's resolve. Rainbow almost flinched at the change in Applejack's expression as she looked back at her cart and the few bushels of apples. Applejack didn't speak immediately, choosing instead to look around them. Rainbow Dash couldn't help but follow her eyes, and noticed for the first time that the orchard's trees didn't look too great. It was early autumn, she was pretty sure, but they looked all dry and scraggy like it was the middle of winter. Finally, Applejack spoke again. "Yeah. Yeah, we used to."

After a second with nothing more, Rainbow rolled her eyes and asked for the obvious continuation. "But..."

Applejack whipped her head back around to glare at Rainbow Dash, and Dash took a step back. "Y' know darn well but what! Th' dern Queen took over, and now ya'll are expectin' us to grow food with no light! Half th' town's going to be a lot thinner come winter wrap-up, Rainbow!"

"Hey! You know the law! You're not supposed to talk about daylight! The Nightmare Queen says that the moon is enough light, and that's that!"

Applejack stamped her hoof on the ground, with a familiar stubborn look in her eye. "Yeah, you're all about th' Queen now, ain't ya? Even got them messed up eyes an' everything."

Rainbow Dash flapped her wings and took to the air again, hovering a few feet above (and a few feet further back from) the earth pony mare below. "I'm a guard! Captain of the Shadowbolts! I have to be able to see at night, AJ! Besides, you saw what she did to Canterlot! You can't see the ruins from here, but I've been up there! Ponyville would be the same way if it wasn't for us guards!"

"I know what happened t' Canterlot! Same thing that happened to half of Manehatten an' Baltimare! You were there with us when she up an' started with that poor filly and her baby dragon, when she first got here! But don't you go tellin' me that you're just doin' this to save Ponyville."

"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?"

Applejack stood her ground and scowled up at Rainbow. "You fly around an' spy for the Queen, you let 'em clip the feathers of all th' other pegasus ponies, an' you come down here an' steal my cider!"

Rainbow Dash tried to hide her expression at the mention of the other pegasus ponies. "Look, it's harder to keep track of ponies when they can fly. She said it was just temporary, you know? Once we know who we can trust, we'll let 'em fly again. Fluttershy didn't even like flying anyway. And I'm not STEALING your cider, I'm testing it! What if it's poisoned?"

"Yeah, well you an' your guard buddies are just about t' test me right out of business. This is all th' apples the Queen is gettin' this year, and there ain't no cider. You don't like it, then that's just tough for you."

Later, Rainbow Dash couldn't say what had made her do it. It was an instinct, something that her body just did to reassure herself, and to remind Applejack, of how things were. If she'd had time to think about it, or if Applejack wasn't being so hotheaded and stubborn, it might not have happened. But one moment Applejack was shouting at her, and the next thing she knew, her hoof hurt and Applejack was bringing her own hoof up to her stinging muzzle.

A moment passed.

Then, Applejack's eyes blazed with an anger that made Rainbow Dash take to the air and fly backward a few feet. Applejack glared hard at her, but then just turned her back, walking toward the Everfree Gates again, her old cart creaking behind her. Rainbow Dash looked down at her hooves, and then flew after Applejack, hovering just behind her. "Hey. Hey, come on, I didn't mean to-"

"You'll get yer cider tomorrow, 'Captain.'"

Applejack's voice didn't invite any kind of conversation, or allow for any kind of apology. Rainbow dropped to the ground, and watched as Applejack walked away. She stood there until the creaking of Applejack's cart faded from her ears. She wasn't stealing cider. She wasn't the problem, she didn't clip Fluttershy's wings, or White Lightning's, or any of the other pegasus ponies. She didn't stop the moon from rising. She wasn't the one who had... who had stopped that unicorn and her dragon. She was just doing this to keep Ponyville from ending up a ruin like Canterlot. She was the good pony here, it was ponies like AJ that were the problem.

So why did she suddenly feel like she was losing something more important than Ponyville, and something she'd never get back?

LP26: The Chase [Adventure]

(The Prompt: "Run.")

(Geez, crazy week. I nearly didn't get anything written in time. My two previous attempts were shipping things that stopped halfway. Anyway, here's my weird action entry.)

"Rainbow Dash! Stop right there!"

The pegasus pony in flight glanced back at Spitfire and her small squad with a look that made it clear she didn't consider that an option. The nighttime lights of Manehatten's wharf district passed under them in a sparkling blur as the ex-Wonderbolt lead them on a chase at a breakneck speed. Spitfire knew her squad. She knew Fleetfoot would have no problem keeping up, at least for a while. She also knew that Soarin would already be huffing and puffing at near the end of his endurance for this kind of flight.

She thought she knew Rainbow Dash. The cadet she'd trained, the young Wonderbolt she had known; that pony would not be fleeing from a fight, no matter how outmatched she was. Spitfire couldn't help but call this new cowardice a side-effect of Rainbow's association with those friends of hers.

Only a few minutes of this frenzied pace and Spitfire could actually hear Soarin running out of breath, even at their speed and altitude. Fleetfoot shouted something at him, that sounded like encouragement. Rainbow Dash seemed to have heard it, and looked back at them a moment, actually flying backwards at the same speed as she did forwards.

Damn. She would have made an excellent captain, if her friends hadn't gone crazy.

After a second though, Rainbow Dash dove toward the ground, and Spitfire and her squad followed her. Looks like her endurance had suffered lately too; she was almost just falling without flapping her wings. Even so, her head start and her skill at gliding allowed her to crash through a window in a darkened warehouse a few precious seconds before Spitfire could follow.

Glass rained down from the shattered skylight as the three Wonderbolts smashed their way into the warehouse. Dark, half-abandoned, lined with rotting crates and rusted metal... if this wasn't an ideal ambush spot it was incredibly close. Spitfire called out loudly, hoping to drown out the exhausted panting of her squadmates. "Rainbow Dash! We're here to take you in, on orders from Princess Luna! You and your friends have been declared renegades and traitors, but if you come quietly I promise you won't get hurt!"

No response. Spitfire had hoped that she'd come peacefully. She'd grown fond of the kid during her training.

Spitfire crept forward through the darkened warehouse, with her two wingponies by her side. She tried to keep her mind off of how much noise they were making, but Soarin just wasn't built for high-speed flight, and Fleetfoot was as fast as anypony, but even she was obviously feeling the strain. Rainbow Dash, however, was either not even breathing heavy or was just being masked by all the noise from Spitfire's squad.

"You've got three seconds to come out, Dash. Come on, make this easier on all of us."

"Yeah right!"

The response gave away her position, but there wasn't enough time to react. A blue blur streamed out of a nearby shadow and slammed bodily against Spitfire, throwing her up against a shelf before Rainbow zipped upwards and dropped down onto Fleetfoot's back. Fleetfoot had just about enough time to shout before being thrown through the air and into Soarin, both ponies rolling in a tumble across the floor. Spitfire bounded to her feet, body pumping with adrenaline, and rushed toward the enemy. Rainbow Dash's eyes widened, and she only just managed to dodge Spitfire's first swing, but it put her off balance. Spitfire's subsequent buck with her hind legs caught Dash across the jaw and sent her reeling.

Spitfire knew better than to count on Rainbow being off her guard. She was right. Rainbow staggered backward for less than half a second before leaping into the air and diving toward Spitfire, only to go low and knock the veteran's hooves out from under her. But Rainbow's grin at flooring Spitfire was short-lived as she saw the other two Wonderbolts back on their hooves and charging toward her. In a rainbow-colored flash she bolted directly up into the night sky again, shattering another skylight in a shining blast of glass and kindling.

Only a second or two later the Wonderbolt squad was after her again. Spitfire knew Soarin and Fleetfoot would be good for a shot while longer after that breather, and neither of them had been hurt. Spitfire herself had only a few small bruises. Despite Rainbow's speed, she'd never been the kind of fighter to really go for the debilitating injuries she should have. Rainbow Dash was easy to track, her trail being as distinctive as it was, and she seemed to be going slower after the fight. She was even just a hair slower than Spitfire's squad now, and there was no way she could outrun them for long enough.

The grin on Rainbow's lips as she looked back at them worried Spitfire a little.

Rainbow seemed to be retreating toward a part of the district that Spitfire was fairly certain was abandoned. The lights and guards present in the rest of the buildings were missing here. Maybe she was trying to lose them in the maze of brick and wooden buildings. Wouldn't be too hard, judging by how quickly she'd disappeared last time. Rainbow Dash managed to keep her lead on the squad long enough that Soarin and Fleetfoot were starting to tire again, before suddenly diving down like her tail was on fire.

Spitfire was a well-trained veteran of this sort of thing. Rainbow Dash was... well, a rookie. So when Spitfire saw that the building Rainbow had entered had windows too small for a pony, she knew she had the pegasus caught. Her squad landed outside the warehouse door, and walked in carefully keeping a lookout. It was dark, even with the moonlight through the slotted windows high above, and the sliver of light coming through the doorway. Spitfire was about to call out again when she saw Rainbow Dash standing on a prominent crate a dozen feet ahead of the squad.

"You can't run, Dash. You can't fight us, either. Give yourself up, and it'll go easier for you."

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes, and then seemed to almost disappear. A bolt of rainbow blew its way between the Wonderbolts, and then stopped at the door. Rainbow grinned at them, but made no move to leave the building. "Yeah. No more running."

Suddenly the room was lit by a bright flash, and the Wonderbolts' eyes were drawn to the crate Rainbow had been on. There, mane and eyes both glowing with stolen solar magic, was the Traitor Princess Twilight, flanked by the four other renegades the Wonderbolts had been tasked with finding.

Spitfire had thought her squad good enough to catch Rainbow Dash, but this was an alicorn princess in all her glory, and Spitfire had read the files on the other four as well. She waved a hoof in a signal of retreat that only Wonderbolts would recognize. But as she turned, they found Rainbow Dash slamming the warehouse door shut with her hind leg, and the lock being magically pulled into place by Rarity's magic. Rainbow grinned again, this time with well-deserved confidence. "Like I said. No more running. Twilight needs to talk to you, and you're going to have to listen."

LP27: Want-Pink-Need-Pink [Random, Slice of Life]

(The prompt: Everypony loves Pie.)

(I keep coming up with ideas/subversions that don't work out, and now CHeighlund did a much better changeling one than I can manage. Blast! No shipping in this one though.)

"So all these bottles are full of magic potions?"

Pinkie Pie smiled happily as she bounced along the long row of bottles lined up along Twilight's new laboratory. Her grandiose castle had much, much more room than her old treehouse did. Twilight Sparkle nodded distractedly as she looked over the recipe and casting instructions in one of the books rescued from the Castle of the Two Sisters. "Mmhmm. They should all be labeled, but I haven't tested too many of them."

"Ooh! Want-It-Need-It! I remember THIS one!" Pinkie poked at the little half-filled bottle with a hoof, and watched the shining, sparkly liquid swish around inside it.

"Well, yes. I think everypony remembers that one." Twilight looked aside in embarrassment a moment. "But, well, it wouldn't work by pouring it on, say, a Smarty Pants doll. Somepony would have to drink it. When that spell is cast on a pony though, other ponies don't fight over her. Everypony just likes the pony a lot."

When Twilight looked back, to caution Pinkie about messing with the fragile glass bottles, both Pinkie and the potion were gone.

Twilight knew that the responsible, reasonable thing to do was probably to chase after her and dispel the magic before things got completely out of hoof. It would probably make the rest of the day a lot calmer and more normal. But really, everypony already liked Pinkie, and Pinkie wasn't the type to use the spell's effects in any bad way. Maybe with this little experiment, Pinkie would finally see what it might mean to have too much attention, and too many friends. It was a friendship lesson, of a sort, and Twilight couldn't think of any better way to teach it.

So Twilight just returned to her reading.

Pinkie Pie felt sparkly. Not sparkly like when she had glitter on her, which was fun. Not sparkly like wearing one of Rarity's dresses, which was often fun too. But sparkly both inside and out, sparkly with magic, and it was both fun and a little weird!

Twilight had said that this potion would make everypony like her, but that was silly! Everypony already liked her. Especially her bestest-best friends, like that pony over there! "Hi, Fluttershy!"

Fluttershy's wings flared and her eyes widened at Pinkie's sudden and unexpected greeting, but she smiled when she turned to see her friend. After a second though, her eyes did that thing that Pinkie remembered the magic doing last time too, turning into two big, pink hearts. Pinkie couldn't help but giggle at the sight, Fluttershy looked strange like that. "Oh, um, hello Pinkie. You're um... looking nice today."

"Hey, Pinkie!" Rainbow Dash's voice called out from above as she dove down and tackled Pinkie in a warm, friendly hug. "What's going on, anything new?"

Pinkie giggled and hugged her friend back. "Just something small! Or maybe it's bigger than I-"

"Miss Pie, I was hoping to speak to you today-" Mayor Mare's dignified voice was cut off by another pony's however.

"Heya, Sugarcube. Thought y' might like some fresh cider, and-"

"Nevermind that, Darling, you are absolutely glowing today, did you do something with your mane? It's simply-"

"Rarity! Let ME talk to Pinkie, you're ALWAYS stealing ponies' attention!"

"Hey, are you and Rainbow Dash dating? Does that make us adopted sisters too?"

"She's actually already an Apple, Scootaloo, don't start stealin' family members!"

"Yup."

Pinkie was still hugging Rainbow Dash, as she looked at the quickly-growing crowd that was gathering around her. All of the ponies eyes showed the spell's influence. A nervous little laugh escaped, before her own eyes opened wide as she realized just what was happening here.

The new castle had some interesting properties for Princess Twilight Sparkle. Firstly it was quite large, so if she needed to be alone she could duck into any of a dozen rooms on the upper floors and it would take a while for anypony to find her. Secondly it was innately magical, which probably helped out with the third relevant property: it buffered outside sounds very, very well. Unlike her old, cozy, small treehouse, once she was in an interior room in her castle, she was almost always left with just nice, comfortable quiet for reading and studying.

Twilight also had a tendency to get caught up in her studies, and before she realized it, it was already the following morning. "Spiike! Can you make us some breakfast? I spent all night reading!"

... There was no response. Either he hadn't heard her or he wasn't home. Or he was trying to eat the gemstone-looking walls again.

Twilight Sparkle trotted downstairs happily, had a calm, easy breakfast of pancakes and syrup, and was distractedly sorting through her mail before she remembered what had happened yesterdady. Twilight took a deep breath and let it out slowly. What could possibly have gone wrong, really?

As soon as she opened the grand doors of her castle, her question was, well, halfway answered. All of Ponyville seemed to be draped in streamers, with discarded cupcakes and spilled cider here and there on the ground and tables. The town was eerily silent save for a thin wisp of music drifting through the buildings. Twilight galloped over to the first pony she saw, a cream-colored mare with a blue and pink mane... Bon Bon if she recalled the name correctly.

Bon Bon was passed out on the street next to her roommate Lyra Heartstrings. Both ponies were just leaned up against a building seemingly at random, their coats slightly sweaty and manes all in disarray. Both ponies also had cupcake frosting on their muzzles and were deep, deep asleep. Prodding from Twilight didn't even start to rouse them, but a quick medical spell showed that they were just sleeping, not hurt.

That thin trail of music in the distance caught Twilight's ear again.

As she followed the sound, she passed more and more passed out ponies. Most seemed to have simply dropped where they stood, covered in cider or cupcakes or streamers, or in piles of contented, cuddling ponies just smiling as they slept. The party decorations seemed to be a little different than Pinkie's normal ones, put up far too hastily, and the streamers now hung flat or fluttered in the slight breeze blowing off of the Everfree forest.

The music grew a bit louder, and then Twilight turned the corner to see Town Square in an absolute mess. Tables sat out with bits of food, pastries, vegetables, cider, fruit, some kind of mish-mash of a dozen meals and two dozen dessert courses. Exhausted ponies slept on and under tables and seats all around. In the middle of the square, however, was a single grammophone playing one of Pinkie's party records, and two ponies dancing.

Big Mac wasn't really dancing so much as just wobbling on his hooves. Twilight walked slowly toward the two. Pinkie Pie was smiling happily and dancing around the bigger stallion without a care in the world, shaking her rear and laughing. "C'mon, Big Mac! You can do another few songs, right?"

Big Macintosh opened his mouth to reply but only stumbled slightly. After a moment he managed a word. "... Nope."

The big red stallion collapsed to the ground, and in a moment was soundly sleeping like the rest of the town. Twilight Sparkle finally made it up to her friend, staring around in disbelief. "Pinkie? Are you alright? What happened here?"

"Of course I'm alright! It was the biggest, best party EVER! The whole town was dancing and eating and laughing and having fun! Want to dance, Twilight? Everypony else has party-pooped right out!"

Twilight glanced at Pinkie's offered hoof, and then around at all the exhausted ponies. The friendship lesson, or the planned one at least, had been a failure. But maybe, maybe the lesson was for her. Or maybe there was no lesson. Her horn sparked a moment, and the spell's lingering effect was removed from Pinkie. But all the townsponies would be fine, even if cleanup might take a week. Twilight smiled at her friend, and took her offered hoof. "Sure, Pinkie. Let's have fun."

LP28: This Won't End Well [Romance, Slice of Life]

The Prompt: This won't end well...

Time limit was somewhere in the last quarter or so. Didn't quite turn out as I'd hoped, but not bad I think.

This won't end well.

That thought never quite left the back of Rarity's mind as she watched her friend- her marefriend now, she supposed, run another practice lap around the improvised training track on Sweet Apple Acres. Rarity had every intention of doing her absolute best to try to make things work out, but... well. Even here, just a week in, she was standing in the dirt, watching Applejack grunt and sweat as she charged around a muddy track. Watching Applejack push bales of hay with her head. Watching Applejack hoot and holler and yee-haw as she trained for the upcoming trip.

Rarity shouted out as Applejack rounded the corner and passed her position, just a few seconds faster than her previous lap. She wasn't above her own sort of excitement about the rodeo. Everypony liked competition, of course, and seeing Applejack happy did make her happy as well. She absolutely would not allow Applejack to be the more supportive friend in this endeavor, and besides, there was a bit of an allure to seeing Applejack all athletic and, yes, even sweaty.

Rarity cleared her throat even though she wasn't speaking aloud.

The point was, Rarity was hardly looking forward to a day spent in Canterlot, rubbing shoulders with hundreds of... 'rustic' ponies, dodging the brims of stetson hats, being surrounded by the smells of work and exertion, and standing in the hot sun watching ponies- even if those included Applejack- running in circles, jumping over logs, or throwing hay around. Silly little games in the mud, no matter how important they were to Applejack, were still silly little games in the mud.

Besides, Applejack would do well with or without Rarity there.

Still, Rarity cheered as Applejack cleared the final hurdle again. She smiled when Applejack came trotting up to her in exhaustion, and she even managed to keep her smile there when the sweaty, muddy mare threw a foreleg around her to hug her close. Showers did exist, after all.

But... this wouldn't end well.

This ain't gonna end well.

Applejack kept a transparently faked smile on her lips as Rarity blathered on about some fancy-pants sort of ball or another in Canterlot. It wasn't that she wasn't happy to have finally got the girl. Wasn't that at all. Applejack couldn't be happier. But when she started going on about dresses, and dances, and what kind of jewelry and tiaras goes with what kind of slippers and hair ribbons, Applejack just couldn't help but glaze over.

The back fifty in the corn field was coming up on harvest time. She still hadn't slopped the pigs.

Rarity was looking at her, and not speaking. Applejack fumbled only a moment. "Huh? Oh, sure, Sugar. Sounds good."

Rarity's smile changed just a little, and an irritated crease appeared on her brow, but in a moment it was gone. Applejack couldn't help feeling a pang of guilt at being caught not paying attention. Rarity started speaking again without admonishing her, talking about an opera showing she wanted to attend while they were in Canterlot. It was formal, of course, so Applejack would need a gown, and the tickets were by no means cheap, though Rarity wouldn't mind paying. She would prefer matching gowns, though their coat colors didn't quite allow for it, save if she did some work with...

Cider season was coming up in a month or two. Going to need to wash out the barrels, and Big Mac's going to need a reminder to work up on his running if he's going to power the press. Apple Bloom was going to be too busy with school to help out much with bucking apples, and--

"Right, Sugar. I've still got my gala dress. You know I wouldn't throw out anythin' you made for me." Applejack nuzzled against Rarity's mane in the way she'd been shown to; the way that wouldn't mess up the styling. Rarity gave her a polite little giggle, the kind that still send a little thrill up her spine. It was kind of deceptive, pretending that she had really been paying attention, but it was the polite thing to do. Maybe Rarity was rubbing off on her more than she thought.

But the back fifty was coming up for harvest.

And this still wasn't gonna end well.

Applejack and Rarity sat together on one of the many balconies at Canterlot Castle, a private balcony attached to their suite. The stars were out, and this far above the city you could see them as plainly as anywhere in Equestria. The night was almost silent, save for the faint bustle of Canterlot far below them, and the rustle of wind blowing around this far off the ground.

The rodeo today had gone well enough, Applejack reckoned. She'd won a blue ribbon in the bale toss, and a fair number of other winnings here and there across the board. Her family would be pleased as punch, and she'd even managed just a bit of money to take home. 'Course, Rarity'd spent the afternoon being jostled around in a crowd full of farmers, and her hooves had ended up all dusty. The completely ridiculous getup she'd been wearing was ten kinds of ruffled up and dirtied, and Applejack wasn't fool enough to believe Rarity when she said it was fine. Rarity had even made a bit of a face when Applejack replaced her fallen flowery straw hat with her own dusty, sweaty stetson.

Though, Rarity was still wearing the hat, even after taking off the rest of her clothes.

Applejack pulled the mare close with a foreleg, leaning her head against Rarity's neck, and hoping that the mess yesterday at the Opera had been forgiven.

Rarity smiled at the nuzzling, and her horn glowed softly as she pulled the thin blanket around them both.

The opera visit had gone splendidly, if anypony were to ask. She and Applejack had made a stunning pair in her custom-made gowns, and the hours spent working on the perfect colors to both match with their coats and compliment the other gown had been well-spent, in Rarity's mind. The performance itself was of course excellent, and Rarity could still remember perfectly the shining look in Applejack's eyes as she took in her first true opera.

Of course, she'd spent the first half of the performance fidgeting in her gown, and fussing with her mane as the rarely-styled hair refused to cooperate for long. She'd also had the gall, at the end of the show, to interrupt the polite applause of hooves against hooves with a very inelegant and country shout of approval. Rarity wasn't above noticing the applause faltering in the combined surprise of the entire hall. Applejack's face had worn a look of shame for just a moment or two before a much less naturally country shout came from Fancy Pants, in his balcony opposite theirs. Fleur Lis Dee looked mortified, but Fancy Pants' mark of approval soon had the crowd all cheering like the opera had been some sort of sporting event.

Applejack's face had brightened when Rarity couldn't help but laugh at the sight of the nobleponies all hooting and cheering like farmers, and Rarity supposed that was enough.

But that was yesterday, and the rodeo was hours ago. Now they sat together in the slightly chilly night air, and looked up at the stars above them. Applejack moved one foreleg, resting her hoof lightly on Rarity's, and Rarity smiled.

This might not end well. But maybe it was worth it, for as long as they could stay together.

LP29: The Fifth Season [Slice of Life?]

The Prompt: The fifth season.

This ended up somewhat mopier than intended. Oh well. Here's hoping Season Five starts as strong as Four did!

Princess Celestia sipped at her tea in the comfortable silence of her private study. Every pony needed a place where they could be alone from time to time, and Princess Celestia knew that nopony, short of her sister and possibly Twilight Sparkle, would interrupt her here even if Canterlot were burning to the ground. Here, she could sit on her nice, plush cushion, and sip at her hot, imported tea, and nopony would bother her.

As she enjoyed the peaceful serenity of her little room, her eyes by chance caught on an old photograph on a nearby table. With a smile, Celestia lit her horn and brought the framed picture over closer. The image showed Twilight Sparkle, the day she earned her cutie mark, standing next to Princess Celestia with a look of shell-shocked amazement and wonder. Celestia couldn't help but let out a small giggle at the sight of the little filly. It had been the end of one stage of Twilight's life; her youthful, directionless days of foalhood, and the beginning of her schooling.

Celestia almost regretted that she hadn't known Twilight before that day. She had heard stories, of course, from Twilight's parents, much to the horror of the over-anxious filly. Twilight always seemed to slightly resent stores of cute mistakes, bubbling foalish laughter, of imagined adventures with her brother, all the sorts of day to day things that young ponies always did. The story of Twilight's cutie mark was special to Celestia, of her first time seeing the Summer Sun Celebration, her immediate springing forth into magical study, and her parents' fateful choice to enroll her in Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns. Now that she tried to recall, Celestia's own foalhood seemed distant and faded. It was certainly distant, in any case.

The young Twilight Sparkle's life had certainly changed the day the photo was taken. With a thought and a spark of her horn, Celestia opened a small wooden chest she kept, and several small momentos hovered over to her. More photographs, old, faded school assignments in foalish hornwriting, hoof-made clay cups and other odds and ends... all painted a picture of Twilight's early years as Celestia's student. Celestia was, current ruminations excluded, a very busy pony. Even with as promising a student as Twilight Sparkle had been, even with the knowledge of what Twilight's unique cutie mark may mean, she could not devote her entire life to tutoring an apprentice.

Twilight Sparkle had spent this second portion of her life in a school attended by many other unicorns, each growing, and learning, and meeting other ponies as they did. Though the latter did always seem to slip by unnoticed for Twilight. Still, in their weekly visits and training, Princess Celestia had been able to see how happy and excited the growing filly was. Each new lesson and every new excellent grade only seemed to bolster her confidence as a mage, and as a scholar.

Of course, time did march on. After spring comes summer. Eventually, Twilight had to leave her school, graduating with highest honors to the surprise of exactly nopony. Her guided apprenticeship had continued, of course. Twilight Sparkle, for lack of more powerful wording, was special. She was unique, even among Celestia's other students. She glowed with life, with promise, and with curiosity. It was more difficult than Celestia would ever admit to send this young mare away, to live in Ponyville. Celestia had known even at the time that it would seem almost a punishment to Twilight, at least at first. But it had lead to what Celestia hoped were the best years of her life, thus far.

Without even thinking, Celestia pulled over the stack of scrolls that lay lovingly tended to on a nearby table. 'Friendship reports', so called by Twilight and her friends. Those exciting first steps of Twilight's into this new world of friendship and camaraderie. Meeting new ponies, learning the intricacies of interpersonal relationships, and suffering the trials and tribulations of the dangerous times that came with it. More than just Equestria-ending threats such as Nightmare Moon and Discord, the stories of Twilight's mistakes and foibles in the safety net of her burgeoning friendships were what Celestia most treasured. In every word of the pages before her was a picture of the young, naive mare, finding her way through the difficult path ahead of her.

The letters from her friends were no less telling. The same mark of exploration and learning was on each and every letter, and Celestia could not help but smile at the stories as she skimmed through the parchments.

Though time did march on, and after summer would come the fall.

Her smile still didn't fade. In truth the autumn, so to speak, had started before the first letter. The defeat of Nightmare Moon had brought about a great number of wonderful changes for Equestria, more than the average citizen knew. But it had also begun something that now could not be stopped. The Elements of Harmony had been claimed by Twilight and her friends, and their connection to the previous bearers had been broken. They could not be restored.

Celestia did not like to admit weakness. It was a failing she and her sister shared. But she felt that even Twilight Sparkle, in her endless and unstoppable hero worship, had to have noticed that Celestia was waning. Perhaps she could be forgiven for not directly facing Nightmare Moon again, or for staying a distance from the released Discord. But falling to the queen of the changelings? Skirting actual combat with the wight that had once been King Sombra? Being abducted by plunder vines? Being thrown into Tartauros by Tirek? These things would not have happened only a few short years ago.

Already, and especially in the light of her recently grown castle and new title, Twilight Sparkle was learning that she did not truly need her former teacher and mentor guiding her every step. She was coming into her own as a young mare, and as a princess. Already she felt comfortable disagreeing with Princess Celestia, at least when pressed, and she made her own plans, and improvised her own actions.

This was a good thing, as after the fall would come the winter.

It wasn't hubris or vanity to say that Twilight Sparkle, and indeed Equestria as a whole would soon suffer a sort of winter. For any other pony, it might be a bit of an overstatement. But Princess Celestia knew very well her position in Equestria, and she knew that when she...

Princess Celestia knew that her permanent absence from Equestria would cause difficulty.

She didn't like to think of the time that was approaching all too rapidly.

Princess Celestia calmly placed her beloved keepsakes and mementos back into their boxes and covers, setting them aside again, safe and secure, and hidden from sight.

Aside from that one image, with the young filly Twilight Sparkle, in awe next to her mentor.

There would be a time of darkness, a winter of sorts. But Celestia hoped, rather, Celestia knew that there would be a rebirth. A new year, a new start for Equestria, and for Twilight Sparkle. She would be there, in some way, to see it happen. Princess Celestia had watched and guided Twilight Sparkle as she grew from an excitable but somewhat reclusive little filly into a responsible and well-respected mare, and she had every confidence in her student and friend's continued success in every trouble she was faced with.

Princess Celestia sipped at her tea in the comfortable silence of her private study. The small clack of the picture frame as she set it down to the desk again served as a place to end her ruminations. Celestia smiled at the photograph, and then stood slowly, before donning her regal, calm, maternal demeanor and rejoining the rest of Canterlot Castle.

LP30: The Range [Slice of Life]

(The prompt: Where the buffalo roam.)

(I think this one got away from me a little, but it's not bad. I wanted to get one written before today's episode. Time limit hit around the horizontal rule down there.)

It was too hot.

Rainbow Dash never really quite understood why anypony... anybuffalo? Why anyone would live outside of Equestrian towns. No pegasus ponies lived this far out, and so nopony set up rain when it was needed, or helped keep the temperature this side of scorching. She could see for miles, this high up, and there was no water anywhere except a thin trickle along the horizon. If this place wasn't so far from Ponyville she'd start having her weather team push the extra Everfree clouds out over it.

Anyway.

Rainbow Dash saw what she'd been looking for, and started her descent. That huge blotch of buffalo and quickly dwindling patches of tepees couldn't be anything else other than the migration. She'd gotten an invitation from Little Strongheart to join in until the herd reached Appleloosa... sent from Dodge Junction, only a few days ago. That wouldn't be a problem for a pegasus like Rainbow Dash, but running all that way on their hooves? That sounded interesting. Plus, Rainbow didn't like turning down invitations.

Even with all the extra foals... calves. Even with the extra young buffalo, Little Strongheart wasn't too hard to find. Rainbow swooped down just as she finished packing one of the last bundles onto the back of an adult. Landing in a whoosh of air and motion drew a few looks from the older buffalo, but Rainbow always landed that way just for that reason. "Hey, Strongheart!"

"Rainbow Dash! You must have seen the invitation!" Little Strongheart still spoke with that slight accent and weird phrasing. She must not spend too much time around ponies. The hoofbump that followed was a little strange too, as her hooves were small and cloven. "We are almost ready to leave for the migration to the next oasis."

"What? But that's WAY too far to go on the ground!"

There wasn't a signal, but suddenly the larger buffalo around them were moving. Rainbow Dash and Little Strongheart had no option but to fall in with the migration.

The southern desert was always hot and dry. Even more so with a hundred buffalo kicking up dust ahead of them. In no time Rainbow Dash could look down at her hooves and tell that she was brown and yellow from all the dust covering her. She looked over to Little Strongheart, running beside her. The buffalo calf was just running at a steady pace, staring forward almost blankly. This... This migration was boring! It wasn't like running in the Running of the Leaves, or a race, it was just... running. "Hey, Little Strongheart! I bet I can get to the front of the migration before you!"

Strongheart gave her a look, which at least meant she'd heard the challenge. Rainbow Dash pressed forward into a hard gallop at once. The air around her thrummed with the hoofbeats of all the huge buffalo, and the air was thick with dust and heat. Still, she knew that Strongheart was fast, maybe even faster than her if she didn't fly. Flying felt like cheating seeing as how no buffalo had wings, so she just ran harder. It was hard to tell if she was winning with all the noise and distraction, and somehow she'd lost Strongheart in the chaos.

It wasn't long before the dry air, heat, and dodging of buffalo hooves took their toll, and Rainbow felt herself running out of steam. She slowed, and slowed further, dropping back through the herd. She passed Strongheart on the way, still running in the same place as before. As Rainbow trailed back near the rear of the herd, she felt a buffalo's head press to her hindquarters and push her back toward the center, as though she were a straying calf.

Rainbow Dash glared back at the buffalo, but just pressed herself to gallop forward until she was even with Strongheart again. "What the hay, don't you want to run? This is boring!"

Strongheart smiled at her, her coat still covered in dust. "The next oasis is miles away. We will be running all day. Just run. You will see!"

'Just run'. So Rainbow Dash ran.

She was easily as tired already as that day she and Applejack had been running from ghosts in the old Castle of the Two Sisters. But she knew it was a long way before the next watering hole, so she just kept running.

The air was thick with dust and sand, but that wasn't so bad now that she was used to it. She focused on breathing through her nose as she galloped. The ground shook and vibrated with the hooves of hundreds of buffalo, and the rhythm was just slightly off from her pony gait. But still, the press of bodies and the thunderous running continued.

Yeah, okay, this was more than the castle thing. Maybe this was more like how she was at the end of that Running of the Leaves with Applejack.

But when she looked up at the sky, she couldn't quite see the sun. She couldn't tell what time of day it was, and the press of huge buffalo bodies around her blocked out any attempt to fly up and check. Besides, she didn't want to fly, nobody else here could. So she just ran.

Definitely more tired than Running of the Leaves. This was more like after the second run that Princess Celestia asked her and Applejack to do. Or maybe it was more than that.

But she kept running.

The hooves of the buffalo thundered around her. The day moved on. The heat pressed in, and the dust in the air covered her fur and her nose and throat. The dry atmosphere of the desert filled her, and she kept running.

The sun bore down from above, the shadows small under each buffalo. But she kept running.

Her wings ached. She wanted to fly. She could be at the watering hole in a few minutes if she flew. But then she wouldn't be here. She wouldn't be next to her friend, in the middle of these others. She wouldn't be running in the dust and the heat. So Rainbow Dash narrowed her eyes, and she kept running.

The water was muddy. It had been shaken up by the approach of the stampede, and it was full of silt and algae.

It was the best water Rainbow Dash had ever tasted.

The buffalo were all crowded around, drinking from the same small stream, but that didn't bother her. The water was clearing the dust, it was filling her with new life. She had never been so tired, so worn out, and so thirsty.

The mushy food that the buffalo favored even tasted good.

She had never been able to eat it before, but today she had three bowls. Compared to the huge bulk of the buffalo around her, she had eaten barely anything, so she at least didn't need to feel gluttonous.

Her hooves throbbed as she lay on her back on the little pallet of straw. It was a nice night, so she and Strongheart were sleeping outside. They were both just silently looking up at the stars despite the somewhat uncomfortable feeling of laying on their backs. Strongheart spoke first. "What do you think?"

"I'm sore. I'm tired, and I didn't do anything fun all day. What the hay, why did you even invite me if it's just running?"

A few long seconds passed, but there was a hint of a smile in Strongheart's voice when she spoke again. "Are you looking forward to tomorrow? We will be reaching Appleloosa by nightfall."

Rainbow's hooves ached. Her legs burned, her throat still felt parched, and she wasn't sure what that grass and cactus mush was, but it tasted terrible and she still wanted more. But... though her ears were still ringing, she missed the thunder of hooves. She missed the energy, the press of bodies. She missed the sun and the dust of the trail.

"... Yeah. Yeah, I am."

LP31: I Can't Hear the Music [General]

The Prompt: I can't hear the music.

(Another one, with easy-to-spot literary influences. At least in the first part. The time limit was hit somewhere in the last couple paragraphs. Whoops!

Also- yes, I do enjoy horse puns. )

"Look unto the Silent Watchers of the Deep! We will prepare this world for their eternal rule!"

The demented rantings of the Mad Marab Appul Akhal-teke washed over the silent mares from Ponyville as they struggled at their bindings. Twilight Sparkle's wings flared and her horn glowed and sparked as she pulled at the enchanted chains, only to have the same effect as Applejack's maddened bucking and Pinkie Pie's frenzied bouncing. None of the ponies could move an inch, and even though their lips moved, they still found they couldn't make any sounds at all!

"Shagya! Novokirg'hiz! Yili! Altai, Shire-Namib, the thrice-dammed mare with a thousand young!"

Twilight's horn glowed brightly, and the chains around her hooves and wings groaned under the strain, as one of Applejack's bucks finally pulled one of her own anchorings free, and Rainbow Dash's violent struggling managed to pull on of her manacles loose.

"With my magic, given to you all, I bind myself to stone and give you the silent world you desire!"

A brilliant flash of magic poured forth from the Mad Marab and his gathered coltists, shining with a strange light that seemed to darken everything it fell upon. At that moment, Twilight's chains finally broke under the strain, but there was no sound, only falling metal landing silently against the ancient stone flooring. Twilight Sparkle galloped toward the cult, only to find that she was too late. The thirteen ponies now stood as stone statues around the strange altar, and Twilight could tell from the absence of her hoofsteps that the magic had been a success.

In addition to muting the princess and her friends, Appul Akhal-teke had managed to mute the entire world. Twilight forced herself not to think about the chaos that must be covering Equestria as all sound stopped.

Instead, she turned and galloped back to her friends. The lack of sound from her hooffalls threw her rhythm off, but she still managed to keep up her pace. Her horn glowed in the unsettling silence, and soon enough the rest of her friends were freed from the chains, though sullen and defeated expressions covered all their faces. Twilight opened her mouth to try to raise their spirits, but then blushed and looked down at the ground at her failure to speak.

Applejack glowered as she looked around the ruin, pointedly avoiding her friends' glances. Fluttershy scuffed a hoof against the stone, then started to shake at the lack of any sound from it.

After a moment, Pinkie Pie reached back into her mane with her muzzle, and pulled a small notepad of paper seemingly out of nowhere. With a stick of charcoal that seemed to have been stored in her mane as well, she quickly scratched out a note, holding it up to the others. A tiny sketch of a straight-maned Pinkie with tears down her muzzle was drawn next to the two words. [What now?]

Twilight gently took the notepad in her magic, and used the charcoal to write her own message, without any drawings this time. [I'm so sorry, everypony. I had no idea that just reading a book could lead to so much trouble!]

How would Twilight manage to defeat this magic if she couldn't even speak properly with her friends? The note was passed from pony to pony as others added their own lines, the frustration at this slow, clunky mode of communication growing on every face. [It's Applejack's crazy family's fault!]

['Appul' doesn't mean he's from my family, Rainbow Dash!]

[I kind of like the quiet, but this is too much.]

[Those black robes are simply dreadful, and the decor in this ruin is absolutely horrible!]

[Why don't we just PARTY?], accompanied by a sketch of six stick-figure ponies around a gramophone.

The five other mares stared blankly at Pinkie Pie as she held the note up to them. Even without any real experience reading lips, the expression on Applejack's face showed her disbelief at the notion, and despite the sentence starting with 'Sugarcube', everypony was pretty certain she wasn't saying anything too friendly.

Pinkie Pie seemed content to completely ignore their basically-unspoken objections. She reached behind her and pulled out a small, portable party cannon, firing it noiselessly up into the air and letting confetti rain down over the antediluvian chamber. In just a moment, she was bobbing her head and dancing to herself, a smile on her lips and a happy, carefree sort of bouncing suffusing her body. Her friends just stared, open-mouthed. It was almost hard watching her dance and not imagining some gramophone belting out silly party music at the same time. The gramophone that they suddenly saw off to the side, doubtlessly launched from the party cannon, just spun silently as expected.

Still, seeing Pinkie dance like that somehow lifted the group's spirits anyway. Fluttershy smiled after a moment or two, and in the silence she imagined she could hear the twittering and singing of the birds around her cottage. She closed her eyes and thought back to being home in the springtime, and found herself humming along, even if she couldn't hear the noise.

Even if her family was a little crazy, meaning the family member in this ruin that was dancing to silence, they were still family. Applejack glanced over at Rainbow Dash with a look to remind the pegasus that laughing at her wasn't the right thing to do, and then trotted over to join Pinkie's dance. Applejack was a bit off-beat, and the two mares bumped into each other more than they managed to stay separate, but Pinkie's laughter was so genuine that the other friends could almost hear it despite the magic.

Rarity, Twilight, and Rainbow Dash all shared a look. Their friends had gone nuts, plainly. But in this desperate hour, alone in a cave full of statues and eternal silence, who would ever be able to comment on their ridiculous party? Rainbow Dash threw her hooves out to the side as she hovered near the group, and mouthed out 'What the hay' before landing and bumping Rarity's flank with her own. Despite a momentary feigned look of irritation, in a few seconds Rarity was dancing along with the others. Giving her own silent laugh, Twilight Sparkle just joined in as well.

All six friends were dancing to different sounds, different beats in their own mind and with their own purpose, but somehow they each heard it. It started small, a tiny crack and tinkling noise that would never have drawn attention if the entire world weren't completely noiseless. Pinkie Pie glanced over to the altar, and pointed with a hoof. Her silent call to attention didn't get anypony's attention, however.

Another cracking noise, and then a clatter of stone against stone, finally caught the other pony's ears. But they still danced, hugging around Pinkie and laughing silently. Another crack, and then a low, deep rumbling sounded through the muted world. The smiles on the mares' faces changed a bit, from their happy carefree attitude to one of triumph. Their dancing continued, and with a resounding snap heard around the world, the statues of the cult and the Mad Marab himself shattered along with the ancient altar in the center of the room.

Sound rushed in like a hurricane. The gramophone playing silly and nonsensical party music, the off-beat tapping of twenty four hooves on the floor, the dripping of stalactites and the chittering of insects that lived in the old ruins, the howling of the wind in the desert outside... and most importantly, the laughter and proud cheering of six friends. The ponies all gathered around and hugged Pinkie Pie happily, their laughter interspersed with thanks and congratulations.

Pinkie Pie just beamed happily. "Aw, you girls don't have to thank me! Besides, we've got a party to finish!"

The ponies all laughed together again, and started their dancing in earnest, this time in tune with the music and each other. The Silent Watchers would have to wait, Equestria was safe again in their hooves.

LP32: Talk of the Town [General]

The prompt: Ponies talk.

Special rule: You cannot use quotation marks “ ”.

(This didn't quite turn out like I wanted, but it works well enough. Written before today's episode sorta made the huge house thing canon)

Rainbow Dash zipped from place to place around her cloud home, patching up spots almost at random. It was more fun this way, rather than laying it all out egghead style and trying to come up with some plan and everything. But her house was coming together great! She added more spots to split the falling pools of liquid rainbow, and knocked out a few more holes for windows, before zipping around and forming up another set of cloud pillars.

Her house had always been way too big for one pony, and even more so for Rainbow Dash. She only even used like two rooms. But she was trying to be a Wonderbolt, and having a big, flashy house was a good start. That's why she was adding another wing to it today, with the leftover clouds from the storm yesterday. Yeah, her house was stupidly big, and ponies were going to talk about it.

But that's why she did it. Let 'em talk, they'd only be showing her how awesome her house was, and that just meant that Rainbow Dash must be awesome too.

Rainbow Dash burned through the weather work in a flash. No pony in Equestria could do her job faster than she could. Sure there were better weather ponies, ones that were better at fixing up clouds or laying out storms. But for cloudbusting nopony even came close. She put a little flair into it as she went from cloud to cloud, kicking away the remnants of yesterday's rain. She could hear them down below, the earth ponies and unicorns of Ponyville pointing and staring in awe at her flips and kicks.

Time to really make it stick!

Rainbow moved faster, added more loops, and did that one thing with her tail so she'd leave that rainbow behind her as she flew. In no time the sky was clear aside from her skywriting DASH across it, and she put a little more force into it as she bolted away, the cheers and stamping hooves of the gathered crowd behind her ringing in her ears.

Yeah, that might have been overdoing it. But she was the best, and that means she gets to show off now and then.

But that's also why she decided to do her training on the other side of town. You know, let some other ponies see all her awesomeness for themselves.

Thanks to Mayor Mare's insistence, she had to keep her training higher off of the ground now. Less carts and buildings being crashed into way up here. But that also meant it was harder for the ponies below to see her. That was fine too, it just made it better when they saw her anyway.

Her stunt training had gotten better and better over time. She remembered being so proud of what she could do when Twilight first showed up, and how she'd thought the Wonderbolts would swoon at her Buccaneer Blitz and stuff like that. Ha! That hadn't be anything. Now she turned tighter loops in the sky, sparks and lightning shaking from her wings as she twisted into corkscrews and looped again back through her own contrail. The wind rushed through her mane, and the ground blurred past her as she dove and spun, lighting up the sky with her slick moves and amazing stunts.

Yeah, those dots down there in the streets had to be ponies staring up in awe. That yellow one was probably Fluttershy, and that meant the white one next to her was probably Rarity. Ha! Rainbow's friends knew who the best flier in Equestria was! She was the fastest, the most athletic, the bravest, and the all-around best pony, and she knew it.

Rainbow dipped down a few hundred feet, and then bolted up quickly. Faint cheers and stamping from below tickled at the edges of her hearing over the roar of the wind and the pumping of her pulse as she pushed herself to the limit. Then all sound blasted away in all directions as the Sonic Rainboom exploded around her. This high up there was no way it would wreck anything, but those ponies down there would be talking about the rainboom, and the pegasus who made it, for weeks!

But she should still probably avoid the mayor for a few days.

As Rainbow flew over Ponyville, just leisurely stretching her wings after her workout, she heard a ringing bell from below. Yeah, time for one last thing.

Rainbow Dash landed, her hooves on the ground for the first time in hours. Little colts and fillies all poured out of the schoolhouse in groups of two or three, laughing and free for the day. The group that Dash was waiting for was near last, but the little orange pegasus filly lit up when she saw her. Scootaloo rushed her goodbyes with her friends, trying to look cool with a hoof-bump before galloping over to Rainbow. The other Crusaders just grinned at her, but didn't say anything to mess up her faked image.

But nah, Scootaloo was pretty cool, even if she tried too hard to fake it sometimes.

In no time, Rainbow Dash was back up in the air, this time with Scootaloo standing on her back. The little filly's wings were spread, and she laughed and cheered as Rainbow flew them through the air. Rainbow wasn't doing tricks this time, she wasn't bolting at a million miles an hour or busting clouds. She was just flying, and Scoots was happier than any of those other ponies had been before. The filly's parents probably didn't really like her being flown out over the Everfree, but there weren't any clouds left over Ponyville today, so what they didn't know wouldn't hurt them.

As Rainbow sat on the little tuft of cloud next to Scootaloo, she couldn't help but grin at the filly's excited retelling of her attempts at getting a cutie mark. Rainbow Dash had gotten hers pretty early, so she'd never had to work at finding out what she wanted. But Scoots was always trying all these different things and having fun with her friends. It was pretty awesome.

While Scootaloo was acting out her story about parasprite taming, Rainbow Dash just laughed and cheered her on. She'd spent the whole day being awesome, showing other ponies how amazing a pegasus could be, and giving the whole town something to talk about for days and days. But the best part of Rainbow's day was just letting her little sister feel like she was flying, and hearing about her awesome crusading and adventures too.

Scootaloo hugged Rainbow around the withers, grinning and telling her she was the best sister ever.

Rainbow hugged the filly back, and mussed up her mane. Yeah, this was better than the whole town cheering, better than ten Rainbooms. Showing off was cool and all, but making her sister smile is how Rainbow really knew she was the best.

LP32: Ponies Talk [General]

The prompt: Ponies talk.

Special rule: You cannot use quotation marks “ ”.

I say this every week I think, but I feel like I'm off my game. Boo! Still posting this anyway though.

Fluttershy hummed along with the birds as she lead them across the peaceful meadows on the outskirts of Ponyville. She liked birds. Birds were pretty, they sang beautifully, and they were very rarely judgmental of anypony. Unlike other ponies.

Ponies sang as well, and they were often quite pretty. But ponies talked.

Fluttershy had found out very early in life just how much ponies liked to talk. In school, in Cloudsdale, she had always been a bit of a weak flier. When she was a foal, she would ride on her mother's back from place to place, when the other fillies her age were all bumbling around in the air, figuring out their wings. In school, the other ponies had always said such nasty things about her. Every adult pony told her to just ignore them, and that it would go away in time. It hadn't.

But despite how horrible it had been, having ponies always taunting and gossiping about her, it had lead to her meeting one of her best friends, Rainbow Dash. Rainbow had seen other ponies picking on her, and had thought that defending her would be awesome, like one of the heroes in old stories. In a very real way, Rainbow Dash was every bit the hero she had pictured herself being. Fluttershy had still been teased after Rainbow started defending her, of course, but just knowing that somepony was there for her made it much, much easier.

Then, Fluttershy had fallen off of a cloud, and she was only saved at the last moment, by an unlikely cloud of butterflies.

At first, the ground seemed to be a kind of heaven. The animals she found herself surrounded by didn't judge her, they didn't laugh at her or tease her. Even when Rainbow Dash had flown down from Cloudsdale in a panic, half-expecting to find Fluttershy dead, Fluttershy had managed to stand up for herself and insist that she was staying on the ground, and not going back to Cloudsdale. Rainbow visited from time to time after, but she had her own schooling up in Cloudsdale still, and soon she was off to weather college and disappeared for a while.

But, Fluttershy soon discovered, ponies on the ground liked to talk as well.

She couldn't build a house on her own, and animals, for all their virtues, couldn't build a house suitable for a pony either. Fluttershy had some difficulty getting any ponies to help build her a cottage so close to the forest. But that was the best place, if she wanted her animals to be able to visit their friends that lived in the Everfree, even if it was a bit scary to live there. Fluttershy quickly found that being the weird, shy pegasus that lived at the edge of the widely feared Everfree Forest alone with a bunch of animals, made her a topic for gossip and rumor again. Whenever she was in town for food or other supplies, she always heard the other ponies chattering behind their hooves: snatches of conversation about her being a witch, or a spy, or any number of other crazy things.

But at least here on the ground, there were other things to talk about. Like the sudden appearance of a bright pink earth pony filly, only a year younger than Fluttershy, who had arrived and moved into the local bakery.

Fluttershy managed to avoid this pony for a few weeks thanks to her remote home. But eventually, the pink pony showed up in her cottage, all pep and smiles and laughter.

After only an hour or two, Fluttershy realized that trying to avoid Pinkie was only making things worse. All ponies liked to talk, but talking and laughing and playing seemed to be all that Pinkie Pie did. Even if it was a little embarrassing how loud she was, Pinkie wasn't really mean, and she never seemed to gossip or make up lies about anypony. Fluttershy still kept to herself, though now she found herself being dragged to occasional parties in town, no matter how often she told Pinkie that she didn't want to party.

Pinkie's parties were fun, in a sort of way. They were always kept festive and light, and Fluttershy did enjoy seeing all the other ponies happily dancing and laughing, even if she didn't do so herself. Fluttershy even began having smaller, quieter parties herself, with her animal friends. They didn't talk, but it was still fun, in a quiet, subdued manner.

It was while she was at one of Pinkie's loud parties, with Fluttershy carefully standing behind a counter in such a way that it was difficult for any other pony to see her, that she met another future friend. This future friend at first, however, seemed to be a hysterical white unicorn that quite literally pulled Fluttershy away from the party to fit increasingly glittery dresses onto her so-called simply divine body, and to perform ever more excessive treatments on her absolutely perfect mane.

Rarity, as Fluttershy later found this unicorn was named, brushed off all of Fluttershy's quiet, polite objections with praise and adulation.

Rarity was the first pony that Fluttershy ever used The Stare on.

Once she had calmed down a bit, Rarity turned out to be a wonderful friend. She did like to talk, rather a lot, and always about herself. But that was okay, because Fluttershy found that all she needed to do was interject quietly now and again, with prompts to continue, and Rarity was happy with her. The apology for her initial excitement had been a paid visit to the spa, and that quickly became a routine for the two.

Rainbow Dash had even moved to Ponyville a few months ago, though she was terribly busy with the weather patrol now, and had her own friends among the pegasus ponies in town.

Despite hearing all about high society from Rarity, and despite being dragged to parties now and again, Fluttershy still felt... lonely. All the other ponies seemed to talk too much, they were too loud and they all acted like they had all known how to talk to other ponies their entire lives. Her animal friends seemed to be the only ones who understood how hard it could be for her to talk to other ponies, and how hard it could be to make friends with them.

But tonight, she was going to be going to a big party, with the entire town. It wasn't even Pinkie's idea. Fluttershy was going on her own. She was even going to be part of the festivities. Fluttershy knew that eventually she would meet somepony who would understand what it was like to grow up without any real friends of her own. Somepony who could help her figure out how to get past some of her insecurities, and build a real group of friends. Friends she could really be herself around.

Fluttershy carefully and softly chided the bluejay who was off-key. Tonight was the Summer Sun Celebration, after all, and everything had to be perfect. She was so wrapped up in her training of her animal friends, she didn't even hear the awkward, nearly friendless purple unicorn that came trotting up behind her.

But then that pony talked, and Fluttershy's life was changed forever.

LP33: Morning in Ponyville [General]

(The prompt: Just how long have I been gone?)

(As for this story, I'm not sure about it. It's getting later in the week so I forced myself to write something I'm not quite happy with.)

Sunlight streamed in through Twilight Sparkle's castle window, shining brightly against the polished crystal floor and reflecting into a rainbow of colors that glowed across every surface. It was beautiful during the day. In the early morning, sometimes, Twilight felt a bit less appreciation for the bright, scintillating shine. But for some reason she felt absolutely perfect this morning. Twilight paused as she sat up in bed. Wasn't there something she was forgetting?

Was it late for waking up? She felt like she had been asleep for a while now. No, no, today had just started. It was bright, sunny, and a beautiful spring day in Ponyville.

In no time Twilight was out of bed, mane brushed and breakfast cooked. Spike came wandering downstairs just before the pancakes were ready, rubbing his eyes but with a bounce in his step. "Morning, Twilight. Are you... cooking breakfast?"

"Good morning, Spike! I felt good today, and I just wanted to try it out again. But look, I didn't burn anything!"

It was true that Twilight rarely cooked. Spike had been learning how since he was hatched, but for whatever reason, Twilight had always lacked any aptitude whatsoever. But today, everything had turned out just perfectly! Twilight trotted happily over to the little table she and Spike shared, and had a satisfying, hot breakfast. Even if she couldn't shake that nagging feeling in the back of her mind, she was impressed with her own cooking today.

Twilight looked around Ponyville as she left her huge, crystal castle. She didn't have any errands today, but she couldn't help herself, she just had to get out and enjoy the lovely weather. A breeze caught Twilight's mane, and she smiled brightly at the feeling. Looking up, she saw that it seemed to have been caused by Rainbow Dash as the pegasus blew past them at full speed. She was laughing and obviously enjoying herself, and only a moment later two other pegasi went racing after her, both in Wonderbolts uniforms and only slightly outclassed.

Since when did Rainbow Dash have impromptu races with the Wonderbolts over Ponyville? That was strange, but Twilight just shook her head and decided that she'd go over toward Sugarcube Corner. While the pancake breakfast had been nice, topping it off with a cupcake or other breakfast pastry sounded even better. It seemed like every pony in Ponyville was in high spirits today, out enjoying the sunny weather, all smiles and pleasant conversations.

Even Applejack. Twilight smiled at the sight of Applejack fussing about the price of the fancy hats at the little stand in the market. When Applejack spotted Twilight, she simply waved off the idea of buying anything and trotted right over. "Heya, Sugar. You're lookin' fit as a fiddle today."

Twilight Sparkle just smiled and returned Applejack's sudden hug. "Thank, Applejack. I do feel pretty great. Were you shopping for clothes? I didn't think you'd ever go looking for a new hat!"

Applejack suddenly chuckled nervously, with a slight blush across her muzzle. "Uh, well. I got a date t'night actually. She's the real fancy type, you know, and I thought I ought to get somethin' that might impress her."

A date? Applejack had a date? With a mare? But... "Oh, I... I didn't know you had a special somepony! I'm sure Rarity would be happy to make you something nice, though!"

The quiet chuckle that followed, and Applejack shaking her head but declining to answer directly, was all that Twilight needed to confirm her suspicion. Twilight just smiled, and then hugged Applejack again. "Don't worry, Applejack. I'm sure she's more impressed with the pony than she is with the clothes. When did you two even talk about this? I can't believe Rarity managed to keep quiet!"

Applejack smiled at first, but then furrowed her brow. "Y' know, I ain't really sure. I think it was when we got back from the Crystal Empire, but it's all fuzzy. I reckon we must have done it sometime, though. But this mornin' I woke up and the farm didn't seem to need any tendin' to, so I thought I'd use my time to come out and pick up somethin' nice to wear."

The Crystal Empire! They had gone to fight Sombra, and then... well, they must have won. Twilight felt her own brow knit for a moment, but then she shook her head to clear it, and just smiled to her friend. "Well, don't worry about Rarity, I'm sure your date will be go great!"

Sugarcube Corner was especially loud, and especially crowded. But it was a nice, sunny day, and Twilight could hear the music even from outside of the building. Pinkie Pie must be having some kind of party inside.

When Twilight opened the door to the bakery, her suspicions were confirmed. The bright, cheery shop was packed wall to wall with dancing, happy ponies, all dancing, talking, and laughing with each other. One of Pinkie's dance records was playing loudly from a nearby grammophone, and Twilight knew she probably wasn't going to get her choice in baked goods today. Somehow, despite the crush of ponies all around her, Pinkie showed up nearly as soon as she walked in the door. "Twilight! You made it! Isn't this the best party EVER?"

"It does look fun! Who is it for? Aren't the Cakes a little worried about their sales?" Twilight found herself having to shout just to be heard.

Pinkie Pie just laughed and threw her forelegs around Twilight in a warm, happy hug. "Noperooni! They totally said I can have all the parties I want, even if it lasts all day! Now I can bake nice treats for everypony and dance while I'm doing it! Woohoo! Oh, wait, the cupcakes!"

Twilight was left blinking in surprise as Pinkie Pie dashed off, maneuvering perfectly and effortlessly through the crowd on her way to save the next batch of cakes from burning. She was pretty certain that she had never seen Sugarcube Corner so packed, nor had she ever seen a party where everypony seemed so completely happy with everything. It seemed as though every pony there had their drinks and their treats, everypony was dancing but nopony bumped into anypony.

Fluttershy was even in the middle of a group of ponies that Twilight was fairly certain the pegasus didn't even know. They were all talking and laughing together, and Fluttershy seemed to be beaming with happiness, just from her own ability to blend in so easily. Even Angel Bunny was just resting contentedly on Fluttershy's back, not causing a ruckus or being obstinate and rude. It was so strange, seeing Fluttershy so at ease, that it gave Twilight pause again.

But only for a moment. The happy townsponies, the catchy music, and the temptation to dance along overcame her, and after only that momentary hesitation, Twilight Sparkle just jumped right in.

King Sombra's horn glowed a dark green and purple as he reinforced the spell. Five mares down, one to go. Somehow that little dragon had escaped as well, but what harm could he do?

Sombra knew he was a powerful unicorn. He had taken the Crystal Empire before, and he would do it again. But he wasn't so arrogant as to believe nopony could teach him anything. These five mares, as well as their dragon and that missing white unicorn, had taught him quite a bit. Sombra knew fear. He knew hatred and misery. Those were tools he had used to take the Crystal Empire, and they were good tools in their own right. But these ponies had shown him just how useful light and love could be.

Take away everything a pony loves, and they'll cringe away from you, they'll flee, and they'll cower. Most of the time. But some few will rise up against you. Some few powerful ponies like the ones in this little group, and the new Crystal Princess.

What Sombra had found is that if you give a pony everything they've ever dreamed, they won't even want to leave.

The ponies sat there, staring blankly forward with green eyes. King Sombra smiled cruelly, and turned to seek out the last of their group. He could already see himself on the throne once again, and soon there would be nopony left to stop him.

LP34: Final Exam [General]

The Prompt: Finals.

It was the day of her final exam.

Twilight Sparkle walked though the halls of Canterlot Castle, with a slowly growing panic in her heart. She had her final exam today, she knew that, and she knew it was with Princess Celestia, of course. But for some reason she didn't know exactly where they were to meet. Sometimes they had lessons in Princess Celestia's private study, other times it was in the magical containment room. Some of their exams were in old, disused ballrooms or even in the throne room during busy times.

The study. That's where she should go first. But... where was she now? Twilight Sparkle couldn't help but trot a bit faster as she searched the hallways. She had just been near the throne room, so Princess Celestia's study should be right here! But there was no door, and the hallway didn't look familiar. She was already late, and even Princess Celestia's patience had its limits!

Twilight broke into a gallop. Nope. Nope, not that room either. Was that, Princess Luna's room? She thought she knew all the halls of Canterlot Castle! Was this some closed wing? Was she not supposed to be here?

Suddenly, the door she opened was the correct one. Inside was Princess Celestia's quiet, peaceful study. Twilight immediately felt better, and trotted her way inside. Princess Celestia looked up from her reading, and smiled at Twilight. "Good morning, Twilight Sparkle. You were quite nearly late! Oh, and what a lovely dress."

"I'm sorry! I know I'm usually here earlier, but I--" A dress? Twilight looked back at herself, and was horrified to find her dress for the Grand Galloping Gala. She had come to school in clothes! Everypony knew that you weren't supposed to wear clothing to school, it was a distraction and disruptive to the learning process. "I'm sorry, I don't know how this happened!"

"Well, your exam is there on the table. You have one hour from now, and I'm sure you'll do well. I have every confidence in you, my most faithful student."

Twilight smiled gratefully at her mentor and teacher, and sat down at the little desk she often used for these exams. A sort of practiced calm set over her. She always felt right at home with exams and paper-writing. Sure, before the test started she was anxious, usually, but once she was at the desk she always found that she knew exactly the answers required. She signed her name at the top of the paper, and looked down the page.

First question... Twilight stared at the words. It was on combining two of the types of magic. Twilight knew magic, she knew it very well. She could cast both of these types, but she knew as well as anypony that that couldn't be combined. But here, Celestia's first question was how to do so. Twilight's pencil, held in her magic, tapped the page once or twice, before she glanced down to the next question.

Second question, a full accounting of the history of Equestria, beginning with the events of Hearts Warming, and ending with yesterday. That... that one might have to wait.

"I did say that you may begin, Twilight." Twilight looked up to see Celestia watching her, and was suddenly aware that she had yet to write anything. How long had she been sitting here? A glance at the clock showed that she had already wasted ten minutes!

Third question! 'List all of the ingredients, from scratch, for the Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness.' That might take even longer than the history question! If Twilight even knew the answer, which she wasn't entirely certain she did.

She could feel herself breaking into a nervous sweat as she scanned through the questions. Each one was either contradictory, or too huge, or simple but she couldn't quite remember. Had she studied? What was the test even supposed to be about? The questions were all over the place! Princess Celestia cleared her throat, and looked disapprovingly over the rim of her glasses at Twilight. Since when did Princess Celestia wear glasses? Those looked like the ones that Twilight's magic kindergarten teacher had worn, the one that had always disapproved of how Twilight knew all the answers!

Suddenly, a voice cut through Twilight's surging panic, seeming to clear it all away in an instant. "I believe that is enough of that."

A blue line of magic cut through the room, and Princess Celestia disappeared into mist. Twilight Sparkle spun around to see Princess Luna standing there, mane and tail flowing gently, and wearing a strangely satisifed look on her face. "Greetings, Twilight Sparkle. Put down your pencil, you have nothing to worry about."

"Princess Luna? What did you do? What happened to--" Twilight Sparkle folded her ears back nervously. "... This is a dream, isn't it?"

Luna smiled, and stepped forward. The room seemed to shimmer a bit around them. "It is, and how interesting that you realized that so quickly. I must admit, I have seen many school-related dreams, but so rarely are they focused on my sister."

Twilight tried to fight the blush she felt creeping over her muzzle. "I... well, I don't know why I'm dreaming about this. I'm not even her student anymore."

Princess Luna raised an eyebrow, in a way that made Twilight feel suddenly very foalish. "Really? You don't know why you might be dreaming about failing Celestia?"

Lowering her head, with her ears still folded back, Twilight shook her head slightly. "... The Summer Sun Celebration is tomorrow."

"It is. Yesterday, you saved all of Equestria. You, and your friends. You gave up the Elements of Harmony. Surely you cannot be worried about a simple performance."

Twilight sighed, and looked aside. "But it's more than that. I... I've saved Equestria before. A few times. I've taken tests, and I've cast all sorts of spells. But this is my first time performing official royal duties. I know that Princess Celestia thinks that I'll be a good princess, and that I can do it, but..."

Princess Luna watched Twilight as she trailed off without finishing her sentence. "Twilight, my sister has faith in you. Tomorrow is a performance, nothing more. Princess Celestia knows you, we both do. You will do well tomorrow, and I do not know that you are capable of failing my sister when she needs you."

"But that's just the thing. What will happen if I do fail her? Not tomorrow, I... I guess that would just be embarrassing. But we've had so many times when we nearly failed to protect Equestria, and what if we don't make it next time?"

Luna smiled at her. "You will. I know that it is new to you, but you are a princess. You are more than you once were, and you will not fail Equestria." Princess Luna paused a moment, and spoke more quietly. "My sister and I both know how you feel. Equestria is still here, thousands of moons later. Do not worry, Twilight."

Twilight smiled, and nodded. She wasn't sure what it was, some power of the dream, some magic of Luna's, or just the reassurance of a pony she respected, but she did feel better. For now, anyway. "Thank you, Princess."

Princess Luna nodded to her, and smiled slightly. "Trust me. My sister used to have similar dreams. Starswirl was not the most forgiving of teach- Oh, but it is nearly morning. My sister and I will see you soon, Twilight. Do not worry, you will do your part perfectly."

"Wait, Starswirl the Bea-" But then Twilight Sparkle woke up, sitting bolt upright in bed. She sat there, blinking vacantly for a moment, and then smiled again as she hear Spike snoring from his little bed beside hers. Princess Luna was right. This morning would go well, she would do her big finish for the Summer Sun Celebration, and everything would be perfectly fine. As for the next time Equestria truly needed her, well, she hadn't failed so far. Besides, once she started the test, she always found that she had the answers she needed.

Hopping down from her bed, Twilight used her magic to nudge her baby dragon awake, and started getting ready for her first royal duties.

LP37: Fleur Lis Dee [General]

The Prompt: The Mare from Canterlot

(Some days you look up and realize that somehow you missed two entire weeks of prompts without noticing. Whoops! I feel like I ought to go back and do them anyway. Anyway here's this week's.)

"Yes, now just hold the fabric just like that... there! Thank you, Spikey-wikey, you are always such a dear."

Rarity smiled graciously at the little dragon, and Spike blushed and nodded, still holding the piles of fabric just so. Rarity knew that the fabric was heavy, and that the positioning put Spike in a somewhat awkward pose, but he was always so willing to help that she could hardly deny him the opportunity. She worked quickly to secure the fabric with a rough stitch, just to keep it in place. Only a few loops of the thread into her work, however, a knock at the door interrupted her. Rarity sighed quietly. "Do hold that pose for just a moment more? I'll only be a moment, I'm sure, and I do want to finish this before Fleur Lis Dee arrives for our little collaboration."

"Sure thing, Rarity!" Spike spoke with just the slightest telling strain in his voice. Rarity rewarded him with another smile, and let her mind drift over her current collection of gems, searching for something with which to repay him more properly.

As she thought, she trotted her way over to the door of her boutique, and spoke as she opened it. "Welcome to Carousel Boutique, where every garment is chi-- Oh! Fleur Lis Dee! I didn't expect you for another day at least!"

Fleur swept her way into the boutique with a flourish. She was, as always, quite a bit taller than the average mare, and thin, with a statuesque figure that set her quite apart from the rest of Canterlot, let alone the rustic earth ponies of a village like Ponyville. "Oh, but I had a few extra things to attend to while I'm here, Rarity, so I thought I'd arrive early."

A porter carrying a dozen heavy-looking suitcases, trunks, and cloth garment bags struggled his way into the boutique behind Fleur, and nearly collapsed as he set the bags down. Rarity absent-mindedly used her magic to pass him a small gem as a tip, before turning to speak to Fleur. "I had meant to meet you at the train station, of course! I do hope you found your way easily enough?"

Fleur Lis Dee stepped elegantly through the Boutique, eyes scanning over the decor and assorted dresses and other garments as she spoke. Rarity couldn't help but feel slightly vulnerable and exposed as this beautiful pony looked over her life's work as though it were just another storefront. "Yes, of course. The stallions here have been most helpful. Oh, such a quaint little space you have here! It will be wonderful to work with you on my new line."

Rarity's eyebrow twitched slightly at the 'quaint', but she bit back any sort of comment. Before she could come up with a suitable reply, a clattering of falling pins and flumph of falling fabric brought her mind back to her work. Rarity looked over to see Spike in a collapsed pile of what might have become a dress at some point, gawking open-mouthed at Fleur. Fleur, for her part, regarded the little dragon with widened eyes a moment before adopting a pretty, confident smile. "And who is this?"

Rarity coughed politely, and lit her horn to pick up the fabrics and other mess from around her friend. "Oh, I'm being perfectly rude, aren't I? Fleur Lis Dee, this is my dear friend Spike. He's a dragon, and assistant to Princess Twilight."

Spike finally snapped out of whatever trance he was in, and bowed in his typical naive, slightly foalish way. "Hi, Fleur Lis Dee, I'm Spike, I mean, I know Rarity said it, but, uh."

Fleur smiled, and something about that smile slightly irritated Rarity. Fleur bowed as well, though not nearly as low, and replied in her calm, composed, elegant voice. "It's good to meet you, Spike. You must be a very important dragon to assist the Princess."

Spike blushed brightly, and took his tail nervously in his claws as he looked aside. "Oh, uh... sure! I'm really important!"

"Spike, dear, Fleur is quite important and wealthy herself, I'm quite certain you have nothing to be embarrassed about." As soon as the words left her lips, Rarity realized that they didn't entirely make sense. "Now, Fleur, I've taken the liberty of cleaning up the guest room and making quite certain it is well-appointed enough to serve for your stay. It may not be quite the elegance and sophistication of Canterlot, but I'm sure you'll be simply delighted at the decor."

Fleur Lis Dee turned toward Rarity, and her eyes flitted over to the door. A slight crease crossed her brow for only a moment. "Oh, it is so difficult to find good help. That porter was supposed to be helping me with my few bags. I'm quite sorry, Rarity, I suppose I should have sent word. The Mayor heard of my visit and has arranged for me to stay at the castle."

"Really?" Spike hopped up in excitement, his nervousness apparently gone. "You're staying with me and Twilight?"

With another smile, Fleur nodded to the dragon. "Yes, I believe so. Though I'm not at all certain how I will carry my luggage all the way there."

"I'll do it! I'm used to carrying stuff around!" Without even waiting for a response, Spike ran over to the pile of bags and trunks, and set himself to gathering them. Fleur made no move to stop him, and indeed looked just a bit smug as she watched the baby dragon collect her things.

Rarity stepped forward again, fluttering her eyelashes as she spoke to Spike. "Spike, darling, I don't doubt that we can find another porter to help you. You simply don't need to do everything yourself."

"Huh?" Spike turned and glanced at her, before smiling up at Fleur again. "It's no problem, Rarity! Happy to help!"

"But I was, I mean, we were working on a project, Spike, and-"

Fleur spoke gently, even as she interrupted Rarity. "Oh, don't worry, Rarity. I'll bring your handsome little helper back tomorrow. I do so look forward to working with you. Come along, Spike, let's make our way to the Princess' castle, shall we?"

Rarity only watched as the two walked out of her suddenly quiet Boutique, without so much as a goodbye. 'Quaint', was it? After she had spent so much time working on a room for that ungrateful mare, and- Rarity sighed, and shook her head. There was no reason to be so upset, Fleur was accustomed to ponies bowing and scraping and doing everything they could to please her. But something still bothered Rarity. Her horn glowed, and she held the various pieces of fabric in her magic as she continued her work on the dress, alone.

Taking her hospitality for granted, taking all the credit for their upcoming fashion line, and now taking her Spike? She would show Fleur Lis Dee what a true fashionista was like. She would show her just how things were done differently here in Ponyville.

Rarity's eyes narrowed as she put a little more flourish on jabbing the needle through the fine fabric. She would also win her little dragon back.

LP38: Day Late [Comedy?]

The Prompt: A day late and a dollar short.

(I had fun with this one even though it doesn't really go anywhere.)

The Ponyville town hall looked even nicer in the dark of night than it had in the daylight. The bright, regal ornamentation, streamers, and banners chosen by that unicorn mare, Rarity, had muted in the darkness into a sort of uniform covering, helping to dampen the sound of the dozens of ponies awaiting sunrise. Twilight Sparkle couldn't help looking up at the decorations, she was certain that they'd burst back into full color in the light of the morning, and it would look spectacular.

Thinking about that wasn't quite enough to distract her from the annoying pink earth pony that was blathering excitedly right next to her ear. Though Pinkie had been nothing but kind and friendly, if perhaps a little overexcited and slow to take a hint, Twilight didn't really have the patience to deal with her at the moment. Thankfully, only a moment more passed before the trilling of Fluttershy's birds and the rising fanfare of trumpets called the crowd to order.

Twilight did feel glad that the fanfare went off without any problems. She hadn't really been able to make certain that Fluttershy had finished training the birds, and... in a less professional light, she wouldn't want to see such a shy, pretty pony humiliated. Even if she barely knew her.

The mayor of Ponyville, a mare who looked a bit too young to have a fully grayed mane, stood among the hanging fabrics onstage, lit by a nearby unicorn playing spotlight. "Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!"

The crowd burst into cheering, but very little of their excitement made it through to Twilight. She had read the prophecy, she knew what was coming, even if Princess Celestia seemed to think she was wrong. It was a rare thing for her, to think Princess Celestia might be wrong about something, but all the books pointed to today being disastrous! The mayor's speech went on, somewhere in the background, as Twilight looked up to the moon. Four tiny points of light seemed to focus and move in behind it, and there was a small flash of light. Twilight folded her ears back nervously.

"... the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon, each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria... Princess Celestia!"

With pride, the mayor gestured upwards toward a balcony, as Fluttershy's birds again joined with the trumpeters in a triumphant fanfare. The assorted pegasus ponies above who had been anxiously flying in loops and fidgeting, as well as the throng of earth ponies and unicorns below, all turned in rapt attention as Rarity pulled the cord to open the hanging curtains.

There, on the balcony, regal and pure, with her characteristic grace and perfect, glowing beauty and poise, stood Princess Celestia. Though a pony who knew her, such as Twilight, couldn't help but notice just the slightest look of bemused concern on the Princess' brow. Still she stepped forward without hesitation, and spoke in her clear, slightly maternal voice. "Citizens of Ponyville, it is my great honor to be here today, to raise the sun that brings light to us all."

Twilight Sparkle stood there in the crowd, her mouth hanging open as Celestia's short speech went on. During a pause between sentences, the Princess looked down and met her eyes, and smiled comfortingly at her. Twilight closed her mouth, and blushed a bit in embarrassment. She had been wrong. Celestia had been right all along. There was nothing bad happening at all!

The sudden fanfare refocused Twilight to what was happening, and she looked up to the Princess again. Princess Celestia flapped her wings, and rose in silence from the little wooden balcony, her horn glowing brightly. Twilight stared in rapt attention at the spell she had seen cast a thousand times, but never really would be able to fully duplicate. The sun rose outside, the light in the windows slowly growing until the sunrise crested high enough to pour in through the window behind Celestia. The orange sun bathed all the cloths and banners in flame-like glow, and the hall simply burst into color and light. Rarity, though nopony was looking at her, wore a slightly smug smile at just how perfectly her decorations had worked.

Twilight blushed further and couldn't tell whether she was embarrassed by her insistence that the world was ending, or relieved that it hadn't ended after all. All the ponies around her were stamping their hooves and cheering in glee and adoration of their Princess, and even Spike's hot, yawning dragon-breath against her mane didn't quite pull her out of her confused state. As the moment passed, however, Twilight simply shook her head and joined in the cheering.

The morning feasting went along splendidly, as did the singing, the dancing, and all the other celebratory noise and partying that ponies in rustic small towns like this always did. Twilight smiled and danced and laughed along with everypony else, even as Spike slept through it all on a chair by the wall. She had to admit that it was fun, in a way, to visit such a friendly and lively little town. Canterlot celebrations were never quite this free and fun. Granted, she was hardly an expert in any sort of partying, but the few she had been to had all been much more formal and bland.

Princess Celestia, for her part, seemed content to spend her time delicately sampling some of the local foods supplied, and speaking politely to the mayor and other important ponies seated near to her. Nopony noticed, or at least nopony mentioned, how the princess kept looking side to side almost in worry, and how anypony's surprised gasps or cries of delight drew her eye as though she was concerned that sompony had spotted danger.

After the festivities were over, Twilight Sparkle followed alongside Princess Celestia as the two walked toward the waiting royal chariot. Spike lazily slept across Twilight's back, his warm, comforting weight reminding her that she hadn't had any sleep last night either. "I'm sorry, Princess. I was so sure that Nightmare Moon was going to return today. I guess you were right; not everything I read in a book is true."

That slight hint of concern crossed Celestia's brow again, but she nodded after, and smiled down at her student. "No need to apologize, my faithful student. Are you not happy that you will soon return to your studies, in Canterlot?"

Twilight Sparkle glanced back to the stream of ponies walking, exhausted, out of the town hall. Pinkie Pie waved at hoof at her, smiling brightly. Rainbow Dash was collapsed across Applejack's back as the earth pony carted her off to somewhere she could rest, and Rarity was complaining about how the lack of sleep would affect her complexion, to a politely attentive, if somewhat sluggish, Fluttershy. The past few hours had been a lot of fun, talking to new ponies, forgetting about studying and reading, and just losing herself in the life and frivolity of this small town celebration. When she looked back up to her mentor, she spotted a little sparkle of certainty and possibly triumph in the tall alicorn's eyes. After a moment's consideration, she spoke. "... I am. I had a lot of fun here, but if anything, this whole thing only proves that I need to study on how to be more discerning and know truth from fiction!"

Princess Celestia's brow twitched, but she only nodded demurely. "Of course, Twilight Sparkle. I look forward to hearing about all that you've learned."

Today. Finally, today, after so long, she would be free. A thousand years of imprisonment on this cold, barren rock, and it was finally over!

Nightmare Moon looked out over Equestria. Soon the sun would set behind the world, and her time would arrive! She turned to look at the stars that should finally be approaching her moon, and--

The stars were slowly drifting away. Away from her moon. How could this be? How could her plans, set in motion so long ago, have failed her?

She looked out over the barren plain before her. In the ever-stilled moondust were a myriad of marks. She glanced over them, counting in her mind. There, that group, that set was another, then... yes. Three hundred and sixty-five thousand, two hundred and fifty marks. It was her time now, why--

The errant mark lay in the dust there, not crossed like the other sets of five. She had missed one. Today was not the thousandth anniversary of her banishment! It was... it was the day after.

With a brilliant, violent, angry flash of magic, Nightmare Moon blasted away the thousands of hashmarks in the lunar regolith. She stood glaring, and gritting her teeth at the now bare lunar rock. Long she stood there, staring at the marks of a thousand years wiped away in an instant.

She lifted a hoof, and scratched a mark in the exposed stone.

"One."

Three hundred sixty-five thousand, two hundred and forty-nine more to go.

LP39: Equestria Buck Yeah [Comedy?]

The Prompt: Equestria, Buck Yeah!

This didn't quite work out the way I wanted it, and it's too short. Oh well.

Rainbow Dash fidgeted a bit in the seat. It was a little too small for a full-grown mare, like all the seats in the room aside from Cheerilee's. She remembered these parent-teacher things from when she was a filly in Cloudsdale. Rainbow Dash squirmed in the filly-sized chair; she didn't even like school when she was IN school. Scootaloo was sitting next to her, looking both nervous and annoyed, and Cheerilee was sorting through the little book of class records she kept. So yeah, probably Scoots was in trouble for something. But one thing was wrong here. "You know I'm not her mom, right?"

Cheerilee smiled at Rainbow, though it looked pretty insincere. "Of course, Rainbow Dash. But Scootaloo has had a few behavioral problems that she says she learned from you."

Scootaloo pointedly avoided looking at Rainbow for the moment. Rainbow thought back over what all she'd done since sorta-sister-adopting Scootaloo. There was Wonderbolt Academy, where she nearly got everypony killed with a tornado, but Scootaloo wasn't even there. She'd made a huge mess of caring for Fluttershy's animals for a while, but it wasn't like Scootaloo would be doing that in school. Then there was the whole Castle of the Two Sisters thing, and the vampire bats, the Equestria Games mess, trying to sell Fluttershy for a book, but--

"She yelled out 'buck yeah' when she received her last exam results." Cheerilee looked more than a little annoyed at Rainbow getting lost in recollection.

Scootaloo pouted with her forelegs crossed over her barrel. "So? Rainbow Dash says it sometimes! It's just words!"

"What? That's it? Come on, you don't have to bring me in here for that!" Rainbow Dash flapped her wings, hopping up into the air a few feet and feeling better for being out of the seat.

Cheerilee silently looked up at Rainbow Dash until the pegasus landed on the floor again. "We have rules about that kind of language, Rainbow. I just wanted you to know that you shouldn't be teaching a filly that sort of thing."

... Yeah, annoying as she was being, Cheerilee was probably right. Which meant that Rainbow Dash needed to find a way out of this before she ended up having to apologize or something. Thankfully, she'd heard two fillies just outside the room who weren't about to get cutie marks in being sneaky. "Come on, Cheerilee, what the hay? It's not the end of the world if she says something like that."

"Rainbow Dash! That is exactly what I'm talking about. If you go around saying things like 'what the hay', then fillies are going to hear it and use it themselves."

"Now wait just a minute!" A filly's voice called out from the doorway, and Rainbow grinned. Just like she thought.

"My sister says that sometimes to! An' she says buck when she's talkin' about applebucking!" Apple Bloom stamped a hoof on the floor defiantly. "They ain't bad words if Applejack says 'em. She wouldn't say nothin' wrong!"

"She wouldn't say *anything* wrong." Cheerilee deftly corrected the filly.

Apple Bloom smiled and stood triumphant. "Darn right she wouldn't!"

"Apple Bloom, that's not what I meant-"

"Ain't that right, Sweetie Belle?"

Sweetie Belle only poked her head around the door frame cautiously. "Um, Rarity calls that kind of thing uncouth. She doesn't like ponies talking like that."

"Un-couth?! Don't you go callin' my family uncouth!"

"But it's Rarity saying that, I LIKE playing in the mud!"

"Now girls, this really isn't the poi-"

"My family doesn't just play in the mud all the time! We got work to do, if you're doin' work you're goin' to get muddy!"

"Rarity does work too!"

"GIRLS!" The sharp call dragged both fillies' attention back to the fact that they'd been sneaking around a private meeting, and they had the decency to be quiet and look contrite. "There's no fighting allowed in school. Now, Rainbow, I--"

Rainbow Dash's seat was empty, and Scootaloo was nowhere to be found either. Cheerilee looked around the room, and frowned at the window hanging open and creaking in the breeze from outside. She turned her attention back to the other two crusaders, only to find them both gone too, with the sound of little hooves clattering down the hallway. Cheerilee sighed, and glanced back at her cutie mark as if she half expected it to change and let her do something easier than teaching.

But of course it didn't, and all she could do was pencil in a talk with Applejack for later in the week, and then set to grading the rest of the exams.

LP41: The Walls Fall [Drama?]

The Prompt: Secret agent mare

Warning, episode 100 spoilers.

"... and you're not the only one with a secret, y'know."

In less than a second, Lyra knew that Bon Bon knew. Or Sweetie Drops. Whatever name she wanted to be now. Her face was a mixture of worry, hurt, and a certain kind of knowing tension underneath it. But Lyra had spent the past little while preparing, and went ahead with her (true!) story about Bon Bon's (delicious!) imported oats. They really had been quite good, as oats went, and certainly a better story than the real truth.

As soon as it was obvious that Lyra wasn't going to open that particular can of worms, Bon Bon smiled, and their friendship was right back to normal.

Yes, back to normal, with that slight divide between them that never quite seemed to disappear no matter how close they became.

Lyra and Bon Bon shared a warm hug, and sat together for the wedding, ate together at the reception, and so on. Everything was comfortably back to normal.

That night as Lyra lay in bed and stared blankly at the darkened ceiling, she couldn't help but wonder exactly how much Bon Bon knew. It was a surprise to Lyra, that Bon had been part of the shuttered anti-monster organization. Lyra had known of it, in a sort of off-hand kind of way. But it had been shuttered a bit after her dispatch to Ponyville, so the specifics weren't in the intelligence she had been given.

Lyra lifted her hoof into the darkness of the room, and let the disguise fade. Yep, still a changeling. Surprise.

It had been well over a decade now since Queen Mother Chrysalis had deployed her here. One of the small number of long-term spies, none knowing any of the others, who were placed in various towns in various nations over the world. She had been trained to work with little to no supervision, which was good when the Queen was defeated in battle and promptly disappeared, along with most of the command structure. Since the fiasco in Canterlot, she hadn't heard from any of her compatriots at all, and she was starting to wonder just how many changelings were still alive.

Didn't really matter, now that she thought about it. Changelings in her position had always had a high tendency to go native, so to speak, and... well, she hadn't been writing reports for some time now anyway.

But Bon Bon was not who she seemed, and if she was part of some secret organization, she must have some knowledge of the 'monsters' of the world. Her reaction earlier proved, or at least hinted, that she knew about this one. So... why were they friends? Had Bon Bon figured it out immediately? The early days of their friendship had been a bit strange, Bon Bon seemed to flip from personality to personality sometimes, and her voice seemed to change with it. Over time she'd worked herself out, of course, and now she was simply Bon Bon. Or... she had been. For a time Lyra had thought that Bon might have been one of the other spies, but she had never responded correctly to any of the code phrases.

Lyra swapped her hoof back and forth between black carapace and mint-green fur.

So here they were again. Bon Bon had let down the walls, under duress, but still. She had let Lyra in, just a little more, but Lyra hadn't done the same. Maybe she couldn't do the same. Oh, she knew what Bon Bon thought of her. That friendly love was there, only slightly tainted by the bit of distance they always kept; the lies between them. But it was still there, a nice icing on the pony food that Lyra lived on.

"It's sort of thrilling to reveal your deepest, darkest secrets!" That's what she had told Bon before the wedding. She imagined it was true. It probably was. But was this secret too deep or too dark? She hadn't done anything terribly treasonous. No eating ponies, not that changelings did that anyway, despite paranoid pony theories to the contrary. She hadn't hurt anypony, nor had she sold out any meaningful secrets to the Queen. Only because she hadn't found anything notable in Ponyville until after the mess in Canterlot had come and gone.

But now that secret sat heavier inside her than it had before. She knew about Bon Bon's past, she knew more than she had, and yet she still had to hide this from her best friend. She had kept this from her for years, actually for the entire time they had known each other. Earlier today, Bon Bon had lost what might have been her last real secret, the last barrier between them.

Lyra rolled to the side, and hopped down to the floor. She started in a trot toward Bon Bon's room, just down the hall. Her trot became a canter, and then a gallop. She had to do this before she lost her nerve. Galloping around in a wooden house certainly made noise, and before she even knocked, Lyra could hear Bon Bon grumbling about being awakened in the middle of the night. Standing in front of the door, Lyra felt her will wavering. As the door handle clicked, she felt it shatter. She couldn't... she couldn't risk it.

"Lyra? What are you doing, it's the middle of the..." Bon Bon trailed off mid-sentence.

She couldn't tell her. "Oh, it's... nothing, sorry, I--"

Lyra looked at the hoof she was using to wave off her friend's concerns. Furry, mint-green leg faded to black, carapaced hoof. She froze for a second, and her eyes looked into Bon Bon's. Neither mare said anything for a few long, tense seconds. Finally, Lyra's voice came back to her.

"Bon Bon, I... I have a secret to tell you, too. Can we talk?"

Bon Bon smiled, and opened her door for her best friend.

LP42: Don't Panic [Shipping, Drama?]

The Prompt: Don't Panic.
Alternate Prompt: Panic!

Don't panic, Fluttershy.

Fluttershy forced a smile as she saw the stallion start to walk toward her. She should be okay, it was okay. It was just Caramel. They didn't know one another, not really, but she had seen him in town a few times. He was part of Applejack's family, so he couldn't be too bad. Besides, they were at one of Pinkie's parties, ponies spoke to one another all the time at parties, so it was okay.

Caramel smiled at her, and somehow it didn't comfort her at all. "Heya, Fluttershy."

"Um... hi."

That was too quiet, wasn't it? He was going to think she was weird. Most pegasus ponies were loud and confident, like Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy could hear how quiet she was being, and feel how her ears had folded back against her head in nervousness. Don't panic, it's going to be okay.

Fluttershy looked back up to Caramel. He was saying something, but she only caught the end of it. Fluttershy smiled, and nodded her head for him to continue, but he just looked at her strangely. Oh, no. "Um, I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I was just askin' how you're liking Pinkie's Apple Pie Party."

"Oh, it's... nice. Very... lively, and um, loud."

There, now he was talking again, with that slight Ponyville accent that a lot of the Apples shared. Fluttershy tried to pay attention, instead of getting caught up in how insincere she must have sounded. Fluttershy didn't really dislike loud parties, or lively ones. She just never felt completely comfortable unless she knew everypony there. This party had too many guests that she didn't really know, like Caramel, and it was just a little too--

Fluttershy smiled and nodded at Caramel's story about Sassaflash, and he smiled and kept going.

Good, see? Everything was fine, no reason to panic.

"But I guess after all the fightin' when Pinkie Pie wasn't herself, we jus' never really worked it out."

Oh, they must have broken up. Fluttershy smiled sympathetically, though of course she had no idea what breaking up with somepony felt like. "Oh, that's, um, too bad. I'm sure you'll find somepony again."

Wait, he seemed sort of nervous as well. But Caramel wasn't a nervous pony, he was a normal pony. A stallion even. Other ponies didn't get nervous like Fluttershy did, not just about talking to somepony new.

Don't panic. He was probably just nervous because Fluttershy was being weird. That was probably it.

"But y'know, I was thinking, it might be nice to meet somepony new."

Don't panic, it's okay.

"Applejack seems to think the world of you."

Don't, don't panic.

"How'd you like to go out for a cider sometime, Fluttershy?"

Okay, panic.

Fluttershy covered her head with one of the small pillows she kept on her couch in her cottage. She didn't remember much about leaving the party, nor about how she got back to her cottage so quickly. But she was sure at least one of her friends had seen her leave, and she was sure Caramel wouldn't be asking her out on a date again any time soon. Probably nopony would.

The pillow smelled a bit like mice. It was comforting even if most ponies wouldn't think so.

Her panic was gone now, burned away during her flight back home. But now she knew what came next.

One of her friends, probably Twilight or Rarity, would be here soon. They would coo and talk to her quietly, and try to reassure her. Fluttershy loved her friends, all of them, but she didn't need that, not now. She was already calm, and her friends would think she was weird for running away and then looking like she was completely okay when they came to help.

Fluttershy put the pillow down on the couch, and lay down on her front, staring forward.

All of her practice, all the books about how to be confident, Iron Will's seminar, Discord's magic, it all... it wasn't enough. She had come so far since meeting Twilight, when she could barely speak to new ponies at all, but she still wasn't normal. Another mare would have been happy with a date from the handsome, if maybe a bit awkward earth pony stallion, Caramel. A normal pony would have danced at the party, and had fun with everpony. A normal pony would definitely not have panicked, squeaked and dashed backwards before taking flight and disappearing into the night.

By the time Rarity made it to Fluttershy's cottage to help calm her friend, she found Fluttershy sobbing into a pillow, and smiled as she trotted over to calm her friend.

LP44: The Unicorn Twilight Sparkle [General]

The prompt:

Who are you?

OR

Who am I?

Anyway, here's this. Didn't go quite as I expected, but it came out alright. Minor spoilers if you haven't seen season five yet, also mentions a location/pony from the Princess Celestia chapter book, but nothing that spoils anything for that.

Princess Twilight:

I need to see you and your friends in Canterlot immediately. Do not delay.

-Princess Celestia

Twilight Sparkle found herself suddenly being forced to think about how quickly a day could turn from completely normal into a harrowing strangeness.

The morning had come and gone quite easily, an early sunrise brightening everypony's spirits, with a pleasant breakfast with Spike in their admittedly oddly decorated castle kitchen, and then a quiet, invigorating walk through one of Ponyville's parks. She had spent the rest of the morning preparing for lunch with her friends, just a nice, calm picnic to celebrate the sunny weather. After the picnic was over and everypony was relaxing in the sunshine, Spike had delivered the strangely terse letter from the Princess.

It was never a good thing to get a letter like that.

So inside of two hours, Twilight and her friends were in Canterlot, and after a strangely serious checking over by castle security, they were allowed into one of the secure meeting areas in the Castle.

There, they had found Princess Celestia, and the unicorn, Twilight Sparkle.

So yes, Princess Twilight found herself going back over the events of the day in her mind, to remind herself of normality.

Princess Celestia gestured to the purple unicorn by her side, speaking in calm, level tones as she finished her explanation. "So you can understand why I would be concerned. This Twilight had decided to extend her stay in Morocolt some years ago, and has been studying there for the past while. Her letter to me about leaving my school was lost in the mail, it seems, and now we have two Twilight Sparkles."

"No we do not!" Princess Twilight stamped a hoof on the stone flooring of the room, and then folded her ears back in embarrassment at her outburst. "Sorry! But Princess Celestia, how could you believe this pony over the rest of us? I've been your student since I was a filly! You've been watching over me for most of my life, I became an alicorn through my studies and my friendship with these ponies!"

Her friends stood resolutely with her, nodding their agreement in varying levels of stalwart determination. The other Twilight looked unimpressed. "Listen, whoever you are, I know who I am. I'm the real Twilight Sparkle, I spent years studying under Celestia, and then under the Duchess Diamond Waves in Morocolt, only to find that somepony has been pretending to be me, all this time!"

The impostor Twilight Sparkle calmed herself as Celestia lay a hoof on her withers, blushing deeply and quieting immediately, with a familiar hero worship in her eyes that made Princess Twilight frown. Princess Celestia continued. "Twilight, please. Both of you, I understand this is confusing. I'm not sure what to make of it myself."

Princess Twilight pressed a hoof to her chest, took a deep breath, and then let out her breath as she moved her hoof forward. As always, it helped calm her nerves just a bit. "Okay, 'Twilight', this should be pretty easy to fix. What was the day that you got your cutie mark?"

"The twelfth of Hay, ten years ago. What was the first test you got a perfect mark on at Princess Celestia's school?"

"'The Basics of Unicorn Magic and Spellcasting', in Miss Sunny Days' class. Which book did I, I mean, you, and Shining Armor memorize together as foals?"

"The Monster-pedia! Which first edition book did Moon Dancer give you- I mean, give us, on our birthday?"

Princess Twilight hesitated a moment, looking a bit confused. "... The Principles of Magic. I had forgotten all about that until recently, though. How did you-- Ugh! Nevermind, I know how to fix this!"

Everypony had spent the last while looking back and forth between the two purple ponies as they quizzed one another on their lives, but now all eyes were on Princess Twilight as her horn glowed with magic. Nopony but Celestia could recognize the spell being cast, but it looked awfully complex. Still, Princess Twilight was practiced enough in magic that she could speak while she cast. "This will reveal any changeling that might be in here, PRETENDING to be somepony they aren't."

The other Twilight only raised an eyebrow skeptically.

Princess Twilight's horn flashed, and everypony shielded their eyes. When they could see again, the unicorn Twilight was still standing next to Princess Celestia, and everypony was staring open-mouthed at Princess Twilight. She looked around at her friends and mentor, and then down at her black, carapaced hooves. Her eyes widened, and she flexed a muscle she didn't know she had, turning herself back to the familiar purple fur almost on instinct. "I.. what? But... I..."

In a flash, two of the stallion guards waiting by the door were beside Princess Celestia, though she stopped them with a motion of her hoof. At the same time, Rainbow Dash leaped up and planted herself between Celestia and Princess Twilight, wings flared. "Hey! I don't know who THAT is, but if she's been in Morocolt all this time, then THIS Twilight is our friend! I don't know what's going on, but nopony is touching her until we figure it out!"

Princess Twilight knew she'd have to thank Rainbow for her defense later, but right now her head was spinning and she wasn't sure that she was who she thought she was anyway. All she could think about was how normally this day had started, and how now it seemed very possible that nothing would ever be normal again.

LP45: The Return of Harmony (Sad? Slight AU)

Twilight Sparkle stomped into the library loft with a scowl on her face, and her coat just as gray as all her friends' had been. "Pack your things, Spike. We're leaving."

Spike looked up wordlessly from where he'd been sweeping and trying to get his mind off of how strangely everypony was acting lately.

"... and don't ask me where we're going, 'cause... I don't know yet. Just not here."

The prompt:

I won't rely on anyone.

Spike dropped his broom as he saw Twilight toss her Element of Harmony into the trash bin. "But what about Discord? We can't just leave! Princess Celestia--"

Twilight's voice fell, and she blinked back tears as she randomly pulled a few odds and ends from the room into a disorganized mess in her suitcase. "I can't use the Elements of Harmony without my friends, Spike, and they've all gone crazy. I can't rely on any of them, they're all terrible now. I think... I think I finally failed Celestia when it mattered most."

Spike started to protest, but then just hopped up onto the bed to try to sort out the mess Twilight was making of her packing. She'd be back to herself soon, he was sure of it.

Twilight Sparkle poked her head around the building to look across what... wasn't this where Ponyville used to be?

Things seemed relatively calm today. Gravity was mostly behaving, mostly, and the sun had been steady at mid-morning for about three days now. But she could see a few apple core stalks in the old town square, so that would be good food for now. At least the ground here was still the solid checker pattern and not the mushy sponges around Canterlot.

The apple cores were a strange food that you had to eat in reverse, but a pony could get used to it in time. At least it hadn't been raining lately, that chocolate milk was getting less and less tasty as time went on. She still had some cola from being under Cloudsdale's ruins a few days ago, so she didn't need any chocolate milk anyway.

Suddenly Twilight's ears perked up at the crackle of magic. Magic was never a good thing, and doubly so if she couldn't quite tell who was casting it. Twilight hopped back away from the glowing shine that appeared in the middle of the square, and hid herself behind one of the cotton candy bushes nearby. Even after everything, she couldn't quite stop herself from watching as the magic unfolded. This was different from what she was used to: this was some kind of unicorn magic. She had seen plenty of chaos magic in the past few years, but this was something she recognized. In fact, she was pretty certain that this was an effect she'd read about in one of Starswirl's old magical theory books.

The air crackled with magic, everything glowed brighter, and then with a crack of thunder, a pony appeared.

A pony with a unicorn horn, and pegasus wings.

A pony with a purple coat, just like Twilight's had been once, and with a bright, magical star for a cutie mark. Just like hers.

The alicorn's brief excited expression faded as she looked around the abandoned town square. Twilight watched as the other pony's eyes flitted across the checkered ground, flying houses, purple sky, and strange vegetation. The alicorn's eyebrows furrowed, and she lit her horn to pull a small notepad out of one of her saddlebags, as well as a quill. She began speaking as she scratched down some notes. "The magic worked! At least, I hope it did. I think something's wrong here though, it's all... Discord-y. It reminds me of when he controlled Ponyville, when we still had the Elements."

She stared at the page a few moments, and then her eyes looked back and forth as though she was reading. She smiled, and wrote another short note without speaking, and then put the book away. The alicorn gave a quick look around again, and then called out with a tentative, almost nervous tone. "... Hello? Is anypony here? Discord? Pinkie? Anypony?"

"Who are you?" Twilight couldn't help herself any longer, and she stepped around the bush. Her horn sparked and glowed, attack spell at the ready. This had to be a changeling, or one of Discord's tricks.

The alicorn looked at her with wide eyes, and a slowly dawning look of recognition. "Oh wow, what a coincidence! You're me! I mean, I'm you, or..." She took a deep breath, and let it out. "I'm Princess Twilight Sparkle. I know that's your name too, or, without the title. Anyway, I'm here because of a new spell I've been working on! It lets a pony travel to other--"

"--other timelines, or other worlds. But who are you really? Nopony can cast those spells, not anymore! Besides, no unicorn has ever become an alicorn before."

The princess looked a bit taken aback at Twilight's tone, but then shook her head and smiled. "I know it's strange, but look at me. Besides, who else would even know how to fake those spells? But... well, what happened here? Why are you so... gray?"

Twilight Sparkle looked back at her flank. She'd almost forgotten how much her color had dulled since Discord arrived. It was rare to see anypony now with any color to them. "It's been like that ever since Discord took over. All of Discordia is like this."

"Discordia? Wait, you mean you never stopped him? What about our friends?! What about The Elements of Harmony?!"

Twilight frowned, glancing in the direction that the Golden Oak Library used to be. The tree was still there, just upside down and floating a few dozen feet from the ground. Twilight made a dismissive noise and shook her head. "Pfft. Friends? Who needs friends? They just get in the way, and nopony ever stays for long."

The princess had a look in her eyes that was something like pity mixed with memory. "Oh, right, I remember that... But then Princess Celestia sent my reports back, and... wait, where's Spike?"

Twilight flinched as if she'd been struck. She looked to the ground, and then turned her head to look aside. "... I don't have any friends, Princess."

Princess Twilight opened her mouth, closed it, and then forced a smile. "Well... you do now."

As Twilight looked up at her in annoyance, the princess' horn lit and a flash of magic radiated out from her. As the circle expanded, the ground changed from the checkered pattern it had been for years, into green grass that looked almost alien to Twilight's eyes. The circle only spread a hundred feet or so, but the point was made. The alicorn spoke with slightly faltering tones. "With the right friends, you can-- I, well, I don't know if a pony can be friends with themselves, but..."

Something was there again, inside Twilight. Some little kindling of determination that had long been snuffed out. A tiny flickering of hope. Twilight Sparkle stood up straight for what felt like the first time in ages, and a shudder ran through her as her coat brightened slightly. "Okay. It's been a while since I had a friend. Let's go find my Element, and see what a Princess can do."

LP46: The Queen's Day Off [Slice of Life]

The prompt: The Princess's day off.

As noted by the person who ran this prompt, this one isn't really about a princess' day off. Whoops.

"Remember, it's just until tomorrow morning."

Princess Cadance spoke firmly, with a harsh tone under her words that the elegant princess rarely used. Princess Twilight Sparkle stood beside her, no less imposing despite her smaller size.

Chrysalis, Queen of the Changelings, fought back her immediate instinct to rebel against being given orders. Not just because she was in a room with two alicorns, a dangerous place for her to be, but also because of the rewards of momentary obedience. "...Of course, Princess. I need this as much as you do."

Cadance frowned, and turned to her sister in law. "Are you sure we can trust her?"

Twilight Sparkle glanced over toward Chrysalis, who was still standing tall, with an imperious bearing and in her natural, black, alien form. "Well... no. But Shining would worry constantly if he knew we were going out to-- well, if he knew about our day off, so this is the best solution I could think of. Besides, she knows she can't get out of that spell."

It was true. Chrysalis' horn lit at the mention of it, but despite knowing the basics of unicorn magic, she couldn't even start to unravel the complex spell around her body. Whatever Twilight's faults were, she was quite an expert in magic at the least. "I can manage the charade for a day. Your precious husband won't even suspect me."

Princess Cadance's eyebrow twitched at the thought of the deception, and of this creature being with her husband all day. But still, she did need some rest, both from the tedium of the Crystal Empire and from her husband's well-meaning worry and fretting over her. "And you won't hurt him?"

"Of course not. Even just a day with Shining Armor will give me enough love for all of my subjects to share for weeks." A smile slowly spread across her lips, and she cast a look over to Cadance, with half-lidded eyes. "And what should I do if your dear, sweet husband wants more from his 'wife'?"

Twilight scrunched up her nose and then stuck out her tongue in disgust. Cadance only scowled, with a look in her eyes that made even Chrysalis step back. After a moment, however, Cadance just sighed and shook her head. "Tell him you have a headache. I don't want you two doing anything like that."

Chrysalis rolled her eyes at the typical pony possessiveness, but then just nodded. It would be easy enough to get plenty of love without resorting to anything like that.

"Honey? Are you alright in there? Also, have you seen Twily anywhere?"

At hearing Shining's voice through the door, Cadance smiled, but Chrysalis only flashed green magic over herself, changing at once into a perfect copy of Princess Cadance. She shot a look over to the other two alicorns, as she spoke in a carefree, pleasant tone. "Just a moment, dear."

Cadance looked longingly toward the door, but then just shook her head and gave one more warning glare toward Chrysalis. Twilight smiled at her sister in law and spoke quietly. "Don't worry, Cadance. We'll have a fun day off, and then everything will be back to normal."

"I hope so, Twilight." Cadance took a step closer to Twilight, and Twilight's horn glowed just a moment, the magical lines of her spell sparking and glowing around Chrysalis' fake pink coat. Satisfied that everything was in order, Twilight lit her horn again and both sisters disappeared in a flash of teleportation magic.

Chrysalis looked into Cadance's mirror, inspecting her deception as Twilight's spell faded around her. In just a moment, nopony in the world could tell she wasn't who she pretended to be. She lit her horn to open the door with her magic, and called out to her temporary husband. "I'm ready, dear. Twilight went home early, she has some kind of friendship problem at home. That does leave tonight open for a date, doesn't it?"

This was bliss.

The evening had gone better than Chrysalis could have predicted. A little more work on her mane and she looked every bit the part of a Princess out on a romantic outing, and Shining Armor only needed a little push to get dressed up as well. After a calming walk through the streets of the Crystal Empire, they had taken in a very well-acted play at a theater and an astoundingly delicious meal cooked free of charge at a nearby restaurant. If there was anything that ponies did better than changelings, it was cooking.

Shining Armor seemed the perfect husband. Chrysalis had only known him briefly before, but over the year or so of marriage, he had matured into a well-behaved and courteous stallion. They had spent the evening in pleasant conversation, with Shining describing his work over the course of the day, and his visit with Twilight while she had been in town. Chrysalis was more than adept at deception, and had managed her way through the conversation deflecting questions she didn't have the answers for, and prodding the stallion to talk more about himself.

Not to mention drinking in the love from him.

She had agreed to this little game with Cadance and Twilight for a few reasons. Firstly, amnesty for the changelings, or at least in a partial sense. Secondly, she had hoped to find a few open positions here and there in the palace that she could secretly fill with changeling agents. Third, she supposed, was the admittedly delicious and abundant love this couple shared. It was still beyond anything she had found anywhere else, and made her almost want to test Twilight's spell against her quickly increasing power.

But now was not the time for that. In fact, back in the bedroom she was to share with Shining Armor tonight, with his hooves pressing in a soothing massage along her back, all thoughts of revenge and plotting for future power faded. He had taken the news of her 'headache' with no resentment or disappointment at all. Instead, he had merely offered a massage to help clear away the stress of her Princesshood. Wrapped in her new magical body, with her husband's loving attentions working perfectly over her pony body and wing muscles, she could only think that Shining must have a tremendous amount of practice with this.

But even that thought was quickly chased away by the practiced and expert massage, and Chrysalis let herself sink down against the royal bed in absolute, perfect relaxation.

Though it hurt her pride, she had to admit that she was hoping that the Princess might need a few more days off. A queen could get used to this sort of treatment.

LP48: In a Rush [Slice of Life]

The Prompt: In a Rush

The Cloudsdale anthem had never felt longer.

Rainbow Dash shifted her weight from hoof to hoof, caught herself doing it, and forced herself to stop. After only another few notes she caught herself doing it again.

Why did this have to be today? This was taking too long. But it was only starting, she had time. Sure she had time.

So Rainbow Dash stood in front of everypony. Only a few dozen really, here at the Wonderbolt Academy grounds. They had to host this here, instead of Cloudsdale, because some of the pegasus ponies had non-pegasus parents. No parent would miss their offspring being inducted into the Wonderbolts. Rainbow could even see her parents in the crowd. Her dad was on the left side of all the seats, and her mother on the far right. Still though, both here at least.

Twilight-- Princess Twilight Sparkle took a few steps up to the podium and started her introduction. Rainbow immediately tuned her out. Twilight was a good friend and all, and she was pretty awesome when she had to be, like when they all had to save Equestria or whatever, but she loved this nerdy speech-giving too much. But she was a princess, and even though Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were here too, she was the one giving the address. Maybe Rainbow was going to be late after all.

Rainbow tried not to fidget as she looked up at the sun. It was still morning, of course. She still had time.

It was only a minute or two before the words "without further ado" caught her ear, and another moment later Twilight stepped down, giving a little smile to Rainbow as she passed. Yeah, yeah okay. Being an egghead was good sometimes, Rainbow had to admit. At least Twilight remembered important stuff.

Captain Spitfire took the stage, and sorted the papers on the little podium. Rainbow Dash stood up tall. This was important, even if she wished it didn't take so long. This was the most important day of her life, probably. Sure, Elements of Harmony or whatever, that was pretty important. Defeating Discord, yeah. Whatever. But the Wonderbolts! This was her dream! So for the moment, Rainbow Dash stood tall, and listened to the names being called.

It was a little bit like a graduation from school. They had to go through each new Wonderbolt, call him or her by name, and the new Wonderbolt stepped forward to get their new badge. Not that it mattered much, the badges didn't get much wear except at formal events like this one. Still, it was symbolic or something. Symbolic and slow. Captain Spitfire was taking her time with the list, going pony by pony. Even though the hopefuls had been cut from over a hundred pegasi at the start to only twenty actual finished recruits, it still felt like it was taking forever.

Still, Rainbow Dash tried to stay still and look every bit the professional Wonderbolt that she was, now. No fidgeting around like an excitable filly.

For a moment, when her name was called, the date didn't matter. She wasn't pressed for time. Rainbow Dash stepped forward, looked Captain Spitfire in the eye, and received her badge.

She was a Wonderbolt, officially.

Official Wonderbolt status meant that she couldn't leave until she was dismissed. Everypony was milling around in the little reception area after the ceremony. Most of the pegasus ponies were with their parents, or their friends. Rainbow's parents had already come up to her, separately, to congratulate her, and then had taken off. Her friends were all busy with whatever back in Ponyville, and even though Twilight was here, she was being mobbed by ponies who weren't used to seeing the newest Princess in person. Rainbow was late. Late late.

But Rainbow still couldn't just leave.

"So Dash, you finally made it! Or I guess it's Wingpony Dash, now."

Rainbow couldn't help but grin as Captain Spitfire approached. Still, she didn't forget to salute, only lowering her hoof after Spitfire returned the gesture. "Yes Ma'am. I'm proud to finally be a Wonderbolt, Captain."

Captain Spitfire grinned at her, but after a moment lowered her voice and spoke without the official tone. "So, speaking freely, Dash. You look like you're itching to fly out of here as quick as you can."

Whoops. "Uh, sorry, Captain. I sorta... have a party, I'm supposed to be at. You know, back in Ponyville."

Spitfire only raised an eyebrow.

Rainbow Dash looked aside. "You know, uh. Somepony special, kinda, and... I'm a little late for her party."

Captain Spitfire grinned. "Oh, I see. Special somepony, huh? Go on, Dash, go see 'er."

"Wait, no, not like that! She's not, I mean, I'm not even... I don't go for that sappy stuff!"

Spitfire only shook her head. "I thought you were flying solo these days. But seriously, the important part is over. Go see her. You're dismissed, Dash."

Rainbow Dash waved a hoof in front of her. "Really, not like that, she's-- wait, what?"

Captain Spitfire's brow furrowed slightly, and her tone grew sharper. "You're dismissed until tomorrow at sunrise. Go on, Dash."

Rainbow Dash saluted again. The words barely left her lips before she was airborne and flying at full speed toward Ponyville. "Yes, Ma'am!"

About ten seconds into her flight, when the air pressure started to crackle in her ears, she realized that full speed might be a little too much.

The party was in full swing around them, but it didn't quite seem to reach the three fillies. Pinkie Pie had done an excellent job, as always, with the decorations and catering. Fillies and colts from their class were all around, enjoying the food and the games, and several adult ponies were there as well, having fun with their little brothers and sisters, or just enjoying the party regardless of the target age.

But still, none of that got to Scootaloo.

Apple Bloom put a hoof on her friend's shoulder. "Come on, Scootaloo. You know what it is today. It ain't like she had much choice."

Sweetie Belle spoke up a moment later. "Besides, the party is barely started! I'm sure she'll show up!"

Scootaloo just looked aside, at the floor, and grumbled. "Yeah right. She's always got Wonderbolt stuff to do. I see her less now than before we were sisters."

Apple Bloom sighed, but whatever she was about to say was lost as a flash of light from the windows caught everypony's attention. A dozen fillies and colts rushed over to see the streaks of rainbow colors flashing through the sky, and a moment later they squealed in excitement and awe as the thundering boom washed through Ponyville. Rainbow Dash came swooping down in the midst of the noise, and aimed perfectly through the window, entering the room in a flash of color and sound.

Scootaloo heard her classmates shouting in excitement, and she knew they were all crowding around Rainbow. But all she cared about was her big sister's hooves around her, giving her a birthday hug. Yeah, her classmates saw the Wonderbolts uniform, the new badge. Yeah, they would be talking about that awesome sonic rainboom for a while. But the important part was that she was important enough to Rainbow Dash that Dash would cut out of her special ceremony early just to see her.

Scootaloo just grinned and hugged her sister tighter.

LP49: Lessons Learned [Slice of Life]

The Prompt: There's more to being an alicorn than just wings and a horn.

(The time limit hit somewhere in the Cadance section.)

The alicorn filly's horn glowed, sputtered, and went out. She sighed in frustration, and used her hoof to turn the page.

Celestia had been here for hours.

She was tired of dusty old books. She was tired of reading unicorn history, she was tired of looking at pegasus war scrolls, she was tired of the engraved slates of earth pony family lines. Magic was boring, it never worked anyway, and there weren't any books on flying.

Celestia flicked with her hoof and the book closed with a loud -whap!- that felt altogether too pleasing.

Celestia's instructor sighed, and his lips turned downward in a frown. His voice was stern, but not overly threatening. "Celestia, your mother asked me to make sure you studied properly."

That might have been true, but as Celestia was quick to point out: "She's not here, and I'm going to be Princess, and I say no more reading."

Somehow, instead of being cowed by her proclamation, her tutor only looked amused. Celestia was about to start shouting, when a hoof gently placed on her back caused all of her fur to stand on end. There was only really one pony who would touch her like that, with that gentle reproach and confidence. The tutor quickly lifted his own book into his saddlebag, and trotted out of the room.

Celestia turned her head to look back, and immediately put on an apologetic face for her mother. She wasn't scared of her mother; she had no reason to be. What scared her was disappointing the older alicorn. Celestia stammered, caught in the middle of refusing to work, and without any legitimate excuse. "I... I don't see why I have to read all this history. I'm an alicorn, that means I'm supposed to be better than the other three tribes."

Her mother sighed quietly, and sat down next to Celestia. She spoke in a quiet voice, calm, with a deep wisdom that Celestia was secretly afraid that she'd never truly understand. "To truly rule your subjects, you must understand them, my daughter. I will not always be here for you. Having your wings and horn is not enough to be Princess, you must also understand what it is like without them."

Celestia looked aside, still not completely convinced. Her mother's horn glowed, and she re-opened the book Celestia had been reading. Convinced or not, the filly now had no choice but to sit and read.

Somehow, with her mother there beside her, it didn't seem quite so impossible.

"It is not a celebration of my night, it is an insult."

Princess Luna glowered at her elder sister, who was standing in her doorway and quite literally taking up the entire space. Princess Celestia, for her part, tried with all of her heart and her hundreds of years of life experience to keep her expression neutral. "Dear Sister, All Harrows Night is not an insult. Our subjects play and laugh together at night, and after I raise the sun they are often sick from eating all the sweets they have been given. They do not fear you, only the darkness of the longest night of the year."

Luna scoffed at her sister's explanation, and lit her horn again, the blue glow threatening and dangerous in the darkness of her personal chambers, and the magical light glimmered off of her wings, spread defiantly. "There is nothing to fear in the dark! Do they not know how I protect them each and every night? Have they forgotten me? Have they forgotten what I am?"

Princess Celestia paused, and her carefully guarded expression softened for a moment. Her voice was quiet, almost vulnerable. "What are we?"

Luna stamped her hoof against the stone flooring of her room. "I am the Princess of the Night! I will not be treated as a villain in my own kingdom!"

Celestia's brow knit, and even her younger sister took a step back. "Princess Luna, you know that we are more than just rulers. It isn't our power, or our tribe that keeps us in power. Our subjects love us both, and that--"

"Our subjects love YOU, Sister!" Luna's wrath came back, redoubled. "The Summer Sun Celebration is the greatest holiday of the year, and it is all about you! The longest day is beloved of all our subjects, and the longest night is scorned! Do not lecture me as if thou art our mother! Begone!"

Even being the eldest alicorn, and currently the most powerful magic user alive, Celestia could not stop her little sister from throwing her out of the room with her magic, and slamming the door so hard that shards of stone fell to the floor. Celestia tried to push her worries away as she struggled to standing again, but there was something growing in her sister, a sort of anger and jealousy... it worried her.

Princess Cadance looked down at the picture of the smiling unicorn filly. She was, by all appearances, the same as any other unicorn, the same as thousands of ponies in Canterlot. "I don't see why I need to babysit, Celestia. I don't need the money."

"No, you don't."

Celestia's calm agreement hardly sounded like a real agreement at all. Cadance sighed quietly as she used her magic to sort out her mane. "Then why? I'll do it, you're always right, after all."

"No, I'm not."

Cadance rolled her eyes at Celestia's continuing terse replies. "So, why?"

Princess Celestia smiled tightly, and Cadance immediately felt like she was being foalish, even if she couldn't quite place why. "Cadance, when was the last time you spoke to anypony outside of the castle staff?"

"It hasn't been that long!" Princess Cadance spoke quickly, to buy herself a little time. A few moment passed before she could come up with an answer though, and the answer even surprised her. "... a little over a month."

"You have a very special talent; you help ponies who are fighting, ponies who are losing sight of their love. My castle has never run as smoothly as it has been lately. But you need to see other ponies." Princess Celestia paused a moment, searching for a word, though by the sound of her voice she didn't find quite the right one. "... Commoners. You need to understand your people to rule them, Princess."

Princess Cadance packed her homework into her saddlebag, and gave her goodbyes to Celestia and her own attendants. She couldn't help but notice how many stares she drew from ponies as she walked through Canterlot, and realized with a start that most of them had forgotten that there even was another alicorn, aside from Celestia. She didn't feel quite princess-y by the time that she reached the well-appointed little house, knocking almost forlornly at the door.

When the blue-maned, white unicorn stallion opened the door, Princess Cadance actually found herself blushing.

Maybe her adoptive Aunt Celestia had been right about meeting new ponies.

This wasn't working.

Actually, this was way past 'not working'.

This was more of a disaster, rather than just 'not working'.

Princess Twilight Sparkle had not been tasked with much in the way of diplomacy so far. Other than a few public appearances and minor officiating duties, her role as 'Princess' had been much more in title than in deed. She had decided to push her own limits by throwing herself into a diplomatic situation, and now the yaks had declared war!

It wasn't her fault, or at least it was possibly not entirely her fault. There had been a long string of offenses, by various ponies, and she had only been the latest to cause problems.

Still, despite the magic thrumming in her horn and the wind rushing through her wings, Twilight was completely powerless to stop an entire army of angry yaks! The fact was that the only pony capable of helping now was a slightly crazy, but always well-meaning, pink earth pony.

A slightly crazy, well-meaning, pink earth pony that was nowhere to be found.

Princess Celestia would have fixed this already. Princess Luna would have as well. Princess Cadance's entire THING was fixing stuff like this. But despite her title and changed body, Princess Twilight was buzzing around Ponyville in a panic, looking for any sign of pink coat or frizzy, fuchsia mane.

Maybe she wasn't quite cut out for this princess thing after all.

Princess Twilight Sparkle stared at the latest page in the magic book that she and Sunset Shimmer shared. It had been a calm day up until now; the ponies in Ponyville were all calm and collected, and no disasters had come into play recently to threaten her title or her life.

But here on the page was a drawing of Sunset Shimmer, human Sunset Shimmer, with a unicorn horn on her forehead, and firey wings sprouted from her back. The only text on this 'letter' was:

"It happens when I sing. What do I do?"

Twilight wanted to tell her to come back to Equestria. She wanted to let Princess Celestia sort this out. But at the same time, she couldn't just fall back on her old mentor. She had handled, with the help of her friends, all the troubles that being a Princess had brought her. Now there was... if not a true alicorn, certainly there was something like one, asking her for advice.

She dipped the quill in ink, and decided to just answer honestly, hoping it didn't sound quite as condescending as she feared.

"Sunset:

I know it's strange, trust me. I used to be a unicorn, too! If there is one thing I've learned since being named a princess, it's that being an alicorn is not enough to make me a good princess. Keep learning about your friends, Sunset, and talk to me if you need me. If you come back to Equestria now, you might have wings when you get here. But if you trust your friends, and be the best friend you can be, you can come back as a Princess.

-Princess Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight blew breath lightly over the ink to dry it, and then folded the book closed.

LP51: Politics [General, Comedy?]

The Prompt(s): East of the Sun and / or West of the Moon

(The East/West connotation is left/right political leanings, I admit sort of a weak connection. As mentioned in the prompt forum, this fic doesn't represent any current or past real-world political thing, it's just a fanfic.

Princess Twilight Sparkle sighed, looking down at the map of Equestria, flat against the table in the Royal Study, deep inside Canterlot Castle. The situation was fairly obvious, though perhaps the solution wasn't. "Okay, so... Once more. We have reports of a changeling army coming out of the badlands to the south."

"Yes, Twilight Sparkle." Princess Luna's voice showed her growing frustration with the prolonged talks. "As I've said, we could drive them away with a minor show of military power. The passes through the mesas there are narrow. It would not take many soldiers to hold them."

Princess Twilight glanced toward Princess Celestia, knowing an argument was coming.

Princess Celestia smiled tightly. It wasn't her normal, placid, regal smile. This smile was wrung through with disapproval. "Dear sister, that would cause needless loss of life. If we only drove them slightly eastward and northward, we could rely on the forests and the Foal Mountains to slow their advance until they turn back."

"But-" Princess Twilight felt surprised that she was able to get that word in.

"And sacrifice Dodge City? Our old castle? How many changelings would stay in the Everfree Forest, Sister? We must show these invaders that we will not be swayed!"

"Prin-"

Princess Celestia sounded as though she were instructing a disobedient foal. "Luna, things do not work as they did a thousand years ago. We can not simply throw the Guard at every problem. Besides, they would easily be outnumbered. You have been gone a very long time, and-"

Anger flared in Princess Luna's tone. "Whose fault is that, dear sister?"

Princess Twilight's horn flashed brightly, leaving both other alicorns in the room blinking and covering their eyes with their hooves. Twilight felt a pang of something like panic at having done that to the other Princesses, mixed with a sort of pride that she even could. She spoke in a quiet tone. "Princess Luna, Princess Celestia, please, don't argue about that. We need to make a decision, we don't have forever to talk about this."

Celestia recovered first, her voice contrite and much more even. "You are right, dear Twilight. We are all friends, and we should act like it."

"I am sorry, Sister." Princess Luna offered her elder sister a smile, forced as it was, and the resentment seemed to be washed away as Celestia returned it.

"Friends! That's just it!" Twilight clapped her hooves together, and her horn glowed with a long-range teleport spell.

A brief explanation of the problem later, and after some poring over the map with the assorted ponies, Twilight felt that she could ask again. "So, that's what's happening. Princess Luna feels like we should stop them with the military, while Princess Celestia was hoping for a slightly more passive approach. What do you girls think?"

Four voices started speaking at once, and Twilight had to raise her voice to put a stop to it. "Ah! One at a time! Uhh, Spike, you can pick who speaks first."

"Um..." Spike took a moment, standing at Twilight's side, and then pointed to Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash grinned and pulled Spike to her with a foreleg, rubbing his spines with a hoof. "Yeah, that's right! Anyway, Princess Luna's right! Let's go in there and kick their flanks! Don't just push them back, let's make sure there aren't any left to invade next time!"

Princess Luna's brow knit slightly. "Rainbow Dash, I do not think--"

"Hey! You don't have Spike, you can't talk!" Rainbow grinned, holding up the baby dragon as if he was a teddy or something. Princess Luna just rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Hey, what-" Spike managed a few words as Applejack quickly grabbed him away from Rainbow, and spoke her own piece.

"Now you listen here. I ain't saying we need to go killin' each and every one of them bugs or anythin', but I can't have 'em marchin' all through my orchard and fields. They'll trample everythin' alive in there, an' that's saying nothin' about how much Ponyville would get messed up havin' all them liars running around pretendin' to be real ponies. I say beat 'em back hard enough to make sure they don't try it again."

Spike suddenly glowed with a purple-ish magic, one he was pretty familiar with. Twilight lifted him from Applejack's forelegs and set him down beside her, on the opposite side from the farm pony and her loud pegasus friend. Twilight smiled, though there wasn't much mirth in it. "Rainbow, Applejack, those are just... worse than Princess Luna's idea! We can't just kill them all, they may look like bugs, but they're still thinking creatures!"

"Um, I agree." Fluttershy spoke, and then halted, as if realizing she was out of turn. Spike sighed, and took a few steps over to stand under her wing. Fluttershy smiled at the little dragon, and spoke again. "We could, um... just let them talk to us, or visit. Maybe they're just hungry, there isn't any love in the badlands, and... we... um...."

Her voice trailed off at the looks from her friends and the Princesses, ranging from disbelief to appalled. The awkward quiet only lasted a moment before a pink blur swept Spike up and onto her head, the dragon only able to make a panicked noise before realizing whose frizzy pink mane he was all tangled in. Pinkie smiled, forelegs wrapped in a hug around a somewhat startled Fluttershy. "Yeah! We could invite them to Ponyville, and have a super huge costume party! Everypony could have a double and a triple and a double-double and it would super fun and exciting! Nopony would know who anypony really was, and it'd be so full of happiness and love that the changelings wouldn't even HAVE to invade!"

Princess Twilight's face wore an expression that Pinkie had become fairly familiar with, as she pulled her number one assistant out of Pinkie's mane and set him beside her again. Twilight Sparkle sighed heavily, glancing to Princess Celestia before speaking to her remaining friend. "... Rarity?"

Rarity smiled and pulled Spike to her, the baby dragon seeming much happier with this situation than any of the other ponies taking him. She gently ruffled his spines and held him close. "Oh, just look at what all this discussion has done to my little Spikey-Wikey! As for you, Twilight, Darling, I am not a strategist, and I simply don't understand why I have been interrupted for this. I have an incredible amount of work to do for the fall line, and fall will be coming regardless of any nasty little changeling business."

Twilight's horn glowed, before sending Rarity and Spike back to Ponyville again. She let her head fall forward against the table, as Rainbow Dash leaped across it to fuss at Pinkie's ideas, and Applejack started in on Fluttershy's varmint-lovin' nature.

Sometimes, politics were just impossible.

LP54: Moving On [Slice of Life, Dark? Sad?]

The prompt: She’s just a rambling mare.

"I don't know what happened, but you've changed. I'm getting really sick of this."

There it was.

That flicker of doubt in his eyes, that momentary drop in the sustaining flow of his love for his 'wife'. That's how it always started. Even when she was being overfed, even when she was doing everything she could to suppress her natural superiority and act the part of a loving pony wife, this always happened at some point.

Chrysalis kept up appearances, of course. She tried to keep the argument low-key, she kept herself from snapping at the stallion, suppressed the urge to just blast his stupid pony face with magic. It wasn't easy, despite her unending years of practice. She could keep up the conversation without thinking, now, which left her to ruminate on all her previous failures. Not that it always ended this way, even if the pony she fed from always ended up with doubts. Sometimes they'd last until the feeding killed them, and she'd call it a success and move on. Sometimes it was like this, a rising tide of doubt until she had to leave under threat of discovery. Sometimes, well, sometimes the replaced pony could be found, and she and her swarm would be driven from Canterlot by some unbelievable magical explosion.

Sometimes.

"What? Are you saying we should get a divorce?"

She spoke the word, and she got the intended effect. She could feel his panic at the idea, a hollow tang on top of his love. This stallion was nopony special. He wasn't a prince, or a soon-to-be prince. He wasn't a mayor, or anyone of any personal power. Just a farmer, in Appleloosa. His love tasted much like most of his ilk. Simple, honest. He backed away from his outrage and his doubts immediately, doing anything he could to avoid the dreaded 'd' word. But that crack in the facade was still there, and she knew it would only grow.

The dinner date went on. The fight was over, even if she could sense the tension under his smile, changeling empathy not even needed. They ate together, they drank wine, they talked of the boring mundanities of a small town like Appleloosa. They did not discuss the closed down coal mines just outside of town, thankfully, as reopening those may lead to the discovery of this stallion's original wife. But drones here and there in the town council kept the place closed, and presently the dinner ended and they strolled through the streets of Appleloosa.

Chrysalis couldn't help but wonder how long it would take to drop the rural twang that had crept into her voice over the course of this charade.

He'd forgotten the argument by now, almost. The three-quarters of a bottle of wine, as well as the good food and... well, forcedly pleasant company, had lulled him into a typical pony-like loving stupor.

As they walked, she caught the eye of her subjects. Yes, it was time. No, don't leave all at once. Yes, collapse the mines first so they won't know. These instructions were all passed without words.

It was time to pull up her roots again.

She returned home with her 'husband'. They retired to bed, she kept the charade of a loving wife going, just for one more night.

After that was done, she listened to his breathing. As always, it quickly grew slow and even. He trusted his wife, the pony he had known from foalhood crush to adult marriage. She was an earth pony like this, but with a flash, her magic returned to her. Her horn sparked, and the stallion would sleep for another eight hours. Silently she stole out of the house, and, donning the shape of some random pegasus mare who had lived in Cloudsdale decades ago, slipped unmarked into the dark streets.

In a flash, the stallion's wife was gone. Tomorrow, he would wake up alone, and he would wonder what had made her leave. What had cost him the love of his life, certainly it couldn't have been that small argument last night, the one he could barely remember. Surely their years of flirtations building to deep, enduring love couldn't end so abruptly. It was impossible for her to be gone, she must just need time alone, time for herself. She'd come back.

Chrysalis paused, with her back hoof resting on the ring of stones that marked the edge of Appleloosa's territory. She cast her eyes back to the town, which from here was little more than a few lights in the windows of the more insomniac ponies. It had been... nice. Stable. A simple life without overmuch work or stress. She could only allow herself a moment of rumination though, before turning and continuing out into the desert.

Ahead of her was another life, another few weeks of learning a mare's mannerisms and friends, before taking her place and blending in. That initial stress, those tense moments where she missed a cue or met an old friend she wasn't aware of. But it would pass, and she'd fall into place once more.

Before losing everything again.

Chrysalis sighed and spread her wings, taking flight towards Cloudsdale.

LP55: Two Views [Slice of Life]

I'm not too fond of this one, mostly because of some very valid criticisms leveled at the ending feeling a bit off. Still parts of it are nice, though.

The Prompt: Some days, I just wanna take your big, dumb, dummy head and just... n-n-nyeahhhh!

Rainbow Dash sat on the little tuft of cloud, watching the three colts down below.

Yeah, they were heading right for her. Not for Rainbow Dash, they knew better than that. Nah, they were flying over toward lanky, quiet, weird little Fluttershy. Again.

Not that Fluttershy saw them. She was practicing, on her own. Trying to fly again. Rainbow had tried to help out with that a few times, but it didn't work. Back in Junior Speedster Flight Camp, she'd been hanging out with this griffon cub. Really cool, couldn't fly all that great to start, but when Rainbow went faster, the griffon would always catch up. They both thrived on it, they loved arguing and challenging each other and calling each other names, it made them both better! But, yeah, after all that mess, now that she wasn't going to be in Junior Speedsters anymore, Rainbow was back in Cloudsdale and around these ponies. Fluttershy was okay, she was nice to everypony, quiet, never got into fights or anything.

Challenging, name-calling, doing better than her... yeah. That stuff didn't work on Fluttershy.

But it was cool. They were still friends, kind of. Fluttershy was two years ahead of Rainbow in her classes, except for flying. Like, really except for flying.

Rainbow watched Fluttershy trip over the ring of clouds, slide down the side of a house, paff through a flag, and fall onto another patch. Rainbow slapped her hoof against her own face. It was painful to watch the filly be so awful at this. Yeah yeah, Fluttershy knew stuff, especially about plants and birds and other earth pony things, but flying was what pegasus ponies were supposed to do! And that was not flying.

Rainbow just wished she could find a way to prove to Fluttershy that she was being stupid, there was nothing to worry about, just flap her wings, get up there, and learn to do it! Stop crying about everything, every time anypony got fussy, and just go up there and learn to be the best, like Rainbow! Or, you know, second best!

Still, Rainbow stood up, and took flight. She knew she had to get there before those three colts made Fluttershy cry again. So yeah, she flew over, and then down, planting herself in front of the scared filly. Like a big hero! Like a Wonderbolt! Dashing in to save some little filly from jerks and monsters, yeah!

The next hour played itself out in a rush. Dash remembered that part perfectly for the rest of her life. Getting her first real, angry challenge, gathering witnesses, lining up at the start line, blowing by the startled Fluttershy, and then... WAM! Amidst all the jockeying for position, hairpin turns, dodging slaloms and threading rings, there it was! A sonic rainboom, blasting out over the treetops in a blaze of color. All the astounded faces on her classmates, all the speed, excitement, and a brand new, super-awesome cutie mark!

It was the best minute of her young life, followed by the most soul-crushingly panicked moment, as she saw the empty cloud where Fluttershy had been standing, and the long, long drop of empty air above the Everfree Forest.

Fluttershy's ears perked at a familiar sound.

It wasn't easy to hear particular sounds, down here. There was a lot more going on then there ever was up in Cloudsdale. Birds, bugs, critters and leaves, rocks tumbling, water running over earth and stone, the surface was so very busy, and so very noisy. Thankfully, not many of those noises sounded like ponies. It wasn't that Fluttershy didn't like ponies, exactly, but... she wasn't good with them.

Besides, she had plenty of friends now. All the animals had been so kind to her, and even now she was holding up a plank of wood as her beaver friends worked to help construct her new home. She wasn't quite sure where her new home was, other than being between a dark, scary forest full of monsters, and a bright, scary town full of earth ponies. Her home was on a little grassy hill, much closer to the forest than it was to the ponies, but that was okay. It was just near where she had fallen from Cloudsdale, only a few days ago.

But that sound had caught her ears. Wind over wings, but not bird wings. It really could only be a pegasus pony, and only one pegasus pony would be here to visit her. Again.

"Um, Mister Beaverteeth? I have to go for juuust a minute. Can you and your friends do this alone for a while?"

The beaver saluted sharply, in a gesture he must have seen a pony do, and chittered at the others around him, until all of the beavers were chattering and bouncing in excitement, splitting up duties for building the home. Fluttershy looked up into the sky, as she trotted her way down the little path near her home, to make sure the loud, blue pegasus wouldn't disturb her animals.

Fluttershy was thankful for Rainbow Dash. She really was. Rainbow had stood up for her when nopony else would, and that meant more to Fluttershy than Rainbow could ever know. Besides, without Rainbow Dash accidentally knocking her off a cloud and sending her falling down to the ground, she would never have discovered her special talent!

That last bit was a little less heroic. But it was still important.

But this was the fourth time in as many days that her friend from Cloudsdale had come down to try to convince her to come back home. It was hard for Fluttershy to say no to anypony, but she had already told Rainbow no, three times. Sometimes she wished, as much as she liked Rainbow Dash, that she could make the blue filly understand that this was her home now, and that she never really wanted to go back to Cloudsdale. Especially that flying was never something she really cared about, and that she didn't need to be taught.

Fluttershy just felt so frustrated that she could... well, not scream. More like... mutter to herself, as her friend swooped down and stopped a few feet above the ground. Fluttershy sighed, and smiled up at Rainbow, getting ready to say no, for a fourth time.

LP56: A Duck [Slice of Life]

The prompt: Duck!

"A duck."

"Yes Ma'am."

Captain Spitfire looked over the rim of her glasses at Rainbow Dash. Dash was sweating from the training she'd already finished, and reeked of... Spitfire didn't want to think what.

"You were late to your reserve training because of a duck."

"... Yes Ma'am."

"Care to explain that?"

Rainbow Dash swallowed, and then nodded. "Well..."

"It's a duck."

Rainbow flew a few feet above the streets of Manehatten, watching her yellow, animal-loving friend as she looked into the little storm drain. She had training in ten minutes. Everything that could have gone wrong had already gone wrong, and even after that they still just about had time to make it. If they were flying right now, instead of looking into a drain at a duck.

"Um, yes. It's a little duckling, and she's fallen. Oh! She must be so scared!"

Rainbow pressed her hoof to her muzzle, and sighed. Fluttershy was standing there, on the side of a street, in Manehatten, with her hindquarters up in the air and her nuzzle against the bars of the storm drain, cooing and talking to a duckling that was way out of reach. "Come ON, Fluttershy! I'm going to be late! For the Wonderbolts! Just leave it, it's just a duck!"

Fluttershy turned toward her with a glare that made even Rainbow Dash shrink back. "If it was a foal you wouldn't leave her there! Just look at her mother, she's so upset!"

Rainbow turned to look at the duck standing nearby, with all but one of her... litter? The duck looked blankly at her, and quacked. Rainbow gave it a flat look in return.

"Don't worry! Just flap your wings, like that! Come on, a little harder!" Fluttershy smiled down at the little duckling in the drain, though her smile faltered at the results. "Oh my, you're too young, aren't you?"

The mother duck quacked again, and Fluttershy's ear perked toward her as though listening. Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes. She caught sight of a nearby clock on a building, and folded her ears back. "Fluttershy, come on! It's a duck, it can swim down there, it'll be fine. We gotta go!"

Fluttershy seemed content to ignore Rainbow at this point, as she tried to use her teeth to pull the heavy iron grating out of the way. Rainbow looked at her friend, and then up to the sky, at the gathering rain clouds. Yeah. Yeah, okay. She stepped over and did her best to help, and between them they managed to haul the grate out of the way.

Just in time to see the little duckling slip into a pipe and out of sight.

Fluttershy leaped down immediately, her hooves splashing in the grimy water of the storm drain as she looked into the pipe. "Oh my goodness oh my goodness! Come back! Oh, don't go that way! That's a pipe to the sewer!"

"Come on, we can't get it now. It'll swim fine." If she left right now, like right now right now, and didn't mind breaking half the windows in town with a sonic rainboom...

Fluttershy's hooves clattered at the pipe fitting as she tried to get the duckling to listen to her. After a moment she flapped her wings, and flew back up to the street level. Fluttershy rushed over to the nearest ponyhole cover, and pulled it open. A black, yawning darkness stared up at her. Fluttershy froze, staring down into the blackness of the sewers.

Rainbow Dash could still make it to training. Probably. At top speed. But she looked at Fluttershy, and then the mother duck and all but one of the ducklings, and then back to Fluttershy. Fluttershy's chest was heaving in panic breaths, as she stepped toward the dark hole, and then skittered back, and then repeated the motions.

Rainbow frowned, bolted up into the air, and then dove straight downwards.

Captain Spitfire rubbed between her eyes with a hoof. At least she knew why Rainbow Dash smelled like that. "... you're late because you wanted to save a duckling."

"Yes Ma'am. Well, no ma'am. It wasn't the duckling, okay?"

Spitfire stared daggers at the cadet, waiting for an explanation.

Rainbow Dash looked aside, before looking back to her Captain. "It wasn't the duck. I mean, okay, I didn't want it to get hurt or anything. But, you know, Fluttershy uh... really cares about stuff like that."

At Spitfire's look, Rainbow continued. "So I helped her. She's my best friend, okay? We've been friends forever. I'm not going to leave her behind."

Captain Spitfire looked down at Rainbow Dash's file. She had more awards, at this stage in her career, than any other Wonderbolt cadet had ever managed. By about four times. But the reserve cadets were kept under strict rules. "You were half an hour late. That's a mark on your record as a reserve, and if you do it again, you'll be kicked out."

Rainbow's ears folded back at Spitfire's tone, but she nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

Spitfire looked the reserve cadet in the eye. "Would you do it again?"

"Ma'am?"

"Would you let her make you late again? If it meant you'd get kicked out of the Reserves?"

Rainbow's eyes went to the floor, and then she looked back to Captain's Spitfire's eyes, with her jaw set defiantly. "Yes, Ma'am."

Captain Spitfire closed Rainbow's file, without marking the late arrival down. Rainbow's eyes widened, but she knew better than to say anything. Spitfire set her glasses back on her muzzle. "The next class starts its training in ten minutes. You did most of your training, and now you'll do all of theirs, too. Dismissed."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Rainbow saluted, before bolting out of the office, already in the air, the soreness and exhaustion from her hours already spent working seeming to disappear in an instant.

Spitfire smiled, and set the file back in the cabinet.

LP58: The Dark [Shipping?]

The prompt: The Sacred Darkness

or

The prompt: Let There Be Light.

"Okay, girls. I think we're going to have to stop here for tonight."

Princess Twilight Sparkle sighed, dropping onto her rump in exhaustion. The three ponies had been walking for hours, down endless tunnels in this old mine system, with no light other than Twilight's horn. The light flickered and wavered. Applejack looked around them, but there really wasn't anything to indicate where they were, or where they should go. "Here, Twi? We can't even see anythin' coming! Besides, Fluttershy here-"

Twilight winced, and her magic flickered again. "We can't go any further, Applejack. I can barely keep this lit! We just need to rest, just for a few hours. The others have Rarity, she can make light too. They'll be okay!"

With that, her magic finally failed, and the three ponies were cast into absolute pitch darkness.

Applejack and Twilight both paused, waiting for the terrified 'eep' that they knew was coming, but it didn't come.

A voice out of the darkness. "Uh, Fluttershy? You okay?"

"Yes, Applejack. I'm okay. I'm... not scared of the dark."

Twilight's voice spoke softly, though every little noise seemed so loud all the sudden. "Well, let's try to get a little rest.".

Everypony always assumed that Fluttershy was scared of the dark. It made sense to Fluttershy, she was scared of a lot of things, and plenty of ponies were scared of the dark.

The darkness could hide all kinds of scary things, and that was why most ponies were a little scared by it.

But... the darkness could hide all kinds of scary things, and that was why Fluttershy liked it.

Here they were, in pitch blackness, and nopony could look at her. Nopony could stare at her. Sure, Twilight and Applejack could hear her, but Fluttershy was very, very good at being quiet. Because most ponies didn't like talking when it was dark, nopony was trying to talk to Fluttershy either. It was just quiet, peaceful blackness.

Well, almost.

A quiet noise tickled at Fluttershy's ears. It was quiet, even in the dead silence of these old mines. Somepony's breathing, just a few feet from her, was getting shakier and louder with each breath.

Fluttershy was very god at staying quiet. She shuffled slowly toward the sound.

It had to be Applejack. Twilight wasn't beside her, or she hadn't been when the light went out. The sound of somepony so close, when she couldn't see them... it was a little scary. But ponies didn't sound like that unless they were upset.

Fluttershy shuffled closer, still silent. The other pony's breaths grew quicker, and Fluttershy could hear hooves pressing against the stone floor.

Fluttershy reached out a wing, and settled it over a warm, solidly-built back. Yes, it had to be Applejack.

The breathing stopped with a sudden gasp.

The air in the mine was still for a few long seconds.

Twilight's voice spoke quietly, from somewhere out in the darkness. "Fluttershy? Are you alright?"

Fluttershy could feel Applejack squirm. Applejack wouldn't want to admit it was her, but Fluttershy knew the pony very well. So, Fluttershy spoke before Applejack could. "Um, yes, Twilight. I'm... fine. Don't worry."

Twilight spoke again. "Alright, don't worry, Fluttershy. I'm pretty sure we would hear anything trying to sneak up on us."

Fluttershy nodded, not that anypony could see.

Applejack shivered under her wing, and Fluttershy leaned in, guessing as best she could, and nuzzled at Applejack's muzzle. She felt strange, she would never have done this if she could see the other pony, but... somehow, this felt like the right way to comfort her friend. Applejack froze up, but didn't make a sound. After a moment, she nuzzled gently back.

When Fluttershy woke up, it was still pitch black. But she could still feel the warm strength of Applejack pressed to her side. It was nice, almost embarrassingly nice. Fluttershy felt herself blushing even though nopony could possibly see-

"Girls, ready to get started again?" Twilight spoke at the same time as she lit her horn.

Fluttershy and Applejack both looked wide-eyed toward the sudden light source, their muzzles pressed together as they cuddled on the stone floor. Twilight stared back at the two for the longest second in the history of Equestria.

The light went out.

The second-longest second in the history of Equestria passed.

Twilight spoke again, a bit more cautiously, and without the light. "... Girls, are you ready to get started again? We really need to look for the others."

From a yard or so to her right, Applejack spoke. "Sure am!"

From a yard or so to Twilight's left, Fluttershy's voice spoke with a quiet hesitation. "I'm... um, ready."

Twilight's horn glowed, and she smiled at the two ponies. "Just a little farther, I'm sure we'll find them soon."

Twilight lead the way, and the other two ponies followed. If they walked a little closer than usual, well, nopony could blame them. The mines were dark, after all.

LP58: A Holiday [Slice of Life]

The prompt: The Sacred Darkness

or

The prompt: Let There Be Light.

The sun set behind the western mountains, and Ponyville fell into a deep, dark shadow.

Moonless nights were hardly uncommon. The moon followed phases, after all, and new moons came around once a month. But this night was special.

All over Ponyville, ponies closed their doors, pulled their blinds, and latched their shutters. Oh, they all knew there wasn't anything to be afraid of, not really. But the darkness outside, the utter lack of stars or moonlight at all... it wasn't very pleasant for anypony, real danger or not. The pitch black outside was enough to make ponies appreciate Princess Luna's usual work all the more.

Some ponies, though, seemed to think differently.

An hour after nightfall, quiet sounds of doors re-opening filled the otherwise eerily silent streets. An cream-colored earth pony gently nuzzles her teal unicorn friend, and then steps out of their shared home. A baker kisses her twin foals goodnight before slipping out the back door, not quite as confident in the darkness as others. A pegasus quietly weaves her path between sleeping animals and nests, until she manages to silently slip out of her cozy little cottage. All over Ponyville, ponies from all walks of life leave their warm, lit homes.

But no ponies are in the blackened streets tonight.

The previously silent streets now echoed with the sound of hooves clopping against the earth, and the rustling of membranous wings. They gathered in the town square, though nopony could see anything from their windows. There was no public speech, no big commencement, no organized party. The muted voices, all buzzes and unfamiliar words, filled the square. It wasn't a secret, even if they did wait for the complete blackness of this so-far-unnamed holiday.

Oh, there were flashes of light from the windows of nearby houses, and sure, ponies stared out at the small gathering of black, chitinous changelings, but nopony could know who they were, now. They spoke to each other in natural voices, flexed their oft-hidden wings, and saw only familiar faceted eyes and shining chitin.

It hadn't been an easy road, and they still had far to go. There were many reasons that this was done tonight, and many of them hoped that nopony saw them slipping out of their homes, and that nopony would see them sneaking back home later.

The baker walked through the crowd, chatting happily and warmly with the others, hearing familiar congratulations for her foals made new by the honest, true faces of her friends. The normally shy, animal-loving female kept quiet even now, but wore a comfortable smile in the press of bodies, relishing in this chance to be herself for just a few hours.

Food, so to speak, was shared freely, as was news from a half-dozen different homes. Talk waxed and waned about politics, the old Queen and the new order, and which ponies knew just what about which changelings. But in with all that, they spoke of their lives and their passions, and just enjoyed the chance to see the true face of their friends again.

In the forbidding blackness of this one moonless, starless night, they could be themselves, and be around others like them.

The hours dragged on, and without formal announcement, they knew they had to return. Mares stepped into their homes, and cuddled up with their husbands. The baker sighed, knowing she didn't have time for sleep before she'd need to get started on the morning's work. One changeling took the chance to open her door with her horn, and hover deftly inside, before changing back to her earth pony shape, two-toned mane included, and going back to her best friend. A pegasus pony skillfully stepped around and over the nests of animals in her home, before settling into her warm, cozy bed.

The first rays of the sunrise seemed almost too bright after the long, dark night. Soon, ponies would pour out of their homes and into the streets of Ponyville, and the dark night would be forgotten.

But many of the ponies, waking slowly, with tired eyes and aching limbs, would only be waiting for next year.

LP59: Nightmare [Dark? Sad?]

The prompt: The Nightmare returns.

It had taken years.

After the disaster in Canterlot, many things were much harder. Bon Bon couldn't show her face, not really, anywhere in Equestria. Most of her contacts were gone, either missing, dead, or simply laying low. Friends she had known since childhood simply disappeared. Ponies came and went from Ponyville as always, and she found that she didn't know the ones coming, and wasn't sure about the ones leaving.

Celestia had even closed the agency, one of the few places Bon Bon had been able to openly serve Equestria.

For a while, everything had been very lonely. Even Lyra's friendship hadn't made anything better.

Slowly, Bon Bon managed to find her friends. First one, then another. Old lost contacts came up again, friends she hadn't seen in months or years contacted her with letters, or in person.

Then, Princess Twilight Sparkle found out who she was. What she was.

For a few moments, everything balanced on a razor's edge.

But Twilight smiled, and told Bon Bon that no matter what she was, she was a friend, and that was all that mattered.

Things began to change more quickly, after that.

Twilight Sparkle was a princess, and strangely disarming. Soon, she knew exactly how many of her friends were like Bon Bon, and it drove the princess to change the laws, at least in Ponyville. Everypony reacted... poorly, at first, but ponies are adaptable if nothing else, and they always trust their princesses.

In a few months, Bon Bon could actually tell other ponies she was a changeling. It sounds small, but this was something that none of her kind had ever been able to do before.

Soon, Ponyville was full of changelings. It was still much harder to be open, anywhere else, so they flocked to the small rural town. Over time, they became part of the local flavor like cider and apple pie. Changelings lived openly, not even bothering with disguises, and Bon Bon felt truly at home.

But nothing lasts forever.

It started small, in fact nopony even noticed at first. Bon Bon found herself tired more often, a sort of strange, listless malaise settling over her. It wasn't exactly uncommon, everypony gets tired, or has a bad night's sleep now and then. It was a week or two of that before she started to remember the dreams.

In the dreams it was always dark, but she could almost see a tinge of green light. All she was aware of was whispering, a quiet voice, growing stronger.

It was only after the first dream that she realized so many other changelings seemed to walk with a slight droop as well. Still, there was no need to worry. A few bad dreams, some exhaustion... maybe it was just a cold or something, one that only affected changelings.

One morning, Bon Bon woke up near Twilight's castle. She was on her hooves when she awoke, and she wasn't quite sure what she had been doing.

That's when it became something to worry about.

She started to notice it after that. Changelings walking through town, eyes blank and without noticing others. More fights between changelings, and more arguments with ponies.

She found herself being strangely possessive of Lyra. It grated on her almost painfully when Lyra spoke to other mares, and stallions were even worse. Lyra's hurt expression when she was shouted at cut Bon Bon deeply, but she couldn't just let it go. She needed Lyra's love, she needed all of it. She couldn't bear to think of Lyra even considering anypony else.

More and more often she woke up in strange places without knowing how she'd gotten there. Changelings and ponies both had seen the changes, and Twilight was exploring the limited scope of changeling medicine available to ponies, but she hadn't found anything.

Finally, one day, the reason was found.

Or rather, one day, the reason revealed itself.

The drone that had called itself Bon Bon stood at attention in Ponyville Square. There were hundreds of her kind, all around her. No ponies made any sounds right now, very few of them were still loose. With a proud, regal bearing, Queen Chrysalis stepped forward from the town hall. She walked slowly down the line of drones, looking each over, inspecting her army. The drone that had been Bon Bon woke up a moment, and managed to wince away from the Queen, before her mind fell into line again, and she obeyed.

It had taken years to build this trust, and only an afternoon to shatter it.

If she had been able to think at all, Bon Bon would have wondered if it could ever be rebuilt.

LP60: Las Pegasus [Slice of Life]

The Prompt: Write a story set in one of the following Equestrian cities:
-Baltimare
-Fillydelphia
-Las Pegasus
-Vanhoover

This story doesn't quite go anywhere, but what the hay. I wanted to write something for this week!

Las Pegasus, or as it was known to many, just 'Pegas', was known far and wide as a very nice, fancy, glitzy place to go and lose all your bits in one cider-fueled night.

The Cloud Nine, a pegasus-themed casino right there on the strip, was much less widely known than the city at large, and tended to cater to ponies who had acquired a reputation for sweeping up bits in all the lesser casinos already. As more practiced ponies gravitated to the place, fewer and fewer amateurs came in to lose all their money.

Though occasionally some random donkey off the street did manage to wander in, as was the case tonight.

"Ante up." Cranky spoke without any kind of excitement, despite being in the presence of quite a lot of glamour and flashy decor. He casually tossed the sizable ante of bits onto the table, despite coming in with a bedraggled toupee that was fooling nopony, and not even having the class to wear clothing for a night out in the casinos.

The other ponies around the table tossed in their bits after their own fashion. They had all been in Pegas for a while now, and they knew their competition. As the cards were dealt, the ponies at the table all glanced to one another, trying to size up the expressions on everypony's face. The slightest twitch of the lips, wince of the eyes, or flick of the ears could tell everypony around quite a bit about the cards a pony was getting.

Cranky Doodle Donkey just sat and scowled, barely changing expression at all as each new card was added to his hoof. He even fumbled a bit holding the cards splayed out, a feat not always made easy with hooves. By the donkey's expression any pony in the world would have thought he must have the worst deal in the world. 'Easy money' was certainly the thought around the table.

The pegasus on the donkey's left started the betting. He tossed a few more bits into the pile, and play proceeded on. Each pony in turn considered their options, and eventually decided to go ahead and at least check into the bets. When it got back around to Cranky, he saw the current bet, to everypony's surprise, and then raised a modest sum as well. Still the displeased scowl never left his face.

Another round of the table left the pot the same, until it got back to Cranky. He glared at his cards, and tossed another few bits in.

None of these ponies would chatter during the game, but they certainly looked to one another. It had to be a poker face. He must be scowling to hide his elation at having a winning hand.

Another round of checks, followed by another modest raise by Cranky. A few nervous glances went around the table, though most of these ponies knew the game well enough to keep their doubt hidden. Two checks later, a pegasus across the table from Cranky shook his head and folded, pre-flop. He sat back a little, crossing his forelegs and frowning at the donkey, who hardly even seemed to notice.

Third time around, Cranky shook his head and simply called the bet.

The game was on again, and careful eyes watched for responses from the flop. Cranky's scowl only deepened, he must have been overcompensating to hide a smile. A common rookie mistake, and all the ponies felt a bit more relaxed again. Sure, he might have a good hand, but that lack of confidence was going to lead to a fold.

Another round of bets saw a few modest raises, until it got to Cranky. He paused, and then slid over twice the bits required. The flash of avarice in the experienced player's eyes was only slightly tinged with the wonder of what kind of hand this newcomer must be holding, to bet so aggressively. Still, the other raised to the challenge, and the pot grew with each new bet.

It was another two rounds of raises before somepony else folded, unable to take the increasing cost of staying in.

Finally Cranky just called the bet, and another card was dealt to the center of the table. If anything, Cranky only frowned further. What in Equestria was he holding?

Another fold before even the first round of betting was done, and only three players were left. They were each so invested in this hand already that they could hardly stand to fold now.

The final card was flipped, and the game was nearly over.

Cranky raised, and the others matched the bet. Cranky raised again, and the others matched the bet. Not once did the frown leave the donkey's features.

The pot grew, but finally became too much for a pair of the ponies at the table, the two suspiciously folding in the same round.

Cranky just shook his head, glaring at the cards as though it might change them.

He raised, and his opponent checked. He raised again, and his opponent met the bet. The pot grew and grew with each raise, until finally Cranky frowned a bit more, and set his bag of bits on the table. "All in."

The pony looked at the bag, and to his own. He could match the amount, but it was... not a small amount. The pot was huge, but the way that newcomer was looking, he must have something great to hide. The silence settled over the table as the pony debated, thought, rethought, overthought, and then cleared his head and started over.

It couldn't' wait forever, though, and a not-overly-subtle cough from one of the folded players brought the timing to attention.

"I... uh... darnit." The pony glanced to the pot, then to the sack of bits waiting to be added to it. "... fold."

Cranky shook his head, his floppy ears swishing a bit. He reached out and swept the sizable pot into his saddlebag, before flipping his cards over to reveal his hand. "High card, princess of apples. See you ponies later."

He trudged away from the table with his saddlebags weighing him down, leaving several stunned high rollers behind him.

It was enough for another few years of looking for Matilda, even after he factored in bailing Steven Magnet out of the griffon kingdom's jail. Cranky hitched himself up to his wagon again, and started off toward Griffonstone.

LP62: Element of Inspiration [General?]

The prompt:

Write a story where one (or more) of the hero(ine)s of FiM and one (or more) of the antagonists have swapped roles.

The familiar fanfare played loudly, as Trixie stood on hind legs with her forelegs spread wide and triumphant, her cloak splaying out behind her. By the sound of the cloth, her stage had deployed perfectly again, as if there had been any doubt that it would. "Welcome, one and all, to the greatest show in Ponyville!"

Trixie waited for the now-familiar applause. After only a few seconds, she opened her eyes and looked out over the crowd. Only two ponies stood there, Snips and Snails, cheering and stamping their hooves. Trixie tried to keep the smile off of her lips, despite the continuing loyalty of her two most ardent admirers. It wasn't so hard to keep from smiling when all of her audience seemed to be missing. The show had to stop immediately, there was no point performing for these two again. "Snips! Snails! Where is everypony?"

Snips tilted his head, as though the question was strange. "They're all off watching that new unicorn in town!"

Snails kicked in his two bits. "Yeah. There's a new one!"

Trixie's eyes narrowed. "A new unicorn? Stealing The Great and Powerful Trixie's audience?"

Ponyville wasn't a terribly large town, and the music and pomp from the other pony's show could be heard from all over. Soon enough, Trixie found herself in the throng of other ponies, all looking up at the flashy, glitzy runway in front of the old, run-down Roundabout Restaurant. Trixie looked through the crowd, and managed her way over to stand next to her new-ish friend, Twilight Sparkle. Twilight gave her a little smile, and then looked to the stage as the music quieted.

A male voice called out an announcement over speakers. "Welcome, Ponyvillians, to the grand opening of... Carousel Boutique!"

Trixie raised an eyebrow. "Was that Spike?"

Twilight blushed slightly and nodded, looking just a bit embarrassed for her assistant. "It was! He's really taken with this new mare, I've never seen him fall so quickly for anypony!"

Well, that explained where Trixie's third most enthusiastic admirer had gone.

Trixie watched as a series of mares came walking out along the runway and doing a little turn on the stage, each mare showing off some new, garishly over-sparkly gown or dress. She rolled her eyes at the attention-seeking getups, though as she looked around at the crowd, it certainly seemed to be working. All eyes in Ponyville were on the new dresses, and none of them were on Trixie.

Finally, after the show of the various well-made if a bit gaudy costumes, a white unicorn walked deliberately out along the runway, dressed in her own finely-made attire. Something made it obvious to Trixie that this was not simply another model. Trixie found herself glaring up at the beautiful unicorn that now took center stage. She did her best not to listen to any of the speech that the new mare was giving.

Blah blah, thanking everypony for coming to see her new store, blah blah all proceeds to charity, blah blah.

Trixie muttered. "Just what is this new pony doing? Didn't she know Trixie had a show planned for today?"

The accent made it obvious that the reply was coming from her friend Applejack. "Aw, don't go gettin' upset, Tricks. Rarity's a nice enough pony. Used to live around here before headin' off to Canterlot to make her fortune."

Trixie frowned, and looked up at the new mare again. The plainly fake and falsely gracious speech was ending, and Rarity stepped aside to unveil the newly restored Roundabout Restaurant, now apparently named "Carousel Boutique".

Twilight clopped her front hooves together in applause. "Come on, girls! It might be fun to look at some new dresses!"

Applejack and Twilight walked forward with the crowd, all going to see the new store. Trixie glowered at the building as though wishing could make it collapse. Some new showmare coming to Ponyville and stealing her spotlight, and stealing her friends?

The Great and Powerful Trixie was going to have to show this one who was the boss around here!

LP63: Opposite Day (Slice of Life)

The Prompt: Opposite Day

Princess Twilight Sparkle's eyes opened, and then closed again with a wince. She still wasn't quite used to how bright mornings could be in her new castle. Still, the alicorn smiled, and rubbed her eyes with a hoof, before stretching all for legs out and rolling over in her bed.

"Waugh!" Twilight Sparkle jumped backward in shock and fell off of the side of her bed with a thump. A moment later, her head appeared over the side of the bed again, and she glared at the intruder. "Discord! What in Equestria are you doing in my bed?"

Discord stretched himself out on top of Twilight's covers, his serpentine body laying languid on the nice blankets. "Oh come now Twilight Sparkle. You MUST know what today is, or rather, what it isn't."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Twilight's indignation disappeared in the face of Discord's casual taunting. The tone in his voice rarely exactly lead to anything good.

"Why it's Opposite Day, of course! Everything you'd normally expect, like waking up alone, is exactly not what you're getting!" Discord rose up from the bed, floating in the air effortlessly. "It's just terribly, awfully boring not being able to spread chaos, Twilight Sparkle, and so I have decided to take a day off from maintaining order."

Twilight stamped a hoof on the floor, with her eyebrows furrowed. "Discord! You can't just take a day off from that! What... what would Fluttershy think?"

Discord's eyes narrowed slightly. "Oh, let's go see, shall we? And by 'we', I do mean just me. Ta!"

In a blink, Discord was gone. Twilight stared blankly at the spot in her bed where he'd been laying, and then sighed and shook her head. It wasn't that she had any plans for today, exactly, but trying to find a way to combat Discord's craziness certainly wasn't something she wanted to do. "Spike! Spike, wake up, we've got to go!"

Rarity didn't look up from her sewing when the bell above her door chimed. "Just a moment!"

A few seconds more, and the stitching was in a place she could leave it for the moment. "Now, welcome to Carousel Boutique, what may I-- oh, hello Twilight, hello Spike. What brings you two to Carousel Boutique?"

Twilight spoke breathlessly after having galloped the entire distance to hear nearest friend. "Rarity? Is everything okay?!"

Rarity blinked at the condition of her friend, and then smiled disarmingly. "Why of course I am, Twilight. Whatever has you so upset?"

"Discord said--" Twilight paused, took a deep breath, and then let it out, before continuing in a more normal tone of voice. "... Well, he said that today was Opposite Day. I thought he might have done... something, here."

Rarity glanced at Spike, who was still riding on Twilight's back, but the dragon only shrugged. She smiled to Twilight. "I haven't seen Discord today at all, Darling. Maybe you should stay and have some tea? I know that always helps calm me during a difficul-"

"I don't have time for tea today, Rarity, sorry! I've really got to find out what he changed!" Twilight was already out the door as she finished her sentence, leaving a confused and somewhat annoyed Rarity in her wake.

"Opposite Day?! And nopony told me?!" Pinkie Pie theatrically gasped in shock, and staggered backwards on her hind legs as though struck.

Twilight gave the pink pony a flat look, such displays having become old hat some time ago. "Pinkie, I don't think opposite day is an actual day that you can miss."

Pinkie landed on all four hooves again, staying that way for nearly a quarter of a second before dashing off behind the counter and rifling through her bin of 'special' ingredients. "But that means that you DO think it's an actual day, because today is Opposite Day!" She paused, holding up a bag full of small green seeds. "Peas in cupcakes? Oh! Or should I not make cupcakes at all? That would be SUPER opposite!"

Twilight Sparkle sighed and shook her head. She glanced around the interior of Sugarcube Corner, but everything seemed to be more or less in place. Twilight ducked a flying box of rice as Pinkie continued digging through her ingredients. Things in Sugarcube Corner were quickly getting less 'in place' than they were before she came in, but it didn't seem to be any fault of Discord's. "Okay, well... looks like everything is okay here! Thanks, Pinkie!"

Twilight bolted out of the shop before anything got crazier.

(time limit)

"Uh, Twilight, seriously? Opposite Day?" Rainbow Dash paused, flying a few feet over Twilight with a cider mug hooked in her pastern.

Applejack chuckled, leaning against the barrel, with a mug hooked against her own hoof. "Sounds like you've been hangin' around with Pinkie too much."

Twilight glanced at the cider barrel, her mouth was feeling awfully dry after walking all the way out to Sweet Apple Acres. She quickly shook her head to clear the idea out, and smiled to her friends. "Well, when it's Discord, I can't very well just ignore it. There's no telling what he's up to!"

"It sort of looks like he's not up to anything, Twilight." Rainbow took a long pull at her mug, and then clapped it down loudly on top of the barrel, empty. "Ha! You'll never drink more than me, AJ!"

Applejack sipped at her own mug. "It ain't about drinkin' a lot, it's about enjoyin' it."

Twilight sighed and turned around to leave them to it.

"So, um... after Sweet Apple Acres, you came here." Fluttershy sat comfortably in her favorite chair, while Discord lounged all over the nearby couch. Fluttershy sipped calmly at her tea.

Twilight looked down into her own cup of tea, and then glanced at Discord, but decided that Fluttershy wouldn't likely let him do anything too strange to the tea right here in her own cottage. Twilight took a sip, and then smiled at the flavor (and the much-needed drink.) "Yes. Discord said he'd be coming here, so I thought... well, that he might be here."

"And I am! How wonderful for you, Princess. I'm just where you thought I'd be." Discord drank his cup, and set the tea back down unconstrained, where it sloshed out all over the table. "It sounds like Opposite Day was an absolutely brilliant success!"

"But nothing even changed!" Twilight stamped a hoof in frustration, and then set her magically-held tea down. "There's nothing opposite about it!"

Fluttershy's eyes widened, and she suddenly giggled. Twilight looked at her, and then to Discord. Discord just smiled at Fluttershy, with an almost proud bearing.

Twilight sighed. "Fluttershy, what are you laughing about?"

"Um, I'm sorry, it might not be funny to you, but um... everything today was the opposite of what you expected. Don't you see? Um.. it was an opposite Opposite Day."

Discord burst into laughter, reaching his lion paw around Fluttershy to hug her close. Twilight's eyes narrowed, as she went over the words.

Not for the first time, she considered whether the Tree of Harmony could go without the Elements for just a few more minutes.

LP 64: Visions [General]

The Prompt: Choose one of the following:

Choice is an illusion.

or

Choice is an illusion.

This was the last prompt from the founder of the legacy prompts. Beginning of the end, I suppose.

As grand and sparkly as Twilight Sparkle's castle was, it did lack some of the refinement and luxury of Canterlot Castle. Princess Twilight say comfortably enough on the little plush cushions that Rarity had chosen to decorate this study with, but she knew they were nowhere near the quality that her guest was accustomed to. Still, she also knew that Princess Celestia wouldn't have been upset to have this visit while sitting in the dirt at Sweet Apple Acres.

Even so, Twilight found herself squirming a bit on her cushion, trying to get more comfortable.

Princess Celestia's voice was calm and measured. "The cushions are lovely, Twilight. Thank you for inviting me to your castle for tea."

"Of course, Princess. And... thank you." Twilight didn't voice what she was thanking the older alicorn for, but she seemed to understand anyway.

A moment passed, before Princess Celestia set her teacup down with just the quietest 'tink' against the table. "What is it that you want to ask me, Princess?"

Twilight Sparkle found herself blushing. She fought it back as best she could; there was no reason to be ashamed that the Princess knew it wasn't purely a social visit. "Well... I..." Twilight paused, took a breath, and then let it out before continuing. "Princess Celestia, do you remember, just before the incident with Tirek-"

Princess Celestia's brow knitted slightly at the memory. Twilight continued, but more carefully.

"It's not about the fight, Princess. I'm just curious about... well, your visions of the future."

The tension left the Princess immediately, and Twilight found herself calming at the sight as well. Princess Celestia smiled down to her former student, and spoke with the same calm elegance Twilight had come to expect. "Of course, Princess Twilight. What do you want to know?"

Twilight smiled as well. "Well, the vision you described of Tirek sounded like it was happening at the same time. But you do get visions of the future, don't you? How do those work?"

Princess Celestia looked down into her tea, and then sipped at it before setting the cup aside again. "I often get visions, so to speak, of the future, yes. They nearly always come true."

"Nearly always?" Twilight felt her magic rising through her horn, she wished she had a scroll and quill to write this down. "So the future is set? You can't change how things happen?"

Celestia smiled down at Twilight, and something about the look seemed a little strange. "Usually. Nearly every pony in Equestria reacts as they do in the vision, and trying to avoid the result almost never works."

Twilight hesitated, and then tried to force some confidence into her question. "You keep saying 'nearly', and 'usually'. There are exceptions?"

"You, Twilight Sparkle."

Twilight froze. After a moment, Princess Celestia gave a quiet giggle, and Twilight blushed and calmed herself. "Me? I'm the exception?"

Celestia leaned in and nuzzled Twilight affectionately, and Twilight settled down, trying to stay calm. Princess Celestia straightened up again and smiled. "Yes, Twilight. One of two. I cannot predict Discord, either." Celestia's hoof tapped Twilight's wing to silence the next question. "No, you are not the same as Discord. But there is something special about you, Twilight. I did not predict your magical release that brought about your cutie mark, for instance, and..."

Princess Celestia's voice trailed off at the end, and she paused before speaking. "Before I sent you to Ponyville the first time, I saw my sister's reign. You had been... hurt, trying to protect me. You had changed minor things about the visions in the past, but that was the first time I tried to change the prediction entirely."

Twilight stared up at Celestia. "I... your visions showed her winning? But you told me you knew I could do it!"

"I did. I believed in you, Twilight, more than I believed in prophecy. You did win, as I knew you would. You are the only pony that can affect the future like this, Twilight. No matter what I try to do, everypony else always leads to the same future."

Twilight looked down at the floor, her eyes darting left and right as she thought over everything. "So... everypony else's future is set? They don't make choices, or have free will?"

Celestia's quiet chuckle dissipated the tension as it always did. "They make choices, Princess Twilight. It's only that their choices are always the same as I've seen. Yours are not. You have wondered why you and your friends are so important to Equestria. Now you know, or at least you know a bit more."

"Just Discord and me? Does he know about this?"

Celestia's smile changed slightly. "I believe he knows, Twilight. Discord can see even better than I, and yet you continually surprise him. I believe that's why he is so... fixated on you."

Twilight sighed, laying down on her little cushion, implications and questions swimming through her mind.

The quiet 'tink' of Celestia's empty cup being set down brought Twilight out of her oppressive mood. Celestia smiled at her. "Now, I believe your friends are planning to surprise us by inviting us to lunch."

Twilight smiled, and stood up from her cushion, the sound of hoofsteps in the hallway outside confirming what Celestia had said. "... Is everything going to go well?"

Celestia stood as well, and started toward the door before Twilight's friends could find them. "Who can say?"

LP67: It's Just Dinner [Slice of Life?]

The prompt: Things worth doing together.

"But I don't wanna! I got other things to do, Applejack!"

Applejack sighed quietly as she set up another barrel of apples for shipping out tomorrow. "Sugar, it's just dinner. You'll be out with your friends in an hour or so."

Apple Bloom stamped a hoof. "But it ain't fair! Sweetie Belle doesn't have to eat dinner at home every day! And Scootaloo about never does!"

"That's 'cause Rarity left home soon as she was able, an' pegasus ponies are weird about this an' that." Applejack tried to keep her voice nice and neutral as she closed up the wagon, and then sat down.

Apple Bloom plopped her rear down on the floor of the barn and rolled her eyes. When her big sister started sounding like that, she knew darn well she wasn't getting out of it.

"What's got you so worked up, Sugar? You used to love eatin' dinner with your family."

Apple Bloom scuffed one hoof against the floor. "It ain't that, Applejack. I got Crusader business! There's a new colt at school who doesn't have his cutie mark yet, and we're supposed to be meetin' up to think of a way to help him."

"And that colt'll still be blank tomorrow, probably. Besides, it's not going to be all night, Sugar. Just a little bit of time for us, that's all."

Yep, definitely not getting out of it. Apple Bloom slumped to the floor, with her forelegs splayed out in front of her. "It ain't fair. I can eat dinner with y'all any time I want. I'll do it tomorrow."

Applejack nodded, and looked over the barrels of apples sitting all around the barn, most of which needed proper storage and shipping out to all over Equestria. "Apple Bloom, I get it, I do. I got a lot of work left too, an' even an hour or two more would help out a ton."

Apple Bloom waited for the other horseshoe to drop.

"And you're right, you can eat dinner with us any day. If you want to run off to your Crusaders meetin', you can. But listen, when I was uh... a little younger than you, I thought the same way. Didn't want to come back home to some borin' apple orchard. I even told Granny before, same thing you just said."

Apple Bloom looked up at Applejack, but her big sister was looking aside at the moment.

"Then, uh... one day..." Applejack trailed off a moment, and then turned to look at Apple Bloom again. "Listen, Sugar. Right now you can eat with all of us any time you like. But one day, you won't be able to anymore. An' that day, you're gonna wish you'd taken the chance when you could."

"Come on, Applejack. I know what you're sayin', but Granny isn't that old. She's always sayin' she's going to be around for a good long while still! It's just one day!"

Applejack nodded. "It ain't always age that does it, Sugar. But you go on ahead, I'll see you when you get back."

Apple Bloom stood up and hugged her sister, before galloping off and out of the barn.

Something stuck in her head though, as she galloped along the trail toward the front gate. She knew exactly what her sister was talking about. Ma and Pa had died all of a sudden, and Applejack felt guilty or something. But it wasn't the same and she ought to know it!

Besides, Applejack missed plenty of dinners when she was off running around and saving Equestria.

It was always kind of weird without her there. Granny and Mac always seemed worried that she might not come back. Apple Bloom knew better than that, nothing could beat her big sister, after all. But sometimes Applejack was off for a week or more, and then even Apple Bloom would start to get worried.

She slowed to a stop, at the gate that marked the edge of Sweet Apple Acres.

Who knows when her sister's cutie mark might call her into some adventure again? Maybe tomorrow morning, and maybe... maybe she wouldn't...

That was silly. Applejack wouldn't go missing or anything. She'd be here tomorrow, and every day, like always. So would Granny, and Big Mac.

It was silly, but Apple Bloom stopped at the gate, and then turned around.

The Crusaders would be there after dinner. They knew she always ate with her family, after all, and they'd still have plenty of time to have their meeting. Right now, she had something more important to do.

LP69: It's Over [General, AU]

The Prompt:

Endgame

Nopony saw the who fired the shot that ended the war.

From somewhere in the magical artillery corps, a single shot somehow managed to penetrate the shields around King Sombra, and went straight through the great enemy.

The reaction was immediate. His cry broke through the din of battle, and the resulting explosion from his overcharged magical body tore across the battlefield. His soldiers all threw down their armor, nearly in unison, as his control over them faded away.

It was over.

The news seemed to be everywhere at once. Even in the mostly empty town of Ponyville, the streets rang with the news. Applejack first heard it as she was passing off what turned out to be the last shipment of canned apples.

Sombra was defeated! The war was over! Everything could go back to how it was before!

It almost didn't make sense to her. The war was over? She walked along the familiar, well-worn path back toward Sweet Apple Acres. The war was over. The army didn't need canned apples anymore, ponies just needed... what? Fresh food? Like Sweet Apple Acres had produced a few years ago? How could things just go back to the way they were?

The smell of the cannery hit her, as always, before she could even see the gate to her orchard. The soot in the air, the sound, now that she thought to listen, of the machinery inside her old family home.

No, things couldn't go back to the way they were. Applejack trudged her way along the pathway toward the cannery.

"What? You've got t' be kiddin' me, Mayor!" Applejack stamped a hoof on the floor of the train station. Ponyville had been filling up over the past week, as ponies returned home, and were assigned to Ponyville by the Princesses, and it seemed she could never find the Mayor anywhere but here, coordinating refugees. "You're askin' me an' my family to make three times as much food? For what? There ain't an army anymore, Mayor!"

Mayor Mare sighed, sounding every bit as worn-down and exhausted as she looked. "Applejack, we have hundreds of ponies coming back from the front, and many more that have no other place to live after Sombra destroyed their homes. I know it won't be easy, but you must find a way to do it! You'll have as many ponies to help as you need, I'm sure we'll have plenty of stallions looking for work." She glanced up as a train coming in again, and sighed. "Especially after what happened in Manehatten."

Applejack spoke again in protest, but the sound was entirely drowned out by the squeal of the train's brakes. She watched as ponies poured from the train's doorways, looking tired and haggard. She'd never seen such a mix of ponies. Some were obvious veterans, like the pegasus with the rainbow mane... and her prosthetic wing. Some were obviously not, like the purple-haired unicorn that Applejack struggled to even recognize as the fabulous and well-groomed filly that had run off to Manehatten years ago. But all of them looked exhausted and miserable, and suddenly her own problems felt a lot less important.

She looked to the mayor again. "Yeah. Alright, Mayor. We'll figure somethin' out. Might be some hard times comin' up, but we'll work through it, don't you fret."

The Mayor smiled at her, and then looked up at the approach of another pony. Applejack turned to see, and then froze in place.

It was her. Or it was darn close. Same striped mane, same horn, same purple coloration... no wings, though. How could this be possible? Sure, the mane was cut short, in a military style, and she had a recent scar over one eye, but it couldn't be anypony else.

"You must be Mayor Mare. Hi, I'm Twilight Sparkle, I've been assigned as coordinator for this group of refugees. This should be the last train for a while, so we'll have time to sort everypony out. Princess Celestia mentioned that you might have a place for me to stay?" The unicorn spoke in a friendly enough tone, though her slight hesitations here and there certainly made her seem... less comfortable than the last time Applejack had seen her.

Mayor Mare paused a moment. "Oh dear, I'm not certain that we do, I'm sure I can make room somewhere, just--"

"Shoot, don't worry, Mayor. We can make room at Sweet Apple Acres."

Applejack held out a hoof, and Twilight looked at it, hesitated just a moment, and then shook it politely.

Applejack smiled. "Come on now, Twilight was it? Lemme help you get all your work sorted here, an' we'll head right on over to your new home. Don't you worry, I know we'll be th' best of friends soon enough."

"Friends? Oh, well... " She paused, and then smiled. "Well, let's get the work done, first. Good to meet you, Applejack."

LP70: Overthinking It

The Prompt: It is our duty to build the tools and toys that will inspire the next generation to imagine a better future.

or, Damn it all, something about apples!

Lunchtime at the Ponyville school was always noisy and chaotic, and today was no exception. Apple Bloom and her friends were right in the middle of everypony these days, and it was always fun chattering with all their friends. For some reason, today, Apple Bloom noticed one of the other fillies had an apple with her lunch.

A pony in Ponyville eating apples was hardly unusual, but today, Apple Bloom suddenly started to think about how that apple got there. It wasn't as simple as Sunny Daze probably thought!

First off, Sunny's mother probably put it there. But that was too easy.

She probably bought it off Applejack, and didn't give it a second thought past that. But Apple Bloom knew that while Applejack carted the apples to the town to sell them some days, most of the apples they harvested were bucked down by her big brother, Big Mac.

Though, you know, her siblings were both raised by their Ma and Pa, at least for a while. So something had to be given to those ponies. They'd helped turn Sweet Apple Acres around, before Apple Bloom was even born, or so she was told. Did that mean they had something to do with the apple Sunny Daze was taking a bite out of?

But if you counted Ma and Pa, then Granny Smith had to get credit for finding those seeds in the first place! Or at least she found the zap apple seeds. Apple Bloom thought, but she wasn't quite sure if Granny had found the actual apple seeds, or if it had been her family back then. Anyway, she guessed all of those ponies setting up Sweet Apple Acres to start with had some kind of responsibility for apples being in Ponyville now.

Of course, they only got that land because it was part of Equestria. So maybe the army way back then had something to do with it too?

But apple trees couldn't grow without sunshine, and so Princess Celestia had to have some credit too, right?

Apple Bloom wondered if Sunny knew that Princess Celestia sorta-kinda helped to get her that apple.

Even then, that wasn't enough! Somepony had to make the cart Applejack carried the apples in! All the barrels were made by somepony else too. That wasn't even counting whoever made that paper bag she brought her lunch in, and the table they were at, or the school, or--

Apple Bloom stopped herself there. All those ponies, the cartwright, cooper, paper... bag-maker... they all had families, and those stores were probably set up ages ago just like Sweet Apple Acres. All of those ponies and all of those years, and it all went into that apple core sitting on the table in front of Apple Bloom's friend.

Her silly ruminating was disrupted by a hoof poking her in the side. Scootaloo gave Apple Bloom a weird look. "Hey Apple Bloom, why are you staring at Sunny?"

"Huh? I ain't starin'! Hush up an' finish your lunch, Scootaloo!"

Apple Bloom glanced again at the apple core, but pushed all the thoughts aside. Soon she'd be doing her own part for ponies that came after her, and somehow fitting right in to history like that was satisfying in its own kind of way.

LP72: Paperwork [Slice of Life? Drama?]

The Prompt:

Black and White

There was something soothing about paperwork.

Not that Twilight Sparkle would admit that to her friends. They would probably laugh at her, or at best they'd give her that look they always did when she said something 'egghead'-ish. But paperwork WAS soothing! It was nice and easy, just go down the list and fill in each blank, all neat and tidy and well-defined. Like taking a test you already knew all the answers to.

Which is partly why the scritch of errant ink across the page annoyed her so much, after the gust of wind and loud shout from one of her friends completely disrupted her pleasant filling-in.

"Twilight! What the hay?"

Rainbow Dash came swooping in, through the door at the least, and stayed in the air, above Twilight's table, with her nose only an inch from Twilight's, and her eyes narrowed in anger and disbelief. Twilight glanced down at the mark on the otherwise very neat and tidy citizenship papers, and then sighed and set down the quill. "What's wrong, Rainbow?"

Rainbow landed on the table, legs slightly out in a defensive stance. "Pinkie's planning a party for Bon Bon! I thought she was still in jail, but Pinkie says you're letting her out! Why? She's a changeling!"

Twilight blinked. "... So? There have been other changeling citizens before, Rainbow Dash, and Bon Bon hasn't hurt anyp--"

"Seriously?" Rainbow kicked off into the air again, flapping her wings and scattering paperwork everywhere. "Don't you remember what they did to you and Cadance?"

Twilight winced slightly, and Rainbow looked aside, before landing on the table again. Twilight spoke more quietly. "Of course I remember, Rainbow. But Bon Bon wasn't part of that army, she doesn't even like Queen Chrysalis."

Rainbow hesitated just a moment before speaking again. "... So, where's the real Bon Bon? I mean, I barely even know her, but still."

"Oh, there isn't a real Bon Bon, I mean there is, but it's the one we know. She just made up the pony when she got here, she didn't take anypony's place. Oh and before you ask, no, she's not eating anypony's love. She just eats food, they can do that. Apparently."

Rainbow scrunched up her muzzle at her followup question being blocked. "But what about Lyra?"

"Huh? What about her?" Twilight tilted her head slightly.

Rainbow blushed slightly. "Uh, they're, you know.... doesn't Bon Bon eat her love?"

Twilight looked at the table, and then at the floor, and used her magic to levitate one of the fallen pages up. "They're roommates, or that's what she reported. I'm pretty sure changelings, ones that eat love I mean, don't use friendship, it has to be romantic love."

Rainbow stared blankly at Twilight for a moment, but then just shook her head quickly. "...Anyway, come on Twilight, she's a bug! They're evil, you can't just let them be citizens. She's not even a pony!"

"Rainbow, it's just not that simple! Bon Bon's a friend of mine, she has been since only a little after I moved to Ponyville! Besides, what about Gilda?"

"Gilda's a changeling too?!" Rainbow leaped backward again, into the air, poised as though she were about to bolt off toward Griffonstone at the very idea.

Twilight frowned. "No, but she's not a pony. She's still an Equestrian citizen."

"But that's-- Alright, whatever, you got me. But really, she's not-"

"Or Cranky, remember his wedding? Or the cows on Applejack's farm, or-"

"Okay okay!" Rainbow landed properly on the floor this time, and then looked at all the scattered papers as if noticing them for the first time. "Oh, uh, sorry. So, I guess you're going to do it anyway, right?"

Twilight nodded as she gathered up the papers in her magic.

Rainbow glanced aside. "I'm still going to keep an eye on her."

Twilight smiled a little. "That's fine. Come to Pinkie's party, you'll see she's still the same Bon Bon you already know. She's a nice person, Rainbow, she and Lyra both." She looked down at the paperwork, and then back to Rainbow. "Maybe if you help me fill this out, you'll feel better about it. Even if you don't trust her, trust me, okay?"

Rainbow's wings twitched, and she looked up at the window for a moment, but then shrugged and rolled her eyes, sitting down next to Twilight with a thump. Twilight patted her friend with her wing, and then took up the quill again.

LP74: Pinkie Pie [General?]

The Prompt:

Mirror, Mirror

Pinkie Pie raced through the Everfree Forest, with the timberwolves hot on her trail. The brambles and vines of the forest tore past her in a blur as she galloped at top speed, but she hardly even noticed that anymore. All that was important was getting away from those wolves!

This wasn't her first time running away from timberwolves, and it probably wouldn't be her last! This is just what happened to ponies that went into the Everfree Forest, and Pinkie Pie was in there all the time! She hopped easily over a fallen tree, and then dodged sideways through a bush, that might slow them down!

And into her own reflection she stared...

Whoops! That last bite was awfully close! Pinkie Pie would have to super-double-time it if she wanted to get away this time! She ducked under a branch, and couldn't help giggling at the frustrated sound the timberwolf that smacked right into the branch made. But a big scary wolf like that wouldn't be stopped by a tree, and neither would his friends!

Friends. Pinkie Pie missed her friends.

Yearning for one whose reflection she shared...

Pinkie Pie scrunched up her muzzle. Even galloping as fast as she could, and with the wolves behind her leaping and running at full tilt, somehow their breath STILL managed to stink the whole woods up! How did a bunch of magical sticks and leaves even HAVE bad breath? Did cragadiles have bad breath too? Pinkie hadn't run into one of those, even with how often she was in the forest!

Wait, that didn't matter right now! What mattered right now was going just as super-fast as she could!

And solemnly sweared, not to be scared...

Pinkie Pie was scared witless! The forest rushed by in a mix of green and brown and darkness and scarey-ness and she had long since lost any idea of where the hay she was or where the path was, or Zecora's hut, or ANYTHING! All there was in the whole world was galloping and panting and sweating and timberwolves and branches and logs and-

At the prospect of being doubly mared.

Sunlight!

Pinkie Pie crashed through the sudden mass of bushes and vines that marked the edge of the forest.

The first thing she thought was WOOHOO! Timberwolves super didn't like leaving the forest, and that meant that she was probably safe, if she could run just a little more!

The second thing she thought was PANIC! Because right there in front of her was a little blanket with food laid out (including yummy-looking cupcakes and pies!) and six ponies (and one dragon!) all around it.

Pinkie Pie collapsed on her front, her limp, straight mane all around in her a briar-and-branch-tangled mess. The timberwolves rushed out of the Forest behind her, roaring in frustration at the long chase, but a few blasts of purple magic scattered the timberwolves' pieces all over everywhere. Ponies were suddenly all around her, eyes widened in surprise and maybe even fear.

Pinkie Pie looked up at Pinkie Pie, and then passed out.

"But who is she?"

"I reckon she's one of them extra Pinkies from that magic pond."

Who was that? Oh, Applejack! That was the name.

"But how is she still here? I sent all the duplicates back to-"

"Not just the duplicates, silly! What about the double-doubles and the double-double-doubles and the--"

Pinkie Pie certainly recognized that voice. But her eyelids felt really heavy, and she didn't really want to open them and see everypony right now.

"I sent them all back, Pinkie!"

"But she sure looks like me!"

Pinkie opened her eyes, and found that she was still on the ground, though now with the picnic blanket over her back. The ponies were standing only a few feet away, all huddled up.

Rainbow Dash flew a few feet above the ground, like usual. "Well then stop talking about it and blast this one too!"

"No wait!" Pinkie Pie said, and then cupped a hoof over her mouth when all of her friends looked over to her laying on the ground.

Twilight hesitated. Wait, was that still Twilight? She had wings now!

Rarity glanced at the Pinkie on the ground. "You know, Pinkie, Darling, it might be good to straighten your mane now and then. It really could be--" She coughed into her hoof, quieting herself at the disbelieving looks from most of her friends.

Fluttershy spoke next, quietly, but almost firmly. "Um, it wouldn't... be fair to just send her back. She hasn't... done anything wrong."

"Wait, what? She's not even a pony! Just blast her!" Rainbow frowned, and Fluttershy wilted at her tone.

Pinkie Pie suddenly giggled and bounced over to the Pinkie Pie on the ground, before throwing her forelegs around her in a warm, soft hug.

It had been way, way too long since Pinkie had been hugged. It was the most super funnerific thing in the whole world, and she totally forgot about everything else. At least for a few long, happy seconds.

Twilight, Princess Twilight now, Pinkie guessed, sat down heavily on her rump, looking troubled. "Well, we can't just have two Pinkie Pies running around, but Fluttershy's right, we also can't just send her back after all this time..."

Pinkie giggled, and nuzzled the messier, straight-maned Pinkie. "Of COURSE we can't! She's my new twin sister! And if she can't be Pinkie Pie, maybe she can be... Pinkamena Diane Pie!"

Twilight gave a flat look. "But that's your name. Your real name, I mean."

"Really? I can stay? You really really mean it?" Friends? Other ponies? Real food? No more running from Everfree Forest monsters?

"You sure can! Don't worry, Pinkamena, we'll have you smiling and happy again in no time! Ooh! I've got so many things to tell you about! It's been a super long time since we talked!" Pinkie Pie squeezed her close, and giggled happily at her own non-joke.

Pinkamena Diane Pie hugged her sister tightly in return, and for the first time in forever, felt like she was home.

LP74: Mirror [Drama? Slice of Life?]

The Prompt:

Mirror, Mirror

Zz'zzrt didn't much like mirrors.

No changelings really did. It never felt quite right, looking into one. Either it showed some pony or griffon that they were pretending to be, or it showed some black-carapaced bug that they were never really used to seeing.

This mirror in particular wasn't one any changeling much liked, either. This one was magical, enchanted by the one and only Princess of Friendship. This mirror was the one that made changelings into Equestrian citizens.

Right now, the mirror showed a light blue pegasus pony, with a slightly curly blond mane. Sassaflash. The real Sassaflash had gone back to Cloudsdale a few years ago, and Zz'zzrt had taken her place without too much need for explanation. She'd picked up all the pieces that Sassaflash had left, and she had become that mare pretty painlessly.

It's surprising how long she managed to keep that going, now that she thought back on it. Sassaflash never bothered visiting Ponyville after she left, or even writing to anypony. But now that Princess Twilight Sparkle was offering amnesty, Sassaflash had to go. There couldn't be two ponies, and any changeling aiming to join Equestria as a legal citizen would have to stop pretending.

A flash of green magic, and the mirror showed that unfamiliar black chitin.

Zz'zzrt had seen it before, of course. The hives had a lot of this, actually. But after being Sassaflash for so long, it was hard to see.

So, no. No black carapace. That wasn't right, even if some other changelings went that way with it.

Another flash of magic, and back to Sassaflash. But she couldn't stay that way, so she changed the mane. Shorter, more coltish even, a little messy, and a deep brown. But the deep brown clashed unpleasantly with her coat color. She paused, and changed that too, to a sort of lighter brown.

The mirror showed a brown mare with a brown mane. How dull.

The pony sighed. No, that wouldn't do.

Yellow mane again? Longer? Shorter? Maybe pink, with a pink coat-- no, that's too obvious. Purple coat, and blue mane? Ew, no. Unicorn? Pegasus? Maybe even griffon, but then the coloration was even harder to get right.

Back to the black carapace again, Zz'zzrt stared into the mirror. This wasn't working.

How did ponies do it? They were born with certain coloration, and a certain pony tribe, and they just... stayed that way. If they were a pegasus, they could fly, but no magic. Unicorns could use magic, but only a very few could fly with it. Earth ponies... Zz'zzrt had never even tried to fake being one.

But no matter which coloration or tribe... it just didn't feel like something to stick with forever. The grass was always greener on the other side, to quote a pony idiom.

"It's not easy, is it?"

The voice made Zz'zzrt jump, and reflexively adopt the most familiar facade, right back to Sassaflash again. She blushed slightly, and bowed. "Princess Twilight!"

Princess Twilight Sparkle smiled, in that disarmingly awkward way she often did. "You don't have to bow, you're not even a citizen yet, Zizz-zizzert. Though, well, I guess you will be soon. You're having problems deciding on a shape?"

The pegasus nodded, ignoring the common pony mispronunciation of changeling names, and looked back into the mirror before changing her mane to a light pink. It still clashed, but in a slightly less annoying way. "It's hard. I've been Sassaflash for so long, I just don't know how to be anypony else. I can't decide on colors or anything."

"You can always dye it later." Twilight glanced at the mirror, and gave herself a little smile. "You've been in here a long time. But don't worry, most changelings that do this take a while to decide."

Zz'zzrt nodded, and looked at herself again, changing her mane and coat here and there. Each time she found something she liked, a moment later she wanted to change again.

Twilight's voice was quiet. "Cutie mark, too. You can't really keep Sassaflash's."

She changed that as well. Now a stallion, now a mare again... she liked being a mare, she was more used to that. She tried a few more color combinations, and then hesitated a moment on one that caught her eye. Just brown coat, blond mane. It looked a little strange on a pegasus, but-

Twilight's horn glowed, and Zz'zzrt felt magic surge through her. Instinctively she tried to change again, but nothing happened. "What?! I wasn't done!"

Twilight Sparkle laid a hoof lightly on the other pony's back, and pointed at the mirror. "There. That's you. That's your coloring, your body. What do you think?"

Zz'zzrt looked into the glass. A pony looked back, still light brown with a yellowish blond mane. Thin, like most pegasus ponies, though not as well muscled as Sassaflash had been. Her cutie mark was almost generic, just a pair of clouds with the sun behind them. But she couldn't change it. Not any of it.

This was her. No more changes, no more mirrors showing unfamiliar ponies, no more black bugs. She was just a brown pegasus pony. Could she stay this way? The mirror hadn't done anything, so there was no way the spell would stick, but...

She nodded, slowly. "I think... I think I like it."

Twilight smiled, and then cast another spell. The mirror shone, and Zz'zzrt shivered as the spell was made permanent.

Twilight Sparkle smiled at her. "You'll need a pony name, of course, but that's a little easier, and that can be changed later. Now, I'll be in the next room over, okay? Take your time."

As the princess left, Zz'zzrt looked into the mirror once more.

For the first time, she saw herself there, and she smiled.

LP75: Overloaded [Slice of Life]

The prompt:

Overloaded.

"Of course, Rarity! I don't mind doing that for you." Princess Twilight Sparkle smiled as she scribbled down a few notes on the research Rarity had asked for.

Rarity smiled, pretty as usual. "Are you quite certain, Twilight? I know you have a simply enormous number of letters to answer."

Twilight shook her head quickly, setting the note aside for later. "I don't mind. It's only a few letters, and I'm sure I can find the information you need on pre-classical robes quickly enough."

Spike's head poked out from an upper shelf, where he had been working to reshelve a number of reference books. "Don't forget the classroom textbooks for Miss Cheerilee!"

"Huh? Oh, right, that too. But that's okay, Rarity. I'll have this by tomorrow."

"I sure am glad you don't mind workin' through me an' Big Mac's math, Twilight. I know it's a lot of addin' and subtractin', but I just can't have the books be off again this year." Applejack doffed her hat, and smiled at Twilight before setting it on her head again.

Twilight smiled, flipping idly through the farm ledger. "Oh, it's no problem, Applejack. I'm sure I can fit this in somewhere."

"Things sure are lookin' busy in here, Twilight. Why do y'all have books all over the floor an' everywhere else?"

"I was looking up answers for Pinkie Pie's question about historical parties. She asked about 'history parties' and I thought... well, it turned out that she just meant parties for studying history. But it was still interesting learning about all of that, even if she didn't really need it."

Spike grumbled as he collected book after heavy book in his arms. "Yeah, and you pulled down half of a shelf just to figure it out..."

"Um, I'm sorry, I know you... already have a lot of books. But I thought... a few more books about animals might be... nice." Fluttershy smiled, and nudged the books across the crowded table, toward Twilight.

Twilight smiled, and brushed her slightly mussed mane out of her eyes. "I'm sure we can find space. Are you sure..." She paused, blinked, and then shook her head quickly to clear it. "Are you sure you don't need them anymore?"

"I um, already know all of it. I've been caring for my animal friends so long, I just know how to spot all the problems without reading these again." Fluttershy pulled back her own mane without thinking about it. "Are you... okay?"

Spike picked up the stack of books from the table, and started sorting through them. "She's okay, it's just been a busy day. Don't worry Fluttershy, we're fine!"

"Spike? Spike! Where's that book on pre-classical looms? I've got way too much to do, and I can't seem to find it!" Twilight pulled volume after volume from the shelves, her horn glowing and her eyes slightly too wide as she scanned each title in turn.

Spike called out from a nearby ladder. "It's over here, Twilight, in the trade book section. You really need to take a break, Twilight."

"A break? I can't take a break! My friends are all counting on me, and that's not even counting all the ponies that wrote in for advice!"

"But you're getting too stress-urp!"

Spike burped and coughed as the scroll appeared in the middle of a gout of flame, and then dropped to the table.

Princess Twilight stared at the scroll, and the royal seal gracing it. She lifted it in her magic, and unrolled it. Her eyes moved left and right over the text, and her eyebrow twitched in a very familiar way that set all of Spike's spines on edge.

The castle sounded strangely quiet to Twilight, after the past few minutes. Her breathing had calmed again, and here, under her bedcovers, it was warm and safe and dark.

She felt more than a little foalish. It was just another minor question from Princess Celestia, and it wouldn't have taken too long to answer, not really.

Twilight sighed under her covers.

The creaking of the big crystal door to her bedroom made the fur along her back stand on end for a few seconds, until she realized that it could really only be Spike. "... Hi, Spike."

Spike's voice was quiet and almost apologetic. "Hey, Twilight. I answered Princess Celestia's letter, it didn't take too long."

The patter of his padded feet was almost loud in her silent bedroom, as he walked over toward the bed. Twilight nodded, even if he couldn't see her under the covers. "Thanks, Spike. I'm... sorry about making a mess of the library."

"It's okay, Twilight." Spike burrowed under her blankets, and cuddled up against Twilight's chest. He hugged her around the barrel, and Twilight couldn't' help but smile.

Twilight gave her number one assistant a squeeze, and then sighed. "Okay, from now on, I'll listen when you suggest a break, okay? All that stuff will still be there tomorrow, let's just rest."

LP77: Prank/Counterprank [Slice of Life]

The Prompt:

Pranks for Everything

It was another quiet, peaceful day in Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle. She sat idly reading through a book she was fairly certain she'd already been through twice, as the birds twittered pleasantly outside and warm breeze filtered through the windows.

It was nice, in a way. Quiet and peaceful meant that nopony was hurting or in trouble, but it was also a bit boring. Which is why the sound of galloping hooves (and the pat-pat of baby dragon feet) was both a welcome distraction and a bit of a concern.

"Twilight! Twiliiight!" Spike's voice called out loudly.

Rainbow Dash's voice followed after. "Hey, Twilight! You're in here, right?"

Twilight set a bookmark in her book, and then stood before calling out to them. "I'm in here. What do you two need?"

Spike burst through the door, running as fast as his little legs could carry him, with a scroll clenched in one hand. "Twilight! I got this letter from Princess Celestia yesterday, but-"

"But he forgot to bring it to you until now!" Rainbow Dash came soaring in after him, up in the air like usual.

"What? Spike! You know better than to hide letters from the Princess!" Twilight took the letter in her magic, while Spike's face fell. She glanced over the royal crest, but then broke the wax seal and unrolled the scroll.

Rainbow grinned, and held out a hoof to Spike. Spike just glanced aside, nervously.

Twilight's eyes moved left to right as she read. "My dearest Twilight, an urgent matter has come up in Canterlot, and I need you to come alone to my chambers, as quickly as possible."

Twilight paused, before continuing. "My royal guard will not be expecting you, but you must come immediately. -Princess Celestia."

She turned the scroll over, and then back again, frowning. ".... That's all it says."

Spike held his tail in his hands and fidgeted a little with the spines. "Sorry I didn't give it to you earlier, Twilight, I.. uh, forgot?"

"It sounds pretty bad, Twilight. I mean, you know, Princess Celestia asking you to go all the way to Canterlot." Rainbow tried to look serious and worried.

"That's... true." Twilight spoke, half-distracted. "But why alone? Why wouldn't' she tell her guards? It's like she doesn't want anypony to know I'm coming."

Rainbow nodded again. "Yeah, sounds serious, right?"

Twilight nodded and scanned over the short text again. "And the writing... it's not quite like her. Hm."

A few moments passed, and then Twilight set the letter down, and spoke as if coming to a sudden decision. "A changeling. Princess Celestia is being impersonated by a changeling!"

Rainbow's eyes went wide. "What? No, I uh, I mean, that's kind of..." She rubbed the back of her neck. "Not likely?"

"Yeah, come on, Twilight. No changeling could replace Princess Celestia!" Spike squeezed his tail nervously.

Twilight shook her head, starting to pace back and forth in an unpleasantly familiar way. "No, it's the only thing that makes sense. Why else would she want me to come alone, when a real crisis would need all my friends? Why wouldn't she tell the guards? This way she could replace me and nopony would even suspect anything!"

"Uh..."

"Nope! I know what to do. I'll just have to teleport right there, and show that impostor who's boss!" Twilight's horn glowed brightly, and before anypony could react, she disappeared in a flash of purple magic.

"No wait!" Rainbow leaped forward through the air, but too late. "Wow, she's really going to go blast... we've gotta go, Spike!"

"But wait!" Spike started, before Rainbow scooped him up in her forelegs and darted out of the room in a rainbow-colored trail.

Twilight waited until they were out of sight before giggling quietly to herself. The invisibility spell had worked perfectly, even if Spike might have learned enough about magic over his lifetime to recognize that she hadn't really teleported. Twilight glanced over the letter from Princess Celestia again. It was plainly Spike's handwriting, and he'd even misspelled 'immediately'. Of course, knowing Rainbow Dash, they'd be halfway to Canterlot before he could manage to get a word in.

She settled down to her book again, still invisible. A little excitement could be fun on a boring day, after all.

LP78: Flim Flam [AU, Slice of Life]

the prompt:

this too shall pass

or and he shall reign forever and ever (hard mode: no Sombra nor Discord)

The cafe was nice enough, all told. It wasn't really what Princess Twilight Sparkle was used to, but she was... well, getting used to seeing things she wasn't used to.

It wasn't bad, though. The cafe was sturdy looking at least, with concrete walls and a tin roof. Twilight wasn't about to argue that the wooden walls and thatched roofs she was used to were better in any real, tangible way. But they did seem more homey.

Applejack chuckled as she set down her cup of cider, and looked down a moment to fix her flannel shirt. "Heh. Yeah, I was guessin' you weren't exactly from around here, Miss Twilight. Not every day you see a pony all in th' natural, so to speak."

"The natural? Oh, you mean my clothes, or my lack of them. When-- I mean, where I come from, most ponies don't wear them." Twilight smiled, and glanced over to Spike. Spike seemed content to munch on the hayfries he'd ordered.

"You know, it was like that here, too, before Flim an' Flam got that automatic loom workin'. Nowdays just about anypony can afford to have clothes on all the time, an' I don't think anypony's complaining." Applejack's smile wavered just a moment, before she took another sip of cider. "Still not sure why you went and came lookin' for me though, Twilight. I'm just a cider delivery pony, nothin' special."

Twilight bought a moment of time by sipping her own drink. She couldn't quite stop herself from making a face at the taste. "Ugh. Well, could you tell me how all this happened?" At Applejack's look, Twilight blushed slightly. "I mean, Flim and Flam taking over."

"Takin' over? Well, I guess they did do that." Applejack, chuckled again, and took another drink. "Lessee here. I used to be a farmer, a few years back, if you can believe it. Worked th' orchard over thataways a bit. But that just about ended when Nightmare Moon came back."

Twilight nodded, glancing at Spike again. The baby dragon was at least paying attention now that his food was done.

"I'm sure y'all remember that. It was night for goin' on a week, and nopony knew how to fix anything. Now, way I heard it, Flim an' Flam found some book or another about some kind of mysterious elements or something. Now, they found 'em, and rigged them up to some contraption or another, and in no time sent Nightmare Moon right back to the moon."

"They build a machine for the Elements of Harmony?"

Applejack nodded. "That's the word I was lookin' for. Now, that left us without any princesses, seein' as both of 'em were up in the moon. But turns out those Elements kept on makin' that machine turn quick as you'd like, and before long, Flim and Flam had the sun an' moon going around again, too."

Applejack paused a moment, looking at her cider. "After that, I figured they'd just settle down an' rest on their money, but they sure didn't. They kept on buildin', one thing after another. First it was just lights an' stuff, but soon enough they had automatic apple-pickin' machines, and cider presses, and all kinds of other things. Nowadays there ain't nopony who wants for anythin'. I might miss my farm an' all, but I can't really go complainin' too much."

"But, you always loved bucking apples, and that kind of thing." Twilight sighed. "Besides, this cider is..."

Applejack chuckled again. "I know, it's not exactly Sweet Apple Acres vintage or anythin'. You know it ain't even cider, really? Most of the sugar comes from milled corn, an' it's just apple-flavored. Same with these houses. Now they're sturdy, warm in winter an' cool in summer, but the concrete's made by dredgin' up the countryside. Lot of good farmland is bein' ruined by the mining. But ponies do need places to live, an' Flim and Flam have kept the forest back, even after all those vines went crazy a year back."

Twilight looked around, as if for the first time. Ponyville looked nothing like she remembered, though it wasn't... bad exactly. The buildings were boring and square, but nopony's roof seemed in need of repair, all the ponies had clothes, and it seemed as though everypony had work. "So, that's why they're cutting down the Everfree Forest?"

"Sure is. Now, I don't mean to be rude, but my fifteen minute break's up, an' I can't stay an' chat all day. You an' your dragon feel free to stay in town though. I'm sure somepony can find work for you." Applejack smiled and stood up, putting down a few bits on the table as pay.

Twilight paused. "So, if you could change things back to the way the were before, would you?"

Applejack hesitated, and then spoke as she hooked the cider wagon up again. "I don't know, Twilight. I'm glad everypony's got so much nowadays, but... I do miss my farm."

Twilight watched as Applejack pulled the cart away. She shook her head quickly. "Come on, Spike. We've got to get back and stop Starlight."

Author's Note

And that's it. We'd gotten down to three participants, and the number of responses a week was down below two.

So the next prompt was mine, and I bowed out after that one, and the group died instantly.

But it was fun while it lasted! Thanks for reading.

LP66: Served Cold [Drama?]

The Prompt:
Winter Night
or
Moonlit Night
or
Light the Night
Special Rule: Stories must feature Princess Luna.

The glow around her horn faded, and the moon began its ascent again.

It was the beginning of a new night for Equestria. For her Equestria.

Nightmare Moon looked up at her moon, and at the craters in the shape of her dear Sister's face. So it had been for two centuries now, and none remained that challenged her rule or even remembered the sunlight at all.

So it should be.

Her guards knew better than to disturb her work, and would not open the door of her chambers. So for now, she could stare up at the white globe above, and remember.

She had been there for a thousand years. Her Sister's two hundred years were only the start for the other alicorn. Nightmare Moon knew her sister, she knew Celestia would never repent or apologize. It would not matter now if she did. She made her own fate when she had sealed Nightmare Moon away.

The moon shone pale in the sky, providing the light for what may as well be 'day' for her subjects.

Even now, in her way, Celestia helped them.

However, instead of the usual seething hatred, Nightmare Moon felt... nothing.

The moon was as it had been, for twelve hundred years now.

The Princess... Queen, really, that was in command of Equestria had changed. The ponies had changed, becoming more batlike as time moved on. The culture had changed, the foliage was changing.... But the moon was still there, unchanged.

Princess Luna stared upward at the moon.

She could still remember her Sister's face when she had returned. The shock, the fear... Nightmare Moon had been certain that there was some trap, or some ploy that Celestia had planned, but none had ever materialized. After banishing Celestia, there had been scattered resistance, a few rebellions held together by powerful or charismatic leaders, but they had all failed. Nightmare Moon had spent centuries planning her return, and yet there was no true fight. No battle to overcome.

Luna stared still at the white, cold light of the moon.

Was it the same for Celestia as it had been for her?

The anger, the resentment, the solitary misery, watching from inside the moon at a world you could never touch?

The guilt?

Princess Luna could almost feel her power waning at the very idea. Had she been guilty? Did Celestia regret her actions?

She wished she could ask her. She wanted to know. She wanted to speak with her Sister, she wanted to hear...

What?

An apology? For a thousand years of imprisonment?

Recriminations? To see her Sister angry and give her an excuse to banish her elder Sister to the moon again?

Just... to see her sister again? Not as Princesses, not as rivals to the throne, not as enemies, but just... as they had been, before?

Princess Luna shook her head to clear it of such thoughts.

Nightmare Moon took one last, long look at the moon in the sky, and then turned to open her chamber doors and make her way to her throne.