Sonataverse: Originsby keaton-furman-prowerChaptersPrologueLoyaltyKindnessHonestyPrologueLuna smiled softly as she walked through the castle. The last few days had been incredibly eventful, and she was hoping that the next few hours would give her some time to relax. It had all started just over four days ago, with a major falling out between her and her faithless student Cadence Amore. It had ended with a shouting match, and culminated with Cadence running through the mysterious mirror portal. Even after all the anger and frustration, Luna had waited just outside the portal in the hopes that her student would return, though she never went in for fear of getting lost and trapped in another world. She was then taken by surprise when, just before the portal closed, a little blue earth pony filly had emerged. Luna’s confusion had only increased when the filly, who called herself Sonata Dusk, had revealed herself to have once been a siren. While initially fearful at the prospect of the return of a dangerous enemy, the filly had proved to be far more afraid of her. Finally, in the hopes of using the former siren’s power for good instead of evil, the dark blue alicorn had decided to take her under her wing. Now, just a day after finding her, she had high hopes for Sonata. And so she turned her head towards the happily skipping filly, and smiled at her enthusiasm. While there was the slightest amount of trepidation at the idea of taking a former siren as her student, she saw nothing to suggest that Sonata could be a threat to her kingdom or her subjects. In addition, the way she marveled at everything which lay in the castle was rather cute. “Wowee! Look at that statue! And that huge window with all the ponies on it! And the curtains!” “Yes, Sonata,” Luna said kindly. “This castle is full of wonderful things. It is, after all, the place where I live, and the place from where I rule over my little ponies.” Sonata stopped bouncing around for a second, looking down at the ground for a moment before looking up at her mentor, her eyes filled with sad confusion. “I always thought everything in a pony princess castle was made to torture sirens.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? And why is that?” “I dunno,” said Sonata, kicking the ground. “That’s just what my sisters said.” Luna couldn’t help but chuckle as she considered the blue filly’s words. From what little she knew about her, she was quite certain that Sonata was the youngest of her family. Therefore, she would always take anything her sisters would have to say very seriously, because they were older and therefore obviously knew more. To question anything they told her was to question their position as older sisters. In that respect, she couldn’t help but see a bit of herself in Sonata. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of soft sobs. She turned downwards to look at Sonata, and felt her heart sink when she saw that tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Sonata?” The little blue filly looked back up at the princess and sniffled. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine!” Sonata replied, though her tears continued to fall. As the blue filly continued to sob, Luna stopped in her tracks. Her horn then began to glow, and Sonata was enveloped in her magic. She briefly stopped crying when she noticed that she was being lifted off the ground. She then looked upwards and realized that Luna was lifting her up towards herself. Finally, two gentle wings wrapped themselves around her. “I do not know what happened to you,” said Luna. “But whatever it is, know that I am here for you. And if there is anything you need to tell me, I shall listen.” For a moment, Sonata didn’t answer. However, the warmth and kindness of the wings around her made her feel incredibly comfortable, and she could not help but trust Luna. “Can… can you keep a secret?” Luna smiled as she held Sonata. “Of course. You know you can always trust me.” Fluttershy grinned as Rainbow and the colts got into position. She was confident that her best friend would win the race. Not just because she was the fastest pony she’d ever seen, but also because she was her friend. To doubt that her friend could win would be unbelievably rude. As the racers began to badmouth each other, the yellow pegasus raised the flag, and then brought it down. However, at the moment when the three ponies sped off, a huge blast of air pushed Fluttershy right off her cloud. She screamed as she fell through the air. She’d never been a particularly strong flier, but now her fear had caused her wings to freeze, preventing her from flying at all. As she saw Cloudsdale shrinking away in the distance, she prayed desperately that something or somepony would save her. As the ground beneath her got closer and closer, she winced and shut her eyes tightly. Strangely, even as she plummeted to her impending death, she felt rather peaceful. She had always been bullied by other ponies for her inability to fly as fast or as gracefully as them. Even though she was a pegasus, she had never really fit into Cloudsdale. Perhaps, in a way, she could finally be free. She was then shocked when, instead of the dark emptiness of death, she instead felt a pair of hooves grabbing her, pulling her out of harm’s way. As she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of her best friend. “Rainbow?!” she asked in shock. “What are you doing here?!” “What does it look like I’m doing?” the blue pegasus yelled. “I’m saving you!” “But what about your race?!” “Who cares?!” yelled Rainbow. You almost died!” Fluttershy stared at her friend in awe. She knew just how much Rainbow liked winning. Any time she didn’t win she’d throw a temper tantrum that made other foals run away in terror. Her parents, of course, would ground her for a week, she would pout, and then she’d challenge whoever beat her to a rematch once her punishment was over. And the very same Rainbow Dash had abandoned any chance of winning her race to save her. She gave up all because I was in danger, Fluttershy thought to herself. I’ve never met anypony else who would do something like that! I just wish I could be as selfless as her… Unfortunately, Fluttershy’s train of thought was then derailed when the two ponies crashed into a building. It had started out as a perfectly normal day at flight camp. However, things had been thrown into disarray after two fillies had gone missing. As a result, most of the usual activities were postponed, leaving the fillies and colts with plenty of free time. It was at such a time that Night Glider was flying around, searching for somepony to hang out with. She'd been thinking about hanging out with the rainbow-maned filly, since she was the only one who might be able to give her a challenge. However, for some reason, she couldn't find her anywhere. As she kept searching, her ears perked up as she heard something unexpected. “Nopony likes you, freak!” She stopped in her tracks and looked around for the source of the voice. To her surprise, she saw a strange creature that looked like a cross between a lion and an eagle. She was squirming as a trio of colts flew above her. “What?” asked one. “Did somepony try to combine a lion and a bird in a lab and create a freaky monstrosity?” “I… I’m a g-griffin,” the creature said. “From… Griffonstone.” “Well, why are you even here?” asked a second. “You should go back with the other freaks!” As the colts laughed, the griffin’s eyes began to well up. The white-maned filly gasped, and then her eyes began to narrow. “HEY!!!” she shouted, catching their attention. The colts momentarily stopped laughing and looked up in surprise. “Why don't you go pick on somepony your own size?!” Night Glider growled and descended into a fighting pose. The colts did not seem impressed, however, and snickered. “What?” the leader asked. “You really think you’re scaring us?” “Come on!” another laughed. “There’s no way you can beat us!” “And why is that?!” the filly asked angrily. “Because you’re a girl!” The bully did not even have time to blink before he was thrown backwards by a dark blue torpedo. The other two gasped and rushed towards their friend, who laid dazed in a pile of crumpled cardboard boxes. “Hoops! What happened to you?!” “What do you think?!” the colt groaned angrily. “Get that filly before-” A blue blur rushed past them, knocking down another one of the colts. The last remaining colt rushed into the air, raising his hooves defensively. “All right, you little showoff!” he yelled. “Show yourself right now or I’m gonna buck you straight out of Equestria!” At that moment, there was a rush of wind right behind him, causing him to reflexively close his eyes. He then covered his face with his hooves and turned around. “I gotcha!” As he said this, he shot his hooves forward, hoping to hit his target somehow. As he opened his eyes, however, he realized that there was nopony there. “Over here!” The colt yelped in shock and turned around, only to see nopony. “Not there!” The colt yelled out, partly in anger, but mostly out of fear. He turned around and lashed out with his hooves, only for them to go through thin air. For a moment, the colt simply stared into the distance in shock. But once his shock had subsided, he took a moment to look around. Much to his frustration, he was unable to find the filly anywhere; all he could see was the griffin, who was staring upwards in awe, as well as his two cronies, who were still lying on the clouds while groaning in pain. Scoffing, the colt turned around. ...And found himself face-to-face with Night Glider. “Boo.” The colt screamed and dashed off as fast as his wings could carry him. The other two colts saw him fly away, and grimaced. They then picked themselves up and hastily flew off behind their friend. The white-maned filly glared at them as they escaped. “And don’t come anywhere near us again!” She then began to descend towards the griffin, her gaze turning into one of concern as she approached her. The griffin winced and looked away as she approached, but relaxed as the dark blue filly placed her hoof on her shoulder. “It’s okay. They’re not going to do anything to you again.” The griffin did not answer, causing Night Glider to frown. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. And as long as you stick with me, nopony will.” Slowly, the griffin began to turn her gaze towards the filly, causing her to smile. “My name is Night Glider. What’s yours?” The griffin looked downwards, seemingly afraid of answering. However, Night Glider patiently awaited an answer, hoping that she would provide one. “Gilda.” The griffin’s voice was barely more than a whisper, and there was still a small amount of fear contained within it. Still, she had trusted the white-maned pegasus enough to share her name, so that was a step forward. “Hi, Gilda,” she said happily. “You don’t have to worry about those nasty colts. If they come back to bug you, I’ll make sure they stay away from you.” As she finished, Night Glider wrapped her hooves around Gilda. She barely knew the little griffin, but she could tell that she needed somepony to be there for her. And if nopony else wanted to hang out with her, then she would be that pony. To her delight, Gilda eventually returned the hug. “...And that’s why you must always double-check before attempting to reverse the polarity.” Amethyst grinned and nodded at her father’s explanation. She then picked the metal wand up with her magic and pointed it at a device that could only be described as a wheel with a bunch of metal wires around it. As she focused on what she was trying to do, the wand glowed with a green light, and the wheel began to light up. Slowly, it began to get brighter, and then it began to move. “Not bad, Amy. Just keep that up!” The purple unicorn filly grinned as she continued to activate the wheel. Finally, she deactivated her wand and put it down. She then looked back to the wheel, which was spinning faster and faster. A small amount of apprehension entered her, and she took an uneasy step backwards. “Don’t worry, Amy. It’s perfectly safe.” Despite her fears, her father’s reassurances were enough to put her at ease. She sat down, observing as energy gathered at the center of the wheel. Her eyes went wide as the energy began to take shape; slightly fluffy, like a cloud, yet cylindrical at the bottom. Finally, it dispersed, leaving a perfect blueberry muffin in its place. A smile formed on Amethyst’s face, which quickly grew into a huge grin. She then began to bounce up and down in joy. “Daddy! I did it!” she said as she jumped into her father’s arms. “Well done, Amy!” the chestnut earth stallion said. “You’re learning so much, why, you’ll have to give lessons to your teachers at this rate!” Amethyst giggled as her father continued to hug her. However, their moment was then interrupted when a gray pegasus mare entered the room. “Hi Doctor! Hi Amethyst! Are you done with- MUFFIN!!!” Before either Amethyst or her father could respond, the mare’s face was already half an inch away from the muffin. “You never told me you and Amethyst were making muffins, Doc! You should invite me next time!” “Of course, dear,” said the stallion. “I just needed to teach Amy some things first.” The yellow-maned mare rolled her eyes at her husband’s nickname for their daughter, only to be taken by surprise when said daughter grabbed her by the hooves. “Momma! Can I go see my little sister?” “Technically, she’s your big sister,” said her father. “After all, you’re from the future.” “But I’m bigger!” said Amethyst. “So I’m the big sister!” “I… you'll understand one day… but, For now, yes, you can go see your sister.” The purple filly squealed in delight, and went off towards her parents’ room. She quickly ran through the hallway until she reached a door at the end. Once there, she quietly pushed it away so as to not disturb its youngest inhabitant. Once she walked inside, the first thing that caught her attention was the crib that lay at the side of the door. Sleeping soundly inside was a little grayish-purple unicorn foal with a yellow mane. Amethyst grinned as she watched her sleep. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” said a voice behind her. Amethyst turned around to see her mother walking up to her, carrying the muffin in her hoof. “Yeah!” said Amethyst. “I’m going to be the best big sister ever!” Her mother smiled as she took a bite out of her pastry. “Of course you will, my little muffin.” “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” The two fillies cheered in joy as the cake was placed in front of them. The ponies around them all cheered for them to blow out their candles and make a wish. “Ooh! Ooh!” the filly on the left said. “I wish for a tennis racket!” “Tennis Match!” said the second filly. “You’re not supposed to tell anypony your wish!” “But I really want a tennis racket!” said Tennis. “I want to play tennis!” Her sister giggled, then blew out her half of the cake's candles. “What did you wish for, Coco?” Tennis asked. “If I tell you, it won't come true,” said Coco. “You’re no fun,” said Tennis, eliciting a chuckle from her sister. Afterwards, once everpony had finished eating their cake, Tennis and Coco sat down in front of a large pile of presents. The two fillies grinned excitedly as they each grabbed a present and began to shake it. Before they could open either of them, however, a stallion with a greenish-blue mane stepped up and raised his hoof. “Now, girls. Remember, one present at a time.” The two fillies groaned at the reminder, but they nevertheless put the presents down. The stallion smiled, and turned to Tennis. “Tennis, you go first since you're the youngest.” The little green-maned filly brightened back up, and grabbed the box she'd put down. She then proceeded to rip the paper apart as fast as she could, and then remove the box's lid. She then gasped as her eyes fell on the object lying within. Slowly, she pulled it out to reveal it to the guests. “No way,” said Coco. It was a big (for a filly) green tennis racket. For a moment, Tennis simply stared at her gift silently. But then she began to cheer in joy. “I got a tennis racket! I got a tennis racket!” She then bounced up and hugged her father. “Thank you daddy!” The stallion smiled and ruffled his daughter’s mane. She then let go of him, after which she sat back down and grinned at her sister. “See? Just because I say my wish out loud doesn't mean it won't come true.” Coco rolled her eyes and began to open her own gift. Unlike her sister, she was much more slow and methodical when opening her own present, preferring not to do too much damage to the gift wrap. Unfortunately, her slow unwrapping gave Tennis plenty of time to mess with her. “In fact, maybe my wish came true because I told everypony what it was!” Coco’s eyes widened. “Sooo… why don't you tell us what you were wishing fo-” Before Tennis could continue, Coco stuck her hoof into her mouth. “Just let me open my present, please.” Tennis pouted as her sister removed her hoof and went back to opening her gift. Sugar Belle smiled as she bounced up to the counter. She wore a large smile as she observed the many delicious baked goods around her. “Ooh! So many goodies! I can’t wait to try them all out!” She then looked at the line of ponies in front of her. Her eyes went wide once she realized how many others were waiting. “Oh, come on! I can’t wait so long!” Frowning, she got in line right behind a pinkish-purple filly with a striped purple mane. Unfortunately for her, not only was the line very long, but the ponies in front of her were taking an incredibly long time. It took one pony at the front several minutes to decide what he wanted to order, causing the pink filly to groan in frustration. “Oh, come on!” she yelled. “You ponies all have a freaking long time to make up your minds in the line! Why are you taking so long?!” Immediately, everypony turned to glare at her angrily. She winced at the sight, and looked away. “Um… go ahead and take you time, everypony!” The other ponies raised their eyebrows, then went back to waiting for the line to go on. Sugar groaned as she went back to waiting. “You know, maybe they should just make one thing. That way everypony would get the same thing, and we wouldn’t have to spend so much time waiting for the line to move.” Sugar’s ears perked up as she heard somepony speak. She then realized that the filly in front of her was now looking directly at her. “Oh, maybe,” said Sugar. “But then we wouldn’t have enough goodies to choose from! I mean, if we only had, like, one type of muffin, we’d get pretty sick of eating it every day, wouldn’t we?” The purple-maned filly rolled her eyes. “Well, maybe,” she said. “But we wouldn’t have to wait in long lines to get our favorite treats, right?” “I guess so,” said Sugar. “But it still wouldn’t be worth having to eat the same old muffin every single day.” “Ugh,” said the filly. “You don’t understand.” Sugar raised an eyebrow. “You’re weird.” The filly glared at her. “Well, maybe I’m just more aware of how cruel and heartless this world of ours really is, and how pointless our struggle against the inevitability of our own demise truly is.” Sugar stared at her in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Well, maybe one day you’ll figure it out!” the filly said. “And then you can tell ponies all about how you learned a great life-changing lesson from-” “Starlight Glimmer!” The filly’s eyes suddenly widened in terror. As she turned in the direction of the voice, she saw an angry mare glaring at her. “Oh! Hello mother!” she said nervously. “Don’t mind me! I’m just-” “Socializing with a pony whose status is so far below yours that you should not even be bothering to have an argument with her.” Starlight Glimmer whimpered in fear, while Sugar watched the scene unfolding in front of her in shock. “Remember your social standing, Starlight Glimmer. If you engage in this sort of behavior with common ponies, they shall come to think that you are no better than them. And if you cannot show them that you are better than them in every way, you shall never be able to get ahead in life.” The angry mare then turned her muzzle skyward and began to walk off. “Come along, Starlight Glimmer. We must make sure your image doesn’t get sullied by your dealings with… commoners.” “But mother-” “I said… come along.” The purple filly winced in fear again, but nevertheless joined her mother. As the two walked off, Sugar kept staring at them in shock. “What… just happened?” Author's Note Well, I said I was working on a prequel and I've finally started working on it! Just one question: Should I keep the current coverart, or should I get something like Luna showing Sonata some magic or something? LoyaltyLuna smiled as she walked into the library, with Sonata walking steadily behind her. The dark blue alicorn lead her apprentice through the vast halls of books, until she finally arrived at a table. “Why don't you sit down, Sonata?” The young earth pony looked up at her mentor and nodded. As Sonata sat down, Luna set a book in front of her, smiling as she opened it up. “Tell me, How much reading do you usually do?” Sonata raised her hoof to her chin and frowned, as if deep in thought. This lasted for a few seconds, until she looked back up towards her mentor. “Well, sometimes I read the menu at taco restaurants.” Luna pressed her hoof against her mouth and coughed as she held back the urge to laugh. “Yes, I… *ahem* suppose that could count as reading. But there are many other things to read in Equestria. For example, these ancient books contain a wealth of knowledge which can be yours if you simply take the time to read through them.” A drop of sweat rolled down Sonata’s forehead. “So... you want me to read all these old books? For fun?!” “Oh, of course not,” Luna said kindly. “But I will give you a few books to read that I hope will interest you. I am certain that you will come to enjoy them if you give them a chance.” Sonata was still unsure, but Luna seemed to think she’d enjoy them. Feeling obligated to please her mentor, the blue filly began to look at the words. However, as she read through it, she saw something poking out of one of the pages. “Wuzzat?” Luna raised her eyebrows as she eyed the piece of paper sticking out. As she pulled it out with her magic, her eyes widened. “Oh.” she whispered quietly, almost inaudibly. Sonata looked up in confusion as Luna picked it out. Her curiosity became stronger as she saw a solemn expression form on her mentor's face. “What is that, Princess?” Luna didn't answer. She just kept staring at the paper held in her magic grip. “Hello? Miss Princess? Are you there?” Finally, Luna shook herself out of her stupor and looked downwards at her young student. “I'm sorry, Sonata. I was just thinking about a pony who I used to know.” Sonata turned her head in confusion before looking at the paper. For the most part, it seemed to be a fairly normal paper carrying notes that somepony had written. However, the blue filly's attention was drawn to a small drawing at the top left corner. “Hey, Princess! That's you!” In spite of the sadness gripping her heart, Luna couldn't help but smile at Sonata’s comment. “Yes, that is a little drawing of me, made by an old student of mine.” “An old student?” Sonata asked. “Can I meet her?” Luna's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of sadness. “I'm sorry, Sonata. She… left.” Sonata raised an eyebrow. “Left? Why? Didn't she like you?” Sonata only felt more confused when tears began to stream down Luna's face. “She did once.” The blue filly didn't understand why anypony would stop liking Luna. She was so nice! And she was the ruler of all of Equestria, and a very powerful alicorn! Also, she didn't lock sirens in moon prisons. Almost without thinking, Sonata stood up on her hind limbs and wrapped her arms around her mentor’s abdomen. Luna's eyes opened wide and she looked downwards. “Don't worry, Princess. I'll never stop liking you.” For a moment, Luna didn't answer. She simply stared down at her protégé. However, she soon managed to collect herself. “It's not just that she stopped liking me, Sonata,” she explained. “I… made mistakes. Mistakes that created a rift between myself and her. And I failed to correct those mistakes until it was too late.” Sonata was not quite sure what Luna meant, but she still wanted to cheer Luna up. “Well, as long as you don't make any more mistakes, everypony will still like you, right?” Luna chuckled ruefully at her pupil’s naïveté. “Oh, I wish that were true, Sonata. But alas, I an far from infallible, and I shall always make mistakes.” “Oh,” Sonata said as she scratched her chin. “Well, how about I make sure to always like you so that there's always somepony who likes you?” “Oh, Sonata,” said Luna. “If you could always like me, I'd be incredibly happy. But for all we know, I may one day wrong you an a way that will cause you to stop liking me.” Sonata scratched her head as she thought about what Luna had said. “Well, maybe something like that happens one day. But until then, I'll always stay with you no matter what!” As Sonata finished, she continued to hug her mentor. Luna smiled at the sight, and wrapped her own hooves around her little student. Oh, Sonata. I can only hope you shall remain faithful to me. Fluttershy winced as she opened her eyes. She could see light pouring in from a window, but she couldn't identify where she was. Somehow, the surroundings were different; instead of clouds, it seemed that everything was made of wood. But why? Hadn't she gotten back to the camp after the race? And then the memory of the race came back, flooding her memory. She remembered how she'd been pushed off the clouds when Rainbow and the colts began their race, and how her friend had come back for her, even if it meant losing the race, and how they'd crashed into- Fluttershy gasped in horror. “Rainbow Dash! Where are you?!” The yellow pegasus immediately jumped out of the bed, only to yell out in pain as she attempted to spread her wings. Fortunately, before she could fall, she was caught by an unfamiliar pair of hooves. “Whoa there, nelly. You ain't in any condition to go out flyin’.” Fluttershy looked up at the speaker. It was a brick-red earth pony stallion with a green mane. “You sure got beat up when you and your little friend crashed into that old barn. Lucky for you Little Mac was there to tell us that y'all were in trouble.” Fluttershy looked at the stallion in curiosity, before he noticed a pony standing behind the doorway. It was a red colt with an orange mane who was wearing a brown harness around his neck. Upon realizing that she was looking at him, he blushed and hid behind the door. Somehow, Fluttershy’s face felt hotter than usual. “Ma! Honey! One of the fillies woke up!” Immediately, an orange mare with a bright yellow earth pony mane rushed into the room. She then snatched Fluttershy right out of her husband's grip and began to examine every inch of her body. “Oh dear! Are you alright? Does anything hurt? Do I need to find your parents? Oh, please tell me yo-” “Stop!” The mare immediately stopped her prodding. Satisfied, Fluttershy began to look around the room. Very quickly, she spotted a familiar tuft of rainbow hair. “Rainbow Dash!!!” The yellow filly jumped out of the mare's arms and ran to her friend’s bed. Her eyes filled with tears as she saw her friend lying unconscious on the bed. “Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! Rainbow! Please don't die! Please don't die!” “Don't worry, little filly,” the stallion said. “Your friend here just needs her beauty sleep and she'll be right as rain!” Fluttershy turned towards the stallion with a worried expression. “But what if she's not?! What if she can't fly anymore?! What if she's really badly hurt?! If she can't become a Wonderbolt anymore, it'll be all my fault!” Fluttershy then burst into tears. She'd never felt so worthless before. True, she'd always been mocked and bullied for her inability to fly, but she'd always had Rainbow by her side. Now her friend was lying unconscious on a bed, all because she was too much of a weak flier to save herself from falling to her death. To her surprise, she felt herself being softly embraced by a gentle pair of hooves. She stopped crying as she looked up to see the mare giving her a kind look. “Don't blame yourself, young filly. Accidents happen, and sometimes ponies get hurt. But your friend here has very few injuries. Once she wakes up, she'll be just fine.” The mare smiled at Fluttershy reassuringly, which slowly cause the pink-maned filly to smile back. “Look at you,” the orange mare said. “Even when you're all hurt like this, all you think about is your friend. She's lucky to have a friend like you.” Fluttershy smiled, and then turned towards Rainbow Dash. “No,” she said happily. “I'm lucky to have a friend like her.” Author's Note I'm not sure my proofreader has had time to go 100% over this chapter, but I wanted to get it up before I left for Christmas. Hopefully I haven't made too many mistakes. KindnessSonata stared at the rock lying in front of her with a fearful expression on her face. She knew what she had to do, but she was worried about whether she could pull it off. “Relax, Sonata. It is a very simple spell.” The blue filly looked upwards towards her mentor, surprised by her words. “And besides, even if you fail, nopony will know except me,” said Luna. “Then I shall simply help you improve so that you can succeed the next time.” While still worried, Sonata was reassured by her mentor’s words. Thus, she turned her attention back to the rock and began to sing. As she did, the stone became enveloped in blue light. Slowly, the light got brighter, and the rock’s surface began to change. Suddenly, the magic aura surrounding the rock blasted away, hitting Sonata and sending her flying away. Fortunately, Luna caught her before she could be hurt. “Owie…” Luna looked at her young pupil with worry in her eyes. “Sonata, are you alright?” “I’m okay,” the little blue filly said as she rubbed her throat. Luna smiled in relief, then turned her attention back to the rock. “Well, you managed to change it, at least.” Sonata looked towards the rock, and was disappointed to see that, rather than a gemstone, it had turned into a hunk of coal. “Oh. I thought it was going to work.” She looked downwards dejectedly. However, before she could get too depressed, she felt her mentor's wing draping her reassuringly. “There is no shame in failing, Sonata. Nopony gets anything right on the first try. And besides, you still have very little experience using your magic for… more varied purposes.” Sonata couldn't help but feel that Luna had just remembered the more hostile ways the sirens had used their magic in the past. Nevertheless, she smiled back at the dark blue alicorn. “Thank you, Princess.” “Please, Sonata. Call me Luna.” “Oh, okay. Thank you, Luna.” Luna chuckled softly before turning back toward the hunk of coal. “So tell me, Sonata. What do you think you did wrong?” Sonata scrunched up her face as she thought. She then looked up at her mentor. “Did I sing too not-loud?” Luna couldn't help but laugh. “Oh, your singing was loud and clear. And your voice is beautiful.” Sonata began to blush and turn away. Luna smiled, though it faded away as a thought entered her head. “When you sang, what were you thinking about?” Sonata lifted her hoof to her chin as she thought. “Well, I was thinking what I always thought whenever I sung,” she answered. “It was usually something about being needed and adored by everypony. That what my sisters… told me.” As a look of sadness took over Sonata’s face, Luna mentally slapped herself for opening up her old scars. Thinking quickly, she looked towards the crib that lay at the edge of the room. “And what were you thinking about when you hatched him?” Sonata looked up in confusion, then looked in the direction that her mentor had pointed. She then saw the little purple dragon sleeping peacefully within. Immediately, her thoughts went back to the night she'd returned to Equestria, and how Luna had told her to hatch the egg. “Well, I was thinking about my mommy.” Luna's eyes widened in surprise. Aside from her sisters, Sonata had not made any mention of her family. “My mommy used to sing that song for me when I was little.” Sonata blinked, and then added “I mean, when I was littler than I was before I came back. Because I was little, then I got big, then when I came back I-” “Yes,” Luna interrupted. “I see. And… what did you feel when you sung that song?” Sonata scrunched up her face as she tried to remember how she'd felt when she sung her mother's song. “Well,” she said finally, “ I was mostly thinking about the little baby dragon that was inside the egg. And I thought about how cute and little he'd be, and how he'd need lots of love and kindness, and how my mommy always gave me love and kindness…” As Sonata finished speaking, she felt sadness seeping into her once again. The memory of her mother was just as painful, if not more, than the memory of her sisters. However, before she could be overwhelmed by her feelings, Luna began to speak. “Tell me, Sonata. If you were to focus on those feelings instead of the bad ones, do you believe you would have better results?” The blue earth pony looked up at her mentor in surprise. “Will that really work?” “We’ll never know unless you try,” Luna said with a smile. Although Sonata was still apprehensive, her mentor's encouragement was enough to give her the determination she needed. “Okay! I'll try that!” Luna nodded approvingly, and then set a new rock in front of Sonata. The blue filly grinned with determination, and then began to sing. This time, however, she focused on the positive feelings that her mentor had told her to think of. Once again, the rock was enveloped in blue light. This time, however, it did not send her backwards, and Sonata's magic reshaped it into a hexagonal shape, turning it clear as it did so. Luna watched in amazement as the rock turned into a piece of quartz. Finally, the magic around it was dispelled softly, creating just enough push to lightly ruffle her pupil's mane. “Well done, Sonata.” Sonata poked an eye open, and grinned at the sight of the transformed object. “Princess! I did it!” Luna smiled at her student's glee, and then raised the crystal in her magic. “Well done, Sonata. You're quite a quick learner, if I do say so myself.” She then moved the gem towards the crib. As it reached the sleeping baby dragon, he immediately woke up and looked towards the gem. He then smiled and grabbed it with his teeth, eliciting a shocked gasp from Sonata. “Spikey! Don't eat that! You'll break your teeth!” Before she could panic any more, Luna placed her hoof on Sonata. “Don't worry, Sonata. Dragons eat gemstones, so their teeth are naturally hard enough to break down any object.” Sonata gasped in awe. “For realzies? Then... shouldn't they be made of rocks if that's what they eat?” For a moment, Luna imagined a dragon made entirely of crystal. She laughed at the thought, then turned back to Sonata. “Perhaps there are crystal dragons somewhere in the world, Sonata. But here in Equestria dragons don't turn into gemstones just because they eat them. Instead, they use the gems to power their magic. That is where they get their ability to breathe fire.” Sonata nodded in understanding, then looked towards Spike. As she watches him chew on his gemstone, a thought occurred to her. “Luna, if I ate a gemstone, would I be able to breathe fire?” Luna briefly imagined Sonata screaming in pain as pieces of her teeth fell out of her mouth. Grimacing, she patted the little filly on the head. “No, Sonata. Ponies are not meant to eat gemstones.” “Wahoo!!” Night Glider grinned as she watched her new friend following her close behind. She had been surprised, but thrilled to find out that Gilda was almost as fast as her, and so they had been engaged in several races since their first meeting. Even though the dark blue filly had won most of them, her griffin friend had proved to be more than capable of holding her own. “Come on, Gilda!” she yelled out. “Is that the best you’ve got?!” “You want speed?!” Gilda replied. “Get ready to eat my dust!” The two racers continued to fly towards their goal, both flying unbelievably fast. As they passed the finish line, they grinned and bumped their front legs. They then began to chant their motto. Junior Speedsters are our lives! Skybomb soars and daring dives! Junior Speedsters, It’s our quest To someday be the very best! The two flyers then hugged each other and giggled. As they broke the hug, Gilda looked towards Night Glider happily. “That was so amazing! I didn’t know there were ponies who could fly that fast!” “Well, I didn’t know there were griffins who could fly that fast,” Night Glider pointed out. “I guess we’re both learning right now, aren’t we?” Gilda grinned and nodded. “So, are there any other ponies who fly really fast?” “Nah,” said Night Glider. “I’m pretty sure I’m the fastest. What about you?” Gilda’s face scrunched up as she began to think. “I’m not sure. I’ve never really flown with other griffins.” Night Glider raised an eyebrow. “Why not? I mean, I’m too fast for most ponies to keep up but I still go out to fly with them. Why don’t you hang out with anypo- I mean, anygriffin else?” Much to Night Glider’s surprised, Gilda looked downwards and began to whimper. “Gilda?” The little griffin didn’t answer. Concerned, Night Glider placed her hoof on Gilda’s shoulder, causing her to look up in surprise. “Hey, don’t worry. You can tell me anything. You know that, right?” At first, Gilda seemed hesitant. However, after a few moments, she began to speak. “Back in Griffonstone, nogriffin cares about anygriffin else. We’re all pretty much on our own. Some griffins might help out, but only if they get a lot of money out of it. They’re all mean, just like those colts. And nogriffin is ever there to help you out.” Night Glider’s mouth hung open. How could the griffins be such jerks? Didn’t anygriffin realize the importance of helping each other out? “That’s so stupid! Everygriffin should be friends!” Gilda rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t say that if you lived in Griffonstone. It’s a dump.” Night Glider raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re saying that griffins are just mean ‘cause they live in a dump?” Gilda looked away uncomfortably. “Um… maybe? I don’t know. I’ve never lived anywhere else.” As Gilda looked around trying to avoid saying any more, Night Glider was struck by an idea. “You know, most of Equestria is pretty nice. I’ll bet you could find a whole bunch of nice ponies here!” The worried griffin turned back towards her friend, an uneasy look on her face. “But what if they’re like those colts from before?” “Ah, don’t worry about that,” Night Glider said as she waved a hoof. “I can totally handle any bullies that try to give you trouble!” The dark blue filly gave Gilda a huge grin, which quickly coaxed a smile out of her. “Um… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.” “YES!” Night Glider shouted as she flung her hooves around Gilda. The young griffin was momentarily surprised, but soon returned the hug. “Best friends forever?” “Best friends forever!” HonestySonata sat by herself, looking at the mirror. She knew that it was, in fact, the portal through which she had returned to Equestria. However, that was where her knowledge of the strange artifact ended. Why had the portal closed after she'd gone through? Why did it have to wait for so long before it could be opened again? And what did it do when it wasn't all portal-y? Frustratingly, Luna was not present to explain these or any other mysteries. She had been called away while in the middle of their lesson for some unexplained reason, without any details aside from “urgent business.” And so she'd instructed her student to continue reading her book and not touch the mirror. For a while, Sonata had been able to comply with this request. However, she had quickly gotten bored of reading the ancient texts. She had thus tossed the book, causing it to land right next to the mirror. It was thus that Sonata was now staring at said mirror with great curiosity. She took in every detail she could, from the color,to the shape, to the various stones that had been embedded within it. However, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't figure out what gave the mirror its power. And Luna had told her not to touch it, so that was out of the question. Resigned to being unable to find out what made the mirror so special, she settled for observing her reflection. After all, even if her mentor had told her not to touch the mirror, she had said nothing about looking at it. Still, there was not much she could learn that way. She was about to find out just how wrong she was. It took her only a few moments to realize that something seemed off about her reflection. It seemed to be taller than it should have been. And… there seemed to be something brighter about her. Curious, Sonata took a few cautious steps towards the mirror. She didn't want to disobey Luna, but she still wanted to figure out what was happening. I mean, I can still get close, right? The princess only said I couldn't touch it. I wonder if they have tacos in the pony world... Brushing her thoughts aside, Sonata tried to make out what was happening with her reflection. Even so, she remained cautious to not get too close, to avoid accidentally touching the mirror. ...Until she accidentally tripped over the very book she had tossed aside, causing her to fall face-first into the mirror. Immediately, she was assaulted by a barrage of images; a dark alicorn with a mane and tail made of fire; a creature made of mismatched body parts pulled from various other animals; an insectoid alicorn monster followed by several smaller bug monsters; a shadowy pony leading an army of green-eyed ponies into battle; a monstrous centaur laying waste to everything around it; and… was that another siren?! Before Sonata could dwell on what those frightening images meant, she was met by a new set of images; a cream-colored earth pony who was always willing to give; a yellow pegasus who refused to leave anypony behind; a dark blue pegasus who would always comfort those who were troubled; a mauve unicorn who valued truth above all else; and a pink unicorn who always brought smiles to those who needed them. Then, to Sonata’s surprise, another alicorn appeared. This one appeared only in silhouette, but there was something undeniably familiar about it. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but somehow, it was almost as if she knew the alicorn. She didn’t even notice that she had begun to walk backwards until she felt herself bump into somepony. Almost immediately, the visions stopped, and she found herself looking upwards at the newcomer. “You know, some ponies say that the mirror shows what could happen in the future.” Sonata turned her head to get a better look at the pony. She was a very light blue color, and her snow white mane was carefully combed into huge curls. Her cutie mark was a flower stylized to resemble a snowflake, and there was a deep kindness in her icy blue eyes. “You must be Sonata Dusk,” the mare said. “I’ve been waiting eagerly to meet you.” “Oh,” the little filly said, hesitantly extending her forehoof. “Um, nice to meet you?” “Likewise,” the mare said as she shook Sonata’s hoof. “So, tell me. What did the mirror show you?” “What… it showed me?” The mare smiled playfully. “Or what you saw. It can be one or the other.” Sonata looked back towards the mirror to hide her grimace. She was quite worried about what she had just seen, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to tell anypony about it. Maybe I should just pretend I didn’t see anything, she thought. Or maybe I could tell her that I just saw an extra large ice cream cone. Mmmm… I could really use some ice cream right now. Content with her decision, she turned towards the amre once more. However, as she did, she looked straight into the mare’s eyes, once again seeing the deep kindness that lay within them. Oh wow, she thought to herself. Her eyes are so pretty… and she looks like such a nice pony! And she just wants me to tell a little bit about what I saw… which was kind of freaky. Regardless of how strange or terrifying the vision she’d had was, not telling the mare the truth felt wrong. Sonata wasn’t even sure why, but it just felt like that. And so she decided to tell her. “Well, at first I saw some scary ponies,” she explained. “I saw a pony on fire, then a weird thing with lots of weird body parts, then some sort of bug monster, then a shadow pony, and… some other bad things. But then I saw a couple of happy ponies, and they all seemed to be friends or something. And then… I think I saw a princess. As Sonata recounted what she had seen, the mare did not react. Her face remained expressionless until the blue filly had finished, after which a smile began to form on her face. “I think you are destined for greatness, Sonata.” “For realzies?” Sonata asked, her head tilting inquisitively. “How do you know?” “She can usually tell these things.” Sonata jumped in surprise at the voice. She then saw Luna standing next to the mystery mare. “Hello, my young apprentice. I am glad to see that you are getting along well with my daughter.” Sonata stared at Luna blankly. “Your… daughter?” She then realized that the mare, though somewhat shorter, had both wings and a horn like Luna. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the mare said with a small bow. “I am Snowdrop, Princess of winter, ice, and snow.” Sonata’s eyes went wide. “You’re a princess too?” “Indeed,” answered Snowdrop. “I watch over the winter season, and I have full control over ice and snow.” “Wow! So, you can make ice cream?” Snowdrop laughed. “I have a feeling that we are going to get along just fine.” Amethyst Star watched as her mother held Dinky in her wings, singing softly as she rocked the foal to sleep. The little pink unicorn watched in fascination as her sister was gently tucked into her crib, then covered up with her little blanket. The sight of little Dinky slumbering peacefully filled her with warm and fuzzy feelings, and she felt unbelievably happy to have a little sister like her. “You really do enjoy watching your big sister go to sleep, don’t you, Amy?” Unfortunately, the illusion was, as always, ruined by her father’s words. “Dad!” Amethyst yelled angrily. “Shhh!” Amethyst gasped, and turned towards her mother, who was giving her a disapproving look while gesturing towards the sleeping foal. She then turned her gaze towards her father, who was looking away sheepishly. “Yes, well, perhaps we should go outside to discuss this.” Realizing that it was probably the smart thing to do, Amethyst quickly galloped towards the door and moved into the hallway. Her father quickly followed her, and then carefully closed the door behind him. “We should try not to argue when your mother is tucking your big sister into bed,” the brown stallion said thoughtfully. “Dad!” Amethyst said, her anger returning in full force. “Why do you keep saying she’s my big sister?! I’m bigger than her!” “Remember, Amy, I’m a time traveler,” her father explained. “And my job is to make sure the time streams are protected from bad guys. And sometimes that leads to wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff.” Amethyst raised an eyebrow. “And why does that make me Dinky’s little sister?” Her father chuckled as he lightly ruffled her mane. “You see, Amy, at some point in the future, our family will encounter one of these timey-wimey distortions, which will cause our youngest daughter to fall backwards in time, eventually ending up a few years ago. That filly, of course, is you.” For a moment, Amethyst stared blankly at her father. “Basically, you came from the future.” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.” “Oh, come now, Amy,” her father said as he gave her a kind smile. “Do you think that I would lie to you?” The little unicorn filly looked up at her father with a slightly doubtful look. Despite all her doubts, she couldn’t see any trace of dishonesty on her father’s face. And she didn’t like the idea that her father would lie to her. “Well, I guess not,” she said finally. “But time travel still sounds stupid.” Her father chuckled in response, causing Amethyst to look up with a scowl on her face. “What’s so funny?” “Oh, nothing,” her father said. “I was just thinking about when I should take you to show you that time travel isn’t stupid.” Amethyst’s eyes widened. “What?!” Her father smiled. “I think we’re going to have a little family trip, my dear Amy.”
PrologueLuna smiled softly as she walked through the castle. The last few days had been incredibly eventful, and she was hoping that the next few hours would give her some time to relax. It had all started just over four days ago, with a major falling out between her and her faithless student Cadence Amore. It had ended with a shouting match, and culminated with Cadence running through the mysterious mirror portal. Even after all the anger and frustration, Luna had waited just outside the portal in the hopes that her student would return, though she never went in for fear of getting lost and trapped in another world. She was then taken by surprise when, just before the portal closed, a little blue earth pony filly had emerged. Luna’s confusion had only increased when the filly, who called herself Sonata Dusk, had revealed herself to have once been a siren. While initially fearful at the prospect of the return of a dangerous enemy, the filly had proved to be far more afraid of her. Finally, in the hopes of using the former siren’s power for good instead of evil, the dark blue alicorn had decided to take her under her wing. Now, just a day after finding her, she had high hopes for Sonata. And so she turned her head towards the happily skipping filly, and smiled at her enthusiasm. While there was the slightest amount of trepidation at the idea of taking a former siren as her student, she saw nothing to suggest that Sonata could be a threat to her kingdom or her subjects. In addition, the way she marveled at everything which lay in the castle was rather cute. “Wowee! Look at that statue! And that huge window with all the ponies on it! And the curtains!” “Yes, Sonata,” Luna said kindly. “This castle is full of wonderful things. It is, after all, the place where I live, and the place from where I rule over my little ponies.” Sonata stopped bouncing around for a second, looking down at the ground for a moment before looking up at her mentor, her eyes filled with sad confusion. “I always thought everything in a pony princess castle was made to torture sirens.” Luna raised an eyebrow. “Oh really? And why is that?” “I dunno,” said Sonata, kicking the ground. “That’s just what my sisters said.” Luna couldn’t help but chuckle as she considered the blue filly’s words. From what little she knew about her, she was quite certain that Sonata was the youngest of her family. Therefore, she would always take anything her sisters would have to say very seriously, because they were older and therefore obviously knew more. To question anything they told her was to question their position as older sisters. In that respect, she couldn’t help but see a bit of herself in Sonata. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of soft sobs. She turned downwards to look at Sonata, and felt her heart sink when she saw that tears were streaming down her cheeks. “Sonata?” The little blue filly looked back up at the princess and sniffled. “Are you alright?” “I’m fine!” Sonata replied, though her tears continued to fall. As the blue filly continued to sob, Luna stopped in her tracks. Her horn then began to glow, and Sonata was enveloped in her magic. She briefly stopped crying when she noticed that she was being lifted off the ground. She then looked upwards and realized that Luna was lifting her up towards herself. Finally, two gentle wings wrapped themselves around her. “I do not know what happened to you,” said Luna. “But whatever it is, know that I am here for you. And if there is anything you need to tell me, I shall listen.” For a moment, Sonata didn’t answer. However, the warmth and kindness of the wings around her made her feel incredibly comfortable, and she could not help but trust Luna. “Can… can you keep a secret?” Luna smiled as she held Sonata. “Of course. You know you can always trust me.” Fluttershy grinned as Rainbow and the colts got into position. She was confident that her best friend would win the race. Not just because she was the fastest pony she’d ever seen, but also because she was her friend. To doubt that her friend could win would be unbelievably rude. As the racers began to badmouth each other, the yellow pegasus raised the flag, and then brought it down. However, at the moment when the three ponies sped off, a huge blast of air pushed Fluttershy right off her cloud. She screamed as she fell through the air. She’d never been a particularly strong flier, but now her fear had caused her wings to freeze, preventing her from flying at all. As she saw Cloudsdale shrinking away in the distance, she prayed desperately that something or somepony would save her. As the ground beneath her got closer and closer, she winced and shut her eyes tightly. Strangely, even as she plummeted to her impending death, she felt rather peaceful. She had always been bullied by other ponies for her inability to fly as fast or as gracefully as them. Even though she was a pegasus, she had never really fit into Cloudsdale. Perhaps, in a way, she could finally be free. She was then shocked when, instead of the dark emptiness of death, she instead felt a pair of hooves grabbing her, pulling her out of harm’s way. As she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the sight of her best friend. “Rainbow?!” she asked in shock. “What are you doing here?!” “What does it look like I’m doing?” the blue pegasus yelled. “I’m saving you!” “But what about your race?!” “Who cares?!” yelled Rainbow. You almost died!” Fluttershy stared at her friend in awe. She knew just how much Rainbow liked winning. Any time she didn’t win she’d throw a temper tantrum that made other foals run away in terror. Her parents, of course, would ground her for a week, she would pout, and then she’d challenge whoever beat her to a rematch once her punishment was over. And the very same Rainbow Dash had abandoned any chance of winning her race to save her. She gave up all because I was in danger, Fluttershy thought to herself. I’ve never met anypony else who would do something like that! I just wish I could be as selfless as her… Unfortunately, Fluttershy’s train of thought was then derailed when the two ponies crashed into a building. It had started out as a perfectly normal day at flight camp. However, things had been thrown into disarray after two fillies had gone missing. As a result, most of the usual activities were postponed, leaving the fillies and colts with plenty of free time. It was at such a time that Night Glider was flying around, searching for somepony to hang out with. She'd been thinking about hanging out with the rainbow-maned filly, since she was the only one who might be able to give her a challenge. However, for some reason, she couldn't find her anywhere. As she kept searching, her ears perked up as she heard something unexpected. “Nopony likes you, freak!” She stopped in her tracks and looked around for the source of the voice. To her surprise, she saw a strange creature that looked like a cross between a lion and an eagle. She was squirming as a trio of colts flew above her. “What?” asked one. “Did somepony try to combine a lion and a bird in a lab and create a freaky monstrosity?” “I… I’m a g-griffin,” the creature said. “From… Griffonstone.” “Well, why are you even here?” asked a second. “You should go back with the other freaks!” As the colts laughed, the griffin’s eyes began to well up. The white-maned filly gasped, and then her eyes began to narrow. “HEY!!!” she shouted, catching their attention. The colts momentarily stopped laughing and looked up in surprise. “Why don't you go pick on somepony your own size?!” Night Glider growled and descended into a fighting pose. The colts did not seem impressed, however, and snickered. “What?” the leader asked. “You really think you’re scaring us?” “Come on!” another laughed. “There’s no way you can beat us!” “And why is that?!” the filly asked angrily. “Because you’re a girl!” The bully did not even have time to blink before he was thrown backwards by a dark blue torpedo. The other two gasped and rushed towards their friend, who laid dazed in a pile of crumpled cardboard boxes. “Hoops! What happened to you?!” “What do you think?!” the colt groaned angrily. “Get that filly before-” A blue blur rushed past them, knocking down another one of the colts. The last remaining colt rushed into the air, raising his hooves defensively. “All right, you little showoff!” he yelled. “Show yourself right now or I’m gonna buck you straight out of Equestria!” At that moment, there was a rush of wind right behind him, causing him to reflexively close his eyes. He then covered his face with his hooves and turned around. “I gotcha!” As he said this, he shot his hooves forward, hoping to hit his target somehow. As he opened his eyes, however, he realized that there was nopony there. “Over here!” The colt yelped in shock and turned around, only to see nopony. “Not there!” The colt yelled out, partly in anger, but mostly out of fear. He turned around and lashed out with his hooves, only for them to go through thin air. For a moment, the colt simply stared into the distance in shock. But once his shock had subsided, he took a moment to look around. Much to his frustration, he was unable to find the filly anywhere; all he could see was the griffin, who was staring upwards in awe, as well as his two cronies, who were still lying on the clouds while groaning in pain. Scoffing, the colt turned around. ...And found himself face-to-face with Night Glider. “Boo.” The colt screamed and dashed off as fast as his wings could carry him. The other two colts saw him fly away, and grimaced. They then picked themselves up and hastily flew off behind their friend. The white-maned filly glared at them as they escaped. “And don’t come anywhere near us again!” She then began to descend towards the griffin, her gaze turning into one of concern as she approached her. The griffin winced and looked away as she approached, but relaxed as the dark blue filly placed her hoof on her shoulder. “It’s okay. They’re not going to do anything to you again.” The griffin did not answer, causing Night Glider to frown. “Don’t worry. I’m not going to hurt you. And as long as you stick with me, nopony will.” Slowly, the griffin began to turn her gaze towards the filly, causing her to smile. “My name is Night Glider. What’s yours?” The griffin looked downwards, seemingly afraid of answering. However, Night Glider patiently awaited an answer, hoping that she would provide one. “Gilda.” The griffin’s voice was barely more than a whisper, and there was still a small amount of fear contained within it. Still, she had trusted the white-maned pegasus enough to share her name, so that was a step forward. “Hi, Gilda,” she said happily. “You don’t have to worry about those nasty colts. If they come back to bug you, I’ll make sure they stay away from you.” As she finished, Night Glider wrapped her hooves around Gilda. She barely knew the little griffin, but she could tell that she needed somepony to be there for her. And if nopony else wanted to hang out with her, then she would be that pony. To her delight, Gilda eventually returned the hug. “...And that’s why you must always double-check before attempting to reverse the polarity.” Amethyst grinned and nodded at her father’s explanation. She then picked the metal wand up with her magic and pointed it at a device that could only be described as a wheel with a bunch of metal wires around it. As she focused on what she was trying to do, the wand glowed with a green light, and the wheel began to light up. Slowly, it began to get brighter, and then it began to move. “Not bad, Amy. Just keep that up!” The purple unicorn filly grinned as she continued to activate the wheel. Finally, she deactivated her wand and put it down. She then looked back to the wheel, which was spinning faster and faster. A small amount of apprehension entered her, and she took an uneasy step backwards. “Don’t worry, Amy. It’s perfectly safe.” Despite her fears, her father’s reassurances were enough to put her at ease. She sat down, observing as energy gathered at the center of the wheel. Her eyes went wide as the energy began to take shape; slightly fluffy, like a cloud, yet cylindrical at the bottom. Finally, it dispersed, leaving a perfect blueberry muffin in its place. A smile formed on Amethyst’s face, which quickly grew into a huge grin. She then began to bounce up and down in joy. “Daddy! I did it!” she said as she jumped into her father’s arms. “Well done, Amy!” the chestnut earth stallion said. “You’re learning so much, why, you’ll have to give lessons to your teachers at this rate!” Amethyst giggled as her father continued to hug her. However, their moment was then interrupted when a gray pegasus mare entered the room. “Hi Doctor! Hi Amethyst! Are you done with- MUFFIN!!!” Before either Amethyst or her father could respond, the mare’s face was already half an inch away from the muffin. “You never told me you and Amethyst were making muffins, Doc! You should invite me next time!” “Of course, dear,” said the stallion. “I just needed to teach Amy some things first.” The yellow-maned mare rolled her eyes at her husband’s nickname for their daughter, only to be taken by surprise when said daughter grabbed her by the hooves. “Momma! Can I go see my little sister?” “Technically, she’s your big sister,” said her father. “After all, you’re from the future.” “But I’m bigger!” said Amethyst. “So I’m the big sister!” “I… you'll understand one day… but, For now, yes, you can go see your sister.” The purple filly squealed in delight, and went off towards her parents’ room. She quickly ran through the hallway until she reached a door at the end. Once there, she quietly pushed it away so as to not disturb its youngest inhabitant. Once she walked inside, the first thing that caught her attention was the crib that lay at the side of the door. Sleeping soundly inside was a little grayish-purple unicorn foal with a yellow mane. Amethyst grinned as she watched her sleep. “She’s beautiful, isn’t she?” said a voice behind her. Amethyst turned around to see her mother walking up to her, carrying the muffin in her hoof. “Yeah!” said Amethyst. “I’m going to be the best big sister ever!” Her mother smiled as she took a bite out of her pastry. “Of course you will, my little muffin.” “HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!” The two fillies cheered in joy as the cake was placed in front of them. The ponies around them all cheered for them to blow out their candles and make a wish. “Ooh! Ooh!” the filly on the left said. “I wish for a tennis racket!” “Tennis Match!” said the second filly. “You’re not supposed to tell anypony your wish!” “But I really want a tennis racket!” said Tennis. “I want to play tennis!” Her sister giggled, then blew out her half of the cake's candles. “What did you wish for, Coco?” Tennis asked. “If I tell you, it won't come true,” said Coco. “You’re no fun,” said Tennis, eliciting a chuckle from her sister. Afterwards, once everpony had finished eating their cake, Tennis and Coco sat down in front of a large pile of presents. The two fillies grinned excitedly as they each grabbed a present and began to shake it. Before they could open either of them, however, a stallion with a greenish-blue mane stepped up and raised his hoof. “Now, girls. Remember, one present at a time.” The two fillies groaned at the reminder, but they nevertheless put the presents down. The stallion smiled, and turned to Tennis. “Tennis, you go first since you're the youngest.” The little green-maned filly brightened back up, and grabbed the box she'd put down. She then proceeded to rip the paper apart as fast as she could, and then remove the box's lid. She then gasped as her eyes fell on the object lying within. Slowly, she pulled it out to reveal it to the guests. “No way,” said Coco. It was a big (for a filly) green tennis racket. For a moment, Tennis simply stared at her gift silently. But then she began to cheer in joy. “I got a tennis racket! I got a tennis racket!” She then bounced up and hugged her father. “Thank you daddy!” The stallion smiled and ruffled his daughter’s mane. She then let go of him, after which she sat back down and grinned at her sister. “See? Just because I say my wish out loud doesn't mean it won't come true.” Coco rolled her eyes and began to open her own gift. Unlike her sister, she was much more slow and methodical when opening her own present, preferring not to do too much damage to the gift wrap. Unfortunately, her slow unwrapping gave Tennis plenty of time to mess with her. “In fact, maybe my wish came true because I told everypony what it was!” Coco’s eyes widened. “Sooo… why don't you tell us what you were wishing fo-” Before Tennis could continue, Coco stuck her hoof into her mouth. “Just let me open my present, please.” Tennis pouted as her sister removed her hoof and went back to opening her gift. Sugar Belle smiled as she bounced up to the counter. She wore a large smile as she observed the many delicious baked goods around her. “Ooh! So many goodies! I can’t wait to try them all out!” She then looked at the line of ponies in front of her. Her eyes went wide once she realized how many others were waiting. “Oh, come on! I can’t wait so long!” Frowning, she got in line right behind a pinkish-purple filly with a striped purple mane. Unfortunately for her, not only was the line very long, but the ponies in front of her were taking an incredibly long time. It took one pony at the front several minutes to decide what he wanted to order, causing the pink filly to groan in frustration. “Oh, come on!” she yelled. “You ponies all have a freaking long time to make up your minds in the line! Why are you taking so long?!” Immediately, everypony turned to glare at her angrily. She winced at the sight, and looked away. “Um… go ahead and take you time, everypony!” The other ponies raised their eyebrows, then went back to waiting for the line to go on. Sugar groaned as she went back to waiting. “You know, maybe they should just make one thing. That way everypony would get the same thing, and we wouldn’t have to spend so much time waiting for the line to move.” Sugar’s ears perked up as she heard somepony speak. She then realized that the filly in front of her was now looking directly at her. “Oh, maybe,” said Sugar. “But then we wouldn’t have enough goodies to choose from! I mean, if we only had, like, one type of muffin, we’d get pretty sick of eating it every day, wouldn’t we?” The purple-maned filly rolled her eyes. “Well, maybe,” she said. “But we wouldn’t have to wait in long lines to get our favorite treats, right?” “I guess so,” said Sugar. “But it still wouldn’t be worth having to eat the same old muffin every single day.” “Ugh,” said the filly. “You don’t understand.” Sugar raised an eyebrow. “You’re weird.” The filly glared at her. “Well, maybe I’m just more aware of how cruel and heartless this world of ours really is, and how pointless our struggle against the inevitability of our own demise truly is.” Sugar stared at her in confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” “Well, maybe one day you’ll figure it out!” the filly said. “And then you can tell ponies all about how you learned a great life-changing lesson from-” “Starlight Glimmer!” The filly’s eyes suddenly widened in terror. As she turned in the direction of the voice, she saw an angry mare glaring at her. “Oh! Hello mother!” she said nervously. “Don’t mind me! I’m just-” “Socializing with a pony whose status is so far below yours that you should not even be bothering to have an argument with her.” Starlight Glimmer whimpered in fear, while Sugar watched the scene unfolding in front of her in shock. “Remember your social standing, Starlight Glimmer. If you engage in this sort of behavior with common ponies, they shall come to think that you are no better than them. And if you cannot show them that you are better than them in every way, you shall never be able to get ahead in life.” The angry mare then turned her muzzle skyward and began to walk off. “Come along, Starlight Glimmer. We must make sure your image doesn’t get sullied by your dealings with… commoners.” “But mother-” “I said… come along.” The purple filly winced in fear again, but nevertheless joined her mother. As the two walked off, Sugar kept staring at them in shock. “What… just happened?” Author's Note Well, I said I was working on a prequel and I've finally started working on it! Just one question: Should I keep the current coverart, or should I get something like Luna showing Sonata some magic or something?
LoyaltyLuna smiled as she walked into the library, with Sonata walking steadily behind her. The dark blue alicorn lead her apprentice through the vast halls of books, until she finally arrived at a table. “Why don't you sit down, Sonata?” The young earth pony looked up at her mentor and nodded. As Sonata sat down, Luna set a book in front of her, smiling as she opened it up. “Tell me, How much reading do you usually do?” Sonata raised her hoof to her chin and frowned, as if deep in thought. This lasted for a few seconds, until she looked back up towards her mentor. “Well, sometimes I read the menu at taco restaurants.” Luna pressed her hoof against her mouth and coughed as she held back the urge to laugh. “Yes, I… *ahem* suppose that could count as reading. But there are many other things to read in Equestria. For example, these ancient books contain a wealth of knowledge which can be yours if you simply take the time to read through them.” A drop of sweat rolled down Sonata’s forehead. “So... you want me to read all these old books? For fun?!” “Oh, of course not,” Luna said kindly. “But I will give you a few books to read that I hope will interest you. I am certain that you will come to enjoy them if you give them a chance.” Sonata was still unsure, but Luna seemed to think she’d enjoy them. Feeling obligated to please her mentor, the blue filly began to look at the words. However, as she read through it, she saw something poking out of one of the pages. “Wuzzat?” Luna raised her eyebrows as she eyed the piece of paper sticking out. As she pulled it out with her magic, her eyes widened. “Oh.” she whispered quietly, almost inaudibly. Sonata looked up in confusion as Luna picked it out. Her curiosity became stronger as she saw a solemn expression form on her mentor's face. “What is that, Princess?” Luna didn't answer. She just kept staring at the paper held in her magic grip. “Hello? Miss Princess? Are you there?” Finally, Luna shook herself out of her stupor and looked downwards at her young student. “I'm sorry, Sonata. I was just thinking about a pony who I used to know.” Sonata turned her head in confusion before looking at the paper. For the most part, it seemed to be a fairly normal paper carrying notes that somepony had written. However, the blue filly's attention was drawn to a small drawing at the top left corner. “Hey, Princess! That's you!” In spite of the sadness gripping her heart, Luna couldn't help but smile at Sonata’s comment. “Yes, that is a little drawing of me, made by an old student of mine.” “An old student?” Sonata asked. “Can I meet her?” Luna's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a look of sadness. “I'm sorry, Sonata. She… left.” Sonata raised an eyebrow. “Left? Why? Didn't she like you?” Sonata only felt more confused when tears began to stream down Luna's face. “She did once.” The blue filly didn't understand why anypony would stop liking Luna. She was so nice! And she was the ruler of all of Equestria, and a very powerful alicorn! Also, she didn't lock sirens in moon prisons. Almost without thinking, Sonata stood up on her hind limbs and wrapped her arms around her mentor’s abdomen. Luna's eyes opened wide and she looked downwards. “Don't worry, Princess. I'll never stop liking you.” For a moment, Luna didn't answer. She simply stared down at her protégé. However, she soon managed to collect herself. “It's not just that she stopped liking me, Sonata,” she explained. “I… made mistakes. Mistakes that created a rift between myself and her. And I failed to correct those mistakes until it was too late.” Sonata was not quite sure what Luna meant, but she still wanted to cheer Luna up. “Well, as long as you don't make any more mistakes, everypony will still like you, right?” Luna chuckled ruefully at her pupil’s naïveté. “Oh, I wish that were true, Sonata. But alas, I an far from infallible, and I shall always make mistakes.” “Oh,” Sonata said as she scratched her chin. “Well, how about I make sure to always like you so that there's always somepony who likes you?” “Oh, Sonata,” said Luna. “If you could always like me, I'd be incredibly happy. But for all we know, I may one day wrong you an a way that will cause you to stop liking me.” Sonata scratched her head as she thought about what Luna had said. “Well, maybe something like that happens one day. But until then, I'll always stay with you no matter what!” As Sonata finished, she continued to hug her mentor. Luna smiled at the sight, and wrapped her own hooves around her little student. Oh, Sonata. I can only hope you shall remain faithful to me. Fluttershy winced as she opened her eyes. She could see light pouring in from a window, but she couldn't identify where she was. Somehow, the surroundings were different; instead of clouds, it seemed that everything was made of wood. But why? Hadn't she gotten back to the camp after the race? And then the memory of the race came back, flooding her memory. She remembered how she'd been pushed off the clouds when Rainbow and the colts began their race, and how her friend had come back for her, even if it meant losing the race, and how they'd crashed into- Fluttershy gasped in horror. “Rainbow Dash! Where are you?!” The yellow pegasus immediately jumped out of the bed, only to yell out in pain as she attempted to spread her wings. Fortunately, before she could fall, she was caught by an unfamiliar pair of hooves. “Whoa there, nelly. You ain't in any condition to go out flyin’.” Fluttershy looked up at the speaker. It was a brick-red earth pony stallion with a green mane. “You sure got beat up when you and your little friend crashed into that old barn. Lucky for you Little Mac was there to tell us that y'all were in trouble.” Fluttershy looked at the stallion in curiosity, before he noticed a pony standing behind the doorway. It was a red colt with an orange mane who was wearing a brown harness around his neck. Upon realizing that she was looking at him, he blushed and hid behind the door. Somehow, Fluttershy’s face felt hotter than usual. “Ma! Honey! One of the fillies woke up!” Immediately, an orange mare with a bright yellow earth pony mane rushed into the room. She then snatched Fluttershy right out of her husband's grip and began to examine every inch of her body. “Oh dear! Are you alright? Does anything hurt? Do I need to find your parents? Oh, please tell me yo-” “Stop!” The mare immediately stopped her prodding. Satisfied, Fluttershy began to look around the room. Very quickly, she spotted a familiar tuft of rainbow hair. “Rainbow Dash!!!” The yellow filly jumped out of the mare's arms and ran to her friend’s bed. Her eyes filled with tears as she saw her friend lying unconscious on the bed. “Ohmigosh ohmigosh ohmigosh! Rainbow! Please don't die! Please don't die!” “Don't worry, little filly,” the stallion said. “Your friend here just needs her beauty sleep and she'll be right as rain!” Fluttershy turned towards the stallion with a worried expression. “But what if she's not?! What if she can't fly anymore?! What if she's really badly hurt?! If she can't become a Wonderbolt anymore, it'll be all my fault!” Fluttershy then burst into tears. She'd never felt so worthless before. True, she'd always been mocked and bullied for her inability to fly, but she'd always had Rainbow by her side. Now her friend was lying unconscious on a bed, all because she was too much of a weak flier to save herself from falling to her death. To her surprise, she felt herself being softly embraced by a gentle pair of hooves. She stopped crying as she looked up to see the mare giving her a kind look. “Don't blame yourself, young filly. Accidents happen, and sometimes ponies get hurt. But your friend here has very few injuries. Once she wakes up, she'll be just fine.” The mare smiled at Fluttershy reassuringly, which slowly cause the pink-maned filly to smile back. “Look at you,” the orange mare said. “Even when you're all hurt like this, all you think about is your friend. She's lucky to have a friend like you.” Fluttershy smiled, and then turned towards Rainbow Dash. “No,” she said happily. “I'm lucky to have a friend like her.” Author's Note I'm not sure my proofreader has had time to go 100% over this chapter, but I wanted to get it up before I left for Christmas. Hopefully I haven't made too many mistakes.
KindnessSonata stared at the rock lying in front of her with a fearful expression on her face. She knew what she had to do, but she was worried about whether she could pull it off. “Relax, Sonata. It is a very simple spell.” The blue filly looked upwards towards her mentor, surprised by her words. “And besides, even if you fail, nopony will know except me,” said Luna. “Then I shall simply help you improve so that you can succeed the next time.” While still worried, Sonata was reassured by her mentor’s words. Thus, she turned her attention back to the rock and began to sing. As she did, the stone became enveloped in blue light. Slowly, the light got brighter, and the rock’s surface began to change. Suddenly, the magic aura surrounding the rock blasted away, hitting Sonata and sending her flying away. Fortunately, Luna caught her before she could be hurt. “Owie…” Luna looked at her young pupil with worry in her eyes. “Sonata, are you alright?” “I’m okay,” the little blue filly said as she rubbed her throat. Luna smiled in relief, then turned her attention back to the rock. “Well, you managed to change it, at least.” Sonata looked towards the rock, and was disappointed to see that, rather than a gemstone, it had turned into a hunk of coal. “Oh. I thought it was going to work.” She looked downwards dejectedly. However, before she could get too depressed, she felt her mentor's wing draping her reassuringly. “There is no shame in failing, Sonata. Nopony gets anything right on the first try. And besides, you still have very little experience using your magic for… more varied purposes.” Sonata couldn't help but feel that Luna had just remembered the more hostile ways the sirens had used their magic in the past. Nevertheless, she smiled back at the dark blue alicorn. “Thank you, Princess.” “Please, Sonata. Call me Luna.” “Oh, okay. Thank you, Luna.” Luna chuckled softly before turning back toward the hunk of coal. “So tell me, Sonata. What do you think you did wrong?” Sonata scrunched up her face as she thought. She then looked up at her mentor. “Did I sing too not-loud?” Luna couldn't help but laugh. “Oh, your singing was loud and clear. And your voice is beautiful.” Sonata began to blush and turn away. Luna smiled, though it faded away as a thought entered her head. “When you sang, what were you thinking about?” Sonata lifted her hoof to her chin as she thought. “Well, I was thinking what I always thought whenever I sung,” she answered. “It was usually something about being needed and adored by everypony. That what my sisters… told me.” As a look of sadness took over Sonata’s face, Luna mentally slapped herself for opening up her old scars. Thinking quickly, she looked towards the crib that lay at the edge of the room. “And what were you thinking about when you hatched him?” Sonata looked up in confusion, then looked in the direction that her mentor had pointed. She then saw the little purple dragon sleeping peacefully within. Immediately, her thoughts went back to the night she'd returned to Equestria, and how Luna had told her to hatch the egg. “Well, I was thinking about my mommy.” Luna's eyes widened in surprise. Aside from her sisters, Sonata had not made any mention of her family. “My mommy used to sing that song for me when I was little.” Sonata blinked, and then added “I mean, when I was littler than I was before I came back. Because I was little, then I got big, then when I came back I-” “Yes,” Luna interrupted. “I see. And… what did you feel when you sung that song?” Sonata scrunched up her face as she tried to remember how she'd felt when she sung her mother's song. “Well,” she said finally, “ I was mostly thinking about the little baby dragon that was inside the egg. And I thought about how cute and little he'd be, and how he'd need lots of love and kindness, and how my mommy always gave me love and kindness…” As Sonata finished speaking, she felt sadness seeping into her once again. The memory of her mother was just as painful, if not more, than the memory of her sisters. However, before she could be overwhelmed by her feelings, Luna began to speak. “Tell me, Sonata. If you were to focus on those feelings instead of the bad ones, do you believe you would have better results?” The blue earth pony looked up at her mentor in surprise. “Will that really work?” “We’ll never know unless you try,” Luna said with a smile. Although Sonata was still apprehensive, her mentor's encouragement was enough to give her the determination she needed. “Okay! I'll try that!” Luna nodded approvingly, and then set a new rock in front of Sonata. The blue filly grinned with determination, and then began to sing. This time, however, she focused on the positive feelings that her mentor had told her to think of. Once again, the rock was enveloped in blue light. This time, however, it did not send her backwards, and Sonata's magic reshaped it into a hexagonal shape, turning it clear as it did so. Luna watched in amazement as the rock turned into a piece of quartz. Finally, the magic around it was dispelled softly, creating just enough push to lightly ruffle her pupil's mane. “Well done, Sonata.” Sonata poked an eye open, and grinned at the sight of the transformed object. “Princess! I did it!” Luna smiled at her student's glee, and then raised the crystal in her magic. “Well done, Sonata. You're quite a quick learner, if I do say so myself.” She then moved the gem towards the crib. As it reached the sleeping baby dragon, he immediately woke up and looked towards the gem. He then smiled and grabbed it with his teeth, eliciting a shocked gasp from Sonata. “Spikey! Don't eat that! You'll break your teeth!” Before she could panic any more, Luna placed her hoof on Sonata. “Don't worry, Sonata. Dragons eat gemstones, so their teeth are naturally hard enough to break down any object.” Sonata gasped in awe. “For realzies? Then... shouldn't they be made of rocks if that's what they eat?” For a moment, Luna imagined a dragon made entirely of crystal. She laughed at the thought, then turned back to Sonata. “Perhaps there are crystal dragons somewhere in the world, Sonata. But here in Equestria dragons don't turn into gemstones just because they eat them. Instead, they use the gems to power their magic. That is where they get their ability to breathe fire.” Sonata nodded in understanding, then looked towards Spike. As she watches him chew on his gemstone, a thought occurred to her. “Luna, if I ate a gemstone, would I be able to breathe fire?” Luna briefly imagined Sonata screaming in pain as pieces of her teeth fell out of her mouth. Grimacing, she patted the little filly on the head. “No, Sonata. Ponies are not meant to eat gemstones.” “Wahoo!!” Night Glider grinned as she watched her new friend following her close behind. She had been surprised, but thrilled to find out that Gilda was almost as fast as her, and so they had been engaged in several races since their first meeting. Even though the dark blue filly had won most of them, her griffin friend had proved to be more than capable of holding her own. “Come on, Gilda!” she yelled out. “Is that the best you’ve got?!” “You want speed?!” Gilda replied. “Get ready to eat my dust!” The two racers continued to fly towards their goal, both flying unbelievably fast. As they passed the finish line, they grinned and bumped their front legs. They then began to chant their motto. Junior Speedsters are our lives! Skybomb soars and daring dives! Junior Speedsters, It’s our quest To someday be the very best! The two flyers then hugged each other and giggled. As they broke the hug, Gilda looked towards Night Glider happily. “That was so amazing! I didn’t know there were ponies who could fly that fast!” “Well, I didn’t know there were griffins who could fly that fast,” Night Glider pointed out. “I guess we’re both learning right now, aren’t we?” Gilda grinned and nodded. “So, are there any other ponies who fly really fast?” “Nah,” said Night Glider. “I’m pretty sure I’m the fastest. What about you?” Gilda’s face scrunched up as she began to think. “I’m not sure. I’ve never really flown with other griffins.” Night Glider raised an eyebrow. “Why not? I mean, I’m too fast for most ponies to keep up but I still go out to fly with them. Why don’t you hang out with anypo- I mean, anygriffin else?” Much to Night Glider’s surprised, Gilda looked downwards and began to whimper. “Gilda?” The little griffin didn’t answer. Concerned, Night Glider placed her hoof on Gilda’s shoulder, causing her to look up in surprise. “Hey, don’t worry. You can tell me anything. You know that, right?” At first, Gilda seemed hesitant. However, after a few moments, she began to speak. “Back in Griffonstone, nogriffin cares about anygriffin else. We’re all pretty much on our own. Some griffins might help out, but only if they get a lot of money out of it. They’re all mean, just like those colts. And nogriffin is ever there to help you out.” Night Glider’s mouth hung open. How could the griffins be such jerks? Didn’t anygriffin realize the importance of helping each other out? “That’s so stupid! Everygriffin should be friends!” Gilda rolled her eyes. “You wouldn’t say that if you lived in Griffonstone. It’s a dump.” Night Glider raised an eyebrow. “So, you’re saying that griffins are just mean ‘cause they live in a dump?” Gilda looked away uncomfortably. “Um… maybe? I don’t know. I’ve never lived anywhere else.” As Gilda looked around trying to avoid saying any more, Night Glider was struck by an idea. “You know, most of Equestria is pretty nice. I’ll bet you could find a whole bunch of nice ponies here!” The worried griffin turned back towards her friend, an uneasy look on her face. “But what if they’re like those colts from before?” “Ah, don’t worry about that,” Night Glider said as she waved a hoof. “I can totally handle any bullies that try to give you trouble!” The dark blue filly gave Gilda a huge grin, which quickly coaxed a smile out of her. “Um… I guess it wouldn’t hurt to try.” “YES!” Night Glider shouted as she flung her hooves around Gilda. The young griffin was momentarily surprised, but soon returned the hug. “Best friends forever?” “Best friends forever!”
HonestySonata sat by herself, looking at the mirror. She knew that it was, in fact, the portal through which she had returned to Equestria. However, that was where her knowledge of the strange artifact ended. Why had the portal closed after she'd gone through? Why did it have to wait for so long before it could be opened again? And what did it do when it wasn't all portal-y? Frustratingly, Luna was not present to explain these or any other mysteries. She had been called away while in the middle of their lesson for some unexplained reason, without any details aside from “urgent business.” And so she'd instructed her student to continue reading her book and not touch the mirror. For a while, Sonata had been able to comply with this request. However, she had quickly gotten bored of reading the ancient texts. She had thus tossed the book, causing it to land right next to the mirror. It was thus that Sonata was now staring at said mirror with great curiosity. She took in every detail she could, from the color,to the shape, to the various stones that had been embedded within it. However, no matter how much she tried, she couldn't figure out what gave the mirror its power. And Luna had told her not to touch it, so that was out of the question. Resigned to being unable to find out what made the mirror so special, she settled for observing her reflection. After all, even if her mentor had told her not to touch the mirror, she had said nothing about looking at it. Still, there was not much she could learn that way. She was about to find out just how wrong she was. It took her only a few moments to realize that something seemed off about her reflection. It seemed to be taller than it should have been. And… there seemed to be something brighter about her. Curious, Sonata took a few cautious steps towards the mirror. She didn't want to disobey Luna, but she still wanted to figure out what was happening. I mean, I can still get close, right? The princess only said I couldn't touch it. I wonder if they have tacos in the pony world... Brushing her thoughts aside, Sonata tried to make out what was happening with her reflection. Even so, she remained cautious to not get too close, to avoid accidentally touching the mirror. ...Until she accidentally tripped over the very book she had tossed aside, causing her to fall face-first into the mirror. Immediately, she was assaulted by a barrage of images; a dark alicorn with a mane and tail made of fire; a creature made of mismatched body parts pulled from various other animals; an insectoid alicorn monster followed by several smaller bug monsters; a shadowy pony leading an army of green-eyed ponies into battle; a monstrous centaur laying waste to everything around it; and… was that another siren?! Before Sonata could dwell on what those frightening images meant, she was met by a new set of images; a cream-colored earth pony who was always willing to give; a yellow pegasus who refused to leave anypony behind; a dark blue pegasus who would always comfort those who were troubled; a mauve unicorn who valued truth above all else; and a pink unicorn who always brought smiles to those who needed them. Then, to Sonata’s surprise, another alicorn appeared. This one appeared only in silhouette, but there was something undeniably familiar about it. She couldn’t put her hoof on it, but somehow, it was almost as if she knew the alicorn. She didn’t even notice that she had begun to walk backwards until she felt herself bump into somepony. Almost immediately, the visions stopped, and she found herself looking upwards at the newcomer. “You know, some ponies say that the mirror shows what could happen in the future.” Sonata turned her head to get a better look at the pony. She was a very light blue color, and her snow white mane was carefully combed into huge curls. Her cutie mark was a flower stylized to resemble a snowflake, and there was a deep kindness in her icy blue eyes. “You must be Sonata Dusk,” the mare said. “I’ve been waiting eagerly to meet you.” “Oh,” the little filly said, hesitantly extending her forehoof. “Um, nice to meet you?” “Likewise,” the mare said as she shook Sonata’s hoof. “So, tell me. What did the mirror show you?” “What… it showed me?” The mare smiled playfully. “Or what you saw. It can be one or the other.” Sonata looked back towards the mirror to hide her grimace. She was quite worried about what she had just seen, and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to tell anypony about it. Maybe I should just pretend I didn’t see anything, she thought. Or maybe I could tell her that I just saw an extra large ice cream cone. Mmmm… I could really use some ice cream right now. Content with her decision, she turned towards the amre once more. However, as she did, she looked straight into the mare’s eyes, once again seeing the deep kindness that lay within them. Oh wow, she thought to herself. Her eyes are so pretty… and she looks like such a nice pony! And she just wants me to tell a little bit about what I saw… which was kind of freaky. Regardless of how strange or terrifying the vision she’d had was, not telling the mare the truth felt wrong. Sonata wasn’t even sure why, but it just felt like that. And so she decided to tell her. “Well, at first I saw some scary ponies,” she explained. “I saw a pony on fire, then a weird thing with lots of weird body parts, then some sort of bug monster, then a shadow pony, and… some other bad things. But then I saw a couple of happy ponies, and they all seemed to be friends or something. And then… I think I saw a princess. As Sonata recounted what she had seen, the mare did not react. Her face remained expressionless until the blue filly had finished, after which a smile began to form on her face. “I think you are destined for greatness, Sonata.” “For realzies?” Sonata asked, her head tilting inquisitively. “How do you know?” “She can usually tell these things.” Sonata jumped in surprise at the voice. She then saw Luna standing next to the mystery mare. “Hello, my young apprentice. I am glad to see that you are getting along well with my daughter.” Sonata stared at Luna blankly. “Your… daughter?” She then realized that the mare, though somewhat shorter, had both wings and a horn like Luna. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the mare said with a small bow. “I am Snowdrop, Princess of winter, ice, and snow.” Sonata’s eyes went wide. “You’re a princess too?” “Indeed,” answered Snowdrop. “I watch over the winter season, and I have full control over ice and snow.” “Wow! So, you can make ice cream?” Snowdrop laughed. “I have a feeling that we are going to get along just fine.” Amethyst Star watched as her mother held Dinky in her wings, singing softly as she rocked the foal to sleep. The little pink unicorn watched in fascination as her sister was gently tucked into her crib, then covered up with her little blanket. The sight of little Dinky slumbering peacefully filled her with warm and fuzzy feelings, and she felt unbelievably happy to have a little sister like her. “You really do enjoy watching your big sister go to sleep, don’t you, Amy?” Unfortunately, the illusion was, as always, ruined by her father’s words. “Dad!” Amethyst yelled angrily. “Shhh!” Amethyst gasped, and turned towards her mother, who was giving her a disapproving look while gesturing towards the sleeping foal. She then turned her gaze towards her father, who was looking away sheepishly. “Yes, well, perhaps we should go outside to discuss this.” Realizing that it was probably the smart thing to do, Amethyst quickly galloped towards the door and moved into the hallway. Her father quickly followed her, and then carefully closed the door behind him. “We should try not to argue when your mother is tucking your big sister into bed,” the brown stallion said thoughtfully. “Dad!” Amethyst said, her anger returning in full force. “Why do you keep saying she’s my big sister?! I’m bigger than her!” “Remember, Amy, I’m a time traveler,” her father explained. “And my job is to make sure the time streams are protected from bad guys. And sometimes that leads to wibbly wobbly, timey-wimey… stuff.” Amethyst raised an eyebrow. “And why does that make me Dinky’s little sister?” Her father chuckled as he lightly ruffled her mane. “You see, Amy, at some point in the future, our family will encounter one of these timey-wimey distortions, which will cause our youngest daughter to fall backwards in time, eventually ending up a few years ago. That filly, of course, is you.” For a moment, Amethyst stared blankly at her father. “Basically, you came from the future.” Amethyst rolled her eyes. “That’s stupid.” “Oh, come now, Amy,” her father said as he gave her a kind smile. “Do you think that I would lie to you?” The little unicorn filly looked up at her father with a slightly doubtful look. Despite all her doubts, she couldn’t see any trace of dishonesty on her father’s face. And she didn’t like the idea that her father would lie to her. “Well, I guess not,” she said finally. “But time travel still sounds stupid.” Her father chuckled in response, causing Amethyst to look up with a scowl on her face. “What’s so funny?” “Oh, nothing,” her father said. “I was just thinking about when I should take you to show you that time travel isn’t stupid.” Amethyst’s eyes widened. “What?!” Her father smiled. “I think we’re going to have a little family trip, my dear Amy.”
