Guardian of the Princesses

Chapters

Friendship is Magic - Part 1
Friendship is Magic - Part 2
The Ticket Master
Boast Busters
Dragonshy
Bridle Gossip
Suited for Success
Sonic Rainboom
Interlude I: Winter's Day Off
Cutie Mark Chronicles
Prologue
A Dog and Pony Show

Friendship is Magic - Part 1

Friendship is Magic Part 1

Our story starts in a small town on the outskirts of a large forest in the land of Equestria. The town is a quiet town with many pleasant residents (though some are a bit rough around the edges) named Ponyville. The sky was blue, the sun was shining with nary a cloud to be seen and in the streets where a market is we meet our protagonist;
Okay, look towards the stall selling apples, do you see the large red pillar of muscle and manliness? Well, that's Big Mackintosh, the stallion buying a sack of apples off of him is our protagonist. The stallion is a unicorn with a snow white coat with an ice blue mane and tail, oddly though: his eyes are blood red. He's wearing a black travelling cloak which ends just before his flank allowing his cutie mark to be seen, the cutie mark in question is a silver shield with a dark blue full moon within it. The name that this stallion goes by is Winter Shield, it is not his true name nor is his current look his true form but it is what the citizens of Ponyville recognize him by, so we will call him by that name for now.

After buying the apples, he put them in his saddlebags (which (like most saddlebags) are enchanted to be larger on the inside and all items put inside of them become weightless, preventing damage to a pony's back) and headed for home.
On his way there he came across a most unusual sight: a lavender unicorn mare with her dark purple mane covered in mud before being consumed in what appeared to be a rainbow coloured tornado.

"Oh dear, it seems Dash actually used that Rain-Blow-Dry thing she came up with. I'd better try and smooth thing over before Ms Rarity sees the results, Faust knows what she'll do to Dash..." he said before making his way over.

"... guess, you're Rainbow Dash" said the lavender mare.

"THE one and only, why? Ya heard of me?" replied a cyan mare with an untidy and slightly spiky rainbow mane

"She probably heard of your duty for the day, which you seem to be doing a WONDERFUL job of fulfilling by the way Dash" said Winter, adding his two cents into the conversation.

"Aw, ease up Winter, You know as well as I do that this sky can be cleared in ten seconds flat by yours truly. There's no need to be all grumpy about it though I sometimes wonder if that's your only setting" argued Rainbow, while dragging a cloud in and lying on it with her hooves behind her head. Winter let out an exasperated sigh.

"Only with you Dash, only with you. Anyway, where are my manners? I'm Winter Shield, I'm terribly sorry about Dash, she can get pretty excitable when she meets someone new, though not as excitable as some people in Ponyville just to warn you. Please allow me to help you with your mane Ms…?" Now that Winter was closer, he could identify a light purple and magenta stripe in her mane which looked to be natural and not dyed, he could also clearly see her Cutie Mark which was a magenta six pointed star surrounded by six smaller silver stars in between the points of the larger one.

"Sparkle, Twilight Sparkle. Don't worry about my mane, it is of little importance compared to what I have to get done today, checking on the preparations for the Summer Sun Festival and all; speaking of which, isn't Rainbow Dash SUPPOSED to be keeping the sky clear?!" said/asked the now named Twilight Sparkle.

"Yeah, yeah; I'll get it done later when I'm finished practicing for the Wonderbolts" responded Rainbow.

"Dash, I don't know if you've noticed, but you're sleeping and most definitely not practicing at the moment" interjected Winter, frowning at the cyan mare.

"Wait, "the Wonderbolts" as in THE Wonderbolts, most talented fliers in all of Equestria?" asked Twilight.

"Exactly, it's my dream to be a Wonderbolt and when they come to Ponyville for the Summer Sun Celebration I'm gonna show them my stuff and they'll just have to make me a member" said Rainbow while staring off into the distance "And shut up Winter, aren't you supposed to be blowing up that hut of yours or something?"

"Unlike you Dash, I got my job done this morning. And for the record, I make fireworks, I don't blow pony's houses up, give ponies a boost when flying or knit you lovely hats for the season I am named after" said Winter sarcastically but his smile gave away the amusement he felt at Rainbow's comment.

"Besides I doubt the Wonderbolts would accept a Pegasus that couldn't keep a small bit of sky clear for one measly day" added Twilight, turning around to hide her smirk.

"Oh really, because I bet I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat" replied Dash before simultaneously doing a series of fancy aerobatics that would likely impress even the best fliers due to their flawless execution at high velocities and clearing the sky of all clouds "See, Ten Seconds FLAT" she boasted. Twilight and her young dragon appeared to be so impressed that their jaws were virtually on the floor, Winter was just shaking his head while muttering about Rainbow being a show off.

"Haha, you should see the look on your face. You know what? You're cool and pretty funny Twilight; I think we'll hang out sometime" said Rainbow before flying off, leaving a rainbow coloured trail.

"Okay, now that the sky is clear, next on my list is… Oh, well it's you Winter Shield, let's see…magical fireworks?" said Twilight while looking at an unrolled piece of parchment which she had just pulled out of her saddlebags.

"Yep, I make magical fireworks. They're just like real fireworks but I can make more complex shapes and give them various other affects like changing colour, lasting longer and so on. I remember at the last Dragon Migration, I let a load of them off that formed colour changing dragons which escorted the dragons out before exploding, the townsponies loved it." replied Winter, with a faraway look in his eye as he remembered it "AH sorry, I'm digressing. Here, allow me to show you a small sample of my work" he said, pulling a cone shaped item out of his saddlebags before throwing it to the floor where it burst into multiple ice blue streamers that flew around Winter and Twilight before forming a "W" shape.

"Pretty impressive for such a small firework, I look forward to seeing more of them tonight; Now then… Next I have to see one Rarity at the Carousel Boutique about the decorations. Err, do you know where it is?" asked Twilight after checking her checklist.

"The Carousel Boutique? It's just at the end of the road from here, trust me when I say that you can't miss it, Ms Rarity made its design very… unique" answered Winter "Well, I have some delicate alchemy projects to finish for my fireworks, so I'll see you around Ms Sparkle" he said before turning and walking off.
Twilight looked after him, deep in thought 'Hmm, I wonder if this Winter Shield is the same Winter Shield that Lord Blood Cell ordered his fireworks from for the Gala last year, from what I saw from the Solar Rising Tower, they were something to see alright.'

"WHAT WAS THAT?!" a loud voice suddenly rang out, startling Twilight; she quickly turned and had a repulsion spell primed and ready for discharge from her horn, before realizing that it was only a certain rainbow maned pegasus.

"Oh, Rainbow Dash, it's just you. And what was what?" she said after releasing her hold on her magic.

"THAT! Do you know how long it took for me to get Winter to say more than a sentence to me?! OVER A MONTH! It's rare that he speaks to ponies that he doesn't know and never for as long as you two spoke for, so how did you do it? Do you two know each other or something?" answered Rainbow, flying all over the place in her confusion and slight jealousy.

"I honestly don't know what you're talking about Rainbow; I don't recall ever meeting Winter Shield before today, besides he was only showing me a sample of his fireworks then giving me directions, nothing major really."

"Oh, right, sorry. Still, he spoke with you longer than most ponies which is unusual for him, I'll ask him about it later; Anyway, I'll see you at the Summer Sun Celebration later, yeah?" she said before flying over to a cloud and dozing off.

After Twilight had gone to the Carousel Boutique to check on decorations and checked on the Fluttershy's bird choir that was to provide music, she had entered the Golden Oak Library to find a surprise party set up by a certain hyperactive pink Earth Pony and after drinking hot sauce, she decided to retire to her room for the night, lamenting the fact that she could not research the Elements of Harmony, when her baby dragon, Spike, walked in with a lampshade on his head.

"Hey Twilight" he said "Pinkie's starting "Pin the Tail on the Pony". Wanna play?"

"No!" she responded, frustrated "All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?!"

Spike was about to respond when suddenly a they heard a shout that was loud enough to echo across the whole town:

"RAINBOW! I NEEDED THAT!"

"See what I mean Spike?" she asked rhetorically.

"It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raising the sun! You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!" responded Spike before leaving.
After mockingly imitating Spike, Twilight sighed and turned onto her side, looking towards the window at the moon which had a shadow of the head of a horned equine on it.

"Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it!" she spoke angrily before opening a book ""Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night." I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old ponytale..."

"C'mon, Twilight, it's time to watch the sunrise!" said Spike excitedly as he re-entered the room (and for some reason, he STILL had the lampshade on his head).

After removing the lampshade from Spike's head, Twilight headed for the town hall to watch Princess Celestia raise the sun to begin a new day in Equestria when out of nowhere, Pinkie Pie appeared. (A/N: I swear that that mare has somehow unlocked the ability to use Chaos Control with how she appears in places so quickly and randomly)

"Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited- well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went [deep gasp] but I mean really, who can top that?" said Pinkie, talking like a rapid fire machine gun.

"I appreciate that you're excited Ms Pie, really I do, but can you please stop jumping so close to my firework cannon before you set the fuse off? That thing is delicate you know and I don't think our Solar Overlord would find 12 rockets flying at her face very funny." said Winter, walking up with Rainbow Dash in tow; Pinkie looked to her left and saw that there was indeed a cannon next to her, it was a sea green triple barrelled cannon that had four multi-coloured rockets in each barrel.

"Solar Overlord?" asked Twilight.

"It's Winter's nickname for Princess Celestia, he's kinda a history nut and when he discovered that Equestria is a diarchy but our Lunar Princess was not present for some reason, he started calling Princess Celestia the "Solar Overlord". It kinda stuck because he's been doing so ever since…" explained Rainbow before being cut off by Winter.

"… And will continue to do so until our Lunar Princess returns."

"But Winter" started Twilight "it is technically inaccurate to call Princess Celestia an overlord because of…"

"I HAVE SPOKEN!" shouted Winter, attempting to imitate a pompous noble by puffing himself up in a rather comical manner which only succeeded in making the three mares nearly fall over with laughter which he joined in soon after before being interrupted by a fanfare. (A/N: I recommend playing the Constructicon Fanfare from Starscream's Coronation in the 1986 Transformers movie here as the fanfare)

A spotlight moved around the front of the room and onto the stage of the town where an older looking mare with half-moon glasses perched on her nose was standing; when the spotlight stopped on her, she began a speech:

"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration."

A majority of the ponies in the town hall started cheering at her words while Rainbow amused Winter by doing mime impressions of Mayor Mare and Twilight just looked worried.

"In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..." she paused for dramatic emphasis, Winter looked to the balcony where Fluttershy could be seen talking to her birds and Twilight looked towards the moon where the shadow of the horned equine head had mysteriously vanished.

"Princess Celestia!" she finished as the fanfare concluded and Rarity pulled the curtains apart revealing… empty space much to everyone's confusion and Winter's annoyance.

"Really, I've heard of being fashionably late but this is ridiculous!" he whispered to Rainbow "Does our Solar Overlord not know how rude it is to not turn up to your own celebration?" he jokingly asked with a grin. Rainbow struggled to contain her laughter and remain quiet at the same time whereas Twilight (who it seemed had overheard them) turned to them and gave Winter the scariest Death Glare he had ever seen.

"This is NOT funny! This is bad. Very, VERY bad" she said ominously while Mayor Mare attempted to calm everypony in the hall before Rarity emerged from behind the curtains and announced that the Princess was nowhere to be seen. Pinkie seemed to think that the Princess was playing a game of some description if her comments were anything to go by:

"Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" when the Princess was first found to be missing and "Oh, she's good" when Rarity confirmed the Princess' disappearance before shrieking as most of the ponies gasped when navy blue smoke speckled with silver shapes that looked suspiciously familiar to stars filled the balcony where the Solar Princess was supposed to be standing before parting like a cloud to reveal a midnight black alicorn clad in navy blue battle armour with the smoke as her mane. Twilight seemed to recognize her as did Winter.

"Oh no/scrap" they said in unison "Nightmare Moon" Winter narrowed his eyes as he looked around the room for something to distract her with long enough for the Royal Guard to capture her, his eyes fell on his cannon…

"Oh, my beloved subjects." Nightmare Moon began, looking down on the ponies assembled "It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces." Saying the last bit with venom, as if the words "sun loving" left a bad taste in her mouth.

"WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OUR PRINCESS?!" Rainbow demanded before attempting to fly at speed into Nightmare Moon but before she could, an orange Earth Pony mare grabbed her tail in her jaws, preventing her from moving any closer.

"Whoa there nelly" the mare, who was named Applejack said, her voice muffled by Rainbow's tail. Winter gave her a nod of thanks for stooping Rainbow from getting herself hurt which Applejack returned. Nightmare Moon chuckled mockingly at their antics before resuming her little speech.

"Why? Am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" she asked, her voice becoming sharper at the end with anger.

"Ooh, ooh, more guessing games!" Pinkie cheerfully replied "Um, let's see, err… Hokey Smokey? How about... Queen Meanie? No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty…" before her little monologue became muffled due to Applejack shoving a cupcake in her mouth; despite the seriousness of the situation, Winter tried not to smile in amusement at the scene.

"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" Nightmare moon asked while scaring off all of Fluttershy's birds and nearly scaring the shy pegasus herself out of the air "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" she demanded while scaring the other ponies.

"Wow, someone likes the sound of their own voice" said Winter, scowling at the black Alicorn "I wonder how long she'd talk if we left her alone in a room with cardboard cut-outs and a mirror" he wondered aloud to Rainbow, who tried not to chuckle. Meanwhile, Twilight gathered her courage and stepped up to confront Nightmare Moon

"I did. And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!" she said, sounding a lot braver than she currently felt in the presence of the corrupted Lunar Diarch, resulting in most of the ponies gasping in shock and the black alicorn looking somewhat impressed by either her knowledge or courage, if not both.

"Well well well, somepony who remembers me. Then I presume you also know why I'm here."

"You're here to... to..." Twilight trailed off as she looked around and gulped, seemingly losing her nerve; The alicorn chuckled.

"Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever!" Nightmare said before laughing maniacal laugh worth of Maleficent and her smoke-like mane formed a tornado above her, which caused a pseudo thunderstorm above her as the ponies quivered in fear.

"SEIZE HER!" Mayor Mare shouted "Only she knows where the princess is" The Royal Guard pegasi shot towards the black alicorn, closing in quickly.

"STAND BACK YOU FOALS!" Nightmare Moon bellowed, rearing while still laughing

"DASH, HIT THE MASTER FUSE ON THE CANNON!" yelled Winter, charging up an icy blast on his horn.

"GOT IT" Rainbow shouted back, generating a spark by dragging her hoof along the cannon which lit the fuse and cause all 12 rockets to be fired at Nightmare Moon, but the alicorn hit the ground with her forehooves causing a shockwave which detonated the rockets, threw the guards back and dispelled all magical spells in the area, which caused Winter's coat to momentarily change from snow white to dark black and his mane to change from ice blue to blood red, however the change reversed quickly, hence only Nightmare Moon and Winter Shield himself aw the change in colours.
Nightmare transformed into smoke and fled with Rainbow hot on her tail while Twilight shot out of the Town Hall towards the library as everypony inside began to panic while Winter headed off home, noting that the sun had indeed not risen as it should've about half an hour ago.

When he got home he gathered together food, water, climbing equipment and pre-prepared runes. He looked at his cloak, seeing smoke rising off of the internal lining.

"Drat, now I only have one cloak left and it is not easy to weave the Sustained Illusion runes into the fabric of the cloaks" Quickly he removed his cloak, changing it for another one; in between him removing his cloak and switching it for another, his coat and mane change colours again to black and blood red, the cloak also had previously concealed a pair of well developed wings. His Cutie Mark had changed from a silver shield with a dark blue full moon within it to a black shield with a dark purple outline and silver sun similar to Celestia's within it accompanied by a blood red sword next to the sun. Unknown to everyone but himself, this was Winter Shield's true form, the black alicorn guardian of the two diarchs, who was exiled by both himself and Celestia after the sealing of Nightmare Moon over a thousand years ago. His true name was Dark Saber.

Once Winter (A/N: I shall refer to Dark Saber as Winter Shield when he is in this form unless a majority of my readers wish otherwise) had replaced his cloak and the illusion was recast, there was a knock upon his door.

"Winter, we need your help" said Rainbow after Winter answered the door "Nightmare Moon has fled to the Everfree Forest and we're going after her, you know this forest better than anyone, could you please direct us to wherever Twilight needs to go in there?" Winter looked at Rainbow's companions, they were the unicorn Twilight Sparkle, the fashionista Rarity, the farmer Applejack, the animal tamer Fluttershy and the party pony Pinkie Pie; he raised an eyebrow but did not comment,

"You're lucky Dash, I was just about to pursue her myself; We can join forces and get more done" Winter answered before looking at Twilight "You're the unicorn that stood up to Nightmare Moon, aren't you?"

"Yes" she answered "But I don't see what that had to do with anything"

"That took courage Twilight, and you'll need that courage for what awaits us in that forest, I can only imagine what traps lie in wait for us, are you all ready for this? There is no shame in turning back if you are not." The six mares all looked at each other before nodding at him in unison.

"Very well then" he said "Let's roll out!" before running towards the Everfree Forest.

Author's Note

And that's it for this chapter; I hope you all enjoyed it, it was originally intended to include both Friendship is Magic/Mare in the Moon Parts 1 and 2, but Part 1 ended up longer than expected, so I split it in two; don't worry Winter Shield/Dark Saber will have a more active role in Part 2 and will not just be a background OC, nor will he be (hopefully) an overpowered OC, he will also not be a made up "Seventh Element of Harmony" as seems to be popular in some fics I've read, he's already an alicorn and the Guardian of the Princesses, that's power enough for him.
Also I've made a few references to other media in this chapter and I may do so in later chapters as well, I counted about four (maybe five) different series' that I made at least one reference to in here (the unnamed ones), can you find them? Tell me in the reviews and name the series if you can. ^_^

As I said in the Prologue and will say time and time again: any constructive criticism is welcome so long as it is phrased in a polite and comprehensible manner, flames are not appreciated and will be deleted.

So, what did you like, what did you hate and what could be better, I tried to duplicate the atmosphere of the show which to me is light-hearted though can be pretty dark at times e.g. the Royal Canterlot Wedding. This chapter is a trial run and will be taken down, edited and put up again with improvements made according to the reviews I get on it, however I will need more than one or two reviews to make improvements.

Until next time,

Darth Annihilator - out.

Friendship is Magic - Part 2

Previously on Guardian of the Princesses:

""Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night." I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old ponytale..."

"Princess Celestia!" she finished as the fanfare concluded and Rarity pulled the curtains apart revealing… empty space much to everyone's confusion…

Navy blue smoke speckled with silver shapes that looked suspiciously familiar to stars filled the balcony where the Solar Princess was supposed to be standing before parting like a cloud to reveal a midnight black alicorn clad in navy blue battle armour with the smoke as her mane.
"Oh, my beloved subjects." Nightmare Moon began, looking down on the ponies assembled "It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces."

After the failed attempt to apprehend Nightmare Moon, Twilight immediately bolted for the library, intent on finding something to reveal precisely what the Elements of Harmony are and what they could do. After putting Spike to bed, she immediately began ripping books off of their shelves, flipping through them before dropping them all over the place.

"Elements, Elements, Elements…" She muttered as she searched

"Well this is just perfect, I'm in a tree full of knowledge and none of it appears to be remotely useful in the current situation. You'd think a library would have some form of information on the Elements of Harmony…" Suddenly a cyan hoof slammed itself down onto the book she was reading. Twilight turned to see Rainbow Dash glaring at her with narrowed eyes.

"And what precisely are the Elements of Harmony? And how did you know who that creep was? Are you a spy?" she questioned before Applejack grabbed her tail and dragged her away from Twilight.

"Now simmer down Sally" she said as she released Rainbow "Ah don't think she's a spy, but Ah do think she knows what's goin' on"

Twilight sighed and sat down as the other five mares she had met that day drew in closer.

"To make a long story short, Nightmare Moon wishes to plunge Equestria into a state of eternal night time, the legends say that Princess Celestia used a set of magical artifacts called the Elements of Harmony to seal her in the moon and now I want to use the Elements to defeat Nightmare Moon, however I have no idea what they are, what they do or even where they are…"

"The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide" interrupted Pinkie Pie, immediately Twilight jumped over to Pinkie and grabbed the book.

"Where did you find this?" she asked.

"It was under "E"" sang Pinkie.

"Oh" replied Twilight sheepishly as she flicked through the book "it says here that there are six Elements, of which only five are known: Loyalty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness and Honesty; It also says that the last known location of the Elements was the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters in the Everfree Forest"

"Well then" announced Rainbow "We'd best get moving, but first things first: we need to find Winter and get him to come with us"

"Not that I mind the company of Mr Shield" Rarity began "but why do you want to find him when we could potentially be using that time to find the Elements instead?"

"Because Winter knows the Everfree Forest better than anyone here" Rainbow answered "Besides, if I know Winter, he'll already be preparing to search for a means to deal with Nightmare Moon."

"Alright, we'll go to Winter Shield's house first, if he isn't in, we'll head for the Everfree Forest without him and find our own way from there" Twilight decided, taking the role of leader of the group.
After the group had recruited Winter, they began their journey to find the Elements of Harmony.

"So how come the Everfree Forest is such an unknown variable anyway?" Twilight asked as they walked.

"Twi, ya gotta understand that the place just ain't natural; somethin' about it just rubs ponyfolk the wrong way" Applejack answered.

"Yeah, it just doesn't act like the rest of Equestria, and besides, anypony that has gone in…" Rainbow added, moving towards Twilight in a manner similar to a predator intimidating its prey "has never come out…"

"Dash, that's enough of your scaremongering" Winter interjected, scowling at Rainbow "other than the fact that your information was obviously false as it's common knowledge that I regularly go in here to gather resources for my fireworks, we need to be focused on finding the Elements and finding a way of restoring daytime to Equestria"

"So Winter, if you come in here regularly, how come you don't appear to know where we're going?" Twilight asked.

"That's because the forest somehow changes its layout with a rare few landmarks maintaining their positions, so you have to be careful as you may end up walking into a swamp, Hydra's den, Cockatrice's lair or some other hazard if you take the same route twice" replied Winter. Unbeknownst to the group, as they were talking, blue smoke was seeping into the cracks in the rock below their feet, slowly weakening it as the ponies walked.

"Great, so how are we going to find a safe, ARGH!" Twilight began before being cut off as the land below them shattered and they began to slide towards a sudden drop. Rainbow and Fluttershy immediately flew into action, quickly catching Rarity and Pinkie and lowering them to safety, Applejack caught Twilight just as she fell off the edge and Winter slid towards the edge before jumping and falling when he suddenly shot his wings out causing his cloak to spread out as if it had caught the air and slowed his descent (A/N: Similar to how Batman controls his falls and negates any fall damage in the Batman Arkham games) and in so doing, hid his wings from the others, he turned to see Twilight hanging on and Applejack struggling to hold her grip on her.

"APPLEJACK!" Twilight cried in panic "WHAT DO I DO?" Applejack looked around for any options before forming an idea.

"Let go" she answered.

"WHAT?! ARE YOU CRAZY?!"

"Twilight, listen to me. What Ah'm sayin' to ya is the honest truth: let go and you'll be fine."
After thinking it over, Twilight released her hold on the edge and on Applejack and began to fall but before she fell too far, Winter's horn glowed ice blue and a slide made of ice suddenly formed beneath her, breaking her fall as she slid down it. At the end of the slide, Twilight was launched upwards slightly by an upwards curve in the ice, using her momentum to her advantage, Twilight flipped in mid-air and landed on all four hooves.

"I never had ya figured for an athlete Twi" said Rainbow, impressed by Twilight's display of acrobatics.

"When Princess Celestia noticed that I spent a lot of time indoors reading, she made me take up a hobby to keep myself in shape. I chose gymnastics and later acrobatics as I appeared to be good at it according to Spits" Twilight answered.

"Spits?" Rainbow asked.

"A Pegasus I knew back in Canterlot, she took the acrobatics class to improve her performance in the air"

"Hate to break up the reminiscing" Winter interrupted "But we still need to get to that castle before anything else happens."

"Right" said Twilight, walking deeper into the forest. As they walked, Rainbow was regaling Twilight with the story of how she was rescued from the edge of the cliff, Winter was checking his surroundings for any threats, Fluttershy was glancing around nervously with Applejack reassuring her and Rarity was discussing with Pinkie the potential of making an edible line of dresses when a loud roar came from the clearing ahead and an ominous looking shadow rose into view and made its way towards them, eventually revealing itself to be an angry Manticore.

"A MANTICORE?!" shouted Winter "What's a Manticore doing here? It should be on the other side of the forest!"

"I thought you said this forest changes its layout, so how can you say where this Manticore should be?" Twilight asked.

"By looking at the earth around us, it is too wet for the Manticore to move without slipping or sinking, also it's far too rocky for a Manticore as well; an ideal environment for it would be…"

"STOP GETTING DISTRACTED AND FOCUS ON THE MATTER AT HAND WINTER!" bellowed Rainbow. While they had been talking, Rarity had charged the Manticore and kicked it in the face before getting her hair messed up by its roar and retreating to sort it out, Apple jack had then somehow gotten onto its back and ridden it like one of those bucking bull rides that you go on at fairs, carnivals and rodeos before being sent flying from its back.

"All yours partner" she said as she flew passed Rainbow before getting caught by Winter; Rainbow took off, flying in circles around the Manticore in an attempt to confuse it, which appeared to be working until it lashed out with its tail and sent her rolling along the ground towards the others. This appeared to be the last straw as Twilight and the other girls grouped together and charged until Fluttershy jumped in front of them, yelling at them to wait, before she removed a massive thorn from its paw (Winter wondered how they didn't notice it before, the size of it wouldn't have allowed it to remain unseen during the fight).

"Eugh" My eyes need a rest from all of this icky muck" complained Rarity as they continued their journey before the moon disappeared behind some clouds, plunging them all into darkness "Well, I didn't mean that literally…"

"We can't see a thing, we could be walking right past the castle now and none of us would know it" Twilight said.

"Winter, don't you have some flares or something in that pack of yours?" Rainbow asked but no reply came "Great, now we've lost Winter…"

"Ah think Ah stepped in something'" Applejack chimed in only to hear Fluttershy scream "Ease up now, it's just mud" she said before walking into a tree. After being frightened by the apparent faces that the trees made and Pinkie singing a song about laughter, the girls emerged to find Winter sat on the banks of a raging river.

"Oh, hello there, I thought I'd lost you in that forest and was just trying to figure out what to do about this" he said, gesturing at the river.

"Couldn't you just freeze it?" Rarity asked.

"Were it so easy" Winter replied "However the problem is so much the river as, well, THAT" pointing at a crying sea serpent whose thrashing was causing the river's rapid state.

"Apparently his moustache was torn off by a "tacky little cloud of purple smoke"" Winter informed them.

"Seriously?!" Rainbow moaned.

"That's what all this fuss is about?" Applejack added

"WHY OF COURSE IT IS!" Rarity barked at the two of them before walking up to the serpent and complementing his various features while Winter gave a lecture to explain why the serpent was so upset:

"Sea Serpents are among the proudest creatures on Equestria and they take particular pride in their physical appearance, there is one documented case where a Sea Serpent nearly drowned an entire coast and multiple small islands because one of his scales was out of place. Quite frankly, we are lucky that this one hasn't flooded the entire area we stand in."

"What? There's no such incident that I've heard of" Twilight said, somewhat angrily.

"Look up the Leviathan Episode which occurred off the coast of the Japonyese Islands during the Lunar Age" Winter replied before they all turned their attention back to Rarity who had declared that she "couldn't let such a crime against fabulousity go uncorrected" and plucked one of the serpent's scales and sliced off her own tail before she attached it to the roots of the torn off piece of moustache which seemed to please the serpent greatly.

"Oh Rarity, your beautiful tail… I'm sorry" said Fluttershy.

"It's alright darling, short tails are in this season; besides it'll grow back…" Rairity responded with a forced smile.

"But so would the moustache" Rainbow whispered to Twilight and Winter as they prepared to cross the river before a tornado of purple smoke formed around Rarity and Fluttershy, immediately Winter jumped towards it shouting their names as he yanked them both out with a telepathic field but in doing so he himself got caught in the tornado, resulting in him vanishing as it died down.

"WINTER!" screamed the six mares.

When the tornado died down, Winter found himself in the throne room of an ancient castle which looked to be falling apart around him.

"No matter what form or name you take, you are still as predictable as always… Dark" came a mocking voice which he knew well.

"Nightmare, what an unpleasant surprise. What do you want now?" he replied, turning to face Nightmare who was sat on the throne in all her armored glory.

"Oh, just the usual things" Nightmare responded "Eternal night, the love of my subjects, your unwavering loyalty to me and me alone…"

"You know I cannot do that, my oath was to Princesses Celestia and Luna and to them alone; I will never betray that oath and I will never betray them" Winter said, casting off his cloak and taking on his true form.

"Stand down and release Luna from your control or you will feel the wrath of the Guardian of the Princesses" Dark Saber warned, his horn sparking with blood red lightning.

"Do you still not understand Dark? I AM Luna and you WILL obey me be it willing or otherwise..." snapped Nightmare in return before firing a blue beam of energy at Dark which phased right through him.

"Your aim is poor" came Dark's voice from behind her as he shot a fireball in her direction, forcing her to erect a shield that was seemingly made of the night sky, Dark shot a continuous barrage of fireballs at Nightmare until she sent out a shockwave of black lightning bolts which took Dark off his hooves.

"You could not defeat me one thousand years ago and you SHALL not stop me now!" Nightmare roared before releasing a number of orbs of blue and black energy which she brought together at the tip of her horn in the form of a purple orb which then exploded into a beam of red light headed straight for Dark, Dark slammed his hooves on the floor causing three walls of diamond to emerge from the ground but the beam just punched through them like they weren't there and blasted Dark through the wall.

"Ouch, I'll feel that in the morning" muttered Dark as he stood and cast his gaze towards Nightmare who stepped through the hole in the wall and glared at him; he pointed his horn at her and a stream of red tinted air emerged from it, expanding as it went and engulfed Nightmare. Nightmare just laughed until shards of diamond began bombarding her as the air started moving faster, Dark then charged a red cube of light on his horn which then transformed into a red bolt of lightning which struck Nightmare and blasted her through a wall.

"ENOUGH IS ENOUGH!" bellowed Nightmare as she re-emerged from the wall, grey light surrounding her horn.

"COME TO YOUR SENSES OR BE FORCED TO REALIZE THE TRUTH!" She roared, the grey light becoming more intense.

"I will never surrender to an imposter like you Nightmare Moon" Dark retorted, saying Nightmare's name with so much venom you'd think it came from a King Cobra, steeling himself for whatever Nightmare had planned.

"Then on your head, be it" whispered Nightmare, firing the grey light at Dark who closed his eyes and knew no more…

TIME SKIP

Dark awoke to Nightmare's screaming as rainbow light came from another room, quickly donning his cloak and morphing back into Winter he galloped towards the room as fast as his aching body would allow him, hearing the voices of the six mares he had entered the forest with as he approached.

"Indeed you do" came a regal voice just as he entered the room to witness the sun rise and a white ball of energy morph into Princess Celestia.

"Drama Queen" he muttered, loud enough for all the inhabitants of the room to hear him.

"WINTER!" the six mares shouted in unison before running over to him and hugging him.

"Darling, are you alright? When that purple tornado abducted you , we feared that would be that last we'd see of you!" asked/said Rarity.

"I'm fine, just a little curious as to what the significance of your new jewellery is" Winter replied.

"Well, it turns out that we have the super awesome honour of being the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, so… jealous of us?" Rainbow answered with a teasing note at the end.

"Nope, because with something like that comes fame, and with fame comes the unavoidable need to deal with the nobles with sticks up their flanks; it's worse than have to attend a party thrown by our Solar Overlord…" replied Winter, grinning as Rainbow's cocky look turned into one of dread.

"I'm standing right here Mr Shield" interrupted Princess Celestia "And I'll have you know that my parties are actually quite fun until the nobles arrive" she added, smirking at him before walking over to Twilight who ran up to her and the two embraced each other.

"Twilight Sparkle, I knew you could do it." She said to the lavender mare.

"But Princess, you told me it was all an old ponytale…" replied Twilight, looking confused as the two parted

"I told you to make some friends, nothing more" replied the princess before looking over at the area where Nightmare Moon was last seen; in her place among the scattered armour fragments was a young, midnight blue Alicorn with a light blue mane and a cutie mark in the shape of a crescent moon.

"Now if only someone else would accept the magic of friendship into their heart" she said as she approached, looking down upon the mare who looked up at her as she came closer and laid down in front of her.

"Princess Luna, do you now accept my friendship? We were meant to rule together, little sister" Celestia said to the now named Luna, Luna looked up tears in her eyes before throwing herself at Celestia and hugging her.

"I'm so sorry, big sister; for what I did to you and to Dark" said Luna through her tears as Celestia soothed her while Pinkie had literal waterfalls of tears coming from her eyes as she sobbed into a handkerchief before declaring that a party was necessary.

CUT SCENE TO PONYVILLE

All of Ponyville appeared to be having fun, even the princesses were getting in on the action (though it was just by having their guards tow them around in their chariot at high speeds like they were in a race), Winter was letting off his fireworks and they were forming some impressive shapes such as Nightmare Moon being blasted by the Elements of Harmony, a Dragon swooping over the town and Princess Celestia raising the sun. Everyone appeared to be in high spirits except Twilight, a fact that Celestia seemed to pick up on.

"Why so glum, my most faithful student? Nightmare Moon is defeated and now you can go back to your studies, does this not make you happy?" the Solar Princess asked her student.

"Well, that's just it Princess; I finally know how wonderful it is to have friends and now I have to leave them" Twilight replied, looking at all her friends who all look visibly sad at the prospect of seeing her go.

"Spike, take a note please" the princess said to the young Dragon, who immediately pulled a role of parchment and a quill out of nowhere.

"I, Princess Celestia, Drama Queen and Solar Overlord of Equestria" she began, winking at Winter who had the decency to look embarrassed "do herby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall remain in Ponyville to further study the Magic of Friendship and report her findings to me."

The Element bearers all embraced each other in a warm hug before looking at Winter who shook his head.

"Well, I'm English so we don't hug… but I suppose I can make an exception this time" he said before joining in.

Thus the day ended with everypony going home after the Summer Sun Celebration (and Pinkie's extra party) happy and healthy… unless, of course, you were Nightmare Moon.

Author's Note

And that's that. If you like these three chapters, let me know and I'll add the rest of what I've got so far.

Anyways, as always all feedback is welcome provided it is phrased in a polite and comprehensible manner; so let me know what was good and what needs improvements because I'm going to leave chapters up as they are until I get enough constructive criticism to take them down and rewrite them into something better.

I think I'm going to use my blog to write up the rules I go by for reviewing and the rules I have for reviewing my story, so if you're uncertain on reviewing, just take a look at them.
Other than that, all I really have to say is that I hope you enjoyed the chapters that I uploaded and let me know what you think.

Until next time,
Darth Annihilator - out.

The Ticket Master

We resume our story at Sweet Apple Acres a few days after the Nightmare Moon incident where Winter Shield and Twilight Sparkle are currently helping Applejack bring in the harvest, Spike is present as well but he's currently rummaging through the apples that Twilight is carrying.

"Thank you kindly, Twilight and Winter, for helpin' me out with these apples" Applejack said.

"Why did you need these apples harvesting so quickly anyway? We're not due for bad enough weather that it'd be threatening to your crops for another month or so, more than enough time for you to do you harvest" Winter asked, cocking his head in curiosity.

"Well…" Applejack began "Ah bet Big Mackintosh that Ah'd be able to get all these Golden Delicious by lunchtime; loser had to walk down Stirrup Street in one of Granny's girdles" she chuckled.

"No problem at all, Applejack. I'm glad the goal is lunchtime. All this hard work is making me hungry" replied Twilight.

"I know, right?" Spike interjected, still sorting through the apples.

"Puh-lease Spike, all you've been doing this morning is lounging on my back while we worked."

"Exactly, you three were taking so long I missed snack time"

"Excuse me Spike" Winter interjected, scowling at him "But I saw you snacking on the apples as we worked so don't complain about missing snacks when you do stuff like THAT."

"Sorry Winter" Spike said, looking chastised "It's just apples are less filling than gems for me, maybe it's because I'm a dragon…" he trailed off. Winter's face softened.

"Or maybe it just means that you're growing; when I was your age, I ate twice the amount you do… or at least I think I did…" Winter said, looking thoughtful "Bah, I can't remember; must be the curse of old age."

"Don't be ridiculous Winter" Twilight said, somewhat snappishly "You can't be much older than us, otherwise you'd look like Granny Smith!"

Applejack chuckled but then said in a serious voice "Ah don't know Twilight, it seems like Winter's been around here forever; nopony remembers when he arrived, not even Granny and she knows when everypony arrived; it's possible he wears his age well…"

"Now that you mention it, I do see a few grey hairs…"

"And Ah see stiffness in his movements…"

"I'm standing right here, you know" Winter deadpanned.

"We know" Applejack and Twilight replied simultaneously in cheerful voices.

As they were debating this, Spike had gone back to sifting through the apples when he suddenly pulled out a large and shiny red one.

"Aha" he said upon finding it.

"Oh Spike, that looks delicious" Twilight said when she laid eyes on it, before Spike ate it in one large (and loud) bite.

"Did he just dislocate his jaw to eat that?" Winter asked in slightly disgusted curiosity "I swear that apple was almost as big as his head."

"SPIKE!" Twilight scolded him as her stomach grumbled.

"What?" he asked before burping up a cloud of green flame which materialised into a scroll.

"A letter from Princess Celestia" Twilight said, somewhat excitedly.

"Ahem. Hear ye, hear ye. Her Grand Royal Highness, Princess Celestia of Equestria, is pleased to announce The Grand Galloping Gala to be held in the magnificent capital city of Canterlot, on the 21st day of, eh, yadda yadda yadda, cordially extends an invitation to Twilight Sparkle plus one guest." Spike read out to the three ponies.

"Who sends their personal student a letter like THAT? I'm assuming that was an automated letter…" Winter muttered

"THE GRAND GALLOPING GALA?!" shouted Twilight and Applejack in excitement.

"I've never been, have you Winter?" Twilight asked.

"I've done the fireworks a couple of times but never attended the social side of it and I don't intend to change that" Winter answered.

"Oh come on Winter, a dance would be nice."

"And who would I dance with? Princess Celestia?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"You never know, she appears to like you. Even if she didn't, I probably would" Twilight responded.

"Moving over my issues with dancing, I'd rather not get involved in Canterlot politics which is what always happens if you attend the Gala."

"Never mind the politics!" Applejack interrupted "The place is a potential gold mine! Land sakes, if Ah had an apple stand set up, ponies would be chowin' our tasty vittles 'til the cows came home. Do you have any idea how much business Ah could drum up for Sweet Apple Acres? Why, with all that money, we could do a heap of fixin' up 'round here. We could replace that saggy old roof, and Big McIntosh could replace that saggy old plow, and Granny Smith could replace that saggy old hip" she said, getting lost in fantasy land. "Why, Ah'd give my left hind leg to go to that gala."

"That's about the cost of the tickets." Winter mumbled "You could do all of that by just selling one of those tickets in Canterlot or Manehatten…"

"Yeah, but then I wouldn't get the network of contacts and clients that Ah'd be able to get at the Gala."

"WHOA!" came a sudden cry before a cyan mass crashed into the ground in the middle of the three ponies.

"Rainbow Dash." said Applejack upon seeing who it was "You told me you were too busy to help me harvest apples. What were you busy doing? Spyin'?"

"Nope" replied the pegasus after dusting herself off before gesturing at a pillow and blanket in one of Applejack's trees "I was busy napping and just happened to hear you had an extra ticket"

"Yeah, but…" Twilight began before being cut off by the rainbow maned mare.

"YES! This is so awesome. The Wonderbolts perform at The Grand Galloping Gala every year. I can see it now. Everyone would be watching the sky. Their eyes riveted on The Wonderbolts, but then in would fly Rainbow Dash!" said the pegasus, following in Applejack's footsteps in getting lost in fantasy land.

"But…" Twilight attempted to say again before Winter cut her off.

"Don't bother; when she gets like this, she never stops until she's finished whatever dream she's having" he said exasperatedly.

"I would draw their attention with my Super Speed Strut; then, I would mesmerize 'em with my Fantastic Filly Flash. And for my grand finale, The Buccaneer Blaze! The ponies would go wild! The Wonderbolts would insist that my signature moves be incorporated into their routine, and then welcome me as their newest member." finished Rainbow, coming out of her fantasy.

"I highly doubt Spits would accept a new member based on a disrupted show and moves that other ponies have already done." Twilight muttered to herself (A/N: Any ideas who Spits is now?)

"Don't you see, Twilight? This could be my one chance to show 'em my stuff. You just gotta take me!" Rainbow said before being shoved out of the way by Applejack.

"Hold on just one pony pickin' minute here." she spat "Ah asked for that ticket first."

"So? That doesn't mean you own it."

"Oh, yeah? Well Ah challenge you to a hoof-wrestle. Winner gets the ticket."

"You're so on!" Rainbow replied before the two of them locked hooves and started groaning in effort.

"Ah, girls…?" Twilight began before the two mares were encompassed in an ice blue aura and pulled apart. All three looked at Winter, whose blood red eyes were blazing with anger.

"No one is hoof wrestling for any ticket, it is Twilight's to do with as she pleases and if I see either of you harassing her for it, then I will leave you in a block of ice for two hours" he warned, ice crystals beginning to grow around the hooves of the two mares.

"You can't do that, we'll get frostbite or pneumonia!" retorted Applejack.

"WARM ICE THEN!" Winter bellowed, his mane appearing to blow in a non-existent wind.

"He'll do it, I've seen him do it before" Rainbow added, shivering in fear of Winter's temper.

"Really, who did he do it to?" Spike asked out of childlike curiosity.

"Me" Rainbow replied "He was experimenting with extremely volatile substances and I started flying round his lab, so he froze me and left me outside to thaw."

"What were the substances?" Twilight asked, her inner scientist emerging.

"Dragon's blood – willingly donated – and powdered manitcore claw; created a large explosion and a red star which then sparkled to make numerous smaller stars" Winter answered.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have work to do" he said before heading home and into his lab where he began the production of the fireworks he was running low on. Seconds became minutes and minutes became hours as he worked before he was disrupted by the sound of stampeding.

"What in the blazes is going on out there?!" he grumbled before exiting to see Twilight Sparkle and Spike being chased around by the entirety of Ponyville "Okay, this is just getting stupid now"

"Oi Twilight" he called to her which she seemed to have heard as she changed direction and headed straight for his house. The moment she passed through the door, he stood in the doorway and glared at the mob.

"Now that I have your attention, may I ask why you're all running round like your tails are on fire?" he asked them, though he had a feeling he already knew the answer. This generated mixed responses though most were about the Gala ticket.

"Look here, Ms. Sparkle is new to the town and barely knows anyone, there is absolutely no need to chase her for a scrap of paper ESPECIALLY when she knows less than half of you and thus is likely to gain the wrong opinion of this town and its inhabitants, is that what you want?!" after he said this, the ponies looked ashamed of their actions and shook their heads in answer to his question "Good, now I'd suggest apologizing to Ms. Sparkle for your actions here today when you next see her – INDIVIDUALLY, mind you – and go home before this stampeding sets off my fireworks and/or hurts someone."

After the ponies left, Winter went inside and invited Twilight into his lounge.

"Gee, thanks Winter. I thought I'd have to barricade myself inside the library." Twilight said gratefully though her stomach was still rumbling.

"No problem, the ponies mean well but they easily get excited about various things and thus don't always think their actions through. Anyway, you look hungry, have you still not had lunch yet?"

"No, I haven't had chance with everypony and their dog chasing me or doing favors for this accursed ticket" replied Twilight, rubbing her temples and placing her head on the table in front of her. Winter frowned at the actions of her friends and neighbors.

"Well, I missed lunch myself due to work; I was going to make myself something now, care to join me?" he asked as he walked towards a door before stopping in the doorway and looking over his shoulder at her.

"If you're offering, I certainly would, thank you" Twilight said, following him into his kitchen.

"So what was that all about? I thought that you'd have kept knowledge of the ticket secret after Dash's and Applejack's reactions" Winter asked as he prepared some sandwiches.

"I intended to, but… well, it's a long story" Twilight replied as she chose her filling (it was daisies, just for the record)

"I have time and maybe I can offer some assistance" he said as he finished the sandwiches "Spike, do you want anything? I have a box of gems - all of which are of no use to me - in the cupboard; they're yours if you want them."

"Thanks Winter" Spike said before digging into the box.

"Well" Twilight began "I decided to keep the ticket secret and ask my friends why they wanted to go to the Gala, that way I could give the ticket to the one with the best reason."

"Hm, sounds reasonable if not a little unplanned; I assume knowledge of the ticket got out anyway" Winter said, looking thoughtful.

"Yes, I fell over which was how Pinkie discovered the tickets, she then told Rarity and then Fluttershy's rabbit stole the tickets. After that, Pinkie ended up telling the whole of Ponyville, which led to the stampede which brought me here."

"That mare has a dangerously loose tounge with some matters" muttered Winter about Pinkie "So who had the best reason then?"

At this, Twilight grabbed her head and slid to her knees
"That's the problem, I DON'T KNOW! How do I choose? And when I do choose? Will the other four be mad at me? I mean, I could give up my ticket and give away two, but that would still leave three disappointed ponies. What if I…" she ranted before being cut off by Winter.

"Look Twilight, if the others are truly your friends, they'll respect your decision without too much anger, if any at all; even if they're not, those are YOUR tickets to do with as you please, not theirs, so what you do with them is up to you" he said before standing and asking if she wanted anything else to eat.

"Ah, no thanks, I'm fine for now" she declined before pausing "Winter, if you were in my place, what would you do?"

"Me?" Winter asked, looking surprised "well, I suppose I'd do what I've always done and decline the tickets; more trouble than they're worth, in my opinion"

"But wouldn't that be rude?"

"Probably, but I've never been a by-the-book pony, plus you could explain that the tickets are causing you more harm than good, if our Solar Overlord is as understanding as you claim, she'll accept your decision."

"Even if that's true, wouldn't I still disappoint my friends?"

"Better to disappoint them all than show apparent favouritism where there is none; besides, if you live for the approval of everyone, you'll only receive their hatred at the end of it. Believe me, I know" he said, looking out of a window into the distance.

"But what if I…" Twilight began before being cut off again.

"Enough of that talk Twilight, if you live your life by "What Ifs" you'll only end up second guessing yourself all the time; take them into account but never dwell on them, it does no one any good when you focus on probable outcomes when the event has happened or is happening" Winter told her in a slightly chastising tone.

"I see your point Winter, thanks for your advice" Twilight said, pondering Winter's words.

"It was no problem, you asked for my opinion and I gave it; any help or advice you got from it was unintentional on my part, but I'm happy to have given it nonetheless." Winter replied before looking out of the window again "Now, it's getting late so allow me to accompany you back to the library so you don't get mobbed again"

"Really? Well, if you're sure, then I'll happily accept the company; SPIKE! Are you ready?"

"Yeah" Spike answered, finishing off the box "those gems were delicious Winter, thanks a lot."

After a relatively uneventful walk, the trio arrived at the Golden Oak Library where they ran into Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash, all of whom had grouped together in there for some unknown reason.

"I can't decide, I just can't decide" Twilight screamed upon seeing them "It's important to all of you and I just can't stand to disappoint any of you, and giving me gifts and doing me favors won't make any difference, because you're all my friends and I wanna make you all happy and I can't, I just can't!" Applejack stepped forward, looking guilty.

"Twilight, sugar, Ah didn't mean to put so much pressure on you, and if it helps, Ah don't want the ticket anymore. You can give it to somepony else. Ah won't feel bad, Ah promise."

"Me too. I feel just awful that I made you feel so awful" added Fluttershy.

"And me too. It's no fun upsetting your friends" put in Pinkie.

"Twilight, it was unfair of me to try to force you as I did" continued Rarity.

"YES! That means the ticket is mine! Ha ha, I got the ticket, I got the ticket…" Rainbow sang before she was interrupted by Winter clearing his throat and upon seeing Winter, Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie and Fluttershy scowling at her, she deflated "you know, I haven't perfected my signature moves for The Wonderbolts anyway. I don't need that ticket either."

"You were all so hung up on going to that blasted Gala that you couldn't see just how you were hurting Twilight by forcing her to choose between you" Winter said to them all.

"We're sorry, Twilight" apologised the five mares.

"That's it, I've got it!" said Twilight as if a light bulb had switched on in her head. "Spike, take down a note please:
Dear Princess Celestia,

I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to The Grand Galloping Gala."

"WHAT?!" questioned the other mares in unison.

"Noble and smart in my opinion" said Winter approvingly.

"If my friends can't all go, I don't wanna go either" finished Twilight as she placed both tickets in the scroll Spike was writing before rolling it up "Okay Spike, you can send it now"

"Twilight, you didn't have to do that…" said Applejack as Spike burned the scroll with his breath.

"Now you won't get to the Gala either" Fluttershy added.

"I've made my decision; besides, as a wise pony told me: "it's better to disappoint everypony than show apparent favouritism where there is none." I realized on the way over that, for me, this statement meant that I couldn't possibly fully enjoy myself without all my best friends there with me (if at all), so I would rather not go at all" replied Twilight, looking at Winter as she spoke, before she was enveloped in a hug from the other members of the Mane Six, suddenly Spike began holding his stomach and retching.

"Well wallop my withers, Spike. Isn't that just like a boy? Can't handle the least bit of sentiment" said Applejack disparagingly

"OI! I'M MALE TOO YOU KNOW!" shouted Winter in mock outrage.

"Sorry Winter" said Applejack sheepishly before Spike burped up a reply from the Princess.

""My faithful student Twilight, Why didn't you just say so in the first place?"" he read out before producing six Gala tickets "Hang on: "P.S. Due to his actions against a Princess of Equestria, the pony known as Winter Shield must supply the fireworks and mingle with the Gala guests, failure to comply will be met with this sentence being expanded by a decade for every Grand Galloping Gala he does not attend" Oh, there's a ticket here for Winter as well…"

"Excuse me one second" requested Winter before he vanished in a flash of ice blue light and a shout was heard across the whole of Ponyville "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

"Wait a minute" Spike added ""P.P.S. I always get the last laugh Mr Shield""

Scene Change: Canterlot

"So Twilight should've gotten my message by now." said a white mare with an aurora for a mane.

"What we do not understand, Sister, is how thy plan for Twilight Sparkle and her friends will help integrate us into modern society" replied a blue mare with the night sky as her mane.

"It's quite simple really Luna, but I think you need to wait for the plan to come to fruition before you understand" answered the white mare, taking a sip of tea.

"Bah, 'Tis a rarity that any being can understand thy plans Celestia. Dark gave up trying years before our… episode and that says much on the matter." retorted Luna as she drank from her mug of hot chocolate.

"Just what are you implying there Luna?" asked Celestia, raising an eyebrow at Luna over her cup of tea.

Luna was about to respond when they were interrupted by a shout of: "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Immediately Luna jumped to her hooves, prepared for battle and also sending the table they were sat at flying while Celestia fell over with laughter.

"Be at peace Sister, there is no attack or danger; rather, part of my plan has just come to fruition" Celestia said after she had regained control of her amusement; slowly, Luna calmed down and returned to her seat, placing the table back in its original position.

"We shall take thy word for it Sister, but we must know: what of Dark? What has happened to him? We've been back for several days now and yet we see neither hide nor hair of him, why is this?" Luna asked, looking at her sister inquisitively.

Celestia paused, unsure of how to answer.

'I shall find you Dark' she thought 'There is nowhere on Equestria where you can hide that I will not find you'

Scene Change: Ponyville

After the shout, Winter reappeared and discovered that the mares had decided to treat Twilight to dinner to apologize.

"Okay, I'm good now" he said as the others laughed and invited him to join them which he accepted, Spike opened the door holding the tickets and each pony took one as they passed (Winter took his reluctantly though).

"Huh? How come I don't get one?" Spike asked after all the tickets had gone, Winter heard him and walked over.

"If you want, I could use my contacts to get you one" he said before Spike burped up a scroll containing a ticket for him which he was obviously happy to receive, though he tried to cover up his joy with fake disgust.

"Don't worry, it'll be our secret" Winter said, winking at him before they both started laughing and followed the six mares.

Author's Note

Hi all, Darth here with the rest of the chapters from Fanfiction.net, the reasons why they're here so late can be found in my later notes but before all of that, I just want to thank the people here for recieving this story so well, I was honestly pleasantly surprised by how much y'all seemed to like it and I hope I can continue to please because I really enjoy writing this story and if you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it, then I know I've done something right :twilightsmile:
Anyway, hope you like what I've got so far and all feedback on my story is welcome provided it is phrased in a polite and comprehensible manner.
Until next time,
Darth Annihilator - out.

Boast Busters

After the Gala Tickets incident, there had been an eventful few days: Applejack had nearly killed herself (and half of Ponyville) with her stubbornness and cultural differences had nearly ended a long standing friendship between Rainbow Dash and Gilda the Griffon, fortunately Twilight and Winter were able to explain Gilda's attitude by educating Ponyville on the Griffon's way of life and attitudes, thus saving Rainbow's friendship, however Gilda left not long after due to family issues. We pick up the day after she left where Twilight is testing some new spells on her (willing) test subjects Spike and Winter.

"C'mon Twilight" encouraged Spike "You can do it."

"Okay, here goes" she said as her horn lit up in a lavender light and a circle of light surrounded the mouths of Spike and Winter, fading to give Spike a black moustache and Winter a full Gandalf-style beard and moustache.

"Hang on" said Winter, disappearing off somewhere before returning wearing a grey robe with a pointy hat and carrying a wooden staff and a sword.

"Winter…" Twilight began, looking at him strangely "what are you doing?"

"Wait a second and you'll see" he replied, raising the staff and sword above his head and shouting "YOU!"

He held them there for a couple of seconds while shouting "SHALL NOT!" and then he slammed it down into the ground, bellowing "PASS!" upon impact with the ground. Twilight and Spike were practically on the floor with laughter at this point.

"Alright Greymane, there are no Balrogs here" said Twilight, wiping a tear of laughter from her eye as she vanished the beard and moustache and turned to Spike.

"And that's number 25, the growing spell, perfectly executed" Spike muttered as he ticked it off on a flip chart before he caught a glance of his reflection and started preening in a manner that would make a peacock proud.

"Sorry Romeo, but that's gotta go" Twilight rhymed before vanishing the moustache.

"Aw, c'mon Twilight, that could've been my big chance to impress Rarity with my dashing good looks" Spike moaned, which amused Winter.

"Spike, if Rarity was impressed by a moustache then you'd stand no chance against some of the nobles in Canterlot" Winter said, chuckling "I mean, have you seen some of their moustaches? I'm amazed that they could grow them like that."

"Winter has a good point there Spike" added Twilight, laughing.

"Yeah, whatever" huffed Spike "I'm bored of staying in the library now, how about we go out and get something to eat?"

"I'm game if you are Winter" said Twilight, looking at him.

"Sure, why not?" responded Winter "It'll be on me."

After a bit of arguing about who would pay the bill, the three were walking on the main road into town with Spike praising Twilight's magical talent.

"Gee Twilight, you must be the most powerful unicorn in the whole of Ponyville" praised Spike.

"I don't know about that Spike, there are unicorns whose special talents lie in specific branches of magic" replied Twilight.

"Yeah, but your special talent IS magic Twilight."

"That means nothing Spike, I'd bet that there are unicorns around Ponyville that can match or exceed my talent in magic."

"Huh?"

"Put it this way Spike" interjected Winter "Who would be better at a standard fireball spell, the pony who could do a thousand fire spells or the pony who had done the fire ball spell a thousand times?"

"Well, the pony who'd done it a thousand times obviously" said Spike, frowning in confusion "but I still don't see how that relates to Twilight's ability in magic."

"That's what it's like for me Spike" Twilight answered him "my special talent only means that I have an easier time learning magic but compared to ponies that have been doing certain fields of magic for years, my talent means nothing, they're better than me and will likely always be better than me in that field."

"Oh" said Spike, understanding what they were saying.

"That said, ponies can often excel in fields that aren't their special talent" said Winter.

"Eh? How does that work?" Spike asked, looking confused.

"Well, your special talent doesn't govern your abilities, it merely increases them in certain areas, such as magic. What really decides your abilities is your interests; take Princess Celestia for example: her special talent is obviously solar magic – with a notable example being her ability to move the sun – but she is probably the most magically powerful being on the planet, add that to her vast knowledge of magic and her abilities in magic exceed those of most experts in the field – with notable exceptions being Starswirl the Bearded and Gandalf Greymane – do you see what I'm saying here Spike?" Winter lectured.

"I think so…"

"He's saying that often a pony's interests and their special talent are similar or the same but some ponies can have interests that are the exact opposite of their special talent, thus they can go through life without getting their Cutie Mark." added Twilight to Winter's lecture.

"I think I see what you're saying…" began Spike before two young colts by the names of Snips and Snails crashed into him "ARE YOU TWO BLIND?! Hello? Purple and green dragon walking here!" he snapped at them in annoyance.

"Uh, whoops" said the orange one with a cyan mane: Snails "Sorry Spike."

"Never mind that now" said Snips, the blue one with an orange mane, excitedly "there's a new unicorn in town"

"And?" Spike asked, raising an eyebrow "Ponies come in and out of Ponyville all the time."

"Yeah, but they're sayin' that this unicorn has more magical powers than any other unicorn EVER!" replied Snips.

"No way! If that right belongs to anyone, it belongs to Twilight here."

"Why don't we find out if there's any truth to this?" Winter interjected.

"Yeah, where is this unicorn?" Twilight asked the two.

"She's in the town square, C'mon!" answered Snails as he and Snips ran towards the town square with Twilight, Winter and Spike following at a leisurely pace where they saw Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie gathered there with the first two supporting sceptical looks on their faces.

"Have we missed anything?" Winter asked as they approached the other five Element Bearers.

"Nope, It's just about to start and I'm betting it'll be lame" Rainbow answered.

"Dash, you think everything's lame unless it involves Wonderbolts or yourself" Winter replied, smirking mischievously.

"You left out watching you blow your hut up, that's always a laugh" shot back Rainbow, wearing an identical smirk.

As the two bantered, the stage that had been set up suddenly unfolded with a mysterious voice proclaiming something about being "Great and Powerful" and a cyan unicorn dressed in a purple pointy hat and cape with golden stars on them.

"Watch as the Great and Powerful Trixie performs the most spectacular feats ever witnessed by pony eyes" said the now named Trixie to the citizens of Ponyville as fireworks were let off and a fanfare played.

"Well, someone likes tooting her own horn" muttered Winter to Rainbow who chuckled.

"Yeah and those fireworks are lame compared to yours" she replied.

"My, my. What boasting." said Rarity

"Aw c'mon; this cheap knockoff's nothing compared to Twi…" Spike began before stuttering as Twilight fixed him with a glare and conjured a moustache onto his face "Err… Hey Rarity… moustache?"

"There's nothing wrong with being talented, is there?" Twilight asked after she had distracted Spike.

"Nope" Fluttershy answered.

"Nada wrong with it" added Pinkie

"Nothin' at all" said Applejack, gazing at Trixie disapprovingly "'cept when someone goes showin' it off like a school filly with fancy new ribbons."

"Just because one has the ability to perform lots of magic, it does NOT make one better than the rest of us" Rarity added.

"Bah, let it alone you two." Winter interjected as Rainbow rambled on about her being better than everyone else "she's a showmare and they're ALWAYS amusing with tales of their so-called exploits, though I'll admit that this one's attitude is rather annoying."

"Well, well, well, it seems we have some neigh-sayers in the audience. Who is so ignorant as to challenge the magical ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie? Do they not know that they're in the presence of the most magical unicorn in all of Equestria?" inquired Trixie, drawing out the "neigh" part of her somewhat arrogant statement.

"Someone likes the sound of her own voice" muttered Winter as Rarity started scorning Trixie's attitude and Spike started attempting to sing Twilight's praises again before being silenced by Twilight.

"You see the way they reacted to Trixie?" Twilight asked him when he inquired what was wrong "I don't want anyone thinking I'm a show-off."

"So Ms. "Great and Powerful Trixie" what makes you think you're so awesome anyway?" asked Rainbow mockingly to which Trixie scoffed.

"Tch. Why, only the Great and Powerful Trixie has magic powerful enough to vanquish the dreaded…" here she paused for emphasis "URSA MAJOR!" as a fanfare went off and fireworks formed the shape of a cartoony bear.

"Now that certainly IS a tall tale; it'd actually be impressive if I hadn't heard it before from the last seven show ponies I saw" Winter said to Twilight as the audience let out varying exclamations of admiration.

"When all hope was lost, the ponies of Hoofington had no one to turn to, but the Great and Powerful Trixie stepped in, and with her awesome magic, vanquished the Ursa Major and sent it back to its cave deep within the Everfree Forest!" Trixie boasted as the scene played out in the fireworks, which resulted in Snips and Snails proclaiming Trixie as the greatest unicorn in Equestria.

"Really?" Rainbow said sceptically, drawing out the word "prove it."

"Very well, I shall" Trixie replied as a fanfare went off AGAIN "I hereby challenge you, Ponyvillians. Anything you can do, I can do better. Any takers? Anyone? Hmm? Or is Trixie destined to be the greatest equine who has ever lived!?"

"Could you please shut that annoying thing off before I find it and freeze it? That'll shut it up!" Winter grumbled, annoyed with the constant fanfares.

"How about… YOU?" Trixie asked, pointing at Twilight "Is there anything YOU can do that the Great and Powerful Trixie cannot?"

"How about not give me a headache when she speaks? She's very good at that whereas you can't control the volume of your voice." Put in Winter as Twilight stuttered.

"THAT'S IT! Ah've had just about enough of this!" Applejack grumbled and marched onto the stage (with Spike cheering her on in the background) and performed a series of impressive rodeo rope tricks, ending it by lassoing an apple and eating it, much to the audience's appreciation.

"Oh ye of little talent… Observe" said Trixie, unimpressed as the rope imitated a snake and hogtied Applejack while sticking an apple in her mouth, which the audience found hilarious. Winter, on the other hand, did not.

"That's it, telling tall tales is one thing but embarrassing ponies to the point of humiliation is quite another…" he said "Dash, buy me some time."

"And how would I do that?" she asked.

"I don't know, fly casual…" he replied as he walked off. Rainbow then used her speed to shoot through clouds and gather moisture in order to create a mini-rainbow, but Trixie used her magic to whirl the rainbow into a funnel and trapped Rainbow Dash in it, which resulted in it spinning her around until she got dizzy and was flung off stage. Spike, Applejack and Rainbow then started talking about how they needed a unicorn to sort this out, which resulted in Rarity saying she was "above such nonsense". Trixie was about to provoke her when suddenly the area went dark and different coloured lights started flashing as an upbeat and catchy theme started playing (A/N: Play Ghostbusters theme here)

"If there's someone strange, in the neighbourhood; who ya gonna call?
BOAST BUSTERS!" sang Winter as he entered the stage wearing a white suit that had two Bs on it.

"If there's someone weird, and they don't sound good; who ya gonna call?"

"BOAST BUSTERS!" shouted back the audience as they got into the song, much to Trixie's annoyance.

"If you're hearing things, runnin' through your head; who can ya call?"

"BOAST BUSTERS!"

"An invisible pony, shoutin' in your bed; who can ya call?"

"BOAST BUSTERS!"

"Ego's outta control? Don't let it roll! Call…" (A/N: That was terrible, I know...)

"BOAST BUSTERS!"

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF NIGHTMARE MOON IS THIS?!" shouted Trixie, interrupting the song.

"Well, I thought I'd renew and old job of mine" replied Winter "I travel around, looking for high concentrations of ego which need to be reduced immediately, I'm the Boast Buster, see? Says it on my suit: B B, Boast Buster."

"Oh really?" mocked Trixie "I'm the real thing so my ego is well deserved…"

"Hate to interrupt, but the real thing would not use such lousy fireworks" interrupted Winter, examining one of her rockets "where did you get these as these are some of the lowest quality fireworks you can get?"

"HOW DARE YOU!" bellowed Trixie "I was assured that these were the finest quality by Star Scream."

"Well that explains it, he's known as a liar and a cheat among the firework-making community."

"What?! Just who are you anyway?"

"Oh that's right, I haven't introduced myself, have I? How rude of me" relied Winter before bowing "my name is Winter Shield, at your service."

"Wait, Winter Shield?" said Trixie, backpedalling "as in THE Winter Shield, the one whose fireworks are used by the highest of Equestrian nobility and are held in high esteem by both the Griffon King and Dragon Lords?"

"Well I don't know about that, all I do is make sure my fireworks please their audiences; whoever that audience happens to be is their business." replied Winter " Now then, I don't appreciate you humiliating ponies like that so I challenge you to a duel of illusion magic, best illusion work wins; so, what say you?"

"HA! You may be good with fireworks, but Trixie's mastery if the Illusion branch of magic is unparalleled" said Trixie arrogantly "Be prepared to lose Winter"

"We'll see" said Winter as Trixie turned his coat pink, which gained a few chuckles from the audience.

"Hm, classic; but try this" Winter observed, his horn glowing as his natural coat colour bled through Trixie's illusion. Suddenly Trixie heard hissing and looked in a mirror to find that her mane had turned into snakes.

"That's it? Trixie can do much better than that" taunted Trixie as she fixed her mane and conjured a set of dancing trees which then proceeded to literally kick Winter's flank as they did the Can-Can.

"How about this?" Winter replied as he turned Trixie's stage, caravan, clothing and whole body a dark blue. Trixie raised an eyebrow and opened her mouth, possibly to taunt Winter again, but all that came out was a song that went: "I'm Blue; da, ba, dee, da, ba, die, da, ba, dee…"

The illusions went on like this, each one bigger, better and usually funnier than the last until Winter created a massive flaming phoenix in the sky and had it fly around the town with a rainbow following its path; as the audience stood enraptured, Trixie stood sweating in nervousness.

"Trixie cannot replicate or surpass that." she finally admitted "My studies into Illusion are not complete so I must admit defeat, BUT… I will surpass this easily as I have everything else!"

Turning, she left in a puff of smoke and a fanfare, which led to cheers from the crowd and they dispersed shortly afterwards. Winter accompanied Twilight back to the library.

"Wow, I didn't know you could do all of that Winter" Twilight said to him in admiration.

"Ah, anyone could do it. Illusion is unique in that respect because its potential it's mostly governed by the imagination of the user, the more creative the pony, the more they can do with illusion magic; of course, you need more power to create the more complex illusions but still…" Winter replied "Anyway, how come you didn't stand up to that showmare? Next to Nightmare Moon, I highly doubt she's that scary."

"I guess so" said Twilight, laughing "But I was worried that I'd lose my friends for showing off if I did that."

"Hm" Winter grunted, thoughtfully "most of the time one needs to know when NOT to use a spell…"

"Exactly" interjected Twilight "If I sorted that mare out, they might hate me for showing off."

"A spell used in the defence of those you care about, no matter how big or small it is, is never showing off" said Winter, looking up at the glimmering night sky "using spells to make yourself look superior however, IS showing off, which would have you been doing today had you intervened?"

"I'd have been using them to defend my friends of course!" Twilight exclaimed, feeling insulted that Winter had to ask.

"Then what's the problem?" Winter responded "Anyway, I suppose it's irrelevant now; just remember what I said."

"Thanks, I will" replied Twilight, as they reached the Golden Oak Library "Hang on, where's Spike?"

"Probably raiding my gem bins again, I should just send them over to you when they're full." answered Winter.

"You'll do no such thing! Do you think I want Spike on a constant sapphire high?" barked Twilight.

"Probably not if he's anything like Ms. Pie on meringues." Winter deadpanned.

"See you tomorrow Winter. Send Spike home if you see him, it's nearing his bed time." Twilight said as she turned and entered the library. Winter headed for home and after chasing Spike out of his emerald supplies ("I told you to eat the impure ones in the large bins outside, not the ones in my stockroom!") and headed into his basement which doubled as an enchanting lab and a runecrafting area where he worked on perfecting his handwriting when crafting runes by writing each individual rune out multiple times (as Winter was extremely well versed in the art of runecrafting, he made few mistakes and practiced to keep it that way) until he was rudely interrupted by a loud roar coming from outside. Putting away his things, he headed upstairs and out of the house where he saw Trixie trying to subdue an enormous blue bear while Snips and Snails lurked behind her.

"I don't get paid enough for this" he moaned before using his magic to propel himself along a slide made of ice towards the ponies and bear. Upon passing them, the bear's paws were encased in cocoons of ice and the ponies (and Trixie's caravan, which had miraculously avoided being stepped on) were engulfed in an ice blue aura and carried through the air after him towards the outskirts of the town.

"Th-thank you" said Trixie as she was put down next to her caravan, though she was shaking to the point of collapsing.

"No time for that now, we have to deal with that Ursa" replied Winter sharply "Trixie, warn the townsponies and tell them to evacuate, they'll know where to go. Snips and Snails, get to safety and send Twilight my way if you see her."

"Right" replied Trixie as she galloped off towards the town who were being woken up by the Ursa's roars.

"Aw, but we wanted to see some cool magic" whined Snails.

"Yeah, that's why we brought that Ursa Major here" added Snips.

"You brought it here?!" snapped Winter "actually, never mind that now; Go find Twilight, she's the only one who might have the knowledge of how to stop this thing."

"And what'll you be doing?" asked Snails.

"Buying some time…" answered Winter as he shot off back towards town square where the bear was wreaking havoc. His horn glowed and an orb of white magic about the size of a football (A/N: soccer ball in case anyone's confused) formed with an ice blue aura around it, Winter shot the orb at the Ursa while whistling to get its attention; the Ursa turned only to be met with an orb of white light to the face which exploded upon contact, knocking the Ursa back and away from the houses but also turning its ire onto Winter.

"That was not my smartest move" he muttered as he circled the Ursa, beams of ice blue light forming behind him and shooting at the Ursa, covering its fur in patches of ice. The Ursa roared and swiped at him which he avoided by taking his ice slide up into the air but that left him at the mercy of the Ursa's other paw which came out of nowhere and collided with him, sending him flying and shattering his ice slide.

"Drat" he said before forming a pillar made of ice and landing on it, using his magic increase the friction on the ice, preventing him from sliding off. He glared at the Ursa and formed a ball of ice blue light which grew to be three times his size and was about to launch it before he remembered where he was.

'Buck, I can't fire this attack without turning half of Ponyville into an enormous iceball; I'll have to find another way to use the energy.' Quickly, he re-absorbed the energy, his coat taking on an icy blue hue as he bowed his head, gritted his teeth and fired ice shards at the Ursa. The ice shards were being generated and fired so rapidly that it looked like Winter had fired a cylinder of white light at the Ursa and the cylinder appeared to be slowly driving it back until Winter cut the flow of magic, his coat returning to its normal colour as he breathed heavily, staring at his foe who was recovering and did NOT look happy.

"Resilient little so-and-so, aren't you?" he asked it before he heard a female voice calling his name, he turned and saw Twilight running in with the rest of the Mane Six behind her. The Ursa noticed and was about to swing for them before the earth itself rose up and encased the Ursa, leaving only its head visible.

"YOU WILL NOT LAY A CLAW ON THEM!" Winter shouted as his horn glowed with a blood red aura as a river of blood red light shot out of it, spiralled downwards around his ice pillar and shot towards the Ursa, sending it sprawling out of the town upon impact. After doing this Winter dropped to one knee.

"Now why… didn't I… do that… from the… get-go?" he panted, cursing his stupidity as the fur around his left eye turned black and blood red streaks appeared in his mane.

"You've done your job Winter, now leave it to me. Let's just hope this works" Twilight said, muttering that last part to herself before her horn glowed and a soothing melody played, making the Ursa sleepy.

'I recognise this' Winter thought 'It's Celestia's Lullaby; no wonder it can sooth the Ursa if it can calm HER.' While the lullaby was playing, Twilight emptied a water tower and levitated it through a cow's barn, resulting in it being filled to the brim with milk before she fed it to the Ursa and levitated the Ursa back to its cave in the Everfree Forest to the cheers of her friends.

"I'm sorry, please don't hate me" Twilight frantically apologised much to her friend's confusion as Winter descended from his ice pillar and it vanished.

"Hate you?" they asked in unison.

"Well I saw how much you hated Trixie's showing off with her magic and so I thought…" Twilight began before being cut off by Rainbow.

"Magic's got nothing to do with it, Trixie's just an annoying loudmouth" she said.

"Most unpleasant" Rarity agreed.

"All hat 'n no cattle" Applejack added.

"So you don't mind my magic tricks?" Twilight asked nervously.

"Your magic's a part of who ya are sugercube, and we're proud to have such a powerful unicorn as our friend" reassured Applejack to nods from Rainbow and Rarity.

"Good to see… you've cleared the air… Twilight. That was a most impressive display… mind telling me what you…did?" Winter asked, regaining control of his breathing as he approached.

"Don't sell yourself short Winter" Rainbow interrupted "You were like, awesome with your crazy ice attacks and that thing with the earth."

"It WAS truly a sight to see" added Applejack

"That may be, but I'm… still interested in what Twilight did" he replied, looking at Twilight.

"Well, that Ursa Minor came just as I'd finished studying up on Ursa's and Constellation Beasts in general…" Twilight began before the other mares interrupted her

"Wait… URSA MINOR?!" they shouted.

"Yes, that was just a baby Ursa Major, it was probably just cranky because SOMPONY woke it up; anyway, I remembered what Winter said about Illusion magic only being restricted by the creativity and power of the user so I used Illusion it to recreate a song that Princess Celestia used to sing to me when I was particularly stressed, to sooth it, then I just used the old remedy of milk to lull it to sleep; after that I returned it to its mother" Twilight continued, glaring at Snips and Snails when she said "somepony", the colts had the decency to look ashamed.

"That song… I've heard it before" Rarity said looking thoughtful "What was it Twilight?"

"Its name is Celestia's Lullaby" Twilight answered "the Princess told me that her dearest friend used to make up tunes based on his mood and he made that one specifically for her when she had trouble sleeping, she said it has always calmed her regardless of the situation."

'She remembered? I thought she would try to erase all memory of me after THAT night' Winter thought in surprise.

"And who was this friend?" Rarity asked, startling Winter out of his thoughts.

"I think she told me his name once but I've forgotten it" answered Twilight, frowning "It's odd though, she always seemed so sad when talking of this pony. I wonder what happened to him…"

"It must me so nice to know such a kind hearted stallion" squealed Rarity, swooning, much to Applejack's and Rainbow's annoyance when a certain cyan mare entered the scene.

"Huh. You may have defeated an Ursa Minor but you will never have the show stopping ability of the Great and Powerful Trixie" Trixie taunted, rolling the "r" on Trixie, before she threw a smoke bomb down and attempted to flee but was caught by Winter.

"Now, now. Running away will only confirm your guilt in this matter in the eyes of the citizens, plus I think you should learn some people skills" he said.

"Trixie needs no people skills, all she needs is to get out of this town!" retorted Trixie, struggling in Winter's telekinetic hold

"Stop that struggling, you'll only tire yourself out; besides, I think some ponies want to thank you for what you did today" he replied as a small filly walked up.

"Are you the mare that told mummy and me to get out of town because of the scary Ursa?" the filly asked hesitantly.

"Erm… yes, yes I was…" Trixie answered before being cut off by the filly hugging her.

"You were super brave to go around telling everyone about that mean, scary Ursa when it was attacking us" the filly said admiringly.

"Well… I couldn't let anypony get hurt because of somepony's reckless actions which my story caused" Trixie replied, somewhat embarrassed as the filly and several other ponies gave her their thanks for warning them of the Ursa attack.

"Winter…" Rainbow began "she was…"

"Responsible for the idiotic actions of those two colts, yes" Winter cut her off "but what matters is she helped clean up her mess, so give her a chance; you might like her once you get past her showmare façade, Dash"

"Hmph, well she's gonna have to prove herself to me" Rainbow grumbled.

"That's your decision Dash, but don't hold grudges, nothing good ever comes of it" replied Winter as Twilight made Snips and Snails clean up the mess they caused as well as giving them and Spike moustaches.

Scene Change: Golden Oak Library

Dear Princess Celestia
I have learned a very important lesson about friendship. I was so afraid of being thought of as a show-off that I was hiding a part of who I am. My friends helped me realise that it's okay to be proud of your talents and there are times when it's appropriate to show them off… especially in the defence of friends.

"So finally admit you're the most talented unicorn in Ponyville?" Spike asked as Twilight finished her letter.

"I suppose so but I'd bet that Winter could give me a run for my money, anyway it's nothing to brag about" Twilight replied "So… how'd it go with Rarity?"

"Eh, she didn't go for the moustache" Spike said in a disappointed voice.

"Well, maybe that's because that moustache has nothing to do with who you truly are, why don't you try just being yourself?" Twilight suggested before Spike started going on about a beard to go with the 'stache.

"Argh, not this again. Where's Winter when I need him to distract Spike with his ridiculous antics?" moaned Twilight

"I HEARD THAT!" echoed Winter's voice across Ponyville.

"WELL IT IS TRUE!" Twilight shouted back.

Scene Change: Canterlot

"So, Twilight defeated an Ursa Minor" mused Princess Celestia as she looked up from her crystal ball.

"An Ursa? Those beasts are still around?" asked Princess Luna, raising an eyebrow "We are surprised thou lets Nightmare's pets roam free sister; I'd have thought that Dark and thyself would've hunted them down and removed their threat to ponykind"

"Only the two Ursas and Draco remain; I, myself destroyed Orion when it tried to hunt sentient organisms and Dark took care of the rest when we battled Nightmare; You need not worry sister, they are of no threat to any living being anymore" replied Celestia.

"Right… You know that some may say that thy spying on thy student with that crystal is highly immoral?" Luna said.

"Tch, it was probably immoral to hit you with the moon during out last battle yet no-pony complained about that, I highly doubt they'll complain about this" Celestia scoffed, Luna sighed.

"If thou says so Celestia" she muttered before pausing for though "That Winter Shield is an interesting pony, his last attack seems… familiar, like I've seen it before."

"It IS reminiscent of Dark's Rending Repulsion Beam, maybe that is why; He used it against Sagittarius in the battle against Nightmare; her memories bleeding into yours is not unexpected, after all" Celestia said thoughtfully.

"Where would he have learned such an attack?" Luna asked, frowning "We'd imagine Dark did not make knowledge of such a devastating spell known…"

"The mechanics of it have been "lost" but ponies know of it as I apparently used it to destroy the Constellation Beasts." Celestia explained "It's possible that it's his own variant of it…"

"Why do ponies think that this is thy spell and not Dark's?" Luna demanded, her mane beginning to blow in a sharper wind, showing her agitation. Celestia sighed.

"History gets corrupted over time Luna, Dark isn't even mentioned in the story of your fall now." Celestia explained, getting the feeling that this was going to be an annoying conversation.

"But why?" Luna pressed.

"Because I omitted him from it." Celestia said simply.

"WHAT?! WHY WOULDST THOU DO THAT?!" Luna bellowed in the Royal Canterlot Voice, the volume and power behind it shaking the entirety of the castle

"Because ponies blamed Dark for your fall and I was too distraught to correct them, I suppose I partially blamed him myself…" answered Celestia, a couple of tears falling from her eyes but they never wavered from Luna's enraged gaze "By the time I came to my senses, the damage was done and Dark was regarded as a monster worse than Discord or a foul abomination from the depths of Tartarus, so I removed him from the story and from the history books; it was all I could do."

"Celestia…" Luna trailed off.

"Enough." Celestia said firmly "I made the decision and I live with its consequences."

"But where IS Dark?" Luna asked again "He never let rumours get to him, so why is he not here? Why does he hide from us? From ourself? Does he… hate us?"

Celestia embraced her sister as Luna's resolve finally cracked and she descended into tears at the thought of Dark hating her.

"Never EVER think that Luna. Dark would never hate you even if hatred was the only thing he had left; he loved you beyond anything in this world or the next and would've sacrificed everything so that you could be happy and healthy. You were his sister Luna" Celestia said to her, every word being the absolute truth.

"Then where is he? Why does he not contact us? WHY DID HE LEAVE?" Luna shouted into her sisters chest.

"I think he thinks he's protecting you from himself and his bad reputation, you know how he gets about these things" Celestia reassured Luna which earned her a watery chuckle.

"Indeed" Luna agreed, smiling, though tears still flowed "the idiot probably got it into his head that he was a danger to us and we were better off without him."

Celestia held Luna with a serene look on her face but was frowning in the inside.

'When I find you Dark, I'll make sure you STAY with us' she thought, looking at Luna, who was recovering from her break-down 'Even if I have to bind you to me, I swear you'll never leave us alone like this again' she looked at Luna who had just gone off to sleep and sighed 'I never wanted this…'

'Luna doesn't deserve this…'

Author's Note

Right, just a little note here to say that I'm bringing my chapters over in bulk from Fanfiction.net tonight. other than that, I'd like to say that Celestia's Lullaby in this chapter is based off of Zelda's Lullaby from The Legend of Zelda series and that I hope you enjoy the story so far

Dragonshy

We return to Ponyville to see a certain yellow Pegasus running through the town attempting to warn them of a rather ominous cloud of smoke that was floating in their direction.

"Help. Help! Please? Help?" she said though none of the other ponies noticed due to her quiet voice "There's a horrible cloud of smoke headed this way and…"

"Don't be such a scaredy pony. It's just me, Equestria's future ball bouncing record holder. Now, three forty six, three forty seven, three forty" Rainbow Dash said to Fluttershy after startling her before being hit by a ball of paper courtesy of Winter "OW! WHAT THE HAY WINTER?!"

"Don't be rude to Fluttershy, Dash" Winter replied, not looking up from his work, which appeared to be mixing some metal powder with a clear liquid in a bowl while Twilight and Spike watched.

"Winter, just out of interest, what are you doing?" Twilight asked, watching with fascination and wondering whether to take notes.

"I'm making a burn ointment, it's an old recipe that an old pyromancer discovered when attempting to create a potion to augment his abilities. I'm at a critical and rather delicate stage now, so please try not to distract me"

"Why? What're you mixing together?"

"Caesium powder into an ethanol/water mixture, if I get this wrong, the whole thing will blow up in my face."

"Caesium?" asked Spike "Wouldn't that be the worst thing to mix with water?"

"Normally, yes" answered Winter "But by applying my magic in the correct way, I can stabilise the Caesium atoms long enough to bind them to the hydrocarbon and water molecules; however, this takes a great deal of concentration, so if my focus wavers too much, well… boom."

"I must record this…" muttered Twilight, producing a quill and parchment out of nowhere and making notes on Winter's actions while Spike suddenly started hacking and coughing before burping up a scroll, startling Winter, causing the contents of the bowl to explode in his face while Rainbow literally fell out of the air laughing.

"CELESTIA! I NEEDED THAT!" roared Winter at the sky before cleaning up the mess the explosion had made as Twilight read the letter.

"Listen up everypony; I've just received word that smoke is spreading all over Equestria…" Twilight announced as Winter cleared his things away.

"This was what she blew up my ointment for?! To tell us about something we can see by… looking… up… crud, that is a lot of smoke!" muttered Winter.

"That's what I've been trying to tell you…" interjected Fluttershy, barely noticeable annoyance in her voice.

"…But, Princess Celestia has informed me that it is not coming from a fire…" continued Twilight, ignoring the two.

"Oh, thank heavens."

"…It's coming from a Dragon" finished Twilight, causing all the other ponies to gasp in shock.

"A… a Dragon?" Fluttershy asked fearfully.

"What in the name of all things cinnamon swirled is a full grown Dragon doing in Equestria?" asked Applejack.

"In a word? Sleeping" answered Twilight, much to the bewilderment of most of the other ponies there.

"WHAT?!" they all asked.

"His snoring is what's causing all this smoke."

"He really should see a doctor; that does not sound healthy" chimed in Pinkie.

"Well at least he's not snoring fire" muttered Rarity "but what are WE meant to do about it?"

"I'll tell you what we're meant to do: give him the boot!" Rainbow butted in, acting out some karate moves before crashing into Winter, sending his container of Caesium powder halfway across Ponyville.

"RAINBOW! I NEEDED THAT!" he yelled in annoyance.

"Sorry Winter, guess I got a little overexcited."

"A little?"

"ANYWAY…" interjected Twilight, trying to get the conversation back on track "we must encourage him to take a nap elsewhere."

"Great, the only thing worse than messing up a Sea Serpent is waking a sleeping Dragon" groaned Winter "does Celestia really think it's wise to wake him up knowing their reactions to… premature awakenings?"

"We have no choice, according to the princess, his snoring could blanket all of Equestria in smoke for the next century if left unchecked; Princess Celestia has given us this mission and we must not fail, I want you to gather supplies and meet back here in an hour." This little speech caused Rainbow to salute and Winter to roll his eyes at her antics.

"Okay ponies, you heard her, the fate of Equestria lies in our hooves. Do we have what it takes?" Rainbow asked after Twilight left and was met with affirmative sounds from Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie, uncertainty from Fluttershy and a scoff from Winter.

"Personally, I think this is foolishness to the point of idiocy but if our Solar Overlord demands it, who am I to dispute it?" he grumbled as he walked off to find his Caesium and to prepare.

Scene Change: Outskirts of Ponyville

"All right everypony, I'm mapping out the fastest route but we've got to keep up a good pace if we wish to make it up the mountain by nightfall" said Twilight, producing a map from her saddlebags.

"Wait, mountain?" asked Fluttershy nervously, though no-pony but Winter appeared to notice.

"Yeah, the dragon is in that cave at the very top" replied Twilight, pointing said cave out, causing Applejack to remark on how cold it looked and Rarity to pull a scarf out to which Rainbow scoffed at.

"Yeah, right, THAT will keep you warm up there" she muttered.

"Well not every pony has a natural layer of insulation from stealing all my pies Dash" Winter put in.

"Are you saying I'm fat?!"

"No, I'm saying you eat all my pies…"

"You're just jealous of my perfect figure, which I maintain by burning a lot of calories."

"Uh-huh…"

"What? Don't believe me? Maybe you should try it out and you might not look half bad at the end of it…"

"Is this your version of flirting?" he deadpanned to which Rainbow backpedalled in the air.

"NO! NO! I have no time for that mushy rubbish" she responded, much to Rarity's annoyance.

"Right…" Winter replied, raising an eyebrow "I'm taken anyway, so…"

"WHAT?!" all the mares involved in this conversation shouted in unison.

"Ooh, tell us darling, please. Who is it?" gushed Rarity excitedly.

"Ah'll admit that I'm curious also…" added Applejack.

"Yeah, who's the unlucky pony?" chimed in Rainbow, smirking at him.

"Very funny Dash, it may surprise you to know this but I'm married to my job" Winter answered with an eye smile, causing them to sweatdrop 'They've got no idea how true that is' he thought in amusement 'Celestia always scared off any interested mares and Luna's antics alone ensured that I never had any time for such thoughts; speaking of Luna, I wonder how she's doing…'

"So you don't actually have a Special Somepony?" Rarity asked, causing Winter to blush and splutter.

"Err… No…?"

As this exchange was going on, Fluttershy had attempted to convince Twilight to allow her to stay behind but Twilight had dismissed the idea as she considered Fluttershy's natural ability with animals as too valuable.

"Are you sure you want that pony with us? I mean, she's scared of her own shadow…" inquired Rainbow before being hit in the head again by a ball of paper "OW! WINTER!"

"I told you not to be rude to Fluttershy" Winter retorted, scowling at her "Just because she has fears, it does not give you the right to poke fun at her for it."

"Oh she's just a little nervous, I'm sure that once we get going she'll be fine" replied Twilight as Fluttershy let out a squeal of fear at her shadow "Okay girls… and Winter, LET'S ROLL OUT!"

"ALRIGHT!" cheered Pinkie, rolling forwards… literally, getting confused looks from the others "Hey, this is fun."

"Pinkie, what are you doing?" asked Rarity.

"Twilight said to roll out, so I'm rolling out."

"What? That's not what I… What I meant was…" spluttered Twilight in annoyance before sighing "Pinkie, just get up and walk."

"Okie-Dokie-Lokie"

Scene Change: Base of Mountain

When the group arrived at the mountain, they were greeted by a loud growling sound.

"Whoa, what was that?" asked Rainbow, shocked.

"That is what it sounds like when a Dragon snores" Twilight answered.

"Got plenty of experiences with that, have you Twi?" asked Pinkie jokingly.

"Well I DID live in the same castle that the reigning monarch occupies, so yes, I do have plenty of experiences with it thanks to the ambassadors."

"It… It's so… high" trembled Fluttershy.

"Well it IS a mountain" retorted Rainbow in an annoyed voice "I'm gonna fly up and check it out."

"No, you won't" chimed in Winter, catching Rainbow with his magic.

"WHAT?! Why not?"

"One: safety in numbers, Two: we've no idea what's up there besides the Dragon so you may get hurt or worse, and Three: you're likely to cause an unnecessary fight with the mood you're in now."

"What'd you say?! No I won't!"

"Yes you will."

While they were bickering, Twilight, Applejack, Rarity and Pinkie had begun climbing the mountain but they noticed that they were lacking a couple of members.

"C'mon you two, we want to get this done BEFORE sometime next year" she called to them, causing them to look up sheepishly.

"Right, we're coming" they shouted before Rainbow took off and Winter teleported himself up there.

"I know that was lazy" he explained "but it saved time."

Meanwhile, the others had been trying to encourage Fluttershy to fly up the mountain after them but a snore from the Dragon had caused her wings to lock up and Applejack to grab Twilights map and look into another way around while Winter went back down to check on Fluttershy.

"Aha, Ah've found a way" Applejack announced just as another snore caused Fluttershy's entire body to lock up, much to Rainbow's annoyance "Don't worry Twi, we'll be lickity-split."

"I'm not sure about that" Winter added in "Her entire body's locked up, so you'll have to carry her the entire way. Hm, I know! Show me the route and I'll carry her with my magic while you go on ahead, it'll be quicker that way."

After being shown the way that Applejack found, the group split up with Winter and Fluttershy going a longer way around and the others taking the direct route; Not long after they parted, Fluttershy's body loosened up enough for her to talk again so Winter set her down and sat in front of her.

"What's wrong Fluttershy? You've been acting oddly since Ponyville" said Winter, looking at her with concerned eyes.

"Well… I… I'm scared for my animals…" Fluttershy replied, not looking him in the eye as she was afraid of admitting her fear of dragons to him, worried that he might make fun of her or think her a coward.

"Hm, I'd imagine that you would be, but Spike is capable of taking care of them… provided he knows what he's doing; but you're not telling me the whole story, are you?" Winter asked, shocking Fluttershy.

"H-How did you…?"

"I've been around for a long time Fluttershy, I know when a pony isn't telling me everything and normally I'd let it go but what's affecting you is dangerous – both to you and to the other girls – so please, tell me what's wrong so I can help" he pleaded causing Fluttershy to look down, wondering if she could tell him of her fear of Dragons and what his reaction would be. After a few minutes, she nodded and steeled herself.

"I… I'm… I'm afraid of Dragons" she told him, not daring to look him in the eye which caused her to miss Winter's sympathetic look. She sat there, quivering until she felt something around her shoulders, looking up she saw that it was Winter's foreleg and that he was smiling at her as he pulled her into a one armed hug.

"Fluttershy, everypony has fear, it's a natural emotion and nothing to be ashamed of" he said to her as he looked at him.

"B-But, look at me, shaking here. I'm not brave like you or Applejack or Rainbow…"

"Balderdash, between you and me: Rainbow's scared out of her wits, she's just good at hiding it" Winter cut her off "Besides, bravery isn't the absence of fear, it is the facing and conquering of your fears; the absence of fear is called foolishness… or idiocy, the two are interchangeable in this case."

"Now that's rude" Fluttershy scolded him, though she was giggling at his remarks "and your rant about bravery sounds like something I'd read on the side of a cereal box."

"Understandable, that IS where I get most of my wisdom" replied Winter, nodding sagely causing Fluttershy to descend into a full on fit of laughter at his antics "better?"

"Yeah, thanks Winter."

"No problem. Now then, shall we re-join the others?"

"Y-Yeah, but I don't know if I'm…"

"Ready?"

"Yeah…"

"Nopony ever does, but it'd give the others more confidence if you were there."

"Really?"

"Really, really. Anyway, if it helps, I'll make sure that you don't have to face the Dragon if you don't want to, it's your decision after all."

"Thanks Winter, that means a lot."

"No problem, now then let's get moving" he said before teleporting himself and Fluttershy to where the others were waiting, startling them and annoying Rainbow.

"YOU'RE LATE!" she shouted.

"Sorry about that, we got lost on the Path of Life" Winter responded smirking at her, causing her to laugh at his ridiculous excuse.

"Moving on from Winter's terrible sense of direction…" interjected an annoyed Twilight, causing Rainbow to laugh and Winter to rant about not having a terrible sense of direction, though nopony was listening "…we're already behind schedule, so let's get moving!"
Soon they came to a rather large drop which all the ponies but Fluttershy were able to jump across, prompting encouragement from Twilight and Applejack and a musical number from Pinkie about jumping.

"Pinkie, I don't think a musical number is really necessary or appropriate right now" Rarity deadpanned.

"YOU'RE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT! We're in a Hasbro cartoon, not a Disney cartoon!" Pinkie replied, much to the other ponies' confusion.

"Pardon me for this Pinkie, but WHAT IN THE BLAZES ARE YOU ON ABOUT?!" bellowed Winter, summing up everyone's thoughts at that point.

"You know, Disney? Where everything can be solved with a musical number and true love's kiss?"

"Sounds ludicrous."

"It really is but it makes for good entertainment apparently."

"I still have no idea what you're on about."

"Don't worry about it; in fact, forget about it."

"Moving on" said Winter, hoping to save everypony from further confusion "You can jump Fluttershy, I will catch you."

"Promise?" Fluttershy asked, looking up at him.

"I promise, and even if I miss, the others here will not let you fall" he replied to nods from everypony else.

"Okay… a hop, skip…"

"You're doing great, now just make sure not to look down" added Twilight, trying to help but instead making Fluttershy look down, causing her to lock up again and Winter to catch her with his magic and bring her over to their side.

"Sorry, I guess I forgot to jump" she said apologetically. Later, after nearly being flattened by a rockslide, they arrived at the Dragon's cave where Twilight assigned everyone jobs; Rainbow was to clear the sky of smoke, Pinkie and Rarity were to cause a distraction if the Dragon got angry, Applejack was to prepare apples to catapult at him and Twilight, Fluttershy and Winter were to attempt to negotiate with him to get him to leave but Fluttershy didn't want to enter the Dragon's cave, admitting her fear of Dragons and telling them about it and Winter backed her up on her decision, so he and Twilight entered the cave on their own.

"So what is the best way to wake up a Dragon without ticking him off?" Twilight asked Winter as they walked.

"Offhand, I'd say not waking him up; let's face facts here: he's gonna be grouchy no matter how we wake him up" Winter replied. After walking some more, they found the Dragon asleep on a massive pile of gold and jewels.

"Whoa, I've read about Dragon hoards but never seen one in person, it's… amazing" said Twilight, impressed by the hoard.

"Tch, I've seen bigger and more impressive hoards" scoffed Winter "This one has nothing on Smaug's little collection"

"Yes, but nopony has ever seen Smaug's collection other than the princesses" deadpanned Twilight "now stop insulting his treasure and wake him up."

"Why me?"

"Because you have a greater arsenal of Ice spells than I do"

"Hmph, I suppose your reasoning is logical…" grumbled Winter as he approached the sleeping Dragon, the Dragon was red with a yellow underbelly and yellow wing membranes and had smoke coming out of his nostrils at an almost constant rate "Well, here goes: OI Dragon, the personal student of Princess Celestia wishes to speak with you."

This woke the Dragon up but Twilight's attempt at negotiation failed, as did Rarity's attempt at charm, Pinkie's attempt at… something and then Rainbow annoyed him by kicking him in the snout.

"That don't sound good…" said Applejack right as Rainbow rocketed out with an angry Dragon in tow, the Dragon took a deep breath and blew out a massive stream of hot flames at them, which caused the girls to all shut their eyes and cuddle up to each other (and Winter) in fear, but upon realising that they couldn't feel any flames, they opened their eyes to see Winter with a look of concentration on his face and the flames swirling round them in a cocoon-like shape before dissipating, causing the rock behind them to shatter, revealing a very angry Fluttershy who scolded the Dragon and convinced him to leave.

"Dash, remind me to never get on her bad side" Winter said to Rainbow after seeing Fluttershy's anger.

"Only if you extend the same courtesy to me" Rainbow replied.

Scene Change: Golden Oak Library

"…This adventure has taught me to never lose faith in your friends, they can be an amazing source of strength and can help you overcome even your greatest fears.

Always your faithful student
Twilight Sparkle"

"A lesson I think we should all keep in mind" said Winter, writing something down on a scroll of parchment.

"Thanks for the info about that burn ointment Winter, I'm sure it'll come in handy; by the way, who was the pyromancer that invented it?" Twilight asked him as he gave her the scroll.

"I can't remember his real name, though he became known as Xan, the insane pyromancer, after an accident that left him irrevocably scarred both physically and mentally, possibly magically too as he was unable to use any magic other than fire magic afterwards…"

"That's terrible!"

"I know, but we can't change it now, unfortunately"

After that, Applejack called them out to witness Rainbow getting startled by Pinkie when she was about 3 bounces off setting a new Pony Record and Fluttershy getting startled by a leaf; once this had occurred, Winter decided he'd had enough excitement for one day and headed home, as night fell, his thoughts turned to the recently returned Diarch of the Night.

'I wonder how she's adjusting, is she okay? Does she have any ill effects from her transformation… ah, I'm sure she'll be fine, after all she has Celestia with her' he thought but the more he considered it, the more he wanted to check, just to be safe 'Ah, screw it. She won't know I'm there.'
As he thought this, he cast off his cloak and headed to one of his windows, opening it and looking out over Ponyville at the moon in his true form.

"Well, if I'm going to do this, I'd better do it now before I change my mind" Dark Saber said before flaring his wings and taking off.

Scene Change: Canterlot

"We thank thee for thy service, but it is no longer required. Leave us now, please" said everyone's favourite blue Alicorn to one of Princess Celestia's guards.

"Sorry your highness, Princess Celestia ordered us to protect you at all times, so that is what we shall do" replied the guard much to Luna's annoyance.

"We highly doubt that we are going to get attacked in our own room and we also doubt that your protection orders mean that we cannot get any solitude or privacy! NOW GET OUT!" yelled Luna, the force of her voice throwing the guard from the room and slamming her door shut, after locking it she walked over to her bed which was decorated in a fashion similar to her mane "You mean well Sister but your guards are most annoying."

"Well, what do you expect? All they've had to deal with in the past millennia is petty thievery and drunken brawls" came a familiar voice from her balcony, quickly she turned to see a pure black Alicorn leaning against one of her doorposts, he had a blood red mane, tail and eyes and his Cutie Mark was a black shield with a dark purple outline and a silver sun within it accompanied by a blood red sword next to it.

"D-Dark? Is that really you?" Luna asked, worried that this might be a dream.

"Yep, unless I'm some other black and red alicorn who knows where you keep your secret stash of apple flavoured salt licks" he replied mischievously, smiling at her before the wind was knocked out of him by Luna tackling him into a hug.

"It IS you, it's really you, where've you been? Oh I've so much to tell you…" she gushed like the Mississippi river before she heard a cracking sound.

"That's great Luna, but please ease off or you're going to break my back" said Dark in a pained voice causing Luna to release him and help him to his hooves "Huh, you don't speak as overly polite as you used to."

"Sister said that it wasn't necessary among friends and family and I consider you to be both… i-is that alright?" Luna explained, sounding extremely nervous at the end but her statement made Dark smile.

"Of course it is, provided you don't try and get me a throne again just to get rid of your paperwork" he answered, adding a teasing note on the end which made Luna laugh.

"And I would've gotten away with it too, if it hadn't been for those meddling, arrogant, stuck up, idiotic…" Luna's rant about the nobles would've gone on for longer but Dark interrupted her.

"As much as I love badmouthing nobles Luna, my time here grows short and I must leave again soon, so can we please talk about a more pleasant topic?"

"What? Why must you leave? I bet it was those…" here she trailed off into another rant about nobles, though it was mumbled this time, causing Dark to hold back his laughter.

"In part, but I'm not on best terms with Celestia at the moment, so I don't think I should remain here for too long…" Dark answered, causing Luna to frown.

"Dark, whatever was said and done after my banishment was her grief talking, surely you know that with how attached to her precious ponies she gets, she took my banishment hard."

"I know, but that doesn't make what she said any less true, she also ordered me away from her sight unless she is threatened."

"It wasn't a real order!"

"It was an order nonetheless, one I have to obey; you both mean too much to me to put at risk like that again!" replied Dark seriously which caused Luna to frown in annoyance at Dark's stubbornness and loyalty as well as her sister's past actions.

"Every day, your absence takes a toll on her Dark, every day I hear her cry out your name as she wakes from a nightmare that I can do nothing to help with, every day I see the weight on her shoulders that her actions have caused; why will you not help her with this?!" Luna demanded, anger lacing her words.

"Because she's better off without me! Do you know how much it pains me to know that I failed you both that day? Do you know how much I suffer knowing that I cannot protect you as I once did? To know that my presence is a danger to you both and that you're better off without me there?" ranted Dark, a few tears escaping his eyes but the rest held back only by his will not to cry in front of his adopted sister "Eventually she'll move on from me and find another being more worthy of being your guardian."

"If that is what you really believe then why did you come back? Why didn't you just live out your days as a nopony in a big city? We both know you could" Luna asked him, slightly shocked at how broken her adopted brother had become in her absence.

"Because I wanted to make sure you were okay, I wanted to make sure that your transformation hadn't affected you beyond a change in looks and attitude, I wanted to make sure my sister was recovering properly" Dark replied, head down, not looking at her.

"Dark…" Luna trailed off, uncertain how to continue "if I asked you to, would you still be our guardian? My brother? …Celestia's most precious pony?"

"Heh, that right belongs to Twilight now Luna; if you ever meet her, you'll understand why" said Dark, smiling slightly as he thought of the close relationship that Celestia and Twilight shared, knowing it was good for them both "But if you asked me, I'd always say yes. I'd never stop being your brother and I'll always protect you and Celestia, just from the shadows now."

"It brings me peace to know that Dark, please drop by and see me more often if you insist on continuing this idiocy of yours" said Luna, giving in because she know that Dark's annoying stubbornness would not allow him to do anything other than what he thought was right unless explicitly told otherwise by both her and Celestia (though admittedly, they rarely had to tell him otherwise).
'Tch, if only you knew Dark, if only you knew; Celestia's relationship with Twilight is her strongest but you will always be special to her Dark, if she finds you, she'll never let you go again.'

"I will Luna, though I can't say for certain when I'll next see you, Try not to scare any more guards in the meantime" replied Dark, smirking at her as he turned to go.

"Bah, we shall get our own guard!" retorted Luna, slipping into Royal speech in her annoyance as Dark laughed.

"Until next time sister" he said and took off.

"I'll see you again, good luck… brother" Luna smiled and closed the doors to her balcony before falling down onto her bed for a nap. The next day, Celestia noticed that Luna seemed to be the happiest she'd been in years and wondered why but her pondering was overruled by joy at the fact that at least one of them appeared to be recovering from the events that saw Luna banished, though this joy was soured by the memory of the aftermath of Luna's banishment.
'When I find you Dark' Celestia thought as her mind turned to her guardian, friend and most precious pony 'you will never leave me again.'

Bridle Gossip

We resume our story two days after the Dragonshy incident where Winter has just entered a deserted Ponyville with Trixie on a rather pleasant day… wait, WHAT?!

"… And that's how Discord was tricked by a tribe of Unicorns into dancing the Can-Can" said Winter, finishing a popular but nigh forgotten story from the Discordian times while Trixie was struggling to breathe from laughter.

"Wow, Trixie thought you were good but they blow your talent with Illusion out of the water" said Trixie, after finally controlling her laughter.

"Indeed, that's why the tale was used to teach foals to never allow their pride to get the better of them" replied Winter, chuckling at the infamous Draconequus' misfortune "Still, I like to think that their cunning and intelligence played a part and not just their skill in Illusion."

"Aww, is the big bad Winter feeling overshadowed?" asked Trixie mockingly before noticing something unusual "huh? Where is everypony?"

"I wouldn't say "big bad" but… Actually, that's a point: where's everypony got to then?" Winter wondered before seeing a pony he recognised flying by "Hey, Derpy!"

"Hmm?" Derpy looked around for who called her before seeing Winter and flying down to him "Hey there Winter."

"Any ideas where everypony is? This place is emptier than our Solar Overlord's cake vault."

"I HEARD THAT!" came an angry voice from nowhere "AND HOW COME LUNA DOESN'T GET A NICKNAME?!"

"BECAUSE I HAVEN'T COME UP WITH ONE YET AND LUNAR OVERLORD SOUNDS STUPID!" shouted Winter in the direction of Canterlot while Trixie and Derpy looked on in bewilderment.

"Is this normal?" asked Trixie as Winter and Celestia bickered.

"Only when Winter mentions the Royal Cake Vault of the Sun" replied Derpy, facehoofing at the antics of Winter and the Princess.

"So, rarely then?"

"Yes, but up until now Princess Celestia hasn't had a name to put to the voice, so Winter's REALLY stepped in it this time."

That exchange ended with Celestia issuing a Royal Decree that had Winter bring her a cake to the Grand Galloping Gala and then socialise with the guests; Winter was not very happy afterwards if his crying on the floor was any indication.

"So, err… have you checked Sugarcube Corner? They might be there getting some treats to enjoy today with" said Derpy, trying not to roll her eyes at the antics of Winter and one of her diarchs (who seemed to be a bit touchy about her cake vault).

"Great idea Derpy, thanks; We'll check there immediately" replied Winter, leaping to his hooves as if nothing was wrong. He and Trixie bade Derpy goodbye, none of them noticing the hooded figure emerging from the Everfree Forest, heading towards Ponyville.

Scene Change: Sugarcube Corner

Upon reaching Sugarcube Corner, Trixie and Winter were grabbed and dragged inside by Pinkie where they saw Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Applejack's sister Apple Bloom; Twilight did not look pleased while the others looked scared.

"What in the name of Nightmare Moon is going on here?!" Trixie demanded, glaring at them.

"We're hidin' from her" replied Applejack, gesturing at a hooded figure through the gap between the curtains.

"Well that's not very neighbourly" interjected Winter, frowning "whatever happened to Ponyville hospitality?"

"Did you see her Twilight?" asked Apple Bloom, ignoring Winter's comment about hospitality "did you see… Zecora?"

"Apple Bloom!" snapped Applejack, glaring at her "Ah told you never to say that name!"

"Why? It's just a name" Winter asked, frown deepening at the actions of the ponies he'd come to regard as friends.

"Trixie is also curious, what has this Zecora done?" added Trixie.

"Well I saw her glance this way…" Twilight answered Apple Bloom, ignoring Winter and Trixie (who were now arguing with Applejack about forbidding ponies from saying Zecora's name).

"Glance evilly this way" corrected Pinkie, drawing out the "evil" part of her sentence.

"… And all of you flipped out for no good reason, then Trixie and Winter walked in."

"No good reason?!" asked Applejack snappishly "you call protectin' yer kin "no good reason"? Why, as soon as mah sister saw Zecora ridin' into town, she started shakin' in her little horseshoes."

"Ah did not!" said Apple Bloom, though her voice quivered when she spoke (probably because Applejack was shaking her so much).

"So Ah swept her up and brought her here."

"Ah walked here mahself!

"For safe keepin'."

"Applejack, Ah ain't a foal! Ah can take care of mahself!" Apple Bloom grumbled, glaring at Applejack

"Not from that creepy Zecora, ya can't." retorted Applejack.

"Again, I fail to see how this Zecora is a threat or has done anything to merit this behaviour" Winter put in, giving them all a cold stare "it sounds to me like you don't even know her and just jumped to conclusions because she wears a cloak."

"But she's mysterious" piped up Fluttershy, not looking at Winter.

"Sinister" added Rainbow Dash, staring at Winter as if daring him to disagree with her.

"This again Dash? I thought we'd finally worked through your phobia of cloaks last year" grumbled Winter.

"What? We did, but how… Winter, this is an entirely different situation!" Rainbow hissed, glaring at him.

"Oh really? How so?"

"There's something not right about that pony, I just know it…"

"She's spooky" interrupted Pinkie, drawing out the "spooky" in her sentence, as if that explained everything and causing Twilight to groan in annoyance. Twilight then looked out the window at Zecora again and was surrounded by everyone and they all gasped dramatically when Zecora removed her hood to reveal a black and white striped mane.

"Winter! Trixie! Stop messing around!" Twilight snapped at them causing Trixie to smirk at her and Winter to rub the back of his head sheepishly "and the rest of you, cut that annoying gasping out!"

"Would you look at those stripes?! So garish!" commented Rarity, seemingly more bothered by Zecora's fashion choice than anything.

"They're still better than… OW!" Trixie started before jumping as a bolt of lightning hit her flank, she turned round to glare at Rainbow who was scowling at her and holding a thunder cloud she'd obtained from… somewhere.

"Don't start that again Trixie" warned Rainbow, tapping the cloud threateningly "the others may have forgiven and tolerate you, but I haven't yet, so DON'T get on my bad side."

"I didn't know you had a…" began Trixie before Winter cut her off by standing between them.

"Trixie, stop insulting the ponies here; Dash, put that cloud back" he said firmly, watching the two carefully.

"Or what?" the two mares in unison as ice crystals began to grow at Winter's hooves.

"I'll lock you in a room together until you can be civil" he replied dangerously, as the two recognised the signs and backed down, apologising. Meanwhile, Twilight had been explaining to the others that Zecora was a Zebra and that her stripes were natural colours, not a fashion choice

"My books say that Zebras come from a faraway land, but I've never seen her in Ponyville" said Twilight, slightly confused "where does she live?"

"That's just it, she lives in… the Everfree Forest" answered Applejack before a loud crash came from the kitchen causing the others to shriek except Winter and Twilight.

"Spike!" Twilight snapped angrily which resulted in a sheepish sounding apology coming from the kitchen.

"Well, that explains why I've never met her before, but seriously? You alienate her just because she looks different and lives in the Everfree Forest?" barked Winter, scowling at them, making them back away from him slightly as none of them (except Rainbow) had ever seen Winter like this "I cannot describe how disappointed in you all I am right now."

"But Winter…" began Applejack carefully "the Everfree Forest just ain't natural, surely you know this"

"Not natural for you maybe, but it's perfectly natural in other lands, how do you think the clouds move in places where there are no Pegasi?"

"Why are you all so nervous of the Everfree Forest? You didn't show this much fear when we faced Nightmare Moon…" Twilight asked, confused at their actions which prompted Applejack, Rainbow and Fluttershy to explain that the Everfree Forest didn't need a pony's assistance to operate causing Rarity to faint (again).

"And not to mention, that evil Zecora lives there, doing her evil… stuff" added Pinkie "why, she's so evil, I even wrote a song about her…"

"Oh, here we go…" groaned Rainbow, rolling her eyes.

"Is there anything Pinkie hasn't written a song about?" wondered Winter aloud causing the other ponies to start thinking about it as well as Pinkie started dancing around singing about evil enchantresses.

"… And what will she do? Her arrogance will suffocate you, 'till you turn blue from her ego's…" here Pinkie stopped as she realized something "Hey that's not my Zecora song! That's my song about Trixie."

"Oh, Trixie is most appreciative of your efforts" said Trixie sarcastically, rolling her eyes before glaring at Pinkie "Trixie IS trying, you know?"

"Well, all of this sounds like a load of gossip and rumour, what have you actually seen Zecora do?" Twilight asked, resulting in Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy explaining that once a month Zecora came into town, lurked around shops and dug at the ground, which caused Winter to scoff and roll his eyes.

"I apologize in advance for my rudeness here…" he started as Rainbow (realizing what he was about to do) braced herself for a grumpy rant "but, I don't know if you've noticed, but I come into Ponyville and lurk around shops when I want to do some SHOPPING! Is it really so outlandish that she MIGHT want to do some shopping or just to visit the town?!"

"Yeah, Winter's right, maybe she's jus' being neighbourly, you know what Ah think…" interjected Apple Bloom, much to Applejack's chagrin, as shown when she cut her off.

"Apple Bloom, let the big ponies talk" she said, pushing her away.

"Ah AM a big pony" Apple Bloom grumbled as she headed towards the door.

"Frankly, all this behaviour is ridiculous, Zecora's just a normal pony and if any of you actually TALKED to her, you'd see that!" snapped Twilight, which gave Apple Bloom an idea, she told herself that she was going to talk to Zecora and exited Sugarcube Corner, heading after Zecora. Meanwhile, the argument continued inside.

"I heard Zecora eats…" here Pinkie paused for dramatic emphasis "HAY!"

"Pinkie, of all your accusations, that one is the most ridiculous!" Winter barked.

"Yeah, I eat hay! YOU eat hay!" added Twilight angrily.

"Yeah, but it's the evil way she eats hay" replied Pinkie as if that explained everything.

"How does one eat hay evilly anyway? Trixie would truly love to know" Trixie put in, sounding actually interested in how someone could eat hay evilly.

"You know what?" Winter started, storming towards the door "I'm off."

"Where're you going, Winter?" Rainbow called after him, following him at a slow pace.

"To prove once and for all that Zecora is just a regular pony!"

"WAIT! She might put a curse on you!" Rainbow cried, zooming after him.

"I have my doubts about that, Dash" he deadpanned as they headed into the Everfree Forest, where they eventually came upon Apple Bloom and Zecora standing near a field of blue flowers when they heard Applejack shout Apple Bloom's name, prompting both the filly and the Zebra to turn around.

"Beware, you pony folk…" the Zebra said upon seeing the rest of the Mane 6 standing in the blue flowers "… those leaves of blue are NOT a joke"

"Yeah? Right back at ya Zecora!" retorted Rainbow, flying in front of her friends and landing in the flowers in a pouncing position "we aren't afraid of your curse mumbo jumbo!"

"Beware… BEWARE…" said Zecora as she backed into the mist and vanished to taunts from the other ponies except Twilight Apple Bloom and Winter.

"Well, she certainly can make an exit" muttered Winter as he watched her go as he heard Applejack scolding Apple Bloom in the background and Twilight dismiss the possibility of a curse.

"Oh really? Well that's interesting to hear from Ms. Magic-pants over here" taunted Rainbow, tapping Twilight's horn as she said it which prompted Twilight to give a lecture on curses being artificial.

"I don't know Twilight, I've travelled to many places and seen many things. I'd say that curses are definitely real…" Winter started before being cut off by Applejack shouting about being right, to which he glared at and continued "…but, they're more of a hidden storage of magic designed to do one thing, and they're always accompanied by symbols or a potion as you need something to store the magic in, in the first place; I've never heard of a cure being triggered by words before…"

"But it could be done?" asked Applejack, shivering slightly.

"In theory, yes, but only by somepony with magical ability on par with that of an Alicorn. I've definitely never heard of a Zebra doing it, in fact, the worst I've ever seen was a Zebra Shaman accidentally brewing a hallucinogenic potion…" he replied thoughtfully, before realizing something "besides, that so-called "curse" of yours sounded more like a warning to me."

"Whatever, let's just all go home and forget about all this" chimed in Rainbow.

Scene Change: Winter's House

Winter could not sleep that night, so he sat on his roof and looked at the moon, thinking.

'Curses… hmm. No curse I've ever encountered was verbally triggered, so what could she have been talking about? The flowers maybe? I remember Discord used to use plants as mediums for his pranks, perhaps that's what she meant. Still, I'd need access to the Canterlot Archives to confirm this and I can't go there so soon without Celestia suspecting something; I may have been able to get in and out once without her noticing but that wouldn't work twice with such a narrow interval, she's not stupid after all.'

He scowled and looked at the Everfree Forest, observing how quiet it seemed for such an unpredictable place which had extremely courageous ponies like Rainbow Dash and Applejack scared of it.

'Perhaps the old castle will have something on those flowers, assuming there's anything left in it after Celestia left for Canterlot, perhaps an old journal or something has been left behind. If the worst comes to the worst, I can always get the info straight from the source'

Mind now made up, Winter hopped off his roof and set off for the Everfree Forest.

Scene Change: Golden Oak Library

Twilight had woken up that morning to the rather nasty surprise of a floppy horn, which caused her to tear apart the library in a frenzy, looking for a cure or at least an explanation as to what caused it.

"'Flying Chimichangas', No! 'Cheese Obsessed Gods', Now that's just stupid! 'How to Breathe Fire for Dullards, Volume I', Why do I even have this? I live in a tree for Luna's sake! 'Common Injuries and Reactions caused by Magical Fireworks' by Winter Shield, Winter wrote a book? I'll have to read that later…" said Twilight as she tore books off their shelves and threw them behind her.

"How about this one?" asked Spike, holding a green book with a drawing of a plant on the cover.

"Let's see… 'Supernaturals'? Spike, supernatural means ghosts and spirits and stuff like that, it's as fake as curses, now put that back and help me find something useful!" Twilight grumbled, dismissing the book out of principle.

"I don't know, a good many spirits haunt pubs…" muttered Spike though Twilight overheard him if her scowl was any indication.

"And where did you hear that Spike?" she asked, dangerously, causing Spike's eyes to open quite wide and his irises to shrink in fear.

"Erm… S-Sh-Shining told me…"

"I'll make sure to give him a piece of my mind when I next see him, but for now we have to find out what happened to my horn" Twilight said before Pinkie barged in and attempted to speak but due to her inflated tongue (which was covered in blue spots) all she did was create a puddle of saliva on the floor. "err, what was that Pinkie?"

"EW! Yeesh, say it, don't spray it" complained Spike after Pinkie attempted to explain but showered him in spit, Twilight was about to say something but she was cut off by a crashing sound from the window

"She's… trying to… tell you that… Zecora slapped a curse on us…" said Rainbow between impacts which ended up in her knocking down Twilight's door and breaking a ladder due to the fact that one of her wings was inverted, Rarity walked in agreeing with her statement, probably due to her overgrown coat, mane and tail.

"Rainbow, please stop destroying my library" sighed Twilight when suddenly they were interrupted by a shout coming from the doorway

"Ah hate to say Ah told you so Twilight, but Ah told you so!" it said in a high pitched voice.

"Huh? Has somepony given Applejack helium?" asked Spike before he saw her standing on Apple Bloom's back due to her being smaller than an apple.

"It's a curse I tells ye, a curse!" shouted the tiny Earth Pony.

"Bu-but Fluttershy seems just fine" said Twilight, grasping at straws to disprove this being a curse.

"Yes, I quite agree, Fluttershy doesn't appear to have a thing wrong with her" added Rarity which led to a brief interrogation of Fluttershy which revealed that she'd been given a male voice and caused Spike to begin laughing his head off.

"Okay, okay, this is hilarious, look at all of you, we have Hairity, Rainbow Crash, Flutterguy, Spitty Pie, Appletini and… erm" he paused for thought "Okay, I got nothing; seriously, 'Twilight Sparkle', how can I work with that?"

"Hahaha, this is no joke Spike" said Twilight, giving him an angry stare "now start looking for more books so I can find a cure."

"I say we find Zecora's place… make her fix this!" shouted Rainbow as she flew uncontrollably by.

"Why not just ask Winter?" asked Rarity "his place is much closer and there's less risk of getting covered in that horrible muck again."

"OF COURSE RARITY!" cried Twilight "Winter might know what's happened or how to fix it, now why didn't I think of that earlier?"

"No good Twi" answered Rainbow as she crashed in front of her "I tried Winter's place first and he's vanished. I bet Zecora knew he could mess with her diabolical plans and did something to him!"

"Ah agree with Dash, we'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex" chimed in Applejack, stomping her hoof.

"IT'S NOT A HEX OR A CURSE!" bellowed Twilight, which caused the room to descend into a frenzy of arguing which Apple Bloom used to exit the room, but Applejack noticed and leaped onto her back as she left. In the meantime, Rainbow had decided to lead a charge into the Everfree Forest and gotten the support of most of the mares present, but then they realised that Applejack and Apple Bloom had gone and decided to pursue them.

Scene Change: Everfree Forest, outside Zecora's house

The ponies arrived (after picking up Applejack on the way) at a house built into a tree with a number of empty bottles hanging from the branches and a tribal mask leaning against one of the roots, when suddenly Rainbow noticed something.

"Girls, look out! We've got incoming" she warned them and they retreated a couple of meters to witness Winter (and a couple of logs) falling from the sky.

"Oh… oh dear…" he said as he landed when a brick suddenly landed on his head, followed by a Hydra landing in front of him, which appeared to annoy him, he grabbed a tree trunk and held it aloft.

"Grr, right… It's bonking time, I loves a little bit of bonking" he said, hitting the Hydra on each head with the trunk every time he said a word "three, four, five, six, seven, can't be bothered to remember the rest… bonking, bonking and more bonking…"
The Hydra popped one head up and blew a raspberry at Winter, which didn't amuse him.

"TWELVE!" he shouted as he brought the trunk down on the head, this caused the Hydra to stagger off into the trees before a splashing sound was heard in the distance "well, that takes care of that then."

"WINTER!" cried the girls in unison (well, tried to in the case of Pinkie) before tackling him with a group hug.

"Just where have you been? We thought you were in trouble or that Zecora had gotten you" demanded Rainbow, though worry was clear in her voice.

"Are you still on about that?" asked Winter as he dusted himself off, not looking at them "I've told you all before… FLIPPING HECK! What happened to you?"

"Zecora cursed us and we're gonna make her sort out what she's done to us!"

"Dash, this isn't the work of a curse, this is something… HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"

"No, look" Rainbow answered, pointing through the window at something.

"You know this is an invasion of privacy, right?" Winter asked before Dash grabbed him and forced him to look through the window, there he saw Zecora pour a purple powder into a pot of bubbling green liquid, while chanting something in a foreign language which caused Pinkie to try and say something.

"What are you talking about Pinkie? She stole your gong? That's a cooking pot, not a gong" said Winter, confused at Pinkie's exclamation to which Pinkie tried to say something then got Fluttershy to sing the song she made up earlier in Sugarcube Corner while Pinkie did the dance moves.

"Creepy masks, confusing incantations and a great big bubbling cauldron?" Twilight sighed "Everything is pointing to Zecora being... bad. Or... what if Zecora is just making soup?"

"Mmm! The perfect temperature for ponies, I presume. Now, where is that little Apple Bloom?" rhymed Zecora after tasting the mixture.

"Or... what if she's making Apple Bloom soup?!" she asked causing the other mares to scream and Winter to frown.

"Twilight, don't be ridiculous! Zecora's biology wouldn't allow her to eat Apple Bloom" he scolded her but was ignored as Applejack crashed Rainbow through Zecora's door, causing Zecora to say various things (possibly unsavoury) in her native language as Applejack and Rainbow wrecked havoc in her home as Twilight and the others burst through the door.

"What have you done with Apple Bloom?" Twilight demanded as Zecora continued to speak in her native language and Applejack continued to cause havoc until she lassoed Zecora's ear and started to wrestle with it, causing Zecora to wonder what was going on until Rainbow knocked the cooking pot over, spilling its contents everywhere.

"No! You know not what you do! You've gone and spilled my precious brew!" said Zecora somewhat angrily as Twilight narrowed her eyes at the Zebra.

"We're onto you Zecora. I didn't want to believe that you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming!" she snapped as the others (though Twilight was included in this) began accusing Zecora of causing their various issues.

"How dare you! You destroy my home, destroy my work. Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?" retorted Zecora angrily as Winter sighed, rolled his eyes and stepped in.

"You know, if you had just listened to me in the first place, none of this would be happening" he grumbled before turning to Zecora "I'm terribly sorry about all this, it's all just a misunderstanding and I'll pay for any damages Dash caused if that helps."

"Hmph, well at least one of you has manners I see, too bad like him, you can't all be" she said to the others before turning to Winter and bowing in greeting "Give me your name and I shall give you mine, then maybe things from here can go just fine."

"My name is Winter Shield, it's a pleasure to meet you" he replied, bowing in return.

"No, the pleasure belongs to me, after all 'tis rare I get to meet a pony as nice as thee" Zecora said to him, smiling "Now what can I do for you? I'm afraid I have left no brew"

"HOLD ON!" Rainbow interrupted, causing Zecora to frown "You put this curse on us, now you're gonna uncurse us."

"It is unwise to venture down this road. Your actions will make my anger explode!" replied Zecora angrily, causing the other ponies to gasp.

"Dash, please just stop" Winter pleaded before Twilight headbutted Zecora.

"Where is Apple Bloom!?" she barked before said filly's voice came from outside

"Zecora! Ah think Ah found all the things ya asked for. What in Ponyville is goin' on here?" she said upon seeing what was going on in the house.

"Apple Bloom! You're okay!" cried Applejack joyfully.

"Why wouldn't Ah be?"

"Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you up into soup!" answered Twilight which caused Zecora and Apple Bloom to laugh, much to the confusion of the other equines in the house.

"Oh Twilight. Did those silly fillies finally git in yer head? You know there's no such thing as a curse."

"Apple Bloom, sweetie. You can't just stand there and tell me this isn't a curse" Twilight responded, gesturing at herself and the other mares, which caused Apple Bloom and Zecora to explain that Zecora's words were actually a warning about the blue flowers which were a plant named Poison Joke.

"I tried to tell you all before you barged in" said Winter exasperatedly "your issues were jokes that the plant played on you; it's from Discordian times, where Discord created it to play ridiculous jokes on features about themselves which ponies took pride in."

"Quite right Winter Shield, I see the results that your research yields" said Zecora, which caused the ponies to ask about the masks, chanting and soup, which Zecora explained were actually welcoming masks, the chant was a nursery rhyme and the soup was actually a herbal remedy to be used as a bubble-bath in order to cure the Poison Joke's effects.

"But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything. What book has this natural remedy?" asked Twilight, to which Zecora produced the 'Supernaturals' book.

"Here is the book, you see? Sad that you lack it in your library" she said, causing Twilight to look quite embarrassed.

"Actually, I do have this book, but I didn't look inside because the title was so... weird. Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super" Twilight said apologetically upon realizing that all this could've been avoided if she's read the whole title of the book "I...I... I'm so sorry, Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I had bothered to look inside."

"More like you dismissed it after reading the title's first word" added Winter unhelpfully causing Twilight to look even more embarrassed about it and Zecora to chuckle.

"Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book" she said, looking at the other members of the Mane 6 to emphasize the double meaning of her sentence and causing Apple Bloom to laugh.

"Zecora? I hate to ask after all the trouble we've caused, but would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?" asked Winter, looking at the other ponies.

"Mix it up I certainly will. Yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville."

"But whenever Zecora comes to town, all the shops are mysteriously closed" added Apple Bloom, which explained why Zecora lurked around the shops.

"Oh, well... I think we can help you with that" replied Twilight confidently, smiling at Zecora.

"That is, if the ponies there don't go and jump to the wrong conclusion" muttered Winter as they departed for Ponyville.

Scene Change: Ponyville

They arrived back in Ponyville to see that the ponies there had seen the various issues that the mares had and jumped to the conclusion that they'd been cursed and thus started to panic and retreated into their homes.

"So rude" Winter grumbled, surveying Ponyville with a frown "you'd think ponies wouldn't place such faith in ridiculous rumours, but nooo…"

Meanwhile, Twilight had gone to the door of a pony named Daisy and convinced her to give them the herb they needed as well as explaining that Zecora was actually trying to help them and that the whole problem was the result of a misunderstanding. After sorting that out, they went to the spa where Zecora prepared the herbal bath and Twilight narrated a letter as her friends were cured of their various ailments.

"Dear Princess Celestia,

My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; it's the "contents" of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.

Your faithful student,

Twilight Sparkle"

"Miss Zecora, I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxurious!" said one of the spa ponies, she was a light blue mare with a pink mane and tail with a Cutie Mark of a lotus, her name, coincidentally, was Lotus. Zecora was about to respond before Apple Bloom noticed something.

"Applejack! Hey, where's Applejack?!" she cried, causing the ponies in the bath to panic while Winter and Zecora looked on in amusement as they knew EXACTLY where Applejack was…

"Ah'm right here, little sis. Ah ain't tiny no more!" Applejack piped up from the bucket she was sitting in, which she had presumably used as her bathtub when she was small.
After calming down, Rarity noted that she had "never felt so lovely in all her life" and Pinkie prattled on about being unable to talk, much to Rainbow's displeasure, but then she smirked as she had an idea.

"HEY WINTER! Come on in, the water's fine!" she called to him, swimming over to where he was standing.

"Ah, no thanks Dash" he said, a little nervously "I've never been one for spa treatments."

"Aww, are you scared of a little water?"

"No…"

"Good, then you won't mind if I do… THIS" Rainbow shouted before wrapping her forehooves around his neck and pulling him head first into the bath. When Winter surfaced, he did not look amused.

"Dash… THINK FAST!" he roared playfully as he jumped on her, showering the other ponies in water and causing them to laugh.

"So Winter, what actually happened to ya?" asked Applejack as she joined the rest of them in the bathtub, which resulted in the other ponies looking at him with interest, wondering the same thing.

"Well, I knew Zecora's words were unlikely to be a curse, so I thought them over and came up with the hypothesis that she was warning us about the blue flowers, but I had no idea if that was actually the case and I didn't recognize the flowers" he answered, explaining why he vanished "so I went to see if the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters had any books about them left in its library, it did so I read up on them and then went to find you but I ran into that Hydra on my way out, which knocked me flying and you know the rest from there."

"Why didn't you just come to my house? I'm sure I'll have a book on them somewhere…" Twilight asked, trailing off into thought.

"I decided to go looking late at night, I wasn't going to bother you at stupid O'Clock because I was looking for a book that you may or may not have had."

"So you decided to go into the Everfree Forest at night, alone? Really Winter, sometimes you worry me…" chimed in Rainbow causing the other Ponies to laugh.

Scene Change: Canterlot, Celestia's Chambers.

Our favourite solar princess looked out over the city of Canterlot, it was night and all you could see was a few lights on in the buildings underneath a beautiful star lit sky. She had had a stressful day in court with arrogant nobles trying to bully and boss her around, though said nobles soon found themselves evicted from the throne room.

'Arrogant fools' she thought, her violet eyes (A/N: Are they violet? Well, they are now in my fic) narrowing in annoyance 'they think because their ancestors were rewarded for their loyalty and dedication to Equestria that they can strut around as if they are above everypony else? Granted, some of their ancestors would've done the same if Dark hadn't put the fear of Faust in them…'

She chuckled at the memory of her guardian and best friend scaring the nobles out of their wits (and usually out of the throne room as well) but then she sighed and turned her attention back to Canterlot as more unwelcome memories returned to her.

'They're all ingrates; they don't acknowledge the suffering we had to go through to get Equestria to where it is today. Maybe I should've let Nightmare have a bit of her fun and teach them a lesson in humility, maybe then we'd have Dark with us today, where he belongs…' she thought before clenching her eyes shut and shaking her head 'NO! Those aren't my thoughts! I love my citizens, they're like my children. I'd never abandon them to Nightmare Moon like that! And Dark was my fault, nopony else's, I can't blame them for it.'

"I think we both know that's a lie Celestia" came a voice similar to hers but rougher, Celestia turned to see a translucent mare with a blinding white coat and golden eyes, her mane and tail were not like Celestia's aurora but more like an out of control flame which changed colour every few seconds.

"Solar Flare, I thought I've told you before to stop influencing my thoughts" Celestia said to her, frowning at the mare, who smirked, revealing sharp teeth.

"Stop influencing your thoughts? Celestia, you and I are the same being, my thoughts are yours and your thoughts are mine" replied Solar Flare, brow furrowing almost unnoticeably "We both know you were manipulated at your weakest into ordering Dark away from you, but it backfired on those fools, didn't it?"

"It was you that made me angry enough to go through with it in the first place!" snapped Celestia at the darker half of her conscious, mane ceasing to flow and beginning to move like a flame, showing her anger "I'm warning you, I will NOT let you threaten my ponies! Not again!"

"I'm no more of a threat to them than you yourself are! I want what you want, remember?" shot back Solar Flare "And the situation with Dark was all your doing along with those impudent fools you call nobles, I was too busy mourning Luna… Anyway, that's not why I'm here."

"Then why are you here?"

"To tell you that I've had enough of your self pity over what happened millennia ago. Find Dark and bring him back, then keep him with you until you both die!"

"You know that'd never work, he's too much of a free spirit AND it's not fair to him!"

"Puh-lease, Dark loves you, he'd do anything to please you, why do you think he's never gotten in touch since you sent him away? And who cares about what's fair to him?! FOCUS ON YOURSELF AND WHAT YOU WANT FOR ONCE!"

"No! If Dark wants to return, then he will, I will not force him!" replied Celestia firmly, glaring at Solar Flare, the heat in the room was rising rapidly "what you fail to understand Solar Flare, is that I swore to allow ponies to make mistakes and learn from them in order to grow as a species and not to treat them as my playthings, refusing to allow them to make their own decisions! If I take that right away from one pony, how can I justify not taking it away from the others?!"

"HE GAVE UP HIS RIGHTS TO SELF DETERMINATION WHEN HE SWORE TO GUARD US WITH EVERYTHING HE HAD!" roared Solar Flare in return, storming up to Celestia and gave her a burning stare which Celestia matched "HE BELONGS TO US AND YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT! BUT YOU'RE SO BLINDED BY YOUR PRECIOUS "MORALS" THAT YOU CAN'T SEE WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU ANYMORE!"

"What's best for me is not always what's best for my ponies, and as a ruler, I must put their needs before mine" retorted Celestia angrily, though a tear could be seen in her eye "no matter how much it hurts me…"

This little speech caused Solar Flare to visibly recoil in shock, before her gaze softened and she embraced Celestia, much to the latter's surprise.

"I'm not dropping this Celestia" she whispered in Celestia's ear "if Dark shows himself to us, then I'll MAKE him stay with us for all eternity... regardless of whether you want it or not."

"Don't bet on it…" replied Celestia, a look of steeled determination visible in her eye "I won't let you harm him or any of my ponies."

"You'll come around, you'll eventually see that I only want what's best for you and our ponies… I care for them more than mother and father ever did… " Solar Flare reassured her (or tried to anyway) in an almost caring voice before fading away, leaving Celestia alone in her room.

"The saddest thing about that is I can't deny her last statement…" muttered Celestia before turning back to Canterlot.

'I WILL do what's best for my ponies, but would it be best for Dark to return?' she pondered 'I know it'd be best for Luna to have her brother figure back and he'd be able to defend my ponies if I were not able to… Hmm, I'll have to ask Luna, Cadenza and… Twilight for advice, but not now, its too early to consider making that decision…'

Meanwhile, deep within Celestia's mind, a pair of golden eyes opened and a mouth filled with sharp teeth could be seen curling into a dangerous-looking smile.

"I told you you'd come around…"

Author's Note

Right, that's a wrap; this Author's Note is only to explain who Solar Flare is: Solar Flare is Celestia's version of Nightmare Moon, but unlike Nightmare Moon (who was created by Luna's jealousy and resentment of Celestia's day (and Celestia herself to a lesser extent)) she is not the embodiment of Celestia's jealousy, she's a bit more than that... it's sorta hard to explain, so yeah, I hope you like her and that I wrote her well enough to make her a believable character in this story.

Suited for Success

It had been an eventful couple of months in Ponyville since we last visited Equestria, a swarm of insects known as Parasprites had invaded the town and nearly eaten all the food and had only been driven out by Pinkie Pie becoming a one-pony band . This was followed by Twilight singlehandedly saving the Winter Wrap Up day with her organisational skills and Applejack's sister making two new friends named Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle at a party and embarrassing two school bullies in the process followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash getting a tad too competitive in an Iron Pony competition and the Running of the Leaves. We now rejoin our equine friends at Rarity's Carousel Boutique where Twilight has bought Rarity a dress for repair and Winter has been dragged along for some reason.

"I get that you want that dress repairing for the Gala, Twilight. What I don't understand is why I'm here" said Winter as he and Twilight entered Rarity's shop and home.

"You told me that you don't have a suit for the Gala, so I brought you here to get you one" replied Twilight, giving him an exasperated look.

"I wasn't under the impression I needed one; I'm there to do the fireworks and mingle, not attend my coronation or wedding!"

"And that's precisely why you need a suit, what would Princess Celestia think if she saw you in your usual cloak?!"

"Probably that I don't want to be there so I didn't bother dressing up…"

"NO… well yes, but that's not the point."

"Then what IS the point?"

"The point is…" Twilight began before she saw Rarity giving them a weird look from one of her tables, where she appeared to be working on a new project "Oh sorry Rarity, I know you're busy but would it be possible for you to mend my dress for the Gala? A button came off."

NO! No! No! You can't wear this old…thing" she gasped in shock upon seeing Twilight's dress "you need a glamorous new outfit for the Gala… Tell you what, I'll make it for you, no charge at all; And did my ears deceive me Winter, or did you say that you hadn't a suit for the Gala?"

"You heard correctly" answered Winter, prompting Rarity to look at him in a rather annoyed manner.

"What happened to the suit you bought last year for special occasions?"

"Got destroyed along with several other things during that mishap during Winter Wrap Up" he said, scowling at the memory; during Winter Wrap Up, Winter had to store his winter themed stock of fireworks due to them being made for lower temperatures and therefore could be ruined by the different conditions of the other seasons, alongside that he'd created a rocket (which he'd named Cloudbuster) in an attempt to help the Pegasi with their job of clearing the clouds. To cut a long story short, one of the Cloudbusters had gone out of control and hit a number of his winter fireworks, causing a massive explosion which damaged a number of the rooms in his hut, thankfully nopony was hurt and nothing important was destroyed or damaged but he still had to replace a few things.

"Why didn't you just say so? I'd have whipped you up a new one in a jiffy, instead I'll just make you a new one for the Gala" replied Rarity, causing both Twilight and Winter to protest, but Rarity would have none of it. They eventually relented as Applejack walked in.

"Howdy Rarity, have you seen Rainbow anywhere? We've got a rouge cloud over the…" she was cut off by said Pegasus crashing through the roof, rolling into Rarity's mannequins and standing up tangled in cloth with a bucket on her head.

"Sorry, new trick, didn't quite work out" Rainbow said apologetically, getting an eye roll from Winter.

"We can see that bucket-head, are you alright?" he asked, looking at her concerned which Rainbow didn't seem to be all that bothered by, if her straightening of the bucket was any indication.

"Yeah, it'll take more than a crash to bring me down… I think I like this look, I'll have to wear a bucket more often" she replied before she caught a glance of herself in the mirror.

"Seriously Dash, the bucket would get stuck on your head when you crash and it's not very aerodynamic, you'd be confined to the ground."

"Meh, point taken. I'll just have to use this look when I'm gracing the ground with my presence."

"Really? Sometimes I wonder how you can fly with the size of your ego at times…"

"HEY! That was rude! I'm not THAT bad… am I?"

"Eh, not yet. You'd know if I thought you'd gotten that bad" Winter answered, to which Rainbow gave a sigh of relief. While this had been going on, Rarity had decided to make dresses for all the Element bearers alongside the replacement suit for Winter and to hold a fashion show after she'd made them, then she chased them out of her shop so she could work. After that, all the ponies left to do their own thing: Applejack left to work on her farm, Twilight returned to her library and Winter decided to supervise Rainbow in her new trick training; so far, it looked as if she was trying to go for a high speed dive.

"You still haven't told me what you're working on, Dash" said Winter, catching her for the third time after she rebounded off the cone of air she produced from her speed.

"I'm trying to do the Sonic Rainboom for the Best Young Fliers Competition coming up soon" she answered, flying up and diving again.

"You're trying to break the visible light spectrum and the sound barrier at once, again? Why? Don't you remember the toll it took on you last time?" Winter asked, a concerned look on his face for Rainbow's health, to which Rainbow paused and smiled at him before resuming her dive.

"Yeah, but a Sonic Rainboom will ensure I win and it'll look awesome! It'll be well worth it for a day with the Wonderbolts" replied Rainbow as she rebounded off the cone of air again "now, are ya going to help me or stand there complaining?"

"Bah, fine Dash. You win" responded Winter, closing his eyes and rubbing his temples before opening them with a determined look "right, you can do a sonic boom on its own, correct?"

"Tch, easily…"

"Good, now give me sonic booms!"

"How many?"

"As many as you can do. I want you to go right to the limit of your speed and back again, then do it all over again. Just tell me if you're beginning to strain yourself, alright?"

"Fine, LET'S DO THIS!" bellowed Rainbow before she took off and shortly after, a loud BOOM was heard and a rainbow coloured streak flew across the sky before slowing and repeating the process multiple times until her wings began to ache and her stamina began to run out; this resulted in her beginning to slow down which did not go unnoticed by Winter, who brought her back down, much to her chagrin.

"What the hay Winter? I could've kept going" she panted, which caused Winter to give her a firm look.

"Dash, you're exhausted. Any more of that and you'd risk pulling a muscle or worse and I'll not see you hurt yourself when I could've prevented it" he replied, handing her a drink of iced water which he'd gotten from… somewhere and Rainbow accepted it gratefully.

"Huh, fine. So what was the point of that anyway?"

"It served two purposes: the first was to slowly increase your top speed by pushing you to your limits, again and again; the second was for me to get an idea of your form when flying and see if I can't work anything out from there."

"And DID you see anything?"

"Yes, you're not aerodynamic enough to pull off the Rainboom. Your current form creates too much drag which is what causes you to rebound off of the cone of air your speed generates."

"So how do I solve that? I'm not going on a diet if that's what you're saying!"

"No, that isn't necessary. What you need to do is make yourself more streamlined when you fly, this'll create less drag and allow you to fly faster; after that, it's just a matter of making sure your wings are strong enough to get you to the speeds needed for the Rainboom."

"Right, thanks Winter, I'll work on that for the competition" There was a pause as Rainbow recovered from her workout before she thought of something and turned to Winter, an unsure look on her face "Winter, if I make a fool of myself at the competition, you won't think less of me, will you?"

"Where's this coming from all of a sudden?" Winter asked, brow furrowed with concern at Rainbow's out of character behaviour.

"I don't know, old insecurities coming back to haunt me, I suppose" Rainbow replied, looking away, probably to hide her expression from Winter.

"Then I'll tell you what I told you years ago: so long as you give it your all, I wouldn't care if you crashed a thunder cloud into Princess Celestia; at the end of the day, you can only do what YOU'RE capable of" he answered, making Rainbow laugh at the image of Celestia being hit by a thunder cloud.

"Yeah, you'd probably find it funny if I did that."

"Bah, don't tell me you wouldn't laugh at our Solar Overlord if her hair was standing on end because of lightning, it'd be…" the two were interrupted by Rarity charging in, saying that she'd finished Rainbow's dress and invited them both to come and see it, after gathering the rest of her friends, they all assembled at the Carousel Boutique and Rarity led them in with their eyes shut.

"That's it, just a little further, no peeping… PINKIE PIE! I SAW THAT! Okay, you can look now" said Rarity, and when they opened their eyes, they saw five masterfully made dresses which appeared to be specifically made to complement each mare's character and appearance which Rarity appeared to be extremely proud of "What do you think of you work duds now Applejack, pretty swanky are they not? And Twilight, what do you think of yours? I specifically designed each outfit to perfectly reflect your individual personalities. It took me forever to get the colours right on this one Rainbow Dash, but I did it and it turned out wonderfully, don't you think? And I know you're doing to love yours Fluttershy, it just SINGS spring. And Pinkie Pie look: PINK, your favourite. Aren't they all amazing?"

"Your craftsmareship is certainly impressive Rarity, you created these in, what? A couple of hours and they look like something you'd see in a high grade designer's shop" answered Winter, in shock at how she managed to make them so well in such a short time, the other mares did not appear to be as impressed however - if their reactions were anything to go by - until Rainbow confirmed it.

"Mine's just not as cool as I was imagining" she said, getting glares from Applejack and Twilight and an eye roll from Winter "what? She asked."

"I guess what we're all saying is that they're just not what we had in mind" Twilight said, getting a hurt look from Rarity and sounds of agreement from the other mares.

"Girls really? You're not fashion designers, wouldn't it be best to go with Rarity's designs here, since she knows what she's doing?" asked Winter, scowling at their reactions but Rarity waved a hoof in his direction to tell him it was fine.

"That's okay, that's not a problem as there's plenty more where that came from, these were only a first pass anyway" Rarity said, taking the dresses of their mannequins.

"You don't have to do that Rarity, they're just fine" interjected Fluttershy, attempting to spare Rarity's feelings.

"But I want them to be better than "just fine", I'll remake them until you're satisfied. After all, you're my friends and I want you to be one hundred and ten percent satisfied."

"Are you sure? I mean, we wouldn't want to impose" asked Applejack.

"It's no imposition… really."

"Well in that case, thank you again Rarity" said Twilight as she left along with the others except Winter who approached Rarity just in time to hear her wonder what she's gotten herself into.

"Are you okay? I mean, it can't have been easy listening to your friends reject your ideas like that" he asked her, helping her tidy up the mess in the room.

"It's fine, a fashion designer must always be open to criticism" she answered, disguising her hurt with her professionalism.

"There's a difference between criticism and what that was" Winter replied, scowling at the actions of their friends.

"Regardless, the customer's always right" snapped Rarity, ending their conversation on the matter "now, while you're here, do you have any design specifications on your suit? I'd hate to make the same mistake with you as I did with the girls."

"You're the fashion designer here, not me. You're better with this thing than I am."

"That's NOT an answer! What do you want?"

"Meh, just make it fit who I am, other than that I'm not really bothered."

"Well that's given me a lot to work with" Rarity grumbled sarcastically before ushering Winter out. The next few hours were consumed by Rarity bringing in her friends and making their dresses according to their designs with the finished products looking extremely over the top. While the girls were admiring their dresses, Spike ran in.

"You are not going to believe this" he began, panting from sprinting all the way to the Carousel Boutique "you've heard of Hoity Toity?"

"The big wig fashion hotshot in Canterlot?" asked Twilight, making sure it was THAT Hoity Toity.

"Tch, emphasis on the "big wig" part; his wig is enormous" muttered Winter, displeasure evident in his voice about the Canterlot fashion designer.

"Yeah, he heard about your fashion show – well, maybe I happened to mention it do him – and he's coming here, all the way from Canterlot to see your work Rarity" finished Spike excitedly.

"Whoa nelly, you could sell a ton of dresses to this guy, business will be boomin'" said Applejack to expressions of support from the other mares in the room and to Rarity's horror.

"Hoity Toity? He's coming here? To see THESE dresses?" she asked and Spike confirmed it.

Scene Change: Fashion Show

The ponies gathered as Rarity poked her head out from behind the curtain and caught sight of the famous designer. He was a navy blue stallion with a whitish-blue wavy mane wearing purple sunglasses and a shirt collar and cuffs with gold cufflinks, his Cutie Mark was of either a paper fan or a cheque book, I'm not sure which to be honest.

"Is he here yet?" asked Winter, popping his head out from behind Rarity, spooking her and he scowled as he saw the stallion clap for a cushion to be put down and he then sat on the face of the pony who put it down "hmph, pompous git."

"You don't like him?" asked Rarity as the two retreated behind the curtain because the lights had gone off, signalling the show was starting.

"Met him once before at one of Lord Blood Cell's parties, I didn't much care for his attitude, anyway I'm off now" Winter said before turning and fell over something "why is there a sink here?"

"It fell off my wall and I still have to fix it" Rarity explained as Spike monologued and the mares walked out to show off their dresses, much to the displeasure of the crowd.

"Why's everypony staring at us like that" asked Applejack upon noticing the looks they were getting which caused Twilight to look at her dress in realisation.

"Oh dear" she said.

"Do you think we overdid it?" Rainbow whispered.

"Hm, nah…. Okay, maybe a little" replied Applejack.

"Credit where it's due, they've managed to keep a confident look" said Winter, watching the performance "I don't think I'd be able to keep a confident look if I were in their hooves…"

"I don't think you'd be able to make a dress look good anyway Winter, even an expertly designed one" replied Rarity, looking amused at the thought despite the seriousness of her situation.

"That wasn't what I meant…" he deadpanned before being rudely interrupted by Hoity Toity.

"Urgh, those amateurish designs look like a perverted mismatch of everything but the kitchen sink…" the fashion titan said, annoying Winter and making the crowd laugh.

"I'll give HIM the kitchen sink!" Winter growled, said sink held in his forehooves while he tried to throw the sink at Hoity Toity but was held back by Rarity.

"It's a travesty is what it is, those dresses are the ugliest things I've ever had the misfortune to see in my entire life, oh for shame! Who is the pony responsible for assaulting our eyes with such horrors and not to mention wasting MY valuable time?!" the fashion designer finished which made Rarity recoil in fear.

"Hide me" she whimpered, hiding behind Winter and her cat Opalescence.

"Relax, I'll handle this" Winter said, walking out towards the stage as Spike asked Rarity to come out and take a bow, resulting in the crowd being shocked when Winter walked out.

"Right, as everypony can see, I'm not Rarity" he began, looking at the ponies and gestured Twilight, Applejack, Rainbow, Fluttershy and Pinkie to come off stage "you see, Ms. Rarity has been taken ill lately and thus was unable to work on the designs of these dresses properly until today, resulting in her rushing to complete them for the show tonight and – as you can see – it's far from her best work; so I apologise for that and, rest assured, you won't see something like these dresses again if she has anything to say about it."

"Hmph, we shouldn't have seen them in the first place" said Hoity Toity, flipping his hair and turning, causing Winter to scowl in annoyance "anypony can see that the one who created these… atrocities is unfit to be called a fashion designer!"

"Listen you pompous…" Winter began before Rainbow cut in and started pushing him backstage as he continued his rant about Hoity Toity.

"Err… now now Winter, no need for rash actions against the business man" Rainbow said as she pushed him back and off stage.

Scene Change: Carousel Boutique

The ponies involved in the fashion show fiasco were all assembled outside Rarity's bedroom door as she was having a nervous breakdown inside and they were deciding what to do.

"So what should we do now?" Twilight asked them all worriedly.

"Panic?" asked Fluttershy to Rainbow's annoyance.

"That's your answer for everything!" she said, getting a glare from Winter for her attitude.

"I could break in and make sure she's not doing anything drastic" said Winter, getting odd looks from the other ponies.

"Why would you do that?" asked Twilight, looking scandalized at the thought of it.

"Meh, I'm legally allowed to do it if I think she's a danger to herself or other ponies" he explained to confused looks from the mares there, causing him to elaborate further "it's an old law from after the Nightmare Moon incident, but I have to have clad-iron proof that I was doing it because I thought it was best for the pony in question, otherwise I'll be getting very well acquainted with our Solar Overlord's dungeons and lecture theatre."

"Well Ah don't think we need to resort to that just yet, but Ah DO think we need to do somethin' to get her out of this funk of hers" interjected Applejack which caused Pinkie's mind to go to a rather odd place.

"Ooh, if we don't help her out, she could become a crazy cat lady!" said Pinkie, looking terrified at the thought and getting weird looks from the other ponies.

"She only has ONE cat" deadpanned Twilight to which Pinkie responded with a warning about time and everypony rolled their eye at her antics, then Twilight looked through the keyhole to see if she couldn't find something of use in getting Rarity out of there and here gaze landed on the original design of Rarity's dress, quickly she used her magic to roll up the designs and slide them through the keyhole.

"Maybe we could make this for her, it might cheer her up a bit" said Twilight, showing them the designs and Fluttershy admitted that she could make the dress in question.

"There's still the matter of her reputation being in tatters" muttered Winter thoughtfully as the mares looked down as it was their fault before Winter's head shot up "AH! I have an idea, you five make the dress, I'll deal with fixing Rarity's reputation."

Scene Change: Outside

A little while later, Fluttershy had completed Rarity's dress and Rainbow had lured her out to see it, resulting in Rarity being chuffed to bits with it and forgiving her friends which left only the issue of her reputation being in pieces but – as luck (or Winter) would have it – Hoity Toity was walking by and saw them.

"Alright, let's get this over with" he said, looking around as if scared something would jump out at him, the group then went into the Carousel Boutique where Rarity quickly made five more dresses to match her original designs and the other five set up a stage while Hoity sat down and made himself comfortable.

"Take Two" he said as Spike closed the curtains and Rarity used her magic to turn the stage purple with stars flying out and they then manifested as Twilight wearing her dress "Hello? Well this can't be the same designer…"

"It wasn't" came Winter's voice from next to him, causing him to jump and recoil in fear "Rarity may have made the first set of dresses, but she was in no way responsible for the designs of them. What you see here are her original first designs for them."

"Really now?" asked Hoity nervously, edging away from the white stallion before getting distracted by Rarity's other designs "Remarkable, simply remarkable, who is the pony responsible for such wonders? Step forward and show yourself!"

Rarity stepped forward, a light blue light shining from her horn and wearing her dress (which suited her perfectly, not that Winter could see because her light was blinding him) and causing Hoity Toity to go bonkers over it, causing Rarity to thank them all.

The mares split up to admire their outfits and Hoity Toity wanted to stock Rarity's dresses in his Canterlot shop and asked for a dozen of each by "next Tuesday"

"Spike, take a note for Princess Celestia please" said Twilight before a voice from the door caused them all to jump and whirl around to find out who it was.

"Why not tell me in person, Twilight?" asked the Princess, causing all the ponies in the room to hurriedly bow due to her unexpected visit.

"Really? Haven't you ever heard of knocking?" grumbled Winter quietly but the Princess still heard him and smiled at him mischievously.

"Yes but I couldn't miss the chance of scaring you out of your wits Winter, and I must say: your face was truly priceless" she replied, causing the Element bearers and Spike to laugh at his misfortune and the stallion in question to roll his eyes good naturedly "well, haven't you got something to tell me Twilight?"

"Oh… yes Princess" said Twilight quickly before clearing her throat "Today my friend Rarity here learned that if you try to please everypony, you often end up pleasing nopony and I learned that if somepony does something really generous for you – like making you a beautiful now dress – you shouldn't be overly critical of it…"

"In short, you should never look a gift horse in the mouth" finished Celestia, smiling at her until Winter chimed in.

"We also learned that Rarity's the only competent fashion designer among us" he said with an eye smile, causing Rarity to blush and the others to laugh.

"Actually now that you mention it: how DID you get Hoity Toity over here, Winter?" asked Rarity, knowing Winter had something to do with his presence there, causing the other mares (including our favourite white Alicorn) to look at him curiously, wondering the same.

"Well…" Winter began, thinking back to the event with a sweat drop.

FLASHBACK

"Excuse me Mr. Toity" said Winter, galloping up to him as he finally found him in Sugarcube Corner after looking since they split up earlier.

"What is it, don't you know my time is extremely valuable?!" barked the fashion designer, causing Winter to grit his teeth.

'Keep calm, remember this is for Rarity's sake, not yours' he thought as he put on a friendly face "Well I was wondering if you would go and see Rarity's new designs."

"And why would I do that after the first pieces of trash?"

"I told you, those were rushed things, she's spent a lot more time on these since recovering from her illness and they are truly exceptional"

"Tch, and why should I believe you? What would a stupid Unicorn from a backwater town know about fashion?"

"Because… you know what, I've had it with you!" started Winter before finally losing his grip on his temper slightly and pulling out a rolling pin from under his cloak "I've tried being nice, I've tried reasoning and I've tried diplomacy. But you have just been a pompous windbag and thrown it in my face! So get down to the Carousel Boutique or I'll deflate you the hard way!"

"Are you threatening me?" demanded Hoity Toity, drawing himself up and meeting Winter's angry glare "because I will not be intimidated by…"

"No, I'm telling you to GET YOUR FLANK MOVING!" Winter interrupted, whacking him on the head with the rolling pin and then chasing him out with it over his head, shouting "HORRIBLE OLD WINDBAG, FOR EVERY MINUTE YOU'RE NOT THERE I'LL GIVE YOU A SOUND BONKING!" as they left and confusing Derpy as she walked in and saw the commotion.

"Err… who annoyed Winter this time?" she asked awkwardly and everypony responded with "HOITY TOITY!" before an ice blue cloud of smoke appeared in front of her and manifested into a note, she opened it and saw that it read "Sorry about that Derpy – from Winter". She shook her head at his antics.

FLASHBACK END

"…With my charm and good looks of course" Winter finished with an eye smile, causing all the mares (and Spike) to face fault at his answer before Rainbow turned to Celestia.

"Not that we mind your visit or anything, your majesty, but why are you here?" she asked, voicing the question that was on everypony's mind.

"Well, I came to see Winter about his fireworks for the Gala, normally a guard would do this but I wanted to see Twilight and all of you, so I came instead" she answered, causing the Element bearers to look at each other and Winter to walk forwards.

"Well, let's get this over with quickly so you can spend some time with your student" he said as both he and Celestia left, both headed for his hut as Celestia smirked.

"Why Winter, one would think you didn't want to spend time with me and I came all this way to see you…" she said to him dramatically causing him to roll his eyes and carry on, which resulted in her frowning slightly and muttering "killjoy, even Dark on duty was more fun than you are. If I wanted to talk to a statue, I'd go into the gardens or talk to a guard. Why does no-pony talk to me like a friend anymore?"

'Huh? Is she really that lonely?' Winter wondered as he overheard her statement and turned to look at her "once you've inspected my fireworks, do you want to "hang out" as Dash would put it?"

"I can? Really?" asked Celestia, her face lighting up like a Christmas tree and when Winter nodded, she almost appeared to be blinding with how excited she was before rambling about what she wanted to do until she said something that caused Winter to give her a weird look "…tea with oranges and lemons and pineapples… wait a minute, I don't like pineapples, do I…? What?"

"I'm sorry, pineapples? Why would you suggest such a thing? If there were a more pointless fruit, I have yet to see it…" started Winter, going on a rant about pineapples which caused Celestia to smile before her eyes widened as she saw a silhouette of an Alicorn with a blood red mane, tail and eyes stand behind Winter and say the exact same words as him, their voices mingling to form one "… inedible, ugly to look at, you can't use it to bonk some sense into ponies without causing grievous bodily harm or brain damage and that's just the beginning of it! Honestly, I don't know what Faust was doing when she created pineapples but if I ever meet her I'm going to tell her exactly what I think of those thrice accursed… what?"

Celestia had descended into a fit of laughter that had ended up with her rolling around on the floor with tears streaming down her face, after about ten minutes, she'd finally calmed down enough to answer Winter's question.

"I'm sorry, but you reminded me of a pony that I knew well, your little speech on pineapples was almost identical to one he gave when we first tried them… I think you two would get on well" she said, smiling at the memory of her and Dark's first taste of a pineapple as she finally stopped laughing before muttering "even if he had more of a sense of humour than you do."

"What happened to him?" asked Winter, while feeling a bit offended at the remark about his sense of humour 'That was rude, seeings as I was standing RIGHT HERE! Typical Celestia, as blunt as an angry and blind rhinoceros in a china shop when she's not playing the part of Princess'

"I wish I knew, I've not seen him in years" she replied, grin fading and a sad look coming to her face "thought I found him about 400 years ago in one of the larger cities but it was just a Pegasus that looked like him." Here she laughed bitterly "imagine that: your ruler couldn't tell a Pegasus from an Alicorn."

'Huh, she really misses me, perhaps I…' Winter thought before a memory unbidden came to the forefront of his mind.
"THIS WHOLE SITUATION WAS YOUR FAULT! YOUR PRESENCE CAUSED MY DEAR SISTER TO TURN INTO THAT… MONTER! IF YOU REALLY WANT TO PROTECT ME THEN YOU CAN PROTECT ME BY LEAVING! I NEVER WANT TO FIND YOU IN MY SIGHT AGAIN!" Celestia's voice, riddled with fury tore through his ears like it was only yesterday, the volume making his head hurt and the words themselves sending a knife into his heart that caused him to visibly wince in pain, only his sheer force of will keeping him standing and Celestia looked visibly concerned for him.

"Winter?" she asked, there was no reply.

'No, she ordered me away from her for her own protection. I will NEVER willingly endanger her while I still draw breath; even if one of those dangers happens to be me, I WILL protect her from them all until I die' he thought while Celestia tried to get his attention.

"Winter" she said, a little louder and firmer, he turned to look at her, blood red eyes locking with violet "are you alright?"

"I'm fine, a bad memory is all."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No thanks, it was ages ago and I've made peace with it"

'He's/I'm lying' the two thought at the same time before they reached Winter's hut. After inspecting Winter's inventory for the Gala, Winter brewed a pot of tea and the two sat just making idle conversation until the Element bearers burst into his house, probably looking for the princess.

"Ah, you're here. Care to join us?" Winter asked, levitating a few cups and pulling up a few chairs, the mares accepted his offer and the rest of the day was just spent conversing with each other, telling jokes and laughing at Winter and Rainbow's antics. It actually made Celestia look forward to the Grand Galloping Gala for once.

'Well now, this years Gala should be fun, pity I'll be on meet-and-greet duty because I'd love to spend a bit more time getting to know Winter, he seems like a most interesting pony' Celestia thought, looking at him over her tea cup as he laughed at something Rainbow had said and saw the silhouette of Dark over him again, causing her to recoil almost unnoticeably as the apparition grinned at her, winked and then disappeared 'Dark's absence must be hitting me harder than I thought, I'm seeing him in Winter and that's just preposterous! Dark would never be as stupid as to hide right in front of me and expect me to be fooled. No, he's probably right on the edges of Equestria if not outside of it by now; still, I will find him, I need to apologise and let him know that order no longer stands…'

"That pony is certainly of interest, I shall need to watch him in future… " could've been heard deep within Celestia's subconscious (if anypony other than Celestia (and she wasn't listening, as she was too distracted by her own thoughts) was in there) as a pair of yellow eyes watched with great interest "Winter Shield, just WHO are you?"

Author's Note

Right, that's all for today folks; as you can see, I've literally brought the current chapters of my Fanfiction.net story over to FIMFiction and I'm working on the next chapter now.
Sorry it took so long but RL was really hectic over the last couple of weeks and this was the first real chance I had to transfer my chapters over. Let me know what you think of them or just leave a general comment, since I'm still new to FIMFiction as an author, I'd really like to get to know my readers. Also would you like my Author's Notes at the bottom of the page to be like they are on Fanfiction.net where I basically summarise the story with a different character each time? As I said, let me know what you think, but please follow my reviewing rules which are: phrase your feedback in a polite and comprehensible manner and try to provide examples of areas that need improvement if possible.
Right,I think I've wased enough of your time with my rambling, so Until Next Time,
Darth Annihilator - out.

Sonic Rainboom

Sonic Rainboom
The day after Rarity’s dress making antics and Celestia’s random visit had proven to be an extremely bewildering one, Twilight Sparkle had spent all day chasing Pinkie Pie around trying to figure out how her so-called “Pinkie Sense” worked and had wound up going to Froggy Bottom Bog with Applejack and Spike to check on Fluttershy after Pinkie had said there would be a “doozy” there; Winter had decided to follow them and find out just what was going on and he eventually found them all on the other side of a ravine.
“That’s funny, Fluttershy’s not with the animals…” he mused before Pinkie’s voice cut him off. He looked over a ravine to see the all perched on a narrow ledge on the other side.
“We’re over here Winter… we’re hiding” she said dramatically, prompting a raised eyebrow from Winter.
“You’re doing what?”
“We’re hiding, from a hideous monster, Winter.”
“Oh yeah? Well, where is it now then?” he asked before being knocked into a tree by the tail of a large Hydra, he hit the tree so hard that the trunk cracked and the tree fell over.
“There it is” answered Pinkie cheerfully.
“You seem to know a lot about monsters Winter, what do you think it is?” cut in Applejack as the Hydra blew a raspberry at them.
“Looks like that Hydra from the Everfree Forest that I taught a lesson to” Winter replied as the Hydra looked at him with recognition and snarled at him.
“Ah think you’d better get rid of it” she said, sitting down to watch the show that they all knew was coming.
“I intend to Applejack” he responded before picking up the remains of the tree trunk “right Scale Face, if you don’t clear off right now, I’m going to give you a sound bonking!”
“Oh here we go” groaned Twilight as the Hydra lunged at Winter but missed because he teleported backwards.
“RIGHT, You asked for this!” Winter snapped as he swung the trunk into its face and sent it flying off of the hill they were on; it looked at him, dazed, and he scowled at it “Oh, clear off!”
“Remind me never to get on Winter’s bad side” muttered Spike as the Hydra started walking dazedly off in the direction of Fluttershy’s frogs, which Winter didn’t fail to notice.
“I’d better get rid of that thing before Princess Sugar Addict sees it and decides to blast Froggy Bottom Bog off of the map and eat all my desserts again or something…” he muttered, which resulted in a laugh from Pinkie and Applejack, an eye-roll from Spike and a worried look from Twilight before something happened that halted them in their tracks.
“I HEARD THAT!!!” came an angry voice which caused Winter’s (and the Hydra’s) blood to turn to ice in fear of what was accompanying it, they turned their gaze skyward to see our favourite dessert loving princess wearing a furious look on her face.
“RUN!” he screamed as both he and the Hydra scarpered, the seething princess chasing after them so fast, she looked like a golden beam of light.
“I’LL GET YOU FOR THAT COMMENT WINTER!!!” she shouted as she chased them “AND DON’T THINK YOU’RE OFF THE HOOK FOR THREATENING MY STUDENT SCALE FACE!!!”
Meanwhile the folks on the ravine edge were watching the spectacle with odd looks on their faces as their princess, who had governed Equestria for over a thousand years, chased a Hydra and their Unicorn friend around the swamp while firing blasts of golden energy at them.
“Is this one of the reasons why you had so few friends before coming to Ponyville, Twilight?” asked Applejack, watching the chaos that her ruler was causing, unknowingly asking the question that was on everypony’s mind.
“Not exactly, ponies were more worried about my grandmother than the princess for some strange reason” answered Twilight, sweatdropping as she thought of her grandmother’s rather… unique personality “Anyway, I don’t know how that happened; coincidence, dumb luck or what, but Pinkie said there’d be a doozy at Froggy Bottom Bog and I’d say we just had ourselves one heck of a doozy, I mean, who could’ve predicted THAT series of events happening?”
“Was it just me, or did anyone else see Princess Celestia come rocketing past just now?” piped in the voice of Rainbow Dash, who had just popped up out of nowhere after the Princess started chasing Winter.
Suddenly, Pinkie started shaking again, revealing that none of the events that happened were the “doozy” which caused Twiight’s brain to malfunction then Twilight to literally burst into flames before declaring that she gave up on trying to figure out Pinkie and her “Pinkie Sense” and that she believed in it, which caused Pinkie to stop twitching, revealing that that was the “doozy”. The next day, Twilight wrote her Friendship report up and asked Spike to send it but before he could, Princess Celestia landed on Twilight’s balcony and took it before she flew off again. He then ran after Twilight, where he found her with the other Element Bearers and Trixie who were asking Winter about what happened to him yesterday.
“Well, after the Solar Overlord sent the Hydra flying over half of Equestria, she then put a few new holes in the landscape before capturing me and teleporting me way, locking me in her chambers…” Winter explained to them but was interrupted by Trixie.
“Does Trixie really want to know where this is going?” she asked, wearing a slightly disgusted look which resulted in confused looks from Winter, Rainbow and Twilight, a slightly understanding look from Rarity and normal facial expressions from the rest.
“Why? What do you think happened?” interjected Twilight, trying to work out Trixie’s line of thinking.
“Well… you know…”
“I’ve no idea what you’re talking about Trixie, everypony knows that I never do ANYTHING not suitable for family viewing” answered Winter with an eye-roll as he caught on to where Trixie’s thoughts were going “Get your mind out of the gutter!”
“MOVING ON!” interrupted Rainbow as she wanted to know what happened next in Winter’s story “please continue Winter, I wanna know how much trouble you were in.”
“Thanks for your concern Dash” deadpanned Winter in response to Rainbow’s interest in how angry Celestia was with him “anyway, she made me spend the rest of the day having tea with her… well, she also made me sing to her as well at one point…”
“Ha, bet she regretted that” said Rainbow, falling out of the air from laughing so hard.
“Her windows broke if you must know” he replied which caused the others to laugh and he eventually joined them.
“So what happened to training today, Dash?” Winter asked, changing the subject and causing the rainbow maned mare to turn to Fluttershy.
“It’d be going a whole lot better if Fluttershy would step her cheering up a bit. She’s a great support and all, but her cheering isn’t exactly inspirational” Rainbow answered, as she gave Fluttershy a half-hearted glare before turning back to her friends “I wish you all could come to Cloudsdale to see me compete in the Best Young Fliers Competition.”
“The what now?” asked Twilight, blinking in confusion along with Trixie.
“And what’s that when it’s at home?” added on Trixie to voice her own confusion but before Rainbow could give an angry retort, Pinkie answered the question.
“It’s where the greatest Pegasus fliers get together and show off all their stud, some are fast and some are graceful” she said, as she tried to act out the flying styles with varying degrees of success, getting weird looks from the others.
“And that was neither graceful nor fast” muttered Trixie as Applejack voiced her desire to see Rainbow perform which prompted another interjection from Pinkie.
“OOH! I’d love to see you perform a Sonic Rainboom, it’s like the COOLEST thing ever (even though I’ve never actually seen one) but still it’s a SONIC RAINBOOM! How not cool could it possibly not be?”
“What’s a Sonic Rainboom?” asked Twilight, confused as she’d only ever heard of a Sonic Boom before.
“It’s a rare phenomenon where a Pegasus or Alicorn is going so fast they break both the Sound and the Visible Light Barriers simultaneously” answered Winter, looking at Rainbow analytically “the only pony ever recorded to have done this is Princess Celestia though it is speculated that Princess Luna or Nightmare Moon could also perform one, but it was never confirmed. I’ve also seen our very own Rainbow Dash perform one before as well.”
“Really?” asked Twilight, looking at Rainbow impressed.
“Yeah, but it was a long time ago, I was just a filly” replied Rainbow, with a rare note of modesty in her voice.
“But you’re gonna do it again, right?” asked Pinkie, bouncing all over the place, drawing a worried look from Rainbow but before she could answer, Winter interrupted.
“I wouldn’t advise it because the Rainboom takes an immense toll on the body, due to the body not being used to going at speeds near to or even exceeding the speed of light” he said, fixing Rainbow with a firm stare “Rainbow could very well hospitalise herself just from performing the Rainboom and that’s not even taking into account the damage she’ll do to herself if she hits anything while moving at those high speeds.”
“Winter, I’m not a foal! I can take care of myself!” Rainbow snapped at him, fixing him with a glare that would scare most ponies into submission but not Winter as he’d been on the receiving end of that glare many times (in fact, he practically taught it to Rainbow) and thus was not cowed by it “anyway, I’m gonna rest up, don’t want to over prepare myself or anything…”
“She’s practiced that move over a hundred times and not even come close once, I’m not sure if I can cheer loud enough to motivate her into doing it” said Fluttershy as Rainbow took off and Fluttershy followed her.
“It’s not only a matter of motivation though” Winter said after the two Pegasi had left, drawing confused looks from the others “in order to do the Rainboom, Dash will need to push herself way beyond the limit since her body isn’t used to moving at those speeds; unless she can find a way to do that, she won’t be able to perform the Rainboom at all.”
“Don’t you have any faith in her Winter?” asked Rarity, looking slightly scandalized at Winter’s apparent lack of faith in Rainbow, which caused Winter to sigh.
“It’s not that I lack faith in her, it’s that I worry about what will happen to her if… no, WHEN she succeeds” he explained while massaging his temples with a hoof “the last time she did one, she was fine for about a day afterwards but was bedridden for over a week afterwards due to the fact that her muscles were almost shredded from the stress that it put on her body; it would’ve been longer had it not been for healing magic, so you can imagine why I’m not so keen on her doing this stunt.”
“Well, do either you or Twiight have a spell that will get us wingless ponies into Cloudsdale?” asked Rarity out of the blue, causing Winter to raise his eyebrow.
“Well there is the Cloud-Walking spell but it’s a permanent spell and the last time I used it was a decade ago, so I’ve forgotten it… sorry” answered Winter slightly sheepishly while thinking ‘more like I never actually used it, being an Alicorn and all’ before he realised something “why the sudden interest?”
“Well didn’t you see how nervous she was? Our presence there would give her a much needed confidence boost” she answered, which resulted in a thoughtful look from Twilight and a scoff from Applejack.
“Nervous? Did your ears temporally stop working or somethin’? She was tootin’ her own horn louder than the brass section of a marching band” the farmpony said, which caused Rarity to lecture them about stage fright and Pinkie to pull a book on giving a pony wings out of nowhere, which Twilight read and saw that it was an extremely complex spell and thus requested a test subject, resulting in Applejack and Pinkie exchanging nervous looks while Winter rolled his eyes.
“The last time I had wings, I was harassed by the entirety of Cloudsdale, more trouble than they’re worth if you ask me” he said as Rarity steeled herself and offered to be the test subject, Twilight lit her horn with lavender light and tendrils of turquoise light began spiralling around Rarity until she was encased in a cocoon of light which exploded, sending all the ponies back and causing Winter to crash into a wooden stand and break it.
“I needed that…” he sighed before teleporting it back to his house to fix it later when he was blinded by multi-coloured light “OI! PUT THAT LIGHT OUT! PUT THAT LIGHT OUT!”
“I think it worked” chimed in a woozy Twilight after she caught sight of the effects of her spell on Rarity, as well as being somewhat enraptured by the lights like the other mares in the room, resulting in them all ignoring Winter’s shouting to put the light out.
Scene Change: Cloudsdale
“Well if it isn’t our old friend Rainbow Crash” was the first thing Winter heard as he wandered into Cloudsdale and found Rainbow and Fluttershy surrounded by three rather rude stallions, the one who had spoken was a brown Pegasus with a greyish mane and a Cutie Mark in the shape of a barbell, which Winter took as his cue to intervene.
“Wow, what a creative insult that was, you should try putting your clearly unparalleled creativity into something productive like writing” he said as he approached, voice almost literally dripping with sarcasm and drawing the attention of all the Pegasi there.
“Say what? What’s it to you anyway?” retorted the Pegasus, attempting to intimidate Winter but doing a really poor job of it.
“Well I couldn’t help but notice that you three idiots were ganging up on that mare there, so – being the good, upstanding citizen I am – I simply had to intervene.”
“So you think you’re some kinda hero for standing up for Rainbow Crash here?”
“Nope, just a semi-decent citizen.”
“Oh really? Just who are you anyway?”
“Winter Shield, you may recognise me as the Unicorn who threw you through three thunder clouds after you started bullying Dash here at a most inappropriate time” Winter answered, getting worried looks from the three bullies as they remembered what he did in defence of the rainbow maned Pegasus “now clear off and stop bugging my friend.”
“Too bad your little guardian here won’t be able to compete in the contest for you, it’d save you a ton of embarrassment when you botch your whole performance in front of the Wonderbolts and Princess Celestia. Don’t worry, we’ll definitely be there to watch you fail” put in one of the brown Pegasus’ cronies, a beige coloured Pegasus with a brown mane and three basketballs as a Cutie Mark, before they all flew off laughing and Rainbow sighed.
“Those guys are right, I’ll never be able to do it” she said in a depressed tone which caused Fluttershy to attempt to reassure her but only succeeded in making her feel worse.
“Dash, you must remember that ponies told Princesses Celestia and Luna that they’d never be able to unite the three pony tribes or defeat Discord but they still did and that ponies said that you’d never be able to defeat Nightmare Moon but you still did; never let another pony’s doubts define your abilities, just do your best and anypony that matters will be proud of you” interjected Winter when it became obvious that Fluttershy’s attempts were not having the intended affect.
“Maybe, thanks Winter, I feel slightly better now” Rainbow replied gratefully, returning to her normal self “but if Princess Celestia banishes me to the Everfree Forest, I’m blaming you.”
“Would that really be a punishment? I mean you have Zecora to hang out with there…”
“And your old friend Scale Face.”
“Exactly, who wouldn’t want to live there?”
“Well me… for… one…” Rainbow trailed off as she saw that Fluttershy was distracted by something, she spun round to see what it was but she could hardly believe it herself “is that Rarity… WITH WINGS?!”
“Why it most certainly is” answered the Unicorn in question who happened to have a pair of giant butterfly wings on her back, allowing her to fly “Don’t you like my new wings? Twilight made them for me and I just ADORE them.”
Rainbow gazed on in shock for a moment before rounding on Winter “DID YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS?!”
“If you’re asking if I knew that they were going to do this, then no, I didn’t” he answered as Rarity continued talking before a large lavender hot air balloon rose through the clouds and landed in front of them with Twilight, Pinkie and Applejack in the basket who disembarked and stood on the clouds with no bother at all, shocking Fluttershy but not Rainbow who’d seen Winter do it when she was younger, eventually it was decided that they’d take a tour around Cloudsdale but first Winter had an important question to ask.
“Won’t anypony mind that we’ve basically put a massive hole in the base of a city?”
“Nope, happens almost every other week when the wind gets out of control” was his answer from a passing Pegasus worker as they waked over a verge made of clouds to see the rest of the city… before Rarity distracted them after she caught sight of herself in a mirror, much to Winter’s chagrin as he walked over and started pushing her away from it.
“Come on, we don’t need you acting like a parrot and preening yourself every time you see a mirror” he said as he pushed the protesting Unicorn after the rest of the group who had decided to continue the tour, the next stop was the Weather Factory which Applejack had decided to visit after Twilight warned Rarity to be careful with her wings as they were extremely delicate.
“Ow! Ow! OW!” groaned Winter as the thunder clouds seemed to have a strange fixation with shocking him, resulting in him getting shocked several times as they headed into the factory “that’s the fifth cloud now! What did I do to them?”
“Maybe Princess Celestia put them up to it” said Rainbow jokingly as they explored the snowflake making room, however Rarity’s wings kicked up too much of a draught resulting in the snowflakes being blown everywhere in the room and Rainbow quickly ushering them out to the rainbow making area, Pinkie decided to taste the rainbow and found that it was extremely spicy, much to the amusement of the other ponies (other than Rarity, who was preening under compliments about her wings again).
“Well look who it is, Rainbow Crash again” came the voice of the brown Pegasus that had been taunting her, it appeared that he and his cronies had been following Rarity about since they’d arrived at the factory.
“Yeah Rainbow… um… ah… erm… Crash!” added in the beige (and apparently slightly dim-witted) one.
“You three again?” groaned Winter as Rainbow asked what Rarity was doing hanging around with them.
“Oh, they were just admiring my wings, Rainbow Dash” was the answer from the winged Unicorn which resulted in more teasing from the trio before they left and damaged Rainbow’s confidence even more.
“Relax Dash, you’ll do fine in the competition” Winter said to her as she sighed and looked at him with an upset look on her face.
“I hate to say it but they’re right, I’ll never be able to do the Sonic Rainboom and just look at these boring old feathered wings” Rainbow replied in a down tone, which caused Winter to take her to one side and wrap a foreleg around her as they sat down.
“Dash, remember what happened when you came home after the first time you crashed at flight school?” Winter asked her, which earned him a confused look from the Pegasus.
“Yeah but why does it matter?” she asked before seeing the look on his face and relenting “those guys had been harassing me about being unable to control my speed after I went too fast and crashed through two walls and a window of the mains school building, they continued doing so all the way home until Dad saw the look on my face and chased them off while spraying them with a hose pipe; as I recall, you were nearly dying of laughter when he did so.”
“And do you remember what Spectrum told you afterwards?” Winter pressed and then continued on as it appeared that Rainbow was beginning to follow his line of thought “he said: “What you should remember Rainbow, is that no pony worth their salt ever got something perfectly right the first time they ever did it, not even the Princesses. While our successes can and do teach us much, we learn the most from our failures so do not ever be afraid to fail, instead look upon it as an opportunity to learn and grow as an individual and remember that both I and your mother will ALWAYS be proud of you.” Now, I’m not your parents nor am I ever going to try and substitute for them but I will tell you this: the only way your parents will even consider being disappointed in you is if you quit this competition because of fear of failure; if you really wish to quit, then quit for your own reasons, not because a few idiots and a prideful Unicorn are putting you off!”
“Yeah, thanks Winter, that really helped” Rainbow said before she gained a look in her eye that told Winter she’d steeled herself for the competition “I might still blow it, but at least I won’t be bothered by wondering what happened if I did compete instead.”
“That’s the spirit. Now, let’s catch up with the others so I can undoubtedly be shocked by more thunder clouds” he replied which gained a laugh from Rainbow as they rushed to catch up with the mares, they eventually caught up in a room full of clouds (thankfully, there were no thunder clouds) where a crowd of Pegasi workers was surrounding Rarity, making noises of appreciation at her wings and Twilight appeared to be telling her off, the duo managed to catch Rarity’s response to Twilight’s admonishment.
“Twilight darling, how can you ask me to put away perfection? It’s a crime against nature to do so” the winged Unicorn replied as she flew up in front of the sun and the light was scattered through her wings like a glass prism, forming a rainbow pattern, which shook Rainbow’s newly regained confidence and earned a frown from Winter.
“Rarity, you’re not the flamboyant one or the one with buckets of self-esteem, that’s Dash’s role. You’re the dramatic Unicorn fashionista so get down here and stop messing about; we’re here for Dash, not you!” shouted the irate stallion at the fashionista, which started off an argument between Winter and Rarity (and her admirers). While this was going on, Twilight walked over to Rainbow to try and offer some measure of support or comfort to the Pegasus.
“Rainbow Dash, are you okay? You don’t look so good” the lavender Unicorn asked the slightly pale and quivering Pegasus who was watching the argument between her two friends escalate.
“Yeah, I’m just gonna have to do my best in the Best Young Fliers Competition and hope Rarity’s wings distract everypony if I blow it” came the reply from the usually overconfident Pegasus, which was heard by a pony with a pink mane, the same colour eyes as Rainbow and a Cutie Mark of a rainbow (her name was Rainbowshine).
“Hey there’s an idea: you should totally enter the competition” chimed in Rainbowshine to various voices of agreement by her fellow admirers.
“Well it’s true that there really is no other pony that uses their wings quite like I do…” began Rarity before she was interrupted by our favourite grouchy stallion.
“BECAUSE NO OTHER PONY HAS A PAIR OF ARTIFICIAL BUTTERFLY WINGS!!!” Winter shouted but was ignored.
“… Perhaps I should enter the competition” she finished, getting a horrified look from Rainbow and an annoyed look from Winter.
“WHAT?!” exclaimed the cyan Pegasus in horror as Rarity slid off to the side with her admirers going back to ooh-ing and aah-ing.
“Did she seriously just Show-Off Slide us?!” demanded Winter but he was ignored again as Rainbow went back to panicking.
Scene Change: Cloudiseum
Rainbow Dash paced in the changing rooms as the other Pegasi prepared for the show, one knocked on Rarity’s door but was told that Rarity would “be a while”. She then peered out of the curtains to see the other four mares sat on a cloud with the three bullies that had been harassing her recently on the cloud beneath them and Winter occupying his own cloud just above them, the stallion in question appeared to be tinkering with something.
“Fillies and gentlecolts, please join me in welcoming our beloved Princess Celestia” cried the announcer (whose appearance reminded Winter of Hoity Toity for some reason) as the Alicorn soared down and landed on a cloud with two Pegasi guards flanking her, unfortunately she landed on a bubble of rainbow liquid which exploded, showering her guards in the liquid and making them look quite ridiculous if Winter’s reaction of nearly falling off of his cloud with laughter was any indication (he calmed down after he caught Princess Celestia looking at him which caused her to smirk and wink at him before waving to the crowd).
“And please welcome our celebrity judges: The Wonderbolts!” continued the announcer as the group soared in, flew into a tight formation and separated to a volley of fireworks, three of them then flew to a cloud near the princess’ as the others flew to other clouds in the stadium.
“Now, let’s find out which of today’s contestants is the Best Young Flier…” finished the announcer as Pegasi began to emerge from behind the curtain and perform various flight routines, however they quickly began to show similarities which ended up boring Winter so he went back to tinkering; there was soon a break in the flight routines before the last one, allowing the mares to discuss which ones they liked but just as Applejack wondered why they hadn’t seen Rainbow or Rarity yet, Winter poked his head down from his cloud, looking unimpressed.
“Oi! I’m being extremely clever up here and there’s no-pony to stand around looking impressed, what’s the point in having you all around?!” barked Winter before pulling his head up again, leaving four rather confused mares.
“Just what was that all about?” Applejack asked her friends.
“I’ve no idea so I’m just going to say that it’s Winter being Winter” answered Twilight to nods from Pinkie and Fluttershy as Rarity and Rainbow Dash emerged from the curtains, which caused Winter to poke his head down again, this time wearing an expression that was between confused and amazed.
“Why is Rarity wearing THAT much makeup and – more to the point – how can she fly with that much stiff on her face?” his question was ignored but it did explain some things to Applejack.
“Well that explains why Rarity took so long” Applejack thought aloud as Rarity wished Rainbow good luck and told her that she’d changed the music from Rainbow’s rock and roll because it “didn’t match her wings”, then the music started.
(A/N: Play His World from Sonic the Hedgehog 2006 (the original version, not the Crush 40 or Zebrahead remixes)
“Hang on, this isn’t my music! I demand that you change it back!” barked Rarity at the music player pony who fumbled with the machine, but – unbeknownst to anypony in the stadium – Winter pressed a button on the device (a long and thin metal rod) that he’d been tinkering with, causing one end to light up blue and change the song to the world’s most annoying song.
(A/N: Play It’s a Small World if you want the full experience… though your ears may bleed if you do)
“NO! NO! ANYTHING BUT THAT SONG! CHANGE IT BACK PLEASE!” cried Rarity and the rest of the stadium as Winter pressed the button again and a song which matched both contestants’ flying styles started playing
(A/N: Sorry about subjecting you to that abomination, play Ride of the Valkyries now)
‘Hey, I can fly to this song. I wonder if Winter had something to do with this’ Rainbow thought as she looked over at Winter, who winked at her when she caught his eye as he put something away in his cloak. The two started going through their routines with Rarity’s being more of a ballet style routine compared to Rainbow’s which showed off her agility as she weaved through some columns without incident and then started spinning clouds, however a piece of the third cloud she started spinning came off and flew at the princess’ box, hitting her in the face and dissolving in a cloud of dust, causing her to cough.
“She’ll have to be marked down for that” muttered the Wonderbolt with a yellow coat and flame coloured mane to her companions but Princess Celestia intervened.
“She was not responsible for that cloud breaking apart” the princess said to the Wonderbolt.
“But she could’ve endangered the spectators with that stunt, you yourself got hit by it.”
“I know, but she was not responsible for the poor construction of that cloud. The only pony that was responsible for that cloud falling apart was the one who made that cloud, therefore you can’t mark her down for it.”
“As you wish princess” sighed the Wonderbolt as the two ponies began flying upwards for the finales of their routines and Rarity bathed the stadium in light from her wings, but she had flown too close to the sun…
“Hey, can anyone else smell burning?” wondered Winter aloud before Rarity’s wings combusted and Rarity fell, with Rainbow Dash tearing after her. Winter, Applejack, Twilight, Fluttershy and Pinkie all hopped off their clouds and looked down through the hole in the floor of the stadium that Rarity had fallen through and were nearly blown away (literally) as the Wonderbolts and Rainbow shot after her.
“We must do something, but what can we do?” asked the panicked mares to each other as Winter looked over the edge.
“I have an idea but it’s probably stupid, definitely dangerous and has a low probability of actually working” replied Winter as he turned back to face them.
“Why, what is it?” asked Twilight which gained her a smile from Winter as he took a step backwards.
“You’ll see” he replied before backflipping over the edge “GERONIMO!!!”
“WINTER!!!” cried the mares as they dashed forwards to see what appeared to be an ice blue light zig-zagging its way to the ground, overtaking the speeding Pegasi and falling Unicorn.
“WINTER! NOW’S NOT THE TIME TO TEST LIGHT SPEED’S THEORY OF TELEPORTATION!!!” bellowed Twilight so loudly it made Celestia wonder if she had somehow learned to use the Royal Canterlot Voice and getting confused looks from the spectators.
“What’s Light Speed’s Theory of Teleportation?” asked Pinkie, unknowingly asking the question that was on the minds of most of the ponies present.
“Light Speed was a Pegasus scholar and athlete that came up with the theory that a series of smaller teleports would take less energy to perform than one large teleport that would cover the same distance; you see, long range teleportation takes up so much energy that only exptremely powerful Unicorns like Gandalf Greymane could perform them, hence Light Speed’s theory, but it’s significantly easier to just use transportation like carriages or trains to cover long distances, thus nopony has ever proved the theory because there’s been no need to… until today, apparently…” lectured Twilight, getting an approving look from her teacher but nopony saw it as Applejack had noticed something.
“Hang on, is that… ice?” she asked and the other ponies looked to see that indeed it was, a large pyramid of ice was growing upwards towards Rarity and the Wonderbolts (all of which she’d knocked unconscious with her flailing) but Rainbow was gaining on them as a cone of air began to form in front of her…
The ice pyramid grew, the origin of it revealed to be Winter Shield, wearing a look of immense concentration and determination as his horn was encased in an ice blue glow and occasionally sparks of ice blue light rand down it along with sweat from the exertion of performing magic of this magnitude…
Rainbow steeled herself and fought to keep her body as streamlined as possible as rainbow coloured light began to run along the cone of air…
The ice pyramid climbed higher, ready to stop the falling ponies in the tracks but…
A loud noise akin to that of an explosion was heard as a circle of rainbow light appeared in the sky and a rainbow trail rocketed towards the falling ponies, catching them and getting them out of harm’s way before arcing up back to Cloudsdale and the Cloudiseum while the shockwave shattered the ice pyramid into dust, giving a glittering hue to the rainbow trail and blowing Winter through three trees before he was finally stopped by the fourth.
“For want of a better word: OW!” Winter groaned before he laid back, saw the rainbow trail and smiled “Good job Dash… good job.”
After he had been given a hoof back to Cloudsdale by a couple of Pegasi, he re-joined the action to see Rainbow having some weird looking crown put on her head by Princess Celestia signifying that she’d won the competition after her and her friends had had a little heart-to-heart. This was followed by Rainbow’s bullies asking her for flying lessons but being turned down in favour of a day with the Wonderbolts, then Twilight and Rarity briefed the princes on what they’d learned about friendship that day before they started chatting with their other friends (as well as the yellow Wonderbolt, whom Twilight seemed to know) and Celestia went to stand next to Winter, watching the aftermath of the competition.
“Well, all’s well it ends well then?” Winter said to Celestia who smiled.
“Indeed, you must be very proud” she said back to him.
“Of Rainbow? Yeah I am, but I just wish her parents could’ve been here to see it” Winter replied, a sad look crossing both his and Celestia’s faces as they remembered the unfortunate fate of the Element of Loyalty’s parents “they’d have been prouder than anything of the wonderful mare their daughter has become.”
“Indeed but let’s not sour this happy day with such sad thoughts, instead let us think of that meeting for tea that you owe me for insulting me yesterday” the princess said, grinning at him mischievously before grabbing him and taking off, much to Winter’s chagrin.
“Ack! CELESTIA! PUT ME DOWN!”
“Oh come on. Where’s your sense of adventure?”
“I left it on the ground when I got blown through those trees…”
“We can go and get it if you want, though it’ll make your flight longer…”
“NO! No, that’s not necessary.”
“Then stop complaining or this will take longer.”
Scene Change: Celestia’s Chambers
The Alicorn eventually landed in her chambers, depositing Winter ungracefully on the balcony overlooking the city before she busied herself with getting her table and tea set out along with some cakes.
“You know, you can’t just go and abduct random ponies just because you want some tea, there are laws against that sort of thing” Winter grumbled as Celestia brought all of her tea stuff outside and started setting it up.
“I know and I don’t just go out and abduct random ponies every time I want tea, instead I just go out and randomly abduct you when I want tea” she replied, smiling innocently at him as he poured two cups of tea and handed him one with her magic “you should probably feel honoured, I’d bet that most nobles would kill for this chance.”
“I don’t doubt that” he deadpanned before noticing the state her chambers were in, to be blunt: it looked like a bomb had gone off in there “I see you’ve redecorated the place since I was last here… I don’t like it, to be frank.”
“Who’s Frank?” Celestia asked jokingly before noticing the “are-you-serious” look he was giving her and she rolled her eyes “try to make you laugh… anyway, I had the Trouble Brothers guarding me and we had them doing DIY which caused this.”
“The Trouble Brothers?”
“A pair of guards that happen to be related, they’re under the command of Guard Captains No Slacking and Get-Out Of-It and are extremely accident prone but their accidents are so comical that Luna and I are always bickering about who they’re scheduled to guard just for the entertainment that comes with it… Cadenza doesn’t like them much for some odd reason though.”
“Cadenza?”
“Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, my niece.”
“Ah, I see…”
The rest of the day continued on like this, with Celestia and Winter making small talk and exchanging jokes or stories and it ended with everypony going home in a rather good mood.
Scene Change: Winter’s Hut, the next day
“OOOWWW!!! Do you have to press so hard?!” came a loud female voice as five of the six Element bearers approached Winter’s hut.
“Stop complaining! I warned you this would happen and you did it anyway!” came the irate voice of Winter “Now stop moving about unless you want to be bedridden for about three-to-five days instead of just one or two.”
The Element bearers entered Winter’s hut, wondering what was going on and they saw Winter giving Rainbow a massage with a bottle of something next to them that the mares recognised as a Zecora creation. The two looked up to see the five mares and Rainbow’s expression brightened considerably as she greeted them.
“What’s going on here?” asked Rarity as they crowded around Rainbow.
“This is the toll of Rainbow performing the Sonic Rainboom yesterday, fortunately Zecora had something to speed up the healing process so Dash should be up and flying about again in a day or two” was the response from Winter as he headed for the kitchens “now, I’m going to fix us some lunch so please try not to excite her too much in the meantime.”
“Heh, same old Winter: abrasive but you know he cares” muttered Rainbow but Twilight heard her which caused her to remember a question she’d always wanted to know but never gotten round to asking.
“That reminds me Rainbow, how did you meet Winter anyway? It’s obvious you’ve known him longer than any of us have” Twilight asked which resulted in the other four mares looking at Rainbow, wondering the same thing and Rainbow sighing.
“There’s not really much to tell, Winter was a friend of my parents and we met properly when he looked after me once…”
FLASHBACK
“Rainbow, this is Winter. He’ll be looking after you while we’re out at practice tonight” said a Pegasus stallion with a navy blue coat and a rainbow coloured mane.
“We’ve known him or a long time and we’re sure you two will get along” added a Pegasus mare with a cyan coat and a purple mane that was spiked up as if she’d been shocked.
“Hello, I’m Winter Shield and who might you be?” asked the white Unicorn which prompted Rainbow (who was just a young filly at the time) to go into a long rant about how she was Rainbow Dash and would one day be the best flier in Equestria.
“Rainbow Dash eh? Spectrum Blitz and Lightning Dash told me a lot about you, I can’t imagine that they could be happier to be your parents” Winter replied.
“Well since you two seem to be getting along well, we’ll be off now or we’ll be late and I really HATE being late!” said Spectrum as he and Lightning exited the house and left Winter and Rainbow on their own, Winter turned to Rainbow.
“Right, since I don’t know you and you don’t know me, I think we should set some ground rules” Winter said to Rainbow, causing the filly to tilt her head sideways in curiosity and nod “Okay then: do whatever I tell you… within reason, don’t ask stupid questions and don’t wander off, okay?”
“Okay” replied the filly which caused Winter to smile at her.
“Excellent” he said before walking into the house…. And crashing into a closed door which caused him to fall over with a dazed look on his face “Okay, rule number four: don’t do that.”
FLASHBACK END
“Wait, he really walked into a door?” asked Twilight as the other four mares were nearly on the floor with laughter which prompted Rainbow to smile.
“Yeah, he’s quite clumsy and I’m honestly surprised he hasn’t fallen over something recently” she replied, getting more laughter from her audience.
“So was that it?” Twilight asked, smiling in amusement at Winter’s antics but still curious about how Rainbow and Winter knew each other so well.
“Pretty much, yeah. We got to know each other better after that and Winter took me in a few years later after my parents died in a flying accident; as a matter of fact, it was only a year or two ago that I moved out and found my own place” Rainbow answered, a sad note entering her voice as she talked about what happened to her parents which caused her friends to move in and hug her before she told them another story about Winter’s clumsiness, resulting in them laughing their heads off again as Winter re-entered the room.
“Okay lunch is… what? What’s so funny?” he asked but got no reply as all the other occupants were too busy laughing at Rainbow’s stories.

Author's Note

Right, that's that chapter done. Sorry it took so long but I had a massive pile of work to do among other things at the start of summer and then it was just a case off procrastination and laziness so... I'm extremely sorry and please don't shoot me :fluttershysad:

I hope you enjoy this chapter and if you did, check out my blog in the next few days because I'm intending on putting up a oneshot there that may or may not make it into the story, only time will tell.

Anyway, all feedback is welcome provided it is phrased in a polite and comprehensible manner so...
Until Next Time,
Darth Annihilator - out.

Interlude I: Winter's Day Off

Interlude I: Winter’s Day Off

We re-join our friends in Equestria the next morning in Winter’s hut, where the white stallion was sleeping peacefully in his bed, completely oblivious to what would happen in a few short minutes.

“GOOD MORNING WINTER!!!” came a cheerful voice as Equestria’s Solar Princess came crashing through the roof and landed on his bed, scaring the living daylights out of the Unicorn in question.

“WHO GAVE YOU PERMISSION TO SMASH THROUGH A PONY’S ROOF WHEN HE’S JUST LYING THERE SLEEPING?!” Winter made his displeasure known, rather loudly.

“You said I could come and visit, so I’ve come to visit” Celestia replied, completely ignoring how angry the Unicorn in front of her was as she gave him a dazzling smile.

“I said you could come and hang out ONCE! Not that you could smash through my roof!” Winter snapped before something dawned on him “Wait, shouldn’t you be holding the morning court right now or visiting Twilight… or doing literally anything other than breaking into my house?”

“Ah, court was cancelled because the throne room somehow got flooded and set on fire at the same time. No idea how exactly that happened but apparently a cult worshipping Discord has claimed responsibility…” Celestia answered cheerfully, her eyes shifted from side to side a couple of times nervously when she mentioned the state her throne room was in, though Winter didn’t notice.

“Alright, but that doesn’t explain why you’re not bothering Twilight instead of me” Winter said grumpily as he started trying to exit the bed, which was proving difficult as he had an Alicorn on top of him who did not seem inclined to move.

“Well, somepony woke up on the wrong side of bed today” Celestia remarked as she rolled her eyes, ignoring Winter’s attempts to get out of bed “Anyway, she left a note saying she’d gone to Appleloosa with her friends for the weekend. I mean, how rude! The one day I get off and she goes gallivanting off across the country without even as much as a by-your-leave.”

“Yeah, almost as rude as somepony crashing through your roof when you’re asleep” Winter said sarcastically, getting a playful glare from Celestia.

“Oh, shut up. Most ponies would give all their hooves to have me crash through their roof, so stop complaining” she said as she sat down, making it even harder for Winter to get out of bed.

“Well, they don’t have to deal with fixing their roof afterwards, do they?” came the snappish reply as the Unicorn gave up on trying to get up until Celestia decided to get off his bed.

“Is that what the problem is?” Celestia asked with a slight mocking tone in her voice as her horn glowed with a golden aura and the pieces of Winter’s roof began to float upwards, sealing the hole she’d made in the roof. As Winter watched the repairs to his roof, he was distracted by Celestia suddenly popping up next to him in his bed (under the quilt) and laying her head next to his “Hm, do you know that you’re a quite comfortable pillow?”

“ARGH, GET OUT OF MY BED!!!” Winter roared, shoving the unfortunate Alicorn out as he rolled over to the other side of his bed and also fell out, though a tinge of pink could be seen on his cheeks as he did so. Celestia got up off the floor and – if the look on her face was anything to go by – was not amused.

“How rude! Don’t you know that you never shove a princess out of bed? Have you no manners?” she snapped at Winter, who got up with an equally unamused expression on his face.

“What did you expect me to do when you suddenly appeared in bed with me?!” he retorted, glaring at the princess.

“Accept the compliment and enjoy my company?” she answered innocently, a genuinely bemused look on her face “Isn’t that one way friends spend time together nowadays? What do they call it… forking?”

“Not in this house and not usually if they’re not in a relationship, which – I may add – we are NOT” Winter deadpanned, his words making the Alicorn blush slightly.

“Oh…” she said sheepishly with a sweatdrop, before she took a closer look at Winter and noticed the bags under his eyes. Upon seeing them, she got serious “Trouble sleeping?”

“Nightmare” Winter answered, the word making Celestia give him an understanding look.

“I know how you feel, I could barely sleep after I exiled Luna. Want to talk about it?” she asked, placing one of her hooves on his shoulder “It does help.”

“No, it was just a silly dream, nothing to worry about” he replied with false cheerfulness before deciding to change the topic “Anyway, you could’ve done anything with your day off, why come here?”

“Because I’d rather spend my time with you and Twilight than in Canterlot, especially at this time of year” Celestia answered, muttering the last part quietly enough for Winter not to hear it clearly, though he chose to ignore it.

“Argh, fine. Wait downstairs and I’ll be down in a moment to make breakfast” Winter groused, watching as Celestia practically skipped downstairs, his face adopting an expression of relief when she was out of sight “Thank goodness I forgot to take my cloak off before bed last night, it would’ve been awkward if she came in expecting Winter and found someone else.”

He walked over to his wardrobe and exchanged his cloak for another, putting the one he’d previously worn into a basket for cleaning and watching as his image in the mirror seemed to swim in and out of focus and the colours changed from blues and whites to reds and blacks before changing back again. His horn then lit up and the bags under his eyes seemed to vanish, leaving no traces of his nightmare besides the memory of the event.

He then headed down to his kitchen where he was greeted by the smell of cooking food and the sound of the princess humming. When he entered, he saw Celestia standing at the hob of his oven, making a traditional full Equestrian breakfast, as he entered, she turned and gave him a smile.

“Ah, sorry about using your oven without permission but I figured I’d cook us both breakfast as an apology for breaking in through your roof earlier” she explained as she started dishing out the servings onto some plates she’d found.

“You didn’t need to do that” said Winter, waving a hoof nonchalantly to emphasise his point before he got a mischievous look on his face “Besides, it’s not like anypony would hear a complaint against their beloved Solar Overlord anyway.”

“No, you’d be thrown in jail for suggesting it” Celestia laughed as she placed one plate in front of Winter and kept one for herself. The two descended into a comfortable silence as they ate until Winter broke it after a while.

“You know, you’re not how I expected you to be at all” he said, getting a puzzled look from the Solar Princess.

“And what did you expect me to be like? A pampered, pompous pony princess who thought of nothing but the privileges the crown gives her?” she asked, watching with amusement as Winter immediately held his hooves up in denial.

“No, no, no, not at all. I mean I expected you to be a bit more… cold and distant. You’ve lived a long time and I’d have thought that you’d decide to never get close to somepony to spare yourself the pain when they died. Or something like that” he explained, not noticing Celestia silently giggling as he continued to ramble, her face taking on a more serious look as Winter finished.

“You’re not the first pony to think that and you certainly won’t be the last, but one thing I’ve noticed is that none of you ever stop to wonder if I was always like this” Celestia’s words prompted Winter to raise an questioning eyebrow, so she decided to elaborate a bit “I’ve lived a long time and while I may be young for an Alicorn, I’ve been a lot of ponies from the pony you see now to the pampered pony princess who cared for nothing but herself and her title.”

“Oh? What happened to cause you to change so drastically?” Celestia’s face darkened in response to Winter’s question.

“I was forced to seal my sister in the moon and I banished my best friend, leaving me alone with a bunch of power hungry nobles who tried to take advantage of my fragile state. Needless to say, it didn’t take me long to learn how lonely it is at the top, which in turn taught me to hold onto true friends with everything you have when you find them” Celestia’s eyes grew distant as she spoke, losing herself in her memories for a moment before she seemingly remembered where she was and her face brightened “But enough about that depressing stuff, what’s the plan for today?”

“The plan? I was planning on having a nice, relaxed day but since you’re here, I guess I can scrap that plan” Winter grumbled, earning himself a raised eyebrow from Celestia.

“And why would you do that?” she asked him, getting a roll of the eyes from the Unicorn in return.

“Because – and don’t take this the wrong way – you’re you. Because you’re a princess, the ponies of Ponyville will get extremely excited and start following you around, trying to help you out or do you favours and as a result, I won’t get any peace at all” As Winter was explaining this, he didn’t notice Celestia’s horn lighting up before it seemingly vanished as her mane and tail ceased flowing in a non-existent breeze and bled to white from their usual aurora-like colouration and her Cutie Mark changed slightly, with the flares from her sun becoming slightly more angular in appearance. She got Winter’s attention by tapping him on the shoulder with her wing.

“Ta-da! What do you think?” she asked, spreading her wings dramatically as Winter stood there in confusion.

“Wh… Wha… How…” he spluttered as Celestia tried to keep herself from laughing at the look on his face.

“It’s a form I’ve perfected over the years for when I want to escape the boredom of castle life. I originally tried a Unicorn form, but then I found that hiding the horn is a lot easier than hiding the wings, since the wings naturally move about a lot more than the horn does” The look of confusion was slowly fading from Winter’s face as she continued proudly talking about her disguise “I call this particular variant of the form Sunlight Shine. I even created an ID for her and everything.”

“Yes, I figured that part out, but what I don’t understand is why your mane is white” Winter interrupted and Celestia rolled her eyes.

“Oh please don’t tell me that you’re one of those ponies that subscribes to the ridiculous notion that my natural mane colour is pink” she scoffed “My natural mane colour is white, but – and don’t ask me why because I couldn’t tell you – for some reason, when my mane comes into contact with my magic, it changes the colour to the combination you’re more familiar with and makes it flow like it does, and since my magic is constantly flowing around my body, it’s a constant effect unless I consciously choose to stop it.”

“So, all those windows and paintings…?” Winter couldn’t finish his question due to Celestia interrupting him

“…Were all made by artists who were a bit too liberal with their use of artistic licence” she grumbled before she decided to move the conversation along “So, where to first?”

“Hm, I was thinking Sugarcube Corner. Maybe order a milkshake or something” he answered, a plan Celestia wholeheartedly agreed to.

“Well then, let’s be off… And remember, my name in this form is Sunlight Shine” she said, practically dragging the poor stallion out of his house.

The duo got a few odd looks from the ponies that knew Winter when they saw him being dragged about by an unknown mare, a sight that was extremely uncommon due to his reclusive nature, but nopony decided to question it as odd sights were becoming a fairly common occurrence in Ponyville since Twilight Sparkle had moved in.
Eventually the two arrived a Sugarcube Corner, where they were greeted by Mrs Cake.

“Mornin’ Winter, don’t normally see you down here this early. Who’s your new friend?” she greeted him, Winter opened his mouth to answer but Sunlight (Celestia) answered before he could.

“I’m Sunlight Shine, it’s a pleasure to meet you” she said, getting herself a smile from the other mare.

“The pleasure’s all mine, so how do you know Winter here then?” Mrs Cake’s question made Winter’s eyes widen as he hadn’t thought of a cover story yet, but Sunlight didn’t seem fazed by the question.

“Oh, didn’t he tell you? I’m his marefriend” she answered, getting surprised looks from all who were within earshot.

“WHAT?!” Winter cried incredulously, though everyone ignored him.

“Yeah, we met through that dating agency P-Harmony. We’ve hung out a couple of times to see if we’re compatible as friends, but this is our first real date” Sunlight continued, completely ignoring Winter’s attempts to protest before she leaned in as if to whisper to Mrs Cake “Ignore Winter’s denials, he’s just a bit shy.”

“What? Look, I’m not… We’re not… Urgh…” he started before letting out an aggravated groan “Forget it, two milkshakes please; Chocolate Fudge Brownie flavoured for her and Mint flavoured for me.”

“Comin’ right up, there should be a free table for two at the back there, give you and your marefriend some privacy” said Mrs Cake as she wrote down the order and missed Winter’s glare.

“No, no, we’re not…” his protest was cut short by Sunlight dragging him off to find the table Mrs Cake had spoken of. As they sat down, Sunlight noticed Winter’s glare.

“Okay, what’s that glare for?” she asked, making Winter give an annoyed sigh.

“Just what was that back there?” he hissed, making Sunlight narrow her eyes in response.

“Me giving a convenient and believable excuse for you suddenly turning up for milkshakes with a mare nopony’s ever seen or heard of before?” she replied “Look, I’m sorry I sprang it on you unexpectedly, but it was the first excuse that came to mind.”

“Urgh, it’s fine but I’m now going to be dealing with a load of gossip about it now because apparently ponies have nothing better to do than talk about other ponies’ love lives” Winter sighed, his voice getting louder and taking on a more annoyed tone towards the end of his statement as he cast his glare over to the other patrons of Sugarcube Corner, who were either watching them or attempting to eavesdrop. When they realised they had been caught, they either hid behind their menus or had the decency to look away sheepishly.

“That bad?” Sunlight asked, now genuinely curious about how bad the gossip would be.

“It wouldn’t be so bad if I dated before, but since this is the first date I’ve been on that these ponies know about, it’ll be a popular topic of conversation” Winter grumbled as Mrs Cake brought the milkshakes over to them.

“Well, on the bright side, you get to go on a date with me” Sunlight told him cheerfully as she took a sip of her drink.

“That’s the bright side?” Winter deadpanned, smirking mischievously though Sunlight didn’t appear amused if the look on her face was anything to go by.

“I am armed with a milkshake” she threatened, waving it threateningly and making Winter put his hooves up in surrender.

“Okay, okay, it’s an honour to spend a minute in your presence, just don’t throw that on me” he mock-grovelled, Sunlight smirking at his words.

“And don’t you forget it, peasant” she said pompously. The two sat in silence for a moment before they both broke down with laughter. Sunlight soon calmed down and wiped the tears from her eyes “So, what should we do next?”

“I’m honestly not sure, I hadn’t planned anything after this” Winter answered with a thoughtful look, pondering on what they could do next when a suggestion came in the form of Mrs Cake’s husband.

“Well, you could go to the funfair that came into town yesterday. I hear they’re having a couples week since they missed Hearts and Hooves Day when they were last here” Mr Cake suggested. Sunlight’s eyes lit up at the suggestion but Winter was less enthusiastic.

“C’mon Winter, let’s go” she exclaimed excitedly after she downed the remainder of her milkshake in one gulp.

“No” the stallion in question replied.

“But it’s been years since I last went to a funfair!”

“Don’t care.”

“Aw, come on…” The white maned mare started listing off reasons for why they should go but Winter ignored her after she started repeating herself until he had a thought:

Scene Change: Winter’s Imagination

Sunlight was sat on a roller coaster carriage with a sign pointing in the same direction as the tracks that read “Occupied for a While”. Winter then pulled a leaver that sent the carriage rocketing off and he waved at her until she was out of sight before he headed over to a nearby bench and sprawled out on it, intending to doze off while she enjoyed herself…

Scene Change: Sugarcube Corner

“Lightbulb” Winter muttered as a smile spread over his face “Okay, let’s go.”

Winter finished his drink and the two headed over to the funfair, Sunlight practically prancing around like an excited foal as they entered the gates. She immediately dashed in the direction of the largest and fastest roller coaster the fair had and Winter followed at a slower pace. When it was their turn, Sunlight jumped into the carriage and Winter turned as if to leave.

“See you later, have fun” he said as he began to walk off when he was stopped by a hoof on his shoulder. Turning around, he saw it was the teen that was operating the ride.

“Uh, sorry dude but it’s Couples Week. She can’t ride without a partner” the teen said, pointing at Sunlight over his shoulder as she stared at Winter with a raised eyebrow before she raised her wing and shook it invitingly.

“What?!” Winter barked incredulously before he rolled his eyes and joined Sunlight, an unimpressed look on his face. The roller coaster soon started, with the typical slow ascent before a rapid drop and quick corners, the carriage they were in reaching some impressive speeds and generating some considerable G-forces in the corners, but Winter’s facial expression remained unchanged until the ride stopped.
Sunlight bounded off the ride and went into a building as Winter exited at a more sedate pace. As he got to the entrance of the building Sunlight entered, she came tearing out with something in her hooves.

“Like the photo?” she asked when she reached him, showing him the photo that had been taken on the roller coaster of Sunlight looking like she was having the time of her life and him looking more bored than an unwilling guest at a traditional wedding.

“You seriously bought one?” he asked and she nodded.

“Yeah, why not?” she answered before she caught sight of something else and headed off to look at it. It was a small stuffed toy in the shape of Nightmare Moon “Aw, that mini Nightmare Moon is adorable.”

“I’m sure she’d be dead chuffed to hear that” Winter groused, rolling his eyes.

“Well, she might not like it, but I bet my sister will” retorted Sunlight as Winter came over to her.

“Bah, fine” he looked at the owner of the stall, a light coloured Unicorn with green eyes and a red and white two-toned mane, he was wearing a straw boater and a blue and white striped shirt “How much for the mini Nightmare Moon?”

“Well, it’s not for sale per-se, but all you gotta do to win it is hit and knock down that little Thestral there with that bow and arrow” the Unicorn answered, attempting to wrap a foreleg around Winter’s shoulders, but the stallion pushed him off with a glare.

“Oh puh-lease, I once hit an apple off a Unicorn’s horn with an arrow at some thousand yards” Sunlight boasted as she handed the Unicorn a few bits and grabbed the bow and arrow. The Unicorn pocketed the bits with a smirk and pressed a button, causing the Thestral to move around erratically. Sunlight’s eyes followed it around as she drew the string back and carefully took aim, but before she could release the arrow a buzzing sound rang out with a sign dropping down in front of the Thestral that said “YOU LOSE”.

“Hang on, you said nothing about a time limit!” Sunlight snapped at the Unicorn, who smiled innocently and held his hooves up.

“I do apologise, it must have slipped my mind. Would you like another go?” Sunlight gave him some more bits with a glare, the Unicorn’s smile widened and he pressed the button again. This time, Sunlight quickly drew and shot the arrow, the projectile flying and striking the Thestral in the chest, though the buzzer rang out and the sign dropped down again.

“Whoa, what was that? She hit that perfectly!” Winter barked at the Unicorn, who put a foreleg around Winter’s shoulders.

“Let me explain somethin’ to you. You see that little Thestral and more specifically how it’s NOT knocked over? And you know what that means professor: it means you lose and you don’t get the toy!” the Unicorn said arrogantly before leering at Sunlight “Better luck next time sweetheart.”

“Okay, my turn” Winter growled, paying the bits and watching the button get pressed. Quickly he shot a beam of magic at the stall, which froze everything in it except the prizes. Then his horn lit up again and everything that was frozen split up into millions of snowflakes.

“Knocked over!” Winter called tauntingly as he strode off, the owner of the stall giving Sunlight the toy before collapsing into sobs as Sunlight rushed to catch up with Winter.

“That was amazing! Come on, let’s go ruin another game designed to make us fail” she said cheerfully, darting off. Winter watched her go and a small smile spread over his face as he followed her.

Scene Change: Winter’s Hut

A short while later, the two entered Winter’s hut laden with various prizes they had won and laughing merrily. Winter closed the door and Celestia dropped her disguise as Sunlight Shine.

“Well, I haven’t had that much fun in years. Thanks for taking me Winter” Celestia said, when she had calmed down enough to speak normally.

“I suppose it wasn’t horrible” Winter replied, a mischievous smirk decorating his face as Celestia pretended to be offended.

“Not horrible? You spend a day on a date with a princess – an opportunity most ponies would give their hooves for – and all you have to say is that it wasn’t horrible?!” Celestia playfully snapped, drawing herself up in a pompous manner.

“Most ponies don’t have the princess smash their roof in” Winter deadpanned, making Celestia roll her eyes.

“I fixed the roof, what more do you want?” she asked sarcastically.

“Do you want a list?” Winter retorted just as sarcastically and the two glared at each other for a second before dissolving into more laughter. Shortly afterwards, the two had a bite to eat and then found themselves on Winter’s roof, looking up at the starlit night sky.

“Winter” Celestia began, not taking her eyes off the constellations.

“Hm?” he grunted inquisitively.

“Thanks… for today. It’s nice to get out of the palace and be treated like a regular pony for once” she said, tiltng her head slightly to hide the embarrassed blush that came with admitting this to her Unicorn friend.

“No problem” he said, paying her statement no mind. The two sat in silence for a while longer and if Celestia’s wing wrapped itself around Winter’s shoulders and Winter’s head rested itself on Celestia’s shoulder, neither bothered to say anything about it.

Author's Note

Hello there folks.

Sorry about the long wait for this chapter, I hope it meets expectations.

There are a couple of extras to go with this chapter that are currently only on FF.Net, I will be bringing them over to FIMFiction, but if you want to read them, they're currently at the end of this chapter on the story on FF.Net (same account and story name).

Anyway, that's all I have to say, so please let me know what you think: Should I do ore chapters like this? What did you like and what can use improvement?
Please let me know in a polite and comprehensible manner so I can make the best use of the feedback :twilightsmile:
And Until Next Time...

Darth Annihilator - out.

Cutie Mark Chronicles

Cutie Mark Chronicles

We resume in Ponyville shortly after Twilight and her friends had returned from Appleloosa. Currently they were all headed towards Winter’s hut, unaware of just what awaited them there…

“I can’t wait to tell Winter all about Appleloosa, he’ll be so jealous he missed out on all the fun” cried out Rainbow excitedly, zipping around the sky as if she was on a sugar high.

“I wouldn’t call almost getting involved in a war fun” groused Twilight, a tad grumpy from having to put up with the hyperactive Pegasus’ antics since they departed on the train from Appleloosa.

“Easy now Twi, while Ah agree that almost getting involved in a war wasn’t fun, Rainbow’s just a bit excited and pent up from bein’ on the train all mornin’, aren’t ya?” Applejack intervened, her final words carrying a bit of a warning tone towards Rainbow.

“Eh, you guys are being REALLY boring right now. I’m gonna go ahead to Winter’s” Rainbow said, sticking her tongue out at Applejack before turning and shooting off with a sonic boom. Unfortunately, the wind generated by her actions blew all of the other mares off their feet and into a bush, much to the chagrin of one mare in particular.

“MY HAIR!” Rarity cried in dismay as the formerly impeccable do was now a mass of tangled locks and twigs, a furious look decorated her face “Oh, when I get my hooves on that Pegasus, she will rue the day she made a fool of me!”

“Oh Rarity, surely you don’t mean… not fisticuffs” asked Fluttershy in alarm.

“Of course not, it’ll be much worse than that! I’m planning a full mane, tail, coat and hoof job. By the time I’m through with her, she’ll look like a supermodel” Rarity replied, rubbing her hooves together with a maniacal grin and cackling evilly. Needless to say, the other four mares gave her a wide berth as they continued on towards Winter’s hut.

Meanwhile, with Rainbow Dash…

Unaware of the diabolical plans taking shape in Rarity’s mind, Rainbow had reached Winter’s front door and knocked loudly on it.

“C’mon Winter, have I got a story for you, so get your lazy butt up and…” she was cut off by something most unexpected: The door opened and Princess Celestia’s head popped out.

“Shush!” she snapped and slammed it closed again, a clicking sound telling Rainbow it had been locked afterwards.

“Prin… cess?” Rainbow sounded out in shock, gaping at the door, not sure what exactly to do or how to handle the situation she found herself in. This was how her friends found her a couple of minutes later.

“I thought you were going to go ahead; did Winter throw you out or something?” Twilight asked as they arrived at the hut to see Rainbow on the doorstep, gaping at the door.

“Not exactly” Rainbow answered, snapping out of her shock “But either Winter’s changed a LOT since I last saw him, or Princess Celestia is currently in his house.”

“Princess Celestia? That’s ridiculous, she’ll be taking the morning court right now” said Twilight doubtfully before knocking smartly on the door “There is absolutely no way she would be here without somepony knowing.”

“Okay, I’ve told you a thousand times that I don’t want any of your…” the angry Alicorn stopped herself with a sheepish look when she realised just who she was having a go at “Oh, sorry Twilight, I thought you were another Diamond Dog salesman. Please come in, I’m just making breakfast.”

“Ah Princess, I don’t mean to be rude but why are you here and not in Canterlot?” asked a confused Rarity as they all followed the Alicorn towards the kitchen.

“My throne room was flooded and is currently being sorted out, so until then, no court” she answered with a smile, dishing up some eggs and hay bacon for the mares.

“And where’s Winter anyway? Normally he’s up and about at this time” Rainbow inquired, the smile fell from Celestia’s face, being replaced with a concerned look as she jerked her head towards the lounge, where Winter could be seen on his sofa, twitching and turning in his sleep.

“Please try not to make too much noise, that’s the most restful he’s been all night” Celestia sighed, upon seeing the confused and concerned looks on the faces of the Element Bearers she explained further “He’s been experiencing quite bad nightmares lately, though he won’t tell me more than that. He also didn’t appear to experience them when we fell asleep together on the roof, which leads me to believe that they aren’t normal nightmares; I plan to ask Luna to take a look at him when I get back to Canterlot this evening.”

After hearing the Princess’ words, Rainbow grabbed the plate that Celestia had dished up for Winter along with her own and shot as quietly as she could over to Winter’s side, setting the plates down and sitting, watching him and waiting for him to wake up.
Celestia watched the scene for another second or two before sighing again and turning to Twilight.

“So, how did you all enjoy Appleloosa?” she asked, shooting her student a small smile.

“I sent you a friendship report, did you not receive it? Or…” Twilight was cut off by Celestia gently placing her hoof against her mouth.

“Yes, I did receive it, but it only told me of how you resolved the conflict between the Buffalo and the Ponies there. I want to know what YOU thought of the place” she said as she removed her hoof.

“Oh… well… it was fascinating to see how towns can be established further out and I enjoyed learning about the Buffalo’s culture while I was there” Twilight continued regaling Celestia with what she had learned and experienced until Celestia briefly looked up. Knowing what that meant, Twilight finished saying what she wanted to say and Celestia headed into lounge. Winter still hadn’t awakened, but he stilled and his face took on a more peaceful look as she approached; looking at Rainbow, she gently spoke.

“Rainbow, please could you get some water for when Winter wakes up? He may be a tad thirsty” she watched the cyan Pegasus leave before she lowered her horn down to his temples where it briefly shone with a gold aura, she then moved her head down towards Winter’s, her mouth hovering gently just above his ear.

“I do not yet know who or what you are, but be warned that if you keep tormenting him, I will hunt you down and there will be nothing left of you after your very painful demise, not even ash” the Princess whispered gently in Winter’s ear, the gesture looking tender from an onlooker’s perspective but had they heard the words, they would’ve been quaking on the spot. Rainbow quietly re-entered the room with a glass of water to see the Princess seemingly whispering in Winter’s ear, though she thought she saw… but no, it must have been a trick of the light because it looked like Celestia’s eyes had turned gold and that she nipped Winter on the ear with a set of sharp teeth, however when Celestia turned around, her eyes were their usual violet and her teeth were perfectly flat. She smiled and thanked Rainbow for the water, just as Winter began to stir and his eyes opened.

“Dash? Princess?” he asked and they both nodded to him before Rainbow handed him the water, he took it with a nod of thanks and took a sip “Not that I don’t like seeing you or anything, but why are you in my house?”

“Your nightmares were quite bad last night, I stayed to make sure you were okay” Celestia said, placing a hoof on his shoulder “I’m also going to speak to Luna about trying to help you with them, as they’re obviously worse than I thought they were.”

“You don’t need to do that, I can handle it” replied Winter, taking another sip but not looking Celestia in the eye as he spoke.

“I’ll let Luna be the judge of that.”

“I don’t want to be a burden…”

“You’re not.”

“… and I’m sure she has more important things to do.”

“She doesn’t, she’s actually rather bored at the moment.”

“I…”

“Winter!” Celestia cut him off with a sharp bark of his name, fixing him with a glare. Normally this wouldn’t phase him but he saw a flash of… something in Celestia’s eyes, something that unnerved him so he decided not to push it.

“Alright, as long as she agrees to it” he relented, making Celestia smile.

“Good. Now, I’ve got to get back to Canterlot, so I’ll be taking my leave. Thank you for your kindness while hosting me, it…” she paused and averted her eyes briefly “means a lot.”

“No problem, come back any time, just not through my roof this time” Winter grumbled, though his small smile gave it away that he was joking. Celestia gave a small laugh before giving Winter a brief hug, Twilight an affectionate nuzzle and leaving through Winter’s door. The occupants of the house watched her go in silence before said silence was broken by an outburst from our favourite speedster.

“What just happened?” she asked, fixing Winter with an inquiring glare. Winter sighed.

“She came by yesterday after court was called off. Originally she was going to spend the day with Twilight, but as you were all in Appleloosa, she decided to drop in on me instead” he rolled his eyes at the memory of Celestia’s entrance “After that, we wandered around town a bit and did a bit of stargazing.”

“Huh? Princess Celestia was here and didn’t cause a massive scene? How did you manage that?”

“Use your imagination” Winter answered with a mischievous smirk, prompting Dash to try and annoy him into revealing how they did it, but he would not relent. The day continued to pass with the seven equines just enjoying each other’s company until the sun set and it was time for everyone to head on home. Winter – though he did not show it – had been dreading this time as it meant he had to succumb to the siren call of sleep and be dragged into Luna’s realm again.
As usual, he found himself in some form of dark abyss on a blue cloud containing stars with his least favourite Alicorn waiting for him on a throne made of iron.

“Don’t you know it’s rude to keep a lady waiting, Dark? Have you no manners?” asked Nightmare Moon mockingly, making Winter clench his teeth and scowl.

“I have manners but you’re no lady!” he snapped, making the mare laugh before her horn lit up and Winter screamed in pain.

“Don’t forget who you speak to” she said firmly before lighting her horn up again “And I refuse to speak to this… thing you have created.”

The spell caused Dark’s Winter Shield illusion to strip itself away piece by piece, until all that was left was Dark standing there in his true form, panting from his (failed) attempt to resist.

“Why are you doing this?” he demanded, glaring at the corrupted form of his sister figure.

“I’ve got to find some entertainment somewhere. It’s really rather boring being locked away in the deepest recesses of Luna’s mind” she answered in a bored manner, examining her hoof “Plus I have plans that require your participation, willing or coerced.”

“And what makes you think I’ll ever bend a knee to you?” Dark shot back, his glare intensifying though Nightmare ignored him.

“Because when everypony you love and care for abandons you when your lies come to light, I’ll be the only one willing to tolerate you” Nightmare retorted, her mane moving slightly more violently in response to the mare’s agitation as scenes of Dark’s friends and loved ones denouncing him for pretending to be Winter Shield, insulting him for his failures and abandoning him began to manifest around them “In your loneliness and solitude, you will come to crave my company and then you WILL bend your knee to me with a smile on your face.”

“They would never do that!” Dark bit back, his words making the madmare laugh.

“They wouldn’t? Oh dear Dark, you forget that I have seen the darkest depths of their hearts and I can assure you, they are definitely that shallow” Nightmare finished her statement with a fiendish grin, revelling in the effect her words had on the Alicorn in front of her.

“YOU LIE!” Dark cried, Nightmare’s accusations hitting a little too close to his insecurities for his liking, a fact that she took note of and pressed her advantage.

“I’ll watch it happen. If needs be, I’ll make it happen” the statement was delivered with such confidence that Dark didn’t doubt for a second that Nightmare would back up her words if she felt the need to.

“And what of the Princesses? Do you plan to keep Luna hostage forever? Do you really think Celestia would allow you to get away with it?” Dark asked, his voice quiet and sombre.

“Oh, Celestia will come to accept her place in time and if she doesn’t… well, a thousand years or so in the sun should give her time to think” Nightmare finished her sentence with a maniacal laugh before giving a savage grin and continuing “As for Luna, when I am back in control, what will it matter what she wants? I’ll be the one fulfilling all of our desires, she won’t even want to come back out!”

“I can’t let you do this” Dark said, though Nightmare only stood and placed a hoof on his shoulder, forcing him down to his knees.

“And just what can you do to stop me? You can’t even…” Nightmare suddenly stopped speaking with a questioning noise and started looking around, muttering to herself in confusion “What is this… it can’t be… she shouldn’t be able to…”

As Nightmare continued muttering, Dark noticed that the heat of their surroundings was somehow increasing. The cloud he was stood on began to smoke and Nightmare’s throne began to glow red hot.

“Hm, looks like our time together is over for tonight, though don’t forget that I’ll always be here, waiting” Nightmare ended her statement by stepping back into the shadows, slowly vanishing until only her eyes could be seen. The heat continued to rise and Nightmare’s throne now glowed white hot before it started to melt, sagging down into a rather sorry looking puddle of molten metal.
Dark looked around noting that even Nightmare’s eyes had vanished now, wondering what had spooked her like that. Suddenly, he caught sight of a glint in the corner of his eye, he turned to see what had made the glint but was distracted when a cascade of golden flames filled the area he was in. The flames spiralled around him, filling every space they could find and turning all they touched to ash, yet Dark felt no heat from them nor did they seem to be consuming him. He wanted to get a closer look at them but all of a sudden, everything went black and Dark knew no more.

The Next Morning

Winter awoke after a surprisingly restful night of sleep, so he decided to head down to Ponyville to get himself something to eat from Sugarcube Corner (and to restock his cupboards after Celestia had emptied them over the weekend), but his journey was about to be rudely interrupted by a certain trio of fillies.

“Wait, what on Equestria is that noise?!” he wondered aloud as he heard a strange zipping noise, followed by a snap and three screaming fillies falling from the sky “ARGH!”

“See anything?” Apple Bloom asked her Pegasus friend Scootaloo.

“Lots of tree sap and pine needles, but no Cutie Mark” the purple maned Pegasus answered miserably.

“Plan B?” asked a white Unicorn with a two toned mane – This was Rarity’s sister Sweetie Belle, her question perking the orange Pegasus up.

“Yeah, know where we can get a cannon at this hour?” she asked, the question inspiring fear in her two companions, if the looks on their faces were anything to go by.

“I do, but I’m not going to tell you because it’ll likely end up with you either hurting yourselves or destroying something… again” the three fillies looked around to find where the grouchy comment came from. It took them a few moments to realise that the ground they had landed on was a different colour to its surroundings and softer than they expected it to be.

“Ah, sorry Winter!” shrieked Sweetie Belle, jumping off the unamused stallion.

“Yeah, we’re sorry. We didn’t mean to land on you” continued Apple Bloom, also hopping off him.

“Let me help you up” Scootaloo finished, grabbing one of Winter’s hooves and pulling on it, trying to help him up. Unfortunately, she forgot that she was stood on the pony she was trying to assist and thus her attempts were fruitless “Wow, you’re heavier than you look.”

“I’m not surprised with you standing on top of me” Winter retorted, his comment making the Pegasus hop off him with a sheepish look on her face “Now just why were you falling from the sky in the first place?”

“It’s no use, everything we try ends up in failure… and more often than not, with us covered in tree sap” exclaimed Scootaloo after the three explained their latest attempt to gain their Cutie Marks to Winter.

“Girls, these sorts of things can’t be forced. Some ponies can go through their lives, never finding theirs and still being perfectly happy, you just need to be patient and not focus so much on finding it” Winter sighed, the annoyed look on his face fading to a more sympathetic one. Meanwhile Apple Bloom had wandered off and grabbed some buckets of water to wash the tree sap off with.

“I’ve had an idea: Loads of ponies have their Cutie Marks, so let’s ask one of the folks around town how they got theirs” she said, sliding a bucket to the other two.

“Yeah! That’s a great and perfectly safe plan” Sweetie Belle agreed.

“Okay, and we’ll start asking the coolest pony in Ponyville” Scootaloo added on, launching the three into a debate on who to ask as Winter watched in amusement. They eventually decided to ask Rainbow Dash first and gave each other a high five, but they ended up getting stuck together as Scootaloo had forgotten to wash the tree sap off her hooves. Winter rolled his eyes before conjuring a rain cloud above them, which washed the sap off but earned him the ire of the fillies.

“Hey! What was that for?” Apple Bloom asked, shaking herself dry.

“Consider it payback for landing on me earlier. Now, I’m going to walk you three back to town to make sure you don’t get any wacky ideas that end up with you demolishing a house or something” he replied, the response earing him a scowl from Scootaloo.

“We’re not that bad!” she grumbled.

“The talent contest” was Winter’s response, making the Pegasus scratch the back of her head as even she had to admit that he had a point there.
The group headed off towards town, the Crusaders being driven by Scootaloo and Winter sliding along on a board made of ice, when Scootaloo abruptly hit the brakes to avoid running over some rabbits that had jumped out of a bush clutching some apples. However, Winter did not stop, so they collided with him resulting in him being at the bottom of another dogpile.

“COME BACK HERE YOU THEIVIN’ VARMITS!” came Applejack’s distinctive voice from behind the bush. The rabbits quickly leaped off the dazed Unicorn and ran away, he got up as the mare in question sprang out of the same bush as the rabbits, though it seemed like she misjudged her jump as she ended up crash-landing on Winter, much to the Unicorn’s chagrin.

“Why do things keep landing on me?” he grumbled as the dazed mare realised who she had landed on.

“Ah, sorry Winter, didn’t realise ya were there” she apologised before seeing the rabbits fleeing “HEY!”

“Hey sis, how did you earn your Cutie Mark?” Apple Bloom asked after they got over the shock of seeing Winter being accidentally ambushed by various creatures.

“What? Ah never told ya that story?” Applejack wondered as the Crusaders started arguing about asking Applejack for her Cutie Mark story.

“That’s very nice and all, but GET OFF!” Winger growled as he got up, throwing Applejack off him, the action displacing her Stetson which resulted in it landing on his head “Huh, nice hat. I’m keeping it.”

“Now that’s goin’ too far buster!” Applejack playfully growled before diving on Winter, starting a fight over the hat while the Crusaders looked on in bewilderment.

“Ahem” Scootaloo cleared her throat, making the two stop and look at them sheepishly.

“Okay, my story:” Applejack began, nabbing her hat back off Winter and replacing it on her head “Ah was just a little filly, even littler than y’all…”

The Crusaders gathered round with fascinated (albeit reluctantly so on Scootaloo’s behalf) looks on their faces as Applejack regaled them with a tale about how as a young filly she craved the sophisticated life of the city, deciding to seek her fortune with her relatives in the bustling metropolis of Manehatten.

“Heh, how long did the infatuation with the city and so-called ‘upper class’ last when you actually got to experience it?” was Winter’s question when Applejack mentioned living as one of the upper echelons of society there, a smirk on his face knowing that a down to earth Pony like Applejack would’ve hated the multitude of rules governing one’s life and attitudes there.

“About an hour after Uncle Orange styled mah hair and Aunt Orange drilled me on talkin’ all snooty-like. Anyway…” The tale continued on with how homesick the filly became due to the mix of culture shock and drastic change of scenery only to be inspired to return home to the family farm by a rainbow seemingly pointing right at Ponyville. After making the journey home and realising that it was where she needed to be to make the most of her life, her Cutie Mark manifested on her flank.
Anything more the older mare had to say was cut off by the sound of a loud raspberry as the three rabbits she’d been chasing reappeared with their stolen spoils before running off again, with the angry mare taking off in hot pursuit.

“What a sweet story” came the cooing from Sweetie Belle, Apple Bloom nodding along as the more tomboyish Scootaloo scoffed.

“You mean sappy” she groused with a retch before gesturing at the other two fillies to mount up on her scooter’s trailer “Let’s go find Rainbow Dash to hear the cool way to earn a Cutie Mark. Later Winter.”

“Hey, wait…” The Unicorn was ignored as the fillies waved at him before zipping off, though had they looked back, they’d have felt a little daft as the cyan Pegasus they were looking for lightly soared down to stand next to the white Unicorn.

“What was all that about?” she asked, staring at the dust cloud left by the speeding youngsters with a raised brow.

“Wanting to know your Cutie Mark story. I guess they’ve finally realised that asking other ponies how they got theirs is a better idea than trying to bumble their way into it” Winter shrugged, turning to face the Pegasus herself.

“Well, they ain’t gonna find me in that direction” came the amused response, a mischievous glint shining in the magenta eyes of the mare as she looked at the Unicorn “So… wanna head to a place they might find me? Say… Sugarcube Corner?”

“Sure…” Winter’s eyes narrowed as he caught the look in Rainbow’s eyes “What’s that look for?”

“RACE YA!” With that declaration, the Pegasus flared her wings and took off, leaving behind an incredible gust of wind that nearly blew the Unicorn off his feet. Shaking the messed up forelock out of his eyes, he scowled at the rainbow streak making its way towards Ponyville.

“So it’s going to be like that is it?” With an ice blue flare of his horn, Winter disappeared from the area. Though he could’ve just teleported straight to the Corner, that would defeat the fun of the race, so he took a roundabout route to make it a little fairer.

First he manifested at his house, next at Sweet Apple Acres (earning a Red Delicious apple to the head from a surprised Big Mackintosh), followed by the Ponyville Library (surprising Spike, resulting in a cascade of books landing on him from the F and U shelves), then at the Carousel Boutique just after the Crusaders left it (leaving behind a book titled “First Stitch? Tips and Tricks for the Enterprising Tailor” much to Rarity’s chagrin) before finally reappearing at the bakery just as Rainbow arrived.

“HEY! I thought we agreed on not teleporting!”

“You flew off before we could establish some ground rules, so I had some fun with it” Winter’s smirk was mischievous as he took a bite out of the apple that had been lobbed at his head before tilting his head at the door, inviting the Pegasus in with him.
The two headed in and started ordering some milkshakes, where they were soon joined by the other mares of the Elements and – a few moments after – the Crusaders crashing through the door.

“Hey squirt, so I heard you were looking for me to hear how I earned my Cutie Mark?” The Pegasus mare headed over to where her pseudo-sister lay sprawled on the floor, awaiting the affirmation before launching into her tale – the telling of which contained surprisingly minimal embellishing by the normally boastful mare – until she finished it with the finale of her performing the first Sonic Rainboom in centuries.

“Heh, Spectrum wouldn’t shut up about it for the next week… even if it did leave you bedridden for the duration of said week” Winter looked a bit misty eyed at the memory, a small smile on his face as he remembered the events.
As he reminisced, the mares in the room came to the realisation that Rainbow’s Rainboom had played a key role in the earning of each of their Cutie Marks, resulting in a group hug for the Elements as well as a group hug for the Crusaders (much to the horror of Scootaloo) before Apple Bloom realised there was one pony they hadn’t asked.

“Gee Winter, how’d you get your Cutie Mark?” the filly asked, getting curious looks from the others – and an eyeroll from Rainbow, having asked him before and gotten a rather unsatisfying answer.

“Huh… me?” Winter’s eyes faded out of focus as despite the incident happening over a thousand years ago, it was one memory he could recall with absolute clarity:

FLASHBACK START

Over a thousand years ago, long before the Royal Sisters had carved Equestria into the little slice of harmony it is today, chaos reigned supreme. Not Discord’s particular brand of chaos – though that was certainly a major problem as well – but wild chaos caused by the incredible saturation of magic in the land, everywhere was much like the Everfree Forest: dangerous and unpredictable.

The Sisters and Dark had been out exploring the kingdom and were on their way back, Luna and Celestia bickering as sisters often do.

“One is telling thou Tia that t’was a blue and black garment. Thine eyes must need testing” came the growl from the midnight blue mare whose turquoise mane glittered with starlight but had not yet started to darken and flow like a cloud in the night sky.

“And I’m telling you it was white and gold. You spend so much time staring at Mother’s stars that all you can see is blues and blacks!” was the retort from the taller and bulkier white mare, whose white mane seemed to glow with light even in the darkness of night, yet had not acquired its multitude of colours or the flow that caused it to resemble an aurora.

“Art thou suggesting that this one is colourblind?!”

“I’m certainly not saying that you can see anything other than colours a only goth would love!”

“This coming from the walking marriage gown advertisement!”

“Are you saying I’m fat?!”

The black Alicorn accompanying them sighed, tuning them out as he scanned the treeline with his gaze, knowing that the bickering might attract something less than pleasant as it had before, though soon the arguing became too much to ignore.

“…Don’t you agree Dark?”

“I’m sorry, what?” The stallion responded, attention being drawn back to the two mares as both look at him expectantly “I honestly wasn’t paying attention”

Judging by the glares, this admission earned him the ire of both Alicorns. The temperatures in the area seemed to fluctuate as heat poured from the white mare and cold emanated from the blue and both started simultaneously having a go at him.

“UNBELIEVABLE…”/“OUTRAGEOUS!”

The angry words seemed to go on for quite some time before Dark’s ears picked up some movement in the undergrowth. Eyes darting around, he tried to pinpoint it until he caught sight of a pair of glowing eyes directly behind Celestia and a shadow starting to lunge at her.
Eyes widening, he launched himself forwards, knocking the two sisters apart – much to their annoyance until they looked behind them and saw the leaping shadow – and met the assailant in the air, right forehoof coming up in an uppercut and knocking it off course, sending it careening into the light, revealing the assailant to be a very angry Manticore.

True to the myths of the animals it resembles, the Manticore landed on all four paws, claws leaving gouges in the earth as Dark landed softly opposite it, positioning himself between the irate feline and the Royal Sisters.
The two locked eyes for a few seconds, each daring the other to back off before the Manticore broke the stare, charging at the Alicorns and flaring its wings as if about to take flight. Dark stood his ground, waiting for the Manticore to close the gap before double-barrelling the creature, sending it off course but consequently causing it to land nearer to Celestia – a fact both combatants noticed as the scorpion tail lashed out towards the white Alicorn. Before either could react though, Dark threw himself at Celestia, pushing her out of the way but sustaining a gouge along his side from the venomous stinger.

“DARK!!!” came the horrified cry of both of the mares as Luna leaped over him, wings flared and circled around the two in a defensive posture while Celestia bared her teeth in anger.
The heat in the area began to skyrocket, leaves on the trees began to dry out and shrivel as the grass around her feet began to singe and turn to ash.
Her horn glowed and a blast of light engulfed the Manticore (and a good chunk of the forest behind it). With the smell of ash and charred wood, the light fades, leaving only a seething Alicorn standing before a cone of destruction, not even a burned corpse of the Manticore left behind – only a shadow of where it once stood – she turns back to Dark and Luna, eyes now fraught with worry as she leaps back over to them, examining Dark’s wound.

Venom had indeed been injected into the wound, something that neither Alicorn could handle at that point in time so all they could do was try to ease the bleeding until help arrived.
Fortunately for Dark, help did arrive that day in the form of the father of the two sisters: King Chronos – Alicorn of Time and Lord of the Lands of Equestria. The stallion was almost a clone of his eldest daughter with a coat of pure white, though his mane and tail were gold and flowing, with shapes resembling numerals flowing from the crest of his neck that would disintegrate to sand by the time they reach the tips, and his eyes were heterochromic: One was a dark royal blue that matched his younger daughter’s whereas the other was gold and the iris seemed to be comprised of… gears? Yes, gears that would turn against each other with each second that passed. The regal stallion landed before his daughters, taking them both into a hug with his wings before turning his attention to the wounded stallion.

“You risked your life to protect that which I value above all in this world? This will not go unrewarded” He dipped his horn to the wound and sand seemed to pour from it as it rapidly closes, the venom being drawn out as a green gas before the skin melds back together, leaving no indication it had ever been there before.

“With all due respect, I did not do it for you sir” came the retort from the black Alicorn, breathing coming hard and fast as if he had just run a marathon, drawing an amused smirk from the king.

“Clearly” he retorted with amusement, gesturing at Dark’s flank where his Cutie Mark was forming: a black shield with a dark purple outline and silver sun within it accompanied by a blood red sword next to it, signifying Dark’s willingness to both sacrifice himself and attack for those he cares about “It seems your bond with my daughters has gone beyond what I anticipated. Now, all of you come home. Its getting late and Galaxia hates it when we’re late for dinner”

FLASHBACK END

“Oh nothing remarkable really. I was developing a new rocket when it went out of control and flew off. I stopped it by creating a shield around it and POOF! My Cutie Mark appeared: for ensuring as safe an environment as possible when I’m working” Winter scratched his head sheepishly to groans from the three fillies – the loudest from Scootaloo – making the white stallion chuckle “Truth is it’s uncommon for ponies to discover their Cutie Marks in as dramatic a fashion as these six, normally they just… come in as you discover what you have a passion in… and you three are not paying attention, are you?”

Sure enough, the three fillies were debating their next misadventure and completely tuning out any advice on how to earn their marks, much to the exasperation of the other occupants of the room.

SCENE CHANGE: CANTERLOT, AFTER NIGHTFALL

A blue mare paced in her chambers for a few minutes, watching the sun descend over the horizon and the moon begin its ascension into the sky.
She turned and laid down on her bed, dark blue eyes closing as the room faded away to leave her standing before a galaxy.

The mare’s appearance had changed to more resemble the Princess Luna depicted in the portraits: a dark royal blue Alicorn mare with a mane and tail that resembled the night sky as though they were contained in a flowing cloud.
She sighed and placed her hooves on either side of the galaxy before throwing them out to the side, expanding the galaxy around her. It swivelled and rotated around her before one star finally settled before her.
Reaching out, she touched the star and was pulled into what looked like a replica of her throne room as Nightmare Moon. Sighing again, she rubbed her temples.

“Typical. One forays into Dreamwalking for the first time in millennia and thou just HAS to be ruining the first dream I enter” Luna growls before turning her head to the throne behind her where sure enough, the manifestation of her bitterness, rage and jealousy sat with a maniacal grin on her face “What’s thy scheme this time? Abandonment or hast thou finally gone beyond that?”

“At least I don’t speak with language that was old when we were fillies” came the mocking response, the midnight black mare grinning from ear to ear as she stood from her throne “Now why do you just stand still like a good girl and let me smite you so I can go about my business?”

Luna was about to retort, but a squeaking sound from next to her caught her attention as the suit of armour seemed to move, the axe it was holding dropping towards her head in a cleaving motion. The Alicorn took a step back with an unimpressed look, the axe imbedding itself harmlessly into the stone in front of her. “How long hast thou been planning that one? More than six months?”

“I don’t want to say” Was the impudent response, making Luna sigh in exasperation with her darker half.

“One cannot believe that One has been lured into a nightmare by someone One doesn’t like and it almost got this one killed. Who is this one? YOU?!” The Alicorn rolled her eyes before taking on a more threatening stance “Now remove thyself from this pony’s dreams and return to this one’s subconscious or face the consequences”

“No need for violence, I’m going” Nightmare scoffed, turning into her cloud form and attempting to fly off out of the window, though she was stopped by Luna inhaling, the force of the act causing the cloud to be sucked into the Alicorn’s lungs with minimal resistance.

“We said back to our subconscious, not another dream” muttered Luna as she licked traces of the cloud off her lips before looking around “Now… if we were Nightmare, where would we store a dreaming conscious?”

As if to answer her question, a nearby closet door started to shake as something pounded on it from the inside. Rolling her eyes, the Alicorn approached it and opened the door, freeing the occupant – a white Unicorn stallion with an ice blue man clad in a cloak.

“Winter Shield, We presume?”

Winter took a few deep breaths before shaking himself off, stretching from being locked in the closet for so long “Thank goodness, do you know how unpleasant that was?”

“We have an idea. Abandonment and confinement are two of Nightmare’s favourite methods of tormenting her victims and she uses them to great effect. Art thou alright?” Luna’s tone was low and comforting as her eyes glowed, the throne room fading away to a hilltop under a night sky - a setting that Luna found often helped calm dreamers down after a nightmare.

“I’m… fine thanks, she just hit a little too close to home with her accusations” he answered, not meeting the mare’s eyes, though the Alicorn merely nodded understandingly.

“We know how talented she is at that” Luna rested a hoof on Winter’s shoulder, giving him a small smile “Thou may rest assured tonight that she will not bother you again this eve. As long as we walk the dreams of our subjects again, we shall endeavour to protect all of thee from her influence.”

Winter nodded as Luna removed her hoof, apparently satisfied for now that he had been calmed and could be left to dream in peace, the mare took a few steps away before looking back at him.

“If thou should need our help again, ask us or Sister and we will endeavour to assist. PORTAL AWAAAAY!” At Luna’s final words, her mane seemed to spread and envelop her, leaving behind an empty space once it had cleared as the mare left to dreamwalk through other ponies’ dreams.
Too tired to comment, Winter merely laid down and closed his eyes, experiencing the first night of easy rest in days.

Author's Note

Certainly has been a minute since I last updated this and for that I would like to apologise for the wait. IRL - mostly work - has kept this chapter half finished on the backburner for the past three years, so I sincerely hope it was worth the wait.

As always, feedback is always welcome, though please phrase it as politely and clearly as possible so I can make best use of it :twilightsmile:

I hope everyone reading this has been well, and Until Next Time,
Darth Annihilator - out

Prologue

Storyteller: Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her alicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger alicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.

[Lightning crack], "Excuse me…" [BANG!] "There, that should quieten the storm for now…"

Storyteller: She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: the Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since…

So, that is the story of the fall of Princess Luna, what few know is that this story is incorrect; In fact, this isn't even the original version, it is the amended version that Princess Celestia released to hide the complexity and darkness of the true story… and her mistakes. Why would she do this? Why would the truth be masked?
Truthfully it was done for a multitude of reasons but the two main ones are:

1) The first is that Ponies have not seen such violence since the Founding Days, war has become almost akin to a myth used to scare young fillies and colts into behaving. As a result: Ponies are childlike, conflicts can be resolved with the simplest of apologies. To reveal that Equestria was once nearly completely destroyed by their diarchs would cause panic and chaos. It is best to keep that fact quiet…

2) The other is that after Luna's imprisonment, all ruling was placed upon Celestia; the public knowing that she was part of what caused Luna's transformation into Nightmare Moon would be catastrophic. There would be riots in the streets, greedy nobles would seek to oust her from her position and seize Equestria's throne for themselves, all for "the greater good" of course; Even if this did not happen, her subjects would lose faith in her and ignore her laws and policies, either way: Equestria would crumble from within…
No, it is best for the public to never know the true story…

So how do I know the true story then? Well, I was there and I will tell you what happened…
Over a thousand years ago, the land of Equestria was (and technically still is) a diarchy with the head of states being two alicorn sisters. The elder was a truly beautiful mare by the name of Celestia, she was a pony with a coat so white, it was said that looking at it was like pointing a mirror at white light or a star, with a flowing mane that seemed to always blow in a gentle, non-existent breeze. I personally thought it looked like an aurora;
The younger was a stunning midnight blue lass by the name of Luna, looking at her was like looking at the night sky: her coat was the colour of the night sky and her mane was similar to Celestia's only instead of looking at an aurora, you were looking at a river of stars in the night sky. (A/N: Descriptions aren't my strong point as you can most likely see here, so any help with those would be welcomed)

What none but the princesses know is, there was a third player in the events that led up to this night: Dark Saber, the alicorn guardian of the two sisters and best friend to both. This stallion had a black coat and a blood red mane, whereas Celestia and Luna had immense power and could notably move the sun and moon respectively, Dark Saber was well acquainted with all branches of magic, favouring illusion over all the others; he had to be in order to adequately protect the princesses.

Anyway, I'm digressing.

Luna became jealous of how their subjects never seemed to appreciate her beautiful night that she put all her time and effort into planning then making. She did this to the point where every night was like a snowflake: unique from all the others. It seemed that they played all day then ignored her night and slept instead; Slowly her rage consumed her until Dark Saber noticed and began to spend most of his available time with her, resulting in them becoming closer and closer until they were like brother and sister, but still the fact remained that no-one but Dark Saber and Celestia appreciated her night.
Celestia became jealous of how beautiful Luna could make her night, Luna could make every aspect of it unique whereas Celestia couldn't change anything in her day to any noticeable degree. She also witnessed the growing closeness between Dark Saber and Luna which only served to increase her jealousy as she wanted to be his closest friend… and maybe more than that.

This resulted in tensions growing between the pair, often causing arguments which Dark Saber diffused and calmed them both until one day, when Dark Saber was away gem hunting, an argument broke out; it was the worst one yet, both sides saying cutting words which never should have been said, leaving deep scars on both sisters' hearts which have yet to heal to this day.
The argument came to blows, both sisters attempting to wound the other in their anger until the transformation happened…

Dark Saber returned to witness Luna turning from the kind-hearted mare he knew into the being consumed by hatred and jealousy: Nightmare Moon. Immediately he and Celestia (who by then had realized her mistakes) leapt into action, attacking Nightmare with all they had, desperate to bring Luna back but all they tried failed…
It was night time, and Celestia's immense power was at its minimum while Nightmare's was at its maximum, Nightmare also knew all of Dark Saber's abilities and how to counter them, forcing them to take drastic action.

Dark Saber lured her away to a pre-prepared runic array that could nullify a pony's powers and immobilize them while Celestia retrieved the most powerful artefacts they had at their disposal: The Elements of Harmony.
Long story short, their plan worked… sort of: Nightmare was immobilized by the array and banished by the Elements, sadly Luna was banished too, as their plan was to separate Luna and Nightmare and seal Nightmare in the moon, permanently but Nightmare took Luna with her.

So Celestia took up the duty of the night and the moon and her relationship with Dark Saber got more and more strained until she and him had a fight due to both being consumed by anger and grief, resulting in him being exiled from her sight.

Again, how do I know this? Well please allow me to introduce myself: I am Dark Saber, former guardian of the Diarchs of Equestria, former best friend of Celestia and former brother of Luna...

"Wait a minute, WHY DID I INTRODUCE MYSELF IN MY OWN JOURNEL?! UNBELIEVABLE…"

Author's Note

Well, Greetings and Salutations my fellow bronies and pegasisters, My name is Darth Annihilator and this is my first real fic which I've transferred from Fanfiction.net to see if the fans here enjoy it as much as my other readers do. So all the support and constructive criticism you can give me will be appreciated.

I'd just like to say that this will be an OC (Dark Saber)/Celestia pairing story and any other pairings will be decided largely by my lovely readers. I hope that it won't turn into an OP arsehole OC story so please warn me if it is. Other than that I'd like to say that the two main authors that inspired me to write this are SaiyanUltima and Zamairiac.

Hope you enjoyed the fic and please let me know what you think by reading and reviewing... or commenting (or whatever it is that this site does for feedback), If there's anything that you can see that can be improved please don't hesitate to inform me in a polite and comprehensible manner, though some evidence of the error would be helpful, so I know exactly what to look for.

Until next time,

Darth Annihilator - out.

A Dog and Pony Show

Our story continues not long after the events of the Best Young Fliers Competition, in the days following the competition, Rainbow Dash had recovered from the exertion caused by performing the Sonic Rainboom, Fluttershy had revealed that she had a talent in staring animals into submission, which she used to save Twilight from a Cockatrice and the group known as the Cutie Mark Crusaders had won a talent contest for their apparent comedy act. We rejoin our heroes as Winter is accompanying Spike and Rarity on a gem hunting trip.

“Oh my gosh, Sapphire Shores, the Pony of Pop! She is awesome! I mean, she’s gorgeous and talented…” Spike gushed before catching the annoyed look Rarity was sending his way.

“Careful Spike or one might think you have a crush on this Shorey Sapphire pony, plus I think our dear fashionista here is getting jealous” Winter said, sending Spike an amused look and ignoring the annoyed look that Rarity had transferred from Spike to him. Rarity rolled her eyes at his antics.

“Her name is Sapphire Shores, Winter and I’ll have you know that I am a lady and a lady doesn’t get jealous of anypony” Rarity rebuked him, which earned her an eyeroll from the white Unicorn male.

“Aye, and I’m sure you didn’t flip out or faint when she strolled into your shop and ordered five sets of your jewel encrusted clothing” Winter replied sarcastically, getting another glare from Rarity.

“Ladies do not “flip out” Winter, though I do confess to being quite in awe of her. Moving on from Sapphire Shores, I must admit that I am wondering why you’re here Winter – not that I dislike your company or anything – it’s just that you’ve never seemed interested in gem hunting” Rarity responded, giving Winter a curious look when she mentioned her curiosity about his presence.

“There’s a gem quarry nearby that has a shipment of rubies I need for my fireworks, the various aspects of the gems are varied to allow for more experimentation when I get them home” Winter answered as they proceeded to wander around a clearing, with Rarity using her gem finding spell to find various jewels and Spike digging them up when they were found. After a while, the wagon they had brought with them was quite full and Rarity decided that they should take a break.

“You’ve been very patient Spike, and that deserves the finest reward” the Unicorn said to the Dragon (who was drooling over the gems in the wagon) as she plucked a very large sapphire from her stash and gave it to him.

It was at this moment that Winter decided to pick up his shipment from the quarry, so after excusing himself, he made his way over to the quarry, unaware that he was in for a rude shock when he arrived there…

“What?! What do you mean ‘we don’t have your shipment’?!” Winter barked at the unfortunate Earth Pony worker, the pony in question backing away from the irate Unicorn “I received a letter from you this morning saying you had my shipment of rubies. Is this some sort of practical joke? Do you perhaps think this is funny? Because I’m not laughing!”

“It’s like I said sir, we don’t have your shipment. We had it when we sent the letter, but we turned our backs a couple of hours ago and when we checked on it again, it had vanished” replied the worker, sweating as Winter fixed him with a nasty glare.

“And how did it vanish? Did it grow legs and wander off? Sprout wings and fly over the rainbow? Or perhaps it decided to fulfil its lifelong ambition of becoming a mole?” Winter snapped sarcastically at the worker, who sighed and decided to explain what they had seen.

“I don’t know about becoming a mole sir, but there was a quite large and deep hole near to where we stored your shipment, when one of us decided to investigate it, he was met with what appeared to be a geyser of soil coming from the hole, which filled it in quite rapidly” he said, getting a raised eyebrow and request from Winter to see the hole. The worker led him over to a shed with what appeared to be a mountain of dirt near the doorway, at the base of this “dirt mountain” was a ring of upturned soil that indicated that something had tunnelled upwards and extruded at that point.

After examining the area and finding no further clues, Winter thanked the worker and apologised for his poor attitude before heading back to Spike and Rarity where he arrived just in time to see Rarity being dragged down a hole and Spike stuck to a tree branch by the plates on his head.

“What in the name of Nightmare Moon is going on here?” he wondered as he freed Spike, though he got no answer as Spike was only able to speak gibberish, Winter sighed “It’s one thing after another around here. I’d best get you back to Twilight, she knows you best, so she’ll know what to do.”

Scene Change: Ponyville

Winter was lucky when he arrived back in Ponyville as Twilight, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie all appeared to be hanging out together, they all turned to greet the approaching stallion when they noticed the still gibbering Spike on his back.

“Winter? What happened?” Twilight asked, immediately taking Spike off him.

“Heck if I know, he’s been like this since I got back from the quarry to see him stuck in a tree and Rarity being dragged down a hole” he answered, giving Spike a concerned look “I thought you’d know how to calm him down long enough to tell us what happened”

“Rarity. Woods. Jewels. Dogs. Holes. Taken. SAVE HER!!!” Spike suddenly blurted out before starting to hyperventilate.

“Winter, take us to where you found Spike NOW. This sounds like it’s serious” Rainbow interjected as Twilight handed Spike a bag to breathe into. Hearing this, the other mares turned to Winter and nodded getting a nod from him in return before all six rocketed off back to the clearing, with Spike on Twilight’s back.

On their way, Spike had managed to calm down enough for Twilight to ask him what had happened to Rarity.

“Spike, can you breathe now?” she asked.

“Yes, I think so” the young drake responded, though still taking the occasional breath into the bag.

“Good, then tell us what you know.”

“Yeah, because what you told us back in Ponyville ain’t a whole lot to go on” Applejack added.

“Sorry, Rarity and I were in the woods looking for jewels when these creepy guys showed up.”

“Creepy guys?” Twilight asked.

“Not Rarity’s fan club again, I hope” Winter put in, getting a slap round the head from Rainbow.

“That’s not helpful Winter!” she snapped at him, giving him a death glare.

“You’re right, that was inappropriate, sorry.”

“Anyway, who were they Spike?” Twilight asked, getting the conversation back on track.

“They called themselves the Diamond Dogs” Spike answered “They grabbed Rarity and disappeared down a hole in the ground.”

“Well this sounds like an easy fix, just take us that there hole you mentioned and we’ll save Rarity” Applejack reassured him, though her words got an eyeroll and groan from Winter and Rainbow respectively.

“Don’t say that, you’ll jinx it” the two moaned in unison as the group arrived at the clearing to find it was absolutely full of freshly dug holes.

“Holey moley, that’s a lot of holies” remarked Pinkie, getting a deadpan look from Rainbow, Winter and Applejack for stating the obvious as Twilight walked past and told them to get started on finding Rarity. The lavender mare then peered down one of the holes, only to get a faceful of dirt after she announced her presence by calling “Hello” down the hole.
Geysers of dirt then begun to erupt from the holes as the Diamond Dogs started filling them in as the six tried to get down the holes but to no avail. The mares then decided to try and dig their way down but the Diamond Dogs decided to start messing around with them by popping up, pulling their tails or baiting them by appearing in front of them but burrowing down again when they tried to grab the Dogs. This stopped when one tried to do the same with Winter:

“Don’t even think about it” Winter snapped, fixing the canine with a glare as it popped up in front of him.

“Oh, and what are you going to do if I DO think about it, pony?” mocked the Diamond Dog in a voice that resembled Gollum from the popular fantasy novel The Lord of the Rings, getting a smirk from Winter.

“I’ll knock you into the middle of next week. With a pineapple” he retorted before kicking the canine in the face, thereby scaring it off and discouraging future attacks on them.

“Oh, this is getting beyond a joke!” complained Rainbow loudly “how are we supposed to rescue Rarity if we can’t even get down the holes?”

As the mares and Winter debated on courses of action to take, Spike spied an open hole. Remembering the sapphire Rarity had given him, he thought he could lure the Diamond Dogs out by baiting them with it, but he needed something to hold it over the hole.
Quickly scanning his surroundings, he noticed a bit of string that the Diamond Dogs had thrown up with the dirt. He then snapped off a tree branch and tied the string to it, creating an improvised fishing rod, which he then tied his sapphire to and lowered it into the hole. Realising what he was doing, the others crowded round him, but not near enough to the hole to be seen.

“Spike, it is very noble of you to sacrifice the gem Rarity gave you” Twilight said to him proudly, though she had to lower her voice midway through her sentence as Spike shushed her.

“Oh Lady Rarity, my damsel in distress, I shall save you…” Spike said as he proceeded to venture off into fantasy land for a while, which ended when he attempted to kiss Applejack (presumably fantasising about kissing Rarity), much to the amusement of the mare in question.

“I think you’ve got a bite” Winter put in, pointing at Spike’s fishing rod, which begun to bend as something in the hole began pulling on it and pulling Spike in as well with the strength the thing in the hole was pulling on the line with.

“Hold on little feller” Applejack said, grabbing his tail in her mouth, but the force started pulling her in too, the rest of the Ponies there began grabbing onto each other, each with their own thoughts to add as they did so (and were pulled into the hole.

“Applejack!”

“Twilight!”

“Why don’t you ever think about these things Dash?”

“Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!”

“Wheee!” (Three guesses who that was)

The group was then pulled through a series of tunnels (with shouts of joy and delight coming from Pinkie) until Spike lost his grip on the rod when they were pulled down a vertical tunnel and landed in a heap underneath.

“I guess we’ve finally hit rock bottom” joked Rainbow, though her voice sounded distorted.

“I would’ve found that joke a lot funnier if you didn’t have your hoof in my ear, Dash” replied Winter in a deadpan voice.

“Well, if you would remove your leg from its current position on my nose, I would be able to remove my hoof from your ear, Winter” snarked Rainbow in return as the Ponies in the pile slowly untangled themselves from each other.

“Ha ha, it worked, we’re in! Now all we have to do is save Rarity” Spike happily declared before his bubble was burst by Twilight.

“Um, which way do we go? With all these tunnels, how are we ever going to find Rarity?” she asked, getting a rather dramatic response from Spike and a thoughtful look from Applejack.

“Guess we’re going to have to split up and go down them one by one” she said, getting an outraged look from Rainbow.

“That could take forever!” the rainbow-maned Pegasus snapped.

“Not to mention it’s unwise” added Winter, getting confused looks from the mares and Spike, he sighed then explained “We don’t know how stable these tunnels are, where they go or what’s down here. It’s safest to stick together, that way if something goes wrong, we can help each other out easily.”

“Wait, what if we go down the tunnel with the most gems in it? Those Diamond Dogs mentioned that they were hunting for gems when they kidnapped Rarity, so they’d take her down the tunnel with the most gems in it, right?” Spike interrupted after doing some thinking.

“Great ide Spike, good thing Rarity showed me how to do her gem finding spell a while back. Now let’s see if I remember…” Twilight trailed off after her horn lit up and started showing ghostly silhouettes of the gems that were buried in the surrounding rocks and soil, with a significantly larger concentration being focus around one particular tunnel, which the Ponies then proceeded to charge down as Spike leaped onto Twilight’s back.
As they continued further into the tunnel, they began to hear the sound of a mare crying, they headed towards the noise until they came to an opening with a series of tunnels and iron barred doors. The sound of crying was coming from one door what had been left open.

“She must be in there” declared Rainbow, pointing at the door before a bunch of dogs clad in grey armour jumped on them and fastened basic rope bridles on them.

“More work horses” grunted one before a certain stallion lost his temper.

“GET OFF MY BACK YOU MANGY, DROOLING FLEABAG!!!” bellowed Winter, bucking about and slamming the dog into a wall, the dazed dog was then thrown off by Winter’s bucking who then plucked a large lump of stone out of the ground. By this point, the other Ponies had bucked off the other dogs and were standing in a line behind Winter, knowing what was coming.

“Come on, there’s six of us and one of him” grunted one dog as the others cowered away “Besides, what can one pony do?”

“I’ll teach you to jump on a pony’s back without permission you stupid. Cowardly. Scummy. Flea-bitten.” Winter emphasised every word with a blow to the head on an individual dog with the lump of stone he’d found and continued ranting and bonking the dogs on their heads as he spoke.

“Run away from the scary Pony!” cried one as the group of Diamond Dogs turned tail and ran down a tunnel, Winter pursuing them.

“GET BACK HERE YOU ALL-YOU-CAN-EAT BUFFET FOR TICKS!!!” He shouted as he went, striking the nearest ones with his rock, leaving behind five sweatdropping mares and a Dragon.

“We all agree those idiots deserved that, right?” Rainbow said to the rest, getting some chuckles and nods as they continued in their quest to find Rarity.

Meanwhile, Winter continued chasing the dogs down the tunnel, shouting various insults and striking them with the rock until they reached an opening where the dogs seemed to find their courage again as they stood by a cage door.

“Game’s up Pony, now you face our most recent guard. He will scare you to death and then eat you!” grunted one dog as they opened the cage to reveal the Hydra from Froggy Bottom Bog, it exited the cage and then hissed upon seeing Winter.

“Really? That’s the best you can do? What’s a Hydra doing down here anyway?” Winter deadpanned, much to the Diamond Dog’s confusion “Doesn’t matter, get out of my way or I’ll give you a sound bonking too.”

The Hydra did not appreciate Winter’s threat and roared at him, resulting in Winter swinging the rock into one of it’s heads and continuing his insults and chasing of the Diamond Dogs, this time adding a Hydra into the group he was chasing. This continued until the group ran into a clearing with three more Diamond Dogs on their knees in front of the Mane Six, distracted by this, Winter stopped his chase, allowing the others to escape and he wandered over to see what was going on.

“Assist you with what?” he arrived in time to hear Applejack say. He then saw Rarity look over to five more carts – complete with rusty chains and harnesses – filled with various types of gems.

“Why, those of course” the fashionista replied, confirming Winter’s suspicions that they were what Rarity wanted assistance with.

“You’re letting her leave? With all those jewels?” Spike asked, getting frantic nods from the quivering Diamond Dogs

“Yes, take them! And HER with them!” the Gollum sound-a-like answered.

“PLEASE!” begged a second, the smallest of the bunch.

“Wait a second, nobody’s going anywhere before I find out what happened to my rubies” Winter interrupted as the mares began hooking themselves up to the carts and heading for the door “Did you idiots take them?”

“And what if we did Pony?” snapped Gollum, suddenly finding his courage now Rarity was leaving “We take what we want, when we want to take it. You’re not getting those rubies back!”

“Right, I’ve had a long day and have no patience for this. It’s Bonking Time, let’s see if that’ll sort you out!” snapped the white stallion as he proceeded to strike the three over their heads with his rock.

“Okay, fine, they’re over there, just please stop hitting us” Gollum cried as he and his two friends ran away, Winter chasing them until he reached the entrance of a tunnel.

“Clear off! Go on, scat! Annoying mutts! And don’t you go coming back” he snapped after them, saying the last line at normal volume while shaking his hoof at them, he then turned and picked up a sealed box from the corner of the room which was marked with the name “WINTER SHIELD” and followed the Mane Six out of the tunnels. He eventually caught up with them shortly after they managed to exit the mine and in time to catch the end of their conversation.

“I can’t wait to write to Princess Celestia and tell her about everything you’ve taught me today, Rarity” Twilight said, getting a confused look from Rarity.

“Me? What did I teach you?”

“Just because a pony is ladylike, it does not mean she is weak. In fact, by using her wits, a seemingly defenceless pony can be the one that outwits and outshines them all” Twilight answered the fashionista with a smile.

“Yeah, outshines is right” cut in Spike while biting a ruby in half “Not to mention you’ve got enough gems here to finish Sapphire Shore’s order.”

“Not if you eat the all Spike” Rarity playfully replied, taking the ruby off him with a playful smirk, resulting in him biting down on thin air and all the other mares laughing.

“Now now, let’s not tease Spike too much” came Winter’s amused voice from behind them “After all, it was because if his quick thinking and ingenuity that we were able to get to you Rarity… although the gesture now seems a tad pointless.”

“Nonsense Winter, I am very grateful to you all for coming to my aid, although I was able to handle it, you did not know that and I am very glad that I have such good friends who would drop everything to help me out” Rarity said, looking at them all when she said it

Scene Change: Winter’s Hut

After getting back to Ponyville, helping Rarity getting her gems into the Carousel Boutique and depositing his own box of rubies in his cellar, it was quite late and Winter was tired, so he decided to turn in.

As he closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep, he suddenly felt odd, as though he was flying through the air. Opening his eyes, he saw that he was laid on a blue cloud with stars twinkling in it, but when he looked around, he could see nothing but darkness. Winter then felt a presence behind him.

“Do you know what the worst type of nightmare is?” came a voice out of the darkness and echoed around him; it was a feminine voice, hard and cold but still strangely familiar, Winter turned but could see nothing “The worst nightmares are those born from memories, the memories that haunt you. The memories that make you curse yourself and your decisions, that make you desire to forget them, just so they will stop taunting you.”

“Who are you? Where are you?” Winter called into the darkness, his voice echoing back to him almost mockingly.

“So why is it that your nightmares are filled with events that did not happen in your lifetime? Why are you haunted by these memories that shouldn’t be there to begin with?” the voice continued, ignoring Winter’s question.

“How should I know? Even if I did know, why would I tell someone who won’t even show themselves?” Winter snapped back, getting mocking laugher in return.

“You don’t know?” the voice parroted, laughing again “Oh, I think you do. I think you’re just too scared of the truth to tell anyone. But why do you fear the truth? Do you fear it will make your friends fear you? Revile you as a monster? Abandon you?”

“Sh-show yourself!” barked Winter looking around him for the one taunting him, his voice cracking a little as the voice in the shadows laughed again.

“Why hide the truth from those you care about? Why lie?” it taunted him again, the laughter still mocking him from all sides. Winter grit his teeth and pawed the ground.

“I’ve told no lies and I’ve hidden no truths, so why not face me and explain why you think I have?” he said to his surroundings, lowing himself into a fighting stance.

“What’s the matter? Getting worried that if a random stranger can find your little secret out, how long will it be before your precious friends catch on?” the voice laughed again, which sounded odd after it had practically spat venom when it said the word ‘friends’ “What would your sister say, if she knew?”

“I don’t know what you are talking about, now show yourself before I get really angry!” the stallion snapped, the accusations hitting sensitive spots and easily getting through his usually good self-control.

“Ooh, why so defensive for a stallion with nothing to hide? But if you insist on denying the truth, then I suppose I should be polite and tear your lies apart face to face” the voice said before shifting metal could be heard, followed by the ‘Clank’ sound of an armoured hoof hitting the floor. More clanks came as the source of the voice grew closer, the clanking growing louder and Winter found himself stepping back as the clanks drew nearer as he felt an emotion that he was not experienced with. An emotion that he had only truly felt twice before: Fear.

“Why do you hide behind the form of a grouchy, eccentric Unicorn when you are so much more? Why do you hide everything you are from your so-called friends behind a mask of lies? Do you truly care so little for them?” said the voice again as the clanks briefly stopped, the only visible feature of the voice’s origin being a hoof clad in navy blue armour. Winter’s eyes narrowed when he saw it, recognising the design but not quite able to remember where he could recognise it from.

“You… how are you doing this? I know you from somewhere but I can’t remember where…” Winter trailed off as the being laughed again, the laughter starting to get on Winter’s nerves.

“Why should I tell you anything, when you tell those you claim to trust nothing? And don’t think I haven’t noticed that you have failed to answer my questions” the being replied as the hoof moved forward to reveal it belonged to a midnight black leg. More clanks were heard as the being began to slowly reveal itself to be a midnight black Alicorn clad in navy blue battle armour with a Cutie Mark of a crescent moon surrounded by purple gas and a mane and tail that resembled blue smoke with stars contained within it. She had Winter pinned with the gaze from her slitted, turquoise eyes and a wide, almost bloodthirsty grin on her face, showing all of her sharp, jagged teeth that seemed wildly out on place on an equine animal.

“So Dark, care to explain your need for all the secrecy and lies?” she said mockingly as Winter swallowed, now realising that he is in a dream and – as a result – completely at Nightmare’s mercy and for the first time in many years, felt true fear take hold of him.

Author's Note

Well, that's a wrap folks. I just want to give an an explanation for the long hiatus: the short version of the story is that I just lost all motivation for writing until about February of last year when I posted my latest chapter of Tale of a Red Rose on FF.Net, at that point I had a portion of this chapter written up but then I had computer related issues which ended up with me losing all of my files. This resulted in another loss of motivation for writing which lasted until about two weeks ago when I begun to plan chapters for my stories (and potentially new stories as well).

I can't guarantee how frequent my update schedule will be in future, but I do promise to finish my stories once I've started them. Any story I feel I cannot finish will be either put up for adoption or deleted as I know how annoying it is to wait for ages with no updates and I'm really sorry to do the same thing to my wonderful readers, if any have returned when I post this chapter, then I give you my sincerest gratitude for doing so and my sincerest apologies or this taking so long.

I've said this on my FF.Net version of the story and to be fair to any readers that don't use FF.Net, I'll say it here as well: if you want me to add in extras to the story (like a little omake or mini chapter) from now on, I will be happy to do so and I will start with this chapter if you folks want me to do it to see how it goes (I'll probably add it in the blog section here instead of at the end of the chapter like I will on FF.Net and then post link to it in the Authors Notes so you can read it at your leisure), but I think I've rambled on enough for the moment, so I'll just ask for you all to give me as much feedback as possible now that I'm back, positive or negative, everything is helpful as long as it's written politely and comprehensively.

So Until Next Time...

Darth Annihilator - out.