A/N: Well here it is, the official chapter 1! Please rate and comment!
Special thanks to Jagun for the editing!
The early morning sunlight streamed through the window of the large tree, known as the Books and Branches Library, onto the face of a slowly stirring unicorn. Rolling out of the light with a muttered grunt, the blanket fell away to reveal a purple mare, with an equally purple mane with a violet stripe. Her cutie mark was a pink six pointed star, around which were another five smaller white stars.
Twilight Sparkle squinted her eyes shut tight, willing herself just a few more minutes of wonderful sleep. Try as she might though, it was a losing battle against Celestia’s sun. With a grunt of disinclination she pulled herself from her hay mattress, the sheets and blankets bunched up in a disheveled mess from her restless slumber. Her plethora of pillows lay scattered about, several even on top of a book shelf across the room.
“No wonder Spike is always up before I am, let alone tired most of the day.” Twilight said with a sigh. She trudged over to her wardrobe, upon which several brushes sat in a neat line in front of the large mirror. Using her magic, she picked up one of the finer, smaller toothed ones and brushed her purple fur coat until it was once again smooth and pristine. In her head, she put a mental check mark next to Brush My Coat on her mental morning checklist of things to do when she wakes up.
Next was her mane. She selected a long, flat comb and ran it through her mane until that too was neat and tidy. Check. Next she turned to the side and used a combination of the long flat comb and the third brush, slightly larger than the others and rounder, with longer teeth to reach deep into the recesses of her thick tail. She used the round brush, brushing up from the underside, and the comb on the top to line everything up. Check.
Finished with her duties at the wardrobe she made her way to the upstairs bathroom, where she brushed her teeth with the new brush Colgate had given her. Twilight rolled her eyes as she thought back to how Colgate tried to tell her how to properly brush her teeth, as if she were a small filly. With a final spit and rinse, Twilight was feeling much more awake, and her hunger was beginning to make itself known.
She left the confines of the bathroom and made her way downstairs, only to stop and stare at the sight before her. Much of her kitchen was in a disheveled mess, most of the food was burnt and the charred remains of napkins and tablecloths lay on the floor, while a frantic baby dragon was running in a circle lost in panic. It was easy to discern that a fire had taken place. She wasn’t too worried, as she had seen to it to magically make everything in the library fireproof after the incident when Spike accidently destroyed her copy of The Astronomical Astronomer’s Almanac to all things Astronomy.
“Spike! What in Equestria is going on down here?!” Twilight half yelled across the room in an effort to snap her assistant from his panic. By the time she had maneuvered around the remains of various kitchenware Spike had finally taken notice of her, and immediately rushed forward to grovel at her hooves, muttering apologies.
“Spike, calm down.” Said Twilight, lifting one of her hooves out of Spike’s grasp. “Now, just tell me what happened.” She said in a soft voice in an effort to try to reassure her Number One Assistant that she wasn’t about to banish him to the sun.
“W-well…” Spike said with a snivel, “I was making you some breakfast, and when I was setting out the napkins on the table, the Princess sent a letter, and, well, the napkins and table cloth caught fire. I was trying to put it out but the stuff I was using kept catching too…” He trailed off.
“Spike, what was the point of me getting a fire extinguisher if you-“ Twilight’s eyes widened in realization, “A LETTER!?! We got a letter from the Princess and you didn’t tell me!?”
“It set the kitchen on fire.” Spike said, rolling his eyes at her same reaction every time they got a letter from the Princess. “Hard to tell you when you’re in a sleep deeper than a coma while trying to put out a fire.”
Twilight heard none of this, as she was racing around the library in a frenzied panic obsessively cleaning every corner, the kitchen began to sparkle as she went from place to place, until a small, scaly claw grabbed her snout and forced her to look into a pair of green draconic eyes.
“Calm down before you almost destroy the town.” Spike said, then added as an afterthought, “Again. And besides,” He let go of her, she rubbed her muzzle where his claw dug in a bit, “You haven’t even read it yet. You don’t know if she’s coming here, it might even be tickets to the Gala this year!”
“After what happened last year I really doubt that.” She said with a light chuckle, grasping the scroll in her magic and sitting at the now clean table. She broke the seal of the Royal Insignia and unrolled the letter as Spike went back to making breakfast. Twilight was slightly surprised at how short the letter was.
Twilight, gather the Elements.
A chariot is on its way to escort you all to Canterlot.
HRH, Celestia
Twilight blinked, then read and re-read the letter trying to force the parchment to tell her the reason behind the letter. With a sigh she set the letter back down on the table as Spike set a plate of hay pancakes and a glass of water on the table.
“Well, what does it say?” He asked.
“Almost nothing!” Twilight said with dismay. “I don’t get it! I mean, she usually gives a brief explanation.” She furrowed her brow, deep in thought as she absent mindedly took a bite of her pancake. While she was off in her own world, Spike took the liberty of giving the letter a once over himself.
“Twilight… You don’t think something bad has happened, do you? Like with Discord?” Spike asked, his voice full of concern and worry. “What if…. What if Nightmare Moon came back?” The prospect of Nightmare Moon’s return snapped Twilight back to reality.
“No Spike, you saw Princess Luna a few weeks ago, you should know better than anyone that Nightmare Moon is never coming back.” Twilight cleared off the table, finished with her meal. “Now Spike, the letter said that a chariot is on its way. It’s not that long of a flight from Canterlot, so I need you to pack my things while I go out and gather my friends.”
Without listening to Spike’s protests she turned about and left the library. Spike stared after her a moment, his argument dying on his tongue. He heaved a heavy sigh before turning to the pile of dishes in the sink, then thinking of the mess that awaited him upstairs made him work all the quicker.
Twilight took off from the library at a brisk trot towards her nearest friend, Pinkie Pie. The library was just off of town square and Sugar Cube Corner was on the corner of her street and town square. In no time at all Twilight stood before the main entrance. She raised a hoof up to the door and knocked before entering. Sugar Cube Corner was supposed to be closed, but this was urgent business. As she entered, the smell of freshly baked sweets filled the morning air. Twilight managed to get a few steps past the door and a deep smell of sweets before her vision was blocked by a bouncy pink pony.
“Hi everybrony!” Pinkie cried out, waving her front hooves frantically in the air. “Oh hey Twilight! No, I didn’t forget about you, you see, since you’re here so early I wasn’t expecting you but my Pinkie Sense was telling me to expect something out of the blue so I searched through all of the blue streamers and the blue candy and the blue pictures and the blue frosting and the blue TARDIS and even the blue icing but I couldn’t find anything until you came in unexpectedly and then I knew it wasn’t something out of the blue but out of the purple which is almost like blue but darker and with more red pigment and now you’re here and you can tell me the big surprise!”
Twilight had no idea who this “everybrony” was and just shrugged it off as Pinkie Pie was being Pinkie Pie, and she didn’t need another grand piano dropping on her head like the last time she tried to figure out her pink friend.
“Pinkie, I’m the only one here.” Twilight said.
“Oh Twilight!” Pinkie giggled as she bounced about.
“Anyway,” Twilight began as she rolled her eyes, "The Princess sent me a letter-"
“Telling you to gather all your friends and take a chariot to Canterlot?” Twilight’s jaw hit the floor. “Good thing I’m already packed and I have fresh ammo for my party cannon and as soon as the Cakes come down to open for the day I can meet you back at the library!”
“Wha- Bu- How?” Twilight stuttered.
“Oh silly, for being such a smart-smarty pants you really don’t know much do you? It’s like this-" Pinkie said as she hopped toward the door and turned the Sorry, we’re closed! sign to Yes, we’re open, come in! “See!”
“No! I meant how you knew what the letter said!” Twilight’s agitation was beginning to get the best of her.
“Sheesh Twilight, when has the Princess ever sent you a letter that didn’t have to do with going to Canterlot or face off a giant monster and since nopony is screaming in terror that leaves just one outcome so I took a guess and I was right!”
“Alright…” Twilight sighed, defeated. “I’ll see you at the library, hopefully before the chariot gets here. I’m going to head over to Rarity’s and let her know.”
“OH! OH! I’ll get Rainbow Dash! I still have my Pinkie Copter® and she’s fast so she can get Fluttershy and Applejack should be in the market getting ready for today so you should see her before Rarity because she’s closer!” Pinkie rattled off before zipping upstairs, leaving a once again dismayed Twilight before the door.
Pinkie was in her attic in a flash after checking in on the Cakes and letting them know where she was going for the day. She looked with pride at the Pinkie Copter® she had hoof made the day Gilda stopped by. With a slightly mad giggle she pressed a switch on the wall and immediately the attic was filled with a loud grinding and whirring noise as the roof of Sugar Cube corner opened up into the morning sky, while steam was hissing out of the joints.
Once the roof was sufficiently open she hopped into her contraption and began to pedal, the blades slowly spinning as she did her pre-flight check.
“Pink Leader, checking in.” Pinkie said.
“Roger Pink Leader. You are a go.” Pinkie said in a deeper tone with a giggle.
She began to peddle faster, leaning her body left and right to maintain balance and rotate around as she took to the sky. Once she was out in the clear blue, the roof’s timer ran out and began to close once more. Pinkie took a moment to get her bearings before heading off in the direction of the giant floating cloud house.
Rainbow Dash awoke with a start, cold sweat matting her fur. She had just had the worst dream in her life. She violently shook her head to dispel any further thoughts and went into her cloud bathroom. She walked into the corner and shoved a hoof into the rain cloud above her head, the cold water waking her up in an instant as she washed the smelly sweat from her fur.
Showered and no longer foul smelling, she shook herself off, letting the air dry her mane and coat into their usual looks. She went down to the main level to find something to eat while she let herself dry, walking around various take out boxes that littered her cloud home. She really should tidy up, but nopony ever comes to visit her, so why should she?
She went into her cloud kitchen and took out a box of leftover pizza from the night before, then settled herself down on the cloud sofa next to a still sleeping Tank. As she was about to dig into her food, Rainbow’s ear twitched as she began to hear a faint noise in the distance. She had heard the sound before, but where? Rainbow face-hooved as she made the connection and went to the window to see Pinkie and her crazy contraption on a collision course with her home. Not wanting to have to rebuild a part of her house, she flew out to meet Pinkie half way.
“Hey Pinkie,” Dash said as the pink pony pulled up alongside. “What brings you here this morning?”
“Oh! Dashie I have a new cupcake recipe you have to try! It’s to die for!” Pinkie said in her usual charm. Dash instantly paled, making her look like she did when Discord had returned. “Dashie? What’s wrong? It’s not like I’m going to chop you up and make you into cupcakes! That’s just wrong, I mean, we don’t eat meat and if meat was in a cupcake we would taste it and it would make us sick like the time Applejack helped me make those muffins!”
Dash could only stare at her friend for a long moment, once she was sure Pinkie wasn’t actually going to cut her wings off and play with her organs like her dream this morning, she gave a soft nervous laugh.
“Yea…” She coughed, “I’ll have to stop by then, but why couldn’t this wait till later?”
“Oh Twilight got a letter from Celestia and we’re all going to Canterlot!” Pinkie said with glee. “She’s going to go get Rarity and Applejack and I have some things to pack up so we need you to tell Fluttershy and meet us in front of the library!”
“Ok, you can count on me!” Rainbow Dash said with a quick salute before speeding off to the outskirts of town.
“Oh Dashie, if only you knew…”
Applejack was busy arranging her stall for the morning rush. She was set up in her best spot, right where the most ponies pass by on their commute to work. She had her apples and apple snacks set up on the stall, and was just putting the finishing touches on her sign when she heard hoof steps behind her. She turned around expecting to do business with her first customer of the day.
“Oh! Howdy Twilight! Come by fer an apple fritter?” Asked Applejack in her usual country drawl.
“No, but thanks anyway. I had some hay pancakes this morning, but that’s not why I’m here.” Applejack cocked her head to the side, wondering what could be so important. “Princess Celestia sent me a letter saying we all need to go to Canterlot immediately, the chariot is already on its way.”
“But Twilight, ah can’t jus’ leave mah apple stand out here. Tell ya whut, ah’ll go git Big Macintosh to watch it fer today and ah’ll meet ya back at the library.” And with that Applejack bound down the road to find Big Macintosh before he began his work for the day, while Twilight turned and headed for Rarity’s boutique.
Fluttershy had been up all morning, waking up her sleeping friends and depositing their breakfast in front of their nests. She had carrots for the bunnies, seed for the birds, and various fruits and vegetables for her many friends. While she was out, Angel Bunny busied himself by prepping Fluttershy’s favorite tossed salad.
Angel was almost done setting the table when somepony knocked on the door. He furrowed his beady little eyes at the interruption, and then threw off his apron and chef hat as he made his way to the door. He leaped up into the air and grabbed hold of the door handle, then with a sharp twist of his body he turned the handle to open the door to let a cyan pegasus inside.
“Oh, hey Angel.” Rainbow said, taking note of the bunny’s aggressive stance. “Ummm, is Fluttershy around?” Angel turned his back to Rainbow, crossed his fore paws, and jutted his nose into the air. “Uh, ok.” Rainbow said awkwardly. Today was just not the best day. “Guess I’ll check in the garden.” Rainbow left the bunny, and rounded the edge of the house, smashing into Fluttershy.
“OH! My goodness! I’m sorry I didn’t mean to! I was –"
“Fluttershy it’s ok, it’s just me.” Rainbow said with a smile
“Oh! Rainbow, good morning. I just finished feeding the animals and was about to have breakfast, would you like some? I mean, if you don’t want to you don’t have to….” Fluttershy trailed off, hiding behind her mane.
“Actually I missed breakfast, but we need to hurry, a chariot is on its way to take us all to Canterlot.” Rainbow explained as they walked into Fluttershy’s home. The carpet was soft to the hoof, almost like a cloud, Dash noted. The walls had various bird houses hung up upon them, and the house itself had a little something for just about every animal Fluttershy cared for.
“Oh my, you don’t think something terrible has happened, do you?” Fluttershy asked as she quickly prepared a salad for her friend. Rainbow took a seat as Fluttershy set the salad and some water on the table.
“I don’t know any more than you do.” Rainbow said as they dug into their food. Within but a few minutes they had both eaten their salads. “Wow, brings back memories of the insanely short lunch breaks back in Flight School, huh?” Rainbow said with a laugh.
“Yeah.” Fluttershy responded with a smile as she put the dishes on the counter.
“Anyway, let’s get going to Twilight’s library before the chariot gets here.” Dash said, the two made their way outside where they took off in the direction of Ponyville, leaving an angry bunny to clean things up.
Rarity was lost in her own world, her marvelous idea for a new line of dresses taking life before her eyes. She had gotten up early, this new idea having been dreamed up motivating her to begin immediately. Sweetie Belle was having a sleep over with her fellow crusaders in their club house, allowing her to fully concentrate on her new design without any unwanted distractions.
“RARITY!!”
Rarity screamed and jumped into the air, her tools and fabric dropping out of her levitation field as her concentration broke. Looking around frantically she saw Twilight snickering to herself.
“Twilight!” Rarity gasped, “That was a rather inappropriate thing to do, scaring a lady like that!” She said as she flipped her mane with a hoof.
“I’m sorry Rarity,” Twilight said as her giggling calmed down a bit. “But you didn’t seem to hear me, so I used Princess Luna’s Royal Canterlot Voice to get your attention.”
“Oh that’s quite alright dear, but for a moment I thought you were Sweetie Belle. I just wasn’t expecting the Cutie Make Crusaders-"
“NOPONY EXPECTS THE CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS!!” Screamed three fillies as they ran into the boutique.
Rarity could never face hoof as much as she needed to at this instant.
“We are here to surprise and startle, startle and surprise…” Scootaloo trailed off. “And, uh… Hmm. I forgot the rest. Well?” She looked to her friends, they each looked at their blank flank and sighed.
“I guess we're not meant to be like Monty Pony.” Said Sweetie Belle as they left the boutique.
“Well that was almost as random as Pinkie Pie.” Twilight remarked once the door closed. “Anyway, Princess Celestia wants us all to go to Canterlot. The chariot should be here soon enough.”
“Canterlot? Let me put on my best dress, I doubt I will see Fancy Pants and his crowd, but if this is a meeting with just the Princess then I need to look like royalty.” Rarity squealed in delight and ran upstairs.
Twilight was left to look around the shop, she looked at the various ponyquins, either bare or with pieces of fabric on them. Several were in a corner with complete dresses on them, waiting for the pony that bought them to stop by and pick them up. Twilight finished her circle of the boutique and came to the main counter with the register, behind which was a narrow opening, covered by a black curtain.
Curious, she walked around behind the counter and entered the small back room. The walls were covered with shelves that held various odd assortments of things. She saw several of what appeared to be bridles and whips, why Rarity would have these in her shop she had no idea. She used her magic to pick up one of the odd items and began to examine it. It looked familiar, like she saw something similar in a book somewhere. Realization suddenly hit her when she remembered the anatomy book she had read some time ago. Twilight dropped the object with a yelp and ran back out into the center of the shop, where she planted her rump on the floor to wait for her friend, a deep blush showing through her fur.
Spike was just finishing packing Twilight’s saddlebags with the latest books she had been reading, as well as a few novels she sometimes read to simply pass the time. The last thing he packed was a snack for their friends, his freshly baked homemade triple decker nut crazy vanilla cream cookies. As he hauled the bags out in front of the library, he saw Pinkie Pie bouncing her way towards the library.
“Hi Pinkie, how are you?” Spike asked
“Hi Spike!” Pinkie said as she bounced in place, her saddle bags failing to slow her down with the added weight. “I’m super thanks for asking! Because first I wasn’t sure how I felt today if I was just plain super or like a super-duper-party-pony but I was a super-duper-party-pony already then Twilight came by to tell me we’re needed in Canterlot and so now I’m a little worried and that just makes me super!”
Spike’s eyes were rolling around in his head as he tried to keep up with Pinkie’s logic, but he got a lucky break as he was saved by Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.
“Whoa, Spike, you weren’t talking to Pinkie just now were you?” Rainbow Dash laughed as Spike shook the dizziness from his head.
“Hey Rainbow, we’re a bit early. Twilight’s not back yet but the chariot still isn’t here. I think we have a few minutes.”
Just then the group heard faint voices from down the road. They followed the sound to see Twilight and Rarity walking slowly towards them. Twilight was blushing deeply and had a frown on her face as Rarity was trying to explain something to Twilight.
“…should know that boutiques don’t just sell only dresses-"
“OH! Hey look we’re here!” Rarity was interrupted by Twilight as she ran to join the group of friends.
“Hey girls, glad to see we all made it on time. Wait, where’s Applejack?” Twilight asked, looking around for the missing pony. “Oh, there she is.” She remarked, pointing out a growing dust cloud in the distance that was Applejack running to join them, and not a moment too soon.
A large number of chariots descended from the mid-morning sky, casting a large shadow over the town as they passed over, then rounded back around to make a landing. Several unicorn and earth pony guards departed each chariot, the pegasi unhooking themselves from their own chariots to join with the ranks of the other guards.
“Sorry ahm late gals, had to arrange some thangs with Big Macintosh.” Applejack said, watching all the guards form up into several groups.
One chariot pulled by two pegasi pulled up in front of the library, the royal elite guard urged the group of friends to board quickly. Once everypony was boarded and accounted for the pegasi took to the air, making haste towards the castle.
The pegasi pulling the chariot were incredibly fast, no doubt able to give even Rainbow Dash a run for her bits. The trip to Canterlot was made in less than an hour, the pegasi landing just long enough for the group to jump off before flying back to Ponyville to join with the other guards.
“Wow, guards in Ponyville? Something must be up.” Deduced Rainbow Dash.
“Ya think?” Applejack said, rolling her eyes as the party made their way into the castle.
Two more guards stopped them and demanded to know their purpose. Twilight, most familiar with the protocol, explained the situation and showed them Celestia’s letter as proof. The group was then escorted to the war room. This room was usually reserved to negotiating with foreign diplomats over trade disputes due to the large map carved into the table.
At the head of the table sat Princess Celestia and Princess Luna themselves, next to them sat their advisors. They each looked up as the guards announced the presence of the Elements of Harmony and Spike before they left to return to their posts.
“Ah, good you’re here. Take a seat; we were just about to get started.” Said Celestia, she stood at the head of the table and began to address everypony in the room.
“Now, as you are all aware, we have dispatched guards over the entire nation, calling in the reserves as well to do so. The reason, Fillies and gentle colts, is because Equestria is at war.”
Several gasps and murmurs erupted around the room until Celestia raised a hoof to silence them.
“Now, the invading army is located here, in the Frozen Wastes of the North,” Celestia used her magic to highlight an area of the map, “The army is a vast horde of living dead, some would call them zombies, but the faction they represent is called the Scourge. They are being led by their master, who calls himself The Lich King, an alicorn of a massive amount of power. It will take our best ponies alongside my sister and I to lay him to rest.”
“You mean to kill him.” Fluttershy said, earning several looks from her friends, noticing her shy demeanor has simply vanished, to be replaced with a determined frown as she studied every detail of the map.
“To put it bluntly, yes.” Said Luna.
“Now,” Said Celestia, “Initiate emergency protocol seven.”
This statement was met with confused looks, with the exception of Luna and three ponies that turned and galloped out the room.
“Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Applejack, stay here with Luna and I, everypony else please return to your posts. We have things to discuss in private.”
The advisors filed out of the room, closing the doors behind them.
“Princess?” asked Twilight, “What’s going on? Why did Pinkie, Rarity, and Fluttershy just leave like that?” She felt hurt that her friends seemed to just abandon them like that.
“Twilight,” Celestia explained, “We have numerous secret societies of ponies hidden among the masses, only my sister and I know who, and three of your friends are such ponies. Did you really think a few guards in Canterlot castle kept the peace of the entire nation?”
“So, this secret society is like guards undercover?” Asked Dash.
“No, guards don’t do assassinations on foreign leaders.” Said Luna.
The room fell into a deathly silence as this new thought sank in.
“Sister, there was a reason I wanted to wait until they were ready.” Sighed Celestia.
“War isn’t going to wait until they are ready before killing thousands of innocent lives.” Luna replied.
“Wait, Fluttershy an assassin? She’s afraid of her own shadow!” Argued Dash, Twilight and Applejack nodding their heads in agreement.
“Each member of the society is a master of deception.” Stated Celestia. “Now, moving on, about 500 years ago I had a son.”
“Now wait Princess,” Said Twilight, the gears in her whirring madly, “I have read every history book and studied into the royal family, and nowhere does it mention that you had a son, let alone a relationship of any kind.”
“Twilight, who do you think approved what was written in the history books? For that matter, why do you think we have a restricted section of the royal library?” Celestia said with a small smile. Twilight quickly abandoned the argument as the realization hit her. “Exactly.”
“Now, as I was saying, my son Arthas was an alicorn of immense power…..”
Three ponies appeared in Ponyville with a flash of light from the teleport pad in the castle. They took a moment to observe the other.
“Pinkie, I had thoughts you might be a member as well, but this is still unexpected.” Said Rarity.
“I was the unexpected one? What about Fluttershy, even my Pinkie Sense detected nothing out of the ordinary.”
“Your Pinkie Sense can detect members?”
“No, just if ponies are different from others, like the Doctor. Anyway, let me get my things from Sugar Cube quick.” Said Pinkie as they headed towards the shop.
“Still, Emergency Protocol Seven? Just abandon the cover, gear up, and get ready for war just like that? I thought it would be a little more dramatic than that.” Rarity commented as they waited for Pinkie to return.
“It wasn’t like that 500 years ago either.” Fluttershy said. Before Rarity could question her she added, “I’ll explain at my cabin.”
Rarity’s shadow began to waver slightly, before Pinkie Pie emerged, shrouded in a black cloth that looked like pure darkness, several blades and daggers were belted in place all over her body.
“Oh my, an actual Shadow Weaver? Now your Pinkie Sense makes sense.” Rarity remarked. “Oh, so you were the one who assassinated the griffon prime minister last month, I wanted to do that one.” She pouted playfully. “But I assume you can see cross dimensionally as well?”
“Oh yes. I’ve actually been planting these ideas into Lunafan1k’s mind as he writes this." Said Pinkie, her voice coming from all directions at once and nowhere at all.
“Pinkie, it would be lovely if you never spoke like that again…” Said Rarity, suppressing a shiver.
“Okie-dokie-lokie. Next is your place right?” Said Pinkie, bouncing once again as they headed toward the boutique.
Pinkie and Fluttershy waited in the main room as Rarity went into the small room behind the counter, before emerging moments later with a plain wooden box.
“Wait, you hid your gear out in the open where anypony could find it?” Pinkie accused.
“No don’t be silly. That’s the room I keep the shop’s less socially acceptable items. The box itself is in a hidden compartment. Ponies get curious about things under guard, even more so when they get in trouble for trying to find out. So having this box in a room like that one provides the perfect hiding spot, because ponies are too fixated on the stuff on the shelves, like Twilight was earlier today.”
“Oh ok. So, what do you do?” Asked Pinkie.
“Oh I am so glad I can finally share this secret, I have been wanting to brag about it since I was a filly.” Rarity opened the box to reveal seven diamonds set in fitted sockets of red felt material, they were cut in odd shapes and had severely sharp edges. “You know my special talent is gems, right?” A blue glow surrounded the diamonds as Rarity lifted them out of the box. “But specifically, my talent is fighting with gems.” The diamonds swirled in a deadly vortex around the room before stopping in front of Rarity, where they seemed to snap together, forming a long, seamless, blade of pure diamond.
“Wow. That’s impressive.” Remarked Pinkie before she turned to Fluttershy, “What about you? You haven’t said anything this entire time.”
“Come, I will show you.” Said Fluttershy.
The group soon arrived at Fluttershy’s cottage.
“Rarity, remember how I said I would explain my comment?” Rarity nodded. “I am actually 786 years old. Did you ever wonder why there are no female dragons?" Rarity thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Dragoness is recessive, allowing us to take the forms of various ponies. My cutie mark is also fake.” There was a small flash of light as the three butterflies on her flank were replaced with a silver emblem of a dragon.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I must get my star-metal armor.”
Pinkie and Rarity sat in stunned silence as their once shy friend got dressed in her house. When she emerged she was wielding a full set of plate armor with various dragon engravings on it. Her helmet was fitted with ram horns that curved down to her shoulders, upon which an ancient magical sword lay across.
“My name is Dovahkiin, and I am Dragonborn.”
