The misadventures of Light Heart

Chapters

My first flight.
A quick Dash to a prank war
When my Dad met a bad teacher.
A false perspective.
One day in the castle

My first flight.

Some ponies think that I found flying easier than magic, others think vice versa. To tell you the truth, for me learning how to fly fell somewhere in between. I guess in order to explain this I need to tell you about my past.

My parents said that I used to be fearless, not the courageous type of fearless. I mean the "don't know the meaning of fear" type of fearless. One time my parents lost track of me on the farm. They found me later near the fields with the bulls. I didn't get hurt, and my parents are good parents. I just had a habit of getting into bad situations without worring about what could happen. However, my fearless nature that changed when I was two years old. I don't remember it clearly, so I'm going off of my parents account.

It was before most of my siblings were born, being the second oldest. My parents took us to a Wonder bolts show. Even back then they did amazing stunts, at least I think so. At the end of the show one of the Wonder bolts offered to take me and my brother up for a flight. My brother accepted, but not me.

I clung to the ground and started screaming "NO! NO! NO!"

I dug my hooves into the ground so they couldn't lift me easily. It took them a few minutes to pry me off of the ground, but they didn't force me to fly with them. Now some ponies would think that that's the story when I learned about fear, and they would be right, but this wasn't the end of this story. My grandparents showed up a few days later to visit my family. We ended up going to the black canyon. When we got to the canyon I started sprinting to the guard rail, until I started seeing how deep it was. I got halfway to the edge when I had a Deja Vu moment. I found myself seeing a 200 foot drop.

I dropped to the ground and started screaming "NO! NO! NO!". So they spent the rest of that day trying to pry me from the ground again.

That story isn't only about how I learned about fear, it was how I got my fear of heights. I don't like the idea of falling from any height that's bigger than I am. My heart starts racing at the thought of looking down a great height. I'm not even comfortable with being on a floor higher than two stories. Now imagine the big problem about me getting a set of wings. It was like having bright signs saying "Face your fears" on my back. I knew that I had to use them, hey, I couldn't use them for nothing. It'd be like getting a hot air balloon and never using it. the only thing that would happen would be them wearing out and becoming weak. Luckily I found that flying is easier to study than magic. Some books I have problems understanding if I can't imagine it. Luckily most of the books on flying had pictures. Surprisingly the book that gave me the best idea about flying was 'flying for dummies'. I also had one other advantage. I could actually see how a pegasus flies.

I spent a few days watching how ponies flew. You know, now that I say that out loud, it sounds creepy. It kinda explains why Rainbow Dash confronted me. She was practicing her new flight stunts when she saw me watching her. She was the best flier in town, so I spent some extra time watching her.

She landed a few feet away from me and started walking towards me. "Um, why are you watching me?"

Sadly her landing startled me. "I, uh, what?"

She rolled her eyes. "You've been staring at me for the last hour. Are you planning on asking me on a date. I mean, I know I'm awesome, but I thought you were not planning on dating for a while?"

That snapped me to my senses. I was not ready for a relationship. "NO! I mean, you've got it all wrong. I'm just trying to learn how to fly. I was just seeing how you do it."

Dash raised an eyebrow. "Oh, do you want me to teach you? I did teach Twilight Sparkle."

I thought about it, but I didn't like the idea of a one on one lesson with a single girl. I knew my dad would be all over me when he'd find out. "Um, I don't think so. I don't want ponies to get the wrong idea. You know that the first thing ponies will think is that we're dating. If you had several students then maybe, but I don't think we should try this alone with you. I like being accountable."

Dash chuckled. "When will you start dating?"

I ran my hoof through my hair, knowing I'd have to answer this for the 49th time. "When I'm ready to support a family. Right now I'm doing what I can to get by. I can't support a wife right now with how much I make right now. I have no clue if she'd have a job or even know how to cook. That and if you were talking about us then my reason is that I don't know you very well. My parents told me that a good relationship starts with a good friendship. I've only talked to you when you buy stuff from me. Right now we only know each other professionally. I'm just not ready right now."

Dash shrugged. "Well, one peace of advice about flying, you've got to start practicing. Studying is one thing but you've got to start trying. You have to flap your wings sometime."

My heart started racing when I started thinking about flying. I gave my best fake smile to Dash. "Thanks, oh boy!"

I walked away before she could ask me what was wrong. I started thinking about being in the air. I thought about a long list of things that could go wrong. I might have been trying to evade the inevitable. I didn't think about where I would be flying, up in the air, with nice hard ground to cushion my fall. I eventually decided to try to muster up my courage. It had to happen sooner or later. I climbed to the top of a small mountain to get a good flying start. There is a strange feeling about looking down at the small town several stories below me and seeing the beautiful view stretching out for miles. When I got to the top and saw what I did, I made a major choice. I found a smaller hill. Baby steps guys!

I did a few stretches for about half an hour. Then I realized that I was putting it off again. Most pegasus say that flying is a natural instinct, they keep forgetting to add that they started learning in kindergarten. I decided to just focus on getting my hooves off the ground and then cry about how high it is later. I took a deep breath, got a running start, started flapping my wings and then jumped. When I first started I flew ten feet, from the hill to the ground. Hey! No pony gets it right on the first try... Right?

I looked through a few pages of "flying for dummies" and got to the top of the hill again. After the twelfth try I started to get some lift. I was now several feet off of the ground. I got so excited, until I looked down. That's when I panicked. I started to flap my hooves instead of focusing on my wings. It didn't keep me from landing on my face. I had to catch my breath after that crash. I couldn't focus on flying while seeing how far away I was from the ground. I started to get my stuff together so I could leave. I mean, there's plenty of other ways to travel, trains, walking, and if I had time I could think of others.

As I started to walk away I heard a good friend of mine speak up from behind me. "You're not giving up now are you? You've almost got it."

I turned around to see Frank. Frank is one of my best friends, although now I rarely see him since he moved to Griffonstone. He's an earth pony with brown hair and a white coat. His cutie mark was a silhouette of a pony doing a cartwheel. He may be an earth pony, but he's pretty good at parkour. He always encouraged me to push my limits, mentally and physically.

Frank smiled as he walked up to me. "So the legend is true, you have grown your wings. Haven't I told you that you're awesome?"

I gave a fake laugh. "If I can only get these things to work."

Frank gave a concerned look when he saw my face. I was clearly frustrated. "You had them working for a second there, is fear getting the best of you? I know you have that fear of heights working against you."

I chuckled a bit as I tried to explain my mentality. "It's not the fall that I'm afraid of, that's the fun part, it's the landing that stinks."

Frank grabbed my bag as I started walking by him. "Why don't you give give it another shot?"

I tried yanking my bag from him. "Because I like my feet on the ground. Don't you?"

Frank pulled me back to face him. "Listen, I know this might not sound like much coming from an earth pony, but forget the fear. Forget the butterflies in your stomach. Forget the hard ground. Focus on the sky, the wind in your hair, the sense of freedom. Once you get those wings working for you it'll start being a second nature for you. When you forget about the height you'll realize that you're in control. I'll be down here watching you if anything goes wrong. Just wait before trying any tricks. Come on, you can't let your fear control you."

After he said that I started thinking about it. I wasn't afraid just because it was high. I was afraid of losing control. But now I have the tools to gain control.

I took a deep breath. "One more try. Then I'm going home to put some ice on my wings. They're already sore from the last few crashes."

Frank gave me a pat on the back. "If you get this one I'll buy you some ice cream."

I got to the top of the hill again for one more try. It took me a while to get ready this time. Thoughts of falling out of control filled my head again.

I started taking deep breaths and whispering to myself. "Come on Light, fight the fear! Don't let it control you! Just clear your mind."

I took a few steps and flapped my wings as I took a leap. I started gaining some altitude, but this time I looked straight forward. I started to feel the wind against my wings and mane. I felt a sense of freedom come over me, alongside a dozen other emotions. It was amazing. I know most pegasus don't feel those feelings anymore, but this was my first real flight. It's like a baby's first steps, or a child's first flight. I started to let this feeling get to my head. I tried to do a small loop. It was working, until I tried it. I crashed into a few trees before I landed on my back. Frank ran to my side, and from the look on his face he was worried that I broke something. When he called for me I didn't respond, I just laughed. Sometimes even when you get hurt you can only laugh.

Nowadays I still fly, but I can't fly too high. I guess I still have a small fear of falling from the sky, but I've learned to tame my fears, and how I could turn it into my greatest strength. I'm no wonderbolt, but now I know how to fly, and I love it!

A quick Dash to a prank war

Light Heart's POV

Does anybody remember that pranking spree that Rainbow Dash got into about a year ago? That's where this little story starts. I ended up hearing from some ponies that sleeping on a cloud is supposed to be comfortable. So I thought I'd try it out. I will say after doing that that it's pretty good as long as you don't roll over in your sleep. It actually helps out with the spine. I took a short nap on the cloud and felt pretty good afterwards. I decided to head back to my booth to get some more toys ready for business. However, when I jumped off of the cloud my wings didn't want to extend. I was described as a earth pony trying to flap his hooves like a chicken. Luckily I didn't have to worry about breaking something; there was a large tub of pink dye to break my fall.

As I pulled myself out of the tub I heard a familiar voice. "Ha Ha Ha! Gotcha!"

I looked up to see Rainbow Dash laughing behind a building holding a bucket of super glue. I thought the joke was a little extreme, but I laughed as well. "Very funny Dash! You got me. Now can you give me something to un-stick my wings?" I watched as Dash flew off in the distance. My laughter turned into confusion as I kept calling out for her. "Dash? This isn't funny anymore. Help me out Dash! Dash? DASH!"

I spent the next few hours at the hospital having solvent and ointment applied on my wings. The whole process was irritating. You have no clue how much my wings hurt after that. If the sore wings weren't bad enough the glue gave me a rather bad rash. I couldn't close my wings without them feeling like they were burning. The doctor gave me some lotion to help with the pain. To make the whole thing worse Dash didn't use normal hair dye for the tub I landed in and decided to use the type of dye that Rarity uses for making new fabric. So now I had to make a trip to Zecora to see what she could do for it. You don't know how embarrassing it was to walk around with a pink coat and hair all day.

As I was walking out I ran into my dad who was sitting in the waiting room. He looked shocked when he saw me with my wings extended and my whole body looking pink. "Light? What are you doing here, and why are you pink?"

I shrugged. "I'm now the only member of the Mary Sue fan club. I'm spreading hope to the sick and non perfect. Sarcasm aside I got my wings glued together by Dash. She broke my fall with a large tub of pink dye. Not hair dye; just normal dye. The doc said that Zecora might be able to help with that. Now I know how protective you are, but you don't need to do anything about it. It was a prank. I'll admit it was a bad one, but she didn't mean to hurt me. I'll find her and talk about it later. There's no need to get involved." As I started to walk away I had a thought go through my mind. "Out of curiosity, what are you doing here?"

"It appears that you weren't the only one who got pranked by Rainbow Dash." He said as he motioned around the room.

Lyra and Bon Bon had magnets duck taped to their bodies that kept pushing them apart. Derpy had a stomach ache from a volcano pepper muffin. Octavia was having a sneezing fit for some weird reason. I don't know who was the pony that was completely covered in balloons. I was shocked about the prankies in the hospital. I turned back over to Dad. "You seem fine. Why are you here?"

Dad had a ticked look on his face. "I think they're done with the saw." Before I could ask what he meant by that I saw several doctors wheel in my mom who had pieces of wood glued to her legs. My dad crossed his hooves. "You should have seen her before she was wheeled in. She was twenty feet tall."

I soon had an overwhelming taste for revenge. My mom was a few inches shorter than Lightning Bliss. I took that as a personal insult. If you want to get in trouble with me quickly, go just have to mess with my family. I slowly stretched my front hooves. "Well then, I guess I'll have to show her the proper way to prank somepony."

I left before my dad could ask me what I was planning.

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Rainbow Dash's POV

I'll admit that some of the pranks I played that day crossed the line, and I learned about knowing who not to prank. Of course it was after the whole town got together to prank me back. That was an exhausting experience. That night when I got home I found a package on my doorstep with a note on it. It said it was from a number one fan. I didn't think much about it after the whole cookie incident. I just assumed that I was just still awesome to somepony and they wanted to give me a gift. Me and my big ego. Inside I found a bottle of shampoo. I didn't have any at the time so I gladly accepted it. I ended up taking a quick shower before crashing that night.

That morning I started doing my daily routine. I went to the sink and started to brush my teeth. As I finished and got ready to brush my hair I noticed something horribly wrong. My hair was gray. I looked like a old pony, well, my skin wasn't affected. I immediately spat out my toothpaste and screamed in anger. I was already pranked once last night and that one was more than enough to last me all year. I quickly darted out my door and headed to Ponyville. I searched the whole town for whoever might have pranked me.

After a couple of hours I saw Pinkie talking to Light Heart. I knew him because he was the best toy maker in town and Scootaloo does have birthday parties. His coat and hair was still pink from what I did to him the other day. It did look like they were related from a distance; in spite of the fact that her family's hair color was mainly grey. Pinkie looked like she was running an investigation and was questioning him. After watching them talk for a while I remembered that he wasn't a part of the prank last night.

As I landed over by them I heard Light Heart talking. "Pinkie, I promise I wouldn't have done it if I knew about the prank."

I was on him in an instant. "So, you admit it! You're the one who pranked me!"

Light looked like he was taken back for a second. Slowly a small, nervous grin appeared on his face. "You're pretty sharp for an old mare."

I knew he had the habit of saying the wrong thing whenever he thinks it could be funny, but I didn't care. I instantly grabbed him. "Listen! What's the big idea of pranking me after what happened last night?"

Light gently pushed my hooves off of him. "I didn't know about the prank until Pinkie told me about it this morning. Frankly, I don't stay up late anyways. However, you were pushing the lines of pranking. There are unwritten rules when it comes pranks and you broke them. Don't forget that I still three of Zecora's coat restorer baths away before I'm out of my pink period. Your hair should go back to normal tomorrow. All honestly I didn't plan on getting my share of this war until you glued stilts on my moms hooves. Next time think about how much you're willing to go through when someone pranks you. Don't prank my family like that again. Trust me when I say that I'm a little more clever than you when it comes to pranks. I don't prank a lot, but I prank to win, and I can take it as well as I dish it. Take a break from this."

Now I had no plans on pranking in the near future, but he unleashed my competitive side. You don't just give me a challenge like that and expect me to walk away. As I got ready to take off I heard Light Heart speak up. "Hey! Before you go, do you want a drink?"

I turned around to see him with a bottle of prune juice in on his booth.

Oh, it was on!

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Light Heart's POV

I was pretty content with myself that day. I'll admit I wish I didn't prank her so soon after the night before, but the prank was harmless. She would be able to wash the dye out of her hair that night. I did have a long chat with Pinkie Pie about what I did, but we both got a small laugh out of it.

That night I made made a stop by my parents house to check up on my mom. She was fine, but she wasn't to happy about me turning to my vengeful tendencies. My dad did chuckle a bit at my prank. I all honesty thought the whole pranking business was over till I got back home. Apparently she left me a present as well. She didn't leave it in my house, it WAS my house. My entire house was covered in wrapping paper. It was one of those few moments when I was glad that I had a rather small house. It's so small that that the mice are hunchbacked. I am in a rough financial spot right now.

I spent the next two hours unwrapping my house. Good news was I was able to save most of it for future gifts. Hey, you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. I did find a card inside from Rainbow Dash saying it was from a fan. Now at first I was just going to let this slide, however I think she should have worded the card better.

It read:
Dear princess wannabe.

Do you really think you can outwit me? I can outprank you any day of the week. Bring it.

Your number 1 fan, (because you don't have a number 2 fan) Rainbow Dash.

Now just so you all know, my dad has a saying about pranking. Don't get even, get ahead.

Yeah, it was on.

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Light Heart's POV

Now some of the best plans are the most simple ones. I was waiting outside of the school waiting for the moment of opportunity. I was hidden above the doorway with a large bucket of an icy blue liquid. Now I'm no ninja, however I do have an interesting spell in my corner. Now I'm not really good at magic, but there are a few spells that I've learned that are unique to me. I've found that I can change a ponies perception of reality. I can't physically change it; that's Discord's field of expertise. Basically I managed to make it look like I wasn't there.

I eventually made it to the end off the class. Most of the students left quickly. I waited for another hour before I finally found Dash carefully peeking her head out. It was classical, however you'd think a pegasus of all ponies would remember to look up. As she slowly walked outside a gave a quick whistle. As her head jerked up I dumped my bucket on her. It was enjoyable to see this rather simple plan work on an expert of the craft.

She gave a soft chuckle as she shook off the liquid. "Really? I thought you said you were clever. Why would you pull this old gag?"

I gave a triumphant grin. "Because this was the only way I'd be able to say I out-flew you. Have a safe fight!"

As I took off I heard Dash try to go after me, only to end up flying into the fountain. It is a very simple herb, but you have to love the effects of Poison Joke. It was funny watching as Applejack had to lasso her to get her somewhat under control. I flew away laughing at my success.

I felt pretty good when I fell asleep that night, but now I need to get some new locks for my door or something. When I got up the next morning I found everything smaller than what it should have been. I quickly found a mirror and got the shock of my life. I looked taller, thinner, and more dignified. I could see some form of energy running through my hair. I looked like I could pass for one of Celectia's relatives. I looked back to my bed to find blue flowers all over my bed sheets. I had gotten plenty of ponies bowing to me on my way to Zecora's house. This war is going to be very interesting.

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Rainbow Dash's POV

I decided to check on Twi in her castle. She met me in town and asked me to have a talk with her. When I got there I found all of my friends in the throne room looking like they were going to take me to court.

Twi was the first one who spoke up. "Rainbow Dash, I know we just had this talk, but..."

Applejack interrupted her. "For Celestia's sake Dash! I thought you learned your lesson about pranking!"

As Applejack yelled at me I instantly knew what they were talking about. They found out about the pranks between Light Heart and myself. I instantly groaned at the idea of explaining this. "Listen, technically he started this."

The second I said that Twilight stood up. "Dash, I know how competitive you are, but you have found yourself back where we started. I don't think any pony would be happy if you started another pranking spree."

"Well, technically it's not a spree, it's just a small war between the two of us." We all turned to see Light Heart sitting in the corner. He gave a sly grin as he got up. "Forgive my intrusion, but I got a letter with a formal apology from you all and I think you ended up getting the wrong idea. I could debate who started it, but this is were we are at. Frankly it would be a pure shame if this ended so soon."

I had to chuckle a bit. He came over here to save my neck and to make the war public to my friends. I walked up to him. "So, I guess it's official now. No holes barred?"

He gave me a disapproving stare. "Not exactly. The town got together because you didn't try to find out who likes pranks and who doesn't. I pranked you because you don't know where to draw the line. I think it's time that someone showed you how a gentleman pranks, but take note, I prank to win."

Alright, tell me that wasn't begging for a challenge.

I made my position pretty clear to him. "Game on!"

He smiled as he made his way to the door. "Ladies first."

I chuckled at his obvious setup. "Nice try. I open the door and something comes flying at me. You're going to have to better than that to play with the big kids."

As I opened the door at the other side of the room a cream pie that was as big as Celestia slammed into me. It sent me halfway across the room. As I was wiping the cream off of me I heard Light laughing at me. I started making my way towards him, but he opened that door revealing another flying pie that hit me head on.

While I was pushing the second pie tin off of me I heard Light speak up. "Yeah, I set those up before I came in. Have fun!"

Before I could do anything I could hear him run out chuckling. At that point I knew that I had to get the last laugh. This was going to take a while.

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Rainbow Dash's POV

Now Light might be pretty resourceful, but I know that I can fly circles around him any day of the week. I decided the send this clever guy to new heights. I managed to get a long streamer from Pinkie Pie. The plan I had was just as pure and simple as some of Light's. I waited until I could see him outside. He didn't seem to expect me to attack him head on, that was his mistake. I quickly dashed down and wrapped him up in the streamer. I'm glad that Applejack showed me some hog tying tricks. I think I had him tied up in three seconds, I know I used more streamer then necessary, but I think overkill is underrated. I knew that Light could probably use his magic to get free, but I wasn't letting him off that easy. Before he could react I took the end of it and carried him across town. He was heavier than he looked, but I'm a Wonderbolt for a reason. I flew to a tall flagpole in the middle of town and tied him up to it.

As I started flying away I could hear him screaming at me. "DASH! LET ME DOWN! THIS ISN'T FUNNY! DASH!"

I knew he was still uncomfortable with heights, especially when his wings are out of commission. I just laughed as I flew off. I knew that somepony would let him down eventually, but it was still funny seeing him scream hanging upside down.

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Light Heart's POV

Okay, hanging me upside down wasn't cool. She wanted to play with my fear. I actually decided to go with a different rout, I wanted to mess with her at her job. Now something that Dash didn't know is that when one of my brothers or I get bored we tend to get together and invent stuff. Now a lot of this stuff ends up either going wrong or can be used for evil implications, so we end up testing all of our stuff and sending a report to Canterlot where they would either say it's safe for common use and manufacturing, or needs to be locked away. Most of the stuff ends up in the vault, but we have a few toys we can still use. One of them was something we actually designed recently. It's a canaster that can spray foam across the room. It was designed to fight fires, but it also has the habit of making a mess. I was relying on the latter one.

It took me a while to sneak into the Wonderbolt HQ, but I knew it would be worth it. All I had to do was wear a Wonderbolts uniform and hide my horn and I managed to blend in. I silently made my way to the locker room. From what I know from Scootaloo Dash is stuck cleaning the lockers after practice for a recent stunt she tried to pull. I sneaked to the ladies locker room, but I realized that there was no way I was going in there. I've got standards, I'm not a jerk. I stood right outside the door and tossed my foam grenade inside. As I listened to it hiss and Dash yelling "what's going on?" I grabbed a nearby chair and blocked the door shut. I would have wanted to see what she looked like I decided to run off. I didn't want to see what would happen if I got caught. From what I heard Dash ended up being stuck for another hour cleaning. I got a pretty good laugh out of it, but I ended up getting a letter from Spitfire asking me not to prank Dash on Wonderbolt property. Admittedly I went a little further with that prank then I should have, but after subjecting me to my worst fear, she begged for it.

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Rainbow Dash's POV

I couldn't believe that Light was so willing to prank me at work. I was literally stuck in the locker room for an hour before the other bolts found me in a pile of foam. It took me a while just to explain to the other bolts what happened and that I was in the middle of a prank war. They all laughed at me, but Spitfire asked me to keep the bolts out of it. I knew that I had to step it up.

That night I managed to call Pinkie up on a favor she owed me. It took me a while (and a few lies) to convince her to let me use her cannon. Not the party cannon, I'm talking about the easy bake confetti cake cannon. It took me two hours to drag that thing from Pinkie's house to Light's house. Now I wasn't too afraid about waking Light up. That guy could sleep through a sonic rainboom. I decided to do what any normal pony with a cake cannon would do; I fired that thing straight into his house. At least I now know how to wake him. I flew off slowly, knowing that he couldn't fly fast with all of that cake batter on him. I did forget about his magic though. Even though he's about as bad as me at it (that was coming from a pony who doesn't use magic) he still knows how to levitate stuff and throw it at other ponies. He got me once before I sped off.

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Light Heart's POV

Now I know some of you think that she got me good with the cannon, but Dash forgot to put it away. So I decided that it needed an upgrade. Remember when I said that me and my bothers come up with crazy gadgets? When I asked them to help they couldn't resist.

I think we worked on it for two hours before Pinkie Pie showed up. She was a little worried about the cannon when she came up to me. "What are you doing to my baby?"

I walked over to her with a rather confident look. "Don't worry. Dash left this on my doorstep and I thought I'd fix it up for you. You know you can trust me with this stuff. I am the guy who keeps fixing your cannons."

Short Fuse hollered from behind the cannon. "Where are my corordinets?"

I quickly turned to Book Knight. "Do you have the math ready?"

Book was busy looking through a telescope and writing numbers down. "I think I got it!"

As Book ran over to Fuse I kept talking to Pinkie. "All I did to this one was add an extended barrel, increased the batter capacity, and added a mystical battery charge to it to add some extra range to it. Imagine the long range deliveries you can make with it."

Pinkie started looking around her cannon. She looked like she was looking for the smallest flaw on it. Finally she stood back up and smiled at me. "Well, I guess this will only add even more fun to my parties, but what is the magic whatyoumaycallit for?"

Book motioned to me as I tried to explain it. "Well, I added it to add some more power to it. It does require a unicorn for this. You just channel some magic energy into the metal plate here and presto!"

I proceeded to give her an example and charged the thing. Once I did that Book came up to me and handed me the string to fire it. "We are ready to test this beauty."

I grinned when I heard that beautiful news. "Great! Let's fire this thing."

Pinkie started bouncing up and down when she saw us getting ready to fire it. "Yes! I love seeing these babies getting tested. Where are you firing it?"

I gave a sneaky grin. "I thought Dash could use a little party."

Pinkie instantly stopped jumping when I said that. "Uh, you didn't just upgrade my cannon to prank Dash, did you?"

"No, I had other reasons. I just haven't thought about them yet. FIRE!!!"

The cannon gave a loud "POW" as the batter flew through the air and perfectly through town to hit Dash's house. My brothers and I started cheering as this test worked on the first try. As we celebrated we got interrupted by another loud boom. We all turned around to see a sonic rainboom heading our way.

I instantly panicked. "Rats! She found us! Um, come back in a week Pinkie, and if you don't like the cannon then we'll fix it. SCATTER GUYS!"

She chased me all around town that day. Luckily my brothers weren't suspected, otherwise they would have joined me in that lake. It seemed like quick and simple payback, so I knew I had her on the ropes. I was ready to win this war.

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Rainbow Dash's POV.

Okay, maybe I shouldn't have left the cannon at Light's house. I was ticked when I saw him turn my own prank against me. He was just waiting for me to give in, but he had another thing coming. He was starting to get on my nerves. I decided to play a trump card. I wanted to go all out for this one. I knew that he makes his presents for all of the birthday parties at least a week ahead of time. He keeps them all labeled so he doesn't forget them.

I decided to sneak into his house while he was trying to sell some toys. The first thing I did was "borrow" a toy dragon that was for a party that afternoon and deliver it without telling him. I then took the wrapping paper he saved from one of my earlier pranks and wrapped all of the toys in his house. I didn't give any hint about what I had planned. This was the best prank I thought of to get him to crack. Unfortunately I forgot about what happens when he's pushed too far. He doesn't crack, he shatters.

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Pinkie Pie's POV

Hey, I finally get a part of this story told in my perspective! Yay! This is going to be so much fun. What were we talking about again? Do I get to tell you about the time Twilight wanted to test the extents of a male alicorn's stomach and had me and Light have a cupcake contest? He was close to me, but he fell just a little short of my record. He was also sick for a week. Oh, we are talking about the prank war? Oh, I think I see where this is going. That was rather rough. Well, I think I better black this stuff out and get back to the story.

Uh, just ignore that stuff above this sentence. You wanted to talk about what happened to Light and Dash, right? Well, I guess my part in this story started at Light's house. (not the story you saw on tv, but it was a fun episode. I had a lot of fun setting up that prank. Oh, I got off topic.) I didn't see Light Heart at the party for Ditzy Hooves , but Dash showed up with the gift for her and said that he was preoccupied with gift wrapping. I knew that he was the only pony besides me in town who was a pro at gift wrapping (though he'll never admit it) so I knew that there most likely something wrong.

When I walked into his house it was a wreck. There was wrapping paper and gifts all over the place. (It actually reminds me of Heartswarming when most kids open their gifts) In the middle of the pile I saw Light in a nervous wreck. He looked like he had been crying for the last hour. He was curled into a ball and seemed like there wasn't enough chocolate in the world for him.

I slowly made my way to him. "Uh, hey Light. What's going on? Is there a gift wrapping and unwrapping part going on?"

I could barely hear his voice as he was whimpering. "I'm sorry. I can't find it. I'm so sorry I messed up."

I sat down next to him. "Well, what are you looking for? Maybe I can help."

Light took a doll and threw it across the room. "I can't find Ditzy's toy. I've looked all over the place and can't find it."

I realized what Dash did. I placed a hoof on his shoulder as I tried to explain this. "I think that Dash might have taken your gift. Would you like me to help you clean up this mess? I have an hour and an extra slice of cake for you."

I could see an angry look on his face. "Dash was so willing to mess with not only my job, but the ponies I care about? Is there any low she won't sink to?"

I knew that Dash found his breaking point. I knew that Light cared a lot about the kids who he helps and making Light think that she tried to mess with that was the worst thing that she could have done. I tried pulling out the cake and offering it to him. "Hey, she wasn't trying to make you upset. She just does this because she thinks it's fun."

Light actually yelled at me that day. "Messing with the ponies I care about isn't fun! She always hits below the belt! It's why this war started in the first place!"

I don't think I was ever afraid of Light until that moment. I don't think I've ever seen him that frustrated before. I watched him as he made his way to his desk. I didn't want to know what he was planning, but I knew that I couldn't let him go too far when he was in this state. "What are you doing?"

Light turned to me with a crazed look. "I'm writing a letter to the Wonderbolts from the hospital. I'm going to congratulate them for Dash's pregnancy and ask them who the father is!"

I realized that this fun little war went too far. At first I thought it would be fun for them to prank each other, but I realized that they were fighting each other the whole time. It was a fight between a vengeful alicorn and a competitive Wonderbolt.

I knew that if I didn't stop this war here somepony was going to get hurt. I quickly grabbed Light's arm. "Light, this isn't you. I know Dash was wrong to do what she did, but you can't hurt her back. You know this isn't right. What would Ditzy say?"

Light stopped when I brought up Ditzy. If I know anything about him it's that he always puts the kids before himself. Light dropped the quill as he lowered his head on his bench. I don't know exactly what was going through his mind, but I knew what he was going to say. "I think it's time to end this war."

I know that I didn't make a lot of jokes or seemed really playful, but when I saw what was happening, I couldn't really joke about it. I love to joke around and have fun, but there are times when I need to be serious.

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Rainbow Dash's POV

I didn't see Light Heart again until that night. He was sitting on a park bench waiting for me. I would have assumed that he was going to try to prank me again if he didn't look so somber. He waved for me to head over and sit by him. At first I was just going to fly away, but I noticed Pinkie in the bushes behind him motioning me to head over to him.

I carefully sat down next to Light. "So, what's going on? This isn't another prank, right?"

Light shook his head. "Dash, you should have told me about you bringing the gift. I thought you literally got rid of it. Do you know why I started this war?"

I thought about saying something snarky, but I knew it was a bad idea. I shook my head.

Light continued. "I did it because you pranked my mom. I'm overprotective of the ponies who I care about. When you made the jab at her I took it personally. Now when you messed with one of the kids who I care about what do you think I was planning?"

I could tell by his stern tone that it was nothing good. "Uh, I don't know."

"I was going to ruin your reputation. I was so angry at you that I forgot about the rules of pranking. You never hurt anypony. You don't break anything of theirs without replacing it. You don't hurt anybodies reputation. Everypony should be able to laugh about it at the end. I almost crossed a line that neither of us should have because I believed you crossed the line. Maybe the only way either of us can walk away from this war in one piece is for one of us to stop. Take this any way you want, but I can't do this anymore. Otherwise your competitive nature and my vengeful tendencies will destroy us."

Before I could say anything Light got up and walked away. I didn't think about how he'd react to some of my pranks. I guess we were just pushing each other until one of us broke. I started thinking about some of my pranks. I knew that Light was afraid of heights, and I took away the only things that helped him overcome that twice. I knew from when Light fired the cake cannon at my house that it makes a big mess, and I never thought about what would happen if I fired it at his house at point blank range. I did see that some of the stuff in his house was missing. I thought that the gift prank would have been the most tame one, but Light didn't take it that way. The more I thought about it I was more ruthless then Light was, and I didn't even know what he was going to do to me if he didn't stop.

I realized how little I actually cared about the fallout of a prank. I knew he was autistic, but I nearly broke him through this war.

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Light Heart's POV

I gave up. I knew one of us had to give and I was at the point that I was losing myself. I was already stressed out from this war, I just wanted to see it end. I went home that night hoping that this whole thing would just disappear from my memory. The next week I went back to my normal routine. I didn't want to talk to Dash for a while, and with what I was going to do I don't blame her. I don't think anything important happened until the end of the week.

I was ready for a busy work day. Weekends are when I get most of my business.

As I walked out the door I noticed Derpy Hooves outside. She waved to me as I walked out. "Hi Light. I have a package for you from out of town."

I was curious when she said that. "I didn't order anything, are you sure it's right?"

Derpy checked the list again. "I'm pretty sure it's for you. All of the labels are correct. Can you just sign for it? If there's something wrong I'll try to fix it."

I just decided to humor her and sign it. I wasn't too worried about what would be inside. It was either a wrong package, or somebody ordered something for me. I took the box inside and checked the labels on it. It did have my name on it, so I decided to open it. Inside I found several new tools. I was surprised about how good the quality was for them, but I started to notice a pattern. The tools that I got were the same ones that I couldn't fix after the cake cannon wrecked my house. As I went through them I found a note in the bottom.

It read. Dear Light.

I realized what I've done to you. I find it funny how when you were pranking me you were able to keep your rules, even when I kept breaking them. When you talked to me I had to think about what ponies I've hurt with my pranks. I'd still love to do it, but I'm learning to restrain myself. I'm sorry for the pain I caused you emotionally and physically. I hope you can forgive me for what I've done. I hope these will replace what I've damaged.

Rainbow dash

I was a little shocked when I saw it. I didn't expect her to pay me back, but then again, she was an element of harmony.

If you ask either of us I don't think either of us won that war. We are back into the habit of doing small pranks on each other every now and again. Whenever we do prank we make sure that we both can laugh at the end. It can be fun, but if you are going to do it make sure you keep it that way.

When my Dad met a bad teacher.

Alright, I think I need to be the one who explains this story about my son, but I should introduce myself first. My name is Golden Blade. I used to be a security guard before I moved my family to Ponyville. My wife is Gentle Heart. She's short, but is still the love of my life. Now I care about all of my kids, but the way we were raising them changed when Light started struggling with rather simple magic. Now at first I thought he was just a slow learner, but when he started having problems communicating we decided to take him to a psychiatrist. He ended up telling us that Light had Asperger Syndrome. It changed a lot of the ways how I understood him. I didn't like having to see him struggle with stuff which I couldn't understand.

At the time we lived in a rather big city. It was after Short Fuse was born, but before Ruby was. We lived in a nice house at the time, but that was before my accident. I ended up getting a part of my neck broken in an accident. It ruined my security career. We were trying to live like most other families and sent our kids to a public school. It worked for Book Knight, but it had bad results for Light. Light has probably told you that he flunked magic kindergarten. He wasn't lying.

One night Gentle ended up confronting me. She looked upset when she handed me a paper from the school. "It's Light Heart again. He still can't do a levitation spell and the other kids are giving him a hard time about it. If that wasn't bad enough he tried to run away from school again."

I was upset to hear that. I tried to help him, but I couldn't understand what he was going through. It seemed like the public school was hurting him more then it was helping him. I nearly got into a few arguments with the parents because their kids kept picking on him. The fact that some parents don't teach their kids what right and wrong are ticks me off. I started teaching my kids when they were two.

I placed the letter aside and sat down, trying to think about how to help him. "This is the last straw. I've been talking to his principal and all I could find out is that the teachers and the other students expect him to learn like everypony else. I just think he needs to be in a different school. He needs somepony who can talk to him one on one instead of just hoping everybody is learning at the same pace."

Gentle sighed. "I know you mean well, but I'm not sure what schools would take him. We were lucky that this school accepted him. What you are suggesting does sound expensive."

I didn't think about that. Princess Celestia didn't have a lot of schools for the mentally handicapped, and a lot of them costed a hoof and a wing at that time. I knew that a few schools offer some good scholarships, but those mostly wanted smart students.

Finally one idea came to mind. "Why don't we try the one in Canterlot?"

Gentle looked confused. "I don't think we can afford anything in Canterlot."

I started going through a few papers in my desk. "There's one school we can afford. You know that my brother was in the royal guard. He ended up telling me that Celestia has a school for gifted youngsters. They might have the resources to help him learn in ways the other schools can't. From what he said Princess Celestia covers most of the costs."

Gentle looked rather surprised by my idea. "Honey, it sounds like a nice idea, but they expect some form of magical talent. I don't think Light would qualify."

That was the one thing I didn't think about. As I was trying to think of something else I heard Light Heart playing in the other room. We decided to see what he was doing. Now I know a lot of you have seen kids play with stuffed animals before, but not like this. His toy dog came to life. They were talking and playing with each other. I don't think any of us had seen anything like that.

I gave my wife a little grin. "I believe he's gifted, that's all that matters."

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The plan was simple. I took Light to Canterlot while Gentle took care of the others. Light liked the idea of going on an adventure. Let's face it, who wouldn't want to meet the princess? He did draw a bit off attention while he was playing with the now living stuffed animal that he was playing with earlier. His name apparently was Wolfy. He was a dog who wore a superhero costume. I never understood how he did the spell, but Book Knight had a theory that it was a part of Light's own personality that he somehow transferred to the toy that brought it to life. Book had a few other theories, but we never really found out what caused it to come to life.

Now I had only been to Canterlot a few times, and that was when my brother was on the royal guard. I never did felt like I fit in there. I guess it was because of my adopted family. I used to live on the Sterling farm after my dad left my family. My real mom ended up letting me head there in my free time. They taught me so many things about responsibility and caring about family. They never officially adopted me, but I consider them family. Spending time on a farm made wealthy ponies seem more unrelatable, and sometime annoying.

The school seemed rather fancy. I didn't like the idea of not being able to spend as much time with Light as I could, but it seemed like it would be the best way to help him. Now I don't remember who the other two ponies that were in charge of the evaluation were, but I remember one of them to this day. Neighsay. I knew who he was because of his name tag. How a stallion like him became in charge of a school system I'll never know, but I guess I'll explain what happened.

Light had Wolfy in his saddlebag. My plan was to have Light it to them and see what would happen. When I was asked to introduce him I was confident, but I never could predict what would happen. All I got out was his name before things went wrong.

Before anypony else asked what he could do Neighsay opened his large mouth. "That was all I needed to hear. You both can leave now."

I was confused by what he said. "But my son hasn't shown you what he can do yet. "

Neighsay sighed as he leaned forward. "Listen, I'm going to be blunt with you. From what your file said your son has Asperger Syndrome. He doesn't learn like other kids. We are looking for ponies with magical talent, not a lack of it. We don't have the time to deal with somepony who can't understand the simple basics of magic. It is my opinion that your son is unable to attend here and he will never achieve any strong forms of magic, if he'll even learn the basics. He's just a waste of time."

I was shocked by what he said. He took my son and reduced him to nothing. When I turned to Light he had already ran out the door. I heard a couple of guards run after him.

Neighsay just sighed. "Like I said, a waste of time."

Now if you could describe Light as protective, I'm overprotective. I was so angry at that guy for trying to crush my son. I walked right up to him with so much anger surging through my veins that a changling from Griffonstone could feel it. If it wasn't for the fact that I did have a wife and family to go home to I would have torn him apart. He looked like he was going to wet himself when I got to his face. I didn't care.

I was right below the tone of yelling at him as I unloaded my anger on him. "Now you listen here you arrogant fool! I don't know why the princess thought it was a good idea to hire you, but you have no clue what you passed on. My son is amazing! He's going to do so many good things and he won't need you to help him. I never want to see you anywhere close to my son again. If you try to hurt him again I'll make sure you'll see more stars then Nightmare Moon. I'll help your future avoidance of my family by not enrolling him in a school that has foolish ponies like you in it. One day, you will see the great pony he will become. Goodbye Neighsay."

I stormed out of the room. I don't think that I would have cared if Princess Celestia tried calling us back, I ended up losing all faith in the public school system. I started digging through the school for Light. I found a few guards at a closet door who looked worried. My guess is that they never had to deal with a crying child before.

One of them saw me and waved to me. "Hey, your kid is in here. Maybe you should take care of this. We'll wait outside."

I thanked them as I walked in. Light was huddled in a corner. I sat down next to him and rapped my hoof around him.

He could barely speak over his tears. "What's wrong with me? Why am I so dumb?"

"There's nothing wrong with you. You are amazing. I know things are hard for you right now, but you are going to be amazing. You just don't see what I see."

Light hugged me as he kept crying. I decided to take him home. I learned on the train that Wolfy was now back to a normal stuffed animal. I think that event had a lasting effect on Light. I haven't seen him bring one of his toys to life since. I do love all of my kids equally, but I know that Light is more fragile than the others. I hold confidence that they all will become great ponies.

=============================================================================

When we got home I ended up spending an hour ranting to Gentle about what happened. I was still angry over the whole school situation. I have to thank my wife for her patience. It's impossible to see my life without her.

She was wise to let me finish venting before speaking. "I'm sorry that he treated you and like that way. Frankly I think I would have yelled at him as well if I was in your hooves."

I soon realized how angry she was. She rarely raises her voice, and if she yells you had better run for the hills.

I still felt like I was holding the whole force of my emotions back. "Frankly if Light wasn't there I might have taught that unicorn how to fly by tossing him out of the window. I hate that pony!"

Gentle placed a hoof on my shoulder to try to calm me down. "I understand why you're mad, and I'm glad you didn't get yourself arrested. This does leave us with how do we help Light."

I groaned as that event kept playing through my head. "Frankly I'm losing trust in the school system. If those are the types of ponies who run the classes, how can I trust them to help any of our kids when they need the extra help?"

Gentle started to pull out some school books. "Well, I do believe that there are good teachers out there, but I can't deny that there are teachers that won't give them the attention that they need. So I have one idea that I think I can try. I'll teach the kids."

I was a little taken back by that. "Is that even allowed?"

Gentle handed me some paperwork with plenty of details. "The princess does allow ponies to be home schooled if we can send reports to the education department. I know that I can teach them anything that the other schools can, and I'll be able to work with them one on one."

I had to think about it for a while. I knew my wife was a smart pony, and if anypony knew our kids better then me it was her. I had to ask her one more question. "Are you sure you want to dedicate yourself to this? I don't want you doing something you are not comfortable with."

She gave me a soft smile. "I want to do this. It'll allow us to get closer with our kids. I know how to help them. We wouldn't have to trust somepony else to teach our kids how to be good ponies. I know I can do this, but I want you to be okay with this."

I knew what the best option was at this point. I placed a hoof around her shoulder. "Honey, there's nobody I trust more than you. If you want to do this, then I will help you as much as I can."

From that day we home schooled our kids. It did mean that I had to work more hours, but I thought it was worth it. We were able to give them a good education. Book Knight worked hard to study magic so he could one day join the royal guard. Short Fuse is great at more practical knowledge, mainly in mechanical stuff. The girls all are still studying to graduate. As you know with Light he became a toy maker. We were able to help him understand some magic, but I know that he still struggles with learning new spells. I am glad that he found something he was comfortable with. The only thing a father wants from his son is to see him grow to be a wise stallion. Even though he's still pretty goofy, I'm proud of what he has become. This isn't the end of the story, I still have the best part.

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This was a few weeks ago. I was walking through town to meet my wife for lunch. I don't know what brought this fool back into town, but I stumbled upon Neighsay. From what I had learned he became a chancellor. What idiot put him in that position? Seriously! Now I never really forgave him. As much as my wife wants me to just forget this stuff, I never can. Now most ponies would avoid talking to somepony like that again, but I'm not most ponies.

I walked right up to him. "Hello Neighsay. Remember me?"

The look on his face gave me the answer. His eyes widened as he groaned "Oh, it's you. You aren't going to try to fight me, right?"

I grinned a bit. "As sure as I am that I can beat the tar of you, I'm not going to. So, you are a chancellor now."

He gave me a rather snooty look. "Yes. I have my standards and that is how I got to where I am. I hope you understand."

I was about to challenge his morals, but I saw Light playing with the other kids and decided to show Neighsay what has happened with my son. "Hey, do you remember what you said to my son, the autistic kid?"

Neighsay sighed. "I thought you were past that."

I chuckled a bit. "I just thought you'd like to see him again. He's over there, the pony with the horn and the wings."

I enjoyed the look on his face as he stared in disbelief at Light. I gave a relaxed sigh as I walked right next to Neighsay. "Now I want you to remember him the next time you dare to call anypony worthless. I know he's still a little weird, but he's going to do great things. I told you that you'd see what a great pony he'd become. He has overcame what you have tried telling him. He's more valuable then you ever dreamed, and he didn't have to become an alicorn to do that. He did that by being my son. I hope you have a good day."

I walked away leaving Neighsay to himself. I always wanted to show him what he missed out on seeing, but I guess a part of me is glad that Light didn't have to be taught by that pony. I'm proud of my son. I know he's still struggling with who he's supposed to be, but I know he'll do great things for Equestria.

Author's Note

I dedicate this chapter to Melvin Sterling Schaaf, the man who raised my dad. My grandfather, not by blood, but by bond. It was because of him that I have the good father I have today. March 22, 1938 - September 12, 2018.

A false perspective.

Now some of you are probably thinking that my Dad took care of Neighsay for me, but the truth is that when he pointed out that I was an alicorn it only gave me some new problems. After an incident with Rainbow Dash, there was a law passed about trying to fake or force an alicorn transformation. Let's just say that it's a one-way trip to Tartarus. Now I think that they have laws enforcing an investigation and a royal trial now, but that wasn't in place when I ran into this stallion again.

Now things were starting to run smoothly again for me, in spite of the common misconceptions about alicorns. I remember the CMC coming to me asking for another special order. Now I specialize in stuffed animals and other stuffed toys, but it is a little funny when they ask for plushies of their siblings. Now, normally it would be weird to do something like that, but I've already made thirty plushies of the Main six, so I didn't think it was a big deal. Hey, if they say it's alright then I think it's okay. Although I think Applejack talked the others into giving me the rights to their plushies because Flim and Flam tried cashing in on it. (That reminds me, they still owe me 2,500 bits for that lawsuit.)

I was walking home to get started on my new project when I saw him standing at my doorstep. "Hello, Light Heart. Do you know who I am?"

Now my Dad didn't talk a lot about him. I remembered him as the scary pony who eats hopes and dreams. (Okay, looking back he wasn't far off.) I wanted to be nice about it. "Uh, I don't remember you well. Was it along the lines of Neighsayer?

He rolled his eyes. "I'm chancellor Neighsay. I was here on an inspection tour of one of the schools when I saw you. Tell me, how did you come about these wings?"

I was used to this question at this point, so I gave the answer that I always gave. "I'm not too certain. I was upset at myself, but then out of nowhere this happened."

He walked right up to where he was only a few inches from my face. "Is that the story you want to stick with?"

I gave a nervous grin as he stared at me. "Uh, are there any better ones? I could tell you the one about the three bears."

He looked disgusted at me like I insulted him in front of a judge. "I don't know what spell you discovered or how you somehow pulled this little stunt off, but I'm not letting this slide. False alicornism is a crime that I'll see you locked away for."

I jerked back from his accusation. I often wondered if I became an alicorn by mistake, but he was accusing me of faking it. I backed up slowly as I tried to question him. "What makes you think that I faked it? Frankly, I didn't want it in the first place."

I quickly found myself wrapped in some form of magical chains. As I struggled to free myself he gave me a cold stare. "I know who you are. You are an autistic kid who failed in the basics of magic. There is no way that you could obtain this form of power or prestige. The only way you could have done this was by some form of trickery. You can never be a real alicorn."

As much as it made sense when he said it like this, but being there first-hoof told me that he was somehow wrong. As he started dragging me away I heard Scootaloo running up to us. "Hey! Why are you taking him away? He didn't do anything wrong."

Neighsay was blunt while he kept dragging me away. "This handicapped pony tried to pretend he was important. Ponies like him can never amount to anything."

Now just hearing that would be shocking for a child, but this was Scootaloo. Nopony knew if she would ever be able to fly. I could see her staring in fear and unbelief as tears ran down her face. She ran off down the street; I could hear the faint sounds of her crying.

I tugged at the chains as I tried to call out. "Scootaloo, wait!"

He yanked me back. "They need to learn sooner or later. You should be more worried about where you'll be spending the rest of your life. I'll lock you in Tartarus myself."

I knew that there was no way he was going to let me go, let alone have a trial. In his mind, I was already guilty. As I tried to figure out what in the world I could do I heard my brother speaking up. "Hey! What's the big idea of trying to lock him up?"

Neighsay rolled his eyes. "He's being arrested on the charge of faking an alicorn transformation. It's none of your business."

Now I know that Neighsay is a tough guy, but Book Knight was the closest thing this town has to a cop. If anypony knew the law around here it was him.

His voice was calm as he walked up to him. "I think I remember you coming to town. You're a chancellor, right? You are not a royal guard or anything close to it. Do you even have a warrant for his arrest?"

Neighsay stood to face him. "Are the wings on his back not sufficient evidence? I have every right to arrest him now."

Book grinned a bit. My guess was he found his weak spot. "Right now you have no jurisdiction or warrant. He could legally be out of whatever prison you put him in an hour. I would also have to arrest you for taking royal charges into your own hooves without written permission. Now, why don't you come back when you have a hoof to stand on?"

Neighsay looked at my brother with a hint of anger, but he kept his composure as he released me. "Alright, you have your point, but I promise you that I will be back for him. Just keep in mind if I find that you are trying to help him escape I'll see you arrested for aiding a fugitive."

Book nodded. "Expect me to leave on a business meeting today. I do have my own superiors to report to. I promise you that Light will be here. Just make sure you report to the Mayor before doing anything brash. I'll see you later."

Neighsay summoned a portal that he walked through. As I tried to wrap my head around what happened Book grabbed me. "Are you okay?"

I sat down as I caught my breath. "Dad was right. I should have avoided that guy."

Book Knight sighed in relief, but I could tell by his face that it would be short-lived. "Listen, from what I know about this guy he's very resourceful. He'll be back with what he needs to arrest you. The only thing that might save you right now is to appeal your case. I know that I can discredit his analysis for being biased. I can have Dad testify... well, when we get to the trial. I think he might go too far if I tell him now. I need anything you have that can help me get you out of this mess. I know that everypony thinks you are the real thing, but were there any eyewitnesses that could help us?"

I placed a hoof on my head out of fear. "No, I was alone when this happened."

Book looked frustrated as he started pacing around. "Light, I need something more than this to take this to a trial. Twilight's on a friendship mission with Rainbow Dash and she's the only pony I can think about who could prove something like this. I need something that I can use."

I was desperately thinking. I was truthfully afraid of going to jail, but I had no clue what I could say. "I don't know. I don't know how I'm supposed to prove this. When Luna saw me she believed me. Why is this..."

Book Knight interrupted me. "Wait! You've met a princess?"

I nodded. "Yeah, she showed up in my dream. Now that I said it out loud it doesn't add any credibility to my testimony."

Book had one of those looks he has when he thinks he's a genius. "If that's true then now only do you have a strong witness, but maybe a real way to prove that you are a real alicorn. I'll try to talk to them and get them over here."

I was excited to hear that glimmer of hope. "So what do I do?"

Book sighed as he bit his lip a little. "You need to stay here. I'll handle the princesses and the case, you can't give Neighsay any reason to speed this up. I'll be back as soon as possible."

Book ran for the train station, leaving me alone and scared. I didn't know what else to do, so I went back to my house.

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Let me tell you all something, sitting around waiting to tell if you are going to jail is not a good way to spend an afternoon. If any of you have stress problems then you shouldn't picture it. I tried making those plushies to get my mind off of it, but it ended with the Applejack toy getting a pair of blue wings. I was scared about what was going to happen to me.

As I was trying to clear my head I heard somebody yelling outside. I looked out of my window and saw Applejack running up to Fluttershy.

Applejack looked like Twilight during the doll incident. "Hey, have you seen Scootaloo? Applebloom didn't see her at the Cutie Mark Crusader meeting."

Fluttershy looked a little taken back from Applejack's panicked face. "Uh, is it possible that she went home?"

Applejack shook her head. "I checked her regular hang out points, but she wasn't there. I heard from Derpy that she looked very upset. I'm afraid that something might be wrong. Is Dash back here yet?"

Fluttershy began to show signs of worrying as well. "No. I don't know when she'll be back. I can help look for her if you want."

As I watched them both run off I started to think about what happened with her earlier. She watched as somebody told her that a disabled pony is not special, and had another pony in chains for it. She couldn't talk to Dash about it, and from what they said they couldn't find Scootaloo. Only one conclusion came to mind, she ran away. I wished it wasn't the case, but from a handicapped perspective, it seemed like that was the most likely scenario. I started to think about where she might have gone. I knew that it wouldn't be anywhere where the CMC would look, and the train station was shut down so they could do some maintenance on the track. There was only one place I could think of where she could go to disappear, the Everfree forest.

Now I become protective of the kids I meet. I have a soft spot for them. So I wasn't about to wait for a search party to be assembled. I knew that it would take a few hours before they would think to search there and by then she could get hurt. As I made my way to the balcony I suddenly found myself wrapped in mythical chains.

I turned to find the one pony who I didn't want to see. Neighsay's eyes were cold and calculating as his blunt voice spoke. "Now you didn't think that I was going to let you go, did you?"

I started panicking. I thought I could appeal to his good nature. "Neighsay, I know that you have no reason to believe me, but that child you yelled at is now missing. All I need is a few hours to find her and then you can lock me away for all I care."

Now there's one thing you need to know if you ever try to appeal to someponies good nature, make sure they have one.

I truly think that he didn't want to listen to anything that came out of my mouth. "You have to be mad if you think I'll believe you. Even if you were telling the truth she'd have to accept reality sooner or later."

I kept trying to tug at the chains. "She most likely went into the Everfree forest. She won't last long out there. Please, I need to help her."

He sneered at me. "If she did happen to run away then the rest of the town can look for her. You can wait until you are tried, but you won't be leaving when I have my say."

As he started dragging me with those chains I was frantic. I knew the odds of Scootaloo being found quickly was pretty low, and at the moment I was probably the only pony who had an idea of where Scootaloo was and what could happen to her if she wasn't found quickly. Now I have stated before that I am protective. I'm not related to her in any way, but I am still protective of her. She has no real parents an most likely has a physical disability. I don't want to see other kids ending up in the pit of depression that I once found myself in. Scootaloo was there now, and there was no way that I was going to let it destroy her.

I could feel something snap in me. I fought against the chains one more time, but not to get away. I was trying to extend my wings and break through them. Imagine how surprised I was when it works. I managed to shatter the chains, sending Neighsay flying back. Normally I would wonder how in the world I pulled that off, but I only had one thing on my mind. I quickly jumped out of the window and flew full speed into the forest. I knew that it could cause me a lot of grief, but that wasn't important to me. There was a child to save.

I had to fly low into the forest. The thick fog and large trees made aerial surveillance impossible. I spent the next hour searching the forest for any sign of her. I had to move away from the main paths and start trying to search for some signs of a disturbed environment. The main problem was how fast I was trying to fly and the pure difficulty of finding anything that stuck out.

I had to start thinking if I had just acted too quickly. I had to start thinking about other places that she could have run off to.

As I started to think about how to search for her without attracting attention from Neighsay I suddenly heard barking in the distance. At first, I thought it might have just been a timberwolf chasing a rabbit or something, but then I heard somepony screaming in the distance. I frantically made my way over to the source of the sound. All I can remember is hearing a low growl and seeing Scootaloo on the ground unconscious.

To this day I can't remember what happened after that. I only remember waking up with my head spinning. My body felt like all of my strength was ripped from my body. I couldn't even move my hooves. I slowly turned my head to try to see exactly where I was. I could tell from the dark trees and the general surroundings that I was still in the forest and that it turned dark. I had to have been out for at least an hour. I tried summoning any ounce of power in me to get up and try finding Scootaloo. Hey, when I set myself on something personal, I never stop.

As I tried to get my weak hooves to work for me I heard a familiar voice from the distance. "Light! Hold on, I'm coming!"

I was quickly rushed by my pranking rival, Rainbow Dash. She was in her Wonderbolt uniform, telling me that this was a search and rescue mission that she was on. I nearly stumbled as I tried stepping forward. "Leave me! Help Scootaloo!"

"It's alright, she's okay. She looks a little roughed up, but Fleetfoot said that she should be fine. Spitfire is getting a chariot to help carry you two. Are you okay? You don't seem hurt." Dash was checking me for any injuries, but didn't seem to find any, to my surprise."

I tried proving what she was saying. "I'm fine." Just so you know, falling flat on your face isn't a good way to prove that you are fine.

Dash motioned for another Wonderbolt to help me up. They both lifted me by my wings and started carrying me towards a couple of other Bolts. Dash nudged at me. "Hey, I don't know what happened to you, but do you know what happened here? We were getting ready to find my sis and we heard something big going down in the forest. It sounded like two Ursa majors were fighting each other."

I raised my head to see that what was probably a dense part of the forest was now a large clearing. There were shattered trees and broken branches all over the place. I was at a loss for words. "I-I-I have no clue. I-I remember finding Scootaloo, but I blacked out after that. I don't even know how it happened."

Dash sighed. "Oh well, I wish I could have seen the fun, but then again it looks like you two are in the middle of it. I just wish I could have been here sooner."

I knew that she would have only returned from the show if Twilight had called for her. I quickly tried comforting her. "Hey, it's not your fault that she ran off. I'm currently thinking about some fun things to say to my old tormentor. You managed to get the Bolts over here in... I think it was less than an hour, but I have no clue what time it is. Right now she needs you to tell her that she can still fulfill her dreams."

Dash looked shocked at me as I was somehow making sense. "It sounds like you know what happened to her."

I sighed in frustration. "I'll worry about myself when we get back, you worry about your sister."

The two pegasuses set me down next to Scootaloo. She had a few cuts and bruises on her, but it didn't look like she was in any real danger. As a chariot lead by a couple of Bolts landed next to us we noticed she waking up. "Uh, Dash, is that you?"

Dash quickly ran over to her. "Scoot! I'm here! Are you okay?"

Scoot groaned slightly as she tried sitting up, only to fail as I had. "Ow. My head hurts. I'm sorry for causing you so much trouble. That pony was right. All I do is cause trouble. I'm worthless."

I groaned a bit as I managed to sit up slightly. "How many times do we have to tell you that's not true?"

Her eyes widened a bit when she saw me. "Light! You didn't get taken away. Does this mean that pony won't take you away for being different?"

I could tell that everybody was staring at me now, but the sad truth was I had no clue if I was getting out of this mess. I knew that I couldn't lie to her, but maybe I could direct the fear away from her. "Listen, I'm being judged for two things right now. The wings on my back and the flaw in my head. According to Neighsay, those things can't mix. My brother is trying to help me, but I have no clue if I'll be saved from a life in prison. Celestia knows I don't deserve it, but there are always ponies who try to get their way, even when they are wrong. No matter what happens to me you need to keep striving to be the best you can be."

It broke my heart to see Scootaloo's pleading eyes just begging me to stay. "But why does he have to hurt you? It's not fair! You did nothing wrong."

I laid back down, feeling my heart being torn apart. "I'm an alicorn, that's reason enough for him."

I noticed that Dash was starting to look like she wanted to punch something. I could feel the determination in her voice as she spoke. "That's not good enough. Scoot, nopony is going to lock up Light Heart, not on my watch!"

I couldn't believe that the same pony who I had a prank war with just recently was now vowing to protect me. Soon a chariot landed next to us. Dash and the others picked us both up and set us inside. The flight back was pure torture. I kept wondering if I was going to find that I was going to be freed or enprisoned. As my mind tried to comprehend what my fate my eyes turned to Scoot. Dash and another Bolt were busy trying to bandage her up. I smiled knowing that she was safe. I never held my life with much regard, but all honest if I could help one child it would all be worth it.

For a bunch of stunt ponies, the Wonderbolts were good at keeping a chariot steady. I could barely tell when the wheels touched the ground. If I had any strength left in me I would have jumped hearing Spitfire shout at the Bolts. "Crash, report!"

Dash quickly stood at attention. "We found Scootaloo and Light Heart, although it looked like they were both left in the middle of a war zone. Frankly, I think it'll take a while before we'll find out what happened. Requesting permission to take them both to the hospital!"

"Hold it!" My heart started racing when I heard Neighsay speaking. "That pony is a false alicorn and a criminal. I'm taking him to a place where he won't be causing any more trouble."

I could feel his magic pick me up as he started dragging me towards him again. Dash quickly stepped in between us. "Hey! He's the furthest thing you could get from a criminal! You have another thing coming to you if you think that you're locking this guy up!"

Neighsay looked frustrated as he stepped in front of her. "I don't care if you are a bearer of harmony. The law is in place for a reason."

I was impressed that Dash wasn't intimidated in the least bit. "Don't you quote that law to me. I'm the reason that it was written. There is no way that Light would have faked something like this."

As I noticed the rest of the townsfolk started gathering around, trying to figure out what was going on. Neighsay merely scoffed at Dash. "Please. There is no way that a mentally unstable pony like him could ever become a real alicorn."

"I think we'll be the judge of that." Everybody quickly moved out of the way as I saw two of the most important ponies in Equestria were walking up to me, Celestia and Luna. I tried standing up and bowing to them, but I quickly fell on my face again. I couldn't describe how pathetic I felt on the ground. I was the most pathetic excuse for an alicorn, stumbling in front of the two princesses. As I kept my head lowered I felt a gentle wing lift my head up. I was now facing Princess Celestia. She had a motherly look on her face, almost as if she had pity on me.

Her horn glowed a bit and touched my own. I could feel a tingling feeling come over my horn and make its way over my whole body. I heard it described by the others as my whole body glowing. Celestia gave a soft smile as she straightened up. "Well, he's as much as an alicorn as me or Luna. I think that settles your little dispute Chancellor."

At that moment I felt the weight of the world being lifted off of me. Unfortunately, Neighsay didn't share in my joy. "Excuse me? Are you expecting us to believe that this stallion is a real alicorn?"

Celestia nodded. "My sister believes it, and now I do. It seems like you are the only pony here who has any problem accepting it. Either way, Light Heart will remain free and guiltless."

I managed to turn to see the look on Neighsay's face. He looked furious as he stepped up to Celestia. "I don't mean to sound rude, but there is no way that some autistic fool can become an alicorn."

Now I had seen the anger and seriousness of several ponies that day, but I don't think any of that matched Luna's as she walked right up to his face. "I'm an alicorn, aren't I?"

Everybody stood in silence as Luna said that. I started stuttering as I tried understanding what the alicorn who helped me said. "What are you talking about?"

Luna raised her head in pride as she spoke. "I am autistic. I was one of the first ponies who was diagnosed with Aspergers Syndrom. So if you say that autistic ponies can't become alicorns then you are accusing me too."

Nopony knew what to say. I turned to Celestia to see if she was taken back to, but the somber look on her face told me otherwise. She knew that the princess of the night was autistic.

The fury in Luna's eyes grew as she stared down Neighsay. "Now, if you have a problem with an autistic alicorn you can take it to me. Otherwise, you can go mind your own business. Now leave Light alone!"

Everypony stood silently at Luna's outburst. There are only a few ponies in the world who could face her like this without running away in fear. Neighsay didn't say anything, he just stared at her for a moment. Then he just kept a clam composer and said one word softly. "Fine."

He didn't bother to look at me. He didn't even seem angry. He went back to the calm, calculating stallion that I feared as a kid. I think for a moment I felt a bit of relief, my long lost enemy had withdrawn.

But then I heard Book yelling at the princesses. "My dad found out! Stop him before he gets him."

Instantly I saw my dad jump out of the crowd and charge at Neighsay. I'm pretty sure that he had now beaten Luna on the fear scale. It took ten of the royal guard to hold my dad back as he started throwing threats at him. I don't think that I should share them, but now he officially looked scared.

Celestia looked a little worried as she whispered into his ear. "I think you should leave, quickly."

I think I saw him for another two seconds before he disappeared. I'm pretty sure that I heard Luna whispering to Celestia as I tried getting up again. "I believe that I should have some words with Light Heart. Can you take care of the crowds?"

Celestia nodded. "Of course. I suggest you talk to him while you take him to the hospital."

Luna gave a respectful bow to her sister. Suddenly she teleported a stretcher underneath me and proceeded to lift it up with her magic. I figured that the wisest choice for me would be to stay lying down. As she carried me Luna started talking to me. "Undoubtedly you have questions for me. Just so you know, what I said was true."

I stuttered a bit trying to understand it. "But, how can you be autistic? You act as if you are just a normal pony."

She nodded. "It took a long time before ponies either didn't believe it or forgotten it. I've had a long time to learn to overcome my shortcomings. You have spoken about being a failure at magic. I was once described as Starswirl's worst student."

Now it's hard to imagine the pony who raises the moon every night to be bad at magic. I knew that there had to be more to this. "What else did you struggle with? If you don't mind my asking."

She sighed a bit. "Not at all young stallion. I struggled with talking to large groups. It made being a princess a lot harder for me until Tia took over most of the daily duties. I also struggled with reading and writing. Tia was a great comfort with teaching me that. It's actually why we once had a journal. I had a few other struggles, but they didn't have as much of an impact on me."

I was shocked. I realized that I had some of the same problems as the princess of the night. I had to learn more. "How did you overcome this?"

She raised herself to a more formal stance. "Time and training. I learned to deal with these handicaps in my own way. After some time, I learned to turn my weaknesses into an asset. Do you know why I wanted to help you?"

I shook my head. I never could tell why she'd be wasting her time on some insignificant pony like me, but she seemed to show the same motherly smile that Celestia often shared. "I saw a bit of me in you. If anything I lack your sense of humor and you lack my pride. We are both described as flawed and broken, but we always rise to aid others. I sense a kind guardian in you, and I wanted to make sure that you didn't fall into the same pitfalls that I had. I don't know your destiny, but you have some purpose that warrants your wings. Don't sell yourself short, you still have a long way to fly."

It was a lot to take in. I never understand it when ponies help me, I'm usually the one who tries to help. I didn't understand why Luna wanted to encourage me on my path, but then again, she's been on that same road. I relaxed a bit as I tried to rest. "Thank you. By the way, I hope my brother didn't cause any trouble for you."

She shook her head. "Nay, your brother has been an excellent help for protecting the ponies at night. I'm honestly glad I hired him a few years ago."

My head jerked back up when she said that. "You mean the whole "Night Shift" thing was you?"

She gave a little grin. "Why not. Twilight couldn't stay up all night and Book is better than most of Celestia's guards."

I chuckled at that comparison. At that point, I started to fade out again. I woke up the next morning in the hospital. I was still tired, but the doc said that there was a reason for it. He said that I showed signs of adrenalin, it's a chemical that affects the body, boosting it with high levels of strength. I've heard a story about Granny Smith lifting a cart off of Applebloom once through that. Apparently, as a male alicorn, I'm able to generate more of this adrenalin.

Spitfire had to file a report and run the investigation on what happened. I ended up being interviewed by her for an hour. It was mainly her asking what all I remembered. I told her what I could, but I still couldn't remember what happened. In the end, one theory came up. She said with the high amount of wood which didn't come from any trees and the blood test from me that I might have fought a timberwolf. I truly didn't believe it because I wasn't hurt, but her reasoning was because nopony knew what I could do.

To this day I don't know what happened out there. She might have been right, but there's little evidence to prove it. All I know is that I went out to protect a little girl. I try not to think about it too much. Many things happened that day. In the end, everybody got home safe. I also ended up learning how to send junk mail about tourist spots to Neighsay. Want his postbox number?

One day in the castle

As soon as I left the hospital I went to check on Scootaloo. She was a little bandaged up, but it was good to see her in good spirits. Dash was talking to her, so I played a little joke and said that Dash was leaving the Wonderbolts to take care of Scootaloo full time. The looks on their faces were priceless. If we weren't in a hospital then Dash would have probably tossed me in the lake.

After my little joke, I made my way back to my house. I wanted things to go back to normal. Unfortunately, I didn't get that. I found two royal guards in front of my house. For a moment I thought that they were going to try arresting me again. I desperately wanted to put that past me. "Uh, I already got my proof of innocence. You two can go now. Sorry if a school teacher waisted your time."

That didn't keep the guards from stopping me. "Sir, Princess Luna has asked for you to come with us."

My eyes widened as they said that. Why is it that ever since I became an alicorn my life has been a rollercoaster? I had to ask questions. "What did she want. I doubt that I'm going to be her pupil, the night shift is my brother's gig."

"There is a press conference considering Luna's... autism. Since you were a part of her reveal she wanted you present."

I gave a tired sigh as I knew that I had to be there. "Please tell me that I don't have to pay for the ticket. I'll have to pull some money out of my savings."

"All of your expenses are covered for this trip. Princess Luna has made sure of it."

Now that was a surprise to me. "This isn't coming out of taxes, is it?"

"I can't answer that sir. Our job is to escort you."

I gave up. I was going to Canterlot, one way or another. Well, if those boys were going to escort me, I might as well give them a laugh. "I thought your job was to keep my dad away from Neighsay."

One of them nearly gave a snicker as the other one spoke. "That's your brother's job. I pity him."

I chuckled a bit at that comeback. "Well, as the princess of not being a princess I give him my blessing and free health insurance, he's going to need them both."

Both of the guards were now doing everything they could to look professional and failed. I smiled a bit knowing that I got a couple of guards to crack up, and I wasn't going to stop.

By the time we got to Canterlot, I had both of them rolling on the ground in laughter. I also came fifty laws that sounded funny, but would never get passed in any sane country or small village for that matter.

I felt a little awkward when we got out of the train. I had some bad memories of this city as a child, but I was hoping that my troubles with Neighsay were over. One thing I remembered was that everybody was scoffing at me and my dad and calling us commoners. Now ponies here were still staring at me, but now they were whispering about my wings and my cutie mark.

Now I had one goal when I was being escorted to the castle, and that was not to mess anything up. I'm afraid of what would happen if I did something that would get ponies mad at me. All I had to do was to not draw any attention to myself, obey whoever's in charge, and try not to talk much. Sounds easy, right? For those of you who wonder why I joke with the guards, it's because Book is technically one. He prides himself in his training.

I can't tell you how small I felt when I walked into that castle. I'd describe what it looked like, but you've seen other ponies write about it by now. I'm going to spare you the details about the palace and go straight into what happened there. The guard escorted me into the throne room. There was a large crowd of the press gathered in front of the throne. There was a table set up to the side with a lot of royal ponies who I can't recognize.

At least the main six were there. I know most of them fairly well. I knew Applejack because she has a rather large family. I always enjoyed walking by and having a small chat with the apples. I had to give a lot of credit for my business to Pinkie Pie for her constantly helping me with keeping track of all of the birthdays and holidays for me. What? She's my main customer. I also knew Twilight and Rarity from them buying toys for Flurry and Sweetie Bell, but it's always business with them. Rainbow Dash... well, you've read that chapter. She looked annoyed from having to leave the hospital for a dumb meeting. Fluttershy was the only pony I didn't know as well as the others. We've never talked to each other and she's never bought anything from me.

The guards lead me to a seat at the table. I was glad I was at the end of it, but I could tell that a lot of ponies were staring at me. I couldn't tell you how awkward I felt sitting there. I carefully turned to Pinkie and tried whispering to her. "Was this a black tie event? Are they going to ask about my messy hair, because I can't change it."

Pinkie giggled a bit. "Don't worry silly. It's just a press conference about Luna having the same mental handicap as you."

"Actually there are quite a few ponies who have it." I tried explaining.

"Well just kick back and relax. Luna gets to do all of the talking while we watch. Popcorn?"

I turned to see a large bowl of popcorn in her hooves. Well, the first rule about Pinkie Pie is to never question her. As We snacked on popcorn a hush came over the audience. "What? Is there a rule on no outside food and drinks?" As soon as I said that I watched as Celestia and Luna walked out, and the eyes were still on me. I gave a nervous chuckle as I shoved the bowl back to Pinkie. "I'm just going to stop talking."

Both of the princesses rolled their eyes a bit at me, solidifying my silence for the rest of the interview. However, it seemed like they both were hiding a small grin. It was at this point that I started noticing how uncomfortable Luna looked trying to answer everything. Whenever she spoke it was in her stern an unemotional voice. She had a large stack of notes that she kept referring to and whenever something seemed to catch her off guard Celestia would step in. Now, I'm going to skip the majority of the interview, mainly because I had a hard time paying attention. What? You try sitting next to the element of laughter and pay attention to a long speech. I think I can remember a few of the questions from the reporters, mainly concerning me and the incidents surrounding my transformation.

Luna gave a frustrated sigh as she spoke. "I can guaranty that he is a real alicorn. My sister has already proven it, and it will be posted in his permanent file. Even though he's only a toymaker and autistic, I'm certain that he'll do many wonderful things for Equestria."

"But I thought only mares could become alicorns."

I would argue with that reporter if that wasn't my belief before I became one. What? I still had a lot of questions about alicorns that I needed to have answered.

Another reporter brought up another question that I wanted to know the answer to. "Your Highness, there were reports of somepony trying to arrest him without proper evidence. Can you confirm why he was released?"

Luna looked a little ticked when that topic was brought up. "In spite of the fact that he wasn't an official officer of the law he still managed to obtain a license to arrest him. We are now implying new laws that will require a proper investigation before an arrest can take place. Mr. Heart had agreed to drop any charges as long as two restraining orders were in place. Mr. Heart will not be answering any questions."

You don't know how much I wanted to say 'thank you' right then. at that point, Celestia stood up. "I want to thank you all for coming, but we have a meeting that my sister and I must attend to. I hope you all have a wonderful day and thank you for coming."

I was a little surprised when she ended it rather abruptly, but I guess that's the price for royalty. I was surprised that they punched my ticket to Canterlot only for me to sit in a boring press conference. As I got up to leave I was confronted by the guards. "Excuse me sir, but you need to come with us."

"One, is that the only line you guys know? Two, was I supposed to wait for something?"

"The princesses want to have a word with you."

My heart dropped again. "This isn't about the popcorn, is it?"

"As much as that made it one of the most interesting press meetings we've ever attended, it's not that. Our orders are to take you to them now."

"This was more fun when we were cracking jokes on the train."

"We're on duty now sir. Please come with us."

Now, my brother has explained to me how the royal guards work, in spite of the fact that he has never explained where they are when Equestria needs them. At least Book has found some good excuses. Basically, the guards follow orders to the letter, in spite of the fact that they tend to slack off when nopony is watching. So if they wanted me to go with them I had no real choice.

They took me to the dining hall where the princesses were talking to each other silently. I still need to ask Twilight what it was like to be called to them like that for the first time. I stood silently by the door until they noticed me.

Luna looked a little embarrassed as she turned to Celestia. "Did Twilight use to act like this?"

Celestia giggled a bit. "All of the time. I could sneeze next to her and she'd panic. Come on in Light Heart. Have a seat."

I cautiously made my way over to them. "Your Highness, is that about the popcorn?"

"As amusing as that was, no. This is about a different matter." Celestia started explaining. "You are not the first pony to question their transformation. I had barely become an adult when my sister and I was transformed. Starswirl himself was the one who taught us about the trials we'd have to face."

Suddenly I realized where they were going. "Wait! Are you saying that I'm going to be outliving my family, and their great-grandkids?"

Luna chuckled a bit. "No. That's something that's between me and Celestia. What we are trying to say is that other ponies will come to expect more of you, even when you know that you aren't capable of living up the such a high standard. It's like every time we get beaten by a villain they expect us to be gods and smite them."

Celestia sighed a bit. "What we are trying to say is that there may be times when our kingdom might not have Twilight to look up to. Their minds will go to the pony who they think will be able to lead them, and that's you Light."

Why is it that every time I think that my life can't get any weirder I'm proven wrong? It took me a minute before I could speak. "Are you nuts?" I think I'm the only stallion who asked them that, and now that I think about it, I should have kept my mouth shut.

Luna rolled her eyes at me as she got up from her seat. "We are just stating what they are going to do, not what we are going to do."

"So they are nuts?"

Yeah, that was my response.

By the time she walked up to me, she had a rather serious look on her face. "Why don't you keep in mind that I'm autistic and I was just a kid when my sister and I took the throne?"

My jaw was now on the ground. "I thought that becoming an alicorn wasn't an instant promotion to royalty! You seriously want me calling the shots?"

Luna deadpanned before speaking. "No. I wasn't ready when I took the throne, and that was why my sister did most of the political stuff while I focused on security. I wouldn't dream of forcing all of this on you in one day, and I truthfully think that you serve Equestria better as a toymaker then a prince."

Celestia took this time to step in. "My sister has talked to me about her idea, and I think it's a good idea. Twilight had years of friendship lessons and education to help her become a princess. If something was to ever happen to us then they might default to you to lead them. If that time ever comes we want you to have the tools to lead them."

I can't tell if that was better or worse then automatically being a prince. "Wait! You actually want a guy with a teddy bear for a cutie mark to take prince lessons?"

"Admittedly, I think that this is one of my auntie's lapses of judgment, but it's an order." I turned around to see price Blueblood behind me. The only reason I know about him is that everybody in the country has heard of the most unique Galla that ever happened. Then again... this was before Discord showed up for one. I've never been to one because of how boring I've heard they are, but if they are now as fun as I heard they are then I've got to ask Book for tickets.

As I turned to the princesses I saw Celestia with the gentle smile... does she even not have one of those on her face? I think I've mentioned the same smile several times now. Luna looked irritated as she spoke. "This was the only prince that wasn't busy. We just want you to learn the basics... Which is more then what this prince can teach you."

It was at this point where I became worried about my well being.

He was looking at me like a jeweler looking for any flaw in a gem, only I was a lump of coal. "You are a pure blooded commoner. This will take a lot of work, but fate chose you to be an alicorn. A real prince holds himself with dignity and poise, not like he's some cowardly weakling. Your mane is a mess. When was the last time you've been to a proper barber."

"About a month ago. They say it's so thick and shaggy that all they can do it trim it."

"Shameful. Your accent has a light southern tone. We'll have to fix that. You see the thing about being a prince is how ponies see you. You need to be seen as a part of the upper crust. Any sign of weakness can lead to your downfall."

It was at this moment that I realized something. There was something dangerously wrong with him. He either had to be a changling or... "Is that a woman's suit?"

"What?"

"Are you wearing woman's clothing?"

"I think you are mistaken."

"Dude, my parents taught me how to tell the difference when I nearly asked for one when I was five. That's a woman's suit."

"Clearly your commoner ways haven't taught you how to distinguish a formal suit. Auntie, may you please tell him that he's wrong?"

I turned to see Celestia trying not to laugh, and failing. "That IS a woman's suit."

Luna started laughing as well. "Dear nephew, dost thou jest with us?"

He started looking ticked. "That's not true! I bought it by mail from that bearer of harmony from Ponyville, and it said it was the hottest fashion for the workplace."

I started laughing at this mistake. "Dude! She doesn't make men's clothes unless you special order them in person."

Celestia was still stifling her laughter as she tried speaking. "What is the name of this line?"

At this point, he opened his suit to not only reveal that the inside of it was pink, but the tag on the side said 'Miss-terious' in that color. As the three alicorns (including me) were now laughing our hearts out Blueblood was trying to hold on to what little pride he had left. "Yeah... It is mysterious because the buttons are on the wrong side."

Celestia was trying to talk through her tears. "It had shoulder pads and everything! None of that tipped you off?!?"

"It's a foreign style of a suit! Now if you excuse me, I just had something come up."

As he stormed out the three of us kept laughing. It was at this point when I started to see them like ponies, and not princesses. As we all finally stopped to catch our breath I had to give one more joke. "You know... I was starting to stress out about this whole prince lessons... but this helps a little."

Luna chuckled a bit as she stood back up. "I see why Celestia keeps him around. His antics would make the greatest of the ancient jesters turn in their bell-tipped hats."

Celestia stood up as she straightened her crown and wiped the tears from her eyes. "Trust me when I say that he's a good foreign ambassador. Well, I guess you'll be stuck with teaching Light the basics sister."

As Celestia walked out it left me and Luna, both with scared looks on our faces. "Well, looks like another rough night for me."

"Sorry."

She sighed a bit. "Don't be. You'll need this in your life if things go south. Now about your apparel, there's no way you're getting a crown since you are not an official prince. I found that it's easy to let the stylists do what they do best and just learn to deal with it. Side Trim, he's yours."

As soon as she said that a pony with a white coat and a fancy orange haircut. She wheeled in a barber's chair and a tray full of equipment. She cringed a bit when she looked at my hair. "Oooooohhhh... I'm going to have my work cut out for me today."

I spent the next half hour in the chair, sitting still while she pulled and trimmed my hair.

I was glad when Luna came back. "Alright. I grabbed a short nap and hopefully, it will help me last the day. How does Light look?"

Side spun my chair to face her. "Tell me what you think."

I could tell by Luna's face that she wasn't impressed. "Nothing's changed."

"I know. This alicorns mane is a hopeless case. I gave you my best." She walked out looking rather frustrated at me.

I had to lower my head a bit. "Sorry about that."

Luna sighed. "Don't be. I guess it's just a part of you. Well, I guess I'll show you the day court."

She led me down the winding hallways while explaining some of Celestia's daily routine. I used to joke about how political people always hire other ponies to do stuff for them because they are lazy, but the truth is that they just don't have time to do it. It's a busy job with a lot of stress in it. It makes me wonder if that cake vault is real. If I had to do this full time then I'd want a lot of cake to ease my nerves.

The court was set in the throne room. Celestia was talking to ponies one at a time trying to help them with any issues they were having. It was mainly stuff like issues with more common problems like road near a house or building needing refurbishing, issues with certain failed claims, and other stuff like that. I was surprised by how many of the people were just here to get an autograph from her.

Luna explained how many laws she had to keep memorized in order that she treats her people fairly. To me, it seemed easy, but there were so many times when a law came up which I had no clue of. I've never kept up with politics in my life. Why couldn't Book have become an alicorn? Or Magic Weave? She's smart, for the second youngest sibling, and knows a lot about the law for some reason.

After that, they took me into a real meeting. It had to deal with a tax on the gemstone trade with the crystal empire. Now, this was when any sound reasoning left me. I can't tell you how much of that went over my head. I'm decent at math, but I now know why the super complex equations in algebra keep showing up. Not only was I dealing with law and math, but these ponies were trying to predict the future. It was a pure nightmare.

I truthfully thought that I was going to get away from just watching this go down, so why did some Einstine in a tux have to speak up? "So, what does Mr. Heart have to say on the matter?"

The look on my face resembled a deer in the spotlight. "Uhhhhhhh..."

Luna was quick to step up. "Light Heart is here merely to observe and learn."

"Well, if he's learning, then he should be able to give a full input."

"That's a bit much to expect of him on his first day!"

"If he's an alicorn then he should be expected to know these things. Otherwise, this toy maker will merely be the end of Equestria!"

I don't know what was worse, the fact that he said that, or the fact that the others were agreeing. I tried to think about what I could do to add any input, but I had no clue what to do. This was too much to do at once. How was I supposed to do all of the math in my head, make sure I was within the bounds of the laws that I don't even know, and try to predict how it could change everything as we know it.

I can do one thing at a time. That was how I managed my booth. I make toys, and then I sell them. I made things simple in order to make a living. I tried working at a restaurant once and had ten non-consecutive nervous breakdowns. I think ponies are hesitant to fire an autistic kid. I'm glad I moved to Ponyville, but now I'm getting mad at those wings again.

I felt like I was failing everybody when all I could do was stand in silence. I was too... dumb to understand what to do. How was I supposed to live up to the princesses? At that point, I don't know what possessed me, but I ran out. I was so mad at myself for messing up... and being dumb. It's times like this where I can't control myself and lose my mind in a whirlwind of depression. I had to find a place where I could be alone, and my mind turned to one place.

I found out that my dad has written in my story that I locked myself in a broom closet... and that was the school, but I found another broom closet in the castle. No matter where you go you'll always find one. I don't know why I hide in those. Maybe it's because it's the closest thing that I can find that resembles a normal closet. Whenever I wanted to hide from the world I'd hide in my bedroom closet.

I don't know how long I was in there, but I didn't have any plans on leaving. After a while, Luna teleported in the room. I thought that she'd be ashamed at what I did, but she seemed more worried than anything. "Light? Are you alright?"

I couldn't dare to face her. I could only give a small whisper that could be compared to Fluttershy's voice. "I'm sorry. I can't do this. I'm not smart enough."

I heard a soft sigh as she lifted my chin up with her hoof. "It is I who should be sorry. You'd think that I of all ponies would have realized how hard this would have been for you. I never was a fan of those meetings either. I guess I forgot that not everybody has the experience that I have."

"How was I supposed to understand all of that?"

"It took years of training before I became used to it. I didn't take you to those meetings to answer their questions. I wanted you to see what one has to learn for this. Many ponies want the crown, but don't want the responsibilities that come with it. I just wanted to show you a glimpse of what you'd have to deal with if anything ever happens."

"But I'm not strong enough to do it. How did you manage the crown back then?"

"I had my sister. She said that it would be wise to surround ourselves with wise ponies to aid and guide us. Twilight has her friends to aid her, and if the weight of the crown ever falls on you then I'm sure that you will find ponies who you can trust to aid you."

I scoffed at myself a bit. "Imagine a prince locking himself away in a closet."

Luna smiled a bit. "I used to run into the woods, but I'd only hide about ten feet into them before I got scared."

Luna spent the next hour talking about some of the ponies in her life that helped her and her sister in their early years. She told me tales of the pillars of Equestria and the wisdom that they left for her and her sister. She mainly talked about Starswirl, whom she had often given grief over his lessons. She told me that his hair used to be as long as his beard before he started training her.

After that Luna lead me back to the throne room. Her sister looked relieved when she saw me walk back in. "I'm glad to see you back here Light."

I lowered my head a bit. "I'm sorry if I had let you down."

"You haven't. I am more upset with the noble who didn't understand my orders. I hope that you can forgive us for this incident."

I sighed a bit. "I do, but I think I'm a far ways away from becoming a prince. I think that I'll be a better toymaker for now."

Celestia nodded as she stood up. "I agree. I didn't make Twilight a princess because she became an alicorn, but because I thought that she was ready. For now, live your life. If Equestria ever needs you then we shall call for you."

I gave a weak chuckle. "If Equestria needs me to save it, then it'll have reached a new level of desperate."

"Before you leave, it has come to my attention that I must ask for your services."

I bit my lip a bit as I tried to think about what she'd ask of me. Considering the fact that she sends her pupil on dangerous missions that hold the fate of Equestria, I wasn't liking my odds of what she'd ask of me. "W-what do you need?"

She gave a bit of a nervous grin as she spoke. "Have you heard of Flurry Heart?"

Remember when I said how I knew Twilight? "You want a gift for her birthday, right?"

Luna gave a nervous chuckle. "We were hoping that you could help us out with that."

I smiled a bit, knowing that I could handle it. "I'll mail a couple of gifts to you."

Luna quickly raised a hoof. "But we haven't told you anything about her."

"Where do you think Twilight gets her gifts from? Even then, I can always check with Pinkie."

As I started walking back to the train I gave the castle one last look. I knew that I was years away from ever being able to help them, but I also prayed that if it ever happened I wouldn't have to face it alone.