The Bridge: Birthday Bash! Chibi Moon's Quest for Cake!by TarbtanoChaptersPart 1/3: Let's Go Jaunting!Part 2/3: Recap Route!Part 3/3: Crazy Cooking!Part 1/3: Let's Go Jaunting! THE BRIDGE: A GODZILLA-MY LITTLE PONY CROSSOVER Birthday Bash! Chibi Moon's Quest for Cake! “I don’t know.” Sitting in their favorite tavern to have lunch together, she flinched. Three words that almost caused Mariner Chibi Moon to hear the sound of cracking glass between her ears. She looked up from her coffee milkshake and tilted her head. “You what?” she piped with a voice crack. Godzilla Junior, sitting in the seat across from her with his helmet off, shrugged, “I don’t know when I was birthed… or rather hatched. Neither actually. It was a long time ago and I lived indoors a lot so I couldn’t really tell what season it was.” He nonchalantly sipped at his tea, “So no, I don’t know my birthday… or hatchday. But why worry about mine? Isn’t it yours tomorrow, birthday girl?” He smiled and picked his helmet up to put it on her. Chibi Moon couldn’t resist a reflexive giggle as the way-too-big-for-her-head helmet obscured her face. It didn’t last too long and instead it allowed her the privacy to visibly puzzle. Within her little mind, the 11, soon-to-be 12-year-old was getting an idea… ============== Canterlot Library ============== Heading over to a table, Chibi set down a book of her native Neighponese spells and a large spell tome as big as she was that she managed to sneak out of the adult section. Strange it was there. What seemed to be written in it was nothing profane, that much she could swear to any passerby. Still, the filly didn’t want any trouble from those who might think she couldn’t handle the adult section’s content. This stuff was just magic, not the weird comics her parents had! Of course, she could handle magic! Who was she but the daughter of the earthly and lunar guardian, the heiress of the latter, star student at the school for gifted unicorns, and hoof-picked protégé of the Monster King himself! So what if she didn’t know quite what some of these old archaic terms meant? She could still understand most of it and knew a tried and true technique: If you can’t understand the spell fully, mix it with another one. And that’s what her little hooves were putting together in front of her as she read off from the archaic Equestrian text and those of her family spell scrolls, jotting down something new. Chugging some coffee and penning down more, Chibi nodded her head slowly. If her sensei was going to have a birthday, he was going to need a present. That said, she didn’t exactly know what sort of things he wanted and asking him would ruin the surprise! Chibi chewed on her pen. -Hm… He eats and likes the taste of things, so if I got him something really good to eat, that should count!- She flipped through some pages and found exactly what she was looking for under a transmutation section within the old book. -Ah perfect! A spell to combine ingredients to make a cake! Hmmm, says it will only last for a few hours and I need to get the… ‘essence of a skilled baker’?- She puzzled, flipping through a few pages to see exactly what that counted as but the texts were vague and appeared to be written with the understanding that whoever was reading them would already know what that was. Checking the book, she could see it actually was part of a series that she didn’t recall being on the shelf. Chibi Moon pouted. -Must've been explained earlier. Well, maybe I can ask a baker and check with them. But what about ingredients?....!!- Her eyes widened as she realized a shortcut to not even needing to figure out what sort of things her sensei might have a taste for. After all, he’d only sampled some types of food so who was he to know that he may not be a fan of Gryphonese Upsidedown Pumpkin Cake? Chibi Moon pulled open another scroll and grinned at a spell that showed various raw materials in a series of progression ending in a gleaming suit of enchanted armor. -To make all one, and fuse together most anything… Perfect!- Jotting down the spell in between the margins of the cake spell as if she was solving an addition problem and cross multiplying, she ended up with a gestalt hybrid of the two written down on a note. -All I have to do is find some of the tastiest things around and put them together. Bet nopony’s ever thought of this before! It will be the tastiest magic made cake ever, perfect for my sensei’s birthday!- She teleported back to the shelves in the adult section to return the tome before anyone noticed it was missing, dropped her scroll off at her dormitory, and was off to the races across Equestria for her greatest quest yet! ========== Barracks ========== Chibi Moon marched in a formalized, orderly step while clad in padded gray armor that, despite being the smallest size available, still looked gargantuan on her. She stopped and saluted, wielding a broom beside her like a lance. She was half-covered in dust but didn’t let any of the grit or grime clinging to her visibly weigh her or her determination down. Captain Blueberry Frost didn’t return the salute but did nod approvingly, “Good work cadet, capital work in’-fact.” She marched beside and behind Chibi Moon and inspected one of the barrack’s stock rooms. The blue mare smirked and hummed at the sight of training gear neatly tucked away, the floor cleaned out, and the shelves neatly stocked with everything from target bags to practice weapons. She pulled out a stopwatch and checked the time as she paced back to Chibi Moon. “Twenty minutes, twelve seconds to the T, for someone your age that’s a record,” She glanced about but did lean down to the filly’s level, “And you know you didn’t have to do any of that right? I had been joking but ye’ wouldn’t stop when I clarified.” Chibi Moon clicked her hooves together and bowed her head, “Affioi’rmative, Captain Frost-sama! But I wanted to earn it and help pay back for you letting Sensei use some of the equipment for my training. I messed some of it up, so I should be the one to help fix it!” Blueberry Frost smirked as she removed little Miss Moon’s helmet and ruffled her hair with a hoof, “Honorifics ey? Well ye’ could use gozen for me, but ye’ really don’t gotta.” Chibi Moon briefly pondered the old sounding word she’d never used but shrugged it off and smiled, “Hai, Frost-gozen…. You know honorifics?” “Traveled a lot in ma’ line of work ‘fore I became Captain,” Blueberry Frost giggled. Blueberry Frost tilted the filly’s head up and rubbed at her cheek as she took away the broom, “Got some grit on ye’, little cadet. Hows about treating ye’self to the showers ‘fore you head out on ye’ little quest? Facilities here in the capital are top notch.” Chibi Moon clicked her hooves together and nodded, “Arigato!” Inside the wash and locker rooms a gray pegasus mare with a bi-colored orange and white mane was chattering with her old friends from the service. The first was a rather lanky stallion who looked to be what one might identify as green camouflage colored all over, fur and mane. Fittingly, his name was Incognito. The second, Starlight, was a bright red stallion of youthful complexion whose head was topped in a bronze-brown mane. The last, a large and very powerful stoic type stallion with a near inverse of Starlight’s hues seemed to be pretending not to listen as he relaxed on his bench seat lifting a weight. Cached Ire, towel still around her shoulders punctuated her words with her hooves being beat together, “So that’s when I ran into Luna’s new student literally headfist.” “Starlight, right?” Incognito piped only to earn a confused look by his compatriot. Starlight held a hoof up, “No it wasn’t me, I’d remember if ‘Crashed Ire’ here blitzed into me!” “No no no, not that Starlight, the Starlight near Luna,” Cached Ire fussed as she waved her hooves. “But I’m on night detail a lot,” Starlight complained, “I’d think I’d know if there was another Night Guard named Starlight in the service, much less at the capital.” “It is a pretty distinctive name, I mean what are the odds?” Incognito poised as he ran through the names of those he knew, “No nobles named that either… But there are a lot of folks with astrology names around here, come to think of it.” “Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Moondancer, the Lulamoons, hey doesn’t Big G have that apprentice of his? Oooh what was her name,” Starlight fussed as the red stallion pondered. “You’re the one who’s seen her a lot,” Cached Ire groaned, “And I was talking about another Starlight, girl Starlight.” Incognito raised an eyebrow and looked to his cohort, “You have a sister? Dude! Never told me!” “I have fifteen brothers, not one sis,” Starlight grunted, “And seriously, who’s the tyke Godzilla’s with a lot?” “But I wanna know about the girl Starlight,” Incognito whined, “Otherwise I’m stuck with the mental image of Cached sucking face with you in drag like she used to with Blade Dancer.” Cached Ire felt like bonking them both on the heads, “Starlight Glimmer! And we did not kiss ye’ dolts, heads out of the gutter!” “I’m just saying the names are hard enough to keep track of with multiple Starlights walking around Canterlot now,” Incognito griped. “Hey I was here first, don’t blame me that someone else’s makers got the same idea, lotta stars in the sky,” Starlight quipped with his hooves on his hips, “… And seriously who is the tyke?” “Who?” “The tyke.” Cached Ire deadpanned, “Weren’t we talking about Starlight?” Incognito cut in, “Yes but this is bugging me now, who is Starlight?!” Cached Ire pointed at their red companion, “He’s Starlight. Or is this name problem giving you amnesia?” “The little one’s name is Mariner Chibi Moon,” Hammerbolt interrupted as he put down the heavy dumbbell with an audible thud, “And she’s standing right there.” He pointed and all looked as a little voice cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” a little voice piped up. All the guards looked aside to see a dirty-looking filly giving them the watery puppy-dog eyes. Chibi Moon pawed at the floor, “Did some work for you all, could I borrow some of your shampoo to get cleaned up?” The guards were silent as they towered over Chibi Moon, especially Hammerbolt. They looked to one another, then to the little girl. Hammerbolt’s stoic facade fidgeted before cracking, the rest following suit as they all emitted squeals at the adorableness. Soon after, Chibi Moon happily paced into the showers with several autographs on her saddlebags her hooves full of soaps and washes. A minute later, Chibi Moon skipped out of the washrooms with a bouncy step, literally glinting with her coat shiny as can be and hair done-back up in her trademark twintails. Captain Frost, wearing sunglasses, smiled as she retrieved something from her personal safe. A glinting bottle with the symbol of the Crystal Heart and a smiling bee was placed in Chibi Moon’s awaiting hooves. “Crystal Empire fortified nectar tea, fresh and pristine.” =============== Ponyville Library =============== “So have you ever done a teleportation across a whole continent before, Princess Sparkle-gozen…er.. -sama?” The alicorn that Chibi Moon idolized the most after Princess Luna and maybe Celestia paused for a moment to tilt her head at the terminology before snickering. “Right, Neighponese respect. Don’t worry, there’s no need for that with me,” Twilight replied as she adjusted some of the spell codes in her book, arranging the mental formula before her eyes, “And to answer your question my little pony, yes! Yes I have. Though this will help me get directions.” “Hai!” Chibi Moon piped as she sat in a rune scrawled onto the floor with chalk as if it was the most normal thing ever. A towering changeling paced next to her and Chibi, in on the secret, was unphased as the giant insectoid equine eyed her and passed her a biscuit. “Here is what I tried out and found I like,” Mothra Lea hummed as she giggled at the little filly sniffing the biscuit before eagerly devouring it and audibly licking her lips, “I take it you like?” “Mmmmhm! Sweet, but not too sugary! What’s in it?” Lea levitated over a small bag of flour that Spike held out as he paced out of the small kitchen. “Nectar from honey suckles, crushed flower petals, ground up honeycomb, and store-bought flour cooked over dragon flames by young Master Kenbroath here,” Lea explained as she passed the concoction to their recent company, “I found myself quite fond of such after gaining this form.” “Kenbroath?” Chibi piped as she looked about for someone unnamed. Spike, still wearing a flowery apron paced over and twirled his hands before giving an overly dramatic bow, “Maaaster Spike Kenbroath Sparkle at your service mi’young lady!” He chuckled and earned a pat on the head by Lea, but a chuckling groan by Twilight Sparkle. “He got it in his head his middle name sounds fancier when paired with the title Lea gave him, I think he likes it more in the hopes Rarity will hear it,” Twilight piped while still having her face buried in a book, “On second thought, Chibi Moon are you going to Rarity’s later today?” The Neighponese unicorn filly nodded affirmatively, “She was out of her shop at the moment but I was gonna swing back through.” “How do you plan to get all the way back here from the Crystal Empire so quickly? Didn’t you say you had one day?” Lea chimed with a raised brow. “I was gonna ask Xenilla-dono- er... Mister Xenilla for his portal door’s use,” Chibi Moon explained as she packed the flour away. “Firstly, if you do…” Twilight poked her head up from the book with a sly smile, “Be sure to compliment ‘Young Master Kenbroath’, the chef to Rarity.” Spike turned a slight shade of red, giggling awkwardly before pacing back towards the kitchen, “I um... er… ‘Chef Kenbroath’ needs to… make sure everything’s off in the kitchen. Don’t want to burn the library down. Right… Bye!” He zipped away to the sound of Twilight’s snicker as she shut the book and paced closer, scrawling at the ground with some chalk to modify the teleportation rune. “Unicorn teleportation can be far-reaching but tends to be on the random side, even for skilled magicians. Xenilla might have made great strides with his and his company’s concoction but I know I can make the classics work just as well without the need for a door. Starswirl didn’t need any surge crystals nor-“ She started to mutter and ramble as Lea leaned down to Chibi’s perked ear. “She’s grown a little bit competitive ever since seeing and geeking out over the set up in the Empire, I’ve been making sure she didn’t blow up the library while doing so,” she whispered as Chibi held in a giggle. Certainly sounded like something she herself would do. “-And now! The totally safe, perfectly aimed transportation of the future which can be set up anywhere without a whole warehouse to power it! THIS will be the new inovation Xenilla! Stable, homegrown, Equestrian and infused Terran magic!” Twilight chimed with glee as her horn ignited with magic. “Only an hour of set up and the magic of one of only four alicorns in existence, truly what can be mass produced,” Lea sing-songedly quipped as she lent her own magic in to help out. Chibi Moon wagged her tail and braced herself as the rune below her hooves ignited with magic and started to spin around her. Oh yes the more logical side of her brain was telling her Twilight Sparkle was sending her to the Empire partially to show off to the other researchers up there, but the more fun-loving part of her brain was just all too eager to get teleported across the continent! This was gonna be fun! The magic flashed and she was off to the races! ============ Crystal Empire ============ Some of the greatest minds in the Crystal Empire loomed over a table together. Horns caught the light above as plans and machinations for future designs were scattered about the crystalline surface between them, casting them in darkness. Hooves were put together with a gleam of glasses showing behind them, the reddish stallion nodding to his cohort cast in a dark blue cloak. “Gentlecolts, it is time we begin… Status?” The cloaked one ignited his horn dimly, casting a shine from his spectacles as he reviewed the designs, “Your crystalmancers have been working expertly. Soon the design can help reach more of the Empire’s ground well before the time of the Imperial heir’s birth. How is that proceeding?” A giant, powerful stallion slouched in his chair while tapping a large hoof upon the floor as he stayed crouched in the light, “The pregnancy has been proceeding without issue, I have seen to it that it be so…” “Mwhehee… yes, soon this machination of ours can be far extended to reach the lengths of the Imperial City! Come rain or snow… likely the latter in our climate, our experiments over the past weeks should be a rousing success! Hahahaha!” “Hehehe, soon yesss… None can stop it! Hehehe!” “BWAHAHAHAHAH!” The reddish stallion snickered as the giant chortled. Soon all three were laughing maniacally in the shadows of the planning room. They had a good laugh for a hot moment before the uncloaked, non-giant unicorn caught himself and cleared his throat. “Sunburst, Sunburst, turn it down a notch,” Key Ring muttered while motioning downwards with his hoof. “Woooooo…” Sunburst cooed before snickering. “Right then,” Xenilla hummed as he leaned forward and lit up his horn, “For us to test it ourselves, we need to induct our magical signatures into it and keep them separate. That means infusing our magic into the three surge crystals I and Key Ring’s students’ prepared.” Three blank gems were levitated up to the table and all three magus’ prepared. Xenilla cracked his neck, “Remember, an excitable hoof can send it all up in smoke." Sunburst quickly wiped down his glasses with a bit of his cape before nodding, “R-Right right. Well, shall we?" Key Ring psyched himself up with some quick breathing before biting his tongue, “Everyone keep the streams separate.” The three’s respective horns all glimmered to life as the magic was prepared to be cast. They all leaned in closer with determination and the most purified concentration visible on their faces. They all drew close and let loose just as- Chibi Moon appeared in a flash of teal light and puff of purple smoke between them, happy as can be and beaming brightly. "Kon'nichiwa!" she shouted with her eyes closed. "OH *@&Y#$!)(@*!!" All three stallion’s eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates as they redirected their magic blasts upwards. Some were stronger than others, but between the chaos and multiple players involved they managed to blast a hole in the roof. The crystalline ceiling groaned and creaked as chunks of it fell away. “Debris! Big debris! Not again!” Key Ring yelped as he got flashbacks to the library attack, jumping up to grab the precious scrolls and diagrams they had been looking over, “Get the rando-baby, I got the plans!” “I got her, I got her!” Sunburst cried out as he dove to grab Chibi Moon in a tackle across the table. “I have it!” Xenilla roared as he stomped on the table, sending it flipping over and pushing Sunburst and a confused but not scared Chibi Moon out of the way as he held his hooves up and grabbed some of the debris. Blade Dancer bucked the door open, wingblades at the ready as she no doubt thought an explosion meant they were under attack. But instead of King Sombra back for the third time and second resurrection, she instead found the perplexing sight of her coltfriend holding up a carriage-sized piece of what had been the ceiling, Key Ring holding a chair over his head as a shield from falling pebbles and shards while clutching half a desk drawer’s worth of papers to him; and Sunburst trying to use himself as a shield to protect a very confused looking- “OOOH A CUTE BABY!” she squealed, running right past her beloved as she picked up Chibi Moon from Sunburst’s arms. Sunburst, still having his eyes spinning from getting launched by Xenilla’s table stomp, mewled, “Thank you- ma’am…” Blade Dancer happily supported her in her forelimbs and smiled sweetly at the bemused Chibi Moon as well as Xenilla, “You okay, Honey?” Xenilla nodded as he gently put the hunk of debris down and rolled his shoulders to ensure he hadn’t pulled something, “Quite fine Blades, quite fine. We just had a little interloper.” “Well I’m not a baby, but I am cute,” Chibi Moon nodded as she gazed at Blade Dancer’s crimson-hued mane, “Ooooh but you have really pretty hair!” Blade Dancer winked as she put the filly down, content she and everyone else was okay, “Likewise lil’ stunner. So what are you doing here, giving the Nerd Trio a heart attack like that?” Key Ring panted as his pulse calmed down and he waved a hoof at them, “Not... something… I hope she makes a habit of!” A few minutes later, they were back in the modified warehouse with Chibi Moon gawking at all the intricate crystalline creations, from the pillars holding up the roof to the rune-encrusted seals around the doorway in the center of the chamber, and to the elaborate controls built into some of the tables nearby one might recognize as panels. “OooooOOOOOooooooh! Very elaborate! And so shiny!” Chibi Moon keened to the approving nod of the trio. Before any could stop her, she had happily pranced to the doorway and gazed upon it, wagging her tail like an energetic puppy. “Can you send me through right now?” Key Ring nodded but perked his brow, “What about the foodstuffs you wanted to bring along? Lots of good things to sample in the Empire.” Xenilla hummed as he walked up to Chibi Moon, “Leave that to me. She wishes to give it to my brother, after all.” She tilted her head at the giant so much like her sensei, “How’d you guess?” “Observation and imagination, eyes and brains, my little one; the keys to any puzzle. Wherever he goes, you often try to go and wherever you’re involved, he tends to be. A logical deduction, given I sense him nowhere near here,” Xenilla quipped as he put a hoof on the ground and pulsed waves of energy into it from both his horn and shoulder pads. Drawing the hoof up, he brought forth a glimmering, bright yellow crystal that crackled with energy within itself but was perfectly safe to hold. “An energy surge crystal. He’ll definitely recognize this, and may have a use for it one day,” Xenilla explained while levitating it into the wide eyed and gawking hooves of Chibi Moon, “Bound to make most anything it's applied to more lively…. Careful though, it’s explosive… Mildly.” ======================= Wonderbolts Academy Skies ======================= Forward and then straight down after glimpsing a turtle was the majority of what registered in her mind after stepping through the door and promptly falling right through the line of thickened clouds that made up the floor outside the front door. In a panic but not losing her senses even as she tumbled out of the skies, Chibi Moon had tilted herself to look upwards and cast the spell to save her flank! Rodan was humming as he was snipping up some greens for Tank with his claws, patting the shell of the eagerly awaiting turtle before handing him his food bowl. He was just about to smile and take in the sight of his housemate’s turtle going to town on the veggies when a flash of pink light burst outside the window. A little filly shot out of the clouds in a spiraling flight pattern thanks to a pink energy ray blasted out of her hooves. “Excuse!-“ He blinked and looked outside the window again, seeing a hole in the clouds below outside the house and registering that something had fallen through right before the pinkish flash appeared again, the recoil of another pink blast shooting the filly up again. Chibi Moon waved at him as she started falling again, “Me!-“ She blasted herself back up again, still spinning about, “Can’t get!-“ “Inside!-“ “What the feather is going on in there?” Rainbow Dash piped as she adjusted the new skylight she’d installed to help make her wingmate more comfortable indoors, poking her head through her roof. Rodan pointed to the window while making his way towards the door. Chibi Moon reappeared again and waved at her. “OHMYGOSH!-“ Chibi Moon bit her tongue and was just about to recoil launch herself back up again when two speeding streaks of light and color darted out from around the house, one multihued and one red. Hooves and paws gripped her gently but firmly as beating wings de-accelerated the fall before they started to rise. A minute later and she was lifted up to be set back down on the front step of the house. “So Xenilla and company sent you for some quest huh?” Rodan quipped as he was careful to put her on the solid welcome mat. “Why’d you pick us to go to? You know, in the sky and all.” “Well I knew the best fliers in Equestria could catch me if I couldn’t stop my fall,” Chibi Moon giggled as she tested and stood on the mat contentedly. Both Rainbow Dash and Rodan ruffled her mane slightly. “Darn right we could. Step inside why don’t ya’, inside should be firm enough,” Rainbow Dash noted as she opened her front door, “I had Twilight solidify the insides on account of Tank; no need for cloud walking.” “Arigato, I can’t levitate yet and I didn’t want to blow holes in your house!” Chibi Moon keened as she stepped inside on what approximated terra firma. Rodan snapped his claws in recognition, “You’re Chief’s pupil, ain’t you?” “Hai! And where are we exactly? I thought this was the Wonderbolts academy?” the little filly piped as she looked about but didn’t see the military training camp she was expecting. Rainbow Dash motioned out the window in the opposite direction Chibi had been facing during her free fall, though she probably wouldn’t have noticed it anyways given how much she was spiraling. Looking where indicated she could indeed see the famous training grounds, a massive runway built into higher altitudes with obstacle courses and barracks. “Benefits of a cloud home, I moved it over here so I could crash in my own bed,” Rainbow Dash explained as she patted her wingmate on the shoulder, “Had some big help, and as a thank you he bunks with me. ‘Sides, I was awesome enough to do aboooout 90% of the lifting.” Rodan grunted. “80%,” Rainbow Dash snorted with a snicker, “So what brings you here, lil’ Moon? I dig the booster flight but I don’t think Colonel Spitfire’s looking to recruit.” “Well I have two problems,” Chibi explained as she sat herself down on a small chair. “Well we might have a solution, name it,” Rodan said as he walked past her, “Day off.” Showing how adjusted he had become to this dwelling, the claustrophobic kaiju-turned-gryphon plopped down on the lazy boy couch as his cushion and didn’t react to Rainbow Dash plopping down on top of him like it was the most normal thing ever for the two of them. Chibi glanced between them, looking about and noticing the relatively humble size of the house sloppily decorated in Daring Doo posters, flight paraphernalia, and some surprisingly gaudy clothes for the legendarily tomboyish cyan speedster. She only noticed one bathroom and bed. “Are you two...?” she motioned between them. Rainbow Dash, head perched on Rodan’s crests, stuck her tongue out with a grossed-out expression, “Yeergk! Got enough of the Bolts thinking that. We just share a lot of stuff to save space.” Rodan rolled his eyes, “We’re just best wingmates.” “Rody’ here is a huuuuge upgrade over my last partner. Lightning Dust never got me delivery or did the dishes,” Dash pouted as she started to vibrate in anger. Rodan lifted a wing and patted her with the edge of it, “Dashie, Dashiiie, simmer down a notch. You’re worked up and haven’t had your daily shower.” “Swipe some of that conditioner I like from the barracks?” Dash quipped as she wagged her tail lightly. “Same kind your mum uses, yep. Payback for you going to the effort with the skylight.” “Hey it was either that or having you sleep outside again! Last night got chilly and I had to drag you in!” They both noticed a hoof raised and blinked at an inquisitive looking Chibi. “So you both get along great?” “When we’re not racing,” Rodan nodded to the side. “Not my fault we keep tying,” Dash grumped. Chibi counted by her hooves, “And you have pet names for each other?” The gryphon shrugged, “So does half my teammates.” “Friends get to call me Dash, great friends call me Dashie.” “And you each know what the other likes?” Chibi puzzled as she tilted her head. “Partially by finding out what the other hates. We did figure out the other’s cheat day though, he wisely didn’t get me pies,” Rainbow Dash corrected, “He figured out Tank faster.” “He likes warmth, flying, and fresh greens; he’s less fickle,” Rodan snickered. “And you share a bed and bathroom,” Chibi muttered as she kept the mental headcount. Both speedsters’ heads creaked as they nodded, partially because Rainbow was still plopped on top of Rodan and neither had made an effort to move much. “… And you live together… but you’re not together?” Chibi muttered with obvious confusion as she patted her hooves together. Now both speedsters shook their heads in unison, blinking blankly as they deadpanned like it was the most obvious thing ever. “Hey don’t get me wrong, daughter of a fashionista here so I don’t mind girly stuff. But I could never imagine this big lug taking me to some gala on a date night,” Rainbow Dash snickered as Rodan glanced up at her. “I couldn’t imagine you letting me take you to some gala on a date night, much less me getting the idea,” he chuckled as he looked over at the filly, “Being flightmates means a lot of dangerous maneuvers, a lot of risks.” “Yeah, even for tough-as-nails folks like us!” Rainbow smirked, “Sometimes a wrong move or wrong judgement could end… Just about everything really. Even as his big mega-scaled big winged self, I can’t imagine Rody here wanting to crash into a reinforced thunder cloud.” “Nope, stuff’s way harder than on Terra. Means you gotta trust each other a lot, especially when you can barely hear each other when going at top speed.” Rainbow Dash nodded, “Sound barrier-breaking tends to put a damper on talking. Which is fine, we can tell what the other one is thinking and gel really well. We’re a lot alike, and different where it needs to be.” She grinned and wrapped a wing around her bestie as it was returned. They shot each other a smile before looking to the filly, mildly surprised to see she was diligently taking notes. “Right, sooo... have to tell some of that to Sensei later.” Rodan tilted his head, “Chief lookin’ for a partner?” “Ooooh I hope so,” Chibi Moon giggled as she rubbed her hooves together, “I think so as well!” “Well we ain’t partner-partners, me and Rody, so I’m not sure how useful it’ll be,” Rainbow Dash shrugged casually, “But I guess loyalty is a good key to any buddy-buddyness.” Chibi Moon looked at this once again, mildly pondering what exactly she was even looking at seeing them laying on the couch on top of each other like this. There wasn’t so much as a hint of what she saw between her parents or hoped she was seeing between Princess Luna and her sensei, but there was… something there. Either she was looking at it wrong and was the fool, or they were the idiots for being so dense…. Or were they both right and wrong at the same time? She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. Confound these speedsters, they drove her to- “Oh, do you have any coffee? One of the questions I had was what speedsters eat because I know it’s got to have a lot of calories,” she poised while tapping at the notepad with her pen held in her magic, “And if I could borrow any for... a project you see.” Rainbow Dash winked as she fluttered her wings and got off Rodan’s back, “Yep! gotcha covered, small fry. Though I really wouldn’t recommend eating the whole thing yourself with how tiny you are. You’d be bouncing up and down from the ground level to here even without that cool pink death ray.” She fluttered over to the kitchen and retrieved a wrapped bar from a package, skillfully throwing it over to Rodan who caught it in his paw and gently tossed it to Chibi. She read the label, which bore General Firefly’s saluting visage, “FlightFuel, for enhancing intake of any fuel.” “Turbo charges your gut to absorb foods better,” Rodan explained as he held up a claw, “Do not eat the whole thing at your size…. Oh, and didn’t you say you had two things you needed?” Chibi Moon packed away the energy bar and nodded as she glanced out the window, not even able to see the ground. She looked to the speedsters and then to the ground again, then back and forth, back and forth. “Can you get me back down from the sky please?” A minute later she was gleefully cheering as Rodan and Rainbow Dash, carefully so, held her as they sped through the skies to the grounds below. =========== Ponyville Spa =========== Chibi Moon pulled a cucumber off her eye as she lay back in the spa chair, “You didn’t have to do all this for me, Madam Rarity.” The white unicorn mare reclined on the chair next to her and giggled at the title, face covered in the green creamy beauty mask that was virtually never without during her visits here. “Nonsense Darling, I’m all too happy to help others get cleaned up. Fluttershy and I were already coming here when Dash and Rodan dropped you off.” Fluttershy lifted off a cucumber as well, smiling sweetly as she pointed a hoof to the little filly, “Pegasi and gryphons have special stomachs so they don’t get sick while flying, but even I got queasy the few times I’ve gone almost as fast as Rainbow Dash. Ooh, are you sure you don’t have an upset tummy anymore?” Chibi Moon magically levitated out a small pair of crackers with a peanut butter-like spread between them that made the arrangement resemble a small cookie, plopping it into her mouth and consuming it eagerly, “Omnumnum! Nope! These patties you gave me fixed me right up!” The Element of Kindness beamed, “Oh that’s a big relief, I first made those after uncovering some old Meadowbrook recipes for soothing tummies on a great many types of animals.” “Huh, you know normally I would make a remark about feeding a little girl what you would any of those dear critters you take care of, but I suppose if it works well on a snake; it works well on a pony,” Rarity lamented as she levitated one over to herself and broke it in two to take a small nip, “Hmmm mmmmm! Yes, your culinary skills are definitely my better, Fluttershy.” Chibi Moon sat up from her chair and looked to her companions, “Would it be alright if I had some of the spread used for the crackers, Madam Fluttershy?” “Oh no problem at all, little one, I have more than enough back at the cottage.” Rarity keened after stretching out on her chair, “Do take some of the cucumber cream as well! Aloe, Lotus, and I all helped come up with it. Good for a beauty mask, freshens the breath, cleans the teeth, and is fully edible!” “Especially after such a hectic day…” Fluttershy noted as Chibi Moon licked her cucumber cream-covered lips and enjoyed the flavor like she was sampling ice cream. Fluttershy continued to list off everything that had happened vocally, “Why just after Rainbow and Rodan dropped you off, we had that giant firebreathing cockatrice that barged in from the Everfree.” Rarity groaned in her chair, “Which we found out was being chased by a highly venomous new subspecies of manticore that spat acid…” Chibi Moon deadpanned, “Which in turn was being chased by that flying cragadile.” “Yes, who knew rock-covered giant crocodiles could also sprout eight wings to soar through the air…” Rarity bemoaned as she held up a limb, “Chipped a hoof in that scuffle!” “Nature is truly fascinating,” Fluttershy sighed. “Well, it’s all over now. I do think Ponyville has thrown enough craziness at us for one day!” Rarity snipped before adjusting in her chair. Using a bit of telekinesis, she put a bit more water on the heater to douse the surroundings and add a bit more steam. The two mares and filly let out a sigh of warm relief as calm reigned supreme…. Only to be interrupted by someone outside screaming. The three ran out of the spa after a shrug only to soon find the cause of the problem. Said problem made itself all too abundantly clear when they were quickly aware of the brawl between what could best be described as an elephant-sized mole with beaver teeth swiping at the air towards a swarm of flying, multi-limbed creatures, which in turn were chasing a large purple, vaguely feline-like beast with dorsal spikes; whom was antagonizing the mole. Rarity deadpanned as a cucumber fell off her eye, “Fluttershy, report.” Fluttershy rubbed at her chin before motioning to the oversized mole, “Well, that’s a Maulwurf… And what’s antagonizing it seems to be a Chupacabra… and the flying creatures are-” She paused as the Maulwurf got a hit on one of the flying targets and sent it hurtling towards them until it landed on Fluttershy’s nose. As soon as Rarity observed the fact it was an airborne spider with a wolf-head and hornet eyes, she levitated a few feet off the ground even without casting a spell. Chibi Moon had stars in her eyes and would have reached for possibly her new choice of pet before the creature screamed at them and rejoined the fight. “Wolf Fly-ders,” Fluttershy corrected herself but puzzled, “Strange though… Something’s missing.” Rarity let out an exasperated laugh as she pointed to the monster melee in the park, “Oh joy! What a joy, what could possibly make this worse?” Fluttershy tapped at her chin and pondered, “Well... it’s just that.. Oh what was it? Usually Wolf Fly-ders only act up in a swarm like this in the presence of a-… hmmm…” “No time! To action! Chibi, stay here-“ Rarity was cut off by Chibi Moon launching herself at the park with an energy blast shot out of her hooves. “COME OOOON FLUTTERSHYYYY!” Rarity screamed as she raced after the tyke, Fluttershy too confused by her own inquiry to notice they were rushing into danger like this. “Oh what was it! Something gives off pheromones that causes Wolf Fly-Ders to mass, which can anger a Maulwurf into chasing after them which in turn would have intruded upon the territory for the Chupacabra and-“ At the park, chaos reigned but thankfully nopony had been hurt yet. Rarity was making a good effort to shepherd everypony away. The Maulwurf, in a moment of blind rage, whacked a tree over that nearly collapsed on top of a gaggle of ducks and kittens being tended to by Granny Smith. A pink energy blast knocked most of the tree away after shearing off most of it as Rarity raced over, picked up Granny Smith, the ducks, and every last kitten both in her arms and in her magic before jogging away. Fluttershy, dodging a lunge by the Chupacabra pouncing at her from the bridge, carried a shaking Twist away from the melee while still deep in thought, “What was it… Started with a T…” “Is this really the time?!” Rarity shrieked as she was busy fending off the Maulwurf with a donated monument to the park. The gigantic enchanted mole took a swing at the boulder and its metallic, hard claws managed to slash a chunk out. “TOM! NOOOO!” somepony screamed. Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as the Chupacabra spotted her now, the rabid-looking blood drinker’s eyes locking upon her as his body tensed. “Uh uh! Nope nope nope” she quipped before firing another beam burst into the ground to launch her out of reach. She overshot some of the blast however and soon realized she was rocketing dozens of meters into the air. Her hair going slack against her before arching around and being dragged upwards, she did however notice something. From high up she could see large patches of grass moving as if something was under it. And there was a trail going from the forest into town and then into the park, which the other monsters had followed. Needing to break her fall and taking a chance, she aligned her hooves beneath her and shot out a quick burst. Not enough to really harm whatever it was under the ground, but enough to get its attention and break her fall. Chibi hit the ground with a slight ‘Doofa!’, but no sooner did her rump touch the grass did it start to writhe and swell. The filly rolled away downhill as a large beast the size of a building burst out of the dirt. There was a pinkish head, followed by a red mane akin to a lion’s, which soon transitioned into a worm-like body covered in overlapping purple scales. The sizable beast let out a cackling hiss before his head split apart into three sections with the inner parts linking together to make three jaws packed full of teeth. “Tatzlwurm, that was it!” Fluttershy yelped as she scooped up Chibi Moon and placed her down a ways away. The Tatzlwurm shrieked, thrashing about in the ground and snapping at everything around it. The Maulwurf bellowed as it raised its hackles at an instinctive enemy, the Wolf Fly-Ders swarming about in an angry buzz as the Chubacabra circled around in obvious stress given it was chittering its dorsal spikes against one another. Chibi Moon beheld the sight as she looked to Ponyville. The town was out of the way now and she could see the rapidly approaching forms of Princess Twilight and Mothra Lea moving in on their position. She wondered if she should get ready to fight and help protect the town from the incursion, confident she could do so and lend her aid despite her age even as the monsters were getting more and more agitated. She took a deep breath in and started to focus everything into her horn. “Piiiink… sugaaaar…” She grit her teeth from the energy build up, imagining how the flickering power raced up her mentor’s dorsal spikes and mane as similar fluorescence appeared across her own hair. She squeezed her eyes shut to focus. “Heeeeart!” Her eyes snapped open, the filly’s orbs filled with a bright white and pink brilliance, “A-“ “HOLD IT YOU ALL!” Fluttershy cried out as she flew up right into the middle of the melee. The monsters hissed, roared, and buzzed in anger, surely about to close in for the attack when they all stopped dead in their tracks. Fluttershy was slowly turning around and Chibi was left dumbstruck, paused mid-attack to see what was going on. When Fluttershy turned her way and she glimpsed the pegasus’ eyes, all of her attack’s buildup went out the window instantly. She quivered. Somehow, even from a distance, glimpsing those eyes was like standing in front of a tidal wave infinitely larger than yourself. A monumental force that demanded your full attention and you could not get away from it. Fluttershy flew up higher than the beasts, the Wolf Fly-Ders parting for her approach as she kept up The Stare. She flew over to the edge of the forest and landed. The beasts obediently followed and stood next to one another. “Now, I understand that the Tatzlwurm was just passing through while on his molting cycle, and that the Wolf Fly-Ders are allergic to his shed scales. But he didn’t mean to disrupt their nest while passing along, and the Wolf Fly-Ders didn’t mean to sting the sleeping MaulWurf while mistaking his nose for the Tatzlwurm. And the MaulWurf was just reacting in blind pain when he nearly trampled the Chupacabra’s den,” She noted calmly before motioning to the Everfree Forest beyond, “But the world is big enough for all of us, and just because you got disturbed doesn’t mean you can keep on messing up other’s homes too. So how about we all agree to separate, okay?” Chibi Moon sat on her rump as Rarity walked up to her and sighed. “Well, that’s our Fluttershy,” She sighed, proud of her friend. Chibi Moon looked about the town and saw the signs of panic had now completely vanished. Everypony was just now going about their business despite the footprint-induced potholes in the streets and damage to the park. Though several did seem to tearfully be erecting a plaque in Tom’s honor. “You all seem very casual about this. Back home, my mom and her friends work hard to keep just a few of these sorts of things away,” Chibi Moon muttered. Rarity sighed, “Just another day in Ponyville. Sometimes I wonder if the reason the Princesses settled half the kaiju here is because we’re so used to this sort of thing… Cucumber?” She offered her a slice of the cool vegetable which Chibi eagerly accepted. Author's Note NEXT TIME: Chibi Moon visits Appleloosa, Sweet Apple Acres, Suger Cube Corner, the world of Comics, and more! Proofed by Faith-Wolff and Lance-Omikron OCs by Fiddlesticks, Akashic Brony, Vadram, Jeval, and Bluemoon1996 Part 2/3: Recap Route!================ Sweet Apple Acres ================ “You want that one?” Destroyah casually noted as she had a filly that was not one of the usual three perched on her back as she looked up at the tree. “It’s sooo shiiiny!” Chibi Moon gawked as she pushed in her cheeks and her eyes sparkled at the Zapp Apple. “Only one problem there, sugarcube,” Applejack muttered whilst tapping her hoof on the ground and contemplating the state of the growth in the tree and air. “Zapp Apple season’s a few weeks off,” she lamented with a mild frown, “Dem apples might be ripe enough to use for an ingredient but hide nor hair they ain’t coming down.” “But, can I still have one? Just one? Pretty pretty please please,” Chibi Moon teleported to Applejack’s feet, giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes and bowing at her hooves, “Please Lady Applejack, Bucker of Monsters and Slayer of Fox Demon Bi-“ Applejack somehow managed to both deadpan and shiver at last one, before wondering where she learned that word and frowning. She put a hoof to Chibi Moon’s muzzle to shush her. “A’right a’right! Ye’ don’t have to go kissin’ my hoof. Brought you out here to have one didn’t I? So, one’s all yer’s. Just gotta get it down an’ it ain’t gonna want to be plucked.” Chibi Moon gasped in joy and squealed, jumping up in the air and racing her hooves back and forth as she bounced up and down. Her tail wagged like an excited puppy at an excuse to try out her magic. “Ooooh ooh oh! I got this! Staaaand back!” she yelled out and braced her hooves as energy crackled along her horn, “Beyond the special technique of the Godzilla Dynastic Clan! Thermonuclear Beam, Mariner Chibi Moon style!” Destroyah and Applejack deadpanned as they quickly looked at each other with a mix of confusion as well as worry. Chibi Moon grinned and took in a deep breath, “Piiiiiink!” Bands of glowing light started to spiral up her horn and mane in the same manner Godzilla’s dorsal plates flashed. The air crackled and shuddered from building power. “Suuugaaaar! Heaaaaart! ATTA-phm!” One could almost hear a honking noise as a hoof was put up against her nose. Applejack purposefully made sure to push in the right direction to point her head skywards just in case of a misfire. “Wooooah there sugarcube! Save the lightshow fer’ the Fair,” Applejack said as she cringed a smile that lasted until Chibi frowned and canceled out the energy charge. Chibi pouted, “I wasn’t gonna hurt the tree… just cut off the apple from the branch with a cool woosh woosh zap bloooosh heart shaped blast!” She punctuated the action sounds by chopping her forelimb through the air. Applejack rolled her eyes and snickered as she let Chibi lower her face again. “We got ourselves a’ might simpler solution. Des, if ye' would?” Destroyah nodded before swinging her already glowing horn. The tree trunk could have withstood an entire bison herd yanking on it but it couldn’t resist the force of its own atomic bonds being shredded by micro-oxygen. The falling trunk was grabbed by the titanically strong mare who held it in place long enough for a lasso to grab the obscuring branch and hold the zap apple free to get a clean shot without damaging the tree. Destroyah severed the end of the branch holding the fruit with a small burst of her destroyer ray, and the apple was cleanly yanked back into the awaiting hoof of Applejack by means of the lasso. Chibi Moon accepted it with wide eyes, “Oooooh! W-Wait, but did you just kill the tree?” Destroyah lifted the tree back up and placed it where it was, rotating the trunk to exactly align it. Applejack put her back hoof to the trunk and if one looked hard enough, they could just barely see glimmers of greenish magic redirecting into her other legs from the ground and then into the tree. Within moments, the very clean slash through the trunk was mended over by sped-up growth. “Dun make a habit of it, but we been experimentin’ and found some fun uses for Dessy here’s clean choppin’,” Applejack smirked and winked, “Plant growth. Unicorns ain’t the only magic ones about, ye’ know.” Chibi Moon’s eyes were wide and sparkling as she gazed at the now perplexed farmer. Applejack had been showing off alongside Destroyah to kill some boredom, but they had expected some reaction. A full ten seconds passed before Chibi piped up again. “… Teach me how to do that!” ================= Ponyville Tea Shop ================= “Mmm, tastes a lot like home!” Chibi Moon piped as she finished a cup of tea, her tail wagging happily. Seated across from her and pouring another cup was none other than Ki Seong, who smiled happily at the little child’s approval as she also poured herself a cup. “My family were merchants, so we sold a lot of this across the seas. Quite a bit ended up in Neighpon, so you very well might have had this blend before. The key is a small addition of seaweed grinds stoked over a bit of a family recipe before you added it to the tea leaves,” she explained as she swirled the dark liquid within a bamboo cup, “Having it in bamboo cups helps preserve the flavor more.” “And who this is for is also from around the place we are,” Chibi Moon piped as she got up from her seat, faced her hostess, and bowed as respectfully as she could to the point her horn almost touched the floor. “Most esteemed Madam Seong of the Ki family, I humbly request some of your super special secret tea blend! It is of the utmost importance!” she piped. The kirin doe giggled and raised her brow, “Oh, and is this importance giving you some nostalgia for your birthday coming up?” Chibi Moon perked and looked up at her, “How do you know that?” Ki Seong snickered and motioned behind her to a large stallion that walked up beside her with a seafood platter, pecking the doe on the cheek and causing Seong to turn a few shades of red. “King Godzilla told him,” the kirin explained as she snuggled up beside Anguirus as he set the food down, giving her a peck on the cheek. Anguirus picked up the line and eyed the filly, “And I told her. You must be his pupil I’ve heard so much about.” Chibi Moon wanted to squeal from the recognition but instead bowed again, “Honored Titanic Defender Anguirus, defender of playgrounds and summer camps-” Anguirus deadpanned slightly in bemusement at his title. Chibi looked back up at him with giant puppy dog eyes, “… Could I pwetty please have your favor in asking your girlfriend for some tea?” Now it was Anguirus’ turn to widen his eyes and start blushing, an act that only got more extreme when Seong pecked him on the cheek and levitated a bag of grounds over to Chibi Moon’s little saddle bag. “I wasn’t going to say no, Little One,” she snickered, “These will brew up nicely.” Chibi Moon beamed and saluted, “Arigato Mada- Ooof!” She forgot she was bowing and proceeded to fall flat on her face. Undeterred she continued to salute and speak. “Sm imgoh habme ma qumtomph whm-” Anguirus carefully tilted her head up by the horn. “-what other things did my Sensei say about me?! Did he tell you I can copy his beam now perfectly? Oooh oooh, or that time we fought my mom’s villain? Or how about-” Ki Seong giggled as a bead of sweat ran down her cheek. She leaned closer to her lover and whispered to him, “He certainly wasn’t kidding when he said she was little but her mouth wasn’t.” ============== Sugarcube Corner ============== “And that’s why I need this and an ‘Essence’ of a talented baker,” Chibi Moon explained as she sat on the high seat of a colorful stool chair in the parlor, while telekinetically waving several toys in the air to the enthusiastic giggles of the cake twins. “Well you came to the right place for both!” Pinkie Pie quipped as she wagged her tail, neatly balancing several cooking utensils and ingredients on her tail as she carted over an unfinished double-stacked cake. “Though if you’re wanting me to really show any skill, I would have asked me to actually do up the cake! I totally get wanting to throw in your own personal touch and all, but I’ve helped out on plenty of these. Wanna do it here an’ now? I’ve got vanilla cream, chocolate cream, strawberry cream, chocolate and strawberry and vanilla cream, chocolate strawberry and vanilla icing, banana icing, apple icing, even some zap apple icing, and-“ Chibi Moon cut her off with a teleport and a bow as she gingerly picked up the cake tray while placing down the toys meant to entertain the babies. “Iiii think this is good. After all, I’m going to be adding a lot more in,” Chibi explained while lowering her ears, “No doubting you can make a great one, though!” Pinkie Pie giggled and patted her head, “Oh don’t worry little filly, I’m just always eager. Well, always super eager, or superduper uber eager.” Chibi Moon smiled happily and carefully packed the cake into a box. She paused however while she was atop a box and looked about warily. She continued to do so for a solid minute until Pinkie Pie tapped at her shoulder. “… Um, you okay?” Chibi Moon remained unmoved, on guard and looking towards the forest, “I just found out today that usually when someone gets something done in this town, something crazy happens. Today I got teleported across the continent and then there was a big monster mash.” Pinkie Pie nodded as she looked at a calendar she pulled out from behind her back, “Yep, right on schedule. We’re like a wacky version of 2020 around here, something exciting every other day.” Chibi Moon hadn’t the faintest idea what she was talking about but gulped, “I’m just… Being extra careful because I know something weird is gonna happen….” Pinkie Pie blinked as she waited several long moments. The shop was completely peaceful with Pound and Pumpkin Cake pleasantly snoozing in a pile together as the clock on the wall ticked. Chibi Moon seemed to realize nothing was going to happen and slowly pulled away from guarding the cake twins diligently. “Phew…” Pinkie Pie shrugged before her left ear twitched twice to the right to jog her memory, “Oh and that other thing you asked for?” Chibi Moon perked up, “Oh right, essence of a talented baker! Um… Think I need to make a copy of some of your magic maybe? Ooooh have you put some of the earth pony magical spell hex on the cake? Eeerr…” She paused and rubbed at her cheek, just now realizing in her over eagerness to get this quest done she hadn’t really considered what exactly that criteria asked for and she had left the book back at Canterlot. Just as she was starting to consider asking if maybe Miss Pie could escort her back to the city, she was interrupted by the Element of Laughter’s giggle. “Snrkaha! I gotcha covered my little pony! Observe!” Pinkie Pie reached around and casually pulled off all the fur on her tail. Chibi Moon’s expression flattened and her eyes widened at the cursed image of a naked horse tail, let alone one that had been so extremely plushy just a moment ago. The noodle like appendage wagged as Pinkie Pie nonchalantly hummed and packed her tail fluff into a bag. “There ya go!” Chibi Moon was still staring with a completely frozen expression even as Pinkie Pie set about guzzling bubblegum-flavored cream and spontaneously regenerating all of her tail hair. ========== Appleloosa ========== Link! “~Ay, ay, ay! I'm your little butterfly~” The music player sang as the performers danced to a captive audience. Wings beat in a particularly flattering motion in tune with the song, skillful twirls dazzling the crowd even if the music wasn’t to their normal cue.. “Well the tune’s different, but I like it!” A cheery pink-maned pegasus mare chirped as she danced to the pop song-like beat with lyrics she was very quick to adapt to despite it being far out routine. Out of her usual garb, Phoenix Flamez still struck a skillful dance in the center stage of town whilst dressed up in the latest Neighponese Pop Idol garb: A white suit with long black, bell sleeves and her hair done in two large twin tails that had rectangular decorations put upon the bases. Evidently it was based on a well liked Neighponese artist. Her little assistant was skipping in step next to her, clad in a similar get up but with her hair styled flat and wavy. “You look just like Miku! Song’s a bit older than her, but the beat fits. It’s one of my parents’ favorites!” Chibi Moon keened as she danced along with Phoenix as her back-up, “Sure I didn’t intrude?” “Naaaah, I’m adaptable,” Phoenix keened whilst skillfully dancing to an foreign beat to prove her point, rocking her shoulders and hips in sync with the cords and sweeping an arm across the crowd, “Besides, out here in this kind of town we’re always welcoming to new faces from new places! Shoulda seen the routine I drilled Rodan into!” “How am I doing?” Chibi Moon squeaked as she pranced aside to dive under and jump about where the larger mare was now hovering mid-dance, Phoenix practically stepping and sliding on air. “You’re adorable and a natural!” “Fits you well don’t it Phoenix-san?” The pegasus took a moment mid-step to ruffle Chibi’s head, “Aww aren’t you a little flatter?” Chibi Moon giggled as she teleported about the stage, appearing and disappearing in bursts of pink magic in tandem with the looping spins and air bursts Phoenix was creating. The pegasus landed as the music took a lull and let Chibi reappear in front of her, the filly proving a quick study as she emulated the talented dancer the best she could with experience for this song. Chibi looked to her instructor and superior, “So who was it that I should talk to for foodstuffs, Phoenix-san?” Phoenix Flamez twirled about dazzling displays of magical trails as she spun about the stage floor and above it. Mid-spin she skillfully picked up her little backup dancer and looped in the air while still dancing. Chibi Moon squealed as she was spun about in a flashy move that earned the audience’s cheers before stopping in midair and pointing at the saloon bar past the gawking and clapping spectators. Phoenix Flamez winked to the little filly as she motioned to the mare behind the bar counter, “Missus Thalia’s got you covered if you need anything, thanks for the help and new routine!” “Arigato!” Chibi Moon squealed as hugged Phoenix briefly. She hopped down onto stage as Phoenix landed beside her, the two taking a bow to a standing ovation before Chibi vanished in a puff of magic to teleport. When she re-appeared she was both slightly astounded and pleasantly surprised that the kindly bar mare had expertly predicted her arrival with a child-sized mug of root beer already placed in front of her. The ebony mare with white and red accents smiled and patted her head. “On the house little one, we always do love a good show around lunch hour, already put some caffeine in it since you say you need that to slow down… apparently,” Thalia rolled her eyes and giggled as she leaned onto the bar top, “So what was it you were needing fromor me?” “Mphbprfuubbr-“ Chibi but down the root beer mug she was chugging and neatly wiped her face with a napkin, “Sorry Missus Thalia, I was saying I’m making a birthday cake and need ingredients.” Thalia’s brow perked and she puzzled before looking about what she had on hoof for mixing up drinks and some bar foods. “Nnnoooot sure I have anything around the counter for cakes, pies maybe given how popular they are with the Buffalo. I can check out the back for you.” Chibi Moon rapidly shook her head, “Oh no no nooo need! The magic cake, I have a nifty spell to make it all come together you see. Since I don’t know what the one it’s for likes, I’m getting anything tasty and putting it together! So whatcha got I can use?! ...I mean, I don’t want to be demanding.” She bowed her head respectfully as Thalia’s brow perked. She glanced about with a bit of skepticism. “You sure that’s exactly what the spell said and meant? I’m no unicorn sorcerer but I know some of those spells can be tricky.” Chibi Moon nodded, still keeping her head down, “Hai! That’s exactly what it said, make it all come together.” Thalia pondered about it but nodded slightly after some thought, “Well, I have something that can’t go wrong when added in.. Here-“ Thalia hoofed a glass of specialty apple cider across the table to her, “This brew of cider’s a good all-purpose. No matter what you put in it, it's gonna smell and taste like apples, which most folks like just fine. Ye’ can drink it, stew it, bake it in, anything really. Can’t see how putting it in a cake could go wrong.” ================ Mirror Maretropolis ================ “So that’s why I ended up here,” Chibi Moon explained as she sat in a car seat. Her typical cream pink fur had become cream pink skin and she was wearing an outfit not dissimilar to a child’s version of the battle dress her mother sported that would one day be hers, but with the addition of a red mask akin to what Auntie Venus once wore. However her eyes and giant pigtails were almost entirely unchanged, even as she existed in the form of human girl. A heavily modified muscle car drove through the streets and back alleys of Maretropolis, operated by tendrils of purple hair controlling the steering wheel and shifter. The protector of the city kept her face stoic in contemplation even as they drove past Detective Stephen Langoud who made an effort to try and follow them to no avail. “You came here… for something to eat,” Mane-iac muttered as she secretly directed the Black Beauty across multiple streets to lose anyone who might be tracking them, making her way back to the estate. “Or anything edible really. Plus, I really like your stories!” Chibi Moon keened. Mane-iac looked at her through her mask blankly, still thinking through her options. Half an hour ago, this little girl appeared out of nowhere during another battle with an escaped Masked Matter-Horn, intervening in the conflict. While she wasn’t necessarily sociable and was more than a little concerned at her age, time had warmed her to the possibility of other heroes out there. Not everyone was Shadowbolt. She would have probably reprimanded her for getting involved at such an age and left it at that… except the observation that this “Mariner Moon” addressed her as her secret identity of Mica Hackett, and claimed time was short. Figuring the most secure place to go and run some tests would also be somewhere that it was of no risk of exposure, and wanting to keep the little girl was far away from anyone in the public that might cure the name of the beauty products CEO spoken out loud, she drove into the secret entrance to her estate and lair. The Black Beauty came to a stop within the depths of a subterranean garage, the hatch top opening and allowing exit. Mane-iac emerged via crawling out with her hair tendrils and the little girl caused another stir by vanishing and reappearing in a burst of magic. “Well anything edible really, just something you like!” Mariner Moon chirped as she paced towards the garage like it was the most normal thing ever and she teleported, something excessively rare in this world no matter how crazy it was. Mane-iac walked alongside her and pressed a button on the wall, “Get down here… And bring what you’ve been working on.” A speaker hummed with a voice, “Oooh? How’d you guess, toots?” “Because you have a habit of doing so when it’s my turn to do patrols, thinking you can surprise me every time,” Mane-iac quipped as she removed her hat and mask, revealing the acid scarred face of Mica Hackett. An elevator buzzed as it lowered down into the dark garage, earning Mariner Moon’s fascination and a non-response from Mica, who kept her back to it with her arms crossed as she continued to study the little girl. A boisterous looking man with a metallic mohawk and dirty green skin happily paced out of the elevator carrying a plate of crisped rolls and some sort of plastic bottle. Waltzing up behind the superheroine while still sporting a simultaneously gaudy and metal looking apron, in the sense that it had a pink frill but was decorated with the image of chainsaws, Gigan waited for her to remove a glove and raise one of her scarred hands. Mica sighed and didn’t at all look displeased when he kissed the scar tissue ringing her wrist before placing one of the rolls on it, squirting some of the bottle’s contents on it. She visibly didn’t hide a small smile at the comfort food. “… Thank you, you do know how I prefer them,” the once grumpy, stoic, isolationist heroine whispered. She rolled her eyes and shook her head at the enthusiastic thumbs-up she got. “How’d it go bashing up that ***** *** matter- Oh! Sh******** you didn’t tell me you were bringin’ a kid!” Gigan stopped himself and stumbled back upon noticing a starry-eyed Mariner Moon. “You two… it wasn’t just that holiday special?” she keened while leaning up and towards them on her tippy toes. Gigan opened his mouth several times as if to speak but stopped himself from ever saying an expletive. A main man like him had standards to live up to. Finally he was able to articulate decently well only to get cut off by his companion, friend, roommate, one letting him squat her mansion, etc. “He’s been staying and helping out after some misadventures,” Mica deadpanned while chewing on the roll in her cheek, “He wasn’t intolerable.” Gigan paused but flashed a very big grin as he leaned down towards Mariner Moon, “She’s been warming up to me ever since I helped out with housekeeping… And helped out on the street… and kept Detective Pin-Eyes off her back… and-“ “And cut down on the property damage,” Mica corrected, “Sometimes I did seriously wonder how his former employers stayed in business. But yes, he’s been staying with me.” “Heeey, a main man is always the best, be it fraggin’… basti- BAAAaaaaad guys or making the Lead Lady happy. Took up some hobbies too, turns out culinary is a bit of a calling of mine,” Gigan smirked proudly as he lowered down the tray, “Here, help your self lil’ lady.” Mariner Moon accepted a rolling bowed happily, “Always good to see happiness for those who deserve it.” Gigan smirked a fanged smirk and shot her a thumbs up, “You said it lil’ missy. Can’t be grim all the time, we sure ain’t Frank Miller.” Mariner Moon checked her watch and her ears stuck up a bit more at seeing how much little was left in the spell that brought her here. She tried to refocus and considered just taking the role but did notice something else. “Hmm, what’s that stuff in the bottle?” she questioned as she pointed at the article that Gigan was pouring onto a roll meant for his teammate. “Shampoo,” Gigan grunted back, causing Mariner Moon to visibly double take at the food. Mica held up a finger, “Hackett Industries’ best. If I’m going to care what might get in someone’s eyes, I’m going to care what some kid might swallow.” “So you made,” Mariner Moon puzzled as she let Gigan put some on her roll, “… Edible shampoo?” Gigan put a hand to the side of his mouth and whispered to her, “And she once claimed I was the only crazy one, hehe… Stand by the design though, not shabby. Tastes like syrup.” Mariner Moon eyed the pastry and special seasoning a few times, glancing at her hair before shrugging and biting down on it. Her pigtails stuck straight up and both heroes paused in confusion and concern. A few moments later Mariner Moon’s head slowly pivoted up to look at them with a wide-eyed expression. “… Can I borrow a bottle?” ============= April Fools! ============= “Jump!” Chibi Moon thought she heard Pinkie Pie call out to her as she did as told, dodging a dark mass which she quickly ran away from. ‘Thoroughly bewildered’ didn’t even begin to describe how she felt right now. One moment she was running to Canterlot only to charge face-first into what looked like a doorway of light, then she glimpsed a long white hallway full of doors before someone crashed into her from behind and caused them all to stumble through another of such doors. Now she was a human again, only this time her skin tone was noticeably less pink. A glance out of her peripheral vision did confirm she was still sporting her typical pink hair but the styling looked different. Her bangs were noticeably larger and her pigtails were slimmer, a glance in a window she was passing by confirmed this. She mentally puzzled at her getup, a mostly white dress that looked armored to an extent, with blue accents and very bulky gauntlets. She also just now realized she was running around with a staff of some sort that looked vaguely like a polearm, pipes sprouting from it with the end covered in a pinkish colored metal encircling a blue spherical gemstone. “What the?! Where-“ “Nata, Megs, we took a wrong turn after Sailor Moon! We’re in another magical girl show and picked up a hitchhiker!” Pinkie Pie, still unseen, cried out again from somewhere behind Chibi, who turned around to find her but to no avail. Instead a tall woman in a black outfit with red accents came running up to her, the large cape she was wearing blowing in the wind. The fact she was wielding a brown and amber-hued, almost comically big lovechild of a bearded axe and scythe made Chibi’s grip on her staff seem flimsy. “Nanoha, I think movie 2!” the blue woman, Sonata Dusk, who was now sporting gigantic twintails in her hair, yelped, “I got Fate and Megs ended up as Bardiche!” She pointed the giant axe at Chibi Moon, who flinched back and did so even more when the gemstone at its center started blinking with a voice. “I went from badass to bad-axe! Heh! Anyways who’s this?” the axe, Megalon spoke aloud while doing the best he could to motion at the little girl in front of him. “Oh, she’s someone I know from Ponyville. Hey Chibi, you put the cake and my tail down somewhere safe right?” Pinkie Pie called out again and Chibi Moon looked about, trying to spot her. She turned about, observing they were standing in a very decidedly Neighponese-looking city, though everything was blacked out and dark without anyone around. Signs of a conflict were obvious given the damage to some buildings with loose rubble about. “Up here silly!” Chibi Moon looked up at the only thing above her, the head of the staff she was holding. The blue gemstone blinked at her in tune with the voice. “Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie and looks like I’m your weapon of justice, friendship, and destruction upon your enemies! Oooh Twilight would love this show!” Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as ‘Pinkie Pie’, the staff she was still holding onto kept talking. “She’s definitely someone who has some experience with this sort of thing, so let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth!” Pinkie chimed right before there was an explosion. Bursting forth from a not insignificantly-sized apartment building was a dark animate mass that vaguely approximated the shape of a serpent or centipede, with large glowing eyes and a gaping maw being the only parts that stood out from the darkness. It lunged and both Sonata and Chibi bolted to the side, the siren grabbing the soon-to-be 12-year-old by the wrist to toe her along since she had a longer stride. “What’s that!? A youma monster?!” Chibi Moon cried out as she observed it chasing them. Sonata Dusk’s boots glowed and magical wings of energy burst from her heels as she went airborne, holding Chibi Moon to her as they both held their weapons. “Jewel Seed monster, they were born from a Midchilda-“ Pinkie Pie started to explain only for a certain battle axe to cut her off. “Early series MacGuffin, bonded with something and made it a monster,” Megalon interrupted, “I thought they got them all by the end of the first season, but apparently it hung around.” Sonata Dusk flew them to a nearby rooftop and put Chibi Moon down, twirling Megalon as she prepared herself. “Weeeeeeeeeee!” “Well, we’d better get this stuff cleaned up before we head for another door, we’re on a time limit!” Sonata chimed as she spun Megalon about. She pulled down a section near the top of the shaft to reveal a revolver-like cylinder, slotting in a full set of some kind of cartridges before spinning the cylinder back into place and slamming the jacket back up over it. Megalon steamed and glowed, the central gem igniting. “Come on! Let’s get em!” the siren yelled out as she went charging back into battle amidst the brilliant light show. Chibi Moon watched in awe as the nice blue-haired woman and talking brown axe intermittently looked awesome and terrified whilst dueling with the massive beast of shadow. She perhaps wondered if this was something similar to what she had to look forward to upon finally becoming the successor to her mother. Every year her mother would get a little weaker and she would get a little stronger as the power transferred over. Eventually it would reach a point where her mother could retire and she would be taking up the mantle as the Lunar Guardian. Her grip on the staff tightened. “Something wrong?” Pinkie Pie the magitek weapon of mass destruction chimed. Chibi Moon pondered deeply for a moment before sighing, “It’s different but… Something a bit like this is something I’m going to end up doing when I grow up.” “Do not want to do it?” “No, it’s a huge honor and I know I can but-“ She watched as Sonata flew past a lunging slash and chopped off a tendril of shadow with Megalon’s edge, sliding backwards across the air as she slashed into the space to unleash blasts of energy with the swings after Megalon reconfigured to more closely resemble a scythe. “It’s an even bigger duty!” Chibi pouted as she looked at the city, “I-I know I won’t do it alone but none of my parents’ team’s successors have been found yet except me. This place looks a lot like my home, what I would have to be protecting.” She didn’t quite realize how being in a place that looked like Neighpon would bring up some homesickness. Memories of going to her parents favorite park on some evenings, helping Auntie Pyre Mars clean the cool looking temple shrines, spending time at Auntie Dawn Venus’ boutique, to visiting the coral reefs with her mermare Auntie Raine Mercury to look at the beautiful fish, or enjoying some of Auntie Stormy Jupiter’s cooking under the table were flooding back. This would be her first birthday without any of them. “My parents’ team are legends, what if it comes a time I gotta step up and not have anyone to step up with me?” “You’re talking about how you’re the successor to your mother’s role as the lunar guardian but none of your future compatriots have been discovered yet?” Pinkie Pie chimed with glowing pulses from the gym that made up the staff’s head. Chibi Moon blinked a bit blankly before nodding, not wanting to question how it was Miss Pie knew exactly all of that. Asking that to make sense would be small potatoes to asking how any of this made sense, “Sounds about right. I mean I’m not upset about being next in line, I’d love to be a hero! All of my idols are after all and I’ve been taught well. It’s just… Uncertainty you know? Maybe I haven’t been tested enough.” “Well, my good friend Twilight was much the same way when she was untested and thought she had to stand by yourself. But then she got all her cool friends like me! And we all turned out to be a lot stronger together than we were apart,” Pinkie Pie noted with a soothing, assuring tone, “So don’t you worry your pretty little mind, when your time to step up to the plate has come I’m sure you won’t be doing it alone. And if your teammates take their sweet time showing themselves, we got others to help you out! There’s very few chosen ones, Nanoha isn’t one.” Chibi Moon tilted her head as she looked at her wardrobe, “Is… that who I am right now?” “Seems so! Magical girls like her were talented and it’s great they jumped at the call, but nopony or nobody ever had it where they had to stand all alone.” “And if I mess up when I have to take over for my mom?” Chibi muttered with some apprehension even as she listened to the words. “Then you’ll have plenty of others to catch you if you stumble… Oh duck to the side by the way, quick!” Chibi Moon obeyed and paid attention to her surroundings again, jumping to the floor and avoiding some flying debris that sailed overhead. Sonata flew back towards her with the airbrakes on, the magical wings on her ankles chiming with light as she readied Megalon again. “I overheard, and Pinkie’s right. The best singer ever is no match for a good chorus! And the best chorus is always better than the sum of the parts,” she shot Chibi Moon a thumbs up, “So the bigger the pod the better, I say!” “But what if they don’t like me or I can’t find them? I know others can help me against Queen Beryl, but they’d be walking into something they don’t need to!” Chibi Moon frowned. She didn’t doubt for a moment some Equestrians or kaiju would lend their aid against the thousand-year foe her lineage had been warring with, but it wasn’t their responsibility and they may not have the proper tools. One of the reasons she was hesitant to talk about it too much with her Sensei, lest he feel burdened. Megalon’s gemstone blinked as the axe head crackled with energy, “And hey, my brother and our other teammate couldn’t be more different and yet we manage. If they’re your friends or your team it doesn’t matter what makes you different, but rather what makes you the same. Hey, if there came a day we had a giant bat lady on our team, I’d be good with it and friend her as soon as I could!” Sonata Dusk winked at Chibi Moon and the latter got the sense the blinking axe was doing the same before they rushed off to battle. Chibi Moon chewed at her lip as the conflict continued, before her staff buzzed with life and power. “Tell yah what kiddo, consider this the training wheels. If you want to be an awesome magic blasty, magical-girl tactical kaboom; lemme help you for your first run!” Chibi Moon stayed still in thought for a moment before her expression lighted somewhat. Pinkie Pie was a weird one, but she was a very nice mare and Chibi almost got the sense she was holding her hoof- er… hand. Maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad, she did want to prove herself. Chibi Moon looked at the streets below and back to the staff, steeling herself. “Hai! So... how do we do this?” Pinkie Pie giggled, “Well, first you need to load that cartridge in so I could do the big magical kaboom. Don’t worry, I’m used to exploding!” 10 seconds later there was a brilliant eruption of light and magic. Sonata and Megalon saw it and flew out of the way, cheering as Chibi Moon flew past them with the magnificent glimmering brilliance of Pinkie Pie held in hand. They looked awesome… as they spiraled up and down like a pinwheel from the uncontrolled flight, Chibi Moon seeing total vertigo as Pinkie Pie squealed in victory. They crashed into the shadowy monster at full speed, causing parts of it to fly off in all directions from what looked like a tactical nuke going off inside it! Several minutes later a very dazed and still quite dizzy Chibi Moon held onto Pinkie Pie and Megalon as Sonata gave her a piggyback ride down the street towards a glowing portal door. “Well, that was an explosion and a half! The Nanoha-verse is the world where magical girls are packing heat!” Pinkie snickered. Megalon’s gem flashed in tandem, “You know if my brother knew how destructive some of these Japanese series can be, he’d probably like them more.” “Oh? What turned him off?” Sonata quipped as she glanced up at them. “Tentacles,” was Megalon’s only response as he spoke in a way that seemed to indicate he was shrugging, “That’s all he would say, tentacles.” Chibi Moon was about to remark about seeing some of that in the naughty comics her mom and dad had stashed away, however she spotted something that immediately took her attention away when her vision cleared. “Oooh oooh down down!” she keened as Sonata squatted down near a park bench and let Chibi off her back. Chibi scampered off to a small storefront and ducked inside. “Huh, where’s she going?” Sonata wondered aloud, holding her two friends who were currently weapons of mass destruction as if it was the most casual thing ever. After the world with the cyborg ninjas and them driving a tank to Meghan William’s house, nothing phased her. “Ah, looks like that’s the Takamachi family store,” Megalon noted as he was somehow able to read the front. Pinkie Pie giggled, “Ah, Nanoha’s folks. What did they sell again?” Chibi knew it was fate she ended up as the character she did, having heard of a similar magical mishap involving a Power Ponies comic. Oh sure, she got an inkling of that when she ended up as a young magical girl still cutting her teeth; but this, this here had to be fate. She swiped a warm cup and grounds bags of familiarity off the front stock, putting some coinage on the counter to cover for it on account of nobody being present to pay. Turns out Japan and Neighpon had something else important in common too. Happy as can be, she paced out of the Takamachi family shop with a bag of her favorite coffee grounds and a hot cup of the stuff to guzzle on the way back home. ===================== ........ Shimmer'verse?!?! ===================== In another reality similar but very much different than Chibi’s Equestria, a similarly familiar yet different mare was at work in her house. The yellow-orange unicorn paced around the kitchen of her tree home, her yellow-and-red streaked hair bouncing slightly as she pranced about in slight worry. The clock’s little hands ticked away each second, something her sensitive ears couldn’t help but pick up. It made her worry even more. Her eyes couldn’t help but glance at the stove and then at the clock in quick succession before continuing with her pacing. This unicorn mare was none other than Princess Sunset Shimmer, the adopted daughter of Celestia herself. Which is why she was currently so nervous. The kitchen was filled with the smells of cooking dough. A tray of cookies was baking, something she was hoping to give to her mother. Sunset loved her dearly but didn’t get to spend as much time with her as she would have liked. Which is why she was going to make this coming visit a good one. It had taken her a while but she had finally gotten the hang of cooking. At least she didn’t almost burn the entire kitchen to the ground this time. Progress. The timer for the cookies ‘dinged’. Her ears perked and she smiled, happily going to the stove. Her magic brought out the little tray and she closed the stove right back up. She closed her eyes and took in the scent. She let out a breathy sound of relief. “Now this will please mom,” she smiled. Her luck however ran out. That was the moment when a giant rocket smashed through her wall. The tip hit the tray, taking it with it and crushing it underneath its weight as it lodged itself on the floor of the kitchen. Sunset stared at it and did nothing. No part of her body moved. Her mind was still trying to process what had happened just now because of how fast it was. She blinked and opened her mouth, just to close it. She was so confused. A hatch opened up on the rocket and out popped a brown-coated unicorn mare, “Heya Sunset.” Quickfix, one of Sunset’s friends and a fellow element bearer, said. “Quickfix!” Sunset raged, fire enveloping her horn. Quickfix held up her hoof quickly. "Wait,” she brought out a little unicorn filly, “Ah ain't alone in this.” A little filly popped up beside her and smiled, “Konnichi wa!” the little filly happily waved at her. “Quickfix,” Sunset tried to keep her rage in check, “You better have a good explanation and I hope it doesn't include foalnapping or explosio-” An ensuing explosion was audible even from there. “You better have a better explanation!” Sunset pushed her face into Quickfix’s own. “It’s true,” Quickfix backpedaled and gestured to the little filly, “She’s from another dimension.” “Salutations Princess Sunset-gozen,” the filly waved her hoof again, “I’m Chibi Moon. And you’re pretty big, miss.” “And you’re pretty small,” Sunset noted at the fact this filly seemed small even by filly standards, “But I’m still not buying this. You can’t possibly ask me to believe that you somehow were able to build a portal to another dimension and link it to another portal to another dimension. That just doesn’t happen.” Quickfix gave her a deadpan expression, “Do ya know who yer talkin’ to?” Sunset opened her mouth and then closed it. She facehooved, “Okay, I believe you. Then what are we going to do with her then?” “Well we could help with her cake mission,” Quickfix said. “We can do that after I rebake my cookies,” Sunset huffed as she looked to the destruction the rocket had caused, “It’s going to take some time though.” “Oooh,” Chibi Moon smiled as she hopped in front of Sunset, “I can help with that. I bake a lot of cookies with my mom.” Sunset quirked an eyebrow, “You do?” Chibi Moon nodded with an affirmative hum, “Yep. It’s the least I can do to make up for the rocket. Which was awesome by the way, miss Quickfix.” “‘Course it was,” Quickfix ruffled the small filly’s mane a bit. “Well I don’t blame you, Chibi,” Sunset glared at Quickfix who chuckled nervously, “But I do appreciate the help. I’ll get the supplies and we can get started.” It didn’t take long to set everything up. During all of this, there wasn’t much said. It went as smoothly as one would expect besides Sunset yanking any gadgets Quickfix tried to bring to make it ‘easier’ or ‘better’. She couldn’t trust that mare around anything of hers. Chibi on the other hand was a nice little filly. Her body was a bit strange and she was small for her age but she was from another world. She guessed the ponies there were smaller and a bit weird. Regardless, she was nice and polite. She even listened to her without complaint. That was a nice refreshing change of pace. She was getting so used to things going awry that a little sweetness went a long way. Sunset smiled as the timer dinged, telling them that the cookies were done. She opened the oven and took in the sweet smell. She sighed in bliss as she put it on top of the oven and closed it, “There. Now it’s done. Thanks, Chibi. I honestly couldn’t have made this without you.” “It’s not that hard,” Chibi said with a smile, “I can get you the recipe next time I visit.” “Please do,” Sunset glared at Quickfix as she said that, who looked irked by the constant glares, “At least someone here has some common decency.” “Yeah, yeah,” Quickfix huffed and went to her rocket, “I’ll clean it up.” “Without putting another hole in my house.” “.... I’ll figure it out,” Quickfix looked away, “Once I get her home, I’ll take it out piece by piece so it won’t destroy anything more. Sorry Sunset.” Sunset huffed before she went to her cooler. She pulled out a tub of her special ice-cream, “Alright, one tub of Vanilla ice cream spiced with Habanero coming right up.” “Sounds kinda weird,” Chibi Moon said. Sunset shrugged, “I like spicy foods. Sue me.” She gave the tub to her and ruffled her mane, “Now go on and have some fun making this… present I guess?” “Same to you,” Chibi smiled as Quickfix walked her out of the house. However once they reached the front door, it suddenly opened. Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as she beheld the being before her. Yes, she had felt a bit strange around Sunset. She had this ‘aura’ around her that was much more than any other unicorn she’d ever met. Even Quickfix seemed a bit weird but they were good ponies. This was on another level. The being’s presence exuded a powerful wave of good feelings. She felt relaxed and happy. As though nothing could hurt her while this person was around. The motherly smile the large alicorn gave her was soothing. It was none other than Princess Celestia… who was really, really big here. Chibi Moon’s mouth made an ‘O’ like shape as she looked at her. Celestia simply chuckled, “I take it you are Chibi Moon?” Her voice was a bit different as well. It was far more ethereal and ‘more’ than mortal. Not eldritch or haunting like a recording of Queen Beryl she'd heard, but there was a similarity. The little filly gasped, “How did you know?” “I have a friend who can see the future,” Celestia said, “Not as well as he says he can but enough that it can be hoofy at times. I believe Miss Quickfix is taking you back to your world now?” Chibi Moon smiled and nodded, “Yep. I had some fun making cookies with Sunset for her momma while I was here though.” Celestia’s smile became warmer at that, “What a nice filly you are.” She let her wing pat Chibi’s head, which made her feel even better, “I won’t keep you. However, I have one thing to ask of you.” “What is it?” Chibi had trusted her Celestia as she was Princess Luna’s big sister. She didn’t talk to her that much, but Luna trusted her greatly. That and Celestia was a nice princess. So she’d do what she was told. “I want you to give this to a Mister Rodan,” Celestia magicked up a large scroll and gave it to the small filly. She put it in the little rucksack along with her ingredient, “Don’t open it. It’s for his eyes only, okay?” Chibi nodded and saluted, “Okay. You can count on me, Princess Celestia-gozen!” Chibi then walked out with Quickfix, a new side quest opening up for her adventure. “It does my heart good to see fillies like her in other worlds,” Celestia said as she walked into the kitchen. She moved over and hugged her daughter, who was looking over her spread of cookies, “It’s good to see you again, my little one.” “Good to see you too, mom,” Sunset said as she nuzzled the alicorn, “Baked you some cookies.” “Splendid,” Celestia said, “I see that you had fun with Chibi Moon.” “How did you know I was…" Sunset's face scrunched up at her mother, "Did you talk to Anrain?” Chibi Moon raised an eyebrow at the unicorn princess and Sunset nodded to her, "They're deer seer. Long story." "You're world has a lot of psychics it seems," Chibi Moon hummed as she rubbed her chin. Sunset shrugged but nodded. Celestia nodded, “Yes, he did stop by. Truthfully I needled it out of him because I was bored,” She chuckled, “Anyways, let’s dig in.” Sunset quirked an eyebrow at her mother, “You aren’t planning something, are you?” Princess Celestia shot her a sly smirk, “Why ever would you think that of me, my precious daughter?” “Because you don’t just ask for future visions because you’re bored,” Sunset deadpanned. Celestia laughed and patted her head, “You don’t have to worry about anything, my sweet Sunset. Everything will work out for the best, I can assure you. Now let’s share these delicious cookies!” "Hai!" Chibi Moon eagerly agreed. ========== Canterlot ========== Chibi Moon busily worked in her study, having taken the precaution of moving her build project to a rental studio away from the castle and school. Partially to allow privacy and ensure her Sensei didn't catch on, and partially in case this went south and she had to try several times. Clad in a chef's hat and apron, she gathered her materials together, all the delicious foodstuffs and ingredients she had amassed so far, all set atop a scroll with Neighponese and Equestrian runes written upon it. After very carefully, and more than a bit awkwardly, putting Pinkie Pie's tail hairs near the surge crystal Xenilla had given her, she backed up and prepared. Biting her tongue as she concentrated after downing another mug of coffee, Chibi Moon's horn ignited and she grinned. Time to make a cake! Author's Note Special Guest Author for the Shimmer'verse jaunt by EvoWizard! Phoenix Flamez and artwork by FallenAngel5414 Thalia by TGB-Jerga Proofed by Faith-Wolff and Lance-Omikron Part 3/3: Crazy Cooking!========== Canterlot ========== Chibi Moon busily worked in her study, having taken the precaution of moving her build project to a rental studio away from the castle and school. Partially to allow privacy and ensure her Sensei didn't catch on, and partially in case things went south and she had to try several times. Clad in a chef's hat and apron, she gathered her materials together, all the delicious foodstuffs and ingredients she had amassed so far, all set atop a scroll with Neighponese and Equestrian runes written upon it. After very carefully, and more than a bit awkwardly, putting Pinkie Pie's tail hairs near the surge crystal Xenilla had given her, she backed up and prepared. Biting her tongue as she concentrated after downing another mug of coffee, Chibi Moon's horn ignited and she grinned. Time to make a cake! It took a few extra jaunts to some other very strange worlds, some of which she only had a faded memory of, to get back to where she started. Frankly she was very confused on how she ended up where she did, but she was an heiress to a 1,000-year lineage of magical warriors, living in a country ruled by two immortal diarchs with chimeric bodies of different races, and was the apprentice to a gigantic unicorn who was actually a 100-meter tall, radioactive, nigh-indestructible, mutated dinosaur. Normality and questioning the fantastic were simply not in her vocabulary. She didn’t lose sleep over how it all worked, nor should anyone else either. There were far more important things to worry about, like the gathered ingredients before her. Mariner “Chibi” Moon observed all that she had gathered around, near and far with a studious mind. True, some of them certainly looked way more edible in a cake than others, but the spell should take care of all that. She certainly was aiming high but there was some comfort in maybe not being the best a star chef could bake. If her sensei could withstand spewing out high-temperature streams of radioactive plasma, she figured nothing she could possibly cook up would be so bad as to give Godzilla a stomachache. Setting out all the ingredients upon the enchanting rune she had chalked into the ground, with the scroll from her homeland’s magical incantation mixed with that of archaic equestrian magic in hoof. Chibi put her hooves together and cracked her wrist, biting her tongue as magic charged up across her horn. To make it all come together, no matter how diverse the ingredients and how far-flung their origins were, the spell was to make them all come together into the best cake they could be. With a little bit of wincing and befuddlement, she levitated the removed tail hairs of Pinkie Pie, her volunteer chef, from the bag they were in. The moment they were free, the hairs pushed back out to the exact same shape they were in life upon her body, making it look like she had literally just picked her tail up and hoofed it over to Chibi. To be fair, that was exactly what she had done. Chibi placed the tail hair upon the ingredients and the marking on the ground, before concentrating with every ounce of focus she had. She drew up not only her own magic, but the inherent magic granted to her as her mother’s successor. She was to be the Lunar Guardian one day, and after a little pep talk she was feeling more confident about that. Confident enough that she intentionally drew upon the fragmentary abilities the Silver Crystal had granted upon her to amplify her magic further. To make all come together in the perfect sequence. That was what the spell was for, and that is exactly what she had to do. The luminance took hold of all of the ingredients in a uniform brightness, sinking it together in a uniform solid mass of light. She saw it condense into a vaguely barrel shape, before shifting into a more layered appearance of decreasingly-sized cylinders that composed the iconic cake shape. Chibi’s jaw began to drop and a gasp as she marveled at how beautiful it was becoming! True, it wasn’t necessarily to the standard of a superb baker, no spell could ever replicate that kind of talent, but this was meant to be from her and this was far and away superior to anything she could personally make with her own hooves. She wasn’t Auntie Jupiter after all, but this wasn’t at all shabby! It was towering, it was layered with beautiful blues and pinks, it was-… standing up? Glowing eyes in the same coloration as the surge crystal Xenilla had given her snapped open on the trunk, a facsimile of a toothy maw appearing with the same hues as Pinkie Pie’s tail. Chibi Moon’s jaw further dropped The cake almost unfolded upon itself, like it had been compacted into a shape or was some kind of animal that curled up to go to sleep and was getting back up upon awakening. It grew in size until reaching roughly the same height as Princess Luna, clearly emulating an equine shape while still sporting all the hallmarks of being created from confectionery. A mane of pink frosting flipped back and separated into two giant twintails that resembled Chibi’s mother’s infamous “meatball tails”, as toothy ‘lips’ split in a manic cackle. “I AM Kooky Keki! For too long cake has been consumed by all, and now I take my sweet revenge!” “Whaaaat?” Chibi Moon squeaked at the entity that literally just called itself ‘Crazy Cake’ in Neighponese, as the cake monster’s horn ignited and shot out a shockwave that ruptured the room. The future Lunar Guardian flopped on the ground of the ruined warehouse in a heap, rump over head. “Deeeef!.... Ooouuoow,” she groaned, blowing her tail out of her face just as her ancestral magic scroll billowed through the air and fell upon her snout. Half-covered in frosting as it was, she couldn’t ignore what was written upon it now inches from her eyes. In very fine print on the back was… a decades-old warning label. -‘Warning: Do not mix this spell with caffeine, caffeine is evil and will make it a monster.- Mariner Moon’- Chibi Moon could mentally feel the white noise between her ears. Both at her own impulsiveness leading to her not reading the label, her mother’s meatball headed idea to put the label on the back, wondering what exactly her mother got up to in her youth that made her feel the need to put a label like that on, as well as the very high probability this sort of blunder was genetic. Quickly recalculating back to the matter at hand she looked up, flipping back onto her hooves and braced for battle only to notice the conspicuous absence of the killer confectionery. Only to see absolutely nothing except a gaping hole in the wall. The sounds of crashing objects and yelling soon filtered in. “Monsteeer!” “What the?! Is that frosting it’s firing out?!” “Sis, I’m stuck!” “Aaaah yes, revenge is butter late than never!” Kooky Keki roared. Chibi Moon grimaced but steeled herself. Innocents were in danger and as both the successor to the title of lunar Guardian and the apprentice to the monster king, she could not stand idly by! Besides, if she managed to wrap this up pretty quick before anyone else got involved nobody might figure out this was her blunder… With that worry in her mind, Chibi Moon pulled from a hidden fold in her hair a small circular device with a red heart on it. With a fragment of the Silver Crystal’s power in hoof, she took off after the beast. Kooky Keki cackled crazily as the calamitous corrupted confectionary crushed a colt’s cotton candy. Absorbing the sweets she’d stomped on underhoof into her and growing in size slightly, the cake monster loomed menacing over the befuddled and startled plaza goers she’d trapped in the sticky icing she’d thrown out. Like a spider inspecting a fly, Kooky Keki leaned closer to a very befuddled looking Sweetberry; the pink-furred, blue-and-green-maned mare stuck to her baking stand with her sisters Triple Treat and Cotton Candy. “Moooooore, more of you whisk great reprisal!” Kooky Keki barked while stalking over the stand. Sweetberry sputtered as she noticed the monster effortlessly bending the wheels to the mobile baking stall, “Hey! Watch it! Uncle Cake gave us this for Hearth’s Warming!” A blob of pink and blue, mostly obscured by the delicious frosting covering her, stood up while holding up a pair of candy spools. Cotton Candy seemed totally unfazed at being menaced by confectionary as she replied to the monster like it was a paying customer. “Want bubble gum or strawberry?” Cotton Candy chimed jovially before a purple mare similarly covered in frosting pulled her back and brandished an oversized lollipop like a rapier for her and her sisters’ defense. “Back! Back! Heel! Desist!” Triple Treat yelped while jabbing out with the lollipop. She closed her eyes and swung it, grimacing at the squishing, pulpy noise that sounded off before her closed eyelids as well as the spattering of debris that followed. Triple Treat chanced a peak out of her eye and soon reeled back even before Sweetberry grabbed her and yanked both her and Cotton Candy back. The three sisters tumbled away from the baking stand as Kooky Keki stood unphased, half the lollipop lodged on the top of her head right between the eyes. The semi-liquid monster reached up and wrapped an icing covered hoof around the stalk of the lollipop, pulling it through part of her face where her upper jaw and nose were to get it in her mouth. The crazed confection giggled as she happily smacked her lips across the lollipop, which was too big to fit in her mouth and subsequently stuck out of the side of her cheek before shrinking. Kooky Keki swelled up as the lolipop’s sugary goodness shrunk away to nothingness, the monster soon tossing away the inedible stalk casually before going for the contents of the baking stand’s interior. “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” a voice cried out as the Sweet Sisters and Kooky Keki all looked up the road. Standing dramatically on the edge of the roof with some inexplicable backlighting, a shadowed Chibi Moon was reared up on her hind hooves with one hoof raised into the wind. “Sweets are meant to be a lovable treat every now and then, to brighten a day and especially to be shared with loved ones and friends! Not gluttonously guzzled upon selfish demand! I am a Celestial Guardian trainee, and in the name of all love and justice I will punish y-“ “Ah get baked you brat!” Kooky Keki bellowed as her surge crystals-for-eyes flashed and jagged streams of pink lighting shot out. Chibi Moon yelped as she was forced to jump forward to avoid a direct hit, fumbling off the rooftop. As she tumbled she held aloft her charm and called out. “Ah, scrap it all! No time for mom’s theatrics today! HENSHIN!” A bright flash of light blinded all who might have been onlookers, a large burst of fog helping to further mask what followed. In a dazzling display of magical heart symbols wrapping around her like a cocoon, the shape of a crescent moon appeared before it all burst outwards as a shower of glimmering dust. Mariner Chibi Moon landed in a garb not unlike her mother’s armored chestplate and skirt combo, a large pink metal bow helping to cover her chest with protective gloves and boots on her limbs. Twin pieces of her hair were pointed up in a manner akin to small bunny ears, bejeweled with red gems. Rising to her hooves, Mariner Chibi Moon readied herself. The golden tiara under her horn glimmered in tandem with the rubies studding her hair, as she struck a dynamic battle pose. Link! Link! On instinct she was about to call out something but soon had to hit the deck to avoid more laser fire from the cackling cake cretin. Rolling aside and clicking her heels together, Chibi redirected energy from her horn into the bottom of her feet, making sure to do so to both hooves in order to not be sent spiraling out of control. Putting her forelimbs forward, Chibi closed her eyes and braced for impact with Kooky Keki. The dastardly dish let out a gurgling grunt as her opponent slammed into her, causing icing and rainbow zap apple jam to go flying everywhere. Chibi came rocketing out the other side, having flown through as such for she busted a hole in Kooky Keki; tumbling across the street. Chibi staggered to her feet, mildly disgusted at being covered in such sticky sucrose that was matting her hair. True it was sweet confectionary and she did have a passing interest in taste testing, but that thought was quickly put to rest when it started wriggling. “AHGHRAAA AHGRAAAAA!” Kooky Keki, still gurgling in pain, probably snapped her neck around at a 180° angle and split her face with a grin, “AHGHRAAA AHGRAAAAA- Gotcha, I’m made of sterner stuffing!” She grinned widely as the spattered sucrose largely took the life of its own and shot back towards her, slithering across the ground as she picked up the sweets stand and guzzled the contents. The gaping hole in her chest was patched up by the returning mass as well as whatever was consumed from the stand’s contents; Kooky Keki swelling up in size like a water balloon. Chibi grimaced at the uncanny sight of mobile confectionary eating itself. -Resistant to physical blows, removed parts have a mind of their own, and can absorb substances to get bigger! It’s like a sugary version of Hedorah!- “Now time to whip you into cream!” Kooky Keki cackled as one of her limbs shot out and lengthened into a tendril, snapping Chibi away from her focus. The tendril was sloshed out and snapped forward, the unicorn reflexively putting up a barrier shield that the mass crashed into with deceptive force. The pink energy bubble encasing her made a sound akin to a kickball being punted, rapidly bouncing off from the blow as it went careening towards the side of the building. Chibi braced after grimacing, keeping the energy shield up and expanding it so she could absorb the impact, only for Kooky Keki to smack across the back of the barrier again and send her impacting and then rebounding off the wall. The sinister sweet gurgled a cackle as she started dribbling the bouncy ball of the shield between several tendrils and walls. Ghost Story was minding her own business, sipping some tea while reading another spooky tale after putting in her ear plugs. It had been a busy day in the market outside where she was staying and she planned on visiting the castle during the night shift so she had to catch some rest now. In fact she often liked to challenge herself during such events, and after putting the book away she put on her sleep mask in an effort to navigate her lodging without seeing. Much to her delight she was effortlessly able to make her way to the kitchen and start up the sink. Humming to herself while getting a glass of water for the good day sleep, she was completely ignorant of the tendril flying past her window nor the battle outside. -Water’s always too warm right at the start of the faucet being on…- She flexed her deafened, plugged ears, reaching up and tapping at the earplugs to make sure they wouldn’t be uncomfortable to wear in her sleep. Outside the window the barrier shield Chibi was inside was getting dribbled across the neighboring rooftop, before resisting the onslaught of the jagged laser beams fired out from Kooky Keki’s face; splitting edges of malefic energy away in a shower of sparks. Ghost Story puzzled as she felt the water run over her hoof, lifting up her mask while bending down to inspect it so she could peek out one eye. -Did the neighbors downstairs use up all the cold water? It’s almost Jacuzzi hot!- Outside her window the beam onslaught stopped and Chibi was visibly mouthing something while her horn started to ignite, only having to quickly stop whatever she was charging up and put the shield back on to avoid several more tendrils slapping the roof around her and exploding into spatterings of confectionary that became animate. She tried to teleport away, but doing so required dropping the shield for a half second, and the confectionary acted; snapping down to grab her. Ghost Story whacked her sink, which sputtered and started to gurgle before pumping out another jet of water. The bat-winged pegasus smiled. -Ah there we go! What took yah?- She readied a cup when the window behind her exploded with impact. Stumbling forward and thankfully avoiding any glass shards, Ghost Story whipped around and was beholden to a very dizzy looking Chibi Moon clad in some kind of armor, encased and engulfed in what looked like animate cake batter that was sparking with yellow energy. Chibi and Ghost Story’s eyes met as the filly’s mind became slightly less discombobulated after getting dribbled for the past minute, the former about to say something before she noticed the earplugs. She motioned to her ears, glad for the comedic timing allotting her a moment to not get yanked back instantly, and a dumbfounded Ghost Story followed suit to remove her earplugs. Instantly her ears were assailed with yelling outside and a loud gurgling laughter that sounded way too over-the-top to be threatening. Chibi Moon waved to her even while still partially stuck in the wall, “Konichiwa, Story-san, you might want to move out of the building.” Ghost Story blinked, still about as mentally discombobulated as the filly due to the suddenness of all this but she was pretty quickly picking up the pieces, “… Monster?” Chibi Moon nodded with a pout. Ghost Story wanted to ask what happened, how did a monster get in the city, was anyone hurt, and how was Chibi so okay after getting slammed through a window or what she was wearing; but the questions were forcefully stopped when the filly was yanked back through the window. Ghost Story quickly felt compelled to fly out after her and try to help, but seeing the lasers fly through the air quickly brought back memories of an infamous battle from one Canterlot night. There wasn’t much she could do directly but… She bolted into the hall and raced for the exit, spreading her wings and making for the castle. The battle was in the smaller, thankfully mostly abandoned warehouse district of downtown. There weren’t many guard ponies or sentries about, so word might not travel as fast to the castle. But while she was no speedster, she certainly could travel faster and knew exactly who to call for this kind of situation. Chibi Moon kicked against the animate sugary sludge that was holding her, her horn igniting several times to try and teleport free or put up the shield but physical contact kept either from happening. She grit her teeth as Kooky Keki reeled her in, cackling crazily. “Now I have you, my key ingredient! Now I will be set to bake!” she declared as her torso opened up into a cavity Chibi was reeled towards, “ALL ACCORDING TO CAKEKAKU!” The filly’s eyes widened, not caring at all what exactly it meant that her rampant creation was trying to fuse with her or consume her; nor the irony that the cake was trying to eat her now. Her horn ignited across the spiraling bands and she collected up energy while aiming for the center mass. “Piiiiink! Sugaaaaarr!-“ “Hey, sugar’s my recipe, get your own attack name, Brat!” Kooky Keki shrieked as she crackled with yellow magic born out of the surge crystals she had for eyes. Chibi tried to charge up her trump card faster, “Heaaaaaar-MGPH!” She was cut off and flailed when the animate cake batter leapt onto her face and shocked it, electrocuting her horn while covering her mouth. The filly twitched from the convulsions as her magic concentration faltered, inciting another rabid bit of gurgling laughter from Kooky Keki. Without the proper focus and the chaotic energy coursing into her horn, Chibi couldn’t use her magic…. So she resorted to her back-up means by reaching into the frills of her armor, to the places of holding. While some might call a Celestial Senshi Guardian’s outfit strange, it definitely had plenty of perks beyond reducing all damage to her body and not needing to breathe. Storage spaces were way bigger than they looked, and mares everywhere really appreciated clothing with practical female pockets! And one last jaunt before getting home gave her quite the keepsake. =================== Guest authored by ThatGuyVex =================== Faded slightly with age but painted in broad strokes of black paint, the sign above the sliding door to the small back-alley shop read ‘Discount Import Sundries, Candies, and Other Random Delights’’. Mariner Chibi Moon pretty much stopped reading at the ‘Candies’ part and immediately gave a little skip of happy satisfaction as she marched down the short, cobblestone pathway towards the door. How did she get here? Not very important. Why was the miniature equine now a miniature human girl sporting a thrifty set of black robes that she didn’t remember putting on but seemed to fit her to a T? Chalk it up to the mysteries of interdimensional travel. None of that really mattered to Chibi Moon, for she was on a quest, and this looked like her next stop! “Konichi-wa!” she proclaimed merrily as she threw open the sliding wood and paper door, quite similar in style to the doors from her homeland. “AH!” a startled, female yelp stemmed from the room beyond the doorway, a cozy little store front with various shelves and counters stacked with various items of unidentifiable nature, all situated on a tatami mat. The source of the voice was a human girl, older than Chibi Moon, at just the cusp of adulthood, wearing jeans and a hot pink T-shirt under a black leather jacket. On her right wrist was a bulky yellow watch with an oddly large face that, rather than numbers to tell time, had ‘CH’ in large red letters on it. Orange skin and a two-toned head of wavy red and yellow locks immediately sparked a sense of familiarity to Chibi Moon? Hadn’t she just met someone like this, but in pony form? Regardless, the girl leapt to her feet in what looked like a very questionable martial arts pose, quickly holding up her watch to her face. A small antenna sprouted from the watch, making Chibi Moon stare at it in innocent curiosity while the girl shouted, “Code 1254! Discord, we have an intruder!” A distracted voice spoke from the watch, “The rocket launcher is behind the counter. If that doesn’t work, just use the Chappy-Rizer. That’s what I gave it to you for.” Chibi Moon tilted her head, pigtails bobbing slightly as she said, “Oh, sorry, did I come at a bad time? This is a candy store, right?” The girl blinked at her a few times, slowly relaxing her dramatic karate stance, “Waaait, are you a customer? Do we even get those?” “Hai!” Chibi Moon chirped, “I am a customer! I wish to buy the best candy you have! Or, um, borrow it, since I don’t have money. Is that okay?” “...Lemme check,” the girl said, then spoke once more into the watch, “Discord, cancel the Code 1254. It’s a customer! She wants to buy stuff, but doesn’t have any money!” “I’m busy!” responded the voice from earlier, “Handle it yourself, Chappy! That’s what I’m paying you for!” “I get paid!?” “In food and lodging and me not reporting you to the authorities in Soul Society, yes. Wait... did you say we have a customer?” There was the sound of something heavy being shoved around from somewhere beyond the door at the back of the storefront, followed by several loud thuds. Then a minute later a gruff looking old man with brown skin came shuffling out of the back door. He was dressed in clothes akin to Neighpon, with a faded dark green and black kimono, wooden clog sandals, and a strange white and green striped hat with a wide, circular brim. He carried a gnarled, wooden cane in one hand, although he seemed to Chibi Moon to be quite spry and hardly needed it. “Hello there. Not exactly every day we get genuine customers in our doors-” “What with all the wards designed to prevent precisely that,” the girl, Chappy,, said, and the man cut her off with a light elbowing before giving Chibi a friendly, snaggle toothed smile. “-Ahem, at any rate, you appear to be wearing Soul Reaper robes, but you don’t exactly strike me as a Soul Reaper, young lady. Be that as it may, far be it for me to be discourteous to a guest. You may call me Discord. I’m the proprietor of this humble shop you see before you.” “And I’m Chappy!” said the girl, sticking a hand out to Chibi, who took it without hesitation and gave a vigorous shake. Chibi Moon curtsied, “Hi Miss Chappy, Mister Discord, I’m Chibi Moon! Say, Miss Chappy, you look a lot like this nice lady I met named Princess Sunset Shimmer! Are you two related?” Discord’s bushy eyebrows went up while Chappy let off a huge grin, “You know Sunset? Wait, Sunset’s a Princess!? Why didn’t she tell me? You’re telling me whenever I keep an eye on her body like I’m doing right now I could be getting treated like royalty somewhere!?” “You’re looking after her body? Huh?” Chibi Moon’s eyes briefly blue-screened, but that cleared up in a moment as she shook her head, “Ooh, this is because I’m in a different dimension, isn’t it? Right, right, stuff doesn’t work the same everywhere.” “Ah, I think I have a better idea of what’s going on, now,” said Discord, stroking his chin, “If you’re not, ahem, a ‘local’ then the circumstances of this world might take far too long to explain.” “Yup,” Chibi Moon nodded, “These sequences are too short for long explanations. Miss Chappy looks like Sunset but isn’t Sunset, but it’s Sunset’s body, yes?” “That’s about the size of it!” Chappy said, who then frowned in confusion, “Does this mean I’m not a Princess?” Discord patted her on the shoulder, “Don’t think about it too hard.” “Oh, if Miss Chappy is in Miss Sunset’s body, then where’s the actual Sunset Shimmer?” asked Chibi Moon with the kind of fascinated, chiming curiosity that seemed to bubble up naturally from her. She hadn’t forgotten why she was here, of course. Her sensei’s cake was of utmost importance. But expecting Chibi Moon to not be curious was like expecting the tides to stop coming in. To her question, Chappy pointed down at the floor, “Sunset’s downstairs training with her friends. When she does that, I keep an eye on her flesh and blood body. Which means this old guy gets to boss me around, which is super boring, but since he’s letting me and Sunset stay here for free ever since her apartment got exploded, I guess it’s cool.” “So just what can we get for you?” asked Discord, ignoring it when the ground abruptly shook from some deep, underground rumble. “Eeeh, what was that?” asked Chibi Moon. “Huh? Oh, like I said, that’s Sunset and the girls doing some hardcore training,” Chappy said as the ground shook again, rattling the shelves, “It gets pretty intense, lately. Even the underground wards can’t keep all the shockwaves from getting up here.” “I should probably go check on them,” said Discord, “Make sure they’re not about to blow another hole in the ceiling. Chappy, you can handle Miss Moon’s needs. Don’t worry about payment, just make sure she leaves satisfied with whatever she wants.” “Wow! Really!?” Chibi Moon was so overjoyed she gave the old man a firm tackle hug, “That’s really nice, thank you!” Looking a tad taken aback, Discord managed to peel the enthusiastic girl off of him and shuffled away through the back door, giving a quick tip of his hat as he did so, “No need to thank me. Just consider it my way of speeding you along on your journey, Miss Moon... for the safety of both your dimension and mine.” “Ara?” she asked, having not really heard that last part, which was spoken in a soft whisper, but Discord just smiled. “Oh, nothing, just the confused mutterings of an old shopkeeper. Good day, ladies. Chappy, I’m counting on you to be a good customer service representative and meet all of Miss Moon’s needs.” Chappy threw a salute with her watch bearing hand, “You got it, boss/slave driver!” After Discord had departed, Chibi Moon started bouncing around the shop, looking at the various items on display. Strangely, despite the shop’s name, nothing immediately looked to her like candy. There were certainly a lot of packages and bottles, all with mysterious labels, but as Chibi read them she saw names like ‘Anti-Hollow Explosive Spray’ or ‘Soul Enriching Stimulant Fluid’ or ‘Enlarge Your Zanpakutou Miracle Pills!’. She gave Chappy a questioning look. “Excuse me Miss Chappy, but where are the candies?” “Right! Candy! Discord’s got that on the sign, doesn’t he? Uhhhhh...” Chappy gained a thousand-mile stare as she scratched her head and wandered up and down the store’s shelves, “I know we’ve got something here like that. Maybe behind the counter?” She dove behind a low wooden counter at the back of the shop, and Chibi saw various items being tossed aside as Chappy dug around, including hauling out a huge object wrapped in cloth that was vaguely shaped like a bulky launcher, including eight barrels on the front of it. Chibi’s eyes lit up at the sight, “What is that?” Chappy, still holding the launcher in one hand, blinked and said, “Huh, this? It’s Screwloose’s, I think? Discord calls it a rocket launcher, which is weird because it doesn’t even shoot rockets, but spirit bullets or something. We keep it up here in case we ever get any rowdy visitors.” Tossing the launcher aside, which happened to land next to Chibi Moon’s feet, Chappy went back to digging around behind the counter. Chibi Moon, despite herself, kept eyeing the ‘rocket launcher’, which was taller than she was, with curious eyes. Something about the bulky weapon spoke to her, as if it was somehow meant for the hands of a petite, cute girl with pigtails. Almost unconsciously she patted the weapon and whispered, “Aww you wanna come with me, don’t you?” “What was that?” Chappy asked. “Nothing! I wasn’t planning on taking the cool spirit cannon! Nope! Hey, wait, would that be okay?” Chibi beeped out quickly. “Discord said you could have whatever you wanted, so have at it!” Chappy said, popping back up from behind the counter and holding a small cardboard box, “I mean, the customer is always right, right!? Right! And check it out, found some candy!” “Yosh!” Chibi Moon hopped happily in place as she grabbed the multi-barreled cannon, which had some convenient purple rope straps that made it easy to loop over her shoulder while Chappy came around the counter and held out the box she found. Inside were a number of colorful dispensers with cartoonish animal heads that instantly reminded Chibi of certain children’s candy she’d seen in Equestria. “Pez?” she asked, tilting her head. “Gikon!” Chappy said, “Soul Candy! Just like me!” “You’re candy?” Chappy’s smile turned slightly embarrassed, “Kinda? I am pretty sweet, if I say so myself. Soul Reapers eat these to pop out of their... you know what, too long an explanation, but these are the closest thing to candy I can find and I think they’re supposed to taste pretty good going down, too. We’ve got lots of types too.” She held up one with a white rabbit head, “This is a Chappy model, just like me! Most popular among female Soul Reapers. Oh, and this one’s Yuki the duck! And here we have Gringo the Panda!” “Ooo, I like that one!” Chibi said, enamoured with the candy dispenser that sported a fierce looking panda with a cigar in his mouth, “He’s cute, but tough looking, just like my sensei!” “Then he’s all yours!” Chappy said, handing over the dispenser to an eager Chibi, “So what do you need it for, anyway?” “I’m gonna make a super special cake for my sensei’s birthday!” Chibi declared, and Chappy seemed to think this over for a moment. Were Soul Candies actually food? Sure, you ate them, but that was only because... well, it wasn’t really important. As far as Chappy was concerned, if they weren’t meant to be eaten, then they shouldn’t be called ‘candies’. It was probably alright. “That sounds fun. Wish Sunset Shimmer would let me eat cake, but she’s super stingy about that ever since that binge I went on,” Chappy sighed, and Chibi, fully understanding about being restricted from sweets, gave the girl a comforting pat. “If I ever come back here someday, I’ll be sure to make you a cake too, Miss Chappy.” “Aww, you’re such a good kid. I bet your sensei is gonna love the cake you make for him,” Chappy replied, shaking off her funk instantly and placing her hands on her chips, “So is there anything else I can get for you? Your incredibly awesome and helpful customer service rep, Chappy, will not let you leave the store unsatisfied!” Chibi giggled and tucked the Soul Candy dispenser into the black Soul Reaper robes she was inexplicably wearing in this dimension, “Nope! You’ve been really helpful, Miss Chappy. Tell Mister Discord thank you again for the free candy, and the cannon!” “Just be responsible with that military-grade spirit weapon, okay? Wouldn’t want you hurting yourself,” Chappy said, as if there was nothing wrong whatsoever with the sentence she just said in relation to a young child. “I’ll be careful!!” Chibi assured her, turning towards the door and giving a final wave, “Jaa ne!” After the young girl had left, to whatever further adventures awaited her, Chappy kept tending the storefront, until about ten minutes later a blue skinned woman with a messy mop of gray hair came wandering out, yawning as if having just woken up from a long nap. “Hey rabbit, the boss says you’re free to go nab some lunch. I’ll keep an eye on the store for a bit.” “Oh? Sure thing, Screwloose. Don’t have too much fun!” Chappy said, happily stretching and wandering towards the kitchen. Meanwhile Screwloose settled behind the counter, and started going about her usual checks to make sure everything was on order... “What the-!? Where... where’s my cannon!?” ================== Kooky Keki’s rabid laughter stopped when she noticed the rocket launcher pointed at her and mentally double-taked, “AHGHRAAA AHGRAAAAA- What the fudg-“ The cake youma promptly exploded from the missile impact, sending icing and batter flying everywhere. Chibi landed in the blast crater, mildly grossed out by the bits and pieces of cake and frosting raining down from the sky; sometimes in fairly big chunks. In the back of her mind, she was registering just how far south her plans had gone. Glimpsing bits and pieces of zap apple and the smell of tea grinds amidst the debris reminded her just what the monster actually was composed of. All of her efforts, all of her journeys, and all of her struggle at all amounted to… Practically nothing. Nothing but a lot of stress, freaked out civilians, and a big mass she no doubt was responsible to clean despite how much of a mess had occurred and how much it was starting to weigh on her. Her leg shook under her weight and that of the rocket launcher, shook enough that her body crumbled to the ground and her eyes were downcast. The future Senshi sniffled and wiped at her eye with the side of her arm. -I just wanted to make something special for Sensei, to give him a birthday present like all the other ones I’d gotten… Folks like him do so much good to get so little, and yet I woke up this morning wondering what I get…- She sighed, rubbing at her sides. -Sometimes I worry if I’m a spoiled brat…- A large clump of cake flopped down on the ground in front of her and Chibi dimly regarded it, half wondering if she should try and bite after all if only to give herself a moral boost from the sugar…. Only to pause when it creaked and turned about to look at her with cracked, crystalline, yellow eyes. “THAT. HURT-” Kooky Keki snarled gurglingly as the blob turned around to face Chibi, revealing itself to be her blown off head. Every bit in piece of Kooky Keki simultaneously started to vibrate, save for chunks which had been blackened by the rocket explosion. On cue they all started to pull together towards the central mass. “-I’LL MAKE YOU INTO A SOUFFLÉ, YOU LITTLE BRAT!” Kooky Keki roared as Chibi tried to take aim again with the rocket launcher. A jagged yellow beam fired out from Kooky Keki’s cracked eyes and into the barrels of the military weapon, Chibi panicking when the metal started to warp and expand at the base. Igniting her horn’s spirals, the filly teleported away as the multi-barreled rocket launcher exploded from the assault hitting the stored remaining ammo. Chibi however was still caught up in the shockwave of the blast as she was moved away, reappearing on the other side of the street and fumbling down the incline with a loud yelp. Her ears were still ringing as she staggered to her feet, swaying back and forth with her eyes dilated. Through the incessant ringing she could hear nothing, and her vision was full of stars. The shockwave had messed up her fur and hair, and the poor filly was doing all she could just to stand on her hooves. Ahead of her, Kooky Keki had reformed most of her body aside from a large hole in her chest. Her manic and yet infuriated expression was painfully obvious even with her cake batter-composed visage. She pulled the tail off her haunches, Pinkie Pie’s tail, and repeatedly hit it on the ground in a mocking gesture. Somehow despite the fluffy composition, it seemed rigid and stiff like a club. And it was pretty obvious what she intended to use it for. She braced before pouncing out just as Chibi’s hearing was starting to come back. “BATTER-UP!” Kooky Keki cackled as charged forward, and Chibi Moon set to try and concentrate. Through all the pain, the ringing in her ears, prior dread from before, and the sense of loss in light of all her efforts being in vain; she concentrated just as her parents and her sensei taught her to. One by one each layer of her horn separated by the spiral started to glow, innate magic in the gift of the lunar guardian from the Silver Crystal working in tandem. “Piiink… Sugar…. Heaaart….” The power collected and crackled, parts of her mane igniting in emulation of whom she copied to do this. She opened her eyes again and was beholden to her attacker taking a swing at her face, her adrenaline making her perceive it in slow-motion. She’d failed. She failed her mission to get her sensei his first birthday present, failed to understand the magic he meddled with, and thus unleashed this mistake on others. The entire day wasn’t a total failure, not with all those she had met along the way and helped out where she could. But mistakes had been made and needed to be rectified. That was something she’d learned from many. Doesn’t matter if a mistake knocks you down, what matters is if you can get back up afterwards. Kooky Keki was about to make contact, fully intending to pound and pummel this filly for all the trouble she put her through. She thought getting in close would keep her creator from trying to use any magic, and terrify the little pest. She’d seen the tears in Chibi Moon’s eyes and grinned at it. Her grin faded into shock when the little girl glared at her through the tears and let loose. “ATTAAAACK!” The future Lunar Senshi cried out as she opened the floodgates of magic built up behind her horn. The very innate talent and raw firepower that had so terrified her previous teachers and led her to a sensei that helped cultivate it, was put to full use. A vaguely heart-shaped beam of pink plasma crashed into Pinkie Pie’s removed tail, instantly vaporizing it along with most of Kooky Keki’s arm. But just as Chibi swept the beam aside like a swinging sword to slash through the youma’s body, another light appeared. Kooky Keki, face twisted in insane rage, lit up her surge crystal eyes and jagged energy was loosed- only to be quickly outshone by a blinding mass of light engulfing her head. Chibi Moon’s special attack and the gestalt of a crackling blue burst of magic and spiralling cyan plasma smashed into the youma, who withstood it for only a moment before being picked up off the ground. "AWW darn! Looks like even the mightiest cake-” The malefic creation was hurled away as the assault launched Kooky Keki into the air well outside of Canterlot’s borders. “CAN FAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLlllllll…..” The cake monster’s carried on as she went rocketing into the mountain on the opposite side of the valley, engulfed by the fused attack for several long seconds before an exhausted Chibi Moon was forced to cut off her ray. The blue beams of plasma and magic continued on for several seconds more before similarly extinguishing. If there was anything left of Kooky Keki, it was obliterated soon afterwards; in true tokusatsu monster tradition, there was a puff of an explosion on the mountainside big enough to be seen from Canterlot. The sky cleared and all quieted down. Chibi’s hearing fully returned to her even with the ensuing exhaustion, enough to pick up on the heavy footsteps and wingbeats behind her. Even without turning her head she knew exactly who it was by the color of the rays prior. She kept her head bowed, ears drooped after glancing about the damage to the downtown market. Be it now or later, she knew a lecturing was coming. A year or two ago she might have run away crying, or even tried some trick of teleporting or disguises to get away. But be it because of the uniform she wore or the instruction given to her recently, Chibi stayed in place as her idol and her mentor raced up behind her. Chibi expected questions… Not to get scooped up in a bear hug before being turned around so a very worried looking Godzilla Junior could get a better look at her. He studied her diligently, wiping off some of the batter stuck to her face to make sure it wasn’t hiding any bruises. The fact she had more than a few only served to make the giant stallion fret more. It was only by the arrival of a hoof studded in dark regalia did Junior still, as Princess Luna motioned him to simmer down. Godzilla took a breath and steeled himself, before looking upon his apprentice. They locked eyes in a silent conversation that started peacefully... Before becoming a very not-so silent conversation when he exploded in such a rapid fire Neighponese, or rather Japanese, that it was completely unintelligible aside from showing great amounts of obvious concern. Thankfully about 15 seconds Princess Luna rolled her eyes and used a bit of telekinesis to gently remove Chibi from her accomplice’s grasp, applying a soothing mending spell to patch up some of her bruises and scrapes while putting a hoof to his muzzle. “Lord of Monsters, please, there are non-foreigners in thou midst present,” she quipped before releasing him. Junior sighed and nodded, moving closer to Chibi as she was placed back down on the ground, lowering down to equalize their height somewhat. “Chibi, and you were very brave to rush in when you were needed; but you got hurt in the process of your heroism-" A little hoof put to his lips silenced him once again. Chibi lowered her neck into her shoulders and let her ears flop. Chibi frowned, glancing back and seeing some other ponies, be it guards including though she had seen earlier, and passersby trying to be good samaritans wielding anything from brooms to chairs; approaching unsure if the battle was over. She bit her lip and motioned to be put down, as her hind hooves were dangling a full meter off the ground due to being in the grasp of her gigantic teacher. Junior complied and set her down. Chibi Moon gulped and took a few steps back before standing her ground, clicking her hooves together like she was at attention before the royals. “Sensei, Princess of the Night, the blame for what you see is mine. All mine!” Godzilla Junior and Princess Luna paused and tilted their heads in a way one could hear the creaking in their necks, as did some of the approaching ponies even if they didn’t quite catch all she said. Luna and Junior looked to one another, glancing about at all the damage to the marketplace with raised eyebrows, shrugs, and pursed lips that trembled in confusion. Princess Luna eyed some scorch marks on the ground that looked like magic blasts, signalling her accomplice with her eyes and then tilting her head to Chibi Moon as if to suggest that was what the filly was on about. Junior shrugged before turning back to his apprentice. “Chibi, you shouldn’t be too upset about some collateral damage. This can be fixed and no one else got hurt,” Junior grunted, thinking he knew what the topic was from how grim she looked, “You can’t always take the fight elsewhere, but you kept others from getting swept up in it.” “N-No that’s not what I meant!” Chibi yelped as she jumped up in front of the two, waving her hooves. “…” Junior brow perked as he raised and straightened up, “Then what do you mean?” Mariner Chibi Moon paused for a moment before she wilted, visibly fighting back drowning waves of emotion and several tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. She looked ready to crumble, about to fall over before stamping her hoof to recollect herself. She shot back up, “I-I made that monster… as an accident, I swear! A big spell accident! The fault is all mine.” The onlookers started to murmur to themselves in clear confusion. Several guards including Princess Luna, the newly arriving Captain Frost, an old timer who’d come brandishing a mop, and Godzilla however were less perplexed. Likely because all of them had seen similar levels of craziness to buy the story pitch. “What... kind of magic did thou partake of, youth?” Princess Luna grunted calmly, not showing much emotion as she raised her brow. “I- er….” Chibi Moon took in a breath and collected herself, “I was… trying to make Sensei a cake. I don’t exactly know how to bake and I was getting ingredients from others.” “Sounds ‘bout right,” Captain Frost quipped as she stepped up beside Godzilla, “She hit up the barracks earlier an’ got some stuff from me. Didn’t think ye’ could put it in a cake though.” “Hence the spell,” Chibi Moon mumbled as she kicked over a pebble and let her ears droop, “… Didn’t expect it to make a monster. The spell was… weird.” “Define, ‘weird’; youngling,” the thousand-year-old alicorn asked, in the company of a transformed radioactive dinosaur, Captain Frost, and the heiress to a centuries old group of magical warriors. “I combined an old Neighponese spell made by a previous celestial guardian with some ancient Equestrian spell from Starswirl’s era,” Chibi Moon muttered. Princess Luna’s brow perked as everyone else’s head tilted, the alicorn even looking… chipper for a moment, “Really? Oh I knew I was in the right to overrule those oafs at the School for Gifted Unicorns and allow you in! You must tell me what you-” Princess Luna, perhaps realizing many eyes were upon her and that she’d broken character in public by letting her regality falter, promptly coughed into her hoof and took a small step back. She patted Junior across the back with a wing to beckon him forward. “We see fit to allow thy Lordship to handle this situation,” the Princess of the Night preened with an air of royalty returning to her tone, “We trust thou to work with thy student.” A bit of awkwardness passed in the moment before Captain Frost cleared her throat to chime in. “Bad outcome from good intentions, kid,” Captain Frost shrugged, “Good thing n’one got hurt.” “B-but the marketplace is trashed, that’s all my fault!” Chibi Moon yelped. Captain Frost looked to Godzilla, Princess Luna, vice versa, before looking back, “Accidents happen, kid.” Chibi Moon sputtered, “But I’m to blame!” “You’re also to blame for folks surviving the way they did,” Godzilla noted calmly as he squatted down beside his protégé. Chibi Moon sniffled, unsure and not meeting his eyes as she increasingly shrank back and sat on her haunches. A broad hoof gently nudged her own and Junior put his head next to her and whispered. “Hey… Do you remember what I first taught you?” The little filly stiffened as a tear ran down her snout, letting her mind drift back to a little lesson that started when she almost stepped on a little critter she otherwise wouldn’t have noticed. She wouldn’t have noticed because she was the one with grandeur and power, and it wasn’t. Power she had a lot harder of the time cultivating and controlling back then. Chibi furrowed her brow in recollection, “That... power needs to be used responsibly, to protect life.” “Responsibly, yes. You were irresponsible for using some magic you might not have fully understood… But that’s not all you did today, is it?” Junior whispered as he tilted her head to look at the potholes and cracked walls decorating the marketplace. “It can be fixed, and you’ll help. But it can be fixed, lives can’t. And when it came to trying to own up and help, you did the right thing,” the monster king noted as he patted the top of his apprentice’s head, “You took my lesson to heart, kid. That’s one of the best birthday gifts I could have asked for.” “You’re… not going to disown me?” Chibi Moon whimpered. Junior shook his head slowly and smiled all the same. As Captain Frost and the crowds dispersed to help start clean up of the ruined marketplace, Princess Luna perhaps thought it appropriate now to rejoin the discussion in private; leaning down to whisper as well. “You are a student and you are to learn. If my sister seriously reprimanded her students every time they stumbled, she’d have quit teaching long ago. You should hear about what a grown mare twice your age once did with an old stuffed doll,” Princess Luna rolled her eyes and nodded with a slight smile. Chibi Moon looked to her mentor and idol slowly, letting it sink in. She knew she’d done wrong, and she’d learn from that. And maybe, just maybe, this day wouldn’t be a complete wash after all of her jaunting. Observing a pile of charred cake still stuck to a few serving plates from a blown up food stand, Chibi Moon used a bit of telekinesis to fully push it onto the plate and levitated over to herself before offering it to her company. “After the cleanup, I think I might just have a birthday gift idea for you yet, Sensei.” Junior perked his brow and Luna shot him a snicker as she used a bit of her own magic to divide the cake piece up at the thirds. The filly and mare took their pieces up with a bit of magic. “And what might that be?” Junior asked as he eyed his female company. He tried to get his horn to light up in the right sequence for some telekinesis but gave up after only managing to make the cake piece shudder slightly. “Well it just so happens my birthday is coming up-“ Chibi paused as all three of them took a bite of what used to be a cake monster. A second passed by before all of their eyes looked like they were about the bulge out of their skulls and their cheeks rapidly inflated with an instinctive revulsion at the horrible taste. Turns out, making a cake with ingredients including but not limited to energy surge crystals, nutrient bars, coffee, and more did not exactly translate to palatability. The Princess of the Night, King of the Monsters, and Lunar Heiress all promptly turned around in different directions to spit out Kooky Keki’s last act of defiance and revenge. It was a much calmer day sometime later in that week, though the populace gathering was not especially calm itself. The small lake in the precipice plateau of Canterlot mountain had an ample gathering about it. Fluttershy conducted a choir of birds to provide a tune as the three little Crusaders eagerly joined into a dance number Phoenix Flamez was putting on, no doubt trying to see if step coordination could lead to a new cutie mark as Destroyah feigned disinterest while keeping a watchful eye. Ki Seong, Applejack, and Thalia were helping one another set up the buffet table with a variety of treats as Anguirus and Rodan moved it into position. Lea and Twilight relaxed in the shade of a tree passing a book between them to read to each other. Rainbow Dash had evidently decided Rarity and her mother weren’t enjoying the lake enough in their efforts to avoid getting wet on their sunbathing floats and had just cannon-balled next to them with a large splash. A company of guards, more than enjoying the grub being served up, were waving and beckoning to Blade Dancer. The latter was busy trying to pull Xenilla away from Princess Cadance and Shining Armor so they could actually enjoy the lake without him badgering the pregnant ‘empress’ about food cramps from eating recently. Celestia sat off to the side by her own volition, joined only by Captain Frost at an old headstone from centuries back, whispering something to it as she eyed her sister. Princess Luna had gone swimming with her ‘personal bodyguard’, and her sister was very privy to their close proximity the whole time. She gave a knowing smirk and patted Starswirl’s headstone assuringly; while earning an approving wink from Captain Frost. The sopping wet alicorn and mutated unicorn's bodies drew close once again, eyes meeting and smiles widening. "You've become quite the capable mentor," Luna whispered, horn sparking lightly as she tapped the tip to Junior's. "Your sister hoofed over a How-To book," Godzilla shrugged playfully, eyes half lidded as he sighed contently at her presence, letting Luna put a wing around him, "And you're quite the one to talk. With how you helped Rarity save herself and took up Glimmer." "Well it's not like either of us were professionals," Luna cooed with a snicker, "If anything, it shows everypony... and everykaiju for that matter, has room to grow. Kind of like the point of birthdays actually, a celebration of another year of progress while gaining gifts to better the future." "And I couldn't imagine a better place or company to do both with..." They drew close and nuzzled. Their horns touched knowingly before a whistle called their attention from the shore. They and the others came forth, coming to a small table in which a floaties-clad Chibi Moon was assisting Pinkie Pie in setting down a reasonably but not audaciously large cake. The baker, having managed to whip this up lickety-split, gave the filly a wink and pushed her forward with a serving spatula. Chibi Moon beamed as she stood up on her tippy-hooves to reach up to the top of the cake especially could, a few moments passing before she was gripped with a small blue bit of telekinesis magic and levitated up to equal height with her sensei by the will of a smirking Luna holding her up. The lit candles didn’t especially designate any specific number of years, both because the actual count would risk a lot of wax getting on the cake, and because the sentimental value mattered more than an exact date. A lot of crazy things that happened over the course of this crazy tale, and it was all far from over. And based on the beaming smiles of the assorted company of locals, foreigners, and migrants from a different dimension; that truth was more than welcome. Junior and Chibi drew close to the lit candles and started to absorb a breath. The little filly had found a gift for a kaiju who wanted for nothing after all. The cake had two names written on it. For Godzilla Junior's birthday, she had gifted him her birthdate. “Happy birthday, Sensei.” “Happy birthday, Chibi.” Chibi moved to blow the candles out only to have a tiny puff of blue plasma immediately light the candles once again. She looked at toothy, jesting grin of her mentor. “Senseeeei!” “Gotcha.”
Part 1/3: Let's Go Jaunting! THE BRIDGE: A GODZILLA-MY LITTLE PONY CROSSOVER Birthday Bash! Chibi Moon's Quest for Cake! “I don’t know.” Sitting in their favorite tavern to have lunch together, she flinched. Three words that almost caused Mariner Chibi Moon to hear the sound of cracking glass between her ears. She looked up from her coffee milkshake and tilted her head. “You what?” she piped with a voice crack. Godzilla Junior, sitting in the seat across from her with his helmet off, shrugged, “I don’t know when I was birthed… or rather hatched. Neither actually. It was a long time ago and I lived indoors a lot so I couldn’t really tell what season it was.” He nonchalantly sipped at his tea, “So no, I don’t know my birthday… or hatchday. But why worry about mine? Isn’t it yours tomorrow, birthday girl?” He smiled and picked his helmet up to put it on her. Chibi Moon couldn’t resist a reflexive giggle as the way-too-big-for-her-head helmet obscured her face. It didn’t last too long and instead it allowed her the privacy to visibly puzzle. Within her little mind, the 11, soon-to-be 12-year-old was getting an idea… ============== Canterlot Library ============== Heading over to a table, Chibi set down a book of her native Neighponese spells and a large spell tome as big as she was that she managed to sneak out of the adult section. Strange it was there. What seemed to be written in it was nothing profane, that much she could swear to any passerby. Still, the filly didn’t want any trouble from those who might think she couldn’t handle the adult section’s content. This stuff was just magic, not the weird comics her parents had! Of course, she could handle magic! Who was she but the daughter of the earthly and lunar guardian, the heiress of the latter, star student at the school for gifted unicorns, and hoof-picked protégé of the Monster King himself! So what if she didn’t know quite what some of these old archaic terms meant? She could still understand most of it and knew a tried and true technique: If you can’t understand the spell fully, mix it with another one. And that’s what her little hooves were putting together in front of her as she read off from the archaic Equestrian text and those of her family spell scrolls, jotting down something new. Chugging some coffee and penning down more, Chibi nodded her head slowly. If her sensei was going to have a birthday, he was going to need a present. That said, she didn’t exactly know what sort of things he wanted and asking him would ruin the surprise! Chibi chewed on her pen. -Hm… He eats and likes the taste of things, so if I got him something really good to eat, that should count!- She flipped through some pages and found exactly what she was looking for under a transmutation section within the old book. -Ah perfect! A spell to combine ingredients to make a cake! Hmmm, says it will only last for a few hours and I need to get the… ‘essence of a skilled baker’?- She puzzled, flipping through a few pages to see exactly what that counted as but the texts were vague and appeared to be written with the understanding that whoever was reading them would already know what that was. Checking the book, she could see it actually was part of a series that she didn’t recall being on the shelf. Chibi Moon pouted. -Must've been explained earlier. Well, maybe I can ask a baker and check with them. But what about ingredients?....!!- Her eyes widened as she realized a shortcut to not even needing to figure out what sort of things her sensei might have a taste for. After all, he’d only sampled some types of food so who was he to know that he may not be a fan of Gryphonese Upsidedown Pumpkin Cake? Chibi Moon pulled open another scroll and grinned at a spell that showed various raw materials in a series of progression ending in a gleaming suit of enchanted armor. -To make all one, and fuse together most anything… Perfect!- Jotting down the spell in between the margins of the cake spell as if she was solving an addition problem and cross multiplying, she ended up with a gestalt hybrid of the two written down on a note. -All I have to do is find some of the tastiest things around and put them together. Bet nopony’s ever thought of this before! It will be the tastiest magic made cake ever, perfect for my sensei’s birthday!- She teleported back to the shelves in the adult section to return the tome before anyone noticed it was missing, dropped her scroll off at her dormitory, and was off to the races across Equestria for her greatest quest yet! ========== Barracks ========== Chibi Moon marched in a formalized, orderly step while clad in padded gray armor that, despite being the smallest size available, still looked gargantuan on her. She stopped and saluted, wielding a broom beside her like a lance. She was half-covered in dust but didn’t let any of the grit or grime clinging to her visibly weigh her or her determination down. Captain Blueberry Frost didn’t return the salute but did nod approvingly, “Good work cadet, capital work in’-fact.” She marched beside and behind Chibi Moon and inspected one of the barrack’s stock rooms. The blue mare smirked and hummed at the sight of training gear neatly tucked away, the floor cleaned out, and the shelves neatly stocked with everything from target bags to practice weapons. She pulled out a stopwatch and checked the time as she paced back to Chibi Moon. “Twenty minutes, twelve seconds to the T, for someone your age that’s a record,” She glanced about but did lean down to the filly’s level, “And you know you didn’t have to do any of that right? I had been joking but ye’ wouldn’t stop when I clarified.” Chibi Moon clicked her hooves together and bowed her head, “Affioi’rmative, Captain Frost-sama! But I wanted to earn it and help pay back for you letting Sensei use some of the equipment for my training. I messed some of it up, so I should be the one to help fix it!” Blueberry Frost smirked as she removed little Miss Moon’s helmet and ruffled her hair with a hoof, “Honorifics ey? Well ye’ could use gozen for me, but ye’ really don’t gotta.” Chibi Moon briefly pondered the old sounding word she’d never used but shrugged it off and smiled, “Hai, Frost-gozen…. You know honorifics?” “Traveled a lot in ma’ line of work ‘fore I became Captain,” Blueberry Frost giggled. Blueberry Frost tilted the filly’s head up and rubbed at her cheek as she took away the broom, “Got some grit on ye’, little cadet. Hows about treating ye’self to the showers ‘fore you head out on ye’ little quest? Facilities here in the capital are top notch.” Chibi Moon clicked her hooves together and nodded, “Arigato!” Inside the wash and locker rooms a gray pegasus mare with a bi-colored orange and white mane was chattering with her old friends from the service. The first was a rather lanky stallion who looked to be what one might identify as green camouflage colored all over, fur and mane. Fittingly, his name was Incognito. The second, Starlight, was a bright red stallion of youthful complexion whose head was topped in a bronze-brown mane. The last, a large and very powerful stoic type stallion with a near inverse of Starlight’s hues seemed to be pretending not to listen as he relaxed on his bench seat lifting a weight. Cached Ire, towel still around her shoulders punctuated her words with her hooves being beat together, “So that’s when I ran into Luna’s new student literally headfist.” “Starlight, right?” Incognito piped only to earn a confused look by his compatriot. Starlight held a hoof up, “No it wasn’t me, I’d remember if ‘Crashed Ire’ here blitzed into me!” “No no no, not that Starlight, the Starlight near Luna,” Cached Ire fussed as she waved her hooves. “But I’m on night detail a lot,” Starlight complained, “I’d think I’d know if there was another Night Guard named Starlight in the service, much less at the capital.” “It is a pretty distinctive name, I mean what are the odds?” Incognito poised as he ran through the names of those he knew, “No nobles named that either… But there are a lot of folks with astrology names around here, come to think of it.” “Twilight Sparkle, Sunset Shimmer, Moondancer, the Lulamoons, hey doesn’t Big G have that apprentice of his? Oooh what was her name,” Starlight fussed as the red stallion pondered. “You’re the one who’s seen her a lot,” Cached Ire groaned, “And I was talking about another Starlight, girl Starlight.” Incognito raised an eyebrow and looked to his cohort, “You have a sister? Dude! Never told me!” “I have fifteen brothers, not one sis,” Starlight grunted, “And seriously, who’s the tyke Godzilla’s with a lot?” “But I wanna know about the girl Starlight,” Incognito whined, “Otherwise I’m stuck with the mental image of Cached sucking face with you in drag like she used to with Blade Dancer.” Cached Ire felt like bonking them both on the heads, “Starlight Glimmer! And we did not kiss ye’ dolts, heads out of the gutter!” “I’m just saying the names are hard enough to keep track of with multiple Starlights walking around Canterlot now,” Incognito griped. “Hey I was here first, don’t blame me that someone else’s makers got the same idea, lotta stars in the sky,” Starlight quipped with his hooves on his hips, “… And seriously who is the tyke?” “Who?” “The tyke.” Cached Ire deadpanned, “Weren’t we talking about Starlight?” Incognito cut in, “Yes but this is bugging me now, who is Starlight?!” Cached Ire pointed at their red companion, “He’s Starlight. Or is this name problem giving you amnesia?” “The little one’s name is Mariner Chibi Moon,” Hammerbolt interrupted as he put down the heavy dumbbell with an audible thud, “And she’s standing right there.” He pointed and all looked as a little voice cleared her throat. “Excuse me,” a little voice piped up. All the guards looked aside to see a dirty-looking filly giving them the watery puppy-dog eyes. Chibi Moon pawed at the floor, “Did some work for you all, could I borrow some of your shampoo to get cleaned up?” The guards were silent as they towered over Chibi Moon, especially Hammerbolt. They looked to one another, then to the little girl. Hammerbolt’s stoic facade fidgeted before cracking, the rest following suit as they all emitted squeals at the adorableness. Soon after, Chibi Moon happily paced into the showers with several autographs on her saddlebags her hooves full of soaps and washes. A minute later, Chibi Moon skipped out of the washrooms with a bouncy step, literally glinting with her coat shiny as can be and hair done-back up in her trademark twintails. Captain Frost, wearing sunglasses, smiled as she retrieved something from her personal safe. A glinting bottle with the symbol of the Crystal Heart and a smiling bee was placed in Chibi Moon’s awaiting hooves. “Crystal Empire fortified nectar tea, fresh and pristine.” =============== Ponyville Library =============== “So have you ever done a teleportation across a whole continent before, Princess Sparkle-gozen…er.. -sama?” The alicorn that Chibi Moon idolized the most after Princess Luna and maybe Celestia paused for a moment to tilt her head at the terminology before snickering. “Right, Neighponese respect. Don’t worry, there’s no need for that with me,” Twilight replied as she adjusted some of the spell codes in her book, arranging the mental formula before her eyes, “And to answer your question my little pony, yes! Yes I have. Though this will help me get directions.” “Hai!” Chibi Moon piped as she sat in a rune scrawled onto the floor with chalk as if it was the most normal thing ever. A towering changeling paced next to her and Chibi, in on the secret, was unphased as the giant insectoid equine eyed her and passed her a biscuit. “Here is what I tried out and found I like,” Mothra Lea hummed as she giggled at the little filly sniffing the biscuit before eagerly devouring it and audibly licking her lips, “I take it you like?” “Mmmmhm! Sweet, but not too sugary! What’s in it?” Lea levitated over a small bag of flour that Spike held out as he paced out of the small kitchen. “Nectar from honey suckles, crushed flower petals, ground up honeycomb, and store-bought flour cooked over dragon flames by young Master Kenbroath here,” Lea explained as she passed the concoction to their recent company, “I found myself quite fond of such after gaining this form.” “Kenbroath?” Chibi piped as she looked about for someone unnamed. Spike, still wearing a flowery apron paced over and twirled his hands before giving an overly dramatic bow, “Maaaster Spike Kenbroath Sparkle at your service mi’young lady!” He chuckled and earned a pat on the head by Lea, but a chuckling groan by Twilight Sparkle. “He got it in his head his middle name sounds fancier when paired with the title Lea gave him, I think he likes it more in the hopes Rarity will hear it,” Twilight piped while still having her face buried in a book, “On second thought, Chibi Moon are you going to Rarity’s later today?” The Neighponese unicorn filly nodded affirmatively, “She was out of her shop at the moment but I was gonna swing back through.” “How do you plan to get all the way back here from the Crystal Empire so quickly? Didn’t you say you had one day?” Lea chimed with a raised brow. “I was gonna ask Xenilla-dono- er... Mister Xenilla for his portal door’s use,” Chibi Moon explained as she packed the flour away. “Firstly, if you do…” Twilight poked her head up from the book with a sly smile, “Be sure to compliment ‘Young Master Kenbroath’, the chef to Rarity.” Spike turned a slight shade of red, giggling awkwardly before pacing back towards the kitchen, “I um... er… ‘Chef Kenbroath’ needs to… make sure everything’s off in the kitchen. Don’t want to burn the library down. Right… Bye!” He zipped away to the sound of Twilight’s snicker as she shut the book and paced closer, scrawling at the ground with some chalk to modify the teleportation rune. “Unicorn teleportation can be far-reaching but tends to be on the random side, even for skilled magicians. Xenilla might have made great strides with his and his company’s concoction but I know I can make the classics work just as well without the need for a door. Starswirl didn’t need any surge crystals nor-“ She started to mutter and ramble as Lea leaned down to Chibi’s perked ear. “She’s grown a little bit competitive ever since seeing and geeking out over the set up in the Empire, I’ve been making sure she didn’t blow up the library while doing so,” she whispered as Chibi held in a giggle. Certainly sounded like something she herself would do. “-And now! The totally safe, perfectly aimed transportation of the future which can be set up anywhere without a whole warehouse to power it! THIS will be the new inovation Xenilla! Stable, homegrown, Equestrian and infused Terran magic!” Twilight chimed with glee as her horn ignited with magic. “Only an hour of set up and the magic of one of only four alicorns in existence, truly what can be mass produced,” Lea sing-songedly quipped as she lent her own magic in to help out. Chibi Moon wagged her tail and braced herself as the rune below her hooves ignited with magic and started to spin around her. Oh yes the more logical side of her brain was telling her Twilight Sparkle was sending her to the Empire partially to show off to the other researchers up there, but the more fun-loving part of her brain was just all too eager to get teleported across the continent! This was gonna be fun! The magic flashed and she was off to the races! ============ Crystal Empire ============ Some of the greatest minds in the Crystal Empire loomed over a table together. Horns caught the light above as plans and machinations for future designs were scattered about the crystalline surface between them, casting them in darkness. Hooves were put together with a gleam of glasses showing behind them, the reddish stallion nodding to his cohort cast in a dark blue cloak. “Gentlecolts, it is time we begin… Status?” The cloaked one ignited his horn dimly, casting a shine from his spectacles as he reviewed the designs, “Your crystalmancers have been working expertly. Soon the design can help reach more of the Empire’s ground well before the time of the Imperial heir’s birth. How is that proceeding?” A giant, powerful stallion slouched in his chair while tapping a large hoof upon the floor as he stayed crouched in the light, “The pregnancy has been proceeding without issue, I have seen to it that it be so…” “Mwhehee… yes, soon this machination of ours can be far extended to reach the lengths of the Imperial City! Come rain or snow… likely the latter in our climate, our experiments over the past weeks should be a rousing success! Hahahaha!” “Hehehe, soon yesss… None can stop it! Hehehe!” “BWAHAHAHAHAH!” The reddish stallion snickered as the giant chortled. Soon all three were laughing maniacally in the shadows of the planning room. They had a good laugh for a hot moment before the uncloaked, non-giant unicorn caught himself and cleared his throat. “Sunburst, Sunburst, turn it down a notch,” Key Ring muttered while motioning downwards with his hoof. “Woooooo…” Sunburst cooed before snickering. “Right then,” Xenilla hummed as he leaned forward and lit up his horn, “For us to test it ourselves, we need to induct our magical signatures into it and keep them separate. That means infusing our magic into the three surge crystals I and Key Ring’s students’ prepared.” Three blank gems were levitated up to the table and all three magus’ prepared. Xenilla cracked his neck, “Remember, an excitable hoof can send it all up in smoke." Sunburst quickly wiped down his glasses with a bit of his cape before nodding, “R-Right right. Well, shall we?" Key Ring psyched himself up with some quick breathing before biting his tongue, “Everyone keep the streams separate.” The three’s respective horns all glimmered to life as the magic was prepared to be cast. They all leaned in closer with determination and the most purified concentration visible on their faces. They all drew close and let loose just as- Chibi Moon appeared in a flash of teal light and puff of purple smoke between them, happy as can be and beaming brightly. "Kon'nichiwa!" she shouted with her eyes closed. "OH *@&Y#$!)(@*!!" All three stallion’s eyes expanded to the size of dinner plates as they redirected their magic blasts upwards. Some were stronger than others, but between the chaos and multiple players involved they managed to blast a hole in the roof. The crystalline ceiling groaned and creaked as chunks of it fell away. “Debris! Big debris! Not again!” Key Ring yelped as he got flashbacks to the library attack, jumping up to grab the precious scrolls and diagrams they had been looking over, “Get the rando-baby, I got the plans!” “I got her, I got her!” Sunburst cried out as he dove to grab Chibi Moon in a tackle across the table. “I have it!” Xenilla roared as he stomped on the table, sending it flipping over and pushing Sunburst and a confused but not scared Chibi Moon out of the way as he held his hooves up and grabbed some of the debris. Blade Dancer bucked the door open, wingblades at the ready as she no doubt thought an explosion meant they were under attack. But instead of King Sombra back for the third time and second resurrection, she instead found the perplexing sight of her coltfriend holding up a carriage-sized piece of what had been the ceiling, Key Ring holding a chair over his head as a shield from falling pebbles and shards while clutching half a desk drawer’s worth of papers to him; and Sunburst trying to use himself as a shield to protect a very confused looking- “OOOH A CUTE BABY!” she squealed, running right past her beloved as she picked up Chibi Moon from Sunburst’s arms. Sunburst, still having his eyes spinning from getting launched by Xenilla’s table stomp, mewled, “Thank you- ma’am…” Blade Dancer happily supported her in her forelimbs and smiled sweetly at the bemused Chibi Moon as well as Xenilla, “You okay, Honey?” Xenilla nodded as he gently put the hunk of debris down and rolled his shoulders to ensure he hadn’t pulled something, “Quite fine Blades, quite fine. We just had a little interloper.” “Well I’m not a baby, but I am cute,” Chibi Moon nodded as she gazed at Blade Dancer’s crimson-hued mane, “Ooooh but you have really pretty hair!” Blade Dancer winked as she put the filly down, content she and everyone else was okay, “Likewise lil’ stunner. So what are you doing here, giving the Nerd Trio a heart attack like that?” Key Ring panted as his pulse calmed down and he waved a hoof at them, “Not... something… I hope she makes a habit of!” A few minutes later, they were back in the modified warehouse with Chibi Moon gawking at all the intricate crystalline creations, from the pillars holding up the roof to the rune-encrusted seals around the doorway in the center of the chamber, and to the elaborate controls built into some of the tables nearby one might recognize as panels. “OooooOOOOOooooooh! Very elaborate! And so shiny!” Chibi Moon keened to the approving nod of the trio. Before any could stop her, she had happily pranced to the doorway and gazed upon it, wagging her tail like an energetic puppy. “Can you send me through right now?” Key Ring nodded but perked his brow, “What about the foodstuffs you wanted to bring along? Lots of good things to sample in the Empire.” Xenilla hummed as he walked up to Chibi Moon, “Leave that to me. She wishes to give it to my brother, after all.” She tilted her head at the giant so much like her sensei, “How’d you guess?” “Observation and imagination, eyes and brains, my little one; the keys to any puzzle. Wherever he goes, you often try to go and wherever you’re involved, he tends to be. A logical deduction, given I sense him nowhere near here,” Xenilla quipped as he put a hoof on the ground and pulsed waves of energy into it from both his horn and shoulder pads. Drawing the hoof up, he brought forth a glimmering, bright yellow crystal that crackled with energy within itself but was perfectly safe to hold. “An energy surge crystal. He’ll definitely recognize this, and may have a use for it one day,” Xenilla explained while levitating it into the wide eyed and gawking hooves of Chibi Moon, “Bound to make most anything it's applied to more lively…. Careful though, it’s explosive… Mildly.” ======================= Wonderbolts Academy Skies ======================= Forward and then straight down after glimpsing a turtle was the majority of what registered in her mind after stepping through the door and promptly falling right through the line of thickened clouds that made up the floor outside the front door. In a panic but not losing her senses even as she tumbled out of the skies, Chibi Moon had tilted herself to look upwards and cast the spell to save her flank! Rodan was humming as he was snipping up some greens for Tank with his claws, patting the shell of the eagerly awaiting turtle before handing him his food bowl. He was just about to smile and take in the sight of his housemate’s turtle going to town on the veggies when a flash of pink light burst outside the window. A little filly shot out of the clouds in a spiraling flight pattern thanks to a pink energy ray blasted out of her hooves. “Excuse!-“ He blinked and looked outside the window again, seeing a hole in the clouds below outside the house and registering that something had fallen through right before the pinkish flash appeared again, the recoil of another pink blast shooting the filly up again. Chibi Moon waved at him as she started falling again, “Me!-“ She blasted herself back up again, still spinning about, “Can’t get!-“ “Inside!-“ “What the feather is going on in there?” Rainbow Dash piped as she adjusted the new skylight she’d installed to help make her wingmate more comfortable indoors, poking her head through her roof. Rodan pointed to the window while making his way towards the door. Chibi Moon reappeared again and waved at her. “OHMYGOSH!-“ Chibi Moon bit her tongue and was just about to recoil launch herself back up again when two speeding streaks of light and color darted out from around the house, one multihued and one red. Hooves and paws gripped her gently but firmly as beating wings de-accelerated the fall before they started to rise. A minute later and she was lifted up to be set back down on the front step of the house. “So Xenilla and company sent you for some quest huh?” Rodan quipped as he was careful to put her on the solid welcome mat. “Why’d you pick us to go to? You know, in the sky and all.” “Well I knew the best fliers in Equestria could catch me if I couldn’t stop my fall,” Chibi Moon giggled as she tested and stood on the mat contentedly. Both Rainbow Dash and Rodan ruffled her mane slightly. “Darn right we could. Step inside why don’t ya’, inside should be firm enough,” Rainbow Dash noted as she opened her front door, “I had Twilight solidify the insides on account of Tank; no need for cloud walking.” “Arigato, I can’t levitate yet and I didn’t want to blow holes in your house!” Chibi Moon keened as she stepped inside on what approximated terra firma. Rodan snapped his claws in recognition, “You’re Chief’s pupil, ain’t you?” “Hai! And where are we exactly? I thought this was the Wonderbolts academy?” the little filly piped as she looked about but didn’t see the military training camp she was expecting. Rainbow Dash motioned out the window in the opposite direction Chibi had been facing during her free fall, though she probably wouldn’t have noticed it anyways given how much she was spiraling. Looking where indicated she could indeed see the famous training grounds, a massive runway built into higher altitudes with obstacle courses and barracks. “Benefits of a cloud home, I moved it over here so I could crash in my own bed,” Rainbow Dash explained as she patted her wingmate on the shoulder, “Had some big help, and as a thank you he bunks with me. ‘Sides, I was awesome enough to do aboooout 90% of the lifting.” Rodan grunted. “80%,” Rainbow Dash snorted with a snicker, “So what brings you here, lil’ Moon? I dig the booster flight but I don’t think Colonel Spitfire’s looking to recruit.” “Well I have two problems,” Chibi explained as she sat herself down on a small chair. “Well we might have a solution, name it,” Rodan said as he walked past her, “Day off.” Showing how adjusted he had become to this dwelling, the claustrophobic kaiju-turned-gryphon plopped down on the lazy boy couch as his cushion and didn’t react to Rainbow Dash plopping down on top of him like it was the most normal thing ever for the two of them. Chibi glanced between them, looking about and noticing the relatively humble size of the house sloppily decorated in Daring Doo posters, flight paraphernalia, and some surprisingly gaudy clothes for the legendarily tomboyish cyan speedster. She only noticed one bathroom and bed. “Are you two...?” she motioned between them. Rainbow Dash, head perched on Rodan’s crests, stuck her tongue out with a grossed-out expression, “Yeergk! Got enough of the Bolts thinking that. We just share a lot of stuff to save space.” Rodan rolled his eyes, “We’re just best wingmates.” “Rody’ here is a huuuuge upgrade over my last partner. Lightning Dust never got me delivery or did the dishes,” Dash pouted as she started to vibrate in anger. Rodan lifted a wing and patted her with the edge of it, “Dashie, Dashiiie, simmer down a notch. You’re worked up and haven’t had your daily shower.” “Swipe some of that conditioner I like from the barracks?” Dash quipped as she wagged her tail lightly. “Same kind your mum uses, yep. Payback for you going to the effort with the skylight.” “Hey it was either that or having you sleep outside again! Last night got chilly and I had to drag you in!” They both noticed a hoof raised and blinked at an inquisitive looking Chibi. “So you both get along great?” “When we’re not racing,” Rodan nodded to the side. “Not my fault we keep tying,” Dash grumped. Chibi counted by her hooves, “And you have pet names for each other?” The gryphon shrugged, “So does half my teammates.” “Friends get to call me Dash, great friends call me Dashie.” “And you each know what the other likes?” Chibi puzzled as she tilted her head. “Partially by finding out what the other hates. We did figure out the other’s cheat day though, he wisely didn’t get me pies,” Rainbow Dash corrected, “He figured out Tank faster.” “He likes warmth, flying, and fresh greens; he’s less fickle,” Rodan snickered. “And you share a bed and bathroom,” Chibi muttered as she kept the mental headcount. Both speedsters’ heads creaked as they nodded, partially because Rainbow was still plopped on top of Rodan and neither had made an effort to move much. “… And you live together… but you’re not together?” Chibi muttered with obvious confusion as she patted her hooves together. Now both speedsters shook their heads in unison, blinking blankly as they deadpanned like it was the most obvious thing ever. “Hey don’t get me wrong, daughter of a fashionista here so I don’t mind girly stuff. But I could never imagine this big lug taking me to some gala on a date night,” Rainbow Dash snickered as Rodan glanced up at her. “I couldn’t imagine you letting me take you to some gala on a date night, much less me getting the idea,” he chuckled as he looked over at the filly, “Being flightmates means a lot of dangerous maneuvers, a lot of risks.” “Yeah, even for tough-as-nails folks like us!” Rainbow smirked, “Sometimes a wrong move or wrong judgement could end… Just about everything really. Even as his big mega-scaled big winged self, I can’t imagine Rody here wanting to crash into a reinforced thunder cloud.” “Nope, stuff’s way harder than on Terra. Means you gotta trust each other a lot, especially when you can barely hear each other when going at top speed.” Rainbow Dash nodded, “Sound barrier-breaking tends to put a damper on talking. Which is fine, we can tell what the other one is thinking and gel really well. We’re a lot alike, and different where it needs to be.” She grinned and wrapped a wing around her bestie as it was returned. They shot each other a smile before looking to the filly, mildly surprised to see she was diligently taking notes. “Right, sooo... have to tell some of that to Sensei later.” Rodan tilted his head, “Chief lookin’ for a partner?” “Ooooh I hope so,” Chibi Moon giggled as she rubbed her hooves together, “I think so as well!” “Well we ain’t partner-partners, me and Rody, so I’m not sure how useful it’ll be,” Rainbow Dash shrugged casually, “But I guess loyalty is a good key to any buddy-buddyness.” Chibi Moon looked at this once again, mildly pondering what exactly she was even looking at seeing them laying on the couch on top of each other like this. There wasn’t so much as a hint of what she saw between her parents or hoped she was seeing between Princess Luna and her sensei, but there was… something there. Either she was looking at it wrong and was the fool, or they were the idiots for being so dense…. Or were they both right and wrong at the same time? She scrunched up her nose and shook her head. Confound these speedsters, they drove her to- “Oh, do you have any coffee? One of the questions I had was what speedsters eat because I know it’s got to have a lot of calories,” she poised while tapping at the notepad with her pen held in her magic, “And if I could borrow any for... a project you see.” Rainbow Dash winked as she fluttered her wings and got off Rodan’s back, “Yep! gotcha covered, small fry. Though I really wouldn’t recommend eating the whole thing yourself with how tiny you are. You’d be bouncing up and down from the ground level to here even without that cool pink death ray.” She fluttered over to the kitchen and retrieved a wrapped bar from a package, skillfully throwing it over to Rodan who caught it in his paw and gently tossed it to Chibi. She read the label, which bore General Firefly’s saluting visage, “FlightFuel, for enhancing intake of any fuel.” “Turbo charges your gut to absorb foods better,” Rodan explained as he held up a claw, “Do not eat the whole thing at your size…. Oh, and didn’t you say you had two things you needed?” Chibi Moon packed away the energy bar and nodded as she glanced out the window, not even able to see the ground. She looked to the speedsters and then to the ground again, then back and forth, back and forth. “Can you get me back down from the sky please?” A minute later she was gleefully cheering as Rodan and Rainbow Dash, carefully so, held her as they sped through the skies to the grounds below. =========== Ponyville Spa =========== Chibi Moon pulled a cucumber off her eye as she lay back in the spa chair, “You didn’t have to do all this for me, Madam Rarity.” The white unicorn mare reclined on the chair next to her and giggled at the title, face covered in the green creamy beauty mask that was virtually never without during her visits here. “Nonsense Darling, I’m all too happy to help others get cleaned up. Fluttershy and I were already coming here when Dash and Rodan dropped you off.” Fluttershy lifted off a cucumber as well, smiling sweetly as she pointed a hoof to the little filly, “Pegasi and gryphons have special stomachs so they don’t get sick while flying, but even I got queasy the few times I’ve gone almost as fast as Rainbow Dash. Ooh, are you sure you don’t have an upset tummy anymore?” Chibi Moon magically levitated out a small pair of crackers with a peanut butter-like spread between them that made the arrangement resemble a small cookie, plopping it into her mouth and consuming it eagerly, “Omnumnum! Nope! These patties you gave me fixed me right up!” The Element of Kindness beamed, “Oh that’s a big relief, I first made those after uncovering some old Meadowbrook recipes for soothing tummies on a great many types of animals.” “Huh, you know normally I would make a remark about feeding a little girl what you would any of those dear critters you take care of, but I suppose if it works well on a snake; it works well on a pony,” Rarity lamented as she levitated one over to herself and broke it in two to take a small nip, “Hmmm mmmmm! Yes, your culinary skills are definitely my better, Fluttershy.” Chibi Moon sat up from her chair and looked to her companions, “Would it be alright if I had some of the spread used for the crackers, Madam Fluttershy?” “Oh no problem at all, little one, I have more than enough back at the cottage.” Rarity keened after stretching out on her chair, “Do take some of the cucumber cream as well! Aloe, Lotus, and I all helped come up with it. Good for a beauty mask, freshens the breath, cleans the teeth, and is fully edible!” “Especially after such a hectic day…” Fluttershy noted as Chibi Moon licked her cucumber cream-covered lips and enjoyed the flavor like she was sampling ice cream. Fluttershy continued to list off everything that had happened vocally, “Why just after Rainbow and Rodan dropped you off, we had that giant firebreathing cockatrice that barged in from the Everfree.” Rarity groaned in her chair, “Which we found out was being chased by a highly venomous new subspecies of manticore that spat acid…” Chibi Moon deadpanned, “Which in turn was being chased by that flying cragadile.” “Yes, who knew rock-covered giant crocodiles could also sprout eight wings to soar through the air…” Rarity bemoaned as she held up a limb, “Chipped a hoof in that scuffle!” “Nature is truly fascinating,” Fluttershy sighed. “Well, it’s all over now. I do think Ponyville has thrown enough craziness at us for one day!” Rarity snipped before adjusting in her chair. Using a bit of telekinesis, she put a bit more water on the heater to douse the surroundings and add a bit more steam. The two mares and filly let out a sigh of warm relief as calm reigned supreme…. Only to be interrupted by someone outside screaming. The three ran out of the spa after a shrug only to soon find the cause of the problem. Said problem made itself all too abundantly clear when they were quickly aware of the brawl between what could best be described as an elephant-sized mole with beaver teeth swiping at the air towards a swarm of flying, multi-limbed creatures, which in turn were chasing a large purple, vaguely feline-like beast with dorsal spikes; whom was antagonizing the mole. Rarity deadpanned as a cucumber fell off her eye, “Fluttershy, report.” Fluttershy rubbed at her chin before motioning to the oversized mole, “Well, that’s a Maulwurf… And what’s antagonizing it seems to be a Chupacabra… and the flying creatures are-” She paused as the Maulwurf got a hit on one of the flying targets and sent it hurtling towards them until it landed on Fluttershy’s nose. As soon as Rarity observed the fact it was an airborne spider with a wolf-head and hornet eyes, she levitated a few feet off the ground even without casting a spell. Chibi Moon had stars in her eyes and would have reached for possibly her new choice of pet before the creature screamed at them and rejoined the fight. “Wolf Fly-ders,” Fluttershy corrected herself but puzzled, “Strange though… Something’s missing.” Rarity let out an exasperated laugh as she pointed to the monster melee in the park, “Oh joy! What a joy, what could possibly make this worse?” Fluttershy tapped at her chin and pondered, “Well... it’s just that.. Oh what was it? Usually Wolf Fly-ders only act up in a swarm like this in the presence of a-… hmmm…” “No time! To action! Chibi, stay here-“ Rarity was cut off by Chibi Moon launching herself at the park with an energy blast shot out of her hooves. “COME OOOON FLUTTERSHYYYY!” Rarity screamed as she raced after the tyke, Fluttershy too confused by her own inquiry to notice they were rushing into danger like this. “Oh what was it! Something gives off pheromones that causes Wolf Fly-Ders to mass, which can anger a Maulwurf into chasing after them which in turn would have intruded upon the territory for the Chupacabra and-“ At the park, chaos reigned but thankfully nopony had been hurt yet. Rarity was making a good effort to shepherd everypony away. The Maulwurf, in a moment of blind rage, whacked a tree over that nearly collapsed on top of a gaggle of ducks and kittens being tended to by Granny Smith. A pink energy blast knocked most of the tree away after shearing off most of it as Rarity raced over, picked up Granny Smith, the ducks, and every last kitten both in her arms and in her magic before jogging away. Fluttershy, dodging a lunge by the Chupacabra pouncing at her from the bridge, carried a shaking Twist away from the melee while still deep in thought, “What was it… Started with a T…” “Is this really the time?!” Rarity shrieked as she was busy fending off the Maulwurf with a donated monument to the park. The gigantic enchanted mole took a swing at the boulder and its metallic, hard claws managed to slash a chunk out. “TOM! NOOOO!” somepony screamed. Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as the Chupacabra spotted her now, the rabid-looking blood drinker’s eyes locking upon her as his body tensed. “Uh uh! Nope nope nope” she quipped before firing another beam burst into the ground to launch her out of reach. She overshot some of the blast however and soon realized she was rocketing dozens of meters into the air. Her hair going slack against her before arching around and being dragged upwards, she did however notice something. From high up she could see large patches of grass moving as if something was under it. And there was a trail going from the forest into town and then into the park, which the other monsters had followed. Needing to break her fall and taking a chance, she aligned her hooves beneath her and shot out a quick burst. Not enough to really harm whatever it was under the ground, but enough to get its attention and break her fall. Chibi hit the ground with a slight ‘Doofa!’, but no sooner did her rump touch the grass did it start to writhe and swell. The filly rolled away downhill as a large beast the size of a building burst out of the dirt. There was a pinkish head, followed by a red mane akin to a lion’s, which soon transitioned into a worm-like body covered in overlapping purple scales. The sizable beast let out a cackling hiss before his head split apart into three sections with the inner parts linking together to make three jaws packed full of teeth. “Tatzlwurm, that was it!” Fluttershy yelped as she scooped up Chibi Moon and placed her down a ways away. The Tatzlwurm shrieked, thrashing about in the ground and snapping at everything around it. The Maulwurf bellowed as it raised its hackles at an instinctive enemy, the Wolf Fly-Ders swarming about in an angry buzz as the Chubacabra circled around in obvious stress given it was chittering its dorsal spikes against one another. Chibi Moon beheld the sight as she looked to Ponyville. The town was out of the way now and she could see the rapidly approaching forms of Princess Twilight and Mothra Lea moving in on their position. She wondered if she should get ready to fight and help protect the town from the incursion, confident she could do so and lend her aid despite her age even as the monsters were getting more and more agitated. She took a deep breath in and started to focus everything into her horn. “Piiiink… sugaaaar…” She grit her teeth from the energy build up, imagining how the flickering power raced up her mentor’s dorsal spikes and mane as similar fluorescence appeared across her own hair. She squeezed her eyes shut to focus. “Heeeeart!” Her eyes snapped open, the filly’s orbs filled with a bright white and pink brilliance, “A-“ “HOLD IT YOU ALL!” Fluttershy cried out as she flew up right into the middle of the melee. The monsters hissed, roared, and buzzed in anger, surely about to close in for the attack when they all stopped dead in their tracks. Fluttershy was slowly turning around and Chibi was left dumbstruck, paused mid-attack to see what was going on. When Fluttershy turned her way and she glimpsed the pegasus’ eyes, all of her attack’s buildup went out the window instantly. She quivered. Somehow, even from a distance, glimpsing those eyes was like standing in front of a tidal wave infinitely larger than yourself. A monumental force that demanded your full attention and you could not get away from it. Fluttershy flew up higher than the beasts, the Wolf Fly-Ders parting for her approach as she kept up The Stare. She flew over to the edge of the forest and landed. The beasts obediently followed and stood next to one another. “Now, I understand that the Tatzlwurm was just passing through while on his molting cycle, and that the Wolf Fly-Ders are allergic to his shed scales. But he didn’t mean to disrupt their nest while passing along, and the Wolf Fly-Ders didn’t mean to sting the sleeping MaulWurf while mistaking his nose for the Tatzlwurm. And the MaulWurf was just reacting in blind pain when he nearly trampled the Chupacabra’s den,” She noted calmly before motioning to the Everfree Forest beyond, “But the world is big enough for all of us, and just because you got disturbed doesn’t mean you can keep on messing up other’s homes too. So how about we all agree to separate, okay?” Chibi Moon sat on her rump as Rarity walked up to her and sighed. “Well, that’s our Fluttershy,” She sighed, proud of her friend. Chibi Moon looked about the town and saw the signs of panic had now completely vanished. Everypony was just now going about their business despite the footprint-induced potholes in the streets and damage to the park. Though several did seem to tearfully be erecting a plaque in Tom’s honor. “You all seem very casual about this. Back home, my mom and her friends work hard to keep just a few of these sorts of things away,” Chibi Moon muttered. Rarity sighed, “Just another day in Ponyville. Sometimes I wonder if the reason the Princesses settled half the kaiju here is because we’re so used to this sort of thing… Cucumber?” She offered her a slice of the cool vegetable which Chibi eagerly accepted. Author's Note NEXT TIME: Chibi Moon visits Appleloosa, Sweet Apple Acres, Suger Cube Corner, the world of Comics, and more! Proofed by Faith-Wolff and Lance-Omikron OCs by Fiddlesticks, Akashic Brony, Vadram, Jeval, and Bluemoon1996
Part 2/3: Recap Route!================ Sweet Apple Acres ================ “You want that one?” Destroyah casually noted as she had a filly that was not one of the usual three perched on her back as she looked up at the tree. “It’s sooo shiiiny!” Chibi Moon gawked as she pushed in her cheeks and her eyes sparkled at the Zapp Apple. “Only one problem there, sugarcube,” Applejack muttered whilst tapping her hoof on the ground and contemplating the state of the growth in the tree and air. “Zapp Apple season’s a few weeks off,” she lamented with a mild frown, “Dem apples might be ripe enough to use for an ingredient but hide nor hair they ain’t coming down.” “But, can I still have one? Just one? Pretty pretty please please,” Chibi Moon teleported to Applejack’s feet, giving her the biggest puppy dog eyes and bowing at her hooves, “Please Lady Applejack, Bucker of Monsters and Slayer of Fox Demon Bi-“ Applejack somehow managed to both deadpan and shiver at last one, before wondering where she learned that word and frowning. She put a hoof to Chibi Moon’s muzzle to shush her. “A’right a’right! Ye’ don’t have to go kissin’ my hoof. Brought you out here to have one didn’t I? So, one’s all yer’s. Just gotta get it down an’ it ain’t gonna want to be plucked.” Chibi Moon gasped in joy and squealed, jumping up in the air and racing her hooves back and forth as she bounced up and down. Her tail wagged like an excited puppy at an excuse to try out her magic. “Ooooh ooh oh! I got this! Staaaand back!” she yelled out and braced her hooves as energy crackled along her horn, “Beyond the special technique of the Godzilla Dynastic Clan! Thermonuclear Beam, Mariner Chibi Moon style!” Destroyah and Applejack deadpanned as they quickly looked at each other with a mix of confusion as well as worry. Chibi Moon grinned and took in a deep breath, “Piiiiiink!” Bands of glowing light started to spiral up her horn and mane in the same manner Godzilla’s dorsal plates flashed. The air crackled and shuddered from building power. “Suuugaaaar! Heaaaaart! ATTA-phm!” One could almost hear a honking noise as a hoof was put up against her nose. Applejack purposefully made sure to push in the right direction to point her head skywards just in case of a misfire. “Wooooah there sugarcube! Save the lightshow fer’ the Fair,” Applejack said as she cringed a smile that lasted until Chibi frowned and canceled out the energy charge. Chibi pouted, “I wasn’t gonna hurt the tree… just cut off the apple from the branch with a cool woosh woosh zap bloooosh heart shaped blast!” She punctuated the action sounds by chopping her forelimb through the air. Applejack rolled her eyes and snickered as she let Chibi lower her face again. “We got ourselves a’ might simpler solution. Des, if ye' would?” Destroyah nodded before swinging her already glowing horn. The tree trunk could have withstood an entire bison herd yanking on it but it couldn’t resist the force of its own atomic bonds being shredded by micro-oxygen. The falling trunk was grabbed by the titanically strong mare who held it in place long enough for a lasso to grab the obscuring branch and hold the zap apple free to get a clean shot without damaging the tree. Destroyah severed the end of the branch holding the fruit with a small burst of her destroyer ray, and the apple was cleanly yanked back into the awaiting hoof of Applejack by means of the lasso. Chibi Moon accepted it with wide eyes, “Oooooh! W-Wait, but did you just kill the tree?” Destroyah lifted the tree back up and placed it where it was, rotating the trunk to exactly align it. Applejack put her back hoof to the trunk and if one looked hard enough, they could just barely see glimmers of greenish magic redirecting into her other legs from the ground and then into the tree. Within moments, the very clean slash through the trunk was mended over by sped-up growth. “Dun make a habit of it, but we been experimentin’ and found some fun uses for Dessy here’s clean choppin’,” Applejack smirked and winked, “Plant growth. Unicorns ain’t the only magic ones about, ye’ know.” Chibi Moon’s eyes were wide and sparkling as she gazed at the now perplexed farmer. Applejack had been showing off alongside Destroyah to kill some boredom, but they had expected some reaction. A full ten seconds passed before Chibi piped up again. “… Teach me how to do that!” ================= Ponyville Tea Shop ================= “Mmm, tastes a lot like home!” Chibi Moon piped as she finished a cup of tea, her tail wagging happily. Seated across from her and pouring another cup was none other than Ki Seong, who smiled happily at the little child’s approval as she also poured herself a cup. “My family were merchants, so we sold a lot of this across the seas. Quite a bit ended up in Neighpon, so you very well might have had this blend before. The key is a small addition of seaweed grinds stoked over a bit of a family recipe before you added it to the tea leaves,” she explained as she swirled the dark liquid within a bamboo cup, “Having it in bamboo cups helps preserve the flavor more.” “And who this is for is also from around the place we are,” Chibi Moon piped as she got up from her seat, faced her hostess, and bowed as respectfully as she could to the point her horn almost touched the floor. “Most esteemed Madam Seong of the Ki family, I humbly request some of your super special secret tea blend! It is of the utmost importance!” she piped. The kirin doe giggled and raised her brow, “Oh, and is this importance giving you some nostalgia for your birthday coming up?” Chibi Moon perked and looked up at her, “How do you know that?” Ki Seong snickered and motioned behind her to a large stallion that walked up beside her with a seafood platter, pecking the doe on the cheek and causing Seong to turn a few shades of red. “King Godzilla told him,” the kirin explained as she snuggled up beside Anguirus as he set the food down, giving her a peck on the cheek. Anguirus picked up the line and eyed the filly, “And I told her. You must be his pupil I’ve heard so much about.” Chibi Moon wanted to squeal from the recognition but instead bowed again, “Honored Titanic Defender Anguirus, defender of playgrounds and summer camps-” Anguirus deadpanned slightly in bemusement at his title. Chibi looked back up at him with giant puppy dog eyes, “… Could I pwetty please have your favor in asking your girlfriend for some tea?” Now it was Anguirus’ turn to widen his eyes and start blushing, an act that only got more extreme when Seong pecked him on the cheek and levitated a bag of grounds over to Chibi Moon’s little saddle bag. “I wasn’t going to say no, Little One,” she snickered, “These will brew up nicely.” Chibi Moon beamed and saluted, “Arigato Mada- Ooof!” She forgot she was bowing and proceeded to fall flat on her face. Undeterred she continued to salute and speak. “Sm imgoh habme ma qumtomph whm-” Anguirus carefully tilted her head up by the horn. “-what other things did my Sensei say about me?! Did he tell you I can copy his beam now perfectly? Oooh oooh, or that time we fought my mom’s villain? Or how about-” Ki Seong giggled as a bead of sweat ran down her cheek. She leaned closer to her lover and whispered to him, “He certainly wasn’t kidding when he said she was little but her mouth wasn’t.” ============== Sugarcube Corner ============== “And that’s why I need this and an ‘Essence’ of a talented baker,” Chibi Moon explained as she sat on the high seat of a colorful stool chair in the parlor, while telekinetically waving several toys in the air to the enthusiastic giggles of the cake twins. “Well you came to the right place for both!” Pinkie Pie quipped as she wagged her tail, neatly balancing several cooking utensils and ingredients on her tail as she carted over an unfinished double-stacked cake. “Though if you’re wanting me to really show any skill, I would have asked me to actually do up the cake! I totally get wanting to throw in your own personal touch and all, but I’ve helped out on plenty of these. Wanna do it here an’ now? I’ve got vanilla cream, chocolate cream, strawberry cream, chocolate and strawberry and vanilla cream, chocolate strawberry and vanilla icing, banana icing, apple icing, even some zap apple icing, and-“ Chibi Moon cut her off with a teleport and a bow as she gingerly picked up the cake tray while placing down the toys meant to entertain the babies. “Iiii think this is good. After all, I’m going to be adding a lot more in,” Chibi explained while lowering her ears, “No doubting you can make a great one, though!” Pinkie Pie giggled and patted her head, “Oh don’t worry little filly, I’m just always eager. Well, always super eager, or superduper uber eager.” Chibi Moon smiled happily and carefully packed the cake into a box. She paused however while she was atop a box and looked about warily. She continued to do so for a solid minute until Pinkie Pie tapped at her shoulder. “… Um, you okay?” Chibi Moon remained unmoved, on guard and looking towards the forest, “I just found out today that usually when someone gets something done in this town, something crazy happens. Today I got teleported across the continent and then there was a big monster mash.” Pinkie Pie nodded as she looked at a calendar she pulled out from behind her back, “Yep, right on schedule. We’re like a wacky version of 2020 around here, something exciting every other day.” Chibi Moon hadn’t the faintest idea what she was talking about but gulped, “I’m just… Being extra careful because I know something weird is gonna happen….” Pinkie Pie blinked as she waited several long moments. The shop was completely peaceful with Pound and Pumpkin Cake pleasantly snoozing in a pile together as the clock on the wall ticked. Chibi Moon seemed to realize nothing was going to happen and slowly pulled away from guarding the cake twins diligently. “Phew…” Pinkie Pie shrugged before her left ear twitched twice to the right to jog her memory, “Oh and that other thing you asked for?” Chibi Moon perked up, “Oh right, essence of a talented baker! Um… Think I need to make a copy of some of your magic maybe? Ooooh have you put some of the earth pony magical spell hex on the cake? Eeerr…” She paused and rubbed at her cheek, just now realizing in her over eagerness to get this quest done she hadn’t really considered what exactly that criteria asked for and she had left the book back at Canterlot. Just as she was starting to consider asking if maybe Miss Pie could escort her back to the city, she was interrupted by the Element of Laughter’s giggle. “Snrkaha! I gotcha covered my little pony! Observe!” Pinkie Pie reached around and casually pulled off all the fur on her tail. Chibi Moon’s expression flattened and her eyes widened at the cursed image of a naked horse tail, let alone one that had been so extremely plushy just a moment ago. The noodle like appendage wagged as Pinkie Pie nonchalantly hummed and packed her tail fluff into a bag. “There ya go!” Chibi Moon was still staring with a completely frozen expression even as Pinkie Pie set about guzzling bubblegum-flavored cream and spontaneously regenerating all of her tail hair. ========== Appleloosa ========== Link! “~Ay, ay, ay! I'm your little butterfly~” The music player sang as the performers danced to a captive audience. Wings beat in a particularly flattering motion in tune with the song, skillful twirls dazzling the crowd even if the music wasn’t to their normal cue.. “Well the tune’s different, but I like it!” A cheery pink-maned pegasus mare chirped as she danced to the pop song-like beat with lyrics she was very quick to adapt to despite it being far out routine. Out of her usual garb, Phoenix Flamez still struck a skillful dance in the center stage of town whilst dressed up in the latest Neighponese Pop Idol garb: A white suit with long black, bell sleeves and her hair done in two large twin tails that had rectangular decorations put upon the bases. Evidently it was based on a well liked Neighponese artist. Her little assistant was skipping in step next to her, clad in a similar get up but with her hair styled flat and wavy. “You look just like Miku! Song’s a bit older than her, but the beat fits. It’s one of my parents’ favorites!” Chibi Moon keened as she danced along with Phoenix as her back-up, “Sure I didn’t intrude?” “Naaaah, I’m adaptable,” Phoenix keened whilst skillfully dancing to an foreign beat to prove her point, rocking her shoulders and hips in sync with the cords and sweeping an arm across the crowd, “Besides, out here in this kind of town we’re always welcoming to new faces from new places! Shoulda seen the routine I drilled Rodan into!” “How am I doing?” Chibi Moon squeaked as she pranced aside to dive under and jump about where the larger mare was now hovering mid-dance, Phoenix practically stepping and sliding on air. “You’re adorable and a natural!” “Fits you well don’t it Phoenix-san?” The pegasus took a moment mid-step to ruffle Chibi’s head, “Aww aren’t you a little flatter?” Chibi Moon giggled as she teleported about the stage, appearing and disappearing in bursts of pink magic in tandem with the looping spins and air bursts Phoenix was creating. The pegasus landed as the music took a lull and let Chibi reappear in front of her, the filly proving a quick study as she emulated the talented dancer the best she could with experience for this song. Chibi looked to her instructor and superior, “So who was it that I should talk to for foodstuffs, Phoenix-san?” Phoenix Flamez twirled about dazzling displays of magical trails as she spun about the stage floor and above it. Mid-spin she skillfully picked up her little backup dancer and looped in the air while still dancing. Chibi Moon squealed as she was spun about in a flashy move that earned the audience’s cheers before stopping in midair and pointing at the saloon bar past the gawking and clapping spectators. Phoenix Flamez winked to the little filly as she motioned to the mare behind the bar counter, “Missus Thalia’s got you covered if you need anything, thanks for the help and new routine!” “Arigato!” Chibi Moon squealed as hugged Phoenix briefly. She hopped down onto stage as Phoenix landed beside her, the two taking a bow to a standing ovation before Chibi vanished in a puff of magic to teleport. When she re-appeared she was both slightly astounded and pleasantly surprised that the kindly bar mare had expertly predicted her arrival with a child-sized mug of root beer already placed in front of her. The ebony mare with white and red accents smiled and patted her head. “On the house little one, we always do love a good show around lunch hour, already put some caffeine in it since you say you need that to slow down… apparently,” Thalia rolled her eyes and giggled as she leaned onto the bar top, “So what was it you were needing fromor me?” “Mphbprfuubbr-“ Chibi but down the root beer mug she was chugging and neatly wiped her face with a napkin, “Sorry Missus Thalia, I was saying I’m making a birthday cake and need ingredients.” Thalia’s brow perked and she puzzled before looking about what she had on hoof for mixing up drinks and some bar foods. “Nnnoooot sure I have anything around the counter for cakes, pies maybe given how popular they are with the Buffalo. I can check out the back for you.” Chibi Moon rapidly shook her head, “Oh no no nooo need! The magic cake, I have a nifty spell to make it all come together you see. Since I don’t know what the one it’s for likes, I’m getting anything tasty and putting it together! So whatcha got I can use?! ...I mean, I don’t want to be demanding.” She bowed her head respectfully as Thalia’s brow perked. She glanced about with a bit of skepticism. “You sure that’s exactly what the spell said and meant? I’m no unicorn sorcerer but I know some of those spells can be tricky.” Chibi Moon nodded, still keeping her head down, “Hai! That’s exactly what it said, make it all come together.” Thalia pondered about it but nodded slightly after some thought, “Well, I have something that can’t go wrong when added in.. Here-“ Thalia hoofed a glass of specialty apple cider across the table to her, “This brew of cider’s a good all-purpose. No matter what you put in it, it's gonna smell and taste like apples, which most folks like just fine. Ye’ can drink it, stew it, bake it in, anything really. Can’t see how putting it in a cake could go wrong.” ================ Mirror Maretropolis ================ “So that’s why I ended up here,” Chibi Moon explained as she sat in a car seat. Her typical cream pink fur had become cream pink skin and she was wearing an outfit not dissimilar to a child’s version of the battle dress her mother sported that would one day be hers, but with the addition of a red mask akin to what Auntie Venus once wore. However her eyes and giant pigtails were almost entirely unchanged, even as she existed in the form of human girl. A heavily modified muscle car drove through the streets and back alleys of Maretropolis, operated by tendrils of purple hair controlling the steering wheel and shifter. The protector of the city kept her face stoic in contemplation even as they drove past Detective Stephen Langoud who made an effort to try and follow them to no avail. “You came here… for something to eat,” Mane-iac muttered as she secretly directed the Black Beauty across multiple streets to lose anyone who might be tracking them, making her way back to the estate. “Or anything edible really. Plus, I really like your stories!” Chibi Moon keened. Mane-iac looked at her through her mask blankly, still thinking through her options. Half an hour ago, this little girl appeared out of nowhere during another battle with an escaped Masked Matter-Horn, intervening in the conflict. While she wasn’t necessarily sociable and was more than a little concerned at her age, time had warmed her to the possibility of other heroes out there. Not everyone was Shadowbolt. She would have probably reprimanded her for getting involved at such an age and left it at that… except the observation that this “Mariner Moon” addressed her as her secret identity of Mica Hackett, and claimed time was short. Figuring the most secure place to go and run some tests would also be somewhere that it was of no risk of exposure, and wanting to keep the little girl was far away from anyone in the public that might cure the name of the beauty products CEO spoken out loud, she drove into the secret entrance to her estate and lair. The Black Beauty came to a stop within the depths of a subterranean garage, the hatch top opening and allowing exit. Mane-iac emerged via crawling out with her hair tendrils and the little girl caused another stir by vanishing and reappearing in a burst of magic. “Well anything edible really, just something you like!” Mariner Moon chirped as she paced towards the garage like it was the most normal thing ever and she teleported, something excessively rare in this world no matter how crazy it was. Mane-iac walked alongside her and pressed a button on the wall, “Get down here… And bring what you’ve been working on.” A speaker hummed with a voice, “Oooh? How’d you guess, toots?” “Because you have a habit of doing so when it’s my turn to do patrols, thinking you can surprise me every time,” Mane-iac quipped as she removed her hat and mask, revealing the acid scarred face of Mica Hackett. An elevator buzzed as it lowered down into the dark garage, earning Mariner Moon’s fascination and a non-response from Mica, who kept her back to it with her arms crossed as she continued to study the little girl. A boisterous looking man with a metallic mohawk and dirty green skin happily paced out of the elevator carrying a plate of crisped rolls and some sort of plastic bottle. Waltzing up behind the superheroine while still sporting a simultaneously gaudy and metal looking apron, in the sense that it had a pink frill but was decorated with the image of chainsaws, Gigan waited for her to remove a glove and raise one of her scarred hands. Mica sighed and didn’t at all look displeased when he kissed the scar tissue ringing her wrist before placing one of the rolls on it, squirting some of the bottle’s contents on it. She visibly didn’t hide a small smile at the comfort food. “… Thank you, you do know how I prefer them,” the once grumpy, stoic, isolationist heroine whispered. She rolled her eyes and shook her head at the enthusiastic thumbs-up she got. “How’d it go bashing up that ***** *** matter- Oh! Sh******** you didn’t tell me you were bringin’ a kid!” Gigan stopped himself and stumbled back upon noticing a starry-eyed Mariner Moon. “You two… it wasn’t just that holiday special?” she keened while leaning up and towards them on her tippy toes. Gigan opened his mouth several times as if to speak but stopped himself from ever saying an expletive. A main man like him had standards to live up to. Finally he was able to articulate decently well only to get cut off by his companion, friend, roommate, one letting him squat her mansion, etc. “He’s been staying and helping out after some misadventures,” Mica deadpanned while chewing on the roll in her cheek, “He wasn’t intolerable.” Gigan paused but flashed a very big grin as he leaned down towards Mariner Moon, “She’s been warming up to me ever since I helped out with housekeeping… And helped out on the street… and kept Detective Pin-Eyes off her back… and-“ “And cut down on the property damage,” Mica corrected, “Sometimes I did seriously wonder how his former employers stayed in business. But yes, he’s been staying with me.” “Heeey, a main man is always the best, be it fraggin’… basti- BAAAaaaaad guys or making the Lead Lady happy. Took up some hobbies too, turns out culinary is a bit of a calling of mine,” Gigan smirked proudly as he lowered down the tray, “Here, help your self lil’ lady.” Mariner Moon accepted a rolling bowed happily, “Always good to see happiness for those who deserve it.” Gigan smirked a fanged smirk and shot her a thumbs up, “You said it lil’ missy. Can’t be grim all the time, we sure ain’t Frank Miller.” Mariner Moon checked her watch and her ears stuck up a bit more at seeing how much little was left in the spell that brought her here. She tried to refocus and considered just taking the role but did notice something else. “Hmm, what’s that stuff in the bottle?” she questioned as she pointed at the article that Gigan was pouring onto a roll meant for his teammate. “Shampoo,” Gigan grunted back, causing Mariner Moon to visibly double take at the food. Mica held up a finger, “Hackett Industries’ best. If I’m going to care what might get in someone’s eyes, I’m going to care what some kid might swallow.” “So you made,” Mariner Moon puzzled as she let Gigan put some on her roll, “… Edible shampoo?” Gigan put a hand to the side of his mouth and whispered to her, “And she once claimed I was the only crazy one, hehe… Stand by the design though, not shabby. Tastes like syrup.” Mariner Moon eyed the pastry and special seasoning a few times, glancing at her hair before shrugging and biting down on it. Her pigtails stuck straight up and both heroes paused in confusion and concern. A few moments later Mariner Moon’s head slowly pivoted up to look at them with a wide-eyed expression. “… Can I borrow a bottle?” ============= April Fools! ============= “Jump!” Chibi Moon thought she heard Pinkie Pie call out to her as she did as told, dodging a dark mass which she quickly ran away from. ‘Thoroughly bewildered’ didn’t even begin to describe how she felt right now. One moment she was running to Canterlot only to charge face-first into what looked like a doorway of light, then she glimpsed a long white hallway full of doors before someone crashed into her from behind and caused them all to stumble through another of such doors. Now she was a human again, only this time her skin tone was noticeably less pink. A glance out of her peripheral vision did confirm she was still sporting her typical pink hair but the styling looked different. Her bangs were noticeably larger and her pigtails were slimmer, a glance in a window she was passing by confirmed this. She mentally puzzled at her getup, a mostly white dress that looked armored to an extent, with blue accents and very bulky gauntlets. She also just now realized she was running around with a staff of some sort that looked vaguely like a polearm, pipes sprouting from it with the end covered in a pinkish colored metal encircling a blue spherical gemstone. “What the?! Where-“ “Nata, Megs, we took a wrong turn after Sailor Moon! We’re in another magical girl show and picked up a hitchhiker!” Pinkie Pie, still unseen, cried out again from somewhere behind Chibi, who turned around to find her but to no avail. Instead a tall woman in a black outfit with red accents came running up to her, the large cape she was wearing blowing in the wind. The fact she was wielding a brown and amber-hued, almost comically big lovechild of a bearded axe and scythe made Chibi’s grip on her staff seem flimsy. “Nanoha, I think movie 2!” the blue woman, Sonata Dusk, who was now sporting gigantic twintails in her hair, yelped, “I got Fate and Megs ended up as Bardiche!” She pointed the giant axe at Chibi Moon, who flinched back and did so even more when the gemstone at its center started blinking with a voice. “I went from badass to bad-axe! Heh! Anyways who’s this?” the axe, Megalon spoke aloud while doing the best he could to motion at the little girl in front of him. “Oh, she’s someone I know from Ponyville. Hey Chibi, you put the cake and my tail down somewhere safe right?” Pinkie Pie called out again and Chibi Moon looked about, trying to spot her. She turned about, observing they were standing in a very decidedly Neighponese-looking city, though everything was blacked out and dark without anyone around. Signs of a conflict were obvious given the damage to some buildings with loose rubble about. “Up here silly!” Chibi Moon looked up at the only thing above her, the head of the staff she was holding. The blue gemstone blinked at her in tune with the voice. “Hiya! I’m Pinkie Pie and looks like I’m your weapon of justice, friendship, and destruction upon your enemies! Oooh Twilight would love this show!” Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as ‘Pinkie Pie’, the staff she was still holding onto kept talking. “She’s definitely someone who has some experience with this sort of thing, so let’s not look a gift horse in the mouth!” Pinkie chimed right before there was an explosion. Bursting forth from a not insignificantly-sized apartment building was a dark animate mass that vaguely approximated the shape of a serpent or centipede, with large glowing eyes and a gaping maw being the only parts that stood out from the darkness. It lunged and both Sonata and Chibi bolted to the side, the siren grabbing the soon-to-be 12-year-old by the wrist to toe her along since she had a longer stride. “What’s that!? A youma monster?!” Chibi Moon cried out as she observed it chasing them. Sonata Dusk’s boots glowed and magical wings of energy burst from her heels as she went airborne, holding Chibi Moon to her as they both held their weapons. “Jewel Seed monster, they were born from a Midchilda-“ Pinkie Pie started to explain only for a certain battle axe to cut her off. “Early series MacGuffin, bonded with something and made it a monster,” Megalon interrupted, “I thought they got them all by the end of the first season, but apparently it hung around.” Sonata Dusk flew them to a nearby rooftop and put Chibi Moon down, twirling Megalon as she prepared herself. “Weeeeeeeeeee!” “Well, we’d better get this stuff cleaned up before we head for another door, we’re on a time limit!” Sonata chimed as she spun Megalon about. She pulled down a section near the top of the shaft to reveal a revolver-like cylinder, slotting in a full set of some kind of cartridges before spinning the cylinder back into place and slamming the jacket back up over it. Megalon steamed and glowed, the central gem igniting. “Come on! Let’s get em!” the siren yelled out as she went charging back into battle amidst the brilliant light show. Chibi Moon watched in awe as the nice blue-haired woman and talking brown axe intermittently looked awesome and terrified whilst dueling with the massive beast of shadow. She perhaps wondered if this was something similar to what she had to look forward to upon finally becoming the successor to her mother. Every year her mother would get a little weaker and she would get a little stronger as the power transferred over. Eventually it would reach a point where her mother could retire and she would be taking up the mantle as the Lunar Guardian. Her grip on the staff tightened. “Something wrong?” Pinkie Pie the magitek weapon of mass destruction chimed. Chibi Moon pondered deeply for a moment before sighing, “It’s different but… Something a bit like this is something I’m going to end up doing when I grow up.” “Do not want to do it?” “No, it’s a huge honor and I know I can but-“ She watched as Sonata flew past a lunging slash and chopped off a tendril of shadow with Megalon’s edge, sliding backwards across the air as she slashed into the space to unleash blasts of energy with the swings after Megalon reconfigured to more closely resemble a scythe. “It’s an even bigger duty!” Chibi pouted as she looked at the city, “I-I know I won’t do it alone but none of my parents’ team’s successors have been found yet except me. This place looks a lot like my home, what I would have to be protecting.” She didn’t quite realize how being in a place that looked like Neighpon would bring up some homesickness. Memories of going to her parents favorite park on some evenings, helping Auntie Pyre Mars clean the cool looking temple shrines, spending time at Auntie Dawn Venus’ boutique, to visiting the coral reefs with her mermare Auntie Raine Mercury to look at the beautiful fish, or enjoying some of Auntie Stormy Jupiter’s cooking under the table were flooding back. This would be her first birthday without any of them. “My parents’ team are legends, what if it comes a time I gotta step up and not have anyone to step up with me?” “You’re talking about how you’re the successor to your mother’s role as the lunar guardian but none of your future compatriots have been discovered yet?” Pinkie Pie chimed with glowing pulses from the gym that made up the staff’s head. Chibi Moon blinked a bit blankly before nodding, not wanting to question how it was Miss Pie knew exactly all of that. Asking that to make sense would be small potatoes to asking how any of this made sense, “Sounds about right. I mean I’m not upset about being next in line, I’d love to be a hero! All of my idols are after all and I’ve been taught well. It’s just… Uncertainty you know? Maybe I haven’t been tested enough.” “Well, my good friend Twilight was much the same way when she was untested and thought she had to stand by yourself. But then she got all her cool friends like me! And we all turned out to be a lot stronger together than we were apart,” Pinkie Pie noted with a soothing, assuring tone, “So don’t you worry your pretty little mind, when your time to step up to the plate has come I’m sure you won’t be doing it alone. And if your teammates take their sweet time showing themselves, we got others to help you out! There’s very few chosen ones, Nanoha isn’t one.” Chibi Moon tilted her head as she looked at her wardrobe, “Is… that who I am right now?” “Seems so! Magical girls like her were talented and it’s great they jumped at the call, but nopony or nobody ever had it where they had to stand all alone.” “And if I mess up when I have to take over for my mom?” Chibi muttered with some apprehension even as she listened to the words. “Then you’ll have plenty of others to catch you if you stumble… Oh duck to the side by the way, quick!” Chibi Moon obeyed and paid attention to her surroundings again, jumping to the floor and avoiding some flying debris that sailed overhead. Sonata flew back towards her with the airbrakes on, the magical wings on her ankles chiming with light as she readied Megalon again. “I overheard, and Pinkie’s right. The best singer ever is no match for a good chorus! And the best chorus is always better than the sum of the parts,” she shot Chibi Moon a thumbs up, “So the bigger the pod the better, I say!” “But what if they don’t like me or I can’t find them? I know others can help me against Queen Beryl, but they’d be walking into something they don’t need to!” Chibi Moon frowned. She didn’t doubt for a moment some Equestrians or kaiju would lend their aid against the thousand-year foe her lineage had been warring with, but it wasn’t their responsibility and they may not have the proper tools. One of the reasons she was hesitant to talk about it too much with her Sensei, lest he feel burdened. Megalon’s gemstone blinked as the axe head crackled with energy, “And hey, my brother and our other teammate couldn’t be more different and yet we manage. If they’re your friends or your team it doesn’t matter what makes you different, but rather what makes you the same. Hey, if there came a day we had a giant bat lady on our team, I’d be good with it and friend her as soon as I could!” Sonata Dusk winked at Chibi Moon and the latter got the sense the blinking axe was doing the same before they rushed off to battle. Chibi Moon chewed at her lip as the conflict continued, before her staff buzzed with life and power. “Tell yah what kiddo, consider this the training wheels. If you want to be an awesome magic blasty, magical-girl tactical kaboom; lemme help you for your first run!” Chibi Moon stayed still in thought for a moment before her expression lighted somewhat. Pinkie Pie was a weird one, but she was a very nice mare and Chibi almost got the sense she was holding her hoof- er… hand. Maybe it wouldn’t be all that bad, she did want to prove herself. Chibi Moon looked at the streets below and back to the staff, steeling herself. “Hai! So... how do we do this?” Pinkie Pie giggled, “Well, first you need to load that cartridge in so I could do the big magical kaboom. Don’t worry, I’m used to exploding!” 10 seconds later there was a brilliant eruption of light and magic. Sonata and Megalon saw it and flew out of the way, cheering as Chibi Moon flew past them with the magnificent glimmering brilliance of Pinkie Pie held in hand. They looked awesome… as they spiraled up and down like a pinwheel from the uncontrolled flight, Chibi Moon seeing total vertigo as Pinkie Pie squealed in victory. They crashed into the shadowy monster at full speed, causing parts of it to fly off in all directions from what looked like a tactical nuke going off inside it! Several minutes later a very dazed and still quite dizzy Chibi Moon held onto Pinkie Pie and Megalon as Sonata gave her a piggyback ride down the street towards a glowing portal door. “Well, that was an explosion and a half! The Nanoha-verse is the world where magical girls are packing heat!” Pinkie snickered. Megalon’s gem flashed in tandem, “You know if my brother knew how destructive some of these Japanese series can be, he’d probably like them more.” “Oh? What turned him off?” Sonata quipped as she glanced up at them. “Tentacles,” was Megalon’s only response as he spoke in a way that seemed to indicate he was shrugging, “That’s all he would say, tentacles.” Chibi Moon was about to remark about seeing some of that in the naughty comics her mom and dad had stashed away, however she spotted something that immediately took her attention away when her vision cleared. “Oooh oooh down down!” she keened as Sonata squatted down near a park bench and let Chibi off her back. Chibi scampered off to a small storefront and ducked inside. “Huh, where’s she going?” Sonata wondered aloud, holding her two friends who were currently weapons of mass destruction as if it was the most casual thing ever. After the world with the cyborg ninjas and them driving a tank to Meghan William’s house, nothing phased her. “Ah, looks like that’s the Takamachi family store,” Megalon noted as he was somehow able to read the front. Pinkie Pie giggled, “Ah, Nanoha’s folks. What did they sell again?” Chibi knew it was fate she ended up as the character she did, having heard of a similar magical mishap involving a Power Ponies comic. Oh sure, she got an inkling of that when she ended up as a young magical girl still cutting her teeth; but this, this here had to be fate. She swiped a warm cup and grounds bags of familiarity off the front stock, putting some coinage on the counter to cover for it on account of nobody being present to pay. Turns out Japan and Neighpon had something else important in common too. Happy as can be, she paced out of the Takamachi family shop with a bag of her favorite coffee grounds and a hot cup of the stuff to guzzle on the way back home. ===================== ........ Shimmer'verse?!?! ===================== In another reality similar but very much different than Chibi’s Equestria, a similarly familiar yet different mare was at work in her house. The yellow-orange unicorn paced around the kitchen of her tree home, her yellow-and-red streaked hair bouncing slightly as she pranced about in slight worry. The clock’s little hands ticked away each second, something her sensitive ears couldn’t help but pick up. It made her worry even more. Her eyes couldn’t help but glance at the stove and then at the clock in quick succession before continuing with her pacing. This unicorn mare was none other than Princess Sunset Shimmer, the adopted daughter of Celestia herself. Which is why she was currently so nervous. The kitchen was filled with the smells of cooking dough. A tray of cookies was baking, something she was hoping to give to her mother. Sunset loved her dearly but didn’t get to spend as much time with her as she would have liked. Which is why she was going to make this coming visit a good one. It had taken her a while but she had finally gotten the hang of cooking. At least she didn’t almost burn the entire kitchen to the ground this time. Progress. The timer for the cookies ‘dinged’. Her ears perked and she smiled, happily going to the stove. Her magic brought out the little tray and she closed the stove right back up. She closed her eyes and took in the scent. She let out a breathy sound of relief. “Now this will please mom,” she smiled. Her luck however ran out. That was the moment when a giant rocket smashed through her wall. The tip hit the tray, taking it with it and crushing it underneath its weight as it lodged itself on the floor of the kitchen. Sunset stared at it and did nothing. No part of her body moved. Her mind was still trying to process what had happened just now because of how fast it was. She blinked and opened her mouth, just to close it. She was so confused. A hatch opened up on the rocket and out popped a brown-coated unicorn mare, “Heya Sunset.” Quickfix, one of Sunset’s friends and a fellow element bearer, said. “Quickfix!” Sunset raged, fire enveloping her horn. Quickfix held up her hoof quickly. "Wait,” she brought out a little unicorn filly, “Ah ain't alone in this.” A little filly popped up beside her and smiled, “Konnichi wa!” the little filly happily waved at her. “Quickfix,” Sunset tried to keep her rage in check, “You better have a good explanation and I hope it doesn't include foalnapping or explosio-” An ensuing explosion was audible even from there. “You better have a better explanation!” Sunset pushed her face into Quickfix’s own. “It’s true,” Quickfix backpedaled and gestured to the little filly, “She’s from another dimension.” “Salutations Princess Sunset-gozen,” the filly waved her hoof again, “I’m Chibi Moon. And you’re pretty big, miss.” “And you’re pretty small,” Sunset noted at the fact this filly seemed small even by filly standards, “But I’m still not buying this. You can’t possibly ask me to believe that you somehow were able to build a portal to another dimension and link it to another portal to another dimension. That just doesn’t happen.” Quickfix gave her a deadpan expression, “Do ya know who yer talkin’ to?” Sunset opened her mouth and then closed it. She facehooved, “Okay, I believe you. Then what are we going to do with her then?” “Well we could help with her cake mission,” Quickfix said. “We can do that after I rebake my cookies,” Sunset huffed as she looked to the destruction the rocket had caused, “It’s going to take some time though.” “Oooh,” Chibi Moon smiled as she hopped in front of Sunset, “I can help with that. I bake a lot of cookies with my mom.” Sunset quirked an eyebrow, “You do?” Chibi Moon nodded with an affirmative hum, “Yep. It’s the least I can do to make up for the rocket. Which was awesome by the way, miss Quickfix.” “‘Course it was,” Quickfix ruffled the small filly’s mane a bit. “Well I don’t blame you, Chibi,” Sunset glared at Quickfix who chuckled nervously, “But I do appreciate the help. I’ll get the supplies and we can get started.” It didn’t take long to set everything up. During all of this, there wasn’t much said. It went as smoothly as one would expect besides Sunset yanking any gadgets Quickfix tried to bring to make it ‘easier’ or ‘better’. She couldn’t trust that mare around anything of hers. Chibi on the other hand was a nice little filly. Her body was a bit strange and she was small for her age but she was from another world. She guessed the ponies there were smaller and a bit weird. Regardless, she was nice and polite. She even listened to her without complaint. That was a nice refreshing change of pace. She was getting so used to things going awry that a little sweetness went a long way. Sunset smiled as the timer dinged, telling them that the cookies were done. She opened the oven and took in the sweet smell. She sighed in bliss as she put it on top of the oven and closed it, “There. Now it’s done. Thanks, Chibi. I honestly couldn’t have made this without you.” “It’s not that hard,” Chibi said with a smile, “I can get you the recipe next time I visit.” “Please do,” Sunset glared at Quickfix as she said that, who looked irked by the constant glares, “At least someone here has some common decency.” “Yeah, yeah,” Quickfix huffed and went to her rocket, “I’ll clean it up.” “Without putting another hole in my house.” “.... I’ll figure it out,” Quickfix looked away, “Once I get her home, I’ll take it out piece by piece so it won’t destroy anything more. Sorry Sunset.” Sunset huffed before she went to her cooler. She pulled out a tub of her special ice-cream, “Alright, one tub of Vanilla ice cream spiced with Habanero coming right up.” “Sounds kinda weird,” Chibi Moon said. Sunset shrugged, “I like spicy foods. Sue me.” She gave the tub to her and ruffled her mane, “Now go on and have some fun making this… present I guess?” “Same to you,” Chibi smiled as Quickfix walked her out of the house. However once they reached the front door, it suddenly opened. Chibi Moon’s eyes widened as she beheld the being before her. Yes, she had felt a bit strange around Sunset. She had this ‘aura’ around her that was much more than any other unicorn she’d ever met. Even Quickfix seemed a bit weird but they were good ponies. This was on another level. The being’s presence exuded a powerful wave of good feelings. She felt relaxed and happy. As though nothing could hurt her while this person was around. The motherly smile the large alicorn gave her was soothing. It was none other than Princess Celestia… who was really, really big here. Chibi Moon’s mouth made an ‘O’ like shape as she looked at her. Celestia simply chuckled, “I take it you are Chibi Moon?” Her voice was a bit different as well. It was far more ethereal and ‘more’ than mortal. Not eldritch or haunting like a recording of Queen Beryl she'd heard, but there was a similarity. The little filly gasped, “How did you know?” “I have a friend who can see the future,” Celestia said, “Not as well as he says he can but enough that it can be hoofy at times. I believe Miss Quickfix is taking you back to your world now?” Chibi Moon smiled and nodded, “Yep. I had some fun making cookies with Sunset for her momma while I was here though.” Celestia’s smile became warmer at that, “What a nice filly you are.” She let her wing pat Chibi’s head, which made her feel even better, “I won’t keep you. However, I have one thing to ask of you.” “What is it?” Chibi had trusted her Celestia as she was Princess Luna’s big sister. She didn’t talk to her that much, but Luna trusted her greatly. That and Celestia was a nice princess. So she’d do what she was told. “I want you to give this to a Mister Rodan,” Celestia magicked up a large scroll and gave it to the small filly. She put it in the little rucksack along with her ingredient, “Don’t open it. It’s for his eyes only, okay?” Chibi nodded and saluted, “Okay. You can count on me, Princess Celestia-gozen!” Chibi then walked out with Quickfix, a new side quest opening up for her adventure. “It does my heart good to see fillies like her in other worlds,” Celestia said as she walked into the kitchen. She moved over and hugged her daughter, who was looking over her spread of cookies, “It’s good to see you again, my little one.” “Good to see you too, mom,” Sunset said as she nuzzled the alicorn, “Baked you some cookies.” “Splendid,” Celestia said, “I see that you had fun with Chibi Moon.” “How did you know I was…" Sunset's face scrunched up at her mother, "Did you talk to Anrain?” Chibi Moon raised an eyebrow at the unicorn princess and Sunset nodded to her, "They're deer seer. Long story." "You're world has a lot of psychics it seems," Chibi Moon hummed as she rubbed her chin. Sunset shrugged but nodded. Celestia nodded, “Yes, he did stop by. Truthfully I needled it out of him because I was bored,” She chuckled, “Anyways, let’s dig in.” Sunset quirked an eyebrow at her mother, “You aren’t planning something, are you?” Princess Celestia shot her a sly smirk, “Why ever would you think that of me, my precious daughter?” “Because you don’t just ask for future visions because you’re bored,” Sunset deadpanned. Celestia laughed and patted her head, “You don’t have to worry about anything, my sweet Sunset. Everything will work out for the best, I can assure you. Now let’s share these delicious cookies!” "Hai!" Chibi Moon eagerly agreed. ========== Canterlot ========== Chibi Moon busily worked in her study, having taken the precaution of moving her build project to a rental studio away from the castle and school. Partially to allow privacy and ensure her Sensei didn't catch on, and partially in case this went south and she had to try several times. Clad in a chef's hat and apron, she gathered her materials together, all the delicious foodstuffs and ingredients she had amassed so far, all set atop a scroll with Neighponese and Equestrian runes written upon it. After very carefully, and more than a bit awkwardly, putting Pinkie Pie's tail hairs near the surge crystal Xenilla had given her, she backed up and prepared. Biting her tongue as she concentrated after downing another mug of coffee, Chibi Moon's horn ignited and she grinned. Time to make a cake! Author's Note Special Guest Author for the Shimmer'verse jaunt by EvoWizard! Phoenix Flamez and artwork by FallenAngel5414 Thalia by TGB-Jerga Proofed by Faith-Wolff and Lance-Omikron
Part 3/3: Crazy Cooking!========== Canterlot ========== Chibi Moon busily worked in her study, having taken the precaution of moving her build project to a rental studio away from the castle and school. Partially to allow privacy and ensure her Sensei didn't catch on, and partially in case things went south and she had to try several times. Clad in a chef's hat and apron, she gathered her materials together, all the delicious foodstuffs and ingredients she had amassed so far, all set atop a scroll with Neighponese and Equestrian runes written upon it. After very carefully, and more than a bit awkwardly, putting Pinkie Pie's tail hairs near the surge crystal Xenilla had given her, she backed up and prepared. Biting her tongue as she concentrated after downing another mug of coffee, Chibi Moon's horn ignited and she grinned. Time to make a cake! It took a few extra jaunts to some other very strange worlds, some of which she only had a faded memory of, to get back to where she started. Frankly she was very confused on how she ended up where she did, but she was an heiress to a 1,000-year lineage of magical warriors, living in a country ruled by two immortal diarchs with chimeric bodies of different races, and was the apprentice to a gigantic unicorn who was actually a 100-meter tall, radioactive, nigh-indestructible, mutated dinosaur. Normality and questioning the fantastic were simply not in her vocabulary. She didn’t lose sleep over how it all worked, nor should anyone else either. There were far more important things to worry about, like the gathered ingredients before her. Mariner “Chibi” Moon observed all that she had gathered around, near and far with a studious mind. True, some of them certainly looked way more edible in a cake than others, but the spell should take care of all that. She certainly was aiming high but there was some comfort in maybe not being the best a star chef could bake. If her sensei could withstand spewing out high-temperature streams of radioactive plasma, she figured nothing she could possibly cook up would be so bad as to give Godzilla a stomachache. Setting out all the ingredients upon the enchanting rune she had chalked into the ground, with the scroll from her homeland’s magical incantation mixed with that of archaic equestrian magic in hoof. Chibi put her hooves together and cracked her wrist, biting her tongue as magic charged up across her horn. To make it all come together, no matter how diverse the ingredients and how far-flung their origins were, the spell was to make them all come together into the best cake they could be. With a little bit of wincing and befuddlement, she levitated the removed tail hairs of Pinkie Pie, her volunteer chef, from the bag they were in. The moment they were free, the hairs pushed back out to the exact same shape they were in life upon her body, making it look like she had literally just picked her tail up and hoofed it over to Chibi. To be fair, that was exactly what she had done. Chibi placed the tail hair upon the ingredients and the marking on the ground, before concentrating with every ounce of focus she had. She drew up not only her own magic, but the inherent magic granted to her as her mother’s successor. She was to be the Lunar Guardian one day, and after a little pep talk she was feeling more confident about that. Confident enough that she intentionally drew upon the fragmentary abilities the Silver Crystal had granted upon her to amplify her magic further. To make all come together in the perfect sequence. That was what the spell was for, and that is exactly what she had to do. The luminance took hold of all of the ingredients in a uniform brightness, sinking it together in a uniform solid mass of light. She saw it condense into a vaguely barrel shape, before shifting into a more layered appearance of decreasingly-sized cylinders that composed the iconic cake shape. Chibi’s jaw began to drop and a gasp as she marveled at how beautiful it was becoming! True, it wasn’t necessarily to the standard of a superb baker, no spell could ever replicate that kind of talent, but this was meant to be from her and this was far and away superior to anything she could personally make with her own hooves. She wasn’t Auntie Jupiter after all, but this wasn’t at all shabby! It was towering, it was layered with beautiful blues and pinks, it was-… standing up? Glowing eyes in the same coloration as the surge crystal Xenilla had given her snapped open on the trunk, a facsimile of a toothy maw appearing with the same hues as Pinkie Pie’s tail. Chibi Moon’s jaw further dropped The cake almost unfolded upon itself, like it had been compacted into a shape or was some kind of animal that curled up to go to sleep and was getting back up upon awakening. It grew in size until reaching roughly the same height as Princess Luna, clearly emulating an equine shape while still sporting all the hallmarks of being created from confectionery. A mane of pink frosting flipped back and separated into two giant twintails that resembled Chibi’s mother’s infamous “meatball tails”, as toothy ‘lips’ split in a manic cackle. “I AM Kooky Keki! For too long cake has been consumed by all, and now I take my sweet revenge!” “Whaaaat?” Chibi Moon squeaked at the entity that literally just called itself ‘Crazy Cake’ in Neighponese, as the cake monster’s horn ignited and shot out a shockwave that ruptured the room. The future Lunar Guardian flopped on the ground of the ruined warehouse in a heap, rump over head. “Deeeef!.... Ooouuoow,” she groaned, blowing her tail out of her face just as her ancestral magic scroll billowed through the air and fell upon her snout. Half-covered in frosting as it was, she couldn’t ignore what was written upon it now inches from her eyes. In very fine print on the back was… a decades-old warning label. -‘Warning: Do not mix this spell with caffeine, caffeine is evil and will make it a monster.- Mariner Moon’- Chibi Moon could mentally feel the white noise between her ears. Both at her own impulsiveness leading to her not reading the label, her mother’s meatball headed idea to put the label on the back, wondering what exactly her mother got up to in her youth that made her feel the need to put a label like that on, as well as the very high probability this sort of blunder was genetic. Quickly recalculating back to the matter at hand she looked up, flipping back onto her hooves and braced for battle only to notice the conspicuous absence of the killer confectionery. Only to see absolutely nothing except a gaping hole in the wall. The sounds of crashing objects and yelling soon filtered in. “Monsteeer!” “What the?! Is that frosting it’s firing out?!” “Sis, I’m stuck!” “Aaaah yes, revenge is butter late than never!” Kooky Keki roared. Chibi Moon grimaced but steeled herself. Innocents were in danger and as both the successor to the title of lunar Guardian and the apprentice to the monster king, she could not stand idly by! Besides, if she managed to wrap this up pretty quick before anyone else got involved nobody might figure out this was her blunder… With that worry in her mind, Chibi Moon pulled from a hidden fold in her hair a small circular device with a red heart on it. With a fragment of the Silver Crystal’s power in hoof, she took off after the beast. Kooky Keki cackled crazily as the calamitous corrupted confectionary crushed a colt’s cotton candy. Absorbing the sweets she’d stomped on underhoof into her and growing in size slightly, the cake monster loomed menacing over the befuddled and startled plaza goers she’d trapped in the sticky icing she’d thrown out. Like a spider inspecting a fly, Kooky Keki leaned closer to a very befuddled looking Sweetberry; the pink-furred, blue-and-green-maned mare stuck to her baking stand with her sisters Triple Treat and Cotton Candy. “Moooooore, more of you whisk great reprisal!” Kooky Keki barked while stalking over the stand. Sweetberry sputtered as she noticed the monster effortlessly bending the wheels to the mobile baking stall, “Hey! Watch it! Uncle Cake gave us this for Hearth’s Warming!” A blob of pink and blue, mostly obscured by the delicious frosting covering her, stood up while holding up a pair of candy spools. Cotton Candy seemed totally unfazed at being menaced by confectionary as she replied to the monster like it was a paying customer. “Want bubble gum or strawberry?” Cotton Candy chimed jovially before a purple mare similarly covered in frosting pulled her back and brandished an oversized lollipop like a rapier for her and her sisters’ defense. “Back! Back! Heel! Desist!” Triple Treat yelped while jabbing out with the lollipop. She closed her eyes and swung it, grimacing at the squishing, pulpy noise that sounded off before her closed eyelids as well as the spattering of debris that followed. Triple Treat chanced a peak out of her eye and soon reeled back even before Sweetberry grabbed her and yanked both her and Cotton Candy back. The three sisters tumbled away from the baking stand as Kooky Keki stood unphased, half the lollipop lodged on the top of her head right between the eyes. The semi-liquid monster reached up and wrapped an icing covered hoof around the stalk of the lollipop, pulling it through part of her face where her upper jaw and nose were to get it in her mouth. The crazed confection giggled as she happily smacked her lips across the lollipop, which was too big to fit in her mouth and subsequently stuck out of the side of her cheek before shrinking. Kooky Keki swelled up as the lolipop’s sugary goodness shrunk away to nothingness, the monster soon tossing away the inedible stalk casually before going for the contents of the baking stand’s interior. “HOLD IT RIGHT THERE!” a voice cried out as the Sweet Sisters and Kooky Keki all looked up the road. Standing dramatically on the edge of the roof with some inexplicable backlighting, a shadowed Chibi Moon was reared up on her hind hooves with one hoof raised into the wind. “Sweets are meant to be a lovable treat every now and then, to brighten a day and especially to be shared with loved ones and friends! Not gluttonously guzzled upon selfish demand! I am a Celestial Guardian trainee, and in the name of all love and justice I will punish y-“ “Ah get baked you brat!” Kooky Keki bellowed as her surge crystals-for-eyes flashed and jagged streams of pink lighting shot out. Chibi Moon yelped as she was forced to jump forward to avoid a direct hit, fumbling off the rooftop. As she tumbled she held aloft her charm and called out. “Ah, scrap it all! No time for mom’s theatrics today! HENSHIN!” A bright flash of light blinded all who might have been onlookers, a large burst of fog helping to further mask what followed. In a dazzling display of magical heart symbols wrapping around her like a cocoon, the shape of a crescent moon appeared before it all burst outwards as a shower of glimmering dust. Mariner Chibi Moon landed in a garb not unlike her mother’s armored chestplate and skirt combo, a large pink metal bow helping to cover her chest with protective gloves and boots on her limbs. Twin pieces of her hair were pointed up in a manner akin to small bunny ears, bejeweled with red gems. Rising to her hooves, Mariner Chibi Moon readied herself. The golden tiara under her horn glimmered in tandem with the rubies studding her hair, as she struck a dynamic battle pose. Link! Link! On instinct she was about to call out something but soon had to hit the deck to avoid more laser fire from the cackling cake cretin. Rolling aside and clicking her heels together, Chibi redirected energy from her horn into the bottom of her feet, making sure to do so to both hooves in order to not be sent spiraling out of control. Putting her forelimbs forward, Chibi closed her eyes and braced for impact with Kooky Keki. The dastardly dish let out a gurgling grunt as her opponent slammed into her, causing icing and rainbow zap apple jam to go flying everywhere. Chibi came rocketing out the other side, having flown through as such for she busted a hole in Kooky Keki; tumbling across the street. Chibi staggered to her feet, mildly disgusted at being covered in such sticky sucrose that was matting her hair. True it was sweet confectionary and she did have a passing interest in taste testing, but that thought was quickly put to rest when it started wriggling. “AHGHRAAA AHGRAAAAA!” Kooky Keki, still gurgling in pain, probably snapped her neck around at a 180° angle and split her face with a grin, “AHGHRAAA AHGRAAAAA- Gotcha, I’m made of sterner stuffing!” She grinned widely as the spattered sucrose largely took the life of its own and shot back towards her, slithering across the ground as she picked up the sweets stand and guzzled the contents. The gaping hole in her chest was patched up by the returning mass as well as whatever was consumed from the stand’s contents; Kooky Keki swelling up in size like a water balloon. Chibi grimaced at the uncanny sight of mobile confectionary eating itself. -Resistant to physical blows, removed parts have a mind of their own, and can absorb substances to get bigger! It’s like a sugary version of Hedorah!- “Now time to whip you into cream!” Kooky Keki cackled as one of her limbs shot out and lengthened into a tendril, snapping Chibi away from her focus. The tendril was sloshed out and snapped forward, the unicorn reflexively putting up a barrier shield that the mass crashed into with deceptive force. The pink energy bubble encasing her made a sound akin to a kickball being punted, rapidly bouncing off from the blow as it went careening towards the side of the building. Chibi braced after grimacing, keeping the energy shield up and expanding it so she could absorb the impact, only for Kooky Keki to smack across the back of the barrier again and send her impacting and then rebounding off the wall. The sinister sweet gurgled a cackle as she started dribbling the bouncy ball of the shield between several tendrils and walls. Ghost Story was minding her own business, sipping some tea while reading another spooky tale after putting in her ear plugs. It had been a busy day in the market outside where she was staying and she planned on visiting the castle during the night shift so she had to catch some rest now. In fact she often liked to challenge herself during such events, and after putting the book away she put on her sleep mask in an effort to navigate her lodging without seeing. Much to her delight she was effortlessly able to make her way to the kitchen and start up the sink. Humming to herself while getting a glass of water for the good day sleep, she was completely ignorant of the tendril flying past her window nor the battle outside. -Water’s always too warm right at the start of the faucet being on…- She flexed her deafened, plugged ears, reaching up and tapping at the earplugs to make sure they wouldn’t be uncomfortable to wear in her sleep. Outside the window the barrier shield Chibi was inside was getting dribbled across the neighboring rooftop, before resisting the onslaught of the jagged laser beams fired out from Kooky Keki’s face; splitting edges of malefic energy away in a shower of sparks. Ghost Story puzzled as she felt the water run over her hoof, lifting up her mask while bending down to inspect it so she could peek out one eye. -Did the neighbors downstairs use up all the cold water? It’s almost Jacuzzi hot!- Outside her window the beam onslaught stopped and Chibi was visibly mouthing something while her horn started to ignite, only having to quickly stop whatever she was charging up and put the shield back on to avoid several more tendrils slapping the roof around her and exploding into spatterings of confectionary that became animate. She tried to teleport away, but doing so required dropping the shield for a half second, and the confectionary acted; snapping down to grab her. Ghost Story whacked her sink, which sputtered and started to gurgle before pumping out another jet of water. The bat-winged pegasus smiled. -Ah there we go! What took yah?- She readied a cup when the window behind her exploded with impact. Stumbling forward and thankfully avoiding any glass shards, Ghost Story whipped around and was beholden to a very dizzy looking Chibi Moon clad in some kind of armor, encased and engulfed in what looked like animate cake batter that was sparking with yellow energy. Chibi and Ghost Story’s eyes met as the filly’s mind became slightly less discombobulated after getting dribbled for the past minute, the former about to say something before she noticed the earplugs. She motioned to her ears, glad for the comedic timing allotting her a moment to not get yanked back instantly, and a dumbfounded Ghost Story followed suit to remove her earplugs. Instantly her ears were assailed with yelling outside and a loud gurgling laughter that sounded way too over-the-top to be threatening. Chibi Moon waved to her even while still partially stuck in the wall, “Konichiwa, Story-san, you might want to move out of the building.” Ghost Story blinked, still about as mentally discombobulated as the filly due to the suddenness of all this but she was pretty quickly picking up the pieces, “… Monster?” Chibi Moon nodded with a pout. Ghost Story wanted to ask what happened, how did a monster get in the city, was anyone hurt, and how was Chibi so okay after getting slammed through a window or what she was wearing; but the questions were forcefully stopped when the filly was yanked back through the window. Ghost Story quickly felt compelled to fly out after her and try to help, but seeing the lasers fly through the air quickly brought back memories of an infamous battle from one Canterlot night. There wasn’t much she could do directly but… She bolted into the hall and raced for the exit, spreading her wings and making for the castle. The battle was in the smaller, thankfully mostly abandoned warehouse district of downtown. There weren’t many guard ponies or sentries about, so word might not travel as fast to the castle. But while she was no speedster, she certainly could travel faster and knew exactly who to call for this kind of situation. Chibi Moon kicked against the animate sugary sludge that was holding her, her horn igniting several times to try and teleport free or put up the shield but physical contact kept either from happening. She grit her teeth as Kooky Keki reeled her in, cackling crazily. “Now I have you, my key ingredient! Now I will be set to bake!” she declared as her torso opened up into a cavity Chibi was reeled towards, “ALL ACCORDING TO CAKEKAKU!” The filly’s eyes widened, not caring at all what exactly it meant that her rampant creation was trying to fuse with her or consume her; nor the irony that the cake was trying to eat her now. Her horn ignited across the spiraling bands and she collected up energy while aiming for the center mass. “Piiiiink! Sugaaaaarr!-“ “Hey, sugar’s my recipe, get your own attack name, Brat!” Kooky Keki shrieked as she crackled with yellow magic born out of the surge crystals she had for eyes. Chibi tried to charge up her trump card faster, “Heaaaaaar-MGPH!” She was cut off and flailed when the animate cake batter leapt onto her face and shocked it, electrocuting her horn while covering her mouth. The filly twitched from the convulsions as her magic concentration faltered, inciting another rabid bit of gurgling laughter from Kooky Keki. Without the proper focus and the chaotic energy coursing into her horn, Chibi couldn’t use her magic…. So she resorted to her back-up means by reaching into the frills of her armor, to the places of holding. While some might call a Celestial Senshi Guardian’s outfit strange, it definitely had plenty of perks beyond reducing all damage to her body and not needing to breathe. Storage spaces were way bigger than they looked, and mares everywhere really appreciated clothing with practical female pockets! And one last jaunt before getting home gave her quite the keepsake. =================== Guest authored by ThatGuyVex =================== Faded slightly with age but painted in broad strokes of black paint, the sign above the sliding door to the small back-alley shop read ‘Discount Import Sundries, Candies, and Other Random Delights’’. Mariner Chibi Moon pretty much stopped reading at the ‘Candies’ part and immediately gave a little skip of happy satisfaction as she marched down the short, cobblestone pathway towards the door. How did she get here? Not very important. Why was the miniature equine now a miniature human girl sporting a thrifty set of black robes that she didn’t remember putting on but seemed to fit her to a T? Chalk it up to the mysteries of interdimensional travel. None of that really mattered to Chibi Moon, for she was on a quest, and this looked like her next stop! “Konichi-wa!” she proclaimed merrily as she threw open the sliding wood and paper door, quite similar in style to the doors from her homeland. “AH!” a startled, female yelp stemmed from the room beyond the doorway, a cozy little store front with various shelves and counters stacked with various items of unidentifiable nature, all situated on a tatami mat. The source of the voice was a human girl, older than Chibi Moon, at just the cusp of adulthood, wearing jeans and a hot pink T-shirt under a black leather jacket. On her right wrist was a bulky yellow watch with an oddly large face that, rather than numbers to tell time, had ‘CH’ in large red letters on it. Orange skin and a two-toned head of wavy red and yellow locks immediately sparked a sense of familiarity to Chibi Moon? Hadn’t she just met someone like this, but in pony form? Regardless, the girl leapt to her feet in what looked like a very questionable martial arts pose, quickly holding up her watch to her face. A small antenna sprouted from the watch, making Chibi Moon stare at it in innocent curiosity while the girl shouted, “Code 1254! Discord, we have an intruder!” A distracted voice spoke from the watch, “The rocket launcher is behind the counter. If that doesn’t work, just use the Chappy-Rizer. That’s what I gave it to you for.” Chibi Moon tilted her head, pigtails bobbing slightly as she said, “Oh, sorry, did I come at a bad time? This is a candy store, right?” The girl blinked at her a few times, slowly relaxing her dramatic karate stance, “Waaait, are you a customer? Do we even get those?” “Hai!” Chibi Moon chirped, “I am a customer! I wish to buy the best candy you have! Or, um, borrow it, since I don’t have money. Is that okay?” “...Lemme check,” the girl said, then spoke once more into the watch, “Discord, cancel the Code 1254. It’s a customer! She wants to buy stuff, but doesn’t have any money!” “I’m busy!” responded the voice from earlier, “Handle it yourself, Chappy! That’s what I’m paying you for!” “I get paid!?” “In food and lodging and me not reporting you to the authorities in Soul Society, yes. Wait... did you say we have a customer?” There was the sound of something heavy being shoved around from somewhere beyond the door at the back of the storefront, followed by several loud thuds. Then a minute later a gruff looking old man with brown skin came shuffling out of the back door. He was dressed in clothes akin to Neighpon, with a faded dark green and black kimono, wooden clog sandals, and a strange white and green striped hat with a wide, circular brim. He carried a gnarled, wooden cane in one hand, although he seemed to Chibi Moon to be quite spry and hardly needed it. “Hello there. Not exactly every day we get genuine customers in our doors-” “What with all the wards designed to prevent precisely that,” the girl, Chappy,, said, and the man cut her off with a light elbowing before giving Chibi a friendly, snaggle toothed smile. “-Ahem, at any rate, you appear to be wearing Soul Reaper robes, but you don’t exactly strike me as a Soul Reaper, young lady. Be that as it may, far be it for me to be discourteous to a guest. You may call me Discord. I’m the proprietor of this humble shop you see before you.” “And I’m Chappy!” said the girl, sticking a hand out to Chibi, who took it without hesitation and gave a vigorous shake. Chibi Moon curtsied, “Hi Miss Chappy, Mister Discord, I’m Chibi Moon! Say, Miss Chappy, you look a lot like this nice lady I met named Princess Sunset Shimmer! Are you two related?” Discord’s bushy eyebrows went up while Chappy let off a huge grin, “You know Sunset? Wait, Sunset’s a Princess!? Why didn’t she tell me? You’re telling me whenever I keep an eye on her body like I’m doing right now I could be getting treated like royalty somewhere!?” “You’re looking after her body? Huh?” Chibi Moon’s eyes briefly blue-screened, but that cleared up in a moment as she shook her head, “Ooh, this is because I’m in a different dimension, isn’t it? Right, right, stuff doesn’t work the same everywhere.” “Ah, I think I have a better idea of what’s going on, now,” said Discord, stroking his chin, “If you’re not, ahem, a ‘local’ then the circumstances of this world might take far too long to explain.” “Yup,” Chibi Moon nodded, “These sequences are too short for long explanations. Miss Chappy looks like Sunset but isn’t Sunset, but it’s Sunset’s body, yes?” “That’s about the size of it!” Chappy said, who then frowned in confusion, “Does this mean I’m not a Princess?” Discord patted her on the shoulder, “Don’t think about it too hard.” “Oh, if Miss Chappy is in Miss Sunset’s body, then where’s the actual Sunset Shimmer?” asked Chibi Moon with the kind of fascinated, chiming curiosity that seemed to bubble up naturally from her. She hadn’t forgotten why she was here, of course. Her sensei’s cake was of utmost importance. But expecting Chibi Moon to not be curious was like expecting the tides to stop coming in. To her question, Chappy pointed down at the floor, “Sunset’s downstairs training with her friends. When she does that, I keep an eye on her flesh and blood body. Which means this old guy gets to boss me around, which is super boring, but since he’s letting me and Sunset stay here for free ever since her apartment got exploded, I guess it’s cool.” “So just what can we get for you?” asked Discord, ignoring it when the ground abruptly shook from some deep, underground rumble. “Eeeh, what was that?” asked Chibi Moon. “Huh? Oh, like I said, that’s Sunset and the girls doing some hardcore training,” Chappy said as the ground shook again, rattling the shelves, “It gets pretty intense, lately. Even the underground wards can’t keep all the shockwaves from getting up here.” “I should probably go check on them,” said Discord, “Make sure they’re not about to blow another hole in the ceiling. Chappy, you can handle Miss Moon’s needs. Don’t worry about payment, just make sure she leaves satisfied with whatever she wants.” “Wow! Really!?” Chibi Moon was so overjoyed she gave the old man a firm tackle hug, “That’s really nice, thank you!” Looking a tad taken aback, Discord managed to peel the enthusiastic girl off of him and shuffled away through the back door, giving a quick tip of his hat as he did so, “No need to thank me. Just consider it my way of speeding you along on your journey, Miss Moon... for the safety of both your dimension and mine.” “Ara?” she asked, having not really heard that last part, which was spoken in a soft whisper, but Discord just smiled. “Oh, nothing, just the confused mutterings of an old shopkeeper. Good day, ladies. Chappy, I’m counting on you to be a good customer service representative and meet all of Miss Moon’s needs.” Chappy threw a salute with her watch bearing hand, “You got it, boss/slave driver!” After Discord had departed, Chibi Moon started bouncing around the shop, looking at the various items on display. Strangely, despite the shop’s name, nothing immediately looked to her like candy. There were certainly a lot of packages and bottles, all with mysterious labels, but as Chibi read them she saw names like ‘Anti-Hollow Explosive Spray’ or ‘Soul Enriching Stimulant Fluid’ or ‘Enlarge Your Zanpakutou Miracle Pills!’. She gave Chappy a questioning look. “Excuse me Miss Chappy, but where are the candies?” “Right! Candy! Discord’s got that on the sign, doesn’t he? Uhhhhh...” Chappy gained a thousand-mile stare as she scratched her head and wandered up and down the store’s shelves, “I know we’ve got something here like that. Maybe behind the counter?” She dove behind a low wooden counter at the back of the shop, and Chibi saw various items being tossed aside as Chappy dug around, including hauling out a huge object wrapped in cloth that was vaguely shaped like a bulky launcher, including eight barrels on the front of it. Chibi’s eyes lit up at the sight, “What is that?” Chappy, still holding the launcher in one hand, blinked and said, “Huh, this? It’s Screwloose’s, I think? Discord calls it a rocket launcher, which is weird because it doesn’t even shoot rockets, but spirit bullets or something. We keep it up here in case we ever get any rowdy visitors.” Tossing the launcher aside, which happened to land next to Chibi Moon’s feet, Chappy went back to digging around behind the counter. Chibi Moon, despite herself, kept eyeing the ‘rocket launcher’, which was taller than she was, with curious eyes. Something about the bulky weapon spoke to her, as if it was somehow meant for the hands of a petite, cute girl with pigtails. Almost unconsciously she patted the weapon and whispered, “Aww you wanna come with me, don’t you?” “What was that?” Chappy asked. “Nothing! I wasn’t planning on taking the cool spirit cannon! Nope! Hey, wait, would that be okay?” Chibi beeped out quickly. “Discord said you could have whatever you wanted, so have at it!” Chappy said, popping back up from behind the counter and holding a small cardboard box, “I mean, the customer is always right, right!? Right! And check it out, found some candy!” “Yosh!” Chibi Moon hopped happily in place as she grabbed the multi-barreled cannon, which had some convenient purple rope straps that made it easy to loop over her shoulder while Chappy came around the counter and held out the box she found. Inside were a number of colorful dispensers with cartoonish animal heads that instantly reminded Chibi of certain children’s candy she’d seen in Equestria. “Pez?” she asked, tilting her head. “Gikon!” Chappy said, “Soul Candy! Just like me!” “You’re candy?” Chappy’s smile turned slightly embarrassed, “Kinda? I am pretty sweet, if I say so myself. Soul Reapers eat these to pop out of their... you know what, too long an explanation, but these are the closest thing to candy I can find and I think they’re supposed to taste pretty good going down, too. We’ve got lots of types too.” She held up one with a white rabbit head, “This is a Chappy model, just like me! Most popular among female Soul Reapers. Oh, and this one’s Yuki the duck! And here we have Gringo the Panda!” “Ooo, I like that one!” Chibi said, enamoured with the candy dispenser that sported a fierce looking panda with a cigar in his mouth, “He’s cute, but tough looking, just like my sensei!” “Then he’s all yours!” Chappy said, handing over the dispenser to an eager Chibi, “So what do you need it for, anyway?” “I’m gonna make a super special cake for my sensei’s birthday!” Chibi declared, and Chappy seemed to think this over for a moment. Were Soul Candies actually food? Sure, you ate them, but that was only because... well, it wasn’t really important. As far as Chappy was concerned, if they weren’t meant to be eaten, then they shouldn’t be called ‘candies’. It was probably alright. “That sounds fun. Wish Sunset Shimmer would let me eat cake, but she’s super stingy about that ever since that binge I went on,” Chappy sighed, and Chibi, fully understanding about being restricted from sweets, gave the girl a comforting pat. “If I ever come back here someday, I’ll be sure to make you a cake too, Miss Chappy.” “Aww, you’re such a good kid. I bet your sensei is gonna love the cake you make for him,” Chappy replied, shaking off her funk instantly and placing her hands on her chips, “So is there anything else I can get for you? Your incredibly awesome and helpful customer service rep, Chappy, will not let you leave the store unsatisfied!” Chibi giggled and tucked the Soul Candy dispenser into the black Soul Reaper robes she was inexplicably wearing in this dimension, “Nope! You’ve been really helpful, Miss Chappy. Tell Mister Discord thank you again for the free candy, and the cannon!” “Just be responsible with that military-grade spirit weapon, okay? Wouldn’t want you hurting yourself,” Chappy said, as if there was nothing wrong whatsoever with the sentence she just said in relation to a young child. “I’ll be careful!!” Chibi assured her, turning towards the door and giving a final wave, “Jaa ne!” After the young girl had left, to whatever further adventures awaited her, Chappy kept tending the storefront, until about ten minutes later a blue skinned woman with a messy mop of gray hair came wandering out, yawning as if having just woken up from a long nap. “Hey rabbit, the boss says you’re free to go nab some lunch. I’ll keep an eye on the store for a bit.” “Oh? Sure thing, Screwloose. Don’t have too much fun!” Chappy said, happily stretching and wandering towards the kitchen. Meanwhile Screwloose settled behind the counter, and started going about her usual checks to make sure everything was on order... “What the-!? Where... where’s my cannon!?” ================== Kooky Keki’s rabid laughter stopped when she noticed the rocket launcher pointed at her and mentally double-taked, “AHGHRAAA AHGRAAAAA- What the fudg-“ The cake youma promptly exploded from the missile impact, sending icing and batter flying everywhere. Chibi landed in the blast crater, mildly grossed out by the bits and pieces of cake and frosting raining down from the sky; sometimes in fairly big chunks. In the back of her mind, she was registering just how far south her plans had gone. Glimpsing bits and pieces of zap apple and the smell of tea grinds amidst the debris reminded her just what the monster actually was composed of. All of her efforts, all of her journeys, and all of her struggle at all amounted to… Practically nothing. Nothing but a lot of stress, freaked out civilians, and a big mass she no doubt was responsible to clean despite how much of a mess had occurred and how much it was starting to weigh on her. Her leg shook under her weight and that of the rocket launcher, shook enough that her body crumbled to the ground and her eyes were downcast. The future Senshi sniffled and wiped at her eye with the side of her arm. -I just wanted to make something special for Sensei, to give him a birthday present like all the other ones I’d gotten… Folks like him do so much good to get so little, and yet I woke up this morning wondering what I get…- She sighed, rubbing at her sides. -Sometimes I worry if I’m a spoiled brat…- A large clump of cake flopped down on the ground in front of her and Chibi dimly regarded it, half wondering if she should try and bite after all if only to give herself a moral boost from the sugar…. Only to pause when it creaked and turned about to look at her with cracked, crystalline, yellow eyes. “THAT. HURT-” Kooky Keki snarled gurglingly as the blob turned around to face Chibi, revealing itself to be her blown off head. Every bit in piece of Kooky Keki simultaneously started to vibrate, save for chunks which had been blackened by the rocket explosion. On cue they all started to pull together towards the central mass. “-I’LL MAKE YOU INTO A SOUFFLÉ, YOU LITTLE BRAT!” Kooky Keki roared as Chibi tried to take aim again with the rocket launcher. A jagged yellow beam fired out from Kooky Keki’s cracked eyes and into the barrels of the military weapon, Chibi panicking when the metal started to warp and expand at the base. Igniting her horn’s spirals, the filly teleported away as the multi-barreled rocket launcher exploded from the assault hitting the stored remaining ammo. Chibi however was still caught up in the shockwave of the blast as she was moved away, reappearing on the other side of the street and fumbling down the incline with a loud yelp. Her ears were still ringing as she staggered to her feet, swaying back and forth with her eyes dilated. Through the incessant ringing she could hear nothing, and her vision was full of stars. The shockwave had messed up her fur and hair, and the poor filly was doing all she could just to stand on her hooves. Ahead of her, Kooky Keki had reformed most of her body aside from a large hole in her chest. Her manic and yet infuriated expression was painfully obvious even with her cake batter-composed visage. She pulled the tail off her haunches, Pinkie Pie’s tail, and repeatedly hit it on the ground in a mocking gesture. Somehow despite the fluffy composition, it seemed rigid and stiff like a club. And it was pretty obvious what she intended to use it for. She braced before pouncing out just as Chibi’s hearing was starting to come back. “BATTER-UP!” Kooky Keki cackled as charged forward, and Chibi Moon set to try and concentrate. Through all the pain, the ringing in her ears, prior dread from before, and the sense of loss in light of all her efforts being in vain; she concentrated just as her parents and her sensei taught her to. One by one each layer of her horn separated by the spiral started to glow, innate magic in the gift of the lunar guardian from the Silver Crystal working in tandem. “Piiink… Sugar…. Heaaart….” The power collected and crackled, parts of her mane igniting in emulation of whom she copied to do this. She opened her eyes again and was beholden to her attacker taking a swing at her face, her adrenaline making her perceive it in slow-motion. She’d failed. She failed her mission to get her sensei his first birthday present, failed to understand the magic he meddled with, and thus unleashed this mistake on others. The entire day wasn’t a total failure, not with all those she had met along the way and helped out where she could. But mistakes had been made and needed to be rectified. That was something she’d learned from many. Doesn’t matter if a mistake knocks you down, what matters is if you can get back up afterwards. Kooky Keki was about to make contact, fully intending to pound and pummel this filly for all the trouble she put her through. She thought getting in close would keep her creator from trying to use any magic, and terrify the little pest. She’d seen the tears in Chibi Moon’s eyes and grinned at it. Her grin faded into shock when the little girl glared at her through the tears and let loose. “ATTAAAACK!” The future Lunar Senshi cried out as she opened the floodgates of magic built up behind her horn. The very innate talent and raw firepower that had so terrified her previous teachers and led her to a sensei that helped cultivate it, was put to full use. A vaguely heart-shaped beam of pink plasma crashed into Pinkie Pie’s removed tail, instantly vaporizing it along with most of Kooky Keki’s arm. But just as Chibi swept the beam aside like a swinging sword to slash through the youma’s body, another light appeared. Kooky Keki, face twisted in insane rage, lit up her surge crystal eyes and jagged energy was loosed- only to be quickly outshone by a blinding mass of light engulfing her head. Chibi Moon’s special attack and the gestalt of a crackling blue burst of magic and spiralling cyan plasma smashed into the youma, who withstood it for only a moment before being picked up off the ground. "AWW darn! Looks like even the mightiest cake-” The malefic creation was hurled away as the assault launched Kooky Keki into the air well outside of Canterlot’s borders. “CAN FAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLlllllll…..” The cake monster’s carried on as she went rocketing into the mountain on the opposite side of the valley, engulfed by the fused attack for several long seconds before an exhausted Chibi Moon was forced to cut off her ray. The blue beams of plasma and magic continued on for several seconds more before similarly extinguishing. If there was anything left of Kooky Keki, it was obliterated soon afterwards; in true tokusatsu monster tradition, there was a puff of an explosion on the mountainside big enough to be seen from Canterlot. The sky cleared and all quieted down. Chibi’s hearing fully returned to her even with the ensuing exhaustion, enough to pick up on the heavy footsteps and wingbeats behind her. Even without turning her head she knew exactly who it was by the color of the rays prior. She kept her head bowed, ears drooped after glancing about the damage to the downtown market. Be it now or later, she knew a lecturing was coming. A year or two ago she might have run away crying, or even tried some trick of teleporting or disguises to get away. But be it because of the uniform she wore or the instruction given to her recently, Chibi stayed in place as her idol and her mentor raced up behind her. Chibi expected questions… Not to get scooped up in a bear hug before being turned around so a very worried looking Godzilla Junior could get a better look at her. He studied her diligently, wiping off some of the batter stuck to her face to make sure it wasn’t hiding any bruises. The fact she had more than a few only served to make the giant stallion fret more. It was only by the arrival of a hoof studded in dark regalia did Junior still, as Princess Luna motioned him to simmer down. Godzilla took a breath and steeled himself, before looking upon his apprentice. They locked eyes in a silent conversation that started peacefully... Before becoming a very not-so silent conversation when he exploded in such a rapid fire Neighponese, or rather Japanese, that it was completely unintelligible aside from showing great amounts of obvious concern. Thankfully about 15 seconds Princess Luna rolled her eyes and used a bit of telekinesis to gently remove Chibi from her accomplice’s grasp, applying a soothing mending spell to patch up some of her bruises and scrapes while putting a hoof to his muzzle. “Lord of Monsters, please, there are non-foreigners in thou midst present,” she quipped before releasing him. Junior sighed and nodded, moving closer to Chibi as she was placed back down on the ground, lowering down to equalize their height somewhat. “Chibi, and you were very brave to rush in when you were needed; but you got hurt in the process of your heroism-" A little hoof put to his lips silenced him once again. Chibi lowered her neck into her shoulders and let her ears flop. Chibi frowned, glancing back and seeing some other ponies, be it guards including though she had seen earlier, and passersby trying to be good samaritans wielding anything from brooms to chairs; approaching unsure if the battle was over. She bit her lip and motioned to be put down, as her hind hooves were dangling a full meter off the ground due to being in the grasp of her gigantic teacher. Junior complied and set her down. Chibi Moon gulped and took a few steps back before standing her ground, clicking her hooves together like she was at attention before the royals. “Sensei, Princess of the Night, the blame for what you see is mine. All mine!” Godzilla Junior and Princess Luna paused and tilted their heads in a way one could hear the creaking in their necks, as did some of the approaching ponies even if they didn’t quite catch all she said. Luna and Junior looked to one another, glancing about at all the damage to the marketplace with raised eyebrows, shrugs, and pursed lips that trembled in confusion. Princess Luna eyed some scorch marks on the ground that looked like magic blasts, signalling her accomplice with her eyes and then tilting her head to Chibi Moon as if to suggest that was what the filly was on about. Junior shrugged before turning back to his apprentice. “Chibi, you shouldn’t be too upset about some collateral damage. This can be fixed and no one else got hurt,” Junior grunted, thinking he knew what the topic was from how grim she looked, “You can’t always take the fight elsewhere, but you kept others from getting swept up in it.” “N-No that’s not what I meant!” Chibi yelped as she jumped up in front of the two, waving her hooves. “…” Junior brow perked as he raised and straightened up, “Then what do you mean?” Mariner Chibi Moon paused for a moment before she wilted, visibly fighting back drowning waves of emotion and several tears stinging at the corners of her eyes. She looked ready to crumble, about to fall over before stamping her hoof to recollect herself. She shot back up, “I-I made that monster… as an accident, I swear! A big spell accident! The fault is all mine.” The onlookers started to murmur to themselves in clear confusion. Several guards including Princess Luna, the newly arriving Captain Frost, an old timer who’d come brandishing a mop, and Godzilla however were less perplexed. Likely because all of them had seen similar levels of craziness to buy the story pitch. “What... kind of magic did thou partake of, youth?” Princess Luna grunted calmly, not showing much emotion as she raised her brow. “I- er….” Chibi Moon took in a breath and collected herself, “I was… trying to make Sensei a cake. I don’t exactly know how to bake and I was getting ingredients from others.” “Sounds ‘bout right,” Captain Frost quipped as she stepped up beside Godzilla, “She hit up the barracks earlier an’ got some stuff from me. Didn’t think ye’ could put it in a cake though.” “Hence the spell,” Chibi Moon mumbled as she kicked over a pebble and let her ears droop, “… Didn’t expect it to make a monster. The spell was… weird.” “Define, ‘weird’; youngling,” the thousand-year-old alicorn asked, in the company of a transformed radioactive dinosaur, Captain Frost, and the heiress to a centuries old group of magical warriors. “I combined an old Neighponese spell made by a previous celestial guardian with some ancient Equestrian spell from Starswirl’s era,” Chibi Moon muttered. Princess Luna’s brow perked as everyone else’s head tilted, the alicorn even looking… chipper for a moment, “Really? Oh I knew I was in the right to overrule those oafs at the School for Gifted Unicorns and allow you in! You must tell me what you-” Princess Luna, perhaps realizing many eyes were upon her and that she’d broken character in public by letting her regality falter, promptly coughed into her hoof and took a small step back. She patted Junior across the back with a wing to beckon him forward. “We see fit to allow thy Lordship to handle this situation,” the Princess of the Night preened with an air of royalty returning to her tone, “We trust thou to work with thy student.” A bit of awkwardness passed in the moment before Captain Frost cleared her throat to chime in. “Bad outcome from good intentions, kid,” Captain Frost shrugged, “Good thing n’one got hurt.” “B-but the marketplace is trashed, that’s all my fault!” Chibi Moon yelped. Captain Frost looked to Godzilla, Princess Luna, vice versa, before looking back, “Accidents happen, kid.” Chibi Moon sputtered, “But I’m to blame!” “You’re also to blame for folks surviving the way they did,” Godzilla noted calmly as he squatted down beside his protégé. Chibi Moon sniffled, unsure and not meeting his eyes as she increasingly shrank back and sat on her haunches. A broad hoof gently nudged her own and Junior put his head next to her and whispered. “Hey… Do you remember what I first taught you?” The little filly stiffened as a tear ran down her snout, letting her mind drift back to a little lesson that started when she almost stepped on a little critter she otherwise wouldn’t have noticed. She wouldn’t have noticed because she was the one with grandeur and power, and it wasn’t. Power she had a lot harder of the time cultivating and controlling back then. Chibi furrowed her brow in recollection, “That... power needs to be used responsibly, to protect life.” “Responsibly, yes. You were irresponsible for using some magic you might not have fully understood… But that’s not all you did today, is it?” Junior whispered as he tilted her head to look at the potholes and cracked walls decorating the marketplace. “It can be fixed, and you’ll help. But it can be fixed, lives can’t. And when it came to trying to own up and help, you did the right thing,” the monster king noted as he patted the top of his apprentice’s head, “You took my lesson to heart, kid. That’s one of the best birthday gifts I could have asked for.” “You’re… not going to disown me?” Chibi Moon whimpered. Junior shook his head slowly and smiled all the same. As Captain Frost and the crowds dispersed to help start clean up of the ruined marketplace, Princess Luna perhaps thought it appropriate now to rejoin the discussion in private; leaning down to whisper as well. “You are a student and you are to learn. If my sister seriously reprimanded her students every time they stumbled, she’d have quit teaching long ago. You should hear about what a grown mare twice your age once did with an old stuffed doll,” Princess Luna rolled her eyes and nodded with a slight smile. Chibi Moon looked to her mentor and idol slowly, letting it sink in. She knew she’d done wrong, and she’d learn from that. And maybe, just maybe, this day wouldn’t be a complete wash after all of her jaunting. Observing a pile of charred cake still stuck to a few serving plates from a blown up food stand, Chibi Moon used a bit of telekinesis to fully push it onto the plate and levitated over to herself before offering it to her company. “After the cleanup, I think I might just have a birthday gift idea for you yet, Sensei.” Junior perked his brow and Luna shot him a snicker as she used a bit of her own magic to divide the cake piece up at the thirds. The filly and mare took their pieces up with a bit of magic. “And what might that be?” Junior asked as he eyed his female company. He tried to get his horn to light up in the right sequence for some telekinesis but gave up after only managing to make the cake piece shudder slightly. “Well it just so happens my birthday is coming up-“ Chibi paused as all three of them took a bite of what used to be a cake monster. A second passed by before all of their eyes looked like they were about the bulge out of their skulls and their cheeks rapidly inflated with an instinctive revulsion at the horrible taste. Turns out, making a cake with ingredients including but not limited to energy surge crystals, nutrient bars, coffee, and more did not exactly translate to palatability. The Princess of the Night, King of the Monsters, and Lunar Heiress all promptly turned around in different directions to spit out Kooky Keki’s last act of defiance and revenge. It was a much calmer day sometime later in that week, though the populace gathering was not especially calm itself. The small lake in the precipice plateau of Canterlot mountain had an ample gathering about it. Fluttershy conducted a choir of birds to provide a tune as the three little Crusaders eagerly joined into a dance number Phoenix Flamez was putting on, no doubt trying to see if step coordination could lead to a new cutie mark as Destroyah feigned disinterest while keeping a watchful eye. Ki Seong, Applejack, and Thalia were helping one another set up the buffet table with a variety of treats as Anguirus and Rodan moved it into position. Lea and Twilight relaxed in the shade of a tree passing a book between them to read to each other. Rainbow Dash had evidently decided Rarity and her mother weren’t enjoying the lake enough in their efforts to avoid getting wet on their sunbathing floats and had just cannon-balled next to them with a large splash. A company of guards, more than enjoying the grub being served up, were waving and beckoning to Blade Dancer. The latter was busy trying to pull Xenilla away from Princess Cadance and Shining Armor so they could actually enjoy the lake without him badgering the pregnant ‘empress’ about food cramps from eating recently. Celestia sat off to the side by her own volition, joined only by Captain Frost at an old headstone from centuries back, whispering something to it as she eyed her sister. Princess Luna had gone swimming with her ‘personal bodyguard’, and her sister was very privy to their close proximity the whole time. She gave a knowing smirk and patted Starswirl’s headstone assuringly; while earning an approving wink from Captain Frost. The sopping wet alicorn and mutated unicorn's bodies drew close once again, eyes meeting and smiles widening. "You've become quite the capable mentor," Luna whispered, horn sparking lightly as she tapped the tip to Junior's. "Your sister hoofed over a How-To book," Godzilla shrugged playfully, eyes half lidded as he sighed contently at her presence, letting Luna put a wing around him, "And you're quite the one to talk. With how you helped Rarity save herself and took up Glimmer." "Well it's not like either of us were professionals," Luna cooed with a snicker, "If anything, it shows everypony... and everykaiju for that matter, has room to grow. Kind of like the point of birthdays actually, a celebration of another year of progress while gaining gifts to better the future." "And I couldn't imagine a better place or company to do both with..." They drew close and nuzzled. Their horns touched knowingly before a whistle called their attention from the shore. They and the others came forth, coming to a small table in which a floaties-clad Chibi Moon was assisting Pinkie Pie in setting down a reasonably but not audaciously large cake. The baker, having managed to whip this up lickety-split, gave the filly a wink and pushed her forward with a serving spatula. Chibi Moon beamed as she stood up on her tippy-hooves to reach up to the top of the cake especially could, a few moments passing before she was gripped with a small blue bit of telekinesis magic and levitated up to equal height with her sensei by the will of a smirking Luna holding her up. The lit candles didn’t especially designate any specific number of years, both because the actual count would risk a lot of wax getting on the cake, and because the sentimental value mattered more than an exact date. A lot of crazy things that happened over the course of this crazy tale, and it was all far from over. And based on the beaming smiles of the assorted company of locals, foreigners, and migrants from a different dimension; that truth was more than welcome. Junior and Chibi drew close to the lit candles and started to absorb a breath. The little filly had found a gift for a kaiju who wanted for nothing after all. The cake had two names written on it. For Godzilla Junior's birthday, she had gifted him her birthdate. “Happy birthday, Sensei.” “Happy birthday, Chibi.” Chibi moved to blow the candles out only to have a tiny puff of blue plasma immediately light the candles once again. She looked at toothy, jesting grin of her mentor. “Senseeeei!” “Gotcha.”
