Friendship, Love, and Harmony

Chapters

Elements of Love Part 1
Elements of Love Part 2
Elements of Love Part 3
Love Express
Slithering Snake
All's Fair in Love and Apples
Flutter Dream
Muffins and Gems
Berry Pie
Apple Melody
Basket of Eggheads
Cutie Mark Chronicles
More Berry Pie!
Fruitbat Migration
Even More Berry Pie!
Daughter of Nightmare Moon Part 1
Daughter of Nightmare Moon Part 2
Meteor Shower
The Changeling Invasion of Ponyville Part 1
The Changeling Invasion of Ponyville Part 2
Canterlot Art Convention

Elements of Love Part 1

Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria. There were 3 Alicorn Rulers, who brought about Harmony to all the land. To do this, Princess Celestia would raise the sun at dawn. Princess Luna brought out the moon to begin the night. And the final one, Prince Terranus, used his magic to fertilize the ground and allow crops to be grown by the earth ponies below.

These 3, maintained the delicate balance for years and brought about happiness to all the little ponies of Equestria. However, as the years went by. One of them, Prince Terranus, became resentful and selfish. He believed that he was superior to the two Princesses. Using his charm, he planted insecurity and doubt into the mind of Princess Luna. Princess Luna slowly began to view only herself as worthy of the land of Equestria.

One fateful night, Princess Luna refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. Though Princess Celestia tried to reason with the young Princess, the darkness within her had grown far too much. She became Nightmare Moon. She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. However, her older sister, Princess Celestia, harnessed the Magic of the Elements of Harmony to defeat her younger sister and banish her into the moon.

With one less Princess out of his way, Prince Terranus devised a plan to rid Equestria of Princess Celestia. Under the nose of the Princess, he stole the Elements of Harmony, hiding them where Princess Celestia could not find them. Then, he enacted his plan to take over all of Equestria. However, he failed to account for one thing…the Elements of Love. Princess Celestia harnessed the power of these little known artifacts and defeated Prince Terranus, banishing him within the stars in the sky.

Princess Celestia took on responsibility for the Sun, Moon, and Earth. And love and Harmony has been maintained in Equestria ever since.

Aurora Shimmer looked at the book she was reading closely, "The Elements of Love? I've heard of the Elements of Harmony, but never of the Elements of Love. How peculiar," Aurora stood up from her lying position. Using magic from her horn, she picked up her book, placing it into her saddle bag before placing the saddle bag onto her back. She carefully pushes her black glasses up and begins her trot back to the house, which is an extension of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

Aurora Shimmer, being in the School for Gifted Unicorns, is a very magical unicorn. She typically keeps to herself, but does make time for friends. She has a lemon yellow coat. A somewhat curled, yet wavy mane and tail that's reddish-orange with tawny colored streaks. On her face sits Black Wayfare shaped glasses that nearly take away from her electric blue eyes. Her cutie mark is that of a sunrise on the ocean horizon surrounded by 5 dimly lit stars and 2 much more distant stars.

Aurora finally makes it to her residence and opens the door carefully. She peaks her head in quietly and observes around the room. After a while, she smiles and walks in, closing the door behind her, "Dusky! Wake up! I have a surprise for you!" Aurora waits, to no response. She leaves her saddle bag on the ground and slowly walks to a small birdhouse-like structure poking out of the wall, "Dusky, wake up. It's already past noon."

Some shuffling is heard from inside the small house. The small, round door opens to reveal a little Breezie. The Breezie is blue with long, wavy, magenta hair that covers one of the Breezie's eyes. The Breezie lifts its little front leg to wipe the tired out of its eyes and looks up at Aurora, "Hvorfor alt oppstyret?"

Aurora chuckles, "Come on, you can't be sleeping in like this." Aurora walks away from the little house.

Dusky flies out of the little house, still rubbing their eyes, "I had a rough night." Dusky has remnants of their Breezie accent, but since they were raised by Aurora, it's not as pronounced.

Aurora pulls a cucumber out from her saddle bag and sets it on her desk, "Got you a little something."

Dusky's eyes land on the cucumber and immediately light up. Dusky flies as quickly as their little wings can go and lands onto the cucumber, "For me? You shouldn't have, Aurora."

Aurora smirks, "That perked you up. Once you're finished, I need you to find me that book on Predictions and Prophecies."

Dusky sighs, "Fine!" Dusky immediately begins chomping on the cucumber.

Aurora unloads her books from her saddlebag, placing them on the ground next to her desk, aside from the book she was reading, which she sets on the desk. She starts flipping through the pages before stopping, "Hmmmmm, Elements of Love. I wonder if they have any connection to the Elements of Harmony."

Dusky burps as they finish their cucumber and quickly fly up to the hundreds of shelved books. Dusky finally spots the book they're looking for and grabs it, flying it to Aurora.

Aurora smiles as the book is set in front of her. She turns to Dusky and pats their little head, "Thank you, Dusky!"

Dusky smiles back.

Aurora begins flipping through the pages, "Hmmmmm. E, E, Elementals, Elements of Harmony, Aha! Elements of Love! Powerful Artifacts that have been used by Princess Celestia to defeat the evil Prince of the Earth. See Prince Terranus." Aurora flips through the book, "Prince Terranus. An ancient Pony who wanted to Rule all of Equestria. Defeated by the Elements of Love and banished into the stars. It is said that 1000 years after the banishment of Nightmare Moon, he will use the stars to aid in the escape of the Mare in the Moon. After 3 months, he himself will use the escape he created for Nightmare Moon to return himself." Aurora goes wide-eyed, "3 Months?! But that would be…the day after tomorrow!"

"The day after tomorrow?" Dusky asks

"Apparently so. Princess Celestia may not be aware of his return. And since the Mare in the Moon turned out to be true, that's gotta mean that this is true as well." Aurora says, standing up. She used telekinesis to grab a pen and paper, "I must inform the Princess at once. Prince Terranus must not be allowed to return!"

"It's probably fine. If the Mare in the Moon turned out to be true, then surely the Princess would have taken into account the fact that Prince Terranus would return." Dusky says.

"Maybe, but I can't take the chance." Aurora says as she finishes writing the letter. She rolls it up and uses her magic to send it to Princess Celestia, "Now we just wait for a response."

Aurora waits a few minutes until finally, a beam shoots out from Aurora's horn, creating a roll of paper, "Aha, there it is. Quick reply as always." Aurora unrolls it to begin reading.

My Dear Student, Aurora.
I value your studiousness and willingness to learn. Since the departure of my prized student, you have proven that you are the most capable student I have.

However, I must say. You're reading much too into it.

"Wh-What?!" Aurora says in surprise, shaking her head in shock.

Your studies leave no time for a personal life. While I have observed that you make friends and interact with other ponies, you never choose to be more personal with anypony.

Aurora sighs, "Guess I was wrong after all. And now it looks like I just got myself a lecture and a new assignment."

"Well…what is it?" Dusky asks, landing on Aurora's back.

Aurora looks up from the scroll, "I have to learn about the value of Love."

In two days, I will be visiting the small town of Ponyville. There is to be a large festival celebrating the founding of the town. I would like you to check on the preparations.

Aurora sighs, "Oh great."

As per Princess Celestia's request, Aurora and Dusky traveled to the small town of Ponyville. As they landed into the center of the town, Aurora immediately pulled out her scroll. She cleared her throat in preparation for reading, "I'm sure you're wondering why I've assigned this task for you. While I cannot go into exact specifics, I can tell you that one of the reasons was so that you can meet my former student, Twilight Sparkle." Aurora rolls her eyes, "Great, just what I need. Something to distract me from my studies. I'll check on the preparations as quickly as possible. Then I'll head to the library to research more about the Elements of Love."

Dusky, who's been riding in Aurora's mane, looks up at Aurora, "And what about that Twilight girl?"

"Yes yes, I'll worry about her later. Firstly though, I have to visit a few places. Firstly is…Galabella Acres." Aurora says.

"Galabella Acres? What's that?" Dusky asks

"It's an Apple Orchard. They're in charge of preparing food." Aurora says as she begins her trot west.

"I thought the Apple Orchard in Ponyville was Sweet Apple Acres." Dusky says, rubbing their Antennae.

"Yes, but they're quite busy. Not to mention they prepared food during the Summer Sun Celebration. However, there's another orchard just west of Ponyville, near the White Tail Woods. It's quite a ways away, but they're in charge of the food in this event." Aurora says.

Aurora and Dusky proceeded to the White Tail Woods, where they came up to Galabella Acres. A single small barn is seen in the distance with under a hundred apple trees surrounding it, making up the entirety of the orchard. It's quite small compared to Sweet Apple Acres. Aurora looks around for a while before her eyes land on a single pony. The pony quickly bucks the tree behind her, knocking all the apples on it into the buckets below.

Aurora slowly walks up to the pony, "Um…excuse me. You wouldn't happen to be Ruby Frost, would you?"

The pony turns her head and looks blankly into the direction of Aurora. She's an Earth Pony with a red coat, her hair is pastel green and in twin braids, her eyes are a pale mint, and she has a dark brown cattleman hat that sits atop her head. Her cutie mark is that of an apple that's cut open. There are two bite marks on the side of it and 5 seeds in the center. On the left, some of the skin is still visible and has a star mark on it.

The pony smiles and nods, "Yes indeed, the name's Ruby Frost. What can I do ya for?" The pony has a somewhat high pitched voice with a country accent that somewhat blends into it.

Aurora smiles, "My name is Aurora Shimmer. I'm a student of Princess Celestia and she sent me to check on the preparations for the Earth Festival. It's my understanding that you're running the food operation?"

"You're darn tootin'. If you're wondering about our progress, we're all ready with the goods. Simply need to deliver em to Ponyville and we'll be set." Ruby Frost says, "You wouldn't mind givin' me a hand, would ya? Ever since ma pa passed away, progress on deliveries has always been slow. My little sister ain't big enough to pull a wagon. It'll be hard for just me, my mother, and cousin Macintosh."

"Well it's on the way back, so it wouldn't be too much trouble." Aurora says.

"Thank ya kindly. We were actually about to go when you showed up." Ruby Frost says as she loads the buckets on the ground onto her back, "Just needed two more buckets of apples."

The two ponies walk over to the barn, where an older mare, large work pony, and small filly are all waiting. Ruby Frost turns to Aurora, "Allow me to introduce you to my family. There's Snow sweet, my little sister. Wild Crisp, my mother. And Big Macintosh, my cousin."

Wild Crisp smiles, "Um…Ruby? Big Macintosh began his delivery not too long ago."

Ruby Frost blushes and turns in Aurora's direction, "Uh, sorry. I'm sorta blind, so I just assumed everyone was all here."

Aurora goes wide-eyed, "You're blind?!"

"Yeah, it's sort of hard for folk to notice. I do a good job in hiding it as I'm able to figure out my surroundings by memory and sound." Ruby Frost says.

Aurora looks at Ruby Frost in admiration, "That's quite amazing of you. Being able to do all this work without being able to see. It must be hard."

"Eh, a bit. But I've gotten used to it." Ruby Frost says

Wild Crisp attaches the cart to herself and smirks at Ruby Frost, "Finally makin' some friends, Ruby?"

"I didn't come to make friends, just here on business." Aurora says.

Ruby Frost attaches a cart to herself, "We'll see how you feel after our little journey."

"Is it finally time to go to Ponyville?" Snowsweet asks.

"Indeed it is." Ruby Frost says

The little filly jumps up and down with excitement, "Yay! I get to see Applebloom!"

Ruby Frost chuckles, "Alright y'all, let's get goin'. Aurora, yer cart's just behind mine."

Aurora attached the cart onto her back and the 5 proceeded to make their way to Ponyville. "Can't thank you enough for the help, Aurora. Y'know, once the festival is finished, I'll be moving permanently into Ponyville in order to open up a shop for my Orchard. I'd love for you stop by. If you plan on spending any time in Ponyville." Ruby Frost says

"I doubt I will be. Once my duties here are complete, I plan to return to Canterlot and continue my studies." Aurora says.

Ruby Frost frowns, "Well that's too bad. It was nice meetin' you, Aurora Shimmer. I hope our paths cross again soon. If you ever see me, please say hi. I won't be able to see you in order to say it to you." Ruby Frost winks.

"It was nice meeting you too. Goodbye." Aurora says, turning around and walking away. She unfurls her scroll and reads over it, "Alright, Dusky. Time for our next destination." Aurora says silent for a moment before taking her eyes off her scroll and lifting her hoof to feel her mane, "Dusky?" As she feels her mane, she realizes Dusky isn't there. Aurora goes wide-eyed and frantically looks around, "Dusky?! DUSKY?!"

Aurora's eyes land on a flower shop, she calms down as she realizes that must be where Dusky is. Aurora walks over to the flower shop, opening the door. As she walks in, she bumps into another pony, causing the pony to drop all the flowers in her basket. The pony quickly shakes her head, "Hey! Watch where you're going, four eyes!"

"O-Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to bump into you. I wasn't paying attention, I'm sorry." Aurora says, backing up.

"Likely story. Are you trying to swindle me? Make me drop all my flowers so you can swipe them for yourself?" Accuses the pony.

Aurora frantically shakes her head as she backs up, "N-No, I was just looking for-"

"-your next victim? Nice try, but I ain't falling for-" The pony says before being cut off by another pony walking into the room from the back room.

"Blossom Night! What have I told you about scaring away customers?" The other pony says. She has a very soft and comforting voice. She's an Earth Pony with an aquamarine coat, she has an apricot colored mane and tail with two amaranth streaks and one canary yellow streak, her eyes glisten a teal color that reflects an innocent demeanor. Her cutie make is that of a branch with 5 Blooming flowers and 2 hazel leaves. On the end of the left of the branch is a fully bloomed flower.

Blossom Night backs away from Aurora and turns to the other pony, "I'm being swindled, Hazel Bloom. I was just calling them out." Blossom Night is a unicorn, with a dark violet coat, she has an English violet mane and tail, and her eyes are electric indigo. Her cutie mark is a berry bush with 5 Blossoming berries on it. To the upper right of the berry bush is a Waxing Crescent moon with 2 pony heads that are shaped from the craters.

Hazel Bloom walks up to Aurora, "Blossom, please clean this up."

Blossom goes wide-eyed in surprise, "W-Wha?! B-But I-"

Hazel Bloom turns calmly to Blossom Night, "Please?"

Blossom Night stares at Hazel Bloom for a moment before sighing, "Alright." Blossom Night immediately begins cleaning up all the flowers.

Hazel Bloom smiles at Aurora, "I'm sorry for all the commotion. My name's Hazel Bloom. How can I help you?"

Aurora's eyes go wide as she quickly unfurls her scroll and glances at it, "Oh! Hazel Bloom! You're just the pony I needed to see. But that can wait. I'm here because I think my pet Breezie came in here."

"Oh? So it's YOUR Breezie? I was wondering what one was doing all on its own. Yes, it's here. They're in the back, I'll go get them for you." Hazel Bloom says as she walks to the backroom.

Aurora looks at Blossom Night, who's using her horn to pick up groups of flowers to put in her baskets, "Do you need any help."

Blossom Night looks up at Aurora with a scowl, then looks away as her face softens, "Uh…yeah."

Aurora begins using her own magic to pick up flowers and place them in the basket.

"I'm sorry we got off on the wrong hoof. I have a bad habit of assuming the worst of ponies." Blossom Night says, scratching the back of her head.

Aurora smiles, "It's alright. If a pony had bumped into me and caused me to drop all my stuff, I'd be on edge too."

Blossom Night curves a smile, "Name's Blossom Night. It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, my name's Aurora Shimmer." Aurora says as she picks up the last of the flowers and places them in Blossom Night's basket.

Blossom Night looks at her full baskets, "Thanks for the help. Hope to see you again soon." Blossom Night walks out of the shop.

Hazel Bloom finally returns with Dusky in hoof, "There we are. They were quite hesitant to come along."

"So many delicious flowers! I've never seen flowers that healthy in my life." Dusky says, flies up in glee before landing on Aurora's head.

Aurora smiles at Dusky before setting her eyes on Hazel Bloom, So you're Hazel Bloom? My name's Aurora Shimmer. I'm checking on preparations for the festival on behalf of Princess Celestia. You're supposed to be in charge of the decorations, correct?"

"Why yes I am. And as you've heard from your darling little Breezie. No shop is better for flowers than mine is." Hazel Bloom says with a smile.

"Indeed. You wouldn't believe how hard it is to please this little one. They're very picky when it comes to flowers." Aurora says, looking up at Dusky.

"Hmph!" Dusky pouts while crossing their arms.

Hazel Bloom giggles, "All the flowers and plants are ready. I'd suggest you also visit Amber Gem. Her and Rarity are also handling decorations."

Aurora takes a look at her scroll again, "It doesn't say anything here about an Amber Gem or Rarity here."

"That's probably because they just started working yesterday. There was too much for me and Blossom Night to do, so we split it with Amber and Rarity. You'll find them at Rarity's Boutique." Hazel Bloom says

Aurora nods, "Alright then, I'll go visit them. I'm proud of your progress." Aurora makes her way out of the flower shop.

Hazel Bloom waves, "It was nice meeting you, Aurora Shimmer!"

Aurora made her way to Rarity's Boutique. She looked upon it with an eyebrow raised, "Hard to believe a Boutique this fancy can be found in Ponyville." Aurora proceeds to enter the Boutique, "Hello?"

A pony walks out from the backroom, "Hello there, welcome to my Boutique! My name's Rarity, how can I help you?"

"Hello, my name is Aurora Shimmer. I'm here on behalf of Princess Celestia to check on the preparations for the Earth Festival. I understand you and somepony named Amber Gem are helping with the decorations." Aurora says

"Oh! Of course! Amber went to get some gems for the decorations. Look, there she is now." Rarity says

Aurora turns to see a pony walking through the door of the Boutique with two buckets filled with gems. She's a Unicorn with a Diamond White coat, Ruby Red Messy Bob with Fishtail Braid mane, a Ruby Red tail, and Sapphire Blue eyes. Her cutie mark is an opened rock with 5 small gems inside of it and one larger diamond in the center. Surrounding the rock on the left and right are two smaller rocks. "We have quite the stock to go through, Rarity. I have Diamonds, Emeralds, Rubies, and Rose Quartz." Amber's eyes fall on Aurora, "Oh, hello!"

"Hi, I'm Aurora Shimmer. I'm here on behalf of...ah, forget it. I'm here to check the preparations for the Festival. I'd like to know how the progress is going with Decorations." Aurora says

"Oh! Of course. We almost have everything finished here. We just need to decorate a few more banners. It'll surely be completed by the time the festival comes up." Amber says, puting the buckets on the ground using magic from her horn.

"That's good news. Everything has been going smoothly so far." Aurora says as she makes her way to the exit. She unfurls her scroll and looks upon it, "Almost done. Sooner I get this done. The sooner I can get to my research."

"You're leaving so soon?" Amber asks.

Aurora turns to Amber and puts away her scroll, "Well, yeah. As a student of Princess Celestia, I have a lot of studying to do."

"Mmm, that's too bad. I was hoping we could get to know you since you're new here. You are quite the looker." Amber Gem says with a wink.

Aurora blushes, "U-Um…I'm sorry…but uh….bye!" Aurora quickly darts out of the Boutique as quickly as her legs can run.

"Why are you in such a hurry? She seemed really nice." Dusky says, looking back at the Boutique.

Aurora slows her pace as she continues down Ponyville, "Nuh uh, I know what she was doing. Flirting! I'm not getting roped into any romantic mumbo jumbo."

"Didn't Princess Celestia say that you should get to know Somepony on a personal level?" Dusky asks

"Princess Celestia sent me to oversee the preparations for the festival. After that, I'm gonna go to the library and continue my studies. I don't have time to 'get to know somepony on a personal level'. I'm too busy for that nonsense. Anyway, we're getting side tracked. We're onto the last task of the day, Weather. Led by two Pegasus Ponies. Their names are Rainbow Dash and Star Dream." Aurora says.

"I heard my name?" A pony says, flying from behind Aurora.

Aurora falls forward with a scream.

The pony chuckles, "Oops, sorry. Didn't mean to scare ya."

Aurora calms down as she looks at the pony, "Rainbow mane. You must be Rainbow Dash."

Rainbow Dash smirks, "The one and only! Why? You heard of me?"

"Yes, apparently you and a pony named Star Dream are in charge of Weather management. I was sent by Princess Celestia to oversee progress on the Earth Festival. Where's this Star Dream?" Aurora says, looking around.

"Pft, don't worry about her. I'm the only one who clears the sky around here. All she does is stand on the ground ordering everypony around." Rainbow Dash says.

"Rainbow Dash!" Yells a pony.

Aurora turns to see a Pegasus pony standing behind her.

The pony has a Navy Blue coat, a large scar on her chest, Prussian blue side swept mane with golden speckled spots all over, and cerulean blue eyes that spectrum into yellow. Her cutie mark is a galaxy with a bright yellow center. The spiral Galaxy has 5 individual arms and two stars that shine brighter than the rest on the upper left and lower right of the Galaxy.

"You know dang well why I don't fly, jerk. Is that seriously how you talk about me behind my back?" The pony shouts

"S-Sorry, Star. I didn't mean anything by it." Rainbow Dash says.

The pony rolls her eyes and looks at Aurora, "Sorry about her. You needed me?"

Aurora nods, "If you're Star Dream."

"Yeah, that's me. What did you need?" Star Dream asks

"My name's Aurora Shimmer. Princess Celestia sent me to check on the preparations for the Earth Festival. I'm here to see the progress with the Weather." Aurora says

"We have everything we need for the weather. I have Rainbow Dash and 3 other Pegasai to keep the skies cleared for the festival. We have everything under control." Star Dream says

"That's great to hear. With that, all my obligations are complete. Finally!" Aurora says.

"I hear ya. I have a lot on my plate too. Being unable to fly has left me to always plan everything. Gets stressful." Star Dream says

"Tell me about it. Anyway, I should get going." Aurora says.

"Nice to meet you, Aurora Shimmer. I can tell you're a studious pony." Star Dream says.

Aurora smiles at Star Dream one last time before she continues on her way.

Aurora breathes one huge sigh of relief as she walks away, "Finally! Now I can get to studying. The library should be just up ahead."

"Aw man. We never get to do anything fun. All you do is study. You should hang out with those ponies who were nice to you." Dusky says.

"I would…uh…like to, but I still want to learn more about the Elements of Love. And if I'm to figure out what they are, I can't be hanging out with friends." Aurora says.

"Typical." Dusky says, rolling their eyes.

Aurora makes her way to the Golden Oak Library, eager to study some more. As she approaches it, she takes a gander at the design. It's essentially a large tree, "Hmm, quite the design." Aurora says as she opens the door and steps in.

Aurora looks around in awe at the neatly built library. She looks down to see a baby dragon organizing some of the books. Aurora clears her throat, "Um…hello?"

"Huh?" The baby dragon utters as he looks to see Aurora, "Oh hey. What can I do for you?"

"Um…do you run this place?" Aurora asks in confusion.

"Me? No, that honor goes to Twilight." The baby dragon says.

"Is she here? I need to find a specific book." Aurora says.

The baby dragon nods, "Yeah, I'll go get her for you." The baby dragon walks upstairs into another room.

Aurora waits for a while before the baby dragon comes back down. From up the stairs, descends a purple pony with a smile. Aurora goes wide-eyed as her face goes red. The purple pony walks up to Aurora, "Hi, my name's Twilight Sparkle. What can I help you with?"

Aurora is left speechless, staring at Twilight with a flushed face.

Twilight looks at Aurora, concerned, "Is…everything alright?"

Aurora shakes her head rapidly, snapping her out of it, "U-Uh, yeah. Um…I'm looking for a book on the Elements of Love."

Twilight places her hoov on her chin, "Elements of Love? I'm not familiar with that. Do you mean the Elements of Harmony?"

Aurora shakes her head, "No, I mean the Elements of Love. I'm wondering if there's any book on the subject."

Twilight walks over to a certain part of the library and uses her magic to pull a group of books off the shelf. She rapidly flips through the books one after another, "I think I have something."

Aurora walks closer, "You do?"

Twilight looks at the book in confusion, "Elements of Love: A Reference Guide." Twilight looks up, "How strange, I've never heard of these."

"I thought the same thing. What does it say?" Aurora asks.

Twilight shifts the book to give Aurora a better view, "There are 6 Elements of Love. They are also known as the Elements of Tranquility. Commitment, Truth, Compassion, Passion, and Communication. The sixth is a complete mystery. They're…just like the Elements of Harmony. What could this mean?"

Elements of Love Part 2

Aurora looked in the mirror as she tried on different pairs of glasses. Dusky flies onto Aurora's desk with a raised eyebrow, "Why are you worrying so much about what you look like for the festival? You've never really bothered with your look. Why the sudden change?"

"Oh, y'know, just…big event. I just wanna look presentable." Aurora says, rolling her eyes.

Dusky smirks and flies up to Aurora's face, "Is it because of that mare you met in the library?"

Aurora blushes profusely before swatting Dusky away, "N-No! Of course not! Why would I try to look good for somepony?"

Dusky flies into Aurora's cheek, "Because you're in LOVE!"

Aurora points her face away from Dusky in a pouting manner, "Don't be ridiculous, I barely know her."

"But you totally like her!" Dusky says, flying in front of Aurora once again.

"Of course I have a positive opinion of her. She's a student of Princess Celestia. And she seems like quite the studious one!" Aurora says, perking her mussel upward and closing her eyes, "Anyway, enough of that. The Earth Festival is about to start."

"Right." Dusky says.

Aurora and Dusky made their way to the town square of Ponyville. Nearly everypony in the town is there, eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Princess. As Aurora shifted her ways though the crowds, seemingly looking for something. After a bit of wandering, Aurora's eye catches Twilight Sparkle. She freezes up almost immediately, "Dusky! H-How's my mane?"

Dusky flies off Aurora's head and places a hand on their chin to observe Aurora's mane, "It looks fine to me."

Aurora breathes a sigh of relief, "Okay, just talk to her. It's easy."

"And you say you don't like her." Dusky says, landing on Aurora's head and leaning on her ear.

"I never said I don't like her. I'm simply nervous to speak to a former student of Princess Celestia who's been regarded as the best student she's had. I simply want to learn more from her." Aurora says as she walks closer to Twilight.

Twilight turns her head as she notices Aurora, "Oh, hey. Aurora, was it? Word through the grapevine is that you're a student of Princess Celestia?"

Aurora places her hoof on the back of her head, "O-Oh, heh…you heard of that?"

Twilight nods, "She sent you to oversee preparations for the Festival? That's the same thing she did for me before I moved to Ponyville."

Aurora is fascinated by this information, "Really? Wow, what a coincidence."

"I'm sure she views you very highly if she gave you such a momentous task to take care of. We should hang out some more. I'd love to get to know you a little better." Twilight says with a smile.

Aurora looks away, her face red, "U-Uh, yeah! I'd like that too."

Twilight lifts an eyebrow, "Are you alright? Your face is red."

"Yeah, just a little hot." Aurora says.

Twilight looks at the surrounding crowd, "It is a bit crowded here. Maybe you should get some air."

Aurora nods, "Yeah, I could use a breather."

Twilight proceeded to lead Aurora out of the crowd and into some open space. Twilight smiles as Aurora appears more comfortable, "I understand the feeling. Crowds sometimes make me a little stressed, too."

"Yeah, but you'll probably want to go back. It'll be hard to see the Princess from here." Aurora says, looking back at the large crowd.

"It'll be fine. We'll see her when. She sets the sun." Twilight says

Suddenly, the sky goes dark as the sun quickly sets. Aurora and Twilight look at the sky in confusion. Twilight places her hoof on her chin, "That's strange. There's still some time left before the sun sets."

Aurora points at the sky, "Twilight! Look! The stars!"

Twilight looks up to see a large group of the stars in the sky swirling together. Aurora goes wide-eyed, "Oh no! I-It can't be!"

Twilight looks at Aurora in confusion, "What? What can't be?"

Aurora begins backing up, "Princess Celestia told me I was reading too much into it. I took her word for it."

The swirling stars spin faster and faster until they vortex down, close to the ground. The shining light of the stars morph into the shape of a pony. They begin to shape a horn and then after, a large spread of Pegasus wings. The light dims and reveals an Alicorn. His coat is Iron Gray, his mane is dark green and short, partially spikey. His eyes are a cold midnight blue. The Alicorn flaps his wings as he keeps himself afloat in the air, "It's been so long since I've seen anypony other than Luna. I'd almost forgotten how small you little ponies are." His voice is low and thundering, evoking a sense of paralyzing superiority. The Alicorn slowly descends before landing on the ground. The crowd of ponies before him backed up almost in sync.

"Quite the festival prepared here. A perfect occasion for the Arrival of your true ruler." The Alicorn says, looking around.

Rainbow Dash quickly flies up to the Alicorn, "Hey! I don't know who you think you are, but I-"

"-of course you don't!" The Alicorn says as he pushes Rainbow Dash out of the way. He proceeds to walk through the crowd of ponies as they all part from his way, "My name has not been uttered by the mouths of ponies in centuries. But I'm here to change all of that. From now on, your ruler is I! And Princess Celestia is no more."

Rainbow Dash scowls, "What did you do to the Princess?!"

"Oh, she'll be quite alright. You don't need to worry about her…Rainbow Dash." The Alicorn says

Rainbow Dash is taken aback but quickly shakes her head and scowls at the Alicorn, "How do you know my name?"

"I know all the names of those who took out Nightmare Moon. Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle. I was watching, waiting, observing. It's quite upsetting to hear that Nightmare Moon was taken out so easily by some mares and a couple of necklaces. But it allowed me to hatch the perfect plan to make sure what happened to her, doesn't happen to me!" The Alicorn says. A bright light shines from the alicorn's horn as he fires a magical beam st Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow Dash yells as a group of vines sprout from the ground and grasp onto the pegasus pony, "H-Hey! Let me go!" The pony struggles.

The Alicorn flies up to the captured pegasus, placing his hoof on her chin, "Your precious Elements of Harmony have been taken. Without them, you little ponies have no way of stopping me. Therefore, nothing can stand in the way of my complete takeover of Equestria. Except for Sombra, but I'll deal with that when it's relevant."

Rainbow Dash struggles some more before stopping, "Just who are you, anyway?"

The Alicorn curves a menacing smile, "I…am Prince Terranus! The rightful ruler of ALL OF EQUESTRIA!!!" The Alicorn proceeds to laugh as his voice carries across the land.

Twilight scowls and steps forward. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity all join her, "I don't think so!"

Aurora attempts to stop Twilight, but the attempt is futile.

"Twilight Sparkle! Celestia's prized student and the bearer of the Element of Magic. How nice to finally meet you." Prince Terranus says, humbly, "I'm a huge fan. Your cunning is quite the force to be reckoned with. I especially liked the part where you were able to figure out the location of the Elements of Harmony so quickly."

Twilight scowls some more, "Release the Princess right now. Or-"

"-or what? You'll use your Elements of Harmony on me? I hate to burst your bubble. But I've taken the liberty of discarding those things. You ain't finding them anytime soon! And you'll never be able to!" Prince Terranus smashes his hooves into the ground, sprouting large vines that quickly dash in the direction of the 5 ponies.

"Twilight! Watch out!" Applejack yells as she pushes Twilight away.

Twilight falls away from the vines as they ensnare Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, and Applejack. Twilight extends her hoof as her friends are taken away.

Prince Terranus scowls, "Looks like I missed. Well, it won't happen a second time!" Like before, he smashes his hooves into the ground, sprouting vines that extend towards Twilight.

Twilight covers herself in preparation to be caught, but Aurora grabs Twilight at the last second and uses magic to teleport the two of them away from the town square.

Twilight opens her eyes and looks at Aurora in surprise, "Y-You saved me!"

Aurora looks in the direction of Prince Terranus, "We have to get out of here."

"We can hide out in my Library for now. Come on! He'll find us soon." Twilight says as the two unicorns go to the Golden Oak Library.

Once the two are in, they quickly shut the door behind them in haste. Aurora grunts in frustration, "I should have just gone with my gut. Why did Princess Celestia say I was reading too much into things? How could SHE misjudge the situation?!"

"Hold on!" Twilight says, "You knew this would happen?"

"Yes, I-" Aurora says before she's interrupted by the front door opening. Aurora and Twilight both back up in fear, but through the door walks Blossom Night, Amber Gem, Ruby Frost, Star Dream, and Hazel Bloom.

The group is led by Blossom Night, "Hello? Anyone here?"

Aurora goes wide-eyed as she walks forward, "What are you all doing here?"

The 5 ponies look at each other. Star Dream steps forward, "We followed you when Ruby Frost heard the noise of a distant teleportation spell."

"We were all together since we're all the heads of the preparations, we were all together and followed Ruby Frost to the source of the sound." Blossom Night says

"Where we saw you come in here." Amber Gem says.

"You can't be here. You're all in danger if you're with us." Aurora says.

"She's right. You need to leave immediately!" Twilight says before turning to Aurora, "Aurora, you said you knew about Prince Terranus. What do you know?"

"You know about what's going on?" Hazel Bloom asks

"Why didn't you say anything?" Blossom Night asks.

Aurora pauses for a moment before using her magic to pull out the book on Element of Love that Twilight found for her, "Before I came to Ponyville, I was reading a book that mentioned the Elements of Love. Out of curiosity, I began researching more about them in order to figure out what they are. I came across a book that mentioned Prince Terranus and the prophecy that said he'd return."

"Just like Nightmare Moon. But without the Elements of Harmony, we don't have any way to defeat him." Twilight says

Aurora shakes her head, "Not quite. Apparently, back when Princess Celestia defeated him, she didn't use the Elements of Harmony. She used the Elements of Love."

"Well, what are they? And where are they?" Star Dream asks

Aurora turns to Twilight before looking back at the book to read it out, "The Elements of Love. There are 6 in total. Commitment, Truth, Compassion, Passion, and Communication. The sixth itself is unknown. Their last known location is the old Castle of Prince Terranus. Which can be found on the northwest border of the Badlands."

"The Badlands? All the way over there?" Twilight says

Aurora nods, "Yeah, we need to find the Elements of Love. It's the only way we'll stop Prince Terranus."

"Then we should get going, since we're coming too." Star Dream says.

"What? No, there's no reason to. There's no point in putting yourselves in danger like that." Aurora says

Blossom Night smiles, "Equestria is our home too. If we can help save it, we're in."

Ruby Frost nods, "Same here, I'm with y'all."

Amber Gem nods, "Here Here."

"Mhm." Hazel Bloom nods.

Aurora smiles, realizing that these ponies she has come across can actually be great friends. Twilight smiles and looks at Aurora, "Looks like another thing we have in common. Five friends who are ready to help you no matter the cost."

Aurora steps forward, "Alright, girls. We have to be careful when sneaking out of Ponyville. We set out immediately. Let's go!"

Elements of Love Part 3

The group made their way through the grassy fields, opting to go around the dangerous Everfree Forest. After a long day of travel, the ponies finally stopped. Starting a fire in order to camp for the night.

Blossom Night throws a branch into the fire in order to fuel it.

"Blossom Night!" Hazel Bloom says

Blossom Night turns to Hazel Bloom, "What?"

"That branch was still alive." Hazel says in a disapproving tone.

Blossom Night sits down and shrugs, "It was a branch. It really doesn't make a difference."

"It was a living organism. You of all people should respect that." Hazel Bloom says, pointing at Blossom Night.

Blossom Night turns around to look at her cutie mark, realizing what it symbolized. She puts on a guilty expression and looks back at Hazel Bloom, "Eheh, sorry."

"Alright Everypony! We should get some rest. We have a big day tomorrow." Aurora says, approaching the ponies.

"If we even make it to the Badlands. Chances are, Prince Terranus will be out lookin' for us." Ruby Frost says.

"Gotta remain optimistic. I'll bet we'll make it and give that evil pony a thrashing." Star Dream says, clenching her hoof.

"I doubt it." Blossom Night says, crossing her front legs.

"Oh c'mon, have a little optimism." Star Dream says, leaning forward.

"Optimism isn't really my thing. I prefer being realistic. And think of this logically. What are the chances that we find some magical ancient artifacts that can defeat Prince Terranus?" Blossom Night says, leaning back and rolling her eyes.

"Well we can at least say things to make ourselves feel better." Amber Gem says

"I prefer being honest." Blossom Night says bluntly, "The Truth is better than some lie to spare someone's feelings. Helps you prepare for the real world."

"Well, I can't exactly argue with that." Ruby Frost says.

Aurora looks around at the ponies, "Where's Twilight?"

Amber Gem points in a direction, "I saw her going over there."

Aurora looks in the direction Amber pointed and makes her way that way. Soon, she sees Twilight, sitting by herself, looking down at the ground. Aurora approaches her cautiously and sits next to her. Aurora's eyes go wide at seeing that Twilight looks incredibly sad, "What's wrong?"

"I'm worried about my friends. I don't know what's going to happen to them." Twilight says.

Aurora looks down for a moment before responding, "I'm sure they'll be fine."

"But what if they aren't? Prince Terranus has no reason to keep my friends alive. What if he…kills them?" Twilight says, looking up at the night sky.

Aurora is taken aback by this claim. The idea of Prince Terranus killing Twilight's friends had not occurred to her. Just like how much Twilight's friends meant to Twilight. Aurora raises her front leg in order to comfort Twilight, hesitating at first before finally wrapping it around Twilight, "I'm positive they'll be fine."

Twilight smiles, "Thank you. That does give me some solace."

"I'm glad. Honestly, seeing you down made me sad." Aurora says, smiling and closing your eyes. Everything goes silent and Aurora opens her eyes to see Twilight giving her a strange stare. As if Twilight isn't sure about how she feels. Aurora face blushes a deep red as she quickly stands up, "U-Um…w-well. I better get back to the others." Aurora quickly trots back to the campfire, leaving Twilight to watch her leave.

Twilight places her hoof on her chest in confusion, "That was a strange feeling."

Aurora stands tall as she prepares to speak, "Alright, everypony. Let's get to sleep."

Everyone nods as they all, one by one, go to sleep.

Morning came and the ponies continued their journey. Soon, they came across a swamp. Ruby Frost lifts an eyebrow in confusion, "Why’d we stop?"

"There's a swamp." Twilight says.

"That's all? Shoot, ain't nopony got time for that." Ruby Frost says, walking forward.

Aurora holds her hoof out in front of Ruby Frost, stopping her, “Hold on there, Ruby. It’s not just any swamp. It’s the Latigoes Swamp.”

“The what now swamp?” Ruby Frost asks, confused.

“The Latigoes Swamp. Home to the legendary Drakon.” Hazel Bloom says, placing her hooves on her cheeks.

“Only the worst place in Equestria. Second only to the Everfree Forest! You must have read about it in school.” Amber Gem says.

Ruby Frost gives a disappointed look, “I probably would have, if I could read.”

Amber Gem blushes, “Oh…right.”

“Do we have to go through it? Can’t we just go around?” Blossom Night asks

Twilight takes a look at the map, “It seems like the only way we’re getting to the badlands is through the swamp. Either that or go through the Macintosh hills south. Beyond this swamp lies the borders of the Badlands. It’s our only option.”

Star Dream steps forward, “If that’s what it takes! C’mon girls!” Star Dream turns back to the other ponies, “We made a Commitment to this mission. We’ll see it through till the end. No matter what!”

The ponies nod in agreement and cheer in sync, “YEAH!!!”

Star Dream smiles and turns to the swamp, “Alright, let’s do this!”

The 7 ponies proceeded into the Latigoes swamp, ready to face whatever challenge comes their way. The ponies carefully make their way through the dense, moss filled waters of the swamp. Star Dream carefully steps forward to test how deep the waters are as they go, “Careful, girls. There’s a hole here. Watch your step.”

Something quickly brushes past Hazel Bloom’s hind legs. Hazel Bloom looks behind herself in shock. There’s nopony behind her, as she is the last one in the line. Blossom Night looks behind and sees Hazel Bloom staring at her hind legs curiously, “Everything alright, Hazel?”

“I thought I felt something move across my leg.” Hazel Bloom says

“It was probably just a long line of moss. Heck, it’s everywhere.” Blossom Night says, pulling a piece of moss off her belly.

“I know, right? I hope we’ll be out of here soon. I’m used to digging through dirt and all, but this is just plain gross.” Amber Gem says.

Dusky buries himself deeper into the mane of Aurora, “I’m lucky I don’t have to walk.”

Aurora looks at the 3 falling behind, “Pick up the pace, girls. The sooner we get out, the sooner we can save Equestria.”

Blossom Night and Amber Gem nod and continue on. Blossom Night stops and looks behind, noticing that Hazel Bloom still hasn’t moved, “Hazel, come on. Hazel?”

Hazel leans her face closer to the water, squinting her eyes. From where Hazel is staring intently at, two eyes open. Hazel flinches, stepping away, “G-Girls!”

Suddenly, a huge, green, scaly tail bursts out from the water and snatches Hazel Bloom. “HAZEL BLOOM!!!” The 6 ponies scream out. A large, serpent-like Dragon bursts out from the water and slithers away, taking Hazel Bloom with it.

Aurora scowls, “After it!”

The ponies all trip and fall as they attempt to push their way through the Swamp. One after another, they trip as they are unable to gain hoofing through the swampy water. Finally, the serpent is out of view.

“No! Hazel Bloom! We gotta go save her!” Blossom Night yells out, struggling to get up.

“We can’t do anything in this swamp. Even if we knew where she was just taken.” Amber Gem says

“Well we gotta do something!” Blossom Night says, turning to Star Dream, “Go! Fly after her.”

“Blossom, even if I chose to break my vow not to fly, I wouldn’t be able to. I haven’t flown in so long that I’ve all but forgotten how to.” Star Dream says with a guilty face.

Blossom Night looks down in defeat.

Aurora charges some magic into her horn, “Maybe If I can…” the light from the magic glows more and more until Aurora’s body flashes and appears further away from the group, “I don’t know if I can, but maybe I can get close to them by teleporting closer and closer.”

“Are you crazy, Aurora?” Twilight says, “Using a teleportation spell that many times in a row is impossible!”

“I have to try.” Aurora says charging another spell.

Twilight gives a determined look and blasts a beam of Magic into Aurora’s horn.

Aurora goes wide-eyed in shock and turns to Twilight, “Wh-What are you doing?”

Twilight grunts in exhaustion, “You’re gonna need more magic.”

Blossom Night turns around and looks at her Cutie Mark before turning back to Aurora and blasting a beam of magic into Aurora’s horn.

Aurora looks at Blossom Night in shock, “Blossom?”

Blossom Night smirks, “I have a bit of experience in sharing magic. Take some of mine too.”

Aurora smiles, “Thank you both!”

Twilight and Blossom Night both collapse to their knees in exhaustion.

Aurora channels the magic she received to teleport multiple times in a row almost seamlessly. Finally, she appears in front of a cave, “This must be where that monster took her.” Aurora quickly runs into the cave.

Crying is heard as Aurora starts to slow down. Aurora’s face shifts to one of sympathy, “Oh no, that must be Hazel Bloom. Poor thing.” Aurora turns a corner to see…the serpent-like dragon is crying. Aurora goes wide-eyed in disbelief.

“A-And that’s why I don’t ever try making friends.” The dragon says in a low, rumbling voice. The dragon places his claws onto his eyes as he cries.

Hazel Bloom pats the dragon’s back, “I understand. But that doesn’t give you the right to kidnap a pony against their will.”

“I know. It’s just so lonely out here on my own.” The dragon says, tapping his claws together.

“I know. I have a wonderful friend named Fluttershy who’d be happy to introduce you to some friends.” Hazel Bloom says.

“R-Really?” The dragon asks

Hazel Bloom nods, “Mhm.”

“H-Hazel Bloom?” Aurora says, nearly at a loss for words.

Hazel Blooms turns to see Aurora. Her face quickly lights up, “Aurora! You made it.”

“Wh-What’s going on here?” Aurora asks.

Hazel Bloom looks at the dragon, “This here is Ladon. He’s a drakon. He kidnapped me because he was lonely. But he apologized.”

“I’m really sorry. Is there any way I can make it up to you?” Ladon asks

Aurora smiles, “Yeah, you could help us with something.”

Ladon proceeded to help carry the 7 ponies to the edge of the Swamp, unharmed.

“You’ll visit sometimes, right?” Ladon asks

Hazel Bloom nods, “Of course. Goodbye now.”

Ladon waves before diving into the water and swimming away.

Aurora turns to Hazel, “That was impressive, Hazel. How were you able to pacify him?”

Hazel smiles, “Sometimes, you just need to show some Compassion.”

Aurora places her hoof on her chin, “Hmmmm.”

The 7 ponies climb their way up the hill that separated the Latigoes Swamp and the Badlands. “There it is, everypony.” Twilight says, pointing at a large, desolate castle, “Prince Terranus’ Castle.”

“We’re almost finished.” Aurora says, smiling.

“Good thing too. When this is all over, I might finally ask out Lyra Heartstrings.” Amber Gem says.

The other 6 ponies turn and look at Amber Gem.

“What? I’m just saying. It’s been on my to-do list and I want to get it done when this is over.” Amber Gem says

“Just…was kinda out of nowhere.” Ruby Frost says.

“Please, this is the longest I’ve ever gone without talking about dating. You all know I set up Ditzy Doo with Berryshine, right?” Amber Gem says, placing a hoof on her chest

“I thought that was Bon Bon.” Blossom Night says

“Of course she HELPED. But it was I who started the whole thing. I’ve set up pretty much all of the iconic dates in Ponyville. It’s literally one of my specialties.” Amber Gem says.

“So…theoretically, you could help set me up on a date with someone…specific?” Star Dream says.

Amber Gem rushes up to Star Dream, placing a leg around her shoulders, “Of course. Would you like me to set you up on a date with Fluttershy?”

Star Dream pushes Amber Gem off and blushes, “Wh-Who said anything about Fluttershy?!”

“Oh don’t play dumb with me. I’ve seen the way you look at her.” Amber Gem says.

Star Dream blushes more as she scratches the back of her head, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Aurora chuckles, “Wow, you can really set up anyone?”

“Of course! I have a huge Passion for romance.” Amber Gem says

Twilight giggles, “Alright everypony, let’s stay focused. We need to get to the castle.”

“Twilight’s right. We should get going.” Aurora says as she walks forward.

The group of ponies make their way down the hill and to the abandoned castle. There, they came face to face with the front door. It was large and very long.

"Alright girls, inside should be the Elements of Love." Aurora says as she opens the front door. The door leads to a throne room.

"So…what is it?" Ruby Frost asks.

"It's a Throne room?" Blossom Night asks.

"That's correct. This must be where Prince Terranus ruled from back when he took over Equestria." Aurora says, walking into it.

Amber Gem shakes in fear, "Are we really gonna go in there?"

"Yes we are." Aurora says all the girls go in, except for Amber Gem.

Everyone proceeds, until Ruby Frost's ear perks up. "I only hear 6 hoofsteps." Ruby Frost mumbles before turning around, "Amber? Is that you?"

"Um…yes. You just go on ahead, I'll just wait here." Amber says, staying outside the castle.

Ruby Frost lifts her ear up and hears that the other ponies are continuing without Ruby or Amber. She puts her ear down and walks towards Amber Gem, "Are ya scared?"

Amber Gem blushes and nods.

Ruby Frost stares for a while before speaking up, "If you just nodded, I can't exactly see it."

"O-Oh! Right. Sorry." Amber says, "Um…I am a little scared, yes."

Ruby Frost smiles and holds out her hoof, "Would it help you if I held your hoof?"

Amber Gem stares at Ruby's open hoof before finally extending her own to grab it, "Um…yes, it would."

Ruby Frost holds Amber Gem's good as they go to the next room.

As the two walk into the next room, Ruby hears the others walking some more. She shakes her head, "Y'all should be ashamed of yourselves."

Everyone turns around to see Ruby and Amber.

"Amber Gem was scared to come into the castle. And none of y'all noticed." Ruby Frost shakes her head.

"Oh shoot, I'm sorry Amber. I didn't notice." Star Dream says

"Oh, it's quite alright. I should have spoken up about it." Amber Gem says

Ruby Frost smiles and walks forward, "This is why Communication is important. Y'all need to know how each other feels, so we can all work together as best as we can."

Everyone smiles at this.

Twilight opens a door and walks into it. Her eyes widen as she looks upon a pillar that houses the Element of Love. Five spherical stones, "The Elements!"

Aurora walks up from behind Twilight with a smile, "We found them."

Aurora and Twilight both smile at each other, their eyes seeming to lock on each other for an eternity.

Blossom Night walks in between the two girls and chuckles, "Um, shouldn't we get them?"

Aurora blushes, "U-Um, right!"

Blossom Night, Twilight, Aurora, and Amber Gem all use their magic to take down the 5 Elements. Twilight looks at her Elements in worry, "Oh no. There's only 5. Just like the Elements of Harmony."

"What? Wh-Where's the sixth?!" Aurora asks, looking around

Twilight places a hoof on her chin, "Before I found the Elements of Harmony, I read a book that told how to discover the Sixth Element. It was a spark. When I discovered the Magic of Friendship, the sixth element appeared."

Suddenly, roots sprout from the concrete ground of the castle. They latch onto all 5 of the Elements of Love and shatter them. Everypony gasps in horror. "THE ELEMENTS! NO!"

Prince Terranus' chuckle is heard echoing throughout the room, "Did you really think I would allow you to escape and find the Elements of Love?"

The ponies look on in horror as the vines transform into Prince Terranus' body. "Terranus!" Aurora yells out

Prince Terranus smirks, "I was defeated by the Elements of Love before. It was foolish to believe that I wouldn't account for them this time. Now, you have no way of defeating me. All you ponies went through this adventure for nothing. Went through all of that together and yet, have nothing to show for it!"

"You're the foolish one, Terranus!" Twilight says with a smirk.

Everypony looks at Twilight in confusion.

"What?" Prince Terranus says, backing up.

"The physical Elements of Harmony were destroyed by Nightmare Moon. But their spirits were not." Twilight says, turning to Aurora.

Aurora's eyes widen as she looks at the ponies she adventured with. She gasps. She turns to Prince Terranus, her too with a smirk, "Twilight is right. You could never destroy the Elements of Love. Because their spirits are right here!"

Prince Terranus steps back as he looks at the pony with a mix of fear and confusion.

Aurora looks at Blossom Night, "Blossom Night, who didn't spare the feelings of her fellow friends and was honest with them represents…Truth!"

The shards from one of the Elements levitate and fly to Blossom Night, surrounding her. Blossom Night looks on with curiosity.

Aurora looks to Star Dream, "Star Dream, who showed that she would stick to her promise no matter what represents…Commitment!"

The shards from another Element begin surrounding Star Dream.

Aurora turns to Hazel Bloom, "Hazel Bloom, who even after being kidnapped by the Drakon, showed care and understanding towards the creature represents…Compassion!"

The shards quickly surround Hazel Bloom as she looks at them with a cute smile.

Aurora turns to Amber Gem, "Amber Gem, who revealed to us how passionate she is about love represents…Passion!"

"Oooh!" Amber Gem mumbles as the shards surround her.

"And finally, Ruby Frost, who stayed behind to understand her friend's feelings represents…Communication! These 5 ponies all showed that they represent these respective Elements." Aurora says

Prince Terranus chuckles, "Nice try, My Little Ponies. But you seem to have forgotten that you're missing an Element. It won't work!"

"Actually, there is another element. It's right here!" Aurora says as she turns to Twilight.

Twilight looks at Aurora in confusion, unsure of what she means.

"Throughout this time I've spent with Twilight Sparkle. She's made me realize something. Made me feel something I've never felt before." Aurora says before turning to Prince Terranus, "The Final Element! The Element…of Affection!"

All 5 of the elements form into Necklaces that attach onto their corresponding ponies. The ponies all levitate from the ground. Together, they fire a beam of magic into Aurora's head, creating a crown on her head. Prince Terranus goes wide-eyed as the Elements generate a large rainbow that blasts into his direction. "NO!!! NO!!!" Prince Terraus shouts. The Rainbow surrounds and wraps his body, turning him into stone from the hooves up. Prince Terranus lifts his front right hoof and roars into the sky until his entire body is frozen to stone.

The 6 Ponies slowly descend to the ground. Aurora looks at the petrified Prince Terranus before looking around, "Is it over?"

Twilight looks at Aurora with an unsure look,"I think so."

"Woah! These necklaces! They look just like our cutie Marks!" Amber Gem says

"Hey, would you look at that?" Star Dream says, lifting up her necklace.

Ruby Frost laughs, "I wish I could see it."

Everyone chuckles at this comment.

"Mine's a little green colored berry bush." Blossom Night says.

"Mine is a white crystal rock. Well, more of a smoky white." Amber Gem says

"I have an orange spiral Galaxy." Star Dream says.

"And mine is a pink flower." Hazel Bloom says

"Anyone mind telling me what mine is?" Ruby Frost asks

Star Dream leans closely, "It's a Red Apple. With a bite in it."

Blossom Night walks up to Aurora, "And Aurora. Yours is just amazing. It's a yellow sun!"

Aurora smiles, "It is really nice."

"Indeed it is." A voice is heard as a bright light appears in the room.

Everypony turns to the source of the bright light. The light fades and reveals Princess Celestia. Everypony smiles and kneels before her. Aurora's kneel is short lived as she runs up to Princess Celestia, "Princess Celestia! You're okay! How come you said I was reading too much into it?"

Princess Celestia is taken aback at Aurora's forwardness. She chuckles, "I didn't want you to worry. Prince Terranus' return was inevitable. I only said what I did in order to allow you to focus on the Elements rather than Prince Terranus himself." Princess Celestia walks up to the petrified Terranus, "Prince Terranus my lover, once upon a time."

"YOUR LOVER?!?!" Everypony gasps.

"I knew if you weren't worried about Prince Terranus' return, you may listen to the task I gave to you." Princess Celestia says

Aurora looks down for a moment before remembering what Celestia said and turning to Twilight, "You wanted me to become attracted to someone. So that I may discover the Magic of Love."

Princess Celestia nods, "Indeed I did. I hoped that if you could learn of the Magic of Love, you could use the Elements of Love to defeat Prince Terranus." She leans closely into the Petrified Terranus' face, placing her hoof on his check, "It saddens me what my love has turned into. The darkness in his heart has overtaken him in a way that can never be undone like my sister."

Twilight runs up to Princess Celestia, "Princess Celestia, are my friends alright?"

Celestia turns around and nods at Twilight, "Yes. All of them are okay and readily await your return."

Twilight smiles at this news.

Celestia turns to Aurora, "As for you. I await your return to Canterlot."

Aurora frowns and looks at Twilight and her new friends, "I'd love to return, Princess Celestia. But may I ask to stay in Ponyville and continue my studies there? It's just that, these ponies have made me the happiest I've ever been. And I believe there is more about Love and Friendship that I could learn."

Princess Celestia smiles, "Very well then. I will arrange for a house to be constructed for you in Ponyville. And you are to report to me any new lessons you learn on the Magic of Love and Friendship."

Aurora's friends all cheer as they all come together for a group hug. Aurora had never believed that she would find a group of ponies she loved to be with more. Or even a pony she thought she'd be romantically attracted to. But she found them all in Ponyville. And many more lessons and friends were yet to come.

Love Express

Aurora and Amber pull wagons of the gems out of the cave they were just in, “Oh! This is great. We got an amazing collection of gemstones. And I’m almost feeling generous enough to give them to Rarity free of charge. Thank you so very much for helping me out, Aurora. I hope it wasn’t too much trouble.”

“For the 100th time, Amber. It was nothing. With my new house currently under construction, I need something to do that gets me out. And besides, I plan to write an essay to the Princess about Geology. This really helped me.” Aurora says, lifting her hoof.

“This is Gemology, darling. If it’s Geology you’re looking for, I can introduce you to my good friend, Maudileena. She’s a real expert.” Amber says

“Well Gemstones are still rocks. It’ll still help me with a passage or two.” Aurora says

Amber Gem abruptly stops, “O-Oh my! STOP!!!”

Aurora bumps her wagon into Amber as she wasn’t prepared for the sudden stop, “Wh-What is it?”

Amber detaches herself from her cart and hides behind it, “Oh Celestia! I hope she didn’t see me!”

Aurora looks around in confusion, “Um…who?”

Amber points at a pony, “HER!”

Aurora squints her eyes, “Lyra Heartstrings?”

“Yes! I can’t let her see me like this!” Amber says as she looks down at herself, covered in dirt, “I’m a mess.”

Aurora turns to Amber with a lifted eyebrow, “I thought you confessed your love to Lyra.”

“I may be an expert in romance. But even I get nervous. I tried to tell her, but I never did.” Amber says, sitting ashamed behind her cart.

“Well you might get the chance to. She’s coming here right now.” Aurora says

“WHAT?!?!” Amber yells out, standing up on her hind legs.

Lyra trots up to the carts, “Hey, Amber.”

Amber blushes profusely as she hides behind her cart, “Oh…hello Lyra. Nice to see you.”

Lyra looks at the two carts full of gems with wide eyes, “Wow! Is this from your mining excavation? That’s quite a lot of gems.”

“U-Um…yes, well…it is quite a bit, yes.” Amber says, nervously.

“I may stop by your shop to buy some later.” Lyra says, trotting away, “Seeya.”

Amber gulps and walks in front of the cart, attaching it back to herself, “Um…c’mon. Let’s go, Aurora.”

“Um…okay?” Aurora says, following her.

The two ponies end up at Sapphire Castle, Amber’s Gemstone Shop. They empty out their gems as Amber’s employee, Crystal Rose, loads them in, “Thank you, Crystal.”

“No problem.” Crystal Rose says as she pushes the boxes inside.

Aurora turns to Amber, “So what was that about, earlier?”

Amber focuses on analyzing the gems, “Whatever do you mean?”

“You acted pretty strange around Lyra.” Aurora says, walking up behind Amber.

Amber drops the gem she was levitating and turns to Aurora, “I just don’t know how to talk to her.”

“Well why not? You two are close, aren’t you?” Aurora asks.

“Yes, but ever since I realized that I’ve REALLY developed feelings for her, I’ve been struggling on how to really express it.” Amber says, sitting down.

“Well I suggest you just be-” Aurora says before being cut off by Amber.

“Star Dream is always trying to show Fluttershy she likes her. Maybe I’ll ask her for some pointers.” Amber says.

“I thought you were supposed to be the expert here.” Aurora says.

Amber begins trotting away, “Yes, at romance. Not showing it.”

Amber finds herself in the town square and sees Star Dream is holding up a clipboard to her face with her right wing and looking up as she directs some pegasi that are flying above her, “In summary, we’re gonna be having clear skies today. Blossomforth, take southern ponyville. Stormfeather, east. And I don’t wanna see any slacking this time!”

“Yes ma’am!” Stormfeather says.

“Ditzy Doo, take Western Ponyville. And please, don’t bring in storm clouds this time.”

Ditzy Doo shrugs, “Sorry. I accidentally stepped on the clouds wrong.”

Star Dream rolls her eyes and looks at her clipboard, “Rainbow Dash! As always, the Northern clouds are the densest. I need you to clear it up quickly, m’kay?”

Rainbow Dash salutes her hoof, “You can count on me!”

“Alright then, everypony. Get to it!” Star Dream says.

The four pegasi quickly fly off to their respective directions.

“Star Dream?” Amber says, walking up to Star Dream.

Star Dream turns to Amber and tucks her clipboard under her wing, “Hey, Amber. What’s up?”

“So, you have a crush on Fluttershy, right?” Amber asks

Star Dream blushes and looks away, “Listen, Amber. I’m not too comfortable talking about this stuff on the job. I have work to do.”

“I just need your advice.” Amber says

Star Dream’s eyes widen, “My advice? You need MY advice about something romantic?”

Amber nods, “Yes, I do.”

“Well, what do you need?” Star Dream asks

“How do you show Fluttershy how you feel? What do you do to express your feelings?” Amber asks.

“Honestly, I don’t really EXPRESS it per se. I just hint at it, I guess. What I do is give her eye contact.” Star Dream says

“Eye contact?” Amber asks

“Yeah, though…with Fluttershy, it’s a little hard given how shy and ancy she is. But if I can give her non-intimidating eye contact, she usually reacts with what I THINK might be a blush.” Star Dream says.

“Gentle Eye-Contact! Got it!” Amber says as she rushes away, “Thank you!”

Star Dream watches as Amber gallops away, “I wonder if she’s referring to Lyra.”

Later in the day, Amber set up a lunch date with Lyra. Lyra showed up at the table and sat down at the opposite end of the table, “A bit sudden to invite me to lunch. Good thing I didn’t have anything in my schedule. And I haven’t eaten breakfast yet, so I’m starving.”

Amber Gem stays quiet, smiling and staring at Lyra.

Lyra curves her eyebrows as she’s taken aback by Amber’s silence. Lyra looks around awkwardly before smiling, “So have you sold any of your collected gems yet?”

Amber Gem leans forward, holding her head up with her front legs resting on the table. She continues to stare into Lyra’s eyes without a single sound.

Lyra blinks awkwardly as she backs up a bit, “Um…are you okay, Amber?”

Amber continues to remain silent as she stares into Lyra’s eyes.

Sweat runs down Lyra’s face as she quickly gets up, “I uh…gotta go!” Lyra quickly dashes away, galloping as quickly as she can.

Amber lifts an eyebrow in confusion as she sits up, “Huh…it didn’t work! Star Dream was full of it!”

Amber makes her way to Galabella Apple Store. A bell rings as Amber opens the door. Ruby Frost, who’s behind the counter lifts her head up, “Welcome to Galabella Apple Store. What’re you lookin’ for today?”

“Hello Ruby.” Amber says, walking up to the front counter.

Ruby Frost’s eyes widen, “Amber! Howdy, what can I do for ya? Lookin’ to buy some apples?”

Amber Gem shakes her head.

Ruby Frost stares for a while before frowning, “If you made a facial expression or nod, I couldn’t see it.”

Amber blushes, “Oh…right. Sorry. I forgot.”

“Ain’t your first time. Anyway, so what’ll it be?” Ruby Frost asks

“I’m not here to buy apples, Ruby. I need advice.” Amber says

“Oh, alright. Waddya need?” Ruby says.

Amber leans on the counter in a guise of sorrow, “Oh Ruby! I’ve been trying to find out how to express my love to Lyra Heartstrings. I tried going to Star Dream, but her advice didn’t work.”

“Did she tell you to stare at them?” Ruby Frost asks

Amber Gem nods.

Ruby Frost pauses for a moment, “I’m gonna assume you nodded.”

Amber’s eyes widen as she stands up tall, “U-Um…yes, she did.”

Ruby Frost rolls her eyes, “Star Dream ain’t ever expressed love in her life. Now, granted…neither have I. But what I lack in datin’ experience, I make up for with knowledge of ponies. You don’t just ‘stare’ at them. You gotta talk to them. Hint at your interest in them.”

Amber’s eyes go wide as she jumps in the air, “YOU’RE RIGHT, RUBY!! I just need to talk with her. Thank you!” Amber rushes out of the store.

“Don’t mention it.” Ruby says.

Lyra trots along the road as Amber quickly rushes up next to her, “Hello!”

“Oh! Hey Amber. What was going on earlier-” Lyra says before being cut off.

Amber leans her face closely to Lyra’s, “Tell me, Lyra. What’s your opinion on lyres?”

Lyra stops, “Lyres? Well, I really like them. I mean after all, my Cutie Mark is-”

“SO DO I!” Amber says, holding a lyre, “Gosh, I love lyres so much. It makes me just want to DATE one.” Amber raises her eyebrows in rapid succession.

Lyra backs up from Amber with curved eyebrows, “Um…that’s…interesting.”

“What about unicorns? Do you like unicorns?” Amber asks, rushing up to Lyra once again.

Lyra looks away, “Um…I guess?”

“SO DO I! Gosh, Unicorns are the greatest. If there was a unicorn next to me right now, why I’d probably just want to DATE them.” Amber says, flashing her eyes at Lyra’s horn.

Lyra looks up at her own horn and backs away, “Um…okay? I uh…gotta be somewhere! Bye!” Lyra runs away.

Amber scowls, “Ruby Frost was wrong too!”

Amber walks slowly down ponyville’s main road. Blossom Night trots up next to her with a concerned expression, “Jeeze, are you trying to do your best impression of me? What’s got you so down?”

“Oh, Blossom Night. My problem is one that is unable to be solved by one so…lonely. No offense.” Amber says.

“None taken. It’s not like you’re wrong.” Blossom Night says, rolling her eyes, “Anyway, what’s wrong. Telling me won’t make it worse.”

“I’ve been trying to figure out a way to express my love towards Lyra. But I’m no good at expressing my feelings to her. So I asked Star Dream for advice, but that failed. And I asked Ruby Frost for advice, but THAT failed.” Amber says.

Blossom Night rolls her eyes, “You’re gonna take advice from the lonely pegasus who’s had the same crush since she was a filly and the blind country pony?”

Amber stops and raises an eyebrow. She puts her hoof on her chin as she thinks, “Well…I guess when you put it that way. I haven’t broadened my horizons that much.”

“You need to think about it logically. Do something that would make her want the love out of you. Impress her or something. Show off.” Blossom Night says.

Amber Gem’s eyes widen, “OF COURSE! Good idea, Blossom! Do you really think it’ll work?”

Blossom Night looks away, “No, but it’s worth a try.”

Amber looks on with determination, “This time! I will make her want the love from me!”

Lyra walks through the town, nervously looking around, “Amber has been acting really weird lately.”

“MARE’S AND GENTLECOLTS!” Amber announces.

Lyra looks up to see where Amber’s voice came from.

Amber is standing on top of a large boulder, “Gather around! For today, I will perform a great feat!”

Lyra places a hoof on her face and sighs.

“Today! I will break apart this boulder with one swing from my pickaxe and retrieve the gems from inside!” Amber says, picking up a pickaxe with magic.

The ponies below cheer for Amber Gem.

Amber smirks and lifts up the pickaxe. Her face sweats as she analyzes the boulder. She lifts the pickaxe up and swings it down at a great speed. The pickaxe strikes down on the boulder and……the boulder shatters in half, revealing all the gems inside. Amber lifts her head in pride.

Ponies quickly run up to see all the gems. The crowd gets loud as they all admire the gems and praise Amber.

“Ah yes, I am the greatest miner in all of Equestria!” Amber says, closing her eyes. She peaks one eye open and sees that Lyra is walking away. Amber looks down in sorrow as she jumps off the rock, leaving it for the ponies that are crowding it.

Amber collapses onto a local bench in sorrow. Aurora slowly approaches Amber, clearly sympathetic for Amber. She places her hoof on Amber, “Are you alright?”

Amber shifts to be lying on her back, “No, Aurora. I am not alright. Nothing I tried to show Lyra my affection has worked. I may be an expert in romance. But I’m a romantic failure.”

Aurora smiles, “Have you tried just expressing your love in your own way?”

“Whatever do you mean?” Amber asks.

“I’ve noticed you’ve been asking others for advice on how to express your love. You should just express love in a way that only you can.” Aurora says.

“But I don’t know how to do that.” Amber says.

“Well what do you do to express your admiration for your friends?” Aurora asks.

Amber places a hoof on her chin, “Well, I give them gifts of the jewelry I make, I guess.”

“Then there ya go! Give her a personalized gift of jewelry that expresses just how you feel about her.” Aurora says

Amber’s eyes go wide as she sits up, “Aurora! YOU’RE RIGHT!!! I’ve been so caught up in trying to express my Affection the way other ponies do it. That I didn’t realize I should just express it MY way.” Amber quickly rushes up to Aurora and hugs her, “Thank you, Aurora! You’re an amazing friend!”

“Anytime, Amber.” Aurora says, hugging her back.

Amber ends the hug and quickly runs towards her shop, “I must hurry if I’m to give it to her by the end of the day.”

Aurora smiles as her friend runs off.

Amber Gem returns to her home/shop and quickly begins working on something with her Gems. She sweats profusely as she busily creates something that she believes would be perfect for Lyra. Finally she finishes and beholds her creation, “Perfect! Now to give it to her!”

Amber finds Lyra walking down the street, “Lyra!”

Lyra freaks out and looks for a direction to run.

“Wait! I need to tell you something.” Amber says as she trots up to Lyra.

Lyra calms down as she prepares to listen to Amber.

“I apologize for how I’ve been acting today. I may have seemed quite strange and weird today. But it’s all because I was nervous to express my feelings for you.” Amber says with a passionate smile.

Lyra’s eyes go wide as she listens to this.

“The truth is, I really like you. I’ve liked you for a long time. So much so that I wanted to express it. However, I had a little trouble figuring out how to do it as I haven’t ever really expressed love that well. But just earlier, a new friend gave me some advice. She showed me that I should just express my love MY way. And because of that! I made you this!” Amber says as she reveals a necklace with many Rose Quartz gems on it.

Lyra blushes, “Amber…” Lyra uses magic to place the Necklace around her neck. She looks up at Amber with a smile, “Amber, you don’t need to act a certain way for me. I’ve liked you for a long time too. But you don’t have to feel the need to express that feeling for me in any way other than your own. Because I like you for you!”

Amber smiles widely, “Lyra, will you be my Very Special Somepony?”

Lyra smiles as she hugs Amber quickly, “Of course!”

Aurora watches the two ponies from afar with a smile. She turns her head and uses magic to pull a book out of her saddle bag. The book has Aurora’s cutie mark on it. She opens the book, brings out a quill, and begins writing…

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that sometimes it can be hard to express your feelings to those you love. Oftentimes, you feel like you need to express your love in a certain way for the pony you love to acknowledge it. However, if they truly love you for who you are, they won’t need you to express love in any way other than how you do it. It may be hard to find out how you express affection, but soon enough, you will find out.

Slithering Snake

Aurora Shimmer, Blossom Night, Ruby Frost, Star Dream, and Amber Gem all lay out a red and white checkered blanket onto the grassy field atop a small hill. Blossom Night and Ruby Frost both place down baskets. Amber Gem lays down a long green bottle with a grape on it. Aurora lays down on the blanket and smiles, “I can’t believe this is the first time we’re hanging out together since the whole Prince Terranus incident.”

“Yeah, hard to believe it’s only been 2 weeks.” Ruby Frost says.

“I’m just wondering where Hazel Bloom is. She should be here by now.” Star Dream says, laying down.

Blossom lays down on the blanket with the others, “I haven’t even seen her in forever. Her shop has been closed for some time now.”

“The other day, I saw her hanging out with somepony I’ve never seen before.” Amber Gem says.

“Oh! Do ya think she got a new Special Somepony?” Ruby Frost asks.

“That’d be nice. I wouldn’t blame her if she was late for this because she has a Special Somepony.” Aurora says, pouring some of the liquid from the green bottle into a cup with her magic.

Blossom Night smiles and points, “Hey look! There she is. And it looks like somepony’s with her.”

Hazel Bloom walks up the hill with a smile, “Hey, everypony! I’m sorry I’m late. I was busy.”

“It’s no problem, Hazel.” Aurora says.

Star Dream’s eyes go wide with surprise, “Hey, who’s that?”

Everypony finally notices the pony that’s walking beside Hazel Bloom. She’s an earth pony with a bright yellow coat, her mane is striped green and dark green, her eyes are dark green, she has a light green scarf around her neck, and her cutie mark is that of two theater masks with the ribbon behind them being a snake. The two ponies stop as Hazel Bloom raises her hoof to present the new pony, “This is my Special Somepony. Her name is Slither Sweet.”

Slither Sweet smiles, “Nice to finally meet you all. Hazel talks about you 5 a lot. A little TOO much.”

“Nice to meet you. I’m surprised you didn’t tell us sooner, Hazel.” Blossom Night says.

Hazel opens her mouth to speak up, but Slither Sweet answers for her, “She hasn’t been out lately.”

“Y-Yeah.” Hazel says.

“Welp, glad to hear from you again.” Ruby Frost says as she opens her basket.

Blossom Night peers into the basket. In the basket sits an apple pie, “Oh come on! I was supposed to bring a pie.”

“I know, but my mother just finished a delivery to the shop, so I decided to bake an apple pie while they were fresh.” Ruby Frost says.

Star Dream looks at Ruby Frost in confusion, “Is it really a good idea to bake a pie when you….can’t see?”

“It would be, yes. IF you weren’t experienced.” Ruby Frost says.

“Well, it won’t matter. Because it won’t compare to my…” Blossom Night says as she pulls a pie out from her basket, “...famous Blackberry Pie!”

Ruby Frost scoffs, “Oh please. As if some ‘Blackberry Pie’ is gonna compare to an Apple Family made Apple Pie!”

Blossom Night smirks, “This is my very own mother’s recipe. She’d turn over in her grave if I didn’t make it better than yours.”

“Then how about we put that to the test.” Ruby Frost says, leaning closely towards Blossom, “We’ll have our friends decide who’s pie is better.”

“Come on then, girls. Have a slice and tell us.” Ruby Frost says, presenting the two pies with her hoof.

Aurora, Amber, and Star quickly go forward to get a slice. Blossom looks at Hazel who’s looking at the pie with bright eyes. Blossom smiles, “Want some, Hazel?”

Hazel smiles and begins to walk forward, but Slither Sweet puts her hoof in front of Hazel, “She can’t.”

Blossom raises an eyebrow, “Huh? Why not?”

“Because…she’s on a diet. She can’t have something sweet like a pie.” Slither Sweet says.

Aurora walks up to the two, “Why are you on a diet?”

“She’s trying to lose weight.” Slither Sweet says.

Aurora raises an eyebrow, “She’s at a perfectly healthy weight though.”

“She’s just trying to be healthier. Isn’t that right, Hazel?” Slither Sweet says, turning to Hazel.

Hazel Bloom looks at the ground with a frown before nodding.

“I’m afraid we must go.” Slither Sweet says.

“But…you only just got here.” Ruby Frost says.

“She’s been very busy. Only taking this small break to see you guys. But we really need to get going.” Slither Sweet says, pulling on Hazel.

Hazel curves a smile and nods. As the two walk away, Hazel Bloom waves to her friends, “Bye.”

Everypony is left in shock as they watch the two walk away. Ruby Frost scowls, “Anyone else get a weird vibe from those two? Or was it just me?”

“Hazel didn’t seem all that talkative. Slither would just talk for her.” Aurora says, curving her eyebrows.

“It certainly was strange.” Amber Gem says.

“Maybe she was just a bit shy around her.” Star Dream says.

Blossom Night scowls, “Something is definitely going on with that pony.”

Blossom Night trots down the road as she nears Hazel’s house. Blossom Night stops as she looks at the closed flower shop. She scowls as she walks around it and to the window at her bedroom. Blossom peeks over the window sill to take a look inside. Her eyes widen as she sees Slither Sweet scolding Hazel.

“I don’t want you hanging out with those 5 ponies anymore! I don’t like how they act.” Slither Sweet says.

“But they’re my friends.” Hazel says in response.

“And I don’t like you being around them.” Slither Sweet says, pointing her muzzle upwards, “They clearly don’t care about you.”

“That’s not true. I know they care about me.” Hazel says with a smile.

Slither Sweet stomps her front hoof, “Are you trying to upset me? I’m asking for something simple. I guess you really don’t love me.”

“No, no, that’s not it. I just think you’re judging them too quickly.” Hazel says.

“I know what I saw. They were expressively rude to you.” Slither Sweet says.

“They were?” Hazel asks with a confused expression.

Slither Sweet turns to Hazel Bloom, “Of course. Don’t you remember them saying awful things about you?”

“Um…no?” Hazel says, placing her hoof on her chin, “At least…I don’t think so.”

Blossom Night gasps, "She's lying to Hazel!"

Slither Sweet wraps her front legs around Hazel Bloom, "Don't worry, Hazel. I'm here for you. I'm the only pony you can trust."

Blossom Night scowls with fury as she stops peeking through the window. She stomps her hoof on the ground below her in anger.

Later, Blossom Night notices Hazel Bloom walking through Ponyville and quickly rushes to greet her. Blossom stops in front of Hazel, much to her surprise. Hazel quickly lifts her right hoof to cover her right eye, “O-Oh! Hey, Blossom.”

“Hazel? I have a few concerns about your new marefriend.” Blossom says, curving her eyebrows in concern.

“Oh? Um…what do you mean?” Hazel says, turning her face away to hide the right side of her face.

Blossom lifts an eyebrow and then scowls, “Hazel. What’s wrong?”

“What do you mean?” Hazel asks

Blossom tries to peek her head around to see the right side of Hazel’s face, “Why are you hiding your face?”

Hazel turns her head some more, “I uh…have to go.”

Hazel attempts to walk away, but Blossom Night quickly rushes in front of her and pulls down her hoof. Blossom Night gasps and goes wide-eyed, “HAZEL!”

Hazel looks down. Her right eye is now visible. It’s purple from bruising.

“HAZEL?! What happened to you?” Blossom Night asks in worry, holding Hazel’s head.

“I-It’s nothing, really.” Hazel says, trying to turn away.

Blossom scowls, “Was this caused by Slither Sweet?!”

Hazel flinches and her eyes go wide, “H-How did you know?”

“I know pony crap when I see it.” Blossom says as she lets go of Hazel’s head, “I’m gonna have a talk with that pony.”

“No! It’s fine.” Hazel says hastily, “She just got a little mad. I don’t blame her for that.”

“It’s not fine. That pony was bad news from the moment I saw her.” Blossom Night says.

Hazel shakes her head, “You just don’t know her like I do. She’s a really nice pony.”

“She doesn’t have the authority to hurt you.” Blossom Night says.

Hazel scowls at Blossom, “She’s not hurting me. She was right about you ponies!” Hazel quickly turns around and runs off.

“HAZEL! WAIT!” Blossom Night yells out, reaching her hoof forward. Blossom puts down her hoof and grunts in frustration.

Aurora stands in the Golden Oak library, carefully using her magic to organize the books. Twilight walks up behind her with a smile, “Thanks for helping me sort the books today. Spike was a little exhausted after the last 3 times I changed my mind on how to organize them.”

“It’s no problem. I always love organizing books.” Aurora says before looking away and blushing, “And I really like coming to hang out with you.”

Twilight blushes for a moment before shaking her head rapidly and using her magic to organize some of the books, “Yeah, me too.”

Aurora smiles and mumbles to herself, “That’s a good sign.”

Suddenly, Blossom Night bursts through the door, causing Aurora and Twilight to drop their books. Blossom Night walks towards Aurora with a serious expression. Aurora lifts an eyebrow in confusion, “Blossom Night? What’s going on?”

Blossom stops in front of Aurora, “Hazel Bloom is being abused.”

Aurora goes wide-eyed, “What?! By who?!”

“That new Special Somepony she’s got.” Blossom Night says.

Aurora goes wide-eyed, “A-Are you sure? I know we didn’t like her, but-”

“Yeah, I’m sure.” Blossom Night says before looking down, “She…had a bruise on her eye.”

Aurora gasps, “A Bruise?!”

“Hazel Bloom confirmed it was from Slither Sweet.” Blossom Night says.

“Well…what are we gonna do?” Aurora asks.

Blossom Night stomps her hoof, “Well I don’t know about you, but I’m gonna pummel somepony.”

“Violence isn’t the answer.” Twilight says, walking closer to the two.

Blossom turns to Twilight, “I’ve known Hazel since we were fillies. She’s an innocent pony who doesn’t deserve this. I’ll do anything to keep her safe.”

“Still, violence won’t solve this. Just talk to Slither Sweet.” Twilight says.

“Twilight’s right. We can’t just attack them. We’ll go to talk with her.” Aurora says.

Blossom Night grunts, “Fine, but if it doesn’t go anywhere, I’m throwing hooves.”

Aurora nods, “Alright.” She turns to Twilight, “I’ll be back to help out when I can.”

Twilight smiles and nods, “I won’t start without you.”

Aurora gives a passionate smile before turning and making her way out of the Golden Oak Library.

Blossom and Aurora make their way to the flower shop, where Hazel Bloom lives. Aurora knocks on the door and turns to Blossom, “Just, let me do the talking, alright?”

Blossom looks away and nods.

The door cracks open and a dark green eye peeks out, “Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”

“We’re here because we’re under the belief that you’re…mistreating Hazel.” Aurora says firmly.

The pony opens the door all the way, revealing it really is Slither Sweet, “I beg your pardon?”

“Hazel has a bruise on her eye and Blossom Night here says that Hazel said it was you.” Aurora says.

Slither Sweet’s eyes go wide as she places a hoof on her chest, “What would make you think I’d do something like that?”

Blossom Night scowls, “Oh, maybe it’s the fact that Hazel said it herself.”

Slither Sweet shakes her head, “I don’t know why you’d make up such a lie. But I wouldn’t hurt Hazel. During one of her temper tantrums, she hit her eye on the bed frame.”

Aurora’s eyes go wide, “Temper tantrums?”

“Yes, she has terrible fits of rage. In fact, she just had one earlier. I should go tend to her.” Slither Sweet says, closing the door.

“HEY!” Blossom Night says, trying to stop the door from closing.

“I had no idea Hazel could get mad like that.” Aurora says, placing a hoof on her chin.

“Are you kidding me, Aurora? You believed her?!” Blossom says, turning to Aurora with a baffled look.

“She seemed very genuine.” Aurora says.

Blossom scowls at Aurora, “She was obviously lying. How could you not see it?”

“How do you know?” Aurora asks.

Blossom looks away, “Isn’t my first time seeing somepony like that.”

“Well, maybe she’s really not doing something. After all, we haven’t seen anything.” Aurora says.

Blossom Night goes wide-eyed, “That’s it!”

Aurora tilts her head, “What?”

Blossom Night turns around and trots to the side of the building.

“Blossom? Where are you going?” Aurora asks, trotting behind her.

Blossom Night finds the window to Hazel’s room and peeks over the window seal. Aurora looks at Blossom with confusion before joining her. The two see Hazel lying in her bead, looking sad. Slither Sweet bursts into the room, “What did you say to that purple unicorn?!”

Hazel looks at Slither Sweet in confusion, “Wh-What do you mean?”

Slither Sweet walks up to Hazel’s bed, “The yellow and purple unicorns just knocked on the door and said that you told them I hit you!”

“I-I didn’t say anything. Blossom Night just-” Hazel starts to say.

Slither Sweet walks up to Hazel and hits her in the face with her hoof, “Don’t go around saying that stuff or I’ll make you regret it.”

Blossom Night goes wide-eyed and uses her horn to teleport herself into the room, in between Hazel and Slither, “DON’T YOU DARE LAY ANOTHER HOOF ON HER!!!”

Slither Sweet backs up, “Ah! It’s you!”

“Blossom?” Hazel says, looking up.

Blossom Night turns around to see Hazel Bloom, who now has a bleeding eye. Blossom Night goes wide-eyed and turns to Slither Sweet with pure rage in her eyes, “Alright you son of a mule. That’s it!”

“I-I didn’t do anything! Get away from me you brute! Hazel! Why are you turning these ponies against me?” Slither says

Hazel stands up and scowls at Slither, “I’m not the one who just hit me. Keep demanding things from me and never seem happy. I-I can’t keep doing this. I’m not happy. ”

“Wh-What?” Slither says with a scowl.

Blossom Night begins to approach Slither Sweet before Hazel stops her, placing a hoof in front of her close friend, “No, don’t harm her. Just let her leave peacefully.”

Blossom Night nods and turns to Slither Sweet with a scowl, “You heard her. Get out of here.”

Slither scowls, “Well, at least I won’t have to deal with how horrible you are anymore.” Slither quickly makes her way out of the shop.

Aurora quickly teleports into the room, “Hazel!”

Hazel Bloom sits on her bed and begins crying. Blossom and Aurora quickly sit on both sides of her. Blossom throws her front legs around Hazel Bloom, hugging her.

Aurora places her hoof onto Hazel’s left eye, “Hazel, you’re bleeding.”

Blossom ends the hug and takes a good look, “You are!”

“It’ll be okay.” Hazel says, turning her head away, “Isn’t the first time this has happened.”

Blossom Night places her hooves on Hazel’s cheeks and turns her head to look at her, “But it will be the last time. Hold still.” Blossom closes her eyes and points her horn towards Hazel’s face.

“Wh-What are you doing?” Hazel asks.

Blossom stays silent as her horn begins glowing. Aurora goes wide-eyed as Blossom’s magic heals Hazel’s eyes perfectly. Blossom opens her eyes and smiles at Hazel.

“Blossom…you have healing magic?!” Aurora yells out.

Blossom turns to Aurora. “Yeah…not really something I have many opportunities to use.”

“That’s amazing! Having healing magic is like…top tier! Even Princess Celestia only has mundane healing magic.” Aurora says, rushing up to Blossom with a huge smile.

Blossom smiles and points to her cutie mark, “It IS how I got my Cutie Mark.”

“THAT’S AMAZING!” Aurora says

Blossom turns to Hazel, “You okay?”

Hazel smiles and nods, “Better now, thanks.”

Blossom turns to Aurora, “You can get going. I’ll take care of Hazel for now.”

“Are you sure?” Aurora asks.

Blossom nods, “Yeah. I think you have a letter to write to the Princess. Not to mention your date with Twilight.”

“DATE?! Wh-What do you mean date?!” Aurora says, blushing.

Blossom chuckles, “Just go.”

Aurora smiles and nods, “Alright.”

Aurora quickly made her way to her house, immediately taking her journal, quill, and ink out with her magic. She opens the book, dips the quill in the ink and begins writing.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that the pony you love may not always be what they seem. There are some ponies who use love to their advantage and hurt the ponies they’ve said they love. Nopony should ever have to be with a pony that hurts them or makes them unhappy. Love is about caring for one another and being fair. If you’re unhappy in the relationship you are in, the best thing you can do for yourself is end it.

Signed,

Your Faithful Student, Aurora Shimmer

All's Fair in Love and Apples

Ruby Frost finally opens her stall. She’s had her Mother run the shop while she’s in the market with her little sister, Snowsweet. “I sure hope ma can handle the shop all on her own while we’re here at the market.” Snowsweet says

“Don’t you worry. Ma is the most diligent pony I know.” Ruby Frost says

“Even more than Jonamac?” Snowsweet asks, looking up at Ruby Frost

Ruby Frost rolls her eyes, “Oh please. Our big brother is lazier than an ant on a cold day. I almost feel nervous leaving him to tend to the Orchard while we’re in Ponyville.”

Snowsweet giggles.

Ruby Frost smiles at her little sister. She hears the hooves of an approaching pony and prepares herself to talk business, “Howdy there! Anything I can get you?”

“Maybe. I’m just wondering if your apples are better than Applejack’s.” Bon Bon says.

“Applejack’s? What do you mean?” Ruby Frost asks.

“Applejack is selling apples on the other side of the marketplace.” Bon Bon says

“She’s WHAT?!?!” Ruby Frost yells out.

Ruby Frost and Snowsweet make their way through the marketplace as Ruby Frost hears Applejack’s voice, “Apples! Get your fresh apples here!”

“Delicious and nutritious!” Applebloom, who’s standing next to her, says.

Ruby Frost scowls forward, despite not knowing the exact subject she’s scowling at, “Applejack! Just what do you think you’re doing?”

Applejack scowls, “Just sellin’ apples.”

“I thought we had an agreement that only I could sell apples in town.” Ruby Frost says.

“No, the deal was that you could sell apples here in Ponyville so long as WE don’t open up our own shop. We said nothing about opening a stall in the marketplace.” Applejack says.

“A stall is basically the same thing as a store.” Ruby Frost says.

Applejack leans closer to Ruby Frost, “Is not!”

“Is too!” Ruby Frost says, leaning in closer herself.

“Is not!” Applejack says

“Is too!” Ruby Frost says.

Applebloom and Snowsweet look at each other and then at their two big sisters, “Why don’t you ask Granny Smith and Auntie Wild Crisp?”

Applejack and Ruby Frost go wide-eyed and turn to their little sisters in sync, “Absolutely not!”

“If we get Granny Smith and Wild Crisp involved it’ll be…another Apple Family Feud.” Applejack says, shivering.

Ruby Frost gulps.

Snowsweet lifts an eyebrow, “Apple…Family…Feud?”

“It was an old Feud that occurred within the entirety of the Apple Family. So old that when it happened, I still had my vision.” Ruby Frost says.

“Well what happened?” Applebloom asks.

It was a 4 year long squabble. Between the Allied orchards of Sweet Apple Acres and Galabella Acres…” Ruby Frost says.

“...against the allied orchards of Appleloosa and Applebred.” Applejack says.

“Well what was it about?” Snowsweet asks.

“With a Family as large as ours having the same profession all around, tensions are bound to happen.” Ruby Frost says.

“Appleloosa wanted control over the Canterlot Marketplace. But with them being so far from Canterlot, Sweet Apple Acres felt it was unfair.” Applejack says.

“What followed was the massacre of over 600 Apple Trees from Macintosh Hills all the way to Foal Mountain as the two tried to run each other out of business.” Ruby Frost says.

“It only ended after each orchard barely had enough apples to keep running their orchards. The four heads of the orchards met together in order to document a Peace Treaty. Winesap, from Applebred. Wild Crisp, from Galabella Acres. Sundance, from Appleloosa. And of course, Granny Smith from Sweet Apple Acres.” Applejack says.

“Together, those four ponies wrote the Treaty of Appleloosa, ensuring that no Apple Family Feud would ever happen again.” Ruby Frost says.

“Woah!” Snowsweet and Applebloom say in sync.

“So…why can’t you get Granny Smith and Auntie Wild Crisp?” Applebloom asks, placing her hoof on her chin.

Applejack puts her face close to Applebloom’s, “Because, we want to do whatever we can to avoid another feud.”

“Which is why we have to settle this between US!” Ruby Frost says, squinting her eyes, even though her gaze is only somewhat in the direction of Applejack.

Applejack squints her eyes at Ruby Frost in response, “Yes we will!”

Applebloom and Snowsweet look at each other with unsure eyes.

Ruby Frost shakes Snowsweet violently as she attempts to wake her up, “Snowsweet! Wake up!”

Snowsweet’s eyes blink rapidly as she tries to comprehend her surroundings. She turns to Ruby Frost, still with the tired in her eyes, “Sis? What is it?”

“We’re going to Sweet Apple Acres.” Ruby Frost says with a smile.

Snowsweet turns to her window, seeing that it’s dark outside, “Ruby, Celestia hasn’t even raised the sun yet. It’s still dark outside.”

“It is?!” Ruby Frost says, surprised.

“Yes.” Snowsweet says, annoyed.

“Perfect! I was hoping it was. Come on! The earlier the better!” Ruby Frost says, smiling with a determined expression as she pulls Snowsweet’s sheets off with her mouth.

Snowsweet grunts, “Why are we going to Sweet Apple Acres anyway?”

“We’re gonna go and sabotage Applejack!” Ruby Frost says, smirking.

Snowsweet rolls her eyes, “Leave me out of it, sis.” Snowsweet grabs her covers, throwing them back over herself.

Ruby Frost scowls, “Snowsweet, I can’t do this by myself. I need somepony who can see.”

Snowsweet buries her face into her pillow and grunts before quickly jumping off her bed and walking to the door, “Fine!”

Ruby Frost smiles, “Thanks, little sis.”

Snowsweet rolls her eyes, “Whatever.”

The two sisters make their way to Sweet Apple Acres and walk through the dense collection of apple trees, many varying in variety. Snowsweet turns to her sister, pondering why she’s holding a can of paint. The two stop next to a tree that’s not too far from the Sweet Apple Acres house. Ruby Frost places the can, “Alright, Snowsweet, here’s the plan: We’re gonna dump this here can of paint on this tree.”

“Why would we do that?” Snowsweet asks.

“To send a message to Applejack and Sweet Apple Acres.” Ruby Frost says before squatting, “Now hop on my back. I’ll boost you up there and you can pour the can of paint.”

Snowsweet curves her eyebrows as she unenthusiastically climbs onto her big sister, holding the can of paint in her mouth. Ruby Frost bounces her body up, launching her sister up into the tree, where she grabs and climbs onto a branch. “Now just get as much paint as you can on it.” Ruby Frost says.

Snowsweet swings the can, splashing white paint all over the tree. She drops the can from her mouth and turns to Ruby Frost, “Done.”

Ruby Frost smirks, “Perfect. Then let’s get going.” Ruby Frost begins to walk off.

“But…I can’t get down on my own, I need you to catch me.” Snowsweet says.

Ruby Frost turns around, “Well, I can’t. I can’t see you.”

“Well…then what do I do?” Snowsweet asks.

“Climb down.” Ruby Frost says.

Snowsweet looks down, nervously, “I don’t know. I’m pretty high up.”

“It’s perfectly safe. Just watch where you place your hooves.” Ruby Frost says, smiling.

Snowsweet carefully begins climbing down the branches, but her hoof slips and she ends up tumbling down to the ground with a grunt.

“Snowseet! Are you okay?!” Ruby Frost says, rushing to her little sister.

Snowsweet spits out a clod of dirt and scowls, “Sure…I’m fine.” Snowsweet says sarcastically.

“Good, then let’s get going.” Ruby Frost says, walking towards town.

Snowsweet grunts in anger.

Once the sun rose, Ruby Frost began selling apples in the market place when Applejack storms her way, “RUBY!!!”

Ruby Frost smiles, “Howdy cousin, finally give up on your stall? I’ve been having a lot of sales which leads me to believe you haven’t set up yours.”

“I couldn’t set up my stand because I was busy cleaning paint off one of the trees in my orchard!” Applejack says furiously.

“Well that’s certainly peculiar.” Ruby Frost says.

“Don’t play dumb with me you son of an apple. I know it was you, Ruby!” Applejack says, pointing her hoof.

Ruby Frost crosses her front legs and closes her eyes, “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Applejack grunts in anger and storms off, “Two can play at that game.”

“Looks like I win.” Ruby mumbles, smirking.

The next day, Wild Crisp storms into Ruby Frost’s room, waking her up, “RUBY! RUBY!”

Ruby Frost quickly sits up as she’s woken up, “Wha-? What is it?!”

“It’s the shop! We’ve been…appled!” Wild Crisp yells out.

“Wha-What?” Ruby Frost says.

Wild Crisp leads Ruby outside the shop, “I know you can’t see it, but there’s apples all over the building. Almost entirely covered.”

“Who would do this?” Snowsweet asks, looking up at her mother.

Ruby Frost places her hoof on her chin and thinks, before she catches a whiff of something. Her eyes widened, “Hold on a moment.” Ruby Frost walks to the wall and scrapes a chunk of apple off the wall. She gives it a sniff before licking it. Her eyes squint as she smacks her lips a bit, trying to discern the taste.

“I guess it was some colts or fillies.” Wild Crisp says.

“No, this ain’t some run of the mill appling. An amateur would use Fuji. Whoever did this knew what they were doing.” Ruby Frost says, showing the mush of apple on her hoof, “Golden Delicious. Whoever did this knows their apples. Golden Delicious is always the best for appling somepony’s house.”

Wild Crisp sighs, “I’ll clean this up.”

Ruby Frost scowls, “Applejack!”

“Applejack?” Snowsweet says.

“C’mon, sis. We need to have a little chat with our cousin.” Ruby Frost says as she makes her way down to the Ponyville Market.

“APPLES! GET YOUR FRESH APPLES HERE!” Applejack yells.

“APPLEJACK!” Ruby Frost yells out.

Applejack turns to Ruby and scowls, “Well well well, lookie who showed their face.”

Ruby Frost scowls, “You appled my shop!”

Applejack walks in front of her stand, meeting Ruby face to face, “Yeah, I did. But only because you damaged one of my trees! We had to have it replaced!”

“I only did that because you wouldn’t stop selling apples in the Market!” Ruby Frost says.

“I have a right to sell apples in the market. This all only ever started because you fussed about it.” Applejack says.

“No, you started it when you set up your stand!” Ruby Frost says, getting closer to Applejack.

“Did not!” Applejack says.

“Did too!” Ruby Frost says.

“Did not!” Applejack says.

“Did too!” Ruby Frost says.

“Did not!” Applejack says.

“Did-” Ruby Frost says.

“ENOUGH!!!” Applebloom and Snowsweet shout, pushing their sisters away from each other.

“Seriously, you two are actin’ like a bunch of foals.” Applebloom says, scowling.

“And that’s coming from us.” Snowsweet says, placing a hoof on her chest.

Applebloom raises her eyebrow at Snowsweet before turning to the two mares, “Y’all could solve all of this if you just talked to Granny Smith and Auntie Wild Crisp.”

“There’s no reason to be squabbling like this.” Snowsweet says.

“There’s nothing they can do about it anyhow. With Aunt Wild Crisp’s Apple store in town, nopony’s going to Sweet Apple Acres in order to buy our apples. We have to have a stall in the market in order to make any sales.” Applejack says.

Ruby Frost goes wide-eyed, “Wait, really?”

“Yeah, nopony’s gonna make the journey all the way to Sweet Apple Acres when they can just go to your store.” Applejack says, curving her eyebrows.

“I’m sorry, Applejack. I didn’t know that Sweet Apple Acres was struggling to make sales. I thought you were just setting up a stall in the market to spite us.” Ruby Frost says.

Applejack smiles, “Now why would I do that? Y’all are family. We may be in the same business, but I don’t want y’all to fail.”

Ruby Frost takes her hat off and holds it to her chest, “I guess I jumped to conclusions on that one.”

“I guess we should get Granny Smith and Aunt Wild Crisp involved, huh?” Applejack suggests, holding out her hoof.

Ruby Frost smiles, “I guess so.”

“That’s what we tried to tell you!” Applebloom and Snowsweet say in sync.

Applejack and Ruby Frost both go to Wild Crisp and Granny Smith, explaining the situation. Prompting a meeting between the two. Both Granny Smith and Wild Crisp finally decide on what to do. Granny Smith and Wild Crisp exit their meeting room, where the members of both orchards are waiting. “Wild Crisp and I have decided to establish a partnership between Sweet Apple Acres and Galabella Apple Store.”

“Sweet Apple Acres will supply the shop with half of its goods and we’ll all share the profits 50/50.” Wild Crisp says.

“Well would you listen to that. Everypony wins.” Applejack says.

Ruby Frost chuckles, “Yeah, I don’t know why we didn’t do this in the beginning. I don’t ever wanna fight with you like that, cousin.”

Applejack smiles with her eyes closed, “Same here.”

“Well I think a very important lesson was learned today, huh?” Wild Crisp says.

“Mhm.” Ruby Frost and Applejack say in sync while nodding.

“That’s good. Because you’re both running the shop for the next week for appling it.” Wild Crisp says, sternly.

The two ponies flinch in surprise as they hear this.

Wild Crisp walks up to the two mares, “Now get to work, you two!”

“Yes, ma’am.” The two sigh.

Flutter Dream

Star Dream carefully opens the door of the Ponyville Day Spa. She looks around nervously as a worker approaches her. “Good Afternoon! How can I help you today?” The worker says with a smile.

Star Dream prepares to speak but suddenly, Amber Gem is heard, “She’s with me.” Star Dream looks to see Amber on one of the seats. She’s started with her facial. Star Dream walks up to the elongated seat. Amber is about to place cucumbers on her eyes before she sees that Star Dream is just standing there, “Well? Have a seat, hon. It’s your day off, you know.”

Star Dream sits on the chair adjacent to Amber’s and smiles, “Sorry, I was just a little confused on what to do.”

Amber looks at Star with a raised eyebrow, “You didn’t know that you had to sit?”

“Well…no, it’s just that I don’t usually do well without a Plan. I don’t typically get days off.” Star Dream says, lying down on her front.

“Do you really never get any days off?”: Amber asks, finally placing the cucumbers on her eyes and laying back.

“No. I don’t have use for free days. I only ever took a break once in recent months and that was when we had that Picnic.” Star Dream says as a worker begins giving her a facial.

“Oh, yes. Too bad that didn’t go well. Did you hear that Slither was abusing Hazel?” Amber says.

Star Dream lies on her back as a worker places cucumber’s on Star’s eyes, “Yeah, Blossom told me.”

“That reminds me. You never came to me about that offer I made you. I get around, and I can set you up with anypony.” Amber says.

“I don’t know, Amber. I don’t really have the time for a relationship or anything.” Star says.

Amber lifts an eyebrow and takes off one of the cucumbers in order to look at Star Dream, “Not even if it was…Fluttershy?”

Star Dream quickly springs up quickly, causing the facial and cucumbers to spring off, “WHAT?! What are you talking about?” Star Dream blushes heavily as she rubs the back of her head, “Wh-Why would you say that?”

Amber stares at Star Dream with an unamused expression, “Star, you’re not fooling anypony. We all know how you feel about Fluttershy.”

Star’s eyes curve as she sits down, “I know. It just gets me nervous.”

“I can set you two up on a date. What do you say?” Amber says, sitting up.

Star Dream puts her front hooves together, “Well, I was actually thinking of asking her out myself.”

Amber raises her eyebrows, “Oh? Really? That’s a change of pace. You’re usually terrified about stuff like that.”

“Well yeah. But it’s been years. Ever since I was a little filly. Honestly, I think it’s about time I act.” Star Dream says.

“That’s the spirit.” Amber says.

“Asking out Fluttershy, huh?” Blossom asks.

Star Dream and Blossom Night are sitting at a table having lunch. Star Dream nods nervously, “Yeah, and I don’t know how I feel about it.”

“Then just…feel like yourself.” Blossom says, lifting a hoof.

Star lifts her eyebrow with an expression of confusion.

“No point in masking your feelings. Just be true to yourself. How do you really feel about this?” Blossom says.

Star Dream places a hoof on her chin as she looks away from Blossom, “I guess I’m excited and nervous at the same time. I’ve had a crush on Fluttershy ever since I was a filly and I never got the chance to really…hang out with her.”

“Well there ya go. You’re feeling Nervous and Excited. Or nervouscited as that prancy pink pony calls it.” Blossom says.

“Don’t you mean Pinkie Pie?” Star Dream asks.

Blossom rolls her eyes, “I don’t care enough to remember her name. Point is, just feel how you feel. It’s not like you can choose how to feel.”

Star Dream lays her head on the table, “I guess you’re right. But what if she doesn’t like me?”

“If she doesn’t like you, then she doesn’t like you.” Blossom says as the waiter arrives with their food and sets it on the table.

Star Dream sits up, taking her head off the table in order to allow the waiter to place the food, “That’s a bit harsh.”

“It ain’t harsh, Star. It’s the Truth. If you two aren’t meant for each other, then that’s that. It’s not like you can do anything to change it.” Blossom says as she levitates her daisy sandwich with her magic and takes a bite out of it.

Star Dream goes wide-eyed, “So you’re saying that no matter what, it’ll be fine. Because if she likes me back, it’ll be a win. But if she doesn’t, it’ll still be okay because if we aren’t meant for each other, there’s no point in being together.”

Blossom swallows her food and nods, “Yeah, sure, something like that.”

Star Dream smiles, “Thanks for the advice, Blossom. You’re always the best to go to for this stuff.”

Blossom shrugs, “I just tell ponies what’s on my mind and what I think about the situation. I don’t sugarcoat like others.”

“Exactly!” Star Dream says.

Star Dream made her way down to Fluttershy’s secluded cottage. Fluttershy is outside, feeding the birds. Star takes a deep breath as she prepares to approach her. Star Dream slowly lifts her front hoof and steps forward, knowing that there’s no going back at this point. “Um…Hey!”

Fluttershy flinches as she looks up quickly in surprise, causing the birds around her to all fly away. Fluttershy’s eyes go wide as she reaches her hooves out, “Wait…come back.”

“Oh no! I-I’m sorry.” Star Dream says as she approaches closer to Fluttershy with a guilty expression.

Fluttershy looks at the ground with a frown before turning to Star Dream and Smiling, “Oh, that’s okay. They’ll be back.”

“Can I help get them back?” Star Dream asks.

Fluttershy places her hoof on her chin, “I suppose. But you have to be mellow with them. They scare very easily.”

Star Dream looks up at the tree where the birds are sitting and walks up to the base of it. She lifts her hoof up gently and puts on a mellow voice, “Come on. It’s okay.”

The birds look at Star Dream with fear, but quickly lighten up as a few fly onto her held out hoof. Star Dream smiles as she brings her hoof closer to look at the birds. Fluttershy looks on with wide eyes. She carefully approaches Star Dream, “Oh my. You’re really good with animals.”

“I just did what you do every time I watch you.” Star Dream says.

“Wh-What do you mean?” Fluttershy asks.

Star Dream goes wide-eyed with embarrassment, “U-Uh…nothing!” Star Dream says as she leans her hoof closer to Fluttershy, “Here you go.”

Fluttershy smiles as she presents some seeds for the birds to chow on. Star Dream moves her hoof closer to Fluttershy’s in order to allow the birds to feast. Her hoof gently clops against Fluttershy’s as they allow the birds to eat. Star Dream opens her mouth to speak up in order to ask Fluttershy out like she planned, but she closes her mouth and decides against it, not wanting to spoil the pleasant moment she finds herself in.

“Thank you for helping me with the birds.” Fluttershy says, looking up at Star Dream.

“Oh, it was nothing. It’s my pleasure.” Star Dream says.

The birds eat the last of the seed and fly off Star Dream’s hoof. Fluttershy smiles, “Would you like to join me for some tea? Consider it a thanks.”

Star Dream’s eyes light up, “I’d love to.”

Muffins and Gems

Amber uses her magic to grip the tweezers gently as she holds a small piece of a fire ruby over a necklace thatś covered with other small pieces of fire rubies. Aurora and Crystal Rose stand next to her, watching in suspense. The three Mares sweat profusely as they await the outcome. “Come on, Amber. You’ve placed 19 Fire ruby Pieces already. This’ll be a piece of cake. This piece is only 15% larger than the others.” Amber thinks to herself as she gently places the gem within the cavity of the necklace. Amber’s face shifts to a smile of pure joy. “I did it!”

“You did it!” Aurora says.

Crystal Rose smiles, “Great job, Amber!”

Amber looks up with her eyes closed, “Thank you, Crystal. All that’s left is to get this safely in the display case and then we can-”

Suddenly, something smashes into the front door of the shop. The necklace goes flying off the table, crashing into the ground and causing all the fire rubies to spill out. “NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!” Amber yells out as she falls to her knees and looks upon her lost work, “All my work. GONE!”

“Oh no!” Aurora says.

Crystal Rose gives a nervous smile, “It’s okay, we can just do it again…right?”

“We were here for hours! I can’t just redo it like that!” Amber says, tears streaming down her cheeks that are stained with mascara.

Aurora turns to the wall and takes a look at the clock, “Amber, it’s been 15 Minutes since you started.”

Amber immediately stops crying and gets up, “Oh, I could have sworn it was longer.”

Knocking is heard at the door as Amber quickly trots to it and opens the door. “Yes?’ Amber says.

Standing there is Ditzy Doo with a package, “Hi, Ambor! I have a package for you.”

Amber smiles, “Oh! These must be the bracelets I ordered! Thank you, Ditzy.”

Ditzy Doo salutes her hoof, “No problem.”

“Say, how’s Berryshine been?” Amber asks as she uses her horn to move the box into her shop.

Ditzy places her hoof on her chin as she thinks, “I don’t know. I haven’t talked to her in a while.”

Amber’s eyebrows curve, “What do you mean you haven’t talked to her in a while?”

Ditzy shrugs, “She has been avoiding me.”

Amber goes wide-eyed, “Avoiding you?”

Ditzy smiles, “Yeah, but that’s okay. She must really be busy.”

“Oh, of course.” Amber says with a smile, “Well when did you two last talk?”

Ditzy places her hoof on her chin, “I think that was about a week ago.”

“A WEEK AGO?!?!” Amber yells out.

Ditzy’s eyebrows curve in concern, “Is that bad?”

“That’s very bad, Ditzy. She isn’t supposed to be ignoring you like this.” Amber says as she trots out the door, “Come with me. I’ll have a talk with her.” Amber turns around to the door, “Crystal! You’re in charge of the shop.”

“Yes ma’am.” Crystal Rose says.

“I can’t go with you. I have deliveries to do.” Ditzy says.

“Nonsense! Packages can wait! Love comes first!” Amber says as she uses her horn to grab and drag Ditzy by the tail.

Ditzy curves her eyebrows in objection but concedes anyway, “Well, if you say so, Ambor.”

“I do say so, Ditzy. And I say we’re going right to Berryshine!” Amber says as she trots along the ground with Ditzy Doo literally in tail.

“I don’t know, Ambor. I don’ wanna bother her.” Ditzy says as she flaps her wings a bit.

“Bother her? Of course not! If she truly loves you, she wouldn’t be bothered. But she will have a lot to say for herself.” Amber says, slightly scowling.

The two ponies made their way down to the Marketplace, where Berryshine is commonly found throughout the day. Amber quickly spots the mare as she’s shopping for Asparagus. “Berryshine!” Amber shouts out as she approaches the shopping pony.

Berryshine flinches and drops her asparagus as she turns around, her gaze locking on Amber and Ditzy.

Amber approaches Berryshine with a stern look, “Why have you been avoiding Ditzy?”

Berryshine’s eyes widen in shock before she sighs, “I’m sorry, it’s just that….Ditzy really annoys me.”

Ditzy goes wide-eyed, “A-Annoy you?”

“Yeah, and I tried to break up with you. But you just wouldn’t get the hint.” Berryshine says as she turns her head, “And after Lyra said she’s gonna be honest with herself, I decided to as well.”

Amber raises an eyebrow, “Lyra? What do you mean she said she’s gonna be honest with herself?”

“Hold on, did Lyra not tell you about her and Bon Bon?” Berryshine asks.

Amber goes wide-eyed, “Her and Bon Bon? What do you mean?”

“That’s they’re dating. Wait…did she not break up with you?” Berryshine says in shock.

“Wh-What? Dating?” Amber says in shock as she backs up a bit.

Berryshine slowly walks away as she feels embarrassed, “I guess I should go.” Berryshine quickly gallops away.

Amber just continues to stare, in shock and disbelief. Ditzy looks at Amber, concerned. “Ambor?”

Amber shakes her head and rolls her eyes, “Pft, why am I so worried? Lyra wouldn’t be cheating on me. It’s all a simple misunderstanding.” Amber begins trotting away.

“Ambor?” Ditzy says as she flies next to Amber.

“Oh! Right, I’m sorry about Berryshine. But I need to go check on Lyra and have her clear this up.” Amber says as she trots away, leaving Ditzy on her own.

Ditzy’s eyebrows curve as she makes her way back to Amber’s shop.

Amber walks through town and finally comes to see Lyra and Bon Bon. They’re both sitting at a table, seemingly on a date. The two stare into each other’s eyes in a seductive manner. Amber goes wide-eyed as she witnesses this, staying far away as to not be seen, but close enough to see what’s going on. Bon Bon and Lyra rub their muzzles together, a common sign of attraction and intimacy in ponies. Amber’s jaw drops as she trots forward with eyes of betrayal, “LYRA!”

Bon Bon and Lyra go wide-eyed as they turn to see Amber standing there, heartbroken. “A-Amber!?” Lyra says in confusion and guilt.

“How could you?” Amber asks as tears begin to form in her eyes.

“Amber, w-wait! It’s not what it looks like-” Lyra says before Amber quickly gallops away in more tears.

Aurora and Crystal Rose sit at the table as Aurora tries her best to fix Amber’s necklace. Their heads dart to the door as Amber bursts in quickly, mascara streaked tears streaming down her cheeks. Amber bawls loudly as she runs into the shop and towards her room. “Amber! Is everything alright?”

Amber stops before getting to her room and turns to Aurora, “No, Aurora! I’m not okay! Lyra is cheating on me!”

Aurora’s mouth opens and her eyes go wide as she hears this news from her friend, “Cheating on you? Lyra?”

“Yes! With…Bon Bon!” Amber says, opening the door to her room and collapsing into her bed.

Aurora curves her eyebrows, unsure of how to respond. Ditzy flies up to the door, clearly concerned for Amber. She reaches into her bag and pulls out a muffin. She flies over to the bed with muffin in hoof, “Muffin?”

Amber immediately stops crying and looks up at Ditzy with a bewildered look. She was unable to make any other expression. In this moment of great sorrow, Ditzy was offering a muffin. It was incredibly absurd. In a way that made Amber start to chuckle. Ditzy makes a nervous grin as she sits up and grabs the muffin, “Thank you, Ditzy.”

Ditzy gives a smile, “Whenever I’m feeling down. I always eat a muffin. It always makes me feel better.”

Amber chuckles, “You’re a sweetheart.”

Ditzy gives a blushing smile as she descends and sits next to Amber.

Amber takes a bite of the muffin, “Where’d you get this muffin, anyway?”

Ditzy reaches into her bag and pulls out more, “Delivering packages is very exhausting. So I make sure to pack a lot for the journey.”

“How clever.” Amber says.

Aurora gives a smile as she walks away from the room.

Amber looks down as her smile fades into a frown, “Honestly, I shouldn’t be surprised. I’m nothing special. Why would Lyra want me? Why would anypony want me? I’m eccentric and annoying.”

Ditzy curves her eyebrows, “I don’t think that. I think you’re really neat.”

Amber gives a passionate smile as she hears this, “That’s sweet, Ditzy.”

“Like my muffins?” Ditzy asks.

“Yes, Ditzy, like your muffins.” Amber chuckles. She quickly pets Ditzy’s head, prompting a blush from Ditzy. Amber blushes as she looks away, “Y’know, Ditzy. Why don’t we hang out sometime? I’d like to get to know you some more.”

Ditzy goes wide-eyed as she looks at Amber with her usual cross eyes. She then gives a smile as she nods, “Sure, I’d love to.”

Amber smiles and looks passionately at Ditzy before quickly leaning forward and planting a quick kiss on Ditzy’s cheek.

Ditzy blushes a deep red as she’s unable to react, “Wh-What was that for?”

Amber giggles, “For making me feel so much better.”

Aurora stays camped out next to the door frame, having heard everything, “Looks like someone learned a pretty valuable lesson about Love. Myself included.” Aurora leaves the shop and makes her way back to her house. Grabbing a Pen, Quill, and her Journal. She quickly scribbles her pen on the pages as she writes her next entry.

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today I learned that sometimes, relationships don’t work out. Sometimes someone you love may lose feelings for you which may cause them to seek companionship with somepony else without telling you. Sometimes they may try to avoid or ignore you. A relationship should be built on both parties being passionate about each other. And if feelings are lost, it’s better to tell your special somepony rather than hurting them.

Even if some relationships don’t work out, there will come a time when you may find somepony who will always be passionate about being in a relationship with you. It only takes a little time and the right pony.

Signed,

Your Faithful Student, Aurora Shimmer

Berry Pie

Blossom Night uses her magic to load the Jars of Jam and Jelly from her stall into the cart that’s attached to her. After a good morning of sales, Blossom smiles with pride as she places the jar filled with bits in her wagon before putting her neutral expression back on and walking away. As she proceeds to her house in a state of near sorrow brought upon by her unfortunate predicaments in life with the act of selling jam no longer able to numb it at the moment, she begins to hear singing from the near distance. “Come on, everypony! Smile, Smile, Smile! Fill my heart up with Sunshine, Sunshine! All I really need’s a Smile, Smile, Smile! From these happy friends of mine!”

Blossom puts on a disappointed look, “Oh no, it’s the eccentric pink pony.”

“Come on, everypony! Smile, Smile, Smile!” The townsponies begin chanting together as they sing the song, “Fill my heart up with Sunshine, Sunshine! All i really need’s a Smile, Smile, Smile! From these happy friends of mine! Come on, everypony! Smile, Smile, Smile! Fill my heart up with Sunshine, Sunshine! All i really need’s a Smile, Smile, Smile! From these happy friends of mine!”

Blossom Night cringes as she looks back to see that she can’t leave the area because of the cart attached to her, so she just has to endure the overly happy mob as they come near. And worse…the Pink Pony.

“Smile! Smile! Smile! Smile! Smiiiile! Come on and Smiiiiiile! Come on and Smile!” The Pink Pony sings as she ends the song right in front of Blossom Night’s face, continuing to put on a smile that can light the darkest of places.

Blossom curves her eyebrows as she darts her eyes around as the pony continues staring at her, “Um…why are you staring at me?”

“I’m just waiting for you to smile!” The pink pony says.

Blossom gives an annoyed smile as she walks around the pony and continues towards her house, “I don’t smile, pinkie pony.”

“Actually, my name is Pinkie Pie!” The pink pony says as she follows next to Blossom, “What do you mean you don’t smile? Everypony needs to smile at some point!”

“I just don’t feel the need to smile right now. There’s nothing to be happy about right now.” Blossom Night says as she continues on.

Pinkie Pie stops and places a hoof on her chin, “So if you’re not happy right now…you need somepony to cheer you up! Well lucky you, I’m your mare!” Pinkie places a hoopf on her chest before bouncing up to Blossom Night with a cannon. Let’s turn this boring wagon into a party wagon!” Pinkie Pie pulls out a large blue cannon and fires it at Blossom Night and her wagon, covering it in confetti.

“Hey! What gives?” Blossom says, giving a light scowl.

Pinkie smiles, “Well your usual wagon is so boring, so I used my party wagon to decorate it.”

Blossom gives a frustrated grunt as she uses her magic to pick up all the pieces of confetti at once and drop them on top of Pinkie Pie. As Pinkie Pie is buried in the pile of confetti, Blossom continues on her journey without a word, hoping to avoid the Pink Pony as much as ponily possible. “Give me a break.”

Pinkie Pie pokes her head out of the pile of confetti. She frowns and lifts an eyebrow, “That was strange. How come she didn’t smile? That always works. Everypony loves confetti.” Pinkie gasps and places her hooves on her cheeks, “DOES SHE NOT LIKE CONFETTI?! WHO DOESN’T LIKE CONFETTI?! I guess if I’m gonna make her smile, I’m gonna have to try something more…FUN!”

Blossom Night opens the door to her small house, having parked the cart in her stable outside. She breathes a sigh of relief as she looks at the portrait of her parents, her big sister, and herself, still a filly, on her nightstand. She gives a small smile, “You’d all be proud that I’m keeping the business going so well. Not…beating Sweet Apple Acres, of course. But good enough.” She reaches her hoof to the picture frame, resting her hoof on the glass, “Miss you 3.” Suddenly, something slams into Blossom’s window, causing her to flinch and her hoof to break the glass. Blossom gasps as she looks at the shattered frame, “Oh son of a Yak!” She turns to the window to see Pinkie Pie pressing her face against the glass.

“Hey! It’s me!” Pinkie Pie says with a huge smile.

Blossom Night’s ears go down as she puts on an annoyed expression and walks over to the door, opening it. Pinkie Pie is immediately at the front of the door, even though she was just at the window the second before. Blossom Night goes wide-eyed in surprise and confusion for a moment before shaking her head back to her serious expression, “What do you want?”

Pinkie looks in the house and sees Blossom’s broken portrait, “Hey, what happened there?”

Blossom rolls her eyes, “A side effect of your visit. Now WHAT do you want?”

“Well I noticed you didn’t like the confetti decoration so I decided to do something different.” Pinkie Pie says.

Blossom facehooves, “Okay, listen. I understand that you mean well. But unlike everypony in Ponyville. I don’t vibe the same way you do. I don’t see the point in unnecessarily looking for fun or enjoyment in parties and singing. I don’t do that stuff. So I would appreciate it if you left me alone.”

“Well, I would. But I kinda tied too many balloons to your wagon and now I can’t get it down.” Pinkie says with a guilty grin.

“WHAT?!” Blossom says, pushing Pinkie out of the way as quickly trotting forward to see her wagon floating up with balloons strapped to it, “WHAT DID YOU DO?!”

“Well, after realizing you don’t like confetti, I may have tried to use balloons this time. I once tied a bunch of balloons to a cart of Applejack’s Apple Jam the same way I did here. But I ended up using too many balloons. I guess Berry Jam isn’t as heavy as Apple Jam, go figure.” Pinkie says.

“Celestia dangit!” Blossom says as she uses her magic to pop the balloons.

“Wait! I don’t think you should-” Pinkie starts to say as the cart comes crashing down, shattering all the jars in it, splashing berry jam all over Pinkie and Blossom. Pinkie opens her eyes and licks the jam off her face, “Ooooooh, Cranberry. That’s good.”

Blossom stares wide-eyed as all the shattered glasses, her eyes twitching. Her face quickly shifts to an angered expression as she turns to Pinkie Pie.

“I tried to warn you. It’s okay! I can help you clean up!” Pinkie says, smiling.

Blossom grunts in anger, “No…thank you!” Blossom walks behind Pinkie Pie and begins pushing her to the edge of the property, which is a farm growing all sorts of berries.

“So what do you think? I know the balloons didn’t go well. But I can make it up to you. How about a party at Sugarcube Corner?” Pinkie says as Blossom pushes her out of the property.

“NO! GET OUT OF HERE!!!!” Blossom shouts in fury.

Pinkie flinches and looks down, sad, “Oh, okay.” Pinkie slowly walks away, her ears down in guilt.

Blossom slams her front hoof on the ground and walks back to her house, “Now I gotta clean this up. AND buy a new cart. Nice going, pink pony!”

As Pinkie PIe walks down the town, still in sorry, she looks up to a gift shop and her eyes light up as she gasps, “OF COURSE!!!”

Blossom makes her way into town, ready to buy new jars for her Jam. “Can’t believe I lost all that stock. Not to mention the jars. That’ll take weeks to make back.”

Pinkie trots through town with a saddlebag on her back. She turns and notices Blossom Night and waves her hoof, “HEY! BLOSSOM!!!!”

“Oh shoot! Not again!” Blossom says, annoyed as she walks the other direction.

Pinkie Pie hops over to Blossom Night and comes up beside her, “Hey!”

Blossom Night grunts, “Go away.”

“I’m sorry about what happened back at your house.” Pinkie says.

“Go away.” Blossom says, closing her eyes and continuing to walk.

“I felt just awful and thought, HEY! I remember seeing that her portrait was broken.” Pinkie says quickly.

“Go…away!” Blossom says more sternly, opening her eyes and scowling.

“And I thought, maybe I should get her a new one to make it up to her.” Pinkie says.

“Go away! I’m warning you!” Blossom says, stopping in place.

“So I got you a gift!” Pinkie says, trotting and standing in front of Blossom Night.

Blossom grunts angrily, “LEAVE ME ALONE!!!” Blossom swings her hoof, smashing it into Pinkie’s face, causing her to fall to the ground. Everypony around turns their heads to witness this.

Pinkie pushes herself up as a red liquid drips down her muzzle. She places her hoof on it, getting some of the liquid on it. She lifts her hoof up, getting a better look at it. It’s blood. She turns her head to Blossom with a sad expression, “Y-You punched me.”

“And it’ll be a whole lot worse if you don’t leave me alone! I’ve had it with your antics! I’ve asked you time and time again to leave me alone yet you persisted!” Blossom yells.

Tears begin forming in Pinkie’s eyes, “I just wanted to see you smile.”

“Well I don’t feel like smiling! Not every pony feels the need to be happy all the time! You need to wake up, Pinkie Pie! Life isn’t all sunshine and rainbows!” Blossom yells, pressing her hoof against Pinkie’s chest.

Pinkie reaches into her saddle bag, pulling out a small gift box, “I just wanted to give you this gift.” Pinkie reaches out to Blossom, presenting the gift to her.

Blossom smacks the box out of Pinkie’s hand, causing it to fall to the ground. She then proceeds to stomp on it, smashing it with a glassy and wooden sound. Pinkie gasps as she looks with wide-eyes. “Get it through your thick head. I don’t want your gifts. I don’t want anything from you! Leave…Me…Alone! Never speak to me or come near me ever again! GOT IT?!”

Pinkie breaks into tears as she quickly gets up and gallops away.

“Hmph!” Blossom Night scoffs as she turns around to see a scowling crowd.

“BOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” Shouts the crowd disapprovingly at Blossom.

Blossom scowls, “OH BOO YOURSELVES! I don’t care what you all think.” Blossom walks away.

Blossom sighs in relief as she smiles and lays on her couch. Finally able to rest after replacing all her smashed jars and cart. She closes her eyes, ready to take a small nap. Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door. Blossom’s ear perks up before her eyes open with a scowl, “I swear, I’m gonna kill that stubborn mule!” Blossom gets up, opening the door, “I told you to leave me-”

Star Dream stands at the door with a scowl.

“Oh! Thank Celestia, it’s just you. What’s up, Star Dream?” Blossom says, relieved.

“What did you do to Pinkie Pie?” Star Dream asks, sternly.

Blossom is taken aback by this, “Huh? What do you mean?”

Star Dream leans closer to Blossom, “Don’t play dumb with me, Blossom Night! What did you do to Pinkie Pie?”

Blossom grunts and rolls her eyes, “She wouldn’t leave me alone. So I hit her. I tried to tell her multiple times to leave me alone. But she wouldn’t.”

“And so you hit her?” Star Dream asks, scowling more.

Blossom scowls back, “Hey, don’t make me look like the bad mare, I warned her!”

“That doesn’t give you a right to hit her!” Star Dream shouts.

“Well I’m sorry. But she deserved it!” Blossom says.

Star Dream goes wide eyed before becoming infuriated. She then calms herself with a breathing technique before looking at Blossom Night with a serious expression, “Now, let me give you a lesson on how the world works, Blossom Night. I know you like to act like you’re superior and that you know better. But you don’t! All you do is frolic in your self loathing. Unable to see past the cruelty of the world.”

Blossom Night scowls, “You think I frolic in self loathing? You have NO idea what I’ve been through, Star! You have no right to talk to me about seeing past the cruelty of the world!”

“I DO know what you’ve been through, Blossom. I’ve read your records. I work at Town Hall. I’m sorry about your family, I know what you’ve gone through. I-” Star Dream says before being cut off.

“You have no idea what I’ve gone through!” Blossom says.

Star Dream simply stares at Blossom with a blank expression before lifting one of her front legs and presenting the large scar on her chest, “Trust me, when I got this…I wasn’t the only pony who got hurt that day.”

Blossom Night goes wide-eyed.

Star Dream places her hoof back onto the ground and curves her eyebrows, “Pinkie Pie saw that you were in pain. It’s not just that she wanted to see you smile. She meant that she wanted to see you happy. Pinkie is able to see when someone has gone through something terrible like that.”

“And how do you know that?” Blossom asks.

Star Dream closes her eyes, “Because she pulled ME out of it.”

Blossom’s eyes go wide in shock.

“I was once like you, Blossom. But unlike you, I grew up and decided to see the light of the world. Pinkie just wanted the same from you.” Star Dream says as she pulls out a shattered photo frame and hands it to Blossom Night, “That’s the gift she was gonna give you.”

Blossom Night stares at the shattered photo frame in guilt.

“If you’re truly as mature as you like others to believe, you’ll go and apologize to Pinkie Pie.” Star Dream says as she turns around and walks away.

Blossom Night stares at the photo frame for a while before she walks into her house and places it on her table. At that moment, she realizes she did wrong.

Dedicated to making things right, Blossom Night makes her way to Sugarcube Corner and enters, seeing Mrs Cake at the front desk. Mrs Cake notices Blossom Night and smiles, “Good Day, Blossom Night. What can I get for you? Wait…lemme guess, Dough.”

“Actually, I need to speak with Pinkie Pie. Is she here?” Blossom asks.

Mrs Cake looks at Blossom, confused, “Pinkie Pie? Yeah, she’s in her room. She seemed really upset when she went in there.”

“You don’t mind if I go up to see her, do you?” Blossom asks.

Mrs Cake shakes her head, “Of course not. Go right ahead. First door on the left.”

Blossom nods, “Thanks, Mrs Cake.” Blossom walks up the stairs and approaches the door. She lifts her hoof in preparation to knock on it. After a bit of hesitation, she finally knocks. Prompting a small shuffling noise.

“Who is it?” Pinkie asks from the other side.

“It’s me, Pinkie. It’s Blossom Night.” Blossom says.

Silence follows this before Pinkie finally speaks up, “What do you want?”

“I just wanted to say…I’m sorry. It wasn’t right to hit you. I shouldn’t have been so angry. I know you were just trying to help me feel better. You must have noticed I wasn’t doing very well. Instead, I looked past that and just saw you as a pest. And for that…I’m really sorry.” Blossom says sincerely.

Pinkie Pie remains silent again for a moment before the door cracks open and Pinkie peeks out, “Really?”

Blossom nods with a small smile, “Yes.”

Pinkie Pie gasps as her eyes light up. She quickly opens the door and rushes up close to Blossom Night, “YOU SMILED!!!”

Blossom chuckles, “I smile all the time. I just don’t show it very often.”

“But you finally have a real smile! And I’ve seen it! That checks all. I’ve now seen everypony in Ponyville smile!” Pinkie Pie says, jumping up and down in excitement.

Blossom places her hoof on her mouth as she begins to laugh, “You keep track?”

Pinkie Pie stops, “Of course I keep track. It’s my job to make sure everypony in Ponyville is happy and smiling!”

“Well then, you’re quite good at your job. Say…you offered a party before, right? Is that offer still on the table?” Blossom says.

Pinkie Pie gasps, “YES!!!” Pinkie Pie rushes downstairs, “I MUST GET AN INVITE OUT TO EVERYPONY! THIS IS GONNA BE SO FUN!!!”

Blossom gives a passionate smile as she looks to the ground, “Thanks, Star Dream. And…thank you, Pinkie Pie.”

Apple Melody

Ruby Frost yawns and rubs her eyes as she walks downstairs to the dining room of her home/store house that she lives in. She sits at the table as she stares forward with her blind eyes. Wild Crisp, who’s cooking pancakes, turns around to see her sleepy daughter, “You’ll be happy to know that it’s my shift today. Well…for the rest of the week, actually.”

Ruby chuckles, “That’s good. Yesterday was quite tiring.”

“So what are you gonna do on your day off?” Wild Crisp asks.

Ruby Frost shrugs, “I don’t know. There’s not much for a blind pony like me to do anyway. So it’s not like I usually plan for this.”

Wild Crisp smiles, “I thought you’d say that. While I was out yesterday, I caught sight that a musician would be playing in Ponyville Town Hall. Maybe you can go visit it.”

Ruby Frost goes wide-eyed as she hears this, “A musician? Yeah, that could work. Usually when somepony comes to perform in town, it’s usually a visual play that I can’t participate in.”

Wild Crisp nods, “I know. That’s why I was so excited to find out about this performance. The artist’s name is Octavia Melody. An up and coming Cello player from Trottingham.”

Ruby Frost lifts an eyebrow, “Cello? You think I’d do well going to a Cello performance?”

Wild Crisp nods, “Of course. It’ll do you well to get out and experience more that the world has to offer.”

Ruby Frost sighs, “It's a bit hard to do that when I can’t see, ma.”

Wild Crisp frowns, “Doesn’t hurt to try.” Wild Crisp curves a smile, “Who knows, maybe you’ll meet somepony special.”

Ruby Frost rolls her eyes, “I doubt it. Nopony wants somepony who can’t see and appreciate their looks.”

Wild Crisp smirks, “You’d be surprised.”

As per her mother’s suggestion, as evening approached, she made her way down to Town Hall. She was mostly nervous. The idea of going to a performance involving a sophisticated instrument intimidated her. But, as her mother requested. She doesn’t have very many options when it comes to experiencing new things, so she has to get them where she can. As the doors open, she pays her bits and sits in the second row. She waits patiently as the show inevitably starts. Without a word, the performer walks onto the stage and sits down on a stool next to the Cello. She gives it a quick tune and begins playing. Immediately, Ruby Frost’s eyes go wide. She had never heard any form of music with such meaning, not that she was a music pony to begin with.

As the melodic music continued, Ruby Frost hears a scoff from behind her. The voice of an upper class sounding stallion is heard, “How dull her outfit is. A simple collar.”

“And her hair. She just couldn’t bother to style it better?” An upper class mare says.

“Her choice in instrument as well. It looks like it was dug out of the garbage.” Another stallion says.

Ruby Frost scowls. As she is unable to see anything about the pony, she doesn’t judge her on anything having to do with appearance, but simply the music that is being played. It annoys Ruby that they are judging her solely on her presentation. After not too long, the performance ends with minimal applause. Ruby herself, of course, stomped her hooves loud. “Well I’ll be. I ain’t never heard any sort of music like that.”

Once most of the ponies had cleared out, Ruby waited until the presumed exit of Octavia. She finally walks out from a door that leads to backstage. Ruby quickly walks forward, unsure if it’s even actually her due to her blindness, and speaks up, “Hey, are you uh…Octavia Melody?”

The pony stops and looks at Ruby Frost with a raised eyebrow, “That I am.”

Ruby smiles as she’s saved from the embarrassment of asking some other pony that, “Howdy, I just wanted to say how much I enjoyed the show. Your music really spoke to me.”

Octavia’s eyes widen in surprise, “You…liked my music?”

Ruby nods, “Yeah, I’ve never heard anything like it. It just…filled me with so much emotions. I guess that’s the best way I could put it.”

Octavia smiles and turns completely to Ruby, “It’s quite rare for me to find somepony who isn’t interested in just my looks. Might I ask what your name is?”

“I’m Ruby Frost. Pleasure to meet you.” Ruby says, extending her hoof.

Octavia extends her hoof and shakes with Ruby, “Octavia Melody, though…you already know that.”

“It seems the reception didn’t go quite as well as it should have, huh?” Ruby Frost asks.

Octavia sighs, “No, unfortunately not. Though, honestly…I’m seldom surprised.”

“Come again?” Ruby says, not understanding the wording that the upper class Griffish Isles speaking Mare uses.

“I get this kind of reaction regularly from all my shows. I have visited many a town and find myself receiving the same feedback. All on my looks and presentation. Never performance.” Octavia says, saddened.

“Well those ponies don’t have a lick of sense. It’s plain as day that you’re quite talented in music.” Ruby Frost says.

Octavia smiles with a blush, “Well, I appreciate your admiration. So what kept you from just seeing my presentation?”

Ruby Frost gets nervous as she scratches the back of her head, “Well…in all honesty. It’s just the fact that I’m blind.”

Octavia is taken aback as her eyes widen, “Oh…I see. My apologies.”

“It’s alright. At least it allowed me to focus more on the music.” Ruby Frost says.

Octavia chuckles, “Indeed. Will you be busy tomorrow? I’d love to chat some more.”

“Yeah, I’m off tomorrow.” Ruby Frost says.

“What would you say to lunch at Daisy’s?” Octavia asks, referring to a diner in Ponyville.

“Yeah, sounds great.” Ruby Frost says with a smile.

Octavia smiles happily as she walks away, “Then I shall be off. Have a lovely evening.”

Ruby Frost tips her hat, “You too.” Once Octavia has gone, Ruby Frost smiles wide, “Wow! Ma was right, I did meet somepony special. Or uh…we’ll see.”

Wild Crisps smirks as the family sits for dinner. “So a date, huh?”

Ruby Frost is about to take a bite of her food before she grinds to a halt and goes wide-eyed. She pauses for a moment before sitting back up and staring forward, “It’s not a date, ma. Nothin’ romantic or anything.”

Wild Crisp giggles, “Suuuuure.”

Snowsweet raises an eyebrow, “Does that mean I’m gettin’ a sister-in-law?”

Ruby Frost immediately chokes on her food for a moment before swallowing clearly. She turns in Snowsweet’s direction, “No! It’s just a hangout between potential friends.”

“And what if it becomes something more?” Wild Crisp asks.

“Then it becomes something more. End of story.” Ruby says, taking a bite of her food.

“And THEN I can get another sister?” Snowsweet asks with a cute smile.

“That’ll ONLY happen if it develops into anything more. And I doubt it will. So don’t get yer hopes up.” Ruby Frost says.

Snowsweet looks down with a frown, “Awwww.”

“And what about you, Ruby? Do you want it to develop into anything more?” Wild Crisp asks.

Ruby Frost looks down, “Honestly, I don’t know. I wouldn’t wanna burden anypony with having to deal with me.”

Wild Crisp’s eyebrows curve, “You’re not a burden, Ruby. You’re just different.”

Ruby Frost rolls her eyes, “Whatever.”

Morning came around and Ruby was quick to get ready. She was eager to meet with Octavia, having never been invited to lunch before. As the time came, she made her way down Ponyville and to Daisy’s. Whereupon not hearing Octavia, decided to sit at a table of her own choosing. As she was blind, she always chose a seat based on listening to tell if anypony was there or not. After not too long waiting, Ruby Frost hears the familiar Griffish Isles accent of Octavia, “Apologies, I would have been here sooner, but I was busy planning my next destination.” Octavia sits down on the seat across the table from Ruby.

Ruby smiles, “That’s quite alright. I wasn’t waiting too long. Uh…whaddya mean planning your next destination?”

“Well, as a traveling musician, I must plan ahead on where I’m going to go next.” Octavia says.

A rush of sadness washes through Ruby’s body as her tone shifts to one of disappointment, “Oh…is that so?”

“I’ll be headed out starting next week. I would like to stay in Ponyville a little longer. I’ve not visited a town so…how do I say? Different, for the lack of a better word.” Octavia says.

Ruby gives a little smile, “Ponyville is quite a nice town. I myself ain’t even from here.”

“Oh? Is that so? Well where are you from?” Octavia asks.

“I’m from an orchard not too far from the White Tail Woods, Galabella Acres. I recently moved here with my ma and little sister. Leaving my big brother, Jonamac, to run the Orchard.” Ruby Frost says.

“Well, he must be quite capable if he’s able to run it all by himself.” Octavia says.

Ruby Frost rolls her eyes, “Trust me, that’s far from the truth. I personally don’t think he’s capable at all. But my ma insisted that he was.”

Octavia chuckles, “Well, we’ll see how that turns out I guess.”

“Guess so.” Ruby Frost chuckles in response.

As the days went by, the two would visit with each other every day. The two’s friendship grew as they were able to understand each other in ways that other Ponies could not. Until eventually, the final day of Octavia’s visit came. Ruby Frost made her way to the train station to see her off. Octavia has her bags in tow as the train arrives, starting to board passengers, “This is goodbye, Ruby Frost. I’m glad you were here to make my visit to Ponyville much better.” Octavia says.

Ruby Frost nods, “Honestly, this has been the best week in Ponyville I’ve had myself. Must you really go so soon?”

Octavia nods, “Yes, I have many more sights to see and more ponies to play for. Perhaps I will come back to Ponyville. I feel like you understand me in a way no Pony ever has before, Ruby.”

“Honestly, the feeling is mutual. I look forward to seeing you again, Octavia.” Ruby Frost says, tipping her head.

“ALL ABOARD!!!” The conductor yells out.

Octavia smiles, “Take care, Ruby.”

Ruby nods.

Octavia turns and walks towards the train before stopping, seeming to hesitate. She quickly turns around to Ruby Frost before quickly galloping up to Ruby Frost and kissing her on the cheek. Ruby Frost’s eyes go wide as she is unsure how to react to this. Octavia ends the kiss without a word and gallops onto the train. The train departs a few seconds after that, leaving Ruby Frost in a state of shock. She gives a passionate smile as she watches the train depart, “Hope to see you again soon.”

Basket of Eggheads

“Zealous Zebras: A Guide to the Intelligent Species of Zebras.” Aurora says as she slides the book into the book shelf, “There, all done. Every guide book has been organized by alphabetical order. What’s next?”

Twilight levitates a paper with her magic, looking over it diligently, “Next is Science Fiction.”

“Well, then let’s get to it.” Aurora says, walking over to the pile of books and using her horn to rapidly look through them.

“Twilight! I got a letter from Princess Celestia!” Spike says, running into the room while holding a scroll in his claw. He stops next to Twilight, holding the scroll up for her to grab.

Twilight uses her magic to levitate, unfurl, and read the scroll, “My Dearest Twilight. It is my understanding that you’ve been spending a lot of time with another one of my former students, Aurora Shimmer. Therefore, I have decided to give both of you a special task to do together.”

Aurora’s eyes light up, “A special task from the Princess?”

“For both of us to complete!” Twilight says, smiling and turning to Aurora.

“Well…what else does it say?” Aurora asks, leaning in closer, causing her ear to touch on Twilight’s.

The two mares flinch and look at each other, neither one objectifying to keeping their ears touching. Both are not sure how to feel about being as close as they are, however they know it is a good feeling. The two ponies get lost in each other’s eyes as they both begin to blush.

Spike stands there, utterly confused with his eyebrow raised, “Uh…are you gonna read the letter?”

Twilight’s face goes completely red as she pulls away, “O-Oh! Right! Sorry! Spaced out for a second!”

Aurora scratches the back of her head with her hoof as she chuckles, “Eheh, yeah…me too.”

“Ahem, where was I?” Twilight says, looking at the scroll, “Oh right! A previously thought extinct species is thought to have been spotted in the White Tail Woods. I would like for you and Aurora Shimmer to venture into the forest together and confirm if these rumors are true.”

“What animal is she referring to?” Aurora asks.

Twilight looks closer at the writing, “The creature in question is the Amphista. A creature with the body of a Dragon, the head of a snake, the wings of an eagle, and a snake head on the end of its tail.”

Aurora gasps, “The Amphista?! Could it really still exist?!” Aurora smiles in glee.

“I’ve never heard of such a creature.” Twilight says, looking at Aurora.

Aurora places a hoof on her chin, “What region did you major in for Mythical Creatures class in Celestia’s School?”

“Northern and Eastern Equestrian Creatures. What about you?” Twilight says.

“Southern and Western Equestrian Creatures. As well as some Beyond Equestrian Creatures, but that class didn’t stick. Explains why you wouldn’t know about the Amphistas. They’re native to Eastern Equestria. Well…actually, they’re an Invasive Species reigning from the Undiscovered West, but they never had too much of an impact on the Equestrian Ecosystem, so they sort of became part of it.” Aurora says, running off a tangent.

Twilight smiles, “I was never much into Mythical Creatures myself. I was more interested in the Pony Magic Class.”

Aurora’s eyes light up, “Oh, that class is great!”

“Isn’t it?” Twilight says excitedly.

“Though, Magic II is really great.” Aurora says.

“I actually never took that class. I qualified for Advanced Spells. So I skipped Magic II.” Twilight says.

“Oh Lucky! I tried to skip it by taking the Pre-Test, but I failed by a single mark.” Aurora says.

“Artifacts?” Twilight asks.

Aurora looks away, blushing in embarrassment and nodding, “Yeah, it’s a hard category.”

“It trips everypony up. Even me.” Twilight says, placing a hoof on her chest.

Aurora rolls her eyes, “Yeah, but you passed anyway.”

Spike looks at the two nerd ponies and rolls his eyes, “Are you two done yet?”

Twilight and Aurora blush as they turn to Spike. Twilight chuckles, “Eheheh, it’s just nice to finally have a pony to talk about Magic School with.”

“Yeah, I only ever have Dusky to talk about it with.” Aurora says.

“How is Dusky, anyway? You haven’t brought him in a while.” Twilight says.

“He’s hibernating for the Winter.” Aurora says.

“Oh, that makes sense.” Twilight says.

“Are you two gonna get to the assignment or are you gonna keep talking about Magic School?” Spike asks.

“OH! Righ! Sorry, Spike. You’re in charge of the Library while I’m gone.” Twilight says, turning to Spike.

“I’ll go get ready.” Aurora says.

“We’ll meet on the edge of Western Ponyville.” Twilight says, turning to Aurora.

Aurora nods in response.

Aurora and Twilight both got ready and just as planned, met at the edge of Ponyville. The two quickly began their journey towards the White Tail Woods. As the White Tail Woods are somewhat close to Ponyville, it didn’t take TOO much time. It’s just about a day trip. As they arrived at the White Tail Woods, they proceeded into the forest without a second thought, unaware that an evil presence was following them. The two creatures stalk the Little Ponies from the trees, keeping keen eyes on them. “Why are we following these two? We have better things to do! The Queen told us to keep an eye on the Pony town.” One of the creatures says. Their voices are slightly distorted and masculine.

The next creature shakes her head, “You’re not like the Queen and I. You can only sense love itself. However, me and the Queen can sense the potential for love. We can sense it grow.”

“What does that have to do with following them?” The male creature asks.

“These two have a potential for Love unlike anything I’ve ever sensed before. If things go correctly, their love can grow into one that’s more powerful than anything in Equestria.” The female creature says, mesmerized by the view of the two ponies walking through the forest, chatting up a storm and giggling.

“And so I yelled out, ‘I CAN’T DECIDE’, and then Spike said, ‘Uh, he just wants to take your order’.” Twilight says as the two Unicorn Mares walk together.

Aurora gives a little laugh, “That must have been embarrassing.”

Twilight chuckles, “Yeah, but can you blame me? They’d all been bugging me for the Ticket all day. It was the only thing on my mind.”

“I don’t understand why Princess Celestia didn’t send 6 Tickets in the beginning. I mean, you all DID kinda save all of Equestria.” Aurora says, pushing up her glasses, which have been slipping down.

“What about you? Did you get any Tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala?” Twilight asks.

Aurora nods, “Yup. And Princess Celestia had the foresight to give all my friends one too.”

Twilight looks forwards and sees a lake. The lake sparkles a bright blue color, like a gemstone, “Wow! Look at that!”

“Woah! It’s beautiful!” Aurora says as the two mares stop in front of it.

“That’s neat, it must be some sort of Bioluminescence!” Twilight says, leaning her head close to it.

Aurora looks up at the sky as it darkens, “Looks like we’ll be able to see it in the dark. And we should get a camp set up.”

Twilight turns to Aurora and nods as they both start up a camp. Set with Tents and a Fire.

The two creatures sit in a tree, camouflaged by their black skin in the darkness. They watch the mares as they set up their campe for the night. “Nuptial! I’m bored!” the male creature says.

“Be quiet, Tarsus!” The female creature says, who’s name is Nuptial.

Tarsus scowls, “I’m hungry! Are we gonna feast on their love or not?”

Nuptial shakes her head, “No. We need to wait. Like I said, their love has so much potential. If I can make sure it grows enough, it could be enough to feed the entire hive.”

Tarsus looks down at his stomach as it growls, “Ugh! Wouldn’t it be easier if we just feed on it now? I’m soooooo hungry!” Tarsus lays on the large branch and holds his tummy.

“No. We can’t pass up an opportunity like this. We’re gonna watch and make sure their love grows correctly.” Nuptial says.

“Ugh, you’re lucky you’re not a normal changeling. Getting to do whatever you want.” Tarsus says.

Nuptial smiles, “Indeed.”

“Whew! All done!” Aurora says, wiping her forehead as she looks at the two tents and campfire.

“Just in time too, look!” Twilight says, smiling and pointing to the lake as it glows a bright cyan.

Aurora quickly rushes next to Twilight and looks at the lake in wonder, “WOW!!! It’s beautiful!”

“Isn’t it? I should take some notes.” Twilight says, pulling out a notebook and quill, opening the book and beginning to write in it.

Nuptial looks on at the ponies as her eyes widen. She scowls with a smirk, “Bingo! That’s an opportunity!”

Tarsus raises an eyebrow, “How so?”

Nuptial snaps a branch off the tree and quickly tosses it at Twilight’s book, knocking it out of Twilight’s magical telepathy. “Ah! My book!” Twilight exclaims. The book falls straight into the lake.

Aurora’s eyes widened, “Oh no!” Aurora puts on a determined look as she dives into the water and grabs the book quickly. She quickly walks back onto the land, holding the dripping book.

“Aurora? Y-You jumped in to get my book.” Twilight says, placing her hoof on her chin and looking at Aurora with wide eyes.

“I had to get it before it got too soaked.” Aurora says, handing the book to Twilight.

Twilight grabs the book with magic and chuckles, “You know you could have just used your horn.”

Aurora’s eyes widen before she blushes, “Oh…right. I uh…didn’t realize in the moment.”

“Well…still, that was really nice. That you’d jump into the lake to get it for me.” Twilight says, smiling passionately at Aurora.

Aurora blushes more and looks away, “It was just the first thing that came to mind. I didn’t want your notes to get damaged.”

Nuptial smiles proudly, “There we are. Now they’re a little closer.”

“How did you know she’d jump in to retrieve the book?” Tarsus asks, turning to Nuptial.

“I could sense her love. I made a judgment call that she would do it. And it turns out I was right.” Nuptial says.

Aurora huddles closely to the fire in order to help dry herself off. Twilight lays a bit close as she reads a book she picked out that could help her locate the Amphista, “How interesting. Apparently they will stay in large open fields and periodically go into forested areas.”

“That’s correct.” Aurora says, holding her hooves to the fire.

Twilight closes the book and yawns, “We better get some sleep. We gotta get up early to have the entire day to find these things.”

Aurora nods, “Good idea. I’ll stay up a little longer in order to dry off a bit more.”

Nuptial’s eyes glow as she gives a sinister smile, “Another one!”

“Another what?” Tarsus asks.

“Opportunity!” Nuptial says as she reveals her wings, quickly flies a ways away from the two ponies. She lands on the ground and closes her eyes as a green flame encompasses her body, morphing her into another creature.

As Twilight walks towards her tent her eyes go wide as she screams. Aurora turns over to see a large bear roaring. Aurora goes wide as she gets up, “Twilight!” The bear swings its arms, tearing down one of the tents. “My tent!” Aurora yells.

Twilight scowls and starts flashing beams of magic, trying to scare the bear away, which works. The bear quickly flees, running back into the forest. Twilight smiles and turns to Aurora, “It worked!”

Aurora smiles, “Good job!” Aurora’s face then shifts to a frown, “But…my Tent.”

Twilight looks at the destroyed tent with a frown, “Oh no. We only packed 2 tents.”

Aurora looks down, frowning more.

Twilight turns to Aurora with a sympathetic look and thinks for a moment before blushing, “Um…I guess you’ll have to…sleep in my Tent.”

Aurora goes wide-eyed and blushes. She turns to Twilight nervously, “S-Sleep in…your tent?”

Twilight rubs the back of her head, “Yeah, since there’s nowhere else. BUT ONLY IF YOU WANT TO. Y-You don’t have to if you don’t want to-”

“No no, I’d be glad to.” Aurora says before she blushes even more, “I uh…think it’d be fun.”

Nuptial lands back on her tree branch with a smile as she watches the two mares, “Just give 'em a little push, and let' em figure it out themselves.”

“How clever, Nuptial.” Tarsus says.

“Thanks.” Nuptial says.

Twilight and Aurora snuggle into their own little sleeping bags as the two lie in opposite facing directions. The two blush profusely at the act of being so close to each other. The two, nearly in sync, move their hooves back and accidentally touch. They both go wide-eyed and flinch, quickly pulling their hooves away from each other. After a still moment, the two move their hooves back together, touching them against each other. While Aurora understands what’s going on, that being her romantic feelings for Twilight. Twilight herself doesn’t understand it. She’s never felt anything like romantic feelings, so the sensation is completely alien to her.

Aurora turns over, now facing the direction that Twilight is in. Twilight looks back and turns over herself. The two mares stare into each other’s eyes for a few seconds, oblivious to how awkward it normally would be. Finally, Aurora looks away with a smile, “Guess you can’t go to sleep either.”

Twilight gives a quick giggle, “Yeah, my mind just keeps wandering. I don’t know why.”

“Yeah, I feel you.” Aurora says, looking away.

The two mares’ hooves begin slowly moving towards each other like magnets just as they had before. The two hooves touch with the little sound of a clop. The two mares perk up their ears as they hear it, looking into each other’s eyes, passionately. The two mares almost subconsciously scoot closer to each other as they continue to stare. The two mares slowly lean their faces in together, their muzzles nearly coming into contact.

Twilight goes wide eyed as she springs up, “Oh no! I think we forgot to put the fire out.”

Aurora blinks rapidly as she’s snapped out of the trance-like state she was in, “Oh! Right!” The two mares rush out to see that the fire is still going.

Nuptial grunts in frustration, “Agh! So close! Oh well, it’ll happen soon.” Nuptial gives a genuine smile, “The kiss is always my favorite part.”

“What did you say?” Tarsus asks, turning to Nuptial with a raised eyebrow.

Nuptial goes wide-eyed in embarrassment, “Uh….n-nothing! Shut up! We should get some sleep.”

Tarsus yawns, “Good idea. Night, sis.” Tarsus crawls up the tree and begins spinning himself a sleeping sack from fluids in his mouth.

Nuptial looks at her brother changeling for a moment before turning back to see that the ponies have put out the fire and are entering the tent again, “I wonder….what is it like to love?”

The morning soon comes with the rising of the sun. Twilight quickly shakes Aurora awake, “Wake up, Aurora!”

Aurora rises as she wakes up, “Wh-What?”

“C’mon! We gotta get a head start to find that creature.” Twilight says as she places her hoof on her chin, “The uh…”

“...Amphista?” Aurora says, finishing for Twilight.

“Yeah! That!” Twilight says as she quickly trots out of the tent. She uses her magic to pull a map of the White Tail Woods from her saddlebag. She looks over it with much focus, “Aha! Here we go!”

Aurora rubs her eyes and puts on her glasses as she exits the tent, “What is it?”

“According to the book, they stayed around in open fields and periodically retreated into the woods. So it’s safe to assume they’re in the center of the White Tail Woods. Where there’s a large clearing without trees.” Twilight says, turning to Aurora.

Aurora goes wide-eyed, “Twilight, that’s genius.”

Twilight places the map back in her saddlebag before she turns to Aurora, “Alright, let’s clean up our campsite and get to it.”

Aurora nods, “Alright.”

Nuptial tears open her sleeping sack and blinks rapidly, looking to see Aurora and Twilight clearing their site. She goes wide-eyed and quickly smacks the sleeping sack of her brother, “Wake up, Tarsus!”

Tarsus quickly tears out of his sack, “No mommy, no more hitting!”

“It’s me.” Nuptial says.

“Oh…yeah, I realize that now.” Tarsus says, rubbing his eye.

“They’re on the move now.” Nuptial says, looking down at the ponies, “We’ll continue to follow them. But don't be spotted.”

“Got it.” Tarsus says.

Aurora and Twilight finish their clean up and immediately begin their journey towards the glade in the center of the White Tail Woods. After a while, the two finally make it through the dense forest and to a large plot of clear land. Twilight and Aurora stare with their mouths agape, “Wow! Look at it! It’s amazing!” Twilight says.

Aurora looks around before her eyes lock onto something, “Twilight! Look!”

Twilight turns to Aurora and then looks at where she’s implying. Twilight’s eyes immediately light up, “That’s them! Amphistas!”

In the distance is a group of 7-10 Amphistas. Some are playing with others, some are resting, some are keeping watch over the immediate area. Aurora smiles and turns to Twilight, “We succeeded in our task!”

Twilight rears in excitement, “Woohoo! I can’t believe it. A once thought extinct species, living perfectly fine in this glade.”

“Princess Celestia will be proud. Shall we write a report on them?” Aurora says.

Twilight nods, “Yeah!”

The two mares quickly take out their notes and quill and begin writing their observations.

From the distance, Nuptial and Tarsus watch while hiding in the trees. “It doesn’t seem like there’ll be more chances to increase their relationship.” Tarsus says.

Nuptial nods, “Yeah, but last night was a huge leap. I’m sure that given some time, their love will grow phenomenally. Let’s report to the Queen. Our job here is done.”

Tarsus gives an evil laugh as he nods.

Cutie Mark Chronicles

Snowsweet walks down the stairs as she sees her mother is currently sitting at her desk, doing paperwork. Snowsweet walks up next to Wild Crisp and looks at the stacks of paperwork. Snowsweet raises an eyebrow, “What’re you doing, ma?”

Wild Crisp turns to her filly daughter and smiles, pausing her work, “As the owner of the shop, it’s my responsibility to do the paperwork that comes with running a business. I’ve always been better at this than anypony in the family. ”

Snowsweet looks down at her mother’s flank to see her cutie mark. It’s a paper and quill with the paper having pictures of apples on it. “Is that how you got yer Cutie Mark?”

Wild Crisp is surprised at this question and smiles, “That’s right. When I was a little filly, I discovered that I was meant to run Galabella Acres and this ol’ thing appeared.”

Snowsweet turns around, looking at her own flank, which is blank, “I wonder what my Cutie Mark is gonna be. Applebloom is always obsessing over getting her own. And it has me wondering what it’ll be like when I get my own.”

“Everypony has a unique experience when it comes to getting their Cutie Marks.” Wild Crisp says.

Snowsweet’s eyes light up, “Really? EVERYPONY?”

Wild Crisp chuckles, “Yes, everypony. You probably won’t find a single story that’s too similar to another.”

Snowsweet smiles brightly, “WOW! I wonder how Ruby Frost got HER cutie mark.”

“Why don’t you ask her? I’m sure she’d be happy to tell you.” Wild Crisp says.

Snowsweet jumps excitedly, “Of course! Where is she?”

Wild Crisp points to the front of the house/shop, “It’s her shift today, so she’ll be at the front counter. Don’t bother her if she’s too busy.”

Snowsweet nods rapidly before scurrying her way to the front of the shop. She catches eye of Ruby Frost, smiling and waving as she just finished dealing with a customer. “Thank you for visiting Galabella Apple Store. Come again sometime.”

“Ruby Frost!” Snowsweet says, trotting up to her big sister.

“Howdy, little sis. Whaddya need?” Ruby Frost asks, turning her head in the general direction of Snowsweet.

“Ma told me that everypony has a unique story on how they got their Cutie Marks. And I was curious, how did YOU get your cutie mark?” Snowsweet asks.

Ruby Frost goes wide-eyed and smiles passionately, “You wanna know the story of how I got my Cutie Mark?”

“Mhm! Mhm!” Snowsweet nods rapidly.

“Well, much like everypony in the Apple Family, I was a late bloomer when it comes to my Cutie Mark.” Ruby Frost says, beginning to tell the story.

“There weren’t many workers in Galabella Acres. It was just Ma, Pa, Jonamac, and I. And I wasn’t the best at bucking Apple Trees, not by a long shot.” Ruby Frost reminisced.

Ruby Frost bucked a tree, causing the apples to fall down from it. She turned to the apples in delight before her face shifted to one of disappointment. She had bucked a tree that hadn’t produced ripe apples, again. Ruby Frost’s father, Suncrisp, looked with disappointment. “No, Ruby. That one’s not ripe yet. Try again.” He said, sternly.

Ruby Frost looked down with a sad expression. “It’s no stretch to say I was borderline useless.” Ruby Frost reminisced.

Suncrisp facehooved, “Ugh, we’ll try again tomorrow.”

“But I just couldn’t let it go. I was determined to learn how to pick out good Apple Trees. I just had to! I stayed all the way until the sun set, trying my darndest to get it right.” Ruby Frost narrates. Young Ruby Frost stayed out and looked at the trees. After a while, she finally thought she had it. She walked up to one and bucked it, but unripe apples fell as usual. Ruby Frost looked down in sorrow. But just then, something shined brightly in the sky. Ruby Frost went wide-eyed and looked up. A bright, red stream of what appears to be magic flies from the direction of Canterlot.

“I had never seen anything like it before. It was beautiful. But as I stared at it, it grew larger. Unitil…it smashed right into my head. Why, I don’t know what it was, but it must have given me some sort of magical ability. I was able to immediately tell a bad tree from a good one.” Ruby Frost narrates.

Filly Ruby Frost looked at the trees in the Orchard with a determined look. As morning came, her family woke up to find she had harvested most of the apples in the orchard. Seeing her dragging a bucket of apples to the rest.

Ruby Frost looks up in the air and smiles, “And that’s the story of how this here mark ended up on my flank.” Ruby Frost gives a sad expression, “What I wouldn’t give to see it one more time.”

Snowsweet looks at her sister’s cutie mark, it being an apple with the inside exposed, showing 5 seeds inside, a star mark on the skin, and two bite marks on it. “Wait, so a magical accident gave you your cutie mark? I don’t believe it.”

“Neither did I when it happened. It’s not too much of a story, honestly. I just got lucky is all. But I’m glad it happened as it secured my place as a part of the Apple Family.” Ruby Frost says.

“Well that’s not a satisfying story.” Snowsweet says, annoyed.

“Well…if you want a satisfying story of how somepony got their Cutie Mark, how about you ask one of my friends? I’m sure their stories are good. Granted, I don’t even know what their cutie marks even are.” Ruby Frost says.

Snowsweet smiles as the excitement comes back into her face, “Of course! Star Dream is a successful pony! Maybe I can ask her how she got her cutie mark. I’m sure she has an exciting story of success and triumph!” Snowsweet darts out of the shop, “Thanks, sis!”

Snowsweet gallops as quickly as she can towards Town Hall, where Star Dream works. She’s so excited, she pays little attention to where she’s going and quickly crashes into somepony. The two ponies fall over. Snowsweet shakes her head and sees that she crashed into Blossom Night, “S-Sorry!”

Blossom Night looks at Snowsweet, annoyed, “C’mon, kid! Seriously?”

Snowsweet looks down at the ground to see a bunch of flowers, dropped on the ground, “O-oops! Sorry!”

Blossom Night tries to calm herself down, “It’s fine, kid. But watch where you’re going next time.” Blossom gets up, collecting her disheveled flowers.

Snowsweet looks to Blossom Night’s cutie mark. A berry bush with 5 berries on it, with a waxing crescent moon to the upper right of it with 2 crater formations that make up the heads of two mares. Snowsweet quickly smiles, “Hey, Blossom Night. Mind telling me the story of how you got your cutie mark?”

Blossom Night raises her eyebrow and turns to Snowsweet, “Why do you wanna know?”

“I wanna hear a good story on how somepony got their cutie mark! My sister’s story was pretty lame. So maybe you have a better story?” Snowsweet says.

“Alright, I can tell you. But you have to help me return these flowers to Hazel Bloom’s shop, okay?” Blossom says, holding the flowers up.

Snowsweet nods, “Mhm!”

Blossom Night begins her story as the two pick up the flowers, “When I was a filly, I lived on a Berry Farm just east of the White Tail Woods with my family. I always wanted to help take care of some of the bushes. So my parents gave me the responsibility of a single bush near the outside of our property. I took care of it like it was a child, until one night when I went out to water it…”

Filly Blossom Night gasped, dropping her watering can. Next to her Berry Bush, stands a tall equine, who’s stomping and destroying the berry bush. “HEY!!! STOP IT!” Blossom Night yells. The creature turns its head to Blossom Night, showing its glowing green eyes. It quickly turns and runs into the White Tail Woods. Blossom night quickly gallops to her now disheveled bush, “Oh no!”

“Having been unable to take care of the bush, my parents wouldn’t have let me help them with the farm. I tried desperately to use whatever tiny bit of magic that my filly horn could generate to help the bush, but it was no use. Until…something unexpected and, honestly, extraordinary happened…” Blossom night narrates.

Filly Blossom Night laid next to the destroyed bush, sobbing at the fact that she couldn’t take care of the bush. Suddenly, a bright stream of light flew into the air. Blossom Night quickly stood up, mesmerized by the strange occurrence. It was a green band of magic.

“I’d never seen anything like it. But before I could discern what it was, it flew right into me. Suddenly, I could feel an intense magic flowing from my horn. A green aura surrounded the bush as I began healing it. But, it didn’t just stop there. I put it into full Blossom, under the light of the moon.” Blossom Night narrates.

“And just like that, my cutie mark appeared.” Blossom Night says as the two ponies arrive at Hazel Bloom’s flower shop.

Snowsweet scowls, “Really? You too? You just had some random magical event happen to you and got your cutie mark?”

“What do you mean…me too?” Blossom asks.

“That’s exactly how my sister got her cutie mark!” Snowsweet says.

“Really? Huh, what are the odds? Well, anyway. Thanks for the help, kid.” Blossom says as she begins to walk into the shop.

Snowsweet, annoyed, looks up at the flower shop. Her face lights up as she has an idea.

“Oh? You wanna know the story of how I got my cutie mark?” Hazel asks, speaking in her usual soft spoken voice.

Snowsweet nods rapidly, “Uh huh! Everypony else’s story is lame. Since you’re a successful shop owner, maybe you’ll have a good one.”

Hazel Bloom turns around, looking at her cutie mark, which is a branch with 5 Blooming flowers and 2 hazel leaves. On the end of the left of the branch is a fully bloomed flower, “Well, it all started when the school was having a big performance. For the town.”

Hazel Bloom flashes back, thinking about how the events happened, “I was always into collecting flowers. So I was tasked with collecting flowers for stage use. Over the course of a week, I had collected hundreds of flowers.”

Filly Hazel Bloom walked around the stage with Filly Amber Gem, “I can’t believe I was able to collect this much in only a month!”

Amber Gem nodded, “And I was able to find quite a few gems.”

“SOMEPONY DESTROYED THE DECORATIONS!!!!” Somepony yelled.

Amber Gem and Hazel Bloom went wide-eyed and looked at a pony who was standing next to the door that leads backstage. Amber and Hazel quickly ran backstage to see what the fuss was about. The two were mortified. All the flowers Hazel Bloom had collected had been destroyed. And all the Gems that Amber found were missing. “Wh-What happened?!” Amber asked.

Their teacher turned to Amber and Hazel, “Somepony must have come in and taken the gems.”

“A-And my flowers!” Hazel Bloom uttered in a sad manner.

Their teacher walked up to them with a concerned look, “There’s only 2 hours until the show starts. We need you two to go out and collect more flowers and gems.”

“To collect that many flowers again in 2 Hours was an impossible feat, but I tried to do it anyway. I went out with a cart.” Hazel Bloom narrates.

Filly Hazel Bloom sighed as she had only collected a few flowers, “This is hopeless. I can’t collect that many flowers in only 2 Hours.” Hazel Bloom detached the cart from herself and laid on the ground.

“But then, something amazing happened. A bright pink beam of light shone in the sky. As I watched it fly towards the ground, it quickly flew in front of me, landing on the flower in front of me.” Hazel Bloom narrates.

Filly Hazel Bloom looked at the flower as it quickly grew from the magic it was just infused with. After a moment, it had grown into a large, golden, glowing flower. From the pedal of the flower, a drop of nectar falls onto the grass below, prompting tens of flowers to grow immediately. Hazel Bloom gasped as she held the flower in her hooves, the glow reflecting in her large eyes. She carefully plucked the petal off the stem and poured more of the nectar out, prompting lots of flowers to grow where the drop landed.

“Using the nectar from the magical flower, I was able to collect enough flowers for the show to continue.” Hazel Bloom says.

“And just like that, I got my cutie mark.” Hazel Bloom says.

Snowsweet’s eye twitches, “You’ve gotta be kidding me! The same story! Some magical mumbo jumbo nonsense!”

Hazel giggles, “Well, y’know. Amber Gem got her cutie mark while she was out looking for gems that night. You should ask her how she got hers.”

Snowsweet smiles, “Of course! She had to get those gems in such a short amount of time. She must have discovered her special talent for finding gems while looking for them. She’s bound to have a good story!”

Amber Gem looks back at her flank, her cutie mark being an opened rock with 5 small gems inside of it and one larger diamond. Surrounding the rock on the left and right are two smaller rocks. Amber turns to Snowsweet, who’s standing in front of the main desk in Amber’s Jewelry shop, “Well, the story of how I got this sweet thing is quite the tale. You see, it all began when the school was-”

“Yeah yeah, I got the plot. Hazel Bloom gave me the story. Just skip to the part where you went to get the gems.” Snowsweet says.

Amber Gem rolls her eyes, “Fine.”

“In reality, I didn’t really look for gems. I simply went to the rock field where I found all my gems before and paced around in frustration. My teacher was crazy to ask me to collect in 2 hours what I had collected over the course of a week.” Amber Gem narrates.

Filly Amber Gem paces back and forth, “Come on! Come on! There’s no way I’m gonna get enough. And it’s already dark. I’m not gonna find anything.”

“But then, something amazing happened. From the sky, descended a brilliant white light that found its way to my horn. I have no idea where it came from or what it was. But somehow, it allowed me to track exactly where the gemstones were. I could see every single gem in the whole field. Needless to say, I dug out every single one, getting more gems than I had before. Once I returned to the stage with the gems, my flank glowed as I received my cutie mark.” Amber narrates.

Snowsweet slams her head into the desk, “Ugh! Not again! Where’s the struggle?”

“Oh, there was no struggle. Just a magical miracle.” Amber says, proudly.

“Well, I guess it’s back to the original plan. I’ll just ask Star Dream how SHE got her cutie mark.” Snowsweet says.

Snowsweet made her way down to Town Hall. Rainbow Dash lays on a cloud just above it, “Excuse me, Miss Rainbow Dash?”

“Hm?” Rainbow Dash looks down from her cloud, “Oh! Hey Snowsweet. What’s up?”

“Do you know where Star Dream is? I’m looking for her.” Snowsweet says.

“Oh! Yeah, she needed a book to help her with her work. She’s at the Golden Oak Library right now. She asked me to fill in for her.” Rainbow Dash says.

Snowsweet smiles and walks towards the library, “Thanks.”

“No problem, kid.” Rainbow Dash says.

Snowsweet arrived at the Golden Oak Library, determined to finally hear a good Cutie Mark story. As she opened the door and entered, she immediately found Star Dream looking through some books being suggested by Twilight and Aurora. “Star Dream! I found ya!”

Star Dream turns to Snowsweet, “Huh?”

Snowsweet quickly gallops up to Star Dream, “I’m here to ask you about the story of how you got your cutie mark.”

“Huh? You wanna know how I got my cutie mark? Why?” Star Dram asks, turning around to look at her cutie mark. Her cutie mark is a spiral galaxy with a bright golden center. The spiral Galaxy has 5 individual arms and two stars that shine brighter than the rest on the upper left and lower right of the Galaxy.

“I’m looking for a cool story about how somepony got their cutie mark. I’ve asked my sister, Blossom Night, Hazel Bloom, and Amber Gem. But their stories were all lame. I was hoping that maybe yours is better!” Snowsweet says.

Star Dream smiles, “Well, in that case. I don’t see why not. It started when there was to be a comet passing by…”

“I had looked forward to seeing this comet for months. It only passes by every 150 years. This was a once in a lifetime kind of event. As an enthusiast of celestial events and bodies, I wanted to study it as it passed by. But to do that, I needed a telescope. But when I opened my closet to get my telescope, it was destroyed. It was crushed and unusable. The comet would pass by and be visible for the whole night before disappearing, and there was nothing I could do to see it.” Star Dream narrates.

Filly Star Dream sat at her desk, looking out the window as the comet was soon to appear. She sighed deeply as she knew there was no hope to see it, “Guess I’m gonna miss the one thing I’ve been looking forward to for so long.” Star Dream laid her head on her desk and began to sob.

“But suddenly, a bizarre occurrence happened. A bright orange light flew in the sky. I watched as it quickly flew towards me, crashing into me without any force. And just like that, I had an idea.” Star Dream narrates.

Filly Star Dream quickly scurried around her house, grabbing miscellaneous items from around the house. She quickly set them onto her desk, and with a determined face, assembled them together into a makeshift Telescope.

“With my custom Telescope, I was able to watch the entirety of the Comet’s journey across the sky. I took notes on the entire occurrence that got published in the Cloudsdale Post.” Star Dream narrates.

“And then, well…my cutie mark appeared.” Star Dream says.

Snowsweet stares forward with a blank expression before grunting, “It’s hopeless! I’m never gonna find a good story!”

Star Dream’s eyebrows curve, “What do you mean?”

“Everypony’s story has involved some random magical doohickey giving them some sort of ability or whatever. And I don’t even know why!” Snowsweet says, frustrated.

Aurora overhears this and goes wide-eyed, walking towards the filly, “Hold on a moment, every one of their stories had something like that?”

“Yes! Ruby, Blossom, Hazel, Amber, and now Star Dream.” Snowsweet says.

Aurora gasps as her eyes go wide, “What were the colors of the magical beams?”

Snowsweet tilts her head as she remembers, “For Ruby, it was red. For Blossom, it was Green. For Hazel, it was pink. For Amber, it was white.”

“And for Star Dream…Orange.” Aurora says and her face lights up, “That’s….amazing!”

“Yeah, but why does that matter?” Snowsweet asks.

Aurora gives a bright smile, “I think the answer to your questions actually lies in how I got my Cutie Mark.” Aurora looks at her cutie marks. It’s a Sunrise with 5 stars surrounding it. Additionally, two more distant stars in the upper left.

“After I joined Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, there was a magical showcase that I joined. However, the day of the showcase, my magic mysteriously stopped working. I was supposed to perform a levitation spell on myself. But with my magic not working, I couldn't do it. As I went on stage, everypony watched as I just stood there, unable to do anything…” Aurora narrates.

Filly Aurora Shimmer stood on stage, sweating from nervousness as the audience awaited her to do something. Her legs shaked as she tried to channel magic through her horn, but only sparks of magic came out. An audience member coughed, breaking the deafening silence. Aurora sighed from exhaustion, “It’s no use, I can’t do it.” Aurora mumbled to herself as she looked down in defeat.

Suddenly, 6 ponies entered the room, all in cloaks, concealing their appearances. Aurora only momentarily glances at them before she continues looking back at the ground. However, suddenly, Aurora’s horn began glowing. She looked up at it in confusion before she looked at the 6 cloaked ponies. The one in the front’s horn glows the same color as the color on Aurora’s horn. The magic from Aurora’s horn glowed brightly as her whole body began levitating, “Wh-What’s going on?”

A huge gust of magic began emitting from Aurora’s body. Her eyes became completely white as 5 beams of magic; red, green, pink, white, and orange shoot from her horn, swirling around the room. The beams quickly dashed out the door of the auditorium, not to be seen again. Aurora’s body went back to normal as she slowly descended back to the ground. Everypony in the audience immediately began cheering, clapping their hooves onto the ground. Aurora smiled wide as she was given this good reception. Her flank then began to glow as her cutie mark appeared. She looked to the cloaked ponies, to find that all had left except the one in the front. Who upon being seen by Aurora, turned around and walked out the door.

Aurora quickly jumped off the stage and gave chase to the pony. As she opened the door the pony left out of, she saw her walk into an open area with no ponies around, where the door usually leads. “Hey!”

The cloaked pony stopped.

“You helped me! Thank you!” Aurora said with a smile.

The cloaked pony turned their head slightly to the left, acknowledging what Aurora said. The pony gave a little nod as two wings popped out from under the cloak. The mysterious pony quickly flew away and out of view of Aurora.

Aurora went wide-eyed at this, “Wait a moment, I thought that pony was a unicorn. Could it be that they were…an Alicorn?”

Snowsweet stares wide-eyed at this story, “So THAT’S what happened.”

“Mhm.” Aurora nods, “It seems that the magic I emitted on that day was what caused all those things to happen to my friends.”

“Well, in that case. All their cutie mark stories are cool!” Snowsweet says as she quickly runs out of the library, “Thank you, Aurora.”

Star Dream watches as the filly runs off, “Wow! So were we really connected long before we even met?”

“I wouldn’t doubt it.” Twilight says, walking up to Aurora and Star Dream, “A similar event happened to me and MY friends.”

Aurora turns to the table in the library and levitates her journal, “I think this calls for a letter to the Princess.”

Twilight nods, “Good idea. She’d love to hear about this.”

Dear Princess Celestia,

Today, I learned something extraordinary. It seems that long before I ever met my friends, I had a magical connection to them. Even before you meet your friends, you may already have a special connection to them that transcends even time. And I think that that says a lot about friendship.

Signed,

Your Faithful Student, Aurora Shimmer

More Berry Pie!

Blossom Night places the bouquet on the counter, making sure not to be too rough in order to maintain the integrity of the flowers. Hazel Bloom looks down in concern at the flowers on the counter, “Has it really been 10 years?”

Blossom Night nods, “Yeah. But it feels like it’s been longer.” Blossom Night places 3 bits on the counter.

Hazel Bloom curves a little smile, “It’s on the house, Blossom.” Hazel pushes the bits forward.

Blossom Night grabs her flowers and looks Hazel in the eyes, “No, it’s not.” Blossom turns around and walks out of the shop, placing her flowers in her saddlebag. She gives a quiet sigh as she walks through Ponyville. As Blossom Night turns a corner, she comes face to face with….Pinkie Pie.

“Hi, Blossom Night!” Pinkie Pie says, smiling wide.

Blossom flinches before she sighs and continues on her way, “Hey Pinkie.”

Pinkie looks at Blossom with concern, “Hmmmmm, you look like you could use a smile.” Pinkie perks up as she follows next to Blossom, “But don’t worry! Your ol’ pal Pinkie is here to-”

Blossom Night sighs, “Not today, Pinkie.”

“Huh?” Pinkie stops.

“I know I usually am moody. But today is different.” Blossom says as she continues to walk forward.

“Oh…well what’s wrong?” Pinkie asks, having a normal tone.

“You have eyes. You can see.” Blossom Night says.

Pinkie raises an eyebrow, “ Well technically…so does Ruby Frost. But she can’t see.”

Blossom Night places a hoof on her mouth as she chuckles, “I mean, you can see where I’m going.”

Pinkie looks forward. The two are heading towards a large arch reading: Ponyville Cemetery. Pinkie Pie’s eyes go wide before her head goes down, “Oh…”

“Yeah, not exactly a day for fun.” Blossom says, turning to Pinkie.

Blossom Night makes it to a set of 3 graves. Marked Lingonberry, Sweet Jam, and Raspberry Twist. Pinkie looks at them, realizing they’re probably relatives of Blossom Night, “Are these your…”

“...family members, yeah.” Blossom Night says, finishing Pinkie Pie’s sentence, “It’s been 10 years since they’ve been gone.”

“10 years? You were a Filly?” Pinkie Pie asks, turning to Blossom.

Blossom Night nods as she uses magic from her horn to take the flowers out of her saddlebag and spreads the flowers evenly across the 3 graves.

Pinkie turns to Blossom Night, realizing her unseen sorrow in the moment. She looks at the ground and speaks in a mellow voice, “Blossom Night, would you like to come over to Sugar Cube Corner and bake with me?”

Blossom Night turns to Pinkie Pie with an expressionless face.

Pinkie smiles, “I hear from Applejack that you’re really good at baking.”

Blossom Night looks at the ground for a moment, seeming to ponder an answer. She prepares to say no before her eye catches sight of the 3 graves containing her family. Blossom gives a small smile before turning back to Pinkie Pie, “Yeah, I’d love to.”

Pinkie’s face shines bright with a large smile as she hears this. She throws her front hoof over Blossom’s shoulders, “Then let’s get going!”

Blossom night followed as Pinkie Pie led her to Sugarcube Corner and into the kitchen. Pinkie Pie quickly begins pulling out the supplies required for baking, “Whenever I’m feeling down, I bake something. It always makes me feel better!”

“You mean THE Pinkie Pie actually feels down? Yeah right.” Blossom says.

“Of course, everypony feels down. But Pinkie will always be there to make them feel better!” Pinkie Pie says, quickly pausing the process of setting up.

“And who’s there when Pinkie feels down?” Blossom asks.

Pinkie pauses before looking down with a small frown before curving a small smile, “Well, I have the smiles of my friends. That’s all I need.”

Blossom Night walks forward and uses her magic to sort the items that Pinkie had taken out, “But nopony for you to talk to when you’re down.”

Pinkie looks down, confirming to Blossom what she suspected, “Well, I can't let anypony see me sad.”

Blossom Night looks down at the counter in front of her, “You try not to be vulnerable.”

Pinkie turns to Blossom with a surprised expression.

“You don’t want to show anypony your vulnerability, because it’ll ruin the expression you’re trying to put on for them, huh?” Blossom Night says.

Pinkie’s mouth opens slightly, shocked from what Blossom is saying. She turns away and gives a discreet nod.

Blossom’s eyes widen a bit before she looks at the baking supplies, thinking deeply. Blossom curves a smile and gives a small chuckle, “Guess we’re not too different after all.”

Pinkie turns to Blossom Night as she approaches closer to her.

“Now, about that baking? We should have started by now.” Blossom says with a smile.

Pinkie’s sad frown immediately dissipates as she gives a wide smile, hearing that Blossom is ready to begin baking.

The two ponies quickly finished setting up to start baking a cake. Blossom looks at the ingredients nervously, “I don’t know, Pinkie. I’m more of a pie pony.”

Pinkie giggles, “Me too! It’s part of my name!”

Blossom chuckles, “I mean uh…I’ve never baked a cake before.”

“Don’t worry! It’s easy!” Pinkie says, as she picks up a bag of flour, “Just take some flour!” Pinkie pours some flour in one of the bowls, “Pour it in!” Pinkie quickly grabs ingredients and places them in faster than Blossom can keep up with, “Egg, Butter, Sugar, Salt, Milk, aaaaaaaaand Baking Soda!”

Blossom looks at the filled bowl and turns to Pinkie with a blank face, “Okay, first, how much Flour? Second, how much Egg. Third, How much Butter? Fourth, how much sugar? Fifth, how much salt? Sixth, how much milk? Aaaaaaaaaaand Seventh, how much baking soda?”

“Ooohhhhhhh, guess I have such a talent for baking cakes that I don’t really remember the exact measurements. I kinda just feel it!” Pinkie says.

Blossom stares at Pinkie with a jaded expression, “You just….feel it?”

Pinkie nods, “Mhm! Now you try!”

Blossom inhales and exhales, she then rolls her eyes, “Okay then.”

Blossom looks upon the ingredients. She grabs the flour and pours a couple of ounces in the bowl, she turns to Pinkie for assurance. Pinkie simply continues staring at Blossom with a blank smile. Blossom turns back to her bowl and pours a little more before turning back to Pinkie for assurance. Pinkie, just like before, stares at Blossom with a blank smile. Blossom’s eyebrows curve as she darts her eyes back to the bowl, keeping her head turned to Pinkie. She pours a bunch more of the flour in the bowl before darting her eyes back to Pinkie for assurance. Pinkie continues staring with the same expression. Blossom simply stares back at Pinkie with a jaded look before she drops the entire bag of flour in the bowl. “Great!” Pinkie says, “Now for the rest of the ingredients.”

Blossom looks at the rest of the stuff, “Right…” Blossom Night quickly finishes putting all the ingredients, with no guidance from Pinkie Pie whatsoever.

“Alrighty! Now we mix it and put it in the oven.” Pinkie Pie says as she begins mixing her own bowl abnormally fast.

Blossom looks down at the devastated bowl of cake mix, “Yeah…”

Blossom Night finally finishes her cake and pulls it out of the oven, placing it on the table. Blossom drops the mitten as she looks upon her creation with disgust. The ‘cake’ is more akin to a bucket of swamp water rather than a cake. The green goop seeps out of the bowl. Pinkie looks closely at the cake with wide eyes, “WOW. I didn’t even know you could bake a cake to be green.”

Blossom Night rolls her eyes, “I told you, my profession is Pies.” Blossom curves a little smile, “But uh….this was fun nonetheless. Even if I created an abomination of baking. Thanks, Pinkie.”

Pinkie smiles and hugs Blossom Night, “Any time!”

Blossom smiles, “But…I think I’ll bake a Pie this time.”

Pinkie ends the hug, “Pie time!”

Blossom looks down with a frown, “Just wish my family could see how much I’ve learned about making pies.”

The smile on Pinkie’s face fades as she looks to Blossom with concern, “Um…I hope it’s not rude to ask. I don’t mean to pry but…what happened?”

Blossom looks up at Pinkie with surprise. Having not expected Pinkie to care. Blossom hesitates for a moment, not sure if she wants to relive the memory of her family’s passing. “When I was a Filly…”

“My family and I lived in a Berry Farm just East of the White Tail Woods. Right on the edge of it, actually.” Blossom Night narrates.

Filly Blossom Night walks into the house as the sun finally sets enough to where it’s astronomical twilight. “I finished with the bushes, dad.”

“You put the bag in the shed, right?” Lingonberry yells from the dining room.

“Yeah.” Blossom says as she wipes her hooves on the rug and proceeds to the dining room.

As Blossom enters the room, Lingonberry smiles at his daughter, “I’m proud of your work, Blossom Night. I might even let you come with me for the delivery to Ponyville.”

Blossom goes wide-eyed with excitement as she sits at the table, “YOU’RE SERIOUS?!”

“Depends on how well behaved you are until then.” Lingonberry says.

“I-I can be well behaved!” Blossom says, leaning on the table, closer to her father.

“Deliveries are a lot of work, sis. It ain’t just a fun trip to Ponyville. It’s also a lot of loading. And I’m not quite sure you got the horse power.” Raspberry Twist says.

Blossom Night stands up in her chair on her hind legs and flexes her front legs, “I got the horse power!”

Sweet Jam walks into the room with a tray of fried carrots, placing it on the table and smiling at Blossom, “It’s alright, Blossom Night. You’re gonna help your father tomorrow.” She squints at Lingonberry, “I made him promise.”

Lingonberry shrugs, “Oh alright. But you better be up early. I don’t wanna have to drag you out of bed. Your sister is enough of a handful as it is.”

“What?! Hey!” Raspberry Twist says, offended.

Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door and the room goes silent. The four ponies turn to the door in confusion. “That’s strange, who could be knocking at this hour?” Lingonberry ponders as he gets up to answer the door. He opens the door to see 3 Stallions standing there, “Hello? Can I help you-”

A wack sound is heard as the 3 ponies in the dining room look on with confusion. “Honey? Is everything okay?” Sweet Jam asks.

One of the Stallions walks into the room, holding a bloodied stick in his right hoof. Sweet Jam gasps as she sees this. “Let’s not make a scene. Don’t wanna make this harder than it needs to be.” The stallion says.

“Back then, there was a surge in crimes against unicorns. Ponies in the black market were using their horns to enchant objects. Like many other unicorn families, they tied us up and began cutting our horns off.” Blossom Night narrates.

Blossom Night, Lingonberry, Sweet Jam, and Raspberry Twist lay tied up in the corner of the room, their mouths covered by a cloth. “Reckon we start with the father. The struggle from him might make it difficult.” one of the stallions says.

The largest stallion walks over to Lingonberry and grabs him with his mouth, dragging him to the center of the room. The ponies had cleared the dining room for a makeshift operating room. The strong stallion throws Lingonberry onto the dining table. “Start before they wake up this time.”

A more lanky stallion steps forward as he pulls a serrated knife out of a saddlebag he’s wearing with his mouth, “Just strap him down.”

The large and normal stallions take out some rope and quickly wrap them around Lingonberry’s limbs, tying him to the table. The lanky stallion leaned forward, lining up the blade at the base of the horn on Lingonberry’s head. The lanky stallion squints as he proceeds to saw through the horn with the serrated knife. Lingonberry immediately wakes up with a painful scream as he quickly shakes around. The lanky stallion quickly pulls the knife away and scowls at the other two stallions, “Hold him down, you imbeciles!”

The other two stallions quickly jump forward and hold Lingonberry’s head down. “It’ll be alright, Mister Lingonberry. The beginning is always the hardest part.” The lanky stallion says as he lines up his knife back to the horn. Just as before, he begins sawing through the horn. The muffled screams of Sweet Jam, Raspberry Twist, and Blossom Night are heard as the stallion performs the amputation. The lanky stallion pauses sawing as he scowls, “I can’t focus when those mares are screaming like that! Shut them up!”

The large stallion legs go of Lingonberry’s head and walks over to the mares, “Be quiet! Your turn will come soon!” He proceeds to quickly stomp at each mare’s head until all are knocked unconscious.

“I soon awoke to find that they had just finished cutting off my mother’s horn. They had finished my father and killed him. My mother soon followed him.” Blossom Night narrates, “They proceeded to start with my sister. As I watched my sister, I knew that I would soon be next. I had to think of some way to get out.”

Filly Blossom Night took her eyes off her screaming sister and looked around the room with haste, trying to see if there was any way she could escape. She looked down at the ropes that held her four legs together. Her eyes widened as she came up with a plan. Blossom’s horn began glowing a dim green as she focused it on the ropes. She was unable to untie the ropes, as her telekinesis is far too weak. But her healing magic can heal the dead manila hemp, causing the rope to fall apart. Blossom quickly follows through with this plan as she loosens the rope. She quickly crawls out of the rope and turns to the 3 stallions. They’re all focused on holding Raspberry Twist down and cutting her horn.

Blossom Night turned to her right, seeing that she could easily make a break for the exit and escape. But as she heard the ear piercing screams of her older sister, that would mean leaving her to die. She turned back to the aggressors. Even if she tried to attack them, she would have no way of fighting them off. That’s when she realized something. Her eyes darted up, looking to her horn. The whole reason they were there in the first place. She could use her horn as a weapon. She remembered reading a book on Pony Evolution that hypothesized that the horns of Unicorns used to be used for offensive attacking before they evolved to channel magical energy.

The little filly watched as her sister went through more pain by the second. She scowled as she brought herself to a charging position. This was all or nothing. She had to save her sister. The filly scraped her front hoof on the wooden floor as she prepared to charge. The lanky stallion took his eyes off cutting Raspberry Twist’s horn as he turned to Blossom Night. Blossom quickly began charging, galloping towards the stallion as quickly as her little legs could carry her. The stallion barely had any time to react before the filly plunged her horn into his heart.

The other two stallions went wide-eyed as they watched their partner collapse to the ground. Blossom Night’s heart was racing, she was barely able to comprehend what just happened. As the adrenaline kicked in, she turned to the other two stallions. The smaller one galloped to grab his stick. The large stallion rushed towards Blossom with a scowl, “You Foal! How did you get free?!”

The stallion reared, raising his two front hooves in order to stomp on the little filly, but Blossom quickly dashed under his large body, piercing him through the heart with her horn. The stallion quickly fell to his side as he clenched his hooves against his heart in pain, screaming at the top of his lungs.

The other stallion quickly rushes in with a large stick in his mouth. He swings it at the filly, hitting her in the head before she had time to react. Blossom collapses to the floor and looks up as her assaulter. The stallion scowls intensely at the filly, “Dang it! Look what you did you little foal!” He quickly raises his head in order to swing again at the filly, but Blossom quickly rushes up at the Stallion, stabbing him through the jugular. The two ponies stand, frozen, as the stallion drops his stick and falls over.

Blossom Night breathes heavily as her work is finished, barely able to believe she got out of that alive. She turns to her sister, who’s still alive, albeit in extreme pain. She dashes towards her, hopping on the table to see her sister, “Raspberry Twist? A-Are you okay?”

Raspberry Twist’s breathing slows as she turns to Blossom, “L-Little sis…”

Blossom looks at her older sister’s horn, seeing that it’s completely cut off.

“I tried to heal her. But my magic wasn’t advanced enough to heal a pony. Much less the loss of a horn. I watched as my sister slowly bled out in front of me. I held her close to me until help finally arrived, saving me from that nightmare.” Blossom Night narrates.

Pinkie Pie looks at Blossom Night with wide eyes, unsure of how to react, “I’m…sorry.”

Blossom looks down, “That’s the reason I’m never usually happy. Everypony knows Equestria as a happy land with no worries. But there’s a lot of bad in this land.”

Pinkie Pie looks at the counter, “I don't think that’s true.”

“Huh?” Blossom Night turns to Pinkie Pie with wide eyes.

“I think everypony does know about the bad in Equestria. But they all just choose to focus on the good. After all, what good is wallowing in the bad stuff, when you can be happy focusing on the good stuff?” Pinkie Pie says with a smile as she turns to Blossom Night.

Blossom Night is taken aback by this, realizing that Pinkie Pie may be right. She turns to the counter as her eyebrows curve, “I guess I…never really thought of it like that.” Blossom stares for a moment longer before smiling and turning to Pinkie Pie. She slowly walks up to her and gives her a hug.

Pinkie Pie smiles brightly as she throws her two front legs around Blossom, hugging her tightly.

Blossom ends the hug as she backs up, “Okay, what do you say we make some Pies. After all, THAT’S what I’m good at.”

Pinkie Pie pulls out a whisk, “Race you?”

Blossom Night smirks, “Oh, you’re on!”

Fruitbat Migration

Nuptial carefully walks through the hole that leads to the throne room of the changeling hive. Unlike most changelings when they approach the throne room, Nuptial hasn’t a hint of fear at approaching the Queen. Tarsus, on the other hand, shakes in fear as he follows Nuptial, “A-Are you sure she’ll be happy with the information we’re giving her?”

“Of course she will. But if she isn’t, we’ll just go out and get more. It’ll be fine.” Nuptial says.

“That’s easy for you to say, she always goes easy on you.” Tarsus says.

Nuptial’s eyebrows curve as she looks down, “Not always.”

The two changelings finally walk into the throne room, viewing the large throne. And on it sits…Queen Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings. Nuptial and Tarsus quickly kneel before their Queen. “Nuptial, you’re back sooner than expected. Why is that?”

“I’m sorry for not staying on schedule, mother. But we’ve come across some valuable information that I felt you’d want to know right away.” Nuptial says, standing up.

“It better be good.” Queen Chrysalis says.

“I’ve come across 2 Ponies who’s love is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. Its potential is extraordinary.” Nuptial says, stepping forward.

Queen Chrysalis squints her eyes, “Is that all?”

Nuptial shakes her head, “No, additionally, a holiday is coming up in the town. It’s known as Hearts and Hooves day. It is a day where the ponies celebrate love.”

Queen Chrysalis’ eyes go wide before she scratches her chin, “Hmmm, that sounds quite enticing.”

“If we can invade during that day, there will be more than enough love to take over all of Equestria!” Nuptial says.

Queen Chrysalis smiles, “A day dedicated to love could be the perfect opportunity we’ve been looking for. I may even cancel our plans to go to the Canterlot Wedding. I appreciate this information you’ve given me, Nuptial. I may even forgive your…past transgressions.”

Nuptial darts her eyes away in shame.

“However, this is still a small amount of information. I want you to continue scouting this town for any more information you can scrape together.” Queen Chrysalis says.

“What of the Two Ponies?” Nuptial asks.

“We’ll see. If their love can grow as much as you say, keep tabs on them. Learn all you can about these ponies.” Queen Chrysalis says.

Nuptial nods, “Yes, my Queen.”

Queen Chrysalis rolls her eyes, “Refer to me as Mother. You’re royalty too.”

Nuptial blushes, “Sorry, Mother.”

“You two are dismissed.” Queen Chrysalis says.

Nuptial and Tarsus bow one final time before turning around and exiting the throne room. Once out of sight, Tarsus sighs heavily, “WHEW, that was stressful.”

“She was actually rather calm.” Nuptial says.

“I know, but it was the suspense. I never know if she’s gonna blow a fuse or not. You know how bad the Queen’s temper can be.” Tarsus says.

“I think I know that better than anyone in the hive.” Nuptial says, looking away.

“No way! She’s always easy on you! It’s us normal changelings who get the brunt of her rage. She wouldn’t dare get mad at you. You’re the only one she cares about.” Tarsus says.

“None of that’s true, Tarsus.” Nuptial says as she turns to her brother, “She’s not always easy on me. She puts more pressure on me than anyone. It’s sometimes too much for me. I’m supposed to be the future Queen of the hive. What if I’m not good enough?”

“Huh, guess when you put it like that…” Tarsus says.

“Sometimes I just…wish I wasn't even a changeling.” Nuptial says.

Tarsus turns to Nuptial, wide-eyed, “How could you say that?!”

“You have to admit, our existence kinda sucks. It’s just eternal hunger. Never able to be satisfied.” Nuptial says.

“Well…what can you do, huh?” Tarsus says.

“I guess nothing. But still, I wish it was different.” Nuptial says.

The two changelings proceed to make their way to Ponyville, staying out of sight of the ponies. The two crawl onto the roof of one of the many houses. “Okay, what’s next?” Tarsus asks.

“You heard the Queen. We should focus on the two ponies we followed in the forest.” Nuptial says.

“Yeah…but she also said to collect more information about this place.” Tarsus says.

“And we can do both. But first, we need to locate where those two ponies reside.” Nuptial says. Suddenly, two ponies quickly catch Nuptial’s eyes as she turns to them. Fluttershy and Star Dream sit at a table outside the Cafe. Nuptial’s eyes glow as she views the two ponies and smirks, “Change of plans, Tarsus. I sense something just as great.”

Star Dream sips her drink using a straw as she looks down at a piece of paper on the table. Fluttershy gives a passive smile, “And so I was hoping we could keep the skies clear on that day.”

“I don’t know, Fluttershy. Rescheduling rainfall is very serious. It’s not just something we can do willy nilly.” Star Dream says as she looks up from the paper.

Fluttershy looks down at the table, “Yes, I know. But…the Fruit Bats will have to fly in the rain for their migration. It’ll be hard for their little wings and they could get hurt.”

“Yes, I know. But something like this isn’t within my authority, Fluttershy. If I want to change the weather for a day, I’d have to file a report to the Department of Weather in Cloudsdale. I doubt they’d accept it, though. They never do.” Star Dream says, curving her eyebrows.

Fluttershy looks down in disappointment, “Oh…okay, I see.”

Star Dream looks down at Fluttershy’s petition. Star Dream closes her eyes with a sigh, “I’ll see what I can do.”

Fluttershy’s eyes light up as a smile grows on her face, “Really?”

Star Dream nods, “It can’t hurt to try. But it doesn’t mean it’ll happen.”

Fluttershy quickly flies up and hugs Star Dream, “Oh, thank you! Thank you!”

Star Dream blushes as Fluttershy hugs her, “Heh…of course.”

Fluttershy herself blushes at what she did and quickly flies back to her seat, “Um…so how long do you think it’ll take?”

“Well, I can't do it today. I’ll have to catch a ride on a chariot in order to get to Cloudsdale, so I’ll have to go tomorrow.” Star Dream says.

Fluttershy raises an eyebrow, “Why can’t you fly there?”

Star Dream looks away as she scratches the back of her head, “I uh…choose not to fly.”

“Oh…I see. Well, thank you for doing this for me, Star Dream. It means a lot.” Fluttershy says with a smile.

Star Dream smiles back, “Well what are friends for?”

Tarsus looks at the two ponies in confusion, “What’s so special about them? They just seem like friends.”

“No, it’s more. One of them has immense feelings of attraction towards the other. And the other is slowly growing attraction.” Nuptial says as she holds her head up with her hooves, “Quite cute.”

Tarsus raises an eyebrow and turns to Nuptial quickly, “Cute?”

Nuptial blushes, “I-I mean cute in the manner that they’re…lesser than us. Playing with their feelings and stuff.”

“Right…” Tarsus says, squinting at Nuptial suspiciously before looking back at the two ponies.

“Let’s hold off on the other two ponies. I need to see how this develops.” Nuptial says.

Star Dream, just as she said, visited the Weather Department in Cloudsdale, entering the building and walking up to the front desk. The receptionist is a mare with pale goldenrod mane, goldenrod eyes, a white coat, and a checklist with clouds on it as a cutie mark. She looks up at Star Dream and her eyes light up, “Star Dream! Good to see how!”

“Hey Misty Doo!” Star Dream says with a smile as she walks up to the desk.

“Wow. How long’s it been?” Misty Doo asks.

“10 Moons.” Star Dream says.

“10 Moon! How time flies. How are things treating you in Ponyville?” Misty asks.

“As well as can be expected. Dealing with Rainbow Dash is a hassle.” Star Dream says.

“I’ll bet. How’s my sister?” Misty asks.

“Ditzy? Well, hate to say, but I had to assign her to the reserves.” Star Dream says.

Misty looks disappointed, “Oh, of course you did. Did she at least get another job?”

Star Dream nods, “Post office.”

“Oh no, how’s that been going?” Misty asks.

“Surprisingly well. The only thing that gets damaged in her deliveries is herself.” Star Dream says with a chuckle.

Misty chuckles, “As long as she can keep a job, I’m happy. Anyway, how can I help you?”

“Is Water Dew here?” Star Dream asks.

Misty raises an eyebrow, “Water Dew, huh? Must need something serious. Yes, he’s here. He’s also free at the moment.”

“Perfect timing then, huh?” Star Dream says.

Misty nods, “He’s in his office right now. You know the way.”

Star Dream walks towards the stairs, “Thanks Misty.”

“Good catching up, Star.” Misty says.

Star Dream makes it to the door leading to Water Dew’s office and knocks on the door. “Come in.” A voice says on the other side.

Star Dream opens the door and walks in, “Hey Water Dew.”

Water Dew, who’s sitting at his desk, goes wide-eyed as he looks up from the papers he was reading to see Star Dream, “Star Dream! Wow, it’s been a while.” Water Dew is a stallion with a yellow green coat, light sky blue mane styled into a comb over, steel blue eyes, and a full suit.

Star Dream sits at the chair in front of Water Dew’s desk, “It has been a while, huh?”

“Well, what do you need?” Water Dew says.

Star Dream takes a deep breath, “I came to make a request.”

“A request? A request of what?” Water Dew asks.

“That we delay the rain due in Ponyville the day after tomorrow.” Star Dream says.

Water Dew is taken aback by this, “Delay the rain? Why would you want to do that?”

“With the coming of Spring, the fruit bats are migrating back to Ponyville. The day they arrive is set to have heavy downpour. The strength of the rain could hurt the fruit bats.” Star Dream says.

“You understand that if we reschedule, we’ll have to move this downpour to another day, right? And it would have to be even stronger.” Water Dew says.

“Yes, I understand that. But I believe it’s worth it to make sure the Fruit Bats make it to Ponyville safely.” Star Dream says, placing her hoof on her chest.

Water Dew nods, “Very well. It will take some paperwork, but I’ll authorize a weather change for that day only.”

“R-Really? I didn’t think you’d approve.” Star Dream says.

“Of course I would. Because I know why. It’s for Fluttershy, right?” Water Dew asks, smirking.

Star Dream blushes, “H-How did you know?!”

Water Dew shrugs, “Just a hunch.”

Star Dream stands up and bows her head, “Well, thank you, Water Dew.”

Water Dew nods as Star Dream exits the room and closes the door. Water Dew waits for a moment after Star Dream leaves before putting on a devious smile and turning to a potted plant in the corner, “What did I tell ya, Tarsus? Didn’t suspect a thing.”

The potted plant sits still for a moment before a green smoke quickly swirls around it, turning it into Tarsus, “I can’t believe we got away with that. That was blind luck!”

A green smoke quickly swirls around Water Dew, revealing him to actually be Nuptial, “No, I just have my ways. If it weren’t for the journal he keeps, I wouldn’t have been able to copy him as well. The real trouble was figuring out how to talk to Star Dream. It seems the two have a very complicated past.”

“Speaking of which.” Tarsus says as he walks over to a closet and opens the door, causing a tied up Water Dew to fall down, struggling and trying to scream with a muffled mouth, “What are we gonna do about this guy? He’s bound to tell somepony.”

“Not if we intimidate him, Tarsus. As mother taught me, with the right amount of intimidation, you can get anypony to do anything!” Nuptial says as she approaches Water Dew with a devious grin.

Star Dream finally arrives at Fluttershy’s house after walking the whole way, staying true to her oath not to use her wings. Star Dream looks at the door for a moment before raising up her hoof and knocking on the door. The door cracks open as Fluttershy peaks her eye through. Seeing that it’s just Star Dream, Fluttershy opens the door completely, “Oh, hey Star Dream. What is it?”

Star Dream smiles, “Well…I talked to Water Dew, and he approved my request to change the weather for the day the Fruit Bats arrive.”

Fluttershy’s face lights up with delight as she gasps, “Really? They approved?”

Star Dream nods, “Mhm, just for you.”

“Oh wow! That’s terrific! Now the Fruit Bats will be able to nest without any struggle.” Fluttershy says.

“Y’know…I’ve never actually seen the Migration of Fruit Bats. I’d love to watch it with you.” Star Dream says, scratching the back of her head.

“Oh, that would be wonderful. But…don’t you have work?” Fluttershy says.

“I can get Rainbow Dash to fill for me.” Star Dream says before putting on a jaded expression, “As much as I don’t trust her.”

Fluttershy smiles, “Alright. I’ll be on Haflinger Hill. That’s where we’ll be able to get the best view of the Fruit Bats.”

“I’ll be there.” Star Dream says with a smile.

Nuptial and Tarsus watch from behind a tree. Nuptial licks her lips, “Did you feel that, Tarsus? That surge in attraction from Fluttershy!”

“Who?” Tarsus asks, tilting his head.

“The yellow one. Sorry, I memorized their names.” Nuptial says.

“Oh! Yeah, I felt it. That was quite a lot, you were right!” Tarsus says.

Nuptial smiles, “That makes 2 pairs of ponies with an incredible potential for love. I wonder if there’s anymore in this town.”

Tarsus looks down with excitement, “There’s bound to be much more! If we can find them all by the time that love day comes around, we’ll have absolutely no problem taking over Equestria.”

“Let’s keep an eye on these two for a while. I’m interested in their story.” Nuptial says.

The day of the Migration to Ponyville had quickly arrived for Star Dream. Just as she requested and ordered, the skies were clear and sunny. It’s a beautiful Spring day. Star Dream quickly made her way to Haflinger Hill, where Fluttershy said she’d be. Just as she trotted up the hill, Fluttershy came into view, causing a big rush of happiness to wash through Star Dream’s face. Fluttershy sits atop the hill, humming to pass the time as the Fruit Bats are soon to arrive. Star Dream stops and stands behind Fluttershy and crosses her front legs, almost entranced by the sweet serenade coming from Fluttershy.

Star Dream, after a moment of listening, decided to walk forward and join Fluttershy. As she lifts her hoof, the grass shuffles, startling Fluttershy to the noise. Fluttershy gives a scared shriek as she turns to Star Dream, “S-Star Dream! Oh gosh, you scared me.”

Star Dream gives a nervous smile, “Sorry, I was listening to your humming. You have a beautiful voice.”

Fluttershy blushes profusely, “Y-You were listening?!”

Star Dream lays near Fluttershy as most ponies do to get into a comfortable position, “Yeah, I couldn’t help it. You sounded really nice.”

Fluttershy leans her head in a way that causes her mane to fall in front of her face, covering it, “Oh…um…thank you.”

Star Dream looks up at the sky. Below the direction where she looks is a forested area with dense trees, "So when are the Fruit Bats to arrive?"

Fluttershy looks up, “They should come any moment now.”

Moments after Fluttershy says this, flocks of fruit bats begin appearing, into view from behind the trees that block the horizon. Star Dream smiles, “There they are!”

Fluttershy looks up in awe as the small strawberry reminiscent creatures flap through the sky, aiming for the various trees in Ponyville, “They’re beautiful, aren’t they?”

Star Dream mumbles under her breath, “Not as beautiful as you.”

Fluttershy turns to Star Dream, “What was that?”

Star Dream’s ears perk up, “Oh, uh…nothing. They are quite pretty. I’ve never seen so many.”

Fluttershy smiles and looks back at the flapping flocks of fruit bats, “I’m glad you’re here to watch them with me. All my other friends said they were too busy to join.”

“Well, I did have to request a substitute for the day to be here. But I’m glad I did.” Star Dream says.

Fluttershy goes quiet as she watches the hundreds of fruit bats as they proceed to settle in Ponyville. Star Dream wants to watch the settling of the creatures, but fails to take her eyes off Fluttershy. She’s only sitting a few inches away from her. Star Dream ponders her next move for a moment before she concedes to her feelings and scoots closer to Fluttershy. Fluttershy doesn’t notice, with her attention turned to the fruit bats. Star Dream carefully scoots to the point of nearly touching Fluttershy. Star Dream sweats nervously as she slowly lifts the wing that’s adjacent to Fluttershy. Star Dream tilts her head down and closes her eyes and slowly descends to her wing in order to wrap around Fluttershy. The wing barely touches onto Fluttershy’s back, causing Fluttershy to immediately shriek and jump to her hooves, “EEEK!!!”

Star Dream’s eyes quickly open as she looks towards Fluttershy, who’s looking at Star Dream with a worried expression. Fluttershy holds her tail close to herself as she settles down.

“Um…sorry! I just…felt something on my back. It scared me a bit.” Fluttershy says, calming down and letting go of her tail.

Star Dream breathes a small sigh of relief that Fluttershy didn’t realize the disturbance was caused by her trying to make a move on the jumpy mare. “It’s alright. Gave me a fright too.”

“I-I’m sorry.” Fluttershy says as she looks up to see the last of the fruit bats finish taking refuge in the trees. She gives a passionate smile, “Looks like the migration is over.”

Star Dream looks to where Fluttershy is looking, trying to get her mind off the self embarrassment of failing to make a move on Fluttershy, “Looks like it.” Star Dream stands up.

“Why don’t we head back to my cottage for a cup of tea.” Fluttershy suggests, turning to Star Dream with a smile.

Star Dream turns to Fluttershy in confusion.

“I just thought that…since you took the day off from work, you might wanna join me. I mean…if you want to, of course.” Fluttershy says, shyly.

Star Dream smiles, “I’d love some tea.”

The two ponies slowly make their way to the direction of Fluttershy’s Cottage as Nuptial and Tarsus watch from a tree. “Failed to make a move, but progress is still being made.”

“I was able to taste some love coming off of them. Quite delicious.” Tarsus says.

“Quite delicious indeed. But I’m worried that this may not develop on its own. I have a feeling we’ll need to get involved.” Nuptial says.

“What makes you say that?” Tarsus asks.

“The two have incredible potential. But they rarely get any opportunities to have their love grow. So whatever little they do interact. We must help as much as we can to ensure it grows a considerable amount.” Nuptial says.

Tarsus nods, “Yeah, you’re right.”

Even More Berry Pie!

Blossom Night enters her house with a full saddlebag, “I’m home!”

Pinkie Pie quickly trots out of the kitchen and up to Blossom Night, “Goodie!” Pinkie Pie quickly leans into kiss Blossom Night on the lips.

Pinkie ends the kiss and Blossom Night smiles passionately before looking back at the Saddlebags, “I got what we needed from Mrs Cake. She was kind enough to lend us quite a lot of flour.”

“Great! Now we can finally bake the pies for Gummy’s birthday party!” Pinkie says.

“I’ll set up in the kitchen.” Blossom Night says as she walks into the kitchen and begins unloading the supplies. Suddenly, a large bang is heard, followed by a wack sound. Blossom Night turns quickly to the main room and quickly gallops to it, “Pinkie Pie, is everything-” Blossom Night goes wide-eyed in horror.

Pinkie Pie lies dead on the floor in a pool of blood. Above her stand 3 stallions; a lanky one, a large one, and a normal one. “N-No! Pinkie! PINKIE!!!” The three stallions’ eyes glow a blood red color as they slowly walk towards Blossom Night. “N-No, please. Stay away!” Blossom begs in fear.

“THAT’S QUITE ENOUGH!!!” A voice shouts. The 3 stallions and Pinkie’s dead body all fade into a blue mist. The house soon follows, fading into a black void. Blossom Night now stands in the middle of her berry farm.

Blossom Night looks up to the moon as Princess Luna descends from it. Blossom’s eyes go wide, “Nightmare Moo- No, Princess Luna!”

“Yes, it is I.” Princess Luna says as she lands in front of Blossom Night.

Blossom Night goes wide-eyed and looks around frantically, “Wh-What happened? Where’s Pinkie Pie?”

“Fret Not, Blossom Night. For this is merely a dream. No harm has come to Pinkie Pie, nor can any harm come to you.” Princess Luna says.

“A dream? How are you in my dream?” Blossom asks.

“Before my banishment to the moon, I would visit the dreams of ponies who were in distress. With the goal of helping them solve what it was that caused their distress. I have come because I felt incredible conflict within you. What troubles you, my little pony?” Princess Luna says.

Blossom looks down in shame, “It’s…nothing.”

“IS IT nothing? Or do you simply not want to face the problem?” Princess Luna asks.

Blossom sits down, continuing to look down in sorrow, “I just…I started feeling things for Pinkie Pie. I realized that I…have a crush on her. But I don’t want to get close to her.”

“And why is that?” Princess Luna asks.

“I don’t want to start loving somepony, only for them to be hurt or…killed. Like my family.” Blossom Night says with tears welling in her eyes.

“I see. You fear losing that which you love?” Princess Luna asks.

Blossom Night nods shamefully.

“Do you not believe that these feelings are irrational?” Princess Luna asks.

Blossom Night scowls and stands up, looking Princess Luna dead in the eyes, “Irrational? I watched my family get killed! How is it irrational to fear it happening again.”

Princess Luna closes her eyes, “Blossom Night…” Princess Luna opens her eyes again to look upon Blossom Night, “...we cannot change the fate of other ponies. If somepony dies, then they die. It is part of life. With love comes loss, it is the price we pay. However, without love in our hearts, life will only end in misery.”

“So what? I should just take the chance? Start loving some pony and hope to Celestia that I don’t lose them?” Blossom Night says, irritated.

Princess Luna nods, “It is all you can do. You cannot change it any more than you can change what direction the wind blows.”

Blossom Night looks at the ground, contemplating the words of the Princess.

“Listen to me, Blossom Night.” Princess Luna says, using her hoof to push Blossom’s head up to meet her eyes, “The choice is yours. However, take it from me. A life without love…is no life worth living.”

Blossom’s eyes go wide from hearing this as Princess Luna puts her hoof back down and turns around to walk away. This leaves Blossom to wake up in her bed. She raises a hoof and feels her cheek. She quickly wipes the hoof across her face and looks at it, seeing that she was crying. The crow of a rooster prompts Blossom to quickly dart her head to the window. Blossom se’s the faintness of morning light as it punily shines through the shut curtains. Blossom rolls onto her back and stares at the ceiling, thinking deeply about the Princess’ words.

“So that’s what the problem is. And I had nopony else to talk to about it. I would go to Aurora, but honestly…I’m not even sure she one hundred percent realizes she has feelings for Twilight. I was gonna go to Star Dream, but she’s STAR DREAM. Ruby Frost would probably give some advice that would be hard for me to follow, and asking Amber Gem for advice is useless because I know what she’s gonna recommend. So that leaves you.” Blossom Night says. She’s sitting on a couch in Hazel Bloom’s house.

Hazel Bloom picks up a cup of tea from the coffee table in front of her and takes a sip. When she’s finished, she looks to Blossom with a raised eyebrow, “So I was your last choice of pony to go to?”

“No, I meant you’re the only one who would actually give advice that I’d find favorable. We’ve known each other since we were fillies. You know me better than anypony.” Blossom says.

“Mmm.” Hazel nods, looking at the ground in thought before turning to Blossom Night, “I recommend you just ask Pinkie Pie out anyway.”

Blossom Night looks at Hazel Bloom, deadpan, “Did you not listen to a single word I said?”

“I did, and my advice would be to just go with it.” Hazel Bloom says.

“How can I? I’m afraid that if we actually begin dating, something could happen to her and I’ll have to go through the pain of losing someone I love again.” Blossom says as she picks up her cup of tea with her magic.

Hazel Bloom places her hoof on her chin in thought, “I just think Princess Luna had a point. You have to take the risk. There’s no other way around it.”

Blossom Night takes a sip of her tea before leaning back on the couch, “Guess I’m just…still a bit scared. I realize it is a bit of an irrational fear. But it doesn’t just go away. It stays with me. It always has.”

Hazel nods, “Yes, I know that better than anypony. But I think it’ll do you good to get in a relationship. Who knows, maybe all your worries will fade away.”

Blossom Night thinks for a moment, “Maybe you’re right, Hazel. I guess…I’ll just try it anyway.”

“And don’t forget, there’s the fact that she might reject you.” Hazel says.

Blossom goes wide-eyed, “Huh, I hadn’t even thought about that, either. Kinda was just assuming she would say yes. I don’t even know if she likes me back.”

“Don’t see why she wouldn’t. You’re the pony she hangs out with most of the time.” Hazel says.

Blossom Night looks at Hazel with a raised eyebrow, “Really?”

“Yeah, don’t you visit her multiple times a week to bake with her?” Hazel asks.

“Well…yeah, but I thought she spent one on one time like that with all her friends.” Blossom says.

Hazel shakes her head, “Nope, that’s a you thing. I think she does like you.”

Blossom curves a small smile, “I guess it’s possible. But it’ll be really awkward if it’s not the case. And of course, it’s Pinkie Pie, so it’ll be impossible to figure out beforehand.”

“Just a risk you’ll have to take, I guess. Can’t hurt to find out.” Hazel says.

“Guess you’re right. I’ll do it.” Blossom says, smiling. She turns to Hazel with a passionate smile, “Thank you, Hazel. You always help me feel better.”

Hazel Bloom closes her eyes and gives a cute smile, “It’s what I do.”

Blossom Night, with the advice of Princess Luna and Hazel Bloom, made her way to Sugarcube Corner. Though Blossom was nervous, she kept on as she entered the building. Mr Carrot Cake stands behind the front desk, “Heya, Blossom Night! What’ll it be? Wait, lemme guess. Flour?”

“Hm, Deja Vu. Uh…no, not this time. I’m actually here to see Pinkie Pie. Would she happen to be here right now?” Blossom asks.

“Oh, of course. Should have known. Yes, she’s here. She’s actually baking a batch of cupcakes in the kitchen. You’re welcome to go in there to see her.” Mr Cake says.

Blossom nods, “Thank you, Mr Cake.” Blossom proceeds to the kitchen to see…a complete disaster. Cream litters the walls, floors, ceilings, everything. Blossom watches in a state of shock and confusion. Pinkie Pie stands over the counter, putting cupcakes together. “Um…Pinkie?”

Pinkie quickly turns to Blossom Night with a smile, “Oh! Hey Blossom!” Pinkie quickly turns back to the cupcakes.

“What in Equestria happened here?” Blossom asks as she walks in, minding her step to avoid the many piles of goopy batter on the ground.

“I was inspired by your many different pie flavors, so I decided to try baking berries into cupcakes.” Pinkie says.

Blossom walks forward before stopping and looking down. She lifts her hoof to see that she stepped in one of the many piles of goup. Blossom cringes as she tries to wipe it on the ground, with minimal success. She looks back up to Pinkie Pie and approaches her, “And that lead to this mess? Seriously it looks like….something I’d rather not speak of. Did an explosion happen or something?”

“Nope! I just threw whatever didn’t work on the ground. It was in the way, so I had to get rid of it.” Pinkie says, continuing to put together some batter for a batch of cupcakes.

Blossom looks at the dozens and dozens of piles of goop, “Must not have a very high success rate.”

“The thing about baking with berries is that you have to get it JUST right, otherwise it just falls apart.” Pinkie says.

Blossom walks up next to Pinkie Pie, “Listen, Pinkie. I uh…wanted to ask you something.”

Pinkie looks up, turning her head to Blossom, giving her her full attention, “Mhm?”

Blossom scratches her left front leg with her right front hood in nervousness, “This may seem pretty out of the blue…but…after all the time we’ve spent together. I found myself starting to be attracted to you. And I was wondering if…you maybe feel the same way?”

Pinkie Pie stares blankly at Blossom Night before bursting into laughter.

Blossom Night goes wide-eyed as she blushes, realizing it was a mistake to tell Pinkie Pie. Blossom Night backs up, “I-I’m sorry, I-”

“Well DUH I like you back. Why do you think I hang out with you so much?” Pinkie says, trying to contain her laughter.

Blossom goes wide-eyed, “Y-You like me too?”

Pinkie is unable to respond as she collapses to the ground in laughter, holding her stomach. Pinkie finally settles her laugh as she sits up on the ground, “Sorry for laughing, but I thought you already knew.”

Blossom is speechless, her mouth is agape from this exchange.

“These meetings we set up where we bake pies. They’re supposed to be dates.” Pinkie chuckles.

“They’re supposed to be….DATES?!?!” Blossom says in surprise.

Pinkie laughs again before rolling her eyes, “I can’t believe you JUST figured this out.”

Blossom looks down, “Well…since you like me back. Do you…want to be my Very Special Somepony?”

“Um…OF COURSE I would.” Pinkie says.

Blossom curves a small smile as she looks down.

Pinkie rushes up to Blossom and throws her front leg over Blossom’s neck, “Are you okay? You seem shaky?”

“I’m just uh…overflowing with excitement that I don’t know how to express.” Blossom says.

“Then how about we get to baking? I know we didn’t have a plan to bake today! Buuuuut, this is a special occasion!” Pinkie says.

Blossom smiles, “I’d like that.”

Pinkie gives a big toothed smile as she quickly rushes back to her place, “Come on then, let’s get started. You’re the expert on berries. So we can make better progress.”

Blossom stands next to Pinkie as she fixes up the batter. Pinkie is focused on the batter, but Blossom is unable to take her eyes off of Pinkie Pie. Blossom closes her eyes and quickly leans in, giving Pinkie a kiss on the cheek. Pinkie looks up at Blossom with a neutral expression. Blossom smiles awkwardly, prompting Pinkie to smile back.

Nuptial carefully crawls over the side of Sugarcube corner as she watches Pinkie Pie and Blossom Night through the window. The changeling smiles sinisterly, “That makes three.”

Daughter of Nightmare Moon Part 1

Ruby Frost carefully packs her saddlebags as she hums and sings, “We’re apples to the~” A knock is heard at the door, “...door?” Ruby Frost quickly walks to the door and opens it.

Her mother stands at the entrance, “Ruby Frost.”

“Oh, howdy ma. What is it?” Ruby says as she gets back to packing her saddlebag.

“Sooooooo…I got a letter in the mail for you.” Wild Crisp says, pulling out a paper.

Ruby Frost stops what she’s doing and turns to her mother, “Who’s it from?”

“It’s from that Octavia Melody pony.” Wild Crisp says.

Ruby Frost goes wide-eyed, “Oh…uh, just set it on my desk.”

Wild Crisp smirks as she walks to Ruby Frost’s desk, “I started wondering why you send and receive so many letters to this pony. So I took the liberty to read some of it.”

Ruby Frost goes wide-eyed and turns to her mother, “YOU READ IT?!?!”

Wild Crisp chuckles as she sets letters down, “You two are quite the lovebirds, aren’t you?”

Ruby scowls as she approaches her mother, keeping her distance as not to accidentally bump into her, “Ma, that letter was private! Don’t go reading my stuff without my permission!”

“I’m sorry. I was just curious as to why my daughter was always sending letters to this pony. Now I know why. Are you two official yet?” Wild Crisp says.

Ruby Frost turns around and finishes packing her things, “No, we’re just friends for now.”

“For now?” Wild Crisp says, intrigued.

“Don’t push it, Ma.” Ruby says as she puts on her saddlebag.

“Off on your camping trip?” Wild Crisp asks.

“It’s not a camping trip, Ma.” Ruby Frost says as she walks out of her room. Wild Crisp follows her as they continue their conversation, “Amber Gem needs to go to Foal Mountain in order to mine some sort of rare gem she needs for a client. She asked me and the girls for help with it, since going alone would be ill advised.”

“Foal Mountain? Be careful! A pony like you on a mountain doesn’t sound very safe.” Wild Crisp says as the two walk out of the shop. Wild Crisp stops, as she must stay in order to run the shop for the day.

Ruby stops and looks in her mother’s direction, “I’ll be fine, ma. You should know by now that I can take care of myself. Even with my disability.”

“I know. It’s just…a mother worries, y’know?” Wild Crisp says.

Ruby Frost nods, “I know. I’ll see you real soon, alright?” Ruby Frost walks towards the eastern side of Ponyville.

“Be safe now!” Wild Crisp yells.

“I will!” Ruby Frost yells back as she continues her trek eastward.

Ruby Frost arrives at the edge of Ponyville; where Aurora Shimmer, Amber Gem, Blossom Night, Star Dream, and Hazel Bloom all wait. “Are we all set, then?” Aurora asks.

“This is everypony.” Star Dream says.

“Then let’s head out. I do need these jewels sooner than later.” Amber says.

The 6 ponies head eastward, towards Foal Mountain as Nuptial watches. Nuptial sighs, “Welp, looks like no progress on love today.”

“Then we should go look around the town for more ponies brimming with love!” Tarsus says.

“You’re right, let’s look around.” Nuptial says as she flies above Ponyville. As she does, she sees an unfamiliar pony walking through the town, “Hey Tarsus, take a look at that pony.”

Tarsus looks down, viewing the pony, “Huh, we’ve never seen that pony before, have we?”

“No, we haven’t. Let’s keep an eye on her. Maybe she’ll be a good target.” Nuptial says as the two fly down onto the roof of one of the many houses to watch the pony.

The pony is a Unicorn Mare, her coat is dark gray, her mane is milano red swept waves with crimson streaks, her eyes are atoll, and her cutie mark is a Blood Red Moon; swirling around the moon is 7 black stars, 2 of which are more distant than the others. The mare smirks as she steps onto an ascended box in front of Ponyville Town Hall. She takes a deep breath before beginning to speak, “Citizens of Ponyville! Rejoice! For fate has Ordained, that your rule under that of Princess Celestia is no more!”

Nuptial raises an eyebrow, “Huh? What is she on about?”

“What’s going on?” Tarsus asks, turning to his sister.

“I don’t know. Let’s go get a better view.” Nuptial says as she changes into a unicorn pony. The pony has a white coat with a brown mane styled in two pigtail braids.

“Alright.” Tarsus nods as she changes into a pegasus pony. He has a dark blue coat with brown spiked mane that points upwards. The two changelings quickly jump down to the ground and hide within the large group of ponies crowding in front of the new pony.

“What did she say?” A pony asks.

“She said our rule under Princess Celestia is over?” Another pony says.

The Unicorn Mare puts on a wide toothed grin, “Yes, it’s true. Your ears do not deceive you. From this moment forth…I am your Princess now. My name is Lunar Eclipse! And you will all bow to me!”

All the ponies of the crowd gasp. Bon Bon, however, rolls her eyes, “As if.”

Lunar Eclipse puts on an excited expression, “A resistant pony? Perfect! Just what I need to make an example!” Lunar’s horn glows a green and purple bubbling aura. Her eyes shift to complete green as a purple smoke emanates from them. Lunar quickly whips her head forward, blasting a beam of magic at Bon Bon. The ponies of the crowd gasp in horror as Bon Bon falls over. The color of her body dims from the hooves up and her eyes go green. The process stops and Bon Bon carefully stands up with a deadpan expression, her eyes still glowing green.

Lyra Heartstrings, who was standing next to Bon Bon, looks on in horror, “B-Bon Bon! Are you okay?”

Lunar Eclipse blasts another beam of magic; this time it strikes Lyra Heartstrings, and the process repeats with her. She stands tall, an almost zombified presence. Ponies back away from Bon Bon and Lyra in horror. Lunar Eclipse’s eyes and horn go back to normal as she smiles at the two, “That’s right, my little ponies. I possess Dark Magic! On a whim, I can transform you all into my slaves!”

“D-Dark Magic?!” Nuptial says, wide-eyed.

“This is bad, Nuptial. We should get out of here.” Tarsus says in worry.

“No, we can’t. We’ll stay a little longer.” Nuptial says.

“Enough of this!” Rainbow Dash yells out as she flies up to Lunar Eclipse, “Let them go!”

“Could it be? Rainbow Dash?” Lunar Eclipse says, excitedly.

“Yeah? What about it?” Rainbow Dash says with a scowl.

“I’ve heard a lot about you. Some say you’re the fastest flier south of Cloudsdale. Maybe even in all of Equestria.” Lunar Eclipse says with a cheeky smile.

“Grrrrr.” Rainbow Dash grunts as she flies up to Lunar’s face, “Stop playing games! Let those ponies go! Or else!”

“Or else what? You’ll outspeed me to death?” Lunar Eclipse asks with a smirk.

“Or else I’ll clobber you!” Rainbow Dash says, putting up her hooves.

“Eh, seen tougher.” Lunar Eclipse rolls her eyes before firing another beam of Dark Magic at Rainbow Dash.

The beam strikes Rainbow Dash, causing her to collapse to the ground, “WOAH!” Rainbow Dash’s body proceeds to writhe on the ground, “Wh-What’s happening?!”

Lunar Eclipse walks up to Rainbow Dash’s body, standing above her, “Making your body unusable!”

Rainbow Dash’s wings start contorting until they’re unrecognizable clumps of tangled feathers, “M-MY WINGS!!! WHAT HAPPENED TO MY WINGS?!?!”

Lunar Eclipse puts on an evil laugh, “Hahaha! Say goodbye to flying, Rainbow Dash. Now…tell me…where are those friends of yours?”

“What? Why do you wanna know?” Rainbow Dash says with a scowl.

“I have a bone to pick with you all!” Lunar Eclipse says.

“Well tough luck! ‘Cause I ain’t tellin’ you nothin’!” Rainbow Dash yells before sticking her tongue out.

Lunar Eclipse looks up and smiles, “Looks like you don’t have to! Twilight Sparkle!”

The crowd parts as Twilight Sparkle stands before Lunar Eclipse, quite the distance away. Twilight scowls, “Leave her alone!”

Lunar Eclipse raises an eyebrow as she steps forward, overstepping Rainbow Dash. Rainbow Dash’s contortions end as she carefully stands up with shaking legs, “Why I oughta-” Rainbow Dash collapses to the ground in exhaustion, “Oh jeez. That was tiring.”

“Twilight Sparkle! You are the pony who defeated Nightmare Moon, correct?” Lunar Eclipse asks, slowly approaching Twilight.

“Who are you? What’s your goal here?” Twilight asks, charging her horn with magic.

“My name is Lunar Eclipse! I…am the Daughter of Nightmare Moon!” Lunar Eclipse says proudly.

Twilight goes wide-eyed and everypony gasps.

“The daughter of Nightmare Moon?” Nuptial says.

“You’re the…daughter of Princess Luna?” Twilight asks with her eyes widened. The magic from her horn fades.

“Princess Luna?” Lunar Eclipse says in confusion.

“Nightmare Moon no longer exists. The evil in her heart was eradicated by the Elements of Harmony. She’s Princess Luna now.” Twilight says.

Lunar Eclipse backs up in shock, “M-Mother…what did they do to you?”

“I will ask you only once. Leave Ponyville alone! Or I will be forced to contact Princess Celestia!” Twilight says, charging magic into her horn once again.

Lunar Eclipse scowls in anger, “You vanquished my mother using the Elements of Harmony? How…DARE YOU!!!” Lunar blasts a beam of Dark Magic at Twilight.

Just before Twilight is hit, Rainbow Dash jumps in the way of the beam, taking the hit. She falls to the ground in pain. “Get out of here, Twilight! Send a Letter to Princess Celestia!”

Twilight quickly uses magic to teleport away. Lunar Eclipse scowls, “NOT SO FAST!” Lunar dives her horn into the ground, channeling Dark Magic into it. A large purple force field forms around the entirety of Ponyville, “Nopony leaves here! And nopony enters!” Lunar turns to the other ponies and quickly blasts a large beam of Dark Magic at them, turning them into her henchponies. Ponies who weren’t hit begin screaming and running. Lunar Eclipse fires beam after beam at the running ponies, turning them into her servants. She turns to the larger group of possessed ponies, “Find her! Find that Twilight Sparkle! And the rest of her friends! Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, and that pink one! Find them all! I want them brought to me!”

The possessed ponies quickly gallop in different directions, following the orders of Lunar Eclipse.

“Grrrrr! TWILIGHT SPARKLE!!!!” Lunar Eclipse yells into the sky.

Nuptial and Tarsus hide behind a building, still in their pony forms, watching this go down. “Now we have to get out of here, Nuptial.”

“No, we have to get rid of this pony.” Nuptial says to Tarsus.

“Get rid of her? Why? This isn’t our business!” Tarsus says.

“Yes, it is our business. Think about it. This could interfere with our plans to take over. And besides, we can’t leave here with that force field up anyway.” Nuptial says.

“Well what do you suggest we do?” Tarsus asks.

“Stay out of sight. I’ll go talk to Twilight Sparkle. She’s smart as a whip and magically talented. She’s our only hope here.” Nuptial says.

Tarsus nods, “Alright.”

Meanwhile, Twilight teleports into the Golden Oak Library. She is quick to rush around, turning off the light and closing the curtains. Spike walks into the main room with a confused expression, “Twilight? What’s going on?”

Twilight quickly turns to Spike, “Spike! Quick! Take a note! To the Princess!”

“On it!” Spike says as he runs to the table where they keep quills and paper. He readies the quill as he awaits Twilight’s words.

“Dear Princess Celestia, Ponyville is in danger. A pony has come, claiming to be the daughter of Princess Luna. She appears to want revenge on me and my friends for destroying Nightmare Moon. She has the ability to use Dark Magic that may be as powerful as even an Alicorn’s magic. We need your help immediately. Now hurry! Send it!” Twilight says, quickly.

Spike is writing, mumbling to himself what he writes, “Now…hurry….send…it. What else?”

“No, Spike! Send it now!” Twilight says.

“Oh! Right!” Spike says, quickly tolling the paper into a scroll. He takes a deep breath and blows onto it, turning it into a magic smoke.

Twilight quickly opens a window to let the letter out. As she does, she sees the large force field, “Oh no!” The letter simply smashes into the force field, turning back into a roll of paper and falling to the ground, “We can’t get a letter to Princess Celestia with that force field around Ponyville. Wh-What do we do?”

“We need to take down the force field.” A pony in the darkness says.

Twilight quickly turns to the darkness, where the voice came from, “Who’s there?”

The pony walks into the light, revealing that it’s Nuptial, “It’s just me.”

“Who are you?” Twilight asks, lowering her guard.

“I’m….uh…” Nuptial thinks, darting her eyes away, “Speed…..Wagon. I’m Speed Wagon.”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you in town before. Are you new here?” Twilight says, lifting a hoof.

Nuptial walks closer to Twilight, “I’m visiting here from far away. But that’s not important right now.” Nuptial walks to the window, looking outside it, “We need to get that force field down and get a message to Princess Celestia.”

“Yes, but how do we do that?” Twilight asks.

“It’s obvious. She can’t hold a force field like that forever. She must have channeled the magic into something. When she created the force field, I saw her dig her horn into the ground. Perhaps she channeled it into the ground. I’m guessing there’s a geode she channeled it into.” Nuptial says, walking back to Twilight.

Twilight rubs her chin with her hoof, in thought. She smiles wide, “Speed Wagon, that’s it! If we can find whatever she channeled magic into and destroy it, the force field will disappear and I’ll be able to send a letter to Princess Celestia! Wow, you know a lot about magic. Did you go to Celestia’s Magic School?”

Nuptial shakes her head, “No, my mother taught me.”

“Your mother? She must be an expert. Who is she?” Twilight says.

Nuptial looks away, “Nopony.”

“Well, anyway. We need a plan.” Twilight says.

Nuptial places her hoof on her chin, “I can distract her. Luring her away. That way, you can find the geode and shatter it.”

“That sounds like a plan!” Twilight says.

“What can I do?” Spike asks.

“Hold the fort, Spike.” Twilight says with a determined face.

Spike salutes, “You can count on me!”

Twilight turns to Nuptial, “Alright, let’s do this!”

Lunar Eclipse sits in a makeshift throne, scowling as she looks forward. She smiles as she sees one of her henchponies dragging a tied up Applejack, “Grrrrr, get your vermin hooves off me!”

“Applejack! Lovely of you to join us. That makes 5.” Lunar Eclipse says as she turns to a large cage containing Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash.

“Let us out of here!” Rainbow Dash yells, bucking the bars.

“Quiet down, Rainbow Dash. Or your tongue will get the same treatment as your wings!” Lunar Eclipse says.

Rainbow dash goes wide-eyed as she looks at her mangled wings. She turns back to Lunar Eclipse with worried eyes and gulps.

“Much better.” Lunar Eclipse says as her henchpony places Applejack in front of her. Lunar Eclipse channels magic into her horn and teleports Applejack into the cage, leaving the ropes she was tied up in.

“They got you too, huh?” Fluttershy says.

Applejack stands up, “Not without a fight!”

“I went peacefully.” Rarity says before she starts tearing up, “But…my dresses. Why did they have to ruin my dresses?”

“Yeah! They ate the cupcakes I was making for everypony. And I mean yeah, they were technically for the whole town, so it was for them. But they ate them before I served them! So uncultured!” Pinkie Pie says.

“It’s alright, girls. Twilight will get us out of this!” Rainbow Dash says, walking in front of the 5 ponies.

“I hope you’re right. Would it kill that pony to make the cage larger?” Rarity says, rolling her eyes.

Nuptial walks towards Lunar Eclipse with a neutral expression. Lunar Eclipse stands up from her throne. “Who goes there?”

“I’m Speed Wagon! I found where Twilight is!” Nuptial says with a worried expression.

Lunar Eclipse raises an eyebrow and smiles, “Oh? Is that so? Where?”

“Follow me! I’ll show you!” Nuptial says as she turns around to guide Lunar.

Lunar Eclipse quickly steps down from her throne to follow Nuptial.

Twilight Sparkle sneaks from behind a house and sneaks up to the cage that her friends are in, “Hey girls.” She whispers.

“TWILIGHT!” The 5 ponies cheer.

Twilight hastily puts her hoof in front of her mouth, “SHHHHH!!!! Keep it down. I have a plan to get rid of the force field on the town.”

“How?” Applejack asks.

Twilight turns to Rarity, “Rarity, I need you to use your magic to look for any gems or geodes in the area.”

Rarity nods, “Of course, darling.” Her horn lights up as she does what Twilight says.

Twilight looks around hastily before she sees something. A large gem in the ground. She quickly gallops to it and begins digging with her hoof. She finally reaches it and smiles, “Yes! This is it!”

The gem pulsates with green and purple magic. Twilight’s horn glows as she attempts to shatter the gem. But suddenly, a beam of magic strikes Twilight, knocking her away and onto the ground. She carefully gets up and goes wide-eyed as she sees Lunar Eclipse standing not too far from the gem, “Mwahahahaha! You’re a fool to believe such an old trick is gonna work on me.”

Twilight turns to see Nuptial tied up next to Lunar, “Sorry, Twilight. She caught on!”

“You don’t actually think I’d leave the one thing that protects this place from Princess Celestia unguarded, do you? You’re dumber than you look, Twilight.” Lunar Eclipse says as she approaches Twilight.

Twilight clenches her eyes closed as she attempts to teleport away, but is stopped by a large bubble forming around her.

“Ah Ah Ah, not this time. You’re mine now, Twilight Sparkle. Mwahahahahaha! AHAHAHAHAHA!!!”

Twilight looks on with fear as Lunar Eclipse laughs.

To Be Continued…

Daughter of Nightmare Moon Part 2

“WOOHOO! JUST LOOK AT HOW MANY GEMS WE COLLECTED!” Amber Gem shouts excitedly as she pulls her wagon, which is nearly overflowing with gemstones. The 6 ponies are making their way towards Ponyville as their job is finished, having gotten Amber Gem all the gems she needed.

“How much are you getting paid for this, anyway?” Star Dream asks.

“Well I forgot the specifics, but THOUSANDS of bits at least!” Amber Gem says.

“Hm, quite a lot. Make sure to pay your taxes for it.” Star Dream says.

Amber chuckles, “Oh don’t be silly, Star. I don’t pay my…” Amber’s eyes widen as she realizes what she’s saying.

Star Dream raises her eyebrow as she looks at Amber suspiciously.

“...taxes.” Amber finishes with a squealish voice.

Star Dream looks at Amber for a moment before speaking up, “You…know I work for the Government, right?”

Amber looks at the ground in guilt, “I’ll uh…start paying my taxes.”

Star Dream nods, “Good, I’ll forget this ever happened. But I will be checking on you.”

Amber sighs, “Should have kept my big mouth shut.”

Aurora chuckles at this exchange before she looks up and goes wide-eyed. She stops in her tracks, “G-Girls…”

Everypony stops and looks at Aurora in confusion. “What is it, Aurora?” Hazel Bloom asks.

Aurora points her hoof forward, “L-Look!”

The 6 Ponies look forward as Blossom Night, Hazel Bloom, Amber Gem, and Star Dream gasp. They see the large magical dome-like force field around Ponyville. Ruby Frost raises an eyebrow, “Wh-What is it? I can’t see, girls.”

“It’s a…huge force field.” Blossom Night says.

Aurora turns to the others, “Come on, let’s go check it out…quick!”

The 6 Ponies arrive at the edge of the North-Eastern side of Ponyville. And come up to the dome. All of them but Ruby Frost stare with their mouths agape. “Wh-Why is this here?” Blossom Night asks.

Aurora walks up to it. “Careful, Aurora!” Star Dream says.

“It’s okay.” Aurora says as she leans her head close to inspect the magic, “I could be wrong but…I believe this is…Dark Magic.”

“Dark Magic?” Amber asks.

“Why would there be a large force field of Dark Magic around Ponyville?” Ruby Frost asks.

“I don’t know. But…lemme try something.” Aurora says as she channels magic into her horn and touches the force field with a spark. A gust of wind blasts from where Aurora sparked the Dark Magic.

The 6 Ponies all brace themselves until the gust finally subsides. The ponies look even more confused. “What was that about?” Hazel asks.

“I took a class on it in Magic School. Not all Dark Magic is equal. This is Repulsion Dark Magic. Meant to keep anything from getting in…or out.” Aurora says.

“So that means…” Ruby Frost says.

“...that somepony doesn’t want people getting in or out. Why could that be?” Star Dream says.

Aurora’s focus shifts to a scroll, lying on the other side of the forcefield, “Everypony, look!” Aurora crouches down to view the school.

Star Dream steps forward, “It’s a scroll. But what’s a scroll doing there?”

Aurora ponders for a moment before her eyes go wide, “Wait a moment. We’re on the North-East side of Ponyville. And the one thing that’s north-east of Ponyville is…” Aurora turns around, seeing Canterlot, “...Canterlot.”

“What does that have to do with anything?” Blossom asks.

Aurora places a hoof on her chin, “Dark Magic…Repulsion Force Field…A scroll on the North-Eastern side of Ponyville.” Aurora thinks for a moment before her eyes go wide, “That scroll…it’s a letter to Princess Celestia from Spike!”

“Are you sure about that?” Star Dream asks.

“It must be.” Aurora says, looking closer at the scroll, “But…I’m worried. If Twilight was trying to get a letter to Princess Celestia while a large force field powered by Dark Magic is surrounding Ponyville, something could be wrong. Let me try something.” Aurora starts charging magic in her horn, “Stand back, everypony.”

The 5 Ponies step back as the magic in Aurora grows. Aurora then starts a spark on the force field adjacent to the scroll. The act of which causes a gust of wind on both sides of the force field. The force of the wind launches the scroll up and open. “It worked!” Aurora says with an excited smile. The paper slowly falls to the ground in a position where Aurora can read it. Aurora squints her eyes as she focuses on the paper, her eyes slowly go wide as she does.

“Well…what does it say?” Star Dream asks.

“Oh no…everypony in Ponyville…is in danger!” Aurora says.

Lunar Eclipse punches Twilight in the face. Twilight, who’s tied to a chair, just leans her head down. Her face and body are beaten up and bloodied. “Hmph, well…you gonna talk? Where are the Elements of Harmony?”

Twilight breathes heavily as she looks up at Lunar Eclipse, “I’ll never tell you.”

Lunar Eclipse scowls, “Even after all that, you won’t tell me. Quite the resilience.” Lunar Eclipse looks up at Twilight’s friends and smiles, “But I have ways I can make you talk.” Lunar Eclipse uses her magic to teleport Fluttershy out of the cage and tie her up to a chair. Fluttershy squeals in fear.

“Fluttershy! Leave her alone!” Twilight yells.

“Oh certainly, I will. IF you tell me where the Elements of Harmony are.” Lunar Eclipse says, walking up to Twilight.

Twilight ponders for a moment, unsure of what to do.

“Don’t tell her, Twilight.” Fluttershy says.

“But…Fluttershy!” Twilight says.

“It’s okay. I can take it.” Fluttershy says with a nervous smile.

“Tick Tock, Twilight.” Lunar Eclipse says.

Twilight stays silent and looks down in shame.

Lunar Eclipse smiles, “Very well.” She turns to Fluttershy.

Fluttershy cowers in the chair in fear.

“Your weakness is your friends, Twilight.” Lunar Eclipse says as she walks up to Fluttershy and swings her hoof at her.

“WHAT?!?! So some maniac is in there who wants harm to come to Twilight and her friends?!?!” Blossom Night yells.

Aurora nods, “That’s correct.”

“Well what the heck are we doing out here? We gotta find a way in there to help them!” Blossom Night says.

“You heard what Aurora said. Twilight wanted to inform Princess Celestia. So we have to go get her.” Amber says.

“Screw that! Who knows what she can do in that time? We gotta find a way in to help them!” Blossom yells.

“But she said-” Amber says before being cut off.

“But nothing! Twilight’s friends! That being Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, and PINKIE PIE! My girlfriend! She’s in danger! I can’t just sit here and do nothing!” Blossom says, angrily.

“Blossom, calm down.” Hazel says.

“NO! I HAVE NO INTENTION OF CALMING DOWN! FOR ALL WE KNOW, THAT PONY COULD INTEND TO KILL THEM ALL! I AM NOT JUST GONNA SIT BACK AND WAIT FOR ANOTHER PONY I LOVE TO DIE!!! I WON’T GO THROUGH THAT AGAIN!!!” Blossom yells, with tears in her eyes.

Hazel backs up, tears forming in her own eyes. Amber scowls and walks towards Blossom, “Well don’t go taking it out on her!”

Blossom backs up, “Tch! We gotta find a way in there! Every second we spend out here doing nothing is another second that that pony could hurt Pinkie Pie.”

“Think about it logically, we need to get the Princess. She should be able to get through.” Ruby Frost says.

“It’ll take too long to get to her!” Blossom says.

“I’m actually gonna have to agree with Blossom Night.” Star Dream says.

“What?” Amber says.

“Fluttershy is in there…and she’s in danger too.” Star Dream says.

“And Twilight.” Aurora says.

“So you 3 want to find a way in?” Amber asks.

Star Dream, Aurora Shimmer, and Blossom Night all nod. Amber looks to the ground in hesitation. “Listen, we should put it to a vote.” Star Dream says.

Blossom Night scrapes a line on the ground with her hoof, “Use your hoof to mark the ground. The left side if you want to go in, the right if you want to get Princess Celestia.”

“What if there’s a tie?” Ruby Frost asks.

“Then we get Princess Celestia.” Star Dream says.

“WHAT?! WHY DO THEY GET THE WIN IF THERE’S A TIE?” Blossom says, turning to Star Dream with an angered expression.

“Because…it’s the safer option.” Star Dream says.

“Tch.” Blossom grunts.

The ponies begin the vote. Aurora Shimmer walks up and scrapes the left. Hazel walks up and scrapes the right. Blossom Night walks up and scrapes the left. Star Dream walks up and scrapes the left. Ruby Frost walks up and scrapes the right. That leaves Amber as the deciding vote. Amber walks up to the small grid and lifts her hoof. Amber waits for a moment, pondering which one. She closes her eyes and places her hoof down, scraping it. Everypony goes wide-eyed, even Ruby Frost, who could hear which side was scraped. Amber turns to face them, “Let’s go in.” Amber Gem had scraped left.

“It’s settled then. We have to figure out how to get in.” Star Dream says.

Blossom Night scrapes her hoof under the force field, “No luck, the thing digs into the ground too.”

“Aurora, what do you think?” Star Dream asks.

Aurora had been staring at the force field with curious eyes the whole time, “Gemstones…GEMSTONES! Gemstones conduct magic!”

“Come again?” Ruby Frost says.

“What do you mean?” Hazel asks.

“Gemstones conduct magic! Magic can be stored in them and released. The opposite goes for Dark Magic! Gemstones absorb and store Dark Magic.” Aurora says.

“How do you know?” Amber asks.

Aurora points to the force field, “Look! It’s bulged out since we got here.”

“Okay? What does that mean?” Blossom asks.

“Look where it's been bulging to.” Aurora says as she points to the wagon filled with gems that the 6 had collected.

Star Dream gasps, “You’re right!”

“Mind if I borrow one, Amber?” Aurora asks.

Amber shrugs, “Knock yourself out.”

Aurora uses her magic to lift one of the gemstones and throws it at the force field. The gemstone flies through, absorbing the force field, leaving an open hole that very slowly fills up, “It worked! If we can use these gems…we can create a big enough opening to get in before it closes!”

Amber steps in front of the wagon, “Oh no! You are not filling these extraordinarily rare gems with…..DARK MAGIC. My business would plummet if people learned I sell gems infused in Dark Magic.”

Aurora steps forward, “It’s the only way we can get through.”

Amber ponders for a moment with an expression of worry before she sighs and reluctantly nods.

Amber Gem, Blossom Night, and Aurora Shimmer all use their magic to pick up the gems. “On Three. One…Two…Three!” The 3 Unicorns toss the gems at the large force field at once. The gems fall to the ground as the force field quickly absorbs into the gems, creating a massive hole that slowly begins repairing itself, “HURRY! EVERYPONY IN!!!”

The 6 Ponies quickly gallop into the hole, making it in before it repairs itself behind them. The 6 Ponies look on as the hold closes. “Only one way out of this now.” Aurora says.

Amber looks in sorrow at the gems, now purple, green, and black from absorbing the dark magic; “Oh my sweet gems. You were gorgeous all the way to the end. I will never forget your beauty.”

“Come on, everypony. Let’s get going.” Blossom says as she walks towards town.

“Hold on.” Star Dream says, walking behind Blossom, “We need a plan of attack.”

“Yeah, I have one…Attack.” Blossom says, continuing to walk forward.

“That pony is unreasonable.” Ruby Frost says.

Star Dream rolls her eyes, “Oh tell me about it.”

Fluttershy lays on the ground; bloodied, bruised, and crying. Lunar Eclipse is starting to get frustrated. “You ponies just don’t break. What are you made of? Tell me, already! Or she loses an eye!” Lunar Eclipse leans close to Twilight.

Twilight continues to stay silent.

Lunar Eclipse rolls her eyes and walks up to Fluttershy. Fluttershy stares in horror as Lunar Eclipse raises her hoof to stomp her. Lunar Eclipse quickly throws her hoof down to stop before…

“Wait!” Twilight yells. She turns to Lunar Eclipse, “I’ll tell you. Just don’t do that. Don’t hurt her anymore.”

Lunar Eclipse smiles, “Finally! Now…tell me.”

Twilight hesitates for a moment, “They’re in the vault at the Canterlot Castle.”

“Twilight, Twilight, Twilight. Your weakness really IS your friends. I no longer have any need for you, so…I’ll continue where I left off.” Lunar Eclipse says as she prepares to stomp Fluttershy like before.

“No! But…you-” Twilight yells.

“...never said anything.” Lunar Eclipse says, smirking at Twilight. She turns to Fluttershy and prepares to stomp before suddenly….

Star Dream flies at Lunar Eclipse with unparalleled speed, smashing her two front hooves into Lunar’s face, “LEAVE HER ALONE!!!”

Lunar Eclipse rolls away on the ground, having been knocked away by the power of Star Dream. Star Dream quickly turns to Fluttershy and holds her up, “F-Fluttershy!”

“Star Dream?” Fluttershy says, confused.

Lunar Eclipse gets up, absolutely confused, “What the-? Who are you?”

“I’m sorry I couldn’t be here for you.” Star Dream says, tears welling up in her eyes from seeing Fluttershy so hurt.

Fluttershy smiles, “Y-You broke your vow against flying!”

Star Dream smiles, “Protecting you is more important than some stupid vow.”

“HEY! I’M TALKING TO YOU! NOPONY IGNORES THE GREAT PRINCESS LUNAR ECLIPSE!!!” Lunar Eclipse yells.

Blossom Night trots next to Star Dream, “Look who’s going in without a plan now.”

“Just shut up and heal her.” Star Dream says.

“Right, Right!” Blossom says as she uses her magic to heal Fluttershy to perfect health.

Fluttershy goes wide-eyed as she looks at herself, “What…how did you?”

“Long story.” Blossom says as she gets up and trots to Twilight.

Aurora is untying Twilight from the chair, “Are you okay, Twilight?”

“I’m fine. Could be worse.” Twilight says as she quickly turns to Fluttershy, “Fluttershy though-” Twilight sees as Star Dream helps a completely healed Fluttershy get up, “What…what happened? She was just-”

Blossom begins healing Twilight, “I got healing magic, don’t worry about it.”

“HEALING MAGIC?!?!?” Twilight says, barely able to hold in her excitement.

“I know, right?” Aurora says, sharing Twilight’s enthusiasm.

“Uh, somepony mind helping us out?” Applejack asks from inside the cage.

Ruby Frost quickly trots up to the cage and bucks the bars down, “I got ya, cuz.”

“What the-? I was bucking those things and it did nothing!” Rainbow Dash says.

“Bars are easier to knock in rather than out.” Ruby Frost says.

“Pinkie Pie!” Blossom yells as she rushes up to Pinkie and hugs her.

“Blossom! Teehee!” Pinkie says in excitement.

“Ah, I’m so glad you’re okay.” Blossom says in relief.

“So am I. Can’t say the same for the cupcakes though. So many cupcakes taken far before their time.” Pinkie says.

Blossom Night chuckles, “You’re so funny Pinkie Pie.” Blossom quickly leans forward and kisses Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, get a room, you two.” Rainbow Dash says, rolling her eyes.

Lunar Eclipse looks at all the ponies, completely in shock at what’s happening, “What the-?! HEY!!! PAY ATTENTION TO ME!!!”

Everypony turns to Lunar Eclipse.

“Just who are you ponies?! Nopony was brave enough to stand up to me until now!” Lunar Eclipse yells.

Twilight goes wide-eyed as she turns around, "The Geode!"

"Geode?" Aurora Shimmer says.

"The geode that keeps the force field up." Twilight says, pointing to the Geode, which is perfectly sitting on the ground, "If we destroy that, the force field will disappear and the message I tried to send to Princess Celestia will send!”

“Then let’s hurry!” Aurora says as she and Twilight quickly dash for the Geode.

“Oh no you don’t!” Lunar Eclipse shouts as she blasts a beam of magic at the two ponies.

Star Dream quickly flies in front of the beam, taking the hit on her wing, frying her wing. Star Dream shouts in pain as she collapses to the ground.

“NO!!!” Lunar Eclipse yells as she quickly teleports to the Geode. She ends up on one side, while Aurora Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle are on one side. Lunar Eclipse growls in anger.

Aurora and Twilight don’t slow down as they continue charging for the gem. Lunar Eclipse prepares a beam of magic to fire at the ponies, but Amber Gem quickly jumps in front of her, clashing her horn with Lunar’s. Lunar goes wide-eyed in shock. “Hurry! Get the gem!” Amber yells.

“GET OFF ME!!!” Lunar Eclipse yells as she blasts Amber off her as she quickly charges for the gem. Any of the ponies could take it. Aurora and Twilight are just about to grab it, but so is Lunar Eclipse. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Blossom Night charges at Lunar Eclipse, piercing through her chest with her horn, pushing her out of the way, “AH!!! YOU SON OF A YAK!!!” Lunar Eclipse pushes Blossom off with magic.

Twilight grabs the geode, “I got it!”

Aurora quickly charges a beam of magic into the geode.

“NO!” Lunar Eclipse tries to run at the two, but can’t, as the wound on her hurts too much, “NOOOOOOOO!!!!”

Aurora finally charges enough magic into the gem, causing it to shatter.

Immediately, the force field around Ponyville fades and the letter Twilight sent restarts its course to Canterlot. Lunar Eclipse looks at Canterlot with an annoyed face, “Ah, find me in the alps.”

“We did it!” Twilight says in excitement as she turns to Aurora, “WE DID IT!”

Aurora smiles at Twilight, “We did!”

A bright flash of light shines in the sky as Princess Celestia descends to the ground from it.

Lunar Eclipse rolls her eyes, “Princess Celestia! How nice of you to join us.”

Princess Celestia goes wide-eyed as she witnesses Lunar Eclipse, “Lunar Eclipse! So it is you.”

“In the flesh.” Lunar says with a smirk, “How have you been, auntie?”

“How are you here?” Celestia asks as she approaches Lunar Eclipse.

Lunar rolls her eyes, “Alright, don’t answer my question, that’s fine. I am here to claim what is rightfully mine! As the daughter of the great Nightmare Moon…and as the heir to the Crystal Throne! Now where is my mother?”

“Nothing in Equestria belongs to you, Lunar.” Celestia says, scowling at the pony.

“You know, that’s funny. I seem to recall the same thing being said to my father!” Lunar Eclipse says as she quickly fires a beam of magic at Celestia. Celestia fires a beam back, clashing with the pony. Lunar Eclipse struggles to keep up with Celestia’s power and Celestia’s beam of magic strikes down on Lunar’s horn, pushing her to the ground, “Agh….not bad.”

“It’s over, Lunar Eclipse. You’re coming with me.” Celestia says as she approaches Lunar Eclipse.

“No, I don’t think I will. You think you can just defeat and capture me, Celestia? Think again! The time for peace and harmony within Equestria is over. For me and my father have returned!” Lunar Eclipse says.

Celestia backs up in shock, her eyes widening, “No, that’s impossible!”

Lunar Eclipse chuckles, “Be warned, Princess. The time for the King of Darkness to rise…is NOW!” Lunar Eclipse quickly fades into a puff of black smoke as her laugh echoes through the ears of the ponies surrounding her.

Celestia calms down as she looks at the ground, deep in thought. “Princess Celestia! Who was that?” Aurora asks.

“I’m sure you should have pieced it together. That’s Lunar Eclipse. The daughter of Princess Luna.” Celestia says.

Everypony gasps. “So she was telling the truth.” Twilight says, turning to Aurora.

“Many Centuries Ago. Before Princess Luna’s unfortunate banishment into the moon, she had a child. However, she should have perished centuries ago.” Celestia says, “I’m sorry that I must leave as soon as I’ve arrived. But with the appearance of Lunar Eclipse, I fear something greater may emerge.”

“Like what?” Twilight asks.

“Her father.” Celestia says, before her mood shifts to happiness, “It was nice seeing you both, Aurora Shimmer and Twilight Sparkle. We really must meet under less…dire circumstances. Farewell, my little ponies.”

The ponies smile as Princess Celestia disappears into another bright flash of light. “What do you think she meant by her father?” Aurora asks Twilight.

“I’m not sure. But I have a feeling we’ll find out eventually.” Twilight says.

Lunar Eclipse escapes into an underground cave, where she walks to a crystal ball situated on top of a stone. She rubs her hooves on it and a pair of eyes appear. They are red with a green sclera and purple smoke emanating from them, “I’m sorry, father. I could not get rid of the ponies like you asked. In fact, there was a group of 6 more ponies who helped them.”

“What of the Elements of Harmony?” A deep, terrifying voice asks from the ball.

“They are located within the Canterlot Vault. Would you like me to retrieve them?” Lunar Eclipse asks.

“No. They won’t be needed for the next plan I have.” The voice says.

“Next plan?” Lunar says.

“The Crystal Empire has finally appeared once more. The Kingdom promised to us. I will make my mark there once again.” The voice says.

“What do I do, father?” Lunar Eclipse asks.

“Keep an eye on your mother and aunt. And the 6 new ponies. Lay low for now. Your time will soon come.” The voice says.

“Of course, father. Soon, Equestria will know the names of King Sombra and his daughter, Princess Lunar Eclipse.” Lunar Eclipse says.

Meteor Shower

“Today’s the day! It’s FINALLY the day!” Star Dream says, excitedly. She is visiting the Golden Oak Library, getting things ready with Aurora. Aurora is levitating a clipboard and checking things off of it.
“It’s just a Meteor Shower, Star.” Aurora says, chuckling.
Star Dream gasps, “JUST a meteor shower? This is the Galaxy Stardust Meteor Shower! This meteor shower is said to glow brightly with the color of rainbows! It’s supposed to be the greatest meteor shower in the history of Equestria!”
“I’m really excited too.” Twilight says, walking into the room, “I’m really interested to see if the predictions about the colors are true.”
“It’ll make one heck of a sky show if it is true.” Star Dream says before she leaps in joy, “I can’t wait! I’ve been looking forward to this since I was a Filly.”
Twilight giggles with Star Dream, “Me too!”
“I’ve never really been into Astronomy.” Aurora shrugs.
Star Dream and Twilight Sparkle turn to Aurora in horror as they gasp.
Aurora curves her eyebrows, “Um….what?”
Star Dream rushes up to Aurora, “Astronomy is the study of celestial objects and space. Meteorology is the study of Meteors. They’re two completely different things, Aurora.”
“Oh, right.” Aurora says, scratching the back of her head and blushing.
“Do we have everything?” Twilight asks.
Aurora looks over the checklist one last time, “That’s everything. Telescope, Blanket, snacks, notepad.”
“Now we just need a clear spot to watch it.” Star Dream says.
“How about the Amphitheater?” Aurora suggests.
“It’ll be too crowded. I heard that ponies from all over town are gathering there to watch it.” Twilight says.
Aurora puts her hoof to her chin, unsure of where else.
Twilight thinks for a moment before an idea comes to her, “How about the Pink Tree Field?”
Star Dream gasps in excitement, “That’s perfect! It’s a nice romantic atmosphere.”
Aurora raises an eyebrow, “Romantic?”
Star Dream catches what she said and turns to Aurora nervously, “Uh…yeah. I sorta invited Fluttershy to join us.”
Aurora puts on a teasing face as she gets closer to Star Dream, “Of course you did.”
“After what she’s recently been through, I thought the event would be good for her.” Star Dream says as she walks towards the door, “Anyway, I should finish up my work for the day. I’ll be at the Pink Tree Fields when it’s time. Bye!” Star Dream exits the Library.
Aurora smiles as Star Dream leaves and looks down at the checklist.
"That's nice of Star Dream." Twilight says, walking closer to Aurora.
"Yeah." Aurora responds, looking up to Twilight.
"Everything that happened with Lunar Eclipse, it was hard on all of us. But Fluttershy…you know?" Twilight says, her mood shifting to one of sorrow.
Aurora nods, "Yeah, it'd be worse on her."
"It's good that she has somepony like Star Dream. She's gotten closer to Fluttershy than even Rainbow Dash. She really cares about Star Dream. Nopony has ever understood or cared about Fluttershy the way Star Dream does." Twilight says, smiling.
Aurora smiles, “Yeah, it’s great having a pony like that.”
Twilight turns to Aurora with a blank expression, comprehending what she said. Aurora crosses her front legs and looks down, blushing. Twilight places her hoof on her chin before her eyes go wide. She turns to Aurora in shock.
Aurora sighs with a sad expression, “Anyway, I guess I’ll be headed out too.” Aurora walks for the exit, “See you at the Pink Tree Field.” Aurora exits the Golden Oak Library abruptly.
Twilight is left in a state of silence, still stuck on what Aurora said, “Was she…referring to me?”

The sun steadily approached the horizon as the Meteor shower was coming. Star Dream arrived at Fluttershy’s door and gently knocked on the door with her hoof, “Fluttershy, it’s Star Dream. The meteor shower is about to begin.” Star Dream is met with silence as nopony responds. Star Dream knocks again, “Fluttershy? Are you there?” Star Dream puts her ear against the door. A soft sound of crying mixed with heavy breathing is heard. Star Dream goes wide-eyed as she takes her head off the door in haste, “Fluttershy!”

Star Dream bursts through the door, startling the many critters who inhabit Fluttershy’s house. The little animals scurry into the cracks and crevices within the home which act as their homes. With Star Dream in the house, the sound is much easier heard and seems to be coming from Fluttershy’s bedroom. “Fluttershy!” Star Dream shouts as she quickly flies up to her room and sees Fluttershy sitting up in her bed, panicking as tears run down her face. “Fluttershy! Are you alright?” Star Dream says in haste as she quickly rushes up to Fluttershy and quickly wraps her front legs around her, attempting to comfort the distressed pony.
Fluttershy’s eyes stare forward in a state of shock as she breathes heavily and quickly, “I-I…sh-she…”
Star Dream places her hoof on Fluttershy’s chin and pulls Fluttershy to face her, “Hey, Fluttershy, look at me. Deep breaths.” Star Dream carefully breathes in and out to show Fluttershy, “In and out, like me. In and out. Slowly.”
Fluttershy’s breathing slows as her breathing begins to settle.
Star Dream curves a small smile, “There you go, good job. Now what’s wrong? What happened?”
“I-It was Lunar Eclipse. She was back and she…she…” Fluttershy says as tears well up in her eyes.
Star Dream pushes Fluttershy’s head into her chest as Fluttershy bursts into tears, “Hey Hey, it’s okay. It was just a dream. Everything’s alright. I’m here, Fluttershy.”
“I keep having nightmares about her. She comes back and hurts me like she did when…when…” Fluttershy says, stuttering from her tears.
“It’s alright, Fluttershy. It wasn’t real. She can’t hurt you.” Star Dream says.
Fluttershy pulls her head off Star Dream’s chest and looks Star Dream in the eyes, “Wh-What if she comes back?”
Star Dream looks at Fluttershy with a determined, yet comforting expression, “If she ever comes back, I’ll protect you. I’ll always protect you.”
Fluttershy smiles as she buries her head into Star Dream’s neck, “Thank you, Star.”
Star Dream goes wide-eyed at this interaction before she smiles passionately and pets Fluttershy on the head, “Of course, Fluttershy.”
“I always wonder what I would do without you.” Fluttershy says as she cuddles up to Star Dream.
Star Dream smiles as she comforts Fluttershy.

The pair of ponies stay in the cuddling position for a moment before Fluttershy notices that it’s getting dark outside, “O-Oh gosh! The meteor shower!” Fluttershy breaks out of the cuddle.
Star Dream goes wide-eyed as she looks out the window, “Oh no, I’d completely forgotten.”
“Well…you gotta hurry if you’re gonna make it to the Fields.” Fluttershy says, turning to Star Dream.
Star Dream lifts an eyebrow, “You’re not going?”
Fluttershy looks down in guilt, “It’s not that I don’t want to. I’m just a bit in shock from my nap. I just want to relax at home tonight.”
Star Dream nods, “Then I’m staying too.”
Fluttershy looks at Star Dream in surprise, “B-But…the Meteor shower!”
“You’re more important, Fluttershy. And besides, the Meteor Shower is visible from here too.” Star Dream says with a smile.
“Oh! You’re right!” Fluttershy says, placing her hoof on her mouth.
“You wanna…watch it with me?” Star Dream asks, extending a hoof to Fluttershy.
Fluttershy smiles and gently nods, placing her hoof on Star Dream’s.

Meanwhile, Twilight and Aurora look around in confusion as they’re already at the Pink Tree Field. “Where’s Star Dream? The sun’s already set and it’s about to start.” Twilight says.
Aurora gives a gentle smile. She’s actually glad that Star Dream hasn’t shown up. That means she can spend alone time with Twilight. “Come on, Twilight. Let’s just get set up.” Aurora lays out a blanket for the two to sit on.
Twilight turns to Aurora and smiles, “Alright.” Twilight lays on the blanket. She pulls out a Paper and Quill in preparation.
Aurora takes out a pocket watch, “It should start any moment now.”
“Perfect! First Calculation! Its start up time!” Twilight says as she writes on her paper.
Aurora watches with a smile as Twilight writes with passion.
Twilight stops writing and turns to Aurora. She gives an awkward smile, “What?”
Aurora blushes and looks away, “Nothing.”
Twilight herself looks away, herself blushing.

Star Dream and Fluttershy found a nice place to lay, a small hill just in front of Fluttershy’s cottage. The pair lay right next to each other as they look at the stars above, awaiting the Meteor Shower. Not long passes as soon, a streak of light dashes across the sky. Fluttershy and Star Dream smile widely. “Is it starting?” Fluttershy asks.
Star Dream nods, “Yeah, it is.” The two ponies watch with bright eyes as more and more meteors begin flying by. Star Dream turns to Fluttershy, looking at her for a moment before darting her eyes to Fluttershy’s back. Star Dream raises her wing and slowly lowers it onto Fluttershy. As soon as the wing touches down, Fluttershy flinches sofly, having not expected it. Fluttershy turns to Star Dream, prompting Star Dream to smile, “Listen…Fluttershy. There’s something I want to ask you.”
“Yes?” Fluttershy says.
“This may seem strange to ask but…will you be my Special Somepony?” Star Dream asks.
Fluttershy gasps quietly as she’s surprised by the question, “O-Oh gosh…”
Star Dream takes immediate notice of Fluttershy's reaction as she blushes profusely and looks away, taking her wing off Fluttershy, “S-Sorry! Nevermind. F-Forget I said anything.”
“N-No! I-I mean…yes! I-I’d like to!” Fluttershy says, hastily trying to fix what she started.
Star Dream’s eyes widen as she turns back to Fluttershy, “Y-You wanna be my Special Somepony?”
Fluttershy smiles, “Of course! I’d love to!”
Star Dream smiles passionately as she leans her head close to Fluttershy. Fluttershy realizes what’s coming and closes her eyes in preparation. The two ponies share a passionate kiss as the Meteors above them flash across the sky with brilliant colors of the rainbow.
Behind a bush near the two ponies, Nuptial watches with a smile, “Oh yeah, it’s all coming together.”

The Changeling Invasion of Ponyville Part 1

Aurora’s eyes gently open as the light coming from her window casts into the room. Aurora blinks rapidly as she notices she’s laying in her bed. She smiles and quickly darts her head up to look at the calendar. On the date she’s currently on, it says: ‘Hearts and Hooves Day’. Aurora gasps in excitement as she jumps out of bed and quickly uses her magic to turn on the lights, “It’s finally the day! It’s…Hearts and Hooves Day!” Aurora cheers, looking closer at the calendar.
On a large table in Aurora’s room, sits a large house-like structure. Out from the hole that’s in place of a door, flies Dusky, rubbing his eyes as he was awoken from his sleep, “Hvad er det denne gang?”
Aurora turns to Dusky in excitement, “Today’s the day, Dusky!”
“What do you mean?” Dusky asks as he flies onto the table and lays down, still determined to get a little more rest before the day begins.
“Today is Hearts and Hooves Day!” Aurora says as she sits in front of her mirror and begins combing her hair.
“Hearts and Hooves Day? I thought you always hated this day.” Dusky says, yawning mid-sentence.
“I used to, yeah.” Aurora says, turning to Dusky, “But this time’s different. Now I have a reason to celebrate it.” Aurora turns to the mirror and looks at her reflection with determination, “Today is the day, Aurora! You’re gonna ask out Twilight Sparkle! And she’s…probably gonna reject you…but that’s okay, because it’s WORTH A TRY!”
Dusky sticks his tongue out in disgust, “Gag, leave me out of your lovey dovey stuff. It’s all you talk about anymore.” Dusky slowly flies back into his little house, placing a tiny ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign outside of it.
Aurora stares deadpan at Dusky’s house before she turns back to her reflection with her determined expression, “You got this, Aurora! Just admit your feelings to her. I think she likes you back…something might grow from it. Just be honest, Aurora. Like Applejack! And…uh…Blossom Night, I guess. Eh, I like the Applejack example better. Just…stop stalling and do it! Alright! Let’s go!” Aurora quickly gets up and finds her way out the door, opening it to see Twilight just about to knock. Aurora goes wide-eyed in surprise, “Twilight! What are you doing here?”
“I’m here to ask if you wanna be my Special Somepony for Hearts and Hooves Day.” Twilight says with a smile.
“Wh-What?!?!” Aurora says, completely in shock and surprise.

Star Dream wakes up, as usual, she’s fully awake as soon as she wakes up, as she usually is. The pegasus pony carefully gets out of the bed and looks at her surroundings. She’s in Fluttershy’s house. Star Dream smiles as she remembers that she spent the night with Fluttershy, the two of them sleeping together. Star Dream walks downstairs to the smell of cooking. As she reaches the base of the stairs, she turns to the right to see the Kitchen. Fluttershy hums an unfamiliar tune as she cooks. Star Dream smiles as she walks into the Kitchen, “Good Morning, Fluttershy.”
Fluttershy turns around to see Star Dream, “Oh! Good morning, Star Dream!”
“What are you making?” Star Dream asks.
“Just a special breakfast. You know what day it is?” Fluttershy says, putting her focus back on the cooking.
“Uh…Thursday?” Star Dream says, unsure.
“No, silly. It’s Hearts and Hooves Day!” Fluttershy says as she finishes the breakfast and takes it to the main room, where she places it on a plate, “There you go.”
“Hearts and Hooves Day, huh?” Star Dream sits on the couch, in front of the plate before she turns to Fluttershy, “You’re not gonna eat?”
“Oh, no. I’m not hungry this morning.” Fluttershy says with a smile.
Star Dream smiles, “Alright.” She turns to her plate and goes wide-eyed. Sitting on her plate…is scrambled eggs. She looks at the eggs, completely speechless.
Fluttershy tilts her head, looking at Star Dream in confusion, “Is something wrong?”
Star Dream turns to Fluttershy, “Uh…no, everything’s alright.”
Fluttershy smiles as she turns and walks to the kitchen in order to wash the pan, “Well…if you need anything. Just let me know.”
Star Dream watches with a smile as Fluttershy enters the kitchen before her smile fades as she turns back to the eggs on her plate. Star Dream continues to look at it with an unsure expression, “How strange. Fluttershy would never make eggs.” Star Dream stares for a moment before she shakes her head, “Oh well, maybe she made an exception for me or something.” Star Dream leans her head forward and begins eating the eggs.

Blossom Night walks up the stairs of Sugarcube Corner and quickly knocks on Pinkie Pie’s door. “Hey, Pinkie! You there?”
A strange noise is heard, some sort of shifting sound that sounded very warped. Pinkie’s voice is heard as she responds, “Coming!” Hoof steps are heard approaching the door as it opens to reveal Pinkie Pie. The pink pony smiles widely, “Hey, Blossom! Are you excited for today?”
Blossom tilts her head in confusion, “Excited?”
“It’s Hearts and Hooves Day, don’t you know?” Pinkie Pie says, raising an eyebrow.
“No.” Blossom shakes her head before she looks at the ground, scratching the back of her head, “I never really ever had a reason to keep track of Hearts and Hooves Day.”
“Well I was hoping we could go out and do something.” Pinkie Pie says, walking out of her room and starting to go downstairs.
“Like what?” Blossom asks, following Pinkie Pie.
“Maybe we can go to the park.” Pinkie Pie says.
“Wouldn’t the Park be really crowded today?” Blossom asks.
Pinkie and Blossom make it to the bottom of the stairs as Pinkie attempts to walk out the door, “Yeah, but what’s wrong with that?” Pinkie stops as she notices Blossom has stopped following her.
Blossom has an eyebrow raised, “I just…don’t really wanna spend a day like this…in a public place. Can’t we just stay here and bake something?”
“Bake?!” Pinkie says, nervously, before she returns to normal, “We bake all the time. We should do something special.”
Blossom looks at Pinkie with suspicion, “Yeah, but…baking is something we always love to do. Besides, we can find a way to make it special. Come on.” Blossom walks to the kitchen.
Pinkie sweats nervously as she follows Blossom Night.

Fluttershy approaches the door, “Maybe we should go to the Park for today.”
“The Park?” Star Dream asks, confused by this, “Wouldn’t the Park be really crowded today? Would you really want to go there?”
“Why not? It could be really fun.” Fluttershy says, turning to Star Dream.
“Maybe we should just stay here.” Star Dream says, approaching Fluttershy and throwing her wing over her, “Just have some time to ourselves. Maybe go feed the birds together?”
“Oh…uh…sure.” Fluttershy says, giving an unsure smile.
Star Dream smiles as she proceeds to walk out the door, “Great, then let’s go outside.”
Fluttershy sighs in annoyance.

“And that’s everything.” Blossom Night says as she sets the baking supplies.
Pinkie Pie sweats as she looks at the baking supplies nervously. She gulps as she turns to Blossom, “Um…maybe we should-”
“How about we each bake something for each other?” Blossom suggests, cutting Pinkie Pie off.
Pinkie puts on a nervous smile as she sweats more, “Well…I was just thinking we shouldn’t take up the kitchen today. Uh…Mister and Misses Cake probably need to use it for orders.”
Blossom flicks her hoof, “Oh nonsense, come on. You start. I’ll go after you.” Blossom smiles, using her magic to place a bowl in front of Pinkie.
Pinkie looks at the bowl nervously before turning back to Blossom. Who’s giving an innocent smile. She looks down at the bowl and smiles nervously, “Uh…I guess I’ll make a cake.”
“Good choice. I always love your cakes.” Blossom says with a cheeky smile.
Pinkie carefully grabs the flour and pours it in the bowl. She turns to Blossom, who’s continuing to stare at the pink pony. Pinkie turns back to the bowl. Her hoof hovers above the rest of the baking materials as she seems unsure of what to choose.

Blossom’s smile fades as her eyes dart up to the cupboards. On top of them is a back of flour. Blossom then focuses on Pinkie Pie’s tails. Blossom thinks for a moment before her horn begins glowing. She grabs onto the flower using magic and slowly slides it off the cupboard, keeping focus on Pinkie Pie’s tail. The flour finally gives into gravity as it collapses to the ground, splashing flour all over the ground. The action of which startles Pinkie. She looks to Blossom, who’s scowling at her. Pinkie gives a smile, “Wow, that scared me.”
“That settles it. What did you do to Pinkie Pie?” Blossom asks, scowling even more as she slowly approaches Pinkie.
Pinkie sweats even more as her eyes dart around the room, “U-Uh…wh-what do you mean?”
“I MEAN…what did you do to Pinkie Pie? Where is she?” Blossom says with hostility in her voice.
“I-I’m right here, silly.” Pinkie says as she points to herself.
Blossom quickly rushes at Pinkie Pie and pins her to the wall, “You may look like Pinkie Pie. But you sure as heck act nothing like her. It’s like somepony doing a bad impression of her. Now what did you do to her?”
“H-How did you figure it out?” Pinkie says with a fearful expression.
“Couldn’t be sure if it was just Pinkie acting weirdly today. So I did something to check if you were actually Pinkie. Even if Pinkie wasn’t acting normally, there’s no denying that her tail ALWAYS twitches when something is about to fall.” Blossom says.

A green magic swirls around Pinkie, revealing that it was actually Nuptial. Blossom goes wide-eyed as she gasps, “What the-? What the heck are you?”
Nuptial bursts out of Blossom’s grasp as she quickly flies for the door, “MOM-!”
Blossom quickly bites onto Nuptial’s tail and swings her into the cupboards. Blossom pins Nuptial to the ground, “You’re not going anywhere until you tell me what you are and what you did with Pinkie Pie!”
Nuptial looks terrified as her breathing heavies.

Star Dream throws some seeds on the ground. Birds flock to the pile of seeds as they begin feasting. Star Dream sits next to Fluttershy on the bench. She turns to Fluttershy and presents the seeds, “Are you gonna…?”
Fluttershy smiles and takes some of the seeds, “Um…of course.” A bird lands onto Fluttershy’s hoof to eat some of the seeds. Fluttershy gasps as she drops the seeds and wipes her hoof on herself, as if disgusted by the bird. The bird quickly flies onto Fluttershy’s head. The mare quickly waves her hooves over her head in disgust, shooing the bird away. She goes wide-eyed and turns to Star Dream.
Star Dream watches Fluttershy suspiciously, “You know, you were pretty good at acting like her until now. If it weren’t for the eggs, I probably wouldn’t have noticed at first. But now, you ruined it.” Star Dream scowls.
Fluttershy lets her hooves down as she sweats nervously, “U-Um…wh-what do you mean?”
“If it were anypony else, they’d probably become forceful right away.” Star Dream says as she stands up, “But I’m different, so I’ll ask peacefully. Where is Fluttershy?”
“Um…what are you talking about?” Fluttershy says, still nervous but giving an innocent smile.
“I know you’re not Fluttershy. Cut the act and tell me where Fluttershy is and I may be persuaded not to kick your flank.” Star Dream says, getting on guard.
“U-Um…” Fluttershy utters before she quickly attempts to fly away, “NUPTIAL-”
Star Dream quickly tackles Fluttershy, pinning her to the ground, “Game over! Now who are you and where’s Fluttershy?”
A green magic swirls around Fluttershy, shifting to reveal Tarsus. Tarsus growls as he has no way out of Star’s grasp.
“What the heck? What are you? Why are you doing this? And where’s Fluttershy?” Star Dream says.
“What makes you think I’d tell you?” Tarsus says before chuckling.
Star Dream gently gets off Tarsus and turns around.
Tarsus gets up in confusion, “Huh?”
Before Tarsus can react, Star Dream bucks Tarsus in the face, knocking out one of his fangs. The changeling falls to the ground, screaming in pain. Star Dream goes back to pinning him down, “There’s more where that came from. Now tell me or one by one, I’ll buck each one of those teeth out of your disgusting mouth.”
Green colored blood leaks out of Tarsus’ nose as he growls.
“Come on, bud. Hurry up and talk. What are you?” Star Dream says.
“I’m a changeling.” Tarsus says, reluctantly.
“Why are you doing this?” Star Dream asks.
Tarsus hesitates, “We changelings feed off love. We change into somepony you love and feed off your love for them.”
“Alright, now…where’s Fluttershy?” Star Dream asks.
“I can’t tell you.” Tarsus says.
“DO YOU NOT WANT TO KEEP YOUR TEETH?!?!” Star Dream yells.
“I honestly can’t tell you. Nothing you can do would compare to what she’ll do to me if I say.” Tarsus says, curving his eyes.
“She?” Star Dream asks.

“The Queen.” Nuptial says, continuing to be pinned to the ground.
“Nothing SHE’LL do will compare to what I’ll do to you if you don’t tell me where Pinkie is.” Blossom says, pushing harder on Nuptial.
“I can’t! But I can tell you she’s okay. Nothing bad has been done to her.” Nuptial says, still fearful.
A crash is heard as Nuptial and Blossom turn to the opening to the main room. In the doorway is Star Dream, flying while holding a tied up Tarsus. She throws him down to the ground. “Ouch, take it easy.”
“You found out too?” Blossom asks.
“Yup. Buggy here told me the same happened to Pinkie Pie. Looks like you dealt with that situation.” Star Dream says.
Nuptial looks at Tarsus, “Tarsus?”
“Hey sis.” Tarsus says with a guilty voice.
“Let’s get her tied up too. I brought more rope.” Star Dream says.

Blossom and Star quickly tie up Nuptial and lay the two changelings next to each other. “Alright, now tell us where Pinkie Pie is!” Blossom says, stomping the floor.
“And Fluttershy.” Star Dream says.
“AND Fluttershy.” Blossom says, repeating Star.
“Are you two dense? We said we can’t tell you. Queen Chrysalis will-” Tarsus says.
“Just shut up, Tarsus.” Nuptial says, cutting Tarsus off.
“Queen Chrysalis? Who’s that?” Blossom asks.
“Our Ruler. She’s responsible for creating and leading the changelings.” Nuptial says, rolling her eyes.
“Where is she now?” Star Dream asks.
Tarsus and Nuptial look at each other nervously. Blossom scowls as she stomps, “Talk or I’ll break your jaws!”
Nuptial and Tarsus flinch. Nuptial looks down and hesitantly speaks, “She should be with the rest of the changelings. At the Park.”
“Why would she be at the park?” Star Dream asks.
“Given enough time believing that the changeling is the pony you love, they can hypnotize you, getting full control over your actions. She and the rest of the changelings in Ponyville must be gathering there.” Nuptial says.
Star Dream and Blossom Night go wide-eyed and look at each other in worry. They turn back to the 2 Changelings, “Other changelings?” Blossom says.
“There’s hundreds of us. We chose today to carry out our plot to absorb love from many ponies throughout the town because…today is the day ponies celebrate and express love the most. The Queen said she would turn into Twilight Sparkle.” Nuptial says.
“Twilight Sparkle? But that would mean the Pony she’s hypnotizing would be…” Star Dream says as she turns to Blossom.
“...Aurora!” Blossom says, finishing Star Dream’s sentence.
Star Dream turns back to Nuptial, “We know you absorb a pony’s love. But why? What’s your goal?”
“We Changeling’s live off Love. It’s like food to us. It’s how we survive and grow stronger. With enough love energy. Like that of a town full of smitten ponies like this one, we could take over Equestria and get enough love energy to feed the entire hive.” Nuptial says.
Star Dream goes wide-eyed with worry, “Oh no.” She turns to Blossom, “What are we gonna do?”
“We have to stop them!” Blossom says.
“Good luck with that. I sense that we’ve taken just about every pony in Ponyville. And once they find us and get you two, we’ll be unstoppable.” Nuptial says, smirking.
Blossom growls in anger as she charges magic in her horn, ready to hurt Nuptial. Star Dream steps in front of her, “No, Blossom. Don’t.”
“What are we gonna do? We alone can’t take on an army of these things. And if they really are powered up by love magic, there’s no way the two of us are gonna help.” Blossom says as she collapses into a sitting position.
Star Dream looks down, thinking hard. Her eyes go wide as she smiles, “I know who could help us.”
“Who?” Blossom asks.
“Ruby Frost and Hazel Bloom. Think about it. Out of all our friends, they don’t have a Special Somepony.” Star Dream says.
Blossom Night perks up and stands. She smiles, “You’re right! With them, we could use their help.”
“Here’s the plan! We’ll split up! I’ll go get Ruby Frost. You get Hazel Bloom. We’ll explain everything to them and make our way to the Carousel Boutique. Since it’s next to the Park, we can watch what’s going on and make a plan.” Star Dream says.
“Sounds good.” Blossom nods before turning to the two changelings, “What are we gonna do about these two?”
Star Dream looks at them, “We’ll just have to drag them along with us. We can’t leave them alone. They’ll most likely warn the rest of the changelings.”
“Yeah, we would.” Tarsus says.
Nuptial scowls at Tarsus and nudges him hard.
“What? I’m just being honest.” Tarsus says.
Star Dream turns back to Blossom Night, “Let’s save Ponyville!”
Blossom smiles, “More like…let’s save Equestria. Uh…again.” Blossom lifts her hoof up.
Star Dream lifts her own up and the two do a hoof bump.

To Be Continued…

The Changeling Invasion of Ponyville Part 2

Star Dream gently moves the curtains to take a look in the back of the Carousel Boutique. Not too far, in the back of the Boutique is Ponyville’s Park. She gets a good view of the park and sees many ponies being lovey dovey. But one thing stands out. One pony in each pair has glowing green eyes, “Looks like these two were telling the truth.” Star Dream says as she turns back to the group. Tarsus and Nuptial are both tied up. Blossom Night stands with Hazel Bloom and Ruby Frost, who weren’t under any Changeling’s control.

“What are we gonna do?” Hazel Bloom asks.

Blossom walks up to the changelings and stands above them intimidatingly, “Personally, I think we should do what we have to to make them talk. If they don’t talk, we kill ‘em.”

Tarsus and Nuptial flinch in fear.

“Sweet Celestia, Blossom. What’s wrong with ya?” Ruby Frost says, walking up to Blossom with a scowl.

“Hey, at least we’d either get some information or dispose of this trash.” Blossom says, turning to Ruby.

Ruby shakes her head, “You’re better than that, Blossom.”

“I’m really not.” Blossom rolls her eyes.

“We’re not gonna hurt them. Any amount of pain we could inflict on them to make them talk would be too inpony to do.” Star Dream says.

Nuptial goes wide-eyed at hearing this, “Y-You won’t hurt us?”

Star Dream turns to the changelings, “You two are just victims of circumstance. It’s not fair to punish you two.”

Nuptial is taken aback by this act of empathy. She looks down in thought.

“Even if they’re a victim of circumstance or whatever, that doesn’t change the fact that they’ve done something to Pinkie Pie! Not to mention Fluttershy and Twilight.” Blossom says.

“I know. That’s why we have to do whatever it takes to save Ponyville. However, we can’t stoop to the level of hurting these things too much.” Star Dream says.

Nuptial sighs, “I can tell you where we’re keeping the ponies of Ponyville.”

Tarsus goes wide-eyed and turns to Nuptial in shock, “Nuptial?”

Ruby, Hazel, Blossom, and Star turn to Nuptial, intending to listen carefully. “Really? You mean it?” Star Dream says.

Nuptial nods, “Seeing how you ponies are treating us, even though we’re captured. It made me realize something. It’s something I’ve taken a liking to about ponies. You’re empathetic. You’re kind hearted. You care about others not because it benefits you, but because it’s the right thing to do. Over the course of watching you all, though I’ve wanted to siphon the love out of you all, I’ve also grown to cheer you on. Hoping you succeed in your attempts to be with the ponies you care about.”

Tarsus scowls at Nuptial, “What are you doing?”

“There’s a cave we dug. Just West of the Sparkling Lake, right next to it. There, we’ve stored the residents of Ponyville in order to feast on their love at a later date. You don’t have to dig too far to get to it.” Nuptial says.

“Is it guarded?” Ruby asks.

“Yes. But it should be easy to get past them. They aren’t the smartest embryos in the brood.” Nuptial says.

Star Dream silently walks up to the changelings. She bites onto the rope tying up Nuptial and pulls it loose, freeing Nuptial. Blossom goes wide-eyed, “STAR DREAM! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!”

“They helped us. The least we can do is let them go.” Star Dream says as she frees Tarsus.

Tarsus stands up awkwardly, unsure of what to do.

Star Dream turns to her friends, “We have a plan. We go to the cave and free our friends. Twilight should know what to do.”

“One other thing you should know.” Nuptial says as the ponies turn to her, “If the actual pony presents their love to the hypnotized pony, it should counteract the hypnotism. Queen Chrysalis is the most powerful of the Changelings. She should be disguising herself as Twilight Sparkle. It’s most important that you free her.”

Star Dream smiles and bows her head, “Thank you for the help.”

“Just hurry before my mom notices me and Tarsus are absent and suspects something is wrong.” Nuptial says.

Star Dream nods as she runs towards the door, “Let’s go, girls.” Hazel and Ruby are quick to follow. Blossom hesitates for a moment, looking at the Changelings with suspicion before she follows her friends.

Once the ponies are gone, Tarsus steps forward, “Why did you tell them about the cave?! They’re gonna foil our plans!”

“That’s the point.” Nuptial says.

“But…why would you sabotage your own kind like that?!” Tarsus asks.

“I’m not sabotaging the changelings. I’m sabotaging the Queen.” Nuptial says, turning to Tarsus.

“But…why?” Tarsus asks, confused.

“Time’s are changing.” Nuptial says as she walks up to Tarsus and places her hoof on his shoulder, “It’s time we change too.”

Ruby Frost sniffs the ground. Her eyes go wide as she brings her face away from the ground, “There’s definitely something rotten down there. No doubt about it.”

“Wait…so…you can identify ponies by their smell? That’s weird.” Blossom says.

Ruby turns in Blossom’s direction, “Blossom Night, when you’re blind, your other senses seem to just power up to make up for the loss of sight. I can smell and hear very good.”

“So what is it that’s rotten down there?” Hazel Bloom asks.

“I’m not sure. But it’s similar to the scent that those two changelings had. But with a more…ashy scent to it. Like a termite mound.” Ruby Frost says.

“If only we had Amber with us. She’s a remarkable digger.” Star Dream says.

“So is Hazel.” Blossom says, looking at Hazel.

Star Dream turns to Hazel in surprise, “Are you?”

Hazel gives a cheeky smile, “I dig up flowers for a living. I’ve been digging up dirt since I was a filly.” Hazel quickly gets to digging where Ruby Frost was sniffing. Star Dream watches in surprise as Hazel digs until she hits something hard, “I found something!”

It’s only a couple meters down. A dark gray substance. “What is it?” Star Dream asks.

Ruby Frost leans her head down and sniffs, “Smells like…the breath of those changelings.”

“Their breath?” Blossom says.

“Oh yeah!” Hazel says, scraping at the hard substance, “JUST like a termite mound. Or an ant hill. They made this by mixing the soil with their spit.”

Star Dream raises an eyebrow, “How did you know about that?”

“As a florist, I deal with bugs a lot.” Hazel says as she begins hitting the hard substance, “Let’s see if I can…” Hazel strikes through the hard substance, breaking through it. “There we go! I cleared a path!” Hazel Bloom jumps in, landing on more of the hard substance.

“Alright everypony, pile in.” Star Dream says.

Blossom Night, Ruby Frost, and Star Dream all make their way into the hole. The ponies, excluding Ruby, look around in shock. The cave is filled with large green sacks containing many of the ponies of Ponyville. “Oh…my…Celestia.” Blossom says.

“I think I’m gonna be sick.” Hazel says, putting her hoof to her mouth.

Star Dream looks around, recognizing many of the ponies, “Caramel, Lyra, Thunderlane, Redheart. They got so many.”

“DJ Pon-3, Davenport, Lucky Clover, Ditzy.” Blossom says, naming the ones she immediately recognizes.

“They even got Cheerilee. Dr Hooves. And…Applejack too!” Hazel says.

“They got Applejack?!” Ruby Frost says, worried.

Blossom Night goes wide-eyed and points hastily, “There! Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight!” The 3 sacks sit together.

Ruby Frost sniffs the air, “Doesn’t smell like there’s any changelings in the area. We could grab them and go.”

The 4 Ponies carefully walk towards the sacks. Hazel looks around at the many other sacks in the cave, “What about everypony else?”

“We’ll just have to come back for them.” Star Dream says as she grabs the first sack, containing Twilight, “Blossom, use your horn to cut through this.”

Blossom backs away, “Ew, you expect me to put my horn in that? I have standards, Star.”

“Just hurry up. We don’t have all day!” Star Dream says, holding the sack still.

Blossom slowly walks up to the sack and sticks her horn in it. The pony cringes in disgust, “Oh Celestia, this is so gross.”

“Blossom, if you can stab your horn into a stallion’s chest, you can stab it into this no problem, now hurry up.” Star Dream says.

Blossom rolls her eyes as she slides her horn down the sack, causing the green fluids inside to begin spilling out. Blossom gags in disgust, “That’s so gross.”

The walls of the sack finally give in and droop to the ground, causing Twilight to fall out. Star Dream is quick to catch the unconscious “Twilight, are you alright?”

Twilight coughs as she comes to consciousness. She blinks her eyes rapidly to get the fluids out of her eyes, “H-Huh? What’s going on? Where am I?”

“Long story. We’ll explain it to you. For now, we need to get Pinkie and Fluttershy out.” Star Dream says, turning to Blossom Night.

Blossom Night nods, “Way ahead of you.”

Blossom quickly stabs into the sack that Pinkie resides in, cutting her out with haste. THe pink pony falls out and just like Twilight, she becomes conscious again, being caught by Blossom Night, “Oooooooooh, I feel woozie.”

Blossom smiles widely, “Good to have you back, Pinkie.”

“Where am I?” Pinkie asks, looking around. She turns her attention to her hooves, “And why do I smell like a burnt cupcake?”

Blossom chuckles, “We’ll explain it to you.” Blossom turns to Star Dream, “Now for Fluttershy.”

Blossom Night proceeds to cut Fluttershy out of the sack, prompting Star Dream to catch her. Star Dream smiles in joy as Fluttershy wakes up, “Huh? Where am I? Star Dream?”

Star Dream hugs Fluttershy tightly. She ends the hug and helps Fluttershy stand up, “Listen up, everypony. Ponyville has been taken over by changelings.”

Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight listen closely. “What’s that?” Twilight asks.

“A changeling is a creature who takes the form of somepony you love and consumes the magic you give them. Unfortunately, they’ve taken the forms of nearly all the ponies of Ponyville. Everypony who’s in a sack in this cave now has a changeling doppelganger feasting off the love of the pony they love right now. Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight, you 3 were replaced by changelings.” Star Dream says.

“Freaky deaky!” Pinkie Pie says.

“Oh my, how did you figure it out?” Fluttershy asks.

Blossom Night steps forward, “Star Dream and I knew you and Pinkie Pie enough to know something was up. We caught on quickly.”

“Awwww, that’s cute!” Pinkie says, cupping her hooves together.

Twilight looks at the two in confusion, “I don’t understand. If they take the form of somepony you love and feed off your love for them…then why was I replaced?”

“Because of Aurora.” Star Dream says.

“Aurora? What do you mean?” Twilight asks, still confused.

“Aurora…her love for you? You should know about that, right?” Star Dream says, tilting her head to the side.

Twilight goes wide-eyed and places her hoof on her mouth, “Aurora…loves me?”

“Well…I guess you know now. Point is, her love for you must have been deemed the strongest in Ponyville. So the leader of the changelings, Queen Chrysalis, is growing strong off of her love for you. Since she’s thought that the Queen is you for so long, she may have her under hypnosis. She’ll be able to continuously leech off her love and grow strong enough to take over all of Equestria.” Star Dream says.

“Well what can we do?” Twilight asks in worry.

Star Dream walks closer to Twilight, “You have to come in contact with Aurora and show your love to her. That should break her out of the trance.”

“Show my…love to her?” Twilight says nervously, backing up.

Star Dream looks at Twilight in worry, “Don’t you…love her?”

Twilight looks at her hoof, “I-I don’t know. I always have these strange feelings when I’m with her, but I don’t know if that’s-”

“Hey! YOU! What are you doing here?” A changeling yells, appearing from nowhere.

The 7 ponies turn in shock at the changeling. “Oh shoot, I didn’t smell him coming!” Ruby Frost shouts.

“Everypony! Run for the exit!” Star Dream yells as the ponies quickly gallop towards the hole dug by Hazel Bloom.

“No you don’t!” The changeling yells as he charges for the pony.

Ruby Frost stops and runs towards the Changeling, crashing into him and pushing on him. The changeling and Ruby Frost enter a stand off as they try to push at each other.

Hazel stops and looks to Ruby Frost, “RUBY!!!”

“Just go! I’ll hold ‘em off!” Ruby yells.

Hazel hesitates for a moment before continuing.

Star Dream, Blossom Night, Hazel Bloom, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Twilight Sparkle all make it out of the cave safely, running back to the Carousel Boutique. The ponies catch their breath as they await what they’re gonna do next. “I hope Ruby Frost will be okay.” Blossom says.

“She will. She’s a resilient Pony. Now…we need to form a plan.” Star Dream says as she turns to Twilight, “Twilight, we need you to get in contact with Aurora. You need to show her your love for her.”

Twilight looks down with a frown, “I don’t know if I can do that.”

Star Dream realizes what Twilight means, “We have to at least try.”

Twilight looks down and nods.

Star Dream turns to the rest of the ponies, “Alright, everypony…I got a plan!”

Queen Chrysalis, disguised as Twilight Sparkle, steps on an elevated position as the changelings, disguised as the citizens of Ponyville, watch while standing next to the ponies they’ve hypnotized. Chrysalis smirks, “We have done it, my Changelings. With all the love we’ve absorbed, we have enough power to conquer Equestria.”

The changelings cheer.

Chrysalis turns to Aurora, who’s standing next to her. Aurora is hypnotized, much like the rest of the ponies. Chrysalis places her hoof on Aurora’s chin, “And with these ponies constantly feeding us love, we will grow ever stronger.”

“Not if I have anything to say about it.” Star Dream shouts.

The changelings part, giving way for Chrysalis to see Star Dream. Chrysalis, still disguised as Twilight, raises an eyebrow, “Who are you?”

“Oh…just some pony who caught onto your plan and saw your cave near the lake. Just wanted to let you know I’m gonna go tell Princess Celestia. So…bye.” Star Dream quickly begins flying in the direction of Canterlot.

Chrysalis is left speechless for a moment as she watches Star Dream fly away. She then comes to her senses and points at the Pegasus, “AFTER HER!!!! DON’T LET HER ESCAPE!!!”

Many of the changelings in the crowd change back into their normal forms and quickly fly at Star Dream, creating the sound of an insect swarm as they do.

Chrysalis growls as she watches Star Dream. Hazel Bloom then gently taps on Chrysalis’ shoulder, “Um…excuse me.”

Chrysalis quickly turns to Hazel Bloom, “Huh?!”

“Do you mind if I buck you in the face?” Hazel Bloom asks politely.

“What?” Chrysalis says in confusion. Before she has time to react, Hazel Bloom quickly turns her body and as she said, bucks Chrysalis in the face as hard as she can, sending the disguised changeling falling to the ground. As she regains her composure, she grasps her nose, which is now bleeding, “AGH! YOU LITTLE FOAL!”

“Actually, I’m a full grown mare.” Hazel says, smiling innocently.

A green magic swirls around Chrysalis, transforming her into her normal form. She quickly tackles Hazel, “I don’t care what you are! You’re gonna pay for that!”

Twilight takes this opportunity to quickly gallop up to Aurora. She looks in worry as she sees Aurora’s face, blank from being in a trance. Twilight gasps as she throws her front legs over Aurora’s neck, “Aurora! Wake up! Wake up!”

Aurora blinks rapidly as she snaps out of it, “H-Huh…what the-? Where am I? What’s going on?”

Twilight smiles passionately as she hugs Aurora tightly, “You’re okay!”

“Wh-What? What’s happening?” Aurora asks, confused.

Chrysalis takes her attention off Hazel as she overhears what’s happening. She gives a devious smile as she approaches the two ponies, “Well Well Well, looks like somepony escaped. However, it matters little now. We’ve grown far too strong to be stopped. Now, we can take over ALL of Equestria! Mwahahahahaha!”

Twilight and Aurora look in fear, “Wh-What’s going on? Did I miss something?” Aurora asks, still confused.

Twilight pushes Aurora’s head to face her, “Don’t worry about it, I’m just glad you’re safe.”

“Not for long. Separating her from the trance won’t immediately get rid of the power I’ve gained from consuming her love.” Chrysalis says.

“What? But Star Dream said that-” Twilight says.

“Clearly, they were misinformed.” Chrysalis says as she turns to her changelings, “Take these ponies to the cave. They still have so much love within them.”

Aurora and Twilight bunch against each other in fear as the Changelings close in on them.

The Changelings capture every single pony in Ponyville and take them to the cave they dug, wrapping them in little sacks like a spider wrapping its meal in webbing. Aurora and Twilight stand next to each other, their hooves plastered to the ground with a salivated chemical from the changelings. Chrysalis stands in front of the two ponies, “I must say, I am impressed. I’ve never encountered a single pair of ponies who’s love is quite as remarkable as yours. And yet…you two have not confessed to each other. How pathetic.” Chrysalis turns to two of her changeling children, “Wrap them up.”

The two changelings nod as they walk to the ponies and begin spraying a substance from their mouths, beginning to wrap the two ponies.

Aurora turns to Twilight and gives a small smile, “I guess it’s out in the blue now, huh?”

Twilight turns to Aurora, listening intently on what she’s saying.

“Y’know, I was hoping to confess to you today. Before…well…everything happened.” Aurora looks down, nervously, “I guess it doesn’t matter anymore now. But I’d like to know…if I asked you to be my Special Somepony. What would be your answer?”

Twilight goes wide-eyed. A spark seems to shine in her eyes as she smiles passionately at Aurora, “I would have said yes.”

Aurora’s eyes widen in surprise as she looks back at Twilight, “You…would have said yes?”

“Of course.” Twilight says as she looks down, “Over the course of the time I’ve known you. I’ve had this strange feeling for you. I never understood what it was…but I do now.” Twilight looks back up at Aurora with a smile and tears in her eyes, “I love you, Aurora Shimmer! I love you!”

Aurora smiles, tears forming in her own eyes, “I love you too, Twilight.”

The two ponies lean their heads together and touch horns. A spark zaps between the horns as they touch, just before the changelings finally seal the two ponies in the sacks.

Chrysalis chuckles as she looks upon the thousands of sealed ponies. “Nothing can stop us now.” A bright pink light then shines throughout the entire cave. Chrysalis turns to the source of the light in confusion, “What is this?”

The sacks surrounding Twilight and Aurora burst as the two ponies begin to levitate. The two ponies go wide-eyed as they look at their horns. Their horns glow with a pink magical aura. The two look at each other for a moment before they close their eyes and let it happen.

“What is…going on?!” Chrysalis says, her eyes widened.

A magic forcefield shoots in all directions, striking the changelings and sacks. The thousands of sacks containing the ponies begin to burst, one by one.

Chrysalis looks back and forth as the sacks begin popping, freeing the ponies, “What? What’s…happening?” Chrysalis goes wide-eyed as she feels her body, “My power…it’s gone! How? HOW ARE YOU TWO DOING THIS?!?!”

The two ponies open their eyes. Aurora looks at Twilight with an unsure expression. Twilight puts on a reassuring face and nods at Aurora. Aurora smiles with a determined expression and turns to Queen Chrysalis, “Isn’t it obvious? The love we share is powerful enough to overcome that which you used to contain us.”

“But…but that’s impossible.” Chrysalis says, backing up in fear, “Love is just some pointless chemical reaction in a pony’s brain. It’s not something that’s magic or anything.”

“That’s where you’re wrong, Chrysalis. Love is Magic!” Twilight says.

“And with it, you can overcome anything!” Aurora says as the magic within the two ponies charges up even more.

“No…No! NO!!!” Chrysalis yells.

An explosion of magic bursts from Twilight and Aurora, destroying the ground above them and launching the changelings in many directions.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!” Chrysalis yells as she is sent into the undiscovered west, not to be seen.

The two ponies gently descend to the ground as the magical aura fades. Aurora and Twilight look at each other and smile passionately. They turn to see all the citizens of Ponyville getting up, as they’re out of the sacks. “We did it! We…We saved Ponyville!” Twilight says.

“We did. I never knew that Love could be so…magical.” Aurora says.

“Hm, Deja vu.” Twilight says.

“What?” Aurora says, turning to Twilight in confusion.

“Nothing, just…I once said the same thing about Friendship.” Twilight says.

Aurora goes back to smiling. The two ponies look at each other and begin to blush. They lean their faces closer together as their lips are about to touch. Until….

A bright white light shines. The ponies of Ponyville, including the two smitten mares, turn to see Princess Celestia descending from the light. Twilight and Aurora quickly run to the Alicorn, “Princess Celestia!” They say in sync.

Princess Celestia puts on a guilty expression, “I apologize, My Little Ponies. I was not aware of the state that your town was in until a moment ago.” Celestia looks around and smiles, “But it seems that everything turned out okay. Mind filling me in?”

“These creatures! They were called changelings and they-” Twilight starts to say.

“CHANGELINGS?!?!” Celestia says in worry.

“We were able to defeat them with…” Aurora says as she turns to Twilight, “...our love!”

Celestia goes wide-eyed as she looks back and forth at her two students, “You two? In love?”

The two mares blush.

“Well how about that. My two prized students falling in love together.” Celestia says before she gives a small chuckle, “That’s quite the coincidence.”

Twilight and Aurora go wide-eyed. Twilight gives a suspicious look, “Yeah, quite the coincidence indeed.”

“Princess Celestia, did you…plan this?” Aurora asks.

Celestia shakes her head, “No, I can assure you that I took no part in setting you two up. That was all on you.”

“Well, that’s good.” Aurora says as she turns to Twilight with a smile. Twilight smiles back at her.

“So you said you defeated the changelings with…your love?” Celestia asks.

The two mares nod.

Celestia smiles, “Well, Aurora Shimmer. It would seem that you have indeed learned about the Magic of Love. Just as I thought you would in your time here.” Celestia turns to the citizens of Ponyville to see them celebrating, “If everything is solved here, I guess I should be on my way. Would you like to give me your report on what you’ve learned about love today, Aurora?”

Aurora nods, “Of course, Princess. Today I learned that love is much more than a feeling you have for somepony. Or a chemical reaction in the brain. Love is something magical. It’s a beautiful connection between two (or more) ponies that can overcome anything.” Aurora turns to Twilight with a smile, “It’s not always easy to tell whether or not you’re in love with somepony. But that feeling will surely reveal itself. There is no greater magic than that…of Love.”

“Well said, my little pony.” Celestia says as she begins to ascend into a bright light, disappearing.

Aurora turns to Twilight nervously, “So…now what?”

“Now, we enjoy what’s left of Hearts and Hooves Day.” Twilight says.

Aurora smiles, “Sounds good.”

The two ponies begin to proceed out of the hole in the ground. Blossom Night, Amber Gem, Star Dream, Ruby Frost, and Hazel Bloom all watch as they leave. “Ooooooooooh! I was always rooting for those two! Ever since the beginning!” Amber says.

“I think we all were.” Star Dream chuckles.

“I’m just surprised they didn’t get together sooner.” Blossom Night says.

“You and I both.” Hazel Bloom says.

“I wonder how it’s gonna develop from here.” Ruby Frost says.

Blossom turns to Ruby, “Can it really go anywhere from here? I mean they’re together. Isn’t that the end of the story?”

“Of course not, Blossom. Love can always grow. It’s much more complex than that.” Amber says.

“I guess what she said goes for all of us. I mean…we’ve only just started our relationships after all.” Star Dream says.

“Ahem.” Ruby Frost signals to Star.

Star Dream chuckles, “Eheheh, ALMOST all of us. I’m interested in how all our relationships will grow.”

“Oh, you and me both, sister.” Amber says.

Blossom walks forward, “Well, better get going if I’m gonna make the most out of the rest of Hearts and Hooves Day.”

Star Dream also walks away from the group, “Me too. See ya, everypony.”

“And I as well.” Amber says as she walks with the others.

Hazel and Ruby are left to watch as their friends with Special Someponies walk off. “Aw, we’ll have to spend Hearts and Hooves Day alone.” Hazel says, looking down.

Ruby Frost chuckles, “Come on, sugarcube. It ain’t all that bad. You and I just haven’t found the right pony yet.”

“Yes you have. That violin player.” Hazel says, turning to Ruby Frost.

“It’s a Cello, actually. And here and I ain’t together. We’re just uh…romantically involved. There’s a difference.” Ruby Frost says.

Hazel chuckles and rolls her eyes, “Whatever.”

“How’s about you come with me to Sweet Apple Acres?” Ruby Frost asks as she walks forward with Hazel, “Granny Smith’ll make us some cider.”

“Ooooh! That’d be nice.” Hazel says as the two walk out of the hole.

Celestia returns to her room in Canterlot, where she was doing paperwork, “Hmmmm, Hearts and Hooves Day. I’d completely forgotten.” She pauses for a moment and walks to her window. Outside, sits the statue of the petrified King Terrenus. Celestia’s smile fades as she makes her way outside and to the statue. She walks up to it and looks up at the face of the petrified king. Celestia gives a heavy sigh and leans forward, kissing the statue on the cheek. She backs away after doing this and gives a small smile, “Happy Hearts and Hooves Day, my love.” She watches the statue for a moment before turning around and walking away. Suddenly, and quietly, a small crack forms on the cheek of the statue.

Canterlot Art Convention

Amber Gem stares in awe as the Friendship Express approaches Canterlot, “Wow! It’s even more beautiful close up.”

“Isn’t it?” Rarity says, “And to think my dresses and your jewelry is to be presented at THE Canterlot Art Convention. It’s almost too good to be true!”

Amber nods, “Yes, it’s a childhood dream come true! But it couldn’t have happened without the way you impressed Sapphire Shores with your amazing dresses.”

“Don’t you remember? The only way I was able to impress her was with the gems that you so generously provided. You’re usually pretty stingy when it comes to giving gems for free.” Rarity says.

Amber blushes a bit, “While it is true that I’m quite stingy with my gems, when it comes to our careers being able to be boosted. I would spare the rarest of gems without a single bit in return.”

Rarity smiles before she puts on a nervous expression, “I just have one question.” Rarity points to a seat across the aisle, “Are you sure it was a good idea to bring….her?”

Amber Gem turns to the other aisle to see Ditzy Doo sitting in her seat, blowing bubbles. Ditzy giggles as the bubbles pop on the window. Amber put a hoof to her mouth as she chuckles at Ditzy’s antics, “Of course. She and I have been really close since I broke up with Lyra.”

“Oh? Does somepony have a crush?” Rarity asks, teasingly.

Amber blushes as she turns to Ditzy, who’s completely oblivious to the conversation between Amber and Rarity. “She’s not exactly…the brightest Pony. But she’s very endearing.” Amber leans closely to Rarity, “And I just think her eyes are SO ADORABLE.”

“Well Well Well, someone’s quite the Smitten-Kitten.” Rarity says.

Amber blushes more, “Stop teasing me!” Amber turns to Ditzy, “I was just hoping that I could get to know her better while we were here. And maybe even ask her to be my Special Somepony.”

“Well, in that case. I see why you brought her. I’m just afraid she might cause trouble. This IS the biggest Art Convention in ALL of Equestria. Some of the greatest Artists and Creators will be there. The most renowned Fashionistas, Painters, Jewelers, Photographers, Singers. Everypony who’s somepony will be there! We’re talking Sapphire Shores, Hoity Toity, Photo Finish, Trenderhoof, Countess Coloratura, Fleur De Lis, and Songbird Serenade! JUST to name a few!” Rarity says.

“I know, Rarity. I just figured that this would present the perfect opportunity to bond with Ditzy. What better way to bond with somepony than sharing something you’re passionate about?” Amber Gem says.

“That is true. Still, you know how clumsy Ditzy can be. Just keep an eye on her, will you?” Rarity says, winking.

Amber nods, “Of course.”

The train finally stops and the 3 Mares make their way out with their bags in tow in a wagon. Amber and Rarity stare in awe at the beauty of Canterlot. “It’s magnificent!” Rarity comments.

“This gives me an amazing idea for Canterlot themed jewelry.” Amber says, darting her eyes back and forth, unable to keep her focus on one thing for too long.

“Oooooooh! That gives me an idea for a Canterlot themed dress line! Oh, I can see it now!” Rarity says, going into a dream-like state.

Suddenly, a crash is heard and the two mares snap out of it, turning their heads around to see Ditzy has crashed into a bunch of bags being moved out of the train. “Watch where you’re going, you dimwit!” The mover yells.

“Oh!” Ditzy chuckles in embarrassment, “My bad!”

The mover lets out a horse sigh as he goes to pick up the bags. Amber puts on a concerned face and walks up to Ditzy, “Maybe stick with me from now on, hm?”

Ditzy turns to Amber, smiles, and nods rapidly.

Rarity shakes her head at Amber in disappointment, causing Amber to put on a shamed expression.

The 3 mares make their way through Canterlot, admiring the beauty of it while keeping pace to their destination. Eventually, the 3 arrive at the Canterlot Art Convention. Many Many stalls outlining the street with hundreds of ponies visiting. Rarity and Amber’s mouths go agape as they stare at the beauty of it all, “Amber, darling.” Rarity says as she begins losing her balance, “Catch me, will you? I think I’m about to faint.”

Amber holds up Rarity just before she collapses with her neck, “Easy there, sister.”

“Wow! There’s so many people!” Ditzy says in awe.

“Of course there is.” Amber says as she walks forward, continuing to aid in Rarity standing up, “This is the place where all sorts of creators get together. The biggest of the big are here. Nopony who’s interested in the Arts would pass up the opportunity to come here.”

The 3 eventually stop at two stalls. Rarity slowly snaps out of it as she looks up to the stall, “O-Oh! We’re here!”

Amber nods, “Mhm! We should set up quickly. The more time the better!”

The 2 mares quickly begin setting up their stalls. As they set up, Ditzy quickly flies up to Amber, “Here you go, Ambor!”

“Hm?” Amber turns to Ditzy. Ditzy holds up one of Amber’s necklaces. Ditzy smiles eagerly, hoping to be helpful to Amber. Amber gives a passionate smile as she gently takes the necklace, “Thank you, dear. You’re so sweet.” Amber quickly leans forward and kisses Ditzy on the cheek before turning back to place more jewelry. Ditzy is left in a state of shock as she struggles to comprehend or react to what just happened.

“Well Well Well, look who it is.” Somepony says while Amber is focused on decorating her stall.

Amber immediately stops and goes wide-eyed, “That voice! It couldn’t be!” Amber turns around to see a pony standing there with a smug smile.

The pony is a unicorn mare with a Lavender coat, Sky Blue Elevated Top knot with a loose ponytail in the back mane, and azure blue eyes. Her cutie mark is that of Moonstone gems that’s shining brightly. “I didn’t know they let Ponyville residents set up stalls here. How did you come to own a stall here in the Canterlot Art Convention?”

“Moonstone Glow! Wh-What are you doing here?” Amber says with a scowl.

“Isn’t it obvious? Anypony who’s somepony is here. And I am VERY MUCH a somepony.” Moonstone Glow says, posing in a way that shows off her elegance. The pony is covered nearly head to tail with jewelry, “My 4th Jewelry Shop just debuted in Manehattan. Co-owned by the one…the only, Sapphire Shores.”

“S-S-S-Sapphire…Sh-Sh-Shores…?” Amber Gem studders, stumped for words.

“The very one. Though, honestly, you shouldn’t be surprised. After all, I am one of the greatest jewelers in all of Equestria.” Moonstone Glow says.

Rarity walks up next to Amber. She gasps as her eyes fall on Moonstone Glow, “Pardon me if I’m wrong, but are you…”

“Moonstone Glow? Yes, I am. And I suppose you’re a fan.” Moonstone says.

“Oh very much so! You designed Songbird Serenade’s Malachite dress for her charity performance in Fillydelphia. Oh that was just gorgeous. One of your best works in my opinion.” Rarity says.

“Oh, that? That was nothing. Simply something I threw together at the last minute.” Moonstone says, gloating.

Amber slowly backs into her stall.

“Oh, but it was absolutely, positively divine. You simply must tell me your secret on how you produce such dresses.” Rarity says.

“Working with Gemstones has always run in the family.” Moonstone says before she looks past Rarity and sees Amber, “Seeing that you’ve come with Amber Gem, can I assume that you’re Rarity?”

“Oh, yes, I am.” Rarity says before she puts on a shocked expression, “Hold on! You know Amber?”

Amber lays her head on her stall and sighs.

Moonstone chuckles, “Yes, her and I go way back.” Moonstone smirks at Amber.

Amber rolls her eyes and looks away.

“Well, I should be off. I’ll stop by again when your stalls are finished. I’d love to see what sort of…Ponyville style things you have.” Moonstone says.

“That would be wonderful!” Rarity says.

Moonstone smiles and turns around, walking away. Rarity turns to Amber in excitement, “I had no idea you knew Moonstone Glow!”

“Of course I know her. She’s my sister.” Amber says, lifting her head off the stall.

“Sh-Sh-SHE’S YOUR SISTER?!?!?!??” Rarity yells out, causing ponies around her to turn their heads. Rarity looks around in embarrassment before turning back to Amber, “Ahem, you mean to tell me that THE Moonstone Glow…is YOUR sister?!”

“Yeah, and it sucks!” Amber says, scowling and walking up to her box of jewelry.

“Sucks? Whatever do you mean, darling? Having a famous celebrity as a sister would be incredible!” Rarity says.

“You’d think, yeah.” Amber says as she begins placing her jewelry on the stall table, “But all she ever does is rub it in my face.”

“Oh surely it isn’t that bad.” Rarity says.

“Siblings usually fight or pick on each other. But she takes it to a whole new level. She intentionally tries to make my life miserable. She makes me feel like I’m not good enough. Which, I guess is true.” Amber says as she frowns.

“Of course you’re good enough, darling. You’re one of the greatest jewelers I know.” Rarity says.

Amber looks at Rarity with a raised eyebrow, “Rarity, I’m one of the only jewelers you know.”

Rarity’s eyebrows curve, “Um….well….the point still stands.”

“Let’s just face it. I’m nowhere near as good as my sister and I never will be.” Amber says as she finishes unpacking her jewelry and walks into the stall.

Rarity is unable to respond and simply walks to her own stall with a frown. Amber notices Rarity’s silence and sighs.

Hours pass and Amber’s mood changes. She’s finally able to focus on her stall. Ditzy even helps out. Lending a hoof wherever Amber needs it. Soon, Amber takes notice of Moonstone Glow walking with Sapphire Shores. Amber sweats nervously as she watches their approach towards her stall. Ditzy takes notice, tilting her head as she watches Amber sweat profusely, “Ambor? Are you okay?”

Amber turns to Ditzy, “Yes, it’s nothing.”

Ditzy goes into the corner of the stall, where she looks through her bag. She pulls out a muffin and quickly presents it to Amber, “Muffin?”

Amber looks at the muffin for a moment before chuckling, “Of course you brought muffins. Why am I surprised?” Amber takes the muffin and bites into it.

Ditzy smiles, “I’m glad you enjoy my muffins, Ambor.”

“Well well, is that Amber Gem?” Sapphire Shores asks.

Amber pauses, realizing that Sapphire Shores and Moonstone Glow have just approached the stall. Amber quickly swallows the bit of muffin in her mouth before putting on an awkward smile, “Oh! Sapphire Shores! It’s wonderful to see you! How can I help you?”

“Well I just wanted to meet the pony who supplies Rarity’s gems. And I have got to say.” Sapphire Shores says as she looks closely at, “I am not disappointed in your work at all. Truly, you take after your sister.”

“Take after my sister?” Amber asks in shock as she turns to Moonstone. Moonstone simply smiles and winks at her sister.

“Of course! She’s told me all about your craft.” Sapphire Shores says as she picks up and inspects Amber’s jewelry, “I would LOVE to wear some of these for my next tour.”

“Y-You would?!” Amber asks, unable to believe what she’s hearing.

“Yes I would. This represents exactly the kind of feeling I want to embody during my next concert. I’ll take them all.” Sapphire Shores says.

“M-My whole stock?!” Amber says in shock.

Sapphire Shores chuckles, “Yes. If that’s okay with you?”

Amber’s face lights up, “Of course! I’d love that!”

“In that case, I’ll send my client to come pick it up later.” Sapphire Shores says as she proceeds to make her exit, “Nice meeting you, Amber Gem.”

Amber Gem turns to her sister, who’s just about to walk away. Amber quickly exits the stall, “Wait.”

Moonstone Glow stops and turns around to meet Amber’s gaze.

“Did you…put in a good word for me?” Amber asks.

Moonstone smirks, “We are sisters, so of course I’m gonna help you. But don’t misunderstand, I’m doing this so you actually stand a chance against me. It’s not fun gloating to you if it’s plainly obvious. I need somepony to push me to be better. Only THEN can I prove I’m the best jeweler in all of Equestria!”

Amber looks down in disappointment, “Oh, I see.”

Moonstone turns back around to continue, “See you again, little sis.”

Amber watched with mixed expressions as her sister walked away. Nearly all sound in the loud convention seemed to disappear as she could plainly hear the claps of her sister’s hooves against the ground as she disappeared into the crowd.

Amber, Rarity, and Ditzy soon piled onto the Friendship Express as their visit was over. Amber was deep in thought as she sat on her seat, staring at the ground. Rarity smirked at Amber, “So?”

“Well, I guess my sister wasn’t all I thought she was. Even if she’s still a nuisance. Maybe I’m not as bad as I thought. If I just work harder to achieve my goal to be a renowned jeweler across Equestria, I can get there.” Amber says.

“Oh! Right, that. I mean, so are you gonna ask her or what?” Rarity asks, leaning next to Amber.

Amber goes wide-eyed as she looks to Ditzy, across the aisle, looking out the window, eager to get home. Amber smiles, “I suppose I’ll finally ask her.”

Rarity squees eagerly.

Amber hops into the seat, sitting next to Ditzy, “Oh, Ditzy.”

Ditzy turns to Amber, “Hi Ambor.”

“So I was wondering. This is something that I’ve been meaning to ask you for…some time.” Amber says as she blushes.

“Mhm?” Ditzy nods.

“I was wondering if you’d like to be….my Special Somepony.” Amber says as she looks Ditzy in the eyes.

Ditzy goes wide-eyed as she blushes, “Y-You want me…to be your Special Somepony?”

Amber nods, “Um…if you want to be. But you don’t have to if you don’t want to!” Amber looks away, embarrassed.

“N-No! I mean…YES!” Ditzy says, stuttering. Ditzy gives a passionate smile, “I’d love to be your Special Somepony, Ambor.”

Amber smiles passionately.

Nuptial and Tarsus sit bored together on a roof as they watch Fluttershy and Star Dream drinking sundae’s. “Nuptial, I gotta say. This has gotten boring. These two ponies grow their love extremely slowly!”

Nuptial just about doses off before she springs up. Nuptial raises her nose in the air and sniffs, “I smell something.”

“What is it?” Tarsus asks, standing up.

Nuptial turns to see the Friendship Express has arrived. Nuptial looks on with curious wonder, “I smell fresh love. It’s emanating from that train!”

Tarsus turns to the train, “Should we check it out.”

“Yes!” Nuptial says as she quickly flies to the train station, resting on the roof. Nuptial points down, “THERE!”

Tarsus looks down to see Ditzy Doo and Amber walking next to each other, “Those two? They don’t seem like they’d be a thing.”

“Nevermind what you see. What do you smell?” Nuptial says.

Tarsus gives a sniff, prompting his mouth to water, “Wow! How come we never sensed this before?”

“Perhaps a confession. Their love has amazing potential as well. Not as prominent as the other two pairs of ponies. But still, it's worth considering.” Nuptial says as she quickly stands up, “We’ll watch these two as well. We may have hit the jackpot!”

Tarsus puts on a sinister smile as he chuckles evilly.