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                   Welcome to Equestria                    
                      -by PonyPixel-                       
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                   Calling All Creatures                   
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Calling All Creatures
ZEBRAT
It had been a while since the village had recovered from the drought, and the locals were adjusting and revamping their wounds from the said disaster, returning to normal. Chief Marini, Zecora’s friend and the village’s leader, was pleased to see the recovery by her and her citizens. Of course, she also gave lots of assistance to them when they struggled.
As she inspected, she saw one of her friends, Cactus Rose the camel, by the well getting more water from below. As she pulled the rope, Chief Marini let out a slight smile on her face and headed towards her.
“Rose!” the chief called. The camel turned to see her approaching. “How were you?”
“We’re doing great,” Rose noted while grabbing the full bucket from the well. “All plants are full of life and the crops should be ready for harvest soon.”
“Wonderful!” she cheered. “Keep it up.”
“Speaking of which, I wonder how Zecora is doing.”
“I bet she’s doing fine back home. After that amazing happy reunion we had with her, she never felt better than before. I hope we can see her again.”
“Me too.”
Chief Marini was about to continue inspecting the progress when she noticed figures approaching them. They looked to be two white stallion pegasi guards wearing special uniforms to help them in the desert heat.
“Greetings,” one of the guards said, both taking a bow. “We apologize if we intruded on your domain. We come in peace.”
“May I help you?” Marini asked.
“We come from the land we called Equestria,” another guard continued, “we are here to offer you an official letter from Her Highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle, to Chief Marini of Zebrat.”
“That would be me,” Marina responded, and then one guard gave her the sealed letter. “Much obliged.”
The guards bowed one more time in reply and flew back.
She opened the envelope, took out the letter, and read it. “What does it say?” Cactus Rose said curiously.
“I’m reading it.”
CANINIA
In her sports uniform, Princess Ambrosia was practicing pawball on the playing field of an outdoor stadium with three guards as her trainers. Her mother, Queen Katherina, and her sister, Princess Fiona, were watching her from the front seats with the queen wearing a foam finger on her paw. As she kept the ball away from her opponents, the guards did their best to block her. With much expectation, they weren’t able to stop Amber from scoring a goal.
“Alright, sis!” Fiona jumped and cheered.
“Well done, Ambrosia,” Katherina complimented. Both applauded for the princess who approached over to sit down with them.
“That was amazing,” Fiona exclaimed.
“Yeah, thanks,” Amber replied and panted. “I feel like… I could play a real game now.”
“There is still a long way to go,” The queen encouraged with a smile. “Once you master that skill, you will be the best.”She handed her a water bottle for her to refresh herself.
“Thank you, mother.” As she was drinking water, a pink husky guard approached them.
“Your Majesty,” he called. “Pardon me for the intrusion. You just received an official letter.”
“Ah, who is it from?” Katherina asked.
“Someone titled Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria.” The guard then gave the letter to her for her to open and read.
ORNITHIA
Lots and lots of renovations were still ongoing after the major combat. Every citizen has done their best to bring back their kingdom to its former glory. Every house, every pavement, and every lamppost were repaired. Even a park was getting its renovation too. As they modernized, Princess Ocypete and her royal family were pitching in too. King Thaumas, her father, was assisting the villagers with a pulley system to pull the frames into place and successfully got in before they secured it into place.
“Father, how is the new bakery coming along?” Princess Ocypete asked.
“We’re getting there, sweetie,” King Thaumas responded. “We need more materials to proceed.”
“Somebody called fer more materials?” exclaimed a voice. King Thaumas and Princess Ocypete turned to see Captain Celaeno and her crew had returned with more resources for the renovations.
“Cellie, welcome back!” Ocypete cheered. She didn’t hesitate to hug her childhood friend with a bright smile, making her chuckle.
“Easy, princess,” the captain proclaimed, “I be happy t’ see ye again too. Aaand… we’ve got somethin’ fer ye and yer family.”
“More resources?”
“Aye,” the captain pointed to her crew carrying more stuff needed. “But also…” She then put her claw in her right pocket got out a letter and handed it to the princess. “…This. A letter. And it be from Princess Twilight Sparkle… and Queen Novo.”
Princess Ocypete was amazed to hear Queen Novo being mentioned. “Allow me!” So she grabbed it and gave it to her father for him to read.
ABYSSINIA
The doorbell rang at the Fluffington manor. Hearing it, the male butler headed towards the door and opened it. Standing in front of him were Chummer and his newly adopted daughter, Molly. They were here for a visit. “Ah, good afternoon, Mr. Chummer.”
“Good afternoon,” Chummer greeted back. “Is Mrs. Shadow Fluffington here?”
“Yes, she is expecting you here. Right this way, sir.”
Chummer and Molly came inside the manor and followed the butler toward where his childhood friend was located. They arrived at the living room and saw Shadow inside preparing a big paper map waiting for them. She was super pleased when she saw them.
“Chummer!” she exclaimed happily, hugging her one-eyed friend. “Great to see you!”
“Nice to see you as well,” Chummer said warmly. “Thanks for letting us meet in your place.”
“Anytime,” Shadow smiled, then turned toward the butler. “You may leave now, sir.”
The butler heard her order and left her and her guests alone. “So, I was hoping you would have good knowledge about a school that would be perfect for Molly. I don’t want her to be too far from home.”
“You’re in luck, Chum. I asked Andy for help and he’s given me this map here with all key academies in Panthera.” Shadow unrolled the map, which had all the locations of the school highlighted, onto the table. The ones highlighted were the most prominent academies in the city, including the University of Abyssinia and the Royal Panthera College which have their branches of primary schools. There are also notable elementary schools like The Black Panther Elementary School, Softpaws Elementary, and Arctic Lynx Elementary. “Now, you should think about your budget as well. The tuition fee, school uniforms, supplies, etc., etc., etc. These could cost you a lot. Both the UA and RPC were the two top universities that also offer primary education for the young ones like Molly, and…”
“Um, Mrs. Fluffington,” the butler came back and called, getting their attention, “You have an important visitor here to see you.”
“Oh? Who is it?” The butler drew their attention to King Meowmeow, who entered the living room still with his cape and staff and wasn’t acting as high and mighty as he was heretofore. Chummer, Shadow, and Molly didn’t seem pleased to see him due to the situation with their other friend, Capper Dapperpaws. “Oh dear…”
“Can I help blow something up this time?” Molly said.
“Uh…. It’s just me. Most of my men are still helping to… fix that.”
“What brings you here, Your Majesty?” Chummer asked with a very unpleasant tone with his arms crossed. “It’s been a while since that… previous situation with you.”
“One,” he started, “I understand that, and we are resolving. Two,” he grabbed the already-opened letter from his pocket, “I… have received this letter from a visitor. It’s from Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, and I know you are familiar with it.”
The king then handed the letter to Shadow and they read it.
His Majesty King Meowmeow of Abyssinia,
I, Princess Twilight Sparkle of the Kingdom of Equestria, am officially inviting you to visit my nation to discuss building bridges with other kingdoms. It is the most devoted way to establish diplomatic relationships with each other. As leaders, it is significant to also support and assist economically especially in particular circumstances such as moments of dilemma. We hope that with this occasion, we can make the world a better and more promising place for future generations to come.
Sincerely,
Princess Twilight Sparkle.
“Hmm, didn’t Capper tell you about that pony named Twilight?” Shadow asked.
“I think Thorax said something about that,” Molly informed.
“Yeah, I remember him,” Chummer commented. “And that dragon too.”
“Right,” Shadow exclaimed. “Man, that was a wild ride we all had.”
“Um… indeed,” Meowmeow muttered. He tugged at the collar holding up his cape. “I feel that they’ll be very delighted to see you. That is the reason why I came here. I humbly ask you to be official ambassadors of Abyssinia since…”
“We ain’t the ones who blew up the bridges!” Shadow asked sassily.
“Again… That was all on them, but yes. But I humbly and openly request that you and your companions will come with me for my official visit to another land.”
Chummer and Shadow then thought for a moment. Since Capper currently resides in Equestria, it will be their opportunity to see him once again after their bizarre adventure. “I can ask Max if he wants to come along,” Chummer noted. “I’m in.”
“I’ll also convince Andy to see if he can get business partners there,” Shadow added. “I’m in too.”
“Splendid,” King Meowmeow exclaimed. “Now, the princess will be sending an airship for us to ride on. My men will notify you about the departure, so be prepared. Farewell.” The king soon walked away as Shadow and Chummer felt things were going to be interesting.
“It’ll be amazing to see Capper again,” Shadow noted, “And so soon too.”
“I know! I would like to see these ponies he’s told us about,” Chummer added. “This will be our very first trip outside Abyssinia.”
“Can I go too?” Molly asked. “I’d love to see what it is like there.”
Chummer then thought about this for a moment. “Yes, you should,” he noted. “I don’t think I can hire a babysitter in such a short amount of time. You’re coming with me.” The kitten excitedly cheered and ran around, getting an opportunity to see more of the world.
A few days have passed, and it is time for the grand welcome. A lot is happening there at Canterlot since they’ll be visited by four leaders of different lands. Everypony was talking about it a lot, and newspaper outlets were covering it too. Many were very hopeful to see what comes in the future with newly-made diplomatic relations although there were a few who were skeptical about them since they didn’t know what actions they would take. At the base of the Canterlot Castle, a banquet was held.
Pinkie Pie fired her party cannon all over the said palace, swiftly setting up the decorations this way and that. Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy were setting up more decorations, including a banner reading, “Welcome to Equestria.” Princess Twilight Sparkle and Spike inspected the scene.
“How does it look, Spike?” Twilight asked.
“So far, everything is looking incredible,” Spike commented while holding his checklist and a pen. “Decorations were in place, the banner’s up, and the food was ready too. Applejack will be bringing them in a moment.”
“We’re here!” a voice called.
Spike turned and saw Applejack coming in with a cart of food. She wasn’t alone as Zecora and Applebloom were right behind her.
“Zecora,” Twilight gasped, “I didn’t think you would make it.”
“I often prefer to be alone, for reasons complicated to explain,” Zecora admitted, “But I am very excited to see my good friends again.”
“I hope this won’t involve an explosion,” Applebloom commented.
“...I’m sorry?” Twilight questioned.
“Don’t ask,” Applejack stated. “So, Twilight, how’s everything else going?”
“We’re on schedule. We should be finished as soon as our guests arrive.”
“Alright then. Where do we set up the food?”
“We’ll have them set up after our dialogue.”
Pinkie Pie hopped over to Twilight after she finished decorating. “Oh boy! So excited! You’re going to love the Diamond Dogs, especially Amber,” she said. “Rarity would be happy too… Where is she by the way?”
“She and Capper were at the Canterlot Carousel,” Spike explained. “I’ve been told that they’re talking about giving Capper the new outfit. His jacket was so outdated.”
“Rarity has already told me that too,” Applejack commented. “Glad he’s getting that too. Don’t even mention the stench, his jacket smelled worse than an undercooked apple pie left out in the middle of Appaloosa.”
“I hope they will get back in time,” Twilight said, grabbing her pocket watch to check the time. “The guests should be here in a moment.”
“Uhh… Princess,” Zecora raised. “May I ask? Hopefully, it doesn’t sound dumb. Where did that other zebra come from?” They turned to notice an unfamiliar-looking zebra standing. It almost had the looks of Zecora, but was a male with a funky-style mane. He looked frazzled until a flash surrounded him and revealed it was King Thorax all along.
“Oh… sorry,” he apologized with a chuckle. “I didn’t mean to throw you up.”
“Woah! You actually pushed that?” Ember said in amazement. The Dragon Lord flew up to her boyfriend chuckling a bit as the rest of the royals started showing up.
“Still think you should’ve pretended to be Dash,” Queen Gilda smirked. Looking behind them, they could see Prince Rutherford, Queen Novo, Iron Will, Chief Thunderhooves, and Rain Shine coming in with her. “I gotta say, it is amazing to witness this historic moment with other leaders from new nations.”
“I know, right?” Ember exclaimed. “They’ve met us, and now it’s their turn.” Thorax nodded in agreement.
As they entered the banquet, they greeted Princess Twilight and the rest, looking forward to greeting with other leaders from the said four lands as well. While she met, she noticed from behind them came Princess Cadence and Shining Armor.
“Twilight!” she called while waving.
“Cadence!” Twilight beamed, running into her and hugging her. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“I wouldn’t miss this moment,” the sister-in-law said. “It would be an honor to have new leaders from different foreign lands to meet our kind to create formal relationships.”
“Me too,” Shining Armor said, hugging his young sister too. “As long as they came in peace.”
“Where’s Flurry Heart?” Spike asked. They heard giggling as Princess Skystar flew in with Flurry Heart flying right behind her. The two girls looked like they were having fun. “Never mind.”
“So where are the visitors?” Cadence asked.
“They should be here any minute,” Twilight explained. “Everything should be ready.”
“Everything looks fine to me,” Shining Armor commented.
“I’ll say,” Thorax agreed. “They’re going to love this.”
“The party is one thing,” Twilight noted. “It’s whether or not they and us get along.”
“I bet they would like what we have with you before,” Queen Novo proclaimed. “Dragons, yaks, kirins, and so much more. We have gotten along very well with your kind for a long time. So it is going to be the same for others like the avians. You’re going to like them, aside from Captain Celaeno, of course.”
“Same with the Diamond Dogs,” Spike added. “They were very considerate when me, Pinkie, and Rarity visited Caninia.”
“And the Abyssinians… maybe at best,” Ember guessed. “That was one heck of an experience.”
“I appreciate where you all are going,” Princess Twilight said. “As long as it all goes to plan, it should be okay. Our diplomatic relationship with them will be powerful and influential.”
“Zepin,” Flurry Heart babbled. They heard her but didn’t comprehend. “Zepin!” she repeated, pointing toward the sky. Princess Cadence, who was now carrying her baby in her arms, knew what she was talking about as she looked up to where Flurry Heart was pointing.
“Ahh, she meant zeppelin,” Cadence clarified. “And it’s here.”
Everyone turned to the sky and saw a zeppelin docking in the city. “Just in time. Take care of yourselves.”
“Good luck, Twilight,” Princess Cadence encouraged. “We’re all counting on you.”
Princess Twilight smiled and quickly teleported toward the docking area with Spike swiftly joining her. Once the zeppelin landed, the gangplank dropped with a loud thump. Exiting the blimp was their first official guest, Chief Marini of Zebrat, wearing her official traditional attire. Beside her were her friends, Medley Brook, Crystal, Dust Devil, and Catus Rose, also boarding out the blimp, seeing the beauty of Canterlot for the first time.
“Greetings,” Princess Twilight greeted, shaking hooves together.
“Greetings,” Chief Marini greeted back, now standing in front of the princess also shaking hooves. “How are you today?”
“Splendid. You must be Chief Marini of Zebrat, I suppose.”
“Yes, I am,” the chief spoke. “Princess Twilight Sparkle of Equestria, I suppose.”
“Indeed.” She, Chief Marini, and her companions bowed to each other.
“I thank you for inviting us. As representatives of Zebrat, it is a huge honor to have this moment with you to develop a new start of the relationship between the two kingdoms and the others.”
“Same here.”
“We hope you’ve had a comfy journey,” the dragon assistant said. “If you follow me, I can lead you to your guest rooms.”
“Thank you,” Medley Brook said. “Please do.”
They started following Spike toward the castle as the royals started to walk over to the visitors. The said guests were more interested in seeing Zecora and the Apple sisters again. Speaking of which, Chief Marina got a glance at her old friend and made the expression on her face turn to excitement.
“ZECORA!!!” Marini exclaimed gleefully, running over to where Zecora was standing.
To the surprise of the royals, the chief scooped up her old friend and hugged her tight. Zecora was astonished to see her friends so soon. “Marini, I’m happy to see you et al. too,” the resident zebra said, “I have a feeling Princess Twilight has a lot planned for you.”
“Oh, I’ve heard,” Marini said. “New faces will come, and I can’t wait to meet them.” She then saw the Apple sisters and gave them a wave too.
“You certainly would, Chief,” Pinkie Pie said, “And you’d be amazed when you see the dogs.”
“Ooh, I didn’t know this place has a lot of dogs. How many are there?”
“Uhh… no, Canterlot Castle doesn’t have a lot of dogs… and I didn’t mean the dog-dogs… The other dogs that will come later.”
Marini and her friends were a little confused since they didn’t understand what she meant by this.
“You’ll find out,” Applejack said. “Come on, Applebloom, let’s get this food to the kitchen.” Applejack and her sister then headed inside the castle as Spike began leading the guests from Zebrat to the guest rooms.
“You planned a special dinner for them?” Queen Novo asked.
“Yes,” Twilight confirmed. “I have also planned on the scheduling for all four leaders to arrive about ten minutes apart from each other. Just as long as things don’t run behind schedule.”
“Speaking of which, I think they might actually be early,” Cadence commented, pointing to another zeppelin that would be flying towards Canterlot. As the first blimp left, the other shortly docked where it once stood.
Again, Princess Twilight Sparkle quickly headed to the docking area. The gangplank dropped. From the deck stood the next guests, the Diamond Dogs from Caninia. The guards first stepped out of the deck and stood on the sidelines. The maroon Doberman guard then came in standing to make his statement.
“Hear ye, hear ye, citizens of Equestria. Here to announce the arrival of Her Majesty the Queen, Katherina Proudpaws, with her royal family and ambassadors.”
Passing the Doberman guard came down the pink poodle playing the trumpet the best he could, and the orange pug appeared to be holding a trumpet too, but he was pretending to play it and wasn’t even breathing into it. Then from the ship, while the trumpet was playing, came down Her Majesty the Queen herself and her two daughters, Ambrosia Muffinbuns and Fiona Floppyears. Along with her buddies, Jennino Lanternlight, Indiana Ambereyes, and Moonbeam Twinkletail whom she was holding her cane to support.
Once they stood in front of the ruler of Equestria herself, the trumpets stopped playing, then got interrupted shortly by a trumpet sneeze from the pug, making a funny sound.
“Bless you,” the queen uttered. The pug guard bowed thank you in reply.
“Greetings,” Twilight greeted. “Her Majesty, Queen Katherina Proudpaws of Caninia, I assume.”
“Indeed.”
She and Katherina bowed to each other, and Princess Fiona did the same. Princess Ambrosia was about to do it too until a certain pink pony jumped forward.
“Hi, Amber!” Pinkie called.
The blonde princess forgot about what she was doing and quickly greeted the mare. “Pinkie!” she exclaimed.
“Amber,” Fiona whispered. She motioned toward their mother, who had a simple look that told her to take things seriously. Amber corrected herself and nearly fell on her face as she bowed.
“Um… We hope you enjoyed your long trip,” Twilight said, feeling things were getting awkward.
“It was pleasant,” Queen Katherina noted. “My daughters and companions are very thankful you’ve given us a ride. And it is an honor to have this opportunity to meet the one who has achieved a lot for the future. I’ve heard from your fellow friends and your loyal assistant who visited our kingdom before that you’ve made amazing official relationships with other kingdoms. I have high expectations for this.”
Spike looked over to where Moonbeam, was still using her cane to move around. “Do you need some help, Moonbeam?” the little dragon asked.
“Thank you, but I’m trying to get back on my own paws,” Moonbeam noted. She slowly made her way over to where her friends were standing.
“I gotta say, this place looks fascinating,” Jennino commented in awe.
“Certainly,” Indiana admitted. “The castle is unique too.” Jennino nodded. “So, what do we do now?”
“We planned on having a discussion with leaders while everyone else who followed along will be brought to Ponyville, a town just right below,” Twilight explained.
“Oh good, I was worried about the girls getting bored,” the queen admitted. “Activities like that can help that.”
“Um, Princess,” Jennino said, looking up, “who’s ship is that?” Everyone turned to where she was pointing and could already see another airship. Unlike the first two, its design was more beneficial to avian culture and had rainbow wings on it.
Rainbow Dash, who was standing beside Gilda, immediately recognized the ship belonging to and flew up to check. No surprise that it was Captain Celaeno and her maties were on board. She was controlling the steering wheel as she saw the rainbow-maned mare flying onto the deck.
“Captain!” Dash exclaimed gleefully.
“Ahoy, Rainbow Dash!” the captain exclaimed gleefully also. “I been hopin’ we’d see ye again. How’ve ye been?”
“Eh, nothing new, a bit boring from time to time. Any adventures you and your crew have been on?”
“Aye. A jolly one would be helpin’ me home recover from that there traitor makin’ bloody doubloons. They be still imprisoned aft thar, and as we speak, the royal family be on board, and will be landing shortly.”
On cue, Princess Ocypete approached the captain, surprised to see Rainbow Dash. “Cellie, is this the pony you told us about?” the princess asked.
“Ye bet,” Celaeno confirmed. “Rainbow Dash; the pony who helped get me and my maties back into our thrill of an adventure.” She gave a fist bump to the pegasus, who could see the rest of the royal family looking over Canterlot from the deck.
“So, this is Canterlot,” King Thaumas commented.
“Wow, it’s so nice to see this glorious kingdom,” Queen Ozomeme added. “I’m looking forward to this moment.”
“Me too.”
“Prepare fer landin’!” Captain Celaeno loudly called, quickly bringing their ship down to the docks.
Once the ship landed, they began disembarking, with the captain and crew exiting first, followed by King Thaumas and the royal family, being welcomed by the ponies and other creatures.
“Welcome back, Captain Celaeno,” Twilight proclaimed.
“Thank you,” she replied, shaking her hoof, “It had been a while since me and my maties last met ye.”
“I know right?”
“Anyways, allow me t’ introduce ye to Thar Majesties King Thaumas and Queen Ozomeme with the royal family of Ornithia.” Celaeno then made way for the king and queen to meet the princess.
“Greetings, Your Highness,” the king greeted and bowed together with the rest. Princess Twilight then noted back as well.
“Greetings as well. Thank you for coming.”
“It was a pleasure,” King Thaumas responded. “We apologize if we don’t look our best.”
“It’s perfectly understandable,” Novo proclaimed as she stepped forward.
“Ah, Her Majesty Queen Novo. It’s great to meet you again.”
“Great to see you again too. It’s been a while since we last visited.” She shook talons with the royals as her daughter, Princess Skystar, drew her attention to the pirates.
“Hi, captain,” the young princess called.
“Skystar!” Celaeno exclaimed. “Good t’ see ye again. Been waitin’ fer another adventure?”
“Um… actually I’ve been taking some time to relax from the last time we had our adventure.”
“Can’t say I blame ye. Ye’ll be happy to know those criminals are properly locked in thar prison.”
“It be a giant aquarium,” first mate Mullet noted. Boyle and Lix snickered at this while Squabble just laughed at this fact.
“Oh, you still have them captive?” Novo asked.
“Aye, King Thaumas still be reckonin’ what t’ do with that,” Celaeno responded.
“Maybe you’d bring them here so we can get them a real fish tank to swim in.” Queen Novo and Captain Celaeno chuckled as the Diamond Dogs’ zeppelin departed.
“Captain, could you please move your ship?” Twilight politely asked. “We want the last group of guests to have enough space to park.”
“Aye, aye, Princess,” Captain Celaeno declared with a salute. “ALL CLAWS ON DECK!” She and her crew headed back onto her ship with Rainbow Dash joining her so she could help her where the ship should be parked.
“Now we wait for the last group, which are representatives of Abyssinia,” Twilight noted, checking her pocket watch. “They should be here any moment.”
The Diamond Dogs’ ears raised when they heard the word. “Uh… I… I’m sorry… who are the last?” Queen Katherina stutteringly asked.
“Abyssinia…” They stared at her in a weird way.
Dragon Lord Ember leaned closer to Thorax’s ear to whisper, “I knew something like this would happen,” she whispered.
“Is there a problem, Your Majesty?” Twilight asked the dog queen.
“It’s kind of obvious,” Gilda stated. Instantly, another airship came into view. It quickly docked beside Captain Celaeno’s ship and they could see something small and blonde-looking kitten over the deck. Thorax recognized it before she was pulled back from the edge.
When the ship docked and the gangplank dropped, guards on the deck played their trumpets announcing their arrival. When the tune was finished, the creatures could see the Abyssinian cats, Shadow, Chummer, and little Molly boarding off of the ship, much to the disdain of the Diamond Dogs.
“Do you see Capper around?” Shadow asked.
“No. I think he’ll arrive in a moment.” She looked around for her old friend as Chummer was trying to keep Molly in line. “Molly, I know you’re as excited as I am, but you have to stay close, you don’t wanna…” He paused his sentence as he saw the Diamond Dogs staring bizarrely at them. “…Oh boy.”
“What’s wrong?” Molly asked.
“They’re here.” Molly then turned in his direction and saw the said dogs.
“Make way!” called King Meowmeow. Some of his guards pushed their way past the others. Soon, he saw Queen Katherina standing together with the other Diamond Dogs. He, like the dogs, was much in disdain.
“Why are you here?”
“I should ask you the same thing,” Katherina stated.
“Um, Your Majesty,” Twilight said to the queen, “We’ve brought you all here, so we could bring our kingdoms closer together.”
“I understand your motive, but I have no intentions of collaborating with an egotistical feline,” Katherina stated.
“Says the one with the surname Proudpaws,” Meowmeow blurted. “And I had no intentions either of collaborating with a stubborn mutt.”
“Who’re you calling me a mutt!?” she grunted.
“Shall I draw my spear, Your Majesty?” the Doberman sergeant asked. He held up his weapon and the other Diamond Dog guards followed suit as the Abyssinian guards were ready for a possible counterattack.
Spike quickly got in between the two species before it could get ugly. “Okay… okay… enough. Let’s settle this out before we turn to each other to scratch wallpaper and chew toys. Alright?” he asked.
The Abyssinians and Diamond Dogs faced each other before King Meowmeow spoke. “I agree with the small dragon,” he said.
“Ditto,” said the orange pug, putting down his spear. “Less work for me.”
Pinkie snuck up to Amber to whisper. “Amber, don’t be afraid to sneak off with me if it goes south,” the pink pony quietly explained. Amber just nodded as the last two guests boarded off.
“I honestly thought that would be worse,” Max the big purple cat commented.
“You too?” Chummer asked.
“Our apologies,” Andrew Fluffington spoke, “Most of us are still in our old ways. The relationship between cats and dogs is still very sour, and it is evident in the history of both kingdoms.”
“We understand you attempting to break old habits,” Twilight said, “And that is one of the reasons why we’ve called you here.” She motioned to Gilda, Ember, Thorax, Rutherford, Rain Shine, and Novo. “When different kingdoms and Equestria worked together, they managed to work together and defeat some of the most devilish figures in the land and beyond.”
“Like a terrorist group from my domain who should not be named,” Gilda noted, “which began my rise to power in monarchy.”
“Or a group of three working together,” Thorax added, “which they have been in ‘stony’ prison for eternity.”
“Or….” Ember paused as she looked at Chummer. “Wasn’t there a kitten with you?”
“Wha…?” Chummer quickly looked down and saw that Molly was no longer beside him. “Son of a….” He caught himself before he could curse. “Did anyone see where Molly went?” he asked.
“Found her,” called a voice. Everyone turned to see a familiar Abyssinian approaching them. It was Capper Dapperpaws, and beside him was Rarity and Molly, whom he had found. Capper was wearing a red-button shirt under an indigo sweater vest and black pants.
Chummer was happy to see his adopted daughter was safe but he, as well as Shadow, were impressed with their friend’s new look.
“Cap!” Chummer exclaimed happily. You made it.”
“Yes, I did,” he said. “Glad you all made it too. And uhh… yeah I found Molly. Keep her tight.”
“Thanks, Cap,” Chummer said, getting a firm grip on Molly’s paw.
“You look very nice with that sweater vest,” Shadow commented.
“Why thank you,” Capper responded. “Rarity here helped develop it for me.
Rarity walked up to Capper’s childhood friends and held out her hoof. “It’s a pleasure to meet you,” the mare said. “I’ve been told a lot about you two.”
“Oh, really?” Shadow asked. “I have to say you did an excellent job on his new outfit.”
“Thank you,” she smiled.
“I have to ask,” Chummer said, “What happened to the old trench coat?”
“I threw it away,” Capper admitted, “We couldn’t get the foul odor out of it. That and the stitching was coming apart. Though I have to say, a trench coat looks good on you.” Chummer nodded as he looked at the green trench coat he had on.
Rarity could see it was a little crowded as she approached Princess Twilight and Queen Katherina. “I apologize that we arrived at the last minute,” the generous mare apologized. “I made sure everything was set at the boutique in Ponyville.”
“It’s alright, Rarity,” Twilight said. “I understand.”
“What did you have planned?” Queen Katherina asked.
“We will discuss our future relations between Equestria and other kingdoms like yours would go,” Twilight explained. “But first, we should lead you to your guest rooms.” She then turned to her assistant. “Spike, lead the way.”
He nodded and led the guests from Caninia, Abyssinia, and Ornithia to their guest rooms.
While they sorted it out, Fluttershy caught Rarity up to speed. “Queen Katherina and King Meowmeow nearly started a fight,” the yellow pegasus explained.
“Oh, I should’ve known something like that would happen,” Rarity muttered.
“If it makes you feel better, we’ll keep a close eye on them,” Thorax proclaimed.
“Now is a good time,” Queen Novo noted. The royals went into the castle as Pinkie Pie hopped over to Skystar.
“Try to convince the younger visitors to get to the train station,” Pinkie whispered. “There is a lot for them to see.” Skystar nodded as she flew inside the castle to find them.
Inside one of the guest rooms, Moonbeam was making herself comfy on one of the beds. Queen Katherina was in there too and was still feeling frustrated about their situation with the ruler of Abyssinia. “Do you feel some kind of narcissism from that cat?” the queen questioned.
“By the look of his cape, I’d say so,” Moonbeam noted.
“The others don’t look bad,” Indiana admitted. “Not just those cats, but the bird guys and other creatures too.”
“Were those bird creatures pirates?” Fiona asked.
“I think they were. They didn’t seem like the classic kind of pirates described in the books I’ve read.”
“They seemed to be trustworthy enough to transport the royal family here,” Jennino commented. “They seem to be nice. Amber, what do you think?”
“Uh… yeah. I’m kinda curious about those cat guys,” Amber noted.
“Are you serious, Amber?” Katherina questioned.
“One of them seems to have been living with Rarity. So they can’t be all bad since we got along with her. I understand the long history of the feud between the Caninians and Abyssinians, but we should get along with the ones with good intentions.”
“She’s correct,” Moonbeam commented. “Rarity isn’t the pony who would keep some punk or slum-like creature around.”
“How do you think the other creatures are?” Jennino asked.
A knock on the door was heard. “I’ll get it,” Ambrosia said.
She then headed towards the door and opened it. In front of her was Queen Novo standing outside with Princess Skystar quickly joining her.
“Skystar, what are you doing?” Novo questioned.
“Pinkie Pie told me to check on with some of the younger visitors,” the young hippogriff answered.
“Oh, that’s a great idea. You go and have a bond with the princesses while I talk with the queen.” Skystar agreed to this idea as she went over to the princesses.
“You’re here to have a chat?” Queen Katherina asked.
“Yes, Your Majesty.” Queen Novo nodded.
“Alright. Come in.” Queen Novo then closed the door behind her and had their seats at the desk. While the mother queens talked, Skystar took an interest in Princesses Amber and Fiona.
“So, how are you two?” the hippogriff asked.
“The trip from Caninia to her was a little boring, honestly,” Fiona admitted. “I mostly went outside the deck and had the view of lots of mountains, lakes, trees, and other stuff from time to time. But Amber managed to make it bearable thanks to her Narra.”
“A what?”
“Narra. It’s a type of book we have in Caninia,” Amber explained. “Here.” She showed Skystar one of her Narra books, which had a cover showing a gray sheepdog wielding black swords as a book floated next to him.
“Black Rover?” Skystar read.
“Yep, that’s the name of this series. The main protagonist of this series has a special ability: Anti-magic.”
“What does that mean?”
“Think of someone doing a transformation spell. Just one smack of these swords of Anti-magic and the spells will be canceled out.”
“That’s cool, but… wouldn’t that cut the creature using the spell?”
“These swords are a lot less sharp than regular swords. They work more like golf clubs than anything.” Amber handed Skystar her Narra comic for the hippogriff to read.
Their mothers watched from across the room, both looking pleased. “They seem to be getting along pretty well,” Novo commented, drinking water from a mug.
“Looks like it,” Katherina agreed, also drinking water. “So, where do you come from?”
“Mount Aris,” Novo explained. “It’s filled with great valleys, sandy beaches, and unique structures. You should come.”
“Maybe some other time. That sounds like a very nice place to visit. I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Nice. And another thing about Mount Aris is that it is also connected to the underwater kingdom of Seaquestria, where sea ponies reside.”
“How does that kingdom function?”
“It’s a long story. In a nutshell, we use special shards from a magical pearl to change us from hippogriffs to seaponies.” She then showed her pearl shard necklace to her.
“No. You’re making that up. No way a piece of accessory would do such a thing.”
“Am I?” Novo gave a smug smile. “Hold my mug.” As she sat on the bed, she activated her shard to change her base form into her seapony form, much to the shock of Katherina and the Diamond Dogs with their jaws dropped. “Told you.” Novo then quickly changed back into a hippogriff and stepped off the bed.
“Woah… I’m amazed,” Katherina commented. “What does your shard do to other creatures?”
“My niece has given me a list of creatures corresponding to their sea mammals. I unfortunately left it back home.”
“It would be more fun if we could show you what happens in Ponyville,” Skystar proclaimed, flying to the window and pointing to the town visible from their room. “Right there.”
The Diamond Dogs then peeked down the window to see Ponyville from their point of view.
“That’s Ponyville?” Amber asked. Skystar nodded.
“Huh… I guess that’s where ponies are planning on taking us,” Moonbeam commented sarcastically.
“Exactly.” Skystar quickly explained what Pinkie had told her and the Diamond Dogs were interested.
“Again, it’s a great idea,” Katherina commented. “It’ll give you all something to do.”
“I have been wanting to see some of Rarity’s dress designs,” Jennino added.
“Yeah, a nice chat giving each other advice,” Indiana added.
“I hoped for something to keep the girl entertained,” Katherina noted.
“Yes, it’ll be a great icebreaker,” Novo agreed. “Now excuse me, I’m going to check on the others and see what they think of the plan. You take care.” The queen of Mount Aris left the room just as Spike was about to come in. She gave a thumbs up and a wink and Spike could see the Diamond Dogs were already looking forward to the events now.
The other visitors were looking forward to the plan and already had their rooms set up, almost all of them started heading to Canterlot’s train station. Marini was a bit disappointed she couldn’t go with her friends.
“Sorry you can’t come with us,” Crystal sighed.
“It’s okay,” Marini said. “I have a huge responsibility as chief of Zebrat, remember? There is a need to have this conversation with the princess to not only start a relationship between our village and Equestria but also improve our future.”
“We understand you have much work to do,” Zecora said, “We’ll try not to have too much fun without you.” The friends shared one more hug before the chief went back into the castle to prepare for their meeting.
As the plan goes, the visitors were given a chance to have a trip to Ponyville while the leaders were having their meeting with Princess Twilight. They met up at the station where they waited for their train to arrive. The Mane 5 were also there to guide them. “This will be a good time to see how Equestria’s rail network functions,” Andy Fluffington commented.
“Wow, you are seriously dedicated to your work, are you?” Shadow chuckled.
“I’ve got some more responsibilities in the future.”
Capper overheard this comment and remembered what had been discussed in Panthera. “So… You two are…” Capper said.
“Two weeks pregnant,” Shadow finished. “Yes, I am. I’m already feeling the symptoms, morning sickness already made itself known.”
“Well… This is what you wanted, right?”
“Of course. It’s just going to be a harder process than I thought.”
“Have you ever thought of a name yet?”
“Too early to call,” Andy confirmed, “but we have been thinking of good names.” Capper smiled.
“Would you like some assistance?” Rarity asked, walking close to Shadow.
“That would be appreciated, thank you.” They heard a whistle as the Friendship Express approached the station. Once it stopped, they quickly got on board and took their seats.
“These seats are pretty comfy,” Cactus Rose commented as she sat down. “Nothing like this in Zebrat.”
“It be nice to finally rest and let someone do the transportation,” Mullet noted.
“I’m right here” Celaeno agreed with a smirk. She sat back and relaxed, while Skystar had a hard time sitting still due to her excitement.
“I’m going to see my cousin again,” the hippogriff cooed. “I cannot wait to show you to her.”
“I’m sure she’s as happy as you are,” Princess Ocypete smiled. She then peeked out the window before she did a double take.
Applejack saw her shocked expression and checked. “Is there something wrong, Your Highness?” she asked.
“Call me crazy, but I think I saw a giant eye staring right at my soul.” Captain Celaeno looked concerned as she approached her best buddy.
“I think you stayed underground for too long,” the captain commented. “Relax, yer gonna have some fun once we arrive.” She touched the princess’s head to see if she was feeling well as Ocypete had a feeling she was right.
The train left Canterlot towards Ponyville. However, Ocypete wasn’t too far off from what she witnessed. A pair of yellow eyes were watching the express leave and Fluttershy had a feeling she knew who they belonged to.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   A Visit to Ponyville                    
//-------------------------------------------------------//
A Visit to Ponyville
There is a lot of excitement occurring at the School of Friendship. The students were being told that the visitors from the official visit to Canterlot would be arriving at their academy in a moment. The students were filled with enthusiasm, looking forward to meeting them. One group that was the most excited about the visit was Silverstream and the hippogriffs, they were also being informed that Princess Skystar, Queen Novo, and Captain Celaeno and crew will be visiting too.
“I can’t believe Aunt Novo is coming here again,” Silverstream exclaimed cheerfully. “This is gonna be amazing!” The hippogriff students agreed.
“You’re telling me,” Gleaming Pearl affirmed, also filled with excitement. “Others will be here too like the Diamond Dogs, and I am SUPER curious about knowing them personally.”
“Me too,” Coral added. “And hopefully we’ll be able to see Queen Novo longer than half an hour.”
“Princess Skystar will be here too,” Kelpie said, resting his head with his heart beating, looking like his head was in the clouds. “Can’t wait!” Coral rolled her eyes at this as Sunshine gave his input.
“Do you think we’ll be able to have interviews with the visitors?” he asked. “Strawberry Scoop, Emerald, and I have been very interested in having a word with them.”
“I’m sure Skystar would love to talk about her adventures,” Silverstream commented. “So you might wanna get your pencils prepared. I also want to know more about those cat creatures and their trains. Rusty’s taken a keen interest when he heard about that.”
“How is their railroad system different from Equestria’s?” Deep Sea asked. “I thought they were that similar.”
“I don’t know exactly, but they use steam engines much more than the ponies do. I think it’s because they didn’t use magic.”
“True, that makes sense,” Sunshine commented. “Did you hear about the other two kingdoms?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t find a good time to ask Professor Applejack about Zebrat, and I kept forgetting to ask Professor Pinkie. Guess we’ll find out about them together.” The hippogriffs agreed this would be exciting.
Meanwhile, Headmare Starlight Glimmer was checking with the students. They had decorations set up around the school, though weren’t as fancy as the ones in Canterlot. She is as excited as the students, their first impressions need to be seen as genuine. Other students were looking forward such as Ocellus and Sandbar. “What do you think the Diamond Dogs will be like?” Sandbar asked.
“I’m not sure, but I am curious to try out new forms in a moment,” Ocellus admitted. “Although since they’ll be seeing changelings for the first time, they might be shocked by my abilities, or not be believing at first.”
“Best to tell them about them before you shapeshift in front of their faces,” Sandbar chuckled. “We gotta start slow, you know.”
“Yeah, probably a good idea. Just… hope they won’t freak out about our history.” Sandbar patted her shoulder for support, making sure she remained calm.
Gallus, Smolder, and Yona meanwhile were also talking to each other about the visit. “I can understand why our professors went on those missions,” the orange dragon admitted, “I don’t understand why they invited the leaders of those said kingdoms and some random guys who joined them.”
“Zecora and cat creature not random,” Yona noted. “We know them before, and guarantee leaders trust them.”
“Yona's right,” Gallus confirmed, “They went with the other members of their team to their hometowns.”
“I… guess that makes sense,” Smolder commented.
Twin dragons, Emerald and Peridot, were talking with the griffons, Grace and Gregoria, about the visit as well. They’re also looking forward to today. “You sure we won’t ruin any first impressions when we meet them?” Peridot asked.
“Don’t worry,” Emerald replied, “I'm sure they’ll be fine with us. And I don’t think you could do worse than I did on our first week in Ponyville,” Emerald noted. “I still have no idea what came over me there, that experience was wild.”
“We’ve plenty of lessons about friendship,” Gregoria noted. “We should be alright. The princess seems like she trusts us to bring them here.”
“I wonder if they have any stories they wanna tell, or souvenirs they have brought for us,” Grace pondered. “Hearing about those kingdoms makes me feel curious about their history and culture.”
“If they do bring souvenirs, yes, like what Grace said, it could help us learn about their homes,” Emerald commented. “They’d do the same when they learn about our homes and Equestria as well.”
“Yeah, I also heard one of them has a liking for gemstones,” Peridot noted, feeling her mouth watering when she mentioned gemstones. “I hope they brought some here.”
“Oh please, you’re making my mouth water.”
“I’m not sure if I asked this before,” Grace said, “but, Perri… what do gemstones taste like? Like… how do you describe the taste of different gemstones?”
Peridot was about to answer her query until the school’s P.A. speakers went off with Sunburst making an announcement. “Good afternoon, students,” Sunburst announced. “The guests are arriving momentarily. If you wish to meet them, please head to the entrance lobby. Let’s greet them with utmost respect and proper etiquette.”
“THEY’RE HERE!” Grace squealed with thrill.
“Well, what’re we waiting for?” Gregoria declared. “Let’s go!”
Upon hearing the announcement, Emerald, Peridot, Grace, and Gregoria quickly headed towards the lobby. They saw several students already standing by. Eventually, the Mane 5 were approaching together with the guests coming in.
“There they are!” Silverstream cried.
As the visitors got closer, Princess Skystar saw her cousin and made a beeline to fly and hug her tight. “Silver, it’s been so long!” Skystar cheered.
“I know, right? I'm glad you’re here.”
The two cousins chuckled as the other visitors greeted the students and vice versa. “Wow, there seems to be a good amount of varieties,” Princess Ocypete commented.
“You’ll get to know them well,” Rainbow Dash whispered. “Trust me, you’ll like them.” She together with her best friend then noticed Princess Skystar bringing her fellow hippogriffs students to them, so they stepped forward.
“Everyone, meet Princess Ocypete and Captain Celaeno,” the princess hippogriff said. “They’re from a place called Ornithia.”
“Hello,” she greeted softly. “It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” Ocypete said, doing a courtesy to the students.
“Wait, she’s a princess?” Kelpie questioned. “Shouldn’t we be bowing?” He tried to step forward toward the princesses, but in his haste, he ended up tripping and falling face-first in front of them.
“...Is he okay?” Princess Ocypete said with concern.
“I’m fine,” Kelpie groaned as Rusty helped him get up.
Meanwhile, Molly approached Ocellus. The little kitten was curious about the changelings ever since she met Thorax. “Um… hello,” Ocellus said. She felt awkward as Molly climbed onto her back, swiping her ear playfully. Chummer noticed her doing it and lifted his adopted daughter off the young changeling.
“Dad, let me go!” Molly groaned.
“Molly, it’s rude to just climb up creatures like that,” Chummer stated. He quickly drew his attention to Ocellus. “Sorry about that, kid. She's just that curious.”
“It’s alright, sir,” the young changeling replied. “We’ve had weirder things happen here before.” Molly was then released by her father and looked back at the changeling.
“So you shapeshift too?” Molly asked. “Thorax has told me about his kind when he met me.”
“Yes, I do. He has told me about you and the cats too, and I felt interested in knowing them. Now that you’re here, it’d be an opportunity to gain more understanding.” Ocellus smiled timidly. “Anyways, wanna see how I do it?”
“Yes, please!” So, in front of the little kitten’s eyes, she shapeshifted herself into her dragon form, which made her jaw drop.
“Not bad, kid,” Capper commented. “Can you try turning into us?”
“Hmm, let me try,” Ocellus said. With another flash surrounding her, the changeling had now morphed into a blue Abyssinian cat.
“So cool!” Molly applauded in amazement.
“I guess when you don’t have magic, it’s interesting for y’all,” Moss commented, “But it’s kind of a daily thing for us.”
“Like how you used yours as a fake ID to get that bloody book?” Tanzanite smirked. Moss’s eyes shrunk when hearing it.
“What does he mean by that?” Princess Skystar asked.
“Best to not know about it,” Kelpie warned with a shiver.
“So, you guys have your own stories?” Princess Ambrosia asked Sandbar, she was also being welcomed by the students. Amber and the other canines were as stunned as the guests with their hospitality.
“Several actually,” Sandbar explained. “What kind of stories do you have from your place?”
“They’re called Narra, which are similar to comics. They have many different series.” She then brought out a copy from her purse and showed it in front of them. “Here. This one’s the Black Rover, it’s one of my favorites. And this one is Issue #17. Not only that, there’s also Hound Jewel, another one of my favorites, and there’s even this old series I found called Fade, which was about invisible swordsmen fighting evil ghouls to protect the world.”
“They sound insane,” Terry commented.
“They are, but still fun,” the canine princess smiled.
“Sis,” Fiona whisperingly convinced, “How about something we’re more known for?”
“Oh, right! Go ahead.” Princess Fiona then opened up her purse to show off a few gemstones that were as big as her paws. The students were in awe, seeing the size of that shiny crystal rock. Even Flare couldn’t believe it in his own eyes.
“Whoa, look at the size of those!” Flare gasped. She was about to pick another up before Amber stopped him.
“Take it easy,” Amber warned. “Mother said we could only show these.”
“I know, do you think I’m just going to feed them these?” Fiona questioned.
“Wait a minute,” Gallus spoke. He, Silverstream, and the other griffons like Garry and Gus flew approaching the twins as he thought he recognized the gems they were holding. “Do those gems hold any unique powers?”
“Yes, they do. Check this out.” Amber grabbed the orange one from her purse and rubbed it, making it glow like a campfire. However, the shine was a bit brighter than what she had planned. This then ended up burning her paw with a visible luminous flame, yelping in pain. Jennino quickly ran over and quickly put it out to give her first aid.
“How about you hold onto the ice crystal for a while?” she suggested to the princess.
Amber did so, cooling her burn to relief. “How do you know about these gems, blue bird?” she asked Gallus.
“…Let’s just say… my parents had some experience with them,” the blue griffon said awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck.
“Best to be spoken less,” Silverstream noted. Several griffs agreed.
“Okay, move that troubled past outta the way,” Capper suggested. “Andy, you said you had something to show them?”
“Oh, indeed,” Andrew Fluffington noted. He quickly took out some magazines of their nation's railways. Rusty, who has an interest in locomotives, was excited when he saw these.
“Ooh, what are those?” he asked.
“Advertisements of three railways from Abyssinia.”
He showed a magazine showing off its newest express engine for the Fluffington Rail Network. The cover showed two concept models of their newest engine, one was in a familiar shade of light blue the other was a familiar chartreuse. Some of the other students took a peek at the cover, and Emerald noticed something on the blue engine, a nameplate that read, “Dragon Lord Ember.”
“You named the train after our Dragon Lord?” Emerald said in shock.
“That's right,” Shadow confirmed. “We’ve also had the other one named after King Thorax,” Shadow noted. “It was… the least we could do after our first encounter…” She felt a little awkward saying this as the other Abyssinians had a similar feeling.
“If that makes you feel better, our first impressions here weren’t off to a good start,” Smolder informed.
“I still planned on the first set of rules,” Gallus noted.
“Noted,” Shadow commented.
Skystar looked down at her pearl shard necklace before looking at the other creatures. “Hey, Silver,” she said, “Is there any place where we can have a good swim?”
“There’s a lake not too far from here,” Silverstream explained. “We can test these shards on them there.”
“Excuse me,” Capper questioned after hearing this.
“What’s wrong, Cap?” Chummer asked.
“Um… I can’t be the only one nervous to know what those things would do to us,” Chummer shivered.
“…Yeah, you have a point.”
“I think I’ll stay out of the swim,” Shadow admitted.
“If you preferred, Mrs. Fluffington,” Rarity said, “You could follow me to the Boutique. I’ve been wanting to come up with new inspirational designs of different kingdoms.”
“May I come along?” Princess Ocypete asked. “My family have been dying to get a new wardrobe.” The current outfit she wore had been cleaned but it was pretty raggy compared to what was considered fancy.
“Do not worry, I can fix that for you. Anyone else wants to join?”
“I’ll be tagging along,” Captain Celaeno proclaimed.
“Us too,” Jennino and Indiana added.
“Excellent,” Rarity proclaimed.
“We will be sticking around with the young lads,” Mullet proclaimed. “Ye never reckon what will happen.”
“Thank ye, Mullet,” the captain said. “We’ll meet again later.”
“Can I come with you?” Capper whispered. “I’m not too sure about becoming a catfish.”
“Ye’ll survive.” Captain Celaeno gave him a blink and then headed out alongside Ocypete, Rarity, Shadow, Andy, Jennino, and Indiana to the Boutique.
Capper was left with Chummer, Molly, and Max. “We’ll meet up with you later!” Chummer called, waving to his childhood friend. He then turned back to him, who still looked nervous. “So, were you saying something about… catfish?”
“You have pretty good hearing,” Capper commented.
“Gotta compensate for one-eyed vision.”
“So, you want to try out the shard on you guys?” Skystar asked.
“Yeah, let’s go!” Molly proclaimed. “I’M READY!”
“Let us get our swimsuits,” Fiona proclaimed. She quickly unpacked her suitcase as Fluttershy looked left and right.
“Um, Applejack, where did Zecora and her friends go?” Fluttershy asked.
“They headed over to Zecora’s hut to see what potions they can make,” Applejack explained. “Applebloom went with them.”
“Oh, then I hope they have an amazing time.” She looked around again to make sure someone else wasn’t there.
Zecora and Applebloom led her pals of Zebrat the way to the hut in the Everfree Forest. The zebras and camels weren’t too sure about the forest. “Are you sure this is the safest place to live?” Crystal asked. “It looks frightening for a residence.”
“It can get creepy at times,” Zecora admitted, “Just be sure to stay away from unknown beasts, any kind of strange slime.” The friends were being careful where they stepped as Zecora could see the hut coming up.
“There it is,” Applebloom proclaimed, pointing to Zecora’s hut straight ahead. She quickly ran with Zecora and her friends right behind her.
The zebra unlocked the door and let the guests enter the hut. Inside, it did look a bit small; it was almost similar to the huts back in Zebrat. They saw the caldron in the middle of the room while Zecora began to prepare cups of hot boiling tea for them.
“Wow, Zecora,” Cactus Rose commented, “I never knew you had a nice and organized place. Looks awesome.?
“Thank you,” Zecora replied, “Back when I moved close to Ponyville, they thought I was a witch, the one that would bring a curse to them, but after seeing what real danger happens downtown, I have seen worse.”
“She’s not wrong,” Applebloom agreed. “With a magic thief, a love leach, and a young evil genius, I don’t see what a zebra, like Zecora, could do.”
“Well, we could make those boom juice potions,” Dust Devil noted.
“…Right,” Zecora noted as she filled the teapot with water and tea leaves, and placed it over the fireplace to boil.
“So what kind of… scary things… you usually find in this forest?” Cactus Rose asked.
“Usually you’ll find timberwolves, giant hounds with timber wood instead of fur, or manticores, head and body of a lion and the tail of a scorpion,” Applebloom noted. “Once in a while, you’d find a cockatrice.”
“Aren’t those the chicken lizards things that turn victims into stone?” Marini asked.
“That’s right, but they usually show up only once every season,” Zecora noted, “Not likely to happen today or tomorrow, but you can worry for a good reason.” After a few minutes, the teapot wheezed its steam indicating that it was ready for drinking. Zecora then grabbed the teapot carefully and poured it into their cups for them to drink.
“I’ve got to say, those things kind of sound like the stuff we’d find in Ogres and Oubliettes,” Dust Devil commented.
“Yeah… They kind of do…” A loud thud was heard mauling Zecora and the rest paused and jumped.
“What was that!?” Cactus Rose shrieked.
They all peeked over to the window and saw yellow eyes peeking in.
“Eek! What in the world is that!?” Crystal questioned. The visitors didn’t know what that was, but Zecora knew and was annoyed.
“Pardon me for a moment,” she said. She headed outside and the yellow eyes disappeared as some shouting could be heard outside. Applebloom and Zecora’s old friends eavesdropped and were shocked by most of the things said.
“What is that thing?” Dust Devil asked.
“That’s Discord,” Applebloom explained with a sigh. “He’s someone my sister and her friends want to stay away from you and the others.”
“Why’s that?” Crystal asked.
“He has a way of… making chaos.”
“Did somebody say chaos?” Discord asked. Without warning he phased his head through the door, scaring Applebloom and Zecora’s friends until he opened the door, which seemed to catch the draconequus slam face-first into the wall beside the doorway. “Ow.”
“You have a few minutes to leave and say bye,” Zecora warned, “Don’t make me go and call Fluttershy!”
Discord pulled his head out of the door and quickly started walking outside. “Okay, let’s not get crazy,” he said, “I can try again another time. Maybe we could talk about O&O.”
“Ogres and Oubliettes?” Medley Brook asked.
“Yes, that one…”. Discord couldn’t continue as Zecora slammed the door in his face.
“I feel like I shouldn’t have the trouble you’ll soon see,” Zecora noted.
“You know about Ogres and Oubliettes?” Dusty Devil asked.
“...And of course, you didn’t listen to me.”
“Which we should be doing,” Crystal commented. “He isn’t giving me trustworthy feelings.”
“I’m also wanting to be on the side of caution,” Cactus Rose noted. “Listen, sir, we’re excited to meet someone who has an interest in that game, but we want to talk with our good friend. We haven’t had time with her in years.”
Discord sighed in frustration. “Fine,” he groaned, “I’ll just be on my way. Let me know when you’re interested.” With a snap of his fingers, Discord disappeared and the door closed.
“...Should we be worried about this?” Medley Brook asked.
“As long as you don’t give him attention, there shouldn’t be any distraction,” Zecora noted.
“How about we take our mind off him by making one of your potions?” Crystal suggested. This lightened up Zecora’s mood as she quickly started looking through her book to see what could be a good potion for them to make together. She quickly forgot about Discord and just focused on rebuilding bridges with her old pals.
Elsewhere, Amber, Fiona, and Moonbeam had gotten their swimwear on and followed Skystar, Silverstream, and various other students, most of whom were hippogriffs to the lake. Capper, Chummer, Molly, and Max were with them with the former feeling a little unsure.
“Are you okay?” Max asked.
“It’s the shards,” Capper admitted. “I don’t know what they’ll do with me.”
“Relax, the shards are completely safe,” Pinkie informed. She pointed towards Princess Skystar, who was staring at the large lake. With confidence, she jumped into the air and used her pearl shard to change herself into a seapony before splashing into the water. The other hippogriffs followed suit as some other students and Pinkie Pie jumped in.
Fiona slowly tried stepping into the water before Molly jumped in and splashed them with water. “Watch it!” Fiona groaned.
“Hey, you were going to get in anyways,” Moonbeam noted, “I’d say you were going too slow.”
Amber nodded before she cannonballed into the lake. She was underwater for a few moments and could already see the seaponies swimming. She gasped, letting her air bubbles escape before quickly swimming back up to the surface. After catching her breath, Skystar swam up to Molly and the twin diamond dogs.
“You want to have a real swim?” the seapony princess asked Amber.
“What do you mean?” Molly asked.
Silverstream stuck her head out of the water as Gallus appeared beside her. He was still a griffon for now, but the moment that Silverstream used her shard on him, he was now a seapony like Silverstream.
“Woah! So that’s what griffons turn into,” Skystar commented.
“And… we’re going to turn into a fish like that?” Fiona queried.
“Technically Gallus here seems to be themed after a shark or a dolphin,” Silverstream noted. She saw the rest of her friends show up and used her shard on them. Sandbar as a seapony, Smolder as a shark, Yona as a walrus, and Ocellus as a seal.
Molly and the twins were amazed at what they saw. “AMAZING! Do us now!” Molly proclaimed.
“Hold on… Will this affect our swimsuit?” Fiona asked.
“Probably, but we'll find out anyway,” Skystar suggested. “Get ready, fellas!” With a glow of her shard, Amber, Fiona, and Molly were engulfed by the magic, changing their bodies.
The bystanders shielded their eyes real quick before they saw the three creatures in the lake were gone. Capper and Chummer kneeled to get a closer inspection until a blonde sea lion poked its head out of the water.
Both cats jumped back in shock as the pirates saw the sea lion. “I think that be yer daughter, matey,” Boyle whispered.
“W…. What?” Chummer questioned.
“Hi, Dad,” Molly said, waving her flipper.
“Is that… what happens to us when the shard is used?” Capper asked.
“So what happens to Diamond Dogs?” Moonbeam asked. They would get their answer as two dogfish emerged from the water, one of which even got some air time before splashing back down.
“There they are,” Boyle noted.
Amber stuck her head out of the water before waving to them. “How do we look?” she asked.
“Dang… Pretty good for a couple of fish,” Moonbeam commented.
“Want to join us?” Skystar asked. “There’s enough room.”
“Hmm, I didn’t bring this thing for nothing.” Moonbeam dipped herself into the lake and the pearl shard was used on her to turn her into a dogfish just like the princesses.
Capper and Chummer weren’t too sure about it as they looked to see Max stepping in. “Come on, guys,” the big cat said. “That looks fun.”
“Listen, I know we’re over the anti-magic thing,” Chummer admitted, “I think I’m siding with Cap with this. I don’t wanna know what it feels to be a fish underwater.”
“Yeah, I think we’ll just stay here,” Capper added. “We don’t really have the clothes for this…”. He paused as they thought they heard some screeching noise. Both he and Chummer hardly had enough time to turn around before Squabble rammed into them, knocking them all into the water.
The moment they resurfaced, Skystar quickly used her pearl shard to change them into sea creatures, including Squabble. Chummer and Capper then saw their flippers as they were impressed with their push. “Seriously?” the one-eyed sea lion asked. Squabble just laughed as he and Skystar sank beneath the water.
“Well, we’re in here, we might as well enjoy it,” Capper shrugged. They turned towards Molly and the princesses, who dove down. Since they were already in this position, the newly changed sea creatures dove down after them.
The underwater dive was a new experience. It was so clear and they could breathe fine, despite being fully submerged. They could see the other students swimming around with Skystar. “This certainly is surreal,” Max commented.
“Hey, don't worry, you get used to it,” Gallus proclaimed as he swam past them. Amber and Fiona did their best to get used to swimming as aquatic mammals. Amber though seemed to have a difficult time as she ended up crashing onto the bottom of the lake.
Pinkie swam over to the diamond dogfish to give her some help. “Try copying my motions,” the seapony suggested. She swam around Amber for a little bit, demonstrating how to swim in a fish-like body.
Amber got back up and mimicked the pink seapony’s movements. She seemed to improve as the others were also getting the hang of it. Molly was giggling as she swam circles around the other sea lions.
Chummer got a little dizzy watching her swim around him as he unintentionally spun in a circle. Not to mention only having one eye didn’t help. Capper helped his buddy recover as he was getting used to being a sea lion.
“So I can confirm that Molly is enjoying the magic,” Capper noted.
“You could say that,” Chummer noted. He rubbed his head as he watched everybody swim around. “Do you know how Shadow will be doing with Rarity?”
“I’m sure they’ll be great. Kind of wish they were both here to experience this.”
“Yeah, but she’s taking on more responsibilities now. So are you.”
“True. I’m still figuring out which academy she’ll go to.”
“You too?” asked a voice. Moonbeam swam up to them as she had her knowledge to add. “I’ve heard Katherine’s planning on signing the girls up for a private school. Amber’s already gotten some pawball lessons with the castle staff.”
“Oh, you got pawball from where you were?” Capper asked.
“We’ve had ancient history, remember?” Chummer reminded me.
“What kind of history?” Ocellus asked. She took the dogfish and sea lions by surprise when the seal suddenly showed up. “Sorry about that.”
“Just…. Don’t do that again,” Capper warned. “Anyways, what were you saying?”
“I’m saying that Abyssinians and Caninians have had some history from what I learned. It goes way back, over a thousand years or so,” Chummer explained.
“I’ve heard about those stories too,” Moonbeam noted. “We had a major event over those years ago that made both dogs and cats quarrel. Ever since then, the majority of both sides have hated each other’s guts ever since.”
“Sounds about right,” Ocellus commented. “Others like the changelings and griffons have had bad conflicts in the past.” She began to explain her knowledge of the conflicts other creatures have had.
Meanwhile, Gallus had swam to the surface and poked his head out of the lake to look around, only seeing Fluttershy, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and the pirates. “Ye lookin’ fer something, lad?” Mullet asked.
“My parents for one,” Gallus explained, “Not to mention, Geena and Garry have said that they’d be here and I haven’t…” He paused as they heard some rustling noises from one of the trees close to the lake.
Looking towards the tree, two figures jumped out from the top, one blue and one orange. They appeared to be griffons as they both opened their wings as they landed beside the lake. Both of them were surprised to see the pirates. Two more griffons and a kobold, each one with a prosthetic limb joined the confused teens, something Boyle found interesting.
“Sorry we’re late,” Glynn apologized. “I was trying to schedule a job interview and I almost forgot about this and…”
“I was also responsible for slowing them down,” Quartz embarrassingly chucked. “I was training Geena and Garry here, so…”
“What’s going on here?” Garry asked. He couldn’t stop looking at the pirates, who he found strange being anthropomorphic birds. “Are you a different breed of griffon?”
“We be avians,” Mullet explained. “A group of maties who’ve escorted Princess Ocypete and her royal family to Canterlot.”
“Where are they now?” Gadget asked.
“They’re currently in Canterlot with the other delegations,” Rainbow Dash explained. “Princess Ocypete is at Rarity’s and the other three… right there.” She pointed towards the lake.
“One of which is Princess Skystar,” Gallus noted.
“And I’m guessing you’re all using the pearl shard,” Glynn commented.
“Yep. Wanna join us?”
“Heck yeah!” Glynn and Gadget stepped into the water with Gallus swimming down real quick before coming back with Silverstream so she could use the pearl shard to change the parents into seaponies. This was the first time Gadget had become one, so she felt a little odd.
“How the heck do you swim like this?” Gadget asked.
“It’s okay, Mom, it’s easy once you get the hang of it,” Gallus said. The family dove underwater as Quartz and the griffons stayed on land with the pirates as they were curious to know more about them.
“So, what kind of pirates are you?” Geena asked.
“We not exactly like the ol’-fashioned pirates,” Mullet explained. “We’ve been doing some of that in our early days but we aren’t as bad as certain ones back at Ornithia.”
“I think we get that feeling,” Quartz said. His ears twitched as he looked towards the lake. Molly shot out of the water, where the kobold jumped up to catch her. Both of them were surprised to see each other. “Hello there.”
“Hi,” Molly said. She looked towards the kobold’s back as she was placed on the ground. “Where are your wings?”
“I don’t have any, but I’m not a dragon.”
“But you look like one.”
“He’s a kobold,” Geena explained. “They’re sort of like… how can I describe them…? Diet dragons.”
“I guess that’s one way of putting it.” He looked toward the lake, where Capper and Chummer stuck their heads out. “I believe she’s yours?”
“Yes,” Chummer confirmed. “Thank you for asking.” Molly was placed back into the water as Quartz waved to Capper before he too dove back underwater.
“Have you seen him before?” Mullet asked.
“Yes, Capper’s been in Ponyville for a while,” Quartz explained. He looked towards Boyle, who kept looking at his leg. “Is there something about my leg you want to ask about?”
“Um…. Aye,” Boyle said, “Be that mechanical?”
“Yes. I lost my leg by decapitation to a team of gang of horrible criminals. Thankfully, my friend, Gadget, was able to build me a new limb.”
“So, can she build hands?”
“Yes, she has one herself. I think I can see why you’d like to have one too.” He looked at the hook hand the pirate had. “We can get you hooked up with a new hand, once she’s back on land.”
At the Boutique, Rarity was taking measurements of Princess Ocypete with Indiana and Jennino giving some assistance. “You have a very nice shop, Rarity,” Jennino commented.
“Thank you, Jenny,” the mare responded. “I was hoping we’d be able to make outfits together.”
“It could work as a way of showing our kingdoms working together,” Indiana commented.
“Ah, yes, that would be lovely,” Rarity said. “Let’s get planning on what would look good. Ms. Ocypete, would you care to join us?”
“Certainly,” the princess said. She turned over to Captain Celaeno, who was sitting with the Fluffingtons, along with some of the students who were curious about the railways in Abyssinia. “Celly, are you coming with me?”
The captain was a bit startled when she heard her nickname called. “Be right there,” she called. She walked away, leaving the students and Fluffingtons to check out the pictures of Abyssinia’s locomotives.
“Those engines look a lot smaller than the ones Equestria have,” Tanzanite commented.
“We don’t have many trains that are a mile long,” Shadow noted.
“I kind of like the designs of the engines here more than the ones here,” Gregoria admitted. “They have more style and color to them.”
“Thank you for noticing,” Andy Fluffington said, “With three different companies each having their regions, not all engines are going to be the same.” He then noticed that Rusty Wrench was taking a great interest in the locomotives with all of their shapes and sizes.
“What kind of functions are these engines built for?” the young colt asked.
“Most locomotives on our fleet are built for passenger work. Though we still have a few freight and mixed traffic engines.”
“What other companies are there?”
“Working with the Fluffington Rail Network are the Golden Runner Railway and the Highland Flying Railway.” Andy brought a small map of Abyssinia to show the three sectors of the railways.
“Doesn’t look as big as Equestria,” Terry commented. “But you seem to have a lot of tracks.”
“Most major cities like Lynxa and Féli, including Pantheria, have their own tram services for commuting and delivery services,” Shadow informed.
“I wish I could visit there someday,” Rusty admitted. “Such an interesting place to visit.”
“I’m hoping to attract more tourists to our country too,” Andy admitted. “An airship service from Canterlot to Manxton would be a benefit for several businesses.” He pointed to the one station that was close to the sea.
Fluttershy was interested, but she then noticed one of the mirrors in the boutique looked… odd. It was a big yellow eye. In a panic, she quickly tackled the mirror much to the surprise of the students and the Fluffingtons.
Before they could get a good look, Fluttershy shoved the funny mirror into a closet before she looked toward everyone who was confused. “I… thought I saw a bee,” she informed them. “I’ll take care of it.”
Went into the closet and some muffled yelling could be heard. The Fluffingtons were confused by this but Gregoria gave them the information. “She can talk to animals,” the griffon student explained.
“...Ooookay?” Shadow said, confused. Sulcus, one of the changelings in the group, tried turning into a bee so he could fly through the closet’s lock. When he came out, changed back to normal, and then whispered to Gregoria. The griffoness was surprised with what she was told.
“Should we warn them about this?” she asked.
“The professors said not to tell them he exists,” Sulcus reminded. “Stay quiet, and no trouble will be made.” Gregoria nodded.
Fluttershy then saw Rarity coming back, confused about what she was doing until she whispered it to her.
“Are there any issues with bees or bugs for that matter around here?” Andy asked.
“…You could say that,” Sulcus shrugged.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                   Who Let the Drac' In?                   
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Who Let the Drac' In?
After a nice yet interesting swim at the lake, everyone returned to land and returned to their original forms with the help of the hippogriffs. That experience was something they never felt once in their lifetime. Everything was going fine for now. Princesses Amber and Fiona took their towels and dried themselves.
“That was fun,” Amber said. “What a weird and amazing experience.”
“I agree,” Foina affirmed. “So… what now?”
Princess Skystar was about to respond but didn’t know exactly what to reply. She leaned towards her cousin, Silverstream, to whisper to her. “What should we do now?” the princess asked. “Are there any other activities we can do?”
“How about we play their home sport?” Silverstream quietly suggested. “It’s a nice way to appreciate their culture.”
“Like what?”
“Let me ask them,” Silverstream spoke up for her cousin and looked towards the Diamond Dogs. “Amber, Fiona, what games do you have back in Caninia?”
“We have Pawball,” Amber answered, “My mother is signing me up for a team and I’ve learned a couple of skills before arriving here.”
“You’ve got Pawball in your home too?” Molly asked. This was confusing to some of the creatures, who looked towards the visiting adults.
“Uhh… The Caninians and Abyssinians have a bit of a complicated history,” Moonbeam noted.
“Is it that important right now?”
“Not exactly. How about we explain it another time?”
“Yeah, we’re not in the mood for history,” Gallus admitted, “Just explain how your game works.”
“Gladly,” Amber proclaimed. “We need an open field and two goals.”
They headed back to the academy, where the visitors changed their swim gear into regular clothing, even though that was quite limited.
With some help from their professors, the students set up a small playing field for Pawball. “I wish Pinkie Pie was here,” Applejack muttered, “She has been told what this game is.”
“Actually… it’s kinda a familiar feeling to soccer,” Rainbow Dash commented. She and the farm pony looked at the goals on each end of the field, practically the same as a soccer goal. “Maybe it’s the same thing, but they just call it differently where they’re from.” They just shrugged this confusing fact off as they had the girls starting to prepare their teams, having it as home vs guests.
“So, we play the same way as yours,” Molly asked, “or should we play generally?”
“I’m pretty sure generally,” Amber guessed.
“This doesn’t seem too difficult for us to learn,” Geena commented. “So you ready to play?”
“Ye okay if you like,” Boyle said. “I’ll see if I can get a new hand.” He left with Gadget, who was waving goodbye to Gallus.
“We’ll be back soon,” she proclaimed. “This should be easy, I have a couple of spares lying around just in case.”
Gallus waved back to his mom, hoping she’d return soon. “Okay, enough stalling, let’s have some fun.”
“Agreed!” Amber proclaimed. Once the ball was placed between them, she punted it away towards the home’s goal.
However, Garry thought fast, kicking the ball away, and passing it to Berry Bliss. Molly attempted to tackle him to bring back the ball, but the orange griffon kicked it over to Yona. It looked like the home team would have the first goal if it wasn’t for Amber running in and swiping the ball from the yak. The Diamond Dog maneuvered around the opposing team and managed to kick the ball into their goal. Amber pumped her in victory as the home creatures felt like they were going to have to take this seriously. The next time the ball was kicked, Geena didn’t hesitate to kick it straight to the opposing goal.
Squabble was already there as the goalie. With a quick headbutt, he launched the ball back the way it came. Some students swore the ball created flames like it was entering reentry speeds. While the speed was impressive, Squabble accuracy was off and the ball went sailing over the goal and into the nearby trees.
“Damn it, Squabble,” Mullet muttered.
“We’ll get it,” Skystar proclaimed. She, Silverstream, and Smolder went into the trees to see where it went. As they searched, Smolder quickly noticed one of those trees had two yellow and red eyes.
“You gotta be kiddin’!” Smolder muttered quietly. “We told you to beat it!” She looked to see that Princess Skystar had not noticed, but she saw that Moonbeam had joined in with the search for the missing ball, sniffing the ground for its scent. Worried about them finding this unusual tree, she quickly breathed out fire on it. Instead of burning down, the tree shot off like a rocket with a painful yelp being heard before it flew so high it had a shine in the sky. Everyone who didn’t see it happen came over to Smolder, confused.
“What in the world was that noise?” Skystar asked.
“Um… I saw a spider,” Smolder fibbed. “I… have arachnophobia.”
“Hold on… wasn’t there a tree a minute ago?” Moonbeam asked. “I could’ve sworn there is one here on this exact spot you’re standing on.” Smolder couldn’t think of an answer, which she wouldn’t have to as the ball landed right in front of her from the sky.
“There it is,” Silverstream commented. She grabbed the ball and whispered something to her dragon friend before they tried returning to their game.
However, when they returned to the playing field, the other guests had something to say. “Did anyone else see that?”
“Which one?”
“A tree flying off with a scream?” Max asked.
“What, you don’t have those in your home?” Dash lyingly asked. Applejack just looked at her from how dumb that sounded.
“No, we don’t,” Chummer noted. “That’s a normal thing, right?”
“Um, hey, Chummer, why don’t we go to the boutique to check on Shadow,” Capper suggested.
“Sure, I have been curious to see more of Rarity too.” He looked around until he found Molly getting ready for the next play on the field. “Hey, Molly, we’re going to check on Shadow downtown. You stay there and be good until we get back.”
“Yes, dad,” Molly replied. After exchanging this knowledge, Capper and Chummer left towards the boutique, still a bit puzzled about that tree going flying in the air.
They made it to the boutique, they saw that Rarity was working on Princess Ocypete’s brand-new dress. Even though it looked like it was half-finished, the dress was looking better than the former she had back in New Ornithia. Rarity’s attention was soon drawn to her store bell ringing.
“Oh, Capper,” the mare exclaimed, “Glad you make it over. How are the visitors doing?”
“Better than I thought it would,” Capper admitted. “Where’s Shadow?”
“She’s upstairs looking at some sketches with Fluttershy. Pinkie Pie meanwhile took her students to Sugarcube Corner to get desserts prepared for the banquet tonight.”
“Great, we’re just here to check on her.” He walked past the mare and avians upstairs with Chummer following him.
Upstairs, Shadow was sitting down as she and her husband glanced at some sketches that Indiana and Jennino were making of their clothing. “Any particular color you two would like?” Jennino asked.
“Green and purple are our usual colors,” Andy Fluffington replied.
“Well, you guys do look exquisite,” Indiana commented. “How are you feeling, Mrs. Fluffington?”
“I’m feeling fine,” Shadow commented. “I’ve gotten past the morning sickness.”
“It’s still an amazing thing that you’re doing,” Fluttershy commented. “Are you nervous?”
“…A little. I only want to help give anyone a better life.”
“Aw, that’s so sweet,” Jennino cooed. They heard a knock on the door.
“Occupied?” asked a familiar voice.
“Capper, is that you?” Shadow asked.
“It’s me.”
“Come in.” The door opened up allowing Capper and Chummer to walk inside, happy to see their old friend. “Boys, how are the others doing?”
“So far so good,” Chummer answered. “We had a… unique experience swimming at the lake thanks to the hippogriffs.”
“Nice! Did you use the pearl shard?” Fluttershy asked.
“Yep, and we’ll be sure to bring you guys one if you want to be a sea lion.”
“I’ll wait a couple of months,” Shadow admitted. “I don’t know how magic would affect my kitten.”
“I don’t blame you there,” Chummer commented. “It did feel weird changing between two forms.”
“The changelings would be used to something like that,” Jennino commented. “Don’t you find those creatures troublesome?”
“Way before, we do. Ever since the reform not so long ago, many now see them in a very positive light, even for the ponies of Canterlot. Although, there’s one case I can recall,” Fluttershy proclaimed. “Some students tried to buy a book too mature for… Them.” Fluttershy paused as she saw Jennino looking out the window. “What are you doing?”
“I smell something burning,” Jennino explained. Her ears twitched as she then looked up and then gasped. “What is that?”
Fluttershy came to look at what she saw. In the air, a smoky object was flying toward the boutique. “Take cover!” Everyone in the room was in for a shock as they dodged the object crashing into the room, knocking over several bits of furniture.
“What in the hell!?” Indiana gasped. They went close, and the creature stood up and recovered, making the guests jump in fright. The reaction he had was a mixture of confusion and frustration from Fluttershy’s side. The thing was some Frankenstein-esque creature with a deer leg, lion’s paw, snake tail, and various other parts. He groaned as he stood up and looked at the creatures.
“Hello there, friendly felines,” he said casually.
Capper looked to Fluttershy, who was just disappointed as everyone else was confused beyond belief. “What the…?” Chummer questioned.
“This… Is Discord,” Fluttershy explained, with a deadpanned tone. She flew up to the draconequus, who quickly held his claws up.
“I can explain,” he proclaimed.
“Discord, we told you, multiple times, not to get involved with them.”
“Well, I was only just watching until Smolder decided to burn my butt.” He showed the smoky bits on his tail end.
“You were spying on them. Did you interact with any of them?”
“I didn’t get close to any of the kids.” Discord crossed his arms as Fluttershy simply raised an eyebrow, making him spill the beans. “Okay, I spoke with Zecora and her old friends. They were interested in O&O, Zecora’s the one who shooed me out of her hut!”
“You still were told to stay away from the visitors.”
“Couldn’t he just watch on the sidelines and act normal?” Indiana asked.
“No, that will kill me… literary,” Discord proclaimed, “I’m the Lord of Chaos for a reason! It’d be like a fish drying itself off. Seriously, I will fade out of existence if I don’t act chaotic.”
“Is that true?” Shadow asked, whispering to Fluttershy. The mare simply nodded as she remembered that near miss.
“I mean… if you’ve got a medical condition, you have to do something,” Indiana noted, “You should do what’s recommended for survival.”
“Exactly,” Discord confirmed. “It’s what I do.”
“You only need to have more control of it,” Fluttershy said.
“You’re basically asking Pinkie Pie to be subtle.”
“…Good point,” Indiana added.
“Listen, Flutters,” Capper spoke, “I’m sure that you can find some way to get him and the kids involved. I mean, those six love those O&O sessions.”
“Oh, yes,” Discord proclaimed, “Perhaps it’s something I could introduce to them.” Suddenly, he got smacked from behind. He found that Rarity had walked in with a broom, which is what she used to hit him.
“Do we have a children’s book to help explain what YOU should do?” Rarity questioned, smacking the draconequus with the broom again.
“Come on, Rare,” Capper said, “They’ve already seen him and we’ve been told about his medical condition.”
“Plus… I do want to see what he can do,” Jennino added.
“Ask and you shall receive,” Discord proclaimed. With a snap of his fingers, Rarity’s broom flipped out of her grip and started walking on its bristles before chasing the mare downstairs. They both passed Celaeno and Ocypete, who were coming upstairs. Confused, they went to ask questions of the creatures upstairs.
“Say, we’re the only ones who saw a sentient broom run past…. Shiver me timbers!” Celaeno quickly drew her sword at the sight of Discord.
“Should I begin making business cards?” Discord questioned. “I’m getting tired of explaining.”
Rarity soon came back into the room, tossing an ax she had carried with her to the side. “Fluttershy, you owe me a new broom,” she muttered. “And I’m only asking you because I don’t trust HIM!”
“To be fair, you did smack him first,” Chummer proclaimed.
“Yeah, listen to the one-eyed cop, he knows about things I don’t care about,” Discord proclaimed. “You get your flank toasted and tell me you’d be in a good mood.” He flicked Rarity’s horn, making the mare angry.
Fluttershy and Capper helped to keep the two apart so a fight wouldn’t break out. “Listen, how about we talk about what we can do for the youngsters instead?” Capper suggested.
Discord thought about it for a little bit before he saw Fluttershy giving him a look. “Don’t get carried away,” she noted.
“Okay, but only because you asked nicely. I’ll meet you all at the school!” Discord tapped on a rug on the floor, which brought up an elevator to which he stepped in. The second the elevator went down, the rug returned to normal, even with Celaeno checking underneath it to see if the floor had returned to normal.
“You get used to this after a while,” Rarity noted.
Back at the school, Gadget and Boyle were returning now that the pirate now had a new robotic hand where his hook was. “So anything I should know about before the crew and I leave?” Boyle asked.
“Be sure to keep a spare power gem nearby,” Gadget advised. “Without it, you might as well go back to the hook.”
“Aye.” They both looked to see the students still outside of the school, looking fairly bored. Pinkie had returned and was trying to think of fun activities to try. However, it didn’t seem like they were having much luck.
Gallus flew over to his mother looking a little desperate. “Hey mom, you’ve got any fun ideas?” he asked.
“Not too sure,” Gadget admitted, “Isn’t Pinkie the one who’s an expert on that?”
“She’s kind of limited with options chosen by Princess Twilight.” The griffons looked to see the pink pony looking at her limited list.
“Did she learn nothing from the school’s first year?” Pinkie questioned.
“We could use a spell so they could see Cloudsdale,” Rainbow Dash suggested.
“Not after last time,” Yona proclaimed.
“That was because of someone tampering with magic.”
“What kind of tampering?” Amber asked.
“Long story,” Pinkie explained.
Boyle and the griffons could tell things were getting bad fast. “Boyle, nice arm,” Celaeno called. They looked to see the creatures from Rarity’s Boutique returning, some looking more delightful than others.
Many creatures were amazed by Princess Ocypete’s new dress that Rarity had designed. “Your majesty,” Mullet gasped, “You look… Splendid.”
“Thank you,” Ocypete commented, giving a bow. “Thank you again for this Rarity.”
“It’s my pleasure,” the generous mare replied. “It was one of the things I could control.”
“What do you mean by that?” Mullet asked.
Rarity glanced at Fluttershy who knew she was going to have to tell the visitors about someone. Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie had a feeling they knew who it was.
“Didn’t Twilight tell us not to tell them about him?” Rainbow Dash questioned.
“He said that Smolder burned his tail,” Fluttershy said.
“That happened?” Pinkie asked.
“It’s true. I might not take damage when I want, but I still feel the pain,” came a voice. Everyone looked around to figure out who said that.
“Who’s there?” Fiona asked.
“The most irritating creature in all of Equestria,” Applejack proclaimed.
“I find that offensive,” called the voice, “It’s obvious Zepher Breeze.”
“Discord!” Fluttershy groaned. Suddenly, the entire era went dark with the only light source looking to be a spotlight coming from the sun. The ponies looked towards where the light was pointing as everyone else was just confused.
“Ladies and gentlemen!” called the voice, “Forget your boredom and embrace the chaos!” A large cloud of smoke irrupted, covering practically everything. When things cleared up, a stage appeared out of nowhere. The stage fireworks go off with lit-up letters spelling out “DISCORD.” Fluttershy and Rarity glanced at each other, worried about what would happen while the other three mares could see where this was going.
“Hello, all creatures,” called a voice, “I’d like to welcome you all to Equestria and meet the creature who’s the most creative, funniest, and most importantly… CHAOTIC!” Discord laughed as he suddenly appeared on the stage.
The visiting creatures were shocked by the sight of the draconequus. “What the Taurus is that thing?” Mullet questioned.
“This… Is Discord,” Rainbow Dash explained.
“Spirit of chaos, at your service,” the draconequus said. He suddenly appeared between the Pegasus and the pirate, startling the latter a little bit.
“Is he usually like this?” Skystar asked.
“All the time,” Gallus informed.
“He’s not that bad when you get to know him,” Silverstream said, “He’s good at hosting Ogres and Oubliette sessions.”
“Oh, thank you, Silverstream,” Discord said, “It’s about time someone other than Fluttershy supported me…”
“Oh hey, he’s back,” called a voice. Everyone looked to see Applebloom and the creatures from Zebrat walking up to the group.
Zecora didn’t seem happy to see the draconequus again. “I thought you were supposed to stay away,” she muttered, “Don’t make me get the princess so that you can pay.”
“Oh, Zecora, I have a medical exception to this,” Discord proclaimed, “Besides, I’m not bringing my A material here today.”
“What material do you have?” Pinkie asked.
“Oh, I’m glad someone wants to give me a chance. I just need you and one of the visitors.”
“This trick is going to be safe, right?” Amber asked.
“Sure, it will.” He pulled out a mirror, like one you’d find in a fun house. When he placed it in front of Amber, she didn’t see anything too different about it. The princess wasn’t too impressed until Pinkie walked in front of it.
Instead of seeing a pink pony looking back in her reflection, there looked to be a pink corgi looking back. “Whoa! Is that me?” Pinkie questioned.
“Indeed, it is my pink pooch,” Discord noted. “I heard about your new friends visiting so I thought I’d do some work based on those gems the kingdom leaders had.”
“What gems?” Smolder questioned.
“One’s a story for another day. Right now, I’ve got a lot of mirrors to share.” He quickly started launching out mirrors like he was passing out a deck of cards. When the mirrors hid the ground, they changed into a position similar to the dog-themed mirror.
Peridot the dragon and Grace the griffon looked at one of the mirrors they were close to see what they would look like. To their surprise, this mirror showed them both what they looked like as yaks. “Whoa! Dotta check this out!” Grace called. The student who was an actual yak walked up to see what her friends were looking at.
“Ooh, friends look like yak,” she commented. Capper and Rarity were both curious about this and looked at one mirror that showed them as hippogriffs.
“Oh my,” Rarity gasped, “Capper, look at us.”
“I’ll say,” Capper agreed. He looked over to where Chummer and Shadow were, mostly confused about what Discord was. “Oi, check this out!”
Chummer and Shadow walked over to where their old friend was standing and were surprised at how they looked at hippogriffs. Chummer was puzzled while they were standing bipedally, their hippogriff reflections were quadruped. “How on earth does he make this work?” he questioned.
“The trick is to take logic out of the equation,” Rarity noted.
“He is real good with his designs,” Shadow commented, looking at her hippogriff form.
At another mirror, Captain Celaeno was looking at a griffon-themed mirror along with Silverstream and Skystar. “Heh, I’ve always wanted to know what I look like as a griffon,” Silverstream said.
“It’s kind of odd we don’t have our manes like this,” Skystar admitted.
“Aye, it’s surreal,” Celaeno agreed. Everyone seemed to be having fun looking at the various mirrors. Eventually, Crystal and Dust Devil walked over to Discord, who admired his handiwork.
“Excuse us,” Dust Devil said, “Did you say that you played Ogres & Oublettes?”
“Wise yes,” Discord confirmed. He snapped his fingers and quickly had a green tunic on, along with a long blonde wig, a quiver on his back, and a bow in his claw. The two creatures were amazed by his style as Captain Wuzz. “What do you think?”
The two friends glanced at each other as they were getting an excited idea. “Can you do the same for us?” they asked.
“Oh, I thought you’d never ask.” Discord dashed away towards Twilight’s castle with Gallus flying up to the camel and zebra with curiosity. “So, you’re into O&O too?” he asked.
“We used to play it all the time when we were young,” Crystal noted. “It’ll be so fun to play this game with Zecora like the old days. Wish Marini could be here.”
“I’m sure we can help bring some fun to the table for us.”
“You used to play that too?” Dust Devil asked.
“You could say that.” The sound of trumpets could be heard, grabbing everyone’s attention to the castle. The doors swung open leading a red carpet to roll out.
Gallus signaled for the Young Six to follow him into the castle and lead the others inside. Glynn and Gadget were a little unsure about what was happening.
“Gallus, are you sure about that?” Glynn questioned.
“Dad, relax, we’ve done this before,” Gallus proclaimed while he flew into the castle backward. Fluttershy peaked inside to see if the students were okay, before coming out a few moments later.
“Zecora, you and your friends are going to enjoy this,” she proclaimed. Fluttershy looked calm as Zecora and her old friends from Zebrat walked inside the castle to see it was now a fantasy land right out of Ogre and Oubliettes. Zecora and her friends were amazed as was everybody else.
“This looks just like the books we’ve read,” Cactus Rose commented.
“This is incredible!” Dust Devil gasped.
“Oh, thank you,” Discord said, “I’m used to hearing that. Now, do you want to see your competition?” He pointed over to the Young Six, who had gotten dressed up as their O&O classes.
“Ready for an adventure?” Gallus asked, preparing his bow.
Zecora smiled as she walked forward through some sort of forcefield that gave her a cloak with a saddle bag filled with various potions. She looked back at her friends, who had clothing staffs, and weapons just like the ones in the classes they played.
“This experience is quite surreal is more than I can say,” Zecora admitted, “But I don’t see how we resist not to play. Discord might have a patchy record, yet he still knows how to have fun, so whatever kind of challenge that you’ve got, bring it on!” Zecora pulled out a potion she recognized and threw it to the Young Six.
Gallus quickly fired his arrow, piercing the bottle, and making it explode due to its contents. Dust Devil suddenly ran in and swiped some of the griffon's arrows, making Silverstream fly into action. “So, how’s a thief V thief?” the hippogriff asked.
“You think that you can keep up with my speed?” Dust Devil asked.
“I don’t know, what’s in this bag?” Dust Devil once they saw Silverstream had snatched their bag away along with Gallus’s arrows before flying away.
Discord started making some bleachers for the rest of the creatures to sit back and watch. Some were a little perplexed with how the game worked. “So, what’s with all of the different outfits and tools they have?” Indiana questioned.
“Those are different classes in O&O,” Kelpie explained. “There are mages, swordsmen, brawlers, and a lot more I can’t keep track of.” A book about Ogres and Oubliettes appeared right in front of the young hippogriff thanks to Discord.
The audience chatted about the game either how they played or what O&O was. Things were going well until Smolder caught one of the explosive potions that Zecora threw and tossed it out the window. “...Oops,” the dragoness muttered.
“Discord could you stop that bottle?” Fluttershy asked.
“I’m on it,” the draconequus responded. He quickly teleported away to catch the bottle before it hit anything.
Back in Canterlot, Twilight was finishing the meeting with the kingdoms’ various leaders. “I believe we’ve got also everything set,” Twilight proclaimed.
“I am glad, but I’m still not sure about having connections with Abyssinia,” Queen Katherina noted.
“I know there will be some controversy, but if it’s introduced slowly, it should work.”
Queen Gilda was about to speak up when she saw something out the window. “Pardon me, …what’s that red thing flying towards us?” she asked concerned.
Everyone looked out the window to see the explosive potion flying towards them. A panic was about to start until a baseball glove suddenly got the bottle before it could crash through the window. This was confusing until a familiar chaotic face pulled up.
“Don’t mind me,” Discord said, “Just had some fun that got carried away. Continue with your boring leader stuff.” And just as soon as he appeared, his vanished with a snap of his fingers.
“...Novo, who was that?” King Thamus questioned.
“You think I know?” the hippogriff queen replied.
“That… is Discord,” Thorax commented.
“Who?” Marini asked.
“He’s the spirit of chaos,” Spike explained, “But… he’s not supposed to be here.” He looked towards Twilight, who had an eye twitch from her anger.
“...I’ll be right back,” she proclaimed. She quickly teleported away, making Spike feel a little worried.
“I better go after her.” He quickly flew to the exit of the castle as the other creatures were wondering if they should follow to Ponyville too.
Author's Note
Sorry this one took so long everyone, but life tends to get in the way of things.

//-------------------------------------------------------//
                      Chaos Carnival                       
//-------------------------------------------------------//
Chaos Carnival
After he prevented the catastrophe from happening, Discord quickly teleported back to the bleachers before sitting next to Fluttershy. He still had his baseball glove on, with a bottle he was still holding like he had caught a foul ball. The game was still ongoing, with Zecora’s team struggling since they were low-one members.
“So you're able to stop it?” Fluttershy asked.
“Got it right here,” Discord proclaimed, showing his lucky catch. “And uhh…, somebody might be dropping by in a minute.”
“Who’s coming?” instantly, Twilight teleported in front of them getting right into Discord’s face, who barely flinched.
“Her,” he pointed.
“Discord!” Twilight roared. “What did I tell you about staying away from our visitors!?”
“Let me remind you,” he gestured his paw before her face. “I stopped that bottle from making your castle go WAPOW, and the destruction that comes after.” The princess was about to speak up again, but Discord stopped her. “And before you say I was the one who nearly blew it up, it was a misfire from Smolder.”
“Oh no, don’t you dare shift the blame on me!” Smolder cried.
Princess Twilight glanced at her former castle, which had been set into an O&O set for LARPing. “Fluttershy, I thought you said you would keep him in line.”
“I did,” Fluttershy replied, “but I can’t control everything he does. Besides, Discord won’t exist if he doesn’t act chaotic.”
“Plus, the visitors of Zebrat are enjoying it,” Discord added. He pointed back to the game, where it looked like the Young Six had the edge.
“Can we have a time-out?” Cactus Rose asked, “I think there’s something important going on.”
The visitors of Zebrat and the Young Six stopped what they were doing as they saw Twilight angrily staring Discord down with Fluttershy trying to calm things down.
Thankfully, Spike flew in, fairly out of breath from how soon he had to get from Canterlot to Ponyville. “Hold on,” he panted, “Twilight, I’m sure that Discord…” He paused when he saw what Discord had done. “Wow, you’ve been having fun.”
“Thank you,” Discord said, “Glad someone here appreciates what I’m doing here.”
“Discord, if you had hurt any of the visitors…!” Twilight cried.
“He didn’t,” Melody Brook called. “We’re actually having fun.”
“Yes!” Dust Devil agreed. Twilight was perplexed until Discord turned her head to make her look at the rest of the creatures sitting on the bleachers. Most of them were talking amongst themselves about various stuff. Rarity was having a chat with Indiana and Jennino about various fashion designs, Capper, Chummer, and Shadow were talking about old times, Andy was helping to show more engines on Absynina’s railways, and Boyle was also showing off his new arm thanks to Gadget.
“If you must know, Princess,” Discord said, “I’ve only been watching them up till now. I don’t want this to drag out into multiple chapters, so I’ll let you know while I have had ups and downs, the same could be said for you.” With a smirk on his face and a snap of his fingers, Discord summoned a floating holographic screen with footage of Applebloom and her friends playing catch until Twilight teleported in, bursting their ball in the process.
“Hi, girls!” Twilight said, looking like she was on the brink of insanity.
Everyone looked to watch this and was mostly confused. The ponies, however, knew what was happening, especially Applebloom, who remembered vividly that incident. “Oh, boy, not this,” Applebloom sighed.
“What be… goin’ on there?” Captain Celaeno asked.
“Twilight was running late with a friendship report and tried to make a problem so she could make a report,” Rainbow Dash explained. They took a glimpse at the flashback with Twilight using the I-Want-It-Need-It spell on her old donkey doll, with the CMC loving it too much. And most of Ponyville too.
“Heh, wished I had some popcorn to watch this,” Capper chuckled as he watched the chaos ensue. It was humorous to some, but Twilight had already seen enough.
“Okay, we get the picture,” Twilight responded, “Cut the film.”
“Alright, fine,” Discord groaned. He cut the film while slipping a film realm away behind the bleacher. “You do know you stopped before my favorite part.”
“I think you should get to the point,” Spike stated, not wanting any conflict.
“How about we have the other leaders decide on that?” The Draconequus pointed to the front of the castle, where the rest of the Kingdom Leaders were located. All of them, especially the newcomers, were shocked to see what Discord was capable of. Thorax seemed to be the only one calm about this.
“Hi, Discord,” the changeling king said.
“Hello, again, Thorax,” the draconequus responded, “Long time no see. How are you and Ember doing together?”
Ember blushed a little bit as this felt too personal. Novo was quick to butt in. “I know they’ve been a couple for a while, but what’s with you and Fluttershy taking so long?” she asked with a bit of sass.
Discord wasn’t expecting this response, nor did he expect to hear most of the students failing to hide their laughter, including Gallus and Smolder. “I miss the days when there weren’t so many creatures with sass,” he grumbled.
“Explain what’s going on here,” Gilda requested.
“We were having a live-action role-play session of Ogres & Oublettes,” Crystal said. This got Marini very interested. While the other creatures wanted to know what was going on, the zebra tribe leader tried sneaking over to her friends to join in.
When she did, she passed through some wave that instantly gave her a suit of armor and a new sword. “Whoa!” she gasped, “Did he do this?”
“Discord can often cause some annoyance here and there,” Zecora admitted, “We’re happy that you’re here now, so our game will be more fair.” Both zebra looked back to the Young Six, now that their teams were even.
“So, do you want to carry on?” Sandbar asked.
Zecora and her friends looked to a confident Marini, who held up her sword. “En garde!” she proclaimed. The battle continued now with Marini in a clash with Sandbar. Both of them clashed their swords together as the creatures from Zebrat now had an even chance.
“That looks fun,” Ember commented, watching the battle unfold.
“Yeah, Spike’s told me about this O&O thing before,” Thorax said, “and I never had a good chance to try it before.”
“Well once their session’s over, I’ll prepare you a match,” Discord proclaimed.
“Are you doing this to all of the students?” Twilight questioned.
“Of course not. I’ve planned to return my old maze from when we first met.”
“Without any mind games?” Fluttershy reminded.
Discord took a minute before he responded. “Okay, I might need to work out a few bugs.” Fluttershy raised an eyebrow as she wasn’t sure if this was trustworthy. “What? I haven’t used that maze in years, okay?” Discord pulled out a map of his maze, which was about his size.
“So what exactly have you got planned, Discord?” Spike asked.
“Well, I’ve already planned a simple house of mirrors… like this” He summoned one of the mirrors again, one that made Spike look like a Pegasus.
“Woah, impressive!” Thorax and Ember took a look in the mirror, seeing what looked like a unicorn and a Pegasus.
“How does this work?” Ember questioned.
“I think you throw out logic once Discord is involved,” Thorax guessed.
“If you think that’s good, take a look at this.” He flipped the mirror around and now it showed them all as changelings. This didn’t mean much to Thorax, but for the dragons, it was a surprise.
“Is that what I look like as a changeling?” Ember questioned. She glanced towards Thorax, who looked to have been blushing when he saw Ember’s reflection.
“I think you look good as a changeling,” Thorax commented feeling flustered.
“By the way, Dragon Lord,” Discord said, “I’ve heard about your little adventure with Rutherford and Wilbert and I’ve been thinking about how big dragons get.”
“What?” Ember questioned.
“Well, we’ve had an issue with dragons at the school. Not to be offensive, but it’s their sizes that are the problem.”
“You mean with the parents?”
“Exactly. I’ve prepared a demonstration for you to see.” Discord snapped his fingers again, teleporting himself, Fluttershy, Spike, Starlight, Twilight, Thorax, and Ember away. This left the other leaders to sit and watch the show.
Novo took this chance to sit down with her daughter and check in on her. “So, how was Ponyville so far?” she asked.
Discord and the six creatures were taken into the school’s teacher’s lounge as he prepared a short film.
On the screen, it showed a couple of pictures of the young six and their parents. “You know that height isn’t much of an issue for students and their parents,” Discord explained, “But there are the dragons.” He showed a picture of Smolder and her parents.
Unlike the other students who were side by side with their parents, Smolder was up in the air flying next to her parents’ heads giving an example of the sheer differences in size. “Most dragons care about their children and thus want to participate, but their size is a real problem. But thankfully their leader Dragon Lord Ember has found a solution.”
He then showed the topaz responsible for her and the other two leaders going on a small misadventure. “The Incredible Shrinking Topaz.” A clone of Discord showed up on the screen and attached a larger necklace that was the size of a birthday banner before carrying it over a dragon, looking like the one responsible for spreading smoke across Equestria.
“With the TIST you’ll be able to be your big mighty self or more down to earth with your children.” Discord’s clones helped place the collar around the dragon with the topaz on the front. “Just simply wear the TIST and tap on the gemstone like a button.” The dragon did this exact action as Discord explained. This caused the dragon to glow as it quickly began to shrink.
It showed a pony, a hippogriff, and a yak nearby watching the dragon shrink down to their size. The dragon was now about Discord’s regular height as the said draconequus popped up again. “Now you and your little friends don’t have to worry about you being thirty times their size. And it’ll especially be help for things for your children, like parent-teacher conferences or something you’d actually enjoy like school plays.”
The creatures watching the video were very interested. “This actually would be pretty helpful,” Starlight commented. “We’ve had issues with the dragons taking up space outside of the school and ponies complaining about them getting in the way from their last meeting.”
“Plus smaller bodies mean they won’t have to worry about hunting as much food, right?” Thorax asked.
“That’s true,” Ember confirmed. “Most dragons also ask me to help check their kids, so if they can shrink down to their size it could help in the long run.”
“Is there any catch?” Twilight asked.
“Oh come on Twilight,” Spike said, “Discord’s brought Fluttershy here. What would he gain from lying to her?”
“It’s true,” Discord said, “I learned my lesson after the map.”
“How’d that go?” Thorax asked.
Discord simply glanced at Fluttershy, who gave him a low brow. “You don’t wanna know. What should be known is that the TIST works. Observe.” Snapping his fingers, Discord summoned a Ursa Minor, who looked rather confused.
“Discord,” Fluttershy said sternly.
“I’ll put him back after the demonstration. Now who wants to put this collar on him?” Discord showed the banner-sized collar that has the topaz on the front.
Spike and the others looked over to Ember, who seemed to be the only one brave enough to put the collar on the Ursa Minor. She managed to fit it on with little issue and clicked the collar to keep it in place.
“Okay, now what?” Ember questioned.
“Just press the gem, like in the demonstration.” The Dragon Lord did so, and the second she did the Ursa Minor shrank in seconds until it was Spike’s size. “And presto! You have yourself a new little teddy bear.”
Discord petted the little bear, which didn’t hesitate to bite his claw off. “You probably should’ve seen the coming,” Spike noted.
Fluttershy helped to take care of the Ursa Minor as Discord pulled out a new claw and just placed it on the stub. “Well, I think we’ve seen enough here,” the draconequus said, “Shall we return to the castle?”
“I think that would be wise,” Fluttershy said. “After you turn this little one back to normal.”
“Okay, fine, but only because you ask nicely.” Discord changed the Ursa minor back to its regular size before sending it back to where he found it, then he teleported all of them back to the castle.
When they got back, they could see the fight was over with the Young Six being victorious. “Gotta say it was nice to have a battle,” Smolder said.
“Yeah, it was,” Dust Devil cheered, “We should try this again sometime.”
“I’m curious about those mirrors,” Medley Brook said, “How did they work again?”
“Oh, let me show you,” Discord said, pulling out the mirror again. This mirror showed them what they’d look like as seaponies.
“Wow!” Medley gasped.
Silverstream looked at the mirror, only to be disappointed it only showed seaponies. She then flew over to Discord. “You think you could make this into a house of mirrors?” she asked.
“Actually, yes,” Discord responded. He then quickly pulled out a blueprint before unfolding it to the point it was taller than himself. “Now I was planning on the house of mirrors with the old maze.”
“What’s in the maze?”
“Oh, that’s what I showed Twilight and her friends when we first met.”
“One where you messed with us,” Twilight muttered.
“And you followed the rules so much that the students literally crashed the party,” Discord reminded. “No offense, kid.” Silverstream shrugged as she remembered when she and her friends first ditched class.
“So what else were you planning?” the excited hippogriff asked.
“Let’s see, I plan on having a target game. How about one for trivia?”
Twilight just simply stood back and watched the draconequus planning out things with the students. “This went better than I was expecting,” Spike commented.
A few hours later, the creatures from the other kingdoms began to show up in Canterlot. A couple of them were starting to chat at the station before heading to the castle.
Terramar was chatting with Garble, whose parents were rather hard to miss. “So, Garble,” the young hippogriff said, “How have you been?”
“I’m fine,” the dragon said, “You seem to be interested in my parents.”
“Yeah, they’re…. Big to say the least.”
“I know, and I told them their size was going to be a problem.” They heard a slight crunch as one of the other parents looked to have broken part of the train station.
“Why don’t these ponies use stronger materials?” he questioned. Garble rubbed his brow as he knew how stubborn most dragons could be.
“I don’t know why they were invited,” Garble muttered, “They won’t even be able to fit into the castle.”
“Well, maybe they would just have them out in the garden,” Terramar guessed. He looked over to a couple of kirins who were already making their way to Canterlot Castle. “Those just showed up.”
“Smolder wrote about them being socially distant,” Garble commented. He looked over to see some griffons, including a mail griffon. “Oh, hey, Gabby, what’s up?”
“Oh, I came to see what other creatures were visiting here,” the griffoness said, “Haven’t seen Gilda or Gallus yet.”
“Yeah, you think they would’ve been here to greet us.”
“Maybe they’re still at school,” Terramar guessed. “I thought they would get off so they could be at this party.”
“Maybe there’s somebody that would meet us here,” Gabby guessed. She looked around a little bit until she could see a purple dragon flying toward the station. “Look, here comes Spike!”
He soon landed and shared a quick hug with Gabby before he addressed everyone else. “Sorry if I’m late everyone,” he proclaimed, “But we had a minor complication with the party, but it might’ve turned into a bonus.”
“What are you talking about?” Garble questioned.
“If you all follow me to the castle, you’ll soon see.” He looked up at most of the grown dragons, seeing that their size could be a bit of a problem. Most of the adult dragons decided to fly over the city, which caused a bit of wind to blow.
It wasn’t anything like a hurricane, but it was hard to miss. Garble got close to Spike to whisper. “What the heck are we supposed to do about the parents?” Garble questioned, “They’re probably bigger than the castle.”
“Don’t worry, a friend of mine brought up an idea to help with that,” Spike responded.
“Hey, is that a Ferris wheel?” Gabby questioned. There looked to be a sudden extension to the castle as an entire fair seemed to have been built around it. Along with the Ferris wheel, there was a house of mirrors, a hedge maze, and even a roller coaster.
“Wow, they really went all out for this,” Terramar commented.
“Did your friend do this?” Gabby asked.
“Yeah, I’m pretty sure,” Spike confirmed. He looked around for where he could be until everything went dark like someone had turned out most of the lights in a room. Everyone was confused, except for Spike, who knew who was responsible for his. Some spotlights then shined down from practically nowhere as they moved around to get the crowd’s attention as drumroll could be heard.
“Welcome and all to the funniest and most chaotic place in all of Equestria,” called a voice, “Hosted by the one and only master of chaos…”
“Get on with it!” cried some voices, which sounded like Gallus and Smolder in unison.
Discord just groaned as he missed the days when there weren’t so many snarky creatures in Equestria. “Ignore them,” he proclaimed, “Anyways, presenting…” He paused so the “lights” could come back on to reveal, “The Chaos Carnival!” Now the crowd had a good full view of the carnival.
Garble still had one major problem to point out. “Hey, dude, how are our parents going to fit in that?” he asked.
“Oh, I’m glad you asked. Oh, Fluttershy, Spike!” The two said creatures flew in with one of the large necklaces that had the topaz attached to it. “Now, do I have a volunteer?”
The dragons weren’t too sure about this and Spike began to worry. “Maybe we should get one of the students to help with this?” Spike suggested.
“I thought of that,” Fluttershy noted. Looking back, they could see all of the dragon students approaching them. One of the parents was a big red dragoness who carefully stepped forward. “Hello, Copper.”
“Good day, Ms. Shy,” the big mother dragon said, “This is safe, right? I want to see my daughter while I’m in one piece.”
“We can assure you that these are safe. Right Discord?”
“You saw the Ursa Minor yourself,” Discord recalled. “I wouldn’t do something like that because I know it won’t end well for me.”
The dragon students had come over to see how they were going to make the adults fit. “So what are they going to do with my mom?” Pyther asked.
“Hard to say with Discord,” Smolder noted. They watched as Spike and Fluttershy attached the necklace to Copper.
“Now just try rubbing or pressing on the topaz,” Spike instructed. The mother listened as she was instructed and thus her necklace began to glow.
The glow engulfed her just like the hippogriffs’ pearl shards, amazing the students and the other creatures to see Copper shrink down just below Discord’s size.
The dragoness was shocked when she stopped shrinking. Everything looked so much bigger now. “Mom, are you okay?” Pyther gasped. She flew over to her mother, feeling concerned about how she would react.
Copper’s shock quickly turned into joy as she scooped up her daughter, who she was still taller than. “Oh, I wished I had something like this years ago!” she cheered. “Do you know how much I’ve wanted to hug you without crushing you?”
Spike flew down to Smolder to ask something. “Does that happen often in the Dragon Lands?” he whispered.
“Honestly, I think my parents hid those details from me,” Smolder responded quietly.
Discord stepped over to Fluttershy, “See, I told you it was safe,” he stated. He was taken by surprise when Copper suddenly pulled him into the big with Pyther.
“Thank you for allowing me and my daughter to be closer than ever before,” the mother cheered.
“Eep! You’re welcome,” Discord wheezed. He quickly deflated so that he could slip out of the dragon’s grip. Once he got back into shape, he snapped his fingers to summon more of the necklaces waiting for the larger dragons to wear. “Feel free to ask all flyers for assistance.”
Fluttershy and Spike helped each of the full-grown dragons put on the size-changing necklaces. Just like Copper, they all shrank down to around Discord’s height, allowing them to interact with their children and the environment much more easily.
Tanzanite's parents were impressed. “Hmm, this could make meals easier to manage,” his father noted, “We could gather fish in our regular size and then feast on it for weeks.” He looked over to Sage, another dragon who was similar to him.
However, Sage was more interested in his daughters, now that he wasn't twenty times their size. “So, how do you feel, dad?” Emerald asked.
“It’s odd,” Sage admitted, “I feel we’re more vulnerable.” He was taken by surprise when he felt Peridot hugging him. “Then again, that isn’t always a bad thing.”
“This will make things much easier and better for us,” their mother Jade commented.
All of the dragons were happy to have this new ability to shrink down so relations and duties would be much easier. Discord was admiring his handiwork. “Good use of those Jades,” Spike commented.
“Well, you just keep those dangerous things in the back of the castle waiting for someone to steal them,” Discord proclaimed, “I had to find something good back there.”
“...Remind me we need to hire better guards.”
“You’ve been getting that reminder for years.” Spike just rolled his eyes before he went to check on the students in the park.
The rest of the dragons and visiting creatures weren’t too far behind as they were excited to see what the fair had to offer.
Over by a strongman’s game, Boyle was giving his new prosthetic talon a test by trying to slam a mallet on the bar to launch the weight up, almost making it to the bell. “Ugh, just short,” he groaned.
“Let me try,” Max proclaimed. He was handed the mallet and gave a whack at the weight, giving him a similar result as Boyle. “Drat.”
“Eh, let me show you boys how it’s done,” Moonbeam proclaimed. When she was given the mallet and slammed it onto the scale, just ringing the bell. “That’s how it's done.”
“YAK SMASH!” Suddenly, Rutherford came running up and stomped on the weight, making it launch up so fast it broke off the bell and shot off like a rocket.
“...You guys made of lead or something?” Boyle asked.
Elsewhere in the park, there were some wooden cutouts of villains, such as Tirek and Chrysalis moving about until they were shot by jets of water. Silverstream and Skystar both positioned water canons to shoot at the cutouts. Kelpie and Rusty walked over to them with the hippogriff feeling a little nervous about being so close to the princess.
“Um hey, Silverstream,” Rusty said, “Can we join in?”
“Sure, there are two more cannons,” Silverstream explained. She pointed over to the other cannons, which the hippogriff and unicorn quickly fired up. They each began blasting at targets, ones like sirens, an obese dragon, Cozy Glow, and even the Storm King.
“Ooh get him!” Skystar cried. Each of the hippogriffs wasted no time blasting the cutout of the infamous king. The combined pressure of the water caused the cutout to break off its stand. Celebration noises could be heard as the hippogriffs cheered.
“Oh, man, that felt good,” Silverstream sighed.
“Yeah, I want to do more stuff like this!” Skystar cheered, hugging the two hippogriffs beside her. Kelpie blushed as red as a tomato.
In another part of the fair, Smolder brought Garble over to a maze where Gallus and his parents were about to enter. “Hey, Smolder,” Gallus said, “Wanna see who can get through first?”
“You bet!” Smolder proclaimed, giving the griffon a fist bump.
“Ooh, Pyther, look at this!” cried another voice. They could all see Pyther and her mother Copper flying over to the maze. “This could be the first activity we can do together.”
“Heh, it’s got to be easier than teaching you ballet,” Pyther chuckled. The families were about to enter the hedge maze when they heard a loud buzzing sound, followed by a flashing red light.
Discord suddenly appeared in a security guard uniform holding some sort of metal detector. He held it up to a confused Garble. The detector went off when it hovered over his wings. “Sorry mates,” Discord said, “But to enter the maze you can’t have any magic or wings.”
“Yeah, alright, get it over with,” Smolder muttered. Discord just shrugged before he pulled off Smolder and Garble’s wings as if they were nothing but stickers. While Garble and Copper freaked out a little bit, everyone else was pretty calm.
“You get used to things like this in Ponyville,” Gallus noted. He stayed still as Discord removed his and Gadget’s wings. He was about to remove Glynn, who held his talon up.
“Hold on, allow me,” the griffon proclaimed. Given that his wings were prosthetics, his wings could be removed whenever.
“Oh, thank you,” Discord remarked. After collecting all of the wings, he allowed the families to enter the maze.
“And I thought being shrunken down was weird,” Copper admitted. She rubbed her back where her wings used to be.
“Be happy that he has control of his magic this time,” Pyther said. Her mother and Garble looked at her in confusion. “Long story.”
“Hey, is that Emma?” Smolder questioned, pointing up. She pointed to a portion of the maze that defied gravity where the green dragons were wandering about.
“Hey, Smolder!” Emma called, waving back. “Some maze, huh?”
“Tell me about it. How are you doing so far?”
“Pretty good actually. Keep an eye out for some puzzles, they can help give you clues to the center.” Smolder gave a thumbs up as her group carried on with their trip through the maze.
There seemed to be other creatures wandering around inside Discord’s maze, each one having a fun time looking for the path to the middle and enjoying the puzzles along the way.
Outside, there was a simpler game of throwing balls at some bottles. Molly was trying to hit a couple of them, but either her aim was off, or the ball didn’t hit the bottles hard enough. Molly sighed as Chummer tried to think if there was some trick to it.
The diamond dog princesses soon walked over to them. “Hey, what’s going on,” Amber asked.
“These bottles are indestructible,” Molly groaned.
“Hang on, let me try.” Amber picked up one of the balls and chucked it at the bottle, shattering them upon impact. Discord popped in and was surprised at how strong the diamond dog was.
“Well, the goal was to knock over the bottles,” the draconequus remarked, “So here’s a prize.” Snapping his fingers, Discord summoned a selection of plushies of the various leaders, to which Molly picked out one of Thorax.
The kitten was happy to have her changeling toy as the princesses kept on walking as Capper and Rarity showed up. “How’s it going?” Capper asked.
“Well, Molly’s having a good time,” Chummer said, “Despite how odd this is.”
“He’s got good tastes in snacks,” Shadow called as she walked over holding some cotton candy. “You know he had some clouds that are made of this stuff?”
“Honestly, that doesn’t sound so far-fetched,” Chummer admitted.
“You know, he’s asked me about some dating advice,” Capper proclaimed.
“Seriously? Who’s he dating?”
“Why do you think he only listens to Fluttershy?”
Elsewhere, Amber and Fiona explored the park until they came across the ring of mirrors. Celaeno and Ocypete were looking at the one that made them look like dragons. “Gotta say no one would take our bootie if we were like this,” Celaeno chuckled.
Ocypete checked out the mirror that made her look like a changeling. “Hmm, I wonder how I would be like this?” she pondered. Then she looked to see two blonde changelings enter the picture.
“Uh, sorry, were we interrupting anything?” Fiona remarked.
“Oh, no, we’re just having fun with these mirrors.”
“Yeah, these do look pretty fun,” Amber commented. She looked around until she found the diamond dog mirror and had the avians standing in front of it.
Celaeno and Ocypete found it pretty amusing. “How about we see what you two look like if you were avians,” the pirate suggested. She looked to see where that mirror was at and had the twins step in front of it.
“Hey, so this is what we look like as avians,” Amber commented.
“You think there could be a way we’d actually change species?” Ocypete questioned.
“There are the pearl shards,” Celaeno noted, “But I doubt they have anything else safe.”
Elsewhere, Zecora and Marini were in a mini arena looking over some plans as Geena and Garry were getting a little impatient. “So, how long do these sessions usually start?” Garry asked.
“We don’t normally use chaos magic to play,” Marini proclaimed.
“We have already picked out our preferred classes,” Zecora noted, “The question is if you think that you can pass us.”
“Unlike you, we’ve been doing real training,” Garry boasted. The two zebra looked at each other, and then their old friends.
“So, are you ready?” Marini asked.
The griffons looked at their teammates, who consisted of Grace, Terry, November Rain, and Strawberry Scoop. “Yeah, I’d say we’re ready.”
“Perfect!” Marini slammed her hoof down on a button and the arena changed into that of a forest, with the Zebrat creatures all getting their O&O gear. They looked around as they knew the students would soon find them.
“The students don’t have as much experience as we do,” Cactus Rose said, “But this game does have a major experience change.”
“Eh, we can handle them,” Dust Devil shrugged. They soon heard some rustling from the bushes, notifying something was moving around. Zecora was being cautious as she was waiting for the enemies to come from any direction.
They suddenly heard the trees rustling again until Garry lept out and launched a set of shurikens at them, which Dust Devil helped push Zecora out of the way before getting hit. The zebra then threw an explosive potion at the griffon ninja, which he tried to slice in half with a katana, only for it to blow up in his face.
Cactus Rose looked behind her to see Terry using a spell from a book, hitting her with fire. Medley Brook ran up to the minotaur swinging her battle ax to strike him back as an ambition broke out. The crowd that had formed while the match was being planned, as they technically were still in a stadium.
It all looked like this was a massive success. Discord was watching his hard work pay off. “You did a great job on this fair, DIscord,” Fluttershy commented.
“Thank you, Fluttershy,” the draconequus replied, “Honestly, I was starting this just to get under Twilight’s skin, but then I wondered about what the students would like. I mean, I heard that you said you were worried about the dragons and their size.”
“I know, having them fit in the audience for the play was hard enough.”
“Plus, those gems that the three tiny leaders found were just too fun not to play with.” Fluttershy gave him a lowbrow before he continued. “Look, I only used them to mess around with Angel just once. Plus, it was underwhelming, to say the least.”
“Hey, Discord!” Spike called. He flew over to the being of chaos with Twilight by his side. “This carnival is awesome!”
“Why thank you, Spike. Have you had your fun?”
“Yeah, I’m going to mess around with those mirrors before I head to the O&O stadium.”
“I’ll meet you there.” He grabbed his body before ripping off fake skin to reveal his Captain Wuzz outfit.
“You sure that this has no tricks?” Twilight asked.
“None for them, but if you want some tricks, my dear princess, I’ll see what I can cook up.” He quickly got a low brow from Spike and Fluttershy. “Oh, come on, she makes it too easy for me.”
“...You’re not wrong,” Spike admitted.
“Spike, who’s side are you on?” Twilight questioned.
“Smarty Pants and the Crusaders, all because you were tardy.” Twilight didn’t say anything to this.
“Well, there’s no fun if there’s no challenge,” Discord shrugged, “So Garbuncle, shall we see if Sir McBiggen and have the whole guy’s night team?”
“You bet, Wuzz!” The dragon and draconequus shared a fist bump before they walked off to see if they could find their friend.
Twilight just sighed as she watched them go. “Just let it go, Twilight,” Fluttershy said, “Everyone’s having fun, so we should as well. I’m going to see how the other leaders are doing.”
“I guess we might as well.” With that, the two went off to join in the fun with all of the other creatures.
Author's Note
Finally, this story is finished. This and the comic rewrite stories took way longer than I thought they would be. Things such as life for both me and Greg slowed things down along with a couple of personal problems. But now I can hopefully I'll have some good luck with the progress in whatever comes next. Thanks for reading.