How I Became An Alicorn...

Chapters

Chapter 1
Chapter 3
Chapter 4.1
Chapter 4.2
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7.1
Chapter 7.2
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
HIBAA Special-1
Chapter 11
Chapter 12.1
Chapter 12.2
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15.1
Chapter 15.2
HIBAA Special #2
HIBAA Special 3
Prologue
Chapter 2
IMPORTANT NOTICE

Chapter 1

Chapter 1, Uncle Spike

Well, I suppose I should start with the oldest of my friends, Spike. You see, when I was a young girl I never did anything but study. I always had my nose in a book and the only person I really ever talked with was Shining. Because of all the studying I did I drew a lot of attention from all the prestigious schools in Canterlot. But I turned down all of their admittance offers. There was only one school I was set on attending and when I got a letter in the mail saying I had earned their recommendation, my parents almost shot me out of a canon.

Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns is the most respected school in Equestria. Without a doubt, if you managed to get in you were considered to be ranked among the highest level of magic users on earth. It was everything I had ever dreamed of and more. But there was… one issue I had. Despite my willingness to learn, and my exceptional grades on the written part of the exam, I had difficulty actually implementing my spells. I could levitate things easy enough, even conjure some minor illusions, but what they asked of me for the final test… was to hatch a dragon egg.

But this wasn’t even just a dragon egg. This was an egg from a very special line of dragons the princess herself had bred. It was a hybrid between dragon and human. As if hatching a dragon wouldn’t have been hard enough!

My parents watched from the side of the class room as the proctors wheeled in the egg on a cart. I felt the butterflies in my stomach turn to stone just from seeing it. It radiated magical energy that I had never even imagined. It was so intimidating, just to stare at a harmless little egg! But despite my fears and overall anxiety over the thing I tried anyways.

I struggled against its force and tried everything I had read about dragons, which wasn’t much. It got to the point where I even tried to use Zebra tactics of chanting and dancing. But the proctors’ stares got the best of me. I gave up. It was just too much for me. I bowed my head in defeat and started to walk towards the door as my hopes of ever being a great unicorn crumbled away.

The universe however had a great deal of protest in that however since only seconds after I had decided to give up the windows outside glowed with all the colors of the rainbow and then a large explosion shattered the glass sending it spraying everywhere, it however turned to dust when my own power was unleashed as a result of the explosion

All I remember from that part was feeling a power unlike any I had felt before. It was so strange to me, like I knew it but it I didn’t. The power was overwhelming and had adverse effects on my surroundings as well, my parents and the proctors? Turned into potted plants from the very first shock wave , you’ve seen how grandpa stares at cactai...? That was because of me. The once formidable egg was hatched by the magic and after another wave of it overtook me it grew it into not just an adult but a full breed dragon! It had changed species entirely!

I felt my body lift up from the ground as the magic radiated off me like solar flares ;but a gentle presence made me come back to my senses. A hand on my shoulder lowered me to the ground gently and I felt my connection with the source of the magic fade away. When I could see again and I turned to see the Princess herself standing next to me.

I remember seeing her and thinking ‘Great, now I’ve died and gone to heaven… I hope Shining doesn’t cry too much.’ But I quickly realized I was very much alive when the soft cooing of a baby caught my attention. I looked back to where the egg had been and saw a tiny infant with messy green hair and a pudgy little purple dragon’s tail in his mouth. As he stared up at me with big round green eyes, I felt myself melt as he reached up for me and cooed again. I picked him up and the princess smiled at me.

“Twilight Sparkle,” she said to me, “You have passed your exam with flying colors. Butnow I have a different proposal for you. That much power takes years of intense study and training to control. Why don’t you become my personal pupil and I teach you how to put it to good use?”

I felt a strange power building up inside me and at first I thought it was the magic coming back for round two but the rapid beating of my heart assured me it was just pure childlike joy that filled me with energy this time. I danced around the room twirling the baby dragon in my hands as I did so. But he just giggled and clapped his hands like he was excited, too. My parents had already passed out from the shock of it all, I later learned that in my magical fit I had turned them into potted plants, yes much like you did once with Aunt Flutters, but I didn’t really notice since The princess herself was still talking to me. But instead she had just pointed to my upper arm and I grinned seeing the mark that appeared there. I got accepted into the school of my dreams, taken on as the princess’ personal student, and even got my cutiemark, all in one hour. You can understand when I say I was a bit overwhelmed with excitement. I even passed out. When I woke up I found myself in what would later(?) be my (?)room in the castle while I studied under Celestia, but I almost fainted again when I found the princess leaning right over me as she sat beside my bedside. I shot up like a rocket.

“Princess!!! I’m so sorry I did that I was just really excited that I’d gotten my cutiemark and passed the exam and then you took me on as your student and—!”!” She placed a gentle finger on my lips, promptly cutting me off.

“Twilight, my dear, please calm down. I understand your excitement but there is another issue at hand.” I then noticed that there was a bubble of golden energy surrounding a crying infant floating a few feet away. The bubble was blocking the sound but I could see very clearly he was upset. I gasped and she levitated him over to me and broke the bubble. He cried for a few more seconds before he seemed to notice her and then he stopped and his reddened eyes lit up and he cooed and smiled at me just like before.

“Thedragon?” “Princess, I don’t understand. Isn’t he one of yours?”

“He was indeed, but due to the overwhelming amount of magical power you used to hatch him he has formed a bond with you sealed by your very souls. Needless to say,” she said with a glance back at the infant,“once you passed out,he started crying and hasn’t stopped since.” I stared down at the infant and I felt panic rise within me. I was only a child myself! I couldn’t take care of a baby! He would interfere with my studies and I would never be able to accomplish my dreams if I had to cater to his every whim. That, and he was half dragon! What if he stayed a baby for decades?

The princess noticed my distress and I saw her smile ever so slightly. “Twilight Sparkle, please relax. While you stay here he will have a nanny to take care of him. But he will have to have something of yours that would have a lot of your aura on it so he won’t burst out crying while you are at lessons. Do you have something like that?” she asked with a small smile.

I thought for a moment before I pulled out a locket off from around my neck. It had been a present from Shining when I was born and I hadn’t gone a day since then without wearing it. I wrapped my hands around it and looked over at the cooing infant who looked at me with eyes of such warmth and admiration. I hooked the pendant around his neck and the effect was almost instant. He let go of his tail and held the foreign object around his neck up to his eyes and I saw him stare at it in awe. I smiled and I noticed his hair had spiked up in every which-way. I tried smoothing it down but his hair wasn’t soft like I had expected and was instead like tiny green needles against my skin. I retracted my wounded hand and bit my lip so as not to startle him with the yelp of pain I wanted to release.

“Owwww! He spiked me, Princess!” I whined softly as he stared at me his eyes round. “Huh… you’re… a little spikey huh?” That triggered a few gears in my head to start turning and soon a lightbulb went off in my mind. “That’s what I’ll name you!” I cheered with a grin.

“Spike…?” the princess questioned, “Twilight, dear, I don’t mean to offend but isn’t that name reserved… for pets?” I realized this with a start and rubbed my chin in thought. It came to me in a flash of brilliance.

“Spikeson Graventus Draconis Kaelopson VI.” “Or just Spike for short. I read in the Libraries you used to name your Dragons that, but stopped after the fifth died, so I wanted to continue it,” I explained to the princess. She of course was shocked that anyone had remembered the name at all, yet alone and eight year old would name someone after him. She smiled and nodded before announcing she had ‘royal duties’ to attend to. I would later find out this meant she was hungry and was going to go raid the kitchen in search of cake.

But Spike was still just sitting there staring at his new treasure with a happy expression. I then noticed that he remained unclothed and felt my cheeks heat up as I went to ask a maid if they had any clothes he could wear.

My first time dressing Spike was… a learning experience to say the least. I learned that baby dragons do NOT like to wear anything more than a diaper. And Faust forbid that they get put in footie pajamas. The servants were repairing the scorched furniture for weeks after that…

Spike grew, for the first few years at least, like a normal baby. But once he hit about five years old I noticed a significant decrease in his aging. The princess explained to me that this was normal for hybrids. But I was happy with this as it meant I could now have a wonderful assistant who was still as cute as a button…

Right on cue just said messy-haired assistant came down the stairs. No longer deserving of the title ‘cute,’ however, as he now looked around seventeen years old, the same age as Nyx, despite being well over thirty. He hadn’t changed much regardless of the growth spurt. He was still relatively scrawny, but you could see the muscles he had forming, his spiky green hair was tasseled every which way and his bright reptilian like eyes shimmered in the dim lights of the library’s living room. The only big changes in him were the two purple-and-green wings that now protruded from his back. They stretched with him as he yawned . He turned and grinned at them.

“I heard my name mentioned and woke up. What’re we talking about? My dashing good looks? My stunning display of muscle?” he asked flexing his very nonexistent biceps for them. Nyx giggled and Twilight rolled her eyes. He then noticed the big kettle and raised his eyebrows.

“She asked the question again,didn’t she?” he groaned. They both nodded and he sighed before sitting cross legged with them on the floor and poured himself a cup of tea. “Well go on then, don’t let me interrupt.” He said with a wave of his hand.

Twilight rolled her eyes and did just that.

Anyways, as I was saying. Spike was of course like my baby brother right from the start. He grew before my eyes and with him at my side it felt so much more natural staying in the palace. But of course, being half dragon came with its own set of issues and he would often get picked on for his heritage. I can remember one time in particular when I was thirteen and I was attending one of the seminars in the actual school itself, after all, just because I was Celestia’s student didn’t mean I didn’t have to go to classes like everyone else. But… despite the school being reserved for unicorns of a high magical standard, it didn’t mean that the students were necessarily of a higher state of mind… there were still bullies. Not many, but enough to make our life a living hell.

“Hey Spikeson…! Still chasing around your girlfriend?!” the leader of the pack of bullies sneered as we passed them in the hall. His name was RiftShot, a boy who was tall for his age but not intimidatingly so and who’s blonde hair was always neatly groomed and had burning eyes that could strike fear in a Manticore. His Special talent was centered around sports, unusual for a unicorn but not un heard of. His sidekicks were a scrawny little grey haired boy named Kolby who was a master at medical spells but had a rather unpleasant habit of causing more injuries than healing them, a girl who had short cut dark brown hair and black eyes that make yours look like they belong to a bunny she was also so large she looked like she could eat three of Kolby for breakfast, her name was PowerStar, when it came to weapon spells she was the master, she could summon an entire array of knives, daggers, and any other form of weapon and strike you down before you could even blink. But she was dumber than a rock and used her power to get into the school rather than her wits. The proctors apparently didn’t dare deny her for fear of being killed if they did.

Rift walked up beside us his minions following in his footsteps. I could see Spike try his best not to respond to their taunts but they had been going on for a while and he had had just about enough of it. He turned on his heel and glared up into Rift’s eyes.

“She ISN’T my girlfriend you blind bat, she’s my SISTER and I don’t CHASE her around, we just have all the same classes so I go with her!” he snarled. But Rift of course wasn’t buying it.

“She isn’t your sister dweeb. You’re a freaky dragon boy, she’s a unicorn. You ARE’T her brother. And how can you attend classes if you can’t even do magic?! Look at you! No horn, not an ounce physical talent at all, you can’t even breathe fire when by your age all the other little dragons can, and you’re the size of a runt! Why do you even hang out with this kid Sparkle? Oh wait, it’s probably because you’re just much of a freak as he I-“ Rift’s taunting Rant was interrupted by a rather well placed punch in the gut that sent him flying back into the school wall and formed a small crater in it despite the magical barrier that coated it. Spike’s eyes were slitted so thin you could barely see the pupil as he retracted his fist from the punch. Star rushed forward at him to defend Rift but she was sent flying backwards by a well-placed kick to her head and Kolby was about to lunge at him when his eyes shifted and stunned the grey haired boy in place.

“Tell your boss when he wakes up that I am FAR from physically weak, dragons have natural magic that controls the elements around them, like fire water air and the earth so I am quite capable of performing spells of that nature, and as for breathing fire…” He let a torrent of green flames set the grey hair on top of his head on fire. Kolby screamed and rolled on the ground trying to put it out. “I was BORN able to do that. Twilight just discourages it due to the fact that my fire destroy what it burns.” He reached out his hand and the fire came back to him like an obedient puppy. The grey haired boy now only had patches of hair left and his skull was singed only slightly. “Meaning that your hair won’t be growing back.” He smirked.

I was conflicted at that point. Here were three kids who had caused Spike so much emotional damage over the years he had been there with me, and who had disgraced him in every way possible from weggies, to swirlies, and even sometimes a real fist fight which he never fought back on since he hardly took any damage thanks to his skin being stronger than steel but who would always come back a little more hollow each day. But they were also living breathing human beings. And he had probably just broken more than fifty school rules. I grabbed him by the arm and dragged him away before any more students could notice what had happened.

We didn’t stop running until we were back in the castle safely in our room with the door locked tight. “What… was THAT?!” I exclaimed ready to go into full on lecture mode. But his response made my words halt and choke me.

“I can handle being tormented by myself Twilight… but he insulted you. And that’s something I CAN’T let slide by.” He grunted at me.

I stared at him in shock for a few seconds before I hugged him tight enough that even a hybrid like him almost died. Yes I know it hurt Spike but at the time I didn’t really care. I just knew you were the best baby brother ever, and my best friend. Spike… are you blushing…? No? Oh well, on with the story then.

That wasn’t the first time your Uncle stood up for me, and as we would learn shortly after that, it wasn’t the last time those bullies would be back. You see, I didn’t know it at the time but as it turned out Rift’s father was the head dean at the school. And Spike here spent the next month in detention for what he did to them. He would have been suspended but being the little brother of the student of Celestia had its perks.

But the torments kept coming. And they got worse as junior high came to an end. You’re right Nyx, we SHOULD have told Celestia what was going on, but Spike wouldn’t let me tell her. He said he could handle it so long as they didn’t resort to violence anymore. Which they were all too scared to do now that they knew his capabilities. And speaking of that, that little incident is also what got this little twerp started on his boasting regimen. Yes Aunt Dash did help out a lot with that but that wasn’t until a bit later. In junior high the only person he could brag to was me… and Shining but there was a more competitive air between them than anything. Shining always told himself that if he could beat a dragon in an arm wrestle then he could be captain of the guard. Yes Spike, I know he still hasn’t beaten you. But he DID become captain of the royal guard, and now he’s a prince. So I think he still has one up on you.

Anyways, the last week of junior high was the worst. So much so that they even targeted me now. And I had been mad enough with them when they picked on Spike, but now they would corner me. So we devised a plan… a brilliant plan if I do say so myself. I don’t normally participate in pranks, yet alone ones made to publicly humiliate people, but this was my one exception. And I have still to this day yet to regret it.

We put it into motion using my connections in the palace and since Shining had just recently become a lieutenant in the guard I told him what had been going on and he of course agreed to go along with it. No body messes with us and gets away with it. So we set the bait. Meaning Spike and I walked right into their territory which they just so HAPPENED to claim right next to our lockers. There they were, waiting for us.

Kolby had his dark grey beanie that he always wore now that he was bald, Spike, wipe that smirk off your face, Star had thinned out a bit in the year or so they had been targeting us and now she was just a bulk of muscles, but her black eyes remained the same, still intimidating and it could still freeze a phoenix’s heart. No not you Pipsqueak calm down. But Rift was the one who had changed the most, physically at least. He had gotten taller that was for sure, he was taller than Star now and he had lost the little bit of baby fat he had had as a younger child. His years of athletic activities were definitely starting to show and the way all the other girls swooned over him made me sick. His deep red eyes still held all the malicious intent they had before but it only made me pause now. We had the advantage over him now there wasn’t anything he could do to us since it was the last day we’d be seeing him. He got an athletic scholarship for some big fancy school in cloudsdale and with a more advanced version of the cloud walking spell he could attend with ease.

They came up to us as we walked seemingly peacefully to the lockers to clean them out for our last day and of course just as Spike opened his it was slammed back shut as Rift leaned up against it.

“Hey Spikeson, gonna miss me when I’m partying with the Pegasi…?” He sneered. I could see it took every ounce of restraint in him not to send him through the wall.

“With all my heart Rift… now move so I can get my stuff…” he grumbled back to the blonde. Rift didn’t move though. And now Star was moving up on my other side while Kolby blocked the last possible exit route. We were trapped. I let a faint smirk touch my lips as everything was falling into place. But I replaced with a scowl to show I was displeased with the situation.

“Just let us have our last day in Peace Rift… you’re lucky I haven’t told the princess on you yet…” I almost snarled at him. I mentally patted myself on the back for how good of an actress I had become. But Rift’s scoff of superiority made my anger real.

“And who said I was talking to you nerd…? Stay out of this or you’ll get a lot worse than just petty insults today.” He threatened. My eyes narrowed at him but I kept my mouth shut. I saw Spike’s fist clench and I gave him a glance to tell him it was alright. He turned to face the bully again and stared him down despite his smaller size.

“You know what, I’m tired of playing coward… if you want a fight Shot, you’ve got one. Meet me in the court yard at lunch. Bring your cronies if you think they’ll give you a shot in hell at touching me.” He growled at the boy. Rift looked stunned for a moment before a smirk replaced it.

“You’re on Spikeson. Come on guys, let’s go get ready in the gym.” He said as he shoved Spike in the shoulder and walked towards the athletics department. His two henchmen followed with their own glares back at us. Spike sealed the deal with a wink and a wave good bye at them. It just seemed to make them angrier. When they were out of sight Spike and I high fived and then ran for the lunch room where everyone was waiting. You see, we weren’t the only people who had been picked on by those three. We rallied the forces of the school and found that we had a very reliable connection. They all lined up like military officers as I went by with Spike behind me carrying the checklist.

“Sunny, you got the word out to the school right?” I asked a girl who’s skin was sun kissed just perfectly and her hair was bleach blonde from how much sun she saw living on the beach. She pulled out her phone and saluted. Spike checked her off the list and we moved on to a boy who was even scrawnier than Spike but who’s blue hair and eyes shone like beacons to the world. “FlashPost, you’ve got the last school paper printing right now right…?”

“The last copy will be printed in about ten minutes, and my team is ready to spread it as fast as wildfire.” He reported.

I nodded and we checked him off moving onto a group of rather… homley group of boys who if Rarity ever saw she would have a heart attack on the spot just from the use of pocket protectors. “And our connection with the school security systems…?” I asked their leader. He pushed up his glasses and pulled out his laptop to reveal live monitors from all the cameras in the school.

“Connection enabled and we have the equipment to record it all during lunch.” Teck reported as his curly blonde hair fell into his face a bit. A gave an awkward smile and nodded coming to the last of the group.

“And the faculty and staff…?” I asked the girl who’s two tone neon blue hair made me question whether it was dyed or not and whose eyes remained hidden behind a pair of dark sunglasses so that we couldn’t see them. Her mark of a music note was easily seen due to the sleeveless white jacket she wore.

“They’ll all be too busy having their ears blown out to notice a riot in the court yard.” She smirked.

“Thank you Vinyl… although you still haven’t told us why you agreed to do this. As far as we know Rift hasn’t done anything to you.” I commented to the girl. She waved her hand at me.

“What makes you think I just don’t like the idea of raising hell…? But to answer your question, it’s personal.” She replied. “I’ve got to go check on my studio before I leave. The guys said something about throwing me a goodbye party… Jeez it’s just high school…” she chuckled as she turned to leave. I looked to Spike but he just shrugged and checked her off before rolling up the list and setting it on fire to get rid of the evidence.

“We’re good to go then. Let’s all meet up in the courtyard in half an hour.” I ordered. They all gave us a salute before they walked off to their classes. I turned to Spike with a grin on my face. “Oh sweet Celestia I feel so excited Spike…! Are we really going to do this? Is it right to do this? What if it doesn’t go right and…” But my panicked rant was interrupted by him smiling and shaking his head.

“Relax Twi, we’ve got the upper hand this time remember? Besides, I think even Celestia herself would approve of this.” He assured me. I felt my spirits soar at that and nodded back at him with a smile.

“Thanks Spike. I couldn’t go through with this if it wasn’t for you.” I commented.

“You wouldn’t have THOUGHT about it if it weren’t for me.” He corrected. I rolled my eyes as he went on a rant about how he had personally come up with almost all the details but to be honest I don’t remember half of it. Oh don’t give me that look Spike, you know I tend to tune you out when you start to brag like Rainbow Dash.

But the time came. Everyone was released for lunch but instead of heading to the cafeteria like normal everyone went straight for the courtyard as word had spread via the biggest socialite SunnyDaze that there was going to be a showdown of the century in the courtyard today. I knew full well that Vinyl would be distracting the teachers so we wouldn’t get interrupted by something like the deans all breaking up the crowd. But I did however wonder what she was doing at the time. I got the story from her later so I’ll give you a bit of insight.

Vinyl looked up at the clock and then back over at her equipment, it was almost time. She walked over and strapped the machine onto her back and grabbed her trusty headphones off her desk. She took one last look at her mixing station before she walked out the door and shut it behind her for good. If she was graduating from junior high, then was going to take down the last thing that stood in her way from living a normal life. And nothing was going to stop her. Not even her father. She flipped the switch on the control panel of the portable bass on her back and pounding sound waves filled the halls as she ran through them like a maniac all the teachers running after her in hope of catching the widely known prankster. They didn’t have a chance in hell.

“Run Run Run, as fast as you can, you can’t catch me I’m Vinyl Scratch Baby!!!!” she announced through the mic that arched around her head. This only made the teachers of course, angrier and they pursued her even quicker.

I looked down at the watch on my wrist just as the old clock tower in the courtyard chimed noon. Just like clockwork students were gathered all around before the twelve chimes could end, and a certain trio were just making their grand entrance from the set of double doors that linked the gym and the courtyard. Rift was in a muscle shirt and already sweaty from the ‘warm up’ he and his cronies had gone through.

I heard Spike growl like a feral beast beside me. He took off his signature purple hoodie and handed it to me. “Hold onto this. I don’t want to get their filthy blood on it.” He snarled. I looked at him shocked but I knew it was part of the act. The crowd around us started chanting but I zoomed in on the few faces that mattered. Sunny and Flash who were standing next to one another gave me a thumbs up meaning that their parts were finished. The leader of the tech squad shifted his blue green eyes towards me and removed his glasses setting them in his shirt before he too gave me a thumbs up and I allowed myself to smirk ever so slightly as I knew that the cameras were all rolling for this final scene.

“Well well well… here we are Spikeson… ready to get your tail handed to you…?” I heard Rift sneer. But Spike wouldn’t be stooping to his level. Years of these guys making his life a living hell had taught him one very important lesson. How to dodge a punch.

I wish we had kept the video tape of this so you could see him in action yourself. But my mother of course threw it out when I brought it home so we’ll just go into detail here.

Spike was weaving in between all of their blows. If Rift was going for a face shot he ducked and Rift would tumble over him while his partners would go for a double blow from the sides and he would just back straight up and let them exchange blows to one another instead. Kicks he nimbly evaded with a short jump and he even got on top of Star’s shoulders and rode her like a bucking bronco as she tried to drag him off. It definitely earned us a laugh from the gathered crowd. And Rift was starting to get more and more frustrated.

But during all this I wasn’t idly sitting on the sidelines. Oh no, you know me far too well for THAT to be a possibility. While they fought I myself was preparing a spell. Channeling my magic into what was, at the time, a very difficult spell that required a large amount of magic to complete. But it would be worth it and I knew that as the giant hands on the clock were ticking by the time was fast approaching when our plan would move onto the final stage.

“Why… Won’t… you… stand… still?!?!?!” I heard Rift yell as he unleashed another set of frustrated blows towards Spike who easily maneuvered away from them.

“What’s the matter Rift Shot…? Can’t keep up with a little kid like me?” Spike laughed as he ducked under a spinning kick Rift sent his way.

“This isn’t a fight Spikeson…! You’re playing cat and mouse with me! Stop dodging and fight back!” He screamed in his frustration. It seemed his two henchmen had long since knocked each other over after exchanging more than a few stray blows. They caught their breath and stood to their feet slowly watching Rift grow madder and madder with rage. But Spike was keeping his cool and dodging his every blow like a regular ninja. The crowd was enjoying the scene and was even laughing for the first time not at Spike, but at Rift. And it was getting to him. He stopped trying to attack Spike and looked around him. “Stop laughing at me!!! You’re all supposed to be on my side!!!” he growled. The laughter stopped and now everyone just watched in mild discomfort. This wasn’t the cool calm and suave Rift they had known. This was Rift the bully, a lowly creature that had been the true face behind the handsome mask. And they were about to see the full blunt of his cruelty.

While Spike had let his guard down and turned his attention to me to see how the spell was going Rift took it to his advantage and knocked him onto the floor with one foul swoop of a punch. It hit so hard it even managed to make Spike bleed a little. Rift stood over him while he lay on the ground cradling his bloody nose. Red eyes bore into him and a terrible grin crossed his features as he planted his foot on Spikes chest and began to crush his ribs in under the pressure.

“What are you gonna do now freak…? Roast me with your fire…? Oh wait, isn’t that depended on your lungs? Huh… guess you can’t burn me if you can’t breathe huh?” he sneered as he forced the air from Spike’s lungs.

I was beginning to panic. This wasn’t part of the plan. Spike was never supposed to get hurt. But he was, right then in there I could see the pain written across his face. But I had a duty to fulfill and with the motivation of Spike being crushed under Rift’s brute strength I completed the spell in record time. I held out my hand to the tech leader and he threw me a microphone. I held it in my magic and it came to life with my voice.

“It’s over Rift.” I announced. His gaze shift towards me and I was almost paralyzed by the red gaze. Almost. “Look around you Rift. Look at the faces that used to cheer you on. And all of you look at him. Does this look like the Rift you know…? Or can you finally see his true colors like we always have? That’s right. I said we. You see. I isn’t just me and Spike he’s hurt here at school. And I intend to show you just what your precious pretty boy is REALLY like when you turn your backs” I flicked off the mic and tossed it into the crowd and stepped towards where Spike now lay trying to catch his breath since Rift had moved his foot off him. Red eyes glared at him as I did so and when I came nose to neck with him I glared up at him as well.

“Nobody picks on my little brother and gets away with it…” I snarled as my magic took hold and a pentagram of light energy filled the courtyard completely. Like ghostly beings memories of the bullied came to be seen in the air above the glowing lights. It showed Rift and company beating the tech squad senseless and then hanging them from the flagpoles in front of the school by their underwear. All of them having to be rushed to the hospital for blunt force trauma after that. It showed Flash being tortured and humiliated by Rift’s words over his ‘Silly’ dream of being editor and chief of the Equestria Daily. How the words hurt him to the point of shattering the camera his now passed father had given him for his tenth birthday and then burning all his manuscripts for stories he had written.

It showed how Rift had dated Sunny and then spread wicked rumors about her behind her back when she left him, causing all of her friends to leave her in the shadows and for her to grow into such an emotional wreck she even resorted to self violence, it showed the nights she would sit lying in the bath tub with slit wrists waiting for the end to come and for the pain of being alone to stop. Only for her to wake up in the morning and realize she had been saved by her parents and was put on antidepressants that only made things tolerable.

The crowd watched in shock at each revelation and Rift felt himself stabbed from every angle with glares of pure unfiltrated hatred. Star and Kolby however were just as shocked as the rest of the crowd and looks of guilt and overwhelming sorrow filled their eyes as they saw just what their ‘games’ had done to others. But Rift was just looking around as the glares grew worse and worse as the memories started to repeat themselves and they turned to the true villain. Then another set of memories started to be shown and these ones were ones he himself was very well aware of.

They showed a little girl of about three or four being taunted relentlessly for her ‘weird’ colored hair, since no one in her family had it. They showed how when she started to play music to try and escape his taunts he would break her CD’s and instruments and then walk off when her parents came to ask why she had destroyed her gifts. It showed her a bit more grown and he started to physically torture her now. Pulling on her hair and even cutting a lot of it off at one point just to make his point. For her to stare herself in the mirror every night and see HIS eyes looking back at her taunting her for being such a freak. She would smash the mirror and let the glass shards rip up her skin and bleed out into the sink. If her parents bothered to ask she would just say it was an accident, like always. They were too busy fawning over HIM to even notice her. The boy who was their favorite, who did everything they liked and she was just the blue sheep. The boy whose eyes she shared and hid behind her glasses so that no one would ever make the connection that they were brother and sister.

Vinyl walked out from the crowd that parted for her, her glasses now on top of her head and red eyes glared at her twin brother from across the circle of people. “Hello Brother, welcome to hell. Or as you have made it the last fourteen years, my life.” She snarled.

Rift glared back at her. “Well I can see why the others would project their miserable little lives up there for everyone to see, but what do you gain from it Victoria…? Who’s here to see your little sob story? Because it isn’t mom. She’s too busy getting ready for that party at the castle tonight to notice your pathetic attempt at getting some closer. And dad wouldn’t give you the time of day yet alone come out here to watch your little light show!” he laughed in his sister’s face. But all she did was smirk at him.

“But you see, brother of mine… if there’s one thing dad WILL do for me, it’s chase me down when I’m misbehaving… like say, blaring wubs all through the school enough to make plaster fall from the ceiling.” She sneered back. His red eyes faltered for a second as he started to back up and look behind her at the crowd of teachers that had been standing and staring in shock at the memories on display in the aura lights above their heads. His father was standing directly behind her a look of shock, anger, and disgust filling his emerald eyes.

“Richard Verman Scratch, GET YOUR DIMPLED SORRY ASS OVER HERE THIS INSTANT SO I CAN BEAT THE SENSE INTO YOUR TAINTED HIDE!!!!!!!!” His father roared over the crowd who all seemed to be pushed back by the sheer force of his anger. Rift looked petrified but Vinyl gave a smirk and grabbed him just as he turned to run. She picked him up and flung him towards their father like a rag doll. The coach’s magic levitated his son in front of him as he glared him down further before turning to his daughter and his gaze softening for a couple of seconds. “Vicks I…” he started but Vinyl payed him no attention as she slipped her glasses back over eyes and walked off collecting the portable speaker she had used before as she went. I saw him Sigh as he just levitated his son away leaving his daughter to do as she pleased.

I had watched all this with my jaw gaped open not believing anything I saw. Spike had regained his stature and stood beside me his nose finally back to normal.

“So THAT’S why she never takes off the glasses… huh… I thought she was blind or something.” He said with a shrug of his shoulders. That made me snap out of it and I giggled a bit.

“Spike, if she was blind how could she read all those books she checked out from the library about sound waves…?” I laughed. He thought about it for a minute but just before he could respond we were surrounded from all angles by our fellow tormented students in a giant group hug. This was, mind you, before your aunt Pinkie got me used to such things so of course my first reaction was one of panic. But when Sunny wouldn’t stop cheering and the techies were all sobbing together while Flash just gave us a watery eyed smile it made me relax a bit. In the distance I saw Vinyl turned back and smiling at us. She had her glasses off again and I noticed that instead of red they were now a soft magenta. I smiled back at her just as she slipped her glasses back on and turned to get into the car her father was throwing Rift into.

I didn’t see Vinyl again until I was well into highschool, but I heard from her that Rift was sent to reform school and then shipped off to a military academy when he was deemed ‘safe’. As for Star and Kolby, well, it took a lot of time but eventually people saw that they were truly sorry for how they had acted. They moved away but they popped up at a reunion a year or two before I found you and they seemed happy enough together. Although Kolby became what you would call a docile house husband and the only thing that really changed about Star was that she no longer flaunted her strength. But I digress.

“So what are we gonna do now…?” Spike asked. That was something I hadn’t thought of. But an idea quickly formed in my head.

“How about we go out for lunch at Donut Joe’s…?” I chuckled. Yes. Your ever studious mother actually suggested that we skip the rest of the day of school to gorge on sugary pastries for lunch. An offer which your uncle here gladly accepted.

“And that Nyx, is not only how I met your Uncle Spike, but how he showed me that true family isn’t decided by blood, but by the bonds love you tie yourselves together with.” Twilight concluded. Spike snored beside them and Twilight made a face at him before sighing and shaking her head. “Nyx, be a dear and go get me a bucket of cold water… and a permanent marker. We’re going to teach your Uncle a lesson in manners.” She mused. Nyx beamed and ran off to find her supplies. When she had gone Twilight looked over at the spikey green haired teenager and a soft smile crossed her lips as she leaned over and kissed his forehead gently. “Thank you… for standing up for me all those years ago… I wouldn’t be who I am now if you hadn’t.” she whispered. His sleeping form responded by letting a giant glob of drool drip down onto her. She made a face and her resolve for teaching him a lesson returned. “You asked for it…~” she hummed.

(***re-edited version by ElDante seriously, you guys need to see this.***)

Author's Note

**A/N: Well, looks like Spike’s about to get dumped with sisterly love meaning it’s time to move onto the next chapter. Next We’ll be taking a look at how Twilight met the remainder of the mane 6. But of course, this will be nothing like the show. All that remains the same are the characters. WHICH I OWN NOTHING OF. HASBRO AND LAUREN FAUST CREATED THEM AND I AM GAINING NOTHING FROM THIS STORY. Other than of course relief from all these crazy ideas that have been swimming around in my head since I became a Pegasister. Annnnnnnnyways, moving on, I should note that Nyx is an OC from a very popular story called Past Sins. Therefore she is not mine either. Also in here Nyx has a similar background as in Past Sins but as you will see in future chapters Luna is very much free of her curse long before Twilight finds her in the woods. This a twist. Get used to it. There will be hundreds more where that came from. On an ending note, I like reviews. They tell me what you think of this little tale. Do I move to fast, too slow? Confused about something in it? Ask. I like questions too. Not stupid ones mind you, those will be ignored. But if you have a genuine question about something that confuses you, ask. Or, if you think this story needs something, tell me. Not clop. This will remain a teen rated fic, of that I am absolutely sure. Now, I have talked your ears off well enough, Shadow out.**

Chapter 3

Chapter 3: The Spark

Twilight Sparkle swallowed hard as the train pulled up to the station. She could see the massive structure from a few miles back but she had believed it to be the town itself, not just the campus. But no, the town of Ponyville was shadowed by the school it housed. It made Canterlot Castle look like an inflatable bounce house. Spike whistled as they got off the train and look up at the towering structure before them. Luna lowered the glasses she was wearing as part of her disguise until they reached the school itself.

“When my sister said she had made investments in a school here a few decades back, I didn’t think she meant like THIS.” She whisper shouted. Twilight just nodded in agreement and slowly carted her bag behind her with Spike close behind his duffle bag almost as big as him slung over his shoulder. Luna was the only one who didn’t seem to really understand the concept of ‘less is more’ and toted two rolling chests at her side, two huge duffle bags slung across her shoulders and was levitating the other six huge bags above her so they wouldn’t get in the way of people walking. You’d think after a couple thousand years SOMEONE would have invented a spell to carry massive loads in a little bit of space. But being a princess had its perks and Luna wasn’t really burdened by her load.

They arrived at the gates within ten minutes of leaving the train station and if the school had seemed large before now it looked down right intimidating. From the windows on each level Twilight had to guess it was around five stories tall and it had towers much like the ones found on a castle but judging by the lights from within them she could tell they were probably class rooms, one of them even had a rather large telescope sticking out from it and she guessed that was the observatory and Astronomy room, some place she and Luna would be spending a lot of time in as it was a shared hobby of theirs.

Twilight watched all the students rushing past them and through the magnificent courtyard that lead up to the massive structure of a school. In a pink blur each of them had a map shoved in their hands except for Luna who since her hands were occupied had it shoved into her mouth. The offender in question stopped in front of them and grinned from ear to ear. She looked young, Twilight’s age for sure, and was covered from head to toe in pink, a pink shirt with three balloons that matched the mark on her hand, a pink poofy skirt that bounced every time she took a step and pink buckle shoes with knee high socks that had stripes of, you guessed it, pink. Not to mention she radiated energy that threw her for a loop. Even her bright pink hair, which reminded Twilight of cotton candy for some reason, seemed to be bouncy and full of life and her eyes looked like bright blue orbs of pure unfiltered raw energy.

“Hi! My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie~ But that's a mouthful so you can just call me Pinkie Pie for short! Or Pinkie! I’m really not all that picky~! I’m part of the welcoming committee here even though I just got here myself so I’m going around handing out maps to everyone who looks new! Oh, hey! You’re the Princess and the transfer students from Canterlot right?!” The overly excited pink cotton ball exclaimed happily. Luna’s eyes widened in shock as a few people’s eyes turned to them. But they seemed to shrug it off at the sight of the pink haired energy demon in front of them and continued their business. Luna spat out the map in her mouth and sighed in relief and lowered her glasses slightly.

“Yes… we are… now could you please direct us to whoever’s in charge of room assignments…?” she asked deciding it wouldn’t be worth the effort to ask how she knew who they were after they’d just met.

“Sure! In fact I’ll take you to her myself, but let me finish passing out these real quick! I’ll meet you two at the front doors!” she announced before she disappeared in a pink blur again. They saw the blur moving from student to student leaving behind maps shoved in hands, mouths, bags, and sometimes shirts. By the time the confused trio made it to the enormous front doors Pinkie was sitting on top of the ledge that wrapped around the entrance. “Jeez, took you guys long enough, come on let’s go!” she squealed as she grabbed them all and yanked them into the building. They were escorted, and by escorted I mean dragged very brashly, through the crowd of students and taken to the table with a long line that looked like it was moving pretty fast. Now Pinkie was a lot of things, but patient was definitely NOT one of them. She just dragged the three to the front of the line but surprisingly enough no body complained about them cutting. Except of course the teacher in charge of dishing out the information cards. Her pink hair swirled upwards in what reminded Spike, to his great enjoyment, of the icing on a cupcake. Beside her a wirey looking man with messy orange hair sighed as he cast a tired gaze at the pink ball of energy.

“Pinkie, how many times do we have to tell you, you can’t just let people cut in line when you feel like it…” the woman stated.

Pinkie was grinning again as she stepped aside and revealed the victims she had captured this time around. “But Mrs. Cake these ones are different, I give you Princess Luna and… I’m really sorry, I didn’t catch you two’s names…” she whispered to the other two.

“Twilight Sparkle, and this here is Spike.” Twilight answered in return.

“… Her companions Twilight Sparkle and Spike!” Pinkie finished beaming with pride at the teacher who had gone star struck in an instant. She quickly stood from her chair and Luna internally groaned knowing what was coming next. She removed her glasses and set them in her pocket and then removed the beanie she had been wearing on her head letting her teal hair cascade across her shoulders.

“P-princess Luna…! We weren’t aware…! I’m Cup Cake, and this is my Husband Carrot Cake. We’re the head of the culinary department here and we run a bakery in town… it really is an honor to meet you!” the teacher’s bright pink eyes lighting up with what Luna swore were stars. The man beside her finally spoke giving her a small bow as he did so.

“A-allow us to make up for our mistake…!” he said pulling out three cards from the little filing system they had in front of them. “Here are your room assignments for the year! Please, if you have ANY issues please talk with me or my wife here and we will make it right as pie just for you…!” he assured the princess with a nervous smile. She gave the man a small smile and took the cards from him.

“Thank you very much Mr. Cake, but please don’t treat me any differently than the rest of your students… my sister sent me here to be normal, not to be a princess in a new castle.” She replied her face still slightly pink from the gaze of the crowd behind them.

“B-but Princess I…!” Mr. Cake started, but Luna interrupted him.

“Luna… just, call me Luna.” She corrected. The man looked conflicted but corrected himself anyways.

“Luna… we always were taught to treat royalty as such, so you can see why it is a bit difficult for us to… adjust.” He explained slowly. She laughed at that.

“That I understand, trying to adjust to something the complete opposite of how you were raised to behave… But it’ll come to you in time. But for now… EVERYONE…! Call me Luna!” she announced to the crowd. Everyone seemed to nod in approval murmuring the name as they did so. Luna smiled again and bowed a bit to the two teachers before she looked down at the cards that were handed to her and passed the two that didn’t belong to her to Twilight and Spike. Pinkie was simply standing there beaming from ear to ear. Twilight gave her an un easy stare when she realized that the girl look frozen in place.

“Uhh… Pinkie, was it…? Are you okay…?” she asked slowly approaching the girl. When she dared to reach out and poke her she jumped back startled as the cardboard cutout fell over. “What the…”

“Why are you talking to a poster Twilight…?” asked a happy sounding voice right next to her. Twilight jumped back as Pinkie had materialized next to her.

“Wah… how did you…? Spike was she standing there the entire time?!” she asked the drake. He looked up from the card he was staring at and shrugged. Twilight groaned and Pinkie skipped off singing a merry tune to herself. But she paused midair and zipped back over to Twilight despite all logic saying all of that was impossible.

“Omaigosh! I Totally forgot to tell you! After you settle into your dorms there’s gonna be a BIIIIIIIIG welcoming party at dinner so don’t miss out!!!” she exclaimed her face only inches away from Twilight’s.

“O-kaaaaay… but how did you…-“ but before Twilight could finish her question the girl had disappeared in a burst of confetti. Twilight blinked slowly a few times to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating and then slowly turned around her face in a creepy grin and her hair starting to fray as her eye began to twitch. “Okay then~! Let’s get on with this freak show shall we?!” she exclaimed as her legs began to move like a robots and Spike groaned as he face palmed and began to plan out how he was going to snap her out of ‘Insane’ mode this time. Together the three of them followed the map to the dormitories and then proceeded to climb up five flights of stairs to the very top level by which all three of them were ready to pass out at the top of the steps. They heard a ding beside them and they looked to see two doors sliding open and several people stepping out, one of them, a girl who wore a mint green over shirt with a cream white tank top on underneath it and a lyre mark on the upper part of her arm bent down beside them.

“You guys know there’s an elevator right…?” she asked. Luna’s eye twitched slightly as the ground began to shake again. Twilight quickly covered Spike’s ears as did everyone else on campus.

“FUUUUUUUUUUUU-“

Twilight quickly slapped a hand over her mouth before she could get the full word out. “Princess, language…!” she exclaimed.

“Terribly sorry Twilight, allow me to try that again… De toutes les fichues pires choses possibles sur la terre qui peut probablement baiser fait une erreur!!! Pourquoi l'enfer nous n'avons pas remarqué il y avait un ascenseur en premier lieu?!?!” she screamed to the heavens.

“D-did you just speak French…?” Twilight questioned as she tried to regain use of her ears.

“Well, you said language, so I changed languages.” Luna responded with a shrug as she stood up and levitated the remainder of her bags up the stairs with her. Twilight groaned and dragged Spike along with her before making a startling realization.

“Princess, what room did you get assigned…?” Twilight asked.

“Um… let me see… 5100, why do you ask Twilight Sparkle…?” Luna asked turning back to the girl who was now sitting with her mouth draped open. “Twilight, shut your mouth, you’ll attract flies.” Luna lectured as she tapped her jaw shut.

“B-but… that’s… mine and Spike’s room…!” Twilight exclaimed as she flailed her arms a bit. Luna stared at her in shock taking her room card and staring at it. She stared at her own room card and then something in the back of her mind itched at her and she turned hers over. And I shit you not the following image was on the back of the card.

Twilight and Luna stared at it for a good few seconds before Twilight sighed and put up a small sound proof force field around her and Spike.

“DAMN YOU TROLLESTIAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”

This time as she sat in her throne room holding day court Celestia heard her sister loud and clear and smirked a bit at it before motioning for the speaker to continue. He did so with a cautious look around first, but for the remainder of the afternoon Celestia held that devious gleam in her eyes.

Back at the school Twilight lowered the shield and Spike sat up and dusted himself off. “So I get the pleasure of sharing a room with the girl who hassled me for two months just so she could get my gamer code and hasn’t let me play in peace since…?” Spike asked with a groan. Luna gave him a look like she had no idea what he was talking about and Twilight just patted his shoulder gently.

“Ugh… whatever, I’ll get her back for it later, but for now let’s just get inside so we can get unpacked and then take a nice LONG nap…” Luna growled. Twilight followed behind her as they walked down the long hallway looking for their room but the sound of a very loud argument made them both freeze.

“Ah done told ya fer the last time Miss Dash, this here AIN’T the Pegasus quarters…!” came a heavily accented southern voice. A different voice, one that seemed like it was still trying to change because it would break every now and again, responded to her.

“And I already told YOU hay seed that there’s been a mistake because I’m SUPPOSED to be assigned to the Pegasus wing but instead they put me here with YOU…!!!” It roared in return. Luna, Twilight, and Spike peeked around the corner ever so carefully. The saw a girl with a workers tan and long blonde hair that was tied back by a red band at the end of it, wearing what looked to be worn denim work jeans that had several rips around the knees, with an orange plaid jacket shirt covering a slightly stained white tank top under it, her jeans tucked into the cowboy boots she wore and on top of her head a heavily worn stenson was angled just right to shadow her piercing green eyes, three bright red apples were visible on the top part of her arm where the sleeves of the rolled up shirt stopped. Twilight assumed this was the one with the southern drawl.

The one across from her was quite the sight, after all, there weren’t many people whose hair was made up of every color in the rainbow. All the way to her roots down to where it stopped just above her shoulders Red, blue, yellow, orange, green, and purple were streaked in sections. However it was also noticeable by the way it looked like she had just rolled out of bed with spikey bed head that she didn’t much care for her hair. She dressed in a cyan short sleeved open hoodie with a form fitting white muscle shirt underneath it. Two powerful looking wings the same color as her hoodie came out of her back arching in fight stance to show her anger. Her jeans looked faded like the farmer’s did but hers also looked like they were a size too big for her since they hung off her and almost covered the white track shoes she had on her feet, the jeans were held up by a studded belt. Luna looked for her mark but couldn’t find it meaning it was probably covered by her clothing. Magenta eyes were glaring back into the piercing green ones across from her as the farmer started to butt heads with her.

“Ya wanna go ya featherbrained mule?!” she challenged.

“Maybe I do…!” the rainbow haired one retorted. Twilight decided to intervene before this got physical. She walked over and pulled the two apart.

“Alright I’ve seen enough, both of you just breathe.” She ordered. They both glared at her but years of dealing with Spike had steeled her of almost all glares. “Now what seems to be the issue here…?” she asked calmly. Both of them started yelling at once and Twilight couldn’t hear either of them because of it. She facepalmed as the two glared at each other. “Okay, let’s try that again, this time one at a time, you first Miss uh…” she trailed off not knowing the farm girl’s name.

“Applejack, Applejack Apple, and thank ya ma’am. Well ya see ah was just settlin into ma room here and ah got a knock on the door, ah thought it was my roommate so ah opened it up and this gal here busts in like a badger with a beehive on its head and starts ranting about getting the rooms mixed up…! Now ah’m a might reasonable person, really ah am, but when folks bust in yellin like ya’ve just punched ‘em across the face ah get a bit defensive. So ah started yelling right back. And it kinda went on like that fer a few minutes before you came along and now ah’m tellin you ‘bout it. Sound about right to ya Miss Dash…?” she questioned turning to the rather ticked looking Pegasus.

“For the last time hay seed My name isn’t ‘Miss Dash’ It’s Rainbow Dash! Miss Dash is my mother. And yeah, she pretty much got that down except for the part where I just searched this entire school twice for this damn room and now I find out it’s not even in the right wing! I’m SUPPOSED to be sharing a room with my best friend in the Pegasus wing because she didn’t want to be booked with some total stranger for the year…!” Rainbow explained practically blowing steam through her nostrils. Twilight blinked and thought for a moment about it and then turned behind her.

“Princess, do you think we could send these two down to the Cakes with your word to see if they can sort out their rooming issues…?” she asked the teal haired girl. She however hadn’t been listening and was instead planning her revenge on her sister. Hearing Twilight address her she snapped out of it and blinked before Twilight re asked the question.

“Oh, uh yeah I guess but… Oh. Hello there.” She said noticing a small girl in a very plush looking yellow sweater and a long flowing light green skirt who has hiding behind her very long light pink hair. Luna couldn’t see her mark anywhere but there wasn’t very much skin showing on the timid girl so it didn’t surprise her at all. Rainbow turned around and instantly they saw her anger melt away like snow under a heat lamp.

“Fluttershy…! How long have you been standing there…?” Rainbow asked. They all saw her lips move ever so slightly but it seemed only Dash was close enough to really hear her. “A while huh…? Sorry you had to see that then I…” the girl muttered something again and it seemed to be surprised by it. “Really…? Are you sure? Because I could still… well alright then. You’re still in this hallway right? Good, so you can come over if you need anything alright?” she offered a soft look on her face. The shy’s girls eyes finally met the others and they saw a deep swirl of aquamarine hit them like the churning warm seas. But before they could process much else about her she quickly escaped into a room just a few doors down and Rainbow brought her attention back to the others present. She turned to Applejack and scratched the back of her head. “Look I’m really sorry I got so worked up over all that… I’m just not real patient and well… I was really worried for my friend too so…”

“Shoot sugarcube, ya shoulda just told me it was about yer friend! Ah’d have marched down there with ya myself ta have you re-booked if ah’d have known!” Applejack laughed clapping the girl across the back. Rainbow flinched but didn’t buckle over like most people would when Applejack does the very same. She whistled at it and grinned. “Ya must be pretty sturdy there for a Pegasus if ya didn’t fall over from an Apple back slap!” she chuckled. Rainbow again scratched the back of her head again and also started laughing.

“Yeah, look is it cool if we just start over? Pretend I didn’t just nearly round house kick you into next week…?” she asked. Applejack smiled back and offered out her hand.

“Sure, but fer the record, ah’ve pounded you six ways to Sunday.” She added with a gleam in her eye. Dash’s eyes lit up too.

“Is that a challenge Jackie…?” she sneered.

“Is a ground hog the most annoying damn critter on earth…?” she replied. Rainbow just gave her a dumbfounded look. Applejack rolled her eyes. “That’s farm talk fer yes sugarcube.” Dash beamed.

“Great! Just let me change really fast and then we can head over to the gym!” she declared as she went into their room, closed the door and ten seconds later came out with her jacket gone and instead of her jeans she now wore cyan gym shorts that cut off mid-thigh and also sported fingerless fighting gloves. Luna finally saw her mark right on her ankle, it was a cloud with a tri-colored lightning bolt. “Okay, let’s go!” she declared.

“That was fast, what’d ya do, just rip off your pants and throw on those gloves…?” the farm girl questioned.

“Well duh, I’m Rainbow DASH, not Rainbow Slow, and you will never know! Now come on cowgirl, I’ll show you how to fight Cloudsdale style!” she proclaimed as she dragged her new roommate down the hall towards the elevator.

Twilight stared at the scene her eye still twitching and her hair growing more and more disheveled as time went on. “But they just… and then… how is fighting a sign of a forming friendship?!” she questioned to no one in particular. Luna walked past her and shrugged. They reached the end of the hall and found their room to be the very last one. The number plate was engraved in gold and Twilight had a feeling in the pit of her stomach that Celestia had done something she had been completely against. Her fears were confirmed when Luna unlocked the door using her cardkey and the door swung open to reveal a rather lavish room with windows lining the entire back wall from the living room where there was a long soft looking white couch, a matching love seat at its side and two matching arm chairs on its other side, all facing a very large flat screen TV that had three different gaming systems and an entire bookshelf next to it filled with movies and games. The windows the stretched into the large kitchen that had all of the top of the line stainless steel appliances and a fully stocked fridge and pantry; off to the side of it there was a dining table with room for eight and a very elegant crystal chandelier hung above it reflecting its prismatic light ever so softly. Down the hall there were four rooms, three were bedrooms and one was a gaming room. At the very end of the hallway there was a bathroom but the master bedroom, which Luna quickly called dibs on, had its own bathroom. In short: Celestia had spoiled them.

After they had explored a bit Spike had chosen the smallest of the bedrooms but it was also the closest to the bathroom and the gaming room so he didn’t really care, which left Twilight with the default room which she hadn’t even been in yet. She sighed as she opened the door but all her weariness drained from her when she saw what it held within it. Books. On every wall except for the one her bed was against, there was bookshelves that went up to the ceiling and were packed full of books. There was even a rolling ladder that would allow her to access the top shelves, and there was a work desk beside her bed which was made with sheets of her favorite color, purple. She saw a folded note on it and recognized her name in Celestia’s handwriting. She picked it up and began reading it with renewed enthusiasm.

‘My most faithful student Twilight Sparkle,

I know by now you must be pretty worn out with all of today’s excitement so I prepared this room knowing you’d need a sanctuary. I know the task I’ve given you won’t be easy for you, but there is not a doubt in my mind that you CAN do it. There is magic in friendship Twilight, and it is a magic you need to study with the greatest of intensities. But of course don’t let that stop you from pursuing your academics either, this room is filled with books of all kinds from all over, I think you’ll find many of them useful in your studies. I even took the liberty of making you a roster for all your books. You can find it in the top drawer of your desk. I look forward to receiving your first letter on your findings on the magic of friendship.

Your mentor and friend,

Princess of the Eternal Sun Celestia

Twilight let a small tear drop onto the note and a smile broke out across her face as she used the sleeve of her purple sweater vest to dry her eyes. Her mentor was counting on her and she wouldn’t let her down, no matter how much everyone in this school scared her shitless with their antics!

. . . But in the meantime she needed a nap. Making friends could wait a few more hours. She flopped down on rather extravagant looking queen sized bed and found it to be what she imagined as sleeping on a cloud. She didn’t even bother taking off her shoes, she just fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

In what seemed like minutes to her Spike was poking her side. “Twilight…! Come on, wake up already…! We’re going to be late!” he complained as he tried to shake the purple haired mage awake. At the mention of the word ‘late’ however she shot out of bed like a rocket and was coming through her bed head as fast as a freight train.

“I’m not going to be late to my first day of high school…! Spike, go find my uniform! I need to get my bag together and locate my textbooks and… Why is it still dark out…?” she asked noticing the moon light that came through the window above her bed. Spike rolled his eyes.

“I MEANT that we’re going to be late to the welcoming party! Remember…? Pinkie told us about it earlier?” he reminded her. Her cheeks grew rosy and she smiled nervously as she set her brush down.

“Oh… right… uh… how much longer do we have until it starts…?” she asked. Spike moved the sleeve of his purple hoodie up and looked down at his watch.

“About five minutes… and it takes ten to get down to the auditorium where it’s being held.” He responded awaiting the panic attack he knew was coming. But just as her eye began to twitch Luna kicked in the door and grabbed both of them by the collars.

“No time for panic attacks Sparkle, a princess is NEVER late and I refuse to start today. She said as her midnight blue magic started to glow around them. In a flash they were outside the auditorium. Twilight blinked processing the spell and then her eyes widened.

“You can teleport?! Why didn’t you just teleport us up to our rooms instead of climbing up to it?!” she shouted, something she had never done with either of the princesses. Luna cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Because, I have to have been where I’m teleporting, and while you slept in I decided to take a tour of the campus. Hence why I can teleport here.” She responded calmly. “I thought you were a master at things like spells Twilight Sparkle…?” she hummed a teasing tone taking over her voice. Twilight flushed and was about to counter the statement before a Pink blur and an explosion of confetti effectively shut her up and almost made her wet herself.

“SURPRISE…!!!!! OhmaigoshTwilightit’ssoawesomeyoucouldmakeit!Ididn’tthinkyou’dcomebecauseyoulookedlikeoneofthosebookwormyshutinssoIthoughtyou’djuststayathomereadingorsomethingbuthereyouareinthefleshatmyfirstbonifiedhighschoolPAAAAAAARTY!!!!!!!!!” Pinkie exclaimed so fast it all just sounded like a jumble of words to Twilight. She then turned to Luna and Spike. “And of course who could forget the super awesome amazing Luna and the adorable little Spikey~!” she sang with her grin looking almost too big for her face.

“Hey…! I am not adorable!” Spike protested his ears growing hot with embarrassment.

Luna just chuckled and moved past the pink energizer bunny. “Now then… what is the big deal with one of these… parties…?” she asked. There was an elongated gasp and then pinky was on Luna like white on rice, or pink on a Pinkie.

“YOU’VE NEVER BEEN TO A PARTY PRINCESS?!?!?!” She questioned shaking said teal haired girl by her shoulders. Luna tried not to lose her lunch as Pinkie continued to shake her like a rag doll.

“N-no, just formal ball’s and the Gala’s we host every year but from what I’ve heard real parties are… how do you say… informal…?” she questioned. Pinkie looked like she was about to faint when Luna continued. “But Twilight here hasn’t been to ANY parties at all, even Spike has attended birthday parties before.” She added so as to deflect the attention away from her. Twilight mouthed the word ‘traitor’ at her and she just mouthed the age old phrase of ‘everyone for themselves’. Pinkie had grabbed Twilight by the wrist and had forcefully dragged the girl into the massive swarm of bodies that occupied the auditorium.

When Pinkie stopped it was in front of a table where four girls sat chatting comfortably, three of them she recognized but the fourth was a mystery to her. Rainbow Dash saw her first and beamed which caused Applejack to turn around and notice her as well.

“Hey there sugarcube, Ah see Pinkie got ahold of ya too, well I never really got ta thank ya fer-“ but the farmer was interrupted by Pinkie.

“Not now Applejack! We’ve got a serious problem! This is Twilight’s very first party like EVER…!!!!” She exclaimed waving her hands around to emphasize her point. The girl she didn’t know let out a rather dramatized gasp.

“Oh my! Pinkie this is terrible…!” She exclaimed as she stood up and walked over to the girl. The first thing Twilight noticed about her was that she bore a crest in the center of her forehead meaning she was a magic user like her, the second was that this girl, who was the same age as her mind you, could probably teach Canterlot models a thing or two about elegance. Even the way she carried herself in the short distance she had walked from her seat to where Twilight stood made her seem like she belonged on a run way. Not to mention the fact she was wearing the most beautiful white dress twilight had ever seen, it was form fitting but didn’t hug her entire body, went down to her ankles but had a nice long slit up it that went just past her knee’s, and most eye catching of all, it was embedded with shining diamonds of all sizes. Her boots were the same flawless white and had the same perfect gemstones embedded along the very top of it. Her hair, which was a deep rich purple color, was curled into large ringlets that bounced with her every movement. She wore makeup but not a lot, just some eye shadow and eyeliner to bring out her already prominent blue eyes, the very same blue of the three gemstones that made up the mark that was visible on her breast bone.

Twilight was stunned speechless at her appearance but behind her a certain little dragon hybrid was frozen in place and looked like he had just been shot with an entire quiver of cupids arrows. The elegant girl spoke again once she was in front of Twilight and she showed her disapproval with a slight pout of her lips.

“We can’t have a young lady such as yourself walking around with such drab clothes on! Yet alone to a party! Come, my talents are obviously desperately needed!” she sighed as she took the girl by the wrist and started to drag her off.

“Rarityyyyyyyy!!!! We don’t have to give Twiley a make over! She needs some party in her system stat!” Pinkie whined chasing after them as Rarity pulled a gemstone that glowed softly out of her purse.

“And she WILL Pinkie! AFTER I make this charming young lady presentable!” Rarity replied to the pink haired party animal.

“Uhh, do I get any say in this…?” Twilight asked putting her hand up like she was asking a question in class. They both turned to her with flat faces.

“No.” and with a simple pulse of magic from Rarity into the gem she was holding they were gone in a flash of blue light, but not before Spike had clamped onto Twilight’s arms so he was take with them. They reappeared in a room that had beautiful fabric’s laid neatly across tables, stacked on shelves, and a few littered the floors which Rarity quickly corrected by levitating them to their correct spots on the shelves. She walked over to a section of the room that had sewing machines lining it and opened the door that was against it.

“Now I’m terribly sorry to have rushed all that darling but I simply couldn’t let you walk around wearing… that. No offense.” She called as she walked into the room and seemed to be sorting through outfits as Twilight heard the sliding of coat hangers. Twilight looked down at Spike who was still under cupid’s influence.

“What’s wrong with the way I dress…?” she asked him.

“You look like a purple hobo most of the time.” He responded without looking at her, obviously unaware of the dangers involving insulting a girl’s fashion sense. Twilight was about to protest when she felt herself become surrounded by magic aura and dragged into the room with Rarity. Her panic was obvious but Spike was too love struck to even hear her cries for help. Five minutes of intensive work later Twilight emerged from the room in a very stylish purple blouse that had a light pink star on the bottom of it that looked a lot like Twilight’s mark, a simple yet still cute black skirt that had a long purple streak down the side of it, and heelless black boots that sagged a bit downwards and had a few straps and buckles on the for decoration. Her hair had been properly brushed and now a slight curl to it. In other words, Twilight Sparkle looked cute.

That was enough to snap Spike out of his trance. “Whoa…! Twilight, what happened to you?” he asked out of shock of seeing his sister looking presentable for the first time in his life.

Rarity seemed to notice the boy for the first time and startled a bit at his appearance but answered him anyways. “I fixed her into a proper lady, no one should be confined to… a sweater vest.” She shuddered at the mention of the dreaded thing. “Oh where are my manners, here I am ranting about being a lady and I’ve been so rude as to not introduce myself! I am Rarity Belle, I bring out the beauty in everyone and everything to the best of my ability.” She announced with a curtsey. Twilight blinked and smiled a bit returning the curtsey in turn.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle, this is my younger brother…”

“Spikeson Graventus Draconis Kaelopson VI, or just Spike if you would milady, at your humble service.” He said giving Rarity a deep bow in return. Rarity beamed at the gesture.

“Oh my, what a simply adorable little gentleman we have here Twilight, but why on earth is he here in high school? No offense darling but you don’t look much older than my little sister and she’s only in elementary school!” she exclaimed. Spike looked up grinning and scratching the back of his head.

“Well, I uh… you could say I skipped a few grades milady… being taught by who I was I was always advanced in my studies.” He responded. Twilight sat awestruck by Spike’s sudden behavior change. He NEVER spoke like that in Canterlot, even surrounded by royalty he was always laid back and mellow. Now… he was speaking like one of the royals himself…! Given, he technically was of royal dragon blood but he didn’t really know that.

“Oh my, well that’s just fine then dear. Come on now then, I’m sure Pinkie is more than eagerly awaiting your return.” She hummed as she pulled out the gemstone again. But this time Twilight stopped and asked her a question.

“Is that an enchanted gemstone…? How did you get ahold of such a thing…! We’re only in eighth grade, such things are reserved for college students!” she exclaimed examining the crystal in Rarity’s hand.

“Oh, well that’s quite simple dear, my special talent is centered around the use of gems! So I find myself quite gifted in the art of enchanting them as well, as I’m not very good at regular spells, other than levitation and fabric weaving that is, I find these to be quite a bit more useful to me. This one is embedded with a teleportation spell, and because it’s a sea sapphire it ensures that the spell has a very many uses left in it.” she explained as if it were kindergarten material.

Spike was drooling at the mention of gems but he wouldn’t dare eat anything that belonged to Rarity unless she gave him permission. Twilight however was flabbergasted by the girl’s knowledge on such an advanced subject. Rarity activated the gem before she could ask more and in a flash they were all back at the party where Pinkie was tapping her foot impatiently.

“Finally! Do you have any idea what it’s like waiting for you two- Oh wow Twiley that looks REALLY pretty on you!” Pinkie exclaimed as she saw what Twilight was now wearing. Two whistles sounded behind Pinkie and Rainbow Dash hovered over her inspection her from every angle and Applejack just leaned against Pinkie with a smile on her face.

“Woo wee Twilight, Ah’m not one to enjoy dressin up and girly stuff like that but that looks mighty fine on you.” She complimented. Twilight blushed and scratched her cheek a bit not used to praise for her appearance.

“Yeah! If I didn’t know any better I’d say you were some kind of imposter!” Rainbow laughed before her face got hard and serious and magenta eyes were inches away from her own lavender ones in a heartbeat. “You aren’t a spy are you Sparkle…?” she asked a threatening tone taking over her voice. But a slight tug on her cyan hoodie that she had changed back into snapped her out of it and she turned to see Fluttershy standing behind her. Rainbow landed on the ground as Fluttershy said something in her whisper voice that Twilight might have been able to hear if they weren’t surrounded by blaring music from the party. “Fluttershy wanted me to tell you she likes the new look too!” Rainbow announced proudly.

Fluttershy squeaked and hid behind her hair again and for the first time Twilight could see the tips of buttercream yellow wings peeking out from her back. She had almost forgotten that the Rainbow had mentioned the girl was a Pegasus as well. Twilight smiled kindly at the girl.

“Thank you, Fluttershy was it? You look very nice as well tonight.” Twilight responded softly so as not to frighten the girl further. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and this is my younger brother Spike, he-“ But a sudden audible gasp from the girl who quickly rushed forward and almost knocked Twilight over in the process of confronting Spike.

“A real live Dracomaxian…! Oh my, I’ve read all about you in mythology books but I never thought I’d meet one in person…! C-can you really breath fire like all the books say…?” the girl asked her voice now quite audible for everyone to hear. It was still very soft and timid but it was apparent she had found her muse and was now very open.

Spike blinked in surprise at first but a cocky grin crossed his face almost as fast. “Of course I can! What kind of dragon can’t?” he asked showing off a bit by blowing a stream of green fire into his hands as an example. The girls of the group all were surprised by his feet and showed their excitement in their own ways.

“Omaigosh guys! Did anyone else know Spikey was half dragon?!” Pinkie exclaimed.

“No way! But that’s totally awesome little dude, hey, do you have scales and a tail too…?!” Rainbow asked the kid her eyes brimming with excitement as she hovered a few inches off the ground. He grinned again and nodded.

“Yup, but the tail usually rips open my pants when I bring it out so instead… how about claws?” he asked letting the skin on his arms turn into shining purple scales and his nails to elongate into razor sharp claws. Applejack whistled again.

“Whoa there partner, you’re makin mah head spin with all that fancy draco whatsit stuff!” she chuckled. Rarity’s eyes lit up like fireworks as she saw how each of his scales shone like the finest of gems. She produced a fan from her purse and used it to fan herself.

“Oh my, those scales are simply to die for darling…! You simply must let me make you outfit based around them!” she exclaimed taking the boys hands in her own. He was once again reduced to a pile of slurring mush at the touch of his crush and Twilight rolled her eyes but was thankful for the distraction. She quickly made her escape towards the food table and poured herself a glass of punch. A giggle behind her made her flinch but she didn’t bother turning around because she knew what was coming.

“Are you here to torture me with praise too, Princess…?” she sighed as Luna made her way beside her to pour her own glass.

“Of course not…” she snickered a bit. “Twiley, I’m merely here to check up on how you are doing.” She responded. Twilight frowned at the nickname Pinkie had chosen for her.

“I thought it was MY job to keep you in check, not the other way around.” She mumbled as she sipped from the punch. But she spat it out quickly and then slapped the cup out of Luna’s hand before she could drink it. “DON’T!” she quickly explained. “That stuff is spiked! It burned my mouth!” she explained. Luna arched an eyebrow at her. A voice behind them made them both jump.

“Well of course it makes your mouth burn silly! It’s my special brew of jalapeno punch…!” Pinkie announced chugging back a cup herself. Twilight blinked in confusion and Luna laughed a bit at her antics.

“Well then do you have any un spiced drinks Pinkie…?” Luna asked and in a flash both of them were handed cans of soda.

“There ya go princess! Though I don’t know why you wouldn’t want the punch, I think it isn’t even mild…! Nope, what I like to do is add a little bit of this stuff to it!” she cheered pulling out a small bottle and handing it to her to examine.

“Ghost pepper juice…? Pinkie you realize that stuff is-“ Twilight started only to see the girl pouring another bigger bottle of the same stuff into her glass and just drinking it by itself before turning back to Twilight without so much as a single red pigment in her face from the spice.

“What~?” she asked when Twilight and Luna stared at her their eyes twitching slightly as they did so. Pinkie just shrugged and then noticed that the song had changed. “Oooo~!!! This is my Jam!” she announced before she grabbed Luna and Twilight and bolted out to the dance floor with them in tow.

Twilight internally panicked, she had NO idea how to dance, other than what she had read in books, but she had never had an opportunity to practically apply them. Luckily Twilight’s mother had had the decency to have her daughter do yoga with her from a young age and as such Twilight was no doubt flexible enough to apply almost all the techniques the book had explained… that and both her older brother and her old baby sitter had loved all those dancing video games and had played with her and Spike a lot when she was younger. She even recognized the song from one of the songs that had been on the radio a lot lately. So in almost perfect synchronization she and Pinkie struck the first pose.

“Oppa Gangnam Style!” chanted the entire room as they too struck the same pose.

After the song was over Twilight bent over panting hard from the energetic dance but she was grinning anyways. Pinkie clapped her on the back beaming as well.

“You didn’t tell me you knew how to dance like that Twiley!” she giggled. Twilight sighed as she stood back up straight only to be met with a devil like grin from just said girl. “You know what this means…~?” she asked in a tone that Twilight couldn’t really place. But she DID notice that for about the thousandth time that day her personal bubble had been popped without a care in the world.

“Uhhh… that I could really use that soda now…?” she offered. Pinkie’s smirk grew and she shook her head before she looked behind her and gave a signal to the DJ. Twilight got a look of distress as Pinkie jumped up into the air as the new mix started.

“DANCE OFFFFFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She declared. She disappeared in a pink blur and reappeared dragging the remaining four girls in the group just as the song started. Luna came up beside her, her eyes cold and calculating.

<See Song:

“On the Floor is a very good dancing song… if we’re gonna have a chance at beating her we’re gonna need to have something even crazier… exactly how many video games did you say your brother forced you to play with him…?” Luna asked as she watched the girls dance in perfect harmony. Even timid Fluttershy seemed to be in the zone. Twilight swallowed hard.

“P-princess, what’s going on, I don’t know the rules of the competition…!” She exclaimed watching the crowd cheer them on.

“Okay then, basic rules of a dance off, from what I’ve heard online, is as follows, pick a song that has impressive dance moves but is catchy and people can easily join in on. The point is to win over the crowd’s approval by impressing them with your dancing. But she seems to have made this a group effort so we’ll have to pick something you, me, and Spike can all dance to.” She explained over the music. Spike popped up beside her.

“Hey! When did I get dragged into this?!” he exclaimed.

“You always used to beat the pants of Shiny in all those dancing games anyways Spike so don’t complain… and I think I just thought of the perfect song…!” Twilight announced before they huddled together. When they broke apart the song had ended and Pinkie was beaming while all of them broke the final pose and Rainbow stepped forward.

“Beat that egg head!” she proclaimed.

Twilight smirked as Luna flew up and gave the DJ the song and then landed back next to Twilight in a blue haze. “Oh we intend to Dash, you might want to take some notes.” She snickered as a very familiar beat pounded out of the subwoofers and the crowd began to cheer at the recognition. Pinkie’s face dropped its smile and Rainbow’s wings drooped.

<See Song:

“Oh no…” They both muttered.

Twilight and Luna were spot on in their dancing as was Spike, but he tended to just free style this particular song but it fitted so the crowd was going nuts over it and soon almost everyone was dancing along with them. Half way through it the other four knew that they’d been beat so they all shrugged their shoulders and joined in as well. Luna let her confidence show in a proud smirk and Twilight was doing a mental victory dance.

When the song ended and all had struck their finishing poses, the girls mostly all pointing into their little half circle while Rainbow kneeled in the middle and Spike froze in his one armed hand stand. When the song was cut off the DJ grabbed the mike.

“Well I think it’s pretty obvious who our winners are tonight!” he called out. The crowd all cheered their approval. And Pinkie went over and held up Luna and twilight’s arms in the classic championship pose. Spike just stood in front of them looking smug as ever. “Give it up for Twilight, Spike, and Lunaaaaaaa!!!” he called as the audience burst out in cheers, clapping, and whistles. Twilight was panting hard but she was happy all the same. The girls all gathered around her and Pinkie brought the six of them into a giant group hug.

“You were amazing Twilight! Where’d you learn how to move like that???” Rainbow asked once the hug had been broken.

“Yeah Twi, Ah only knew that dance because Pinkie here used to throw parties here in town just about every day and she sucked me inta dance practice with her!” AJ laughed.

“Simply marvelous darling. I couldn’t keep up with some of those movements! And Spike, how on earth were you able to hold yourself like that…?” Rarity asked the spikey green haired boy. He chuckled and scratched the back of his head.

“Well, I uh… our older brother used to train with us a lot… and we learned all those moves from the video games he and our old baby sitter would play…” he answered his crush a giant red hew across his face. Which Fluttershy of course commented on.

“Aw… Rarity, you’re making him blush…” she giggled quietly. Rarity noticed and squealed in delight as she pinched his cheeks a bit and continued praising him which of course made him even worse. Luna watched this from outside the circle but by no means felt left out. Watching the shut in bookworm her sister had taken under her wing take flight on her own and socialize with these girls was enough to make her feel quite at home. What caught her off guard though was the slight glow each of their marks gave off, she was sure no one else had seen it, but each of the girls’ marks had glowed through their clothing or otherwise. Luna blinked once before her eyes met Twilight’s and she saw the spark ignite within them as she smiled and waved her over.

‘Now I see why it is you truly sent her here sister… I just hope it isn’t for the reason I’m thinking of…’ Luna thought within her mind as she looked out the window and into the night sky where the moon shined its light onto the party goers. “Yes… I certainly do hope it isn’t…” she mumbled to herself before walking over to Twilight and her new friends as they gathered near the food and drink table to finally relax.

Chapter 4.1

Chapter 4: The First Day Pt.1

Twilight Sparkle was tired. Normally Twilight was used to an odd sleep schedule that revolved around her late night study habits, but what she WASN’T used to was staying up partying until midnight and then being too excited to go to bed afterwards. So she woke up at seven in the morning, with only three hours of crappy sleep under her belt, and promptly blew up her alarm clock. She crawled out of bed by the will of Celestia and dragged herself to the breakfast table where Spike had already gotten up and made breakfast. He set the pot of coffee in front of her as she hauled herself into the chair and she wasted no time downing it. Across the table Luna arched an eyebrow at her.

“I take it you didn’t sleep all that well…?” she asked sipping her morning tea. Twilight however was in no condition to respond and instead fell asleep face first in her French Toast. “I’ll take that as a yes…” Luna muttered as she bit into the omelet Spike had made her. “Mmm~ Spike this omelet is divine, it tastes just like the one’s back in the castle~!” she hummed as she dug into it a bit more. The drake chuckled a bit.

“Well I DID get the recipe from the head chef after all… oh for the love of…” Spike grumbled as he saw that Twilight had fallen asleep in her food. “Twilight, Shining stole Smarty Pants again!” he called over his shoulder as he crushed a few gems in his palm and sprinkled their dust on his French toast. Twilight shot straight up the French toast stuck to her forehead from the syrup. She blinked and groaned in realization before peeling the toast off her forehead and setting it on her plate.

“Hardy har har… now I’m going to go take a shower and then I’ll come back here and eat okay…?” she said with a sigh as she stood up from the table and walked into her room for a minute before coming back out with a bunch of clothes in her hands and disappearing into the bathroom at the end of the hall.

Luna got a wicked smirk across her face which Spike saw and he raised an eyebrow at her. “And just what are you plotting this early in the morning…?” he asked as he cut a piece of toast off and bit into it. She waited to hear the water running before she stood up and replied as she walked into her own room.

“You’ll hear~” She hummed. A few seconds later Spike heard a flush and then a shrill scream from the bathroom at the end of the hall. He fell on the floor laughing and almost choking on his food as he knew the lunar princess had pulled the classic toilet flush+ hot shower= ice shower and screaming prank. Well, Twilight would no doubt be awake now. They were proved right as Luna came out of her bedroom laughing just as hard as Spike and Twilight came out of the bathroom in a towel and proceeded to throw a bar of soap straight into Luna’s open mouth. Smirking with satisfaction at the revenge she had implemented Twilight disappeared back into the bathroom as Luna spat out the soap and tried licking the floor to get the taste of soap out of her mouth. Seeing one of the two most regal beings in the world running her tongue along the carpet like a dog was enough to send Spike into hysterics.

Once Luna had recovered and promptly brushed her teeth seven times just to rid herself of the taste of the vile soap, and Twilight had emerged from her shower fully dressed in her uniform, since the first day was a marked uniform day according to the calendar they had stuck to the fridge, she ate her breakfast in peace and then pulled out a list from the coat pocket of her uniform.

“Okay, checklist of supplies for the first day, pens, pencils, paper.” She read off as Spike went through both their bags.

“Check, check, annnnnd… whoa, lots of check.” He said pulling out a big bundle of notebook paper.

Twilight smiled and went on. “Folders, journals, and a binder with a pencil pouch…?” she asked.

“Check… check, and whoa cool! You got me a binder with scales like mine! These are fake right…?” he asked holding up the binder for Luna to see. She rolled her eyes and continued checking her own supplies in her messenger bag. She had a lot less than they did, knowing she would only really need the binder, some pens and pencils, and notebook paper.

“Okay, ruler, markers, colored pencils, and a compass.” Twilight continued to list.

“Mmm, check, check, check, and… Twilight, why would we need a compass, are we going camping or something…?” he asked arching an eyebrow at her.

“No Spike, not a navigational compass, a geometric one. Here…” she dug through her bag and pulled it out for him to see.

“Ohhhhhh, I always thought that thing was just for drawing in math…” he admitted. Twilight facepalmed and moved to the last few items on her list.

“Calculator, text books, and snacks, in case we get hungry.” She finished.

“Check, check, and yum~” he said revealing a bag of ‘tasty’ looking rubies.

Twilight smiled as she crumpled up the list and threw it into the recycling box having served its purpose. She remembered something and went into her room and came back with three gold cards in her hand. She handed one to Luna and Spike and kept the third one for herself.

“These are our school ID’s, they also serve as our debit cards if we wish to purchase something on campus. Like Lunch.” She explained. Luna slipped the card into a slot on her messenger bag and Spike pulled out his wallet slipping it into the clear spot where an ID is supposed to go. Twilight had a little purse she kept in her bag so she slipped it in there before zipping up her bag and grinning at the morning sun that was now shining fully into the room via the wall of windows. “I can just feel it, today’s gonna be an awesome day…!” she decreed proudly.

One hour later.

“Oh Celestia why…” she groaned as she was sitting in her home room pondering if she knew any spells that would mute her surroundings. Everyone in her class was loud, obnoxious, and generally just pissing her off. Not that she’d ever show it. Celestia had taught her to keep a poker face even the world was crumbling down around her. But thank her mentors name she saw a tiny ray of yellow light in the dark void. Fluttershy peeked her head into the room and looked around with the one eye visible thanks to her long hair and when she spotted Twilight her worried expression vanished if only for a second as she wasted no time in hurrying over and sitting beside her. Twilight smiled at her softly wile Spike just gave her a small nod to acknowledge he knew she was there.

“Good morning Fluttershy, I was beginning to think I’d have to rough it by myself today…” Twilight admitted with a sigh.

“Oh no… that would have been terrible Twilight…! But… I wonder where Rainbow is, she’s always in my homeroom…” Fluttershy wondered aloud in her gentle tone. “I hope she isn’t- MEEP!” she jumped a little at the sound of a book being slammed on a desk and the entire class going silent because of it. The teacher who had done it to get their attention was a burly man that reminded Twilight a lot of Coach Shot, back at her old school. He had dark grey brown hair that was cut short but it was just shaggy enough to start hanging in his darker blue eyes a bit. But although he had the burly body he lacked the always serious and intimidating disposition the coach had had.

“Alrighty then, now that I’ve got your attention, my name is Lucky Clover, but it’s Coach Clover to you all, and I’ll be your homeroom teacher for the year. Now I’d like to start off by taking roll call, it looks like you’re all here for the most part but I like to put names to faces. Okay, let’s see, Amethyst Star…?” a girl with just said colored hair and matching eyes a few rows over raised her hand. “Very good, okay… next we have” he went on to list a few names, although when he came to Fluttershy’s she didn’t answer verbally and just raised her hand. Luckily he was looking up at that point so he saw her. He opened his mouth to call another name but a shout from the window that was currently open made him stop.

“Look out below…!!!!!” Rainbow’s voice warned. And just as the teacher ducked she came rocketing through the window and skidded to a stop just before she would have smacked into the wall. “Woo, made it!” she called pumping her fist in the air in victory. Coach Clover however was less than pleased.

“I take it you’re… Rainbow Elizabeth Francis Dashington…?” he asked reading off the roster. Rainbow visibly cringed at the sound of her full name and she sent a glare of doom out at a few boys that had snickered. They shut up instantly.

“It’s just Rainbow Dash sir. And yes, I am.” She replied with her bag slung over her shoulder.

“Okay Miss Dash do you have an excuse for being tardy to homeroom…?” he asked the girl. She nodded again.

“I forgot it was a uniform day so the teacher who caught me sent me back to my room to change, she gave me this as a note.” She responded handing him a folded golden piece of paper. He read it and nodded before telling her to take a seat. Which she did, right next to Fluttershy.

“Hey ‘Shy, sorry I’m late, It took me a while to find the forged note I had about uniforms.” She whispered. Twilight heard and nearly screamed but a prod from Spike stopped her. She turned her attention back to the front of the room where the teacher had been eyeing her. She mouthed an apology and settled back down.

“Okay, next we have Spikeson… holy cow, what’s with the fancy names in this class, Spikeson…?” he asked not wanting to read off Spike’s full name. He raised his hand.

“You can just call me Spike sir.” He replied.

“Good, Spike I can say.” He muttered. “And then we have Twilight Sparkle…?” he asked. She raised her hand and he nodded. He looked back down at the list and squinted at the name. “Uh… Luna…”

“Luna Selene Faustina Vitalani Alcmene Zarya Equestria… the first.” Came a voice from the doorway. Luna smiled as she leaned against the frame. The teacher looked from her to the roster, back again, then his eye started to twitch and he threw the roster into the air.

“Forget it! You’re all here!” he exclaimed. “Just… all of you talk quietly amongst yourselves while I bang my head against this table.” He groaned as Luna made her way to sit beside Spike.

“Man, and I thought MY full name was long…” Rainbow muttered to herself. But Fluttershy heard and giggled at the comment.

“I think you have a pretty name Rainbow…” she stated in her usual hushed tone.

“You want it…? I’ll let you have the middle names.” She groaned as she lay her head down on the desk. Fluttershy giggled again and decided to doodle to pass the time. Twilight had pulled out a book and Luna and Spike were both playing hand held video games. Rainbow decided it was the perfect opportunity to take a nap. She closed her eyes and started to drift off when she felt an eraser poke her cheek. She groaned and opened one eye to see Fluttershy had drawn another of her sketches except this time it was of her, sleeping. And it looked like she had just taken a picture of her on her phone in black and white.

“Whoa, ‘Shy, how long was I out for if you drew that…?” she asked blinking in surprise as she took the journal.

“About half an hour… home room is almost over… that’s why I woke you.” She responded as she let her stare at the picture. “Do you like it…?” she asked even quieter than normal. Her friend beamed at her.

“I think it looks AWESOME Fluttershy!” Rainbow responded with her signature grin. Fluttershy smiled in return and took the journal back setting it in her bag just as the bell rang. And Spike groaned from his seat.

“And just when I was gonna beat you too!” he whined. Luna was snickering at that.

“In your dreams maybe.” She sneered. They bickered for a bit as they gathered up their stuff and Twilight stood like a zombie and walked out with them while Fluttershy followed at Rainbow’s side.

“So what do you have for first period ‘Shy…?” Rainbow asked as they were both starting to walk outside.

“Oh… um… Herbology… it’s… in the green house.” She responded without having to look at her schedule.

“Great, that means I can walk you since I have Gym and they’re right next to each other, come on, let’s fly!” she called as she took to the air. Fluttershy whimpered and retracted into her hair. Rainbow’s eyes softened and she lowered back to where she was only a few inches off the ground and held out her hand to the frail girl. “Come on, we’ll fly low and go at your pace.” She reasoned. Fluttershy still hesitated but after an internal battle and a glance up at her friend she gave in and unfolded her wings lifting off the ground gently. “There you go, now come on, we have to at least get over the telephone poles otherwise we might get our wings tangled in them.” She urged flapping her wings a bit to help boost them both up. When they’d gone about fifty feet up she stopped and looked to Fluttershy to make sure she was okay. When she nodded she let her hand go and started towards the gym at a pace ‘Shy could keep up with. “So… how do you like the school so far?”

“It’s… nice.” Fluttershy responded. She spotted a blue jay that soared above them and her instincts took over as she flew up to it. Rainbow opened her mouth to stop her but it was too late. Fluttershy hit a hundred feet and she froze before looking down at the ground below her and fainting midair. But Rainbow was right there and caught her before she could even start to fall.

“Easy there Flutters… we don’t need another incident.” She muttered as they touch back on the ground and Fluttershy started to come around. Her eyes shot open and Rainbow sat her down under a tree. “Maybe we shouldn’t try that again for a little while you don’t seem to-“ but Fluttershy was shaking her head. Rainbow sighed again. "Flutters, I’m not gonna keep putting you in danger if-“ but Fluttershy had moved her hair out of her face so that both her eyes could be seen by Dash.

“I want to try Rainbow. I’m not going to get any better if I don’t…” she explained. Dash knew not to fight her when both eyes were out.

“If you say so ‘Shy… come on, we can try again later but right now you’re grounded.” She said tugging her friend up off the ground. Fluttershy dusted off the brown and orange plaid skirt of the uniform before she let her hair fall back in front of her eye and walked along beside Rainbow who was still watching her to see if she’d suffered any relapse. But not seeing any by the time they reached the green house she decided to let it go. She waved to Fluttershy and then flew off in a streak of rainbow to the gym. Fluttershy smiled as she watched her childhood friend fly off in the same fashion she always had. She sometimes wished she could fly like that too, but she knew where her place was, Pegasus or not she belonged on the ground. She sighed and walked into the classroom just as the bell rang for class to start.

A very dark skinned woman who had most of her head shaved except for one tall black and white striped Mohawk on top of her head and who had black stripes tatooed across her entire body, and some of her face as well, stood at the front of the class room. Which in all reality wasn’t really a class room it was just six long old wooden benches which students stood at since there weren’t any chairs to be seen, in the middle of a huge domed green house that looked more like a miniature jungle than anything else. She sipped her tea while eyes as deep as green as the countless plants that surrounded them watched the students as they all filed into the green house and chose a spot to stand at. There weren’t many in the class, only twelve in total. Two for each table, which suited the strange looking teacher perfectly. She didn’t like dealing with many people at one time, too much time wasted explaining her ways was indeed a waste of her days.

“Greetings to you young Equestrian folk, I see you have already found your way to my tables of oak. As you can plainly see, by me standing here sipping my tea, I am your teacher for this semester of the wonderful art which some might call an oddity but I call Herbology.” The woman stated with a smile of her far too white smile, or at least it seemed that way in contrast to her dark complexion. Fluttershy blinked at the woman’s odd way of speaking in rhyme and wondered, like many others before her, if she carried a rhyming dictionary with her. “Ah, but how can I be so rude, for it is my name I have forgotten to include! But I do warn you to not try change the way you say my name, it is not Terra like the humble earth, nor Savannah like the plains my people call their hearth, my name is Zecora, for what it is worth.” She finished with another smile as her eyes scanned the class again. Most of them seemed outright dumbfounded by her obvious talent with word smithing, all except for one shy one who was staring at her with the greatest admiration in the one eye that was visible behind her baby pink hair. But something about the girl made Zecora’s inner shaman dance a happy jig and she knew from the spark in the girl’s eyes that this would indeed be a worthwhile dig.

Meanwhile in the girl’s gym:

Rainbow was doing a few acrobatics using the rafters of the gym as stand in obstacles while she waited for the coach to show. A few of the other girls in her class were watching with half bored gazes, the others all had their noses buried in their phones or music. Just then the door from the office slammed open and almost as fast as lightning every trace of boredom and every electronic device had mysteriously vanished. Rainbow landed and sat in the bleachers where everyone else was. A woman who despite her obviously aging complexion still had hair streaked with orange and yellow like a burning fire tied back into a bun on her head and yellow eyes that looked like they could see straight through your soul made her way into the gym with a speed that also seemed unfitting for someone of her age, when she got closer Rainbow noticed with a sudden wave of pride that, due to the orange wings on her back, woman was also a Pegasus like her.

“Alright ladies, if you haven’t already take your seats so I can get this introduction crap out of the way…” She grumbled. One sentence out of the middle aged woman’s mouth and already she was Rainbow’s favorite teacher. “My name is Coach Rapidfire, and yes before any of you ask I AM related to the newly appointed captain of the Wonderbolts, Spitfire is the youngest of my four kids and my only daughter. Wasn’t long ago that she was sitting in here getting this introduction from me… okay, that’s enough of the sappy crap, let’s get this show on the road.” Yup, this was definitely Rainbow’s favorite teacher. Kick ass personality AND mother to the captain of the Wonderbolts…? Couldn’t be beat. “First off is roll call, then I‘ll tell you ladies where you can buy your gym uniforms if you haven’t got them already. Okay, AirSoft…?” a girl with very light blue hair that had white streaks running through it and wings that matched the blue raised her hand. Rainbow looked curiously at how many girls there were in the class. It looked to be over thirty of them making this a big class. She knew her name was towards the bottom of the list since it was alphabetical and her name started with an R. she decided to lean back against the bleachers while she waited for her name to be called.

While she stared up at the ceiling she couldn’t help but wonder what her other friends were doing. She amused herself with the possibilities of the other’s shenanigans. She wondered if Pinkie was already driving whatever poor soul she had for a teacher bonkers. She was so into her thoughts she almost missed the next name on the list. Almost.

“Abigail Jacqueline Apple…? Oh uh, the fifth?” she added like it was an afterthought. Rainbow sat up at that name. It was long and fancy sounding, and oddly familiar to her.

“Oh uh, here miss, but uh, could ya just put me down as Applejack…? I don really like that fancy full name of mine.” The heavily southern accented voice from behind one of the pillars that ran along the top row of the bleachers.

“Yeah sure kid, it’s easier to say anyways. Okay next…” Rainbow however had stopped listening. She had too devious of a smirk on her face to care. While coach had her nose in her clipboard she snuck over to where she had heard the voice and sat on the other side of the pillar that was attached to the wall.

“Sooo… Abigail huh…?” she sneered. She heard a jump and then a tanned freckled face peeked out from the other side of the pillar and green eyes glared when they confirmed the owner of the voice. “Rainbow Ah swear on mah Ma’s grave if you breathe a word of that name to any of the girl’s Ah’ll have your wings on mah mantle before sundown.” She growled quietly her emerald eyes glaring intensely. Rainbow nodded her smile fading as she heard the coach reaching the end of the list.

“On one condition cow girl…” she whispered back as the blonde moved to Rainbow’s side of the pillar and set her bag down on the ground by her feet.

“And what would that be…?” she asked raising an eyebrow.

“Don’t laugh.” Rainbow ordered. Before the farm girl could ask what she meant the coach answered her unasked question.

“Rainbow Elizabeth Francis Dashington…?” she called. Rainbow inwardly groaned as Applejack quickly had to slap a hand to her mouth to stop the loud chortle that almost escaped her mouth.

“Just Rainbow Dash is fine ma’am.” She sighed as she raised her hand to show that she was in fact there.

“No objections there kid… I’d hate my name too if it was anything like Francis…” she said marking down the adjustment to her chart. When she moved on to the few others and finished the list she went into her office to enter attendance into the computer and as soon as the door closed Rainbow sighed.

“Go ahead, I know you’re dying.” She said with a wave of her hand. Applejack burst into hysterics and almost fell off the bleachers as she rolled onto the lower section with her laugh. The others in the class stared but passed it off a friend thing and went back to their devices. When Applejack had finished she wiped a tear from her eyes and picked up her Stenson for where it had fallen off her head.

“Whew… that… that was a might bit too much for me ta handle… pfft, Francis… Okay then, Ah’ll hold up my mirrored end of the deal, neither one of us mentions our full names to the others, deal?” she asked spitting into her hand and holding it out to Dash. The Pegasus grinned and spat in her own hand meeting the other’s in a shake.

“Deal.” She echoed just as the coach came back in. They broke the handshake and wiped the excess off on their shirts as the coach addressed them again.

“Okay ladies, here’s how it’s going to work…”

After an extensive list of rules, exercises, and a brief mention of where they could get their gym uniforms they were given the rest of the class to either talk or shoot some hoops with a cart of basketballs she had brought out of the equipment room. The two athletic girls of course chose the ladder of the activities. Applejack carefully left her hat where she could see it at all times before she ran over and quickly knocked the ball out of Rainbow’s hand and made a shot of her own which ended with the ball making a pleasant swishing sound as it went through the basket.

“Ohhhh, farm girl’s got game huh…? Let’s see how you handle a little HORSE huh…?” Rainbow challenged. Applejack grinned back at her a hand on her hip as she did so.

“You’re on city girl.”

Half an hour later both of them were at a stalemate, both only had the letter H against them. It seemed whatever one could dish out the other could return. With flare I might add. Rainbow looked at the clock and knew class would be over soon so she decided to pull out her last trick, her ace in the hole. She ran up to the hoop and dribbled the ball with her before she leapt into the air about ten feet away from the hoop and used her wings a bit to keep her steady as she balanced along the rim of the hoop by doing a one hand handstand and used the other hand to slam dunk the ball in. She then spring vaulted off the hoop and flipped midair before sticking the landing and earning a loud cheer and several whistles from her classmates. She bowed and looked over her shoulder at the cowgirl.

“Let’s see you match that!” she sneered. Applejack simply took the ball as it rolled towards her and backed up to the other side of the court. She removed her boots and started to dribble the ball. “Oh you can’t be serious…” Rainbow muttered in horror. But she was. Applejack was the pinnacle of serious. She ran towards the hoop in the same way Dash had accept she jumped earlier and instead of using wings to steady her, she span like a cork screw in midair right over Rainbow and even gave her a wink before she came to a one armed handstand on the rim of the hoop and she slammed the ball in with more force than what was necessary. She pushed off but did a backflip instead of a front flip like Dash had and landed face to face with the rainbow haired Pegasus.

“And that folks, is how a farm girl shows up a cocky city girl at her own game.” She announced before trotting off to collect her boots leaving Rainbow and the rest of the class with dropped jaws and wide eyes. Rapidfire, who had been watching the two with only mild interest so far held her snapped pencil in one hand and her other hand was holding air that once contained her clipboard that now occupied the floor.

‘That’s it; I’m getting those two on a sports team if it kills me.’ She resolved while she tried to regain function of her motor reflexes. The bell rang and that seemed to snap most everyone out of their trances all except for Rainbow who still stood where she had been her wings still at full attention in her shock. Applejack walked past making sure to flick her long and loose ponytail in the girls face as she dawned her trademark hat again.

“Come on slowpoke, you’re gonna be late if ya stand there all day like a flyin fish with its mouth wide open.” She chuckled. That seemed to snap Rainbow out of it. In a streak of wind she had grabbed her bag from the bleachers and was out the door before the cowgirl could even put her boot to the ground. The stunned coach remained and she pulled her phone slowly from her pocket and hit a speed dial on it.

“Yeah, it’s Rapidfire, I need the latest medical records for two students of mine… yes I’ll hold.”

Elsewhere on campus:

Twilight Sparkle was skipping along happily having just gotten out of her advanced Biochemistry class pleased that her mentor had been right about the level of learning in the classes she had signed up for. They suited her just fine and, unlike her homeroom the class, had mostly been filled with people who were serious about learning; so needless to say she got along just fine despite none of her friends sharing the class with her. Next up she had another of her favorite subjects besides science: Math. Algebra to be more exact. She had wanted to take Pre-calculus but that was reserved for ninth graders and up so she went with Algebra instead, AP of course, none of Twilight’s academics were regular. So needless to say, when she walked into a room that was supposed to be filled with some of the greatest mathematicians in the school the last person she expected to see was Pinkie Pie.

“Omaigosh Twilight!!! You have this class too?!” the pink haired girl zipping over to her no sooner had she entered the door. Despite the dress code Twilight noticed she wore a pink bowtie as an accessory.

“Pinkie…? What… and I don’t mean any offense by this, but what are you doing in an advanced Mathematics class…?” she asked while Pinkie was dragging her over to a desk beside the one she had occupied when Twilight had entered.

“Oh! I might not look it but I’m really good with things like Science and math…!” She responded without losing her ever peppy grin. Twilight blinked in surprise at her but decided that Pinkie wasn’t really one to lie about something like what she was good at in school.

“Really now…? That’s interesting actually, what classes did you take before this…?” she asked as she unpacked her materials for class and arranged them neatly on her desk.

“None~!” came the sing songy reply. Twilight nearly dropped her Algebra book when she heard that.

“Y-you didn’t take any math classes before this…?! But then… h-how did you…?!” Twilight was once again struck speechless by the obscure ways of this pink haired sugar addict.

“I was home schooled DUH, my Mom got her teaching degree a few years before she had my older sister Blinkie and she home schooled all three of us sisters until we got a letter in the mail a few months ago that said they wanted me to take a test for some school in the town next to our farm so I did and I got in on a scholarship because they said my scores were over that of a college level in Math and Science~!” she giggled while she unpacked her own bag which didn’t seem to contain anything practical at all, just a lot of sweets, some balloons, a hand held air pump for the balloons, and a small egg followed by a battery powered incubator that the egg then rolled into on its own. Twilight’s eye was twitching just from watching the scene yet alone the story her friend was telling.

“B-beyond college level…? B-but I… and you… and is that a rope of taffy you’re pulling out of that bag…?!” she questioned as Pinkie was now pulling a long cord of pink taffy from the bag that by no means could hold all that she had already pulled out of it.

“Well duh Twilight, what’s it look like chocolate? Sheesh.” She replied with a roll of her eyes. She got to the end of the rope and proceeded to pick up the entire pile of the sweet taffy and load it into her mouth all at once chewing a few times before swallowing it all in one gulp. She looked over at Twilight whose eye was twitching and her hair was starting to fray a bit. “Oh, sorry did you want something from here?” she offered as Twilight slammed her forehead into the desk.

“Not unless you’ve got a very large bottle of aspirin in that bag…” she replied without looking up. There was a hesitation for a second before she heard the rattle of a pill jar and looked up to see Pinkie beaming at her and holding what was indeed a VERY large bottle of aspirin. She didn’t bother questioning it and took it gratefully. “Hehe… don’t suppose you’ve got any water in there…?” she asked as she undid the lid and put two of the pills in her hand. Pinkie thought for a moment before she reached back into her bag and came back out with two bottles in her hand.

“Sparkling or regular…~?” she asked holding them out to her. Twilight stared at them for a few seconds before she poured more pills into her hand and popped them into her mouth before she could question the rationality of her choice. She took one of the bottles and washed them down. If she was going to be spending an entire hour sitting next to Pinkie she was going to need all the help she could get.

In the elective’s wing of the school, more specifically the sewing room:

Rarity sat at a sewing machine her eyes never leaving her stitching while she talked with the quiet pink haired girl across from her was recounting all that had gone on in her previous class.

“Really, she’s going to be teaching your class about how to weave fabric out of plant fibers…? Well that certainly sounds interesting darling, you’ll have to tell me all about it when it comes up again in class.” Rarity insisted as she cut of her power to the machine and removed the fabric cutting the thread before she re inserted it from a different direction. Fluttershy nodded eagerly.

“Yes, Ms… oh I mean, Zecora is a very interesting teacher… she seemed really… nice.” Fluttershy whispered. Somehow Rarity heard her over the machine and nodded with her eyes never leaving the fabric in front of her.

“She does sound like an interesting character doesn’t she…? Fluttershy, could you be a dear and hand me another of those aquamarine gem stones…?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy reached into the tiny chest that rested beside Rarity’s work station and picked out another of the tiny gems that was just a bit smaller than her pinky. She handed it to Rarity who promptly thanked her as she removed the fabric she was working on and used her magic to merge the gemstone into place on the plush yellow fabric.

“Um… Rarity…? I thought you were just repairing the hole in the seam…?” Fluttershy questioned noticing for the first time that Rarity had already fixed the hole in her favorite sweater.

“Well I did darling, but then a little light bulb went off in my head I just simply HAD to implement a little design I saw earlier today…” she responded as she was finishing the little bit of pattern that was left. Fluttershy was curious now but she knew to be patient with things so she waited until Rarity was done it it and was snipping the last few stray strings off it before she tried to peek around at it. Rarity noticed and smiled a bit as she turned the sweater around for her to see. The sweater itself looked the same, but now down in the bottom corner of it were three butterflies with soft pink wings and small bodies made up of the aquamarine gems she had been using. They looked exactly like her cutiemark. Fluttershy’s hand went straight for the spot where she knew it was on her chest and let out a squeak of embarrassment.

“W-when d-did y-you…?!” she stuttered her eyes, that were the very same color of the gemstones mind you, wide in realization. Rarity removed her red rimmed work glasses and set them beside her machine as she let a gentle smile cross her face.

“I noticed it when you were changing this morning… right over your heart isn’t it…? You know they say that marks that appear there have great meaning behind them. But I found it a shame that because of… well, you being a proper lady, no one would ever see it. So I decided I’d put it somewhere where people COULD see it without you embarrassing yourself to death.” She explained as she stood and stretched the sweater a bit to make sure her repair job would hold up. When it did she folded it up neatly and handed the sweater back to Fluttershy who she quickly noticed had small tears forming at the edges of her eyes. “Oh my dear Fluttershy! I’m sorry, I was un aware it was such a sensitive matter to you, here, I’ll just delete those images from my head if they bother you so much…!” she exclaimed as she closed her eyes in concentration and put her fingers up to the crest on her forehead. But two arms wrapped around her made her stop before she’d even started the spell.

“T-thank you… I-I always wanted people to be able to see it b-but… you know…” she trailed off as she slowly released the hug. Rarity smiled at her again and wiped a tear from her own eye.

“Well I would be more than happy to design you outfits with your mark on them my dear, or if you wanted I could just embroider any of the clothes you already have.” Rarity offered as she took a seat back in her rolling work chair.

“Oh my… I could never trouble you like that Rarity… it would simply be far too much trouble…!” Fluttershy protested. But Rarity waved her finger at the girl instead.

“Fluttershy darling, for friends like you I’d make an entire wardrobe of clothes without so much as a thought, or a drop of regret. Such is the nature of my talent, polishing tarnished gems until they shine at no benefit to myself except for the satisfaction of having made someone truly happy.” She explained with a curtsey and a wink. That made Fluttershy blush even more than before as she hid behind her hair and pressed the soft sweater to her chest like it was a stuffed animal.

“Well… if… if you really want to I suppose…” she muttered. Rarity seemed to glow at her agreement. And she then remembered a question she’d had earlier.

“Ah, so Fluttershy, what exactly IS your talent darling, bug catching…?” she guessed.

“Oh…! Um no… you see I’m very good with animals, I can communicate with them on a different level than most people… I’m also very good at tending to them when they’re ill which is why I’ve signed up as a veterinary assistant for the school…” she replied her eyes lit up with a gentle spark that although soft in nature could still compete with the heat of the sun. Rarity smiled at her.

“Well then you would simply love to visit Applejack’s farm in town. Her family has one of the biggest collections of farm animals in Equestria…!” Rarity explained to the smaller pink haired girl.

“REALLY?! Oh… um… I mean… really…?” she corrected after her excitement had gotten the better of her and she had shouted so loud that Rarity’s eardrum had nearly shattered. She giggled at her enthusiasm and nodded.

“Why yes, and if I recall they just got a new puppy as well. Some kind of small herding breed… what was it again, uh… they had a movie about one of them… Lady…? No…” Rarity trailed off in thought.

“Lassie…?” Fluttershy offered. Rarity snapped her fingers and nodded.

“Yes, yes, Lassie that was it! Sad movie that one…” she added.

“So… it’s a Collie then…?” Fluttershy asked.

“I’d suppose so, I’m really more a cat person myself so I don’t honestly know many dog breeds.” She admitted as she collected her bag and started towards the door making sure to wave goodbye to her teacher and personal mentor Photofinish, but the white haired woman was too ingrained in her work to notice.

“Oh really…? What kind of cats do you like…?” Fluttershy asked in her timid voice as she put the sweater away in her pink messenger bag.

“Well, this is going to sound a bit corny mind you darling, but I always pictured myself having one of those really fluffy white cats… I just think their coats look so soft whenever I see them on TV…” she explained with a dreamy sigh. Fluttershy giggled and smiled at her roommate.

“Do you think they allow pet’s in the dorms…?” she asked as her mind was once again shifting towards her fauna friends.

“Oh I’m sure they do darling, you probably just have to fill out a form or something.” Rarity explained with a wave of her hand. Fluttershy seemed to think for a minute about it as they walked down the hallway and the bell rang dismissing them to their third period. “Oh my, look at that. Already time for class, what do you have next dear…?” Rarity asked as she pulled out her own schedule to confirm that she had history next.

“Oh um…” Fluttershy reached into a pocket on her skirt and looked at the paper. “Biology… and you have history right…?” she asked recalling that they had talked about it at the beginning of their shared sewing class.

“Yes dear, actually it’s only up on the next floor so I won’t have to go far, why don’t you hurry along since the science wing is detached from the rest of the school…?” she urged knowing full well the only had ten minutes for passing period and in a huge school like this every second counted if you wanted to be on time. Fluttershy nodded and gave her new friend a wave before she turned and started walking briskly to her next class. Once she was outside she looked up at the blue sky and she felt her wings ache to be free in the thermals she knew were carrying the puffy white clouds. She bit her lip as she debated on it.

“Ohhh… you’re going to regret this Fluttershy…” she assured herself as she lifted off the ground and shutting her eyes as she did so. When she felt herself stop at the right altitude she dared peek open one of her eyes. All she saw were students rushing to their classes. She didn’t see the cold hard ground waiting for her at a dizzying height. She looked to the skies again and watched the clouds lazily drifting along. She felt the wind stir her hair and her instincts took over as she rode the breeze which thankfully for her was towards the science building. When she was nearly there she felt like she was on top of the world, not literally because she would have been frightened to death at that height, but she hadn’t felt this good about flying since before the accident. And then just like that the good feeling was gone as the memory came flashing back to her. The sensation of falling over took her. Both in her memory and in real life; not that she would have noticed, she was already gripped with fear as her wings had retracted and were now stuck against her back while she dropped like a rock and her eyes closed accepting her fate since this time Rainbow wouldn’t be around to save her.

But Fluttershy had been wrong before, so of course she was wrong now. In a flash of color Fluttershy’s eyes were jerked open as instead of landing on cold hard ground she was caught and was skidding to a halt in the arms of her heroine yet again. Rainbow’s glaring magenta orbs however made her wish she had hit the ground instead. She knew the lecture was coming.

“Fluttershy… do you have a death wish that involves dropping out of the sky and splattering like an egg…?” she growled.

“N-no… I-I just… I’m sorry Rainbow… I know I shouldn’t have but… but it just… called to me… I know the ground is my home but there’s some little part of me that belongs in the sky…” Fluttershy whimpered as she felt tears rim her eyes as Rainbow set her back down and kneeled in front of her with a sigh.

“I know what you mean ‘Shy, hell I can’t imagine going a day without flying. Yet you went how long…? Months? And you’ve still got two perfectly good wings there so OF COURSE you’re going to want to fly. It’s in our nature right…?” Dash reasoned. “I’m not asking you to stay grounded, just make sure that I’m nearby so that if you fall, I can catch you. You’re my best friend ‘Shy, I don’t want to make the mistake of losing you again.” She emphasized an honest look in her eyes. Fluttershy gave her a gentle smile and wrapped her arms around Dash’s neck pulling her into a tight hug.

“Thank you Dash… I don’t know where I’d be without you…” she whispered. Dash chuckled a bit at that.

“Well if today is anything to go by I’d say up in the clouds partying with Celestia and Luna’s mom.” She replied as she scratched the back of her head. It was then that Fluttershy noticed that Rainbow’s arm was bleeding. A lot.

“B-blood…!” Fluttershy squealed. Rainbow blinked and looked at her arm where Fluttershy’s eyes were frozen, a long gash in her arm was pouring blood that made even Rainbow a bit queasy.

“Aw shit… okay, tell you what, I’ll go get this checked out by the nurse and you go on to class okay…?” Rainbow planned. But just then the bell rang signaling that they were both late. “Okay, new plan. You come with me to the nurse saying you found me after I crashed and brought me in to get checked out, that way she’ll write you a pass to class and I’ll get this thing checked out.” Rainbow strategized. The two had been in situations like this a lot and as much as Fluttershy didn’t like it, Rainbow’s plans usually kept them out of getting into trouble so she learned to just follow along with whatever it was she said.

So they got up to walk to the nurses office before Fluttershy remembered something pretty key, she had no idea where said office was. “Um… Rainbow, do you know where the nurse’s office is…?” she asked looking over to her friend who was holding onto her arm in an attempt to stop its bleeding. She froze with realization.

“Crap… no I don’t. Ugh, and I left my map of the campus in my last class… damn it…!” she cursed. Fluttershy winced at her friend’s use of vulgarity but something in the distance caught her eye and a light bulb went off in her head.

“Um… Rainbow, I think I know someone else who could help you…” Fluttershy mentioned so quietly that had it been anyone else they might not have heard her. But years of being around her friend had sharpened Dash’s hearing greatly.

“Oh really, who…?”

Five minutes later…

“Are you kidding me?! You want me to be treated by your freaky shaman of a Herbawhatsit teacher?!” Rainbow exclaimed as they stood outside the green house.

“It’s… Herbology… and she’s really nice Rainbow…! And she might be… a little bit odd but she told us earlier that she uses her skills to heal others quite often and since we don’t know where the nurse is…” Fluttershy trailed off losing the little bit of confidence she had as she retracted behind her wall of hair yet again. Rainbow groaned and felt herself becoming light headed from the blood loss she had suffered. Needless to say there was little room to argue.

“Okay fine… just… let’s get this over with.” She groaned. Fluttershy perked up and pushed open the door to the large dome and walked in with Rainbow at her side. She looked around but noticed Zecora was nowhere to be seen.

‘She must have this period off… but she mentioned in class she is always here if she needs us so…’ Fluttershy’s thoughts were interrupted by a voice with a familiar rhyming scheme coming from beside her.

“Oh my, it appears I have visitors, and one is injured, how has this happened my dear Fluttershy…?” asked the dark skinned woman who had appeared from a small pathway in the greenery. Rainbow nearly jumped out of her skin when the voice had spoken but Fluttershy was merely startled for a second before she remembered why they had come here.

“My friend was injured trying to save me from a flying accident, but we don’t have any idea where the nurses office is, and I remembered that you mentioned being good with healing so I-“ Fluttershy explained quickly in her panicky nature. But Zecora held up a hand to stop her rant.

“Cease your chatter and be at peace, for if it is healing you seek I am quite practiced in the technique.” She assured the girl. Fluttershy let out a sigh of relief and then noticed Rainbow had started to sway a bit. She put a gentle hand on her friend’s back to steady her and Zecora noticed and moved with the swiftest of pace. “Come and make haste, there is not much time left to waste.” She ordered moving a couple of vines out of the way to reveal a small opening to a cave that was lit by candles of all kinds. They walked inside and Rainbow lay down on a bed that was against the wall and Zecora walked over with a bowl of water and a wet cloth. She quickly cleaned away the blood and then brought over another bowl that was also filled with a clear liquid. But Rainbow knew that smell all too well.

“This is going to burn isn’t it…?” she asked as Zecora wetted a new rag with alcohol this time. Zecora simply produced a dry rag and offered it to Dash to bite down on. She took it into her mouth and bit down on it as Zecora applied the cloth to her arm. Dash screamed in agony at the burning and even though it was dulled by the cloth it still made Fluttershy cringe. How many times had this happened now…? Where she would watch Rainbow get treated for an injury caused by her having to rush in and save her because she had made some stupid mistake...? She couldn’t count that high. It seemed to happen at least two or three times a week for the last six years and every time it did Fluttershy would beat herself up over it and Rainbow would always try and tell her it wasn’t her fault. But Rainbow wasn’t a very good liar.

“Just a little longer I swear, so please do not despair…” Zecora promised, but to who was a mystery. When she had finished cleaning the wound she grabbed one last bowl of a semi clear salve and applied it quickly to the wound. Rainbow’s pained expression eased until it was gone completely and she relaxed into the bed as she used her other hand to remove the cloth from her mouth.

“That… that feels really good now, what’s in this stuff…?” Dash asked curious about what could drive away the searing agony she had just been in so quickly.

“It is a special brew made from a flower’s dew and a rare but powerful root of the tree bearing the juicy star fruit.” She answered as she set the bowl back on the table beside the bed and grabbed a roll of gauze from a drawer before she started to wrap Rainbow’s arm in it.

“Wow that’s… kinda cool actually… I didn’t know plants could make something like that.” Dash admitted while her arm was taped up.

“Indeed it is young Rainbow Dash, many doubt a plant’s power to heal things like a cold or a gash, but in all reality they have been used by for years a plenty.” Zecora explained as she cut the gauze off where it needed to stop and used medical tape to keep it in place. “There you are, now be sure to see it is properly cleaned or else it will leave a terrible scar.” She instructed as the girl sat up and moved her arm back and forth to test it. When she was sure it wouldn’t bother her too much she stood up and was almost knocked over by a hug from Fluttershy.

She recovered quickly and chuckled as she returned the hug and patted the sobbing girl on the back gently. “Don’t worry about it ‘Shy, I’m totally fine now. See…?” She asked before flying up into the air and doing a small twirl and landing back on the floor without swaying on bit. “No need to worry! Oh great, now I’m rhyming too…” she groaned as she realized her choice of words had indeed mimicked that of the shaman’s. But that was enough to make Fluttershy stop crying and even laugh a little. She turned back to her teacher and smiled.

“Thank you Miss… I mean, thank you for your help Zecora… I-I don’t know what I’d have done if you hadn’t been around to help…” she stammered a bit at that but the woman just waved her hand in dismissal.

“It is not a problem for me young Fluttershy, I am always happy to help when things go awry. But I do have one question, one that escapes my comprehension; what is it that you have done that makes you think you injured your loved one…?” she asked her deep green eyes truly puzzled as to how the timid girl before her could have injured her athletic looking counterpart.

Fluttershy looked down at her feet a sudden fascination with the dirt floor of the cave overwhelming her. “W-well… you see I… I’m not a very strong flier… I never have been… and I… I’m not very good with heights either… so when I tried to fly to my class to save time I panicked and almost crashed but… but Dash caught me last minute and ended up hurting herself because of it…” she explained.

‘So much for our little cover story…’ Dash thought with a sigh. She wondered what it was about the teacher that made telling even the simplest of lies feel like a terrible crime.

Zecora let a smile trace her features. “If it is fears that plague you my dear, then I beg of you to listen, for my words are sincere. One cannot let fear and doubt consume your soul, or else those you hold dear will suffer tenfold. For one who possesses wings the sky they roam is also their home, but this is not always true, and those that so are bound to be lead askew. Home is not where others dictate it to be, but instead where one can feel boundless and free. I can see from the look in your eyes that you know this to be true, but are still blinded and bound by fears of the blackest of hues. You have suffered through a terrible pain, that much is clear, but also that it hangs over you like an ominous chandelier. You feel it beginning to crash down on you when you try to spread your wings and fly into the boundless open sky, and because of that you remain earthbound like a sad little hound. You fear that if you give into your desire that the consequences for those you love could be dire. But while this is legitimate reason to be scared, you cannot let it keep you snared. For what good will come out of making mistakes, if you do not learn from them and settle the stakes…?” she asked with the wisest of looks in her eyes.

Rainbow Dash stood there with her jaw hung open in shock and Fluttershy, having more polite tendencies even when stunned to silence took her words in while never breaking eye contact with her.

“That… thank you for telling me all that Zecora… but it still doesn’t help the fact that whenever I DO try to get over my fear I always end up nearly getting myself killed and Dash usually hurts herself trying to save me…” she muttered. That snapped Dash out of it.

“Hey, do you think I’d keep saving you if I didn’t want to…? You’re my best friend Flutters, you always have been. I’m not gonna bail on you when you need me most!” she proclaimed thumping a fist to her chest as if to prove her point.

“But you’re always getting hurt because of me! If I don’t try I’ll never get better, but if I DO try then I end up hurting my friend! It’s… its better if I just stay on the ground. This IS where all my animal friends are after all… and if my destiny is tied to them then I belong on the ground.” She reasoned. Zecora was going to say something but she was cut off by a laugh from Rainbow Dash.

“Ahahahaha! That’s the most round about logic I’ve ever heard! Flutters, just because your special talent says you’re good with animals DOESN’T mean you have to be bound to the earth like them! I mean my special talent is racing and aerial acrobatics, but do you see me living my entire life in the sky? No, you’re a Pegasus, and we Pegasi are born to fly, so as long as you have two perfectly functioning wings don’t you DARE try to tell me you can’t fly. If you’re that worried about falling while you practice I can make you a cloud platform to practice on so you won’t hurt yourself.” She suggested with a confident grin on her face, a strand of her red bangs got in her eyes and she gave it a frustrated look before blowing it out of her face. The action made Fluttershy giggle and then she let out a sigh.

“Well… I guess when you put it that way… it does seem pretty silly of me. And coming from you… who KNOWS why I’m like this… I… I would like to try. But Dash, if it comes between saving me and making sure you don’t get injured again, please just let me fall. I don’t want to keep having to see you injured like this. It’s cruel and you don’t deserve it.” Fluttershy urged. But Dash shook her head.

“Sorry Flutters, I’d do anything for my friends, but not that. I’m not going to just sit back while you fall like that. Besides, that’s what friends are for right…? Someone to fall back on when you can’t help but fall. And I’m way used to getting hurt by now, they didn’t call me Rainbow Crash for nothing you know.” Dash chuckled scratching the back of her head as she did so. Fluttershy looked defeated but she knew just like her need to see creatures of all shapes and sizes happy and healthy, Dash would always feel the need to stand by her friends at all costs. It was just in their nature.

Zecora watched the sparks in both their eyes with growing curiosity and eventually a smile broke out on her face. She walked out of the hidden cave and towards her desk both of the girls following her after a few seconds. “Now that wounds of the heart and body are on the heal I think a note for your teachers would be ideal.” She stated as she pulled out a note pad from her desk drawer. “Do either of you know the name of the teachers you have next so that I may address them formally in my text…?”

They both blinked before they pulled out their schedules and looked at their third period teachers before speaking at the same time.

“Ms. Fauna.” They announced. They looked at each other startled at the revelation that they’d be in the same class but Zecora just smiled and scribbled something down on the paper before handing it to Dash.

“You’d best hurry, before you cause your teacher any more worry.” She stated simply. The two of them nodded Fluttershy quickly thanking Zecora for her help before they collected their bags that had been left at the front door and made a beeline for the science labs. When they were gone Zecora let her smile grow.

“I wonder if the Princess is aware of the spark each of these girls hold, and what will happen if the events that have been foretold are to truly unfold…” Zecora questioned to no one in particular. Her eyes glowed ever so slightly and she looked to the sun that shone through the glass dome. “I can only pray that whatever she has planned will not bring suffering to this beautiful land.” She muttered before she disappeared into her cave once more.

***~Page Break~***

After the dreadful math class Twilight had suffered through, the aspirin not even kicking in until it was half over Twilight went about her classes like normal. She found out she didn’t have a lot of classes with her friends, although she did end up sharing a fair number with Spike which pleased her enough. But when lunch came around Twilight could truly say for the first time in her life, she just wanted school to be over for the day.

But that might have been the empty stomach and left over headache talking. She went through the line of the restraint she wanted in the food court and noticed her friends all sitting for her at a picnic table under the large oak tree that centered the food court. She however noticed Luna was nowhere to be seen and could only hope the girl had already made some friends of her own. She sat down and of course Pinkie was the first to greet her.

“Hi Twilight! We were just talking about you! Actually I was telling the girls about what happened in math with those weird looks everyone was giving me and stuff! I was trying to see if they knew why but so far we’ve got nothing…!” she reported sounding cheerful despite her failure. Twilight managed a smile despite herself. She swore this girl sucked the energy out of her like a sponge but whatever she took she always returned tenfold with just that blinding smile.

“Yes, it truly was a rather… interesting tale Pinkie, but what I’m curious about out of all that I’ve observed is how Rainbow here got such a dreadful injury…!” Rarity asked turning to the girl who sat on the other side of Fluttershy. Rarity didn’t see the shy girl cringe slightly as she picked at her salad. Dash looked up from the taco she was trying to inhale and swallowed quickly before replying some of the juices still dripping along her chin.

“I uh… crashed into a tree and got a nice long cut from one of the branches. But Fluttershy took me to her Herbology teacher and she patched me up like new so now I’m all good.” She explained, and most everyone seemed to accept it with nods of their own before they resumed eating their meals. But Applejack took the half lie for what it was and eyed her roommate curiously over her burger. Twilight however was distracted by something else.

“Has anybody seen Spike…? He told me he’d be eating with us at lunch but I don’t see him anywhere…” she asked standing up to get a better view of the surrounding area. ‘Come to think of it Luna’s missing too… I hope those two aren’t getting into trouble…’ she thought sitting back down and picking up her fork to begin eating her chicken salad. Beside her Pinkie was happily munching on a cupcake (her lunch consisted of a balanced diet of candy, cake, and pastries) when suddenly her poofy hair seemed to grow a mind of its own and stood straight up like poofy pink tower before it settled back down around her shoulders like normal. Her blue eyes grew wide and in a pink blur she had every one of her friends in her arms as she quickly bolted away from where they had been sitting. But before any of them could ask what exactly was wrong with her they heard screaming from above and in what seemed like slow motion they all saw a very familiar boy with green hair that stuck out of a white safety helmet, and who wore a purple hoodie smash into the very table they had been sitting in shattering it to pieces and sending their lunches scattering everywhere.

Fifteen minutes earlier:

“Hey Twilight, I’ll meet you at lunch with the girls, I need to go back to our room real quick to drop off some of these books, they’re getting heavy and from what I’ve seen so far all the classes have in room copies anyways.” Spike said as they filled out of their shared Philosophy class.

“Okay, I’ll save you a seat but you’d better hurry.” She called over her shoulder in return.

So using his speed he made it to their room in record time. He swiped his ID against the scanner and the door audibly clicked meaning it was now unlocked. He pushed open the door and made his way to his room only to find Luna’s door open and to see her out on her balcony working on some kind of contraption that was nearly as big as she was. He dropped his bag and walked over to the open door.

“Do I want to know what this thing is…?” he asked jolting the lunar princess out of her state of concentration.

“Huh…? Oh hello Spike, didn’t hear you come in. This…? It’s a uh… well, my engineering teacher spoke of a project we’d be doing all year, to build a full scale machine of our choosing. So I had a free period and decided that I’d make a quick prototype.” She explained as she tightened another bolt on the thing. Spike whistled a bit.

“You built this thing in an hour…? If it were anyone else but you I’d think it was impossible… so what does it do?” he asked trying to examine the thing a bit further.

“Oh well it… uh, makes people fly.” She responded after a second’s thought. Spike’s eyes lit up like green fire.

“Did you say fly…?” Flying was something beyond him, since dragons didn’t grow wings until the hit their teenage years, but since he had first seen dragons in books soaring through the skies like the powerful beasts they were he had always wanted to join them.

“Well, yes… but it’s only a prototype. It’d have to be tested before it could actually…”

“I COULD TEST IT FOR YOU!!! I-I mean, you know, if you needed me to or anything.” He added trying to sound smooth with it. He failed but it was still cute to see him try. Luna gave him a worried glance. He was just a child after all, and she was just going to use a test dummy for the initial testing phase… but he was half dragon. And of her sister’s royal dragon line as well. It would take a lot more than a fall from two thousand feet to put him out of commission.

“Okay, I’ll let you test it. But you have to wear this helmet just in case.” She ordered conjuring a white industrial strength helmet for the boy to wear. He beamed and strapped it onto his head tightening the straps to ensure it wouldn’t fall off. “Okay good, now just climb up here into the top.” She instructed having to get on her tippy toes to tap the top of the machine. Spike leapt up into it and settled into the thing easily enough.

“Now what…?” he called from within it.

“Now, you fly.” She responded as she pressed a button on the side of it. Pieces of it shifted around and the holders all released the barrel of it as the canon unfolded into its true form, Spike was completely oblivious to anything other than the fact that the sky had come into view for him. He grinned and closed his eyes as Luna hit the FIRE button and sent him soaring into the sky. And for a couple of seconds, he really was flying high into the sky, just barley grazing the lower clouds as he spread his arms out to try and guide himself through the air. But then he felt himself go weightless for about half a second before he started to plummet like a rock. All he saw rushing at him was a big tree. And he closed his eyes waiting for the branches to catch him.

Back to the present:

“SPIKE!!!!” Twilight called as the boy started to stir from the rubble and she ran to him.

“Ugh… Did anyone catch that train’s number…?” he groaned as he sat up and rubbed his back which had suffered the brute force of the fall. Twilight was examining his form by prodding his limbs gently to see if it hurt him. He was sore but nothing looked broken. She sighed in relief and then went into full lecture mode.

“SPIKESON GRAVENTUS DRACONIS KAELOPSON VI WHAT IN CELESTIA’S NAME DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING?!?!?!?!?!” She roared her hair literally bursting into flames and her eyes turning as red as blood. Spike wanted to crawl back into the crater he’d made, hell, he’d probably do the fall all over again from even higher if it got him out of facing Twilight’s rage mode. But just then an angel in the form of the lunar princess flew down from the heavens to spare him such a fate.

“Have peace Twilight Sparkle, it was I that caused Spike’s… accident.” She explained calmly. Twilight considered ripping the head from her shoulders, had it been anyone else she probably would have but her bond with Luna’s older sister prevented her from maiming the lunar princess. That didn’t however stop the well placed punch to her face. And it hit home, hard. When Luna fell back unconscious into the concrete Twilight’s rage form vanished and her magic was once again in check as she realized in absolute dreaded horror that she had just knocked the only sister of her mentor out cold. Behind her the other five girls and the entire student body stood in stunned silence at the events they had just witnessed. Even Pinkie didn’t make a peep or move a single muscle.

From within the crowd however there was one who still moved, actually she made her way through the scattered students until she calmly passed Twilight’s stunned friends her wavy pink hair and two soft white wings being carried by a wind that blew past. Eyes the same color as her hair locked onto the unconscious teal haired girl on the floor and for a second they flicked to the purple haired girl that still stood frozen in front of her and the green haired boy next to her. But she didn’t meet their eyes until she had moved forward and picked up the unconscious body of Luna and she turned to face Twilight Sparkle. The prominent crest in the middle of her forehead glowed as golden magic started to surround her. Pink met lavender and a voice that had guided her for so many of her years filled her ears, the voice of her loving mentor.

“I’ll wait for you back in the room.”

Author's Note

Sorry about the delayed update, between the university work I have, my actual work, and my personal life I found it rather hard to find time to post anything new. But luckily Fridays I don't have classes so I got to sleep in AND post a new chapter, tell me if you like it if not then tell me why and I shall revise it accordingly. And if you haven't noticed by now I've but in hints to several diffrent pairings in here already, I already know of course who I'm going to be shipping but it's always fun to make you all guess. Also I've broken this chapter in two simply because having a single chapter that is over twenty thousand words seemed a bit much. Even being over ten thousand words is impressive from what I've seen on here. So I'll be adding part two hopefully near Monday or Tuesday if my professor doesn't bury me in book reports again.

Chapter 4.2

Chapter 4 Pt. 2

Twilight Sparkle stood there for a good few minutes just in her stunned state. The other students went about their lunch like normal but Twilight’s friends quickly recovered and rushed forward to try and comfort Twilight.

“Twi, Twi, can ya here me sugarcube…? Ah think she’s lost it gals.” AJ announced after waving her hand in front of the bookworm’s eyes for a few seconds and even shaking her for good measure. Rainbow didn’t buy it though.

“No way, move over, let me try.” She ordered shoving the cowgirl out of the way and snapping in front of her face a few times before she rubbed her chin in thought and then went right next to Twilight’s ear and let out a very realistic, and very loud roar that reminded them all of a dinosaur. But Twilight didn’t bat an eyelash. “Okay, I give, your turn Flutters.” She announced and promptly shoved her friend in front of the metaphorical bus.

Fluttershy let out a small squeak before she noticed the distant look in her eyes and saw the terror behind them as well. “I-I think she’s in shock… in order for her to snap out of it… y-you’d have to shock her again…” Fluttershy reasoned. Rainbow Dash perked at that and quickly flew a few feet off the ground.

“If it’s shocking you need I could whip up a storm cloud real quick and-“

“NO!!! I-I mean… an emotional shock Rainbow, not a lightning bolt…” Fluttershy explained. Dash made an O with her lips before landing. Rarity stepped forward next and Spike looked at her with concern in his eyes, too worried about Twilight to be love struck. She gave him a smile before she cleared her throat and in what seemed to be a completely out of character motion, proceeded to grill Twilight with a full drill instructor’s impression.

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU PATHETIC SHIT EATING MAGGOT, JUST STANDING THERE LIKE A GOD DAMN DAISY IN THE WIND, YOU GET YOUR LOLLIGAGGING HEAD OUT OF THOSE GOD DAMNED CLOUDS BEFORE I ROUND HOUSE KICK YOUR SORRY ASS BACK DOWN TO EARTH, DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!?!?!” She screamed her blue eyes like ice ready to stab through her in an instant. But again, Twilight didn’t respond, like she was deaf and blind. Well, she might have actually been deaf after Rainbow and Rarity’s loud voices in direct blast zone of her hearing, but that clearly wasn’t the issue here. Rarity’s calm and gentle air of regality came back and she sighed turning to her friends. “I’m afraid that if THAT didn’t get her out of it nothing will… what are you all staring at…?” she asked with an eyebrow raised at her friend’s shocked and slightly horrified faces. Actually Fluttershy had fainted and Rainbow was supporting her friend but her wings were at full attention for some reason and Applejack looked like she was caught in between being scared out of her wits and laughing her ass off. Pinkie was nowhere to be seen. “What…? My father likes watching old military shows on TV and I learned to mimic them from a young age…” she explained blushing ever so slightly.

There was a pink blur behind her and Rarity turned just in time to see Pinkie whispering into Twilight’s ear. Whatever she said, it worked. Twilight screamed loudly and she was off like a race horse in seconds with Spike being dragged along still holding onto her arm for dear life.

“Darling… what did you say to her to make her snap out of that horrid state…?” Rarity asked the pink haired girl who was skipping back towards them victoriously.

“Oh, that if she kept Princess Celestia waiting any longer she might get even madder than she already is~!” Pinkie responded with a giggle. The others seemed to nod in approval before the realization of what she’d said hit them like a boulder.

“THAT WAS THE PRINCESS?!?!?!” they all exclaimed in unison, even Fluttershy who had just begin to wake up.

“Well yeah duh, who ELSE could scare Twilight like that I mean-“ But she was already being dragged off by her friends who were running after Twilight like cheetah’s.

Meanwhile on the fifth floor of the dormitories:

Twilight burst from the elevator and ran down the hall with Spike hot on her heels. She fumbled with her ID but eventually put it through the scanner and the door clicked open before she grabbed the handle with trembling hands and slowly turned it terrified of what might lay beyond. The door swung open slowly to reveal the pink haired Celestia sitting on the couch in the living room holding a tissue to her sister’s bleeding nose. Luna was conscious now and seemed to be talking to her sister; but when they heard the door open they stopped and turned to look at Twilight and Spike in the door way. Spike was kneeled over trying to catch his breath but Twilight had tears rimming her terrified lavender eyes.

Celestia saw the tears and quickly stood her own eyes not filled with hate or disappointment like Twilight had expected but understanding and compassion instead. “Twilight, I apologize if my appearance earlier gave you the wrong impression. Luna has explained your reasoning behind what happened and I don’t blame you. If someone had shot Luna out of a cannon prototype as a test dummy I’d be mortified and angry too…”

Those words made Twilight jolt. “Wait… she… she shot my baby brother out of a cannon as a TEST?!?!?!” Celestia blinked in surprise.

“You mean Spike didn’t explain…?” she asked bewildered by the revelation of just how little Twilight knew about what had occurred before she had broken Luna’s nose. Spike grew a sudden fascination with the carpeting as all eyes turned to him. He looked up and held his hands up in defeat.

“Okay I give! I didn’t tell her but to be fair I didn’t really have time to! She was in full rage mode before I could get a word out of my mouth! But then Luna flew in and admitted that she had caused my crash landing and Twilight kinda… acted on instinct I guess.” He explained. Twilight groaned at her own mistake and rubbed her temples to try and ease her returning headache.

“Princess I’m really sorry for not thinking like that it just-“

“Caught you off guard, I know Twilight, I’ve done the same thing countless times in the past. We all make mistakes and Luna is also at fault here. She should have known better then to use a live test subject for her research. Yet alone one of her roommates…” Celestia added with a slight glare behind her to wear Luna was standing beside the couch holding the tissues to her nose shifting nervously from foot to foot. “But anyways, I’m writing this off as an accident. But should another incident like this occur punishment will be severe, do I make myself clear you three…?” she asked with a glance at all three of them. They all nodded and she allowed herself a smile. “Good, now that that’s settled let’s get back to Lunch shall we-“ she said as she walked towards the slightly ajar door. But it opened with a slam and effectively imbedded her into the wall behind it as five panicked girls rushed into the room.

“DON’T SEND TWILIGHT TO THE MOON!!!!!!!” they cried as they rushed in. When all they saw was Luna, Spike, and Twilight standing there looking at them in pure unfiltered horror they looked around in confusion.

“Where’s the other princess Twi, we thought that was her we saw back in the food court!” Rainbow asked zooming up to her.

“Just look at your faces my dears! Whatever did she do to make you so scared?!” Rarity asked sweeping Spike and Twilight into comforting hugs while Fluttershy stood beside her nodding in confirmation. Applejack and Pinkie walked in shutting the door behind them as they did. They heard a groan from behind them and they all turned to see the princess of the sun imbedded into the wall behind the door they’d slammed open to get in there. Applejack looked over at Twilight nervously as the princess slumped onto the floor.

“W-we did that didn’t we…?” she asked taking off her hat slowly.

The three that owned the room nodded slowly.

“S-so… we should probably start running…?” Rarity asked in the same tone as the princess began to heave herself up from the ground. The three nodded again and after a second’s hesitation they were all bolting down the hallway just as a wave of golden energy bust the door from its hinges and an enraged solar princess flew after them her hair now made of solar flares and her eyes pure glowing white.

One hilarious chase scene later the group was all gathered back under the tree in the food court eating their new lunches like nothing had happened, except for the addition of the solar princess incognito that had joined them.

“S-so… your highness…” Rarity started. But the princess interrupted her by holding up a hand to pause her sentence.

“In this form I’m not the solar princess, I’m actually not even technically here. This is just a construct of my magic. The real me is back in the palace overseeing the day court right now. I go by the alias SunnySkies when I’m like this so just Sunny will do.” She explained taking a bite out of her banana.

“B-but… Sunny, it isn’t much of an alias if you clearly bear both wings and a magical crest… only royalty has both of those.” Twilight reasoned with a confused look on her face. The taller pink haired girl just smiled.

“Twilight Sparkle… all those lessons I’ve given you on disguise magic and you still can’t recognize an illusion spell when you see one…? Look closely at my wings.” She mused moving one of the white appendages towards the girl. Only up close did Twilight notice the faint shimmering that surrounded the wings on Sunny’s back.

“You’re keeping them hidden using StarSwril’s method of basic ocular evasion spell…! So you can allow certain people to see it but they remain hidden from everyone else! That’s ingenious prin- I mean Sunny!” she corrected quickly as the taller of the two retracted her wing.

“Well you don’t live as long as I have without finding SOME way to walk around the streets without everyone swooning over you. Which reminds me Twilight, you’ve yet to properly introduce me to your friends here; I can guess names based on your former description of them but I’d really like to hear it for myself.” Sunny stated with a glance at the five other girls at the large table. Of course Rainbow Dash was front and center in the blink of an eye.

“Rainbow Dash fastest flier in Equestria at your service Princess, sorry about smashing you into the wall earlier by the way, but you’re amazingly fast! I didn’t think you’d get a lot of time to keep in shape in that castle of yours!” she laughed holding out her hand for Sunny to shake. She did with a polite smile ignoring the half insult.

“Pleasure, Twilight tells me you pride yourself in your athletic ability and aerial acrobatics. There’s a program that coach Rapidfire runs here called the Junior Speedsters, if you want I could put in a good word for you.” She offered. Rainbow almost drooled at that. The Junior Speedsters were the high school equivalent of the Wonderbolts. Almost no freshman had EVER been accepted into it, none other than a certain flame headed current captain of the Wonderbolts herself that is.

“Omaigosh that’d be so AWESOME!!!!!! You’re totally my favorite princess now! No offense Luna.” She added quickly with a glance back at the teal haired princess who merely gave her a wave as she ate her triple loaded cheeseburger.

Applejack quickly took the hand of the princess in disguise next shaking it enthusiastically. “Applejack Apple your grace, proud member of the apple family and co-owner of Sweet Apple Acres apple orchard and ranch down yonder, you might recognize us from our famous cider.” The farmer stated all the while keeping a firm grip on the hand and shaking it so much it was probably breaking Sunny’s shoulder blade.

But she didn’t seem to mind all that much. “Ah yes, my sister and I are quite fond of it, and your famous Zap Apple jam as well! Luna, did you hear that, this is the girl who’s responsible for that jam you gorged yourself on for six months straight before you had to be put under rehabilitation for your addiction to it!” Teal eyes narrowed at her pink haired sister as she bit in harder to her burger causing grease and juice to fly out of it a bit. Fluttershy looked queasy at the sight of it and hid her gaze inside her hair in attempt to block out the image of one of her precious animals being brutally mauled by the lunar princess’ mouth.

Pinkie Pie was next and Sunny nearly fell off the bench in surprise when two blue eyes were suddenly only inches away from her own pink ones. The curly pink haired girl took in a deep breath that sounded a lot like a gasp before she let out a paragraph that was mashed together in one long winded sentence.

“OhmaigoshYou’rereallyprincessCelstiarightThatssocoolmyDadawayssaidthatyouweresomekindofgodesstofarmerslikeusbutIneverreallybelievedhimbutnowIcanseewhathemeantbecauseyou’reallsuperpowerfulandstuffbutthenyoualsojustlooklikearegulargirllikeallofussothatmademethink’wellheywhyshouldItreatheranydiffrentlythennormal’sonowhereIamtalkingtoyouHeydoyoulikesweetsIlovethemwhatsyourfavoritekindofcakeOHisittruethatyoucanorderanythingyouwanttoeatinthepalacebecauseI’dtotallyeatnothingbutsweetsalldayifIcoulddoyouhaveanypetsIdontyetbutIfoundalittleeggnearapondbymyhousealittlewhileagoandI’mgonnaraisewhatevercomesoutofitasmypetIhopeitssomethingsototallycoollikeababyliopleurodonorsomethingelsetotallyincrediblelikethatI’mPinkiePiebytheway!!!!!!!!!!!!” She cheered. Celestia smiled not even hesitating a second after that language dump.

“Yes I am, although worship of me isn’t something I generally approve of I thank you for treating me just like anyone else. I do like sweets actually, I actually LOVE cakes of all kinds but I’m willing to try just about anything once, and yes the cooks will prepare anything I ask for within reason. They’d put me on a royal diet if I ate as many sweets I wanted all the time! And those diets are scary strict… I do have a pet, she’s a phoenix named Philomena and she’s just celebrated her 300th birthday last month. I haven’t seen anything like a liopleurodon around for a few hundred thousand millennia but I suppose anything’s possible with enough magic, and I’m sure you’ll love whatever comes out of that sweet little egg with all your candy covered heart. Oh, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.” She chimed happily. The other’s all had stopped eating and were staring in awe at the princesses ability to breakdown that slur of complete mush into something actually understandable AND have a response to it all. Pinkie just beamed and bounced right back into her seat. Rarity then stepped forward and offered her hand politely and shook with the princess.

“I’m Rarity Belle, and my timid roommate over there is Fluttershy. Please do forgive her if she takes a while to warm up to you. As for myself it is a great honor to be in the presence of such an elegant figurehead. But I do have one question posed towards a decision you’ve recently made regarding this school… WHAT IN THE CREATORS NAME WERE YOU THINKING WHEN YOU MADE THESE RIDICULOUS LOOKING UNIFORMS?!?!?!?!” She exclaimed. Sunny didn’t even get a chance to recoil from the sudden change in demeanor before she continued. “Plaid I’m never against in school uniforms but your choice of color is repulsive at best, especially given that it is the norm for people around here to have naturally pastel colored hair and believe me pastel colors look just simply awful with this color scheme, no offense Fluttershy dear.” She added with a small glance back at the girl. She mumbled something but Sunny didn’t hear it because Rarity kept going. “And these abominations you call socks could practically be leg warmers they’re so high! I won’t even begin to criticize whoever chose the exact material it is made of because I had to use almost a gallon of fabric softener just to get the starchy itchy feeling out of it, I mean really, brown wool as an over shirt…? Simply dreadful… I count myself lucky you allow us our own choice in footwear it’s the only way I could make this outfit work on me. Fall colors do clash with my luxurious hair like night and day… again no offense to either of you.” She addressed the two princesses who were indeed night and day themselves. She finally finished her long winded criticisms and the pink haired girl’s response was enough to make her nearly keel over.

“As much as I would simply LOVE to take the blame for the blunt of your fashionista melt down I believe it would be who of you to know that I just approved the look, the one who put it out for the board of directors was none other than the head of the fashion department herself Madame Photofinish. Of course it really wouldn’t have mattered if I had tried to decline the suggestion because I was the only one on the board who disliked the look. So I just gave in and let it go.” Celestia explained a single pink eyebrow rising slightly as she let her chin rest on her hands. Rarity looked shell shocked. She could not believe that her IDOL had made the single outfit she detested with her every fiber. Fluttershy had to gently ease her back into her seat so she wouldn’t fall over and in an instant Spike was at her side fanning her with a luxurious looked feathered fan. Sunny finished the last of her Banana and stood from her seat. “Well, as much as I would love to stay and talk with you all a little more your lunch period is drawing to a close and my subjects are starting to notice my disinterest in their pitiful attempts at actual law making… did you know they want me to approve a law that would mandate that anyone below the title of lord or lady must be required to vacate the castle grounds unless they’re a servant…? All that because we had an incident with tourists getting out of hand in the garden last week…” she sighed shaking her head. “And they’ve also given me their suggestions on taxes… basically they want to take what little bit the poor have left and put it into their pockets simply because they think they deserve it more.” She added. That got disgusted looks all around the table.

“Ah’m not really one for violence ma’am, but might Ah make a suggestion outta personally stompin over to the palace and kickin their fat behinds all the way to the artic circle…?” Applejack asked her green eyes like daggers.

“If they make one more comment to their supposed righteous status I shall consider that Applejack. But for now I bid you all adieu.” She hummed with a smile on her features and a slight bow before she teleported away leaving seven of the eight staring at where she had once been. But Luna was too busy stuffing her face to really care. They all finished what remained of their lunches just as the bell rang signaling for them to head to their own classes. Twilight went over her mental schedule.

“So… I’ve got astrology next, Luna, you’ve got that class next too right…?” she asked looking over at the teal haired girl who was just throwing away her trash.

“That is correct… and after I have something called… Home economics. Sounds rather dreadful.” She commented with a slight frown on her features. A chortle in Twilight’s throat caught her attention. “What…? Is it a silly class or something…?” Luna asked curious as to what would cause the girl to crack up.

“Oh no… it’s quite… practical. But… to make an assumption I’m guessing the princess picked out your courses…?” she asked her purple eyes filled with amusement.

Luna nodded slightly worried about her classmate’s expression. “Okay, you’re starting to scare me, just tell me, what is this Home Economics…?” she pleaded her teal eyes filled with a mixture of curiosity and anxiety. Twilight waved her hand ever so slightly.

“Oh it isn’t anything too bad… just a cooking and sewing class all rolled into one… with a bit of housekeeping too.” She explained as they walked into the building that led up to the tallest tower on the campus, and the only one with an observatory at the very top. Luna almost tripped on the first stair when Twilight said that. She caught herself though and then stared at the girl in disbelief.

“There’s a class that teaches you how to be a HOUSEWIFE?!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“Well, that’s one way to look at it yes… I suppose the princess thought your skills in that particular regard needed to be sharpened… I agree… I do find myself still unable to eat a moonpie…” Twilight shuddered. Luna made a face.

“Okay, first off I already apologized for that about a thousand times… I had no idea that when it said it called for flour it didn’t mean the potted plant… or that I was supposed to add sugar to the bakers chocolate so it doesn’t taste like vomit… or that baking it at 1000 for five minutes instead of 375 for an hour would cause the royal kitchens to combust into a fiery blaze… or that by making a seven year old taste test it would cause her to be hospitalized for a week... But I’m better now! I can make toast AND use the microwave without anything exploding!” she exclaimed with genuine excitement in her eyes.

“Luna, you have destroyed over three hundred toasters, sixty four microwaves and a few dozen stoves just this summer alone. If we did the math to estimate how many kitchen appliances you’ve destroyed while I’ve been living at the castle it would be… around 273,821 appliances… give or take a few hundred of the ones you managed to hide and replace before anyone noticed.” She stated flatly. Luna wanted to crawl in a hole and die.

“Okay, I get it, I’m a terrible cook, but why do I need housekeeping skills…? Isn’t that what servants are for?” the princess countered.

“I believe that has something to do with the princess wanting you to be able to take care of yourself should servants ever be taken out of the equation. But you’d have to ask her for her actual thoughts on the matter… which reminds me… if these classes are supposed to be teaching you about things you lack why are you taking an astrology class…?” Twilight inquired cocking an eyebrow at the teal haired lunar princess.

“Ah, I actually picked this class myself. I wanted something of a funny class. And there’s nothing funnier than watching some crack job trying to teach ME about my precious stars.” She replied with a snicker. Twilight gave her a dead panned look.

“You have a cruel sense of humor princess…” she muttered as they came to the top of the stairs. Luna skipped a bit happily into the room only to be stopped dead when she was greeted with a sight she did not expect to see. Standing at the front of the class was a man who had long since passed in her mind. Yet there in front of the class was his spitting image, given a great deal younger he lacked the starry garbs and hat… and the signature beard as well.

“S-Star Swirl…?” she whispered her teal eyes wide in shock. The young man turned to her, his white hair in disarray just like his had always been and the light blue streaks that ran through them exactly how she remembered them. The seraphim, or magical crest as modern day people called it now, in the center of his head was just barely visible beneath his mop of hair. But the eyes… his eyes are what stunned her into silence. They were as silver as the stars themselves and they even twinkled when he saw her. But despite the uncanny resemblance she couldn’t help but feel something was different about him.

“Ah, when they told me I’d have the princess of the night herself in my first class I didn’t believe them… but here you are!” he chuckled. Oh Mother help her he even sounded just like him… “My name is Starshine Lulamoon, I just took over this position after my predecessor retired after many years of teaching here… I hope that despite my young appearance you do not mistake me for some amateur, I had every constellation memorized and mapped out in my head before I even turned ten. And nine years later here I am teaching about the very thing I always dreamed about. Um… excuse me princess, are you alright?” he asked noticing her hazy expression. She snapped out of it and shook her head quickly bringing her hand up to her forehead to make sure she wasn’t overheating. She was but she couldn’t worry about that now.

*** “Wait, wait, wait… are you telling me that the princess my former self used to possess was hitting on her own TEACHER?!” Nyx asked with an astonished face. Twilight laughed and nodded. “Oh believe me she didn’t sleep for WEEKS after that just because she couldn’t get that little guilty thought out of her mind. I was there you know. But let’s get on with the story again shall we…?” she laughed.***

“I apologize sir… you just… your resemblance reminds me of someone I once knew long… LONG ago…” she explained trying to avert her gaze. She tried to catch Twilight’s eye but the girl seemed occupied with her own thoughts at the moment.

“Lulamoon… Lulamoon… where have I heard that name…?” the girl muttered to herself.

“Oh, you would probably recognize the name from the history books Miss Sparkle, form my ancestor Star Swirl Lulamoon. Although he was more commonly known just as Star Swirl the Bearded.” He explained with a bit of pride in his voice. Luna nearly died on the spot.

‘Oh Mother… why are you so cruel to me?!’ she shouted to the heavens in her mind. She swore she heard a snicker in response.

“Ah! That explains it! It’s an honor to be taught by a member of the Lulamoon family.” Twilight said with a slight curtsey. She then noticed the look in Luna’s pained eyes for the first time.

“Luna…? What’s the matter, you look like you’ve seen a ghost!” she cried as the girl’s pale face was growing even paler. Starshine let the puzzle pieces align together in his mind and realization hit him again.

“Oh! You thought you were seeing Star Swirls ghost teaching the class didn’t you…? Yeah, my parents always said I was his spitting image but since YOU personally knew him I guess it’s true. I’m sorry if I startled you princess. But here, I can prove I’m not him. He said un buttoning his shirt ever so slightly and moving it to show a mark just below and to the right of his breast bone that was shaped like a compass star but had a swirling mass of stars behind it. He was right, no two cutie marks were the same and Star Swirl’s according to legend was litterally as his name depicted, a group of stars swirling into a vortex shape. He re did the two buttons and that seemed to snap Luna out of her state.

“Y-yes… I apologize… Star Swirl and I were very close so seeing someone who is in every ways his spitting image after over a thousand years was… astonishing to say the least. But I do not doubt your skill as a teacher. Hell young Twilight here could give most of the scholars at the university a run for their money so age isn’t exactly a factor of ability to me.” She explained with a motion to the shorter purple haired magic user. That got a chuckle out of him and his smile confirmed her thoughts… he had ten times the charm Star Swirl had… wonderful. Now she was hitting on a boy who was no more than a fetus in comparison to her age. Why oh why did she have to live forever…? The tardy bell ringing snapped her out of her wandering thoughts.

“Ah, there’s the bell, why don’t you two go take a seat while I get class started. Also, princess, if ever you hear something you feel the need to correct me on please feel free. You are still the master of the stars after all.” He added with a whisper to her. She couldn’t suppress a giggle at that and she nodded before walking over to where Twilight was sitting down at the front section of the bleacher like desks that formed a partial circle in the tower all facing the chalk board which had charts of all kinds rolled up at the top of it waiting to be pulled down for visual reference.

The class seemed to pass by in a haze for them, by the end of it Luna hadn’t even realized she was walking to her next class, she remembered saying a faint goodbye to Twilight and sitting through her Home economics class that was taught by Mrs. Cake herself. She also vaguely remembered getting a few papers to take back to her room later but it wasn’t until that period ended and she was in her last period of the day, which by default was her club activities.

Her eyes finally lost their cloudy look and became filled with pure joy at the prospect of finally meeting people she could relate too! She had even found out a few nights beforehand that a few of her online friends went here and were in the club too! She looked forward to finally meeting them face to face instead of just talking with them over the in-game call system. She practically ran for the wing reserved for club rooms and with a spring in her step leapt up the stairs up to the second floor and skidded to a halt in front of the door labeled with the number 210, the number however was covered partially by the gaming and anime posters that covered almost the entire door. She was DEFINETLY in the right place. She collected herself before she opened the door with purpose in her bright eyes.

What she found however caught her off guard. The room was filled with the warm buzz of computers, and at the dozen or so desks with the computers on them a male of varying dorky or nerdy levels were gaming away their eyes never leaving the screen once. At the other side of the room a large TV with a surround sound system and five different gaming systems and shelf after shelf of DVD’s and games surrounding it on its position on the wall. Dotted around it were a few more guys in beanbag chairs each with a headset on and heavily engaged in a first person shooter game. There was a table in the back that four more guys sat around playing some kind of trading card game in bizarre outfits. The entire room had various snacks and empty cans of energy drinks laying everywhere and all together smelled like what she could only describe as Gamer. To but it simply, she had found Heaven. A door that she thought led to some kind of storage closet was open and out of it came another male that she couldn’t really see the identity of but he was carrying several boxes in his arms and they were starting to topple over. She rushed forward and pushed them into position before taking a few of them in her magic. There was a sigh of a familiar voice as it thanked her.

“Hey thanks for that I- oh holy crap…” he exclaimed dropping the boxes anyways as he saw the girl before him and Luna did the same backing away in shock. Both she and Starshine pointed at each other and spoke in unison their eyes wide with shock.

“Why are YOU here?! I asked you first! No I did! Stop doing that!” they cried at once. They each took a breath before something else crossed their minds. They both recognized their voices from somewhere else entirely from just when Starshine had watched her on TV or heard her over the radio; or from Luna's distant memories of Star Swirl coming back and slapping her in the face. No, the memories were far more recent than that, spread out over three years and even just last night...

“Y-you’re MoonaGal101?!” Starshine asked in astonishment.

“YOU’RE SirStars_15?!” Luna countered.

*** “Wait, hold up… not only is this Starshine guy distantly related to her old flame but he was also one of her gamer friends too?! Did I miss a royal wedding or something because she HAD to have married this guy.” Nyx asked her eyes filled with astonishment. Spike was laughing and rolling on the floor choking slightly on a gem he had been eating and Twilight just sighed and shook her head. “Can I continue…? We’ll get to what happened between them later but for right now just stop interrupting me please.” Twilight sighed. Nyx clamped her jaw shut and Spike regained his composure allowing Twilight to continue. She cleared her throat and began again.***

By now most of the gamers in the room had paused their games and were staring at them. Starshine noticed and composed himself. “L-let me try that again… Hello, I’m Starshine Lulamoon, student here in the university, teacher of Astronomy in the high school, and founder and president of the Gaming Otaku club here. I’m also apparently the guy who repeatedly gets his sorry ass handed to him every time we play Mortal Kombat, WoW, or COD together…” he explained holding out a hand to her. That earned a round of astonished whispers from the members that filled the room. Luna let a small smirk cross her features as she reached out and shook his hand.

“Luna Equestria, Ruler of the Night, and the girl taught you the meaning of the word defeat for the last three years. Pleasure to finally meet you in person Stars.” She said firmly gripping his hand as an air of rivalry filled the air between them.

“Same Moona…” he sneered his silver eyes like electricity with their competitive spirit.

*** “Ohhhhh, I get it now…” Nyx exclaimed but Spike quickly shushed her before Twilight could. ***

“You up for a duel little Starry Knight…?” Luna asked with a smirk plastered on her features. He didn’t need to be asked twice he went back inside the closet and came back with two laptops in hand and handed one to her. The match was set and it would go down in history that for the first time in her three years of gaming with him, Luna lost her duel; mostly because she was distracted by the pair of silver eyes that kept staring at her over the top of the laptop but still. When she came home that night neither of her roommates would even see her, she was too busy kicking ass online to even leave the confines of her room.

Meanwhile at the time Luna was heading towards her club activities:

Dash and Applejack were in the gym with a large group of girls listening coach Rapidfire list off the exercises they’d be doing for the first round of the try outs. But just like everything else in the academy things were done a bit differently from normal standards. This was an all-around try out. Meaning you went through each of the stages set up, weaved through all the obstacle courses in front of you, collected all the flags, or shot as many balls into the goals as possible, and the coaches would all watch and record your individual results then place you in a sports team that fit. They created this method after they realized they had so many sports teams that scheduling try outs for each of them individually was too big of a pain. So instead they just did all of it in one day in different sections of the sports fields and Gymnasiums. And as always there were A LOT of contenders for the teams.

Applejack and Rainbow each received their numbers and were told to report to the open field behind the gyms where Rapidfire would be their group’s judge. AJ was helping Dash pin her number onto her back as they started their stretches.

“Ah don’ know sugar cube… coach is lookin at us like we’re steaks… are ya sure we shouldn’t ask for a different judge…?” she whispered to the prismatic haired flyer.

“Nah, it’ll be fine. Just be cool. Maybe she liked out moves earlier and just wants to see how awesome we can REALLY be when we’re not being held back by all those girls watching us in the gym. Not that I really mind, I AM totally awesome to watch in action after all…!” she boasted with a small thumb of her chest and that cocky grin plastered on her face.

“Yeah… it had nothin to do with the fact ya had your sorry behind handed to you by a hayseed from the sticks.” Applejack retorted with a roll of her eyes as she tied back her hair tighter with her red hair tie. Rainbow grimaced and was about to snap something back to her when Rapidfire blew her whistle.

“Dashington, Ass, start line, NOW!” She called with the hungry look in her eye suppressed for the moment.

“Whoops, that’s me, gotta dash!” she called with a two fingered salute at the cowgirl before she spread her cyan wings and took off into the air landing at the start line of the course. She of course went through it just like AJ thought she would, with speed and grace well beyond her years. But there was also power behind it as well. Not as much as Applejack’s brute force but it was still pretty shocking when she got to the punching bag and a swift round house kick sent the thing flying off its chain. AJ made a mental note that if for whatever reason she ever pissed Dash off to tie her legs together first. She sped back to the finish line and Rapidfire stopped her stop watch.

“Whoa… under a minute Dashington. That’s an Academy record…! Go sit down and get some water.” She ordered scribbling something down on her clipboard. When she finished she looked back up. “Okay Apple, when the assistants finish replacing that bag you’re free to start.” She stated with a wave of her hand. Two assistant coaches were attaching a new punching bag to the chain and when they ran off the field Applejack launched forward. She didn’t have the same amount of grace Dash had but she did have speed and power. And a surprising flexibility as her earlier stunt at the end of class proved. She leapt over the hurtles without really much of a thought, she vaulted over the wall pretty easy too, the swimming obstacle was passed easy enough though it was obvious she wasn’t a fish like Dash had been in the water, when she leapt out from the water she threw herself into a crawl under the barbwire and came out muddy as hell but she moved on through the stages until at last she came to the same to the punching bag. She delivered several blows to it in points that would have been devastating were it a human before she kissed her fist and delivered a final punch to it that not only knocked it off its chain but sent it flying through the fence fifty yards away. With a slight smirk at the stunned looks the coaches and the other girls in their group had on their faces she completed the course by jumping through a few hoops and then sprinting down the last stretch. Coach stopped the timer and Dash was the first to snap out of the state and she handed a cup of water to her friend as she caught her breath.

“Dude, I think our combined awesome broke coach.” She commented eyeing the coach whose yellow eyes were feverishly following writing down the results. Applejack chugged the water then laughed.

“Sure seems that way don’ it Dash…? Come on, Ah wanna sit in the sun to dry off…” she said moving to the benches that had strong sunlight filtering down on them. They watched the others all run the course. None of them had the extreme skills of the duo but there were still some really good ones in the bunch. They all finished in about an hour and were told to go change and shower if they wanted then they’d receive their results. Dash was ready in ten seconds flat but Applejack took her time much to her roommate’s disapproval.

“Ughhhhh… I don’t know how someone who’s so fast can get dressed so slow…!” Dash groaned standing just on the other side of the lockers AJ was getting dressed behind. The cowgirl stuck her head around the corner as she was buttoning up her shirt.

“Well sorry for bein’ a might reserved with mah abilities.” She commented with a flat tone. “Just be patient all I need is mah boots and mah hat and we can head on over to the coach to get our results…” she explained pulling on the boots as she did so. She stood and grabbed her hat from the locker and then slammed it shut placing the hat on her head. “There, done now we can g-!!!” she was cut off by Dash grabbing her by the wrist and dragging her back out to the gym where they had first gathered. The coach was standing with her clipboard by her office writing a few things down. Dash grinned when she realized they were still the first ones out. Coach looked up and pointed at the bleachers.

“Take a seat girls I’ll be announcing the results soon as everyone gets back out here.” She ordered going back to her writing. Dash repressed a whine and AJ chuckled knowing her impatience was growing. She hopped up to the very top row and leaned against the wall with her hat tilted down shading her eyes deciding to take a small cat nap until everyone rejoined them. Dash however was pacing. Midair. In the rafters. In what felt like days to Dash and only a few minutes to the more sensible Applejack the girls were all in the bleachers and the coach was addressing them. “Okay, now then I’ll be listing them off in reverse order, meaning those who went last get their results first.” She explained to which Dash’s inner mind officially went nuclear and AJ swore she saw a little mushroom cloud in her eyes and smoke come out of her ears.

AJ just listened to the results for each girl on the teams they could get accepted into should they want it or could fit it into their schedules. The most they ever heard under one name was three sports and that was to a particularly odd looking grey Pegasus with grey wings and golden wall eyed expression. She seemed to be in deep thought regarding the situation. Dash remembered her, she had been in her flight classes back in Cloudsdale and had flown the entire course upside down and backwards. That took some skill although Dash wasn’t too sure if it was skill or if the girl just didn’t know her ups from her downs.

When at last Dash knew that she and Applejack were next the coach dismissed the rest of the group telling them to think about their choices and have them in by next week. Rainbow and Applejack exchanged a look and coach beckoned them with a single finger curl.

“Now you two obviously are special cases… quite honestly I think you could both go into any sport you wanted and make captain without much of an effort on your parts. But that’s why I have a special offer for both of you. I’d first like to place you both in Track seeing as your wide verity of skills would be put to good use there, secondly for you Apple I’m offering a position on our varsity MMA team, with your agile movements and that wicked strength of yours we’d bring home first place trophies in wheel barrels with you on the team.” The fiery haired coach said patting the blonde firmly on the back. Her green eyes lit up like a pyro that was just handed a flamethrower for Christmas. The coach was satisfied with her response and then turned to Rainbow Dash. “And as for you you beautiful little shit I got a call from someone today, someone VERY important I might add, suggesting I consider you for a position in my Junior Speedsters team… I personally thought she was crazy but after seeing you out there it just brought back all kinds of flashbacks from seeing my own daughter in her youth. But, more colorful. As such I think you’d make a wonderful addition to the team if you want that i-“ she was cut off by the girl shooting up like a rocket into the air and straight through the roof leaving a roundish hole where she had been.

“YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed so that from every corner of the campus and the adjoining town could hear her. back down in the gym Applejack and Rapidfire slowly removed their hands from their ears and both chuckled as the rainbow haired girl was doing a victory dance in the skies. AJ smiled turning to the coach with her hand held out.

“Ah also accept on both counts, Ah’ve been watching MMA fights with mah family fer years and mah brother and Ah taught each other how to fight using them as a reference. So Ah’d be happy to join the team. And Track can just be like a warm up fer me.” She added with a wink. Rapidfire laughed at that throwing her head back as her orange wings flared out with her laughter.

“I like you kid… you and your energetic friend up there.” Rapidfire chuckled clapping her on the back and pointing up where the rainbow streak in the sky was still doing backflips. “Oh yeah… she’ll definitely be Wonderbolt material in a few years…” she commented with a whistle.

Meanwhile at Sugar Cube Corner:

Pinkie looked up from pulling a fully iced cake out of the oven when she heard a distant cry of victory. She burst out in a fit of giggles as she set the cake down and began to write on it in icing.

“Looks like Dashie and AJ got into the teams they wanted~! And Luna’s found a cute guy to crush on already~ Twilight made it through her first day without spontaneously combusting and Fluttershy and Rarity have kindled the fire to their ever growing friendship~! And what have I accomplished…? Why I’ve been planning with the author about the next chapter DUH.” She said rolling her eyes like it was obvious. Mrs. Cake walked in to get the order from her.

“Pinkie Dear who are you talking to…?” she asked as she took the cake from her apprentice.

“The readers duh! I swear you guys always act like you can’t see them I mean they’re RIGHT THERE.” She said pointing at the screen. But to Mrs. Cake she was just pointing to the pantry.

“Pinkie dear… that’s just the pantry… do you need to talk with Dr. House again…?” the woman asked a concerned look in her eyes.

“Nope~! I’m good, besides he didn’t ever even really talk… he just kept eating tic-tacs the entire time… weird colored ones too… must be tropical flavors~!” Pinkie sang happily. She turned back to face the screen again. “That was a House reference for any of you that missed it, if you don’t know who that is just feel free to look him up~!” she cheered. Mrs. Cake gave up on trying to reason with the girl and just shook her head and went to package up the cake. In its incubator the lightly speckled egg wiggled. “What’s that Eggy…? You say you want to know what’s up with Zecora…? Well I don’t even know the answer to that one… Shadow do you know…?”

No Pinkie… and you aren’t even supposed to be talking to me… Twilight’s the one telling the story not me…

“Oh yeah… HIIIIIIIIIIIIII future Twilight and Nyxie…! Auntie Pinkie is ready for your party…!!!” she called.

Somewhere in another universe Shadow just shook her head and sighed.

Author's Note

Okay, I got this up with barley any time to spare. These posts are starting to catch up to me fast since I haven't exactly had time write lately. But I still have a few left in my reserves so until this is all over I'll just have to carefully plan out when I publish my chapters... On another note, due to frequent comments about my dire need for an editor I'd like to ask anyone interested to message me. In the mean time I'll be fighting the blasted beast known as my up coming Calculus test... anyone else despise Math...?

Chapter 5

Chapter 5: The Days Go By…

There’s an old saying in the history books… no one really knows who said it first, but since they did it has spread like wild fire due to its complete truth… Time flies when you’re having fun. And Twilight Sparkle was having the time of her life, her friends made sure of that. If she wasn’t studying for anything that was ACTUALLY important she’d get dragged off in one direction or another by which ever friend happened to snag her first. Usually it was Pinkie Pie or Rainbow Dash, but often enough she’d join Fluttershy and Rarity on a Spa trip they did once a week. Rarity insisted she come along more often due to the stress her intense study habits induced on her body but Twilight found herself pretty well de-stressed thanks to her companions.

Luna had also found her sweet spot. During Astrology class she’d play the role of the student and Starshine the ever eccentric teacher who literally had his head in the stars; but the moment the bell rang to be dismissed to club activities that act vanished and they were once again Moona and Starry, fiery rivals intent on wiping the floor with the other. And of course Luna made friends with every other member of the club as well, after seeing what she was capable of the bets often leaned towards her and she took pride in that. She had even managed to make friends outside the club as well. There was a cellist she met in her music class that often came over for tea, and a girl who played the lyre as well but she was a bit of an odd ball always talking about mythical creatures like mermaids or aliens… but she was interesting to listen to when she got on one of her rants before her roommate came by to drag her off to whatever class she was SUPPOSED to be in.

Luna even occasionally hung out with Twilight and her friends as well, and Spike of course who often complained about the short number of males his age around. It was high school and he was only technically seven years old. There weren’t many seven year olds hanging around the high school. Even Applejack and Rarity’s little sisters ended up being a bust as they ended up only being five years old, nowhere near his age. Although he did find some luck when he went into town and found out that there was a new family that had just moved in and they had three boys and one older girl who went to the school with the girls. Two of them, Rumble and Shady, were his age. He took to them like a magnet even though they attended the elementary school in town instead. So with even Spike finding friends now Celestia was more than pleased with their progress.

But, just like Zecora had when she took care of the injured Rainbow Dash, she could see the spark inside each of them. She hadn’t been sure when she saw Twilight unleash her full power the day of the exam, but now she was certain that these six girls had a very powerful destiny on each of their shoulders. It would be a while before fate would reveal itself and ensnare them in it’s dangerous web but Celestia had no doubt it would happen. Even goddesses had their limits in what they could do with mortals, and changing their fate just because you happen to care very deeply for them is something out of her reach. So instead she planned… she predicted the day the event it would occur and planned it all out so that at least none of them would get hurt. Scared and forced to run from unknown terrors maybe, but at least they wouldn’t be harmed. But for now she’d let the bonds grow and deepen, watch the tiny seed she had planted take root and grow into the powerful tree it was meant to be.

December 15: One day before Holiday break.

“Twiiiiiii, come on already! You’ve packed enough for a month and we’re only going to be gone a week! We have to go to the pep rally!” Spike called from the front door. Twilight was of course frantic making sure she had packed all the presents they had bought and enough clothes for the week they’d be visiting home in Canterlot.

“Coming Spike! I just need to check everything one more time and then we can-!!!” she was cut off by Luna grabbing her by the back of her sweater and dragging her out of her room kicking and screaming while she just calmly sipped her coffee.

“Stop struggling Sparkle, you knew this was coming.” She stated plainly as she dragged the girl out into the hallway and towards the elevator. Twilight gave in and stopped struggling and righted herself in the elevator. Her hair had started to stick up in places and she quickly smoothed it back down. She normally didn’t fuss over her hair but Rarity had gotten in the habit of nit picking lately and she wanted to make sure she’d be safe from her wrath. Everyone was going home for the holidays to some extent, Applejack would be spending almost all of her time at the farm since her extended family would be staying with them for a week and there was a lot of preparation to be done. Rarity was also going back home, her family had a cottage somewhere on the outskirts of town that they lived in and she was dying to see her baby sister again. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were both taking a flying carriage up to Cloudsdale that night, although neither of them really ever talked about their families Twilight knew they had them. Even Pinkie Pie was going to visit her family for the first time since she’d left for the school. She wrote letters but said the farm was a bit too far of a travel to just visit whenever she wanted.

And of course Twilight, Spike, and Luna would be returning to Canterlot to celebrate. Luna would have never admitted it aloud but she was severely missing her sister and the servants that lived in the castle. And Twilight was missing her parents and her older brother who was coming home for the holidays from his college. She was giddy at just the thought of seeing Shiny again.

The three of them arrived at the entrance to the Auditorium to find Rainbow and Fluttershy waiting for them. Rainbow was pacing back and forth impatiently and Fluttershy was shifting back and forth on her feet toying with her hands as she peeked out from behind her hair and spotted them approaching.

“Sorry we’re late… Twilight was having another panic attack.” Spike explained with a thumb pointed at his sister. Rainbow huffed impatiently her scarf the same hues as her hair and embroidered with her mark hung loosely around her neck as she glared at them.

“It’s about damn time! Me and Flutters have been out here freezing our asses off waiting for you guys!” she growled, Rainbow was really more of a summer person...

They were lead inside to where the other three were saving them seats. Twilight and Spike sat down but Luna spotted a group of her own friends not too far off and decided to sit with them instead. The Pep rally served a dual purpose, it allowed the headmaster to wish his students a safe holiday season as well as announce the exam schedule for when they returned from the break, and after he was finished with that the Drama department put on a play about Hearth’s Warming Eve, which was the big holiday most were celebrating around this time of year. There were also smaller ones like Christmas and Hanukah but in Equestria holidays meant enchanted logs that burned a multitude of colors in the fireplace and the entire family gathered around it while they exchanged presents and stories in its warm glow. It also Twilight’s favorite holiday next to national book week.

When the play ended they all stood and joined into the well-known Heath’s Warming song The Heart’s Carol. Singing happened to be another big part of the holiday and was something Twilight did pretty often when no one was really around to hear her; except Spike, but little brothers don’t count. When they left the auditorium after that Rainbow seemed to have her energy back despite the thick layer of snow that had layered the ground while they had been inside.

“Man I never get tired of that play! Hey Pinkie who’s your favorite character in it? Mine’s totally Commander Hurricane! They say he had a kid after the founding you know, maybe I’m related to the guy!” she stated with a smirk plastered on her face.

“Omaigosh Dashie! That WOULD be awesome! But I like Chancellor Puddinghead Waaaaaay better! She was always laughing and having fun, just like ME~~~!!!” She squealed bouncing around not even making an indent in the snow as she did so.

“I for one find myself relating to Princess Platinum the most, legend says she was a divine beauty and had a sense of style that was un matched by anyone for centuries to come! What about you Abigail…?” she asked turning to the blonde who was rubbing her hands together and blowing in them her breath fogging as she did so. She frowned at the name, she had let it slip once and Rarity had made a habit out of using it instead of the nickname she preferred. It drove the cowgirl insane.

“Fer the last time Rare it’s jus’ Applejack! And… Ah guess Ah liked that Smart Cookie character… she had her head on straight and kept the chancellor out of too much trouble. What about you ‘Shy…?” she asked passing the baton off to the reserved girl currently bundled in a rather adorable looking yellow sweater.

“Umm… I-I liked Private Pansy… she was the one who showed the others kindness first and… she also taught the commander how to care as well… like me and Dash… What about you Twilight…?” she asked quietly fiddling with the sleeves of her yellow sweater which were just a bit longer than necessary.

“Clover the Clever of course, she founded the first school in Equestria and was trained by Star Swirl the bearded himself! She’s a lot more than just a character though she’s a major historical figure in education…! How about you Spike…? Wait, let me guess, the narrator.” She snickered her purple hair in her face a bit from being pushed down by the hat she wore on her head to keep the cold out.

“Heeeey! That’s not fair! You’re supposed to let me say it!” he whined. But Twilight just rolled her eyes.

“You always pick him because it was the first dragon Hybrid who originally narrated the tale.” She countered with a roll of her eyes. Spike wasn’t wearing anything Wintery to keep him warm except a purple and green scarf Rarity had knitted him because she didn’t know his inner fire kept him warm despite the weather. He hadn’t taken it off since she gave it to him last month... seriously, he slept in it.

Spike crossed his arms and blew out a small flame from his nostrils. “You’re just not fair…” he muttered. “Luna, you were alive during all of this, did you know any of the characters personally…?” he asked the moon goddess. She nodded and flexed her gloved hands in an attempt to warm them.

“Yes… I knew all of them very well, although I was personally attached to Clover because of her relation to Star Swirl… Although my sister held each of them fondly in her heart. She still does of course, but you are right… you all do resemble them greatly… especially you Twilight. I can’t count the number of times I’ve found myself nearly calling you Clover by mistake.” She admitted with a slight giggle after wards. Twilight was beaming and radiated happy that almost knocked even Pinkie off her feet.

“You really mean it princess?! I’m like Clover the Clever, really?!?!?!” she exclaimed zooming right up so she was staring eye to eye with Luna.

“Uhhh… Yes…” she replied slowly pushing her away. “You two share many characteristics… for example, your habit of spending days on end slaving over your studies… or your paranoia over tests… and she also had a severe case of OCD just like you do.” Luna explained with a sly smirk. Her five friends all laughed at that and Twilight kicked at the snow and hid her face partially in the purple turtleneck she wore under her sweater. “Ah, and it was also her mentor Star Swirl who noticed her anti-social behavior and placed her under the care of Princess Platinum in the hopes she would make some real friends. Sound familiar…? Although you didn’t have to go on a rouge adventure across a foreign frozen waste land only to be trapped in a cave with your kind’s sworn enemies and then in your dying moments overcome the boundaries your race set and make friends with your ‘enemies’ and save the lives of thousands as a result… but other than that you are all pretty spot on.” she mused as she hummed the Carol and walked on while the others just stood stunned at the morbidly half assed description of their country’s most precious legend.

“Anyone else feel like they need a really tall glass of hot cocoa right now…?” Dash asked. Six hands flew up in an instant and they all rushed off to the campus café for a snack and just said warm drink.

A waitress with the name of Mocha delivered their drinks, seven hot chocolates and one double shot mocha latte with a caramel swirl and extra foam. That of course was Luna’s as she never drank normal coffee claiming it was too bland, Celestia always got on her about it saying that at that point it wasn’t even coffee it was just diabetes in a cup. Most of the group got some kind of holiday treat to go with their drinks, Pinkie being the exception as she always carried a bag full of the confections so there was no need to buy any more. Spike was not eating anything to be considered sweet by human standards, he had produced a small bag of gems he used as both money and snacks. Mostly snacks though. Rarity watched him select a particularly shiny sapphire from the bag and he bit it in half like a carrot.

“Spike dear… I’ve been meaning to ask for a while now but why do you eat gems…? I’ve seen you eat normal food quite often so it’s clear you can eat it but I was wondering if it’s a necessary part of dragon culture to eat them so often.” Rarity asked leaning on a white gloved hand. The green haired boy swallowed before he responded to her his face slightly red as he did so.

“W-well… it… gems for dragons are like, oh what would be the human equivalent…? Uhh… they’re like vitamins kind of… but not… we don’t absolutely NEED them to survive, but they help us grow and develop normally. They also happen to taste like candy to us. Well… most of them. I’ve had a few really bad ones that tasted bitter so I try and stay away from those.” He explained to the best of his ability.

“Oh…? That’s interesting. Is that why you eat so many, because you want to grow up faster…?” she asked tucking a lock of perfectly curled purple hair behind her ear.

“No, he eats that many because he’s often quite bored and it’s available often enough, Equestria being known for being over flowing with jewels. That’s partially why my sister became fascinated with dragons so long ago, they are powerful beasts who draw power from the earth, soar in the skies, and can perform elemental magic with as much ease as breathing. A skill that, mind you, our best magic users take years to perfect.” Luna explained with a careful sip of her coffee.

“Elemental magic…? Ain’t that like fire, earth, water, and air…?” Applejack asked with a raised eyebrow.

“Yes, but it’s also more complicated than just that. When we use magic we have to pool it from inside ourselves and then channel it into a spell through the Starcrest on our foreheads.” Twilight explained tapping the mark gently. “But dragons don’t do that. You’ve seen him use his fire magic before, it isn’t a spell he’s using. He’s just channeling magical energy from his surroundings and harnessing it in a concentration that comes out as a flame. He and purebred dragons do this without any chanting, or memorizing, or even too much motion. They can manipulate elements like you and I can move our limbs. But they do it using not their own energy but Natures. Does that make any sense…?” Twilight asked with a small hopeful smile. The other’s slowly nodded but Pinkie was of course the odd man out.

“Whoa! That’s really neat Spike! Can you really move around the air and stuff whenever you want?!” she asked her poofy pink hair bouncing up and down with her in her seat. In response Spike looked over to where a waitress had set down a pitcher of water and he pointed at it his hand turning into scaly purple claws as he did so. The water flowed out of the pitcher and snaked towards them like a river in midair winding around in loops above their heads. Rainbow slowly reached out and stuck her finger in the flow to see if it was in fact still water. The wetness along her finger proved it was and they watched as it carefully winded back over to the pitcher and filled it back up with its form. His scales retracted leaving pale skin behind and he grinned over at their awed faces.

“Good enough answer for you…?” he asked in return.

The girls of course showered him with praise and Rarity leaned towards Twilight. “I have to admit… were he just a few years older I might have considered him as a suitor…” she whispered. Twilight nearly choked on her drink after hearing that and pounded her fist to her chest in an attempt to clear away the liquid. She got it down and took in a deep breath. Spike caught her eye and tilted his head curiously but she simply waved her hand dismissively and he went back to showing off minor forms of the magic he controlled. Like creating a mini tornado on the tip of his finger and sending it towards Rarity’s steaming drink to cool it.

Twilight’s thoughts went a little haywire after that. She was stunned by what Rarity had said sure, but it wasn’t as if she was opposed to the idea… it was painfully obvious that Spike was head over heels for the older girl, and if she could return those feelings then great. But that age gap was something that wasn’t so easily overlooked. Even by her lenient standards. SHE didn’t even date, and had no intention to any time soon. Her seven year old brother was definitely not ready for that kind of relationship, or Rarity for that matter. They may have been in high school now but they were still only thirteen! But her birthday was less than a month away now… and Rarity’s was shortly after that. Fluttershy, Applejack, and Dash’s birthday’s had already come and gone and Pinkie’s wasn’t until summer. Hell while she was at it Spike turned eight on the first day of spring! They were all getting older of course… but they weren’t old enough for THAT yet.

Fluttershy noticed the distant look in her friend’s eyes as she had been swirling her drink around in its cup for a few minutes now and gave her a gentle poke on her arm. Twilight jerked slightly stopped stirring her drink around and looked to the aquamarine eyes of the girl beside her.

“Are you alright Twilight…?” she asked softly. Twilight nodded and picked up the fruit tart shaped like a snowman that she had picked out and examined it.

“Yeah… just wondering what I’ve missed back at home while I’ve been here… my older brother is coming home from college so I’m a bit anxious to see him again.” She replied simply. Well, it wasn’t a lie. She was looking forward to seeing Shining Armor again, but it hadn’t been what was distracting her. But somehow telling the shy girl about her concerns over her little brother’s crush didn’t seem like a very good idea. Fluttershy looked back at her hot chocolate that sat in front of her with a small smile on her face.

“I know how you feel… I have an older sister and she’s hardly ever around either… given she’s quite a bit older than I am and she already has a family of her own, but I still miss her greatly.” Fluttershy replied before she took a careful sip of her hot chocolate. Twilight blinked in surprise.

“You have an older sister…?!” she exclaimed in disbelief. Fluttershy retracted slightly and Twilight winced when the others looked at her as well. “S-sorry… I didn’t mean to shout it’s just… well you and Dash have never really discussed your home lives so…” she explained scratching the back of her head out of nervous habit.

“Oh it’s… alright… my life isn’t all that exiting to talk about anyways.” Fluttershy murmured as she toyed with the ends of her hair. Dash blew a raspberry to that.

“That’s a load of crap Flutters. Her family owns over half of the businesses in Cloudsdale and her father is the sole biological engineer that figured out to breed crops that would grow on clouds. Her family’s the second wealthiest in Cloudsdale for Pete’s sake!” Rainbow explained her arms crossed in defiance. Fluttershy buried herself further in the depths of her hair in an attempt to hide from the gawking stares of her friends. Even Luna had nearly spat out her coffee. Rarity regained her senses.

“Second wealthiest…? If her father invented the cloud crop, which is used in every single cloud city across the world now, then who on earth could possibly rival that kind of wealth other than royalty?” Rarity asked dumbfounded.

“Yeah, an’ just how do ya know so much about Shy’s family’s finical standin’ anyhow…?” Applejack questioned the rainbow haired girl further. Cyan wings popped up in surprise and she looked around quickly in a panic. From behind pink hair she caught a gleam of aqua marine eyes and a small smirk that went unnoticed by the rest of the girls. Fluttershy calmly tucked her hair behind her ear and picked up her mug of cocoa and stared at it like she was deciding whether or not to drink it.

“The only family that exceeds mine in Cloudsdale is the owners of the weather factory, since they operate it and all of its minor branches all over Equestria they collect all the income that comes from control over the weather. They’re also famous for their invention of the liquid rainbow, to which they named their only daughter and sole heir to their wealth after. Right Rainbow Dash…?” she asked the gleam remaining in her eyes. Fluttershy was not cruel by any means, but she did have enough mischief in her to get back at Dash when necessary. Dash sent her a look that would have killed as Rarity let out a dramatic gasp and Pinkie started to strangle hug her cyan winged friend.

“Omaigosh Dashie! You and Fluttershy have to be like the two single most important people in Cloudsdale!!! That’s so cool! Do you live in like some kind of fancy cloud mansion with servants and maids everywhere?! Oh! Oh! OH! I bet you totalllllly met Flutter’s at some kind of fancy ball your parents were throwing right?! And you two were supposed to be like enemies because your families are like bitter rivals to the end but you thought Flutter’s was too sweet to be like them and Flutter’s totally thought you were like princess charming or something so you two became friends despite it and hung out behind your parents backs but they found out eventually and sent you away from your homes to some far off boarding school so you’d never see each other again but it turns out you two were sent to the same school and now you carry on your super-duper totally secret friendship under your parents radar and far away from where they can judge you riiiiiiiiiiight?!?!?!” Pinkie Pie asked while she bounced around the café acting out the scenes by herself while she ranted. Rainbow and Fluttershy gave each other a shared look of skepticism before Rainbow responded.

“Uh… actually I met Flutter’s at summer flight camp when we were like… eight. And our families aren’t like, bitter rivals or anything like that. Actually they approve of us being friends because they've all been friends since highschool AND it opens up trade stock between our companies. But uh, I do live in a big mansion with a lot of servants and stuff… so you got that part right…” Rainbow explained scratching her cheek slightly with one finger. Pinkie looked defeated for a second but then bounced right back to life when she heard she had been right about something. She took her seat again and happily munched on her sweets again.

“Well at least that goes to explain’ why ya have such a big long fancy name RD, mine’s just family tradition but yours has excuse of havin’ more dough than a bread factory!” AJ laughed her green eyes simply grinning from hearing the truth behind her roommate’s mysterious family matters.

“I for one am inclined to agree with Abigail, but while Rainbow has the excuse of pride getting in her way why have you withheld the truth about your family Fluttershy darling…?” Rarity asked turning to her own roommate. The others all nodded wanting to know why all except Dash who already knew and was grinning like a Cheshire cat because of it.

“Go on ‘Shy, tell ‘em alllllll about it.” she sneered. Fluttershy let out a squeak that sounded an awful lot like a dog’s chew toy as she looked down at the table and played with her hands blushing furiously as she did so.

“O-Oh… well… I um… I had heard that Dash was going to be going here for high school and um… well I wanted to go with her… so when I told my father about it he signed me up that very next day. But… we got in a um… small argument over what classes I should take and um… he kind of uh… meep…!” she squeaked before she could finish and hid behind her wall of pink hair. The group all turned to Dash to finish for her. The prismatic haired girl was more than willing.

“She broke half the bones in his body because he didn’t want her to taking anything but courses in agriculture and plant sciences. He was in the hospital for the entire summer and the news of her little tantrum spread like wildfire through the city. So now she doesn’t like people to know who she is because she’s afraid they’ll connect her back to the incident. That’s also why her last name isn’t listed on any of the rosters. She hacked the system and deleted it.” Rainbow Dash explained with a sly smirk across her face. Everyone now stared absolutely dumbfounded at the girl before them. Even Pinkie Pie had her jaw to the floor, literally I might add. Suddenly they were all looking at the girl in a completely different light.

Rarity was of course the first to regain the ability to speak and she addressed the girl with a slightly weary but mostly stable tone. “S-so… is that why you looked so nervous when you were packing your bags dear…? You were worried about seeing your father again?” Rarity asked. Fluttershy looked up again and shook her head.

“Oh, um, no actually… I speak with my father all the time, he’s actually very proud of me for not only standing up for what I wanted but for managing to take down someone of his size… my father is a very large man compared to normal standards. I was worried what they are getting me for presents. They always go out and but big extravagant things for me but I’m afraid I just never use them… I’ve never had the heart to tell them so, so they just end up buying more and more for me every year.” She explained before taking a cautious nibble at her cookie. Rainbow scoffed at that.

“At least your parents don’t shove you in ridiculous looking dresses and tow you around their Hearth’s Warming ball on an invisible leash to see if you catch any of the royalty’s eyes. I swear they treat me like I’m a prized doll or something…” Rainbow groaned running a hand through her short hair. Rarity’s eyes sparkled like gems at that.

“A ball you say?! And being dressed up and pampered like an elegant princess to catch the eye of the benevolent royalty?! How could you complain Rainbow! I’d KILL to your life!” she sighed dramatically raising a hand to her forehead and falling back to rest against the booth they occupied with a dreamy smile plastered on her face.

“Yeah well Rainbow Danger Dash was born to soar in the skies at sonic speeds and earn the admiration of thousands with her amazing flying skills, not prance around in frilly dresses and flirt with snooty high society nobles. No offence princess.” She added with a nod at the moon goddess.

“None taken, my family is famous for having entire flagpoles shoved so far up their asses that they can’t bend at any angle anymore.” She responded with a casual wave of her hand. Rainbow snickered at that and Rarity frowned.

“And I’ll show you exactly what I show my parents every single time they try to tell me I don’t know WHAT destiny has planned for me.” She said as she hovered up from the table and pulled up the leg of her jeans so they could see her cutiemark. “THAT is not the mark of a high class lady, that’s the mark of a born racer who slows down for no one and laughs in the face of those who say otherwise.” She declared before she bent down into Rarity’s face and let out a short laugh to prove her point. She landed back in her place beside Applejack and folded her arms while Rarity crossed her arms and pouted to herself. Rainbow smirked knowing she had won the argument and bit down the last of her tart and chugged down the remainder of her mildly warm cocoa. “Come on ‘Shy, the taxi is going to be here in half an hour and we still have to get back to the doors and gather our bags.” She said as she flew up from the table and landed neatly on the outside of it instead of bothering her friends to get up. Fluttershy did the same but turned to her friends with a smile on her face.

“It’s been wonderful to chat with all of you, have a happy holiday, we’ll be back in a few days in time for the new year’s party.” She stated with a wave to them. They all waved goodbye as well wishing their own good tidings and goodbyes before the two winged girls left the café being sure to place a few bits on the cashier’s stand as they went. When they were both out of sight Twilight finally spoke.

“Anyone else have some kind of shocking back story they want to get out…?” she asked with an eyebrow raised. They all exchanged a few looks before Applejack raised her hand. Twilight pointed at her. “Yes Applejack…?”

“Does gettin’ in here on an academic scholarship count…?” she asked.

“That depends, what kind of academic scholarship…?” Twilight countered.

“English Literature and History.” She responded plainly.

“Yes. Yes it does. Care to go into detail…?” she asked folding her hands under her chin.

“Well… there ain’t much ta really tell, Ah just had a really good early start and Ah was just always really good at history.” Applejack shrugged as she took a large bite out of an apple fritter. Rarity however, ever the skeptical one rolled her eyes and scoffed.

“Somehow I highly doubt that you got in like that… from what I’ve heard your use of the English language is barbaric at best, the history part I can believe though. After all we do share a history class and you’ve had top scores all through the year.” She responded as she gagged a bit at the farmer’s rabid consumption of the treat. Applejack stopped in her destruction of the treat and swallowed dabbing at her mouth with a napkin daintily before she crossed her legs over one another much like Rarity had hers and removed her hat from her head and addressed the girl again in a dialect that reminded Twilight of high society proper’s back in Canterlot.

“Pardon me for saying such dearest Rarity, but I do not recall ever saying anything to you regarding my upbringing, you see although I come from a background consisting of many hardworking agriculture specialists I devoted a single year of my life to trying a different flavor in my life, meaning I paid my dearest Aunty and uncle Orange a visit in their estate in the Manhattan proper. There I was taught privately by my aunt every aspect of proper elegance and given the finest education money could purchase, I found myself drawn to the fine literature of Shakespeare and the unique style of one Edgar Allen Poe, as well as the riveting tales of Homer’s Odyssey, and so very many other famous wordsmith’s. But alas my true place, despite my Aunt and uncle’s caring open arms, was back on the farm, where my family and acre after acre of sweet apples called to me from miles away.” She stated her emerald gaze locking with the stunned sapphire across from her. Applejack uncrossed her legs and dawned her hat once more. “But Ah kept the lessons mah Aunt taught me up here,” she said tapping her head with one finger. “And because of that Ah got into this here school that mah parents had always talked about sendin’ me to when Ah was little. So ta put it simply enough Rarity, don’t judge a book by its cover. ‘specially not ‘round these parts.” AJ finished as she lifted her mug back to her lips.

Twilight looked thrilled to have another friend who could appreciate her love of books but Rarity just sat there too stunned to properly form words. Applejack’s eyes glanced up as the bell chimed in the café signaling someone had entered. She smiled and quickly stood up and waved.

“Hey, Mac! Over ‘ere!” she called. The others looked behind her all except for Pinkie who had seen the man walk in and was beaming as well. Twilight and Spike however were scared almost shitless a man massive proportion walked over to their table. He was probably pretty close to seven feet tall and had muscles bigger than Spike’s body built on him. Every inch of him looked to be chiseled muscle under his tanned skin. His hair was a golden orange color and his shirt reminded them of the old fashioned lumber jacks they saw on TV as little kids, being bright red and plaid in nature. He wore boots just like Applejack but looked older than hers and well-worn with a healthy coating of snow on them now. He carried an corduroy jacket over his arm as he walked towards him. Emerald eyes a few shades darker than his sister’s glanced down at them. “Guys, I’d like you all to meet my older brother Big Macintosh. But we just call him Big Mac for short. Mac these are my friends Twilight, Spike, and Rarity, and of course you already know Pinkie Pie.” She said gesturing to each of her dumbfounded friends that were nearly breaking their necks from how high they had to look up to see his face, except Pinkie who was waving like a mad woman.

“Nice ta meet ya’ll.” He replied in a baritone southern drawl. Spike was the first to speak.

“Whoa… you’re HUGE!” he commented. Big Mac chuckled a bit and blushed slightly as he scratched his head freeing some left over snowflakes from his messy short cut hair.

“He gets that a lot.” Applejack stated laughing with her brother. “You here ta pick me up an’ drive me back to the farm…?” she asked turning back to face her brother.

“Eeyup…” he responded with a nod. Applejack stood from her seat taking her jacket with her.

“Well, Ah guess that’d be my cue to take mah leave as well, I’ll see ya’ll on New Year’s then. And Rairty fer Celestia’s sake shut yer trap, you’ll catch flies like that.” She said leaning over and physically shutting the fashionista’s mouth closed. That seemed to snap her out of her state as she blinked a few times and managed to respond to the farmer.

“Terribly sorry, don’t know what came over me. It was a pleasure meeting you Macintosh, and I’ll see you later as well Abigail. But my time has also come to depart as my parents are expecting me by the house before dinner and I still need to collect my bags from the dorms.” She announced standing and pulling on her snow white fur jacket.

“Well shoot, ya can hitch a ride with us back to the dorms, its mighty cold out there after all.” AJ offered as she pulled on her own fuzzy lined jacket. Rarity glanced out the window at the piling snow and gave a thankful nod at the two farmers.

“I’d really appreciate that, it does look dreadfully awful out there right now.” She commented with a look at the darkening sky.

“Eeyup…” Mac stated with a nod as he pulled back on his own jacket and un hooked a set of keys from his jeans. He and Applejack walked back towards the door Applejack leaving a few bits on the counter just like Fluttershy and Dash had as they went.

Rarity turned back and smiled at them all. “I look forward to seeing you all again at the party, until then have a very happy Hearth’s Warming Eve!” she called before she too left her money on the counter beside AJ’s and then followed the two Apple’s out to a large red truck that looked like it could seriously use a wash. When it pulled out and drove out down the street the remaining pair of siblings and the lunar princess heard Pinkie sigh contently.

“Something the matter Pinkie…?” Twilight asked eyeing the poofy pink haired girl. She blinked and smiled over at her waving her hand in dismissal.

“Nah, I’m totally fine Twilight…! I was just thinking… you know, these last few months went by really fast… It’s kinda spooky. Makes me feel like it’s going by TOO fast.” She admitted her bright blue eyes surprisingly calm for once. But Twilight smiled and looked out the window as well watching the snowflakes fall down from the sky and lazily come to rest on the growing snow banks.

“Yeah… it does, doesn’t it?” she responded dreamily. Spike and Luna both nodded and watched the snow for a little while as well. Eventually they’d all been sitting there so long that their drinks all got cold. Luna stood from her seat folding the napkin that had been on her lap neatly in front of her on the table as she did so.

“Well, I do believe that the royal carriage will be arriving at our dorm soon, shall we go Twilight, Spike…?” She questioned her two roommates. They looked at her and then at each other before they too stood.

“Yes… I suppose so, Pinkie do you want us to teleport you back to Sugarcube Corner…?” Twilight asked her normally energetic friend. She shook her head slowly.

“Nah… it’s only two blocks away from here and I’m weirdly used to the cold. I’ll be fine.” She responded with a smile at her friend. “Thanks for the offer though.” She added in a more Pinkie sounding tone. Twilight and Spike relaxed after hearing her say that and Luna dropped bits onto the table before they could even pull out their money.

“Lunaaaaaa, that’s not fair! You ALWAYS pay for our stuff!” Twilight huffed crossing her arms. Luna snickered and stuck out her tongue at the magic user.

“Too slow Sparkle, now come on, I can feel my sister’s impatient pacing getting faster.” She chided with a small grin. “Happy Hearth’s Warming Eve Pinkamena.” The princess called as she grabbed both of her roommates by their hands and teleported away before they could wish her the same tidings. Pinkie waved and smiled until they were gone before she let the act drop and stared back out the window into the same gray sky. Later that evening her mother would welcome her home with her favorite meal, her father would give her the biggest bear hug in history and her two sisters would ask her the same question they would every year…

“What do you want for a gift this year Pinkie…?”

But this year she wouldn’t be asking for something like a mountain of candy or a pony that could talk. She only had one wish on her list and it was more impossible than the time she had asked to go on an adventure with a fairy friend on a quest to save an ancient land from the evil of everything bad. She would ask that the time she spent with her friends to last forever, and to be as happy as these last few months had been. But while she may get the first part of her wish there was no such thing as everlasting happiness. Even Pinkie knew that, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t fight it with all her power and do everything she could to keep her friends laughing and smiling for as long as she could.

Author's Note

Hello everypony, Shadow here with another quick update. I just want to let whoever the hell was sending me guilt waves today know that this was posted because of you. It was seriously so bad I considered pulling out my laptop in the middle of class to post this. But I with held due to the fact that particular professor would have tossed it out the window the moment I unzipped my bag. So here it is, I hope you're pleased with yourself. Also, I would like to ask you all a question regarding the next chapter I'll be posting. It's finished and ready to go already but I won't be posting it for at least a few more days, but it is also very long and I wanted to ask if you'd prefer me to post it as just one long chapter or if you'd prefer me to split it into two and post them closely together. Reply in the comments below and also while you're down there please give me feedback on what you thought of the chapter. The likes and dislikes don't give much and I personally don't even pay attention to them. Comments tell me what I did right and what I still need to improve on. On that note I also still need an Editor because as my creative writing teacher keeps reminding us, no one is perfect. Meaning I make mistakes, a lot of them. And my chapters tend to get... well to quote one of my uncles 'Longer than the wait for the pizza man when you haven't eaten all day and consider the thought of eating the couch acceptable'. . . I come from a very long line of complicatingly insane people. So, if you're interested message me and we'll discuss it from there. This is Shadow signing out again.

Chapter 6

How I Met Your...

Chapter 6: Seasons Greetings

The carriage ride back to Canterlot wasn’t anything Twilight would consider exciting, but when they landed in the castle grounds she was greeted not only by her mentor and half the royal guard as well, but her parents stood nearby along with two more familiar faces that made her almost jump from the carriage before it had properly landed. She rushed over to them with Spike close behind grinning. The tall older teenage male who’s two-toned blue hair was as messy as ever greeted her with a smile that spoke volumes.

“Twiley...! aw man it’s been way too long little sis!” he chuckled as he wrapped his arms around the girl and hugged her tightly. The regal looking teenager standing next to him with her tri coloured hair pinned back in a ponytail, wore a pink and purple sweater to fight the cold that came with the snow that blanketed her home.

“We missed you while you were gone Twilight, why didn’t you write like you promised...?” she pouted with a small smile. Twilight’s eyes were brimmed with tears at that point as her old babysitter hugged her as well.

“Shining Armor... Cadence... I missed you both so much!!!” she cried into their shoulders. Her parents, Twilight Velvet and Nightlight, watched with smiles on their faces as they greeted their other son with open arms.

“How are you enjoying high school so far Spike...? Keeping your big sister in check...?” Night Light asked as he nudged his sin with an elbow while his wife fussed over his hair and tried for the umpteenth time to smooth it down with her magic. It didn’t work of course but she still tried.

Spike laughed as his hair bounced back to its full stature and his mom sighed giving in and just hugging him tightly. “I can try, but she’s been pretty occupied lately keeping her own friends in line.” He laughed. “and man do I have some stories to tell about them, well first of there’s this crazy one named Pinkie...” he started while they made their way out of the castle and back to their house in the city, Cadence talking excitedly with Twilight while they got in the car. Celestia and Luna waved them all goodbye and only when they were sure they were gone did Celestia lean down to whisper in her sister’s ear.

“Did you get all the information I asked for...?” she asked. Luna reached into her side bag and pulled out a thick manila folder the word ‘CLASSIFIED’ stamped on it in bold red letters.

“Of course I did, you act like I’m some kind of newbie sister dearest. The school’s security system is far out dated by the way, you might want to look into getting that updated.” She stated as she handed the folder to her sister. She opened it up and flipped through it seeing school pictures of five girls in each of their sections that had specific details involving them and their backgrounds. “But why do you need such information about the girls...? Do you not trust them sister...?” Luna asked looking over her shoulder at the contents. Celestia sighed and closed the folder teleporting it away to her private chambers.

“It isn’t that I don’t trust them Lulu... I just need some study material if I’m going to be entrusting them with my most faithful student’s wellbeing... but enough of that, tell me all about this interesting Astrology teacher of yours...~” she mused with a sly grin on her face. Luna twitched under her sister’s gaze and then bolted for her life for fear of answering her sister’s twisted sense of humour.

Back in Ponyville:

Rarity sighed as she dropped her bags in the door way of her home and was promptly tackled by a white blur. When she opened her eyes she found the smiling face of her baby sister grinning at her with her cotton candy like purple and pink hair bouncing with her. “Rarity...! You’re home! That makes me feel Ec... es.... Mommy what’s that word again...?” Sweetie Belle asked looking back at the woman who was walking towards them her mismatched outfit ever the embarrassment of her oldest daughter.

“Ecstatic Sweetie, and welcome home dear, we were wondering if the weather was keeping you!” Pearl Belle said as she helped her eldest up and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Rarity smiled and shook out her purple curls.

“Heavens no mother, I was simply out with my friends and lost track of time...” she explained as she held Sweetie in her arms tightly. She looked around and noticed the distinct lack of a moustached straw hat wearing man. “Where’s father...?” she asked her mother as she set her sister back on the ground and watched her run back to the living room to watch whatever show she had on.

“Oh, I just sent him down to the market ‘cause we ran out of vinegar, I’m making that fancy salad you love so much for dinner...!” she explained with a bright smile. Rarity’s eyes brightened at this and she beamed as well.

“Oh that sounds wonderful mother~ Do you need any help preparing it...?” she asked as she walked into the kitchen with her mother.

“Oh no Hun, all that’s really left is to make the dressing which is why I needed the vinegar, but you can go play with Sweetie if you want, she’s been waiting all day by the window just waiting for you to come home.” She said pointing towards the living room where Rarity could see Sweetie cuddling the doll Rarity had made her when she was born. It was a rare sight to see the little tot without it and it made Rarity smile.

“Of course mother... Sweetie dear, do you want to come play dress up in my room while I unpack...?” she called into the room. In an instant the tiny girl was attached to her leg.

“Sure Rarity!” she squeaked. Rarity giggled and pried the girl off her using her magic to carry her bags up the stairs and down the small hall into the second largest room in the house only falling behind her parent’s bedroom. True to form Rarity’s room was covered in outfits and spare fabrics. While Sweetie ran to a hope chest at the end of her sister’s large posh bed and dug through it pulling on several princess dresses and about a thousand accessories as well, Rarity busied herself with neatly unpacking her clothes and storing them away in her dresser or hanging them properly in her closet. After a few minutes she heard Sweetie call her name and she turned around smiling as she was hanging a dress of her own on a hanger.

“Yes Sweetie what is- Oh my dear sweet Celestia!!!!!” she exclaimed upon seeing the mess Sweetie had made of not only her hope chest but her own apearence as well. The tiny girl had a pink sequin dress over the one she had already been wearing, a little brown leather vest over that, a pair of high heels that were far too big on her, a feathered boa every shade of the rainbow, bracelets of different styles lining her arms, and horribly applied make up all over her face.

“Do you like it?!” she asked in her squeaky sounding voice. Rarity was a loving older sister, she was, but the atrocity that stood before her was making it very difficult for her to keep her natural instinct of criticizing at bay. She bit her tongue hard before she responded by levitating a box of wet naps from the bathroom so she could wipe off the make-up from her face.

“It was a marvellous first try Sweetie... but perhaps a pretty face like yours doesn’t need any make up yet. Wait until you’re my age for that. And... here, just remove this jacket and take of a few of these bracelets and... there! Now you look like a model ready for the runway darling...!” she exclaimed having found a level of acceptable childish fashion sense. The heels were still far too big for her but the little girl giggled al the same and strutted up and down the room as if to prove what Rarity had said. Rarity smiled and watched her clapping as her little sister did her own little fashion show for her and then performed a mini concert when Rarity changed her outfit to that of a pop star.

Rarity knew her little sister had an amazing voice, even at a young age. She often questioned if she’d earn her Soul-mark, or cutie mark as it had come to be known now a days, in singing. But Sweetie was still young and she’d have plenty of chances to find her own special talent. Maybe now that she had entered elementary school she’d find her talent. Rarity prayed that her sister didn’t have the same misfortune she had of not getting her mark until she’d just entered middle school. That had been terrible. But those days were behind her now and Sweetie was still plenty young. While the younger sister was in the middle of her encore performance they both heard heavy footsteps come up the stairs and seconds later the door opened wide to reveal a grinning man with a thick moustache obscuring his grin a bit and the straw hat he always wore obscuring his thick eyebrows.

“I heard there was a pair of princesses up here but it looks like one of ‘me has gone and turned into a pretty little pop star...!” he chuckled. Rarity smiled as Sweetie Belle ran up and tackled her father and knocked his hat off his head. The older sister walked over and giggled as she picked up her father’s hat and looked down at him.

“We were just waiting for the ever tacky king to return to his castle... honestly father, when ARE you going to stop wearing this old thing...?” she asked holding up the hat to him as he stood back up cradling Sweetie as he did so and chuckling as he took the hat back but didn’t set it on his head.

“Aw, it’s nice to see you too Hun.” He mused kissing the top of her head. Rarity smiled despite herself and hugged her father and kissed his forehead as well noticing for the thousandth time the distinct lack of a crest on it. She backed away and smiled at him. It wasn’t uncommon in Equestria to marry outside your direct species, a magic user like her mother taking an Earth-bound as a husband wasn’t unusual in little towns like Ponyville. But the higher class seemed to think otherwise and reminded Rarity of it frequently when they met her parents. Some preached about having ‘pure blood’ and mocked her because of her heritage. She however, in all her grace, was above such insults and never let them get to her... well, she didn’t now. It bothered her a lot when she was younger but her mother had set her straight when she’d asked about it. She told her of how her grandparents had once greatly disapproved of Magnum, and it wasn’t until Rarity was born that they gave in and accepted him as a son in law. Her mother often called her the gem of the family because of that. Perhaps that was what had sparked her interest in gems in the first place.

Either way Rarity was content with her life as it was, her magic wasn’t weakened by her father’s blood, if anything she thought his connection with the earth was what helped her with her affinity for the Jewels buried beneath its surface. When they sat down to eat their dinner Rarity was greeted by the surprising aroma of not only salad, but also the sweeter smell of apples. She found the fruit cut up in chunks in the salad and questioningly glanced at her mother.

“Oh, well you see the market was having a big sale on apples today so I decided to pick up a few to mix into the salad, I know it isn’t the way I usually make it but I figured I’d try something new... it isn’t bad is it...?” her mother asked her accent making her voice sound more concerned than it actually was. Rarity stared down at the fruit on her plate and smiled at the familiar face it brought to mind, the tanned skin, freckled face, and honest green eyes that had driven her insane over the last few months with her frank nature. She smiled and shook her head.

“No mother... I think apples would make a lovely addition to my favourite dish.” She said as she took a fork full up and chewed it thoughtfully. Her mother beamed happily as the rest of her family dug in as well and enjoyed it all the same. As Rarity ate she couldn’t help but wonder how the farmer was doing in her own home...

Sweet Apple Acres, that very moment in time:

Big Mac and Applejack had had to stop at the market on the way home to get a few spices their grandmother had asked them to get so they were a bit delayed in getting home as the weather outside worsened. But despite that they made it home to find Granny fast asleep in her rocking chair while their baby sister was playing with a tiny fluffy puppy that was licking her face while it had her pinned to the carpet. Big Mac smiled at the sight as he held AJ’s luggage over his shoulder and AJ set the bag from the market on the counter and her backpack on the floor next to the door of the farm house.

“What’s the matter Applebloom, Winona got you pinned like a hog already...?” she chuckled as she watched the puppy lick the little girl all over her face. Both Applebloom and Winona seemed to notice the new arrivals for the first time and they both ran towards them. Well, Winona ran and Applebloom stumbled over her feet because her little legs were too short to run properly. Applejack and Mac both laughed at that as she picked herself up and decided to jog over instead and Applejack picked her up grinning at the red haired tyke who wore the big bow Granny had given her on her first birthday in her hair.

“Ah missed ya so much AJ...! Granny said you’d come by more often but Ah haven’t seen you in months...!”Applebloom pouted. For someone who was only five she could speak quite fluently. Given she already had a heavy accent but it was still understandable.

“Aw shoot AB, now you got me feelin’ all kinds of guilty...! Ah’m sorry Ah haven’t been around much... but school’s been mighty taxin’ as of late an Ah’m findin’ it harder and harder ta break away!” she explained with a small guilty smile on her face.

“That’s right lil’ Bloomer, your Sis needs ta focus on her edumi... eduma... Mac what was that there fancy word fer schoolin’...?” Granny asked the large red shirted man.

“Education Granny.” He replied as he stirred whatever was stirring on the stove in the kitchen.

“Right, that.” Granny finished with a nod. Applejack smiled at the old matron of the Apple family and went over to hug her.

“Thank ya kindly fer defending me Granny, sorry Ah woke ya though...” she mumbled in the elder Apple’s ear.

“It ain’t a problem youngin, Ah was due to be wakin up anyhow... oh consarnit, that pup ate up mah slippers again...!” she protested seeing the green fluff of her slippers all over the rug. Winona barked happily and wagged her tail playfully before she jumped up in the matron’s lap and licked her face. “Why if I wer’ ten years younger an’ you were a year older you’d of had your tail kicked by now pup...” she muttered scratching behind her ears despite her obvious annoyance with the tiny puppy. Applebloom got the saddest pouty face when she heard her grandmother say that.

“You’d hit lil’ Winona Granny?!” she asked tears brimming her golden eyes that matched her grandma’s almost perfectly. Granny was caught between a rock and a hard place at that point in time and she looked to Applejack to save her. She did by clearing her throat and scooping up AB and Winona into her arms.

“Of course she wouldn’t hurt the pup AB, but she does need ta be taught not ta chew on our stuff or else she’ll make it a habit, ya understand...?” she asked as she walked over to the table Big Mac had just finished setting up. Applebloom nodded as AJ sat her down in her booster seat at the table and set Winona down on the floor next to her food dish which was filled with soft puppy chow. Granny shuffled over to the head of the table and everyone, even Winona, didn’t move a muscle towards their food until she had sat down. But then it was pretty much like a pack of wild animals going at a food trough. Well, except Applejack who found herself remembering the months of table manners Rarity had re instilled into her and ate at a pace that could pass for normal compared to her other family members. Big Mac paused long enough to notice his sister’s odd behaviour.

“You feelin’ alright AJ...?” he asked when he noticed she had only finished half of her first plate when he had already gone back for thirds.

Applejack looked up like she had been in a trance and blinked a few times before she laughed and hit her forehead with the heel of her palm. “Sorry ‘bout that Mac, Ah’m just used to havin’ Rare yell at me ta use table manners...” she explained before she really dug into her food and Mac and Granny exchanged looks.

“Would ya mean that purple haired fashion doll you’re always complain’ about when ya do call home...?” Granny asked as now even Applebloom paused in her consumption of chicken fingers drowned in gravy. Applejack choked a little on her food and swallowed after pounding her chest a bit.

“D-did Ah really call ‘er that...?” she asked in disbelief.

“Eeyup...” Big Macintosh replied with a nod. Applejack looked down at her lap frowning slightly.

“Well... she ain’t all that bad... she’s still a premadona sure, but it ain’t like she’s hurtin’ anyone... She’s actually real nice once you get past the fancy stuff... Don’t get me wrong now, she still rubs me raw like butchered beef, but Ah guess Ah rub right back now. That an’ Fluttershy don’ really like it much when we argue... she can be mighty convincin’ when she wants ta...” Applejack said with a shudder at the last bit. Applebloom decided it was her turn to ask a question this time.

“Wait a minute... is that the one that’s crazier than a bat or the one that kicks your can at track...?” she asked curiously. Applejack frowned slightly.

“Okay, first off RD does NOT kick mah can at anythin’ I just forget ta stretch sometimes... second, it’s neither, Fluttershy is the one that’s good with animals.” Applejack informed her.

“Ohhhh... so which one is the crazy one then...?” AB asked biting into one of her chicken tenders as she did so.

“That’d be Pinkie Pie... though she ain’t really crazy or nothin’, she just acts like it sometimes. She’s the one who works in the bakery in town that Mac takes you to when he bribes you to not tell me somethin’.” She stated flatly with Mac effectively choking on the water he was drinking. “Yeah that’s right big guy, Ah know all about that. Pinkie’s a regular ol’ stool pigeon when ya give her some caffeinated soda.” AJ remarked with a slight smirk. Suddenly Big Mac looked very uncomfortable as he was pulling at his shirt collar and avoiding his sister’s eye. Granny chuckled a bit.

“Shame on you Macky, thinkin’ you could hide anything from an Apple girl, I thought your Pa taught you better than that.” She laughed as she ate her mashed potatoes that were also drowning in gravy. Big Mac was again fighting a losing battle as he stared at the three females that took up residence with him. Even the dog was a girl, the only male company Mac ever got was if he went into town and got to talk with Carrot Cake while he was making a delivery. Males seemed to be pretty scarce in Ponyville for some odd reason.

‘Ah swear to Celestia the next pet we get had better be male or Ah’m gonna go insane...’ he fumed in his mind while he glanced back down at his plate and his family tried to poke and prod him with words to get him to spill his beans. Good thing he wasn’t eating beans tonight.

In a Taxi on its way to an even smaller town far away from the hustle and bustle of Ponyville:

Pinkie sat in her seat of the cab her ear buds plugged into the handheld game she was playing so she wouldn’t disturb the driver. She stuck her tongue out a bit in concentration as she was beating the boss when she felt the car come to a halt. Outside her window she could see the bleak rocky terrain of her family’s farm and the worse for wear grey farm house they all lived in together, it looked like her father had added a fresh coat of paint to it since she’d been there last. She paused the game and smiled ever so slightly as she tucked it away in the purse she had over her shoulder. The cab driver smiled back at her.

“Here ya’ are Pinkie, that’ll be twenty bits for the ride.” He said with a chuckle in his laugh when he saw her surprised face.

“Whoa, shouldn’t it be like way higher than that, Stripes…?” she asked pulling out her wallet. Racing Stripes smiled again and shook his head before he removed his hat and scratched at his greying hair.

“Fer you Miss Pie, I’m offering a holiday discount. Now say hi to your folks fer me ‘kay…?” he said as she handed him the money and stepped out of the cab to collect her bags from the trunk. She waved him goodbye giving him a big grin as she thanked him and wished him a happy holidays before he drove off. She watched him for a bit before she heard the door open behind her and a smaller girl with dark grey hair and grey-purple eyes peeked out into the cold to find the bright pink contrast of her older sister standing in the walkway watching a cab fade away in the distance. Her eyes lit up as she shot out the door and ran to her sister in nothing but her loose grey work shorts and a long worn white t-shirt.

“Pinkie!!!” she cried as she wrapped her arms around her sister from behind. Pinkie giggled a bit as she turned around to face her sister who honestly didn’t look all that younger than her considering there was only about a year’s age gap between them.

“Inkie, I’m happy to see you too silly but what are you doing out here in the cold dressed like that?!” she asked her tone taking on a surprisingly mature nature. Inkie Let go and seemed to feel the cold for the first time as she shuddered and rubbed her arms a bit. She wasn’t even wearing any shoes.

“S-sorry… g-g-g-got excited…” she reasoned as Pinkie ushered her back inside dragging her luggage behind her. She didn’t really have much, she’d left most of it back in Ponyville because she would only be staying for a few days and she still had a lot of her clothes there at the farm. When she walked in and shut the door behind her Pinkie was greeted by the tired but happy expressions of her remaining family. Her father, Clyde Pie, was reading the newspaper but upon hearing his little ray of sunshine arrive he threw it on the table and beamed at her as did her mother Sue Pie who had been waiting for some water to boil in the kitchen. Her remaining sister, Blinkie, came running down the stairs when she heard the commotion and grinned at the sight of her younger sister.

This was one of the few times the Pie’s could honestly smile. Pinkie was their splotch of colour in their bleak lives and they cherished her greatly for it.

“Welcome home dearest Pinkamena, how have your studies under the Cake’s been going…?” Her father asked after they had disbanded the family hug.

“Pretty awesome, Mr and Mrs Cake taught me a HUUUUUUUUGE bunch about baking so far, and all my schoolwork’s been a breeze too!” Pinkie replied cheerfully with a small bounce as she did so. Blinkie and Inkie giggled at her actions but Sue just smiled and brought everyone into their small living area to sit down and talk.

“Did you make any new friends dear…? I know how much you wanted to get to know EVERYONE there but that sounded like a bit much to me.” Her mother asked as she stroked her daughter’s poofy pink curls.

“Actually I’ve made friends with almost everyone on campus! There’s a few meanies in the lot though so I left them alone!” she stated making a face when she mentioned the group. “Oh! And you know all those girls I tell you about in my letters?! Well I just found out some HUUUUUGE news about two of them! The two Cloud-walkers in the group, the ones who are childhood friends and come from Cloudsdale, They’re apparently from the two richest families in the city!!!” She exclaimed bouncing in her seat a bit as she did so. Her families shock was moderate but her father looked pretty interested at what she said next. “Yeah, the super shy one, Fluttershy, her dad bred the first could-crops and apparently struck them rich fast! She doesn’t really seem to flaunt it but I guess some rich people are just like that, Though that would explain why she’s weirdly good with plants and stuff too… huh. Oh! And the other one, the one with rainbow hair that flies faster than a jet, comes from this loooooooong line of powerful business owners, they own the entire weather factory and all its branches and stuff too! Isn’t that just weird? She’s like the exact OPOSITE of those fancy schmancy people, and I find out she’s one of them?! I almost exploded from shock!” she explained demonstrating blowing up to the great amusement of her sisters. Her father however was stroking his beard in thought.

“You say the shy one’s father invented some kind of plants that can grow on clouds and he struck it rich just from that…?” he asked his middle daughter who nodded.

“Yeah, but Flutters said something about him opening up a lot of cloud farms too so I guess that’s another way they keep up their profits too…” she explained with as shrug of indifference. “Why Pop…? You wanna start growing crops out of rocks…?” she asked with a giggle, her sisters joining her and even her mother giving out a short chortle. Her father seemed to snap out of his state and chuckled a bit himself scratching the back of his head.

“I suppose that does sound a bit funny doesn’t it? Rock plants…” he said with a small unsure chuckle. Sue heard the timer go off in the kitchen and smiled when Pinkie’s ears perked and her nose tried to smell what had been cooking.

“I made an old favourite of yours Pinkamena, fireball stew and lava cake for dessert~” she hummed as she walked into the kitchen and pulled out the fiery red cake from the oven and when Pinkie ran in she could smell the strong spices of the stew as well. Seven different spices, five different peppers, and a special sauce that her Granny Pie had made when she was Pinkie’s age; it had to be cooked in a special cast iron boiler so the heat wouldn’t melt the metal. The cake was made similarly but instead it just had ghost pepper juice and a good helping of rainbow essence to give it kick. It was a very extravagant meal for them since the cost of it all was normally out of their price range.

“Awww, Momma you shouldn’t have, I would have been happy with just a simple soup and pound cake.” Pinkie sighed shaking her head but drooling a bit at the smell of it all. Sue smiled and hugged her daughter tightly.

“For what you’ve given us Pinkie, you deserve it all. Now, no fussing, go upstairs, unpack and wash up for supper while your sisters set the table.” She ordered pointing up the rickety old stair case that lead to the cramped upper level where she shared a room with her sisters and her parents room was across the hall with a tiny bathroom at the end of the hallway. Pinkie sighed but smiled anyways.

“Yes Ma’am…” she giggled as she grabbed her suitcase and bounced up the stairs. When she was in her room she walked over to her cot like bed that was in the corner and had bright colourful paintings all over the wall and a bunch of handmade stuffed animals scattered across its pink sheets. She sat down on the bed only stopping for a brief moment to pull the precious egg out of the heated glass pod of an incubator in her bag and hold it close to her chest as she fell back letting her curls spray every which way as she took in the deep smell of old wood and the ever present earthy smell the mountains gave off. “I missed this so much Eggy… I missed seeing my family smiling at me all the time, and I missed grey bleakness of the rocks… I know, it sounds crazy, but this is my home… and it’s yours too! Remember when I found you in that little pond not too far from here…? You were all alone, the only bland coloured thing in that colourful pond with all those flowers… you were the exact opposite of me all the way out here. Maybe we’ll go back there tomorrow if it’s not too cold… Oh, right, I was supposed to wash up for dinner. I’ll be back Eggy, you just sit there and stay cute.” She cooed kissing it lightly and placing it back in the heated incubator and locking it tight so as not to let the cold air get to him. When she was out of the room the tiny white egg wiggled and a small crack appeared along its side.

Far away from the bleak landscape of the rock farm in a flying carriage that had just landed on the higher end of Cloudsdale:

Fluttershy watched outside the window as the ground below them soared by. She didn’t like heights but she couldn’t help but admire the beauty of it all from up here. She noticed the towering city of clouds approaching and she looked over at her sleeping companion. It was about a two hour flight from Ponyville to Cloudsdale so Rainbow Dash had taken it as an opportunity to take a cat nap. She gently shook Rainbow awake and giggled when she noticed her hair had started to stick up at weird angles.

“Huh…? Oh… *yawn* Are we there already…? Mmm… wait, why are you laughing Flutters…?” she asked as Fluttershy had been consumed by giggles when she saw that Rainbow’s hair now looked like a cross between a rainbow macaw and a peacock. Rainbow looked into the window to see her reflection and groaned when she saw her hair. She tried to smooth it down while Fluttershy controlled her laughter.

“I… whew… I’m sorry Rainbow… you just looked so silly like that!” she explained as her friend dug through her backpack for her brush.

“It’s fine, I’ll consider it payback for that sleepover three years ago when me and G spiked your hair up in spikes while you were asleep.” Dash replied as she found her brush and styled her hair back to its normal messy style. The amusement in Fluttershy’s face drained away at the mention of the nickname. Dash didn’t seem to notice though as seconds later they felt the carriage land. It came to a halt and the driver went to open the door for them.

“We’ve arrived madams Dashington and Gentius.” He said with a deep bow his cream coloured wings at full attention out of respect. He helped Fluttershy out of the cart but Dash just jumped out grinning and stretching her limbs.

“Man it feels great to be out of there…! Hey, thanks for coming to pick us up in that crap weather Jimmy, here, keep the change.” She said handing the middle aged driver a few large spoken bills before she grabbed her bags off the top of the carriage. The driver sighed as he shoved the bills in his pocket.

“Madam Dashington, I thought I made it clear that my name is James not-“

“Yeah yeah, Jimmy, same old story. Come on ‘Shy. Our moms are gonna turn over Cloudsdale looking for us if we’re late.” She said as she carried not only her own bags but Fluttershy’s as well. The pink haired girl stopped and thanked James for his service before she ran after her friend leaving the driver smiling and waving after them.

“Those two never change…” he chuckled as he climbed back into his seat and took off towards the carriage station.

After walking a few blocks the two of them came to the tell-tale gates of the grand Gentius mansion and Fluttershy was greeted by the guards who stood watch at the gate as they swung open for her and Dash. They walked in to find a group of familiar faces waiting for them. A tall beautiful woman with the body of a Greek goddess and sunshine yellow hair and bright blue eyes was talking with a woman who was likewise very beautiful but shorter in height and had curly pink and magenta hair that she kept mid length just below her ears, her magenta eyes never left the woman she spoke with. Behind them were a pair of men, one abnormally tall and built better than most earthbound could hope to be, with deep green hair and matching forest green eyes. His companion had rainbow hued hair much like Dash’s but he had golden eyes instead and they didn’t waver from the green ones that spoke to him until they all heard the door open up.

Rainbowshine, the shorter woman with the magenta hair and eyes that also happened to be Dash’s mother, was the first to greet the pair as Rainbow dropped the luggage and some servants came to take it away.

“Dashie darling, and Fluttershy dearest! You’re late again; Sunny and I were starting to get worried about you two!” she cooed taking both of the girls in a tight hug. Sunnyskies, Fluttershy’s mother walked over to them her pale yellow wings opened lightly as she took her daughter into her hold and cradled her gently.

“Yes indeed, Fluttershy dear whatever could have taken you so long to arrive…?” she asked moving her daughter’s pink hair from her face and tucking it behind her ear.

“Oh, um… we were out with our friends and- meep!” she exclaimed as powerful broad arms scooped her up and hugged her tightly as her father’s deep voice sobbed.

“Flutters Daddy is so sorrrrrrrrrrrrrrry!!!!” he cried as he hugged her, his powerful green wings drooping as he did so. Fluttershy, all 5 feet of her at the time, was being crushed by her 7’8 father’s bear hug as he sobbed into her pink hair. She gently tried to pat her fathers back despite losing all the air in her lungs.

“There… there… Daddy… Daddy I can’t… breathe…!” she gasped. He quickly loosened his grip but still held her out in his arms to get a good look at her his eyes still streaming tears as she caught her breath. Behind him Prismbolt, or just Bolt, clapped his friend on the back and smiled.

“Come on Jolly, set her down and let the girl get some oxygen back in her brain so she can think straight.” He chuckled. Jollygreen sniffled as he set his baby girl back down and took the handkerchief his friend offered him and wiped his eyes and blew his nose in it. Rainbow Dash watched from the doorway her face a resemblance to the ‘Seriously?!’ meme guy at that moment. Sunny giggled at her practical daughter’s face.

“Come on Dashie, you think they call him the Gentle Jollygreen Giant for nothing…?” she laughed patting her shoulder softly. “He’s always been that emotional, ever since elementary school at least.” She giggled her blue eyes glinting mischievously. Fluttershy may have gotten her looks from her mother but it was obvious looking at the pair that was currently apologizing to each other like it was an argument that she got her sensitive and kind nature from her father.

A soft voice sounded softly in her ear making every hair on Rainbows head stand on edge. “Daddy’s always been a big softy, especially for cuties like Flutters, wouldn’t you say Lizzy~?” Rainbow flew up so fast she left a dent in the cloud floor. She turned around and glared knowing there was only one person that called her that name.

“I thought you weren’t supposed to come in until tomorrow Ivy…!” she growled through clenched teeth. Ivorykey pouted slightly crossing her arms and using her soft white wings to fly up and look Rainbow in the eye. She had silky white hair that was long like her mother’s and sister’s but didn’t curl at the ends and instead wrapped around side ivy, it also had deep green streaks running through it like her father, but she had her mother’s sky blue eyes and playful nature.

“I was Lizzy, but then I found out you and Flutter’s were coming in today and just HAD to meet you here.” She smirked as a third man walked in the door with a covered baby basket in his hands. Rainbow saw him and beamed. She flew down to him as Sunny and Shine took the baby, Cloudstreak, away and coddled him while he slept. His wind swept styled blue hair looked a bit out of place but his matching eyes lightened when he saw the girl.

“Wave Chill, how’ve ya been…? I see the tyke is wearing you out on your supposed ‘vacation’” she laughed with a huge grin on her face. The young Wonderbolt chuckled as he ruffled her hair.

“First rule of being a new parent kid: if you’re not tired you’re not doing it right.” He explained as he watched the servants bring in the rest of the bags. When Ivy had started dating him two years ago Rainbow couldn’t believe she could get as lucky as dating a Wonderbolt, even if he was a rookie. When they got married a few months later Rainbow was ecstatic and when his team performed at the wedding she had almost exploded from happiness. She was more excited than Fluttershy and SHE was one of the bridesmades! When Dash and Flutters heard the news of Ivy being pregnant just before middle school ended Fluttershy had burst out in tears of joy at the thought of having a little niece or nephew, and Dash had shed tears of joy as well that there would be another future Wonderbolt for her to train.

Rainbow watched the little guy open his eyes for the first time, he had only been born a few weeks ago so this was her and Fluttershy’s first time meeting him. He was currently being held by Sunny but ‘Shy was right beside her ready to take him at any moment. That girl was a natural predator to all things infant, and if there was one thing Fluttershy would ever use her vast wealth for, it was baby stuff. Dash peered over at the tyke curiously. He had a small plume of white hair on top of his head and Rainbow could see a small streak of his father’s blue in it as well, but his eyes made her halt in place. He had Fluttershy’s sea green eyes. Fluttershy took him carefully in her arms as she sat on the love seat beside her mother and Dash couldn’t help but think they looked more like mother and child than Aunt and child. Ivy nudged her in her side gently.

“Don’t be scared Dash, go say hi. He doesn’t bite… yet.” She added with a small giggle. Dash slowly walked over as Sunny stood up and motioned for her to sit down beside ‘Shy. Rainbow cautiously sat down and peeked over at the bundle that was wrapped in a light blue baby sized parka to keep out the cold. Fluttershy smiled over at her.

“Say hello to Auntie Dashie Cloudstreak…” she breathed softly as she angled him so he could see Dash. Rainbow froze up for a second when he looked straight at her but then he cooed a bit and he smiled. She could see a tiny pair of white wings flap out under the blanket he was bundled in and blinked in surprise before a smile broke out across her face and she brought a hand close to him. He took on of her fingers in his tiny fist and she felt him squeeze it. “Aww… he likes you Dashie, you want to hold him…?” Flutters asked moving him a bit closer for her to take. Rainbow Dash hesitated unsure if she should but she slowly reached out and took him cradling him awkwardly in her arms. Fluttershy giggled and corrected her posture with gentle nudges and Cloudstreak giggled at her softly.

“Oh, you think that’s funny huh pipsqueak…?” she grunted frowning a bit as colour painted her cheeks in embarrassment that even an infant was laughing at her.

Cloudstreak however was thoroughly amused and kept giggling as her face reddened more. Dash eventually sighed and gave in finding the kid too cute to stay mad at.

“You are sooooo your mother’s son kid… actually, you don’t even look like your dad, you like a mini Ivy… except for this puff of hair… makes you look like a cotton ball. Hehe… that’s what I’m calling you now Cottonball.” She giggled as she grinned and held him up in the air letting the blanket fall away to fully reveal his little white wings which flapped like he was trying to fly already. Fluttershy giggled and smiled at Rainbow.

“He REALLY likes you now… I didn’t know you were any good with kids Rainbow.” She commented when Rainbow cradled him back in her arms. Rainbow looked up to reply but found herself nose to nose with the shy pink haired girl instead. They both started to blush and they heard a camera click and then flash. Rainbow turned her head sharply to see Ivy grinning and holding her camera.

“This one’s going in the scrap book~” she sang with a cheeky smile that made Dash’s hair stand on end. Dash quickly handed the kid to Fluttershy and ran after Ivy who had taken off up the stairs as fast as lightning.

“GET BACK HERE AND DELETE THAT PICTURE GENTIUS!!!!!” She roared as she flew after her wings pounding as she soared through the mansion.

“It’s amazing how similar our daughters are isn’t it Jolly…?” Bolt asked with a grin. Jolly let out a hearty chuckle and nodded in agreement.

“Indeed they are Bolt… say, I think Dinner’s about ready. What say we go chow down while we wait for the girls to tear the mansion apart…?” he asked jabbing a meaty thumb over to the dining room. Bolt’s stomach rumbled in reply and Jolly laughed and patted his friend on the back so hard it nearly knocked him over. “I believe that’s a yes! Come on Bolt, let’s see if you can live up to your name!” he laughed as he spread his powerful green wings and took off racing towards the kitchen.

“Oh, it is so ON!” Bolt snickered as he raced after him grey-blue wings pounding. Sunny and Shine sighed and shook their heads watching their husbands race off just the same as their daughters had. Sunny reached down and scooped up Cloudstreak from Fluttershy’s arms while Shine nudged the girl up.

“Come along Fluttershy dear, if we want to have a chance at getting anything decent to eat we’d best hurry before your father swallows the table whole.” She mused knowing the man all too well since the four had been friends since high school.

Fluttershy however was still light headed from being so close to Dash. What had made her react like that…? Her and Dash had always been close so to get embarrassed now over something as small as touching noses… she was going to be up late tonight thinking about this… She heard a crashing sound from in the foyer where they had been and turned back to see Dash and Ivy wrestling over the small black camera.

“Not bad for a broad who just had a kid…” Rainbow stated through grit teeth as Ivy pinned her still smirking.

“And you’re not too bad for a scrawny little girl.” Ivory retorted her pearly white teeth gleaming. Rainbow’s eyes gleamed at that and the fire of rivalry was sparked. She brought her legs up under the older woman over her and used them to flip her over and pin her down.

“Sorry to be the bearer of bad news but this kid is all grown up now, and she’s learned quite a few new moves thanks to a little hayseed from the sticks on the surface.” She sneered as she took the camera triumphantly and deleted the photo before Ivy could recover. “There. Now let’s go eat, I feel like I could eat a horse right now.” She groaned letting the white haired woman up. Ivy dusted herself off watching Dash go before she smirked and picked up her camera pressing the ‘undo’ button on it to bring back up the picture that had once been deleted.

“Don’t worry little Lizzy and ‘Shy… Big sis Ivy’s gonna get you two together if it kills her…” she snickered before she shoved the camera in her pocket and made her way over to the kitchen.

[*** Author's Note: Well Hello there every pony, I know I'm a day late but an annoying little bug has been going around latley and it seems it decided to suck me dry of any and all health I had. So I'll be recovering and I'll post the second part of this soon but for now I need to sleep this off... and possibly die. Dieing sounds pretttttttty good right now actually. *Pinkie pops out of laptop screen* OH MY DEAR SWEET CELESTIA!!!!!!!!!! *Falls back in chair* Pinkie: NO! You can't die until you finish this story or else the mass populace will dig you up and use necromancy to bring you back...! Shadow: Uhhhh... Pinkie... do you even know what Necromancy IS...? Pinkie: Sure, Twilight showed me! I used it to make myself a an undead army...! Shadow: And... why would you need an undead army...? Pinkie: So I can throw a party that never ends DUH...! Shadow: . . . I'm gonna sign off guys, obviously I've had too much cold medicine, goodbye for now.***]

Chapter 7.1

(*** AN: I'M NOT DEAD I SWEAR!!!! I had a hell of a time editing all this... but I swear I'm not dead! Yet! I may or may not be later on. But I will post the second part of this chapter shortly. No more two week wait. A day at most. Okay, I'm going to stop talking now, Enjoy.***)
How I Met Your…

Chapter 7 Part 1: Family Matters

Twilight loved this time of year for a reason, for her it meant family, a warm fire, and no limit to the amount of love in the air. For Spike it meant dressing up in goofy outfits, helping dad with his goofy traditions, and then gorging himself on sweets while he opened presents. They did indeed have very different reasons for liking the holiday but they both loved it all the same. The two of them settled in easily into their old room. They had never minded sharing since the two were inseparable anyways and Spike didn’t really need much room anyways, he just needed his bed space and a trunk for his stuff and he was set. So the fact that the entire room was filled with scattered books everywhere, old research papers, science experiments with blue ribbons attached to each of them, and the occasional old food wrapper from her late night study sessions just laying around didn’t bother him in the least. Actually, if school related material was gems, and this was his horde, Spike would be a very powerful dragon by now. But alas, just like most growing dragons any gems he got were usually eaten right away.

Spike up in the morning to find, unsurprisingly, a stray research paper in his face. How it hadn’t caught fire with his snoring he didn’t care to know but he flung it aside and rubbed his eyes as he sat up in his bed pushing his covers off him as he stood in his purple footie pajama’s that he swore up and down he didn’t own or wear. He found Twilight missing which wasn’t exactly odd as she did sometimes manage to get up before him, especially around the holidays. He made his way down the stairs and into the kitchen where he found Shining Armor and Night Light already eating their breakfast with a plate of gem pancakes waiting for him. Shining, ever the morning person, greeted his baby brother with a grin.

“Morning sleepy head, I thought I felt the house shaking last night with your snoring, you should really see a doctor about that.” He chuckled as Spike dug into his pancakes and Night poured him a glass of orange juice. His green eyes slid towards his brother as he tried to get over how perky he was in the mornings.

“For the hundredth time Shining… all dragons snore, it’s a reflex. And being a hybrid doesn’t make me any different.” He mumbled through his pancakes. He swallowed and looked over at his dad. “So where did Mom and Twilight run off to this early in the morning…?”he asked cutting off another chunk as he did so.

“They didn’t really say, they said they’d send a message later telling us so I guess we’ll find out soon.” Nightlight responded with a shrug as he drank his morning coffee. Spike was bringing the fork to his mouth when he felt his stomach rumble.

“Oh come o- Buuuuuuuurp!!!” he charred the pancake to dust as green flames erupted from his mouth and formed into a letter. He frowned at the now charred fork and the ashes of the pancake that had once been and tossed the letter to Nightlight to read as he got up to get another fork throwing the old one in a special bin filled with half melted items.

“Ahem… ‘Dear Dad, Shining, and Spike, Mom and I will be out shopping for most of the day and as such will not be able to get a few things done, Dad I’ve attached a list of what mom need’s done by the time we get home and she hopes you’ll but the boys to good use in doing it. Spike, I’ve also attached my own list of things I need done as well since I won’t have time to do it later. After it’s done you can have a free day. –Love, Twilight and Twilight.’ . . . Well boys, looks like we have quite the day ahead of us…” he said as he unrolled the list and it dropped all the way to his feet. Even Shining Armor groaned.

Meanwhile at the Canterlot Shopping district:

Twilight and her mother Twilight Velvet, or just Velvet so as to tell them apart, were sitting in a quaint café enjoying a breakfast of coffee (Twilight’s was decaf.) and a small pile of scones.

“Do you think we over did it on the ‘keeping them busy’ part…?” Twilight asked her mother curiously after she’d sent the letter with a small spell. Twilight’s mother tapped her chin in thought before she grinned.

“Nah, they need something to occupy themselves otherwise we come back to find the TV half melted and your father and brother fighting over who’s turn it was to change Spike.” Velvet responded before she sipped her coffee adjusting the scarf around her neck as she did so.

Twilight couldn’t help but giggle at that. “You’re still not going to let them live that down are you…?”

“Not for all the stars in the sky… now then, what are you getting Spike, and for the love of Faust please do not say a book.” She said with mild scorn in her voice. Twilight winced under her mother’s blue gaze.

“N-no…! Well… maybe as a side gift, but I’m getting him a gift card for that gaming website he’s always on. He keeps muttering about not ever having points to spend on it and I found out you can buy points in the form of gift cards so I chose that.” She explained as she bit into a raspberry scone. Her mother nodded.

“That’s perfect because your father and I just got him a new laptop. We figured he’d want to stop using your old one.” She chuckled remembering how he’d been upset when she first gave it to him because it had pink on it. He had quickly covered it up with a large amount of stickers and now one couldn’t even tell the original color of it. Twilight smiled sheepishly and nodded.

“I think you’re right… What are you going to get dad…?” she asked finishing the scone and moving for her coffee.

“Hm… you know I hadn’t actually thought about that. He’s pretty hard to shop for since the only thing he ever wants is new clothes or a book… Honestly you two couldn’t be more alike if you tried… But I know what we got Shining~ It should be coming in tomorrow too!” she exclaimed as she pulled out her phone to pull up a picture she’d saved of it. Twilight’s eyes widened when she saw it.

“That’s an original pre-renaissance French sabre…! How on earth did you find one of these?!” she gasped staring at the picture in awe.

“Believe it or not your father found it! One of the other professors in the university had found it laying around in his attic and had no idea what it was so he was going around work trying to sell it cheap to get rid of it. Your dad knew what it was and ordered it on the spot. But it was pretty old so we had it sent to a repair shop to be cleaned and it’ll be ready tomorrow…~” she hummed as she pocketed her phone again.

“Wow… he’s going to flip out and put it on a pedestal to worship it, you realize that right…?” Twilight giggled. Her mother smiled as well.

“Well at least I know he’ll like it. Come on hun, we’ve got a heck of a lot to get done today and stuff is flying off the shelves faster than we can buy it.” her mother announced as she stood up. Twilight grabbed a scone for the road and joined her mother as she walked out of the café after leaving her money on the table.

What her mother said ended up being quite true, with school out now the streets were packed with college students and other school aged kids running around trying to get their hands on a last minute present or two. Twilight rolled her eyes. She’d already done the majority of her shopping and it had been online too. They were mostly out right now to catch good deals and pick up some decorations as well. But with her mother she knew that would take all day, perhaps even part of tomorrow. Twilight mentally groaned as she was dragged into a large department store.

‘Why do the boys get the easy job…?’ she thought while her mother weaved in and out of clothing racks like a snake. ‘I wonder what the shopping is like up in Cloudsdale right now…’ she pondered as her mother started to make her first purchase pile of the day.

Cloudsdale City, Shopping District A. 4 AM that morning:

“Mooooooom…! For the last time! I don’t want clothes for Hearth’s warming!!!” Rainbow shouted as she was being dragged into the dressing room of Portes du Ciel, one of the fancier department stores in the upper ring of Cloudsdale.

“Nonsense Elizabeth darling, what young girl in their right mind DOESN’T want clothing for Hearth’s Warming…?” Shine said as she slid her daughter into the elegant changing room and hung the various dresses and blouses she’d picked out up on the coat hanger.

“Okay, let me rephrase that: I don’t want any of THIS clothing for Hearth’s Warming! I’d rather have a new track suit or a new pair of those cargo shorts! Hell, I’d take short shorts at this point if it meant I didn’t have to wear THOSE!” she exclaimed pointing at the ‘evil’ articles of clothing her mother always made her get.

“Elizabeth, how could you possibly call such beautiful outfits un worthy of someone with such a natural beauty to her like you…? You look simply amazing in these every year!” Rainbowshine argued back while she crossed her arms and faced her daughter.

“I didn’t say I didn’t look nice Mom, I said it’s not my style! We go through this every year! We fight over what YOU want me to wear, I say over and over again that I don’t like wearing them and that I’d rather wear something I pick out, you pull out your ancient Mom mojo and guilt me into agreeing to some small compromise that gives you the majority vote, and we take yet another family photo with me wearing some kind of dress that would make Photofinish and Hoity Toity keel over from pure bliss. BUT, I’m not doing it this year! I’m 14 freaking years old Mom! I can pick out my own clothes!” Rainbow Dash roared back in her mother’s face.

Rainbowshine was surprised to say the least. Dash was NEVER this vocal with her arguments, she normally just whined a bit and then gave in when her mother activated her ‘Mojo’ as she had called it. Shine couldn’t help but feel a little spark of pride at how her daughter was starting to grow up, in more ways than one. She let a small smile cross her face as she relaxed. “Alright Elizabeth, I’ll let you have this one. But, whatever you pick out I need to approve first. No biker shorts, no studded leather jackets, aviator goggles, or anything you’d wear to that gaudy little mall down on the surface, do I make myself clear…?” she asked her magenta eyes glaring at the younger girl.

Rainbow’s eyes lit up and her cyan wings spread as she shot up into the air and promptly hit her head on the ceiling. “Ow… Uh- I mean… Of course! Got it! Totally, I won’t look like a street thug I promise!” she exclaimed nodding quickly and grinning ear to ear as she burst out from the dressing room and ran out into the store again to find something of her tastes. Rainbowshine was already regretting her decision as she watched her daughter run into the boys department.

“This is going to be an interesting holiday season for sure… oh for the love of Celestia, no child of mine is going to be seen in something as gaudy as combat boots…!” she exclaimed as she saw her daughter holding up the shoes in question. “Dash get your hands off those monstrosities…! If you’re going to wear boots get ones that don’t remind me of commander Hurricane PLEASE!” she sighed walking towards her daughter to help.

Twenty minutes and a lot of bickering between the two later Dash was in the dressing room yet again trying on her own choices this time, her mother waited outside in a chair across from the door messing with her phone in anxiety. Dash grinned as she buttoned up the dress shirt she wore. ‘I can’t believe she’s letting me do this…! Rarity was totally right about just telling her off! I can’t believe that prissy premadona gave me useful advice… oh well, I’ll thank her when we get back to the surface… maybe I should get her one of these dresses as a present… yeah, I think she’d like that. Oh, damn, I’ve been sitting here for a few minutes now not doing anything.’ She realized with a start. She put on the rainbow striped tie that went with it and stepped out of the room her heeled boots clicking as she did so. Her mother looked up when she did so and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw her, the attendants and store clerks that were in the room stopped whatever they were doing and stared at the sole daughter of the Dashington family walk out in a suit designed for a male, but who made it work in all the right ways.

The outfit itself was simple, she wore black skinny jeans that tucked into her heeled boots that went up to her mid-calf, but the white dress shirt that had it's sleeves rolled up neatly was feminine in the sense that it hugged her and ruffled out a bit towards the end, she wore the multicolored tie loosely around her neck and her patented grin completed the outfit. Her mother was shocked and all the stores clerks quickly took pictures on their phones and uploaded them to their web pages for all to see that Rainbow Elizabeth Francis Dashington, sole heir to the entire Dashington fortune, was spreading her wings and soaring all on her own. And she looked great doing it.

“Well, are you going to say something or gawk at me like a fish Mom…?” she asked with a small smirk. The comment seemed to snap her mother out of it as she stood up quickly brushing her skirt to smooth it out before she walked over to her daughter and circled her.

“Impressive, I’ll admit… almost perfect. We just need to have that shirt tailored to you and it’ll be complete, go ahead and change back and I’ll make the appointment with Hoity tomorrow. In the meantime you go on and change back and I’ll-“

“Rainbow?!” a soft voice exclaimed from the entrance of the changing rooms. Both Rainbow’s turned to the voice and found Fluttershy standing staring wide eyes at her with her mother and sister at her sides, both grinning after losing the shocked looks. Dash blinked at the sight of her best friend and smiled.

“Hey Flutters, like the new look? I talked mom into letting me pick this year!” she beamed walking over to her and spinning a bit letting her tie flare out before she stopped and beamed. Fluttershy’s mind was racing and she could feel her cheeks heating up but she hid behind her long pink hair so Dash wouldn’t see.

“I-it looks… nice.” She whispered praying that Dash hadn’t seen her pink cheeks. Ivy grinned with a gleam in her eye after seeing the exchange.

‘Operation Flutterdash is ago…’ “Dashie, look you looking all kinds of swank. Didn’t know you even had a sense of style under all that tomboy!” she chuckled as she circled the younger girl like a wolf. Rainbow was by no means shy, that was Flutters’ job, but the way Ivy was eying her it made her squirm.

“Yeah, well… I’d better go change back so they can ring this up… I’ll be right back.” She stated quickly bolting into her dressing room again. Ivy chuckled again and Fluttershy retracted into her hair more at her sister’s behavior. Sunny walked over her yellow hair shining with the same glow her smile gave off as she addressed her longtime friend.

“My, My… how times change huh Shiny…? Seems like only yesterday she was blindly obeying your will and now she’s fighting her own battle and winning by the looks of it…” she mused resting a hand on the shorter woman’s shoulder. Shine sighed and lowered her head.

“I can’t believe I didn’t see that sooner… ME, who’s eye for detail in all things beautiful has everything to do with my destiny, couldn’t even see that my own daughter looks far better in a more masculine style than any of the dresses I’ve ever put her in…! Am I losing my touch Sunny…?” she cried into her friend’s shoulder. Sunnyskies sighed as she patted Shine’s back gently.

“Not at all Shine, you’ve just never given her the chance to try it is all, how could you have known…?” she reasoned quietly while Ivy went into her own dressing room to try on the outfit she’d picked out and Fluttershy sat in a chair next to the mirrors quietly brooding over her own thoughts. Rainbow emerged just as her mother was getting her senses back and she handed the folded clothes to her before she turned back and sat down next to Fluttershy.

“So what brings you three out here…? Did you forget to get presents like Mom…?” she asked leaning back in her chair. Fluttershy responded by shaking her head.

“Um… no… well… Ivy did, but Mom just wanted to get out of the house… Oh, and Dad’s here too he just didn’t want to come into the store because he said it felt like his testosterone was draining from him with every step.” She explained with a small giggle. Dash chuckled a bit herself.

“I know the feeling… places like this aren’t my style either. So is he just waiting outside ready to carry you guys’ bags…?” she asked trying to resist bursting out laughing at the image of the giant carrying bunches of pink bags filled with all kinds of clothes and perfumes.

“Actually he’s across the street at the weapon’s emporium. He said they just got in a new selection of foreign swords…” she explained looking up from her lap at her friend. Rainbow’s eyes widened at her friend’s revelation.

“No way! Do you think they have anything pre-equestrian in there?!” she asked sitting up and trying to peek out of the window that was on the other side of the store. Fluttershy giggled again and smiled at her friend’s antics.

“I don’t really know… you could go look if you-“ but Rainbow had already grabbed her friend by the wrist and was dragging her out of the dressing rooms and towards the front door of the shop.

“Mom! Me and Flutters are going across the street to see the new swords they have in stock!” she called over her shoulder before she bolted out of the store and ran across the cloud street to the store. Everything in Cloudsdale was made out of clouds, buildings, streets, houses, street lamps, everything. Anything that wasn’t cloud had to be enchanted so it wouldn’t fall through. But that wasn’t an issue since they had the spell stored in a master gem the royal family had given them centuries ago. It had the spell ingrained into it that washed over all of Cloudsdale, allowing any non-cloud object, or un-winged human, to walk on the clouds just like any winged being. This is also why in recent years magic users and even the occasional earth-bounds had moved into the city. Although the mass populace was still Pegasi so it wasn’t all too common. So the pricy swords, daggers, knives, guns, spears, and all kinds of other weapons that decorated the decently sized store stayed put on their cloud walls and shelves.

But the first thing Fluttershy noticed despite the multitude of weapons was the stuffed game that dotted the walls as well. Rainbow noticed her friend’s uncomfortable nature quickly and saw her staring at the mounted head of a snarling bob cat. She acted quickly and grabbed her arm dragging her away from the game and to where she saw the green haired giant of a man talking with the store owner. Fluttershy quickly rushed forward hugging her father’s large arm since it was about all she could reach on him as long as she stayed on the ground. He blinked in surprise when he saw his daughter but when he saw Dash it made sense and he smiled stroking his daughter’s soft pink hair soothingly.

“Shhh… hush now little one… no need to get upset, all the animals in this store are fake, they’re made out of polyester and plastic. They were never alive, isn’t that right sir?” he asked staring at the store owner. The owner nodded smiling down at the girl, he looked remarkably young to be the owner.

“Of course, my father was the big hunter in the family, but I never liked it. So when he passed on and left the store to me I replaced all the game in here with fakes and put the old ones in storage.” He explained. That seemed to make her relax so Rainbow took the opportunity to fly up and examine the swords along the wall behind the register. They were all incased in glass because of their value.

“Whoa… these are in amazing condition for relics… did you clean and repair them or were they just kept that well…?” she asked turning to the store keeper who’s mark of two lances crossing over a shield was revealed on his forearm as he pushed up his sleeves and flew up beside her his silver wings stirring up a small wind as he did so.

“A few were just found in pretty good condition, but we had to clean up a lot of them. Here, over here we have our prized piece.” He said motioning her over to the center of the glass case where a sword sat sheathed and hanging on its perch. He unlocked it using a key around his neck and held it gently in his hands. Rainbow’s eyes widened as she saw the inscriptions on it. “The man who brought this in was a professional explorer and he found this in the ruins of an ancient Equestrian city… he said it dates back even further than that though, to before the harsh wars took hold and Equestria was formed. According to the inscription the sword’s name is-“

“Xiphos, the sword of the Greek gods, in legends they say it was used to execute those who went against Zeus’ will and it was even used by Odysseus in his quest… H-How in hell’s name did this thing survive through so much, yet alone remain intact as if it were just crafted!” Rainbow asked in astonishment. It was true; the sword itself was in fact completely unchanged by the hands of time. Its surface remained polished and shining, the golden engravings on its surface were still easily seen, it looked very sharp and even odder it didn’t have a single scratch or chip on it. The sheath looked old but it was still in very good condition as well, the worst to it was the thick layer of dust that had been cleaned off of it. The store owner smirked and tapped the engravings with his finger.

“The engravings on this are an ancient form of runes. They protect this sword from the hands of time and ensure it will never be damaged. And because it was made using the fangs of ancient dragons it could cut through diamond like butter. The sheath, likewise, was made using a dragon’s scales; the only thing the teeth can’t penetrate. All together it’s probably one of the only sword, beside the one Princess Luna herself carries, that could be worthy of a god… or goddess.” He explained as he sheathed it.

Rainbow’s eyes lit up. “How much for it?” she asked excitedly. The shop keeper blinked in surprise.

“Ma’am, this isn’t for sale… it’s a priceless artifact.” He explained. Rainbow’s magenta eyes stared at him like he was a child who didn’t understand her.

“And I’m Rainbow Dashington, my entire family has been collecting ‘Priceless’ artifacts since Equestria’s FOUNDING. But the one thing that we DON’T have is a pre-equestrian dated sword like THIS.” She explained gesturing to the sword. The man blinked in surprise but still shook his head.

“I’m sorry Miss Dashington, but this one isn’t for sale. The curator of the Equestrian History Museum in Canterlot will be by on Monday morning to collect it for their exhibit on Pre-equestrian history.” He explained as he placed it back inside its case and locked it. Rainbow’s wing’s drooped and she lowered herself back to the ground. Fluttershy gave her a small smile.

“Cheer up Rainbow Dash, you could have a replica of it made and-“

“NO! Replicas aren’t good enough ‘Shy! All of the artifacts in our hall are legitimate. We don’t do replicas!” Rainbow explained as she shook her head. She sighed and decided to look around at the other swords but didn’t seem to be into any of the others. Fluttershy watched her with growing worry and her eyes kept darting to the sword and back at Rainbow. Her father saw this and smiled at her before he leaned down to whisper into her ear.

“Want me to make some calls…?” he asked gently. Her sea green eyes darted over to Rainbow one last time before she nodded.

“Mhm… and could you do it quickly please…? I’ll distract her in the meantime.” She whispered back. Her father nodded and pulled out his cellphone as Fluttershy walked over and tugged on Rainbow’s sleeve. Fluttershy had always been taller than her but this had been a habit of hers since they were little. Dash looked over at her slightly agitated, probably a mix of being up so early and her frustrations with being un able to buy the sword. “Do… do you want to go get breakfast…?” she asked knowing the prospect of food usually cheered her up. Rainbow thought for a moment before she nodded her agitation fading away.

“Yeah… I guess I could use some grub. Come on, there’s this cool looking café on the next block over I wanted to try out.” She said taking Fluttershy’s hand and pulling her out of the store. Fluttershy was used to being dragged around like this but for some reason it made her heart skip a beat this time. This had been happening a lot lately. She wondered if it had something to do with the growing pains she’d been having lately. She knew according to the thousands of books she’d read on biology and human anatomy that her body was changing at last, so it wasn’t unreasonable to think that her heart would undergo changes as well. She blamed it all on biology and shoved her doubts to the back of her mind as they came to the café entrance. Fluttershy’s eyes widened a bit at the name.

“I-is this… a maid café…?!” she exclaimed as they stood in front of it. Rainbow rolled her eyes.

“Pfffft, nah, this is an all-around otaku café! Luna told me about it and said the food here was great so I wanted to try it out!” she explained beaming from ear to ear. Fluttershy looked like she wanted to crawl in a closet and die. Her face was completely red and even her ears were burning. Rainbow couldn’t help but smirk a bit at the sight. “Awww, it’s okay Flutters, if you don’t want to eat here I won’t make you…” Fluttershy looked up hopefully.

“Really?!”

“Nope, now come on!” Dash shouted as she pushed her friend into the café grinning from ear to ear. It was so much fun to make the shy girl so thoroughly embarrassed. And it seemed to be getting easier and easier nowadays. They sat down at a table in the surprisingly busy café and their waitress walked up to them in a short school girl’s uniform her bright pink wings half folded at her sides and her white and red hair tied up in curl twin pigtails.

“Hello and welcome to Love-Love Café, where we make all your otaku dreams into a reality…! My name is Cherryblossom and I’ll be your server today. What can I get you two lovebirds to drink this morning…?” she asked smiling at them her blue eyes sparkling excitedly. She reminded Rainbow of Pinkie and just scared Fluttershy senseless. Rainbow looked at her menu.

“Yeah, uh, I’ll take a glass of orange juice and she’ll have your herbal tea.” She told the waitress. She walked off skipping a bit as she did so. Rainbow looked back across the small table at Fluttershy who seemed to be deeply studying her menu and trying to hide her bright red face behind her wall of pink hair. “Do you know what you want yet Flutters…?” she asked as she scanned the menu herself.

Fluttershy squeaked a little as her eyes peeked up over the menu at her friend. “I-I… think I’ll get the strawberry pancakes…” she murmured. To anyone around them it probably sounded like she didn’t say anything at all but to Rainbow she heard it loud and clear.

“Hmmm… that doesn’t sound too bad. Although those omelets look awesome.” She thought aloud as she ran her eyes over the menu. With her not paying attention Fluttershy glanced up from a menu her face still bright pink. It now wasn’t the fact that they were in such a café that was getting to her, but the pure notion that the waitress had thought they were lovers.

Fluttershy had nothing against gays, she thought they deserved just as much right to love as everyone else. But she had never thought about BEING gay. She had always seen herself marrying some handsome Prince Charming one day and having a wonderful little family together, or living happily with her friends at her side in a little cottage on the surface with her own animals to keep her happy. She had never thought about falling in love with another girl, yet alone Rainbow Dash who was practically her sister. She wondered what Rainbow thought about it. She had certainly never seen her attracted to a boy. In fact the only male Rainbow had even had the foggiest attraction to was Soarin of the Wonderbolts. And that was more of a fan-girl crush than anything else. But she had also never seen Rainbow attracted to a girl either. Well... her relationship with Applejack was questionable and Pinkie was often affectionate towards her, but she was with everyone so that didn’t really count.

Across the cafe a woman with white and dark green streaked hair sat with her parka buttoned up all the way, a fedora hat shading her deep green eyes, and a white scarf covering her neck and mouth as she sipped her steaming cup of coffee watching the pair from afar but listening to their every word.

Rainbow noticed her friend had been quiet for a while and looked up to see her staring at her intently. Rainbow knew that look all to well and smiled a bit. “Got your thinking cap on a bit to tight huh...?” she asked setting her menu down and resting her chin in her hand. Fluttershy squeaked and blushed as she looked at her lap again.

“S-sorry Dash... I was just a bit caught up in my thoughts.” She explained. Rainbow smiled at her and was about to respond when the waitress came back with their drinks.

“Okay you two, I’ve got a nice cold glass of orange juice for the colorful haired beauty, and a steaming hot cup of Herbal tea for the shy little uke.” She said setting the cups down as she did so. Rainbow smiled at her slightly. “Now, are you two ready to order or do you need a few more minutes...?” she asked taking out a notepad. Rainbow held up her menu and looked through it once more.

“Yeah, I’ll take the Ham and cheese omelet and... you said strawberry pancakes Flutters...?” she asked her friend. The shy girl nodded and Cherryblossom squealed a bit as she wrote down the order.

“Kawaiiiiiii~~~ Okay, I’ll have both those orders right out.” She mused as she skipped off. Rainbow looked back to find her friend blushing like crazy.

“Whoa... is that tea to hot for you or are you seriously embarrassed by that girl calling you cute...? Or was it that she called you an uke...?” Fluttershy made a small squeaking noise when she said that and Rainbow chuckled a bit. “Well you are you know, it’s not like you’d ever be assertive enough to top-“ she was cut off by Fluttershy promptly covering her mouth and her friend to peek out from behind her wave of pink hair her face bright red and her butter yellow wings flared out in surprise.

Ivy almost stood up quickly when she saw her baby sister in distress but restrained herself knowing that Dash was more than capable of handling her if she got too bad.

“P-please... stop... I don’t know how much more I can take...” she said her breathing getting raspy. Dash’s eyes softened and she closed her mouth as Fluttershy took her seat again. Rainbow knew a lot about Fluttershy’s medical history and quickly took her breathing as a bad sign.

“You need the inhaler...?” she asked softly. Fluttershy held up a finger as she took in a few more deep breaths and regulated her breathing back to normal.

“N-no... I’ll be fine now...” she said once she was back to normal. She folded her wings against her back again and relaxed in her chair. Rainbow eyed her carefully.

“If you say so... so, what were you thinking about so deeply...?” she asked taking a sip of her OJ. She enjoyed it since Applejack didn’t ever buy anything besides apple juice. Seriously did that girl EVER get tired of apples...?

Fluttershy avoided her friend’s gaze again. “Oh... well... I just... Rainbow... what do you think of me...?” she asked quietly, but her face was serious despite the forming blush. Rainbow Dash blinked for a few seconds.

Ivy edged forward on her seat anticipating the reaction Dash would give, her green eyes flashing brightly as she crossed her fingers.

Dash tapped her chin in thought. “I think you’re an amazing girl who’s way too kind for her own good, but uses that same kindness to treat idiots like me with enough patience to rival Celestia... you’re also cuter than a box of kittens and cooler than all the Wonderbolts put together. And whatever lucky bastard gets you had better be grateful for it or I’ll kick his ass to Faust’s gates and back.” She responded with a firm nod as if to finalize her statement.

Ivy gave a small fist pump in the air and waited for her sister to respond.

“O-oh... I don’t really think I’m all that... cooler than the Wonderbolts...?” she asked quietly her face heating up more and more as she thought about it.

“Totally. Though, if you ever tell anyone I told you that I’ll tell them about our first sleep over.” She countered. Fluttershy’s eyes widened and she nodded quickly. She then carefully took a sip of her tea as Rainbow continued. “So... what do you think of me...?” Fluttershy only resisted spitting out her drink from years of etiquette training with her mother. Dash looked away slightly. “Not that I really care… but… just for reference purposes… what am I like to you…?” she asked in something that almost sounded worried.

Fluttershy smiled as she set her cup down on its plate and tucked her hair behind her ears revealing both of her bright sea green eyes.

Ivy was literally on the edge of her seat anticipating her sister’s response.

“I think you’re-“

“Annnnnd, we have one order of strawberry pancakes and a large ham and cheese omelet for the two lovely ladies.” A male waiter said as he set the dishes in front of the girls.

“OH COME ON!” Ivy exclaimed nearly knocking over her table as she stood up. Half the café stared at her before she quickly sat back into her seat and emerged herself in the newspaper to hide herself from their stares. Rainbow and Fluttershy turned their attention back to each other.

“You were saying…?” Rainbow asked as she picked up the fork that had come with the plate. Fluttershy however had retracted back into her shell having lost the fleeting moment of confidence she’d had.

“N-never mind… I’ll tell you some other time…” she said from behind her wall of pink hair. Rainbow made a face.

“That’s no fair… I tell you but you chicken out of telling me…?” Rainbow sighed as she cut into her omelet. Fluttershy quickly went into a frenzy of panic.

“I’m so Sorry Dashie…! I-I’ll make it up to you somehow! I-I could help you with that English assignment you have! O-or I could help you with your flying regimen a-and… and you’re just messing with me again aren’t you…?” she sighed noticing the growing smirk on her friends face.

Dash forked a piece of her omelet and brought it to her lips with a devilish smirk. “What was your first hint Flutterby…?” she snickered using the nickname her sister had given her when she was an infant. Fluttershy’s face reddened at the sound of her pet name and buried her face in her hands. Muttering something as she did so. Dash swallowed and moved her ear a bit closer to her. “Sorry, didn’t quite catch that.” She said. Fluttershy looked up a small gleam in her eyes.

“I said you’re a meanie Blitzie…” she replied in a cool even tone. Rainbow Dash’s blood ran cold.

“Where did you hear that name…?”

“From your Mother the last time she went out drinking with mine… she told me all about how you were supposed to be a boy and they called you their little Blitzie until the day you were born… I thought it was really cute actually…” she giggled her eyes shifting more blue than green as she did so, a sure sign she was in a more mischievous mood. Dash quickly narrowed her gaze.

“I still have the sleepover incident on my side.” Rainbow Dash countered quickly.

“And I have the weekend in Manhattan.”

“. . . And I have the summer trip to the lake…! That’s recurring so it counts for all seven years!”

“As does the times Gilda kicked you out of your cabin in camp and I had to take you into mine so you wouldn’t freeze outside. That’s another seven for me.” She countered back as she cut up her syrup covered pancakes.

“Wha- I- that doesn’t- . . . !!!” Dash stammered before she slammed her head against the table repeatedly to clear it. Fluttershy examined her fork full of food before making one last jab at her.

“And three was also the first week of high school when you thought there was a shadowbolt outside your window so you slept in my room while Rarity was out and we woke up in-“

“Okay!!!! Stop! You win! Just don’t finish that sentence…!” she exclaimed holding out her hand to halt her. Fluttershy smiled a bit and bit into her pancakes victoriously. She swallowed and purred a little in content.

“The princess was right, this IS really good food~!” she hummed as she cut off another bite. Rainbow groaned as she buried her face in her hands.

“You know… sometimes I really regret having someone who knows me better than I do for a best friend…” Dash sighed as she resumed eating her food.

Ivy took this opportunity to exit the café being sure to pay for her coffee and leaving a generous tip as well.

“Looks like those two don’t even need my help with this… I just need to wait it out… even if it takes a few more years to develop properly, I can see there’s already little love seeds between them… now to find out about these Applejack and Rarity characters. Her special talent may have been playing the piano like a musical goddess, but she also had a keen ability to spot a potential couple from a mile away. And these two names screamed at her.

Chapter 7.2

(***AN: Well, here it is, Chapter 7 part 2, on time as promised. It's long like I said it would be even when I DID split it in two, it's a bit much I know but I think I owed you guys after going off the radar like that. So Enjoy... Oh, amd I suppose I should add another one in here since Hasbro is starting to stare down at us from above and swoop down like hawks. I DO NOT OWN MY LITTLE PONY FRIENDSHIP IS MAGIC!!!!! That's Hasbro and Lauren's Faust's gig, not mine. If I did own it there would be Flutterdash Everywhere. I only own my own OC's which are of course back ground character's in this so it doens't really matter. Also Nyx is not my OC. She belongs to Pen Stroke. I just borrowed her for the sake of Twilight having a daughter. And as she couldn't get a date to save her life I figured Nyx was the best solution. So, without further adieu I give you Chapter 7, part 2: ***)
How I Met Your…

Chapter 7.2: A Few New Additions…

Sweet Apple Acres, a little later in the morning:

Applejack was sitting in a chair beside the window of the farm house staring out at the thick white blanket that had covered the property and all of Ponyville last night. Her socked foot tapped restlessly on the floor and Big Mac, who sat on the couch reading the morning newspaper, was starting to lose the battle with his patience.

“AJ… if you’re so restless to get moving why don’t you go make breakfast…?” he offered. AJ eyed him carefully.

“No good Mac… you know Granny would tan mah hide if Ah lifted a finger while Ah was back here… something about me needin’ to relax…” She grumbled as her legs were getting more restless to work. She was raised a farm worker, and being on the farm and NOT working was like going to a theme park to watch other people have fun. It just didn’t make sense, and it made her restless. And with the crops all dry for the winter there was nothing TO do anyways. The off season always bugged her.

Mac sighed and folded his paper setting it down on the coffee table before he addressed his younger sister. “Well then if Granny won’t let you work how about you go for a run around the property…? It’ll wear off some of the steam you’ve got built up and it could double as a patrol.” He offered. Applejack perked up at that and stood up from her chair.

“Good idea Mac! And when Ah get back would you help me practice in the barn…? Coach said it’d help me if Ah practiced on someone bigger than me… and you’re about as big as they come.” She asked. Her brother let out a hearty laugh and then smiled down at his sister ruffling her blonde hair out of place.

“You got yourself a deal little sister. It’s been a while since Ah gave you a lesson in whoop ass ain’t it…?” he chuckled. AJ laughed with him.

“As far as Ah remember you had the losin’ streak the last couple of times you ‘Taught me a lesson in whoop-ass’” she replied with a grin across her freckled face. Her brother stuck out his tongue at her and she did the same before the both got a swift smack at the back of their heads. They rubbed them and turned around to see Granny Smith standing there with a sleepy looking Applebloom at her side.

“Ah don’t care what you two are doin’ later or who’s kickin’ who’s keester, if ya’ll don’t quiet down or git out I’m gonna whoop both of ya’ll inta next Saturday do I make mahself clear youngin’s…?” she growled at them both. They both straightened up and quickly nodded.

“Yes ma’am!” they replied in unison before Applejack rushed up stairs to get her track suit on and Big Mac sat down and picked up his paper shoving his nose into it to announce he wouldn’t be making a peep. Granny grumbled all the way to the kitchen while little Bloom sat down on the arm of Mac’s chair and started messing with his orange-blonde hair.

“Can Ah put bows in your hair today Macky…?” she asked bunching up some of his hair in her fists.

“Nnnope…” He replied as he grabbed his cup of coffee off the table and took a sip.

“Aww… but why not…? Granny! Can Ah put bows in Macky’s hair…?” she called into the kitchen. Mac almost spat out his coffee and his green eyes widened.

“Why of course ya can youngin’. Why don’t ya use those pretty sparklin’ ones Ah bought ya yesterday in the market…?” the matron chuckled from the kitchen with her head poking out from the cut away in the wall.

“Yay~!” she cheered as she ran up the stairs to get her box of bows. Applejack was just coming back down the stairs when she moved aside to let her baby sister up them. She snickered as she grabbed her music player out of her jacket pocket and started putting the ear buds into her ears.

“Have fun ‘Macky’…!” she called over her shoulder as she made her way to the front door. Big Mac gave her a pleading look but they both knew he was well beyond anyone’s help. Between the unwavering orders of their grandmother and the simple innocent adorableness of their baby sister Mac couldn’t get out of what they asked of him. Applejack snickered to herself as she hit play and began her jog out of the freshly shoveled driveway and over to the orchards where the bare trees had blocked most of the snowfall. She made it all the way into the west fields and was jogging along a path that bordered the country road when she saw something jogging along the road in the distance. She put her hand over her eyes to shield it from the morning sun and saw a sight that nearly made her trip.

Jogging down the road towards her orchard was none other than Rarity in pure white fuzzy leggings, a fluffy sleeveless vest over a pure white turtleneck that was obviously some kind of under armor because of how tightly it hugged her, and a pair of what looked like sneakers made out of rabbit fur (fake of course or Fluttershy would have died). Applejack came to a halt and paused her music taking the buds out of her ears and calling out to the girl.

“Rare…?! What in tarnation are you doing all the way out here in this kind of weather?!” she asked as the girl came to a stop beside the fence line and moved a few strands of purple hair that had escaped the high ponytail she wore.

“Jogging of course, do you not see my simply fabulous exercise outfit…?” she asked panting a bit as gestured to her clothing. “Which is more than I can say for your choice in clothing…” she added pointing out the old grey sweatpants, matching sweatshirt, and worn running shoes she wore.

Applejack glared at her for a moment. “First off, this is a perfectly fine outfit for what I use it for, second, You still didn’t answer what you’re doin’ all the way out here when your house is on the other side of the town.” she countered. Rarity rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

“This is my route. I jog past here every morning just after I wake up at sun rise. Although I can’t say I’ve ever seen you jogging out here. Do you not jog often or is this just not your normal route…?” she asked leaning on the fence post with one hand cupping her chin.

“Ah… hold up, Ah’m still tryin to process the fact that you would willingly jog outside, yet alone this far into the country… how long have you been doing this exactly…?” she asked scratching her head which lacked its signature hat since she wouldn’t endanger it with this kind of weather.

“Mmm… if I had to estimate it I’d say a little over a year now since that’s when my parents would let me outside of the house. And I may not be one for the outdoors Abigail but I’m not so much against it I can’t enjoy the fresh air a little bit.” She retorted crossing her arms and huffing a bit. Applejack groaned and rubbed her temples.

“You just keep breakin’ down all those images Ah had of you bein’ the little prissy premadona ya know that…?” she sighed.

“Sorry darling, but not every beautiful girl who likes fashion and has an affinity for jewels sits around in a posh living room eating bon-bon’s all day. Besides, how on earth am I supposed to catch the eye of royalty if I don’t maintain my physique…?” She asked with a slight giggle. Applejack looked her up and down and did in fact note she had quite the figure for someone who had just turned 14… Applejack was now questioning if slamming her head into the nearest tree would be enough to erase that thought from her head.

“Fine… just… go about whatever it is ya’ll as doin’ before Ah stopped ya. Ah need to go slam my head into the nearest iced over creek to get it to cool down.” She said before she put her ear buds back into her head and cranked up the volume in hopes it would drown out her wandering thoughts.

But unfortunately for the farmer the fashionista in question was anything but blind and could see something was distressing her. She vaulted the fence and jogged up beside her tapping her shoulder. “I don’t believe I said I was done talking with you…” she announced. Applejack almost jumped out of her skin and instead skidded on a small patch of ice and fell into the snow bank that had built up on the side of the path. She groaned and ripped her buds out of her ears and brushed the snow off her as she tried to sit up.

“What the hell was that fer?! Sneakin’ up behind me and scarin the livin’ daylights out of me…!” she asked as she hoisted herself out of the bank and patted the snow off her sweat shirt. Rarity however was giggling now as she noticed that the snow had gotten caught in Applejack’s hair and made her look quite ridiculous.

“Terribly sorry dear here… you’ve got a bit in your hair too…” she giggled as she brushed the flakes out of her light blonde hair that was a bit disheveled from its pony tail. Applejack noticed and groaned.

“Great… here, stand back and Ah’ll fix it…” she reached back and pulled out the red band that held her hair together and let it fall around her. Rarity was surprised, not only by the length of it; it went all the way down to her hips, but also at how pretty it looked down. Applejack shook her head letting all the loose snow out and she brushed it with her hand for good measure before she took the band back off her wrist and started to tie it back again. She then noticed Rarity’s blue eyes staring at her in surprise. “Yeah, Ah know I really need to cut it. It’s getting’ a might long to be practical anymore.” She said as she tied the end of it together and Rarity snapped out of her trance.

“No! Nonononono! Do NOT cut your hair!” she protested. Applejack blinked in surprise at the girl’s sudden outburst and Rarity quickly regained her composure. “I-I mean to say, it looks absolutely lovely the way it is. Well… you could stand to brush it more often, but other than that it has certain… rustic charm to it. Well actually you in general give off that feeling but your hair is a big factor in it. Well, and your hat as well but as it’s absent at the moment the hair is what sells it.” she explained quickly. Applejack raised an eyebrow at her.

“Ah don’t know if that was supposed to be an insult or a compliment, but Ah’ll take it as a compliment so Thank ya very much Rare.” She said with a small gentlemanly bow. Rarity rolled her eyes at that.

“Applejack, ladies do not BOW they curtsey. Like so.” She said before demonstrating. Applejack cocked an eyebrow at her and shook her head.

“Good thing Ah’m not a lady then. Ah’m a cowgirl, we don’t conform to them fancy laws of society.” She snickered. Rarity frowned at her again.

“Ah yes… I’ve forgotten you abandoned the lessons your Aunt installed in you in your youth… Shame… I think you would have made such a wonderful companion had you continued your lessons… Perhaps you could have even attracted the eye of someone who wasn’t drunk out of their minds in the back of a pick-up truck…” she mused with a playful smirk.

Applejack frowned slightly at that but had a come-back ready in an instant. “And maybe if you lightened up that twelve foot pole up your ass would slide right on out and someone who isn’t as fake as the fur you’re wearin’ would take a second glance at ya.” She retorted with a snide smirk. Rarity scoffed dumbstruck at the wit of the comment thrown at her. But Applejack’s smirk faltered and she burst out laughing which of course made Rarity see the in-sincerity in her words and laughed with her. She hugged her sides as she regained her composure and wiped a few hysterical tears from her eyes.

“I have to hand it to you Applejack… you’re not as awful as I thought you were…” Rarity admitted with a genuine smile which Applejack returned in kind.

“And you’re not nearly as stuck up as Ah thought you were… you wanna jog the rest of the way with me…?” she offered motioning back towards the path. Rarity smiled and gave her a nod.

“I’d love to.” She replied before she took off down the path. She glanced back at the girl and smirked a little. “Last one ta the farm house is a rotten sack of Apples…!” she called mimicking Applejack’s accent to a T. Applejack blinked in surprise before she smirked and lowered her head her emerald eyes brightening.

“Oh it is on…” she sneered before she bolted after the purple haired diva.

*** “Whoa, I didn’t know Aunt Rarity could run…! And she challenged Aunt AJ?! Was she asking to have her butt whooped and handed to her on a silver platter…?!” Nyx asked her mother. Twilight laughed and Spike grinned.

“If you think that’s surprising wait until you hear who won!” he laughed. Nyx’s eyes widened in shock.

“No way-!”***

An hour later the two girls collapsed on the front step of the farm house panting like out of shape dogs. Rarity was smirking devilishly and Applejack wheezed in the cold air.

“I told you not to run so hard for so long, but did you believe me nooooo…” Rarity teased. “Didn’t your mother ever read you the story about the Tortoise and the Hare…?” she asked as she sat up and propped herself against the stairs.

“Sh-shut… yer…*wheeze* pie hole…” Applejack retorted in her exhausted state she fell back in the snow in an attempt to cool down some. Rarity smirked down at her companion and giggled a bit.

“You look like an out of shape track star that just ran her first marathon.” She commented. Applejack sat up quickly having regained enough oxygen to talk normally.

“Are you callin’ me fat ya prude…?!” she snapped. Rarity recoiled a bit and shook her head.

“No, not at all, I simply meant you’re obviously not used to running in such weather.” She explained quickly. She looked down at the tanned skin of the girl who had long since removed her sweat shirt and now just wore her white tank top that had a slight dampness to it and her sweat pants. She was really anything but fat, a blind man could see that from her chiseled arms and legs and the flat toned stomach that came from years of hard work on the farm. The tanned skin and freckles that dotted her face, arms, and chest only added to her overall appeal and- Rarity mentally slapped herself before she could continue and scolded herself fiercely for thinking such a way about one of her friends.

“Oh… well then Ah guess Ah was jumpin’ to conclusions there fer a minute… ya wanna come in fer a bit…? We’re about to have breakfast.” AJ asked as she got up and walked towards the screen door.

“Oh no, I couldn’t possibly impose like that… I’m not even hungry any-!” she was interrupted by her stomach growling loudly. Applejack smirked at her crossing her arms as she did so.

“You were sayin’…?” she countered. Rarity sighed and stood up.

“Traitorous body… fine, I’d love to join you for breakfast Applejack.” She sighed as she stood from the steps and followed her to the door.

“Good, and… wait, have you been callin’ me Applejack this entire time…?” the farm girl asked curiously. Rarity blinked in surprise noticing for the first time that she HAD.

“Hm… I suppose so, is that a problem…? Because I still do like your proper name better and have no issues going back to-“

“No no no, yer fine. I still prefer Applejack, it was just a shock to hear you say it is all.” She explained quickly as she pulled open the screen door and then opened the front door as well. The two girls were greeted with the smell of a home-style breakfast being laid out on the table. “Granny, better set another plate, I picked up a stray and she’s starvin’…!” Applejack called into the kitchen with a slight chuckle. The white bunned head of the Apple family Matron peeked out of the kitchen and beamed at the sight of the purple haired girl in their door way.

“Well ain’t that jus’ the prettiest little stray, ya’ll come in and get washed up, it’ll be ready in about another half an hour.” The elder announced as Big Mac peeked his large head from the kitchen as well. Rarity and Applejack both had to cover their mouths quickly so as to stop their laughs when they saw his hair tied up in many places by sparkly little bows. He blushed a bit and Applebloom bounced in from around the corner.

“Ya like what Ah did to his hair sis?! Ain’t it real pretty?!” she squeaked as she tugged on her sister’s pants.

“Oh yeah AB, you did a mighty fine job prettyin’ him up… pffft… all he needs is some make up and he could win Miss Equestria…!” she stated bursting out laughing with Rarity close behind her. The two of them rolled on the floor for a bit while Mac retracted into the kitchen to hide while Applebloom took the notion seriously and went to go find the make-up kit she’d gotten at the market too. When the pair recovered enough to stand they wiped tears from their eyes and composed themselves again.

“Oh… oh my… I haven’t laughed like this in ages… well, Pinkie often elicits a good laugh out of me but other than that…” she breathed. Applejack nodded in agreement.

“Ah know the feeling, it isn’t normally this crazy around here. Must just be you.” AJ noted with a slight smirk when Rarity blushed a bit. “Come on, Ah’ve gotta change out of this or Granny will throw a fit.” She said motioning up towards the stairs. Rarity followed her and was lead up to her spacious room.

“Oh my… How ever did you end up with such a nice room Applejack…?” Rarity asked looking around at the room that outsized even her own. Applejack shrugged.

“I’ve had it since mah Pa refurbished the place when Ah was born. He built in two new rooms and fixed up the three that were already in here. Heck he even added in two new bathrooms, one up here in mah room and one down stairs. Ah think he went a bit over board because Ah was his first gal… Ah never really thought about it much.” She admitted as she opened up her dresser drawers and dug out her favorite old pair of jeans and a long sleeved flannel shirt. “Ah’m gonna take a quick shower, you’re welcome to it after Ah’m done… though Ah don’t think you’d have anything to wear afterwards…”

Rarity snapped out of her trance and addressed her friend. “Oh that won’t be an issue, I made these clothes with a special enchantment, they can’t get dirty so there’s no need to change clothes.” She said as she gently tapped the crest engraved in her forehead. The clothes she wore glowed slightly in response. “And yes, a shower does sound lovely after that particular run…” she admitted. Applejack chuckled a bit and disappeared into her bathroom shutting the door behind her. Rarity took the opportunity to look around some more. She didn’t like snooping but Applejack hadn’t really told her she shouldn’t… she didn’t dig through her closet or drawers but there was one thing that caught her eye.

A picture frame sat on her bedside table next to her alarm clock that was of course shaped like an apple. She sat down on the quilted sheets of her bed and picked up the frame to examine it. The picture inside it didn’t look old, just worn. Like it had been wrinkled and town and places and she could see a few stains that resembled water marks. The picture was of their family, Granny Smith looked a bit younger but not much, Big Mac looked like he was just entering his teens, and Applejack looked happy as she was beaming brightly with a hat that looked far too big for her being placed on her head by the steady hand of a tall set man with copper hair. He was smiling down at her and Mac and his other hand was wrapped carefully around the shoulder of an absolute beauty of a woman whose long straw blonde hair was braided neatly and tied at the end with a large red bow. Her bright green eyes shone proudly as she held a small pink bundle in her arms and Rarity could see a small tuft of Red hair on top of the infants head and bright golden eyes like those of her father’s looked up to her mother excitedly. The resemblence Applejack had to her mother was almost haunting.

As Rarity got lost in her own thoughts she didn’t hear the water in the bathroom stop, or the door to open again and Applejack to emerge fully dressed with a towel draped over her wet head. She did however hear the soft pad of feet come towards her and she quickly stood up setting the picture frame back down on the table and turning to face the farm girl.

“I’m so sorry! I just saw it sitting there and I got caught up in staring at it and-!!!” Rarity was silenced by the soft smile of her friend as she picked the frame back up.

“It’s alright Rare… Ah don’ really mind as much anymore. Though, if you’d have done that a year ago Ah’d have probably tossed you out in the cold by now.” She explained her voice much softer than she’d ever heard it before, like she didn’t want to disturb someone. Rarity slowly sat back down next to her and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“What… what exactly happened to them… if you don’t mind me asking that is…” she added before she could offend. Applejack’s green eyes glanced over at her and she silently looked back down at the frame held in her hands and flipped it around unclamping the backing and letting a folded newspaper article slide out from it. She handed it to Rarity who opened it up to read it.

‘Tragic Car accident takes life of local Apple farmers: Late last night the bodies of Johnny and Citrus Apple were found about ten miles from their orchard in the ruins of what had been their vehicle. Authorities reported that the slickened roads made them skid off into the ditch late last night; they were killed on impact before the vehicle burst into flames. The two leave their three children, Macintosh (14), Abigail (10), and Blossom (1) in the care of their grandmother Granny Smith. The funeral will be held at ten tomorrow morning and the extended family of the Apples is expected-‘

Rarity couldn’t read anymore because the rest was torn off. And her eyes were too clouded with tears to continue anyways. She wiped them away gently and noticed Applejack had been crying while she read. She now realized that the water marks on the picture must have been tear stains. “A-Applejack… I… I’m sorry your family had to suffer like that. I can’t even begin to imagine what it must have been like…” Rarity knew her words weren’t reaching her so she did the next best thing. She brought her arms around the girl and held her tightly. Applejack tensed for a few seconds before she slowly returned the hug and buried her face into Rarity’s shoulder. Rarity hummed softly and stroked her back soothingly until she stopped sobbing.

Applejack regained her composure and dried her face with her towel letting the warmth of it sooth her. she sighed and lowered the towel to her lap and smiled over at the purple haired girl. “Look at me getting’ all worked up over somethin’ that happened years ago… Ah’m sorry ‘bout that Rare.” She chuckled halfheartedly. Rarity quickly shook her head and smiled at the farmer.

“I’d be concerned if you didn’t. No one ever gets over something like that. I don’t know what I’d do if I lost either of my parents, yet alone both of them. Or at an impressionable age like that… ten years old…? And by the date you’d just turned ten too! And left with little Applebloom to raise with your grandmother… oh dear it’s making ME tear up…!” she announced fanning her eyes slightly. Applejack handed her the towel and she patted them dry. Applejack smiled at her.

“You remind me of her… my Ma, Ah mean…” Rarity quirked an eyebrow at her. “Not in the high class pretty gal way, but the way you’re both always worried about others more than yourselves. And how you’d both give yer entire heart away if it meant savin’ someone else’s… it’s how scary generous you both are and you don’ even think twice about it neither…”she explained when Rarity looked at her questioningly. “Ah like that about you. Probably about the only thing that keeps me from stranglin’ you half the time too…” she laughed.

Rarity laughed a bit as well. “And that’s what I admire about you, Applejack. You’re honest to a fault, sometimes a bit blunt yes, but it’s charming.” She admitted with a slight shrug. “But you’d never lie, not like many of the people I’ve called friends in the past. It’s a refreshing change of pace actually. As you’ve pointed out before, the wealthy do tend to be a bit… up tight. But I’ve never wanted that part of the upper class. They can keep their posh attitudes and stingy old fashioned ways, All I ever wanted was to be able to have something to give back. If I were royalty after all I could help those who couldn’t help themselves. They’ve got the money and the power, just not the will. I’ve got the will but not the money or the power. Hence my need for a wealthy companion.” She explained.

Applejack blinked in surprise. The entire reason she wanted to be rich was so she could give it all away…? She was like a pretty version of Robin Hood! Take from the rich and give to the poor… wait, did she just call her pretty…? Well… she was, no sense in denying that. She gave the girl a fond smile and then the towel she held reminded her. “Ah! Weren’t you goin’ to take a shower Rare…?” she asked. Rarity seemed to remember as well and nodded quickly.

“Where do you keep you towels…?” she asked as she walked towards the bathroom.

“Linen closet behind the door.” she responded before Rarity closed the door and she heard the water turn on again. Applejack laid back on the bed and ran her fingers through her loose wet hair. “This girl is doin’ things ta me Ah don’t get Ma… What’re you plottin up there…?” she asked the ceiling. She closed her eyes to see if she could hear a response but all she could hear were the clanking of pots and pans down stairs and the running of the shower. “Well… you always did want me ta figure out the puzzles by mahself… guess this is just a bigger one…” she mumbled as she opened her eyes again and sat up to put the article back inside the picture frame. With the picture clasped back up she sat it back on the table and went over to the old television set she had sitting on her dresser and turned it on. the picture was faded but it was still pretty clear and in color so she didn’t complain. She actually like it’s age. She sat back on her bed and listened to a stand-up comedian run his show. The guy was some big famous redneck and his famous line was ‘You might be a redneck if…’ she surprisingly found most of them applied to her and her family and laughed about them all the same. She off handedly wondered if they might be related somehow.

Rarity emerged from the shower and dried herself off with the towel. She wished she knew a drying spell as her hair was now doomed to reform to its natural straightness. She sighed and brushed it with a brush made out of her magic after she’d gotten dressed again, she left the furry vest off as she no longer needed it and she’d left her shoes at the door so now it was just her under armor turtle neck and her white leggings. She sighed at her appearance in the mirror that hung above the sink and frowned. She needed to remember to ask Twilight if there was a spell that could do her hair and make-up, but in the meantime she’d have to settle for the ‘all-natural’ look the shower had given her.

Rarity stepped out from the bathroom and it made Applejack look up from her position on the bed. If she had been drinking something right about then there would have been a spit take. Seeing her rather curvedly built friend walk out in white leggings and shirt that hugged he every inch, with hair that was un-godly beautiful even more so than usual, and sans make up was more than enough to send Applejack into hysteria. Rarity couldn’t help but blush faintly but she teased the farm girl all the same.

“You might want to re-hinge your jaw before one of your family members walks in and sees you staring at me like a fish Applejack.” She giggled. It was Applejacks turn to blush now as she quickly snapped out of it and picked her hat up from where it rested on her dresser putting it on to hide her face.

“A-ah was not starin’ at yah…! Ah’m just not used ta seein’ ya without the ten pounds of make-up ya probably have to apply with a spatula.” She snapped back. Rarity looked slightly offended but knew she was only saying it in good nature. “C-come on, mah family’s probably already eaten half of that spread by now.” AJ commented as she headed back out into the hallway and walked towards the stairs. Rarity smiled despite herself and followed Applejack downstairs and into the dining area located next to the quaint kitchen. Contrary to her prediction, Applejack found her family waiting for them with an extra plate set next to Applejack’s seat. “Ya’ll actually WAITED for us…?!” she asked in shock as they both sat down.

“We’re farmers youngin’ not uncivilized ruffians, now hush up and eat yer grub.” Her grandmother chided. Applejack nodded but let Rarity serve herself first since she was a guest. Although she didn’t take much, just some eggs and a bagel with cream cheese. When she bit into her bagel the table erupted into a frenzy of limbs and forks rushing at food and Rarity had to duck to avoid a particular egg that flew at her when it slipped out of Bloom’s fork. Applejack grinned when Rarity gave her a horrified look.

“And ta think you thought Ah was joking when Ah told you where Ah got mah table manners.” She laughed as she bit into a particularly greasy sausage. Rarity composed herself and ate her food while she tried to ignore the carnage that was unfolding at the table. Her family was not in anyways civilized when they ate, her father very often told complete stories with his mouth full of food, her mother wouldn’t hesitate to reach across the table for something if she needed it, and her sister… well let’s just say she’d need a lot of etiquette training in the future and leave it at that. But these Apples brought a whole new meaning to the word ‘uncouth’.

When at-last it was over and everyone had had their fill Rarity stood to help clear away their dishes but the Apple family Matron would have none of it.

“Don’t you even think about liftin a single one of yer pretty little fingers dolly, Mac ‘ere will take care of all of this here cleanin’. You go on and enjoy yer vacation with whatever it is youngin’s do now a days.” Granny said shooing the girl from the table along with Applejack who had also tried her hand in helping.

“But Granny Ah-“ Applejack protested.

“Nuh-uh kid, ya know the rules.” Mac interrupted. AJ sighed.

“Fine, But Ah’m not gonna be sittin’ around all day. In fact, ya wanna have a peek at our stables Rare…? There’s some mighty fine horses in there.” She asked turning to her friend. Rarity’s eyes widened a bit and she seemed a bit more excited than she should be.

“That would be lovely darling…! I love horses, they’re the grace of the plains and they know how to flaunt it!” she replied eagerly. Applejack chuckled a bit at that and she quickly composed herself. “I-I mean to say, it would be my pleasure…” she corrected.

“Well come on then, let’s go back up and get our stuff on and we’ll walk right on over there.” AJ laughed as she walked towards the stairs. Rarity joyfully skipped after her and together the two donned their jackets and shoes once more and Rarity was bout ready to go when she noticed her hair was still very wet and fussed over tying it back. Applejack sighed and went over to her dresser and pulled out a snow white fuzzy beanie from it. “’ere, put this on, it’ll keep your head warm and you won’t have to worry about catchin’ a head cold.” She said tossing it at the fashionista. Rarity examined it for a minute before realizing it did go well with her outfit and slipped it on over her head bundling her hair up in it.

“Where ever did you get something this stylish for head wear…?” she asked half sarcastically. Applejack sneered at her.

“Ah found it on the side of the road and just picked it up.” Rarity was about to yank the garment off her head when AJ quickly caught her by the wrist and laughed. “Ah’m kiddin’ ya premadona, Ah bought it about a year ago, wore it once and it got buried at the back of my dresser since then.” She explained releasing Rarity’s wrist as she sighed in relief.

“That wasn’t funny Applejack! I thought you’d tricked me into wearing a lice infested hat…!” she pouted crossing her arms. Applejack chuckled and shook her head.

“Nah, Ah’m not Dash or Pinkie, Ah don’t really like none of that pranking stuff. But Ah could get used to this teasin’ thang if yer gonna look like that every time Ah do it.” she laughed before covering her mouth quickly at what she had said. ‘Damn mah big mouth…’ she cursed mentally as Rarity smirked at her and circled her like a cat that had cornered a mouse.

“So you find my pouting cute hm…?” she teased making sure to flip the just-drying tip of AJ’s ponytail as she circled around behind her and headed towards the door.

“A-AH never said that…!!!” she shouted after her.

“It was implied…!” Rarity sang back. Applejack huffed her face as red as a red delicious apple as she lowered her hat in shame and looked back at the family portrait at the side of her bed.

“Yer an awfully cruel one Ma… And why’d you have to go and pass on your honest tongue Pa?!” she groaned before she exited her room and shut the door tightly behind her.

Together the two made the trek from the house to the stables and Applejack paused at the barn doors which were shut tight and bolted shut with a combination lock on the chain. Rarity blinked in surprise at it. “Why the need for the chain and lock…?” she asked.

“We’ve had a few incidents in the past where drunks will wander in an’ mess with the animals. So we started chaining the place up every night.” Applejack responded as she unhooked the lock and the chains fell to the snowy ground. She slid open the barn doors enough to walk in and flick on the lights. It wasn’t until Rarity was inside she realized how purely massive it all was. On the right side of the barn were stalls that the horses stayed in, out of the ten that were there only six looked occupied. The left side of the barn had a built in stable the kept in the sheep, and she could see there was a huge dirt ramp in the center that had hoof marks in it. “As you can see we keep the sheep and horses up here, but the cows, chickens, and pigs stay under during the winter because it gets too cold for them up here.

“Y-you have your entire heard of cows and pigs down in your basement…?” she asked in disbelief.

“Mhm, and all the chickens. Ah told you mah family don’t mess around when it comes to farmin’. Now let me introduce you to our prides and joys.” She chuckled as she walked over to the stables. Rarity followed radiant at the prospect of seeing the horses. Applejack stopped at the first one which contained a tall and proud looking chestnut colored stallion. “These here was mah father’s horse, as such he don’t seem much ridin’ now a days but Mac takes him out every once and a while, his name’s Thunder.” She said petting the large horse on his muzzle. “He’s a Clydesdale and so is his mate right here next door, Her name’s Delilah and she was mah mothers.” She said patting the snout of the softer golden brown mare. Rarity greeted them both and Applejack smiled a bit before she went over to a sack in the corner and threw it over her shoulder. The horses all turned towards her and neighed a bit in anticipation. Applejack chuckled a bit and pulled two shiny red apples out of the bag and handed them to Rarity. “Go ahead and feed ‘em. These are their favorite.” She said nudging her forward a bit. Rarity carefully held out the apples to both of the horses who sniffed them before they both took them out of her hands and ate them swatting there tales in happiness. Rarity giggled a bit feeling a tad like a little girl all over again. AJ smiled and moved on down the line. “This here is Granny’s ol’ boy. He’s a bit rough fer ware but man does he still back a wallop when gets going. His name’s Jasper.” She said rubbing the snout of a light grey old stallion who’s tired eyes looked happy to see the familiar blonde and excited to see the new one of the pretty purple haired one. Rarity took another apple out and held it out for him. When he took it she noticed the hairs on his muzzle tickled her hand and she let out a small giggle.

“That tickles…!” she squealed. Applejack laughed and nodded.

“That’s what Ah said the first time he did that ta me to…! Old guy has an eye fer young ladies.” She announced with a tilt of her hat. The stallion neighed at her and she smiled before moving on. “Now this here is Thunder and Delilah’s oldest, she’s Mac’s mare and she knows it. We call her big Red for obvious reasons.” She said as they came to a tall mare whose coat was hued red but Rarity knew it had to be a trick of the light since red was a pretty impossible color for horses. She had a very well kept golden mane though and her eyes were a deep chestnut brown. Rarity personally thought she was a beautiful mare as she held out a particularly shiny apple for the horse. She sniffed it and took it eating it quickly and then turning away from her. Rarity scoffed a bit and Applejack laughed.

“That mare just gave me the cold shoulder!” she exclaimed in disbelief.

“She suuuure did. Don’ worry about it sugar cube, the only person she’s EVER liked is Mac. You’re pretty lucky actually, the first time Ah tried to feed her like that she nipped me.” AJ laughed.

“And you couldn’t have told me that before I put my hand so close to her mouth?!” she asked in disbelief.

“Oh keep yer knickers on, Ah’d ’ve have stepped in if she tried anything.” AJ said with a roll of her eyes. AJ smiled as she walked onto the next pen. “Next up is AB’s little colt. He just got out of his ‘mommy’ stage so he has his own stable now. This is Zaps.” She said coming to a stable where a bright sunny yellow colt with bright golden orange eyes was just peeking over the top of the stall door. Rarity cooed at him and he whinnied at her as she fed him an apple. He nuzzled her hand and she petted him for a bit which he seemed to enjoy. “Yeah, he’s quite the little sweet heart ain’t he…? Fast as a lightning bolt though, hence the name.” she explained as she moved on to the last one. “And this is MY mare, she’s about as close to me as mah own sister since I’ve raised her from a tiny little foal. Her name’s Jackie… and no, I did not intend that. It just seemed ta fit is all.” She said as she pet the snout of a tall mare whose fur was a mix between her mother’s golden coat and her older sister’s red tinted coat. One would even say it looked orange in the right light, perhaps a sunset. But her light blonde mane was what made Rarity smile as she handed the apple to her.

“I can see the resemblance.” She giggled as the horse didn’t even hesitate to chomp up the apple. “Oh look, she shares your table manners as well.” Rarity added wiping a bit of juice off her face. AJ frowned at her and stuck out her tongue before the horse did something very surprising, she licked Rarity and nuzzled her softly until she pet her. Applejack tipped her hat back in disbelief.

“Woo doggy, Ah ain’t never seen her THAT friendly before! She must like your scent or something Rare…!” AJ announced with a laugh at her friend who was petting the horse now. She straightened her cap back on as the lick to the side of her face had tilted it and smiled a bit as she pet the horse some more.

“Well I can’t imagine why… I look like a mess.” She laughed. The horse neighed at her like it was arguing with her. “Alright dear, if you say so…” she giggled. Applejack was still in disbelief as she stood up on the railing and peered into the troughs.

“Hmmm, they could use a bit more hay and oats. Let me take care of that real quick and you can stand there and keep pettin’ Jackie. She seems ta like ya well enough.” AJ laughed as she walked over to the other side of the where a ladder led to the hay loft above. Rarity smiled as she pet the horse and fed her and her family a few more apples. Rarity heard a large thump behind her and saw that there was now a large round bale of hay behind her. Two sacks fell down as well before she looked up and saw Applejack leaning over the edge grinning at her. “Sorry princess, did Ah startle ya…?” she snickered.

“Yes, as a matter of fact you did.” She replied crossing her arms in protest. AJ just laughed and stood backing away from the edge. Rarity’s eyes widened when she realized what she was doing. “Applejack I don’t think that’s a particularly good-“ she was interrupted by a rope coming down from the ceiling and Applejack leaping off the edge and sliding down it to land in front of her. Emerald eyes met her sapphire ones.

“You were sayin’…?” AJ asked amused by her reaction. Rarity stammered a bit at her close proximity but was unable to form words at the shock. “Ya know, Dash had about that same face when she first saw me doin’ a few tricks in gym… ‘cept her wings went all spread… ya’ll magic folk don’t get magic surges when you’re impressed do ya…?” she asked as she walked over and picked a pitchfork off the barn wall and started breaking up the hay.

“N-no…! Not unless we’re very young, or very, very startled.” She responded once she composed herself. Applejack grunted in acknowledgement and Rarity quickly noticed Jackie was nibbling at her hat and moved a few steps forward to get out of her reach. The horse whinnied a complaint but Rarity ignored it. She watched Applejack work for a bit but AJ noticed her stare and paused long enough to point at the bags of oats.

“Look, if you want somethin’ ta do Ah’d suggest tearin’ open one of those bags and fillin a bucket of oats and droppin’ them to the trough that’s attached to the inside of their doors. Buckets are over there.” She said pointing at three pails that were by where AJ got the pitchfork. Rarity shrugged and a blue aura surrounded the three buckets and one of the bags of oats. The bag ripped open and poured into one of the buckets, when it was full she levitated it over to the troughs and dumped it in and moved on to the next bucket and stall. AJ frowned. “Show off…” she muttered as she went back to work. Rarity finished long before Applejack did and eventually got tired of the farm girl taking so long so with a wave of her hand the large bale of hay was reduced to a soft pile and Applejack frowned at her.

“What…? If you have the talent darling-“

“Flaunt it, yes Ah know… Ah’m just wonderin’ why you didn’t do that sooner.” AJ sighed. Rarity shrugged and turned when she heard a whinny from Jackie behind her. Applejack was holding a fork full of hay which she carried over as she rolled her eyes. “Yeah yeah, I hear ya sugar cube, hold your horses already…” she chided as she opened the door and entered the stall. Rarity heard the fork clatter to the ground and Applejack gasp. “Oh my dear sweet Celestia… Rare…! Get me a towel fast…!” she called as she bent down to where Rarity couldn’t see her. Rarity panicked a bit but listened on instinct and levitated a towel that had been hanging on the wall into her grasp and slipped into the stall with AJ.

“What is it darling, is it a rat?! Oh please tell me it isn’t…!” she cried keeping her distance back away from her just in case. Applejack was bent over something on the floor and Jackie was watching with curiosity. AJ took the towel from her and Rarity peeked over her shoulder to see something far worse than a rat. There was a rather skinny cat lying motionless on the few remaining straws of hay and fluids were spread across the cold floor. Applejack was rubbing something in the towel and Rarity quickly knelt down beside her to help once she saw what it was. In the towel was a small pathetic kitten that looked as if it were just born and it was hardly breathing and was probably as cold as ice.

Rarity didn’t think she quickly took the towel away from Applejack and continued rubbing the kitten as she issued orders. “Go back to the house and get me warm water, not hot, not cold, warm. And a cleaner towel. This one isn’t the cleanest.” She barked. Applejack leapt out of the stall and practically teleported to the house. She was back a few minutes later and Rarity was whispering soothingly to the barely breathing little bundle. “Come on little one… please hold on just a little longer…” she cooed. Applejack threw open the door to the stall and set the bucket on the floor while Jackie wandered out but only to give them space. She stood just outside while the other horses all looked on with anticipation. “Soak the towel and ring it until it’s almost dry then hand it to me.” Rarity ordered now thanking Fluttershy for all those long talks about her helping out at the clinic. When Applejack handed her the towel she quickly switched the kitten out and the response was delayed but quick, the warm towel got the little kitten to mewl. Rarity sighed in relief and bundled the little one up so the heat wouldn’t escape. “Now that she’s responding we need to get her inside and fast. She’s probably starving and we can’t let that go on or she’ll end up like her mother over there.” Rarity stated as she stood and nodded back at the mangled sad form of the skinny grey cat. Both girls moved quickly back to the house where Granny Smith, ever the wise one who had figured out what had happened from the choppy explanation her granddaughter had given her when she came into the house to get the water, had already prepared a bottle of formula and warmed it up.

“We find all sorts of little critters around this place, so it’s good ta keep a few jars of spare formula around just in case.” She explained handing the tiny bottle to Rarity. She gave the older woman a gentle smile of thanks and quickly sat down at the table and nudged the bottle into the kitten’s mewling mouth. It suckled gratefully and it was soon satisfied when the bottle was gone. Rarity rubbed the little one’s stomach gently with one finger while she turned to Applejack and asked if they had an electric heating pad she could use. But again the family had thought ahead of them and Big Mac came in with the fuzzy pad in hand. He also had a small crate in his hand and set it inside with a blanket over it. Rarity placed the little bundle inside sans towel and watched her snuggle into the warmth of it. Only then did she let out the breath she had been holding.

Applejack patted her shoulder gently and smiled. “Ah didn’t know you had a knack for handling situations like that Rare…! Where’d you learn to do all that…?” she asked as she watched the little white ball fall into a deep sleep.

“O-oh… well… I learned the treatment part from Fluttershy of course, she’s always going on about these poor little creatures that get caught up in the cold weather and how she has to treat them for it… but, as for keeping my head I’d have to say that was self-taught. I had to with my little sister, she’s a handful all on her own…” She explained as she removed her hat and ran her fingers through her hair to untangle it.

Granny Smith smiled at her and looked down into the cage. “Well yer cool head saved this little one’s life. Ya can keep ‘er if ya want dolly.” She said as she smiled up at the purple haired girl. Rarity blinked in surprise.

“Me…?! With all due respect madam are you sure…?” she asked her blue eyes widening in surprise.

“Well ya can keep pets in yer dorm can ya…? And by the sounds of it you’ve got one heck of a vet fer a roommate. I’m sure she’d be able to help you out.” Granny reasoned her orange eyes warm and pleasant. “And you can even take the canister of formula we have in the pantry. That should last ya a good few weeks of feedin’s and by then the little one will be able to eat solid foods too!” she offered. Rarity thought about it for a few seconds before she smiled at the elder.

“Well… I have been wanting a cat for the longest time… and, by the looks of her she’s just my type too~!” she sang happily looking into the cage at the long haired white kitten. “Ohhhh, I can’t wait until she opens her eyes! I wonder what color they’ll be! Perhaps a beautiful azure or a striking yellow!” she hummed. Applejack chuckled until she noticed Winona had come up to sniff the open cage. Surprisingly the puppy didn’t bark or even lick the tiny ball of fluff. She just saw what was inside and whimpered a bit and lay down next to it with her ears folded back.

“Aw, ain’t that just the sweetest thing you’ve ever seen…? Even lil’ ol’ Winona knows she’s delicate!” Applejack cooed patting the little pup on her head. “Good girl, you play guard dog while we go get this all settled out.” She instructed and the pup sat to attention her ears perked just like a guard dog. Rarity wondered just how smart the puppy was but was interrupted when she felt a small tug on her shirt. Applejack smiled down at her and motioned towards the kitchen. “Come on; let’s get you that formula and then we can give you a lift back to your house.” She whispered knowing she didn’t want to wake the little kit. Rarity nodded and followed her into the kitchen where she got out a large jar of white powder from the bottom shelf. It was about as big as The cat carrier was and Rarity quickly shook her head knowing full well from Fluttershy just how expensive formula was.

“No no no, I cannot accept that much. That must have cost a fortune…!” she whispered harshly. Applejack rolled her eyes.

“Sugar, you wanna know the one rule Apples hold above all else ‘cept that ya always defend your friends and family…?” Rarity looked at her questioningly. “Ya listen to yer elders. And Granny says ta take it, so take it.” she ordered shoving the large plastic jug towards her.

“B-but I…! Oh fine… but only because I think your grandmother would lecture me for a life time if I didn’t…” she sighed taking the jar from her. “But I swear Applejack, I’m giving this back somehow. I don’t know in what form yet, but you’ll be getting paid back I guarantee it.” she said her sapphire eyes like daggers as she took the jar. Applejack winced and nodded.

“Fine, fine, Ah get it… Yeesh… for someone who’s so charitable you’d think ya’d be a bit more acceptin’ when people try ta help you out…” she commented as she walked over to the counter and picked up the keys from the table. “Come on, Ah’ll take ya.” She sighed. Rarity gave her a cautious stare.

“Applejack, you’re only two months older than me, you can’t drive yet.” she explained slowly like she was talking to a child. Applejack looked at her like she’d been insulted.

“Says who…? Granny! Can Ah drive?!” She called into the living room.

“Sure ya can sweetie, If ta coppers try an’ stop ya tell ‘em yer on an errand fer me!”

“Got it! Well come on then, stop stallin’ Ah’ve been driving since Ah was ten so you’re safe with me.” She chuckled. Rarity didn’t know which to be more shocked about, the fact she’d been driving since she was ten and her grandmother LET her, or that the local Police would be persuaded just by hearing something that simple was an excuse.

“H-how did… a-and your grandmother…?!” she exclaimed trying to piece together the puzzle in her mind.

“Ah’ll answer yer questions in the truck, for now though just go get the kit and anything else you might’ve left behind while I warm up the truck.” She said pushing the girl towards the living room. Rarity, if nothing else, was sensible. So she listened and checked her person for her cellphone and her music player she had brought with her; she had both in her jacket pockets. When she assured herself she wasn’t missing anything she levitated the plastic jar beside her and held the cat carrier close to her so the cold wouldn’t penetrate it in the short trek from the front door to the large red truck that waited outside.

“Goodbye Granny Smith, it was a pleasure meeting you. And thank you once again for your hospitality.” She called. The elder waved to her with a smile from her seat on the rocking chair and the moment the door closed she chuckled to herself in a way only old people can get away with.

“That dolly’s going to give mah little AJ quite the heartache…” she cooed as she picked up the little pup by her feet. “Ah sure hope you know what you’re doin’ up there Citrus and Johnny… because yer poor daughter’s about as clueless as a little babe.” She sighed looking up at the ceiling.

“You ready to go…?” Applejack asked as Rarity sat in the passenger seat with the carrier on her lap and the jar between her ankles to hold them in place just in case.

“As ready as I’ll ever be darling…” she said as she double checked that her seatbelt was intact. It looked like a pretty new truck so she knew it would be completely intact but it didn’t hurt to check. Applejack rolled her eyes and for the first time Rarity noticed how natural she looked in the driver’s seat. She had an air of ease about her like this was second nature to her… next to kicking apple trees of course. When they pulled out of the drive and started towards town Rarity relaxed enough to talk again. “So… who exactly taught you how to drive…?” she asked. Applejack smiled a bit at that her eyes still on the road but they looked distant.

“Mah Pa… well, he started it at least, soon after the accident took him and Mac took up where he left off… Heh… It’s funny ya know…? After the accident you’d think Ah’d want nothin’ ta do with drivin’… but it actually made me want to more. So Ah’d know not to make their same mistakes. We hardly ever drive at night anyways, and if it’s raining then we just pull over and wait for it to pass. We’re mighty patient folk… Although drivin’ on these ice roads is pretty bad too…” she admitted knowing the snow plows and salt could only do so much. “Good thing Mac put in the extra money for the all-terrain weather proof tires.” She added when she saw Rarity tense. The magic user sighed in relief and looked out the window at the passing white scenery.

“It’s very serene… the snow I mean.” She commented off handedly. “I find it like looking at a beautiful work of art, calming… and quiet. The pure white of it all… no it’s… oh what is the word…?” Rarity asked with a small huff of irritation.

“A blanket of white snow is like a blank canvas for the earth, it allows us to stop for a moment and admire what we do not otherwise notice in times of bounty like summer, or that we look over in times of great beauty like spring and autumn. It makes us look at the bare nature of everything around us and find beauty within it all. Much like how I never noticed how beautiful you could be until you washed away all of that which you had done to improve your self-image.” Applejack stated her voice devoid of an accent and sounding more sagely than anything else. Her green eyes slanted towards her with a slight smile. “That’s a hint and a half sugarcube.” She chuckled taking her accent back.

Rarity however was stunned silent before a light smile traced her lips and she stared back out the window. “You’re just full of surprises aren’t you Miss Apple…?” she breathed causing the glass on her window to fog up a bit. She smiled and used her pinky to delicately trace a pattern in the left over fog. Three shining gems stones sat at the center of three apples. She blinked when she realized what she’d drawn and quickly erased it before the driver of the two could see. Her blue eyes widened as she felt her fingers trace over where she knew her mark was on her collar bone. ‘I’m going to need to have a serious conversation with myself when I get home…’ she thought biting her lip ever so slightly.

Back on the rock farm:

Pinkie, despite what many believed, was not always sugar-pops and gumdrops. There was one exception and her family knew it all too well. Pinkamena Diane Pie wasn’t, and probably never will be, a morning person. Despite this she was used to waking up early and helping the Cakes out in the bakery before she went into school so at 5 AM on the dot the pink haired girl rose from her sleep her long hair completely straight and hanging in her face a bit as she opened her eyes slowly. She didn’t process where she was, or even question why it wasn’t her room above the bakery. She just simply swung her legs over the side of the bed and like the undead rose from her bed and slowly walked downstairs and into the kitchen where her mother already had a large cup of hot chocolate waiting for her on the counter. Pinkie didn’t greet her good morning, she didn’t even glance at her. The only thing Pinkie DID do was eye the steaming foamy cup on the counter and grab it like a snake snapping at its prey. She disregarded the intense temperature of it and chugged it all in one go. After smacking her lips together a bit her eyes snapped awake and her hair fluffed out in its normal poofy form like it had a mind of its own. Only then did she address her mother, though she still sounded tired and hadn’t quite gotten her energy back up to normal Pinkie levels yet.

“Morning mom! Is there anymore of this…?” she asked. Sue giggled a bit and pointed at the stove where a pot of the brown substance sat steaming on a burner that was now turned off. A bowl of whipped cream was next to it and Pinkie smiled at it going to refill her cup before she sat down beside her mother at the table.

“I see your attitude towards mornings hasn’t changed.” She commented as Pinkie drank her hot chocolate, slower this time and blowing on it a bit as well.

“Nah… I don’t get how all of you can be so okay with them… being dragged out of my sugar filled dreams into the cold isn’t something I’ll ever enjoy.” Pinkie replied with a slight shudder at the air. Her mother smiled and shook her head.

“Don’t look at it like that Pinkamena, look at it like starting fresh in a new day that is full of new possibilities…!” she offered with a smile at her middle child. Pinkie shook her head.

“Sorry, I’m not even thinking about anything until I’ve had at least three cups of this stuff.” She explained holding up the cup which she drained yet again and stood to go get another refill. Her hair poofed out a little more with each cup she drank, a sign that Pinkamena was slowly becoming more and more Pinkie by the minute. When she had drank about six mugs of the liquid miracle worker she had fully adopted her full Pinkieness with all the enthusiasm she was famous for. She slammed the mug back down her face now dawning a full out whipped cream beard before she licked it off in one swoop and beamed. “That’s MUCH better, so what’s on the agenda today~?” she sang her bright eyes rejuvenated as her mother smiled at her.

“Well, we don’t have much to do today. There’s only one field that needs to be rotated and that should only take a few-“ she would have finished were Pinkie not already gone in the blink of an eye. Her mother chuckled as she picked up the mug and walked back into the kitchen silently counting down in her head. Pinkie’s head popped out from the counter under the sink.

“Ummm, which field was that again…?” she asked with a small nervous chuckle.

“6-A, the quartz field.” She responded simply as she rinsed out the cup. Pinkie thanked her and quickly disappeared into the counter again. If she had bothered to check she would have found the space empty, but she didn’t bother questioning how her daughter did what she did, she’d done things like this since she was an infant so the family had adjusted accordingly. Sue couldn’t help but smile as she hummed to herself for the first time in months while she worked on getting breakfast made.

Pinkie made quick work of the quartz field, it only took a minute or so with her Pinkie speed actually, so she decided to wander around for a bit to see how her home had changed in her absence. She counted the number of trees and bushes growing out of the craggy mountains all around the property, 166… that was four more than last time! She zoomed from peak to peak to get a birds eye view of it all, she could see the position of all the fields below her and snapped a few pictures with a camera she had pulled out of her hair.

“Man, the view up here is still amazing…! I bet Flutters would hate it all the way up here…!” she snickered. “And then Dashie would tease her for being a scardey cat and Rarity would lecture Dash about being more accepting of Flutter’s flaws and AJ and Twilight would be watching while Spike would nod in agreement with everything Rarity says because he’s a silly love struck little guy~!” she proclaimed acting out the scene as she did so. She laughed to herself the snow underneath her flattening when she rolled over it. She stopped and sighed staring up at the lazy morning clouds. “Faust I miss them all so much already…” she breathed. She closed her eyes and pictured them all sitting back in the café laughing and having a good time. It made her smile and she felt her heart ache just a little more. She quickly sat up and shook her head to clear it. “NO!!! I’m so not gonna get sad when I’m finally out here with my family again! They’ve missed me all year and I haven’t seen any of them in so long I almost forgot their faces…!” she complained out loud like she was arguing with herself. With a look of fierce determination she trekked down the mountain a bit, found a large rock and lifted it walking down like she was going into a cellar. The rock fell shut behind her and she kicked down the steps of her attic and walked down into the main hall on the second floor of the house. It shut behind her just as Inkie was coming out of their room awning and rubbing one of her eyes with the sleeve of her grey sleeping gown.

“Morning Pinkie… you go for a walk this early…?” she asked noticing the snowflakes in her sister’s poofy pink hair. Pinkie beamed and nodded.

“Yup~! Just came down off the mountain! The view’s still totally awesome by the way!” she replied bouncing a little as she made her way back down stairs with her sister close behind.

“That’s great Pinkie… Mmm~ smells like mother’s making pancakes!” she said sniffing the air. Pinkie caught the scent as well and sniffed it a bit before getting a dreamy look in her eyes.

“Yeah, and she used whole milk and added a bit more sugar too, that makes them extra sweet~!” she hummed lazily drifting towards the scent via air. Her older sister giggled at her antics and followed her towards the kitchen where their mother was just adding the last pancake to the stack. Clyde already sat at the table reading the paper and another noise from upstairs signaled Blinkie had woken up and would be down shortly as well. Sue looked over at the pair and smiled.

“Oh good you’re both here, Inkatalia could you please set the-“ but before either of them could move Pinkie had already set the table complete with a vase of balloons and confetti spread over the white table cloth as well.

“Got it!” she snag happily as she took her seat. Clyde didn’t even bat an eyelash even though he was now wearing a coned party hat with a ridiculous pom-pom at the top of it.

“Look dear, it says the local science facility might be going out of business soon. Seems there hasn’t been many good inventions as of late.” He said looking up a bit from the paper.

“Well that’s a shame, I wonder what they’ll turn that facility into.” Sue pondered as she set down the plate of pancakes and went to retrieve the bacon and eggs she had made as well.

“I don’t really know… but it’s a shame that no one has any great ideas any more, actually… Pinkie, you said you were taking an advanced science class right…?” her father asked the girl who had already forked a couple of the flapjacks onto her plate and was currently drowning it in syrup.

“Sure am! Why? You need help with something in the fields…?” she asked curiously.

“Well, in a way, you see I was thinking about what you said about your friend’s father inventing that cloud crop… and about what you said about making plants out of rocks-“ he started but Pinkie knew where he was going with this and set down the bottle of syrup quirking an eyebrow at him.

“And you wanted to know if it was possible…?” she asked him with a small smile. He nodded as he loaded his plate with eggs and Blinkie walked in taking her seat at the table with a yawn. “Wellllll, I’m better at physics really, but I still like biology so I study it often enough. And a little bit ago Twilight told me about these rare plants that grow up in the highest mountains in Equestria, they’re called the Dragon’s Keep because unlike normal plants that produce their own sugar these ones produce this weird gem dust. I think with enough cross breeding you could make them grow whole gems like fruit…!” she explained. “Or at least that’s my theory, it’d be really cool if you could though…!” she giggled as she cut into her stack and bit into them happily. Clyde nodded slowly like he was deep in thought.

“And if one wanted to obtain some of these Dragon Keep plants…?” he asked after a bit. Blinkie and Inkie looked at each other confused by their father’s sudden interest in whimsical things like plants.

Pinkie tapped her chin which was covered in syrup. “Welllllllll, normally you’d have to get them from this big fancy market that’s way expensive…” she started to the dismay of Clyde. “But, when I went for my walk earlier there was this big patch of the stuff growing on the top of the mountain…! That’s the only reason I remembered what Twilight had told me about them because they looked really weird and I’d never seen any up there before!” she explained cutting off another chunk of the pancakes and bringing them up to her mouth only to have her father zip right beside her in an instant his golden yellow eyes wide in excitement. Pinkie dropped her fork in surprise. Her father was NEVER excited.

“Could you take me to them?!” he asked quickly.

“Wh-what…?” Pinkie asked confused by her father’s behavior.

“The plants Pinkamena! The Dragon’s Keep! Could you take me to them?!” he asked again urgently. Pinkie exchanged a worried look with her siblings and mother but nodded slightly.

“Yeah, I guess…?” she responded like she was unsure. He grinned and quickly grabbed her wrist.

“Excellent! Let’s go then!” he said pulling her up from the chair. But Sue quickly stopped him.

“Clyde honey, slow down for a moment please, let’s finish breakfast and THEN you can go on your search for that magic plant.” She said catching her husband by his suspenders before he could pass her. He looked like he was about to protest but a sharp glare from his wife over her thin rimmed reading glasses and he shut his mouth quickly and sat down at the table without another word. Pinkie sat down her head spinning in confusion.

“Okay, this day just got too weird for me to handle. Mom, is there any hot chocolate left…?” she asked half pleading with the universe to at least let her have that.

“Yes dear, it’s still on the stove.” Her mother responded before taking a bit of her eggs. Pinkie got up quickly and ran to the stove grabbing the pot and tilting it into her mouth to pour the liquid life saver into her mouth. When it was all gone she sighed in relief and sat back at the table to finish her pancakes.

When breakfast was over and Clyde had seemed to calm down enough to NOT terrify his family Sue let him go with Pinkie. She led him back up stairs and Clyde raised an eyebrow at his daughter. “Pinkamena, I don’t mean to question you but where are you taking me…?” he asked as she pulled down the stairs to the attic.

“The mountain top, duh! That’s where you wanted to go right…?” she said with a roll of her eyes like it was obvious.

“Yes… but, that’s the stairs to the attic…” he said slowly. Pinkie looked at him confused.

“What are you talking about Daddy? I’ve been using these stairs to go to the mountains for years!” she giggled. Her father had his jaw slacked open and questioned what exactly she meant by that when she grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him up with her. “Come on I’ll show you!” she sang. Clyde let her take him thinking she’d obviously had too much sugar. Making parties out of nothing was one thing, as was popping out of random places she shouldn’t be able to, but stairs that should lead to his attic leading him to a mountain top…? That was a bit much even for Pinkie. But he was again proven wrong as he felt the air get colder and the blackness that surrounded him was penetrated when Pinkie lifted the rock like it was a door on hinges and poked her pink head out before she jumped out onto the snow covered surface and waved for her father to follow.

He stood in disbelief at what he saw. He was on the mountain…! He was literally standing on the mountain! And when he looked back down into the hole he had come through he could see the grey wooden steps of the attic stairs illuminated by the light of the second floor hall. His mind spun but he quickly snapped out of it when he saw what he came for growing not too far from the rock-door-portal- thing. They looked like sugar cane, except their leaves sparkled like the finest gems and they were colored like them too, one looked like amethyst, another like sapphires, one like rubies, he could see a few that had the unique properties of ammolite as well. It was as if an entire field of precious gems were sitting up here sparkling in the morning sun. it was a beautiful sight in the bleakness of the craggy mountains he called home. But he didn’t have a moment to lose.

“Pinkie… do you happen to have a bucket and a pair of sheers on you…?” he asked his daughter. She dug through her hair for a minute before she pulled out the requested items and handed them to her father.

“You gonna take a bunch of samples…?” she asked with a giggle. He nodded and started trimming off a few leaves of the plants in question, one or two from every verity he could see. Pinkie helped and when they were finished they had found over forty different kinds growing up here, there was even one diamond one in the very center but they couldn’t cut through it and were lucky enough to find it had shed a leaf onto the snowy ground. They took it and headed back towards the rock door. When they got back inside their house Pinkie put the stairs back up and Clyde disappeared into his work shed for the rest of the day. But Pinkie didn’t mind, she had other plans anyways.

When the sun was at its highest and it had gotten as warm as it was going to get Pinkie was walking through the small patch of evergreen woods that bordered her home with a pair of ice skates slung over her shoulder and her incubator with the egg proudly displayed inside it in her arms. She came to a clearing that housed a small frozen pond and she bounced in excitement.

“Look Eggy! It’s your home…! Well, where I found you anyways. I know it looks different, but that’s because it was summer when I found you. This is my favorite place to visit. It’s really pretty in the spring and summer when all the flowers are in bloom. But during the winter I LOVE to skate on it!” she giggled as she sat the incubator down on a flat stone and sat herself down to put on her ice skates. When she was all laced up she sprung onto the ice and let herself glide across the unusually smooth surface of it. She closed her eyes and smiled to herself. This felt right, she loved the company of others, it was what she was born for, to be surrounded by people and to make them laugh and smile. But she did have moments where she liked the peace and quiet. Ice skating out here was one of those moments. But she wasn’t alone, she had her faithful companion with her. She grinned and skated by scooping the egg up and out of the incubator and she giggled as she hugged it close. “Someday you’ll be able to see this with me Eggy, maybe you’ll even be able to skate with me too~!” she hummed happily holding the little egg high in the air shadowing the sun out of her eyes.

Pinkie saw the curled up figure inside the egg move and she gasped as she saw the shell of the egg crack. She quickly came to a halt in the center of the pond and held the egg flat in her palms. “Eggy…?” she whispered in wonder. It wiggled in response and the crack got bigger. Her bright blue eyes widened as a tiny piece of the shell popped off and a tiny green speck could be seen from inside it. Pinkie watched in stunned silence as it kept fighting and eventually the entire top of the egg was gone and a tiny alligator no bigger than her longest finger sat in her palms covered in the warm fluids of the egg yolk. Tears streamed down her eyes in rivers and she sank to her knees as she stared at the little gator that looked around confused his purple eyes curious until they locked with Pinkie’s watering blue ones. He opened his mouth and let out a small chirp revealing he had no teeth at all, just a wide range of pink gums.

Pinkie giggled as her tears of joy continued to fall and she spoke to the new born alligator softly. “Well look at you… you’re so little, and you don’t even have any teeth yet! You’re all gummy!” she laughed holding him closer to her face. He chirped again and latched onto her nose. Despite not having any teeth she giggled as he remained latched onto her nose like he was trying to eat her face. “I like that for a name… little Gummy, much better than calling you Eggy for the rest of your life huh…?” she giggled. The little gator let her nose go landing back in her palms and he nuzzled her with his snout chirping happily. Pinkie smiled happily and dried her tears with her free hand. “Then that’s your name now Gummy…!” she announced with a happy grin. You wanna skate with me?” she asked brightly. The gator leapt up onto her head and buried himself in her hair sticking his head out like he was playing in the reeds of a pond. Pinkie giggled at his antics and started skating once more being sure to deposit the remains of his egg beside the incubator before she did a few laps around the pond jumping and twirling in joy. She couldn’t have asked for a better Hearth’s Warming gift if she’s tried. And she knew he’d make a wonderful addition to her already crazy family.

Chapter 8

How I Became An Alicorn…

Chapter 8: Confusing Times.

“Nyx, do you remember when you turned 13…?” Twilight asked her daughter as she took a small break from storytelling to sip her tea and sooth her throat.

“Yeah, and Pinkie threw this huge party and invited all of Ponyville, Appleoosa, most of Canterlot, and half of Manhattan…?” she asked having Spike pour her more tea. Twilight nodded as she set her cup down.

“Yes, but do you remember when I took you aside to talk to you about the changes that were going to be happening to you soon…?” she prompted, it resulted in her daughter and her brother both shuttering in displeasure, Spike having been given ‘The Talk’ only a few years ago.

“Yeah, and I also remember being traumatized for a week after that and locking myself in the old castle refusing to come out, even for school.” Nyx replied her cat like green eyes narrowing at the memory.

“Well, around that time, after we’d all gotten back from our holiday break and had our big New Year’s party, which by the way almost got us suspended but I’ll tell that story a bit later, I started to notice a lot of changes in my friends. Not just physical ones either, because I knew the biology behind that well enough and my parents were personally a bit too conserved to give me the full details but I eventually figured them out all on my own. But what I noticed was an emotional shift in them. It was small at first, like a little sprout that had formed over the break.

“Fluttershy seemed even quieter believe it or not, she still talked but whenever she was with us she’d only whisper and it seemed like she was scared of something. Rarity was beyond over dramatic about even the littlest things. I used to think it was because she was in theater but she proved me wrong after the plays let out and she didn’t have a reason to be so melodramatic all the time. Pinkie’s was hard to spot but she slowly got more and more clingy to the five of us and she often got upset if we skipped out on her parties a few times in a row, which was pretty easy since she threw them almost every day. Rainbow Dash’s was the easiest to see but it was defiantly the biggest problem, she got more aggressive and seemed pretty snappy when anyone was too emotional over something. Or worst of all if she saw any happy couples hanging around. Before she would have just gagged at it and moved on but it irritated her more and more each time she saw it. There was a big incident on Valentine’s Day that landed her in detention for a month but the details I have on that are foggy at best so I won’t go into it. Applejack was always pretty paranoid and got nervous really easily when we were in a group together. She always looked like she was waiting for someone to jump her and beat her up. Well, they would have tried but getting in a fight with someone in advanced MMA is a pretty bad idea.” Twilight explained carefully. Nyx nodded remembering seeing her fight off three Timberwolves all by herself when she was 11. Applejack was NOT a force to be messed with.

“Well, Twilight started to get worried. Really worried. Like we’re talking the Smarty Pants incident all over again worried.” Spike continued for her. Twilight cringed at the reference. “So she turned to the only source of wisdom she could find about the condition of five hormonal teenagers, Princess Luna.” He went on. Twilight nodded and took back over having finished the cup of tea.

“I gave her the story I just told you and she laughed in my face. I was of course, as you can imagine, shocked and a bit offended.”

*********************Resume 3rd person Flashback style*********************

Luna had been rolling on the ground for two minutes now and Twilight was beginning to feel a vein throb from irritation. Spike noticed this and cleared his throat.

“Luna, I think Twilight is about to blow, you’d better reel it in.” he announced. Luna did so and her breathing was wheezy and she had streaks down her face from where her makeup had run with tears but she was still smiling.

“Wooooo, I needed that laugh. Okay,” she said breathing in once more and dabbing at her eyes with a tissue to erase the make-up streaks. “I apologize for my rudeness Twilight but that was un avoidable in your oblivious state.” She explained with a small smile. Twilight blew a strand of dark purple bangs out of her face and frowned crossing her arms.

“So I take it that means you know what’s wrong with them then…?” she asked the lunar princess.

“Oh I think I have a pretty good guess, but you’re not going to like it.” she explained her teal eyes twinkling with amusement. “Spike, go get on your game, there’s going to be hellfire in a few minutes and you don’t want to hear it.” Luna ordered. Spike saluted her and quickly jumped of the couch using his short legs to run into his room and bolt it shut. Luna waited until she could hear the tell-tale start up music of his game before she continued to an uneasy looking Twilight Sparkle. “You say your friends only act weird when you’re all together right…?” she asked the student of her sister. Twilight nodded.

“Yeah, except Dash who’s just agitated all the time now, but it’s only brought on after she sees a couple together somewhere. But around here that’s pretty often. And right after a lot of those fits she and Applejack will spar. It’s something to get her mind of the anger.” She replied tapping her chin a bit in thought.

“Well that’s actually your biggest hint right there. Tell me, are you aware of something called Catharsis…?” she asked.

“Yes, it’s a psychological term for when teenagers use physical activity like sports to release sexual tensions that build in their social… circles… oh no.” Twilight’s eyes widened in realization and she quickly covered her mouth. Luna smirked a bit at her reaction.

“I told you, you wouldn’t like the answer.” She countered as Twilight’s hair started to stand up on end. “Now, come on, there’s no need to over react about this. Besides, it’s a very small case and it’s having different effects on each of your friends. Rainbow Dash and Applejack both have the classic reaction of anger and nervous breakdowns coupled with their athletic outlets. Rarity is getting stressed out by it and it’s making her overreact easily, couple that with her dramatic nature you get her fainting on the couch when she’s a gem short on a dress. Fluttershy is caving inwards instead of outwards like Rainbow Dash. She’s afraid to talk because if she does she’ll say something out of line and it’ll cause even more stress. So she bottles it up inside her and says little to nothing ever to make sure it doesn’t get out. Pinkie Pie’s is… well she isn’t exactly suffering from sexual tension, I think hers is deeper, she’s always the one to patch things up when you guys fight right? So she’s the glue in the circle. But the stress is making her crack, she’s trying to fix what’s falling apart by roping all of you into frequent events in hopes you’ll just stick together on your own again. But it’s having the opposite effect since the entire REASON behind the stress is being close in the first place. You’re suffering from the same thing she is but you did the smarter thing and asked someone for help.” Luna explained carefully.

Twilight’s mind was a hive of activity as she let it all soak in. The analysis fit perfectly. All of their reactions matched up with their individual personalities to the T. But the only question left was how to fix it. They wouldn’t talk with one another so that was out, and completely ignoring the others would result in the acidic melt down of their friendships. Pinkie Pie would probably go suicidal if that happened. Twilight’s mind was working up a good steam but just like before Luna had an answer. She tapped Twilight gently on the shoulder.

“If I may, I might have a plausible solution to your problem.” She offered. Twilight perked up quickly and nodded urging her to go on. “Well, the core problem is stress, if they could get away long enough to release the stress they might work out the issues on their own and things will go back to the way they were before if not slightly better. Tell me Twilight, what is next week…?” she asked the bookworm with a small devilish smirk on her face. Twilight looked confused for a minute before she glanced over at the calendar that hung on the fridge.

“It’s Spring Break, but I don’t see how that’ll help since the only place we could go during that time would be home.” Twilight responded her purple eyes thoroughly confused by the Moon Princess’ behavior.

“So you’re saying if you had somewhere to go they’d be all for it…?” Luna questioned further. Twilight thought for a second before giving a causal shrug.

“I suppose so… what did you have in mind…?” She asked. Luna smirked and leaned down to whisper into her ear. Twilight’s eyes widened in a combination of shock, excitement, and pure horror.

That Sunday:

Bags were all packed and the six friends and Spike were gathered in Twilight’s dorm living room waiting for the lunar princess to make her appearance. Dash was pacing back and forth behind the long couch and Pinkie Pie had her head tilted back on it watching her friend upside down. Applejack sat with her ankle resting on her knee and her booted foot was tapping in the air out of nervous habit. She bit her lip and her eyes kept darting to the clock that hung on the wall above the TV. Rarity was fussing over Fluttershy’s shirt which had long white cat hairs all over it because her kitten, Opalescence as she had named her, had decided it would make a wonderful bed. Fluttershy sat there letting her friend fuss over her shirt in silence her ears listening intently while Rainbow Dash paced behind her Spike and Twilight watched this all with shared worried expressions.

Finally after exactly 15 minutes and exactly 37 seconds of waiting, Applejack had counted, they saw a flash of blue light on the balcony and Luna walked in her form changed to that of an older teen now. Rainbow was the first to say something.

“It’s about time! I was dying from boredom!” she snapped halting in her steps. Luna brushed off her reaction and addressed the rest of them unbuckling a small messenger bag that hung at her side.

“Alright, everything’s in order now. Here you all are.” She said passing out small blue booklets with the golden crest of Equestria stamped into it.

“Are these… passports…?” Rarity asked after she was handed hers.

“Yes, they are. You’ll be needing them to get through airport security.” Luna responded as she handed the last two to Spike and Twilight. Applejack raised her hand and Luna pointed to her. “Yes AJ…?” she asked calmly.

“Ah thought ya’ll said we were driving down to the coast and staying in one of yer summer homes for the week…?” she questioned her green eyes narrowing when she said that.

“Well yes, that was the cover story we went with, but fortunately for you all that is only a half truth.” Luna snickered.

“We WILL be staying in one of the royal summer houses on a beach. But not the local coast. That’s far too crowded anyways.” Twilight said standing up and walking over to them with a sly smile on her face. Rainbow lost all the agitation she’d had and now shared the look of moderate horror the other four clueless ones had on their faces.

“So… where ARE we going…?” Rainbow asked carefully like she was defusing a bomb.

“The Royal private island located just off the coast of France. We just had it renovated last year but haven’t had the chance to use it yet. And my sister and I both agreed it would be a wonderful opportunity for you all to get away from it all.” Luna announced casually as she examined her painted nails. Three jaws hit the floor, two girls fainted, and the three that were in on the plan were smirking and exchanging high fives at their handy work.

Rarity and Fluttershy, the two that had fainted, woke up with a start and Rarity quickly began to protest loudly saying she was drastically under packed for France, despite the fact she had three of the largest bags two smaller suitcases, and a large carry on tote. Pinkie Pie was stunned speechless for once, Rainbow looked like she had just been told she’d won a private training lesson with the Wonderbolts, Fluttershy and Applejack were both trying to for coherent words but were getting nowhere fast.

Luna clapped her hands and grinned. “Now then, the car is going to be here any minute and the flight leaves in an hour. Let’s go then. Oh and yes Fluttershy, all of your guardians WERE made aware of the true nature of the trip and agreed wholeheartedly that you all needed a good vacation.” She added when the pink haired girl had finally come up with a valid excuse to get out of it. Her mouth closed quickly and she made a tiny squeak as Rainbow came up behind her dragging her off the couch.

“This is awesome Flutter’s! I was bummed about missing the camping trip this year but this is SOOOOOOOO much better!” she beamed. Fluttershy was blushing furiously and trying to form coherent words as they gathered walked towards the door Luna haven teleported the luggage ahead of them already.

Applejack followed behind them wordlessly and Rarity was watching her back as Pinkie bounced beside her eagerly ranting about something she wasn’t paying attention to. Twilight and Spike laughed and when they were locking the door behind them Spike leaned up to Twilight to whisper to her.

“Do you really think this is going to help them all relax…?” he asked. She had told him the core reason behind their behavior that they were all too stressed out, but not what had initially caused the stress. He just assumed it was school related and left it at that. Twilight smiled and nodded.

“I do. My studies showed that teenagers are ten times more relaxed in an environment like the one we’re going to, secluded but not too far from a city where they could visit if they wanted, with plenty to do otherwise, and above all where they can relax and mend their bonds with one another.” Twilight told him as they walked towards the elevator. Spike smiled, pleased with her analysis and pushed the button on the elevator to take them to the ground floor. Twilight observed her friends placement in the spacious elevator. Rainbow Dash had gotten ahold of Applejack now and the two were discussing what sports activities they could get into on the island, Luna provided them with details on what they had on the island. Rarity talked with Fluttershy about the natural effects the sea air had on one’s skin and attitude, and Pinkie stood off to the side watching them all with a grin on her face. Her and Spike walked over her and Twilight leaned in to whisper to her. “You played a very convincing role back there you know…?” she giggled. Pinkie smiled turned into a small smirk and her eyes slanted towards Twilight.

“I’ve been practicing it all week, I didn’t think they’d buy into it so easy but I guess they were too occupied with their own shock to notice.” She whispered back glancing around to make sure no one was listening to them. They weren’t.

Pinkie had been made aware of the situation soon after Twilight discovered what was wrong. She seemed relieved to know the cause of it and had been more than happy to go along with whatever Twilight had planned. But it was her idea to hide the truth from the others until they absolutely needed to tell them. Otherwise they would have found ways to squirm out of it. Twilight backed her idea by getting their parents involved with the help of Luna and Celestia. The arrangements had been made swiftly and with the stage set operation ROFLMAO (Repair Our Friends Love, Magic, And Order) was officially under way.

The drive to the airport was uneventful, as was the boarding of the plane, unless you count Fluttershy fainting and Rainbow Dash having to rush to catch her when they say the jet liner they’d be flying in. Dash sighed and carried her friend on board and set her in a seat away from the windows since she knew she hated flying, and decided to check out the full perks of the plane. It was definitely made for royalty that was for sure. There were twelve seats total, three groups of four that faced each other in sections, each section with a gracious window. There was a Jacuzzi in one of the rooms down the hall, a lounge that had a huge flat screen and of course games and movies galore, but her favorite part was the mini gym she found that had a treadmill, stationary bike, a punching bag, and even some weights that were tied down firmly. Even her parent’s jet wasn’t this big or luxurious. And being a ten hour straight flight from here to Marseille she knew she’d have time to try it all. There were even two cabins in the back with beds and private bathrooms.

The flight staff announced that they should take their seats and the eight all took what seats they fancied and buckled in. Fluttershy decided to take that moment to wake up but to her great surprise, and relief, Dash had chosen the seat next to her closest to the window. She sighed in relief and she let a small smile cross her face. Unknown to her Twilight saw this and smiled as well. She opened her book and pretended like she was reading while she nudged Pinkie beside her. The bubblegum pink haired girl took out one of her ear buds and Twilight motioned towards Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy.

“I think those two are already falling into place… can you see how Rarity and AJ are doing…? She whispered not looking up from her book. Pinkie, having the outside seat peered over at the two who were actually chatting normally with Spike sitting beside Rarity and Applejack across from her. She glanced back down at her music player but spoke to Twilight.

“Them too, Oh Twilight, I swear of this works I’m throwing you the biggest part EVER~!” She squealed in joy. Twilight giggled a bit and turned her attention to the book as Luna took a seat across from them and buckled in just as the captain came on over the intercom.

“Good morning Ladies and young Spike, we’ll be running a few last minute checks and then we’ll be off on our adventure to the beautiful Marseille, the estimated flight time is 10 hours and 15 minutes on the dot, once we reach our cruising height I’ll flip off the seatbelt sign above your heads and come back on this intercom to tell you you’re free to move about the cabin. I’m Captain Skyline, my Co-Pilot is Miss Jetstreak, and our two lovely flight attendants are Miss Sunshine in the yellow dress, and Miss Lovingtouch in the pink. We hope you enjoy your flight here with us on the Royal Skies and we wish you a pleasant day.” A man’s voice announced. Fluttershy smiled at Dash.

“He sounds nice…” she commented. Rainbow shrugged.

“Eh, I just wanna know what it takes to get to be the captain of a plane like this!” she said motioning to the enormous jet they sat in. Fluttershy laughed and Dash grinned. ‘Good, she’s smiling and talking now, keep it cool Dash. It’s just ‘Shy, you know how to make her laugh.’ She thought as she took a breath and stared out the window watching the orange vested guys scurry into the golf cart after they’d loaded the bags into the cargo hold. A few minutes went by and they felt the plane start to move backwards. They creeped out of their assigned spot and drove over to the take-off strip and came to a halt. The plane lurched and Fluttershy felt her insides tense up and Dash grinned knowing what came next. They shot forward and Fluttershy shut her eyes and bit her tongue to stop from screaming. She didn’t even notice she had grabbed Dash’s hand for a good minute or so. Spike was watching eagerly out the window as they lifted off the ground and climbed higher and higher into the sky. Pinkie Pie was squealing in joy, this being her very first flight ever and she leaned over Twilight eagerly watching the ground shrink under them. Twilight didn’t seem to notice anything as she was now deeply engrossed into the book.

Ten minutes later Skyline came back on the intercom and announced that they were free to move about the cabin. Rainbow shifted but noticed for the first time that Fluttershy was holding her hand tightly and shaking like a leaf. Her eyes softened and she touched Fluttershy gently on the shoulder. The girl flinched away but her green blue eyes noticed their contact and she quickly released her hand’s hold and blushed furiously her hair covering most of her face.

“S-sorry!!!” she squeaked. Dash chuckled and shook her head.

“It’s fine ‘Shy, you hold my hands all the time remember? I don’t mind.” Rainbow assured her. Fluttershy seemed to accept it as a validate excuse and with that Rainbow walked over behind AJ and snatched the hat off her head dawning it herself as the farmer quickly looked up at her in surprise. “Come on, you, me, the gym. I saw a bag in there I know you’ll wanna take a crack at.” Dash sneered when the emerald eyes glared at her. AJ unbuckled from her seat and stood just a bit taller than Dash now.

“Yer on partner, but if ya ever touch mah hat again Ah’ll be removing it along with your hands.” She added with a playful snarl thrown in for effect. She snatched the hat off her friends head and handed it to Rarity. “Watch that for me, Ah don’t need it gettin’ lost in here.” She said before she walked off with Dash.

“No fair, how come Rarity gets to touch your hat but I can’t?!” Dash whined.

“Because she’s not gonna wear it in nothin’ but ‘er underwear and run around the locker room usin’ an imitation of mah accent.” She responded flatly. Dash’s face had never been redder. And Fluttershy and Rarity, who had both heard were blushing at that image as well.

“You said you’d never tell anyone about that!!!” she hissed.

“An’ you said ya’d stay away from mah hat, now we’re even.” AJ snickered as she walked into the mini gym. Rainbow followed yelling something that was cut off to the rest of them by the door closing. Fluttershy was still bushing furiously when Rarity came over hat in hand and sat beside her.

“So Fluttershy, what would you like to do to pass the time…?” she asked her roommate. Fluttershy composed herself enough to respond.

“I-if we weren’t three thousand feet in the air I’d sleep, but with how nervous I get on flights I’m not sure that’s really possible…” she muttered still shaking a bit. Rarity patted leg gently and smiled at her.

“Well then it sounds like you need something to relax you. How about we go for a dip in the hot tub…?” Rarity offered with a smile. Fluttershy blinked in surprise and tilted her head slightly.

“But… my swim suits are down in my bag, what would we wear…?” she asked curiously.

Rarity was smiling a pearly white smile that reminded Fluttershy of her mother. “No worries Fluttershy dear, if there’s one thing I’ve learned about traveling it’s to ALWAYS be prepared. And when I heard we would be taking this particular jet I made a quick addition to my carry on.” She said as she levitated the large stylish white bag towards her and pulled out two sets of swim suits, a yellow tankini and a white two piece bikini. “Rarity Belle is a girl who is always prepared for fashion emergencies!” she declared and Fluttershy giggled taking the yellow one from her and unbuckling her seat belt and standing. She was now much taller than most of her friends but it didn’t really bother her. Both her parents were very tall people after all.

“Let’s go change then.” She giggled in her soft voice. Rarity nodded and pulled out two more swim suits with her magic.

“Pinkie, Twilight, would you like to join us…?” she asked. Twilight glanced up from her book and mumbled something that sounded like a no and Pinkie shook her head spraying her pink curls everywhere. Rarity shrugged and walked down the hall bag over her shoulder as she took the left room and Fluttershy the right to change.

Next door in the sound proof walls of the gym Applejack was pounding against the punching bag while Rainbow held it steady for her… and gave a healthy dose of constructive criticism in the form of imitating coach Rapidfire.

“COME ON APPLE, IS THAT THE BEST YOU’VE GOT?! YOU PUNCH LIKE MY NEPHEW AND HE’S FOUR MONTHS OLD!!!!!” she roared. Applejack increased her strength behind her punches but didn’t give one punch all her power, that was a stupid move and often resulted in pulling her arm muscles and generally ripping bags off their chains and sending them though the wall. Being on a jet 3000 feet in the air that sounded like a really bad idea. Still Rainbow egged her on just like her coach would when they were practicing for a tournament. Rainbow had tied her shoulder length prismatic hair back so it wouldn’t get in the way of their fun, she had also removed her favorite cyan jacket that had all her Wonderbolts patches sewed into it and set it on the bench press in the corner leaving her in a white tank top and her cargo shorts. Applejack had long since abandoned her over shirt and was now just in an orange tank top and a pair of her better jeans… but they still had holes in the knees.

When Applejack had had her fill of the punching bag she lowered her fists and stood back in her normal stance panting a bit. “Woo, that was a good warm up, your turn road runner, hop on the treadmill fer a bit.” She ordered nodding towards the machine. Rainbow grinned and hopped on it checking the speed settings for it. She turned it on medium to start. The two went on like this for a while, trying out each of the machines and each taking a crack at the barbells. Applejack of course excelled at that and RD rolled her eyes when she was lifting 200 like it was a puppy.

“Show off…” she muttered as Applejack finished her set and sat up panting hard but grinning all the same.

“Like you don’t flaunt your speed…” she snapped back as Rainbow handed her a cold water bottle from the mini fridge that sat beside a large expensive looking stereo system.

“Of course I do, I’m just saying that even for an earth bound you’re freakishly strong.” She explained while AJ drained the bottle. She opened one emerald eye at her and set the empty bottle in the trash can.

“An’ fer a winged show off you’re awfully agile.” She replied back in the same half-insult fashion. RD snickered her wings spreading from her back as she did so.

“It comes with the territory, Fluttershy’s freakishly flexible when you get her off the ground.” She said with a casual shrug. Applejack saw her opening.

“Speakin’ of ‘Shy Ah’ve been meanin’ ta ask ya somethin’…” Applejack started as Rainbow sat down on the bench with her own bottle half way to her lips.

“Hm…? About Shy…? Ask away.” She said waving her hand and taking a drink.

Applejack scratched the back of her head wishing she had her hat so she had something to play with. “A-are you two… like… a thing…?” she asked. Rainbow choked on her water and she pounded her chest until it went down and then she gasped for air. “A-Ah’m sorry if ye ain’t it was just… ya know you two are always so close an’ everythin’ so Ah just assumed that-!” she was cut off by Rainbow holding up a finger and looking around for a minute to see if there were any hidden cameras. Seeing nothing she quickly went to the door and peeked out into the hall to see if there was anyone listening. There was no one so she shut the door and turned back to face Applejack who looked very confused.

Dash’s magenta eyes narrowed and darkened. “What I’m about to say does NOT leave this room am I clear…?” she asked without a single hint of joking in her voice. Applejack nodded and held up her right hand.

“Ah promise.”

“Pinkie Promise…?” Dash countered. Applejack gasped a bit at the question. Pinkie Promises were not something to be made lightly, and Pinkie made that obvious when she informed them of it. Her words echoed in her mind. ‘If you break a Pinkie promise you lose your friend… FOREVER…!!!’

“FOREVER!!!!!” Pinkie shouted as she popped her head into the room and gave her the eye before she slowly slipped out the door and it clicked shut behind her. Applejack swallowed hard and performed the motions as she spoke.

“Cross mah heart and hope to fly stick a cupcake in mah eye.” She looked around carefully to see if the pink haired girl would reappear but she didn’t and she relaxed a little and looked over at Dash who was trying to compose herself and work up the courage to say it.

“I-I think I like Fluttershy…!” she half shouted after a few deep breaths and then shut her eyes tightly waiting for the explosion. But one didn’t come and she opened her eyes to see Applejack smiling at her gently.

“Why are you wincin’ Dash…? Ah’m not gonna hit ya, and Ah sure as hell can’t tell anyone after makin’ that promise…” she shuddered thinking about what Pinkie would do if she ever broke the promise.

“B-but I thought your family was like, over the top traditional and stuff…?! Shouldn’t you like, hate gays or something…?” she asked in disbelief. Applejack frowned and crossed her arms in frustration.

“Why in tarnation does everyone think that just because Ah’m from an old as time farmin’ family Ah’ve gotta be some kinda religious nut that’s too caught up in faith to see the truth in the world?! No, Dash! Ah don’t hate gays, AH don’t think you’re gonna burn in hell for if ya like rock and roll or ya don’t believe the same things Ah do…! Everyone has there own damn sets of beliefs and Ah personally couldn’t give a flyin’ horseapple about who ya fall in love with. Ya wanna marry a horse, marry a damn horse! Ya wanna date your cousin? Sure! Ya fall head over heels for someone of the same sex, who cares?! Love’s love no matter what form it comes in.” she ranted throwing her hands up in the air to emphasize her point. She crossed them again and huffed. “ ‘sides, Granny’s one of them free spirited ol’ gals anyways, and she’d tan mah hide if Ah was judgin’ folks on somethin’ as stupid as that.” She added quickly. Rainbow Dash made a mental note to have Spike write to Celestia about judging a book by its cover. Not that she read, that was for egg heads like Twilight.

“Well then I’m glad you feel that way because this is driving ME up the wall.” She said as she leaned against the wall and sat down running a hand through her hair.

“What’s the matter…? Can’t stand the fact that you’re gay…?” the farmer asked sitting down next to her.

“Nah, it isn’t that. I already knocked that one out like a month after I realized it. I’ve been gay my entire life, the only guy I ever even kind of looked at with admiration was the Wonderbolts and I didn’t want them, just wanted to BE them. I’m more worried about the fact that I’m crushing hard on someone who’s more delicate than a cloud whisp and twice as sensitive! Not to mention the fact she’s been like my sister since we were six! How can I just jump from her being my sister to my crush like that?! It’s sick…” she groaned burying her head in her hands. Applejack looked at her distressed friend and her eyes darted around the room. She quickly got up and walked over to the bench press and started pushing it towards the door. Rainbow looked up slightly concerned. “Uhhh, Applejack, what are you doing…?”

“Barricadin’ the door…” she muttered through grit teeth as she got the equipment in front of it and then walked over and started piling the weights on top of it as well. She looked around and spotted the mini fridge. She unplugged it and put it on top of the bench door facing the door so it couldn’t open. She looked around for anything else she could pop out of but found nothing.

“Okay… now are you going to tell me why you barricaded that door…?” Rainbow asked standing up slowly and nervously.

“Because Ah need you to make me the same promise… and if a certain Pink haired girl hear it she’ll pop in from Faust knows where and if she hears what Ah have to say then Ah’ll have to worry about somethin’ a lot stronger than me comin’ through that door.” she explained her eyes wide with fear.

“Okaaaaaay, Cross my heart and hope to Fly, stick a cupcake in my eye…” they both waited for a few seconds after she’d finished the motions and listened. They heard the door knob rattle for a second and they both stood on end. When it stopped they just heard a small ‘Foreverrrrrr. . .’ come from it and then it was gone. They waited a bit longer before Applejack sighed in relief. And RD still looked confused. “Whoa wait, back up, if Pinkie’s only half the reason you barricaded the door what’s the other half…? Who’s stronger than YOU…? Besides your brother and the princess’ I mean.” She asked concerned.

Applejack shuddered and she looked down at the ground in horror. “Rarity… Rarity is scary strong when she wants to be… And… and if she tried ta hurt me… Ah wouldn’t be able ta fight back.” She replied. RD laughed a bit at that.

“You’re kidding me right…? Rarity? We are talking about the unicorn that is currently on this plane with us and is obsessed with fashion and the like right…?” she chuckled. “SHE’s supposedly stronger than you…?” she asked again to confirm it. Applejack groaned and shook her head.

“You’re not seein’ mah point here Dash…! Ah’m not talking physically, sure when she snaps she’d probably tear through an army like it was melted butter, but if she DID choose ta pick a fight with me Ah couldn’t fight back…! Ah… Ah don’t wanna do anythin’ ta hurt her…” she trailed off getting quieter as she did so. Dash’s eyes widened in realization and her wings blazed out in shock and surprise.

“YOU’RE IN LOVE WITH RAR-?!?!?!” Dash was cut off by Applejack tackling her to the ground and slapping a hand over her mouth quickly. She listened intently to see if anyone had heard. This room was only mildly sound proof. Someone would have heard Dash just now if they had been at the door. Luckily the silence continued and Applejack sighed in relief and rolled off Dash who looked more than displeased at the sudden reaction.

“Do ya not understand the meanin’ of the word subtlety?!” Applejack hissed through her teeth.

“As a matter of fact, I DO, I just don’t use it all that often!” she snapped back her magenta eyes narrowing. They bother realized they were about to start fighting again and quickly felt it dissolve. Rainbow sighed and ran her fingers through her messy hair. “What are these two doing to us…? We never fought like this before…! And I haven’t been able to look at a couple in months without wanting to put a bullet in their heads…” she groaned.

AJ chuckled a bit at that. “Ah know the feeling… Ah’ve been jumpier than a cat since Ah figured it out. Not to mention Ah can’t even look her direction any more without breakin’ inta a sweat… it’s terrible.” The farmer sighed as she loosened her ponytail to let her hair fall around her. Dash did the same and effectively messed it up into her normal style and then leaning her head against the wall with a sigh as she stared up at the ceiling and listened to the sounds of the jet engines for a little while.

“What are we going to do AJ…?” she asked after a bit her voice cracking as it always had when she talked quietly.

“Ah don’t know Dash… but Ah do know that ignorin’ them isn’t goin’ ta help anythin’, Ah didn’t want to say anything but… have you noticed how much quieter Shy’s been since you started having those temper tantrums…?” she asked, Rainbow looked to the ground in shame and dug her nails into her palm.

“Yeah… yeah I did… it’s what she does when she’s scared. She just sits there… and stays quiet. She went an entire year without talking when we were 11…” she stated as the memory hit her like a dark wave. She shuddered and Applejack took notice and placed a caring hand on her shoulder.

“Don’t be too upset RD… Ah think Ah’ve been upsetin’ Rare too… she’s been a lot more emotional since Ah stopped really talkin’ ta her… and she blows up at the littlest thing now… or she breaks down. Ah hate it when that happens… Ah’d much have her pissed like a bull seein’ red than broken and weepin’ on her couch… it’s… not the nicest feelin’ on mah heart.” She explained tapping her chest a bit. “So… Ah propose a compromise. Fer the duration of this here vacation we’ll try and be normal again. There ain’t no lovey dovey couples ou ‘ere ta set you off and Ah have a feelin’ Ah’ll feel less guilty if Rare is relaxin’ and smilin’. So no more out bursts or ignorin’ them… deal?” she asked spitting into her palm and holding it out to Dash. The speedster looked at it for a second before she mimicked the action and shook her hand.

“Deal. Whoa… Suddenly I feel a lot lighter… do you feel that too…?”

“As a matter of fact Ah do… it feels nice. And… whew…! Okay, new deal, both of us move that equipment back ta wear it was and then we go in and take quick showers ta get this reek offa us.” She said wrinkling her nose. Dash raised an eyebrow for a second before she smelt it too and quickly nodded in agreement.

“So deal. I hate smelling like week old gym sock.” She replied pinching her nose for a second making her voice sound funny. The pair got the equipment back where it belonged and plugged the mini fridge back into its outlet before they grabbed their jacket and shirt off the ground where they had fallen and walked towards the rooms to shower. Applejack took the left room and Rainbow took the right.

Inside the hot tub a just after the sporty friends had started their routine:

Rarity sighed as she lowered herself into the tub her hair tied up so it wouldn’t get wet and she’d have to re-do it. Fluttershy was in a similar position her face content as she let her long pink hair pool around her in the tub not having to worry about styling it since she never did anything but brush it every day anyways.

“This is simply magnificent… I wonder what they put in this water to make it so serene…” Rarity pondered aloud as she let her head rest on the side of the tub and sank the rest of her body under the surface. Fluttershy smelt the water and closed her eyes bringing Zecora’s lessons on the plants they used in natural bath houses to the front of her mind.

“Horse Radish and Lavender oil… it’s a common but common treatment for people who are under daily stress and it’s a famous muscle relaxant.” She explained quietly. Rarity smiled and opened one eye to look at her friend.

“Well I see Zecora’s lessons have left you quite the expert my dear… Perhaps I should take her class next year.” She giggled as she breathed in the sweet scent of lavender. Fluttershy blushed a bit at the compliment and closed her own eyes for a bit to let the full effects of the bath take her in. She was almost drifting off when she heard Rarity shift in the water and sigh. It wasn’t a content sigh either. Fluttershy sat up a bit and moved her wet hair from her face so she could see properly.

“Rarity…? Are you okay…? You sound worried.” She asked softly. Rarity’s eyes widened when she realized she’d let that sigh escape and Fluttershy had heard it.

“Me…? Oh it’s nothing dear. I was just worried about how Opal was getting along at my parent’s house while I’m away.” She lied quickly. Fluttershy may have been timid and kind hearted but she was not ignorant or blind. She knew Rarity was lying.

“That’s sweet Rarity, but you don’t have to lie to me.” She assured her friend. Rarity’s eyes widened and she bit her lip knowing she wouldn’t be able to get out of this now that Fluttershy knew she’d lied once. Rarity sighed and bowed her head.

“It’s just… Applejack. I don’t know if you’ve noticed or not but she’s been acting very strange lately and it’s driving me up the wall…! She’s avoiding me and when we are around one another she doesn’t speak a word to me. I can’t help but think it’s something I did, and with that at the forefront of my mind like… like a parasite I keep finding myself worse and worse every day…!” she confessed her blue eyes filled with pools of conflicting emotions. Fluttershy registered them in the back of her mind but couldn’t put a specific word to it. But for now she reached over and gently hugged Rarity.

“It’s alright Rarity… I’m sure Applejack has something else on her mind. After all, you’ve done nothing to her, right…?” she asked looking down at her and smiling. Rarity nodded and sighed feeling another wave of emotion coming on but she bit it back knowing that now was not the time or the place for such things. She had lost the self-control she had been praised for highly until now and she refused to let it remain lost any longer. There was something bigger she had to address anyways. Something involving the very farmer that so often brought her to tears. There was more to it, she knew it. Fluttershy could see it, and she was reaching out to her. Rarity put forth every ounce of her self-control and addressed her friend with a serious face.

“Fluttershy… Hypothetically speaking, if one of our friends fell in love with another girl what would you do…?” she asked. The question hit Fluttershy like a dagger. She was not normally one to jump to conclusions but that single question had a deeper meaning for her. But she had an answer that had always been engraved into her morals, even from a young child.

“Love is love, no matter who it comes from or who it is for. It isn’t something you should ever be ashamed of and people who say otherwise are just big meanies anyways.” She said her eyes firm when she stated it. It faded in an instant as she retook her nature again. “Why do you ask…?” Rarity accepted her response and lowered her gaze back to the bubbling surface of the water.

“Well it’s… you see darling I… oh Faust help me… I’m in love with one of our friends Fluttershy.” She admitted after a few failed attempts. Her pale skin was flushed, either from the heat of the bath or from emotion alone. Fluttershy blinked in surprise and her eyes widened as her thoughts raced.

‘Oh no… please whatever happens don’t let it be Dash…! I couldn’t live with that choice if she did!’ she prayed silently before she managed to choke out a verbal response. “W-who is it…?” she asked quietly. Rarity took a few seconds to work up her courage again.

“A-Applejack…”

“Oh thank Faust…” Fluttershy breathed aloud.

“What was that…?”

“Nothing…!” she squeaked before she corrected herself quickly. “Oh, um… I mean, that’s good.” Rarity looked confused for a second.

“Okay… you look far too relieved to hear that.” Rarity observed. Fluttershy flinching confirmed it. Rarity smiled a bit and giggled. “Looks like I’m not the only one with a secret, go on darling, which one of them was it? Twilight…? Pinkie…?” she asked and Fluttershy quickly shook her head her face the same color as her hair and darkening every second.

“N-no!!! I-I don’t like either of them…!” she exclaimed her face almost rose red. Rarity couldn’t help but smile knowing there was only one left after that.

“Darling… have you fallen for the biggest featherbrain of us all…?” she asked gently but with enough of a teasing tone to make Fluttershy sink under the water to try and drown herself in shame. Rarity giggled and pulled her back up by the top of her head. “Oh no darling, you’re not getting away that easily, I’ll make you a deal, I tell you about Applejack if you talk about Dash.” She offered. Fluttershy parted her hair enough so she could see out of one eye and nodded slowly. Rarity smiled but then it faltered and she was again looking back down at the water. “Well its… rather complicated… I don’t even know how it happened. Or when for that matter. But… after the holidays it all just… clicked. Perhaps it was the way she spoke to me when there was no one else around. Or how she seemed like a completely different person when she was in her element like that… She was always smiling. Always. When she on that farm she never frowned, or looked sad, or doubted herself… it all came naturally to her. Lifting bales of hay twice her size, tending to all those horses and cows and who knows what else with just her family to help her…? It was something that threw me for a loop. I thought having important clientele’s dresses ready in crunch time was hard, her work was much more stressful than mine but she did it with a smile and had fun with it too. I liked that about her. And her honest nature… those two pulled me in. Or rather, they planted themselves like her apple seeds in my brain. And now it’s growing fast and I simply don’t know what to do with it anymore.

“But she… then something changed…” Rarity’s eyes darkened as she continued staring at her reflection in the pool. “She stopped talking to me. And then she’d avoid me at every turn. Did you know she even skipped history class for a week just so she wouldn’t have to see me? Dash eventually found her wandering around and dragged her back to class making her promise to go to class from then on. And she did, but she still didn’t talk to me. I started to think back through everything I’d done to her since the break and wondered if something had set her off. But there was nothing. I did nothing. I KNEW I did nothing and yet I still blamed myself. I let that false guilt sit inside me and rot. It made me snappy, and when I wasn’t snapping at someone I’d be crying. You know, you saw it all. How many times have you come home in the last few months to find me curled on my bed sobbing…?” she asked the taller girl.

“At least twice a week…” ‘Shy responded with a soft look at her friend.

“Exactly. It hurt. All of it hurt. Anything that reminded me of her hurt. I’d see someone bring an apple into class and cry my eyes out for the rest of the period, I saw someone with blonde hair who even remotely resembles her holding hands with someone else and blew my top off. Little things like that. And… and now this vacation pops up and suddenly she’s talking to me again. She looked me in the eyes like nothing happened and spoke to me. I felt like I was dreaming, if it weren’t for me pinching myself constantly while we spoke I probably would have believed it was a dream too.” Rarity explained with a small laugh to herself. Fluttershy giggled as well but Rarity had more to say. “So now I’m… at a loss. I’ve no idea what made her change her behavior so quickly but it’s driving me completely insane trying to sort through it all…” she sighed lowering herself back into the jets of the tub and letting them clear away her stress.

“That sounds terrible Rarity…” she realized her fault when Rarity looked up at her surprised. “Oh! N-not that you like her! I meant the way it’s affecting you… it’s… saddening. I don’t like seeing my friends like this… all of you have been so… oh, what’s that word…? I can never think of it…”she murmured barely above a whisper.

“Crazy, haywire, complete and utter shells of our former selves…?” Rarity offered without looking over at her. Fluttershy squeaked and quickly shook her head.

“N-No…! I wouldn’t put it quite like that… I… I think the phrase ‘out of sorts’ is better suited. Especially Dashie…” she added quiet enough that she hoped Rarity wouldn’t hear her. But alas, her friend had an ear sharper than a dog’s.

“Oh yes, I’d almost forgotten about that, how ever did you end up falling for our hot headed dare devil in the group…?” she asked a slight smile on her face. Fluttershy mentally cursed and bit her lip as she sank a little further into the water.

“W-well… it’s… a… very VERY long story but… do you remember those old fairy tales about the princess that would always get herself into trouble and at the last minute some brave knight would ride in a gallant horse and save her…?” Fluttershy asked her face blushing furiously as she did so.

“Of course, they were my favorite kind of stories when I was a little girl! Perhaps that’s where I originally got my fascination with princes… Oh, but sorry, do continue.” Rarity urged after she realized she’d been talking too much again.

“W-well… in a way that was us. I-I can’t remember it a lot but… a few years ago, just after I turned 11 my sister was trying to help me with my flying. I’ve never been good with flying and I got teased every day because of it. A girl that age who hadn’t been marked yet and couldn’t fly…? It was down-right embarrassing. But… Dashie stood up to them. The three biggest meanies in the whole school and she stood up to them… for me. She openly challenged them to a race to defend me. I thought she was crazy because she was so much smaller than all of them! I tried talking her out of it but you know Dash, she doesn’t see reason very well… I watched them line up at the starting line. I still didn’t want her to go through with it for me but she glanced over at me as she was crouched in position and smiled. I waved the flag and they were off like rockets. But there was a problem. I fell off the cloud I’d been standing on and plummeted for the surface. I’d heard about people’s lives flashing before their eyes when they’re about to die, but until that moment I didn’t really think anything about it. I closed my eyes and for the ground to take me but… it never came. Instead I felt like I was floating on air, without my wings. When I opened my eyes it was beautiful. There were thousands of beautiful pink butterflies all around me, and they’d caught me like a giant net! I touched down on the ground for the first time in my life and felt the connection instantly. It was all so beautiful, there was NOTHING like it in the clouds, not even my father’s garden could compare… then all at once I felt it over whelm me and I started singing! I don’t remember why really other than that I felt so happy… but my voice, it brought all kinds of little creatures from their homes. They flocked to me and listened so I sang to them.

“But… just as I finished singing there was this huge explosion and they all ran. I looked to the sky where it had come from and saw the colors all sweeping across the sky. It was amazing but the little creatures were all scared away so I couldn’t share it with them. That’s when I first realized how well I could communicate with them all, they listened to me and soon I had them all relaxing around me. I didn’t realize until later that night when I was getting dressed that the mark had appeared…” she said her fingers going to the mark that peeked out a bit from the top of her breast. But then her eyes darkened and her smile faded. “But… I had to go back. My family would have searched to the ends of the world for me if I just vanished like that. And Dash… Dash would have been left all alone after that. She’d never admit it but neither of us ever had many friends. Just each other. But we liked it that way so it was enough for us. I gathered my courage and took off to the skies with the goal of telling Dash about my new found connection with the animals of the surface. But… it all went wrong. I got so close, it was only a few more feet. I could see Dash at the finish line that she had just crossed and she saw me. In that instant I saw her smile and then it was gone when I began to fall. I don’t know what happened to make my wings stop like that, but they were glued to my back and I dropped like a rock. All I remember after that was seeing the ground rush at me. I knew there wouldn’t be any butterflies to catch me this time. It was too much to ask for a miracle twice in the same day. So I looked back to the sky and the last thing I saw before I blacked out was Rainbow reaching out to me… she had the sun behind her and to me it looked like she was my guardian angel.

“I woke up a month later in a hospital bed. Dash had saved me from the ground but the trauma had put me in a coma. Ivy said she didn’t leave that entire month. Her parents had temporarily taken her out of school after she insisted on staying near me until I woke up. She was the first thing I saw when I opened my eyes. And I did the only thing I could at the time, I cried. I honestly thought I was dead and I was in heaven. But I was plenty alive, the doctors told me that well enough. I was released not long after that and I was closer to Dash than ever. I never flew after that though. I didn’t even speak. I didn’t need to. Words couldn’t describe how mortified I was, or how happy I was that it was Dash who saved me. It was like that for an entire year. I didn’t talk, but I was more than happy that Dash had gotten her mark that same day I did. I let her see mine but only once to prove that I had it. And… she tried to help me fly again. Of anyone that could get me to do it, it would have been her. But the most I ever amounted to was hovering for a few minutes only a foot off the ground. Since then I’ve gotten better, a lot better. I can fly fully by myself for an hour or so straight, which is normal, but if I get any high than fifty feet I relapse and fall. But so far Dash keeps catching me. I don’t know how, but she seems to just KNOW when I need her most. If I’m falling she catches me, if I’m crying she finds me and makes me stop, and when I need someone to just BE there she’s there... grinning that ridiculous grin…” she laughed quietly small tears forming in her eyes as she spoke and falling into the water below her. “But then… then after Hearth’s warming it just… stopped. She was so angry at everything. I couldn’t help it. I reverted back to not talking, but I think that just made her angrier… I love her Rarity, I really really do… more than just a sister. She’s my goofy knight in shining armor on a steed of her own. But she’s just…” Fluttershy’s words died in her throat and a sob choked her a bit. Rarity was quickly beside her and holding her tightly and soothing her gently.

“Fluttershy… please don’t cry… we’re all getting older now. Something’s are bound to change, but for better or for worse I know Dash is still loyal to you. She isn’t mad at you, or any of us. She’s more than likely just going through a bad case of biology gone wrong. This get away is exactly what she needs. What we all need. Once she gets all that frustration out of her and we replace it with a healthy dose of R&R I’m more than sure she’ll go back to normal. So please don’t cry darling.” Rarity insisted reaching over and wiping the tears from her friend’s eyes. Fluttershy’s sobs stopped and she managed a smile.

“I suppose… that you two are alike like that… both of you know just what to say to get me to stop crying and smile again…” Fluttershy whispered just loud enough for rarity to still hear her.

“Well of course darling, you can ask Pinkie, making friends smile is one of the best parts of friendship. Especially when they’re sad. Now then, I think I’ve had quite enough of this tub, I’m starting to prune any ways. What say we go rinse off and then rejoin everyone in the main cabin…?” Rarity said standing from the tub and grabbing two fluffy white towels off a rack close by. Fluttershy stood as well the skirt of her bottoms clinging to her as she did so.

“Yes… that does sound nice… I wonder what kind of movies they have to watch…” she thought aloud.

Rarity paused for a moment. “Just… one more thing dear. What we’ve said to each other in here… is between just us right…?” she asked her blue eyes slightly worried. Fluttershy giggled and beamed at her as she wrapped the towel around her body tightly.

“Of course it is, I don’t think I’d be able live with myself if Dashie ever found out about this…” she responded in her normal half whispering voice.

“Well, you’ll have to tell her eventually darling, but I do agree this is probably not the best time for either of us. So until we’re ready neither of us breaths a word about it… deal?” she asked holding out her hand. Fluttershy smiled and shook it.

“Deal…” she shuddered when she felt the draft. “Oh my… perhaps we should go rinse off and get dressed quickly…?” Fluttershy asked pulling the towel closer around hers body as she did so. Rarity noted it was pretty drafty out here and nodded. The two exited the hot tub room and went back into the rooms they had originally changed in.

Rainbow and Applejack walked into the rooms a few minutes later neither of them hearing the shower already running, or seeing the clothes that lay on the beds. They quickly locked the doors and undressed tossing their clothes over on the bed so they could put them back on when they were done. The shower had stopped but neither of them noticed and both put their hands on the doorknobs that lead into the bathroom.

Back outside in the main cabin Pinkie’s hair stood on end, her leg and three of her toes twitched and lastly her chest got a sharp pain. Hey eyes widened and she quickly stood alerting the others. Twilight shut her book standing with her.

“Pinkie! What’s wrong?!” she asked quickly having seen the girl behave like this before and knowing it was usually related to something bad.

“Showers! And-and steam and horribly cheesy cliff hangers…!!!!!” she shouted as she shook Twilight by her shoulders in her panic. Spike groaned having been woken up from his nap.

“What is Pinkie freaking out about this time…?” he asked standing on his seat so he could look back at them.

“I have no idea…! She’s screaming something about showers!” Twilight replied her face full of confusion.

“There’s no time…!” Pinkie wailed. Her hair stood on end just as four screams filled the cabin.

Back inside the rooms: Dash and Applejack seemed to move in sync despite being completely different rooms. The door swung open and when they walked into the steam filled rooms they were confused as they walked forward and slammed straight into something. They both groaned as they partially lifted themselves off whatever they had crashed into. It felt… warm. And squishy. And… wet? They opened their eyes to find a wide eyed and stark naked Fluttershy/Rarity beneath them and they both tensed and their own eyes widened after they realized they were just as naked, and on top of them.

They all screamed at once and Pinkie groaned face palming. “I told you! Cheesy cliff hangers!” she snapped at Twilight who was still just as confused as before.

Author's Note

I am evil. That is all.

Chapter 9

How I Became an Alicorn…

Chapter 9: Settling In.

Dash was the first to move, she jumped off and bolted to the bed grabbing the blanket that was on it and covering herself with it while Fluttershy shut the door and scrambled to find a towel. In the opposite room Rarity quickly lashed out and slapped Applejack across the face and used her legs to effectively catapult her out of the bathroom slamming the door behind her and then collapsing down to her knees after she wrapped a towel around herself. Applejack hadn’t moved since she’d been slammed into the bed frame by Rarity. She didn’t even feel the pain. She was still trying to get that image of Rarity out of her head so she could concentrate long enough to get dressed. The same thought echoed through all four of their minds at once:

‘What the hell just happened…?’

Dash threw her clothes on quickly and sat on the bed breathing to try and clear her mind. She noticed Shy’s clothes on the bed for the first time and bit her lip. She carefully walked over and picked them up and walked over to the bathroom door and after hesitating for almost a minute she quietly knocked. It was enough to startle Fluttershy and she heard a small scream from the other side of the door. Rainbow’s voice cracked when she spoke but she didn’t care.

“Flutters… I’m leaving your clothes by the door and going outside to see if I can stick my head out the window or something…” she announced. There was a scramble from inside as Rainbow sat the clothes down and turned towards the door to leave. A large thud was followed by a small ‘Ow’ and the door creaked open to reveal a panicked sea green eye mostly covered by wet darker pink hair with her face a similar shade.

“D-D-D-Don’t…!” she squeaked. Fluttershy saw that Dash stood in place and waited for her to continue with a look of guilt on her face that would have made a demon cry. She scooped up the clothes on the floor and glanced back up at her friend. “Wait for a second… if you don’t mind that is.” She added when she thought it sounded too assertive. She retreated into the room and dressed quickly and then emerged from the steamy room still blushing furiously but at least they were both dressed now. Fluttershy walked over to her friend slowly and managed a faint smile when she saw the guilt ridden magenta eyes look up into her own.

Dash broke as her body began to shake and she looked away from her friend her face as red as a tomato as the images came back to the forefront of her mind. “I’m sorry…!!! I didn’t hear the water going and I just thought the room was empty so I-!!! Ughhhh!!!” she groaned as she started pacing and then banged her head into the nearest wall to get the images out. Fluttershy reached out quickly her eyes firm as she grabbed Dash by the head before she could put a dent in the wall.

“Stop that Dashie. Hurting yourself isn’t going to solve a thing.” She chastised. Rainbow sighed and looked to the ground gritting her teeth and running her hand through her hair.

“I’m sorry, that wasn’t cool… any of it. And try as I might those god damn images are NOT leaving me alone right now…” she explained without looking at her, this only seemed to make it worse. Fluttershy would never, even in the very distant future, admit that she was having the same problem. The image of Dash hovering over her like that was permanently engraved in her mind and was making her insides play war with one another. She fought the blush that was intensifying on her face and addressed her friend.

“I-it’s okay Dash… we used to take baths together all the time remember…?” Fluttershy reasoned. Dash gave her a look that just SCREAMED ‘Seriously…?’

“That was 7 YEARS ago ‘Shy, we’re a liiiiiiittle more grown up now.” Rainbow responded flatly. ‘Especially with that ch- NOOOOO!!!!!’ She screamed mentally stopping herself from finished that thought so she wouldn’t be forever haunted by it.

Fluttershy looked down at her feet having officially run out of counter arguments with that. “W-well then… should we just… pretend this didn’t happen…?” she asked quietly. Dash rubbed her temples to alleviate the growing headache.

“Sounds like a plan to me. To you think Pink’s has any of those aspirin…? I’m going to need a few.” They both heard something crash outside in the hall. “Maybe a few dozen…”

Earlier with Applejack and Rarity:

Applejack recovered from the initial shock and stood up to put her clothes back on. She noticed the white blouse and the black business skirt laid out on the bed neatly. With something folded underneath them. She groaned and slapped a hand to her face dragging it down until it slipped off.

“Well ain’t that just a friggin’ slap in the face…?” she muttered rubbing the red spot on her cheek. She sighed and collected the garments making sure to keep them un wrinkled or Rarity would probably throw a fit. She knocked on the door lightly. “Rare… Ah’m sorry, Ah’ll explain and apologize when you come out but fer now Ah’m leaving yer clothes by the door so ya can dress yerself.” She announced setting the clothes on the ground before she walked away and jumped up on the bed back turned to the door and stared at the wall. She heard the door open and then shut. A minute or so later it opened up again and she heard the pad of bare feet against the soft carpeted floor. Applejack turned her eyes still shut tightly. “Ya decent now…?” she asked.

“Yes…” Rarity replied simply still un able to look her in the eyes for fear of suffering through a relapse of the steam coated memories that would haunt her for weeks. Applejack opened her eyes to find the girl fully dressed and standing there rubbing her arm and avoiding her gaze.

“Would ya like the apology or the explanation first…?” AJ asked trying to meet her eyes. Applejack was a master at clearing her head by now and it was easy enough to look at the girl before her without seeing her as naked as a jay bird.

“I don’t particularly care so long as I get both.” Rarity replied crossing her arms and managing to meet AJ’s eyes. Those were safe. As long as she kept her eyes on hers then her mind wouldn’t try and embarrass her with crass images.

“Well in that case Ah’m explainin’ first, ya see Ah just finished a pretty good work out with RD in the little gym down the hall. And while we were in there we got inta some pretty deep territory conversation wise and when Ah came inta here to shower off the grime mah mind was already occupied so Ah wasn’t payin’ attention to whether or not it was already occupied. Ah am really sorry Rare, Ah honestly didn’t mean to barge in or nothin’… It was just an accident.” AJ finished her eyes never leaving Rarity’s. Rarity stayed silent for a few more seconds before sighing and bringing a hand to crest on her forehead. Her hand was quickly covered in a deep blue aura the same color as her eyes and she brought it up to meet Applejacks cheek. The farmer flinched shutting her eyes tightly thinking the girl was going to slap her on the very same cheek again, but this time with magic channeled into it to make it hurt even worse. She was surprised when she felt a gentle touch on her cheek instead and then a numbing sensation went through it.

“It isn’t much because I’m not all that good with healing magic, but this should take the pain away for a bit.” Rarity explained when Applejack opened her eyes again. She took her hand away and the redness in the tanned freckled cheek had faded. “Did I hurt you at all when I kicked you…?” she asked. It took Applejack a few seconds to process her question and formulate a response.

“Huh…?” Okay, so maybe it wasn’t much of a response. Rarity pointed to her stomach.

“When I kicked you, I’ve been enrolled in martial arts for a few years now, I know my kicks can hurt, so did I injure you when I kicked you out of the bathroom…?” She asked after she explained her sapphire eyes concerned now.

“Oh, nah. Mac’s kicked me around a lot worse than that before. And inta a lot sturdier stuff than that bed frame too. No offense to the princess’ choice in bed frames.” She added quickly like they could hear her. Rarity sighed in relief.

“Well that’s one good thing then…” her face quickly heated up as a memory involuntarily resurfaced when she noticed how tightly the orange tank top fit the farmer. “And there it goes again… I wonder if Twilight knows any spells for erasing memories…” ‘Although I wouldn’t necessarily mind keeping them if only to see that toned-‘ she physically slapped herself to stop the thoughts from continuing any further. Applejack looked taken back by the action. “Sorry darling, but it’s going to take a bit for me to fully compose myself again after that… why don’t you go take your own shower…? I’ll just head back out into the main cabin.” She said walking over to pick up her white calf length boots that leaned against the bed.

“Hehe, sure thing sugar cube, care ta’ join me…?” she asked before she slapped a hand over her mouth when she realized she’d said that out loud. Her green eyes widened as she saw Rarity slowly stand back up and turn towards her slowly her blue eyes the scariest ice blue Applejack had ever seen.

“Oh horseapples…” she muttered before Rarity round house kicked her through the hall door.

Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy opened the door to find the dazed looking Apple covered in wood splinters and to see a very pissed looking Rarity through the gaping hole that had been made in the door by the Apple’s body. Rainbow whistled as she looked over the farmer at her feet.

“What the hell did you do to set HER off…?” she asked offering out her hand to the blonde to help her up.

“Ah opened mah big mouth when Ah shouldn’t have an’ now she’s probably gonna attempt ta murder me.” Applejack replied like she was accepting her fate. Fluttershy peeked in through the hole in the door.

“Oh my… Rarity… calm down please.” She soothed after she stepped through it and into the bedroom. Twilight, Pinkie, Spike, and Luna all came rushing into the hall to see what the commotion was about.

“Oh my dear sweet Celestia what happened in here?!” she asked in shock when she saw the destroyed door and the splinter covered farmer.

“Ah just signed mah death petition, would ya like to stay and watch…?” AJ asked with haunted hallow eyes. Luna stepped forward.

“No one’s dying on this trip unless I order it…” She muttered as she used her magic to open the door and float all the pieces of it that had been scattered to repair it while she looked over at Rarity who had frozen when she came into the room. Her teal eyes glowed and both the fashionista and the farmer’s eyes closed and they fell over, Rarity onto the bed and Applejack backwards into Rainbow who caught her. Twilight looked up at the alicorn questioningly. “I’ve put them into a sleep that will transport them into a dual dream platform. There they can sort out whatever issues they seem to have. They’ll wake up when they’ve made up.” She explained walking back out the now fully repaired door. “Put them both in the bed until then.” She ordered over her shoulder like it was an afterthought. Twilight groaned and levitated the pair into the bed. Spike was the first to notice the error in this.

“Isn’t putting them in the same bed a bad idea if they were just fighting like that…?” he asked not wanting either of them, particularly Rarity, to be injured. Twilight shrugged.

“Luna said they’ll only wake up if they’ve made up… So they should be fine… in theory.” She added quietly. Spike seemed to accept the answer and they all walked out into the hall shutting the door behind them. Luna popped her head out of the media room.

“Hey, who wants to start up a multiplayer battle on Melee…?” she asked. Pinkie, Dash, and Spike bolted for the room and Twilight and Fluttershy followed at a slower pace wanting to watch the group battle of the century unfold.

Rarity opened her eyes to find herself in some kind of field. She sat and stood up looking around at her surroundings. The field was beautiful, she had to admit that. The starry night sky stretched endlessly and the field itself seemed like a reflection of it due to the thousands of glowing lunar flowers that bloomed through it. The moon however was oddly huge, it sat high in the sky and it looked far closer than it should have been. Obviously this was a dream as she had been in a jet only a minute ago and now she was in some place she’d never seen before. She wagered it had been Luna who put her here. Like a time out box. But… if it was a time out box then where was Applejack?

She felt a wind blow past her carrying her long purple curls with it and she turned around to see the taller girl standing beside a tree that skirted the edge of the field. Rarity was still mad at her and made it known with a sharp glare. But Applejack didn’t flinch. She just walked towards her until she stood just a few feet in front of her and stopped. Emerald met sapphire and Rarity felt herself freeze when she saw the hollowed out look in her eyes.

“Aren’t you going to finish what you started…?” AJ asked after a while.

Rarity blinked and shook her head. “No… You already regret it well enough. I’m not so out of control that I’ll kick someone when they’re down. Its un lady like anyways.” She replied simply. “So wipe that glum of your face darling, it’s starting to scare me.” She sighed. Applejack blinked her eyes brightening a bit but still retaining their guilty look.

“Ah still shouldn’t have said that… Ah knew how sensitive you’ve been lately. Normally Ah have a big barrier separating mah thoughts from what Ah’m sayin… but Ah didn’t even think about that one. It just flew out after bein’ with Dash and getting’ used ta swappin’ sarcasm…” AJ grumbled to herself as she crossed her arms and unknowingly pouted her lip slightly. Rarity couldn’t help but chortle a bit at that and it caught the attention of Applejack pretty quickly as she tried to hide it.

“I’m sorry darling it’s just… you sound so much like a child right now. It was a rather funny image of seeing you pouting like that only much smaller and a tad pudgier.” She giggled. Applejack blushed furiously.

“AH WAS NOT PUDGY!!! Granny fed me pies until Ah burst when Ah was little but Ah was never pudgy…!!!” she shouted defending herself quicker than Rarity had expected. She smirked a little and walked up to the farmer.

“Oh really now…? So are you saying that if when we get back I go over to your house and ask Granny Smith to see your old photo album you’ll have no objections whatsoever…?” she asked with a devious look in her eyes. Applejack didn’t like that look.

“Th-That’s completely off topic! You’ve no right to subject me to those weighted questions…!” Applejack fumed her southern drawl vanishing and being replaced by a perfect Canterlot accent instead. Rarity was taken back and Applejack didn’t seem realize she had switched accents.

“So… that’s a no then…?” she prompted.

“Of course it’s a no! Do you have any idea what my grandmother keeps in those albums…? She has pictures of me and Macintosh in the BATH for Faust’s sake! I can only imagine the kind of blackmail you’d use against me if you saw them and… you’re… you’re staring at me oddly…” Applejack commented when she noticed the distant dreamy look in Rarity’s eyes. Rarity quickly caught herself and snapped out of it.

“Oh, terribly sorry, I was a bit lost in thought there, I’m going over the possible reason’s one would suddenly switch accents when they go into a distressed emotional state.” Rarity announced with a slight sideways glance at the blonde.

“Why on earth would you-?” she stopped and seemed to hear herself talk for the first time. “Shit…” she muttered in her southern accent. “Okay, what’s it gonna take fer you ta keep quiet on this…?” she asked the magic user with a sigh.

“Hmmm… nothing.” Rarity stated flatly after tapping her chin in thought.

“What?! Come on Rare, there has to be SOMETHING you want me to do…!” AJ cried in alarm.

“No darling, you misunderstand. I mean you don’t HAVE to do anything. I’m perfectly capable of keeping this between us with just the sanctity of our friendship holding it afloat. Despite the appearance dear I’m NOT a shallow broad.” She sighed with a roll of her eyes. “I also already forgave you for the incident that landed us here by the way.” Rarity added as she walked towards a group of lunar flowers that grew together. Applejack was slack jawed as she stared at the girl’s back.

“Ah-Ah… but you…-!!! Oh forget it… Thank you Rarity.” Applejack said with a smile. She wasn’t going to fight this. She could see the truth in her eyes when she said it so she knew it wasn’t a lie. She smiled and walked over beside where Rarity was and the shorter girl looked over at her as she bent down and picked one of the flowers off by its stem. She examined it for a few seconds before she looked over at Rarity for a second. She reached over and gently slipped the flower behind her ear so the petals seemed to bloom from her hair. She smiled when Rarity looked at her confused. “Consider it a present, a flower for the one who reflects its beauty best.”

Rarity’s face heated up a bit and she averted her eyes from the farmer to hide her reaction. “If you keep teasing me like this I’ll have to knock you through another door Abigail…” she muttered. Applejack chuckled and smiled down at her gently.

“Who ever said anythin’ about teasing you…?” she asked. Before Rarity could ask what she meant however the world around the two of them shifted and blurred. In a jolt Rarity had opened her eyes again and she found herself sitting up in the bed of the cabin she’d fought with Applejack in. She felt something stir beside her and Applejack sat up and looked around confused for a moment before she saw Rarity sitting next to her.

“Damn… guess that wasn’t just a dream after all…” she sighed as she stretched her limbs and stood from the bed. Rarity stood up as well and glanced at the alarm clock beside the bed to see how much time had passed.

“EHHHHHH?!?!?!” She exclaimed in disbelief effectively startling Applejack who turned to her quickly.

“What…?! Did you chip a nail or somethin’…?” she asked in confusion.

“Heavens no, that would be horrendous, but look at the time…! We must have slept through the entire flight! It’s almost the arrival time!” she said pointing at the clock which read just a little past seven PM.

“Whoa… that Luna sure does know how to make a potent sleep spell.” She said scratching her head. She quickly noticed the lack of a certain important accessory and felt rather naked. “Uhhh, Rare, where’d ya put mah hat when Ah asked you to watch it fer me…?” she questioned. Rarity walked over and opened up the small closet that adorned the entrance of the bathroom. She pulled the hat off a shelf it had been sitting on as well as her large purse. She tossed the hat at Applejack who caught it and put it on. “Whew, that feels much better… we should get back to the others now.” She announced as she walked towards the door. Rarity wanted to stop her to ask what she meant in the dream but AJ was already in the hall. Rarity followed and nearly bumped into her when she stopped suddenly in front of the door that lead into the media room. They both heard arguing from inside.

“That isn’t fair…! Stop cheating already!” Dash’s voice groaned from inside.

“She’s using her freaky powers to over whelm us! We should team up to take her down!” Spike insisted.

“The princess of the night does NOT lose to newbs…!” Luna hissed. Rarity and Applejack exchanged a look of confusion before they opened the door to see what exactly was going on. They found three of the gamers standing up and shouting at the screen as they unleashed furies of attacks on the remaining member, who just happened to be Pinkie Pie who was grinning from ear to ear as her character on the screen (Kirby) Sparkled and shimmered the effects having absolutely no effect on her.

“Oh god she’s got a star!!! Run!!! Run for your pathetic virtual lives…!!!” Spike shouted as Pinkie charged up some kind of beam and the screen went completely blank with whiteness. The title screen came up announcing that she had won and she had a winning streak of over two hundred games.

“Wow, that was fun guys! I thought this game was gonna be boring but it was totally fun! What time is it anyways…?” she asked looking around. Twilight sat up from the couch her hair a mess and her breezy lavender blouse askew from what looked like many hours of watching them all play. Fluttershy was sitting on the other side looking rather sleepy as well.

“Just past seven… you guys have been playing for eight hours straight.” Twilight groaned.

“Huh, that’s weird… I could have sworn it was only like an hour or two… oh well, hey doesn’t that mean we’ll be landing soon?” Rainbow asked Luna.

She opened her mouth to respond but Captain Skyline came on over the intercom before she could. “Alright girls and boy, we’ll be landing here shortly so I’ll ask you to secure your belongings and take your seats in the main cabin yet again before we begin out decent.” He announced.

“Well, guess that answers that. Oh, hey you two! You slept through all the fun!” Pinkie laughed bouncing up to the pair that still stood in the door way. Applejack laughed and scratched the back of her head as they all walked back to the cabin to take their seats.

“Hehe… Ah guess we did, are you gonna sit near the window this time so you can watch the landing…?” Applejack asked her fellow earth-bound.

“Duh…! I only got glimpses of the take off! There’s no WAY I’m letting Twilight hog the window seat this time…!” Pinkie responded as she bounced over to their section and promptly claimed the seat Twilight had once occupied. Twilight rolled her eyes and took the aisle seat. Fluttershy walked beside Rarity and noticed something tucked behind her ear.

“Oh my… Rarity where ever did you get such a pretty flower…?” She breathed as she saw the glowing white flower against the deep purple curls.

“Flower…?” she questioned bringing her hand to where Fluttershy was staring. She felt the soft petals of the very flower Applejack had given her tucked tightly behind her ear. Her eyes widened and Luna passed by her giving her a soft smile and a wink before she sat down across from Twilight. Rarity stuttered terribly as her face reddened in embarrassment and she quickly responded to her Shy friend. “It was a present from the princess…” she muttered. Fluttershy accepted this answer with a smile and hovered over to her seat beside Dash. Rarity took her seat beside Applejack and spoke through gritted teeth so Spike wouldn’t hear them. “Why didn’t you tell me the flower was there…?” she whispered.

“‘Cause it looked too pretty ta’ have you rip it out in embarrassment." Applejack responded quietly as she gazed out the window at the dark sea that churned far below the jet. Rarity’s face flushed more and she resorted to just staring at her feet in silence as the plane descended. Behind her Pinkie spoke up after a few seconds of observation.

“Uhhh, Princess, aren’t we supposed to be landing on some big run way…? Why are we nose diving into the ocean…?” Pinkie asked a slight hint of worry in her tone.

“WE’RE WHAT?!?!?!” Fluttershy screamed before she started hyperventilating and Dash effectively glared at Pinkie for doing so. Luna sighed and shook her head.

“Be calm my little ones, this plane is the combination of the greatest technology in the world, it has adaptations that can make it land anywhere, land, sea, forest, desert. Our run way strip is anywhere we choose. We’re NOT crash landing in the ocean.” She explained with a reassuring smile given towards Fluttershy who was still hyperventilating as Dash was grumbling to herself and pulling something out of her jacket pocket. She produced an inhaler and handed it to Fluttershy who took it quickly and took a good lungful of the restoring medicine.

“Pinkie, I swear to Celestia if you ever pull something like that again I’m throwing you out of the plane myself. You could have killed Fluttershy!” Rainbow growled at the pink haired girl.

“Sorry Dashie!! How was I supposed to know she-?!” Her apology was cut off as they all felt the plane jerk as it met the sparkling waters of the ocean. Her attention quickly went back to the window. “Aw man! I missed the landing…!” she whined. Dash growled even more but was stopped by a soft hand on her arm. She turned to see Fluttershy now mostly recovered from her little panic attack.

“It’s alright Dashie… I’ll be fine and she didn’t mean to- meep!” she squealed when she felt the plane jerk to a halt her wings almost slapping Dash across the face as they reacted to her panic. Dash groaned as Skyline’s voice came on over the intercom again.

“Good morning everyone, I’d like to be the first to welcome you to the beautiful city of Marseille, it’s about 2 AM here, the weather forecast predicts sunny skies and mild temperatures of about 80 degrees for the day, and I just received word that your private boat is about three docks away from the one we’re currently stationed at waiting to take you to the island when you’re ready. Your bags are already being transferred as we speak.” The captain reported. “Please remember to collect all your belongings before exiting and try not to crowd the exit. That means you Miss Dashington.” He finished just as Dash was standing up from her seat. She had taken a small break from her gaming session a few hours ago to acquaintance herself with the pilots. Her apparent enthusiasm with flying and natural brash personality had made quite the impression on both them and the flight attendants.

While she grumbled under her breath and grabbed her back pack out of the storage compartment above her and slid it over her shoulder while handing a creamy yellow knitted bag embroidered with three pink butterflies to Fluttershy. The others collected their belongings and started to make their way out of the plane and into the salty air of the sea side city. Rarity of course was one of the first to express her fondness for the city.

“Oh my Celestia this place is even more gorgeous at night~! Just look at the way the water reflects the city lights like the night sky! And the white beaches remain just as pristine as the post cards! It’s wondrous, it’s breath taking it’s-!”

“Awesome, yeah we get it, look! I think I can see the boat from here!” Rainbow called flying up a bit and looking down the docks. Twilight produced a luminous orb so she could see better.

“How far Rainbow…?” she called levitating the orb up to the flyer.

“Uhhh, just like Sky said! It’s three docks in that direction!” she pointed towards the opposite end where Twilight had been looking. “Except it doesn’t really look like a boat to me…” she added.

“Of course it’s a boat Dashie! What ELSE would be in a dock except a boat…? Or a plane.” Pinkie asked with a roll of her eyes.

“A yacht.” Luna replied throwing her midnight blue bag over her shoulder and taking to the skies. Rarity was gone like lightning, Pinkie close behind, and Applejack had to hold her hat on her head by the wind force the two had created by speeding off like that.

“Oh boy… this is gonna be an interestin’ trip alright… We’d best hurry on over there too before they get too caught up in that fancy schmancy stuff again…” Applejack sighed as she walked down the pier towards where the two girls had run off to. Fluttershy, Twilight, Spike, and Dash shrugged and followed.

They arrived at the dock to find that Luna wasn’t kidding about the yacht thing. It was like a mini cruise liner actually, about 1000 feet in length, and over 10,000,000 square feet in deck space and cabins to explore around in the thing could have easily housed the entire royal guard and their princesses if it needed to. The princesses were obviously used to traveling in style.

Luna was speaking with the captain, a well built man in his twilight years with teal hair that had white and grey streaks through it and faded green eyes, and his crew on the deck while Rarity stood fanning herself with her hand and Pinkie was zipping all over the ship in a way only she could. One second she’d be on the lookout point at the very top of the ship, the next she’d be on the tallest diving board of the main deck’s large swimming pool. She waved to her friends and grinned as she dived in clothes and bags in hand, landed in the water of the pool and then leapt out of the sea water and landed neatly on the deck dry as can be.

“Look guys! That ship has EVERYTHING! Even I’ve only gotten half way through it already!” she sang happily while Twilight’s mind was still trying to process just what kind of black magic Pinkie used. AJ laughed as she walked past her fellow earth bound and up the stairs to the deck.

“That sounds pretty big Pinkie, why don’t you give us the grand tour…? Come on Rare, the ship’s gonna set sail without ya if ya just stand there with your mouth open like a bass!” the farmer called over her shoulder as she ascended.

Rarity snapped out of it as everyone walked past her and onto the ship as well. Well, Rainbow flew but still. She boarded and with everyone on board the stairs was raised and the captain smiled as he addressed the girls and Spike in his thick French accent.

“Ah, good evening my fair ladies and young gentleman, I welcome you aboard the S.S. Equestria, the oldest but most advanced yacht to ever sail the seas, my name is Vents Voile, or Sailing Winds in your language, you may call me Captain Vents if you wish, this is my first mate Brise de Mer and my deck hands Riptide, Sea Song, and Wave Crasher.” He said pointing to a woman of average looks with sky blue hair and matching eyes and wings, a male magic user with hair as dark as the night sky and silver eyes, an earth bound woman with sea green hair and warm pink eyes, and another winged male whose white hair got in the way of his dark blue eyes. “The princess has already told you of our destination no? It is none other than the royal isle of Déesse Paradis. An island that the royal sisters themselves have used for many a century to escape the everyday burdens that come with being royalty. The estimated time of travel is just over one hour. We leave in five minutes. Please make yourself at home.” He finished with a deep bow. The crew did the same and smiled at them all. Luna smiled and introduced the group to them as well.

“Crew, this is Twilight Sparkle, Spike, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, and the one you’ve been staring at oddly for the last five minutes while she scoped out your ship is Pinkie Pie.” She announced. Pinkie beamed and bounced a little at the sound of her name. The crew gave her a few funny looks and none of her friends could really blame them. Twilight had been around her for months now and she still questioned the intentions of someone who had such a blatant disregard for the laws of physics. She did however step forward to shake the captain’s hand.

“Thank you once again for having us aboard captain, I’ll be sure to remind my friends to behave themselves as much as possible.” Twilight said tilting her head to indicate the six behind her who for their part could have halos floating above their heads. Well… Fluttershy could have. But Pinkie quickly disappeared into the unknown, Dash was giving each of the crew members a once over, Applejack moseyed off to watch the churning dark waters, Rarity was gushing about the elegant nature of the ship, and Spike was breathing small flames and watching the amusing shocked faces of the crew as he did so.

Captain Vents chuckled a bit at their antics. “I’m sure you shall Madame Sparkle, although I can see that my crew and I are in for quite the show if you do not succeed.” He laughed as Pinkie popped out of a hatch on the deck.

“Twilight! It’s so awesome! There’s this huge glass room at the way bottom where you can see everything under water!” she called. Fluttershy perked at that and flew over quickly to where Pinkie was.

“Can I see please…?” she asked timidly but with clear excitement in her eyes.

“Sure! Just follow me down the rabbit hole!” the poofy haired girl replied with a huge grin. Brise leaned towards her captain to whisper.

“Captain… isn’t that the hatch that leads to the boiler room…? The one to the underwater observation level is over there… right…?” she asked her soft voice also heavily hinted with the native tongue.

“But of course it is dear, but Madame Pinkie is famous for her natural ability to make the impossible possible. It is best not to question her too much.” He replied with a heart chuckle at the young woman’s concerned face.

Rainbow was now nose to nose with the tall form of Wave Crasher as she flew about a foot off the ground to meet his eyes. “So big guy, you ever race with those wings or do you just use ‘em to get around this ship…?” she asked the white haired man. He glanced at her and spoke with a thick accent, but one from a lot further south than France.

“Well ain’t you just a feisty little sheila…? I’ll have you know I was the best flier in my little bungalow of a town back down under.” He replied with a confident smirk on his face his white wings in the fight or flight position. Rainbow smirked back.

“In that case you ready for a race against the fastest flier in all of Equestria…?” she retorted with a flare of her own wings.

“Is a Roo the fiercest critter you’ll ever have the misfortune of boxing…?” he asked in return. Rainbow tilted her head to the side in confusion. “That’s a yes Seppo.” He sighed with a roll of his eyes as he took off. But a fast hand grabbed him by the ankle and slammed him back into the deck.

“Not today ya damn Aussie, today you’re staying dis here deck and cleanin’ up dat mess ya made last night with yer poker game ya held with them French gal’s from the city.” Sea Song snarled her Boston accent thick when she did so. “Sorry ta be displeasin’ ya Miss Dash.” She said addressing the rainbow haired Pegasus while she dragged the male in her hold off to the depths of the hold.

“Whoa… who pissed in her cheerios…?” Applejack asked as Dash landed beside her, having heard the whole exchange. A hearty laugh came behind them and the voice addressed them with the familiar tone of a fellow Equestrian.

“Ignore those two, they’re always fighting over one thing or another. Probably because Crasher is a born idiot, and Sea has the temperament of a rhino. But she’s got a beautiful voice when you get her to calm down enough to sing.” Riptide laughed as he levitated a good length of rope to his hands. Rainbow and AJ shared a look of confusion.

“So, what’s your story, how’d you end up on a ship filled with so many oddballs…?” Rainbow asked the only seemingly normal crew member. He shrugged.

“I’m pretty weird too, just not in temperament.” He replied as he lassoed the rope and threw it behind him without a single glance back and it came around Pinkie’s waist just as she sprung out of the hatch she had disappeared into. He tightened it and dragged her to where they stood and held her up to eye level. “I’d appreciate it Miss Pie if you kept your antics out of our ship’s inner workings. We don’t need whoopee cushions in our gears, confetti blasting out of our propulsion jets, or any of the other various ‘surprises’ you’ve already installed in here.” He lectured the pink haired energy demon. Her friends all had their mouths hung open in shock and Pinkie seemed to deflate a bit at that and pouted her lip as she crossed her arms.

“Fine party pooper…” she huffed before disappearing in a burst of confetti. He calmly wound the rope back up and tilted the sailor’s cap he wore at the remaining girls before he walked away whistling a merry tune.

They all stared in shock at the falling remaining confetti for a few remaining seconds before Applejack spoke up. “Anyone else feel like they need a drink of something mighty strong to forget whatever the hell that just was…?” she asked. They all nodded and quickly dispersed to find the closest drink station.

The group all settled into the boat nicely and the trip seemed to pass by in a flash. Fluttershy never left the underwater observation room and listed each species of underwater life she saw with a professional air about her that even Rainbow was stunned about when she had come down to join her shortly after drinking a tall glass of red bull. Pinkie spent her time trying to lay out more pranks through the ship only to have Riptide casually walk by and stop her whenever she did. It was clear a war was erupting between the two and Pinkie for the first time in her life was actually met even. Twilight and Luna spent their time in the library discussing the selection they had on board. Rarity was dancing around the ship in awe at it all, from the grand ball room it had to the elegant art displays it housed Rarity was entranced with it all. Applejack however took her sweet time just walking along the deck and watching the ocean go by as she kept a firm hand on her hat so it wouldn’t fly off. It was also no surprise then that she was the first to spot the island in the distance. She pulled out her phone and notified the others of the sight. In less than a minute all were on deck and watching the fast approaching island.

Spike appeared from wherever he had been hiding out, most likely the kitchen due to the frosting at the corners of his mouth, and he gasped in wonder at the sight of it. “Whoa… Luna that place is HUGE!!!” he exclaimed. The princess of the night laughed and nodded.

“Indeed it is. The island itself is about 500 square miles, sports a large natural tropical rainforest and long sandy white beaches, and the house you see there that’s built into the Cliffside is where we’ll be staying. I’ll tell you all more about it when we get inside.” She explained with a small giggle. Fluttershy’s eyes widened at the mentioning of a rainforest. That meant animals, lots and lots of new animals to befriend. To Twilight it meant thousands of new plant species to study, for Rainbow and Applejack it meant tons of time spent surfing or exploring the island in hikes, Pinkie was already planning a house warming party, and Rarity was trying to stay conscious through the luxurious nature of it all.

The boat docked and they found a group awaiting their arrival. Rainbow groaned and leaned towards Twilight. “Just how many people did Celestia recruit to pamper us this week?!” she asked. Twilight did a little mental check list.

“Including the crews of the plane and ship… 50 servants in total. Four on the plane, five on the ship, and 41 here on the island, including personal servants for each of us, maids, cooks, a small medic team, and workers for the facilities like the spa.” Twilight explained. Rarity officially over loaded and fainted with Applejack promptly catching her before she could fall back.

“Ah think ya might’ve over loaded her a bit Twi.” The blonde chuckled as she carried the smaller girl bridal style towards the docking stairs. Servants were taking their bags into the house already and a tall older man with slicked back grey hair and a formal suit that just SCREAMED butler waited for them. Twilight smiled recognizing him straight away as did Spike.

“Oliver! Did the princess put you out here or did you choose to come when you heard who was coming…?” she giggled walking up to him and hugging him tightly. The older man chuckled and returned the hug.

“I might have requested it after you being gone from the palace for so long my dear, look how you’ve grown! Are these the friends Celestia talks about so much now a days…?” he laughed as he nodded to the others behind her. And returned the bro fist Spike offered him.

“Yes~! Everyone, I’d like you all to meet Oliver Codsworth, he was mine and Spike’s personal caretaker when we stayed at the palace, though he’s a lot more like a grandfather to us than anything. Oliver this is Rainbow, Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and the one who’s passed out in Applejack’s arms is Rarity. She’s the one I told you about that has a thing for our life style.” She explained with a light giggle. Her friends all greeted the butler in their own ways and he bowed in response.

“It’s a pleasure to meet the fine young ladies who have been taking care of my crazy grandchildren for these last couple of months. I know they can be… odd at times so I thank you for putting up with them. Twilight and Spike were nodding in agreement until they heard him say that last part.

“Hey!” they exclaimed in unison.

“So! With introductions out of the way, let us show you to the house. It’s quite beautiful out here as you can see. Luna and Celestia actually made this island themselves using their combined magics, time did all the rest though, like the native animals that migrated here, or the exotic plants that have grown up here. But the house has been the pride and joy of the island for over three hundred years. It has of course recently undergone extensive remodeling as you can see by the modern structure, and it is now over 500,000 square feet and- oh my, will she be alright…?” he asked noticing that Rarity had started to wake up only to hear him say that and nearly faint again. Applejack glanced down at her and nodded as the fashionista tried to keep her head.

“Yeah, Ah reckon’ she’s just a might tired from all the traveling.” AJ responded with a curt nod at the butler.

“Ah, then perhaps I should escort you all to your rooms so that you can get your rest. We can go over the finer details over everything once you’ve all had a decent amount of sleep. I can already see Spike is very weary.” He chuckled as he noticed the young boy’s eye lids drooping and a wide yawn spreading over his face.

Twilight nodded feeling the travels catching up to her as well. “I think that would be best actually… I’m sorry we couldn’t be more awake for your grand tour Oliver.” She said before she had to stifle a yawn of her own. Oliver shook his head in dismissal and guided them to a set of stairs that led up into the house, they all climbed them until they came to the patio and then walked through the open glass doors that led into the living room that was surrounded by large glass panes that looked over the entire beach an ocean. It truly was a beautiful sight, too bad they were all much too tired to really notice. They were lead into the extensive house and into a hall that had doors all along it. He pointed to the third door on the left side of the hall.

“That one there is Miss Belle’s; her bags have already been deposited inside so you can set her in there Miss Apple.” He reported. Applejack nodded and took the semi-conscious girl inside, ignoring the fact that the room was elegant enough to be a close contender with the palace’s private suite’s, and laying her down on the plush white sheets of the bed before she exited the room and shut the door tightly behind her. He gave them all the rest of their rooms and the group dispersed accordingly. Even Pinkie looked exhausted at this point.

With all the girls, and Spike, retired for the night Luna decided to take the ample opportunity to take a long shower and then call up her sister on Skype to tell her they’d made it to the island safely. She sat cross legged on her bed with her laptop balanced on her knee as she brushed through her long teal hair and waited for her sister to pick up the call. It clicked and Celestia’s face appeared too close to the screen.

“Oh come on, connect already you-!!! Oh, hello Luna. The computer refused to let me accept the call for a bit.” She explained backing up to reveal she was in a similar position as her sister, having just retired to her quarters for the night. Luna rolled her eyes as she continued to brush through her hair.

“I see you still have issues with modern technology, ironic considering you’ve been here the whole time wouldn’t you say…?” Luna laughed. Celestia made a face and crossed her arms.

“It isn’t my fault the thing’s hate me. I have an affinity for LIVING being’s in case you forgot sister. Luna dramatically gasped setting down her brush and reaching to cover the sides of her computer like it had ears.

“Don’t call my babies dead Tia! They’re just as alive as you are!” she protested in a half joking manner. Celestia rolled her eyes before switching the conversation over.

“So how’d the flight go…? Anything interesting happen…?”

Luna got a broad smirk on her face and a gleam in her eyes. “Oh you have no idea… let’s start with the most oblivious couple of the group, Fluttershy and Dashie…”

It wasn’t until almost noon that the group began to awaken from their dreams, the sunlight that filtered in through their windows was probably a key factor for that. Five girls and one boy stumbled our of their rooms one by one and found their way to the dining room where breakfast was already laid out for all of them. The food helped them all wake up properly and it wasn’t until Luna came down already eating an apple that they noticed someone was missing.

“Uhhh, guys, where’s Pinkie? I’d have thought she’d be bouncing all over here by now.” Rainbow asked pausing mid bite of her bacon. The others all exchanged looks of confusion as they realized for the first time that the pink haired ball of energy was in fact missing from the table. Twilight looked over at Oliver who was standing by the door.

“Has she come out of her room yet…?” she asked. Oliver shook his head.

“No, Pinkamena has yet to even awaken yet from what I can gather.” He replied. “Would you like us to send her a wake up call…?” he offered to the purple haired student.

“Nah, no need. I’ll just go up there and wake her myself.” Rainbow responded standing up in her cyan pajama shorts and matching tank top before walking out the door and heading back towards the rooms. The others resumed eating until they heard Rainbow scream loudly in which case they all dropped their silverware and food and ran for where they heard the screams. They found Dash curled up in a ball rocking back and forth at the end of the hall mumbling to herself. Fluttershy was at her side instantly.

“Dash, Dashie what’s the matter?!” she asked gently shaking the girl in her petrified state. Rainbow slowly raised a shaky finger to point at the door her magenta eyes wide with terror.

“TH-T-THAT ISN’T PINKIE!!!!!!” She shrieked. The others looked confused now but their attention was averted when Pinkie’s door swung open and she emerged from it. They watched in stunned horror as a girl of Pinkie’s height and build, but with long straight pink hair instead of its normal poof, took two steps into the hall, looked around her eyes glazed over like she was still asleep, and then walked towards the kitchen. The group exchanged looks before cautiously following her. She walked straight into the kitchen, ignoring all the cooks who stared at her funny, and walked right over to the pots of coffee that were set up on burners. She took one of the full pots and then picked up the milk and sugar and poured them all in until the coffee was creamy and sweet enough to kill a normal person. She then chugged the entire pot with disregard to its temperature and repeated the process to another pot her hair getting slightly wavy after downing the first one. After the third pot of the coffee concoction she smacked her lips a few times staring at the wall before her eyes sparked to life and her hair inflated like a balloon. She looked around the room confused before she spotted her friends staring at her slack jawed and mortified.

“What…? It takes A LOT to get me back to normal in the morning!” she defended herself as she picked up another pot and repeated the process yet again, but this time sipped from it instead of just chugging it.

“Twi…” Applejack asked through the corner of her mouth.

“Y-yes…?” the magic user whispered back.

“She IS human… right?” AJ asked eyeing the girl suspiciously.

“Yes… yes she is…” Twilight responded with only slight hesitation.

“That only makes it all the more terrifying.” Applejack responded before walking back towards the dining room to finish her breakfast.

The others all nodded in agreement and followed her example. When breakfast was completed and Pinkie had explained about her morning issues they all discussed what they’d be doing the first day.

“Well I propose, in the true fashion of Spring Break, we all spend our day down on the beach!” Rarity put out having finished her meal. The others all nodded in agreement.

“Totally, it looks like it’ll be an awesome day for surfing! Hey, butler dude, what’s the swell like today?” Rainbow asked turning to Oliver.

“Prime conditioning for surfing young madam.” He responded as he was pouring another glass of apple juice for AJ.

“Perfect, I’m gonna go change then!” the speedster beamed before she took off for her room. The others laughed at her natural energy for the day and eventually they all got up to get ready as well.

Of course Dash ended up waiting impatiently by the door in her swim trunks and bikini top, she also had a pair of swim goggles around her neck. Applejack came out in orange swim shorts that stopped mid-thigh, and a matching top piece similar to Dash’s but had the same three red apples the adorned her arm were outlined on the right side.

“Ughhhh, you’re all too slow! How long does it take to put on swim suits?!” the pegasus groaned tapping her bare foot impatiently.

Rarity’s voice came from the house as she emerged in her full white bikini with a matching towel that her mark embroidered in the corner of it draped around her neck. “Sorry Rainbow dear, but some of us also had to apply tanning oil to make sure we don’t burn like lobsters out in this sun.” she scoffed. While AJ was trying to regain her motor reflexes after seeing her crush in such an outfit Fluttershy emerged in a very similar one but it was the same soft yellow she usually wore. Rainbow was the equally as stunned but had the mind to avert her eyes and try to watch the waves while Fluttershy nervously shuffled her feet. “Oh Fluttershy darling, you look marvelous in that one! I told you it would work on you! And- OH MY DEAR SWEET CELESTIA NO!!!!!!!!!” She screamed in horror when she saw Twilight emerge from the house in a full suit that looked like something a diver would wear but was striped like a candy cane with bright green and yellow that clashed terribly with her naturally tanned skin.

Twilight looked down at herself and frowned putting a hand on her hip. “Oh come on, this is the best suit I own…!” she whined.

“NO!!! NOT IN A MILLION TRILLION YEARS ARE YOU WALKING OUT OF THIS HOUSE DRESSED LIKE THAT!!! GET BACK INSIDE!” Rarity ordered pushing her back inside the house and towards her bedroom. Spike and Pinkie came out seconds later, Pinkie in a bubblegum pink one piece that had bright candies painted all over it, a bright yellow inner tube around her waist, and matching dark blue snorkel, goggles, and flippers. Spike just had on a pair of purple and green swim trunks and his hoodie which was unzipped.

“Oh come on! You’ll let Pinkie go out like THAT but not me in just this?!” Twilight cried in protest.

“That’s very well expected for her and it works with her natural insanity!” Rarity huffed in return. She dragged the girl into her room, grabbed a lavender tankini off the bed and shoved it in Twilights arms before pushing into the adorning bathroom. “Change into this and then give me that ghastly thing to burn!” she ordered. Twilight grumbled but changed anyways. She emerged and handed the suit to Rarity knowing if she didn’t she’d just track it down and burn it anyways. They walked back out and Rarity tossed the suit to Spike. “Burn that and then throw the ashes out to sea so that Twilight can’t bring it back with a spell.” She ordered. Spike saluted her and jumped off the railing of the deck and ran towards the sea with the suit now engulfed in flames.

“Oh come on! isn’t that just a bit over the top?!” Twilight asked crossing her arms.

“Would you have tried…?” Rarity countered.

“. . . Maybe.” Came the response after a bit of grumbling.

“Then no, no it wasn’t. Okay, now has everyone put on their sunblock…?” Rarity asked looking around at the girls. Pinkie nodded but the others all looked at her like she was crazy.

“I’m too cool to burn.” Rainbow announced with a flip of her hair and a confident smirk.

“Ah’ve already got a protective tan from years of workin’ out in the sun.” AJ added.

“I-I’ve never burned before either…” Fluttershy mumbled.

“Same.” Twilight added.

Rarity looked displeased with the almost universal answer. “Well then let’s just- Wait, wasn’t the princess joining us…?” she asked looking around curiously.

“WOOOOOOOOOHOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!” came a large cheer from the crashing waves. They looked over to see Luna already on a long board riding a tall wave to shore and flipping off it in a spiral before it crashed.

“. . . BEST. PRINCESS. EVER!!!” Dash cheered before she spread her wings and took off to where there were surf boards hanging from a platform on the beach. She chose one that matched her wings and suit and ran out into the surf. Applejack chuckled a bit and walked down the stairs to pick out her own board. Fluttershy giggled and smiled at Rarity who was already rubbing her head.

“Come on Rarity, I think I see the perfect tanning spot right over there…” she mused pointing to particular dune. Rarity followed her guidance and Twilight and Pinkie decided to play in the shallows for a bit. Eventually Dash, Luna, and AJ dragged themselves and the boards back to shore and Applejack was laughing as she wrung her hair out.

“That was awesome RD, who taught you how to surf like that…?” she asked the girl who was currently trying to get some water out of her ear.

“Oh, my dad did back when I was waaaaaay little. For an old rich guy he isn’t half bad you know?” Dash responded laughing a bit herself. “What about you Luna, in what day and age did you pick up surfing…?” she asked the moon princess.

“Oh I invented it.” she replied simply as she cast a smell to rid her hair of the water and tossed the stream back into the sea.

“Whaaaaaat?! No way, how’d you do that?!” RD asked in shock.

“Well, being the Lunar Princess has it’s perked, and since the moon controls the ocean and its swells I created a sport about a thousand years ago that revolved around riding them. It’s one of the many reasons we made this island actually, so I could have somewhere to go when I wanted to practice.” She explained sticking the personalized long board into the sand so it wouldn’t get washed away.

“That’s so cool! So wait then… all those killer waves…?” Rainbow asked her jaw dropping in realization. Luna nodded as she smirked and tapped the crest on her forehead.

“All made by me, yes. Some might call it cheating, but I call it using my natural abilities to make things a bit more interesting." Applejack stared in disbelief but Rainbow was grinning from ear to ear as her eyes slid sideways at the others. An evil idea came to mind and she motioned for Luna to lean down to whisper it to her. Luna got the same smirk on her face and turned back to face the ocean. Beside Twilight who had been staring at a tide pool for a little bit Pinkie’s hair stood on end and her right hand twitched.

“Uh-oh…” she muttered. She sank down in her tube and hung on tightly.

“Uh-oh…? Pinkie what’s… oh.” Twilight stopped when she saw the approaching tidal wave. On the beach Fluttershy was just taking a drink from the bus boy she had ordered it from and Rarity sat up a bit her sharp hearing catching something in the distance. She lowered her sunglasses and frowned.

“Oh damn it all.” She cursed startling Fluttershy who looked around curiously before a large shadow blocked out the sun and she couldn’t even get out a scream before the wave washed over all of them and carried them out a bit. They broke the surface about twenty feet out into the sea and Rarity rose slowly from the depths like a pissed off shark with long wet purple hair. She saw Rainbow laughing her ass off on her surfboard which she had got on before the wave came so she could ride it out with them. Beside her Fluttershy looked at her uneasily and Pinkie floated by in her inner tube happy as can be. Rarity’s hand glowed with a dark blue aura and Dash’s surfboard flipped over just as another wave came by effectively trapping her under. A smirk crossed her face before she started to swim back to shore satisfied with her revenge.

Fluttershy was close behind her but got distracted when she saw a particular school of fish swim by and she dived under the sea to get a proper look at them. The water was crystal clear and she was well used to holding her breath for long periods of time from lots of family trips to the beach so it was easy enough to find the school of colorful fish. She then noticed the familiar sight of rainbow hued hair. At the bottom of the sea floor. With her eyes closed. If there was ever a time that Fluttershy moved faster than Rainbow Dash it was right then and there. She swam like a fish and grabbed the girl towing her to the surface and breaking it taking flight with her in arms still unconscious. She flew like a bullet to the shore where the others watched in stunned silence. Fluttershy set her down on the sand away from the pull of the ocean and moved her wet hair out of the way pressing an ear to her chest to listen for a heartbeat. She could hear it and sighed in relief as she moved her head away and Rainbow stirred coughing out water as she did so.

She groaned as she sat up and the others approached quickly concerned for her wellbeing. Rarity wore the look with the most concern, next to Fluttershy of course, since she had caused the girl to go under. Magenta eyes opened and looked around at the friends that surrounded her but locked with Fluttershy’s who were filled with relief from the moment their eyes met. Rainbow frowned slightly deciding to make a joke out of bad situation.

“Please tell me none of you kissed me.” There was a round of groans and one squeak. Rainbow laughed as she sat up and got her bearings again. “Kidding, kidding, but seriously though, which one of you saved me, I didn’t think any of you were close enough.” She asked looking around. The gazes went to Fluttershy who was still blushing. Dash stared at her in disbelief. “YOU, Flutters?! You towed my sorry ass all the way back to shore?!” she asked in shock.

“A-actually I flew you back to shore but-…”

“YOU FLEW?!” she asked in even great shock. Fluttershy squeaked slightly but nodded.

“W-well yes… I don’t really know what came over me… I just kind of… acted. I didn’t really think but… but you’re safe! So it’s alright!” she reasoned with a soft smile on her face. Rainbow had seriously never wanted to kiss her more. Not just for saving her, but for doing what everyone had thought impossible for her to do so. Instead Dash resigned herself to a hug.

“Thank you… Fluttershy.” She choked out through the emotion that had built up in the back of her throat. Fluttershy was shocked, to say the least but got a soft smile on her face as she returned the embrace. Behind their backs Rarity and Applejack gave the pair a thumbs up and a wink, which caused Dash to wink back and Fluttershy to blush heavily. Pinkie and Twilight noticed the exchange between the four and quickly fist bumped before anyone could notice. Spike however was the first to break it up.

“Hey, I’m all for sappy emotional moments especially since Dash hardly ever has them, but can we please get back to beach time? I wanna try my hand at surfing too!” he grinned holding a surf board that fit his short size. Dash quickly released Fluttershy like her skin was acid and averted her gaze back to the boy in an attempt to distract herself.

“Y-yeah, totally. Uh… Luna, go ahead and let the waves go back to normal, I’ll need the little ones to start him off on.” She said addressing the princess who had taken to tanning rather nicely. She waved her hand with her blue aura and the waves seemed to calm a bit as the pair waded out.

“So… why do you wear guy’s trunks instead of swim shorts like Applejack…?” he asked Rainbow as they paddled out.

“I wear those too but I like the style of these better.” She replied with a casual shrug. Okay, now the first thing you gotta do is get your balance… wait, you can swim right?” she asked quickly. Spike frowned at her.

“Seriously…? You think because I pretty much live in a library with Twilight that I don’t know something as easy as swimming…?” he questioned crossing his arms in disapproval.

“Hey, I’ve met grown men that can’t swim, it’s a fair question to ask.” Dash countered. Spike rolled his eyes all the same.

“Yes, I can swim. Basic elemental control remember…?” he said pulling a small ball of water from the ocean and swirling it like a vortex in his hands. “It makes me swim like a fish, and when I get wing’s I’ll be able to soar through the air like an eagle too.” He explained before letting the water go.

“You grow wings?! Dragon’s aren’t just born with them, they can grow them?!” she asked in disbelief.

“Well, some ARE born with them yeah, but Twilight says hybrids don’t get them until we’re teenagers. Which for me won’t be for another ten years or so.” Spike replied his reptilian green eyes staring down at his surf board. “So, are we gonna do this or what?” he asked trying to change the subject.

“Oh, yeah. Okay, first thing’s first. Let’s see… looks like everything’s pretty calm now so this’ll be really easy on you. Stand up on your board and balance yourself. Once you’ve got that down we can move on. if you fall over don’t worry about it just get back on and try again. She said moving her legs to either side of her board so she could watch him while he practiced.

“Got it… so I just- whoa!” he tried standing up only for him to slip off and plummet under the crystal waters. He came back up and took in the air again his spikey hair seeming to repel the water. “That’s really slippery. Okay, let me try that again.” He said getting back on it making sure to account for the slippery surface. He managed to get up on two feet before he wobbled when he tried to stand and fell over again. Rainbow watched in amusement as he tried this at least a dozen more times. She had to give him one thing, the kid was persistent. He finally got to stand up and hold his balance for over a minute. “Hey! I’m doing it Dash! Look at me I’m-!” but in his enthusiasm he lost it and fell back again. Rainbow burst out laughing as he resurfaced.

“Okay, that was gold. Get back on and if you can keep it again we’ll move on.” she ordered. He did so and seemed to grasp the concept well so he stayed on it. “Good, next you need to work on keeping your balance on small waves. Nothing big, just enough to get you moving a bit. We’ll increase the wave size the better you get at it. Go ahead and use your freaky dragon magic to whip up a wave.” She ordered gesturing to the ocean. Spike nodded and stuck out his tongue a bit in concentration, his arms became covered in purple sca
Es as he moved his hand ever so slightly like the waves. A small one formed about ten feet behind him and he crouched a bit like he’d seen Rainbow do before. Rainbow opened her mouth to warm him but the wave already caught his board and he flipped forward and face planted into the water.

“Yeaaaaah, probably should warm you. Don’t try to mimic me. My stance is different from yours because of several reasons, A. I’m bigger than you, B. I have a bigger board than you, and C. the waves I was riding when you saw me do that are bigger than that. Try again but let your stance come naturally. Feel the board under you and feel for your balance. Like riding a bike… assuming you can do that too.” She added quickly. Again Spike frowned at her but took her advice. He produced another wave and tried again. And again. And again. Actually he failed often enough that Rainbow was getting impatient. This wasn’t surprising considering she had little patience to begin with and usually even less with kids. “Okay kid, I think that’s enough for-“

“No! I’m not done yet!” he snapped back before she could finish. A small flicker of a memory popped in her head of a much younger Rainbow Dash face planting repeatedly into the clouds and her father trying to call her in only for her to scream back those exact words. She let a ghost of a smile cross her lips.

“Go on then, wipe out as many times as you want. I’m sure you’ll sleep well tonight because of it.” she sighed waving a hand in dismissal. He did, but surprisingly he got it the next time he tried. He rode the wave all the way back to the shore and beamed when he did so.

“DASH! Did you see that?!” he called as he paddled back over to her. The prismatic haired girl laughed and crossed her arms as she grinned.

“Yeah, I did. Now do it again.” She challenged. He did. Three times in a row. After that she let him slowly increase the size of the waves. Nothing too big, he was still just a kid after all and Twilight would personally send her to the moon if she let her brother do anything to dangerous. She could see the purple haired magic user watching them closely as she and Fluttershy were examining tide pools that collected in between the sand dunes. “Okay hot shot, I think that’s enough for today, we’ve got all week for you to try some more. Why don’t you go play with sea urchins like your sister…?” Rainbow said when he rode the last wave to shore and she paddled up beside him and waded back to the shore.

“Aww… that’s no fun… hey! You think Twilight would let me play under the water for a bit?” he asked.

Rainbow tilted her head in confusion. “Play… UNDER the water…? Kid, I don’t know if you missed what happened about an hour ago where I nearly drowned but generally playing under the water results in loss of life.” Dash responded as she shook the water out of her hair like a dog. Spike laughed at her and shook his head.

“No way, I use my magic so create an air bubble under the water and walk along the bottom of it. It’s like putting myself in a reverse goldfish bowl.” He explained.

“Whoa, that’s handy. But don’t you run out of air eventually…?” she asked.

“Nope, the water’s full of oxygen, I just take it out and put it in the air instead of the water. Don’t tell Twilight that though, she’d freak out if she knew I was doing something as complicated as elemental transfers.” Spike stated quickly. Again Rainbow was confused.

“What’s an elemental transfer…? And Why would Twilight freak out about you doing it…? is it like dark magic or something?” she asked sitting down on the sand. He sat next to her and shook his head.

“No it’s like… well what I just said, taking something out of one element, like oxygen, and butting it into another, like air. And she’d freak out because that’s supposed to be something I’m not able to do until I’m well into my teens.” He explained as he cast his gaze back out into the ocean.

“Whoa… that’s weird. Any idea why you can do it…?”

“Well, I asked Celestia about it once… she said that it’s because of me and Twilight’s connection. See, when magic user’s hatch hybrid eggs the magic they use to hatch us gets absorbed by us and it bonds us with them and gives us a base for our own natural magic. Twilight is… well, it’s pretty obvious she’s freaky good with magic. It’s her special talent for crying out loud! Because she’s got only highly potent magic, but also a vast amount of it built up inside her, my own magic is very advanced for my development… or at least that’s how Celestia explained it to me. Though it does explain a lot right?” he asked turning back to face her. Rainbow nodded deep in thought as her gaze had turned to the purple haired egg head in question. Just how much did she and the others not know about her…? A movement caught her eye and she saw Applejack and Pinkie dragging a large net spread between two metal poles in their arms. Pinkie balanced a volley ball on her head as they walked. Rainbow grinned as she stood and walked towards the two.

“Please tell me this is for what I think it is.” She asked the two earthbound.

“A one of a kind,”

“Super duper totally awesome,”

“Beach Volleyball tournament!!!” they finished at the same time. Their shout caught the attention of the remaining girls and a wicked grin appeared on Luna’s face as she slowly removed her sunglasses and sat up from her towel.

“It would appear I’m about to witness a guy’s fantasy come true… six cute girls in swimsuits playing volleyball on a private island in the middle of nowhere…” She mused. She called over a waiter with her hand. “Bring out an ice chest of sports drinks and water, and a tall mojito for me please.” She ordered. He nodded and quickly darted off for the house while the net was set up and the six girls all gathered around.

“Okay, we all know the rules right…?” RD asked looking around the group. They all nodded having played the sport frequently in gym classes past. “Good, then Applejack and I will be team captains since we’re the athletic one’s around here and probably know what we’re doing best. Now the issue is going to be picking teams… anyone have any ideas…?” she asked looking mostly to Twilight, the epicenter of most good ideas.

“We could draw straws, paint half the bottoms blue and the others orange.” She offered.

“Deal, Spike, go get us straws from the house.” Rainbow ordered. The drake was off in a flash and returned with them moments later along with two small vials of paint, one blue and one orange. The straws were made and drawn and the teams were as follows: Blue team, Rainbow, Pinkie, Twilight. Orange team, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy. It seemed even, each team had a strong, a weak, and a moderate player in them. Or at least, that’s the way it seemed.

Dash got the worst look of dread on her face when she saw the results drawn. “We’re screwed… we’re totally and utterly screwed…” she muttered. Twilight frowned and crossed her arms.

“Hey! I know I’m not the best at sports but I’m not THAT bad…! Am I?” she asked turning to Pinkie who just shrugged.

“No… it’s not you Sparkle…” Rainbow groaned as they all got to their side of the net and Spike climbed up into the score keep’s chair Pinkie had crafted out of sand for him.

“Is it Rarity…? I saw her plow Applejack through that door pretty easy so she’d gotta have a wicked spike on her!” Pinkie asked bouncing up and down a bit still thoroughly excited about the match.

“No… even worse… it’s…” She watched in slow motion as the girl walked over to the back to serve the ball her long pink hair dancing playfully in the wind. She removed a band from around her wrist and tied it back in a ponytail before her sea green eyes looked across the net and met the magenta of her childhood friend with slight dark amusement in them. Rainbow swallowed hard. “Fluttershy…” she squeaked out. Fluttershy bounced the ball a few times to test it and then tossed it in the air and jumped after it as graceful as a swan, but she stuck it with the force of a bear and it literally burst into flames and turned to ash before it even hit the ground. Jaws dropped and so did the mojito which Luna had just been handed.

“On second thought… why don’t you go ahead and cart out a couple racks of volleyballs while you’re at it…? It looks like this match just got a little more interesting.” Luna ordered with a small snicker as the stunned servant ran off to get the racks and the group of friends remained standing stunned, except for Fluttershy who was patiently waiting for a new ball and Rainbow who was trying her best to keep her head on straight and figure out some conceivable way they could win against the daughter of a six time Olympian Volleyball champion. She was coming up with nothing, just as she always had.

Applejack got a smirk across her face as she glanced over at RD who was running a hand through her damp prismatic hair. “Ya can forfeit now and save yourself the embarrassment of having your ass handed to you on a silver platter RD…!” She chuckled. That made something in the speedster’s mind snap and her magenta eyes were kindled with a bright flame.

“Rainbow E.F. Dashington does NOT forfeit any match no matter how the odds are stacked against her! YOU! Ball boy, stop gawking at the girl and hand her a ball. I have a long list of lost matches to make up for today and your stupid face isn’t helping.” She snapped at the servant who had returned with the balls but was distracted with the stunning appearance of the tall peagasus. She smiled at him gently and took the ball bouncing it a few times to test it but she found it too weak and threw it over her shoulder motioning for another. Dash took this opportunity to whisper to Pinkie. “Pinks, do you still have that experimental energy drink you and I made last night when we were on the ship…?” she asked. Pinkie was eyeing Fluttershy wearily as she went through the balls testing them one after another.

“Yes… but I thought you said it wasn’t supposed to be used by mortals because of the unholy concentration of raw energy it was made with…!” she replied back quickly.

“I take it back. Drink it. For the love of Celestia and Luna drink it, it’s the only chance we’re going to have against HER!” she said shaking the girl by her shoulders as she saw Fluttershy testing a particularly bouncy ball and knew it’d be perfect for her. Pinkie quickly pulled out a vial of glowing white liquid from her hair and uncorked it chugging it back and smacking her lips a bit as she did so.

“Do you… feel any different…?” Twilight asked having heard the entire conversation.

“I don’t really know I kind of-“ her eyes dilated quickly and the world seemed to be moving frame by frame for her. She saw Fluttershy leap up and spike the ball down in slow motion. She moved after it fast as lightning even though she knew it was coming in fast and hit it towards Dash pointing for her to hit it straight up. Dash looked hesitant but did so if not with a bit too much force. Pinkie propelled herself off the ground leaving a crater in her wake and met the ball with a force that made Fluttershy’s look like she was a kitten. The ball created an explosion that blew them all back and threw sand everywhere.

Luna, having put up a magical barrier watched this with a small smile on her face. “We’re going to need a bigger beach.” She commented as she sipped her new drink.

Dash sat up letting the sand that had covered her slide off and the others did the same. She caught Fluttershy’s eyes and smirked devilishly. ‘Let’s see how you fare against Pinkie Pie on the highest level.’ She thought wickedly. Pinkie took her spot on the serving line as everyone else fell into position and she felt the universe bending around her. she motioned for the ball keeper to hand her a ball. The poor sap reluctantly through her another doomsday weapon and she tested it finding it to be perfect. She decided to reserve her full strength for later, she didn’t know how long the effects of the drink would last but if they were going to have a chance at this game she’d need to draw it out. Applejack and Dash were both already formulating plans in their heads on how to deal with the situation in front of them.

But Dash had the upper hand. She not only now had Pinkie at her maximum crazy levels, but she also knew everyone of Fluttershy’s moves like the back of her hand from years of having her ass served to her whenever they played this game. Dash smirked. “You can forfeit NOW if you want guys… I won’t hold it against you… much.” Applejack’s eye twitched and Fluttershy and Rarity both had the same look in their eyes.

“Bring it on Dashie.” The three challenged at once.

Luna was right, the game was interesting. And to any mortal that would have watched it really would have looked like the gods had declared war on each other. At the end of it all there were craters the size of full sized vehicles dotted all along the beach and the net that had be burned, tattered, and ripped into tiny shreds by many a flaming projectile being scored through it blew weakly in the tropical breeze of the beach. The ball boy and Spike had taken shelter behind a line of craggy rocks near the overhanging cliff the scoreboard next to them tied at 298 a piece, and six exhausted looking girls stood panting and glaring at each other from across the burnt shredded net. Twilight slowly raised her hand while she caught her breath.

“A-all up for… declaring this… a tie…?” she panted. Five ‘Aye’s’ came in reply before they all collapsed to the ground in their own states of exhaustion. Spike and the ball boy carefully peeked out from their shelter and saw that the match was over. Spike quickly went over to the ice chest next to Luna and dragged it over to the destroyed remains of the net. He distributed the water bottles to all of them and they all drained them quickly reaching for more. When they were all recovered enough to speak normally Fluttershy became the focus of everyone’s attention.

“Okay, time for an explanation darling, when in Celestia’s name did you learn how to play like that…?” Rarity asked her friend. Fluttershy giggled a bit as she sipped at her red sports drink.

“My mother was a member of the Olympic volleyball team for five years… she won gold three out of those five years. She taught me and my sister everything she knew about it. It’s the only thing I’ve ever been able to beat Dash at. Well, other than the quiet game.” She responded softly. Dash rolled her eyes.

“And it still pisses me off to this day mind you. Even with Pinkie at full power we still only tied you.” Rainbow groaned before she was reminded of the pink haired girl and turned to look at her. She saw her downing her thirty-first iced coffee and decided to ask about it. “Uhhhh, Pinks, you gonna be alright…?” she asked. She didn’t stop she just gave Dash a thumbs up to indicate she would and Dash shrugged knowing the girl had her methods.

“Okay… after that work out anyone else feel like they could use a good swim to cool down…?” Applejack asked looking around. Everyone nodded and moved their tired limbs towards the shallows of the waves that lapped at the white sands. Twilight glanced over her shoulder at her brother.

“Spike! Could you fix the beach so it doesn’t look like a fleet of bombers went through here…?” she asked knowing he could move the sand just like any other earth. Spike looked back from the burn job he was doing on the net to put it out of its misery.

“Yeah sure, I’ll see what I can do.” He responded looking around at it all. “Though it might take a bit…” he added with a slightly bitter tone. The girls all sat around in the shallows letting the cool water comfort them and watching little fish swim around them occasionally. But Dash was never one to enjoy sitting around too long. She flared out her wings as she took flight. Hey, I’m gonna scope out the area a bit, the water’s clear enough that you can see straight down for miles, you wanna come Flutters? You might to get to see some of those reef sharks you’ve been talking about so much.

Fluttershy’s ears perked at that and her wings took her into the air quickly. She wouldn’t fly too high and even if she did fall there was water below her and Rainbow to help her out. It was a win-win for her. “That sounds nice…” she replied getting beside Dash in the air the pair took off chatting about the other possible creatures they’d encounter. Pinkie sat down next to Twilight smiling brightly.

“I give it two more days tops before they’re stealing kisses when we’re not looking.” She giggled. Twilight giggled a bit as well but her eyes darted to the remaining pair that sat a few feet away making peaceful conversation with each other.

“What about those two…? They don’t seem to be avoiding each other anymore so phase two is already over with, but how are we going to execute stage three when they’re like this…?” Twi asked curiously. But Pinkie was a master of more than just sugary treats and parties.

“Oh I have a plan for that… don’t you worry your pretty little head Twiley, Auntie Pinkie’s got it allllllll covered.” She snickered rubbing her hands together evilly.

“Still older than you Pinkie… everyone here is. Except Spike.” She muttered.

Meanwhile in the conversation a few feet away:

“Applejack darling… do you think Pinkie and Twilight are an item…? They seem to be whispering to each other a lot lately.” Rarity questioned glance back at the two. Applejack tapped her chin in thought for a moment before she shook her head.

“Mmmm, Nah.” She responded with a shrug.

Author's Note

Well, there's one part of this... EXTENSIVE little vacation the Six are taking... belive me, if I had broken this all up into parts we would have had eight chapters just with this Spring Break special... I really need to learn how to make small chapters, any ways, for those of you who didn't read the Notice I posted previously I'll be doing some fine tuned editing soon, and a lot of changes will be made. None that actually change the entire plot itself but it'll make it so it makes a lot more sense. The prolouge will be targeted first of course, so look for that to come out soon.

Chapter 10

How I Became an Alicorn…

Chapter 10: It’s Best Not to Question Pinkie

“Pinkie…” Twilight started as she watched the girl zip from place to place in the kitchen after having kicked the cooks out. “Are you sure about this…?”

“Of course I am Twilight…! Have I ever been wrong before…?” she asked as she pulled fully frosted cupcakes out from the oven.

“Uhhhhhhh…”

“Don’t answer that.” Pinkie interrupted before Twilight could continue. In the corner of the kitchen Luna was watching the scene with mild amusement.

“I can see where she’s coming from Pinkie… your idea seems a bit… farfetched.” Luna put in. Pinkie sighed and rolled her eyes while she shook her head.

“You two… Look, making people happy is MY thing. If it wasn’t I wouldn’t have this.” She said pointing to the back of her left hand at the mark that was her everything.

“I thought that was for throwing parties.” Twilight asked cocking an eyebrow at her. Pinkie shook her head making her curls fly everywhere.

“Not JUST parties Twilight! Parties are just what I use to do it most of the time! My real talent is making people happy. Seeing people smile is the only thing that makes me happy. Well, sweets comes pretty close but it isn’t the same.” She said popping one of the fresh cupcakes into her mouth. “So trust me, I know what I’m doing.” She giggled with a wink. Twilight sighed and gave in.

After the beach the group had retired to the house around dinner time and currently the four in question were in a high level gaming match online in the computer room on the second floor. Spike made an excellent distraction.

“So is there anything you need help with until then…?” Twilight asked the pink haired girl as she was popping several cake tins into the ovens. Pinkie shut the door and turned back to face her looking up in thought.

“Oh! Yeah totally! Twi, will you and Luna go look for this stuff?” she asked pulling out a list from the pocket of her denim short shorts. Twilight had no idea how it fit in there since the list was quite long and therefore quite hard to fit in such small pockets. Luna glanced over Twilight’s shoulder her teal eyes scanning the paper.

“Pinkie… why do you need 16 gallons of hard apple cider, an SUV sized rubber chicken, and a mechanical bull…?” she asked the party planner. Pinkie’s hair stood on end and she quickly snatched the list back.

“Whoopsies, wrong list! Here’s YOUR list.” She said quickly handing them a shorter list with only five or six items on it. Twilight glanced from Pinkie, to the list, and back.

“Okay… but what was that-“

Celestia’s words of wisdom rang in her ears: “Twilight Sparkle, You may seek many truths in your time but remember these words above all: DON’T ASK QUESTIONS YOU DON’T WANT ANSWERED.”

Twilight looked around in confusion. “Princess…? How are you doing that…?”

“Magic my faithful student… and I’m temporarily using Luna’s body as a channel.” She replied. The student turned to see Luna’s eyes had turned the same pink as her teacher’s and she have and smiled happily and waved before the eyes flickered back to teal like a broken light bulb and Luna scowled.

“Damn it Tia! I told you not to do that!!!” she roared to the air. They both swore they heard an evil chuckle and their eyes slid over to Pinkie Pie who was holding her phone in her hand.

“What…? I have to use that soundboard I installed on here SOMEHOW.” She explained with a dramatic roll of her eyes. “Now GO!!! And don’t come back until you find everything on that list!” she ordered shoving them both out the door of the kitchen and shutting it behind them. Luna slowly let her gaze go sideways to Twilight beside her.

“Your friends are freaks… no offense.” She commented.

“I know they are, it’s probably why we get along so well.” Twilight hummed as she looked down at the list. “Hmmm… Luna, where are we going to find a professional grade karaoke machine with a built in surround sound system…?” she asked.

“Third floor in the back. There’s also a mixing board and a bunch of recording equipment in there too. Oh, and the room is sound proof.” She replied with a half yawn. Twilight checked that off the list.

“Okay… what about a… what in your sister’s name is Gak…?” she asked. Luna’s eyes widened and she snatched the list from Twilights hand to read the list for herself.

“Oh for the love of… give me that pen.” She ordered. Twilight handed it to her and Luna quickly crossed the offending word out of existence. “There much better. Okay, onto more normal business. Let’s see… Ah, there’s an air hockey table down in storage, and we… whaaaaat??? Why does she want us to get grease and why the hell is it capitalized?” she asked looking to Twilight for answers. She thought for a moment before she teleported an encyclopedia in front of her and scanned through it.

“Ohhhhh, not cooking grease! She means the movie musical!” she explained as she read further. “From the eighties by the look of it… apparently it was really popular with teenage girls at the time.”

Luna groaned and rubbed her head holding the list in her magic. “Okay, we’ll look in the archives for that one… next is a suitable room that we can do everything in… Oh that’s going to be tough… hmm… well, the recording room is connected to a pretty large empty room, we used to use that for storage but then we built in a basement so now it’s just empty… I guess we could put it there…” Luna reasoned. Twilight nodded in agreement until they were both interrupted by a call though the house.

“LUNAAAAAAAA!!! WE’RE BEING HACKED FROM AN OUTSIDE SOURCE AND IT ISN’T GIVING ME ANYTHING OTHER THAN THE INTIALS SS15!!!!!!” Spike called. Luna’s eyes widened in shock and she dropped the list and ran already using her magic to connect to log in on her laptop.

“THOU SHALT NOT WIN TODAY VILE VERMIN STARRY, FOR I HAVE PREPARED A BACK UP PLAN!!!!!! MWHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!” She called in the royal Canterlot voice that shook the house to its foundation. Twilight groaned and picked up the list resigning herself to finding the last few items that were un accounted for so far.

They weren’t so hard to find, and she even got Oliver’s help bringing them all into the room they had chosen. He also had it set up so that a long winding couch was brought up and a movie theater sized TV was put on the wall in front of it. Twilight brought in smaller additions, like a coffee table, a few arcade games from the arcade below, the air hockey table fit nicely in the corner, and she even brought in a buffet table for the food Pinkie was working on. Satisfied with her work she and Oliver walked back down to the kitchen where they saw a group of worried looking cooks with their ears pressed to the door.

“Gentleman, what are you all out here…?” Oliver asked. The head chef, a French native by the name of Gaston, answered the head butlers question.

“Monsieur Oliver! It is terrible…! The pink demon will not allow us to enter our own kitchen and she has baked more in the last hour than we could have in an entire week! She is not human…!" He exclaimed. Oliver sighed and rubbed his forehead with his fingers.

“Twilight dear, go in and help your friend, I’ll settle out these gentlemen myself.” Oliver instructed as he nudged her towards the door.

Twilight walked through the door and found Pinkie putting the finishing touches on a cake that was twice as tall as her and had ten layers to it, one styled for each of the house’s occupants, meaning Twilight and her friends plus Luna and Spike, a layer of all the servants and crew members, and at the very top of the cake was a collective group of miniature statues in the likeness of everyone. And I do mean everyone, the six girls, Spike, the royal sisters, a group of royal guard and Twilight’s brother who for some reason had Cadence at his side, their respective families, all the servants and crew members, and a lot of the girls from the school as well as the teachers, including Starshine who was Characteristically arguing with Luna.

Twilight repressed a shocked gasp when she saw the cake and Pinkie beamed from ear to ear. “You like it? it took me FOREVER to get those little guys right. But it worked. And they’re the only thing on the cake that isn’t edible! Because it would be rude to eat your friends.” She explained with her overly happy smile present.

“Pinkie that’s… amazing. Oh, and here. We got everything on the list and the room’s all set up… except for whatever that Gak stuff is, Luna said it was a monstrosity and needed to be burned off the face of the earth.” Twilight explained as she circled the cake looking it up and down as she did so. Pinkie shrugged and the list exploded into confetti.

“That’s cool, I kind of put it there just to mess with her anyways. Now! We just need to get all this food into the room, where is it…?” she asked Twilight as she walked a bit towards the door.

“Top floor, at the end of the hall across from the karaoke lounge… Pinkie…?” she asked when she noticed the girl was already gone. She walked towards the door and opened it sticking her head out to see if the girl was anywhere out it. Of course she wasn’t so she sighed and went back inside the kitchen. “She even left the- oh for the love of!” Twilight shouted when she saw that the kitchen was now devoid of even a single crumb. “HOW IN FAUST’S NAME DOES SHE DO THAT?!?!?!” Twilight called to the air in frustration. Pinkie popped out of the sink giggling.

“It’s a secret silly! Now come on! Everyone’s waiting on you!” she explained as she grabbed Twilight by the collar and dragged her into the sink with her. Twilight screamed and shut her eyes but when she opened them she found herself in the party room her fading scream still slipping out of her throat as everyone stared at her funny.

“B-but I was just…! A-and you were in the sink…! And now we’re…! Oh forget it… Princess would you be against it if I took a glass of your strongest liquor to erase my mind of today completely…?” the magic user asked as she sat down on the couch beside Luna who was typing away furiously on her computer.

“Your parents and my sister would find a way to kill me if I did, so yes. But you can have some of that rainbow juice. It’s potent enough to burn your mind straight out of your head.” She said pointing to a multicolored liquid that was inside a special glass bottle without even looking up. Twilight walked over to the table while everyone was talking with each other and poured a glass of punch before splashing it with the juice and chugging it back. The effect was immediate, strong, and very, very, hot. Twilight breathed differently hued flames and ran out of the room screaming. Spike watched her and Pinkie laughed nudging him a bit with her elbow.

“NOW I see the family resemblance!” she joked causing everyone in the room to burst out in laughs as well, except Luna who only chuckled a bit as her eyes were focused on her screen. Pinkie jumped up on the coffee table and cleared her throat to get everyone’s attention. “Okay, with that to start us off I’d like to welcome you all to the First Night Party…! Celebrating our first full day here at the island, so far it’s been filled with revelations, near death experiences, a volleyball game that would make the gods jealous, and Twilight unleashing her inner dragon for our amusement.” She announced as Twilight rejoined them and sat down at the end of the couch giving Pinkie a sharp glare as she did so. Pinkie grinned and gave her a playful wink as she pulled out a remote from her poofy hair. “So now, after all that excitement I say let’s wind down a bit with something only moderately crazy, I give you our chosen movie of the night! It has pulled on the heart strings of girls our age for over twenty years now, it was the inspiration to hundreds of musicals we know and love today, I present to you the one, the only, Grease!” she exclaimed as she hit a button on her remote and the title screen of the movie came up on the large TV.

Rainbow effectively facepalmed and groaned and Applejack lowered her hat to cover her face. Rarity and Fluttershy’s eyes lit up and the beamed at each other. Pinkie noted their reactions with a slight smirk.

“Annnnnnnd, judging by your reactions I’d say you all know the movie PRETTY well, so this makes my next rules all the better.” She giggled clicking the remote again and the screen popped with stars and sparkles as more words came to be underneath the title. ‘Sing Along Edition’ was displayed in colorful bold font. Rainbow was the first to stand up in protest.

“I AM NOT SINGING TO A CHEESY MUSICAL FROM THE 70’s!!” She roared clenching her fists at her sides so as to stop them from punching a hole through the wall. Applejack nodded quickly in agreement.

“Ah’m in agreement with Dash, mah singin’ ain’t so hot anyways.” AJ explained while she scratched the back of her head.

“Bull Shit.”

Everyone’s heads quickly turned to the source of the outburst, which in this case to their great and shocked faces was Princess Celestia herself, with the minor detail of her hair being solid pink and looking the same age as Luna now.

“Now I KNOW your father taught you better than to lie Abigail, especially to your friends.” The princess chuckled as she walked over to Pinkie who was beaming from ear to ear while the rest, save Luna, all stared at her dumbfounded not only by the fact that she was there, but that she had called Applejack out on her lie in such a crass tone, Twilight was especially stunned since she had only ever heard her mentor curse once and had apologized for it moments later. Applejack looked down at her booted feet in shame.

“Princess, no disrespect on any level what so ever, but what the hell are you doing here and how in Discord’s name could you possibly know something like that…?” Rainbow asked the solar princess once she had recovered from her initial shock. Celestia laughed at that startling everyone even more, except Luna who had stood up and walked up beside her sister leaning on shoulder as she laughed.

Celestia eventually recovered and addressed the girls and Spike wiping a tear from her eye. “I’m sorry my little ones, but that was all too reminiscent for me… First off, if any of you call me ‘Princess’ again while I’m here I’m banishing you to the moon for the remainder of the week, it’s just Celestia or Tia, am I clear?” she asked looking around at them all with a serious face. The rushed nods that followed showed they had gotten the message. “Good, secondly Pinkie here invited me and when I heard there was going to be a sing along involved I couldn’t resist so I finished my court session and warped over here after adjusting myself accordingly. I left a projection in my private quarters in case anyone decided to actually bother me tonight. Ah, and thirdly, I’m a very old friend of Granny Smith so I’ve been keeping tabs on the Apple family for just under a century now. As a result I’ve known little AJ here since she was born and I know for a FACT she’s got the voice of an angel inside her.” Celestia responded calmly. The varying degree’s of shock displayed on the faces in front of her were amusing to say the least, but not nearly as amusing as the look of pure embarrassment on Applejack’s face.

“T-Tia…! Ah thought we discussed this the last time Ah talked to ya…! Ah don’t like ya embarrasin’ me in front of mah friends…!” AJ protested with a slight whine. Celestia giggled and smiled down at the blonde.

“And I thought I made it quite clear that in Smithy’s place it was my JOB to embarrass you at all possible opportunity’s.” she countered. Twilight looked like she was about to faint as she was fanning herself with the nearest pillow and Rarity was in much the same condition While Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash were just trying to process the fact that the farmer was arguing with the solar princess like she was a corny old Aunt.

“Oh for Faust’s sake are you STILL on that?! Pa always warned me about your antic’s but Ah never believed him until now… What was that title ya gave her Luna…? Trollestia? It’s mighty fittin’ if ya ask me.” Applejack huffed as she crossed her arms. Celestia cringed at the name and quickly lowered herself to whisper in her ear.

“Mention that name again and I’ll tell all of them all about your first family reunion in full gruesome detail.” Celestia breathed with a small bite to her voice. Applejack stood up straight her green eyes as wide as dinner plates.

“Fine! Ah’ve got a decent set of pipes on me but that don’t mean Ah’m gonna participate in some silly-“ Celestia bent down and whispered something else in her ear that was inaudible to even Pinkie and Applejack stiffened even more. “Y-ya wouldn’t…!” she stuttered looking up at the princess in shock. She smirked deviously.

“Try me.” She returned. Applejack swallowed hard and turned back to face her friends who had recovered and were now staring at them curiously.

“Who wants to sing some corny musical songs?!” she called grabbing a mike from a nearby stand. There were seven cheers and one loud NO. Applejack grabbed Dash by the collar and hissed in her ear. “If ya don’t get on this damn stage and sing with a smile on yer face Ah’m gonna send those pictures Ah have of ya singin’ ta the radio in nothin’ but yer Wonderbolt panties to the Equestria Daily.” She snarled. Dash quickly grabbed the mike from her and turned back to face them all beaming.

“Who’s ready to rock like a greaser?!” she shouted. There were cheers all around in response and Pinkie took the mike back and grinned.

“It’s awesome that you’re both super-duper into it and all but you’ll have to wait until a song comes up and if the die rolls on you THEN you can get up here and sing!” Pinkie giggled.

“Die…? What Die…?” Applejack asked confused by the usual nonsense Pinkie spurted.

Pinkie blinked then bonked her head with the heel of her hand. “Silly me! I forgot to explain the rules! Tia, Lulu, go take your seat!” she ordered. The sisters both complied and Spike looked over at Twilight mouthing the name ‘Lulu’ questioningly. “Okay! Here’s the rules! When a song is about to come up this symbol will appear in the corner.” She announced pointing to a treble clef that was in the corner of the screen. “And when that comes up I’ll pause the movie and then we’ll roll this baby!” she continued pulling out a six sided cube that was as big as her head, hair and all. It was blank on all sides and had a small tele-screen on each of the sides where the symbols should be. “It’s my Party Cube, patent pending, I programmed it with all of your marks and when you roll it it’ll shuffle them at random and pick who will be singing by putting your marks on whatever screen it lands on. If it’s a duet we’ll roll it twice, three, thrice, four- well you get the picture. You’re allowed one pass where you can pass off your turn to someone else of your choosing. The cube will score you based on your singing performance and add it to your overall score. At the end of the movie the one with the highest score wins! And I have TONS of prizes you can pick from too! Everything from a barrel of monkey’s to season tickets to the Wonderbolts~!” she sang happily. Dash instantly sat up and raised her hand. Pinkie pointed at her still beaming. “Yes Dashie…?”

“Do you really have season tickets to the Wonderbolts…?” she asked her magenta eyes widened in curiosity.

“Oh yeah, totally. VIP one’s too! Coach Rapidfire lost a bet with me and I won them as a result. Annnnnnd, since my personal whirly bird won’t be ready for another year or so and the season is about to start I figured I’d just offer them up as prizes. But that’s not even the best one either! Tickets to the annual Fashion parade in Canterlot, a championship belt from some big rodeo thirty years ago, a golden pass to the local pet shop that gets you 75% off everything, and this suuuuuuper heavy old book titled ‘Old Equestrian Myth’s and Legend’s, the Missing Volume 7’ . . . whatever that means. ” She said pulling out just said items from her hair as they were listed and laid them out on the coffee table for them to inspect.

Rainbow confirmed that they were in fact legit season passes for the upcoming season, and the VIP stamps were authentic. Rarity examined just said tickets and confirmed that they WERE for the up-coming spring Fashion Parade, and they were amazing seats as well. Applejack inspected the belt finding it to be none other than the championship belt of the former champion who had risen from the sticks just like herself and made himself a legend in rodeo history in just one rodeo. He was her idol and this was his first championship belt. She had to have it. Fluttershy meekly glanced at the golden card thinking of all the supplies she could get with it. Twilight was the most ravenous, next to Rainbow of course. The book was real. The supposed lost book of Legend… what secrets it contained, what knowledge it could feed her. It made her mouth water at the prospect. She would win this competition if it killed her.

“So, with that settled let the movie begin~!” Pinkie said her voice carrying as she clicked a button on her remote.

Rarity leaned over to Fluttershy as she saw the look of determination in Rainbow’s eyes blaze like fire. “Fluttershy dear… what is Rainbow’s singing voice like anyways…?” she asked the pinkette. Fluttershy shrugged a bit.

“Even I don’t know… she’s never sung in front of anyone as far as I know. I’ve tried to get her to countless times but she says it’s for girly girls each time so I let it go… I’m actually really excited to see her sing.” Fluttershy responded with a small smile. Rarity was now watching with a new enthusiasm hoping Rainbow would get rolled quickly.

The opening song passed and it wasn’t until she knew that the first big song was coming up that Pinkie paused the movie and grinned as she picked up the cube. “Okay girls… and Spike.” She added quickly when she saw the drake glare at her. “The song we’re about to hear is called Summer Nights, it has two main singers and the rest are backups that the movie will provide. So, our first singer for the night, singing Danny’s part is…” she tossed the cube into the air and it landed on a side and the screen showed three bright red apples on its screen. “Applejack!” she announced with a giggle. The farmer got up and walked onto the stage beside Pinkie who handed her a mike. “Annnnnnd, singing Sandy’s part is…” Rainbow seriously didn’t want to sing the known goodie two shoe’s role but if she was going to get her points she needed to sing as frequently as possible. She crossed her fingers. The die moved in slow motion for her as it rolled through the air then landed slowly and three blear blue gemstones appeared on its screen.

“FFFFFFFFFFFFFF-!!!!!” Rainbow started before Twilight levitated a pillow in her face to stop the obscenity in its tracks. Rarity giggled a bit as she walked up to the platform and took a mike from Pinkie who quickly bounced over to her seat next to Dash who had since removed the pillow and was grumbling to herself.

“Don’t worry Dashie! The cube’s programmed to give everyone a fair chance! You’ll get your time on stage.” She hummed as she patted the taller girls head and clicked the ‘Play’ button on her remote.

Rarity looked up at the screen for a moment so she could get into character but she already knew the movie well enough that she didn’t really have to. She gave a small smirk at Applejack who was just setting her hat on the empty mike stand. Her line came first and she flashed Rarity a look she couldn’t identify before she sang in a voice that was deeper than she would have imagined and lacking the signature accent. (Song >HERE<)

“Summer Lovin’ had me a blast…”

Rarity quickly joined in her own voice soft but adapted to the character well swooning a bit as she did so.

R :“Summer lovin’ happened so fast…”

AJ:“I met a girl crazy for meeee,”

R:“Met a boy, cute as can beeee,”

Both: “Summer days driftin’ away to, uh oh, those summer nights.”

Rainbow looked honestly impressed as she nodded a bit. “Not bad so far… for a hay seed and a premadona…” she whispered to Pinkie who giggled as the movie singers filled in the gap in the background voices for the song until it started again with AJ who smirked a bit knowing the next line.

AJ: “She swam by me, she got a cramp,”

R: “He ran by me, got my suit damp”

Rarity gave the bigger girl a wink but Applejack’s next line was made to counter it.

AJ: “I saved her life, she nearly drowned!”

R: “He showed off, splashin’ around,”

Both: “Summer sun, something’s begun, but uh oh, those summer nights…”

One single thought went through all of the watcher’s minds when they saw the way the two were behaving while they sang with the backups in the movie:

‘Are they flirting on stage…?’

AJ: “Took her bowling, in the arcade.”

R: “We went strolling, drank lemonade.”

AJ: “We made out, under the dock”

R: “We stayed out, ‘til ten o’clock”

Both were getting very physical in their singing and all but Spike, who was just very confused by it all, knew that they had their answer.

‘Yes, yes they are.’

Both: “Summer Fling, don’t mean a thing, but uh oh those summer nights…”

Both of them did the same sideways foot shuffle the cast was doing in the movie and Pinkie was beaming and whistling at their performance now and the other girls seemed to be enjoying it as well, even Dash who was thoroughly encouraging the advances Applejack was making on her crush. Even if it was just an act it would get them SOMEWHERE.

R: “He got friendly, holding my hand,”

AJ: “Well, she got friendly, down in the sand!”

R: “He was sweet, just turned eighteen…!”

AJ: “She was good, you know what I mean!”

Both: “Summer heat, boy and girl meet, but uh oh those summer nights…”

The mood of the song shifted and slowed and they both seemed to snap out of their acts a bit.

R: “It got colder, that’s where it ends…”

AJ: “So I told her, we’d still be friends…”

R: “Then we made our true love vow…”

AJ: “Wonder what she’s doing now,”

Both: “Summer dreams ripped at the seams, bu-ut oh… those su-ummer nights…!”

Their voices harmonized beautifully at the end and they caught each other’s eyes as the music stopped. Pinkie had to remind herself to pause the movie she was so caught up in their voices harmonizing. Applejack was the first to move taking her hat off the mike stand and putting the device back where it belonged. Rarity did the same pretending like their little tango had never happened. Pinkie quickly shot up grabbing the cube off the floor by her feet.

“Ah ah ah! Not yet you two! First we have to see the results!” she announced stopping them both before they could walk off the small platform. Pinkie pressed in one of the sides of the cube and the side visible to the rest of them displayed a score sheet using their marks as their names. “Now, the highest score you can get on one song is 100, so the closer to it you get the better you did!” she explained. Two scores showed up, Rarity with an 80 and AJ with a 90.

“Ha! Beat ya dolly!” the farmer snickered. Rarity made a face and opened her mouth to snap back a remark but Pinkie interrupted her.

“Uh uh, wait. There’s a 15 point bonus for Rarity since she knew all the dance moves to it too and used them. So that puts her at 95.” Pinkie sang happily. Applejack’s jaw dropped to the floor and her hat fell off her head as Rarity smirked and caught it with one hand putting it on her own head like a trophy.

“And THAT girls, is how you effectively stun an Apple speechless. Take note.” She giggled as she walked back to her seat. Applejack snapped out of it when she reached up for her hat only to realize it was now on the head of the fashionista. She quickly went over and snatched it off her head before taking her seat again and frowning slightly as Pinkie and the rest were all laughing at them now. Eventually the movie was resumed. Soon, after a short fight song by the school a bigger number came up, but with this one Twilight flushed a bit and quickly used a blinding spell on Spike as well as a deafening one.

“Please for the love of the regal sisters tell me we’re not singing to that one.” Twilight muttered to Pinkie as the little clef came up in the corner. Pinkie shook her head spraying her pink curls about.

“Nuh uh, I won’t sing to anything we can’t all listen to.” She replied back. Her eyes slanted towards Fluttershy who was tilting her head curiously at the song. It was one her older sister had always fast forwarded through but now she could hear it in its full glory and her entire face was flushing deeper and deeper red by the second and Rainbow was laughing her ass off just watching her expression change from curious, to startled, to embarrassed, and then mortified. Rarity had a pretty decent blush on her and Twilight was starting to wish she had used the deafening spell on herself as her tanned face was growing the same color as the streaks in her hair. Celestia was enjoying the sight of the easily embarrassed girls getting worse and worse through the short song.

After that passed there was another short song that passed, sung by the greaser boys, but when Pinkie noticed the treble clef in the corner once again a short while later she smirked knowing what was next. She paused the movie and leapt up on the stage in a pink blur.

“Okay gals and pals, this next song coming up takes us down a sentimental road and I deem it worthy of acknowledgement. Now it’s a solo so there’s only one singer, Sandy, which means only one of you will be getting a chance to take the stage.” She giggled as she grabbed one of the mikes and balanced the cube flat on her hand in the other. Dash leaned forward in her seat, she knew the song well, it was one of Flutter’s favorites. She didn’t like the sappy crap but at this point she just wanted to get on the board with some points. “So, who will it be Cuby~?!” she sang as she tossed the device in the air and let it roll. Rainbow watched it like a hawk leaning more and more forward as it came closer to stopping and the image started to appear. Three pink butterflies glowed on the screen and she face planted into the coffee table with a groan.

Fluttershy smiled a bit as she patted Rainbow on the back. “Don’t worry Dashie, your song is up next remember…?” she soothed. Dash perked straight up grinning.

“Oh yeah! Totally! Okay, go knock ‘em dead Shy.” Rainbow laughed with a wink. Fluttershy gave a small giggle in response as she walked up to the stage and suddenly felt her stage freight catch up to her. She froze and Pinkie hesitated as she was sitting back in her seat. Dash thought quickly and motioned to get Fluttershy’s attention. When sea green eyes met hers she smiled and mouthed for her to sing to her and only her. It was what they had always done in the past and aside from her family and animal friends Fluttershy rarely had the courage to sing in front of others. But Dash knew these were their friends. They wouldn’t mind, but ‘Shy was still shy and needed something to focus on if she was going to have a chance. And Dashie was the perfect target. Pinkie pressed play on the remote and the movie resumed. Fluttershy closed her eyes and tucked her hair behind her ear before she took a deep breath and listened to the steady sound of the music fading in. A smile crossed her face as she met what would have been Sandy singing perfectly her soft voice beautiful in the song.

"Guess mine is not the first heart broken,

My eyes are not the first to cry

I'm not the first to know,

There's just no gettin' over you

"I'm just a fool who's willing

To sit around and wait for you

But baby can't you see,

There's nothin' else for me to do

I'm hopelessly devoted to you

"But now there's nowhere to hide,

Since you pushed my love aside

I'm not in my head,

Hopelessly devoted to you

Hopelessly devoted to you,

Hopelessly devoted to you"

The girls were all stunned, even Rarity who had had the divine pleasure of hearing the girl sing in the shower often enough was stunned by her natural connection with the song. Rainbow however took it in stride her eyes never leaving Fluttershy’s.

“My head is saying "fool, forget him"

My heart is saying "don't let go"

Hold on to the end, that's what I intend to do

I'm hopelessly devoted to you

“But now there's nowhere to hide

Since you pushed my love aside

I'm not in my head

Hopelessly devoted to you

Hopelessly devoted to you”

The song ended and Fluttershy let her hair fall back in front of her eye and the mike hung in her hand as Pinkie managed to pause the film in her slack jawed form. Even Celestia and Luna were stunned silent ad wide eyed. But Dash was grinning as she put two fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly and clapped as well.

“Way to nail it Flutter’s that was awesome!” she cheered. Fluttershy looked away slightly as she rubbed her arm a bit and a light blush peppered her cheeks. The others soon joined in with their own claps and Fluttershy managed a small curtsey in return as she deposited the mike back in its stand and Pinkie bounced up with the cube.

“Well, if it doesn’t give you AT LEAST 90 I’m going to need to recalibrate it!” she laughed as she pressed in one of the sides. The screen flashed yellow for a few seconds before Fluttershy’s mark appeared and then a proud score of 100 right under it. Rainbow was grinning from ear to ear and whistled even louder than before and Fluttershy now looked thoroughly embarrassed as the full scoreboard showed her at the top now.

“Oh… my… Pinkie there must be some kind of mistake… I can’t have possible performed that well…” she breathed retracting deeper into her hair which acted as her shell.

“Hmm… you gals have any complaints about her score…?” Pinkie asked her audience.

“Nope.”

“Nah.”

“Certainly not.”

“What she said.”

“I am in agreement.”

Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, Spike, and Twilight all responded in turn. Celestia and Luna also nodded their approval and Fluttershy squeaked in response while Pinkie hummed happily and beamed like a second sun.

“Alright then! Let’s move on, if I remember right the next song isn’t too far off so don’t expect a big break. Actually I’ll just stay up here for now.” She giggled as she pushed Fluttershy back towards her seat and moved the cube under her arm while she looked back to the screen and hit play. Sure enough only a minute or so later she hit pause again when the glowing clef note appeared and she held up the cube.

“Alright, now I’m going to roll for the song Greased Lightning. It has Danny as the lead singer and his crew as the backups, so again this will be a solo this round.” Pinkie announced as she raised the cube high up in the air she caught Rainbow looking her way eagerly and giggled a little. “Wanna blow on the die for luck Dashie…?” she offered. Dash thought for a moment before she flew over and used her wings to create a powerful wing that not only blew on the die, but blew it right out of her hand and rolling on the floor. They watched as it came to a tilting halt and a white cloud with a prismatic lightning bolt shined clearly on its face.

“YESSS!!!!” Dash cheered putting a fist in the air. The rest of the group chuckled in amusement at both the victory dance Dash was now doing and the way the wind she had created made Pinkie’s hair even more poofy than usual.

“You know Dashie, when I said blow, I meant with your lungs. Not your gale force wings.” Pinkie sighed shaking her head with a smile as she smoothed down the curls to their normal chaotic levels. “Anyways, have at it!” she giggled as she left the die facing the stage and she bounced happily back to her seat producing popcorn from almost nowhere. Dash watched her press the button and closed her eyes listening to the movie for a second before she felt the cue and her eyes snapped open her voice filling in where Danny’s had left off.(See it HERE)

“Well, this car could be systematic,

hydromatic,

ultramatic

“Why couldn't it be Greased Lightnin'!

We'll get some overhead lifters and some four barrel quads, oh yeah

“Keep talkin', whoah keep talkin'!

Fuel injection cut off and chrome plated rods, oh yeah

I'll get her ready, I need to get her ready!

“With a four-speed on the floor, they'll be waitin' at the door

You know that ain't shit when we'll be gettin' lots of tit

Greased Lightnin'

To say that the girls were astonished by the fact that Rainbow not only had the lyrics memorized, but the entire performance down to a T, AND was performing it just as well as the original actors, was a severe insult to what they were watching. Dash had changed her voice to a deeper pitch to match Danny’s and being as agile and springy as she was had zero issue what so ever copying his movements on the screen exactly as he did them. It was mimicry at its finest and it was stunning to say the least.

“Go, Greased Lightnin'

You're burnin' up the quarter mile

Greased Lightnin', go Greased Lightnin'

Go Greased Lightnin'

You're coasting through the heat lap trails

Greased Lightnin', go Greased Lightnin'

You are supreme

The chicks'll cream

For Greased Lightnin'

Go go go go go go go go

“We'll get some purple pitched tail lights and thirty inch fins, oh yeah

A palomina dashboard and duel-muffler twins, oh yeah

With new boosters, plates and shocks

I can get off my rocks

You know that I ain't braggin', she's a real pussy wagon

Greased Lightnin'

“Go, Greased Lightnin'

You're burnin' up the quarter mile

Greased Lightnin', go Greased Lightnin'

“Go grease lighting you're coasting through the heat lap trials

You are supreme the chicks'll cream for grease lightning

“Go, Greased Lightnin'

You're burnin' up the quarter mile

Greased Lightnin', go Greased Lightnin'

“Go grease lighting you're coasting through the heat lap trials

You are supreme the chicks'll cream for grease lightning

“Lightning, lightning, lightning

Lightning, lightning, lightning

Lightning

“Come on guys , lets go to work !

Yah!!!”

Fluttershy was floating gently in the air and smiling as she cheered ever so softly. “You rock Dash, woo-hoo.” She cheered barely above a whisper. The couch was over backwards and seven pairs of feet hung over it paralyzed in their shock.

“S-she even did all the backup singing too… how many times has she seen this movie?!” Rarity asked in a shocked quiet hiss.

“Ah have no idea… Ah’ve lived with the gal for almost eight months now an Ah ain’t ever seen her do THAT before.” AJ replied still trying to piece together how her roommate who hated anything to do with corny musicals like this could have such a thing memorized down to the last pelvic thrust. Twilight just sat there frozen as a statue made to model the utter confusion she was in with her hair fraying in different directions, her eyes starting to twitch, and her mind reeling with the astounding performance. The Princess had blank looks on their faces but their minds were a mess that looked something like this: >(Enjoy~)<

Fluttershy gasped as she saw them all. “Did my cheering do that…?” she asked bringing a hand up to her mouth in surprise.

“Nah, I think it was my awesome. Pinkie!” she called. There was a pink blur and the sugar demon was next to her in a heartbeat. “Check your cube for my score! I wanna know if I beat Flutters!” she urged picking up the device and handing it to the girl.

“Yeah, sure Dashie…” she said still a little scatterbrained from the performance. She pushed in the side and the cube’s face glowed blue for a second before it showed a picture of her mark and then a list beneath it, singing score 95, Dancing bonus 20 points, enthusiasm bonus 5 points, and lyrical master bonus: 10 points. The total was 130 points… for one round. Dash would have shot through the roof had it not been made of marble and was built into the side of a cliff so it would be rock for at least thirty feet. So instead she just settled for loudly cheering and grabbing Pinkie and Fluttershy and twirling them around in circles like they were flimsy rag dolls.

The rest of the group all righted the couch back to its normal position and watched the scene with bemused smiles. Applejack tilted her hat as she watched her roommate spin around like a kid in a candy shop.

“Whoa there partner, didn’t know ya got so excited over somethin’ as simple as singin songs.” She laughed. The prismatic haired athlete quickly dropped the two girls she had in a death grip and her cheeks were much the same color Fluttershy’s hair.

“I-I’m not... I’m just psyched to be that much closer to getting my Wonderbolts passes.” Rainbow announced with a firm grunt. Celestia and Luna both exchanged knowing glances and they giggled as did the others making Dash all that more embarrassed. “Wh-whatever...! Just get on with the movie already...!” she exclaimed as she threw her hands up and walked back to her seat. Pinkie obliged eagerly as she and the others all settled back into their seats.

After the musical number the scene came to pass where Danny tried his hand at different sports to impress Sandy. Rainbow and Applejack of course had a good laugh at his miserable attempts. They whispered their comments to each other as it continued.

“Look at that idiot, he can’t even dribble right! And what the hell is with the short shorts? Are they playing for the girl’s team or something?” Rainbow snickered. Applejack chuckled a bit as well.

“Ah think that was just the style back then. Right Rare…?” AJ asked the girl who wore a soft white hoodie currently.

“Shhhhh!” she hissed in return. AJ and Dash sank into their seats a little bit until the wrestling attempt came up. In which AJ couldn’t help but groan.

“He looks like some kind of pheasant strutting around like that! And Ah’ve seen my Granny put up more of a fight than him…!” she complained. Rainbow snickered and Twilight was quick to shush them like the true librarian she was. They both complied until the greaser himself tried out the famous Equestrian game of Baseball. This time though it was both the sports obsessed and their dignified rulers that yelled at the screen.

“DON’T FALL FOR THOSE HALF ASSED TAUNTS…! HIT THE DAMN BALL!!!” They all roared. The movie was paused as everyone in the room turned to the four in question, but mostly Luna and Celestia. Celestia composed herself running her hand through her long pink hair that still flowed a bit in an unseen wind.

“We uh… are very vocal when it comes to Baseball… it is our national sport after all.” Celestia explained. Applejack and Rainbow both grinned and nodded their own outbursts dignified by their princess. Twilight and the other’s gazes slowly turned back to the TV and Pinkie pressed play once more.

The four sat back down and continued watching. Rainbow continued her commentary on it but quieter and just to Applejack. “Well at least he can’t screw up on track… but his chicken legs look like they’d be better for hopping fences than hurtles.” She mused. Applejack agreed and they watched the scene play out. Rainbow smirked a little. “Hehe… he’s pretty smart for a greaser… girls always go for guys who do sports. Helps if they’re smart too.”

Fluttershy heard this comment as she was just on Dash’s other side and she had to bite her tongue so that she wouldn’t confirm that with her own experience. Even if it wasn’t a boy. Rarity however had no such luck, as her gossip prone mouth had removed the clasp long ago.

“Oh yes… I could certainly see why girls go for boys like that… especially that wrestling team…” she giggled before she realized what she had said and slapped a hand to her mouth. Applejack’s ears perked and her green eyes slowly slid sideways at the fashion lover.

“Rare… have you been spying on my team while we practice…?” she asked. The others made no motion of it but they were all listening intensely. Well except Spike who was eating gem stones out of a bucket like popcorn. Fluttershy was shaking her head back and forth behind Applejack and was making a cutting motion to her neck.

“N-no of course not…! Why would I ever do such a thing! It isn’t as if I have an eye out for one of your team mates or anything…!” she quickly exclaimed. She was digging her hole further and further and everyone knew it. Fluttershy effectively facepalmed and buried her face in her hands not able to watch the unfolding scene on the couch. She carefully peeked out between her fingers when her curiosity got the better of her.

“Mhhhhhm… Ah’m not buyin’ it sugar cube, so which one of my boys caught your eye then…? Is it Snow…? That muscle bound idiot can barely formulate a sentence. Or was it that new transfer we just got, Brulee…?” she interrogated her harsh green eyes obviously threatened by the thought of her crush liking someone else. This however was looked over by Rarity who was just trying to come up with a good cover story. The familiar ding and the appearance of a clef note on the bottom of the screen however was her savior.

Pinkie paused the movie and bounced up to the platform beaming. “Okay gals! For this one we’re going to be doing something a bit different! Now the song that’s coming up is called Beauty School Dropout. And unlike previous turns where the cube would decide who’s going to sing, this time we’re going to roll out to find out who DOESN’T sing. As the base of the song is a choir of girls we can ALL participate. Except of course whoever the cube rolls who will be the focus of the song but not say a word. Acting though will earn you points so let’s roll to find out who will be Frenchy…!” she sang as she tossed the cube up in the air. It landed and rolled around for a bit before the screen stopped and three balloons identical to the ones on the hand that threw it.

“There we go! Now Rarity if you’ll just take the- WHAT?! CUBY WHYYYYYY?!?!?!?!” Pinkie yelled as she sank to her knees and yelled at the heavens. The girls all filled onto the stage and patted her shoulder as they walked by. She sniffled looking down at the cube. “Betrayed by my own creation… now I know how that Franky guy felt…” She muttered.

“You mean Dr. Frankenstein…?” Twilight asked.

“Yeah…! Him! Oh well… now we just have to roll to find out who’s singing the angel’s part.” She sighed as she tossed the cube in the air again. It landed and the screen flashed several cutiemarks before it settled on the unmistakable image of the bright sun.

Celestia grinned as she walked up and took the mike off its stand. Luna rolled her eyes. “How predictable…” she muttered.

“Hush and watch how a master does it Lulu.” The older sister scorned as Pinkie placed the cube and took her seat on the couch. She waited until everyone had taken their places and then she rolled the film with the press of a button. Celestia, being Celestia, used her magic to her advantage and in a flash of white light they were all in a room almost identical to the one in the movie, dressed in the same white dresses as well, she had however spared them the humiliation of those tinfoil towers that covered their heads. The goddess in question was at the top of the tall stairs smiling down at Pinkie as the spotlight shone down on her. (Song)

“Your story sad to tell,

A teenage ne'er do well,

Most mixed up non-delinquent on the block!

Your future's so unclear now,

What's left of your career now?

Can't even get a trade in on your smile!”

Girls: (La lalala lalala lalala...)

Celestia slowly descended down the white marble steps while the girls all found themselves surrounded by clones of themselves who all sang in unison with them. They didn’t break character though, they kept singing.

“Beauty school dropout,

No graduation day for you.

Beauty school dropout,

Missed your midterms and flunked shampoo!

Well at least you could have taken time, to wash and clean

your clothes up,

After spending all that dough to have the doctor fix your nose

up!

Baby get moving (Baby get movin),

Why keep your feeble hopes alive?

What are you proving (What are you provin)?

You've got the dream but not the drive.

If you go for your diploma, you could join a steno pool.

Turn in your teasin comb and go back to high school!

Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout),

Hanging around the corner store.

Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout),

It's about time you knew the score.

Well they couldn't teach you anything,

You think you're such a looker,

But no customer would go to you unless she was a hooker!"

Spike winced at that. “Oooooh, burn man…” he muttered under his breath as he shoveled more gems into his mouth.

“Baby don't sweat it (Don't sweat it),

You're not cut out to hold a job.

Better forget it (Forget it),

Who wants their hair done by a slob?

“Now your bangs are curled, your lashes whirled, but still the

world is cruel.

Wipe off that angel face and go back to high school!

“Baby don't blow it,

Don't put my good advice to shame.

Baby you know it,

Even Dear Abby'd say the same!

“Now I've called the shot, get off the block, I really gotta

fly!

Gotta be going to that, malt shop, in the sky!

“Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout)

Go back to high school

Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout)

Go back to high school

Beauty school dropout (Beauty school dropout)

Go back to high school”

As Celestia sang the last note Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew in from the sides while Luna hovered in the center as the lights faded. When they came back on they were all back in the party room And Pinkie was giving a standing ovation.

“That was totally awesome guys…! Tia even set the mood perfectly with her cool voice and that awesome show! And all of you had those totally cool clones to complete the choir! And then you three at the end were flying just like the guys in the movie!” Pinkie squealed as she hopped around them all in joy. “Buuuuut, as always it isn’t up to me! Take it away Cuby~!” she sang as she motioned to the cube. It beeped and buzzed and then a projector came out of one of its sides and beamed a screen on the wall that showed the full scoreboard. Rainbow was now ahead, but only just barley as Celestia and Twilight were tied in second now and Fluttershy, Applejack, Rarity, Luna, and Pinkie were all behind them.

A fiery aura of determination surrounded Twilight and Rainbow now as they were both completely bent on getting their prize. They both thought the same thing:

‘I will NOT lose.’

“Okay group! If you don’t like your score so far, or you just wanna get ahead don’t worry, your chance will come! And not too far off either, because the next song, isn’t going to be based around singing at all~” Pinkie giggled her bright blue eyes sparkling mischievously at the confused looks on her friends faces and the bewildered look on the regal sister’s as well. “You’ll see!” she giggled as they all walked back to the couch and she collected her cube and sat with it giggling like the little sprite she was.

The group watched her carefully just in case she snapped on them, she did seem like the most likely to be a serial killer… next to Twilight of course. The movie resumed playing and they watched the scene switch in between quickly, they were all trying to remember what happened next so that they could get an idea of what Pinkie was planning. Celestia, having been to the play and seen the movie countless times, was the first to remember and make her guess. She whispered it in Pinkie’s ear and the curly haired girl giggled and nodded in confirmation. Celestia was now grinning and her sister’s teal eyes narrowed in concern. When Tia was grinning, the room was about to start spinning.

When the news casters were setting up and the other girls were all reminded of the dance looks of realization swept across them quickly. They still didn’t know what Pinkie had planned, but if it wasn’t singing surely it involved dancing. When the actual dance itself came up Pinkie paused it and sauntered up to the platform to address the others. Okay girls, and Spike, this is the deal. As you’ll all remember from the movie this is no ordinary high school dance, it poses a significant part in the movie and has some of the most important characters all in the same place. So, in light of the importance, and lack of actual singing here, I’m issuing a challenge to all of you.” She beamed her eyes glinting as she did so. All eyes were on her, some filled with curiosity, and most filled with the fire of competition. “We’re going to have a dance off our selves! The wining pair will receive a special bonus of their choice and a doubled score as well!” Pinkie hummed excitedly. They all nodded but Applejack was the one to notice the catch there.

“Pinkie… did you just say pair…?” she asked her green eyes slightly hesitant to ask.

“Nice catch on that AJ!” She grinned. She pulled a gold star sticker from her hair and threw it so that it landed right on her shirt. “You get the gold star for paying attention!” she giggled. Twilight, the ever eager student gave the farmer a glare. Gold stars were HER thing. “AJ’s right, one of, and probably the biggest rule here, is that you’ll be paired up into partners by the cube~! You’ll have to cooperate and coordinate with your partner in order to get a perfect score, the one who impresses the cube most between dance moves, team work, and your overall style will win this round! Of course we’ll all get points but winning this is pretty much a free ticket into winning the whole shebang!” she giggled. “Unless I plan something even bigger for one of the final songs that is~! We’ll see!” she added with even more laughter. The others all looked concerned and Twilight of course posed the next question.

“So uh… what are the rules…?”

“Oh! Silly me I did it again didn’t I…? Okay, rules are: 1. We don’t want any of that nasty stuff on our dance floor. I’m looking at you RD.” She added with a slight glare at the Rainbow haired girl in question, she’d seen her dance at parties before. It could get… out of hand. Rainbow grunted in acknowledgement. “2. Is that you have to adjust to whatever is song is playing within five seconds of it switching. And it will. Frequently.” She emphasized. “Numero Tres is that if you trip up, or screw up you’re automatically out. And the cube will know. If you screw up you’ll hear a buzz and you and your partner are to leave the dance floor and watch from the sidelines. And the final rule is to, of course, have fun with it!” she giggled pumping a fist in the air. The others all laughed at that and nodded in agreement. “Okie Dokie Loki! Then let’s get to the pairing part of this match~!”

*** “WHOA WHOA WHOA, WAIT.” Nyx interrupted before her mother could continue. “So… let me get this straight, this entire competition could be won before it’s even finished…? How is that even fair…?!” she asked in disbelief. Her mother laughed as did her uncle and they both beamed at her.

“Don’t you worry dear, if there’s one thing Pinkie knows how to do it’s how to make games fair. She would never make something like that without making up for it later. Just be patient…” Twilight mused her lavender eyes filled with laughter. Nyx huffed as she crossed her arms her dark purple hair falling over her shoulder onto her black night shirt. She had left the glasses upstairs since she didn’t really need them and her headband had been abandoned in a trunk up stairs years ago. Her mother smiled at her, she had grown up very well and soon she wouldn’t need her anymore. She would have to enjoy these last few precious moments while she could. “As I was saying before…” ***

The cube was tossed and the screens on it blinked a few times before it projected the results of its shuffle on the wall again. Smiles faded and nervousness settled in instead. Even Pinkie faltered slightly.

Pairs:

Fluttershy and Applejack

Rainbow Dash and Rarity

Luna and Pinkie

Celestia and Twilight

“What… the… f-(BUY SOME APPLES)” Rainbow Dash’s swear was cut off buy a censor job done by Pinkie herself who had a portable soundboard on her phone. Magenta eyes glared at her and she quickly tucked the phone away. “I’m NOT dancing with her.” Rainbow insisted with a slight glare at the fashion lover in question.

Just said girl was rolling her eyes. “Oh like it’ll be a joy ride for me to be dancing with the brute…” she snarled back. Rainbow growled at her but Fluttershy came between them both of them and placed a hand on their shoulders.

“Will both of you please not fight…? Pinkie is it possible to change partners…?” she asked her fellow pink haired friend.

Pinkie shook her head sending her curls sprawling outwards. “Nopsey Wopsey! What the Cube says is final! It has to have a reason for doing what it does anyhow. So! Let’s go then, Celly if you would please~!” she hummed. The princess’s hands glowed in her golden aura as she moved them in a counter clockwise circle and then pointed her finger straight up. There was a golden flash and when they all regained their sights they were all in what looked like a large ball room that was again made of pure white marble and had those towering white pillars made of the same substance and carved to resemble ancient Greek architecture. But that wasn’t the end of it, no, to top it all off each one of them was also in a very classy dress. Rarity was very pleased with hers as it was just as white as the walls and floor, but it had her mark embroidered on her hip, as did all the others but with different colors for dresses and only slightly different styles. Rainbow looked down at herself and screamed in protest.

“Celestia what the hell?! Why am I in a dress?!” she asked the regal figure who was also in a long flowing white dress but it was low cut on the chest and had a slit that stopped only where her mark was on her upper thigh. Her actual mark. To see it was almost considered obscene. Twilight however was too enthralled with the elbow length gloves she wore that resembled the Milky Way in color and design. Applejack’s was a deep orange but it also had a green rim around the bottom and she wore stylish cowboy boots on her feet as well so all and all she wasn’t all that against it. Fluttershy’s dress was creamy yellow and had a cut similar to Celestia’s but minus the open chest, it instead went into a wrap around her neck and the three pretty pink butterflies rested on top of the slit in her dress that ran along her left leg. Pinkie Pie was the most happy with her dress, it flowed but it also poofed out at the ends and her hair had also been released from the ponytail it was usually kept in so her pink curls flowed down most of her back and bounced with her every movement. Luna had no objections to the midnight blue dress she wore that matched the way her hair flowed in its full glory. She had a set of matching gloves and her own mark was also visible like her sister’s. Rainbow Dash was the only one who objected so much to the cyan dress that matched her proud wings that were currently spread in defiance.

Celestia raised an eyebrow at the girl. “Oh I’m sorry, did you have an objection to that dress…?” she asked the tomboy. Dash nodded quickly.

“Uh, YEAH!” RD responded with a nod.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Let me fix that.” She snickered her pink eyes smirking as she snapped her fingers and a golden flash surrounded Dash. When it faded everyone had to bite their tongues and cover their mouths to stop from bursting out in laughter. RD looked around in panic for a second.

“WHAT?! WHAT DID SHE DO?!” Rainbow asked looking down at herself. What she saw made her blood run cold. A poofy pink frilly dress that was too sweet and girly for even Pinkie Pie was on her body, along with matching sparkling bedazzled pumps and knee high socks that were candy cane striped. Her hair was also styled into long rainbow colored curls and she wore an outrageously frilly hat as well, a matching parasol at her side. Her magenta eyes widened in terror as she looked around and saw her friend’s faces. Rarity was trying her best to keep from bursting out in laughter, as was Applejack, Pinkie Pie however had no such reservations, Twilight looked like she was trying to break down the scientific composition of the dress and Fluttershy was caught somewhere between looking flustered and having a giggle fit right there where she stood. Rainbow dropped to her knees and pleaded with Celestia. “I take it back! The dress was beautiful!! Just get me out of this!!!” she cried as she brought her hands together in a plea. Celestia smirked a bit her pink eyes retaining their glint.

“Ask and you shall receive my little angel.” She mused as she snapped her fingers. Rainbow felt the clothing change back and she never thought she’d be relieved to be in a dress. She stood back up and dusted herself off. At least Celestia had given her heeled boots instead of just heels. She had never liked those damn things. Even as a little girl. She walked over to Rarity and sighed.

“None of you say anything about this and I’ll take you all out shopping any day this week my treat.” She announced. There was a pause in the conversation and most of the heads nodded in agreement. All except one, Fluttershy. Her sea green eyes were gleaming.

“And what about me Dashie…? Bribing me with money and shopping doesn’t work if I’m on equal standing grounds with you…” she hummed a bit too cheerfully. Pinkie made a classic ‘Ooooooh’ at the comeback. Rainbow had to think for a second before an idea popped into her mind. She walked over to Flutters to whisper in her ear.

“How many favors do I have to call in to make this disappear…?”

“Ten. And I want you in class and no office trips, nurse or disciplinary for two months.” The normally shy girl responded.

Rainbow paused for a moment. “15 favors and ONE month good behavior.” She bartered. Fluttershy crossed her arms over her chest and flipped her hair back out of her eyes.

“15 favors and THREE months good behavior.” She countered. Rainbow stuttered for a few seconds under her gaze and the sudden boldness. She eventually chuckled though and let out a content sigh.

“Ivy taught you way too much… fine, deal.” Dash replied with a sigh as she held out two fingers to her. Fluttershy happily met her and the two wound them together shaking them tree times and then bringing their hands back like they had exploded, sound effects and all.

Pinkie was the first to ask. “What was that…?” she inquired having never seen such a promise made.

“Oh, it’s a Sonic Flutterboom promise. We made it up when we first met. The name was a compromise because I wanted something awesome and she wanted something… cute. It’s like this.” Dash said holding up two fingers again as did Fluttershy. “Two fingers for two friends, they hug like this…” she said as their fingers curled over each other again. “Then their chant their promise to the creator three times.” She said as they moved their hands up and down three times once again. “And then their combined friendship and the bond of their promise causes a huge awesome explosion that’s more epic than an Aurora and cooler than all the Wonderbolts combined.” She finished as they released and made the resulting explosion noises. Pinkie burst out into giggles again the others looked caught in between amusement and wonder.

“You had… interesting imaginations as kids.” Rarity commented.

“Yeah… interestin’ was totally the word Ah’d use to describe it…” AJ muttered. Rarity elbowed her in the ribs and AJ got winded as she rubbed the spot.

“It’s okay you guys… I know it’s pretty silly of us but its tradition so we still use it. That and next to a Pinkie promise it’s about the most binding thing we can make.” Fluttershy explained. Pinkie rose up like a zombie from her fit of laughter which had ended sharply at the mention of her sacred promise.

“Foreveeeeeeeeeer. . . “ She hissed eerily. Everyone in the room, even the princess of the night herself got chills through their body. Pinkie quickly perked back into her usual self and bounced off to where her cube had just appeared along with a very confused Spike who whore a simple black suit and a top hat to match.

“Wh-where are we…?” he asked looking around un easily. Luna cleared her throat to explain.

“In one of the many pocket dimensions we keep around. We mostly use them for storage or practicing advanced magic, but they can be used like this too. It’s sort of like a dream state, only Celestia’s the one in control of it all and this is very much real.” The moon goddess explained as she adjusted the gloves on her arms. Twilight’s eyes lit up as she turned to her mentor.

“Will I ever be able to do something like this princess…?” Her mentor gave her a stern glare and she corrected herself. “I-I mean Celestia…”

Said goddess smiled at the correction and nodded. “In due time my dear Twilight, but let’s get you out of high school before we start worrying about using such advanced magic shall we…?” she laughed.

“Soooooo, if I skipped a few grades you’d teach me sooner…?” Twilight countered. Celestia gave her a playful glare.

“Sometimes I think I’ve taught you a little too well my dear. No. I’m setting the age limit at Seventeen and no sooner.” Celestia ordered. Twilight’s head drooped a little as she muttered under her breath.

“Party pooper…”

“Heard that~” Celestia hummed. Twilight straightened and suddenly the room shifted and Pinkie stood up on a platform with a mike stand a mixing board behind her and large stereo sets on either side of the stage. Twilight glanced at her mentor quickly but the stunned look on her face said that she had nothing to do with the sudden appearance.

“Alriiiiiiight party people! Let’s get this show on the road! When the music starts dance to your heart’s continent, but remember, when the music shifts, and it won’t always be at the end of the song, you have to adjust your dancing within five seconds or the cube will buzz you out and then you’re done for the day. When we get down to the last two couples, I’m sorry, I mean pairs,” she giggled at the correction when she saw the shocked looks on the group’s faces. “We’ll switch into the finals and the rules will be explained from there. Now I’m setting the timer for half an hour. If we still have more than two pairs after that we’ll have an elimination round. Everyone got it…?” she asked looking around. When everyone nodded she grinned and placed the cube on the stand, it clicked into place and its faces all glowed. “Then let’s get this party started!” she shouted as she tapped the top of the cube. It beeped in response then projected a countdown timer on the opposite wall. Pinkie got into place right next to Luna and everyone else quickly did the same. The timer started at ten and clicked down for what seemed like ages for all of them.

Applejack stood next to Fluttershy her hat having been removed and tossed onto the stage so it wouldn’t interfere. With the boots on and Fluttershy wearing simple flat sandals Applejack was now a good two inches taller than her, something odd for Fluttershy since she had always been the tallest in her class. Applejack whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

“So uh, exactly how many classes have you taken on dancing have you taken…?” she asked the Pegasus.

“I’ve been in dance since I was four, and gymnastics as well. We practice new routines every month. What about you…?” she asked the farmer. She was slightly concerned knowing that she was literally raised in a barn.

“Mah Auntie had me taking professional lessons on ball room dancing for almost the entire year I stayed there. I still remember it all and I’ve been to quite a few parties in the past few tears too, so I know all the modern stuff too.” She chuckled lightly. Fluttershy sighed in relief and got a small smile on her face. Dashie wouldn’t stand a chance.

Rarity leaned over to her taller prismatic haired dance partner at almost the same time Applejack had. “PLEASE tell me your parents have forced you into dance classes of some sort…?” She asked with a slight pleading look in her eyes. Rainbow shook her head and Rarity got panicked for a second before she spoke.

“But I’ve been watching ‘Shy dance since we were little and she uses me as a practice partner pretty often. So I know almost as much as she does.” Rainbow snickered. Rarity got a small smirk on her face. She knew all about Fluttershy’s dancing, and had even had the pleasure of seeing it a few times herself. If what Rainbow said was true then they stood a fair chance. Especially since wild party animal Pinkie Pie was more focused on modern style and Twilight had two left feet if it wasn’t something she’d seen in a video game. Then realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Both of them were paired with ageless goddesses that had perfected every dance since the dawn of time. Pinkie being the chameleon she was would adapt quickly with Luna leading, and Twilight would absorb everything her mentor taught her like a sponge. Her sapphire eyes turned into pinpricks at the realization and she swallowed hard. This was going to be a really tough challenge.

The buzzer sounded at last and the music started. It wasn’t something they recognized at first but after a few seconds it came back to them. It was the remix of Beauty and the Beast, which also meant it was really easy to dance to. The pairs quickly adopted a ball room dance pose, with the taller of the pair leading. Spike was watching from beside the cube on top of the stage.

“Really…? Beauty and the beast…? Lame. What else do you have Cuby…?” he asked the cube in question. It of course didn’t respond to him, being an inanimate object and all. But only a minute into the song there was a shift and it was MUCH more lively(See it HERE) . Pinkie managed a smirk and Luna the same as they were both familiar with the style associated with this dance. Fluttershy quickly squealed but complied shifting with the music quickly. The others did as well having seen the movie and knowing the song well enough.

Spike grinned at the change. “There we go, that’s soooo much better. Ball room dancing is boring enough, you have to keep their blood flowing and whoa… I didn’t know Fluttershy could bend like that…” he commented seeing the dip she had made almost completely backwards to where her hair pooled at the floor and Applejack quickly brought her back up and spun her outwards. The others were all having fun with it too, some more than they should apparently since Pinkie looked way to comfortable dancing around Luna like that. Rarity was enjoying the shocked look on Dash’s face when she realized she too was skilled in dancing, even like this, scratch that, especially like this. The entire scene on the dance floor could be considered comical but before he could really get a good laugh out of it the cube switched the music again. This time the song had a Latin theme and it was apparent very quickly what it was.

Applejack grinned and quickly adjusted to the fast paced song. “Livin’ La Vida Loca…” she mused as she eyed her partner. “Why does this song seem to fit one our friends more than it should…?” she asked with a laugh.

Fluttershy tilted her head slightly mid dance. “Which one…?” she asked curiously. AJ laughed and nodded towards the tan skinned magic user that was currently having a ball dancing with her mentor. Fluttershy couldn’t help but giggle at that as she continued dancing.

Across the floor Rarity and Dash were having a similar conversation. “Hey, who do you think this song reminds me of…?” Dash asked doing a couple little hand motions as she danced around her partner.

“Hmmm… I was going to say Twilight but I think it fits Pinkie better.” Rarity mused casting a glance back at the friend in question. It did indeed fit her eccentric personality and superstitious nature. Rainbow nodded a bit in thought.

“Can’t argue there. Especially with that dance partner of hers…” she added with a laugh. Pinkie was having a blast with Luna as a dance partner, especially since the song seemed to fit them both in a little way, both being the black sheep in their family’s after all.

Spike watched for a little while longer the cube deciding to leave this song on for almost its full length before it switched again. And this next song one of the girls in particular was on like white on rice. Then of course, being to every single rodeo in her fourteen years of life had its advantages. Like having the entire Cotton Eye Joe memorized. She quickly guided Fluttershy into the step and Rarity felt dread seek her out like a missile. She had only done the step once or twice and Rainbow was in much the same position. They both watched the others carefully and found it to be simple enough. But of course there was one that was one pair in particular that had a bit of an issue with it, the only one who had never even heard of a Hoedown in her life, Twilight was very very out of pace and tripped on her dress when she tried to mimic the way the others were bouncing around. The Cube buzzed and it was official, Celestia helped up her student carefully and smiled at her as they walked to the sidelines. Twilight sniffled a bit.

“I’m sorry… we could have won if-“ Twilight was silenced by her mentor putting a slender finger to her lips.

“Don’t be so negative Twilight, you knew the odds were against us, even with me guiding you. Now we get to sit back and watch the others make fools of themselves.” The sun goddess mused with her sing song like voice. Twilight managed to smile at that as well, Celestia had always been able to cheer her up. It was why she looked up to her so much, like a mother or older sister. It was pretty hard to tell. The others were all into the music well enough but it was pretty funny to see them jump around like rabbits.

The song switched again and this time, contrary to the exact song that had been playing a moment earlier it was calm, and slow, and in normal circumstances made for couples. It was the infamous Waltz. Twilight joined her brother on the stage along with her mentor so they could commentate on the dances.

“Shame we didn’t last through this one… I still have it memorized from all those balls you brought me to.” Twilight laughed as she leaned against the rail that separated the stage from the floor.

Celestia laughed at that. “Oh come now, you had fun learning about all those foreign nations, and then stealing dances with all those prince’s.” Celestia mused.

“They asked ME to dance and that was only because they thought I was you daughter.” Twilight giggled back. Spike chuckled as well.

“Yeah, and while you two entertained the guests I raided the food table. I still remember Blue Blood’s face when he saw me swallow that turkey whole.” He snickered. Twilight rolled her eyes at him.

“Hey, did you know Pinkie could Waltz…?” she asked Celestia noticing the way that the curly haired girl kept in perfect rhythm with Luna.

“No… no I did not… did you know that Luna isn’t leading…?” she countered. Twilight blinked and looked back at the pair. It was true, Pinkie had taken the lead this time around and it was apparent that the others had noticed as well, and judging by the nervous looks on their faces they were concerned greatly. But they had their own moves, and Fluttershy moved as gracefully as a swan, Rainbow very similarly so and she guided Rarity perfectly so. It was clear that the song was easy for all present… too much so apparently since the song quickly changed to a rather swingy rhythm, the sudden pace change made Pinkie trip over her foot and she stumbled. She made a face quickly.

“Aw man…! Sorry Lulu…” she sighed as she stood back up. Luna laughed as she stood back up.

“That’s quite alright Pinkie, come on, let’s go watch the finals now.” She said helping Pinkie back to her feet and jogging back to the platform Celestia and Twilight were standing on with Spike.

“You two were awesome out there! Where’d you learn to dance like that Pinks…?” Spike asked the other two nodding in agreement. Pinkie giggled and winked at them.

“I’m THE party expert guys, formal, casual, or rocking smoking awesome, I can dance to any music.” She explained as she walked over to her cube and looked out at her four friends that remained on the floor. She pressed a button on it and it produced a microphone that she grabbed and the front end of it turned into a speaker to project her voice over the music. “Okay you four, don’t stop dancing but since these are the finals we’re now under final rules, which means an entire new twist! When you hear this noise,” she said pressing one of the faces on the cube, it let out a loud siren that sounded like a nuclear warning. “You’ll switch partners! Okay, that’s it keep going, there should be a song switch soon!” she mused as she saw the mortified faces on the four. Dash was about to scream at her when the booming bass of a techno mix cut her off. She and Rarity adjusted their dance style quickly as did AJ and Flutters.

“I swear when I get my hands on that pink haired demon I’m going to shoot her out of Luna’s cannon to see if she has a set of wings in her bag of tricks…” RD grumbled. Rarity actually laughed at that.

“I think she’d pull out a full hot air balloon first darling.” The fashionista mused. RD’s scowl disappeared and was replaced by a laughing grin.

“Haha, that’s actually pretty funny to imagine! You know, I’m actually beginning to see why Flutter’s likes you so much Dolly.” She mused.

Rarity rolled her eyes. “I see Abigail has told you of that little nickname her grandmother gave me… what else has she said about me…?” Rarity inquired. Put on the spot Rainbow faltered slightly in her movement but turned it into a quick recovery before the cube could sense it.

‘Shit… what do I say…? I can’t lie… those god damn eyes are watching me like a hawk…’ Rainbow thought quickly. She was about to open her mouth to respond when the siren sounded. She quickly broke away from Rarity and grabbed the nearest partner she found, which just so happened to be Applejack. Rarity and Fluttershy quickly paired together as well. The music shifted again and this time to their great surprise it was a familiar little song called Moves like Jagger. While they adjusted to each other’s steps Rainbow spoke through grit teeth.

“That switch came just in time, Rarity was asking about you!” she said over the music but not loud enough for the other pair to hear. AJ almost tripped when she heard that.

“She did what now?!” Applejack asked back with a side glance at the fashion lover and animal lover. The object of her affections was staring at her intently. “Whoa nelly… that’s a hell of a glare she’s got going on… what did you tell her…?” Applejack asked as she started to sweat bullets, not from the dancing, but from the daggers she felt boring into her back right now.

“Nothing! I just called her that nickname your Grandma gave her and she asked what else you told me about her, then she gave me that LOOK and I knew I couldn’t lie…!” Dash explained exasperated. “Dude, you’ve gotta tell her!”

“What?! No Ah don’t! As long as I can avoid her at all costs I’ll be fine!” AJ declared with a firm nod of her head. Suddenly the music shifted again but this time the change was about as big as they come, after all, going from a song often played at teenage dance party’s to a tango is generally pretty hard to do. But not impossible for the group on the floor. “Where in hells name did you learn to tango…?” AJ asked the shorter prismatic haired girl.

“Every Tuesday, Thursday, and Sunday, for the last seven years with Flutters…” She responded taking a moment to dip AJ. “You…? She inquired while they were paused. Aj bit her lip and glanced sideways.

“With mah cousin Braeburn in the back of his barn when we were ten…” she admitted. RD laughed and brought her back up spinning her outwards.

“Redneck…” Rainbow muttered with a smirk. AJ responded to the insult by taking the lead away from Rainbow and backing her up and spinning her a few times. “This is really hard to do backwards…” she admitted. AJ dipped her once more as the song called for it.

“You should try it with Spurs.” She snapped back. (ten points to anyone who knows where that scene came from before I give the link for it in my AN)

Rarity and Fluttershy watched them with curious eyes from the other side of the dance hall. “Rarity…?” Fluttershy asked quietly as she twirled the shorter girl outwards and then brought her back in.

“Yes Fluttershy dear…?” Rarity asked once they had rejoined and paced forward.

“Y-you don’t think that those two are… y-you know…?” she asked quietly her sea green eyes glancing up at the athletic pair that were dancing in perfect sync. Rarity quickly glanced over at them.

“No… They wouldn’t… they’re too much alike… right?” she asked as if for confirmation. Fluttershy bit her lip nervously. “Oh dear… this requires more digging… here, I’m going to try something and see how they respond.” Rarity said as she took the lead instead and dipped Fluttershy low following her so that their bodies were almost touching and their breaths could mingle together. They both glanced sideways to find both athlete’s staring at them wide eyed, Applejack had frozen in place and effectively dropped Rainbow onto the floor. Not that Rainbow really noticed since her nerve endings had frozen over from the cold shock that filled her. The cube Buzzed announcing that the pair was disqualified and Rarity brought Fluttershy back up to her full height. “Well, that answers that, they were staring at one of us.” She giggled Fluttershy doing the same after the red in her face went away. Only after they were separated did Rainbow feel the pain of both her wing being crushed under her and the defeat she had just suffered.

“Oh they’re good…” AJ muttered as she watched the pair exchange a high five each. The music stopped and Pinkie ran up to them beaming.

“That was awesome you two! Although the near kiss was over kill don’t you think…?” she giggled with a side glance at the defeated athletes. The fashionista smiled back in a way that made both of them shudder.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about Pinkie, whatever caused them to freeze like that was nothing of MY doing.” She mused her cold icy gaze settling on Applejack alone. The farmer felt the color drain from her face as she quickly wished she had her hat to shield her face.

“RD, if Ah die tonight will you tell my family Ah love them…?” She whispered to her friend.

“I’ve got you covered hayseed.” RD answered back. Luna scoffed as she walked past them.

“I thought I already said that no one is dying on this trip unless I say so.” She sighed. Celestia laughed as she came up beside her sister.

“What if I say some one’s going to die…?” she asked curiously.

“That depends on WHO you say is going to die.” Luna responded in kind.

“Hey! Do Ah get a say in this?!” Applejack asked.

“No.” both sisters responded in unison. They looked at each other for a second before grinning and bursting out in laughter, Pinkie right behind them and the others slowly joining in, even Applejack herself after a bit.

“Well alrighty then… Ah’m a good sport so Ah’ll concede defeat, even if Ah do think ya pulled something with that last move…” Applejack said holding out her hand for Rarity to shake. RD did the same to Fluttershy.

“Yeah Flutters, looks like I still have a lot of catching up to do on you, but don’t expect it to stay that way forever.” Dash snickered with a wink at her longtime friend. Both opposite girls reached out and shook the offered hands with smiles. Pinkie popped out with a burst of confetti grinning brightly as she held two crowns in her hands, she put both of them on Fluttershy and Rarity’s heads and then whisked them both up to the stage where two thrones sat with a banner labeled ‘Dancing Queen’s’ was hanging.

“You know what this calls for?!” She asked with a broad grin and a look at both her friends at her side.

“Would it happen to start with a P and end with Arty…?” Rarity asked with a small chuckle as she rested her chin in her hand.

“No silly! We’re already having a party! You can’t have a party within a party! That’s impossible! Or is it… Hmm, I’ll look into that later. But right now, it’s victory dance time!!!” She sang as she pulled the cube out from behind her back and pressed the top of it. The side facing the others turned into a speaker and a familiar sound (See it HERE) similar to disco filled their ears as Flutters and Rarity walked back down to the others. Fluttershy glanced over at Rainbow. RD returned the gaze and smiled at her then gave a shrug and broke out in a rolling hand and pointing disco dance. The others all joined her, Celestia having a flash back to her birthday about thirty years ago.

“How in hells name do we all know this song…?!” RD Shouted.

“DON’T QUESTION DISCO!!!” Pinkie, Celestia, and Luna all shouted at once. And with that, no one no longer questioned Disco.

*** “Mom, is that why Tia had the entire castle outfitted with clap on disco balls…?” Nyx asked her mother. The older Alicorn laughed and nodded as she sipped her tea.

“Actually, she had those installed long before that but it IS the reason she uses them so frequently now a days… that and she still challenges your Aunt Pinkie to those dance off’s whenever she has free time. Spike do you still have the score card for them…?” Twilight asked turning to her brother. The older teen tapped his chin in thought before he produced a little flame and it formed into a long trailing scroll. He read the bottom of it while the rest of it trailed out of the living room and stopped against the door twenty feet away.

“We’re at 7,692 for Celestia, and 7,693 for Pinkie… Apparently Celestia isn’t happy with the score.” He reported as he rolled the scroll back up.

“What makes you say tha-“

Nyx’s question was interrupted flashing colorful circles of light shimmering through the windows by the fireplace and loud raving disco music playing from a few blocks down. She looked out the window to see Sugar Cube corner lit up like a club and its walls vibrating from the loud disco music playing inside it. Spike smirked patting his niece’s head.

“I rest my case shorty.” He responded. She glared at him.

“You know you’re only two inches taller than me and you JUST got to that height right…?” Nyx growled. Spike shrugged.

“Doesn’t matter, you’re done growing, I’m just starting. I’ll be as big as Macintosh some day!” he snickered.

“Yeah, and you also used to say you’d marry Rarity one day too and look where she is today…” Twilight commented off handedly. Piercing emerald eyes glared back at her.

“I thought we mutually agreed not to bring that up again Twi… Especially since I’m seeing-“

“AH AH AH SPIKE!!!!” Pinkie said sticking her poofy head into the room from a potted plant nearby. “We can’t give the audience any spoilers now can we?!” she lectured.

“P-Pinks…? What are you even talking about? Aren’t you supposed to be having some kind of Disco Off with Celestia…?” He asked the woman. She grinned at him and shook her head her long curls flying everywhere along with dirt from the plant she was in.

“Nah, I’ve got the twins handling her, having your own personal protégé’s who will do just about anything you ask them to is pretty handy~!” she mused. She winked at Twilight who blushed furiously at the implication and she quickly walked over and shoved the girl back inside whatever hell portal she had summoned.

“Yes well it was very nice seeing you again but I have a story to get back to and your win doesn’t count if you’re not the one dancing. That and Pound is just an embarrassment on the dance floor and Pumpkin won’t last very long either.” Twilight reminded her. Pinkie let out an elongated gasp before she vanished thanking Twilight for reminding her. Twilight sighed in relief before looking back to her daughter. “Now where was I again…?”

“Tia and Pinkie just crowned Aunt Flutters and Rarity the Dancing Queens.” Nyx replied as she was poured another cup of tea.

“Oh yes. Ahem.”***

After the celebration died down the group was somehow transported back into the entertainment room where the movie was still paused where they left it, their gowns thankfully replaced with their normal attire yet again. Rarity seemed disappointed at that.

“Such a shame… those were such beautiful dresses…” she sighed dreamily. “And I’m quite sure that was the only time I’ll ever get to see Rainbow in a dress…” she added with a small giggle. Rainbow pointed a finger in her direction as she sat down on the couch.

“Laugh it up for now Rare, but one of these days you’re going to wake up in a military uniform with a matching haircut and then we’ll see just how funny messing with someone’s style is.” RD declared with a challenge in her throat. Rarity effectively swallowed her tongue at that and Rainbow smirked at the sight of her scrunched face. “That’s what I thought.” She confirmed as Pinkie walked up to the stage and set the cube down and turned to face them all.

“Alrighty ladies…” Spike coughed a bit to make his presence known. “And Spike,” she added with a giggle. “Let’s finish up this movie montage style, the songs that are coming up are all pretty much back to back, they’ll be one more song, which as you all know is a duet and then the remaining songs are all sung by the entire cast, Soooooo, it’ll be all of us up here singing~!” she announced with a giggle. The other girls couldn’t help but share her energy. It was an effect Pinkie had on people, explaining it was kind of like trying to explain everything else she did impossible. “Without further adieu I give you Grease, resumed of course.” She mused as she bounced up and landed right between Twilight and Celestia clicking play on her remote as she did so. Twilight suppressed a giggle and Celestia did the same, although with more effort than her protégé.

The group watched through the dance each humming along with most of it and Dash finding her foot tapping a bit too much for her liking. A glance sideways however told her that Fluttershy was quite enjoying herself though, and that was enough for her. Applejack still had a bit of her paranoia left over as she had her hat tilted so that she could watch Rarity out of the corner of her eye without her seeing. She didn’t know what the fashionista had planned but she’d be sleeping with one eye open tonight that was for sure.

What surprised both athletes who were watching their crushes both conspicuously and inconspicuously was that they didn’t just hum along with the songs, they sung them under their breaths in full tune with the movie.

‘Wow… she’s really watched this thing way too many times.’ They both thought at once. When the scene came for the duet to come on Pinkie paused it again and somehow got onto the stage without Twilight or Celestia even noticing her movement. She held up the cube grinning.

“Okay girls, you know what that symbol means, now let’s see who’s going to have the pleasure of singing this spicy duet~!” she mused tossing the cube in the air. It’s screen went through a few marks before it settled on the cloud with a hued lightning bolt. Rainbow flew up to the stage to stand beside Pinkie grinning like a cat. “Whoa Dashie, excited much…?” she asked with a small giggle.

“N-no…! I just wanna redeem myself and get those Wonderbolt tickets!” She explained with a cross of her arms while she hovered a little bit off the ground. She did a little figure eight in the air behind Pinkie anxiously. “So who’s going to duet with me…?” she asked her friend. Pinkie shrugged and picked the cube back up.

“Dunno Dashie, let’s find out!” she sang as she tossed it back in the air and Dash continued doing figure eights out of nervous habit.

‘Anyone but her anyone but her…’ she internally prayed. Three blue diamonds stopped on the screen and she sighed in relief. The cube then seemed to jump a little and flip to a different side that had three pink butterflies instead. Rainbow’s jaw hit the floor as her wings stopped working and the rest of her body joined her jaw. “Oww…. How the hell did it do that?! It landed on Rarity and then it jumped and switched to Fluttershy…!!!” she exclaimed turning to Pinkie for an answer. But the poofy haired girl gave no response just a shrug to her winged friend. When Dash groaned as Fluttershy got up to walk to the stage Pinkie gave a small wink at Twilight and moved slightly so she could see the remote she held behind her back with her finger still on the button. Twilight’s lavender eyes widened but she chuckled to herself all the same.

“Pinkie you’re a mad genius…” she muttered under her breath. Celestia glanced down at her student having heard her and was about to ask what she meant when Pinkie zipped over and quickly whispered something in Rarity’s ear. Her eyes lit up and gleamed with something that made even Celestia cringe. Pinkie zipped back to the stage as Rarity stood up and quickly enveloped Fluttershy in her magic and dragged her out of the room with the butter yellow Pegasus in full panic at the action.

“Rarity?! Where are we going I have to get on and sing…!” she protested as she weakly tried to fly out of her friend’s magic hold. But Rarity would have none of it as she dragged the girl off and down the hall. Rainbow slanted her magenta eyes sideways at Pinkie suspiciously.

“Piiiiiinks… what are you plotting…?” Dash asked her careful eye never leaving the short pink girl beside her.

“Oh come on Dashie! Have SOME faith in me! She’ll be back up here before you can fix those feathers you have out of place.” She explained with a giggle. Dash’s eyes quickly widened as she brought her right wing to her front and noticed that there was in fact quite a few feathers on it out of place.

“Oh nuts… I’ll be back.” She grumbled as she went off to the bathroom. Applejack looked confused and turned to the princess for answers.

“Why didn’t she just fix them in here…?” she asked. Luna was the one that replied despite AJ directing the question at Celestia.

“Preening feathers is a rather private habit, as such doing it in front of a group of people on stage would be like showering in public… that and it’s very difficult to see the base of your feathers when you don’t have a mirror to use.” She explained as she brought her own wings forward and pointed to where they grew out at her shoulder blades. AJ blushed a little at the implication and nodded tilting her hat down a bit in embarrassment.

“That does explain why she spends so long in the shower every morning… Ah was wondering because she doesn’t really pay much attention to her hair or nothin’ so Ah didn’t think she’d be picky about her wing’s neither… what’s the difference…?” she asked peeking out from the hat. The door clicked open and Rainbow stepped in twirling one of her cyan feathers between her fingers.

“The difference is that if I have feathers out of place it messes with my aero dynamics, so I keep them in top shape… plus I honestly hate the way it feels when my wings are all grungy and ungroomed.” She explained as she walked over and tickled the farmers nose with the feather. “Answer all your questions Earth-Bound…?” she mused as she blew the feather away from her hold.

“Yes, as a matter of fact it did.” She responded with a nod as she tilted her hat back to normal. Rainbow grinned as she went over to her chair, grabbed her jacket off of it slipping it on and also putting her fingerless black riding gloves that matched the muscle shirt she wore and also dawned her favorite shades shades before walked back to the stage.

“Good, because my wings need to look as cool as me, and with this much awesome to live up to, they could use all the help they can get.” She snickered as she struck a pose on stage. The door opened back up to reveal Rarity walked in with a satisfied smile on her face as she paused at the door frame with all eyes on her. She casually knocked on the frame and Pinkie took that as her cue when Fluttershy stepped in. Every jaw that wasn’t Rarity or Pinkie Pie hit the ground and kept going, even Celestia and Luna…

Fluttershy stood in the door frame leaning on it with a confident smirk on her face and her long pink hair pinned back out of her face and roll down her sides in styled waves and curls. But most eye popping was the fact that she was in black spandex leggings that went to just above her hips dipped down slightly so that there was a sliver of her milky skin showing between it and the matching half shirt she wore on her top along with a form fitting studded leather jacket. The heeled spiked boots she wore that went half way up her calf helped too.

Rainbow’s reaction…? Her jaw was slack, the sunglasses she wore were slipping off her face, and her cyan wings had unfurled and stood straight at attention. Behind them the movie was already playing. “F-Fluttershy…?!” she mouthed. Flutters winked at Dash her eyes darting to the screen briefly before she sauntered for it and started to sing in time with the music that started to play. Luckily for her Rainbow caught on quickly, but much like Danny was on screen she pretty much dragged herself around after Fluttershy. (A perfect image of Fluttershy and the actual song can be found: HERE)

F: Tell me about it stud!

Rainbow threw her jacket to the ground as did Fluttershy as they danced around almost exactly like the characters on stage, well Rainbow flew a bit and Flutters hovered a bit but that was the limit.

R: I got chills.

They're multiplyin'.

And I'm losin' control.

'Cause the power

you're supplyin',

it's electrifyin'!

F: You better shape up,

'cause I need a man

and my heart is set on you.

You better shape up;

you better understand

to my heart I must be true.

R: Nothin' left, nothin' left for me to do.

Both: You're the one that I want.

(you are the one I want), o,o, oo, honey.

The one that I want.

(you are the one I want want), o,o,oo, honey.

The one that I want

(you are the one I want want), o,o, ooooo

The one I need.

Oh, yes indeed.

F: If you're filled

with affection

you're too shy to convey,

meditate in my direction.

Feel your way.

R: I better shape up,

'cause you need a man

F: I need a man

who can keep me satisfied.

R: I better shape up

if I'm gonna prove

F: you better prove

that my faith is justified.

R: Are you sure?

Both: Yes, I'm sure down deep inside.

You're the one that I want.

(you are the one I want want), o, o, oo, honey.

The one that I want.

(you are the one i want want), o,o,oo, honey.

The one that I want

(you are the one I want),o, o, oo

The one I need.

Oh, yes indeed.

As the music faded away and the two both came to a stop to catch their breath from the movements Pinkie paused the movie and glanced over at Twilight beside her who shared her grin. The two silently fist bumped before Pinkie zipped up to the stage while the two seemed paused with Rainbow still holding Flutters up and around her waist. Pinkie walking up to them seemed to break whatever trance they were in and Rainbow quickly dropped Fluttershy. Thankfully Fluttershy was well used to being dropped by her dance partners and she used her wings to slow her fall enough to stand instead of just falling flat on her back.

Pinkie giggled as she picked up her cube. “Very convincing performance you two I almost would have believed you two were a real couple!” she snickered. Fluttershy blushed profusely and Dash’s wings once again flared in distress as her own face heated up. Celestia leaned down to Twilight to whisper.

“Another fun fact about Pegisai is that their wings flare out when aroused…” she mused. The fun fact made Twilight almost burst out laughing on the spot but she cut it off at a sharp snort and she quickly covered her mouth when the others glanced at her.

“S-sorry, continue…” she said a few more snorts of laughter escaping as she waved her hand at them.

“Sooooo, to the performance of Flutters and Rainbow the cube awards…” she slapped the top of the cube and it projected a score up onto the white wall in the back. Flutters was nailing Rainbow Dash like a hammer. She was at the top of the list and ahead by almost a thousand points because of the bonus round she and Rarity had won. “Oooooh, sorry Dashie, look like you’ll have to make up for it in the redemption round…!” Pinkie giggled. Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion as did everyone else in the room.

“Redemption round…?” they all asked at once. Everyone looked around at their neighbors when they all spoke at once.

“I’m glad you all asked! Here’s how it’s gonna work!” she said as she reached over and pulled a large wheeled white board from… somewhere. She flipped the face over to reveal what looked like little chibi versions of each of them drawn out on it in what looked like an adorable battle plan. “Now the point of this redemption round is to give those of you who pretty much have nothing for scores a fighting chance! Instead of a grade like score the cube will rate you based on how crazy you get and range it anywhere from 1 to 2000!” she explained as she pointed to a large drawing of all of their chibi selves dancing in all kinds of weird positions. “The rating is based on the wacky style because that’s what this entire song is about! Being as crazy as you want with it and just having fun! But that’s just the dancing! You still have to sing the lyrics in a group and on key just like you would if you were up here by yourselves! Now because this room seems a little crowded like normal while you were all focused on me I had the staff remove all the furniture, even the couch you were all sitting on!” she explained. Everyone blinked in surprise and looked around to find that she was right, every spec of furniture had been removed from the room and they were now sitting on the floor, leaving the large room wide open for them to go wild.

“How in Faust’s holy name did she-“ Applejack started, but her fellow earthbound wasn’t listening.

“When the last song is over we’ll tally the final scores and declare our champion…!” she said striking a triumphant pose with her pointing stick. She then broke her stoic face with her usual face splitting grin. “Any questions…?” she asked looking around. Luna raised her hand and Pinkie pointed with the stick. “The Party Queen recognizes Princess Luna!”

“Uh… yeah, you misspelled my name on the board. My name is Luna… not Woona.” She said pointed at the little chibi that represented her (which was rather pudgy looking). Pinkie blinked and calmly flipped over the white board to reveal their scores all written out in a nice chart. She uncapped a red marker and erased Luna’s score of 210 and rewrote it as 200. “Did you just dock me ten points?!” the lunar princess exclaimed.

“Yes. Because that was not a question and also Woona is a much more fitting name for such an adorable Chibi.” Pinkie reasoned as she capped the marker again and set it on the board before she pushed it into… where ever the hell she got it from and beamed yet again. Celestia was calming her sister by holding her down so she wouldn’t try and slam the moon into the earth just to smite Pinkie. Although she had a distinct feeling that Pinkie would somehow survive such an execution in some way that involved turning the moon into a large wheel of cheese at the last second and eating her way though it… “Okay, let’s begin! Remember! Be crazy!” she said as she zipped to the center of the room and the others slowly joined her.

Rainbow looked like a hallowed out corpse at this point. Applejack noticed and nudged her with one of her freckled arms. “Aw come on RD, you ain’t still freaked about Fluttershy are ya…?” she asked her room and teammate.

“No… I just know that I’m now cursed to lose this challenge no matter what…” she said bringing a hand to the right eye to half shadow it.

“What’re you talkin’ about…? This is the REDEMPTION round, you can catch up and pass Flutters easy!” AJ encouraged with a good pat on her friend’s shoulder.

“No… I don’t stand a chance… not up against… that!” she said pointing at Pinkie who was doing leg stretches in her inner tube that squeaked when she bent over, she also three pairs of mismatched neon thigh high socks on each leg and had shoes that looked more like slippers shaped like some kind of technicolor ponies, her face had some kind of old cheesy fake glasses complete with an over sized fake nose and mustache. When she was done stretching she pulled an oversized Sombrero out from whatever black hole she kept in her hair as well as a trumpet which she blew into and let out some kind of loud screeching noise that sounded like a dying whale.

“. . . Okay, Ah have no proper way to respond to that so Ah’m just gonna pat ya on the shoulder and wish ya good luck sugar cube.” She said doing just as she said and going to take a place where she’d have room. Rainbow had to fight her every nerve ending to not curl up in a tiny ball and wither away in the corner. Instead she put on a brave face as Fluttershy took a position next to her and gave her a gentle smile. The smile however did a lot for her and she felt her worry melt away. This was just a game… if she lost then oh well, it was fun anyways…

‘And I totally got to see Flutters in that cute dress and this totally hot out- STOOOOOOOP that thought right there before I regret thinking it…’ she ordered herself. The small voice in the back of her head, Who’s going to hear you…? ‘I’m in the room with two pretty much all powerful goddesses, a magic protégé that knows more spells than an arch mage, and Pinkie Pie. There’s a pretty good chance that one, if not all, of these people knows how to read minds.’ She countered back. Celestia looked over at her sister while she stretched out her limbs a bit.

“What do you think’s going through her head…?” the solar princess asked.

“I wouldn’t know, I’m a dream walker, not a mind reader.” Luna replied back. Pinkie popped up between them grinning.

“She’s having an inner monologue about whether or not any of us can read minds.” She responded all too cheerfully. Silence stretched between the two sisters as Pinkie once again bounced off to her spot.

“Sister…”

“Yes Luna…?”

“If when we return home I perform a few experiments on the pink one to see what exactly she’s made of, will you punish me…?” she asked her older sister. Celestia paused tapping her chin in thought.

“Only if you don’t share the results with me after they’re done.” She replied after a moment’s consideration.

“Deal.”

“Okay party people! Let’s get this redemption round on the roll!!!” Pinkie announced her hand high in the air grasping the remote. She clicked play on it and the movie played white the cube’s face glowed green while it observed them from its pedestal on the stage. (See the madness HERE)

[Rainbow and Fluttershy]

We go together like

rama lama lama

ke ding a de dinga a dong

remembered for ever like

shoo bop shoo wadda wadda yipitty boom de boom

[Fluttershy, RD, Rarity & AJ]

Chang chang chang-it-ty chang

shoo-bop

That's the way it should be

Wha oooh yeah!

[All]

We're one of a kind

Like dip di-dip di-dip

Doo-bop a doo-bee doo

Our names are signed

Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy

boog-e-dy

Shoo-by doo-wop she-bop

Chang chang chang-it-ty chang

shoo-bop

We'll always be like one

Wa-wa-wa-waaa!

When we go out at night

And stars are shinin' bright

Up in the skies above

Or at the high school dance

Where you can find romance

Maybe it might be lo-oh oh oh-oh oh-ove

[Luna&Celestia] Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding a da ding de dong

[Pinkie&Twi] Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom

[Rarity&AJ]Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop

[RD&Flutters] Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo

[ALL] Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-ed-y

[Spike] Shoo-by doo-wop she-bop

[TwiLuna] Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-y boom de boom

[RariShy]Ra-ma la-ma la-ma ka ding-a de ding de dong

[ApplePie]Shoo-bop sha wad-da wad-da yipp-it-y boom de boom

[CeleDash] Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop

[Spike]Dip da-dip da-dip doo-wop da doo-bee doo

[ALL]Boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy boog-e-dy

[RariJack, TwiPie] shoo-by doo-wop she-bop

[FlutterDash, LunaTia] Sha-na-na-na-na-na-na-na yip-pit-ty boom de boom

[Spike]

A wop ba-ba lu-mop

[Girls]

A wop bam boom

[ALL]

We're for each other like

A wop ba-ba lu-mop and wop bam boom

Just like my brother is

Sha na na na na na yip-pit-y dip de boom

Chang chang chang-it-ty chang shoo-bop

We'll always be together

Wha oooh yeah!

We'll always, be together

We'll always be together

A wop ba-ba lu-mop a wop bam boom!

When the song ended all were out of breath, most from the acrobatics that they put on, and Pinkie because she was playing most of the instruments that had been in the music, including the Sax solo. But the part she liked most was the fact that at the end everyone was smiling and when the music stopped they all burst out laughing. Pinkie was glowing as she walked up to the stage to check her cube. She brought her hand up to the cube and blinked a few times in surprise as she let out a low whistle. Her party guests began to gather around her as she looked through what they assumed to be the results. Rainbow walked up beside Flutters and for the first time noticed that the normal three inch height difference was more than doubled by the four inch boots she wore. She flew up to hover so that she looked taller than Fluttershy.

“What’s the damage Pinks?” she called up to the stage. Bright energy filled eyes glanced up at her as she dragged her fingers across the touch screen of the cube.

“You guys aren’t gonna believe this…” she announced as she typed a few things into it to bring it up into a projection.

Fluttershy: 4,625

Rainbow Dash: 4.624

Rarity: 4,137

Pinkie Pie: 3,491

Applejack: 2,164

Celestia: 2,134

Twilight: 1,529

~~Luna~~ Woona: 1,268

Rainbow’s eye twitched. It was all she could do. Slowly everyone started to back away from her, even Pinkie. Fluttershy ironically was the only one brave enough to approach her friend while she was in her state of shock.

“Dashie…? A-are you alright…? I can understand if you’re a bit upset I mean… with those numbers and to lose by only a single point it’s… Dashie…?” she asked when she noticed Dash’s shoulders began to shake a little as she lowered her head. “Oh no! Please don’t cry Dashie I’ll-!” she was cut off by Rainbow bursting out laughing and falling to the ground as she did so. Confused was a severe understatement for what Fluttershy and the others were feeling right now. Even Pinkie wasn’t laughing at this.

“You all should’ve seen the looks on your faces…! It was like, like-!” she tried mimicking a face that looked overly depressed and horrified but burst out laughing half way through. Slowly she stood up as the others began to understand and she was calming down.

“Y-you were just… pretending to be upset…?!” Twilight asked in disbelief.

“Well DUH!” Rainbow replied with a small chuckle as she wiped a couple of hysteric tears from her eyes. “There’s no way I’d be mad at Flutters for winning! I’m the outgoing athlete; she’s the reserved artsy type. She’s got a voice like an angel and the grace of one too and I sound like a harpy because my voice is too scratchy and my dance moves are only bland imitations of what I’ve seen her do! There’s no WAY I’d beat her in a competition where dancing and singing is the main focus!” Dash laughed. “Now if we were running track and she beat me I’d be upset, but not at her, at myself. Because obviously I somehow broke both my legs if she beat me at that!” Dash added just when Fluttershy was starting to blush from the layered thick compliments. That brought her back down to normal levels. Everyone else in the room relaxed at the return of the normal Dash.

And of course Pinkie was the first to say something. “Hey Dashie! No need to be so mean! Flutter’s is really fast when she wants to be!” Pinkie said defending her fellow pink haired comrade.

“Well yeah, when there’s a bunny in distress or something… but if she’s just running for the sake of running I’d run circles around her.” Dash boasted as she hovered in the air with her hands behind her head like it was a hammock.

“Actually she’s right you know… And I have really weak lungs anyways so running period isn’t a very good idea for me.” Fluttershy admitted looking down at her leather booted feet.

“Exactly, see? I know what I’m talking about when it comes to- OKAY FOR THE LOVE OF CELESTIA WOULD SOMEBODY PLEASE GIVE HER BACK HER NORMAL CLOTHES SO I CAN LOOK AT HER WITHOUT THINKING SHE’S GONNA CRACK A WHIP AT ME IF I TURN MY BACK!!!” RD roared without looking directly at her fellow pegasus.

Rarity sighed and walked over to Fluttershy her hand glowing as she did so. “Fine, ruin all our fun Rainbow…” she sighed. RD saw what she was doing out of the corner of her eye and her face turned crimson as she saw the outfit fall off around her. She quickly turned around fully prepared to knock Rarity out for stripping Fluttershy infront of everyone when she noticed Fluttershy was standing there in her favorite dress yet again.

“Wha-?! How did you-?!” she asked looking from the clothes on the ground and back to Fluttershy. Rarity rolled her eyes.

“The quick change spell, it lets you swap one outfit for another as long as you’ve seen it before and it’s nearby. It’s quite useful for fashion shows that need quick changes, or for rushed mornings where I don’t have time for silly things like putting on each individual garment.” Rarity explained ash she levitated the bundle of clothes on the ground in front of her to fold them neatly and set them aside so she could take them back to her room later.

“Well that’s… handy. Almost makes me wish I was a magic user. Almost.” She emphasized. Pinkie popped out between them again.

“Uhhhh, hello?! Aren’t we all forgetting something preeeeeety big…?” she asked moving their heads back to where the cube was still projecting the scoreboard. A big basket of prizes sat next to it now.

“Oh yeah, Flutters gets to pick her prize since she won. You wanted that golden pet card right…? Dash asked hovering over to the basket. Fluttershy walked up beside her as did everyone else.

“Oh… um yes. I did.” She said looking down at the assortment of prizes. More than just the ones Pinkie had shown them there were literally hundreds of prizes in the basket, some big, some small, some big but small and some small but big. She looked at it all carefully before reaching out and picking out two familiar looking items that were tied together at the top. She untied the knot and handed one of them to Dash. Rainbow stared down at the Wonderbolt’s pass in shock.

“F-Flutters…? What’s this for? I thought you-“

“I did. But you should have won with me. And I know this is something you’ve wanted since our dad’s took us to that show. I can handle paying full price for animal food and toys, money isn’t an issue for me you know that Dashie. Take it.” She insisted as she took Dash’s hand and placed the plastic card part of it in her palm. Dash looked from it back up to Fluttershy and back. Everyone looked on with anticipation but she didn’t seem to notice.

“I-I… Flutter’s I don’t know… I can’t…-“ she started trying to find the right words. Pinkie and Twilight were leaning forward in anticipation and Applejack and Rarity were silently cheering for them. Suddenly magenta eyes lit up like fireworks and she had Fluttershy in a crushing mid-air bear hug that would have made Jollygreen himself proud. “YOU’RE THE BEST FRIEND EVER!!!!!!!” She exclaimed flying around the room fast enough to make heads spin. Pinkie and Twilight both fell to the floor in crushing defeat, Applejack lowered her hat muttering something about her roommate being an idiot, and Rarity was sighing as she shook her head in pity for poor Fluttershy who had come so close. Spike looked confused and looked up to the two regal sisters for an explanation.

“What just happened here…?” he asked. The two sisters exchanged a glance before playing a quick game of rock, paper scissors which Luna lost so she had to explain.

“It’s… Rainbow Dash just erected a huge almost indestructible force field many become trapped in for all eternity called The Friend Zone.”

“Oh… sounds terrifying. Will Fluttershy be alright…?” he asked again. This time it was Celestia’s turn.

“Of course she will… she just needs outside help now. And I know just the girl for the job.” She mused her pink eyes falling on the energetic party queen herself. “After all, if there’s one thing I’ve learned from watching her these last few hours it’s this: Never Doubt Pinkie Pie.”

***~~~ AN: Alright you paitent little angels, look! A chapter! And it's a musical too! A musical that killed me to write and get all those links working. Although I actually loved writing all the little refrences I put in here. Speaking of which, ten Shadow points to any of you got where that tango scene came from. If you didn't, here, educate yourself. And I'd like to announce in full warning that the next time I update will not be a chapter revolving around the Mane 6, but rather two very special characters I hold dear to my heart. For a very obvious hint at who these charaters are I offer you a song in our splendid parting. Try not to drool all over your key boards when you figure that out please.~~~***

HIBAA Special-1

A HIBAA Special, Vinyl Scratch and Octavia Philharmonica in:

The Memory’s That Haunt Us

There’s a few things people in this world never forget; things that are special to you like birthdays or holidays you spent with your family. Things that make you smile like the first time you got a puppy, or when you got a good grade in school and your parents put it on the fridge and gave you some kind of dessert as a reward. Or those magical moments where you make a genuine friend and you feel so happy you could burst. But there’s also bad things you can’t forget too. Like when those holidays always end in arguing, and every birthday ends in a fight between you and your twin sibling over what presents you got. Or when your father takes away the puppy you just got and gives it away to the local shelter because it was ‘too much of a hassle’. Or when just after they put that grade up on the fridge and you walk off with your dessert in hand your brother knocks it out of your hand and you see your mother toss the paper in the bin just as he knocks you down. Or worst of all when the only time you were able to escape the prison you call a home and go to a summer camp YOU choose, you make a friend, spend the entire summer laughing, playing and having so much fun you thought you’d finally died and gone to heaven, you wake up a month later in a hospital with nothing but blurry memories and a small flash drive with two initials engraved on the back of it and a song that never stops playing in your head. Oh, and we can’t forget the mark of your one true destiny that had appeared on the top of your right arm.

A backwards eighth note… very well suited for the backwards minded girl who was so cloudy headed she could barely remember her name. Victoria Harmonia Scratch. She shuddered at the name. She hated it more than anything. Even more than her eyes or that thing she called a brother. She preferred the name her friend had given her much better. Vinyl. She smiled at that. Vinyl Scratch. That had a nice ring to it. If only she could remember the name of the girl who gave it to her. For what had to be the thousandth time since she had woken up in that hospital bed an hour ago she reached over on the night stand and picked up the small flash drive. She turned it over and ran her thumb over the pink initials and the treble clef above it. ‘O.P.’

Vinyl chuckled a little and stared up at the ceiling a smile crossing her face. “I wonder if I’ll ever find her again…” she mused. Then the door slammed open and she saw the piercing red eyes of her brother staring back at her behind the muscular form of her stone faced father. A woman in a posh looking white dress complete with a scarf made of mink and a purse that probably cost more than the average person made in a year slung over her shoulder daintily. It was obvious she’d been crying as of late since her bright blue eyes were tinted red, the layers of mascara she wore was running down her cheeks, and her normally pristine two toned white and pink hair was out of place and seemed to sag a bit in the high top bun she kept it in. Upon seeing her daughter awake and staring at her eyes wide Harmony Step rushed forward hugging her tightly.

“Victoria! Your father and I have been worried sick for almost a month! Are you feeling alright? Does your head hurt at all? The doctors all said you used quite a bit of magic and it sent you into a coma! But no body from your camp can remember anything about the incident except for this song and… and that you used the song to save that girl some how.” She explained never letting her daughter go. Vinyl quickly pushed her mother away confused in multiple aspects. Since when had her mother given a rat’s tail what happened to her? And what was this about her saving someone with music?”

“Mom, chill I’m fine. Look, my magic even works fine.” She said as a box of tissues from across the room over to them and handed it to her mother who took it in her own soft pink magic and dabbed at her eyes with one of the tissues.

“Well that’s good I’m sure… are you sure you’re alright? You’re not light headed or feel faint…?” she asked the genuine concern obvious. Vinyl might have thought she was acting if there was anyone else in the room, but there wasn’t. and the concerned look her mother had gave her the impression she wasn’t faking this time.

“Yes, I’m sure. But… I can’t remember anything. It’s all just gone… I mean I get these little bits of memory but they’re blurry… and there’s huge gaps in between them. I don’t even remember that girl you were talking about. Or anything about a so-“ her sentence was cut off when something came back to her in vivid detail, composing. Nights sat in their cabin writing out sheet music and practicing it on their instruments until they fell asleep holding them. And a mixing table. Oh that beautiful piece of equipment, she remembered that mixing table perfectly. And the girl… kind of. Her face was still mostly blurry but there was one thing she remembered, that smile that she had every time she had called her name.

“Come on Vinyl! Wake up! If we’re late for class again we’ll have to do lines!”

“Vinyl! You’re holding it wrong! You’re supposed to angle a violin like THIS!”

“Can’t you do anything right you silly girl…?”

“I don’t think I’d have stayed if I didn’t get you for a roommate… you’re special Vinyl.”

“Friends? I suppose we are aren’t we…? Odd considering your lack of tact.”

“You need something to store it on? Here use this. I never use it anyways, and my brother is always trying to steal it. So I put my initials on the back of it so he couldn’t say it was his.”

“Skip class…? What for? … To play in the river?! Are you crazy?! We have our performance tomorrow Vinyl! We can’t just blow off this last night of… oh fine, you win. But only for a few hours okay?”

“Vinyl… Do you hear that? It sounds like water rushing… I think we should go- VINYL!!!”

The voice cut off after the scream and the only thing Vinyl could remember after that was the music. The song that had filled her ears while she lay unconscious for so long. The song she now remembered was contained in the flash drive she now held in her hand. She looked down at it in shock her two toned blue hair getting in her eyes slightly. Something else was tossed in her lap.

“Here, when they brought you to the hospital you were wearing those and clutching that thing. They got these off you to rush you for surgery but you wouldn’t let go of that jump drive.” Her father said as he tossed a pair of goggles in her lap. She picked them up and examined them. They were odd, shaped like the kind of goggles she’d seen the weather team use, but instead of clear glass they had purple tints on them for lenses. Closer examination revealed that there was writing on the inside of the strap that would hold the goggles to her head.(If you need a visual reffrence use THIS)

‘To Vinyl, I know you don’t like wearing those cheesy sunglasses everywhere you go so I got you these instead, the color reminded me of your eyes whenever you’re happy. Here’s to hoping we knock them dead tomorrow. (Not literally of course, I’d rather not be arrested for murder.) –Tavi’

Vinyl blinked a few times and re-read the words over and over again in her head a smile slowly forming across her face.

“Tavi…” she whispered.

Her mother furred her eyebrows. “Speak up Victoria, you know I hate it when you mumble.” Her mother ordered.

Vinyl smiled and pulled on the goggles so that they covered the eyes she hated so much. “Her name was Tavi. And stop calling me that. I hate that name Mom.” She stated firmly staring her mother in the eyes adjusting to the now tinted world around her. Her mother huffed and crossed her arms.

“Well what am I supposed to call you then dear…?” she asked her daughter curiously.

Vinyl looked down at her arm where the backwards eighth note sat declaring what she had always known. The voice came back to her once more.

‘If you hate your name so much why don’t you change it…? You seem to have no issue shortening my name. Don’t you like playing with those old vinyl records in the music room…? Well then… how about I call you Vinyl? Vinyl Scratch… yes it does have a nice sound to it doesn’t it…?’

Her eyes focused on the present once more before she responded to her mother “Vinyl. You can call me Vinyl from now on.” She mused with a ghost of a smile crossing her lips.

***

Vinyl Scratch sat up with a wide yawn and looked around at her surroundings. The inside of a limousine, with a driver hired by her mother at the wheel driving them through what looked like a bustling small town. She looked further out the window and saw the towering structure in the center of the town… well, center was a little bit of an over statement since the building was easily three times the size of the entire town itself. The memory of a few days prior came back to her sharply.

***

“But Moooooooom, you can’t just take me out of school like that! You promised you’d let me stay the entire year!” Vinyl whined at the dinner table, her mother to her right and her father to her left and her ass of a brother thankfully absent.

“No but’s V, the deal was that if your grades IMPROVED while in that music school you chose I would let you stay. But they didn’t so now I’m sending you to the school your father and I choose.” She stated cutting into her grilled salmon daintily. Her mother had not approved of the name Vinyl chose for herself so she had resorted to simply calling the girl V to appease her. Her mother hadn’t been as bad as she used to after the accident but she was still as hard as a rock. Her father usually chose to stay out of their spats since he had found out what his daughter had been through at the close of her middle school years. It was his way of trying to make up for everything he had missed. By not adding to the problems that arose her opinion of him stayed neutral.

“Ughhhh…! I can’t help it! All of those classes are so BORING, and they don’t even have my kind of music there! It’s just a bunch of stuffy old guys who complain about how kids now a days will never be able to know ‘REAL’ music!” she groaned as she flicked a couple of pea’s around her plate with her fork.

“Don’t play with your food dear, and if you’re so gung ho about the classes there then why don’t you want to leave…?” she asked before taking a bite of her food.

“Because I have connections there! I’m thiiiiiiiis close to convincing the broadcaster of the radio club to play one of my songs!” she replied illustrating her point by bringing her pointer finger and thumb so close together they almost touched.

Harmony looked to her husband for support and he cleared as he pulled out a pamphlet from his shorts. “When we uh… went to go check out the school earlier there was a pink haired girl running around the campus handing these out. She bolted off before I could ask her about them but it looked like something you might like.” He said as he slid the paper towards her. Vinyl blinked and picked up the pamphlet and squinted finding it nearly impossible to read because the font was almost the same shade as her tint. She pulled her goggles up to her forehead and read it properly.

‘WANTED: DJ WHO CAN PERFORM ON THE SPOT JOBS AND CAN PERFORM LATE INTO THE NIGHT. NEEDS TO HAVE EXPERIENCE IN MIXING SETS AND KNOW HOW TO PARTY. THE ONE WHO RECIEVES THE POSITION WILL BE OFFERED A SPOT IN THE BOOTH AT OUR SCHOOL’S NEW RADIO STATION EVERFREE RADIO’

A logo was stamped in the corner of the paper and the inside of it was filled with a few more details but the set up was enough to bring a smile to her face. She turned it over to see one more note on the back side.

‘For information on the position please contact Pinkie Pie or Octavia Philharmonica.’

“Huh… wonder what kind of snob has a name that long.” She commented off handedly. “This Pinkie Pie character sounds like a blast though. I’ll look into it over the break but I’m NOT making any promises.” She said waving her fork at both her parents. But her mother just smiled.

“Trust me darling, if there’s ever been a time mother’s intuition would come in handy it’s now. I’ve been assured you’ll love it there. And we even got you a room on the top floor! It was the last one that had a vacancy! And to top it all off your roommate is a musician as well! Isn’t that lovely?” she asked cheerily. Vinyl thought back to what her professors had considered ‘musician’s’ and visibly shuddered.

“I’ll be the judge on whether or not she’s a musician. Anyone who thinks a guy named Tchaikovsky was better than the Beetles had another thing coming.” She noted with a straight face. Her father seemed to nod his head in approval only for his wife to send him a sharp glare.

“Now dear, I know you love the piano, why don’t you like any of the famous composers that wrote so many beautiful compositions…?” She asked her daughter.

“It’s not that I don’t like their work Mom. I just seriously can’t stand when people compare them to modern day stuff. You can’t take Bach’s compositions and hold them up to something like Metallica and expect there to be a fair argument why either is better than the other. Opinions don’t mean crap and you can’t compare something that wowed people three hundred years ago to something that makes people nowadays dress up in leather outfits and wear makeup that makes their ages unidentifiable. Because it’s just going to end in people ripping out their hair and screaming and that’s just not my style. They like it? Fine. But don’t try and compare it to the stuff I like.” She replied with a huff. Buff Scratch whistled and had a small smile on his face.

“Can we put the kid in a debate class? I’m pretty sure she’d bring home enough trophies to put my wall to shame.” He chuckled. Vinyl chuckled at the comment as well but a frown from his wife made her father stop laughing and look back down at the steak he was eating. Harmony summoned a packet in a small burst of her soft pink magic and she levitated it over to her daughter.

“I already picked out the academic courses you’ll be taking but I thought I’d leave the electives and club activities to you.” She explained as Vinyl took it in her own magic and removed a loose choice sheet from the packet to examine it. The classes were standard, math, science, history, English. Although the history was advanced because she found that normal stuff like baby food to her. She could at least give her mother credit for that. She sighed and opened the packet to look at what kind of music classes they had to offer at whatever rinky dink boarding school they were sending her to. She looked down through the table of contents and her eyes widened. For freshman there was over fifty pages of classes and clubs she could attend for music alone. Fifty pages. Her last school had had only ten and the entire school was FOCUSED on music. She quickly turned over the book to see what school could possibly have so many activities.

“Ponyville Academy…?” She asked aloud glancing up at her mother.

“Oh yes! It’s a beautiful campus in such a nice little town. Some of the best minds in the world graduated from there you know? The princess herself is head of the school committee there! And I heard her protégé is attending classes there as well! As well as the daughters of the most prestigious families in Cloudsdale! Isn’t that amazing…?” she asked happily. “V…? Darling are you alright…?” Harmony asked when she saw the stunned look on her daughters face. It slowly turned into a smile as she lowered her goggles back over her eyes and then she smirked.

“No Ma’am… on second thought this school sounds like it’ll be… a blast.” ‘From the past’ she added in her own mind.

Little did she know just how right she was.

***

Octavia lived a simple life. She grew up in a nice family that loved her, in a house that accommodated them nicely, in a city that was simple and quiet just like her. Sure her little brothers bothered her from time to time, there being three of them they often tried to overtake her but she was clever and out witted them every time, and her older brother had been off to college in Cloudsdale for the last year so had some amount of quiet in the house. Her father was a well-known musician in the town, his voice often brought ponies coming for miles when he performed concerts in the local tavern and the pay was fantastic. Many had always asked him why he didn’t move onto bigger cities like Manhattan and Canterlot with a voice like his, and his answer was always the same:

‘I don’t think my wife would like the idea of traveling with our kids. They’d probably destroy the city.’

His wife was a beauty to behold, she’d come from Cloudsdale and had actually been on the same Olympic volleyball team as Sunny, as such the two were great friends. Her beauty though was what got her the reputation she had as ‘The Blue Angel’. If her finely groomed blue-grey wings, sleek and soft charcoal colored hair, and stunning light pink eyes weren’t enough to draw you in than her calming voice and witty personality certainly would. Her friends had always told her she belonged in Canterlot with the elite but she liked the small town life much better, which is why after her career as an Olympian ended Grace Skylark retired to the small town of Ponyville where she was swept under the spell of Baritone’s singing and the two were wed not even a month later. Less than a year later their first son Thunderlane was born, five years later Octavia Philharmonica was born. It was a deal that Grace would name the boys and Baritone was to name the girls. Octavia being his only girl he was thankful he took the chance while he had it. Since six years later the triplets came along and all hope at having a normal life again was flushed down the drain with the steady crying of the three little boys, Rumble, Shady Daze, and the youngest Button Mash.

With the money from her winnings at the Olympics, and a little flirting with the real estate salesman, she had gotten them a very nice six bedroom, four and a half bath house with a large plot of land for the price of a regular town home. For a woman with a cutiemark of a dancing cloud the woman had a silver tongue that could make dictators see reason. Needless to say they were well off.

Yes Octavia had the good life, she had her cello, she had nice friends and band members, she went to a nice school, and had a nice room on the top floor that over looked the courtyard just right, all to herself. Life for her was perfect, calm, and serene. Or at least it was until she woke up to the entire school pounding with the sounds of an electronic bass being dropped so hard it shook the foundation. She didn't know it but this was what could be called foreshadowing.

She ran to the window and opened it up sticking her head out and looking around frantically to see if they were being attacked by some sort of sound monster. Her brilliant pink eyes that many had often complimented her on were scanning the courtyard until her target was in sight. There was something with two toned blue hair under one of the trees in the court yard that was standing at some kind of machine. She grabbed the closest thing she could find, which just so happened to be a softball her friend Lyra had left in her room the last time she had been over, and with the precision of a sniper threw it hard enough that it should have caught fire. She squinted her blurry eyes to see if it hit the bass demon and when the music was cut off and the blue haired creature fell onto the grass and she smirked satisfied with herself for apparently saving the school from an untimely demise.

She crawled back into her bed and covered herself with her sheets so that she could get a few more hours of precious sleep. But alas her mind would not allow it. She sighed and brought herself back out of the bed and walked out of her room into the living room/dining room area and passed it by for the kitchen. She flipped on the stove so that the kettle would start to boil and opened up her cabinet which was stocked with many different kinds of teas. She only very rarely drank coffee; she was more of a tea person herself. Her grandmother, who was from London and who she had also picked up her accent from, was the one who had instilled such great etiquette and customs in her. She chose her favorite, Earl Grey tea and let the packet sit in the bottom of her mug letting the string dangle perfectly along the rim before she poured the steaming boiling water over it and let it sit. While she was waiting she glanced around the apartment type dorm to make sure everything was in order.

Her movie collection was intact, so was her many records and CD’s. Her cello stood proudly on its stand from where she had left it after last night’s practice, her music compositions and sheet music were all still stored neatly on a bookshelf beside her work desk and a mirrored bookshelf on the other side of the desk held her personal book collection as well as her text books. Her backpack was hung neatly on a hook that was on the broom closet that was right by the front door. She knew that inside the broom closet her winter coats were hung neatly and a canister held her favorite umbrella as well as a few spares was waiting for her should she need them. Yes. Everything was still in order despite the thundering bass that had awoken her.

She sipped from her tea and started to wonder about that. Now that she was more awake she started to realize that probably wasn’t any sort of monster. Well, not by biological definition anyways. It was more than likely someone from that Electro-Music club practicing a set for one of their ‘gigs’ at the local dance clubs. She rolled her eyes. She had nothing against them, she was sure they were nice people, but she found their taste in music off. It was too loud and in your face, she didn’t see the point in it. But people had their tastes just like she had hers. She normally would have never resorted to a method like striking the offender with a softball to the face but she HAD been rudely awoken and she was sure many others had as well. She had probably done them a favor by knocking out the blue haired offender. She tried to pull up her recent memory of when she had seen the club walking around with their equipment strapped to their backs to see if there was anyone with blue hair. She couldn’t remember anyone but she wouldn’t let it bother her anymore.

She finished her tea and set about her morning routine. Shower, dress, grab a bagel with some cream cheese for breakfast, sit down for a bit and go through her lengthy music collection to find something to listen to. There was still a day left before classes started again, she had come back to the school last night after having dinner with her family. They lived in town, it wasn’t like she couldn’t go and see them whenever she wanted, and they still came to all of her performances so she was quite content leaving a day early. Besides, it was nice to get away from the three boys fighting over the game controller. Although it had been nice to see her older brother for a change. He had flown in from Cloudsdale for a few nights to see the family before he went back to his college. Apparently a pair of twins had been flirting with him lately. She could never understand how he got so much attention. He was nice and all, but her brother had a tendency to screw things up pretty badly with people.

A prime example would be that when he was still in high school, which was just last year mind you, he had been dating a girl named Airheart; a patient girl who was known for her gentle nature but funny personality all the same. Thunderlane had asked her out and the first couple of times they went on a date it had been perfect. But then Thunderlane kept missing them. He’d have something come up in his weather duties, or he’d sleep in, or he’d get caught up hanging out with his friends. Over and over and over again. He was always conveniently busy or had one excuse after another. And Airheart waited, and waited, and waited, ever so patiently for him to come to their dates. But even her steel strong patience was starting to wear thin after the sixth month of them dating and him only making it to a very select handful of their set dates. Needless to say, she blew her top.

She had circled the skies for an hour before she found him at a local café with his friends, swooped in on him and dragged him to nosebleed level heights. She set him down on a cloud and yelled at him for an hour straight until he was nothing more than a quivering pile of feathers and then broke up with him and flew off. She transferred schools the next day and no one had seen her since. But the lesson she had taught him stayed. Don’t blow off the important stuff or you’re going to crash land in a heaping pile of manure. But of course he still had a lousy sense of timing, was still terrible with girls, and was all around a pretty big mess-up. But he was lovable and he tried to make up for it. Octavia couldn’t fault him for that.

Drifting out of her thoughts Octavia realized she’d been listening to the same song for almost two hours now and she quickly shut off the sound system and stood from the couch to stretch her limbs. She heard a knock at her door and jolted a little.

“Huh… wonder who that could be. Could be Lyra or Bonnie… But Bonnie woud have texted me first and Lyra would never dream about getting up this early on a weekend…” she thought aloud as she walked towards the door. She opened it to find her Music professor Dr. Noteworthy standing at the door. He oddly reminded her of her father somehow. “Oh! Hello professor, what brings you up here so early in the day…?” she asked curiously. The blue haired man smiled at her usual politeness.

“I am here, Miss Philharmonica, because we have a new transfer student and she’s been assigned as your roommate.” He explained with a small chuckle. Octavia’s eyes widened slightly. She would have expected this were it the beginning of the year and not only a few short months away from summer vacation. Whoever she was must have had a very good reason for switching so late in the year. Well, at least now that room across the hall from hers wouldn’t seem so empty. “Come on Miss Scratch, yes keep the pressure on that ice pack I’ll get the luggage.” He said as he motioned an unseen figure towards the door. There was a grumble as a girl stepped towards the door revealing herself to Octavia, she had a pair of glossy white headphones around her neck the chord leading to the front pocket of her white denim jeans, a black tank top with an open dress shirt the same color as her pants with the sleeve’s rolled up to just above the crook of her arm covered her torso, and a pair of black combat boots covered her feet and made loud stomping noises as she walked up to the door and nodded at her. But what caught Octavia’s eyes weren’t the violet tinted goggles she wore over her eyes, but the two toned blue hair that was styled like she’d been head banging to one too many songs and it had frozen in place like that, and the large bump on her forehead that was mostly covered by a large icepack. Her nails were painted the same shade as the lighter blue in her hair.

She didn’t quite put two and two together yet. “Well that looks dreadfully painful, whatever did you do to get a bump like that?” she asked the new girl. The blue haired girl groaned and waved her hand.

“I brought out my mixing table to practice and forgot to hook it into my headphones first. So it played my music through most of the school and apparently pissed off someone because five seconds later I get pelted with THIS thing and get knocked unconscious until Doc here found me and got me to the nurse.” She said holding up the very same softball Octavia had used to ‘slay the sound beast’. Octavia put on her best poker face and managed a small giggle as she took the ball.

“Well, that just sounds awful… I admit I was awoken by the disturbance myself but for someone to throw this at you…? Would you like some tea?” she asked getting a little bit nervous as she quickly walked over to the kitchen and set the ball on the counter.

“Nah, not a big fan of the stuff. I’ll take another ice pack though, this one’s losing its touch.” She said moving the pack a bit in an attempt to find a good spot. She could feel her crest melting the ice quickly as it leaked magic trying to repair itself. Octavia acted quickly grabbing an icepack from the fridge and filling it with ice from the box. She brought it over to the girl just as Noteworthy was carrying in the last of the luggage. There wasn’t much material wise but Vinyl had brought ALL of her equipment with her, and it was pretty heavy. She smiled taking the new ice pack and setting the old one down. Octavia then noticed for the first time that her new roommate was a magic user. And her crest was leaking light blue magic like blood. She cupped a hand over her mouth as she gasped. Vinyl chuckled a bit at her reaction. “Relax, it’s not as bad as it looks. The magic is just repairing the crest, like dry blood with a scab only a lot faster. It’ll be fine in an hour or so.” She stated with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Hey thanks for bringing in the luggage Doc, I would’ve done it but my magic’s shot and my arms are like noodles.” She explained waving her free arm around loosely to emphasize her point.

“No problem Miss Scratch, I’ll leave you two to get to know each other.” He said as her was backing out the door. “Oh, hello Miss Heartstrings.” He commented as he saw a girl in a mint green hoodie walk past him and into the room. Her white and mint hair contrasted pretty spectacularly with her golden eyes.

“Yo Note, what are you doing up this early on a holiday?” she laughed.

“Just dropping off our newest member of the band to her new room. What about you?” he asked after a hearty chuckle.

Octavia was sweating bullets now as she watched Lyra’s lips move in slow motion. “Oh, just came by to drop off something I left here at Octavia’s last night.” She responded. Her eye caught sight of the ball on the counter and she smiled. “And here it is! Thanks’ for watching it Octy see you tomorrow at practice!” she called over her shoulder as she walked out ball in hand. The door clicked shut and silence ensued. Octavia counted a full sixty seconds before her new roommate spoke, she didn’t even catch her name, not her first one anyways.

“So… Octavia huh…? You’re the one that pelted me…?” she asked without looking at her. Octavia hung her head slightly.

“Y-yes… you see I had just woken up and-“

“From all the way up here…?” She continued.

“W-well yes… but I don’t really have a steady brain function when I first wake up-!”

“And you managed to hit me, square in the forehead and knock me unconscious from over half a mile away…?” she asked.

“Ummm… yes…?” she offered timidly not knowing what exactly this girl was going to do to her.

She was silent for a couple of seconds before she burst out laughing while still clutching her head. Octavia stood in stunned silence. “Y-you should see the look on your face!” she cried through her laughter. “You look like I’m about to go all God-Father on your ass…!” she laughed wheezing a bit as she did so. She stopped suddenly and clutched her head a little harder wincing as her laughter slowly died down. “Ow, ow, ow… okay… note to self, don’t laugh when you’re crest is broken. Hurts like hell. Whew, sorry about all that. I won’t hold it against you. I’ve done some pretty bad stuff when I first wake up, stuff that makes something like this look like a scrape.” She laughed casting a glance at her roommate.

“Y-you’re really not mad at me Miss Scratch…?” Octavia asked curiously.

“Nah, it’s cool. But I WILL be mad if you keep calling me my mother. Name’s Vinyl, not Miss Scratch.” She said offering out her hand to the girl. Octavia carefully reached out and shook it.

“Octavia Philharmonica. Or just Octavia if you would.” She added. Vinyl made a face and squinted at her through the tinted goggles she wore that made her eye color unidentifiable.

“Nope. Too long of a name. Breaks my three syllable rule. And I’m not digging that name that heartstrings girl gave ya either. Makes you sound like you’re supposed to be on a plate of sushi.” She responded. “So let’s see… Octavia… Ah! Got it!” she announced with a snap of her fingers. “Tavi, I’ll call you Tavi.” She announced proudly.

Octavia blinked in surprise. No one had called her that since… she gripped her head in pain as blurry memories swam behind her eyes. She shuddered and Vinyl quickly knitted her eyebrows in worry.

“Hey, you okay…?” she asked lowering her head a little. She was only an inch or two taller than her but it was added on since she was in her boots. Octavia opened her bright fuchsia eyes again to meet the oddly colored lenses of her roommate staring back at her.

“Yes, I’m fine. I just tend to get dizzy spells from time to time and that name seems to have set one off.” She explained as she walked back towards the kitchen so she could make a new cup of tea for herself. This time it was Lemon-Balm tea, something her grandmother made her often after she had first been hospitalized. It helped clear away the headache and keep her calm. With the steaming cup in hand she came back into the living room and sat down on the couch tucking her feet underneath her as she sat. Vinyl carefully took a seat next to her.

“Sorry I can call you Octy instead if you want.” She offered. Octavia glanced over from her tea a small smile forming on her lips.

“No, the name won’t be an issue once I get used to hearing it again. My therapist said it’s good for me to be exposed to things that trigger the headaches. It’ll help me get over them faster.” She explained.

“Oh… wait, you go see a therapist?” she asked curiously. Octavia blushed slightly.

“Well… not so much anymore. Maybe once every few months. I had an accident when I was little and it was pretty devastating. I didn’t wake up for a full week after it.” She explained. Vinyl surprisingly wasn’t fazed by it.

“Yeah, had something like that happen to me too. ‘cept I didn’t wake up until a month after it. Magical exhaustion isn’t something most people survive, yet alone recover from.” Vinyl added with a slight shudder of her own. “But apparently whatever I did to exhaust myself so bad landed me a spot in Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns so I couldn’t really complain too much. Well I could, but not for that reason.”

Octavia raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Brother issues.” Vinyl responded simply.

“Ah, I can understand those.”

“You’ve got one too?”

“Four of them.”

“Yeesh, don’t your parents know the meaning of the word ‘birth control’…?” she asked half-jokingly. It earned a laugh from Octavia all the same.

“My three younger brothers are triplets. And my older brother was the first born.” She explained.

“Ouch. I bet your mom is about ready to pull her hair out.” Octavia shrugged.

“Not particularly. When they were much younger yes, but now all she has to do is glare them down and they’re angels.” Octavia giggled as she sipped her tea.

“Sounds like your mom’s a bonified badass. Wish mine was anywhere close.” Vinyl noted her gaze wondering around the room for the first time. “Whoa! You seriously own all these records?” she asked noticing the shelf. Octavia nodded.

“Them and more. Those are just the favorites I brought with me to school. My CD collection is by my work desk.” She explained pointing over to the area that was covered in very tidy stacks of paper. Vinyl walked over looking at the titles that were alphabetized.

She noticed a pretty fair amount of it was all classical collections. But there were also things like AC DC, Aerosmith, The Beetles, Pink, a few Katy Perry, My Chemical Romance, a Sapphire Shores CD (Which she gagged at), and even a single Metallica CD in the back. “Whoa, pretty snazzy collection you got here Tavi, you’ve gotta have pretty weird tastes if you can have Taylor Swift and Tchaikovsky on the same shelf.” She laughed. Octavia blinked in surprise.

“You know Tchaikovsky…?” she asked curiously. “Most of the band members don’t know him…!” she exclaimed in surprise.

“Yeah, I mean I’m not really a big classical fan, I like my wubs better, but I still know where music started. Back with cavemen rubbing sticks together and banging rocks against each other like drum sets, all the way to today where we have every instrument from a piccolo to a freaking harp on one big beautiful machine called a mixing board. That and Piano was like the first thing I learned how to play when I was like two.” She added scratching her cheek a bit and adjusting her goggles slightly. Octavia had to stop herself from hugging the girl. Finally someone who wasn’t a complete musical dunce! Or a once sided fan girl! She couldn’t have asked for a better roommate! Wait... did she say wubs…? As in Dubstep wubs?

“You work with electronic music…?” she asked carefully.

“Oh yeah, it’s my muse. Here, let me show ya!” she said grinning a crooked smile. She jumped up abandoning the icepack on the couch and running to her luggage. She dragged out a bigger looking suitcase somehow and kicked it open. The next few seconds reminded Octavia of those Transformer movies her younger brother Button was obsessed with. The heavy case moved and slid pieces around until a full mixing board complete with speakers stood in its place. She had to pinch herself to make sure she wasn’t hallucinating. Vinyl noticed and her grin grew. “Yeah, she’s my baby. I bought her originally online and tricked her out myself last summer. She’s my pride and joy and I wouldn’t trade her for anything in the world, no I wouldn’t.” she cooed rubbing her cheek against the sleek machine.

Octavia made a little face at the gesture. Even she wasn’t that affectionate with her cello, and she had grown up with it. It was like a sibling to her. But Vinyl had said this machine was more like a child so she could understand the difference. Wait… she BOUGHT something like this…? And improved it?! Who WAS this girl?!

Vinyl adjusted a few settings on the board, mostly bringing the sound down to a level that wouldn’t kill everyone in a direct blast zone, and then she pulled out something from her pocket and plugged it into the machine. She also took unplugged her headphones from her mp3 and instead plugged them into the machine. She clicked a few more buttons as Octavia snuck around behind her to peer over her shoulder, well around since she was short, and look at the screen. It had what looked to be a light blue screen with a sound table showing the levels in the song. Each one seemed to pulse like a heart rate monitor. Vinyl grinned and took off the headphones and offered them to Octavia.

Now that they were off her head Octavia could hear the song a bit. She carefully took them and listened properly. (See song HERE) After a few seconds she decided it wasn’t so bad, it still wasn’t her cup of tea but it was a hell of a lot better than most of the stuff she heard that club pour out of their speakers. She smiled at Vinyl and moved one of the ear pieces of her ear.

“It’s not my cup of tea but I’ve heard worse. A lot worse. This is tolerable.” She noted. That made Vinyl grin.

“Aw thanks Tavi, coming from a classical junkie that means a lot.” She chuckled. Octavia rolled her eyes.

“And for an Electro Nut you’re not a half bad composer.” She admitted setting the headphones down as the song ended.

Vinyl kept her grin plastered her grin on her face. “I think you’re gonna make an awesome friend Octavia Philharmonica… wait a second… Philharmonica… I know I’ve seen that name somewhere before…” she muttered a concentrated look on her face. She looked over at her luggage while Octavia looked confused. Vinyl’s hand started to tap her side in thought and like a flash of lightning the memory came back to her. She quickly reached into her back pocket and pulled out the pamphlet her dad had given her. She turned it over and read the name on the back of it and her grin returned. She spun around quickly and pointed straight at her roommate. “YOU! You’re one of the girl’s who’s running this contest right?” she asked holding up the pamphlet.

Octavia squinted for a couple of seconds before laughing. “Ah, yes. I am. Pinkie’s out until later tonight still so I’m supposed to be handling the questions people have until she gets back. Why? You want to enter?” she asked a little surprised when the girl nodded quickly.

“Oh hell yes! A position as DJ and a place in the booth again? It’ll be cake for ol’ Vinyl Scratch.” She snickered jabbing a thumb in her chest. Octavia blinked a couple times noticing a few uncanny similarities between the unicorn and a certain brash pegasus that was a part of Rarity and Fluttershy’s group.

“Does the name Rainbow Dash mean anything to you…?” she inquired to be sure they weren’t related or something.

“Uhhh, no, why? Is she like one of the judges or something…?” Vinyl asked tilting her head obviously confused by the sudden question.

“No, you just reminded me of her for a couple of seconds there. I’m sure you two would get along swimmingly. Now, back to the contest at hand…” Octavia mused walking over to her desk and flipping through a few sheets of paper before she selected one and handed it to Vinyl. “Fill that out and then I’ll give it to Pinkie in the morning. The actual contest is going to be on Friday but we want time to look through all the entry’s and pick out which one’s look promising enough to actually add them to the trial board. And when I say We I mean her and the other judge, I’m just the paper handler.” She explained as she fished out a pen for Vinyl and handed it to her. Vinyl took it in her left hand and pressed the paper against the wall so she could write on it. Octavia blinked a little in surprise. “You’re left handed…?” she asked. Vinyl looked up a bit from filling out the sheet.

“Huh…? Oh yeah. It’s pretty weird considering no one else in my family is a lefty. Then of course no one else has this color of hair either, well my uncle kinda does but it’s not really that same.” She explained teetering her hand a bit.

“Wait, so that color is natural too?!” Octavia asked in disbelief. Vinyl frowned at that.

‘Yeesh, if she didn’t believe my hair color was real she’d have a panic attack if she saw my eyes. Better keep the goggles on.’ She noted mentally. “Yes, it is. Wait a few months. When you see it grown in the same color you’ll believe me. And no to answer your next question it ISN’T naturally styled like this. That takes an hour of styling and half a bottle of hair gel.” She responded as she continued to fill out the paper.

“Brilliant… and I thought I took some time with MY hair.” She mused as she took a seat in her soft black office chair.

“Yeah well I’m not too big on appearance otherwise, in case the goggles weren’t a dead giveaway when I walked in. Kudos for not asking about them yet by the way.” Vinyl chuckled as she flipped the page over and discovered there was a back side. These guys were being thorough.

“I didn’t know if it would be polite or not. I’ve seen a lot of people who are pretty sensitive about their accessories. Me for example.” She said adjusting the small pink bowtie that matched her eyes. “I don’t like people handling this bowtie. It was a gift from my late grandmother. As was my cello. Both are off limits to others. You get one warning or mishap before I snap at you, that’s your fair warning.” She explained with a small gesture to the well-kept cello in the corner. Vinyl shrugged.

“That’s cool. I’ve got my own rules too. You don’t touch that flash drive I have plugged into my station right now, and you don’t even TRY to remove or touch the goggles, unless I’m specifically asking you to get either item.”

Octavia glanced at the obviously expensive piece of equipment. She wanted to protect the flash drive of all things…? “Why the flash drive and not the mixer itself…? I thought it was your baby.” She inquired. Vinyl’s writing slowed and then stopped as she glanced over at the earth-bound girl.

“I can fix the machine. But the goggles and flash drive are both from someone very special and I can’t replace or fix them. That’s why the goggles are enchanted so that even if an elephant decides they’re hideous and wants to rid the world of them it would break its foot trying to stomp on them. And the flash drive has layers and layers of fire walls and passcodes protecting it too. You’d have to work for hours to get into it and even by then I have a detection spell on it so I’d already know someone was trying to get into it.” She explained as she walked over and removed the drive from the machine after clicking a few buttons on it. She tucked it away in her pocket and looked back over at Octavia. “I’m not really one to make a big deal out of things normally Tavi, but those two things are my exception.” She insisted gently but firmly.

“I understand Vinyl. But I have to ask, the one who gave them to you, are they… you know, playing with Faust up in the angel orchestra…?” she asked. Vinyl blinked at that mental image and laughed.

“Nah, don’t think so at least. See, I kinda don’t really remember her really well. But she’s the reason I got my cutiemark and the first real friend I ever had. So she’s special… I mean I’ve been looking for her since my accident so I really don’t know what happened to her. All I really actually know is that she was somehow involved in getting me my cutiemark.” She explained with a sheepish grin as she scratched the back of her head.

Octavia giggled a bit. “I never would have guessed you as the sentimental type Vinyl.” She commented. Vinyl shrugged.

“Guess you shouldn’t judge a book by her cover Tavi, here.” She said as she handed the form back to Tavi. Octavia glanced it over and smiled. She picked up a pen and scribbled something down on it before setting it on a stack of identical papers. Vinyl noticed something in the motion. “You’re a lefty too…?”

Octavia smiled up at her pink eyes gleaming slightly. “Yes, and for your information no one in my family is left handed either.” She mused. Vinyl whistled a little.

“Impressive. You’re winning more and more awesome points and I haven’t even known you for an hour. Well, admittedly you’ve had to make up for the negative points you got by thwacking me in the head with that ball first, but I think that’s covered already.” She chuckled. Octavia blinked blushing slightly at the reminder at her little outburst. She then quickly noticed that the crest that was mostly hidden by Vinyl’s hair had stopped leaking the blue aura.

“Oh… I think your crest is fixed now.” She noted pointing at it. Vinyl looked up to her forehead and ran two fingers over it to feel the bump fading away as the energy inside her took care of the rest.

“Oh, would ya look at that. Sweet, now I can put my stuff up! Wait… okay, let’s test it first.” Vinyl stated stopping in her tracks. Her hand was surrounded in the blue aura as she pulled out vinyl disks from where Octavia kept them on her shelf. Vinyl’s eyes narrowed on them and slowly the records began to spin in her control moving faster and faster until Octavia began to hear something. It was a symphony! A symphony of all the records Vinyl was floating around her. She looked at the magic and slowly she started to see blue streams flow out of them like water. Each one carried a set of notes in them as they played in the air around her and harmonized together perfectly. She closed her eyes and listened. She heard Mozart’s piano, Hayden’s Cello, Tchaikovsky’s violin, Schubert’s symphony, and subtle but beautiful voices of Wagner’s opera all mixed together in harmony around her. But just like that it ended and she felt her soul itself weep a little. She looked over at Vinyl who was smiling sheepishly. “Sorry, it was just a test to make sure my magic was back. I can mix that myself if you liked it so much.” She offered.

“Could you…?!” Octavia asked in disbelief.

Vinyl almost laughed at her enthusiasm. “Yeah, easy. Here, I’ll do it right now.” She said as she levitated the disks with her over to her mixing stand. She also brought over a back pack that was at the top of her luggage. She removed a blank CD from it and put it into the machine. She typed in a few commands to the glowing blue touch screen of the machine before she used whatever spell she had before on the records except this time instead of the streams floating through the air on their own they wrapped around a tall metal antenna and drained into the machine. This continued for a few seconds while Vinyl looked to be leveling some readings on her control panel and then the stream ended and the loading bar on the screen was full. She carefully returned the records to their places on the shelf and removed the CD from the slot. She pulled a sharpie from her pocket and scribbled something on it handing it to Octavia when she was finished. “There, all mixed and ready to go for you. You can even burn it onto a playlist if you want. I’m gonna go move my stuff into the room now, I’m gonna assume it’s the door without a full symphony’s worth of sheet music painted on the door.” She mused as she levitated every item of her luggage with her towards the white door across from Octavia’s room.

Octavia was still too busy staring in shock at the ritual she had just seen to ponder how her roommate could possibly carry so much weight in her magic’s hold. She was by no means a unicorn, no one in her family was either. Well, she was sure she had a cousin somewhere but that wasn’t the case in point. The fact was that she had been in music for years and studied all about it, and what magical oriented composers could do with their magic towards their music. None of them could do THAT. No one in the history of music could take music and turn it into something physical that could be seen. It was like an aurora filled with beautiful music that danced in your ears and played your heart strings like a harp, not to be confused with either of her band members Harpo or Lyra Heartstrings. She would have to ask later how she did it.

For now though she bent down and picked up Vinyl’s contest application form and scribbled something down in the margins of it under the mark she had drawn earlier. After she finished that she sat down at her desk and opened the dark grey laptop she left on the desk. When it booted up she inserted the music disk and let it automatically burn the list onto her playlist. She opened up a browser deciding to surf the web a little to pass some time. The next time she looked up from the computer it was past one in the after noon. She blinked in surprise and felt her stomach growl loudly. She stood from the desk shutting the laptop closed and walked towards the kitchen. Remembering she had a roommate now she decided to ask if she wanted something to eat too.

“Vinyl I’m making lunch! You want anything?” she called.

There was a heavy bang and a groan but the response was fast. “Uh, yeah. Grilled cheese sounds pretty good!” Vinyl called back. Octavia looked concerned for a second.

“What was that noise…?” she asked trying to decide whether or not to investigate.

“Oh, I just dropped a speaker on my foot! No worries, happens a lot when I’m moving my stuff around!” she replied back through the partially open door.

“Alright then…” Octavia muttered as she set to work on making the sandwiches. She buttered the bread with a garlic spread as the pan heated up. She poured a small amount of truffle oil into it and let the oil spread while she got out the cheese slices from the fridge. Layering the sandwich with two slices each she set it in the pan to cook while she made the next one. She didn’t know how many Vinyl would eat but she’d make a few just in case. When she had the sandwiches all made she set them off on a plate and went into the pantry and got out a large can of tomato soup to warm up as well. Half way through doing so Vinyl came in finished with her unpacking and attracted by the smell of food. She used her magic to bring over a paper plate from the stack near the paper towels and served two of the sandwiches onto her plate. When she noticed Octavia bring over the soup and set it down on the counter before turning back to the cabinets she noticed a lack of a little addition she often put in this particular soup.

“Hey Tavi do you have any-“

“Goldfish?” Octavia offered holding out the bag and balancing two bowls in her other hand without realizing she was finishing her roommate’s sentence. Her eyes widened when she realized what she had done. “I-I don’t like eating tomato soup without them…” she explained slightly startled by the discovery.

Vinyl grinned that crooked smile again as she took the bag and one of the bowls pouring tomato soup in the bowl and then shaking some goldfish into it. “Me too. Didn’t think anyone else liked it like that… you don’t have a thing for Oreo’s and peanut butter too do you…?” she asked the black haired girl as she passed the goldfish back to her. Octavia made a face.

“Ew… no. I’m afraid that’s where our similar tastes stop.” She replied.

“Good, because I was about to make us take a blood test to make sure we weren’t related. Seriously, you don’t even look like me.” Octavia raised an eyebrow at her statement.

“While I seriously doubt that we’re genetically related, why did you word that sentence like you’re older than me…?” she asked the blue haired rebel type.

Vinyl looked up just before she could take a spoonful of soup and smirked a little. “Probably because I probably am. Don’t know many people in my grade who are older than me considering I just turned 15.” She explained with a small smirk.

Octavia blinked in surprise. But hid the smile on her face. “Oh really, then I have two questions for you, one, how are you almost a whole year older than most freshmen here and how long ago is this supposed birthday of yours…?” she asked setting her chin in her folded hands.

“Uhh… well for starters, that smirk you have scares me, second, my mom had me in these special music classes when I was five so I didn’t go into kindergarten until I was six, and lastly about two and a half weeks ago. On the first of March.” She replied taking a sip of her soup. Octavia smirk grew.

“Oh good, that makes me a whole day older than you~!” she giggled. Vinyl choked on her soup and had to pound on her chest to get it to go down.

“H-how did you?!”

“I lived in England for my first few years, the education system over there is different as a result I had to wait until I was six before I could enter in an Equestrian school. My birthday is February 29th by the way, not the 28th.” She added with a small smile. Vinyl quickly got her momentum back at that addition.

“Then you’re not older than me! You’re only three! You get to turn a whole four years old next year leap year baby.” She mused reaching over and patting Octavia’s head like a puppy. Octavia frowned and swatted her hand away.

“Hardy har har, I can assure you that I celebrate my birthday on the first of March when it ISN’T a leap year. So I’m still fifteen.” She countered. She saw Vinyl narrow her eyes at her.

“Time of birth…?” she asked.

“By this time zone’s standard…? Let’s see… that’d be 7am sharp. I was punctual even from birth.” Vinyl frowned slamming her fist into the table.

“Damn it all… I’m 11 at night… I was a night owl from birth.” She added with her grin returning. Octavia rolled her eyes and picked up her sandwich.

“Charming.” She replied simply. “Now that we’ve established that I’m older, eat.” She ordered pointing at the food. Vinyl looked down at the sandwiches and picked one up to examine it. She sniffed it carefully.

“This stuff smells weird… what’d you use in it…?”

“Truffle Oil, goat cheese spread on the inside, two slices of Swiss cheese, and a garlic spread on the outside. So unless you’re allergic, lactose intolerant, or a vampire you’re safe.” Octavia responded biting into her own sandwich. Vinyl flinched at the use of the term Vampire. She’d been called that along with a demon far too often for comfort. That and the vampires that most girls fantasized over nowadays sparkled like glitter dolls in sunlight instead of burning. It made it really hard to use the Vampire name in her favor when THAT was associated with it. She looked back down at the sandwich and took and experimental bite. Her senses were quickly over whelmed with pleasure and she quickly devoured the sandwich in a record three bites. She finished the second one just as fast. And stopped to drain her soup. She grinned leaning back in the chair with her hands on her stomach.

“Okay Tavi… you just won me over with that. A roommate that can cook…? Hell yes. I wouldn’t even care if you were some kind of secret cultist that worshiped Nightmare Moon and sacrificed virgins every Sunday at dusk. You’re okay in my book.” She said with a rather goofy looking grin and a big thumbs up thrown Octavia’s way.

Octavia however was slightly appalled at her roommate’s table manners but had seen worse in the school cafeteria. That Apple girl made her look like an amateur. She slowly nibbled on her sandwich instead choosing to savor her food. She swallowed and dabbed her face before responding. “Thank you Vinyl, although the graphic example was unnecessary. Especially while I’m eating.” She hinted.

“Ah, sorry, I’m uh… not too good with all that etiquette stuff.” Vinyl admitted.

“That’s quite alright, I don’t really expect many to have the same standards I do. If I wanted that I’d be going to school in Canterlot. Not Ponyville. But moving on, I’d like to know why you’re transferring here so late in the year.” Octavia prompted as she once more picked up her sandwich to eat.

“Ah… see that’s kinda a long story. See, last year I made a deal with my parents…”

***

“And so then Dad showed me the pamphlet for the contest and that pretty much sealed the deal for me coming here, and now here I am.” Vinyl finished after a detailed recount of her music school incident.

Octavia was still in disbelief. “Did you really give all your professors that vulgar goodbye card…?”

“Actually I gave it out to the entire student body too, I tinkered with this old war cannon that they had on display in the courtyard and got it working again, I loaded it with the cards and set it off during passing period. I bet they’re STILL cleaning them all up!” she laughed throwing her head back as she did so.

“I don’t know whether to be appalled or amused. I believe I’ll settle for a mixture.” Octavia announced as she finished her tea and set it down on the coffee table. They’d since come back to sitting in the living room and Vinyl lounged on the love seat while Octavia leaned against the arm of the long couch she sat on legs tucked neatly under her. “You’re not going to attempt anything like that here are you…?” she asked.

Vinyl shrugged. “Meh, depends on if I’m feelin’ it or not. Maybe not photo copied cards of the principal’s ass, but I think shooting some kickin’ music out of a canon would do. Might liven this place up a little more. Hey, there’s an idea. A bass canon… huh. I’ll have to remember that one for later. Might make a song out of it too…” Vinyl gave a wide yawn before she stood up stretching her limbs. “Well, it’s time for siesta.” She announced walking towards her room.

“Siesta…? You do realize this is Equestria right…?” Octavia asked watching her roommate walk away. Vinyl peered back over at her one of her blue eyebrows raised.

“And you realize that makes absolutely no difference to me right…? As far as I’m concerned I’m sitting in a hammock along the coast of Spain right now. And that midday sun is making it way too difficult to keep my eyes open.” She yawned again widely. “Wake me if there’s a fire or someone’s dead.” She called over her shoulder before she walked into her room shutting the door behind her.

Octavia could help but keep a small smile on her face. ‘Well she’s quite the oddball… I’d best be on my toes with this one. Call it permeation but I get the feeling this peace isn’t going to last. Hm… I wonder what I’ll do until she wakes up…’ she thought looking around her living room. Movies were out of the question, as was practicing her cello. She noticed her iPod ear buds sticking out of one of her desk drawers. She shrugged and walked over to it determined to have a quiet afternoon listening to her music and reading that book she’d been meaning to read during the break.

She opened the drawer to surprisingly find her iPod was covered by several sheets of composition paper that had music notes scrawled across it in a rush. She gave a confused look and picked up the papers. “I don’t recall writing these… but that IS my handwriting… what’s this song…?” she asked herself in a quiet whisper. She read through the notes composing the song in her head as she went. She recognized the melody itself and it seemed to dance in the back of her mind but the name to it alluded her… if it even had a name. No. It had a name. She remembered it had a name. But she couldn’t remember where she had heard this song. She kept reading it a little and determined after a few more seconds of reading that it wasn’t written for just a cello piece. A piano trickled along beside it in the margins. She squinted trying to read the notes further. This was odd. She didn’t play piano. Why would she compose a song for one…? She squinted a little harder and noticed that the shape of the notes were off... they weren't written in her handwriting.

Another wave of dizziness over took her and she was soon knelt beside the desk grabbing her forehead in pain and shutting her eyes as blurry memory’s danced at the front of her mind. And a voice. A child’s voice, talking to her.

‘I’ll make you a deal Tavi, you write the cello part and I’ll do the piano! Since I stink at string instruments and you wouldn’t know a G from an F on a piano I think it makes sense we do what we know!’

‘Hey!’ a younger version of Octavia protested. ‘I do SO know the difference! I just like my cello better is all!’

‘Yeah well if you love it so much go marry it. But AFTER we’re done writing this music for the first recital. Then you and your cello can go get married on a mountain or something.’ The other girl snickered.

Young Octavia’s cheeks puffed out in response as she flailed her arms in protest. ‘I’m NOT marrying my cello Tori! Just write already! But in the margins since the cello is supposed to be the main part of it.’ She ordered. ‘Tori’ complied taking the papers from her and wrote on them using a pen clutched in her left hand while her right hand drummed along the keys she scribbled down on the piano. Young Octavia blinked in surprise. ‘You’re left handed…?’

The present came rushing back to Octavia like a wave. She gasped for air as she noticed her lungs had shut down on her during the relapse. When she regained enough oxygen for her brain to restart she started to ask a thousand questions a second.

‘Who was that other girl?!’

‘What WAS that exactly?!’

‘Where were they that they were composing like that…?’

‘Why is that song still playing in my head…?’

All of these and so many more rushed through her mind. But… that girl. She had called her Tori. She finally had a name to the voice that often haunted her memories. And even a blurry picture too. There was something that was engraved in her mind though, her eyes. They had been the only clear thing she could see on her. They were a striking crimson color and in her mind’s eye she could still see them in vivid detail. When she had called her by her name they had darkened slightly, like she disliked the name. When they were exchanging snappy comebacks however they had shifted and changed into a gentle fuchsia. Both looked absolutely stunning, more so than any eyes Octavia had ever seen. She could understand why they would be the sharpest thing in her memory; if that was even a memory at all.

Octavia sat there on the floor a little longer before she collected herself again. She rose up and grabbed her iPod from the drawer before shutting it and pulling a small key out from a small compartment under the desk. She locked the drawer and put the key back where it belonged. She didn’t want those papers to be disturbed. How they got there was a mystery but now that she knew they were there she didn’t want to lose them. She put her music into her ears deciding to go for a walk through the campus to clear her head. Anticipating Vinyl to wake up before she got back she wrote a quick note and left it on the counter for her.

In her room Vinyl lay on her bare bed, goggles on her night stand and eyes shut as she listened carefully. She heard the door close and steps echo down the hall. She even heard the elevator too. When she was sure Octavia was gone her crimson eyes snapped open and the hand she had curled in a fist over her chest unfurled to reveal the flash drive in her palm. She turned it over to stare at the initials carved into it. She set it down on the table and picked up the goggles instead. She read the writing on the inside of the strap that had faded slightly since she learned the preservation spell that kept it from fading it anymore. She read the name that completed it and felt a ghost of a smile return to her face.

‘Maybe… just maybe…’ she mused before setting them down and turning over in her bed to face the wall and close her eyes to drift off into the sweet dream land where her music played with her like dolphins in the sea.

***

As it turned out Pinkie Pie was every bit as awesome as Vinyl imagined. The first thing the girl did upon meeting her was shower her in an explosion of confetti and shove a white frosted strawberry cake in her face with icing spelling out ‘Welcome Vinyl Scratch’ in bubbly blue letters. The very next thing she had done was explode into an energetic rant that she only caught about half of while Octavia stood behind them along with four other girls and the kid Vinyl recognized as Twilight’s younger brother. A girl with prismatic colored hair leaned over to a blonde sporting a sick looking stenson.

“I say the new girl lasts two minutes with Pinks before her head explodes.”

The blonde tapped her chin in thought before shaking her head and speaking in a thick southern accent. “Nah Ah’d give her at least five. That hair tells me she’s a little used to folks as wacky as Pinkie.”

As it turns out the farmer was right, Vinyl went exactly five minutes and thirty two seconds before she grabbed a piece of the cake off and shoved it in Pinkie’s mouth in attempt to make her stop. Of course the party lover only swallowed it whole and licked the frosting off that was around her mouth and then beamed casting a glance over at her friends.

“You win again AJ!” she cheered. AJ grinned as the rainbow haired girl grumbled and handed her a few rolled up bills which she quickly pocketed. Vinyl looked confused for a few seconds before Octavia came up beside her shaking her head.

“Don’t. Trying to ask to explain anything at this school is like trying to count the stars. Just accept it and move on. And if Pinkie’s hair stands on end run. Or if she tells you to do otherwise just do what she says. It’ll save you a lot of hassle.” She explained calmly. Vinyl retained her confused expression for a few seconds before she shrugged.

“Well okay, I can get behind that. So Pinks, I hear you’ve got some kind of wacky contest going…?” she asked casually. Pinkie quickly turned her head her long pink curls whipping just past Vinyl’s face as she did so.

“Yes! I am! Wait, which one…? The baking contest, the jam making contest, the party-off, or my DJ competition…?” she asked completely serious about all of them. Vinyl took Octavia’s advice and didn’t ask, just grinned and responded casually.

“The DJ competition.”

“Oooooh~! I’m really looking forward to that one! Are you a musician Scratchy?” she asked jumping up and down excitedly. Vinyl grinned and set her bag down on the ground so she could unzip the jacket and lower it so that the backwards eighth note was visible on her upper arm.

“Hell yeah! And a pretty rockin’ DJ too, if my gigs back at my old school are anything to go by.” She chuckled with a big grin plastered across her face. Octavia came up beside her holding a folder out to Pinkie.

“Here are all the entry forms that came in while you were gone. Vinyl’s is on top.” She said tapping a paper that had a small symbol drawn in the corner and circled. Vinyl couldn’t clearly see what it was but it made Pinkie grin as her bright blue eyes seemed to glow a little with something she couldn’t identify, but it made her stomach churn nervously.

“Uhhh… Tavi… why is the pink ball of energy eying me like I’m the last cupcake at a bake sale…?” she whispered to her fellow musician. Octavia didn’t respond only giggle. That worried Vinyl only all the more. But Celestia bless her savior came in the form of a certain bookworm pushing her way through the group of girls.

“Pinkie who are you dragging into your shenanigans this ti- Vinyl…?” she asked after she saw the two toned blue hair and signature goggles.

“Sparkle! Oh thank the eternal sisters, I think the party demon was about to jump me!” she exclaimed rushing over and hiding behind the purple haired girl to deter the pink earth-bound. Twilight blinked in surprise and looked over her shoulder at the music lover.

“YOU’RE the new transfer student her Pinkie Sense warned me about…?” Twilight asked still in disbelief.

“I don’t know what the hell a pinkie sense is but yeah, my parents did just transfer me here… now hellllllllp…!” she yelped as Pinkie snuck up behind her and dragged her backwards her eyes gleaming like a cat’s. Twilight’s magic surrounded Pinkie as she was levitated in front of Twilight like a puppy that was misbehaving.

“Pinkie why are you dragging Vinyl off when she has classes to attend today…?” she asked her face neutral. Pinkie beamed and as a response thrust the paper in front of Twilight’s face. Twilight took it in her magical grip reading it and then noticing the symbol in the corner and glancing over at Octavia and surprise. “You’re sure…?” she asked in surprise. Octavia simply smiled and flipped her hair over her shoulder and then nodded slightly. Twilight shrugged and released Pinkie from her hold giving her back the paper which was tucked away in the depths of her curls before zipping over to Vinyl and picking her up slinging her over the shoulder and grinning over at the others.

“I’ll see you all at lunch! Twilight, you’d better warn Vinyl’s teachers ahead of time!” she called before she ran off Vinyl crying out to them all to save her. A few others in the courtyard looked at her when they heard her scream that she was being kidnaped but when they saw it was Pinkie Pie doing the kidnaping they laughed and carried on with their day.

‘Why does no one in this school care that I’m being kidnapped by a wild pink haired party animal with syrup running through her veins?!’ Vinyl thought angrily. Five minutes later Pinkie kicked in the door to a small brick building on the outer ring of the school's main buildings. It had a large familiar looking broadcasting tower on top of it.

“Neon! Stop napping! I’ve got HUUUUUUGE news!” she exclaimed tossing Vinyl to the ground like a sack of flour. An older teenager in a room that was boxed off from the rest of the larger room with large glass pane windows separating it and a slightly ajar door bolted up right from his seat and looked around with reddened sapphire blue eyes and when he spotted Pinkie he groaned running a hand through his spikey black hair. He picked up a pair of dark black sunglasses from the desk he’d been sleeping on.

“Someone had better be dead or the school had better be in anarchy Pinkie Pie… Well more than usual. Who’s the broad?” he asked jabbing a thumb at the groaning pile of Vinyl. Pinkie beamed and removed the paper from her hair and shoved it in Neon’s face. He lowered his glasses as he read them his jaw slowly dropping as he continued reading. He looked at Pinkie and then his gaze flickered to Vinyl for a split second. He quickly grabbed Pinkie and dragged her into the booth slamming the door behind him. Vinyl finally sat up groaning and rubbing her head. She stood and saw the two in the booth apparently in a deep conversation. But the room was soundproof so even with her sharp ears she couldn’t hear a word they were saying. Both their gazes struck her at once and she flinched standing up a little straighter. Neon pulled something off his desk and opened the door marching over to her. “You kid. Scratch. Play this.” He ordered shoving a CD in her hands. She gave him a skeptical look.

“Uh look dude, I don’t know what you and Pinks are hyped up about but if you think I’m dumb enough that you’re testing me by telling me to play a CD then-“

“Not with a machine! Do whatever you did with Octavia! She said you made the music ‘Come Alive’ with magic. Show me.” He explained making wavy lines in the air with his hands.

“Ohhhh, that? That’s nothing. It’s a spell I came up with a long time ago, just after I got my mark actually.” She dismissed waving a hand and blowing a small razzberry. “But if you’re so hyped to see it sure.” Vinyl said with a casual shrug. She took the CD out of its case and took it in her magic instead. It spun around and around so that it looked like a spinning silver saucer and then the music started, first as a faint whisper but then the streams of blue energy poured from the CD in an explosion of sound that filled the room shaking it to its core. Vinyl was grinning as the glow around her hand intensified and the other songs that were stored on the CD began to harmonized with the one that was already playing. Neon Lights and Pinkie Pie were both watching as the room was filled with the blue aurora’s that were decorated with strings of dancing music notes. The sound of the harmonized songs filled the room until they all slowly faded into a decrescendo and eventually just faded completely. Vinyl put the CD back inside the case and grinned at both of their shocked expressions. “See…? Easy.”

Neon was the first to recover and he quickly dragged Pinkie back into the room slamming the door behind him and locking it this time with his own magic. Vinyl shrugged and took the opportunity to look around what was apparently the radio station for the school. It was a lot bigger than the one she had worked with back in Celestia’s School, it also had shelves and shelves of records and CD’S lining it. Most looked pretty dusty like they hadn’t been used in a while. Actually the entire place looked pretty dusty. Well, all except the actual booth that Neon and Pinkie were feverishly speaking in. It looked tricked out in some of the most advanced machinery you could have. It was quite the opposite to the room she stood in which looked to be stuck in the dark ages. She heard the door open and she looked up to see a more composed looking Neon standing before her with Pinkie grinning and bouncing up and down behind him.

“We’re calling off the contest.” They stated in unison. Vinyl blinked in surprise before Neon held up his hand.

“Before we explain about it let me explain a few other things first. First off, hey. Name’s Neon Lights. I’m a junior here and I and my partner, who isn’t here at the moment, are forming the radio broadcasting club here at Ponyville Academy. There used to be one about thirty years ago but it was shut down and this building got abandoned afterwards. I found it last year and quickly tried to push for it to be opened again. It wasn’t until this year when I met my partner in crime that she convinced the head master to approve the funding for us. She even got him to spring for new equipment too.” He said motioning towards the booth behind him. “Well we had an issue setting up, first we had to wait for the equipment to come in, which believe me took MONTHS, and then when we finally got it in and installed we realized we had a really big problem. See the new equipment is great and all, but it’s highly advanced and requires two people to run it. I’m great with it, but she’s… not so much. So we needed a third person in the process, and maybe a few others to keep the place lively. So through a mutual friend she discovered Pinkie Pie here.” He stated with a chuckled and a grin as he ruffled the short bubbly girl’s hair playfully. “This angel here is the social butterfly queen. She knows everyone in this school, their names, their talents, and with her crazy partying habits she was in desperate need for someone to take care of the music for her parties. So we compromised. If she helped us run a contest to get our third member she could use them for her DJ needs too.”

“And it was suuuuuuper fun too! Handing out all those flyers around campus! But then I saw these two adults walking around looking really lost and my Pinkie sense was totally screaming at me to talk to them! So I did, they were looking for the administration office so I pointed them in the right direction and handed the big guy who had this crew cut and scary looking eyes one of the pamphlets! And apparently my Pinkie sense worked because it brought you here!” she explained beaming.

“Okay… so you knew to give the paper to my dad… and that got me here… but why is the contest called off…?” Vinyl asked still not understanding.

“Well… that’s… it isn’t exactly called off. But we already found the grand prize winner. You see my partner had the secret vote of confidence. If she saw anyone with the special potential we were looking for she’d tell me and we’d test them from there. You’re it kid. You passed, with literal flying colors.” Vinyl was about to break out in her victory dance when something else popped in her mind.

“Wait so… who’s your partner…?” she asked tilting her head curiously.

“Well she’s supposed to be here by now…” Neon commented looking down at Pinkie. She shrugged then froze. Her ears wiggled, her eyes fluttered a few times and then her knee’s began shaking. She stopped suddenly and grinned.

The door slammed open behind Vinyl and she quickly turned around to see the offender. Octavia stood in the door way smiling brightly.

“My ears were buzzing so loud on my way here I almost had to run Neon, couldn’t you have toned down on the foreshadowing just a smidge…?” she giggled as she walked past her slack jawed roommate.

“Hey! That fourth wall breaking thing is mine!” Pinkie complained loudly. Octavia gave her a confused look but shook her head deciding not to question the sweets lover. She turned back to face Vinyl who was just starting to sputter a few words.

“Y-you’re the… but you said you… HUH?!” She exclaimed loudly to express her full confusion. Octavia winced slightly.

“Honestly Vinyl, if you’re going to be so loud at least have the decency to go into the sound booth first… I don’t like having my ear drums shattered. And to explain properly, it was a little white lie to throw you off my tracks. No one who entered the contest knows I was involved as anything more than the delivery girl. I have very honed eyes and ears you see, and my mother gifted me with a sliver of her silver tongue as well. So I’m quite good at noticing things most others don’t. Like how even through those goggles I can see you’re your eyes have darkened considerably since I came in. And it happened just after I told you I lied. Which means you don’t approve of it and it shows you have a better character than most would think at first glance. Also, getting more on topic here, last night when you first showed me your music you had a spark in you. It’s the same thing Neon gets when he’s playing his tracks, or that I get when I’m playing my cello. And the spark grew into a blinding solar flare when you used that spell of yours to make me that CD. Which by the way is something I’ve never heard of being done before in the history of music. No one can bring it alive like that Vinyl. No one. But you did. And that sealed the deal for me. I just needed to get Neon’s okay too. And by the looks of it I’d say he’s already in the same boat as me.” Octavia finished with a giggle her pink eyes glinting playfully.

Vinyl was stunned. She was trying to process this all at once. She however had one advantage to that, she could focus it on the end product. “So… I’m in?” she asked looking at the three before her. They all exchanged looks and nodded each grinning, well Tavi just smiled brightly but the concept was the same.

“You’re in.” they replied in unison. Vinyl grinned and jumped up in the air spinning sharply and landing before doing a moonwalk backwards through the maze of record shelves. Pinkie was laughing hysterically at the display, Neon was trying to hold back his own hysterics, and Octavia was just smiling and shaking her head. This was certainly going to be an interesting school year now that Vinyl was there.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!!! We can’t end this special there! Are you crazy?! There’s one HUGE thing we’re missing here!” Pinkie shouted into the air. Neon looked around confused.

“And that would be…?” he prompted leaning back a little bracing himself in case the girl decided to explode into confetti. It had happened before. Twice actually.

The next thing the other three knew they were standing on a large stage in what looked like masquerade outfits, only instead of masks they all wore techno looking goggles much like Vinyl’s. And by ‘they’ I mean the thousands of students and teachers that filled the open auditorium they were in. Neon and Vinyl stood at a large mixing table in matching blue and white suits, and Octavia stood a few feet away on the stage in a knee length grey and black masquerade dress with her bowtie still in place and matching the pink tint of her own set of goggles. In her hands was a electronic cello and bow. The three all looked at Pinkie who was grinning like a Cheshire cat in her frilly pink masquerade dress and bright blue and yellow goggles.

“A Party! Techno Masquerade style! Hit it you three!” she called as the crowd cheered and she leapt into the cheering crowd which carried her with a sea of hands. The three exchanged a glance but shrugged and quickly started playing a fitting song for the theme of the chosen party. (See it HERE). Vinyl had to give Pinkie credit, for an insane girl who probably wasn’t even actually human she knew how to throw the best parties. And her taste in music was pretty Kickin’ too. Vinyl grinned and grabbed the mike on her side of the stand ready to say something she’d been wanting to say for years now.

“Who’s ready to drop the bass?!” she called. When roars of approval came her way she grinned and raised her hands magic surrounding them as she took control of the music in the air around them. In an instant the music became visible in the air through her blue aurora’s and its beats went through each of them like a heartbeat. Everyone watched in wonder as the music dropped down to almost nothing and then boomed to life again filling their ears with its powerful energy. Soon enough there wasn’t a still body in the room as everyone broke out dancing to her music. Vinyl grinned and closed her eyes. This was real. She wasn’t dreaming it this time. She was standing on a stage with thousands of people dancing and LOVING her music. It was real. All of it was. She opened one of her eyes to see Octavia playing her electronic cello beside her and her smile grew When Octavia noticed her and smiled back. And now she had a true friend to share it all with. She smiled and closed her eyes again pouring herself into her music. Nothing could ruin this for her. Even if her idiot brother barged in the door right now she wouldn’t care. This was her home now, on the stage and in the spot light. It was where she was born to be and she had no intention of letting anyone ever tell her otherwise again.

Chapter 11

How I Became An Alicorn

Chapter 11: Jungle Fever

Luna and Celestia hung upside down over a pit of boiling lava, Celestia’s form reduced to that of a ten year old and Luna looking no older than five herself, both were wearing what looked like ripped and torn khaki explorer outfits but their hats had somehow vanished. Celestia had an eye patch over her right eye and large chunks of Luna’s hair was singed off, both also had small dots that looked like suction cup marks along their bodies as well as the occasional wooden needle sticking out of them at odd directions. Celestia glanced over at her sister as they were slowly lowered into the pit.

“You just HAD to mention the jungle to them didn’t you…? We couldn’t have spent the just doing something normal like scuba diving or sun tanning on the beach… NO, You wanted to explore the JUNGLE.” The older sister ranted.

“Well how the hell was I supposed to know we’d end up dangling over a lava pit in the middle of some kind of cursed temple with booby traps and dark slaves that are trying to kill us in every nook and cranny…?! I’m not mother you know!” Luna roared back her tiny voice squeaking.

“Ugh… whatever. I just hope the girls realize that this temple is cursed… not being able to use any of our powers is pretty inconvenient…” Tia sighed. Luna blinked for a second.

“Hey Tia…?”

“Yes Luna…?”

“If we can’t use any of our powers… then doesn’t that mean we’ll actually die if we hit that lava…?” she asked staring down at the bobbly substance below her. Celestia’s eyes widened in horror as she started swinging and screaming.

“GIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRLS!!!!!!! HURRY THE HELL UP AND SAVE US!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed using the royal Canterlot voice to do so. “Oh look, the voice still works.” She noted.

“Yes, quite convenient when we need to scream for our lives.” Luna added.

…

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!”

*12 Hours Earlier*

Pinkie Pie was just finishing her tenth pot of coffee when Rainbow Dash walked into the dining hall to join the rest of her friends who were eating breakfast.

“Whoa Dashie, you look like you got in a fight with the pillow monster and lost!” Pinkie commented seeing the atrocious multicolored bed head that somehow managed to make her normal hair look… well normal. Dash yawned again as she took a seat next in-between AJ and Pinkie as Oliver placed a plate in front of her so she could help herself to the spread.

“Says the girl who wakes up a completely different person…” she muttered as she loaded eggs onto her plate. Fluttershy looked up from cutting her French toast her long hair still wavy from the previous night.

“Be nice Dashie…” she warned quietly.

“Yeah, could’ve been worse RD, Ah could’ve given you one of mah wake up calls at the crack of dawn.” AJ snickered with a nudge to her friend beside her. A sharp glare at her as Dash picked up her OJ told her that humor this early in the morning was not appreciated.

“Well at least you’re not as bad off as Luna…” Spike commented with his mouth stuffed full of gem encrusted pancakes. Rainbow raised her eyes to the head of the table where Celestia was daintily cutting up an omelet and her sister was beside her snoring face first in a bowl of cereal. Rainbow quirked an eyebrow at the scene.

“What the hell is wrong with her…? Is she narcoleptic or something…?” She asked Twilight across the table from her. Twilight carefully made sure to swallow the spoonful of yogurt she’d just taken before responding.

“No, Luna pulled an all-nighter on her game and didn’t go to bed until dawn. We found her passed out on her laptop drooling with the game still going.” She replied with a small giggle at the teal haired princess. Celestia was currently lifting her by the back of her head so that her face was no longer in the cereal. She was still out cold even when Celestia let her go and she face planted into the table splattering milk and cornflakes all around her. She sighed and shook her head resigning herself to finishing breakfast. Rainbow couldn’t help but smile at that.

“Okay, that was funny.” She admitted with a small chuckle. Her eye caught sight of the one thing she loved more than any other food ever, even pizza. Bacon. She never got to eat it because Fluttershy was a Vegetarian and she always made tofu bacon instead. Which tasted like cardboard. Bland cardboard. She slowly reached out to it her eyes wide as she drooled slightly. “Hello my beautiful, delectable pork… did you miss me?” she asked holding a few strips in her hand and kissing it a little bit. AJ made a face at her friend as did Rarity on the other side of her.

“If ya love it so much why don’ ya just marry the damn stuff…?” Applejack asked. Dash’s ears perked at that.

“Can you do that?! Can you marry food?!” she asked her eyes sparkling in excitement.

“Nope! If we could I would have married cupcakes when I was five!” Pinkie giggled. Twilight had a comeback for that ready.

“You would marry your teacher Pinkie…? I think Mr. Cake would have some issues with that.” She noted over the book she was reading. Pinkie blinked before her face started to turn the same color as her hair.

“N-no…!!!! That’s just…! Oh that was so mean Twiley!!! It’s too early to start with the snappy come backs!” she protested loudly when she realized what the magic user had done.

“Honestly, I’m appalled at you all’s morning habits, isn’t anyone here a morning person…?” Rarity asked with a sigh as she sipped at her morning tea. Celestia raised her hand.

“I am!” Rarity slid her eyes sideways.

“No offense your highness, but you literally rise with the sun. It’s kind of difficult for you to NOT be morning person.”

“Well Ah’m plenty alright with mornin’s. Heck Ah woke up at five AM just to watch Celestia raise the sun!” Applejack noted as she picked up her apple juice.

“True… Fluttershy is rather neutral about it, with Twilight depends on how late she went to bed, and Spike agrees with the others.” Rarity commented as she moved the last mouthful of her crepe into her mouth.

Twilight chuckled as she nudged her little brother with her arm. “See? Even Rarity knows you’re a grouch before you’ve had your breakfast.” She noted. Spike blushed a little as he looked down at his food and reached for his bacon.

“Not my fault… it must be a dragon thing…” he commented without looking up.

“Noooo, I think it’s a Spike thing.” She returned. Her hand glowed with her magenta aura and she ruffled his air playfully. He groaned and batted her hand away.

“Don’t do that…! It takes forever for it to go back to normal after you do it…!” he whined as he tried to fix the spikes back to where they were. Twilight looked satisfied with herself checking ‘mess with little brother’ off the list for the day. She looked around at her friends who were each in their own stages of breakfast, Rainbow being the ravenous sort had claimed the platter of bacon for herself, eating it all like… well a pig. Fluttershy watched her in horror and slowly pushed her plate away turning a little green as she did so. Applejack and Rarity were discussing something about the wonders of early mornings, Pinkie was trying to figure out a way to get the coffee into her faster, tinkering with an IV she’d stolen from the medical ward, and Celestia was poking Luna with a fork.

“So girls, what are we going to do today…?” Twilight asked the group. They all stopped and looked at her then at one another for idea’s.

“We could… go train at the sports stations.” Rainbow offered.

“Or go through the closet’s around here and model the clothes we find~!” Rarity added.

“Ah think Ah could go for a bit of a run today, maybe along the beach or somethin’…?” Applejack put in.

“I think we should Um…” Fluttershy mumbled quietly.

“PAAAAAAAARTY!!!!”

“Pinks we did that last night…” Rainbow commented her eyes still a little bloodshot.

“There is no limit to party’s Dashie… NO. LIMITS.” She emphasized getting so close to her that Rainbow could see the actual detail of her bright blue eyes in all their glory. She quickly pushed her away.

“Alright sheesh… Princess what do you think we should do…?” Rainbow asked turning to the solar princess.

“Hmm, well there’s a large library in the basement, we could go down and explore-“

“JUNGLE FEVER!!!!” Luna shouted as she quickly sat up from the table. Everyone turned to her eyebrows raised. “I-I mean… we should go explore the jungle…! Yeah! That was what we were talking about right…?” she whispered to her sister. Six eyes lit up at the mention of the jungle, the exception being Rarity and Celestia herself.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea little sister…” She started.

“I’ll say! Who wants to go marching around some boggy dirt infested rainforest any how…?” Rarity agreed with a look of disgust on her face. Her shy friend however was in quite the opposite state.

“All the little creatures I could meet…! From lemurs, to leopards, to fruit bats and orangutans…! I might even find a Paradise bird…!” she squealed in excitement. Rarity looked at her in disbelief and quickly turned to sensible Applejack for back up.

“All those plants in there… I wonder if they have any new kinds of fruit we could sell… hm…” she muttered obviously deep in thought over the possible financial possibilities of rare fruits. She quickly turned to Twilight for help. She was a magic user like her, and smart as a tack to boot! Surely she would see that going into the rainforest would be a bad idea…!

She turned to See Twilight reading a very large tome about rare and diverse rainforest flora and fauna. “I wonder if I’ll get discover any new plant species…! The information I could study from it if I did! Could it be used for medicine…? Or maybe it’s some kind of magical plant…! Hmm…” she thought aloud as she scanned the book flipping through it with her magic. Rarity groaned as she slammed her head into the table in defeat. Behind her Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie were grinning at each other.

“You thinking what I’m thinking Pinks…?” Dash asked her grin only growing as she saw the same glimmer in Pinkie’s eye.

“A really super totally awesome one of a kind-“

“Adventure packed, booby trap dodging, adrenaline coursing-!”

“Jungle Exploration Adventure!!!!” they both shouted at once.

“I wonder if it’s too late to ask for the ship to take me back to shore so I can stay there for the day…” Rarity murmured.

“Hey Rarity look at this! It says that there’s a temple deep in the jungle that holds an unfathomable treasure…!” Spike said as he pulled out his own book. Rarity was behind him in an instant using the gem she kept on her at all times to teleport behind him.

“Let me see that.” She said as she swiped the book away from him. “Treasure of the Godesses… it says that long ago the two regal sisters that made the island hid away a large sum of gold and gems along with one sacred treasure treasured most by the older of the two, Celestia… is this true…?” she asked just said ancient goddesses. Celestia tapped her chin in thought.

“You know, now that I mention it, I do remember making an underground labyrinth to hide away some of our treasure… I’d completely forgotten about it…! The part about the gold and jewels is true but I can’t remember about that treasure it mentioned…” she added. “If you can find it I’ll let you all keep the gold and jewels, I’m just curious about this treasure I can’t even remember.” She added. Rarity’s eyes lit up and she teleported away only to reappear seconds later behind Rainbow and Pinkie Pie in what looked like an outfit Daring Doo would have worn, if Daring Doo were from Europe and had a degree in fashion that is.

“What are we waiting for?! There’s a big jungle out there to explore and a glorious treasure for me to procure…!” she said attempting to drag the two adventurous girls out of the room with her. Rainbow dug her heels into the carpet and flew up out of her hold.

“Whoa, cool it Rare, I’m not going anywhere until I’ve got all my gear on! If I’m going to go exploring I’m gonna do it right!” she declared as she struck a pose and grinned. Pinkie jumped up and froze midair next to her.

“I’m with Dashie! I don’t even have my emergency party kit with me! What if we discover a whole new village of little people that live in that temple thingy and I don’t have any of my stuff to throw them a proper ‘We-Just-Discovered-A-Whole-New-Magical-Species’ party!!!! That would just be rude! Discovering them and then NOT throwing them a party!” Pinkie insisted. Rarity sighed and sat down on a rather plush love seat that sat in the hallway.

“Oh fine… I suppose I could stand to bring a few outfit changes while I’m at it…” She noted looking down at her current outfit. “After all, khaki stains so easily.” The others all filed out one by one all having already silently agreed to pack for the exploration. Back at the table Celestia was rubbing her temples as she felt a headache coming on.

“Why would you remind them of the jungle Luna?! You know that it-“ she turned quickly to see her younger sister asleep in her cereal once again. “Oh for the love of… Mother, forgive me… I might become an only child today.” She muttered as she stood up and grabbed Luna’s chair tilting it so that her sister’s face was forced out of the cereal and then she dragged the chair out the door and back up to her room. “I swear Luna… if this ends up like last time you went adventuring in Arabia and you brought back that stupid lamp I’m going to send you back to the moon…” she grumbled as she dragged the chair up the stairs to the second floor.

******

Six teenage girls, two goddesses, and an eight year old dragon hybrid walk into a jungle… no really, they did. They’d been walking for ten minutes when the first of many, MANY complaints that day was heard.

“These mosquitoes are relentless…! Applejack, where’s that homemade tonic your grandmother gave you for repelling these beasts…?” Rarity asked as she marched up behind the farmer. The blonde sighed as she pulled out a spray bottle from her backpack’s side pocket.

“Careful Rare, the stuff’s potent you don’t need much. Just a little spritz on yer neck will do it.” Applejack warned as she handed the spray bottle to the fashion lover. Rarity did as instructed and sprayed gently on her neck. The cloud of mosquitoes that had been following her dissipated as they fled from the ‘vile’ scent. It however smelled like the finest perfume to Rarity.

“Oh my, what is in this delectable smelling liquid…?” she asked looking at the golden liquid that reminded her of thick cider.

“Apple cider Vinegar, a drop or two of moonshine, and Skunk piss.” She responded taking the bottle back and putting it back in the pocket it belonged in. Rarity froze for a second mid step her face horrified before she recomposed herself and caught up quickly laughing a little bit.

“Oh very funny Applejack, trying to make me freak out, well pathetic little jokes like that will get you nowhere.” Rarity announced sticking her nose a little higher in the air.

Applejack gave her a flat look. “Ah wasn’t kiddin’ Rare.” She responded as she kept on walking. That made Rarity pause. Then shiver. And then scream and run around like a chicken with its head cut off as she tried to rub the liquid off of her. Little did she know the more you rubbed it the stronger the scent grew and the more it sank into your skin. While she panicked Applejack continued walking sighing and shaking her head at the dramatic nature her friend displayed.

Ahead of them Rainbow Dash flew quickly weaving in between tree’s like they were obstacles her hand carefully holding onto the tan ‘adventuring hat’ on her head. If her hair was black and her wings were tan instead of cyan she could have doubled for Daring Doo herself… not that she would have ever admitted to reading that series… or reading at all. She heard something rustle next to her in the tall tree tops that were well over a hundred feet tall. She saw Pinkie leaping from one thick branch to another like a bouncy ball with cotton candy for hair.

“Pinkie Pie…? How did you get up here…?” she asked flying beside her as she leapt from tree to tree keeping pace with Dash easily.

“I climbed Duh!” Pinkie responded with a giggle and a dismissive wave of her hand.

“You climbed like a hundred and thirty feet?! And… wait how are you jumping like that?!” the pegasus asked. Pinkie looked over at her in confusion as she leapt over a twenty foot gap between branches without even thinking about it.

“Jumping like what…?” she asked curiously. She noticed then that the distance between the branches was a bit far from normal. “Ohhh! That’s easy silly! You pegisai may have your wings, and Mages may have magic, but us Earth-Bound are really strong! Mine’s mostly in my legs though, it let’s me hop around like a bunny pretty easily and I can jump really far if I try too! Watch!” she ordered as she dug her feet into the bark of the branch she was on and propelled herself forward like a catapult had set her off. She flew through the air landing about a couple hundred yards ahead of Dash and fifty feet higher too thanks to the tree she landed on being much taller than the rest.

“Whoa…” Dash breathed as she bolted forward to race after Pinkie. “That was awesome Pinks! I thought Apple down there was the only one with freakishly strong legs!” she laughed once she caught up to the ever moving entity.

“Naaaaaah, she’s just the one who show’s it off most. Given I bounce around most of the time instead of walking so I might show it off a bit too... hm.” She said tapping her chin in thought a bit. She then shrugged and her eyes darted ahead of them. “Oooooh! Dashie look at that!” she exclaimed as she stopped and pointed out far ahead of them. Dash squinted as she used her hat to shade her eyes from the sun.

“What IS that thing…?” she asked staring at the structure. Even with her honed eyes that came with being a pegasus she could barely make out an odd shaped speck in the distance.

“It looks like a statue…! And there’s one right next to it that’s smaller!” Pinkie announced as she looked thorough a pair of oversized binoculars. Rainbow looked at her confused.

“Where did you… never mind I DON’T want to know. Give me those.” She ordered snatching them out of Pinkie’s hands so she could see too. “Is that.. It is! Princess! Get up here and look at this!” Rainbow called down to the Princess who was currently dragging her unconscious younger sister by her foot through the forest not particularly caring anymore if she woke up. She looked to her student standing next to her and handed her the leg she was holding.

“Here, hold this for a second.” She ordered before she flew up to hover next to the cyan winged girl. Dash pointed to the object in question and handed her the binocular’s to look through. “Mother above… what the hell happened to it…?” she asked her pink eyes widening in horror. She quickly flew down and grabbed her sister from Twilight who had levitated her in the air to keep her out of the mucky floor. Celestia quickly soared back up and caught the binoculars before they could fall and shook her sister awake. “Luna! Wake up!” she yelled. When her sister did nothing but snore in response she rolled her eyes. “The Royal chef’s banned moon pie’s.”

“THOSE BASTARDS WILL BURN IN HELL-!!!!” she shouted in the royal Canterlot voice as she woke and flew on her own out of instinct. She looked around confused for a second. “Tiaaaaaa, that was mean! Why’d you wake me?!” she whined rubbing her eyes from the bright light and sleep still crusted around her eyes.

“Look for yourself!” Celestia explained shoving the comically over sized pink binoculars in her hands and pointing out towards the distance where the specks were.

“This had better be pretty freaking important if I- WHAT IN DISCORD’S CHAOTIC PRISION HAPPENED TO MY TEMPLE?!?!” She screamed after seeing the condition it was in. The two once regal statues of them that sat in front of the entrance to the temple were in ruin, the marble staues were worn and almost unrecognizable, Luna’s in particular looked like a short pudgy child with a deformed face and mop for hair. Celestia’s statue wasn’t much better off.

“Well… to be fair it has been almost six thousand years since we made it.” Celestia pointed out. “A thousand of which you were on the moon.”

“986 years, three months and 14 days actually.” Luna corrected not taking her eyes off the ruined structure. “But even with the time that’s passed an enchanted temple doesn’t fall to something as simple as time sister. That thing was made to last as long as us!” she explained her teal eyes finally meeting her sister’s. “I don’t like this feeling sister…” she whispered so that the two teenagers couldn’t hear her. But unfortunately for her both of them had very sharp hearing.

“Don’t like what feeling…?” they asked the lunar princess in unison. Luna flinched and turned to them.

“Well it’s… it feels… wrong. Cursed almost.” She explained trying not to look them in the eyes choosing instead to look down at the group that waited below them.

“Cursed…? As in… a cursed temple with dark powers and deadly booby traps, bottomless pits, and monsters running around…?” Rainbow asked curiously.

“Well… I can’t tell from this distance… but if I had to guess I’d say it’s possible.” Luna admitted.

“Which means it’s all the more important that we stay as far away from it as possible… so let’s just go back to the-“ she then noticed that both teens were already back on the jungle floor talking with their friends before all seven of them took off running towards the temple at top speed. Celestia turned to glare at her sister. “I. Blame. YOU.” She growled through clenched teeth.

Luna got a small smirk. “What’s the matter big sister…? Afraid your precious little student will actually have an adventure for once in her life…?” She taunted as she flew a small figure eight around her sister.

“NO! I’m afraid you just sent six teenagers and a baby dragon into a cursed temple we have no memory of with little more than the clothes on their backs and the goal of treasure and adventure in their hearts!” she yelled back.

“You need anything else to have an adventure…?” Luna asked crossing her arms.

“You need more if you want to come out ALIVE!!!” Celestia countered.

“Well if you’re so hell bent on saving them then go do it!” Luna retorted gesturing her hand towards the temple.

“I will Thank you very much!” Celestia snarled as she flew towards where the girls and Spike had run off. What she found however was that they had disappeared. Literally disappeared. They were nowhere to be seen and even with her magic she couldn’t sense them anywhere nearby. Luna landed next to her just as she began to panic.

“Tia, why is your hair reverting…?” she asked noticing that her sister’s hair was now slowly turning solid pink. Celestia quickly grabbed a few strands of her long mane and let it fall through her fingers as she stared at the color and then looked back up and gasped when she saw her sister.

“Luna you too! And you’re… shrinking!” she exclaimed as she saw her sister’s hair turning solid teal and her body begin to turn back the clock. Teal eyes widened in horror as she looked down as the ground got closer and her legs became more and more stubby. She looked back up to find her sister following her in the rewind in time.

“Sissy what’s happening?!” she cried her voice becoming childish at best. Celestia shook her head unable to process what was happening and only prayed it would stop before either of them were reduced to toddlers. She opened her eyes when she felt her body stop and looked at the damage. She looked to only be nine or ten at best, but Luna was much worse off looking to be four or five. She also had her eyes tight shut and was curled in a ball on the jungle floor. Celestia looked down at her softly her own voice now matching her age.

“Luna, it’s okay, you can open your eyes now. It stopped.” She assured. Luna peaked open one of her bright teal eyes and looked up at her sister. Thankfully it seemed their clothes had shrunk with them. Luna looked down at herself and frowned.

“Aw man…! I look like I’m 2,000 or something…!” she whined. “How am I supposed to walk with these tiny legs?! Or fly with these midget wings?!” she screamed pointing down at her stubby legs and flapping her little wings like a motor only to hover for a few seconds and fall flat back on the ground. Celestia raised her hand to her forehead briefly furring her brow in concentration. Golden sparks came out of her hand but little more as they died back down.

“My magic’s not working either. We need to find the girls and figure out what’s going on before they reach the temple. Come on!” she said grabbing her sister’s wrist and pulling her along to run for the temple. Luna of course, being unaccustomed to her short legs fell quite frequently and Celestia gave up deciding to just carry her the rest of the way. She was out of breath as they finally came to the front entrance of it and they still hadn’t seen the girls or Spike anywhere. “Well… I guess… this means we don’t have our Earth-Bound… properties either…” she panted as she let Luna down from her back. “Man I need to get in shape.” She muttered as she righted herself again. Her eyes widened as she looked up at the full structure before her. Even in ruin it looked huge, ancient Greek architect’s had used this very building to model their own temples to their gods, as such it was grand, extravagant, and with the over growth of forest and the darkness that seemed to seep out of every crevice, very, very intimidating. Celestia swallowed hard but steeled herself as she took a couple strides towards it.

“Alright, let’s get this over with.” She said as she bravely stepped foot into the entrance.

“No wait Tia! I remember I lined the entrance with…!” Luna tried to warn but Celestia was already dodging and evading hundreds of flying arrows, streams of fire, leaping over a pit filled with snakes, and all around trying to make it to the end of the hall without getting maimed. Luna sighed and pushed in a tile at the side of the entrance and a secret passage opened. She walked through the safe way until she came out of the other side where Celestia was dragging herself to the safe zone. Luna crossed her arms as she looked down at her older sister who was already quite worn. “How about you just follow me Tia since I’m the one who actually trapped this place…?” she offered.

“D-deal…” Celestia groaned as she heaved herself to her feet already limping from a stray arrow that had got her leg. Her knee to be specific. “You know… I used to think this would be easy… then I took an arrow to the knee.” She muttered. Luna groaned as they walked into the cold dark temple further.

“That joke is far too over used for it to be funny sister.” Luna muttered as Celestia snickered.

Meanwhile back with the girls and Spike:

The group walked through the dark tunnel with only a fiery torch in Dash’s hand as their source of light. “I can’t believe you set off a pit trap thirty seconds into our Cursed Temple Exploration…” Dash growled to Pinkie as the bubbly girl walked behind her, her eyes darting everywhere in the narrow passage way they had fallen into.

“Well who disguises a secret lever as a tree branch anyways?!” she asked rolling her eyes as she crossed her arms and pouted slightly. “I just really hope the others are okay…” she added her eyes losing a bit of their usual light. When they had fallen they had been broken up by a set of sliding tunnels and Dash and Pinkie had ended up in some kind of open room with torches lining all of it and only a small narrow tunnel leading out. They had followed it having no other choice. Dash bit her lip thankful Pinkie couldn’t see her worried expression.

“I just seriously hope Fluttershy isn’t having a panic attack right now…” she muttered to herself.

In secret passage B:

Twilight was breathing into a paper bag her eyes wide in terror and her hair displaying her obvious disarray. Fluttershy walked beside her carrying a flashlight she had brought in her bag and gently rubbed circles on her back trying to help her friend calm down.

“There there Twilight, keep breathing in the bag, it’ll help with the panic attack.” She said calmly. Lavender eyes were wide with terror.

“I can’t calm down now! We’re trapped in a dark hole hundreds of feet under the surface of an island in the middle of the ocean with our friends, the princess’, and my brother all MIA, oh, and did I forget to mention my magic is completely useless?!?!” she exclaimed before resuming breathing into the bag at an even faster rate.

“And now she’s in stage two…” Fluttershy muttered to herself. “Twilight, you should sit down for a little while… maybe you can think up a plan.” Fluttershy offered as she placed a hand gently on her shoulder forcing her to stop. Twilight grabbed handfuls of her hair as she slumped down on the side of the cobblestone hallway and then put her head between her legs tossing the bag aside.

“I’m sorry Fluttershy… I know you must be pretty scared down here too… I’m just worried about Spike is all... I don’t think he’s with any of the others. I saw him go down a tunnel all by himself and I don’t know if this power loss affects him too… If it does he’ll be alone, confused AND vulnerable… at least the girls all have their own wits about them, Spike is smart but he isn’t a planner like me. We’ve always been a tag team, I’d come up with the plans and he’d see it through. And without my magic, which by the way is my entire special talent, I just don’t know what good I am down here…” she explained. Fluttershy smiled gently and kneeled down beside Twilight.

“I’m sure he’ll be fine Twilight, he’s your brother after all, and didn’t you tell me your older brother taught him some of his fighting moves…?” Flutters asked trying to reassure the girl; Twilight nodded slowly. “And what are you talking about you silly girl?! You’re far from useless! That big brain of yours is amazing! Aren’t you the one who won the entire debate tournament with only one round? Aren’t you the girl who planned an entire upstage in your middle school and not only got away with it but revealed that meanie for what he really was to the entire student body…? Aren’t you the girl who could walk into a university class and teach the professor a thing or two in giving a proper lecture? Where’s that girl now? Because if we’re going to find our friends and your brother we’re going to need HER.” Fluttershy urged her sea green eyes spurring confidence in Twilight with every word spoken to her. Her face hardened with resolve as she stood back on her feet and grabbed the flashlight from Fluttershy.

“You’re right Fluttershy. This isn’t the time to be having a panic attack, we need a plan to get out of here and find the others! But, for right now let’s just keep walking until we get to the end of the tunnel.” Twilight stated firmly as she grabbed her own bag off the ground. Fluttershy smiled as she stood up as well dusting off her khaki skirt satisfied with herself. Twilight paused and turned around.

“But… for the record, what brought that on…? You keeping your calm and cheering me up like this…? No offense but you of all people is the last place I would have expected such a calm demeanor from.” She asked looking away a bit. Fluttershy giggled a bit and smiled shrugging her shoulder.

“When my friends need me I can’t afford to be afraid… That and someone did the same thing for me a long time ago…” she answered with a soft distant smile. Twilight couldn’t help but smile a bit as well.

“Well then let’s not waste any more time. I’m pretty sure Applejack is about ready to strangle Rarity.” She laughed as they marched forward and onwards into the dark cobblestone hallway.

Three hours. That’s how long Applejack had been listening to Rarity complain about the conditions they were in; mainly wading through waist deep sludge filled water in an attempt to find their way out of the hole they were stuck in. She had spent half an hour before that arguing with her that it was the only way they were getting out of the hole. Since then not a single positive comment had come out of her mouth. Just complaints, and the occasional whine. Applejack had bags under her red and green eyes as they twitched and her ears buzzed as they had for the last hour or so now. Finally after praying to whatever entity above that would listen she saw a light at the end of the tunnel. She wasn’t dead like she had also prayed, but there was an end to the tunnel they had been trapped in for so long. She ran for the light completely ignoring the fact Rarity couldn’t keep up with her. She leapt out of the water and met solid ground for the first time in a while. She felt her knees buckle under her as she collapsed on the ground but she didn’t care, she was out of that goddess damned tunnel that seemed to close around her more and more with every step. And even better Rarity had stopped complaining.

“Applejack! How could you just run off like that and leave me to wade the rest of the way?! I’m not as tall or fast as you you know!”

Well, it was nice while it lasted. Applejack groaned as she pulled her hat over her ears. “Give it a rest Rare, for the love of Luna, Celestia, Faust, and whoever the hell else is up there just PLEASE let me have a moment of silence to collect my thoughts!” the farmer begged without moving from her crashed position on the floor. Rarity blinked and stared down at her companion confused.

“If you wanted me quiet darling why not ask for it sooner…?” She inquired. Applejack was pretty sure she felt a vein pop as she opened her eyes in a jolt. “I mean honestly, if I’m that much of an annoyance to you-“

“SHHHH!!!!” Applejack hissed from her position.

“Well I never! Do not hush me Abigail Jacqueline Apple, I’m not afraid to-!”

“Rarity Gertrude Belle if you don’t shut yer trap Ah’m gonna come up there and TAPE it shut! Now HUSH.” Applejack half screamed half whispered. A sign to Rarity, along with the use of her dreaded middle name that she STILL didn’t know how Applejack got a hold of, told her that this was important. With silence in the air Applejack pressed her ear back to the ground and listened. Her eyes widened in shock as she quickly stood up and grabbed Rarity slinging her over her shoulder bags and all and ran down one of the two tunnels that divided the small torch lit room. Rarity of course was more than stunned by the action.

“Applejack! What has gotten into you?! First you yell at me for no reason then you just sweep me off my feet and-!” She stopped when her blood ran cold and a shadow appeared where they had just been and it turned towards her glowing green eyes set on her like a predator spotting its prey Rarity screamed and fumbled for her bag. “Don’t look now darling but we’re being tailed by an atrocious looking beast that has obviously never heard of personal hygiene…!” Rarity announced as she kept digging through her bag. Applejack had grabbed hers as well and was also digging through it.

“Ah’m plenty well aware of that fact Rare! It’s why Ah was in such a hurry ta get the hell out of there! I heard it running through the ground!” she announced as she picked up her pace even more.

“You heard it THROUGH the ground?!” Rarity asked in disbelief.

“It’s an old hunting trick ma Pa taught me. That and that thing has to be bigger than a full grown Timberwolf!” she said chancing a glance back over her shoulder as she rounded a corner thought the now maze like tunnels. And continued looking through her bag franticly. Finnaly she found what she as looking for just as they came to another open room and she set Rarity down and turned to face the beast a revolver in her hand the barrel clicking into place. Beside her she heard another cock of a gun and turned to see Rarity holding a pistol of her own and aiming at the approaching at the oncoming beast.

“You carry a gun too?!” Applejack asked in disbelief.

“Of course darling, I’m a lady, not an idiot. Who goes anywhere without some form of protection…? It’s not really necessary in our quaint little town of Ponyville but still… Look out!” she shouted as she noticed the beast was almost upon them. They both let out a shot each and the beast fell to its side with a bullet hole in each eye. With the beast down for the count they both slow let their shoulders slouch and then they looked at eachother for a brief second.

‘Ah think Ah’m in love with her Ma, Pa…’ Applejack prayed to the unseen heavens. ‘Please help me not kill myself before Ah can tell her that.’ She silently begged. Applejack looked down at the beast which seemed to resemble some form of pure black bear/Cat crossbreed. She went over and looked down at it in curiosity. She nudged it with her foot her gun still aimed at it and ready to pull the trigger again in case it moved. When it didn’t she allowed herself to kneel down to get a proper look at it. But when she reached out an touched its fur it glowed bright orange and then dissolved into black shadows that merged with the floor and dispersed like roaches.

“Well that was… odd.” Rarity said with a sigh as she clipped her gun at her side on a belt she wore with her khaki skirt which had somehow remained unstained despite the three hour wade through sludge. Probably enchanted somehow.

“Ah’d say… when Dash said this place was cursed Ah didn’t take her seriously… but with yer magic not working, mah strength gone, and things like that running after us Ah’m beginning to think she was right.” Applejack noted as she holstered the revolver at her side and bent own to pick up her and Rarity’s bag where they had dropped them.

“I too thought her mad, but is beginning to seem almost too real. We should find the others quickly. If any more of those things are roaming around and they are all unarmed and without out their respective abilities then we need to hurry.” She said as she walked past Applejack and towards the two possible exits. She looked at each of the lit hallways carefully and Applejack stepped up beside her ready to choose for herself. Rarity held out an arm blocking her path and picked up two nearby loose stones. She tossed each of them into the tunnels and at first nothing happened but then both hallways combusted into solid flames leaving the area scorched and charred. Applejack lowered her jaw in disbelief. “I may not have my magic darling but I still have my keen eye for detail. The floor on both of these halls is slightly raised up, meaning there was something under them. And with what Dash said about booby traps I wanted to be safe. Now there must be some sort of lever or switch around here to open an alternative exit…” she explained looking around carefully. Applejack scratched her head leaning against the wall slightly.

“How the heck are we gonna find- Whoa!” she screamed as she fell through the secret door that had opened when she leaned on it. She groaned as she rubbed where she had hit her head. Rarity peeked her head in smiling.

“Well done Applejack, I must say you’ve already got the making of a fine treasure hunter with those moves!” she giggled as she strode past her. Applejack grumbled as she picked up her hat from beside her and threw both bags over her back and scrambled to her feet to catch up to Rarity.

Twilight and Fluttershy had both been walking for quite a while now, they had gone through many chambers now, some laced with booby traps and hidden passages, others leading into full on mazes which Twilight solved using simple Geometry and a few educated guesses. Fluttershy kept them going, she had even thought to bring snacks and some drinks too so they could rest and eat for a little bit every now and again. It definitely helped with all the walking they’d been doing. But at last they heard something familiar, arguing. And one of the voices made Fluttershy’s ears perk and her wings to spread in an attempt to fly but, since the curse had grounded her, that was impossible. Instead she ran towards the light even faster. They both came into a large open cavern that was quite honestly beautiful with it’s crystalline stalactites and stalagmites along with the large rushing waterfall that came from the wall, it’s bottom lined with glowing blue crystals that could be seen through the clear crisp water. Pinkie was swimming in it her damp curly head popping out of the water and splashing a little on Dash who was sitting on the edge of the pool with her feet dipped in.

“Pinkie! Come on, that’s the third time you’ve splashed me, do I have to come in there and-“ She stopped mid sentence when she heard footsteps and turned to see the pair that had just entered the spacious cavern. Her eyes filled with relief as she got to her feet. “Flutters I-“ she however was cut off by Fluttershy rushing forward so fast they both fell into the water just as Pinkie was climbing out to greet Twilight. When they surfaced again Dash gasped for air and coughed up the water she inhaled. Fluttershy surfaced next to her. “What the heck was that for Flutters! At the rate I’m getting water in my lungs lately I’m going to be hydrophobic by the end of this vacation!” she cried as she slicked her wet multicolored hair out of her eyes so she could see properly. All she saw was Fluttershy’s smile and she felt her face heat up.

“I missed you too Dashie.” She giggled. Dash looked startled and turned her head away before deciding to take a nice long dive in the cool water to get the heat out of her face. She dived down and decided to test how long she could go without air while she looked at the shining crystal lined pool. She heard the water move next to her and turned to see what looked to her like a pink haired mermaid come to swim with her.

‘Close enough’ Dash thought to herself as Fluttershy again smiled at her and her eyes were caught by the bizarre glowing crystals of the pool. She reached out and touched one with the tip of her finger. In a rippling motion like the water that surrounded them the crystals all turned a soft gentle pink color. Above the water the crystals all over the chamber turned the same color. Fluttershy looked surprised but Dash had already seen this trick when Pinkie had touched them earlier. She reached out her own hand and the crystals now turned a fiery red that burned like the passionate fire that lit her eyes. Rainbow pointed up at the surface so they could get some air and she could explain. But when they came up Pinkie was already answering the question Twilight had asked.

“Aura crystals! They’re a special crystal that is found in very few places around the globe, they’re imbued with a type of magic that mixes with the personal aura of the person it touches. Also when they’re removed from their growing source, like so.” She explained breaking off a chunk of crystal nearby. The shard glowed blue like they had been before and then she handed it to Twilight. Surprisingly it didn’t change color but retained its blue color. But something did change, Twilight could HEAR Pinkie… but her lips weren’t moving. ‘They allow you to hear the inner thoughts and emotions of the one it absorbed the aura from. People in countries where they grow plentifully use them like cellphones.’ She continued explaining mentally, then repeated it out loud so the other two could hear.

“That is… amazing! How do they work? Do you know?” she asked inspecting the small shard of blue crystal she held between her fingers.

“Nope, just their properties and mineral counts, and other stuff like that. Growing up on a rock farm has its benefits at times~” she mused giggling a little bit. Suddenly the crystals in the room rippled orange and then changed to a deep royal purple. Pinkie giggled as her sharp hearing picked up voices in the distance. “And that’ll be our last two girls catching up now.” She mused turning just in time to see Applejack run in followed by Rarity who was running her hand along the surface of the crystals as she went. She looked up when she saw the others and beamed as she ran for them.

“Girls! Do you see these beautiful crystals?! Are they enchanted to change colors when someone touches them? I thought this place was an anti-magic zone!” Rarity exclaimed as she hurried over to all of them as Dash and Flutters were just climbing out of the water.

“It would appear that pre made enchantments stay with you…” Twilight said as she reached out and touched the crystals next. They turned the same magenta as her magic and she smiled at the color as it spread through the crystals replacing Rarity’s purple. And idea came to her mind and as Pinkie was explaining how the crystals worked to Rarity and AJ. “Rarity, do you happen to have materials to make bracelets on you…?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Oh yes, I do as a matter of fact, I have a few leather swatches and some binding in my bag… why do you ask…? She inquired. Twilight didn’t answer and instead turned to Pinkie.

“Does the crystal’s effects work over long distances…?” she asked.

“Duh, I just said TWICE that people use them as cellphones in different- Ohhhhh, I see where you’re going with this!” she exclaimed excitedly. “I’ll go break up a bunch of little shards for everyone!” she called over her shoulder as she reached grabbed her bag and ran off to a nearby large crystal. Rarity took a moment longer to process what Twilight wanted to do.

“You want me to make us all bracelet’s so we can communicate with each other since none of us have our cellphones on us!” she reasoned her azure eyes lighting up.

“Bingo. That way we can all split up and cover more ground looking for Spike and the Princess’. No doubt those three are raising some kind of hell in here.” Twilight stated as Pinkie came over with a chisel and a small satchel filled with shards of the crystals. She had used a chisel so that they wouldn’t absorb her aura right off the bat. They each looked like slivers of diamonds in her bag. Rarity brought out the bands of leather and the stings of leather she had in her bag as well as a bottle of enchanted glue that would bond the crystals to the leather. It was made for people who didn’t have magic or didn’t know a spell to do it. She carried it for fashion emergencies like this. She cast a glance at Applejack and gave her a smirk as Pinkie gave her a handful of crystals to bond with.

“And you mocked me for bringing my supplies.” She taunted. Applejack rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue.

“Can it Dolly.” She snapped back as she tossed her bonded crystals into the forming pile. In thirty minutes each of them had their own bracelet’s and they had made three extra for the Princess’ and Spike when they found them, as well as kept a few blank crystals so their own crystals could be added to the remaining bracelets. Twilight smiled as she tied the bracelet onto her wrist and tested it by placing all five of her fingers on each of the shards.

‘Testing, if you can hear me each of you respond.’ She thought.

‘Loud and Clear Twi’ she heard Rainbow reply.

‘Omaigosh this is totally awesome~!’ Pinkie squealed.

‘Ah’m hearin you on mah end Twi.’ AJ responded with a tilt of her hat as well.

‘Crystal clear darling, excuse the pun.’ Rarity added in.

‘Oh my this feels odd… but um, I can hear you.’ Fluttershy seemed to whisper. Even in her thoughts she was quiet.

“Great! Test complete, now let’s go-“ she was interrupted by her stomach growling loudly. She scratched the back of her head nervously. “I guess those snacks didn’t do much after all…” she noted with a sigh. Five unified stomach growls told her the others were in the same condition. Twilight giggled as the others all voiced her thoughts.

“Maybe we should have lunch first…?” they all looked around in surprise before they laughed it off. Pinkie walked over where her bigger bag lay on the floor and seemed to half way disappear into it before she came out grunting a little in effort as she pulled out a long dining table pre lined with food and drinks. When it was out she reached back in and tossed six chairs out that set themselves out around the table. She came back out dusting her hands off satisfied with herself.

“I knew this would come in handy!” she mused while the others stared at her in disbelief. Rainbow was the first to speak.

“Pinkie… all the times I thought your weird ways were odd…? Yeah I take those back.” She said as she walked over to the table and picked up a fork to poke the still steaming roasted chicken in the center of it. It was real. Which meant the rest of it was real too. The others quickly joined her helping themselves to the well prepared spread. Of course Fluttershy ignored the meat and helped herself to a fruit salad instead. Applejack and Rainbow Dash each ripped off a leg of the chicken and ate it while they prepared the rest of their plate, Pinkie never touched any of the regular food, just went straight for dessert; Rarity and Twilight each had mixed portions of everything, although Rarity ate it with a finesse that would have charmed noble’s into thinking she was one of them.

When they were all done eating they sat back and discussed what had happened to them since they had gotten separated. Twilight was planning out a strategy for pairs while they talked but was caught off guard when Rarity and Applejack told them about the creature they had encountered.

“And you say it vanished after you killed it…?” she asked wanting to make sure she heard them right.

“Well, yeah. Kinda. It sort of glowed orange when Ah touched it though. Then it just turned into a bunch of shadows and scattered. Most bizzare thing Ah’ve ever seen. And Ah’ve seen a lot livin’ right next to the Everfree forest.” She explained as she toyed with her hat that she had taken off when she sat down at the table. A habit her granny had gotten her into not long after she had gotten the hat from her father.

“Well… I’m not too sure, I’d have to actually examine one to know for sure, but if what you say is true then we might have a bigger problem than I initially expected.” Twilight admitted knitting her heands together and resting her chin on it with a worried expression taking her face. Rainbow tilted her head a bit.

“What do you think it is Twi…?” she asked.

“Well… from the description Applejack and Rarity gave me they sound like Umbra Chamaeleontis. A magical entity formed by dark magic that builds over time. It can take on any form and will try and destroy whatever enters its domain, or worse, feed off the fear it generates to make itself stronger. But in order for something that powerful to be created there must be a source of really powerful dark magic nearby… that may be the source of the curse as well. The only way to destroy an umbra Chamaeleontis is by disabling it, like you two did by shooting it, and then purifying it with light energy… how you did that just by touching it AJ is beyond me.” Twilight explained her lavender eyes coming to meet the farmers. The blonde whistled in response.

“So we’re dealing with some mighty powerful stuff here then huh…?” she asked.

“It’s just a theory… but a very probable one. I may not be able to use my magic right now but I can still feel it, and right now it’s picking up some heavy dark magic readings from somewhere in this temple. My guess would be at its deepest point.” Twilight explained with a nod at each of them.

“S-so… what do we do if we find that thing again…?” Rainbow asked.

“Exactly what I told you to do, disable it somehow and then try to touch it. Hopefully it isn’t just Applejack with this ability. If it doesn’t work though, run. It won’t stay disabled for long and I don’t want any of you risking hurting yourselves because you wanted to do something stupid like fight it. Am I clear Rainbow…?” Twilight asked with a firm stare at the known daredevil.

“Twilight, I like a thrill as much as the next gal but I don’t feel like getting killed today.” She responded flatly. Twilight smiled a bit satisfied with the answer.

“Good. Oh, And Fluttershy, I can see that question hanging around you, no. Just because they look like animals doesn’t mean they’re alive. They’re made from magic. When you ‘Kill’ them it’s just like canceling a spell.” She said using air quotes to emphasize her point. Fluttershy sighed in relief and put a hand to her heart as she did so.

“Thank you Twilight… I was worried I’d be hurting them like that… but you’re sure they aren’t alive…?” she asked just to make sure.

“Positive. They’re just over powered spells. And no magic other than the creators can bring life out of magic.” She assured her. Fluttershy nodded and Twilight addressed the others as she pulled out a notepad from her bag.

“Alright girls, we’re dividing up into teams of two, the same ones as before actually with one adjustment, Pinkie you’re coming with me and Dash you go with Fluttershy. You two work well together and cover each other’s weaknesses. Flutters, you keep Dash in check, and Dash you keep Flutters calm. Rarity and Applejack you’ve already both proven you can work well together and there’s no sense in messing with what works.” Twilight reasoned. Four nods came her way as Rainbow Dash and Pinkie switched places, Pinkie coming to stand next to Twilight and Dash standing next to Fluttershy. “Good, let’s clean up and split up.” She said as she turned to face where the table had been only to see Pinkie shoving the last little bit of table into her bag. She picked up the bag to jingle it around a little and then slung it over her shoulder and bounced over to Twilight smiling.

“Done~!” she hummed happily. Twilight slowly turned her gaze back to the others who shared her expression of confusion.

“Okaaaay, me and Pinkie will take that one in the center, Dash and Fluttershy, you take the one on the left, and AJ and Rarity that leaves you with the one on the right. Remember, keep in touch using the bracelets.” She ordered as they all stood in front of the exits that mirrored from where they had all come in. the only difference between the two being that these were much large in scale and the crystals seemed to line every inch of them like sleek mirrors. They found however that when they stepped into the sleek surface that it was not slippery, it felt just like normal ground actually. But the bizzare part was that each of their footsteps caused a ripple of their aura color to form. It looked like they were walking on colored water.

“This is so cool! It looks like my foot steps are creating hell fire!” Dash exclaimed stomping her feet a few times to make it look like she was summoning a ring of red flames. Fluttershy giggled at her antics her own light steps creating tiny pink ripples as they walked on. She particularly liked it when their ripples met and sort of merged together creating a pink that resembled Pinkie’s hair. She liked the idea and watched for each time their aura’s mixed together.

In the tunnel on the right Rarity walked calmly beside Applejack as she admired the settings around them. She experimentally reached out her hand as she walked on and touched the smooth mirror like surface of the tunnel wall. Her finger left a trail of purple aura that faded slowly as she walked on. She smiled at the reaction and started to created swirls and waves as she walked, the result being a slowly fading purple roller coaster that looked more like calligraphy. Applejack noticed what she was doing and reached out her own freckle covered hand and trailed her fingers along the wall leaving a trail of orange in her wake. She smiled a little and decided to have a little fun. She walked up behind Rarity and followed the pattern she left creating a double lined 3-D look to the designs. Rarity noticed what she was doing and smiled bit.

“Alright cowgirl, let’s see you keep up with some REAL designs.” She mused playfully as she decided to step up her pace and increase both the density of the designs and the elaborateness as well. She found that the farmer was well up to the challenge as she kept up and followed her lines with perfect accuracy. Applejack chuckled and smiled at the girl in front of her.

“You’re not the only one who can follow a pattern Rare.” She chuckled as they continued on down the line.

In the center tunnel Pinkie and Twilight exchanged satisfied grins as their plans began to fall into place. They took their fingers off the crystals that were inlaid into their bracelet’s and high fived each other. “I think I’ve said this before but you’re a mad genius Pinkie.” Twilight commented as they walked further along the path. Pinkie shrugged at the compliment still grinning.

“It was your idea to make the bracelets.” She offered.

“But your idea to pair them up like that.” Twilight countered.

Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. “That makes us both mad geniuses then~!”

“Or just mad…” Twilight breathed.

“What was that…?” Pinkie asked not hearing her fully.

“Nothing!” Twilight added quickly. Too quickly. Pinkie eyed her carefully and hovered her finger over the magenta colored crystal threateningly. “Oh come on…! That’s hardly- I just realized something. Can’t the girls just use their crystals to figure out what the other is really feeling now?” She asked her pink haired friend. Pinkie blew a razzberry at that waving her hand dismissively.

“They could but they wouldn’t because it’s an invasion of privacy that way. That and it would totally ruin the plot the author has planned out to make this game of cat and mouse last over the years of our schooling.” She added with a giggly smile. Twilight raised an eyebrow now very confused.

“What…?”

“Oh nothing, hey look what I can do!” she squealed as she leapt up and touched the ceiling causing blue ripples to wash through the entire hallway like cool blue water.

“How did you jump like that…?” I thought your earth-bound abilities were gone like my magic.” Twilight asked looking up at the ten foot tall ceiling.

“They are, but I have springy shoes and I’m pretty good at jumping even without my extra strength.” She responded with another giggle. Twilight sighed and rolled her eyes. “After all, even without our race’s ability’s we’re all still pretty well off. I’m still springy and fast, Applejack and Rainbow Dash can both still fight, Rarity still has her eye for detail that already saved them once, Fluttershy is still level headed and rational, and you’re still great at thinking on the fly and you still know all about almost EVERYTHING!” Pinkie rationalized. “So we’re all pretty good even without our powers.”

Twilight was stunned for a few seconds as they walked along but eventually a smile crossed her features. “You know Pinkie… You’re a lot smarter than you let on.” She mused.

Pinkie tilted her head in in confusion. “What do you mean Twiley…?” Twilight didn’t answer just walk further along into the cave.

‘I hope we find the others soon… the Princess’ have millennia of wisdom along with having built this place themselves on their side… but Spike is just a kid, a brash but still scared little kid. And if this power shortage affects him too I need to find him before he ends up getting hurt or worse.’ Twilight thought biting her lip a bit. Pinkie smiled and patted Twilight’s back.

“Don’t worry about him so much Twiley! I think he’s better off than you think!” She giggled with a bounce in her step.

“How can you know…?” she asked not even bothering to ask if she had used the crystal to read her thoughts or if she was just that easy to read.

“It’s my Pinkie sense~!” she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “And my Pinkie sense never fails me!” she announced doing a small twirl around Twilight. “Now come on! We have to skip to the next scene or the readers will catch onto the fact that they’re never gonna know what’s happening to Spike until we reunite with him!”

“What…?” Twilight asked confused as usual confused tone she got after Pinkie spoke.

“Shhhhh! Scene change~!”

Celestia and Luna were running, well, Celestia was running AND carrying Luna on her back as they were running from an entire pack of wolf shaped Umbra Chamaeleontis’ that were hot on their heels. One of them opened its jaw and let loose a stream of eerie purple flames that licked at Luna’s hair.

“AHHHH!!!! It’s got my hair!!!” Luna screamed trying to put out the flame. Celestia acted quickly when she saw a familiar dip in the path ahead of her and jumped for it. After a long fall into blackness the pair felt the rush of water take them. The fire now put out of Luna’s hair they were rushed forward in the current and Celestia was focused on making sure Luna didn’t drown. Luna however, ever master of the tides, would not allow herself to be ended by the very waters she controlled. Especially not now that she knew where these waters were going. She yelled over to her sister.

“Get ready for a long drop sister!” she called.

Celestia didn’t bother asking why at this point, she just braced herself. The light came at them fast and then she felt a drop that lasted for what seemed like an eon before she hit water again. She opened her eyes to see she was in a deep pool filled with light all around her. She saw the crystals all around her glowing a soft white. She remembered these crystals. Her mother had made them for her and Luna when they were young. They harmonized with their inner colors and reflected them across their surfaces. She had actually made an entire race much like these crystals but they had disappeared long ago. She reached out and touched their surface and like the water around them the colors rippled and reflected her golden aura across their surfaces. She swam up to breach the surface. And refill her lungs with air. Luna was standing near the pools edge looking around fascinated by the crystals.

“Why do I not remember these crystals sister…?” she asked looking around the room at them.

“Because you were very young when mother made them for us. She wanted our true colors to be reflected so that others would always be able to see them. She also wanted us to be able to feel one another wherever we went. Celestia walked over to the large crystalized center point of the room that connected like a jagged pillar to both the floor and ceiling. Her hand went to the crystal and she smiled fondly at the memory, but as her memory played in her mind it was reflected by the surface of the crystal like a television screen.

***~~~Flashback~~~***

Celestia was being led by a tall woman with flowing red hair that went just past her hips and danced along the pure white dress she wore that always seemed to dance in the wind. They walked across the surface of the playground her mother had made for them called Earth. They would forever be its protectors, its goddesses, and their Princesses. But mother would always be Queen. Little Luna ran along beside Celestia occasionally tripping over the white dress that matched her sister and mother’s almost perfectly.

“Mommy, where are we going…?” Celestia asked taking her younger sister in her arms. Watching in amusement as the toddler flared out her midnight blue wings defensively as she tried to push Celestia away demanding she could walk on her own. The tall regal woman smiled down at her two daughters warmly.

“To a place I know you will both love, I made it so you could share your happiness with everyone.” She replied her voice held power but also sounded like bird song and beautiful bells all ringing in perfect harmony. Any mortal that heard it would have died just from the warmth it would give them in their hearts.

“Dosh it haf poniesh too Mommy?!” a young Luna asked her two missing front teeth giving her some issues with her speech as she hovered up to her mother’s side. The woman smiled and gently held her youngest princess in her arms.

“No dear, even better, I’ve made an entire new form of beauty just for you two. Behold, the Crystal Empire.” She declared as they came atop a tall hill that looked over a large beautiful prairie that stretched for miles in every direction. Beautiful multicolored crystalline flowers grew like grass all around them. But what caught their attention was that in the center of the field an entire empire made of nothing but beautiful crystals of every color imaginable stood proud and tall in the light of the mid-day sun. Luna’s eyes widened in wonder as did Celestia’s.

“Mommy this is… beautiful. This is really all for us?” Celestia asked looking up at her mother.

“Of course child. Come, I will show you the best part of this place. For you can so obviously see its beauty during the day, but when there is balance between the sun and the moon in the dawn or dusk…” she said her hands glowing white as she took hold of the two celestial bodies each of her daughters represented. She brought about them to rest on each horizon separately. The crystal empire before them glowed with white energy before it swirled into a beautiful aurora that covered the half starry night sky. Luna clapped and giggled in delight and Celestia smiled at the sight before her. “It brings about a sight only true harmony can accomplish. This is what I want to see you two accomplish in my place.” She stated as a gentle wind carried a few loose flower petals past them. Celestia looked up at her mother.

“You are… leaving?” she asked in disbelief.

“No child, I will never leave you two, but when you no longer need me on this world I will return to the celestial plane where I belong so that I can watch over you and the world I have created for you. But only when you are both ready. Until then I will remain here to guide you both as you grow.” She told them as they watched the aurora snake its way through the beautiful twilight sky.

“But… how will we know if you are still watching over us when you’re gone…?” Celestia asked. That made her mother pause. She glanced down at the empire before her and an idea struck her. She waved her hand which glowed white with her magic of creation. The crystalline city before them transformed in the sense that a large spire grew from it reaching a height so tall it's tip grazed the lazily floating clouds. She waved her hand again and from the very top of the crystal spire a small sliver of the crystal floated to her hand. When it touched her flawless skin it glowed the same soft white as her magic. She smiled and with another small work of magic she weaved a golden thread through it like a necklace and handed it to Celestia.

“With this you will always know I am with you. As long as it glows I am still watching, still guiding you and your sister through the destiny’s you are meant to live.” She said placing the necklace around Celestia’s neck. The young goddess looked down at it holding it carefully in her hand as she looked back up into her mother’s soft blue-green eyes that often reminded her of her sister’s. Celestia closed her hand around the necklace and closed her eyes wanting to keep the moment in her mind for all the years to come.

***~~~ End Flashback~~~***

And she had. Almost twenty thousand years later and she still remembered every moment in exquisite detail. She reached into her shirt a little bit and pulled on the golden string around her neck revealing the white crystal that still glowed with the soft white light of her mother’s aura. She had long since lost the ability to hear her mother’s voice with it but the warmth of knowing she was still watching remained. Luna watched her sister curiously. She had seen the crystal for most of her life and heard the story behind it as well, but to actually see it in full vivid detail brought the memory back to her own mind as well. She hardly remembered anything about her mother. She had left only a thousand years after that when Luna would have been little older than she looked now. She still remembered how Celestia had cried for months afterwards. And years down the line as well. The only person who had been there to calm her was… well that wasn’t important now. What was important was that Luna now remembered something very important about this particular chamber.

She ran forward and grabbed the crystal out of Celestia’s hand and slipped it off her neck. Celestia of course protested loudly. She never took that necklace off, only very few times in the distant past, and the last had been when they first made this temple and island- It struck her like lightning what Luna was doing. The small teal haired girl stood on her tip toes and even tried to jump up to an opening in the great center crystal that towered up to the ceiling. Celestia ran over and hoisted her up on her shoulders so that together the two were now the same height as Luna in her full grown form. She stuck the glowing white crystal into the slot shaped perfectly to it and the entire room lit up in the same soft white glow. The large spiraling crystal shifted and turned its jagged spikes becoming flatter and turning into a spiraling set of stairs that led up to the ceiling where the crystal had retracted reveling a passageway. Luna grinned down at her sister as she retracted the shard from the slot and jumped down from her shoulders handing the necklace back to Celestia.

“Come on, let’s go before the exit seals itself.” Luna said as she ran eagerly to the stairs a sense of adventure lighting her eyes again. Celestia laughed. Her sister in all these years had not lost her spirit. She still retained a youthfulness that Celestia had always envied her for. She had also loved that most about her sister, and recognized the same spark in her young student as well. She looked to the doorways that surrounded the cavern. She silently sent a prayer to her mother that she watch over the girls until they could reunite once more. She then ran up the steps and disappeared into the ceiling with the stairs and door vanishing behind her. Just as the center crystal shifted back to normal a voice could be heard from one of the entrances of the cavern.

“Hey Dashie! I think I heard someone up ahead!” Pinkie called. The two ran into the chamber seconds later looking around.

“I don’t see anyone Pinks, maybe you should go for a swim, I think all that running has you over heated.” Dash laughed pointing to the clear pool of water. Pinkie pouted slightly. She KNEW she had heard someone…

***

Back in the present Rarity and Applejack were still walking along the tunnel they had been assigned. They had given up their game of cat and mouse and were currently rather lost in their thoughts.

‘I’m starting to be thankful Twilight put us together… with these bracelets on Applejack could very easily catch my thoughts wandering. When I can see her hands I can watch for if she’s touching one of the crystals. It gives me a few split seconds to adjust myself before she can pick up on any reveling emotions or thoughts… these bracelets are beautiful little disasters waiting to happen. I’ll have to insist that we seal them away after this so they that can only be used in an emergency. I wonder if Fluttershy is already aware of this… I’d best warn her.’ Rarity thought as they continued along the path. She brought her wrist up and she failed to notice Applejack flinch at the motion.

‘Please don’t be usin’ it on me, Please don’t be usin it on me…!’ AJ prayed within her mind as she watched her crush reach out with a finger and select one of the crystals in slow motion. It touched the light pink one and she let out a breath she didn’t realize she’d been holding. ‘Ah’ve only been wearin’ this thing for a couple of hours now and I already hate it. Ah can’t even lie out loud and now Ah can’t even think about her without worryin’ that she’s gonna over hear me… damn these magic crystals. When we get outta here I’m locking this thing in a tiny box and burying it in the west orchard where no one will ever find it. And Rare’s too for good measure…’ AJ decided with a slight nod of her head to emphasize the point.

‘Whoa, you sound about as fed up with these things as I am.’ A voice snickered in her head. AJ almost jumped out of her skin before she recognized it and put a hand over her heart to stop its rapid beating.

‘Consarnit RD would ya warn a gal before ya give her a heart attack?!’ Applejack protested jabbing her thumb onto the red crystal to establish the connection.

‘What would you like me to do to warn you hayseed? Wave my hand in front of your face…?’ Rainbow asked. Applejack could HEAR her rolling her eyes.

‘Oh… uh… right. Well what did ya want anyways…?’ asked setting her gaze back on the path ahead of them.

‘Well I WAS going to warn you to be careful with the crystals, but it looks like you already got the idea of what they could do to our precious little act.’ Dash explained.

‘Oh, well yeah Ah guess so… which reminds me, Ah’ve been meaning to ask about what happened last night at the party…’ AJ started. She felt a very hot wave of embarrassment flow out of Rainbow over their connection. ‘Yeah, you know what Ah’m talkin’ about. Explain.’ She ordered crossing her arms as she did so out of habit. She heard Rainbow trying to formulate a few excuses before she gave in and sighed.

‘Look, I panicked alright…? I was so caught up with the fact it was Flutters giving me the gift of a lifetime that I was literally about two seconds away from just kissing her right on stage in front of everyone! That would be her first kiss AJ! I can’t do something that’s supposed to be special to her in a public set up like that…! She’d faint on the spot! Or drop dead from shock. I’m seriously not sure which. So I just said the next best thing! I didn’t mean to shove her that far back down the ladder!’ Rainbow explained her thoughts coming off as rushed and distressed.

‘Whoa there partner. Breathe already. This is an easily remediated problem. Now ya can’t just jump into directly flirtin’ with her. After last night she’ll just get confused thinkin’ you’re sendin’ mixed signals. Ya gotta be subtle. If ya see an opening take it, just little things like grabbin’ her hand to pull her somewhere or keepin’ in close contact should be enough to stir a positive reaction outta her. But remember it’s Fluttershy, she ain’t gonna like it much if ya just rush into it.’ Applejack instructed. There was a pause where Applejack could feel Rainbow’s emotions swirling around for a bit before they settled themselves and RD Spoke again.

‘You know, you’re way too smart to be a farmer AJ. You’ve gotta get a degree in counseling or something.’ She quipped chuckling a bit.

AJ shrugged before she remembered Rainbow couldn’t see her. ‘Aw, don’t be getting all sappy on me now Dash, compliments aren’t gonna get ya far with me. That’s yours and Rare’s thing, not mine. Now if y’all will excuse me Ah’m supposed to watchin’ out for- SWEET MOTHER BUCKIN FAUST THAT ONE IS HUGE!!!’ She exclaimed before se cut the connection and quickly grabbed Rarity and ran just as a very large Cyclops type shadow was forming in front of them. AJ zoomed under its feet with Rarity close behind her. Both drew their guns and aimed it back at the giant beast as it pursued them.

“How in Faust’s name do these beasts keep finding us?!” Rarity asked unloading a couple of bullets into the legs of the beast. The towering one eyed beast took up the full twenty foot tall tunnel and was surprisingly fast for its size.

“Ah don’t have any idea, but we need to find a branch off that’s too small for it to follow!” AJ called back as she took aim up at the beast’s eye and let loose a powerful shot that hit it dead on. It roared in pain its voice sounding like a thousand demons screaming out for blood.

“Oh wonderful work Applejack, now you’ve gone and angered something that could crush us both with a single fist!” Rarity snarled as they continued to run.

“Well how was Ah supposed ta know that damn thing wouldn’t fall from getting’ shot in the eye! Who doesn’t die from that?!” AJ called back. The beast roared again in a fury and it became surrounded in black before it split into several smaller shadows that formed into snarling Timberwolf imitations. “Whoa Nelly! Pick it up Rare we just got a whole new set of problems back there!” AJ exclaimed as she turned her head to face back forward. Rarity dared to glance back and she let out a whine.

“Applejaaaaaack!!! I swear to Celestia if we get out of this alive I’m going to bury you under one of those tree’s you’re so infatuated with!” she snarled.

“Yeah well we can worry about that once we’re NOT dead Dolly! Now start looking for escape routes while I distract them a little bit! And for the love of Luna don’t stop running!” Applejack ordered.

‘Applejack! Rarity! Your crystals are flashing a distress signal! What’s going o-‘

‘NOT NOW TWILIGHT!!!’ they both responded in unison before shutting of the connection and focusing on the task at hand.

Rarity huffed but cooperated of course on loading a few rounds on the wolves closest to them first. She looked around wildly her sharp eyes taking in every contour of the smooth surface around them. She noticed the mirror like surface seemed to always be smooth like glass and bent perfectly along with the corridor’s shape. So it was quite easy to spot the single section that seemed out of place from the rest of it. There was a small section coming up on their right that shimmered slightly and wasn’t as glossy as the rest of the wall.

‘An Illusion… I hope it leads somewhere we can use. As they approached it she wordlessly grabbed the back of Applejack’s shirt and dragged her through the fake wall and slammed her against the wall inside it. It was just a little cut away no bigger than your average broom closet but when she had passed through it she could feel the concealment magic it was layered with. She quickly brought her finger to the orange crystal on her bracelet. ‘Don’t speak. It’ll break the concealment spell placed on the entrance.’ She ordered. Applejack quickly nodded her understanding and stayed quiet as a mouse until they heard the snarling sounds outside fade away down the hall. When they couldn’t be heard at all Rarity let out her breath and for the first time realized the compromising position they were in; mainly Rarity pressed flat against Applejack so that they would both fit into the tight space of the cut away. She looked up to see Applejack’s green eyes widen a little and color start to tint her freckled face. ‘I wonder if that’s from the chase we just escaped or from the close quarters…’ she thought quietly. In the semi dark veil of the cut away Rarity’s eyes could just barely make out a small indent behind Applejacks head. Rarity smiled a bit and decided to play a little game of payback.

Applejack could feel her heart still racing. The adrenaline was still in her system so maybe Rarity would blame her racy heart and heating face on the fact that they’d just escaped a pack of very pissed off Umbra Chamaeleontis in the form of timber wolves, and not the fact that they were pressed together in a dark little corner of the world and Rarity’s face was slowly getting closer and closer to her own. Just when she had slammed her eyes shut and she felt Rarity’s breath mingle with her own she felt a hand come up and brush her face before it moved behind her head and pressed something on the wall behind her. The wall gave way and she fell backwards her eyes opening wide in shock as she hit a rocky floor with a loud thud. Rarity’s sapphire eyes glimmered mischievously as she passed the blonde now sprawled on the floor of the new secret passage.

Rarity laid her hand over all the crystals on her wrist as her satisfied smirk grew. ‘This is Rarity reporting that we have escaped our pursuer and have discovered an alternate path, are we to take it…?’ she asked through the channel. There was a collective sigh of relief from her friends before Twilight responded to her.

‘Yes, but be cautious, it may lead to more of them or worse. How are you both on ammo…?’ Twilight asked.

‘My gun is enchanted to never run out.’ They both responded at once. They exchanged a glance but Twilight didn’t miss a beat.

‘Good, then keep them drawn and stay on guard, I want you both ALIVE at the end of this, not torn to pieces because of you were distracted by one of your squabbles.’ Twilight warned them. They both bowed their heads a little bit before they felt Twilight drop the connection.

‘Good luck you two…’ Fluttershy seemed to whisper before her connection was cut too.

‘Yeah! Show those big meanies who’s boss!’ Pinkie cheered before she faded too.

‘And try not to kill each other too; me and Flutters kinda want our roommates intact.’ Rainbow added before she cut the connection as well.

Applejack stood up from her crouched position on the ground and dusted herself off before righting her hat on her head and adjusting the bag over her shoulder. She walked past Rarity and further into the new corridor. “Come on slow poke, Ah’m not waitin’ up for ya.” She called back over her shoulder when she noticed Rarity hadn’t moved. A smile flickered across the girl’s face that the farmer didn’t see as she joined her in walking and even passed her. The smug satisfaction would have been hard to miss if the blonde could see her face just like it had been hard to miss the sense of disappointment Applejack had after Rarity had tricked her.

‘She wanted me to kiss her…’ with a spring in her step now, Rarity was ready to out run or out gun any of those shadowy demons that dared to cross her path.

***

Rainbow Dash was on her toes constantly now that two of her friends had already been targeted in this section of the caves. It had proved they weren’t a safe haven like the main crystalized chamber. Her ears were listening for any sign of movement besides the steady steps of her and Fluttershy, and her eyes were sharpened to watch every little shadow around every turn they made. She wouldn’t be letting these things sneak up on her and Fluttershy. She felt something touch her shoulder and tensed ready to throw whatever it was into a wall but that reaction was halted when she realized it was only Fluttershy, she let her muscles relax. She saw the look in those sea green eyes and sighed looking away a little her wings folding against her back.

“Yeah I know… I’m being paranoid again…” she muttered. It had been almost an hour since Applejack and Rarity had been targeted and they’d found their escape and an alternate route and since then Fluttershy had had to calm Dash down from her guard post three times because she looked like a drug addict who was waiting for the cops to show up at the door at any moment.

Fluttershy nodded slightly and gave her a weak smile before she moved on walking ahead of Dash a little only for her friend to catch up moments later. Rainbow chose this opportunity to try and make small talk to ease the unseen tension in the air.

“So… Twilight tells me you kept a pretty level head back when we were separated, how did that happen…?” she asked the taller pegasus. It was still bothering her that she couldn’t at least hover to her height so she didn’t feel like she was talking to her mother.

“Oh, well um… Twilight was already in enough of a state for both of us… so I didn’t want to add to it. Instead I focused on trying to calm her down. I suppose all those times you did that for me taught me how to do it for others too…” she reasoned looking at her tan booted feet. She seemed to have a fascination with them as of late. Dash scoffed at that tossing her hair back a little.

“Rainbow Danger Dash does NOT panic.” Fluttershy picked her head up and gave her ‘the look’. Rainbow swallowed hard and looked away a little.

“Then I guess it’s a good thing I don’t know anyone named Rainbow Danger Dash, because someone who never panics probably has some severe head trauma and needs to go see a doctor straight away.” Fluttershy countered. Rainbow winced at that and sighed.

“You know… sometimes I really hate being the one who talks first. It leaves me wide open for comebacks like that.” She sighed. Fluttershy giggled a little at that.

“Then don’t talk first silly!”

“But if I didn’t we’d both just be silent the entire time because we both know you’re about as likely to start a conversation as you are to turn away an injured animal. And I’m about as likely to put up with sitting in silence for more than a few seconds as it is for Pinkie to give up sugar forever.”

‘Foreverrrrr- WAIT! No! Not my sugar! Why Dashie?!’ Pinkie wailed through her connection. Rainbow rolled her eyes and ignored her.

“Hm… good point, you always did kinda stink at the quiet game.” Fluttershy pointed out.

“A game where the entire point is to sit there completely still and silent staring at each other for hours on end is my definition of hell Fluttershy. I came into this world screaming and thrashing around wings blazing in their full glory, I have absolutely zero intention of living any differently. You on the other hand were so quiet that when you were born the doctors thought you were mute and had to pinch you to get you to cry. You didn’t even speak until you were four, you only had one or two occasions where you had flying spouts, and you once spent six months in a hospital bed perfectly content with only moving to get up and use the bathroom or to grab a new book from the shelf. Meanwhile in the room next door I was twitching uncontrollably after the first day, banging my head against the bed frame, bouncing a ball against the wall from my bed until it got lost under the bed, counting specks on the ceiling, and staring down the clock only to see that it had barley been five minutes since I last checked it. If you and I were any more opposite we would have imploded the entire world just by saying hi to each other.” Dash ranted.

Fluttershy let her finish before she responded. “I see your mild obsession with the world imploding under impossible conditions hasn’t gone away yet…” she noted as they continued to walk.

“Hey, this world is gonna go somehow, maybe not now, maybe not even in a few eons, but when Celestia and Luna are old and grey and watching the sun fade in the distance this place is going to go off in a big colorful explosion of awesome. And I just hope Faust has the generosity in her to let me and you see it so I can rub it in your face for the rest of eternity.” Rainbow concluded folding her arms and grunting slightly.

‘Wow… Dash you’re crazier than me on that drink we made back on the ship… we really should give that thing a name… I’m thinking The Apocalypse, what about you…?’ Pinkie asked through her connection that Dash didn’t even feel her establish.

‘Not now Pinkie… but good name.’ Dash commented. She felt the satisfaction radiate off of the girl before the connection was severed and her eyes came to focus on Fluttershy who was giggling at her. Dash blinked confused by the odd behavior. “Flutters…? What’s so funny…?” she asked quickly patting her head to make sure her hair was normal and then bringing her wings forward tom make sure they didn’t have feathers jutting out at weird angles.

“Oh nothing… you just get this really funny look on your face whenever you’re frustrated.” She mused amusement still present in her voice. Rainbow frowned a little.

“Great… well at least you’re getting a good laugh out of this situation.” She reasoned running a hand through her hair casually to hide the fact that her mind was a little fuzzy from seeing Fluttershy giggle. Her head was so fuzzy in fact that she almost didn’t catch the slithering shape of a shadow behind Fluttershy. Almost, that is.

“Look out!” she cried as she shoved Fluttershy out of the way and was snatched by the slithering form in her stead. Fluttershy looked up to see the shadow take form into a creature with a cat like body but with a long coiling neck like a snake that currently had Dash in its hold and was crushing her as she tried to struggle against it. The cold glowing purple eyes watched its prey and it smiled with dripping purple energy coming from its elongated fangs like venom.

“Serpopard… ancient Egyptian creature that is a mix between a serpent and a leopard…” Fluttershy observed her eyes scanning the creature quickly. Dash saw her crouched on the floor her sea green eyes watching her with terror.

“Get out of here Fluttershy! RUN!” She called before the creature silenced her by squeezing her harder. Its hissing echoed around the walls and its dark energy pooled into the mirror like surface of the floor creating cascading ripples of dark energy through it. Fluttershy’s eyes sharpened when she noticed that the creature had an unfinished form. Its lower half was still merged with the shadows it came from. Which meant its only form of movement was currently focused on squeezing the life out of Rainbow Dash. Fluttershy’s eyes also noticed a weakness where the serpent like neck met the cat like body. Her mind worked fast piecing together the anatomy in her head as she ran, not away from the beast like Dash wanted her to, but towards it instead.

Dash watched her do it in slow motion. Fluttershy ran under the beast chopping it once at the base of its inner neck with her hand and then when the creature’s body reacted by dropping Dash and coughing bending its neck down in its distress Fluttershy delivered three more well placed jabs along its neck and then one powerful one into its bottom jaw that caused its fangs to pierce through its head and purple energy venom to cascade down its jaw along with black blood. Fluttershy landed neatly in front of it just as it fell to its side motionless. She flipped her hair back still glaring at it.

Rainbow Dash was just getting her breath back as she stood up looking at the fallen shadow creature. “What… did you do to it… Flutters…?” she asked through her wheezy breath.

Fluttershy walked over to it calmly and pointed to the spots she had hit. “It’s body didn’t form properly… it had weaker points in it that acted like pressure points on a living creature. By hitting them in quick order I reasoned it would be rendered incapable of moving. And with the venom it probably has coursing through its body now it should be even worse. If it were actually alive that is.” She added her softer tone returning towards the end. She remembered what Twilight had said about what to do after it had been knocked out and reached forward to touch it once more. There was a second where nothing happened and then the body of it began to be consumed by a pink light. It eventually made the body burst and the remaining shadows scattered like roaches away from the light. The two pegisai blinked in surprise and Fluttershy looked down at the hand that caused it. “It works…” she whispered.

Dash stood back up to her full height having caught her breath and walked up beside Fluttershy placing a hand over hers gently. Fluttershy looked at her a little startled as she met concerned looking magenta eyes. “You okay…?”

Fluttershy looked down at the forming bruises on Dash’s arms and legs, she was sure there were more over under her clothing as well. “I think I should be asking you that Dashie. You’re going to look like an eggplant when those bruises form!” Fluttershy chastised. Dash looked down at herself and gave a shrug which actually made her wince slightly.

“I’ve had worse and you know it.” She defended.

“But you wouldn’t HAVE them to begin with if you had just let it take me instead!” Fluttershy almost yelled at her. Rainbow’s eyes sharpened at that.

“I would have never done that Fluttershy. Besides, you did something just as reckless by rushing the monster yourself. So you can’t say we aren’t on equal grounds.” Dash countered. Fluttershy’s jaw tightened at that and she looked away a little at Dash’s intense gaze.

“I-I suppose you’re right about that… but you already get hurt often enough for me… I just feel bad for always being… well a damsel in distress I guess.” Flutters admitted as she rubbed her arm a bit. Dash however, ever the idiot, laughed at her response. Fluttershy’s eyes looked up shock and pain tinting them. That faded when she saw Dash hold up a hand to make her pause as she collected herself. She wheezed a little as she collected herself and held her ribs wiping a small tear from her eye caused half by hysterics and half by the pain of laughing with bruised ribs.

“Okay first off, I’m about as far off from a knight in shining armor as you can get. Sure I’ve got all those awesome moves under my belt, I’m pretty good with knowing when you need my help, and I’m loyal enough to always be there when you need me, but that’s something any good friend should do. I’m not some big bad ass knight who strolls in sword drawn and slicing off monsters heads as I pass them, and you’re not some helpless little princess sitting in her tower wailing for me to come save her. That move you pulled back there is proof. We’re both just kick ass girls, I’m just a little more of a bad ass, and you’re more like the hard ass that keeps my sorry ass in check.” She explained motioning from herself to Fluttershy and back. Fluttershy managed a smile at that.

“Only you could find a creative way to use that word so many times in one sentence that it’s actually funny…“ she commented. Rainbow Dash’s grin only grew at that.

“Hey, I’m taking a page out of Pinkie’s book by saying this but laughter is the best medicine. Unless you’re seriously ill; then you should probably go to a hospital.” She quipped. It got Fluttershy giggling even more and Dash grinned satisfied with herself. “Good, you’re smiling again. You actually had me worried for a bit there. Now let’s get out of this place already, I’m beginning to feel my legs start to get numb from standing still for so long.” Dash said pacing in place a little to emphasize her point. Fluttershy giggled a little and started walking forward tugging a little on Dash’s hand as she went.

“Well let’s go then before you start running up the wall.” Fluttershy giggled. Dash groaned and facepalmed at that.

“Mom told you THAT baby story too?!”

“That and many MANY more, I wonder how Rarity would react if I told her the catchphrase you had before your current one… what was it again…? Rainbow Dash always dresses in style…?” she inquired a mischievously innocent glint in her eye. All the color in Rainbow seemed to drain, even her hair looked pale.

“You. Wouldn’t. DARE.” Rainbow Dash hissed quietly.

“You’re right, I wouldn’t. Because I’m not a meanie. But if you do anything reckless like that again I might let a word or two from it slip…” she countered. Dash grit her teeth together.

“I don’t think any of our friends would ever believe how evil you can be sometimes Fluttershy… Fine. I won’t charge in to save you without thinking up a plan first… at least not while we’re in this temple.” She added quickly. Fluttershy eyed her up and down and slowly nodded.

“I guess that’ll do…” she said holding out two fingers to her friend with a small smile. Dash smiled as well putting her own to hers and mirroring her part in the Sonic Flutterboom. When the sound effect was finished both girls were giggling as they moved on continuing to walk ahead. Their laughter was cut off when the floor suddenly dropped away from them and they both went falling through the open floor before it closed behind them making the hallway look just as it had before.

***

Back with the odd pair of the bookworm and party animal the ladder had her hand cupped over her bracelet and her eyes slowly started to widen as the screams that were just given by one couple were echoed by a second moments later on the other side. Pinkie stopped walking but Twilight didn’t and looked a little further down ahead of them. She noticed that the path branched out into a three way fork.

“Hey Pinkie, I think we’re going to need your Pinkie sense on this one… Pinkie…?” she asked turning around only to find that Pinkie’s hair was standing on end and her entire body was contorting at odd angles. She quickly rushed forward to her partner eyes wide in horror. “Pinkie!! What’s going on?!” she asked panicked by her friend’s odd behavior. Pinkie’s contortions stopped and her normally cheery pink face drained of color as she pointed behind Twilight with a shaky finger. Twilight turned just as she started to feel the ground shake beneath her feet shake. From all three forks in the path waves of rippling dark shadows came at them their wisp’s taking half forms of nightmarish creatures and beasts. Twilight’s face drained as she stared what she imagined was death in the face. Twilight if nothing else was a girl of rational thinking and a damn good one too, but at that moment though her mind was totally blank.

Lucky for her though, Pinkie’s brain was working double time. She quickly grabbed Twilight by her waist and rush forward before standing in one place Twilight definitely didn’t want to be; in the cross hairs of all three tunnels.

“Pinkie are you crazy?! They’ll over whelm us! Of all the hair brained schemes you could have come up with you choose the one that’s the most suicidal?!” she cried. But Pinkie didn’t say a word in response. She just looked around at the three tunnels wildly before she took in a deep breath and shut her eyes and held Twilight a little tighter just as the shadows started to close in around them. Then in one quick motion the ground fell away underneath them and Twilight let out a long scream as they fell through the hole and she watched it close behind them before any of the shadows could follow after them. A rush of a powerful air slowed their decent until they touched down gently on the ground Twilight still screaming a little as Pinkie opened her eyes and let out her breath in relief at the sight of a familiar grinning face staring back at her. Twilights scream stopped as she opened her eyes as well and saw the same thing Pinkie did.

“Cutting it a little close there don’t you think Spikey Wikey…?” Pinkie stated her voice sounding drained as the terror caught up with her still shaking body. The green haired boy rolled his eyes.

“I can only cut through a hundred feet of rock so fast Pinkie.” He replied before Twilight almost strangled him in a hug.

“SPIKE!!! YOU’RE ALIVE! AND YOU SAVED US!!! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ALL THE DOWN HERE?! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE OTHERS?! AND WHY ARE YOU COVERED FROM HEAD TO TOE IN SCALES…?!” She exclaimed only just noticing that her brother’s normally milky skin had been replaced by shining purple scales that felt like sandpaper against her skin. Not that that deterred her from hugging him, at that moment she just didn’t care.

“Whoa Twilight, chill out. I’ll explain everything in a minute, just let me seal that exit back up before they can get through it and I’ll take you to the throne room.” He said pushing her off him a little. She let him go and watched him stomp his front foot into the ground and shift it. The tunnel above their heads closed and he then turned his back to them to face a tunnel that looked like it had been carved by a giant ant. They both slowly followed him and Twilight took the opportunity to ask her pink haired friend a question that had been bugging her since she could think straight again.

“Pinkie… you knew my brother would save us… and right where that hole would be… how?”

Pinkie smiled at Twilight her own voice still a little shaky. “I didn’t know it was him Twilight. But I felt the earth moving under my feet and it wasn’t being caused by those shadows coming at us. So I just ran to the epicenter of it shut my eyes hoping it would take us somewhere better than there. It worked apparently.” She explained with a small smile. “But it still scared the fun right out of me to be that close to them. It felt like my entire body was being torn apart by my senses telling me to run… but that wouldn’t have saved both of us… so I listened to the earth instead.” She explained as she walked along behind Spike and let her hands trail along the wall. Twilight couldn’t believe it, the normally eccentric girl that never seemed to be afraid of anything was sitting here shaking like a leaf and for the first time since Twilight had known her she was making sense. She didn’t know whether to be scared by this turn of events or be studying the effects fear had on the girl.

Suddenly the room opened up and Twilight’s eyes had to the sudden harsh light before she could fully see the room before her. The first thing she noticed was that all around her there were mountains of gold and gems all around her. Mountains wasn’t an overstatement either, they towered to heights that were probably over two or three hundred feet. The second thing she noticed while she was looking at the height was that at on the very top of the tall cavern ceiling a large crystal structure hung like a chandelier and glowed a soft white glow that illuminated the entire cavern. And the last thing Twilight noticed was that her friends were all sitting at a table in the center of the cavern directly under the large crystal, and with them at the table was a very large group of fairies. Fairies that were the size of Amazonian warriors, who’s skin and wings were made of the same wispy shadows that had almost killed her, but who’s eyes did not glow with that eerie darkness the others did. Instead each of their eyes glowed a soft white much like the crystal high above their heads. Needless to say Twilight was very confused.

She reflexively charged a spell her hands glowing at the call of her magic as she poised them in front of her in the way her defensive magic courses had taught her. It wasn’t until she physically saw the light surrounding her hands that she realized her magic was working. Spike smiled at her and motioned towards the table.

“Twilight, I’d like to introduce you to the Púca clan. They live here in this temple and guard it with their lives. The crystal you see hanging above your head is part of the treasure the legend mentioned before. It’s currently keeping this one room in the temple a 100% curse free zone. Which is why you can use your magic here. When I was separated from you guys I landed here and met my friend here Prince Avery. He’ll fill you in on why the curse is here to begin with.” He stated, the crowd of taller fairies parted revealing a boy only a little older than Spike himself, but unlike his followers his skin was as white as the full moon and glowed like it too, his pointy ears were just barely visible behind his curly golden hair that fell past his shoulders and seemed to hover over his stunning white wings that were made of a beautiful silver light. His eyes were the same silver white as his wings.

“Twilight Sparkle, it is an honor; your young brother has told me much about you and your companions while assisting me today. Please, have a seat, you must be weary and my tale is not a short one I'm afraid.” He said as he waved his hand. From the ground grew two chairs made out of pure crystal. Twilight looked shocked for a second but her and Pinkie both took their seats at the table as did the prince and Spike.

“Well… I suppose I should begin when the divine sisters first made this temple… and by default us as well…”

It was about five thousand years ago… before the Maker left our world for her own. The two sisters that had made this island did so, so that they could practice their magic without disturbing the life of the mortals. It was their sanctuary, and once a year on the day of creation the Creator would make something very special for each of her daughters. And the two accepted it and guarded each gift with their lives. This is where modern birthdays came from.

The last day the Creator spent on this earth was on the 15,000th anniversary of Creation. Keep in mind that the Royal race age rate is a thousand years is our equivalent to about a year of growth. So Celestia would have been merely fifteen and Luna only ten. So as a parting gift to each of her daughters she gave them each a treasure horde that would have made the dragon king himself envious, and then she gave them one final special treasure to share. It was said to be a wonderful gift for them to share, not only between themselves but amongst their loyal subjects as well.

Supposedly they did share a small portion of the gift with their subjects, but they could never handle the full power of the gift that was bestowed on the sisters, so they built a temple at the heart of their sanctuary and hid it away there, since the power could not be trusted in the hands of the mortals they used a small fraction of their mother’s powers to create a tribe that could defend and watch over the temple while they were gone. These creatures were called Fey, or in modern terms fairies and they watched over the power for many thousands of years with little to no issues at all. But the power WAS too great, even for itself. It began to eat away at itself decaying into an unspeakable horror that we named Tenebris… it corrupted everything it touched… and the fairies it was used to create…? They became its slaves, corrupted by the shadows and decay they were turned into snarling nightmarish beasts. Slowly they spread their master’s curse through the entire temple, any mortal that stepped foot into it would be rendered powerless and weak, making them easy targets for the beasts to corrupt and consume. The Fey had one last stand though, their Queen. When the curse began to close in on the heart of the temple she made a drastic choice. In order to protect the remaining Fey who had not been corrupted she fused herself with the Creator’s light and shone it brightly through the cavern banishing the shadows away from the one remaining sanctuary.

Avery looked up to the crystal that shone brightly above their heads. “My mother is still in there... Silently protecting us from the Tenebris. I was only an infant when she did it but I’ve watched over this place since I was old enough to and I can see that the last thousand years have been especially taxing on her. And those who dare venture out of this protective light are consumed within seconds. We had lost hope that we would ever be free of this curse… but then Spike came and I saw hope in him. He was immune to the effects of the curse, his own power being drawn from the very world around him the curse cannot take his power, but it does strip him of his human skin leaving his true nature at the surface. He spoke of you six, and how the royal sisters came here with you. If my theory is correct I’m afraid we don’t have much time to act. The power seeks out what is similar to it in origin. We were created using its magic, and since we live here it took us first. But it was created for them, it will find them Twilight, and if we don’t stop it, it will kill them both to gain their powers and become whole once more.” Avery explained his silver eyes locked onto her lavender ones. Twilight’s brow was furred in concentration as she thought through it all. Her friends all looked to her for an answer.

She looked around at their faces and gently laid her hand over her bracelet the others all did the same. ‘Thoughts on what we should do girls…? It’s obvious we need to help these people and save the princesses but how are we going to do it…? The moment we step out of this bubble those things are going to be right outside waiting for us.’ She asked them scanning each of their eyes with her own.

‘We could ask the fairy prince over there if there’s any direct routes to wherever the gift is being held, or a secret route. We could sneak in and blast hit it with some kind of big light beam or something since it doesn’t seem to like the light much.’ Rainbow offered.

‘That’s a good start, anyone else…?’ Twilight asked.

‘Well, Ah reckon we could try and ask the kid if it has any kind of weakness first. Since we can’t use any of your magic outside of here and we somehow seem ta be able ta kill the things Ah’d like to know if we could use it on the source too.’ Applejack added. Twilight nodded quickly.

‘Good one Applejack, but how would we sneak up on it…? It always seemed to know where we were when it sent its minions after us. I seriously doubt we could get past whatever detection spell its using.’

‘That’s quite simple darling, if you’ll recall we already established that the curse doesn’t affect preset spells. If we enchanted a few of these gems in here with a concealment spell and carried them with us when we went out it wouldn’t be able to find us.’ Rarity put in motioning to the piles of gems and gold around them.

‘Can you cast a powerful enough spell enough times to give us all one…?’ Twilight asked her fellow magic user.

‘Not on my own no, but if you pitched in some of your magic it would be a synch.’ Rarity replied with a curt nod. Twilight smiled a little at that.

‘Perfect. Then that only leaves the issue of how we’ll immobilize its minions while we rescue the princesses and try and take it out…’

‘Oh! OOOOOO!!! Pick me Twilight! Pick me…!’ Pinkie begged with her hand raised. Twilight cocked an eyebrow at her.

‘Yes Pinkie…?’

‘Okay, so here’s the plan, I create this BIIIIIIIIG distraction that’ll get all of them focused on me, then Rarity, Applejack, and Dashie take them out while they’re paying attention to me and Fluttershy implodes them with her awesome light palm trick! I’ll wear this moustache…’ she concluded deviously rubbing her hands together as she placed a fake bushy moustache on her lip and grinned evilly.

Twilight blinked in surprise. ‘That… actually isn’t a half bad plan.’ “All in favor?” she asked out loud this time.

“Aye.” Came five replies. Twilight turned to Avery with a smile.

“We’re all in agreement and we have a basic plan laid out, but we need a few questions answered from you before we can be sure. The first being about this odd thing that’s happened when two of my friends encountered the cursed of your kind. They had both immobilized the creatures into a near death state but when they touched them they glowed off a light the same color as their aura’s and dispersed into a group of smaller shadows that retreated. Do you know why this is…?”

Avery looked at her with shock on his face. “You… can touch them…? Any human that has come here before and actually managed to disable one and then touch it was consumed. If what you say is true Twilight Sparkle… then I can think of only one possibility for the cause. But it is not my place to say it. But know this, for you six to make it this far on your own without being over whelmed by the shadows when you came in… you each must be very special. Perhaps more than you realize. The light you spoke of that dispelled the shadows is called the Concordia’s Luce in our texts… it is a powerful weapon Twilight, and looking at you all now I am assured the light is inside each of you. If you wish to know more about the light you should ask your mentor once you have the chance. Spike said that your mentor is very wise I’m sure they’ll know about it.” Avery offered with a ghost of a smile on his child like face.

Twilight couldn’t believe such wisdom was coming from someone who barely looked older than her brother. But according to his story he would have been born before Luna’s banishment so it made sense he was so archaic. Twilight still remembered when she first met the lunar goddess for the first time. She had only been returned for six years and she still spoke in the archaic old equestrian language. It was confusing to her at first but she adjusted quickly. Celestia had helped her translate often enough for her to create her own medieval dictionary using the new words she learned. She then realized something that Avery had said that threw her off.

“Wait… Spike didn’t tell you…?” she asked the fairy prince as she gave her brother a confused stare. He shrugged and mouthed ‘Sorry’ at her. Twilight sighed. “Celestia’s my mentor, she took me on as her personal protégé when I was six, since then I’ve lived in the castle with her and Luna in between my classes and visits home.” She told the fairy prince.

“You…? The Princesses student?! But she has not taken on a student since-!”

“Starswirl the Bearded, yes I know. It caused a stir through the entire nation when it got out. My parents had to fight off reporters left and right when we were just going to get breakfast. Ah, wait… I guess you don’t really know about the media since you’ve been in this temple for so long well… if we make it out of here alive today we’ll catch you up on what’s happened in the modern world since you’ve been trapped here. But first I need a map of this temple.” Twilight stated her serious tone coming back in a flash.

“Ah, yes. Blossom, please get me one of the temple maps, our guests need to plan their route.” He ordered a slim looking fairy woman. Her wings fluttered as she silently flew off. She returned a few seconds later with a large scroll in hand, she handed it to him and he gave it to Twilight. “This is the full layout of the temple before the shadow’s took it over. I cannot say for certain if they have altered it but it is the best we have.” He explained as Twilight took it and opened it laying it on the table as her friends gathered around her to look.

“This will do perfectly. Thank you Avery. Okay. Here we are on the very bottom level.” She said pointing to a large chamber on the map that was depicted with mountains of gold and s shining white crystal high above it. “From here the gift should be just as Avery stated earlier, directly above us. If the Shadow’s have the princesses I can guarantee it would want them close which means they’ll be there. But it looks like there’s only a select few entrances to it… and I can take a guess that they’re going to be guarding them all… and the entire area around it is a labyrinth, probably to throw off anyone that tried to get to the gift. It’s full of dead ends and loaded with patrolling shadows… but I have an idea.” Twilight announced with a small grin.

“Alright egg head! Well stop stalling lay it on us!” Rainbow cheered flying up a little and doing figure eights in the air.

“Alright… here’s what we’re going to do…”

***

Twilight was walking along a corridor her nose buried deep in the map. She had enchanted it to show her the positions of all her friends and her brother as well once he had been given his own bracelet and his own fiery green crystal had been added to each of their existing bracelets. And little to the knowledge of their enemies she had also enchanted it to show the location of the shadows. Something Avery had helped her with. In fact there was actually one that had just formed behind her and was about to sneak up on her. She let a small smile of satisfaction creep over her face when she saw a green burst of flames whip past her and then a burst of bright blue light. The hiss of shadows retreating filled her ears but she had never stopped walking. This was the fifth one in less than fifteen minutes; they were definitely getting close to the central chamber.

Twilight kept walking using the map to guide her and watching her own deep magenta dot move on the map. Underneath her but just behind her a bright blue and green dot followed her every movement, sensing and waiting to strike when trouble found the girl. No other dots were able to be seen on the map but Twilight knew better. She knew what was in the works and all she had to do was get to the main chamber without being harmed and everything would fall into place. She looked to her wrist to see the bracelet that had been flipped inside out so that the crystals were all touching her skin at once. The others all had theirs the same which formed an open channel of silent communication between them all. It was just another advantage they used to gain the upper hand in this game of chest. A voice in her mind alerted her.

‘Twilight, pressure plate three steps ahead of you in the center of the floor, avoid it. It looks like another of those firewalls.’ Rarity warned. Twilight adjusted her steps so that she avoided the plate and smiled.

‘What would I do without you Rarity…?’ she asked through the connection.

‘If the traps we’ve been dodging for the last hour are anything to go by you’d have been shot by arrows, poisoned by gas, ripped to pieces by spikes bigger than AJ’s brother, taken a bath in a pool of acid, and then burned alive by that pool of lava.’ Dash informed her.

Twilight’s face deadpanned. ‘Thank you for that descriptive and unnecessarily gruesome recollection Rainbow.’

‘Anytime egghead.’

‘That was a redundant statement.’

‘Gesundheit.’

Twilight heard everyone else groan at Dash’s antics, except for Pinkie who was giggling uncontrollably until she went suddenly silent and Twilight glanced back down at the map to see they were approaching a particularly large horde of shadows.

‘Oh, looks like they’re getting serious now. Better take a big breath everyone, because after I’m done with them it’s gonna be raining shit for weeks.’ RD snickered and Twilight could swear she heard her cracking her knuckles. Fluttershy’s timid voice cut in.

‘No Dashie… we’re supposed to be hiding until Twilight gives the signal.’ She reminded her boisterous friend.

‘Ughhhhh… waiting is so boring…! I’m a girl of action! Not patience…!’ Dash complained.

‘Well then ya should take a page outta Flutter’s book and Keep Calm and Carry On partner, you’ll have your fair share of ass kickin’ when we get there.’ AJ lectured. RD groaned again but no one was listening. The Shadows came up the tunnel much like they had just before Spike had saved Twilight and Pinkie but this time Twilight wasn’t scared. Just before they could reach her Spike emerged from the ground like a ground hog and engulfed them all in his bright green flames. While they were screaming in pain they withered into tiny shrivels of their former selves and when they were indisposed Pinkie popped up and quickly zipped from one to the next tapping them with her hand and causing them to burst with her blue light. She disappeared back into the hole after Spike and when it closed up again Twilight kept walking her nose still buried in her map like it was a good book.

Her sharp eyes were following the invisible path she’d laid out before they left. She was almost there. The entrance she was looking for was just around the next corner and just like she’d predicted the shadows were nowhere near it. She turned the corner and kept walking until she came to a dead end. To anyone else this would have seemed like the end of the road, but for Twilight Sparkle gifted student of Celestia and sister to one of the few creatures in the world that could move earth like it was nothing, it was a secret door into the main chamber. Spike popped out of his hiding place and stood next to his sister.

‘Pinkie says it feels just like the map describes. The main chamber is just behind this. You want me to open it for you…?’ He asked through the connection. She nodded.

‘Yes, but do it from your hiding place. If that thing is in there waiting for us I want to be the only thing it sees.’ She replied as she handed the map to him. He nodded and then smiled at her.

‘Good Luck Twilight, remember, I’m just a tap away if you need me.’ He reminded her before he disappeared down his rabbit hole and it closed behind him.

Twilight closed her eyes and steadied herself bracing herself for what she was about to do. With a deep breath she tapped her foot on the ground twice and the blocking door of the ‘dead end’ slowly slid to the side like automatic doors made of stone. Two loud cries echoed out of the opening.

“HEEEEEEEEEEEEEELP!!!!!!!!”

***

Celestia and Luna could feel the bubbling lava slowly getting closer to their weakened human forms and each of them felt the panic rising inside of them. Celestia even saw one of the larger bubbles form and burst just barley inches from her face. She swallowed hard and shut her eyes praying that her mother would somehow save her. Just as she gave up her hope she felt the necklace around her neck tremble slightly and her eyes shot open when she heard a noise like a door sliding open and their decent towards the lava halt. Her long hair was literally just hanging above the surface of the lava pool when she heard the deepened chuckle of a disembodied voice speak in its hissing whispered tone.

“Twilight Sparkle… I was beginning to think you would never join us. Come to watch your beloved Princesses reunite with their precious mother…?” it sneered. From where they hung Celestia could just see the figure of Twilight Sparkle step into the dark cavern… by herself. Panic set into their hearts when they saw that.

“Tenebris… release them at once. Killing them will not accomplish what you desire.” She told the voice her eyes looking around for its source.

“Oh… I’m impressed you know my name child. I suppose those little rats with wings told you that…? And gave you that map you used to get all the way in here and find that secret entrance. Clever little sprites. I should have weeded them out centuries ago, but that damn queen and her spell still continue to make my efforts fruitless. I hate goodie two shoes like her. She reminds me far too much of Celestia here. So where are your little friends…? Hiding in that rat hole with the rats themselves…?” it taunted.

“You’re a pretty big hypocrite if you’re trying to insult them for hiding. I can’t even see who I’m talking to.” Twilight countered.

The voice laughed at her. “You’re a fool Twilight Sparkle, for coming alone and not even realizing the truth that’s right in front of your face. I am not hiding… you’re looking right at me. The darkness that surrounds you and this chamber… all of it IS ME.” It announced as the shadows lashed out to grab her like tentacles of the legendary Slenderman. But the shadows dissipated the moment they got within a three foot radius of her. The voice hissed in pain as Twilight continued to step forward into the darkness a look of indifference plastered on her face.

“You call me a fool Tenebris, you call me blind for not seeing what is right in front of me. But you can’t even see the truth for yourself. Tell me oh great and powerful disembodied voice of the shadows, how one girl makes it through that labyrinth with little more than a map as her guide when every twist and turn is being haunted by the corrupted forms of the fairies you enslaved…? And speaking of it, where are they right now…? Shouldn’t they have rushed to your aid by now? Unless they’re all dead. Then I’d really suggest getting some better guards.” She taunted as she casually stepped through the shadows with them retreating from her every step.

Luna and Celestia watched this with their eyes wide. This wasn’t like Twilight, openly laughing in the face of danger… and how in Discord’s name was she dispelling those shadows like that?! The regal sisters were both very confused by the act, until they noticed something behind Twilight. Five shimmers faintly glowing behind her and a soft glow around Twilight herself that originated from a point around her neck. They both got a slow smile across their faces.

‘Twilight you mad genius…’

“You think I cannot just simply summon more of them?! You cannot destroy my creations! They just come back to me. Watch and learn your lesson impudent human, for if you want a display of power you shall receive one!” Tenebris roared its voice shaking the cavern around them. Like a great ocean the shadows rose up around Twilight and formed into beasts of terrifying proportions and swarmed around Twilight to overwhelm her. But something happened. Twilight just smiled and flicked her hand. One by one each of the beasts began to fall, and shortly after they did they would burst in a large flash of blue or pink light and retract into the waves of shadows once again. The voice hissed in frustration. “What trickery is this?! You are but one little girl! An infant by even human standards! How can you dispel my creations like they are mere insects?!” it roared once again shaking the ground in its fury as Twilight walked further into the heart of the shadows and her kept sending wave after wave of his minions at her only to have them fall and dissipate this time in more colors like Orange, Purple, and Red as well.

“I think you underestimated me, Celestia knew the potential I had the first time she saw me, I think sitting in this dark room all this time has blinded you Tenebris. If there’s one thing I can count on more than anything in this world it’s two things: My ability to strategize, organize, and use my magic to wipe the floor with whoever I am put up against… And for my friends to stay by my side even if we have to stare death right in the face.” She added as she reached the heart of the storm of darkness that enveloped the cavern. In the eye of the swirling storm sat a barren blackened tree that glowed with the very dark power that surrounded the cavern. And as soon as she stepped into the eye there was five shimmers of light behind her and one by one the cloaking spell the girls had been surrounded in faded leaving them standing around Twilight who’s hands now glowed with the purple aura of her magic, mirrored to her Rarity’s hands glowed with her own magic as she floated colorful glowing gems around her like orbiting planets. In the air Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash hovered a look of determination in both their eyes, on the ground Applejack and Pinkie Pie stood guarding the magic users, Applejack cracking her knuckles in a threatening manner and Pinkie giggling uncontrollably as she pulled a whip made of licorice from her hair and cracked it a few times at wisps of shadow that came near her. Around each of their necks was a glowing white crystal not unlike the one that hung around Celestia’s neck.

“Mother…” Celestia whispered in surprise. As if in response the crystal around her own neck glowed a little brighter for a second.

“You know Tenebris, I came in here actually thinking you would do better than this… that would do something more than just taunt me and call me a child. That you’d be smart enough to see past my façade. But I’ve been wrong before, not often, but it happens. Oh. And I forgot to mention something rather important. While we’ve been standing here distracting you my brother, who by the was also here the entire time, has been untying your hostages and they should be free right about… now.” She said looking at an imaginary watch on her wrist. There was two thuds in the distance and in a blinding flash of light Celestia and Luna walked straight through the storm their full forms returned as they each now wore a necklace similar to the ones the girls wore. Spike ran up beside them grinning widely.

“Dude, you messed with the wrong girls.” He chastised tsking a little as he shook his head. “And I’m not too happy about it either. But Celestia and Luna are the ones you tried to kill so we’ll be letting them take it from here.” He stated as he walked over to his sister who ruffled his hair with a smile. The shadowy tree shook a little as the sisters approached it.

“N-now girls… we can discuss this like rational beings right…?” it chuckled nervously. Celestia and Luna exchanged a glance between themselves before they smiled and nodded.

“Of course Tenebris, we’re fair rulers after all, so we’ll handle this just like we would any criminal in Canterlot. Miss Sparkle, what are the charges against the defendant…?” Celestia asked her protégé. Twilight giggled a little.

“5,000 counts of forceful enslavement, destruction of royal property, endangerment of both High Princesses, child abuse, and over all, to quote Pinkie here, being a big fat meanie.” She replied informatively.

“And what, pray tell, is the standard punishment for the listed crimes…?” Luna asked in turn.

“At minimum…? Righteous execution by the light of the burning day. At maximum…? A trip to your private torture chambers Princess.” She replied with a small smile crossing her face.

Luna looked up at her sister. “Seeing as we lack my private dungeons here on the island I say we go with your method.” She informed her sister. Celestia got a rather demonic smile across her face as her free flowing hair blew in the unseen solar winds that carried it started to turn pure white as her eyes did the same.

“My favorite… Pinkie, you may want to provide the sunglasses, this is going to get intense.” She warned the girl. Pinkie quickly passed out eclipse glasses to all of her friends that blacked out almost all of the light that was starting to fill the chamber. Even then they each still winced a little at it.

A shrill cry of pain echoed through the temple and the entire island as well as every shadow and dark speck was eliminated and forcefully burned away by Celestia’s intense show of power. Pinkie held out a box of popcorn kernels which popped in the intense waves of heat and light that washed over them. She then produced stick of butter and put it atop the popped corn and let it melt and seep its way through them all before she popped a handful into her mouth still watching the spectacle before them.

When the light faded again the shadows were all gone and the once barren blackened tree was now slowly glowing with a white light, from each of the tiny lights leaves grew along the branches and filled out the entire tree with lush sparkling lights that glowed a different hue of color forming a beautiful sight that looked like a tree made of shining Christmas lights. But just as the light was receding more began to form on the branches, beautiful flowers that glowed in just as many verities as the leaves bloomed and slowly started to change like a fast forwarded film of growing fruit. But to their great astonishment it was not fruit that grew from the tree, but delicious looking confections and pastries like cakes, pies, donuts, candy, tarts, pastries, and much much more.

When the blinding light was gone the girls and Spike removed their glasses and Pinkie Pie collapsed to her knees the popcorn bucket spilled beside her as she wept at the sight of the tree.

“It’s… it’s the Lignum Sancti dulcia… Granny Pie said it was only a legend… a tree of holy light that grew the most heavenly sweets in the universe… As if they were made by the creator herself… It’s… so beautiful…” she wept burying her face in her hands.

Celestia smiled at it as the rest of the girls all stood jaws dropped in shock and confusion. Dash’s eyes were slowly starting to burn. “We went through all that trouble… got attacked by countless monsters… nearly killed by hundreds of traps, and had to fight the big boss of it all… AND IT TURNS OUT TO BE A FREAKING FAUST DAMNED CAKE TREE?!?!” She roared her eyes like magenta flames ready to burn the tree to the ground.

Celestia smiled as she walked up to the tree and picked a particularly brightly colored glowing cupcake. “Not just a cake tree Rainbow Dash, these confections ARE made by my mother. They’re imbued with special magic that has odd effects on the one who consumes it. All good of course, but it can sometimes be quite silly. Mother had a good sense of humor after all.” She explained as she bit into the cupcake and her soft white wings started to change from color to color slowly fading from one to the next. She brought them forward and giggled. “That kind of tickles.” She mused before she looked to the group. “As a reward for you all saving us I’ll grant you access to the tree. Just be warned that the effects of whatever you eat last for a full 24 hours.” She warned. Pinkie of course was the first to rush to the tree hugging it’s trunk tightly.

“I love you… I promise I will never leave you my darling…!” She proclaimed her cheek rubbing against its soft bark. She inhaled deeply. “Even your trunk smells like the sweetest chocolate~!” she squealed. She climbed up the trunk like a cat and nimbly picked off the first sweet she came into contact with, which just so happened to be a cupcake similar to Celestia’s. She bit into it and her eyes widened into the size of saucers. She fell from the tree frozen like a statue as the universe flashed before her eyes like a rainbow of sheer beauty and knowledge.

Applejack stood over her friend who was now as much as a statue as Discord was. “Uhhhhh, Princess, is that supposed ta happen…?” she asked pointing at the pink haired girl.

“No, but I’m confident Pinkie will recover given time. The first human to try one of these had a similar reaction, and with her natural affinity for sweets I can imagine eating anything from the Lignum Sancti dulcia would incapacitate her for a bit. It’s about the equivalent of you finding the legendary Golden Apple and getting to take a bite.” Luna responded in her sister’s stead as she picked a moon pie from the tree and bit into it her body shivering as she did so and then her explorer’s outfit changing into a rather stunning cape made of shimmering stars and galaxies. Luna inspected it with amusement. “Ooooh, I think I’ll keep this one~” she hummed in glee twirling around and watching it fan out with her. The others slowly approached the tree choosing their own sweets to take.

Applejack of course found an apple pie slice and took a tentative bite to test it. It was amazing, better than her Grannies even and her special talent WAS making apple related baked goods! No one in Equestria could compete with hers. But this wasn’t Equestria and this Pie was literally out of this world. She devoured the remainder out if it before her skin started to prickle and she looked down at it to see that the freckles along her skin had started to come to life and move like a school of fish along her skin forming amusing shapes and patterns and moving across her body as they pleased. She couldn’t help but giggle at the sight as she looked for something else apple related on the tree.

Rarity carefully selected a rather scrumptious looking lemon bar from one of the lower hanging branches and removed it gently with her magic before moving it to her mouth to take a careful bite. A soft moan of delight escaped her lips as she tasted it and she quickly found herself eating the remainder of the bar with rather un lady like ravenous bites. She felt her body tingle and she looked down to see that her skin had become like smooth sparkling diamonds, her every inch shone perfectly like a thousand little twinkles, not unlike the beautiful tree itself. She smiled at the result and inspected herself with admiration an excited glee she hadn’t had since she’d received her first dress up trunk as a little girl.

Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew up to the top of the tree to try and see if there were better choices on the higher branches. Rainbow was quick to spot something and Flutters was the same, but they weren’t a favorite of their own but rather the other’s. Both of them picked it and turned to the other.

“Hey Flutters/Dashie look what I found!” they announced each holding out the confection for the other to see. They stopped and giggled when they realized their twin like thinking had caught them off guard again. They handed each other the treat, for Dash it was a Strawberry cupcake with rainbow frosting and for Fluttershy it was a cone of butterscotch ice cream, and thanked the other for their gift before digging into it. The taste made both sets of wings jolt open in shock but they were quick to lazily float in bliss as the flavors rolled around in their mouths and lazy grins plastered their faces. What they didn’t realize was that in their dazed state Fluttershy grew two soft pink cat ears and a long fluffy matching tail, while Dash got cyan wolf ears and a matching bushy tail that wagged with her content feelings. They only realized the change when they opened their eyes again and saw one another and burst into a fitting fit of giggles.

Twilight watched her friends with amusement until she felt a nudge at her side and turned to the side only to see a wall of person in her way. She looked up to see the familiar, yet more grown up, face of her brother grinning at her as he sucked on lollipop and held out a grape popsicle to her. “You look kinda small now Twilight.” He mused his voice much deeper now that he was older. He had to be the same height as AJ’s brother but he wasn’t as thickly built. That wasn’t to say he wasn’t muscular, because he was very well toned but still slim. Every trace of baby fat was gone from him as he smiled down at her. She blinked in surprise but took the offered popsicle. He grinned and looked down to fully inspect himself. “I hope this is how I’ll really look when I get older. I could get used to looking down at you like this.” He chuckled. He noticed Rarity and the others staring at him and smiled a little bit flexing for show. “Like what you see ladies~?”he asked playfully wiggling his eyebrows. Twilight elbowed him in the stomach.

“Put a lid on it Romeo, you’re still only eight years old and you won’t look like this until I’m old and grey.” She reminded him as she stuck the popsicle into her mouth. Her eyes widened and glowed slightly. She was surrounded by a powerful wind of magic that matched the color of the popsicle and she felt herself become incased in it. When she was lowered back to the ground she looked at herself to find nothing too different but then she felt eyes on her and she looked around confused by her friends stares. “What…? What did it do…?!” she asked feeling her face with her hands and moving them across her body until she reached around to her back and felt something thin and veil like on her fingers.. and she felt her fingers touching it as well. She turned her head to see a rather large pair of lavender colored fairy wings fluttering on her back. Her eyes widened as she tested them out hovering in the air slightly. “Well that’s an interesting development… I didn’t know people could become fairies.” She stated sucking a little more on the popsicle as she continued to hover there.

Rainbow Dash flew over quickly her tail wagging happily. “Twilight’s got wings! Awesome! I’ve got a new flying buddy!” she declared excitedly. Fluttershy flew up beside them to inspect the wings.

“I don’t think she’ll be able to keep up with you with these. She’ll be able to hover and fly softly but they don’t look like they’d be able to fly very fast. They’re delicate.” She explained to her brash friend her tail slowly flicking back and forth. Rainbow frowned slightly.

“Aw man… Oh well, they still look awesome Twi.” Dash stated doing figure eights in the air as Twilight continued eating her Popsicle slowly.

“Hey, speaking of fairies shouldn’t Avery’s mamma be free now that the big bad shadow thingy is gone…?” Pinkie asked popping up from behind Fluttershy who jolted from the sudden appearance of the curly haired girl. The others all blinked in thought and the two sisters in confusion.

“The Fairy queen was imprisoned…?” they asked the group.

Twilight bit her lip slightly. “Well… not exactly… We’ll just have them explain. The rest of the fairies should be free of the curse as well. Spike, can you…?” she asked her now tall brother. He nodded and slammed his foot to the ground opening a large hole in it. Those with wings flew into the opening, the two earthbound merely leapt into it trusting their sturdiness to grant them safe landing. That left Rarity and Spike standing in the room. He smiled at her and offered is hand she smiled and did a small curtsey before taking it. He scooped her up and jumped down into the hole letting it close behind him as he fell. He landed with a big thud beside the others in the center of the gold covered room. He set Rarity down and looked around. It was an astonishing sight to say the least, to see thousands of colorful glowing human sized fairies fluttering around lazily around the now brightly glowing crystal on the ceiling they had just come from. The crystals around their necks, save Celestia's, all glowed and lifted off their necks and floated up to the crystal remitting with it. Slowly a single white drop of light formed at the tip of the crystal and descended to the floor below slowly. It hovered just above the gold covered floor and swirled like a small vortex of liquid light. Slowly it formed into a tall human like silhouette and like a butterfly emerging from its cocoon for the first time dazzling white wings of light unfolded from her sides as she was lowered to the ground her dainty feet making contact with the cool surface. As her full form faded into existence.

She was a beautiful woman, built very similarly to Celestia, minus the enchanted crest gifted to magic users. Her fair skin was more akin to Luna’s pale complexion, but the silvery white hair that rippled down her shoulders and pooled around her ankles and seemed to have its own magic carrying it reminded one of a rippling pool of moonlight. When she opened her eyes they were the most perfect shade of blue that would have made an ocean seethe with jealousy. All together she looked to be the embodiment of beauty and grace. Her eyes did not first lock onto the group who stood directly in front of her, but instead upwards to where a smaller white light was following to where she stood. Her voice was like nature itself whispering into their ears, beautiful and harmonic to anyone who heard it. This woman was every much a goddess as the solar and lunar monarch’s.

“Avery, my son… look how you have grown. Come to me child.” She commanded opening her gentle welcoming arms to the child. He didn’t hesitate to rush forward silvery tears running down his face as he rushed into her arms.

“Mother…! I’ve missed you so… it felt so long mother! Fifteen hundred years mother! I could feel you with me always but without your embrace… I grew more and more concerned for you every day mother. You felt so weak… it scared me mother…” he confessed burying his face in her neck as she held him tightly smiling gently and rubbing his back as tears of her own fell on his soft golden hair.

“I’m here now Avery… I always will be. I will never leave you again. I thank you for being so strong for our people. It is thanks to you that I am free now. Well… you and these kind souls here.” She mused acknowledging the presence of the humans at last. She smiled as she looked at the regal sisters. “Don’t you think you two should take vacations more often…? It would have solved this issue long ago if you did so more often than once every couple thousand years.” She giggled at the two sisters who blushed a little and scratched their chins. Luna raised her hand.

“To be fair Tianna I was not on this earth for quite some time. So you can put the last thousand years on Tia, not I.” she quickly defended by shoving the blame to her sister.

“Hey! I was the one who suggested we take a trip out here before you were banished and you rejected every time…!” Celestia countered. Luna winced a little at that and the six girls and now grown dragon hybrid watched the two bicker back and forth for a little while before they were interrupted by a giggle from the fairy queen herself.

“I can see your arguments have not changed despite the times. But if I may interrupt I would like to be introduced to your interesting group of friends.” Tianna mused motioning towards the odd group of Lignum Sancti dulcia effected humans.

“Oh… The winged one with the rainbow hued hair is called Rainbow Dash, the wide eyed one floating beside her is Fluttershy, the human gemstone fanning herself is Rarity, the blonde with living freckle patterns is Applejack, the other earthbound who’s been defying every law of physics this universe has by zipping to every corner of this treasure cove in a few split seconds is Pinkie Pie. You shall learn not to question her with time.” Luna explained just as the pink haired girl popped up from behind the Queen and waved smiling cheerfully before hopping away to stand beside her friends. Celestia put a gentle hand on Twilight’s shoulder.

“And this is my personal protégé Twilight Sparkle and her younger brother Spike. He’s recently had a helping of an aging-pop so he looks a lot older than he actually is.” She added as she tapped both of them on the backs, Spike bowed deeply and Twilight curtsied to the queen.

“Oh my, very well-mannered aren’t they…? But Celeste… I couldn’t help but think I heard a bit of that wrong… did you say this young girl is your protégé…? I thought after Starswirl you-“

“I made an exception with her.” Celestia interrupted quickly. “She is… special. And her sharp mind is the envy of many in our kingdom; even some of our advanced mages often compliment her on her apt study abilities and magical prowess.” She explained puffing her chest a little in pride while Twilight blushed and lowered her head a little so that her eyes were covered by her bangs.

“P-Princess… you’re embarrassing me…” she breathed whining slightly.

“Oh chin up Twilight, you’ve never been one to shy away from compliments before. Let your old mentor have a little fun praising you.” She mused patting her shoulder gently. Twilight looked up and carefully met her mentors eyes before her gaze flickered to Tianna’s and she smiled softly.

“I-it’s really nothing your highness. I only did what anyone would have in my position.” She explained rubbing her arm a little.

A scoff behind her came and soon she felt an arm snake around her shoulders as Dash stood beside her grinning.

“Just because they WOULD have helped Twilight doesn’t mean that they COULD have!” Dash snickered. AJ rounded her other side leaning on her tipping her hat a little.

“Ah ain’t ever seen anyone throw together a plan like that so fast, yet alone that would work so well!” She chuckled. Rarity strolled up beside her smiling.

“Or someone who could have provided so much magic for that cloaking spell, enchanted a map, and used shards of the greater crystal to create a bubble of curse free zone for each of us.” Rarity added a gentle wink cast Twilights way.

“Or been able to include all of us in that super-duper easy way to take out all those shadows while we made our way to the main chamber! Using me like a Seismograph to tell when the shadows were coming and then having spikey wikey nail them with his fire and them me or Flutters would finish them off!” Pinkie exclaimed as she popped up behind Twilight and rested her folded arms on her head grinning brightly.

“You did much more then you give yourself credit for Twilight… you were amazing.” Fluttershy added as she silently slipped beside Dash. Twilight’s cheeks were almost glowing now as she looked from each one of her friends. Then she felt herself lifted from the ground and hoisted up to meet Spike in the eyes.

“And there’s no way any of us are gonna let you say you were anything less than a total bad ass when you stared down Tenebris. Give it up Twi, you’re not going to win this one.” He chuckled as he held his ‘big’ sister out in front of him like a purple kitten. She groaned and facepalmed.

“Oh you are all impossible… fine, I’m incredibly sharp witted and I can make a decent battle plan, but you all are the ones who did most of the work. And I couldn’t have done it without all of you. Including you Queen Tianna. It was your spell that protected us against Tenebris. You kept us safe above all else. And for that I thank you.” Twilight stated with a smile at the Queen. But the queen held up her hand and shook her head a smile of her own formed on her face.

“You owe your victory over the shadow to yourself alone Twilight Sparkle. Although I do admire your humility it is alright to take credit where credit is due. You helped me reunite with my son and brought my subjects back from their curse unharmed. That is more than I could have ever hoped. You and your friends are welcome in this temple any time you wish. How long will you all be staying on this island…?” she inquired.

“They are here on a much needed vacation from their school work. We will be staying for the remainder of the week. Which is five more days by the way. You are welcome to join us in the house if you wish.” Celestia offered to the queen.

“LEAVE the temple…?! Celestia my dear I believe you’ve grown a tad delusional in your time with the mortals. I am the queen, I cannot simply abandon my people and my temple to be left unguarded…! What if the shadows return…?!” Tianna fretted holding her son a little closer as she did so.

Celestia burst out laughing as did Luna both of them throwing their heads back as they did so and leaned on each other for support as hysterics took them over and their eyes began to water.

“Oh… oh that was rich… You almost killed me there Tianna. Those shadows are gone, for good. I literally burned them out of existence. Discord himself can’t even bring back something that has completely ceased to exist. It’s impossible. The treasure is secure, your people and son are all alive and well, and your temple is now physically incapable of housing evil. You’ve been working in this temple for almost six thousand years. I think you’ve earned a vacation.” Celestia laughed as she patted the Fairy Queen on her shoulder gently. “If it makes you feel any better the invitation is open to your son as well. Spike could use a playmate his age… well once he shrinks back to normal size.” She added looking over at the tall man-child. Tianna’s perfect blue eyes looked from Celestia to her son and then up to the mass of her subjects that still hovered around them high in the air.

“Well… what do all of you say…?” she asked them curiously. The fairies all looked at one another and then a group of them quickly flew down and shoved their Queen and prince towards the humans.

“Take them and don’t let them come back until they’ve had a proper vacation.” The mass of fairies ordered. Tianna looked stunned and Avery was grinning up at her.

“I probably should have warned you that our people have grown quite out spoken in your absence mother. I ordered them to do such since I did not like being treated as royalty all the time. They’ve grown accustom to it.” He explained with a sheepish grin as he fluttered out of her arms and floated in front of her. She blinked a few times before she sighed and shook her head smiling.

“Oh alright… I could do with a tan…” she commented looking at her pale glowing skin. Celestia and Luna grinned grabbing one of her arms each.

“Excelent! And we’ve still got three hours until sunset…! Come, we shall catch some rays together and I shall tell you all about this modern world! We’ll begin with the most interesting development of the century… the Internet.” “Luna cheered as she literally dragged the fairy forward and out of the room heading towards the exit. Avery floated up beside Spike’s head.

“Spike… is my mom going to be alright…?” he asked cautiously eyeing where he saw the three goddesses disappear. Spike blew a razzberry and waved his hand dismissively.

“She’ll be fine, come on Avery, I’ve got to introduce you to the wide wide world of gaming.” He mused as he set the fairy child on his shoulders and ran towards where Luna and Celestia had dragged Tianna. The remaining six girls followed after them a spring in each of their steps… or flaps since Rainbow Dash had pretty much refused to land since she had regained use of her wings.

One thing was agreed amongst all of them while they exited the temple. They had all had enough adventure to last them for months to come, and the remainder of their time on vacation would be used to relax and possibly sail to the exotic cities that surrounded them to see the sights and get some souvenirs. Yes, even Pinkie Pie agreed there had been too much excitement crammed into one day for it to be healthy. The group consensus was to spend the following day sleeping in and then going out for a day on the town.

“But where do we go…?” Fluttershy asked sheepishly.

Twilight thought for a few seconds tapping her chin as she did so. “Well… we’re within sailing distance of three different countries, Spain, Italy, and France. And almost all of their coastal cities possess cultural sites and wonderful shopping venues. I have a map in my room we could play traveling darts on to see where we should go.” Twilight offered.

“Traveling darts…? Is that the game where we toss darts at a map and go where it lands…?” Pinkie asked curiously.

“Yes, the Princess says she does it with the annual Noblemen Vacation trip. There’s actually been an astonishing number of trips to dangerous places like Tasmania and Africa in the last few years… Twilight noted with a small giggle. “I think she cheats somehow and is trying to get rid of the nobles for as long as she can. Probably also why she hasn’t gone on a vacation with them in so long.” She noted.

“Well I for one couldn’t care less where we go, although I would simply LOVE if we could visit Paris~” Rarity sang happily her eyes glittering under the sunlight as they emerged from the temple and back into the jungle. “Oh curses… I’d forgotten all about this dreadful place. Do we really have to walk all the way back to the house…?” Rarity whined. Applejack flinched out of instinct. After being forced to listen to her complaints all day the last thing she wanted was to hear more.

“Can’t ya just teleport back ta the house using one of your fancy gemstones…?” AJ countered looking at the fashionista. She blinked and pulled out a glowing purple gem and tossed it a little in her palm.

“A fantastic idea Applejack, and with Twilight’s help I’d bet I can get us all back in one trip~” she announced with a wink at the farmer and offering a hand to Twilight. Twilight smiled and charged her hand with magic.

“Not a problem. All of you hold onto your hats! This might get ugly.” She admitted as she charged the gem. There was a quick rush and a small squee as they all disappeared in a bright flash.

***~~~AN: In case it wasn't made clear by the constant presence of motherly figures in this chapter, this was made in celebration of Mother's Day. That and I had a very... Detailed dream the other night involving these girls and a cursed temple... It worked well and I needed a filler chapter before the next one so I wrote this and now I give it out to you all. That and my own mother gave me a few inspirations for jokes in this so if you found it funny you can direct your praise to Mamma bear. Now then, I'm going to the movies to see Iron Man 3 because my mother needs her dose of Robert Downing Jr. Happy Mothers Day. -Shadow ~~~***

Chapter 12.1

How I Became An Alicorn

Chapter 12: You, Me, and Italy

***~~~ AN: Warning, the following chapter contains high levels of hillarity, randomness, and badassiry. If you cannot handle the level of awesome I'm dishing out, please feel free to direct your attention to THIS instead, simply because you obviously need to be exposed to something badass to be able to handle this shit. Oh, there's also a language warning... That's about ten chapters over due. I OWN NOTHING BUT MY OC's AND THIS PLOT ((Pun intended))~~~***

Six girls sat around a map, one of them with dart in hand and taking aim at the map blindfolded. Applejack leaned over to Twilight eyeing the pink haired holder wearily.

“Are ya sure she’s supposed ta be blindfolded Twi…?”

“It’s how the princess does it…” Twilight responded with a small shrug.

“Dear… I don’t think this is very wise… we’ve seen what she can do with little else, you’re giving her a dart… a sharp pointy object.” Rarity pointed out.

Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes crossing her arms as she hovered midair. “You guys worry way too much. She does this kind of thing all the time at parties. Give her some kind of credit.”

Pinkie closed her eyes and covered them with her hands. “I can’t watch!” she whined. She carefully peeked out of her hands just in case something funny happened.

Fluttershy bit her tongue in concentration as she tried to picture where the map was in front of her. She arched back her hand and flung it forward releasing the dart in perfect sync. She heard it sink into the wall and lifted the blindfold off one of her eyes to see where it had landed.

“Rome…?” she announced questioningly. Dash flew over and removed the dart so that the name could be properly read.

“Yup, that’s Rome. Looks like I get to play a fearsome Gladiator today girls!” she announced with a big grin as Fluttershy removed the blindfold and looked at them all. There was a look of initial shock among them before Pinkie popped up in burst of confetti.

“Viva il Partito Italiano!!!!” She cheered pumping a fist in the air. As usual her cheer was contagious and the others started to smile.

“It IS one of the oldest cities in the world… besides Canterlot I mean. There’s so much I could learn from the sights~!” Twilight bargained with a little bit of a giggle.

“And I would LOVE to see the latest in Italian fashions first hand, wouldn’t you agree Fluttershy…?” Rarity inquired. The timid girl nodded as she toyed with the skirt of her knee length creamy yellow dress.

“It does sound nice… I’d love to visit all the beautiful fountains… they always seem so pretty in movies…” Fluttershy murmured quietly.

“And Ah think Ah’d like ta check out those plaza’s I always hear so much about. They sound pretty lively. Might even catch ferry over to Pompeii while Ah’m at it.” AJ said with a shrug. Twilight’s eyes gleamed.

“You are not allowed to go to that city without me Applejack. There’s far too much history there for me to not make a trip.” Twilight insisted. Applejack chuckled and tipped her hat at the girl.

“Well then how’s about we all just take a trip into Pompeii then…? Towards the end of the day. We’ll tell the crew ta pick us up there.” AJ offered looking around at her friends. They all nodded their approval before Spike, who like the rest of them was still affected by the sweet he ate, stuck his head into Twilight’s room.

“My bad idea radar just went off when I was walking down the hall. Did I just over hear you all say you’re letting Pinkie Pie near an active volcano…?” He asked silently praying he heard them wrong.

“Yup~!” Pinkie giggled twirling around in a little circle. Spike’s green eyes shifted to Twilight.

“Twiiiiiii… There’s a reason the people of Italy are scarred by Pompeii… do you seriously want to add a signature Pinkiesaster to that island’s already bad history…?” he asked crossing his arms slightly as he leaned up against the door frame.

Twilight looked to Pinkie who gave her the biggest puppy dog eyes she’d ever seen as she got on her knees and pouted her lip to her silently begging. “I’ll personally stay with her the entire time to make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.” Twilight sighed her arms falling to her sides in defeat. Pinkie sprang up crushing Twilight in a death hug as she spun her around and around.

Applejack leaned over to Rainbow to whisper in her ear. “Okay… now Ah’m not the sharpest tool in the shed, but is it just me or are those two a might close ta be ‘just friends’…?” AJ asked in a hushed tone.

“Beats me, I suck at all that mushy stuff. But Pinkie might be a good match for her… might help that stick up her ass fall out.” Dash snickered. AJ snorted a little but when she got a questioning glance from Rarity she stopped and straightened up clearing her throat a little.

“So uh… should we go pack anythin’ or just go as is…?” Applejack asked the bookworm who had just managed to pry herself free from Pinkie’s grasp.

“Well… I’d imagine we’d need day bags… but nothing bigger than a backpack or a purse.” She responded rubbing her sore neck a little. “I’ll go alert the crew, Spike can you-“

“Already on it Twi!” he called from where he was picking up Twilight’s favorite messenger bag and gathering things she’d need for the day trip, like money, snacks, a book, a camera, and her note journal.

“Whoa, you’ve got him trained like a dog Twi. Wish I had a little sibling like that.” Rainbow whistled her wolf ears quirking a little bit.

“He isn’t trained Rainbow, he just likes to help.” Twilight corrected as she pulled out her phone and dialed Captain Vent’s number putting it to her ear as she walked out into the hall.

Rainbow rolled her eyes and made a whipping motion with her hand. Pinkie giggled but was stopped when a sudden gust of wind caused her and Rainbow to fall backwards their hair freezing in a windswept style(Like THIS). Spike looked over his shoulder grinning a little.

“Oh, my bad girls, did the little gust come from me…? Guess I don’t know my own strength in this body…” he mused as he finished packing the bag and set it on Twilight’s bed before walking towards the door. Pinkie was giggling uncontrollably as were the others, well Fluttershy was trying not to laugh but the sight of Dash’s hair blown back like a spikey version of Frankenstein’s bride she couldn’t help herself. Dash frowned as she tried to smooth it back down. She grumbled to herself when she realized it wasn’t going to go down and went into her own room. Fluttershy finally stopped her fit of giggles and followed after Dash to make sure she wasn’t too upset. She knocked on the open door and carefully stuck her head in.

“Rainbow…? Are you alright…?” she asked in her usual gentle soft voice that most had a pretty hard time hearing. Her ears perked at the sound of water running in the bathroom.

“I’m in here Flutters!” Dash called as Fluttershy let out a small squeak and the water stopped. Dash came out with her head soaking wet and a white fluffy towel around her neck that she was using it to dry her hair. “Sorry, but when it gets like that the only way to get it back to normal is to soak it. I normally use a cloud but seeing as we’re on the ground it’s kinda hard to get one of those.” She explained as she ruffled her hair with the towel to shake the last droplets of wetness from it. “Hey, could you hand me my brush? It’s on the dresser next to you.” Dash said pointing beside Fluttershy as she tossed the towel into the hamper.

Fluttershy blinked a few times before registering that Dash had asked her something and she jolted a little before noticing Dash pointing at the dresser with the brush on it. She quickly grabbed it and walked over handing it to Dash. “I thought you didn’t like brushing your hair…” she commented as Dash took the brush and started to run it through her hair.

“I don’t. But I also don’t like when it gets knotted so I brush it a couple of times when I get out of the shower then leave it be.” She replied as she quickly slid the brush through her hair untangling the few knots that had formed with the towel’s tango and then shaking her head like a dog and setting the brush down on the stand. She noticed a few stray droplets had landed on Fluttershy who wiped them off gently. “Sorry… I think these ears and tail are messing with me.” She said scratching behind one of the cyan ears on her head. Without her noticing her foot began to tap on the floor and her face started to contort into a goofy grin. Fluttershy quickly slapped her hand over her mouth when another giggle started in her throat. Dash had heard it though and opened her eyes to look at Fluttershy tilting her head in confusion. “What’s got you all giggly like a schoolgirl…?”

Fluttershy straightened up and lowered her eyes to the ground her hair quickly covering almost her entire face except for one of her eyes which nervously glanced up at Dash.

“U-um… well… you kind of…” she muttered trailing off silently.

Rainbow crossed her arms giving her friend a hard stare, but with her ears and her tail wagging a little behind her it made her look like a puppy trying to stare her down. An adorable little puppy with the cutest eyes and angry face. Fluttershy’s eyes widened a little as her face heated up and she lowered her head even more her long pink tail standing on end and her ears flattening against her head. For the first time in her life Fluttershy was cursing her affinity for small adorable animals. “Well…? I’m waiting…” Rainbow reminded her as her impatient foot began to tap.

“I-it’s just that… when you… scratched your ear like that you kinda… um maybe… tapped your foot on the ground like a puppy…!” she squealed ducking her head and getting quieter and quieter as she went. Dash blinked and tilted her head.

“Did I…?” she asked her shy friend who looked like a whimpering little kitten… well, with wings.

“Y-yes…?” Fluttershy offered still a little hesitant at how Dash would take the news of being compared to a puppy.

“Weird… do you do the same thing…?” she asked moving forward and scratching behind Fluttershy’s pink cat ear. Fluttershy opened her mouth to stop her but it was cut off by a loud purr that formed in her throat as a wave of pleasure overtook her senses and made her rub up against Dash’s hand as she scratched behind the ear. She opened her eyes in realization when Dash pulled away and her entire face flushed bright red. But Dash’s smile only made it all the worse.

“Well, well, well, looks like I’m not the only one with a few animal instincts now. Better keep an eye on you. Celestia knows some weird Italian guy would have a field day with you if he found that out.” She noted as she walked over to her closet and pulled out a pull string backpack from it and then slung it over her shoulder. “Speaking of that, shouldn’t you be packing a bag or something…?” she asked the girl as she walked past her and out the door. Fluttershy squeaked a little in realization and quickly flew into her room directly across the hall from Rainbow’s to put together a day bag. Minutes later she emerged from the room with a sunshine yellow tote over her shoulder, her cutiemark was stitched into the side of it courteous of one Rarity Belle.

Speak of the devil… “Rarity fer the last time ya DON’T need to bring an entire suitcase with ya to Rome, we ain’t stayin’ the night…!” Applejack shouted as she stood in the door way to Rarity’s room an orange back pack already on her sturdy shoulders.

“And I’m telling YOU Abigail, that I will not be going anywhere, much less ROME, with just a simple tote or purse…!” Rarity’s voice argued back. Fluttershy smiled at her roommate’s usual go-big-or-go-home attitude. She gently placed a hand on Applejack’s shoulder and the farmer stepped to the side to let her in.

“I’ll calm her down Applejack, why don’t you go see what Pinkie’s up to…?” Fluttershy offered as she shut the door.

Applejack sighed shaking her head as she put a hand to her face. “Never in mah life will Ah ever understand the inner ways of the girl’s mind. And Ah’m not too sure Ah’d like to… Speakin’ of scary minds…” she noted turning to the door behind her that had been covered in bubblegum pink wrapping paper and had a large blue bow slapped on it from the moment Pinkie claimed it as her room. She carefully walked towards it and put her ear to it to make sure there wasn’t some kind of marching band going off inside that she didn’t want to see.

‘Come on Twilight! Keep going we’re almost there!’ Pinkie urged sounding out of breath herself.

‘I can’t hold it Pinkie! It’s too much!’ Twilight complained her too sounding rather exasperated.

‘You can and will! Now put your back into it! Yes! Yessssss!!! It’s working!! Almost…!’ Pinkie exclaimed loudly.

Applejack’s face at this point could have been confused for one of her farm’s famous Red Delicious apples because of its shade. ‘What in Faust’s name are they doing in there?! Th-they can’t be having-!’

“Enjoying the show hayseed…?” Rainbow’s voice asked from beside her. Applejack screamed and in her panic caused Pinkie’s door to fly open and for her to fall in on the confetti covered carpet. She saw Twilight and Pinkie, yes on a bed, but both of them trying to get a bulging pink purse to snap shut by squeezing the two sides together. Pinkie looked up at Applejack’s accidental entry and smiled and waved.

“Hey AJ! Hey Dashie! Could you two help me get this thing closed…? Twilight’s not cutting it.” She mused with a playful wink at the bookworm. Applejack’s bright red face only worsened at that and RD clapped her on the back.

“Sure Pinks, come on hay seed, your muscle bound body is finally going to become practical.” Rainbow chuckled as Applejack stood up from the floor. Twilight was glaring at the supposed evil bag.

“What did you even put in that thing Pinkie?! I life raft?!” she asked the earthbound. Pinkie nodded quickly.

“And a flare gun, an emergency medical kit, an emergency candy stash, chocolate milk rations, a couple peppermint sticks for self-defense, the party cube in case I need to throw a party super-fast, 100 high grade multicolored balloons for the same reason, my tuba, saxophone, drum, French horn, piccolo, banjo, harmonica, and the accordion in case I need to do an on the spot musical rendition of lady and the tramp, sixteen and a half decks of cards, my favorite hat, a box of insta-cakemix, three mystery gift boxes, my creeper whistle, An industiral sized military grade group parachute, a box of every flavor jellybeans, a set of pots and pans with drumsticks, two sacks of all-purpose flour, a hair dryer, a bottle of that white glowy energy drink me and Dashie made before, streamers, a color changing flashlight, A canister of laughing gas, my party dress, a box of crayons and paper, the kitchen sink from down stairs, these cool looking sunglasses I found in my closet this morning, a life size cardboard cutout of each of us, sixteen rubber chickens, three dozen water balloons, a foldable ping pong table with paddles and balls, an old fashioned alarm clock, a box of matches, my wallet, and my portable portal to the multiverse.” She finished happily. Twilight’s jaw re hinged after a couple of seconds before she shook her head and asked a question to make sure she heard right.

“Wait, what was that last one…?”

“My wallet, duh! You can’t go to Rome and not have your wallet on you for souvenirs…!” Pinkie giggled brightly.

“No the one- Oh forget it…” she groaned rubbing her head. Applejack and Rainbow were both eyeing the bag carefully now. It was a big purse, you could probably get away with sticking a full grown dog in it, but for her to fit all of that stuff… no. It was best not to question Pinkie. They’d already learned that lesson. Applejack walked over and tried to force the stuff in the bag down by pushing on the top of it. To her great surprise she felt the bag’s contents give into her pushing and soon her hand was just dangling in an empty space, the once over crowded bag had also shrunk considerably down to the size of any normal purse that you’d see normal women carrying around. Applejack removed her hand from it confused as Pinkie swiped it up giggling.

“Great job AJ~! I’m all ready now Twilight!” she announced putting the purse over her shoulder and hopping out of the room like a rabbit.

There was a moment of silence before Twilight spoke up. “We all agree to forget this ever happened…?” she asked aloud.

“Eeyup”

“Totally.”

“Good, I’m going to go wait for the boat. They should be here in a few minutes.” Twilight announced as she walked towards the door. She reached for her shoulder to adjust her messenger bag only realize it wasn’t there. “Spiiiiiiike-!” she called only to see him standing behind her with the bag hanging from one of his fingers while his other hand held his PSP that he was currently playing with one hand, Avery floated beside him holding his own gaming device and in a similar state of mind. Twilight carefully took the bag. “You packed my-“

“Note book, main pocket.”

“And my-“

“Wallet and sunglasses right hand pocket.”

“And the-“

“Camera and your favorite granola bar are in the front zipper. Here’s your hat. Goodbye Twilight.” He stated as he put a lavender newspaper boy hat with her mark on the side of it on top of her head before he pushed her towards the door and walked back towards his room with Avery following.

“Rainbow whistled as she hovered past Twilight. “I stand corrected, HE has TWILIGHT trained.” She corrected with a small snicker. Twilight’s lavender eyes flicked to Dash. Her finger glowed with her fuchsia aura and Dash was halted midair by a pulling on her cyan wolf tail. Twilight floated past her using her own wings to do so.

“Sounds like Fluttershy needs to train YOU a little bit in tact.” Twilight countered. Applejack chuckled as the door was slammed behind Twilight and she looked down to see Rainbow whining slightly as she rubbed her tail.

“Ya really could use a lesson in manners RD, ya can’t just let loose whatever flies out of your mouth. It’s gonna end up hurtin’ someone real bad someday.” AJ lectured as she helped Rainbow up from the ground.

“Yeah yeah… I know. Trust me, it’s been hard enough trying to control myself around Flutters… she doesn’t like it when I start running my mouth… I think her Mom’s gotten her way too into that etiquette crap…” Rainbow Dash sighed as she hovered in the air a little her wings getting itchy from not being used.

“Funny… considering your mom was the one to put you in the lessons first Rainbow.” Fluttershy’s soft voice came from behind her. Rainbow of course yelped as she landed back on the ground and spun around quickly to face the pink haired girl.

“F-flutters…! How long were you standing there?!” she asked wondering just how much she had heard.

“Long enough…”she replied simply as she brushed past Dash her pink tail flicking under Dash’s nose as she went. “And you don’t need to ‘control yourself’ around me Dashie, I’m well used to your outbursts by now.” Fluttershy reminded the pegasus before she walked out the front door and into the open salty air of the island. Seconds later Rarity strode after her a simple white tote over her shoulder.

She cast a look back at the stunned pair. “Well don’t just stand there you two! Italy is calling and I’d rather not make the beauty wait!” she giggled swaying dramatically before she danced out the door her gem embroidered dress glinting in the mid-morning sun. Both athletes exchanged a look before they both ran for the door shoving one another in the process turning it into a race with little more than a shared glance as the starting gun.

They both sped to a stop on the dock where the S.S Equestria was just throwing out its loading platform. “HA! Beat ya! No you didn’t! Stop copying me!!!” they both exclaimed at once. Pinkie was in a fit of giggles at the state the two were in when she heard the deep throaty call of Captain Vents from the ship call down to them.

“Bonjour Mesdames, I hear you all fancy the city of Rome today!” he called as they all started to board the ship. They noticed the crew standing behind him except for Brise who was more than likely piloting the ship.

“You heard right Cap! We cast or fates to the dart and let it do the choosing! And it chose Rome!” Pinkie exclaimed as she hopped around the crew her energy as high as ever.

The captain chuckled as he watched her antics. “The ancient ritual of Travelling Darts…? An excellent decision making device Miss Sparkle.” He mused as the magic user hopped off the platform and onto the deck.

“Thank you, my mentor gave me her approval as well. She and her sister will be staying in today by the way.” She explained as she watched the others come onto the ship and the stairs be retracted into the ship once more.

“The Princess is here on the island…? I thought she had royal duties to attend to…?” Vents asked looking down at her confused.

Twilight shrugged. “She told me she put the throne in capable hands while she was away… I didn’t want to ask too many questions.” She explained glancing out at the ocean.

Back in Canterlot at that exact moment:

Cadance sat on the throne her eyes rolling to the back of her head in boredom. She’d been forced out of her bed at six AM to fill in for her aunt who had mysteriously vanished last night with little more than a note to her leaving her in charge until she got back. Now she had been listening to these nobles drone on for three hours straight and her barely-out-of-adolescence- mind was dying from sheer boredom. Her royal advisor, an aging old chap by the name of Samuel Stenson that she just called Sammy, nudged her awake for the third time that morning.

“Madam… are you sure you don’t want to call off court today…? I’m sure the populace wouldn’t mind if-“ his whisper was cut off by his princess shaking her head.

“I’m fine Sammy… I just need to get through this guy and then I can go on a coffee break.” She whispered back. Samuel sighed but resumed his rigid posture as the noble droned on.

“And so your highness, if you’ll look at my charts here it’ll show you that if we tax the people on their marriage licenses and the number of children they have we could significantly increase our treasury by-“

“Whoa, hold on a second there. Correct me if I’m wrong but did I just hear you say you want to tax people on things like marriage and children…?” the young princess asked sitting up in her throne suddenly alert.

“I know, it’s an ingenious plan right? This country is full loving people, by my calculations the amount of love in Equestria is almost triple what it is in any other nation in the world…! If we were to tax them on such a thing we could make-!”

“Do you know who I am…?” she asked her facial features rigid.

The noble stopped in his tracks and looked at her confused. “W-Why you’re Princess Mi Amore Cadedenza your grace… niece to Celestia and Luna High Princesses of Eque-“

“No, you misunderstand the question. Do you know who I am...? Not my name but my title beyond just a princess.” She asked the noble as she stood from her throne and strode down the marble steps towards the man. He started to stutter a little as she did so. “I’m the first Alicorn ever naturally born from just an ordinary human, I’m the girl who sacrificed countless hours volunteering at orphanages all across the nation, who attends every single wedding ceremony I can, who personally fought for my aunt to pass all those marriage equality laws when I was only SIX, I’m the only Princess in the entire history of this nation to ever possess magic that can mend broken hearts and bring people closer than anyone ever thought possible, and do you know [iwhy] that is sir…?” She asked now glaring him down her pink and purple lined wings spread out wide behind her.

“Uh-um… no…?” He offered in return his neck retreating into his high collared shirt like a turtle would a shell.

She picked him up by his shirt and held him high in the air. “Because I’m the Mother Fucking Goddess of Love, and you, you money pinching, black hearted ass hole, just tried to get me to TAX people for their love… do you know what I do to people who try to mooch off the love of others…?” she asked her lavender eyes glaring into his pitiful soul.

“Uhhhhh, give them their due credit for having a brilliant idea that will make you rich by the end of the day…?” he offered. Cadance’s face deadpanned at his response.

If one were to be looking up at the castle at that point they would have seen a man being thrown from the courtroom window screaming like a little girl as he was launched not only out of Canterlot but Equestria itself.

Cadance hovered in front of the shattered stained glass window for a few more moments panting with rage before she landed and spoke without turning back to face her advisor. “Sammy… call off court for the day and send the remaining protestors home.” She ordered as she calmly walked towards the doors of the throne room.

“Y-yes milady… But… what will you be doing today instead of court…?” He asked still a little shaken from her sudden outburst.

“Talking to an old friend about getting these pathetic Noblemen to pull their heads out of their asses and shape up. I don’t know how Aunty did things before but starting today, I’m the head Bitch in charge and I’m not going to tolerate their bullshit anymore.” Cadance growled her eyes like burning suns of passion as she spoke. She walked out and slammed the door behind her. From the hall greetings could be heard as the noblemen all waiting in line greeted the princess in turn. There were soon bright flashes of pink light and quickly Samuel rushed to throw open the door only to find the once stoic faced nobles fawning over each other or making rather grotesque noises as they tackled one another in rushed passion.

“Oh my dear sweet Faust… the day of doom has come… Guards! Get me in contact with the headmaster of Buckingham University…! Tell him I need him to send one of his students here post haste…!” he ordered a golden armored man standing watch at the door. He saluted and ran off to do it but then turned around quickly.

“Sir! What’s is the name of the student you wish to bring to the palace…?”

“Shining Armor Sparkle, captain of the ROTC there and boyfriend to our beloved rampaging Love Goddess…”

***

Back on the ship:

Pinkie as standing in the crow’s-nest of the ship her eyes narrowed on her target as he walked back and forth on the deck doing checks on the equipment as they got ready to set sail. Hey eyes still glowed fiercely with the enlightenment she had gained the day before.

‘I’ll drop the balloon and he’ll dodge it by stepping to the side, right into the pulley rope trap I’ve laid for him, but he’ll use his magic to make it falsely snap shut and whip upwards into the air with too much force, the rope will then come all the way up to me where I will use it to tie this sack of flour and then let it fall back to the ground just as he walks away thinking he’s escaped from me… It’s perfect.’ She ranted as she watched Riptide walk towards the mast to secure a loose rope she had baited. She dropped the balloon and set her plan in motion. Just as she predicted he side stepped and quickly activated his magic the rope trap slipping straight through him like he was a ghost, when the rope came all the way up to her face she tied the flour bag to it in an instant and it went tumbling back down to him arching perfectly and heading straight for him. Pinkie bounced a little squealing in joy when it impacted him sending flour spraying in every direction. “I did it!!!! I pranked the unprankable!!!” she cheered as she leapt down from the mast gliding along the length of a rope until she hung upside down in front of what was supposed to be Riptide.

Pinkie waited for the flour to settle and found with a jolting shock that Riptide had been replaced with a smiling scarecrow with a troll face painted on it. A voice behind her made her jump off the rope and land face first into the flour residue. “Problem Pinkie…?” Riptide mused.

Pinkie looked up her face and hair now as pale as the moon from the flour as she fluttered her eyes open and sent a charged glare back at him. “This isn’t over Rippy… I WILL surprise you by the end of today! I Pinkie Pie Swear it…!” She ranted as Riptide chuckled and walked towards the stairs that descended into the ship.

“Many have tried Pinkie, and all have failed. They don’t call me the Cheshire Cat of the sea for nothing you know.” He mused as he stopped before the stairs and turned back to face her a grin plastered on his face before he disappeared in a blue smoke leaving only the grin behind to mock her.

“Oh, It. Is. ON!!” Pinkie declared exploding into confetti herself.

Own in the ship’s underwater observation room Fluttershy was sitting in a chair watching the sea life swim past her. The colorful reefs that lined the sea floor were clearly visible through the solid glass wall and floor. Twilight was beside her both of them listing off the scientific names of the creatures that swam past and inquiring each other about the ones they didn’t know. Together they could identify almost all of the aquatic life that was native on the island. Fluttershy gasped and quickly tugged on Twilight’s sleeve to get her attention. Twilight gasped when she saw it.

“Dermochelys coriacea! The highly endangered Leatherback Sea Turtle! It’s migration patterns don’t put it here this time of year… what on earth has it so far from the stray…?” Twilight wondered aloud watching the large turtle casually swim by towards a large grouping of large umbrella shaped blue Jellyfish.

Fluttershy gasped a little. “The Box Jellyfish… I guess since they live here it must have attracted a small group of turtles… That and the climate here is quite tropical for most of the year so I can imagine it’s quite ideal for the turtles too…” Fluttershy reasoned as she watched the turtle quickly rush to the Jellyfish and bite into it. Fluttershy winced a little but Twilight was just watching as she furiously scribbled down her observations in her notepad.

“This is great! We’ll have to come out here tomorrow so we can study them some more. I wonder what other odd creatures come here to stay… Oh! Look Fluttershy! Out there in the distance! Twilight shouted pointing out to where the ocean dropped into deeper colder waters. Fluttershy gasped quickly putting her hand over her mouth.

“Cephalorhynchus hectori… Hector’s Dolphin Twilight! I thought they were strictly native to New Zealand…?!” she exclaimed quickly rushing towards the glass her wings spread in excitement. “How on earth did a pod of them get all the way up here?!” she asked as she watched the grouping of six or so dolphins heard a school of fish together and expertly snap up mouthfuls each until the school was gone, they then seemed to notice the boat and the curious faces that watched them. They swam up and inspected Fluttershy's ’ace curiously. “Oh… um… hello sea friends… What are you doing all the way out here…?” she inquired as if the dolphins could A. hear her and B. understand her. To Twilight’s great surprise a few of the dolphins gave a chorus of clicks in response to her question. “Oh really…? That’s amazing… three generations? And you haven’t had any hunting issues…? That’s wonderful… Oh um, I’ll see you later. It looks like our ship is going to sail. You’d better all get out of the way. I wouldn’t want any of you hurt.” She warned. The dolphins all gave and echo of clicks again waving flippers in goodbye as they swam off in search of another school of fish. Fluttershy waved goodbye as well smiling as she did so.

Behind her Twilight stood jaw agape and her eyes widened in disbelief. “F-Fluttershy…? H-how did you communicate with those dolphins…? That glass is a foot thick and highly enchanted, they shouldn’t even be able to HEAR you…! Yet we could hear them very clearly…” she observed rubbing her chin.

Fluttershy retracted a little blushing as she hid behind her hair and twiddled her thumbs together. “Oh… well um… my talent is communicating with animals just as much as it is taking care of them… I don’t even really need to be able to speak to them, they seem to pick up on my emotions just as easily I do there’s… So um… it’s… really difficult to explain.” She stated her voice getting quieter and quieter as she spoke. Twilight scribbled down something in her note pad and ushered Fluttershy towards a couch that sat in the center of the room.

“So… tell me more about this talent of yours… Does it work on more advanced creatures as well like the Hippocampi or the Hippogriff’s that are both native to the Everfree…?”

“Oh… um well yes, it does… I’ve actually made friends with a really nice Hippogriff named Buckbeak…”

***

Applejack was sitting in one of the many reclined chairs that lined the deck when she felt the ship lurch and start to move forward. She lowered her hat down to shade her eyes as she lay back in the chair ready to spend the trip in solitude with a little cat nap in the sun. That is until a certain purple haired white dressed magic user came to sit in the lounge chair beside her.

“Is this seat taken…?” Rarity asked with a small giggle. Applejack couldn’t hide the small smile that formed at the edge of her lips as she motioned towards it.

“Nope… take as many as you want and play musical chairs with Pinkie for all I care.” She chuckled as she kept her eyes closed under the shade of her hat.

“Mmm, as fun as that sounds I think Pinkie is preoccupied with that deckhand Riptide at the moment… I think the poor girl is infatuated with him.” Rarity mused as she leaned back in her chair her white sun hat being set to the side as she dawned a pair of bedazzled sunglasses. Pinkie Pie popped out of a grated drain on the deck beside them and made a face.

“That’s just all kinds of wrongy wongy Rarity…! He’s like six years older than me or something! Not to mention fraternizing with the enemy is a big No-No in war…!” Pinkie protested. Rarity lowered her sunglasses at the girl.

“Pinkie dear, do you even know what fraternizing means…?” she inquired.

“Nope! And I don’t care!” she announced happily before disappearing into the drain the grate shutting behind her. Rarity sighed shaking her head a little.

“Our friends are the oddest sort…” She sighed as she leaned back in the chair intent on absorbing some sun rays, although she didn’t know if it would work since her skin was still reflective like a beautiful sparkling diamond. Applejack just lazily hummed in response as she felt herself starting to drift off under the sun’s warmth and the light breeze caused by the ship’s movement. Rarity glance sideways and noticed one of her freckle patterns taking the form of a solar panel and pointing towards the sun with a small battery next to it that signified she was charging. The sight made her giggle and for Applejack to lazily open a single emerald eye to glance at her.

“Somethin’ on mah face Rare…?” she asked.

“Oh yes, just that little bit of magic working in your favor and putting on a little show for me.” She mused watching as the freckles formed a hand and waved at her. She giggled and found herself waving back. Applejack had an eyebrow raised as she brought a hand to her cheek.

“An’ here Ah am still hoping Ah outgrow these things… You know they’ve been poppin’ up more and more every year…? Ah swear Ah’m gonna just be one big freckle by the time Ah’m thirty.” She grumbled. The freckles made a frowny face and then converged on her upper lip and chin making it look like she had a stunning and manly goatee. Rarity couldn’t help herself and snorted a little at that before she caught herself and reduced the outburst to a giggle. Applejack sat up at that. “What…?! What’re they doin’ now…?!” she asked patting her face like she was trying to feel for them. “An… And wait did you just snort like a hog…?” she asked tilting her hat up to show her disbelief. Rarity’s face tinted red as she quickly picked up her sunhat and set it on her head tilting it to hide her own face.

“No…!” she sputtered defensively. “I-I simply had a tickle in my throat is all, and it got caught in my nasal passages.” She explained hurriedly.

It was Applejack’s turn to grin now. “Sooooo, ya snorted like a pig then…?” she repeated. Rarity gave her a sharp glare.

“I would appreciate it ABIGAIL, if you did not compare any noise I make to swine.” She grunted folding her arms and turning away a little her face still pretty much glowing red.

“Why…? Ah think the little hoggers are cute. ‘specially when they’re real little.” Applejack lamented staring out at the sea.

“Well pardon me for not being thrilled about being compared to something that rolls in mud all day long and eats like… well a pig.” Applejack’s eyes slanted towards her.

“Ah roll in the mud for fun and eat like Ah pig Rare, but you got used ta me didn’t ya…?” she asked her green eyes like daggers on Rarity’s face.

“Ah…! Well, yes… but you know it took months of countless bickering and un lady like spats for me to even warm up to you. And that was just fifth grade. It got worse when we got older. Do you remember in middle school when we were in PE and you got mud on my shorts…?”

Applejacks face deadpanned. “We were running an obstacle course… right after it rained. And you were wearin’ all white Rare. If Ah hadn’t covered ya in the stuff it’ve been all over ya anyways. Ya didn’t have to slap me so hard ya dislocated mah neck.” She reminded the other girl.

“Yes well, my point being that it took years for me to even be able to speak to you without wanting to drag you into the spa to have every inch of you scrubbed and polished. Even now I still have to hold back the urge to do something with that hair of yours…” she muttered glancing off to this side.

“Are you sayin’ there’s somethin’ wrong with mah hair…?” Applejack asked defensively as she grabbed her ponytail that was held together with her favorite red band.

“No…! Well, yes, but it’s not important.” Rarity sighed as she ran a hand through her hair in her frustration. “I’m just saying we’ve come a long way from wanting to kill each other.” She explained with a sigh. Applejack visibly relaxed but couldn’t help but make one last remark.

“Yeah well, Ah’ve got one fading concussion and a few splinters still in mah hair that say we still have our moments.” She reminded the girl with a small chuckle. “Given Ah still think Ah deserved it so it ain’t really a big issue for me.”

“Mmm, and there’s something we have in common, neither one of us is all too good at keeping secrets. Of course I am very well versed in acting so I can play off how terrible I am at lying, but you’re about as honest as they come.” Rarity giggled. “You could say you wear your heart on your sleeve Applejack.” As if to emphasize her point the freckles pooled down to her exposed arm and formed into a beating heart, seconds later an arrow shot through it and a scroll unrolled from it with fancy script starting to form on it. Applejack noticed the first letter of it and quickly pulled the sleeve of her shirt down to cover it.

“W-what makes you think AH’M not just pretendin ta be so easy ta read…?” she asked as Rarity swore she saw a little tint of color form on her tanned cheeks, which looked rather odd now with the absence of her freckles.

“Because Applejack, you’re about a good of an actor as you are a liar. Which is why to this day you still refuse to play a game of Truth or Dare with me.” Rarity noted with a bright smile crossing her features. Applejack WAS turning as bright red as an apple now.

“H-hey…! Ah KNOW we agreed not ta speak of that little escapade…! That sleepover went about as well Ah imagined it would but you STILL made me do it…!” Applejack huffed. Rarity was laughing now.

“Oh admit it, even if it was a disaster you, me, and Twilight had a blast!” she countered. Applejack huffed as she lay back down in the chair and she pulled her hat completely over her face signaling the conversation was over. But Rarity Belle was not one to give up so easily.

“Appljaaaaaack, oh come now darling, it wasn’t THAT bad…” She mused poking the girl in her ribs playfully.

“Ya made me dress up in a ball gown that would have made PINKIE PIE look ridiculous, ya spent three hours tryin’ ta make the bed sheets perfect, and we almost got concussions from that pillow fight…! What part of that night wasn’t ‘So Bad’” she asked making mocking quotes in the air as she did so. Rarity thought for a moment before she set her own hat down and picked the hat off Applejacks face and set it on her own head as she leaned over her still smiling.

“The part where despite our differences we managed to have a good time and make Twilight’s very first slumber party a good one.” She replied simply. From the open shirt and just above her deep red tank top Rarity saw the freckles form into a beating heart again but this time she could see the initials ‘RB&AJA’ scrawled across it in a fancier script. AJ’s face was turning the same color as her shirt now and she quickly sat up avoiding Rarity’s face as she swung her legs over the side of the chair and quickly reclaimed her hat before looking around a little nervously.

“Well uh… that’s mighty fine of you Rare but Ah think I hear RD calling my name…” she lied quickly biting her lip after she did so. Rarity’s face frowned as she lowered her sunglasses to look Applejack full on in the eye.

“I don’t hear any-“

“HEY! HAY SEED! GET UP HERE FAST! I’M GONNA BE RACING CRASHER AND WE NEED A REF…!!!” Rainbow announced from the loud speakers.

‘Celestia Bless that gal…’ “Ah’m coming, keep your shirt on Yeesh…! Hear her now Dolly…?” Applejack asked smartly as she turned on heel and ran towards the upper deck. Rarity only glared at her as she ran off.

‘Oh ho ho Applejack… You of course realize that this means war.’

Speaking of War…

Riptide hummed as he was listening to his iPod and mopping the hallway swinging his hips a little and using the mop as an impromptu mic when it came to a good part in the song. Two gleaming blue eyes watched this from the air vent at the end of the hall.

‘He’ll back into that trip wire I have laying in wait, when he falls he’ll try to catch himself but slip on the oil I put on the floor. When he hits the floor he’ll release the whoopee cushion I have under the exact tile he’ll fall onto. The whoopee cushion will fall and set off the spring board contraption I set up in the boiler room, it’ll then activate the switch that will automatically pump laughing gas into the vents above his head where he will then be forced into a fit of laughter and give me the title of master prankster… it’s fool proof!’ She thought in her mind. She watched carefully as he fell back against the wire just like she had predicted, slipped on the oiled floor when he tried to catch himself, his chest activating the pressured tile and setting her contraption into motion. He got up slowly rising looking around as he tried to wipe the oil off his chest. Pinkie waited grinning as she waited for the gas to start pouring in and for him to be put into a fit of giggles. As she was focused on him waiting for the remainder of the plan to work out her nose started to itch. She wiggled it since the vent was pretty small and she could barely move yet alone scratch her nose, and then she sniffed a little. ‘Huh… that smells funny… hehe… smells funny… actually it smells like… oh no.’ She found herself starting to giggle and then it went out of control into hysteric laughter as she tried to force open the grate.

From down the hall Riptide smirked as he walked over to the grate and brought a handkerchief out from his pocket and put it over his mouth and nose as he unlatched the grate And Pinkie Pie came tumbling out snorting in her gas induced laughter. “How did you… know that I… was going to… gas you?!” she asked in between her fits of laughter. He grinned down at her his silvery eyes glinting as he did so.

“I saw you dragging the canister down to the boiler room, when you were done setting it up I moved the hose to the vent I saw you crawl into.” He replied simply as he stepped over her. “Now if you’ll excuse me Miss Pie, I have a ship to maintain.” He chuckled before he disappeared again leaving behind that grin of his as the fog dissipated.

‘Curse you Riptide… I swear upon Loki himself that I WILL prank you today…!’ She thought as her body was over taken in laughter. She crawled towards her next plan of action with a determined look in her eyes.

Meanwhile back with Rainbow Dash:

Fluttershy had come up from the observation room when she had heard about the race on the loud speaker, she now stood by the railing watching as Rainbow Dash and Wave Crasher were stretching on the top deck in preparation for the race. Applejack was standing on the side of the open deck with a checkered flag in her hand.

“You go Dash, woo hoo…!” Fluttershy cheered. She got a grin from her friend and a big thumbs up as well.

“Alright ya’ll here’s the deal. You’re gonna race out to that rock formation in the distance and do a U-turn and the first one to make it back to this here boat is the winner, sound fair…?” she asked. Rainbow glanced out at the rock formation that looked to be at least three miles out. She grinned and nodded.

“Oh yeah, easy. Sound good to you Aussie…?” she asked the white haired man. His bright blue eyes went out and scanned the ocean his wings stretched out and flexed.

“I’ve done longer runs in my sleep Sheila, you’re about to see just why they call me the White Bullet, I’ll be tearing past you so fast your hair dye will fall out and stain the water.” He laughed as he crouched into position.

“Oh you’re in for a world of hurtin’ big guy.” AJ muttered as she held up the flag and Rainbow did nothing more than crouch into position a grin plastered on her face. “On your marks… get set… GO!” She called as she grabbed onto the railing and waved the flag. Both of them took off at break neck paces, tearing a V shape through the water as they went. Rainbow held back as they first took off, narrowly avoiding the rock’s surface as she maneuvered around it and then bulleted straight towards the ship. Wave Crasher, who had gotten a pretty good lead on her to start with almost spun out of control when she sped past him trailing a rainbow right behind her as she went. She glanced back at him grinning and gave him a two finger salute before she sped towards the boat wings pounding. He didn’t hesitate and sped after her. But he was already a day late and a dollar short on that one. Rainbow Dash stood where she had skidded to a halting stop and grinned at him as he came in to stop. He bent over panting and she patted his head.

“Don’t worry big guy, the only people who can compete with me back home are the Wonderbolts themselves. So you shouldn’t hold it against yourself. Oh, and it isn’t dyed by the way, my hair is 100% naturally this awesome.” She chuckled as she flipped her shoulder length hair back a little and walked off to where Fluttershy was fluttering up to meet her on the top level. “Hey Flutters, see me whoop the Aussie’s can back down under…?” she asked the shier girl. Fluttershy nodded smiling at her.

“You did great Rainbow, just like at your Junior Speedster competitions…!” she praised with her radiant smile warming Dash’s heart and cheeks. Dash brushed off the blush by hovering a little in the air and grinning as she thumped a fist to her chest.

“Yeah well, it isn’t easy being this awesome but some one’s gotta do it and that someone is me!” she bragged spreading her wings a little to show off some more. Behind her Sea Song was punching the white haired pegasus in the arm.

“Hey, don’t let a little somethin’ like this get ya down Aussie, tell ya what, drinks are on me tonight. You may even get a song out of me if I chug back one too many.” The Boston native offered trying to urge his chin back up from the slump it seemed to have.

“Yeah… will ya sing the one by that Gaga gal again…? She seemed like a right out blast when I heard ya sing ‘er last time.” He asked as he brought his chin back up enough to look her in the eye.

“Yeah, yeah, we’ll see. Ya know I don’t take requests. I just sing what I feel like. And often enough it isn’t dat Gaga gal.” She reminded him as they walked back towards the captain’s cabin.

Applejack chuckled as she turned towards the railing that lead down to the main deck and hopped it. She held down her hat as she fell and shut her eyes when she felt the ground rushing towards her. She landed with a thud and tilted her hat slightly when she felt the sun enter he eyes. When she stood fully and righted herself she came nose to forehead with a certain well-dressed magic user.

“So, as I was saying before you ran off with your tail between your legs…”

But Applejack had already maneuvered around her and was quickly rushing towards the nearby hatch. “S-sorry Rare! No time to talk! Gotta go make sure Pinkie isn’t trying to blow up the ship!” she called over her shoulder before she quickly disappeared behind the door. If one would have been staring at Rarity they would have seen her diamond skin darken as her sapphire magic surrounded her body and made tendrils of her hair float up in in imitation of Medusa.

“ABIGAIL JACQUELINE APPLE YOU GET YOUR TANNED HIDE BACK HERE BEFORE I CHASE YOU DOWN AND HUNT YOU LIKE THE COWARD YOU ARE!!!!” She roared as she ran towards the door and ripped it from its hinges bolting after the earthbound who already had a pretty decent head start. From up on the top deck Rainbow watched and whistled a little staring at the solid metal door that had been partially bent by Rarity when she was ripping it off its hinges.

“I’d seriously hate to be her right now… Wonder what she did to tick her off this time.” Rainbow chuckled as she leaned on the railing and let the wind rush through her hair. Fluttershy quietly stood beside her watching her out of the corner of her eye.

‘She looks so content now… like she always does after she wins a race. She seems so much calmer and relaxed than she has in months… and I’m not scared anymore because of that. I feel… peaceful almost. It’s… nice.’ Fluttershy thought as she turned her attention back out to the calm sea before them.

Rainbow was in a pretty similar state of mind as she watched Fluttershy in her peripheral vision. ‘Wow… I haven’t seen ‘Shy this open in months… I wonder if it’s just being out here that makes her calm. It is kinda pretty. Not as pretty as h- NO! Stop that. Shy isn’t like that. And she thinks of me like a sister… how creepy would it be if Ivy confessed to her? Well she’s kind of already married, and to a Wonderbolt none the less so that’s about as likely as flying pigs in frozen hell. But still… she’s my best friend. I don’t want to ruin that just because I have some stupid crush on her. I’ll grit my teeth and bear it if it means keeping her happy.’ She thought a look of cold determination on her face. ‘. . . so then why does it feel so empty when I say that…?’ she asked lowering her head just a little when her eyes glazed over.

Fluttershy, ever the empathetic one sensed Rainbow’s shifting mood even without the bracelet that they had all left at the house. She reached out and gently touched Rainbow’s shoulder. She felt the girl retract a little and her suspicions were confirmed. “Rainbow, what’s wrong…? I thought you’d be happy you won the race.” She questioned her hand not leaving Rainbow’s shoulder. But the contact was broken, gently, by Rainbow taking her hand and lowering it from her shoulder.

“I’m fine ‘Shy, racing just always reminds me of my first race, or actually reason FOR the first race.” Unlike her friend Rainbow was a skilled liar and often used it to deflect Fluttershy’s suspicions and worries.

“Oh… it’s okay Rainbow, those bullies are back in Cloudsdale now. And they didn’t ever really bother me after that anyways. You know that.” She urged with a comforting smile on her face. Rainbow smiled back a little and scratched the back of her head.

“Yeah I know Flutters, no need to worry. ‘sides, if anyone was pickin’ on ya you’d tell me right?” she asked patting Fluttershy’s shoulder almost a little too hard. Fluttershy smiled also pretty good at lying, to herself and others.

“Of course Rainbow. Everyone was much too intimidated by you to try…” ‘Except for Gilda every day in flight camp, everyone in my gym classes, half the student body when I had those silly braces…’ she listed to herself. She mentally slapped herself out of it before she could start to show her true emotions and smiled at Dash in return.

Rainbow grinned flexing her wings a little as she hovered up from the deck. “Of course they were! Picking on my friends is like picking on me, and seriously, who’s dumb enough to mess with someone this freaking awesome…?” she asked grinning and flexing her arms a little in a muscle man fashion that made Fluttershy giggle.

“No one Dashie, now come down here before the sea winds pick you up in a stray thermal.” Fluttershy urged. Rainbow scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“I think I’d be able to tell if there was a thermal this low to the ground Flutters. My feathers would be going nuts if-“ she was interrupted by both cyan and yellow feathers puffing up in response to a shift in the air currents. Her tail drooped a little and her ears folded back in annoyance. “Oh for the love of FUUUUUUUUUUUUU-!!!!!!!!!!” She shouted as the heated air caught her wings and carried her sky high in a matter of seconds. Fluttershy squeaked as she watched Rainbow be carried a couple hundred feet into the air.

“Oh no…” she muttered watching her friend go further and further up. Her wings itched to be opened and ride the thermal too but she held them back knowing she would probably faint half way up and crash back into the sea. “Come on Rainbow… steady it out and dive…” she muttered as she watched the cyan speck fight for control in the air.

Rainbow rode the thermal until she was almost three thousand feet into the air and the cold air finally over powered it making it die out and for her to spread her wings in a gliding pattern to stay aloft at the altitude. She sighed in relief. Any higher and she would have needed an oxygen mask. She looked back down at the now speck of a ship and an idea came to her. ‘Well, while up here I might as well try out that new trick I thought up last night. She reached around her neck for her goggles which she always carried around her neck just in case and pulled them up to cover her eyes. She then folded her wings to her back and went into a nose dive for the blue waters below. When she came to cloud level she started to corkscrew herself causing the clouds to form around her in a cyclone as she spun and spun round and around. It had taken years of doing this for her not to get sick from the motion. From the ship the crew and remaining friends had come up when they heard that Rainbow had been taken up by a thermal and were now watching as a spinning cyclone was rushing down to the blue sea with Rainbow in its lead. Just before she would have hit the water she spread her wings and leveled out against it letting the whirlwind of cloud hit the water and temporarily suck it up as she sped towards the ship tall sprays of water breaking behind her as she jetted just over the water’s surface. When she came to a halt just above the top deck she grinned flaring out her wings as breaks and behind her the cyclone fell apart leaving the water in a perfect standing spiral for just a second before gravity took it and it fell back into the ocean with a sounding splash. The spray that followed her reflected off the sun and created literally hundreds of rainbows behind her. She turned around to see her end product and grinned as she removed her goggles.

“Wow, that turned out WAY better than I thought it would. Sweet.” She laughed as the prismatic spectacles faded away with the evaporating mist. Her friends all applauded her for her show as did the crew and she jumped a little before grinning and taking a few bows as she lowered herself back down to the deck. “Thank you, thank you, I know I’m awesome. I’ll be here all week.” She announced as she struck a few poses like she was in front of paparazzi. She was tackled from behind by what she originally thought was Pinkie but when she heard the nurturing yet scolding tone of Fluttershy start to lecture her.

“Rainbow Elizabeth Francis Dashington don’t you EVER scare me like that again! You KNOW the ocean has random thermals and how powerful they can be! And then you ride one up past cloud levels and pull a stunt like that?! You could have DIED trying to make that cyclone work! Or you could have misjudged the distance between you and the water and crashed into it full force! You’d be little more than a couple of floating feathers and shark food at that point…!” she roared as tears of frustration and worry rolled down her face as she glared down at the girl beneath her with all the fury of Mt. Vesuvius itself burning in her eyes. Rainbow retracted under her stare that was known to make a rampaging dragon whimper in fright. It was a trait passed down from her ancestors and she wielded it well.

Rainbow however had the iron guts of her own ancestors to counteract it and after a rather large swallow of fear she stared back at her friend calmly. “But I DIDN’T die, and I DIDN’T misjudge the distance, and as you can see I’m not chum. So chill Flutters, I’m fine.” She countered staring straight back into the raging pools of sea green like a trained warrior staring death in the eyes. Slowly the rage simmered down from them and was replaced with a look of calculated worry instead. Her friends and the crew all watched the scene with growing worry for the pair as Fluttershy’s hold on the pinned athlete lessened and she slowly slid off of her letting her up. Dash shook herself out and rubbed her shoulder which had been jarred against the hard wooden deck when Fluttershy had barreled into her.

“I-I’m sorry Dashie… I was just really worried about you a-and…” Fluttershy’s bubbled whimper was cut off by Rainbow quickly using the tip of her wing to tilt Fluttershy’s chin up to meet the smile of her best friend.

“Hey, stop with the tears already ‘Shy, you know I can’t stand to see your cry.” She chuckled before she stopped and a look of horror crossed her face. “Oh dear sweet Celestia I just rhymed like your weird Herbology teacher…” she muttered in horror. Fluttershy giggled at that and at the noise Rainbow’s features softened and she retracted her wing back to her side and took the time to notice her feathers were now in a startling disarray. “Aw man… I just preened these things this morning too…! Ugh…” she frowned as she marched off to find a bathroom so she could fix them and with the scene officially broken up a few things happened at once, firstly that Pinkie and Rarity both noticed the objects of their respective inner battles was standing beside them, secondly both said targets realized this and disappeared in their own ways before their hunters could capture them, and lastly a battle cry was sounded from each of the girls before they went after their prey.

Twilight watched the scene a smile of amusement crossing her face as she fluttered her fairy like wings and hovered back to the peaceful sanctuary of the observation room. Fluttershy tilted her head in confusion at the scene before she gave up on trying to figure it out and joined Twilight in the glass room to continue their discussion from earlier.

***

Two hours and many failed attempts later:

Pinkie stood panting at one end of the deck her entire body covered in paint, her hair filled with many different random objects and in complete disarray, her clothes slightly torn and singed as well, and missing a few teeth as she grinned at the girl his pitch black hair perfectly combed and neat, as was the rest of his person; the complete opposite of the desperate and slightly insane girl before him. His smile never faltered as he watched her stand rubber chicken in hand and an oversized water gun loaded with Hell knows what aimed at him with her finger on the trigger.

“What’s the matter Miss Pie…? Getting a little bit desperate in your attempts now that we’re only ten minutes away from the fair city of Rome…?” he mused challenging the obviously crazy earthbound even further.

“Don’t make me do this Rippy! This gun is loaded with stuff that makes steroids look like candy…! One blast and your body could implode from the reaction!” she shouted across to him. He cocked an eyebrow at her.

“Is that the infusion you and Miss Dash made of those energy drinks with your own addition of antimatter…?” he asked his grin not faltering.

Pinkie dropped the chicken and brought her hand up to assist her shaking one in holding the squirt gun properly. “So what if it is?! You’ve forced my hand meanie face! I can’t break a Pinkie Swear! A Pinkie Promise is bad enough, but breaking a Pinkie swear could cause an interdimensional disaster and I’m already on probation for my last one! The big guys won’t let me keep my status if I mess up again!” she shouted back at him. He didn’t stop grinning and instead started to walk towards her casually.

From on top of the deck Dash was eating a bowl of rainbow sherbet out of a bowl with Sea Song and Wave Crasher on either side of her watching the scene play out. “What the hell are those two yelling about now…?” She asked aloud as she stuck another spoonful into her mouth. Sea song shrugged.

“Hell iffa I know. Dat Riptide is a few nuts short of bein’ squirrelly if ya catch mah drift.” She replied closing her pink eyes and shaking her head with a sigh.

"What she said mate, he makes about sense as wallaby tango’n with a rattler.” Wave Crasher added messing with the golden ring he had in his right ear.

“Huh… maybe those two ARE perfect for each other then…” she chuckled continuing to watch as Riptide approached the shaking girl and put his hand on the gun forcing her to lower it as he whispered something in her ear. Her blue eyes widened in shock and the gun seemed to fall from her hand in slow motion. She backed away from him in shock shaking her head.

“N-no… that’s… impossible! You can’t…! PROVE IT!” She shouted back at him as she pulled out another rubber chicken from her hair and pointed it at him cocking it like a gun. He reached forward and touched the chicken she held, it floated out of her grip and unleashed a powerful spray of chocolate milk that doused her and reduced her normally poofy hair to cascading waves and caused all the items in it to fall out and land around her feet. He chuckled and then snapped his fingers, the items that surrounded her levitated off the ground in his deep blue magic and popped away one by one. Pinkie’s broken and desperate appearance was righted as she was surrounded in a small whirl of his magic and was cleaned, dried, and all around returned to her normal Pinkie state as a slow beaming smile took over her shocked features. “It’struIt’strueIt’strue!!!!!!” she sang as she bounced around him in a happy circle and he just chuckled watching her do so. Rainbow and the other two just looked lost now.

“Yes, Yes Pinkie, now you can let the swear go now that you know my circumstances. I promise you won’t be penalized because of it.” He chuckled as the energetic girl spun around him in a blur. She halted mid air and then slowly started to shake her head a smile staying on her face.

“Ohhhhhh no you don’t Rippy, you aren’t getting out of it that easy! This just makes me wanna do it even MORE than before!” she exclaimed. For the first time he dropped his smile and looked honestly surprised for a split second.

“Seriously?! Even though you can’t you’d try anyways?!” he asked his silver eyes wide with disbelief. Pinkie grinned like a shark as she jumped up on his shoulders and bent over so that she was upside down grinning at him.

“Mhm~! It’ll be loads of fun and I’ve got the entire week to try! Who knows, I may even get it done today!” she giggled before she flipped off him and they both heard the ship’s horn sound signaling that they were docking. “Ooooooh~! Looks like we’re here, I’ll see you later Rippy! I have an entire city to entertain!” she mused as she pulled out her favorite pair of disguise glasses and a noise maker that she blew into before darting off in a pink blur. Riptide stared at where she had run off to before he sighed and shook his head smiling.

“I see why the others tried to warn me about her… she’s definitely a far cry from normal…” he chuckled at himself a little. “But then of course, being normal is highly overrated.” He chuckled before he felt a pressure on his shoulder and noticed first mate Brise leaning on his shoulder.

“I see you found a friend that makes about as much sense as you do Riptide.” She chuckled tipping her hair a little.

“Ah, but you forget my favorite phrase Brise, after all, what fun is there in making sense…?” he asked with a small glance sideways as a toothy grin crossed his face before he faded away in his usual manner leaving behind the grin and a set of eyes that glowed yellow and red once before winking and vanishing like the rest of him.

***

After exiting the ship and taking a limo ride into the city proper the six girls found themselves standing in the Trevi Fountain square staring in awe at the work of art before them. Even Pinkie had halted midair party favor’s frozen in place just like her body as she watched the sparkling waters cascade out of the gorgeous fountain’s perfectly sculpted features.

“Trevi Fountain, this unique statue has an ancient history. Its origins go back to Roman times and it was the terminal point of the Aqua Virgo aqueduct commissioned by Augustus, which was used to provide water for the thermal baths. The water that flows here has two names: Virgin Waters and Trevi. The first refers to an ancient legend about a young Roman girl who showed the source of the spring to some thirsty soldiers; whereas Trevi derives from the old name for the area, which was originally called Trebium. The aqueduct continued to function, even though it was necessary to wait until the eighteenth century when Pope Clement XII decided to restore the Trevi district and began work on the fountain we know today. It took three centuries to complete and is often attributed to Bernini, but for the most part it is the work of the Roman architect, Nicola Salvi, who took twenty years to complete it… In other words it’s the heart of Rome itself and probably the world’s most famous fountain.” Twilight explained as she broke out of her stupor. When her friends gave her a few looks she blushed a little and pulled a thick book from her bag. “I uh, might have read up a little on the big sights here in Rome while we were on the ship…” she explained scratching her cheek slightly as she did so.

The others all made little nods and Pinkie decided to respect gravity once again and land on her feet as she slid the part favors and her disguise glasses back into her bag. “So Twiley, where are we going first?!” she asked bouncing around the magic user. Twilight gave a tap of her chin before she opened the book using her magic and flipped through her book. “Well, I’d love to visit the Vatican Museum…” she offered. Pinkie beamed and zipped off before zipping straight back to her.

“Annnnnnd where was that again…?” she asked with a small nervous giggle.

“Uhm… let’s see… according to this map it should be… no… that’s the Capitoline museum… hmm…” she thought aloud as she looked through the map the book provided with Pinkie over her shoulder trying to find it as well. Meanwhile while they searched the book Rainbow rolled her eyes and stopped a passing tour guide.

“Scusarsi, la Potrebbe diretto ci al Museo di Vaticano...?(1)” she inquired to the driver.(1: I’m sorry sir, but could you direct me towards the Vatican Museum…?)

“Ah, sì signora, proprio viaggio su questa strada qui e seguire le indicazioni per la vostra destinazione, o si può fermare un taxi pure(2)” He responded with a smile before he continued guiding the group he had forward.(2: Ah yes madam, you just travel down this road here and follow the signs to your destination, or you can hail a cab instead.)

“Yo, guys, head down that street. There’s a set of signs that’ll show you how to get around the city. Or apparently all the Taxi drivers know their way around too but I doubt many of them speak English.” She stated pointing to the same street the guide had. Applejack had been watching the scene and raised an eyebrow at her.

“How in Luna’s name do you know Italian…?” she asked the normally thick headed lazy pegasus. To her great surprise Fluttershy answered instead.

“Oh, well um. Our parents thought it was important that we speak different languages… since we do a lot of international business and we travel a lot… so we each are fluent in… well I know seven different languages and I think Rainbow knows… five?” she half asked her friend.

“Six actually. The old man took me on a business trip last year to Tokyo so I picked up Japanese too.” She replied as she landed and looked away like it was no big deal.

“Damn rich people…” AJ muttered. RD rounded on her ready to fire off a smart remark involving farmers and the manure they shoveled around on a daily basis when a voice amplified by a megaphone cut her off.

“Attention all travelers and tourists, there will be a large sponsored gladiator’s tournament starting in the coliseum in one hour! Entry for the event is still open but only for another half hour! Those wishing to participate should come see my associate here for an entry form.” He then started to repeat the message in different languages but the two hot blooded athletes had already absorbed what he had said and quickly rushed up to the rather scrawny looking man standing beside the guy with the megaphone.

“Give me a form.” They ordered at once. They glared at one another as the small man shrank a little and handed them each a piece of paper and two pens. They both quickly sat down on the fountain’s seats and used it’s flat surface to fill out the entry form. Thankfully the competition was open to all ages and was divided up into age groups so they didn’t need any kind of signature from a guardian. Rainbow wouldn’t have had an issue forging a signature but honest Applejack would have rather had her teeth pulled than betray her Granny’s trust like that. The pair both finished filling out the forms and handed them back to the paper boy. He took them and stashed them in a drop in box before pointing towards a large street.

“T-the coliseum is that way. Good luck to both of you.” He stated his voice shaky at best. Not that either girl noticed since they were already sprinting towards it. The other girls were breaking up into groups as well, Fluttershy had found a stand with maps and pointed out that there was a shopping district nearby, her and Rarity had wandered off in that direction without hesitation, Pinkie and Twilight noticed the others were all already departed and Twilight internally panicked that they hadn’t set a place to meet back up before she saw that Pinkie had whipped out her phone and was typing away. In her bag she felt her bag buzz and she pulled out her phone and read the message.

‘Meeting back by the fountain at 3, don’t be late or Twilight will throw a fit~! ^_- ~Pinkie’

She glanced over at her friend and frowned. “I would not throw a fit!” She complained.

“You’re right, you’d just have a panic attack and make up some story to explain their tardiness that’s even crazier than ME.” Pinkie giggled before she grabbed Twilight by her wrist and pulled her off in the direction of the Museum. Twilight grumbled to herself but followed Pinkie anyways tucking her book back in her bag as they went and then quickly grabbing onto her hat as Pinkie sharply turned down a street and a car zoomed past them almost ripping off the hat in the process. Pinkie held a map in her hand and was reading it while running. “Hmmm… the museum is actually pretty far away… it’s take us all day if we walked everywhere… “ she muttered to herself. She noticed a couple ride by on a moped and a wicked smile crossed her face, which didn’t go un noticed by her companion.

“Pinkie… I know that smile. I don’t like that smile. That smile is what landed us in that alligator pit last time we all went to the zoo…”

“Trust me Twilight, this will be LOADS faster than walking around, and tons of fun too~!” Pinkie sang as she studied the map a little bit more and then tucked it into her purse before zipping down the street with Twilight in tow.

Exactly 15 minutes and 32 seconds later…

(THIS)

Pinkie Pie flew over the hill with her musical horn blaring in her wake and her friend holding on for dear life and praying to her mentor that she lives through this ordeal. Pinkie sped weaving in and out of cars on her moped which was the same color as her hair, laughing like a maniac all the while. Cars honked, people swore and shook their fists at her, children screamed, and Twilight was praying and shutting her eyes waiting for it to all be over.

When they reached the museum Pinkie didn’t stop there. Oh no, that would be far too easy and normal. Instead she sped through the doors that someone had just opened, sped past the lobby guards chasing after her and drove up the infamous spiraling stairs until they reached the top floor where she quickly sped to a stop beside a bench, jumped off the scooter taking twilight with her, tossed the scooter and their helmets into the large plants behind the bench and sat down on the bench shoving an open newspaper into Twilights hand and putting on her infamous disguise glasses (You know, THESE) and leaning back on the bench peacefully. The heard of guards rushed past them without question except for one who wore a large star on his chest. He retraced his steps to Pinkie and Twilight and bent down to speak to her.

“Excuse the interruption to your day sir but have you by chance seen two girls on a scooter pass by here…?” he asked in plain English.

Pinkie put on a deeper voice as she twirled the moustache the disguise glasses provided. “Hmm, why yes now that you mention it, I think she went that way.” She replied pointing towards a long hallway. The man quickly stood up and whistled. His guards’ heads popped back around the corner and stared at him.

“Ha andato in questo modo i ragazzi!(3)” he shouted before running down the hall way his guards following after him like ducklings chasing their mother. Once they were gone Pinkie lowered the disguise glasses and giggled. The paper fell out of Twilight’s hands as she sat there dumbfounded by what had just happened. (3: She went this way boys!)

“Pinkie… forget how you convinced the scooter rental, who didn’t speak a single lick of English, to give us the scooter for free, what I want to know is HOW IN THE NAME OF FASUT you tricked a grown man into thinking you were a just a simple old man by wearing those silly glasses!” Twilight exclaimed in disbelief.

Pinkie just grinned and put them back on twirling her moustache and using her old man voice again. “It’s the moustache dearie, people don’t question the ‘stache.” She explained as she produced a walking cane and a trench coat from her purse. She tossed the trench coat onto Twilight and adopted a crippled look as she walked with the cane. “People also never question trench coats, now put that on so we can enjoy the museum without those silly wily guards arresting us!” she whispered. Twilight grumbled as she shrugged on the coat and trudged after Pinkie grumbling something about her rotten luck with traveling companions.

***

Rarity and Fluttershy were sitting in a lovely little café in the middle of the shopping district only a few bags laying at their feet. Princess Celestia had heard about their trip earlier that night and as promised before they had set of on their jungle exploration the gold in the grand treasure room of the temple now belonged equally to all of the girls and Spike as well… when they turned eighteen. Until then she would give them each small portions of it to use as they desired. Which was fine with Rarity since a small portion meant about six hundred gold coins in a satchel at her side, with each of those coins being the royal grade that was accepted worldwide and worth over two grand each, Rarity had more than enough walking around money to shop with. And with a well-placed transportation gem in her room and another in her hand, she could transport anything she bought back to the island and not have to worry about carrying it around. She also made sure to drop one of the gold coins into ever beggars cap she passed by. She had gotten more than a few shocked stares today each one warmed her heart. She now sipped her Caffè macchiato with a satisfied smile on her face.

“Oh this is marvelous so far darling, the weather is gorgeous, this city is divine, the fashion is stunning, and now I’m having the best cup of coffee I’ve ever tasted with one of my best friends in ITALY. Could this day get any better…?” she mused as she held her cup up to her lips to sip from it. Fluttershy sighed in content as she brought her herbal tea up to her lips. It had a kick of cinnamon in it but most Italian brewed teas had some kind of spice in it. She liked it all the same.

“I don’t think so… Rarity, it’s almost two, do you think we should be heading back to the fountain now…?” she asked her companion.

“Oh I suppose, come, I’ll send those last few bags to the house and then we’ll be off.” She said holding out her hand for the shopping bags at Fluttershy’s feet. Once the bags were gone the two finished their drinks and left one of the gold pieces on the table, which was more than that poor waitress of theirs made in months she was sure, and stood up to leave the café. Just as they stepped outside they each heard their phones buzz and pulled them out.

‘Change of plans, meet us by the docks ASAP instead, the boat will be waiting just get on it and it wait for us. ~Pinkie’

“Oh dear… you don’t think they’ve gotten into any trouble do you…?” Fluttershy asked her friend. Rarity bit her lip and laughed a little nervously.

“Why no darling… how much trouble can the others have gotten into in only one afternoon…?” she asked. At that moment they both heard a musical horn blare in the distance and they turned their heads just as a bright pink scooter flew off the hill and over their heads, both saw the familiar faces of both Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle on it seemingly in slow motion, beside them a boy with abnormally long white wings flew laughing his head off. Seconds later time caught up with them and the landed speeding off into the distance. The two blinked and were about to ask each other if they had seen it when the heard another commotion coming up the hill and in seconds a large golden chariot pulled by two strong looking horses bolted past them with two very familiar looking faces covered in ancient roman type battle armor and with helms that made their blonde and rainbow colored hair spike up into Mohawks stared at them in returned shock before they sped off in the same direction the scooter had. Both of them heard sirens and what sounded like an angry mob next. Low and behold seconds after the chariot had turned the corner a fleet of police on motorcycles came up and over the hill followed by a large group of very angry looking people in the same armor Rainbow Dash and Applejack had been wearing. When the crowd and police had turned the corner after the chariot and scooter Rarity and Fluttershy’s jaws clamped shut and they exchanged a glance.

In one swift motion Rarity walked up to a gentleman who had just parked a sleek black Ducati motorcycle and was helping his nice looking girlfriend off of it. She gently tapped his shoulder and shoved her satchel of gold into his hands before grabbing the helmet he had in his hand and tossing the pink one in her hands at Fluttershy who was already climbing onto the back of it as Rarity took the drivers seat.

“Siamo spiacenti, questa è una situazione di emergenza, addio!(4)” Fluttershy explained as Rarity revved the engine and sped off down the street after the girls. (4)Sorry, this is an emergency situation, goodbye!)

“I don’t know WHAT those four got into while we were gone but when I get my hands on them I’m going to give them a VERY thorough tongue lashing…” Rarity growled as she sped towards the city’s docks.

***

Five hours earlier at the coliseum:

“Whooooooa! This place is HUGE!” Rainbow exclaimed as she hovered midair and stared up at the massive structure before her.

“Eeyup…” Applejack stated as she too looked up at the structure. From near the entrance a voice rang out to them.

“All participant’s enter this way…! Tutti i partecipanti di entrare in questo modo ...! Tous les participants entrent dans cette voie ...!” the announcer kept switching between languages just like the of one by the fountain had but the pair got the message from the first time. They walked towards where a group of mostly gown men were lined up, there were a few younger ones and even fewer girls in line.

“Huh… guess they don’t get many girls like us here do they Apple…?” Dash chuckled as they got in line.

“Nope…” AJ responded tilting her heat up a little so she could see their competition. “Pretty good lookin’ competitors though… look at that one three ahead of us! He’s got arms on him like a bear…!” she whistled. The man in question did in fact have the bulging arms she described, and looked like he had the weight to back them up as well. Rainbow flew up a little bit higher.

“Yeah! But look at the guy two ahead of him! I can barely see his arms moving right now! And he’s got so many tattoos I can’t even see his mark!” Dash announced. Applejack peered around the crowd and watched the man in question punch at the air his hands a blur in motion as he did so.

“Whew, Ah’d hate to be nailed by those bony lookin’ knuckles. Those alone would land me with a couple of broken teeth!” AJ laughed.

“Oooooooh, I can’t wait AJ! Do ya think they’ll let us use real weapons…?!” Dash asked doing little figure eights in the air to show her excitement.

Applejack squinted into the building as the line was now moving pretty fast. “Dunno, but it looks like those guys are getting fitted with REAL armor…!” she said pointing. Dash looked and squealed a little in her excitement. The man ahead of them was rolling his eyes and rubbing his temples as he listened to the pair go back and forth. When they got in he was quickly checked and then pointed in the direction of the armor fitting, the two girls were up next.

The dark haired magic user looked up at them and scanned them both with a violet tinted beam of magic and then spoke to them. “Names and ages.” She asked as she looked down at the computer she had in front of her.

“Applejack Apple, 14”

“Rainbow Dash, same age as her.”

The woman typed something into the computer and then handed each of them a pass on a lanyard and pointed to a hall with the big roman numeral III carved into it. “Take these and go down that hall to get fitted with your armor and armed. Have a nice day and good luck to you both.” She stated with a simple smile before she called out for the next person in line.

Both girls did as instructed and walked down the hall and into what looked like a domed room with multiple people behind tall benches handing people sets of armor and rushing off into a room behind the counter to get said armor. The people, who all looked like teenagers like themselves, would then go over to a set of benches and strap on the armor before being pointed into the next room. They both walked up to the counter and the attendant there scanned them like the other woman had before and then went into the back room without a word returning with two sets of bronze colored armor.

“These are your sets of armor and your helms, they tie up in the back and go on right over your everyday clothing. They’re enchanted to protect you from even the heaviest of blows and still be as comfortable on you bodies. When you have either lost or won a round you will come back here to either turn in your armor or upgrade to the next best set. It goes from bronze, to silver, and then gold if you make it to the finals. When you’re done putting on your armor you may report to the armory to select your weapons. Good luck to you both.” He stated before waving in the next in line as the two girls walked off to the benches.

They dressed quickly not needing much help but Dash found herself caught when it came to the chest piece. “Hey hayseed, help a girl out and help me get this damn thing around my wings.” She called over to her friend. Applejack rolled her eyes and walked over to help. The disadvantage of being gifted with flight was that you had to buy special clothing that was made for wings. Which often meant an unnoticed slit in the side of a shirt that you could slide your wings through, but with metallic armor it was a bit difficult to maneuver it and strap it into place.

“Yeah yeah, hold your horses. Here, slide your wings in like that and…” there was a click and she tied the straps of the armor together once it was secure. “There, you all set now?” she asked the other girl. Dash picked up her helmet and put it under her arm just as AJ did the same.

“Yeah, come on, I’m DYING to see what kind of sick weapons these guys have laying around!” she cheered zooming ahead a little over the heads of some other competitors heads. She halted when she came into the open air training grounds and saw a hundred or so other teenagers already practicing with weapons like battle axe’s, long swords, hammers, morning star’s, cross bows, and many many more. Rainbow slowly fluttered to the ground her head a little dizzy as she literally swooned over the weaponry. Applejack caught her before she could fall flat on the ground and Rainbow gave her a goofy grin. “Apple, is that you…? I think I died and went to Valhalla!” she cried dramatically draping her hand over her forehead much like Rarity would. Applejack frowned at her and dropped the girl before stepping over her and towards the wall of weapons that sported another long table like bar where there were a few more workers for the competition, the difference being that these were mostly pegisai with two or three earthbound as well.

“Hey there partner, speak any English…?” she asked a grey winged man who looked to be a fellow farmer by the mark of a grapevine that grew around a sword on his forearm.

“Yes I do signora, what can I get you for a weapon…?” he asked his Italian accent thick but understandable all the same. Applejack thought for a moment before Rainbow Dash zipped up beside her and pointed behind the man.

“Can I try out those awesome looking dual swords?!” she asked. The man looked behind himself and chuckled taking the weapons she asked for off the wall and handing them to her along with the sheath's that they came with. They looked to be replicated off of ancient roman pegisai throwing swords as they were slightly curved and in the right hands could slice a man’s head off and come right back to the user like a boomerang, it was an ingenious design orginally crafted and named after the infamous Commander Hurricane; they also happened to be Rainbow’s all-time favorite weapon to play around with. She strapped the sheath's to her hips as the man spoke again.

“Now all the weapons in here have the same enchantments your armor does, so it won’t hurt anyone but it CAN do damage to anyone who isn’t wearing armor so be careful.” He warned as Dash took them. She nodded quickly and zoomed off to grab a training dummy. Applejack had finished thinking and pointed to a fairly large solid iron war hammer that had to be set on the ground simply because the thing was too heavy to be hung up.

“Go ahead and give me that big guy.” She stated. The winged man looked from it to her and bit his lip a little.

“Uh, signora, I think I misunderstand you… you say you want this hammer…?” he asked pointing at the heavy weapon. The other attendant’s look confused by the statement as well as did the young males who they were helping. One of them actually laughed. Applejack rolled her eyes and nodded.

“Yes, Ah want THAT hammer, now hand it over so Ah can see if it’s heavy enough to knock around those big guys Ah saw walkin’ in earlier.” She said motioning for the hammer. The attendant hesitated but brought the hammer up to the table with a grunt and slid it towards her. She took the handle of it and swung it over her shoulder like it weighed little more than a plastic baseball bat.

She weighed it in her hands a little and looked around. “Do ya’ll have somewhere Ah can test this…? This place is kinda old and Ah wouldn’t wanna break anything that’s a part of ya’ll’s history.” She explained.

“The entire coliseum was enchanted over a hundred years ago by a very practiced group of magic users. Which is why we can hold events here now without fear; it is indestructible and could survive a dragon’s rampage and only get a few dents which would be immediately restored by the spell… in short, you can feel free to practice wherever you want.” The attendant explained motioning around him at the building.

“Oh good, Ah’d hate to feel ashamed when Ah did this.” She said before she turned around sharply and through the hammer across the room narrowly zooming past the nose of the competitor that had laughed at her before embedding itself in the wall and leaving a crater with a radius as big as a grown man. She smirked a little satisfied as she calmly walked over and removed it from the wall weighing it in her hand a little. “Yup, Ah think this one’ll do mighty fine out there. How do you like the swords RD?” She called over her shoulder. Rainbow was just grasping her flying swords as they came back to her after beheading all the practice dummies in the room in one go. She sheathed them at either either side of her hips and grinned a little as she flew over to her friend.

“Oh I’m liking them realllllll nice hayseed. Whoa, small crater.” She noted staring at the thing as it repaired itself.

“Yeah, the place is enchanted or something so that it absorbs most blows and then repairs itself if it actually gets damaged. Wish we had that kind of fancy stuff on the farm. Ah can’t tell ya how many time’s Ah’ve had to repair one of our beams because me and Mac got a little rough when we were play fightin’.” She chuckled as they both walked out of the open practice arena and towards the main arena.

“Don’t you have steel beams in your barn…?” Rainbow asked so that the competitors could still hear them.

“And your point is…?” the farmer asked in return before they both burst out laughing. Everyone in the room, which were all male by the way, stood frozen at the two’s banter, and if they couldn’t understand their words than that show had certainly made them think twice about the two ‘little girls’ they had looked down upon earlier.

Back in the tunnel Rainbow glanced back and snickered as she leaned down to her friend as she flew beside her. “I think I saw one of those guys wet his pants!” she snickered.

“Did ya see the look on that tall fella when Ah almost took his nose off with mah hammer?! Ah thought he was gonna drop a load right there!” she howled with laughter as they came out into the arena.

“Is that what that stain was in the back of his pants?!” Rainbow asked before the pair burst out into mutual laughter drawing the looks of the other older competitors that were already waiting to be sent in. As it turns out they were not in the main arena but rather the large waiting room lined with many benches and hallways that probably lead to the other age groups training grounds and weapon rooms. Rainbow sheathed the swords at her side and Applejack secured the hammer on her back with the strap it came with. They looked around seeing the mixed looks of the other competitors. Applejack tipped her hat at them as she passed and Rainbow flew up to one of the TV’s that were hooked up along the walls. “Hey look Apple! They’re broadcasting this competition live! Must be a pretty big deal or something.” She announced to her earthbound friend. There was a scoff from one of the older looking men who wielded a long sword across his back. When he spoke it was with a heavy Italian accent.

“I don’t expect Equestrian’s to be familiar with our glorious city’s traditions, but I would AT LEAST expect them to know about the annual Coppa del Guerriero that we’ve held in tradition since the Sun and the Moon were still mere children.” He sighed in frustration with a roll of his eyes. Rainbow glared at him and was ready to bite back a comment in his native tongue when Applejack caught her by her ankle and brought her back down to earth. She shook her head and turned to respond to the man with an even tone.

“Sorry ‘bout that. Ah know full well about it and so does mah friend here but we were just told it was a competition, we weren’t given specifics on it at all.” She explained. The olive skinned man with greasy looking black hair and a mark along his neck of a long sword over a roman style helm made of gold stepped forward his dark eyes glinting with amusement at the pair.

“Well then, I guess I can give you SOME credit… My name is Casco 'oro, But everyone around here just call’s me Cas.” He said offering out a crossed hand to each of them. The girls each shook one eyeing him carefully. “Now you might not know this but I’m what you’d call the champion at this particular event… or at least I have been for the last ten years. It’s what my mark means. I was BORN to be a Gladiator, but unfortunately for me I was born a few hundred years late for that so now I just have to settle for this instead. Not that I mind, I get to fight up against some pretty interesting men… and a few women if they make it far enough. But you two… you two seem different. Even you little cucciolo…” he mused touching the tip of one of Rainbow’s cyan wolf ears. Her tail bristled behind her sticking out from between her upper and lower armor. “Oh, it looks like they’re real, you must have ticked off some powerful mage to get that kind of curse…” his eyes flickered to AJ who’s freckles chose that exact moment to swim up and around her neck in the shape of a raging bull. “Oh ho ho, and you as well little farmer.” He observed watching the freckle bull blow steam from its nose.

“It ain’t exactly a curse but it ain’t exactly none of your business either partner. Now step back before Ah decide to test out the enchantments on your armor with mah hammer.” AJ growled at the proximity of the greasy looking man.

“Ah, so you are the defensive type I see… and your friend here looks to be the edgy type… interesting combination… and, by the way you’re carrying that war hamme,r I’d say you could go through with that threat too… and I haven’t seen anyone who could wield a set of Hurricane Swords in many years… yes you two are interesting… I’ll be keeping my eye on you, make it to the finals with me and I’ll give you a real battle.” He laughed before he heard an announcement over the intercom and he stood back up to his full height and put on a golden helmet that matched his shining golden armor. “Ciao Bella’s” he called over his shoulder with a wink. Rainbow got a shudder up her spine as did AJ.

“Okay, Ah’m not crazy, that guy WAS the definition of creepy right…?” she asked her friend.

“Yeah… If you get to fight him before I do will you smack him with the hammer for me…?” she asked.

“Only if ya promise ta castrate him if ya get the chance.” She countered spitting into her palm and offering it to the girl. She grinned mirroring the act and shaking hands. They heard a loud thunderous crowd come from the hall Cas had walked into. They looked to the screen to see the camera panning across the crowd as he walked out into the pit. The seats were all packed in as the stadium shook with their excitement and Rainbow felt herself grin a little.

The announcer started to ask him a few questions as he took a seat in the booth off to the side of the arena signaling he would be helping with the broadcast until the final round. Applejack gave RD a curious look since the TV screens didn’t have subtitles. “Oh, they’re just talking about how the competition looks this year… he’s hinting that he noticed a few promising faces… guess he means us.” She explained as she continued watching the screen. Then a very well built older man walked into the room his head covered by a silver helm with bright red hair sticking out the top of it, the red aura that covered his hands and surrounded his throat told them he was a magic user.

“Alright, listen up everyone, I can only use this translation spell for a short time so I don’t want to have to repeat myself. The rules of the first round are like this: We’re gonna send you out by age group into the arena and onto this big platform that is raised ten feet in the air, it will be a free for all and if you ‘re knocked off the platform you’re out of the competition. The last thirty in the group standing move on to the next round which has multiple themes and is randomized every year, those rules will be announced when it is selected. Any questions? No, good.” The aura disappeared around his hands and throat and he marched out of the room before anyone could say a word otherwise.

“Huh… translation spell… I’ll have ta ask Twi ‘bout that one later.” Applejack noted. She glanced back up at the screen before a female voice came into the room with a large poster that she posted on the wall before leaving. A few people crowded around it. Applejack nudged her friend and nodded towards the paper. RD flew over to examine it and then came back quickly.

“It’s the event list, the first age group up is the way little kids… that must be adorable to watch. They’re actually in a separate competition all together. It’d be just bad publicity to have little kids fighting with adults after all. So after them is us. Then the young adults, and then the old guys.” She explained.

“Ah… seems fair enough. Awww, RD, look! They’re got all the little rascals out there already…!” she cooed pointing at the screen where the little kids were all coming onto the stage with foam armor and weapons. The youngest looked to be about five and the oldest about twelve. “Shucks… AB would definitely be out there with that lot. She’s got a mighty good swing on her. She actually broke my Pa’s nose once when she was barely a year old.” She laughed.

“Hehe, do earthbound’s get strength bursts when they’re little like Pegisai do with flight bursts…?” Rainbow asked her friend as she casually watched the little kids mob together and erupt into chaos when the bell sounded.

“Oh yeah, big time. Granny said that when Mac was still real little he actually broke his crib in one of his tantrums. Gramps had to make an all new one because Mac ripped the entire gate off and threw it out the window!” She recalled laughing a bit as she did so. Rainbow chuckled along with her.

“Yeah, Mom said when I was really little they took me out to one of the parks nearby and turned their backs for a few seconds, I kid you not in the time it took them to buy a hot dog I had flown up onto a nearby building and was jumping from rooftop to rooftop while they chased me. After that they didn’t let me out of the house until I out grew my flying spouts. Not that it really helped since I could fly all on my own when I was three…” She pointed out as she watched one rather rambunctious pegasus girl charge her opponents send three larger boys flying off the platform and then tripping another one that was trying to sneak up behind her causing him to fall over the edge. “Huh… I like that kid. She reminds me of me.” She stated with a small smirk. Applejack watched as the red headed girl flew up and round house kicked one of the much older boys straight out of the circle.

“Land sakes… she fight’s like ya too…!” AJ pointed out with a small laugh. “You sure you don’t have any siblings runnin’ around…?” she asked as they continued to watch the tiny girl literally kick some ass in the round that was supposed to be adorable and ended up being a bunch of little kids hitting each other with foam swords and shouting loud battle cries until the older ones shoved them out of the ring and then the little pegasus would come up behind them and knock them out as well.

“Yeah, but it’s cool. I’ve got Ivy and in a few years I’m gonna get to teach little Cottonball a thing or two about kicking can.” She explained with a wave of her hand.

“But ya never wished ya had a younger sibling around…?” Applejack asked her winged friend. Rainbow bit her lip a little.

“Well… before I met Flutters yeah, I did. And even after that too. But my parents were already pretty well on in years when they had me. I mean my dad’s… what almost 58 now…? Fluttershy’s parents are the same age, but they had Ivy when they were younger. She was kind of like a little sunny surprise for them. And when mom and dad heard that Sunny was pregnant again they got to thinking and soon enough I popped into this world in a blaze of glory. But they only really wanted one kid so I’m it. Not that I didn’t seriously beg them for a little brother… or sister. I wasn’t too picky. I just wanted someone who wasn’t an adult to play with. That’s when my parents sent me to flight camp and I met Flutters another of my old friends too. But she lives really far away so I hardly hear from her now a days. So usually it’s just me and Flutters rockin it out.” She stated with a shrug.

“Wait… if yours an’ Shy’s parents were really close and stuff how come you and Shy didn’t grow up together…?” Applejack asked confused by the notion.

“Huh…? Oh because you’ve seen Shy now that she’s older, she’s still really weak and stuff. When she was younger she had a list of medical problems longer than your brother is tall. Her parents didn’t want to risk her health so they kept her inside most of the time and homeschooled her too. When she was healthy and anything left could be controlled with medication and a clean room they let her out a little more. Now that she’s older the only thing that really ever bothers her is her lungs. Which is why she or I always have an inhaler on us.” Rainbow explained actually reaching between her armor and into her pants pocket to pull out the inhaler she kept on her person. She slipped it back into her pocket as she heard a bell ring on the TV and through the air as well. She looked up to the screen to see the little pegasus girl with a couple minor bruises forming on her face and a scrape or two but she was otherwise un harmed as she stood beside a large golden trophy that was as large as she was. Her parents came up onto the stage and hoisted her and the trophy up in the air as the crowd cheered.

The girl beamed and waved around at the crowd. Rainbow’s sharp eyes caught something glowing on the girl’s right hand and smiled when she saw a mark with a buster sword over a bright red shield appear on her hand. She noticed and gasped quickly showing her parents who also were over joyed with the development.

“Well ain’t that just a cutiemark story ta tell yer kids in the future… ‘Hey Ma, how’d ya get yer cutiemark…?’ ‘Oh nothing much, just won this big competition in Rome by tossin these bunch weakilin’s offa platform.’” She mimed before bursting out laughing Dash joining in. The other competitors looked at them funny but they didn’t really care. Once the applause died down again and the kids were all ushered out of the arena the platform was raised up to its full ten foot height instead of the two foot drop it had been for the kids, and an announcement sounded through the stadium. The crowd burst back into applause and RD nudged her friend with an elbow as she stood up from the bench they sat on together.

“Come on hayseed, that’s us. Put on your helmet and get your hammer, it’s ass kicking time.” She said as she dawned the helmet which was also enchanted to bring her hair up and through the top of it. Applejack glanced at her hat and then noticed the lockers lining the wall. She walked over and put her hat in it locking it tight with a key that hung nearby before she stuck the key in her pocket and then undid her hair wrapping the tie around her wrist and slipping on the gloves of the suit and then her helmet as well.

“Huh… you know for armor this stuff allows for some pretty good movement.” She noted as she joined her friend and the other teenagers as they walked towards the exit. She also noticed that besides them there wasn’t a single girl in the group, or if there was she was really tall and had a chest flatter than a board. When they emerged into the arena the thunderous applause that greeted them made Applejack jump a little and Rainbow Dash to grin. The coliseum was HUGE, and since it was filled to capacity that meant there had to be well over fifty thousand people in it, and millions more watching on the TV across the world. Applejack swallowed a little and nervously waved to the crowd as she went.

Rainbow, ever the performer, was flying towards the stage waving to the people with absolutely zero reserves in her. She then jolted when she heard the announcer speak in English. “Alright folks let’s get this show on the road with our next age group, the teens. Now this is our first group that will feed into the rest during the remaining rounds, I’ve been hosting this event for years now and I can personally say that kids this age can have just as much fight in them as adults, sometimes even more. Isn’t that right Cas…?” he asked the man sitting next to him. Rainbow looked around seeing the slight shimmer of magic in the air, she guessed a larger version of the translation spell she’d seen earlier was being used on the entire arena.

‘Yeesh I’d hate to see the strain that team of mages is going through to keep that up.’ She thought as she flew onto the platform Applejack right beside her.

“Oh yes, most definitely Ultime Notizie, I’d say that people who underestimate the youth will be sorely hurting the next day.” He chuckled his dark eyes watching the pair in particular. They both went rigid and glared back at him in response to make it known that they still didn’t like him. He didn’t falter though, “And it looks like the last of the herd is in the bull pen so let’s ring the bell and let them have at it! Remember kids, if you’re knocked out of the circle, or if you accidently fly out of bounds for those of you with wings, then you’re disqualified and you’re to exit towards the locker rooms and return your weapons and armor at once. Are we ready to brawl?!” he called into the arena. The crowd and the competitors all cheered in response.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash got back to back in the center of the crowd. “When the bell sounds you fly fast and Ah’ll take as many out as Ah can with a hammer tornado.” Applejack whispered to the girl behind her. She got a nod in response and when the bell rang through the air Dash was in the air faster than anyone could blink and Applejack had drawn her hammer and spun it around in a huge circle sending everyone around her flying or to the ground. The others who were out of range began to fight pushing others towards the edge.

“Whoa, and right off the bat there’s a big show of power from a young lady wielding a… is that a solid iron war hammer Cas…?” Ultime asked his cohost.

Cas chuckled and nodded. “Yes it is, and according to the records I have right here that particular hammer weighs over 90 kilo’s, or 200 pounds for you Equestrians out there. It takes some serious muscle to get that thing up and moving, and as you can see for yourself she’s treating it like a child’s toy. If you’ll look above her to the sky you’ll find another oddity in modern day fighting, the infamous Hurricane Swords, a weapon hand crafted by Commander Hurricane of the Pegasus empire over four thousand years ago. Now any kind of dual weaponry takes a lot of skill and experience to wield properly; but when you add in the unique ability that these swords possess, which is to sail through the air like a boomerang and slice through your opponent, it makes it all the more impressive that such a young lady has mastered their use.” He stated as Rainbow Dash flicked her wrist sending one of her swords flying to take out a pegasus that had leapt up to strike her down and then continue on behind her to send another one who had been sneaking up behind her sprawling out of bounds and into the dirt below. She landed into the fray both swords drawn deciding to do some damage to non-fliers.

“Is it just me or do those two girls seem to have a type of dynamic going on there Cas…?” Ultime asked as he watched the two girls working in harmony, when Applejack would duck Rainbow Dash would send a teen flying off the platform with a strong blow to the chest, When Rainbow hovered midair Applejack would pound her hammer into the floor to send bodies sprawling in every direction. Then they’d go right back to back again and fend off the swarm that rushed them.

“Oh yes I suppose now would be a pretty good time to mention that these two were the promising pair I mentioned earlier. From what I could gather they’re both native to Equestria, home of the Sun and the Moon, and the taller one with the blonde hair that carries the hammer is an apple farmer, while her colorful friend with the Hurricane Swords is a racer at heart and apparently not too shabby with fighting either… Oooh, I’d hate to see that guy’s dentist bill after a blow like that.” He commented after he watched Rainbow deliver a well placed uppercut to a pink haired magic user who had tried to take her swords away.

“How are ya holdin’ up back there city slicker…?” Applejack called over her shoulder as she righted herself after delivering a devastating round house kick that sent four competitors skidding off the platform. Rainbow quickly delivered two slices to the knees of the guy in front of her before kneeing him in the chin as he collapsed to his knees and then sending him flying into the outer wall with a kick to the chest.

“Pretty good Hayseed, I’m up to twenty four, how about you…?” she called back with a laugh as someone tried shooting her with a crossbow. She deflected the arrows with one sword and sent the other flying for his head. He tipped backwards over the edge and fell right onto a growing pile of groaning teenage boys. “Make that 25!” she corrected. Applejack laughed as she picked her hammer up from the ground and held it over her shoulder as a group of six tried to charge her. She swung it like a baseball bat and watched as she sent all of them flying.

“Let’s see… that puts me at 26! Ha, one ahead of ya Dash!” she called back. Rainbow, not one to be shown up, decided to right this problem by flaring her wings out sharply causing a forceful wind to knock a few others who were off fighting their own battles and with a flick of her wrists she sent both of her swords flying in their direction. A few of them caught themselves and ducked but the other unfortunate souls were knocked unconscious and sent over the edge.

“Let’s see… that’s five more…” she turned stomped her foot down on the foot of a guy who had snuck up behind her dagger drawn to her throat when she tossed away her swords and elbowed him in the stomach before whipping around and grabbing her swords right out of the air and smashing them into his head making a loud bell like thud as he fell unconscious to the floor. “Plus that guy, puts me at 31, HA!” She called back over her shoulder at her partner in crime who took a moment to stick her tongue out at the rainbow haired girl before she broke another offender’s nose with her fist and then sent him flying with a jarring kick in the stomach that would probably cause him to throw up… if he wasn’t already unconscious that is.

“Oh man, I hope tonight’s medics have a lot of beds waiting for these poor young men today… I haven’t seen anyone those girls hit get back up and walk out of here on their own…! We’re running out of stretchers!” Ultime chuckled sounding a little nervous as he watched more bodies fly off the platform and the number count on the board fall further and further until it hovered just at thirty one, meaning there only had to be one more knock out for the round to end. Rainbow Dash was dodging a wave of arrows that were coming from a pair of crossbow user’s that had teamed up to take her down and Applejack was being slowly surrounded and crowded by almost all the others. She couldn’t swing her hammer if she didn’t have the room for it so she resorted to fending them off with her fists and hoping that Rainbow could get someone out before she was overwhelmed. She felt someone strike the back of her neck and she fell to her knee’s before she was picked up by her neck and hoisted into the air by a familiar looking face.

“Not so tough without that big hammer of yours are you Equestrian…?” the green haired teen snarled his lips drawn back in disgust as he looked at her and his accent giving him the origin of France. He bought up a single throwing knife and traced it along her cheek gently leaving a small red trail behind it. “You know, I don’t normally like to fight girls… but for you, I’ll make an exception.” He sneered as he turned to face the edge of the platform all the others moving out of his way. Applejack’s eye was caught by something glinting in the sunlight and she let a smile take over her features as she gripped at his armored hand.

“Ya… forgot one key detail about me…” she snarled through her chokehold.

“Oh really…? And what’s that?” he asked smirking. His smirk faded when he felt a blade slice through the hair that protruded from his helm and then for another to hook around his neck as a cold voice breathed in her ear.

“She doesn’t work alone.” Rainbow hissed. He froze up and his grip around Applejack’s neck loosened. She fell on the platform floor gasping for air and Rainbow grabbed the boy by the front of his armor tossing her swords to the ground to imbed into the dirt floor as she flew up into the air with him. “You know what my number one rule is buddy…?” he looked from her to the ground below nervously, as an earthbound he’d probably never been up this high without something under his feet. “You don’t mess with my friends and get away with it.” She replied her eyes cold as ice. She arched backwards in the air doing a backflip with him still in her hold before she flipped over and released him sending him crashing back to the dirt ground full force. His body left a crater but his armor protected him from it so the worst he would get was a concussion and a really sore back. She dusted her hands off and frowned in his direction as the bell sounded marking the end of the round. She touched back down on the ground and for once ignored the thousands of cheering people that surrounded her. She instead kneeled down beside the blonde whose helmet had fallen off in her struggle against her capturer. “Hey Hayseed, you alright?” she asked as Applejack still held onto her throat.

“Yeah… Ah’m fine sugar cube. Might have a bruise there but Ah’ll be fine.” She responded with a small chuckle. She playfully punched Rainbow in the arm as she looked up at her. “Saw what you did to French Fry over there, pretty impressive seismic toss for someone who can’t even bench two hundred.” She laughed as she stood and used her hammer for support as she got to her feet. Rainbow picked up her swords and sheathed them at her sides as she helped her friend off the platform.

“Yeah well, gravity helped a little there. So did being so pissed I swear I was seeing red.” She admitted with a small shrug. Applejack reached up and pinched her cheek.

“Awww, was little Dashie worried for lil ol’ Applejack…?” she laughed using a baby voice. Dash swatted away her hand.

“First off, I’m older than you by like two months, second, you sound weird as hell when you talk like that, and lastly, worried isn’t the word I’d use to describe it. I was just pissed at him for hurting you.” She replied flatly as she escorted Applejack back into the room waving off the nurses that offered to take her.

“Well shoot RD, you ruin all mah fun. Hey do they have water around here…? I could use some for my throat.” The farmer asked as they entered the locker room again. Rainbow Dash set her down on the bench and then noticed an ice chest where a few of the competitors were gathered around. She reached in and grabbed two waters from it walked back to the bench and handing on to AJ. “Whew, thanks RD… Ah wonder if the adults are gonna be any more lively than we were.” she questioned motioning towards the screen where a very large group of men, and a few dotted women, were gathering onto the huge platform.

“I would hope so, I mean they’re older than us right…? If they were worse it would be kind of statement towards today’s adults.” Rainbow observed. Applejack chuckled a little bit.

“Wow RD, ya actually sounded kinda smart there for a second…” Applejack observed a sly smirk on her face. Rainbow frowned at her.

“Hey, I’m a jock, not an idiot. I speak six different languages and make decent grades too. You’re a farm raised hay seed and you get better grades than most honor students. I think it’s safe to say neither of us are idiots… at least on paper.” She added quickly when Applejack opened her mouth to say something. She shut her jaw and turned her attention back to the TV. While they were both focused on the TV a volunteer worker for the competition came in wheeling racks of silver armor behind him.

His throat became shrouded in soft green aura as he spoke to the room. “Okay Round 1 winners, this is your Round 2 Armor. Put it on and if you want to swap out your weapons before the next round you can back in the training arena. When you’re done with your bronze armor please hand it to me and I will return it to our armory.” He announced. The group of thirty quickly lined up to get their armor, including the athletic pair. But Applejack’s eyes kept darting back to the screen, there was something about this Cas character that rubbed her the wrong way… and it wasn’t just the fact he was a complete ass hat. On the screen she froze a little when she saw his eyes slant towards her and a small smirk to cross his lips. She felt her blood run cold when she noticed his dark eyes meet hers… there was something seriously not right about him.

***

Back with Pinkie and Twilight the pair had just finished touring the museum and were currently walking out of the museum throwing their disguises off as they went down the steps. Twilight noticed the scooter waiting on the sidewalk like it had been there the entire time.

“Pinkie… didn’t you leave that thing up on the top floor…?” she asked pointing a skeptical finger at the moped.

“Well yeah, but did you really expect it to wait up there all day? Mopeds belong on the road Twilight! Now put on your helmet, I think I hear those guards coming!” she ordered as she hopped onto the scooter and dawned her own decorated helmet and offered out the lavender one to Twilight. Twilight bit her lip silently cursing the universe yet again for sticking her with her polar opposite for this trip before she grabbed the helmet and got on the seat behind Pinkie just as she revved the motor and six guards and their captain turned the corner and spotted them.

Pinkie was already laughing her head off as she popped a wheelie and sped off down the street snorting a little in her laugh as she blared her musical horn yet again leaving a trail of pink in her wake. The guards came to a halt at the side walk and panted heavily. One of the guards looked down the street Pinkie had taken off on and he squinted following the pink blur.

“Sir… I think the target is heading to St. Peter's Basilica…” he reported in his own language to his commanding officer. St. Peter's Basilica was the single most holy site in the city if the entire country. The commander pulled his phone out from his pocket and quickly dialed a number.

“Brother… I have troubling news. Yes, send out the entire task force… is it necessary…? Brother, with this one, I’m beginning to wonder if our entire military would be enough to bring her in…” he stated as he looked out onto his fair city with a grim face.

Pinkie giggled as she pulled into a skidding stop behind two large hedges and then she popped her head over the tops of them to look around. No one seemed to notice them at all so she grinned and tossed her helmet in the bushes behind her and grabbed Twilight by her arm.

“Come on Twiley! My fun radar is telling me that someone around here needs a heavy dose of happy!” She giggled hopping out of the bushes with Twilight in tow.

“Ah! Pinkie slow down! I need my bag and you made me drop my hat!” Twilight complained. Pinkie released her arm and tapped her foot impatiently while she went back into the bushes to grab the items. Her eyes kept darting back to the building where a single curl had gone straight and was pointing at it like an antennae and her body was pulling her in the direction too. Twilight came back out straightening her hat on her head with her messenger bag slung across her chest and resting on her hip. “There! Now we can- Ahh!!!” Twilight shouted when she was forcibly dragged by Pinkie into the main building which was a massive structure in its own, never mind the rest of the building that wrapped around the back. It reminded Twilight a lot of the castle she had grown up in. She barely had time to glance at the beautiful church as she was rushed through it by Pinkie who seemed to be sniffing the air like a bloodhound in the hunt. When at last Twilight started to jog beside Pinkie she let go of her arm and Twilight decided to ask a question. “You said there was someone here that needed your help…?” she asked the pink haired girl.

“Yeah totally! I’m getting this biiiiiiig boring wave of negative energy out from this place! And it’s all coming from one person! They obviously have never had an ounce of fun in their entire lives! I could feel it when we entered the city but now it’s like a big pressure in the front of my head and it’s driving me wild!” she explained as she expertly maneuvered through the complicated hallways like she had been living here her entire life. Twilight followed still confused by Pinkie’s shenanigans but that was nothing new. Pinkie had often sniffed her out when she was stressed and it seemed like she always knew just what to do to make her relax again. Her special talent was definitely making people happy. Pinkie suddenly came to a halt just outside a simple white door that looked exactly like the others they had already passed. On her head her fun antennae was pulling desperately towards the door. “This is it! You may want to cover your ears Twiley.” Pinkie warned as she pulled something out from behind a nearby potted plant.

Twilight’s eyes widened and she quickly ducked behind a stone bench that seemed to be carved out of the floor itself and covered her ears as Pinkie grinned from ear to ear holding a painted pink and blue cannon in her hands the fuse string in her hands.

“I’ve been waiting all day to test out this baby… face the full fury of my own patented dose of happy provided by my latest and greatest creation in party technology, THE PARTY CANNON!!!!” She shouted as she yanked the string. The cannon made a large boom and the solid stone door crumbled filling the hall with dust. Twilight coughed as she stood up and took her hat off to fan the dust away.

When the dust started to settle she heard two screams and she looked up to see Pinkie standing in the gaping hole in the wall grinning from ear to ear as confetti and streamers rained all around her. The two screams came from two nuns dressed in their garbs who were shaking on the ground staring up at her. One of them reached for a hand held radio that was by her feet but a third voice that was softer and only barley recognizable as a male’s stopped her.

“Do not bother Elisabetta, these girls mean no harm.” He said a gentle hand stopping hers as she was about to press the panic button. The nun looked to she shadowed figure and nodded slowly. A faint smile came across his face as he stepped into the light to reveal a boy no older than 12 in a simple white robe that hung loosely from his small frame. His soft white hair and gentle golden eyes fell on Pinkie. “Hello, my name is Angelo Ratzinger, why have you destroyed my bedroom door…?” he asked offering out a hand to the pink haired girl who just beamed and bounced forward and shook his hand so fast he was a little disheveled from it.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie at your service! As to why I blew down your door I sensed a realllllly big hole in the fun zone over here and it’s coming from YOU.” She giggled her bright blue eyes sparking as she grinned at him and let his hand go. He continued to shake it in the air for a few seconds before he gathered himself and righted himself once more. He cleared his throat and shook his head.

“I’m afraid you’re mistaken Miss Pie, I am perfectly content here. I have my studies and both Elisabetta and Gianna here are wonderful company.” He explained motioning to the two nuns who were dusting off their robes from the explosion. Twilight took that moment to pop her head in and look around nervously.

“Pinkie… I think the explosion might have got the attention of the guards…” she warned as she felt a high concentration of magic approaching them.

“Give me a minute Twiley! This kid is kidding himself here! He’s so wound up I could use him as a top and he’d spin until he was old and grey! You need 300 CC’s of fun and STAT!” She said as she danced around the boy playfully giggling. He watched her a little weary.

“I’m sorry… I don’t quite understand what you-“

“Halt in the name of Pope Benedict XVI!!!” Came a deep voice from down the hall.

“Whoopsies! No time to explain! Run Twiley I’ve got Mr. Stick in the Mud…!” she shouted. The magic user didn’t hesitate and bolted down the hall. Pinkie grabbed her cannon from the ground and stuffed it in her hair before she grinned and grabbed the white haired and robed boy by the arm and dragged him out of the room.

“She’s got High Grandson Angelo!!! Get her men!” a rather large pegasus guard shouted. Men in pure white guard uniforms rushed at her from down the hall and she giggled as she threw the panicked looking boy over her shoulder and made a face at the guards by pulling down her eye lid and sticking out her tongue before giggling and bolting down the hall faster than they could possibly hope to catch up to. That didn’t stop them from trying though. Pinkie was in snorting laughter as she caught up to Twilight who was already running for the exit.

“Miss Pie!!! What is the meaning of this?! You have no idea what they’ll do to get me back! I’m not just any normal kid! I’m the grandson of the Pope for crying out loud!!!” he called back to his kidnapper. Pinkie merely giggled at him.

“So…? Twiley here is the personal protégé of Princess Celestia herself and I kidnap her like this all the time~!” she replied as they broke through the front doors of the church. Twilight bounded down the stairs and Pinkie merely sat on the railing that lead down them and slid down squealing in delight while Angelo screamed in fright.

“What are you doing Miss Pie?! I can’t leave the church! I’m bound to it by duty!!!” he called back. Pinkie blew a razzberry at that.

“Duty schmooty! You’re a kid! You’re supposed to be out playing right now! Not buried nose deep in some dusty old books!”

“I’ll have you know those books have been passed down in my family for over… wait… did you say earlier that this girl is the student of the Solar Goddess…?” he asked the Pink haired girl glancing at the magic user who had just caught up with them again.

“Yuppers! Twilight, introduce yourself while I get the scooter!” she ordered as she tossed the boy to the ground and bolted for the bushes. Twilight groaned and offered out a hand to the boy.

“I’m really sorry about this but trying to stop Pinkie is like trying to stop the ocean from moving. My name Twilight Sparkle, and no I do not usually have these wings, they’re just a side effect from a spell I was trying out yesterday.” She quickly lied to the boy. He took her offered hand and smiled.

“It is a true honor to meet the student of one of the Daughters. But I must ask… why are you here in my fair Rome with this… odd companion…?” he asked as Pinkie popped out of the bushes wheeling a pink moped with her. Twilight laughed at that and smiled at him.

“It’s a long story… but if I may offer a piece of advice…?” when he motioned for her to continue she did. “Pinkie Pie is never wrong about these kinds of things… and she knows exactly what she’s doing… even if it doesn’t seem like it. But she IS pretty wild at times… “ she chuckled as she watched the girl motion for Twilight and the girl didn’t hesitate to hop on the bike behind her and offered out her hand to the boy. He seemed to hesitate.

‘These girls… they are… odd. But…’ he looked at the earnest and excited look of the pink haired girl and the down to earth accepting look of her purple haired companion. ‘They’re much more real than anything I’ve ever seen.’ He smiled a little and reached for the robe he was wearing. He threw it off and into the bushes revealing a pair of simple white slacks under them and a white dress shirt as well to match. But what caught their eyes was the wings that out stretched from his back. He couldn’t have been any older than 13 but his wing span was already larger than most grown adults, and they were the softest purest white either had ever seen in any pegasus.

There was a shout from the entrance and all their heads quickly snapped to it. Angelo quickly turned back to face them his blue eyes wide when he saw the head guard running at them. “Go! I shall follow from the air!” he ordered as he took to the air himself and Pinkie revved the engine a sped out into the city weaving through the crowd of people that walked through the front courtyard. When she came back out into the open street Angelo came to glide beside them as they sped through the traffic and he skillfully weaved as well.

“The entire city force is going to be after us! We need to get to somewhere they won’t think to look!” Twilight called over the sounds of the traffic.

“I’ve been looking out at this city from my room my entire life! I have it memorized by now. Take a left up here!” Angelo called pointing to the street ahead of them. Pinkie complied making a sharp turn that cut off more than a few cars who blared their horns in response. “Great! Now follow me!” he shouted as he flew ahead a little and Pinkie again listened as she followed his every turn through the maze like city and sped through many different back alleyways dodging the sirens that always seemed to be just around the corner. When they came to a large plaza he landed and Pinkie stopped the bike and looked to him. “Park the bike on that rack over there and then blend in with the crowd!” he hissed as they heard sirens coming up the street. Both girls hopped off the scooter and Pinkie quickly parked it at a moped station that had many scooters along it, some even the same bright pink as her own. She then rejoined Twilight and Angelo who had merged with the crowd.

The plaza was filled with the sound of sirens and many of the people halted as they watched officers in uniform begin to break through the crowd. Twilight bit her lip nervously as she watched them scan all the faces in the crowd carefully. It wouldn’t be long until they were spotted. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a soft white dove land on a cardboard cutout in front of a restaurant. A little light bulb went off in her head and she turned to Pinkie.

“Pinkie, do you still have those card board cut outs of us and the girls…?” she asked her pink haired companion.

“Yeah, of course I do. I never leave home without-“

“Get them out here. Just the ones of me and you though.” She ordered quickly as she charged her hands with her magic. Pinkie quickly reached into her bag and brought out two folded cardboard cut outs and handed them to Twilight. She tossed each of them to the ground and then quickly plucked a feather from Angelo’s wing. He winced retracting the appendage.

“Ow! Miss Sparkle what was the purpose of-“

“Shhh!” she hissed through her teeth as she concentrated on the three objects that now glowed in her magenta magic. Slowly the card board cut outs unfolded and began to shake a little while the feather swirled around like a mini tornado that began to grow in size. Twilight furred her brow in concentration and grit her teeth groaning a little at the effort. When at last her magic began to recede the officers were only a few meters away and she sighed in relief at the results. Before them three mirror images of themselves stood blank faced before they blinked and shook their heads like they were snapping out of a trance. They bolted out of the crowd and ran for the moped rack; the imposter Pinkie and Twilight hopped on the scooter and sped away with the fake Angelo hot on their tails. Hearing the commotion the officers all looked in time to see them all turning down a street and quickly ran for their own vehicles to pursue them. The sirens faded away down the street and the three of them let out a breath they didn’t know they’d been holding. Pinkie burst out in giggles and hugged Twilight twirling her around in her excitement.

“That was super-duper totally awesome Twilight!!! I TOLD you your head has the BEST ideas!” she squealed as she set her friend back down and beamed ear to ear as she bounced in place. Twilight righted herself a little dizzy from the spinning as she adjusted the hat on her head.

“Thank you, Illusionary magic isn’t my strong point but that one should buy us a couple of hours.” Twilight reasoned pointing in the direction that the imposters and coppers had sped off in.

“Okie dokie loki! That’s plenty of time to pump some life into Angelo here…! Hmm… I don’t like that name so much… it isn’t fun enough… oh! I know! I now nickname you Gelo (Jell-O)!” she declared with a grin a the boy who was her exact height. He gave a glance at the more sensible of the pair and gave a slight frown.

“Doesn’t Gelo seem a bit… silly?” he asked confused.

“Well duh! Nicknames are SUPPOSED to be silly! That’s what makes them fun! That’s your first lesson on fun today Gelo~!” she sang as she hopped around him one of her eyes opened and she stopped in midair tapping her chin in thought as she looked at the boy. “Hmmm… this isn’t going to work… If you’re going to be running around with us you have to lose the ‘I am Holier than thou’ look… otherwise those guards and officers are going to be able to spot you a mile away!” she reasoned as she lowered back down to the ground as if accepting gravity once more.

Twilight looked at him raising an eyebrow. “I see what you mean Pinkie… when the princess used to take me out she always dressed differently to blend in… Oh I never wished more that we had Fluttershy or Rarity with us…” she sighed running a hand through her hair. Angelo looked down at his clothing raising an eyebrow.

“What’s wrong with what I’m wearing…?” he asked slightly offended. Pinkie pulled out a map from her bag and looked at it searching for something.

“The shopping district is that way! Let’s go and get him something more normal to wear~!” she giggled pulling him by the arm his soft white hair that hung over most of his face flying up a little in the sudden motion. Twilight didn’t miss that he had quickly reached up to make sure his bangs stayed over his forehead but didn’t want to question it as she calmly walked after the pair a gentle smile on her face as she went. Ten minutes later the small group arrived at a department store called Tad and Pinkie was already dragging Gelo towards the boys section. Twilight looked down at what she was wearing and frowned at another thought.

“Hey Pinkie, do you think we should change our clothes too…? We’ll avoid the guard’s attention if we do.” She reasoned as she came up behind Pinkie. The pink haired girl paused and tapped her chin in thought.

“You’re right Twiley, you go find outfits for us and I’ll take care of Gelo. You know my tastes by now right…?” she giggled pointing at the pink dress she currently wore. Twilight laughed and nodded before walking off to the girls section of the store. Pinkie turned back to the boy smiling as she saw him curiously fingering the fabric of a denim sleeveless jacket. “Ever worn anything besides white…?” she asked taking the jacket off the rack. Surprisingly he shook his head.

“My grandfather said it was below me to wear anything other than the purest of colors…” he explained without looking up from the fabric. Pinkie frowned a little before giggling.

“That’s just silly! How can wearing a color taint your soul…?” she mused as she held up the shirt to him to see how it looked. “I think it looks good on you! Here, come with me, I’m no Rarity but I’ll have you looking 20% cooler in ten seconds flat~!” she giggled. Across the city at the coliseum Rainbow Dash would mysteriously find her ears burning at the use of one of her favorite lines.

Angelo stood confused as the bizzare girl would zip from rack to rack and then back to him to hold up something against him for show and then shake her head and zip back to a different rack. Eventually he had an armful of clothes and she was shoving him towards the dressing rooms. “Miss Pie I-“

“Ah-ah-ah, first rule Gelo, Miss Pie is my Mamma, you call me Pinkie.” She ordered waggling a finger at the boy.

“Well if you insist… Pinkie, I don’t understand what the purpose of this activity is… why must I try on so many outfits…?” he asked curiously.

“To see which one you like silly!” she giggled. “Even Twilight’s little brother Spike knows that! And he’s younger than you!” she mused.

“Which one… I like…?” he asked tilting his head confused. “Are some of them not worthy…?” he asked staring at the clothes pile he had tossed on the chair in the dressing room.

“Well you might not like how some of them feel… or you may not like how they look on you… wait… Gelo, have you seriously NEVER tried on clothes before…?” she asked the boy. He blushed a little and scratched the back of his head.

“Well… I have never been outside my sanctuary before… and the servants do most everything for me… even when I would prefer they didn’t…” he explained a little embarrassed by the detail. Pinkie whistled to show her surprise. Well you pick out which one you like and I’ll go find you some shoes. Give me yours so I can check the size.” She said holding out her hand and motioning for him to hand over the footwear. He looked down and quickly unlaced the shoes and handed them to Pinkie. She giggled and hopped off closing the stall door behind her. He walked over and locked it before turning to the pile of clothes and then glancing at the mirror biting his lip a little nervously.

Five minutes later Pinkie came bouncing back in to find his dressing room door open and staring at himself in the mirror with a brightly colored striped shirt on and completely opposite pair of brown pants on. The shirt was on messily and he was fighting with one of the buttons before he spotted Pinkie in the mirror and he turned around quickly his ice blue eyes wide in shock.

“The um… clothing refuses to cooperate with me.” He explained his cheeks a little flustered. Pinkie smiled and shook her head as she walked towards him setting a box with a pair of regular tennis shoes on the ground.

“You silly billy! That’s not how you wear clothes! Unless it’s inside out Tuesday… here. Take the shirt back off.” She giggled as she picked up a different shirt from the pile. He quickly unbuttoned the shirt and stripped it off throwing it at the pile with a grunt and a glare. He tried to adjust the simple white tank top he wore as Pinkie handed him a simple T-shirt with a band name and logo on the front of it. It was pitch black and the writing looked like it was blood. He stared at it horrified.

“I-I don’t think that shirt would be appropriate at all… it looks like something Discord would wear to mock my grandfather openly…” he commented shying away from it.

“Hmmm… no black huh… don’t let Luna or Twilight hear you say that. It’s one of their favorite colors to wear. Here! Wear this instead then! And these!” she said offering him the cut off sleeveless jean jacket and a pair of light blue slightly baggy denim cargo pants to match. He raised an eyebrow but Pinkie had already walked out and shut the door behind her. He changed into them easily enough since he at least knew how to put on pants and all he had to do was slip the jacket on over his tank top.

“Umm… Pinkie? Are you sure this is what children my age wear…? It looks a bit… oh what is the word in English…?” he asked aloud as Pinkie came back in and smiled at his appearance.

“Normal. It looks normal. Here, the shoes are plain white. I guessed you could at least wear those.” She said offering him the white skater style shoes. He again eyed them and then her questioningly.

“You Equestrians are so bizzare…” he mumbled as he slipped on the shoes and turned to look at himself in the mirror. “Well… I suppose if does not look that bad… And I admit many of the children I’ve seen from my window do dress like this… it just feels… weird.” He noted as he rubbed his arms not used to wearing anything less than a dress shirt.

“Hmmm… you’re still missing something…” Pinkie hummed rubbing her chin and walking around him like a predator circling its prey. He cast a curious glance at her as she snapped her fingers and her hair seemed to spring with her jump. “Accessories! Oh Rarity would have a fit if I forgot those! Wait here.” She ordered before zooming off. Angelo stared at where she had run off to for a few seconds before he turned back to face the mirror. He fingered his hair a little trying to get it to spike up a little like he had seen other tweens do but without disturbing the bangs that covered most of his face. It was almost impossible. He frowned and gave up on the effort just as Pinkie came back in with an arm full of various accessories. She deposited them at her feet and then zipped around him snapping on bracelet’s, slipping a belt around his waist, hanging a necklace around his neck, and then placing a hat on his head.

When he opened his eyes once more and recovered from his head spinning when he had tried to watch her work he stared at himself in the mirror again. He was shocked by what the little trinkets had done. They had completed the look and he couldn’t help but admire that outcome. The belt hung loosely from his waist but still held up his pants so they wouldn’t end up slouching, he had a single silver cross bracelet on his right wrist and a matching silver rosary around his neck. On his head a baby blue fedora with a long white feather attached to it sat and even pushed his hair out a little so it looked spikey. He smiled at the result and nodded as he turned around.

“Well… I do like this… this is… nice.” He commented the faintest smile present on his lips. The first sign of a smile he’d had since they’d left St Peter’s Basilica. It in turn of course made Pinkie beam from ear to ear.

“Good~! And Twilight should be just about done with our clothing…” she mused holding up a hand and slowly lowering one of her fingers in a count down when all five were tucked away in her palm she pointed showily behind her and Twilight turned the corner.

“Hey Pinkie I got you a- Oh…! Angelo, I almost didn’t recognize you!” Twilight exclaimed almost dropping the clothes she was holding in her arms when she saw him.

“Thaaaaat’s the point silly willy~! Come on! Let’s change!” Pinkie giggled dragging Twilight further down the hall to an empty stall. They both emerged minutes later, Pinkie now in bright bubbly pink skinny jeans with layered blue and yellow tank tops and a hot pink jacket over it and the same light blue color on the flats she wore. Twilight’s outfit made him cringe a little however, she wore black skinny jeans with a form fitting band t-shirt not unlike the one he had rejected, with the same dark color scheme, long fishnets that went all the way up her arms, a spike bracelet on each of her wrists and a pair of pitch black combat boots on each of her feet with spikes poking out from the sides of them, she looked to also be wearing thick eyeliner now as well. Two dangling spikey cross earrings moved with her every step their ruby center catching his eye.

Twilight noticed his look and smiled nervously at him. “Rooming with the princess of the night for a few months gives you an interesting taste in clothing… I found out that the Goth look makes a great cover.” She explained with a small nervous smile at him. He collected himself at last and managed to form some words.

“A-actually… it doesn’t look so bad… on you at least.” He added scratching his cheek a little and looking away a bit when he felt them heat up.

“Awwww, Gelo is blushing! I think that means he likes you Twilight.” Pinkie teased eliciting quick denials from both of them and more blushing between them both. She giggled at their reactions and grinned at them. Before skipping up to the front counter and placing a pile of price tags on the counter. The cashier looked at her funny but recognized the clothing all three wore as the store’s brands. She totaled the purchase and Pinkie placed a gold coin on the counter which made the woman’s eyes widen in shock. She examined it closely and bit it to see if it would bend. When she determined it was real she sputtered at the girl. Pinkie looked over her shoulder at Gelo. “Hey Gelo, how do you say keep the change in Italian…?”

“Tieni il resto”

“Tieni il resto” Pinkie repeated to the lady before hopping out of the store with her two companions close behind. Once outside it was Angelo’s turn to ask a question.

“Where did you get that kind of money Pinkie…?” he asked the girl curious as to how she got a hold of such a rare currency. Pinkie giggled and reached into her purse pulling out a jingling coin sack.

“Me and Twiley have LOADS of them, as for how we got them… well it’s a long story. Maybe we can tell you over lunch?” she offered pointing at a restaurant across the street. Angelo felt his stomach rumble and quickly brought a hand to it.

“I… think I’d like that.” He replied with a small yet genuine smile on his face. It made Pinkie grin in response. He was opening up and starting to have fun! She did a mental victory dance as she bounded across the street to the restaurant.

While he walked Angelo felt something on his forehead tingle. His hand went up to it in response and he felt himself dizzy a little making Twilight catch him before he could fall in the middle of the empty street. “Are you okay Angelo…?” the magic user asked the boy. He recovered quickly and nodded as he righted himself.

“Yes… I just got a little bit of a headache all of a sudden… I must be a little hungrier than I thought.” He lied quickly. Twilight bought it as they approached the restaurant and he let his hand remain on his forehead his fingers brushing along the slightly raised surface of the hidden crest beneath his hair. His grandfather’s words rang in his ears.

‘You are a goddess sent messenger Angelo… as such you bear the same title of her own daughters. You are above everyone else, but if they knew that you would be taken away from this place… do you want to be taken away child…?’

‘No grandfather…’ a much younger Angelo replied.

‘Good, remember, they cannot know of your true nature. As such you will leave by these two rules… you will never leave this sanctuary. For here you are safe from the outside world. And second, you will never EVER reveal your crest and wings at the same time… am I clear?’

‘Yes sir…’

Angelo let his hand fall to his side as he looked at the two girls who now sat across from him in the booth they sat at. ‘They can’t know… I’ll protect them from the truth… it would only make them sad. And grandfather will be more forgiving if I don’t tell them everything… but I will have this day… just this one day to be an ordinary boy, with ordinary friends.’ He thought before a genuine smile crossed his lips and he looked down at his menu to decide what he wanted to order.

***~~~ Okay, hold your shit people. Yes, that IS an alicorn OC I just through into the mix. Is he going to be a main part of this story? No. He will be here for two, three chapters tops and then he will dissapear into the void only to be mentioned in the very distant future. He was a nessisary plot device and I for one am not against Alicorn OC's as long as A. It is NOT a self insert... quite frankly I dislike those, unless it's a part of the fourth wall breaking joke, then it's just funny. And B. The entire story does not revolve around this OC. Angelo follows these two rules so I let him come into existance. Now cool your shit and wait for the next part. I'm still editing it but as with all my chapters that are split up it should be released soon after this one. That is all, carry on.~~~***

Chapter 12.2

(***AN: Well, now that the madness that is university life has ended for the year I can get back to what I've wanted to do for months now. Focus on THIS lovely work of art I have forming. That is of course if my younger sister will allow me the use of my own laptop from time to time. For now, here. Have a good Shadow branded dose of hilarity as an apology for taking such a long time to update. Over 30,000 words in one chapter, you might want to take a bathroom break now so you don't wet yourselves reading this.***)

How I Became An Alicorn

Chapter 12: You, Me, and Italy Part 2

Angelo looked up over his cup of spiced herbal tea at the two girls across from him. “That’s amazing… and this spell that you found is what gave you those wings Twilight…?” he asked looking at the girl who had altered the tale slightly to protect the true secret.

“Yes, although it had different effects on my other friends and my brother. He looks all grown up now and he’s only eight years old!” she chuckled as she finished drinking her own drink her meal having been completed a while ago. Pinkie was on her fifth helping of dessert, which Twilight had let her have after she had eaten real food first.

“That’s an amazing work of magic… my grandfather would most likely use it to gift his followers or something in the like… But um… what exactly did the spell do to you Pinkie…?” he asked the girl who was currently devouring a bowl of gelato. She looked up licking the remnants from her face.

“It gave me a super dose of Pinkie sense. I can feel the entire universe around me shifting and changing. Past, present, and future are as easy to see as the broad side of a barn. It basically made me a time lord.” She explained with a happy giggle. Two drinks were spat out simultaneously as they stared at the girl in shock. “I’m just kidding you two! Jeesh… where’s you sense of humor…?” she mused rolling her eyes and avoiding the spray of tea that came at her. “But seriously, it did give me a super charge on my Pinkie Sense. It’s like I can feel what’s gonna happen all over the city… example, in three seconds that waiter is going to trip over his shoe lace and his tray of food is going to go flying.” She stated pointing at a waiter that had just come out of the kitchen with a tray of hot food. Sure enough three seconds passed and the waiter tripped over his loose laces sending the food flying in their direction. Pinkie reached out her hand catching the tray and then each dish on it perfectly, even the drinks which never spilt a drop. She smiled at the waiter as applause broke out and she bowed a little at it as she handed the waiter back the tray. She giggled when he thanked her and then sat back down at the table.

Angelo stared in shock at her and Twilight just smiled. “H-how in the Creator’s holy name did you do that…?” he asked the pink haired girl who just giggled at his wide eyed stare.

“Earth-bound’s are naturally better at things that are physical so my reflexes are reallllllly sharp and I used to balance rocks for fun when I was finished with my chores back on our rock farm. I beat my sister’s every time.” She boasted with a wink. Angelo was still a little astonished by the stunt as he looked back down at his steaming spiced tea.

“Wait… excuse my ignorance, but what exactly is a rock farm…?” He asked the girl before she could resume eating. She looked up at him her own bright blue eyes wide in surprise.

“You don’t- Oh, right… never left the church. Umm, it’s a farm that cultures minerals and gemstones. Ours is in the middle of a really big mountain range that’s super famous for its mineral reserves. Which is why Granny Pie and Grampy Pie settled there so long ago!” she explained making little pictures in her ice cream with her spoon to give examples.

“Ohhhh… I suppose that does make sense… wait… don’t minerals take thousands of years to form? How can you possibly culture them if they take so long to form…?” he asked his interest in the matter shocking both girls opposite him.

“Well that’s… again Earth-bound related… we have our own magic after all. We grow plants much better than others, we never get lost because we’re tied in with the earth’s inner magnet so we have like built in compasses, and the earth itself tends to obey our desires… so what takes a few thousand years to form normally only takes a year or so with our methods… it’s why Equestria is one of the leading producers of gems.” Pinkie continued explaining further after that and all the while Angelo looked honestly fascinated with learning all about it. He even got Twilight to start talking about the magical abilities of the unicorn race as well. And one can only guess how long THAT conversation lasted.

It wasn’t until one that they paid their bill (again with a single gold coin which probably made the waiter’s head implode) and they continued conversing as they walked through the city. Within half an hour they had him speaking and laughing like he was just completely normal. They stopped and stared at many of the cities sights and at one thirty exactly the group found themselves in front of the Trevi fountain yet again. Twilight smiled as she stared up at the crystal clear waters and the coins that littered bottom of the deep pool. She closed her eyes as she felt the cool wind wash over her. Beside her Angelo sat in a similar position his wings unfurled slightly as he let the wind currents ruffle his feathers. Pinkie was of course hopping around the fountain people watching as well as making friendly conversation with anyone who happened to talk to her.

Angelo opened one ice blue eye and glanced over at the black garbed girl beside him. Her outfit no longer disturbed him at all. Actually it calmed him a little as it now seemed to suit her odd personality that set her so far away from her bright bubbly companion. She also came from the same sheltered background he did. Well… partially. She understood what it meant to be in a hierarchy and could associate with the pampering that came with it. Although hers was not even as close to how bad his was. She at least knew how to take care of herself, and her parents weren’t even nobles. They just worked in the castle as scholars and advisors. But she had been raised around Alicorn’s, she was taught by one, and one had been her babysitter when she was younger and was still very close to her family. He again fingered the crest on his forehead.

‘Would she understand if she knew the truth…?’ he asked himself.

Behind him he didn’t see Pinkie frown a little as she was chatting up a red and yellow haired woman who wanted her to take a picture of her and her friends sitting on the fountain. She held the camera in her hands and absently took the picture as requested. Her actual focus was on the boy who was, for what had to be the hundredth time that day, running his fingers along his forehead that was covered by his bangs. Her eyes saddened slightly but brightened when she turned to return the camera to the woman who thanked her for the help. When her gaze fell back on the boy his hand had dropped to his lap and he had turned to face Twilight opening his mouth to speak.

‘Come on Gelo… you can do it…’ she silently encouraged the boy. The action however was stopped when the three heard the approaching sound of sirens coming towards the plaza. And the distinct sound of a musical horn as well. “Oh no…” Pinkie groaned facepalming just as the moped sped over the hill and skidded to a stop only a few feet in front of them. The illusion Pinkie winked at the real one before all three faded leaving behind two cardboard cut outs and a single white feather behind. Pinkie acted fast shoving the cardboard look-alike’s in her bag and hoping on the scooter dawning her helmet just as the officers screeched to a halt on the outer rim of the plaza. “Get on the scooter if you want to make it out of this country without a criminal record!” Pinkie shouted at Twilight. The magic user hopped onto the moped without another word and Pinkie quickly sped off with Angelo soaring right beside them.

“Twilight! Reach into my back pocket and call Rippy! Tell him that I have the Dove and the Cannoli’s are on our tail! Then text everyone else to meet us at the docks ASAP!!” She ordered to the girl. Twilight didn’t bother to ask why she just did as instructed. Beside them Angelo roared with laughter.

“You know, when I woke up this morning the last thing I imagined doing was running through the city in street clothes from the entire armed forces. And now that I am… I love it!” he laughed throwing his head back in laughter. Behind them the group heard something else. It sounded like… an angry mob…?

“Oh great… Twilight! When you get Rippy on the phone just give it to me!” she called. Twilight quickly placed the phone against the girl’s ear and she heard Riptide’s voice speak to her.

“Pinkie…? What’s happening? Is that sirens I hear in the back ground?!” he asked his voice raising in an attempt to speak over them.

“Yes! I have the Dove and the Cannoli’s are on our tail, but it looks like the Puppy and the Freckle Show brought their fans with them!” she shouted into the phone.

“Oh for the love of… I’ll be in position. Just get here, and FAST.” He ordered before the connection went dead. Pinkie’s eyes narrowed on the road ahead of them and zoomed around a corner so fast they could almost taste pavement.

“Twilight, text the girls quickly, I’m going to try and shake the cops off our trail!” she called over her shoulder. Twilight quickly started tapping away on the phone and Pinkie threw her purse at the flying boy beside her. “There should be a ton of water balloons in there! Throw them back at the patrol cars to throw them off course!” she ordered. They boy saluted her still laughing as he maneuvered to be flying backwards now as he pelted the cars with water balloons.

“Take that over bearing protectors! And send it to my grandfather too!” he laughed as the onslaught continued. Pinkie felt a smile cross her face as his laughter was contagious and his sudden shift in behavior was hilarious.

“Oh this is going to be one hell of a story to tell the Princesses later…!” Pinkie mused as she revved the engine and honked her musical horn as she flew over a particularly large hill.

***

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had just finished watching the older adults fight while they were practicing in the training room. They were now walking back to the arena where all the first round winners were supposed to be meeting for the announcement of the second round competition. Their silver armor glinted in the midday sun as they stepped out into the arena with the remainder of their age group behind them. The huge raised platform was gone and instead the announcer’s table was now raised up and Cas stood at the head of it holding a microphone.

“And now joining is the last group, our fiery spirited teens!” he announced. The crowd showed their approval with a deafening roar. The group merged with the already present crowd of people in the arena. Applejack and Rainbow Dash stood side by side staring up at him each with a look that could have killed if either of them were magic users. “And with their entrance we can now select this year’s second round special theme!” he announced his golden armor glinting in the sunlight as he held up a similarly colored remote. When he pressed the button the large screen that acted like a scoreboard flashed prismatic colors and then a spinning roulette wheel appeared on the screen. It took off in a spin the pointer making a noise as it turned and when it finally settled on a number Cas beamed.

“Alright, that’s set number four, according to my chart that’s the Partner Round! Meaning you’ll all be paired up and you’ll be facing opposite teams. You’ll have to have working coordination with your partners for this to work!” Ultime announced as he read off his prompt sheet. “Whoa, not so easy to form a dynamic like THAT when all your potential partners just tried to knock you off a platform to get into this!” he laughed. Cas laughed with him grinning.

“Yes my friend but that is what makes this particular event my favorite. It’s a true challenge to trust someone to watch your back, I myself first won this competition with this type of challenge. Now my partner is still a very close friend of mine, he’s retired now but he still comes every year. Actually his daughter won the children’s cup. They’re sitting right there in the front row, can I get a round of applause for my old friend Skull Smasher?!” he asked the crowd who roared in response as the camera was now focused on a very large man whose rippling biceps alone were larger than Applejack’s entire body. He had a rugged red beard but was bald on top and had a large scar over his left eye which was covered by an eye patch… but despite the look he was grinning and waving at the camera with his daughter on his shoulder waving as well while his rather attractive wife leaned on his other side smiling at the camera.

“Whoa nelly… that guy looks like he eats nails for breakfast… without any milk.” Applejack commented.

“That guy looks like Nick Fury and Juggernaut’s love child.” Rainbow added.

“That guy looks like he could go toe to toe with an Ursa Major and it’d run away screaming for its mommy.” Applejack countered grinning. Rainbow grinned back.

“He’s so buff he could take both Princesses in an arm wrestle… at ONCE.” She sneered.

“He’s so buff he could walk up to Discord’s statue, crack him open like and egg, and then punch him so hard his crooked grin turns STRAIGHT.” Applejack chuckled. Their back and forth banter however was cut off when Cas continued to speak.

“Alright, with the type of competition selected we will now randomly select the pairs and matches. Ultime…?” he prompted turning to his co-host and handing him the remote.

“Right then, here are the pairs!” he called pressing the button on the remote and making the ninety individual faces appear on the screen. They stacked together like playing cards and then were dispensed in pairs. Rainbow and Applejack were both praying to the creator that they ended up together and not against one another. Their prayers apparently were heard. Rainbow cheered waging her tail as she hovered midair and high fived Applejack. “Annnd now here’s the matches.” He continued pressing the button and bringing up a branching tree chart that matched one pair up against another. The pair they were up against both looked like older adults. Applejack spotted them in the crowd that surrounded them and so did Dash. Applejack cracked her knuckles together and Dash flexed her grip on her dual blades as she grinned wickedly. The two older men swallowed hard at the sight.

“Now in true tradition of the Gladiator Spirit this is how the fights will work, the arena will be dived into individual sections, each section with its own match inside it, when one side loses they will be escorted out and replaced with a team that has already won their match, the further into the competition you get the more room you’ll have to fight in. When we’ve reached the semifinals we’ll take a short break so that our medical staff can recover you and then the battle will commence. The winning team will of course face off against the king, that’s me, in the finals. Are we ready to duel?!” he called. There was a draw of weapons as the fighters all cheered along with the crowd. With the air around for miles shaking with their show of excitement tall walls of white stone rose from the dirt ground sectioning off the matches.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash looked around at the rather cramped space. Applejack tightened her grip on her hammer as she stared around at the walls. She frowned slightly.

“Ah’m not likin’ the change in scenery so much… how about you RD?” She asked the pegasus. Rainbow had already drawn her blades and was running them along the wall nearest to her. It left a groove in its wake.

“They made a big mistake… they didn’t enchant these walls. There’s going to be an awful lot of rubble when we’re done here.” She chuckled side glancing at the much older men across from them who wielded a shield and spear combo along with a cross bow. The two girls only smiled and go back to back just as the silver haired old timer with the cross bow fired off a wave of arrows. In a flash Rainbow drew her swords and deflected the arrows with a swift whirlwind of movement. The arrows lay useless and sliced evenly in half on the dirt floor and Applejack rushed forward from behind her hammer drawn. The sword wielder came up blocking the blow with his broad sword and he grit his teeth before managing to push her back. While he was distracted by the hammer Applejack swiftly faltered and buckled and rolled under him popping up behind him and delivering a swift chop to the back of his neck causing him to cripple to the ground unconscious, seconds later his darker haired partner met the same fate when Dash hit him in the back of his head with the handle of one of her blades. She ‘tsked’ as she shook her head.

“I really hope the next batch is better than that, I thought elders were supposed to be more experienced than us young shits.” Rainbow sighed as she watched the walls around them lower to reveal a rather slimy looking pair, one magic user with throwing knives the another with an axe slung over his shoulder. “Oh. That’s much better." She flicked her wrist to flip her swords to face outwards and then grinned at the pair and outstretched a finger beckoning to them. “Let’s dance boys.”

Applejack laughed when she saw them redden in the face and their eyes harden. She put down her hammer in the dirt and braced herself when the one with the axe came at her. “Ya’ll weren’t payin’ much attention to our round were you…?” she asked the much taller male. He growled and spat a little in her face.

“Filthy little mud walkers like you aren’t worth watching.” The magic user snarled. Applejack frowned and used her free hand to wipe the spittle from her face and she stared at it for a few seconds before her sharp green eyes came back to his own steel grey ones. She grabbed the axe from him and tossed it into the wall before smashing her head into his causing his crest to spark as he roared in pain. She reached behind her and grabbed his partner from where he was watching in astonishment at her brash movement. She hoisted the pair up in the air by their chest plates and snarled.

“Let me teach ya’ll one important lesson about earth-bounds.” She spun around in a tight circle and released them sending them flying towards the wall, she picked up her hammer from beside herand threw it in the same direction. The pair of magic users slammed against the wall hard and then when the hammer connected with them they smashed through it and were laying groaning on the pile of ruble that remained of the wall. “We’re not any better or worse off than any other race. And we don’t take kindly to ya’ll flauntin’ your stuff like you’re the bee’s knee’s.” she snarled as she removed the hammer from their dented armor. Even with the enchantments on them it had still but a thick dent in it. The sight made the audience go silent. “RD, finish these two off, Ah’ll do something Ah’ll regret later if Ah do it.” She snarled. Rainbow Dash sprinted over to both of them her rose colored eyes glaring at them.

“Not cool you guys.” She huffed before knocking them both on the helm and rendering them unconscious. When the medics came over to take them away and the crumbling walls were being lowered into the ground RD walked over to her partner placing a hand on her shoulder. “Hey, Applejack, you okay pal? Those jerks aren’t even worth being mad at.” She sneered glancing back at the pair that were being loaded onto stretchers.

“Ah know Dash… they just… UGH! Ah just hate it when people look down on mah race like we’re back in the pre-Discord era… it’s just aggravating.” Applejack growled slamming her fist into the nearest wall causing it to crack a little under her fist. She lowered her arm letting the stone’s dust slide off the gauntlets. Rainbow glanced up and saw that their new opponents were coming up behind them.

“Well in the words of coach, channel that anger Apple, we’ve got company.” She grunted turning to face the pair and looking around to realize she now had enough room to properly use her dual swords. Rainbow Dash was behind one of them just as he reached for her and when he noticed her absence he reflexively raised a hand behind his head to block the blow she would have delivered. His partner leaped away just in time to avoid what would have been a devastating kick to his lower jaw courteously of Applejack. The blonde righted herself as she turned around and released a breath.

“Yer right RD… No sense in lettin’ it get ta me now… now hold still sir, Ah promise Ah’ll make this as quick and painless as possible.” She said grabbing her hammer and slinging it over her shoulder. The brown haired man’s eyes widened as he raised a circular shield in defense against her as she rushed at him.

The pair of girls faced off against six more teams with moderate ease, they got a few scratches and bruises in the process when their opponents managed to get a few lucky shots in but other than that they were more just winded from rushing around so much. According to the match up board this would be the last battle for them before the semifinal match. Lucky for them cold water was available to them any time they asked one of the medics for some so they could at least cool down a bit. Applejack was currently draining one such bottle when the walls were falling to reveal their next opponents. She tossed the bottle back over her shoulder when she was finished with it one of the medics catching it out of reflex.

Across from them two pretty tall men stood, one with long blue hair that was partially tied up wielding a claymore in his hands and the other with long spikey red hair that seemed to have the motto of ‘Screw gravity, I do what I want.’ He wielded a pair of circular bladed weapons that Applejack didn’t know the name of. The red head was a magic user but his blue haired companion was an earth-bound like her. Applejack nudged her partner with her elbow.

“Hey, RD, what are those wheel things in his hands…?” she asked Rainbow glanced over and her eyebrows raised a little in surprise.

“Whoa, those are pretty rare. They’re chakrams, an Indian weapon… they’re like Japanese shuriken’s, or my Hurricane Blades, throwing weapons meant to do devastating damage… those ones look different though… and since he’s a magic user I bet he has them enchanted somehow.” She reported as his emerald eyes watched them with amusement glinting in them. Apparently they had sharp ears.

“Oh, impressive. Not many people know much about my babies. You’re right on your assessment kid, these were custom made for me, they’re my favorite set and I only use them at big events like this, right Isa?” he asked his blue haired partner. He sighed rubbing his brow.

“Please leave me out of your stupid weapon rants. I’ve already had to listen to you explain about them six times today.” He grunted his yellow eyes showing signs of disdain at his partner.

“Awwww, you’re just grumpy because someone scratched your long sword in the last battle…”

“IT’S A CLAYMORE AND YOU KNOW THAT DAMN WELL LEA!!!” He shouted back at the red head as he swung said weapon at his partner who ducked and was still laughing at him.

“Awww, did I get little Isa mad…? Well look, there’s a little blue puppy for you to play with right over there.” He said pointing at the hovering pegasus who still had her ears and tail. “Impressive by the way, are you cosplaying or something…?” he asked the girl who glared at him.

“No, my friend was practicing a spell and it had some weird side effects that aren’t gonna wear off for a few more hours. Can we fight now?!” she called across the field.

“Ohhh, spunky, I like that in girls. Come at me brah!” he mused motioning with his hands for her to in fact ‘come at him’. Rainbow’s eye twitched and she rushed at him blades drawn. The other pair sighed shaking their heads and leapt towards one another sword and hammer clashing as they pushed against one another.

“Is your partner always that hot headed…?” Isa asked the blonde.

“Is yours always that annoying?” she countered.

“Touché.” He shrugged.

Now that she was up close she could see that the man had an X-shaped scar across his face. She pushed him back and struck at him again only for him to dodge her blows with ease. “How’d you get them scars on yer face…?” she asked like she was making pleasant conversation.

“Training accident with my idiot brother over there when we were teenagers. How’d you learn to fight like this?” he asked back.

“Ah’ve got a brother of mah own, and he’s a lot bulkier than you and twice as strong as me.” She replied simply as she slammed her hammer down on the ground where he had just been leaving a large crater in its wake.

“Well I would hate to be in a match against him…” Isa commented as he swung his sword against her again. She ducked under it and kicked him in his stomach knocking the wind out of him.

“Yeah, but he’s a lot gentler than Ah am.” She chuckled. He looked up grinning a little at her.

“Mercy is for the weak, if you’re not prepared to go full out in a battle you’re going to get hurt.” He commented before he rushed at her a blur of blue. She barely had time to jump out of the way before his sword sliced right past her face.

“Heh… Ah think you need ta be taught a little lesson mister, something mah Granny taught me when Ah was little…” She smirked as she set down her hammer letting it rest on the dirt. He rushed at her yellow eyes almost glowing as he swung his sword repeatedly. She dodged each one nimbly and spoke in between them. “When you’re in a fight and you know you’re going to win, you don’t flaunt yourself, you don’t toy with them, and you don’t just unleash everything you have at them. You act with dignity, you’re compassionate when it calls for it, and most importantly you serve them a heaping helping of whoop-ass.” She stated before catching the blade mid swing letting the vibrations of it push her back in the dirt a little before she brought her hand up and under it and used it like a levy sending him flying him flat on his back a few meters away. She chuckled walking over and sticking the sword in the ground next to his groaning form. He quickly lashed out to try and knock her off her feet but she leapt up and balanced on the handle of the sword with one hand smiling down at him. “Ah hope ya take mah words ta heart Mr. Isa, ‘cause it looks like ya could use them.” She laughed before she flipped down bringing her feet together to strike him in the dead center of his back just as he was struggling to stand up. He fell back to the ground and didn’t move again other than ragged breathing. Applejack righted herself and looked over to the other battle between her pegasus friend and the red head.

***

Rainbow unleashed a flurry of blows at the spikey haired red head who simply blocked them using one of his chakrams. He yawned a little using his free hand to cover his mouth before he pushed her back. She slid along the ground for a few feet never taking her eyes off him. She breathed in and out trying to cool her jets. She had lectured Applejack earlier about keeping her head and here she was lashing out at this guy without a second thought. She blew a strand of her hair out of her face as she stood up and chuckled.

“You really got me riled up there for a second Guy. I don’t really like being taunted, I’ve had enough of that crap already.” She stated flicking off some dust that had settled on her blades. The red head laughed again and smiled at her.

“Let me guess, a lot of comments about you hair? I got those a lot when I was your age.” He chuckled. Rainbow frowned at him.

“You mean it’s that bright normally…? Not that I’m one to talk but can that happen…?” she asked confused. She had never seen anyone with fire engine red hair.

“Yeah, it can. And it’s naturally this spikey too. The marks under my eyes are tattoo’s though.” He said pointing at the black triangles under his eyes. And my name isn’t ‘Guy’ by the way, it’s Lea. Got it memorized?”

“’Got it memorized’…? What kind of lame catch phrase is THAT?!” Rainbow laughed. Lea frowned at her.

“It isn’t lame! And I’d like to see what you think is SO much better!” he snarled back his green eyes sharpening at her. She grinned and jabbed a thumb at her chest.

“I could knock you out in ten seconds flat and look 20% cooler than you while doing it!” She sneered. He smirked a little.

“Cooler you say…? If you’re so cool maybe I should warm you up a little. Let’s see how you handle this.” He chuckled grinning a little bit as something touched his eyes. His hands glowed the same red as his hair and then he spun the chakrams round and round in his hands Rainbow watched them carefully and then in a burst the circular blades became coated in flames as he spun them up and over his head and then launched them towards her at once. Rainbow’s eyes widened but she acted quickly and spread her wings launching right through them and narrowly avoiding the searing flames that almost burned off her rainbow Mohawk that popped out of her helm. The then turned ninety degrees as they boomeranged back to their wielder nearly clipping her wing in the process. She landed still holding her blades in both her hands as she was now on the defensive against him. The chakrams continued to spin in his hands and the flames turned into twin vortexes that were aimed at her and chased after her as she flew in circles around him.

Lea growled as he chased her with his flames and kept them coming searing the walls as she did laps around him slowly getting faster and faster. Rainbow smirked. ‘That’s right… keep chasing the birdy little hot head…’ she thought with a smirk.

“Stop running and fight me kid!” he roared intensifying the heat of the flames by pouring more magic into it. He aimed them at the ground now so that he was propelled into the air by the force and it bathed the surface in the searing flames turning it into burning coals under his power.

‘Whoa… not gonna lie, that’s some pretty wicked power he’s got… too bad it’s all going to be for nothing.’ She mused as she picked up speed even more causing the vortex to start forming properly and for the flames to start licking after her. She grit her teeth bearing the heat as the cyclone formed.

“You think a little wind is going to blow out my flames?! Typical pegasus, relying on their ability to manipulate the weather to win a fight…!” he snarled as he channeled more juice into the flames making them start to grow in size and intensifying the heat. “You know another one of my favorite sayings?! If you can’t stand the heat, GET OUT OF THE KITCHEN!!!” He roared making the flames rise with his every word. Rainbow grit her teeth as the heat got worse and she could feel the metal beginning to heat up against her skin.

‘Just a little more Dash… come on… close the top up… there!’ she cheered when she saw the vortex’s top close in on itself creating a vacuum effect on the air inside it. Dash grinned as her memory of having science with Pinkie came back to her.

~~~

“So you’re saying that pegisai use these vacuum’s to smother out fires…? How are they gonna do that? I thought they just sucked up dirt and stuff around the house…?” Dash asked as she stood over a lit Bunsen burner with Pinkie beside her. Pinkie giggled and shook her head.

“Not that kind of vacuum Dashie! But it uses the same concept. A vacuum sucks in everything and spits it out of the top. Tornadoes are like incomplete vacuums.” She said as she put the burner inside a wind tunnel simulator and shut the glass pane back over it turning it on and letting the wind pick up before she moved a few dials on it. The cyclone that had been created inside it began to close at the top. “But when you seal up the top of it, like this, it creates a void that sucks out all the air. No air means no oxygen, and without oxygen…” the flame flickered out of life and Pinkie killed the wind tunnel and opened up the pane once again to shut off the gas fueling the burner. “Means no flame.” She giggled holding up the device. Rainbow’s eyes widened in surprise.

“Could one pegasus do that on their own…?” she asked putting her safety goggles on her head.

“Hmmmm, if they were going fast enough I guess. But the bigger the flames are the harder it would be to close the top. All that hot air makes it really hard to control… let’s see… I had to crank those winds up to a hundred scale miles per hour to smother that one… that takes about 8 or 10 wing power… if it was something big like a house fire you’d need an entire team of pegisai to put it out! So… it depends I guess… ow… my head hurts from thinking so much… I need a smart cookie.” She whined before pulling a sugar cookie with a brain drawn on it in frosting out of her lab coat and eating it quickly and sighing a little as the sugar fueled her.

Dash was already deep in thought herself starting to crunch numbers in her head as she walked back to her desk. If there was one thing she’d willingly go into formula’s and extensive mathematics for it was anything involving weather or wing power. And with something as great as extinguishing flames without water on the table it would be worth the headache.

~~~

Rainbow watched as the flames started to recede. Her grin grew as she realized her brain child had grown into a successful battle plan. Lea’s breath began to get weaker as he collapsed to his knees. “What… what are you doing to me?!” he screamed out his breath horse.

Rainbow laughed as she kept up her flight pattern. “Didn’t they teach you about vacuums in school hot head…? They suck out oxygen, no oxygen means no fire… and no oxygen also means you’ll be taking a nice little nap until you cool off.” She called her voice all around him as the last of his flames receding as his vision started to go black.

“Heh… egg head…” he muttered before he passed out cold on the ground. Rainbow let her speed drop until she landed neatly on the ground in front of the unconscious red head. She grinned down at him.

“Sometimes you have to let your brain take over in a fight… I still don’t like it but if it lets me win I can deal with the headache.” She chuckled before turning to see her partner walking towards her smiling.

“Impressive show there partner, where’d you pick up that little trick…?” she asked bumping fists with the girl at their win.

“Believe it or not, Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow replied grinning at her friends shocked face. “I know, it threw me for a loop too but that girl knows her science just as well as the egg head.” She explained with a shrug as the medics came by to pick up the unconscious duo. “Hey, you, yeah you with the nurses cap, get me like four bottles of water. That heat was intense.” She ordered. The capped man nodded at her once carting off Lea on a stretcher and speaking with one of the other medics who had an ice chest which he toted over to them. While she and Applejack drank their water Cas’s voice filled the stadium.

“How was THAT for a show folks…?! A vacuum of fire and a crushing blow that would make my old pal Skull Crusher wince from our two favorite teenage competitors and a flashy show of moves from our two mystery competitors as they move on to the semifinals!” he called. The two teenagers arched their eyebrows and turned their attention to the screen to see who they’d be up against. All they saw from the photos were two feminine faces mostly covered by black and white robes that shielded their faces from the camera. The only thing visible was the slightest strand of white hair over the black cloaked one and black hair over the white cloaked one. Both had vibrant blue eyes that looked like they were made of blue electricity and made Pinkie Pie’s eyes look dull by comparison.

“Whoa… those two look intense… can you see what kind of weapons they have RD…?” Applejack asked the pegasus as the last of the walls fell and they could see across the arena. Rainbow having the sharpest eyes looked the pair up and down. They were definitely both female just like them since their cloaks were parted to reveal what looked like latex suits under that matched their cloaks perfectly in color and the belts around their hips that matched their hair. But she didn’t see any weapons on them at all.

“No, unless they have them under those cloaks… it doesn’t look like they have any weapons at all AJ…” She replied her eyes widening in shock. Applejack cocked an eyebrow in disbelief slinging her hammer across her back.

“No weapons…? No armor either…? How are those two still standing…?” she asked staring at the opposing pair in disbelief. A voice came up behind them laughing as a hand touched each of their shoulders making them stiffen.

“I believe I can answer that little question…” Cas sneered as he bent down to their height. The two girls quickly maneuvered out of his hold and glared at him drawing their weapons and pointing them at him.

“Oh put those away you two, you’re on break while we prep the stage remember…?” he sighed rolling his eyes. “I’m not going to fight you.” He added slowly like they were five year olds making fisticuffs at him. They both frowned but put their weapons away all the same.

“You said you know them…?” Applejack prompted looking up at the gladiator incarnate.

“Oh yes, they’ve been coming here for a few years now those two. We just call them the Ghost Twins… because they’ve never given us any kind of name and no one has ever been able to land a single blow on them. Not even me. But they always back out of the fight after they win the semifinals… they’ve never fought me formally but last year I caught them on their way out of the coliseum and challenged them to a fight… it was incredible. They move too fast for normal people to even see and they disabled me and had my own sword pressed against my throat within seconds of the fight starting. They’re something out of this world. There’s been rumors that they might be the Daughter’s in disguise.” He chuckled. Rainbow only laughed at that though.

“Well I can personally prove that wrong right now then. Celly and Lulu were sipping cocktails on a beach when we left this morning. The chances of them moving at all today are about as likely as Applejack here moving to the big city and changing her name to Prissy Missy.” Rainbow laughed. Cas looked mortified at her words and looked to Applejack for an explanation.

“We’re close personal friends with Celestia’s personal student Twilight Sparkle. They brought us and a few of our other friends to their private island for spring break. We had a rather taxing adventure yesterday so they decided to stay on the island for the day while we visit Rome for the day.” Applejack quickly explained to the confused man.

“You… both are friends with the great Goddesses’ daughters…??! And you refer to them by such silly nicknames…?!” Cas asked in disbelief.

“Actually they asked us to call them that… well, by name at least. They really hate it when they’re treated like deities. Said something about it getting tiring after a few thousand years… didn’t really get it. I’d love for millions of people to be cheering my name when I went out in public!” Dash snickered her rose colored eyes gleaming. Cas frowned a little at the girl.

“Well at least this explains why you two are so odd… I’ve heard that the Daughter’s tend to keep company that have natural abilities that are considered scary by normal standards… that student of Celestia’s is the perfect example… even I have heard of the magical storm she caused eight years ago. Hatching a hybrid egg and growing it into a full adult form just because she was startled…? It IS terrifying to imagine…” he shuddered. Applejack and Rainbow frowned at him.

“Hey! Twilight’s our friend! Don’t talk about her like she’s some kind of freak!” Rainbow hissed at him her hands instantly going to the handles of her swords and her wings flaring defensively. Cas just chuckled and shook his head.

“Forgive me but it is in my nature to speak as such… especially under such suspicious circumstances…” He added a small glint in his eye.

“Suspicious circumstances…? What in the Sam Hill are you-“ Applejack was cut off by Ultime’s voice filling the arena.

“Will our dueling partners please walk to the center of the arena to begin the semifinals?!” he called. There was a roar of approval form the crowd and Cas chuckled nudging them both forward.

“Make you a deal Equestrians, you beat those two and make it to my stage and I’ll explain myself.” He whispered as he walked them to the center and patted them both on the shoulders smiling and waving to the crowd before he walked back to his spot on the announcing platform and took his seat on his throne.

Rainbow and Applejack were staring into the stunning and memorizing eyes of the two shady women in front of them when they heard the starting horn sound and in an instant they were both sent flying into the opposite wall creating craters of their own before they could even so much as blink. Rainbow fell to the ground and wheezing as she tried to recover the air that had been knocked out of her and Applejack stumbled but landed on her knees doing the same. Like twin snakes the two women stood side by side making mirrored motions as they spread their legs in a fighting stance and beckoned to the younger girls. Rainbow grit her teeth and spread her wings.

“Rainbow don’t-!” Applejack’s warning was cut off when her friend zoomed forward only to be ricocheted back into the crater in the wall just as it was reforming. A dent in the center of her chest plate was now forming as she coughed up some spit that was lightly colored with blood. She glanced up at the two figures her eyes narrowing.

‘What are they…? Two hits and I’m already coughing up blood… maybe they ARE Celestia and Luna… but they wouldn’t fight like this… they would be trying to teach us a lesson… not beating the shit out of us… who the hell are they?’ she wondered as she pushed herself back to her feet and then felt something connect with her chin and send her flying high into the air. A dark figure appeared over her and she stared into those blue eyes for a split second before she was sent flying with an astonishing show of strength towards the ground below. ‘This isn’t right… none of this is right. It shouldn’t be possible for anyone to make it up this high… or to move that fast… or to be that strong. None of this… none of this can be real.’ She thought as she fell back to the ground letting her eyes shut as she fell. In her fading vision she saw the figure above her flicker ever so slightly.

Her eyes flared open when she was only mere inches away from the ground and her wings spread making her soar quickly to her partner and grab her before zooming straight up into the air. Applejack was shocked by the sudden action and screamed at her partner.

“Rainbow Dash, have you lost yer ever lovin’ mind?! Put me back on the ground! Earth-bound are called that fer a reason ya know! We’re not supposed ta fly!” she protested.

“Shut up Hayseed! I’m testing something!” she yelled back as she leveled out at almost a thousand feet above the arena. Applejack looked down and turned a little green.

“Oh Ah think Ah’m gonna be sick…” she groaned not used to the altitude or liking the height much.

“Well then the screaming you’re about to do should get rid of that bile.” Rainbow chuckled with a big grin spreading across her face.

“Rainbow, what are you… Why are ya grinnin’ like Pinkie…?” Rainbow looked from the ground and then back to her and Applejack’s face paled her dancing freckles coming to a complete halt. “No… don’t do it Dash… DO. NOT. DO IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT-!!!!!!!!!!!!!” She screamed just as Rainbow folded her wings back and let a free fall over take them. Dash shut her eyes and prayed that she wasn’t wrong. Prayed that her eyes and mind weren’t just laying tricks on her and that she wasn’t as crazy as she thought she was. That the familiar feeling she felt in the air through her wings wasn’t lying to her. As they fell a cone of air formed around their bodies but they kept going Dash pushing harder and harder until she felt the wind whipping tears from her eyes and Applejack’s screams became no more than a distant background noise. Just when the pressure of the air started to close in around her she felt it.

Like a bubble popping her entire world exploded and she opened her eyes again to see herself and Applejack standing across from the pair just as they had been before the horn had sounded. Beside her Applejack stirred her eyes fluttering open and looking around confused. Rainbow smiled and slowly started to laugh. The crowd was dead silent and Applejack just stared at the scene confused. Moments ago the pair had been hurtling towards the earth and in an instant they were standing completely un harmed on the ground like the match had never even started. Rainbow stopped laughing and just smiled.

“Applejack… do you remember what happened to you and Rare back on the plane…?” Rainbow asked as she drew one of her blades.

“Wha…? Rainbow… did ya hit yer head on somethin’…? What does any of that have ta do with this match…?” she asked the pegasus.

Magenta eyes slid sideways as Rainbow’s smile only grew. “You can’t tell me you didn’t feel it. I felt it in my wings because I’m a pegasus… but didn’t you feel something off before…? Something weird about the earth?” she asked the girl.

“Well… now that you mention it… Yeah. It felt… like it was moving… like I was standing on water.” She explained scratching her head a little.

“Can you think of another time it felt like that…? When nothing made sense at all, where reality itself was warped…?” she asked like it was the simplest thing in the world.

“Well… only in dreams… or when Luna put us in that pocket-“ it struck her like a lightning bolt as she looked across at the twin figures across from her. ‘They put us in a dream state just like Luna did when me and Rare needed to make up!" She exclaimed in realization. Then a look of puzzlement filled her features as she stared at the ground in thought. 'But the only ones with that ability besides the princess herself are her most trusted advisors and the captains of Celestia’s-‘ “MOONDANCER, SHADOWSTREAK WHAT IN FAUST’S HOLY MOTHER FUCKING CREATION DO YOU THINK YOU’RE DOING OUT HERE IN ROME?!?!” She roared at the pair. The pair looked at each other before they lowered their masks and pulled back their hoods to reveal two identical women with shoulder length white and black hair that had a stripe of the opposite color running through on the sides of their heads. When the masks were removed from their faces their eyes faded into golden and silver colors instead of the electric blue. The shared the same smirk as they looked across the arena at the angered farmer.

“Awww, we missed you too Abby.” They chimed in unison. Applejack’s helm was tossed to the ground as she rushed at them teeth grit as she pinned them to the ground growling.

“Ah swear on mah Ma’s grave if ya’ll weren’t Celestia’s favorite guards Ah’d have pounded ya into next week just fer callin’ me that in public…” she snarled. The twins just laughed and pushed her off of them as Rainbow walked over and the crowd just stared on confusion spread across their faces. Cas was most shocked by the turn of events and his jaw hung open as he watched it play out.

“AJ, you know these two…?” Rainbow asked her friend.

“Unfortunately… They’re the Co-captains of Celestia’s personal guard… they’re trained in advanced combat magic but when Luna came back she taught them about her magic and they took to it like flies to dung… they also used to come with Celestia whenever she would visit us on the farm when I was younger… they’re nothing but a pair of scheming pranksters and raise hell wherever they go just for the laugh!” she grumbled. The twins bowed grinning proudly at the accusations.

“MoonDancer and ShadowStreak Queen’s of Prank and Duchesses of the art of Trolling at your service.” They announced in unison.

“We’re also pretty good at Pottery making.” The black haired and golden eyed ShadowStreak added.

“Oh, and Karaoke, but we don’t really get to do that much anymore.” MoonDancer added with a sad sigh her silver eyes looking out into the distance longingly.

“Whoa… wait, so all those fights beforehand were just fake…?! Even the one you both had with me last year?!” Cas shouted at the pair. They looked up at him with bored expressions.

“No, all of them were quite real.” They responded in unison.

“When you go into a dream state your body stays behind frozen in place…”

“But your mind is what controls everything so if it thinks you’re being hurt, then you’re going to get hurt.”

“Eventually the pain is too much for you to bear anymore and you pass out, then we drop the spell and move on.”

“Since magic is just as allowed as flying is it’s perfectly fair that we used it like this.”

“Besides, Luna was the one who taught ancient romans to use mind tricks on their opponents to throw them off. Gladiators who used magic like ours in battle rose through the ranks faster than the others because of it.”

“If they used it…”

“And it isn’t against the rules…”

“Then we won all those matches fairly and closer to the real historical tactics than throwing spears and swords at each other ever has been.” They finished in unison. They then turned to the athletes and smiled.

“But you two broke our spell. You beat us fair and square.” Moondancer announced with a smile.

“And that means you two advance into the finals~!” Shadow added with a chuckle and what looked like a sadistic grin. The crowd seemed to have heard them and slowly started to mutter before the clapping slowly started. All around them it evolved into a roaring applause that could be heard from miles away. Cas slowly let a smile cross his face as he straightened up and slowly started to clap along with the crowd.

Rainbow Dash and Applejack slowly looked around at the crowd and a smile grew on each of their faces and Dash shot up into the air absorbing the crowd’s cheers. They were even chanting hers and Applejack’s name now. It felt like she was getting her Cutiemark all over again. She saw something gold out of the corner of her eye and seconds later Casco 'oro, The Golden Helm of Rome stood in the center of it all holding the microphone and grinning his tanned skin slightly sleeked with sweat from watching the match and his sleek black hair falling to his shoulders as he removed his helm and his eyes now shone the same bright metallic gold as his armor as he drew his sword and pointed it at the pair.

“Let it be heard from my home to yours girls! I, Casco 'oro Champion Gladiator of Rome for ten years running, hereby issue a challenge of battle! You two against me at exactly 1:30! That gives you one half hour to prepare yourselves! Go back to your chamber to be outfitted with the armor of champions, and then when you are ready meet me here in the arena so that we can have a TRUE warriors battle!” he proclaimed his fiery golden eyes locked into the pair of emerald and magenta across from him.

The pair in silver armor exchanged a look before glancing back at him and grinning as the twins came up behind them and placed a hand on both of their shoulders grinning as well. They drew their weapons and pointed them at the golden armored man in return.

“We accept your challenge and await the coming battle with a warriors fire!” They chanted. He grinned happy they knew the proper way to accept a fight challenge. The crowd showed their approval as the three sheathed their weapons at once and turned on a dime to walk into opposite tunnels. When they were clear of the crowd Rainbow went into hysterics.

“DidyouseethatAJthecrowdwascheeringournames!!!!Andyoutwo!Youwerelikepowpowwe’rebadassroyalgaurdswithsuperpowersandthenwewerelike’Noyouain’tfakers’AndIbrokethespellwiththatsuperawesomenosediveandthenwegotchallengedtoabattlewiththeCHAMPIONofGladiators!!!!AndwegettowearthatSICKarmor!!!!!ApplejackIcan’tbreathe!!!Ineedwater!!!!” She screamed without breathing once. Applejack quickly brought her friend over to a bench just as the medics swarmed them all with water bottles and oxygen masks in their hands. Applejack took one of the oxygen masks and shoved it on Dash’s face.

“Breathe partner. In and out. When ya’ve calmed down Ah’ll give ya some water.” Applejack ordered taking a bottle off of the nearest medic and shooing them all away to give Dash some space. When the pegasus had gotten her breath back she removed the oxygen mask and took the bottle from Applejack. When it was gone an armor outfitter came over with two sets of golden armor that looked like they were made just for them.

“Miss Apple and Dash? These are your armor sets. The armory chief also wanted me to tell you to head back into the training grounds so that he could clean your weapons before the match.” The thick built older man told them with a small nod. Surprisingly he had an Equestrian accent instead of a foreign one.

“Whoa, you from Equestria too partner?” Applejack asked as she started to unstrap the silver armor from her body.

“Yup, moved her to Rome for my wife about ten years ago. I’m the one who made all this armor, and my brother-in-law is the armory master. He made the weapons you’re holding.” He chuckled as he took the armor sets from the two girls and hung them up on the racks in place of the golden armor that they were putting on.

“He MADE these Hurricane blades?! No one but the best can make these right! I should know, my family’s a big collector.” Rainbow asked the bulky man. Again he grinned and pounded his chest with his fist.

“Yup! Fondere il Ferro is the best blacksmith in Italy! There’s been a rumor since he was a kid that he’s secretly part Minotaur, between you and me I think those are true. Guy makes me look like a kid… well, you’ll see him soon enough.” He chuckled with a grin as Applejack helped Dash with her back plate again. They were now fully armored minus the helmets. Dash grinned as she flew up to look the man eye.

“I like you big guy, you remind me of my friend’s dad. But he probably makes that brother in law of yours look like a little kid. The guy’s 7’4 and weighs 300 pounds of lean mean muscle. And he’s still a damn good flier even with all that weight. But enough chit chat, you said he wants to polish our weapons…?”

“Yup, sure does. Tell him Bronze, that’s me by the way Bronze Armor, says to be home by seven. My wife is making her home made spaghetti and meatballs tonight!” he boasted grinning his copper hair streaked with bits of grey being pushed out of his bronze eyes. AJ chuckled and started to walk towards the training hall.

“Will do big fella! Come on RD, let’s hurry on. All this talk of food’s makin’ me hungry.” Applejack added as she felt her stomach rumbling in protest. Rainbow flew beside her feeling her own stomach contracting and rumbling.

“Ugh… I know what you mean. Couldn’t they have passed out something more than water for us…? Seriously we skipped lunch…” Dash groaned as they made their way down the long stone tunnel into the open mini arena. There was a single man in the center of it with his bare back to them. Even from behind they could tell he was built like a tank. Every inch of him was bulky muscle that was tensed as he held a powerful looking broad sword in each hand. He spun around in a blur of motion and sliced each and every practice dummy within his swords reach right in half. Now that he was facing them they could see that he had jet black hair that was cut in a tight crew cut and a beard that put Chuck Norris and Mr. T’s to shame. His steely cold blue eyes looked down at them as he un crossed his arms from his rippling chest that honestly made Big Macintosh look like a scrawny teenager. In the center of his chest was a large scar that exploded outwards like a sunburst and at the top of his bulging bicep was a cutiemark fitting for a blacksmith, a sword of steel over a hammer with raging flames behind it.

“Whoa… Applejack, get me a picture with this guy!” Rainbow ordered shoving her phone in her friends hand the camera already enabled. She flew over and stood flat beside him on the ground. He looked down at her confused as Applejack took the picture when Dash cracked a huge grin. With the memory secure she grabbed her phone back and saved it.

The man finally grunted his voice deep and fitting for someone with such a body. “You two are finalists…?” he asked raising an eyebrow curiously.

“Eeyup… sorry ‘bout mah friend here. She’s got a thing for people who could crush skulls with their pinky finger.” Applejack explained as Dash flew around him to inspect him further. The man simply watched her with a neutral face until his eyebrow finally twitched in irritation and he grabbed her by the head forcing her back to the ground.

“No time for, how do you Equestrians say it…? ‘Fangirling’ I think; I need to clean your weapons.” He explained holding out his hand to them. Dash composed herself and unhooked the swords sheath and all from her hips and placed them in his outstretched oversized palm. Applejack did the same with her hammer. He walked over to the service bar and went to work. Applejack leaned over chuckling at her friend.

“Ah think Ah still see some drool on your chin RD… Ah think you’re making ‘Shy jealous.” Applejack teased. Rainbow gave her a sharp glare.

“A.) We’re not a thing. B.) You can’t tell me seeing that guy doesn’t make you seriously want to arm wrestle him.” She countered. Applejack looked back at the man rubbing her chin in thought and nodded.

“Ah think he’d break mah arm in two if Ah tried.” She concluded. “His beard alone could probably take Mac head on. And that Skull Crusher fella would probably be punched through a wall by him… hey, Ah think we have the Italian equivalent of Chuck Norris and Bruce Lee under one roof!” Applejack laughed. Rainbow rubbed her chin in thought and nodded.

“This guy is Chuck though. Skull didn’t have a sick enough beard to be Chuck. Oh wait, speaking of which. Hey big guy! You’re Fondere il Ferro right…?” Rainbow called over to the blacksmith. He glanced up from the sword he was currently polishing with some kind of golden glowing rag.

“Yes… that is my name… Why do you ask signora…?” he asked as he carefully polished the blade.

“Yer Brother in law wanted us ta tell ya Howdy. And that ya have to be home by seven ‘cause yer sister is making spaghetti and meatballs tonight.” Applejack reported. The man let the sword clatter to the ground and he looked up at the pair his steel blue eyes no longer steely but alit with something they couldn’t identify.

“He said… that my sister is making spaghetti and meatballs…?” Fondere asked to confirm what he had heard. When they looked at one another and nodded he got a smile across his face. “Chi avrebbe pensato che sarebbe stato questi due...” he whispered so low even Applejack’s tuned ears couldn’t hear it. (Who would have thought it’d be these two…) “I look forward to it!” he said much louder with a hearty chuckle and the two saw a real smile form on his face. “My sister has not made her special dish for quite some time! Ten years in fact… she only does it on very special occasions…” he explained as he quickly started to polish the other sword. When both were done he set them down on the counter and polished Applejack’s hammer next. Rainbow flew over and picked up her swords from the counter to examine them.

“Whoa! These things are like GLOWING! What kind of polish are you using there…?” she asked looking at the swords which seemed to reflect a white aura around them.

“Oh it is a very special polish we only use for the championship round… we have not had one for quite a bit since that shady pair started participating. So I wanted to be sure that your weapons were in prime condition. I have seen the way you both handle yourselves out there; quite impressive for ones so young.” He reported as he took some extra time with the ridged side of the hammer.

“Well it looks mighty impressive if Ah do say so myself… and Ah do.” Applejack mused as he finished the cleaning and handed the hammer back to her. She stared at it being able to see herself in the polished iron surface now.

From a nearby loudspeaker built into the wall they heard their names being paged to the main arena and they smiled at the man as they sheathed their weapons. Rainbow grinned at him as they walked towards the door. “Thanks for cleaning the weapons up Fondere!” she called.

“Wait!!” he called making them halt in their steps. He reached under the table and then tossed two objects at them. They caught them and opened their hands to see two granola bars in their hands. “I could hear your stomachs from all the way down the hall! Eat those before you pass out!” he ordered before waving them off with his meaty arm. They grinned at him ripping the wrappers with their teeth and chomping into it waving him goodbye as they walked back towards the main arena. They were done with the bars and downed it with a little swish of water before they entered the arena’s main hall. With their heads free of hunger’s painful hold they could now focus on the bright light at the end of the tunnel ahead of them. They both put on the golden helmets but were stopped before they could step any further along the hall they were halted by the whinny of two horses.

A golden chariot with two golden armored horses stood waiting for them and beside it a small looking teenager with soft mint green hair and deep blue eyes looked over at them his mark of a horseshoe over grown with ivy visible on his neck.

“Oh! You must be the challengers, this is your chariot into the arena. You go in after the champion so we’re just waiting for you cue now.” He explained his voice soft much like a certain butter yellow pegasus’ but distinctly male instead. Rainbow grinned as she climbed up into the chariot and squealed a little.

“This is SO AWESOME!!!!” She exclaimed as she leaned down to look at the chariot which looked to be hade of nothing but gold and a white painted metal. The horses were pure white with bright yellow manes that were cut short to fit through the helms that they wore. They looked like real war horses! Which of course only sent Dash into a further dizzy fit as Applejack climbed up beside her gently patting the horses on the backs and receiving happy whinny’s in response. The boy looked up at her in wonder.

“They never respond to anyone but me like that… they’re trained to be aggressive!” he exclaimed in disbelief. Applejack smiled at him and winked.

“Ah grew up on a farm partner. If Ah didn’t get along with horses Ah’d have had mah face bucked in by now.” She explained as she stroked the horses gently under their golden armor that matched theirs so well.

The boy was about to say something more when a loud horn sounded through the arena. He quickly looked back to them. “That’s your cue! If you’re a farmer like you say you are take the reigns! Three laps around the platform and then go up the ramp onto it and dismount! The horses will take off on their own after that.” He instructed quickly as the horn sounded again. On the third horn blare Applejack cracked the reigns and the horses gallantly reared back on their hind legs before speeding off into the arena pulling the chariot with them.

Dash spread her wings proudly as the crowd again erupted into cheers at their entrance. She and Applejack both waved smiling in response, Applejack with a slight nervous twitch on her lips but she was more focused on the horses than the crowd. Rainbow however absorbed their energy and cheers like a sponge. When the third lap was completed they sped up the ramp onto the platform that was once again raised about ten feet into the air. The horses caught some air as the ramp leveled out and the two dismounted perfectly landing side by side, Applejack crouched with her hand on her hammer and Rainbow Dash with her swords drawn and held in an X over her chest as her wings were spread out behind her. No one could say they didn’t make an impressive entrance.

Across from them Cas stood at his full height armor gleaming more than it had before and his sword drawn and pointed in their direction a full grin that showed his perfect white teeth that looked too bright compared to his darker complexion. His bright golden eyes seemed to burn with a passion that both girls across from him could only describe as a warriors fire.

“Rainbow Dash, Applejack Apple, I do not normally mince words on a battle field but I did promise something to you if you made it this far and I am nothing if not a man of my word.” He explained as he sheathed his sword across his back and looked them both dead in the eye as they sheathed their own weapons and watched him intently. They didn't notice the area around them become surrounded in a light shimmering gold aura. “You asked me about what I meant when I said that the Sun had suspicious reasons for taking the girl under her wing… tell me, does it not strike you odd at all? What do you two know about your leader?” He asked the pair.

“We know she isn’t as shady as you make her out to be and that she thinks of nothing but the countries best interest at all times!” Dash snapped back quickly defending her ruler with the loyalty of a trained service dog.

Cas chuckled a little bit and smiled. “Of course she does, she is a Daughter after all. Her heart is as pure as they come. But tell me, if you were an all-powerful ruler like her, one who was immortal and had lived so long that she has seen countless generations born, grow old, and die right before her eyes, would you not do anything to save the one person who shares your fate?” he asked carefully.

“What’re you getting’ at ya golden armored varmint?!” Applejack hissed glaring daggers at him.

“Oh come now signora’s you can’t tell me you are that ignorant… what do you know about the Moon’s imprisonment?” he asked the girls like he was talking to a pair of children.

“The same as every Equestrian! Luna was possessed and she couldn’t be free until the stars aided in her escape! Which was almost-“

“15 years ago…? Tell me, how old are you two? You don’t look like you could be much older than that yourselves.” Cas reasoned that sneaky smile never leaving his features. Rainbow Dash and Applejack exchanged looks and nodded.

“Yeah… we’re 14… why do YOU want to know…?” Rainbow asked still glaring daggers.

“And what about Twilight…?” he prompted further.

“She’s… just turned 14.” Applejack replied. A look of confusion crossed his face for a second but he didn’t break stride.

“So all of you were born before the Moon’s return then…?”

“Well… Our friend Pinkie was actually born on the day she came back but I don’t see how any of that-“ Rainbow was interrupted by him plunging his sword into the ground.

His smile only grew at that. “And she’s the youngest out of all of you yes…?” he asked leaning on his sword and grinning at them.

“Yes…” both girls responded getting rather tired of his questions. They came for a battle, not an interrogation.

“Did you ever hear the Poem that was made about Luna’s banishment…?” Both of the girls looked at him with a confused glance and he cleared his throat and his golden eyes met theirs once again. "The Moon, Calm and Serene as the night that she wields, grows tired of the people she shields. She thinks that her subjects fear her, and reject her beautiful night by sleeping through it instead of enjoying it like her sister’s light. The Shadow whispers in her ears, promising her to make her subjects happy for many years, if only she gave in and let that Shadow become her puppeteer. The Moon foolishly gave into the Shadow’s demand, and she watched as the kingdom she and her sister had forged together became the furthest thing from a Holy Land. The Sun saw her sister transformed before her, and shed tears as she realized what had to occur. She gathered the Stones of Harmony, a cherished from her great mother, and with a great cry of war ended her sister’s disharmony. But this came at a great cost, for despite saving her kingdom from the terrible plight, it was her sister that she had lost. But there was hope you see, for moments after her sister left her, The Stones vanished before her eyes and she could hear the voice of her Great Mother.

‘Daughter that I love so dearly and cherish so sincerely, do not cry for there is hope. In time the Harmony will be born again, and when they do it will be your sister that they return to you. But be cautioned my daughter, for on the one thousandth year of her imprisonment the Shadow will return, and with her so will her yearn. Your sister will be consumed just as before, this much I know, but this time no longer will it be ignored, instead The Six will bring forth the light that will once and for all make sure Harmony is restored!’

“With her Mother’s words fresh in her mind The Sun began to unwind, promising herself that as long as she lived never again would she be so blind.”

“It was originally intended to be a lesson for the people not to turn a blind eye. But it was also part of a prophecy. A prophecy that has already partially come true. Tell me, Applejack the Honest and Dependable, and Rainbow Dash, the Swift and Loyal, how do you think a little girl with parents no more gifted in the magical arts than any other Mage in Canterlot was able to get magic so powerful that when she had a surge the pope himself here in our country felt it…?” he asked the two girls his sickening grin never leaving his face.

That tore it for Rainbow Dash. She lunged at him fast enough that most of the crowd couldn’t see her move. But something stopped her. And it wasn’t solid. She just froze, midair and then was slammed into the ground by an unseen force. She slowly got up on her hands and knees her eyes filled with the fire of rage. But her voice taking on a rather refined tone that seemed to mock him. “You’re an outright bore when you talk so much Casco 'oro… I really hate people that talk too much.” She snarled spitting out some blood as she stood once more on two legs. Behind her back Rainbow made a signal to Applejack and the farmer saw it her green eyes only briefly flickering to it before Rainbow took off at him again. Once again she was halted midair but this time the crowd could see a distinct golden aura surrounding her form as Cas held out his hand his hand surrounded by the very same aura.

“The twins weren’t the only ones hiding a few secrets my dear. I’ve never had to use my magic in a duel before but you two cause me far too much trouble for me not to.” He explained as a crest slowly seemed to burn onto his forehead. He reached around with speed that made Dash’s head spin and grabbed the handle of the hammer Applejack was about to bring down on his head and quickly turned it on her using it to slam her into the platform leaving a crater in its wake. Rainbow’s eyes widened at the sight and the crowd gasped to show their shock at the sudden turn in events. Even the normally chatty announcer was speechless at the development."What is this?! You two who caught so valiantly in the face of danger before my very eyes have grown so weakened with only a fraction of my power?! Where is that fiery sense of spirit now girls?! I may have been b,Essex by powers beyond your understanding but a warrior fights to their last breath! NOW STAND UP AND FIGHT ME LIKE REAL WARRIORS!" He ordered his voice itself reminding the girls of the royal Canterlot voice. They both shook the plaster from their bodies and stared him dead in the eyes. There was something off about him, and the way he spoke was like he wasn’t human. It sounded like he was something of a demigod, like Cadence. It however didn’t intimidate either of them. Applejack had arm wrestled the princess before and even from a young age she had to actually put forth an effort. Rainbow Dash had flown with Luna on multiple occasions and the Princess of the Night often got winded from trying to catch her in the air. They already played with real Gods, a mortal impersonating one was likely a lot easier.

Rainbow quickly drew her swords up and Applejack used her hammer to come to her feet. When both stood on their feet once more Cas grinned and brew his sword from the ground and struck a battle stance before they lunged at him again their fire returned full force.

Dodge, Block, Sidestep, Swing, and Throw. Cas repeated these actions multiple times his sword moving not as a weapon but as an extension of his body. No matter what tactic the two tried, be it separately or as a pair they couldn’t land a single blow on him. And he wasn’t using shield magic either! He was just that good. Even with Dash’s mastery with weapons and her speed she couldn’t catch him with her blade. And Applejack even with her wits and brute strength couldn’t overcome his blocks. It was infuriating, and exhausting as well.

Applejack landed with a thud while Rainbow skidded to a halt crouched after he had just pushed both of them back with a single stroke of his sword and he was grinning down at them his entire body still glowing with his golden aura.

“Is that all you have to offer me?! Where is that spirit I saw in your semifinals?! The wit you both displayed, the pure harmony you have on the battlefield! Is it you who needs to be taught the lesson in battle now?!” he asked his voice still shrouded with the air of power. Both of them grit their teeth and Rainbow Dash looked up to the skies and spotted a collection of clouds passing over the coliseum. She felt her wings quiver and an idea formed in her head.

“Hey, hayseed. You ever heard of Thor’s hammer before?” She whispered to the girl beside her. Applejack looked confused before she saw her friends wings start to glow slightly with the familiar presence of a Pegasai’s magic flowing into them. Her eyes glanced from her to the skies above them and then at the hammer she wielded. A smile crossed her face and she nodded.

“Do it. Ah’ll keep him occupied.” AJ replied with a grunt before she lunged at the man more force behind her strike this time. Rainbow launched from the ground leaving her prismatic after pattern in her wake. Cas of course met Applejack’s parry but didn’t miss when the Rainbow haired pegasus had flown up to the clouds that were her element.

He snickered a little. “Trying to use a little lightning on me are you…? I’ll have you know I’ve been struck by lightning many times in my lifetime and it starts to lose its effect after the tenth or so time.” He mused as he pushed against the hammer wielder that was a whole head shorter than him.

“Ah don’t think you exactly realize how powerful RD can be when ya push her enough… Or when ya’ve got an entire city’s worth of clouds congregating over one area. Tell me partner, would you like ta know a little secret about us earthbound…?” she asked the man with a small chuckle. He cocked an eyebrow at her just as the sky started to darken and he could hear claps of thunder rolling above his head. He looked up to see a hurricane’s worth of dark ominous clouds gathering over the arena as strong winds started to whip around them and blow a few spectator’s hats right off their heads. Bolts of different colored electricity courses through it and his eyes widened. Most of the spectators were now ducking for cover as they foresaw what was about to happen just as well as he did. “We’re as immune to lightning as the earth itself.” She explained as she flipped away from him and rose her hammer high into the air. It would later be told in the history of Rome that on that day the world’s first Rainbow Bolt was seen right there in the coliseum.

A bolt that was later measured by the local weather station to have more power than the entire famed lightning storm of Chicago combined. And it was also be told for generations to come exactly how even despite being struck with such a bolt Applejack simply raised the weapon that had been struck with the bolt and used it to throw that godly power right at her opponent. Who by the way, to his credit, should have been vaporized by the bolt and was simply forced unconscious with third degree burns covering his body and his golden armor melted right off him body as well. His sword was plunged into the ground as he fell face first into the dirt. In his fading consciousness he chuckled and raised his head slightly to look at the pair as Rainbow landed back on the ground.

“Maybe you two DO have some potential after all…” he mused before his head fell to the ground and a golden light enveloped him. In a flash all that remained of him was the melted golden armor and the sword that still stood where he once lay.

Applejack and Rainbow Dash’s eyes both widened as the realization of what they had just done hit them. The crowd seemed to realize it too as shouts began to fill the arena.

“They killed him!”

“Those girls killed the Great Golden Helm!”

“Murderers!”

“Savages!”

“ARREST THEM!!!”

“Sugar Cube…” Applejack whispered to her friend still standing beside her.

“Yeah AJ…?” Rainbow whispered back.

“Now would be a really great time ta come up with one of those on the spot plans you’re good at.” She breathed as guards and police men started to surround them. Dash looked around panicked holding her blades in front of her as a defense and she tried to piece together some way they could get out of this. Luckily, someone else did instead.

A loud whistle brought the attention of the guards and policemen and they turned their heads to see Moondancer and Shadow Streak standing shoulder to shoulder with their hands surrounded in a magical aura. Suddenly guards started to fly off the platform left and right and then they heard the clopping of hooves in the distance along with two loud battle cries. From the tunnel behind them Bronze Armor and Fondere il Ferro came charging in knocking away guards that had started to surround the twins. Behind them the golden chariot being driven by the horse care giver before leapt over the brawl that was starting and it landed on the platform skidding to a halt in front of them and making the remaining guards jump out of the way. He looked down at them his deep blue eyes serious and firm so unlike they had been before.

“Get in the chariot if you want to live!” he ordered. Applejack quickly obliged but Rainbow hesitated looking back at the sword that stood where Cas once did. She quickly drew it from the ground and then took it with her as she jumped onto the chariot and the boy cracked the reigns making the horses take off down the opposite hall way they had entered from. Beside them the twins were flying using a spell that created wings made of pure magic and were firing projectiles made of magic back at their pursuers. The two brothers brought up the rear and were using various throwing weapons and a few smoke bombs to aid in the escape.

'AJ, Rainbow! We’re using magic to communicate with you so don’t panic. Listen, we’re going to stay here to fend off most of the officers while we can, but they’ve already called in the forces outside to come after you. You have to make it to the dock before they catch you! From there you can find haven in Pompeii until we settle everything down here. Cas isn’t dead. He’s still very much alive and the only way you’re going to be able to prove that is if you bring him back! In the city there’s a very large museum built into the volcano side. In the very back of the museum behind a statue of Jupiter you’ll find a slot carved into it. Plunge the sword inside it. When the path is opened follow it to the volcano’s heart and then throw the sword into it. It’s the only way you’ll be able to bring him back. The sword was forged in the volcano and he was born in it as well. If you succeed he can explain everything to you himself. But be careful, that path to the volcano is treacherous, much like the cursed temple you faced yesterday.' They warned the pair as they continued to fight back the guards and policemen. Applejack and Rainbow were thoroughly confused by what was going on but they listened to the twin’s every word and nodded when they finished to show that they understood. 'Good, now get ready to take the reigns Applejack, we're close to the exit and Pales has to stay here with us, we'll keep as much of the force here as we can and then we'll meet you at the docks as soon as we can!' They explained. Wordlessly the boy, apparently named Pales, handed the reigns to Applejack as the light at the end of the tunnel grew closer. When they emerged into the light he slapped the flank of each horse before dismounting off the chariot.

The two girls saw a blockade in front of them made of police cars and men all with guns aimed at them. But when Pales had slapped them they effortlessly leapt over them and dashed down the street many a car honking at them. Pales grinned as they were off and the police men now had their attention on the four figures that had emerged from the tunnel. The small built fifth landed gracefully in front of them and gave another loud whistle that seemed to reverberate through the city. In an instant from the coliseum horses, sheep, and many very angry looking bulls emerged from their pens and charged out to join them knocking men out of the way as they let out battle cries of their own. Bronze laughed and nudged Shadow with his elbow.

“Hey, this reminds me of that time in Madrid when with Ol’ Riptide. Remember how he came in from the sea with that entire fleet of pissed off whales? They body slammed like half the force we were fighting!” he laughed. Shadow giggled in response but her sister rolled her eyes.

“If I recall correctly Bronze YOU and your brother there were chained to posts two hundred feet under the waves while we were up there trying to fight. It wasn’t until Pales called in that heard of fighting bulls out of the arena that we even pushed them back enough to save your sorry asses from being fish food!” Dancer growled as she used a long tendril of magic to whip back a line of police men that had charged at them.

“Yeah, but it was so much fun!” He laughed. Fondere rolled his eyes as he knocked out a group of men that had been trying to taze him.

“Brother, your sense of humor is not the best…” he commented.

“You’re no fun either Fondere!” he whined as he round house kicked a few more policemen out of the way.

“Children, please, can we just get in a brawl without the four of you bickering back and forth every single time?!” the boy shouted back at the group his blue eyes glaring them down.

“Y-yes boss!” they all replied saluting him before returning to their brawls. Pales sighed and shook his head. He swore on the creator’s name he was forced to work with these people for another year he was going to rip his hair out.

***

Rainbow was holding on for dear life as Applejack raced through the city drove the chariot through the city with policemen and every one of their fellow competitors hot on their tail. After they took a particularly sharp turn they came to the startling sight of many officers on foot and in cars chasing after a pink moped that had a white speck flying beside it. The white speck was throwing what looked like water balloons at the cars and Applejack and Rainbow Dash would have had to be blind to not recognize the mess of pink hair that flew in the wind and in the face of the rider behind it. Pinkie and Twilight were on the moped… being chased by what looked like the entirety of the private police force of Rome. And they had the remaining force on their tail.

Both heard two jingles from the bottom of the chariot and while AJ kept her eyes on the road RD fished down and pulled out the back packs they had both brought with them. Pales must have put them there. RD pulled out her phone and saw that she had a message from Pinkie on it. She opened it and read it aloud.

“‘Change of plans, meet us by the docks ASAP instead, the boat will be waiting just get on it and it wait for us. ~Pinkie’… Well at least we already know why that is.” Rainbow commented dryly as they came up beside them. “Pinkie!” Rainbow called over to the girl. She looked over through the visor of the pink helmet she wore and beamed when she saw Rainbow and Applejack.

“Hey girls! Whoa, snazzy armor! Is that from that competition you were entering?” she asked.

“Yes, it is. But we’d kind like to know why you have the other half of the police force chasin’ after ya.” Applejack called back.

“Long story. Wait, other half…?” Twilight asked before looking back behind them at the group that now had even more police cars AND an angry mob wearing the same type of armor but with different colors of silver and bronze as AJ and Dash. She hesitated a second but sighed and shook her head. “Look, we’ll all spill the beans once we’re on the boat. For now, just focus on getting there.” She ordered taking her natural role as team leader back on. Both athletes nodded in response before Pinkie revved the engine of the scooter harder and sped off faster catapulting herself off and over a hill blaring a musical horn as she went. Applejack and Rainbow Dash watched her in astonishment but not one to be out done in a race Applejack cracked the reins and the horses sped off over the hill as well. In slow motion both of them sensed someone staring at them and turned their heads to their left to see Fluttershy and Rarity staring at them from the sidewalk mouths slightly hung open. The chariot jarred as it hit the ground and they sped off taking a sharp corner just after Pinkie. They heard the sirens and crowd roaring in hot pursuit seconds later.

Applejack didn’t turn around to face her partner just stared at the road ahead of them blankly. “RD… Tell me ya didn’t jus’ see our crushes standin’ on the side walk starin’ at us while we’re runnin’ from the law…” She deadpanned a look of dread slowly filling her expression.

“Sorry Jack… I really wish I could lie to you like that.” Rainbow responded a similar look of dread filling her features.

“She’s gonna murder me…” Applejack groaned.

“Like ‘Shy isn’t gonna stare me into the next century?! I’m so screwed… Mom always made jokes about me getting arrested but now that she finally let me travel on my own it only took me a few hours to get an entire city’s police force to place me on their most wanted list…! She’s going to trap me inside the house chained in the basement until I’m forty!” Rainbow Dash wailed dragging her hands down her face in terror.

“. . . Wait, how in the hay do you have a basement if you live in the clouds…?” Applejack asked after listening to her friend’s panicked statement.

“The same way you have a basement on the ground. Those clouds up there aren’t thin you know. They can’t be if people live on them.” Rainbow answered with a roll of her eyes like it was obvious.

“Oh… Ah suppose that makes some sense.” Applejack muttered as they continued through the city. A gentle breeze blew through and whipped gently past her face and she felt her long blonde hair whip past her now that she had freed it from the helm. “Ya know… if we weren’t bein’ chased fer supposedly murderin’ a city’s hero by the entire police force and an angry mob… this would be a really nice day.” She commented off handedly. Rainbow stared at her funny for a second before she looked out at the city and let the gentle breeze carry her wings slightly.

“You know what hayseed? You’re right… it is really nice out… I can actually feel the sea air from here too… and those sounds aren’t too bad either… all these cars and cycles rolling around reminds me of the time my dad first took me here… there was a really sweet Ducati the hotel manager owned… he let me ride it with him once. I can still hear that beautiful piece of machinery now…” she mused closing her eyes and listening to the city drowning out the sounds of police sirens and angry shouts. Her ears perked slightly. “Wait a second. That isn’t a memory, I can really hear a Ducati.” She exclaimed turning around to look behind them. She saw the sleek black form of a brand new Ducati straight off the market weaving through the police cars and then driving along an empty sidewalk to catch up and meet beside them. It bore two riders, the back one who was clutching on for dear life had long billowing soft pink hair that matched the helmet she wore glanced sideways at them. But the driver never took her eyes off the road and all they could see behind the curtain of styled curled purple locks was three shining blue gemstones along her neck line.

Applejack had seen this too and her jaw hung open in shock. “Rarity?! When’d ya get a motorcycle?! Scratch that, when the hell did ya learn to DRIVE a motorcycle?!?!” She asked still keeping an eye on where she was going. A blue aura surrounded the cover of the helmet she wore and the face of it lifted off to reveal a set of deep blue irises.

“I don’t think that’s much of a concern right now darling, I’d focus more on the fact you’re being chased through the most cultured city in Italy by the entire police force and what looks like a very angry mob.” She shouted back weaving through a few cars that blocked their way.

“Hey! To be completely fair most of those police cars are chasing Pinkie and Twilight! We just brought the bigger SUV’s and that mob with us.” Rainbow offered with a halfhearted laugh. That earned a slow sideways turn of the head from Fluttershy and a lifting of her own glass to properly stare Dash down.

“And WHY are you being chased by armored trucks and an angry mob Dashington…?” she asked her voice still calm like it usually was but it had a bite to it that made Rainbow feel like there was a hand made of ice choking her. Fluttershy never called her by her full last name unless she was serious.

“Look, we can all very well discuss this later. But for now may we PLEASE focus on getting out of this city ALIVE and not in handcuffs?!” Applejack asked her dialect switching to show her growing irritation as she weaved around a car that was just pulling to the curb to let them pass.

There was a mutter of agreement before they heard a megaphone issue a warning. “Halt in the name of Pope Benedict XVI!! This is your one and only warning before we will be forced to use force in your capture!” The male voice warned. In response Pinkie, who was a good few cars ahead of them stood up driving with her feet and raised her helmet off her head so they could see her face then proceeded to stick her tongue out and raise out her left arm placing her right hand just in the crook of her arm. Many of the angry crowd gasped as did Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy. Satisfied with herself Pinkie put her helmet back on and sat back down to drive with her hands once more.

“Twilight, you’re gonna wanna put a shield up around us.” Pinkie giggled.

“Why would I need to do that…? Pinkie… what did that gesture mean?!” Twilight asked frantically. Angelo, who’s face had paled slightly before he burst out laughing couldn’t answer her question and Pinkie was now just grinning wildly.

Five car lengths back Applejack had just asked a similar question to Rainbow Dash since she and Fluttershy had seemed just as shocked by it as the local Leo’s.

“Um… well… you see… she said…-“ Fluttershy stuttered her face blushing terribly.

“She just told the entire police force of Rome to go fuck themselves.” Rainbow Dash deadpanned. Applejack almost ran into a pole and Rarity almost hit a little puppy that had come too close to the street when they swerved at the little translation Rainbow had given them.

“SHE DID WHAT?!?!” They screamed in unison. Seconds later bullets started whizzing past their heads. One of them grazed Rarity’s hair leaving a clean bullet hole in the biggest curl. Seconds later a magenta magical shield was put up around them blocking the bullets from entering their airspace. They saw Twilight turned around on the scooter hands glowing as she weaved her magic into the air.

There was a trill of evil laughter that filled the air as they finally left the city limits, and to their great surprise, it wasn’t from Pinkie Pie. Rarity’s helmet became shrouded in her blue magic aura as it lifted off her head and then the handlebars of the bike became covered in it as well as she stood up just like Pinkie had but this time she drew the hidden pistol from the leg strap she had on her upper thigh that was visible through the long slit that ran up her beautiful white dress.

“NOBODY FUCKS WITH MY HAIR PISS ANTS!!!” She shouted as she fire off a wave of shots that hit the tires of the cars that were shooting them. The police vehicles were forced to stop when their tires all blew out from the seamstresses expert shot leaving just a handful of police on motorcycles and smaller cars and the angry mob coming after them. She snarled as she pushed the helmet in Fluttershy’s hands and turned to sit in the driver’s seat again letting her hands take the handles again.

Rainbow slowly leaned over to Applejack her eyes wide in terror. “I see why you love her now…” Rainbow whispered. The farmer had a dreamy look in her eyes as she smiled and giggled a little like she was drunk.

“Ah know… ain’t she great~?” she mused as continued to somehow drive through the busy street. Twilight noticed all this and couldn’t help but gag a little.

“Pinkie… if I ever fall in love and act like THAT I want you to find the biggest frying pan you can and smack me over the head with it. Repeat that until the goofy grin falls off my face.” She ordered the pink haired girl. Just said friend turned around to face her grinning with a two finger salute.

“As you wish my oh so wise leader~!” she cheered before her face wrinkled as she sniffed the air. “You smell that Twiley…?” she asked turning back to face where she was driving once more. Twilight smelled the air and got the strong tang of salt almost right away.

“The sea…?” she offered to the other girl.

“No, that’s the smell of our sweet escape!” Pinkie shouted excitedly as she revved the engine of the scooter even further and sped off down the long stretch of road. How that little scooter was managing to out speed a Ducati and two well-trained war horses was well beyond anyone’s comprehension, but it’s driver was probably a pretty big factor.

“Twilight! Estimated time to arrival!” Pinkie shouted back at her riding partner.

“At the speed we’re going?! Ten minutes thirteen seconds!” She replied doing the calculatios in her head almost instantaneously.

“That’s too long! They’re going to have the air squadrons here in five minutes!” Angelo warned them. Pinkie grit her teeth and quickly pulled out her cell phone and redialed Riptide.

“Pinkie? Where are you?! You should have been on deck ten minutes ago!” he called into her ear as he answered the phone.

“Yeah, I know that Rippy! We’ve got a little bit of an issue now. It looks like we’ve got an A. class Italian riot on our hands. We’ve got gladiators and everything on our tail! We’ve only just gotten out of the city and we won’t make it to the pier for another ten minutes, and we have half that until the air force makes it to us.” She explained as more armored trucks came out onto the highway and started opening fire on them again. Twilights shield blocked it all but a few of them were enchanted bullets and whizzed right through the shield. “And now they have their Mage forces on us.” She added nervously looking behind her.

A groan came from the other line. “Okay Pinkie. Take the next exit. I’ll be waiting at the end of it.” He sighed before he ended the conversation with a click of his phone. Pinkie stored the phone in her purse once more and revved the engine throwing her head around to shout at her friends.

“Follow me guys! Rippy says he’ll meet us half way!” she announced as she took a sharp right effectively smashing through an exit that was boarded up and blocked off. The others followed with anxious faces but usually no matter how harebrained it seemed Pinkie’s plans worked.

The highway lead up and up crawling into heights that towered over the rest of the highways and quite frankly were making Fluttershy very nervous. “Um, Rarity… why do you think this section of the highway was blocked off…?” she asked her friend.

“I honestly don’t know darling… but I’m going to trust my instincts here and say you should probably keep your eyes closed.” She reasoned as she could start to see the point where the street ahead of them peaked. She could also see that it had many warning signs lining up to it and that it was taped off with wooden barriers just like the entrance had been.

Beside them Rainbow Dash and Applejack were slowly removing their helms to see it properly. And a properly gauged reaction was given when they saw that the highway came to a very abrupt end right there. “Well… shit.” They both said in unison as Pinkie didn’t hesitate to again smash through the barrier and fly off the end of it, with no time to stop so did her friends.

“Twilight! Quickly attach one of these hooks to each of the girls and hold the vehicles and horses in your magic!” Pinkie shouted handing a handful of hooks that were attached by some kind of thick rope to something in Pinkie’s bag.

Twilight bit back her panic and did as instructed and as they were falling she felt the air tingle with more than just her magic. Below them she saw a huge vortex of spinning blue magic starting to form as she attached the last hook onto her screaming friends and took hold of the chariot(and the horses that were in a full panic), the Ducati, and the scooter straining her magic more than it had been strained since she had since she had first started training under Celestia. In the panic however Pinkie kept a clear head and released what she had in her bag by unclasping it causing a huge bright pink parachute to unfold and catch them in the air just as the large form of the S.S Equestria appeared right underneath them.

Pinkie grinned as she heard her friends stop screaming when the parachute slowed their decent into a gentle fall. “And you mocked me for bringing the parachute.” She sneered at Twilight. Twilight looked over her eyes now glowing with the power she was using.

“Yes Pinkie, you were very well prepared and I shouldn’t have questioned you. Now can we please focus on landing and getting the heck out of this country?!” She snapped back irritated from the strain she was under.

“Yeesh, and I thought Dashie was the grouchy one.” She muttered as she helped steer the parachute down to the ship where the crew was waiting with one exhausted looking Riptide being supported by Wave Crasher whose wings looked ready to leap up into the air to help them in their decent. When they landed on the deck of the ship Rainbow Dash was the first to move, before the parachute could cover them she was at Fluttershy’s side.

“Flutters? You okay? We’re good now. You can open your eyes.” Rainbow soothed stroking the balled up girl’s hair gently in an attempt to quell the fear she could feel rolling off her in waves. Fluttershy meekly unfurled looking around slowly and seeing Dash kneeled beside her in shining golden armor. Her gaze softened and she even giggled a little. “What…? What’s so funny?” Dash asked confused by her friend’s sudden shift in behavior.

“Oh, it’s um… nothing. Just… that you really do look like a knight in shining armor this time.” She mused pointing at the armor Rainbow still wore. Dash looked down and laughed a little herself when she realized the way she looked right now.

“Yeah, I guess that IS pretty funny.” She chuckled before standing up and helping Fluttershy to her feet too. Behind them Applejack was talking to Brise at the moment.

“Tell the Captain to set a course fer Pompeii, we’ve got some business to take care of there if we want to get those cops off our tail fer good. We’ll explain more on the way but fer now we just really need to get going.” AJ urged pushing the first mate towards the control booth. When Brise walked off on her own she turned around only to come nose to nose with a rather intimidating looking fashionista with long curled purple hair and two blue eyes that froze her in place instantly.

“Applejack, you have one minute to explain to me why we just had to vacate the beautiful city of Rome with the entire police force, a brutish group of armored thugs, and the military on our tails.” She growled grabbing the girl by the front of her armor and cocking her pistol in her other hand.

“Well Uh… Ah… Ah can’t speak fer Pinkie and them but me and Dash got ourselves in a bit of a pickle down at the coliseum… ya see we were in the finals and our opponent was this really sleezy guy named Casco somethin’ or another and he was openin’ up a real big can of whoop-ass on us so me an’ Dash pulled out all the stops and uh…” she trailed off muttering the rest under her breath so that Rarity wouldn’t hear her.

“I’m sorry darling, the giant hole in my precious coiffure is making me a little wound up and I don’t think I can hear you properly, could repeat that last sentence a little louder…?” Rarity asked running her gun through the bullet hole in her hair for emphasis. Applejack went straight as a board and spat out the rest in a jumbled loud mess.

“WEVAPORIZEDHIMUSINGDASH’SLIGHTNINGANDMAHHAMMERASACHANNELPLEASEDON’TKILLME!!!!” Applejack shouted curling her lips inwards and shutting her eyes so that she wouldn’t see her end coming. When she didn’t feel the cold bite of a bullet she peeked open an eye to see Rarity slowly backing away from her eyes wide and now terrified.

“Y-you… killed someone?!” she exclaimed horrified by the revelation.

“N-no! The twin’s told us he ain’t dead! He’s just… out of commission right now!” Applejack explained frantically after realizing her wording mistake. Rarity’s horrified face slackened slightly turning into confusion.

“Twins…? What twins…?” she asked the farmer.

“Welllllllll…” she started scratching the back of her head and reaching for her hat only to realize she had left it back at the arena. “Aw damn it all… Ah left mah hat back there!” She hissed. There was a loud thud behind her and she turned to see a sight she honestly hadn’t expected. Bronze, Fondere, Dancer, and Shadow all stood behind her looking quite battle ridden and slightly charred. In front of them landed the petite form of the shepherd boy Pales. He held out a worn and familiar looking stenson to Applejack.

“Perhaps we can help in explaining Miss Apple…? By the way, you left your hat.” He added handing the hat to her. She placed on her loose blonde hair and all felt right again to her as her shoulders reflexively loosened at the feeling of it on her head.

“Thank ya kindly Pales. Ah don’t know what Ah’d have done if Ah lost it.” She sighed running her hand along the rim of it and tipping it at him. “Rarity, these are the kind folk who helped me and Dash get out of there alive, the two big guys in the back are Fondere ‘il Ferro and Bronze Armor. The two mirrored looking gal’s in front of them are the twins Ah mentioned before their names are Moondancer and Shadow Streak, and this sweet little guy is Pales.” She mused ruffling the slightly shorter boy’s hair playfully. He didn’t stop her but he did shy away a little when he heard snickering behind him. A sharp glare back at his comrades stopped the laughter and he turned to address the girls again. He bowed at his waist to Rarity.

“It’s is a pleasure to meet you.” He stated simply. Rarity smiled at his manners and curtsied a little back.

“As it is you, Pales. I’m Rarity Belle, a classmate of Applejack and as of late her acting warden while she’s away from her grandmother…” she stated with a bite of bitterness thrown at Applejack who winced in response. Bronze chuckled and scooped the farmer up to look at her properly.

“Warden huh kid? You as much of a trouble maker back home as you are here…?” he asked snickering.

“No Ah am not! Ah’m one of the most well behaved gal’s ya’ll will ever know! The trouble maker in our group is-“ she was interrupted by a pink blur barreling into her knocking her out of his hold and flattening her on her back with Pinkie pinning her.

“Hi AJ~! I came over to make sure you were okay and then I saw this super duper cool looking group of people drop in out of no where and I was like ‘who are these guys?!’ but then you started talking to them like they were friends and you know what I say, any friend of my friends is a friend of mine so I just HAD to come over and throw a super duper totally awesome ‘New friend’s’ party but then that big guy picked you up and I got worried that maybe they were actually meanie pants so I rushed over and got you away from them before they could hurt you! Are you alright by the way?” she asked her usual energy making her words speed by Applejack’s ears so fast she could hardly comprehend much other than there was now a Pinkie on top of her.

“Yeah… Ah’m fine. An’ don’t you worry none sugarcube these lot are friendly folk. Like Ah was just tellin’ Rare they’re the ones that helped us get away in the first place.” She explained motioning to the group that now hesitantly waved at them. Pinkie let out a large gasp when she saw turned her head and saw the boy in front of them all her eyes wider than dinner plates. She pointed at him with an accusing finger.

“You’re the-!!!” her mouth was shut thanks to a conjured zipper made of deep blue magic. Riptide smiled as he walked over to them his hand still glowing with the aura.

“Now now Pinkie, it’s not polite to point. Especially when you yourself have so much explaining to do. You WERE being chased pretty heavily yourself weren’t you…?” Riptide asked carefully maneuvering away from the subject. Pinkie blushed a little as she unzipped her mouth and scratched the back of her head.

“Yeah, I guess I kinda do… Come on girls, let’s go talk in the observation room.” Pinkie sighed pushing Rarity and Applejack towards the manhole in the center of the deck. She pushed them in and then pushed the remainder of her friends down in it as well. Angelo took one look at her and didn’t question it just jumped into the hole before she could push him. Pinkie smiled at that. He had come a long way in just a few short hours, it made her wonder what she could with a few days. She leapt into her hole like Alice down the rabbit hole and closed the latch behind her.

Riptide smiled as he watched her go and beside him Pales did as well. “Those girls are quite something to be able to change him like this… and to be able to take down Cas too… then of course that idiot has always managed to get himself in the worst of trouble. How many times have we had to perform this ceremony now…?” he asked the boy.

“If my memory isn’t failing me this is the 17th time.” He responded plainly. “Do you think he will be alright with them…? You know our Lord can be very… impressionable and I fear that your subordinate isn’t the best influence on him…” Pales pointed out to the taller man.

“Oh relax Pally, you know she’s harmless and she only means the best for him. Besides, I know you’ve seen it in them. They’re special.” He chuckled with a sly grin down at the boy who winced at the name.

“How many times must I tell you not to call me by that ridiculous name…?” Pales asked gritting his teeth together and clenching his fists.

“I’ll stop doing it when you stop reacting so cutely to it.” Riptide chuckled reaching down to pinch his cheek teasingly. He released it and walked off laughing motioning for the others to follow. “Come on you guys, they’re going to need our explanation before we can head for the bar.” He mused as he walked towards the hatch again. The others all followed without question, even Pales though he was muttering something about trampling Riptide to death under his breath.

***

Meanwhile in Canterlot in the castle proper:

There was a warp of solid blue energy and a small pop before a thickly built college aged teenager stood in a red and gold military uniform his two toned blue hair hanging partially in his face covering one of his light blue eyes. He stood up straight when the guard captain, Ivory Spear, addressed him.

“Shining Armor… did I interrupt something important?” he asked the younger man.

“Sir no sir! Only a training session for a ceremony my platoon is overseeing sir!” he explained his salute holding. The tall man in front of him with mostly white hair and a single streak of lavender down the middle of his long hair smiled at the young man with soft lavender eyes that matched his streak almost perfectly.

“Shiny, we’re alone you don’t have to use formalities.” He chuckled. Shining let his stance drop as he looked around to see that they were in fact in the captains quarters alone. Shining grinned and hugged the man in front of him laughing. The man was his mother’s only brother and his favorite Uncle, he had taught Shining everything he knew about fighting, duty, and the honor that came with being a member of the guard. The pendant of a magenta colored magic burst on his chest was not only his prized possession but the family crest as well.

“It’s great to see you again Uncle Ivory!” Shining exclaimed as the man playfully ruffled his hair. “But you don’t normally call me out of school unless something big has gone wrong, what’s up?” he asked pulling away a bit. Ivory sighed and slouched slightly showing his age with a weary look out the window.

“You always were a smart one… Just, go look down into the city, you’ll see the problem right away.” He stated gesturing to his window. The Captain of the Guard’s personal home and office was situated right near the front gate of the castle and built into the inner wall of it as well, as such the office was in a pillar like guard tower that could overlook the entirety of the city it protected. So it was very easy to see the love sick population that meandered through the streets a familiar pink aura surrounding them all as they literally went head over heels for the first person they laid eyes on, gender, age, and previous relations be damned.

“Oh for the love of…” he facepalmed and dragged his hand down his face. “What happened this time…?” he groaned.

“Well, from what Samuel has told me there was a petitioner who went in to see her today, she’s filling in for her Aunt while she’s out of the country, and he proposed a bill that would tax people on their love. She grew outraged and threw him from the throne room window. I have reports that say he landed somewhere in the bad lands. After that she marched out of the throne room yelling that she was going to remind the kingdom what it meant to be in love.” He explained shaking his head and sighing. “ this actually reminds me of when you two were thirteen, do you remember how we had to have half the guard hold her down while you and Twilight calmed her down…? Being childhood friends you’re about the only person who’s ever been able to calm her down. And nothing’s changed since you’ve started dating. By the way, have you told Twilight that yet…?” he asked giving the teenager a sideways knowing smirk that made him cringe.

“S-sooooo, all I have to do is go in and calm her down?” he asked quickly avoiding the topic. Ivory chuckled more and nodded.

“Yes, and if you could talk her into fixing the damage she’s done that would save us a lot of work too.” He replied still grinning. “Your shields are the only one’s strong enough that her magic won’t have any effect on you. Everyone else that tried to leave the castle is pretty much instantly swept into the spell’s effect. I’ve already lost three squadrons to it… last I heard they had all turned on each other and dropped their shorts to-“

“That’s enough Uncle Ivory, I get the picture.” Shining interrupted quickly his cheeks reddening at the image. “I’ll go calm her down, and I think I can see where she’s made her throne from up here… she hasn’t changed since the day I met her…” he sighed shaking his head in exasperation. “If I’m not back in an hour, please tell Twilight I loved her.” He stated before hefting himself out the window and leaping from the tower and sliding down a fabric over hang that covered the front entrance onto the ground below before putting up a shield of strong magenta magic and running headlong into the city pushing through the crowd of love infested citizens. Ivory chuckled as he watched his nephew go.

“That boy will never change… even after 14 years of knowing her he still charges head first after her when she’s throwing a tantrum in town square…” he chuckled watching the pink colored bubble that contained his nephew run through the city.

Shining Armor was many things; Strong, smart, incredibly good looking according to many of the love letters he’d gotten from anonymous admirers over the years. But the one thing he was not, was a patient person when it came to the populace of Canterlot. Children he had eternal patience for, his family and close friends too, but if you surround him with thousands of normally stuck up and prissy nobles, upper class, and all around citizens that just think they’re better than everyone else just because of where they live then you get the current Shining Armor that was shoving through bodies without so much as a single apology for any of it. That and he was trying to help all of them and all they did was get in his way while they tried to suck the face off the closest body with a pulse. It was quite disgusting but he wasn’t doing it for them. He was doing it for the tri hair colored girl that was brain washing them all with her emotions alone that sat in a throne made at the top of the great Canterlot Fountain of the Regal Sisters that stood in the very heart of the city.

Her slender form was radiating the power only an Alicorn could draw forth, one that was feared by mortals because of the things it could do just when they had mood swings like this. The first time Cadence had done this was when she was five and she had been moved from the small town she was born in to Canterlot to live in the castle with her Aunt Celestia and her newly returned Aunt Luna. He remembered the day very well.

Shining Armor had been playing with his just born baby sister and was showing her a shield spell he had learned in class that day when the spell washed over the city. His parents started acting weird and even his baby sister didn’t want to let go of him. He had run out of his house looking for where the blast had come from and discovered a crying little girl with the prettiest colored pink and purple wings he’d ever seen sitting on the throne at the top of the fountain in the center of the city not far from where he lived. She was surrounded by the pink aura that had blasted through the town, it was clear she was the source.

“Um… hello…? Are you okay?” he had asked the girl as he slowly walked towards her his magic keeping the shield up around him if only out of fear for what would happen if it fell. The girl’s crying stopped and she glanced over at him her hair obscuring most of her face but he could barely see a light purple eye peeking out at him.

“Go away! I want to be alone!” she shouted at him.

“You don’t sound like it… Papa says people when people cry they need someone more than ever. You look like you really need someone’s help… why are you crying? Did someone hurt you? My Uncle says if someone hit’s a girl it’s okay for boys to beat them up, so I could beat them up if you want!” he explained inching a little closer to her. Her crying had stopped but she didn’t look up from where she was curled up on the throne high above him. The fountain had turned off so he could climb up the steps that were carved into the grand statue. “Or… if you want I could just play with you! I don’t really have anyone to play with. The kids at my school don’t really like me much and I don’t have any cousins my age, and my little sister was just born so there’s no one to really play with me. But I could play with you if you want! I know playing with my Uncle always cheers me up, Oh! We could build a pillow fort!” he exclaimed excitedly as he continued to climb the spiraling set of stairs occasionally tripping on the slippery steps.

“A… blanket fort? What’s that?” her small voice asked from above his head.

“You’ve never made a blanket fort?! Well no wonder you’re so sad! Next thing you’re going to tell me is that you’ve never had ice cream!” he laughed. A silence that followed made him hesitate. “Wait… you have had ice cream right?” he asked hesitantly.

“N-no… my mom always said sugar’s really bad for you so she never let me have any…” she responded her voice sounding embarrassed.

“Well then you and me are going to the ice cream shop right away! And then we’re going to my house to make a blanket fort!” he announced as he reached the top and stood in front of the stone throne. “I’m Shining Armor by the way, what’s your name…?” he asked holding out his hand to her. She slowly un curled herself from the ball she was in and her face came up to look at the small boy that couldn’t have been more than a month older than her if that. At the center of her forehead above a beautiful pair of lavender eyes was a magical crest just like the one on his forehead. A small crystal blue hear could be seen on her upper thigh through the slit in her pink dress.

“P-princess Mi Amore Cadenzea Equestria…” she responded. He looked to her left hand and saw a small golden tiara clutched in it as her hand trembled slightly. He didn’t miss a beat and lowered the shield around himself and smiled as he calmly took the crown from her and put it in a pocket on the side of his tan shorts.

“That’s a grown up’s name, and too much of a hassle to keep calling you Princess all the time. I’ll just call you Cadence instead!” he said with a wide grin that seemed infectious. It was. A smile found it’s way onto her face as her body’s pink glow began to recede.

“You don’t think it’ll be weird playing with a princess…?” she asked the boy.

“Why would it be…?” he asked looking at her curiously. “You’re still a kid just like me! And kid’s need to play with other kids! Having wings AND magic doesn’t change that!” he laughed before holding out a hand to her. “But if you really want to be a princess then I’ll just have to be a knight right? You’re knight in Shining Armor? Get it? Because that’s my name?” he grinned. The newly named Cadence had to hold back a fit of giggles at the silly pun. Shining caught it and grinned even more. “Ha! I made you laugh and you stopped crying now too! Guess that means we get to go for ice cream now to celebrate!” he cheered before jumping down into the fountain and making a big splash in the water. “Come on! Jump down with me!” he called up to her.

“But my dress will get wet!” she whined back eyeing the water like it was a pit of acid.

“So?! Normal Kid Rule #1, we don’t CARE if we ruin our clothes! That’s what washers and dryers are for!” he called back up to her. She bit her lip and her purple tipped pink wings fluttered nervously before she stepped back a little and leapt off the ledge she landed in a splash effectively soaking Shining Armor and when she came back up she took in a big gasp of air as both of their hair was now slicked wet and covering their eyes. They parted it so they could see each other and then burst out laughing at the sight of one another. There was a small glow of light under the water on Shining’s arm but neither of them had noticed the appearance of the purple shield with the familiar pink magic burst in its center, they were having far too much fun together for that.

Shining came to a stop in the town square to see the familiar figure of the very same girl he had met those 14 years ago glowing with the same pink energy as she watched the citizens around her go crazed with her emotional influence. Her glowing eyes darted to him as he came into view panting from his run through the city.

“Shining…?” she asked her voice double toning slightly from her power that dulled slightly upon seeing him. “What are you doing in Canterlot?! You’re supposed to be at school all the way in Buckingham…!!!” she exclaimed standing up and staring down at him in shock. He ran over creating a set of stairs from the same magic he used for his shields so that he could climb up to the fountain.

“Yeah well, funny story. I was in the middle of drilling my team for an upcoming ceremony we’re performing at and suddenly I get called into the Principals office! Then I get teleported back home after a less than satisfactory explanation from a frantic guard that had come from Canterlot, then I get here and find that this crazy Princess had shrouded the entire city in some kind of love sickness that has a platoon of my Uncle’s finest men playing hanky panky in some random building just outside the castle walls. Along with the entire city populace of an appropriate age I’m sure. So I rushed out here like the knight I am to quell the Princess just like I always do.” He explained as he reached the top of the fountain where she stood. The aura had receded and her eyes were turning back to normal.

“Shining I- I don’t know what came over me… No… that’s… that’s not an excuse. I DO know what came over me but I shouldn’t have let it escalate this far… I was just so… FRUSTRATED! That fat bastard actually wanted me to TAX love Shining! Like it wasn’t a right people should just have! It made my blood boil…” she growled her wings itching in agitation feathers spread to show her irritation. He smiled and reached over gently stroking the appendages until he saw her visibly unravel beneath his touch.

“I know dear… Uncle told me everything. Nice throw this time by the way, they said he landed in the badlands.” He chuckled as he pulled her into a hug and started stroking her hair as well. Cadence sighed and let her head rest on his chest inhaling his scent and letting it calm her as she closed her eyes and let the spell dissolve with her emotions. Around the city the citizens slowly came out of their stupor and found themselves in very awkward situations. More especially the squad that was quite busy in the back of a little warehouse just near the castle entrance.

“Really? Damn. I was trying to see if I could make it all the way to Aunty’s island so she could teach the bastard a lesson.” She giggled with a slightly mischievous smile. Shining laughed as well and kissed her forehead gently.

“Well I’m sure your Aunt wouldn’t have appreciated having her vacation interrupted anyways. Now, what do you say we get down from here and go over to Malty’s shop to get ice cream before we have to arrange a press conference to apologize to the citizens… again.” He added with an amused smile when pink tinted her cheeks.

“Can we… build a blanket fort again too…?” she asked looking up at him hopefully as they climbed down the steps he created.

“After the press conference.” He responded simply.

“Awwww, but Shiny…!” she whined tugging on his uniform in protest.

“Nope, not gonna happen. If we don’t wait until after you’ll just hole yourself in there like Twilight did with that book fort when Celestia gave her her first exam and she was too nervous to take it.” He responded ignoring her tugs.

Cadence giggled at that. “I remember that. It took us six hours to convince her that Aunty WASN’T going to send her to the moon if she failed.” She laughed. “Those moon rumors get more and more ridiculous every time I hear them. But Aunty always takes them with her usual sense of humor.”

“Meaning she teleports them to the moon room to freak them out…?” he asked.

“Eeeeeeexactly.” Cadence giggled.

He rolled his eyes. “Your family has a twisted sense of humor you know that…?” he asked.

“Oh like you don’t?” she asked as they walked along the main boulevard to their favorite ice cream shop that they’d been going to since that first day they met.

“Oh come on! You play ONE prank on your senior class during graduation and no one ever lets you live it down!” he complained throwing his hands in the air for emphasis.

“You unleashed a magical sneeze that put everyone in the stadium in their underwear!” she countered with a cocked eyebrow. He smirked a little at that.

“Still mad you chose that day not to wear any…?” he asked with a sneaky grin.

“THE DRESS I WAS WEARING CALLED FOR IT!!!” She protested smacking the back of his head as she did so.

“Riiiiiiiiight, it totally wasn’t because you were planning on jumping me after the ceremony to-“

“Shining Norbert Armor Sparkle I swear on the Creator’s name that if you finish that sentence I will end you here and now.” Cadence stated simply using her Aunt’s lessons of keeping a poker face to not show her emotions. His jaw clenched shut teeth rattling together as it did so. She grinned like a cat as she ran a finger under his chin. “Such a smart man you’ve grown into. Now get the door.” She ordered simply as they came to the small shop.

“Y-yes Princess…” he stuttered as he quickly held open the door for her. When his full name was used is was best to straighten up and do as she said, otherwise you ended up waking in a hospital the next day after having surgery to save your man hood from dropping off dead after one of her infamous Alicorn kicks, a combination of Earth bound strength, and both Unicorn and Pegasus magic powering the shock that went through your body once it made contact. He still remembered that little lesson quite well.

***

Applejack and Rainbow Dash had already told their side of the story and Pinkie and Twilight just finished telling theirs as well. The group was now staring at the winged boy in shock.

“So… let me see if I’ve got this right…” Rainbow started holding up her hand to pause the conversation where it was. She pointed at the boy siting in between Pinkie and Twilight. “This kid with the mop of white hair that looks like it could really use a trim is the Pope’s grandson…?” she asked.

“Yuppers~!” Pinkie replied grinning.

“An’ ya’ll took ‘im outta his chapel ta show him how ta have fun…?” Applejack prompted further.

“That’s the gist of it, yes.” Twilight responded simply.

“And because of that we now have the military and the entire Italian police force chasing after us with the attachment of ‘Dead or Alive’ added to our wanted status…?” Rarity inquired her face paler than usual.

“Seems that way.” Angelo hummed staring at the group of adults at the other end of the table they sat at. He had been quiet through most of it only adding in a few details here and there.

“Well… that’s just fucking fantabulous!” Rainbow hissed throwing her hands up in the air in frustration. Fluttershy gasped.

“Rainbow Dash! Language!” she scolded.

“Sorry Flutters but it’s appropriate for the situation! Look, if we didn’t need to get to that Volcano and fast I’d totally be all for going straight to the princesses to get this sorted out but for now me and Applejack NEED to get there to clear our names! You all can go once you drop us off if you want.”

“Not a chance in hell.” The other four responded at once. Rainbow’s jaw dropped in shock when she realized Fluttershy had said it too. Fluttershy to this day had only cursed once; and she was in too much pain to be any kind of rational so it was excused.

“Flutters you-“

“Don’t start Dashie. I went through a cursed temple yesterday and I was perfectly fine. I think I can handle a little volcano.” She stated firmly tucking her pink strands behind her ear and looking Dash full in the eye.

“And you know full well I’ll not be leaving you to charge head long into a boiling pit of lava by yourself Applejack. You’d never come back and then I’d be stuck with explaining to Granny Smith why I let you do something so stupid.” Rarity explained to the blonde farmer who was staring at her green eyes wide as dinner plates. ‘That and I’d probably slit my wrists if I let her go and she never came back…’ she added mentally.

“And you both KNOW me and Twiley would never abandon you guys like that! What kind of friends would we be?!” Pinkie asked pouting her lip slightly. Twilight nodded in confirmation. Angelo smiled at the sight of all of them. Applejack and Rainbow Dash exchanged a look and then couldn’t help but smile.

“Alright then… not like we can stop ya’ll when you’re like this anyhow.” Applejack chuckled.

“Yeah, and I couldn’t ask for better adventure groupies anyhow!” Rainbow added rubbing her nose and scratching the back of her head as she grinned. She looked up when she heard a chair push away from the table and saw Angelo standing with a smile on his face.

“Then I will be joining your excursion as well.” He stated simply. There was a clatter of chairs as the adults all stood up instantly, but Pales was the first to speak.

“I’m afraid that’s not going to happen Sir. You know full well we couldn’t let you go on such an excursion into such a-“

“Pales. How many years have you known me…?” Angelo interrupted the other boy before he could finish.

The light haired boy blinked in surprise his deep blue eyes confused. “For many years, since you were first brought to the chapel and placed under our watch, but what does-“ again Angelo interrupted.

“And of all the time you’ve known me have you ever seen me ASK for something…?” he asked his sharp golden eyes meeting his deep blue eyes to emphasize his point.

“No… no sir you have not. But sir you must understand that your grandfather would not approve if-“

“Pales, if I cared at all what grandfather says I would still be in that room and Miss Pie would have been arrested within seconds of her attempting to kidnap me. I went WILLINGLY. I followed her WILLINGLY. And now she is WILLINGLY putting her neck on the line to help her friends. Is it not fair to ask, that I be allowed to do the same?” he asked folding his hands in front of him as he sat back down in his chair. Pales bit his lip and clenched his fist tensing his body as he fought an internal battle. Angelo sighed and stood up walking over and placing a hand on his shoulder. “I’m not asking you this as Angelo Adalricus Cælestis Rogatus Ratzinger, I’m asking you as Angelo, your friend.” He urged smiling at him slightly. “Please, let me do this.”

Pales groaned and slammed his head into the table. “Fine! Dive into the volcano for all I care! In fact let’s ALL go lava diving!” he exclaimed throwing his hands up in defeat. Angelo smiled patting his shoulder gently and then he noticed the girls staring at him and another thought occurred to him. He leaned up a little to whisper in Pales ear and seconds later the mint haired boy shot up his blue eyes wide in distress. “NON ASSOLUTAMENTE mio Signore, io lo proibisco!!” He shouted at the smaller boy. (Absolutely not my lord, I forbid it)

Angelo hissed through his teeth speaking in Italian now as well. “Keep down your voice you fool, the Rainbow haired one knows our language just as much as we do.” He growled through his teeth.

“Angelo, I can’t let you do that, risking yourself is one thing but this is a secret that’s bigger than just you! What makes them so special that you’d want to divulge such information…?!” Pales hissed in response his blue eyes narrowing at the six girls who were now staring curiously at them as they huddled close together and whispered to one another.

“They are Her messengers just as I am…” he responded simply. Pales froze his eyes looking over at the girls.

“You are sure…?” Pales asked his blue eyes scanning them while he addressed the boy beside him.

“Have I ever been wrong about these kinds of things?” Angelo countered motioning towards his upper thigh for emphasis.

“No… no you haven’t… but I don’t really think that’s enough to-“

“The mage, Twilight Sparkle is the Sun’s personal student and grew up in the castle. Her friends are also very close with the sisters. They are accustom to such things already.” He explained with a small smile when he saw the shocked look cross the older boy’s face.

“Are they aware of their positions…?” Pales asked quickly. Angelo shook his head and then Pales thought carefully for a minute before he gave in and sighed turning to the twins at either side of him.

“Put up a silencing barrier around this room and bolt the doors. I want no chance of anything that’s about to be said to be heard by anyone who isn’t supposed to hear it.” He ordered. The twins both combined their magic shrouding the room for a second before it vanished from sight and the door became bolted shut. The six girls looked very confused now and slightly panicked as the actions took place. Rainbow Dash, who had been changed out of her armor along with Applejack, quickly flew up now feeling trapped inside of the room.

“Pales! What’s going on?!” she asked her voice cracking a little in her panic.

“Please, relax Miss Dash, you’re not being trapped. This is simply a necessary precaution. For reasons I’m unable to say my Lord has chosen to share one of our government’s biggest secrets with you six and because of that it is imperative that the necessary precautions be taken.” He explained. Rainbow landed back on the metal floor now thoroughly confused by the situation. Pinkie and Twilight were especially confused.

“Gelo…? What’s wrong?” Pinkie asked worried for her newest friend who now looked very nervous with all eyes on him.

“You look like you’re going to be sick!” Twilight noted walking over and placing a hand on his arm to feel his temperature since he didn’t like having his forehead touched. “And you’re starting to feel clammy too! Are you getting sick?” she asked the boy.

“No… it’s just… Twilight, Pinkie… and you four as well. You have to understand something about me before I show you what I need to.” He urged looking at all of the girls who now gave him their full attention. “I-I never wanted this… I never wanted any of this. I don’t like being different and treated like I’m someone special. I just wanted to be like everyone else. And until today I never knew just how badly I wanted that, or just how different I actually was from everyone else! My grandfather has always said it… and I didn’t want to believe it but… I AM different. Not just because I have no idea how to dress myself either…” he explained rubbing his arm nervously. Pinkie smiled bouncing over to him.

“You’re not weird Gelo! You’re just you! Just because you’re way sheltered doesn’t make you a freak!” she exclaimed patting him on the head. He shied away a little and that made her pause and her smile faded into worry. “Gelo…?”

“I’m sorry Pinkie… I just… you have to understand this is difficult for me to say. Hehe… even after psyching myself up for this I’m still hesitating. Okay…” he took in a deep breath and his golden eyes closed before opening back up determined. “You… all of you. You would say you’re familiar with the Princesses of your nation yes…? So much so that they willingly brought you here with them?” he asked the girls.

“Well, yeah. Luna’s super cool to hang with and Celestia is hilarious with pranks and the like! Sometimes it’s like they’re not even royalty.” Rainbow explained.

“Mah family’s been close ta them for decades, Celestia was more like an Aunt ta me when Ah was little.” Applejack nodded setting her hat on the table in front of her.

“And they both are wonderful conservationists over tea. They’re very friendly towards most anyone and very easy to get along with once you sit down with them and talk for a bit. They’re also wonderful sources for the finest castle gossip.” Rarity mused with a small wink Fluttershy nodding in agreement. Twilight smiled seeming to stare at the air with fond admiration.

“The Princess… Celestia I mean. She’s like a second mother to me. She’s taught me so much in my time with her, and Luna… she’s very shy and when you first meet her you’d think she’s cold and distant. But she’s actually really talkative under that, and if you get her under a night sky she’ll open up like a well-read book. And that’s a very poetic book let me tell you…” she mused with a small giggle. “And the third Princess, you know her as Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but to me she’s just Cadence. She was just as much a part of my childhood as Celestia and Luna. She’s a childhood friend of my older brother and she babysat me and Spike from very early on. She’s just like a big sister to me.” She explained to the boy her smile never fading and a small glow filling her eyes when she spoke of the Alicorn’s.

Angelo smiled and closed his eyes. “So you’d all say you’re very close with the Alicorns…?” the question was rhetorical since he continued speaking before they could answer. “Good, that makes this much easier to ask then. Twilight, you’re the expert. Tell me what you know about Alicorns.” He prompted.

“Well… Not much was known until almost twenty years ago when Cadence was born… but studying her genetics opened up new windows for scientists to look through. New discoveries popped up every day. Like that the Alicorn gene was present in humans for millennia. But it’s highly recessive and on top of that it’s linked specifically to females. That was the part I found most fascinating. I actually wrote a paper in fifth grade about the similarities between Alicorns and Calico cats.” She giggled with a fond smile at the memory.

He perked up at that factoid. “And those were the two biggest discoveries right…? And since then there’s been no recorded births of Alicorns…?” he asked.

“Of course not. If there had been the Princesses would have known about it and the child would have been brought to be raised in the castle just like Cadence was.” She responded quickly. She looked confused for a second. “Why are you so curious about the Alicorns Angelo…?” she asked the younger boy.

His smile only grew. “The records are wrong.” He stated simply. Before she could open her mouth to ask what he meant a spark in her eye lit up as he continued. “Thirteen years ago there was one child, a child who was born to a dying woman. The woman in her dying breath gave the order to the boy who over saw her birth and who held the child in his arms to take the child to the Pope and that he would know how to take care of the child. The child was special you see, it was like your rulers, an Alicorn. Gifted with the magic of a Unicorn and the flight of a Pegasus, along with the strong body of an Earthbound. The woman died there that night but the boy who had heard her last wish obeyed.

“He made his way to St. Peter’s and quickly requested an audience with the Pope saying it was a grave matter of holy importance. They granted his request and he was quickly seen to the Pope’s bed chambers where he had been getting ready for bed. When shown the child the Pope became frantic questioning the boy for everything he knew about the origins of the child. But he knew little to nothing. He had come across the woman when she was already in labor in a back alleyway and helped her through the birth as he knew through his work as a shepherd’s boy. He had come fulfilling her dying request. That the pope take the child in and raise him keeping him safe from those who would seek to take him from his home. The infant boy, with hair as white as snow and wings to match opened his eyes for the first time. And when he did he gazed upon the pope, when their eyes met the infant had a magical surge that nearly made the entire chapel come down around them. When it ended the boy who had brought him to the pope was changed, in years to come they would find he did not age. He stayed in the body of a 14 year old child, and he had gained a whole new set of skills much like an Alicorn; the strength and healthy body of of an earth bound, the swiftness and dexterity of a Pegasus and even a little bit of magic from the Unicorns. The infant itself who was still glowing with magic as golden as the sun itself now had a mark on his upper thigh. A mark known to the pope himself as the mark of the Messenger, a single feather inlaid over the Creator’s crest.

“To him this was the final sign. He took the child and asked the boy one more question, ‘What did she name him…?’”

“Angelo Adalricus Cælestis Rogatus… The pope saw it fit to add his own last name onto it to make the adoption go smoother with the public. After that Angelo was raised in secrecy to make sure his mother’s wish be fulfilled. Rome is his true home and she didn’t want him to be forcefully taken from it. And being an Alicorn, and a Male at that, would have ensured that he would have never lived a peaceful life. So now he has to hide who he is so that he can live a normal life. But I’m beginning to see now that what he had… is very far from a normal life.” Pales explained looking a little bit guilty as he spoke. “For that I apologize my Lord.” He stated kneeling a little to the boy.

“Pales if you do not get off your knee right now I’m going to use that nickname that Bronze so creatively came up with.” He threatened. The older boy quickly rose to his feet. He smiled and then turned to the girls once more. “You’ll have to forgive him. He’s got this sense of duty in him that could make your royal guard envious. My grandfather wanted him trained after he insisted on staying with me. So they trained him as a military operative. During his training he met Bronze and Fondere and brought them back with him. Shortly after that they met Moon and Shadow too. Riptide too. They sort of formed a team after that, sometimes going out of the country on missions. Pales would always come back and tell me all about it. He was like my Cadence if that makes any sense.” He explained facing Twilight with a small smile. But the purple haired magic user was long gone. Her mind lost in the depths of everything she had just been told. But Pinkie, always the eccentric one bounced right up to him crushing him in a death hug that would have put a bear to shame.

“That’s Super Duper totally awesome Gelo!!! I knew you were special because my Pinkie sense said so but I never would have guessed you were the same kind of special as the Princesses!” she let out a large gasp of realization. “That totally means you’re a Prince! Ohmaigosh I totally have to through you a Prince Party now!!!” she exclaimed pulling her prototype party canon from her bag. “IT’S PARTY TIME PEOPLE!!!!” She exclaimed grabbing onto the string. Before she could pull it she was tackled by Rainbow Dash to the ground and the canon was wheeled away by Applejack.

“Pinkie, the last time you fired that canon it broke through a wall. We’re in a room made of mostly glass and about two hundred feet under the ocean. You’re good at science, you tell me what will happen if you so much as crack that glass.” She hissed at the girl. Pinkie’s eyes darted to the glass wall and gave Dash a nervous grin when she realized what she had almost done.

“Whoopsies… guess I could save the party until I get the bugs out of my canon… or we’re somewhere where it’s okay to do a little damage.” She reasoned. Rainbow gave her a firm glare before she let her up and then turned to the white haired boy.

“So, Alicorn huh…? Let’s see it then, your crest.” Dash stated poking the boy lightly in the chest as she hovered a few inches off the ground.

“My crest…? Oh! Yeah, easy. Now I can finally part my hair back to normal.” He muttered as he divided his hair so that the right side of his medium length white hair was tucked behind his ear and the left side remained mostly covering his eye, but it was now pretty easily seen that there was an archaically styled crest inlaid on his forehead more complicatedly weaved than a simple Unicorn’s. Something any magic user would be able to see plain as day if they ever saw it. It was not a wonder why he chose to reveal his wings instead, they may have been larger than normal for a pegasus but that could have been genetics. But the pattern of the crest symbolized just how powerful the bearer’s magic was. Twilight’s for example was almost just as intricate as an Alicorn’s and it had brought up many questions to many of the head scholars at the top schools in the country. And of course the press had spread rumors about her secretly being an Alicorn and Celestia’s love child. She scoffed at that particular implication. They had dispelled that little rumor with pictures and one rather loud video of her birth that her father had taken before her mother had blown up the camera in his face.

“You… HOW…? I’ve read thousands of papers on the subject and even studied samples I snuck from Cadence! The Alicorn gene is only supposed to be active in females!” Twilight exclaimed in disbelief.

Angel smiled and simply and pulled a hair from his head before it became surrounded in a golden aura channeled through his finger tips that held it in place. The golden aura projected up from the strand forming a screen that showed what everyone recognized as a DNA strand. It broke down into a bunch of letters that made no sense until it came down to a narrowed point that they all recognized from their biology classes. “My personal genetics. I’m sure you can see it as well as we all did. I have an extra X chromosome in my gender slot. Now normally this causes an odd mutation in the infant, like growing extra limbs or in the worst case scenario it can cause tumors that usually kill the infant before it can properly form. But in my case…” he stated pressing on the extra X that was tagged onto the end of it. A glowing golden strand came onto the screen and seemed to radiate power.

“The Alicorn gene…” Twilight breathed pressing her fingers to the screen in disbelief. “This is amazing… but. Wait. The extra X… the only way male calico’s can exist… in almost every case the calico’s were-“

“Sterile, yes you’re correct. And if I was a cat I can assure you I would be. But I’m not a cat. I’m an Alicorn. And thanks to my body being as blessed as an Earthbound I also get their famed health and fertility. Believe me, Grandfather invested in the very best doctors to test me. I’m as healthy and my growth rates are all completely normal for a thirteen year old boy. Whether or not my aging will slow when I get older is still a mystery though.” He explained. Twilight blinked in surprise and went into her usual thinker’s position with her hand rubbing her chin as she paced the room back and forth. Fluttershy was just as curious but not quite as frantic as Twilight.

“This is quite interesting Angelo… excuse me for asking but, well… you see my special talent is very involved with animals so I’m a bit of a biology fanatic myself. You say your growth rates are all on par with a normal boy’s rates…? But um, Cadence always showed above average developments for normal girls. So, shouldn’t yours be too…?” she asked the boy. He smiled at her and nodded.

“You’re right about that Fluttershy, Cadence DID show above average growth, always being a little taller and more advanced in things like magic and flying than her classmates. But she’s also female. And you know as well as I do that females mature differently than males. Girls tend to start maturing early and do so at a steady pace from then into their late teens or very early twenties. Males however usually begin maturing in small amounts at first but then it escalates quickly once they enter their mid to late teens. Right now I’ve just started the beginning stages of my growth. I’ve actually grown three inches in the last four months and I’m starting to outgrow my shoes quite rapidly. If the pattern stays I won’t begin to show any big growth cycles until I’m at least sixteen.” He explained doing the math on the screen he projected with his magic showing her the equations.

“Fascinating…” Twilight and Fluttershy muttered at the same time. Behind them the other four girls were staring at them with blank stares.

“Okay… I think we’ve lost them. AJ, you’re smart. You got any idea what they’re saying…?” Rainbow asked the farmer.

“Nah, maybe if they were talking about Shakespeare or some big Equestrian war. Ah’m good with that kind of stuff. Pinkie?” she asked the science loving girl.

“Nope, only every other word or so. I’m a physics nut remember…?” she explained with a shrug.

Rarity rolled her eyes and folded her arms across her chest. “They’re saying that because he’s a boy he isn’t going to begin to get super powerful like the Princesses until he’s older.” She translated for them. They stared at the fashion lover curiously.

“Unlike YOU Rainbow Dash I actually listen when Fluttershy talks about her hobby.” Rarity explained with a roll of her eyes. “And as such I’m above average in my knowledge of Biology.” Rainbow Dash was red in the face as she jabbed a finger at Rarity and was about to let loose on her when she was swept away by Fluttershy gently pulling on her arm to bring her over to where they were talking.

“Rainbow Dash listen to this, he says his wings have shed their down and grown into fully mature feathers in less than a month!” she exclaimed. Rainbow blinked in surprise at that and she stared at the white haired boy that was only an inch or two shorter than her.

“Seriously…? It took ME three months and I do everything faster than normal!” Dash exclaimed her jaw hanging slightly.

“Except ya know, actually growin’ a bit…” Applejack whispered to Pinkie who snorted and had to quickly cover her mouth so she wouldn’t burst out into a fit of laughter after the comment. Dash quirked an eyebrow back at them but shrugged it off as Pinkie just being Pinkie.

He chuckled and smiled at her. “I have my medical records to prove it. Though the way the feathers dropped off me so fast my Grandfather almost had a heart attack right on the spot when he came in and saw my wings completely bare except for very few under down feathers…! I don’t think I’ve EVER seen him run so fast to get the doctors!” he laughed. “Thankfully they grew back pretty fast too. This is actually the first time in a few months I’ve been allowed to fly. I had to wait for the feathers to set first.” He explained to the non-fliers in the group.

“Ugh… I hated that. Seriously I thought I was going to DIE from boredom. My talent is focused on flying and I lived in Cloudsdale. You know what it’s like having a special talent for flight and being flightless in a city where flying is the main form of transportation…? Hell.” She responded before he could guess. “No offense Flutters.” She added quickly.

“None taken…” the quiet girl breathed playing with her own wings a little as they spoke.

Angelo stared at the girl in disbelief. “You can’t fly…?” he asked curiously.

“Oh, um… no I can… just not very well. And for most of my childhood I could only hover…” she explained toying with her hands and the skirt of her dress. Rainbow grinned and hooked Fluttershy’s neck in her arm and brought her into a half hug.

“But now she’s bouncing back and flying better than ever! Right Flutters?” Dash chided her proud grin making the timid girl blush even more than she had been. The proximity wasn’t helping either.

“U-um… yes… but uh… Rainbow could you please let me go…? You’re crushing me.” She choked through the hold.

“Oh! Sorry ‘Shy. I forget I’m shorter than you sometimes.” Rainbow apologized as she released the girl from her chokehold. “You okay…?” she asked in a much softer tone laced with concern as she tried to hide it from the watching boy. Fluttershy smiled at her and nodded in response her face still a light shade of pink that matched her hair. Angelo leaned over to Pinkie who was just taking a drink of a soda and whispered in her ear, without his knowledge the two pegisai could still hear him just fine.

“Pinkie… are those two… oh how do you Equestrians put it, playing the bouncy bed game…?” Pinkie promptly spat her soda out both through her nose and mouth all over her two friends soaking them in it. Rainbow Dash groaned and glared at the girl.

“Piiiiiiiiiinkiiiiiiiie!!!!!!” she roared towering over the girl intimidatingly.

“It wasn’t my fault Dashie!!! Gelo asked a really shocking question!!!!” she complained trying to stop the burning in her nasal passages by cupping her hand over it and rubbing it as she tried to expel the trapped carbonation. The chilling glare was shifted to the boy had shrunk back and hidden himself under the table his white wings sticking out from under the table cloth. She was about to march over and rip him out of the hiding hole to give him a piece of her mind when she felt a tug on her soaked shirt and she turned to see Fluttershy looking at her gently shaking her head.

“Don’t Dashie. He didn’t mean it anyhow. Let’s just go get cleaned up.” She urged. Dash bit her lip before she could snap at her and then grit her teeth casting glances at the cowering boy before she let out a sigh and sharply turned to the steps that lead up to the upper levels of the ship where the suites were and the bathrooms as well. When she was sure Fluttershy couldn’t see her face she let the crimson blush cover it as his words rang in her ears.

‘That twerp…! I can’t believe he thought that we-! It’s FLUTTERSHY for Faust’s sake!!! And we’re freaking fourteen years old!!! Who DOES that at our age?!’ she shouted internally. ‘Okay, besides like most of our old middle school… but they’re just… weird. And totally not as cool as me and Flutters. That stuff is nasty anyways.’ She concluded with a huff. ‘Although if it was with Fluttershy I’m sure I’d be more than happy to-‘ “SHUT THE FUCK UP SCUMBAG BRAIN!!!” She roared out loud not realizing that Fluttershy was right behind her until she heard a ‘Meep!’ and then something rustle in the hallway. She turned around and groaned as she facepalmed when she saw Fluttershy peeking out from behind a fern. “Sorry ‘Shy… my head’s just a little jumbled right now. I just need to get out of these clothes-“ ‘I’d like to get HER out of those clothes’ “And shower a bit-“ ‘Preferably a hot one with her’ “And then I’ll be chill again.” ‘After I spend a little time playing the bouncy bed game with that fine piece of-‘ Rainbow Dash slammed her head into the nearest wall shattering the concrete and plaster and bursting her head through to the guest room inside it.

“D-Dash?! Are you okay?!” she asked rushing over to her friend who looked like a startled ostrich who had chosen to stick its head in a concrete wall instead of the sandy ground.

“Yup, totally fine Flutters…! Just uh… saw a spider. Got a bit carried away. I’ll uh, just get myself out of this. You go ahead and clean up in the next room over.” Dash explained quickly and nervously. Fluttershy hesitated wanting to make sure her friend was okay, but if she was still talking after that she was probably alright… and the soda was starting to get sticky.

“Alright… just call if you need me okay…?” she offered to her friend. She got a thumbs-up in response as Rainbow started to try and pull her head of the wall. When Dash heard the door down the hall open and then click shut she quickly pulled her head out of the hole shaking the plaster from her hair and then slouching against the wall staring at her hands horrified with herself.

“What. The. Fuck.”

Meanwhile in Fluttershy’s room she had pulled out her phone and was typing something into the search bar. “Bouncy, bed, game… and search… Oh… my…” she stated as her face heated up and she promptly fainted on the floor.

***

An hour later the group was arriving on the island of Pompeii and just stepping off the dock with Angelo’s team walking behind him and his own form being hidden under a white cloak. Fluttershy and Applejack had mounted the horses and were riding them as they trotted into the city. They must have been quite the sight. Six girls, each with an oddity about them ranging from animal ears to skin that shone like the prettiest of diamonds, two of them riding pure white horses, two grown men that looked like that ATE horses for breakfast, a pair of identical women with the only difference between them being their hair color, and two boys cloaked with white and black cloaks of their own hiding their identities. Oh, and let’s not forget the weapons attached to the girl with prismatic hair and a set of cyan wings, wolf ears, and a wolf’s tail to match.

All heads were on them as they marched right into the city and straight towards the towering volcano that it surrounded passing many beautiful almond trees that were blossoming. Twilight was hovering down the broad sidewalk scribbling down notes while her fairy like wings shimmered lightly in the afternoon sun.

“Hey, kid. You know I’ve had a question itching at the back of my head since I found out about your… condition.” Rainbow started landing back on the earth and walking beside the white cloaked boy who was keeping the hood pulled almost all the way over his head.

“Yes…?” he prompted further.

“Well, we’re going to a volcano… to restore a guy that we vaporized with a lightning bolt that would have made Faust’s hair frizz. And we’re supposed to be doing that by throwing THIS,” she tapped the hilt of the golden sword strapped across her back. “Into a lava pit at the heart of said volcano. I’d like to know about this weird as fuck ceremony we’re going through with here. Just who is this Cas guy anyways…?” she asked the boy. He however merely laughed at her.

“Well… you see Cas has quite the interesting back story to him. Moon, Shadow, would you mind linking us all up so I can talk without being overheard…?” he asked the pair of identical faces behind him. The two women’s eyes glowed and then the crest on their foreheads swirled with magic as a mental chat room was opened between the group. ‘Everyone hearing me fine…?’ he asked through the connection. There was a wave of acknowledgement sent his direction and he took it as his sign to continue speaking. ‘Good, well the first thing you should know about Cas is that he isn’t exactly ALIVE per say.’ He stated gaging their shocked reactions. ‘Yes, I know. That isn’t even the best part either. Cas’s true form is actually being carried by Rainbow right now. He’s in the sword.’ He explained further.

‘Oh gross! I’m giving that sicko a piggy back ride all the way through this place?!’ Rainbow protested.

‘If it’s any consolation you get to throw me into a pit of lava.’ Cas’s voice interjected. Rainbow squeaked in shock and flew up in the air out of reflex looking around for the source of the voice. ‘Well, that was quite the interesting noise signora.’ He snickered.

‘Ah, I see being on the island has already brought back some of your strength Cas.’ Bronze commented off handedly.

‘That it has. And I see that you didn’t end up swimming with the fishes when you fought the local government this time. You don’t know how much I wished for Rainbow here to just leave me with you guys so I could have watched those slugs our city calls policemen get pummeled by farm animals.’

‘Dude, do you WANT us to save you or are you content with staying as a sharp piece of metal for all eternity…?’ Dash growled at him.

‘That depends, are you content with being charged as a murderer under Italian law…?’ he countered. She swore she could hear him sneer.

‘May the Lord continue his story or are you all going to bicker like children on a playground all day…?’ Pales asked his tone flat and losing its patience. Silence followed after his interjection.

‘Thank you Pales, as I was saying before Cas first came to us when a team of archeologists uncovered a sight in the catacombs of Old Pompeii, towards the base of the volcano. They had uncovered the cave and all they found in it was that sword. It had been the only thing that wasn’t encased in the volcanic remains. It was unscathed, not scratched or scuffed, and unmarked by the hands of time. It was a magical mystery so naturally they brought it to our country’s greatest mage, my grandfather. At the time I will remind you I was little more than a year old. Well long story short my Grandfather accidently left the sword on the ground with me in the room and of course I got curious so I went over and touched it. But when I did I actually ended up cutting my hand on it.’ He stated showing his palm to them to reveal a neatly healed white line across the center of his right palm.

‘When my blood touched the sword it started to glow and shake violently. Grandfather grabbed me and shielded me as the magical shockwave shook the entire city. Most passed it off as an earthquake but any magical user would have been able to sense the power that was released in the air that day. When the tremors stopped and the golden light had faded Cas was laying on the floor with the golden armor on and the sword gripped firmly in his hand. When he came to he spoke in a dialect that my grandfather identified as ancient Latin. As it turns out Cas was once a proud member of the Roman forces that had invaded the land over six thousand years ago. He was one of their best generals but his mind was… corrupted. By what he still doesn’t know but whatever it was sealed him away inside that sword and through him into the volcano. The sword became his body and didn’t resurface from the volcano until it erupted during the great tragedy of Pompeii. There it laid in the ruins until the team found him and my blood restored him. Turns out an Alicorn’s blood is a pretty potent curse breaker. You can understand his confusion when he woke up six thousand years in the future where the only people who would understand him were thousands of miles away sitting on Equestria’s thrones. When he was brought up to speed and taught the language we learned that he adjusted quickly, and that being sealed away for so long had mellowed him to the point of only being mildly aggravating.’

‘Ah probably would have seriously murdered ya before if THIS is the way ya act after bein’ put in time out fer so long.' Applejack stated as she trotted through the town on the horse’s back.

‘Well it isn’t like they trained us to be very NICE warriors in the ROMAN army Applejack.’ Cas shot back.

‘My point is proven.’ Angelo stated simply.

‘Angellllllllo…! You’re supposed to be on MY side not theirs! You know I’m not THAT bad anymore…!’ Cas complained.

‘I think a couple hundred more years would have sapped the annoying right out of him… perhaps we should leave him like this for a bit…’ Moon offered. There was a few nods of agreement around the others and Cas started to panic.

‘Dancer?! Oh come on you’re not still mad about that night in Paris are you…?’

In response Moondancer grabbed the sword off of Dash’s back and slammed it into the nearest metal telephone pole using its flat side so it would send vibrations through the sword instead of just slicing through the metal. When Cas spoke again he sounded queasy.

‘I see that killer back swing you have hasn’t dulled…’ he commented as he was handed back to Rainbow while Moon walked ahead of the group nose raised in the air.

‘Dude, what the hell did you to her in Paris…?’ Rainbow asked. ‘No, wait, I retract that question. I’ve already had one too many scarring implications today.’ She added with a quick glare sent at Angelo. The boy stiffened like a board. He couldn’t see her but he could feel her glare as they walked.

‘Smart choice, I’m her twin and I don’t want to know what happened in Paris.’ Shadow put in with a small shudder of her own.

‘Well, the point of the story is that the volcano is like a reset button for him. If his human form is weakened enough it gets sucked back into the sword to preserve his essence. The only way to bring him back is to toss the sword into the volcano which the sword was forged from. Another fun fact about it: It’s original name is Ludicium Aureos which from ancient Latin to English translates to-‘

‘Golden Judgment’ Twilight interrupted Pales who, along with most of the group who didn’t already know her well, stared at her shocked. ‘My uh… studies have given me a pretty good understanding of ancient languages… Latin being a big one since many of our spells and magic are Latin origin.’ She explained with a small smile of embarrassment at her outburst.

‘I sometimes worry about what Celestia has planned for you with all that she teaches you… I’d guess an Arch Mage with your studies.’ Pales commented his eyes looking up to the fluffy white clouds.

‘An Arch Mage?! I-… I would be honored of course but Arch Mage’s are THE source of all magical knowledge in pretty much the entire world… they’re right on par with the Pope in many people’s eyes! I don’t think I’m cut out for that kind of work… perhaps the keeper of the Canterlot archives instead! Oh now THERE’S a job that I would love! Forever surrounded by books containing everything from noble tales of ancient warriors to in depth magical formula’s that would make Celestia pause! It sounds like paradise to me~!’ Twilight gushed her eyes glazing over and a skip and a flutter of her fairy like wings finding their way in her step.

Angelo blinked and leaned over to the girl closest to him, which happened to be Rarity. “Your friend is the most terrifyingly obsessed bibliophile I’ve ever met…” he commented. Pinkie Pie over heard and giggled.

“Oh you have NO idea~!” Pinkie sang as they started to march up the steps to the great museum that many tourists were filing in and out of. When they came to the ticket counter to get into the place Twilight reached for her purse but Pales stopped her by placing a hand on hers and shaking his head. He then looked at the woman managing the ticket booth who was an aged woman well past her prime who honestly looked like she should be a part of the exhibits on display. She took one glance at the boy and at the group he was with. Her eyes stopped on Rainbow Dash who still had the sword strapped to her back. She looked back at Pales and nodded.

“Nice to see you again Pales.” She stated simply.

“Always a pleasure Raimonda.” He responded in turn. With a curt bow he motioned for the others to follow him into the building. They did with a small glance at the ancient woman who was tending the ticket booth. When they entered the building they were greeted by a cheerful elderly man who looked to be the same age as the woman they had just left only with ten times the energy and with pale green eyes still as bright and vibrant as a child’s. The crest in the middle of his forehead also placed him as a magic user instead of an earthbound like she was.

“Ah! Pales and company! So nice to see you all again! But I see you bring some new faces with you this time, would you like to introduce me?” he asked the mint haired boy.

“Yes, everyone this is Custode Prezioso, He’s the head curator here at the museum, you’ve already met his wife Raimonda.” Pales started. “Prez, these are my brother’s newest friends, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity Belle, Applejack, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle. And I’ve already told you much about Angelo here.” He stated with a small smile on his face as he placed a hand on Angelo’s shoulder.

“Ahhhh, very nice to meet all of you. Especially you Angelo, with your… condition I didn’t think I’d ever be able to meet you in person.” Prez chuckled shaking all of their hands in turn.

“Well… It wasn’t by my own power believe me. Pinkie and Twilight have everything to do with why I’m here right now… Well actually why I’m HERE right now has a lot more to do with Rainbow Dash and Applejack.” He stated with a polite smile as he removed his hood just as Pales had done and shook the elder’s hand. He was still casting curious glances at his ‘Brother’.

“Oh…? Well I can guess half of the story just by a missing member of the party, but my question would be what these lovely young ladies have to do with that.” Prez inquired casting a curious glance from the blonde and her prismatic haired friend. The girls scratched the back of their heads nervously staring at their feet while Moondancer walked over and whispered something in the old man’s ear. His light green eyes widened in shock.

“You’re kidding me! He- Oh dear, you’re not are you…? He was really… by them?!” he asked a snicker finding its way into his voice before he burst out laughing. “Oh he must feel terrible! While I admit they look like they could hold their own the fact remains that they’re children in comparison to him!” he laughed drawing a few stares from the people that flooded the museum. His laughter eventually stopped and wiped a tear from his eye. On her back Rainbow felt the sword quiver and in the still open mind chat room she heard him roaring.

'KEEP LAUGHING AT ME YOU OLD HACK! WHEN I GET OUT OF THIS PRISION YOU AND ME ARE TAKING THIS TO THE FIELD!!!!' He shouted enraged by the old man’s outburst. A sly smile crossed the old man’s face as he stood up straight once more and his green eyes glinted a little as the crest on his forehead glowed with a light orange aura.

‘And what pray tell dearest Cas would you gain from having your hide handed to you by an elder such as myself… again?’ he asked calmly which only seemed to enrage the sword bound entity even more.

‘I SWEAR ON FAUST’S HOLY LIGHT THAT IF YOU MOCK ME AGAIN I WILL USE THIS FORM TO SLICE YOUR HEAD FROM YOUR SHOULDERS!!!!’ He roared.

‘Oh promises promises poor boy. You really need to keep that temper of yours under control.’ He chastised in a perfectly calm tone that everyone could feel only made his blood boil even hotter. Only after this did Prez speak out loud once again. “Well, as it is I see you’ll be needing access to THAT again, follow me everyone.” He chuckled as he strided off down one of the many grand white hallways that were all lined with precious and priceless artifacts and paintings from generations long past.

Twilight was having a blast zipping from piece to piece her eyes wide as she scribbled down notes in her journal her pencil almost burning the paper with how fast it moved. Applejack watched this with unease.

“That girl is more knowledge hungry than Pinkie is party crazed…” she commented to Rainbow who simply shrugged.

“Let her be an egghead. It’s pretty much the entire reason she wanted to come here anyways. It IS a museum.” Dash commented. AJ laughed a little watching the dark haired magic user zip about her gothic style making others stare at her funny when she displayed her knowledge driven energy. She wished she had a video camera. Wait.

“Hey Dash, get this on film with yer fancy schmancy camera phone.” AJ ordered nudging her friend with her elbow.

“Okay first off, it’s not fancy, your phone is just thirty years old and in comparison it LOOKS fancy. Second, Pinkie’s already ahead of you on that.” She stated pointing at the pink haired girl who was giggling along with Rarity and Fluttershy as she filmed the scene that was unfolding and they watched over her shoulder at the phone’s screen as Twilight interrogated a tour guide on the origins of the piece she was currently examining. It was very clear he didn’t know much else than what was written on the plaque.

Applejack frowned at Rainbow Dash. “Mah phone is NOT thirty years old Dash! It’s only five!” she protested.

“It has an antenna. And it’s a flip phone! No one’s had one of those in forever! It’s all about touch screen’s now! You’re lucky that thing still gets texts!” she commented pointing at the rather bulky looking orange phone clipped to Applejack’s side. She pulled it out and crooned over it a bright red apple sticker on the back of it.

“Ah’m offended by that remark! Mah phone is reliable and does exactly what it needs to! It makes calls and keeps me in touch with mah family and friends! And if Ah drop it from the top of mah barn into a barrel filled with electric eels and nails it’ll come out without so much as a scratch!” Applejack boasted puffing her chest out a little in pride. “Yer little flimsy thing’d be busted if ya dropped it on a mattress from three feet up!” AJ informed her with a nod.

“Okay, two more things. One, let me see that thing.” She said snatching the device from Applejack’s hold as they continued walking. Applejack tried to grab it back while Dash pushed her back with one hand while the other turned the phone around examining it. She found what she was looking for and laughed handing the phone back to her friend and then taking out her own sleek cyan blue phone that had a smooth black screen on the front of it. She tapped the top of it and then tapped the back of AJ’s phone. “Two, these phone’s are BOTH Nokia. They’re pretty much the Chuck Norris of phones and as proof, I want you to try and break my phone.” She stated handing the device to Applejack to grab.

“Ya… WANT me ta break yer phone…?” She asked taking the phone from her and staring at it incredulously. Rainbow grinned and nodded. Applejack shrugged and then took the phone in her hand and tried to crush it between them. When she looked at it again it didn’t have so much as a crack on it. She threw it against the ground. Nothing. She proceeded to stomp on it with the heel of her boot. Nothing. She looked over at the large pair of brothers behind her.

“Bronze, Fondere smash this thing for me.” She said tossing the phone at them. Bronze caught it an took one look at it before laughing and tossing it back to her.

“Sorry hun, there’s thing’s even we can’t do. Breaking one of those fancy Nokia phones is pretty high on the list.” He explained. Applejack’s jaw dropped as she caught it again and handed it back to Dash.

“There, you see? No excuse. When we get back to Equestria I’ll even go out and get you a new phone myself. Nokia of course.” She chuckled patting her friend on the shoulder. “You can get on the internet on it and check all your accounts like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr if you’re into that. Or you can just watch something on YouTube if you’re bored.” Dash stated as she flipped through her phone’s apps for the farmer to see.

“Ah have a question. What in hay’s name is a Facebook and Twitter…? Is that like a scrap booking and bird watching site…?” She asked with a genuine look of confusion on her face.

Rainbow Dash halted in place giving her friend an incredulous look. “You’re kidding me right…? You can’t be THAT much of a hick can you…?” she asked slowly as if doubting her friend.

“What…? Are they some kind of big thing? We only just got internet at the farm like a year ago Dash. And none of us ‘cept Bloom are too big on using it fer much else than email and checkin’ on business type stuff.” She explained with a frown. Dash and some of the others who had overheard this stared at her with deadpanned looks.

“She’s not kidding… by Celestia’s gold encrusted sandals SHE’S NOT KIDDING!!!” Rarity exclaimed almost fainting on the spot. Angelo looked up from something he was doing on his own phone while he walked.

“What…? What’d I miss? I was updating my Twitter.” He asked looking around confused by the girl’s stares. He heard Applejack slap her hand against her forehead.

“Great… the preteen that hasn’t left his room since he was born knows more about this stuff than Ah do…” she groaned.

From ahead of them Pales called back at them. “As entertaining as your technophobia is you should all probably get over here. We need everyone present when we open the path.” He called. It was only then that they all noticed they were now in an abandoned part of the museum where there was nothing more than sheet covered artifacts that looked like they had decade’s worth of dust piled on top of them. Where the adults all stood was at the foot of a grand statue that stopped only mere inches before the ceiling which was saying something considering the grandeur style of the hall.

“Whoa… how’d we miss that thing…?” RD breathed as they walked towards it.

“The same way you missed the section we passed on pegisai history here in Pompeii.” Pinkie hummed as she bounced past them cheerfully. Rainbow froze and quickly turned on heel to run back to where they had come from. Applejack caught her by the strap of the sword’s holster and dragged her towards the statue.

“Ya can have yer spaz attack over your ancestor’s later RD. Fer now we need ta get that jerk out of that damn sword so he can tell the government we’re NOT murderer’s.”

‘A rather brutal accusation by the way. You two aren’t cut out to be killers. Too emotional and you let those friends of yours hold you back… or are they MORE than just friends hm~?’ Cas asked teasingly. Rainbow swore she could HEAR his eyebrows waggling at her. She took out the sword and slammed it’s flat side against a metal beam that she was passing while her eyebrow twitched in frustration. ‘Oww…! Why do you women always have to hurt me when I try and throw some humor into the mix?!’ he shouted.

‘Because you’re a might stupid fer someone who’s lived fer so long partner.’ Applejack responded simply as Dash sheathed the sword on her back again. In front of them Prez was feeling around the back of the statue’s large base for something. At last his hand sunk into a small square tile and he smiled.

“Ah! There it is.” He stated as he pushed it in further his hand starting to glow with orange magic as a large pentagram laced with thousands of runes started to reveal itself with the glow of the aura pulsing in its form. The runes seemed to spin about before they formed a solid pattern of stairs that seemed to lead down forever. “There we go. One path to the volcano heart granted. Do try and not to stir up any big explosions this time Pales, I’d rather hate to have to evacuate the island again.” He stated with a wayward sigh as the mint haired boy passed him and stepped into the entrance that still had runes dancing along the outside of the circular opening.

“We’ll be careful Custode, I promise. I don’t really have much choice seeing as I have my liege with me this time.” He commented pointing back at the white haired boy who was following in behind him a beefy body guard and a twin on either side of him.

“True enough child, good luck, and remember don’t throw ANYTHING into the volcano accept the sword.” He reminded the group as they descended the seemingly infinite stairway.

“Yes sir.” Came the chanted reply. He smiled and closed the portal behind them and took up a seat that was nearby leaning back in it until the back of the chair nested nicely against the wall behind him. He lowered his head and began to drift off thinking all about the odd girls he had just met and how they’d fair in what was considered one of the world’s deadliest mazes.

Chapter 13

(***AN: Quick little tip, anything with an * and a number next to it is a note that will be listed in the actual AN at the bottom of the page, in order to make sense of it you can briefly scroll down to read the note and then go back to reading where you were, also I finally got a chapter under 16,000 words! Yay.***)
How I Became an Alicorn
Chapter 13-
An Unexpected Turn of Events

Twilight Sparkle paused as she sipped from her tea and watched as her daughter stared at her with her eyes wide in anticipation. She seemed to take her time and it was making Nyx edgy as she scooted forward nudging her mother gently with her hand.

“Well….?! What happened in the volcano?!” she asked impatiently.

“Oh. I’m not at liberty to discuss that with anyone. International agreement with the Italian government on that matter. I’d have to call Gelo to get permission first. Which won’t be all that difficult when I tell him it’s you asking about it. He always did have a soft spot for you.” She teased noticing her daughter’s timid reaction at the mention of the older Alicorn. She smiled and continued as she set down her tea and picked up a cookie. “But I can skip to what happened right after our business was concluded in the volcano. That’s not protected by the agreement.” She offered as she bit into the cookie. Nyx quickly nodded and Twilight smiled at her daughter’s enthusiasm for the story. ‘Wonder where on EARTH she got THAT trait…’ Twilight mused to herself. “Okay, well after the volcano incident we all congregated back to the dock…”

***

“Whoa that was totally awesome!!! I mean Angelo was all like pew pew pew with his CLASSIFIED; And then CLASSIFIED came in and just swooped in to save the day before the CLASSIFIED unleash the CLASSIFIED and rain it’s doom like the big meanie pants it was and then me and Rainbow were all like ‘We’ll Help!’ but then I totally tripped on that weird looking stone that Twi called the CLASSIFIED and that bottle of CLASSIFIED spilled into the volcano and so did Cassy! Then there was that great big cloud of CLASSIFIED that merged with Gelo’s CLASSIFIED and there was that huge awesome explosion that took out all those meanie’s and then Cassy rose out of the volcano like that super cool Arny guy that was like a cyborg from the future or something and he totally caught that CLASSIFIED right under the ol’ CLASSIFIED and it was like a total one hit K-O! Seriously that was AWESOME!!!” Pinkie cheered jumping in the air and doing her best impression of a pegasus with how high she was going.

“Yes, but remember Pinkie, you have to keep all this under wraps. We don’t want this getting out to the public to worry them. It’s bad enough I’m going to have to come out of hiding now.” Angelo explained with a weary sigh as he shook his head his shaggy white hair dancing across his face as he walked his torn and tattered white robe hanging loosely from his shoulders just barley covering his white wings. Not that it mattered much, everyone on the island had already seen him, the whole of Italy had probably seen him actually. Which meant it wouldn’t be long until most of the world would hear all about the ‘Mysterious Alicorn Boy’ that had flown out of Mount Vesuvius with an unknown energy source shooting into the sky behind him out of the volcano. He was sure the locals would spread rumors about it being a second judgment day… without all the tragedy and death.

“Well, the important part of this is that Applejack and Rainbow here are no longer wanted criminals. Thanks to our newest friend here.” Twilight mused lightly nudging the tall golden armored male that walked alongside them.

“Well, it isn’t much. Like I said before these two aren’t cut out to be cold hearted killers like me.” He mused playfully ruffling the two athlete’s hair. Surprisingly enough neither of them minded and only gave him a playful punch in the arm to make him stop.

“Aw stick a cork in it you big softie. We all know yer not half as cold hearted ya’d like us to think. Yer just a big ol’ pile of mush under all that armor.” Applejack teased poking him in the chest plate.

“Actually technically speaking I’m little more than a pile of dust without the armor but I see what you mean by it anyways.” He chuckled before nudging Rainbow with his elbow. “So are you gonna need me to come with you to the island or are you all good with just Pales escorting you…?” he asked. Rainbow looked from the girls as they walked up to the boat ramp.

“I think we’re good with sheep boy. But you keep it cool here alright? I promise we’ll have the kid back in his little corner of the world before we head back to Equestria. Sound square Goldy…?” she asked holding out her fist to the man as the remainder of the girls and the two boys that were now accompanying them loaded onto the boat along with riptide who was happily listening to Pinkie recount the epic battle which he had also been there to see. Casco 'oro grinned and bumped fists with the girl.

*** "Whoa, Hold up a second. I think I need a little bit of clarification here. I get that it's classified and everything but how in Luna's starry sky did they go from trying to kill each other to being best buddies just because of a little lava and some kind of awesome showdown that I'm going to have to drag the details out of Gelo the next time I see him...?" Nyx asked her disbelief for the sudden change making her face contort a little. Her mother simply smiled a little and Spike grinned.

"You'd be surprised at how quick we tend to make friends Nyx, besides if there's one thing I've learned it's that life or death situations tend to make people fast friends through the magic of adrenaline. That and it's Rainbow Dash, Cas is literally just a living weapon of course she was going to bond to him once she got passed the giant jerk shell he has!" Spike explained with a snort of laughter.

"Precisely, now as I was saying..." Twilight continued.***

“Have fun Archo*1, remember what I said about little Timido*2 over there huh?” he offered nodding towards the pink haired girl who was currently watching as Pinkie bounced around Riptide like an over excited puppy. Rainbow laughed and smiled at him before she nodded and boarded the ship bringing the loading platform up with her. The group all stood by the railing waving at the group of people they were leaving behind with friendly smiles on all of their faces. When at last they were out at sea heading for the island once more they all sighed and watched the sun set below the horizon. It was quite the sight and for once everyone found themselves wanting to stay on the deck instead of dispersing through the ship. Even when the sun had set they sat on the roof of the control deck and watched Luna’s stars start to fill the night sky. When the cool night air started to nip at them the crew came up with blankets and cups of hot chocolate for all of them.

It was, despite the hectic day they’d had, a very beautiful night to spend staring up at the stars with your friends. Twilight closed her eyes as she let the wind carry her long dark hair behind her and she took in the feeling of having so many close friends surrounding her. A year ago she was worrying over how her finals would turn out, not caring in the least if she ever had social contact outside her family. Now she had friends, real friends. And she was making more every day. It made something inside her soar a little at the thought of that.

Beside her the white haired Alicorn boy was feeling something very similar, he’d had friends that he spoke to online but he had never had this before. He’d never sat surrounded by people who truly cared about him, not because he was part of a race descended from the gods but simply because he was him. Pales was the closest thing to that and he was far more like an older brother than a friend. This was new, refreshing, and liberating. His feathers danced in the sea air as he closed his eyes and simply listened to it all, to the girls talking to each other, to the crew mates cracking jokes at one another’s expense, at the calm sea crashing against the boat as it made its way to a legendary island that most of mankind wasn’t even aware existed. This was certainly a far cry from what he had expected to happen when he woke up this morning. But he was so glad it did.

“Ohhhhh! Twiley, Gelo look! A shooting star! Quick! Make a wish!” Pinkie urged pointing at the glowing twinkling star that seemed to stream across the beautifully painted scenery before them.

‘I wish this moment could last forever…’ Twilight and Angelo quickly prayed to the wishing star. They opened their eyes to see the rest of their friends just opening their eyes and knew just from the looks that they gave that they were thinking something along the same lines. Angelo looked up when he felt a gaze on his back and looked over to see Pales sitting on the railing smiling at him. Angelo stood and walked over to him blanket still wrapped around his shoulders and flaring back a bit in the wind as he walked. He leaned against the railing and smiled up at him.

“You look like an elderly man reminiscing at the sight of his grandchildren growing up as you watch me from over here brother, why not join us…?” he asked the mint haired boy. Pales smiled and shook his head before staring out at the slowly rising moon.

“I’m quite content with watching from afar Angelo, I’m just happy to see you enjoying yourself for once.” he admitted his deep blue eyes resting on the smaller boy.

“Well this is a far cry from my normal night wouldn’t you say…? I think it’s appropriate my response be altered as well. My only concern now is-“

“Master… I know. His potential reaction worries me too. But…” Pales paused looking at the six girls who were listening as Twilight was now pointing out a few constellations to them; a smile crossed his ageless face. “I think… that if he paused for a moment and actually took the time to try and see what we see in them… then he wouldn’t be able to judge you badly for all that you’ve done today. You were right you know… when you said that they were special. I just never knew it went beyond their destinies.” Pales mused watching as the girls all huddled close together and then seemed to notice the pair of boys. They waved them over and Pales smiled politely raising a hand to decline as he stood. He ruffled Angelo’s hair slightly before turning towards the hatch that lead back down to the control deck. “You should get back to them Gelo, enjoy the peaceful ride. It won’t be much longer before things start to get hectic again.” He warned his brother before he disappeared down the hatch leaving the white haired Alicorn boy staring at where he had vanished with a ghost’s smile still on his lips.

Angelo turned back around to face his new friends and walked over to sit beside Twilight once more. Just said girl turned to him a curious face greeting him as he sat back down. “What was that about…?” she asked.

“Just Pales playing the wise old man again. I swear, he sometimes acts a lot older than 28. It’s amusing really.” He lamented before his eyes widened and he pointed up at the stars. “Look Twilight! The full Pegasus constellation is out tonight! He stated pointing at the collection of stars. Rainbow perked at that scanning the billions of glowing orbs feverishly. Angelo noticed this and smiled. “Here, let me connect the dots for you a bit.” He mused his fingertips glowing golden as he brought them up to the night sky like it was a board for him to write on. Evidently for an Alicorn child, it was. He connected the dots together using golden lines of his magic creating an outline around it so that the great horse that represented the ancient race was clearly seen.

Rainbow beamed at him. “That’s so cool Gelo! Can you do anything else with them?!” she asked excited by the impressive display. Gelo waved his hand over the ‘drawing’ and it shimmered out of existence.

“I could, but I’m not all too sure Luna would approve of part of her masterpiece suddenly running across the sky like it was alive once again. And it would probably cause a worldwide panic as well.” He explained with a small nervous smile.

“Aww… that’s a shame. Any other mind bending Alicorn stuff you can do that won’t get the sisters or the world all riled up…?” Applejack asked with a small grin as she leaned back on her hands to avoid Rarity who had been trying to lean on her shoulder. It caused the girl to tumble over and land in her lap instead. Red faced and flustered by the farmer’s sly little trick she quickly sat back up and tried to pretend it didn’t happen.

“Hmmm… none that I can think of… Oh! Wait, yes! Here, anyone have any parchment and a pen?” he asked. To the surprise of no one, Twilight produced the materials from her bag offering her notebook to the boy along with a fountain pen. He smiled at her taking the pen in his left hand and sitting cross legged as his tongue stuck out a little in concentration as he worked. In less time than it took Pinkie to get impatient and start to look over his shoulder he dotted something on the paper firmly and with the tip of the pen still glowing a little with golden aura he lifted it off the paper and with it pulled what he had drawn. Three small horses, one a unicorn, another a pegisai, and the last a regular earth bound horse trotted off the paper and seemed to come to life in the air before them.

They snorted a little letting out small jets of dust like golden magic that their outline bodies were made of before they each trotted over to the pair they represented. The unicorn was dancing gracefully around Rarity and Twilight Sparkle’s head its small horn sparking with golden energy as its bright form made their faces glow with its radiance. The Pegasus was doing laps around Rainbow’s head before it landed carefully on Fluttershy’s outstretched finger like a dainty butterfly. She leaned in tilting her head marveling at the sight along with Dash as the winged horse whinnied at them and tickled each of their noses with its primary feathers. The two wiggled their noses at it before giggling in unison. The earthen horse galloped strongly in the air around the farmer and the party animal. They watched as it leapt from one of their shoulders to the other’s and then would seem to run off into the air and perform a few more stunts for the pair showing off its power and speed to them. They laughed as they watched the scene and Pinkie even held out her hand to the golden horse which it gratefully nuzzled before it hopped into it and ran across her body like it was the great plains and then did laps around AJ’s hat like it was a race track.

“My creations, whenever I write something or draw, they have a habit of… well coming to life. Not always so literally mind you but it’s been known to effect people pretty powerfully.” Angelo stated before he again waved his hand and the three horse vanished only leaving behind small clouds of gold dust that quickly dissipated in the wind. The six girls looked very disappointed for a second before they looked back at Gelo and got ahold of themselves again. It had felt like they had been enchanted to look at the horses, like something about them just drew them to the magical doodles of their races.

“That… pull that they gave off, is that normal?” Twilight asked the boy.

“Well, I wanted you to like them, so yes. My will feeds into my creations Twilight. When I write and I want people to cry me a river they do. If I paint and I want people to feel sentimental they start to find themselves thinking about home, or if I want someone to feel unbridled joy just by reading a Christmas card, I can do that.” He explained carefully.

Rarity was the first to speak. “My that’s… quite the powerful gift.” She commented.

“Yes… and one unfortunately that could be very easily misused. It’s why my grandfather didn’t want to expose me to things that would compromise my way of thinking. I think it’s quite obvious how easy it would be for my talent to be used badly.” He continued as his gaze lowered back down to the pad in front of him.

“One bad feeling…” Dash started.

“Leads ta one bad drawin’-“ AJ continued.

“And then next thing we know there’s some kind of super mean monster running through Rome burning it to the ground with the flames of angst!” Pinkie gasped dramatically putting her hands on the side of her head.

“Girls, calm down.” Twilight urged before she placed a gentle hand on Angelo’s shoulder and smiled at the boy. “Angelo is very responsible for his age. And I would imagine that your grandfather is to you much like Celestia is to me. A mentor to guide you and teach you how to control it right?” she asked. Angelo nodded staring off into the distance once more.

“He’s not home very often… but when he is he always sets aside time for me. Actually, funny thing is he was supposed to be coming into town today.” He laughed a little doodling on the pad of paper once more. “But he called in early this morning saying he was going to be stopping nearby to spend the day with an old friend of his who was vacationing nearby… Sunny something or another.”

Twilight’s face deadpanned. “Sunny Shores…?” she asked her voice squeaking out a little as the rest of her friends slowly grew a look of disdain matching hers.

Angelo looked up shocked. “Yes actually, do you know her…?” he asked the girls. He looked around noticing their faces. “Girls…? Okay this is getting weird, even Pinkie looks like she's terrified. Girls who is she?” he asked nudging them a little after waving his hand in front of their faces. A loud ship’s whistle interrupted him and Captain Vents came on over the intercom.

“It is with the greatest pleasure that I welcome you all back to Déesse Paradis Island. And if my look out isn’t hallucinating I believe there’s a very special guest waiting to greet you all on the docks!” he mused. A familiar cold rock hit the pit of Angelo’s stomach as he felt the powerful presence growing closer.

“Figlio di Troia…” he hissed under his breath as they all rushed to the front of the ship as they started to pull up to the island. Standing on the dock watching with the two regal sisters at his side and the fairy queen flittering behind him stood a white robed old man who’s silver white hair was neatly combed back to reveal a complex looking crest in the center of his forehead and two powerful looking silver eyes that locked with the golden orbs of his grandson aboard the ship. The girls quickly started to whisper amongst themselves as the ship came to dock at the large pier.

Angelo swallowed hard but steeled himself standing tall and squaring his shoulders as he took flight off the ship and came to land in front of his grandfather and the three regal women in his company. He kneeled and lowered his head so that he was looking down at the sea worn wood at his feet.

“Grandfather… I’m sorry for this intrusion. I’m sure you’re very confused as to why I’m here-“ he started before a gentle hand with many thick jeweled rings brought his chin up to look the old man in the eyes. The stone cold face softened and melted away into a gentle smile. When he spoke his very voice made the girls who were just coming off the ship themselves halt in their steps.

“Angelo, my sweet child. I’m already very well aware of why you’re here. I had known this day would come for many years now.” The Pope explained with a soft smile at his white haired grandson.

“Whaaaaaaaaat?!?!” came the collective gasp of the six girls and the boy himself. Their gasps brought the attention of the other adults to them.

“Ah, there you girls are. Did you have a fun time in Rome?” Celestia asked happily walking over to them. Luna walked beside her before noticing their looks of shock.

“Sister, I believe they are more concerned with what Joey just said rather than how their day went. It is not as if we don’t already know anyhow.” Luna commented. The six stares shifted to the moon and sun diarchy’s faces.

“You were WATCHING us?! And you didn’t think to send in a little divine intervention?!” Rainbow roared once she realized the implications, she flew up ready to test just how hard you could punch an Alicorn without breaking your fist. Fluttershy quickly caught Rainbow by the back of her shirt and brought her back down to the ground murmuring in her ear to sooth her. While that went on Celestia explained.

“We were watching, yes. But Joey specifically asked us not to intervene, unless of course your lives had really been at risk. Which, judging by all of you standing here in one piece, worked out just fine.” She explained with a smile.

Angelo had heard this and looked up at his grandfather shocked. “Y-you saw it?! All of it?!” he asked panicked instantly by his grandfather having seen all the embarrassing outbursts he had had that day.

“Well, yes. And quite frankly I was ready to give a thorough lecture when I stopped watching, which was just after you left the volcano. But… someone showed me something that changed my mind.” ‘Joey’ continued. Behind them the group heard footsteps and turned to see Pales walking towards them the two war horses being led by reigns he had in each hand. He stopped in front of the pope and kneeled.

“Master, you called for me?” he asked as he lowered his head.

“Yes, I did son, but try not to call me that in front of my friends. Just sir or Joseph will do just fine.” He stated plainly with a small sigh at the boy’s over formal tendencies. “And what have I told you about kneeling when we’re in private?” he groaned before bringing the boy up to his level and chastising him for his behavior.

“S-sorry sir. Won’t happen again sir.” Pales replied quickly straightening out as he stood back on his feet. “I didn’t actually know this counted as a private situation.” He added with quick glances thrown at the three regal women behind Joseph to cover up some of his mistake.

“I’m on a private island with none of my private guard and two of my oldest friends to do nothing more than catch up. This is about as informal as it gets son.” He explained motioning to the two regal sisters. “Given… I did have a BIT of business with them to start out with… just a minor detail.” He commented more offhandedly.

“Thou calls hiding away your only grandson who happens to be one of our kind away for 13 years a MINOR detail Joseph?!” Luna snapped back. Joseph winced but only smiled in turn.

“Well, perhaps it was a little bit bigger than I originally made it out to be… but the result is the same! And I must thank you for your help in this Pales. I would have made a fool of myself here if it were not for your insight on the matter at hand.” He stated calmly turning and giving the mint haired boy a warm smile.

Angelo however was now very confused. “P-Pales?! You’re the one that convinced grandfather not to punish me?!” he asked turning with a very shocked stare at his friend.

Pales nervously scratched his chin. “Well uh… I-I may have, just a little…” he trailed off his voice returning to the soft and meek tone that Rainbow Dash and Applejack had originally heard him use when they first met. It reminded the group far too much of the shy pegasus that was watching the scene with a confused stare like the rest of them.

“Joey, perhaps we should all head into the house and sit down for tea while we explain what we’ve been up to today…?” The regal fairy queen Tianna offered.

“Ah, an excellent idea Tianna. Come children, I believe there’s a young boy that was worried about you all who’s making tea right now.” Joseph commented as he turned towards the house his long white robe twirling around him and flowing back in the wind like an epic superhero’s cape.

Twilight was quickly brought back to her senses at that sentence. “Oh my Faust SPIKE!” She shouted before she bolted past the pope and ran towards the house with agility that made Rainbow Dash whistle.

“Remind me to tell her there’s a big sale on books in town and then time how fast she takes to get there.” She stated playfully nudging Applejack as they all walked to the house.

“Ah think she’d put ya ta shame if ya did that partner. Best not to ruin your fragile little pride.” The farmer snickered.

Rainbow nodded and then realized the insult behind it. “Hey!” she shouted but Applejack was already running towards the house, she growled and took off after her. “Get back here you smart ass!” she snarled. Fluttershy winced quickly looking to the four adults who were all rather proper and against such vocabulary but none of them seemed to mind as Rarity and Pinkie were chatting them up so she sighed in relief before resuming her trek up to the beach house.

Inside the house there was a clatter of china as Twilight Sparkle came in and tackled hugged the small boy who was just bringing in a tray of tea so hard that it flew in the air and was only saved when the fairy boy on the couch caught it midair with his magic and set it on the table gently.

“Spike! I’m so sorry! I’d completely forgotten you’d warned me about Pinkie’s antics! But I couldn’t stop her she was just gone from the moment we stepped in the city and she dragged me along with her! Then we got chased by all the local police for wrecking havoc on the city and almost got arrested for kidnapping and-“

Twilight’s rant was cut off by Spike pinching her lips shut and him cocking a green eyebrow up at her with a knowing smile already on his face. “Twi, chill. I already know about all that. Celestia and Luna told me you guys had gotten into a bit of trouble and I already knew THAT was gonna happen with Pinkie Pie there.” He laughed before letting her lips go and wiggling his way out of her hold. He righted the hoodie he was wearing and then turned back to face her. “I knew you guys would be fine after the way you handled yourselves yesterday! I was worried sure, but Avery kept me plenty occupied so I didn’t get to think about it too much.” He explained pointing at the now modernly clothed fairy boy who fluttered beside Spike now.

Twilight stared in shock for a second before she felt a smile come up on his face despite herself. “Well, that’s great then. I’m glad you two had fun today…” she trailed off as the rest of the group started to enter through the open glass doors of the foyer. “Oh! Spike, Avery, I’d like you both to meet my newest friend! Angelo this is my younger brother Spike and his friend Avery. He’s the son of Tianna who you’ve already met.” She explained bringing the winged boy over. Angelo blinked and smiled at the two boys offering out his hands to them which they took and shook.

“It’s a pleasure meeting you both, especially you Spike. Twilight has spoken in length about you today.” He mentioned with a polite smile and then a slightly devious one cast at Twilight who had straightened at his comment. Spike’s reptilian eyes slowly slid sideways at his sister.

“Oh has she now…?” he asked carefully. Twilight smiled nervously her eyes darting from one boy to the other before Spike turned his own gaze back to the white haired boy in front of him and froze with his mouth open before he could continue further. Instead of questioning what exactly his sister had said about him he caught the sight of the intricate crest in the middle of the boy’s forehead and his words halted and were replaced by newer more astonished ones. “StarSwirl’s beard, y-you’re an Alicorn!” he gasped backing away a little in shock. Angelo’s golden eyes looked up to where his crest sat on his fore head and then quickly smiled nervously.

“Whoops… well it’s kind of pointless to hide that now since it’ll be all over the news tomorrow morning anyways…” he remarked with a sigh. “Yes, I am. It’s a long story…” he explained to the two shocked boys who stared at him with wide eyes. Avery was especially intrigued by this.

“Spike, I thought you informed me that the Alicorn race was made up of strictly females…?” he asked fluttering around the body of the taller boy to examine him properly tugging a little at his wings and then tapping him on the crest to make sure both were real and not just props and paint.

Angelo frowned slightly. “And up until about ten minutes ago I was under the impression the fey went extinct over a millennia ago.” He smarted back. Avery backed away a little smiling nervously.

“Touché.” He remarked before his mother came in and his eyes lit up as he flew over and danced around her happily.

“Mother! Look! Twilight’s new friend is an Alicorn like Aunt Celestia and Luna!” he said pointing at the white winged boy who now stood staring a little dumbstruck by the fairy boy’s sudden change in personality. Tianna merely laughed and gently held the small boy in her long arms.

“Yes Avery, we’ve been watching their group all day remember? I already knew that.” She giggled bopping him on the nose gently and then tickling his stomach which made him burst out in a fit of giggles as well. They looked so happy, like the world was nothing to them as they were lost in their shared embrace. Angelo felt a pang in his heart and brought his hand over his chest at the pain that came from seeing the pair so carefree and lost in their bond. A gentle hand on his shoulder brought him back around and he looked up to see his grandfather smiling at him softly. The pain dissipated a little but it was still there, the want for the same thing that boy had… jealous he had a mother who could hold him like that.

“Control Angelo, remember to control it.” Joseph reminded the boy as he watched the royal fairy pair embrace lost in their own little world. The look of longing remained but Angelo bit his lip and looked away choosing to stare instead at his friends who looked at him with worried stares.

“I-I am fine. It merely caught me off guard is all.” He explained to them putting on a brave smile. The girls all exchanged a shared look before they all came forward Pinkie being the first to shroud him in a gentle nurturing hug, Fluttershy was next spreading her wings around them like a shield from the outside world. The rest of the girls joined in Dash mirroring Fluttershy’s gesture the tips of their wings brushing against one another as the ring of protection was formed.

At the center of the tender hearted circle Angelo had lost himself in the feeling of shared affection, the closest thing he had to compare it to was the caring embrace of Elisabetta that she had often given him when he was much younger. It made the jealousy he had previously felt melt away, he may not be able to ever hug his own mother but he had this… and for now that was more than enough. When the group hug broke apart he saw the gentle smiles of all the adults and Pales greeting him. He blushed a little and cleared his throat.

“So, you were going to explain Grandfather…?” he prompted trying to deflect their gazes. The adults all sat down on the soft cushions of the extended couch that wrapped its way around the large media center that centered the living room. The TV that had been playing in the background was muted by Spike who had taken to serving the tea and setting out plates of snacks.

“Yes, you see it started this morning when Casco reminded me that he would be attending the tournament in the city proper that day and that he wouldn’t be able to escort me back to the city. Being my most trusted guard this concerned me and I tried to think of something that I could occupy myself with for the day that wouldn’t require armed guards with me at all times. When my ship was making its way to the city I felt the familiar presence of Celestia and Luna nearby and quickly ordered my driver to turn the ship in that direction. That was when I called you to tell you I wouldn’t be able to make it today. I decided to use this opportunity of them being in the area to come clean about your existence. I had told them in letters about you but never about your… origins. I honestly feared that they would attempt to take you from me if I told them. But it seems that in my infinite wisdom I forgot a very key detail about my old friends…” he explained rubbing the back of his head a bit.

“We don’t separate children from their guardians. When we brought Cadence to the castle we also brought her mother so that she would feel more at ease. And we asked for extensive permission first. We never ordered anything.” Celestia and Luna explained in unison not even batting an eyelash at their synchronization.

“Even though I’d only returned very recently that was a law that had remained set in stone, a law that we abide by dutifully if only from personal experience.” Luna added with a kind smile cast at the boy. Angelo gave her a small smile in return knowing that these two shared the same pain he did, especially Luna considering how young she was when her Mother left.

“Right… so needless to say I felt quite like the rear end of a mule when they pointed that out. After our initial business was concluded we got to speaking about other matters, they eventually told me about you six.” He stated nodding at the girls who were still staying relatively close to his grandson, it warmed his heart and showed in his smile when he looked at them. “They told me all about it, how Celestia had found you Twilight Sparkle and how through your studies you developed rather antisocial habits. Then how she had sent you to a new school far away from the walls of the castle with her sister in attempt to get you both some real friends. And then how you met these lovely young ladies and flipped your world right on its head.” He laughed. Twilight blushed glancing a little at the girls that surrounded her and were now smiling at her with the same amused smile. It was quite embarrassing to hear her mentor had spoken about her little socialization issue but it was receding as he continued speaking taking the heat off her.

“Well just after she described you all we were quite interrupted by your young brother here, he came in after sensing that something was off and shouting about something called a ‘Pinkiesaster’. Well Celestia didn’t waste any time and conjured a scrying glass for us to see you all with. We watched as you broke into my chapel and quite literally kidnapped my grandson. I was of course distressed at first but Luna was actually the one that convinced me not to worry. She defended the action saying it was something of the norm for you Miss Pie. With a little talking they both convinced me to sit down and ‘enjoy the show’ as they put it. We watched it all, and I found myself astonished at the transformation you went through Angelo. In just a matter of hours these two girls managed to do what I had built up inside you for the entire length of your life. To say I was astonished was an understatement. You even went so far as to break into a laughter and adrenaline fueled rebellion where you cursed the rules I had laid out for you. I had read many parenting books so I wasn’t unfamiliar with the concept of angst, I knew it would come with age and that my methods of… repression would eventually backfire on me but Celestia was the one who gave me the best advice on this matter.”

“’Let him blow off the steam, this is the first time he’s been able to leave that chapel and he’s finally seeing the world for what it is, let him take it as he will and pray that your guidance was enough to push him in the right direction.’ It’s the same advice I’ve given many of my subjects when they come to me asking for guidance about their troubled children. It often comes down to who they choose to bond with, and since he had latched onto my prized student and her friends I could tell he would be in capable hands.” Celestia explained with a caring smile given to the dark haired magic user. Twilight again was left blushing and Pinkie was beaming from ear to ear.

“Thaaaaat’s right~! If anyone knows when enough is enough it’s Twilight here! And with me teaching him how to have fun and her keeping him sane there was no chance he’d snap! Oh, except for when I gave him those water balloons… he did get a little out of hand there.” Pinkie admitted with a small shrug of indifference. Rainbow and Applejack snickered at this and it caught the attention of Celestia.

“Oh and don’t think we forgot about you two. You just as big of a contributor to this fiasco as they were. Although I do have to applaud you on that last move of yours Rainbow I haven’t witnessed a pegasus with that much power in their magic since Hurricane himself was alive.” She turned to face Applejack just as Dash puffed out her chest a little in pride. “Or seen an Earthbound with that much resilience in them since Smart Cookie went on that trek with Puddinghead in the lead. I still wonder to this day how she survived the storms Hurricane tried to throw at them. But I digress; you both are still at fault for causing the scene to begin with. Now that it’s over and Cas has returned of course the charges will be dropped but we went ahead and put in our foot there and made sure the two of you would suffer no other consequences. But from now on I would appreciate it if you would tone it down on the showy moves when you’re in a foreign nation and being broadcasted on live television, savvy?” she asked the pair. The both smiled sheepishly and nodded. Celestia smiled and nodded. “Good, did you want to continue Joey…?” she asked the man beside her.

“Yes, you see there was one more rather significant event that occurred that I think needs a bit of recognition… Your choice to defy your mother’s wish and reveal yourself. I have my opinion on it… but I first want to hear why. Why did you choose something so… drastic after only knowing these girls for a matter of hours?” he asked his grandson. Angelo blinked and slowly turned to look at the six girls that stood behind him. A small smile crossed his lips and looked around for a second before he found the fountain pen he had used before, he however did not take the pad of paper this time instead choosing to stand as the point of the pen glowed and he illustrated his tale to his grandfather and the rest of them by using the air around him as his medium. With delicate flicks of his wrist images began playing before their eyes like a movie made of golden magic.

“Thirteen years ago I was born in a back alley to a woman who to this day is still unknown to any of us, with her dying breath she gave me a name and told the only person around at the time to take me to the safe haven of the chapel so that I could live a life without burden. Upon meeting my grandfather for the first time I produced a magical surge that was powerful enough to not only shake the foundation of the ancient structure but imbue the boy who had fulfilled my mother’s wish with power beyond that of just a mere mortal. Seconds after this surge ended I was revealed to have a mark imprinted on my leg that has forever been known as the mark of the Messenger. Faust’s supposed chosen that were born to mark the world in some form or another.

“With this knowledge in his mind he adopted me and added his name to my many. I grew up isolated. My only friends being those who were hired to look after me and Pales, the boy who I had blessed. I tried to fill my isolation with tireless study, learning new things about the world outside made me happy and fed my secret hopes of someday being able to see it for myself. But as I grew older those dreams became buried under my work, tucked away in a little corner of my mind and only surfaced in my wildest dreams where just for a second I could see the beautiful rainforests of the Amazon, taste the sharp air of the Himalayan mountains, and walk the crowded Manhattan streets without anyone looking twice at me. To be free. To live my own life not separate from my family or my duty but to have a CHOICE in the matter. And then I’d wake up, staring at a cold grey ceiling with my dim candlelit work desk beside me and the same comforting scent of old books and a breakfast of oatmeal greeting me to another day of routine.

“For thirteen years I lived like that. And then my world exploded, quite literally actually, with the appearance of two very strange girls who, again literally speaking here, swept me off my feet and dragged me out of the walls that had kept me safe and yet imprisoned me all my life. They took me on a wild ride, being chased by the law enforcement across the city and then getting them off our trail by making two cardboard cut outs come to life and making a third look alike of myself out of nothing but a feather. It was bizzare, and it all felt like it was happening too fast. Like it wasn’t real at all and I was just having another one of those crazy dreams again. But another part of my mind, the part that never stopped dreaming, told me it wasn’t. It was real. These girls from a nation so far from my own had found me, and they wanted nothing more than to make me happy. To teach me how to be normal. To teach me how to actually LIVE rather than just survive. It was amazing. They took me to a clothing store and there I realized just how sheltered I had been, enough that I couldn’t even dress myself properly. It was saddening but they added a sweet flavor to it and taught me how.

“Then they did something even more magical to me, they talked to me. ME, the shut in who had been nothing but the Pope’s dutiful grandson just hours before. Me who had nothing interesting to talk about other than the stories my only friend shared with me about HIS adventures. But they talked, and I listened. They told me about their friends, and what kind of crazy adventures they’d been on in the short time they’d been together. How one of them shared my background of being in a hierarchy, being privately taught by one of the deities many, including myself, worship. She was alone too, a shut in and covered it with her studies just as I had. But they had found her too. Sniffed her out like blood hounds and dragged her into the light and thrown balloons and streamers in her face to welcome her into their warm circle. They befriended her despite who she was formally. They hadn’t cared or even batted an eyelash at it. And that got me thinking…

‘What if I could have that too…?’

“They continued to teach me about the world I had been blind to, the world I had been forbidden to see. And the more I heard about it them deeper I fell. Before I had even realized it I was SMILING for these girls, a genuine smile. My own Grandfather had not seen such a smile on me in years! I was astonished to say the least, I didn’t know what had come over me! These girls, one who could relate to me so well, and another who didn’t give two rat’s tails if you were Faust herself and just wanted to see you happy, were changing me. The layers of cold isolation I had around my heart started to melt, I was happy again! And something inside me, the Dreamer inside me, told me they could be trusted. With everything. I could be myself, who and what I was born to be and they wouldn’t care. They saw me as Angelo. Not anyone or anything else, just me. When I met up with their other friends after the grand escape from the city I had witnessed actions I never thought I’d see before. Actions that were completely selfless, how they defended one another even though they were facing impossible odds. True friendship and harmony. That was what I saw inside each of them.

“With that in mind I knew they could be trusted, that they wouldn’t mind if I didn’t hide anymore. And that somehow… someday, neither would the rest of the world.” He finished the final picture being of all of the faces they’d met together in one large group surrounded by unmarked faces of random people all circling the Alicorn boy in the center with smiles on all of their faces and hands held out in acceptance. The golden image dissolved and faded into the air as he turned to face his grandfather.

“I don’t want to hide anymore. I don’t want to be confined to a fate my mother chose for me. I understand she wanted to protect me, and that you do as well, and that’s perfectly fine. But this world isn’t as bad as you make it out to be. There are good honest people out there. People like these six who would accept me for who I am along with what I am. Sure there will be the others, those that put me up too higher than I actually am or those who want to use me because of my position, but that’s life. And more importantly, it’s the life I choose.” He finished a look of solid determination in his eyes as they locked with his grandfather’s. Behind him there were a few sniffles as the girls were handed tissues out of a box Spike was holding and when he was sure no one was focusing on him he himself wiped a little tear from his eye but the main focus was on the two males that were holding each other’s intense gaze firmly.

Finally after what seemed like an eternity to all present Joseph’s eyes softened and he smiled at the boy. “You’re right.” He stated simply. Jaws dropped and confetti flew out from Pinkie’s mouth as it fell but their gazes never left the old man as he continued. “How you live your life should be your own choice, and I was wrong to try and keep you from it. And for that I apologize.” He stated. Pinkie was now grinning and about to pull out her stops and declare a party in celebration as she leapt into the air. “But…” She crashed face first into the floor. “This ‘coming out’ deal that you’re trying to do, it needs to be done gradually and properly to the public. Not by exploding out of a volcano with a show of power for the entire world to see.” He explained with a knowing smile. Angelo smile a little at that and scratched his chin.

“Well… to be fair Grandfather I didn’t have much choice in the matter.” He reasoned with a nervous chuckle.

The pope chuckled as well. “I know, but we still have to do some damage control.” He explained before turning to face the girls that were sitting on the other end of the couch. “And I’m quite sorry for not introducing myself beforehand, I’m Pope Benedict XVI by title but here I’m just Angelo’s worrying grandfather Joseph Ratzinger. You all may call me what you like.” He stated with a warm smile at the six.

Twilight Sparkle was the first to come forward and greet him. “It’s a pleasure to meet you sir, I’m Twilight Sparkle and- wait a second… where’s Pinkie?” she asked noticing the distinct lack of a pink blur knocking her out of the way to introduce herself first. She looked over to see Luna on her laptop with Spike, Avery, and Pinkie all leaning over her watching her as her long slender fingers danced across the keyboard as she worked away. Beside her Celestia sat gracefully with on leg draped over the other as she smiled over at her student with her eyes closed and golden magic glowing around them. Twilight curiously walked over and peered over Spike’s shoulder at Luna’s screen. Green infiltration codes and streams of data flowed in the background over the Equestrian Government’s insignia and had a small box that had a loading bar filling up over it. “Luna… why are you hacking into our government files…?” she asked the lunar princess with a deadpanned look.

“I’m not.” She replied simply. Twilight sighed in relief before she continued. “I’m hacking into the world’s media center and deleting all evidence of the volcano incident from the internet and media in general.” She said as she continued entering code into the computer as more and more boxes started to pop up all showing similar loading bars in many different languages. “So far I’m about half way through.” She stated although it was directed at her sister not the people that were watching over her shoulder.

“Excellent, I myself have almost finished the wiping spell.” Celestia replied opening one eye that was glowing with light yellow energy. Twilight’s jaw had unhinged a while ago but now with Pinkie Pie shutting it for her she found herself stuttering in shock.

“W-why are you two hacking into the world’s media center and preparing a massive mind wiping spell?!” she shrieked. Luna winced and reached up to rub her ear.

“Ow, Twilight calm down. It’s called ‘clean up’ for a reason you know. We’re making sure that no one’s gonna be able to find out or even remember this little screw up.” She explained as she carefully tucked a lock of her free flowing starry mane behind her ear as she looked back at the screen and got back to her work. “Oh curses… your distraction made me miss one of Japan’s firewalls and now they’re trying to counter hack me.” She smiled and cracked her fingers before she redoubled her efforts. “Let’s see how you handle this Shindō-san*3…” she chuckled as she recognized the program as one of the minister’s personal weapons of choice. Twilight leaned over to her mentor to whisper in her ear.

“Princess… I’m beginning to wonder how Luna picked up on our modern day technology so fast… ten years ago she was throwing blenders out the window because she thought they were the spawn of Discord… Now she’s hacking into highly secure government files like it’s a walk in the park and she’s throwing banter at the person who’s SUPPOSED to be the world’s leading expert on technology…” she remarked.

Celestia chuckled as she continued weaving her spell. “Silly Twilight, my sister has always been one to look upon new technology with a smile. She also absorbs information like a sponge. Combine those two and leave her alone with a Beta Gateway computer for one weekend and when you return she’ll be playing modern warfare on a custom built super laptop she built using the old computer.” Celestia responded in kind. Twilight groaned and buried her face in her palms.

“Why do I attract the oddest of people…?!” she exclaimed to the sky. “I have a dragon hybrid for a baby brother, I’m taught by a deity whose sister is the equivalent of a modern day Albert Einstein, one of my best friends can defy the laws of the universe whenever she wants, and the others can perform feats that shouldn’t be humanly possible as well! Why me…?!” she whined as she lay herself over the back of the couch. Celestia merely patted her student on the head gently as she finished her spell.

“There, there my dear. You forget that you yourself are a far cry from normal. Half of Equestria was convinced you were my daughter after your first big surge remember…?” she soothed.

“Well YEAH, but I think that’s kind of small in comparison. A unicorn with an abnormally large magic base is not all that uncommon.” Twilight murmured staring up at the ceiling while the rest of her friends all chatted amongst themselves not noticing her little fit.

“True, but none of them have your potential either. Luna, are we clear on your end…?” she asked turning to her sister for confirmation.

“Onnnnnnne second… there! All clear.” Luna replied giving her sister a big thumbs up.

“Excellent.” Celestia hummed before she released her spell a wash of yellow light shooting out from her at supersonic speeds. It went through the walls and seemed to spread in every direction. The girls all blinked not feeling it effect them. “Spike, be a dear and unmute the TV.” Celestia ordered staring as a news bulletin came up with the words BREAKING NEWS stamped across it. Spike hit a button on the remote and the news reporter’s voice came in half way through his announcement.

“-and now we give you this footage of the incident captured by a tourist that was standing nearby.” The screen faded to black before the a large blank screen which was then replaced by the following symbol:

and Luna’s prerecorded voice.

‘Hello people of the world, It’s your beloved Princess of the moon Luna here with an important message, the information you were about to view is currently classified and therefore your memories of this incident will be redacted at the end of this message. This mandatory wipe or your brain was brought to you by Moon-Pie’s, They’re Out Of This World~!’ there was a loud waiting tone and then the feed of the news cast room came back on with a confused looking news reporter who had a yellow shimmer around his eyes before he shook his head looking rather hung over all of a sudden.

“Whoa… what… what was that…? Suddenly my head is fuzzy and I’m crazing… Moon-Pie’s…?” he offered obviously too confused to realize he was still on air. Behind the camera there was a murmur of agreement before the reporter seemed to realize that he was on air and he stared dumbly at the camera. “Uhhhh, we’ll be right back after these messages.” He made a motion to cut the feed and Celestia clicked the TV off with a satisfied smile.

“Another successful wipe little sister, I suspect your Moon-Pie sales will be sky rocketing soon as well.” She mused as she high-fived the shorter Alicorn. Angelo cocked an eyebrow at the two of them.

“Do you two do this often…?” he asked the pair.

“Only when necessary… or when a particularly embarrassing story gets leaked about us.” Celestia explained with a practiced smile. She then stood up and walked over to the boy motioning for him to stand as well. Even without any shoes on she was still almost two full feet taller than him. And he wasn’t a small boy either. Celestia was just that tall. 6’9 was a pretty impressive height for a woman after all, not to mention she had a rather unhealthy love for platform heels. Those usually put her above seven feet. Standing under her gaze Angelo felt why it was so easy to feel intimidated by her. Celestia cupped him under the chin turning his head from side to side examining him carefully. Luna stalked around him like a cat eyeing him as well. “Hm… his magical basin is quite impressive, certainly on par with ours…” Celestia commented.

“And his physical form is completely human, he doesn’t seem to possess the same outer worldly connection we do despite his powers.” Luna added. She prodded his left leg with her finger right where she knew his mark should be and the insignia of it shone through his pants and remained imprinted in gold on them. “Oh, curious. His mark responds the same way ours do. Cadence’s doesn’t do that.” She added her teal eyes widening a little in curiosity. Angelo was starting to sweat a little under the two sister’s poking and prodding. He was used to being tested on and observed by medical professionals but that was in private, not in front of a group of staring girls that happened to be his friends. Luna reached up and pulled out one of his wings gently stretching it out to its full length. She extended her own wing to compare and her eyes widened a little. “Tia look at this! Rainbow, come over here and stand behind him wings spread.” She ordered. The athlete looked confused for a second before following her Princess’s order and standing behind the shorter male and spreading her wings out to their full length as he did the same. Her jaw dropped a little in shock. His were already longer than hers! Boy’s wings NEVER grew that big until they were well into their teens!

“How in hell’s name does HE have bigger wings than me already?! He’s barely thirteen and freaking scrawny as hell! Alicorn or not that’s messed up!” she complained retracting the appendages back to her back and backing away from him glaring a little. Joseph stepped forward and cleared his throat to get their attention.

“I believe I can explain that. As most of you already know Angelo is no stranger to medical testing, he goes in for a full physical once a week actually and wince his last birthday he’s shown a surprising amount of growth. Which isn’t odd for a boy his age but what WAS unusual was the projected estimates for his wings… first off with his adult feathers growing in in only three weeks’ time he very nearly set a world record; shortly after that development they began growing at rates that actually gave him terrible pains, so much in fact he had to remain medicated until they stopped which was only a few weeks ago. His wings before the growth spurt measured at just over four feet in length… two weeks later they stopped growing. They currently measure at 70 inches from tip to tip. And that’s just his first growth cycle over. With those numbers his doctors projected a final wing span of over 10 feet.” He explained as he showed them a chart projected using his silver blue magic.

Fluttershy’s eyes widened in shock. “B-but the c-curent holder for largest wings on the planet is Princess Celestia and she only measures at-“

“Nine feet two inches, yes we know that. That’s why the numbers astonished us so much. The size of a pegasus’ wings is supposed to be relative to their body mass. So with those projections they also came up with a height and weight estimate for him. By the time his wings and body have fully matured at an estimated age of 20 years old he’ll weigh over 300 pounds and be at a height estimated at 8 feet and 10 inches. Just shy of a world record for tallest human, living or dead.” He explained with a proud smile across his face.

The girls were doing the math in their head. For Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy they were adding a foot and then some to Jolly’s heavily built frame. For the rest they were adding almost a foot and a half to Big Mac’s stature and it was just as bad for them. Pinkie Pie acted first quickly strangle hugging the boy.

“Nuuuuuuuu!!!! Little Gelo can’t grow up to be that big! He’ll look all mean and intimidating…! He’s too sweet and gentle to be that big!” she protested rubbing her cheek against the boy’s embarrassingly. Angelo groaned and tried pushing her off only for her to hug him tighter. Behind her Twilight had pulled out a calculator from her pocket and was crunching a few numbers on it.

“If you think that’s bad wait until you hear this! With those numbers he’ll be taller than Celestia by his sixteenth birthday!” she said flipping the calculator around to show them the mathematics. Dash quickly zoomed over and stole the calculator from her. “Hey!”

“Shut up egghead I’m trying to crunch something here.” Dash hissed punching in some numbers into the calculator quickly. She paused and turned to Angelo. “Gelo, hit me with a wind as hard as you can make it with your wings.” She snapped quickly. Angelo looked up confused by it but did as ordered pushing Pinkie off of him and then using his wings to create a strong gale force wind forced Dash back so fast that she only barley stopped herself from crashing though the long glass window that looked over the cliff into the sea below. “Whoa… okay, that’s… at least a fifteen already…” she murmured punching in the numbers she needed to and then hitting the enter button and staring wide eyed at the result eventually dropping the thing and fainting on the spot. The others, distressed by their normally sturdy friend suddenly fainting rushed over to her to make sure she was alright. When they established that she was fine just unconscious Applejack curiously picked up the calculator and let out a whistle.

“That’s a lot of fancy mathematics… Twi, Pinkie, ya’ll recognize any of these equations…?” she asked handing the device to the two math prodigies. Pinkie glanced at the numbers and shook her head.

“Nope, I’ve never seen those before!” she responded simply Twilight nodding at her response.

“Me either, though I can’t imagine how Dash would know equations that we don’t when she can barely do her algebra homework…” Twilight commented with a shrug. Fluttershy’s head popped up at that and she quickly snatched the math machine from Twilight’s hand and scanned the numbers for herself. Her eyes widened and her face paled.

“O-oh my… these are… wing power conversion equations… based on the wing power he has now with his body mass... b-by the time he’s fully mature he’ll-he’ll…!” her breath was hitching and she was starting to hyperventilate a little. As if she was alerted by the situation Dash’s eyes shot open and she quickly grabbed an inhaler from her pocket and moved Fluttershy’s hair from her face as she guided the breather to her lips. Fluttershy grabbed it with shaky hands and quickly released the medicine into her lungs holding it while she felt it course through her. Rainbow sighed as she but her head between her knees and ran her fingers through her messy shaggy hair.

“His estimated average wing power will be over 250… that’s without formal training or any kind of extensive exercise. Right now I’m the top flier in my class, I practice every day every spare hour I can and I have for over seven years now. At max when I push myself to my very limits I get up to 20, and that’s abnormal for most adults.” She explained without looking up once. Twilight’s eyes widened considerably. She quickly scooped up the calculator and scanned it.

“This can’t be right… you have to have messed up one of the numbers somewhere. Dash’s bright magenta eyes looked up sharply.

“Twi, I may be a huge screw up on pretty much everything else academic but I know my wing power and weather stuff. Have Celestia check my numbers if you don’t believe me.” She stated waving a dismissive hand at the magic user. Twilight carefully looked up to her teacher who took the calculator from her and reviewed it with her own calculating eyes.

Slowly they began to widen. “She’s… right! The formula is flawless, the numbers and factors are all exact, and she didn’t misplace anything… this is… unheard of for any race! Even the great Griffon clans can’t come close to these number’s and those are always higher than that of an Equestrian Pegasus…! MY numbers don’t compare, Luna’s can’t either, and Cadence would faint just from him flying by at this rate! It’s… impossible.” She muttered as all heads turned to face the boy. He stared at them all his own eyes wide in shock.

“Whoa, okay, slow down all of you. These are all just ESTIMATES remember? Predictions! I could very well top out at 6’4 with wings only slightly larger than normal!” he paused for a moment before looking over at Pales for support. “R-right…?” he asked carefully. The mint haired boy blinked a few times and then walked over and very calmly plucked a hair from the top of his head and presented it to Princess Celestia.

“DNA is the pool that we stare into to see our future. If you break this down you should be able to find out exactly what his final measurements will be.” Pales explained handing the strand to the Sun Princess. She smiled and took it from him.

“An excellent point! DNA doesn’t lie and the spell is well known to me. Let’s see…” she muttered as a screen appeared made of deep golden energy formed with white text streaming through it as the DNA strand was broken down into basic components and laid out like a map for them. The end result made Celestia’s eyes go wide and the others all tried to read it over her shoulder but couldn’t make out the letters and symbols for themselves. “The estimates are wrong…” she stated simply. Angelo let his shoulders slouch and his body to uncoil from the tension it had been holding. “You’re going to go beyond them.” She explained as she flipped the screen around the text darkening so they could see it easily and translating into plain English so they could read it. It showed a virtual model of his grown form with his measurements beside it.

Height: 9 feet 2 inches

Average Weight: 411 lb.

Wing-span: 12 feet 6 inches

AWP(Average Wing Power): 275

Magical Charge: 12 F *4

The list went on but Angelo had already passed out before he could continue reading any further.

*** Nyx looked up at her mother grinning. “So Gelo DID used to be tiny then…?! I always thought he was BORN that big!” she laughed. Twilight shook her head laughing a little as well.

“No, and let me tell you the letters I got from him describing the growing pains he went thorough were very descriptive. Without his medicine he compared the feeling to having being struck by a Rainbow Bolt seven times with a sensitivity spell cast on his entire body.” She quoted. Nyx shuddered rubbing her arms a little as she did so.

“Wow and I thought Spike had it bad when he first grew his wings…!” Nyx almost whispered.

Spike nodded a little. “It DID hurt, I still remember Twilight first coming into the bathroom to find me trying to tear at my back to rip some of the skin off so the scaly monsters could come through easier… It felt like thousands of tiny needle’s poking at me from UNDER my skin… you’re so lucky you were born with those wings.” He commented with a small shudder. The his frown was replaced with a grin. “Of course I still remember when you first met Gelo. You screamed and ran away because you thought he was Slender…!” he laughed rolling on the ground a bit. Nyx punched him in the arm and growled at him.

“Hey! It was Nightmare night first off and I was only ten so I was already scared senseless and he came down the street in that stripped suit so I lost it and freaked out a little!” she complained.

“Nyx, freaking out a little is slapping someone when you’re scared. Not striking them down with enough shadow magic to kill the ACTUAL Slenderman!” Spike countered.

“It missed…!” she groaned in response.

“Hey, kids. I was telling a story, remember…?” Twilight put in. Quickly the two stopped bickering and turned to face her once more. “Much better, now when he woke up…”***

Angelo groaned slowly lifting his form off what felt like a soft mattress. He opened his eyes and found himself staring at an unfamiliar ceiling, at first the initial panic of not waking up in the same place he had for all his life took over him before he calmed down when he remembered where he was. Then the reason why he had passed out in the first place came back to him and he groaned flopping back down on the bed. A knock sounded from outside his door. He didn’t have the energy to deal with anyone right now but it would be rude to turn them away.

“Enter.” He ordered simply.

An older man with deep grey and white streaked hair that was finely combed back in a simple black servant’s suit and white gloves came in and bowed slightly. “Good morning Lord Angelo, my name is Olive Platter, or just Oliver if you would. I’m the head butler here on the island and I wanted to inform you that breakfast is being served in the dining hall, your grandfather and the others are all already gathered there awaiting your company.” He reported with a kind smile at the boy. Angelo quickly sat up when he realized he was not only keeping his friends but his grandfather and royalty as well. He leapt out of the bed and ran for the bathroom to make himself presentable.

“Please tell them all that I’ll be down shortly! Oliver, does this room happen to have clothes fitting for me…?” he asked as the steaming water of a shower kicked on.

“Of course sir, the room was outfitted for you when your grandfather announced you’d be staying here for the night.” He replied loud enough for the boy to hear above the water. “Would you like for me to lay out an outfit sir…?” he offered.

“Yes please…! Oh, and Oliver?” Angelo asked sticking his head out of the bathroom. “Just Angelo is fine.” Oliver smiled and bowed deeply as the boy shut the door to start his shower. Oliver chuckled as he set to his work.

“Twilight was right, that boy IS quite something…” he mused.

***

“YOU’RE LEAVING ME HERE?!?!”

Joseph didn’t bat an eyelash at his grandchild’s outburst and simply continued to cut into his omelet. “Sit down and lower your tone Angelo, we are in the company of ladies and it is impolite to shout.” He chastised. Angelo sat back down in his seat but his jaw hung open all the same. “And yes, I talked it over with Celestia and we agreed that a little bit more time outside would do you wonders. We also agreed that separating you from your new friends would hinder you more than it would help. So you’ll be staying here on the island until they depart for Equestria once more.” He informed the boy with a small twinkle in his silver eyes.

“B-but…! I was sure you-! And I disobeyed your DIRECT orders…! Why Nonno *5…? I mean no disrespect whatsoever but you are not normally so… lenient with me.” Angelo questioned with a look of confusion set on his face.

“Are you not happy with my choice…?” the elder asked.

“No! I mean Yes I am! But… it’s just- very confusing.”

Joseph smiled and brought a hand under the chin of the boy to bring his eyes up to his. “I am many things Gelo, but I am a man of Faust first. And she would send me to play with Discord if I denied you your happiness. I also am not blind, I can see the changes these girls have made in you and despite what you may think, I like what I see. One week ago you would have not dared questioned any of my decision’s and yet you’ve done so twice now in less than twenty four hours. It’s good to, oh how do you put it Luna…? Grow a spine. As harsh as that sounds I mean it. Of course if you running a riot through my fair city becomes a habit of yours I might have to pull on the reigns a bit.” He chuckled. Angelo’s eyes brightened and he started to grin from ear to ear.

“It won’t! I swear to you Nonno, no more wild antics…! Well… none quite as extreme as yesterday at least… being with Pinkie and Dash I cannot guarantee another distressing situation will not pop up.” He quipped with a small smile.

“Hey!” Dash shouted from across the table.

Pinkie was giggling until she realized she was included in that and she voiced her protest. “Gelooooooo~! I’m not that bad!” She whined as she drank from a large pot of what looked like coffee. He smiled back at her offering her and Dash a playful wink as Joseph belted out laughing.

“Oh I know the feeling quite well young one, back in my prime Celestia here used to get me in the most compromising of situations by the most amusing means. If I recall when we first met I was only a little older than you are now and she crashed into my study window with exactly sixteen and a half arrows piercing her skin and oddly enough she was covered in cake frosting. She then recruited me to help her free a third world country from a minotaur dictator who used explosive pastries as war weapons in his attempt to assassinate her in her own dining hall. It’s quite the story I’ll have to share with you some time.” He laughed with a smile at one of his oldest friends. Celestia had a pink hue to her face as she calmly sipped her morning tea trying to hide her embarrassment. Luna gaffed however and had to hold back a snort as she looked beside her at her sister.

“That’s quite rich! What did he do Tia, lay out a cake for you and detonate it when you tried to grab it like a pudgy child?!” she exclaimed as she got winded and started to roll on the ground laughing her head off. Celestia was not nearly as amused but already had a counter to it.

“Oliver, would you be a dear and bring me that treat I asked the chef’s to prepare earlier…?” she asked the butler. He bowed deeply to her.

“Of course My Lady.” He responded before backing away into the kitchens and then returning shortly with a silver platter that was covered. Luna sat up looking at her sister curiously. He set the dish in front of Luna and removed the lid to reveal a beautifully decorated moon pie with Luna’s cutiemark in the corner of it. Her eyes lit up.

“Moon pie~!” she squealed as she picked up a fork ready to dive right into her favorite treat. Her fork froze however only a millimeter away from its delectable chocolate covered gram cracker shell and her gaze darted up to her sister at the memory of the conversation they had just had. She pushed the cake towards her. “You take a bite first.” She ordered. Celestia shrugged and picked up her own fork and dug into the treat making sure Luna saw her put it in her mouth, chew, and swallow. When Luna was satisfied with the gesture she resumed her own act of digging right into the dessert. She got about four forkfuls in before her eyes shrunk to pinpricks and she let the half chewed pie fall out of her mouth back onto the plate and she started to scream running around and licking every avalible surface in attempt to get the taste out of her mouth. “IT’S A FAKE!!!! THAT PIE IS A FAKE!!!! IT TASTES LIKE THE BACKSIDE OF A NORTHBOUND CAMEL THAT HASN’T BATHED IN ITS LIFE!!!!” she declared as she dragged her tongue along the floor.

Celestia smiled as she sipped her tea. “Precisely my conclusion when I tried to consume his treats. Now imagine that but with hundreds of them exploding in your face right afterwards. It was enough to knock me all the way to Berlin where I met young Joseph and I asked for his assistance in the matter.” She explained motioning towards the white robed man who smiled at her in return.

“Whoa, wait. Berlin…? As in Germany? Thought you were Italian.” Rainbow commented looking at the Pope confused.

“I’m half and half. My mother was German and my father Italian, but I was raised in Germany in my mother’s family estate.” He explained simply.

“Also, sprechen Sie die Sprache sowie dann ...?” she asked quirking an eyebrow at him. (So, you speak the language as well then...?)

Joseph smiled before he responded. “Nun, es ist meine erste Sprache nachdem alle, und als gut untersucht wie ich ich spreche auch neun weitere Sprachen sowie bin.” He replied in turn. (Well, it is my first language after all, and being as well studied as I am I also speak nine other languages as well.)

“Seriously? Cool! I never knew the Pope could be that awesome! Oh, uh… sorry guys.” Dash responded noticing her friends looking at her with confused looks.

“It’s okay Dashie, I translated for them.” Fluttershy put in as she bit into a fruit tart.

“Nice going Flutters, but I think we broke them all the same.” She pointed out as Twilight’s hair began to frazzle. The ever diligent student quickly turned to her teacher.

“Celestia, how many languages do you speak…?” she asked curiously. Celestia recognized the first signs of one of her student’s famous breakdowns and quickly started to sooth her.

“More than you can learn my dear, but if you wish I’ll let you pick three to start off with and I can prepare lesson books for you to work on in your free time.” The solar princess offered with all the grace and charm that came with years of handling the duties that came with being an eternal goddess.

“Really?! Well… what three would you suggest Princess?” she asked looking up at her mentor with hopeful eyes.

“For you Twilight…? I imagine you’d like Japanese quite well, and with your knowledge of Latin you could easily learn languages like Spanish, Italian, or French. I’ll leave it up to you to decide but for now I believe it’s time for me to see my dear friend off.” She stated as she stood from the table and dabbed at her mouth with her napkin. “Luna get off the floor and stop moaning, you’ve tasted worse and you know it. A certain incident back in the fifth century with the fire pit and a certain blue flower comes to mind-“ Luna quickly sat up shoving her hand in Celestia’s mouth her teal eyes stone cold as she glared at her sister.

“We do not mention that dear sister. We have an agreement, or do you want everyone here to know about YOUR first encounter with the banana’s…?” she asked her older sibling. Celestia removed her sister’s hand from her mouth and simply smiled at her.

“Glad we have an agreement, come along then, the boat should be waiting.” She stated as she ushered her sibling and her friend towards the door.

“Slow down Celly, I’m 87 years old for pete’s sake I don’t move as easily as I used to!” Joseph complained.

“Joey, I’m over thirty millennia old and I’m doing just fine. You have no excuse.” Celestia countered as they headed towards the door. With the adults out of the room Applejack slowly leaned towards Twilight.

“Twi, what’s the deal with Celestia and banana’s…?” she asked the student.

Twilight shuddered a little as did Spike. “I’m bound by a royal promise not to say, but let’s just say she’s allergic and leave it at that okay…?” she responded with another shudder.

“Allergic…? How’d you find THAT out…?” Pinkie asked curiously tilting her head.

Twilight bit her lip and cast a glance sideways at her brother. Quickly she and Spike played rock-paper-scissors which Spike lost and groaned before turning to face the others and lowered his voice to a whisper.

“Twi tried to bake her a cake for her birthday once… it had banana’s in it, in the frosting, and as decorations. The result was not… pretty. The medical ward was occupied for weeks after that…” he explained in a hushed tone.

“With just the princess?!” Rarity gasped in horror. His green reptilian eyes slid sideways at her.

“No, with all the servants in the castle.” He responded. The looks of horror spread across their faces like wild fire in a hayfield.

“Moral of the story: don’t give Celestia anything with banana’s in it. Even the slightest amount. Also, never give Luna anything spicier than mild chili. She hates spice.” Twilight explained. Pinkie was taking notes while the others just nodded in turn.

“Celly, no banana’s, Lulu no spice. Got it. Wait, does she like cinnamon…?” Pinkie asked the magic user.

“Uhhh, I’ve seen her eat Applejacks before so, yeah.” Spike responded as he tapped his chin. Applejack retracted a little at the statement. He laughed and shook his head. “The cereal, Applejack, not you or any of your ancestors…” he added. Applejack’s shoulders released and Pinkie giggled.

“Silly Applejack, Lulu only eats actual people when they take her Moon Pies~!” she sang.

“Well that’s good… wait, what…?” she asked her eyes shrinking to pin pricks. But Pinkie had already skipped off singing to herself to do whatever it is Pinkie’s do when they aren’t directly interacting with friends. At that moment Angelo noticed there was one big addition to their happy little group. In a chair at the end of the table Pales calmly sipped his black morning coffee with little more than a glance at the girls around him. Angelo’s face deadpanned when he saw the mint haired boy.

“Pales… what are you doing here…? Shouldn’t you be going with Nonno back to the city…?” he asked his golden eyes as flat as his toneless expression.

Pales opened one eye and smiled at the younger boy. “If I recall Master said that you were to remain on the island to relax with your friends, do I not count as that simply because I’m your body guard as well…?” he asked before taking a sip of the black substance.

“You’re here to keep an eye me to make sure I don’t pull another volcano stunt aren’t you…?” Angelo asked not biting at the emotional bait Pales had tried to tempt him with.

“Ouch, I am offended by that harsh accusation baby brother. Don’t you know me better than that…?” Pales asked in a very sarcastic and rather childish voice that made the others stare at him. They had never seen this side of the ‘simple stable boy’.

“Yes, and that is precisely why I said it in the first place. And as your charge I’m ORDERING you to stand down and go back to the mainland with my grandfather.” Angelo stated firmly pointing at the door where the adults had left earlier.

“Mmm,” Pales gestured for him to wait a moment as he was in mid sip of his coffee. “You see, there’s two issues with that.” He continued once he had drained the cup. “The first being ‘Nonno’ already gave me my leave so right now I’m on vacation and don’t have to listen to you. The second is that he just took off on the ship about thirty seconds ago, and as you can see, I’m quite without wings or magic so I can’t catch up to him and you are now stuck with me.” He replied as he placed his elbows on the table, folded his hands and rested his chin in their interlocked groves. Angelo looked horrified by this development and quickly ran to the nearest window to see the cruise ship sailing away. With his sharpened eyes he could see his grandfather smiling and waving peacefully at him as it went off.

“Cazzo…” Angelo muttered under his breath. He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned to see the pearly smile that could only be described as a big brother’s ‘spying’ smile.

“Don’t worry Gelo, I’m on vacation too remember…? That means I have to relax just as much as you do.” He encouraged the younger male.

“Pales, I’ve known you my entire life. And in the thirteen years, two months, and twelve days I’ve been alive you have NEVER once so much as taken your boots off to get comfortable around me.” He retorted with a grunt of annoyance.

“Well that’s something that I’ve already changed.” He chuckled pointing down to reveal that he was wearing wool slippers with sheep faces on the front of them. “Like my casual wear…? I only ever wear it around my room but seeing as I’m supposed to be ‘cutting loose’ as they say I decided to throw that one to the wind.” He mused as if he was very proud with himself.

Twilight and the other girls were watching the scene with shared looks of disdain. Twilight slowly turned to her friends. “Rainbow could you-“

“Go get Pinkie to dislodge whatever twenty foot pole the Italian government shoved up his ass…? Already on it egghead.” She stated as she padded out the door bare feet hardly making a sound as she stepped on the marble floors. Pales looked back at them confused.

“I don’t understand… how is the pink haired sugar fiend going to pull a pole out of a donkey…?” he asked the slang translation shooting over his head. Angelo and the other girls all simultaneously facepalmed and dragged it down their faces with a collective groan.

“We’ve got a lot of work ahead of us…” Twilight sighed.

Author's Note

*1: Archo, a shortened version of Archbaleno, Italian for Rainbow. It's a nickname Cas gave to Dash after bonding over the events of the Volcano. The others all have their own nicknames as well.
*2: Cas' nickname for Fluttershy, it means shy or timid (big shocker there.)
*3: Yoshitaka Shindō, current Prime minister of Internal Affairs and Communications for Japan.
*4: Measure on the Faust scale where the number given is put into the thousands; Example: 3.5 F= 3,500 Faust's which is the average magical output of a teenage Unicorn. Powerful full grown adults can range anywhere between 6-10 on the F scale and Alicorn's go anywhere from 11-20. (Note: In her first magical surge Twilight measured at a 12.5, which was why she caused such a big stir up. Her current numbers on the Faust scale are CLASSIFIED and will not be released until much later.)
*5: Affectionate term meaning Grandpa.

Chapter 14

How I Became an Alicorn

Chapter 14- A Vacation Worth Remembering

A warm breeze washed over the calm serene beach that many considered to be nothing more than a legend, a place where gods came to relax and soak in the beauty of its white sands, calm clear ocean, and play in the beautiful tropical forest that covered most of it. Yes, it was a place of unimaginable beauty and this morning in particular none could agree with that more than the young teenager who stood beside her mentor as the sun deity rose her charge into the sky to begin what to most of the still sleeping occupants of the vacation home would simply be the end of one of the best weeks of their lives. Twilight watched the sunrise with a surreal smile on her face as her teacher’s gentle sun kissed arm came across her shoulders and brought her into a small embrace.

“You're too young to look like an old woman staring into the ageless sky Twilight, that's mine and Luna's job anyhow.” Celestia mused her rose colored eyes never leaving her sun that slowly rose along the horizon.

“I could live to be a hundred years old and you’d still think I was too young for anything.” Twilight countered with a giggle thrown in.

“Too true my dear, too true. But you could still stand to not look so torn. I’ve already opened this island to all of you when you want to return. And both Tianna and Angelo have agreed to pay visits to us back in Equestria.” Celestia pointed out with a cheerful smile on her face.

“I know, I know, but I’m still going to miss this. Everyone is so calm now and I can’t help but worry that they’ll get stressed out again and turn on one another like before…” Twilight explained a small frown taking over her features as she rested her chin on the railing of the balcony they stood on that over looked the calm blue sea.

Celestia noticed her student’s genuine concerns and was about to comfort her when she heard the pad of socked footsteps behind her and they both turned to see Pinkie walking towards them with a cup in her hand and her hair falling around her in gentle beautiful pink waves that looked remarkably like the ocean during this sunrise. Her cerulean eyes were unusually calm, but the sun was just rising and it looked to be her first cup of coffee anyways.

“And you think we’re not going to worry about you getting stressed out? We haven’t even left the island yet and you’re already worrying over us Twilight.” She pointed out as she came up beside her dark haired friend and kept drinking her coffee.

“Aren’t you supposed to still be asleep? You never wake up this early.” Twilight commented staring at her friend in confusion. Knowing Twilight was in capable hands Celestia simply smiled and left the balcony going back into the house herself.

“Well yeah, but I had to get up early to pack and my Pinkie sense was telling me someone was being a big downer out here, so I got my cup of coffee and came out here to blast the frown off your face.” Pinkie explained with a small smile cast at her bookish friend. Twilight smiled despite her internal battle. “Oh, there we go. Good start, but I’m looking for something with a little more umph!” Pinkie giggled.

“Umph…?” Twilight asked curiously.

“Yeah, Umph! You smarty-pants type call it spirit but I like my way better.” Pinkie explained before she drained her cup and set it down to rest on the railing before she got up on the railing her fuzzy pink socks staring Twilight in the eyes with a pair of goofy looking googly eyes that were sewn into them.

“Pinkie get down from there! You could fall!” Twilight yelled as Pinkie began walking the railing like it was a tightrope.

“Into what? The twenty foot deep water that’s as clear as air? Not all that scary when you can swim. That and I’m great at balancing! Here watch this!” Pinkie declared as she leapt up a little and then came back down balancing herself on the railing in a perfect one handed handstand. Twilight was biting her nails as she stared wide eyed while Pinkie started to walk across the railing on her hands. “You really need to lighten up Twilight, I think you spent so much time making sure the girls all unstressed that you forgot to relax too!” Pinkie giggled before she let her feet fall forward and over herself so that she looked at Twilight through her calves before she righted herself on her feet once more.

“I’m fine Pinkie, and you can’t blame me for worrying over you all. You’re my friends and I don’t want to see any of you like you were before this trip.” Twilight explained hoping Pinkie would understand where she was coming from since she was a part of it all. Pinkie didn’t do anything but smile down at Twilight and then bend down to her level.

“You know, that reminds me of a metaphor.” She mused before she pulled Twilight up onto the railing with her causing the magic user to panic and waver a bit before forcing herself to steady on the wooden railing thanking the gods above that it was a flat railing instead of a rounded one.

“Pinkie are you insane?! Your balancing act is one thing but I have the coordination of a drunk elephant!” Twilight roared back. Pinkie simply smiled and didn’t let go of Twilight’s hand making sure to keep her balanced as she wavered on the railing.

“’Life is like walking a tightrope, you’re going to walk down it the best way you know how, if you keep your head held high and keep walking forward eventually you’re going to make it to the other side.’” Pinkie versed as she out stretched her hand for Twilight to see the railing in front of them. “’But if you look down, you’re going to fall… and you’re going to take everyone who’s walking along the same rope with you.’” Pinkie continued looking down at the waves below them before she leaned sideways and off the railing taking a mortified Twilight with her as they fell towards the waves. “’But there will always be a net to catch you, and at least you won’t fall by yourself.’” Pinkie finished before they crashed into the calm waters with Pinkie still holding onto Twilight until they breached the surface and Twilight stared at Pinkie like she’d gone insane. But Pinkie was just smiling at her laying back and floating along long the water like they hadn’t just plummeted over thirty feet into the water. Slowly a smile started to cross her face before she dove back under the water and came up under Pinkie before pulling her down under the surface quickly before her senses could tell her to flee. Pinkie flailed around for a second before she saw Twilight grinning at her under the water before she swam away using her magic to propel her like a torpedo. Pinkie smirked a little.

‘You’re such a genius Pinkie, but you’d better give her a ten second head start. Make her think she stands a chance against the greatest champ of underwater tag… and pin the tail on the pony, and twister, and DDR, and- Oh wow she’s going pretty fast. Better catch up~!’ Pinkie thought before she swam all the way down to the sandy bottom of the sea and positioned herself on a rather large rock. She crouched on it and locked onto her target in the far distance.

‘Ha! That’ll teach Pinkie to throw ME off the balcony this early in the morning. Now that I’m here I might as well see if I can find that pod of dolphins Fluttershy was talking with yester- HOLY SWEET MOTHER OF CELESTIA!!!!’ Twilight thought in panic as a shark swam up behind her and swam as fast as it could away from her. Torrents of fish and other sea life followed it. ‘What in Discord’s name are they all running from…?’ She thought slowly turning from where they had come from. A pink blur was speeding at her with bright blue eyes that were unmistakable. ‘Oh for the love of-‘

Inside the house Celestia was calmly sipping her tea sitting at a small table between two large windows that had a beautiful view of the calm ocean below. Her drowsy eyed sister shuffled in through the door frame yawning widely and covering it with her hand which was hidden away behind the sleeve of her far too big pajamas. Her teal hair was in disarray as she sat down at the table across from her sister and took the cup of coffee that was offered to her. When Luna was more awake she blinked her bleary eyes and noticed a distinct lack of bookworm at the table.

“Where’s Twilight this early in the morning…?” Luna asked her sister who was in mid sip of her tea. Celestia used her free hand to calmly point out the window at the sea to which Luna squinted to see if she could spot the familiar dark purple hair of the magic user. “Sister I fail to see-“ she was interrupted by a large explosion of water rising up from the sea and a tidal wave washing over the very window she was looking out of. When the wave was gone two washed up forms were stuck to the glass like starfish, the first being the energetic pink haired girl that Luna had already come to associate anything unusual with, and the other was the dark skinned magic user she’d been searching for moments before. Luna’s face was blank for a seconds before she chuckled and picked up her cup again. “You know there’s an easier way to get back to the house after a swim Sparkle.” Luna commented knowing the girls could hear her through the glass.

Twilight’s only response was a groan as she slid off the glass and fell flat on the sandy ground that was about ten feet down. Pinkie peeled herself away from the glass and landed beside her friend giggling. “That was fun Twiley. We’ll have to do it again sometime!” Pinkie announced before she stood up and happily bounced away to retrieve more coffee. Twilight slowly brought her hand out of the sand and spat out some of the substance from her mouth.

“I hate Saturdays…” she muttered. Twilight heard someone come up from behind her and then the sound of a heavily accented southern drawl.

“Twilight? Why are you soaked to the bone and covered in sand…?” Applejack asked a little out of breath from the jog she’d just taken.

“Pinkie Pie.” Twilight responded in turn as Applejack helped her back onto her feet and she walked towards the water so that she could get the sand off of her body.

“Ah. Well Ah’ll head up and tell Oli ta run ya a bath.” Applejack offered jabbing her thumb in the direction of the house.

“Make it a shower please!” Twilight called back before she plunged into the waves and felt the cool water remove the gritty sand from her body. Back on land Applejack chuckled a little before she took off towards the stairs of the house to relay her message. Thirty minutes later Twilight was fully showered and dressed and was just walking into the dining hall squeezing the last of the water out of her hair with a towel which she handed to a servant who offered to take it as she stepped in. Pinkie, Applejack (freshly showered as well), and the two Princesses were sitting at the table waiting for her. Pinkie was piling a hot plate of crepes with whip cream and strawberries while Applejack had settled for some apple tarts for breakfast. Twilight sat down and Pinkie surprisingly pushed a plate towards Twilight already loaded with her favorite breakfast, one slice of wheat toast cut in triangles with egg whites, and exactly 21 perfectly ripe blue berries along with a tall glass of milk. Her perfectly balanced meal. She looked at Pinkie before her eyes darted to Oliver who shook his head and pointed back at the girl.

“You… made me my breakfast…?” Twilight asked staring at it curiously as Pinkie forked a bite of her crepes in her mouth and nodded smiling a little through the food.

“Whole wheat bread toasted on medium for exactly one minute and three seconds…?”

Pinkie nodded as she swallowed her food.

“Three egg whites beaten with a whisk and mixed with one teaspoon of skim milk…?”

“And cooked on a low temperature first before cranking up the heat once they start to bubble~!” Pinkie hummed as she picked up her coffee cup and drank from it. Twilight picked up her fork and prodded the food with it sniffing it curiously to see if Pinkie had added some sugar to it. She smelled nothing but the exact balanced breakfast only her mother had ever been able to get so perfectly.

“I’m impressed, you’re forgiven.” Twilight hummed before she dug in with a happy smile on her face. Pinkie seemed to mirror it and Applejack was ignoring both of them for a conversation with Celestia.

“You’re not going to be comin’ with us on the plane…?” Applejack asked after Celestia had swallowed her mouthful of French toast.

“I’m afraid not, I’ll be just teleporting myself back to the castle. I’m sure Cadence is eager to be relieved of her duties and I’d hate to keep her and my subjects waiting any longer than they have to.” Celestia explained with a small chuckle at the image of her frantic niece running around the castle trying to reign in the nobles as they were most likely rioting by now.

“Well that sounds mighty reasonable, Ah can’t imagine what it’s like to run a nation, yet alone one as big as Equestria. Ah can barely handle the farm even with Granny and Mac’s help!” Applejack laughed her green eyes darkening a little at the mention of her family that was waiting for her back at home. She missed them dearly but this week had been more fun than she had originally anticipated. Of course she also had originally thought they were going to a beach house just on the coast of Equestria, so her expectations for the trip had been shattered there.

Celestia noticed the look on the farmer’s face and smiled a little. “Family on the mind little appleseed…?” She asked using the nickname her mother had given her. It made Applejack blush slightly her eyes glancing sideways to make sure none of the others had heard that. If they had they weren’t showing it. Applejack fingered the rim of her hat which was sitting beside her oatmeal bowl.

“Just a bit… Ah still can’t believe Granny agreed to this… was Ah really actin’ that strange that even Granny noticed…?” She asked her voice barely more than a whisper.

Celestia chuckled a little at that. “Smithy notices a lot more than you think she does, she just doesn’t say anything about most of it. Where do you think your brother got his quiet nature from…?” Celestia asked the blonde.

“Mah Pa, don’t think I can remember him sayin’ more than seven words in a sentence.” Applejack responded with a chuckle of her own as she stared at the glass of apple juice in front of her.

“Johnny was quiet, but Macintosh is actually much more like your mother, in the sense that when he DOES say something it’s always from the heart and it often makes you feel like you’re a foal being lectured by a wise elder. Citrus Blossom was a woman who always let you know how things were and how things were going to go. She had a mind that was sharp as a tack and had enough tact to grab the eye of more than one of those Manhattan men when she lived there, when I saw her and quiet but level headed Johnny together I knew it would be a match made in heaven. And I was right, you’re the proof of that.” Celestia explained with a smile that reminded Applejack so much of her own mother’s smile. It made her heat ache more but she brushed it off with a smile of her own.

“Lot of good that did me, Ah got Ma’s loose lips and all of Pa’s honesty.” Applejack commented knowing her inability to lie or keep secrets at all.

“You forgot your mother’s stunning looks coupled with her sharp mind and your father’s hard working and dependable attitude. Mac can crunch numbers faster than you can buck tree’s, and Applebloom reminds me so much of your mother I’m starting to honestly believe Citrus just decided to stick around in her daughter’s body. You three couldn’t have turned out any better if I myself had raised you after they passed.” Celestia assured the freckled girl whose emerald eyes shone a little at the compliment as her cheeks flushed a little when the statement had brought the attention of the others to her.

“Th-thank ya kindly Celly… but could ya please refrain from sayin’ that kind of stuff, Ah got no idea when the rest of them are goin’ ta wake up, Dash is loyal as a dog so she won’t say nothin’ but if Rare heard ya sayin all that stuff she’d-“

“Agree whole heartedly and add in the fact that you turn the most charming shade of crimson when it’s pointed out…? Why Applejack I couldn’t agree more.” Rarity’s voice came from just behind Applejack’s head. Applejack swung around Rarity calmly dodging her long loose blonde hair as it whipped past her face.

“H-how long have ya’ll been standin there?!” AJ asked her eyes wide in terror. Rarity giggled as she sat beside the farmer helping herself to the spread before them.

“Only long enough to catch Celestia’s ending statement and your little panic session. I’m appalled you thought I didn’t already know all that by the way.” Rarity pointed out as she brought a healthy serving of mixed fruits onto her plate and got a side plate for a small helping of sunny side eggs and a bagel. Twilight Sparkle gave her a look at the selection of her protein for the day. “What…? Sunny side up happens to be the way my mother makes them, it’s quite delicious. What about you Pinkie?” Rarity asked diverting the conversation to the natural chatterbox instead.

“Poached! Though I don’t mind them baked either~! But sunny side up looks the best with bacon! Sometimes it just looks like it’s smiling right at you!” Pinkie then went on a twenty minute lament about every single possible way you could make eggs, and then pancakes, and then ham, when she got to the different ways you could make toast the group was thankfully saved by the entrance of Rainbow Dash who looked surprisingly awake for it only being just past seven in the morning.

That didn’t stop her from yawning widely and stretching out her wings as she did so. “Morning gals, mmmm, is that honey glazed ham I smell?” she asked her nostrils picking up the smell of pork through the sensory assault of other breakfast foods. She walked over and sat next to Pinkie who had paused in her rant to greet Rainbow.

“Yeah! There’s also baked bacon, pork buns, baked ham, crunchy bacon, crumbled bacon, deep fried double dipped battered pork-“

Dash shoved a chocolate chip muffin in Pinkie’s chatterbox effectively cutting her off in her pork related rant. “Got it Pinks, big meaty selection. Speaking of meat, where’s our resident vegan to abolish me eating these glorious strips of brown gold?” Dash asked noticing the distinct lack of her fellow butter yellow pegasus.

“Yer guess is as good as ours partner. Guess she hasn’t woken up yet.” Applejack replied pouring her second cup of straight black coffee.

“Weird, Flutters never wakes up late. Oliver, would you go make sure she’s up? I don’t want her skipping out on breakfast with the day we’re gonna be having.” Rainbow asked the grey haired man in his servants suit. He bowed at the waist.

“Of course, I will be back in a moment.” He replied before he walked out of the room as Dash sat down her plate loaded with the equivalent of a super breakfast burrito that would have made grown men shrivel in fear. She rolled the greasy creation in two thick tortillas and bit into it a little of the juice leaking from it as she did so. Rarity gagged and pushed what was left of her food away un able to eat after the sight of such a breakfast being consumed. Beside her Twilight was trying to calculate just how much exercise Dash would need to burn off everything in that one burrito; the numbers were a tall order for anyone else but for Rainbow it would mean a warm up and maybe some anxious pacing. Her small frame was proof that she had a metabolism that let her eat whatever she wanted. That wasn’t to say she didn’t eat well, as the monster of a burrito was countered by blender that was set in front of her full of something she called the ‘green beast’. It contained no more than one half gallon of milk, four cups of protein mix, and over 37 assorted vegetables and fruits. She drank three of those a day, one with every meal, no exceptions. She kept a few packets that were apparently a concentrated powder of the stuff that she could mix into a bottle of water if she needed to. Her dedication to her body was definitely unparalleled.

It was after she finished chugging back the thick green shake that Oliver re-entered with a rather drowsy looking Fluttershy behind him in very adorable yellow pajama’s that looked like they were made for her mother as they were much too large on her and made her look even more adorable than she usually did when she yawned and rubbed her eye as she shuffled in and sat next to Dash who had some of the shake dribbling down her chin from when she had frozen at the sight of the girl walking in.

‘I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for one person to be that god damn adorable. Heh… Flutters would be the only person in the world to get arrested for being ‘too cute to handle’… damnitt… thought process again. HOLY SHIT WHY IS SHE WIPING MY- Oh… I spilled some of the shake.’ Dash reminded herself after she freaked when Fluttershy grabbed a napkin and dabbed at Rainbow’s chin to remove the green slime.

“Silly Dashie, you’re not supposed to wear your food.” Fluttershy commented before she set the napkin aside and lifted her sleeves up a little so they wouldn’t get in the way of her serving herself. “I’m sorry I’m late everyone, I was just too comfortable and didn’t quite want to wake up…” she apologized to the rest of the girls who having similar thoughts about the girl’s appearance, well except for one.

‘Wow, Flutter’s looks really cute when she first wakes up…’

‘What an adorable ensemble~! Those silk pajamas we bought in Rome were definitely the right way to go!’

‘Kawaiiiiiiiiii~!!!!!’

‘Ah wonder if Ah could bring some of these starfruits back with me ta Equestria… Ah’m mighty sure the folks back home would like ‘em… Ah’ll talk ta Celestia about it later… Why’s everyone starin’ at Dash and ‘Shy?’

Three guesses as to who the last thought belonged to. Applejack looked around confused by her friend’s stares before she noticed that goofy look in Dash’s face and understood. She kicked her cyan winged friend in the shin under the table and the action seemed to stir brain activity in the pegasus again.

“No prob ‘Shy, no one can really blame you anyways. Those beds are freakishly soft. And we’re all going to need that rest for the traveling today.” Rainbow pointed out before she took another large bite out of her burrito to occupy her mouth.

Twilight was the next to stir. “Rainbow’s right… that's something I never thought I'd have to say, but it’s true.” She earned a glare from the athlete in question but she continued not faltering once. “We’re going to need our strength, last time we traveled for so long we were exhausted and I blame that on poor preparation. This time will be different! Spike!” Twilight called. The boy, who had been completely unnoticed until now since he was asleep in a bowl of emerald flakes, sat up a few green flakes stuck to his face along with milk dripping down his cheek as he produced a pen and paper on instinct alone. “Make a checklist, subject is things we need to do before we leave this island. Skip over waking up and eating since we’re already doing that.” Twilight ordered as she stood and started pacing back and forth. The green haired boy’s hand worked fast across the paper as he started drawing boxes and writing down little bulletins that Twilight gave him.

Dash smiled a little and made eyes contact with Pinkie and AJ before making a whip cracking motion with her hand. It earned giggles from the two and a roll of a set of azure eyes that had witnessed the motion as well and kicked Dash under the table using her fuzzy white slippers that matched her embroidered white robe. Dash whined a little and rubbed her leg while giving Rarity a frown.

“I for one think that’s a wonderful idea Twilight, why I’m going to go get my bags in order right now.” She declared as she stood up from the table. Fluttershy stood up as well.

“You’re right, I have so much packing to still do! I haven’t even-“ She was cut off by Rainbow dragging her back into her seat and pointing at her food.

“Breakfast first, THEN you can pack. You’re not skipping a meal on a day like this. If you need to do a rush job later because of it then I’ll help since I already did my packing.” Dash snapped making Fluttershy hide behind her bangs as she picked up her fork and started eating her soy eggs and tofu bacon. Rainbow Dash shuddered just looking at the white strips that dared be called bacon, they disgusted her.

Twilight looked over at Rainbow with a look of curiosity. “When did you pack Rainbow Dash…?”

“Last night, and I knew it was too late to go for a flight so I just started packing knowing it’d save me the trouble in the morning.” Rainbow replied as she munched on a piece of real bacon and poured a cup of tea into a cup in front of Fluttershy who quietly thanked Dash before she took a timid sip of the drink. Rarity brought her cup forward when Rainbow offered the pot to anyone else and she poured the fashion lover a cup as well before setting the pot down and swallowing her piece of bacon.

“That’s very resourceful Dash, I applaud your looking ahead at things, I certainly wish I had. Heaven knows how much I still have to pack.” Rarity commented with a wayward sigh.

“It’s alright sugarcube, Ah can help ya’ll with that since Ah packed mah stuff up last night too. Didn’t bring much so it was pretty fast work.” Applejack put in.

“Oh would you Applejack dear? I wouldn’t want to impose.” Rarity asked a little shocked that now two of her friends were ahead of her in preparation when she was normally so much better with it.

“It ain’t imposin’ iffa Am’m offerin it to ya Rare.” AJ chuckled as she drank the rest of her coffee and then walked towards the door where Rarity was already standing.

“Mmm, I suppose I’ll have to accept then. Please excuse us everyone.” Rarity called back to the group before she and Applejack went through the door only to halt in the doorway. “Oh, terribly sorry Angelo, Pales; we weren’t looking where we were going.” She commented before the familiar faces of the two boys came into the dining hall.

“Not a problem Rarity, we were just coming in to say good bye to everyone.” Angelo laughed as he came in alongside a rather lax looking Pales. The white haired Alicorn was promptly tackle hugged by a pink blur that was wailing.

“Nooooooo!!!!! You can’t go yet Gelo! You haven’t even had breakfast with us yet!!” Pinkie cried as she pretty much strangled the shorter boy. Beside them Pales laughed pointing at them his voice now lighter than it used to be.

“Hahaha!!! Got a new girlfriend little brother?” Pales sneered playfully before he tickled Pinkie’s sides and made her release her hold on the smaller boy’s neck in her fit of giggles. Angelo took in a deep breath and rubbed his neck effectively glaring at the taller male.

“She’s my FRIEND Pal, I’m way too young for that relationship stuff. Besides, she’d be way too much for me to handle.” Gelo got a wicked grin on his face. “But now that she’s taught you how to relax I think you’re much more better suited for her. A cute couple even.” Angelo snickered as he noticed the mint haired boy freeze in his tickling and Pinkie’s already pink face deepen in a blush as they both got to their feet and quickly defend themselves in shocking unison.

“He’s/She’s not even close to my type! And we’re just friends!!” the pair claimed before they realized they voiced their thoughts as one and quickly turned on each other. “Stop saying what I’m saying! No you! You’re doing this on purpose aren’t you?!” They yelled before they both froze for a second and then burst out laughing holding their sides as they rolled on the ground as they did so. Rainbow slowly leaned over to Twilight to whisper in her ear.

“I’m starting to think Pinkie did TOO good of a job in pulling that pole out… it’s like the guy has no more tension in him at all anymore…” she commented. Twilight was about to reply when there was a knock from the door frame and a familiar accented voice spoke with amusement lining his words.

“When Master told me you’d be acting differently I never expected to see the steel hearted Devil Shepard rolling on the ground laughing like a pig in mud…” Cas mused his golden eyes shining slightly. Pales shot to his feet stiff as a board as he saluted the captain his stick in the mud nature coming back in a flash.

“Captain! I was under the impression you’d be waiting for us on the boat sir!” Pales stated in his defense.

“At ease boy, there aren’t any other guards here it’s just me and I wanted to come in and say hi to my little inferno allevatori’s.” He mused before he was tackled from behind and up front by a cyan and orange streak. Applejack and Rainbow were grinning as they hugged him. “And here are the ring leaders themselves, hello Mela, Archo, haven’t caused any more world ending incidents while I’ve been gone have you?” he chuckled hugging both the girls back and ruffling their hair playfully.

Dash socked him in the shoulder playfully and grinned back at him. “Nah, we decided to retire and turn in our armor for swimsuits and surfboards.”

“But Pinkie had a mighty good time unwinding whatever the Faust you did to Pal to get him so wound up.” Applejack announced with a chuckle as she noticed the pink haired girl start prodding at Pales to get him to crack a smile. The corners of his mouth were starting to tremble in his fight to keep a straight face.

“I can see that. Guess I owe Moon fifty euro’s for that one…” he laughed before he walked over his golden armor clanking as he walked and he poked Pales in the forehead only to have him fall back like a solid tree. He tsked and shook his head sighing. “You realize how long it is going to take me to retrain him…?” he complained to the pink haired girl who just beamed at him.

“It’s okay Cassy! I conditioned him already! All you have to do is squeak a rubber ducky and he’ll switch! Watch!” she pulled out a small yellow rubber duck from her pink curls and squeaked it. Pale’s face went from fighting to not laugh to a solemn expression before he leapt up like a cat and landed firmly on the ground with his shoulders squared and feet spread as well. She squeaked it again and his expression broke as he burst into laughter and held his sides as he fought the wave of amusement that overcame him. She squeaked it again changing him from hardened solider to normal guy rapidly before Angelo stopped her by taking the duck away and leaving Pales on solider.

“I think he gets the point Pinkie.” He said handing the duck to Cas. Cas examined the rubber creature in his hand before eyeing his protégé carefully.

“How do you feel boy?” He asked the now conditioned guard.

“My head hurts for an unknown reason sir but other than that I feel fine.” He reported promptly saluting the golden armored man before returning to his stiff form with his hands at his sides.

“Interesting… How’d you do it?” Cas asked turning to the pink haired mystery.

“It’s a Pie family secret, but you can look it up online if you really want to try it.” She responded with a giggle before she seemed to remember something and zipped out of the room returning seconds later with two small wrapped presents in her hands. She handed them to Pales and Angelo. “Almost forgot about these! Can’t let you guys go without a parting preset!” she declared urging the pair to open the gifts. Pales gave it a cautious glance but carefully opened it despite himself. Inside the pair found necklaces shaped like their cutiemarks. They both held them up with wide eyes.

“Pinkie these are amazing! Where did you get these?!” Angelo asked as he admired the gold necklace in his hands. Each of the stones was made with a genuine gem and the gold used was real as well. Pinkie Pie smiled as she hoped around them happily.

“Rarity and me made them~! She wanted to try making some jewelry after Fondere taught her a metal working spell that HE learned from his grandpa, and I still needed to get you guys parting presents so we made these! Oh, and there’s one for Avery too when he comes down!” Pinkie announced as she pulled out a third box from her hair and continued bouncing around in a circle. She froze mid air when she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Avery floating beside her.

“One of what…?” he asked curiously. Pinkie beamed still somehow defying gravity as she shoved the present in his hands before falling back to the floor.

“A necklace silly goose! Since you don’t have a cutiemark cuz you’re not human we just made it into that symbol you had in your throne room! What’d Rarity call it…? AH! The Fae symbol for prosperity I believe.” She quoted even using Rarity’s classier accent as she spoke.

Avery removed the necklace and smiled at the simple yet complex design of the silver and green charm. “This is very well made, Rarity would make an excellent jeweler if she wanted to.” He mused as he clipped it on around his neck and then hugged Pinkie. “It’s a very thoughtful gift Pinkie, thank you.”

Pinkie returned the hug in full and managed to pull Pales and Angelo into it as well. “You’re all welcome but you should thank Rarity too! She should be up in her room packing.” Pinkie declared pointing up the stairs where the bedrooms were. The fairy prince, Alicorn boy, and his protector all climbed the stairs without hesitation. When they were out of sight Twilight came up beside Pinkie with a gentle smile as she held out a tissue for the girl.

“Pinkie, you’re crying.” She noted with a sad smile to her friend who mirrored it. Pinkie laughed weakly and took the tissue dabbing at her eyes.

“I know, I always do when it’s close to saying goodbye…” Pinkie then threw her arms around Twilight and held her tightly. “It makes me all the happier that at least I don’t have to say goodbye to you all.” She sniffled. Twilight was frozen for a second before she slowly brought her hands around the girl and gently rubbed her back.

“And you never will Pinkie, not as long as I’m around.” Twilight promised with a soft smile and a small tear of her own.

From the doorway Celestia and Luna watched with analyzing eyes. Teal met pink and both nodded solemnly before they walked away without a word spoken.

***

The time came at last, the girls had said their good byes to the boys earlier, not long after Tianna and Avery had gone back to the temple with Spike having given Avery his own game system to play on whenever he wanted and Avery promising to play with him online as often as possible. Now they stood in front of the docks as the ship was pulling up and they were all looking out at the house one last time. Fluttershy was leaned over the dock talking with the pod of dolphins and a few other sea creatures she’d made friends with in the time she’d stayed there.

“Now promise me you’ll all get along while I’m gone, I don’t want to come back and find you being a big bully again Chomps.” Fluttershy lectured to a fully grown tiger shark that somehow looked a little ashamed with itself. “Good, and you all take care. Maybe when I come back there will be some new little babies for me to bond with as well!” she cooed petting one of the dolphins on the head. From one of the posts a very colorful bird squawked and Fluttershy smiled as she stood up dusting her skirts off as she did so. She offered out her arm to the rather fierce looking hawk that was colored like rainbow macaw, at the moment it looked rather weak with its feathers drooping and its supposedly fierce eyes watering with emotion. “Oh don’t cry Mrs. Kaw, you and your chicks re going to be just fine now that you have that new nest far away from those mean howler monkeys. And if they do bother you again just call for Mr. Stripes and he’ll be right there to help you. Right Stripey?” Fluttershy asked as she turned to face a large Bengal tiger that purred when she stroked it under its chin. It then nuzzled the colorful hawk which hopped onto its head and picked a stray bug out of his fur and ate it. “There, now I can’t keep my friends waiting any longer. Goodbye everyone!” she called out to a much larger crowd of various jungle animals and the marine life that had gathered around the ship. In the skies flocks of birds colorful and not circled her as she boarded the ship.

Twilight had a deadpanned expression as she stood next to Pinkie Pie on the ship and looked out at the animals that were all voicing their goodbyes to the pink haired pegasus. “Am I the only one who feels really unaccomplished after just seeing the impact that Fluttershy made here in less than a week?”

“No my dear, no you are not. But we can’t hope to compare to her natural way with animals.” Rarity assured her friend as she patted her shoulder gently and the ship horn sounded as the ship took sail. From back at the house the group watched two figures take into the sky. One flew all the way up into the bright morning sun and disappeared in a flash, the other flew onto the ship landing beside them. Luna smiled at them.

“Sorry I’m late, Celestia and I were locking up the house.” Luna explained as she folded her wings. A single midnight blue feather drifted down to land on her nose and she smiled before removing it and letting it float away in the sea breeze.

“It’s alright Luna, you just missed Fluttershy taking a page out of Doctor Doolittle’s book… speaking of which…” Rainbow walked over and stood in front of Fluttershy holding her hand out to her. Fluttershy gave her a weak smile and shrugged innocently. Dash frowned and pointed at the buldgy bag on Fluttershy’s shoulder. Fluttershy looked from the bag back to Rainbow and then sighed handing it over to her. Dash reached into it pulling out a small red furred animal that looked like a cross between a raccoon and a fox.

“B-but Dashie he ASKED to come with me!” Fluttershy pleaded as the cyan winged girl took to the air.

“Animal’s aren’t allowed in the airport Fluttershy, yet alone highly endangered animals like the Red Panda.” She stated flatly holding out the adorable creature to prove her point. She was gone in a rainbow streak zipping back to the island and depositing the animal back on dry land before zooming back to the ship to pat a broken looking Fluttershy on the head. “Don’t get so down ‘Shy, remember you’ve still got Angel waiting for you back home.”

Fluttershy’s face brightened at that but she was still looking down at her shoes while she rubbed her arm. “I-I’m sorry for causing you trouble Dashie…” she whispered.

“Hey pal, don’t sweat it. You keep me in my place more often than I can count. It’s only fair I do the same when you do something bad for a change!” Rainbow laughed nudging her a little with her elbow. “Now come on, there’s an awesome movie theater down on the bottom deck and I know just the movie that’ll cheer you up!”

114 minutes of heart wrenching ape-filled cinematic gold later:

Applejack crossed her arms as she passed another box of tissues to Fluttershy who was still bawling her eyes out. “Rainbow Dash, in what universe is Mighty Joe Young a good movie to show after an animal lover just said goodbye to a large group of animals?!”

Rainbow gave a shrug and a weak smile. “I thought it’d help her let go!” in response Fluttershy wailed louder and blew her nose into the tissue. “Yeah, okay… not my best idea. How much longer do we have until we arrive in-“ the ship’s horn sounded cutting off her sentence mid way. “Never mind…” Dash sighed before she stood up and walked towards the door that lead back up to the main deck. “Come on Fluttershy, when we get on the plane I’ll let you sit down with my laptop and then watch entire first season of Wild Kingdom on it.” Fluttershy’s head lifted at the mention of her favorite nature documentary show.

“T-The original first season…?”

“Narrated entirely by Marlin Perkins himself.” Dash goaded waving the bright red laptop up for Fluttershy to see. The nature fanatic was at her side in a flash. The shorter pegasus smiled satisfied with her ability to corral the taller girl’s spirits. ‘You’ve still got it Dash.’ She complimented herself as she handed the laptop to Fluttershy. Applejack followed behind the pair grateful that Dash had made up for her earlier mistake. Then of course, if it was Fluttershy she was dealing with Dash usually found it pretty easy to cheer her up. Even when she babbled uselessly Fluttershy found amusement in the way Dash stuck her foot in her mouth. Which brought the question to mind, ‘How are they not together yet?’

‘Not like Ah’m much better…’ Applejack reminded herself as they came onto the top deck to find Rarity standing beside Twilight thanking the crew for their services. Pinkie was off to the side talking, well she was talking AND bouncing around like a jumping bean, with Riptide. But Applejack wasn’t focused on her fellow earthbound. All her attention fell on the elegant form of the magic user with the perfect white blouse on and a very professional looking pencil skirt as well, who wore red rimmed reading glasses on the tip of her nose as she smiled at the crew and spoke her voice as reined and elegant as the purple curls that were swaying in the sea breeze. The look of longing in her all too honest green eyes would have been hard to miss if anyone had been paying attention to her. Instead she simply collected her large duffle bag and slung it over her shoulder before proceeding to tip her hat at the crew and made her way down the docking platform.

There was however someone who noticed the farmer’s wayward glance, and it was a purple haired magic user, but this one had two pink stripes in her hair and knew full well what it meant. Their mission had only been a partial success. She wished the captain and his crew farewell and together with Rarity descended down onto the docks where their luggage was being loaded into the large private jet that was quite literally parked right next to the ship. She watched Applejack toss the duffle bag into the luggage compartment the dock workers were busy cramming with Rarity’s luggage and then she walked onto the plane behind Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash. Pinkie bounced up beside her as Rarity strode on wards.

“You saw it too…?” Pinkie whispered to her partner in crime.

“Yeah, Applejack’s still holding back. She’s not scared anymore she just looks… like she’s given up.” Twilight replied in a matching hushed tone.

“That’s going to be a problem… Dashie and Flutters are already on the right track so what happened between those two?! Do you think it was when we tried to get them to play spin the bottle?” Pinkie offered Twilight visibly flinching at the memory.

“Pinkie, I’M still scarred from that, I can’t ever look at a lamp shade the same way anymore.”

“Eh, lamp shades are nothing. Wait until you get to play seven minutes in heaven with a mechanical bull! Now THAT’S something to talk about.” Pinkie cheered grinning a little as she bounced onto the plane. Twilight paused mid-step actually questioning whether or not she wanted to know the back story to that little snippet. She decided that she didn’t before she continued into the plane where everyone was already settling in. Twilight took her seat across from Luna and beside Pinkie. Luna was glancing out the window looking rather distracted which Twilight found unusual since the night princess didn’t even have her music in, her iPod was actually just lying in her lap the head phones still around her neck. Twilight carefully waved her hand in front of Luna’s face to get her attention. Teal eyes seemed to focus again and they snapped to Twilight.

“Oh… I’m sorry were you talking to me Twilight? My mind was somewhere else.” Luna explained with an apologetic smile.

“Are you feeling alright Luna? You aren’t normally this out of it.” Twilight observed worried for the ruler she had come to accept as one of her closest friends.

“Yes, I merely- I mean, I was just thinking about how fast this has all gone by… the school year especially. I thought this was going to be a living hell but I’ve had so much fun just being NORMAL for a change that I can’t imagine living my life any differently now. I just took a VACATION. Do you know how long it’s been since I took a vacation?”

“Uhh, 14 years?” Twilight offered with a half smile. For some reason that made Luna flinch and her eyes sharpen. “S-sorry… too soon I guess.”

“Twilight, 3000 years from now it’ll still be too soon to joke about that.” Luna explained with a flat look before a faint smile appeared on her face. “But good one all the same, and no. According to my memory it’s been... 1,421 years since my sister and I vacationed at all. It was very overdue. We royals tend to get... swept up in our work. You know how that is with your studies.” She pointed out and Twilight nodded in confirmation.

“I do. Don’t tell this to the other’s but… this is the first time I’ve EVER gone on a vacation without being forced by my parents. And it’s the longest too. It’s really… different, having friends.” She explained as she stared out the window Luna had just been looking out. She thanked Celestia that Pinkie had her music in and was currently blaring it too loud to hear anything but the soothing sounds of… Polka music? Whatever, it was Pinkie Pie. You don’t ask questions with her.

Luna watched her sister’s student with a look akin to an old man watching his grandchildren graduate. And there was something else mixed in it too, a feeling she’d never admit aloud or even to herself. Jealousy. She plugged in her own music and decided to pass the flight with the soothing mix of over 16.5 hours of smooth jazz she had on her iPod.

Luna closed her eyes for what seemed like only a moment in her eternal life and when she opened them again she saw an all too familiar sight. A barren white rocky landscape stretched out before her. Craters and dust were the only thing that covered the bleak world. The only thing that wasn’t white was the large expanse of stars that stretched out along the horizon. It wasn’t unusual for her dreams to start out this way, she was the goddess of the moon and stars, why would she not dream of them? What was unusual was the black mist that was forming into a mirror image of herself right in front of where she stood. The mist dissipated and Luna backed up a few steps as the figure advanced towards her. She was everything Luna had once wanted to be, tall, powerful, a true princess of the night dressed in what used to be the traditional battle armor of the night gaurd. But there was none of the benevolence or sparing mercy that a princess should have in her cold reptilian like eyes, only malice and burning jealousy that had consumed her before. Her voice contained all the cold bitterness of the night in it as she spoke to Luna.

“Have you missed me fair Luna?” the dark armored woman asked.

Luna tried to summon her magic to combat the woman across from her but she found her connection with it severed. Her entire body felt weakened actually. Her wings felt heavy and her normally strong limbs seemed to have their strength sapped from them. Instead she grit her teeth and glared at the figure across from her. “I thought you died along with my hatred for mine sister you wretched beast!” she hissed.

The woman smirked and took a step forward her hand crackling with sparks of blue magic. “Just because you were released early does not mean I did not still remain here in our prison. You left me here Luna, me. Your only friend. The only one who could ever understand you.” She taunted as she stood right in front of Luna now and ran a single long filed black nail up Luna’s paralyzed face. Luna seemed to find her strength again as she slapped her hand away and retreated a few paces back.

“You were never my friend you cur. You were just the little voice in my head that whispered terrible things to me for eons. My jealousy and hatred for my sister just became too powerful to ignore and it gave you the power to take me over. You are not and nor will you ever be my friend.” She roared in defiance. The shadowy mirror frowned ever so slightly before her devilish smile returned.

“Then who is Luna?” the question caught Luna off guard. She quickly opened her mouth to reply but was interrupted by her counterpart summoning illusions of the people she had bonded with over her school year. “Your classmates are only nice to you because you’re a princess.” She mused as she sliced through the illusionary images of the people Luna usually talked to in class dissipating them into mist. She moved onto the girls she knew from her band class. “Your band mates, while more friendly and willing to hang out with you outside of your class have never once asked you a single personal thing about you, other than your tastes in music.” She droned again cutting through their images. Next was the image of the people she had developed a more personal bond with, Twilight and her friends, Spike, and even Starshine was standing there smiling at her. “Your so called friends have only bonded with you because it was your older sister’s influence that set them on their path. One that directly crossed yours, if it weren’t for her they would have never given you a second glance.” She stated before snapping her fingers and their forms vanishing into mist just like the others. Luna felt her heart starting to sink but the woman had one last card to play. The warm image of her older sister stood in front of her now. She reached over and her glowing hand seemed to gently caress Luna’s pale face and a kind smile gave her hope, but it was shattered when the voice she despised kept talking. “And even your dear sister can’t help her true feelings…”

“No…” Luna whispered to herself as the smile started to fade from Celestia’s face.

“That every time she looks at you…”

“NO…!”

“All she sees is US.” Luna’s form merged with hers and she was the very thing that had caused her banishment, the very creature of her nightmares. Celestia’s face looked horrified as Luna towered over her and lashed out at her dissipating her into mist just like everyone else. “We will always be here, inside you Luna. We are a part of you that you will never be rid of, no matter how much you pretend otherwise.” The voice hissed in her ears.

Luna felt someone touch her arm and instantly summoned her magic ready to vaporize the nightmare being where it stood. Her eyes however did not see her nightmare self instead seeing the plaid orange shirt and tanned freckled face of a startled Applejack staring back at her with wide eyes of terror as her hand glowed with teal aura that formed into a solid blade and was pointed right at her neck. But Applejack didn’t seem too bothered by it other than initial shock. “Ya’ll alright sugar cube…? Ya slept through the entire flight but was tossin’ and turnin’ like ya was wrestlin’ a bear in yer sleep!” She pointed out moving her throat away from Luna’s hand as the moon princess lost the terrified and haunted look in her eyes and it was replaced with guilt and sorrow at nearly slicing one of her friend’s throat’s open. A dull voice echoed in her head at the use of the word friend.

“We are alright Applejack, ‘twas simply a bad dream and we overreacted upon our awakening thinking you were the beast that plagued us.” She explained. When she noticed not just Applejack but the other girls and Spike staring at her confused she started to sweat a little more. “Why is everyone staring at us like we have grown a second head…?” she prompted. Twilight cleared her throat a little and gave a nervous smile at the princess.

“Luna, you’re talking in the royal We… again.” She explained pointing at her throat a little. Luna blinked before she blushed and corrected her manner of speaking as quickly as she could.

“Sorry, it still is my natural… accent?” she offered not knowing the proper term for such a thing.

“Fancy lingo aside, we gotta jet guys. It’s almost midnight and we still have to get up for school in the morning.” Rainbow pointed out to everyone. Luna realized for the first time that she could feel her connection to the earth re-established which meant they had landed and were most likely parked waiting to un-board. Luna stood up stretching her limbs and reached in the compartment above her seat to remove her backpack.

The other’s followed her example wordlessly and exited the plane then boarded a limo that would take them back to the school. Not a single one of them dared to ask what could have possibly scared Luna so bad, there were things you just don’t ask immortals. Luna was lost in her own thoughts anyways and didn’t say a word even as the girls and Spike all made lively conversation on the trip to the school. Even when they arrived Luna only gave a short goodbye to everyone before she went into her own room and locked herself in it and placed a seal around it so that she would not be interrupted. She threw her bag on her bed and walked straight to her desk pulling out a sheet of parchment and then uncorking an inkwell before removing one of her feathers and dipping it in the ink to start her letter.

‘Dearest sister, I fear we have made a grave error in one of our earlier assumptions…’

(***AN: Well, summer was fun, I'm in school again, and... That's about it. Oh, and I'll be updating again soon to make up for that all too long dry spell. Even better is the next segment is a two-parter so it'll be back to back updates. I may even do a special where I go into a bit of Q&A you guys might have about this little AU I've created. Oh, and probably pictures of the OC's cutiemarks, so spam the comments or my inbox if you want that. That is all, until next time bronies.***)

Chapter 15.1

HIBAA 15.1: The Nightmare Begins

***Twilight Sparkle paused in her story telling knowing full well that she needed to warn her daughter about what was coming next. "Now... this next part is one you're all too familiar with I'm afraid, the Nightmare Moon incident, our initial one at least was as you know the turning point of my life. But you were sort... there so, if you want me to skip over it I can-"

"Noooo way, I'm long over that Mom. It isn't like when I was little anymore. Besides, you've never really ever told me it from your perspective. You just kind of avoid talking about it, which I appreciate, but I'd still love to hear about it from you and your friend's eyes." Nyx explained a happy smile taking over her features. Twilight smiled and hugged her daughter tightly to her chest.

"Oh Nyx, sometimes I think I raised you to love stories a little too much. Alright, if you're okay with it I'll tell it. But please keep in mind that this was a completely different person from who you are today. It's not you, it's like your past life."

"I know Mom, now stop stalling and get on with the story!" she laughed grinning at her mother's careful nature. Twilight sighed before continuing her narration.***

Everyone in the room was dead silent, no one moved. Not even the teacher was breathing as they all stared at the one thing that both their biggest enemy and hero in one, the clock. It was exactly 3:59 and everyone was watching the final minute tick down their anticipation growing more and more with every little tick of the red hand that made its way around the numbered face. When it got down to the last ten seconds everyone started to chant in unison, even the ever studious Twilight Sparkle and the Night princess herself joined in.

“Ten”

“Nine”

“Eight”

“Seven”

“Six”

“Five”

“Four”

“Three”

“Two”

“One”

“RIIIIIIIIIIIIING”

The final bell of the school year rang loud and clear in their ears and cheers echoed through the school as papers flew into the air, into the halls, out windows, and into the face of many a cheering student. Not that they cared, they were all too busy running around like wild animals shouting their heads off in their excitement. Luna ran down the hall grinning as she was joined by her friends.

“Is this how it is EVERY year?!” She shouted to Rainbow who flew beside where they ran.

“Pretty much! Except this is usually when the seniors-“

Just then the sprinklers all went off soaking everyone with ice cold water and making the screams of joy turn into screams of panic. Luna stopped where she stood and looked around as everyone ran out of the building. Rainbow, now thoroughly soaked along with everyone else grunted as she landed beside her.

“Pull their senior prank. Seriously? Ice water in the sprinklers? I could have thought of a better prank in my sleep!” She snarled. Just then she felt the ground start to shake and beside her Applejack, being the only earthbound present at the moment, was quick to locate its epicenter. She ran to the window and whistled.

“Ya’ll may wanna retract that statement RD. Look.” She said pointing into the courtyard where everyone had ran after trying to escape the sprinklers inside the building. Rising out of the ground in a blaze of glory with fireworks shooting off in every direction was an amphitheater with a large group of seniors standing on top of it. One stepped forward to the mike and Twilight recognized her as the class president and current captain of the Junior Speedsters Fleetfoot.

Her white hair that was pretty much forever windswept bounced a little as she grabbed the mike her green eyes alight with a spark that could only be from her last day on campus. “How are you liking the class of 2008’s class project huh?! We worked our cans off getting this thing together and hiding it from the teachers! Can I get a round of applause for that?!” She called out to the crowd who immediately burst into a huge uproar of applause and cheers. Somehow a beach ball and a few breath blown balloons had managed to get into the crowd and were currently being bounced around the crowd.

“Now THAT’S some appreciation! But sneaking around was only half this project! The other half was having the time, resources, and dedication to pull it off. And while all the seniors were involved with this these guys and girls right here were the driving forces behind this swank looking stage; give it up for our Construction leader Level Head!” there was a roar of applause a tall and thick built guy with deep brown hair and an already impressive beard stepped forward grinning.

“Our Technical Manager Spark Plug!” Level Head’s mirror opposite stepped forward his thin body looking like it’d snap in half from Fleetfoot’s overwhelmingly amplified voice and his bright yellow spikey hair looking like a living lightning bolt. He too earned a round of applause.

“Our ever enthusiastic Theatrical Director Standing Ovation!” she called as a girl with even twice the glamor and make-up as Rarity stepped forward her flawlessly manicured hair being tossed over her shoulder as she smiled at the crowd and cat calls joined the roar of applause.

“And last but not least the brains behind this crazy idea of mine, my best friend and our senior class VP, Written Script! Get out here and take a bow you workaholic!” she called back stage. A unicorn male, the first one on stage actually, with short cut spikey purple hair, blue eyes and a visible cutiemark of a script with fancy writing on it on his right hand was pushed onto the stage from the small half sphere in the center of the stage that was probably the entrance to the under stage where everything was run. He scratched the back of his head nervously knocking the headset he was wearing around his neck as he hugged his clipboard to his chest and walked forward to the mike where Fleetfoot stood grinning. The audience clapped and hooted for him too and Fleetfoot said something to him that the mike couldn’t catch. He nodded and lowered his clipboard to his side taking the mike for himself making everyone in the crowd turn their cheers down so they could hear him.

“Hey there everyone. As you can obviously tell by the mike set and the clipboard I wasn’t supposed to be out here tonight. But as my partner in crime will have it she wanted me to take a bow. But before I or anyone else does just that…” a wicked smile crossed his face and for the first time people saw Fleetfoot get nervous. “I have some pretty exciting news about our wonderful little captain and president here that I think you all are gonna wanna hear!” Fleetfoot’s green eyes widened and her wings spread as she tried to tackle him away from the mike. He caught her in his purple glowing magic before she could prevent him from saying what he needed to.

“An announcement that’s got Fleet’s that worked up?! Loony, think you can get us front row seats for this?!” Rainbow asked the lunar Princess.

“I’ll do you one better.” Luna stated before their group disappeared in a blue flash and reappeared in the front row making a few people jump out of the way as they stood there now with buckets of popcorn in their hands.

“Oh sweet!” Rainbow exclaimed digging into her buttery snack eagerly while watching Script with hungry magenta eyes.

“It would seem,” Script began still grinning and giving his distressed and embarrassed friend a side glance. “That a certain celebrity sports team has taken an interest in our captain, Ladies and gentlemen with this letter of acceptance she got this morning I give you the newest rookie in the Wonderbolts official ranks Fleetfoot!” He declared as he projects a letter with the official Wonderbolts insignia on it with his magic so everyone could see it. There was a moment of absolute silence while Script let Fleetfoot go and she landed on the stage with a gentle tap her sky blue wings folding behind her right as the crowd erupted in an ear shattering applause for her. Now it was Fleetfoot’s turn to blush and scratch the back of her head as Script’s grin turned to a gentle smile and he motioned to the mike for her. She carefully stepped forward as the crowd began to lower its volume once again with only a few rounds of applause and a few more scattered cat calls in the air.

“Thank you all, I’m actually still getting used to the idea myself. I mean, the WONDERBOLTS. Even in a mostly earthbound populated town like this they’re a huge deal! It’s… it’s an honor I never even imagined getting. But now it’s really happening! And right out of high school too! Guys, for these last few years of my life you’ve all been amazing friends to me, showing up and supporting my team even when it was pouring rain outside! That kind of dedication to us is what cheered us on to go undefeated ALL YEAR LONG! A feat not even Spitfire had when she was captain ten years ago! It was YOUR spirit, and YOUR cheers that kept me going, so from me to you guys Thank You. Thank every single one of you for making this possible for me.” She announced her eyes already watering as her voice cracked. There was muffled sniffles and a few blown noses all around as Script and everyone else on stage gathered around in a huge group hug. There was a collective ‘Aww’ from the crowd before a rainbow blue streak rushed up from the crowd and onto the stage.

“Give it up for the best captain the Junior Speedster’s ever had! And give it for her amazing class too!” Dash shouted before everyone roared their approval cheering, clapping, stomping their feet, and making the entire school as well as most of the town shake with a minor earthquake. While the crowd cheered Rainbow quickly turned to face her captain and her group of friends wiping a small tear from her eye as the older girl came up to her smiling.

“Are you crying Private?” Fleetfoot asked her junior.

Dash quickly saluted her standing at attention and sniffling a little as she did so and her voice cracking more than usual. “No more than you were ma’am!”

Fleetfoot through her head back and laughed at the rainbow haired girl’s witty response. “Nice comeback kid, now stop saluting me. I’m not your captain anymore.” She ordered.

“With all due respect ma’am if you’re not my captain anymore then I don’t have to listen to your orders and I’ll keep saluting you ma’am!” she rattled off quickly.

“Huh, fair point. I like that attitude Dashington. Which gives what I’m about to do more meaning.” She snickered before walking up to the mike again and motioning for the crowd to tone it down. “Alright, settle down! I’ve got one more thing to say before I get to the real reason I’m standing up here tonight and it’s a biggie so everyone hold onto your pants, hats, socks, or anything else that might get knocked off after I say this. Now, as you all know I’m the captain of the Junior Speedsters here at school, but more recently I was offered a position as captain of Ponyville’s weather team.” There was a small uproar of applause but she quickly motioned for it to die down. “Yeah, big deal I know. But not as big as being a Wonderbolt. Now I love weather as much as the next pegasus but I think the weather team’s going to understand if I not only decline their offer to join the Wonderbolts, but make my replacement someone who can not only handle being both captain’s but thrive at it too. So, I Fleetfoot, with the permission of our coach and the weather team, declare Rainbow Dashington my replacement as both as Junior Speedster Captain and my would-be Weather Captain status.” She announced with a grin that almost split her face in two.

Rainbow’s salute dropped to her side and her jaw hung uselessly as her eyes turned to the size of dinner plates. The crowd was cheering and whistling their approval but Dash heard nothing. All she could hear was the gears turning in her head as she tried to process what Fleetfoot had just said. Slowly the crowd’s noise faded into her hearing once again as her new situation became clear and her eyes turned to the white haired girl beside her who was clapping with the crowd.

“Y-you mean it…? I’m… I’m the Captain?” she asked the older girl still not believing it even when she said it.

“Yup, talked to coach this morning and she couldn’t have agreed with me more. And the weather team did back flips when I told them I wanted them to take you instead. Apparently you impressed them when you helped them out those few times they had a rouge storm wander in from the forest. Besides, I know you’ll do great things someday Rainbow. And if this is something that’s going to help you get there I’m more than willing to help you out. Hopefully the next time you and I stand together on a stage it’s in the Wonderbolt’s Winner’s stage.” She mused clapping Rainbow on the back and grinning. Rainbow looked from the newest Wonderbolt and then out at the crowd that was cheering for her. She was the new Captain of both the Weather team and the Junior Speedsters which were rumored to be a gateway to the Wonderbolts. What she didn’t know at the time was that she was also the youngest captain ever for both teams, breaking Spitfire’s record by a whole year. A grin slowly made its way across her face as she saw her classmates and her best friends, Rarity, Pinkie, and even Fluttershy had made their way to the front of the crowd where Twilight and Luna stood with Spike on Luna’s shoulders so he could see. They were all cheering for her. Her wings started to vibrate before she shot off the ground and into the air high above the school where puffy white clouds started to gravitate towards her like magnets. The resulting massive dark cloud started to spark as it blocked out the sun and others had to squint until it lowered closer to the ground and they could see the cloud clearer. The electricity that was visibly coursing through it was either a color of the rainbow or had combined streaks of three or more colors. Applejack’s eyes widened as she saw the signs of the same move she had used in the arena to take out Cas.

“Holy Sweet Aunty Applesauce EVERYONE DUCK!!!!” Applejack shouted in her best impression of the Royal Canterlot voice. The crowd all stood low just as the cloud gave a mighty clap of thunder and released a bolt of multicolored lightning that came down straight towards the stage but then did the most bizarre thing anyone had ever seen, it turned 90 degrees and shot over the ducking heads over the crowd before shooting back INTO the cloud it came from making it explode in a burst of color. When everyone dared look up they saw that where the cloud had been there was now just a glowing set of initials and a very familiar Cutiemark painted in the sky in multicolored lightning. A streak of pure Rainbow came back down to earth shortly after making the ground tremor a bit as the after effects of the lightning danced around her wings and her wild hair. The sky writing burst and vanished and it seemed to snap everyone out of their trance as they turned their attention back to the girl now standing on stage who was out of breath but still grinning as she shrugged at their shocked stares.

“What, I got excited.” She offered as an explanation. From in the crowd she heard someone start clapping and she looked for the source. Fluttershy was smiling joyfully and even adding in barely audible woots of excitement for her friend as she clapped. Slowly her other friends joined in and then the rest of the crowd both on and off stage as well. Rainbow grinned before she felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Fleetfoot smiling at her.

“Always have to steal the show don’t you Dashington?” she laughed. Rainbow scratched the back of her head and smiled nervously.

“Sorry Cap- I-I mean, Fleetfoot. It’s just kinda my thing.” She admitted with a tap of her ankle where the proof was marked clear as day.

“Its fine Dashington, now get back down in the pit. This next bit of news involves all of Ponyville, but it has specific instructions for a select few citizens.” She explained as she produced a scroll that looked oddly familiar to Dash from her pocket. Dash shrugged it off and flew back to where her friends stood receiving hugs and congratulations from all of them. Their group reunion was broken apart by a cough from Fleetfoot. “Alright, now I’m not too good at this ‘Official Documentation’ thing but lucky for me I’ve got a good buddy who’s special talent REVOLVES around this stuff so I’m going to hand the mike off to Script again so he can read it instead. Take it away egg head.” She stated tossing the scroll in the air carelessly only to have him scramble to catch it in his magic.

“For the last time Fleet I’m not an ‘Egghead’ and you can’t just throw these things in-“ he then noticed that his lecture had a larger audience than intended and quickly amended himself by straightening up and opening the letter up with his magic and clearing his throat before speaking again and this time with a tone that seemed very practiced. “From the desk of Princess Celestia of Equestria, In accordance to the annual tradition of selecting a different town or city to visit each year of the celebration, the town of Ponyville has here by been selected to host the Princess for the 1,000th annual Summer Sun Celebration and will be responsible for preparing a proper festival for the Princess before her arrival at dawn. The preparations for which will be evenly distributed among the community. Also, her majesty has already selected six tasks for six people she has had the pleasure of getting to know personally. Miss Rainbow Dash will be in charge of clearing the skies for the event. Miss Rarity Belle will be in charge of the decorating committee. Miss Pinkie Pie will be in charge of the party planning. Miss Fluttershy is asked to provide a songbird choir for the event. Miss Applejack Apple and her family have been asked to cater the event. And last but not least she asks that her personal student Twilight Sparkle, and her younger brother Spike, check over the progress of the preparations as they go.” He concluded before rolling the scroll up and giving his best winning smile at the crowd.

“My mother, the Mayor as most of you already know, was the first to receive this letter very early this morning. She asked me if I could rally the school to help out in these last minute preparations and as a Ponyville citizen born and raised, as well as a Ponyville Academy Pony at heart I couldn’t say no. So I ask of you all, not as your graduating Class’ VP but as Written Script Ponyville citizen to PLEASE help out with these preparations and show your school spirit by doing so.” He explained with a heartfelt plea. After an awkward second of silence Fleetfoot stepped in front of the mike.

“Also there’s a free buffet for the volunteer’s in the Town Square.” She added. Like magic the entire school erupted into a mighty cheer as they chanted the Ponyville name as they all herded like cattle out of the school and into the streets of Ponyville. Fleetfoot grinned turning to the teenager beside her. “And THAT my dear friend is how you win over a crowd of potential volunteer’s. With free food.” She chuckled clapping him on his back while he grumbled to himself. The seniors all laughed before jumping off the stage and joining their classmates in the effort of turning Ponyville into a festival in less than a few hours. Meanwhile the 6 girls as well as the Lunar princess and Spike stood where they had been before, but this time with the girls frozen and Spike and Luna watching worriedly from beside them.

“How long do you think before they all snap…?” Spike asked down to Luna who’s shoulders he was still perched upon.

“Ten more seconds tops. Look, Twilight’s already starting to twitch.” She pointed out as she saw Twilight’s eye begin to show the signs of her breakdown. It happened in a burst of motion, both pegisai took to the air rocketing in separate directions, Rainbow towards town and Fluttershy towards the forest. Pinkie Pie and Applejack disappeared in a blur of motion only leaving a trail of dust in their wake as they rushed to make haste in their own preparations. Rarity produced a gem from the bag around her shoulder and slammed it to the ground disappearing in a flash of light and Twilight quickly activated her magic screaming as she grabbed Spike and then for the first time ever teleported away. Luna stood there for a few seconds blinking in surprise at the reaction of all the girls before she smiled ever so slightly and gazed up at the sun. “Your sense of humor is as cruel as ever sister… I suppose this means I have my own preparations to make for the celebration…” with that Luna materialized a thick volume book with her mother’s likeness engraved on its cover. She looked down at it with a tired smile. “I only hope you can help her mother, for she and her friends are going to need every ounce of your help if this world is to survive this night.” She lamented before she disappeared in her own teleportation.

*************************************************************************

Twilight appeared in the town center her hair, clothing, and body singed from her first attempt at a teleportation spell. Spike’s clothes were blackened as well and even the tips of his hair a little. He shuddered as he started to wipe the black singe marks off him and he cast a glare at his sister who had just cast her own spell to clear herself of the residue.

“Didn’t Celestia specifically say NOT to try teleporting unless you were with her at the castle…?” Spike grumbled as he tried fruitlessly to remove the black substance from his clothes. Twilight didn’t hear him apparently as she quickly started pacing back and forth.

“We’re going to need a checklist of everything the festival needs, but what does it need? How do you even PREPARE for a festival?! I’ve never even considered such a thing… I suppose we’d have to know a bit about the history of past festivals to know what to do here. All I can remember from the one I went to when I was little was all the carnival rides and Celestia raising the sun… Surely Ponyville isn’t big enough to throw an all-out carnival so what do we do instead…? Ooooooh, I wish the school library wasn’t closed! I could really use some reference material right now!” Twilight exclaimed tugging on her hair in exasperation. Spike looked at her funny.

“Why not just go to the public library then?” he asked innocently. A little light bulb went off in Twilight’s brain when she heard the comment and she quickly scooped her brother up in her magic and twirled him around in excitement.

“The PUBLIC library! You’re a genius Spike! We’ll just go there, check out a book or two on the history of Equestrian festivals and then use them as a reference guide while we help the town prepare for the festival! It’s perfect! To the Library!” she shouted to seemingly no where pointing her finger to the air in her declaration. Spike, who was now floating upside down in his sister’s magic crossed his arms blowing the stray hoodie string that smacked him in his face out of the way.

“And where IS the library Twilight…?” He asked with a sigh. Twilight’s pose faltered and her magic did to landing Spike face flat in the dirt.

“I-I don’t know… I’ve actually never even heard of there being a public Library in Ponyville…” she admitted nervously scratching the back of her head.

“You mean the Golden Oaks Library?” asked a cheery energetic voice from behind Twilight. She turned sharply to see Pinkie wheeling a cart with various party instruments down the street.

“Pinkie? What’s with the cart?” Spike asked finally pulling himself up from the dirt.

“Party supplies I just got from storage, I’m pulling out all the stops tonight! Anyways, the library’s been closed since right before you got here. The old caretaker moved away and the town hasn’t really replaced him yet. But if you really need a book then I guess it’d be alright if you snuck in. You ARE the Princess’ protégé, I’m pretty sure that gives you a get out of jail free card. The Library’s in this big hallowed out tree in the center of town. You can’t miss it.” She stated pointing further into the part of town that Twilight rarely visited. That explained why she had never seen it, if it was out of commission and in a part of town she never went to there was little chance she would have noticed it. Twilight quickly hugged Pinkie Pie grinning.

“Thanks Pinkie, you’re a real life saver! Good luck doing… whatever it is you’re doing. Come on Spike!” she called over her shoulder before she ran for the sanctity of the Golden Oaks Library. Pinkie waved goodbye as she watched her friend run off.

“Huh, come to think of it I never did throw Twilight and Spike a welcome to Ponyville party…” she gasped loudly as she jumped a few feet in the air before she ran off dragging the cart behind her dropping a few balloons and streamers as she went.

Twilight arrived at the Library just as Pinkie had said she would. She started to wonder how she could have missed the thing from anywhere in town. It was pretty tall in comparison to the few trees that dotted the cobblestone streets of the small town, and as she approached it she could sense powerful magic spells weaved in its bark.

“Hm, anti-lightning rod spell, a powerful growth spell that keeps the tree alive, a few minor fire resistance spells, and… some form of magic I can’t identify… it’s like, nature magic but more powerful.” Twilight explained as she closed her eyes and held her hand to the enchanted bark of the tree. “Either way all the enchantments are weaved into the tree itself, a feat only a few creatures are capable of. It’s no wonder I never sensed its presence before now. Truly if the building itself is this fascinating I’m sure the books inside are going to be amazing! Come on Spike, it looks like they never bothered to lock the door!” Twilight giggled happily as she pushed open the door and made her into the tree. Spike followed after knowing full well he didn’t have much of a say in the matter, even though he’d much rather be helping Rarity with the decorating. “Spiiiiiiike!” Twilight called to her brother from the ladder she was currently climbing. “Pay attention Spike, we don’t have time to waste with your daydreaming. Go find the catalog card for this place, it’ll help with finding a book about Equestrian festivals.” She ordered quickly getting into her bossy librarian mode.

Spike sighed and went about looking for where the former tenant might have kept the card with all the book’s listings on it. Seriously, why didn’t everyone just use a computer instead? It’d be way easier than writing everything down and filing it away. He went to the center desk where stacks of books and papers were scattered everywhere like no one had ever bothered cleaning the place. “Sheesh… how am I supposed to find anything in this mess? Spike sighed in defeat as he started to go through the papers in search of the card. After searching for a little bit he gave up on the desk and decided to look elsewhere in the room for the card. It was then that he noticed a podium standing a little ways away from the desk. This wouldn’t have been weird normally, but in the near year the place had been abandoned everything had collects a fine layer of dust on it, everything except for the book that sat on the podium. He walked over to it and realized he was actually too short to reach it, he grumbled and jumped up a little bit quickly snatching the book off the podium and then regretting it when he realized exactly how heavy it was. It slammed to the ground with an audible thud that echoed through the tree. Twilight stuck her head out from a separate room she had been investigating.

“Spike? What was that noise?! You didn’t break anything did you?” she called.

“I’m fine thanks for asking! This dumb book only nearly crushed me to death.” He grumbled as he knelt down to pick it up and paused when he saw the title. “Equestria’s Myth’s and Legends and How they Affect Society Today…?” he read curious about the abnormally long title.

“Oooooh! Perfect! Nice find Spike!” Twilight praised as she used her magic to levitate the book towards her and open it to the table of contents.

“Thanks…?” He offered as he tried to see the book that Twilight was reading despite his short height. He grumbled until he saw a stack of books and pushed them towards where Twilight was now using the podium. Just as he climbed up beside her she found what she was looking for, oddly it was marked with a bookmark that hadn’t shown from the outside, she stored in her pocket to replace when she was done. “Here we are! The Summer Sun Celebration! Let’s see,
‘The Summer Sun celebration was first celebrated to rejoice in the return of daylight after the three straight days they had been plagued with eternal night during Nightmare Moon’s rule. For more information see The Maiden in the Moon pg. 604’

“Maiden in the moon…? Why does that sound so familiar?” Twilight asked a loud as she started to flip through the pages to the directed section.

‘Maiden in the Moon, AKA Nightmare Moon. Long ago there were two regal sisters that ruled over the blessed land of Equestria, descended from the Goddess herself the older sister brought forth the day that the people needed for their very lives, while the younger brought forth the beautiful night and watched over the people as they slept peacefully in their beds. But over time the younger sister grew envious of her sister, while people laughed and played and thrived in her day, people slept and were terrified to walk outside during her beautiful night. When she confronted her sister about the feelings growing inside her, her sister, while concerned for her sister’s well being, did nothing to change the le people’s minds about the night. So the cycle continued, with the younger sister growing more bitter and resentful every night she watched her subjects waste her beautiful nights.

‘Until one night she heard a voice in her head, the voice was her own but not. It spoke her deepest inner thoughts, thoughts that were never meant to be known but somehow this voice knew of them. It told her that if people would not willingly enjoy her night then perhaps she should SHOW them just how beautiful it could be. With that idea planted in her mind a dark seed took root in her mind, one that once watered grew like a weed until it consumed her entirely. The next morning the younger sister refused to lower her moon to make way for her sister’s day. It was something that opened the elder sister’s eyes for the first time and she saw what had become of the once innocent sister she had loved. Consumed by the darkness her sister had been transformed into a being of darkest night. When the elder sister noticed this change she quickly tried to speak reason with her sister but she was already too far gone. The younger sister lashed out and an epic battle between the day and night began. The citizens of Equestria were terrified of the battle the two goddesses were forging in the sky. Never had the two fought, or even argued. And with the eternal night cast over them like a haze their minds too began to grow corrupt. They turned on each other and began to argue and fight just like the sisters were. The normally peaceful nation broke out into civil war in less than 24 hours.

‘For three days the sisters dueled it out in the heavens above while on the ground their citizens became more and more corrupted by the monster the younger sister had become. When the elder sister grew tired and weary from her endless battle the younger sister still stood tall, drawing her power from the eternal night while her sister’s sun was forced to stay away where it could not give her power. Exhausted and near defeat the elder sister stood on her last legs and summoned six ancient relics that the Goddess had left behind on the earth after her passing. These six relics were the Elements of Harmony, the very embodiments of Harmony itself that when brought together could restore the balance no matter the foe it fought. Harnessing the element’s powers the elder sister did the last thing she could to save the sister she knew still lived in the heart of the beast, she banished her to the moon. With the banishment of her sister the six elements also vanished promising that with their return, so too should her sister be returned to her once more. But on the thousandth year of her banishment so too would the Nightmare return. It would then be in the elements hands to forever rid the world of her existence.’

The story ended there but Twilight was more confused than she had been before. This was nothing like the story of Luna that had been told for generations. They said that the night only lasted a few hours longer than it should have, and there was never anything about the monster brainwashing citizens with the night. And those… Elements of Harmony, she was sure she had heard the name before but never anything to that detail. Twilight’s thoughts halted at another important piece of information.

‘But on the thousandth year of her banishment so too would the Nightmare return.’

‘…the town of Ponyville has here by been selected to host the Princess for the 1,000th annual Summer Sun Celebration and will be responsible for preparing a proper festival for the Princess before her arrival at dawn.’

Twilight’s eyes widened at the discovery. “It’s tonight…” she whispered.

Spike looked at her confused. “The party? Yeah, it is tonight. But I’m pretty sure Pinkie won’t go TOO overboard with the-“

“NO! Spike! Tonight marks the thousandth year Nightmare Moon will have been imprisoned! The legend said on the night of thousandth year of her imprisonment she would be released and only the Elements of Harmony could stop her! Do you know what that means?!” she cried in panic grabbing Spike by his hoodie and shaking him a little.

“Thaaaat you’re going to stop reading too much into an old fairytale and kick back and have fun with your friends at the single biggest party of the year?” he asked hopefully.

“Now’s not the time for jokes Spike! We need to send a letter to the princess ASAP to warn her about this!” she exclaimed as she grabbed a piece of parchment and a quill from the table and shoved them in Spike’s hands. “I’ll talk, you write.” She ordered. Spike sighed knowing not to fight her when she got like this and walked over to the desk to dip the quill in ink. “Dear Princess Celestia, while I was researching the festival you asked me to oversee today I came across a legend depicting an important story behind the festival. It says that on the thousandth year of the festival, which is this year, the Nightmare will once again be released from her imprisonment and only six artifacts known as the elements of harmony, which you used to imprison her in the first place, could defeat her once again. The legend also said that Luna herself would be freed when all six elements returned to earth. Because Luna has in fact been returned I know the elements have as well and therefore you can utilize them as you did before. I ask that you please harness these relics again so that the oncoming threat can be avoided as swiftly as possible. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.” She finished with a firm nod. Spike rolled the scroll up and tied it with some ribbon that was lying on the desk. Twilight smiled at him and motioned with her hand. “Well send it already! This is important business Spike!”

Spike bit his lip looking at the watch on his wrist. “Well, it’s just that… Celestia should be in the middle of day court right now. Don’t you think interrupting her right now would be a really bad idea?” he asked cautiously.

“Spike! This is a matter of national security! Celestia would be ashamed if we thought to put something like court ahead of the entire nation’s safety! She’ll want to respond as swiftly as possible I’m telling you! Send. The. Letter.” She ordered staring down her little brother in her best imitation of Celestia’s over bearing stare.

“Okay, okay sheesh. You don’t need to go Tyrantlestia on me.” He muttered before inhaling and then releasing a plume of fire that consumed the scroll and turned it into a puff of smoke that flew out a nearby open window.

“Good, now while we wait for her to respond let’s see what we can do about this mess in here. It’s depressing to see such beautiful books covered under all this dust and scattered everywhere with no sense of organization. Oh! And look, here’s the catalog card! I thought you looked over here already.” She noted holding up a large thick sheet of paper with a long list of small printed numbers on it. Spike blew out a small stream of flames from his nose in irritation.

“I did…” he muttered in irritation. He and Twilight set about their task but only a few seconds into it Spike felt his stomach gurgle and with a loud belch of flames he produced a scroll that Twilight quickly caught in her magic.

“See? I told you she’d want to respond quickly! Here, you read it aloud.” She said handing the letter to him. Spike sighed and opened it up clearing his throat.

“My Dearest and most Faithful Student Twilight Sparkle, you know I value your opinion and that you have my most honest and un-doubtful trust…” Twilight nodded proudly smiling as she did so. “… But you really shouldn’t be wasting your time reading into these dusty old fairy tales. I would advise that you focus on spending your time on more productive activities like supervising the festival preparations and spending time with your loving friends. Your concerned Teacher, Princess Celestia.” Twilight’s expression had done a complete 180 as she stared shocked at her brother. She quickly snatched the letter from him to read it and make sure he wasn’t just pulling her leg. He wasn’t, the princess had really written that. She groaned and facepalmed.

“See Twilight? Even the Princess thinks you need to relax and hang out with your friends! It’s the entire reason she sent you here to Ponyville in the first place! And it’s the last day before we go back to Canterlot, so can you PLEASE just not have one of your nerd fits today…?” he begged giving her his signature puppy dog expressions. She didn’t fall for it. She moved him aside from where he stood in front of the door and opened it up to walk outside.

“No, Spike. I’m her student and I’ll do my royal duty by watching over the preparations. But the fate of Equestria does not rest on me hanging out with my friends. The needs of the many out weigh the needs of the few. I’ll check out each of the divisions personally as quickly as possible and then get back here to the library to find out more about those elements. I know they’re out there, and if the Princess isn’t going to listen to reason then I’m just going to have to take matters into my own hands.” She declared as she made her way through the town still holding the letter which also had a task list attached to it. “First stop is Sweet Apple Acres. AJ’s probably got her entire family working on over drive to get the food ready.” She chuckled as she halted a carriage that was just passing by. She gave the driver the destination and he set the horses along their path.

They arrived half an hour later at the gates of Sweet Apple Acres and to Twilight’s great astonishment she had been more correct in her assumptions than she would have liked. Running around the farm in all different directions of outdoor cooking and baking stations that were scattered all across the front lawn were hundreds of people all with an Apple themed cutiemark visible for all too see. The familiar freckled face of Applejack spotted her and rushed over grinning as she carried a fresh steaming tray filled with apple pies.

“Howdy there Twilight, ya’ll here ta check on the grub fer the festival?” she asked setting the tray on a cooling rack that was nearby and already had trays lined with other Apple confections piled high.

“Um, yes… Applejack who’re are all these people running around your farm?” Twilight asked watching as the people ran from ovens and stoves with trays of food or batter in their hands, some had baskets of apples and were handing them out to each station.

“Oh, this here’s mah family Twilight! We have a big ol’ Apple family reunion every three years on the week of the Summer Sun celebration. Granny heard about how we’re supposed ta be in charge of the grub and rallied them all into doing what Apple’s do best, makin’ and bakin’ apple treats that no-one in Equestria can compete with! We’re about half way done with it all. Ya’ll wanna sample some?” she asked the pair.

Twilight looked down at Spike who was eying everything with hungry eyes. It did all smell really good. “Well… As long as it doesn’t take too long…” she affirmed with a nod. Applejack grinned and rang a triangle that was hanging on the edge of the tent that covered the cooling racks and a few picnic tables.

“Sooooooups on everybody!” she called. Everyone on the farm stopped what they were doing and rushed towards the tent Twilight and Spike were now standing under.

‘Oh sweet mother of Celestia what have I done…’ Twilight thought in horror before Applejack went through the painful process of not only introducing every single member of her family by name but force feeding her a single bite of every single confection that they specialized in making. Seriously, if Twilight ever ate another apple again it would be too soon.

Two hours later Twilight Sparkle was waddling into town with Spike beside her as happy as can be as he read off the next thing on the list. “Okay, next up is Rainbow Dash with the weather…” He looked up to the sky to see it dotted with fluffy white clouds. Twilight saw it too and frowned at it.

“Well it looks like she’s doing a terrible job as weather captain already…” she grumbled in her fully bellied irritation.

“LOOK OUT BELOW!!!” came a warning seconds before a rainbow streak crashed right into Twilight sending her face first into a mud puddle along with her prismatic haired friend.

Twilight sat up looking like a swamp monster with lavender eyes that glared right at Rainbow who had somehow already shaken off every speck of mud. “Rainbow Dash…” she growled through grit muddy teeth.

“Whoops… sorry there Twi. Here, let me just…” she flew up into the sky quickly and dragged down a cloud condensing it into a raincloud that hovered right over Twilight. She jumped on it a few times like it was a trampoline and the result was a cascading shower that left Twilight mudless, but soaking wet. Rainbow peeked over the cloud below at Twilight and grinned sheepishly. Twilight glared back. “Okay, okay, hold your horses. I’ve got a move that’ll dry you off in an instant.” She flew down and started doing fast circles around Twilight until a mini tornado had formed around her. When Rainbow slowed back down and landed in front of her friend she couldn’t help but g and burst into laughter at the sight of Twilight’s new fro. Spike joined her in a fit of laughter and Twilight sighed satisfied with just being dry once again.

“Rainbow Dash, aren’t you supposed to be clearing the skies for the festival?” she asked crossing her arms and tapping her foot. Dash wiped a tear from her eye and sat up sitting cross legged as she hovered in the air.

“Chillax Twi, I’ve got like all day to clear the skies! And with my speed it’d only take ten seconds flat to knock out all those little bitty clouds.” She mused as she changed her position to laying on her back in the air like she was relaxing on an air hammock.

“Really? Ten seconds flat? You’re good Rainbow, but I think that’s exaggerating a bit.” Twilight mused playfully knowing the best way to get her friend to do her work was tom make it a competition. It worked.

Rainbow sat up and stared down at Twilight. “You think my wings are talking faster than they can fly egghead?” she asked back.

Twilight shrugged her shoulders and smiled a little. “I’m just saying that if you think you can do it the only way to know for sure, is. To. Prove. It.” Twilight replied with a satisfied smirk. Rainbow was off faster than Twilight could blink zipping across the sky fast enough to cause a pretty big ripple of wind every time she passed them. Twilight had been counting in her head and on ten seconds exactly Rainbow landed back in front of her grinning.

“Told ya, Ten. Seconds. Flat.” She chided as Twilight stood with her mouth hung open in shock. She had just wanted to goad Rainbow into clearing the skies, she didn’t actually expect her to do what normally took an entire weather team an hour of work in only ten seconds! “Haha, you should see your face. You’re a riot Twilight Sparkle. I’ll catch you later, the Wonderbolts are performing tonight and I’M gonna strut my stuff for them when they do. Who knows, maybe I’ll get the same deal Fleet did. Catch ya later Twilight!” she called before disappearing into the sky once more. Twilight sighed shook her head making her curls that resembled Pinkie Pie’s own wild mane look tame in contrast. Spike snickered as he messed with one of the curls. Twilight rolled her eyes and took the list from him marching towards city hall.

“Aw come on Twilight! It’s kinda pretty once you get used to it!” he called as he ran after her. They came into the town hall main room where all Ponyville events were held. Twilight smiled as she walked in and saw that the decorating was going along perfectly.

“Well, it certainly seems that this is going well, I’ll be back at the library before sun down at this rate! These decorations are turning out really…”

“Beautiful…” Spike mused beside her dreamily.

“Yes, exactly what I was thinking.” Twilight affirmed with a nod.

“Not the decor, Rarity…” he trailed off pointing at Rarity who was levitating ribbon swatches all around her trying to decide on a color for the balcony. She had dressed herself in a fine evening gown and seemed to have done something with her hair that made it literally gleam in the bright lighting of the ball room. Twilight rolled her eyes and Rarity seemed to hear her approach but didn’t look up from her task.

“Give me a moment Twilight dear, I’m just finishing the final touches on this elegant tapestry that I’m going to hang on the balcony.” she explained as she weaved the golden ribbon into the banner she was using her magic to make out of a long piece of fabric. When she was finished she hung it in place on the balcony and placed her hands on her hips satisfied with her work. She then turned to face Twilight. “Now, as you can see the decor is coming along quite swimmingly and- OH MY DEAR SWEET CELESTIA WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU?!” She shouted upon seeing the state Twilight was in. Twilight was confused as to what she meant before she remembered the new hairdo Rainbow had given her.

“Oh this? It’s nothing, just something that happened after Rainbow bumped into me a minute ago. So, if the decorating is all done I’m going to check that off the list and go check on how Fluttershy is doing with the-“

“Oh nononono!!! Darling I simply cannot allow you to step foot out there looking like THAT! Come on, in the back we go. Spike, would you get my bag from over there and bring it with us?” she asked pointing to her pristine white purse that was really more like a bag with how large it was. Spike swiftly grabbed it and followed after Rarity hovering using his air magic with hearts in his eyes like he had been shot through the heart by Cupid’s arrow.

Another half hour later Twilight Sparkle made her escape from the prison that Rarity had made the dressing room in the back with her hair more perfectly groomed than when her mother was dressing her up for her first day as Celestia’s student. You’d think a royal script would know nothing about hair care but her mother had proven her dead wrong when she pulled out a beauty kit that was bigger than she was at the time. She still had nightmares about pretty pink bows.

Dismissing her childhood trauma Twilight sauntered on through the town and made her way to the edge of the Everfree forest where she knew Fluttershy usually met her animal friends. She came to a small clearing and her ears picked up the beautiful melody that only a well-trained song bird choir could have orchestrated. But as she got closer and could see her shy long haired friend with a conductors wand standing in front of a tree where the choir was perched she could hear one very off key bird in the mix. Fluttershy stopped the choir for a moment.

“Oh… my.” She mumbled quietly as she hovered up to a blue jay in the top row. “I’m sorry Mr. Jay but you were singing just the teeniest bit off key, and we’re performing for the Princess so we need to be just perfect, do you think you could try again? Um… if you want to that is…” she added quickly as she partially hid behind her hair. The blue jay nodded and she went back down to her conductors stand and rapped the wand against it in a beat before she brought it up to level and then was interrupted by a thrilled squeal from behind her. She jumped about ten feet in the air and her birds flew off in all directions. When Fluttershy landed back on the ground she curled up hiding behind the tree from whatever had made the noise.

Twilight approached the tree slowly with Spike beside her. “Fluttershy, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to scare you like that. I’ve just never seen anything like that before! Those are all wild birds and they were all reading your movements and singing along to them like a real trained singing group! I never knew you could do something like that!” Twilight exclaimed excitedly resembling Pinkie Pie for a few moments. Fluttershy peeked her head out from the tree still shaken from scare. Her birds however, seeing there was no real danger, returned to the tree lining the branches with their ranks. “Oh, look. Your song birds are back. Well I can see you’ve got the music down to a pat so I’ll just be moving along now.” Twilight mused as she checked off the last item on her list and rolled it up satisfied with herself. She walked back to Spike who had reverted into his scaled form and was using some of his magic to remove the scorched burns on it restoring the fabric to its original purple that matched his scales almost perfectly. Fluttershy’s eyes lit up as she bolted past Twilight sending her tumbling into the bushes as she cooed over Spike.

“Spike that’s amazing! How are you doing that with just elemental dragon magic? I’ve never read anything about dragons being able to restore textiles!” she exclaimed in awe as Spike looked from where Twilight had disappeared to Fluttershy who was the first person in his life, besides Twilight, who was genuinely eager to learn something about him.

“Well, it’s uh… only because they were singed by magic. You see when Twilight hatched me she embedded me with a spark of her own magic so now when she does things like scorch my clothes with a misfired spell I can reverse the damage by creating a negative of the magic she used… Uhhh… anything else?” he asked hopefully.

“Oh yes, I’ve always wondered why your scales come out when you’re using your magic.” She asked examining the scales that were visible across his arms.

“Oh, well that’s really easy. Okay, so Twilight says that my dragon magic is what influences most of my appearance. I normally have the exterior of a human but when the dragon magic flows through me it turns my skin into scales and-“

He talked like that, all the way back to the library. Fluttershy all the while prompting him further wanting to know more and more about the little hybrid. Twilight tried her best to ignore them and focus on trying to figure out how she’d find the elements but their voices were a lot harder to ignore than she originally thought. When they got to the library entrance Twilight quickly interrupted during a brief pause in their conversation and she scooped Spike up in her magic sealing his mouth shut.

“Wellllll, I’d hate to break up this little escapade but Spike here is just so exhausted from running around today that he needs to take a little nap if he’s going to be staying up all night to enjoy the festival.” Twilight reasoned. Spike waved his arms around to protest and she quickly hit him with a whack on the back of his head that knocked him unconscious instantly. “Oh look at the poor little guy already falling asleep. Better get him in bed stat.” Twilight cooed in a mock tone.

“Oh my! I had no idea he was so tired! I’ll just tuck him in and-“

“Nooooooo, that’s entirely unnecessary. I’ll just tuck him in myself and wake him up right before the celebration starts. You should go back to practicing with your song bird choir. I’m sure they’ll be missing your company by now. By now Fluttershy!” Twilight added quickly before slamming the door to the library quickly and relishing the darkness of the room. “Alone at last… Now where was that light switch…?” she muttered to herself. “Wait… I left the lights on when I-“

“SUUUUUUURPRISE!!!!!!!” came the overwhelming shout as the lights came on and confetti, streamers, and evidently Twilight’s scream of shock filled the air. The noise woke Spike up and also brought Fluttershy in through the door to see what the commotion was. Pinkie Pie bounced over to Twilight who was still wide eyed and breathing erratically while she clutched her heart. “Did I surprise you Twilight?! DidIdidIdidIdidI?!?!” she squealed as she hopped around her fallen friend blowing a party favor and strapping a party hat that matched her own onto her friend’s purple and pink streaked hair.

“What-do you… think?!” Twilight shouted back through her panicked breaths. Spike, who had already figured out what had happened more or less produced a paper bag from his hoodie and handed it to Twilight. She quickly started to breath into it until she regained her composure and then she stood up to see that the room was in fact filled with the townsfolk and classmates she had grown close to over the school year. Above their heads was a large banner that had Pinkie’s bubbly handwriting on it spelling out: ‘Welcome to Ponyville Twilight & Spike’. “You… threw a welcoming party for us nine months after we got here…?” Twilight asked the girl incredulously. Pinkie nodded still grinning having never faltered in her cheer.

“Yupperoonii~! I figure later’s better than never so I dedicated the entire pre-party to you and Spike! So you two can stay up ALLLLLLL night long celebrating with us!” Pinkie declared blowing the party favor right in Twilight’s ear. Spike looked thrilled at the prospect, the only party’s anyone had ever thrown for him and Twilight were the birthday party’s their parents through. Oh, and Twilight’s cutecenera but he was just hatched back then and didn’t remember any of it.

“Well that’s… really nice of you Pinkie. I don’t think anyone’s ever-“ Twilight’s sentence was halted when she spotted the very book she had come to study closed and being used as a coaster on the coffee table. She quickly screamed and with a speed that made Rainbow Dash whistle swooped over and saved it from its misuse before climbing up to the second floor of the library where the bedroom loft was and locked herself away in the room. Pinkie blinked in surprise. “Wow, never seen Twilight freak out like THAT before!” She noted rubbing her chin in a quizzical manner.

“Hey, anybody else think Twilight’s been acting funny all day?” Rainbow asked as she walked over to the group with a drink of lemonade in her hand.

“Now that ya’ll mention it when she came over to mah farm to check up on things she did seem like she was in a mighty big hurry ta get out of there.” Applejack observed as she took a thoughtful sip of her orange juice (What, you thought it would be something apple related? YOU WERE WRONG).

“Hm, it could stand to mention that when she visited me she seemed quite agitated while I was fixing her hair which YOU messed up Rainbow Dash.” Rarity added with a quick glare while she took a snack from a passing tray and delicately nibbled on it.

Ignoring Rarity’s comment Dash turned to Fluttershy. “What about you ‘Shy, did you notice anything weird about her?”

Fluttershy tilted her head curiously as she thought back to her trip here with Twilight and Spike. “Well… she was awfully quiet. Which is weird considering she’d normally be really talkative when we’re talking about Spike’s biology. Next to magic it’s her favorite subject.” Fluttershy pointed out quietly. She then turned to ask Spike his opinion but noticed that the boy had vanished. “Spike…? Girls did you see where-“ But her friends weren’t paying attention to her anymore as their eyes had wandered to the center of the library floor where a projector and two DDR mats had been set up and both Spike AND Pinkie were dueling it out in a showdown to be remembered for the decade. “Oh… my.”

***

In the bedroom upstairs Twilight was shoving a pillow over her ears as she tried to study the book’s entire contents about the elements. Apparently not much was known about the artifacts themselves, the basic premises was that they represents the basic components that made up harmony itself, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, and loyalty. The sixth and final element was elusive; so elusive that neither its name nor its whereabouts have ever been known. Only that a spark from each of the other five could summon it. Meaning that somehow she would have to figure out where the others were hidden first. Her trail of thoughts were interrupted by the door to the room being opened and Spike walking in with a tilted lamp shade on his head.

“Twilight! What are you doing up here by yourself? You missed the entire party and now everyone’s going down to town hall for the sun raising ceremony!” Spike lectured with his arms crossed. Twilight’s eyes widened as she looked out the window to see how far the moon had sunken in the sky. The ghostly outline of the maiden was still present. Had she really been reading for that long?

She leapt off the loft and grabbed Spike by the hood and dragged him downstairs knocking the lampshade off as she did so. “Come on Spike! We don’t have any time to waste! We need to get to town hall and stop the nightmare before she comes back!” Twilight shouted as she ran out of the now empty library and towards the town hall where the last stragglers were just filing in. Pushing her way to the front of the crowd just in time to hear the royal entry song sung by the birds Twilight watched as the Mayor addressed the town that was gathered in the hall.

“Ladies and Gentlemen, it is my great pleasure to welcome you all to the official start of the Summer Sun celebration!” She called out her practiced smile warming the hearts of her citizens.

Twilight bit her lip nervously as she looked out the tall windows that lined the ceiling, one of them had a perfect view of the moon and she watched in stunned horror as the collective stars that surrounded it met the moon’s edge and the image of the maiden vanished from its surface. “Oh no…” she breathed.

“And here to raise the sun for us as she does every day of the year, is our eternally regal Princess Celestia of Equestria!” the mayor announced and the curtain pulled back to reveal… nothing.

Quickly shocked gasps and mutters began to stir in the crowd and the mayor quickly tried to calm everyone down but Rarity, who was up on the balcony working the curtains, quickly made the panic worse by shouting out to the crowd.

“She’s gone!”

Panic quickly broke out amongst the town and within the panic Twilight felt a cold stone drop in her stomach as she saw the moon rising high in the sky. Distressed cries pulled her attention back to the balcony where she saw shimmering mist that resembled the starry sky outside congregating and forming a tall form on top of the balcony. When it dispersed the crowd gasped as a figure that could not be mistaken stood tall and proud grinning maniacally over the populace.

“Princess Luna?!” Rarity gasped in shock from her new position on the ground floor with her friends.

The draconic eyes of the taller, more intimidating, black armored woman slid towards the one who had shouted the name. When she spoke her voice was like Luna’s but clearly different in the sense it sounded like it was hallow and echoed a little. “Afraid not, but you’re welcome to try again. I am just as legendary after all. Or have all of you long since forgotten me?” she asked as she disappeared and reappeared randomly around the room scaring the people of the town more and more as she did so. “Did none of you see the signs?! Does no one remember the legend?! Or did you think your so called ‘goddess’ had really defeated me and that your pathetic little moon princess was all better after her time out?” she demanded hissing and bearing a sharp set of fangs at the on lookers.

Twilight had had enough of her rant and stepped forward glaring at the dark incarnation. “I know who you are! You’re Nightmare Moon, the maiden in the moon!”

Gasps of shock spread through the crowd once more and her friends looked at her in horror. The monster eyed Twilight with a look of pleased satisfaction before it was replaced with irritation. “Oh, it’s you. Celestia’s little toy. Go away infant, while I applaud your knowledge of my existence it hardly makes a difference when it seems that the people have forgotten the important lesson I taught them so many centuries ago. And now, with Celestia out of the way and my rightful body re-claimed the night will last FOREVER!!!” She yelled to the heavens before once again disappearing into a starry mist and floating out the open windows into the now dark night sky. As soon as she was gone panic once more took over as people began to run and hide through the town.

Twilight wasted no time in running back to the library with Spike at her side. She slammed open the door and quickly set to her work. “Spike! We need to find a book specifically on the subject on the Elements of Harmony! The legends book only scraped the surface of them and we need more details if we’re going to-“ her words were cut off by the door rocketing off its hinges and a prismatic blur slamming into her and pinning her to the wooden wall of the library. Narrowed magenta eyes glared at her as her throat was held threateningly by her friend’s forearm.

“Rainbow what’re you-?!”

“Quiet you fake! Who the hell are you and where’s the real Twilight?!” She roared cutting Twilight off just as her other friends came in with similar looks of distrust written across their faces. “Are you some kind of SPY that Nightmare freak sent after us?!” she continued pushing her forearm harder against Twilight’s throat making it harder for her to breath.

“Wh-what?! Dash that’s ridiculous I’m not a spy! I’m nerdy, quirky, and clumsy! Me being a spy would be like Fluttershy being an MMA fighter!” Twilight hissed through clenched teeth.

“Prove it! Say something only the REAL Twilight Sparkle would know about!” Rainbow roared back intensifying her glare.

Twilight’s struggle stopped and she looked Dash straight in the eyes. “Daring Do.”

Rainbow’s anger faltered and instead her cheeks lit up and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates as behind her her friends all got confused looks on their faces. Rainbow quickly let Twilight down the mage rubbing her bruised throat as Rainbow scratched the back of her head.

“She’s the real deal guys… trust me… and ignore that comment. But still, Twilight what’s gotten into you?! How’d you know about that Nightmare character in the first place?!” Dash asked still not knowing the reason behind her friend’s strange behavior. The other’s all nodded their heads in agreement and Twilight sighed glancing sideways at Spike. The boy nodded at her and sped off and up to the bedroom that Twilight had locked herself in all night. He came back seconds later holding the thick tome.

Twilight opened it up explaining about how she had stumbled upon it when she was trying to research the festival and then read them the story in it. “After I read that I knew that this was the year, the thousandth year of the festival, the night she’d be freed and would try and take over again. I tried to warn the Princess so she could gather and use the Elements again but she dismissed it as a silly old legend. I need to find a book about the elements. With Celestia gone and Luna… out of commission I’m the only one who knows about what they can do. If I can find those elements and use them against her before history repeats itself I can bring Celestia back and finally rid this world of Nightmare Moon forever!” Twilight explained stomping the ground fiercely as she slammed the book shut.

Her five friends looked at one another for a second before they all nodded in confirmation and Applejack stepped forward. “How can we help sugarcube?” she asked placing a hand on her shoulder. Twilight smiled not only at her farming friend but at the other four who stood behind her all sharing the same smile of support that she had needed. Spike was smirking at her with the look of ‘I told you so’ clearly directed at her. Twilight smiled as well and then her fierce look of determination returned.

“Well right now I could really use a book on the Elements of Harmony. The book of Legends only skims on it and if I’m going to find them I need more detail than that.” Twilight explained looking around at her friends. Pinkie perked up quickly.

“A book about the elements? Onnnnne sec!” she declared before zooming off and coming back in an instant holding a book in her hand which she tossed at Twilight who quickly caught it reading the title aloud.

“The Elements of Harmony, a Reference Guide… How did you find this?” She asked her poofy pink haired friend.

“It was under Eeeee~!” Pinkie sang happily bouncing away.

Twilight blushed slightly scratching the back of her head. “Oh.” She quickly opened the book as her friends gathered around her. “Okay, let’s see… Six elements, five known, yes… Oh! Here we go, the last know whereabouts of the elements was in the ancient castle of the royal sisters, or as it is known today…” Twilight swallowed hard and they all repeated what the text read.

“The Everfree Forest!”

Chapter 15.2

HIBAA 15.2: Over the River and Through the Woods to Nightmare Moon’s Castle We Go

Six nervous girls stood in front of the entrance to the forbidden forest going over the plan once again. After realizing that her destination was the infamous forest Twilight’s friends absolutely refused to let her go in alone. So they packed backpacks of supplies and met up at the entrance an hour later. Twilight had left Spike back at the library putting him under a deep sleeping spell not wanting to risk him trying to follow her into the forest’s dangerous depths. She’d never forgive herself if he was hurt after she let him come along on such a dangerous mission.

“Okay, so we’re clear. We follow the map the book gave us through the forest, retrieve the elements and get out of there as quickly as possible so we can activate them in a more secure environment?” Twilight asked looking around at her friends as they were huddled together in a circle on this most unnatural of nights.

There were nods and voiced agreements all around so they broke apart and faced the entrance once more this time all taking their first steps into it as one. They walked down the path that apparently been forged by the few brave souls that dare enter the cursed forest. Once they’d been walking for a little while Twilight decided to break the silence.

“S-so none of you have ever been in here…? Why is that?” she asked knowing the obvious answer.

“No-one but the crazy, stupid, or desperate go in here Twilight. Everything about this place is just, well to put it bluntly, creepy.” Rarity exclaimed looking around at the shady trees that surrounded them.

“And it just ain’t natural in here ‘neither. Folks say it don’t work the same as Equestria in here.” Applejack added with a small shudder at the foreign feeling of the atmosphere around her.

“W-why is that?” Twilight asked getting more nervous by the second.

“Noooobody knows.” Rainbow explained in her best creepy voice, it apparently worked as Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie all froze in place as she approached them slowly hovering closer to them slowly and then stalking towards them like a cat. “You know why…?”

“Rainbow, quit it!” Applejack snapped knowing the three were probably the most easily startled.

Rainbow ignored her continuing stalking towards the three that were huddled together staring at her with scared eyes. “Because anyone who goes in these woods has never, come, OUT!” She shouted suddenly making all three jump but before they could scream the earth around the cliff they were standing on started to shake and crumble. The cliff gave way and the two fliers of the group were quick to lift off but their wingless friends were not so lucky and were quickly sent tumbling down the cliff side with the falling earth. “Fluttershy, quick!” Rainbow ordered zooming down to scoop up Pinkie while Fluttershy followed grabbing Rarity by the back of her dress.

Applejack managed to save herself from falling further down the slope by grabbing onto a nearby root by Twilight slid all the way to where the slope ended and dropped off into a deep chasm. She slid to a halt with her feet dangling dangerously over the edge as she gripped the edge helplessly. Applejack let go of her root carefully edging her way down to Twilight. “Hang on a second sugarcube!” she called as she positioned herself carefully in front of Twilight making sure she had stable footing before she grabbed onto Twilight’s hands and held her in place. A sharp pain in her arms told her she had pulled something in them when she had stopped herself earlier and the pain was too much to hoist Twilight to safety. Biting her lip she thought fast and a movement in the corner of her eye made up her mind just as Twilight called out to her.

“Applejack, I’m too scared, what do I do?!” she asked her voice shaken at the prospect of falling into the dark void.

Applejack looked her straight in the eyes and gave her the most earnest stare Twilight had ever seen. “Let go.”

“WHAT?!” Apparently Twilight’s fear brushed off the look of honest truth in the emerald orbs that met hers.

“Trust me sugarcube, I promise you’ll be just fine.” Applejack pledged with a smile cast at the terrified mage.

“You’re crazy!” Twilight yelled back her fear still over whelming her.

“No I ain’t, listen here Twilight. What I’m telling you is the honest truth, let go and I promise you you’ll be just fine.” She stated with a sense of finality that finally allowed a small spark of reason into Twilight’s fast beating heart. She bit her lip still nervous but let go of her friend’s hands and let herself fall. She let out a scream as she descended wondering why she had listened to her friend but the feeling of two pairs of arms catching her answered her question. Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flew her down further to where the cliff’s overhang had hidden a flat path where Rarity and Pinkie Pie were already waiting safely. Twilight watched Applejack make her way down a set of outcropping rocks on the cliff side until she too was safely on the ground. Fluttershy’s grip on her faltered for a second before Twilight was set gently on the ground.

“Sorry Twilight, I’m not used to carrying anything heavier than a bunny or two.” The timid girl explained as she and Rainbow both landed as well. Twilight felt her heart calming back down to normal speeds as she cast a thankful smile at her friends.

“It’s okay, let’s just move along so we can get to more stable grounds.” Twilight stated moving her still wobbly legs forward on their path. The others all silently agreed with her and followed alongside her. They traveled in silence for a little while longer but Rainbow Dash’s inner adventurer caught up with her and she started to brag about the maneuver her and Fluttershy had pulled.

“And then when we found that path and put Rarity and Pinkie down safely we saw Applejack holding you in place and did a big ol’ loopty loop right around and then swooped in and caught you right as you were falling!” She narrated while she re-enacted the scene herself. Twilight sighed pinching the bridge of her nose as they walked.

“Yes Rainbow, I was there. And I’m very grateful, but we gotta-“ a large footstep in front of them interrupted her and they all looked up to see a horrifyingly familiar beast blocking their path. “A manticore!” Twilight exclaimed backpedaling a few steps as she did so. She found her resolve quickly though when her friends stood beside her. “We have to get past it!”

The beast lunged at them and tried to swipe at Rarity but she ducked and quickly round housed kicked it in the snout. “Take that you ruffian!” she declared proudly. The beast however was not so easily deterred and roared in her face sending her normally well groomed hair into an afro not unlike the one Twilight had previously dawned. She gasped seeing it. “My Haaaaaair!!!” she wailed in sorrow. She quickly saw the beast staring her in the eye threateningly and swallowed hard before bolting for it.

“Um… wait!” Fluttershy quietly interrupted, though none of her friends could hear her.

The beast gave chase but only seconds into the pursuit of the frilly white dressed girl it felt a weight on its back and a rope made its way around its muzzle as Applejack rode it like a bucking bronco. “Yeeeehaa! Get along little doggy!” she called cheerfully as she rode the beast with one hand around the rope and the other waving her hat in the air. The beast was not pleased and hopped around trying to propel the girl off it.

“Wait!” Fluttershy yelled again much too quietly for anyone to hear.

While Applejack was in mid-flight she tipped her hat at Rainbow dash as she passed the pegasus. “All yer’s partner!” she called before descending back to the ground.

Rainbow saluted her friend as the farmer landed squarely on her feet like a cat and she dived down for the beast. “On it!”

“Waaait!” Fluttershy tried to call after her oldest friend but it was too late, Rainbow was already zooming around the beast creating a prismatic colored whirlwind. The beast would have none of that as it smacked her right out of the air and skidding along the ground towards her friends.

“Rainbow!” Twilight called to her friend before giving the manticore a deadly glare.

Dash quickly got up on her feet and they all faced the beast together glaring it down just like Twilight before they all charged it together, fists and magic at the ready. Fluttershy, seeing this was going south fast quickly dove in front of her friends between them in the beast screaming at the top of her lungs.

“WAAAAAAAAAIT!!!!!” The other five halted in their charge and gave the yellow winged girl an incredulous look. Fluttershy didn’t answer them instead turning to face the manticore and walked towards it slowly. It roared at her and reared up on its hind legs drawing back its paw to swipe at her. “Shh, it’s okay…” Fluttershy cooed to the beast gently stroking it’s other paw with her hand. At the contact the once angry beast whimpered a little and lowered back down to the ground still keeping the paw Fluttershy had touched in the air. It carefully turned its paw over to reveal a large thorn that had been embedded in its paw. It was clearly very painful. “Aww, did this mean ol’ thorn hurt you little guy?” she cooed stroking his paw gently. “This might hurt for juuuuust a second.” She warned gripping the thorn and pulling it out. The manticore quickly roared in pain and picked Fluttershy up in its paws.

“FLUTTERSHY!” all her friends cried out in fear before they halted when they saw the once fearsome creature playfully licking Fluttershy like an oversized kitten and purring like one too as Fluttershy giggled and scratched him under his chin as she let him lick her.

“You’re just a little itty bitty kitty aren’t you, huh?” she cooed as she pet him. The other’s, seeing that the beast had been reduced to a common house pet at their friend’s natural care, smiled and walked over to her making their way past the manticore and only pausing where the clearing ended and the path began again. Fluttershy calmly walked over to them after the large house cat with a killer scorpion’s tail set her down with a new well styled hairdo that stuck up defying every law of physics ever made. Twilight Sparkle walked with her just behind everyone else.

“How did you know about the thorn…?” Twilight asked her animal loving friend.

Fluttershy smiled and replied with a gentle smile that fit her nature. “I didn’t, sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness.” She stated as she walked down the path following in the steps of her friends. Twilight paused for a moment pondering the statement before just smiling and accepting the heartwarming motion and quickly catching up to the rest of her friends.

After walking for a little while longer Rarity’s natural complain-o-meter must have alerted her to a distinct lack of whining in the last hour or so. “Ugh, my eyes need a break from all this icky.” She sighed staring at the ghastly forest around them. No sooner had she finished that sentence did they all walk into a part of the forest that was almost completely black thanks to the thick branches that covered the sky. “Well I didn’t mean that literally.” She muttered.

Twilight groaned in the scarce lighting as she squinted her eyes trying to see through the blackness. “Ugh, this is terrible. Those ancient ruins could be right in front of us and we’d never even know it!” she complained. The others all started to mutter their agreement before there was a loud squishing sound.

Applejack’s sigh was heard as she lifted her boot up from the substance. “Oh great, I think I stepped in something.” She huffed dragging herself out of the puddle and towards a tree that was close by leaning her hand on it to inspect her boot. Fluttershy’s scream startled her slightly as she looked over at her friend. “It’s just mud-“ she followed her friends stare up to the tree she was leaning on and then let out a scream for herself when she saw the father terrifying glowing face that was carved into the tree. The other’s quickly checked around them to realize that every tree that surrounded them had an equally terrifying expression that glared them down. Even the brave Rainbow Dash felt herself shaking from the creepiness of it. The girls all screamed as one as the came back to back at the now growling and moaning tree’s but their screams of terror were interrupted by a snorting giggle off to their side. They looked over to see Pinkie making funny faces at one of the trees. Twilight was flabbergasted by the outrageousness of it. (If you don't know where this is going by now, click THIS)

“Pinkie, what are you doing?! Run!” Twilight exclaimed as if it should have been the obvious answer.

Pinkie snorted a little again and smiled. “Oh girls, don’t you see?

“When I was a little kiddie and the sun was going dooooown~”

Twilight’s face deadpanned. “Tell me she’s not.”

“The darkness and the shadows they would always make me frooooown~”

“She is.” Rarity pointed out.

“I would hide under my pillow, from what I thought I saw! But Granny Pie said that isn’t the way to deal with fears at allllll!”

“Then what is?” Rainbow asked curiously.

“She said Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall, learn to face your fears! You’ll see that they can’t hurt you, just laugh and make them disappeaaaaaaar!” She sang happily as she bounced over to a tree. “Ha, ha, ha.” She laughed emphasizing each ha with a nod and then smiling at her friends when the spooky face disappeared right off the tree. They all gasped at the sight.

“Sooooooo, giggle at the ghostly,

Guffaw at the grossly

Crack up at the creepy

Whoop it up with the weepy

Chortle at the kooky

Snortle at the spooky

“And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...

Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuugh!”

Pinkie and her friends all collapsed in a laughing pile as the last of the spooky faces vanished into nothing. They all got up and continued their trek through the forest still laughing and having a great time now despite their surroundings. Soon they emerged from the creepy dark path only to be halted in there merry way by a raging out of control rapid infested river.

“How are we going to cross THIS?” Pinkie asked in surprise. No one could respond before they heard the sound of sorrowful cries over the roar of the rapids. They followed them up stream and traced them, to their great surprise, to a giant royal purple sea serpent with the most well groomed bright orange hair on top of his head and… half a mustache?

“Excuse me sir, why are you crying?” Twilight asked up to the tantrum throwing serpent that she assumed could speak from his cries of ‘what a world’ that he was shouting.

“Well I don’t know!” he declared throwing his hands up in the air dramatically. “Here I was just sitting here minding my own business and then this tacky little cloud of smoke just WHIPS past my face and whisked half of my beloved mustache clean off!” he cried leaning down to their level to point at the cleaved mustache. “And now, I LOOK SIMPLY HORIIIIIIID…!” He cried falling back into the water and throwing another tantrum as he continued crying. His falling created a torrent of water that soaked all of them resulting in a unified glare against the creature.

“Oh gimmie a break…” Dash grumbled.

“THAT'S what all the fuss is about…?” Applejack asked her dripping hair still somehow covered by her hat.

“Why of course it is!” Rarity declared stepping between the two of them. “How CAN the two of you be so insensitive?” she asked as she marched towards the serpent her long wet purple hair now well past her waist. She used her magic to dry it and style it back in its normal curl before gently stoking the serpents muzzle soothing him. “Oh just look at him, such lovely luminescent scales!” she declared admiring just how well shaped and polished they were.

The serpent sniffled a little before responding. “I know!”

“And the expertly quaffed mane!” she added pointing up at his sleek hairdo.

“Oh I do, I know!” he declared running his hand to gel it back after noticing a single strand had gotten loose.

“And your FABULOUS manicure!” Rarity added her eyes sparkling in admiration.

He examined his well filed and perfectly shaped claws. “It’s so truuue!” he declared.

“All ruined without your beautiful mustache!” Rarity finished.

The serpent through his hands up in agony and then hid his face. “It’s true I’m hideous!”

Rarity’s eyes sharpened. “I simply cannot allow such a crime against fabulosity go un-corrected!” she roared before reaching forward and ripping off one of the serpents shimmering but sharp scales.

“Ow! What’d you do that for?!” he whined.

Rarity didn’t answer instead raising the sharp scale high in the air while her friends looked on in horror. “Rarity what are you doing?!” Twilight yelled before they all watched as Rarity brought the scale down. The serpent gasped and fainted dramatically and Rarity’s friends all gasped in horror as well. Rarity stood still holding the scale in one hand, but now in the other she held a long piece of her beautifully curled hair in the other. Her hair now only went just below her ears as she smiled up at the serpent and tossed the scale aside. She didn’t miss a beat and levitated the hair straight over to the missing side of the mustache and weaved into what little bit remained now. It fit perfectly.

“Oh hohoho~!” the serpent declared in joy as he felt the new edition with his finger tips. “How absolutely wonderful!”

“You look smashing!” Rarity complimented with a dazzling smile of her own.

“Oh Rarity, your beautiful hair! I thought you loved it!” Twilight exclaimed feeling the newly chopped ends of her friend’s hair.

“Oh, it’s fine my dear!” Rarity offered with a slightly unsure smile. "Short hair is IN this summer, didn’t you hear?” she asked with a small giggle. “Besides, it’ll grow back.” She added flipping the ends of it a little.

Twilight gave her a gentle smile but beside her Rainbow Dash scoffed a little crossing her arms. “So would the mustache…” she pointed out. Twilight rolled her eyes and eyed the river once more she quickly saw how calm it had become and gasped pointing at the calm shallow water.

“We can cross now!” she declared hopping into it only to have the ground rise up under her. She found that it was not actually the ground but the sea serpent returning the generosity he had been shown earlier.

“Allow me!” he offered turning himself into a bridge for them all to hop across. When they were all across they waved goodbye to him before he swam off up the river and they continued down their own path.

It was a while longer before they were all stopped once more by the sight of stony castle ruins before them. Twilight beamed and pointed at it. “There it is! The ruins of the Castle of the Royal Sisters! We made it!” she declared charging forward.

“Whoa Twilight! Wait for us!” Applejack yelled holding her hat flat against her head as they all ran after her.

“No time Apple-Whoaaaa!” she yelled as she stopped on a dime almost falling straight into a foggy chasm with the remnants of an old and tattered bridge between one side and the other where the castle sat.

A hand quickly pulled her back so that she fell on her rump on the flat earth. She looked up to see an amused Rainbow Dash standing over her. “What’s with you and falling off cliffs today Sparkle?” she joked. The rest of the group caught up and they all saw what Twilight had. Pinkie groaned.

“Now what?!” she asked the air. Rainbow gaufed and rolled her eyes shaking her wings in Pinkie’s face.

“Uh, duh.” She laughed taking to the air and flying over to the bridge to pick up the end that was supposed to connect to the other side.

“Oh yeah.” Pinkie giggled.

Dash soared over to the other side connecting one of the ties to the stake before she heard someone calling her name in the wind. She looked around confused. “Huh? Who’s there?!” she asked whipping her head around adopting a fighting stance and making fisticuffs at the air. “I ain’t afraid of you! Show yourself cowards!” she declared.

“We’ve been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flier in Equestria…” came a voice from a shady figure just within the sights of the dense fog that covered the area.

“Who?” Dash asked not following.

“Why, you of course!”

“Really?! I mean, yeah of course, ME! Hey, you wouldn’t mind telling the Wonderbolts that would you? Cause I’ve been trying to get into that group for like EVER!” she explained waving her hand a little with a cocky smile.

“No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join US,” came the female voice once again. Three figures stepped forward in the fog so they could be seen clearly. There were to men and a woman in the center, all of them with deep blue hair and wearing black, blue, and yellow flight suits with yellow flight goggles on that obscured their eyes. “The Shadowbolts! We’re the greatest flight team in the Everfree forest, which stretches well beyond Equestrian borders. But soon we shall be the greatest in all of Equestria as well!” the female declared before zipping right over to rainbow Dash grinning. “But first, we need a captain.” Dash got a wild grin across her face and emitted a small squee at what the Shadowbolt was insinuating. “The most magnificent,”

“Yup.”

“Swiftest.”

“Yup!”

“Bravest flier in ALL the land!”

“Yes, it’s all true!” Rainbow boasted grinning as she pumped a fist against her chest.

“We need…” the Shadow bolt flew right up next to her whispering in her ear. “You.”

Rainbow quickly leapt into the air grinning. “WooHoo~! Sign me up baby!” She cheered. She flew back to land next to where she had left the bridge rope. “Just let me tie this bridge up and you’ve got yourself a deal.”

“NO!” The Shadowbolt demanded standing right in between her and the rope. “It’s them, or US.” She demanded.

From the other side Rainbow hear Twilight call out to her. “Rainbow! What’s taking so long?” she asked from the other foggy side. Twilight was no slouch when it came to her vision and could see the figures standing in front of Rainbow in a clear moment through the fog. The female in the group gave her a glare and her eyes glowed for an instant the fog thickening quickly. “Rainbow! Don’t listen to them they’re-“ Twilight’s voice never reached Rainbow though.

“So, what’s it going to be Rainbow Dash?”

Rainbow looked to the ground her eyes darkening for a second as she bit her lip and then sighed. “You…” The Shadowbolt grinned and looked ready to say something before Rainbow continued. “Thank you, for the offer I mean.” Rainbow replied with a soft smile as she reached down and tied the rope to the post before flying up into the air. “But I’m afraid I’m going to have to say no.” she replied before grinning and flying back across the bridge to her friends. The Shadowbolt hissed and all three disappeared in a cloud of smoke once Rainbow was out of sight.

Rainbow flew up the center parting the fog as she went and dissipating it as she landed. Her friends all whooped and hollered as they surrounded her before walking across the newly repaired bridge.

“Way to go Rainbow!” Twilight cheered as she stepped across first. Rainbow flew beside her smiling.

“See? I’d never leave my friends hanging!” she boasted before taking the lead towards the castle. Twilight hung back for a bit as the others walked onto the castle walk way. She felt a strange calmness inside her at seeing them all there waiting for her.

‘Yeah… our friends.’ Twilight thought before she ran towards them to catch up as they entered the towering and crumbling structure.

Once inside it was pretty easy to navigate up to the throne room where the map had said the elements were kept. The entered into the spacious room and Applejack was the first to speak looking around in astonishment.

“Whoa nelly, come on Twilight, isn’t this what you’ve been waiting for?” she asked as the mage stepped forward to the large statue in the center of the room. Sitting on the stone pedestals were five stone orbs with the symbols the book referenced carved into them.

“This it girls! The Elements of Harmony!” Twilight announced with a triumphant smile as Fluttershy and Rainbow worked on bringing them down from the statue. When they were all down Fluttershy was panting pretty hard and Rainbow was moving her wrist around like she had pulled something. “Okay… so this is a problem.” Twilight thought aloud noticing how much larger and heavier they were than she had expected. “We can’t very well take these with us all the way through that forest… Rarity, are any of your teleportation gems powerful enough for this?” Twilight asked her fellow mage. Rarity ran her fingers along the gems she had equipped to the belt she wore across her dress. She looked back up at Twilight shaking her head and sending her short hair shaking around her face. “Damn… okay… let me think.” She paused looking down at the stones before sighing. “Well, I guess I don’t have a choice then. I’ll just have to figure out how to activate them here.” She said before pulling out a piece of glowing chalk from her bag and starting to draw a diagram on the floor around the Elements. Rarity’s eyes widened as she stepped forward to her fellow mage.

“Twilight, you can’t be serious! Complex magic like this leaves you-“

“Very vulnerable, and susceptible to mistakes, so I’d appreciate it if I could concentrate on this so I don’t blow us all to the moon.” Twilight calmly responded not breaking her concentration on making the magical symbols inside the once simple circle. Rarity opened her mouth to further protest but felt a hand on her shoulder and turned to see Applejack shaking her head and nodding towards where they had come in. Rarity bit her lip and cast one last glance at Twilight before giving in and letting Applejack guide her back out into the hall.

“Come on now ya’ll, she needs to concentrate.” AJ stated as she ushered them out of the room leaving the door open just a crack. Once outside Rarity promptly glared at Applejack.

“What do you think you’re doing Applejack?! If we leave her in there like that when Nightmare’s been following us this entire time…!” Rarity exclaimed pushing her blonde friend in the shoulder. Applejack didn’t respond at first, not aloud. She simply pulled her bag off her shoulder and drew something out from it.

“Rare, ya’ll ever heard of baiting with a big fish ta catch a shark…?” Applejack asked never taking her eyes away from the crack in the door.

“No I-“ she stopped when she heard the familiar click and whir of an automated revolver. She looked to AJ’s hand to see her gripping the handle of her gun. “You’re luring her out…! But darling do you really think shooting an immortal like her is going to do any damage?” Rarity whispered her eyes never leaving Applejack.

“Ah don’t need ta damage her, all Ah need ta do is buy Twi a few seconds…” she reasoned. Rarity gave her a smile and had to fight a thousand inner battles to not kiss the cheek that was so close to her own. Rarity’s inner demons however were silenced when they both saw a mist come floating in through the window and start to surround Twilight in a vortex.

“Shoot Jack!” Rarity ordered quickly.

“Ah can’t! Ah might hit Twilight!” AJ replied as the other three heard the commotion and shoved past them and into the room just in time to see Twilight jump into the vortex that had surrounded the Elements. Both winked out of existence and the girls all ran to where their friend once stood. “Well that’s just fantastic! That blasted bitch knew I was batin’ her and she took it all fer herself!” Applejack hissed before smashing her hands into the sides of her head. “Stupid, stupid, STUPID!” she yelled to herself.

“Applejack, you can wallow in self-pity later! For now look!” Rarity ordered from where she stood at one of the many shattered windows in the room. Across the way there was a once tall tower and in one of the windows they all saw a flash of light.

“Come on ya’ll, we gotta go save Twilight!” Applejack called already running towards the other exit that lead out to the rest of the castle. The others all followed at their top speeds.

In the room she had been teleported to after Nightmare Moon had tried to take the elements Twilight was just pulling herself off the ground feeling around for the stone orbs she had tried so hard to protect. Her eyes shot open when she heard laughter from elsewhere in the room. She looked up to see Nightmare Moon standing over her all five elements orbiting around her. She smirked down at the girl showing just a little of her sharp canine like teeth. Twilight’s eyes narrowed as she glared down the dark Alicorn and raised her fists in a fighting stance.

“You’re kidding… you ARE kidding right?” Nightmare taunted laughing at the little nerd’s cute little brave face. Twilight charged at her hands charging magic as she went. Nightmare sighed and took flight straight at Twilight like a dark hawk swooping in on its prey. Just when the distance was no more than a foot Twilight was surrounded by the glow and disappeared reappearing where Nightmare had once been, in the center of the Elements. She rubbed her dizzy head for a second but cleared it quickly as she knelt down beside them and surrounded each of them in her magic as she furred her brow in concentration.

“Come on… come on, just one little spark…!” she pleaded. The elements began to buzz a little with her magic and for a second she felt hope, but that hope was crushed by a blinding flash in her eyes and then a booted foot slamming down in the center of the elements and causing the burst of magic to throw her back. Twilight looked up to see the elements still buzzing with her magic and she smirked.

“No, NO!!!” Nightmare shouted her reptilian eyes widening in panic at the prospect of her plan failing her so easily. But just as quickly as the panic sunk in it disappeared when the elements lost their hold on the magic and dropped to the floor like useless, well rocks.

Twilight gasped at her plan’s last ditch effort failing. “But… where’s the sixth element?!” She asked not believing what she was seeing. Nightmare moon burst into maniacal laughter and brought her other foot down in the circle causing a shock wave of magic. In slow motion Twilight literally watched the only hope earth had shatter before her into tiny pieces.

“You insolent CHILD! Did you really believe such dingy old relics could beat me TWICE?! You’re so naive. You never even saw the signs that were right in front of your face! Luna’s haunted looks when she was around all of you, the way she hadn’t been ‘quite the same’ since the trip. You and your friends could have never seen her for what she really was, what she always HAS been, gaze upon me Twilight Sparkle! For I AM your Luna! I am every ounce of hatred she has for this world, I am ever dark intent she wished upon you day loving monsters! I am every scrap of jealousy that she told herself she still didn’t have after she was ‘freed’. I never went away Twilight, I was always there.” Nightmare explained. Images of Luna’s expressions for the last few months filled Twilight’s vision. Every pained look she’d never noticed, every dejected turn of her eyes, every hidden tear she shed in the middle of the night. She felt every ounce of Luna’s loneliness eating away at her heart. “And even knowing that today I’d take her back she STILL tried to help you… what was in that stupid book anyways? Legends of Equestria was it? I suppose THAT was her way of telling you about me, not that it helped you at all.” She laughed.

Mentioning the book made Twilight think back to the bookmark she had never put back in it. She reached into her skirt pocket and found the thin piece of paper still there. She pulled it out and stared down at it while Nightmare continued monolouging. It looked like it had been torn out of a notebook of sorts; drawn on it was the symbol of the elements she had seen previously on the book but surprisingly enough there were some notes scrawled under it in a familiar handwriting, Celestia’s. There were dates and two sets of initials next to each one.

F.G- 6/30 KND

R.D- 8/1 LTY

A.A- 8/30 HTY

R.B- 12/15 GTY

T.S- 3/6 LGHT MGK

P.P- 6/1 MGK LGHT

Twilight studied the little piece of paper, it looked old, crumpled, and faded. And that drawing of the elements that was above them, it was different in two ways, the first being that it looked new while the text looked quite faded with age; the second being it differed from the one in the book. Unlike the previous pentagram with the stone circles with different symbols in the middle, these elements were in the shapes of cut gems. But what was odd was that the elements in the drawing were… see through? Or were they not even there at all? It was hard to tell with the aging paper and all. But those dates, and those initials, why did they scream out to her? At just that moment Twilight heard her answer in the distant sound of her friends approaching. The sound of maniacal laughter sounded from Nightmare again as rambled about something involving eternal night. Just then the door to the room slammed open and Twilight heard the clicking of a gun.

“Eat lead ya cocky varmit.” Applejack snarled before she fired a shot right into Nightmare’s open laughing mouth causing her to go down her wind pipe and choke her, perfect for buying time. The girls quickly rushed over to the fallen Twilight and upon seeing their faces gears started to turn in her head and memories started to wash to the surface of her mind.
‘And then he went on this weird monologue about how all of us were born right before Luna was returned, he looked really confused when I told him Pinkie was the youngest though. Like he couldn’t believe this nut job was the baby in the group.’ Dash laughed giving the curly haired girl beside her a noogie. They were all recounting their near-arrest stories for everyone to hear.

‘Heeeey! Dashie that’s mean! I’m not THAT crazy!’ Pinkie pouted.

‘You guy’s want to know something interesting?’ Twilight had asked as she took a sip of the soda she was drinking. Her friends gave her their attention signaling she should continue. I was actually supposed to be born the same day as Pinkie. But I was born three months early so they had to put me in intensive care until I got better.’ She explained with a gentle smile.

‘Darling that’s terrible! How ever did you get better?!’ Rarity asked astonished that their, yes nerdy and not as well toned as some of the other’s in the group, but well sized and developed friend could have ever been at such extreme odds and still have turned out the way she had.

‘Mom and Dad said it was Luna, the day she came back I went through a huge magical surge. That magical surge was the first one I’d ever had, and right afterwards I started to cry which I had also never done. The doctors said that the magical surge is what saved me. It jumped my system and restarted everything good as new, even going so far as to accelerate my development up to normal standards. Within another month I was able to leave the hospital. I was of course monitored closely when I was younger, but the only thing different the doctors ever saw was that I was very bright for my age and my magic reserves were much deeper than normal.’

‘That’s super cool Twilight! So if you hadn’t been born so early me and you could have been birthday buddies!’ Pinkie giggled hugging her friend close.

‘Yeah… I guess we would have.’ Twilight laughed.

***

‘Sister, are you so sure it is really her…?’ Luna whispered to her sister further down the library where they thought little Twilight, who was dutifully studying the material Celestia had given her.

‘Yes, I’m absolutely sure Luna. The magical signature is exactly the same.’ Celestia assured her sister in an equally as quiet tone.

‘But her birth date it doesn’t-‘

‘She was born early ,and gravely ill until the birth of the other one. On that day her parents say that YOUR return is what triggered her first magical surge that cured her. But you and I both know that’s not how it happened. Look, I wrote down the times from the records. The last one was born at 5:58 at night, at 5:59 doctors recorded Twilight’s first magical surge, and as you know you appeared in my bedroom at-‘

‘6 PM… it is her! Her power simply couldn’t activate without the-!’

‘Shh, Luna, keep your voice down. She’s a very clever girl, if she hears you she may very well start asking questions that she’s not ready to ask.’

***

‘I-I’m sorry, Princess… come again…?’ Twilight requested thinking she had simply heard her mentor wrong. That those dreaded words were just a terrible nightmare.

‘You heard me quite well Twilight, in the fall you, Spike, and my sister Luna will be attending Ponyville Academy and University in order to break you and her, for I know Spike is out going enough that I don’t have to worry over his social issues, of your terrible anti-social behavior.’ Celestia’s smiling face only mortified her more. ‘I repeat, you need some friends, real ones this time.’

***

‘Hi! My name is Pinkamena Diane Pie~ But that's a mouthful so you can just call me Pinkie Pie for short! Or Pinkie! I’m really not all that picky~!’

‘Okay, let’s try that again, this time one at a time, you first Miss uh…’ Twilight trailed off not knowing the farm girl’s name.

‘Applejack, Applejack Apple, and thank ya ma’am..’

‘For the last time hay seed my name isn’t ‘Miss Dash’ it’s Rainbow Dash! Miss Dash is my mother!’

‘Fluttershy…! How long have you been standing there…?’

‘Oh where are my manners, here I am ranting about being a lady and I’ve been so rude as to not introduce myself! I am Rarity Belle, I bring out the beauty in everyone and everything to the best of my ability. It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance darling.’

Twilight had just finished her DDR show down and was surrounded on all sides by her newest friends. On her sides Rarity and Fluttershy complimented her constantly on her dance moves. In front of her Pinkie and Rainbow were both energetically recounting all of the moves and trying to pull off a couple with mixed results. Behind her Applejack and Spike were talking idly about more impressive songs to dance to. Twilight’s heart felt odd all of a sudden, kind of tight… but not in a bad way. Her body felt, warm. Like it was alive with a thousand happy honey bees. This feeling… was this what it was like to have friends?

***

‘With the banishment of her sister the six elements also vanished promising that with their return, so too should her sister be returned to her once more. But on the thousandth year of her banishment so too would the Nightmare return. It would then be in the elements hands to forever rid the world of her existence.’

‘There are five known elements, Kindness, Loyalty, Honesty, Generosity, and Laughter. Little is known about the name of the sixth element, the only thing said about it is that it can only be revealed when the other five are present and ignite it with a spark.’

‘When the other five are present’

‘Other five are present’

‘Five are present’

***

Twilight’s pupils grew in size and within them a tiny spark could be seen as she looked down at the paper she still held clutched in her hand. Quickly she stood up dismissing her friend’s worried stares with a smile. She looked up at Nightmare Moon who was just digging the bullet out of her throat and spitting it on the ground with a glare directed at AJ. But her gaze was instead pulled to the now standing Twilight Sparkle.

“Decided to stop moping like a sad little puppy and fight? I can’t say I’m surprised, Celestia has always instilled a gaggingly high persistence level in her students. What’s your plan now that your precious Elements of Harmony are destroyed Twilight Sparkle?” Nightmare jeered at the mage her wicked grin that would normally strike fear in the hearts of mortals not even making Twilight cringe.

“You’re not Luna, Nightmare.” Twilight stated firmly her lavender eyes narrowed at the demon before her.

“Oh really now? Care to elaborate? Be quick with it, I have an entire playground of shadows out there waiting for me.” Nightmare yawned.

“I know Princess Luna, she loves to play pranks but would never harm anyone with them, she’s very kind and was always gentle with me when I was younger, she’s honest to a fault, generous beyond measure, and has a burning sense of loyalty not just to her nation, but every nation out there and every person that occupies it. And she would never do what you’ve done here today. I know, because she is my friend.”

Nightmare scoffed. “Friends, what a ridiculous sentiment.”

“They’re not actually, and if you were really Luna you’d know that. You’d also know that the elements of harmony broke out of those stone shells a very long time ago.” Twilight added with a gleam in her eye. Nightmare’s sharp eyes focused on her once again this time with surprise. “That’s right Nightmare, you haven’t destroyed the Elements, actually I’d say they’re more alive than ever.” Twilight added with a satisfied smirk at the dumbfounded look on her enemies face. Twilight held up the slip of paper she’d been holding in her hand. “Before you took over her body Luna left me this in that ‘useless’ book she put in the library. Where she KNEW I would go she knows ME. These dates, and those abbreviations and initials on the paper. I wondered where I had seen them before. It wasn’t until just now that I realized what they all mean, what they have meant our entire lives. I have to thank you Nightmare.” Twilight added with a small laugh. All her friends and her enemy gave her an incredulous look. “It was you that pulled all those stunts back in the forest to stop us from getting here right? If it weren’t for those I would have never been able to see each of my friend’s true inner spirits, and I would have never seen what amazing friends they’ve always been to me.” She added as her hands started to glow with magic, but not magic of her usual aura, this magic was pure white.

The magic surrounded all the shards of the broken sphere’s that nightmare had smashed and sent them levitating into the air. Nightmare’s eyes widened as she saw a faint glow surround each one of the girls in front of her, the point of the cutiemarks being the brightest.

“N-No…!” Nightmare shouted backpedaling a little as she tried to move away from the light.

“Yes! You couldn’t destroy the Elements of Harmony because they’ve already been reborn, inside each of us you see standing before you!” Twilight declared the magic starting to travel up her arms and across her body as the rock shards started to form rings around her friends.

“Applejack, who reassured me in the face of doubt represents the spirit of, Honesty!”

“Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of, Kindness!”

“Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of, Laughter!”

“Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift, represents the spirit of, Generosity!”

“And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her heart’s own desire, represents the spirit of Loyalty!”

“The spirits of these five girls got us through every challenge you threw at us!” Twilight declared each of her friends now possessing an orbiting orb that had been broken into shards.

“But you still don’t have the sixth element! The spark didn’t work!” Nightmare pointed out seeing some hope left.

“But it did, a different kind of spark! I felt it the moment I realized how happy I was just to have you all by my side, that you all opened your hearts and accepted me, for who I was. I felt the spark when I realized just how happy I was that all of you, were my very best friends!” With her words the magic reached her eyes and now her entire body was glowing with the white energy. High above her head a single white stone orb materialized and floated down to just above her head. “You see Nightmare Moon, when those elements are ignited by… by the spark,” Twilight added after a moment of thought “that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element. The element of, Magic!”

The orbiting shards around each of her friends grew closer until the merged around each of their necks forming golden necklaces with gems in the shape of their cutiemarks in their center. Floating in the air now with all of her friends a golden tiara with Twilight’s star burst in the center of it now rested on the crown of her head as she smiled down at Nightmare Moon.

“Come back to us Luna, we promise, you won’t be lonely anymore.” Twilight whispered a single tear escaping her eye as the six girls all came together and with each of their Elements glowing and a look of fear in Nightmare’s eyes the magic that surrounded their bodies spiraled into the form of a huge wave of a rainbow light that washed over Nightmare Moon as she screamed in agony.

When everything went white it all seemed to, fade away. Twilight woke up groggily not even bothering to open her eyes as she rubbed her aching head. She felt something odd perched on top of it and removed it for inspection as she opened her eyes. Twilight looked at the tiara in her hand for a few seconds before she remembered where it had come from, and why she had used it. She looked around quickly to see her friends in similar states of mind rubbing their heads as they sat up and then examining the new weight around their necks. Twilight’s attention was grabbed when Rarity was the first to speak.

“Oh my goodness!” she exclaimed bouncing her newly regrown hair in her hands with sheer joy written across her face.

“Why Rarity, it’s so lovely!” Fluttershy complimented with a soft smile.

“I know! I’ll never part with it again!” she declared hugging the curls close to her cheek.

“No, your necklace!” Fluttershy amended pointing at the golden article around her neck that have a diamond cut deep purple gem in its center. “It looks just like your cutiemark!”

“Huh, Oh! So does yours!” Rarity stated pointing at the necklace around Fluttershy’s neck.

“Look at mine, look at mine!” Pinkie squealed as she bounced over to Applejack.

Rainbow Dash brought hers up to where she could see it. “Awwwww yeah!”

“Wooee Twilight, Ah thought you were just spouting a bunch of hooie, but Ah reckon, we really DO represent the Elements!” Applejack observed admiring her own necklace.

“Indeed you do.”

The disembodied voice was surprising, but welcome to everyone present who recognized it right away. The sun rose proudly into the sky once more and from it came a golden ball of energy that phased inside the castle and took the tall regal form of the white robed Princess that had been sorely missed. The girls all bowed in respect and she smiled at them all with pride before Twilight rushed up to her and hugged her tightly, Celestia was quick to return the embrace.

“I knew you could do it.” Celestia mused once they broke apart.

“But, you told me it was just an old fairytale! That I shouldn’t waste my time studying when I have friends!” Twilight recalled.

“And I stand by what I said, you shouldn’t let yourself get over whelmed with your studying, knowledge is important, but your friends are just as important. You must learn to split your time between them equally. To do so, I’m going to be letting you stay in Ponyville, so that you may further your studies in the magic, of friendship.” Celestia declared with a happy smile that only grew when she saw the excitement on her student’s face grow to bursting levels. However, one other girl in the room was already bursting at her seams. Pinkie Pie was shaking like a leaf her need-a-party-o-meter almost breaking from the stress it was undergoing. Just as she opened her mouth she was halted by the Princess who calmly shook her head and then looked over at where the simmering remnants of the blast left black armor scattered everywhere around it and in the center just barely waking up was a very frail, very young looking Luna. She now looked no older than ten years old and looked up at her older sister her eyes very heavy and hard to keep open.

“Did… Did Twilight get my note…?” she asked her voice quiet, and sounding just as frail as she looked. Twilight knelt beside Luna smiling.

“Yes, Luna, I did… you know Starshine would have you in detention if he caught you passing notes.” Twilight laughed. Luna laughed as well but not for long.

“That loser can *yawn* go to hell for all I care… Hey sis, I’m gonna take a nap, okay?” Luna asked her eyes having already long since drifted shut.

Celestia carefully lifted her sister in her arms so as not to disturb her. “Sleep as long as you want Lulu, you’ve earned it. And you six, I’m going to teleport you all back to Ponyville, and I’m going to take Luna home. I’m sure the nobles have all killed each other by now but at least it’ll be quiet. Sunny will visit tomorrow at the library at noon, you should expect her, she has the answers to the question’s you want to ask.” Celestia explained before they all disappeared in a flash of white.

HIBAA Special #2

(***AN: To quote my previous Chapters, I'M NOT DEAD!!! Just very busy these days. Holidays and such. And a few select friends of mine think it funny to keep changing my wifi password. So there's that. This Chapter is a two-parter, that with any luck will have it's other half up tonight or tomorrow. Since I'm at my parents for the holiday's there's a lot more reliable internet here and a lot less outside interference in my work. So you can look forward to more updates until I go back to school in another fifteen days. Enjoy everyone, and again, I'm sorry for the lack of updates.***)

HIBAA Special Chapter #2:

The Mysterious Madam Victoria

“VIIIIIIIIIIIIIINYL!!!!!!” Octavia’s enraged voice woke the electric blue haired raver from her peaceful sleep for what seemed like the hundredth time since she had transferred to the school. She quickly pulled her goggles on her face as she heard loud footsteps coming up the hall to her room. The door, which she never bothered keeping locked since Octavia had pretty much broken that within the first week of them sharing the dorm, she was already fully dressed and had her bag slung across her shoulder. “You slept through the end of the year ceremony in the auditorium! AND I had to LIE to professor about you being sick when you slept through our last music class as well!” she ranted steam practically billowing off her. Vinyl yawned and sat up stretching.

“You didn’t have to lie to him Tav, he knows I had a gig last night. He was AT the bar.” The girl informed her roommate as she stood up from her bed and moved around a few of the empty energy drink cans on her floor in an attempt to find her phone. She discovered it submerged in a half drained glass of OJ. Like always the little trooper still functioned perfectly and revealed she had quite a few missed calls from the pissed off earthbound that was currently glaring daggers at her.

Octavia’s face however switched to shock as she seemed to hear Vinyl for the first time. “Wait, I’m sorry, I must have misheard you; did you say that our professor, Dr. Noteworthy was at your… ravers bar last night…?” she asked slowly as if to make sure she was hearing herself correctly as well. Vinyl picked up a random glow stick that seemed to still have some juice left in it and shook it a little watching the light in it come back with a satisfied grin.

“Yup, never knew Doc to be much for my type of scene either but there he was chugging back electric screwdrivers like they were fruit juice or something. Guy isn’t a half bad dancer either.” she commented as she started to pick up a few articles of clothing to test if they were still wearable or not.

“That would explain why he had everyone sit in near silence and why he was applying eye drops every ten minutes or so…” Octavia commented with a small groan. She then remembered why she had come in and went back into full ranting mode. “But that aside you STILL shouldn’t be sleeping through this Vinyl it’s our last day before-!”

“Summer vacation I known Tavi, I HAVE been in school before you know…? I think I get how the process works now.” Vinyl retorted with a flat face at the classical fan. Octavia again opened her mouth to snap something back at her roommate when Vinyl interrupted her again. “And yes I DO remember that you, me, and Neon are going to be doing our last broad cast in less than an hour. Which also means you should let me get ready and not be standing in my room like a pissed of badger and yelling at me for sleeping through a boring morning that I probably would have slept through anyways.” Vinyl pointed out as she used her light blue magic to levitate the dark haired girl from her room and back out into the hallway before slamming the door in her face before she could get out another word. Vinyl listened closely, at first there was no sound. ‘That’s Tavi piecing together everything I just said…’ then there was a loud thud on the wall. ‘And that’s her taking it out on the wall… again.’ Then there was the stomping of heeled feet as Octavia marched out of their dorm and slammed the door behind her. ‘And that’s her storming out in a huff to vent on her way to the station. Better get in the shower now, if I’m late she might actually kill me this time.’ She mused as she chuckled a little. She walked into her bathroom and grabbed the last clean towel she had from the linen closet and slipped her goggles from her face and set them in their enchanted case that she kept in the cabinet above her toilet. She took no risks when it came to her goggles.

Half an hour later she was showered, dressed, and munching on a candy bar as she grabbed her electric blue skateboard and darted out of the dorm her white jacket flowing behind her as she rushed to put it on and race towards the closing golden elevator doors. “Hold that elevator!” she called as she ran for it. A hand caught the doors and they slid back open allowing Vinyl to skid to a halt inside it as she quickly gulped down the last of her candy bar and turned to thank her savior. “Oh, Heartstrings. Visiting your girlfriend again…?” she asked with a sly smirk at the mint and white haired lyre player that shared the elevator with her. Lyra sighed and rolled her eyes at the comment as the doors closed.

“Quiet you, I don’t assume with you and Octy so unless you want to face Bon-Bon’s wrath I would suggest you stop with the gay jokes and just accept that we’re friends… JUST friends.” She added with a sharp glare when the DJ waggled her eyebrows playfully at the girl.

“Aw, chill out Ly, you know I’m only kidding around. You and Bonnie can confess your undying love for each other any time you want, just remember that Pinks already called dips on planning the wedding.” Vinyl laughed. Lyra again groaned and facepalmed as the elevator stopped in the lobby and both of them got out and walked towards the front door.

“Vi, you’ve got enough to worry about. I saw Octy stomp through here earlier, and just like it always is I’m pretty sure you’re at fault for this one as well.” Lyra stated with a smirk. Vinyl faked a dramatic gasp at the accusation.

“My dear Lyra, are you implying I would cause our dear friend Octavia grief over something…?! How scandalous!” Vinyl quipped in her best imitation of Octavia’s own accent. It was pretty dead on and made Lyra crack a grin.

“Yes, I am. Now get a move on before I have to explain to Doc why his two best musicians got in a fight and one of them is dead and the other is in prison.” Lyra retorted sticking her tongue out at the girl.

“Just one question.” Vinyl prompted as she set down her favored mode of transport on the white sidewalk. “Which one’s dead and which ones in prison…?” she asked. Lyra only grinned and turned to walk in the opposite direction.

“Use your imagination Scratch, if you need me I’ll be signing yearbooks over lunch.” She called before she dispersed into the crowd of students that flooded the sidewalks.

Vinyl chuckled a little as she kicked off on her skateboard towards Everfree Radio Station, the name they had given the station they now ran and operated all on their own. They had a few more people acting as support that had joined the radio club in the last few months but it was still just Vinyl, Neon, and Octavia at the head doing most of the heavy lifting. The three had started up the radio station not expecting much, maybe a few listeners across the school and maybe the town but nothing major. So it was a great surprise when on the very first day they had almost the entire school tuned into them. Octavia had almost fainted when she saw the numbers and Vinyl and Neon had to implement their first on-air improvise… Meaning Vinyl took the mike and blasted Dubstep into the ears of their listeners, which they loved by the way. After Octavia had recovered she took it in stride and rolled with it. Something that impressed Vinyl to no end, though she would have never said it aloud.

After the first broadcast their popularity only grew, so much so that others outside the fair town of Ponyville began to want to listen in as well. Octavia proved herself to be resourceful to say the least, she quickly started opening sponsorship deals with local shops and bigger companies outside Ponyville, soon they had a steady income so they could upgrade their tower. To Octavia’s eternal shock she found Vinyl Scratch the next morning hanging upside down from a now very impressive looking radio tower by a tangle of wires completely asleep after she had spent the entire night ‘teching out’ the radio station. By Teching out she meant that she had literally upgraded the entire station by herself in one night. After that show of dedication Octavia placed her in charge of the station’s mechanics without a second thought. If it had wires and circuit boards it was Vinyl’s job to keep it in check. That’s when she roped a dozen or so lackeys into helping her out. They helped out greatly, they kept the place spotless, did whatever was asked of them, and fawned over Vinyl like she was a goddess. Life was good.

Neon watched the little radio project he had started grow into an empire day by day and rode it out as the face of Everfree Radio, while Octavia became its voice and mind. Neon publicized everywhere, posters on walls around the school and in town, on the internet, in person with everyone he talked to, and he somehow managed to get a blimp to fly around in three different huge cities; all he gave as an explanation for that was that a friend owed him a favor. With Neon advertising and bringing in the listeners and sponsors, Octavia managing the finances and keeping a close schedule for everyone to follow, and Vinyl maintaining everything on the home front and corralling her own set of dedicated workers the Everfree Radio Station became the only student run radio station to be broadcasted across the entire nation of Equestria.

Of course, the three had their own internal conflicts as well, Vinyl and Octavia’s conflicting personality’s being the usual problem. While Octavia held everything in a tight orderly grip Vinyl always came in wild blue hair blazing as she wrecked havoc on Octavia’s peaceful life pushing her buttons wherever she could. Of course Octavia pushed back, always doing little things like tidying up Vinyl’s ‘organized mess’ whenever she left her desk in ruins. But one thing that remained Vinyl’s favorite form of torture against Octavia was being late on purpose. She came to a stop outside the radio station and looked at her phone to check the time. She was a minute early. She sat down on her skateboard and pulled out an energy drink and an apple from her bag. She popped the top to the drink and leaned back against the brick wall sipping it and occasionally biting into her apple. Five minutes later she finished and calmly stood up dusting off her jeans a little before shouldering her drawstring bag again and kicking up her board into her hand as she walked into the station with a grin plastered on her face. Octavia was standing in the doorway with the opposite expression on her face as her normally light pink eyes darkened and narrowed as she glared at the slightly taller girl in front of her.

“I was watching the security feed Vinyl… really? You just HAD to take a snack break and be late RIGHT OUTSIDE?!” She asked grabbing the attention of a few guys that were reorganizing the collection of vinyl records on the seemingly endless shelves.

Vinyl smiled a cocky grin and nudged past Octavia leaving her board leaning against the door. “Well you won’t let me eat or drink in the Air room so I had to get it out of the way.” She explained with a glance and a smirk back at the earthbound as she used her magic to open the door to just said room.

“Oh save it, you don’t give a rat’s arse about that rule Scratch, the evidence is on the shelf next to my desk.” Octavia retorted with a sour look and a pointed finger at the white shelf beside a neat looking desk that had many colorful energy drinks and candy bars lining it, a sign hung above it that read: ‘Confiscated items. DO NOT TOUCH, THIS MEANS YOU VINYL.’.

Vinyl glanced at it amused as she set to work on getting her station set up for the broadcast that would be starting in less than ten minutes. She noticed a teal haired teenage Alicorn sitting in her black office chair playing a PSP. “Woona? What are you doing here? Did you finally say yes to Neon and you’re here on some kind of weird last-day date…?” she asked the game loving princess.

Luna’s eyes never left the game as she responded. “In his dreams, I’m here because Octavia requested I say a word of goodbye to our fellow students, and I thought you and I could do a skit together for the finale.” Luna mused as she rapidly clicked the buttons on the handheld console her cutiemark themed headphones plugged in but only on one ear so she could still hear.

“Awesome! What’d ya have in mind? Messing with Tavi? A song? Or maybe a little bit of story time?” Vinyl offered sitting on a clear spot on her desk while she used her magic to prepare her equipment.

Octavia was sitting in her chair going through a list of scheduled sets and announcements they’d be making in the show. “Oh please Vinyl, Luna is a princess! She’s above things like your immature pranks and silly stor-“

“A bit of all three.” Luna responded tuning out Octavia as she defeated the final boss and let the victory music play. A small grin appeared on her face as she glanced up at Vinyl who shared her expression.

“Ooooooh, Burn Tavi. Okay Woon, let’s discuss this in my private office.” Vinyl chuckled as she leapt off the desk and grabbed the back of the wheelie chair and rolled Luna towards a plain oak door at the back of the Air room.

“Vinyl that’s not an office it’s the restroom!” Octavia called after her. In response blue magic enveloped a sign that stuck itself over the plaque of a toilet and instead now boasted a picture of Vinyl’s face and big gold letters spelling OFFICE for everyone to read. Octavia groaned and slumped in her chair rubbing her temples. Behind her Neon came in and chuckled as he started to rub her shoulders.

“She’s not even here five minutes and you’re already slouching. Are you sure you wanna keep this going over the summer…?” he asked playfully as Octavia’s shoulders began to relax a little from his rubbing.

“No, but I already promised our sponsors a summer time special so I don’t have any other choice. Vinyl IS a big part of this after all…” she muttered as she sighed and tipped her head back so she could see up into his deep blue eyes. He smiled at the girl giving her his best impression of Vinyl with his grin.

“Don’t worry Octy, you two will find SOMETHING you have in common eventually. Maybe you just have to get to know her a bit better.” He offered. The two were very close friends, so much so that Octavia often caught herself thinking of him as another brother. Her parents certainly liked him enough for him to be a part of their crazy family. Although her mother kept teasing her saying he could be MARRIED in but Octavia was nowhere near ready for that kind of relationship and even if she was it wouldn’t be with Neon. Nothing against him but she like guys with more refined personalities and who didn’t remind her of her dreadful pain-in-the-arse roommate.

“Thanks Neon, I needed that…” she responded with a kind smile in turn. The smile vanished when Vinyl and Luna emerged from the bathroom turned office giggling like little girls and glancing at her. She slowly stood and leaned towards her male co-host. “If I get arrested today for assault and battery of my roommate will you call my mother to bail me out?”

“I’ll do you one better, I’ll come in and bail you out myself.” He returned with another smile, this one more his style. Octavia nodded and was about to thank him when her watch beeped and she looked down at it quickly. “Oh bullocks, okay everyone in your places! We go live in five minutes!” she announced making sure the helpers outside could hear her before she shut the door ensuring the soundproof seal of the room. Vinyl let Luna keep her seat and chose instead to stand at her control panel as she fitted her headset on and started fine tuning her settings to ensure that all the mikes were in perfect working order. She gave a thumbs up at Octavia and Neon who were sitting in the hosting seats testing out their mikes and making small adjustments of their own. Luna was watching with a small note of fascination at all the equipment that went into the station, she had been here before but never really paid attention to it all. Vinyl was watching the clock and counted down with her hand before signaling to Tavi and turning on the green light as she hit the intro button and a catchy jingle played before it faded into Octavia’s soothing voice.

“Hello everybody and welcome to a very special broadcast of Everfree Radio, for those of you who are listening in from outside our lovely Ponyville Academy and University this is the last day of school for us.” Vinyl inserted a sound effect here “But don’t worry we here at Everfree Radio have some exciting news for you, starting one week from today we will be bringing you a 24 hour broadcast for the entire length of the summer.” Vinyl added a much happier effect here

“See…? Our wonderful studio audience is pleased with it! Now where are my manners, I haven’t introduced myself or my wonderful co-hosts yet! I’m your host Octavia and beside me is the ever charming Neon Lights,”

“Charming doesn’t begin to describe me Octy.” He commented.

“And our tech producer and personal DJ Miss Vinyl Scratch.” Octavia finished. Vinyl played a thundering applauding sound effect here as she took a few bows to some invisible spectators.

“Thank you, thank you, I know I’m awesome.” She mused into the mike that was built into her headset. Octavia rolled her eyes before continuing.

“And we have a very special guest today but she’s currently battling a monstrous looking minotaur right now so we’ll bring her on a little bit later, for now let’s have a word from our generous sponsors, Neon?” she offered handing the reigns over to her cohost while she shut off her mike and rolled her chair back a little to where Vinyl was standing. “You’ve got the set ready to go on after Neon’s done with the sponsor’s…?” she asked. The DJ grinned and gave her a thumbs up moving her mike out of her face.

“No worries Tavi, I’ve gotcha covered.” She responded without missing a beat when Neon signaled her to play one of the sponsor’s jingles. Octavia smiled her previous worries briefly vanishing in light of Vinyl’s dependency in the studio.

‘Maybe I should give her a bit of a chance… She can’t be THAT bad under all that… Vinyl.’

Two hours later:

Octavia walked out of the studio in a huff with Vinyl hot on her tail and Neon and Luna back a little ways still laughing their asses off. “Tavi! It wasn’t that bad!” Vinyl protested. Octavia spun on heel and pointed a finger in Vinyl face her pink eyes burning with hatred.

“You magically deepened my voice to make me sound like James Earl Jones and then forced me to sing a musical rendition of The Lion King over a live broadcast with over two million people listening…! Tell me how that isn’t ‘So bad’!” she roared her eyes like death weapon of their own. Vinyl gave her a weak smile as she swallowed hard.

“B-because of you we actually hit over THREE million people…! A new high!” she countered. Octavia’s face dropped for a second before it turned into a serene mask of tranquility as she lightly patted Vinyl’s shoulder.

“That’s wonderful. If you’ll excuse me Vinyl, I have to pack my belongings so that I can transport them back to my house. I’m going to be attending the Canterlot Summer Sun Celebration tonight and I need time to prepare.” She stated formally. Inside Vinyl felt herself go cold, but not because of Octavia’s change in attitude.

“W-wait… you’re going all the way to Canterlot for a party…? When the Princess is going to be here in your home town? Why the effort?” she asked the classical musician as she kept pace with her.

Octavia sighed not really wanting to deal with Vinyl anymore. “If you must know it’s because we received a personal invitation from an old friend of my mother’s. I don’t suppose you’ve heard of Fancy Pants…?” she asked eyeing the DJ carefully. Vinyl was nothing if not a good actress, at least in her face. If Octavia could have seen her eyes she would have been screwed. Octavia sighed after the extended period of silence. “Really Vinyl, I thought even you knew better! Fancy Pants is the biggest influence in Canterlot next to the royal family! He’s born from the high noble family Pantaleon and owns over half of the major businesses in Canterlot, INCLUDING that record company you obsess over, Victory Records…!” She explained exasperated with her roommate. Vinyl made a good act of a light bulb going off in her head.

“Oh yeah! I remember that guy! Never knew his name though, his wife’s some hot shot model though and I hear he named the company after his niece so I guess he’s pretty cool… well, as cool as those sharks at the top can get anyways.” She commented. Octavia sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Yes, and that niece you mentioned is reported to be at this party every year and my Mother is dying to introduce me to her. Supposedly she’s a musician as well, one I will add who has twice the class that you do Vinyl Scratch.” Octavia added to emphasize that she was still very much angry with the other girl.

“Awww, Tavi! Come on, you like my crazy antics! They help loosen that ten foot pole you have shoved up your ass so you can breathe a little.” Vinyl countered with a cocky grin plastered on her face as they approached the dorms.

“I do NOT have anything of the sorts inside me I assure you, and you’ve just proven my point with such a crass comment.” Octavia retorted before she stuck her nose in the air and huffed as she walked into the lobby of their wing. The attendant smiled at them and waved but the pair walked right past her not seeming to notice her at all as they traded banter.

When the elevator stopped at the top floor they got off still arguing back and forth. When they approached the door however Vinyl froze just before she could swipe her card key and sniffed the air a little. ‘English Leather cologne and the distinct flavor of wintergreen mint… fuck me there’s only one old guy I know that smells like that.’ Vinyl moved like a viper striking its prey, she quickly snapped open the door and got inside shutting and locking the door behind her before Octavia could so much as blink.

Said earthbound quickly started pounding on the door. “Vinyl?! Open the door this instant! I need to get my things from my room before four so I demand you open this door post haste…!” she roared pounding on it furiously. On the other side Vinyl winced knowing that Octavia would be pissed later but there was a lot more at stake here than just her temper. Vinyl lifted her goggles up on top of her head to look the man who stood before her and give him a proper glare with her blood red eyes.

“Jaxon I swear on Celestia’s hot white ass that you are the most demonically evil old man alive.” She hissed through her clenched teeth. The older man who stood proudly at just over six feet tall with pure white hair that was groomed perfectly and a suit that fitted perfectly for his title of butler. Her Uncle’s personal butler at that. His deep grey eyes twinkled as he smiled and bowed at the waist his light grey wings unfurling a bit as he did so.

“I apologize for the intrusion Madam Victoria but my orders were quite clear, I am to bring you to the estate to be prepped for the party at once.” He explained with a British accent that made Octavia’s sound Equestrian.

Vinyl quickly grabbed him by the collar and dragged him away from the door and towards the balcony. “I don’t CARE what your orders are, my personal orders that I gave out when I transferred to this school was that no servants from ANY of the estates, main or not, were to come onto the school grounds unless it was a valid emergency! THIS is not an emergency and you’re in my ROOM, you know, where I live… with my ROOMMATE!” She snarled as she pushed him out to the balcony. “Now go out to the front gate and wait for me there! And for the love of Luna tell me you did not already take my bags down…” she whined. He bowed again now standing on the railing as his wings spread.

“I’m sorry milady but yes, the staff has already taken your bags. But do not worry, we took great care in making sure your equipment wasn’t harmed.” He explained with a kind smile.

“I’m not worried about that! I can fix whatever those monkey’s break but I can’t explain to Tavi how my room went from being comfortably messy to barren and spotless in the three hours we were gone!” she hissed back clearly agitated with him now.

He bowed again. “If I may Madam, why not cast an illusionary charm to make it look like your room is still intact, then when it is time to leave you make it so it looks as if you have all your luggage.” He offered. Vinyl froze for a second rubbing her chin in thought. The door pounding was getting worse and it snapped her back to reality.

“Great Idea. Almost enough to make up for this! Now get OUT!” She ordered shoving him off the balcony knowing he was capable of flying safely. She quickly pulled on her goggles again and placed an illusion spell in her room, it wasn’t perfect but Tavi wouldn’t notice the waviness unless she got really close. She went to the front door and pulled it open just as Octavia was getting ready to charge it open. She ran in like a football player and flipped over the couch spectacularly landing on the coffee table and groaning. “Whoa… kinda wish I had a camera for that one…” Vinyl chuckled as she walked over to help Octavia up. Vinyl offered out a hand to the girl and gave her a reluctant smile. Octavia glared at her with dagger like eyes and stood up without Vinyl’s help. She didn’t say a word to her just stood up and walked right towards her room slamming the door hard so that the sound was sure to be heard by all their neighbors.

Speaking of neighbors, Rainbow Dash stuck her head in from the still open hallway door and saw Vinyl standing there stunned. “Whoa, what’d ya do to piss her off that bad Scratch…? Break her Cello…?” she asked her two toned blue haired friend as she walked into the room properly. Vinyl sighed and shook her head.

“Nah, nothing like that… would you do me a favor and not say anything about this to any of the other’s Dash…?” she asked her cyan winged friend.

“Sure thing pal, but… hey I saw this old dude come in here a little while ago, is any of your stuff missing…?” she asked looking around to see if anything was out of place. Vinyl tensed for a second before she responded.

“Him…? Oh, uh, no. That’s just my Gramps. He likes to come in and surprise me from time to time but he gets over bearing so I threw him out before he could embarrass me in front of Tavi. Could ya not mention that too…?”

“Overbearing family that’s super embarrassing? Girl I’m with you there; don’t worry, secret’s safe with me. Now I’ve gotta dash, still got a TON of work to do for that celebration tonight. And Rarity’s been complaining for like an hour about how the lighting has to be cast into town hall just perfect for her decorations to sparkle. ” Rainbow complained as she walked towards the door.

“Dude, seriously? It’s going to be night time, not much light out at night, cloudy or not.” Vinyl chuckled.

“Try telling that to HER in the state she’s been in! But anyways, I need to get over to the library to help Pinkie with something, she called me about ten minutes ago screaming something about needing my help for some big party. She almost sounded hysteric. Catch ya later Scratch! ” she called as she dashed into the room and then jumped out the open window to take flight. Vinyl shut the door and sighed in relief as she walked over and shut the open window as well.

“That was way too close for comfort… I need a freaking candy bar or something.” She grumbled as she went to the fridge to get one of her snacks. She opened it and instead of her normally junk food stocked side being filled with all kinds of sweet and savory treats she found it now looked much more like Octavia’s side which was filled with fruits, vegetables, yogurts, and other things that girls her age were ‘supposed’ to eat. On a large sprig of broccoli that sat where her chocolate used to be was a taped note with her name written on it.

‘Victoria- Really my dear? Candy and soda for meals? What am I going to do with you? Try some of these instead. Your body will be relieved to finally get some nutrients. –Yours truly, Jaxon Paxton Wilkinson Servant of the Pantaleon Family’

Vinyl’s eyes got a little darker as she crumpled the paper in her hand and roared loudly enough that the butler who was just approaching the limousine that was parked on the outer rim of the school’s pick-up circle heard it and couldn’t help but smile.

***

The next hour was spent packing everything they owned into suit cases, or in Vinyl’s case pretending to and instead sitting in her bare room browsing the internet on her phone to find ways to kill people without leaving any kind of evidence. All in all it was very productive. They both emerged at the same time carrying their first sets of suitcases; silently they went back into their rooms for more until the living room was complete with two decent piles of bags. Vinyl was just carrying out her last one which was actually her keyboard strapped around her back and her backpack in her hand, the keyboard was an illusion but the bag in her hand was real. Vinyl set the keyboard in its black case on the rest of her ‘pile’ and turned to face Octavia.

“Hey Tavi… I don’t know if you’re still mad at me but in case you are, I’m sorry ya know..? I wasn’t thinking about all the people that would be listening when we did that and when we got here I-“ She was interrupted by Octavia walking over and placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

“I heard Vinyl…”

Inside Vinyl’s mind her world came to a crashing halt. She heard what…? Her talking with Jaxon?! ‘Oh fuck me… I’m going to have to explain all that to her and she’s going to never look at me the same again! Ugh! Stupid Jaxon! Why’d he have to go and ruin everything?! Just when I thought I could finally leave all that behind too… fuck, well no sense in denying it now…’ Vinyl swallowed hard and looked down at her bright white combat boots. “I’m really sorry I didn’t tell you before I just-“

Octavia smiled as she made Vinyl look back at her face. “Vinyl, it’s okay! I understand what it’s like to have embarrassing family too!” she explained her pink eyes once more brightened and not trying to make her combust into the fiery pits of hell. Vinyl tripped over her words there as she tried to process the sudden change.

“Wait… what?” she asked dumbly not understanding what the dark haired cello player was saying.

“Your grandfather! I completely understand! I love my grandparents to death but they can be so embarrassing! They call me all kinds of childish nicknames and dress like they live on a tropical island!” she added with a small laugh of her own. Vinyl blinked in shock for a few seconds before she regained the ability to speak.

“OH, Yeah totally! Gramps is like… well I’ll spare you the gory details but he’s got the weirdest taste in colognes! His favorite is English Leather and he chews this really powerful mint gum all the time so when I caught wind of that before I opened the door I knew I had to get him out of here before he could break out the baby photos and old tapes!” she laughed scratching the back of her head nervously.

Octavia smiled nodded in agreement. “I understand completely, and are you serious…? English Leather and mint?! The sounds like quite the odd pairing even for the elderly. Speaking of embarrassing family I should probably get going before my father decides to come up here with my brothers to help me carry out my stuff.” she sighed turning towards her pile and hefting the bags onto her shoulders. Blue aura however took the pressure off her and the remainder of her bags floated off the floor and into the air. She turned to see Vinyl with her hands encased in the magic she was using and she winked at Octavia.

“Consider it a make-up present for the stunt I pulled earlier. I can come back for my stuff but you’re in a time crunch.” Vinyl explained with a smile on her face as she walked towards the door the bags floating beside her. Octavia was stunned by the gesture but smiled all the same.

“Thank you Vinyl, that’s very generous of you. But please at least allow me to carry my backpack and Cello case.” She responded pointing at the two objects Vinyl held in her magic. Vinyl quickly realized that she had grabbed the cello and as such was breaking one of the few rules they had set for each other when they first met. She set it down next to Octavia and quickly apologized.

“Sorry! I grabbed it without thinking and-“ a finger was placed on her lips as Octavia strode past her and into the hall.

“It’s fine Vinyl, I don’t mind as much as I thought I would… besides, you technically didn’t touch it.” She reasoned. Vinyl could have pointed out that magic was literally just and extension of her being and therefore a part of her but decided against it. She instead just smiled back as they walked down the hall together.

“You know… for a prissy classical type you’re not half bad Octavia.” Vinyl announced as they boarded the elevator.

“And for a DJ raver from hell you can be quite charming Vinyl.” She complimented back.

“Hey now, charming is Neon’s shtick, not mine. I prefer badass or just plain radical. And I swear on Luna’s moon that if you so much as think the words ‘pretty’ or ‘cute’ I will make sure we’re roommates next year and lull you to sleep every night with a Dubstep remix of ‘Baby’.” Vinyl added sharply. Octavia who had been about to open her mouth quickly clamped it shut. She might have been able to deal with Vinyl for a whole extra year but that farce of a song was bad enough on its own without Vinyl’s horrid wubs amping it up.

“Fine… you’re adorable” she concluded as the doors shut with Vinyl slowly turning to face her.

***

“And that’s the story of how Octavia lost her hearing and Vinyl got arrested for playing obscene music in a public area.” Twilight concluded with a firm nod.

Nyx looked at her mother confused. “But… Octavia can hear just fine Mom…?” Nyx pointed out confused by the statement. Spike rolled his eyes and groaned.

“That was Twi’s attempt at a joke. It was terrible by the way. Vinyl didn’t get her arrested until her 18th birthday and Octavia was with her in that jail cell.” Spike informed the younger Alicorn.

“Ohhhhh, that makes a lot more sense. Wait, Vinyl getting arrested I can understand, that happens pretty much every weekend; but how did she get Tavi arrested…?” Nyx asked curious.

Twilight grinned a little. “She started a bar fight.”

“Vinyl?”

“No, Octavia.”

“. . .”

“Yeah, that was pretty much our response when they told us about it the next morning.” Spike chuckled at the expression on the girl’s pale face.

“How-“

“We’ll tell you another time, for now let’s get back to the story.”

***

Vinyl and Octavia walked all the way down to the main entrance where many cars were lined up waiting for students to board them. Octavia was rubbing her arm where Vinyl had punched her and Vinyl was standing on her tip toes trying to look over the crowd to see if she could locate Octavia’s father. “So what’s your dad drive anyways…?” she asked the earthbound.

“Oh believe me… you’ll know it when you see it…” Octavia responded simply. Her ears flickered a bit and she turned towards the left side of the street that lead up to the academy. “Oh? How odd, looks like Mom’s driving today.” She mused as she heard the distant sound of an engine roaring and tires screeching on asphalt. She pulled out a set of ear plugs and handed another to Vinyl shouting over them. “You’re going to want to put those in!”

Vinyl hesitated but did as she was told eying Tavi suspiciously. Her attention however was grabbed when THIS pulled into the driveway with a booming stereo system that had the ground vibrating and pounding with death metal. If that impression wasn’t enough it had a train horn on top of it that blared loud enough to blow the Rainbow right out of Dash. Vinyl looked over at her friend her eyes wide. “I thought you said your mom was driving today!” she shouted over the thumping music.

“She is!” Octavia responded as the car shut off and an older pegasus version of Octavia hoisted herself out of the driver’s window and waved over the top of the truck at her.

“Hiiiiiii Honey~! Sorry about the noise! Your father had to stay longer at the bar tonight!” she called before she realized she still had her music blaring and reached in the car to shut it off to the great pleasure of everyone in the town. Vinyl blinked a few times not even bothering to try and fix her hair, which now defied all laws of gravity as it stood straight back and pulled out her ear plugs.

“Tavi, don’t take this the wrong way, but I think I’m in love with your mom.” Vinyl stated without a single moment’s hesitation.

“I get that a lot when my friends meet her. Come say hi Vinyl.” She giggled pulling her magically talented friend towards the monster truck. As they approached the vehicle the back doors opened and three young boys in crash helmets leapt down from it and ran towards her eventually reaching her and tackling her to the ground in a hug.

“Octavia!” they all cried out as they pinned her.

“You have no idea how weird it’s been since you left!”

“Mom and Dad have been all gross and mushy with us!”

“And they don’t even let us play teen rated games anymore because they think we’re ‘growing up too fast’ or something!”

“MAKE IT STOOOOOOP!!!!” They all exclaimed at once whimpering slightly as they pointed at the supposed harpy in question. Grace smiled as she approached them smiling in a way that reminded Vinyl far too much of Octavia. Unfortunately for her the woman saw something familiar about Vinyl as well.

“Well hello there, I’m sorry for that racket I made coming in; my name is Grace Philharmonica, I’m Octavia’s mother. You must be the Vinyl Scratch my daughter has so much to talk about every time she comes home.” She mused her eyes glinting with familiarity. Vinyl didn’t flinch however as she reached out and shook the woman’s hand.

“That’s me, Vinyl Awesome Scratch, born DJ extraordinaire. You’ve gotta be kidding me though! Tavi how’d you turn out so lame with a rocking Mom like this raising you?!” she asked jabbing a thumb in the direction of the older looking Octavia.

Octavia huffed as she tried to unsuccessfully remove one of her little brothers from her person. “I did not turn out ‘lame’ as you put it Vinyl and I assure you that my mother is every bit an etiquette fanatic as I am. Button would you PLEASE be so kind as to stop nuzzling me, and Rumble, Shady if you do not separate yourselves from my legs in the next fifteen seconds so that I can stand I will be forced to tell those adorable little girls you seem to have a fancy for that you each wrote exactly seven horrendously cheesy love letters to them before you chickened out at the last second.” The three boys quickly leapt off of her and stood uniformly like soldiers awaiting orders as she dragged herself back to her feet. “Much better, now Vinyl I’d like to introduce you to my personal source of hell when you aren’t around my little brothers Shady Daze, Rumble, and Button Mash. Boys, this is Vinyl Scratch, she’s been annoying me for you while I’ve been at school.”

“’Sup kiddos?” she asked fist bumping each of them at their shared ‘Enjoys annoying Tavi’ trait.

“Nothing much DJ PON3.” They responded as one.

“Whoa there, how do you three little rascals know my stage name…? You seem a bit young for the club scene.” She noted eying each of them.

“We listen to your music from your website that other fans like us put up!” Shady explained as Button pulled out a laptop from his bag and opened it to reveal a black web page that looked like it had stage lights flashing in the back of it just like a rave.

“You have fans…?” Octavia asked curiously.

“I have a website…?!” Vinyl asked just as shocked. She took the laptop from the boy and scrolled through it. “By Celestia’s beard! Who made this?! There’s songs on here that I made all the way back in middle school!” she exclaimed scrolling through the long list.

“You made your own music in MIDDLE SCHOOL?!” Octavia asked getting more shocked by the minute.

“Yeah Tav’s, I’ve been composing since I was four but what I’D like to know is how anyone got ahold of this stuff! The only place I keep it is on my- Rift…” she snarled as she came to a realization.

“Rift…?” Octavia questioned.

“My good for nothing pig of a brother! He stole my flash drive some time last year and I never found out what he did with it! Guess now I know… but why the hell would he put my music out if he hated it so much…?” Vinyl asked her anger still there but it was being sated by the confusion she felt by her brother’s actions.

“I don’t know…” Octavia was interrupted by her watch beeping. “Oh bullocks! Mother we’re going to be late!” she gasped as she quickly started loading her bags into the oversized vehicle which Vinyl helped with by using her magic. Button took the laptop back from Vinyl and helped load the bags along with his brothers. When the bags were loaded Grace and the boys had climbed into the car again quickly and Octavia was about to join them when she stopped and turned on heel before running over and wrapping her arms around Vinyl and hugging her. “Try not to be so negative all the time Vinyl, I know you might not think it but your brother might have had a good reason for doing this. Ask him about it the next time you see him alright?” she asked pulling away slightly to look into the tinted goggles that covered her friend’s eyes. Vinyl nodded and she smiled and tapped the glass on the goggles. “And for Faust’s sake take those thing’s off for a bit, you’re going to hurt your eyes somehow if you wear them for too long!” she laughed before she darted back to the truck putting on her own crash helmet and gave one last glance back at Vinyl. She silently motioned to plug her ears before she rolled up her window and Vinyl quickly stumbled to put in the ear buds she still had in her hands.

She got them in just as the monster roared to life and took off speeding out of the driveway leaving the smell of burning rubber and broken ear drums in its wake. Vinyl slowly pulled out the ear plugs and put them in her pocket feeling for the hard plastic case of the device she always carried with her. She brought out the simple black device and held it in her open palm staring down at it as she had thousands of times before. Her thumb instinctively went over the back of it and she could feel the carved initials under her touch. ‘Maybe… maybe he put it out there so I could find her…’

“Madam…?” an English accent asked behind her. She turned around to see Jaxon standing there looking at her with a concerned look in his deep grey eyes. “Are you alright…?” he asked a little quieter this time. Vinyl looked once more at the device in her hand before putting it in her pocket and facing him once more.

“No, but I will be. Let’s go Jax.” She stated striding towards the long black stretch limousine that was to drive her to the airport so she could helicopter to the party where her mother and Uncle were already waiting for her. ‘No… not me. They’re waiting for Victoria.’ She thought as she pulled her goggles off her face and produced their case from her bag carefully setting them in it before closing it shut and looking out the window of the car with a look of solemn duty on her face. “You’re going to get your wish Tavi, whether you know it or not…”

***

5:59 PM Canterlot, Pantaleon Main Estate:

Victoria hurried down the corridor her long black cocktail dress gliding slightly behind her as she carried the front of it in one hand and a small black purse in her other hand as her knee high Louis Vuitton black leather boots clicked against the marble tile as she ran. Her two toned blue hair that was completely straight except for the ends which were curled delicately was gently touching the tops of her shoulder blades as she raced to the ballroom where her Uncle was waiting.

It was a long standing deal she made with her mother, once a year during the Summer Sun Celebration she would attend her Uncle’s formal party that lasted for over straight hours not as Vinyl Scratch, the rambunctious rowdy raver that loved nothing more than to suck down energy drinks and blast her eardrums out with Dubstep; but instead as Victoria Harmonia Pantaleon, the highly cultured and very talented niece of Fancy Pants, the most powerful man in Canterlot and head of the Pantaleon family. He knew full well her situation and loved both her true self and this fake one. He didn’t like that his sister made her daughter pretend to be something she wasn’t but living in Canterlot had its drawbacks and the biggest one being that image is everything. So for her Uncle’s sake, not her mother’s, Vinyl put aside the glow sticks and turntables for one night and exchanged them for a pretty dress and a posh accent that made Hoity Toity look like a pauper in comparison. She became Victoria, the daughter her mother always wanted.

But now Victoria was running late because there was a make-up malfunction back in the prep room. She noticed a familiar object leaning on the wall a little bit further down the hall and quickly snatched it up knowing it would save her time. She kicked off on the skateboard crouching low and holding up the skirt of her dress so that it wouldn’t catch on its wheels. After grinding the stair rail all the way down to the main hall she quickly did a flip with her board and tossed it into a nearby floral bush and righted herself quickly before calmly walking towards the two grand white doors that were engraved with gold. Two servants stood at either side of them and they gave her a smile.

“Cutting it a bit close this year aren’t you Madam Victoria…?” asked one of them.

“It’s fashionable to be a little late boys, now if you’ll pardon me I have a crowd to woo.” Victoria giggled lightly as she pulled out a pure black fan that had am electric blue eighth note stamped on it as she unfolded it and partially hid her face with it. The two servants opened the door and Victoria was illuminated with the golden light of the ballroom that was beneath the balcony she entered the room from. ‘Its show time you classy snobs.’

***

Octavia stepped out from the limousine that had drove them and took the offered hand of the chauffeur as he helped her and her mother from the vehicle and motioned them down a long white carpet that had deep blue decorative edges along its entire length. But Octavia wasn’t staring at the carpet, she was much too taken by the grand site of the estate to notice a small detail like the carpet she was walking on.

The architecture looked French inspired with Greek twists thrown in here and there, the expansive garden that lea up to it was filled with flowers that bloomed in every color imaginable while the deep green hedges added a maze like detail to it. At the end of the walk way a large lighted fountain sprayed up into the starry night sky while a proud statue of an older man with a long cane and earnest looking eyes sat in the center of the ring of golden fountain sprays watching over the guests as they flooded into the house. Speaking of which the main building itself was at the top of an impressive set of white marble steps and was framed by huge towering pillars of white marble that held up the overhanging roof which also appeared to be made of white marble, except when Octavia stepped under it she could see that the entire underside of the over hand was illuminated by soft golden light and had a beautiful mural that was carved and painted in stunning detail. It depicted the heavens that Faust was said to hail from, where an entire Alicorn race watched over the people of earth and pushed them along their individual paths in life by marking each of them with their true destiny.

Octavia felt the pink treble clef that sat square in between her shoulder blades tingle slightly as she looked into the expressive eyes of the Mother Goddess herself. Great works of art like this always gave her shivers but this felt much more intense. This building was ancient, almost as old as the castle… come to think of it the two share a similar build. The inside was even more impressive than she could have imagined. They passed through the grand white doors that were held open by white and blue trimmed uniformed servants and Octavia’s breath left her as she realized that the very walls of this place were works of art on their own. Murals with detail that made her feel like she was feeling everything the portrayed characters did caught her eye on almost every single wall in the main hall they were walking down. As they emerged into the atrium she saw that there was an open circle in the center of it that went down and up through the entire house, at the very bottom level a gorgeous fountain sprayed a tall spire of water that stopped just short of the floor she was on and it was illuminated silver by the moonlight that came in from the large glass panes that made up the dome on the roof of the very top floor.

It was a truly beautiful sight but she felt a tug on her light grey dress that went down to her ankles but had a slip that went all the way up her calf to reveal the simple black stiletto’s she wore under them. The dress itself was the same slate grey all around except for the very edges which were trimmed with black lace and was strapless and was open and dipped low along her back to reveal the pink treble clef that matched both her eyes and the simple bowtie she wore around her neck.

“Octavia, we should move on to the ball room, Fancy is expecting me and I wouldn’t want to keep him waiting.” Her mother informed her with a gentle smile. Her mother wore a more elegant dress than her, although to Octavia her mother could wear footie pajama’s and still outclass her. It was a beautiful blue-grey just like her gorgeous wings and had light purple trim along the very edges as well as along the laces of the elbow length gloves she wore to match the dress. Both mother and daughter were more the type for simple elegance rather than elaborate beauty. And it suited them well, they got impressed looks and turned heads no matter where they walked. They made their way into the grand ball room and yet again Octavia was blown away by its artistic appearance. The ceiling was once more decorated in a beautiful and quite angelic piece but this time it depicted not the grand creator herself but instead her two benevolent daughters. It felt strange to Octavia to think that just a few hours ago one of those two daughters was sitting in her radio station laughing with Vinyl as she humiliated herself on a live broadcast.

She looked around to see the rest of the room was decorated in a similar manner, with the Sun and the Moon goddesses being the focus of the art work that literally surrounded her from every angle. Her senses snapped back to reality when her mother tugged on her arm and pointed a little ways away.

“Oh! There he is! And he has Fleur with him! Wonderful!” she exclaimed as she used her wings to hover a bit as she made her way over to where the host and hostess stood surrounded by their guests, Octavia followed close behind her mother. When they got to the man Octavia could finally see him and his elegant wife for the first time in person and not on a magazine cover. They were every bit as perfect if not more so.

Fancy pants stood tall and proud built sturdily for a Unicorn, who were normally much smaller by comparison, he had finely groomed soft blue hair and a charming matching mustache as well. He wore a dapper looking suit with a bow tie that matched his hair and a monocle that had a golden chain that lead into his left breast pocket. Soft light blue eyes smiled at them as they approached. His companion and wife, the infamous Fleur de Lis, was standing beside him chatting happily with a pair of guests. She wore a tightly fitted but elegantly gorgeous white gown that was strapless but had light pink laces along her back most likely acting as a corset. The laces matched perfectly with the light fluffy color of her long wavy hair that had just a few creamy white streaks running through it that almost blended right into her light colored hair. Upon feeling a slight nudge from her husband she turned her naturally sultry gaze to the approaching pair and her eyes lit up at once as she squealed like a school girl and rushed to embrace one of her closest friends.

“Grace ma chère it has been far too long! Your darling baby girl is all grown up now into a stunning young woman! Shame on you for not bringing her to see us sooner!” Fleur chastised with a small huff as she wagged a finger at Grace. Grace only smiled back and giggled.

“I know, I know, I’m a terrible person. Octavia dear this is Fleur de Lis, the last of my friends from the Olympics that you haven’t gotten to meet yet. Well, technically you have but you were very young at the time.” She added introducing the two formally. Octavia curtsied to the woman.

“Pleasure to meet you mi Lady.” Octavia greeted. Fleur quickly took the girl’s chin up and kissed her on both cheeks before twirling her around happily in a hug.

“Oh she’s such a belle! I could simply die I’m so happy right now! Fancy dear, I think I feel faint~!” she gasped dramatically fanning herself with her hand. Fancy Pants, the man of the hour, walked over holding a flute of wine that looked chilled in each hand and he handed one to each of the women.

“Yes darling I’m sure you do, drink this to cool off. Grace, my wife wasn’t joking when she said the last time we saw you was for young Octavia’s second birthday! And now look at her! She’s the spitting image of you! And such charming manners as well. Good day to you young lady, I’m Felix Theodosius Alfred Pantaleon X, although I much prefer the nickname my older sister gave me, Fancy Pants.” He stated with a formal bow to the girl. She curtsied back holding back the rather inappropriate squeal of delight she wanted to give that THE Fancy Pants was speaking with her.

“I’m quite honored to be here Fancy, my mother has spoken endlessly about you and your wife. She spoke of your natural generous nature and Fleur’s kind and yet some times silly nature and I could not help but be drawn a little closer to you two through her stories. And everything I’ve read about you in the newspapers or heard on the news only confirms the idea that you are both the pinnacle of class.” Octavia complimented with a true smile at both of them. Fleur stared back at her astonished and speechless for a second before she tipped back her flute and drained it before setting the empty glass on a passing servant’s tray and taking another full one from it. Fancy smiled at her and was about to say something when there was a tap on his shoulder and he turned around to see a woman with hair much like his wife’s only darker and with eyes that mirrored his own perfectly.

“Oh, Harmony, how delightful you could join us. You remember Grace from Fleur’s Olympics’ team. This is her daughter Octavia. Ladies this is my older sister Harmony Step.” He introduced the two Philharmonica’s gave polite curtsies but Harmony looked a little too rushed to do more than politely nod at them before addressing her brother in a whispered tone. “What?! She still hasn’t… Oh my, alright I’ll send a few servants to-“

There was a loud gong sounding from the high balcony that over looked the entire ballroom. Everyone present stopped and looked up at the servant that had rung the gong. “Announcing her grace Madam Victoria Harmonia Pantaleon, daughter of High Lady Harmony Phoebe Stela Pantaleon.” He announced tapping his large scepter on the ground twice for emphasis.

Octavia looked to the balcony to see the girl that was walking in. Octavia’s eyes almost popped out of her head. The girl wore a fitted black cocktail dress that trailed ever so slightly behind her and was slitted up to her thigh for maximum movement; it had no frilly edges or really any sense of décor to it other than the fingerless black gloves that went all the way to her shoulders and had electric blue laces that went up her forearm. But what had Octavia really reeling wasn’t the dress itself but the girl who wore it instead. Two toned electric blue hair, slim figure and moon like pale complexion, and a presence that just screamed ‘LOOK AT ME I’M HERE’. This girl was in every way a mirror image of Vinyl.

Octavia shook her head. No, she wasn’t. Vinyl’s hair was shorter than that and wouldn’t be caught dead in a place like this. Plus their names were completely different and she didn’t have those Faust-awful gog-

Octavia’s eyes met the approaching girl’s eyes and her insides froze. Clear ruby red irises looked right at her emphasized by the light layer of eyeliner and eye shadow she wore. Forget her hair, those eyes were definitely the most eye catching thing about her. It wasn’t until Fancy Pants had placed a hand on her shoulder and started talking that the world’s sights and sounds came rushing back to Octavia all at once.

“Octavia I’d like you to meet my lovely niece Victoria; Victoria this is Octavia Philharmonica she’s the daughter of Grace Skylark, now Grace Philharmonica.” He informed her as both girls curtsied to one another.

“How do you do?” they both asked at once before they realized their mistake and Victoria giggled a little before speaking again.

“Well that’s one way to make a first impression, charmed to meet you at last Octavia Uncle and Auntie tell me so much about you and your mother. I’m also proud to say I’m a rather avid fan of the radio show you host.” She declared her gentle voice very unlike the harsh and slightly raspy voice that Vinyl possessed, and her dialect was so much easier on the ears as well.

“Oh, really? Well thank you for listening, I’m sure my co hosts would be thrilled to know that our little student project has reached even your ears.” Octavia responded with a brilliant smile. “You know, and please don’t take this the wrong way, but you sort of look like one of my co hosts, which is why I was a little out of sorts when you first walked in.” she admitted rubbing her arm a little embarrassment.

Victoria let out a melodic laugh that sounded like music all on its own and had Octavia melting a little just from the sound. “Well that’s quite amusing my dear, just please tell me it’s that ever charming Neon, charming or not I’d rather not compared to a male.” Victoria asked with a smile that could light up the night sky if she chose to.

‘Oh Faust where did THAT come from?! Keep it steady Tavi, no need to- Did I really just call myself by Vinyl’s silly nickname? I really need something to drink…’ “Fortunately no, you remind me of my friend Vinyl, only in looks of course! You two are at opposite spectrum's when it comes to personality.” Octavia explained as she quickly caught a waiter that was passing by with cocktails (virgin as they were marked with a little blue ribbon around the stem). Taking one of the drinks off the platter she sipped at it to calm her nerves. She noticed that Victoria was sipping at a drink too and found it a little odd that the drink was bright green.

“Green Apple Daiquiri with a sour twist, it’s my personal favorite.” She explained as she sipped at it daintily.

‘Vinyl’s favorite energy drink is sour green apple Amp… No. Stop. This is Victoria, not Vinyl. Two completely different people, the proof is her- Where’s her cutiemark?’ Octavia noticed for the first time that the girl, despite an impressive show of skin, had no visible cutiemark on her body. ‘Maybe she doesn’t have one yet… no, Fancy already said her talent is music, so where’s the mark?’ she internally inquired all the meanwhile Victoria stood across from her calmly sipping her drink while having an internal battle of her own.

***

‘YOU FRIGGIN’ DIPSHIT! OF COURSE TAVI IS GOING TO REMEMBER SOUR APPLE IS MY FAVORITE DRINK! WHY DIDN’T YOU GRAB A STRAWBERRY LIKE HER TO THROW HER OFF?!’ the inner Vinyl screamed. Externally she was much more serene and decided to offer a different broach of conversation now that the adults had wondered off leaving them alone. “So Octavia, what do you think this year’s theme will be?” she asked the dark haired girl across from her.

Octavia seemed to snap out of her trance and looked up blinking a few times at the girl. “I’m sorry, but what theme are you referring to? The Gala or perhaps the Canterlot Garden Party…?” she asked obviously confused.

Victoria giggled and shook her head. “No, neither of those, I mean the mystery theme for THIS celebration. Did you not know about it…?” she asked amused by the earthbound’s reaction.

Octavia’s cheeks flushed a little as she looked down at her glass and swirled the liquid around it a little. “N-no… I can’t say I did, would you mind too terribly if I inquired about it?” she asked carefully trying to not embarrass herself further.

“Don’t feel ashamed darling, I doubt most of the people here know about it. Every year my Aunt and Uncle pick a secret theme that they reveal once all the guests have arrived. Then with a grand show of it they use their combined magic to transform everyone present to match the theme. It’s different every year of course, no repeats. We’ve had everything from a Snow-Ball to a Toga party. It’s very amusing to say the least, but one thing always stays the constant. The spell they use to transform the guests to the theme wears off at sunrise, much like the classic tale of Cinderella. My Uncle always had a thing for underlying lessons. He says that for one night a year these people can let go and just be something completely different from how they normally are, and when it’s all over they can put everything on the spell’s influence. I find it quite enthralling, how about you?” she asked turning from where she had been looking out into the night sky through a huge clear glass pane that stretched from floor to ceiling and faced directly east so that the glorious full moon was in full view for all to see.

“Oh, um… it sounds fascinating. Do you know how they do it? I mean to say that that kind of power, even among that Canterlot elite, is almost un-attainable. ” Octavia asked back honestly quite curious at how just two people had enough magic to influence so many for an entire night.

“The Family Jewels of course!” Victoria declared like it was the most obvious thing in the world. When Octavia gave her a confused look she mentally facepalmed. ‘Okay, that was pretty bad, anyone who isn’t from Canterlot probably doesn’t know about them…’ “Sorry dear, you’re so much like one of the Canterlot folk I keep forgetting you are not actually from here. The Pantaleon jewels are enchanted gems passed down since our ancestor Felix Theodosius Alfred Pantaleon, the first of course, helped build this city from the mountain side. He took two gems that he found at the heart of the mountain, one a very vivid blue that no one had ever seen before, and one that was clear and pure as the first snowfall of winter, and shrank each of them into the size of a pea. Despite the size the gems were charged with enormous amounts of magic, magic that Celestia says rival’s Star Swirl the bearded when brought together. The gems were then taken and crafted into two rings that each had three sacred words and half of a crest carved into them. When the rings are joined so that the crest is complete and the words are chanted as one the power in them conforms to the will of whoever wears them. It’s a fascinating piece of history really.” She finished with a bright smile.

Octavia’s eyes were wide. “That’s amazing Victoria! Your family helped make the city of Canterlot?!” she asked enthralled by the tale she had just heard.

Victoria was more than happy she had found something to keep Octavia’s wandering mind focused. “Oh yes, Felix was a legend! His magic was so advanced for his time that scholars today can’t even compare it to any one branch of magic. The closest comparison they could draw was to Celestia’s personal protégé Twilight Sparkle. And as you well now she is a very special case.” Victoria explained.

“That’s… quite astonishing. And your Uncle is the one who wields the rings now?” Octavia asked further.

“Oh Heavens no! That much power in one body would burn out your crest! The power is divided evenly between two holders, and according to tradition the rings are given to the first born male and his wife. Together the two of them head the family and control the magic in the rings with all the grace and humility our family is known for.”

“That’s amazing… I never knew there was so much history behind the man and woman my mother always told so many fond stories of! To think they control magic on par with Star-Swirl… But, hold on. This may be a little personal but… isn’t your uncle the same age my mother? And your Aunt as well?” Octavia asked noticing a distinct lack of something in that formula.

“Why yes, they are. Given I believe Uncle is actually a year or so older but yes they are around the same age.” She responded.

“So… oh Faust this is going to sound terrible, why don’t they have children of their own?” Octavia knew she was stepping on thin ice here but her curiosity was too strong to ignore.

Victoria’s happy expression faded slightly and her eyes darkened as she looked down at her now empty glass. “I thought everyone already knew about that…” she murmured.

“Pardon?” Octavia asked not being able to hear her muttering over the sound of the crowd of people. Victoria set her glass down on a nearby table and stood up turning around and motioning for Octavia to follow. Octavia set her own glass down and followed albeit a bit reluctantly. Victoria lead her out of the ballroom and up to the next floor and down a corridor to a set of strong looking oak doors. She pushed it open and ushered Octavia inside without a word. She shut the door and let it click shut before she let her tension fade away.

“This… this is my Uncle’s personal office. It’s where he spends most of his time when he isn’t out socializing with the Canterlot elite or checking up on business affairs. Tell me Octavia, what do you see?” she asked motioning to the room around her.

Octavia looked around the room from where she stood. “Well, he has quite the collection of books… and I’d give him five stars for the decor he has in here. It truly make it feel like I stepped foot in a portal to the dark ages.” She replied after she noticed that the only thing from the modern ages that was in this room was the humming computer that sat on the large desk at the center of it all. The desk however brought her attention. She walked over and went behind it to find that it was littered with frame after frame of family photos. With just him and Fleur on various vacations around the world, with him much younger with his sister, Victoria’s mother, beside him and their parents behind them; and dominating the space was pictures of him and Victoria alongside a boy who had short cut bright blonde hair and the same ruby eyes that Victoria had. They ranged from when the two were infants all the way up to more recent pictures where they were teenagers, but the fact remained that they took up more frames than any other person. Victoria had come up beside her when she was staring wide eyed at the photos and she reached forward with a gloved hand and picked up one where she was in his arms and he was playfully hanging her upside down and tickling her so that she was red-faced from laughing so hard.

“My uncle… it’s saddening to say but he was more like a father to me than my actual father. He went to all my recitals, congratulated me when I did well in school, comforted me when I cried because I did poorly, sang me to sleep when I was too scared of the stories my brother told me before bed, and he was the one who was always there to talk when I just needed a breather from it all.” Victoria explained without looking up from the picture. She was hardened by years of emotional damage and she didn’t cry but she could feel her eyes mist up as she set the picture down and reached under the desk. Something clicked and a small panel opened up in the front part of the desk. Victoria reached in and removed the folded photo and handed it to Octavia. The girl carefully took it and gently unfolded it to reveal an image of a much younger Fancy Pants sans mustache and monocle with a very tired looking Fleur de Lis laying in a hospital bed cradling a small pink bundle in her arms. “That, is the first Victoria Harmony Pantaleon, my older cousin my exactly three months. She died in my Aunt’s arms ten minutes after this photo was taken.” She explained. Octavia looked up at her shocked and wide eyed at the revelation.

“I’m so sorry-“

“Don’t be. It’s not your fault or anyone’s for that matter. They learned that my Aunt had a condition that made her body unable to properly nourish a child of her own. Throughout her pregnancy the doctors realized that the baby was underweight but put it on my aunt being a naturally petite woman. They didn’t know she was starving in there. After she was born her body went into shock and it couldn’t handle the stress so she just… died. My Uncle… he was never the same after that. When my brother and I were born and my mother named me after my late cousin he was outraged. Saying that I would only haunt him while he watched me grow knowing I was only a shadow of what could never be for him. He was scared. Terrified to even so much as look at me. Me, nothing more than an infant at the time and he was scared of me!” she chuckled a little bit hollowly.

Octavia seemed to regain her ability to speak for a second. “What changed…?”

Victoria glanced up at her and her smile turned genuine as she picked up a photo of her Aunt cradling an infant version of herself in her arms. “Fleur did. She was scared too, scared that if she held another infant in her arms that it too would wither away like her daughter had. But… when she saw me cry nonstop in the arms of my parents something in her changed. She walked over and took me out of my father’s arms and sat down in a simple rocking chair and sang to me until I stopped crying and eventually fell asleep. My uncle saw this and it caused a domino effect. Soon enough he was holding me AND my brother in his arms and for the first time in months he smiled. After that he vowed he’d never again ignore me for selfish purposes, that if Faust didn’t want him to be a father then he’d be the best Uncle anyone had ever known. And he kept that promise. It was obvious from a young age that my parents played favorites, choosing my brother over myself. But I could live with that because my aunt uncle favorited me over him. It’s shallow and petty at the core but from it grew real tender love, love that I wouldn’t replace for anything in the world. I’d give up music before I gave up my Uncle.” She stated firmly as she looked Octavia straight in the eyes and never let her gaze wander. Well, not until it fell back on the photo Octavia still held in her hands. Her gaze softened and she gently set down the picture frame she held back on the desk and took the photo from Octavia. “I’ll never be able to replace the daughter he lost, but I don’t need to. And he doesn’t want me to either. He’s perfectly content with never being a father because he has me instead. That’s why they don’t have any children Octavia, not because they can’t, but because they don’t need any.”

Octavia was silent for a full minute and just when Victoria was staring to think that perhaps this was a bit much to be sharing with Octavia when she had just met ‘Victoria’ Octavia spoke. “Then… if they don’t have a child… who will take Fancy’s position once he’s retired…?” she asked not understanding how the process would work.

Victoria laughed throwing her head back in the process and having to collapse in her uncle’s office chair so she didn’t completely fall over. ‘I lay out a heart wrenching tale for her on a silver platter and THAT’S what she has to ask after it all? Classic Tavi.’ When she calmed down she pulled a small handkerchief from her purse and dabbed at where the tears had made her makeup run. “Oh you are gem Octavia, to answer that question I’ll give you a bit more of my family’s history. When Felix the first passed he left his will and testament to his oldest son, it laid out how he wanted his possessions to be distributed and of course the rings came with a special set of instructions. They were to be handed down generation after generation, as the magic in them prevents them from breaking of being effected by time at all, to the eldest son of the last one to possess the ring. If they didn’t have a son it was to go to the most capable daughter. And if they had no children the ring was to go to the closest relative to the bloodline that showed the characteristics the family embodied. Which according to our family’s crest is Devotion, Tolerance, and above all else Compassion. He didn’t want the ring’s power to become a weapon, so he made sure that it would never fall into the hands of someone who would use it as such. Unfortunately as my great grandfather found out the hard way the ring cannot be worn by anyone who doesn’t share a direct bloodline connection to Felix, he had attempted to give it to his adopted son who embodied all three traits perfectly but when he put on the ring it rejected him and showed it by crippling him for life.”

Octavia processed this for a few seconds before responding. “So… he can pick who he wants as long as they’re related?” she asked carefully.

“That’s the short version yes.” Victoria responded with a small giggle as she placed the photo back in its hidey hole and walked towards the door.

“So, he’s chosen your brother…? Being the closest male relative?”

“Oh thank Faust no!” Victoria responded quickly turning on heel her eyes wide. She quickly collected herself and cleared her throat before continuing. “My brother does not… shall we say portray the qualities the family is supposed to embody. He would abuse its power for personal gain. Instead he found a more suitable replacement, his niece who he loved and pampered like his own daughter. ” She explained in a calmer tone.

“Oh…” Gears started to turn slowly in Octavia’s head and Victoria smiled amused with her puzzled friend’s look and counted down on her fingers how long it would take for the light to go on in her head.

‘Three, two, one…’

“YOU’RE THE HEIR TO THE-!!!!” She was cut off by light blue magic zippering her mouth shut. Victoria smiled her hand still glowing with the aura.

“Please do try and keep it down Octavia, we’re not formally announcing it until my sixteenth birthday.” She explained as she unzipped the girl’s mouth to let her speak again.

“That’s incredible Victoria! I’m so happy for you!” Octavia exclaimed in a much more reasonable tone.

Victoria smiled at her in return. “Why thank you Octavia, but I’m going to have to insist you just call me Tori, Victoria sound much to formal for friends.” She explained offering out a gloved hand for Octavia to take. Octavia however froze her mind instantly becoming a flurry of static and intense cloudiness.

“Tori… that’s… oh dear.” Octavia breathed as she felt her consciousness leaving her.

“Octavia…? Tavi!” Vinyl finally shouted just as Octavia began to fall over her eyes fluttering shut. She caught the earthbound by holding her in her magic and rushing over to catch her quickly in her arms. “Tavi, can you hear me…? I’m sorry! Whatever I did to trigger this I’m sorry; just stay with me, don’t black out yet.” Vinyl urged holding her a little tighter as tears began to mist her eyes. Just then the door flew open and two pegisai stood in the door way, one a male with pure white hair and light grey wings and the other a female with deep blue-grey wings and charcoal grey hair so like the girl she was holding. Jaxon had brought Grace to save them.

Grace rushed over and kneeled beside them resting a hand over her daughter’s heart to feel if it as beating. She felt it still pounding a healthy beat and her chest rose and fell with steady breath. She sighed in relief and looked up at the black dressed girl who had caught her. “She’s fine, just unconscious. She’ll wake up shortly once the relapse fades. I heard that you had taken her up here from Jaxon and got worried, you should know by now her condition is very unstable Vinyl.” Grace sighed in relief and exasperation. Vinyl didn’t even bother asking how she knew it was her, she was a close friend of her Uncle and likely knew from the moment she saw her standing beside Octavia.

“I know, I’m sorry. But all I told her was to call me Tori instead of Victoria. I didn’t know that name was connected to her relapses.” Vinyl explained looking back down at the unconscious girl in her arms.

“Neither did I, she must have had a new flashback that caused it. But to be on the safe side I think we should just have her keep calling you Victoria.” Grace explained with a solemn look down at her daughter. She carefully moved a strand of hair out of her face and tucked it behind her ear. Jaxon came up behind them in his normally silent manner.

“Should we move her to the infirmary…?” he offered. Quickly Vinyl’s eyes widened and her head snapped up.

“NO!” When she realized she had snapped at him she quickly corrected herself. “Sorry Jax but… no. Tavi hates doctors as much as I do. She’d only freak out more if she woke up surrounded by white walls with that gross sterile scent in the air.” Vinyl explained as she stood up still holding Octavia. She handed her to Grace who had stood up as well. “There’s a room up on the next floor that Fleur uses as a mediation room. It’s got a big couch you can lay her down on and some incents you can burn to help bring her around faster. Jaxon will show you where to go, I have to go back to the party. People start to notice if Victoria goes missing for too long.” She explained turning her back to them and walking towards the open door.

“Vinyl…” Grace’s voice stopped her and she turned her head a bit to look at the older woman. “Thank you, for being such a good friend for my Octavia.”

Vinyl smiled one last time at her and gave her a thumbs up before turning back to face the hall and putting the mask of Victoria back on for the night as she strode confidently back towards the ball room where her uncle and his many guests awaited her presence.

***

Octavia’s eyes opened up to reveal she was in the back of her mother’s Monster which was driving down a long winding road that looked like it was on a large seaside cliff since she could see over the edge of it and it lead all the way down to a rocky shore line that stretched endlessly as far as she could see.

“Is this really still Equestria mum…?” it seemed Octavia didn’t have control over her body but was just seeing through it.

“Yes darling, I can’t believe I’ve never taken you and your brothers out here to Dragon Cliffs, it’s a great place to go swimming! Not many people come here because they think the water is dangerous. But I know a secret little cove not too far from here that’s absolutely gorgeous and has crystal clear water so you can see all the way down to the bottom. I’ll have to take you here again some time.” She commented with a happy hum. Octavia’s eyes went back to the coast line and once again her mouth spoke without her controlling it.

“Mum, do I have to go to camp for the whole summer…? Why can’t I just practice at home like I usually do?” she asked her tone much more reserved than it had been before. It was obvious she was very nervous.

“Octavia sweetheart, you can’t just hide away in your room all day and play your cello! You have to let people hear you! And a sweet girl like you could use some friends your own age.” She emphasized the last part and it made Octavia wince.

“Mr. Brass is my friend…” she muttered dejectedly.

“Octavia, he brought his daughter to meet you and you stuck your head in a tuba avoid talking to her.” Her mother replied in a flat tone. Octavia felt her cheeks heat up as she retreated behind her hair and looked out the window to avoid the subject further. She heard her mother sigh and she offered something else as bait. “Maybe you’ll get your Cutiemark while you’re at camp!”

Octavia’s ears perked at this and she slowly got a faint smile across her lips. “Maybe…” she breathed.

Her vision blurred and the next time it became clear she was hopping off the foot railing of the Monster with the familiar weight of her cello across her back. Her mother came up beside her with a rolling suitcase and a duffel bag in her hands as she nudged Octavia towards a large archway that had a trail cut into it that lead up to a little hill that had a cabin on it and a flagpole with the Equestrian flag on top and another flag beneath that with an eighth note and a treble clef on it. Outside of it a table was set up and several parents were in line while a few counselors signed their children into the camp. Grace and Octavia got in line just behind a burly blonde man that was holding a tiny blue haired girl’s hand in his own as she looked around the camp with a dejected boredom in her features. Octavia couldn’t see her eyes because they were covered by her long blue hair that she now noticed had lighter blue streaks in it. She wore a loose white sun dress and matching sandals. With her pale complexion Octavia swore up and down that the girl glowed in the sunlight.

‘What an odd character…’ both young and older Octavia thought at once.

The tall male reached the front of the line and he grunted a name at the counselors that Octavia didn’t catch. He let go of the girls hand to sign a few sheets of paper on a clipboard and then was pointed in a direction which he walked towards carrying several large bags on his shoulders and back while he held the little girl’s hand firmly. Grace stepped forward next and Octavia with her.

“Octavia Philharmonica. I’m her mother Grace.” She stated supplying the information to the counselor they stood in front of. The counselor looked familiar to older Octavia but she couldn’t place from where.

“Here you are, welcome to camp Harmonia Octavia, you’ll be in cabin 10 with a young lady name Victoria. That was her ahead of you actually. Just walk down this path here and follow the signs to the cabins. Parents are permitted to help their child to the cabin but we ask that they leave as soon as the child is settled.” He explained more to Grace than Octavia. Both of them however bowed a little and thanked him in unison before walking off in the direction he pointed. Octavia’s eyes wandered all around the beautiful scenery. The camp was surrounded by lush greenery no matter where she looked, like it was in the middle of a dense forest, but the mountains she saw that surrounded the horizon in every direction told her that she was in a large valley. She was so occupied looking at the scenery she ran right into the leg of the tall blonde man she’d seen earlier. He was standing in front of a set of steps that led up to a cabin. He looked down at the fallen girl and his deep green eyes that seemed too small for his large square head widened when he saw that it was a child who had bumped into him. He kneeled down and helped her up.

“Sorry kid, shouldn’t be standing in the middle of the path like that. You alright?” he asked.

Octavia retracted a little scared by this man who was built like he lifted entire buildings for a living. But it was lessened when his tone was revealed to be gentler than she would have first imagined. She nodded weakly and stood up with his help and at last her mother caught up to her in time to see the large man assisting her daughter back to her feet.

“Oh I’m sorry sir, she got a little ahead of me and I was a little lost by the signs.” Grace panted not used to carrying heavy loads and running after her daughter who had taken off like a bullet. The man gave her a polite smile and helped take the bags off the frail looking woman.

“It’s not a problem, I was just talking with my daughter. Is your daughter staying here?” he asked in turn.

“Oh um, if this is cabin ten than yes she is.” Grace replied politely and added a thank you when he took the heavy bags from her.

“And so it is, Victoria you introduce yourself to your new roommate while I put these in the cabin.” He ordered nudging the small pale girl forward as he walked past her and into the wooden cabin with the screen door shutting behind him as he went. Grace joined him shortly after leaving Octavia standing nervously staring at the smaller girl whose blue hair was still covering her eyes but Octavia could tell she was looking at her by the way her head was positioned. Surprisingly Octavia made the first move walking a little closer to her and offering out her hand to the girl.

“I-I’m Octavia Philharmonica, it’s nice to meet you Victoria.” She greeted as she held out her hand for the girl to take. Carefully the little girl reached out and shook it but still didn’t say anything. Octavia thought she was mute until she heard a small snort of laughter come from the girl. “What’s so funny…?” she asked slightly offended.

The girl looked up revealing a pair of ruby red irises that contrasted against her long messy blue hair stunningly. “I finally met someone with a worse name than mine.” She responded in a high pitched raspy voice that sounded like it belonged on a twelve ear old boy, not a frail looking girl with a questionable age of 8 (the minimum age for the camp, although she looked much smaller).

“Excuse me! My name is not weird!” Octavia protested loudly. The girl snorted in laughter again while Octavia’s face grew hot with embarrassment.

“Yes it is! I don’t know ANYONE with a name like Philharmonica and I know half the nobles in Canterlot!” she laughed bending over a little as she did so.

“Oh YOU know half the nobles in Canterlot…? You look half my age, how can you know possibly know half the nobles in Canterlot?” Octavia inquired crossing her arms as she grew more agitated at the girl. The blue haired girl stopped laughing and her face got serious as she stood and combed the hair back out of her face so that it was neatly parted and looked far more respectable than the mess it had been before; it also revealed the girl to be a magic user by the crest in the center of her forehead. She offered out her hand to the girl again.

“My name is Victoria Harmoia Pantaleon, child of the noble house Pantaleon, oldest family in Canterlot. It’s a pleasure to meet your acquaintance Ms. Philharmonica.” She stated as Octavia slowly reached over and shook her hand.

“Wait… Pantaleon? Like as in Felix Pantaleon, Fancy Pants, the man who owns like half of Canterlot, THAT Pantaleon?!” Octavia asked in stunned disbelief.

Victoria winced a little at that. “Yeesh, Uncle wasn’t kidding when he said normal people freak out over us. Yes THAT Pantaleon, and for records sake I’m nine years old, not four.” she added with a small glare.

“I’m SO sorry about that Victoria, I was just mad that you were laughing and-!”

She was cut off by Victoria pinching her lips together so she couldn’t continue talking. “Cool your jets there Tavi, I’m not some big shot like my uncle or any kind of prim and proper figure like my Aunt, I’m just plain ol’ me.” she explained before releasing the taller girl’s lips so that she could talk again.

“Tavi…?” Octavia asked after a brief pause.

Victoria laughed at that and smiled at her. “You have a one track mind don’t you? I have a rule for names, two syllables is the limit. Oc-ta-vi-a. You double that rule. So I changed it to Tavi.” She explained with a shrug.

“Oh, so wait then how come your name breaks that rule?” Octavia asked after a moment.

“It doesn’t, nobody calls me Victoria except old people. You call me Tori.” She replied with a grin that was hauntingly familiar to her. Before she could question it further she felt her vision going black again and this time the pleasant scent of honey and nutmeg entered her senses.

***

Octavia sat up panting heavily and her body covered in a light coating of sweat. She looked around the room quickly to find she was in an unfamiliar place but there was a familiar face sitting beside her on the couch she was laying on. “Mother! What… what happened to Tori? And the camp we were- Oh I feel faint again…” she muttered pressing a palm to her forehead and lying back to rest her head on the arm of the couch. Grace turned as Jaxon walked in with a silver platter that had a simple glass of cold water in the center of it.

“Relax dear, you’re fine. You just had another one of your relapses. Here, drink this.” Grace said offering the water to Octavia. Octavia took it and sat up enough to drink it down quickly and then set it on the ebony coffee table that stood beside the couch she was laying on. She also noticed a few lit incents burning in a small bowl on it. Slowly she started to remember what had happened before she blacked out.

“It was so… vivid this time. Frighteningly so. The girl, I saw her this time mother! And I can still remember her-“ Octavia’s eyes quickly shot open and she flew off the couch running out of the room without another word. The girl in her dream, it was Victoria. Or was it Vinyl? She acted like a combination of the two. Either way, Victoria had triggered the memory. Maybe she knew something about it. Octavia didn’t even notice she had left her shoes behind in the room or that her mother was calling after her as she flew down the hall to try and catch up to her daughter. But Octavia was no lay about, she may not have shown it but she had a very strict exercise routine that kept her body trim and apparently allowed her to out run a former Olympian. Octavia turned down the last flight of stairs and made a beeline down the grand hallway. Somewhere in her panicked mind she actually heard the sound of three loud gongs being chimed as she bounded through the hall towards the ballroom. She also barely registered the voice of Fancy Pants ringing in her ears.

“This year’s hidden theme will be,” he seemed to pause just as Octavia’s hands grabbed onto the handles of the grand doors that the servants stood by. She threw them open just as his voice rang out clearly and her vision was blinded by a white light. “Magical Masquerade!”

When Octavia’s vision returned she found herself staring down at herself in shock. She now wore a dress of the same color as her old one but it was much grander with a deeper grey corset that matched her hair hugging her stomach and a lace choker around her neck that had a pink bow around it that matched nicely with her eyes. Speaking of her eyes she reached up to touch her face and felt the unfamiliar weight of a mask on it. She quickly ran to a mirror back out in the hall and found her face masked mysteriously by a pure white mask that had electric blue edges around it and the eyes of it were lined with stunning rubies that twinkled under the dim light of the hall. On the cheekbone of her mask she saw a black backwards eighth note engraved into it. Her fingers traced the note while she listened to Fancy Pants continue talking in the back ground his voice seeming to come from the very walls themselves now.

“Now, you may all notice that your masks don’t exactly match your ensembles and the marks carved into them are not your own. Your task is to track down and trade masks with the person who has the mark engraved on your masks, but be warned, you’ve been scattered across the property randomly. If you find your match before the sun rises and the spell wears off you’ll have succeeded in your hunt. The first pair to make it back to this ball room with their correct masks on will win our grand prize for the evening which, as always, will remain a secret until the winner is revealed. Your hunt starts now.” He declared as a loud gong sounded across the entire property. Octavia’s eyes narrowed and she quickly took off in search of her match. She had a very good idea of who it was and she would be damned to the statue garden before she would let her get away without some kind of explanation.

Octavia scoured the grounds looking for the red eyed blue haired girl she had just met named Victoria who may or may not be the mystery girl that had haunted her for six years of her life and/or the annoying DJ she had been forced to live with for three and a half months now. It however could be compared to searching for a needle in a hay stack. The Pantaleon property was huge, so much so that even with over a thousand guests attending the party she only ever bumped into one of them during her entire search. The property was too large to search, it would be impossible to check every nook and cranny for the girl she sought out.

“Ohhh… this is hopeless. I’m not a unicorn, I can’t find people just by using a little bit of Magic, and I’m not a pegasus like mother so I can’t just fly in the air to get a bird’s eye view. I’m just a sorry excuse for an Earthbound who gets too caught up in what’s going on around her to see anything else…” she muttered to herself.

‘Then stop looking with your eyes.’

Octavia’s eyes shot open and she looked around quickly for the familiar voice. “Vinyl…?”

‘You’re a musician right? Well then stop thinking about how everyone else’s music will sound so much better than yours and just listen. Close your eyes and follow the sound of your instrument. My uncle always says that true Musicians are at one with their instruments, and no matter what they play you will always be able to hear a little of their music in their souls.’

Octavia felt the voice fading back into wherever it had come from and she closed her eyes to take in a deep breath. ‘Listen for the instruments… let it guide you.’ Octavia repeated it like a mantra in her mind and slowly she felt the world around her fade to grey and for a very faint trickle of light blue color to shine just a little bit in the distance. She could hear it. The faint chimes of a piano what seemed like a thousand miles away. She followed it; actually she ran towards it her heels being carried in her hands so that they wouldn’t hinder her running. She kept her eyes shut, trusting her ears to guide her instead. As she got closer she noticed the music was growing louder and mingling with more instruments with every step she took. When she thought the music was going to overwhelm her she opened her eyes to see two simple white doors in front of her. There was nothing special at all about the doors to separate them from the others that lined the hall but that was only to someone who was just looking with their eyes. Behind the door Octavia could hear it. The saddening and yet compelling piano music that had brought her there. Only this time it wasn’t just in her head. She opened the doors to reveal a pitch black room where the only source of light was the blue aurora’s of musical note that flowed through the air from a single white grand piano in the center of the room that had a spotlight shined on it.

The pianist at its keys did not open her eyes or stop playing, she merely spoke to the girl who had entered the room.

“I see you found me, not so easy in a big house like this.” She mused without breaking her musical stride. Octavia slowly walked forward and around the piano so she could see the girl properly. Gone was the sleek black dress she had worn before and instead it was replaced by a long white gown that reminded Octavia of a toga. But around her stomach there was an electric blue set of laces that went up her back and wrapped around her front to form a corset. Contrastingly her face was covered by a dark grey mask that had a set of deep grey feathers pluming from its sides and a light pink border around the outer edge of the mask that made the matching pink treble clef on her cheek stand out even more.

“What… what are you playing?” she asked not recognizing the piece from anything she’d heard performed before. The girl didn’t stop playing, just continued as her head turned towards Octavia a bit her eyes remaining closed.

“You don’t recognize it…? Well, I don’t blame you. It’s probably been buried in your head for so long it’s been drowned out. Okay, poor choice of words there but you get the point.” She added with a small chuckle.

After a moments pause of Octavia listening to the music she dared ask the question that had been at the front of her mind since she walked in the door. “Who are you…?”

That made the piano stop. The girl slowly stood from the bench she sat on and strode towards Octavia eyes still shut as she stopped in front of the girl. “I’ll answer that question with another question, this one multiple choice. Who do you want me to be?” she held up a single fingertip that glowed with light blue magic and formed into the image of a girl in a long flowing dress with elegantly long hair and a charming smile on her flawless face.

“ Is the answer A. Victoria, the niece to the most powerful man in Canterlot and heir to power and wealth that people have fought to obtain a fraction of for centuries?”

Her second finger came up beside the first and the magic formed into the image of a wild haired raver that was spinning records in front of her with her goggles strapped to her face and a cocky excited grin on her face. “Or perhaps it’s B. Vinyl Scratch, your pain in the ass roommate that you never knew much about but grew on anyways.”

Her third and final finger came up to form an image of a small girl with messy hair that went past her shoulders and looked to be playing a song on a piano. “Or is the answer C. Tori, the phantom girl who’s haunted your dreams since your accident at band camp six years ago? An incident you remember nothing about other than fleeting little wisps of memories that are triggered by random things and send you into relapses that give you terrible dizzy spells and as of late have been knocking you full on unconscious…?”

The three images danced before her eyes in the wispy flames of her blue magic. “Which is it Octavia, tell me who I am.”

Octavia’s mind spun, so many images, so many sounds all rushing to her at once. She saw Tori when they were in band camp together being paired together for their assigned duets, she saw them standing on stage Octavia with her Cello and Tori playing on a grand piano and both of them earning a standing ovation from the crowd after they’d finished. She saw their music teacher praising them and quickly assigning them to work together on a final project that would leave the crowd in tears. She remembered spending night after night composing beside the girl and having her teach her how to write music for instruments other than a cello.

She saw the look on her only friend’s face when she pulled the dusty old sheet off that mixing board and then watched her completely re-wire it to get it working again. She remembered seeing the spark in her eyes when she was playing with it and then suggesting that they use it in their finale song. She remembered that they spent the entire night after that completely re-writing their sheet music and even going so far as to offer Tori her flash drive to store the music on and then watching Tori mix it all into the soundboard and watching her work on it until she passed out from exhaustion. She remembered standing beside Tori skipping rocks along the riverbed and giving her a name that she didn’t hate, one that didn’t already belong to someone else and was made just for her. She remembered going into the nearby shop just after that and buying a set of weird looking goggles and writing along the inside strap of them her message to her only friend in the world and then gifting it to her a short while later. She remembered seeing the joy across her face when she read her words and quickly put on the goggles for the first time ever.

She saw Vinyl pacing back and forth in their cabin late at night restless because of the final performance they had the next day. She remembered agreeing to go to the river to calm her nerves and she remembered thinking only about how scared and lost she would have been without Vinyl in her life. Then she remembered hearing the water. The cold dark water that rushed at them in a tidal wave after the heavy rains from the day before caught up to it. She remembered Vinyl screaming out for her to hold on as she struggled to keep the churning waters from sucking them both under. Then she remembered hearing their music, but she wasn’t just hearing it, she saw it in the air around them slowly picking them up out of the water and carrying them to safety on the bank. She remembered seeing Vinyl shrouded by the music notes the flash drive she had given her glowing in her palm as the blue magic surged outwards and upwards into the sky to light the heavens with their music. She remembered thinking about how beautiful that looked and how she wanted so much to recreate it in her own music so that people would cry with emotion just as she did before her consciousness faded to black just as Vinyl collapsed to her knees and fell beside her still clutching the flash drive tightly in her hand and her goggles hanging around her neck and the shimmering image of a backwards eighth note appearing on her arm.

Octavia’s eyes snapped to the present where she saw the white dressed girl in front of her still waiting for an answer. Her eyes fell on the three images that floated in front of her eyes and she smiled softly before she reached forward and waved a hand through all three of them dissipating them all.

“I want you to be who you want. Whether that be a perfect heiress, a DJ with enough skill to convert the entire Canterlot Symphony into ravers, or just the stupidly stubborn hero who saved me from drowning with the most amazing display of magic I’ve ever seen. Victoria, Vinyl, Tori, they’re names. Names for the most arrogant, sloppy, smart, beautiful, and brave girl I’ve ever met.” Octavia responded her enlightened smile humbling the only set of eyes that would ever see it.

Those two deep magenta eyes opened and blinked a few times before a hand reached forward and took the mask off her face and switched it with the one on Octavia’s. “You say the sweetest things sometimes Tavi.” She chuckled. “But uh, fair warning. You might want to hang onto me, tightly.” She added before roping her arms around the shorter girl and Octavia reacting on instinct alone and clutching her close. She blinked and felt her body being pulled and warped the what felt like a pin hole before it all came slamming back in her face as her body reappeared in the ballroom in front of Fancy Pants and Fleur who sat in two plush looking dining chairs that looked much more like thrones.

“Oh Vinyl, do you always have to win? Can’t you at least give the other’s a fool’s hope?” He sighed sipping his wine.

“No can do FP, I’m not the losing type anyways. But Tavi here is the one who found me so technically she won.” Vinyl laughed nudging the nauseous looking girl forward.

Fancy looked down at the girl curiously before he realized that she was an earthbound and had probably just teleported for the first time. “Jaxon, get Miss Philharmonica a cup of ginger tea for her motion sickness.” He ordered turning to the butler beside him. Jaxon bowed deeply before spreading his wings and making his way out of the room at a speed that would have made Rainbow envious. He returned seconds later holding a steaming cup on a platter for Octavia to take. She accepted gratefully and sipped at it to let the effects steep into her. She felt her head clear from the scent alone and the warm but sharp taste made her stomach stop doing flips.

“Thank you Fancy, I appreciate your hospitality.” She stated with a small curtsey to him.

“Think nothing of it my dear, now have a seat while we discuss your prize.” He responded motioning to a luxurious looking couch that had appeared behind them. Vinyl sat down first surprisingly crossing her legs and accepting another steaming drink that Jaxon offered her. Octavia casted her a glance as she blew on the tea.

Vinyl noticed the look and rolled her eyes. “I didn’t say I HATED tea Tavi, just most teas. Masala Chai just happens to be my favorite.” She explained holding up the tea a little bit and inhaling its sweet scent before sipping it herself with a surprising lack of slurp. Vinyl noticed her dumbfounded look and realized she must have still been confused by the seemingly flawless transition she had gone through. She sighed reverting her speech to that of Victoria again. “Look darling, if you need an explanation think of it this way, I’m two sides of the same coin. I can be just as prim and proper and make a good show of being the heiress of this estate,” her voice went back to being the raspier voice that belonged to Vinyl “Or I can be a chillax totally flippin’ awesome raver side that grinds your nerves into dust. But both of them are me. When I’m drinking tea and sitting back in a garden socializing with the Canterlot elite I’m fantasizing about throwing half of them into a mosh pit to see them torn apart; and when I’m raving at a good hotspot but I’m getting a major head ache from it all I can think about is going home and drinking a giant steaming cup of lemon honey ginger tea to clear it. I’m the best of both worlds.” She chuckled grinning the unmistakable grin of the DJ who had made her life a living hell. Octavia felt a ghost of a smile make its way onto her face despite herself.

“Well I’m thankful for that then, maybe your classier side will find its way into the open a bit more often. Now Fancy, I’m sure you have a long list of questions for us.” Octavia sighed turning back to face the blue masked man.

“Oh no, I’m quite up to speed on you two’s current situation, there is a reason I’m the head of this house you know.” He chuckled before he reached over and joined his hand with Fleur’s and both of their rings glowed before many magical screens surrounded them in an orbital circle. He reached forward and touched one so that it flipped around and enlarged itself for them to see. It played what seemed like a movie of their adventures throughout the night, including both sides of their shared memories from camp. “It’s quite the powerful gift I possess, being able to link the minds and hearts of those around me if only for one night.” He continued as he and Fleur stood and walked towards them.

“We have our reasons for doing what we do dearest Octavia, inviting you here, choosing the masquerade, making sure that your memories were resurfaced through the influence of Pantaleon magic. Given I’m actually very surprised it worked on you Vinyl, normally we’re immune to its effects.” Fleur noted with a light air of curiosity in her bell like voice.

Vinyl shrugged. “I let it take me. Seemed like it had something important to do so I let it. But uh, correct me if I’m wrong here but won’t the spells effects vanish at sunrise…?” Vinyl countered. Fancy Pants sighed and nodded.

“Unfortunately yes, the spells effects are cancelled by the rising of the sun. The only way you two would be able to keep the memories you have now would be if you were exposed to the magic for a longer period of time. And the sun yields to no man’s will.” Fancy stated sounding more philosophical than he had originally intended.

“So, we won’t remember anything from tonight…?” Octavia asked curiously.

Fleur responded with a small sad smile. “You may, but if you do it will feel more like a dream than an actual memory and it will eventually fade.”

“I see…” Octavia breathed looking back down into her cup of tea.

“Well that bites.” Vinyl huffed with a frown of her own. “Can’t you just zap us with a bit more juice from the gems so that we get exposed to it faster?” she asked her Uncle.

“Not if you like having control of your own mind. Need I remind you of great cousin Gemstar?” he pointed out. Vinyl frowned and grumbled under her breath the reply seeming to satisfy her. “Well screw it then, we’ll just have to make tonight something we CAN’T forget!” Vinyl declared before standing up quickly and grabbing Octavia by the wrist pulling her up beside her. “How long do we have until sunrise…?”

Fancy looked at the starry heavens outside. “About three hours, what are you planning Vinyl?” he asked his niece. She didn’t respond just grinned and pulled out something from a hidden pocket in her dress and removed her mask before placing it on her face. She looked up goggles strapped to her face and grinning like a Cheshire cat.

“What I do best, I’m going to make some music. Come on Tavi, to my mixing board!” she announced triumphantly running out of the room dragging a very confused Octavia with her. When they left the room Fleur turned to her husband with a knowing smile on her face.

“So when were you going to tell them that the reward was a memory spell that would let them keep the memory’s they make tonight…?” she asked her husband.

He chuckled as he collected a glass of wine from a nearby table. “Oh dear me, did I forget to mention that to them…? Oh well, let them have their fun.” He mused as he sipped at his wine.

Fleur playfully hit him in the shoulder. “I married a very mean man.”

“And you wouldn’t have done the same…?”

“. . . Point.” She stated simply before she tipped back her own glass and drained it.

***

“Vinyl, you know I would never do it but I swear to Faust if you don’t release my wrist and stop dragging me through this mansion like a dog on a choke chain you’re going to wake up in a hospital bed with blunt force trauma to the head.” Octavia growled when she felt her wrist start to dislocate like her shoulder had five minutes ago. Vinyl quickly released her and chuckled nervously as she came to a stop in front of a door.

“Sorry, here. Hold still.” She ordered before touching Octavia’s wrist with her finger and then doing the same to her shoulder. Octavia felt her shoulder and wrist pop back into place and the soreness that had been starting to set into them to vanish. She rolled her shoulder a bit to test it while she rubbed her wrist.

“Well that’s a useful spell…” she murmured.

“Yeah, you’d be surprised at how many times I injure myself DJ’ing it up in the club. Come on, the music room is through here and we’re burning precious moonlight.” Vinyl urged opening up the door and leaving it open for Octavia as she hit a switch next to the door and a room that literally looked like a professional music studio was revealed by overhead lights. Vinyl quickly walked over to a large spread mixing board that was twice as large as her portable one, she pointed at a door that was attached to the room. “The instruments are in there, there should be a cello a little ways in on your right. I know it isn’t your usual one but we’ll have to improvise a bit here.” She explained as she was adjusting dials along the board.

Octavia was still very confused but went along with whatever Vinyl was plotting. She went to the door and opened it before feeling around the entrance for a light switch. She found it and her eyes widened in amazement at the sight before her. Hung on walls or on display on pedestals, behind glass cases, or just standing along the wall were hundreds and hundreds of instruments. All of them were neatly polished and looked to be made with exquisite tastes in mind. There was everything from accordions to xylophones and bass guitars to violins all around her. She felt her eyes mist up at the beauty of it all before she felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see Vinyl giving her a confused look.

“What’s the hold up…?” she noticed Octavia stunned speechless at the room and couldn’t help but laugh. “You really need to get used to me surprising you Tavi, this is only my personal collection, you’d probably die and be playing with the angels if you saw my Uncle’s collection. Now hurry up and pick a cello so we can start.” She ordered before turning on heel and going into the other room again.

Octavia was more stunned than she was before. ‘PERSONAL collection?! What kind of allowance does she get that she can buy all these instruments?!’ Octavia internally monologued while she walked towards the string section and selected a finely crafted cello that had caught her eye when she walked in. True to her careful eye it was the same make as her personal cello, surprising considering it was a custom job. She walked back out and she quickly found a shocking revelation. The wall in front of the mixing stand was folding up like a blind to reveal a tinted window that looked into a small recording room. Vinyl walked from the mixing board to what looked like just another section of the wall but when she pushed on it the panel went inwards before sliding out of the way to let her into the recording room. Octavia slowly walked in looking around and noticing that the wall had piano keyboards of different sizes and brands hanging on the wall with a stand that probably fitted all of them next to one of the two mike set ups in the room. “Let me guess, private recording studio…?” she asked her fellow musician.

“Bingo.” Vinyl replied as she pulled of a standard looking keyboard and brought it over to the stand latching it into place before she went back out of the room. Octavia decided not to question it and instead turned her curious mind to another topic.

“Vinyl, correct me if I’m wrong but as I recall you can’t play string instruments. Why have so many if you can’t play them…?” she asked the blue haired girl as she re-entered the room with a binder and a pencil in her hand. She sat down at her keyboard and opened the binder and started flipping through it using her magic while she looked up at Octavia with a smile, not a grin, and honest smile as she pointed the pencil she had in her hand right at Octavia.

“Because of you. Ever since I woke up in the hospital bed all I could think about was playing with you again. Staying up late at night and composing until we both passed out together and then waking up in the morning and laughing at each other’s bed head just like the night before the accident. So whenever I saw a string instrument the thought ‘what if I could play this with her’ took over and I found myself buying it without so much as a second thought. It was funny, I could never remember you specifically, just little things about you. Like how you wrinkle your nose every time somebody cusses, or how for all your fussing about my eating habits you hate vegetables with a burning passion, or how frustrated you got when someone used the word wanker wrong in front of you.” She laughed as she started scribbling down some things on a few sheets of music. Octavia frowned at her.

“I do not wrinkle my nose every time somebody swears in front of me!” Octavia snapped.

“Bullshit.” Vinyl pulled out her phone quick as lightning and snapped a picture of Octavia with her magic. She turned the phone around to show her the picture of Octavia with her nose wrinkled in what looked like disgust.

“I’d appreciate it very much if you deleted that horrid picture from your phone.” The classical lover sighed pinching the bridge of her nose as she felt a headache coming on.

“S’okay, I’ve got a better one set as your contact icon anyways.” Vinyl shrugged as she deleted the photo. Octavia’s eye twitched when she said that.

“And what, pray tell did you set as my contact icon…?”

“Call me and find out treble clef.” Vinyl countered with a devious smirk that did not spell good tidings for Octavia. Octavia pulled out her own phone from her person and dialed Vinyl’s number. First she heard [url= http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3bczScmRUE]THIS and she looked at the girl with a flat face.

“Really Vinyl? A t-rex?”

“It’s not a T-Rex it’s Godzilla! And give it a second, oh there you are. Man that cold really did a number on you didn’t?” Vinyl snickered as she turned the phone towards Octavia to see. It was a picture of when Octavia had gotten a cold a few months ago and A. already looked disgusting and B. was mid sneeze. Octavia quickly tried to snatch the phone out of Vinyl’s hands her face bright cherry red. “Ah ah ah, one false move and this plus the entire album I have of other pictures like this gets posted on Facebook. And I have A LOT of friends on Facebook.” She snickered holding her thumb over the button threateningly.

“Okay… forgo me asking how you got those pictures, WHY do you have an entire album of me in such scandalous situations…?” Octavia asked slowly.

“I needed leverage in case you ever decided to murder me.” Vinyl responded simply.

“You’re smarter than you look.”

“And you don’t have to worry about me posting them, I don’t pull that with friends. Unless they prank me first, then it’s fair game.” She explained as she patted Octavia’s head as she did so. “And for your information TAVI I got straight A’s… except for in gym. I swear coach has it out for me…” she grumbled.

“You sat in the bleachers the entire time listening to music and yelling at the people who practicing sports.” Octavia dead panned.

“I was impersonating coach! I thought imitation was supposed to be the highest form of flattery!”

“Not when you walk into the gym on exam day with a fiery wig on, costume make up to make you look eighty years old, and a whistle that sounded like a fire alarm!” Octavia shouted back.

“Geez, everyone’s a critic… I don’t know how Pinks does it so easily. Anyways, there. I’m done making the changes.” She sighed handing the sheet she’d been marking up to Octavia. Octavia cocked an eyebrow at it as she took it and read it over.

“. . . Okay, I give up, what am I looking at?” she asked the pianist turned DJ.

“Well, you know the song Over The Rainbow by Harold Arlen…?” Vinyl asked smiling at the girl.

“Of course, it has over six academy awards just by itself when it was made for the classic movie The Wizard of Oz.” Octavia responded her knowledge of classic music far exceeding what people would call ‘average’.

“Okay, now do you know the old Shaker song Simple Gifts…?” Vinyl continued.

“To a lesser note but yes, I have played it a few times.”

“Well a few years ago I was going through some of my old compositions and noticed that I had made a cello version of Simple Gifts and I had a Piano version of Over the Rainbow that was right beside it. I got to looking at it and noticed that the two songs almost perfectly harmonized naturally. So the gears started to turn in my head and I started composing. I didn’t leave my room for three days except when my mother dragged me out by my ear eat. The end result was this. But I was at an impasse to put it into actual music because I had no one to play the cello piece. But now I do!” she explained grinning as she bounced a little on her stool. She pointed at a few of the details on it. “I adjusted some of the notes on it so it’d be easier for you to play, I can play the piano part first so you can get a feel for what it’ll sound like if you want.” Vinyl offered. Octavia nodded slowly handing her back the sheet music. Vinyl laughed and pushed it back towards her. “Girl please, I could play this in my sleep. Besides, I have a photographic memory. Here, hold these.” She stated as she took off her goggles and handed them to Octavia who was still partially stunned that Vinyl would take them off at all. Vinyl had closed her eyes from the moment she took them off and her hands hovered above the keys of her piano for a second before she began to play.

To Octavia it sounded like a tropical version of the classic song that she had found herself singing far too often as a child, being on her mother’s list of ‘top ten songs I must always play when we get in the car for more than ten minutes’. Just the piano alone was enough to let her mind wander. She closed her eyes with Vinyl and imagined herself playing alongside her with the cello she still held in her hands. Unconsciously she started tapping out the beat of the song on the side of her cello. Vinyl noticed her sharp ears picking up the addition and making a note to tell Tavi about it when she was finished playing. When the piano piece came to a close Vinyl opened her eyes to look over at her friend only to see she had small tears forming in her eyes.

“Octavia! Are you okay?!” Vinyl asked quickly rushing over to the girl whose light pink eyes shot open at the panicked exclamation. She realized she had been crying while listening to it and laughed a little as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Yes, I’m fine. I’d just forgotten how powerful your piano playing can be. Mr. Arpeggio wasn’t lying when he said you could move a crowd to tears.” Octavia laughed. Seeing she was alright and not sad Vinyl sighed in relief and took her goggles back from her before sitting back down on the stool. She put the goggles around her neck and then turned back to face Octavia.

“Alright, now that mine’s done how about you practice your part a bit. I heard you getting into the rhythm while I was playing so I assume you have an idea of how to play it.” Vinyl noted stating her observations. Octavia’s cheeks tinted pink at the mention of her habit.

“Well, yes, I do. It seems old habits die hard and you make it impossible for me not to want to join in… is it alright if I add in a few of my own tweaks to the song?” she asked the pianist.

Vinyl grinned at her. “What did you have in mind?”

***

An hour and a half later Vinyl was sitting at her recording table with Octavia watching her over her shoulder as she worked. Normally she would have hated this, not liking people being close to her while doing something as personal as pouring yourself into your work like she did; but Octavia was a special case. She had ears that were just as sharp as hers and made good suggestions for additions or tweaks in the song editing process.

“Mmm, go back four counts and play it again.” Octavia instructed. The disk jockey complied listening closely to it. “There, in between that transition between the main tempo and the new one you should make it so the music just stops for a few counts before it picks up again.”

“And add in a muted symbol roll for effect?” Vinyl asked with a grin which Octavia mirrored.

“You read my mind Tori.” She quickly covered her mouth when she realized her mistake but Vinyl only chuckled a little at it.

“Don’t sweat it Tavi, if it’s you I don’t mind. ‘sides, kinda sounds cool doesn’t it? Tavi and Tori. Like we belong on a music album cover or something.” She laughed as she started lengthening the music’s transition and adding in a symbol roll to it lowering its volume and mixing it in so it blended easier. “How’s it sound now?” she asked playing it again from just before the pause. Octavia listened and nodded her approval.

“Sounds perfect, but let’s play it all the way from the top to make sure.” She replied reaching forward along one of the sliders that she knew rewound the song and brought it all the way back to the beginning and listened (SONG). They had added in the underline sound of waves crashing against a shore line to the back ground after Tavi pointed out that it sounded a little tropical when it came together. The effect was amazing and it landed both of them with a satisfied smile once it was over. Vinyl clicked a few controls on the control panel and it played a small melody before she pulled out her flash drive from it and held it up for Octavia to see.

“This thing you gave me is amazing by the way, six years of me storing music on it and it hasn’t so much as glitched. AND it went through the river just like we did! I say the thing is indestructible.” She joked with an amused giggle. Octavia laughed as well but was shaking her head while she did so.

“I can’t believe the two things I gave you are your prized possessions. So much so that you, how did you phrase it, ‘Opened up a can whoop-ass’ on one of your classmates when he tried to take the goggles off your face and ended up cracking them?”

“Hey, no body touches the goggles ‘cept me. And you too now I guess. I still hate my eyes you know.” Vinyl pointed out as she fiddled with the goggles that were still around her neck. More than once she had caught Octavia staring at her eyes and it was starting to affect her confidence.

“You realize they’ve been magenta this entire time right?” Octavia asked. Vinyl’s eyes widened as she looked up in shock.

“No way, they never turn that color!” she exclaimed as she stood up and went over to a door that lead to an attached bathroom with a mirror in it. Sure as shit her eyes were a gentle hue of magenta and even had a lighter pink around her pupils. “Well To quote AJ,sell me to the circus and call me a rodeo clown look at that! Six years of my uncle trying to get them to change and you show up for an hour and they pretty much lock in that color!” she laughed walking back into the room. She noticed Octavia was staring off into the distance her eyes glassed over. “Tavi…?”

Octavia came back her eyes clearing as she blinked a few times. “Oh, sorry. I was just, remembering when you first told me about them… your eyes I mean. Why you liked to hide them behind those cheap plastic sunglasses before I gave you the goggles. You know, I gave them to you hoping you’d be motivated to hide less. They didn’t look very comfortable.” She pointed out.

“They weren’t at first. It took me a while to break them in, but after they did I never took them off. I even fell asleep with them on sometimes. I noticed when I wore them Rift didn’t tease me as much, like I was camouflaged and he couldn’t see me. And people at school didn’t stare at me like I was a freak anymore. I felt normal, safe wearing them. And without the eyes to pair us together people stopped associating me with Rift too. It was a win-win. But more importantly, they were my link to you. The blurry little girl with the accent that confused me but comforted me at the same time. I never wore them when I played the piano though. I felt like I didn’t need to, that just playing it was comforting enough… and I swore that every time I closed my eyes I could still hear faint sound of a cello beside me, like playing the piano somehow brought you back to me if only for one more song…” Vinyl seemed to realize exactly what she was saying and froze before her cheeks reddened a little and she scratched the back of her head nervously. “Ya know, because we were like super close… and stuff. Not that we’re not now it’s just that we-! Oh for the love of Pete I’m turning into one of those mushy girls…” she complained after facepalming and leaving it there.

Octavia had tears in her eyes again but not from music this time, Vinyl’s words were enough this time. She laughed a little and set a gentle hand on Vinyl’s shoulder. “You know Vinyl, I’m starting to like this side of you more and more. First you get enthrallingly poetic and then you blush? Must be my lucky day, I wish I had a camera. Oh, wait.” She grinned and whipped out her phone to reveal it had a blipping red dot in the top let corner of it. “Silly me, I must have accidentally recorded all of that! Huh, I bet Neon would LOVE to see this…” she mused focusing the camera on Vinyl’s now bright red face.

“N-not cool Tavi! I pour my heart out to you and you use it as blackmail?!” Vinyl snapped trying to hide behind things in the room so Octavia couldn’t see her face.

Octavia gave her a flat look. “You made me sing ‘Can you feel the love tonight’ in a man’s voice with over three million people listening and you have an entire photo-album of my most embarrassing moments on your phone.”

“Oh… right… that.” Vinyl muttered. “So, uh… you turn that off and never mention the video again and I’ll make sure those photo’s never see the light of day…?” Vinyl offered peeking out from behind the couch in the corner. Octavia cocked an eyebrow prompting her to go on. Vinyl sighed and rested her cheek against her palm. “AND I’ll apologize on air about the song…” she grumbled. Octavia beamed and clicked a button on her phone that made the phone go off.

“Good, and I have that on video as well so you can’t get out of it. Now get off the floor, you’re getting your dress dirty.” Octavia chastised offering out a hand to help her up.

“Are you absolutely SURE you and Rarity aren’t related…?” Vinyl asked as she stood up and ignored the dust stains on her white dress. Octavia frowned and glared at her.

“For the hundredth time Vinyl, YES. Rarity and I share no blood relation what so ever. I don’t even HAVE a mage in my family tree for at least six generations!” Octavia sighed rubbing her temples.

“Her dad’s an Earthbound.” Vinyl pointed out as she started to power off her equipment and shut everything down.

“I have my family tree written in up to the year detail Vinyl, starting over two hundred years ago. Rarity is nowhere on it!” Octavia sighed to which Vinyl snickered as she hid away her recording studio yet again and walked towards the door taking Octavia by the arm and pulling her towards it as she did so.

“I know, I’m just screwing with you Tavi, come on. I want to get out of this dress. It’s starting to feel like one of the servants put itching powder in it.” She complained trying to shift the dress so it was touching as little of her skin as possible.

“Where are you going to get a change of clothes in here…?” Octavia asked as the girl pulled her down the hall.

“Pfft, my room, where else?”

“You have your own room at your uncle’s?”

“Yeah, it’s at the top of my tower in the east wing.”

“You have your own TOWER?!”

“Wow, you really need to get out more. Half the girls in Canterlot have their own tower.” Vinyl chuckled. Octavia felt herself getting lightheaded. Vinyl elbowed her lightly in the side. “Hey, don’t faint on me. I’m not carrying your ass all the way up to my room.”

Octavia frowned and wrinkled her nose a little. “I doubt you have the strength to actually lift your own suitcases without magic so I don’t particularly trust you carrying me anyways.”

“Hey! I can so! You saw me carry in my system without magic! That thing weighs 200 pounds for crying out loud!” Vinyl complained her voice cracking a little as they came to an open spiraling staircase that lead up further than Octavia could see. She swallowed hard.

“I don’t recall seeing something this tall from outside, do we have to climb all the up there?” she asked her eyes darting to the blue haired girl beside her. Vinyl laughed and shook her head.

“No Tavi, it’s an illusion spell to throw off guests that wander this far into the mansion. Just like the one hiding the elevator.” She mused as she walked forward and waved her glowing hand in front of the large center column. The image of it moved like rippling water and dissolved revealing an elevator door that opened for Vinyl who looked back over her shoulder at Octavia. “Are you going to stand there mouth gaping open all night or are you going to join me?” she asked raising an eyebrow and smirking a little. Octavia quickly slid into the elevator just as the doors started to close shut.

“Not a word Scratch, not. A. Word.” Octavia stated firmly as she tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear.

“I wasn’t going to! I was just going to point out that you might want to change too since I can’t imagine that dress being too comfy either. Octavia shifted a little from foot to foot. The dress she wore was tolerable, but those accursed heels…

“Maybe I should… though I doubt any of your clothes will fit me. You’re built like a twig Vinyl dear, while I-“

“Have curves that would make grown women jealous?”

“I was GOING to say built as my race should be but thank you for putting it in such a blunt and slightly questionable manner.” Octavia deadpanned.

“Anytime Tavi, and no need to question me. I do what I want.” She declared with a small snicker as the elevator came to a stop and she stepped out of it. Octavia had to think for a moment before the pun made sense to her and she wrinkled her nose again.

“You could AT LEAST be more subtle Vi- by the bronzed arse of Celestia this room is HUGE!” Octavia exclaimed as she walked through an archway into the open room that went up three floors and had architecture that would have made Octavia believe she had just walked into a Greek palace instead of a bedroom.

“Yeah, I know. MESSAI get me one of my usual outfits and lay it out for me on my bed, I’ll be up in a minute.” Vinyl called to the air. Octavia gave her a look like she’d gone crazy when a voice came from the air around her making the earthbound jump in fright.

“Yes Vinyl, also what am I to call your guest?” the soft female voice asked.

“Huh? Oh that’s Octavia Philharmonica, but save her in as Tavi.” Vinyl ordered with a wave of her hand as she walked over to a kitchen area that had its own built in bar (stocked with non-alcoholic mixes… mostly). Vinyl pulled out one of her sour apple energy drinks and popped the top on it as she walked up to the stairs before realizing that Octavia was still standing where she had come in frozen in place and her eyes darting in every direction. Vinyl choked a little on her drink when she realized she’d forgotten to tell Tavi about her personal choice in a house keeper. She leapt back over the railing and walked back towards Octavia. “Aw shit Tavi, I’m sorry. I forgot to tell you about Messai, she kinda runs things up here. You know, picks up after me and makes sure the place doesn’t get dusty while I’m gone.”

“You have a GHOST as a house keeper?!” Octavia asked in shock. It was Vinyl’s turn to be stunned before she burst out laughing. She collapsed to the floor doubled over as she went into hysterics, effectively spilling her drink all over her dress.

“Whoo… ghost as a house keeper…! That’s rich even coming from you Tavi!” Vinyl laughed as she started to wind down from her fit. A tissue floated over to her in a white aura.

“You cried a little on that one Vinyl, and it’s going to take me forever to dry clean that dress thanks to your fit.” The voice sighed as Vinyl took the offered tissue and wiped her eyes with it.

“Well it was funny first off, and second just use the chemical bath if you’re going to be so nitpicky about it.” She chuckled before she turned her attention back to Octavia who was now even more confused than she was before. “Anyways Octavia, that ‘Ghostly house keeper’ you’re referring to is Messai; the Magically Enhanced Semi-Sentient Artificial Intelligence. She’s a prototype my Uncle started back when he was in college and I picked back up and finished a few years ago. He’s in the process of patenting her so he can sell her as the next ‘big thing’ in the science world… so again shh.” She mused putting a finger to her lips and grinning a little as she did so.

“Y-you made a robot that thinks for itself and you’re using it as a maid? Why am I not surprised?” Octavia groaned as she rubbed her temples in frustration. A familiar scent hit her nose and she looked beside her to find a steaming cup of tea floating on a plate about a foot away from her.

“My scans show that you have a headache in your frontal lobes. In my experience this is usually caused by Vinyl and solved with lemon ginger honey tea.” Messai informed her as Octavia took the cup and plate from the magical hold.

Vinyl smiled and nodded until she realized that was an insult. “Hey!”

“Thank you… so, Vinyl really made you?” Octavia asked curiously as she sipped at the tea.

“In part. Fancy Pants is the one who initially sparked me to life using the magic of his family gems. But he couldn’t figure out the mechanics of how to actually ‘build’ me, so he set me aside until Vinyl picked up where he left off after finding my half-finished form in a storage locker under the house. She would have won an award for it had she not given the credit to her Uncle instead.” Messai explained to the dark haired cello player.

“Really? Why’d you give up an award if you were the one who deserved it Vinyl?” She asked turning to face her blue haired counterpart.

Vinyl shrugged sipping her can of liquid energy. “I was like 11. I didn’t want that kind of attention thrown on me. I already had the music scholars drooling at my feet over this.” She stated before waving her hand and turning on a nearby stereo and letting her magic make the music dance in the air for a few seconds before she cut it off. “I didn’t need techno geeks bowing at my feet too.”

“So… your portable turn table…? You lied when you said you bought that didn’t you?” Octavia asked hesitantly.

“Not entirely… I did buy it… as two broken record players, a couple old computers, a couple crates of scrap, and an old boot.” Vinyl listed.

“An… old boot?”

“I used the strings as pulleys and the lining on it as insulation. I swear when I run the thing for too long I can still smell feet… Tavi, why are you looking at me like I kill babies?” Vinyl asked noticing the shocked look on her friends face and her twitching eye.

“Y-you’re the real-life Tony Stark! Only instead of a mechanized suit of armor you make high tech sound equipment out of scrap metal and old computers!”

“And the sub woofers out of some scrap wood, old shag carpeting, and a broken boom box I found. It was my lucky day.” Vinyl added with a happy grin until she noticed Tavi’s hand was shaking bad enough that her tea was starting to spill. Vinyl reached forward and gently took the cup from her setting it on the coffee table. “Annnnnd that’s enough caffeine for you. Messai could you get me a paper bag and a cold compress? I think she’s about to start hyperventilating.”

Five minutes later Octavia was breathing into a paper bag more slowly than she had before and the ice pack she had on her head was being removed with the aid of Vinyl’s magic. “Y-you’re… not human.” Octavia managed to get out as she set the bag down and as collecting herself.

“Hey Tavi, that hurts. I get enough crap about my eyes from everyone else, now you’re agreeing with them?” Vinyl asked only half offended by the comment.

“I’M NOT TALKING ABOUT YOUR BLOODY EYES YOU NUTTER I’M TALKING ABOUT HOW YOU TOOK RUBISH AND TURNED IT INTO A SOUNDSYSTEM THAT BELONGS IN A SCI-FI MOVIE!!!” Octavia roared back in her face.

“Wooooow, your accent gets really bad when you’re angry.” Vinyl noted completely blowing off the fact that Octavia of all people was screaming.

“I’M NOT ANGRY!!!” She roared back making Vinyl’s hair stand on end freeze like that.

“Okay… you’re not angry. So why don’t you just calmly sit down and have some nice soothing Earl Grey tea…? That’s your favorite right?” Vinyl asked snapping her fingers so that Messai quickly brought the tea cup forward for Octavia to drink. Octavia opened her mouth to shout again and Vinyl jumped forward and tackled her pouring the tea down her throat and forcing her to swallow it before she could talk again. Octavia blinked and her eyes seemed to come into focus again.

“Vinyl… I realize we’ve re-discovered our pasts together and we’ve made a ton of new memories that I’m going to cherish forever, but could you please explain to me why you are currently pinning me down to a couch and straddling me…?” Octavia asked with a blank stare.

“Because your inner Brit was throwing a tantrum and I had to tranquilize it with tea.” Vinyl answered simply as she rolled off Octavia and stood back on her own two legs beside the couch. “Now come on, let’s get out of these dresses.”

Octavia gave her a horrified look and Vinyl quickly caught herself.

“Okay, poor choice of words there. Let’s change out of these dresses and into something that doesn’t make me feel like we just time traveled into the Victorian ages.” Vinyl rephrased as she pointed her thumb towards the stairs.

Octavia was silent for a moment before she cautiously looked over at Vinyl. “You don’t have a time machine up there do you…?”

“Nah, figured I’d wait until after I graduate to try advanced stuff like that. Come on!” Vinyl urged pulling her up and towards the stairs before Octavia could have another panic attack. Vinyl led Octavia up to the top floor of the enormous room and into a very spacious club-themed bedroom. The black lights above their heads made Vinyl’s white dress glow when they walked in and all the neon signs around the room reflect enough to pull her eyes in every direction at once. Octavia quickly had to rub her eyes when they started to get sore at once. Vinyl noticed and quickly fixed this by clapping her hands and making the regular lights in her room come on instead. “Sorry about that, I forget you’re not used to it like I am. Come on, closet’s this way, Messai will help you find something to wear.” Vinyl said as she walked towards a door on the right side of the room. Octavia was right behind her until Vinyl opened the door and held out her arm to stop Octavia before she could see inside it. “Okay Tavi, don’t freak out. The closet is a little bit bigger than normal and it has a really cool floor that’ll mess with your head alright?”

“Thank you for the warning this time.” Octavia nodded before she strode past Vinyl and into the room as the blue haired girl flicked on the lights to reveal that they were on a small railed platform that over looked a three story closet that was shaped like a cylinder with the clothing rack lining all available wall space. The floor literally looked like a deep black tunnel with lights lining it all the way down it’s never ending tunnel. Octavia smiled remembering this from a carnival she had attended when she was younger. “Infinite mirror trick…?” she guessed.

“Yup! Cool isn’t it?” Vinyl asked as she walked forward to the platform’s controls and lowered them down to the glass floor. She stepped off it and jumped on the glass floor grinning. “Fiber glass too so no chance of it breaking. I’m going back up to change, Messai already took your measurements when you walked in, just ask her to show you your options.” Vinyl explained as she walked back to the platform and pressed the rise button. Octavia watched her go before she looked around a bit nervously.

“Um… Messai?” Octavia asked to the air.

“Yes Tavi?”

“Show me my options…?” she offered.

“Of course, here you go.” came the reply before the hangers on the walls all started moving like a cyclone of color. When it stopped she noticed that the clothing that before had been more suited to Vinyl’s tastes were replaced with more classy and girlier options instead. The two feet between the bottom of the hanging outfits and the floor was now filled with racks of shoes as well, all in her size.

“A girl could get used to this…” she breathed as she started to look around. “Messai, show me your top ten picks.” She ordered after she realized it would take too long to go through all of them.

“I’m assuming you mean for everyday wear, here you are. They’ll be directly in front of you.” She replied as the hangers a few feet from Octavia shifted again and this time she couldn’t help but squeal just a little at the choices presented to her. How the disembodied voice knew her favorite styles she couldn’t fathom, but at that moment she couldn’t have cared less. ‘They have flat heeled boots~!’ she squealed internally.

Back in the main bedroom Vinyl had just finished changing into a simpler outfit of black denim jeans and a white v-neck shirt with faded musical scores across the front of it. Her feet were socked but she hadn’t put on the white sneakers Messai had picked out for her simply because she just wanted to lay on the bed for a bit. Not fall asleep mind you, just wanted something soft to lie down on for a bit.

It seemed like seconds later she heard footsteps come into the room and Vinyl slowly sat up yawning just a little as her vision cleared and she rubbed her eyes. “Mm, that didn’t take too long what’d you- whoa.” Vinyl’s eyes widened as she saw Octavia standing beside her in an open white button up blouse with a light pink form fitting camisole under it, a deep grey skirt with a white studded belt slanted across her hips and heelless boots that went just about four inches above her ankle. In lay man terms, she looked hot.

“Like it?” she asked spinning around a little and giggling as she did so. “Messai picked it out, and I can’t say no to heelless boots.”

Vinyl quickly hid her eyes by pulling her goggles on over them and adopting her casual grin again. “Looks rockin’ on you Tavi, now come on! I know the perfect spot for watching the sun rise.” She exclaimed as she pulled Tavi towards another door on the opposite side of the room. It hid behind it a set of spiraling stairs which they both climbed until they came to the roof which Octavia could see had an unlatching panel on it. Vinyl opened it and let it swing open before hoisting herself up and then turning to help Octavia up as well. When she came into the moonlight bathed night air her breath caught at the sight before her.

The city of Canterlot was famous for its size and grandeur being the only city in the entire world to take up an entire mountain side, the common consensus was the higher up on the mountain you lived the richer you were, and next to the castle itself the Pantaleon house was the highest house in Canterlot, and it showed thanks to the gorgeous view of the twinkling city that spanned out below them as they stood on the roof of the grand estate.

“Yeah, that was pretty much my reaction when I first came up here too. Hey, you see that little dot down there in the valley? That’s Ponyville. You can see the school from here too. Oh, and up there a little further out in the horizon floating in the sky? That’s Cloudsdale.” Vinyl declared pointing out the cloud city with her sharp eyes. Octavia let out a breath as she took it all in.

“Your ancestor had an impeccable taste in real-estate Vinyl. This view is incredible!” Octavia breathed as she was still taking it all in.

“Yeah, guy makes a pretty decent city too doesn’t he?” Vinyl laughed as she sat down on the slanted roof and rested her chin on her bent knees.

“How much of it did he make…?” Octavia inquired.

“Well, he helped with the castle a lot, built the upper ring, most of the middle, and a few of the lower districts as well. You’d be surprised at how little this city has changed in the last few thousand years… well, architecturally speaking anyways. Obviously people have upgraded things here and there and built in their own buildings. But you can tell its Felix’s work because every one of the buildings has our family crest on it somewhere.” Vinyl explained.

“Your crest…?” Octavia asked. Vinyl’s hand glowed with her light blue aura and the air shimmered for a second before the aura formed itself into a picture . “Pietate, Pietas, Patientiam…?” she asked curiously.

“Devotion, Tolerance, and Compassion. The three things we try to embody. The swan, in case you’re wondering, is a symbol of harmony, or in some cases music. I like the music part of it.” Vinyl explained with a small grin.

“And this, V shape down the center of it…?”

“Symbol of the builders. It’s supposed to represent how we helped build Canterlot. The colors in it are a representation of peace and strength, the peace we wish to bring and the strength we need to bring it. It was one of the first things my Uncle taught me about our family.” Vinyl explained her face surprisingly straight for a change.

“I never would have pegged you for the family type Vinyl, considering your relationship with your actual family I mean.” Octavia giggled as she sat in a similar position as Vinyl but with her hands at her sides instead.

“Yeah, well… they’re kinda why I’m like this actually. They set the example of what I didn’t want to be when I grow up. That if I ever have kids I’m not gonna ignore them, or judge them like they did me. And if I have more than one I’m not going to play favorites.” She explained as she rested her chin in her palm and looked out into the twinkling city below her.

“Oh Faust…” Octavia gasped her eyes widening in horror.

“What?! Did you slip?!” Vinyl asked turning her head towards the cellist.

“No… I just imagined you as a mother… and tinier versions of you running around and wreaking havoc on this beautiful land! It was horrifying.” Octavia shuttered. Vinyl rolled her eyes and pushed Octavia playfully in the shoulder.

“Oh like a little you wouldn’t be just as scary? You’ve got a nasty temper sometimes Tavi. And you’ve got pegasus in your blood. Imagine a pissed off little kid that can fly and scream like you do. That’s called a harpy.” Vinyl retorted. Octavia’s brow twitched before she decked Vinyl in the arm enough to send her rolling off the roof and over the edge. Octavia quickly jumped up when she realized this.

“VINYL!!!”

“It’s cool! I’m fine!” Vinyl announced as her head and shoulders came back into view from over the edge. She rubbed her arm where Octavia had punched her. “Ow, you hit hard for a band geek.” Vinyl commented. Octavia noticed her crest nor hands were glowing with the tell-tale signs of magic.

“How are you… doing that?” she asked curiously edging forward a bit on the roof.

“What? This? Magic carpet.” Vinyl explained with a shrug as she hovered a bit higher to reveal she was in fact standing on a flying carpet.

“You… have a flying carpet?” Octavia asked like she was trying to convince herself.

“Well yeah, they’re all the rage in Arabia. FP brought it back after his last trip there. It’s got a spell on it that makes it impossible to fall off, here watch.” Vinyl ordered before lowering herself on it like she was surfing as the carpet soared high into the sky and she did one long backwards looptiloop and a corkscrew before she leveled out back in front of Octavia grinning hanging upside down right in front of her for a second before righting herself again. “See? Didn’t so much as lift off of it. It also has a homing signal to catch you if you fall off something, which is why I’m not a pancake on the ground right now. Whoa, that’d be really depressing for you wouldn’t it? Since you’re the one who knocked me off and stuff.” Vinyl observed tapping her chin in thought.

Octavia was a little dizzy however. “I-I thought flying carpets were myth’s! Like mermaids and fairies!”

“Really Octavia, after all you’ve seen today is this really something to freak out over?” Vinyl sighed. Octavia’s panic went away and she shrugged her shoulders.

“I suppose on a day where I found out you have a sensible side and an IQ over 12, flying carpets are one of the more probable possibilities.” Octavia quipped with a sly smirk at the DJ who had been nodding up until that comment.

“Hey!” Octavia burst out in a fit of giggles and Vinyl couldn’t help but smile a little despite the insult. ‘You know, when she actually smiles and acts normal for a change she’s actually kinda pretty… better not say that out loud, she’ll think I’m hitting on her. And that’d be creepy. Wait, would it? I’m pretty sure she’s straight. Like 99.9% sure she’s straight… then again there was that one time I caught her staring at Dash… maybe she’s bi-curious? Maybe I should ask her. No, that’ll just land me in the hospital. Alright, looks like I’ll have to find out the old fashioned way. By carefully analyzing her social patterns and making a judgment based on my findings. Who should I use as the bait though? Oh, right… me. But I suck at flirting. Like REALLY suck at flirting. Or words in general. The only way I can ever get through to people is-‘ A little light bulb went off in her head as a plan began to form and Octavia righted herself wiping a hysteric tear from her eye.

“Oh my I needed that laugh. I’m sorry Vinyl, but that was just too perfect of an opportunity to pass up.” Octavia sighed with a satisfied smile on her face.

“It’s cool Tavi. Hey, you wanna try this thing out next?” she asked the earthbound as she flew directly upside down in front of her so that her multihued blue hair fell around her like a curtain and her eyes, thanks to her goggles being on top of her head now, were shining a brilliant shade of magenta as they met Octavia’s own light pink orbs.

“I-I don’t think that’s such a good idea Vinyl, we earthbound’s are really more meant to stay on the ground. Flying isn’t something we normally like unless we’re in an airplane or in a hot air balloon or something of the like.” Octavia explained eying the exquisitely intricate rug that Vinyl was standing upside down on. Vinyl flipped back up and now hovered in front of her still grinning.

“And you think us Unicorns are any different? It took me AGES to get used to riding on this thing! Between you and me I get motion sick real easy so I had more than enough issues just keeping my lunch down during my first few flights. And YOU’RE half pegasus, you’re a lot better cut out for this than I am, I’m not kidding when I say we haven’t had anything besides unicorns in our family for over… one two, eight generations” Vinyl explained counting off on her fingers.

“Wow that’s… really bad for the gene pool actually, how are you not an inbred mutant yet?” Octavia asked not believing one could go eight generations without some form of verity.

“I think my brother took most of that hit for me. He is the oldest, by two minutes but that’s not the point. Point is that you’re probably going to be better at this than I was. Come on, hop up here.” She said motioning for Octavia to join her on the carpet that was hovering about a foot off the roof’s level. Octavia bit her lip a little but stepped onto the carpet if only because she’d watched Aladdin one too many times as a kid and the idea of riding on a magic carpet at all was one of her childhood dreams come true. “Great, okay. Now the carpet doesn’t require magic so it’ll go on its own. Now right now because I was the first on it I’m in control of it so I’ll just show you how to fly it before cutting you loose. Ever ride a skateboard before Tavi?”

“Um, once, I believe. Thunder got me on one when I was much younger. He tied pillows to my stomach and back and gave me a pot for a helmet before he pushed me down the hill on his skateboard.” Octavia explained.

“Well, that sounds… traumatic.”

“No actually it was quite fun! Although Grams almost pulled his ear off when she was dragging me back in the house and my mum snapped the board in half after she got me off it… but I still remember how I steered it!” Octavia concluded with a small smile.

“Good, that’ll save me some time then. Now the only difference is that if you want to go up you lean back a little like so.” Vinyl explained as she leaned back a little and the carpet started to raise higher and higher into the air. “And, of course, if you want to go back down…” Vinyl got a wicked grin on her face.

“Vinyl, on second thought, I don’t think this is such a good ideAAAAAAAAAAA-!!!!!!!!” Octavia screamed as they dived down into what she assumed was the gardens since all she could see was a rush of green come at her as she clutched onto Vinyl’s leg while she screamed. Vinyl leveled out and went speeding past a few people that were still searching for their mask’s true owners. Vinyl laughed like a mad woman as she wove in between tall spiral like trees and then pulled back up high into the sky so that they were flying just beneath the clouds. She chuckled and tapped Octavia on the shoulder as she was still clutching her leg.

“We’re safe now, you can relax.” Vinyl mused as they were now gently gliding calmly in the sky. Octavia slowly released her grip on Vinyl but didn’t stand up. Vinyl noticed her shaken form and tapped her chin in thought. She looked down at her pocket where the flash drive was and then at the carpet and a light bulb went off in her head. “Hey Tavi, you know what’ll help you calm down?” Vinyl asked pulling out her flash drive and surrounding it in her magical aura.

“No. And I’d rather not guess if it’s YOU who thought of it.” Octavia hissed before a familiar melody started to play in the air. Combined with what they were riding on Octavia’s face deadpanned as Vinyl began to sing where the lyrics started.

“I can show you the world.”

“Vinyl, no. I’m not singing that corny song while we’re riding on this thing.”

“Shining, Shimmering, Splendid!” Vinyl continued grinning all the while. “Tell me Princess, now when did you last let your heart decide?” She took Octavia by the shoulders as she guided the carpet to move a little faster soaring over the beautiful expanse of the estate gardens and picking a single flower from one of the bushes as they passed it and offered it to Octavia as she continued singing. “I can open your eyes,”

Octavia frowned at the flower rolling her eyes and crossing her arms facing away from Vinyl as she knocked it out of her hands. “No Vinyl.”

“Take you wonder by wonder! Over sideways and under, on a magic carpet ride. A whooooooooole new world~!” She sang as she dipped the carpet back up towards the sky and aimed for the clouds. She started ducking and weaving through them. “A new fantastic point of view! No-one to tell us no, or where to go! Or say we’re only dreaming.” Vinyl sang grinning at her flying companion whose face was showing signs of her obvious breaking demeanor. Right on cue she snapped.

“A whole new Wooooorld~! A dazzling place I never knew!” Octavia’s harmonic voice trilled out no longer able to hold back against one of her favorite classic songs from her childhood. “But when I’m way up here, it’s crystal clear, now I’m in a whole new world with you.” She sang giving Vinyl a brilliant smile as the magic user picked up her verse making the carpet go in a full arch now that Octavia seemed okay with the flight.

“Now I’m in a whole new world with you!”

“Unbelievable sights, indescribable feeling! Soaring, tumbling, freewheeling through an endless diamond sky! A whole new woooooorld~!” Octavia sang as she brought her hands to her eyes while Vinyl went into a nose dive right over a sparkling lake.

“Don’t you dare close your eyes!” Vinyl added removing Octavia’s hands quickly.

“A hundred thousand things to see!”

“Hold your breath it get’s better,” Vinyl commented and sang .

“I’m like a shooting star, I’ve come so far! I can’t go back to where I used to be,” Octavia sang as they passed by a balcony where Fancy Pants, Fleur, Grace, and a good crowd of people were gathering to watch the sun rise. Upon seeing her daughter on a flying carpet with some girl she had only just met Vinyl’s mother’s jaw and plate promptly fell as she stared at them whiz past her in slow motion. Vinyl laughed and shrugged when Octavia looked at her.

“A whole neeeeew world~!”

“Every turn a surprise,”

“With new horizons to pursue,”

“Every moment red-letter”

“I’ll chase them anywhere, there’s time to spare. Let me share this whole new world with you.” they sang together as they slowed down into a drop below the tree line that surrounded the lake. Vinyl picked an apple from the tree that they passed under and rolled it down her arm and into Octavia’s lap.

“A whole new world…”

“A whole new world,” Octavia mirrored smiling softly at her duet partner.

“That’s where we’ll be,”

“That’s where we’ll be…”

“A thrilling chase,”

“A wondrous place…”

“For you and me…”

The song came to an end just as fireworks went off above their heads signaling that dawn was coming. Vinyl flew them up high into the sky again and let the carpet hover where it was just above the cloud line. “Hey, scardey cat, you remember how you told me you like the view from the roof…?” Vinyl asked softly. Octavia opened one eye and slowly nodded still dazed from the warm feeling the song had given her. “Well open your eyes and tell me how you like the view now.” She ordered as she gently helped Octavia stand up once more. Octavia slowly opened her other eye and felt the breath leave her as she saw the sweeping landscape of the encircling mountain range and the luscious green valley that her hometown sat in the middle of. Beyond that she could see an endless sweep of green with the occasional dotting of starry twinkling lights that marked a city in that area. Even Canterlot looked small from up there but what caught her attention more was how vivid the night sky looked now that she was away from the city lights. She could see every galaxy, ever cluster of stars, every constellation, and all of it was framed perfectly by the slowly setting full moon. Octavia felt tears stinging her eyes as she stood frozen watching the dark clouds of the night floated lazily beneath them. Slowly she reached down and touched one letting her hand catch onto some of the water vapors as they swirled around her hand and then dissipated when she took it out.

“Vinyl this is…”

“Amazing? Yeah, I know. I’ve watched this same exact scene hundreds of times before… although shockingly enough I’m not as tired as I usually am… and this is my first time ever watching the sunrise with someone else…” Vinyl admitted scratching the back of her head as she sat cross legged on the carpet they were floating on.

“The first time ever…? But I thought you went to this party every-“

“I always sneak off towards the end of it to come up on the roof to watch it by myself. It was like my transition switch between Victoria and Vinyl… Victoria by night, Vinyl by day. Kinda backwards now that I’m thinking about it.” Vinyl admitted as Octavia sat down beside her.

“Indeed it is…” Octavia sighed as she looked again out at the scene. Despite the beauty her mind couldn’t help but get a negative itch. “Vinyl…” the blue haired girl looked over at her curiously. “Do you really think the music will work for us? Re-trigger our memories of tonight I mean.” She asked wanting to know the DJ’s thoughts on the matter.

Vinyl blinked for a second before she slowly turned back to the stars and let her eyes close as she felt the night around her. “No… no I don’t.” Octavia’s eyes dropped a little at that. “But,” Vinyl continued making her perk back up. “It doesn’t matter because I had fun doing it. All of it. Especially our most recent little performance, I don’t think my mom’s EVER going to get those stains out of her dress!” She laughed before flashing Octavia an earnest smile. “And I’m hoping you did too, Octavia.” Vinyl replied her eyes once more a light hue of magenta. Octavia found herself entranced by it all, the setting, the person talking to her, the words she was saying, the song that still lingered in her ears, all of it. It made her head start to cloud which made it hard to respond at first but eventually she seemed to find her tongue again.

“I did… more fun than I can ever remember having actually…” Octavia responded as she felt the blood pounding in her ears. ‘Oh wonderful, this high altitude is making me light headed… no, I was lightheaded on the roof as well so it can’t be the altitude, not fully anyways. Is it Vinyl? Did I actually catch her air-headedness? Is that even a word? Okay, I’m not bonkers my heart rate is definitely speeding up now. And now my head’s over run with thoughts about that annoying- no… she isn’t annoying… oh who am I kidding she’s the most annoying damn girl on earth but…’ Octavia was still staring into the eyes that had eluded her for so long. ‘She’s definitely a very attractive annoyance… Wait, I’m straight! Right…? Come to think about it I never have actually LOOKED at someone and been especially attracted to them, male OR female… am I a-sexual? Can that happen in humans? Is Vinyl getting closer to me?!’ she thought frantically when she noticed that Vinyl’s head was indeed leaning a little bit closer to her own.

“Well I’m glad to hear that then.” She breathed. ‘What am I doing…? This was supposed to be an experiment! She looks like she’s about to faint again for crying out loud and you’re making a move?! Real classy Scratch. Nice show of self-control. You’re a real- what was that?’ Her thoughts were interrupted by something inside her shifting. Something in the air felt… wrong. Very very wrong. She looked straight to where she felt the disturbance and saw the large full moon staring back in her face.

Octavia blinked and noticed where her friend’s gaze had gone. “Something wrong Vinyl…?” Octavia asked knowing a Unicorn’s senses were much more sensitive than the other race’s.

“Does… does the moon look different to you?” Vinyl asked pointing at the white orb. Octavia blinked a few times looking at it curiously.

“Actually, now that you mention it, it does… I can’t place how though.” Octavia commented.

The hairs on the back of Vinyl’s neck were starting to stand on end. She looked closer and noticed something much more horrifying about the white glowing orb, it wasn’t setting anymore. It was rising; and even more terrifying was the missing visage of the maiden in its white complexion. Vinyl quickly stood on her feet and lowered her goggles onto her face before grabbing up Octavia quickly.

“Vinyl, what’s-?!”

“Close your eyes and don’t open them until I tell you to. And hold on to me, tightly.” Vinyl ordered. She didn’t ask, or leave any room for Octavia to think this was anything but an order. The girl she was clutching onto as they nosedived back towards the estate wasn’t Vinyl Scratch the fun-loving DJ that liked to joke around and mess with her head. This was Victoria Pantaleon, a very serious and very uncompromising being. As they leveled out along the gardens she used her magic to round up any and all of the people she saw wandering them and carried them in her hold despite their loud protests. When she came to the front doors of the mansion she kicked them open and unloaded everyone she had inside of it and gently laid her hand on Octavia’s shoulder. “Open your eyes and listen to me Octavia.” When two rose irises looked up at her she continued. “I want you to go to the ball room, run don’t walk and don’t stop for anything or anyone. When you get there get to my uncle and tell him that phoenix has burned out and that the nightingale is rising. And do not for any circumstance leave this building I don’t care if your own mother tries to drag you out STAY INSIDE. Am I clear?” Vinyl asked as she pulled off her goggles to reveal deep blood red eyes looking into Octavia’s very being.

“Y-yes.” Octavia replied with a quick nod and a hard swallow.

“Good, now get going. As for the rest of you,” Vinyl continued raising her voice so that the guests could hear her. “Your stay here at the Pantaleon manner has been extended until further notice, All hell is about to break loose and none of you want to get caught up in it. I suggest going to the ball room if you want to know more but know this, within the hour the entire nation of Equestria will be put on lockdown until whatever is happening outside is resolved.” She declared. She turned to the hired royal guards that were standing watch beside the door. “Get in contact with the rest of your squadron, there’s still people out in the gardens and around the property. I want them inside this building and then I want this estate put on lockdown, no one gets out and more importantly nothing’s going to get in. Am I clear?” she barked. The two soldiers saluted her before the pegisai took off and the unicorn placed his glowing hands to his head to contact his other guards. Vinyl looked again to the slowly rising moon that was just visible from the open door.

“I don’t know what happened to you Luna, but you’d better get your shit in order, because I’ll be damned if I’m letting you anywhere near my city.” She growled before she threw herself back onto the flying carpet and took off to do another sweep of the property.

Author's Note

Yes, It was completely necessary to have that song in there in that much detail. I'll not shame Disney with a half assed impression of one of their classics. Haters can spam the dislike button all they want. I do not give two muffins what they think. Moving on, you get to see a little bit more action next chapter, and more allusions to what I may or may not do in future chapters. After this there probably won't be another OctaScratch special for a while (despite them being one of my favorites to write about). But no worries, we have an entire cast of background characters to write about. Tell me how you like this half of the chapter in the comments. I'll be up late proofreading the second part anyways so I'll probably respond quickly... Probably.

HIBAA Special 3

(***AN: Here it is you eager little foals, my final present to you before this year ends. Spam the comments if you will, it helps me know there's actually people reading this.***)

HIBAA Special Chapter 3:

Moonlit Tango

Octavia was running, and she was running faster than she ever remembered running. She had long since abandoned the questions that had formed in her mind. Vinyl would never pull rank unless it was important. She burst into the ball room where a large crowd was still out on the balcony watching in mumbled panic as the moon began to rise. She shoved her way to the front where Fancy Pants was talking with a very worried looking Fleur and Grace.

“Felix! We have a huge problem!” Octavia panted grabbing the attention of the older man who quickly rushed to her.

“I can see that quite clearly my dear, did Vinyl send you? Where is she?” he asked instantly concerned about his nieces absence.

“She sent me ahead while she sweeps the estate for the stragglers. She issued the order for the house to be put on full lock down, she even sent for a full squadron of royal guards to come here from the castle!” Octavia exclaimed still frantic.

“WHY, Octavia, did she say WHY?!” Fancy Pants asked his eyes narrowed and now an icy shade of blue.

“N-not directly. All she told me to tell you was that the Phoenix has burned out and that the Nightingale is rising.” Octavia replied relaying the message. On her shoulder she felt his left hand vibrate and they both looked to see the ring glowing. Behind him Fleur’s was doing the same thing.

“D-dear… what’s happening?” His wife asked her eyes darting from the ring on her finger to her husband. Said man was staring at the ring on his finger in horror before he quickly started belting out orders.

“EVERYONE INSIDE NOW!” He roared, and when Fancy Pants raised his voice, people listened. Every human being was inside the ball room within seconds with only minor pushes and shoves in the mix. When everyone was in he slammed the doors shut and around the room the windows were all blacked out by heavy metal sheets until the room was pitch black and then was brightly lit up by the electric lighting in the house. Fancy and Fleur now stood on the top balcony that over looked the ballroom. Fancy addressed his guests with the same authoritative voice that Vinyl had before him. “Everyone, your attention please. I have troubling news that I must share if we are going to get through what is about to happen. First I must share with you an old story that many have thought to be a myth. Who here knows the tale of the maiden in the moon?” Everyone present, minus a very select few, raised their hands. “Okay, now who here remembers the full story and not the fairy tale that they read to you before bed time?” He continued. All the hands fell. “That’s what I feared. Alright, listen closely because I’m not repeating this.”

He went on to tell them the true tale of the maiden, about the plague that had captured the mind of the people while they were subject to the eternal night. And lastly how only Princess Celestia had been able to free the people of the curse using the sacred relics. He then stated how he believed the correlation of events transpired, about the Nightmare’s return to earth being the source of the moon’s odd behavior.

“Well if she’s back then the Princess can just blast her away again right?” Asked one of the guests from in the crowd. There were murmurs of agreement after his statement.

“It’s not that simple. After she used them the relics vanished remember? And when they all returned our fair Luna would be freed from her prison. Which we all know happened fourteen years ago today.” He continued. “But, the problem with that was, that even when the Princess was returned no one has ever discovered the whereabouts of the Elements. They’re still missing, and worse yet there is an even graver turn of events that I wished I would never see…” he added looking once more at the ring on his finger. He held it up to see. “This ring was made by my ancestor and imbedded with the power and likeness of the sun itself, and it hold a special connection to our fair Princess Celestia just as my wife’s ring hold a special connection to Princess Luna and embodies the night’s beauty and grace. As such both have small connections with each. And… ten minutes ago when I stood on that balcony I felt something change, something missing. It pains me to say it more than you all will ever know but it is my assumption that this is because Princess Celestia of Equestria is no longer with us.”

There were loud gasps and panic began to spread like wild fire. Fancy Pants, try as he might couldn’t control the crowd now that they were in full frenzy mode. Lucky for him though they were all startled silent as the doors to the ball room slammed open and revealed Vinyl, or rather Victoria, standing with a crowd of people pouring in behind her looking just as hysteric as the crowd had formerly been. Victoria’s voice rang loud and clear over the hushed whispers of everyone present.

“All of you shut your traps and LISTEN.” She ordered her voice quickly making jaws clamp shut, injuring a few tongues in the process. “What’s happening right now is bad, yes. But it’s going to get worse if we start panicking. The entire reason our ancestor’s got corrupted in the first place was because they let fear and panic take them over. And if I have anything to say about it history will NOT be repeating itself tonight. So all of you shut up and listen if you don’t want to be turned into the monster’s the people outside these doors are more than likely converting to as we speak.” Not a word was spoken, no one could break her intense gaze that had them all frozen. “Pantaleon’s have had a long standing tradition of silently watching and guarding this city. We know everything about it, it’s twist turns, it’s pros and cons, and every little dirty secret it has.” A few of the gathered looked nervous at this but she didn’t stop. “But we have our share of secrets too. One of the big one’s is that we have a never ending sense of paranoia over catastrophic events like this. As such we’ve made precautions in case of such emergencies, the plan against Nightmare’s return is what one would call a waiting game.”

“We’re going to sit here like ducks?!” Cried one of the more vocal members of the crowd called.

Victoria sighed and held up her hand. “Let me amend that statement, that was the ORIGINAL plan. But my Grandfather amended it eighty years ago when he first took the head of the house.” She added earning a nod from her uncle behind her. “And from what I felt while I was out there I think we’re going to have to implement this plan really fast. So, if you’ll all follow us we’re going to bring you to the armory.” She stated as she reached behind a tapestry and pressed something that made the huge dance floor in the center of the beautiful room shift and turn into a large set of spiraling stairs with lights on each of the wide steps.

“Tori, I hate to interrupt but did you just say armory?” Grace asked as she and everyone else nervously followed the Pantaleon’s to the new stairs.

“Yup, Nightmare’s taint spreads like wild fire once fear takes over someone. My ancestor, Felix the third, was actually alive during the initial break out and wrote entire books on how it corrupted his friends and neighbors. His special talent also happened to be in weapon making, and his wife was a very advanced magical analyst. Together they honed in on Nightmare’s unique magical influence and designed a line of weapons that could dismiss her influence on the human body without physically injuring the corrupted person in question. They mass produced those weapons and added armor that would negate the effects for as long as you wore it.” Victoria explained as she lead the group down into a huge room piled high with what looked like simple leather armor and a multitude of staffs that were stacked in every available space.

Fancy stood on top of one of the benches. “Everyone grab a set of leather and put it on. After you’re equipped line up and get a staff, a baton, or if you fancy archery we have bows and blunt tipped arrows too. The name of the game is to hit as many of the corrupted citizens as possible without losing your armor. If you lose your armor, do NOT let go of you weapon or it will be you we’re hitting next. When you cure someone we will be sending around cars with more armor and weapons in them. Suit them up and they’ll be fighting along side you.” He explained as the crowd began examining the armor.

“Wait, this is happening too fast. You want us to soil ourselves by actually fighting our city’s populace while wearing these tacky suits and waving those poles around like cavemen?” asked one of the nobles.

“Would you rather we throw you out there and the lock ourselves away while the entire city goes into chaos?” Victoria asked frowning at the man. He quickly clamped his mouth shut and shook his head. “Didn’t think so. Anyone else have any complaints or are you ready to stop sitting in here sucking on your thumbs waiting for the princess to come and save you? Are you ready to go out there and take this city back from the Nightmare and save yourselves from being corrupted?!” She asked to the crowd before her. There was a loud call of agreement and cheers began to echo through the huge room. “Good, now suit up and pick your weapons so you can practice with them. We march out of here in half an hour, no excuses.” There was a collective grunt of confirmation and she jumped back down on ground level grabbing a leather suit that was her size and slipping it on over her clothes.

She heard a step behind her and turned to see Octavia standing there her eyes an unreadable haze of emotion, the only identifiable one portrayed by her face was confusion. “Tori I… I don’t know quite what’s going on. This is happening faster than I can take it in.” she explained a hand coming to her forehead as she tried to rub her aching brain. “You… you’re almost completely different every time I talk to you. Where did this diplomatic, calm and tactical side of you even come from?” she asked. Her blue haired friend sighed and then gave her a reassuring smile.

“It comes with the noble package. Uncle taught me how to sway people’s minds with words even though I usually like moving their hearts with music. I’ve never had to use those skills before now but I’ve never been more grateful for them. And, it’s hard to put into words but, I think that even though I hate most of the society in this city I still have a natural instinct to protect it. Call it family pride but when the city your family built out of literally nothing but a mountain is put under threat it tends to get personal for us. And no matter how much I hate their snobby attitudes, the people that are out there right now being tainted are my neighbors and the people Felix always wanted to protect. If that means I have to whack them a few times with these sticks then I’m all up for it. Bring on the tough love.” She explained in the best way she could. Octavia’s eyes seemed to come back to focus and she smiled at her.

“You know, even as Victoria you’re still my crazy roommate at heart, alright, give me two batons, I’m going to go… what’s the phrase Vinyl uses when she plays those games with Luna? ‘Open up a can of whoop ass’ on these people, if it means helping them of course. I’m nothing if not devoted to helping.” She declared with a knowing grin on her face. Behind the outer Victoria inner Vinyl was fist pumping.

“Excellent, Jaxon get Miss Philharmonica suited and armed. I’m going to get my records ready.” Victoria ordered as she brought her goggles back up to her eyes signaling the transition back into Vinyl.

“Of course Vinyl.” The butler responded stepping towards Octavia already dressed in his own armor and carrying a staff across his back. No longer did he look like a feeble old servant, his over coat removed it was quite obvious to see that the white haired man retained an impressive muscle build. Actually, he looked better built then most of the wrestling team. His stature and hardened face made him look like a hard faced solider.

“Jaxon…? Did that magic do something weird to you too?” Octavia asked not believing that the butler could look so… well manly.

“No, in my youth I was a recruit in the royal guard. When I was dismissed from service Master Felix’s father hired me as a servant under him, at the time the young master was little more than an infant. I have served dutifully under this family for many years and kept up my strict exercise routine. I even trained all the servants in this house as well.” He explained motioning behind him at a group of maids who were still in their uniforms that were equipped with staffs and were currently sparring with each other exchanging blows that were almost too fast to see. Beside them there was the cooks who all wielded frying pans and were knocking around training dummies with wind like blows that would have for sure knocked a human unconscious on the spot. Then there was the other butlers who were using bows and the blunt tipped arrows to snipe targets on the other end of the room, each one hit dead in its center.

Octavia’s jaw went slack. “I-is everyone one in this house an elite fighting machine?!”

Jaxon laughed as he started to equip a set of armor to her and tighten the thick and hard, yet somehow very moveable, leather suit on her torso and legs. Her arms she did herself. “Heavens no Octavia. Fighting is only half the battle, the other half is support. Which is why I trained the gardeners how to drive military issue Hum-V’s and Miss Vinyl taught the legal staff how to operate a command center.” He explained as two large garage doors opened from the side walls and huge armored trucks rolled out of them and men and women hopped out loading them with armor and weapons, while from the ceiling a cylindrical shaped room descended from the tall ceiling until it hung about fifteen feet from it reveling a small group of people working on a huge control board that took up almost all of the room behind a glass wall. No one but the guests and Octavia seemed to bat an eyelash at the scene unfolding before them.

“Y-you’re all completely prepared for an all-out war aren’t you?!” Octavia exclaimed as Jaxon finished equipping her.

“Why, yes. The late master was a military man himself, he wanted to be sure that we were prepared for any situation. Which is why both of his children and both Lady Victoria and Sir Victor as well were trained in the basics of hand-hand combat. And of course standard weapon training. Not that Lady Victoria needed it.” He laughed grinning a little as he handed Octavia two batons which she holstered at her sides .

“Wait, why does Vinyl not need the training? She’s not violent I understand, but even my own mother had me enrolled in self-defense classes from a young age. How else would she defend herself?” She asked not understanding until something clicked in her mind. “Is it because she’s a unicorn?”

Jaxon nodded. “Along those lines yes, but it’s more centered around her special talent. You see, while music is her primary art Vinyl has another talent which I’m sure you’ve already seen having lived with her.” He mused as his grey eyes caught sight of something behind Octavia.

“I’m not quite sure what you- Oh dear sweet Celestia what is that monstrosity on her back?!” she asked as she turned around and saw Vinyl coming back this time well equipped with her own weapon of choice, which to Octavia just looked like two amplifiers angled on rods that came out of a jet pack that kept her airborne while there was an electric blue keytar in her hands. She lowered to the ground and touched down grinning her usual grin.

“Hey Tav’s, like the gear? Woona and Pink’s helped me make it for our end of the year project! And I added my own touch for the fight! Look, now the sound waves merge with the spell that breaks the curse!” she explained before flipping a small switch on the side of her back-strapped amp and then letting loose a rather impressive belt of notes that instead of her normal light blue aura had a more purple tint mixed into the visible notes that emerged from the amp.

“Th-that’s amazing Vinyl! How did you merge the spell and the technology?” Octavia asked not quite understanding how even her mechanical oriented friend could pull such a feat of magical engineering off.

Vinyl laughed and smirked at Octavia a little. “Tavi, I brought about the creation of a sentient magical machine, compared to that mixing my music spell with Ol’ Felix the III’s anti-Nightmare spell was a synch.” She laughed before playing another short little rift to amplify her point. “Oh those snobby ass hole’s aren’t going to know what hit them.” She snickered as she switched off the amp on her back. The two spotlight shaped amp’s that protruded from the top retracted into it and Vinyl let the keytar rest at her side. She pointed at the baton’s on Octavia’s hips. “Going with a dual baton combo huh? You sure you can handle that?” she asked her dark haired friend.

That seemed to snap Octavia out of her shock as she crossed her arms and huffed. “I can ‘handle them’ just fine thank you. Despite what you may believe I’m NOT some kind of pretty princess type Vinyl. I can take care of myself.” She declared sticking her nose a little higher in the air.

“You say as you pretty much mimic those pretty princess types perfectly. Hey, that was a lot of P’s in one sentence right? Sounded kinda cool.” Vinyl mused getting distracted from the topic. Octavia rolled her eyes when she heard a siren go off and red warning lights bathed the room. Vinyl’s joking nature died there and her face turned into a hard frown as she shifted her shoulders and the jet pack started back up. Quickly she zoomed to the command center and hovered in front of it. “Situation report Quill?” she asked a white haired woman who had lighter brown streaks running through her air. She was currently viewing the monitors.

“It’s not from us Tori! It’s coming in from another part of the city!” The woman responded as she tried to get a connection through.

“That’s impossible, the only place in the city that would have contact with us is-“

“The palace! Vinyl they’re taking the palace!” Fancy shouted from where he and Fleur stood in the center of the control hub. Vinyl’s eyes widened and quickly she flew over the crowd who had just finished suiting up.

“We need all of you in the trucks now! If you can fly take to the skies, if you can teleport meet us at the castle, or if you just want to run do it but stay close to the trucks! If Canterlot castle falls before we can get the guard’s stationed there the equipment they need to fight back, then we’ll be overwhelmed by their numbers! MOVE MOVE MOVE!!!!” She ordered and people listened quickly jumping into the assembled vehicles, when they were full they rolled out the two huge garage doors that lead out into the cool night air, many of the pegasus guests flew low to the ground as fast as they could in the direction of the palace. Octavia was about to jump in one of the trucks when she felt a hand hold her back.

She turned back to see her mother, Fancy, Fleur, Harmony, Jaxon, her mother Grace, and Vinyl all standing behind her and in front of the Monster, which had been modified with a mattering ram grill on the front of it and what looked like a machine gun pit on the top. Her mother had a crazed smile on her face.

“You ride with us sweetie.”

“M-mom, what did you DO?!” Octavia asked her eyes never leaving the tanked out vehicle.

“I just pressed a button dear, you KNOW I have an engineering degree and well, don’t tell your father but I made these installments a while back. Call me a bit of a fanatic but that zombie apocalypse thing that’s been going around has made me a little… concerned. So I made some minor adjustments to the Monster… and built a shelter in the basement. Again, don’t tell Dad.”

Vinyl slowly leaned towards Octavia’s ear to whisper. “Can we trade mom’s…?” A prompt smack on the back of her head made her whine as her goggles went askew. “Owww, what the- Mom?!” Vinyl asked in shock as she looked at her mother for the first time. Her normally gorgeously styled white hair that flowed like milk down her back was tucked up tightly in a bun under a military issue cap and she wore a modified version of the armor that looked more like a spy suit with how black it was, across her back was a long metal staff, across her chest in an X shape were ammo belts for the gun on top of the Monster, and along her hips was an equipment belt that had a few grenades (flash of course, we’re not trying to kill people here), a set of nun chucks, and a holstered pistol. On her calf a boot knife stuck out of her black combat boot and her make up had all been washed away and replaced with two black streaks under her eyes.

“Yes child, and close your mouth, you’ll let bugs in like that. Now get in the car loser’s we’re going ass kicking. And we have to pick up your father on the way, is that alright Grace?” she asked her companion as the adults all walked towards the vehicle. It should be noted that both Fancy and Fleur now wore similar outfits to Harmony’s.

“Of course, it’s along the way anyways. Ohhh, this is just like ’82 all over again! I wish the others were here! Sunny’d be ecstatic to be out here with us!” Grace giggled. Fleur joined her nodding her agreement. The two teenagers however hung back Octavia waving a hand in front of her stunned friend’s eyes.

“Vinyl…? Tori? Victoria…?” she asked poking her stunned friend in the shoulder to try and rouse her again. A call from the vehicle however did it for her.

“VICTORIA HARMONIA SCRATCH-PANTALEON GET YOUR TAIL IN THIS CAR! THOSE CREEPS AREN’T GOING TO CURE THEMSELVES!” came the harpy like screech of Vinyl’s mother. Instantly the blue haired girl was bolting for the truck and Octavia was close on her heels not wanting to tempt fate herself.

The drive to the castle wasn’t that long but the drive to Vinyl’s house was even shorter. The Monster came to a stop outside a house that had looked completely normal, until they drove past the line of hedges that hid the first level from view. Banging on the front door, climbing up the walls, and mobbing the entire perimeter were hundreds of people who looked like they were cloaked in black smoke snarling like animals and trying to claw at the house to gain entry. Fancy removed his monocle and breathed on it polishing it for a second before placing it back on his eye and blinking.

“My they’re just as hideous as the journal’s described. Harmony, up there on the roof, is that Bar up there with a B-B gun?” he asked pointing at the roof where a large white figure could be seen firing off a B-B gun that looked to be outfitted to function like a machine gun. It was probably the only reason they hadn’t broken down the doors yet.

“So it is.” Harmony mused as she crawled out the back window and on top of the truck where the gun station was and sat in the chair that was attached to it. Vinyl and Octavia curiously stuck their heads out the window to watch Grace and Fleur were sitting on their open windows resting their chins on the roof smiling bemusedly while the men inside made pleasant conversation while the woman above them unleashed a hailstorm of enchanted rubber bullets on the mob that was attacking her home and husband. “Eat my painful cure you vile wretched demons!!!” She shouted over the loud firing. Behind them a supply truck was rolling up in anticipation of the new additions to their cause. With the gun Harmony managed to mow down the entire mob in less than two minutes. When it was over the gun was still smoking and smelled faintly of burning rubber. Behind her a stray had broken away from the back and was trying to get in a sneak attack. Vinyl quickly tried to warn her mother but found it unnecessary when her mother reached behind her and flipped the would be assailant over the front of the gun and then whipped the staff off her back and extended it to smash right into the corrupted man’s chest sending him flying off the truck.

“Octy, I totally take what I said earlier back, keep your mom. Mine’s way cooler.” Vinyl sneered after she recovered from the shock. Harmony smiled back at her daughter.

“Aww, that’s sweet of you Vicky. Now be a dear and go get daddy for me.” She ordered as she hopped down off the top of the truck. Vinyl stood up doing a little salute before grabbing her pack from the car and shouldering it back onto her back and taking off towards the roof. She came back shortly after holding her father by his hands and dropping him to land in front of his wife. Vinyl landed beside him panting.

“Man Dad, lay off those protein shakes.” She complained her arms feeling like jelly.

“Oh hardy har-har V. Hey honey, thanks for saving my can. I was running out of ammo up there.” He said kissing his wife’s forehead gently with gratitude.

“Think nothing of it dear. Here, put on this. We’re going hunting.” Harmony replied. Barbell Scratch eyed the leather suit with a small frown. “It’s what’s keeping us from transforming into one of them. How you’re not corrupted yet I don’t know.” She explained forcing the chest piece over his head and lacing it up.

“That’d be a thick skull and a will of survival hun. I heard those creeps banging down the door and when I looked out the window I remembered those old stories your dad used to tell us. So I went up and got Rift’s B-B gun because I recognized everyone. Look, there’s old man Jenkins’s!” he explained pointing out a balding old man that was squinting and trying to feel along the grass for his glasses that he was apparently missing.

“Whoa, how the hell he make it out of his bed?” Vinyl asked lowering her goggles off her face and letting them rest around her neck.

“Dunno, but the old bastard came down our chimney like Santa Clause without the presents and a lot uglier looking too.” Bar explained with an amused chuckle at his own joke which Vinyl mirrored while Harmony rolled her eyes. At least Octavia knew where Vinyl got her sense of humor and language.

“Um, excuse me for interrupting but aren’t we supposed to be on our way to the castle to prevent Canterlot from falling into the Nightmare’s curse?” Octavia asked the family. Barbell looked down at her squinting a little.

“V, who’s the Brit and why’s she look familiar?”

“Huh? Oh that’s Tavi. Sorry, I mean Octavia Philharmonica. She’s the girl from band camp that I got in the accident with.” Vinyl explained. Both of her parents looked shocked at this.

“Yes, yes, we can have a great big story sharing time later, but for now get in the car!” Grace called from her spot in the driver’s seat.

“We’ll talk about this later, honey you ride on top and shoot any of those things you see along the way.” Harmony ordered slipping the belts of ammo around his arms since they were the same size as her torso. He gave her a thumbs up and climbed on the roof taking to the gun like a kid in a candy shop.

“Your family’s insane.” Octavia commented as she and Vinyl got in the very back seat together.

“Says the girl whose mom drives a war machine on a regular basis.” Vinyl countered.

“You have an entire armory in your basement and all your servants and staff are trained like soldiers!” Octavia snapped back.

Fleur laughed from the passenger seat. “She has a point Victoria dear, Ah!” She quickly whipped out a pistol and shot an oncoming pedestrian that was trying to charge the vehicle. “Ten points!” she shouted high-fiving her driving friend.

Octavia and Vinyl both mirrored deadpanned stares. “Is it just me or are they having too much fun with this?” Vinyl asked aloud. In response all the adults in the car suck their bodies out the window, Grace just her arm, and fired off their pistols at a wave of corrupted that were trying to swarm them from the front while Bar mowed them down on the roof. When the coast was clear they hadn’t even slowed down once and were tallying results, Grace winning since she had taken out just as many as Harmony had and was driving during.

“Yes, yes they are.” Octavia replied simply before a hand came smashing through the back window shattering it completely and it tried grabbing onto Vinyl only for Octavia to grab it instead and pull it into her waiting baton breaking the woman’s nose but the spell spreading across her body as it made contact. Her eyes slid over to meet Vinyl’s. “I thought you were more alert than that.” She commented a ghost of a smile crossing her face. Vinyl’s red eyes faded to a slight magenta as she smiled back at her friend.

“Well, I am most of the time. But at least your uptight over-cautious attitude finally came in handy.” Vinyl snarked back a little grin on her face. Octavia huffed and flipped her hair back as she stuck her nose in the air a little.

“I’ll have you know that I-“

“Ladies, if you would be so kind as to stop flirting and pay attention you’d notice that we’re about to get air bombed and now would be a perfectly wonderful time for your assistance.” Fancy hissed from the front seat as he pulled out a revolver from his hip and fired it out the window. Out the window the two girls could see the castle looming in the distance the large full moon hovering eerily behind it. Dark clouds lazily drifted across it blocking some of its light. But one of the clouds seemed to be moving very fast… and right towards them.

“Oh great Faust above, EVERYONE GET DOWN!!!” Vinyl quickly ordered summoning a short range teleportation spell that put her outside the car. In an instant she had activated her pack as the angry horde of airborne corrupted honed in on the vehicle that was trying to speed away down the road. “Not on my watch you beasts. EAT MY SOUND WAVES YOU DARK PARASITES!!!!” She yelled in defiance as she cranked up the dial on her keytar and quickly let her fingers dance across they keys sending sonic waves of energy blasting at the black grouping. The corrupted pegisai were all halted as they were blasted by the sound and covered their ears hissing in pain as they scattered and their dark corruption began to fall away from their bodies like a snake shedding its skin. They dropped back down to the earth like flies once they were free of the curse. Fleur and Fancy acted in unison breaking each of their falls with their magic.

For a moment it seemed that the group had been a fluke but a motion out of the corner of her eye made Vinyl veer a hard right in her flight pattern to narrowly avoid another group of corrupted fliers that had tried to take her out of their airspace. Vinyl shot another blast of sound at them but this group seemed to be much more organized than the previous one since they quickly avoided her attack and maneuvered to aim straight back at her much faster this time. She didn’t have time to think yet alone move. A large gale force wind however saved her in the nick of time, knocking all the wind dependent pegisai off their path and leaving the technology reliant DJ hovering where she was unharmed. Blue and yellow blurs shot past her and she whipped her head around to see them surrounding the corrupted and taking them out with speed that made her eyes hurt. But the show of dropping un-corrupted Canterlot citizens was proof that her saviors were curing them ant not just beating them senseless. A tap on her shoulder made her turn around. She was shocked to see a young woman with sunny yellow wings and fiery yellow and orange hair hovering behind her. She lifted a pair of flight goggles off her face and put her hand on her blue and yellow flight suit covered hip.

“You’re Victoria right? FancyPants’ niece? Wicked job taking out that first group but as far as the skies are concerned from now on we’ll be taking over the show from here. The Wonderbolts are first and foremost a branch of the military after all.” The fiery haired woman announced with a slight grin.

“Spitfire right?” Vinyl asked recognizing the captain with ease thanks to her prismatic haired friend’s obsession with the flight group… and having her mother as a coach. “I’m glad you could make it here to help us out. I thought you were supposed to be performing back in Ponyville for the festival.” Vinyl pointed out when she remembered Dash’s excitement over the scheduled appearance of her hero’s.

“Well, when we were getting ready to go on we saw a pretty scary looking sight, there was a woman who called herself Nightmare Moon standing where the Princess was supposed to be. She started ranting about how the night will remain eternal and how we’d rue the day we passed her off as just an old legend. If I understood right she was the maiden in the moon that originally sealed away with Princess Luna, but I guess they were separated when she came back to earth and now she came back too and re-possessed her. Whatever the situation there was the Princess’s student, Twilight Sparkle, figured out some kind of plan to fix everything but she said we’d be needed here so she sent us to Canterlot and told me to give you this if I saw you.” She explained producing a letter from her flight suit’s pocket and handing it to the blue haired jet pack user.

Vinyl blinked and lifted her goggles up as she ripped open the letter and read it, anything Twilight took the time to write out in a crisis like this had to have been important.

‘Vinyl, I don’t have much time to write this so I’ll be short. I know your family has probably already acted on what I’m sure will be a very big crisis in the city. Celestia told me all about your grandfather’s paranoia and how if the city was left without her and the guard then it was you who I should turn to instead. Celestia is gone, I can’t sense her anywhere. Luna’s been possessed by the Nightmare and we know how to fix this. I found a book that warned me about this and told me how to destroy her for good. I’m taking the girls with me to help but the city and castle will fall long before we can fix this, so I need you to do something for me too-‘

Vinyl continued reading a smile growing on her face as she did so. She chuckled when it was finished and shoved the letter in her pocket. “Twilight you crazy mother fucker, I always knew she’d snap eventually. Alrighty then, time to tell FP the new plan. Spit’s, can I count on you and your team to keep my flight path clear?” Vinyl asked moving her eyes to lock with Spitfire’s fiery orbs. The pegasus was quick to go to attention and salute her.

“Ma’am yes Ma’am!”

“Good, now keep up, I built this thing to break more than just eardrums.” Vinyl laughed before she shot forward at a speed that impressed the young Wonderbolt’s captain.

“Cute machine, she’ll need a lot more kick if she wants to start racing me though.” Spitfire commented before she whistled to her team and then sped off in the direction of the castle where Vinyl was heading with her team riding right behind her.

***

Fancy looked up from the letter he had just read while chaos was erupting around them with dark tainted citizens coming at them from all directions only to be taken out by one of their allies before they could lay a single shadowy hand on them. “Victoria, we all know about Twilight Sparkle’s brilliance but this plan…”

“I know, but trust me Uncle, she wouldn’t have asked us to do this if she didn’t think we could do it. Actually the hardest part in it is just getting into the castle. After that it’ll be a cinch.”

“Victoria I don’t think you’re understanding what she’s asking of us! It can’t be done! There are reasons that we’ve never tried it before!” Harmony Step added as she unloaded one of her clips on an oncoming wave. “It’s suicide and you know it! I can’t sit by and let you-“

“Yes. You can, and you will. We don’t have another choice in the matter. Even with all of us fighting like this we’re getting over whelmed. And we’re not even at the castle yet! I know you can feel it mom, that entire place is crawling with them. Our numbers while growing more and more by the minute are untrained and they won’t last if we try and take it head on. We need something sneakier that will blow them all out of the water at once! And this plan does that!” she yelled back meeting her mother’s firm stare with one just as hardened. Her mother looked ready to open her mouth and protest again but she was interrupted by a large hand covering her mouth and she looked behind her to see her husband shaking his head.

“Don’t hun. Vicky’s right. I taught that little Sparkle nerd, I know she’s more brilliant and cunning than any of us teachers ever were. Her magic’s nothing to laugh about either, if she says Vick can do it then she can do it.” Barbell assured his wife before he whipped around punching a corrupted that had been about to jump him with the enchanted gloves he wore. Harmony sighed and took another step closer to her daughter.

“Alright… I still don’t like this. But I’ll go with it for now. But on one condition.” She added making Vinyl stare at her oddly. “You have to take Octavia with you.”

“WHAT?!” Vinyl screeched. “Mom I can’t do that! Tavi would get slaughtered like a pig in there without any kind of magic to protect her! That’s WHY Twilight asked just ME to do this!” Vinyl countered. In response Harmony simply took her daughter’s head and turned it 180 degrees to view Octavia surrounded on all sides by corrupted, cowering behind her were a few small children that were shaking like leaves in the cold wind. The corrupted jumped at her and in the blink of an eye Vinyl saw THIS unfold before her. She slowly lowered her goggles off her face her stunned face the only thing she needed to show that she was impressed by what she saw. Medic’s came by and carried the children off to safety and Octavia calmly flipped her hair tossing the staff she had used to the side since she had broken it in half by accident. “Okay, she can come.” Vinyl finally said as the earthbound approached them.

“Who can come where?” she asked.

“You, with me. We’re going into the castle for this.” Vinyl explained handing Octavia the letter. Octavia scanned the letter her eyes slowly widening.

“Vinyl, this is-“

“Crazy, I know. But Twilight said that it’ll work and if the magic student that regularly practices on par with the Princess herself says so then I’m going for it. But Mom’ll only let me go if I take you with me.”

“Me? Why me?” the dark haired girl asked the snow haired mother.

“Because you’re Grace’s daughter and a dear friend of my Victoria, I wouldn’t trust anyone else with her safety.” Harmony replied with a soft smile.

“Okay, for starters Mom, you know I can take care of myself, Jax made sure of that. Second, despite that I totally think bringing you with me Tavi would be awesome. You totally kicked ASS back there! How many guys were there? Like 15?!”

“19 Actually, but Vinyl you’re getting off point here. This… plan that Twilight’s laid out. It’s obvious that it’s meant for a unicorn. And as you can see,” she declared lifting up the well styled bangs that covered her forehead and part of her left eye. “I don’t possess a crest like you do.”

“Tavi, chillax. Every race has their own magic, you know that. Ours is the most obvious and most easily manipulated but you still have magic. And I’ll be shielding and cloaking you with my own magic as best I can anyways. I’ll only need your help if we somehow get spotted.”

“Welllllll… I don’t know. Let me ask my mother. Mooooooom~!” Octavia called into the night sky which had grown covered with deep dark clouds that rumbled with the fighting storm that was trapped within them. There was a small gleam from inside one of them before it erupted and burst forth a large literal ball of corrupted citizens falling from it like a meteor before crash landing on the ground and exploding outwards their hazy shadowy skin dissipating in the explosion of light. In the center of the crater stood Grace Philharmonica who calmly dusted some soot off her shoulder with her grey wing and then fluttered over to stand next to her daughter.

“Yes dear?”

“Dude… what is your family MADE of?!” Vinyl whispered to her friend who elbowed her in the ribs before addressing her mother and telling her about the plan.

“Sure, I’m okay with it. As long as you promise to stay safe. Both of you. If something happens and you need our help in there shoot a flare out a window. If there isn’t a window, make one.” Grace advised with a small wink. “Oh, and Vinyl?” she asked making the girl snap out of her trance. Grace grabbed her by her shirt and put the pistol she had in her hand right under her chin still smiling cheerfully. “If my baby girl comes back with anything more than a scratch you’re getting scratched, got that Scratch?”

Vinyl nodded quickly before she realized that dug the barrel of the gun into her chin and swallowed before speaking. “Of course ma’am.”

Grace giggled and then moved the gun to fire behind Vinyl knocking one of the enchanted plastic bullets into the chest of the corrupted magic user that had been using a cloaking spell to sneak up on them. Her face hardened at that. “The corruption is starting to make them smarter than mindless slaves. You two need to hurry. We’re really not going to last long if we’re out numbered and outmatched.” She stated simply as she let loose a hail storm of firing bullets. Both teenagers nodded and turned to see Fleur standing behind them holding different outfits which quickly became cloaked in her magic and the appeared on both girls their old armor and clothes now in her magic hold instead. She handed Octavia and Vinyl a pistol.

“More appropriate armor for stealth, and pistols with an enchantment on them of unlimited ammo, and if you flip those switches on the sides it’ll send out a flare bullet instead. Good luck to you both.” She stated giving them both a small hug. Vinyl smiled at her aunt before her attention was caught by her uncle.

“Vinyl! Catch!” he called before tossing something at her. Vinyl’s reflexes were nothing short of cat like and she caught the tiny satchel in her hand an inch away from her face. Upon touching the thing her eyes widened and she quickly opened her mouth to say something but was cut off by Fleur.

“No time my dear, Grace! We need a distraction, and make it loud!” She called over her shoulder. Grace smirked over her shoulder at her friend.

“One bonified Big Bitch Boom coming up! Harmony, throw a couple of those flash grenades to hold them off for a moment!” she called as she spread her wings and took to the skies. The white haired woman tossed her tied hair over her shoulder as she grabbed two grenades off her belt and flipped the pins out before tossing the explosives into the oncoming mob. There was a bright light and then the roar of thunder followed it seconds later. Octavia and Vinyl looked up to see the clouds were all starting to darken and the sound grew louder and more intense by the second until the very ground itself was starting to vibrate with the pulses of sound. The clouds then began to swirl and form into a giant… volleyball? Grace hovered underneath it sweating bullets as she was concentrating all of her pegasus magic into the swirling ball of storm. She reached upward and then slammed her hand down like she was spiking a ball to the ground below. The ball went straight for the castle where all the corrupted were congregated. When it hit it exploded outwards and knowing what was coming Vinyl acted quickly shrouding herself and everyone around her in a sound proof bubble.

They could see the wave ripple against the shield and many of the corrupted flew backwards being rendered instantly unconscious by the blast of pure thunder. When it passed over them Vinyl lowered her shield and turned to Octavia. “Tavi, don’t take this the wrong way, but your mom just got hotter than Celestia’s sun to me.”

Octavia rolled her eyes and grabbed the magic user by her ear dragging her towards the castle. “Come on lover girl, they aren’t going to stay stunned for long. Put up that cloaking spell.” She ordered as she dragged Vinyl towards the castle at top speed. Their bodies shimmered for a second before Vinyl forced them to a halting stop and grabbed Octavia by her arm and dragged her in a different direction. “Vinyl where are you-?!”

“Only the one’s on the outside are stunned. The castle is enchanted to block any form of attack so everyone inside it that’s been turned just got rattled around and now they’re probably pissed off. Running through the front door even with my cloaking spell would get us attacked instantly. Besides, Twilight thought of this already.” She explained holding up a small key that had been in the envelope. Its handle was shaped in the form of Celestia’s cutiemark and was made out of a beautiful golden bronzed metal. “Enchanted key, it’ll get us into any door in the palace. Celestia gave it to Twilight years ago apparently, and I’ve studied every detailed blueprint, map, and diagram of this palace so I know all the hidden entrances. There should be one right about… here.” Vinyl declared coming to a halt after they’d run along the side of the castle where the white marble was completely smooth gleaming in the dull glow of the full moon.

“Vinyl… there’s nothing here. And it’s solid marble, not an illusion like at your Uncle’s.” Octavia explained running her hand along the stone proving it was all solid. When she did so though her hand sunk in a little revealing there to be a perfectly concealed hidden button that was again shaped like Celestia’s cutiemark. Part of the marble wall slid down revealing a passage way.

“Nice going Octy, you found the switch before I did!” Vinyl beamed slapping Octavia on the shoulder and laughing before running down into the passage. “Come on! It closes after ten seconds!” she called back. Octavia quickly slid in just as it began to shut and let out a breath of relief.

“You couldn’t have said something before?!” she yelled down as she was chasing after her friend.

“Didn’t think I needed to.” Vinyl replied, though Octavia could no longer see her because the passage was pitch black. “Damn, really dark in here. Hang on, I think I remember the night-vision spell they taught me last year.” There was a small glow of blue magic before Octavia’s vision became back to her, albeit with a green tint to everything but she could see. But oh how she suddenly wished she couldn’t. Right in front of them coming down the hallway was a group of corrupted with the scariest looking half-rotted membrane covered bat wings coming from their backs. Glowing slitted eyes that were all the same teal color were piercing the night just like theirs were. Octavia almost screamed but a hand came across her mouth and pulled her into a small rounded cut out in the wall of the hall way a body pressing up against hers. She looked up to see Vinyl’s face close to her own with a finger to her lips making a ‘Shh’ motion. Octavia didn’t even breathe as the terrifying beings passed by them marching in filled lines like soldiers off to war. When they were gone and their footsteps could no longer be heard Vinyl separated herself from their embrace and spoke but in a barely audible whisper.

“Luna’s night guards, they’re made up entirely of Vespertialian’s.” Octavia gave her an odd stare and Vinyl sighed. “Luna’s blessed, the bat-people. They have supersonic hearing and can see in the night like we see in broad daylight. They were probably some of the first to turn since they’re all heavily influenced by the night, which means their magic has been amplified beyond just that. If I hadn’t hidden us they would have seen through the illusion and they definitely would have heard you over the silencing spell. We need to be very cautious if there’s any more of them around.” Vinyl explained in a hushed whisper. For once Octavia didn’t question her friend’s intimate knowledge, she instead was very grateful for it in their situation.

“Alright, I’ll keep my senses up for them.” Octavia whispered giving a slight nod as she ran her hand over the baton that was strapped to her right hip. “Where do we go next?”

“There’s a secret chamber underneath the throne room, we need to get there. If I’m not still high off that adrenaline rush and therefore out of my mind, we should go down this hall here. There’s a bookcase at the end of it that’ll take us right to it.” Vinyl explained pointing at a hall way that branched off for the one they were currently walking in.

“A secret passage within a secret passage? Who in Faust’s name built this place?!” Octavia hissed under her breath.

“Felix, now stop complaining and keep your ears sharp, we don’t want any more close calls.” Vinyl replied back never looking back at her companion. They got near the end of the hall and they could see the bookcase now but very suddenly the hairs on the back of Octavia’s neck stood on end as she felt very minute vibrations coming from behind it. Vinyl was already reaching out to hit the hidden switch when she felt a whip surround her hand and then yank it. She was pulled towards Octavia who held the other end of the whip and quickly pulled Vinyl into one of the many empty rooms that lined the hallway. Vinyl for her part didn’t fight it or even make a sound when the bookcase swung open and the large still armored forms of a night patrol that had been possessed rushed into the hall electrically charged spears and swords drawn their glowing teal eyes darting every which way and their pointed ears seeming to flicker a little as they listened closely.

With Vinyl’s spell in effect it kept the only sound they were making, their rapidly beating heartbeats, from being heard by the shadowy bat winged figures. They sheathed their weapons and walked back into the bookcase one staying behind to guard it. Vinyl grit her teeth when she saw this but thought of a back-up plan quickly. She shrugged off the large device she still had strapped to her back and handed it to Octavia who silently took it but gave her friend a questioning stare. Vinyl didn’t respond verbally but instead drew a small pen like object from her pocket and showed Octavia it. She pointed at the device that was on her back before and then at the pen making a shrinking motion with her hands. She then pointed at her ear and then at the guard out there and Octavia got the message loud and clear. The device was a miniature version of her sonic amplifier and it probably had the same spell in it too, with the bat guard’s sensitive hearing she could activate it from this distance and it would work like she was standing right next to him even if she lowered it to a decibel that they couldn’t hear.

Vinyl’s hand reached outside the doorway and a few seconds later Octavia heard a solid ‘THUNK’ from outside signaling that the guard was now unconscious and released from his corruption. Vinyl moved quickly levitating the man’s body into the room with them and throwing some kind of necklace around his neck. When it came to rest on his skin his eyes shot open revealing glowing green eyes that were not in fact slitted. His pure white bat like wings extended in panic and his light blonde hair came out from under his helmet as it fell off his head. Vinyl quickly covered his mouth before he could yell putting her hand to her lips. His eyes seemed to focus on the girl that kneeled over him and recognition lit in them.

“You’re that Pantaleon kid! What are you doing down here?! What am I doing down here?!” he whispered in a harsh hiss as he stood up quickly revealing that he was one of the tallest guards they had ever seen. His oddly light wing and hair color, coupled with the fact that his eyes were not slitted and his ears didn’t have the elongated point that the other night guards seemed to have took both girls back.

“I’m down here, solider, because Canterlot is under siege and both the princesses are out for the count right now. The entire city population has been possessed by dark forces caused by the one who took out the princesses and right now I’m trying to get to the underground throne room so I can fix that but apparently the entire Night guard is down here with us tainted by the same power with their already super senses amplified by its power. You were like that just now until I fixed you and that necklace around your neck will keep you from turning again as long as you’re wearing it.” Vinyl explained quickly keeping her voice low still in case the other guards came back.

The odd looking night guard nodded as he absorbed the situation with surprising tact. “Alright, and you need another night guard like me to get past the others. I’ve got it, I’ll escort as best I can but I have to warn you that my senses aren’t as sharp. You see I’m only half Vespertialian, hence the weird colors and the only half working eyes. My hearing’s still really sensitive but I have to concentrate down here because the walls are really thick and don’t carry vibrations well.” He explained. Octavia groaned and rubbed her forehead.

“Great, the entire night guard down here and we grab the one who’s probably the only half bat-human in Equestria!”

“Actually, there is one other, my twin sister. Unlike me her senses are just as powerful as a full-breed if not more. But she disappeared an hour before sunrise so I have no idea where-“ just then there was the sound of footsteps in the hallways and quickly everyone hid in the shadows of the room holding their breaths as the steps got closer.

A figure came into the door frame and slowly stepped in looking around a little. It was tackled to the ground by the guard but was quickly over powered and pinned down and held with his hands behind his back and a knife put to his throat. A voice that was distinctly female and yet deeper and with the slightest under-toned rasp in it spoke into his ear in a quiet hiss.

“Listen closely you corrupted arse, you’re going to calmly tell me the quickest way to the guards quarter’s from here or you’re going to end up drinking through the gaping hole in your neck when this Faust forsaken castle goes back to being just plagued with those snobby noble types instead of whatever the hell it is that’s tainted it.” She hissed pressing the dagger a little closer to his neck.

“Shadow?” he asked looking back a little to see glowing yellow slitted eyes looking back at him.

“Saber?! Oh thank Luna you’re alright!” the woman whispered quickly dropping the dagger to the floor and releasing him from his pinned position so she could embrace him. The two teenagers exchanged a confused look finally able to move after being paralyzed by the sudden threat. “I thought you’d been corrupted like the rest of the guard! I stepped out from the archives to watch the sunrise and then everything went crazy and-“ the guard, Saber apparently, shut her up with a hand to cover her mouth.

“Shhhh, keep it down. I’m only not in the same state as the others because those two needed my help and cured me with this necklace thingy. How are you still normal by the way?” he asked.

“I don’t actually know, I just saw everyone else turning into those… things, and all I could think about was how I had to make sure you were alright. I guess it was just being hard headed or something.” Shadow reasoned with a small shrug.

“Well if you don’t mind we’d like to make sure you stay this way.” Octavia announced slipping an identical necklace around her neck. Only up close, even with her night vision, Octavia finally noticed a pair of jet black feathery wings on the woman’s back that were wrapped around Saber protectively despite him dwarfing her by comparison.

“Thank you, for saving my brother I mean, and me too now I guess. Wait, Saber, did you say they needed your help? Who are they?” she asked giving her brother a look of curiosity.

“That’s Victoria Pantaleon and…” he trailed off not having heard Octavia’s name.

“Octavia Philharmonica, I’m just here to make sure SHE doesn’t get in over her head.” The dark haired earthbound replied.

“Right, they’re here to fix whatever’s turned Canterlot into a demon horde. But this place is crawling with turned guards and other citizens so they’re having trouble getting where they need to.” He explained.

“They need help navigating this place to get to fix it? Count me in. Where are you two trying to go?” Shadow asked the pair.

“Whoa, whoa, wait. Hold up, you two still haven’t told us who the hell you are. I get that he’s a guard but who the hell are you?” Vinyl asked knowing she shouldn’t place her trust in just anyone.

“Ah, pardon my rush, my name’s Shadowed Wyrd, this is my brother Saber Strike. I’m a student of the Lunar Scholarly and a writer by profession. Where you’re standing right now is part of the under castle, and the first level of my school. So I know this place like the back of my hand.” She explained with an unusually casual smile.

Vinyl looked her up and down. She looked no older than 19, wore baggy black cargo pants that had a spikey silver belt on them, an open leather jacket with a deep grey tank top under it and dog tags along with some kind of dolphin necklace hanging from her neck, black military combat boots, and she had two studded piercings in both her pointed ears and one golden ring in her right cartilage. She had short cut messy brown hair that had golden yellow streaks running through it that was tussled around and flipped only at the very ends. Coupled with the dagger that she was retrieving and slipping back into the hidden sheath in her boot she looked more like a thug then a writer. The only thing that seemed remotely normal about her was the thin timed pair of glasses that were slightly tilted on her face.

“YOU’RE a writer…? You look more like a punk who beat up a writer and stole their glasses.” Vinyl pointed out. Shadow’s brow twitched in irritation and she pulled up her jacket sleeve to show a cutiemark on her inner left wrist. It was of a glowing full moon that had archaic text scribed into it and a black feather that seemed to be under the manipulation of a small visible gale that surrounded it.

“Proof enough for you Miss Pantaleon? You’re not exactly one to talk for someone who goes in between being Lady Victoria Pantaleon heir to the high noble house to the raving sensation DJ-PON3 on a near daily basis.” She quipped back earning a shocked look from both of the other girls.

“She’s DJ-PON3?! No way! I downloaded like all of her songs!” Saber exclaimed in shock and awe.

“Okay, ignoring his outburst, how in the name of Celestia did you know she’s a DJ?” Octavia asked the woman who actually possessed an accent very similar to her own, bringing a few more questions on her back story into question but they were trumped by this mystery.

“Oh come on, two-toned electric blue hair, same body figure, same face, same cutiemark, same completely original modified flight goggles? After you called her Victoria I made the connection instantly. Although I guess the internet wars about your eyes being the same magenta as your goggles were wrong.” She commented looking into the ruby orbs of the now shocked DJ.

She shook her head to clear it and held up her hand. “Look, huge paparazzi gold secrets aside we still need help and Canterlot is only going to get worse is we don’t do something soon so can we stop with the game of 20 questions and get to the underground throne room?!”

The brother and sister shared a look before nodding and then walking over to an empty shelf that was built into the stone wall itself. Shadow reached out and felt along the inner edge of it until something clicked and the shelf sunk in and then slid to the side to show another hidden passage.

“There’s guards positioned all around all the entrances to the room. Whatever you need in there they apparently already know about. We can avoid all of the guards outside but I’m picking up a lot of movement from inside the room too. That means that we can expect a fight once we get there.” She explained as she went ahead of them descending into the dark stairs. Vinyl followed but with no small amount of confusion.

“This wasn’t in any of the blueprints.” She commented.

“It wouldn’t be, not the one’s you’d have access to anyways, when Luna returned she converted this place into her sanctuary and her own private school, as such she makes new additions to it all the time. This is one of the most recent ones, an escape route that leads directly to the designated safety room, the Lunar Throne.” She explained as they continued walking. Very suddenly she extended her jet black wing to block the path for them and Saber’s eyes narrowed as he drew his sword from his sheath. His sister however shook her head and instead the feathers on her wing vibrated in place before there was a blur and like a needle being shot out of a gun one of her primary feathers detached and shot forward and around the corner where there was then a loud thud seconds later. She motioned her head forward and the group quickly ran through the passage leaping over the fallen form of the passing corrupted. Vinyl quickly threw a charm around his neck before continuing with the rest of the group. They didn’t run into anyone else on the way but Octavia, being raised by a pegasus and having three of them in her house, was very intrigued by the use of the writer’s feathers. It took a very special kind of air manipulation to have control over something as small as a feather and to pin point a single point on a human’s body that would knock it out without seeing them once said a lot about her skill set. Believing that she was ‘just a writer’ was becoming harder and harder.

They stopped again when they came to what appeared to be a dead end after many twists, turns, passage taking, and even a short flight over a crumbling floor. Vinyl looked around for any sign of a switch, when she found none she looked at their two escorts. Saber was the one to step forward this time drawing the sword he kept as a member as the guard from his side before running its blade tip from the top of where the low ceiling began all the way to the very bottom. There was a second’s pause before the straight line he had made with his blade glowed and the dead end parted like a door way and revealed a set of stairs that lead upwards. He held out his long membrane covered wing to stop them from advancing however.

“Those steps are pressure switches. When you step on them the door into the throne room will be opened alerting everyone in there of our presence. Don’t go forward unless you’re ready for a fight.” He warned the pair. Vinyl looked back at Octavia who gave her a smile and drew the nightsticks from her side and twirled them in her hands. Vinyl returned the smile and her hands crackled with blue sparks of her magic as she lowered her goggles back onto her face after having to keep them removed while in the dark passages.

“Let’s do this shit.” She declared before stepping past Saber and onto the first step which sank a little under her weight and she heard something above them shift as white moonlight started to trickle in and she heard a loud hiss start to fill her ears. The group didn’t hesitate either. Saber and Shadow were at their sides while Octavia and Vinyl ran along the ground and leaped out of the passage into the fray of surrounding corrupted, guard and citizen alike. Vinyl wasn’t holding back now. Her hands charged with a combination of the healing spell and an electrical surge fired rapidly at the mob that rushed at her. She’d use her jet pack for small bursts to evade attacks from behind and then jab the attackers with her enchanted hands to knock them into the rapidly growing pile of unconscious humans that was being formed in the center of the room which was painted to fit Luna’s beautiful night sky.

Octavia was doing likewise but with her batons instead, knocking out her assailants into the pile as they came at her, she wasn’t as violent as Vinyl was in her approach, rather deciding to knock the wind out of them or quickly hit them over the back of the head and kick them out of the way while the spell took effect on them. Saber and Shadow had been pushed back to back while the corrupted formed a circle around them hoping to overpower the pair with sheer numbers.

“How many do you count on your side?” Shadow asked to her brother.

“Fifty of so, how about you?”

“Same, rock paper scissors?”

“Sure.” He shrugged turning to face her as the two shook their fists in the motion before Shadow came out with a rock and he chose paper.

“Awww, damn. Fine, air or ground?” she asked to him not even caring as the circle was beginning to shrink as more and more corrupted gathered around them.

“Ground duh.” He chuckled with a grin and a spark in his green eyes.

“Good, I like air better.” She mused in return before she disappeared in a shadowy blur and just as quickly Saber did a full 360 degree sweep of his sword around him sending the first of many corrupted flying into the air, which were then quickly slammed into the cold ground by an almost invisible force. Shadow grinned laughing her head off as she swung her wings at the bodies her brother made airborne sending a heavy wave of air that knocked them unconscious when they hit the ground once more. The few winged souls that dared enter her airspace of their own free will soon found themselves with pin sharp feathers in their necks that sent them limp and crash landing back to the ground. From where they fought on the ground Vinyl and Octavia observed this with impressed looks on their faces.

“I still think your mom is hotter.” Vinyl commented with a snide smirk which Octavia responded to by kicking one of her attackers right into Vinyl's body making her slam into the groaning pile of pained now cured people in the center of the room.

“I’m sorry, did that one hit you by accident? My mistake!” Octavia sang over her shoulder at the blue haired girl who was now roughly shoving the rather obese man off her.

“Alright, I’m sick of playing second fiddle here…” Vinyl grumbled as she shrugged her shoulders and activated the jet pack to hover above the chaotic throne room turned battle arena. “Wubba-Dub-Dub motherfukers!!!” She yelled into the fray as the speakers emerged from her pack and she slid the keytar around and into her hands. Octavia quickly abandoned her fight and ran to the two half-bat-people waving her hands to get their attention as Vinyl cranked up a dial on her keytar.

“COVER YOUR EARS!!!” She shouted at the pair of siblings who heard her and followed her advice just as Vinyl’s fingers met the keys of her instrument.

***

Outside the castle in the streets of Canterlot the adults were all gaining some ground on the corrupted population of the city as their own numbers grew with every fallen corrupted. Fleur and Grace were standing side by side taking a short pause in their war for a snappy water break. Grace wore a concerned look on her face as her eyes kept darting to the castle concern for her daughter’s safety growing.

“They’ve been in there almost a full hour, how can we be sure it’s going alright?” she asked her long time friend. The super model opened her mouth to respond when she was cut off by the loud sound of a keytar solo filling the night air and a giant wave of blue energy shooting out of every hidden underground vent around the castle and then unconscious bodies following the outburst and raining down into the ground to form craters as the shadowy skin faded away from them shortly after they landed.

After another second’s pause Fleur got a bemused smile on her face. “I think it’s going pretty well..”

***

Vinyl landed back on the ground after her sonically amplified rift faded away and the room had literally been blown clear of corrupted. The only three besides herself that remained were her companions, well, the two siblings were screaming and rolling on the ground their ears bleeding a little from the blast but Octavia just stood there sighing and shaking her head.

“Honestly Vinyl, couldn’t you show just a little bit of reservation for our now hearing impaired companions?” she huffed crossing her arms. Vinyl rolled her eyes.

“Oh come on, it wasn’t that bad.”

“MY EARS! I CAN’T HEAR MYSELF THINK!!!”

“BLOOD! MY EARS ARE BLEEDING!!!”

“Okay… so I might have over done it a bit.” She conceded biting her lip a little before her hand crackled with energy and the magic shrouded the two pained siblings. There was a small audible pop and the two stopped screaming and stood on their own two feet while they held their heads now a little dizzy from the blood loss. “There, I repaired the damage I did. They’ll be fine. Now help me seal the doors.” Vinyl commanded as she ran over to a heavy looking desk and started shoving it towards the two large wooden oak doors. Octavia sighed and helped her push. When the desk blocked the entrance they started stacking more on top of it while Shadow and Saber went about sealing all the other points of entry save one which they’d be guarding carefully to use as an escape route if they needed it.

Octavia looked up after she was done shoving a heavy statue in front of the last door. She looked at her friend who was standing in the middle of the room staring at the mosaic that was engraved into the floor they stood on. “What now?” Octavia asked walking over to her.

“Well… there’s supposed to be some kind of switch around here that I’m supposed to activate… And I think I know just how to find it.” The blue haired DJ mused as she out an MP3 player from her pocket and moved the pair of headphones she had around her neck off and tossed both aside. She motioned for Octavia to come over with her finger as she shrugged off her amplifier and set it outside of where the mosaic was with the rest of her stuff. “Throw all your electronics over there.” she commanded pointing at her pile. Octavia hesitated for a second questioning the motives of the eccentric girl but complied removing the phone she carried in her pocket as well as the emergency communication device her mother had given her.

“And why, pray tell. Am I throwing away our only means of communication with the outside should something go terribly wrong?” she asked giving Vinyl a questioning look.

“Because it’ll interfere with what’s about to happen. You two, keep back. Only me and Tavi can be on the ground, you two would do best in the air and probably hugging a wall too.” Vinyl warned. Octavia was growing more and more convinced this was going to be bad news by the second until Vinyl took her by the hand guiding her back to the very center of the room right in front of the throne. She lowered her goggles to hang around her neck revealing magenta eyes that looked into her own light pink irises. “Octavia, do you remember back in camp where they taught us how to formally dance?”

Octavia shivered at the memory. “Yes, and I got paired with that lunk of a boy Leo and he almost broke my foot… three times.”

“Good, now, dance with me.” Vinyl said as she pulled Octavia flat against her body.

“Wh-what?!” stuttered the dark haired girl flabbergasted by her friend’s behavior.

Vinyl chuckled lightly and continued smiling at her. “The floor. Look at the floor.” She said pointing down where they stood. Octavia hadn’t noticed before but the mosaic portrayed a man and a woman embraced and close together right where they stood, around them were the same man and woman portrayed dancing in different steps all along the giant circle. “It’s a dance floor, complete with directions. All we have to do is perform the steps exactly like it says and the room should reveal what we came for.” Octavia stared in amazement at the ingenious of it all. That’s why the twins couldn’t be on the floor while they were working, they might mess up the process. Octavia nodded her consent after studying the moves for a second longer. It was very simple in the pictures but she was sure the dance itself was much harder than it looked, after all if it was easy anyone could have accessed the room at any time.

“This is going to be tricky. It looks like we’re going to have to mirror one another without ever breaking eye contact… meaning we can’t look back once we’ve begun.” She pointed out.

“I know, but who better for the job than us? The two most promising musical geniuses of our respective genres!”

“Vinyl, you’d better be careful, if your head inflates anymore it might burst.” Octavia commented with a small giggle.

“Oi! You were included in that!” she protested blowing a strand of her brightly colored hair out of her face.

“Are you two dance or are you waiting for divine intervention?!” Shouted Shadow from up above.

Vinyl winced but blew a razzberry in the direction of the black winged woman. “Alright, let’s start. Remember, keep your eyes on mine.” She reminded her partner. Octavia nodded locking eyes with her before they both took a breath in sync and started by moving into the first position they had seen. They felt the feet sink in a little as the tiles they touched at the same time gave way making some kind of mechanism below the floor start turning gears. “Don’t stop, keep going.” Vinyl urged moving onto the next step with Octavia moving right along beside her. Above them the two siblings watched as they danced and the many rings of the mosaic circle began to turn like orbiting rings around Saturn. As the pair’s moves began to speed up gaining momentum and familiarity with their steps the twins also noticed that the sunk in tiles the dancing pair stepped on had a glowing symbol that lit up light blue after they moved on. The result from above was a forming archaic mage circle. Shadow, being the more studios of the two and the one who had mostly unicorn friends, quickly recognized what was happening and pushed her brother back so that they were no longer hovering over the circle.

“What’s got your shorts in a twist?” he asked his green eyes locking with her yellow slits.

“Oh come on, all that fancy guard training and you don’t even recognize a rune circle when you see one?” she asked crossing her arms. The much taller man looked back down at the ground as it began releasing the magical energy and the rings began spinning faster with the glowing runes merging together to form solid glowing rings that started rising up like barriers.

Down below Octavia was not blind to what their dance was doing, but she was much too into her own movements and was getting rather captivated by the endless sea of magenta that stared into her eyes without ever breaking contact. This dance was supposed to be made for lovers, made obvious by the close nature it had as well as some of the more intimate moves it required through it. It reminded Octavia of a tango but it didn’t have flare and passion, as much as it did grace and spirit, which made it flow more like cool water than boiling lava. The energy that pulsed around them seemed to fill their minds with the music that had once been missing from the dance, or perhaps she was just going slightly mad from the pitch black magic that was now oozing in through the cracks under the door… Wait, what?

Octavia almost broke her eye contact with Vinyl but a quick dip from her partner stopped her as well as her hand gliding smoothly across her face. “Eyes here, the twins can handle them.” She whispered her breath close enough to be felt by Octavia’s now coloring cheeks. In another snappy movement Vinyl pulled Octavia back up and spun her out and reeled her back in like a yo-yo.

“Um… vague question but um, who exactly came up with this dance as a means of activating the city’s defense against the Nightmare?” Octavia asked wanting to who was crazy enough to do just that… although she had a pretty good guess.

“Felix, when the city was built and the guard was first formed to protect the crown and the city he didn’t put much faith in them so he made a failsafe in case something happened that the guard couldn’t defend the city. But it got lost in all the old texts so pretty much everyone but the Princesses themselves forgot about it. Leave it to Sparkle to dig up an old relic like this huh?” Vinyl laughed trying to lighten the mood despite the darkness that was beginning to fill the room. Saber and Shadow fought it tooth and nail but it looked like all the shadows that had separated from the cured citizens had just gathered back into one super form, that was still growing.

Octavia felt the pit in her stomach growing at the sight of it but a smile at the corner of her mouth. “And leave it to you to try and crack a joke at a time like this. You really do have a terrible sense of timing.”

Vinyl shrugged. “It’s one of my endless numbers of charms.” She quipped before she felt themselves moving back to the center of the room yet again their footsteps raising more pillars of light behind them. The two spun around each other like the sun and the moon until they came to a final halt back where they started but with Octavia bent low and Vinyl cradling her close so as not to let her fall. Their faces were only centimeters away from each other and they seemed frozen in each other’s stare. Outside what had become their own little world they heard two screams and looked to see the forms of Saber and Shadow struggling as they became absorbed into the giant gaseous mass that now filled the entire room save for the protective glowing circle that surrounded them.

Octavia rushed forward to try and save them but the final glowing barrier came up and knocked her back into Vinyl who caught her but fell over with her in the process. “What is this?! I thought it was supposed to keep them OUT! Not us IN!” She protested as she stood back up and put her hand against the barrier which felt cool to the touch like a glass cylinder. Vinyl heaved herself back onto her feet and put her hand to the glass as well.

“I don’t get it… it was supposed to expand out to the city after the final section… did we do something wrong?” she asked out loud looking at all the moves around the circle that were all glowing perfectly. “No… then… is it broken?” she asked next before she scoffed. “Yeah, something Felix built himself breaking, and next I’ll become an Alicorn… what is it then?” she pondered.

“Vinyl, I do so hate to interrupt your little spat but we have BIGGER issues to deal with right now!” Octavia pointed out indicating the black mass that was pounding against the barrier that now had cracks forming on it.

“Ffffffffuck. Okay. Thinkthinkthinkthink…!” Vinyl paced quickly around in a circle trying to generate ideas in her brain. ‘I’m in an anti-magical barrier that was supposed to be the last means of defense against the single biggest threat to Equestria since Discord’s reign, and it’s breaking. My only two hopes of outside help were just swallowed by it and everything I could use to get more help is outside the barrier. So I have no magic, no help, and the failsafe is failing.’ She heard a scream as the barrier was shattered and the other inner ones began to dissolve as well. ‘Correction, they have failed.’ She reached out her hand in desperation to grab her friend’s hand as she was being pulled in by the nightmare. “Don’t let go!” Vinyl cried out as she tried pulling Octavia back onto the ground.

“It’ll suck us both in Vinyl! Just let me go!” Octavia yelled back over the roar of the beast as it’s size began growing and making the underground room crumble around them letting in the harsh winds from outside.

“Are you NUTS?! I’m not letting you go Octavia!” the blue haired girl roared back in response to her friend’s request.

“Twilight said you could do this Vinyl! YOU, alone. You don’t need me! I’m just holding you back now! You need to find out how to fix this by yourself!” Octavia called back over the howling winds as Vinyl was losing ground on her hold.

“Twilight ALSO said that the barriers would work but she was WRONG Octavia! And she’s wrong about me! I’m just some crazy DJ with a weird back story! I’m not a heroine, and I’m not what everyone keeps making me out to be! I’m just ME!” She shouted back. Octavia smiled at her, and through the mayhem and darkness that swirled around them Vinyl swore it all slowed to a halt and the girl in front of her was glowing through the darkness.

“And that’s exactly why I KNOW you can do it, by yourself. You’re Victoria Vinyl Harmonia Pantaleon-Scratch, the one and ONLY. The craziest, weirdest, most inventive, and eccentric Heiress meets DJ in the world. And I have faith in you… but you can’t keep being tied down by me, and if you won’t be the one to let go, then I will.” Octavia released the hold she had kept on her friend’s hands and without the extra grip she slipped through Vinyl’s sweating palms like butter and was absorbed into the ever growing black void.

Magenta eyes turned into a dark red at the sight and slowly what had just happened hit Vinyl. She lowered her head her fists shaking and her body trembling as hot fresh tears rolled down her face. “Damn it… Damn it… DAMN IT!!!” She screamed at the top of her lungs her body no longer being drawn in by the nightmare’s pull for some reason. ‘After so long… I waited so long just to see her again. I put up with those Canterlot snobs for years thinking I’d find her in them someday, jumped into every renowned musical academy in the country to see if she was in them… I worked my ASS off for night after sleepless night trying to get my memory in order just so I could find out more about HER! And for what?! For her to be ripped right out of my hands the very night I finally find her again?!’ She didn’t feel it, her emotions were too overwhelming now for her to have any connection to her physical body now, but from her pocket the small sack her Uncle had given her floated in front of her and from it emerged two rings, the very same two rings that had been passed down in her family for generations. And for the first time since their original master had passed they slipped onto two hands that were attached to the same body, Vinyl’s body.

“No… not again… never again… I don’t want to be alone anymore.” Vinyl’s voice wasn’t just her own anymore, it had different echoes to it now, the echoes of her ancestor’s voices talking with her as her body was becoming enveloped with white energy and the nightmare mass was backing away cringing now. “I WON’T LET YOU TAKE HER!!!!”

White energy enveloped everything, it poured out of the destroyed room and outside into the dark unnatural night enveloping the humans and burning every nightmarical essence right out of existence leaving behind just the humans they had possessed to fall into a crumpled heap on the ground. While blinded by the light it left everyone who saw it to hear the small faint music the accompanied it, the single essence that was weaved into its origin put into the form of a heart’s song and projected outwards like her enveloping white magic.

Fancy smiled as he closed his eyes from the whiteness and heard the song created by the familiar pulse of magic. ‘I knew she could do it.’

Inside the black void her vision had become enveloped in after she let herself get taken in to save Vinyl, Octavia could hear it. The faint sound of a piano filling her ears with its light tune that she had heard before when she was trying to find her friend in the garden. But this time it was… different. No longer was it a simple piano piece, but merged perfectly with that annoying electronic bass that her friend’s DJ side had accepted into her very soul it seemed. The two mixing together… it didn’t sound as bad as she thought it would have. Piano Dubstep… leave it to her wacky roommate to have the oddest mix ever composed for a soul song. She calmly closed her eyes and smiled as she felt he warmth of white light burning away the blackness around her.

‘I told you so…’ she thought as she felt her physical body drop like a rock after the light had disintegrated the nightmare. She felt herself caught in a pair of arms and cracked her eyes open to see the familiar blue hair and magenta eyes of her oldest friend. Hot tears were running down her face and they splashed onto Octavia’s own after they fell off. The dark haired girl managed a weak chuckle. “I thought you said you don’t cry…” she laughed hoarsely through her fading consciousness.

“We all do crazy things to save the ones we love.” Vinyl responded barely managing a smile in return.

“Heh… you must love everything then… you nut job.” Octavia giggled before her energy left her and she went limp in Vinyl’s arms as she joined the countless dreaming citizens of Canterlot that had all just been freed of the nightmare’s taint. Vinyl looked outside through the now completely open roof and saw the morning sun starting to paint the sky. As the magic left her and the rings on her fingers stopped glowing with intense white energy Vinyl laughed as she realized what a mess everything was in.

“I hope the Princess is in a good mood when she get’s here… Because coming home after being trapped in the sun to find your castle trashed and 90% of your unconscious citizens in your front yard sounds like the start to a really bad morning… or the end of a really awesome party… whichever.” She yawned as her feet touched back down on the ground and she slumped over the unconscious girl in her arms. “Heh… you’d smack me for that if you were awake to hear it… I’ll just say it again when we’re both awake again… good morning Tavi, it’s been a long time in coming.” Vinyl laughed as she set the girl down on the ground and finally lost consciousness.

***

“6,834,921 gold bits in property damage to the castle, almost twice that to citizen’s homes, and about four million extra in lawsuits from businesses across the city and you’re comparing this to one of your parties Miss Pantaleon?” asked the royal treasurer who stood beside the throne that Celestia was sitting in but her eyes were elsewhere, staring idly out the new sunroof (aka a giant freaking hole that had been punched through her throne room’s ceiling) and then the shattered remains of what had once been her priceless stain glass window collection.

“First off Miss Pantaleon is my mom, second I’m paying for the repairs out of pocket,”

“Which I’m still rejecting.” Added in Celestia.

“You’ll take it and like it Princess, and third, I’m telling you. Look up the footage of Ponyville High’s Spring Break Bash and look for something involving the name Pinkie Pie, trust me, that little tantrum that nightmare demon had in here is nothing compared to the medical bills, reconstruction bills, therapy bills, and the hair appointments she had to pay for after hosting that thing. I’ve seen a lot of crazy stuff in clubs but that girl makes it all seem like it was just your average day by comparison.” Vinyl explained as she stood with her arms crossed and she was frowning and glaring at the stout man. Not that he could see because she was wearing her goggles at the moment but she was still doing her best to glare him down.

Beside her Octavia was nursing an Icepack on her head as she rolled her eyes. “I can vouch for her on that, Pinkie Pie just breaks every rule of normal without even trying. Honestly I’d like to believe her to have some relation with Discord with how many things just don’t make sense about her.” The charcoal haired musician added with a small shudder.

“See! Tavi never lies! There’s your hardcore proof right there!” Vinyl declared satisfied with her proof.

“I assure you madam, I severely doubt that any of the elements, even the one chosen as laughter, could be so… bizarre.” The treasurer responded.

“And what’s all this crap about my crazy classmates being connected to those element thingy’s? I thought they were like stones or something. Do they all have like rocks inside them now?” Vinyl asked turning to the princess.

“No… they do have rather nice looking necklaces now though… except my student, being chosen as the element of magic her element is in the shape of a tiara.” Celestia explained.

“Ooooh, fancy.” Vinyl snickered as she was handed a small slip of paper from a servant that had walked into the room. “Annnnnnnd there. One bonified approved check straight out of my fat rich banker’s hands. With magic proof paper, so you can’t incinerate it like you do the birthday checks we send you.” Vinyl said making sure to hand the check to the treasurer instead of the solar princess who gave her an irritated glance.

“I tell your Uncle every year that I don’t need-“

“Anymore stinking money, yeah, neither do we. That’s why we try and get rid of the stuff at every opportunity… and we have our cooks make you that cake.” She added with a knowing gleam in her eyes. Pink tinted the eternal woman’s face as she coughed into her hand.

“Yes, well. You’re free to go you two. I’m expecting some company s-“

“VINNY~!!!” came a high pitched squeal of delight as a pink blur charged into the room and tackle hugged Vinyl from behind. “OMAIGOSHYOUWON’TBELIEVETHECRAZYNIGHTMEANDTHEGIRLSHAVEHAD!!!”

Vinyl laughed and smiled up at her hugging assailant. “Believe me you Pinks, me and you can swap crazy stories later. Actually when you’re done with the Princess how’s ‘bout you all come with me and Tavi back to my house?” She asked both the girl on top of her and the other five who had walked in the room after her. Twilight looked up at her mentor for an answer.

“The ceremony won’t take more than a few hours anyways, you’ll be free to do as you wish after that.” The Princess responded with a warm smile.

“That’s Celly talk for ‘go for it’.” Pinkie giggled.

“Ceremony? Rarity, PLEASE tell me this is the good ceremony and not the kind where Pinkie gets you kicked out of Canterlot for good.” Octavia inquired to her fashionista friend.

“Oh of course darling, the Princess here wanted to thank us for the whole ordeal we went through in the nightmare of a forest… well, we’ll tell you all about it later, but the end result is that she wants us knighted.”

Octavia blinked in surprise. “Well I suppose that explains the crowd outside.” She pointed out.

“Crowd…? There’s a crowd?!” Fluttershy asked quickly starting to shiver at the thought of such a thing.

“Yeah, I’d say about five or six thousand people standing out in the courtyard below the balcony. Had to fight them to get up here… how’d you guys get up here without seeing them?” Vinyl asked as Pinkie let her up and Applejack helped her back onto her feet.

“We flew in on a carriage that landed on the back side of the palace, and the windows were shut and blinded.” Rainbow explained as she casually hovered by on her back like she was lounging on a lawn chair in her front yard.

“Lucky… Hey, why didn’t we get hat treatment your highness?” Vinyl asked cocking an eyebrow at the ruler.

“You live here Ms. Scratch, I assume you know how to get yourself around. Five out of these six girls have never seen Canterlot in their lives. And you and your companion managed to take out half of my castle guards and evade all the rest without ever being detected. I think you could handle it.” The ruler calmly replied while she kept her ever present gentle smile. Vinyl blushed a bit and adjusted her goggles while one of her fingers scratched her cheek slightly.

“Oh yeah… right. So uh, see you girls after… whatever this is. We’ll wait for you down in the main hall.” Vinyl said as she turned towards the door with Octavia already three strides ahead of her.

“Okay Tori~! Catch ya later!!” Pinkie called bouncing and waving at them happily.

The doors were already shutting behind them when Vinyl realized the name Pinkie had been used was one she’d never heard. “How does she-“

“Vinyl please, my head already hurts, I do not need you to ask ridiculous questions like that while I’m in this state.” Octavia interrupted her hand covering Vinyl’s mouth in an instant. Octavia sighed and rubbed her temples as they walked along the corridor in sweet blissful silence…

This was quickly shattered when the sound of a roaring crowd filled the air as soon as they opened the next set of doors. Vinyl quickly grinned when the groan of her friend reached her ears even over the crowd. “Now THIS looks like fun, here Tavi, stop groaning and put these in, I’m staying for this one.” She said handing a pair of ear plugs to the dark haired girl who quickly took them shoving them in her ears in an attempt to drown out the sound.

“Remind me to get you back for this Scratch…” Octavia said frowning and crossing her arms as she was dragged through the crowd to get a good view.

***

“So you harnessed all that power by yourself? Vinyl I said to use the rings to power up the shield, not to go suicidal!!” Twilight scolded as she sat on one of the throw pillows that had been scattered on Vinyl’s floor in her own home. Various drinks, hot and cold alike lay open around the group and the remains of snacks long devoured lay around Dash and Pinkie in particular.

“Yeah well that nightmare wasn’t leaving me very logical, it was going to EAT Tavi, what was I supposed to do?” Vinyl retorted before drinking down the last of her energy drink and then crushing and tossing it over her shoulder in a growing pile of similar green cans.

“If it helps at all Twilight I already lectured her ears off as soon as she woke up. I’m completely supportive if you want to try your hand at it though.” Octavia prompted as she was calmly sitting with her legs folded on her pillow across from Rarity and Fluttershy who were both drinking tea just like her.

“Ugh… Not much use in it if she’s still bragging about it after that.” Twilight replied rubbing her temples as Spike was refilling the tea for the three girls who were drinking it.

“So what do ya reckon that thing did?” Applejack asked from where she sat casually timing Pinkie and Rainbow as they were having a pie eating contest now.

“Oh yes!” Twilight perked up at her friend’s question. “I’ve been wondering that too! Your spell didn’t just go through Canterlot, it blasted all over Equestria. There’s no show of anything serious coming out of it but the answer might come from you! A blast that big is bound to do something big so what were you thinking about when you cast that spell?” Twilight asked curiously the subject of magic instantly making her eager to forgo personal space and get right in Vinyl’s face.

Vinyl blinked in surprise, not that it could really be seen by anyone other than Twilight who was right eye to eye with her. She gently pushed the dark haired mage back with a palm to her forehead. “Don’t really remember too well actually. Magical over load you know?” Vinyl replied with a sheepish grin. It was a half lie at least, it was blurry sure, but she remembered in vivid detail what was going through her mind when she cast that spell. A hand unconsciously went to her heart where she could still hear the music in the back of her mind the duet of her and Tavi seemed to forever be on repeat in her head now. Not that she minded, music was her life after all. “Guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in the future.” Vinyl replied a small smile on her face as she said it her hidden meaning not caught by anyone.

Author's Note

There, Actiony goodness for those of you who didn't like that mush last chapter. Can anyone guess what the after shock of Vinyl's magic did? Amuse me with you theories.

Prologue

How I Became an Alicorn

Prologue: The Question Asked…

Ponyville was a quiet little town; it was only about an hour away from Canterlot Equestria’s capitol city and home to the two regal rulers Celestia and Luna. But inside the small town’s only Library on this early morning a certain teenage Alicorn found herself un able to sleep.

The girl was about seventeen years old and her skin was about as pale as you can get without physically glowing, her jet black hair was currently tied back in a messy ponytail and her slitted green eyes were scanning the Library’s book catalog while the crest on her forehead glowed with a black aura that looked light the starry night sky, directed hundreds of scattered books into their place. Two large black wings that came out of her grey night shirt were stretching after being hidden away for so long. Her ears heard some faint stumbling from upstairs where her mother had retired a few hours before and a hoot from their precarious owl assistant, who was perched a few feet away from her reading a book she didn’t know the name of, confirmed that her mother was in fact coming down the stairs.

Warm amethyst eyes settled on her as she turned to face her mother. Twilight sparkle was a woman of average height, she had long dark violet hair that had one lavender and one hot pink streak running through it, her skin was darker than her daughters but only because she was born with a natural tan that despite her shut in bookwormy nature stayed with her all her life. Her sleeping gown that went all the way down to her knees was lavender with an embroidery that matched her cutiemark on its chest, given to her years ago by one of her best friends in an attempt to add SOME kind of style to her rather dreadful choice in sleepwear, and like her daughter she too possesed both the magical crest of a Unicorn and two lavender wings that were currently streched outwards as she yawned.

“Nyx, it’s almost two in the morning… I thought you said the insomnia went away…” she yawned as she walked over to her daughter. The girl smiled a bit and canceled her spell as the last of the books found their place.

“It has… for the most part anyways. But I couldn’t get to sleep tonight because I kept having images of the party I know Aunt Pinkie is planning… mother is she really going to launch me out of that cannon for my birthday…?” she asked reffering to earlier yesterday when said pink haired way-too-energetic-for-someone-who’s-almost-forty woman had stopped her while she was out with her three best friends and announced the plans for her 18th birthday party the very next day. She shuddered. Twilight chuckled and reached up to pat her daughter’s head.

“I doubt it Nyx, you know she’s just really enthusiastic about partying, it is her special talent you know.” Twilight reminded her. Nyx smiled ever so slightly at that and her wings folded neatly behind her back. She sat down on the couch that centered the main living area and sighed.

“Sorry I woke you up with all that spell casting… but you know how restless I get at night… sometimes I wonder how you all can even sleep through it.” she laughed quietly. “At least Dash managed to convince her that having it at the royal palace would be a bad idea… I mean I know Tia and Luna have both long forgiven me for all that but I just get the weirdest glares from all the servants around the palace. Like I’m gonna just dawn the helmet and reign back over them like some kind of maniac… again.” She sighed. Her mother placed gentle strokes along her back and smiled as she wrapped a protective wing around her daughter.

“Nyx, come on now… you know you would never do something like that. You aren’t controlled by your past. And if they can’t see that,”

“Then they aren’t worth my time I know mom…” Nyx giggled with a warm smile casted at the older Alicorn. Something clicked in her head for a second and an even bigger smile crossed her face. “So… I’m eighteen now right…?” she asked with a smirk that she picked up from Sweetie after the incident years ago with Bloom’s cousin Babs. Twilight visibly shuddered.

“Y-yes dear… this is exactly thirteen years that you have been living with me and Spike… and you were about five when we found you so… okay, I’m ordering it. Wipe that smirk off your face, you know it gives me the chills… I swear, If I ever catch Sweetie giving you acting lessons again…” she muttered. Nyx chuckled and just grinned instead of the intimidating smirk.

“You’re missing my point mom, do you remember a couple months after I had officially moved in…? Right after we got back from making amends with Uncle Shiny and Aunt Cadence…?” she asked her mother slowly nodded as she closed her eyes to think for a bit.

“Yes… because I remember we got the letter a week later that Cadence was pregnant and I had to fly all the way back to the Crystal empire just to give your Uncle a beat down for not telling me while I was there…” she mused. Nyx giggled at that, she hadn’t been there but she had heard her uncle took until her cousin was actually born to fully recover.

“Do you remember what I asked you after all that…? And you told me to ask you again when I was eighteen…?” Nyx prompted. She saw her mother’s eyes light up in realization and then she smiled and chuckled closing her eyes softly.

“Yes… I do remember… well, I’m not going back to sleep any time soon it doesn’t look like you will either… let me make some tea real quick and then you can ask me.” She noted as she stood up from the couch and walked towards the kitchen. Nyx repressed a groan.

“Mom… tea means this is going to get long and detailed… You know I love stories but exactly how long is this going to take…?” she asked walking with her. then she saw her mother pull out a kettle that was almost as big as she was and she facepalmed right there. “I’ll go get the sleeping bags…”

*****************************************************

When the tea was done and they were cuddled into the sleeping bags on the floor of the library. Owlicious had left to go find his breakfast and Nyx was sipping at her steaming tea when her mother gave her a curt nod.

“So… how exactly did you become an Alicorn...?"

Author's Note

I'd like to start off by saying that although this is my first FIM fic, it is very far from my first fanfic. Also, I have read countless, and I do mean, COUNTLESS of these stories on here and I still have yet to see anything wuite like where I'm taking this. Everything that involves humans on here seems to be centered around a human turned pony or the mane 6 being thrust into a human world as ponies. And as much as that was great at first, it got annoying after the 100th time reading a story with that identical plot. Or even worse... clop fics of humans turned ponies and getting all the action they want. Now THAT is really worn out on here. If you are a fan and/or a writer of some of that stuff, then sorry but it's just over used for me. But this Story is based around the concept I've seen far too little of. They still have wings but in the humanized versions I've seen on here I like it better when they instead channel their powers through a crest on their foreheads instead of an actual horn. I am using an OC in this but she isn't mine. Nyx is full property of PenStroke, I just loved her character too much not to use her as Twilights daughter. But she ISN'T mine. Neither is My Little Pony FIM. That's copyright to Hasbro and Lauren Faust. Not me. Okay, legal issues and my petty rantings aside, I hope you guys like this, it's been driving me crazy for months now and now that the Holidays are over I can write to my heart's content. But don't expect anything crazy like new chapters every day or something. once maybe twice a week if I have the time to sit down and write. I do have a life outside Ponies unfortunetly and my signifigant other tends to throw my laptop out my window frequently if I ignore her for too long so for the sake of my baby she comes first. Okay, hope you enjoy it, or don't. I don't care. I'm gonna keep writing even if you don't. Shadow Out.

Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Celestia’s Task

(Note: From here on in it’ll start being a third person view. Mostly to save myself the trouble of writing in first person. It gets annoying after a couple thousand words.)

During the summers Twilight would always spend most of her free time going through her version of Summer School, meaning that under Celestia’s watchful eye, she’d be practicing magic from dawn until dusk or spend the day locked away in a book fort in the Canterlot Royal Library. Indeed these were her favorite times of the year. But on the first day of her vacation when she reported to her mentor for her lesson she found a sight she hadn’t been expecting. Celestia was sitting waiting for her yes, but what caught her attention was the teal haired girl who seemed to be throwing the royal equivalent of a temper tantrum in front of her.

“I do so have friends Tia…! You’re being un reasonable now…!!!” she protested her midnight blue wings flaring out in response to her frustrations.

Celestia rubbed her temples as she pondered slamming her head into the nearest wall. “Lulu, those shady characters you play with online do NOT count as real friends… nor do any of the dolls you keep locked in your private vanity…” at the mention of this the girl who looked to be about Twilight’s age seemed to rage further. She seemed familiar to Twilight but she couldn’t place from where. Or figure out, who in their right mind would address the Princess by a pet name.

“I most certainly do NOT play with dolls sister…! They are action figures and I shall have thoust know that they are priceless gems who have yet to be removed from their boxes…!!!” the voice of the girl was cracking now from what seemed to be nothing less than puberty at its worst. But in a flash Twilight realized where she knew the girl from. She had called Celestia sister.

“P-princess Luna…?” she stuttered astonished at the small form of the once regal figure. Sure she hadn’t been as tall as Celestia but she certainly didn’t look THIS young naturally. Upon hearing the voice of her sister’s beloved student Luna froze in place and slowly her head turned to face the girl that was now her same age. Twilight had to hold back a rather inappropriate squeal of sheer cute overload from how Luna looked to have a giant pouty face on. Her cheeks were rosy now and her teal eyes were wide with shock at being seen in such a state of distress. Which of course only made her blush further.

Celestia’s smirk was well hidden as she addressed her student having known her to be there the entire time. “Twilight Sparkle, right on time as usual. But it seems young Spike is running tardy today…” she noted as she stood and walked over to the stunned purple haired magic user. “Ignore Lulu for now, I’ll be explaining her situation a bit later. For now-“ she was cut off as the two royal doors were slammed open and a short spikey green haired boy ran in his arms loaded with school supplies and many books so that he couldn’t even see where he was going.

“Twilight…! I got all that stuff you asked me to get for the lesson today, sorry I’m late the librarian was making a fuss over the number of books you still have out and… who’s the new girl?” he asked as he threw the materials down and noticed the fuming lunar princess who by now was inventing new shades of red with just her face alone.

“SISTER WE DEMAND THOU TRANSFORM US BACK INTO OUR NATURAL REGAL FORM!!!!!!!!” she shouted using the Royal Canterlot Voice to effectively knock Spike back off his feet and answer his question in one loud burst. Celestia however paid her sister no heed as she escorted her pupil out of the throne room and towards her private office.

“Come Twilight, I have much to discuss with you…” she stated calmly enveloping the dazed dragon boy in her golden magical aura and levitating him along beside them as the doors closed behind them leaving Luna to throw her fit with no one but the guards as her witnesses.

“Uhhhh… Princess… why was… but how did you… and…!” Twilights head was hurting from the thought process and calculations she was trying to make about how much magical energy it would take to transform a regal entity like the Lunar princess into a 14 year old girl.

“My dear Twilight, I think it would be best not to question these things just yet. All will be answered in time but for now, I’m going to give you a very important task that I know only you can do. This involves you too Spike.” She stated as she threw open the doors to her office and set the boy down in one of the chairs while Twilight eagerly sat down in the other one next to him.

“Is it some kind of super powerful ancient spell that’ll allow me infinite knowledge like you…?!” she asked excitedly.

“No, and I don't have-“

“Or is it some secret mission to a dangerous crypt under the castle that contains a relic and is guarded by hundreds of booby traps that could likely kill us in an instant if we don’t figure out their puzzles?!” she questioned further.

“I think you’re reading too much of that Daring Doo series Twi-“

“Or are you planning some kind of big test on all the spells I’ve learned?! Oh no! It is isn’t it?! Spike! My index cards! I’m going to need everyone from the creation of Equestria to the notes I took last night over influxing gravi-“ the frantic ranting of the girl was cut off by a motion of her mentors hand like a zipper shutting that effectively and literally zipped Twilight’s mouth shut using her golden magic, which Spike gave a smirk at. Her bright worried lavender eyes went back to her mentor’s soft baby pink gaze.

“Twilight Sparkle, the task I have for you is nothing like any of that, so you may put all those worries to rest dear child.” She stated soothingly. Twilight visibly lost the tension that her body had been building without her knowing. Celestia released the spell and her student regained use of her mouth, which made Spike effectively lose his smile in an instant muttering something about him never getting a moment’s rest.

“Well… Princess, if it isn’t a test then what is it you’re going to ask of your student…?” she questioned with a confused stare, Like studying and tests were the only things students were capable of doing. Which in her mind, WAS all they did. And that was exactly the reason Celestia had brought her here.

“Twilight I’m tasking you with a very similar task as the one I just gave my sister… actually to be quite frank, they’re identical.” Twilight waited in anticipation that made her stomach flip. Obviously the princess had not been pleased when she had entered. What could have made her so upset…? Wait, hadn’t she mentioned something about… “I’m giving you the important task of attending a renowned school in a quaint town called Ponyville to Make. Some. Friends.” She stated emphasizing each word. Twilight’s brain was currently over heating and turning into a pile of mush just from hearing those words from her mentor’s mouth.

“I-I’m sorry, Princess… come again…?” she requested thinking she had simply heard her mentor wrong. That those dreaded words were just a terrible nightmare.

“You heard me quite well Twilight, in the fall you, Spike, and my sister Luna will be attending Ponyville Academy and University in order to break you and her, for I know Spike is out going enough that I don’t have to worry over his social issues, of your terrible anti-social behavior.” She sang happily with what appeared to be a gentle and care free smile. Just then the doors were promptly kicked in by one overly powerful pre-teen Princess’ kick.

“That is the sorriest excuse of a lie I’ve ever heard from you Tia!!! You’re just trying to get rid of me so you can put an end to the pranking war I have going with the servants…!” she screamed. Spike swore he saw a vein throb in irritation on Celestia’s forehead.

“No, my dear sister that is just an added bonus I will be receiving from this arrangement. My true purpose is the one that I have already stated, you need friends. Both of you.” She added with a look to her faithful student whose mind was slowly starting to catch up.

“B-but princess…! I have friends…!” she exclaimed a slight whine making its way into her voice.

“Twilight, your parents and brothers don’t count, and neither does Smarty Pants.” Celestia sighed as she shook her head her free flowing multi-hued hair seeming to be carried by invisible solar winds. Luna’s normally did the same thing but in her younger form it seemed to revert to a blue that reminded Twilight of the day sky rather than the starry sky she ruled over. Said princess huffed and blew a stray strand of her hair out of her face.

“I still do not see the reasoning for this form… I look like an infant.” She grumbled. Her older sister giggled at that.

“And a simply adorable one at that Lulu. But I doubt you would blend in any if you walked into the eighth grade six feet tall and sporting a bust bigger than your entire class combined.” She noted calmly as she moved over to where the Lunar princess stood beside Twilight now and placed a gentle and caring hand on both their shoulders. “Girls, you both know I care for each of you deeply, which is why it pains me deeply to see you live your lives in such seclusion. There is more to life than studying and books Twilight, and Luna as much as you wish it otherwise, this isn’t your online world where making friends is as easy clicking ‘accept’ in a friend request. You both need to make some living breathing friends. And no Luna, the servants you torture on a daily basis do NOT count.” She added as she saw her sister begin to open her mouth in protest. She quickly snapped her jaw shut and crossed her arms defiantly looking away. Celestia gave a sigh and shook her head again.

But Twilight was drinking in what her mentor said like an already soaked sponge. “B-But I… What about my studies?! If I make friends and they distract me from them I could fall behind…! And then…” her eyes widened in terror. “I’d be sent back to magic Kindergarten…” She exclaimed beginning to run her hands through her hair and get a nervous twitch in her eye. Spike saw the telltale signs of the beginning of a mental breakdown and quickly pinched Twilight’s forearm effectively snapping her out of her panicky state. She rubbed the spot and Celestia sent the boy a smile in thanks. He gave a small one in return before he addressed his thoughts on it.

“I don’t know why you two are freaking out over it… it isn’t like people are gonna kill you just for trying to make casual conversation…” he said as he hooked both his hands behind his head like he was lounging while standing up.

“They do so on almost a dozen of my online games…” Luna muttered to herself, but a glare from above told her that her sister had heard her anyways.

“Well it doesn’t really matter anyways because all the paperwork has already been filed and accepted. And yes Twilight, your parents DID know about this about two months in advance.” She added as she stood to go back to her desk and sat down in the plush chair. Twilight gaped at her mentor and went into a furious stream of half worded attempts at a response but ended up just fainting back into the chair which Spike had dragged over for her to fall in. He gave the older Princess a thumbs up while Luna started banging her head against the wall. Celestia winced every time she did so. “L-Luna you’re going to… to damage your crest… if you keep… hurting yourself like that.” The older sibling noted as the younger did in fact do just that with a final slam of her head straight through the wall leaving a hole in the wall and sparks of wild magical energy going every which way as she fell unconscious to the floor. Spike lunged forward to catch her just as one of the larger bolts hit the light in the room and just like that knocked not only the office into darkness, but the whole of Canterlot as well. In the pitch black office Celestia sighed and rubbed her temples fighting the very heavy urge to break out her secret stash of Applejack Daniels she kept in her locked desk drawer.

“Umm… Princess…?” Spike’s raspy voice called through the darkness.

“Yes Spike…?” Celestia responded as she stared into the darkness not even wanting to bother with a light spell.

“Doesn’t this room have a window…?” he asked.

“Yes… it does.” She responded calmly.

“Then how come it…”

“She short circuited the Sun.” she responded without waiting for him to finish.

“A-Ah… um… do I want to know how…?” he asked as he slowly shifted the lunar princess off his lap. A dull thud made him wince but he knew she was made of tougher stuff than that.

“No, you do not. It’s beyond your logic, but could you do me a favor and wake her up…? Here, this should do the trick.” She said as there was a small golden flash. Spike used his night vision to see what floated in front of him and sighed as he ran a hand through his hair.

“You do realize she’s going to kill me if I do that right…?” he said shifting his now glowing eyes to the Solar Princess. She giggled and he saw her smirk almost wickedly.

“Then allow me~” she hummed as Spike saw the bucket begin to tilt. He jumped away as far as possible not knowing what would happen when she was so rudely awoken.

Outside the castle it looked something like someone had just put a hammer to a nuke. The entire city of Canterlot itself jumped off the mountainside it was attached to before it seemed magnetized back to it and the sun flickered back on like a flashlight with faulty batteries. The citizens went about their daily business like nothing had happened. They were used to odd things and such going on, why it wasn’t a normal day if the sun or moon wasn’t turned into a giant confection or armies of seemingly cheerful lawn Gnomes invaded the town with their ever crafty Lunar princess at their lead.
Meanwhile back inside the castle. Spike looked up from behind the shield Celestia had thrown up to block her sister’s outburst and Twilight slowly roused from her unconscious state, only to see a dripping wet and ticked looking Luna effectively glaring down her sister.
“Huh…? What’d I miss…?” she asked Spike.
“Luna went berserk, banged her head too hard and short circuited the sun so Celestia revived her by soaking her with ice water.” He reported with crossed arms and an amused grin plastered on his face. Luna promptly glared at the short boy. Had she not been in such a miniscule form, and had the boy not been half dragon and therefore a much harder target to injure, she probably would have slapped the smirk off his face. But slapping someone who ate diamonds like they were fruit was generally a really bad idea no matter who you are, so she refrained from doing so.
Instead Luna turned her attention away from the drake and the still confused protégé and instead focused on her older sister, who was graciously drying off her younger sister using a small heat spell. “So… if you aren’t giving us a choice in the matter…”
“Nope~” her sister sang happily.
“Then could you at least answer me this… what in our names are those ridiculous looking outfits hanging on that wall…? Because they look like…” she was again interrupted by her sister levitating them over to them.
“Your new school uniforms~” Celestia hummed with an enthusiasm that sent chills through even Luna’s icy blood. Twilight, with her rather… nerdy outlook on fashion took to them straight away mentally dressing herself in them and squealing at the look. Spike shrugged at his own not really one to care about stuff like fashion, but he was far more amused with the shell shocked look Luna was giving her sister.
“You’re… kidding right?
“I’m not~”
“Stockings…?”
“Technically they’re knee high socks, but yes.”
“And those colors…”
“Are the school colors, orange and brown go quite well together in this style~” she sang happily.
“And… the plaid…?”
“A personal choice from the board of directors. The chairman of the school actually picked these out herself this year…!” she announced a gleam in her eyes. Luna saw it and had to know.
“And the Chairman of the school would be…?”
“Me of course~!” Celestia replied her over cheery grin growing and a devious gleam in her eyes.
“I see…” Luna replied simply. Spike was eyeing her carefully and started getting a feeling in the back of his mind. Slowly his hair started to stand on end as the feeling intensified and his eyes widened as he grabbed Twilight and without a second thought started to run out the door her in tow.
“Spike?! What are you-?!” but she then noticed that the entire castle was starting to shake. “Oh for the love of-“
Outside the castle and pretty much all over Equestria mothers heard the scream of the moon princess and quickly covered their children’s ears.
"DAMN YOU TROLESTIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

On the bright side, once Luna had again calmed down and the castle was magically forced back into its place on the mountain side, Luna learned that they only had to wear the uniforms on scheduled days, otherwise it was free dress. Well, within limitations. Students couldn’t walk around with their pants around their ankles, or with so little covering their bodies they looked to be wearing swim suits, or really any of the other ridiculous trends young people now a days tended to wear in public. There was a dress code, but it was still free dress most of the time. That put Luna at ease but Twilight asked if she could still wear the uniform anyways. Her mentor gave her a nod and she then gave her faithful student a packet containing all the lists and information packets she’d need for the school. She saw her violet eyes widen in elation as she discovered the extensive summer reading list and didn’t even bother looking through the rest. Spike instead took the packet and found their choice sheets, which in all reality was actually a booklet that was surprisingly thick, for their classes. He scanned through it and his slitted eyes grew wider as he did so.
“Agriculture, marine biology, fencing, advanced rocket sciences…?! Is there anything this place DOESN’T have?!” he exclaimed as he flipped through it more. Twilight levitated the booklet away from him and in front of her face to see for herself the extensive selection of classes available.
“Well the academy is famous for its wide variety of classes yes, and its low tuitions make it a very popular school indeed, but if you’ll read closer there ARE certain classes restricted for certain grade levels, some are reserved for the university students as well. Here…” she took the booklet in her own magical hold and flipped more towards the front of it. “These are all the classes eighth graders are allowed into.” She explained. Now even Luna was curious and was peeking over Twilights shoulder at the list. It was still pretty extensive, but it was considerably a lot smaller than the rest of it all. Twilight seemed slightly disappointed at the list.
“Princess… all of these classes seem below my levels… are you sure you can’t put me in more advanced classes?” Twilight questioned. Her mentor snickered a bit at that.
“Twilight Sparkle, I assure you that the classes listed are quite reasonable for you. You should not judge a book by its cover.” She reminded the young girl. Twilight still had doubts but she trusted her mentor more than anything so she would take her word and review the choices carefully. Suddenly a pale hand with painted blue nails shot out from behind them and grabbed the booklet from them.
“EH?!?!?! THEY HAVE AN ENTIRE CLASS DEDICATED TO THE STUDY OF ANIME?!?!?!” Luna half shouted and half cheered. Her eyes were the size of moon pies and she looked about as excited as a child in a candy store.
“Actually dear little sister, that is a club that takes up your last period of the day. Generally most people go for things like sports though instead of…” but her sister wasn’t listening. She was lost in the dreamy state of an Otaku who just found her own personal haven. Twilight backed away a bit from the crazed princess who was now salivating a bit in whatever fantasies she was having in her head. She seemed to snap out of it when she felt the awkward stares on her and blushed heavily.
“S-sorry… it um… pleases me to know that I will be able to find entertainment in such a… dreadful situation.” She stated calmly handing the booklet back to Twilight who slipped it back inside the folder.
“It isn’t so bad princess! We’ll be learning new things every day and there isn’t anything dreadful about knowledge…!” Twilight reasoned. Luna arched an eyebrow at the girl.
“Twilight Sparkle, when one has lived for a few thousand years like I have anything that can be taught in schools is redundant, anything else I ever need to know is on the internet.” She countered back. That seemed to stun Twilight into silence. Her older sister how ever had a way to counter that.
“I beg to differ. You lack any skill with modern technology at all, other than your computer. Don’t you remember last week when you tried to put that metal bowl in the microwave and it caused a fire that took three hours to put out…? Or when you were going for a walk in the city and you yelled at a cross walk sign for an hour because you thought it was ‘ordering you around’…? Or how about just yesterday when you touched that mechanical horse ride outside the convenience store and it blew up an entire street block…? Or that time you…-“
“OKAY TIA!!!! I get it, anything I touch explodes orbursts into flames. And anything that isn’t alive but talks is a conundrum for me. But I don’t see a practical reason behind any of that.” Luna countered.
“Okay, taking a note from the microwave incident then, you have the cooking skills of a bull shark, whenever you try to assist the gardeners with their work the plants all die just from your touch, your handwriting looks like a chicken decided to moon walk on paper, and whenever you touch an instrument it usually involves peoples ears bleeding. Shall I continue?” Celestia asked as her sister’s face grew more and more flustered with each reminder of skills she lacked.
“No, I get it… make some friends and learn not to destroy everything I touch. Got it, can I have my laptop and gaming headset back now…?” she huffed. Celestia sighed and in a golden flash a sleek midnight blue laptop with Luna’s signature crest on the face of it and a very expensive looking gaming headset appeared in her arms.
“Whoa… sick headset, and I like that you customized your laptop, looks a lot like a new version of the Macintosh Lp500, though I custom built mine I like to keep up with the store made ones, how many terabytes of storage do you have on it…?” Spike asked the lunar princess who stared at him in shock.
“You… you’re a techno nerd too?!” she exclaimed. Spike chuckled and grinned a bit.
“And a level 15 Enchanted Knight in the grand world of Synthesia with over 9000 HP and Mana at my control, and… Princess why are you staring at me like that…?” he asked noticing the glazed look she was getting in her eyes. Twilight decided to take this opportunity to grab Spike by the back of his hood and promptly drag him back to their room in the castle. But Luna was after him like a starved dog to a steak.
“TELL ME YOUR GAMER ID SO I CAN FRIEND YOU!!!!!!!!” she called as Twilight broke into a run and Spike fought like crazy to break free so he could have a chance at getting away instead of being slowed down by Twilight who didn’t have the advantage of being half dragon.
Celestia chuckled and sat back down at her desk pleased with how the day had gone. “That went better than expected… Luna only blew up twice. And the city didn’t suffer any casualties… although perhaps I should have warned them that they’d be rooming together… Oh well, they’ll find out sooner or later.” She shrugged as she picked up where she had left off in her paper work. From the doors that were left open she could hear crashing and cries of pain all through the castle, but she just continued scratching away at the documents in front of her knowing that the guard could handle it. A wave of green fire erupted from the hallway in front of her office and she lowered her glasses at the sight of it. “On second thought… perhaps I should assist before they burn down the palace…” she sighed and opened her desk drawer to reveal a big red button covered in a protective shield of enchanted glass. She waved her hand over it and it vanished. She pressed the button with a slight smirk and somewhere in the castle she heard three screams.
“Let’s see how they like my moon room for a time out box…” she smirked. She chuckled a little to herself as she pulled out a shot glass and poured herself a glass of the golden whiskey she kept under her desk. “To the Mooooooon…!” she exclaimed as she shut the drawer with a slam and tipped back the shot. The guards posted outside her office didn’t say a word but their entire bodies got chills from hearing those words from their leader.
Elsewhere deep under the depths of Canterlot City in a room filled with moon rocks and with walls painted like outer space:
“I hate you… so much right now Tia…” Luna muttered as a probe floated past her in the zero gravity of the room.
“SPAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACE~~~!!!!!” it cheered. Luna groaned and wondered what exactly it took for an immortal to commit suicide.

Author's Note

So I've taken in the comentor's suggestions and made an attempt at making this a more flowing story. If it worked, I'd like to know so I can make similar ajustments to the other chapters I have prewritten. Shadow Out.

IMPORTANT NOTICE

For those who have been reading and following this story you will notice there is one huge change that I have made, meaning the title. I will be making minor changes through the story along with the revisions my editor has advised me to make. The biggest changes will be in the first chapter so if you're confused by it DO NOT PANIC. All I'm changing is that instead of the story being focused around how she met each individual character I'm just going to focus the story on how Twilight's bonds with each of them made her grow into the role she has adopted in the future, meaning an Alicorn princess. This may seem sudden but I've actually been meaning to make a change like this for quite sometime since as you can see the story itself has already changed so much. And seeing as a recent disaster has forced me to re write all the chapters I had already written but not published I decided to turn it into something good. I'm not The story itself will continue along the same way its been going so if you like what you've been reading lately you're in luck, because it only gets better from here on out. So Keep Calm and Flutter on Bronies, I know I will.

P.S- The chapter I'm posting literally seconds after this will have a time jump, it'll be confusing at first but I'm writing what I hope will be a set of very interesting shorts involving specific characters. Consider them like mini episodes packed full of hilarity. Alright, I'm off now, tell me what you think of the changes in the coments I do actually read those things you know.