My Little Pony: The Gemstones of Magicby RamenVAChapters2 Trouble Making Pegasus3 Ruby, The Deliquent4 Return of the Changlings5 Welcome Brothers and Sisters!6 Ruby's Disastrous Past7 Welcome to Ponyville!!!8 The Upcoming Summer Sun Celebration1 The Missing Student2 Trouble Making PegasusRainbow Dash flew over Ponyville, looking around to find Twilight's student. "If I were a runaway... where would I go...?" she said to herself and she looked. Then, something flew past her at top speed and made her spin around uncontrollably. "WHOA!" she said spinning. She stopped and had an angry look on her face. "Alright! who's the wiseguy?!" Rainbow hear someone giggling above her. she looked up and saw somepony on a cloud above her laughing. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?" she asked. "Depends who's askin'! Who are you?" The pony giggled and flew down to Rainbow. The pony had a ruby red coat and a purple and blue mane. Her eyes were purple and she looked the same age as Rainbow and the others. "I've never seen you before..." Rainbow said. But she's a pegasus, there's no way she's Twilight's student, right? Rainbow thought. "Well, I'm not from around here, but I do know who you are Rainbow Dash. My little brother idolizes you." "Really?" Rainbow gets a smirk on her face and says, "Well, I am the greatest flyer in Equestria." "Well, I don't believe it." "What was that...?" "I mean, I will admit that you're great and all, but the greatest flyer in Equestria? I don't think so." "Are you challenging me?" "I don't know... do you feel challenged?" "Okay... fine... Let's race then. First one to City Hall wins." "Alright, you got it. Ready, Rainbow Crash?" Rainbow growled and flew next to the pony. In a few seconds, they both raced forward. Rainbow felt confident in her speed and kept getting faster and faster. But, not to her knowledge, the other pony stopped halfway and watched Rainbow Dash fly off toward City Hall. She landed herself in an alley and smiled. "One down, four more to go." "I swear, Twilight needs to keep those wings of hers in check." Rarity went back to her shop to drop off her dresses. She was putting them on mannequins when he heard someone coming in. "A customer?" Rarity said. "Hello?" "Yes?" Rarity said, walking toward the door. The same pony that raced Rainbow Dash walked into Rarity's shop, with a completely different demeanor. She walked in with her head held high, and walked in with such class and sophistication. "Are you Rarity?" she asked. "Uh, why yes. And you are?" "That's not important," she said, walking past Rarity. "I have a very important occasion coming up and I need a dress. Hoity Toity told me that you're one of the best dress designers in Equestria. So I came here as quickly as possible." "He-He-He really said that?" She walked up to a dress and looked at it intently and said, "Yes... but I don't think your style matches my standards." "Your standards?" "Yes. You see, I only wear things fit for, shall I say, a princess." "Well, I'll have you know that I made these dresses especially for Princess Twilight Sparkle!" "Has she worn any of them?" "Well... umm... no..." "I rest my case. Well," she walked over to one of the dresses, "If you change this a little more to make it look more royal and regal, I'll but it. We have a deal?" Rarity started to grind her teeth teeth, but made a smile when the pony looked at her. "Of course... I'll work on it now..." she said through her teeth. "Very good. I shall return in a few hours. Have it ready by then." Rarity started to mumble under her breath as the pony walked out of her shop. The moment she closed the door, the pony snickered to herself. "That was too easy! Okay, who's next?" "So her name is Ruby?" Twilight and Shining Armor were walking around Ponyville, trying to find her student. "Yeah, but that's all I know about her. She didn't say anything when Celestia brought her to me to escort. She wore a cloak too, so I don't even know what she fully looks like besides her horn and her ruby red coat." "I see. I wonder why she ran off?" "Who knows, but we need to find her soon." "How come? She's not dangerous is she?" "I don't know. All I know is that Celestia said she was... special." "I wonder what the Princess meant by that...?" Twilight and Shining Armor came up the City Hall, where Rainbow Dash was pacing in front of. "Rainbow? What are you doing here?" "Waiting," she said, continuing to pace. "Waiting for what?" Rainbow stopped and walked over to Twilight. "This random pony came up to me, practically insulted me, and challenged me to a race to City Hall. so I'm waiting for her to show up so I can gloat and tell her that I AM the greatest flyer in Equestria!" Twilight shook her head and said, "Rainbow, don't you remember that my student is missing? We have to find her! We don't have time for you to prove yourself to some random pegasus." "But I!" "No buts, now let's go see how everyone is doing in their search." Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Shining Armor walk up to Rarity's shop and see her in the window sewing together something. Twilight sighs and rushes inside. "Rarity, what are you doing? You're not making me another dress, are you?" "Huh?" Rarity said, getting out of her zone. "Oh, no Twilight. this pony came in looking for a dress and said none of my dresses fit her 'standards'. So, I'm trying to show her that all of my dresses are fit for royalty." Twilight sighed. "And why are you doing that exactly...?" "Well, Hoity Toity referred her to me and if I don't give her something amazing, he'll hear about it and who knows what will happen to my career!?" "Rarity, I know this is really important, but I really need you to help find my student." "Yeah Rare, everyone knows that your an awesome designer or whatever," Rainbow Dash added. "Well, this was a very pushy pegasus..." "Wait, wait, wait! Did she have a red coat?" Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash in shock. "Why... yes? How did you know that?" "That's the same pony that challenged me to a race!" "Red coat? Like a ruby red coat?" Shining Armor said. Rainbow and Rarity nodded. "You think it could have been Ruby?" Twilight asked Shining Armor. "I don't know... I mean, she was a unicorn, not a pegasus." "Maybe she used magic to give herself wings...? "She didn't have a horn," Rainbow said. "And she flew too well to have wings of magic." "Besides," Rarity said, continuing her sewing, "Making wings isn't easy to do. I know that personally..." "True..." Twilight said, thinking. "Hmmm... I think we should look into this." Shining Armor said. "What about Ruby?" "Well, Celestia did say Ruby was special so..." Twilight nodded. "You're right. Rainbow, Rarity, let's go." "But-But, my dress!" Rarity freaked. "Rarity... she was pretending... She probably doesn't even know Hoity whatever his name is. She was faking." "Oh... right... hehehe..." Rarity followed the others out the door to help search for the trouble making pegasus. 3 Ruby, The DeliquentTwilight, Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all headed back to Sweet Apple Acres, where everything was in total chaos. Fluttershy's animals were completely out of control and she was flying around trying to stop them. Apple Jack was trying to keep them from eating the food she made for the party. "Get away you critters!" she said, pushing them away from the food. "Apple Jack!" Twilight said. "What in the world is going on?" "I don't know!" Apple Jack said, still pushing animals away. "I came back to see if maybe your student came to the party, and the next thing I knew, Fluttershy's animals went crazy!" "Fluttershy!" Twilight yelled above, where Fluttershy was catching one of her birds. "What's going on?" Fluttershy swooped down and grabbed Angel who was in one of the pies. "Hey!" Apple Jack yelled. "Fluttershy, what happened?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I-I don't know! This pegasus came to my house looking for a pet and, well, I left for a second. And the next thing I knew, the animals all came here on a rampage! I'm trying to stop them, but nothing is working." "Hold on," Shining Armor said. He stood in the middle of all the chaos and concentrated. He used magic to create a barrier around each of the animals and levitated them into the air. He combined all of the barriers to create a cage for all of the animals and place it on the ground where they couldn't get away. He sighed in relief and Twilight gave him a pat on the back. "Great job BBBFF," she said with a smile. "Thanks. Been working on it for a while now." "Alright!" Rainbow said in an angry tone. "Where's that trouble making pony?" "Fluttershy?" Rarity asked. "Oh! Umm, well, I don't know. After the animals ran loose, she was gone..." "Twilight!" Spike ran up to them and took a moment to catch his breath. He had a cupcake stuck on his tail and frosting all over him. "Spike? What on earth happened?" Twilight asked him. "Well, me and Pinkie went to Sugar Cube Corner and there was this pony who came with a box and when she gave it to Pinkie, a twister came out of it! And it's tearing the place apart." "That has to be the same pegasus that cause all of our problems!" "Let's go guys!" Twilight said. When they all arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, it was exactly how Spike described. Cakes were flying out of the windows and you could hear things breaking inside. "Pinkie!" Twilight yelled inside. "Where are you?" "Right here..." They all turned around and saw Pinkie hanging upside down on a tree branch. "Pinkie, what happened?" Flutter shy flew up to Pinkie to try and help her down from the tree. "Well, this pony came with a present for me and , you know me, I never refuse presents, no matter what day it is. Who knew you could give someone a tornado as a present?" Fluttershy brought Pinkie down to the ground and Twilight walked over the Sugar Cube Corner. She took a deep breath and used her magic to make the tornado weaken and eventually disappear. "How do suppose she did that?" Rarity asked. "I don't know," Shining Armor said. "But I have a feeling that Ruby is responsible for this." "Who the hay is Ruby?" Apple Jack asked. "She's Twilight's 'missing student'." "Yeah, I don't know how she made herself a pegasus, but this was done by magic," Twilight said. "We have to find her no matter what. Who knows what she'll do next." "I think I just did," Spike said. "Look!" Spike pointed to a cloud in the sky, where the pony that everyone met was sitting. She gasped when they all saw her and she flew off. "Oh no you don't!" Rainbow Dash said, as she flew after her. "Come on guys!" Twilight said, racing after Rainbow Dash. The others followed. The pony flew as fast as she could, but Rainbow was gaining on her. She tried to lose Rainbow in the clouds, but to no success. She even went down and started going in between buildings, but Rainbow didn't lose her for even a second. As a final effort to escape, she flew back up into the sky and headed for the Evergreen Forest. She dove right into the heart of the forest, but Rainbow stopped in her tracks. "You gotta be kidding me... Oh man!" Rainbow dove into the forest after her and tried her best to fly through the trees to find the pony. "Where did she go?" Rainbow said. She got lower to the ground to catch her breath and looked around to see if she saw any sign of the pony. then, in the distance, she heard a loud crash and scream. Rainbow quickly went to where she heard the crash and saw the pony stuck in some vines, struggling to get herself. "Ha! There's no where to run now!" Rainbow said as she got closer. "Whatever! Just get me down!" the pony exclaimed. "No way! After all the trouble you caused, there's no way I'm helping you!" "Please! I'm sorry, okay? I just want to get out of here!" Rainbow turned her back on the pony. "Fine... but don't say I didn't warn you..." The pony said in a low tone. Suddenly, a big burst of light came from the pony. "What the-" Rainbow said. Twilight and the others followed Rainbow into the Evergreen Forest, against most of their better judgement. "Ar-are you sure you saw them come in here Twilight...?" Rarity said, he voice shaking. "I'm positive. They came in here." Twilight said. "Well, I hope we find them soon. I can't stand this place..." "Hey guys, look," Fluttershy said, pointing toward a light in the distance. "Let's go!" Twilight said. They all headed toward the light as fast as they could and found Rainbow Dash on the ground. "Rainbow!" They went to her side as quickly as possible and helped her up. "Rainbow, what happened?" Apple Jack asked. "I-I don't know... She was stuck in some vines and the next thing I knew she... I don't know..." The light disappeared and reveled the pony, but she was no longer a just a pegasus. "She's a... she's a..." Rarity stammered. "An... Alicorn?!" Twilight exclaimed. The pony landed on her feet and looked at them all. She then focused her attention on Twilight and gave her a glare. "You're Princess Twilight, right?" she asked. "Yes..." Twilight said, still shocked. "Okay then. I just want to let you know, I refuse to learn magic from you." 4 Return of the Changlings"I refuse to learn magic from you Princess Twilight." "What do you mean?" Twilight said walking toward the alicorn. "You are Ruby, right?" "What of it?" Ruby took two steps back as Twilight got closer. "Then, I'm suppose to be your mentor. Princess Celestia-" "I don't care what Princess Celestia has to say! I'm not going to learn magic from you, or anyone else!" Ruby flew up and out of the forest, making sure not to get caught in any vines. "Ruby, wait!" Twilight flew after her, as quickly as she could. "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, about to go after her. But Apple Jack grabbed her tail and pulled her back down. "Hey! Apple Jack!" "This is something Twilight has to handle," Apple Jack said after letting go of Rainbow. "She's right," Shining Armor said. "I guess this is what Celestia meant by Twilight first task as a mentor." "Well, that doesn't mean we have to wait here..." Rarity said. "Let's get out of this icky place." They all nodded and started to head back to Ponyville. "Ruby! Ruby, where are you?" Twilight flew over the town, looking for any signs of Ruby. But, Twilight wasn't used to flying as long as she was, so she eventually had to land and continue her search on foot. She asked everypony she saw if Ruby had come by, and she had no luck. For all she knew, Ruby could be at Canterlot by now. "Twilight!" Twilight turned around and saw Rarity, Rainbow, Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike coming her way. "Hey girls..." Twilight said half-heartedly. "I'm guessing you had no luck findin' Ruby?" Apple Jack asked. Twilight shook her head and a frown appeared on her face. "I don't understand. Why doesn't she want to learn magic from me?" "Maybe she thinks she better than you," Rainbow said. "No, I don't think that's it. I saw it in her eyes. She was... scared." "Scared? Scared of what?" Pinkie asked. "That's what I need to find out." "Well," Spike began, "Maybe we can ask-UGH!" Spike burped out some fire and a scroll from Princess Celestia appeared. "A letter from the Princess?" Twilight said, confused. Spike opened the letter and began to read. Dear Princess Twilight, Please do not judge Ruby by her outer appearance. It turns out that Ruby is somewhat afraid of using magic. She's had a long and terrifying life when it comes to magic, and I felt that you were the only one who could help her. I know that she will refuse to learn from you, but if you offer her your friendship and trust, I'm sure she'll come around eventually. As you probably already seen, Ruby is indeed an alicorn, but she became one in a different way than you did Twilight. You see, Ruby was born with an immense amount of magical energy and in turn, was born an alicorn. You're duty is to not only mentor her in the uses of magic, but also protect her. Physically and mentally. I wish you luck. ~Princess Celestia "Wait a minute! That tornado she made was magic right?" Rarity said. "So, if she was afraid to use magic, how did she do that?" "I don't know," Twilight said. "But the Princess entrusted her to me. So I have to find her no matter what." "We'll help yah," Apple Jack said, walking next to Twilight. "We all wanna help you help Ruby Twilight," Fluttershy added. "I don't..." Rainbow said, crossing her hoofs. "Come on Rainbow Dash. You wanna help Twilight, right?" Rarity said. Rainbow sighed and flew over to them. "Fine. But after we find her, I want nothing to do with her!" Twilight nodded and looked forward. "Okay guys, let's go!" But before she could make her first step, they heard a loud scream that made all of them jump. "What in the hay was that?" Apple Jack said. "I think it's coming from the library!" Spike said, pointing to where light was shining. Without a moment to lose, they all charged toward the library to see what was going on. When they got there, they saw Ruby and Shining Armor completely surrounded by changlings. Shining Armor was injured, but fighting them as hard as he could to protect Ruby. "These things again?" Pinkie exclaimed. "What are changlings doing here?" Spike said. Without saying anything, Twilight charged toward the hoard, and the others followed her. Twilight blasted her way through them, trying to get to Shining Armor and Ruby. But when she finally got to them, it was too late. Shining Armor was down for the count, and a few changlings had grabbed Ruby and were flying off with her. "Help me!" she yelled to Twilight, struggling to get free. Twilight took a running start and jumped into the air. She flapped her wings as hard and fast as she could, but she could keep up with the changlings speed. Twilight thought to herself, "If only I practiced flying a little more!. When all hope of rescuing Ruby seemed lost, a shining white light hit the changlings that were carrying Ruby and the changlings that were on the ground fighting the other ponies. Twilight covered her eyes from the light, but when it dimmed she looked and her eyes widened. "Princess... Celestia?" Twilight asked. But after a closer look, she saw that it wasn't Celestia, but someone who was very similar to her. Her main was white and sparkled like diamonds in the sun light, and her coat was a pure white. So white that you couldn't miss the ruby red coat of Ruby on her back. The strange Celestia landed with Ruby on her back and Twilight did the same. "You're... not the Princess... are you?" Twilight asked. "No, I am not Princess Twilight," she replied. "You know my name?" "Of course I do. Everyone in Equestria knows who you are Princess Twilight. And I know you because you're the mentor of my dear Ruby." "Your... dear Ruby?" "Yes." She placed the unconscious Ruby in front of Twilight. the radiance of this pony marveled Twilight to no end. "Umm, who are you exactly?" The pony began to walk away, but turned around and gave Twlight a smile. "My name is Diamond, Princess Diamond." Before Twilight could ask any more questions, the pony was engulfed in a white light again, and vanished out of thin air. 5 Welcome Brothers and Sisters!When the others caught up to Twilight, she explained everything that happened on their way to the hospital with Shining Armor and Ruby. Ruby had a hurt wing and was still unconscious and Shining Armor was going to be okay. He was just exhausted from using so much magic fighting the changelings. He explained that he went off to meet with the other guards and saw some changelings in the area. He followed them to the library where they surrounded Ruby. Shining Armor tried his hardest to protect Ruby, but for every one he defeated, more would come. “What did the changelings want with Ruby?” Twilight asked him, standing by his bed side. “I don’t know,” he replied. “But now I know why Celestia sent her here with guards to protect her. Those changelings were stronger than they were the last time.” “I could tell. Well, maybe Ruby has something that Queen Chrysalis wants.” “Who knows? But, I think you should be there when Ruby wakes up.” “Too late,” Spike said, walking into the room. “She’s gone.” “Ugh… not again!” Twilight said, rushing out the room. Twilight raced out of the hospital, to find Ruby sitting on the steps outside. Twilight was shocked to see her still here, fearing that she was trying to run away again. “Ruby?” Ruby looked back at Twilight, tears streaming down her face. She quickly wiped them away and said, “Oh, hi Princess Twilight. I’m not running away or anything. Not that I could…” She held her injured wing up and winced a little. “I just… can’t stand hospitals…” Twilight went to sit next to Ruby and took a moment to collect her thoughts. “Is… you brother okay?” Ruby asked. “Shining Armor? Oh, he’s fine. He’s not the captain of the guard for nothing, you know?” “That’s good to hear…” They sat there in silence, watching the sun set on the horizon. Twilight looked at Ruby and noticed a band around Ruby’s front hoof. The band was silver and had a red stone in the middle of it. “What is that Ruby?” Twilight pointed to the band. “Huh?” Ruby looked down at the band. “Oh, this thing? It’s… something my mother gave me… to protect me.” “Protect you? Protect you from what?” Ruby didn’t say anything and just looked up at the sky. “I still don’t want to learn magic…” She whispered. “Why not? Did I do something to you? If so, I’m sorry but-” “It’s nothing that you did Princess Twilight. I don’t want to learn magic from anyone… not even her…” “Who’s her?” “It doesn’t matter now… I don’t want to learn magic…” “What do you have against magic?” “Nothing, I just… don’t want to use it…” “But you used it to make your horn disappear, and to make Fluttershy’s animals go crazy, and to make that tornado appear in Sugar Cube Corner! And also to get yourself out of those vines.” Ruby sighed. “All of those are simple spells, you should know that.” She… has a point… Twilight thought. “But, they want me to learn more advanced stuff and… I just can’t…” “Who’s they?” “Forget it,” Ruby said, getting up from the steps. “I’m not learning magic and there’s nothing you can say to make me change my mind.” Ruby walked back up the stairs to go back to her room. Twilight watched her walk away and started to think. “I’m gonna need the Princess’ help with this one. Maybe she’ll know a way to convince Ruby.” “Twilight… Sparkle. Got it!” Spike finished writing Twilight's letter to Celestia and sent it away immediately. “Are you sure this will work Twilight?” Spike asked. “I have no other choice Spike. Ruby refuses to learn magic, and how can I teach magic to a stubborn pony who doesn’t want to learn magic?” “I guess you got a point… But what can the Princess do?” “I don’t know exactly. But there has to be some way to convince Ruby to learn magic from me and… I can’t think or any morally right way to do it.” “Morally right…?” “Don’t ask…” In that instance, Spike burped out a letter from Celestia and Twilight opened it as quickly as she could and read it out loud. “Dear Princess Twilight. I am sending you a solution to your problem. They will be arriving tomorrow morning around noon, so please don’t be late. From, Princess Celestia.” “Who is she sending?” “I don’t know, but it must be somepony who can convince Ruby to trust me to teach her magic. So we can’t be late. I’ll tell the girls about it, and Spike, you keep an eye on Ruby. Make sure she doesn’t run away again. It shouldn’t be too hard since her wing is still recovering.” “You can count on me Twilight.” It’s the next day and Twilight and the others are waiting at the train station for the person Celestia is sending to help them with Ruby. “Who do you think this person is?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t know, but they’re supposed to help me with Ruby,” Twilight replied. “Maybe it's Princess Cadence?" Rarity said. Twilight shook her head. "I think Princess Celestia would have told me if it were Cadence. Besides, she's taking care of the Crystal Empire right now." "The train is coming!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I got my banner ready!" They all turned around and saw a big huge banner that said "Welcome To Ponyville Ponies!" "Pinkie... when did you... never mind..." Twilight said, shaking her head. The train pulled up to the station and the ponies waited for the doors to open. Everypony, especially Twilight, were eager to see who Celestia sent. The doors opened, and the next thing they knew, somepony flew out of the train and rammed into Rainbow Dash and yelled,"It's you!" They turned around to see if Rainbow was okay and saw a little colt on top of her with a big grin on his face. His coat was a yellowish brown and he had a dark purple mane, the same purple as the one Ruby had in her mane. His cutie mark was a cloud with wings on them and he had big red eyes that twinkled as he looked down at Rainbow Dash. "Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe it's you! The one... and only... Rainbow Dash! I've been waiting so long for this moment!" Rainbow Dash looked up at him and said, "As flattered as I am to hear you say that, GET OFF!" Rainbow pushed the kid off her and got to her feet, brushing herself off. "Honestly Pazzy, can you have a little more class?" A unicorn walked off of the train with a light blue coat and a stunning bright red mane. Her cutie mark was a mirror and her eyes were bright green. Behind her came out two more ponies. "But Safire!" Pazzy exclaimed. "It's Rainbow Dash! THE Rainbow Dash! My goddess of flight!" The girls looked at Rainbow and all she did was shrug her shoulder, looking confused. "I understand that, but you could have hurt somepony," Safire said. "Anyways, that's not what we're here for Pazzy," another voice from the train said. Next to come off the train was a light gray stallion unicorn. His mane was white and black and he had yellow-green eyes. "Wait... You look very familiar..." Twilight said, looking at the stallion more closely. "Oh, you're Princess Twilight, right?" the stallion said. "Yes, but you can just call me Twilight." "Alright then," he said with a smile. "My name is Onyx. This is Safire and Topaz." "But everypony calls me Pazzy!" he said with a big grin. They all heard somepony clear their throat from the train and turned their direction to the door. "I think you forgot somepony?" a voice said. "Wait!" Rarity exclaimed. "I know that voice!" The last pony to come off the train was a light green coated pegasus, who had a dirty blond mane that shined in the sun light. Her eyes were a twinkling dark blue. "Oh my gosh!" Pinkie yelled. "It's... It's... Who is that?" "It-It-It's... Emi! The greatest model pegasus in Equestria!!!!" Rarity ran up to her and said, "I can't believe this! This is a dream come true!" "Uh... thank you?" Emi said, walking around Rarity. "Well," Twilight said, "Now that we have introductions out of the way... sort of. Who are you?" "Princess Celestia didn't tell you?" Safire asked. "No. he just told me that she was sending somepony to help me handle Ruby. But I wasn't expecting four ponies.” “And we weren’t expecting a welcoming party,” Onyx said, with a very dashing smile. “Ok, but that doesn’t explain who y’all are,” Apple Jack said. “Oh! Right, how rude of us,” Emi said. “We all are actually Ruby’s brothers and sisters.” “Brothers and sisters?!” Twilight and the girls said in shock. “Well,” Safire began, “Pazzy is Ruby’s real brother, but we were all raised together so we consider ourselves brothers and sisters.” “Yeah!” Pazzy said. “I’m the youngest! Safire and Ruby are the same age as you guys I’m guessing. Emi’s the second oldest, and then Onyx is the oldest.” “Wow… I didn’t know Ruby had such a tight knit family like this,” Twilight said. “It reminds of you and your brother Shining Armor, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “Wait a second!” Emi yelled, making everyone jump and look at her. She ran up to Twilight and looked at her closely. “Wh-what is it…?” Twilight asked. “I knew you looked like somepony I knew! You’re Twilly! Shining’s little sister!” “Wait! You know my brother?” “Know him?” Onyx said. “She dated him.” “WHAT?!” Twilight yelled. “When? How? Huh?!” “That was so long ago…” Emi said, blushing. “But you ruined it Onyx!” she yelled, poking him. “How so?” “If you didn’t think about that double date thing with Shining and me and you can Cadence, I would still be with him!” “Hold on a second!” Rainbow Dash said, stopping her. “You dated Cadence?!” Twilight said, still shocked by the fact that Emi dated her brother. “It was a short relationship, nothing too serious,” Onyx said calmly. “Besides, after that double date, we broke up and Emi and Shining broke up soon after. I guess you can say those two wouldn’t be together if it weren’t for us. I mean, you had something to do with it too Twilight. If Cadence didn't folesit you, she wouldn’t have fallen for your brother in the first place.” “Okay… I’m confused…” Twilight said. “I’ll explain!” Pinkie said, pulling out a board with pictures of them on it. “Twilight and Shining Armor are siblings. Cadence was Twilight folesitter. Cadence met Shining Armor through folesitting Twilight. Emi dated Shining Armor. Onyx dated Cadence. Onyx and Cadence and Emi and Shining Armor went on a double date. Cadence and Shining Armor fell in love. Onyx and Cadence broke up. Emi and Shining Armor broke up. Shining Armor and Cadence were getting married, but Cadence was replaced with a changeling. But Twilight could see-“ “We get it Pinkie!” Twilight said, stopping Pinkie’s explanation. “But, we don’t have time to discuss all of that,” Onyx said, walking up to Twilight. “What’s wrong with Ruby?” Twilight turned her attention to Onyx with a frown on her face. “She said she doesn’t want to learn magic from me.” “I had a feeling that was the problem…” Emi said, sadly. “She hasn’t wanted to use magic since…” “Since what?” “No time,” Onyx said. “Take me to Ruby please. I need to see her.” 6 Ruby's Disastrous PastTwilight and the others led Ruby’s brothers and sisters toward the hospital. Pazzy was talking to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie about all of the tricks he learned in the hope to show Rainbow one day. From the sound of it, Rainbow sounded pretty impressed by Pazzy, even gave him a noogy with a side of “Good Job squirt!” Safire and Emi were talking to Rarity and Fluttershy about Emi’s latest fashion line and the shoot that she has scheduled for next month. I could hear Rarity begging them to take her along, and even design a dress for Emi to wear during the shoot. Apple Jack was trying to calm Rarity down, but wasn't succeeding. “So,” Twilight began, walking beside Onyx. “Do you know why Ruby won’t use magic?” “It’s… not a story for me to tell,” He said with a frown. “Apparently it’s not anyone’s story to tell…” Twilight whispered under her breath. “Anyways, Princess Celestia told us about the mess Ruby’s made since she got here.” “Yeah… where do you want me to start?” Onyx smiled. “We got all of the details already, don’t worry. Anyways, you have to understand, Ruby can be a little… hard to work with. “I figured that out the minute my brother came telling me she ran away.” “Yeah… well, Ruby’s been through a lot for someone her age.” “I’ve been through my fair share of things, but nothing bad enough to make me hate magic all together.” Onyx gave Twilight a perplexed look. “What?” she asked him. “Ruby doesn’t hate magic all together.” “Then why is she-“ “She just hates herself using magic…” “But… that makes no sense…” They all finally reached the hospital and went in toward Ruby’s room. When they entered, they saw Spike asleep on the edge of Ruby’s bed, and Ruby wasn’t in it. “Spike!” Twilight yelled, causing the baby dragon to fall onto the floor. “Ow!” He said, getting to his feet, rubbing his face. “What’d you do that for?” “I told you to watch Ruby!” “But I am! She’s right…” Spike looked at the empty bed and gave out a sheepish laugh. “Nice work Spike,” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. Twilight groaned out of frustration and ran toward Shining Armor’s room to see if he knew where Ruby was. To her surprise, when she entered his room, Ruby was there. She was asleep on the side of Shining’s bed, his hoof patting her mane. “Oh, hey Twilly,” He said with a smile. Twilight sighed and walked over to Shining and Ruby. “We thought she ran away again,” Twilight said. “Nah. She came in here last night to check on me. We talked a little bit, and she fell asleep. I didn’t see the point in waking her up.” “I see,” Twilight said with a smile. “Well, I guess we can come back later.” “We?” “Ruby’s brothers and sisters are here. Princess Celestia sent them to help me convince her to learn magic.” “Yeah… Twilly, about that. Ruby told me… why she doesn’t want to use magic.” “She told you! Why?! How?! What!” “Well, she said I reminded her of her older brother.” “But no one’s better than the original,” Onyx said behind me, walking into the room “Onyx?” Shining said. “Is that really you?” “In the flesh,” he said with a smile. “Wow! You’ve changed quite a bit. But, I don’t remember you having a little sister. I mean, besides Emi that is.” “A lot has happened since the last time we saw each other.” Ruby started to moan and move around. She opened her eyes slowly and then opened them quickly when she saw Onyx. She jolted up with a gasp and then fell when her injured wing gave out. “Ruby!” Onyx and Shining said. Onyx ran to her side and helped her up to her feet. “Wh-what are you doing here…?” she asked. “I came to see you kiddo,” Onyx said with a smile. “Us too!” Pazzy said, flying into the room, landing next to Onyx. Twilight’s friends followed them in as well. Safire and Emi walked into the room as well and stood behind Onyx. Emi looked over at Shining Armor, and when he looked at her with a smile, she turned away with a frown, blushing slightly. “But… why?” Ruby said, still confused. “Ruby, you can’t run from it forever,” Onyx said, putting his hoof on her shoulder. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about…” “Yes you do. Ruby, I know you’re scared, but you and I both know that you can’t avoid using magic.” “Oh yes I can!” She shrugged his hoof off of her. “I guess you guys wasted your time coming here, because there’s nothing you or anyone else can say to make me use magic!” “Ruby, listen,” Twilight said, walking up to her. “I know that using magic can be a bit scary sometimes, but I know you’d be really good at it. I mean, the fact that you knew how to make a tornado or how to control animals or how to make your horn disappear! That was stuff that took me a long time to even master, and you did it! Ruby, you have the potential to be a great magic user, I know it.” “I thought that way… a long time ago… but things are different now…” “But why Ruby? Why don’t you want to use magic?” “It’s because of me…” Onyx said, facing Twilight with a frown. “What do you mean?” Onyx faced everypony and raised his hoof. He moved the part of his mane that was covering the right side of his face. When he moved it completely, everypony gasped. There was a long red scar that went down Onyx’s right eye. Luckily, he was still able to open his eye, but it was a very serious scar. “What… happened…?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah. That’s one nasty scar,” Rainbow said. “It was my fault…” Ruby said, a tear rolling down her cheek. “No it wasn’t,” Onyx said, wiping away Ruby’s tear with his hoof. “Yes it was! If I just listened… if I could have controlled it… you wouldn’t have…” Ruby started to cry even more, and Onyx brought her into his arms. “So… can someone please tell us what’s going on?” Apple Jack said, confused. “I can…” Emi said, walking forward. “It happened back when we were all gather to Princess Diamond. You see… we are all the carriers of the Gemstones of magic.” “The Gemstones of Magic?” Rarity said. Emi nodded. “I can’t go into detail about them, but they are the reason why we are all together like we are. As you can see, Ruby was born as an alicorn, which of course is a very rare occurrence. Ruby was supposed to be a Princess of Equestria a long time ago, just like you Princess Twilight. But... that all changed on that fateful day. The first day Ruby started to learn magic.” “I can’t believe it!” Young ruby yelled in glee, jumping on her bed. “I finally get to learn magic like you big brother!” A younger Onyx smiled at the philly jumping on her bed and used his magic to bring her back down to the ground. “Don’t get too excited kiddo, you’re gonna be doing basic stuff today. Nothing complicated." “Yeah, but that’s how you started, right? I’ll be the greatest unicorn that ever lived!” “Don’t you mean alicorn?” Onyx pointed at her wings. Ruby fluttered her wings and said, “Oh yeah, heh.” Onyx and Ruby walked out of the room toward the courtyard. They were in a beautiful castle, similar to the one in Canterlot, but not as big. The castle was completely white and had gem’s scale the outer walls. Ruby and Onyx got to the courtyard, where Princess Diamond was waiting for them. Ruby flew to her side and they got into a hug. “Are you ready my dear Ruby?” Diamond said, with a smile. “As ready as I’ll ever be!” Ruby said with great enthusiasm. “Has she read the book I assigned?” Diamond said to Onyx. “Yeah, at least three times,” Onyx said, rolling his eyes. “I see.” Diamond look down at Ruby’s smiling face. “You’re a very eager little philly, aren’t you?” Ruby nodded. “I want to be a great ‘alicorn’, just like you Princess Diamond!” Diamond chuckled and took a few steps back from Ruby. “Alright then, let’s begin.” With Onyx watching on the side, Ruby attempted the spells that she learned from her books. She was getting them all right on the first try, and that made Diamond and Onyx very proud of Ruby’s speedy progress. They practiced til the sun began to set on the horizon. “Alright,” Diamond said, walking up to Ruby. “That’s enough for today Ruby.” Ruby was panting, exhausted from the hours of magic using she just did. But she revived herself and flew up to Diamond with a frown. “But I’m not even that tired! I can keep going!” She said. Diamond shook her head. “You have to understand something about magic Ruby. You learn magic through trial and error, and you must learn it at a steady pace.” “But I’m not like other unicorns! I can learn the difficult spells! I mean, the simple ones are like breathing to me.” “Ruby!” Onyx said, with a stern voice. Ruby looked over at Onyx, and his serious expression made her give up her pursuit to continue the argument with Diamond. She landed onto her hoofs and started to walk toward her room, Onyx right behind her. “Don’t worry kiddo,” Onyx said, patting her head. “You’ll learn some more stuff tomorrow.” “But… I’m ready now…” Ruby said sadly. She flew up and rushed to her room, slamming the door behind her. Onyx sighed and started to walk toward his own room. Ruby sat on her bed, thinking about what Diamond told her. You learn magic through trial and error, and you must learn it at a steady pace. Ruby scoffed and sat up. “I’ll show them! I’m going to be the best alicorn that ever lived!” Ruby walked over to her book case full of magic books, and used her levitation magic to get an advanced magic book from the top shelf. She opened it eagerly and began to read. A smile appeared on her face when she saw all of the amazing spells that were inside of the book. “That’s the one!” Ruby said, stopping on an elemental spell. “‘This spells enables the user to be able to wield the four elements: water, earth, wind, and fire. They will be able to bend these elements to their will.’ Cool!” Ruby grabbed the book and rushed out of her room toward the courtyard. She placed the book on the floor and started to read the instructions on how to perform the spell. “Ruby?” Ruby turned around to see a sleepy Emi and Safire walking up to her. “What on earth are you doing?” Emi asked. “Just watch!” Ruby said, with a smile. “Is that… a spell book?” Emi said. “Ruby, what spell are you about to cast?” “You’ll see! It’s gonna be awesome!” “Oh let her,” Safire said. “Maybe she’ll turn herself into a dragon or something.” Emi glared at Safire. “What? You don’t think that'd be funny?” Safire said. Emi shook her head. “Okay, I got it!” Ruby said, getting into the center of the courtyard. “What is going on…?” Onyx said, walking out behind Safire and Emi. “Ruby?” “Great! Onyx you’re awake!” Ruby said with a smile. “What’s… huh?” Onyx saw the advanced spell book on the ground near Ruby. “Ruby!” he yelled. “What do you think you’re doing?!” “Just watch!” Ruby closed her eyes and chanted, “Elements of water, earth, wind, and fire. Bend to my will, bend to my desire!” Ruby’s horn started to glow a bright red and a wall of light appeared around her. She grunted as she tried to keep the flow of magic stable. “Ruby!” Emi yelled. “Onyx, do something!” “If I try to stop her now, she might get hurt…” Onyx said, trying to think of a way to stop the spell. Ruby started to float into the air, and the wall of light turned into a sphere of light that surrounded her. The ground started to shake and then a large amount of water blasted out of the ground and created a ring around Ruby’s sphere. The ground the water came out of then created a second ring. A gust of wind came through the courtyard and created a third ring around Ruby. Rocks and water were being thrown around the courtyard by the strong gusts of wind. Ruby's eyes opened and they shined a bright red, and that’s when Onyx had enough. Onyx started to run toward Ruby. “Onyx!” Emi said, about to run after him, but stopped when a gust of wind blew her back. Onyx dodged the flying rocks and gusts of wind that were thrown at him, determined to get to Ruby. He then used his own magic to create a barrier around himself, to levitate to Ruby. “Ruby!” he yelled. “You have to stop! You can’t control a spell like this!” “Yes… I can… watch… me…” Ruby said slowly and with strain. Her horn sparked and the torches that surrounded the courtyard started to flicker. Then the flames from the torches created a ball of fire above Ruby. The ball then turned into a fourth ring around Ruby, but in the process of doing this, Onyx was too close. The fire ring broke through Onyx’s barrier and struck him in the face. With a loud agonizing scream, he fell back toward Emi and Safire. “Onyx!” Safire and Emi screamed, running to his side. Onyx was holding his face and groaning in pain. Ruby saw this and a tear fell from her cheek. “Big… brother…?” she whispered. In that instant, a bright white light engulfed Ruby’s sphere, and then the entire courtyard. When the light disappeared, Ruby was on the ground, her spell broken. She moaned as she started to regain consciousness. “What… happened…?” she said, getting to her feet. Ruby turned around and saw Princess Diamond standing behind her. Ruby got excited, but her excitement was cut short when she saw the unpleasant look on Diamond’s face. Ruby was about to say something, but decided against it, bowing her head in shame. “Princess Diamond!” Safire yelled. Ruby turned around to see Safire and Emi over Onyx, who was on the ground, writhing in pain. “Onyx needs help!” Safire said. Ruby’s eyes widened when she realized what she had done. Without a word, Diamond walked past Ruby and toward Onyx. “We need to get him to his room,” Diamond said. Safire and Emi nodded and tried to help Onyx to his feet. Ruby stood there, watching them carry the injured Onyx back into the castle. She thought back to everything that just happened, putting together the pieces and realized that the ring of fire she created hit Onyx in the face. “He was right…” she whispered. “I… couldn’t control it… I… I’m… sorry… Onyx… Big brother…” Ruby rolled up into a ball and broke down into tears, vowing that she would never learn magic ever again; afraid to hurt someone she loved again. 7 Welcome to Ponyville!!!No one said anything after Emi finished the story. Ruby was still in Onyx’s arms, crying softly. Twilight walked over to Ruby and put her hoof on her shoulder. Ruby turned and looked at Twilight, a tear rolling down her face. “Oh Ruby,” Twilight said with a smile on her face, “Things like that happen sometimes. I mean, when I started using magic, wooo, did I make mess!” “Same here,” Rarity said. “I mean, it took me a month to use magic to just make a stitch.” “Really?” Safire said to Rarity. “It took me that long too!” “Are you serious?” “Dead serious! How long did it take you to be able to change the color of fabric? “Oh that took so long that it felt like-“ Apple Jack cleared her throat loudly at Rarity and Safire. They both laughed sheepishly and stopped their conversation. “Anyways,” Apple Jack said. “Everyone makes mistakes now and again. And sure, sometimes bad things happen because of those mistakes. But good things can come from your mistakes too.” “Apple Jack’s right,” Twilight said. “You rushed into advanced magic when you weren’t mentally or physically prepared for it. Magic can be exciting, but you have to take one step at a time with it. Magic takes-“ “Time and discipline…” Ruby said through her sniffles, and then she sighed. “But what if I can never control it? What if I end up hurting all of you?” Rainbow scoffed. “Not even magic can keep us down for long! We all got your back Ruby.” “We know you can do it,” Rarity said. “Yeah, especially with Twilight as your mentor,” Fluttershy said. “She’s right you know,” Shining said. “If anyone knows a thing or two about magic, it’s Twilly.” Ruby looked around the room at her brothers and sisters, and then at her new friends of Ponyville. She looked up at Onyx, and he was smiling down at her. “I know you can do it kiddo,” He said stroking her mane. Ruby sniffled and rubbed her nose. She sighed and got to her feet. “Okay,” she said to Twilight. “I’ll give it a try.” Everyone in the room cheered and some of the ponies even gave Ruby a hug. “So… what now?” Ruby said. “What else?” Pinkie Pie said with a big smile. Pinkie pushed everyone outside and the entire town of Ponyville was there with streamers and balloons everywhere. “A Welcoming Party!!!” Pinkie screamed, throwing confetti in the air. The siblings looked confused and surprised. “How did she…?” Emi said to Twilight. “Don’t ask…” Apple Jack said. “Pinkie is Pinkie,” Twilight said with a smile. Then, in a big loud chorus, the entire town screamed “Welcome to Ponyville!” Princess Diamond returns to her castle with a smile on her face. As she walked past the ponies of her kingdom, they all bowed and welcomed the Princess back. She thanked them and continued toward chambers. As she started to close the doors behind her, she heard someone call her name. She turned around and one of her royal guards came running toward her. “What is it…?” she said, slightly irritated. “Ma’am,” he said, saluting her. “I came to tell you the status of the changelings ma’am.” “And…?” “It seems that they have all suddenly retreated. It seems they are no longer a threat to the kingdom.” “That’s good to hear.” “Should I cancel you’re meeting with Princess Celestia?” “Yes. Tell her that we no longer need Canterlot’s help any longer. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” “Of course ma’am.” With a final salute, the royal guard took his leave and Diamond slammed the door behind him. She turned and walked toward her wardrobe. When she opened it, she used her magic to open a portal within the wardrobe to reveal a secret cavern. Once inside, she stretched her wings with a sigh and walked toward a green cocoon. “Goodness! I don’t know how you hire such morons,” she tapped the cocoon, “Princess Diamond.” Princess Diamond was trapped inside of the cocoon, struggling to free herself. “You can stop struggling, not even Celestia could break out of a changeling cocoon. “What are you planning Chrysalis?” Diamond demanded. Chrysalis laughed. “Why, isn’t it obvious? After my defeat in Canterlot, I realized that I need more than just somepony’s love. I need the core, the link that connects magic to this land. The gemstones of magic.” “You’ll never be able to get them Chrysalis!” “Oh really? My changeling powers have increased since I posed as Princess Cadence. Now, I can pretend to be you much more effectively. And there’s nothing you, or your silly Phillies can do to stop me from ruling all of Equestria! Not even your dear, sweet Ruby can stop me.” “She will stop you.” Chrysalis scoffed. “Please! Even if Twilight gets her to use magic again, she won’t be prepared for what I have in store for her.” “I swear if you hurt her…” “Oh, I don’t plan to hurt her. I plan to use her. Like it or not, your sweet little philly is going to help me take over this land. Whether she knows it, or not.” Chrysalis turned her back to Diamond and made her way out of the cavern. “You won’t get away with this!” Diamond yelled. “Somepony will stop you!” A week has passed and Ruby and Shining Armor were both finally out of the hospital. Twilight, Ruby, and Onyx were at the train station with Shining Armor. “Are you sure you have to go?” Ruby asked. Shining nodded. “Cadence needs me back at the Crystal Empire. Besides, I’ll be back to check up on you guys.” “Why would you need to do that?” Twilight asked. “I don’t think what happened was a random attack,” Shining Armor said. “Oh, you mean those creepy black things?” Ruby said. Shining nodded. “They were after Ruby and I’m pretty sure they’ll come back.” “Don’t worry,” Onyx said, bringing Ruby into a hug. “Nothing gonna happen to her on my watch.” Shining smiled as the train came into the station. He gave Ruby and Onyx a hug, and then gave Twilight a big hug. “You take care of yourself Twilly.” “You too BBBFF. And tell Cadence I said hi.” “Will do.” Shining Armor got onto the train and it then pulled out moments later. Twilight watched the train go over the horizon and sighed. “Alright!” she said, facing Ruby and Onyx. “Let’s get started Ruby!” Ruby shrugged. “Eh, I don’t feel like it right now.” “What do you mean? You said yesterday that you wanted to start today.” “Well… I change my mind. We can start tomorrow. I’m gonna go see if Rainbow Dash wants to have a real race. See ya!” With that said, Ruby took off into the sky and Twilight ran after her. “Ruby! Get back here!!!” “Uh, Princess Twilight?” Onyx said. “Not to be rude, but you could just fly after her.” “Huh?” Twilight said, looking behind her. She fluttered her wings and then said, “Oh yeah… hehehehe…” Twilight flew up as fast as she could, not realizing that this wouldn’t be the only time she’d have to chase Ruby down for magic lessons. Author's Note Sorry for not posting a new chapter sooner! April and the beginning of May was crazy! Finals, went on a cruise, then got a cold, bleh! Anywho, I'm on vacation so I'll be releasing chapters out more quickly... hopefully lol Also, I'm working on getting pictures of the Original Characters out and having a cover for the story so... look out for it! If anyone has any advice on how to do that, please tell me! Cause I feel like I'm doing it the hard way :P lol 8 The Upcoming Summer Sun Celebration“Got it?” Ruby stared the spell book, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. She started to bite her lip as she kept rereading the spell over and over to memorize it. A smile appeared on her face and she got to her feet. “Okay! I think I got it!” she said, taking a stance. “Here goes!” “Remember Ruby, don’t’ rush it,” Twilight warned her. “I know, I know.” Ruby closed her eyes as her horn started to glow. She grunted while concentrating very hard and trying to not lose her focus. A red orb appeared around her and in an instance exploded in a bright red light, causing Twilight to cover her eyes. When she looked at Ruby, a big grin appeared on her face. “Did I do it?” Ruby asked. Ruby’s coat was no longer the deep red it was before, but was now the same color as Twilight’s. She looked down at herself and smiled. “Oh my gosh! I did it! I can’t believe I did it!” Ruby flew up into the sky and spun around, however, doing this made her spell wear off. In a flash of red light, her coat returned to its original color and her excitement turned into disappointment. “Aww man…” she said, landing. “I couldn’t hold it…” Twilight walked over to her and gave her a pat on her back. “It’s okay Ruby. The fact that you could change the color of your coat is enough for me and it should be enough for you too.” Ruby looked at Twilight and gave her a smile. “You’re right. So… are we done for the day?” “Well, no. You’ve only done one spell out of that entire book Ruby. We have a lot of work to do.” Ruby groaned. “Come on Twilight! I was gonna help Apple Jack harvest some apples today!” “You can help her later. We have some spells to learn,” Twilight said, levitating the spell book in front of Ruby’s face. Ruby let out a big sigh and continued levitating the book with her magic to read the next spell. “Twilight!” They both saw Spike running out of the library toward them with a scroll in his hand. “Princess… Celestia… sent you… a letter… and…” he struggled to say through his panting. “Breath Spike,” Ruby said, patting his back. Spike took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Anyways,” he continued. “Princess Celestia sent you this letter and it’s pretty urgent. We need to tell Ruby’s brothers and sister too.” Twilight and Ruby looked at each other, confused. “What is it about?” Ruby asked. “Well, it involves you and your siblings so I think we should read it with all of them here,” Twilight said. All of Ruby’s siblings, along with Twilight’s friends, all gathered in the library so Twilight could read Celestia’s letter. “Well, go ahead Princess Twilight, read us the letter,” Pazzy said, eager to hear what it said. Twilight opened the letter and started to read. My faithful student Princess Twilight, Unfortunately, I have some terrible news regarding Ruby’s magic lessons. I wanted to inform Ruby and her siblings that this year’s Summer Sun Celebration will be held in at their home, the Magica Kingdom. “Oh yeah, Princess Diamond told us about that a few months ago,” Safire said. “Who’s Princess Diamond?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Just like Cadence is the princess of the Crystal Empire, Princess Diamond is the princess of the Magica Kingdom. The birthplace of magic,” Emi explained. “Wait a second! The birthplace of magic?” Rarity exclaimed. “Magic was born there?” “It’s a long story,” Emi said. “Besides, what does that have to do with my magic lessons?” Ruby asked. “I don’t know,” Twilight said. “Keep reading Twilight,” Fluttershy said. Twilight nodded and continued to read the letter. I’m sorry to say that Princess Diamond has demanded that Ruby’s coronation is to take place on the same day as the celebration. However, her coronation is much different from yours or even Cadence’s. In the spell book that I sent you, there is a spell in it that Ruby is required to cast at her coronation. Your job is to make sure she learns that spell by the Summer Sun Celebration. I wish you the best of luck Princess Twilight. Princess Celestia “Okay…” Ruby said in a low, nervous tone. “That shouldn’t be too hard… right?” Twilight opened the spell book and flipped through it to find a folded page toward the end of the book. She unfolded it and read it out loud. “It says here that you have to gather the wielders of the Gemstones of Magic and the pony that wields the core of the Gemstones must cast the spell written here,” Twilight explained. “That doesn’t sound too bad but… what the hay are the Gemstones of Magic?” Apple Jack asked. “Well, they-” Emi started. “Wait Emi!” Pazzy said, flying next to Twilight, front and center. “I wanna tell the story!” Emi sighed and smiled. “Go ahead Pazzy.” He jumped up with a big grin and then landed. “Okay!” he started. “So, basically, a long time ago, the Magica Kingdom was where most of the unicorns resided. Why? Because all of the magic in Equestria was born there and that was where the portal was. What portal, you ask? Well, this portal was a gateway to where the essence of magic resided. All of the magic in Equestria came from this portal. Princess Diamond was the keep and protector of the portal. However, protecting a portal of all the magic in Equestria was no easy task, not even for Princess Diamond. So, every year the unicorns would gather and offer up a piece of their magic to help Princess Diamond protect the portal. One day, however, one unicorn was greedy and wanted all of the magic for himself. So, on that day when everypony gathered to offer their piece of magic, he casted a powerful spell on Princess Diamond to make all of the magic she obtained from the unicorns to transfer to him. With that magic, he sealed all of the magic from the portal into an opal gemstone, but, unfortunately for him, the power was too much for him to handle. He lost control of the magic and, in turn, was sucked into the gemstone along with the portal. With what was to be her last breath, Princess Diamond took the gem and separated it into five different gemstones, to keep the magic balanced and maintained in Equestria. Since that day, Princess Diamond has protected the Gemstones of Magic like she had with the portal.” Pazzy exhaled and took a bow, feeling accomplished. Twilight and her friends all looked at him shocked, confused, and in disbelief. “So, you mean to tell me-” Apple Jack said. “That these gemstones-” Fluttershy continued. “Contain all of the magic in Equestria?” Pinkie finished. Ruby and her siblings nodded. “Yeah right!” Rainbow Dash said. “There’s no way that’s true. I mean, if all of the magic in Equestria was really contained in those stones, how can unicorns still use magic?” “The magic in within those gems, but it’s not sealed within them,” Emi explained. “If they were sealed, magic would cease to exist in Equestria.” “Okay, so what do these gemstones have to do with Ruby here?” Apple Jack asked. “Well,” Onyx said. “Ruby… is going to be the next keeper of the gemstones.” “Huh?” they all said, including Ruby, Safire, and Pazzy. “What are you talking about?” Ruby asked. “Ruby, when you become the next Princess of Equestria, you’ll… be taking Princess Diamond’s place.” “WHAT?!” everyone exclaimed. “Is this true…?” Ruby asked Onyx. He nodded with a frown and Ruby took a step back. “Why didn’t you tell me? Either of you?” “Princess Diamond was supposed to tell you when your magic lessons with Twilight were over with but… since there’s not that much time…” “Oh my gosh! That’s right!” Rarity said. “Isn’t the Summer Sun Celebration a month from now?” “A month!?” Twilight yelled. “Wow… it is…” Spike said. “How on earth do Princess Diamond and Princess Celestia expect Twilight to teach Ruby magic in one month?” Rainbow Dash said. “Well, according to that letter, she just has to learn one spell for the coronation,” Fluttershy said. “So, Twilight just has to teach her that one spell!” Pinkie Pie said happily. “No biggie!” “Actually, big biggie…” Twilight said with a sad expression. “What do you mean?” Safire said. “I’ve never seen or heard of a spell this complex.” “And that means…?” Apple Jack said. “It means, how can I teach anypony a spell that I don’t even understand?” Everyone was silent and lost the ray of small hope that had moments ago. “That’s easy!” Pinkie Pie said. “You just have to learn the spell and then teach it to Ruby.” “But who knows how long that will take…” Ruby said. Twilight shook her head and turned to Ruby. “I’ll figure this out Ruby, don’t worry. You will know that spell in a month or my name isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight gave Ruby a reassuring smile and Ruby couldn’t help but smile back. “We’ll help in any way we can,” Emi said, walking up to them with the other siblings. “Us too,” Apple Jack, said the other girls. Ruby looked at everyone with a smile and a tear rolling down her cheek. “Thank you… thank you everyone.” Author's Note Sorry everyone! So many things going on! I'm going to try and release at least one chapter a month from now on to keep this story going on. Again, so sorry! 1 The Missing Student"Where is it!?" Twilight is flinging books all over the library, trying to find the book of spells Celestia gave her the day prior. Spike descends from the stairs, rubbing his eyes. "Twilight... what are you doing?" Spike said in a low tone. "Oh Spike! I'm so glad you're up!" Twilight dropped all of the books she was holding with her magic. "Do you know where I put that spell book?" "Which one?" "The one Celestia gave to me yesterday!" "Why do you need it now?" "Because!" Twilight uses her magic and bring out a large stack of books. "My student is coming today, remember?" "She's coming today?" Spike said, going through the piles of books Twilight created. "Yes, and Celestia specifically said to use that book! And now I can;t find it. My student's not here yet and I'm already slipping up!" "Uhh... Twilight...?" "What Spike!?" "You're gonna hit the ceiling..." "Huh...?" Twilight looks down and sees that she's flew up to the ceiling during her freak out, which tends to happen a lot. She giggles embarrassingly and flies back down to the ground. "Just calm down Twilight," Spike said, walking up to her. "You'll be fine. I mean, you're a princess after all. And if Celestia didn't think you could do it, well, you wouldn't be doing it." Twilight smiles and brings Spike into a hug. "Thanks Spike, that means a lot," she said happily. "But I still need to find that book!" She said, shaking Spike. "Did-n't you... fall... a-sleep... read-ing... it... last... night...?" Spike stuttered as she shook him. Twilight stops and exclaims, "You're right!" She drops Spike and flies up the stairs to her bed where, low and behold, the spell book was under her pillow where she left it. "You started reading it last night and fell asleep," Spike said, walking up from behind Twilight. "Oh yeah... I guess I'm so nervous about this mentoring thing that it slipped my mind..." Twilight took the book and walked back down stairs. "Who is this pony who's gonna be your student anyway?" Spike said, following her. "Beats me. But Celestia said that she desperately needs a mentor and that I was the only one who could do it." Twilight placed the spell book onto her stack of spell books. "So, you don't know anything about her?" Spike started to pick up books from the floor and place them back on the shelves. "Nope. I don't even know their name. It could be anypony." "Then, how are we gonna know who it is when we go to get her from the train station?" "Celestia said that I'll know her when I see her, whatever that means. But anyways, we better get to Apple Jack's to help with the preparations for the Welcoming Party." Spike puts up the last of the books and follows Twilight out the door. Twilight and Spike show up at Sweet Apple Acres, where almost everyone in Ponyville are helping put up decorations. "Hey Spike, go find Rarity for me, would you?" Twilight said to Spike. "I'm on it," he said, running off to find Rarity. Twilight looked around and saw how hard everyone was working and smiled. "TWILIGHT!!!" A voice from afar yelled. "Huh?" Twilight looked around to see who called her name. "UP HERE!!!" Twilight looked up and saw Pinkie Pie heading toward her at full speed. "GAH!" Twilight used her magic to stop Pinkie Pie about 2 inches away from her face. Twilight sighed. "Pinkie, what were you doing?" Twilight put Pinkie down. "Testing out the cannon of course!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Cannon? What cannon?" "The one that Rainbow Dash is gonna use for the welcoming party! She said she had a new trick she wanted to try, but she didn't know how to get that fast in a small amount of time. So I started to think for a few minutes and thought about my confetti cannon, and I was testing it to see how fast and far it could shoot Rainbow Dash!" She gave a big smile. "And... you didn't think about your landing..." "I did, after the cannon shot me in the air!" Twilight face-hoofed herself and shook her head. "Where is Rarity?" She said, changing the subject. "She said she had something she wanted to show me." "Oh! She's over there in that big tent! Well, I better go test the cannon one more time!" Before Twilight could object, Pinkie Pie dashed off. Twilight sighed and walked over to the purple tent where Rarity was. "Rarity?" Twilight said walking in. "Oh Twilight! Finally!" Rarity ran up to Twilight, grabbed her hoof, and towed her toward a large display of dresses. "Well, what do you think?" "Uh... they're pretty," Twilight said, confused. "But what are they for?" "Why, for you of course! For you to wear tonight at the party." "Rarity, I don't need a dress for a welcoming party." "Well, the unicorn Twilight wouldn't need one, but the alicorn Twilight, Princess Twilight, does! You have to look regal at every, single event you participate in. So, go through these and pick your favorite!" "Rarity, it's ok. I don't need a dress. Besides, if I;m going to meet my student for the first time, I'd rather meet her the way I am." Rarity sighed and said, "Well, alright. If you insist. But in the future, you will wear one of these, right?" "Cross my heart," she said, making an X over her heart. "So besides all these dresses, how is everything else going?" "Well, Apple Jack is almost done preparing the food, Rainbow Dash cleared all of the clouds and is working on some kind of trick for the party, Pinkie Pie is attempting to help her-" Twilight and Rarity hear Pinkie Pie outside yelling "WEEEEE!!!" and her landing into a tree nearby. They both shook their heads. "What about Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "She was helping me put up these dresses for you to see, but something happened with Angel, so she went to take care of it." "Twilight!" Twilight turned around and saw Fluttershy's head sticking into the tent. "Oh, hey Fluttershy, How's Angel doing?" "Oh, umm, he's alright, He just got a thorn in his paw. No biggie." "Well, that's good to hear." "But, I do have some bad news..." "Bad news?" Twilight said, slightly freaking out. "What kind of bad news!?" "Well, ummm, apparently you student is, well... already here..." Twilight's eyes widened and she started to sweat. "What do you mean she's already here?! She wasn't suppose to be here til this afternoon! I was suppose to meet her at the train station and bring her here! Where is she Fluttershy? Where is my student!" "Well, ummm, that brings me to more bad news..." "I don't think I can take more bad news..." Twilight said, sitting down with her hoofs on her head. Rarity sighed and walked up to Fluttershy. "What else Fluttershy?" "Well, no one knows exactly where your student is..." "WHAT?!" Twilight flew up and out of the tent, making it crash down on Rarity and Fluttershy. all of the townsfolk looked over at Twilight in the air and she smiled sheepishly. "Opps... hehehe," Twilight said, flying back down toward the tent. "My dresses!" Rarity exclaimed, moving under the tent, attempting to grab her dresses before they got dirty. Fluttershy wiggled her way out from under the tent and let out a big sigh. "Hey Twilight!" Spike said as he ran up to her, "They told me that Rarity was- Whoa..." Spike saw the the fallen tent. "What happened here?" "I'm sorry girls..." Twilight said to Fluttershy and Rarity. "That's been happening a lot lately..." "It's okay Twilight," Fluttershy said. "I used to do that too when I was a philly." "I forgive you, but my dresses won't!" Rarity said, still under the tent. Spike ran over to the fallen tent and started tried to help Rarity out from under the tent. "But Fluttershy, what do you mean no one knows where they are?" Twilight asked. "Well,-" "Twilly!" "Huh?" Twilight turned around and saw Shining Armor and some other guards running toward her. "Or should I say, Princess Twilight?" "Shining Armor!" Twilight and Shining Armor both hugged each other, with smiles on their faces. "What are you doing here?" Twilight asked him. "And in your guard uniform?" "Celestia told us to escort your student here," Shining Armor said. "But she somehow left the train on our way here." "Could she have used magic?" "I don't know, but either way, we don't know where she is and we need to find her." "Don't worry Shining Armor, I'll find her." "And we'll help too," Fluttershy said, walking up to Twilight with a smile. "Alright. Fluttershy, go get Apple Jack, Pinkie and Rainbow. We have a student to find."
2 Trouble Making PegasusRainbow Dash flew over Ponyville, looking around to find Twilight's student. "If I were a runaway... where would I go...?" she said to herself and she looked. Then, something flew past her at top speed and made her spin around uncontrollably. "WHOA!" she said spinning. She stopped and had an angry look on her face. "Alright! who's the wiseguy?!" Rainbow hear someone giggling above her. she looked up and saw somepony on a cloud above her laughing. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?" she asked. "Depends who's askin'! Who are you?" The pony giggled and flew down to Rainbow. The pony had a ruby red coat and a purple and blue mane. Her eyes were purple and she looked the same age as Rainbow and the others. "I've never seen you before..." Rainbow said. But she's a pegasus, there's no way she's Twilight's student, right? Rainbow thought. "Well, I'm not from around here, but I do know who you are Rainbow Dash. My little brother idolizes you." "Really?" Rainbow gets a smirk on her face and says, "Well, I am the greatest flyer in Equestria." "Well, I don't believe it." "What was that...?" "I mean, I will admit that you're great and all, but the greatest flyer in Equestria? I don't think so." "Are you challenging me?" "I don't know... do you feel challenged?" "Okay... fine... Let's race then. First one to City Hall wins." "Alright, you got it. Ready, Rainbow Crash?" Rainbow growled and flew next to the pony. In a few seconds, they both raced forward. Rainbow felt confident in her speed and kept getting faster and faster. But, not to her knowledge, the other pony stopped halfway and watched Rainbow Dash fly off toward City Hall. She landed herself in an alley and smiled. "One down, four more to go." "I swear, Twilight needs to keep those wings of hers in check." Rarity went back to her shop to drop off her dresses. She was putting them on mannequins when he heard someone coming in. "A customer?" Rarity said. "Hello?" "Yes?" Rarity said, walking toward the door. The same pony that raced Rainbow Dash walked into Rarity's shop, with a completely different demeanor. She walked in with her head held high, and walked in with such class and sophistication. "Are you Rarity?" she asked. "Uh, why yes. And you are?" "That's not important," she said, walking past Rarity. "I have a very important occasion coming up and I need a dress. Hoity Toity told me that you're one of the best dress designers in Equestria. So I came here as quickly as possible." "He-He-He really said that?" She walked up to a dress and looked at it intently and said, "Yes... but I don't think your style matches my standards." "Your standards?" "Yes. You see, I only wear things fit for, shall I say, a princess." "Well, I'll have you know that I made these dresses especially for Princess Twilight Sparkle!" "Has she worn any of them?" "Well... umm... no..." "I rest my case. Well," she walked over to one of the dresses, "If you change this a little more to make it look more royal and regal, I'll but it. We have a deal?" Rarity started to grind her teeth teeth, but made a smile when the pony looked at her. "Of course... I'll work on it now..." she said through her teeth. "Very good. I shall return in a few hours. Have it ready by then." Rarity started to mumble under her breath as the pony walked out of her shop. The moment she closed the door, the pony snickered to herself. "That was too easy! Okay, who's next?" "So her name is Ruby?" Twilight and Shining Armor were walking around Ponyville, trying to find her student. "Yeah, but that's all I know about her. She didn't say anything when Celestia brought her to me to escort. She wore a cloak too, so I don't even know what she fully looks like besides her horn and her ruby red coat." "I see. I wonder why she ran off?" "Who knows, but we need to find her soon." "How come? She's not dangerous is she?" "I don't know. All I know is that Celestia said she was... special." "I wonder what the Princess meant by that...?" Twilight and Shining Armor came up the City Hall, where Rainbow Dash was pacing in front of. "Rainbow? What are you doing here?" "Waiting," she said, continuing to pace. "Waiting for what?" Rainbow stopped and walked over to Twilight. "This random pony came up to me, practically insulted me, and challenged me to a race to City Hall. so I'm waiting for her to show up so I can gloat and tell her that I AM the greatest flyer in Equestria!" Twilight shook her head and said, "Rainbow, don't you remember that my student is missing? We have to find her! We don't have time for you to prove yourself to some random pegasus." "But I!" "No buts, now let's go see how everyone is doing in their search." Twilight, Rainbow Dash, and Shining Armor walk up to Rarity's shop and see her in the window sewing together something. Twilight sighs and rushes inside. "Rarity, what are you doing? You're not making me another dress, are you?" "Huh?" Rarity said, getting out of her zone. "Oh, no Twilight. this pony came in looking for a dress and said none of my dresses fit her 'standards'. So, I'm trying to show her that all of my dresses are fit for royalty." Twilight sighed. "And why are you doing that exactly...?" "Well, Hoity Toity referred her to me and if I don't give her something amazing, he'll hear about it and who knows what will happen to my career!?" "Rarity, I know this is really important, but I really need you to help find my student." "Yeah Rare, everyone knows that your an awesome designer or whatever," Rainbow Dash added. "Well, this was a very pushy pegasus..." "Wait, wait, wait! Did she have a red coat?" Rarity looked at Rainbow Dash in shock. "Why... yes? How did you know that?" "That's the same pony that challenged me to a race!" "Red coat? Like a ruby red coat?" Shining Armor said. Rainbow and Rarity nodded. "You think it could have been Ruby?" Twilight asked Shining Armor. "I don't know... I mean, she was a unicorn, not a pegasus." "Maybe she used magic to give herself wings...? "She didn't have a horn," Rainbow said. "And she flew too well to have wings of magic." "Besides," Rarity said, continuing her sewing, "Making wings isn't easy to do. I know that personally..." "True..." Twilight said, thinking. "Hmmm... I think we should look into this." Shining Armor said. "What about Ruby?" "Well, Celestia did say Ruby was special so..." Twilight nodded. "You're right. Rainbow, Rarity, let's go." "But-But, my dress!" Rarity freaked. "Rarity... she was pretending... She probably doesn't even know Hoity whatever his name is. She was faking." "Oh... right... hehehe..." Rarity followed the others out the door to help search for the trouble making pegasus.
3 Ruby, The DeliquentTwilight, Shining Armor, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity all headed back to Sweet Apple Acres, where everything was in total chaos. Fluttershy's animals were completely out of control and she was flying around trying to stop them. Apple Jack was trying to keep them from eating the food she made for the party. "Get away you critters!" she said, pushing them away from the food. "Apple Jack!" Twilight said. "What in the world is going on?" "I don't know!" Apple Jack said, still pushing animals away. "I came back to see if maybe your student came to the party, and the next thing I knew, Fluttershy's animals went crazy!" "Fluttershy!" Twilight yelled above, where Fluttershy was catching one of her birds. "What's going on?" Fluttershy swooped down and grabbed Angel who was in one of the pies. "Hey!" Apple Jack yelled. "Fluttershy, what happened?" Rainbow Dash asked. "I-I don't know! This pegasus came to my house looking for a pet and, well, I left for a second. And the next thing I knew, the animals all came here on a rampage! I'm trying to stop them, but nothing is working." "Hold on," Shining Armor said. He stood in the middle of all the chaos and concentrated. He used magic to create a barrier around each of the animals and levitated them into the air. He combined all of the barriers to create a cage for all of the animals and place it on the ground where they couldn't get away. He sighed in relief and Twilight gave him a pat on the back. "Great job BBBFF," she said with a smile. "Thanks. Been working on it for a while now." "Alright!" Rainbow said in an angry tone. "Where's that trouble making pony?" "Fluttershy?" Rarity asked. "Oh! Umm, well, I don't know. After the animals ran loose, she was gone..." "Twilight!" Spike ran up to them and took a moment to catch his breath. He had a cupcake stuck on his tail and frosting all over him. "Spike? What on earth happened?" Twilight asked him. "Well, me and Pinkie went to Sugar Cube Corner and there was this pony who came with a box and when she gave it to Pinkie, a twister came out of it! And it's tearing the place apart." "That has to be the same pegasus that cause all of our problems!" "Let's go guys!" Twilight said. When they all arrived at Sugar Cube Corner, it was exactly how Spike described. Cakes were flying out of the windows and you could hear things breaking inside. "Pinkie!" Twilight yelled inside. "Where are you?" "Right here..." They all turned around and saw Pinkie hanging upside down on a tree branch. "Pinkie, what happened?" Flutter shy flew up to Pinkie to try and help her down from the tree. "Well, this pony came with a present for me and , you know me, I never refuse presents, no matter what day it is. Who knew you could give someone a tornado as a present?" Fluttershy brought Pinkie down to the ground and Twilight walked over the Sugar Cube Corner. She took a deep breath and used her magic to make the tornado weaken and eventually disappear. "How do suppose she did that?" Rarity asked. "I don't know," Shining Armor said. "But I have a feeling that Ruby is responsible for this." "Who the hay is Ruby?" Apple Jack asked. "She's Twilight's 'missing student'." "Yeah, I don't know how she made herself a pegasus, but this was done by magic," Twilight said. "We have to find her no matter what. Who knows what she'll do next." "I think I just did," Spike said. "Look!" Spike pointed to a cloud in the sky, where the pony that everyone met was sitting. She gasped when they all saw her and she flew off. "Oh no you don't!" Rainbow Dash said, as she flew after her. "Come on guys!" Twilight said, racing after Rainbow Dash. The others followed. The pony flew as fast as she could, but Rainbow was gaining on her. She tried to lose Rainbow in the clouds, but to no success. She even went down and started going in between buildings, but Rainbow didn't lose her for even a second. As a final effort to escape, she flew back up into the sky and headed for the Evergreen Forest. She dove right into the heart of the forest, but Rainbow stopped in her tracks. "You gotta be kidding me... Oh man!" Rainbow dove into the forest after her and tried her best to fly through the trees to find the pony. "Where did she go?" Rainbow said. She got lower to the ground to catch her breath and looked around to see if she saw any sign of the pony. then, in the distance, she heard a loud crash and scream. Rainbow quickly went to where she heard the crash and saw the pony stuck in some vines, struggling to get herself. "Ha! There's no where to run now!" Rainbow said as she got closer. "Whatever! Just get me down!" the pony exclaimed. "No way! After all the trouble you caused, there's no way I'm helping you!" "Please! I'm sorry, okay? I just want to get out of here!" Rainbow turned her back on the pony. "Fine... but don't say I didn't warn you..." The pony said in a low tone. Suddenly, a big burst of light came from the pony. "What the-" Rainbow said. Twilight and the others followed Rainbow into the Evergreen Forest, against most of their better judgement. "Ar-are you sure you saw them come in here Twilight...?" Rarity said, he voice shaking. "I'm positive. They came in here." Twilight said. "Well, I hope we find them soon. I can't stand this place..." "Hey guys, look," Fluttershy said, pointing toward a light in the distance. "Let's go!" Twilight said. They all headed toward the light as fast as they could and found Rainbow Dash on the ground. "Rainbow!" They went to her side as quickly as possible and helped her up. "Rainbow, what happened?" Apple Jack asked. "I-I don't know... She was stuck in some vines and the next thing I knew she... I don't know..." The light disappeared and reveled the pony, but she was no longer a just a pegasus. "She's a... she's a..." Rarity stammered. "An... Alicorn?!" Twilight exclaimed. The pony landed on her feet and looked at them all. She then focused her attention on Twilight and gave her a glare. "You're Princess Twilight, right?" she asked. "Yes..." Twilight said, still shocked. "Okay then. I just want to let you know, I refuse to learn magic from you."
4 Return of the Changlings"I refuse to learn magic from you Princess Twilight." "What do you mean?" Twilight said walking toward the alicorn. "You are Ruby, right?" "What of it?" Ruby took two steps back as Twilight got closer. "Then, I'm suppose to be your mentor. Princess Celestia-" "I don't care what Princess Celestia has to say! I'm not going to learn magic from you, or anyone else!" Ruby flew up and out of the forest, making sure not to get caught in any vines. "Ruby, wait!" Twilight flew after her, as quickly as she could. "Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, about to go after her. But Apple Jack grabbed her tail and pulled her back down. "Hey! Apple Jack!" "This is something Twilight has to handle," Apple Jack said after letting go of Rainbow. "She's right," Shining Armor said. "I guess this is what Celestia meant by Twilight first task as a mentor." "Well, that doesn't mean we have to wait here..." Rarity said. "Let's get out of this icky place." They all nodded and started to head back to Ponyville. "Ruby! Ruby, where are you?" Twilight flew over the town, looking for any signs of Ruby. But, Twilight wasn't used to flying as long as she was, so she eventually had to land and continue her search on foot. She asked everypony she saw if Ruby had come by, and she had no luck. For all she knew, Ruby could be at Canterlot by now. "Twilight!" Twilight turned around and saw Rarity, Rainbow, Apple Jack, Fluttershy, Pinkie, and Spike coming her way. "Hey girls..." Twilight said half-heartedly. "I'm guessing you had no luck findin' Ruby?" Apple Jack asked. Twilight shook her head and a frown appeared on her face. "I don't understand. Why doesn't she want to learn magic from me?" "Maybe she thinks she better than you," Rainbow said. "No, I don't think that's it. I saw it in her eyes. She was... scared." "Scared? Scared of what?" Pinkie asked. "That's what I need to find out." "Well," Spike began, "Maybe we can ask-UGH!" Spike burped out some fire and a scroll from Princess Celestia appeared. "A letter from the Princess?" Twilight said, confused. Spike opened the letter and began to read. Dear Princess Twilight, Please do not judge Ruby by her outer appearance. It turns out that Ruby is somewhat afraid of using magic. She's had a long and terrifying life when it comes to magic, and I felt that you were the only one who could help her. I know that she will refuse to learn from you, but if you offer her your friendship and trust, I'm sure she'll come around eventually. As you probably already seen, Ruby is indeed an alicorn, but she became one in a different way than you did Twilight. You see, Ruby was born with an immense amount of magical energy and in turn, was born an alicorn. You're duty is to not only mentor her in the uses of magic, but also protect her. Physically and mentally. I wish you luck. ~Princess Celestia "Wait a minute! That tornado she made was magic right?" Rarity said. "So, if she was afraid to use magic, how did she do that?" "I don't know," Twilight said. "But the Princess entrusted her to me. So I have to find her no matter what." "We'll help yah," Apple Jack said, walking next to Twilight. "We all wanna help you help Ruby Twilight," Fluttershy added. "I don't..." Rainbow said, crossing her hoofs. "Come on Rainbow Dash. You wanna help Twilight, right?" Rarity said. Rainbow sighed and flew over to them. "Fine. But after we find her, I want nothing to do with her!" Twilight nodded and looked forward. "Okay guys, let's go!" But before she could make her first step, they heard a loud scream that made all of them jump. "What in the hay was that?" Apple Jack said. "I think it's coming from the library!" Spike said, pointing to where light was shining. Without a moment to lose, they all charged toward the library to see what was going on. When they got there, they saw Ruby and Shining Armor completely surrounded by changlings. Shining Armor was injured, but fighting them as hard as he could to protect Ruby. "These things again?" Pinkie exclaimed. "What are changlings doing here?" Spike said. Without saying anything, Twilight charged toward the hoard, and the others followed her. Twilight blasted her way through them, trying to get to Shining Armor and Ruby. But when she finally got to them, it was too late. Shining Armor was down for the count, and a few changlings had grabbed Ruby and were flying off with her. "Help me!" she yelled to Twilight, struggling to get free. Twilight took a running start and jumped into the air. She flapped her wings as hard and fast as she could, but she could keep up with the changlings speed. Twilight thought to herself, "If only I practiced flying a little more!. When all hope of rescuing Ruby seemed lost, a shining white light hit the changlings that were carrying Ruby and the changlings that were on the ground fighting the other ponies. Twilight covered her eyes from the light, but when it dimmed she looked and her eyes widened. "Princess... Celestia?" Twilight asked. But after a closer look, she saw that it wasn't Celestia, but someone who was very similar to her. Her main was white and sparkled like diamonds in the sun light, and her coat was a pure white. So white that you couldn't miss the ruby red coat of Ruby on her back. The strange Celestia landed with Ruby on her back and Twilight did the same. "You're... not the Princess... are you?" Twilight asked. "No, I am not Princess Twilight," she replied. "You know my name?" "Of course I do. Everyone in Equestria knows who you are Princess Twilight. And I know you because you're the mentor of my dear Ruby." "Your... dear Ruby?" "Yes." She placed the unconscious Ruby in front of Twilight. the radiance of this pony marveled Twilight to no end. "Umm, who are you exactly?" The pony began to walk away, but turned around and gave Twlight a smile. "My name is Diamond, Princess Diamond." Before Twilight could ask any more questions, the pony was engulfed in a white light again, and vanished out of thin air.
5 Welcome Brothers and Sisters!When the others caught up to Twilight, she explained everything that happened on their way to the hospital with Shining Armor and Ruby. Ruby had a hurt wing and was still unconscious and Shining Armor was going to be okay. He was just exhausted from using so much magic fighting the changelings. He explained that he went off to meet with the other guards and saw some changelings in the area. He followed them to the library where they surrounded Ruby. Shining Armor tried his hardest to protect Ruby, but for every one he defeated, more would come. “What did the changelings want with Ruby?” Twilight asked him, standing by his bed side. “I don’t know,” he replied. “But now I know why Celestia sent her here with guards to protect her. Those changelings were stronger than they were the last time.” “I could tell. Well, maybe Ruby has something that Queen Chrysalis wants.” “Who knows? But, I think you should be there when Ruby wakes up.” “Too late,” Spike said, walking into the room. “She’s gone.” “Ugh… not again!” Twilight said, rushing out the room. Twilight raced out of the hospital, to find Ruby sitting on the steps outside. Twilight was shocked to see her still here, fearing that she was trying to run away again. “Ruby?” Ruby looked back at Twilight, tears streaming down her face. She quickly wiped them away and said, “Oh, hi Princess Twilight. I’m not running away or anything. Not that I could…” She held her injured wing up and winced a little. “I just… can’t stand hospitals…” Twilight went to sit next to Ruby and took a moment to collect her thoughts. “Is… you brother okay?” Ruby asked. “Shining Armor? Oh, he’s fine. He’s not the captain of the guard for nothing, you know?” “That’s good to hear…” They sat there in silence, watching the sun set on the horizon. Twilight looked at Ruby and noticed a band around Ruby’s front hoof. The band was silver and had a red stone in the middle of it. “What is that Ruby?” Twilight pointed to the band. “Huh?” Ruby looked down at the band. “Oh, this thing? It’s… something my mother gave me… to protect me.” “Protect you? Protect you from what?” Ruby didn’t say anything and just looked up at the sky. “I still don’t want to learn magic…” She whispered. “Why not? Did I do something to you? If so, I’m sorry but-” “It’s nothing that you did Princess Twilight. I don’t want to learn magic from anyone… not even her…” “Who’s her?” “It doesn’t matter now… I don’t want to learn magic…” “What do you have against magic?” “Nothing, I just… don’t want to use it…” “But you used it to make your horn disappear, and to make Fluttershy’s animals go crazy, and to make that tornado appear in Sugar Cube Corner! And also to get yourself out of those vines.” Ruby sighed. “All of those are simple spells, you should know that.” She… has a point… Twilight thought. “But, they want me to learn more advanced stuff and… I just can’t…” “Who’s they?” “Forget it,” Ruby said, getting up from the steps. “I’m not learning magic and there’s nothing you can say to make me change my mind.” Ruby walked back up the stairs to go back to her room. Twilight watched her walk away and started to think. “I’m gonna need the Princess’ help with this one. Maybe she’ll know a way to convince Ruby.” “Twilight… Sparkle. Got it!” Spike finished writing Twilight's letter to Celestia and sent it away immediately. “Are you sure this will work Twilight?” Spike asked. “I have no other choice Spike. Ruby refuses to learn magic, and how can I teach magic to a stubborn pony who doesn’t want to learn magic?” “I guess you got a point… But what can the Princess do?” “I don’t know exactly. But there has to be some way to convince Ruby to learn magic from me and… I can’t think or any morally right way to do it.” “Morally right…?” “Don’t ask…” In that instance, Spike burped out a letter from Celestia and Twilight opened it as quickly as she could and read it out loud. “Dear Princess Twilight. I am sending you a solution to your problem. They will be arriving tomorrow morning around noon, so please don’t be late. From, Princess Celestia.” “Who is she sending?” “I don’t know, but it must be somepony who can convince Ruby to trust me to teach her magic. So we can’t be late. I’ll tell the girls about it, and Spike, you keep an eye on Ruby. Make sure she doesn’t run away again. It shouldn’t be too hard since her wing is still recovering.” “You can count on me Twilight.” It’s the next day and Twilight and the others are waiting at the train station for the person Celestia is sending to help them with Ruby. “Who do you think this person is?” Fluttershy asked. “I don’t know, but they’re supposed to help me with Ruby,” Twilight replied. “Maybe it's Princess Cadence?" Rarity said. Twilight shook her head. "I think Princess Celestia would have told me if it were Cadence. Besides, she's taking care of the Crystal Empire right now." "The train is coming!" Pinkie exclaimed. "I got my banner ready!" They all turned around and saw a big huge banner that said "Welcome To Ponyville Ponies!" "Pinkie... when did you... never mind..." Twilight said, shaking her head. The train pulled up to the station and the ponies waited for the doors to open. Everypony, especially Twilight, were eager to see who Celestia sent. The doors opened, and the next thing they knew, somepony flew out of the train and rammed into Rainbow Dash and yelled,"It's you!" They turned around to see if Rainbow was okay and saw a little colt on top of her with a big grin on his face. His coat was a yellowish brown and he had a dark purple mane, the same purple as the one Ruby had in her mane. His cutie mark was a cloud with wings on them and he had big red eyes that twinkled as he looked down at Rainbow Dash. "Oh my gosh!" he exclaimed. "I can't believe it's you! The one... and only... Rainbow Dash! I've been waiting so long for this moment!" Rainbow Dash looked up at him and said, "As flattered as I am to hear you say that, GET OFF!" Rainbow pushed the kid off her and got to her feet, brushing herself off. "Honestly Pazzy, can you have a little more class?" A unicorn walked off of the train with a light blue coat and a stunning bright red mane. Her cutie mark was a mirror and her eyes were bright green. Behind her came out two more ponies. "But Safire!" Pazzy exclaimed. "It's Rainbow Dash! THE Rainbow Dash! My goddess of flight!" The girls looked at Rainbow and all she did was shrug her shoulder, looking confused. "I understand that, but you could have hurt somepony," Safire said. "Anyways, that's not what we're here for Pazzy," another voice from the train said. Next to come off the train was a light gray stallion unicorn. His mane was white and black and he had yellow-green eyes. "Wait... You look very familiar..." Twilight said, looking at the stallion more closely. "Oh, you're Princess Twilight, right?" the stallion said. "Yes, but you can just call me Twilight." "Alright then," he said with a smile. "My name is Onyx. This is Safire and Topaz." "But everypony calls me Pazzy!" he said with a big grin. They all heard somepony clear their throat from the train and turned their direction to the door. "I think you forgot somepony?" a voice said. "Wait!" Rarity exclaimed. "I know that voice!" The last pony to come off the train was a light green coated pegasus, who had a dirty blond mane that shined in the sun light. Her eyes were a twinkling dark blue. "Oh my gosh!" Pinkie yelled. "It's... It's... Who is that?" "It-It-It's... Emi! The greatest model pegasus in Equestria!!!!" Rarity ran up to her and said, "I can't believe this! This is a dream come true!" "Uh... thank you?" Emi said, walking around Rarity. "Well," Twilight said, "Now that we have introductions out of the way... sort of. Who are you?" "Princess Celestia didn't tell you?" Safire asked. "No. he just told me that she was sending somepony to help me handle Ruby. But I wasn't expecting four ponies.” “And we weren’t expecting a welcoming party,” Onyx said, with a very dashing smile. “Ok, but that doesn’t explain who y’all are,” Apple Jack said. “Oh! Right, how rude of us,” Emi said. “We all are actually Ruby’s brothers and sisters.” “Brothers and sisters?!” Twilight and the girls said in shock. “Well,” Safire began, “Pazzy is Ruby’s real brother, but we were all raised together so we consider ourselves brothers and sisters.” “Yeah!” Pazzy said. “I’m the youngest! Safire and Ruby are the same age as you guys I’m guessing. Emi’s the second oldest, and then Onyx is the oldest.” “Wow… I didn’t know Ruby had such a tight knit family like this,” Twilight said. “It reminds of you and your brother Shining Armor, Twilight,” Fluttershy said. “Wait a second!” Emi yelled, making everyone jump and look at her. She ran up to Twilight and looked at her closely. “Wh-what is it…?” Twilight asked. “I knew you looked like somepony I knew! You’re Twilly! Shining’s little sister!” “Wait! You know my brother?” “Know him?” Onyx said. “She dated him.” “WHAT?!” Twilight yelled. “When? How? Huh?!” “That was so long ago…” Emi said, blushing. “But you ruined it Onyx!” she yelled, poking him. “How so?” “If you didn’t think about that double date thing with Shining and me and you can Cadence, I would still be with him!” “Hold on a second!” Rainbow Dash said, stopping her. “You dated Cadence?!” Twilight said, still shocked by the fact that Emi dated her brother. “It was a short relationship, nothing too serious,” Onyx said calmly. “Besides, after that double date, we broke up and Emi and Shining broke up soon after. I guess you can say those two wouldn’t be together if it weren’t for us. I mean, you had something to do with it too Twilight. If Cadence didn't folesit you, she wouldn’t have fallen for your brother in the first place.” “Okay… I’m confused…” Twilight said. “I’ll explain!” Pinkie said, pulling out a board with pictures of them on it. “Twilight and Shining Armor are siblings. Cadence was Twilight folesitter. Cadence met Shining Armor through folesitting Twilight. Emi dated Shining Armor. Onyx dated Cadence. Onyx and Cadence and Emi and Shining Armor went on a double date. Cadence and Shining Armor fell in love. Onyx and Cadence broke up. Emi and Shining Armor broke up. Shining Armor and Cadence were getting married, but Cadence was replaced with a changeling. But Twilight could see-“ “We get it Pinkie!” Twilight said, stopping Pinkie’s explanation. “But, we don’t have time to discuss all of that,” Onyx said, walking up to Twilight. “What’s wrong with Ruby?” Twilight turned her attention to Onyx with a frown on her face. “She said she doesn’t want to learn magic from me.” “I had a feeling that was the problem…” Emi said, sadly. “She hasn’t wanted to use magic since…” “Since what?” “No time,” Onyx said. “Take me to Ruby please. I need to see her.”
6 Ruby's Disastrous PastTwilight and the others led Ruby’s brothers and sisters toward the hospital. Pazzy was talking to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie about all of the tricks he learned in the hope to show Rainbow one day. From the sound of it, Rainbow sounded pretty impressed by Pazzy, even gave him a noogy with a side of “Good Job squirt!” Safire and Emi were talking to Rarity and Fluttershy about Emi’s latest fashion line and the shoot that she has scheduled for next month. I could hear Rarity begging them to take her along, and even design a dress for Emi to wear during the shoot. Apple Jack was trying to calm Rarity down, but wasn't succeeding. “So,” Twilight began, walking beside Onyx. “Do you know why Ruby won’t use magic?” “It’s… not a story for me to tell,” He said with a frown. “Apparently it’s not anyone’s story to tell…” Twilight whispered under her breath. “Anyways, Princess Celestia told us about the mess Ruby’s made since she got here.” “Yeah… where do you want me to start?” Onyx smiled. “We got all of the details already, don’t worry. Anyways, you have to understand, Ruby can be a little… hard to work with. “I figured that out the minute my brother came telling me she ran away.” “Yeah… well, Ruby’s been through a lot for someone her age.” “I’ve been through my fair share of things, but nothing bad enough to make me hate magic all together.” Onyx gave Twilight a perplexed look. “What?” she asked him. “Ruby doesn’t hate magic all together.” “Then why is she-“ “She just hates herself using magic…” “But… that makes no sense…” They all finally reached the hospital and went in toward Ruby’s room. When they entered, they saw Spike asleep on the edge of Ruby’s bed, and Ruby wasn’t in it. “Spike!” Twilight yelled, causing the baby dragon to fall onto the floor. “Ow!” He said, getting to his feet, rubbing his face. “What’d you do that for?” “I told you to watch Ruby!” “But I am! She’s right…” Spike looked at the empty bed and gave out a sheepish laugh. “Nice work Spike,” Rainbow Dash said sarcastically. Twilight groaned out of frustration and ran toward Shining Armor’s room to see if he knew where Ruby was. To her surprise, when she entered his room, Ruby was there. She was asleep on the side of Shining’s bed, his hoof patting her mane. “Oh, hey Twilly,” He said with a smile. Twilight sighed and walked over to Shining and Ruby. “We thought she ran away again,” Twilight said. “Nah. She came in here last night to check on me. We talked a little bit, and she fell asleep. I didn’t see the point in waking her up.” “I see,” Twilight said with a smile. “Well, I guess we can come back later.” “We?” “Ruby’s brothers and sisters are here. Princess Celestia sent them to help me convince her to learn magic.” “Yeah… Twilly, about that. Ruby told me… why she doesn’t want to use magic.” “She told you! Why?! How?! What!” “Well, she said I reminded her of her older brother.” “But no one’s better than the original,” Onyx said behind me, walking into the room “Onyx?” Shining said. “Is that really you?” “In the flesh,” he said with a smile. “Wow! You’ve changed quite a bit. But, I don’t remember you having a little sister. I mean, besides Emi that is.” “A lot has happened since the last time we saw each other.” Ruby started to moan and move around. She opened her eyes slowly and then opened them quickly when she saw Onyx. She jolted up with a gasp and then fell when her injured wing gave out. “Ruby!” Onyx and Shining said. Onyx ran to her side and helped her up to her feet. “Wh-what are you doing here…?” she asked. “I came to see you kiddo,” Onyx said with a smile. “Us too!” Pazzy said, flying into the room, landing next to Onyx. Twilight’s friends followed them in as well. Safire and Emi walked into the room as well and stood behind Onyx. Emi looked over at Shining Armor, and when he looked at her with a smile, she turned away with a frown, blushing slightly. “But… why?” Ruby said, still confused. “Ruby, you can’t run from it forever,” Onyx said, putting his hoof on her shoulder. “I… don’t know what you’re talking about…” “Yes you do. Ruby, I know you’re scared, but you and I both know that you can’t avoid using magic.” “Oh yes I can!” She shrugged his hoof off of her. “I guess you guys wasted your time coming here, because there’s nothing you or anyone else can say to make me use magic!” “Ruby, listen,” Twilight said, walking up to her. “I know that using magic can be a bit scary sometimes, but I know you’d be really good at it. I mean, the fact that you knew how to make a tornado or how to control animals or how to make your horn disappear! That was stuff that took me a long time to even master, and you did it! Ruby, you have the potential to be a great magic user, I know it.” “I thought that way… a long time ago… but things are different now…” “But why Ruby? Why don’t you want to use magic?” “It’s because of me…” Onyx said, facing Twilight with a frown. “What do you mean?” Onyx faced everypony and raised his hoof. He moved the part of his mane that was covering the right side of his face. When he moved it completely, everypony gasped. There was a long red scar that went down Onyx’s right eye. Luckily, he was still able to open his eye, but it was a very serious scar. “What… happened…?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah. That’s one nasty scar,” Rainbow said. “It was my fault…” Ruby said, a tear rolling down her cheek. “No it wasn’t,” Onyx said, wiping away Ruby’s tear with his hoof. “Yes it was! If I just listened… if I could have controlled it… you wouldn’t have…” Ruby started to cry even more, and Onyx brought her into his arms. “So… can someone please tell us what’s going on?” Apple Jack said, confused. “I can…” Emi said, walking forward. “It happened back when we were all gather to Princess Diamond. You see… we are all the carriers of the Gemstones of magic.” “The Gemstones of Magic?” Rarity said. Emi nodded. “I can’t go into detail about them, but they are the reason why we are all together like we are. As you can see, Ruby was born as an alicorn, which of course is a very rare occurrence. Ruby was supposed to be a Princess of Equestria a long time ago, just like you Princess Twilight. But... that all changed on that fateful day. The first day Ruby started to learn magic.” “I can’t believe it!” Young ruby yelled in glee, jumping on her bed. “I finally get to learn magic like you big brother!” A younger Onyx smiled at the philly jumping on her bed and used his magic to bring her back down to the ground. “Don’t get too excited kiddo, you’re gonna be doing basic stuff today. Nothing complicated." “Yeah, but that’s how you started, right? I’ll be the greatest unicorn that ever lived!” “Don’t you mean alicorn?” Onyx pointed at her wings. Ruby fluttered her wings and said, “Oh yeah, heh.” Onyx and Ruby walked out of the room toward the courtyard. They were in a beautiful castle, similar to the one in Canterlot, but not as big. The castle was completely white and had gem’s scale the outer walls. Ruby and Onyx got to the courtyard, where Princess Diamond was waiting for them. Ruby flew to her side and they got into a hug. “Are you ready my dear Ruby?” Diamond said, with a smile. “As ready as I’ll ever be!” Ruby said with great enthusiasm. “Has she read the book I assigned?” Diamond said to Onyx. “Yeah, at least three times,” Onyx said, rolling his eyes. “I see.” Diamond look down at Ruby’s smiling face. “You’re a very eager little philly, aren’t you?” Ruby nodded. “I want to be a great ‘alicorn’, just like you Princess Diamond!” Diamond chuckled and took a few steps back from Ruby. “Alright then, let’s begin.” With Onyx watching on the side, Ruby attempted the spells that she learned from her books. She was getting them all right on the first try, and that made Diamond and Onyx very proud of Ruby’s speedy progress. They practiced til the sun began to set on the horizon. “Alright,” Diamond said, walking up to Ruby. “That’s enough for today Ruby.” Ruby was panting, exhausted from the hours of magic using she just did. But she revived herself and flew up to Diamond with a frown. “But I’m not even that tired! I can keep going!” She said. Diamond shook her head. “You have to understand something about magic Ruby. You learn magic through trial and error, and you must learn it at a steady pace.” “But I’m not like other unicorns! I can learn the difficult spells! I mean, the simple ones are like breathing to me.” “Ruby!” Onyx said, with a stern voice. Ruby looked over at Onyx, and his serious expression made her give up her pursuit to continue the argument with Diamond. She landed onto her hoofs and started to walk toward her room, Onyx right behind her. “Don’t worry kiddo,” Onyx said, patting her head. “You’ll learn some more stuff tomorrow.” “But… I’m ready now…” Ruby said sadly. She flew up and rushed to her room, slamming the door behind her. Onyx sighed and started to walk toward his own room. Ruby sat on her bed, thinking about what Diamond told her. You learn magic through trial and error, and you must learn it at a steady pace. Ruby scoffed and sat up. “I’ll show them! I’m going to be the best alicorn that ever lived!” Ruby walked over to her book case full of magic books, and used her levitation magic to get an advanced magic book from the top shelf. She opened it eagerly and began to read. A smile appeared on her face when she saw all of the amazing spells that were inside of the book. “That’s the one!” Ruby said, stopping on an elemental spell. “‘This spells enables the user to be able to wield the four elements: water, earth, wind, and fire. They will be able to bend these elements to their will.’ Cool!” Ruby grabbed the book and rushed out of her room toward the courtyard. She placed the book on the floor and started to read the instructions on how to perform the spell. “Ruby?” Ruby turned around to see a sleepy Emi and Safire walking up to her. “What on earth are you doing?” Emi asked. “Just watch!” Ruby said, with a smile. “Is that… a spell book?” Emi said. “Ruby, what spell are you about to cast?” “You’ll see! It’s gonna be awesome!” “Oh let her,” Safire said. “Maybe she’ll turn herself into a dragon or something.” Emi glared at Safire. “What? You don’t think that'd be funny?” Safire said. Emi shook her head. “Okay, I got it!” Ruby said, getting into the center of the courtyard. “What is going on…?” Onyx said, walking out behind Safire and Emi. “Ruby?” “Great! Onyx you’re awake!” Ruby said with a smile. “What’s… huh?” Onyx saw the advanced spell book on the ground near Ruby. “Ruby!” he yelled. “What do you think you’re doing?!” “Just watch!” Ruby closed her eyes and chanted, “Elements of water, earth, wind, and fire. Bend to my will, bend to my desire!” Ruby’s horn started to glow a bright red and a wall of light appeared around her. She grunted as she tried to keep the flow of magic stable. “Ruby!” Emi yelled. “Onyx, do something!” “If I try to stop her now, she might get hurt…” Onyx said, trying to think of a way to stop the spell. Ruby started to float into the air, and the wall of light turned into a sphere of light that surrounded her. The ground started to shake and then a large amount of water blasted out of the ground and created a ring around Ruby’s sphere. The ground the water came out of then created a second ring. A gust of wind came through the courtyard and created a third ring around Ruby. Rocks and water were being thrown around the courtyard by the strong gusts of wind. Ruby's eyes opened and they shined a bright red, and that’s when Onyx had enough. Onyx started to run toward Ruby. “Onyx!” Emi said, about to run after him, but stopped when a gust of wind blew her back. Onyx dodged the flying rocks and gusts of wind that were thrown at him, determined to get to Ruby. He then used his own magic to create a barrier around himself, to levitate to Ruby. “Ruby!” he yelled. “You have to stop! You can’t control a spell like this!” “Yes… I can… watch… me…” Ruby said slowly and with strain. Her horn sparked and the torches that surrounded the courtyard started to flicker. Then the flames from the torches created a ball of fire above Ruby. The ball then turned into a fourth ring around Ruby, but in the process of doing this, Onyx was too close. The fire ring broke through Onyx’s barrier and struck him in the face. With a loud agonizing scream, he fell back toward Emi and Safire. “Onyx!” Safire and Emi screamed, running to his side. Onyx was holding his face and groaning in pain. Ruby saw this and a tear fell from her cheek. “Big… brother…?” she whispered. In that instant, a bright white light engulfed Ruby’s sphere, and then the entire courtyard. When the light disappeared, Ruby was on the ground, her spell broken. She moaned as she started to regain consciousness. “What… happened…?” she said, getting to her feet. Ruby turned around and saw Princess Diamond standing behind her. Ruby got excited, but her excitement was cut short when she saw the unpleasant look on Diamond’s face. Ruby was about to say something, but decided against it, bowing her head in shame. “Princess Diamond!” Safire yelled. Ruby turned around to see Safire and Emi over Onyx, who was on the ground, writhing in pain. “Onyx needs help!” Safire said. Ruby’s eyes widened when she realized what she had done. Without a word, Diamond walked past Ruby and toward Onyx. “We need to get him to his room,” Diamond said. Safire and Emi nodded and tried to help Onyx to his feet. Ruby stood there, watching them carry the injured Onyx back into the castle. She thought back to everything that just happened, putting together the pieces and realized that the ring of fire she created hit Onyx in the face. “He was right…” she whispered. “I… couldn’t control it… I… I’m… sorry… Onyx… Big brother…” Ruby rolled up into a ball and broke down into tears, vowing that she would never learn magic ever again; afraid to hurt someone she loved again.
7 Welcome to Ponyville!!!No one said anything after Emi finished the story. Ruby was still in Onyx’s arms, crying softly. Twilight walked over to Ruby and put her hoof on her shoulder. Ruby turned and looked at Twilight, a tear rolling down her face. “Oh Ruby,” Twilight said with a smile on her face, “Things like that happen sometimes. I mean, when I started using magic, wooo, did I make mess!” “Same here,” Rarity said. “I mean, it took me a month to use magic to just make a stitch.” “Really?” Safire said to Rarity. “It took me that long too!” “Are you serious?” “Dead serious! How long did it take you to be able to change the color of fabric? “Oh that took so long that it felt like-“ Apple Jack cleared her throat loudly at Rarity and Safire. They both laughed sheepishly and stopped their conversation. “Anyways,” Apple Jack said. “Everyone makes mistakes now and again. And sure, sometimes bad things happen because of those mistakes. But good things can come from your mistakes too.” “Apple Jack’s right,” Twilight said. “You rushed into advanced magic when you weren’t mentally or physically prepared for it. Magic can be exciting, but you have to take one step at a time with it. Magic takes-“ “Time and discipline…” Ruby said through her sniffles, and then she sighed. “But what if I can never control it? What if I end up hurting all of you?” Rainbow scoffed. “Not even magic can keep us down for long! We all got your back Ruby.” “We know you can do it,” Rarity said. “Yeah, especially with Twilight as your mentor,” Fluttershy said. “She’s right you know,” Shining said. “If anyone knows a thing or two about magic, it’s Twilly.” Ruby looked around the room at her brothers and sisters, and then at her new friends of Ponyville. She looked up at Onyx, and he was smiling down at her. “I know you can do it kiddo,” He said stroking her mane. Ruby sniffled and rubbed her nose. She sighed and got to her feet. “Okay,” she said to Twilight. “I’ll give it a try.” Everyone in the room cheered and some of the ponies even gave Ruby a hug. “So… what now?” Ruby said. “What else?” Pinkie Pie said with a big smile. Pinkie pushed everyone outside and the entire town of Ponyville was there with streamers and balloons everywhere. “A Welcoming Party!!!” Pinkie screamed, throwing confetti in the air. The siblings looked confused and surprised. “How did she…?” Emi said to Twilight. “Don’t ask…” Apple Jack said. “Pinkie is Pinkie,” Twilight said with a smile. Then, in a big loud chorus, the entire town screamed “Welcome to Ponyville!” Princess Diamond returns to her castle with a smile on her face. As she walked past the ponies of her kingdom, they all bowed and welcomed the Princess back. She thanked them and continued toward chambers. As she started to close the doors behind her, she heard someone call her name. She turned around and one of her royal guards came running toward her. “What is it…?” she said, slightly irritated. “Ma’am,” he said, saluting her. “I came to tell you the status of the changelings ma’am.” “And…?” “It seems that they have all suddenly retreated. It seems they are no longer a threat to the kingdom.” “That’s good to hear.” “Should I cancel you’re meeting with Princess Celestia?” “Yes. Tell her that we no longer need Canterlot’s help any longer. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” “Of course ma’am.” With a final salute, the royal guard took his leave and Diamond slammed the door behind him. She turned and walked toward her wardrobe. When she opened it, she used her magic to open a portal within the wardrobe to reveal a secret cavern. Once inside, she stretched her wings with a sigh and walked toward a green cocoon. “Goodness! I don’t know how you hire such morons,” she tapped the cocoon, “Princess Diamond.” Princess Diamond was trapped inside of the cocoon, struggling to free herself. “You can stop struggling, not even Celestia could break out of a changeling cocoon. “What are you planning Chrysalis?” Diamond demanded. Chrysalis laughed. “Why, isn’t it obvious? After my defeat in Canterlot, I realized that I need more than just somepony’s love. I need the core, the link that connects magic to this land. The gemstones of magic.” “You’ll never be able to get them Chrysalis!” “Oh really? My changeling powers have increased since I posed as Princess Cadence. Now, I can pretend to be you much more effectively. And there’s nothing you, or your silly Phillies can do to stop me from ruling all of Equestria! Not even your dear, sweet Ruby can stop me.” “She will stop you.” Chrysalis scoffed. “Please! Even if Twilight gets her to use magic again, she won’t be prepared for what I have in store for her.” “I swear if you hurt her…” “Oh, I don’t plan to hurt her. I plan to use her. Like it or not, your sweet little philly is going to help me take over this land. Whether she knows it, or not.” Chrysalis turned her back to Diamond and made her way out of the cavern. “You won’t get away with this!” Diamond yelled. “Somepony will stop you!” A week has passed and Ruby and Shining Armor were both finally out of the hospital. Twilight, Ruby, and Onyx were at the train station with Shining Armor. “Are you sure you have to go?” Ruby asked. Shining nodded. “Cadence needs me back at the Crystal Empire. Besides, I’ll be back to check up on you guys.” “Why would you need to do that?” Twilight asked. “I don’t think what happened was a random attack,” Shining Armor said. “Oh, you mean those creepy black things?” Ruby said. Shining nodded. “They were after Ruby and I’m pretty sure they’ll come back.” “Don’t worry,” Onyx said, bringing Ruby into a hug. “Nothing gonna happen to her on my watch.” Shining smiled as the train came into the station. He gave Ruby and Onyx a hug, and then gave Twilight a big hug. “You take care of yourself Twilly.” “You too BBBFF. And tell Cadence I said hi.” “Will do.” Shining Armor got onto the train and it then pulled out moments later. Twilight watched the train go over the horizon and sighed. “Alright!” she said, facing Ruby and Onyx. “Let’s get started Ruby!” Ruby shrugged. “Eh, I don’t feel like it right now.” “What do you mean? You said yesterday that you wanted to start today.” “Well… I change my mind. We can start tomorrow. I’m gonna go see if Rainbow Dash wants to have a real race. See ya!” With that said, Ruby took off into the sky and Twilight ran after her. “Ruby! Get back here!!!” “Uh, Princess Twilight?” Onyx said. “Not to be rude, but you could just fly after her.” “Huh?” Twilight said, looking behind her. She fluttered her wings and then said, “Oh yeah… hehehehe…” Twilight flew up as fast as she could, not realizing that this wouldn’t be the only time she’d have to chase Ruby down for magic lessons. Author's Note Sorry for not posting a new chapter sooner! April and the beginning of May was crazy! Finals, went on a cruise, then got a cold, bleh! Anywho, I'm on vacation so I'll be releasing chapters out more quickly... hopefully lol Also, I'm working on getting pictures of the Original Characters out and having a cover for the story so... look out for it! If anyone has any advice on how to do that, please tell me! Cause I feel like I'm doing it the hard way :P lol
8 The Upcoming Summer Sun Celebration“Got it?” Ruby stared the spell book, a bead of sweat rolling down her forehead. She started to bite her lip as she kept rereading the spell over and over to memorize it. A smile appeared on her face and she got to her feet. “Okay! I think I got it!” she said, taking a stance. “Here goes!” “Remember Ruby, don’t’ rush it,” Twilight warned her. “I know, I know.” Ruby closed her eyes as her horn started to glow. She grunted while concentrating very hard and trying to not lose her focus. A red orb appeared around her and in an instance exploded in a bright red light, causing Twilight to cover her eyes. When she looked at Ruby, a big grin appeared on her face. “Did I do it?” Ruby asked. Ruby’s coat was no longer the deep red it was before, but was now the same color as Twilight’s. She looked down at herself and smiled. “Oh my gosh! I did it! I can’t believe I did it!” Ruby flew up into the sky and spun around, however, doing this made her spell wear off. In a flash of red light, her coat returned to its original color and her excitement turned into disappointment. “Aww man…” she said, landing. “I couldn’t hold it…” Twilight walked over to her and gave her a pat on her back. “It’s okay Ruby. The fact that you could change the color of your coat is enough for me and it should be enough for you too.” Ruby looked at Twilight and gave her a smile. “You’re right. So… are we done for the day?” “Well, no. You’ve only done one spell out of that entire book Ruby. We have a lot of work to do.” Ruby groaned. “Come on Twilight! I was gonna help Apple Jack harvest some apples today!” “You can help her later. We have some spells to learn,” Twilight said, levitating the spell book in front of Ruby’s face. Ruby let out a big sigh and continued levitating the book with her magic to read the next spell. “Twilight!” They both saw Spike running out of the library toward them with a scroll in his hand. “Princess… Celestia… sent you… a letter… and…” he struggled to say through his panting. “Breath Spike,” Ruby said, patting his back. Spike took in a deep breath and exhaled it slowly. “Anyways,” he continued. “Princess Celestia sent you this letter and it’s pretty urgent. We need to tell Ruby’s brothers and sister too.” Twilight and Ruby looked at each other, confused. “What is it about?” Ruby asked. “Well, it involves you and your siblings so I think we should read it with all of them here,” Twilight said. All of Ruby’s siblings, along with Twilight’s friends, all gathered in the library so Twilight could read Celestia’s letter. “Well, go ahead Princess Twilight, read us the letter,” Pazzy said, eager to hear what it said. Twilight opened the letter and started to read. My faithful student Princess Twilight, Unfortunately, I have some terrible news regarding Ruby’s magic lessons. I wanted to inform Ruby and her siblings that this year’s Summer Sun Celebration will be held in at their home, the Magica Kingdom. “Oh yeah, Princess Diamond told us about that a few months ago,” Safire said. “Who’s Princess Diamond?” Rainbow Dash asked. “Just like Cadence is the princess of the Crystal Empire, Princess Diamond is the princess of the Magica Kingdom. The birthplace of magic,” Emi explained. “Wait a second! The birthplace of magic?” Rarity exclaimed. “Magic was born there?” “It’s a long story,” Emi said. “Besides, what does that have to do with my magic lessons?” Ruby asked. “I don’t know,” Twilight said. “Keep reading Twilight,” Fluttershy said. Twilight nodded and continued to read the letter. I’m sorry to say that Princess Diamond has demanded that Ruby’s coronation is to take place on the same day as the celebration. However, her coronation is much different from yours or even Cadence’s. In the spell book that I sent you, there is a spell in it that Ruby is required to cast at her coronation. Your job is to make sure she learns that spell by the Summer Sun Celebration. I wish you the best of luck Princess Twilight. Princess Celestia “Okay…” Ruby said in a low, nervous tone. “That shouldn’t be too hard… right?” Twilight opened the spell book and flipped through it to find a folded page toward the end of the book. She unfolded it and read it out loud. “It says here that you have to gather the wielders of the Gemstones of Magic and the pony that wields the core of the Gemstones must cast the spell written here,” Twilight explained. “That doesn’t sound too bad but… what the hay are the Gemstones of Magic?” Apple Jack asked. “Well, they-” Emi started. “Wait Emi!” Pazzy said, flying next to Twilight, front and center. “I wanna tell the story!” Emi sighed and smiled. “Go ahead Pazzy.” He jumped up with a big grin and then landed. “Okay!” he started. “So, basically, a long time ago, the Magica Kingdom was where most of the unicorns resided. Why? Because all of the magic in Equestria was born there and that was where the portal was. What portal, you ask? Well, this portal was a gateway to where the essence of magic resided. All of the magic in Equestria came from this portal. Princess Diamond was the keep and protector of the portal. However, protecting a portal of all the magic in Equestria was no easy task, not even for Princess Diamond. So, every year the unicorns would gather and offer up a piece of their magic to help Princess Diamond protect the portal. One day, however, one unicorn was greedy and wanted all of the magic for himself. So, on that day when everypony gathered to offer their piece of magic, he casted a powerful spell on Princess Diamond to make all of the magic she obtained from the unicorns to transfer to him. With that magic, he sealed all of the magic from the portal into an opal gemstone, but, unfortunately for him, the power was too much for him to handle. He lost control of the magic and, in turn, was sucked into the gemstone along with the portal. With what was to be her last breath, Princess Diamond took the gem and separated it into five different gemstones, to keep the magic balanced and maintained in Equestria. Since that day, Princess Diamond has protected the Gemstones of Magic like she had with the portal.” Pazzy exhaled and took a bow, feeling accomplished. Twilight and her friends all looked at him shocked, confused, and in disbelief. “So, you mean to tell me-” Apple Jack said. “That these gemstones-” Fluttershy continued. “Contain all of the magic in Equestria?” Pinkie finished. Ruby and her siblings nodded. “Yeah right!” Rainbow Dash said. “There’s no way that’s true. I mean, if all of the magic in Equestria was really contained in those stones, how can unicorns still use magic?” “The magic in within those gems, but it’s not sealed within them,” Emi explained. “If they were sealed, magic would cease to exist in Equestria.” “Okay, so what do these gemstones have to do with Ruby here?” Apple Jack asked. “Well,” Onyx said. “Ruby… is going to be the next keeper of the gemstones.” “Huh?” they all said, including Ruby, Safire, and Pazzy. “What are you talking about?” Ruby asked. “Ruby, when you become the next Princess of Equestria, you’ll… be taking Princess Diamond’s place.” “WHAT?!” everyone exclaimed. “Is this true…?” Ruby asked Onyx. He nodded with a frown and Ruby took a step back. “Why didn’t you tell me? Either of you?” “Princess Diamond was supposed to tell you when your magic lessons with Twilight were over with but… since there’s not that much time…” “Oh my gosh! That’s right!” Rarity said. “Isn’t the Summer Sun Celebration a month from now?” “A month!?” Twilight yelled. “Wow… it is…” Spike said. “How on earth do Princess Diamond and Princess Celestia expect Twilight to teach Ruby magic in one month?” Rainbow Dash said. “Well, according to that letter, she just has to learn one spell for the coronation,” Fluttershy said. “So, Twilight just has to teach her that one spell!” Pinkie Pie said happily. “No biggie!” “Actually, big biggie…” Twilight said with a sad expression. “What do you mean?” Safire said. “I’ve never seen or heard of a spell this complex.” “And that means…?” Apple Jack said. “It means, how can I teach anypony a spell that I don’t even understand?” Everyone was silent and lost the ray of small hope that had moments ago. “That’s easy!” Pinkie Pie said. “You just have to learn the spell and then teach it to Ruby.” “But who knows how long that will take…” Ruby said. Twilight shook her head and turned to Ruby. “I’ll figure this out Ruby, don’t worry. You will know that spell in a month or my name isn’t Twilight Sparkle.” Twilight gave Ruby a reassuring smile and Ruby couldn’t help but smile back. “We’ll help in any way we can,” Emi said, walking up to them with the other siblings. “Us too,” Apple Jack, said the other girls. Ruby looked at everyone with a smile and a tear rolling down her cheek. “Thank you… thank you everyone.” Author's Note Sorry everyone! So many things going on! I'm going to try and release at least one chapter a month from now on to keep this story going on. Again, so sorry!
1 The Missing Student"Where is it!?" Twilight is flinging books all over the library, trying to find the book of spells Celestia gave her the day prior. Spike descends from the stairs, rubbing his eyes. "Twilight... what are you doing?" Spike said in a low tone. "Oh Spike! I'm so glad you're up!" Twilight dropped all of the books she was holding with her magic. "Do you know where I put that spell book?" "Which one?" "The one Celestia gave to me yesterday!" "Why do you need it now?" "Because!" Twilight uses her magic and bring out a large stack of books. "My student is coming today, remember?" "She's coming today?" Spike said, going through the piles of books Twilight created. "Yes, and Celestia specifically said to use that book! And now I can;t find it. My student's not here yet and I'm already slipping up!" "Uhh... Twilight...?" "What Spike!?" "You're gonna hit the ceiling..." "Huh...?" Twilight looks down and sees that she's flew up to the ceiling during her freak out, which tends to happen a lot. She giggles embarrassingly and flies back down to the ground. "Just calm down Twilight," Spike said, walking up to her. "You'll be fine. I mean, you're a princess after all. And if Celestia didn't think you could do it, well, you wouldn't be doing it." Twilight smiles and brings Spike into a hug. "Thanks Spike, that means a lot," she said happily. "But I still need to find that book!" She said, shaking Spike. "Did-n't you... fall... a-sleep... read-ing... it... last... night...?" Spike stuttered as she shook him. Twilight stops and exclaims, "You're right!" She drops Spike and flies up the stairs to her bed where, low and behold, the spell book was under her pillow where she left it. "You started reading it last night and fell asleep," Spike said, walking up from behind Twilight. "Oh yeah... I guess I'm so nervous about this mentoring thing that it slipped my mind..." Twilight took the book and walked back down stairs. "Who is this pony who's gonna be your student anyway?" Spike said, following her. "Beats me. But Celestia said that she desperately needs a mentor and that I was the only one who could do it." Twilight placed the spell book onto her stack of spell books. "So, you don't know anything about her?" Spike started to pick up books from the floor and place them back on the shelves. "Nope. I don't even know their name. It could be anypony." "Then, how are we gonna know who it is when we go to get her from the train station?" "Celestia said that I'll know her when I see her, whatever that means. But anyways, we better get to Apple Jack's to help with the preparations for the Welcoming Party." Spike puts up the last of the books and follows Twilight out the door. Twilight and Spike show up at Sweet Apple Acres, where almost everyone in Ponyville are helping put up decorations. "Hey Spike, go find Rarity for me, would you?" Twilight said to Spike. "I'm on it," he said, running off to find Rarity. Twilight looked around and saw how hard everyone was working and smiled. "TWILIGHT!!!" A voice from afar yelled. "Huh?" Twilight looked around to see who called her name. "UP HERE!!!" Twilight looked up and saw Pinkie Pie heading toward her at full speed. "GAH!" Twilight used her magic to stop Pinkie Pie about 2 inches away from her face. Twilight sighed. "Pinkie, what were you doing?" Twilight put Pinkie down. "Testing out the cannon of course!" Pinkie exclaimed. "Cannon? What cannon?" "The one that Rainbow Dash is gonna use for the welcoming party! She said she had a new trick she wanted to try, but she didn't know how to get that fast in a small amount of time. So I started to think for a few minutes and thought about my confetti cannon, and I was testing it to see how fast and far it could shoot Rainbow Dash!" She gave a big smile. "And... you didn't think about your landing..." "I did, after the cannon shot me in the air!" Twilight face-hoofed herself and shook her head. "Where is Rarity?" She said, changing the subject. "She said she had something she wanted to show me." "Oh! She's over there in that big tent! Well, I better go test the cannon one more time!" Before Twilight could object, Pinkie Pie dashed off. Twilight sighed and walked over to the purple tent where Rarity was. "Rarity?" Twilight said walking in. "Oh Twilight! Finally!" Rarity ran up to Twilight, grabbed her hoof, and towed her toward a large display of dresses. "Well, what do you think?" "Uh... they're pretty," Twilight said, confused. "But what are they for?" "Why, for you of course! For you to wear tonight at the party." "Rarity, I don't need a dress for a welcoming party." "Well, the unicorn Twilight wouldn't need one, but the alicorn Twilight, Princess Twilight, does! You have to look regal at every, single event you participate in. So, go through these and pick your favorite!" "Rarity, it's ok. I don't need a dress. Besides, if I;m going to meet my student for the first time, I'd rather meet her the way I am." Rarity sighed and said, "Well, alright. If you insist. But in the future, you will wear one of these, right?" "Cross my heart," she said, making an X over her heart. "So besides all these dresses, how is everything else going?" "Well, Apple Jack is almost done preparing the food, Rainbow Dash cleared all of the clouds and is working on some kind of trick for the party, Pinkie Pie is attempting to help her-" Twilight and Rarity hear Pinkie Pie outside yelling "WEEEEE!!!" and her landing into a tree nearby. They both shook their heads. "What about Fluttershy?" Twilight asked. "She was helping me put up these dresses for you to see, but something happened with Angel, so she went to take care of it." "Twilight!" Twilight turned around and saw Fluttershy's head sticking into the tent. "Oh, hey Fluttershy, How's Angel doing?" "Oh, umm, he's alright, He just got a thorn in his paw. No biggie." "Well, that's good to hear." "But, I do have some bad news..." "Bad news?" Twilight said, slightly freaking out. "What kind of bad news!?" "Well, ummm, apparently you student is, well... already here..." Twilight's eyes widened and she started to sweat. "What do you mean she's already here?! She wasn't suppose to be here til this afternoon! I was suppose to meet her at the train station and bring her here! Where is she Fluttershy? Where is my student!" "Well, ummm, that brings me to more bad news..." "I don't think I can take more bad news..." Twilight said, sitting down with her hoofs on her head. Rarity sighed and walked up to Fluttershy. "What else Fluttershy?" "Well, no one knows exactly where your student is..." "WHAT?!" Twilight flew up and out of the tent, making it crash down on Rarity and Fluttershy. all of the townsfolk looked over at Twilight in the air and she smiled sheepishly. "Opps... hehehe," Twilight said, flying back down toward the tent. "My dresses!" Rarity exclaimed, moving under the tent, attempting to grab her dresses before they got dirty. Fluttershy wiggled her way out from under the tent and let out a big sigh. "Hey Twilight!" Spike said as he ran up to her, "They told me that Rarity was- Whoa..." Spike saw the the fallen tent. "What happened here?" "I'm sorry girls..." Twilight said to Fluttershy and Rarity. "That's been happening a lot lately..." "It's okay Twilight," Fluttershy said. "I used to do that too when I was a philly." "I forgive you, but my dresses won't!" Rarity said, still under the tent. Spike ran over to the fallen tent and started tried to help Rarity out from under the tent. "But Fluttershy, what do you mean no one knows where they are?" Twilight asked. "Well,-" "Twilly!" "Huh?" Twilight turned around and saw Shining Armor and some other guards running toward her. "Or should I say, Princess Twilight?" "Shining Armor!" Twilight and Shining Armor both hugged each other, with smiles on their faces. "What are you doing here?" Twilight asked him. "And in your guard uniform?" "Celestia told us to escort your student here," Shining Armor said. "But she somehow left the train on our way here." "Could she have used magic?" "I don't know, but either way, we don't know where she is and we need to find her." "Don't worry Shining Armor, I'll find her." "And we'll help too," Fluttershy said, walking up to Twilight with a smile. "Alright. Fluttershy, go get Apple Jack, Pinkie and Rainbow. We have a student to find."
