Chapters Rocket groaned as the faint light of the sun hit his closed eyes and he rolled over, trying not to wake up in the process. That was his plan, until he rolled off of his bed and hit...the soft grass that he had around his bed? Since when did he have grass surrounding his bed? More importantly, when did he ever have grass in his bedroom? He opened his eyes and was met by the sight of grass, buildings, and a bunch of ponies walking around.
He turned around to look at his 'bed' and found a bench sitting right behind him. How had he ended up sleeping on a bench last night? He raised a hoof to his head and started to scratch when he realized something...since when did he have hooves? He looked down and found that he was in the body of a dark blue coated pony with a light blue colored mane and tail with strands of a lighter shade of blue. And on his flank rested a quill shaped mark, which must have been his cutie mark as he recalled.
Rocket looked around at his surroundings and found three other ponies laying around like he had been just moments ago. One of them, a light brown coated unicorn with a black colored tail and a bent clock mark, but no mane in sight, was resting in the center of the grass. Another pony, a bright red coated pegasus with a green mane and tail with a yin-yang mark, rested halfway in a nearby fountain. The third pony, with a sherbert colored coat with a light pink mane that had a purple stripe, but no cutie mark, rested on top of a bush.
"Oh my Celestia," he said, the truth dawning on him, "We're ponies!"
He got up and stumbled as he tried to walk over to the pegasus in the fountain, he wasn't used to walking on all four legs. Once he reached the fountain, despite the numerous stumbles along the way, he wrapped his hooves around the stallion and pulled him out of the water. He laid the pegasus on the grass and hit his stomach, forcing hm to expel the water that was in his mouth. The stallion's eyes opened and quickly forced Rocket off of him, getting up onto all fours and staring at him.
"You didn't have to hit me so hard," Rocket whinned, rubbing his head with his hoof yet again, "I was just trying to help."
"Wait a second, I know that voice," the pegasus said, "Rocket, is that you?"
"Jacob?" Rocket replied, earning a nod from the pegasus, "You look great as a pegasus."
"Thanks," his friend said, "If you haven't realized it yet your a unicorn."
"Sweet," Rocket replied, not realizing that he had a horn until his friend had spoken up, "Now I will use my magic and wake our friends up."
"Okay then," his friend said, "While you do that I am going to start my little freaking out session and get back to you later."
Rocket sighed and started to work his magic on the water in the fountain, quickly finding that magic wasn't easy to control as he expected it to be. The first three times he tried to move the water his magic slipped and the water returned to the fountain. On his fourth try he managed to pull the water out and began moving it towards the pony resting in the bush, but it burst as his friend interuppted his concentration. He growled and tried again, quickly returning to moving the water towards the sleeping pony.
Once the water was directly over the mare he released his magic and drenched the poor pony in what he suspected was cold water. Or maybe it was slightly warm water. Whatever the temperature was it seemed to work as the mare quickly bolted up and got off the bush. She quickly shook herself off and glared at the him, though he was grinning slightly as he watched her.
"Was that really necessary?" she asked, stumbling as she made her way towards the unicorn stallion.
"I'm afraid it was, Momo," he answered, returning to the fountain and pulling more water out, "I needed you to wake up and now I need to wake up our last member."
"Last member?" she questioned, watching the pegasus go by with a crazy grin on his face, "Was that Jacob?"
"Yep," was the reply as he began moving towards the bald unicorn stallion, "He's kinda freaking out due to waking up in a park as a pony."
"This isn't just any park," she said, quickly realizing where they were, "We're in Canterlot."
"Oh buck that's cold," the stallion said as the water was dumped on top of him, "Whoever did that will pay dearly for it."
"Noted," Rocket said, his horn dying down, "Now if you will excuse me I have to get us on the next train to Ponyville and fast. Then we can figure out what our next course of action is from there."
As he started walking towards the south entrance of the park he quickly noticed that he had caused their group to gain attention. He figured it was due to his use of magic to wake up his friends, but he saw his friend still freaking out and silently blamed him. Leaving the park wasn't very hard, but figuring out the signs to find their destination was.
"Excuse me?" he asked the first pony that walked by, who turned out to be a white coated pony with a light blue mane and wearing sunglasses, "Could you tell me how I can get to the train station from here?"
"Sure thing dude," the mare said, sounding excited, "Just follow this street all the way down and you'll come to the station in no time. The next train won't be leaving for another half an hour, so you have time before it leaves."
"Thanks a lot," Rocket said, the mare leaving as he thanked her, "Good, now to get there and get us some tickets."
The station, he soon found out, wasn't packed and he got in line as soon as the group arrived. He hoped that the ticket pony would be willing to help them, considering that none of the four had any golden coins on them at all.
As Rocket waited in line his three friends stood by the tracks, watching the ponies walk off and board the arriving train. There were two ponies in front of him, with the first one currently buying his ticket to Manehatten. According to what he heard it was supposed to be around noon, which meant if they could leave soon they'd arrive in Ponyville sometime in the afternoon. He looked back and made sure that his friends were there...wait, where did Jacob go?
He sighed and focused on the line, waiting for the two in front of him to finish their business and move on so he could inquire about the prices. Then another thought dawned on him; the four of them were going to have to come up with names that fit in with their cutie marks. He silently hoped that Jacob didn't cause any trouble, wherever he wandered off to.
Jacob stepped out from behind the column and found himself near what appeared to be the Royal Canterlot Library, but how he got there he didn't know. He figured he might have similar abilities to the infamous Pinkie Pie, but he'd have to test his theory out later on after he researched the history of Equestria. Of course the guards could be a problem, considering that the Changelings had invaded Canterlot within the last year. Or had that event not yet happened? Either way he figured that the guards were going to give him trouble.
"Halt citizen," one of the guards, a white coated stallion wearing golden armor, said, "Before you enter the library you must present your identification card so we can verify you are who you say you are."
"Well okay then," Jacob said, smirking slightly as he withdrew a plastic card with his pony pic on it and presented it to the guards.
"Hmm..." the guard said, "Mister Inner Wisdom?"
"That would be me," Jacob answered, not surprised that the name was surprisingly accurate to what he was thinking his name would be.
"You are free to enter the library," the guard said, returning the card to Jacob, "You wouldn't happen to be related to the infamous Pinkamena Diane Pie by any chance?"
"I'm not related to her," Jacob answered, the card disappearing as soon as he received it, "but we do seem to have similar abilities."
As Jacob, or rather Inner Wisdom, entered the library the guards shared a look with each other.
"Shall I report to the Princess this time?" the white stallion asked, his light brown coated partner nodding, "She'll want to know there is another pony with the abilities of Pinkie Pie roaming around Equestria."
Wisdom quickly walked through the hall and entered the Star Swirl the Bearded wing, where the most ancient knowledge of Equestria was supposed to rest. He knew that from watching the television that this particular wing held secrets, which took some time to locate any of them. Taking the guards into consideration he knew he had very little time before the Princess arrived. He chuckled and began searching, looking for anything and everything that would catch his interest.
Not ten minutes after Wisdom entered the library a pure white coated alicorn, wearing a golden crown and choker with a sun cutie mark, landed just outside the doors. The guards kneeled before the Solar Princess, who nodded and opened the doors quickly.
"Where is this 'Inner Wisdom' as he calls himself?" the Princess asked, walkling down the hallway, "I assume he's still in the library, unaware that I was coming."
"He should be here," the guard said, entering a room with nopony in sight, "Maybe he passed through the doorway that leads to the Star Swirl the Bearded wing?"
The Princess thought about it and considered that the mysterious stallion already seemed like Pinkie Pie in some ways. If they had similar abilities then it wouldn't be hard for him to appear at random and pass through entire walls at will. So she turned around and approached the doorway, opening it to find a pegasus stallion reading a book without the use of magic. That was just more evidence that he was like Pinkie Pie.
"Mister Inner Wisdom?" she asked, the stallion looking up from the book, "I'm sure you realize exactly who I am?"
"Your Princess Celestia," Wisdom replied, closing the book and laying it on the ground, "the Solar Princess. To what do I own the pleasure of meeting you?"
"I had the guards keep a lookout for ponies with similar abilities to Pinkamena Diane Pie," Princess Celestia stated, "and you seem to have those abilities."
"That is very interesting," Wisdom said, appearing right behind Celestia, "but unfortunately my friends are waiting for me at the station and I can't keep them waiting. See ya around."
Before Princess Celestia could stop him Wisdom ran behind a bookshelf and vanished instantly, no poofs or magic used. Celestia was used to this happening when dealing with the actual Pinkie Pie, but now there was a second pony she had to deal with. At least she knew exactly where he was headed.
"Report to the station as soon as possible," she commanded the guards, who saluted her as she turned to leave, "I will catch Inner Wisdom and his friends before they can leave Canterlot."
Rocket shook his head in disbelief. The Ticketmaster had told him that it would be five bits per pony for a ticket to Ponyville. Sounds simple. Well, he needed to find a shop where they could sell what little they had so they could purchase said tickets. Again, sounds simple. What threw a giant wrench into the plan was that the Ticketmaster asked him and his friends for their names, which actually caused the other two to start freaking out. And Jacob was still nowhere to be seen.
"Will you please calm your flanks for a second," he shouted, stepping out of the line and making the two chaotic ponies stop with his magic, "We can't be panicking because you can't come up with a name. I bet that Jacob has already come up with his name."
"When you put it that way your right," the mentioned pegasus said, popping out of nowhere inside the ticket booth, "and I've got identification cards for all three of you."
"Let me see those," the Ticketmaster said, pulling the cards out of his hooves with magic, "Ah yes, here we are. One earth pony mare by the name of Peachy Keen, one unicorn stallion by the name of Tick Tock, one pegasus by the name of Inner Wisdom, and another unicorn by the name of Rocket Sky. That last one doesn't seem to fit."
"That's easy to explain," Wisdom said, speaking up before Rocket could stop him, "His parents were hoping for a pegasus and were unwilling to change his name when they found out he was a unicorn."
"I see," the Ticketmaster said, returning the cards before turning towards Rocket, "Now then, like I was saying earlier it will be twenty bits to get the four of you to Ponyville. There is a shop not too far up the street that you can sell anything at and you could make the amount if you got something of value. The shopkeeper accepts everything, but his prices may not be to your liking."
"Oh, we have something to trade," Wisdom said, holding up a small ruby that glistened in the sunlight, "Will this cover the cost of our four tickets?"
For a couple of seconds the Ticketmaster was silent, his eyes locked on the ruby in Wisdom's hoof. It he moved it the stallion's eyes would follow it. When Wisdom repeated the question the stallion seemed to come out of his daze and really focused on him.
"It more than covers the cost of the tickets," the stallion happily said, taking the gemstone in his magic and returning seconds later with a small bag of coins and four tickets, "Next train leaving for Ponyville doesn't leave for another ten to fifteen minutes."
Rocket nodded and accepted the tickets while his friend took the rest of the coins. They joined the rest of their friends by a bench, though Peachy seemed to be staring at the sky while Tick had somehow found a guitar and was plucking some nameless tune.
"We have tickets to Ponyville," Rocket announced, the two slightly cheering, "and our official pony names. Jacob here is Inner Wisdom, Yves is Tick Tock, and Momo, your Peachy Keen."
"What kind of a name is Tick Tock?" the bald unicorn asked, "I was thinking I'd go with something more artistic."
"It is what I came up with on the spot," Wisdom stated, taking a seat next to his friends, "Either deal with it or don't, I honestly don't care. Soon we'll be heading to Ponyville and we'll be out of Celestia's hairs."
"What about you?" Peachy said, looking over at Rocket, "What sort of name did Wisdom give you?"
"I am Rocket Sky," he answered, "the unicorn whose parents were hoping for a pegasus and were unwilling to change the name when they found out."
"Our names fit us as most pony names fit their bearers," Wisdom stated, chuckling softly to himself as a train rolled into the station, "exactly like I thought they would. I prepared for this day ever since FIM appeared on tv."
"Please don't talk about that," Rocket said, glad that the only ponies around them were near the Ticketmaster, "We seriously don't need anypony thinking that we're from another world. Let's get on this train and get away from Canterlot."
Once the doors of the train opened the group quickly made their way into the compartment and took a couple of seats near the front. They had a good view of the rest of the room and the ponies that they would be sharing the rest of the trip with. To their relief it didn't look like there were many making the trip with them, so they ended up sharing the room with at least another five ponies. Wisdom, however, stared out the window and watched the guards appear in the distance.
"Oh tell me you didn't do something stupid Wisdom," Peachy said, noticing the guards.
"Oh, all I did was visit the library and brush up on my history," Wisdom replied, the doors silently closing and the train starting to roll out before they arrived, "Apparently there is an order to watch out for ponies that share the abilities of Pinkie Pie."
Rocket sighed and stared out his window, watching the castle scenery change to that of actual nature. Seeing actual nature relaxed his mind from the troubles that his friend, at least one of them, was causing. Besides, Tick was still practicing on his guitar and Peachy was staring at something on her side of the train. Maybe life in Equestria wouldn't be too bad, Rocket thought, as long as his friends didn't spoil the fun.
Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle
It has come to my attention that four ponies have arrived in Canterlot from who knows where. They each seem to have a vast amount of knowledge dealing with Canterlot and pony life. They managed to board the latest train to Ponyville before my guards could get to them and they are on their way. Three of them, as far as I could tell from the Ticketmaster, pose absolutely no threat to our security. The fourth I am unsure of, but he seems to be similar to Pinkie, so I will take no action against them.
As they are about to enter your territory I am leaving them in your capable hooves. I have included a list of names that the Ticketmaster gave me so you could identify them when they deboard the train. Please excuse the absence of any descriptions, but I am sure you'll figure out who each of the four are quickly. Please pass on my regards to the rest of your friends and Spike. Luna should be there in a couple of days for Nightmare Night, so be expecting her this time.
Sincerely, Princess Celestia
III: Questions and Answers
Dear Princess Celestia,
Let me get this straight. Four unknown ponies found themselves in Canterlot and were able to leave within an hour because the guards were unable to get to them fast enough? And your telling me that there is another pony in Equestria that has the powers of Pinkie Pie? Not to mention that they are already heading in my direction to where I reign, if you count making sure Ponyville doesn't destroy itself as ruling, so they're a part of my small area or something?
Me and the girls are currently waiting at the train station for the arrival of the four ponies and you should see Rainbow Dash right now. I knew she gets excited when she hears about the Wonderbolts and other flyers coming to town, but this time it is very different. This pony, the one named Rocket Sky as you mentioned, had her so excited that she thinks she's got a new flyer to compete against.
"Come on already you stupid train," the cyan pegasus mare next to Twilight said, interrupting her train of thought, "Arrive already so I can meet the pegasus named Rocket Sky."
"Now hold your horses Rainbow," the orange farmpony said, "I know your excited and all, but think back to the letter Princess Celestia sent Twilight not too long ago. She didn't give us any information of the four ponies that are coming."
"So?" Rainbow asked, barely paying attention anyway.
"So the one your waiting for might not be a pegasus I reckon," Applejack said, "That is my opinion and I'm sure somepony else might agree with me."
"Oh, oh, pick me Applejack," the overly excited pink pony, Pinkie Pie, said as she bounced up and down, "I can agree on anything, but what about the party for the new arrivals? I wonder what theme I should use since four are coming. Should I use streamers or is that too much like a birthday party since this is a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party? Oh, I don't know and my head is starting to swim and maybe I should bake some extra sweets in case we run out early..."
"I will agree on the name situation," a white mare, Rarity, spoke up, "I mean its not like we could be wrong and this Rocket Sky really is a pegasus that can go up against our Rainbow Dash. But then again we could be right and he's either a earth pony or a unicorn."
"Nah, he's definitely a pegasus," Rainbow said, narrowing her eyes as she spotted a train in the distance, "and we, by that I mean him and I, can do stunts that even the Wonderbolts will envy."
"I...umm...think he might be a pegasus," the yellow pegasus mare, Fluttershy, softly said, "but its okay if you disagree with me. I don't mind."
Twilight Sparkle sighed and lifted a hoof to her head, shaking her head as she listened to her friends drone on and on about whether or not the pony was a pegasus. If this had happened a few weeks ago when she was still a normal unicorn then she would have barely paid it any mind and would left it alone. But thanks to her ascension to the status of being an alicorn like Princess Celestia, Luna, and her old foalsitter Cadence, she kind of had to make sure the ponies were safe. She left the argument of whether Rocket Sky was a pegasus to her friends, which meant that, thanks to Rarity's split answer, they couldn't reach a majority without her picking a side.
When the train finally came to a stop her friends finally stopped talking as Twilight placed er writing materials and unfinished letter away in her saddle bag. As ponies began to file off the train she kept an eye out for any that didn't fit in with the crowd, which was hard since most were like that anyway. Eventually she spotted a pony and was kind of shocked by what she saw. The first of the four ponies was a sherbert coated mare with a light pink mane, but what was odd was the lack of a cutie mark on her flank.
The second pony was a light brown coated unicorn stallion with a black colored tail, minus the mane for some reason, and a bent clock. The third pony that stepped off the train was a bright red coated pegasus stallion with a green mane, his cutie mark being a strange circle colored black and white.
"Oh yeah, its him at last," Rainbow said excitedly, pointing at the pegasus, "Your the one named Rocket Sky right?"
"No," the stallion answered, which seemed to lower her spirits, "I am Inner Wisdom. These are my friends Tick Tock and Peachy Keen. Rocket Sky is actually right behind me."
Rainbow looked at the pony behind Wisdom and Twilight could tell that her hopes were broken yet again. The pony in question was a dark blue coated unicorn stallion with a light blue mane that had strands of a darker blue intertwined. His cutie mark was a quill, which must have meant that he was some sort of writer.
"Your kidding me," Rainbow said, "Rocket Sky is a unicorn?"
"I'm afraid so," Applejack said, "but I did tell you that you shouldn't expect a name to tell you much about the pony its attached to."
One second Rainbow Dash was floating next to Applejack and the next she was gone, a multi colored trail disappearing towards a house in the sky. She was clearly upset that her hopes had been ruined, but Twilight thought that Wisdom, seeing how he WAS a pegasus, could fill the void for her. But that plan would have to wait for later, when she had calmed down and could deal with the hard truth that Rocket wasn't a pegasus.
"I did tell her the truth," Applejack said, "but I guess the truth does hurt sometimes. Pardon my manners, the names Applejack..."
"Member of the Apple Family and worker of Sweet Apple Acres," Wisdom said,throwing the mare off guard.
"Well I'll be, he's heard of you Applejack," Rarity said, "Well, if you know her then who are the rest of us?"
"You'll be surprised by how much I know," Wisdom answered, "Are you sure you want to go down this path?"
"Try me," Rarity said, earning a sigh from Twilight.
"You are Rarity, owner of the Carousel Boutique," Wisdom said, moving down the line, "We've got Rainbow Dash, head of Ponyville's weather team, Fluttershy, caretaker of animals, and Pinkie Pie, pastry maker for the Sugarcube Corner. Last, but not least, is Twilight Sparkle, the used to be librarian of Golden Oaks Library and now a Princess of Equestria."
"See Rarity, he knows all of us already," Twilight said, keeping her eye on Wisdom as she turned around, "Let's go to the library and see what else they might know."
Rocket silently cursed his friend for revealing how much they already knew on the mane six. It was only a matter of time before he revealed that they were from another world that was so unlike Equestria. Tick picked up his instrument and strung it across his back while Peachy was watching the entire town. Rocket sighed and thanked the fact that he was keeping a clear head and not freaking out.
The five mares were silent as they lead the four into the heart of Ponyville and eventually arrived at the library. Spike, the baby dragon who had been living with Twilight for so many years, was waiting for them inside. He clearly expected his six friends to arrive after meeting the four ponies from Canterlot, so when he noticed his friends, minus Rainbow, and the four he was surprised.
"I wasn't expecting you to bring them home Twilight," Spike said, stretching slightly, "What changed that?"
"Mister Inner Wisdom here knows more than he should," Rarity said, taking a seat near the dragon, "all without us even introducing ourselves."
"Isn't that common already?" the dragon asked, "You guys defeated three major villains and helped defend Canterlot during an invasion. Not to mention that Twilight is a Princess now."
"Quiet Spike," Twilight said, letting the four ponies remain standing while her friends took a seat, "I need to ask you four some questions before you are allowed to leave. Where are the four of you from?"
Rocket could feel the tension in the air as his friends tried to figure out where they should say they were from. He knew that Tick and Peachy had no idea what to say and Wisdom was likely to make up something just to make the questions stop eventually. He knew it was going to ride on his answers to get them through the questions that Twilight had planned for them.
"Trottingham," Rocket said, not surprised that his friends nodded as soon as the word left his mouth.
"How did you come to awaken in Ponyville?"
An odd question, but on they'd have to answer anyway.
"We had a party a few days ago," Rocket answered, remembering the event just a bit, "I don't know what we took, but when we woke we were in Canterlot with no idea how we got there."
"Do any of you pose a threat to the security of Canterlot, Ponyville, or the rest of Equestria?"
"I can only answer for myself on this one," Rocket said, sweat rolling down the side of his head, "but I pose no threat to anypony."
His friends voiced their responses, which turned out to be the exact same thing that Rocket had said. Didn't surprise him since he knew that none of them posed a threat to anypony anywhere.
"Last group question," Twilight said, looking each of them in the eye, "How is it that you know so much about us without having met us even once?"
"Well that's easy," Wisdom started, "We...humth..."
Twilight was surprised to see that Rocket's magic activated quickly and literally zipped his friend's mouth shut, silencing his answer before it left his mouth.
"What he means is that we read the newspapers quite frequently," Rocket lied, hoping that Applejack didn't detect his lie, "and so we read about you, the Elements of Harmony, and all the stuff you've done."
Twilight was silent, watching the four ponies stand there while she mauled over the answers she had been given thus far. Rocket Sky had answered the majority of her questions and he seemed like the leader of his group, which was odd since she figured Wisdom would have been the leader. They were a confusing bunch of ponies that made her head hurt.
"Time for individual questions," she said, watching Rocket's magic die down and Wisdom's mouth returning to normal, "Miss Peachy Keen, the first is for you. Seeing how you don't have a cutie mark I will ask this; would you like to join a club called the Cutie Mark Crusaders?"
For a couple of seconds Peachy was silent, her emotions mixing and leaving her breathless.
"Really?" she silently asked, surprised her voice still worked and receiving a nod from the purple alicorn, "I would love to join them and find my place along side them."
"Good," Twilight said, a stack of papers appearing before her and a quill that she used to write something down, "Now, Mister Tick Tock. Do you have any personal experience with the instrument your carrying on your back?"
"Are you kidding me?" Tick asked, "I used to play the guitar all the time back home."
"Good, because you might want to check with Vinyl Scratch and see if she has an open room," Twilight said, "though I suspect that she and Octavia might be pleased to have another musician in their house.
Mister Inner Wisdom, I trust you know much due to your name?"
"Of course I do," Wisdom said, appearing right next to Pinkie as he said that, "I specialize in the ways of the spirit."
"Until further notice I am assigning you to the care of Pinkie Pie," Twilight said, "and maybe the Cakes will be happy to have another set of hooves working around the bakery."
"Oh yeah," Pinkie exclaimed, holding one of her hooves out, "Epic brohoof time."
"You know it Pinkie," Wisdom said, bumping his hoof into her's.
"I regret it already," Twilight said, turning towards Rocket, "and as for you...I am quite sure you know how to organize a library by author and volume correct?"
"Yeah," Rocket replied, "That is what I did with my books back home."
"Then you will be my assistant," Twilight said, "and the librarian whenever I am not currently available. So if I left for an errand you would be in charge until I were to return."
"And that might be a long time considering your a Princess now," Rocket said, "but I accept your hospitality none the less."
Moments later the groups were leaving the library, leaving Twilight with her new assistant. Pinkie and Wisdom were heading to the bakery to get acquainted with the Cakes, Fluttershy was heading home alone, Applejack was taking Peachy to meet the Crusaders, and Rarity was going to drop off Tick at the house of Vinyl and Octavia. Behind her Spike was filling in the new assistant with how Twilight ran the library and how she organized it. She smiled and fulled out the unfinished letter, taking her quill and putting the finishing touches on it.
Right now Rainbow Dash is pouting due to the discovery that Rocket Sky is not a pegasus, but a unicorn instead. I have questioned the four and they hold no threats to our security, so I have sent them to live in places close by. I will leave a scroll of my discoveries at the bottom so you will know what transpired during our discussion.
I will say this before I tend to my new assistant; Rocket Sky is a unicorn with some strange magic of his own. He claims they are from Trottingham, but i have decided not to push the issue right now. He zipped his friend's mouth shut with his magic, literally zipped it closed. I will be keeping a watchful eye over him and will make sure you know everything that I can find out about them.
Sincerely, Princess Twilight Sparkle
Of course not even ten minutes had past before Pinkie had returned to the library, appearing from the spaces between books, and bounced over to Twilight.
"You know what's next?" she said, a vacuum appearing behind her.
"No...what is it?" Twilight asked, though she clearly knew what the crazy mare was talking about.
"Its time for a party," Pinkie shouted, sucking Twilight, Spike, Rocket, and herself up until they appeared in a packed bar, "and I grabbed Vinyl so she could greet our new friends."
Sure enough the white mare that Rocket and his friends had meet was standing behind a disk table, spinning the records and blowing out music as ponies danced. All around him Rocket could see ponies he knew from the show dancing about and talking up a storm. His friends, reluctant to mingle at first, finally got over their shyness and joined the fun. As he watched for a second he noticed Rainbow fly in, which was odd since he figured she was still mad at him for not being a pegasus.
"I'm glad to see she's calmed down a bit," Twilight said, sneaking up on Rocket unsuccessfully, "The news that you were coming excited her more than anything I have ever seen. She was almost like Pinkie when she sets up a party for every new pony that she meets."
"So I've noticed," Rocket sighed, "I just wish that the four of us could live a normal life in Ponyville without causing any chaos of any kind. Or crush the hopes of anypony."
"I wouldn't worry too much about chaos," Twilight said, "Discord is still around, but he hasn't been destroying the town or changing us to fight each other. He's improved in the time he's been here. But if you want to live a normal life then why don't you visit Fluttershy's cottage and see her about a pet? She's bound to have a pet for you and your friends."
Rocket thought about it and decided that he liked the idea of owning a pet in Equestria. So with that in mind he wandered into the crowds and found his friends. One by one he told them about the idea Twilight had given him and saw their faces light up. Without having to be told he knew that they were all for having a pet. About four minutes after he left he returned with his friends and nodded to Twilight.
"We're unsure of where Fluttershy actually lives," Rocket said, lying between his teeth, "and were wondering if maybe you could show us the way?"
"I have a better idea," Twilight answered, her horn glowing before they realized they were standing outside a house, "I could just teleport you all directly to her house."
Knock...knock...knock..."Fluttershy, you in there?"
"Just a moment please, that is if you don't mind waiting," a voice on the other side of the door said, "Now eat your dinner Angel while I greet my guest."
When the door opened she found five ponies waiting for her and she let out a yeep before calming down.
"Twilight, I thought they were going to Pinkie's party," Fluttershy said, "Why are they here?"
"They're here for pets Fluttershy," Twilight answered, surprising her friend, "They want to live in Ponyville peacefully and normally, so I figured that a pet would do nicely."
"Oh, yes indeed," the mare said, moving out of the way to welcome them to her home, "Do you have any idea as to which pet you want or is this research for later on?"
"Let me ask you something," Wisdom said, "Do you have...a panda?"
"Oh, Mister Panda is in the kitchen eating bamboo right now," Fluttershy answered, the pegasus quickly disappearing from their sights, "He's...definitely like Pinkie. How about you, um, Tick Tock?"
"I was thinking of something ferocious," Tick said, a timberwolf jumping into the room suddenly and pinning Fluttershy to the ground, "Yeah, like this timberwolf for instance."
"Oh him?" Fluttershy asked, the little pup being picked up by the unicorn, "He's been trained to be good and he hasn't developed smelly breath, so I think you'll like him. And how about you Peachy?"
"I was thinking of a fox," Peachy said, looking around the room, "You know, a kind soul who might play a prank now and then?"
"Count me in on that action my dear," a voice said as a draconequus appeared in the room, "You know I love a good prank every now and then to lighten up the mood."
"Allow me to introduce Discord, the Spirit of Chaos," Twilight said, the creature crossing his arms and staring at her, "I'm sure the four of you have heard of him since you knew about me and my friends."
"Not as much as you might think we do," came Wisdom's voice.
"Ah yes, there is a fox named Sly around here somewhere," Fluttershy answered, "Now if only I could find him. Oh, there he is on the kitchen table."
Peachy literally bolted past Fluttershy and came face to face with the fox. The three remaining ponies sighed, though two of them turned to the stallion.
"And what about you?" Fluttershy asked, "What kind of a pet can we find for Rocket Sky?"
"I was thinking something exotic," Rocket replied, though he was unsure that she even had one around, "maybe like a Phoenix?"
Twilight and Fluttershy were a little shocked that he had such a majestic creature in mind for his pet. Twilight cast a look over to her friend and wondered if she even had one somewhere in her house. The mare shook her head, confirming her suspicions.
"I'm sorry, but I've never had a phoenix in my house before," Fluttershy said, "I mean I tried taking care of Princess Celestia's phoenix once, but that was years ago. I'm sure there are other animals you might have considered for a pet. Let me take care of your friends, that is if you don't mind."
What she meant was seal the deal between her and his three friends, which involved them naming the pets that they had chosen. Peachy decided to keep her fox's name while Tick elected to name the timber pup Splinter and Wisdom went with Spirit. As much as Rocket liked the idea of owning a pet he decided that he could wait until he officially settled in before getting one.
Though he couldn't help but notice that after he returned to the Library Twilight was writing something down and suspected it was going straight to Celestia. With it being nighttime he decided that he didn't care and pulled himself onto the bed that Twilight let him use while he stayed in the Library. He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep as the noise of the party faded into the distance.
"Come on sleepy head, we've got things to do today," a voice said in Rocket's dream, "I swear, Spike is easier to awaken than you are. Not that you can hear me right now. Otherwise you would be awake and we'd be on our way."
When Rocket failed to respond he was drenched in water. Yeah, he thought as he sat up, drenching a pony in water never gets old. I guess it's karma for drenching Tick back in Canterlot.
"I'm awake, I'm awake," he said, opening his eyes to see Twilight standing over him with another bucket full of water, "No need to drench me with water again."
"Just making sure," she said, putting the bucket against the wall before returning her attention to the unicorn, "Today the library will be closed, so I'm going to have you follow me."
Rocket sighed and got off the drenched bed, noticing a towel near the door. Wondering if his magic was still working he closed his eyes and concentrated on moving the towel over to him. If he put too much energy into it he could destroy the towel in an instant, but if he put too little into it it would barely move. He opened his eyes and found the towel hanging in front of his face, surrounded by a light blue aura, causing him to smile.
"I see your magic is intact," Twilight said, opening the door and walking through the frame as she headed downstairs, "That is good and will be of some aid to me."
"So, um, what are we doing?" Rocket asked, watching the alicorn mare gather some books and place them in a bag near what appeared to be an open portal. Magic swirled around in one spot, just floating in one place as Twilight gathered what she needed. Though a minute later she closed the bag and tossed it through the portal before turning to him.
"What we're doing is entering this portal," she answered, the front door opening and closing as Spike entered the library, "Ah Spike, right on time. Did you get the materials that I asked for?"
"Yeah yeah, I got them all," Spike said, pulling out a list and handing it to Twilight as he patted the pack on his back, "Even the ones that you said were hard to get I got regardless."
"You had Rainbow Dash help you didn't you?" Twilight asked, the baby dragon chuckling as he entered the portal, "I swear, I ask him not to involve my friends and that is what he does anyway. Now if you will follow me Rocket I will lead you to a special place."
Even as she said it she entered the portal and vanished from his sight, leaving Rocket alone in the library. He sighed and charged through the portal, the scenery quickly changing to a mountain range with a clearing already cleared out. Twilight stood near the edge, watching the other peaks as he approached, but he wondered what was up with the runes surrounding the area.
"So...where are we exactly?" he asked, wondering where Spike wandered off to.
"The mountain where a dragon once slept," Twilight answered, her mane flowing in the wind, "I wont bore you with the details, but I will tell you exactly what we will be doing here today. You will be learning magic under my tutoring and we'll see how much magical energy you have inside of you."
A pile of books landed in front of Rocket, causing him to take a step back as Twilight said, "I will have you start with these seven books. You will read each book and preform a spell in the area around you. The runes will restrict anything from passing out of the area and dispel it instantly. Spike and I will be watching from a nearby peak to observe your progress. As of now you are my student and I will teach you what I know."
An hour passed as Rocket read through the books that Twilight had left him. The mare had flown to the peak she shared with Spike after closing the portal, making it so Rocket couldn't leave the clearing. He didn't know how she was watching him, but he eagerly read the books that she gave him, suspending two in the air at a time. Magic, as he soon figured out, wasn't as simple as he suspected it was, but he actually enjoyed the challenge it presented.
"How is he doing Twilight?" Rainbow Dash asked, covering the two with a large cloud before joining them.
"He's been reading for the last hour," Spike answered, watching the mare pull out a Daring Do book, "So he hasn't been melding the surrounding to his will like he did to his friend's mouth yesterday."
"Oh, he's doing something," Twilight happily said, watching Rocket place his books on the ground, "Things should be getting interesting soon."
Rocket sighed and looked around the area, thinking about the spells he had just crammed into his head and wondered which he should use first. He spotted a small rock just laying on the flat surface and easily lifted it with his magic, suspending it like he did the books. With a simple thought the rock suddenly became an apple, but he changed it into an orange a second later. Then he had it shatter as if it was made of stone and the individual pieces turned into rocks the same size as the one he started with.
"That was interesting," Twilight commented, "He seems to have a general overview of magic."
"Great, now can he do some interesting tricks?" Rainbow asked, "Like open a portal to Daring Do's world for instance?"
"I have already told you that that is impossible," Twilight sighed, "I could move us through space with a portal, but I can't open a door to a fantasy world. And besides, I already asked Celestia about that and she told me it wasn't possible."
"Twilight, he's doing something," Spike said, the area slightly lighting up despite the sunlight.
Rocket raised his head and spikes of gemstone erupted from out of the ground, connecting together to form a cluster of different gems. Flames surrounded him before shooting off towards the cluster, making them glow with a fierce light that make his watchers cover their eyes. His magic worked hard on the gemstone cluster, working to shatter it into who knows how many pieces.
A pony with a light green coat and light blue mane happened to be walking through Ponyville when she noticed a fierce light shinning on top of the nearby mountain range. Her name, fake as it was, was supposed to be Salad Top, a mare who worked in fancy restaurants and served salads to the guests. She was a pegasus and she despised the disguise that she had donned to avoid being captured by the guards. Maybe, at long last, she had found the answer that would help her solve the puzzle of her mind.
Seeing how nopony else had noticed the glare she grinned and headed in the direction, her wings flapping furiously to arrive quickly. She may not be the fastest flyer in Equestria, but she could and would get there before she missed the action. She only hoped that there was nopony around the glowing light so she could get a closer look. When she got closer she stopped and quickly hid, seeing Twilight and Rainbow Dash near the site in question, but when she was what they were looking at she was surprised. Standing in the center of the clearing as a light blue coated unicorn stallion with a quill shaped cutie mark preforming high level magic.
"Conjuring is difficult for most to do," Twilight commented, "and controlling an element like fire is even tougher. I wonder what he plans on doing with that cluster of gemstones."
Rocket shouted and applied pressure with his magic, shattering the gemstone cluster into a thousand smaller pieces that rained down around him. He huffed and puffed, but he was glad that his magic had worked out in the end. Behind him the portal snapped open and Twilight rushed out, catching him as he collapsed on the ground. She smiled and lifted him into the air before reentering the portal and appearing in the library.
"Rest well my student," she said, placing him on the bed she was letting him use, "You've earned this rest."
She was sure that Spike was cleaning up the gemstone fragments and wouldn't be back for a couple of minutes, so she smiled and placed the beginners books back in their places. It wasn't normal for a unicorn to possess such strong magic and be able to such strong spells like Rocket had cast. But Twilight was one such unicorn who had strong magic when she was but a filly and was entering Celestia's school. Now she was an alicorn and was teaching a stallion who almost seemed like her in magic. She smiled and continued putting books away, humming a slight tune to herself.
Back on the mountain range Salad Top grinned and thought about the strange stallion she was sure she had never seen in Ponyville before. His magic seemed equal to that of Twilight herself, but without pitting the two against each other she had no way of knowing if she was right. First she had to think up a plan to turn the stallion against everypony and then use him to crush Celestia, Luna, Cadence, and that annoying Twilight.
But first she had to get back to her job before she ended up fired.
Peachy walked down the path that led straight to the Sweet Apple Acres farmhouse, where Applejack and her large family lived and worked. She knew from experience that she could turn to the left at any moment and wonder right to the front door of the Cutie Mark Crusader's tree house. Applejack had led her to the clubhouse the previous day, but they arrived to find that the Crusaders had already moved on to their next idea.
The clubhouse in question was noisy as she approached the stairway, which meant that the three fillies had yet to notice her arrival. She approached the door and knocked softly, clearly disrupting whatever the three were talking about.
"Who is it?" came from inside.
"Um...Peachy Keen," she nervously said, "I'm here to join the Cutie Mark Crusaders."
The door quickly opened and three fillies stood in front of her. Each of them were young and stood there gasping at her as she looked at them. She guessed that they were shocked at seeing an adult without a cutie mark.
"Wow," the white unicorn filly said, "I didn't know there were adults who didn't have their cutie marks. So Miss Peachy Keen, you want to join the Crusaders and earn your Cutie Mark?"
"Yeah," Peachy answered, "I'm guessing your Rarity's sister Sweetie Belle?"
"Yeah, how did you know that?" the filly asked.
"I met your sisters a while ago," Peachy said, "Applejack and Rarity are the nicest sisters I have ever seen. But we digress, you were saying about the Crusaders?"
"Yeah, these are my friends Applebloom and Scootaloo," Sweetie said, "Let's skip the welcome greeting and go crusading. We had plans on visiting the fancy restaurant Midsummer Retreat and trying our hooves at delivering food to tables. Before that we were planning on rock climbing and other activities."
"Well what are we waiting for?" Peachy asked, "Let's start crusading."
In her mind she had pictured climbing up the side of the mountain with pickaxes and climbing gear, but she was very disappointed. Climbing up the side of a small cliff with just a rope securing them together. She could have sworn that the crusaders had already done that and were trying stuff again. Peachy didn't really mind, as long as she tried to get her cutie mark and theirs she would try anything.
Stupid customers saying that their food was too tender and taking it out on me , Salad thought as she returned the order to the kitchen, Faust almighty, sometimes I really hate this job.
The customers that visited the Midsummer Retreat were always rich and famous. Ponies reserved their seats ahead of when they would visit so they didn't have to wait in line. Despite being located in Ponyville they were visited by famous ponies known throughout ponyland, with the exception being royalty. Midsummer Retreat also had a thing for allowing fillies to come in and help around in any way so that they might find their Cutie Marks. And as Salad emerged from the kitchen she saw three fillies and an adult earth pony waiting, each of them missing their Cutie Marks.
"Welcome to Midsummer Retreat," she said, approaching the group, "I'm Salad Top and I'm guessing you four are here for our special program?"
"We are," Scootaloo said, "Cutie Mark Crusaders Restaurant Helpers at your service."
Salad resisted the urge to laugh as she smiled at the group. "Just one moment," she said, "I'll get the manager and he'll point you in the right direction."
That was the truth. The manager wanted all those who came for the Cutie Mark program to be reported to him so he could put them where he believed they could be of great help. It was almost like he was trying to get free labor at the expense of them earning their marks, but he was trying to help the society out. So Salad quickly trotted to the manager's room and quickly informed him of the group, which made him spring out of his chair and rush to his new guests.
An adult without a Cutie Mark, she thought, Interesting. She must be one of the four who came to Ponyville yesterday. She has to be friends with that unicorn whose training under Twilight right now. All I have to do is follow them and...oh dang it, I've got another order to complete.
As Salad moved a tray of food out to the designated table she got a glimpse of the four she had just met, and nearly dropped the tray. The fillies were running around with empty plates, crashing into each other as the adult tried to quell their chaos. She was unsuccessful as Discord appeared out of nowhere to add to the chaos, making the fillies run around with lightning clouds following them. Salad sighed and presented the tray to the ponies she had been walking towards, trying to ignore the mayhem happening behind her.
"It does me good to help others find their destinies," the manager said to another table, "but there are times where it can get out of hoof. And the Spirit of Chaos adding to the mess isn't helping very much."
"Fine you stubborn old pony," Discord said, snapping his fingers and the room retuning to normal, "I'll leave and have some small fun elsewhere."
After Discord vanished the fillies and Peachy tried again, this time not dropping the trays and shattering the plates that rested on them. Salad and the manager were impressed, but to the dismay of the four nothing appeared on their flanks. The manager cheered the fillies up as Salad returned to the employee room to clear her head.
I need to follow them and see if that mare is friends with that stallion, she thought, but I can't leave until my lunch break and that isn't for another hour. I guess I'll have to involve one of my followers to resolve this matter. Number 067, do you hear me?
Yes my Queen, a voice spoke in her head, I can hear you. What will you have me do?
I need you to follow a group that is going to be leaving the Midsummer Retreat soon, Salad thought back, three fillies and a adult mare, each with no Cutie Mark. I need you to follow the adult mare and find out if she's friends with that unicorn stallion I saw earlier.
I will do as you command, the voice replied, quickly fading from her head.
Salad smirked and got up, passing by the storage room and realizing something. "Ah dang it," she said, the chiefs looking at her, "We're out of tomatoes. Guess I'll go buy some more."
Peachy and the Crusaders walked down the street, each of them thinking about what they could do to earn their Cutie Marks. Sure there were a ton of ideas that they could do, but the fact was they needed a lot of materials to do each one and they weren't sure what they should do first.
"Um...excuse me?" a voice behind them said, "Are you one of the four new arrivals?"
The four turned around and found an adult earth pony standing behind them. Her coat was a bright lime green color and her mane was a pale yellow. On her flank was a Cutie Mark that looked like a rose with petals surrounding it. From what Peachy saw it seemed that the mare was nice and a little shy, just like Fluttershy was.
"Yeah, I am," Peachy said, extending a hoof to the mare, "The names Peachy Keen. My friends are around, somewhere. What's your name?"
"Rose Petal," the mare answered immediately, shaking her hoof, "I grow roses. Maybe I can help you four earn your Cutie Marks in gardening."
"Ah, that sounds lame," Scootaloo said, "Can't we try something dangerous?"
"Now Scoots, this mare is willing to help us," Sweetie said, "We should take her up on her offer and see what happens."
"Fine," Scootaloo sighed, "We'll try our hooves at gardening for once."
"Follow me then," Rose said, turning towards a house with a bunch of roses, "I may live near the center of the town, but its always a good idea to help others learn their destinies."
As they entered the house Peachy got the sense that somepony was watching them and turned around, quickly noticing the mare from the restaurant walk on by. She seemed to be buying tomatoes, so Peachy turned around and followed the others into the house. She was unaware of the mare turning around and watching them enter the house before turning to buy the tomatoes. Maybe Peachy was imagining things, but the feeling of being watched never did go away as the door closed behind her.
It was nighttime in Ponyville and Rocket was restless. That was understandable due to the fact that he had expanded much of his magical energy earlier that day and had fallen after practicing. He needed to understand his magic and focus it without losing much of his energy in the process. So after sleeping for the majority of the day he had awoken to find the town was asleep and silent, but as he made his way out of the library he grabbed an apple.
While he walked through the quiet town he thought that there would have been somepony, anypony, busy in some sort of manner. He sighed as he remembered that Princess Luna was likely awake and checking on the sleeping ponies by entering their dreams. Rocket was hoping to meet the Night Princess one of these days, as well as actually meeting her sister Celestia and Princess Cadence. For now he was content to enjoy the night sky and gaze at the stars, though he was quite sure he saw the formation of Orion's Belt.
He heard a noise down the alley he had just passed and paused before turning around to see what had happened. It was the sound of a snake hissing, but as he peered down the dark alley he saw nothing that resembled a snake. He figured that any snake, or animal for that matter, would be found at Fluttershy's cottage and not lost in an alley in Ponyville. But as he took a step forwards a figure stepped out of the shadows, revealing the black coated changeling waiting for him.
"Rocket Sky," the Changeling said, approaching him as he backed up, "We have been waiting for you. Come along quietly and we promise we won't hurt you...much."
"You need to get your facts straight," Rocket nervously countered, trying to sound brave while he was freaked out, "there is only one of you and one of me. I am pretty sure I can take on a single Changeling all by myself."
"Whoever said I was alone?" the Changeling asked, grinning as at least a dozen more Changelings stepped out of the shadows and surrounded Rocket.
Rocket looked at the Changelings around him and carefully considered his options. He could reveal their existence to the townsponies and they'd get Twilight to reveal their true selves. He could stand and fight with whatever magic he still had left. Or he could run away and hopefully escape them long enough to return to the library.
"When you put it that way," Rocket said, taking a small step backwards, "I guess I'll..."
The Changelings never caught the rest of what he was going to say as Rocket jumped over the Changelings behind him and began running towards the edge of the town. When the Changelings regained themselves one of them, likely the one that had talked to Rocket, shouted something and they flew after him. But Rocket didn't look back as he ran past the edge of the town and entered the Everfree Forest. After a couple of minutes he stopped when he heard the Changelings hissing at each other, clearly discussing if they should follow him or not.
"Should we follow him into the cursed forest?" one of them asked, lifting a hole riddled hoof in his direction, "Who knows what we'll find while we're in there."
"There isn't much to be afraid of," another said, "Twilight Sparkle and her friends have dealt with all sorts of creatures from within these woods. Many of them are scared of ponies now and should run when they realize we're here. If worst comes to worst we can always tell Queen Chrysalis that we lost him in the forest and send her after him."
"I'd rather not involve the Queen," a third whined, "She'll punish us for losing him and exclude us from the next invasion."
"Quiet you fools," a fourth, the same that talked to Rocket and he assumed that one was the leader, "We will tell Chrysalis we are following him into the forest and do just that. If she decides to enter the forest and look for him then that is her business and nothing we have to worry about. The Queen can take care of herself without us for a while."
Rocket turned around and, despite the dangers that he knew were waiting for him, ran deeper into the forest, ignoring the sounds the Changelings were making. Now he knew that Chrysalis, the Queen of the Changelings, was looking for him and would stop at nothing to have him. Why he did not know, but he suspected that it wasn't anything good. If she wanted him that badly then he'll bait her out and take her down himself. Provided he didn't get nervous and run away like he did when the Changeling revealed themselves.
"You fools," Chrysalis said, not screaming her anger because that would awaken the whole of Ponyville, "You let him escape. I said that I needed the stallion alive and well, but instead of listening to me you decided to confront him. You could have just knocked him out with magic, but now you have made things harder for us. Be happy that I am feeling merciful and am willing to give you a second chance at finding him. Go into the trees and locate Rocket Sky before I squash ALL OF YOU."
The thirteen Changelings that had tried to ambush Rocket scrambled into the trees and soon disappeared from her sight, except for one that stayed next to her. The Changeling was number 067, the one she had sent to spy on Rocket and his weird friends. The alternate plan was to kidnap one of the three and force Rocket to surrender himself to save the one they took. From what she learned it seemed that Wisdom was a bad idea, due to his Pinkie abilities, and Tick they were actually unsure of. Peachy could be the perfect target, but they needed more information before making their move. Unless they caught Rocket now and put that plan to rest.
"Return to your house," Chrysalis ordered, surprising the Changeling, "I have no further use for you. Continue your mission until we obtain Rocket Sky."
"Yes my Queen," 067 said, bowing slightly before disappearing from sight.
Chrysalis smiled and looked at the trees, sighing as she took a step into the forest. In case her soldiers failed to find Rocket she wanted to make sure that he was alive and well. Maybe she'll capture him in the process and end this charade she has been playing for months. If that came to pass then the empire of Celestia would fall and the Changelings would rule all of Equestria.
Rocket was in a bind; he was lost in the Everfree forest and he had a small group of Changelings chasing him. Worse of all Chrysalis was somewhere in the forest looking for him. Oh, and the creatures that lived in the forest were awake and aware of his presence, which meant he was in trouble.
There was a snap of some twigs and he jumped to the right as he barely avoided a dart from behind. The Changelings were resorting to using knockout darts on him instead of magic. He growled and turned around, quickly taking count of the enemy before continuing on. All thirteen Changelings were right behind him and they were gaining fast.
"Catch him," one of them shouted, "Bind his legs and present him to the Queen."
"Enslave his power," another yelled, "Bind his mind to the Hive forever."
The Changelings were freaking Rocket out until their constant talking was suddenly snuffed out and replaced with cries of agony. It made Rocket pause in mid stride and turn around. Where the Changelings should have been was an open area of earth freshly carved into the ground with thirteen bodies scattered about. The Changelings were moaning, but something didn't sit well with him. Then he heard the bone chilling roar of a certain bear that he had not expected to hear. Rocket looked up and, instead of seeing the sky above him, he saw a purple colored creature with stars in its body standing directly over him.
It wasn't the night sky, but an Ursa Major.
Chrysalis, who had been following Rocket Sky the entire time, also felt her bones chill when she saw the Ursa Major standing over the unicorn. If she wanted the power to overthrow Celestia she was going to have to wait, because there was no way that the stallion was going to defeat the Ursa Major on his own. Only one Major had ever been brought down in all of history and it was unlikely that the feat was going to be repeated.
Rocket teleported behind the Ursa Major, just far enough to be out of range, and the beast tossed him into a tree as soon as he landed. How the creature had known where he would appear was beyond him, but the pain was real. His back hurt and he could have sworn that he had several broken ribs. He coughed blood and weakly stared up at the creature that stood over him, its paw raised high above its head.
Not too far away, visiting the dreams of a certain weather captain in Ponyville, was Princess Luna. She sat on a cloud and watched over the dreams of ponies everywhere. She even decided that tonight she was going to dive into the dreams of Twilight Sparkle and see what she could learn about the unicorn Rocket Sky.
As she entered Twilight's dream she quickly realized that she was reliving a recent memory about the unicorn stallion. She, Twilight, Spike, and rainbow sat together on a mountain ridge, watching the stallion perform some basic magic skills before moving on to the more extreme spells. Such as summoning pure gemstone, a lot of it in fact, but shattering it into a thousand of tiny shards was something else. The stallion, Rocket Sky, had some powerful magic of his own and Luna could understand why her sister wanted to keep a close eye on him.
Luna removed herself from Twilight's dreams and instead searched for the dreams of Rocket Sky. But even as she tried to locate him she noticed that he was not asleep and was somewhere around Ponyville. Then she heard the roar of an Ursa Major and quickly returned to her body, her wings spread as she leapt off her cloud. Flying quickly, and forgetting Rocket Sky, she raced towards the Major to see what the trouble was. When she arrived she noticed there was a large clearing with the Major standing over a blue coated pony. The same pony Luna had been told about.
Weakling.
The word hung in the air as if somepony had spoken to everypony around, though it seemed to have an effect on Rocket. His magic woke on its own accord and began to concentrate above his horn, which quickly took the form of an orb. The Ursa Major didn't seem to care much was its paw began to descend on the poor stallion and Luna knew that even if she were to act it would likely cost her Rocket Sky's life and many broken bones for her. And just before the Ursa could strike the unicorn into the trees the orb shot forth like a beam of pure energy and pierced the right side of the Major's stomach.
In that instant the Ursa Major crumbled backwards, a hole where its heart was supposed to be. In that same instant the stallion fell to the ground, his magic spent yet again. Luna, unbelieving of the event that happened before her eyes, quickly picked up the stallion and vanished from the Everfree Forest. She reappeared in Twilight's library and set the stallion in the bed he was supposed to be using. She was surprised and shocked, but questions would have to wait for another day.
Besides, now she really had a reason to watch over the stallion then what her sister had told her.
"Of all the dumb luck in the world," Chrysalis said, pacing around the room like a rabid dog, "We had him cornered and yet he managed to escape. Thirteen Changeling soldiers, defeated before touching him. Damn that Ursa Major, at least it died."
Around her, occupying the beds on the second story of Rose Petal's house, were the same thirteen Changelings that had been defeated while they were following Rocket Sky. The unicorn was lucky to have defeated the Ursa Major with his sudden rush of power, but Chrysalis was sure he remembered nothing. When and if he awoke he was bound to remember nothing, which meant that he didn't know the Changelings were following him.
"And of course the Princess of the Night would show her face when the Major roared," Chrysalis continued, "She would only appear to see what the trouble was and to see if she could fix it without harming herself in the process. This is absolute torture. The stallion is here in the town, sleeping in the library, and we can't move because Twilight will notice us when we try to enter."
Rose Petal sat by the door to the second story and listened to the Queen rant on and on about her failure to capture the stallion. She honestly thought it was annoying to hear her speak about kidnapping a pony and harnessing their power to attack and defeat Celestia. She was tired of war and deceit, but as a Changeling she had her orders. She couldn't exactly disobey her Queen without some type of punishment.
A slight knock on her front door brought her back to reality and silenced the Queen in an instant. Rose gave a slight chuckle as she walked down the stairs after locking the door behind her. She had told the Queen that she was expecting a guest and it was painfully clear that she had nearly forgotten while she was ranting. Rose opened the door and found Peachy Keen, the pony she was supposed to be watching, waiting on the other side.
"Hey Rose Petal," the mare said, "You ready to go?"
"Of course I am Peachy," Rose answered, closing the door behind her before the mare could enter the house, "I have been waiting to meet the rest of your friends since I met you. Especially the one called Rocket Sky. He must be a pegasus of amazing speed and wing power."
"Oh, he's not a pegasus," Peachy said, startling her friend as they started for the library, "Rocket is a unicorn. His parents named him Rocket Sky hoping that he would be a pegasus, but were unwilling to change when they discovered he was a unicorn. Truth be told I don't know how much magical power he has, but he has the basic skills that any unicorn has."
Rose held her tongue. She didn't want to say that she knew exactly how much power he had because Chrysalis continued to tell her what he had done. Truth be told she wanted to hear everything from Rocket and his friends, not from the Queen. As far as she could tell she was unique among Changelings; she could actually feel emotions. Not like her brothers and sisters who fed on emotions, she actually had love and hate of her own.
"Rocket is our leader," Peachy continued, bringing Rose back to reality, "After we woke up in Canterlot after our party he took command and got us out of there. We came here and he answered the questions that Twilight wanted answered. He's a good pony and he is kind to others. Oh, there's the library."
True enough the library was right in front of them. Where Rose was expecting nopony to be around there were the rest of Twilight's friends and the other two ponies who had arrived with Rocket Sky. Tick Tock was playing his guitar, playing some tune that Rose was unfamiliar with but actually liked a bit. Inner Wisdom, the pony who had harassed Chrysalis in disguise, was writing something down as he watched over them all, thought he spoke to Pinkie quite a bit.
"Hey Peachy," Tick said, lifting a hoof as the two approached, "Whose your friend?"
"Rose Petal," Peachy answered, "She's helping me find my Cutie Mark and I figured that the best way to repay her is to let her met the rest of my friends. Get her to know the rest of us and hopefully everypony will be friends by the end of the day."
"That's cool," Wisdom said, pulling up in front of Rose and looking over her carefully, "I hope you know what you're getting into Peachy."
"Of course I do," Peachy replied, wondering if he knew something that she didn't, "Anyway, where's Rocket and Twilight?"
"Inside the library," Pinkie said, hopping around happily, "They've been doing something and won't come out."
"I was reading a letter Pinkie," Twilight said, the door opening to show the alicorn waiting for them, "and Rocket has been resting. It seems he was practicing his magic last night and exhausted himself before he was able to return. Apparently Princess Luna brought him back and failed to wake me up. But he's here in case you want to talk to him."
Inside the library the entire group was shocked to see Rocket standing by a window, twirling a gem in midair while he read from a book. Spike was sitting below the gem, waiting for the stallion to drop it so he could eat it. Rocket looked up and smiled as he noticed the group, closing the book while keeping the gem suspended.
"I see you're improving," Twilight commented, "Levitation isn't easy for beginners."
"I think we have established that I am not a beginner," Rocket said, allowing the gem to drop into Spike's awaiting claws, "Besides, I need a break before I try anything too dangerous. Who is this?"
"The names Rose Petal," Rose said, stepping forward to see the stallion fully, "I'm helping Peachy discover her Cutie Mark and she decided to repay me by allowing me to meet the rest of her friends. You must be the infamous Rocket Sky."
"I don't know about infamous," Rocket commented, "but it appears that more and more are coming to meet me the more I stay here. Just an hour ago Vinyl and Octavia came by to drop off Tick for the day and I got to formally introduce myself."
Lucky, Peachy thought, I wish I could actually meet Vinyl and not miss her every chance I get.
"She also reminded us that Nightmare Night is only a few days away," Rocket continued, the entire group, excluding Rarity, gasping at once, "I take it the town is unprepared?"
"No no no," Twilight said, hurrying into her study, "I was so caught up teaching and making sure the town was stable that I forgot that Nightmare Night was around the corner. There is so much to do in so little time. Girls, we must prepare immediately."
Sure enough Twilight and her friends, save for Rarity, left the library to prepare for the special night.
"Ugh, such a dreadful night that is," Rarity said, looking over the five remaining ponies, "but that doesn't mean I won't accept a challenge. Come along and I will make costumes for the lot of you. Costumes that will put the scare into the rest of the town."
Rose had a feeling that something big was going to happen on Nightmare Night. Something that was either related to Chrysalis or not at all. And Rocket Sky was going to be the center of everything, she was sure of it.
Chrysalis walked around Ponyville and came to a stop in front of the fountain, looking around for any sign of the stallion she was trying to capture. Now that Nightmare Night was upon them she and her fully healed soldiers could blend in without raising suspicion. Except for the fact that Pinkie and Wisdom seemed to keep their eyes on her whenever they were around her, which almost seemed to be all the time.
"Come on guys," Peachy, dressed up like Miku the Vocaloid, not that she told anypony who she was, with her fox on her head, said, "Nightmare Night is upon us."
Peachy and the rest of the gang, who could make it to the meeting at the library, waited patiently for Twilight, Spike, and Rocket to emerge. Tick was dressed up in the strangest suit in the world and had a huge hat with a 10/6 sign and some feathers on top of his head. He was supposed to be the Mad Hatter and he was great thanks to Rarity's work. Wisdom was dressed up in a green full body suit, though he said he was supposed to be a ninja of some kind. Everypony else, meaning Twilight and her friends, were dressed up as they were last time and they knew why Twilight was because she had told them before they had arrived.
"Where's Rocket?" Peachy asked, wondering why he hadn't stepped out the door yet.
"He's putting the finishing touches on his costume," Twilight said, smiling as the group silently waited for a minute. "Okay, seriously, it doesn't take that long to finish putting on a costume."
There was the sound of glass shattering, followed by a wolf like howl, which caused them to enter the library and find...no Rocket Sky. There was a broken window on the second story in Twilight's room, but other than that the place looked the exact same as it had before.
"Great, we have a werepony on the loose," Rainbow said, turning to Twilight and flying up close to her, "What did you do to him?"
"Me?" Twilight asked, taking a step backwards, "I didn't do anything to Rocket. I suggest that we begin searching immediately before something happens to somepony."
There was a scream and Peachy said, "Well, it looks like something might have already happened. Let's get moving."
Rocket grinned as he hid in an alleyway, surprised that his trick had worked so well. Getting up close to a pony in his current state wasn't easy, but he did and ended up scaring the life out of what looked like Bonbon. Still he should have felt something for scaring the poor mare besides the joy he felt. He peeked his head around the corner and scouted out who was roaming the streets until he noticed the Crusaders down the street. They were the perfect opportunity that he couldn't pass up.
"Look Twilight," Rarity said, moving a trash can to the up right position while the rest of the group moved on, "I know we agreed to help create the illusion, but this almost feels like we've gone too far. Can't you just cancel the spell and return him to normal?"
"I will when we find him," Twilight replied, though she pretended not to know anything, "besides, Luna should be here any minute to join the fun."
As Twilight flew after her friends she failed to hear Rarity say, "Sometimes I wonder what's gotten into you Twilight."
Princess Luna sat on her chariot as it approached Ponyville and her eyes scanned the streets. She wanted to know where the majority of the fun was supposed to be so she could easily get things in the spring she wanted them to be in. Plus she had to make sure that Rocket Sky was alright and wasn't suffering from his experience with the Ursa Major, but considering she had yet to answer to her sister Luna suspected that Rocket didn't remember a thing.
She heard a scream and watched the mare named Bonbon run down a street. but from what she couldn't tell. So, deciding not to waste anymore time, Luna unfurled her wings and headed down into the town, landing in front of Twilight and her group. Her appearance was met with pleasant comments, but she kept her eye out for whatever scared the innocent mare.
"Oh Princess Luna," Rainbow said, "we've got a slight problem on our hooves. It seems that Rocket Sky might actually be a werepony and is out in the town somewhere scaring ponies silly."
"A werepony you say?" Luna asked, pondering the events as they unfolded, "There should be none of those left in existence. Let us see if we can find Rocket Sky and determine the truth of this little mystery."
Chrysalis, now surrounded by fourteen Changeling soldiers, grinned and proclaimed, "Kneel before your new Queen you pathetic worms. I am the true Changeling Queen Chrysalis, Queen of the Swarm. Prepare to be conquered tonight on the night you lower your guards the most. Prepare to become food for my soldiers."
Everypony around them stared at her and started laughing as they went about their night, ignoring the Changeling Queen and her soldiers.
"Bu...but...but...," Chrysalis said, unbelieving that she was being foiled yet again, "come on here. I am the TRUE Changeling Queen. How are you not running around and screaming in terror?"
"Told you this wouldn't work," one of them, number 067, said as she separated herself from the group, "now I am going to hang with Peachy Keen and her friends for the night. See you around 'Chrysalis'."
Chrysalis hung her head in defeat and walked to the nearest bar, her soldiers unsure if they should follow her or leave her alone.
"My Queen?" one of them, the leader from the previous ambush, asked, "Are you alight?"
"I'm fine," she said, waving a hoof in a dismissing manner, "Go have fun and what not. Try to gather some useful data and such while I drink myself away. I will call you if I need you."
The Changeling nodded and then the group left, following whichever pony they could find after leaving the fountain area. Chrysalis watched them and laid her head on the table of what seemed like a familiar restaurant.
"And what would you like this fine evening?" the waiter, the same one that served Wisdom and Pinkie, asked.
"Got anything that makes you drunk by chance?" Chrysalis asked.
"I do believe we have some whiskey that was just delivered recently," the waiter answered, "Would you like some?"
"I think I'll take a whole bottle just to be sure," Chrysalis said, "and don't bother with a glass please."
"Right away Madam," the waiter said, vanishing into the store as she returned to watching the streets.
Apple Bloom and her friends ran down the street screaming, passing by Twilight and her now larger group. Luna caught something about a werepony in an alleyway and marched up the street, looking for the pony responsible for the tricks. As she looked she couldn't help but notice that a earth pony mare, dressed up like a Changeling of all things, had joined the group and was chatting with Peachy Keen. Luna was about to comment when something jumped her and she threw it off, tossing it into the open area.
"You're ruining my fun you know," the pony said, looking up to see Luna staring at him, "but if it's the Lunar Princess then I guess I'm cool with it."
"What? No fighting or begging?" Luna asked, shocked that the pony was even bothering to talk to her, "Well that's boring to say the least. And I thought wereponies weren't supposed to actually talk like a normal pony would."
"Then that means the illusion is strong," the stallion said, smiling a bit at her shocked face, "What? Did you honestly think that I was a real werepony running around scaring everypony I could find? Nah, I'm just a unicorn who had some help on his costume for Nightmare Night."
Sure enough the illusion faded until a normal looking Rocket Sky was standing there. He was wearing some sort of garments that allowed him to change his appearance at will, which had no doubt come from Twilight.
"Twilight, did you know about this?" Luna asked, turning to see the alicorn mare laughing.
"Of course I knew about it," Twilight answered, "Rarity was designing costumes for him and his friends when he came up with this little trick of his. Rarity designed the garments you see around his legs and I enchanted them. When I said he was putting the finishing touches on his costume I meant that he was getting ready to being his charade. Nicely done by the way."
"Thanks Twilight," Rocket said, "I couldn't have done it without your help and Rarity's lovely garments."
"Then you'll be taking them with you when we capture you," a voice behind him said, causing him to turn around and come face to face with a tall skinny dragon.
The dragon was black scaled and stared down at him, while two more appeared behind him. The other two were blue scaled and violet scaled. All Rocket knew was that he was in trouble.
"What in the name of Faust are you three doing here?" Luna demanded, surprising Rocket and his friends with her choice of words, "You know the treaty makes it very clear that dragons are to stay in Dragon Territory and never directly come into any of our towns, cities, or settlements."
"Um, I honestly don't care," the black dragon said, clearly ignoring what the Lunar Princess had said, "Besides, we have no beef with you and the other Princesses currently. Sapphire, Violet, entertain our audience while I get what we came for."
"I always wanted to beat up some ponies," the blue dragon, Sapphire, cheerfully said as she approached a couple of bystanders.
"Keep your eyes on the prize Obsidian," Violet reminded the black dragon, "Keep your eyes on the prize."
"Come on sugarcube, let's fight them," Applejack was ready to go and defend those that the dragons were planning on hitting, "We can't let them hurt anypony."
"We physically can't do that Applejack," Twilight replied, hanging her head low, "The treaty Luna spoke of makes it so that any member of royalty, be they pony or dragon, that attacks any members of the other race declares open war."
"So we'll lose two of our fighters," Rainbow said, staring at the blue dragon, "Why should that matter to the rest of us?"
"Because the Elements of Harmony are included on the list of those who can cause open warfare," Obsidian declared, "We three aren't royalty, so our actions here won't cause a war."
"You still haven't answered me," Luna said, making the dragon face her, "Why are you here?"
Obsidian sighed and wrapped his hand around Rocket's neck quickly, turning towards the alicorn while holding his prisoner.
"See this pony in my hand?" he asked angrily, "He has an enormous amount of energy stored inside his body, just waiting to be released. How do we know he has that much energy? We can feel the magic in the air and we felt it only a few days ago when he released quite a large amount of it. We will turn the power of Rocket Sky against you all and then we'll eradicate the mare who holds power over everything in the whole of Equestria."
Chrysalis, having drunk herself into a drunken haze, looked up from her table to see some black creature holding the stallion she wanted to kidnap. She was sure that it was her mind playing tricks on her, but being drunk has that strange effect on ponies. She grinned her teeth and stood up, almost knocking the table over as she started walking towards the assembled group.
Behind her, now noticing the conflict before it happened, was the waiter who was supposed to have the night off and was working instead. He sighed and conjured his old set of armor, complete with a sword he used in case his magic were to ever fail him. Now properly prepared he walked behind the Changeling Queen, as she claimed to be anyway, and prepared to join the fight.
"You will not be taking Rocket anywhere you punk," Tick said, pulling his guitar out and plucking another nameless tune, "not if we have a say in it."
Wisdom hovered next to him, holding some sort of long wooden staff in his hooves, never taking his eyes off the dragons in front of him. Peachy, holding no weapon, stood next to her friends and her fox growled at the dragons. Rose growled and hoofed the ground, breaking the soil as she waited for one to strike.
"We can't just leave the fighting to them," Rainbow said, trying to join the fight but being pulled back by Twilight's magic.
"Yes we can Rainbow Dash," Twilight told her, "We can't cause war between the dragons and ponies. Let them do this since they aren't royal or part of the Elements of Harmony."
Wisdom flew over the two dragons as Tick unleashed a storm of musical waves at them, causing the dragons to advance towards him. He smiled and raised the guitar high above his head, preparing to smash it over the head of whichever dragon got near him first. Before he could even swing it Sapphire ripped it out of his magical grasp and slammed it into Tick's side, hitting him into the side of a building.
"Tick." Peachy shouted, turning on Sapphire and charging at her.
"Peachy, don't..." Wisdom said, realizing what was about to happen.
The dragon kicked Peachy in the side again and again until she was kneeling in the ground. Never had she tried to fight others and now when she did she was being beaten before raising a hoof.
"Oh no you didn't." Wisdom said, having tried to help his friends only to be stopped by Violet, "Your going down."
"Try it you stupid pony," Violet smirked, catching the end of the staff before receiving a hoof in her face.
Wisdom released his staff and slammed it into Violet's front foot, easily cracking the bones. The dragon growled and punched him in the chest, but he bounced back and struck her in her left armpit. Bone cracked and Violet screamed in pain, confused on how the staff was hurting her so much.
"Your pressure points are visible to me," Wisdom calmly said, turning the staff over until he slammed it on top of her head and knocked her out, "Now to rescue Rocket."
Before he could move Sapphire appeared in front of him and slammed her fist into his chest, which he blocked with his staff just in time. Unfortunately the staff shattered and her fist hit him square in the chest, cracking at least one of his ribs before he hit the ground. The blue dragon, he decided, was a monster in battle.
"Pitiful weaklings," Sapphire said, catching Rose by the neck and tossing her into a nearby building, "None of you are worth the effort it takes to fight you. Rocket Sky is as good as ours."
"Super Hoof of the Drunken Mare," Chrysalis shouted, her front right hoof blazing as she snuck up on Obsidian and struck him in the side, "Blazing Whiskey Punch."
Obsidian, after receiving the extremely weak punch, turned on the Changeling Queen and tossed her over Sapphire's head, causing her to hit the ground hard. She was quick to regain herself and charged at the blue dragon in her way, barely missing with her hoof this time. Before she could dodge she was moved out of Sapphire's way by magic, which turned out to be the waiter that had served her earlier. Only he was dressed in the armor of a Lunar Guard and carried what resembled a sword on his back.
"Ah, it is good to see you again Coffee Bean," Luna said, clearly pleased to see the unicorn stallion.
"Princess Luna, I take it an old captain has permission to engage the enemy?" the stallion asked, not taking his eyes off the dragons in front of him.
"Do what you must," Luna replied, turning to the letter she was only just starting to write.
"Who are you to interrupt our fun?" Sapphire asked, watching the stallion draw the sword on his back with his magic.
"The name is Coffee Bean," the stallion replied, holding the sword before him, "Ex-Captain of the Lunar Guard and personal mentor of one Captain Shining Armor."
Chrysalis, despite her drunken haze, knew the reputation the stallion had. She had heard of him while listening to Shining talk about his past while she was impersonating Princess Cadence. Coffee Bean was a legend among the Lunar and Solar Guards.
Sapphire charged at the stallion and swung her open hand at him, intending to rend the life out of him in one go, but found her attack blocked by the weapon he held. Coffee pushed his foe back and cut her chest lightly, causing her to think the wound was greater than what it actually was and faint. He smirk and approached the black dragon, spinning the sword as moved. Obsidian never moved once as his friends fell and that meant he was planning something.
Obsidian smirked and tossed Rocket into the air before rushing towards Coffee Bean and spinning around to dodge the arch of his sword. Before the stallion could react he slammed his fist into the armor and dented it before kicking it even harder, this time shattering the underbelly. Coffee stumbled backwards and, before he could even raise his sword in defense, received another blow to the chest, this time causing him to flip into the air. Obsidian appeared above him and slammed his fist into Coffee's exposed chest, crushing him into the ground and cracking the area around them.
Before catching Rocket Obsidian turned towards Chrysalis, if it truly was her, and smacked her across the face before slamming her into the ground. Then he caught Rocket by the horn and held him up, showing that not even the group of heroes could save the unicorn from his fate.
"You will claim to not know the power that this pony wields?" Obsidian asked, not that anypony had said that they didn't know he had power, "You will claim to know that he is trustworthy and all the nonsense that I know you'll claim to actually know. But allow me to show you exactly how powerful this unicorn truly is when he's not aware of his own actions."
With that said Obsidian raised Rocket into the air and slammed the base of his horn across his waiting keen, breaking the unicorn's horn in half. The shockwave that emitted after the deed was done knocked over Chrysalis and Coffee Bean, but everypony was surprise by the expression they saw on Rocket's face. His expression was of shock and his eyes were not moving, just staring straight ahead.
Pathetic.
Luna recognized the voice; it was the same one that had spoken that one word before Rocket took down the Ursa Major. Whatever the voice was didn't seem happy at all.
Without me you would have died. This time will be different.
Music
"What is this strange music?" Twilight asked, looking around for the source, but finding nothing.
Energy began to gather around Rocket as one of his legs got up, but instead of it being a normal pony leg it was the leg of a werepony. As Rocket got up it almost looked like his costume had come alive and was taking over, but his eyes were colored black with a golden center. When he was fully up he roared and almost everypony in the area seemed scared by what had happened.
"This is what we get for watching Bleach before eating those damned cupcakes," Peachy said, watching her poor friend as his horn regenerated itself.
"Instant Regeneration?" Luna asked, "That's impossible."
Obsidian laughed and said, "This is the form the creature known as Rocket Sky has chosen. Fear this form and the massive power that it contains."
Rocket grabbed Obsidian and tossed him into the air, surprising the dragon. Before he could react he was battered from every side by the quickest moving pony he had ever met. Just when he thought it was over he was thrown higher into the sky and he barely noticed his friends had joined him. Rocket landed on the ground and looked up at the three, energy beginning to form above his horn again.
Music
"Stop him," Peachy pleaded to anypony who would listen, "Stop him before he fires that...thing..."
Rose, despite her weakened form, ran up to the stallion and pounded on his chest. "Snap out of it Rocket," she shouted, the orb growing larger, "Don't do something that you'll regret."
Despite her efforts the orb fired and a huge wide beam of energy soared towards the three dragons in the sky and she feared that she was too late.
"Screen Divide," a voice shouted as the beam split in half and barely missed the dragons as they soared off into the distance.
Rocket growled as none other than Princess Celestia landed in front of him with Cadence right behind her.
"His power is great," Celestia said, her magic bound to Rocket's front right leg, "but it shall be bound."
Luna and Cadence followed suit, binding their magic to his front left leg and his back left leg. Twilight nodded and bound his back right leg, sealing the power by the combined might of the four alicorns. Rocket gave a low growl as his body returned to normal and collapsed to the ground.
"Now we all must discuss this turn of events," Celestia said, turning to leave, "but first we must wipe this night from the minds of everypony in Ponyville and deliver these dragons to the guards."
That was all Peachy remembered before everything went blank.
XII: Forbidden Conversation
"Luna, what in Faust's name are you withholding from me?"
That was the question that Celestia asked her sister as the Princesses transported the body of Rocket Sky directly to Canterlot after taming his power. His friends Wisdom, Peachy, Tick, and the pony dressed as a Changeling were left behind with the rest of the sleeping population of Ponyville. The only pony that came along with them was Coffee Bean, who had the three dragons that had caused the whole mess magically bound.
Luna had remained silent the entire trip, keeping her magic on the stallion in case his power was to erupt again. She was mauling over all the details that she had learned about the stallion. His power was immense, powerful enough to restore a severed horn and change his physical form into something that he wasn't.
If that had truly been the Changeling Queen Chrysalis then that might have meant that she was willing to aid the ponies she had tried to conquer from another threat. Luna also wondered if the Dragon King was going to come and wage war on them.
That was the question that rang in the ears of Cadence and Twilight, making them wonder how much more that they didn't know about Rocket Sky. It was the question that made Coffee Bean be on the watch for anything funny from both the dragons and the stallion's limb body. It was, more importantly, the question that was annoying Luna more than it should have been.
The Princesses were joined by Prince Shining Armor, who had left the Crystal Kingdom shortly after his wife had left for Canterlot and Ponyville. He was glad to see his old mentor again, but considering what was happening he kept a straight face and followed the Princesses. Together the group descended deep into the bowels of Canterlot Castle, heading past the dungeons and the crystal caves altogether. When they stopped they stopped in front of a huge golden door, which opened to reveal a room with a huge prison like cell made completely out of crystal.
"What is this place?" Cadence asked as Rocket was placed in the center of the crystal prison.
"A special holding place we developed a millenium ago," Celestia answered, closing the door with a hollow thud, "A room designed for holding those who could pose a serious threat to Equestria. Rocket Sky, with how powerful his magic is, is now considered a threat and must be dealt with. We must figure out what his power is and find a way to destroy it before it can harm anypony.
And that reminds me Luna; just exactly how much have you been withholding from me?"
"I wasn't sure if I should have told you," Luna began, stopping as her sister got up in her face.
"What did he do?" Celestia asked.
"He was being attacked by Changelings and an Ursa Major not long ago..." Luna began, only to be interrupted again.
"Then how is he still alive?" Celestia demanded.
"Its his power," Luna said, "It awakened in his time of need and destroyed the Ursa Major. It said 'weakling' or something like that and obliterated the Major. Whatever it is appears whenever Rocket needs it, just like last night."
"I swear if he evolves into an alicorn we'll have to seal him away," Celestia exclaimed, shocking her fellow Princesses, "If his power takes control and takes that form we'll have no choice but to seal him away until he can control it."
A groan reached her ears, so she turned towards the cell and watched as Rocket's power awakened yet again. Only this time instead of turning him into some sort of werepony creature he opened his eyes and displayed the same golden color as before. Chains shot off the wall and attached to him legs, which were to prevent him or the creature from moving much or using their power to escape.
"So, your awake," Celestia said, turning to face the stallion, "You will answer my questions. Who are you?"
"Who?" the stallion asked, almost sounding possessed and evil, "Ah, Princess Celestia, Rocket has great respect for you, your sister, and Cadence."
"And what about me?" Twilight asked.
"He has much more respect for you," the stallion answered, turning his head towards Twilight.
"Hey, answer my question," Celestia said, "Who the buck are you?"
"Hehehe," the stallion said, hanging his head low for a second, "My name is Dark Sky. I am the power that rests within Rocket, awakened whenever he needs me to save his flank from being killed by creatures like the Ursa Major."
"Next question; are you evil or a threat to Equestria?"
"Now that is the question isn't it?" Dark asked, toying with the Princess now, "Am I, the power of Rocket Sky, evil? Am I a threat to the safety of your precious ponies and the treaties you've established? Foolish Celestia, of course I am evil. Does the fact that I take over Rocket's body and change him against his will mean nothing to you and your fellow Princesses?"
"You wont be leaving this prison anytime soon," Celestia threw back, "These crystals will prevent you from leaving as those chains restrict the magic that courses through your body. Sure, you may take over Rocket and change him into a monster bent on destroying everything, but you wont be leaving the cell. And even if you were to escape this cell you would be destroyed by the magic of the six of us."
"SISTER!" Luna exclaimed, shocked by her sister's choice of words, "You can't leave Rocket to the fact of losing himself to his power and becoming something that he's not. You can't expect us to just stand by and let him lose himself, only to destroy him whenever he escapes."
"Of course we can," Celestia countered, "I will not allow the ponies of Equestria to be harmed by whatever Dark makes out of Rocket. Of course we can end this now by sealing him away on the moon or somewhere where nopony will ever find him."
Energy seemed to gather in the room, but Celestia knew that none of them were even attempting to use magic, so she turned to the cell and her blood went cold. Dark was powering up another one of those energy attacks, except that this one was aimed right at the cell and the crystal wall it was built into. She threw her magic at the prison and stood her ground, making it harder for the stallion to break his way through it. In an instant the chains shattered and the attacked fired, blasting a hole in the crystal wall despite Celestia's magic helping it.
"Catch him," Celestia cried, her magic looping around the stallion as he passed her.
"Nice try Celestia," Dark grinned, the magic slipping off of him as he raced up the stairs.
Celestia and the other Princesses ran at the walls surrounding the door and opened magical gateways that would allow them to travel up to the top of the stairs so they could beat him. Shining Armor and Coffee Bean followed from behind, their magic ready to take Dark down when they reached the top. As they soon found out magic was gathering around Dark, which meant he was likely powering up another attack for when he reached the top.
Celestia and the others appeared in the hallway, facing the door as they waited for the stallion to arrive. Their magic was ready to paralyze him so he could be returned to the prison and then likely sealed away so he didn't harm anypony. They heard his hooves hitting the stairs and prepare to loose their stun spells, but what happened next caught them completely off guard. As Dark appeared his magic activated and suddenly he was gone, the sound of a sonic rainbow echoing in the air.
"Where did he go?" Shining asked as he Coffee Bean emerged.
"No clue," Twilight answered, "but considering Rocket's friends are in Ponyville we should check there first."
Celestia nodded and they departed for Ponyville at once, though she hoped that they would arrive in time to stop Dark from doing anything to the sleeping ponies there.
Twilight looked around the area, her eyes scanning for any magical trace of Rocket Sky. She wasn't going to banish him to some random location that would keep him there for a thousand years or more. She wasn't the kind of mare. She certainly wasn't going to kill him just because he had an intense amount of magical energy. And she wasn't going to let Celestia do the poor stallion in either.
Besides, none of the four Princesses had any luck finding any trace of Rocket. And that was really starting to irritate Princess Celestia, who was currently floating over the town on a huge white cloud. That was until they heard Spike shouting and went to investigate, finding him by Sugarcube Corner of all places.
"Twilight," the baby dragon exclaimed, hugging the mare as the four arrived, "There's been a break in at the library. I don't know who would break into a library, but he was still there when I left."
"Found you Dark Sky," Celestia growled, taking to teleporting the lot of them directly to the library, "Now it is time to...end you?"
They found no mess, no destruction, and no bloody mess. Instead they found the body of a sleeping stallion, who laid on the spare bed and seemed at peace with the world around him. Celestia's magic glowed and sharpened her horn, which she would then use to drive the point home with him. Even as she approached the stallion she found herself not opposed by Cadence or her sister, but her student of all ponies.
"Step aside Twilight," she commanded, "This must be done for the safety of all ponies."
"I can't just let you kill him," Twilight said, "Look at him; the chains are still intact. He isn't destroying the town or torturing anypony. He's just sleeping. He's thrown the monster back where it belongs. If you think the monster is waiting for us to lower our guard then take a look at his eyes and tell me that I'm wrong."
Celestia knew that whenever somepony was asked by Twilight to prove her wrong things tended to go wrong. So, being very careful, Celestia approached the sleeping stallion and used her magic to slowly open his eyes, just in case Dark was waiting for them. But when she opened his eyes she found the stallion staring back at her with his normal eyes and that dispelled her magic.
"Fine," Celestia softly said, "We'll leave him alone. I fully expect you to watch his power. We still might need to seal him away if things get out of hoof."
"I will watch over him," Twilight promised, "after all, he is part of my population now."
"We will come back in a week," Luna commented, "Take that time to analyze Rocket as much as you can. I'd hate for my sister to do something that she might regret later on."
"As would I," Cadence agreed, "Me and Shining have to get back to the Crystal Empire. It's nothing too serious, but one can never be too careful these days."
Twilight nodded and the three Princesses vanished, returning to Canterlot so they could prepare. She, however, was going to have to keep a close eye on Rocket in case something strange happened. And she also had to tell Spike about what she had learned about their guest.
Near where the dragons had once stood stirred a pony, but she wasn't like any pony that anypony had seen for a long time. 067 groaned and snapped her neck before making sure nothing was wrong with her body. Before anypony else woke up from their magical slumber she resumed her Rose Petal disguise, sighing to herself as she noticed a drunken Chrysalis on the ground.
Of course the Queen gets drunk, she thought, but why did she get drunk after working instead of waiting for Nightmare Night to come around?
The town looked like Nightmare Night had already happened, but she couldn't remember anything from the previous night no matter how hard she tried. That must have meant that Nightmare Night was going to happen soon and the town needed to be awake for that to happen. And Chrysalis needed to sleep off her drunken state before she could resume her disguise.
So Rose picked the body of the drunken Queen up and quickly moved to her house, where she could then lay her in bed before searching for the rest of the guards. They had to be somewhere around Ponyville. Or maybe they had already awoken and were waiting at her house before searching for the Queen.
Rose arrived at her house a few minutes later and found the door locked, which meant that nopony had entered it in the last couple of hours. It also meant that the Changeling Guards weren't inside waiting for her to arrive before they began their search. Rose also decided that the guards were just stupid and took the spare key from its hiding place behind the flower pot. Once inside she went upstairs and gently put Chrysalis on one of the beds, tucking her in slightly before turning around and heading back towards the front door.
Upon leaving her house she journeyed back to where she had awoken, hoping that she would find her new friends scattered about as she had seen earlier. She arrived quickly and found that Inner Wisdom, Tick Tock, and Peachy Keen were fast asleep like the rest of Ponyville. Rose smiled and gathered some water, lightly drenching the three of them and dispelling her magic before they would even notice.
"Buck," Tick shouted, shaking himself off as he got up, "Why does everypony decide that the best option for waking somepony up is to drench them in water?"
Rose left like laughing; it seemed like Tick was used to being drenched in water. Though he was still angry as he moved Peachy onto her side.
"Ugh, what happened?" Peachy asked, shaking her head to clear her mind, "My side hurts and I feel like a chunk of my memory has been removed or erased. Wasn't Nightmare Night supposed to be TONIGHT?"
"I thought the same thing," Rose answered, "but it seems that we all, meaning the whole of Ponyville, might have indulged in some sort of drunken party and can't remember what we did last night."
Rose knew that her assumption would only work for those who were in Ponyville during the previous night and not those who were, say, in the Everfree Forest. And seeing how she hadn't seen the Changeling guards yet she wondered if they had ventured into the Everfree and had yet to return. She thought about it so much that she heard Peachy say something and had to ask her to repeat it.
"I asked if you have seen Rocket around anywhere," Peachy repeated.
"I haven't seen him yet," Rose answered, her mind racing to remember where he could be at the moment, "I guess he might be in the library right now."
"Of course he is in the library," Wisdom piped up, appearing behind her, "He was assigned to live in the library with Princess Twilight Sparkle and her assistant Spike. Let's head over there."
Rose smiled and followed the three ponies to the library, watching the sleeping ponies as they passed them and wondering if they would awaken soon. Peachy seemed worried that something big might have happened and none of them could remember it at all. Tick wasn't too worried; his guitar was whole and he seemed to enjoy plucking nameless tunes on it while they walked. Wisdom, on the other hoof, seemed to be looking around as if he suspected that somepony was going to jump out at him and attack him.
When they arrived at the library they found Twilight standing over the sleeping form of Rocket, but there was something strange about him. Attached to his legs, all four of them, were the cuffs of chains that were snapped. The cuffs were very much intact, but Twilight seemed unconcerned for the fact that they were on Rocket.
"Are we interrupting something?" Wisdom asked, startling Twilight and causing her to turn towards them, "Because it feels like we missed out on something."
"Oh, its nothing," Twilight said, turning away to face Wisdom floating in front of her, "It is nothing that you need to concern yourself with. I'm just making sure that he's safe the excitement of last night."
"A likely explanation," Wisdom countered, "but I know something happened last night that made you and the other princesses cast a memory wipe on the town."
"You shouldn't even remember that part," Twilight exclaimed.
"Hey Twilight," a voice came from upstairs, "When are we going to tell the others about the monstrous power that resides within...Rocket Sky?"
Spike stalled his question a bit as he reached the bottom of the stairs and stared at the assembled ponies already gathered in the library. Twilight cursed herself for telling the baby dragon and now she had to deal with the ponies that were Rocket's closest friends.
"Of course it's his power," Wisdom said, as if that summed everything up, "Something happened last night that awakened the power and saved his life, but in the process that has made Celestia fear him. So tell me Twilight, what happened last night?"
Twilight sighed and gave in, the stallion already knew too much about last night. When she finished the short tale she was shocked to see that Peachy was shaking, Wisdom was passive, Tick must have ignored her since he was playing with the guitar still, and Rose wasn't moved by the information.
"That explains it," Rocket said, getting up and staring at the now shocked assembly, "I can fake sleeping fairly easily, but now I know why those Changelings were after me a few days ago. They're after the power I contain."
"Wait, what Changelings?" Twilight asked, "There haven't been any Changeling sightings around Ponyville lately."
"Doesn't matter," Wisdom commented, "They chased him and now we know they're after him."
"I'm heading to the Everfree Forest," Rocket said, his horn glowing, "Don't expect to see me for a couple of hours."
Before Twilight could stop him Rocket was gone and the magic trace failed to hang in the air for once. His skill in magic was improving if he could erase his magical trace in a instant. Rose sighed, his friends seemed unsurprised by the fact that their friend had such powerful magic.
Rose was going to say something, but then she noticed the flash of a black coated Changeling. The guards were returning to the town and they needed to report to the Queen. Or report to the next in command since the Queen was drunk off her flank right now. Rose excused herself from the library and headed home, now seeing that some of the citizens were awakening at last.
When she returned to her house and opened the door she found all thirteen of the guards waiting for her inside her house, just standing around for anypony to see if the door was opened wider.
"About time you guys showed up," she angrily said, closing the door behind her as she focused on them, "In case you haven't noticed the entire town is waking up and the Queen is drunk."
"That explains why she wasn't responding to our calls," the leader of the capture team, 008, said, "We thought she was in disguise again and couldn't take the time to respond because she was chatting with somepony else. Though it appears that we have a slight...problem..."
"Yes?" Rose prompted, eager to hear what could be a problem for thirteen of the highest guards in the Changeling ranks, "And this problem would be what exactly?"
"The Princesses are keeping taps on Rocket Sky," 008 replied, "Apparently something happened last night with three teenage dragons and his power went crazy. We kind of had a guard follow them to Canterlot and listen in on their conversation before returning here to inform the rest of us."
"I already figured that out by following his friends and listening to Twilight," Rose told him, pausing as she heard a knock on her door, "Quickly, head upstairs and wait until I call for you all."
The thirteen Changelings turned invisible and headed upstairs, mainly because Rose didn't want anypony to accidentally see one head upstairs before the door was closed. When she heard the click she opened her door and found a fully awakened Derpy Hooves, dressed up for work, waiting for her.
"Ah, Miss Rose Petal," the mailmare said, lifting a letter out of her bag, "I have a letter for Miss Salad Top. Can I trust you give this to her?"
"Course you can," Rose answered, wondering how the mare had known Chrysalis was at her house anyway as she took the letter, "I will deliver it to her immediately."
"Good," Derpy said, popping a muffin into her mouth, "Well then, I'll be seeing you later Rose."
"Bye Derpy," Rose called, watching the mare vanish as she stared at the dark green seal on the letter and recognized it immediately.
She closed the door, locked it up tight, and headed upstairs to find all the guards standing around a now awakened Queen Chrysalis.
"About time you showed up," Chrysalis commented, "I have debriefed the guards and I know Rocket Sky is within my grasp still...what is that in your hoof?"
"A letter from the Elder Council," Rose answered, handing the letter over, "I can tell by the seal that was put on it."
"Faust almighty what do they want this time?" Chrysalis angrily said, tearing the letter open and beginning to read it out loud, "Take account for my actions, be questioned by the council, and be there in one weeks time? Dang it Zircon, why couldn't you leave me alone for once?"
"My Queen?" 008 asked, curious, "Is everything alright?"
"I must return to the Hive," Chrysalis said, the letter burning up in her anger, "The thirteen of you will be coming with me to the Hive while I answer the summons. Rose, stay here and do whatever you want."
As Chrysalis assumed her Salad Top disguise Rose couldn't help but wonder if something else was up besides what Chrysalis had said. And what was up with the council sending a letter directly to Chrysalis? Rose sighed and figured she would find out eventually.
And so Rose Petal was left alone in her house, which had long served as the base for the Changelings in Ponyville since their defeat in Canterlot. She had hidden them whenever they needed protection and housed them when they needed to tend to their wounds, but for once she was truly alone. She didn't have to listen to Chrysalis in her head, barking orders that she didn't want to do. Now she could head into the Everfree Forest and find Rocket without being worried that she was being followed by her brothers and sisters.
So she left the house and locked the door tight, not that she had many personal items in her house anyway. She headed towards the edge of Ponyville, passing ponies who were now awakening and going on with their day as if nothing strange had happened. Only Twilight, the Elements of Harmony, and Rocket's friends would know that had happened last night and she was sure they would keep their lips sealed. Unless Spike let it slip again.
She smiled and said hi to everypony that she passed, stopping to help some as she went. Though she couldn't help but wonder how Derpy wasn't destroying anything right now. She sighed and stopped as she found herself at the edge of the town already, the trees standing tall over her. The last time she had been here she had been in the presence of Chrysalis and her guards, but now she was alone and she worried that some sort of monster might get to her.
She stepped into the trees and began her search for Rocket, who was likely deep in the forest and far away from Ponyville in general. He had only been gone for an hour and Rose was surprised that Twilight and her friends weren't already searching for him. She was more surprised that his own friends weren't already in the forest tearing the place apart looking for him. At least that meant that she didn't have to worry about noise driving him even deeper into the forest then he already was.
She stepped on a twig and snapped it, quickly freezing as she took a look at what was around her. She didn't want to run into something already and wanted to be sure she knew what her foe was before it even got near her. She didn't see any creatures around her, so she moved onward, being more careful as she pressed on. Not even a minute later she heard a roar that seemed like a possessed creature and a explosion further along the path, so she began to sprint.
When she arrived at the site of the explosion she saw two huge holes in the ground, one freshly made while the other was a few days old. She didn't see any trace of Rocket, so she moved on and searched for any signs of him or his massive power. She had a feeling that the two of them might be fighting for control and were destroying everything in the process.
About an hour later, after so much running around, Rose was tired and very sure that she wasn't going to find Rocket anytime soon. And she couldn't exactly turn around and head home anymore either. She had somehow lost her way and was now lost in the Everfree Forest, using the sounds of whatever she heard to guide her. Rose thought of her Changeling brothers and wondered if they were doing alright with the constant watching over of Chrysalis when she heard a slight humming.
She turned to the north slightly and moved quietly, using her Changeling training in case she came upon a monster or two along the way. She emerged from the trees to find an area with a waterfall ,a huge lake, and a small island in the center of it all. Sitting in the direct center of the small island was none other then Rocket Sky, but his eyes were closed and he seemed like he was meditating. He was humming something as he allowed his magic to freely fill the area around him, which made it a mystery as to why Twilight wasn't already here.
Rose leaned against a tree and relaxed her eyes, watching the stallion be at peace. She smiled and closed her eyes, allowing her tired body to succumb to sleep as the humming filled her ears and relaxed her mind. In a matter of seconds she was knocked out, leaning on the tree as she slept.
When Rose awoke it was to the shinning sun in her eyes, which stung slightly. She got up and stretched her body, silently wishing she could change back so she could stretch her wings as well. The idea stuck in her mind and she looked around, finding that Rocket's eyes were closed like last she checked, so she removed her disguise and stretched her stiff wings. She would have started flying too, but she was afraid that the noise might alert Rocket to her presence and she didn't want that.
She returned to her disguise form and laid on the ground, watching the still body of Rocket for a couple of minutes. She silently cursed herself for not bringing along anything to do once she had found the stallion and settled for hoofing the ground slightly. She noticed that there were a lot of broken twigs and branches scattered around the area, so she smiled and began constructing something to pass the time. It wasn't much, but it provided her with something to do while she waited for the stallion to awaken or even open his eyes for once.
An hour passed as she worked and eventually she had cleaned up the area around where she had been sleeping, making a nice little hut. Along with the hut she had started making a wooden barricade and a spot for a fireplace when she got around to starting fires. Plus she even built in a second rest area for Rocket, considering he might just sleep on the small island the entire time he was here.
She heard some growls and noticed that a group of timberwolves, more mature than the one Tick had, had entered the area and were approaching the lake. They took no notice of her, but instead focused on the stallion and the lake. Rose sighed and got up, quietly moving towards them as they began to make their way across the water towards Rocket. As Rose realized their intended target Rocket's eyes snapped open and the three wolves were crushed in an instant with magic. Rose gulped as she watched the pieces hit the water, not gathering together and reforming the poor wolves.
The pack of timberwolves were dead for sure, that much Rose knew for sure.
Rocket groaned and held his left hoof against the ground, which caused the water in the area to ripple before calming down quickly. Rose noticed that the tip of his hoof had turned a strange pure white color with a red aura gathering around it. But as quickly as the changes had occurred they receded back to wherever they had come from, leaving the stallion normal once again. Rose returned to her little area and watched the stallion, who seemed to be staring at her but not noticing her at all.
The day passed slowly for Rose, but she spent it gathering necessary tools that seemed to be scattered around the immediate area and berries that she could eat when she got hungry. Every once and a while she would stare at the stallion and she would find that he hadn't moved, which worried her to no end. So she built more of her wooden barricade and just relaxed, though she moved her huts closer to the water.
Night rolled around and with it came the undoing of Rose's disguise, though she willingly returned to her natural Changeling form and not the one she took the most often. The reality that she was actually taller then most Changelings still upset her, the larger wings made her an easier target while flying, and the longer horn was completely unnecessary. Even the small crown on her head was unnecessary. She cursed the princess form that she held and cursed Chrysalis for being her mother. She laid her head down on the ground of her makeshift hut and closed her eyes, silently hoping for Rocket to be okay.
Again morning rolled on past her and she continued her building, surprised that the stallion had not moved a single inch from where the center of the island. Rose figured that it could have been his way of dealing with the excess amount of power, but it almost seemed like he should have been able to control everything. She sighed and gathered the pieces of the long dead timberwolves, deciding to add them to her buildings while she worked.
As the day slowly passed Rose found herself fighting off all sorts of creatures that decided that they wanted to fight the stallion. She fought lions, tigers, bears, a swarm of wasps that she repelled with magic, a pack of strangely behaving birds, and a manticore. When she chased off the last of the challengers she returned to her hut area and laid down as she munched on one of the berries she had picked. She smiled and looked around, glad that she had done something useful with her spare time.
One thing was out of place though; Rocket was no longer on the island.
Rose bolted onto her legs and looked around frantically, trying to locate the stallion her mother was after. She finally found him standing at the base of the waterfall, though it looked like he was soaking his head so he could clear his mind. Rose calmed down and returned to laying on the ground, watching both the stars and Rocket in case he moved yet again. Before she knew it she was fast asleep yet again.
Something whacked her on the head and she snapped her eyes open to see that it was still nighttime, though Rocket was standing in front of her. It was actually more like she was being held in the air at his level with his own magic and pinned to the wall of the hut she had made. The only difference Rose could see was that his eyes were a unusual golden color, surrounded by a second pure black color. Oh, and he was smiling like a mad stallion.
"What do we have here?" Rocket sounded possessed by the power, a demon free to walk Equestria. "A Changeling spy for the vile Queen? I would have expected a spy like yourself to hide herself in the trees and watch from the shadows, not camping on the outskirts of your target's chosen location. You are pathetic."
"Your pathetic demon," Rose replied, feeling her throat close up a bit, "Taking over a poor stallion and using his power to cause chaos is pretty low for something like you."
"A demon am I?" the creature asked, laughing as he swung her into the sand and held her there, "Foolish Changeling, I am not a DEMON as you call me. I am the pure undiluted darkness that resides within 'poor' Rocket Sky. I am Dark Sky, a stallion born in darkness with the ability to wield great and terrible power."
"What you are is a thief Dark," Rose countered, spitting sand out of her mouth, "A coward who steals from everypony around him, not just the one whose body you've already stolen. Born in darkness? I say that your just Rocket's power seeking attention and this is the best you could come up with."
She was then thrown across the water to the small island, where she landed hard on her side. She barely had time to register the sudden pain when she felt Dark land on top of her and pin her to the ground.
"A thief am I?" the evil stallion challenged, "No Rose Petal, or whatever your real name is, you and your brothers and sisters are the true thieves. You steal emotions to feed yourselves and gain the power to topple countries, all without concern for those whose lives you've ruined. Go ahead, call me a thief, a coward, an attention seeker, but remember that your race is cursed to be the exact same as me, living in the darkness."
"We don't kill anypony though," Rose countered, "Most Changelings take what they need and leave the rest alone so they don't waste resources. You, on the other hoof, are a murderer. You kill when it suits you. You honestly don't care what happens to Rocket as long as you get his power. If my mother released you Equestria would cease to exist."
"That;s the point my dear," Dark happily said, "I will conquer all of Equestria and end the rule of Celestia completely. The Lunar Princess will be chained on her precious Moon as her sister is locked away in the Sun itself. The Princess of Love will be cast down into eternal hate with no escape in sight for her. The Princess of Magic will suffer as magic tears her bonds to pieces and she falls to the darkest of magic."
"Your a monster," Rose shouted, "Come on Rocket, fight him. You aren't a monster, he is."
"Foolish mare," Dark shouted, holding his head as the magic around him began to break, "I will return and when I do you will be the first one to fall to my power."
Everything that made Dark Sky vanished in an instant and Rocket laid there, breathing hard as if it was a burden on his body by having Dark possess him. He seemed so peaceful while he slept, so Rose activated her magic and lifted him into the air, moving back to her rest area. After crossing the water she laid Rocket down in the second hut before retiring to her own hut. The darkness may have been beaten today, but who knows when it would emerge yet again. Falling asleep proved to be easier tonight and soon Rose dozed off.
Morning arrived like usual and Rose smiled as she stared up at the sky. She was glad that the Princesses had yet to find Rocket, but she was getting worried that his friends hadn't done anything yet. When she thought the stallion would still be asleep when she emerged she found that she was dead wrong.
Rocket sat in the center of her small area, his magic constructing what seemed like a long wooden bridge for when he got tired from his activities. He didn't seem to notice her arrival from the hut, so Rose laid down behind him and watched him work. His skill in magic was to die for and now Rose knew why her mother wanted him so badly. Then she noticed that the water in the lake was rippling, almost like it was responding to the magic emitting from Rocket's horn.
"About time you awoke," the stallion said, surprising Rose as he continued his work, "I didn't know if you were going to be okay after the beating you received from Dark so I let your body do the healing for you. I caught the entire conversation between the two of you and I'm a little hurt Rose. Are you actually a Changeling or are you messing with me?"
"I'm a Changeling Princess to be exact," Rose answered, hanging her head a bit low, "My mother, Queen Chrysalis, has been searching for a way to turn the Hive around after our defeat in Canterlot. My father, the Elder of Wisdom Zircon, and the rest of the Elder Council forbid Chrysalis from going to attack Princess Celestia and she defied them. Now she has been summoned back to the Hive to be questioned by them and she left me here, alone at long last."
"Why haven't you taken over the Hive then?" Rocket asked, facing her as he asked the question.
"I don't want to rule the Hive," Rose replied, lifting her head, "I may be the Princess, but I want nothing to do with the warmongering of my mother. I was always told that I would follow in her footsteps and would be a much crueler Queen then she could ever be, but my father always told me that my destiny lied elsewhere in Equestria."
"If your a Changeling then doesn't that mean your name isn't Rose Petal?" Rocket asked, receiving a nod, "Then what is your true name? A Princess has to have a name."
"I'm called 067 by my mother," Rose answered, sighing softly, "and Rose Petal by my friends. Only my father has called me Viscarias, which is my true name. My mother wont call me by that name because it would mean acknowledging that she has an heir to the throne that she doesn't want to lose."
"That's a pretty name," Rocket said, shocking the Changeling Princess, "Hail Princess Viscarias of the Changeling Hive."
"Oh stop it," Rose said, blushing slightly, "So, what are you doing out here by yourself exactly. It doesn't seem to be just exploring that your after."
"I'm...trying to tame Dark Sky," Rocket slowly replied, shaking his head, "trying to tame the power the rests within me. He is a beast, a monster that destroys whatever he can when I'm in trouble and a fighter who doesn't care what side somepony is on. I need to tame him before he makes me do something I regret and I already regret involving you in all of this madness."
"Oh stop it already," Rose said, "You will fight Dark and you will win. I know that you have the persistence and the determination to end this once and for all. Your magic, be it Dark or yourself, is keeping the Princess from finding your whereabouts until you finish this dance with your inner darkness. You need to confront Dark directly and finish this, for the sake of everypony in Equestria."
"If you honestly think I should get it over with then I might as well show you the truth," Rocket said, putting down the bridge and approached the water, "There is a reason I chose this place as my area to meditate and fight Dark, it has special properties that you likely don't know about.
Come on out Dark Sky. Let us finish this."
At first nothing happened, but then the bubbling of the water increased until Rose was sure that it would explode and drench Rocket. Next thing she knew a pony emerged from the waters, but what was shocking was that the pony was an exact replica of Rocket. The only difference between the two was that the newcomer had a pure white coat, same colored hair, and the same eyes that Dark had.
"So, you dare to summon me into the real world?" the pony asked, sounding exactly like Dark did, "Your arrogance will be your downfall Rocket."
"Quiet Dark," Rocket commanded, his horn already lighting up, "I summoned you to fight, not to talk and annoy me. We will fight and you will die."
"Right back at you Rocket," Dark said, rushing out of the water quickly.
The two magic's clashed and the water split as Rose watched the conflicting energies fight. Rocket seemed confident that he could best his darkness, but then again Dark also seemed confident that he could best his light. They both summoned strange bladed weapons, similar to the Royal Guards spears yet different at the same time, and rushed at each other as the magic faded. The meeting of the two weapons split the ground around them, not like they were paying attention to where they were anyway.
Rose watched as Dark retreated and dodged an attack that made the sand explode on impact, turning around to return the favor and finding his weapon was met by Rocket's. Dark flipped into the air and charged his magic, which soon took the shape of the same dangerous orb at he had used twice so far. Rose recognized it from the tales that her mother told and wondered if Rocket could do something similar to Dark's attack, but when she looked she saw that he wasn't doing anything.
Right as the orb fired Rocket appeared behind his darkness and the spell broke apart in an instant. Sticking out of Dark's body was the bladed weapon of Rocket, which meant he was weaponless if the darkness attacked again. Instead of attacking Dark growled and fell to the ground, slowly turning to what seemed like a black mass. It hit the center of the small island and the ground shook as it faced Rocket, who stared down at it.
Rose was amazed; Rocket had managed to outsmart his darkness and had seemed to pierce its very core. But as she watched them fight she noticed that the barrier that seemed to protect the area faded away into nonexistence. If either one of them fired another high level spell it would alert the Princesses to their location. Unless they had already felt the disturbance and were on their way here right now.
"Come up behind me Rose," Rocket said, some sort of glowing cube appearing before his hooves as he levitated in the air, "I don't want to catch you in this attack."
Rose scrambled into the air and went behind him, watching as he approached the shadowy mass with the strange cube.
"I'm sorry Dark, but this is for the best," Rocket said, holding the cube in front of him, "Time for you to return to where you belong."
The next thing Rose knew the shadowy mass was gone and so was the cube, but Rocket seemed to be fine. They returned to the ground and Rose quickly assumed her disguise as four alicorns landed around them. Rose sighed, it seemed like they had a lot of explaining to do. Then again when wasn't there a lot of explaining when she was dealing with Rocket Sky and the amazing power that he contained.
Chrysalis stood at the doors to the Elder Council's meeting hall, all the way in the forgotten lands and in the depths of the Hive itself. The seven gathered in the Hive and usually a Queen or King of the Hive needed their permission to go to war. Chrysalis had forsaken that rule after they had decreed that she would fail in her invasion and had gone after Canterlot anyway, though she failed in the end. Now here she was, standing at the gate to the room that she had been in only one other time in her entire life.
So why was it she was scared of what lied behind those doors?
The Council knew many things and the fact that they had called her all the way back to the Hive wasn't a good thing. They didn't summon Changelings for fun and games, they summoned them if something bad had happened or they needed to understand something. They must have known about her blunder in Canterlot and were going to see what she was planning since had not returned to the Hive since the wedding. And here she was, waiting for their caretaker to tell her that they were ready for the Changeling Queen to enter their chamber.
Lucky for her Chrysalis had already sent the thirteen guards on a break so she could ponder everything without having to worry them needlessly. They were her worries and nopony else, not even her guards, needed to concern themselves with them. She had a great deal of things that she wanted to say to Zircon now that they were going to see each other again, but she suspected that she would not be given the chance to do so.
"Chrysalis, the Elder Council will see you now."
The changeling caretaker seemed to appear out of thin air, but Chrysalis knew better. Changeling magic allowed the caretaker to do that, but the fact he had appeared out of thin air wasn't what annoyed her. What annoyed her was the fact that she hadn't been called by her title, which meant that Zircon was trying to piss her off again.
"Okay then," she said, getting up and heading for the door, "Let's do this."
The chamber was the same as she had last seen it; huge, circular, and had seven seats that circled where she was standing and faced the center of the room. In the three seats behind her sat the Elders Aleu, Sequoia, and Jarrah. To Chrysalis' left sat Sorrel, who was next to Sequoia. On her right sat Spruce and Drunix, which left one spot open. Directly in front of her, sitting on the tallest of the seats, was the Head Elder himself, Zircon.
Each of the seven were dressed up in silver robes, which naturally covered their entire body and exposed their neck and heads. Each of them wore a small necklace with a gem attached to it, but Zircon wore one that Chrysalis swore looked like one of the Elements of Harmony. Unlike the Elements it had a silver neck piece and the gem was a combination of diamond and onyx, strangely shaped like the mark she had seen on Inner Wisdom's flank.
"Ah, Chrysalis, so nice of you to join us," one of the Elders, Sequoia, said, "I take it you understand why you have been summoned before the court at this day and time?"
"Cut the crap with me Zircon," Chrysalis said, turning towards the Head Elder, "You want to punish me more for my failure to take Canterlot and my disobedience for not following what the Council told me at the time? Or do you want me to stop my search for a way to defeat the dreaded Celestia and my eventual takeover of Equestria?"
"We want you to stop harassing the newcomers in Ponyville," Drunix spoke up, "We know why your interested in that stallion, but we fail to see what good will come out of it."
"Oh, so you want me to elaborate as to my plan is that it?" Chrysalis angrily asked, her eyes not leaving the silent stallion, "His power is unmatched. He killed a Ursa Major with pure magic and defeated three dragons using that same magic. If the Princesses hadn't intervened when they did he would have taken them down like he did the Major. He's losing control of himself and its only a matter of time before the monster remains."
"So you think you could tame such power?" Aleu asked, staring down at the Queen.
"Certainly," Chrysalis responded, "I'll just slip into Twilight Sparkle's library and steal him when nopony's looking. I'll turn him into a Changeling and command the power he contains. I'll unleash him on Celestia and watch him destroy the empire that she built."
"And how do you propose that you'll be able to contain this power?" Jarrah asked.
"Why contain it when I could use it on our enemies?" Chrysalis asked the Elder, though her eyes rested on Zircon, "Admit it, with such power we could take over the world and have an unlimited source of love to keep our nation strong for years on end."
"What makes you think that war is still the answer?" Zircon asked suddenly, opening his eyes and staring down at her, "The last time you stood before the Council you declared that you were going to war against Canterlot and that you were going to do so even if the Council didn't back your decision. You stood before us, told us every inch of your plan and backup plans, exposed everything just to get us to change our minds about going to war with Canterlot. Now, Chrysalis, what did we say to you?"
"That I was going to lose," Chrysalis spat, "You, the old Changeling King, told me, your own wife, that I was going to fail my empire, my people, all because of the love that the royal couple shared."
"And I was right," Zircon sighed, "Now here we are again, talking about war with Celestia all over again. Only this time you want to kidnap this stallion, Rocket Sky, and use his latent powers to destroy everything in your path so our people can be happy? Where is the happiness in destroying ones source of love? Where is the happiness in obliterating ponies who know nothing about us and could give us a chance?
Where is the happiness in destroying what our daughter longs for most?"
"You dare speak of her to me?" Chrysalis shouted, her anger getting the better of her, "She has no place in this conversation."
"Of course she does Chrysalis," Sorrel commented, "She is, after all, the Princess of the Changelings. If the Princess longs for peace amongst the races of Equestria, but the Queen longs for war, then who do you think we're going to side with?"
"So your going to side with 067, with Rose Petal, over your own Queen?" Chrysalis asked, "Over a Princess who hasn't tried to seize the throne from her mother yet? She doesn't seem to care that I'm in charge of things at the moment."
"Her name is Princess Viscarias," Zircon corrected, which annoyed Chrysalis, "and even if she hasn't expressed her opinion on these matters we know what lies in her heart. She doesn't care much for the way you rule, but she doesn't strike out because she doesn't want the throne. Eventually she will see that you will have to be stopped and she will stand against you. Mark my words Chrysalis, your daughter wont be siding with you much longer if you continue down this path that you have chosen to travel."
"Buck the lot of you," Chrysalis shouted, reaching for her magic but finding nothing, "What trickery is this?"
"Not trickery," Zircon said, "A bubble that prevents you from casting spells against the members of the Council. Now, if you want to go after one of us then I suggest you do it when we aren't in conference. Now, lets get back to the matter at hoof, your invasion to destroy Celestia for the second time."
"I'm done answering your pitiful questions," Chrysalis said, "Remove this barrier and let me show you that I can defeat Celestia. Or are you too scared to face me Zircon?"
"Hardly," Zircon answered, "I'm not scared of you, Chrysalis, nor am I afraid of your tricks. And if you are so sure that you can defeat Celestia this time I have news for you; you wont be getting close enough to fight her again."
The air between Chrysalis and Zircon rippled as a light blue bubble fazed into existence, only to begin falling apart moments later. The bubble was gone, which meant Chrysalis could easily cast her spells and take down the Council.
"Your so dead Zircon," Chrysalis shouted, her magic taking the form of an orb before she unleashed it right at Zircon.
Zircon barely moved as the energy passed where he was sitting, blowing a hole into the wall behind him before it began to settle down. Zircon was unfazed, having thrown up a shield to prevent the magic from hurting him, but all that seemed to do was annoy Chrysalis even more.
"Really Chrysalis?" Zircon asked, dispelling the shield, "You would go so far as to copy the power of the stallion your trying to turn? You will not succeed in your war against Celestia, nor will you be Queen much longer. I say that the Elder Council will not be backing you once more. All agreed?"
"The Council will not back Chrysalis," the other six agreed.
"Queen Chrysalis," Zircon said loudly, "The Elder Council does not approve of your war with Celestia, nor do we approve of your meddling with the ponies of Ponyville. Be warned, if you declare war on Canterlot again or steal the stallion known as Rocket Sky you will forfeit your title of Queen to your daughter. Now begone Chrysalis."
Chrysalis growled and turned around, marching out of the room and into the corridor she had been waiting in earlier. Her guards were waiting for her, which was to be expected since she had let off some steam in front of the Elders. She passed by the Caretaker without a word, not bothering to talk with the little changeling.
"Whats the plan my Queen?" one of them asked.
"Prepare your brothers and sisters," Chrysalis said, "We're moving into the Everfree Mountain. We're going to capture Rocket Sky and bind him to the darkness."
The guards smiled as they walked, Chrysalis would have the last laugh against the Council.
Rocket yawned and shook his head as he got out of bed. He looked outside and stared at the position of the sun, seeing that it was just after seven in the morning. Ponies were out and about while he just woke up to face the day. The Princesses were out and about doing their duties, so he figured he might as well get going. Besides, he had plans with Rose today.
He looked at his hooves and noticed that he was still wearing the blasted chains that he had woken to find not a few days ago. The same blasted chains that were supposed to keep Dark Sky imprisoned in the secret prison of Canterlot. The same chains that allowed him to be himself and not worry about Dark reappearing. The same chains that Princess Celestia had forbid him to remove, claiming that it required too much magical energy to shatter the magical infused iron. She was scared that Dark would return and beat her into submission.
Rocket sighed and watched Twilight walk past him, going up the stairs to her room before closing the door behind her. Ever since Dark had made himself known none of the Royal Alicorns would so much as look him in the eye when he talked to them. Well, Luna actually did several times just to annoy her sister and silently say that she was supporting him. He wasn't sure if Cadence supported him or was against him, but he knew Celestia wasn't supporting him. And Twilight...he honestly didn't know where she stood in all of this.
He closed the door of the library behind him and walked out into Ponyville, his eyes looking around for his friends. From what he already knew Tick was likely practicing with Octavia and Vinyl while Wisdom was hanging with Pinkie Pie doing who knew what. Peachy was with the Crusaders, trying to figure out what her Cutie Mark was. Rose, however, had cleared her calender so they could spend some time together and get to know each other better.
"Are you sure your friend minds that we're spying on him?" Pinkie asked Wisdom, despite the fact that they were both dressed in spy suits and were sitting on top of a building that Rocket had passed, "I'm all for spying on Chrysalis, but where's the fun in spying on Rocket?"
"Something is going to happen, I just know it," Wisdom said, finishing off one of the special drinks Pinkie had ordered, "So if we follow Rocket we should be able to stop whatever it is in time."
Pinkie smiled. "Its our Pinkie Sense," she commented, looking through her binoculars, "Not even I completely understand it sometimes."
"Here comes our friend Salad Top," Wisdom warned, spotting the mare just down the same street that Rocket was on, "and it seems that she's got company this time."
Flanking the mare were thirteen other ponies, five of them being unicorns while another five were pegasus. The remainder were earth ponies, but none of them looked happy at all. Salad Top looked like she was in command and had somehow brainwashed the poor ponies to do her bidding.
"You ready for this Pinkie?" Wisdom asked, looking back to see the mare holding what looked like a missile launcher.
"Of course I'm ready silly," she answered, "If anything happens I'm ready to go to town on them."
"Hey Rocket, what's up?" Rose asked, walking beside the stallion as they continued down the street, unaware of the advancing ponies.
"Nothing much," Rocket answered, smiling at the mare as they walked, "Just staring at the chains and wondering if any of the other Princesses will accept me now that Dark has been vanquished. I know Princess Luna does, but it will take a lot more to convince the other three that I'm not the monster. But other than that I just got up. What about you?"
"Not much for me either," Rose admitted, shaking her head, "By now my mother and her guard should have returned to Ponyville and they should have resumed trying to capture you. If they have returned then I wonder why I haven't been notified by any of the guards so i could have prepared my house. But knowing my mother she doesn't want me to know so she can catch me unaware and off guard. Only this time she'll find that I finally made a friend that accepts me for who I truly am and not who I'm pretending to be."
"Hey, you accepted me and my dark side," Rocket countered, "it only makes it fair that I do the same. Besides, you aren't one of the Changelings that chased me into the Everfree forest and you don't want me enslaved."
"I know," Rose sighed, "It just feels like my mother is planning something big and I have nothing on it."
"Tell me about this Elder Council," Rocket said, changing the subject on her, "You mentioned that your father was one of the members, but not much else."
"Essentially they keep the Hive together when there's no official ruler," Rose explained, taking a seat at a coffee shop so they didn't bump into anypony while they walked and waited until Rocket followed suit, "There are six other members of the Council that work with my father Zircon. Some Changelings call them the Seven Masters, as each of them are the best of whichever field they worked in before they became Elders. My father is the Elder of Wisdom and he knows things that others do not even comprehend. Kind of like Pinkie Pie.
Basically when a Queen or King wants to invade another place, such as Canterlot, for love and such, they have to ask the Council for permission. If the Council says that they're allowed to do so then the entire Hive marches out to go to war with the Ruler and the Council at the head of the army. But if the Council refuses to allow it then the rest of the Hive should, as a rule, stay behind and not invade the desired location.
My mother broke that rule when the Council told her that she couldn't invade Canterlot and would lose to the very thing she went to obtain. She defied the Council, gathered a small army, and marched on the city and nearly had it during the wedding. That was cut short by the love between Shining Armor and Princess Cadence that flung them out of Canterlot. If I had been of age after the failed invasion the Council would have insisted that I take over and would have tossed my mother off of the throne.
I fear that my mother might have defied the Council again and might have marshaled the whole of the Changeling Hive to take you alive. She has seen your power, has felt the darkness in your heart, and she wants it so she can topple Princess Celestia. What she doesn't know is that the Council will travel to Canterlot and explain the situation to the Solar Princess, who will bring her army to you to make sure you aren't taken. I'm afraid that no matter what the Council decides war is coming to Ponyville."
"My Queen," one of the guards said, "Your daughter, 067, is revealing everything about the Hive to the stallion. What will you have us do?"
Chrysalis was pissed, but never had she done something so drastic before in her entire life. Her disguise literally fell apart and she returned to her true form before she gave the order.
"Issue the charge," she ordered, "and chase that stallion into the forest. We'll deal with him there."
"Yes my Queen," the Changeling said before blowing into a horn.
The ponies around them were shocked by the appearance of the Changeling Queen, for real this time, but they thought it was foolish to blow a horn when it would likely attract the Elements of Harmony.
"We will send them to their doom with the beauty of our new firework technique," Pinkie said, smiling as she aimed at Chrysalis, "Flame Cakes."
"I think you meant Fu," Wisdom corrected.
"Oh, well then. Flame Fu," Pinkie corrected herself and pressed what looked like a trigger.
A cluster of fireworks shot out of the launcher and barreled right into Chrysalis before exploding into a fury of lights. Citizens ran as the Changelings zoned in on their location, but upon arrival they found nothing on the roof top. One of them hit the roof as Wisdom appeared above him, a wooden staff in hoof that he used to beat another into submission. He spun it around and hit another in the shin behind smacking the staff on his head, crashing the Changeling into the shop below.
"What's going on?" Rocket asked as the two noticed the fighting going on.
"Its my mother," Rose answered, "She's returned and she's brought the army with her. That horn was to bring them all in, not a warning call that alerted the Elements of Harmony. See that black cloud approaching? Its them."
Sure enough a huge black cloud appeared overhead, swarming with a vast quantity of Changelings just waiting to capture Rocket. Changelings descended on the town, breaking into houses and scaring the citizens as they searched for him. Then a lavender form took to the skies and began blasting the cloud, Changelings falling to the ground as they were hit in rapid succession. Princess Twilight Sparkle had arrived.
"Its you there after isn't it?" a voice asked from behind Rocket, making him turn around to see Applejack standing there, "They're here for the beast aren't they?"
"Yeah, they are," Rocket admitted, "but that doesn't mean I wont stand and fight them."
The farm mare flipped around and brought her left back hoof into the face of a Changeling that was trying to surprise her, but failed.
"I'm getting my sister and her friends to safety first," the farmer stated, "Have either of you seen them?"
"I think they're with Peachy at the Boutique," Rose said, "If they aren't then I have no...idea?"
What rolled past them was a huge wagon with a wooden cover and long tubes that fired fireworks. The top opened and Applebloom popped her head head while she waved at the three of them. Then she got back in and closed the top as the wagon rolled off, firing at the Changelings on the ground.
"I guess that answers that question," Rocket said, "but it raises more and i think Pinkie was somehow involved with this."
"Open fire on their flanks," came a voice inside the wagon that sounded like Peachy.
"Or not..." Rocket sighed, spotting Tick with the other musicians, "Now what?"
Tick picked up a metal guitar and slammed it into a Changelings head, knocking the poor thing out in an instant without shattering the instrument. Vinyl carried what looked like a speaker, but it spread out and became her infamous bass cannon, which she used on the Changelings in the air. Octavia, however, preceded to beat several Changelings down with just her bare hooves, punching her foes into submission.
The rest of the Elements of Harmony fought on the ground, mostly punching their foes while Fluttershy cowered and tripped them. Course Pinkie brought out a cannon and blasted her foes with party supplies, but it didn't seem to bother anypony at all. Rarity hit foes with diamonds while Rainbow hit them before they could even get to the ground. Rocket was going to say something until he heard the sound of a very different horn and noticed another cloud approaching.
Soldiers from the Solar Guard, the Lunar Guard, and the Crystal Empire crashed into the Changeling army and the fighting turned harsh. Luna smashed opponents under her hooves while her sister merely blasted them out of the sky and Cadence roped her with magic. Shining bucked his foes and defended himself while he looked for Chrysalis. Rocket could have sworn that Discord was here as well, raining lightning on the Changelings, but he wasn't sure.
"Sad isn't it?" a voice behind them asked, causing Rocket to turn around to find Applejack gooed to the ground.
"Chrysalis," Rocket said, taking a step back.
"I brought an army and yet they decide to fight anyway," the Queen continued, "They know that I will succeed and take the key to destroying them all. The Council was wrong, I will be victorious and Celestia will fall."
"You can't do this," Rose shouted, receiving a smack to the face that knocked her to the ground.
"She's your daughter, how can you do this to her?" Rocket asked, almost yelling at Chrysalis.
"I don't care if she's my daughter," the Queen spat, "I AM THE QUEEN. I can go anything to any of the Changelings under my rule. I am better then any of them and I will not be overthrown by a daughter who doesn't want the throne. I will waste no words on you, Rocket Sky, as you will soon be joining me in conquering everypony that opposes me."
"Go buck yourself Chrysalis," Rocket countered, "I won't be turning against Celestia and the Royal Family."
"Oh you will," Chrysalis said, baring her fangs as she pinned him against a wall, "You'll turn against them all."
She bit into his neck and drew blood, but that was natural when a Changeling did this. Rocket screamed and threw the Queen off of him with his magic, which resulted in him hitting the ground hard. His hooves hurt and he could have sworn that he could feel holes growing in them. His vision was blurred and he couldn't tell if he was staring at Chrysalis or another Changeling. His magic overtook him and ascended into the sky as he eventually faded out.
Celestia noticed the pillar of blue energy nearby and realized that the worst had come to pass; Chrysalis had obtained the power of Rocket Sky. The way she saw it they were all royally bucked unless the stallion could control himself and defeat the Changeling Queen. Though it didn't look like they were going to win anytime soon.
Dust kicked up as the energy built, blowing over stands of the Ponyville Market and knocking some unfortunate soldiers out of the air. The fighting halted as the wind churned and blinded the majority of them who couldn't use magic to shield their eyes. Most of the unicorns knew that something had happened and they didn't like it. Besides, the Royal Family, including Princess Twilight Sparkle and Discord, were facing the maelstrom that was causing the disturbance like something evil was going to emerge. Well, more evil than Discord anyway.
"What the BUCK was that?" Tick questioned after getting up from being thrown to the ground. "Whose the wise pony who summoned the dust devil in the middle of a battlefield?"
"Dude, I don't think anypony summoned it," Vinyl commented, thankful she always wore her glasses as she pointed at the devil in question, "Whatever that Changeling Queen did is causing this."
"I hate to agree with the mare who sleeps during the day," Octavia said, slamming her hoof into the face of the Changeling she had been fighting before the devil had appeared, "and I hate pointing blame at anypony, but this madness is all her fault. "
The Crusaders' tank-wagon blew over and the top popped off as a firework hit a knocked over stand.
"What the..." Peachy said, rolling out of the contraption and staring at the sky, "What's causing this chaos?"
"Don't look at me." came a voice as Discord appeared behind her with a cup of tea in hand, claw, whatever he called his limbs, "I'm not the one causing this chaos. Chrysalis is seriously messing with the fundamentals of the world."
"Mister Discord," Sweetie Belle asked, pulling herself and her friends out of the wreckage, "aren't you the one who is usually messing with the fundamentals of the world anyway?"
"I have no idea what you just said," Applebloom commented, pulling out some fireworks, "but we have to get back to blasting those Changelings. Come on girls, let's give them a beating and get our Cutie Marks."
The energy suddenly dissipated and the air rippled, causing the dust to quickly gather and then burst outward, allowing everypony to see what rested in the center of all the dust. Gooed to the ground, with her hat covering her eyes from the dust, was Applejack, who moved her hat out of the way with a quick move of her head. Laying in front of Chrysalis, who had a big toothy grin, was Rose Petal, who looked like she had been smacked in the face. Standing next to the Changeling Queen was a stallion who seemed to radiate power.
The stallion's hooves and legs were riddled with holes, as was his mane, tail, and wings. He had a jagged horn, colored black like the rest of his body, and the same strange wings that Chrysalis had. The more Peachy stared at the stallion the more she noticed the fading Cutie Mark that resembled Rocket's mark and when the stallion opened his eyes she knew exactly what had happened.
"Dark Sky," Peachy whispered, unaware that the God of Chaos could hear her regardless of how soft she spoke, "Chrysalis has crossed the line this time."
"I don't see what the deal is with this stallion." Discord said, sipping from his cup as lightning arched around his unoccupied hand, "Celestia says that she's frightened of the power that this stallion contains. I honestly don't see what the big deal is."
Before Peachy could react the God of Chaos blasted her friend with lightning, straight into the town hall building not too far away. Then a meteor hit the wreckage of the building, exploding the ruins in a fury of fire and earth.
"Are you insane?" Peachy asked, fully aware she was asking the most insane creature if he was insane, "That's my friend you just blasted. You can't just toss meteors around like that."
"Where's the fun in following the rules?" Discord asked, taking another sip of his tea as he talked to the mare, "Its boring to follow the rules. Only certain mares follow the rules and those just happen to be Alicorns who everypony knows. And that includes a certain evil stallion and Changeling Queen..."
Peachy couldn't catch the last past as a beam of energy hit the God of Chaos into the building behind him, which preceded to explode. She looked back and felt her heart slow down as she saw the monster emerge from the burning wreckage. She could literally see the hatred burning in the stallions eyes and wondered how much of her friend remained.
"Now I understand," Discord groaned, emerging from the building with some cuts and scrapes, "Now I see what makes this stallion so special. Let's dance."
The monster roared as the God of Chaos raised into the sky, quickly following suit. Discord smiled and charged his hands with pure lightning, something he could use now that both sides weren't in the skies. They were grounded so to speak, which was mostly due to his chaotic nature. Only he allowed the Alicorn mares to join him, if they wanted to fight the monster with him.
The monster stared at him and he at the monster, both daring their foe to make the first move. The monster lowered his head and Discord blasted him with the pure power of lightning, literally opening the sky and raining over ten thousand volts on the stallion.
"He's going to kill him," Rainbow shouted, realizing exactly how much power the God of Chaos was using, "Nopony can withstand that much power without being fried alive."
"I'm not done yet," Discord said, unleashing a wave of fire behind him as the stallion appeared behind him, "and you wont get away that easily."
The sky exploded as another beam of energy connected with Discord's attack, whose eyes were looking for the stallion. The next thing he knew he was tackled right to the ground, blowing a crater in the ground with the stallion standing over him. Discord began to sweat as the stallion prepared another one of his strange energy attacks, this one aimed right at his face.
A wave of darkness bashed into the stallion's side and tossed him off the God of Chaos, but Discord was surprised to see who his savior was. Standing on top of a crystal pillar was none other then the King of Darkness and Tyrant of the Crystal Kingdom, King Sombra. The armored stallion growled and darkness flew over Discord, hitting the monster before he could get back up.
"Sombra," Discord said, getting up as his new ally prevented the stallion from getting up, "To what do I owe the pleasure of being saved by you?"
"Be thankful I even overheard that this stallion even existed," the dark king answered, which was strange since Discord remembered him speaking about crystals and slaves the last time they saw each other, "Otherwise you would not be here right now, asking me why I bothered saving the God of Chaos and ruining my element of surprise early."
"What do you see?" asked a voice as Celestia and the Royal Family joined them.
"Nice to see you too Celestia," Sombra smugly said, smiling at the alicorn mare.
"Be thankful we haven't blasted you into next week yet," Luna stated loudly, her eyes never leaving the Changeling stallion in front of them.
"True," Sombra said, "but that doesn't matter right now. All I see is the chains of darkness that have wrapped around this stallion, allowing his darkness to overtake him and emerge fully. In the case of Luna here it resulted in the appearance of Nightmare Moon, but right now it means the monster known as Dark Sky."
"I thought we were all going to forget about that," Luna grumbled, handing her head a little low.
"How do we stop him then?" Shining asked, preparing a shield spell in case the stallion attacked them.
"You can't hit him with the Elements of Harmony for one thing," Sombra answered, "It would likely either destroy him, send him to some far off prison, or have absolutely no effect on him. You could always try using love on him, but seeing how much anger and hate he has I would advise against it. So hit him hard and maybe that will break the bonds holding him."
"I doubt it will be that easy," Chrysalis mocked, "after all, he's withstood the power of Discord and is still standing. What are you going to do? Hit him with the full power of a sun beam and fry him and everypony else alive? Or will you lower the moon on him and crush everypony around him as well? Face it, none of you can unleash your full power without killing everypony in Ponyville in the process."
"She's right you know," Cadence said, surprising them all and herself, "No matter where we would end up fighting Rocket, or Dark or whatever his name is now, we'd still run the risk of killing hundreds, if not thousands of innocents. We could fight him between here and Canterlot, but I'm sure he'd come back anyway just so we couldn't use our full power on him. We have to find a way to shatter her hold on him before he destroys all of us."
"Incoming," Shining shouted, throwing up a shield in time to somehow bounce the stallion's attack into the empty sky.
The monster appeared right in front of him, somehow bypassing the shield, and bashed his head with his own, effectively cutting the shield off. As Shining went down the monster approached them, unaware of something happening behind him.
"Hey you big meanie," Pinkie Pie shouted, holding her firework launcher right at the stallion as he turned to face her, "I'mma Firin Mah Lazar."
Pinkie launched a gigantic firework that hit the stallion and dragged him into the sky, where it preceded to explode into a fury of lights. She quickly threw the weapon into the air and moved as the stallion cut through it with his horn, which was covered in energy. He swung and found his horn stopped by the staff of his friend Wisdom.
"Snap out of it Rocket," his friend said, "This isn't you. You aren't a monster."
The stallion roared as Tick smashed his guitar on his head, which only made him kick his other friend in the face. So hard that he was thrown into a wall and his guitar in the building behind him. Wisdom took the opportunity to move before his staff snapped in half, which made him discard the pieces anyway. Then he fell from the sky after receiving a hoof to the face, though he landed on a huge pile of hay.
Celestia was horrified, she couldn't believe that the stallion would even harm his own friends like that. He needed to be stopped, that much was clear, but how to stop him was proving to be a challenge.
"Move," Luna shouted, causing the five to take off into the sky, and dodging in Sombra's case, before the stallion's attack hit them.
"Let's focus our magic," Cadence shouted, surprised that the dark king had saved her husband, "Maybe if we combine streams we could beat him."
"Or destroy ourselves in the process," Twilight warned, fully aware of what the combined force could do to them, "But I'm betting that we'll defeat this monster."
With no argument from any of the others they combined all their magic's together, allowing the pressure to build. The monster noticed as they raised into the sky, Sombra on a crystal pillar of course, and roared as he rose to met them. With his horn alight energy gathered to form the infamous energy orb that heralded the most powerful beam of energy that they had all seen in their lives. Without a second to chance their minds the combined magic was released, colliding with the energy from the monster's attack and lighting the sky up brighter than before.
Peachy watched as six forms fell out of the resulting cloud of smoke, each of them familiar to her. Sombra, armor cracked and crown shattered, lay broken on the roof of a nearby building. Discord lied on the ground, all rolled out and flattened between the forgotten stands. Cadence landed near Shining, her mane a mess and some patches of her coat turned black. Celestia and her sister landed on top of each other, both of them bruised and beaten by the magic they faced. Twilight landed in her tree, blasting another hole in the roof that would eventually be prepared.
"Is this what you wanted mother?" Rose shouted at Chrysalis, "The destruction of everything in Equestria?"
"Foolish daughter, I care not for Equestria at this point," Chrysalis said, picking her disobedient daughter up with magic, "I care about destroying those that would dare to oppose me, starting with Celestia and her troublesome sister. Now that all my major foes are here I'll have my new soldier waste them and his friends before I take over."
Rose was tossed to the ground and she noticed Peachy, standing scared as the stallion approached from behind her. Though she had no idea that the monster was closing in on her.
"Peachy," Rose shouted, getting the mare's attention, "Behind you."
As Peachy turned around she was forced to the ground by magic, followed by a hoof to the chest to keep her pinned where she laid. Standing over her was the Changeling monster that her friend had become and she was scared. Energy began to gather above his horn, which was pointed directly at her.
Rose knew she had one shot at saving Peachy's life, maybe everypony else's life in the process as well. She got up and basically ran over to them, surprised that her mother didn't stop her this time. She raised the stallion's head and kissed him, hoping that it would override the monster.
Then Rose Petal closed her eyes and waited for sweet death in case she was wrong.
The first thing Rose felt was the magic dispel from Rocket's horn. The monster roared and backed up, holding its head as if it was fighting itself now. Almost as if Rocket was trying to regain control and the monster wanted to remain in control. Then she noticed something that made her heart skip a beat; the skin surrounding the stallion was beginning to crack and light was beginning to shine from within.
"A simple kiss cannot break the power of darkness," Chrysalis shouted, facing the stallion, "His darkness has him and he will not easily give him up. Face it 067, you have failed."
"Something is clearly happening," Sombra coughed, getting out of the rubble slowly, "Whatever that mare just did is working."
"Its the power of Love," came Cadence's voice, "Never doubt the power of pure love."
"CHRYSALIS."
The Changeling in question was surprised, the stallion hadn't spoken a word since his transformation, mostly just raging and screaming, but now he had actually said something. He had said her name, but not with the friendly vibe she was expecting. No, she could feel the anger rolling off of the stallion, only to be replaced by something more. Something almost peaceful and accepting. Or maybe she was imaging it and the monster was pleading for help.
Smoke began to emit from the stallion's body, almost as if Rocket and Dark's fighting was tearing the poor thing apart from within, and the power was seeking to escape. The stallion continued to back up as the rest of the Alicorns and Discord began to awaken, getting up and watching the stallion with curiosity. The air rippled as energy began to spill from the stallion, who began to scream as he thrashed around, trying to cure himself of the fighting within.
Twilight's eyes widened in realization as she figured out what was going to happen.
"Get everypony to safety NOW," she shouted, working her magic to move her friends out of the way, "At the rate he's going he's going to explode and take all of us with him."
That kicked Celestia like a ton of bricks and she began moving ponies at rapid speed, hoping that whatever was happening didn't result in the explosion her student warned them about. Discord and Sombra, both wounded beyond belief, were helping out, moving what ponies they could with their limited power. Luna went on the offensive and attacked Chrysalis while Cadence moved Rocket's friends and her husband away. The only one that hadn't been picked up was Rose, who was watching the stallion.
Then a second energy pillar appeared in their field of vision, consuming the stallion and blocking him from their view. This time energy seemed to gather around the pillar, spilling into the core and whatever was happening on the inside. Luna flew to where the Royal Family was and expected the worst to happen; the explosion of such terrible power. Though Chrysalis watched with glee, as if making the stallion die like this would aid her cause.
"What's going on here?" Discord tiredly asked, breathing hard as he noticed the magic from the monster's attacks linger in the air, "Either he's going to blow or something else is happening here."
The air rippled and the pillar dissipated into nothing, leaving a cloud of dust behind. It took just a minute for enough dust to clear so they could see what had happened, but what everypony saw shocked them to their cores.
Standing in the direct center of what could have been the blast center was a stallion with a light blue coat and Rocket's Cutie Mark. His horn, hooves, legs, mane, and tail had been cured of the holes that had covered them earlier, except that his body was the same size as Chrysalis' or Celestia's body. His horn was the same length as the Solar Goddess and he had wings as big as her's as well. Oddly enough the stallion's mane and tail were now golden colored and were definitely longer then they had been before Chrysalis has bitten him. When he opened his eyes everypony noticed that his eyes were now silver colored.
"He's an Alicorn," Discord grumbled, "That's just great. And its also impossible to have forced such an evolution."
"Your impossible Discord," Celestia sighed, knowing it would be difficult to reason with the God of Chaos, "I allowed Twilight to ascend to Alicornhood, so it clearly isn't impossible. But to cause a forced one should be nearly impossible."
"What now?" Twilight asked, wondering what they were going to do with another member to the Alicorn family.
"We wait and see what he does," Celestia answered, "Who knows, maybe he'll revert to a unicorn soon."
"Come now Rocket Sky, obliterate these pathetic Alicorns," Chrysalis shouted, hoping that the stallion would still follow her commands, "and we will rule Equestria together."
"Shut the buck up Chrysalis," the stallion said, sounding older as he stared at the Changeling Queen, "I've had it with you, planning on using me against Celestia and her family. I am not some puppet for you to command."
Chrysalis screamed and unleashed a barrage of magic missiles at the stallion, who preceded to throw up a barrier around himself. Before she could react he emerged from the smoke and blasted her at point blank range, tossing her into a tree. She groaned and flew into the sky, turning to look down at the stallion as she sent two more waves of missiles at him, blasting him and the area around him.
Energy gathered around in the smoke, but it was far different then the attack that Dark had used to save Rocket's life countless times. This time the orb gathered around in front of his hoof, spinning around at such high speeds that not even Chrysalis could follow it. Before she could even take her eyes off the stallion he was in front of her, with the orb firmly connected to her chest. it exploded and tossed her to the ground, where she stared at the stallion as she hit the ground with a hard thud.
"You win," Chrysalis admitted defeat as the stallion appeared above her, looking down at her with pity in his eyes, "Don't look down on me."
"You are relieved of your Queenship," Rocket said, nodding to Rose, "and your daughter will be taking over. Maybe this time Changelings and Ponies can get along without trying to kill each other."
"Chrysalis smirked and closed her eyes. "Whatever," she said, "I have served my Hive for too long and I will go into exile for the time being. But mark my words, one day I will return."
"I'll be ready when that day comes," Rocket promised, receiving a surprise hug from Rose, "See you around Chrysalis."
"So what now?" Rose asked, curious as to what the stallion would be doing with his life now.
Rocket sighed as they walked away from the broken Changeling, his mind already racing. His friends smiled and nodded at him as they approached, though Celestia was shaking her head and Luna was extremely cheerful.
"I guess if my form remains unchanged I'll be included in the roster of Alicorns," he admitted, "but either way I do believe you and I will be living our lives together."
"Ooh, a marriage is it?" Pinkie asked from behind them, "I call dibs on planning the party."
Rocket shook his head and smiled, that was so like the Pinkie Pie that he knew. He only hoped that everypony else was comfortable with his current form if it didn't change.
Author's Note
Yes, I just did that.
One week after the events of Ponyville Rocket Sky was still trying to revert his body back to his natural unicorn form, but as usual he wasn't having any luck. He looked out of the window of Canterlot Castle that had been designated to him and Rose, mauling over the events that had transpired after his sudden and unexpected ascension. None of the events had made much sense, but granted that Discord was hanging with him and his friends he really thought things would have been more chaotic.
Shortly after finishing the fight with Chrysalis he, Rose, and his friends had been whisked off to Canterlot by Celestia, though he could have sworn it was Discord doing to deed. All of the Alicorns and the villains were weakened from their fight with his power, the evil Changeling monster he had become when Chrysalis had bitten him. Yet there they were, still taking the four of them away when they should have been rebuilding Ponyville. Last he heard the town had been reconstructed and Chrysalis had vanished as she said she would.
Once they had arrived in Canterlot the guard had immediately noticed that he had wings and a horn, marking him as the fifth Alicorn in existence at the moment, and had knelt to him. Before he could even say anything Celestia had them all taken to the hospital, where their injuries were taken care of for the remainder of that day. The nurses knew how to deal with small cuts and burnt fur, so it was no surprise that they were discharged so quickly.
Their second day back in the center of Equestria consisted of the four Princesses talking to him about what it meant to be an Alicorn and what his official role was going to be. The sun and moon had been called for well over a thousand years, love was off limits to him, and magic and friendship, Twilight's part, were taken. At some point while the four discussed what his particular role was Rocket looked out the window and stared at the clouds, focusing his mind on outside the room and not the inside.
His own mind mauled over the thoughts of what his position would be, but he knew that it wouldn't be anything as glorious as the sun, the moon, love, or even magic. He was more focused on planning a wedding then bothering to be crowned prince of something. Every Alicorn was a prince or princess, that he understood, but eventually there won't be anything left to crown them under. Though, as usual, Rocket sighed and continued staring out of the window, letting the other four continue their bickering as they tried to decide between some options like Darkness, Light, and he could have sworn he heard one of them mention Power for some reason.
"How about Harmony?" Rocket asked, not a moment after the words left his mouth did he wish he had never uttered them to begin with, "You know, like balance between Light and Darkness?"
"I'm thinking more of Balance," Cadence said, "Considering both his sides make a whole like this."
Yeah...Rocket just decided to ignore them some more and go back to staring at the clouds, not really interested in listening to their chatter anymore. Of the four remaining Alicorn's in the room he had told Luna and Cadence about the impending wedding and he had asked for their help in the matter. Luna was glad to finally have something that didn't involve getting blasted and beaten while Cadence had to inquire who the lucky ponies were. Rocket just told them that the couple was a secret and they would find out when the time came.
He imagined the dresses that Rarity was designing for the Coronation and wondered if she was also working on the dresses for the wedding he had planned. As far as he knew Twilight's friends and the two Princesses were the only ones who knew about the event and he was actually surprised that Pinkie wasn't announcing it to the world. Eventually he had to come back to the chatter behind him and that was when he learned that he was going to be designated Prince of Balance, which was as good as it was going to get for him.
The third day was boring as heck...so Rocket decided to take the day off from following the Princesses around and flew to one of the places he had always wanted to visit, but couldn't do to his original form. A place he had seen and heard about, but never had the opportunity to go since he had been a normal unicorn. Now that he had wings he could easily get there and wonder around, provided he hide his horn so he wasn't bugged all the time. Of course he had to ask a certain pegasus where the location was to be sure he didn't get lost.
Yeah...he was heading for Cloudsdale, home to both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash and the location of where the Spectrum was made.
Almost immediately after he asked the speedster directions he regretted it, because she kept talking about how great the place was and everything that had happened to her there. So after about two hours of getting useless information from the pegasus he finally got the directions he so desired and the exact location of Cloudsdale at the time. He bid her goodbye and began his journey towards the city, which was supposed to be between Canterlot and Ponyville.
Unfortunately he was stopped multiple times by both the Solar Guard and the Lunar Guard on the ground and in the air, so he figured it wasn't meant to be. He seriously didn't want to resort to using magic on the guards, but they were doing their job that Celestia had assigned to them; don't let him leave Canterlot and make sure he stays safe. So he really spent the majority of the third day playing hide and seek with the guards, trying to escape them and they kept finding him regardless of where he chose to hide.
The next day was similar to his third day, being chased around Canterlot by the guards so they knew he was safe and not being harmed by anypony. Eventually he got tired of it and hid in the one place that he knew they would never find him, the Crystal Caverns below the castle. It was the perfect place to hide according to Cadence, the guards would never think to check down there and he would have all the time he needed to find a way out of Canterlot without the guards knowing.
So that was what he did for the rest of the fourth day and the majority of the next two days, exploring the entire network of caverns while he searched for a way out besides the one he knew about. He moved crystals and created bridges while he searched, creating a vast network of elaborate pathways throughout the entire place. Try as he might he could not find a second way out of the caverns, short of blasting a second hole out and alerting Celestia to his work. Cloudsdale, he decided, was going to have to wait for another day.
On the seventh day he waited in the castle, not really bothering to visit the caverns since he had already done everything he could think of to it. Archways, pillars, bridges, rooms, you name it and he had done it. The caverns were like a mini Crystal Empire that rested below Canterlot, but he figured that if Rarity found it she would demolish it and use the crystals for her own personal uses.
So on the eighth day, the current day, he found himself standing between the four Princesses and a room full of ponies he either knew or didn't know. He knew many of them from before and his friends were there, but there still were a lot of ponies that he didn't know the names of. Rocket wore aquamarine colored jewelry that looked similar to Celestia's royal jewelry, except that his had no markings and a simple crown of similar color to his other pieces. He was even dressed up in a Prince's outfit, which seemed similar to the suit that Shining Armor had worn on his wedding day so long ago.
Princess Celestia was talking to the crowd of assembled ponies, saying how Rocket Sky had managed to save the whole of Equestria from disaster with the help of the Changeling Princess Viscarias. How he had tamed the Darkness in his own heart and had become an Alicorn that could stop Chrysalis from winning her war with Equestria. And now here he was, being crowned the fifth Alicorn and Prince of Balance, the line between complete darkness and complete light. Little did Celestia know that Rocket had a trick he had yet to play on her.
"Stand aside sister," Luna proclaimed, surprising her sister by her outburst, "There is a wedding to be had."
The assembled group, excluding Twilight's friends and Cadence, were shocked by the sudden announcement that there was going to be a wedding along with the coronation of a new Prince. The doors opened and in came the Cutie Mark Crusaders, including Peachy, all dressed up for a wedding like they had been when Shining and Cadence had gotten married. Walking behind the four of them was Rose Petal, dressed up in a wedding dress Rarity through together that went together well with her natural Changeling Princess form. She walked up to where Rocket was and smiled at the assembled Princesses, though only two smiled back at her.
"Mares and gentlecolts," Luna began, raising her voice just a bit so she could be heard by everypony in the room, "we are gathered here today to celebrate the union of Princess Viscarias of the Changeling Empire and Prince Rocket Sky of Equestria. The power of their love, while not as powerful as Princess cadence and Shining Armor's, is undeniable. May we have the rings please?"
Wisdom, dressed up almost like Shining during his own wedding, appeared beside the Lunar Princess and presented her with two golden rings. Luna accepted them with her magic and placed one of them on the horns of both Rocket Sky and Viscarias.
"I now pronounce you mare and colt," Luna concluded, "you may kiss the bride."
And that was Rocket did as he leaned in and gave Rose Petal a kiss. The two smiled at each other and nearly laughed when they saw that Princess Celestia was still shocked by the fact that there had been a wedding after the Coronation. Peachy wiped a tear from under her eye and smiled as Wisdom gave a nod of approval, though Tick was setting up for an after party.
About an hour later the assembled ponies were partying and wishing the newlyweds well, though Rocket continued to smile the entire evening.
"So why weren't we told that the couple would be you two?" Peachy asked, "We could have kept it a secret."
"I wanted almost everypony to be surprised," Rocket explained, "but it was worth it."
"So sister," Celestia said, watching over the party while the other Princesses sat near them, "Why wasn't I informed of this wedding?"
"You had your fun the last time there was a wedding," Luna laughed, "and I was asked to keep it a secret from everypony except for Twilight's friends and Cadence. Besides, you clearly have overlooked something."
"And what is that?" Celestia asked, raising an eyebrow at her sister.
"Princess Viscarias is Queen of the Changeling Empire now that her mother has been banished by the Elder Council," Luna explained, "and technically that makes young Rocket Sky King of the Changeling Empire. Face it sister, he played you on that one."
"Faust almighty your right," Celestia said, sighed to herself, "but this also means that we'll have another faction to add the next time we have a war game."
"True," Luna replied, staring at the happy couple and their friends, "but for right now let them enjoy their victory. We'll tell them about the war game later and then we'll see how far they can get before the game officially starts."
Twilight and Cadence sighed, but they knew what was to come if the Changelings were accepted into the war games; it would give the four Princesses an extra foe to best when the time came.
Author's Note
For those who enjoyed this story there will be a sequel.
Keep your eyes peeled though.
After Peachy Keen and the Crusaders entered the house of Rose Petal two certain ponies appeared behind Salad Top, their eyes watching her as she bought the tomatoes. Well, not exactly behind her since they were sitting at an outdoor part of the restaurant that happened to be just a minute away from Salad's location. And by restaurant they meant a cafe that served all sorts of jittery beverages and sugary foods that energized the public of Ponyville.
"What are you ordering?" Pinkie asked her new friend Wisdom as she flipped through the menu.
"I was thinking an espresso," Wisdom answered, checking the list anyway, "One that would give me energy so we could spy on Miss Salad Top. You?"
"I was going to go with the Mega Caffeinated Coffee with a dash of candy cane sugar," Pinkie Pie replied.
"They make those?" Wisdom asked, signing the waiter to come over, "This place is amazing."
"Yes?" the waiter, a brown coated unicorn stallion with a red mane, asked, "What would you like to drink?"
"An espresso with two shots for me," Wisdom answered, "she, however, would like..."
"...a Mega Caffeinated Coffee with candy cane sugar," the pink mare spoke up, cutting the stallion off as she handed the menus to the waiter.
"I will be back with those in a few minutes," the waiter said, taking the order down and taking the menus before disappearing into the building.
"He's freaked out," Wisdom remarked, "I guess he isn't used to dealing with you Pinkie."
"I can see that," the pink mare shot back, staring at Salad Top as she bought something other than tomatoes, "She's buying something other than tomatoes. Maybe garlic or some apples?"
"You can be sure to ask her when we question her," Wisdom said, stretching his wings before returning to normal, "I want to know why she's following Peachy and spying on my friends."
Why is everything so expensive? Salad thought as she looked at the prices of a bag of apples and other items, I swear, the last time I bought apples they were only three bits, but now they are four bits. And what is this that I see? The prices of all the items have gone up. This is making me ANGRY.
Salad looked down at her front hooves and watched as the color slowly began to change to the blackness of the Changelings. Quickly regaining herself she reversed the changes and was back to normal. She was glad that nopony had seen what had happened and bought what she needed quickly. She had planned on quickly walking back to Midsummer Retreat, but that was foiled by the appearance of Pinkie Pie and another of the blue stallion's friends.
"Hiya Chrysalis," Pinkie said, bouncing around the mare while the other pony held their drinks, "We have a couple of questions for you."
"I'm not Chrysalis," Salad proclaimed softly, "My name is Salad Top. I am most certainly not the Queen of the Changelings. Just a simple restaurant worker buying ingredients that are in low supply right now."
Damn it Pinkie Pie, Salad thought, if you would have just left me alone I could have learned the weakness of the blue unicorn stallion and captured his power for my army.
"Right," Pinkie continued, not paying attention to her protests, "keep telling yourself that. Now, we were wondering why your following our friend Peachy Keen and spying on her. And I personally want to know what your buying that isn't tomatoes."
"Like I already told you," Salad said, "I'm buying things that are in low supply at the restaurant that I work in. And it just so happens that both me and this Peachy Keen were in the same place at the same time. And what are you drinking?"
"Mega Caffeinated Coffee with candy cane sugar," Pinkie answered, "and Wisdom here is drinking an espresso. But enough about us, tell us why you are spying on the friends of Rocket Sky."
At least I know his name know, Salad thought, now to see if his powers are as great as I know them to be.
"Stop asking me the same question," Salad insisted, "I do not know who this Rocket Sky is. Nor am I spying on anypony who might be a friend of his. So please, stop asking me why I'm spying on Miss Peachy. We are in the same place at the same time and that's final. Leave me alone."
"Did you know that Rocket Sky has an impressive amount of magical energy?" Pinkie asked, as if it would cause Salad to reveal herself, "I noticed when I was on break that his power is great."
"I do not care," Salad shouted, turning on the annoying mare, "Let me repeat myself for the hundredth time. I do not know who this Rocket Sky is, I do not care how much magical power he contains, I was not following Miss Peachy Keen and her little friends, and I am NOT the Changeling Queen Chrysalis."
"Denial is a bad thing," Wisdom said, stepping in front of the mare, "but if you choose to deny the truth and instead accept the falsity of your lies you will soon lose what really matters to you. Never forget that my student and you will prosper well in the world. Come along Pinkie."
Wisdom and the pink mare instantly vanished as they turned a corner and when Salad went to check she was correct in her assumption. The ponies around them were confused, but assumed that pinkie was being pinkie and had made no real accusation towards Salad. She smiled slightly and resumed walking towards her job, wanting to get back to work so she could take her mind off of Pinkie Pie and her new friend.
"Think she'll do anything interesting?" Pinkie asked, sitting on a rooftop with Wisdom, drinking their drinks as they watched Salad Top.
"Its not that she'll do something interesting," Wisdom said, "but that she'll eventually lead us to the reason why she's following Peachy and the Crusaders. Besides, we can always spy on her without her knowing we're here. Now, would you like some sugar for this stakeout?"
And sure enough Wisdom had somehow summoned a variety of treats that would keep them going as they watched Salad Top.
