//------------------------------// // Act 2 // Story: And the Crown Goes On // by AizakkuHorooee //------------------------------// After leaving Cozy Glow and Trace Light, I start my flight around the fans.  One lap later, I see Spike and Fluttershy on a hot air balloon above the throne room balcony.  As soon as they lift off though, the balloon starts zooming in the air randomly.  Canterlot!  We have a problem! I hear Pinkie scream. “Oh!” Fluttershy exclaims.  “Lightning Dust!  What brings you around?” I shake my head.  “I see someone took from my old self a bit too much, and popped that balloon.” “I don’t know what you mean,” Spike nervously replies.  “Pinkie Pie was just dropping us off.  But you could join us if you’d like.” I flap my hoof down in declination.  “Nah, not until Aita disables the alarm.  But you two go for it.” Spike and Fluttershy fly up to the main stain glass window, the former clawing a hole at the center.  Then they head inside.  Not long after, the geese in the throne room start honking, and I can still hear the trap door at the throne over them. “Because adrenaline junkies NEVER mess with nature,” I state to myself, having learned from that tornado incident at the Wonderbolts Academy. As everyone else is busy trying to get into the castle, I am tasked with detuning Chrysalis’s old throne.  I look around and see a long tuning fork near one of the sealed underground entrances.  Striking it with my hoof seems to make my horn start up involuntarily as it gets closer, a very low and soft one hundred and eight hertz ringing from the fork.  I strike the wall as the ring finishes fading, which just produces a clang. After the second strike, I hear hoofsteps approaching me, and a shadow blocking the sun that was previously shown onto me.  “Starlight?” I look up and see a familiar friend, making me hug her.  “Queen Chrysalis!” I exclaim. “Examining the shards I see?” I nod, prompting Chrysalis to take her crown off and transform it into a slightly smaller tuning fork.  She then takes the fork in one hoof and strikes it with the other, ringing a slightly higher pitch of a hundred and twenty hertz.  Her horn also starts up when the fork gets close.  She then strikes the wall with it, producing the same muted clang. “I honestly did not expect you would be playing a part in getting the crown,” Chrysalis states, turning the fork back into her crown and putting it back on.  “How may I assist?” “Aita has me detuning the shards so that I could join her later on.  She even proofread the spell.”  I show Chrysalis the spell I wrote while on the train to Canterlot, but she pushes the scroll down with her hoof. “Sorry to say, Starlight, but a spell isn’t what will detune magical artifacts.  Pure physics have to do that.  As we’ve seen, striking the wall mutes a fork due to the insulation provided by my old throne.” “So, was that how you tuned that?  By changing its natural frequency?” “Well, it was already changed the moment it broke apart as my subjects applied harmonic resonance as a side effect.  I changed it further simply by blending the shards into the walls of the castle.” Chrysalis examines the wall, takes her crown off again, and changes it into a much smaller tuning fork compared to before.  She strikes the wall with the fork, causing it to ring at nine times the pitch it did before. When splitting from the rest of the group, Sunset and I head directly to the front entrance, my suit holding Aita, who is currently remaining in her guard medal form until we get to the throne room. With Aita entirely assuming this form, she is able to trip the detectors when I rest her over them.  Getting close to the throne room, we hear Luna.  Sister!  ANOTHER false alarm from Shining Armor’s guard geese! “Just press onward, Firelight,” Sunset whispers.  “They won’t assume anything if you stay blent in.” “Hello, Sunset Shimmer,” Luna greets as she passes by, never turning her head to face us directly.  “Firelight.” At the entrance of the throne room, a guard is on post to keep any contents safe within.  “Next shift.  You’re on break,” I announce to him, prompting him to walk out. Once the coast is clear, Sunset and I take a close listen.  The geese are honking like crazy, so it seems like they’re distracted with another intruder.  “Score one.  I sure hope my sugar-plum has as much success as we have,” I remark, putting Aita onto the badge detector to trip it.  As soon as the door opens, I let Aita go as she transforms into a goose.  She shoos us out of view of the real geese. ...and we will never stop the journey, not until we have our cutie marks! After “Apple Chord”’s performance, Trace Light thought it would a good idea if we both sung the Cutie Mark Crusader theme.  Of course, with my cutie mark, I’m more willing to motivate my peers than any of them would’ve for me or Trace Light, so picking up the booby-trapped guitar Applejack left on stage, I wing-play as Trace Light sings and join her in the chorus. Once the performance is done, the guards clap their hooves and cheer, the latter of which devolves into hooting.  Trace Light sighs though as she looks behind her. “Hey, what’s wrong?” I ask her. “Still nothing!” “But that’s okay, Trace Light.  I know sometime you’ll get your cutie mark.  Just think.  When are you the happiest?  I know I always feel the most satisfied when I rally somepony to take action.” Trace Light puts a wing under her chin.  “Well, it sure felt good when we put on that show, like I felt I did my part in a group effort.  I hadn’t felt that way since I helped finish that sandbox obstacle course for Lightning Dust with the rest of the CMC!” “So, wouldn’t you like to focus on that?  Instead of looking for something you’re good at when you see something that already gives your life that kind of fulfillment?” “Y- you’re right, Cozy!” Trace Light exclaims, hugging me.  “It doesn’t matter HOW long it takes for me to get my cutie mark!  I liked going exploring with Carve and Uncle Rusty, I liked building the obstacle course, and I like participating in the Sibling Supreme!” “Yeah!” we both shout, hoof bumping each other.  By this point the guards are talking, possibly debating if we should encore. But in the wake of that hoof bump, magic travels up Trace Light’s hoof that is making contact with me.  That magic expands and envelopes her backside until a bright flash causes her to briefly pass out.  This catches the guards’ attention as she glides back onto the stage. “Trace Light!  Are you okay?” Shining Armor frantically asks, running up before stopping on a dime and gasping.  “Whoa!  Take a look, guys!  You DON’T wanna miss this!” When Trace Light looks behind again, she sees this time a cutie mark with a heart under a bolt of lightning on the top left and a water droplet on the top right.  Suddenly, Pinkie Pie zips up to us and drops her jaw while Trace Light is prancing in excitement. “Trace Light got her CUTIE MARK?!?  Oh!  So untimely, but I can’t resist!!!”  Pinkie leaves for a second a hammerspaces a fresh hot air balloon that bursts with party materials.  “It’s Cute-ceañera time!!!” “Maybe save that for Ponyville, Pinkie,” I reply.  “But hold the party anyway!  Trace Light and I have to go!” Pinkie’s cheeks squeak when they blush as Trace Light and I dash off in the distance to meet up with Firelight, Aita and Sunset Shimmer. Midway through detuning the shards, Chrysalis and I hear some music going on.  Firstly with Applejack, then with who sound like Trace Light and Cozy Glow. “Who knew such young fillies could sing so well,” Chrysalis remarks before returning her concentration on the shards.  That concentration doesn’t last long though as we see a flash coming from the same direction as the singing came. As the flash fades away, the guards gather around Cozy Glow and Trace Light on the stage, Pinkie Pie joining in not too long after.  The two fillies stop her before she can throw a party and race off to us. “Cozy Glow!”  Chrysalis takes Cozy’s embrace as Trace Light shows off something new to us.  “Oh, it’s so good to see you!” “Oh wow!  Trace Light!  That’s a great cutie mark!” I compliment. “Thanks, but that doesn’t matter right now!  The guards are distracted with Pinkie Pie!” replies Trace Light. I nod as Chrysalis wraps the three of us in her wings.  “Good, then let Chrysalis take care of the rest of the trip.  She’s been hard at work with the acoustics of her old throne.”  And now, she teleports us out to the entrance to the throne room, signifying the detuning worked. After an agonizingly long time in the form of a royal guard medal, I finally get to move when I transform into a goose.  The first thing I have to do is to shoo Sunset and Firelight away to relieve me of suspicion.  I honk to get the geese’s attention.  They all stop their chatter and turn to me.  I wave my wings one at a time, gesturing them to come with me as well with a much smaller honk. So, leading them out, one of them diverts their attention away from me and to the crown.  I head back into the room and put my beak atop my wings, tricking the personal crown guard into joining in, by thinking he’s getting preened. Just as soon as we all head out of the room, I look back with the illusion that I’m checking attendance when I really am passing Lightning Dust coming into the throne room from the window. Walking feels a bit weird at first, but I acclimate quite quickly and continue playing casually… that is until out of nowhere, Chrysalis, Cozy Glow, Starlight and Trace Light are inside.  The geese start honking at them a ways into the hall and start charging at them.  I raise my wings and honk once, commanding them to stop, then again saying that I know them, winking at them afterward. I continue by pulling off the same beak-on-wing gesture as if to taunt them about missing out on preening if they continue misbehaving.  So they comply and move out of the ponies’ way. Suddenly, Lightning Dust appears the way the geese and I came from.  This frightens the real geese, but I only play along, knowing full well they would do this when Lightning Dust entered.  When she sidesteps, I switch modes and chase the geese back into the throne room. With the group gathered in the immediate hallway, only thing left is that Lightning Dust is the only one unsure if it’s just a goose or if it’s me.  I let out a wink to give it away, prompting her to wipe her forehead with her wing. “Phew, it’s just you, Aita.” I nod then revert to my natural form. “Now THAT’S what I call teamwork!” Starlight exclaims. Firelight nods.  “Sure right about that one, chipmunk cheeks.” Rarity arrives in the hallway, opening the farthest window for Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash to enter.  As it turns out, she also has a guard suit, but unlike Firelight, she has a real medal on it to press on the detectors.  As soon as the three enter, the geese start honking again. You’ve been glaring so hard, I hear Fluttershy remark after the door closes.  Who wants a feather massage?  As soon as she offers, the honking stops. “That would’ve been soooo soothing,” I say to myself, imagining what it would be like if I were a goose getting a feather massage. Chrysalis shushes me.  “Now’s the time to focus.”