Chapter 1: Arrivals
It had been a relatively normal day (by Ponyville standards) in the library to start with. Relatively, as any day where Princess Celestia came by to visit could hardly be called 'normal'. Okay, so it hadn't been at all normal, given that she had come through the back door without any of her regalia, embarrassedly explaining to Twilight that she needed help in cleaning out the old treasury of Castle Everfree.
"It's something I should have done years ago, Twilight. Even if I have been busy for the past 1000 years dealing with the fallout of Luna's actions. It's strange, having been forced to clean it out by circumstances. It shouldn't have taken a thief showing up with one of my old tiaras to force me into action." Celestia explained it in a motherly fashion as she watched her beloved student and her young minion frantically gather supplies. A thought struck her as Spike pulled out a bottle of cleaning agents. "Oh. This must be why everypony hates spring cleaning so much."
"Books! Need reference books! Spike, bring me the references on old royal treasuries! Still need a sleeping bag, a tent, and- uh, no don't ask Princess Celestia how much she eats, we're going to need Pinkie and Applejack!" A veritable storm of objects hovered around Twilight, from pens and paper to the more exotic like a tri-focused gemstone base magic sink that floated above her head.
The sea of supplies roughly tumbled and flew through the air for several more moments before Celestia's golden aura slowly overcame the magenta glow surrounding them. Twilight dazedly turned to her mentor, who smiled back at her. A mischievous grin crept onto the solar princess's face, giving Twilight just enough time to mutter, "Uh-oh."
Twilight found herself swept up off of her hooves as many of the things she had gathered in her haste found themselves floating back to their proper places. Twilight wanted to grumble, crossing her legs crossly as she was floated like a rogue foal over to her mentor, but the light chuckles coming from the white alicorn's chest put a smile back onto her face. Celestia brought her in close, and stretched herself up, letting Twilight rub noses with her affectionately.
As they laughed heartily, Celestia pretended to pull out a checklist of her own, she intoned loudly, "One Twilight Sparkle!"
From upstairs, Spike's muffled voice responded amidst the crash of several large objects. "Check!"
It was too much for the pair, and Twilight landed ungracefully as she and Celestia broke down into a fit of laughter. Twilight wiped a tear from her eye as she kept on laughing, pretending to try and stuff herself into a saddlebag, which set off Celestia once more. Spike grumbled as he ran across the upstairs balcony, muttering to himself as he did. "Glad to see somepony is working."
Catching her breath, Twilight picked herself up and trotted over to her mentor. "I guess I really was getting a little too into packing."
Celestia shook her head while ruefully chuckling. She pretended to make a show of measuring how much her student had been overreacting, finally settling on holding an unshod forehoof half a hooflength off the ground. "Not too much, Twilight. I wouldn't make you prepare all the supplies needed for a personal favor for me."
She took a deep breath, charging her horn and closing her eyes as she did. This was an old habit she had not indulged in for far too long, and it would be good to introduce her soon to be protégée to it. "Luna and I used to be quite ardent adventurers. We were always going out into the wilds with no plan and no destination. Sometimes, we didn't even have any supplies. We had to be careful, going out of our door; because, if we didn't keep out wits about us and a destination in mind, there was no telling where we would be off to."
Numerous flashes filled the room, each one pulling back in on itself to reveal armor, weapons, rucksacks and saddlebags, sleeping bags and tents, and enough magically preserved travel rations to seemingly feed two armies for months. Opening her eyes, Celestia jerked an inch backwards, sheepishly smiling. She had been certain that she had given much of her traveling gear away. She turned to Twilight, who looked back with a wild-eyed surprise. "Oh dear. I didn't quite expect all of this to show up. I had- wait, this isn't all mine. Luna's been a little too busy behind my back, it seems."
"Um, as Pinkie would say it; 'In Case of Adventuring Emergencies'?" Twilight gingerly poked fun at her mentor, hoping it wasn't inappropriate. Several years in Ponyville had loosened up her nerves enough to even consider trying. At the sound of Celestia laughing gently once more, she joined in as Spike grumbling marched past behind them with the library's card catalogue. "Why did you stop, Princess?"
Celestia sighed exhaustedly, remembering all too well. "It was the thing we all dread." She slyly looked down to her student, while pointing to her regalia-less brow. "We took a kingdom to the head."
Twilight squirmed once more, finding the absence of Celestia's familiar jewelry outside of the diarch's private quarters to still be intensely uncomfortable and unsettling for her. Her shivers calmed as her mentor squeezed her tightly with a wing once more, dragging her up against the comforting white bulk of the princess. "Don't worry, Twilight. I wouldn't intentionally burden you with ruling anything."
"Well that's a relief!" Spike ran by as he shouted, carrying the second volume of the library catalogue.
Celestia began comparing some of the packs that Luna had clearly picked up in the short time that she had been back, picking out one she had gotten before her growth spurt for Twilight. "We need to hurry, though. I'm certain that the guards will soon catch up to Mrs. Hooves, even with my incentive to her of a muffin for every minute she keeps ahead of them. If they find out that I cast a body-double illusion spell and sent it their way, they will come back to look for me, and we can't have that."
"Why not?" Twilight struggled into the straps of her rucksack, unused to the complicated system of weight-bearing straps and webbing.
Celestia straightened out Twilight's mess, pulling the straps tight a little too quickly and strongly for the unicorn's taste. Slight choking gasps squeezed out of the unicorn as Celestia selectively loosened the straps again, fitting her perfectly. "Sorry. Well, Twilight, many of the artifacts we will be recovering are designed to be alluring, to draw in the unwary and weak willed. The more ponies involved, the more dangerous this becomes. You, though, have displayed a will strong enough to resist even Discord with something as simple as letters for you to read."
Twilight ducked her head as Celestia began inserting items into her pack carefully, pondering what her mentor had said. "Okay, I can understand that, Princess. But, why now?"
"Because, Twilight, as I have said, there are more than just royal treasures down there. Many of the items sealed away deep beneath the earth were terrible artifacts both meant for good and evil, sealed away deep below the surface in separate vaults. I made the foalish assumption after the battle that the damage would block them away forever, and that the forest would keep anypony from ever finding them again. Clearly, I was wrong." Celestia strapped on her own favorite pack on. It was a marvel of Luna's forging skills from just before her fall. Its frame was as light as air, and it was still as strong as the day it had been forged.
"Is there anything in particular that I should know about?" Twilight's tone was one all too familiar to Celestia; the tone of a dutiful student preparing to learn. Everything, ever, all of it.
The solar diarch shook her head, declining to lecture Twilight. "I dare not tell you yet, Twilight. Many of the artifacts gain power through being discussed, and I have suppressed their knowledge for centuries to prevent their influence from spreading. A talisman made of the heart of a dead alicorn, a bag personally sewn by Tirac himself, a terrible and destructive locket containing the power of a million rainbows..."
Celestia stopped and shook her head as she realized how much she had revealed. Glancing over, she pulled her seemingly wilted student close once more. Sitting down behind her, she wrapped both of her wings around the unicorn's frame until only her head emerged from the feathery embrace.
Twilight looked up into Celestia's eyes, unable to think of anything to say. Then, she was too flustered to speak as Celestia smiled at her and poked her poor nose with a cruel and merciless hoof.
"You're too serious, Twilight." Celestia stroked her student's mane with a wing, having to take a moment to steady the warble of pride in her voice. Twilight continued to try and protest the excessive praise that Celestia was dumping upon her; her nose scrunching as she frowned in thought.
As she opened her mouth to respond, Spike ran past with an alarmed look on his face and the book log in his paws. She cleared her throat, trying again. "Princess, I'm not as good as you think. I'm-"
"Twilight, there is no other pony in the world that I trust enough to help me in this task. I need somepony with the caution to listen to me, the boldness to tell me when I'm wrong, the smarts to know what it is she's seeing, and the power to handle anything this task can throw at her." Celestia lit her horn once more as she spoke, guiding the last of the camping equipment and supplies that they would need for the expedition into their rucksacks.
She began shrinking down, pulling in on herself into the illusion of a pink maned white pegasus as she tickled Twilight with her wings for a moment more. "Twilight, you've grown more than even I could have ever expected over the past few years, and though you still have relapses, you've become quite the leader. Very soon, you will be graduating from my teaching, because you will have surpassed me."
Twilight's jaw dropped as she heard what Celestia had said. "N-not your student anymore? But Princess I-"
"-Will be whatever YOU want to be for me. A friend, a companion, an equal, whatever you choose to do with our relationship, and wherever you choose to take it I will support. I owe you that much after everything I've put you through these past few years." Celestia stepped out from behind Twilight, marching around her so that she could hug Twilight face to face, crooking her neck around Twilight's to rest her head on her student's shoulders. "Now come along, Twilight. We should get some of Pinkie's snacks for the road. Luna doesn’t particularly like the idea of being on the throne in my place for several days, and I don't particularly like teleporting in the Everfree Forest; it feels slimy."
"Guys! Uh, I mean- uh-" Spike shouted from the stairs up from the basement, looking between Celestia and Twilight awkwardly. A raised eyebrow from his guardian convinced him to skip to the part that mattered. "Uh, yeah! I think we have a problem!" He held the library book log up in his paws.
Twilight whined in the back of her throat slightly, wincing at the phrase 'we have a problem'. Typically, it was followed up by her suffering a great deal of pain. "What sort of problem, Spike?"
"Trixie's back! And she checked out all the books on the old treasury and anything rumored to be in it three days ago!"
Shining stepped in, speaking up loudly. "So that's how it started! Trixie is lucky I wasn't there to pummel her for all the pain she's caused you, Twiley."
"Shiney! You weren't there; get out of my flash-... back? SHINEY!"
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Twilight blinked and shook her head as she snapped herself out of narrating her recollections of that fateful day to everypony. A small ache wormed into her heart as she noticed that Princess- No, just Celestia had disappeared at some point while she had been talking. Looking towards the bright rectangle of light that was the way out of the massive tent, she spotted her BBBFF, and her new favorite BSBFFF (in law) sitting framed in the light of the entrance. She jumped to her paws, unheeding of the shouts of her friends and family as they fell off of her forelegs. The ground shook as she limped over, her brother diving behind the tent wall as Cadance stood up to look at her with a great beaming smile.
"Sunshine, Sunshine;
Ladybugs awake!
Clap your hooves, and give a little shake!"
To see a young dragon prancing happily is a rare and incredible thing. To see a young adult female dragon outright dancing is a wondrous and soul-shaking thing. Though, that may have more to do with the way that nearly 50 tons of flesh will shake the ground like a moderate earthquake. Witnessing a young mare of a dragon, still unused to her much more massive frame 'give a little shake' was far more awe inspiring, especially if somepony was in the danger zone of the 'little' shake. Awe inspiring, if one meant 'Aww, crap'.
Shining had been smart enough to realize what his sister had been about to do, leading to his dive for safety behind the tent wall. Cadance, however, had not quite realized the dangers of convincing a dragon to dance. Purple furred and scaled rump bounced her at the end of the greeting, its mass sending her yelping in surprise out of the tent. She tumbled through the air, losing her tiara and shoes in the process, landing more than two dozen yards away.
Cadance woozily clambered back to her hooves, shaking out the mental cobwebs that had developed from her flight, as a midnight blue aura snatched her into the either. The teleportation field ZOT!ed Cadance back into the physical world in a mess by Luna's armored flank. Twilight looked down in horror at the twitching form of her foalsitter, unable to believe what she had accidentally done.
"Control, Sparkle! You must learn control!" Luna spoke with a thunderous voice, almost scaring the purple off of the dragoness. The diarch of the night shut her eyes, taking a moment to calm herself down before speaking a little further. In a calmer and quieter voice, she continued. "You continue to move as if you reside in your old equine form. You have forgotten your bulk, and your power. You must be more careful!"
"Don't get too upset with her now, Princess. It's the first time she's seen the rest of her kin since it happened." Applejack took her hat off as she addressed the princess, turning her head to where Twilight was bowing her own in shame as movement caught her eyes. "And don't you think of going nowhere, Twi. Ah'd hate tae have tae tie you up. The princess was just telling you to be careful now."
Twilight glanced back to where Cadance was still woozily getting through getting flank-checked by her. "But I promised to never hurt anypony again, and I just-"
Pinkie wriggled her hips in the air, before Pouncing her now super-economy fun-sized friend around the neck with a full on Pinkie Tackle. "Huggervention! You're not getting away again, Twilight!"
"Does anypony want to ask ME if I'm fine? I am, by the way!" Cadance sat up fully, shaking the last of the confusion and dizziness out of her head. Puffing a bit of her breath over her nose to futilely try and blow a lock of her mane out of her eyes, she spotted Twilight trying to get away again and trotted over. "Hey! I said I was fine! Twilight, the Deep Breath Exercise!"
Twilight closed her eyes, feeling the soreness in them from having focused on her brother clinging to her face between them. She stopped struggling with Shining, Pinkie, and Fluttershy who had all grabbed ahold of her in various spots, following her favorite foalsitter's advice. The dragoness whimpered as the deep breath tugged at her stitches, holding it tenderly at its apex.
"And trying to breathe any fire, out."
Twilight exhaled slowly, snorting one or two tendrils of cool flame that licked at Shining's armored hooves in the process. She visibly relaxed, slumping back down to the ground where her friends and family all proceeded to pounce upon her at once. Even Cadance trotted over unsteadily to nuzzle her favorite foalsittee along the side of her massive head.
Shining Armor slid down off of his sister's face, laughing as he did. "Okay, tackling you like that was actually pretty fun. I can see why you played 'Headhugger' all the time when we were foals."
"Gee, thanks." Twilight let her head drop the last hooflength of the way to the group with a morose thud as her side ached.
Luna dipped her head, nodding to Shining Armor. "General Armor, I thank you and your wife for your quick intervention with your sister. You have saved me a good deal of time that would have otherwise been spent tracking her down, dragging her back, and tickling her until she was too sore to move once more." The diarch of the moon smiled widely, a rare sight upon her face. She kept an eye on her current purple obstinate nemesis, though.
Twilight slowly squirmed away from Luna, eyeing her suspiciously and glancing over to her family with every chance she got. With Shining there, it was only a matter of time before her mom got going. "Tickle torture? Really, Princess? I guess Princ- ugh. I guess Celestia wasn't kidding about your eccentric sense of hum- Wait a second. General Armor? Shiney, I thought you had to retire when you became the Prince of the Crystal Empire! Why didn't you tell me?" Twilight fixed her brother with an impressive stare, which was strong enough to startle Fluttershy into hiding behind Cadance.
Shining rubbed the back of his head as he averted his gaze. Cadance rolled her eyes, unfurling a wing to smack Shining in the head lightly before she whispered into his ear. "I thought I TOLD you to write her. Especially after the wedding!"
"Sorry, Cadey. Um, I mean, I may have been pulled back to the service by Cadance when we started having giant monster attacks on the Empire a month and a half ago." Twilight and everypony else other than Luna and Cadance all swiveled their heads to Shining. He straightened up under the collected gazes, as everypony noticed the dark bags under his eyes and the multitude of cuts crisscrossing the exposed portions of his body for the first time.
Twilight's mother stomped forward, nabbing Shining's ear in one telekinetic aura and one of Twilight's horns in another, dragging them yelping closer to her. "Shining Armor Sparkle! It's bad enough that you didn't write your sister and stayed away when she needed you the most; but not telling me about being attacked by giant monsters!? For Shame! I have half a mind to tell everypony here about your little 'Afro Samurai' stunt you tried before your cutie mark came in!"
"Mom, leave him alone! I didn't tell him about this! I know we haven't been as close as we should be, but we've both been kind of busy with really important things!" Twilight winced as she saw how her brother was slowly turning pinker than Cadance as their mom unleashed the full and terrible power of her Momjitsu and the Canterlot Mother's Voice. It was all she could do to keep from yelping as the force of her mother's grip on her horns intensified and dragged her head over to convenient shouting distance.
"And you, Twilight Shimmer Sparkle! How dare you not tell us that you got turned into a dragon!" Twilight's mom pulled out of the sudden embrace her husband threw around her as she got ready to continue.
Rarity squeezed in between Twilight and her mother, trying to calm things down. "She was quite busy trying to get a handle on her new body, Mrs. Sparkle! She tried several times to send you a message, but rather unfortunate events took place that prevented their arrival!"
Twilight's mother stomped her hooves, surprisingly pounding two craters into the ground with her movement. Rarity scooted back against her friend protectively as the older mare started up again with tears in her eyes. "We didn't even find out until this 'Trixie' character throws you into our house! And that's after a month of being in the palace, and a fight that leveled most of downtown Canterlot!"
The old mare was practically quivering all over as she stomped the ground again and again, sending plumes of dust into the air as she screwed her eyes shut in anger and hurt. "You could have sent your friends, Spike; you could have come and told me so I could help you!" She practically screamed it out as she stood before her overgrown daughter.
"Velvet, stop. You're scaring her." Twilight's father wrapped his leg around his wild and normally wonderful wife once more, trying to calm her down.
"Scared her? Scared HER? She scared me! We almost lost her, Nightie!" Velvet Star Sparkle caught her breath with deep pants. "I could have taught her control, like I did before! I can do it, you know I can! I could have helped her, and her first instinct when she thinks she's disappointed somepony is to go hide again!?" She couldn't keep up her rant as the slight tinges of grey in the corners of her vision reminded her to breathe in instead of screaming out again. As her ears began to ring, Velvet realized with horror that she had been using her command voice after nearly 10 years of remaining calm through anything. Turning back to her daughter, she began to try and apologize as she noticed the glistening quiver of a tear in the dragoness's eyes, but nothing came out.
"Wow. Aren't moms supposed to be cool and collected, not lame and screaming?" Dash had lain down atop of Twilight's neck, nestled in between the slight ridge of a fin remaining and the dragoness's horns, absentmindedly comforting her by stroking the dragoness's restored mane, which had popped out of place during the commotion. Dash froze up for a moment as she realized what she was doing, only for Fluttershy to nudge her into continuing.
"But I- I mean- I did it again." Velvet looked away from her daughter, averting her eyes from her husband Night Light Sparkle, flinching as she looked up ever so slightly and found Luna's eyes staring into her own from less than two hooflengths away.
Luna solemnly nodded. "Yes, yes you did. It is understandable, though. A mother, fearful for her daughter's life? It was remarkable that you did not break down as you just now have at the first sight of her. It speaks greatly to your discipline." Luna slightly opened out one of her wings, reaching a hoof up underneath it to withdraw a silvery helmet. "And, despite the undiplomatic and unfortunate events regarding your 'retirement', those selfsame attitudes and habits that do you such a disservice to your daughter are exactly what Equestria needs in the times of woe to come, General."
"Hey, waitaminute!" Pinkie hopped up and down near Twilight's side agitatedly. "Twi-Twi's mom acts like a big meaniepants towards her, and you give her a job?" Pinkie's face did something startling, her ever-present smile morphing into a horrific (for her) frown as her brow furrowed in irritation.
"Yes, if she is good." Luna's frown slowly sank into a sad smile as she walked over to Pinkie, draping a wing over her. "Like you and your father."
"That's different!"
"Is it? She cares, but her military experience has a manner of keeping her from expressing her affection and care in a way that is understandable by her daughter." Luna looked up to Velvet, who had her eyes closed in thought, and concern for how she had acted over the years. The lunar alicorn smiled at Velvet, perplexing the purple and white mare.
She nodded, and turned to Pinkie as she continued. "Her attitudes are one of the hazards of being the captain of the Royal Guard for ten years." Luna chuckled lightly as she thought about the matter. Well, perhaps her sister could help. "Celly does run a support group for overprotective family members in Canterlot. It might be wise to attend."
Velvet nodded as she took the helmet in her telekinetic aura. "I suppose I'll have to keep that in mind. If I may be so bold, your majesty, I take it that you need me to command the expedition to find Tirek's Tomb? That is, of course, if Twilight is willing to forgive me for being a stupid foal of a mother who always turned to her command experience for Momming?" Velvet looked to her daughter, hoping to see a glint of forgiveness in her massive eyes. She followed Twilight's gaze to her new headwear of office, and hastily dropped it neatly onto her husband's head sheepishly.
Twilight nodded at last, smiling a little. "Yes, Mom. I forgive you. Even if you are scarier than dragons and changeling queens when you're mad. I should have asked for help, from all of my friends, and I didn't. I should have told you. Or Dad. I might have told dad through Spike..." The dragoness grunted slightly as her midsection stung beneath its bandages.
"Thanks for ratting me out, Twilicious. Good thing I'm wearing the helmet in the relationship for once." Night Light hastily put a hoof on his head, keeping Velvet from stealing her helmet back as she mock-growled at him. "Oh, hush. I have an album of embarrassing pictures of you two together in Canterlot, and I'm not afraid to use it!" Night Light threw his head back and cackled villainously as his wife and daughter let out nearly identical tiny wails of horror.
Luna spoke up over the laughter of Twilight's friends and family, fixing her gaze on the duo of mother and son. "If the three of you are quite finished, then no, General Star. We shall need your son as expeditionary commander. Many of the places we shall be venturing to require protection that only he or I can provide."
Shining turned to his mother, who had raised an eyebrow. "Wait. You want me to lead the guard's offense against Tirac, while my mom coordinates the defense at home? If I may, Princess, I don't think you have the right ponies. She's not a good defensive commander..."
Luna nodded. "Precisely. We cannot afford a defensive commander. You know as well as I that the Empire is only the first place to be attacked, not the last. General Star will be engaging Tirek's beasts away from the cities. My sister has gone ahead to Canterlot to prepare it for the General's arrival, and to determine how many of Tirek's beasts have been raised, and their whereabouts." Luna gestured with a wing towards Canterlot.
"Ma'am, yes Ma'am." Velvet nodded, saluting the unfamiliar princess. She didn't know how informal she could get, and wasn't too interested in risking it. "I will get in contact with her immediately, Ma'am. And if my daughter tries running away again, ask my husband to turn to page 27. Especially 'Imma Toober!' It works every time."
Rarity, who had stayed back until then, stepped forwards in confusion over the issue. "I'm afraid to ask, Darling. But, 'toober'?"
"M-oo-oo-ooooom!"
Night Light waited until his daughter's bellow of embarrassed anguish had finished, jumping in on the fun. "It involved a flower bed, thirty pounds of dirt, Velvet and I having a spat that was ended creatively, a hair to plants spell, and an obsession with potatoes."
Velvet took back her helmet, sticking it on her head as she made a run for the entrance to the tent.
"Daaaad! Stop that!" Twilight's second bellow shook the tent as her mother bravely ran away towards the phone office of Ponyville.
Their talk was cut short as Nurse Redheart stormed in, having been at the improvised medical station outside. She held a broom in her mouth, brandishing it threateningly as she decided enough was enough. There were little drops of red all through Twilight's bandages, the excitement having opened up some of her stitches. "What are you doing!? You're stressing out my patient!"
"We are talking with her, why?" Luna's statement found itself followed up with her yelp as Redheart began chasing her with the broom.
"You've already caused enough discomfort to light up the medical monitors! Out! OUT! Visiting hours are over, no dragon for you!" Redheart turned to the others as Luna ran for the library, shaking the broom menacingly in the air. "The patient is going to go to sleep, or else!"
The crowd needed no further encouragement, streaming out of the archway in haste as Redheart whirled on Twilight, threatening her with the broom. "And you, young lady, are too big and too hurt for this! Don't let them all back in at once until we take some of the stitches out! Sleep!"
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Celestia had all of her old journals pulled out from the royal attic and spread across every available surface of her room. Any of them might have a clue to the locations of the Adamantine Tomb, and she was looking through every one. A 500 ton block of adamantium falling from the skies after having been bucked up into a suborbital trajectory tended to be memorable. Granted, after 3000 years, there were many rumors and legends to cover.
She glumly looked up from her studies to Ponyville, wishing that she could have been a better friend. Wishing, that she could have avoided letting Twilight get turned into; well what she had. Wishing that she could have had the courage to stay through Twilight's narration of that first, fateful day.
And then she looked up again as she noticed Luna standing there with a sprig of hay stuck between her teeth as she chewed upon it in the corner of her mouth. Hay, not just one, her sister's mane and tail were filled with pieces that looked like they had gotten stuck there via the wild flailing of a broom. "Luna?" She just had to know what that the story was.
"Yes, Celly?"
"Did somepony try and assassinate you with a haystack?" Celestia hid her slight smirk with a hoof as Luna slowly turned her head so they could look each other in the eyes.
In a tired and deadpan tone, the younger diarch responded. "Nay. We have, however, found a new source of frontline medics in the nurses of Ponyville."
"Oh dear, Redheart?"
"Redheart."
"Well, all the ponies in that town are crazy." Celestia gave a rueful chuckle as she turned back to a map of the world. In it, she had placed five red dots, a few blue ones, and a green pin with a sun and smiley face stuck into the point representing Canterlot. "Just like my workload in trying to find where that tomb ended up. Bucking it over the horizon was a bad idea, Luna. We should have dropped it into the ocean or put a mountain on it."
"Nay, sister. We should never have let it out of our sight." Luna looked up at the map, her ears wilting as she noticed the placement of the pins. "Tell me we don't have to check all of them."
"You don't have to check all of them."
"We don't have to check all of them? Oh, thank you."
"Just the red ones."
Luna whimpered as she considered the operational pace of the expedition. "But they are all over the world! Even with the Eclipse, we won't be able to inspect them all before Equestria is overwhelmed!"
"The Eclipse will be ready. Did Velvet accept?" Celestia snapped shut the journal she had been reading, turning to her sister.
"Aye. Unhappy that she would not be with her daughter, but she still accepted." Luna teleported in a stack of paperwork and reports on the final touches of the construction of her flagship to read and sign. The massive vessel's construction was being modified to support the expedition, including its rather large star member. Everything had to be taken into account. Advanced technology prototypes and untested spells, food supplies and scientific gear, troop outfitting, crew rosters, even funeral arrangements for those that would surely die.
"Good. Then Equestria will hold as long as it has to." Celestia turned around towards her bed, stalking out a distance out onto the grand shag rug of her room to flop tiredly down atop it. "Have Shining Armor and Cadance arrived with the last of the refugees from the Empire?" Another decision she would regret for the rest of her days, no matter how cold and necessary the calculus was in the face of what was to come.
Luna hmmed in confirmation as she stamped yet another form with her signature. "They arrived with the last of their ponies yesterday. They nearly broke our ruse with Twilight when General Armor made the mistake of mentioning the attacks on the Empire. I discussed it at length in private with him while Twilight's friends and family successfully distracted her. Cadance remains bitter from the losses, but agrees with us still." Luna could imagine what Cadance was going through, as her mental state after her return was relatively similar to the Crystal Empress's own. To imagine the Crystal Palace itself spilled out and collapsed into the streets.
"Hopefully we can keep Twilight distracted enough to forget what was said. She needs happy memories to keep her strong during the long slog ahead. She's associated enough pain with her current form already." Celestia slowly slumped even further into her rug, resembling a stuffed animal as she spread her wings flat across the floor to either side of herself and slumped her head down until the underside of her chin was buried in inch-thick shag.
"Aye. She made no further mention of it while we were there." Luna turned to her sister, envious for a moment. Only for a moment, as she considered that Celestia had been studying for days straight before Twilight had ran away, let alone how she had stayed up for two days searching and staying by Twilight's side begging for her to wake up.
"Good. The Crystal Empire can be rebuilt. Hopefully somewhere safer, and easier to get to. The Everfree Forest, maybe." Celestia tried to summon another of her journals, unable to call up the mental fortitude. "I'll have to keep an eye on Cadance while you are away. I hope she'll be willing to council Twilight from afar."
"She is. What of your former plans for your student?"
"They'll have to be remade somehow, if she lives through this. Let her live through this..."
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A train pulled into Ponyville. Not an unusual occurrence under normal circumstances. But, a single-carriage train that had carried a pegasus guard, a griffon in uniform, and a horse from Arabia was a most unusual set of circumstances indeed. The trio nodded at each other, having met for the first time while on the train discussing the rather fascinating pamphlet that Princess Luna had passed to them earlier on in the week. 'Beware of the Pinkie?' She probably meant it as entertainment.
They marched towards the great tree in the distance; the place where Princess Luna had promised to meet them and where they would meet the rest of her 'command team'. Ponies scattered beneath the afternoon sun ahead of them, unwilling to cross paths with the formidable trio. The guard was silent, his generic steel-grey armor having long ago been adjusted so that he made no sound at all unless he willed it. The griffon marched stiffly, his red plumage bristling beneath his dress uniform as the medals on his chest jingled and jangled with every movement. The horse seemed to almost whisper in a phantom wind, his flowing robes dramatically slithering around him in a breeze that only touched him as the pattern upon his robe made him almost appear as if he was a ghost of a sand dune.
The tan and blue guardspony spoke first as they approached the main square. "So, welcome to Ponyville, sirs. It may seem peaceful, but watch out. I've heard more rumors that will curdle your fur than those that come out about the Everfree Forest." Flash Sentry's eyes wandered over the buildings of the square, settling upon a strange tent near the library that billowed and creaked oddly.
The horse spoke up, his dark fur twitching and bristling with concern, and worry that something was watching him. "Surely, it would not be the will of Faust that such an idyllic place would find horror within its walks.” The sand-walker of Saddle Arabia followed Sentry's gaze to the tent, and decided to ignore it, figuring it for an errant breeze hitting the right spot.
"Sounds like a small town full of itself. Even if it is on the edge of that damnable Everfree Forest." The griffon adjusted his stiff and itchy uniform, scratching at the epaulets identifying him as a Luftkommandeur of Raptoria. His blood red and brown streaked wings and his golden-maned head shone in the late-day sun as he tempted fate. "These civilian fools wouldn't know a surprise when they-"
"Sur-PRISE!" A pink blur exploded upwards from the shrubbery beside the trio in an instant. The Luftkommandeur fell over with a bleat that sounded much like a startled kitten as his companions laughed at his misfortune. "Didchya like it, huh? Huh!? I've been expecting all of you guys for a week! C'mon over to the library, c'mon!" The pink thing's hooves flailed about in the air before she settled back to the ground. "Oh, wait! Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie!"
The sandwalker shyed back, fearing her to be a djinn sent by Faust to tempt him. Lt. Sentry pushed carefully past him, taking the hoof Pinkie offered once she was on the ground gladly. The pink mare shook his hoof violently as he introduced himself. "Hi there, Pinkie! I'm Lt. Flash Sentry. The griffon on the ground is Luftkommandeur Redtail, and my other companion is... um, uh... sorry. I forgot your name."
The sandwalker turned between his equestrian counterpart and the djinn-like pony. Sand ruffled from his robes as he screwed up his courage and prayed to Faust that she would protect him in the shadow of the valley of death. He bowed to Pinkie, deeply bending until his head was at the level of her chest as he spoke. "Sandwalker Alkir al Mustari of Saddle Arabia, fair Djinn."
"What, me? A genie? Don't be so silly." Pinkie waived a hoof dismissively, and then tapped a hoof on her chin. "I'mma Pinkie Pie. I used to be THE Pinkie Pie, then I made a bunch of bad copies of me with the mirror pool, and one escaped..." Pinkie shrugged, having learned her lesson to never engage in self-cloning experiments using unstable rituals and to check next time to ensure that she was getting a smart clone instead of a construct. "Eh, it was my bad."
Redtail unsteadily rose to his talons, brushing road dust from his formerly spotless uniform. He had to blink to clear the neon afterimages as he stole sideways glances at Pinkie. "Well, that explains the warning pamphlets." A tiny growl of irritation escaped his throat.
"I have WARNING PAMPHLETS!?" Pinkie beamed broadly at the thought that she was so awesomely partyriffic that lesser ponies had to be warned, lest their hearts explode with the excitement.
Flash nodded as he turned his head back to dig into his guard-issued saddlebags. "Yeah. I think it's just something that Luna- uh, Princess Luna made. The whole 'Leader of the Screaming Foals' and all. You left an impression on her. Ah-hah! Here we are!" Flash tugged the thick, glossy pamphlet free with a few tugs of his head and hoofed it over, snickering at the dumbfounded Pinkie in a chicken suit on the cover.
Pinkie ooohed and aaahed at the pamphlet, just before her nose suddenly twitched, before she arched her back for a moment while her mane blew halfway flat without any wind. The pink mare gasped loudly, snatching Redtail and Mustari up into a half-hug, half-deathgrip. "She's almost here!"
She sniffed at the air as a delicious smell prickled at their noses. "NooooO! The cashews are caramelizing, c'mon!"
Flash Sentry pulled himself off the ground, looking around as he uncramped his forelegs. It was difficult to cover one's face in full guard armor. Pinkie had swung his companions around through the air in her grip, before dragging them off to the library in a tree and slamming the door behind herself.
He hummed to himself, wondering if it was safe to follow. Certainly it wasn't a 'quiet, idle, boring little town'.
The faintest hint of what sounded like an explosion high above echoed out from somewhere high above his head. The tan stallion looked up, wondering what new strangeness was about to descend upon his head. Nothing, actually, save for what looked like a string made of clouds plastered against the ceiling of the world. It was perfectly straight, and growing before his eyes. Whoever it was, they were higher than he had ever thought of flying.
"N-no! Don't open it, Trixie!" The mumbling was loud, rumbling with the deeper undertones of a draconic voice. And it was coming from within the blowing tent.
The ponies of Ponyville rapidly cleared out of the plaza as the voice continued to murmur over the babble of ponies packing up. The quaking within the tent grew in intensity, almost resembling a giant pony in the midst of night terrors, prompting Flash to investigate further. Grass and dirt crunched beneath his hooves as he silently snuck up upon the tent. His guard rucksack found itself slipped off for silence and ease of movement as he slowly slinked towards the entrance, careful not to let his shadow fall upon the tent.
The whimpering intensified as he silently slid through the last few hooflengths to the entrance, about to look inside when a brief gout of flame rushed forth past him. Hay, that had been close. He could feel the heat from the smoldering sand from a few yards away. With that in mind, he decided discretion was the better part of valor and slipped beneath the fringe of the tent, gawking a little at the occupant within.
Purple came to mind. Purple, with a dense, downy fur coat backed with solid-looking scales hinting through the fur in places. It was flanked with two great leathery wings that ran down the length of its- no, her torso. Hay, they must have a wingspan of 75, maybe a hundred yards. It- the dragoness's muzzle was surprisingly soft-looking and rounded, its- her teeth hidden almost entirely behind her lips, save for two relatively small fangs that poked out from between her lips near the front of her mouth. The effect was actually... kind of cute, even if the six-inch fangs just looked that way because of the fact that her head was at least as long as his whole body, if not slightly longer.
The dragoness rolled over in her sleep, whimpering fitfully once more as he looked further back along her body and noticed a series of bandages wrapped around her lower torso, as if something had tried to disembowel her. Her mane, something he had never expected to see on a dragon, flopped to one side in an unruly mess. Rampant locks of her tri-color hair spilled everywhere, hiding her eyes, but not the tear streaks caked into the fur beneath them.
"No! No, keep away!" Her voice rumbled from her thick chest, whistling up her moderately long neck to escape through her nostrils and from between her lips. She was having some kind of nightmare!
Aw, buck it to Tartarus, he couldn't just sit around while some mare tormented herself in her slee- wait. Why had he called the dragoness a mare? She looked familiar, a lot like Bossman's sister between her coloration and the six-pointed star upon her flanks. Even the ragged hairstyle and the way she was built and carried herself reminded him of- She was Bossman's sister!
The rumors he had heard on his guard rotation near the Crystal Mountains had to be true, at least some of them. Some mare named Trixie, screwing around with dark magic zapped them both into pony sized dragons, or so he had heard. But here was Twilight Sparkle, somehow... well, bigger!
Flash numbly fell back onto his haunches. Twilight had always been sweet to him, even if she never even remembered his face, always buried in her books. Hay, she was a hero, even. Why had it happened to her? It wasn't right, seeing her twisted and changed, even if she was still beautiful in an exotic manner.
Aww, what the hay? He couldn't be thinking of hitting on her in her current state, what would the Bossman say?
All the while, Twilight's whines slowly grew louder as her nightmare turned darker and darker, making Flash fold his ears in discomfort as she started clawing at herself in her sleep. "Get it off, get it off! Celestia, help me!" The squeal of a plea was enough to nearly wake her up as she lived through something in her nightmare. Her claws, still safely sheathed in thick covers raked at her fur, as if trying to pull something off of her. She screamed in her sleep in anguish, rolling onto her back and wriggling on the ground.
Oh. Oh no. Flash paled as he imagined that she was reliving her initial transformation.
The rumors had been vague, but they had talked about some doohickie that they called 'the Bag of Tirac'. They talked about how it had something in it, something that turned ponies into dragons and could steal their minds if they didn't get help during their transformation.
Oh, screw it. Twilight had become terrifying, and massive, but she needed a freaking hug. The guardspony got to his hooves, breaking into a gallop towards Twilight in the first opening she left in her sleep movements. She was taking a deep breath that was building to a rumble in her chest as he slammed into the base of her neck. The impact knocked the breath out of her in a nearly scalding cloud of acrid smoke, floating at the top of the tent.
Flash clung to her, humming an old tune that her brother had taught her before they had enlisted as loud as he could in the hopes that she could hear him. He hummed out the soothing line of music as best he could, holding on so that she wouldn't shake him free in her thrashing. And to his surprise, she calmed. Almost instantly, even, her wings falling idle and her paws slowly drooping before falling against her chest. From what he knew, her mother used to hum it to her when she was a foal.
Flash grinned, his op plan Huggly-Wuggly working once- Gah!
Twilight curled up around him like a python around its prey. He breathed shallowly as the thick fur enveloped him up to his chin. Her forelegs clutched him tightly to her chest in an adamantine grip, rubbing him against the ridge of her breastbone and across her barrel as she continued to calm down. Her erratic, frantic breaths slowed down into the deep ones of dreamless sleep. A quiet sob escaped her as she curled up into a ball, resting her head on her tail in a manner that left it close enough for him to touch as she continued to sniffle lightly.
Flash slowly and carefully wriggled his forelegs free of her crushing grip, intending to free himself for the briefing that his Bossman and Princess Luna would be giving soon. Twilight gave the slightest of whimpers and squeezed tighter, tucking her head in so that it was halfway buried beneath the tight grip that her forelegs held on him. Her slightly terrifying muzzle wrinkled and worked with each whimper of discontent she let lose. Puffs of smoke escaped her nostrils with each sniffle as her tears slowly stopped running. Flash cursed himself and his somewhat warped sense of chivalry as he thought on what his old CO had taught him to do.
Comfort the mare, at nearly any cost.
Uneasily with a slight whine of his own, he reached out with his forelegs and grabbed the dragoness's muzzle, pulling it close enough for him to lay his head upon it and rest his chin between her nostrils as he awkwardly continued to hug her. A contented sigh rumbled through her, jangling his nerves like an earthquake before she spoke in a dreamy way. "Smartypants..."
A small 'ahem' came up from the ground behind him, prompting Flash to look back carefully. Standing as close as he dared to the normally restless dragoness, a little drakeling with nearly the same shade of purple as Twilight's fur stood; doing his best to look threatening. "Don't you dare take advantage of her."
Flash blinked, wondering who the little guy was. He had apparently been escorting the black and crimson-streaked pegasus who was standing just outside the tent entrance, who curiously stared in as her oversized wings twitched. The menace in his voice was pretty impressive for such a little guy. The drakeling remembered his charge after a moment, pointing towards the oversized tree that held the library, letting her know where to go.
As his captor shifted in her still uneasy slumber once more, Flash wheezed out his reply. "I'm crazy, not suicidal. Wouldn't dare with Bossman's sister. Especially when she's like this. That's an economy super-sized deathwish. Urk!" He laid his head back down on her snout to calm Twilight down as she hugged him once more.
The drakeling's eyes narrowed as he heard the familiar informal title. Flash winced, having not wanted to irritate the firebreather. "Bossman's sister? How do you know Shining Armor?"
"His old right-hoof pony before I got busted down by Luna; and before the Bossman retired. I figured it was Twilight when I saw her mane. I heard the rumors, didn't believe 'em 'till I saw her. I wasn't going to just leave her alone in the middle of a nightmare. Hug was her idea, though." Flash hoped that Twilight wouldn't roll over in her sleep. He could feel her twisting back and forth under him.
Spike nodded, glad to see that Twilight had latched onto somepony. "Mom, you're going to squeeze the stuffing out of Smartypants." The drakeling's soft warning thankfully worked into Twilight's head; relaxing the pressure on the guardspony as the dragoness relaxed in her sleep.
Thoughts ran through Flash's head. He didn't remember the Bossman's sister having a teenage- oh. "I know you now. Aren't you the Bossmans- err, Prince Armor's little adopted brother?"
"Nah. Twilight hatched me; Princess Celestia helped her raise me." Spike watched his former sister carefully, watching for sudden movements from her. He snuck up; stepping gingerly on the cracked and scorched earth until he was close enough to stroke through her downy fur.
He continued, watching Flash's awkward movements. "So, the princess is sort of like my dad. Ish. And Twilight was my mom/sisterly friend. Whoa!" Spike dove back, narrowly avoiding getting squashed by Twilight as she rolled onto her side in her sleep.
Spike snuck back in as Twilight nuzzled her poor prisoner, stroking just under and behind her two backwards-pointing horns, a little over where her ears used to be. Twilight contentedly sighed in her sleep as he did. "Smartypants."
The guardspony awkwardly hugged her nose, trying to keep it from rocking him back and forth as he glanced up at Spike. The little traitor wasn't saving him from his horrible fate. Sure, his fate was entirely self-inflicted from being too nice for his own good, but still!
"So, it's sort of a dragon-instinct thing. When she got turned into, uh, this." Spike gestured at Twilight's massive bulk. "I mean, she used to be both, but now she's big and- and I just can't see her as my sister anymore."
Flash sighed grumpily, finding himself being rubbed against Twilight's snout once more. "Great. Wonderful to hear. Sorry to interrupt your mother/son bonding bit, but a little help, please?"
"You're doing great!" Spike slapped his paws over his mouth as Twilight mumbled incoherently in her sleep. The males worriedly watched, afraid she was going to wake up, until she sighed once more, folding one of her massive wings out over her body. Cautiously, Spike took his paws back off his mouth and spoke softly while making a run for the entrance to the tent. "You've helped her get the best sleep she's had since she turned into a dragon! Keep it up!"
"Curse you, little trait-oof!" Flash found himself cut off as Twilight shifted her head to tuck him against the crook of her neck.
Trying to do a couple of things.
First, the full backstory to what happened before the start will come in bits and pieces, usually a scene per chapter. No, not everything is something that you will see coming before it happens.
Two, I decided to say screw it with the old debate over which spelling of Tirek/Tirac's name is correct. Some ponies will say it one way, others will say it the other way, with arguments over it eventually. Why? Because it irritates me a little, so therefore I shall make fun of it. And it seems like the oddities that would come up in the real world, especially like, say, the difference between American and English.
Three, yes. There will be a Dish most Dainty in this fic. Why invent another OC when there is a perfect one for recon already?
Four, as for Flash Sentry? Why not? He'll make for a good companion. From EqG, we know he's
A)Trusted by Shining. (he wouldn't be a supposedly new recruit in the throne room guarding Cadance if he wasn't. Which leads to: Somehow, Shining may have known him earlier in life)
B) He's not much of a respecter of Ponies. He treated Twilight like any other pony, so here I'm going to portray him as such. Calls it as he sees it, will go to comfort mares whether or not they want it (which is how I get him from being Shining's old XO to what would have ended up as a new Crystal Guard recruit. He tried to be Luna's friend when he saw how much she was hurting in S1, leading to her busting him back to a recruit in the guard, to get invited to join Shining's new branch by EqG). A Nice Guy.
C) Kind of a goof, like Shining. (Will play the pony equivalent of D&D with Shining here, get into trouble, and will generally be a chew toy for the universe and Twilight's councilor via unintentional abuse.)
D) Is a Dead Pony Trotting.
Five) I'm going to try and keep it between 7000, and 10,000 words. And if I go over (except when I tell you I'm going to go over because a chapter needs to go over), or under, I expect you guys to yell at me. Repeatedly. Maybe hit me with ugly sticks, too.
Six) Yes, Redtail and Raptoria are German in design. Try and help me get it better. Think R. Lee Ermey if german, and a griffon. Mustari is vaguely Arabic, as well.
And you should really be listening to this while you're reading this.
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ALMOST feel sorry for poor poor Sentry.... no not really
took them long enough for warnings about Pinkie to get mail, should have happened at least a month after NMM if not sooner
looking forward to more
Look colts and fillies, on the left you will see the biggest understatement known to ponies!
Ugh...Flash. As long as it doesn't turn into flashlight i'm good i guess.
I do like the idea of him being a dead pony walking though. Do go on.
...Is it bad that his possible death is one of the things I'm looking forward to the most in this?
3171140
Well, I hate to break your bubble, but there are flashlights in this fic. The headmounted ones, for added convenience. Possibly also a bad case of flashy flambe.
He's not interested in taking advantage of her weakened emotional state, he just wants to be her friend so that his bossman will get off his case already.
3171152
Well then, do go on. I'll put up with him easily enough as a friendship type'a thing.
And this is pretty fucking irritating. The story doesn't appear on the front page, or on any of the trackers that are supposed to note that it has updated.
D) Is a Dead Pony Trotting.
ok so he's going to die at some point later in time... Good to know.
Hehehe, a lovely little episode.
FINALLY! UPDATES! It only took you two years but you have done it. Son. I am proud.
That is just absolutely adorable. Also: triple extra happy that you picked this up again.
Oh sweet Celestia it's too funny!
*hands Flash Sentry a red shirt*
3172541
Nah, it's more of a mauve color.
this chapter seems... all over the place. I'm not really sure what to make of it.
3172582
A bit ominous for what's to come, ever so slightly silly as some deliberately try and distract others to keep them from disturbing others. It'll settle down in a little while. This is just a calm before the storm.
3172591
That's not what i meant. i was refering to how the plot starts out interesting, with the 'oh hey, we're actually seeing how this started' bit, then just when it's starting to get good it's , 'nope just kidding, back to the present', spams us with a months worth of implied events in a rather disjointed manner while twilight sr explodes, goes out of it's way to state all the extras names in a rather conspicuous manner, decides to change twilight sr into not-so-ex military before we've even got a feel for her, suddenly jumps to celestia without warning, then goes off and does somthing else by which point i'm completely lost and have stopped reading cause i'm getting a headache.
I would love to see what was going though Dainty mind at the time when she saw Twilight.
Flash you sir have been promoted to a rate of Dragon Teddy Bear. Do you country proud son.
*reads note* Hit you with sticks, does this include at the other site too? *Said as I'm grabbing a Louisville Slugger with nails*
Someone call FEMA, cause this shit storm is going to burst a few levees. *runs to bathroom*
Well I might have to use an oar cuz references!
Horay! We've found a way for Flash to be useful! But seriously, I've got nothing against Flash. Even less so if he's helping Twilight not to have nightmares.
And I loved the scenes between Twilight and her mother. Mama Sparkle still knows how to lay down the law, despite her daughter being a 50 ton dragon. Also, will we ever learn the meaning of 'Imma toober'? I'm kind of imagining filly Twilight with her head sticking out of the ground in a flowerbed.
Ok, what kinda story is this going to be? You start the PROLOGUE in the future, and end it with the start of the story being a flash back.... But in chapter 1, this chapter, the very BEGINNING of the story... only one third of it is a flash back tho, that you cut off in the middle of! and never go back to, making it completely useless to the story and just there to have a higher word count. Then we are back in the useless future we care nothing about because we don't know about any events, then you spill out important facts like the Crystal Empire is dead, half of Canterlot being destroyed, she staying at the castle for a week, and getting thrown through her parents house... So if you continue down the flashback story telling again, we already know a lot of what is going to happen! And if you continue into the future, we don't give a damn because it's just thrust right into the middle of it!
The sad part is that this is a very good story idea, at least the Twilight is a dragon and becomes Spike's mother and protects him part. Everything else, with Tirek and stuff? Useless side stuff to be over-looked at this point. This story is just a jumble of mess, jumping all over the place, with seemingly no clear care about anything
It's hard to understand and read.
man cant believe this story is getting updated remember reading it so long ago on eqd and just waiting
and now its here and i love it
Just wondering, have you heard of the fanfic "Dragon Your Hooves" by Twinkletail? I haven't read the comments, so IDK if you already addressed it. I also don't know if there is much drama in the fanfic community about similar titles (his is a slice of life about Spike turning into a pony, and yourse is an adventure of Twilight and Trixie turning into dragons, so the stories aren't TOO alike), but just a heads up. I'm going to read this story when it's finished, just so I don't juggle multiple unfinished storylines.
So Redheart is the dragon Nazi?
3176894
Nah, just the nurse nazi.
3176908 good enough for me. Soup for you.
that last bit was both adorable and hilarious!
Prey tell am I correct in guessing that this is going to be a TwiXflash pairing?
3176894>>3176908 You both underestimate her, she isn't just a nurse Nazi, no she's the mother bucking nurse Fuhrer!
Sieg Heil
fc02.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/083/f/f/mlp__fim___nurse_redheart_by_pterosaurpony-d3ccz57.png
Needs more backstory. A LOT of backstory. Also, some more proper chronology would help.
3171140
What's a flashlight? I don't think those exist in Equestria
*pulls out shotgun and puts on sunglasses*
And they wouldn't ever
3180345
He's getting to that. She's telling the story remember?
Love it. Can't wait to see more.
I'll be surprised if twilight does't crush flash by rolling over
3181925
It is on his mind. Literally. Well, she is on his mind. Along with enough pony-dragon to squish a library.
3181264
True.
So does this make twilight a N.I.M.B.Y? (Not.In.My.Back.Yard) 10 points or a cookie to the first one to get the reference
(Your only hint from me iare the words fantasy book series ], good luck.)
3171701 I'd mourn, but even taking into account EQG's running time he had no development. So... yeah.
3290838
Don't worry. I'll make you mourn for him.
Everypony here seems really and very out of character, and Applejack's accent alone is enough to cause a cringe to move in on my face. I'm sorry sir, but you've lost my vote.