The Many Wonderful Wonders and Ponies of Ponyville, Part 2
Nappa: “Hey, Vegeta! Look! We’re doing this again. I can see people reading us.”
Vegeta: “I can see that, Nappa. It appears the author likes us or something.”
Nappa: “But we don’t even exist in—” (Sora walks in and frowns curiously at the two Saiyans) “hey! Who are you?”
Sora: “Who am I? I’m Sora. Who are you guys and what are you doing here?”
Nappa: “I am Nappa, and this is Vegeta. He was a prison—”
Vegeta: “SHUT UP NAPPA!”
Nappa: “…bitch.”
Vegeta: “God damn it, Nappa. How many times are you going to introduce me like that?”
Sora: “So what are you guys doing here?”
Nappa: “Well, apparently your author buddy read one of your characters in one of Siluca’s audio readings using a mimicry of my voice, and his name was Goofy. So now he’s hired Vegeta and me to do these disclaimery things for him in exchange for one wish.”
Vegeta: “And we’re totally going to use it wisely.”
Nappa: “Yeah, we’re gonna get panties. I mean immortality. Immortality’s what I meant, right Vegeta?”
Sora: (shaking his head in his hand before looking to the sky) “Shire Folk, is reading Goofy’s part like Nappa going to affect his dialogue?”
(Shire Folk appears in a flash of light)
Shire: “No, but it’ll be fun to read it like that.”
(A voice flits in from off-screen)
Kairi: “Sora, are you talking to Shire?”
Sora: “Yes, Kairi, I’m talking to him.”
Kairi: “Can you get him to write us a lemon?”
Shire: “OUT OF THE QUESTION, KAIRI! This fic is rated T! Teen Kairi, Teen!”
Kairi: (still off-screen, sounding like she’s pouting) “But you can change the rating. You changed the other one’s rating to allow more mature themes.”
Shire: “That was a planned move! That was going to happen anyway in the other fic. This one’s staying Teen, I’m sure of it. I have no plans to change it!”
Kairi: “Oh, phooey.”
(Shire Folk sighs loudly and his shoulders slump a little. Twilight Sparkle trots in.)
Twilight: “Hey boys, what’s going on here?”
Shire: “Kairi just asked me to give her and Sora a lemon in the story.”
Twilight: (scrunching her nose up in confusion) “A lemon? Why do you look so worked up about her asking you to give them citrus fruit? It’s very healthy and the sour taste can really go well on certain foods.”
Sora: “No, Twilight, she wanted Shire to—”
Nappa: “Write a scene of the two of them getting down and doing the big nasty on a bed or a counter or against the wall. Yeah, she’s a redhead alright.”
(Twilight blushes furiously)
Twi: “She wanted you to write clop?” (Shire Folk nods weakly) “Please tell me that this won’t become a clopfic.”
Shire: “I have no plans for that. Sora, would you do the honours?”
Sora: “Sure. Shire Folk—”
(Sora is cut off as he punched with excessive force in the cheek by Vegeta and sent flying until he crashes into a cliff)
Vegeta: “That’s our job! Shire Folk doesn’t own little ponies or puny Keyblade wielders. Now sit down and read his latest chapter, weaklings! I want my wish!”
-G-M-
Guardians of Magic
Chapter 12: The Many Wonderful Wonders and Ponies of Ponyville, Part 2
Heat surrounded her, filling the cavern with the intensity of a volcano’s belly as the magma roiled and churned unseen far beneath the platform upon which she sat. Her anvil was before her, bearing the semi-molten metal upon which she was working. A straight pein hammer, held tightly in her hoof, fell with a clang that resounded through the room above the roar of the forge and the howl of the wind. A tongue of flame licked out of the metal as she removed her hammer, readying it for another stroke. Hammer smote semi-molten metal again and again, beating the stubborn substance down and reminding it who the superior being was with ringing thunder.
Luna raised her hoof, and the shafts that vented the forge to the surface of Mount Ponylon, opened. Fresh air bearing the scent of mountain pine whirled into the Hearth of the Mountain, and Luna’s horn became encased in midnight blue as she directed its course.
“Wind of the clear sky, bear away the impurities of my work, and aid in its shaping,” said the Princess of the Night, striking down once more with her hammer. The wind blew around the metal she continued to mold and strengthen it with her hammer blows. With a flick of her hoof, shafts on the other side of the forge opened while their predecessors simultaneously shut tight. The wind exited as quickly as it had come. Then, as if on cue, a pillar of magma leapt up to her right, reaching for the ceiling.
Luna grasped her work in her magic, and thrust it into the magma. She gritted her teeth and called upon her skill in her craft and spellcasting to keep her work from melting completely and joining with the magma. In the molten fires of the world’s mantle she would roast away any impurities that the wind had not carried away, and reheat the metal before it could cool too quickly or too much. The curve had to be perfect.
The pillar of magma did not recede as gravity would bid, but instead surged upwards with renewed vigor, completely enveloping Luna’s work. The forge had been abandoned with her banishment, and with that came rebellion. She would force it to bow to her will once more. An arrow of light left her horn, and pierced a stalactite that hung high above, the base over twice her length in diameter. It wobbled, and fell into the magma below with a thunderous splash.
Immediately Luna saw the signs of melting take place as the magma’s heat seeped into the rock, her eyes sparkling as gleams of silver caught her eye among the pool of red, signs of the molten ore which she sought. Her work was still held within the raging wave of magma, and Luna forcibly took the frothing pillar and formed it into a loop, cowing it with the strength of her magic and her will. The molten ore slowly, delicately, was brought into the loop through the current Luna carefully constructed, and she fused it with the semi-molten metal still held within her magical grasp.
Like the crack of a whip, the white-hot metal returned to its place at her anvil, and the loop of magma plummeted into the pool below. Luna’s hammer smote the vibrantly glowing metal, shaping it, her horn glowing anew and binding spells into her work. The shafts opened once more, and wind whipped through the forge like a gale, tugging at Luna’s mane and making the flames of the earth roar. Sunlight streamed in, and became like liquid gold before crystallizing beautifully. Luna’s hammer crushed the wonderous item into dust and she sprinkled a hoofful over her craft.
Hammer pounded on metal again, driving the dust of Celestia’s sun’s rays into the heart of Luna’s craft. The wind exited once again, and Luna drove her art into a nearby magmafall, and a different metallic ore worked its way up the falls to join it.
Luna left it in the falls for longer than she had the raging wrath of the flighty pool beneath her until her work was glowing like a lantern and almost dripping with molten ore before she brought the work back to her anvil. She placed the metal flat against the anvil’s edge and struck the overhanging section, bending it down. Her hammer clashed with the metal again and again, bringing the metal’s sides closer and closer to one another until she was able to make them touch. Her hammer bit down hard, striking with the intensity she’d had of old. The metals folded in on one another, and Luna let the wind steal through her forge again before delving the metal into molten fire once more.
From the entrance to the cavern where she and Luna had spent all night designing the three works that the Lunar Princess would craft, Rarity stood on trembling hooves. She was tired, but could not feel the fatigue; the heat was beginning to get oppressive even with the magical smock tied to her chest and barrel, but she did not acknowledge it. The sight of Luna working left her in nothing short of complete awe at the alicorn’s skill and dedication. There was no doubting it, Princess Luna truly was a grand master of the forge; a smith with no rival.
“Your Highness!” Rarity blurted out eagerly as Luna pounded more solar dust into the metal she was folding once more. “I mean, Luna! May I be of assistance?”
Luna paused for a moment, surprised, and looked up at the white unicorn. A smile came to her lips. “Yes, Rarity, you may. While I am unmatched at the forge with hammer and anvil, my talent does not extend to fabrics. Metal armour is excellent, but it needs padding underneath to distribute the force of the blow better and allow for more comfort when worn. I can forge and shape the exterior, but of the cloth to go beneath…”
“Say no more, I shall get to work right away!” Rarity declared, a starry gleam in her eye. “And I know just the designs I shall utilize!” She cantered away as Luna returned her gaze to the metal beneath her hooves.
“Lulu,” a voice said softly, yet still discernible over the roar of the primal forces at work in the forge.
“Tia!” Luna gasped, turning and looking at Celestia, who had calmly walked into this place. She looked just as she normally did, without a protective apron fastened or any other magical device to guard against the heat. Though, why would her sister need one in the first place? The Princess of the Sun had nothing to fear from the meagre heat of the planet’s core. “What are you doing here?”
Celestia’s countenance was troubled, and she glanced towards the corridor that Rarity had just run down. Celestia stared at it for a moment before returning her gaze to her younger sister. “There were intruders in the castle last night.”
“Intruders?” Luna asked, bewildered. “Who? How did they get in? Is anypony hurt?”
Celestia shook her head. “I do not know exactly who they were, for they had masked themselves from our guards. They entered the guest suite I put our new friends into and left through the window.”
Suspicion suddenly struck Luna and she narrowed her eyes. “What did they do? Why did they come for Sora and his friends? Is Equestria in greater danger than we anticipated?”
“I cannot say,” Celestia admitted, “but as for what they did, powerful magic that had not been there before is now on the wings of Sora and Kairi, and the horns of Riku and Rei. I got there as soon as I could after I first felt the beginnings of their spells, but by the time I had arrived they were already winging away into the night.”
“Winging away?” Luna asked. “But only a pegasus could have escaped through the window, and they cannot cast spells, dear sister. Are you suggesting there have been other true alicorns out in the world besides you and I?”
“They were neither pegasus nor alicorn, my sister,” answered Celestia. “They took the form of birds, and there were three: an Osprey, a Little Owl, and a Golden Eagle.”
“Birds?” said Luna, taking a pace backwards in shock and confusion. “Are you…sure, Tia? Birds?” Celestia nodded.
“That is what I saw, as surely as I raise the sun,” she said. “Though I do not think that that is what they were. They had great power, my sister, greater than even our own.”
Luna set aside her hammer, and gazed at her hooves, troubled. “Then that begs the questions. Who were they, and why did they come and cast spells upon Sora and his friends while they were safely within our care?”
“I do not know,” Celestia repeated. “We do not have enough information to answer this riddle, Lulu, but I do not believe they came with dark designs in mind for them. I think they came to aid our new friends in ways we cannot see. Powerful magic like what I felt is not cast without a reason, and on all but Kairi it appeared cast with loving intent.”
Luna peered quizzically at her sister. “Why was the magic around Kairi’s wings not the same? What was it instead?”
Celestia looked thoughtful for a moment, and tapped a hoof to her chin. “It seemed as though…it were done begrudgingly. The one who did it must have been coerced into granting Kairi the same boon as her coltfriend.”
For a minute, Luna was silent as she puzzled over the new information she had been given. “What do you think we should do? Should we look for these birds, or inform the Elements about what transpired?”
Celestia giggled slightly in her throat. “Oh, I’m sure that Twilight Sparkle will have already sensed the presence of the magic on her new friends. Don’t worry, my sister, she will have the situation well in hoof in Ponyville and wherever else they venture to. I also doubt that Sora or any of his friends would abuse what has been given to them.”
“But what has been given to them?” asked Luna.
“Power,” her sister answered simply. Celestia bowed her head slightly. “I felt it best to inform you, in case you should run across these birds in the future.”
“I shall be wary,” Luna assured her, “but know that if I do run across them, I will get the answers we seek.” Celestia nodded, and then her face brightened.
“How’s work?”
Luna smiled widely and practically squealed with delight as she took up her hammer again. “Oh it is wonderful Tia! The smell of the fusing metals! The whisper of the hot wind in my mane! The quiver in my hocks as my hammer strikes! I haven’t felt this alive in eons!” She struck down with the hammer, creating a deafening ring throughout the entire chamber. Celestia smiled and left Luna to her work, the younger alicorn now humming to herself.
Her hammer sang as the day wore on; at times, it was loud enough that if a pony on Canterlot’s streets should pause and listen hard enough, they could hear its faint ringing, and Luna and Rarity’s labours continued.
-G-M-
“Ahhhhhhh…”
Sweetie Belle paused and cocked her head to the side. She raised a hoof to her ear even while swiveling it to try and get a better read on the sound. “Hey, do you girls hear something?”
“Ah think Ah—” started Apple Bloom, but before she could finish, the three of them saw the screaming filly blindly galloping down the road. The eyes of all three Cutie Mark Crusaders widened considerably, but with the speed at which the filly was running, there was barely any time left to them to react.
They didn’t use that time wisely, and instead decided to stare at the rapidly approaching foal. It came as no surprise then when the filly ran straight into the trio, scattering the four of them to the ground like bowling pins.
“Ow, my head,” Scootaloo moaned, rubbing said body part as tenderly as she could. It didn’t really hurt, much, but it was still a sudden blow. She blinked a couple of times and shook her head before looking up at the form of the filly currently collapsed across her barrel. “The flank is wrong with you?” she grouched. “Running around screaming like that?”
“Uh, heh-heh, sorry about that,” the filly returned sheepishly. She got off of Scootaloo, for which the crusader was grateful, and extended a hoof to help her back up. In no mood at the moment, Scootaloo swatted the offered hoof away and got up under her own power. Now that Scootaloo looked at the foal, she realized that she was a unicorn. She also realized that she had never seen her before.
“It’s just,” the filly was continuing, “my brother and his stupid friend mentioned something about my parents that grossed me right out.”
“And y’all had to run away screamin’?” Apple Bloom asked. The unicorn shuddered.
“When you know how babies are really made, and it clicks in that that’s what your parents did with each other, not just once, but twice, because you’ve got an older brother…” she trailed off, shuddering and making a gagging noise from the back of her throat. Scootaloo glanced away and rubbed a hoof against her foreleg.
“Never mind that,” she said, quickly changing the subject. “Who are you? We haven’t seen you around before.”
“Oh, my name’s Rei,” the unicorn filly answered. “I just got here today.”
“Hi, Rei, I’m Sweetie Belle,” said the other unicorn. “This is Apple Bloom, and Scootaloo.”
“Howdy,” Apple Bloom greeted.
“Yeah, hi,” added Scootaloo. “Listen, uh, Rei, our morning’s been kinda sucky so far, and I guess yours has too, so do you know any way to make it better that doesn’t involve running us over,” she glanced at her front left hock, “or getting torn to pieces by a fluffball with claws?”
“Hey, Ah’ve got an idea!” Apple Bloom exclaimed. “Why don’t ya come with us? There’s nothin’ better to get yer mind off o’ stuff than a treat from Sugarcube Corner.”
“That sounds good,” Rei answered brightly. Her stomach rumbled audibly, causing her to blush. “And I think my stomach agrees since we skipped breakfast this morning to catch the train.”
“I know what that feels like,” Scootaloo lamented with a sympathetic smile.
“Then there’s no time like the present,” Sweetie Belle declared, and immediately began to lead the way.
It didn’t take them very long to get to Sugarcube Corner, and Scootaloo had to giggle to herself when she saw the look on the unicorn’s face when she saw the gingerbread-house bakery. “Come on in,” she said. “Mr. and Mrs. Cake are really nice. I’ll bet they’ll give you something extra special on the house because you’re new in town.”
Scootaloo entered the bakery with renewed confidence and vigor in her step. So what if they hadn’t earned their cutie marks this morning? Did that mean that the Cutie Mark Crusaders were going to give up? Oh no they weren’t! A minor setback, that was all this was, and something from Sugarcube Corner for their new friend would certainly get them back on track.
“Hey Mr. and Mrs. Cake!” Scootaloo greeted, seeing the yellow earth pony stallion in the front and his blue earth pony wife at the counter. Carrot Cake had just been in the middle of putting a delicious-looking black forest cake up on a shelf, while Cup Cake was currently piping bright yellow icing onto a batch of fresh cupcakes.
“Oh! Good morning Crusaders,” Mr. Cake said, spying all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders entering the shop. “How has crusading for your cutie marks been?”
Sweetie Belle sighed and displayed her blank flank. “No luck this morning,” she said. “But…” her expression brightened and she pulled Rei up close. “We met a filly who’s new in town!”
“Is that right?” Mrs. Cake asked. “Well welcome to Ponyville, dearie. What’s your name?”
“I’m Rei,” answered she, “my brother and I just got here from Canterlot this morning.”
“Have you met Pinkie Pie yet?” Mr. Cake asked, looking down at her kindly. “I know she can be a little invasive and ignorant of personal space at times, but she has a heart of gold and is always there to make a friend smile.”
Rei nodded quickly. “Actually, we have met Pinkie Pie! We met her in Canterlot and came back to Ponyville with us on the train. She’s showing my brother and his friends around right now. She’s really nice.”
Mr. and Mrs. Cake brightened even more at the news that the filly had already met Ponyville’s resident party pony and hadn’t been scared away by her. “That’s good to hear,” Mrs. Cake told her. “Here, why don’t you and your new friends have some of these cupcakes? Carrot, could you get a few milkshakes for these lovely young fillies while I check on the twins?”
“Sure thing honeybun,” Mr. Cake said. He smiled at Rei again as he started to walk to the back. “Welcome to Ponyville, Rei. What flavour milkshake would you like?”
Scootaloo calmly moved towards the counter where the cupcakes were while Rei told Sugarcube Corner’s proprietor what she liked. Free cupcakes and a milkshake just from meeting the new girl in town? Score! Cutie mark schmutie mark, free cupcakes!
The four sat down around a circular table at one of the few booths in the shop, with eight cupcakes to share between them and a milkshake each, before the conversation started again. “So why did Mr. Cake call you three ‘Crusaders’?” Rei asked.
“That’s the name of our club,” Scootaloo said, puffing her chest out in pride. “We, the three of us, are the Cutie Mark Crusaders.”
“We’re on a crusade, a mission, tah find our cutie marks,” declared Apple Bloom. Sweetie Belle nodded.
“Everypony’s got a special talent,” she said, “and that’s what a cutie mark represents, a pony’s very own special talent; so that’s what we’re doing, finding ours. Nopony wants to be a blank flank forever.”
“And we’re not going to stop being blank flanks if we don’t go out there and discover what it is we’re good at,” Scootaloo said. She took a sip of her milkshake, and buzzed her wings excitedly and moaned as the flavour washed over her taste buds. “Mmm, razzleberry milkshake.”
“Sounds fun!” Rei said. She took a sip of her milkshake and moaned in pleasure as well. “Can I join?”
Apple Bloom placed down the cupcake she had been about to bring to her lips. “But, Rei, I don’t mean tah be mean or nuthin’, but you’ve already got yer cutie mark.” The cyan filly glanced down at her flank, and Scootaloo leaned her head over the table and took the opportunity to get a closer look at it. She’d never seen a cutie mark like it before, but it looked like it was a sword…in a loose sense of the word. “Uh, what is it?” Apple Bloom asked.
“That’s Thunderbell,” Rei answered proudly.
“What’s a…Thunderbell?” asked Sweetie Belle. Rei giggled and reached out for a cupcake.
“I’m sure you’ll see eventually,” she told the other unicorn. “But your club sounds fun. It’s just doing a whole lot of different things until you find out what makes you special, right? Have you tried waterskiing yet?”
Scootaloo gasped and then sent a conspirator’s smile towards Rei. She knew there was a reason she liked this girl. “Waterskiing! It’s perfect! Let’s finish up here and then go find somepony in this town who knows a thing or two about waterskiing!” She raised her hoof into the air, and Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle did likewise. They were about to hit them together for their traditional high-hoof, but paused. Scootaloo turned to Rei and nodded her head.
Four hooves struck together in the air above their table, and three voices belonging to three blank flanks declared,
“CUTIE MARK CRUSADERS WATER SKIERS! YAY!”
-G-M-
It had been a good door. It was built of some of the best lumber to have ever been cut from the Whitetail Woods. Sturdy, made of mighty oak, and always easy to swing on its well-oiled hinges. It was well cared-for, and had greeted many a pony in the morning, and said goodbye to many in the evening as those who came and went left for a drink or an evening of play or quality time with family. Protecting them from windy stormy weather, summer heat, winter cold, and the balls, playthings, and games of foals running through the street had been its duty. The door liked to think that in all its years of service that it had done a fine job, and that there were many more years left of service for it before termites, rot, or any other sort of ailment might force the door into retirement.
Rainbow Dash’s rear hooves disagreed.
Cracks formed, splinters flew off, and its hinges were ripped from the frame as both halves of the door sailed through the air to land with an almighty crash against the door’s brother, Rainbow Dash’s oak desk. As the door lamented its fate and its brother soundlessly wailed for a tree doctor, the two ponies that had been sitting at the desk and thoroughly absorbed in an intense non-verbal discussion jolted back from each other like they’d received a thunderbolt to the chest. Both stared at the very angry rainbow-maned pegasus standing in the doorway. That door had been locked!
“Thunderlane! Cloudchaser! Break it up!”
“We weren’t doing anything, boss, I swear!” Thunderlane shouted a little too loudly. Rainbow Dash snorted and waved a hoof at him and Cloudchaser.
“Yeah, sure, and your wings aren’t totally spread out. It’s not like I haven’t seen Cloudchaser sticking her tongue down your throat before, either.” Both pegasi blushed and desperately averted their eyes from Rainbow Dash’s. A white pegasus suddenly appeared behind Dash’s shoulder, giving Thunderlane and Cloudchaser an evil grin beneath her green and pink mane.
“I told you,” Blossomforth said in a sing-song voice.
“Blossomforth,” Rainbow Dash quickly snapped, “what did I tell you?” The other pegasus giggled.
“Sorry boss, I just had to see your reaction to catching them.”
“Me too,” Flitter said, suddenly poking her head in from over Dash’s other shoulder. “Although, I really didn’t think that even you would be able to buck down the office door when it’s locked up.” Rainbow Dash sighed with a smirk.
“Okay, you’ve seen me bust your cousin, Blossomforth, and your sister, Flitter, so can you go back to work now?”
“Right away, Rainbow Dash,” Flitter said, backing away and getting ready to take off. “Come on Blossom, we don’t want to get on her bad side too.”
“Right,” Blossomforth said through a snort. She turned away from the mortified look Thunderlane was still exhibiting, gradually preparing to take her leave and enjoying every moment of her cousin’s embarrassment. Dash playfully slapped her white flank with a cyan wing.
“Get going you two, or I’ll have you pulling overtime, and you know how much Cloudsdale hates it when we do that.” She turned away from the pair just behind her in the broken doorway and fixed Cloudchaser with a commanding look. “Cloudchaser, get flying. You’re supposed to be up with them gathering clouds for the shower we have scheduled for this afternoon.”
“Yes ma’am!” the greyish-blue pegasus with a punk-styled pale blue and white mane said immediately. She and Thunderlane started to trot away from the unheard wails of the broken door and weeping desk when Rainbow Dash raised a hoof.
“Thunderlane, you stay here.”
The two pegasi shared a quick, scared look, before Cloudchaser gave her coltfriend a quick nuzzle against his cheek. “See you later,” she whispered.
“Maybe,” Thunderlane replied, looking as though he had just swallowed a mouthful of rocks coated in shards of glass. Cloudchaser smiled sympathetically at him and started to leave before pausing beside Rainbow Dash.
“Be sure not to ruffle his feathers too much, Dash,” she said, “I’d like to have all his parts in working order tonight.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Rainbow Dash replied with a smirk, “you’ll get your coltfriend back, but I don’t make any promises as to what condition he’ll be in.” Still smiling, Cloudchaser nodded her head and left. A few seconds later she was up in the air, leaving poor Thunderlane to his fate.
The seconds passed by and Thunderlane watched Rainbow Dash with clear anxiety on his face. Awkward silence filled the air of the office of Ponyville’s Weather Management Bureau. The building was only a single floor with three rooms, two of which had doors designating ‘Mares’ and ‘Stallions’ on them. Of the larger room there was enough space for twenty pegasi to move around in, albeit quite uncomfortably if there were twenty pegasi gathered together as there were several pieces of furniture taking up some of the room. Maps, charts, and graphs stared down at the two pegasi from the walls, along with motivational posters, newspaper clippings, and some humourous jokes posted by the weather team.
The awkward moment marched ahead, oblivious to the tension it was causing the stallion in the room. Rainbow Dash had her head turned as she stared out the door into the sky, while Thunderlane could only look at Rainbow Dash’s sides with eyes that just couldn’t focus on one spot. Finally, he decided to break the silence with his boss. “Uh, if this is about me and—”
“One day.”
“Uh…” Thunderlane spoke with perfect articulation. Rainbow Dash turned around fully and gave him a look that made the stallion’s tail tuck between his legs like a shamed dog’s.
“One day,” Dash repeated. “I’m gone for. One. Day. And already we’re behind schedule on this afternoon’s shower, cloud busting over Ponyville Park and the eastern edge of the Whitetail Woods, and there are ten, ten, Thunderlane, overdue requests for localized drizzles to help maintain soil hydration. I don’t want Carrot Top, Roseluck, Daisy, and Lily coming in here to complain again, Thunderlane, so what’s the deal?”
“I…I don’t know,” the stallion told her.
“Wrong answer,” Rainbow Dash declared, now beginning her advance into the building in earnest. “You’re my second in command, Thunderlane. If everything falls apart when I’m not here for one day, then something’s out of whack and I need to know what it is.” She was muzzle to muzzle with him now, and dominating his anxiously awkward backpedalling with a glare every step of the way . “So are you going to tell me or what?” When Thunderlane didn’t answer within three seconds, Rainbow Dash sent another barb at him. “Do I need to write a letter to Cloudsdale about you?”
Thunderlane inhaled sharply. “No!” he blurted out. “No, you don’t need to do that?”
Rainbow Dash stomped. “Then what gives!”
“We’re not all as fast as you are, Dash!” Thunderlane fired back. “Not all of us can afford to take three hours napping in the middle of the day just because we got all of our self-assigned cloud busting done in ten seconds.”
“Aha! So because I’m the fastest flier in all of Equestria, the rest of you get lazy and can’t pick up the slack when I’m not around, is that it?” Thunderlane flushed in indignation at his superior’s accusation.
“That’s not it at all,” he growled.
“Well then tell me what’s wrong with the weather team right now, that I need to fly around half the town to remind them of their duties for today when it’s posted on the wall and supposed to be covered in the morning meeting, or else you’re all going to be really screwed over for the next few months,” Rainbow Dash demanded.
That set Thunderlane back a pace. “Next few months?” he repeated. “What are you talking about?” Rainbow idly tapped a hoof against the necklace she was wearing.
“Notice anything different about me today?” she asked, deadpan.
“That’s your Element, isn’t it?” Thunderlane answered with a question. “Loyalty, right?”
“Yes,” Rainbow answered, walking past him and pushing the two halves of the door from her desk. They dropped to the floor with a loud clatter.
“You heartless beast!” screamed her desk, its pleas reaching for ears deaf to its voice. “Can’t you see my brother needs a doctor, not more beatings!?”
“Move your rump, blue-furred beetle!” shouted a round table that the weather ponies used for donuts and morning coffee. “That was my cousin you mauled!”
Blissfully unaware of the family drama that she was in the middle of between the pieces of furniture in the office, Rainbow Dash grabbed a sheet of paper in her mouth and placed it neatly in the centre of her sobbing desk while utilizing a wing to shift a vial of ink closer to the blank page. “And it’s partially because of it that I’m going to be taking a leave of absence for an unknown period of time, which means that you are going to be in charge so long as Cloudsdale accepts my recommendation.”
“Re—rec—recommendation?” Thunderlane stuttered.
Rainbow Dash sat down and offered Thunderlane an apologetic smile. “Despite this morning, you’re a good pony, Thunderlane. Cloudchaser wouldn’t have picked you out if you weren’t. Heck, she’s even managed to get me to second-guess whether or not I should have gone after you or not.”
Thunderlane blinked several times, his jaw opening wide. Rainbow Dash wondered if he would even notice the fly buzzing close to his mouth if it flew in and decided to winter in there.
“Ponyville needs its weather team to be on top of its game at all times,” Rainbow Dash continued. “We’re close to Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and have to deal with all of the wacky weather that the Everfree Forest sends our way. You’re good, Thunderlane, not quite as good as me though, but definitely good. That’s why you’re my second and not your cousin, or Flitter, or Horsepower, or anypony else. I know that you’re capable of managing the weather while I’m gone, so promise me that when I get back I won’t find the town demolished.”
Thunderlane snapped out of his stupor, shaking his head and nodding several times. “I promise boss, you’ll have nothing to worry about.”
“I hope so,” Rainbow muttered under her breath. She eyed him dubiously. “So…what’s the first thing that you’re going to do tomorrow when I don’t show up?”
“Before I answer that,” Thunderlane began, “just why is it that you’re taking an extended leave of absence, again? You’re not…you haven’t…?” He trailed off, and it took a few seconds for Rainbow Dash to get at what he was suggesting. Her eyes widened at first, and then narrowed dangerously.
“Are you suggesting that I’ve been sleeping around or have a special somepony behind everypony’s backs?”
“Er, uh, no!”
“Good,” she admonished. “I’m going on a trip because Twilight Sparkle needs me. She may not ask for my help or be able to say that she wants it, but buck what she wants. I’m going with her whether she likes it or not.”
Thunderlane recoiled slightly at the news before leaning in. “Twilight’s leaving town?”
Rainbow Dash facehoofed. How could she have been so careless with her tongue? She’d have to improvise, and quick. She sighed. “Yes, Twilight’s leaving. Not forever, though, she’s just going on a trip because of some magic business that the Princess wants her to do. She’ll be gone for a while and it might be a little more dangerous than she’d like. Therefore, as the most awesome and fearless pegasus in all of Equestria, and as one of Twilight’s best friends, I’m going with her to let her know I’ve got her back.
“Which brings us back to me dumping the title of ‘Temporary Weather Manager of Ponyville and Equus Valley’ onto you,” Rainbow finished. She placed her hooves together under her chin and looked speculatively at Thunderlane. “So, what’s the first thing you’re going to do when I don’t show up tomorrow?”
“Make out with Cloudchaser. Oops, I mean…”
Rainbow Dash sighed again and rubbed her forehead with her forehooves. This was going to be a looong meeting with her second.
-G-M-
Trixie nervously walked through Ponyville’s streets. Though her nerves were beginning to subside a little, she found them just to be replaced by sadness. It seemed as though the ponies in the streets of town didn’t take much notice of her at all. After Lyra and Bon Bon’s reaction to her she would have figured that most of the town would be out to get her. However, it appeared as though everypony had forgotten her or simply didn’t care that the travelling magician was back in their midst.
Forgotten…or indifferent, again.
How could they have forgotten The Great and Powerful Trixie, when Trixie had performed spectacular feats of magic for them? When Trixie had entertained them and made laughs and smiles come from the mouths of their foals? How could they be indifferent to a pony who made them smile?
Like Father was?
Trixie gasped as another pony butted into her, shoving her to the side of the street close to a giant gingerbread house. “Outta my way, pony,” said the stallion, the fattest earth pony she had ever seen before in her life. He had the face of a cat, if cats had faces compared to squashed tomatoes. “And I’d stay outta my way if I were a shrimpy thing like you.” Trixie picked herself up from the ground as the stallion waddled away on his four legs and she gave her body a once-over. She froze.
There was a new rip in her cloak.
Something snapped inside and she sent the retreating stallion a heated glare. “Who do you think you are to push around the Great and Powerful Trixie?”
The dark-grey stallion stopped and turned around. He laughed in her face. “The Great and Powerful who?”
“Do you not know that you stand in the presence of the most amazing unicorn in all of Equestria?” Trixie asked.
“Oh, it’s her again,” somepony muttered nearby, stopping to awkwardly watch the scene unfolding in the middle of the lane.
“Is there going to be another Ursa attack?”
“Just don’t tell Snips and Snails that she’s back and we’ll all be fine.”
The fat grey stallion laughed at Trixie’s proclamation. “Amazing unicorn? Well that’s a new one. Listen girlie, just go back to your prissy pony prancin’. I don’t gots the time for you or this sugar and sweets place; it’s makin’ me want to puke. I got me a boss to find.”
Trixie blinked, stunned for a moment at the rudeness the stallion was showing her, and from the murmurs of the townsfolk that had stopped to watch, she could tell that they weren’t too happy with him either.
“Did he just insult our town?”
“What was that he said about unicorns?”
Snarling, Trixie stomped her hoof. “How dare you!” she shouted. “There is nothing wrong with this town even if a few ponies can’t stomach the awesome magic of the Great Trixie!”
The stallion narrowed his eyes at her and took a couple of steps closer to the blue mare. “You’re starting to bug me, little miss high and mighty.”
“I am the Great and Powerful Trixie, it’s not Trixie’s fault that a brute such as yourself can’t cope with a unicorn as great as Trixie.” Surprisingly, the grey stallion laughed.
“Bwahaha! Them’s fightin’ words! Alright, amazing unicorn,” he mocked, “you’re gonna mess with me now, and nobody, and I do mean nobody, messes with the Mighty Pete!” He raised a hoof, and Trixie’s eyes widened as a bowling ball with a sparking fuse stuck into it suddenly appeared in it.
“How—how did you?” she stammered, before he bowled the ball on the road right at her. Trixie was too stunned at its sudden appearance to avoid it. The bowling ball exploded in a cloud of smoke and flame when it struck her legs, and Trixie gasped. It hadn’t impacted her with as much force as she’d expected, but it still sent tremors of pain through her hocks and the smoke was burning her eyes.
Fine. If he wants to play games such as these, Trixie will oblige him!
She leapt out of the cloud of dissipating smoke, part of her cloak smouldering slightly, and glared at the ‘Mighty Pete’. Concealing the pain completely in a mask of indifference, she patted at her cloak. “Is that all that you’ve got for Trixie?” she sighed.
“Oh, you’re in for it now, pony!” he snarled, throwing a bunch of what looked like marbles onto the ground by her hooves. Figuring that they were some kind of trick, Trixie activated her magic, channeling her arcane power through her horn as she cast a levitation spell over the marbles. They all became enveloped in the violet grasp of her spell, and she hurled them back at their owner.
Like pop rocks they began exploding against him, making him shout out in pain from the dozen little bursts of heat and force. Several ponies on the sidelines suddenly cheered and stomped, and Trixie looked to them in amazement.
The stallion snorted and glared at the watching ponies. He charged Trixie and reared onto his hind legs, a feat she found difficult to believe given his massive girth. “Get outta my way!” he shouted, punching left and right with his forehooves. Trixie was able to duck underneath his left hook, but found her cheek on the receiving end of a right cross. Wincing in pain and bowing back a couple steps, she didn’t notice him jump into the air, but when he came crashing down the shockwave brought the magician down to her knees.
“Bwahaha!” he crowed, looking down at her. “I told ya nobody messes with the Mighty Pete!”
Hissing through her teeth and refusing to accept defeat, Trixie lit her horn again and cast another spell. Mist coalesced in the air around them, surrounding both her and the stallion. Getting onto her hooves, Trixie galloped past and taunted him. “The Mighty Pete has never encountered the Great and Powerful Trixie before!”
He spun around, staring into a bank of grey. “Aw, now what’s this?” he asked. “Some kind of cheap trick? Well it’s not gonna work on me!”
Trixie watched as he threw another randomly appearing exploding bowling ball into the mist, in the opposite direction. It was her spell; only she could see through the mists. She lit her horn again, careful to watch where her opponent was, as the light from her horn would mark her position and she did not want to get hit again by one of his bowling balls. Fireworks appeared on the ground in front of her, and Trixie quickly positioned them so they were facing the Mighty Pete.
She galloped towards him and leapt into the air like a gazelle. She smiled as her hooves pounded onto his back and he yelped. Jumping off of him again, she was gone into the mist before he could do anything but yell after her. She could hear the sound of him scattering his exploding marbles on the ground again, but they were nowhere near her. Trixie quickly conjured another small stack of fireworks, quietly moved away from them, and then pounced on his rump from a different position before leaping into the mists again.
“Come on out and fight you coward!” Mighty Pete shouted. “What’s the matter? Can’t face me like a real nag?”
Trixie’s eyes flashed and she screamed through her teeth. A nag! The nerve of him! Igniting her horn in violet light, she picked up his pebbles again and threw them at him. At the same time, she set off her fireworks. From outside the mist, all one would be able to see would be the multicoloured flashes of light of her art exploding against him, though one would still hear the whizzes, bangs, screams, and pops of them going off.
But to Trixie, the sight was glorious.
She dispelled her mist as a number of ponies rushed out of the gingerbread house to see the commotion, and looked down at the earth pony in triumph. He was bowed low on the ground, and some of his fur was clearly singed. She chuckled in her throat, satisfied with her victory. But of course she had bested him. She was the Great and Powerful Trixie, and a Guardian of Magic. Was there ever any doubt?
“Do you see now who the great one is, ‘Mighty’ Pete?” she asked, batting her eyes down at him mockingly.
“Pete…” a somewhat familiar voice gasped from the crowd at Trixie’s back, but she paid it no attention. She had won, even though he had pulled some tricks out of nowhere, she’d gotten him—
Why was he laughing?
“If that’s all you got, then I’m not impressed,” he replied, shrugging and getting to his hooves. He leered down at the mare, and grinned at the shocked look on her face.
“Trixie has much more than that!” she snarled, bearing her horn. It glowed fiercely, and Trixie fired a stream of multi-coloured sparks from her horn. Mighty Pete stomped his hooves, and a transparent pink bubble surrounded him. Trixie’s fireworks struck the bubble and ricocheted wildly. An orange flare came right back and slammed into her face, breaking her concentration.
“Trixie get out of there!” somepony shouted. “It’s Pete! He’s too strong! Run!”
“Wha…?” she asked, still dazed by her own firework striking her in the head. A cry of pain left her mouth as a bowling ball hit her in the chest, and Trixie fell to the ground. Her eyes were closed in pain, but her ears were still in perfect working order.
“Huh? And who are you?” Mighty Pete asked above the shocked gasps of the residents of Ponyville.
“Just leave Trixie alone, Pete,” the voice said, Trixie finally realizing that the voice was Rei’s, a shaky quiver evident in it. “Or I—I’ll get my brother, and he’ll—”
“Well well,” Mighty Pete interrupted with a chuckle. “If it isn’t the Keyblade twerp’s runt of a sister? I’m sure Maleficent would just love to meet you.” Trixie forced her eyes open, and saw Mighty Pete advancing towards a group of trembling fillies.
“Huh? Rei, do you know this guy?” asked the orange pegasus filly with a purple mane.
“His name’s Pete,” she answered. “He’s a bully and bad news. But I’m not afraid of you, Pete!” she shouted, though from her body language it was clear that she was very, very afraid of him.
-G-M-
Sora stopped. The hairs on the back of his neck were prickling. Interestingly enough, Pinkie halted her tour as she suddenly got a pinch in her knee.
“Sora, what is it?” Kairi asked.
“My big brother sense is tingling,” he admitted.
“Well that’s funny,” Pinkie told him, “because my Pinkie Sense is acting up too. It’s telling me that something scary is about to happen.”
“I’m coming Rei!” Sora shouted, turning around and taking to the air.
-G-M-
“What’s the matter, runt? Not gonna pick a fight with me like this loser did? You know all these namby-pamby ponies will get what’s comin’ to them, soon as I find Maleficent that is.”
“Who the hay do you think you are?” Scootaloo shouted, quickly standing in front of her new friend. “Calling us all namby-pamby and Rei a runt?”
“I think he’s a pony who’s going to put loser blank flanks like you in their place,” another filly said, walking closer from down the lane. Scootaloo whipped around.
“Diamond Tiara,” she growled. Not far behind the stuck-up pink filly was her ever-present sidekick, Silver Spoon.
“I mean, look at the difference,” Diamond Tiara continued. “A totally not special blank flank like you standing up to a giant stallion like him?” She giggled. “You’ll be squished smaller than a pancake.”
Growling, Scootaloo turned around again, and her ears promptly flattened against the side of her head as Mighty Pete stood practically right on top of her.
“Scram twerps!” he spat, “or things are about to get even uglier for you than for her.”
“N—n—no!” Apple Bloom shouted in a squeak as she and Sweetie Belle moved to stand next to Scootaloo in front of Rei. “You can’t have our friend!”
“Why would she want to be friends with a bunch of blank flanks like you?” Silver Spoon teased. “Can’t she see you’re not special at all?”
Scootaloo looked at Rei, her eyes begging with the filly she only just met that morning that she was worthy of their friendship, despite the teasing words coming from Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. Rei looked right back at her, fear in her violet eyes from the proximity of the giant stallion. Something suddenly sparked in them, and Rei’s lower jaw trembled as she began to speak.
“B—because the—they were nice to me,” she said, “and I’m not going to let you hurt them Pete!” she shouted, closing her eyes. Her horn began to glow with yellow light, and suddenly a beam of it, as thick as her head, shot out and struck Mighty Pete right in the jaw. He went stumbling backwards, nostrils flaring and holding his snout while snivelling in pain.
Scootaloo, no, everypony stared at Rei with open mouths, and the cyan filly simply stared at the whimpering stallion in shock and disbelief. “How did you do that!?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“I don’t know!” Rei answered. “That wasn’t supposed to happen!”
The mare in the cape that had been contesting the stallion before got onto her hooves, and quickly stumbled past Mighty Pete towards Rei. She stumbled twice, but managed to keep her hooves under her and stood protectively in front of the four fillies. “Stay behind Trixie, girls,” she said. “The Great and Powerful Trixie cannot allow her student to show her up in case he makes another move.”
“Now wait just a second!” Mighty Pete said, shaking his head. “I ain’t through wit’—” He flew headfirst into a building as another stallion delivered a powerful buck to his hindquarters. The newcomer was bigger than Mighty Pete, with a coat of crimson and a mane the colour of straw. A yoke was across his neck and shoulders, and Big Macintosh was glaring at the stallion who had threatened his little sister with all the smouldering fury of the Apple clan.
“Nope!”
Mighty Pete shook his head to clear it as he got to his hooves again. Scootaloo looked between the two stallions, a small smile forming on her face. Mighty Pete looked like he was going to explode in anger, and he sure was strange and big, but this was Big Macintosh! He was the only pony Scootaloo knew who could pull an entire house through Ponyville’s streets while bouncing.
Now that I think about it...
“Hey, did we ever apologize to Miss Berry Punch about the Hearts and Hooves Day incident?” she asked her fellow Crusaders.
“I don’t think so,” Sweetie Belle answered.
“Hush up,” Apple Bloom said. “Ah wanna watch mah brother kick his flank in.”
“PETE!”
The universe, however, decided that that sight would have to wait, as a brown-furred pegasus stallion suddenly landed on the ground in the space between Mighty Pete and Big Macintosh. The pegasus’ wings had sparks of lightning skittering between the flared feathers, and he was glaring so intensely at Mighty Pete that Scootaloo was certain he had to have some form of relation to Fluttershy. Nopony else had a Stare like that.
“You lay so much as a hoof on my sister and I will end you!” the pegasus snarled. Thunder boomed in the sky above him, and Scootaloo stared at the newcomer in shock and awe. There was lightning dancing on the tips of his feathers, and his mane was the wildest and spikiest she’d ever seen. With the clap of thunder it was like the weather itself was bowing to his anger.
“Sora,” whispered Rei behind her.
“Who?” Scootaloo asked. She nodded her head at the brown pegasus.
“That’s Sora, my big brother,” she answered.
“Whoa…” all three Cutie Mark Crusaders exhaled. A flap of wings drew Scootaloo’s attention to a pink pegasus landing beside Trixie, the new pony keeping a hoof to the red beret on top of her auburn and cherry mane.
“Are you okay, Trixie?” she asked worriedly. “You didn’t get hurt too bad, did you?”
“Trixie is fine, Kairi,” the showpony replied. “Just…just a little tired, and sore, and suffering a bruised ego, is all.”
Kairi shook her head. “You shouldn’t have gone up against him, Trixie, not until you’re fully recovered; and just a couple of good meals and a night’s rest isn’t enough to do that. Pete may be a cowardly brute, but he plays too many dirty tricks in a fight.”
“Cowardly?” Trixie asked. “He certainly showed a lot of nerve to shove Trixie to the ground like he did.” Kairi pointedly nodded her head towards where Rei’s brother, Big Macintosh, and Mighty Pete were standing. Only Sora and Big Macintosh actually were standing and glaring, though; Mighty Pete was collapsed on the ground with his forehooves over his head and was babbling something that Scootaloo couldn’t make heads or tails of.
Scootaloo turned as a slight sniffling sound came from behind her. Rei’s eyes were a little watery, but she was smiling. “Kairi,” she said aloud, and trotted towards the pink pegasus. Kairi turned her head slightly, and smiled sympathetically at the cyan filly as she came to rest beside her. “I was scared…”
“It’s okay, Rei,” Kairi hushed, draping a wing around the foal, keeping her close and safe, “we’re here. He’s not going to get you.” Rei smiled up at the mare and snuggled closer into her side. Scootaloo felt a needle stab at her heart.
I wish I had somepony like that.
Kairi turned her head away from the filly she was comforting as more ponies ran down the street towards them. Scootaloo shifted closer to Kairi and Rei, Apple Bloom and Sweetie Belle slowly following, even as Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, and Twilight and Spike came up close, along with a blue unicorn with a silver mane she’d never seen before. “What’s going on?” Twilight asked.
“Pete,” Kairi answered simply, nodding her head towards the pony still cornered between Sora and Big Macintosh. Sora’s wings were no longer flared out and sparking with lightning, but Mighty Pete still cowered before him and Big Mac. Well, if he wanted to pick a fight in Ponyville and ended up against Big Mac, he’d be stupid not to stop fighting.
“Great,” the new unicorn stallion remarked in a sarcastic drawl. He cleared his throat and raised his voice. “Alright everypony, move along, nothing to see here. Elements of Harmony business; go back to your drinks.”
“Did somepony say drinks?” Berry Punch asked. Another earth pony sighed and hooked a leg around the purple earth pony’s neck.
“Come on,” said Cherry Berry, “let’s go.”
Scootaloo and her fellow Crusaders kept close to Rei and the mare she was leaning against while the majority of Ponyville residents who had gathered reluctantly left the area. Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon walked right past the Crusaders, noses high in the air.
“Even if the new filly likes you,” Diamond Tiara told them in a haughty whisper, “that doesn’t stop you from being the loser blank flanks you are.” She whipped her tail up, slapping Sweetie Belle’s nose, and Scootaloo glowered at the two bullies as they passed, even as she felt as though the wind had been knocked from her lungs. The pair of rich ponies completely ignored her look, and sauntered down the street.
Once everypony had cleared away, the mares all came together while the stallions cornered Mighty Pete against the wall of the building Big Mac had bucked him into. “Alright now,” said Applejack, “what’s this all about? Who is that big feller over there an’…Apple Bloom? What are y’all doing here? Have you finished yer homework and chores yet?”
“O’ course Ah have, sis!” protested the farmer’s young sister. “Big Mac wouldn’t have let me come an’ do crusadin’ this morning if ah hadn’t.”
Fluttershy turned to look anxiously at Kairi. “Do you think we should send the girls away before we start? Can we talk in front of them?”
“Hey!” Scootaloo piped up. “Rei here’s our friend. We stuck together back there, and if you can talk in front of her, you can talk in front of us.”
“That’s right!” Sweetie Belle added, with Apple Bloom nodding her head in agreement. Kairi turned to Trixie.
“Trixie, you were the only one who saw what happened before we showed up.”
Trixie nodded her head slowly. “Trixie will admit that they did show a great deal of solidarity together even after seeing that con artist get the better of Trixie.”
Scootaloo coughed a laugh. “Look who’s talking,” she muttered under her breath. Trixie glanced at her, but held her tongue. Kairi remained silent for a few seconds, likely thinking.
“Alright,” she said at last, “but is there someplace more private where we could talk? The street’s too open.”
“We’ll go to the library,” Twilight decided. “It’s nice and quiet and not a whole lot of ponies go there. It’s sad, really. I wish that more ponies would come by and visit more often.” Spike raised a claw. “And I don’t mean Pokey Pierce or somepony else in the middle of the night because of some minor emergency they want me to fix.” Spike lowered his claw again.
“Okay,” Kairi agreed. “Let’s do that.”
“Wait!” cried Pinkie Pie. “I gotta plan your welcome party tonight!” She galloped into Sugarcube Corner and slammed the door. Everypony stared at the closed door for a second before Pinkie opened it again and stuck her head out. “Don’t go anywhere!” She slammed the door closed again.
There were several seconds of silence.
“Uh…” Kairi began hesitantly. “The library?”
“Anywhere…”
*SLAM*
A few more seconds of silence passed. Kairi trotted over to the stallions and whispered something to Sora while he and the other stallions kept a firm eye on Mighty Pete, who nodded, and then returned to the group. “Okay, ready,” she said. Twilight nodded her head, and began leading the group out, though Scootaloo couldn’t help but be painfully aware that the formation the big ponies took put her, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Rei, and Spike in the centre between them, and all were looking warily around the street.
“Hey,” Rei whispered, “for what it’s worth, I thought you guys were really cool to stick up for me back there. That was really brave.”
A smile found its way onto Scootaloo’s face as Rei’s words lit her up like the rising of the sun after Diamond Tiara’s cold night.
-G-M-
“Alright,” Applejack said once they were all gathered in the main floor of the library, with Spike and the young fillies safely upstairs despite their protests, “who’s this Pete feller and what’s he doin’ here?”
Kairi glanced once more at the window, checking to make sure nopony was listening in from there, before answering. “He’s a minor villain who works for Maleficent. He goes around to different worlds and uses the Heartless to stir up trouble and make more Heartless. My guess is that that’s why the Heartless are here in the first place, because Pete showed up and brought them here.”
“A minor villain?” Trixie asked. “So he’s a lackey?” Kairi nodded her head. Trixie hung her head in shame and placed a hoof to her head just beneath her horn. “I was bested by a mere lackey!” she lamented in a voice just above a whisper.
“So they’re not looking for the keyhole?” Twilight asked.
“No, the Heartless are still looking for the keyhole to the heart of Equestria,” Kairi said. “It’s just that they apparently haven’t been completely directionless. Pete likes using them to make more Heartless in order to give Maleficent an army so that they can conquer worlds and rule them.”
“So is he using them to attack other ponies with?” Fluttershy gasped.
“Probably not anymore,” said Kairi. “Pete’s probably going to run away the first chance he gets because we showed up, and while he dogged Sora, Donald, and Goofy a lot the last time they saved the worlds, he’s finally lost the stomach to fight Sora directly.”
“Why’s do yah suppose that is?” wondered Applejack. Kairi swelled with pride and glanced out the window again, longing desire in her eyes.
“Sora’s only ever grown stronger,” she explained. “With every challenge and battle he’s overcome he keeps growing stronger and stronger, and Pete’s never been able to compare. It’s only recently that he’s fully realized that it’s better to surrender and take advantage of how much we don’t want to kill than it is to fight.”
“So does that mean that the Heartless are going to just go?” Twilight asked. “Seems pretty anticlimactic to me if we beat them by just scaring their leader into surrendering.”
Kairi shook her head. “You missed what I said earlier. The Heartless are still going to be looking for the keyhole to your world, so Equestria’s not out of the woods yet. Do you have any ideas as to where it could be?”
“It’s not here in Ponyville?” Twilight asked.
“If it is, either it’s hiding really well after Pinkie Pie’s very thorough tour of the town, or there’s a freaking puzzle requirement needed to unhide it.”
The other ponies looked confused. “A puzzle requirement?” Fluttershy asked.
“Are there any switches, levers, or bells that need to be triggered in town, either three times or in a certain sequence, in order for other objects or buildings to appear or change in certain ways?” Kairi asked, deadpan.
“Nope,” said Applejack.
“Then it’s not here,” Kairi declared simply.
“Then where in the wide, wide world of Equestria are we supposed tah start lookin’ for the keyhole then?” Applejack asked.
“I wish I knew,” Twilight said, starting to pace. “I really don’t want to disappoint Princess Celestia.”
“Kairi,” Trixie began, “it would help if we were to know what sorts of places these ‘keyholes’ tend to be found in. That would then allow us to narrow our search to these areas.”
“Trixie, that’s a great idea!” Twilight exclaimed.
Trixie smiled smugly. “Trixie does have a question, however.”
“Shoot,” said Kairi.
“What are the significance of this ‘keyhole’ and the ‘heart of Equestria’ you keep talking about?”
“Oh, right, you weren’t conscious when we explained it,” Kairi groaned, facehoofing. “Okay, abridged version. Heartless are creatures made of pure darkness or hearts that have been corrupted and fallen into darkness and they seek the hearts of other living things to make them fall into darkness too. They also go after the strongest and most powerful hearts, like the hearts of worlds themselves. The way to reach the heart of a world is through the keyhole to its heart, and if they are able to corrupt the heart of the world, then it will fall into darkness and the world is destroyed. Keyblades, like yours or mine, are able to seal these keyholes and so prevent the destruction of the world. When they can’t get at the heart, generally they leave the world alone. But since they’re made of the darkness within people’s hearts and there is darkness within almost every heart, they’ll always exist.”
“So…we’re looking for the keyhole so that Equestria doesn’t…fall into darkness? Is that correct?” Kairi nodded. “So, again, where do the keyholes of worlds tend to be found in?” Trixie repeated.
“Where the final boss is,” Kairi snorted. “And the final boss can be found near the keyhole, but the keyhole is usually in some place of significance to the world. Sora’s told me that that’s not always the case, though. Never Neverland’s keyhole was in a giant clock tower called Big Ben, but Deep Jungle’s was on a tree in a cave behind a waterfall, and Wonderland’s was in the keyhole mouth of a talking doorknob.”
“Then…then it could be anywhere,” Fluttershy said. “It could take us weeks of searching and we still wouldn’t find it.”
“Not necessarily,” Twilight said, waving her hoof. Her eyes started scanning the library’s many bookshelves. Her horn lit up, and multiple books became encased in a magenta glow and she brought them down so she could examine them in a line one-by-one. “A place of significance, a place of significance…Applejack, could you get Spike for me?”
“Sure thing, Twi,” replied the farmer.
Applejack quickly climbed the stairs and opened the door and was greeted with the unexpected, though also unsurprising, result of having a heap of four fillies and a baby dragon roll past her and down the stairs. Twilight didn’t take any notice of this, instead proceeded to address the dragon, “Ah, Spike, could you find The Explorer’s Equestrian Almanac for me? It might have just what we’re looking for in it.”
“The Explorer’s Equestrian Almanac coming right up!” Spike complied hastily, extracting himself from the pile of hooves and fur at the base of the stairs.
“Girls, what were you and your friends doing?” Fluttershy asked knowingly.
“Eavesdropping,” Rei answered proudly.
“You ratted us out.”
“The evidence was stacked against us. A guilty plea will give us a lighter sentence.”
“Are we going to get in trouble for this?” Sweetie Belle asked.
“Nah, sugarcube, we’re not upset with ya’ll,” Applejack told her. “We jus’ don’t want you fillies to get too involved in this; it’s dangerous.”
“There’s always the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters deep in the Everfree Forest,” Twilight mused. “It is where we got the Elements of Harmony from, after all. The keyhole could be there.”
“Sorry for being blunt, but I figure that that was intended,” Kairi told her.
“What makes you say that?” Trixie asked.
“Well, from what I’ve gathered, Princess Celestia’s pretty much immortal, right? So after she banished Princess Luna to the moon after she went insane about a thousand years ago, she knew that her sister would be coming back in a thousand years and let that information slip out as a prophecy that got lost in time. After leaving the old castle and building Canterlot, probably out of grief, she left the Elements in the old castle, and made sure that that information was available in the Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide book that was ‘conveniently’ placed within the Ponyville library that she arranged for you to stay in. Celestia’s a chessmaster.”
Scootaloo pointed a hoof at Kairi after a few seconds. “Either you’re really smart, or that’s a lot of coincidences.” Kairi shrugged.
“Just a theory I’ve been coming up with after hearing the story,” she said. Meanwhile, Spike had found the book Twilight asked for, and now she was flipping through its pages with a manic intensity.
“Heart of Equestria…” murmured Sweetie Belle. “Heart of…the Fire of Friendship?”
“What was that?” Trixie asked.
“The Fire of Friendship, the Hearth’s Warming story!” Sweetie Belle declared excitedly. “Remember? The Fire of Friendship that was formed when the three tribes stopped fighting and founded Equestria! It was in the shape of a big glowing pink heart!”
“What’s this story?” Kairi and Rei both asked eagerly.
“It’s a Hearth’s Warming story that’s told every year during the winter,” Sweetie Belle said, just as eager to tell it as Kairi and Rei were to hear it. “Long ago, before Equestria was Equestria and before the Princesses ruled, the ponies were divided into three tribes: the unicorns, the pegasi, and the earth ponies, but nopony got along really well with anypony of another tribe. Earth ponies grew food for themselves, the pegasi, and the unicorns; the pegasi controlled the weather, and the unicorns together moved the sun and moon. However, their feelings of distrust for the other tribes grew and grew until a terrible winter storm hit them all. Their leaders couldn’t come to an agreement, so they each left in order to find a new land where they could live. By chance, all three leaders, and their aides, came to the same place at the same time, and the leaders started fighting over it. As soon as that started, it began snowing like crazy in their new home, and all six ponies took shelter in a cave. The leaders kept fighting and bickering in the cave, and the entrance iced over and the leaders froze in blocks of ice. Then Clover the Clever, the unicorn assis…assis—assistant!—to Princess Platinum, saw that the winter was caused by winter spirits called Wintergos, which fed on hatred and made everything as cold as the cold hearts of hatred.
“But…the three assistants—Private Pansy, Smart Cookie, and Clover the Clever—realized that they didn’t hate each other, and that they were all ponies, and became friends. A giant burning pink heart suddenly appeared out of Clover’s horn, and they kept the Fire of Friendship warm through the night by telling stories and singing songs. Eventually the warmth of the fire reached their leaders and melted the ice around them, and their hearts. The wintergos vanished, the new land thawed, and together they named it Equestria.”
Twilight had stopped reading her book while Sweetie Belle told the story, and she nodded her head with a smile on her face. “Very good Sweetie Belle, except that they’re windigos, not wintergos.”
Sweetie Belle blushed and rubbed the back of her head. “Heh-heh, thanks Twilight. I always forget that.”
“And thank you, Sweetie Belle,” Kairi said. “That cave sounds like the place we’re looking for. Does anyone know where it is?”
“No, Trixie does not know its location,” said the unicorn, “and she doubts that anypony else in this room does.” Kairi groaned.
“Then we could still be looking at weeks of fruitless searching!” she said.
“Hold on to your beret, Kairi,” Twilight declared with a confident smirk on her face. “If you’re looking for a research assignment, then I’m your mare. All the information I need to find that cave’s location is right here.”
“Are you sure, Twilight?” Applejack asked. “We know that you are really smart an’ everything, but…”
“Don’t worry Applejack,” Twilight said. “Just leave everything to me. Spike, please find me a copy of The Founders of Equestria: Clover the Clever, 1st Ed.”
“Figured you’d start with that one,” Spike said with a slight smile. “Besides Starswirl the Bearded, she is your most favourite historical unicorn.”
“Spiiike, the book please.”
“Coming right up milady!”
“We’d best be goin’,” Applejack said quietly to Kairi. “When Twi gets like this, almost nothing can break her out of it until she’s done.”
“Alright,” Kairi agreed. “Then we’ll go let Sora and Riku know that we’ve got a lead on the keyhole and get ready for Pinkie’s party tonight.”
-G-M-
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Sees update.
Has this reaction:
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Well. That was awesome. The forge scene was damn impressive!
Typo alert!
Double negatives are a big no-no.
That should be replaced with the word "going."
Missing a word, and needs another space after the period.
Awesome chapter! I loved the way Big Macintosh and Sora managed to pwn Pete! (Sora's entrance was especially badass!)
Am I the only one who thinks Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon are in danger of becoming Heartless?
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One question that needs to be asked:
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Rest in peace, oh mighty door of oak. May your spirit depart this world of darkness and tragedy for a better realm.
I was wondering when we'd get to see our favorite villain lackey. Poor Trixie. Losing to Pete. So embarrassing. So embarrassing.
Also, it's nice to see Rainbow in a position of responsibility for a change. Most people seem to overlook that aspect of her.
Aspicio, diluculo Infinitas Noctis.
Shadow Horizons
wow it has been 2 months but it was worth the wait. Accually you are way faster then most. Awsome chapter. I look forward to the next one in a month or so. You are an amazing author and congratulations on getting to be in the Documentry credits.
Missing word alert!!
Anyways. . . fun chapter, lots of nice zappy lightning everywhere!
The two birds. . . Wait, was it Zues and Hera?
yay update!
ONE OF MY MANY NEW GODS HAS RETURNED
HOW MANY VIRGINS DO YOU DESIRE?
2011137 most of those aren't even errors (and those that are grammatically poor or incorrect are all in speech I believe).
And there's one typo that I noticed when I was checking over the edits, wondering when someone'll find that one
2010962 Why thank you, at least 2/3 of my editing work went into making that scene as pristine as possible
2011312
It was three birds, not two.
Welp... I can see plenty of things going on here.
1. When there is Pete, there is a lot more Heartless.
2. Looks like some filly might sneak a ride out with the others
3. Why do those birds seem familiar. Can some one help me with finding which Diseny story had an osprey, owl and eagle in it?
4. You're constantly going to bring Vegata and Nappa into this. Aren't you?
Loved the forge scene and the delicious foreshadowing with the birds.
Alas poor door, I knew him well. I knocked upon his wood, and he answered. I sealed the world asunder through his barrier, and he was my protection. Sleep well, old friend, and pray that we mend thee.
2011786
Doh.
2012335 It's okay. We all make mistakes. Nobody's perfect, after all.
2012409
I know, but I feel like taking Blitzkrieg out and either harassing Pete from a distance with deliberately missed sniper fire, charging into a horde of heartless and hacking them up, or. . . something else.
You'd think with the power to traverse the multiverse at will, I'd have some solid way of relieving stress and entertaining myself.
2012442 Try the game 'Stress Relief'. It allows you to totally demolish your desktop with a machine gun, flamethrower, and termites.
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
2012447
Interesting. . .
Though dropping Meteor after Meteor on the Tuatha is fun too.
I suppose I should finish destroying the godess of Fate and her puppet Gadstone though. . . Bloody Fae.
(Bonus points to whoever knows what I'm referencing
)
2011722 You mean this one?
A guilty plea with give us a lighter sentence
1. Will.
Um I like this story and I try to follow most of the Kingdom Hearts games but when the hell did Sora get a little sister? Sorry but that part bothers me a lot.
Two things.
1. I think a explanation of where Sora's sister came from and the non-game events Sora and his friends refer too would be nice. As far as I know they aren't Kingdom Hearts cannon, and I'd like to know if they come from a story you wrote, a roleplay you participated in, or where created specifically for this story? No need to devote part of the story to it, but readers might like to know where it came from.
2. The Disclaimer "fluff" with author interaction and cross over guests, it feels tacked on and unnecessary.
Other wise I like how the story is going.
The sister and maybe the birds are from the prequal to this story, mind you that the writing im that one is bad, I mean really bad. No offence to shire here, but the differance between this story and the one on fanfic.net is like night and day huge. The one scene based off the transformers live action movie made me get a headack. Serioulsy, it actually hut to read it. I am only thankful that Shire is redowing it. It needs it baddly.
i like this. and nightmare moon was planned out?
2012531 Nah, cause that one's already been pointed out. There's a different one. Well, one specifically that I've seen. I'm sure there's at least 10... I just know the one I'm talking about is a typo specifically because it's a phrase that he fixed, but then threw in an error. Or it's fixed already, cause I pointed it out in the GDoc. Just to give you a hint: It's in the RD office scene
2012723 1. What mercenary said, and not to mention that he has already done this multiple times (I know he's done it once with me)
2. Ya, it's unnecessary and tacked on. But he does it. I have an odd feeling it's a crossover from his fanfiction.net days where people did that on every chapter of every story (mabe? I've never really been over there)
2013601 Think I found it this time;
2013618 Yup, there it is
2011137 You're complaining about characters speaking in character?
Okay... And I don't suddenly need two spaces after a period for one sentence when I've never, ever, done it before.
That aside, thanks!
2011141 That door scene was one that I had a lot of fun writing. And poor, poor Trixie. That's just embarrassing.
2011312 FIXED!
And no, they weren't Zeus and Hera. Zeus is an eagle, but Hera's a peacock.
2011858
1.) Probably
2.) Maybe...
3.) None
4.) Probably not
2011982I loved writing the forge scene. I figured that people would like seeing Smith Luna in all her glory.
2012669>>2012723
I have said this before, I have said this in author's notes at the start of chapters, I have said this in conversations held in the comments thread and when I've joined Siluca's audio readings: Rei is an OC. I first made her for The Annals of Darkness as a little girl for Sora to save from an enemy who held her hostage with the desire to later develop her into a surrogate little sister figure, and then an apprentice. The idea for her character had been based off of April in Highschool of the Dead.
After making her I decided that I wanted to use her in this story too, but since these two stories exist in alternate universes from one another I decided to make Rei Sora's biological little sister instead, as well as keeping both of his parents alive instead of his dad being cursed on the Flying Dutchman and mother killed by Maleficent's henchmen.
As far as non-game events that have happened that they're referencing, the point is to keep you in the dark and slowly learn about the things that have happened, but a base summary has already been given in earlier chapters and there are other clues hanging around for the reader to piece together themselves. Pete not actually knowing where Maleficent is is kinda significant, don't you think?
I'm confident that you guys are intelligent and can figure shit out on your own too until I expressly state it.
And the disclaimer short skits with me and the characters, yeah...I just have a history with them. I could certainly stop doing them.
2012994 It's not a prequel; it's not even directly related to this story. They're in different alternate Kingdom Hearts universes where at least KH, CoM/Re:CoM, and KH2 happened. As for the portables (which, for the record, I own all of), bits and pieces of them may or may not exist (ie. Xion, Terra, Aqua, Ven).
2013838 All things that have been caught in the comments are now fixed.
Thank you everyone for your helpful comments! TTFN!
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
2012669 Rei is an OC from Shire's other Kingdom Hearts fanfic "The Annals of Darkness," which I seriously recommend if you like the KH series and have time to read almost 2,000,000 words (so far)
Edit: Beaten by 30 seconds
2013996 Just make sure that you remind him to muscle his way through the first part, since it gets much better from A Week of Troubles onward.
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
2013994
Yeah, the eagle thing was what made me think of Zeus, forget where I saw that little tibit though.
Completely forgot what Hera was.
Ohh well. Mistake made, moving on.
2014011
Yet another fantastic chapter, Shire. Glad to see you're still with us. I especially loved the forge scene.
You mean this one right? Other Fan Fic
I have no problem with an OC, honestly if I ever wrote my own Kingdom Hearts crossover on the site I would actually screw with the KH universe to an extreme alternative universe amount. I loved Kingdom Hearts one, but after that game for me things started to go down hill in terms of the story. I have tried to fully understand what Square has spun out but with the exception of one, I get lost
. And thus if I ever wrote one all events in one would be 100% involving Equestria lol. 2013996
2014327 Yes, that one. I'd suggest reading the re-write I've got going, though.
Oki doki, where is that one? 2014338
2014372 http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5744051/1/The-Annals-of-Darkness-The-Beginning-v-II
2012723
Are you kidding?! that's hilarious.
. That's what I did in mine.
Although referencing that, you could give Kairi her lemon in a g-doc file and link it in the story that way we perverts can get our fix and the story retains its teen rating
2014421 Sorry?
It was completely unintentional!
and the shafts that led vented the forge to the surface
something's not right with this sentence.
and the loop of magma plummeted into the pool below Luna’s hammer smote the vibrantly glowing metal
likewise here, it's a bit of a run on.
2017396 Darn. Every time I think I've gotten all the errors fixed, somepony points out another one.
Thanks for the heads-up!
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
You might want to consider cutting the scene with Dash. It was big, long, and didn't really seem to serve any purpose.
dat footnote... please tell me we can expect that to happen here? I am SALIVATING at the possibility of the entire crew getting digimon alllies, if only temporarily.
Crackfic status would level up to, from "world-roving sword-wielding pony adventure" to "transdimensional swordweilding mon-master pony adventure!"
2018468 Besides being entertaining and informing you all that Dash is planning on going offworld with Twilight?
2018540 Heh heh, no. I don't need to throw Digimon in here too. It doesn't suit my needs for this fic.
May the Grace of the Valar Protect You
Shire Folk
Well, if you do eventually succumb to Kairi's request and write a lemon scene or two, I'd suggest publishing it as a separate M rated story so that you can continue to be published on EQD.
Epic smithing Luna is as epic as ever, and I just love that Rarity is helping out. No clue who the birds could be, I'm trying to think of a set of three god or demigod types who are friendly-ish and can come in those forms but nothing springs to mind. The fact that it was done begrudgingly to Kairi makes me think there might be some Kingdom Hearts specific hints that I am missing through unfamiliarity with the setting.
Hmn, now there's a hint that this Dash is interested in stallions, I wonder if that's just flavor or if it might come into play later.
Trixie as defender of Ponyville, the residents of which seem to lack the usual dislike of her. I approve. Ouch, not that it went that well, though I suspect it would have gone better had she pulled out her keyblade. Am I mis-remembering that she was able to summon hers in the hospital?
Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon area really sounding like heartless candidates.
Go Big Mac!
Wow, we need some fanart of Sora and his lightning wings stat! Not for the first time I wish I had some drawing ability.
Ahhh, so the Fire of Friendship heart as the Equestria quest goal, makes sense.
Okay, now that I'm up to date. I WANT MOAR!
Judging from the length so far and the limited interaction with Scootaloo ( since she is one of the tags ) I'm going to go ahead and guess that this story still has a long way to go.
2019144
Well we already knew that was gonna happen. If not explicitly, then because Rainbow Dash.
Given this IS Kingdom Hearts, a trio of fairies springs to mind as giving the Keybladers more power. But, that wouldn't mesh well with them giving it to everyone gladly, and Kairi more grudgingly. Unless of course, something's happened off screen to make them hold a grudge with Kairi.
Second, Pete's more Maleficent's second in command than lackey. Sora, Riku, and probably Kairi are all more powerful than him, but that doesn't mean Pete isn't a badass capable of asskicking. It's just, he goes up, often, against people who can crush him with fairly little trouble.
...There was a third point.... But it's gone now....
I had to google that cake to see if it was a Portal reference. It wasn't, but now I really want some chocolate cake
.
Besides that, you're writing is very impressive and detailed. It matches the writing quality, if not exceeds it, of the more popular writers on the site like Pen Stroke.
Also, you get all of my mustatchs for that skit with Abridged Vegeta and Nappa!
Fantastic chapter. Could have used a bit more resolution regarding Pete, but otherwise had action, interaction and exposition. Glad you went with the Hearth's Warming option. Just fits so well. Well since the Crystal Empire and Crystal Heart aren't known yet. Unless you wanted to shunt the timeline continuity.
I am a little worried about Trixie's lack of power considering she's a Guardian. She really needs to somehow figure out her effective niche. Probably a mezzer. Perhaps something like the Illusion/Storm Controllers from City of Heroes at her peak.
Also really hope Rainbow Dash makes it safely home so she can have her little bonding moment with Scoots. Again unless you plan on shunting continuity a bit. Which I wouldn't mind at all.
I find this story to be great so far.
2206828 If you liked that show, I'm pretty sure you'll absolutely love this show about a Badass Family of magicians!
hey shire! quick question! are the ponies going to meet Axel?
because that would be awesome!