My Little Pony: An Epic Return

by Epic Bass

Chapter 1

Present Day-Ponyville

“Come on, Spike!” Twilight Sparkle shouts as she runs toward Sugarcube Corner. Spike is trailing behind her, carrying a tower of gift wrapped boxes. They make it inside just as they see Pinkie Pie coming around the corner.

“She’s coming, hide!”

Everyone hides quickly, and just in time. Not one second after everyone is settled, Pinkie Pie hops through the door.

“Surprise!”

Pinkie gasps with surprise. “A party?! I LOVE parties!”

“Happy Birthday, Sugarcube,” Apple Jack says.

“Yes, indeed, Happy Birthday, darling,” Rarity adds, flipping her mane.

“We spent all month planning this without you finding out.” Twilight puts in.

“Yeah, I did these totally awesome decorations, with a little help from Rarity.” Rainbow Dash brags.

“A little help?” Rarity inquires.

“I made the cake. I added my secret ingredient,” says Spike, proudly.

“Yes, um, I hope you like the punch,” Fluttershy shyly says, shuffling her foreleg.

Pinkie takes a sip of the punch with a very serious look on her face.

“I don’t like it,” she decides.

Everyone gasps.

“You … don’t … like it?” Fluttershy looks about to cry.

“Nope, I LOVE it!” Pinkie exclaims, with a cheeky grin, throwing her forelegs to the sky.

Everyone sighs with relief. They are glad that she likes, no, LOVES everything. After so much planning and hard work they would hope that it wasn’t a waste. Then, their former enemy, now a friend, Discord, appears out of nowhere, donning a birthday hat and a party horn. FLOOOOM!

“Oh, did I miss the surprise part? What a pity.” Discord pouts.

Everyone is having a good time dancing, eating, and drinking. Then, it is time for Pinkie to open her presents. She got some pretty cool stuff, such as, balloons, confetti, more party cannons, and a giant horn. They were all expecting to have a good time all day, until the mane 6’s cutie marks started glowing.

They all rush off towards Twilight’s palace. When they get inside, the mane 6 sit in their seats. Immediately, a map shows up on the table. It has their cutie marks floating above a location in the mountains.

“I wonder what it is that is so important that needs all of us?” Twilight asks.

They remember the location and head off. It is almost sunset by the time they get there. They quickly find a cave. When they go inside, the cave walls are lined with pulsating gems, and there is a low humming.

“This has to be the place,” Twilight decides.

“Let’s get going, ya’ll,” Apple Jack adds.

They go deeper into the cave. As they do, they notice that they are going at a steady decline. Also, the humming is getting louder. The gems are blinking faster. As they get farther down, a fog starts to form. The humming starts to sound like music.

“Is DjPon3 down here?” Twilight wonders aloud.

They finally get to a large cavern. Now the gems are flashing like a light show. The humming has taken on the tone of head-banging dubstep. At the end of the cavern is a large gem in the general shape of a unicorn. When the six get closer, they see that it IS a unicorn. They all gather around and see that it is a stallion.

“Oh, he’s handsome!” Rarity exclaims.

“I’ll have to say I agree, there, Sugar Cube.” Apple Jack states.

“Um… yes.” Fluttershy shyly agrees.

“I guess so,” Twilight says.

“Yeah, whatever,” Rainbow Dash says, gruffly, although she is definitely looking.

“We must have to free him, ya’ll,” Apple Jack says.

“Or maybe he is already breaking free and he’s a BAD guy! And we have to stop him!!!” Pinkie says, standing on her hind legs, and waving her forehooves like a boxing pony.

“I don’t think so,” Twilight says, “I think that he is a good guy. But, just to be safe, be ready when we free him.”

They surround the stallion and fire up their Elements of Harmony. They start floating and Twilight’s eyes glow white. Their element colors shoot out of their bodies and combine to form a rainbow. The rainbow rushes down and hits the gem. The gem cracks and shatters. The unicorn falls to the floor

“I am back,” the unicorn looks excited at first, but then his face contorts into a look of sheer horror.

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asks.

The unicorn looks up, startled, as if he just noticed the girls standing there. When he sees them, he relaxes a little.

“So, you must be the ‘six’. I must say, I didn’t expect you to be pretty girls.”

“The ‘six’?” Twilight asks.

“Pretty girls?” Rainbow Dash sounds offended, although she is blushing.

“Just pretty?” Rarity also sounds offended.

“What do you mean by the ‘six’?” Twilight asks again.

“Years ago, my enemy cursed me. He said that someday I will fall and ‘six’ will bring me back. He also said that when I wake, he will as well. I have to get to Princess Celestia and warn her.”

That was when he noticed Twilight’s wings.

“You’re an alicorn?” He inquires.

“Yes, I am the fourth alicorn princess, the Princess of Friendship.” She replies.

“Fourth? Who’s the second and third?” He asks, confused.

“Well, there’s Princess Cadance, who is married to Shining Armor, my brother. And then there is Princess Luna, she’s…” She breaks off as she sees the unicorn’s eyes widen. “What’s wrong?”

“Princess Luna? She’s back, then?”

“Yes, she came back as Nightmare Moon and we used the Elements of Harmony to turn her back into Princess Luna.”

“I have to see her.”

“Wait, you knew her?”

“Knew her? She was my best friend. I was devastated when Princess Celestia and I had to banish her to the moon.”

“You helped? If that’s the case, then you’ve been alive for over a thousand years!”

“What? It cannot have been that long.”

“Sorry to burst your bubble, but it’s true.” Apple Jack puts in.

“I must go.”

“Come on, then.” Twilight says, turning to go.

“Wait!” Rarity exclaims. “We do not know your name, good sir.”

“I am Epic Bass.”

At that, he walks out of the cave. The girls follow him until they get outside. Then, they lead the way down the mountain to the train station. Epic Bass was a little scared; he has never seen a train before.
After about an hour, they arrive in Canterlot. They head to the castle and enter the throne room. They all, except Twilight, kneel before Princess Celestia. She looks down at them and tells them to rise.

“Hello, Epic Bass. I wish I could say I was happy to see you, but if you are here, then that means that Flaring Flame will not be long.”

“Yes, that is true. I wish that I was not here.”

“Well, don’t wish that,” A voice says from behind them.

Epic Bass turns around with a start. Standing near the door, he sees Princess Luna. Immediately, he walks up and bows. She raises his head up with her forehoof.

“You do not need to bow to me, my friend.” She says.

“I missed you, Luna.” Epic’s eyes are shining.

“I missed you as well, Epic Bass.” She says.

“So, no more Nightmare Moon, right?” He asks wearily.

“Nightmare Moon will not be returning.” She winces.

“Good, I am glad.” He states, adding, “but my return is not a good thing. It only means that Flaring Flame is returning.”

“Well, maybe things are different now, maybe you came back and he didn’t.” Rarity puts in helpfully.

“There is only one way to find out.” Princess Celestia states.

They all head towards Everfree Forest, and the Castle of Two Sisters. Epic Bass leads the way to the Shrine to Nightmare Moon. When they get there, they see the petrified unicorn sitting on the altar. It is still. Princess Luna shivers as she looks at the shrine. She has a look of fear in her eyes.

“Well, it looks like everything is fine,” Twilight states.

“For now,” Epic replies, sullenly.

They head back to Canterlot and Epic Bass eats his first meal in a thousand years.

Author's Note:

This is Chapter 1, haha, haha. Chapter 2 will hopefully be added soon.

Comments

[Czar_Yoshi]

I want to try and get permission from Hasbro and Lauren Faust to ACTUALLY publish this story as a book.

The folks who do custom printings of their stories tend to go through independent publishers and go around Hasbro entirely by using cost-sharing type agreements with their fans (basically, they announce intent to do a printing run, get a bunch of people to sign on, then take the order to publishers, get a quote for the intended volume, and have everyone split the cost).

It's not exactly something you need permission for... but it is something for which you'll need a huge fanbase and a story really worth owning a physical copy of. Absolutely nobody gets there on their first try. Few people get there ever, and nobody even needs to get there to have written something worth writing. All you need to do to do that is have fun and learn something.

Keep writing, and learn from yourself. Keep reading, and learn from others. Some day, with six or seven full-sized books under your belt, it's a dream you might be able to make progress towards. But don't get hung up on it, don't let it be the only reason you write, and if it becomes apparent that that just isn't something you can or will do, make sure that failure isn't the only thing you take away from your time as an author... or better yet, don't take it as a failure at all. It's an adventure, so enjoy it and make it one worth having.