Aka. stuff I have written for the 30 minute pony story prompts, minific events, collab projects, etc.
A collection of unrelated, very short, complete stories. These stories are generally cracked ideas, or things that just want out of my head, but don't really make for a full tale. Some are prompts from community threads, or things from my own prompt collab events. They are posted without editing by anybody else.
Some of them I feel are great stories. Some of them are terrible. All of them were fun to write.
23. A Good Life in Equestria - What if Equestria were in the Twilight Zone? 22. The Twilight Shall Last Forever - But Twilight Sparkle is less than happy about that. 21. Refrain - An all in ensemble performs once again for the end (and the beginning) of the world. 20. Hey baby - Sweetcake runs into trouble when trying to get Pinkie Flowers for Hearts N' Hooves. 19. Awkward - Ember learns why she shouldn't go out in public in her true form. 18. Bad News - Cadance worries about telling Shining that their life is about to change. 17. Craving - Fluttershy is no longer a fruit vampire... 16. The Party - Nightmare Pinkie still throws a pretty good bash. 15. Confetti - Party canon experiments can be dangerous things 14. Summer Thunder - Filly Pinkie Pie is afraid of thunderstorms. 13. Grubby Baby - Rarity finds a thing in the park. What will the mane 6 do about it? 12. Taco Tuesday - Sweetcake the changeling has never had a taco. 11. Pronk! - Pinkie Pie meets someone new! 10. On a Cardboard Shore - Luna's thoughts immediately after being banished to the moon. 9. Crayon Caper - Pinkie plus the CMC equals trouble, one way or another. 8. Ashes - Luna knows that sometimes all you can do is mourn. 7. Pinkamenacorn - Twilight should know better than to cast experimental spells on friends. 6. The Gathering - Pinkie Pie is a creature of the night. 5. It's all Been Done Before - Twilight tells Celestia her worries about the younger generation. 4. Alien - Twilight and Fluttershy discover a strange biped in the Everfree Forest... 3. Symphony - Young Twilight Sparkle attends her first concert. 2. Fetish - Sometimes ridiculous fantasies turn into reality. Other times they don't. 1. Alicorn Tears - Partings can be difficult, even for an immortal alicorn goddess.
The weight of the sun is always on my shoulders. Ponies say that I raise the sun, as if I merely fling it into the heavens at dawn and then leave it to make its own way across the sky. It is not like that at all. The weight is always there, from dawn till dusk.
For a thousand years I carried a second weight as well, from dusk till dawn, though that has finally been taken from me. But neither the sun nor the moon are the burden that weighs most heavily upon me.
“The train is almost here,” says Twilight Sparkle. I know her well enough to hear the faint note of strain in her voice, to notice the few wayward, curling hairs escaping her mane, as they always do when she is fretting over something.
“Yes,” I reply simply.
“Should I write?” she says suddenly, piercing me with those words. Nothing of that shows on my face, of course. It never does, not after so long.
“If you wish,” I reply.
“I... I'd like to. I might have questions,” she says. I nod. The rule of an entire nation, even a small and fledgling one like the frontier country she will soon reign over, is not an easy thing. It too is a heavy burden, one that weighs on the heart as well. But Equestria is a weight I have born almost as long as I have carried the sun. It is not the burden that weighs most heavily on me either.
“I will always be happy to give you any advice I can, Twilight,” I say. I smile at her warmly. It is true. I have guided her this far, after all. But this next step, onto the train that even now is pulling up to the platform, will take her out into the wider world in a way even more profound than when she first left Caterlot. The thought brings to mind many other such moments, may past students stepping out, taking wing, moving from my tutelage into their new lives.
“You've taught me so much!” she suddenly says in a rush. “You've taught me so many things, and helped me learn so many lessons. I think I'm ready, but I know there's still so much I can learn from you. I will never know everything there is to know.”
I nod again, seeing suddenly the shape of her worries and fears, and feeling something crack deep within me as I do. She fears not just for her new kingdom. Not just for the duties and responsibilities to come. She fears what I too fear, that now that she too is a princess in truth and not just in title, now that she too rules, that this will somehow build a barrier between us. I understand and am moved to speak without my usual careful weighing of words.
“You will always be my Faithful Student, Twilight Sparkle. Whatever else happens.”
Her eyes suddenly shine with gathering tears and she flings herself towards me. I embrace her gently.
In the distance a cheerful clatter heralds the arrival of her friends, here to see her off to her new life, her new duties. She steps back and wipes the tears from her eyes. I smile, finding that I must blink a little moisture from my own. “Go say goodby to your friends,” I say, and she smiles and trots off for a final round of farewells before she boards the train to Appleloosa.
Looking at her go I feel a lightness in my heart. The thing that cracked within me has now fallen away, a burden I had thought never to be lifted has been eased.
Once, years past, Twilight Sparkle lifted a burden from my shoulders when she broke Nightmare Moon with the elements and restored my sister Luna to me. I no longer carry the moon. And now it seems that she has at least lightened another, heavier weight as well. It has always lain on my heart, the weight of knowing that all of my students, the ones I love most dearly out of all my little ponies, will move on to lives that do not include me save as a scrap of past memory, an occasional letter, an invitation to weddings and then, eventually, to funerals.
Twilight is different. I still do not know the full extent of what she will become. I have shaped and guided her course thus far, but she moves beyond my guidance now. And yet what I said to her in that sudden, unguarded moment was true.
Twilight Sparkle closed the door behind Spike. Step one, check. Her quill rose and ticked off “Send Spike to help Rarity.” That always kept Spike occupied for at least two hours. Whisking the list along with her she trotted up to her bedroom. A quick once-over tidied up a few books left scattered around.
Nodding briskly she checked off “Tidy bedroom.” Then, with a flicker of fuchsia magic, she lifted a key from its hiding place on top of a windowsill, where Spike couldn't reach it. The key fit a small chest that was stowed under her bed.
She pulled the chest out, unlocked it, and opened the lid. Twilight beamed down at the contents of the chest with a sense of accomplishment. It had taken a lot of research and experimentation to assemble her collection. There were books stowed in the chest, of course. A copy of the Pony Sutra, for starters. That was traditional, even if it didn't get as much use as some of the other volumes. A beautifully illustrated book of Neighponese shibari was tucked next to it. There were also a few romance novels, including a very well-worn copy of Children of Arborvitae, which always made Twilight feel just a little strange, since her mother had written it.
And then there were the other things. Just a few...toys, carefully chosen. She frowned as she noticed the tangle of straps in the bottom of the chest. She shouldn't have been that careless putting things away. She pulled the knotted mess out with her magic and set about straightening it. When she was done she had three pieces neatly laid out next to the chest. One was a simple bitless bridle, with a long, slender horn attached to it. Then there was a matching set of wings, attached to a harness that would hold them on securely.
A second set of wings was the exact color of Twilight's coat. She smoothed those straps too, then picked up the wings and looked at them with a faint frown. “Well, I suppose I don't need these any more. It seems like a shame to throw them away though.” She dithered for a while, before finally returning the wings to the chest, tucking them in at the bottom where they wouldn't be in the way. There were a lot of fond memories associated with those wings.
She ticked “prepare equipment” off her list, leaving just one euphemistic item remaining. “Have fun.” She grinned at that. It would be a while before she'd be ready to tick that one off. But when the time came, that check box would be well and truly checked.
The sound of hooves tapping at her front door told her that her guest had arrived. She clattered down to meet him, ushering him inside with a special smile. “Your highness. I have everything ready. You can come prepare yourself in my room, and then we can consummate our eternal alicorn love in a manner suited to such as we. Shall we proceed?”
Her guest chuckled softly as she spoke. Twilight had been reading too many of those romance novels again, he could tell. Still, not all of the ideas she'd gotten from them had been completely daft. Some had been pretty fun. So, with a smile and a nod, he replied, “Eyup.
“Are you ready, Twilight?” The princess smiled benignly down at her knee-high student.
“Yes Princess Celestia!” Twilight resisted the urge to check her saddlebags for the sixth time. Her quill, ink, and paper would still be there.
“You know you don't need to take anything with you. This isn't a test, this is merely an outing. I thought you might enjoy attending the symphony.”
“I'm sure I will. You've often told me yourself that a pony should be well-rounded, so I am delighted to get some exposure to the arts as part of my curriculum. It's just that I want to take notes! Ever since you said we'd be attending a concert I've been studying. I researched music history, and theory, and just today I started reading Hericoltus' 'Computational Aesthetics', so I want to record my reactions to the pieces, so I can compare them to his charts.”
Celestia chuckled. “Well, if that's the way you want to enjoy the evening, far be it from me to try and dissuade you. Come.”
She led the way through the palace halls, little Twilight trotting eagerly at her heels. Eventually they reached the courtyard where the Princess' chariot waited. Twilight climbed aboard eagerly, and sat next to Celestia chattering away about bell curves, increasing complexity, and predictability versus novelty, while Celestia simply listened and nodded now and then. She was well used to dealing with Twilight's frequent scholarly enthusiasms.
Twilight was still chattering when they arrived at the royal box. She had to sit on a stool to see over the edge of it, but the sight of the orchestra turning up finally silenced her. She got out a sheet of paper and a quill, ready to take notes.
The lights dimmed. Twilight scowled, since this increased the difficulty of her note-taking. Celestia just smiled.
The conductor walked out onto the stage. He tapped the podium with his baton. There was utter silence. Twilight's quill was poised over the paper.
The music began.
A swirl of strings leapt immediately to life, bright notes cascading from violins and violas. Brass echoed them, the metallic sounds of trumpets and horns. Twilight stared at the dancing bows, the glinting lights off trombone bells. Flutes picked up the theme, the players all unicorns, their magic glowing on the tiny, delicate flute keys.
Then a new theme, carried by the brass again, deep and solemn and majestic, where the previous theme had danced and laughed. Twilight watched as drummers payed huge kettle drums, bigger than the ponies themselves.
The music suddenly dropped down, soft and quiet, flutes and clarinets carrying the tune at a near whisper. Twilight's ears were perked forward, listening intently. She'd read so much about music, about the history of it, the construction of the instruments, the theories behind playing it, but she'd never heard music like this before.
Her paper and quill fell, forgotten, as the music swelled into a grand crescendo, filling the concert hall, and Twilight stared in fascination.
That song was followed immediately by another, and another, and eventually the lights came up and it was time for the intermission.
“Did you like the music so far?” asked Celestia.
“Oh yes! It was wonderful!” said Twilight, still enthralled. Then she noticed the fallen paper. “Oh no! I didn't take any notes!”
“Twilight... you don't have to analyze it if you don't want to. Sometimes it's nice to just enjoy something. You did enjoy everything so far, didn't you?”
Twilight frowned, her brow furrowed. “I did, yes.”
“And you didn't have to know all that about bell curves and complexity and so on in order to do so, did you?”
“Well... no. But plotting my own enjoyment on the graphs is still important. The data matters, Princess!”
Celestia almost wanted to argue. She had never believed in measuring and marking down everything. Not the way Twilight did. But looking at Twilight's eager, determined face she had to smile. “I suppose you wouldn't be Twilight Sparkle if you didn't think that,” said Celestia gently.
Twilight cocked her head to the side. “I don't think I could be any pony other than Twilight Sparkle,” she said, sounding a bit annoyed.
Celestia laughed. “Very true, my faithful student. Very true.”
I am writing you under rather unusual circumstances. Well, since I no longer send weekly friendship reports, that is probably kind of obvious. But in any case, I am writing to inform you of a strange being I have encountered. I worry that it may be dangerous, so I felt I should inform you immediately. This all began when something woke me in the middle of the night...
***
Twilight Sparkle started awake. She had the impression that some kind of loud noise had woken her. She rose and opened a window. Outside several dogs were barking, as if the noise had disturbed them too. Point one in favor of that theory, she thought to herself. Her horn also tingled, as if some very strong spell had just been cast, not far away.
This called for an investigation. Spike was still sleeping soundly in his basket, so Twilight didn't wake him. Instead she descended the stairs and went out into the night alone. She followed the tingling in her horn, which led her away from town, towards the Everfree forest. As she passed by Fluttershy's cottage she saw that a light was on. A glimpse of a teal eye, framed in yellow and pink, peeking out one window told her that Fluttershy was awake. Twilight remembered the last time she'd gone alone into the Everfree after dark, and decided that having Fluttershy along might be a good idea.
She tapped gently at Fluttershy's door. It swung open slowly. "Uhm. Hi, Twilight."
"Did you hear some kind of loud noise just a bit ago?"
Fluttershy nodded. "I was up feeding an orphaned kitten, they need food every few hours at that age, you know. There was a bang, almost like a sonic rainboom, but I know it couldn't have been one, there was no rainbow."
"There's residual magic coming from somewhere in the Everfree forest. Some kind of very powerful spell was involved. I was going to investigate. I'd like you to come with me."
"Oh. Uhm. Into the forest? At night?" Fluttershy tried to hide behind her hair.
"You've gone into the forest at night before," said Twilight, trying very hard to not be irritated at Fluttershy's timidity. "And I'd really rather not investigate this alone. What if I encounter a cockatrice? Being turned into stone isn't any fun at all, I'll have you know. I'd rather not do that again."
"Oh." Fluttershy hesitated, then gave a tiny nod. "All right, I'll come."
***
The two mares moved cautiously through the woods. All around them the night was silent. Far too silent. There should have been sounds as nocturnal animals went about their nighttime lives, but there were none. Twilight hoped that they had merely been frightened by the loud noise, and that there wasn't some more sinister reason for the animal life of the forest to have gone silent. It was downright creepy.
Twilight continued to follow the tingling of powerful magic. It was slowly fading, but she was drawing closer to the source all the time, so there was just enough to continue to lead her on through the eerily silent night.
Fluttershy stuck so close to her that she kept bumping into Twilight's flank. Which Twilight didn't exactly mind, but it was very distracting. Fluttershy was so cute, and pretty too, and having her nose constantly colliding with Twilight was not at all unpleasant, but Twilight was trying to solve a mystery here! She took a deep breath, cooling the blush that had spread over her cheeks at the last collision, and continued on.
At last they came to the source of the noise. The first sign of something different was the way the trees were bent over, some of them shattered, others fallen, some merely leaning, all facing away from the center of what was now a small clearing, though formerly it had obviously been the heart of a grove of healthy young trees.
In the center of the clearing was a crater. It steamed gently in the cool night air, and a glow of fading magic came from it. Twilight approached slowly. Fluttershy came with, though she kept Twilight between her and the glowing crater.
Twilight reached the edge of the crater and peered inside. There was a creature at the bottom. It lay awkwardly sprawled, its eyes closed. She could see its chest rise and fall though, so it was still alive.
It was a very strange creature. Lying flat as it was, Twilight couldn't be certain, but she thought it would probably be bipedal when it stood. It had its limbs arranged a bit like those of a diamond dog or teenage dragon, though its proportions were much different from either. Its legs were longer, and its arms shorter, for one thing. It certainly wouldn't be able to go on all fours comfortably. Its face was smooth and hairless, but its head bore with a tangled mane of long, dark hair. Whether its body was hairless or not Twilight couldn't say, because it was covered completely in clothing, including boots on its feet. It had a belt that held several mysterious objects, which were presumably tools of some kind.
Its hands were uncovered, showing it had no claws, nor did it have any protruding fangs. Its large, high forehead suggested it might be intelligent. So did the fact that it was wearing clothing and carrying tools.
There was a splash of what was presumably blood on its forehead, possibly from falling and hitting its head.
"Oh dear!" said Fluttershy, peering around Twilight. "It's hurt!"
The magical glow had been fading all the while, and now it vanished entirely, leaving no sign of its presence except for the downed trees, the crater itself, and the creature lying in it. Twilight ventured down the crater's wall, standing at the creature's side. Up close it was clear at the thing was fairly large, it would tower over Twilight when standing.
"We should take it back to my cottage so I can take care of it," said Fluttershy. "The poor thing."
Twilight nodded. "I've never seen anything like it before though. It could be dangerous. I want to write to Celestia about it, which means I'll need Spike. And I don't want to leave you alone with it to go send a letter. Why don't we take it back to the library? I can teleport us all that far, I think." She carefully picked up the alien creature in her magic, taking care to keep it fully supported, so that she wouldn't injure it further if it had any fractures or other hidden injuries.
"Okay." Fluttershy nodded agreement.
The corona around Twilight's horn grew brighter and with a bang the trio, unicorn, pegasus, and unknown alien, disappeared from the forest and reappeared in the center of the library's main room.
Fluttershy let out a surprised little squeak as they arrived.
Twilight wasted no time floating the alien up and setting it down gently on her spare bed. Fluttershy followed, looking equally scared of the creature and for it. Soon she had gotten out Twilight's first aid kit and was tending the alien's wound. It proved to be fairly shallow, but with the creature still out cold it was impossible to be sure that there wasn't further trauma to its brain. Presuming it had a brain. It probably did, but one never knew, with aliens.
Meanwhile Twilight wrote her letter, describing the creature and asking Princess Celestia for advice. She woke Spike to send it just as Fluttershy finished bandaging the alien.
"It's so strange," said Fluttershy as she packed the first aid kit up again. "I've never seen anything with blood this color before. It's so... pink."
Just then the alien stirred. It opened small, dark eyes and looked around. It raised one hand to its forehead, touching the ridges there, and the bandage that went over them. Then it turned to look at the two ponies, who were staring at it with wide eyes, and said, "Nuq ghe''or?"
"And how fares the Principality of Everfree? Since this is supposedly a diplomatic visit, I should ask about that sort of thing. One ruler to another, and so on." Celestia smiled warmly as she settled into place in the parlor.
Twilight Sparkle waved a vague hoof. "Oh, there's some minor crisis every five minutes, and everypony wants me to solve it, of course. Twinkle Shine actually runs the place these days though. I'm much too old and creaky to have the energy. I just sit on the throne every now and then, and pretend I'm still actually in charge." Twilight grinned. The laugh lines around her eyes were deep these days. Her hair had gone gray too, hardly a trace of color remained, and her coat has softened into a silvery lilac.
Celestia laughed. "There are some days, my dear Twilight, when that's exactly what I do as well. So many of my little ponies do the day-to-day work of running Equestria. I only have something to do when there's a real emergency."
"Poor Celestia. You can't even come running to me to pick up the elements and deal with disasters anymore."
Celestia laughed even more at that. A servant came in with a platter of sandwiches and a pot of tea, and both princesses were silent for a moment as they helped themselves to lunch. When Celestia spoke again, after sampling both the sandwiches and the tea, she asked, "How are the other element bearers doing? None of them write me terribly often these days."
Twilight gave a little snort at that. "They don't write me all that often either, though I do see Applejack regularly, since she still lives more or less on my doorstep. You couldn't budge her out of Sweet Apple Acres with a crowbar. I hear from the others now and then. Fluttershy is still in Ponyville, of course. Pinkie Pie sends the odd letter, as does Rarity. But Rainbow Dash! She never writes at all! She's gotten one of those ridiculous electro-phone gadgets! She wants me to install one here, so she can 'phone me. Instead of writing! As if a slap-dash conversation held without seeing another pony's face were any substitute for putting quill to paper and organizing your thoughts." Twilight stopped suddenly. "Forgive me, I was ranting. I just do not like these new-fangled electro-phones at all. Ponies should see each other in person, or take the time to write letters. Twinkle Shine wants to get one installed here too, she keeps pestering me about it. All the young ponies are so excited about the blasted things! They'll be ruined by them, I swear. No more writing? Their brains are bound to go, if they stop writing."
Celestia was laughing again, not just the light chuckle she'd had previous, but a deep laughter that seemed to threaten to send her actually rolling on the ground. Twilight frowned at her. "I don't see how the ruined minds of the next generation is a laughing matter, Celestia."
Celestia caught her breath. "Forgive me, Twilight." Another giggle escaped, and she put a hoof to her mouth, as if to hold the laughter in. After another deep breath she'd calmed herself. "Forgive me. You just reminded me of an old lesson. Once, quite a long time ago, I thought something very much like what you think now."
Twilight tilted her head to the side, looking puzzled. "How could you have been worried about electro-phones a long time ago?"
"It wasn't electro-phones that worried me," said Celestia with a smile, finally regaining her usual serene expression. "It was writing. I remember telling my student at the time that the living word of knowledge would vanish from the earth, to be replaced with soulless writing, that was only an image, something which could neither speak nor teach."
Twilight gaped at her. "That... I recognize that! Broad Interests wrote that his teacher, Choate Power, had said that!"
Celestia nodded. "Yes. Broad Interests was one of my very first students."
"Y-you're Choate Power? That means you invented philosophy!"
Celestia chuckled softly. "Only some of it, Twilight. But you're getting a bit distracted from my point. When ponies began writing everything down rather than memorizing it I was concerned, much as you are concerned with the way ponies are using things such as the electro-phone rather than writing. I worried that their minds wouldn't be as developed if they stopped learning things by heart and instead merely put them in books. I actually considered banning writing and books, for a time."
Twilight gasped. "Banning books?!"
"Shocking, I know."
"How could you even think such a thing? Books are windows into other worlds, glimpses of other pony's lives! Books are wonderful!"
"I fully agree, Twilight. My point was not that books are bad, but that for all of pony history each generation has worried that the new inventions of the next generation will ruin everything. They never do, Twilight. They never do."
"Oh. I see what you're getting at." Twilight heaved a sigh. "A conversation over a wire just isn't the same as getting a letter, though."
Celestia leaned over and gave Twilight a little nuzzle. "No it isn't. But reading a book just isn't the same as having a dialog with a live pony, and yet I've learned to rather enjoy books. I know a 'phone conversation isn't like a letter, but that doesn't mean it's a bad thing. I have a 'phone installed in the palace at Canterlot, you know. You don't have to install one here if you don't want to, but don't worry too much about the minds of the next generation. One way or another they'll be fine."
Twilight nodded, then smiled. "Suddenly I feel the urge to write you a friendship letter. Even if it is terribly old-fashioned."
"If you want to be truly old-fashioned, Twilight, you could just tell me what you learned."
Twilight straightened unconsciously as she organized her thoughts. "I learned that you were Broad Interests' possibly mythical teacher!" She flashed Celestia a grin. "I also learned that my worries about the future were unfounded, that every generation has had the same worries, and that something like books, or like electro-phones, that's frightening to one pony, can be wonderful to another."
"A lesson well worth learning." Celestia lifted her sandwich and took another bite. She made a face. "I, on the other hand, have just learned that pausing during lunch for philosophy and life lessons will let your sandwich bread dry out terribly."
Twilight laughed. "Then I guess we have both learned a valuable lesson today."
There is a place beneath the moon, where shadows gather dozens deep. Passing clouds make the moonlight writhe and flicker across the dark ground, the shadows creeping and crawling wherever the light permits. Not all shadows there, however, are cast by such simple things as clouds.
At the heart of this place stands a house. It has stood there for longer than equine memory. It has changed over the years as a bit is added here and a bit falls down there. It has been a piled stone hut, a pillared temple, and a fortified castle. Currently it most resembles a sprawling manor house, with grand columns framing the front door. They were once painted to look like white marble. The paint is now peeling and leprous. Most of those who pass between them find that look to be comfortable and homey.
The house stands empty for most of the year. Yet there is a time when life and laughter fill its twisting halls. It is a time when cold winds rustle the dead and dying weeds that surround the house. A time when leaves crunch underhoof and the first frosts touch the ground. A time when the moon shines full and bright overhead, casting the deepest shadows.
It never falls on Nightmare Night; those who gather here have other obligations then. It falls according to the moon's time, rather than the sun's. When the leaves have fallen and the moon is full, all who will gather there know that the time has come.
They all bear the same ancient blood, though over the centuries they have taken many forms. Some seem entirely ordinary, mostly earth ponies with cutie marks one would never take a second look at. Others bear obvious signs of their ancient, shadowed heritage on their flanks. And still others show different, less ordinary signs. There are bat wings to be seen among the shadows that slip into this house as the moon edges above the horizon. Fangs too are common enough. A flicker of moonlight catches a cat's eye here, sending back an alien glow, while there it glistens on a slimed tentacle.
There are no children here. They do not bring their young until they are old enough to know what they are. A cutie mark tells only one's talent, it does not show one's blood. The blood must run true, if they are to be allowed here, at this place, on this night.
This year the Princess of Night is present, for the first time in many centuries. Her blood is not theirs, but she has been counted among them for eons all the same. They have honored her for as long as her moon has presided over their gathering.
As Luna's light shines down upon the house, a bright speck of color can be seen, bouncing erratically towards its sprawling shadows. Three other shapes move beside it. One glides gracefully, the bat wings and vampire's fangs that she must hide at all other times now showing proudly in the silvery light. The moon touches her own coat to argent brightness and glistens on her steel-dark mane. Beside her marches a drab brown form, hat firmly on head, pickaxe firmly on belt, hooves striding firmly over the ground. He is not of their blood, but he is at least tolerated among them. They respect him. They respect his pickaxe more. It has known their blood often, until the day when the final strike was withheld, for he found the grace and beauty of the vampiric creature before him too great to slay.
Behind that pair walks another mare, her eyes half closed in perpetual communion with the stones beneath her hooves. And behind, to the side of, and sometimes in front of those three bounces a pink mare, her coat like icing, her hair like candyfloss. The silvery moonlight barely dilutes her vivid colors. She is the brightest thing for miles around.
Two more sisters are absent, neither yet having shown clear signs of the magic that may run in their veins.
The oddly-assorted quartet vanishes inside the house, swallowed by the shadows within. Some time later faint hints of music can be heard wafting from the house, riding the breeze out into the night. Deep within the moldering pile lies a ballroom and now, on this special night, the Night Family is dancing.
Princess Luna steps out in the arms of a well-wrapped mummy. She is the elder of the pair, but not by very many years.
Pa Pie takes his undead wife by the hoof and they too join the stately dance. Maude cradles Boulder in her hoof and twirls around him while witchlight glows from his formerly drab surface. Dozens of others take to the floor as well; hoof in claw, tentacle grasping wing, hand holding hoof, they all turn in a stately gyre. The scene is lit by oil lamps, sending a flicking light over the dancers, cloaking the edges of the room with shadows.
Pale blue eyes gaze from one such puddle of darkness, looking at the musicians who play the slow and somber waltz to which the dark things whirl.
Pinkie Pie slinks from one puddle of shadow to another along the wall, creeping up on the players. She slips among them with supernatural ease, vanishing here to pop up there, whispering in each ear in turn.
The waltz ends. The dancers clear from the floor for a moment while the musicians ready the next song.
"Hey there, creatures of darkness! Are you ready to party?!" All heads turn to the pink mare who has suddenly appeared in the center of the ballroom. A moon-bright spotlight shines down on her, even though the house does not have any electricity. Murmurs rise as the band strikes up an old but sprightly—almost jazzy—tune. Pinkie Pie starts dancing, shaking her rump with enthusiasm.
The murmurs grow louder. What is this? The solemn waltz of darkness has always been the only dance they do here, has it not? All the Night Family know that. Does this mare belong here? Has a pony not of their blood somehow crept in?
Then another form moves out into the spotlight and a bandage-wrapped hoof grabs Pinkie's. "Woo yeah! Finally you whippersnappers remember how it used to be!" shouts the ancient who is the many-times great grandfather of very nearly everypony present. There is long a moment of stunned silence from all the others gathered.
"Shake it Gramps!" says Pinkie, and the two start doing an enthusiastic, if sometimes rather inexpert, swing dance.
"Ah, we have so missed the olden days, when this august event was a roisterous carouse," says the Princess of the Night. Pa Pie, who knows a little bit about how a party should go, offers her his hoof, and they join his daughter and Gramps on the floor.
Suddenly dozens of others join them, while the band members grin and laugh as they play, and the ancient house swings and bounces deeper into the night.
Thus the Night Family Gathering is restored, and all is as it should be at that special place, at that special time, in the shadows beneath the moon.
"Twilight?" said Celestia, her tone gentle, stern, and also a little bit out of breath as she raced through the halls beneath the palace.
"Yes, Celestia?" Twilight was, if anything, panting even harder. Her hooves rang off of the stone floor, the sound echoed by the brighter, more bell-like tone of Celestia's metal shoes.
"Might I suggest that you strive to change your attitude towards experimental magic?"
"That," huffed Twilight as she ran a little bit faster, "Is probably an excellent suggestion."
"TWILIGHT!" The vast roar from behind the two fleeing alicorns made the walls shake, sending a rain of dust down around them.
"Although I will point out that everything would have been fine if it weren't for that accident with the noodle factory. Additionally, the spell was supposed to have worn off of her by now!"
"One should always consider the possibility of things not going according to plan," said Celestia, just before skidding around a corner and nearly colliding with a wall.
Twilight made the same turn only an instant later. Once she'd gotten her feet back under her and was once more racing down a straight stretch of corridor, she said, "Well how was I supposed to know that she would decide I was out to get her?"
"I suppose that was hard to predict. Nevertheless..." Celestia rounded another corner.
Twilight behind her had just turned when a knife wrapped in a vividly candy-pink magical aura thudded into the wall just behind her. She yelped and ran a little bit faster. "I hope it's not much farther!"
"No, we're almost... ah, here!" Celestia skidded to a halt before a pair of impressive doors. She bent her head to insert her horn in the lock. Twilight nearly ran into her, but stopped just in time. She spun around to face behind them, and raised a defensive shield.
At the end of a long corridor another pony appeared. She too was tall and lanky; nearly as tall as Celestia. Her hair, however, fell straight around her head. Her tail was long and straight too. She was pink, a dull, greyed-out pink, but her horn glowed with a vivid candy hue. Hovering around her were several dozen knives of various sorts. A few shot down the hall to hit Twilight's shield with a thud.
"Come on!" shouted Celestia. Twilight turned to see that the doors were open. She raced between them and into the room beyond.
"No! You will not escape, you traitor!" howled the pink alicorn behind them. She vanished from the end of the corridor and appeared in front of the doors. Celestia just managed to slam them in her face.
"Whew." Celestia dropped to lie panting in the middle of the rune-inscribed floor. "We made it."
"She can't get in here?" asked Twilight, sitting on her haunches, her chest heaving. There was a pounding sound coming from the door that suggested that something heavier than mere hooves was beating on it.
"Not before sunrise," was her former mentor's reply.
"So we just have to wait for the sun to come up so that you can change her back?"
"Indeed." Celestia managed a small smile. A deep booming sound from the door, followed by a dull roar that went on for some time. The two alicorns exchanged a concerned look.
"That sounded like..." Twilight trailed off, looking at the door.
"She brought down the corridor. We're buried."
Twilight sighed. "I guess all we can do now, then, is wait."
Celestia climbed to her feet, removing the crown from her head as she did so. She slipped off her peytral, and her shoes too, and walked over to Twilight, a rather different smile slowly growing on her face. When she reached the smaller alicorn, she bent her head and whispered, her breath hot in Twilight's ear. "That's not all we can do."
The sound of the waterfall that fell down the slopes of the Canterhorn was a distant rumble as Princess Luna sat on a ledge near the mountain's peak. It was cold, so high above the city below, and the tears on her cheeks felt like ice.
She turned her head up to the starry sky above, looking at a constellation of five smaller stars clustered irregularly around one large one. The tears streamed more freely down her face.
"I locked my heart away so long ago. I hid it behind a wall, and warded it with a Nightmare. Thou didst slay the Nightmare. Thou didst climb the wall. Thou alone hast touched my heart. I set thee among the stars..." she broke off, a sob interrupting her. For a time she wept in near-silence, the distant sound of the waterfall hardly louder than her soft sobs.
"I thought thy heart was mine, as mine was thine. I was a fool."
A soft thump made Luna turn her head. Her sister had landed on the ledge behind her. She walked over and sat beside Luna, folding a wing over her. For a long time the pair sat in silence. Eventually Luna looked back up at the stars and said, softly, "Mayhap I should remove those six stars."
"She didn't mean to hurt you, Lulu," said Celestia gently. "I don't think she even knew. You were her friend."
"I know, 'Tia. 'Twould be easier if she had acted knowingly. I could hate her then. Her and the stallion who took her from me! Yet I cannot."
"If there's anything I can do to help?"
"Just leave me to mourn, sister. There is naught to do but mourn, now."
Celestia hesitated a moment, then rose and gave Luna one last nuzzle before departing, her vast, white wings carrying her silently into the night sky.
Behind her, Luna whispered, "I locked my heart away so long ago, until thou didst come and hold it in thy hoof. Now thou hast burnt it from my breast, and ever after all I shall know is ashes."
The moon wasn’t actually that cold. That was Luna’s first thought. She’d never been there before, though of course she’d raised the moon from Equstria thousands of times. It looked so cool, up there in the night sky. Yet in truth, the surface was quite hot.
Fortunately alicorns are extremely durable, and she wasn’t bothered by it.
Even if it had bothered her, she would have been too busy being violently angry. At herself. At the Nightmare. At her sister. She wanted to spit that word. What kind of sister banished her sibling to the moon?
A little, traitorous part of her asked, what kind of sister tried to overthrow her sister? What kind of sister made a deal with a being of chaos in order to gain power against her sister? She told that part to shut up, and kicked a moon rock. It flew in a ridiculously long arc before coming to rest on the lunar surface. Luna kicked another one. Then she lit her horn and attacked every rock in sight in a flurry of magic and moon dust.
That took hours to settle. She eventually walked away from it, trudging across the lunar surface.
You are pathetic, whispered the Nightmare in her ear.
Shut up! She tried to scream that at it, but in the lunar void she had no voice.
Completely pathetic. Maybe if you hadn’t been along, I could have won. Celestia would be defeated and I would rule.
What happened to ruling together, thought Luna angrily at it. I thought we were partners?
I lied, said the Nightmare, laughing.
That prompted another flurry of kicking and rock throwing.
Finally, exhausted, Luna lay down on the lunar surface. She closed her eyes. She felt the Nightmare creeping into her mind, whispering something. For a moment she considered resisting. She hated the Nightmare almost as much as she hated herself, or her sister. Then she gave up and let the Nightmare’s dream take her into the dark...
There is a word for the act of bounding up and down on all four feet at once. That word is “pronking” and Pinkie Pie was a champion pronker. She was pronking now, bounding with gleeful enthusiasm across town. As she pronked along, she heard a scream from somewhere near the edge of town. Ever curious, Pinkie pronked along to investigate.
“The horror! The horror!” Lily came past Pinkie, running in terror in the opposite direction.
Pinkie hardly noticed. Lily was always running in terror, or fainting, or screaming. So Pinkie pronked on.
A moment later Berry Punch came galloping past, also screaming in terror.
Huh, that’s kind of weird, thought Pinkie. Berry was not normally quite that excitable.
Then she saw something! Or rather someone. Not somepony, but Pinkie had never cared about that. And better yet, this was someone new! Someone whose name she didn’t know. Someone to throw a party for!
With gleeful enthusiasm, Pinkie pronked right up to the new arrival and said “Hi!”
“Rawr!”
“Do you like parties? Of course you do! Everypony likes parties! But you aren’t a pony. I bet you like parties anyway, though. I’m going to throw you one! Come on!”
“Rawr?”
And taking the creature’s paw in her hoof, Pinkie led the manticore into town.
“It’s Tueeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeesday!” Pinkie called out in a sing-song voice. “And you know what that means, don’t you?”
“No, I don’t” said Sweetcake. He was currently brushing his coat, trying to get all the flour out of it. He hadn’t been helping Pinkie bake very long, it was still just his first week in Ponyville with her, but he already had quite a lot of experience with getting flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, frosting, and just about anything else one might find in a kitchen cleaned off of him.
“Taco tuesday, that’s what it means!” said Pinkie. She started bouncing again.
Sweetcake could only shake his head at her enthusiasm. “What’s a taco?”
Pinkie gasped dramatically. “You don’t know what a taco is?”
For just a moment, Sweetcake automatically reached for the hive’s memory, to see what a taco was, then his face fell and he sighed when he realized he couldn’t. “No. I’ve never heard of one before.”
“Aww, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you sad. Tacos are great! They will cheer you up again! Come on! I’ll show you!” Pinkie bounced out of the room. Sweetcake, very confused, a little sad, a little curious, and still just a little bit dusted with flour, went after her.
A taco turned out to be a kind of crunchy bread—Sweetcake wasn’t sure how that worked—with lettuce, tomatoes, beans, and cheese in it. It was, admittedly, pretty delicious. He munched one with interest, and decided it was good. Still not as good as cupcakes, or love, but quite nice. The cheese reminded him a bit of the taste of sincerity.
“Okay, I’ve eaten your taco,” he said with a smile when he finished. “It was pretty good.”
Pinkie started giggling hysterically. Sweetcake frowned at her, feeling puzzled. What was so funny? “Pinkie?”
“You… heeeee… you haven’t eaten my taco yet!”
“Uh. Then… what was that?”
Pinkie giggled more, until she’d actually fallen out of her chair, but no matter what he asked, she wouldn’t explain what was so funny to him.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!” The shriek of disgust rang through the entire park. Everypony’s head turned to see what could have caused it, but when they saw it was Rarity, most of those out picnicking went right back to their checkered tablecloths and picnic baskets. Applejack, however, decided that somepony had better go make absolutely certain that the flighty fashionista was all right, so she trotted over to see what was going on.
“You all right there, sugarcube?”
“What in the world is that thing?!” Rarity pointed with one hoof towards a bit of shrubbery. Applejack peered at it, then blinked in surprise as she saw something peering out from under a bush at them.
“I… I don’t rightly know. It looks like some kind of grub.”
“It is the size of Sweetie Belle!” Rarity danced back from the pale, rubbery creature beneath the bushes. Its eyes were large and solidly blue, but the rest of it was pale and squashy and perhaps just a little bit slimy. It had a pair of mandibles under the eyes too, which weren’t helping things.
“Hey girls!” Pinkie Pie bounced over to the pair. “Whatcha’ looking at?”
“Some kind of horrid thing!” said Rarity.
“Ooo!” Pinkie Pie bent down and put out a hoof, as if to poke the unknown creature.
“Don’t touch that!” shrieked Rarity, pulling her back. “You don’t know what it is! You don’t know where it’s been!”
“Where what’s been?” asked Rainbow Dash, swooping down to see what all the commotion was about. “Woah!” she added as she landed and got a look at the creature. “What the hay is that?”
“I reckon it’s a grub o’ some sort. I’ve seen things like it before, usually trying ta eat my garden.” She scowled at it.
“It looks… weird.” Rainbow made a face at the thing. It worked its mandibles at her. “Oh man, look at that! That’s so awesome! I wonder if it could bite through a stick? Does anypony have a stick?”
“Hey girls!” Twilight Sparkle trotted up. “What are we… woah!” She noticed the creature. “Is that a grub?”
“Sure looks like it. Dang varmints,” muttered Applejack.
“It’s simply horrid!” said Rarity.
“Why can’t I poke it?” Pinkie bounced up a down excitedly.
“Yeah, I want to poke it too,” said Rainbow Dash, peering at the creature’s mandibles.
“You might hurt it,” said Twilight. “Grubs are sometimes quite delicate. They’re the young of various kinds of insects, especially beetles.”
“Must be some beetle!” said Rainbow, grinning.
“I ain’t sure I want to see what a grown up one would look like,” was Applejack’s contribution.
“It is true that I’ve never seen a grub this big before,” said Twilight, rubbing her chin thoughtfully with one hoof. “I wonder what it is?”
“It’s a baby!” that voice, soft but with a startling enthusiasm, had hardly interrupted before Fluttershy swooped in, picked up the grub, and started cuddling it. The other five stared at her in shock.
“Uh… Fluttershy? Maybe you shouldn’t cuddle strange grubs?” said Twilight.
“It’s not strange at all, Twilight.” Fluttershy smiled tenderly at the creature. “She’s just a lost little foal, and I know just what to do with her.” She chucked it under the mandibles fondly with one hoof.
“O-kay…” Twilight shook her head.
“Everypony should pack their things,” said Fluttershy serenely. “It’s a two day journey to the changeling hive. I have no idea how the poor dear got so far from home, but I’ll need help carrying her back.”
Five pairs of shocked eyes were now fixed on Fluttershy, but then one by one her friends all gave resigned shrugs and went off to pack their things. When Fluttershy wanted help with a baby creature, she got it.
Summer thunderstorms always gave the Pie family plenty of warning. Even if the pegasi teams hadn’t kept the storms on schedule, they still would have seen them coming. The clouds started to the south, big, fat, black piles of cumulus. They walked across the flat land around the farm on legs of lightning. Thunder boomed, a low, distant grumble. Even the scent of the air said that one was coming, a unique smell of wet earth and ozone that only accompanied a summer thunderstorm.
Pinkamena Diane Pie ought to have liked the storms. They couldn’t work the rocks during them, so she got to stay at home. And it was nice to play and romp with her sisters when a storm came during the day. But this one had come marching across the fields at sunset, and now that it had reached the farm, it was dark.
Pinkie peeked out the window, then squeaked as a nearby strike of lightning flashed, close and blinding. The accompanying boom of thunder was almost instant, the sound deafeningly loud so close. Pinkie dove for the bed and pulled her blanket over her head. She huddled under it, shivering. It did help with the blinding lightning, but she could still hear the thunder. The sound of the wind tearing at the house was audible too, a howling wail like some kind of monster prowling outside.
She wished that, like the monsters under the bed, the blanket would keep the storm away. The storm was too much for that, though. It was too loud, too bright, and too big. So much bigger than one tiny little dinky Pinkie.
Another sudden boom of thunder startled a shriek from her. She tried to pull the blankets over her ears, but it didn’t help.
Then, even over the sound of the storm, she heard the distinctive squeak of her bedroom door’s hinges. Hoofsteps crossed the room, audible—if only just—over the storm’s roar. A weight settled on the edge of the bed, and a comforting hoof touched the huddled lump of scared filly beneath the covers.
Pa Pie didn’t say anything. Neither did Pinkie. But she peeked her head out from under the blankets and smiled.
And even though that lightning kept flashing, and the thunder kept crashing, with her Pa there by her, Pinkie was able to close her eyes and sleep.
Sweetcake put the plugs in and replied silently through the bond that he and Pinkie shared. Check.
Barrier?
Sweetcake poked the table in front of him, tipped on its side. Check.
Woo! Time for ka-boom! Pinkie bounced in the middle of the basement of Sugarcube Corner, which was currently only half filled with supplies, the open end forming her impromptu testing ground. She dropped a brightly-wrapped sphere into her party canon, lit the fuse, and dove to join Sweetcake behind the table.
Despite the ear plugs, they could just hear the hissing as the fuse burnt down. That was followed by a moment of tense silence, and then a tiny, pathetic "pop" from the center of the room. It was barely audible at all. Pinkie removed her ear plugs, raised her goggles, and peered over the table. "Ah dang. Not enough confetti, I think."
"Uh, okay," said Sweetcake as he took off his own safety gear. He wasn’t even going to ask why lack of confetti would make the bizarre explosive not blow up. Shouldn’t something else be involved? That was the kind of question, though, where asking Pinkie wouldn’t actually result in any less confusion. It was likely to result in more, in fact. So he stayed silent while Pinkie prepared another charge.
Eventually she had another brightly wrapped package ready to load. "Okay! Goggles still check?" she asked.
Sweetcake thought repeating the checklist seemed a bit obsessive, but he gamely went along with it. "Check."
"Earplugs?"
Check.
Barrier
Still check.
Awesome. Package is ready, prepare for ka-boom! Hopefully lots of ka-boom, I put in like... ten times the confetti! Pinke giggled happily and once more loaded and lit the canon, then dove for cover.
This time the blast rattled the table, sent a cloud of loose flour and sugar dust into the air, and tipped over several piles of supplies on the far side of the room. Sweetcake had actually felt the shock wave. When he peered over the table along with Pinkie Pie, they saw the canon looking blackened and somewhat the worse for wear, and confetti was stuck to every visible surface in the room. Sweetcake gaped at the destruction, very glad that Pinkie had insisted on the safety checklist after all.
"Whee! That was amazing! But I guess I should use a little less confetti next time."
It seemed like the entire mountain was rocking. At least from Twilight’s perspective as she stood in the palace gardens. Around her lights were flashing, music was booming, and ponies were dancing. The famous musician, DJ Pon-3 was spinning records, laying down the sound of the party, but its true heart was the bouncing pink pony who had planned and implemented the city-wide celebration, who seemed to be absolutely everywhere at once.
She popped up behind Twilight just as she thought that, nearly making her drop her cup of punch. "Hey Twi! How’s the punch?"
"Oh, hey there Pinkie," shouted Twilight over the music. "It’s good!"
"Yay! It didn’t taste funny?"
"No, not at all." Twilight suddenly regarded her cup with suspicion. "Why, what’s in it?"
"Nothing! Just a new recipe, that’s all. The cake is a new recipe too." Pinkie grinned hugely, then bounced off again.
Twilight looked after her. Something had seemed... off about that grin. Pinkie grinned all the time, yes, and her grins were usually pretty manic, yes, but that one had been even more manic than normal. There had been an edge of something disturbing about it.
Twilight wandered through the party, looking for Pinkie. She wanted to make sure that everything was all right. A moment ago Pinkie had seemed to be everywhere, but now that Twilight was looking for her, she couldn’t find any sign of her. "Figures," she muttered to herself as she searched. All around her ponies danced and played and sang, but none of them were the pink pony she needed to find.
She walked a little faster. Pinkie had to be here somewhere. The music, which a moment ago had lifted Twilight's spirits, was now hurting her ears. It seemed like nothing more than noise, and it made her head throb with pain in time to the beat. She scowled and kept searching, but still found no sign of Pinkie.
Twilight started to run. Threads of panic worked their way around her. She couldn’t even say why, she only knew that something was wrong and she had to find Pinkie, soon. She blundered through the crowd, shouldering ponies out of the way as she went. Still no sign of Pinkie. Twilight was finally forced to take wing. She soared up above the party, barely managing to concentrate on flying and scanning the ground below her at the same time. She still couldn’t find Pinkie, but she did see a large, white form amid the crowd below.
She swooped down and managed to land next to Princess Celestia without crashing. "Celestia! Have you seen Pinkie Pie?"
Celestia turned to her, looking down at Twilight with a reassuring smile. "Not recently. Why, is something wrong, Twilight?"
Twilight looked up, about to say, "Probably not," but the words died on her lips. Celestia’s eyes shone with a faint pink glow.
Suddenly the music halted, leaving an echoing silence. The shouting of playing ponies died away too, leaving only a low murmur of confusion in its wake.
"Suprise!" The voice rang out loudly over the crowd. It was almost deafening, in fact. Twilight turned towards it, to see Pinkie Pie, standing on top of the dessert table, one hind hoof planted on each of the towering cakes there. She reared up above them, her form impossibly tall. Her mane and tail swirled around her, and a pink numbus seemed to radiate faintly from her.
"Pinkie! What are you doing?" shouted Twilight.
"I think it’s time for the party to last forever!" said Pinkie.
"No, you can’t just do this!" said Twilight. Her eyes narrowed in determination. Even though it was her friend, she wasn’t just going to let Pinkie get away with this.
"I can just do this, silly filly," said Pinkie, grinning. It was that disturbing grin again, the one that was just a little bit too wide, even for Pinkie. The pink glow around her brightened. Twilight frowned. She felt... like dancing. The music started up again and Twilight’s feet started moving. She twitched and jerked, dancing with no regard to the beat. All around her, other ponies were dancing too, though their hooves kept perfect time. Their eyes glowed pink, the glow pulsing in time with the music.
Twilight couldn’t quite match the pulse, no matter how she tried. She wanted to. She wanted to be part of the party. That was all that a pony should want, wasn’t it? Ponies partied, that was what ponies did. But Twilight couldn’t, no matter how hard she tried. Frustration filled her. What kind of pony was she, if she couldn’t dance? All the other ponies could dance, what was wrong with her? What was wrong...
No, it wasn’t her that was wrong, was it? It was the dancing! It was the party! Twilight pulled free of the pink haze. She spread her wings and rocketed up above the dancing crowd. Below she once more found the large, white shape of Celestia. Luna’s only slightly smaller dark form dance beside her. Feeling relief, Twilight flew down to them. She just had to break them free and they could fix Pinkie. Everything would be alright.
She landed next to Celestia. "Princess! Princess Celestia! Wake up! Snap out of it!"
Celestia turned to her. "Why aren’t you dancing, Twilight?"
"Because this isn’t right. Life isn’t supposed to be nothing but a party, and parties aren’t supposed to last forever. Come on Princess..."
"The fun shall last forever, Twilight," said Luna, coming up beside Twilight. She was suddenly bracketed between the two larger alicorns. She looked between them, feeling her stomach sink. This wasn’t going well at all.
"Please, Princess," said Twilight, but was cut off as Celestia pushed a bite of cake into her’s mouth.
"Eat the cake, Twilight."
"Eat it, and give in to the party," said Luna.
Twilight tried to spit the sugary mouthful out, but Celestia’s magic was clamped around her muzzle, preventing her. The sweetness coated her tongue, and from there it spread through her whole being. It made her happy. She felt a sudden urge to dance, and began to move her hooves. They moved, now, in time with the music. She swallowed the bite of cake.
It seemed like the whole mountain was rocking. All the ponies of Canterlot danced to the beat of the music that the DJ spun at Pinkie’s request. The Pink Party Nightmare bounced among her subjects, laughing and playing all her favorite games, as the music spread further and further across the land, until all ponies knew the joy of the party that would last forever.
Fluttershy settled to the cloud in front of Rainbow Dash’s door. She raised a hoof and knocked softly. The sound was, in fact, nearly inaudible, but Rainbow Dash had been expecting her, so she opened the door immediately.
"Hey Flutters!"
"Oh, hello there, Rainbow." Fluttershy gave her friend a tiny, uncertain smile. She held out the basket she’d set beside her towards her friend. "Here’s Tank. He’s in good health, and I cleaned and polished his shell and everything."
"Thanks, Flutters," said Rainbow cheerfully. She expected Fluttershy to say goodbye and fly off, as she usually did after returning Tank from a checkup, but instead Fluttershy hesitated on her doorstep. "Is something wrong?" Rainbow asked.
"Oh no, nothing is..." Fluttershy trailed off. "I mean..." She gave a little shiver, then finally whispered, "Uhm, maybe something is kind of a tiny bit wrong."
"Wanna come in and tell your pal Rainbow all about it?"
"If... if that’s okay with you," whispered Fluttershy.
"Sure. Come have a seat." Rainbow led Fluttershy into her house and gestured at one of the cloud couches inside.
Flutter sat gingerly on one. Rainbow sprawled on another. "Okay. So what’s the prob?"
"I... uh... I keep looking at Applejack," said Fluttershy, her cheeks flushing.
Rainbow blinked at her. "Uh. What?"
"I keep looking at Applejack," repeated Fluttershy. Her blush brightened. "At her... uh... flank."
"Oh geez." Rainbow couldn’t help but scowl. "Flutters... are you saying you like Applejack?" Rainbow wasn’t sure why that idea made her scowl, exactly, but it definitely did.
"Oh no, not at all." Fluttershy shook her head firmly. "It’s, well... it’s the apples. They’re so red. They look so juicy. I just want to bite into them..." Her eyes glazed over as she started to talk. "Just bite into them and suck all the juice from them. It would be so good, I know it would be..." She licked her lips, drool glistening on her fangs.
Fangs! Rainbow Dash jumped in her seat. Fluttershy had fangs again! "Woah there, girl. That’s kind of creepy."
"I know. I don’t want to hurt Applejack, but I just can’t help but think about biting into those apples of hers..."
"Can’t you just... I dunno, go bite some actual apples?"
Fluttershy huddled up on the couch, looking absolutely miserable. "I tried. I thought I was just being a vampire fruit bat again, but apples are just apples now. I’m still cured from that. It’s only the ones on Applejack that I want to bite."
"That’s really weird." Rainbow frowned, trying to think. How would Twilight go about dealing with this problem? She’d be all science-y and logical and stuff. What would be the logical way to test what was going on? Rainbow thought about that for a while, and then had an idea.
"Hey Flutters, is it just Applejack’s flank? What about other ponies?"
"Uhm. Staring at flanks is rude," said Fluttershy, blushing more. "I've tried to not look. I just... I don't know, I noticed Applejack's once, and I keep looking back again."
Rainbow laughed. "Hey, it’s for, like, science, so it’s not rude, okay? Here, look at my flank and tell me if you want to bite it." She stood up and turned sideways, so Fluttershy could see her cutie mark.
Fluttershy was silent for a while. Then she licked her lips again. "That... looks delicious."
"Okay. So it’s not apples, it’s just... uh... flanks." Rainbow nodded. "Okay. So... now what?"
Fluttershy licked her lips again. "So... delicious..."
"Uh, hey, Flutters? Maybe we should go talk to somepony else? Like maybe Twilight? Or, I dunno, Zecora or something?"
"We don’t need anypony," said Fluttershy, somewhat absently. She licked her lips again. Rainbow could swear that her fangs were getting longer. She took a step closer to Rainbow, her eyes trained on Rainbow’s cutie mark.
"Woah now, you’re kind of creeping me out here," said Rainbow. She tried to back up a step, but the couch was in the way and she ended up just backing herself onto it. She looked at Fluttershy, whose eyes had gone red. Her fangs were long and sharp. Saliva gleamed on them. "Flutters, please, don’t," said Rainbow, her heart pounding.
Shining was in the den, reading, when Cadance slipped in through the door. She stood for a moment, watching him. The lamp beside him lent a warm cast to his normally cool white fur. She smiled to see him, but it was a slightly nervous smile. She wasn’t sure exactly how he’d take the news.
Admittedly, they’d planned on having foals since even before they’d been married. Still, this had not exactly been part of their plans...
Eventually she realized that she couldn’t just stand there, watching him, like some kind of lovesick idiot. She cleared her throat. "Shining?"
He lifted his head and smiled at her. "Cadie!" He was always so excited to see her. Her nervousness deepened. This was going to change everything. It wouldn’t be just the two of them anymore. They would have responsibilities, greater ones even than their current royal duties. Greater than she had ever anticipated. She swallowed. "Hello, dear."
He knew immediately that something was up. "Cadance? What’s wrong?"
She took a deep breath. "Shining... I just got back from the doctor."
He froze. She could tell he was picturing a thousand different kinds of bad news. Some of them perhaps even worse than the news she actually had. She couldn’t leave him worrying, so she blurted out, "I’m having twins!"
A series of expressions crossed Shining’s face. Confusion, worry, and then suddenly a broad smile of delight. "But that’s wonderful news!"
Cadance blinked at him. He wasn’t worried? He wasn’t concerned for this huge responsibility that was about to be dumped on his head? He wasn’t terrified to find out that not only were they having a foal, they were having two?
"We’ll be able to play the best games, with three of us! Or four," he added, glancing at her. "Why, we’ll almost be able to fill out our own hoofball team, once they get old enough!"
Cadance laughed, unable to help it. This was why she loved her goofy stallion. It didn’t matter what happened, he always found a way to look on the bright side of anything.
Shining beamed at her. "And I’ll read all the best books with them, just like I used to do with Twily, and we’ll build pillow forts, and go visit museums, and..."
Cadance cleared her throat again. "You do know that babies are a lot of work, dear, don’t you? There will be diaper changing, and feeding, and we’re probably not going to sleep for months after they’re born, especially with two of them."
"I know," said Shining simply, smiling at her. "Still, once they’re walking, there are so many awesome things we’ll get to do together! I wonder if I still have my old catcher’s mitt somewhere..."
She let him ramble on, smiling at the way he had turned her own fears around. He was right, this wasn’t something to be afraid of, this was a wonderful adventure to anticipate, and they would both embark on that adventure together. "You can teach them magic," she murmurred, beginning to feel a little bit excited about the prospect, "and I can teach them to fly."
Shining’s ramble stopped and he started at her with suddenly shocked eyes. "To... fly?"
"Well, yes. Given our backgrounds, they could both be unicorns, but it’s equally likely that they’ll both be pegasi. Or one of each, or one or both might be winged unicorns. It’s very rare, but it does tend to run in families."
"Sweet Celestia, no," said Shining. If he hadn’t already been pure white, he would have blanched. "My neighbor growing up had just one baby pegasus. I babysat once. Never again. Never, never again."
Cadance cleared her throat a third time. "Well, honey, if they’re pegasi, they’re pegasi, we can’t change that."
"Hold me," said Shining, and holding him was all that Cadance could do.
"You’re sure you want to do this?" Far Gaze gave Ember a level, sober look. The purple unicorn stallion was always a little serious, but he’d broken out an extra dose of sobriety for this occasion, it seemed.
Ember smiled at him. "I am tired of being cooped up in here all day, every day. The treaty was signed more than five years ago, Far. I’m not going to be attacked in the street for being a changeling, not even a queen."
"That’s not exactly what I’m worried about, my dear," said Far, shaking his head.
"I’ll be fine," insisted Ember, and she picked up her basket in her magic’s greenish glow and headed for the door, with Far still sighing and shaking his head behind her.
Out on the cobblestone streets of Canterlot the sun was shining down brightly on yet another of Celestia’s beautiful days. The mountain air was clean and fresh, even here in the city, and Ember inhaled a lungful of it, eager to clean the still air of her home from her lungs. It felt wonderful. She took to the air, headed for the open-air market held in one of Canterlot’s many lovely public squares.
She landed gracefully near the edge of the crowded market, and as she had expected she got a few stares but no overt hostility. She hummed to herself as she walked through the crowd, cheerfully taking advantage of her great height to make her way directly to her destination. Her first stop was at a stall that sold hand-made bath salts and other fragrant concoctions. Ember gave the mare running it a friendly smile as she regarded the wares. The mare blushed brightly, which was when Ember recognized her as a former customer. Oh dear, this is going to be a bit awkward...
She picked out the things she needed and set them on the counter. She wasn’t actually sure, in this context, if she should pretend everything was normal, or if she should avoid making eye contact with the mare entirely. She settled for the former, smiling and handing over her bits while trying to act as though she and the mare taking them had never done anything that one doesn’t do in public together. She was nearly finished and ready to flee the stall, when the mare suddenly, awkwardly blurted out, "Uhm, thank you for the other day. You know. It was... uhm. Thanks!"
"Oh. Well, you’re quite welcome," said Ember, trying to be gracious. She felt her own cheeks heating and was glad that her chitin didn’t really show a blush. The mare was nearly crimson. Ember gave her an awkward little wave and took off into the air, taking the fastest possible escape.
She landed some distance away and set off on her next errand. She had only gone a few yards when she bumped into a tall stallion with a bell pepper cutie mark. She recognized him instantly. His eyes lit up when he saw her. "Ember! Hey, my wife says to thank you for..." He stopped suddenly and looked around. "Ah. That is. Uhm. She... ah..."
"Er, yes," said Ember. "You’re welcome?"
"Yeah, thanks," he said, rubbing the back of his neck and trying a little too hard to look casual.
Ember gave him a smile and moved on. She had a lot of things to do. But as she approached the next booth she couldn’t help but let out a little groan. She recognized the stallion manning it too. Today was going to be a long, long, awkward day.
Several hours later she stepped inside the door to her home and shut it firmly behind her. Far was sitting at his desk as usual, going over some of their business paperwork. He looked up when she came in, taking in her flustered expression, and no doubt noting how long it had taken her to run a few simple errands. "Rough time?" he said simply.
Ember shot him a glare that was only half-playful. "Okay, I’ll admit you were right. Next time I’ll let you go."
Pinkie Pie awoke with a start, nearly falling out of bed. She lay tangled in the covers, completely disoriented. Her vision was split between seeing her own, ordinary bed and seeing the town of Ponyville going by in a blur.
She shook her head, waking enough to realize what was going on. She was alone in the bed. Sweetcake was somewhere else. He was, in fact, running through town in a panic, and his mental cry of distress was what had woken her.
Hey, calm down! What’s got you all in a tizzy?
Help! I can’t change! I’m stuck! And it’s all wrong! Sweetcake was still running, but he slowed a bit as Pinkie mentally reassured him.
Okay? What’s all wrong? Pinkie climbed out of bed as she spoke through their telepathic bond.
Me! Sweetcake seemed to be hyperventilating. He was also nearly to Sugarcube Corner, so Pinkie decided that just going out to meet him in person would be quicker and more helpful than trying to get a coherent answer out of him. She trotted downstairs and out through the shop, which was already in chaos even this early. The sun wasn’t even up yet, but the Cakes were dashing around madly. It was Hearts and Hooves day, and even if Sweetcake hadn’t woken her with his mysterious emergency, she would have been rising shortly anyway to help with the immense load of baking required.
Outside, even in the pre-dawn gloom, it was easy enough to spot Sweetcake. He was the pink pony dashing towards her at a frantic pace. But as he drew nearer, Pinkie started to notice that something was wrong. He seemed slimmer, for one. And there was something about his mane, was it longer? He skidded to a halt in front of her, and Pinkie couldn’t help but break into startled laughter.
He was a mare. Not just a mare, he was a fashion-model-gorgeous mare, with long, lustrous hair, dark eyelashes, and wide, blue eyes. His usual pink coat had lightened to a subtle shade of pinkish cream, while his hair was more of a dusty rose than his usual candy pink. He looked, in short, as much unlike himself as it was possible to look.
"It’s not funny," he wailed. "I can’t shift anymore! Help!"
"Hee." Pinkie still couldn’t help but giggle, even though she knew he really was upset. "It’s okay. Whatever it is, I’m sure we can fix it. We have Twilight and the Princess and lots of other super-smart friends. It’ll be fine! Just tell me what happened."
"I, well... I know how important Hearts and Hooves day is, and you’re my special somepony now, and I wanted to pick some flowers for you, since you’re my special somepony, so I snuck out last night to pick them, and while I was on my way back, this happened!" He gestured at himself, and Pinkie could feel his obvious distress clearly. She reached out and patted him reassuringly, while he continued. "I thought I’d just accidentally messed up my shifting, so I tried to change, but I couldn’t! I was stuck! I’ve been trying most of the rest of the night. And I still can’t!"
Pinkie cocked her head to the side, thinking. She thought about how silly he looked, and about flowers and about silly things like pogo sticks and rubber chickens and the one time that her tongue had turned all spotted and she couldn’t even talk which had been really annoying and very silly, just like this and of course! "Poison Joke!" she said, bouncing happily. She’d figured it out!
"Huh?" Sweetcake looked confused.
Pinkie bounced again. "Poison Joke likes to make people look silly and it’s a flower so I bet that’s the flower you picked!"
"Does that mean you can fix it?"
"Yepperoni!"
Sweetcake went nearly limp with relief. "Thank Celestia."
"Follow me!" Pinkie called out, and started bouncing across town. Sweetcake trotted after her through the still-silent streets until the came to the spa. The door was firmly shut, but a light inside showed that somepony was there already.
When Pinkie knocked, Aloe opened it. "Sorry, we’re not open yet, and we’re booked solid all day long," she said, without even pausing to see who it was.
"Aww. But it’s a spa emergency!"
"Sorry Pinkie, not even for emergencies." And Aloe closed the door again, while Pinkie’s mouth was still open to reply.
She scowled at the door, then turned and marched off. "Okie, dokie, lokie" she said, with more than a little annoyance creeping into her tone. Sweetcake followed, hoping that Pinkie knew somewhere else to go to fix the Poison Joke. She led the way out of town and into the Everfree forest. Sweetcake walked with caution, wincing when he caught sight of a patch of the blue flowers that had caused all this trouble.
Soon the pair reached Zecora’s house. But Pinkie didn’t even get a chance to knock there. A note was pinned to the door, reading, "Out of town, be back next week." Apparently Zecora didn’t need to rhyme in writing. Pinkie scowled at the note. "Okie, dokie, lokie," she repeated. "So the spa is closed and Zecora is gone. Twilight has a book with the cure, though, so we can still fix this."
She headed back the way she’d come, with Sweetcake still trailing hopefully behind. The sun was nearly up now, the eastern sky light with a pre-dawn glow, when they arrived at the library. Pinkie pounded on the door. A sleepy-looking Spike opened it. "Pinkie? What’s wrong?"
"Spike! Where’s Twilight?"
"She isn’t here."
"What?!"
"She’s visiting Canterlot, she had some project that needed books we don’t have here, so she went to borrow them from the royal library. She'll be back tomorrow."
"Arrrrgh!" Pinkie stood there, huffing with frustration, as Spike went wide-eyed and stepped back from the door.
"It’s okay," said Sweetcake soothingly to her. He’d gotten over his initial shock a bit by this time. "We can fix this later, when the spa isn’t so busy, or when Zecora gets back, or when Twilight returns, right?"
***
So that’s what happened, you see? I’m not new here, and no, I won’t go out with you, I have a marefriend, and tomorrow this will all be over. And please, don’t call me baby.
refrain: noun. a regularly recurring phrase or verse especially at the end of each stanza or division of a poem or song
The Sun soared above the dead earth.
Her shadow raced over the dry ground beneath, cast by the swollen sun above. Its light stained her white feathers with a crimson hue. The air was thin, so thin that only the strength of her flight magic enabled her to stay aloft. The sky was a deep blue that bordered on indigo, a few faint stars showing despite the sun's presence.
The Sun flew on, dry canyons, crumbling hills, and flat, barren plains passing beneath the shadow of her wings. The sun, above, moved but slowly. As sunset finally drew near, she came to a mountain—the worn, broken stub of a tooth biting at the sky. She landed atop its windswept peak and nodded a greeting to the figures that waited there for her. There were five of them—six, now.
They reminisced softly together as the sun sank below the distant horizon. The stars emerged, and the moon, a scarred and ancient orb, tiny amid the vast blackness of the sky. After a time a seventh figure arrived, appearing as if from nowhere.
"Chaos." The Sun greeted him with a nod. "It is time."
"Why yes, I do believe it is," he replied with a lopsided grin.
"Even this is a joke to you?" The Sun's voice was mildly reproving.
"Why not? There's nothing left to care about, princess." The title was a mocking sneer. "You might as well let your mane down a bit and have some fun." He gave her a broad wink, then he straightened, drawing his long body upright. The others, the Sun included, arrayed themselves in a circle around him.
Chaos put his hand to his chest in a melodramatic gesture, lifted his head, and sang.
The notes that emerged screeched high and blatted low. They chimed like bells and bellowed like wild animals. They were deafening, and they were so soft they could hardly be heard. They were, in short, utterly discordant.
Even as the first jarring notes rang out, the world began to change. Mountain and sky, moon and stars, all shifted, reformed, changed their colors, sizes and shapes; becoming first one thing and then another. Strange scents filled the air, which felt hot, and cold, and other, less nameable things. Soon all was an incoherent jumble.
Only the seven were left unchanged.
One of them lifted her head. Fire, scaled in red and orange, half-spread her leathery wings and sang; clear, ringing notes floating over the chaos. A flicker of flame wreathed itself around the seven, then grew until they stood amid a sea of fire.
Earth joined her voice to Fire's, the stocky minotaur sending forth deep, rough notes that supported the brazen tones of the dragon. The flame solidified beneath their feet, becoming a churning plain of lava. Titanic bubbles roiled and burst, sending cascades of molten stone all around them.
Air beat her wings, rising up to hover above the churning lava plain, and burst into song. High, brazen notes poured from the golden gryphon's throat, and a breeze whirled itself to life. The lava began to cool. Soon the seven stood on a black stone plain, though in the distance lava still fountained up, beginning to build hills as it fell and cooled.
Then Water propped herself up on her finned forehooves, her tail curling behind her, and smooth, liquid tones came from her throat. Rain began to fall from dark clouds above. Her voice harmonized with Earth's, the two singing in perfect counterpoint, and the land beneath them heaved, rising up to form a cliff, below which the rain puddles suddenly, somehow, became a sea. Waves crashed in time to Water's song.
Last of all, Sun and Moon sang together. The clouds parted, revealing a beautiful night sky, the full moon looming close. They sang on until it set and the sky to the east lightened with the soft colors of dawn.
All seven now sang, six voices in harmony, one still in discord. All around them trees grew, flowers bloomed, and birds began singing too, heralding the dawn that now spilled its light over the first day.
When the song was ended, Chaos turned to the Sun. "What will you do this time, princess?"
The Sun reached back and undid the ribbon that held her shining pink hair. She shook it loose to fall around her shoulders. "I believe I will actually be a princess. Who knows, it might even be fun!"
The sun balanced on the edge of the world off Twilight Sparkle's left wing. The moon just touched the horizon off her right. The sky above was a soft purple, the evening star just showing, a bright diamond against the purple backdrop. A rising current of air welled up from beneath her. She would not look down.
There was a hole in the side of the mountain.
The air rising under her wings carried a strange energy with it. She latched onto that thought. I wasn't magic. I couldn't have been magic. Nopony had that much magic except for Celestia and Luna.
Oh Sun, no. Oh moon and stars, no.
She refused to look down. If she didn't look down it wouldn't be real.
The city below was wrecked. Some of the stronger buildings still stood. Anything that could burn had burned.
She wouldn't think about magic. She wouldn't look down. She would think about this odd energy that washed over her. It was passing through her, she noticed. There wasn't a lot of it, but it seemed to be the residue of... something. Yes, something she couldn't think about. Wouldn't think about.
The hole in the side of the mountain did not smoke, though some parts of the city did. Nothing there had burned, it had all been reduced to glassy slag in an instant.
A new kind of energy. That should be exciting. A wonderful discovery. A great day for science. She should be able to shout her joy at the evening sky above. She should be able to run to Celestia and tell her about it, like she always had when she'd found something exciting as a filly.
No, she wouldn't think about that either. She wouldn't think about the hole, and the ravaged city. She wouldn't look down. She would just look at the peaceful twilight sky.
The tears that had welled in her eyes began dripping down her face. The peaceful, unmoving, uncaring sky arched above her, just the color of her own coat.
The mushroom cloud had long since dissipated. Those who had been outside the blast were moving about among the ruins, doing the best they could to help the wounded. Near the center of the blast there were no wounded, only ash and slag.
Twilight tried to reach out, but she couldn't feel the sun, not the way she'd felt it when Celestia... not the way she'd felt it when she'd held the power of all the alicorns. She couldn't feel the moon either. She fumbled around with her magic, trying to get some kind of handle on them, trying to find some way to move them. Time, in some unknown, unmarked amount, passed while she tried, but there was nothing, no way for her to grasp the sun.
Finally she stopped trying. It wasn't her sun, of course. It was Celestia's sun. Twilight looked away from it, but that only brought Luna's moon into her view. They couldn't be gone. It wasn't real. She wouldn't look at any of it, and it wouldn't be real.
Twilight closed her eyes.
The sun balanced on the edge of the world off Twilight Sparkle's left wing. The moon just touched the horizon off her right. The sky above was a soft purple, the evening star just showing, a bright diamond against the purple backdrop.
Celestia lifted her hoof and knocked. The door before her looked ordinary. The house looked ordinary. The small purple filly who opened the door also looked ordinary. "Hello there," said Celestia, looking down at the curious little face. "You must be Twilight Sparkle. I'm Princess Celestia. May I come in?"
"Did you come to visit Mom and Dad?"
"Actually, I came to visit you."
"You did?" The filly seemed to perk up at that. "Did you know it's my birthday?"
"I did not, no,"
"It is! We're going to have ice cream!"
"That sounds nice."
"You can have some too, come on!"
Celestia ducked slightly and stepped inside. The house was the sort of house that most middle class ponies in Canterlot lived in. A colt with a white coat and a blue mane sat curled on a cushion on the living room, levitating a book. He was turned away from Celestia, and he seemed engrossed in what he was reading.
"That's my brother. He was in an accident, so all he does is sit and read now. It's nice, I know he enjoys reading. Books are wonderful." Twilight beamed at Celestia.
"Yes, they are." She smiled carefully back.
The pair continued into the dining room. A stallion with a blue coat was setting plates out on the table. "Daddy! It's my birthday today!" shouted Twilight happily.
"Another birthday? Do we really..." The stallion stopped when Twilight scowled at him. "Of course, it's your birthday. Ice cream for dinner, right?"
"Right!"
The stallion trotted into the kitchen. Looking after him, Celestia saw a gray mare with a purple mane. She had dark circles under her eyes. "Honey," said the stallion, "it's Twilight's birthday today. And we have a guest for dinner."
"...birthday?" The mare looked up, looking a little dazed. "Oh, yes, of course. I'll get out the ice cream."
"Do you have ice cream for dinner often, Twilight?" asked Celestia.
Twilight giggled. "Only on my birthday!"
"I see. Would you like to show me the rest of your home?"
"Twilight, dearest," broke in her mother, "maybe you could pick out what flavor of ice cream you want, while your father shows the princess around?"
"Okay!" Twilight bounced a bit on her hooves, apparently delighted. Celestia noted that the freezer seemed to be entirely full of ice cream. She walked beside the stallion as he led the way out of the dining room and up a flight of stairs. Books were piled here and there on the stairs. At the top he paused, turning to Celestia with a look of desperate hope on his face.
"Princess... please help us. She's a monster. She can-"
"You shouldn't say that." The voice behind them was high, but dark with menace. "Why did you say that? I don't want you to be my daddy anymore!" The little unicorn's expression was twisted with hurt and anger. One of the books floated up in front of her father, gasped in a magical field so strong it was almost white. It flipped open to an illustration of a dragon breathing fire. Suddenly the stallion vanished, and the illustration held a pony, twisted with pain, in the fire's path.
"Twilight... please, don't do this." Her mother's voice from the bottom of the stairs was shaky. "Please. Bring your father back. We'll give you ice cream every day, or anything else you want, I promise."
"I'm not bringing him back! He called me a monster!"
"Twilight, we love you, really we do, but you can't do these things. Please!"
"I can! I will! You'll see!" Her horn glowed again, and Celestia watched as Twilight's magic turned her mother into a potted plant. Then the little filly rounded on the towering alicorn. "Grownups are all the same, they all want to tell me what to do!" Her horn blazed, and her eyes began to glow. "I hate it! I hate everything! I want it all to go away!" Her magic raced out, a ring of white fire that left empty space as it expanded.
Twilight and Celestia were left standing alone in a blank nothingness.
"You're going to tell me what to do now, I know you are."
"No." Celestia shook her head. "I want to teach you what you can do."
"I can do anything."
"Perhaps. You have a very special gift. If you learn how to use it, you can make the world a wonderful place, Twilight. Let me teach you."
"What can you teach me? I know everything in all the books."
"There are some things that cannot be learned from, my little pony. Like how to make friends who love and care about you. Would you like to have friends?"
"I... I don't need friends. I don't need anypony!"
"Perhaps not." Celestia's smile was gentle and serene. "Yet I've found that friends are wonderful to have. I would like to be your friend, Twilight."
"I... you? You would?"
"Yes."
The little filly's eyes narrowed. "You just want to make me do things for you."
"No. I have my own great magic, little one."
"And do you promise to never just tell me what to do?"
"I may ask, but I will never simply tell you what to do."
The little filly looked up at the giant alicorn. For a long time she said nothing. Then she finally stepped close and leaned against Celestia's legs.
