//------------------------------// // Chapter 6 // Story: My Little Pony: Lights and Shadows - Part II // by OmegaTale //------------------------------// One day until the Grand Summit… “Two hours until the train leaves, Twilight.” Starfall reminded her as she continued to read. “Thank you.” She replied, her eyes remaining on the text. She wrote down a few notes with her magic, turning the page. “Are you two all ready to go?” Starlight placed one last book in her saddlebag and nodded. “All ready here.” “I am as well.” Starfall replied, still beside the princess. Twilight finished up the last line and closed the book, placing her notes page in a separate one and storing it in her own saddlebag. “Good, well, looks like we’re ahead of schedule.” Lifting her bag up onto her back, Starlight trotted to the door. “I’ll be back in a bit, I’m going to go check on Trixie.” “Alright, but don’t be late.” Twilight said for precaution. “Don’t worry, I’ll be here.” Starlight called back as she pranced down the hall. Giving herself the chance to take a breather, Twilight turned to her royal guard. “Did you speak to the girls about their plans?” Starfall nodded. “They are all ready to go and have made preparations to fulfill their jobs here in Ponyville.” “Good, good.” Twilight responded. Taking a seat, she looked over at him, who was now paging through a book he had pulled off of the shelf. “Starfall?” He looked up from the book upon hearing his name. “Do you think the summit will succeed in restoring the peace?” Putting the book back onto the shelf, the pegasus walked over to her. “I believe so. It won’t be easy, but I have a feeling you and the other princesses will find a way.” Twilight smiled, happy to hear his response. “Do you know how many griffons and dragons will be attending?” “I had a word with Princess Celestia regarding security,” Starfall elaborated. “King Gale refused to say how many griffons he was bringing, but Dragon Lord Ember and Thorax both complied. There will be around seventy dragons and changelings, not to mention fifty or so ponies.” “How many royal guards have been tasked to protecting the summit?” Twilight asked. “Princess Celestia has two-hundred royal guards there now.” Starfall adjusted his wings after shuffling them about on his back. “And fifty more will be arriving with her and Princess Luna.” Twilight felt nervous already. This summit was going to be the largest meeting of world leaders in recorded history. The numerous attacks left the nations divided and angry, but what didn’t make sense was the simultaneous order of the attacks themselves. Ember claimed that she had not ordered the raids, King Gale denied any order given for the griffons to invade the Dragon Lands, and both Celestia and Luna made it clear that whatever unicorn attacked Griffonstone did so on their own accord. Equestria, the Crystal Empire, the Dragons, the Griffon Kingdom, and the Changeling Kingdom were all going to be there, and they were going to have to discover the truth for themselves. Twilight didn’t even want to think about what would happen should they fail. “It’s going to be alright, Twilight.” Starfall tried assuring her. “We’ll figure this out and resolve it in no time.” Twilight gave him a nod, taking in a deep breath. “You’re right, I know we will.” Fluttershy walked into her living room holding a tray of tea cups. Pinkie, Rainbow, Applejack, Rarity, and Spike all sat, immersed in conversation about the summit. Fluttershy offered them each a cup and sat the tray down on the table when everypony got one. “All I’m saying is that it’s going to be dangerous.” Rainbow warned them, punching at the air with her hoof. “We’ve got to be ready in case anyone tries to sucker punch us!” “The griffons and dragons wouldn’t start a fight at the summit, would they?” Fluttershy asked. Rainbow didn’t look too sure about that. “Who knows; I hear this King Gale guy is a real jerk to ponies. You never know if he’ll just up and attack us when we get there!” “Not if we turn it to a party!” Pinkie offered excitedly. “What better way to make friends than by throwing a big party!?” Spike groaned at hearing the pink pony suggest it again. “Come on Pinkie, we already told you like a hundred times; this summit is gonna be real serious, so it can’t be a party.” Pinkie looked like a few gears in her head just sprang loose. “What is with everypony and hating parties!? First the princesses’ visit and now this!?” She grabbed hold of Rainbow and shook her wildly. “WHAT IS HAPPENING TO US!?” “Chill out Pinkie!” Rainbow snapped, releasing herself from the mare’s grasp. “We can throw a party AFTER we figure out how to put an end to this mess!” Spike shook his head, but then took notice to how quiet two particular ponies were being. “Applejack? Rarity?” he said, grabbing their attention. “Are you two alright? You’ve barely said a thing since we got here.” AJ and Rarity looked out-of-sorts. They had been quiet for the past few days, and looked very tired. Good thing they both finished what they had to in Ponyville before this happened, their work would have suffered along with their expressions. “Nah, we’re fine and dandy.” AJ answered the dragon, managing a smile. “Yes, quite.” Rarity added. “Sleep has just been eluding us for the past few nights.” AJ nodded. “Yeah, probably just worry’n about the summit is all.” “Oooh, that reminds me,” Fluttershy said, just remembering a dilemma she was having. “You all remembered to pack, right? I know spring is almost here, but it’s still very cold out, especially at night.” “Horseshoe Bay can get pretty cold,” Rainbow admitted. “You may want to pack warmer clothes, if you’re taking anything that is. All I plan on bringing is this awesome crystal.” Rainbow took out a red crystal that was hexagon shaped (six-point shape). Seeing the stone caught everypony’s attention in an instant. “Rainbow?” Rarity asked. “Where did you get that?” The blue pegasus tossed her crystal up in the air and caught it, spinning it on her hoof. “Scootaloo gave it to me just the other day,” she replied, oblivious to the numerous eyes now glued to her crystal. “Said it was a gift from an ‘old friend’ of mine, pretty sweet, huh?” Applejack was the first to take her own crystal out from under her hat. “Apple Bloom said this one was from an ‘old friend’ too.” Pinkie and Fluttershy both took out crystals of their own. Pinkie’s was a blue, octagonal (eight-point shape) crystal and Fluttershy’s was a pink, diamond shaped one. Rarity was last to take out her crystal, which pained her to look at because of what she had done a few days before. “Wait,” Rainbow said, looking around at each of them. “You all got one?” Rarity nodded. “Sweetie Belle gave it to me.” “All three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders gave me mine.” Pinkie answered. “Me too.” Fluttershy added. There were a few silent moments in between the ponies as they processed this. Someone just decided to give them all rare, valuable crystals? Even if they claimed to be a friend, why were they so shy as to ask the CMCs to deliver them? “Awww….” Spike whined. “I didn’t get one….” Rainbow was the first to push past the strangeness of the gifts. “I guess somepony just really admires us and what we’ve done for Equestria!” she concluded, chuckling as she looked at the baby dragon. “Hehe, no offense.” Spike huffed, snorting out a small cloud of smoke from his nostrils and crossing his arms. “Well, I really like my crystal.” Fluttershy admitted. “It’s pretty and matches my Cutie Mark.” “Yeah, mine too!” Rainbow said happily. “Teeheehee!” Pinkie squealed, full of excitement. “So does mine!” Applejack and Rarity stayed quiet as their friends reveled in their admiration of the crystals. Applejack’s crystal matched her fur and Rarity’s matched her mane, but they stayed silent for a different reason. When Applejack looked into hers, the reflection she saw made her think of Apple Bloom and the lie. Rarity saw her crystal as a reminder of her own mistake too. The two mares sat silently as the three others continued their rant of excitement. “I wonder who this mystery pony is!” Pinkie gasped, her eyes sparkling with anticipation. “I could throw them the bestest party in all of Ponyville! A thankyousomuchforgivingustheseamazinggifts party!!!” “How about we ask Cutie Mark Crusaders to introduce us to them?” Fluttershy offered, wanting to meet this unknown pony too. “They may be nervous about coming to meet us, so why don’t we try and meet them instead?” Rainbow flipped in the air several times, stopping to raise her hooves high in the air. “That sounds awesome! We should totally try!” The cottage door opened and Shadow walked in, pausing for a moment when he saw how many ponies were inside. “Oh….wow, hey everypony.” “Howdy there Shadow, everythin’ alright at the castle?” Applejack asked. Shadow gave a happy nod. “Twilight and the others are all ready to go, and the train leaves in about a couple hours.” First catching glimpse of Applejack’s crystal, Shadow then came to notice all five of them. Fluttershy’s, Pinkie’s, and Rainbow’s looked like regular, ordinary crystals, but Applejack’s and Rarity’s were something else entirely. It puzzled the shadow pony to look at them, their glows shining brightly in his golden eyes. “Are you okay, Shadow?” Pinkie asked, snapping Shadow out from his trance on the two stones to look at the pink pony. He just smiled at her and then returned his gaze to the crystals. “Yeah, sorry. Those sure are cool looking gemstones.” Apple Bloom examined the brief instructions on Zecora’s potion book. “Hmm…..says here we need to combine all five ingredients at the same time in a bowl or somethin’.” She squinted as some of the writing was difficult to read. “Then a unicorn, that’s you Sweetie Belle, uses their magic to mix it all up until it’s all glowy-like.” “Simple enough.” Scootaloo said, shrugging her shoulders. She reached down and picked up the ingredient she went out to get. “Got the tuft of storm cloud, wasn’t too hard to get; I know a pony.” Sweetie used her magic to lift up her ingredient. “I got a piece of platinum ore from Rarity’s secret supply stash.” Scootaloo looked over at Sweetie with a tilted head. “Rarity has a….what now?” Apple Bloom then lifted up her own ingredient. “And ah’ve got a night rose from the Everfree Forest.” She said, the dim, blue flower sitting carefully on her hoof. She re-read over the ingredients to see what they needed. “So that’s one tuft of storm cloud, a piece of platinum ore, and a night rose. We still need dragon’s breath, which we can get from Spike, and a….” she trailed off as she read the name. Sweetie looked at Apple Bloom with an inquisitive expression. “What is it? What’s the last ingredient?” “Umm….” The earth pony replied, having no idea what it was. “A-ancient runic potion…?” “Ancient what?” Scootaloo asked. “What in tarnation is an ancient runic potion?” Apple Bloom said, reading back over it again. Sweetie shrugged her shoulders, coming up with a suggestion. “Why don’t we ask Twilight if she knows?” “Weren’t ya listenin’ Sweetie Belle?” Apple Bloom asked. “Twilight is super busy.” “Well, how about Starlight?” Sweetie offered in response. “I just saw her walking around Ponyville a minute ago, so she can’t be too busy.” Scootaloo nodded. “Come to think of it, I saw her too.” “So let’s just go ask her to make one for us.” Sweetie concluded. They both had a point; Starlight Glimmer, as stated before, was really good with potions, maybe she could help them out. “Alright, then let’s go get a move on!” “Everypony ready?” Twilight asked, all of her friends waiting in the foyer of the castle. “Wait, where’s Starlight?” “We still have a half-hour before the train departs,” Starfall responded. “I’ll go find her.” “Okay, just hurry back.” The princess replied, watching her royal guard trot out the main door. Spike had just arrived a couple minutes ago and waited with everypony else, helping Rarity with her luggage, as usual. He thought it was strange that the Cutie Mark Crusaders had asked him to breathe his fire breath into a jar, but they bribed him with an emerald to keep it between them, so he wasn’t arguing. Rainbow and Pinkie bounced a ball back and forth with their heads as they performed tricks in an epic duel of skills. Applejack and Rarity were both having their spirits lifted by Fluttershy, who made them both some more of her herbal tea. Twilight sat patiently now, waiting for her faithful guard to return with Starlight. What could be taking her so long? She dismissed the worry, not doubting Starfall for a moment. Lifting a book from out her saddlebag, she opened it to the first page. The drawing of a draconequus was waiting for her as it opened. “Twilight!” The alicorn gave a short shriek in response, slamming the book shut fast. All heads in the room turned to her as she eyes them with an innocent grin on her face. Opening the book back up, Discord was waiting, lying on his back with his arms tucked behind his head. “Well that wasn’t very princess-like of you.” He teased her. Twilight chuckled at her own surprise, remembering when she had done almost the exact same thing, by accident, to Moon Dancer at the Canterlot Library. “What can I do for you, Discord?” “Are you and the girls gearing up to go on a little trip?” he asked, his eyes wide with wonder. “Can I come too?” The princess knew that Discord was aware of the summit, and so she saw right past his little act. “It’s not just some trip, and you know that.” Discord’s face went blank in boredom and he disappeared from the page, appearing on top of Twilight, balancing himself on her horn. “You’re no fun when you’re serious, you know that?” “You can come along if you really want to,” Twilight said begrudgingly. “But this is a VERY important gathering of leaders, so no goofing off, okay?” Discord bowed his head, his arms held out in courtesy. “Your wish is my command, princess.” “You want me to make a runic potion?” Starlight asked the three fillies, surprised that they even knew there was such thing as one. “Ancient runic potion to be exact.” Sweetie tacked on, all three of them with big smiles on their faces. Starlight looked down at them, suspicious of their intentions. “And just what do the three of you plan on doing with such a powerful potion?” “We’re making a welcome home gift basket for Zecora when she comes back!” Apple Bloom said, trying to play on the unicorn’s sympathy. “Yeah!” Scootaloo added, seeing what Apple Bloom was getting on. “And we know just how much she loves potions.” “For Zecora, huh?” Starlight asked, remembering how much the three fillies loved being around the mysterious zebra. “Alright, well, for her I guess I can make you one.” Whirling her horn in a circle, a trail of magic stayed put in the air until the circle was complete. Starlight then lowered her horn to the ground and concentrated on the required spells. This was a very advanced spell combination; one wrong move would ruin the potion completely. Using her magic separately to grab a bottle out from her saddlebag, the unicorn lifted her head, a glowing point on the ground where her horn was touching. Casting a sealing spell over the circle in the air, she lowered it to the ground and an array of runes appeared instantaneously, all glowing a ghostly blue color. Placing the bottle at the center of the glowing circle, Starlight broke the sealing spell and the runes all converged on it, filling the glass bottle with a mixture that was the same, creepy blue color as the markings. Corking the potion, Starlight picked it up, wiping away some sweat on her forehead. “Whew….still got it.” She said, complimenting herself. Turning back to the three fillies, who found the spells to be quite the light show, Starlight gave them one last look of caution. “Now, you three know that I’m trusting you with a very powerful potion, right? And you’re going to give it to Zecora when she comes back, not use it?” “Eeyup!” Apple Bloom replied anxiously, her eyes locked onto the potion like her two friends. “Alright then….” Starlight hesitated, offering it out to them. “Hey Starlight!” Starfall called from a few dozen yards away. “Everypony is on their way to the station, the train leaves in ten minutes!” Apple Bloom snatched the potion from Starlight and the three, young fillies took off towards Sweet Apple Acres. Starlight hesitated again, hoping she didn’t just make a huge mistake. Turning to Starfall, she said, “Alright! I’m coming!” Having borrowed one of the big, iron bowls from the Apple family kitchen, the Cutie Mark Crusaders all stood around it, having their ingredients ready. The clubhouse door was locked and the window shutters were down; the three were now in the correct environment to cast the spell. “Alright, are y’all ready?” Apple Bloom asked, receiving confident nods from both her companions. All three tossed their items into the bowl. Apple Bloom grabbed the runic potion and Scootaloo grabbed the bottle of dragon’s breath as Sweetie stood ready to use her magic. They nodded at once and poured the two final ingredients in. As soon as they did, Sweetie used her magic to begin mixing the bowl. The storm cloud dissipated into the runic potion in seconds, and the night rose disintegrated soon after. The dragon’s breath turned the potion from blue to green, and the platinum ore began to glow. After another few moments, the ore melded into the mixture and it turned a metallic silver color for a split second, returning to the bright green. A slight breeze in the clubhouse began spiraling about the bowl, lifting the manes and tails of the three fillies as it grew stronger. By instruction, Sweetie stopped using her magic, the potion now churning itself. “Umm….Apple Bloom?” Scootaloo asked, a little scared. “Is this supposed to be happening?” Apple Bloom read ahead on the potion book to see what they had to do. “Now we wait until the potion turns blue again!” she raised her voice, the sound of the wind in the room growing louder. “Then all we have to do is say her name!” “Are you sure this is going to work!?” Sweetie asked with one eye shut in the harsh wind. The potion flickered blue, but reverted back to green. All three fillies watched carefully and waited for the right moment. It flickered again, this time more than once. The powerful wind only grew stronger as the sound of the vortex was all the ponies could hear. The potion flashed so bright that the entire room went blue, the mixture glowing a sapphire blue color that was breathtaking. All three fillies spoke at once. “ZECORA!!!” The blue glow enveloped the entire tree-house and a flash of light shattered the windows open and blasted the door from off its hinges. The bright glow remained for a few moments or so, but when it dimmed down and the lighting in the clubhouse returned to normal….the three little ponies were gone. “All aboard!” the conductor yelled. A strange light had flashed outside of Ponyville a few moments ago, but the ponies disregarded it as they were on a tight schedule. Starfall and Starlight walked up onto the platform just as everypony boarded the train. Twilight was more than relieved to see them. “Oh, good.” She said, letting out her deep breath. “I was afraid you two wouldn’t make it.” “Sorry about that,” Starlight replied, a little out of breath from running full gallop all the way to the station. “Got side-tracked and kinda lost track of the time.” Starfall walked to the door. “After you, ladies.” Both Twilight and Starlight gave him a smile and boarded the train. He followed, being the last one on. The conductor hopped on and closed the door behind him. With a plume of smoke rising high into the air and the loud whistle sounding off, the train began its journey east towards the Celestial Sea.