Prologue
A young woman stood in front of a mirror. She had red hair with yellow stripes that looked not unlike strips of bacon. She wore a long black cloak with a hood. At her side was a backpack and pouch for spell components. She stared into the mirror. “I’ll show you.” she whispered, “I’ll be back and I will show you, Celestia, that I am the only one that can succeed you.” Her voice and confidence rose as she stepped into the mirror showing it to be a portal. “I’ll show you…” her sentence ended there as the vanished into the mirror.
Chapter 1: The Beginning of something kept
The festivities of Twilight's, full name Twilight Sparkle, coronation carried throughout the day and into the early night. Most of the time, however, Twilight was being introduced to a mayor, a governor, a sheriff or some other elected or appointed official governing the areas of Mystica, in addition to the established nobility, gentry and the most prominent business people (ironically Filthy Rich was not among them). She also had to meet with the High Druid and other top religious figures, (shocking, but not surprising, to her was the fact most were part of the larger Apple clan… It’s like the Apples are race onto themselves) she was also introduced to the members of the Mystican Senate, Parliament and House and the chief justices, in addition to the generals, admirals and other top officers of the ESM, along with the rulers and representatives of the allies, tributaries and protectorates of Mystica, of the former lots they were mostly affirming their fidelity and loyalty to the three established princesses and new princess. Those from other nations were mostly there to affirm and solidify the alliances and such treaties that were already established to make sure that there no unexpected changes with the introduction of Twilight as a new princess of the nation. After hours, which felt like years to Twilight, and Twilight wasn’t even halfway through meeting all of the people, Celestia beckoned all of the officials to the main dancing hall of the castle.
Twilight gave a sigh as she was of the last to leave, she meandered to in direction of the hall aimlessly and without focus, until she bumped into something, or rather someone. As she fell, but before she could make contact with the ground, she noticed the person she bumped into taking her hand and pulling her back up. “Gotcha,” he said. Twilight then looked at him, the blue hair, the cornflower eyes, the heater shield aura mark on the breastplate, at his left side was sheathed court sword. As Twilight started to process all this, “We got to stop bumping into each other like this.” he joked as Twilight regained her full balance.
“Flash!” Twilight then dove at Flash and hugged him.”It’s so good to see you again.” she finished as she rubbed his cheek with her’s while her eyes were closed and a small but authentic smile was on her face.
Flash returned the embrace, “You too, Twilight… um sorry, I mean yo…” Flash started but stopped and was fumbling as he recalled that Twilight was also a princess now, however, what really stopped him was the exhausted sigh he heard from Twilight and the slight shake of her body against him.
“Please don’t call me ‘princess’, it's been ‘Princess Twilight met SoandSo from Hereteryonder’ for the better part of the day,” Twilight complained.
“Actually Senator Soandso is from Yonderthere,” Flash cut in as if he was trying to make a joke. Twilight only ended the embrace and gave him a slight scowl. “Sorry, too soon?” Twilight nodded. “Alright, Twilight, I won’t call you princess until we arrive at the hall.” He said as he offered his right arm as to escort Twilight the rest of the way.
“How many people do I have to meet and why so soon?” Twilight asked in a groan as she reluctantly accepted the offered arm.
“Well I know five young women and a dragon that might help that dour mode,” Flash said as he more or less guided Twilight to where a small group of familiar faces was. One of the young woman's hair was like a rainbow and that was let down, with cerise eyes. Over her ears she wore a sort of crown that looked like a set of leaves, her gown was a rainbow, not unlike her hair, around her neck was a golden necklace with a pendant that looked like a cluster of grapes. Her shoes were golden in color and had ankle straps, around her neck was a golden necklace with a large ruby shaped like a stylized lightning bolt, the Element of Loyalty. Overall, she looked like she was part of Pre-Hearth's Warming Skyborn nobility. This was Rainbow Dash, normally her hair was done in a high ponytail with a hairpin with a stylized cloud and tri-colored rainbow of red, yellow and blue and wore black sock-like boats that went above her knees, with a dull purple shirt and light a dull blue shirt with white and gold wing styled sleeves. On her waist, usually, was a quiver with a bow and from her ankles came ethereal wing.
The closest woman to her had had long deep-magenta hair, this was Rarity, she had azure eyes, and she was dressed in a long light purple regal gown with small gems studded into it with golden trims in various folds in the lower part of the gown, she also had a more a very showy tiara with three sapphires cut as kites in the front with other gems going around the tiara, she also had a purple shawl and around her neck was a golden necklace with a large fluorine cut in a kite, the Element of Generosity. Normally she wore a long alabaster gown with some pinkish-purple with a long slightly transparent pinkish red shall going around her back and hanging from her elbows and a similar but simpler tiara with just the three sapphires.
The next woman was a blonde woman, named Applejack, whose hair was done in a triple braid and topped with a style Stetson on her head. She wore green stylized riding gloves, with green stylized riding boots, her gown was green with a brown leather corset-vest that covered most of her chest, and like Rainbow Dash, her arms were, for the most part, exposed. Like Rarity and Rainbow Dash, she also had a golden necklace with a gem, her gem was a spessartite garnet and shaped to look like a stylized apple, the Element of Honesty. Normally she had her done in low ponytail dressed in brown pants, brown boots, a red leather jacket with some pieces of armor most notably pauldrons with stylized apples, brown gloves, a scabbard with a long sword in it.
The next woman was shorter than all the others with bouncing cotton pink hair, blue eyes, this was Pinkie Pie and she had a small hat that had a light blue trim with a small pink bow on it. On her hands were small pink gloves, her gown, itself, was set up with two shades of pink, white and blue, around her waist the dress was striped blue and white like a candy cane. In the white area of the skirt of the dress, there were candy corns and lollipops embroidered on it. Like the previous three, she had a golden necklace with but in her, the gem was an apatite shaped like a party balloon, the Element of Laughter. Normally she wore a bear legged leotard with blue cruelly toed shoes a pink jester coat and a dark pink jester’s hat with three balloons, one was yellow and two were blue.
The last woman in the room also had pink hair like, Pinkie Pie, but her hair was light pink, she was Fluttershy and she wore a gown that was green along the side from her waist down, but the main gown was a light yellow, in the gown, were embroiled vines and small leaves, her dress also had a stylized blue butterfly on her chest and one as a hairpin. Like the rest, she wore a golden necklace, but her gem was a kunzite shaped like a butterfly. She was also barefoot. Normally she was dressed in a green, yellow and light blue dress with a stylized pink butterfly as a brooch for her hood.
Among them was a purple-scaled bipedal reptile with green spines along his back he was about as tall as a twelve-year-old boy, this was Spike the dragon, he was in a tuxedo with a ruby red tie and a sapphire blue vest. “Your grace, may I present to you, your ladies-in-waiting.” Flash said as he gestured to the group, and after getting an ‘hmhm’ from Spike, “and your dragon.”
“W’at about us?” came a soft country drawl, and everyone turned to see that there were three other people in the room. These three were girls about a decade younger than the others. One had spoken was Apple Bloom, Applejack’s little sister, she had bright amaranth red hair with a bright crimson bow in her hair, and gamboge orange eyes, she was in a leather brown dress with a green colored corset-vest that while would cover most of her chest, left her arms exposed save for what was covered by a set of stylized forge gloves and a ceremonial forge apron. All that with a set of stylized riding boots. Normally she would wear a yellow shirt with blue overalls, brown working boots and plain brown forge apron, and armored gloves.
The closer of the two girls next to her had mulberry hair with grayish rose streaks and light green eyes. This was Sweetie Belle and Rarity’s sister. Sweetie was dressed in a charming light charcoal long regal looking dress, similar to the one Rarity was wearing but with snowy white trim and a series of folds. She also wore a tiara with a light green focus gem cut in a pentagon. Normally she would wear a simple light pink and off-white dress a pair of pink dress shoes.
The last person in the room had cerise hair with grayish purple eyes, this was Scootaloo. She was currently wearing a ceremonial red gi, but normally she would be in a pair of blue pants with purple trim that seemed to merge with a sleeveless dull purple top with connected by straps in the front, with orange trim in the front and blue trim the same shade as the pants appearing to connect the two. On her feet were a pair of brown athlete shows with orange wings embroidered on the side, on her hands were purple fingerless gloves with two golden bands on each with dull brown shoulder pads with orange feathers cover her shoulders.
“Correction, your entourage,” Flash joked as he acknowledged the three. “If you ladies would permit me, I would be honored to escort you all to the ball,” Flash said with a slight bow a grin on his face.
“Uh, our own escort, so where do I apply for the position of lady-in-waiting?” Rarity asked with her eyes dilated pleadingly.
“I will think about it… I just hope, it’s not more of the same I’ve been experiencing today since our song ended,” Twilight said with a sigh of exhaustion as they all head out.
Almost out of nowhere, as they all walked down the hallway, Rarity started singing, “A true, true friend helps a friend in need.”
Rainbow Dash continued, “A friend will be there to help them see.”
Pinkie Pie the carried on the song, “A true, true friend helps a friend in need.”
“To see the light!” Applejack joined in the song.
“That shines!” Fluttershy added.
“From a true, true friend!” the five sang together, which brought a much-needed smile on Twilight’s face.
“Oh, you girls are the best,” Twilight then pulled the five into a group hug and after a few hearty laughs, they renewed their travel.
As they walked they traveled by and didn’t notice five women in the service staff clothes with a cart of supplies, one was an Earthborn with cerise eyes, mulberry hair and was cut short with small bangs all around, with raspberry streaks. Also, her hair was a hair clip that looked like a flaring yellow sun and seemed to the one in command. Another in the group was an Earthborn, she had rose hair, with light rose and aquamarine streaks, that was done in a ponytail with a hairpin that looked like three berries on a leaf. She had indigo eyes and just seemed to exude a level of happiness that would give Pinkie a run for her money. There were also two Skyborns, one had dark cornflower blue hair with cerulean and arctic blue streaks, her hair was combed up and back not unlike a mullet. She also had gamboge orange eyes, on her ears were earrings that were stylized yellow lightning bolts. The other Skyborn had opalish gray hair with arctic bluish gray streaks done in two ponytails to the sides of her head. She wore glasses over her orchid eyes and in her hair was hair clip that looked like a set of lips. The final member of the group was a Magicborn, she had shoulder length pistachio green hair with pale green and bright lime streaks, over her ears were a set of earphones with an image of a slice of lemon tart with a gem embedded on both sides, her eyes were closed and she was bobbing her head to the music she was playing, until the mulberry haired Earthborn took them off, causing the Magicborn to open and reveal her amber eyes and causing her to pout, “Lemon, we’re on the job. You can listen to your music later, dearie.” As Twilight et al passed the corner, the mulberry haired Earthborn gave the Magicborn back her headset and turned to the cart, “The coast is clear milady.”
As all the others stopped their cleaning another woman emerged from the chart, she was a Magicborn. She wore a royal purple top which went below her hips, with a yellow skirt, a large orange sash went around her waist with a golden sun with the center vacant as some sort of buckle for the sash on her left side. Part of her top was black leather that went over her shoulders and covered her back and seemed to come back to the front around her navel, there was a series of studs in the leather at her shoulder. That all said her arms and legs were mostly bare save for the black heeled shoes on her feet. On her head was a tiara that was shaped to look like the sun-shaped buckle in the front with a gem that looked like a red and yellow yin-yang but there was no red dot in the yellow and not yellow dot in the red. She had cyan eyes and her hair was sunset red with yellow stripes that made her hair looked not unlike strips of bacon, “Excellent call, Sunny Flare.”
“This is still very risky, security is high will all the dignitaries, government officials, ” the Skyborn with the ponytails and glasses informed.
“Duly noted, Sugarcoat,” the Magicborn with red and yellow hair said with a groan. “But Phase 2 is now complete. Now to phase 3.”
After about twenty minutes, Twilight et al arrived at the ballroom and after their arrival was announced, Twilight was once again swarmed by more of the people that she had spent the day meeting. This forced Twilight’s friends to go ahead without her, not that they were going to wait bored, Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo ran to Princess Luna and tackled her in a group embrace, not that Luna minded it, little sisters have to stick together. Applejack was whisked away off her feet by a familiar Wonderbolt, Soarin, just as the announcing ended. Fluttershy spotted a familiar Earthborn man with green hair done in deadlock, with a golden colored leather armored vest, it was Sandalwood. The Skyborn druid elected to float over to her friend. Rainbow Dash also disembarked when she saw someone she never expected, nor was happy about; a harpy, granted she was with a small group of harpies, but she stood out to Rainbow Dash with her gamboge brown wings, gold talons. She also had bright amber eyes and white feather-like hair, some of it going over her face with pink edges. Pinkie and Rarity also left, Rarity was pulled to the side by a couple of the landed gentry of Chantalot most likely to discuss a business deal. As for Pinkie… well, a ball is a party and parties are Pinkie’s thing. Flash and Spike, however, simply stepped to the side but remained close to Twilight.
Fortunately for Twilight, there were fewer people that she had to meet than she expected and their introductions were shorter than before, but it was about an hour before she had met everyone. Just as the Sheriff of Dodgejuction left, Twilight turned to the last of the officials only to see, “Mom, Dad? Your government officials?” Twilight asked as she saw a woman old enough to her mother. The older woman had arctic blue eyes with hair appeared to be stripped with moderate purple and white, she wore a simple sleeveless black dress and a set of pearls, on her dress was a pin with three five-pointed stars. Next to the woman was a man in a simple black tuxedo with a red bow tie, with a lapel pin that was two crescent moons, one smaller in the other and inside the space of the larger one. He had amber eyes and dark blue hair. The two were Twilight’s parents, Twilight Velvet, often just called Velvet so not to be confused with her daughter and Night Light.
“Don’t you remember, your father is the Royal Astrophysicist, that’s low-level nobility,” Twilight Velvet informed as she patted Twilight on the head motherly, causing her daughter to pout with her cheeks puffed out.
“Velvet-cake, we should really tone the embarrassing of Sparkle down, this is her big day,” Night Light playfully scolded his wife, making Velvet pout with her cheeks puffed out. “Besides I descend of a knighted page that grew up in the court of both Princesses before Nightmare Moon. Technically speaking I am of the longest line of nobles in Mystica.” Night Light chuckled. Turning back to Twilight, “You cannot imagine how proud your mother and I are of you,” he said as he embraced his daughter. “My little princess,” he whispered into Twilight’s ear.
“Aw, Daddy,” Twilight teared up as she returned the hug.
After a minute the two ended the hug, “Well, your mother and I got to mingle as per protocol, maybe I get them to start a waltz,” Night Light joked before he turned to Flash. “I am trusting you with her safety tonight.”
“She can handle whatever is thrown at her, she has thus far, but I will guard her with my life,” Flash replied with a ridged but clearly resolute face. Night Light and Twilight Velvet smiled as they left, assured with their daughter’s safety.
With her parents gone, Twilight looked to Flash, an infatuated school girl’s blush growing on her face, like she was a freshman girl having a crush on a boy who was both a senior and the most popular boy in school. Flash also looked to Twilight, and his face matched her’s as much as if the genders were reversed would actually allow. This was not lost on Spike, “JUST KISS ALREADY!” the dragon shouted shocking the two as he left them. “Geez, humans just have to make things so complicated, she’s attracted to him, he’s attracted to her, any other species would be….” Spike muttered under his breath as he headed into the actual ball.
The two gave a nervous laugh as they looked back to each other, “Well, milady, shall we actually go ahead?” Flash asked as he offered his arm. Twilight silently nodded and accepted the arm, once they actually got to the ballroom floor the musicians started to play a waltz. “Will her grace permit me to have this dance?” Flash asked as a confident grin started to grow on his face.
Twilight giggled a little before she answered, “Yes,” Flash then placed his left hand on Twilight’s back as Twilight placed her right hand on his shoulder. Flash then took Twilight’s left hand with his right as he arranged his feet so that his right foot was between Twilight’s feet and soon the two started to waltz. As they danced, Flash used his ethereal wings to left them off the ground. As they danced, and despite all the meet-and-greet, this looked like the perfect day to Twilight, especially with everything that happened the day before. Twilight could not picture anything ruining this night.