//------------------------------// // Healing Pony POV Series Episode 16: "Micro-Battle Pros" // Story: Pony POV Series Season Two: Pearls // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// My Little Pony Friendship is Magic "Seven Friends Sit Around And Play A Game." Six would-be pony liberators now look at their new Princess with discorded colored ring eyes. She was once Fluttershy but now was the savior of the world Princess Gaia. One look, one sound of her song, one breath of her ever lasting fog, and you knew she was the one who would make the world fair. They chat with their new Princess about flower arrangements and flavors of tea. They all smile. They all laugh. They are all happy. Their new Princess is so beautiful. And she is so happy to have them all with her as well. They make her feel complete. She's happy to show them that she now has the confidence they all wanted her to have before. She's proud that she's improved for them. Princess Gaia is not the least bit deceptive in her eyes. She is so loyal to her friends. She is so generous. So is kinder than kind. She is so full of laughter. She is so magical. All six ponies agree. They have no problems. They have no complaints. Yes. Everything is so nice. Rarity gives some polite but firm suggestions on how the interior of the castle should be improved if the Princess absolute insists on living in such an old place. Princess Gaia also had Rarity's wound cleaned and her bandages changed. Twilight Sparkle figures Celestia won't mind Princess Gaia living here. Princess Gaia was only using a castle the sisters hadn't used in a thousand years. Majordomo Angel The Rabbit in his cute aristocrat outfit, complete with his cute little wig. He brings in a map of Equestria, and lots of little wooden figurines. All of them different colors. The ponies didn't look to see if Angel's eyes were discorded or not. They knew Angel would never abandon his master. He sets the map and tokens up on the table for his Princess. And the Princess and her friends all happily play the game. ~~~ Desert Town of Appleloosa. Where neither Pony nor Buffalo Would Dare Confess That They Liked Being Singing SeaPonies and Hippocampi When Discord Had Turned Their Desert Into An Ocean (Unknowing Back Into An Ocean From Two Thousand Years Ago). Apple Braeburn was proud of the town his clan and other independent thinkers had spent two years building. Sheriff Silver Star was just happy he had not lost any ponies during the short lived war with the Buffalo tribes. Bloomberg was an apple tree, it didn't care what others thought of it, and others didn't care what it thought of them. Little Strongheart wondered if it was right for Buffalo to be with Ponies in That Way . Because she wanted to get to know Apple Braeburn, the ones who didn't want a war no more than she did when their people had almost killed each other. Chief Thunderhooves was just glad his culture's traditions have survived another generation, and had not lost any buffalo in his war with the ponies. Then the flock of yellow and pink birds came. All with blue eyes. They came over the pony town and the buffalo tipis. They sang. Mama Princess Gaia apologized that she didn't have enough power yet to grant the changes that in their heart of hearts they wanted even if social stigma denied them expressing their feelings. Yellow and pink jackrabbits with blue eyes came. Followed by big yellow and pink armadillos with blue eyes. The birds sang to the ponies and the buffalo. The ponies and the buffalo smiled and sang back. Chief Thunderhooves and Sheriff Silver Star had no ear for music and resisted even as Little Strongheart and Apple Braeburn gained circle colored eyes and smiled at each other and kissed, much to both elders' disgust. Chief Thunderhooves and Sheriff Silver Star fought back to back, pieing in the face and hoofing down their own tribe mates and towns people as they tried to kiss them. Chief Thunderhooves fled with Sheriff Silver Star on his back still throwing pies. Mowing down the jackrabbits and the armadillos. Then they were being chased by roadrunners with blue eyes and pink and yellow feathers. Little Strongheart and Apple Braeburn cut their elders off at the pass and kissed them. Chief Thunderhooves and Sheriff Silver Star eyes became circles of color and rejoined everyone in the town square. Buffalo and ponies hoof in hoof began to sing. "Shoop-bee-doo-shoop-shoop-bee-doo!" Strongheart and Braeburn danced together. The emotions of shame and worry gone from them. They thanked their new Princess. ++++ The pink and yellow birds flew in droves towards the town of Hoofington. A fireball detonated in the middle of the flock, incinerating many. Offensive Magic Professor BlueFlame stood proudly as the flames devoured the birds. Several other offensive magic specialized or mage unicorns flanked her on both sides. But more birds kept coming. Then a black fireball ignited in the middle almost shaping and shifting to devour the birds with black arms before it burned out. Morgan Mid-Summernight heard her daughters and husband cheer her on. "You may have a chess piece on your flanks, but everyone's always known your magic's special talent was 'destruction.' I mean, with that black coat and silver mane and a name like Morgan? You might as well have a mustache as well." Said one of the mage ponies making fire rain down on the horde of song birds now being augmented by pink and yellow eagles and falcons with blue eyes. "What use is a unicorn who can only destroy things?" Morgan ignored her. A soft kind voice echoed in her head almost breaking her concentration. Morgan Mid-Summernight. You were denied the power to protect your baby Trixie from awful Discord. Now you fight with everything you have to protect your other children. What if you could protect them from any death and any unhappiness and any suffering? Would you want to be able to do that? What if you could protect all foals of Hoofington from those things? Would you? Accept my kiss, become my Knight, and your children need never be in harm's way again. ++++ Soarin and Spitfire didn't know it was a good or bad thing they had chosen to come to Cloudsdale as part of their therapy after all. After the warning had come, every battle able Pegasi (including stunt flyers apparently like it or not) were to hold down the fort until support from Canterlot could arrive. The birds came as several flocks. They were tiny targets. Spitfire did a trick she developed for their shows, doing a corkscrew that set off some material she had placed on protective layers on her wings. And she turned into a twisting fireball! The birds burned. Too bad she couldn't do that trick more than once in a row. Then the dragon with yellow and pink scales and blue eyes showed up forming right out of the fog like a stranger at midnight. The stare in it's eyes cowed every pegasi it laid eyes upon. The two Wonderbolts and a third blond Pegasi did battle with it, and using some wing blades taken from some hapless rookie guard ponies, they did do a clean cut along the dragon's side from mouth to the tip of it's tail, and it fell. The three cheered. Then four more dragons came out of the fog. +++++ Philomena flew around Canterlot, burning away the mist, not letting it get close, and burning away the animals that were really just an extension of a greater force much like the fog itself. She flew like a fury hot comet. The air becoming scorching from her presence alone! Canterlot was nearly surrounded by a ring of fire! The guard ponies actually felt fear at the sight of the Princess' pet enacting such a display of power. And this was the Princess' PET? She would not stop or give up. Not now. Not ever. Her mistress had ordered her to keep Canterlot safe until her mistress returned. And Philomena would obey her mistress' command. Starlight Sparkle looked out the window with her husband. Wondering if their child was out there again, using that overwhelming power of hers to protect Equestria again. And again, she, her mother, was left just wondering. Starlight Sparkle. You have within you a mother's love that you've never been able to fully express. Your baby takes every risk and you can do nothing to protect or even help her. What if you could protect her from death? Protect her from cruelty? Would you? Would you accept the power to be able to? What if you could protect any mother's foal from harm? Accept my kiss and become my Knight and you will have that gift. +++++ The seven friends cheered as they played the exciting board game, before turning attention to topic of causal conversation again. Rainbow Dash was frustrated that her pieces hadn't been able to conquer anything on the map. Princess Gaia then brought out a small brown wooden playing piece that was half-lion half-eagle. Princess Gaia suggested a simple and quick solo game. Rainbow Dash grinned at Princess Gaia's idea. A few minutes later the familiar looking griffin figurine moved madly about the map as Dash tried to corner it with her own pieces. It madly fled from it's starting position on the map proving to be -very- fast and able to outfly pretty much any of Dashie's pieces. The figurine would then force it's way through when Dash used her own tokens to corner it. The others cheered her on. This time however Dashie didn't whine about Princess Gaia making the game too hard, she -was- going to win this! Finally the figurine that Dash pretended was Gilda was apparently running low on stamina. After corralling it to the fog covered Ponyville where she could place more pieces on the map, she finally had the figurine of Gilda completely surrounded and the pursued piece was exhausted. Then at last the figurine magically changed into Gilda's likeness when she and Dashie first met, back when Gilda was -smaller- than Dashie! Pinkie Pie giggled at the revelation that griffins started out smaller than ponies! Either that or Gilda had been a shrimp when compared to most griffins her age, but Pinkie didn't ask! Dash grinned at her little victory! As the last part of the solo game she placed the griffin hatchling figurine on the part of the map representing Cloudsdale where she could play with all the pegasi foals there. Rainbow Dash laughed and clapped her hooves. "Ah man if only I could see her like that now!" "All in good time," Princess Gaia smiled and nodded.