Alterations Chapter 1
Things were going great since the defeat of Chrysalis the Changeling Queen. Shining Armor and Cadence were now married and were living in Canterlot so that they both could continue with their duties. Celestia and Luna fixed the castle with their powerful magic and the Elements of Harmony were once again locked up in the royal vault, with only Celestia and Luna's horns as keys. Everything was returning back to normal and nothing seemed to stand in the way for yet another beautiful sunrise to start of yet another beautiful day, in the land of Equestria.
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It was early morning in Ponyville, and everypony was asleep in their beds. Well, everypony except Fluttershy. She was already up waking and tending to the animals around her cottage. "It's time to wake up Angel bunny." Fluttershy said softly as she gently rocked her pet back and forth. "You need to eat..” *SMACK* Angel hit Fluttershy in the face with his soft pillow and rolled over to go back to sleep. "Oh Angel..." she said as she bent her neck to once again try to wake the stubborn bunny.
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Pinkie Pie was sleeping, hanging from a rafter in the main room of Sugarcube Corner by her tail. Her snoring was very loud as she mumbled the ingredients of her favorite cookies, "Hmm…flower…mm vanilla…choco-" Then suddenly her tail began twitching and she woke up. "Oh no! Something's gonna fall!” she shouted as her tail unwounded from the rafter and she hit the ground with a big thud. "Oh, hahaha, it was me!” she stated with a big grin on her face.
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Rarity woke up very slowly, lying in a silk white and purple sleeping gown with cucumber slices on her eyes. She sat up and removed them, "Well no point in letting them go to waste." She looked around quickly to be sure that no pony was around. She then gobbled them up and let out the tiniest burp. "Excuse me.” she said in a small but graceful voice. "Alright, I've got four dresses I need to send to Hoity Toity by tomorrow. I simply must get started." She got out of bed and quickly walked over to her table where she keeps the papers she draws her designs on. They were blank.
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"Wake up, wake up, wake up!" cried Applebloom as she jumped on her sister's bed. "You promised you'd take me, Sweetiebelle, and Scootaloo to the park so we could practice obstacle course runnin'!" Applejack threw her eyes open; they were bloodshot since she had stayed up late so she could finish picking delicious red and green apples for her apple fritters. "Can't ya just lemme sleep fer five more minutes?” she asked pleading. "But you promised!” said Applebloom, using the saddest looking face she could possibly make. Applejack sighed, "Alright, Ah’m up. Go get yer friends." She looked back longingly at her bed, "Ah've got a bad feelin' about today. Ah just wanna curl up in that there bed and sleep ‘til tomorrow…"
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Droplets of water plopped down on Rainbow Dash's face. She opened her eyes and looked up. "Hey! D'you mind? I'm sleepin' here!” she yelled. There was a pegasus bucking a raincloud above her favorite napping spot beside her house. "Sorry Rainbow Dash.” said the burly stallion as he moved the raincloud away. Rainbow sat up and decided it was time for her morning routine: 15 wing-ups and a lap around Ponyville. She laid down on her back and used her wings to lift her body, "One....two....three.."
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"Good morning everypony, Octavia here for early morning Scratch N Tavi radio show with my co-host Scratch."
"Ugh, I had to get up early for this show. It's like way earlier than usual."
"Well, good news is that you can just sit there and play music. We will have the news later."
"Great!" /record scratch/
“- I've been waiting, for the taking, of my..” *CLICK*
Spike let his hand slink down from the snooze button of his alarm clock as he sat up. He let out a big dragon sized yawn (well, for a dragon as big as Spike anyway). He was awake, alert and ready for the morning chores. He looked over to Twilight Sparkle, ready for his first chore of the day: ‘Wake up Twilight’. But she was already awake. In fact she was sitting on the floor and staring out of her window at Canterlot Castle. "Good morning Twilight.” he said to her smiling and cheerfully. She turned her head to him, "Oh, hey. Good morning."
"How long have you been awake Twilight?"
"I don't know." she replied as she turned her head back to the window. "Oh," he said, "well I'll get started on today's chores."
"You do that. I'll be down in just a minute." Twilight knew that today was an important day, that this could be one of the most important days of her life. She was going over and over in her head just what she needed to do to make this perfect. She walked over to the mirror and inspected herself very closely. "I hope I'm ready for this.” she said to herself, almost as if she was scared.
Twilight timidly walked down the stairs, deep in thought on the day’s upcoming event. She looked up to see the dragon cooking a foul smelling meal she would have to eat. "I'm making your favorite Twilight, so you won't feel as nervous today.” said Spike as he finished glazing the last daffodil for the sandwich. Twilight wrinkled her nose, "Oh, well thank you, it looks....delicious..."
"Is something wrong Twilight? You've been acting a little strange since we left Canterlot."
"No I'm fine, let's eat.” she replied wearing her biggest and most convincing fake smile. Spike mulled this over for a minute. "OK but we need to hurry. We're supposed to meet the girls at Sugarcube Corner in an hour.” he said quickly. "Alright," Twilight agreed and began to choke down the sickly looking flowers.
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"Thanks Applejack!” cried all three of the Cutie Mark Crusaders as Applejack brought them back home from the park. They were all very grateful for her help even though none of them had gotten their cutie marks. "No problem girls, any time.” she said cheerfully to the three young fillies as she turned to head for Sugarcube Corner. Today was a big day. She was very excited and couldn't stop her steady walk from turning into a sort of trotting skip. She ran past Fluttershy's cottage and stopped. “Maybe Ah should go in an' get the poor girl” she thought. After all, Fluttershy could be a tad forgetful at times when she was nervous or scared. Applejack walked up to the door and knocked, "Hey Fluttershy! C'mon, we're gonna be late!" She could hear crashing coming from inside the house as she heard, "Just a minute." A few moments passed and the door opened. Applejack peered inside to see dishes and food all over the floor, with Angel lying in the middle of it all, eating a carrot. "Oh hey Applejack, I was just getting ready to leave.” said Fluttershy softly. She was glad to know she had a friend to walk with, because she was very nervous about today. "Well let's get on then.” replied Applejack trying to hold back a chuckle, as Fluttershy had some lettuce in her hair. "By the way, Ah like the new hairstyle ya got goin' on there." Fluttershy reached up and felt around in her hair and pulled out a big piece of lettuce. Her cheeks immediately turned red and she threw the lettuce inside. She closed the door and off they went.
Applejack noticed that Fluttershy was a bit shaky and nervous looking. "Don't worry sugarcube, there ain't nothin' to be worried about."
"But I've never even dreamed she would do this.” she replied.
"Ah don't think any one of us did. Just make sure you show your appreciation. It ain't everyday Princess Celestia comes to town to give us awards for bein' the ‘Heroes of Equestria’."
"You're right, I'll try to look as confident as I can when she gets here."
"At a girl!” said Applejack with a smile at her friend.
It didn’t take long before the two reached the front of Sugarcube Corner. Rainbow and Pinkie were already there. The confident cyan pegasus was practicing her 'Thank you, no autographs please' speech while Pinkie pretended to be an entire audience running from place to place shouting, "Yay Rainbow Dash....We knew you were our hero....We love you Dashie!" Rainbow then replied with, "Oh thank you, I'm so glad I could help, and I love you too; I love all the citizens of Ponyville!"
Applejack and Fluttershy walked up to them. "You know it's just gonna be us six at this little git together, right Dash?” Applejack said as she stopped by where Pinkie was sitting. Rainbow blushed, "Well yeah but.."
"But it's fun to pretend there will be people there to watch us!” the cheerful pink party-pony butted in, unknowingly saving Rainbow from an embarrassing moment. "Yeah! That's it!” she said hurriedly. "Where are Rarity and Twilight?" Fluttershy asked. Pinkie answered, "Well Rarity said that she would be late because she had some fashiony stuff to do, and Twilight.." She looked behind Applejack to see Spike riding on Twilight's back. "There she is right there!” she finished happily.
"Hey Twilight, when is Celestia gonna get here?” asked Rainbow, but it was the little dragon on her who answered. "She sent us a letter on our way over here saying she would be arriving within the hour.” he said holding up the parchment. Spike looked around, "Hey, where's Rarity?" Pinkie opened her mouth to give the very long version of the answer, but Rainbow sensed this and planted her hoof in Pinkies mouth. "She's gonna be late.” she replied, short and simple. "Myeahm!” Pinkie agreed in a muffled tone. Twilight felt she should say something, as she was getting some rather funny looks from the ponies. "So how were your mornings girls?” she asked cheerfully. The ponies looked around towards one another and Fluttershy answered, "Very....eventful." The other ponies agreed. Pinkie looked up and saw something in the sky. She gasped very loudly, "It's Princess Celestia! She's here!" The other ponies turned to look up and see the Princess flying very high in the sky. They all smiled instantly; some for joy, some for excitement and some for other reasons.
Rainbow, too anxious to wait, soared up into the sky to meet Celestia as she got closer. She bowed mid-air and looked up with a big smile, "It's very nice to see you today Princess."
"It's very lovely to see you as well Rainbow Dash.” replied the Princess elegantly and with poise. “How are you and your friends?"
"Oh we're great Princess! We're very happy to see you!” she replied excitedly with a very large grin on her face. She looked down at her friends. Celestia looked down as well. If you looked, it would seem almost as if Pinkie's huge smile was giving off a warm glow of light. Actually, it looked very real. In fact it was real, but it wasn't coming from the pink pony’s awfully joyful grin. No, it was coming from beside her where Twilight stood.
Everypony turned to Twilight as her glow intensified. It got brighter and hotter and grew painful to look at, and the other ponies had to shield their eyes. There was something very familiar about this light, and as it faded away, the ponies looked back to see a gray pony with pure diamond blue eyes and wings that resembled that of a broken fly’s. There was no way to avoid the shock; it just couldn't be! The ponies looked as if they had been punched right in the happiness. For the past two weeks since they had returned home from Canterlot, their dear friend Twilight Sparkle had been a changeling.