//------------------------------//
// Chapter 1: Preparations 
// Story: Champions of Harmony 
// by Codex Sparks 
//------------------------------//

Mighty Force, a blue unicorn, stepped off the train and shook his head to clear the cobwebs from it. "I really need to stop falling asleep on that thing," he muttered under his breath as he slowly made his way to a building he hoped was the town hall. As he approached, a pink earth mare gasped and ran off. He blinked a few times and shook his head at the strange pink pony. "I certainly hope not everypony is as....odd as that one," he said as he stepped into the building. It felt odd to be in a place without a formal summons or having somepony let him know who he'd be speaking with.
As he approached the building, he almost bumped into a purple earth mare being shooed out of the building by a white unicorn. The earth pony seemed slightly unsteady on her hooves. He offered a slight smile. "Is everything okay, miss?"
She smiled lopsidedly at him. "Yeeaah, everything's fine. Rarib- Rara- Rarity just needs space to work."
Mighty nodded and gave a parting smile before stepping into the town hall. "Uh, hello there?" he called out to the room.
The white unicorn looked back over from where she had walked up to an unopened box. "Yes? Can I help you?"
Mighty smiled slightly and nodded. "Yes, actually. I'm looking for the pony in charge of decorating for the Summer Sun Celebration. I'm assuming it's you?"
"Yes, I'm in charge of the decorations. Who are you?"
"My name is Mighty Force. I was asked to make sure everything was being taken care of for the celebration. If I can be blunt, I wasn't expecting a unicorn to be doing the decorating."
She frowned at him. "What? Why ever not?"
He chuckled slightly realizing what he said. "What I meant was that I didn't expect a single unicorn to be doing all the work. I assumed more of a group or a team working on the decorating."
The mare smiled. "Oh. Well, I am good at what I do. Making things beautiful is my special talent after all." With the last statement she turned slightly to better show her cutie mark, a trio of diamonds.
Mighty Force looked at the diamonds and smiled slightly. "I would have thought that would have something to do with mining or gem-craft rather than making things beautiful," he said with a curious look. "However, I can see how it's more versatile than my own talent."
"Oh? What talent would that be?"
"Offensive magic," Mighty Force responded as he turned slightly to reveal a trio of spiraling starbursts.
The white unicorn paused for a moment before replying. "I see. That is a rather specific use case. Did you consider joining the guard then?"
Mighty Force shrugged at her suggestion and gave a small smile. "I sort of wanted to get away from Canterlot for a little while. I thought that maybe I could settle down here and see if I could find a creative use for my talent. Maybe demolition work?"
"That would work. But, away from Canterlot? Why would you want to get away from Canterlot?"
"My family lives there," he said with an exasperated sigh. It wasn't that he disliked his family, but the politics of Canterlot eventually got to be too much for the young stallion.
The mare nodded. "I can understand that. I have tried endlessly to make my parents the slightest bit fashionable, but it was to no avail." She sighed dramatically.
Mighty Force chuckled slightly. "If anything, I seem to be having the opposite problem. I prefer not to take part in the Game."
"Oh. Very much the opposite problem, but I can understand. Subtlety is not for everypony."
"You clearly haven't played the Game if you really believe that it is all about subtlety," he said with a bit of a smirk.
The white mare tilts her head. "Perhaps not all of it, but surely it is an important part. Perhaps even The important part."



Veiled Light was woken by a blond maned, grey pegasus mare crashing into the cloud he was sleeping on. She flailed and shouted "I'm sorry, I'm sorry! I thought I was going to make it around your cloud!" Then she paused, one of her eyes pointing off into the distance, the other focusing on the stallion with matching colors. "Wait, are you another me?"
Veiled nearly fell off the cloud. "What?" He looked between the two of them, still a little groggy from waking up. "No, I don't think so." His eyes widened. "CRAP! has it started yet?"
The mare looked around. "Has what started? Oh, the celebration? I don't think so. I just got back, but it shouldn't be till tomorrow morning. I think. Oh no, I'm probably late again!"
The stallion groaned and looked around, seeing that there were still ponies setting up for the celebration. He turned to the wall eyed Pegasus "Okay, I think we're good. You heading to help out with setting up with the celebration?"
The mare sighed in relief. "I don't have anything I need to do. I was planning to help other ponies out with whatever they need to set up."
Veiled hopped off the cloud, and flew down towards the town hall. "Well, let's see how we can help... Sorry, I didn't catch your name. I'm Veiled Light."
The mare smiled. "I'm Derpy Hooves. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you. Lets see if we can help."
As the pair enter, they see two unicorns, one a white mare, the other a blue stallion talking, while the mare opens one of several boxes with her magic. The pegasi trotted towards the unicorns and Veiled cheerfully waved to them



Mighty Force shook his head. "Rarity, was it? Trust me when I say that subtlety is a small part in the Game. Most of it is meant for power while subtlety is to pick off your opponents that show weakness."
Rarity frowned. "Hm. A bit different from how I envisioned it." A moment later she glanced away and gave a somewhat forced smile. "Ah. Hello, Derpy."
Veiled Light picked up a decoration out of a nearby box and stuck it on a random part of the wall, then tilted his head. "...Is this right?"
Mighty took a few steps out of the line of fire. The vague feeling of unease from when he had placed the fork on the wrong side at home let him know the particularities unicorn mares had.
Rarity's smile became strained and her eye twitched. "That is how the decoration attaches to the wall, yes. But perhaps you should let the expert handle this." Derpy poked her head in a box, and came out holding a spool of ribbon, somehow having gotten a bow attached to her head in the process.
Veiled turned to Rarity with a cheery smile. "Nah, it's good, I’ve got it." Then he turned it 76 degrees to the left, before thinking a moment and turning it 45 degrees right. "I think I got it."
Mighty blinked a few times and looked at the pegasus. "I strongly recommend you slowly back away and let Rarity here do the decorating. Much safer for your existence."
Veiled looked between the two unicorns and then followed Mighty's directions.
Rarity smiled at Mighty. "Thank you." She turned back to the pegasi. "It's not that I don't appreciate you trying to help, but this is an art form, the design of the decorations needs to reflect the glory of the sunrise. Now, if you don't mind, I think the way I'll get the most work done is with some peace and quiet."
Mighty nodded and smiled at the alabaster unicorn. "As you wish. I still have a few other things to check up on before the celebration."
She smiled back. "Well, don't let me keep you."
Veiled looked at everyone. "So... how can I help?"
Rarity sighed and smacked her face against one of the pillars.
Veiled noticed the dent in the pillar. "Um, if you want to remove that pillar, there's teams that can take care of that."
"Yes, he seems to be having that effect on me as well," Mighty said as he patted Rarity on the back before walking towards the exit. "If you wouldn't mind helping me keep an eye on things mister....?"
Veiled turned to Mighty. "Veiled Light, but Vei for short if you want."
"Veiled, if you'd be so kind as to follow me, I could do with some help. Preferably with some of the pegasi around the city… and perhaps finding my way around the town."
"Sure bro. Where to first?"
Derpy smiled as she finally got the bow off her head. "Can I help too?"
Veiled turned to Derpy " Sure, you can follow if you want."
Mighty smiled and nodded. "The more the merrier. I still need to make sure the music is being taken care of, the sky is clear, and the catering is taken care of."
Veiled's heart dropped as he remembered that he had to help clear out the sky. "Crap, I totally forgot that I had part in cloud duty." He dashed out the door. "I'll catch up later!"
Mighty chuckled at the pegasus' reaction. "And that is why I was brought here." 
Derpy tilted her head. "You came because Veiled is on cloud duty?"
"No, I came to keep an eye on how things as they were prepared for the Summer Sun Celebration… and I just realized I was not informed about my accommodations, lovely."
Derpy frowned. "I'd offer my guest room, but somepony else is already using it. We could try to find Mayor Mare, or I could show you where the Ponyville inn is."
"I never planned on imposing on you. I would like to see if Mayor Mare could perhaps find a place for me. I'd prefer not to spend my bits if I don't have to."
She smiled. "Sounds good!" With that, she turned, then paused with one hoof in the air. "I have no idea where Mayor Mare is right now."
Mighty shook his head and sighed. "It's alright, Derpy. I'll see about finding a place to stay while I'm in town."
She momentarily frowned, but quickly perked back up. "So, where to first?"
"I think I'll just wander the streets for a bit. You're more than welcome to join, though," he said with a smile.
She smiled brightly. "Lead on!" 



"Hurry it up, will you?” Rainbow yelled at the weather team. “I want to get back to my nap!"
Veiled arrived to where Rainbow was flying. "Sorry I'm late. Where do you want me?"
Rainbow glanced at Veiled. "Go help Flitter and Cloudchaser in the North West section. And try to make up for lost time since you're late. The rest of us have been hard at work."
Veiled nods. “Cool... or we could have a race? See how many clouds we could clear? Cause we've all got other things we'd like to do. The faster its done the faster the time for naps." He winks at her.
Rainbow's eyes narrowed. "You think you can match me? Ha!” She gestures at two roughly equal areas of clouds. “You take that section and I'll take that section. Loser has to buy the winner a cupcake from Sugarcube Corner. Deal?"
Veiled smiled. "Two cupcakes and you have a deal." He holds out a hoof.
Rainbow grinned and shook. "Oh, it is on!" With that, she started flying.



Rainbow finished her section of clouds, then stared in shock at where Veiled Light had already finished his section a moment before. "WHAT? How did-? I caught a bad wind." She sighed. "Fine. I'll get you your cupcakes soon."
"Thanks, RD." Veiled said between gasps. "I’ll be expecting those eventually."
Rainbow groaned. "Well, come on. Let's get this finished up."
Veiled nodded "Is there anywhere extra you want me to take care of?"
"Nah. Just make sure the sky gets cleared." She poked one of her wings with a light wince and muttered something that was lost to the wind.
Veiled said goodbye to Rainbow and flew off to take care of the rest of the clouds, feeling bad about having beaten her in that race.



After a bit of wandering, Mighty Force was able to find Sweet Apple Acres. He wandered into the orchard and looked around. "Hello," he shouted to the area, "I'm here to check on the catering for the celebration tomorrow."
After a moment, an orange earth mare trotted up. "Well, howdy Mister. We've got just about everything ready for the Celebration, just need to get the last pies out of the oven and get it to town hall. Ya want to try some?"
Mighty Force thought for a moment and gave a slight nod. "I don't see the harm in trying some of the food."
The mare smiled, grabbed Mighty Force's hoof, and pulled him off to a table, on which she started setting every imaginable apple related food on. "We have apple shortcake, apple bread, apple tallcake, apple pie..."
Mighty blinked a few times at the mare's rather firm grip and looked at the spread as she rattled off the food. "Uh, I think I'll just take a bit of apple pie and be on my way.I still have a few things to take care of before the celebration," he says with a slight smile.
The mare sighed. "Oh... Alright. If that's really all ya want. Ah suppose you already ate."
Mighty bowed his head guiltily. "I mean, there's no harm in trying a bit of everything," he said, floating over an apple fritter and taking a bite. "I am a bit ahead of schedule and I don't mind spending some time with a cute mare."
She blushed. "Aw shucks. Ya sure know how to compliment a mare. Not bad looking yerself."
He rubbed the back of his head with a hoof as he chuckled nervously. "I don't usually speak my mind but you seem to bring out the honesty in me."
"Ah do, huh? Ah can live with that. Ya sure ya don't say that to all the mares?"
Mighty smiled and shook his head. "If I had, I wouldn't have been able to leave Canterlot until tomorrow," he said with a slight chuckle.
She frowned. "What's that supposed ta mean?"
Mighty Force blinked a few times realizing what he said. "Er....what I mean is that if I went around complimenting all the mares and being rather suave, I may have a large crowd to get through and I wouldn't be here in Ponyville until at least tomorrow after all the good-byes." He decided not to mention the other possible activities that he could be pulled into at his departure.
The mare considered for a moment. "Ah suppose that makes sense." Then she smirked. "Though Ah don't think yer quite that good looking."
He smirked back and rolled his eyes. "Well, I stand by what I said about you. I don't think I caught your name. I'm Mighty Force."
"Well shoot. Ah did forget to introduce myself. Name's Applejack."



Between Veiled and Rainbow's race and the efforts of the rest of the team, the clouds were soon cleared, leaving clear skies for the Celebration. The various pegasi flew off to their homes to get ready.
Veiled glided down to the town. "Lets see about that cupcake payment. I need a snack." He landed and walked into to sugar cube corner. He almost walked into Rainbow as he entered Sugarcube Corner. She held three cupcakes, and upon recognizing Veiled, she shoved two of them at him. 
"Here."
Veiled fumbled with the sudden cupcakes. "Thanks Rainbow." Noticing the awkward silence he cleared his throat. "So how's it going?" He asked trying to sound friendly.
Rainbow shrugs. "Well, we did get done pretty quick, but I'm kinda sore about our race. I should go practice some more." She started to walk towards the door, then paused. "How did you get so fast anyways?"
Veiled shrugged. "I think the wind was behind me in that area. But then again you did look pretty tired. Has training been rough?" he unwrapped one of the cupcakes and started munching.
Rainbow nodded. "Yeah. I know I'm going to be a Wonderbolt one day, but getting there isn't as easy as I try to make it seem."
Veiled looked a little concerned "Hey, you can do it. You're a local legend at flying. If they knew how fantastic you are, they'd accept you on the spot." He smiled and tried to sound encouraging. "I know I'd never make it on."
Rainbow gave Veiled an incredulous look. "How do you figure? You beat me in a fair race today?"
"I guarantee that it was luck. That plus I don't practice speed with flight like you do, especially as often."
"I guess. Still, I should have done better. I should be good enough that just luck isn't enough to win."
Veiled thought for a moment. "Well... there are things that we can't control in life. There are some unpredictabilities that we run across... or that even run into us. But you can always work to do better.. be better." He sighed. "But hey, you're amazing and awesome. You can do it. Anyways I've got to go. I'll be seeing you." With that he turned out and heads towards town, needing groceries for tomorrow.
Rainbow blinked at the sudden departure. "See ya around."