//------------------------------// // Picking up the pieces // Story: Diversity is magic: Lessons at Dusk // by Nagel Navari //------------------------------// As the smoke and dust settle, it dawned on the Solar Princess that what she thought was HIM, was but a little colt whose magic had surged as a result of the sonic rainboom. She immediately sent her armor away and noticed that the colt was staring wide-eyed at her. “Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry my little pony, I let my fears get the better of me and mistook you for someone else.” “Prin.PrincessCel.PrincessCelestia.I’msorrypleasedon’tsendmetothemoon. ImsorryImsorryImsorryImsorryImsorryImsorryImsorryImsorry.” “And why would I do that, my little pony, if anypony is to apologize it is me. If hadn’t reacted the way did, then the destruction would be considerably smaller.” “But you’re Princess Celestia, the Princess Celestia, there no way you could be-mphh” “Ah ah, I may be an alicorn, but I am still a pony and may be mistakes every now and then. Now I seem at a loss as to what your name is, my little pony?” Celestia interrupting the colt. “Why would want to know who I am, I’m just a colt who can’t even complete a simple task such as hatching a dragon.” “On the contrary, I’d say you did an excellent job. Not only did you, a little unicorn colt, hatch a dragon, but you also aged him a good fifteen years. I can’t remember anypony ever accomplishing such a feat, and I have lived for countless centuries. In fact, you impressed me so much, that I’m considering personally teaching you myself.” “But.But how will you have the time to teach me, between ruling Equestria and taking care of the sun and moon, you must be super bus-eep” “Ah ah ah. That is for me to worry about, not you.” The Princess answered, booping him in the process. “Ahem. As much as I don’t want interrupt your bonding, but I am afraid there are more matters at hoof, such as the damage you did to my school, Auntie Tia. And you, young Dusk Shine, there is the task of finding and restoring your parents to ponies.” “Princess Celestia, I have brought news of the rainboom as well as two individuals who play a part in it.” Spitting Fire announced, has she approached the group. The first, a griffon hen, a classical lion-eagle mix, wore an ornate set of scale armor and had a glaive strapped to her back. As for the other one, all that could be observed was that he was a tall purple unicorn stallion. “Why is ther- mmph” the hen started to say, pointing at Dusk Shine, as the other newcomer slammed her beak shut with violet magic, which rapidly enveloped her entire body. “I suggest not attacking an more ponies then you already have.” The stallion told the griffon. “Oh, I see.” Celestia said with a frown, taking note of their actions. Glancing at the strange unicorn, she quickly discerned his identity, and moved onto the myrmidon. The Solar Princess recognized her, but failed to remember who the griffon was or when they met. “Captain Fire, thank you for bringing these two to my attention, I’ll take them from here. Dismissed.” “Of course, Princess” The kirin stated before flying out of the hole in the wall. “Dear Nephew, I hope you don’t object having to taking care of young Dusk Shine and the other foals, while I hear what these two have to say about this incident of theirs.” “Of course, Princess, I’m sure whatever the stallion has to tell you must be very important. Blue Bloodrose said. Celestia grabbed the two strangers and teleported them all to her royal chambers. She then cast a sound dampening spell on the room quickly followed a dispel magic spell on the stallion, forcibly removing his disguise. “Now then, we are able to talk without anyone overhearing us. So tell me why an alicorn and a high ranking Myrmidon have to do with the occurrence of a sonic rainboom in the skies above Cloudsdale?” She demanded, focusing her glare to the griffon. “And what is this talk of you, one of the emperor's guards in my country, attacking my subjects?” “Moon Dancer go bring the others back here.“ Blue Bloodrose ordered. Looking down at the two cats calmly sitting next to each other, he knelt down and carefully moving his horn between them, and cast a disjunction spell on the pair, returning them to their original pony forms. “Ahhh it feels good to be a unicorn again.” Velvet purred. “Thank you, Headmaster Bloodrose.” “No, the pleasure is mine, Lady Velvet. Now onto a more important topic. I am pleased to say that your son, Dusk Shine, passed the entrance exam. Judging by that surge of his, he could have very well matched my late daughter in power.” “Dusk, looks like you got your cutie.” Night Shine announced, changing the subject. Sure enough, on what used to be barren fur, now had a white star underneath a magenta star surrounded by five small white stars on it. “What, I got a cutie mark.” The colt exclaim, quickly confirming it, then started bouncing around in circles. “Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark.Igotacutiemark….” “So he did, good for him.” Stated the white stallion, winking next to the dragon. “Drake, can you understand me, if so then stop and look at me.” Upon hearing noises, the dragon stopped clawing at its tail, looked up at the unicorn for a couple seconds, before resuming it’s previous task. “Dusk Shine since you managed to hatch this dragon, I, Headmaster Blue Bloodrose, assign the responsibility of taking care of it to you. Good luck and congratulations on gaining admittance to the Rose School of Magic. As such, Lady Sparkle and Lord Shine, if you would excuse me, I have quite a fair bit of paperwork to go through.” The stallion declared, then promptly trotting after Moon Dancer. “Thank you for your cooperation Prince Weaver, I fully understand your reluctance towards answering my questions. I look forward to when we meet again. ” Princess Celestia said, watching the notes of their chat burn, while she wanted to keep a copy incase she forgot something, the stallion was right, they were simply too dangerous. He had already gone back to where ever or whenever he came from by the time the papers finished burning; while the griffon had long since been sent away. Once alone, Celestia remained in her quarters, thinking of what she just learned. ‘Did he have to be so vague, could he have made it all up. No he made it clear how much he knows of my family. So that plan of his is what is meant to be.’ Sighing to herself, the Solar alicorn disappeared from her tower, reappearing outside of her Nephew’s school, and journeyed inside to find where her new student was. “Hello again, Lord and Lady Shine, Dusk Shine.” Celestia said, re-entering the room. “Um. Princess Celestia, have you ever had to take care of a dragon before?” The colt asked. “Yes, on several occasions, but-” Celestia paused long enough to scan the creature with her magic. “- this is a very rare type called the dracoling, and unfortunately was aged physically but not mentally. Given time, I believe the issue will correct, but if you like, I have an acquaintances who will be able to help him through it may take up to a week. How does that sound? Also did you pick a him?” “A name for him, how about Amethyst Scale or Emerald Spike, and what will your friend do to my dragon?” “Well I’m sure Amethyst Scale would be a fine name, I personally think that that Emerald Spike or just Spike will suit him better. As for how my friends will help your charge, I cannot answer that. They are very a secretive race and guards their knowledge fiercely. All I know is that they have dealt similar creatures before.” “A new species, can I go with Spike, just think of the knowledge I could learn. Which reminds me, earlier during the exam, scanned Spike’s egg and discovered that it wasn’t of dragon origin at all, and since you said that you friends have dealt with Spike’s kind before, I should accompany him so I can learn how to take care of him better.” “I will pass your request to them, but I doubt they will accept it. If they think you can be trusted, then they may reveal themselves. Until such a time comes, I suggest you focus on other things. Is something else you wanted to talk with me about?” “Uh, I have two questions if you don’t mind, your highness.” Velvet Sparkle inquired. “Go on, my little pony.” “Thank you. First, how will being your student affect Duskie’s schedule as well as your own? And second, how do you expect Dusk be able take care of Spike if he doesn’t have any knowledge of what Spike is?” “For the question regarding how our schedules will work. Your son will attend  general classes during the morning and afternoon, travel to castle for my lesson, and then will return to campus for the rest of the night. As for the second question, I offer to take him off you hooves until my acquaintances arrive to heal him. How does that sound, Dusk Shine, Lord Shine, Lady Shine?” “That sounds wonderful, your highness.” “I believe that is all, Princess.” “I guess so.” They said in quick succession. “Very well. Dusk, I look forward to seeing you next week for our lessons. Farewell my little ponies.” Princess Celestia said, picking up the hybrid in her magic, and teleporting away. In a place beyond time and space, an alicorn floated in a purple void. “Dear Celestia, I hope you don’t get too attached to your precious little student. For one day, I’ll return, and I will take what is mine. As for you, I have quite a few plans in store for you, my little Duskie.” Elsewhere, two mares sat themselves down amongst the rock strewn ground, staring up at the distant capitol. “Well that settles it then; you, me, the unicorn, the hippogriff, and two others against the world.” The orange mare spoke up, breaking the silence. “Are you looking forward to seeing your kin again, Amaranth?” “Mostly, while I do regret leaving mom to fend for herself, I would be happy if I never saw my father.” The pink mare stated flatly. “Hey, don’t be like that. I know he has done some awful stuff, but he is still part of your family. Speaking of which, I hear that one of your children moved to Ponyville. You could move in with them.” “Yuppers, what about you? Will your mother even let you leave, since your sister is still out there somewhere.” “She might, she knows that I’m a bearer, so it is in everypony’s best interest that I go. As for my sister, if she was smart, she would turn herself in. Especially since the Princess of Food took over.” “Yupperoni, never mess with the pink ones.” Meanwhile in the corridors of Canterlot Castle, two other mares were having a discussion of a different kind. “Princess, I take it you had an interesting day due to the combination of the rainbow shockwave sweeping across Equestria, you suddenly teleporting out of the castle, and lastly a giant fireball was seen launching itself from farther up the mountain and striking your Nephew’s school. Also there is a adolescent dragon trying to eat your tail.” Said an albino hippogriff, immediately ambushing the alicorn as soon as she appeared. “Observant as always, Raven, now can you go inform Lieutenant Stout to meet me in my office. Also have Cadance come as well.” “Thank you, I’ll see that it is done.” Raven Inkwing answered, and flew away. Once her secretary disappeared from her sight, Celestia continued on her way through the labyrinth of passageways. Shortly after the brief encounter with Raven, the Princess turned a corner at the same time a maid trotted around from the other side, only for the servant to walk, muzzle first, into the alicorn’s peytal. “Eep.” She exclaimed, falling backwards onto her flank. “Are you okay, my little pony?” Celestia inquired of the smaller mare. “Of course your highness, I sincerely apologize for not paying attention to where I was going. Please forgive me.” The maid stammered, hastily getting back on her hooves and walking down the hall. ”If you’ll excuse me, I best resume my duties” The Solar Princess began to traverse the castle, only to stop yet again when the maid screamed. Upon spinning around, Celestia saw that Spike had latched onto her servant. “Pa.pa.pao.po” the dragon babbled joyfully, poking the mare. “Ou po” His captive, on the other hoof looked much less pleasant, as she wriggled free and moved backwards before fleeing into another hallway. Noticing that the pony was no longer in his grasp, the dragon’s attention became attracted to the larger pony. “Ouu poei. Bea poei. Gam foud” The juvenile dragon muttered, clumsily crawling forward until he was right in front of the alicorn. He then moved his head even closer, bit into the jewel encrusted gold neck piece, and began gnawing at it. Sighing to herself, Celestia channeled magic into her horn, first casting a sleep spell on the young drake, followed by using levitation to separate him from her peytal and move him onto her back. “Sorry, young Spike, but my necklace is not food.” Both her guard and her niece were already waiting by the time Celestia finally arrived. “Auntie Tia, you wanted to see me?” The pink mare asked. “Yes, please come in, I’d prefer that this discussion remain between us for the time being.” The alabaster alicorn stated, opening the door, and leading the duo inside before closing the door behind them. “As I’m sure you both have heard by now, one of the applicants to Blue’s school suffered a magic surge brought on by a sonic rainboom that originated from Cloudsdale. According to witnesses, the being responsible for accomplishing the feat was Cobalt Swiftwing, half-brother to Princess Gilda Stormtalon.” “So that’s what that shockwave was.” Said Cadance, interrupting her aunt’s explanation. “The situation became troublesome when a unicorn mare appeared from a rift and tried to attack Cobalt. She was unsuccessful due to the actions of an alicorn stallion, who followed her through the rift, and Princess Gilda. The problem is that their fight occured in plain sight of quite a few pegasi. While it might be possible to say that both of them were changelings, doing so would force me to publicly acknowledge the existence and abilities of changelings, which will very likely cause mass paranoia. Not to mention that I also would have to explain why I learned of them yet kept it a secret.” Celestia continued explaining. “The other problem is that during his surge, Dusk Shine transmogrified a changeling egg into the dragon currently sleeping on my back. However, while his body is that of a fifteen year old drake, his mind is that of a two year old. So Cadance, how much would you like to visit your friends?”