//------------------------------// // First Lesson- War and Cherry Blossoms // Story: The Magnificent Six // by Paradise Oasis //------------------------------// "I simply can't believe it," Twilight Shine thought to herself staring at her surroundings in wonder. "It's all so lovely!" The unicorn was amazed by the beauty and elegance of the festival; the cherry blossoms in full bloom, the pony couples in kimonos and yukatas totting between the stalls, and the happy foals eating food and playing games. All around her were sights both exotic and foreign, so very different from the sights and sounds she had grown up with in Dream Castle. Looking around, the pink filly simply enjoyed taking in the exotic atmosphere of the gathering. As she trotted down the center aisle, Twilight noticed that all of her friends were enjoying different aspects of the festival themselves. "Wow, this looks fun!" Posey exclaimed, looking at the little foals trying to catch the goldfish at one stall. "How do you play this game?" "Well, you catch these fish in this paper net. If you catch a fish, you can keep it," Starglow told the yellow earth pony, handing her the net. "Normally, it is a game reserved for children. But since you have never had a chance to play it before, I think we can let you have a try!" "That sounds like fun! A goldfish would be a nice, non-scary pet." Posey dove after one of the fish in the small tank, only to have her paper net tear open on the first try. "Oh dear," she whinnied sadly, staring down at the goldfish with a disappointed look. "Guess I'm just no good at it." "No, that's not how you do it," Starglow replied with a laugh. She trotted over and picked up a net in her mouth. "Here, let me show you." At a stall farther down, Firefly and Snowflake were looking at a strange hexagonal wheel, standing upright with a crank on the side to turn it. "So let me get this straight," the pink pegasus asked the other pony. "I turn this drum till a marble comes out, and if it's a golden marble instead of a white one, I win a prize?" "That's correct, Firefly-chan," the pegasus mare whinnied in response. "Turn the drum, make the marble come out, and see what prize you get." Firefly spun the drum around with her hoof, and had a black marble come out. "Awwww, shoot. I don't seem to have any luck!" the filly with an attitude snorted. She looked back at Snowflake with a shifty grin, and whispered, "Hey 'Flake... ya got any gold paint?" Snowflake proceeded to burst into a long tirade about 'dishonor' as Twilight Shine trotted away. At the far side of the music pavilion, several equines, Applejack and Surprise among them, were gathered in front of a large, water-filled tank. The crowd was listening to the vocalistic stylings of Wave Jumper, Sand Dollar, and High Tide-- popularly known as the Seapony Trio. "Dressed like a dream" the three sea ponies sang in unison, sticking up out of the top of the stage-like tank. "They're all dressed like a dream! Take one look, and you'll agree-- they stepped right out of a fantasyyyy!" "Man, they're waaaay better in person than on the radio," Surprise whinnied, flapping her wings to the beat. "I still can't believe the Bright Valley press said all that mean stuff about High Tide!" "Well, ya know how it is," AJ replied, trying her hardest to be heard over the music. "A sea pony gets spotted with an earth stallion just one time, and the ponyparazzi have a field day with it." "That is like, sooo totally unfair. And even worse are those lies about Sand Dollar," Surprise snorted indignantly. "How can a sea pony even dye her mane? The water would wash it all out!" "I completely agree!" AJ nodded her head. "Sand Dollar is totally a natural blonde." Seeing the two of them, Twilight was shocked. The crazy pegasus and the brooding earth filly.... were actually having a normal conversation together? That incident right before the party must have had a positive effect on the two of them. The pink unicorn was glad that Surprise was trying to forget about her problems and have a little fun at the party. Twilight was about to go join them when two Hoofkaido earth ponies suddenly trotted up to the white pegasus. "Surprise! There you are.” the white stallion with the wrapped present cutie mark whinnied. "We had heard you were back in Hoofkaido for a visit." "You should have stopped by for a visit, dear!" The white earth mare with the balloons mark came trotting up. "We would have loved to have met all of your friends." "Hi Mom, hi Dad. Good to see you two," Surprise whinnied with a sigh. "AJ, This is Mommy and Daddy Sweet Surprise. They're Hoofkaido's top party planners..." The white pegasus looked at the ground, "...and my parents." "A pleasure, sir and ma'am," Applejack greeted the two ponies politely. "I am truly honored to meet you." "Oh my, such polite manners! And so serious, too," Mommy Sweet Surprise commented. "Surprise, why can't you be more like your friend here?" "Motherrrrr...." Surprise hissed, angrily. "Now's not the place... or the time!" "Don't talk back to your mother in that disrespectful tone, young lady," Daddy Sweet Surprise snorted. "She is correct-- you do need to get serious, and start worrying about your future!" The three ponies began to argue as AJ desperately looked for a way to escape. Before Twilight could say or do anything, a voice suddenly called out her name. "Oh, Twilight! Over here!" Glory, who was standing next to Cadance and Dancing Butterflies, motioned to her. "The Princess and the Shogun need your help for a second!" Twilight shook her mane and trotted over to the three ponies. "Very well, what can I do for you two honorable mares?" the pink unicorn inquired. The two nodded, and gestured to three humanoids with pointed ears standing beside them. One wore a blue and purple tricorn hat and jacket, while the other two behind him wore silver armor, and carried rapiers sheathed on their belts. "Twilight Shine, this is Duke De Branforr, representative to Hoofkaido, and brother to the Elven King." Cadance introduced him. " "A pleasure to meet you, your grace!" Twilight beamed. "I hope you will enjoy yo-" "What is this? You bring another lowly woman to speak to me?" The Duke looked insulted. "Why do you ponies not just call forward a stallion to parley, and let the mares to play their silly games and chatter?" As the arrogant elven man talked, Twilight struggled hard to keep herself from trotting up and smacking him. She had heard the Ponyland elves did lean towards being sexist, but ponies were a matriarchal race, and it was an insult to treat a mare in such a fashion. "Your Excellency, I know you came all the way here from Fillydelphia to work out a most honorable agreement." Cadance spoke politely. "And we are of the sincerest hope that we can find a solution that satisfies both parties." "There is nothing to work out, mademoiselle!" the Duke snapped rudely. "We need that land for our crops, and you ponies don't need that land. Therefore, we shall take it!" "And why should we give you that land, you pointy-eared fairy?!" Dancing Butterfly snapped at him. "If you don't watch your tongue, male, my samurai will personally see to it that you'll be running all the way back to Fillydelphia, with a katana stuck up your backside!" The Shogun and the Duke's words degenerated into petty insults, as Cadance desperately looked to Twilight Shine and Glory to say something-- anything-- to get them to stop bickering. "Your Grace, please!" Glory whinnied, stepping in front of the bearded elf nobleman. "Surely, in your infinite grace and wisdom, you can see fit to work something out with us humble and meek ponies?" "Why do you need the valley's central lands so desperately?" Twilight asked. "Weren’t the elves given a large enough cropland allotment by Hoofkaido when they first settled in the valley?" "Our soil is worn out, and our irrigation ditches have dried up," The Duke sneered. "We need more soil to plant, if we are to have enough food to survive." "There are ways to restore your croplands!" Twilight exclaimed. "The gnomes could be commissioned to renew your soil, and teach you crop rotation techniques," "And the mountain fairies could be convinced to run a new waterfall down the mountainside, to create a new river, and replenish your water supply," Glory whinnied. "You don't need to try and take what's not yours!" "I suppose so..." the Duke grumbled angrily, crossing his arms. "Perhaps we can work something out, Shogun." "It would appear so." Snowflake snorted angrily, extending a hoof. "I believe our problems may have been solved for us." The Duke extended his hand, grasping the Shogun's hoof. They briefly shook on it, before turning away from each other in a huff. "Congratulations, girls!" Princess Cadance exclaimed, as the two entourages trotted and walked away. "You've solved your first dispute as Harmony Bearers," The Princess made her way off after the Shogun, leaving the two unicorns to contemplate what had just happened. "I can't believe it, that was so simple," Glory snorted in disbelief. "With those two experienced politicians, it astounds me that they couldn't come to a solution like that on their own!" "Yes," Twilight agreed, looking in the direction the Duke had gone. "It's almost as if neither of them actually wanted peace to be made..." The two unicorn fillies were turned away from their conversation, by the sudden sound of a stallion yelling behind them. "This is truly outrageous!" Daddy Sweet Surprise's voice was so loud, it carried over the entire festival. "Truly, truly outrageous! Our little gem of a daughter wants to stay out and play, instead of returning home!" "Why don't you give up your pranks and parties, and just get serious?" Mommy Sweet Celebrations pleaded. "Don't you ever plan to grow up?" "No, I'm not coming home! Nor will I get serious!" Surprise yelled defiantly. "Princess Cadance wants to train me to be the next Element of laughter, and that means having the ability to laugh! I think you two have forgotten how to do that!" The two pony parents stared at Surprise angrily before trotting off into the crowd. Applejack trotted over to her friend and started to nuzzle her as the white pegasus stared at the ground unhappily. "You gonna be alright, kid?" AJ asked her sympathetically. "I don't wanna talk about it!" The normally hyper Surprise slunk away sadly, leaving a confused earth filly behind her. "Family issues, much?" Glory asked Twilight quietly. The pink filly only nodded in agreement. ... It was well into the night, long after the festival's end, when the six Harmony fillies were back in their rooms, fast asleep. So softly wrapped up in their dreams were they, that the sleeping ponies failed to notice a shadow creep into their open window. They did not see it slide over the floor towards the bed where Glory lay, nor did they see it raise a ninja-to high over its head, intending to strike the unsuspecting, sleeping pony... It was the soft creaking sound of a hoof on a floorboard that silently stirred Applejack from her sleep. Though the small crack of an open eye she saw the glint of moonlight on the blade... then everything happened at once. "Glory, LOOK OUT!" AJ shrieked. The blade came whistling down towards where the white unicorn lay, only to strike the bare mattress as Glory teleported across the room. "Earth pony ninja!" Surprise yelled, as the now awake fillies leapt out of their beds. The ninja threw several shuriken at Posey, who jumped out of the way in fear and hid. Twilight fired a blast off from her horn, which the ninja stallion deflected back at her with his blade. As the pink unicorn was sent reeling from her own magic, Firefly lunged at the ninja, tackling him to the ground. "Drop the blade, punk!" she snorted loudly. "Or you'll regret it!" The black-clad earth pony kicked her off, and threw another shuriken at Glory, which pinned her mane against the wall. "End of the road, Rarity-spawn!" The ninja pony hissed at her, lunging at her throat with his blade. "Aiieeeeee!" Glory cried out covering herself with her hooves. "GET AWAY FROM HER!" Applejack screamed, back-kicking the ninja just inches away from his target, and sending him flying across the room. Without missing a beat, Surprise caught him midair with a headbutt and sent him sailing towards Firefly. "Catch ya later, loser!" The pink pegasus yelled, hitting him with another back-kick that sent him flying clear out the window and hurling towards the ground below. As Twilight and Firefly galloped over to the window, they saw a limping ninja pony painfully galloping away. "Is everybody alright?" Twilight Shine asked as Surprise helped free Glory. "Just mussed our manes up," Glory replied with a sigh. "Although that is trauma enough!" "B-but what the was that all about?" Posey whimpered, coming out of hiding. "Why would that scary pony try to kill us?" "That was one of the Shogun's personal shinobi," Surprise whinnied. "They only kill on Dancing Butterflies’ orders!" Glory levitated one of the ninja stars out of the wall, holding it up for Firefly to examine it. "I've seen these in my weapons enthusiast magazines," she snorted. "It's an adamantine shuriken, elven make." Alt that, all of the fillies in the room stared at her. "What? It's a hobby!" she replied defensively. "It's the only thing I actually read. Well, it and Stud Stallion weekly, though I don't use that for readi-" "Seems both sides have an agenda," Twilight snorted, before looking over to the white pegasus. "Girls, you get to Fireball and the other colts’ room, and stay with them for protection. Surprise? I need you to guide me to Hoofkaido's magic communication mirror, I need to make a call to get some advice." "Sure, Twilight!" Surprise whinnied. "But who are ya gonna talk to?" "To the Moochick, the gnome who taught me magic in the first place," Twilight snorted, trotting towards the door. "He'll know what we should do!" It was at that point that Snowflake and Starglow came galloping into the room. "What happened here?" Snowflake asked, seeing the signs of a struggle. "My samurai are chasing a wounded ninja away from the Citadel!" "When we heard the noise coming out of your room, we got worried," Starglow exclaimed, her body light glowing intensely with excitement. "We wanted to make sure you were all right!" "We'll be fine, ladies! Our attacker decided to take a hike!" Twilight snorted, trotting out the door. "But something stinks here, Snowflake, and it's not in the ventilation system." ... It was at that same moment, that Princess Cadance was in her room, having a conversation of her own. "I-I'm doing the right thing, aren’t I?" Cadance asked the empty room. "Please tell me picking these girls was the right thing to do!" "Only you can answer that, princess," the voice whispered to her on the wind. "I feel you did nothing wrong, but what does your heart tell you?" "T-That the world shouldn't have fallen like it did. That your sister shouldn't have died!" The alicorn tried to hold back her tears. "These girls can set everything right again, my love! They can bring Equestria back!" "Twilight Sparkle died when her time was up, and she was weary of the world." the disembodied voice replied with a sigh. "And Equestria is never coming back, my love. You should be training these girls to protect the future, not resurrect the rotting corpse of the past!" "It's just that with my chariot being stolen by unknown thieves, and how the girls haven't been what I expected them to be, I just don't know what I'm supposed to do anymore!" At those words, Cadance finally broke down. "Aunt Celestia... Aunt Luna... Twilight... I miss them, Shining. I miss them as much as I'm missing you right now!" "Don't worry my love!" The voice almost seemed to be smiling. “There shall come a day very soon where we shall be together again!"