//------------------------------// // Welcome to Ponyville // Story: The Magic Smith // by Arceaion //------------------------------// Twilight smiled as she closed the book she had been reading and carefully placed it in her saddlebags so as not to get any Ink on it. In one day Celestia's sister Luna would be returning from her banishment and she needed to prepare to meet her. When Celestia had told her of Luna and how she became Nightmare Moon Twilight had done everything in her power to find a way to free her, she hated the sadness in Celestia's eyes when she spoke of her sister and for some reason she felt as if she had a duty to help Celestia. As she rose and walked down the road to the castle she waved to the many ponies that were out and slowly her mind began to think about the many oddities and differences that separated her from the normal pony. The first and most obvious was that ever since she had become Alicorn the ink and paint splotches on her body had not only become permanent but were a part of her, she was literally made of ink and paint. Of course the first days were the hardest, and weirdest, there would be times when she would turn into a literal blob of ink or paint for no reason explainable reason, and of course there was that one time she woke up as a puddle of ink. That had been weird and left quite a mess. Then there was the fact that over time she would lose her emotions and magic, of course this had been fixed somewhat with her keeping vials of Color on her at all times. As she thought of this she looked down at the sash that crossed her chest and the twelve vials of Colored Ink that were strapped to it, each vile contained a single emotion and when combined made what she was. Oddly enough Celestia and Twilight had quickly discovered that whatever the stuff in the vials was made of it was toxic to any creature that feed on emotion as it poisoned them. They had discovered this when a Changeling had tried to steal some of the liquid in them shortly after they found the changeling almost dead from ink poisoning. The doctors said it appeared as if she had drunk an entire inkwell. This lead Twilight to investigate the makeup of the liquid and what she found was that whatever the liquid was it had the same properties as ink. Because of this Twilight had taken to calling the substance Colored Ink. However these were only the physical differences, the mental differences were the oddest of them. The first difference could easily be observed, He was extremely hyperactive and her mind was a chaotic mess that made her jump from subject to subject at random. Another that could be identified was that she did not like blank things or white spaces. Over the years Celestia had tried to get twilight to approach them but every time the results were the same, she would either try to get as far away from it or paint it. The first time this happened was what many of the castle staff called 'The Ink Wave of Doom'. Twilight chucked as the memory of the day came back and she stopped for a moment to remember. -Flashback 10 Years Ago- Celestia sighed as she watched Twilight paint yet another white wall. The Fillies eyes were narrowed and she muttered under her breath a manner of dark things mostly consisting of what she would to the decorator and how they wouldn't even be seen as repair stallion when she was done with them. Celestia approached the filly as she finished the painting which depicted Celestia as she had been lying while she watched Twilight. "Twilight I think you have a problem." Celestia said as she approached the filly who looked up confused. "What?" Twilight tilted her head in confusion as her eyes changed to question marks. The older Alicorn sighed. "Twilight I want to try something if you will allow it." Celestia said. The filly thought for a moment before nodding. "What is it?" She asked. "I want you to walk into a white room without any of your paint or ink." She said. Twilight froze before she took a deep breath. "Ok." "And no crayons or chalk either." Celestia said as she narrowed her eyes while Twilight's widened and she began to hyperventilate. Celestia watched in concern as the little Alicorn began to shake before she stopped and took sever deep breathes and nodded. Three days later the two Alicorn stood before a door to a room that had been freshly painted white, as Celestia opened the door Twilight froze and reached for where she normally kept a paint brush but stopped when she remembered that there wasn't one. "Why do I have to do this?" Twilight asked. "We can't have you drawing on every white surface in Equestria Twilight. Normally I'd suggest we start small but I need to know just how bad this is and to do that I need to see the worst of it before I can make this better." Celestia said with a sigh. Slowly Twilight stepped forward and Celestia followed closing the door behind them, as the door closed many of the staff waited with trepidation. The first minute went well and them something that sounded faintly like an explosion was heard before Celestia ran out of the room her pristine coat covered in black ink. As soon as she was out of the room she slammed the door closed and cast a shield around it while looking at the staff that was watching. "RUN!" She screamed before the door burst open and the shield buckled and broke as a tidal wave of black ink ripped through the hall. On that day many tales were told by the castle staff of their princess, some told of how she used one of the maids as a surf board and road the wave to its end surfing nearly the whole castle before stopping at a perfectly placed chair, others told of how she used her mighty magic to simply shield herself and the staff. The truth was that everything in the west wing was flooded in black ink for the next three days as Twilight exploded into a tidal wave of ink that the guard was forced to fight all the way back to the room where Twilight was promptly retrieved and the flow cut off at its source. -End Flashback- As the memory ended twilight shook her head and continued to the tower that Celestia gave her for her 13th birthday. Quickly she ran up the tower a smile on her face as she threw the door open and promptly crashed in to Spike. Spike flew through the air and landed in a heap on the floor, as he rose he groaned and looked around to see a massive Inksplotion covering the walls. "Twilight why?" The baby drake groaned as he walked over to a corner and grabbed a mop and bucket before setting to work on cleaning up the mess. "Honestly sometimes I think you do this on purpose." He said as he wrung out the mop. As the ink was dropped into the bucket it condensed into a tiny pony. "Sorry Spike!" Twilight yelled. "Were you going somewhere or just napping by the door again?" "That was one time!" Spike grumbled as he dumped anther mop full of the ink into the bucket. "And don't tell me you forgot about Moon Dancers party." He said. Twilight chucked. "I sent her both our gifts with Minuette, as well as an apology for not making it." Twilight replied. "I'd love to be there but Nightmares return is more important." Spike sighed. "Yeah, I know." He said before dumping another mop full of ink. "So what exactly is the plan that you and Celestia came up with?" Twilight sighed. "If we can get through the Nightmare and actually talk to Luna than we can force the parasite off of her and I can destroy it by having it latch on to me." She said. Spike nodded in thought. "Okay but if that doesn't work?" Twilight looked Spike straight in the eyes. "If it fails we go to Plan B." She said. "As in get the six most powerful artifacts to willingly cooperate and free Luna." Spike summarized with a sigh. "Twilight The Elements have only ever listened to you and I doubt they will work for anyone else." "They worked for Celestia and Luna." Twilight rebutted and spike dumped the last of the in on her. "And each time it drained them of both their magic and energy for a week." Spike said as the ink condensed and jumped out if the bucket and condensed back into a pony. As Twilight reformed she pulled Spike into a hug. "I know you’re worried, Celestia is too but when it comes down to it the lives of many outweigh the lives of few." She said. "Remember Spike my story is but one of many thousands in the universe and the world won't grieve if it ends too soon. I'm just a single ink drop in the multiverse and we both know that there will always be another to rise." Spike hugged twilight tightly and closed his eyes. "I don't want to lose you mom." He said. Twilight smiled sadly and hugged him tighter. "Don’t worry about me spike, I'm a lot tougher than I look." The next day Twilight and Spike rose bright and early, after they had breakfast Spike went to pack and Twilight calmly walked over to a set of doors that had a gold six pointed star on it. Calmly she inserted her horn into a hole set at the center and channeled her magic through it and into the lock in the center. With a click the doors lit up and opened to reveal several special items. The first was a long brown scarf that she carefully wrapped around her neck the second was her sash and rows of vials containing the Colored Ink that was her emotions and magic. Twilight carefully selected the vials she would need before look at a special one that glowed brighter than the others and was white. Hesitantly she reached out and grabbed it. "Just in case it all goes wrong." She whispered as she took the vial and placed it in a hidden slot behind the sash. The last item was a very special one that she rarely took out, a massive paintbrush as tall as princess Celestia. Each Alicorn had a special tool that allowed them control over their domain. For Celestia it was a massive halberd that channeled the power of Solar Energy and Luna had a great sword that could channel the power of Lunar Energy. However unlike the sisters Twilight's domain was creation and weapons were not for creation, as such Twilight's tool was a Paintbrush. Twilight smiled as her hoof caressed the wood of the brush lovingly and with practiced ease she spun it around and placed it on her back. Once the two finished packing they made their way to the chariots and left for a small town called Ponyville, it was here that Celestia had chosen for the Summer Sun Celebration to take place however that was simply a cover. The true reason it was picked to be held here was because it was the closest location to where Luna was imprisoned and it would be here that Twilight would face Nightmare Moon and save Luna. Twilight sighed as she watched the clouds and land below her and smiled, no matter what when she was in the sky her mind cleared, slowly time lost meaning as the Alicorn simply watched the world go by in a sort of trance. When the finally descended the bump of the chariot pulled her out if her thoughts and she exited it as Spike jumped out after her. "I wonder if we can meet any interesting ponies her." She said and Spike sighed. "Twilight, you shouldn't talk to strangers." He said. "Or at least not as many as you talk to." Twilight shook her head. "It's called making friends Spike and talking to ponies and being friendly comes with the job description of 'princess'." She retorted as a pink pony approached her. "Hi, I'm Twilight, wha-" The pink Pony gasped as she jumped into the air and shot off leaving a blurry after image. Twilight's mouth fell in shock before her eyes burst into stars. "OH MY GOSH SHE FOLLOWS CARTOON PHYSICS!!" Twilight screamed in joy. Spike groaned and face palmed. "Great now there are two of them." He groaned. After meeting the pink pony Twilight and Spike walked through the town and spike quickly pulled out a scroll "Summer Sun Celebration official overseers Checklist" He said aloud and Twilight groaned. "Of course she would send a checklist." Twilight said. Spike chucked. "The last time Celestia sent you to do a job and didn't give you a checklist was Saddle Arabia." "What did I do?" Twilight asked innocently. "She sent me to lower the trade agreement and I did." "You lowered the trade agreement but also bought a palace, gambled away 4000 bits and then won 146000 bits, was given the title Goddess of Art and Gambling and drank three bars dry before ripping open a portal to what you called the Doodle Sphere and unleashed a tentacle monster that got you the title of Goddess of Sex." Twilight thought for a moment before shrugging. "I still lowered the trade agreement." She said. Spike shook his head. "Number one, banquet preparations: Sweet Apple Acres." He said as they entered to gates to the ranch as soon as they entered they heard somepony yell and the two watched as a Earth Pony with an orange coat and yellow main slam into a tree knocking the apples off. ======================================================================================= Twilight sighed. "Fine let's get this over with, so we can go have some fun." She said a she approached the pony. "Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle and I-" "Well howdy Twilight!" The pony said as she reached out a hoof and froze. "I'm Applejack and it's a plea-Oh, Princess!" The farm mare gasped in shock before quickly bowing. Twilight sighed. "Just once I wish ponies would shake my hoof like a normal pony rather than stop and kiss the ground I walked like I'm blessing it." She sighed. Applejack blushed and rubbed the back of her head. "Sorry Princess." She said sheepishly. "So what brings ya out here?" She asked. "I'm here to supervise the Summer Sun preparations and you’re in charge of the food." She said though she sounded a little down. "That would be correct princess, is there a problem or are you here to sample some?" Applejack asked "Sorry if I sound a bit down." Twilight said. "Celestia wrote me a freaking checklist so I have to follow it." "I'm sure she just wants you to make sure you do it right." Applejack said reassuringly. "I'm sure Princess Celestia meant nothin personal by it." "Last time she went without a checklist she became the Goddess of Art, Gambling and Sex in Saddle Arabia" "I still lowered the trade agreement." Twilight grumbled. "Well maybe it is personal." Applejack said with a chuckled. "Now how bout you sample some of the food." She said as she rang a bell and the ground rumbled. Several hours later Twilight happily trotted down the road while spike groaned and looked at the checklist. "There's supposed to be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds. Twilight looked up and chuckled. "Well seeing as there are a bunch of clouds around I think they probably fell asleep on the job." She said before stopping and thinking. "Wouldn't blame them either, clouds are soooo soft." She said with a sigh, Spike sighed as well though for a different reason. Suddenly a rainbow maned pony flew past him and slammed into Twilight who promptly burst into an ink puddle. "Oh, did I hit something?" The rainbow pony groaned as she looked down at the ink that covered her. "What the hay is this stuff!?" She asked before screaming as a purple eye blinked up at her. After a second Twilight shot out of the ink and leaned over the terrified pony looking at her closely. "Rainbow but not Rainbow." Twilight said as she examined the Pegasus mare. "Your mini Rainbow!" Twilight decided with a nod. "Hey whoa, I'm Rainbow Dash and anypony who says there me is obviously an impostor!" The Pony said indignantly. Twilight shook her head. "Ok, you’re still not Rainbow though." Twilight said definitively. Rainbow Dash moved to argue but Spike interrupted. "She means Princess Celestia." He said with a sigh. Rainbow frowned. "How do you...wait either those wings are fake or that horn because there are only... two... Alicorn..." Rainbow trailed off and gulped. "Ah, hehe... sorry princess Twilight." Twilight waved her hoof. "It's fine, glad someponies don't bow and kiss my hooves." Twilight said with a smile. "It's so annoying." Rainbow nodded. "I always figured you princesses just got use to it." She said. Twilight shook her head. "Eventually you learn to tune it out so, ya I guess you would be right but wrong at the same time." Rainbow laughed and smiled. "So are those wings just for show or can you fly with them?" Twilight smiled and Spike gulped. "Ya know I heard you were supposed to be clearing the sky, maybe if you'd of done that I'd show you." "Oh that? Yeah I'll do once I'm done practicing." Rainbow said dismissively. "Practicing for what slowest job in Equestria award? I'm pretty sure you chose the wrong job path if that's what you're going for." Twilight said with a smirk. "The nearest DMV at least a hundred miles away from Ponyville." Rainbow glared at her. "No, I plan to join the Wonderbolts!" She exclaimed as she pointed to a poster of the Wonderbolts flying. "They're going to perform at the celebration tomorrow and I'm going to show them my stuff." She said proudly. Twilight smile turned predatory thought Rainbow couldn’t see. "The Wonderbolts, fastest fliers in Equestria?" Twilight asked. "The one and only." Rainbow confirmed proudly. Twilight scoffed. "Please, they wouldn't look twice at a Pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for a day." Twilight said as she waved her hoof. "Oh no." Spike said with a gulp. "Hey I can clear this sky in ten seconds flat." Rainbow said as she turned to Twilight who had narrowed her eyes her smile more suited for a demon. "Then prove it." She said. As soon as Twilight said that she Rainbow flared her wings and shot into the sky clearing the clouds as Twilight smiled and counted. As soon as Rainbow landed she smirked. "See I told you, ten seconds flat." She said proudly "I'd never leave Ponyville hanging." She said happily. Twilight smirked. "Well done." she said happily. "You just cleared the clouds." She said as Rainbow froze and looked at her. "Oh, you’re good." She said with a smirk. "Ya know I had fun, let's hang out later." She said as she took off. Twilight smiled and walked off Spike running to catch up. "Well she was amazing. Next is decoration sin the town hall." He said following Twilight As Twilight entered the town hall she smiled and nodded her head. "Perfect!" She said happily "The colors contrast, each other, the banners are not only cleaned but on display and the hall is decorated to perfection!" She said happily. "Whoever did the decor knows what they are doing unlike that castle decorator." She said while Spike froze. "Beautiful..." Spike said as he was mesmerized. Twilight nodded. "Yes, it is beautiful." She said in agreement. "Not the decor Twilight!" Spike said as he pointed at a unicorn with a white coat and purple mane. "Her..." Twilight sighed. "Come on lover boy." She said as he dragged him forward. "Hey, I'm not in love, I just think she's pretty!" Spike retorted "The minute you saw her, your color changed to pink." Twilight said with a smirk. "And we both know that pink means either lust or love so which is it?" Spike sighed as Twilight stepped forward. "Excuse me." She said only for the unicorn to raise a hoof. "Just a moment, I'm focusing." She said as she cycled through several ribbons before selecting. "Ah, sparkle always does the wor..." She gasped and trailed off as she saw the pony before her. "Oh my, Princess Twilight!" She gasped out before looking over her. "Oh dear you’re in a terrible state, come we must get you cleaned up!" She said as she turned to push they young Alicorn away however Twilight simply turned into ink and shoot away from the unicorn before resolidifying away and shocking the Unicorn who stood with her mouth open. "Sorry miss but I don't need to be all dressed up and for your information I am clean!" Twilight said indignantly. "But princess, you have paint all over you!" Rarity said. Twilight growled. "I'm made out paint little unicorn." She said angrily as her eyes turned into red diamonds, Twilight closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "I'm the Alicorn of Creation, the paint and ink on me is part of my body." She said after calming down. "I see, my deepest apologies your majesty." The unicorn said with an apologetic look. "You’re not the first and this won't be the last time this happens, it just irritates me." Twilight said with a sigh. "If you'll excuse me I still have much to do." "Of course princess." The pony said with a bow. As Twilight walked away she stopped and turned to the Unicorn. "Ya know, I don't think I got your name." She said as she turned. "Rarity, your majesty." Rarity said. "My name is Rarity Belle." Twilight nodded and left the town hall. Twilight sighed as she walked down the road. "So what's next on our list?" She asked. "Music and guess what Twilight, it's the last one." He said while Twilight smiled happily. "Thank Faust, once we're done her we can check into the place we're staying and them party!" Twilight said happily. As they walked they heard the sound of birds singing and the two looked at each other before turning to investigate. Once they found where the music was coming from they saw a butter yellow Pegasus with a pink mane conducting the birds before asking them to stop and spoke with one of them. Twilight quietly approached and listened to the rehearsal. Spike poked her and she looked down. "I thought you wanted to get this done." He said before Twilight shushed him. "Be quiet and listen Spike." She said in a hushed voice. Spike crossed his arms and sat down grumbling. After several minutes of listening the rehearsal ended and the Pegasus turned and froze when she saw Twilight. "Hello, I'm Twilight Sparkle. I came to oversee the preparations of the Celebration." Twilight said calmly. "The music is excellent, I apologize for startling you but I didn't want to interrupt." The Mare shook slightly and whimpered before taking a breath. "It's okay princess." She said vary quietly. Twilight smiled warmly and nodded. "What is your name?" "Fluttershy." She said afraid. Twilight smiled. "Fluttershy, what a nice name." She said before turning g to leave. "It was a pleasure to meet you Fluttershy." She said as she began to walk away. "Huh, I thought for sure something would go weird." Spike said as he crepted out of a bushed causing Fluttershy to gasp. "A Baby dragon!" She gasped ask she shot forward and Twilight quickly sidestepped her. "I've never seen a baby dragon before, he's so cute!" Spike chuckled and backed. "Uh... Twilight, a little help?" He asked as he looked her only to see her snickering. "Twilight!" He groaned. "Oh, he talk, I didn't know dragons could talk!" Fluttershy said shocked. "Well... that's great but we need to go and uh... do things" Spike said as he jumped on Twilights back and looked at her. "What, what's his name." Fluttershy asked. "My names Spike, you know I'm right here you could just ask." He said grumpily. "Oh, I'm so sorry." Fluttershy said sadly. "Could you tell me about you?" "What do you want to know?" Spike asked. Fluttershy smiled sheepishly. "Everything, if that's not too much trouble." Spike sighed and reluctantly began to tell Fluttershy about himself and Twilight smiled. As they walked through town Spike and Fluttershy talked till they reached the library where he jumped off. "Well this is where we are staying so I'm going g to have to say good bye." Spike said quickly before running into the library. Twilight sighed. "Despite his friendliness he has a bit of a habit in preferring to not meet many ponies." Twilight said apologetically. "It was nice to meet you." She says as she follows Spike into the library and closes the door before turning to Spike. "You know you don't need to be rude." Spike sighed. "No pony is that friendly without wanting something, take that Unicorn for example. She acted like a noble and was probably trying to get your attention for something to brag about, she sure was pretty though, we it not for her personality I'd defiantly chase her." Twilight chuckled. "Alright Casanova, help me find the lights and then we ca-" Suddenly the light switched on and hundreds of ponies stood in the library shouting surprise. "SURPRISE!" A pink pony shouted excitedly. "Hi I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you!" She said as she bounced around. "Were you surprised, were you? Huh?" She asked quickly and Twilight smiled. "Very surprised!" Twilight said just as fast and smiled. "Hey you’re that Cartoon pony I met earlier!" She said as she bounced around as well. Pinkie giggled and nodded. "Yeppers, I saw you when you got her and I was all like GASP, because I've never seen you before and If I've never seen you before then it means that you're new because I know everypony and I mean every pony in Ponyville, and of your new you haven’t met anypony yet and if you haven’t met anypony yet, and if your new you don’t' have any friends and if you don’t have any friends you'd be lonely then I saw you're a princess I and then I had an Idea and that was why I went GASP and I decided to throw you a party and invite all of Ponyville!" Twilight smiled as Pinkie grabbed the five she had met that day who looked confused at what she was saying but waved to Twilight anyway. Twilight smiled as her eyes changed to stars. "Oh thank you!" Twilight said happily. "Today’s been so boring, I mean that's ok but I haven’t been able to actually been able to cut loose or party at all today!" Pinkie gasped. "NO PARTY!" She cried as if someone had said a thousand puppies had just died. Twilight groaned. "I know, Celestia put gave me a checklist and if I didn't do she would be mad again." She said sadly. Pinkie tilted her head. "Why would she do that and why was there no party on the list!" "Because last time she partied or went without a checklist she became the Goddess of Art, Gambling and Sex in Saddle Arabia" "I still lowered the trade agreement!" Twilight yelled in exasperation. Pinkie gasped. "You’re the goddess of sex in Saddle Arabia?" Pinkie asked as Rarity fainted. "How did that happen?" Twilight smiled. "If we ever throw a more mature party I'll show you but for now just know it involves a portal, ten pounds of butter, a tentacle monster, and three eggs." Pinkie smiled and put a hoof around Twilights shoulders. "This is the start of a beautiful friendship." She said with an ear splitting grin that Twilight shared. Somewhere among the party spike shuddered as he felt his job get a lot more difficult.