//------------------------------// // Chapter 1: The Aforementioned Companion Combustion. // Story: That Time I Became a Friendship Bomb // by Carmine Craft //------------------------------// Nightmare Moon was laughing. I did it, the elements are no more, and now the night will truly last forever! So convinced was she of this fact that she let her guard down, and didn't notice the approaching voices of the new friends of the foal who thought she could beat her. Twilight turned around to face Nightmare once more, confidence filling her eyes and pulling her lips into a smile as she spoke. "You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that?" Nightmare looked down at the young unicorn, confused by her change in demeanor, "Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here." Suddenly, on both sides of the mare her friends filed in. Nightmare took in the sight, confused as to how those confounded stones had anything to do with the group before her. That is, until the shards of those stones glowed faintly with harmonic power, picking themselves up and flying over to the mares either side of Twilight. She continued. "Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... Honesty!" Orange glowing crystals surrounded her, glowing brighter. "Fluttershy, who tamed the manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... Kindness!" Pink crystal shards drew closer to the shy mare. "Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... Laughter!" Blue stones swirled around the pink pony, she struck a pose that would have made the Nightmare chuckle under different circumstances. Oh you have got to be kidding me, Nightmare thought. "Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... Generosity!" The white mare was surrounded by the deep purple remains of the shattered element, she had a slightly sad look in her eyes. "And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... Loyalty!" Red shards encircled the pegasus. You can't be serious! Nightmare screamed internally, but Twilight pressed on. "The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us." No no no, NO! this can't be happening, there has to be something I can- that's it! "You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!" Perhaps her efforts weren't for nought? Twilight went on. "But it did!" Her mouth curved into a smile. "A different kind of spark." she turned to her friends and continued. "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all... are my friends!" Nightmare could feel the harmonic magics increasing, "You see, Nightmare Moon," the wordy mare continued, but Nightmare was no longer listening. Instead she was reaching out with her magic into the shadows, for something, anything to shield herself with; she was not about to just stand there and be banished to the moon for another thousand years! The sixth element appeared over the group, floating lightly down over Sparkle, the presence of all six elements seemed to loosen any grip Nightmare had on the shadows, and the various things that dwell within them. No! no no no no! Nothing on Equis can save me now! Nightmare thought as she shielded her eyes from the blinding light. Wait... nothing on Equis... it's worth a shot! Nightmare Moon reached further, much further than she had before. The magic was old, and she remembered it poorly, so it took a great deal more magic than it should have, but it was her only chance! Reaching into the shadows of the night on another world she searched with a claw of solid shadow to grasp something to defend herself with. The unlucky creature would probably die, but she didn't care, she would escape in the confusion and make a new plan. Celestia wouldn't be held for long, and with both the full set of the elements of harmony and her sister, placing her back on the moon would prove an easy feat, and she would be stuck there, alone... Peter flopped down onto his bed, stretching slightly before getting comfortable. His dormmate was at his computer watching a show, from what he could tell, it entailed magical horses. He, Dillon, had tried to get Peter to watch it, but it simply didn't strike him as all that entertaining. He settled in for the night on his side and closed his eyes. He soon felt sleep pulling at the edge of his consciousness, he opened his eyes to make one last check of the room. Dillon had a bad habit of not locking the door before he turned in. The first thing Peter noticed was that, indeed the door was unlocked. He internally sighed and moved to get out of bed. The second thing he noticed was that his arm didn't listen to him, and he stayed in bed. He tried the other one, no response. Huh, well that's odd, he thought, trying to wiggle his toes, they didn't move. Is this that sleep paralysis thing I read about on the internet? Huh, cool. Never experienced it myself. He mentally smiled at the novelty, for his muscles weren't about to let him actually do so. He looked around the room, noting that his night vision was in full swing. He could hear the sounds of everything so clearly, the dialogue of the show on the laptop, the party going students outside. I really thought art school would have less parties than the stereotype, boy was I wrong. other than that, it was peaceful. And the article said it was supposed to be some horrifying experience, this is nice! He laughed internally. Just then he saw something move in the corner of the room. A pitch black clawed hand slowly snaked from the shadows. Oh, shit! Me and my big... thoughts? Peter was now frantically trying to move, but the hand wasn't after him. It was heading for Dillon, still sitting at the computer. Peter was trying to scream, to warn him, but his body wouldn't listen. He watched helplessly as the hand came to rest on his roommates shoulder, drumming it's clawed fingers. After a moment it slid off him, shaking in a way that almost seemed to say 'Not this guy' to Peter's relief. Followed up by horror as the hand turned to "face" him, it clenched a few times moving like a serpent as it stretched across the floor to him. He felt his vision blur with tears, the hand rested on his face, scratching its claws on his temples. It shivered with what Peter thought was wicked delight and he swore he could hear faint cackling. The monster hand released its grip on Peter's skull and centered itself above his chest. It dove into his chest like it would pass through water. What the f-? It suddenly reared back dragging a blue and white wispy thing with it. What in the he-!! Suddenly his vision blurred and faded to nothing, the next thing he knew he was struggling in the giant hand's grasp as it retreated into a small glowing hole in the shadow it came from. What's happening! Is that a portal?! Did it just rip out my SOUL!?!? He screamed, struggling to break free, he looked behind his ethereal self to see his body, perfectly still. And that was the last thing he saw before the assumed portal closed with a pop. Nightmare Moon was pulling with all the magic she had left, hoping that whatever she had managed to grab would save her. It has to, that was the one requirement I put into the spell! As the rainbow beam arced into the air, the claw came into Equis before her. Releasing its prize, a small white whisp, the claw disappeared. This is it? This will save me? What even is it? Nightmare wasn't left much time to ponder the strange ethereal object's effectiveness as the rainbow had reached the peak of its ark and was now falling down upon her. Grasping the whisp in her magic she held it before her in an attempt to shield herself. ... Where am I? Peter wondered. Before him was a pitch black horse-thing with the night sky for hair. That... that can't be right, that sounds insane. He thought, and judging by how quickly the horse-thing, Oh, it's got a horn? Unicorn-thing then? Anyway, the blinking motion is taking forever, so the world must be moving in slow motion, he thought. What ever had happened to him was weird, because he could now see in 360°, but because the human mind isn't meant to experience such things it felt more like he was able to turn his "head" in any and all directions effortlessly. He could feel light at what was currently the rear of his perception, so focusing on it he saw what was both humorous and terrifying. A rainbow was descending in his direction. The rainbow was coming from, and possibly being generated by, a group of six more, smaller horse-things. Upon closer inspection, and as the rainbow got closer, it was, fortunately, not actually heading for him, but the unicorn-thing behind him. It touched down at its feet, hooves? And began swirling around the thing. But much to Peter's chagrin, upon its third spiral upward the would-be tornado changed paths and began funneling into Peter's ethereal form, much to the surprise of everyone in the room. Why do I keep getting targeted by all the weird things today!? Peter screamed. What the hell was that rainbow!? And why does everything taste li- He was cut off, because apparently he was unable to contain the full rainbow-death-laser-thing for very long, and he promptly exploded in a rainbow nova. As he faded from consciousness the last thing he remembered was feeling cold stone on his stomach. The group of mares slowly came back to their senses, "Ugh, my head" Rainbow was the first to speak, followed by Applejack. "Everypony okay?" she asked her friends. "Oh, thank goodness!" Rarity exclaimed, drawing everyone's attention. "Why Rarity, it's lovely." Fluttershy said in a half-whisper. "I know! And I'll never part with it again!" Rarity said, jubilant. "No, your necklace, it looks just like your cutie mark." Fluttershy clarified. "What?" Rarity looked down at the gilded necklace that had found its home on her, the purple diamond shape displayed proudly. "Ooh. So does yours." Fluttershy gasped, looking down at her complimentary accessory. Pinkie Pie bounced into view, chanting "Look at mine! Look at mine!" Clearly proud of hers, then bounced off toward the far wall. "Aw yeah." Rainbow Dash exclaimed, with her red lightning bolt necklace on display. AppleJack looked to the crowned unicorn, "Gee, Twilight! I thought you were just spoutin' a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship." Before anyone could respond, a voice came into the room, followed by the light of dawn, "Indeed you do." said the disembodied voice. The sun rose quickly and then, in a flash of light, appeared Princess Celestia. Everyone bowed before her, save for Twilight, whom trotted over to her teacher and received a hug. "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it." Twilight looked up at Celestia with mild confusion. "But... you told me it was all an old pony tale." Twilight said. "I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more." Celestia countered, "I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Now if only another will as well... Princess Luna." All eyes turned to the blue alicorn mare, lying surrounded by shattered armor before the dais. She gasped, not meeting the princesses eyes. "It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us." The princess lied down beside Luna. "We were meant to rule together, little sister." "Sister?" Rainbow Dash and Twilight said in unison. Celestia stood back up. "Will you accept my friendship?" She asked, her voice hopeful. The Elements of Harmony all leaned forward as far as they could in anticipation, causing Pinkie and her new procurement to tip over. Luna gave only a moment's pause before jumping up to embrace her sister. "I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!" The royals embraced with tears in their eyes. "I've missed you, too." Celestia said, with tears of joy. Pinkie blew her nose, followed by streams of water cascading from her closed eyes. A split second later and she was back to her usual chipper self. "Hey, you know what this calls for?" Pinkie asked with a bounce in her step, garnering everyone's focus. "A Party!!" she cheered, jumping up into the air, "for our two new arrivals! Let's go!" She said before landing and heading out the door, drawing everyone's attention to the bundle on her back. Twilight was the first to ask. "Uhh, Pinkie?" She called to the party pony who just stepped out the door. "Yes Twilight?" Pinkie replied from behind her. Twilight managed to contain her surprise."Wh-what do you have there?" She asked pointing a hoof to the blanket on her back, a lock of pale blue hair poking out of it. "Oh! Well they're sleeping, but I figured we should take them back to Ponyville!" Pinkie said in her usual chipper tone. "Uh, who?" Rainbow asked Pinkie with a raised eyebrow and a pointed hoof. "Oh you guys haven't met them yet, right!" Pinkie Pie put the bundle down in front of Twilight, to reveal a light purple colored foal. they had a pale blue mane, their cutie mark appeared to be six grey full circles spaced evenly. But the oddest part of their appearance were the patches of color on their hooves, and streaks of vibrant colors in their mane and tail. "Allow me to introduce you to-! Oh wait, I should let them introduce themself, hehe~" she rubbed the back of her head. "How did a foal even get out here?" Fluttershy asked in normal volume, for which she apologized afterward for shouting. Rarity scooped up the strange foal clicking her tongue "This mane is atrocious! It's like its never even been brushed! and their tail!" The white mare paled and nearly fainted. "I-I-I simply must correct this!" With that she plopped the foal on her back and trotted back towards Ponyville. The Elements of Harmony, sans Pinkie, were accompanying the princesses back to town, Twilight was busy inspecting their unknown tag-along. The vibrant splashes had faded to a degree, along with her stripes, save for two shades of purple which were as bright as ever, that alone was worrying, but what was truly concerning was the slowly growing crystal embedded in their forehead. Twilight was unsure as to how they could have gained such an anomaly, but it was growing by the minute. At first it seemed to be nothing more than another odd splash of color, but it had now progressed to a few quarter inch crystals that were fusing together and growing in thickness. No spell she used seemed to dampen their growth, if anything it made them faster. Once the group made it back to Ponyville, they were greeted by Pinkie Pie and the party she had organized in the time it took them to get back. Fluttershy picked the foal up off Rarity and informed the group that she was going to take the child to the nurse. Fluttershy handed the foal over to Nurse Redheart, and, after a brief explanation of where they found them, she left the foal in her care and returned to her friends. Nurse Redheart performed a few standard tests on the foal, and had the protrusion on her head magically scanned, but from what the tests showed, they were just an earthpony with a severely underdeveloped Gaean duct. "Where did you come from?" she asked the unconscious pony. The nurse sighed and walked out of the room. "I hope she's gonna be ok." And with that she quietly closed the door.