Friendship is Magic Part 1

Welcome to Ponyville

Seeing Twilight so flustered, Spike swallowed the last of his cupcake and decided to read the rest of the letter to her, with more tact. "My dearest Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying. So, I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for this year's Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville."

"Twilight's going to supervise the Celebration?" Lemon Hearts asked. "Wow. That's a really big honor. Congratulations Twilight."

"EEEeeehhh." Following that beautiful bit of phrasing, Twilight Sparkle collapsed on the ground.

"What? We don't count?" Twinkleshine joked, only to be quieted by a jab in the shoulder by Minuet. "I mean, you should probably get going."

"Huh?" The dragon had half of another cupcake in his mouth, "But what about Moondancer's party?"

"It's alright Spike." Moondancer began packing up the various snacks and party supplies. "We can continue the party tonight, at Ponyville. That is, if it's okay with everyone." The girls all smiled and nodded, then after helping their friend to clean up, the carried the still brain-dead Twilight to the train station, save one.

"You girls go on without me." Lemon Hearts said. "I need to take care of something first." and the yellow unicorn left for the closest game shop. "If she's going to Ponyville, she's going to need one of these."
= = =
Rising high above the Canterlot skyline, was Canterlot Castle. Built over a thousand years ago during the reign of King Bullion, it was the single largest building in Equestria. From the top of the Southern Tower, a white pony looked out over the land.

She was Celestia, ruler of all of Equestria. She stood twice as tall as the average pony at eighteen hands, and being an Alicorn, possessed both a two hands long horn and a pair of stark white wings reaching twelve hands from wing tip to perfectly maintained wingtip. Her ethereal mane flowed in a non-existent breeze, kept out of her face by the gold diadem that rested upon her head. In a word, she was magical.

Yet at this moment, Princess Celestia simply felt old. She had ruled this land for many years, far more years than most of her subjects realized. And as she was about to bring about the dawn of a new year, she felt so very old.

"Your highness?" a voice came from the door behind her. She straightened her unnaturally long neck and pushed the years from her mind, once again she was the Princess Celestia the masses wanted and needed to see.

"Enter." The door opened to reveal a pony wearing the gold armor of the Royal Guard. He bowed before his monarch.

"I am here to inform you that Miss Twilight Sparkle has left for Ponyville, your highness. She will arrive in less than hour."

The guard bowed deeper. "Yes, your highness, you did. But she left for the town via the Ponyville Express." He held out the pegasus guard's report for the Princess to consult.

She took the parchment in her magic. Reading it, she learned that her pupil had left in the company of many of her magic school's other students, in fact the very students she had been trying to get the young bookworm to open up to over the years.

"Well well well." She gave the report back to the guard. "You are dismissed." The guard left and the stark white pony resumed gazing out the window, this time her gaze was directed directly at the small hamlet a few miles south of the city. A small smile played across her face. "I don't know how or why this happened, but if she has ponies willing to help her or at least travel with her. She may be closer to making friends than I thought."

She looked to her left at a tapestry of herself in midair, with the blazing sun above her on her left and a crescent moon just barely above the horizon on her right. She put her hoof on the overshadowed moon, "For your sake, I hope so."
= = =
The Ponyville Express was a pink steam train that made regular trips between the mountainside capitol and the more rustic hamlet of Ponyville. Currently aboard this train were many of the Canterlot nobility -who were utterly put off that the Princess should decide to hold the Celebration in such a back-water town like Ponyville- as well as ordinary civilians, and several of the students from Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns.

Twilight Sparkle sat apart from all of them, putting herself away in the corner of the car. She had regained enough of her mental processes earlier to grab both Predictions and Prophecies, as well as the story book she had first been reading. She was hoping to read them before attending to her duties and learn some more about the Elements of Harmony, or at least about Nightmare Moon. Instead her assistant Spike was trying to cheer her up about her current assignment. A kind gesture, but not what she needed right now.

“Look on the bright side, Twilight, the Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn’t that make you happy?”

“Spike, I know what you’re trying to do, but I just need some time to think right now. Why don’t you go talk to your friends.”

The baby dragon stayed for a moment before he entered the aisle, but he paused and looked back at his caretaker, “They’re your friends too you know.” With that he left her alone.

Twilight sighed and looked out the window at the passing countryside. ‘Why didn’t she believe me? Should I have given her some proof of what I said? Cited my sources?’ Her musings were interrupted by Lemon Hearts who just sat down next to her.

“No. Celestia said to check on preparations. I am her student, and I will do my royal duty.” Twilight said, rather begrudgingly.

“In that case, take this.” She pulled something out of her bags. “If you’re going to Ponyville, you will need it.”

Twilight looked at what she had been given with disgust. It was a deck of cards, their backs decorated with a simple brown background with a large black oval over it. While unassuming, Twilight knew exactly what it was.

“Duel Monsters? I’m sorry, but I don’t like that game.” Duel Monsters was a new game that had been created about a year or more ago. Before long, young fillies and colts across Equestria were playing it. Twilight, being the studious shut-in she was, never found the time to play it, nor did she want to. On top of that, the game was almost all she heard ponies talk about lately, making her dislike for it even stronger. “Besides, I don’t have time to sit around and play some game.”

“Remember how Minuet said that Ponyville was a hotspot for Duelists?” Twilight did remember how the conversation had degraded. “Well, what she said was actually a bit of an understatement. The ponies in Ponyville take the game very, very seriously. Chances are, something is going to slow down the preparations, and the only way to resolve it will be by playing the game.”

“You have got to be kidding me.” Twilight said, but the look on Lemon’s face was dead serious.

“Here,” she gave her a small booklet, “This is a Duel Monsters rulebook. I suggest you at least learn the basics.” And with that she left. Twilight looked at the booklet and deck of cards, groaned, stuffed the deck in her saddle bags and began reading the rules.
= = =
The train pulled into Ponyville before Twilight could get very far into the rulebook, but she had ‘learned the basics’ as Lemon had asked. Dozens of Unicorns and a few others departed the pink train, some more quickly so as to get away from the ‘vicious monster’ that had accompanied Twilight Sparkle. As the Canterlot ponies saw Ponyville for the first time, they began uttering some mixed opinions about the town.

“Uhg! Dirt roads?” One posh looking stallion said, “I had heard that Ponyville was a small town, but this is utterly barbaric.”

“Do you smell that?” Said an Earth Pony mare to her Unicorn companion, “That is the smell of hundreds of flower boxes all mixed in with the smells of bakeries, farms and carts of fresh fruit.”

“I hope you found us a proper place to spend the night.” Said one mare to her husband, “I have no intention of sleeping in a house with a leaky straw roof.”

“Wow!” Minuet exclaimed, “Everypony looks so friendly.” Moondancer moved a little closer to the blue Unicorn to avoid some of this friendliness.

“And there are so many different kinds of ponies too.” Spike observed, “I’ve never seen this many Earth Ponies and Pegasi in one place before.”

Twinkleshine had a bit more apprehension than her friends, “Is it just me, or does this place seem a little, small, to anyone else?”

Twilight was too determined to complete her assignment to stick around and listen to any of this. She didn’t get very far in her progress before she was stopped by a bouncing, pink, singing, something.

“Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!
To Ponyville today!
I hope you all enjoy yourselves
And maybe want to stay!

We’ve got a lot of treats in store
I promise it will be fun!
Welcome! Welcome! Welcome!
To our celebration of the sun!”

The singer was a pink Earth Pony mare, maybe a year or two younger than Twilight and her friends. Her mane was a darker shade of pink and looked more like cotton candy than hair. Her cutie mark was two blue balloons flanking a yellow balloon. The ponies who had been on the receiving end of the pony’s song looked at her with a myriad of different expressions: confusion, disgust, blank, amused, and cheerful.

“Hi! I’m Pinkie Pie, I wrote that song just for you. Well, not you specifically, but all of you wonderful ponies visiting from Canterlot! Did you like it?”

Most of the ponies scoffed and left the station on their way to where ever they would be staying the night.

“Pinkie Pie, was it?” Minuet stepped forward, “You wouldn’t happen to be the perfectly pink pony party planner Pinkie Pie, would you?”

“Our friend Lyra Heartstrings said she’s never been to another party quite like the ones you throw.”

As Minuet dropped the name, Pinkie suddenly gasped, bounced into the air, and seemed to hover for a few seconds. “You know Lyra? Wait! If you know Lyra, that must mean you go to Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns!”

“Ding Ding! Got it right on the first try.” Minuet said. “I’m Minuet. This is Lemon Hearts and Twinkleshine,” The two mares waved, “Moondancer,”

“It’s nice to meet all of you.” Pinkie Pie said with a smile. She lowered her head, so it was eye level with Spike “I didn’t know that Dragons could attend a school for Unicorns.”

“They, um, can’t.” Spike said, rubbing his claws together, “I’m just Twilight’s assistant.”

“Yes he is.” Twilight said, scooping Spike onto her back, “And right now, we are on an official mission from the Princess. So, we will just be on our way. Spike, where are we going first?”

Spike pulled out the scroll and read aloud, “Summer Sun Celebration: Official Overseer’s Checklist. Number 1: Banquet preparations, Sweet Apple Acres.”

“Good. Now, I’ll be off.” Twilight started walking into town. Until she was forcibly turned sideways by the pink roadblock. “Gah! What? What are you doing?”

“Getting you on track of course!” Pinkie Pie said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Spike tapped the top of Twilight’s head “Uh, Twilight? Do you see that giant mess of apple trees over there?” he pointed straight ahead in the direction Pinkie Pie had pointed Twilight.

“Yes?” Twilight snapped. For a supposedly smart pony, she could be quite dense at times.

“It’s alright. You’ve never been here before. Come on! I’ll walk you there.” Pinkie Pie began pushing Twilight forwards, before she got her hooves working again and started her way towards the Acres.

Moondancer quickly trotted to keep up with the retreating pink and purple ponies. “I’m going to go with them. Make sure nothing, breaks. Hey Twilight! Wait up!” The other three just smiled and went on their way.
= = =
Sweet Apple Acres was a huge growth of apple trees, kept separate from the road by a white picket fence. The three ponies and one Dragon passed through an ivy covered, well not really a gate, more of an arch with a sign hanging under it. The only buildings to be seen were a collection of small storage houses, a chicken coop, and a dark red barn that looked to be the main dwelling of whoever lived here.

From the grove of trees came an orange Earth Pony. Her mane and tail were straw blonde and bound near the base. Her cutie mark depicted a trio of red apples. On top of her head sat an old worn cow folk style hat. She looked to be a year older than Twilight was. “Howdy, Pinkie!” she looked at the two Unicorns and Dragon, “And a good afternoon to ya’ll.”

Twilight stepped forward, “Good afternoon, my name is Twilight Sparkle. And I’m here to-“ She was cut off as the mare began furiously shaking her hoof.

“Well howdy-doo, Miss Twilight.” She then started shaking Moondancer’s hoof, “And I didn’t catch your name.”

“And I’m Spike.” The young Dragon actually managed to return her hoofshake without his claws going numb.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Well I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you’re in charge of the food?”

“We sure as sugar are.” Applejack said, proudly. “Would you care to sample some?”

“As long as it doesn’t take too long.” Before Twilight had finished speaking, Applejack had started banging a metal drumstick against a rusty triangle.

The Canterlites could feel a massive rumbling approaching them. “I think ya done goofed, Twilight” Pinkie said. The four of them were suddenly carried off in a cloud of dust and ponies; only to be deposited at a small picnic table under a small grove of trees.

“Now,” Applejack said, popping up beside them, “Why don’t I introduce ya’ll to the Apple family.” She presented her hoof at the large group of Earth Ponies that had apparently been the cause of that dust cloud.

Twilight, seeing the impending doom, decided to get the heck out of dodge. “Thanks, but I really need to hurry.” She couldn’t leave though as a yellow mare with a green mane brought up a plate with some apple pastry on it.

“This here is Apple Fritter.” The plate was left in front of her. Another mare, this one with a red mane, came forward with a pair of caramel covered apples on sticks in her mouth.

“Apple Bumpkin.” Those were also placed on the table. A third mare came forward. This one was pink with a green mane. She carried a cupcake with an apple slice stuck into the frosting on her head.

“Red Gala.” A stallion took her place. He was yellow with a blue mane. In his mouth was a plate with another apple themed dessert on it.

“Red Delicious. Gold Delicious. Caramel Apple. Apple Strudel. Apple Tart. Baked Apple. Apple Triage. Apple Cinnamon Crisp.” with each name, another earth pony featuring a similar color pallet of yellow, green, gold and/or brown would come forward and place an apple themed food item on the table. Until there was no more room and they started placing the dishes one on top of the other.

Applejack suddenly inhaled deeply, “Big Macintosh, Apple Bloom and…” She then shoved a raw apple into Twilight’s mouth before running off to one side, “Granny Smith.” Applejack slowly walked up to an elderly Earth Pony who was sleeping in a rocking chair. “Up and at ‘em, Granny Smith. We got guests.” As the old mare sleepily walked over to the other Ponies, Applejack began patting Twilight’s back. “Why, I’d say you were already part of the family.”

Twilight immediately spat out the apple. Pinkie Pie grew a surprisingly evil grin, “Wow AJ, a dinner, having her meet your family, then a proposal; all within a minute and a half. You sure move fast.”

The rest of the Apple family nickered as the farmpony nodded, then realized what Pinkie just said. “Wait! No! I didn’t mean it like that! I meant, uh, I don’t know what I meant.” The other Ponies and Dragon just kept laughing, except Twilight who was trying to get the sour apple taste out of her mouth.

“Ah-he-he, well!” Twilight exclaimed. “I can see the food situation is handled. So we’ll be on our way.”

“Aren’t ya gonna stay for brunch?” Asked a small filly wearing a giant bow. She blinked twice as her big sad eyes watered and her lip quivered.

“You know, Twilight.” Spike said “This may be the only chance we get to eat before the celebration.” Moondancer and Pinkie Pie were both nodding and smiling expectantly.

Twilight bit her lip as she tried to decide. She hung her head in defeat as her assistant’s logic won out over her own motives, “Fine, ten minute lunch break.”

“But only ten minutes!”
= = =
Fifteen minutes later…
Pinkie Pie had a significant bounce in her step as she lead the other three back into Ponyville proper. Spike looked over the checklist he held, “Food’s all taken care of. Next is weather.” Looking back he saw a bloated Twilight being helped up the road by Moondancer.

Spike began looking upwards for someone, “There’s supposed to be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds.”

“Ooh.” Pinkie oohed. “I know Dashie. She’s a really cool pony. I didn’t know she was clearing the clouds though.”

“Probably because she’s not.” Twilight said, bitterly. Overhorn were several clouds, and that was just directly above them. “The Summer Sun Celebration is tonight, and because of her slacking off, no one will be able to see it!”

“Aren’t you being a little bit harsh, Twilight?” Moondancer tried to calm down her friend.

“Maybe you should discuss this with her.” Pinkie Pie pointed at what looked like a stray rainbow that was snaking its way between the clouds. As it got closer, Twilight could see it was a rainbow colored trail following a flying Pegasus.

“YOU!” She yelled. “Come down here!” The Pegasus took a moment to stop, and then land.

She was a sky blue Pegasus about the same age as Pinkie Pie. Her wind-brushed tail was colored just like a rainbow; while her locks were colored red, orange and yellow, and her crest was green, blue, and purple. Her cutie mark looked like a white cloud with a lightning bolt curving down from it. The bolt itself was red, yellow and blue in color. “Yes?” she asked, somewhat nervous.

The pony lost all her nervousness, “The one and only.” She proudly said, “Why? You heard of me?”

“I heard that you are supposed to be keeping the sky clear.” Twilight sighed, and somehow regained some self control. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.”

“Oh that!” She said, “I’ll get around to it. After I finish practicing.”

Moondancer knew something was about to break. “Practicing for what?” she asked, cutting Twilight off before she could ignite her magic.

“The Wonderbolts!” Rainbow Dash suddenly got all starry-eyed. “The best fliers in all of Equestria. One day, I’m going to get a chance to show them that I can fly just as well as the Wonderbolts can. Maybe even join them. Until then, I have to keep practicing.”

“It’s true.” Pinkie Pie said. “There’s not a day when you don’t see Dashie up in the sky, flying loop-de-loops and trying to outrace the wind.”

“Well,” Twilight said, “If you’re so talented, then clearing the clouds should be easy for you, right?”

Rainbow Dash looked at Twilight Sparkle intently, “You got some glitter in your ears or something? I just said I can do it in ten seconds flat. I don’t have to do it until tonight.” With that, she flew up to one of the clouds and began stretching.

“What? No. You get back here, now!” It was then that Twilight noticed something. Around Rainbow Dash’s barrel was a gray belt, with a small box tucked just behind her left wing. Twilight had a sinking suspicion what was in that box.

“The ponies in Ponyville take the game very, very seriously. Chances are, something is going to slow down the preparations, and the only way to resolve it will be by playing the game.”

Lemon’s words echoed in Twilight’s mind. 'I can’t believe I’m doing this.' she thought to herself.

Rainbow Dash stopped her stretches and looked at her with a smirk, “Yeah, I play."

“Then how about we settle this with a game?” Spike and Moondancer both felt their mouths hit the dirt. Twilight Sparkle, the no-nonsense study nerd, was challenging somepony to a duel. “If you win, then you can put off doing your job until the last moment. But if I win, then you will clear the clouds now.”

Rainbow Dash dropped down to the ground and stood nose to nose with Twilight. “It’s on.”
= = =
Rainbow led them to a nearby part of town. It looked just like the rest of Ponyville, except for one big thing. In the middle of a lot, was a large yellow stage. It had two raised platforms on each end, with two rows of five rectangles on the stage beneath them. A blank row divided the stage into two opposing halves. A number of white stones lined the outside of the stage. On the side was a large black ‘$’ mark. Rainbow Dash flew over to the far-left side of the stage.

“It’s a duel arena.” Pinkie answered. “Have you ever heard of Filthy Rich, the guy who’s in charge of Stinking Rich Industries? Well, he had his company make these to make the game of Duel monsters more immersive.”

Twilight climbed onto the raised platform opposite to the one Rainbow Dash was on. In front of her was a table with half of what the rulebook described as a duel field inscribed onto it. “Ever dueled on a duel arena before?”

“Because it seemed like the only way to get you to stop being lazy and do your job.” Twilight snapped. “Besides, it’s just a card game. I have a 50% chance of winning.” She stated, smugly.

Rainbow hesitated, ‘I’m not lazy, does she really think that?’ “We’ll see about that.” She pulled her deck out of her carrying box and put it on the table. Suddenly the whole stage lit up. The white stones began emitting rainbow colored light. “Place your deck in the space marked ‘deck.’” Rainbow Dash called out. Twilight pulled the deck given to her out of her saddle bag, gave it a quick shuffle, and did as Rainbow Dash told her. The wall above her table suddenly revealed Rainbow’s half of the field. Above both ponies were a pair of floating ‘2000’s.

“I don’t need your help.” Twilight retorted. She drew the top five cards in her deck with her magic. This would be what card dealers called a player’s fan. It consisted of five gold monster cards. The goal of the game was for each player to summon a monster. The player with the stronger monster would win and the loser would lose life points. The first player to lose all their life points would lose the duel.

Twilight picked out one of her monsters and placed it on her field, “I summon Skull Servant.” On the stage below them, there was a flash of sparkles. A skeletal pony wearing a purple robe suddenly materialized.

“That’s what I meant by immersive.” Pinkie said, “The duel arena reads the cards, and creates a magical illusion of the cards on the field.” Spike and Moondancer were awestruck. A number of other townsponies were suddenly gathering around the arena, making quite an audience.

Rainbow didn’t seem impressed by the display, “Only 300 attack points? I’m really going to have to hold back.”

“My draw.” Rainbow added a new card to her fan, which was laid out on the table before her since she didn’t have magic to hold it. “I summon Droll Bird in attack mode!”

From Rainbow’s side of the field came another flash of sparkles. From them came a large brown bird with goofy looking eyes and a large duck-like beak.

“Droll Bird! Destroy her monster!” The bird opened its mouth and let out a wail. Twilight covered her ears, but her Skull Servant just shattered like it was made of glass.

Twilight drew another card, it was another monster card, but it only had 500 attack points. She looked at the rest of her fan, and realized with embarrassment that she had summoned the monster with the least amount of attack points. ‘Come on Sparkle, don’t let your frustration get the better of you.’ She grabbed a different card. “I summon, Enchanting Mermaid.”

This monster didn’t really look like anything Twilight had ever heard of. Its lower half looked like a fuchsia fish tail, while its upper half was a thin figure with teal color skin. A fuchsia silk garment covered its chest. Instead of hooves, the figures fore-limbs terminated in appendages not unlike Spike’s claws, except these lacked claws and scales. The head was rounded and flat, yet had a distinct feminine quality to it, this was intensified by the mane of long auburn hair that fell around the figure’s shoulders.

“Oh my!” A somewhat posh sounding voice said, “Pinkie, you never told me about this.” Turning around, Spike came face to face with an angel. Moondancer saw a white Unicorn mare, who looked to be the same age as Applejack, with a long curling mane of purple walk up to the trio. The Unicorn was carrying a basket filled with different kinds of ribbon and lace in it. Her cutie mark looked like a trio of diamond shaped blue gemstones arranged into a larger diamond shape.

“This.” The Unicorn, Rarity, pointed at Twilight’s new monster, “You said Duelists summoned monsters in their game. But that creature looks positively gorgeous.”

Pinkie giggled slightly, “I guess monster is kind of a misleading term. Oh, I want you to meet Moondancer, Spike, and the pony dueling is Twilight Sparkle. They’ve all come from Canterlot to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration.”

Rarity gasped, “Canterlot! Oh, my dear,” she grabbed Moondancer’s shoulder, “You must tell me all about it! The style. The glamour. The sophistication. I’ve always dreamed of living there.” Rarity paused for a moment, “Did you say you are here to oversee the Summer Sun Celebration? I’ve been handling the decorations for town hall. I had to head back to my boutique to get some decor with a bit more sparkle.” She pulled out a pink ribbon with more than a bit of sparkle. “What do you think?”

“I wouldn’t really know.” Moondancer said, “But we’ll be sure to give the whole town hall an examination once Twilight clears up a little problem with the weather.”

The feminine creature extended one of her arms. A simulated wave of water rushed forwards and crashed down on the brown bird, shattering it in the same manner as the skeleton had prior.

“Nice comeback, Twilight!” Pinkie Pie cheered, while Moondancer clapped her hooves together.

Rainbow’s new monster looked like a raptor of some kind. Its feathers were maroon in color, except for the feathers on its wings. These were gold and looked more like sharpened metal than feathers.

“Skull Red Bird! Destroy her monster!” The bird flapped its wings and set it’s razor sharp feathers flying towards Twilight’s side of the field. She instinctively ducked down as her monster shattered.

Twilight added Enchanting Mermaid to the discard pile, the place where destroyed monster cards were placed after battle, also known as the graveyard. She drew another card, then looked at her fan. “I summon Kabazauls!”

Emerging from her field was a truly giant monster. It vaguely resembled a hippo, if hippos were pink and stood on two legs, which thanks to Twilight’s research, she knew they didn’t.

“I attack with Kabazauls!” The massive creature reared its head back and let out a sneeze. The illusion shattered Rainbow’s bird, but it also blew her mane around. It was a wonder her cards didn’t get blown away.

Twilight groaned slightly, ‘I’m already on my third monster, and I haven’t even taken out half her life points yet.’ She looked at her cards, hoping for some sort of inspiration, but the stiff paper offered none. “I end my turn!”

Once again, the sparkles erupted from the field, this time revealing a truly gruesome sight. The monster looked like a white grasshopper carrying a sword in one claw and a shield in the other. Many of the ponies watching the duel made noises of disgust or fright as it appeared.

“My knight attacks your monster!” The nightmarish bug raised its sword and brought it down on the hippo’s head.

“I draw.” She did so but was met with just another monster that didn’t have enough power to take down Rainbow’s 1900 attack point Insect. ‘Wait a minute.’ “I place a monster face down in defense mode and end my turn.” Instead of a monster, the brown and black back of the card materialized on the field sideways to how the card should have been viewed.

“Monster cards can be placed in defense mode or attack mode.” Pinkie explained. “Defense mode monsters can’t attack, but if they get destroyed, then Twilight won’t take any damage.”

“Maybe, but something tells me she’s planning something.” Pinkie answered.

“My draw. Insect Knight, destroy her face down monster.” The insect once again raised its sword, but this time it was stopped, by a giant dark blue horn belonging to a large beetle that just appeared as Twilight’s face down card flipped face up.

“Sorry Rainbow Dash, but if you attack a monster in defense mode and it has more defense points than your monster’s attack points, you take the difference as damage. Don’t worry, your monster is fine.” Twilight lectured.

“I summon Tyhone and end my turn.” Rainbow said through gritted teeth. Next to her Insect Knight emerged a round yellow creature with small wings and a round, barrel like mouth.

“My draw.” Twilight looked at the card she just drew. “Perfect. I summon, Dark Magician.”

The monster that emerged looked like a regular Unicorn. It had pale blue fur, and a gold mane. Most of its body was covered by a dark blue robe while it’s shoulders and forelegs were covered by a similarly colored armor with red trim. A large, pointed hat sat on its head, and a long staff was held in its left hoof.

“Tw-Twenty-five hundred?” Rainbow Dash was shocked. She had never seen a new player with a monster that strong before.

“Dark Magician! Attack her Insect Knight!” Twilight yelled. The dark Unicorn held his staff forward. In an instant, the colors of Insect Knight seemed to reverse before it shattered

“Now, Hercules Beetle! Destroy her Tyhone!” The massive beetle opened its wings and flew across to the other side of the field and grabbed the strange monster in its jaws.

Rainbow Dash drew her next card and looked at her fan. Nothing she had could take out her magician. Still, she would never surrender. “I summon Sonic Duck in attack mode.”

The monster that appeared looked exactly like what is sounded like, a green duck wearing a red scarf and a bucket on its head.

“Sonic Duck, destroy her Beetle!” The duck charged across the field with surprising speed and rammed its bucket helmet into the large insect’s gut, destroying it.

“I draw. Dark Magician, end this game.” The Unicorn once more raised its staff and cast it’s magic.

“She did it!” Pinkie Pie cheered. Spike ran up to the duel arena as Twilight collected the deck she used.

“Thank you.” Twilight paused when she realized she didn’t recognize the white Unicorn in front of her. “Um...”

“Oh! Where are my manners? My name is Rarity, I was getting some more decorations for the Summer Sun Celebration when I saw you and Miss Dash’s duel, and I couldn’t help but keep watching.” She cleared her throat, “Pinkie tells me you are in charge of overseeing the preparations for the Celebration.”

“A pleasure, Twilight. Well, shall we all head down to the town hall and see if my work is worthy of the Princess?”

“In a moment.” Twilight was, surprisingly, beginning to like this mare. She knew what job she had to do and seemed ready to get on with her work. “I just have to finish this up first.”

She walked over to where Rainbow Dash was waiting for her. “I hope you remember your end of our bet.”

Rainbow nodded and immediately took to the sky. She began racing back and forth between the clouds, giving each of them a hard kick which bust the clouds apart. The back draft from her passes made Twilight’s mane go flying and nearly blew Moondancer’s glasses off. Ten seconds after she had taken off, Rainbow landed right back down after having cleared out all the clouds. “What did I tell ya. Ten. Seconds. Flat.”

“Hey, Twilight?” Rainbow Dash took on a much more mellow tone of voice. “I’m sorry if I came across as lazy, or anything like that. I’d never leave Ponyville hanging or slack off on a job. I just know what I can do and how long it takes to do it. If that makes me a lazy pony, then I’m sorry.”

Suddenly she was back to her same rough-and-tumble self, “And hey, you were awesome on that field. I never would have guessed it was your first duel.” She spread her wings to fly off, “We should hang out again some time.” And with that, she was gone.

“I will admit, I was wrong about her.” Twilight consented. “Now then, I believe we were checking on the decorations?”

“Oh yes, darling. If you will all follow me.” Rarity led the small party towards the center of town. “Now, Pinkie tells me that you are from Canterlot…”
= = =
The trot from the dueling arena to Town Hall wasn’t necessarily a long one, but it certainly felt a lot longer with Rarity’s constant questions about Canterlot. Twilight tried to answer as many questions as she could, but Rarity kept asking about the city’s ‘culture’ and ‘personality.’ It was just a city; it had the same culture as any other city in Equestria. Didn’t it?

Spike wasn’t exactly helping matters. Every time they passed by a window he would check his reflection, making the smallest of changes, straightening his spines, checking his teeth, flex a muscle. Add that onto the fact that the rest of the time his eyes were glued onto the white Unicorn, even Twilight could see he was smitten with her.

“Here we are!” Pinkie Pie said suddenly, “Ponyville Town Hall!” It was a round three-story building made of wood. A large pair of double doors let the party enter the inside.

Everyone was in awe of what they saw. What would normally have been an official looking chamber was dressed roof to floor in tapestries, banners, curtains and ribbons in every color of the rainbow, but favoring the royal blues and golds.

“Now, it’s not quite finished,” Rarity said trotting inside, “I still need to cover the tables, decorate the Princess’s balcony, and of course I can’t figure out which color ribbon would go best here.” She said pointing at an undecorated post. She levitated a pink ribbon up to the post, then put it away. “What do you think, Ms Sparkle?”

“Me?” Twilight asked, “Oh um, I guess… yellow? Also, it’s Miss Twilight.”

“Oh, my apologies.” Rarity held a yellow ribbon up to the post, “Hm, no I’m afraid that won’t work.” She did the same with several other ribbons, each of a different color. “Any particular reason?”

“Your name. Most ponies that I know who have a two-part name put the title before their second name, like Mrs. Cakes or Mr. Rich.”

“Oh! Well, I guess you could say it’s a family tradition. Every mare in my family names their daughter Twilight. Twilight Star, Twilight Peak, Twilight Song, my mother Twilight Velvet, and now myself. And we ended up being called the Twilight family.”

“My family does the same thing!” Pinkie said from the other side of the hall, “Everypony in my family gets named Pie. Granny Pie, Igneous Pie, Inky Pie, Blinky Pie, Limestone Pie, Marble Pie, Pinkie Pie!” The Unicorns in the room weren’t quite sure what to make of some of those names.

“Well, that’s certainly interesting. Ah-Ha!” Rarity finally decided on a particularly sparkly red ribbon. “You’ve done it again Rarity.”

“Well, I’d say the decorations are coming along nicely.” Twilight said giving the room another full sweep. “I think we can…” She paused as she caught sight of an, unusual tapestry. “Um, Rarity. What’s that doing here?” On the left side of the room, was a blue tapestry displaying a gold crescent moon between two stars. Not an ugly tapestry by any means, but it didn’t exactly fit with the Sun theme of the celebration.

“Oh, that.” Rarity walked over, “I’ll admit, I hadn’t planned on including it. But apparently Princess Celestia specifically asked for it. And it does add a nice bit of balance, does it not?”

“Well, I won’t keep you here any longer. I assume I’ll see you later tonight?”

“Oh!” With everything that had been going on, Twilight had almost forgot that it was a holiday. “I guess you will.”

“Wonderful! Well, tata darlings.” Twilight, Moondancer and Pinkie all walked out of the Hall, Moondancer picking up Spike in her magic and letting him ride on her back. Twilight gave the moon tapestry one last look before leaving.

‘On the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars shall aid in her escape, and she shall bring about night time eternal.’
= = =
“Wasn’t she wonderful.” Spike swooned.

‘Great.’ Twilight thought, ‘See how the music is going. Get to the library. Learn the location of the Elements of Harmony. Stop the return of Nightmare Moon.’ And she still had nine hours to do it.

Except, she didn’t know where Ponyville’s library was. So, she would have to spend an hour or two looking for it.

“I am not! I just-“ she paused her rebuttal as what sounded like music started playing on the other side of a few bushes. The quartet peaked over the bushes and found a rather unusual sight. Instead of a band, there was a tree; in that tree sat a flock of birds. Red birds, purple birds, small birds and tall birds. Conducting the birds in the tree was a yellow Pegasus mare.

The song itself was a, unique, take on The Glory of the Sun by Royal Stanza. Despite being in birdsong, it was very beautiful. Apart from the blue bird that was out of sync with the others.

The Pegasus noticed this and told the flock to stop. Twilight decided this was a good time to talk to her. The others stayed back in the bushes. Spike looked over at Pinkie Pie to ask her who the Pegasus was, but stopped when he saw her looking, sad?

“Yep!” She said, any trance of the dour mood suddenly gone from her face. “Just thinking about something.”

“Okay.” He said slowly.
= = =
“Um, excuse me, sir.” The Pegasus said in a very sweet and soft voice, “I mean no offence, but your rhythm is just a teeny tiny bit off.” She resumed her spot in front of the tree. “Now, follow me please. A-one, a-two, a one two three.”

“Hello!” One word was all it took to scatter the birds. “Oh my!” Twilight said, quieter this time. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to frighten your birds. I’m just here to check up on the music and it sounded beautiful.”

As the Pegasus landed, Twilight got a better look at her. Her coat and feathers were a soft yellow color, while her long mane was a soft pink. She stood about a half hand shorter than Twilight, but that might have been because she was keeping her head pointed down. Her cutie mark was three pink butterflies.

A good few seconds passed between them in silence. “I’m Twilight Sparkle.” Still silence. “What’s your name?”

“Um, my nm s Flrrsh.” The mare took a few steps back and seemed to be getting smaller.

Another passage of silence passed. “Well, um,” Twilight looked around for some way to get out of this, conversation? “It looks like your birds are back. So, I guess everything’s in order. Keep up the good work.”

“A baby Dragon!” The Pegasus suddenly did a complete 180° and practically shoved Twilight out of the way as she flew up to Spike. “Oh, I’ve never seen a baby Dragon before. He’s so cute.”

“Oh my, he talks. I didn’t know Dragons could talk. That’s just so incredibly wonderful, I-I just don’t even know what to say.”

Spike then started glowing as he was picked up by Twilight’s magic. “Well we better be going.” She said as she trotted away with Spike on her back.

“Wait! Wait what’s his name?” The suddenly very talkative Pegasus said as she followed them.

“Hi Spike, I’m Fluttershy. Wow, a talking Dragon. And what do Dragons talk about?”

“I would guess the same things Ponies talk about.” Moondancer said, quickly trotting to catch up with Pinkie Pie right behind her.

“Oh dear!” Fluttershy said, again seeming smaller, “I’m intruding on you all aren’t I?” Moondancer’s words then clicked in her head. “Oh, and I thought that- But that’s clearly not what you- I just assumed- I-I’m so sorry I just-“

“But that doesn’t make it alright. From the bottom of my heart, I apologize for thinking you were a pet, Spike.”

‘First she calls me cute then she apologizes for thinking I was a pet?’ Spike thought, ‘This pony is way nicer than the ones in Canterlot.’ “Well, what do you want to know about Dragons?”

“Well, since Twilight’s heard all this before, why don’t I go with you and help you set up in Town Hall, while Twilight does whatever big important thing she keeps trying to sneak off to do.”

Twilight scoffed, “I have not been sneaking off! But that’s not a bad idea, Spike. Moondancer, if you could go with them. No offence, Fluttershy was it? But I’d feel better if he had a chaperone.”

“Oh, that’s alright. I get scared going into Ponyville alone by myself too.”

“Okay? I’ll see you all at the Celebration. If you need me, I’ll be in the library.” And thus Twilight left the three and went her own way.

“So, what do you want to go to the library for anyway?” Twilight jumped, she had forgotten about Pinkie Pie.

“Oh, I guess that makes sense, I mean there are a ton of books in there. What are you going to be reading about?”

“The Elements of Harmony.” Twilight slapped a hoof over her mouth. Did she just say that out loud to some random civilian?

“Ooo, The Elements of Harmony, sounds fancy. I’ve never heard of them before, what are they?”

Twilight tried to look away, but those innocent inquisitive eyes! “I don’t really know what they are, that’s why I’m trying to read about them. All I know is they were used to defeat a really dangerous evil a long time ago.”

“Wow, there’s a whole bunch of stuff I don’t know. Hey, how about I learn about the Elements of Harmony with you?”

“NO!” Twilight blurted, scaring a few ponies they were walking past. “I mean, it’s nice of you to offer, Pinkie Pie, but I really think it would be better if I did it alone and by myself.”

“That doesn’t sound like any fun. Besides, how does that old saying go? ‘Two heads make light work’?”

Twilight rolled her eyes, “I get what you're trying to say, but it’s imperative that I do this alone.”

Pinkie squinted at the purple Unicorn, “You're hiding something.” Twilight stopped in her tracks, “And not like a ‘I know about your surprise party’ kind of something, it’s like a ‘I accidentally let your hamster run away’ kind of something.”

For the briefest of moments, she wanted to tell her. She wanted to tell this random stranger about the prophecy and the book and everything. But the rational part of her mind took control again and she resumed her walking. “I’m sorry, but there is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind.”

Pinkie just stood there for a moment, then she galloped in front of Twilight, “Then I challenge you to a duel!”

“If you win then I won’t press you anymore; but if I win, you will tell me what you’re so afraid of.”

Again, that nagging voice in her head told her to accept the challenge, while the rational part told her to just forget it, it was a waste of time. But this time that little voice won out. “Alright, Pinkie Pie, let’s duel.”

My Little Pony: The Shadow Games

by raven618

1:2 Welcome to Ponyville