//------------------------------// // Equestia Groupers // Story: Twilight Gets a Puppy, Season 4 // by TDR //------------------------------// Twilight Gets a Puppy Season 4 By TDR Equestia Groupers [Crystal Empire.] Twilight stared at the games official before her. “Are you bucking serious?” The purple alicorn stated after a uncomfortable minute of staring at the pony. “Yes ma'am, unicorns will no longer be permitted into the arena without a disabling spell.” the guard pony stated. Twilight raised an eyebrow and fanned out her wings. “That includes pegi-corns miss.” Twilight blinked and looked to Rahs who simply shrugged. “Is that all unicorns including the Guard and medical staff here?” “It is to prevent cheating miss.” “Wouldn't a aura net shield over the arena be both cheaper and require less energy than individual spell blocking, who's even powering this thing?” Twilight growled. “I couldn't tell you about the why miss, but the machine is tapped into the ley line grid of the empire. It can be used on at least ten thousand individual casters before a mage light on the outskirts even dims a little. “Really .. well that should be quite enough then shouldn't it?” Twilight snorted folding her ears back to her head as she stomped towards the machine. “Ten bits says she breaks it.” Applejack offered. “Sucker bet, the real bet is what color will the explosion be.” Rarity added. There was a loud buzzing as Twilight walked through the machine. [ Main Arena, a little bit later] A official looking pony moved out to the center of the arena coughing lightly, his horn glowing as he amplified his voice. “May I have your attention please. The games will be delayed temporarily until we are able to determine the cause of the massive ley line disruption affecting the Crystal Empire.” "You must have cheated some how with your new doggy senses." Rarity huffed paying Applejack the bits for the color of the explosion. "Says the mare who's host to a living nightmare." Applejack smirked With the outage addressed and Twilight and her friends seated, Twilight had a moment to relax. Far too much had happened this year leading up to the equestrian games and it was finally here. Cadence, and Celestia were in the Royal Box with Prince Blueblood. Luna opted to stay at the palace, not feeling very comfortable around any of the crystal ponies. Celestia had managed to get her into the city, but thus far that was it. Sombra had simply stayed in Ponyville. It had taken a good bit of time and effort but the Crystal Empire was rebuilt fully from the conflict with the last remnants of Solomon and the attack by the dragon god. Chrysalis was no where to be seen either, though she and Shining were both on security detail along with a large amount of changelings. There were no competing changelings for fear of them simply being able to change into anything to gain an advantage in muscle mass or the like. Chrysalis said it didn't work like that, but there was not enough information on Changelings for any of the event doctors to clear them to compete, though they were already working on clearing them for the next games. Twilight, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Big Mac, and Rahs were all in the lower seating of the royal box with some other foreign leaders from Saddle Arabia, Thunderbolt from the Griffon Empire, a delegation from the hippogryphs who were currently conversing about the stadium stairs, Maohk from the buffalo, surprisingly without Iinii, and next to her was a smallish Blue scaled dragon that had been identified as Ember, and had been sent by Dragon Lord Torch to watch the games in his stead. Thus far she had refrained from eating any of the crystal seating. Another who was present was Jynx representing the diamond dogs that worked the mines for the Crystal Ponies and the few dogs in the games themselves. Currently Applejack was leaning against Rahs' side and Sunset was sitting in the seat just above and behind him with her chin resting on his head with Jynx on the other side of the moon dog, Saturnia sat in the chair in front of him and was leaning back against his legs. All four of them were glaring at one another as Rahs tried to ignore them and eat his popcorn. There was a small betting pool going on who would start the fight. In truth none of them had changed much. Rahs was still the somewhat lanky swimmers build with his long coat and pants, in his currently favored light gray coat in fact. Saturnia was still a rather pink changeling, here because her mother and Celestia couldn't be trusted to get along long enough for Chrysalis to represent the race. Sunset was still the slightly annoying pyro she had been when Twilight first met her, though she seemed to have a fascination with the 'leather' jackets some of the griffons were wearing. Or maybe it was the griffons themselves. Jynx was still a massive wall of diamond dog, with huge tracts of land, and a perchent to show them off as much as she could without showing anything. Something Rarity likely taught her. Applejack was still in her pony form , though she too tended to wear clothing now, though it wasn't more than a large vest and a pair of what seemed like short pants while a pony, that vest became much smaller and the pants became shorts when she changed. That particular modesty either came from Sunset or Rarity as Applejack didn't seem to care about any clothing other than her stetson. With the diamond dogs in Ponyville becoming a bit more common it was usually good to follow their modesty practices at least a little. Still like this the mare was rather shaggy in the fur with her mane and tail seeming wild no matter what she did with them. Twilight's attention was drawn to the start of the procession and three little fillies in particular, though they were fast becoming non little. Sweetiebelle was still the youngest, only hitting thirteen this year, with Scootaloo at fourteen and Applebloom at fifteen going on sixteen before the end of the year. Scootaloo didn't seem to have grown much at all save a bit of muscle mass, while Sweetiebelle was entering a more lanky stage of her life. Applebloom was clearly starting to take after Applejack in her size and build. Farm work would do that to you. Her attention was brought to Spike as he was announced to the massive cheering of the crowd. Despite the other Sparkles having a part in freeing them, the little dragon that took out a massive Juggernaut in front of a crowd of a large crystal ponies gained a bigger following than any of the others. Not to say Shining Armor and Rahs didn't have their own fan clubs, but Cadence and Chrysalis kept the numbers interested in Shining Armor smaller, and many still were afraid of Rahs. Spike had managed to launch several gaming conventions and keep a number of obscure game companies alive just because word got out he liked a certain game or another. Hopefully Applebloom never found out about some of the fan clubs he had, the Empire didn't need that kind of property damage again. Her brother had grown a good bit as well, he was no longer the pudgy little dragon he had been for years. He still had a bit of his baby fat on him, but his legs, arms and body were a little longer and his spines were starting to loose the roundness and develop points, particularly the one he had regrown in his last molt that had come in blue at the base of his neck. His snout had stretched a little too, he looked all the world like a smaller, more even, version of the dragon he had become in that greed growth stage, Twilight was still taller than he was, but she didn't discount she had grown a as well when she got her wings. The purple drake climbed the stairs towards the torch,stopping at the top, his eyes darting over the crowd before he inhaled deeply and let out a long breath of fire igniting the monument to begin the games. Rahs had coached him on the stage fright he had been feeling, and since the old adage of imagine them naked hardly worked with non Canterlot ponies, Rahs had convinced Spike to focus on just them in the royal box or just on Applebloom where she stood in the arena. And given he seemed to have no trouble lighting the torch, it clearly worked. “Well looks like the games are underway.” Twilight smiled. ”This should be an enjoyable few hours.” “I'm sure.” Twilight blinked looking over at her brother who had two mares, a changeling, a diamond dog clinging to him possessively, and a dead pan expression on his face. She couldn't help laugh. The main area of the Crystal Festival was awash with activity. The towering rebuilt structure of the Crystal palace soaring high over the gathered carnival like atmosphere. Gods, nobles, and commoners walked among the booths and the statue of the heroes of the Empire and the floating center piece of the whole event, the Crystal Heart. Luna allowed herself a small smile as she stood on the balcony over looking the large statue of the Sparkles as she listened to a pony sized Bleu speak of the events of the dragon lands and the antics of her son, it seemed Torch was thinking of retiring soon and was planning for some sort of tourney to decide who would take his place. It would be a while yet before anything was ready, but it was nice to know such a change in leadership was coming. Most of the crowd was at the stadium, though far more could not get tickets and were browsing the festival set up outside that was going to empower the Crystal Heart later in the day. An odd feeling came over the Moon Princess as Bleu trailed off, the dragons gaze turning to the crowd below them, Luna glanced down from the balcony as well to see what she was looking at. Time seemed to slow as Luna looked at the crowd, reality seeming to gray out save for a few other figures. Bleu Scale stood fast at Luna's side. Her vibrant cobalt scales glimmering in the sunlight, her eyes locked on the crowd, her form moving in what seemed like slow motion, much as Luna's was, the pairs gaze met briefly before their eyes turned to the others who had not grayed out in this odd vision. Across from them, with a gaggle of other ambassadors was a tall, well built red crystal stallion in the long robes of an ambassador. His well kept black mane and tail were as still as everything else around them, though his eyes were moving. The green hued orbs met Luna's before Rhede Pelt's gaze shifted to the others still in color. In a group surrounded by foals, a small light gray furred pegasus mare with a purple mane streaked with darker gray floated. Slowed, her wing beats were barely noticeable. Starfall Silvertail's lavender eyes met Luna's briefly, before shifting to meet the gaze of the others. Next to her on the other side of a black furred unicorn mare was a larger gray furred unicorn stallion. His mass of amber mane and tail were a mess that looked like they had been hacked short with a sword, his two tone eyes met Luna's and lingered a moment longer than the others, though Jer'rahd Kaisur's gaze eventually darted and moved to one of the others. The final one was approaching from under the balcony where Bleu and Luna stood. A zebra mare in a well worn traveling cloak, with large saddle bags covered with the medical symbols of many races. Red stripes covered her form rather than the traditional black, and a red crystal horn grew from her fore head. Velkorn sighed softly. The looks the six shared seemed to last an eternity, yet at the same time not even a heart beat. “What once was, will not be again. Not in the same way, at least.” The zebra seemed to speak though the words were felt, rather than heard. An eternity in a second soon ended and the world resumed it's movements, the six never meeting eyes again as they went about their day. Luna hardly recalled the moment, but she was left feeling melancholy for the rest of the day, a feeling shared by five others, that in another life, had been far closer. [Tartarus] Forthe snarled. This had taken far too long. Time was not something he often cared about as he had plenty of that. Or he did. Witch Wolves still existed, even if they were in another form, they still existed and now there was another one among the living, a female. Thus far she had refused the advances of several males that had come for her. She had beaten down the ones that wouldn't listen, and those were only the ones that managed to sneak past that damn bitch claiming to be alpha. If they were not destroyed soon all it would take would be a generation more of crossbreeding and he would be no more. Damn Luna and that summoner and those accursed witch wolves. It had taken him a year to navigate this place, for all it's reputation as a prison, this place was a maze more than anything else. The walls of reality were weak here and things that should not be prowled this place. Cerberus was little more than a pet dog compared to some of the things he had avoided on his way here. He doubted his spectral form would be any detriment to some of those things getting a hold of him if they had noticed him. Still, he found what he was after after what felt like a year searching. On a massive towering stalactite there rested a cage, well two cages at the moment for some reason, but Forthe didn't care about the dragon, his focus was on the other cage. “Tirek.” Forthe growled. “Well, well, this is new, and what do you want ghost?” The centaur growled back slowly rising to his hooves. “Please. You know what I want, I want Luna dead, I want her ponies to suffer and I want her taint to my race removed.” Forthe snarled. “At least two of those you can help with.” “While I do admit I have some issue with the moon princess for stopping my last escape attempt. I have no reason to do your bidding.”Tirek muttered. “Not as if I can do anything any way in here.” “I can easily free you Centaur, all you need to do is destroy the ponies to make Luna suffer, and kill the moon dog, the witch wolf, as well as the summoner Twilight Sparkle.” Forthe snapped. “A summoner? It has been a while since I have had one of those, both they and their pets tend to hold a great deal of power.” Tirek considered. “Fine ghost. I accept those terms.” “Good.” Forthe offered, snatching the key from the stone wall , where it sat far out of reach, to taunt those imprisoned. Even had the captives found a way to get the key, the cages would not open for those within them, an outside force needed to open the door. Something that Forthe did.”You should find all three in a place called Ponyville at the base of the pony capitol. You will need to make your own way out of this place however.” “Oh, I can do that easily if I manage to get a bit of power.” Tirek offered before stepping out of the cage stretching and wincing lightly. He rather hated his drained form, it made him look like a wizened crone. “Fine, go to.... Waaak!” Forthe gasped his form jerking back as the shadowy mass that made up his body was grabbed by the centaur. “What?!” “I cannot say I've ever had a ghost before.” Tirek grinned. “I wonder how much power a half god has?” Tirek opened his mouth, and the god of diamond dogs screamed. [ Crystal Empire.] Jynx, Witch-Jack, Rahs and every other Diamond Dog in the arena surged to their feet with looks of panic and worry on their faces. One of them, competing in the ice lance throw, jerked suddenly sending the lance into low hanging cloud cover, the ice starting to swallow the cloud and bring it down, though the unicorns on the ground crew easily dispersed it before it became a threat. All of them were looking around in a panic, nearly all of them were actively weeping for some reason that they couldn't explain. “What's wrong?” Twilight asked looking up at the three, ignoring Sunset and Saturnia who had been flung to the floor the moment Rahs surged to his feet. “That was weird.... felt like some one just stomped on mai grave.” Witch-Jack offered wiping her eyes. [ Tartarus] “Tirek...” Forgescale snapped, scales scraping against the metal bars of the cage as the great dragon rose to his feet.” Help me out of here. I have vengeance to enact.” Tirek raised an eyebrow at the dragon before walking over to his cage the centaur towering over the cage, the diamond dog gods power far more than expected. “Of course I shall help..... Myself.” Tirek grinned, opening his maw and drawing the power of a second god into his being as Forge Scale screamed and collapsed muttering vague threats of pain as the centaur chuckled and strode away from the cages. It was time to make the world suffer and take all the power for himself.