//------------------------------// // Fame and Misfortune // Story: Flash Sentry, Defender of the Peace S7 // by Banshee531 //------------------------------// It was another brilliantly sunny day in Ponyville, and in the Castle of Friendship, Flash, Springer and Heart had just finished an intensive training session and were heading to the kitchen for something to drink and possibly eat. And as they passed the library, they saw Starlight and Soul walking up as well. But before they could say anything, Twilight's voice called out from the library. "No..." They glanced inside and found her pulling books from the shelves, shaking her head at the same time. "No...no..." "Twilight?" Flash asked his girlfriend as they walked into the room, "You okay?" "I'm fine," she replied, "Just looking for-aha!" She suddenly pulled a large book off the shelf. A large, dusty, and very weathered book that Flash and Springer felt a sense of familiarity with. "Here it is." She showed the book to them, Heart and Soul raising an eyebrow while Starlight gave a look of disgust. "What is that?" "Come on Starlight, don't judge a book by its cover." Twilight responded, the book's cover showing a horseshoe symbol with seven differently colored gems on the shoe along with a familiar star shape inside. It was this image that made Flash and Springer realize what it was. "This is the friendship journal my friends and I used to keep." "I can't believe that's still here," Springer commented as he pointed at the book, "I thought it got blasted when Tirek destroyed the library." "Luckily, I'd left it in the castle of the two sisters when that happened. I went back to get it and it was the first book I placed in this library." "Explains why it got buried since there's already too many books here." Flash chuckled. "Yeah yeah..." Twilight rolled her eyes before opening it up and flicked through the pages, "This book is filled with all the things we've learned like: Friendship isn't always easy, but there's no doubt, it's worth fighting for." However, as soon as she turned the book around for her student to read, the page turned to complete dust and clumped down into the floor. They all watched this before Starlight gave Twilight a smirk, "I'll judge a book by its cover just this once." This resulted in a grumbling Twilight as Flash took the book and stared at it, "What happened to this thing?" He asked as he slowly shifted through the pages, "I've seen thousand year old tomes in better shape than this thing." Twilight blushed at this, "Next time we make a special journal, remind me to enchant it so it's protected from being destroyed like that." She took the book back and sighed, flipping through the pages and seeing many of them in a barely readable state. Starlight saw her grimace and then gasped, "I have an idea." She took the book in her magic and then struck it was a blast, which caused it to glow brightly before the light shot off and formed an empty leather cover that looked like the book back when they first started writing it. The original then started firing blasts of paper out from its cover and struck the copy, filling it up until it was as thick as the first one. Once that was done, the two books floated down and landed in the two magic masters' grasps. "There," Starlight opened the book up and saw that everything was in perfect condition. "Now we can read without having to worry about damaging the original." "Nice," Flash replied as Heart and Soul flew over to read over Starlight's shoulder. They started looking through the journal and with every page, their interest in the subject grew greater and greater. "Wow..." Starlight whispered, "This is amazing." "You all really went through all this?" Heart asked, Flash replying with a nod. "I could read this for days," Soul added before turning to Twilight, "But I guess you got it out because you wanted to read it." Twilight nodded back, only for a bulb to go off in her head, "Everypony, I have an idea." The next day... All of Ponyville's most famous ponies were gathered in the throne room, the Mane Seven, minus Twilight, but also the defenders, Heart, Soul, Ace, Mira and even Wild. "Anypony know why Twilight called us here?" Lightning asked after ten minutes of waiting, all turning to Flash as he grinned. "I do, but Twilight wanted me to keep this a secret until she was ready." And before anypony could say anything else, the room's door opened to show Twilight and Starlight. "Thanks for coming, everypony. I've got a surprise for you." "What is it, Twilight?" Fluttershy asked before shrinking a little bit, "Do I need to prepare myself?" Twilight smiled as her horn lit up, "It's this!" If a flash of light, the diary appeared and landed in the middle of the table. When it did, a bunch of dust escaped it, wafting into the room while carrying the book's smell. "Ugh," Rarity flinched, "What is that thing? Why is it so smelly?" "Wait a minute," Pinkie gasped as she leaned her head over the table, "Is this our old friendship journal? I haven't seen this thing in forever!" "Hoo-wee!" Applejack covered her nose, "It's lookin' a little...overripe." "I'll say!" Rainbow grabbed the book and flicked through it, eventually stopping on a page. "There's a smushed apple in Applejack's lessons." Applejack blushed as she flipped the page, "And Fluttershy's lessons are so small, you can barely read them." Now Fluttershy blushed, "I uh...wanted to leave room for all of you." Rainbow then flipped to another page, where she found what looked like a bunch of squiggly lines. "I don't even know what this is." She flipped it around and showed it to them, Rarity glaring at her at this. "It is called calligraphy, darling." She sighed, "If you're going to make words, at least make them fabulous." Applejack took the book next, flipping to Rainbow's section, only to find most of it completely shredded. "Looks like you got a little aggressive with your friendship lessons, Rainbow Dash." "What can I say?" Rainbow shrugged before taking back the book, "When I learn something, I learn it hard." "A little too hard," Lightning chuckled before a large popping sound filled the air. They turned to see Rainbow had flipped the page, only to be showered by confetti, rainbow smoke and party favors. "I found Pinkie's page," she deadpanned while Pinkie let out a giggle. "Well, I am surprised!" She and Wild high-hoofed as Twilight took the book back. "That wasn't the only surprise." She turned to Starlight and nodded, Starlight smirking before performing the same spell she used yesterday. In a flash, several new copies of the book appeared, all floating down into everypony's grasp, "Ta-da! Starlight and I decided to make one for each of you!" "That's amazin'!" Applejack gasped before opening it up, "A perfect copy!" "Incredible..." Grand chuckled before turning to the mares. "I didn't know a spell like this could exist." Starlight puffed out chest at this, "I learned the spell years ago when I needed to make copies of a certain..." She nervously cleared her throat, "...manifesto." Rarity closed the book and sniffed the cover, "Ah! Even better than a perfect copy." "It's kinda hard to believe we've been through all these events," Lightning commented as he flicked through the book. "Huh," Iron chuckled, "Here's the one I put in after I was knighted." "Oh," Fluttershy stopped at one of the pages, "I'd forgotten all about this lesson." "My time loop experience," Springer laughed as he showed the younger jakhowls. "Now that was a life changing event." They then heard more laughing, turning to Rainbow as she flipped a page, "Remember this one from when I helped Daring Do?" She read the caption, "Never underestimate the power of friends who always got your back." "Aww," Pinkie smiled, "Cheese Sandwich! Party cannon! Ah! Birth-iversary!" "Not to mention the event that got us together," Wild laughed along with his puppets. Flash smirked as he read the section he had written when he first met his parents, "I can't believe we forgot about such an important item in our lives." Starlight then pointed to the original. "I have to say, after Twilight remembered the journal, I had so much fun reading all the stuff you've all learned, I just had to have my own copy." She held up the one she made yesterday, Twilight walking up to her before glancing back at the others, "And that brings me to the second part of the surprise: My idea. How would you all feel about making our journal available for everypony?" The eyes of everypony in the room went wide at this, "If we can get these lessons into other ponies' hooves, maybe they'll benefit from them." Fluttershy looked up from her book and nodded, "Well, I think that's a great idea." "Eh, what could go wrong?" Iron added. "I'm in!" Pinkie cheered, "Yay!" "We always said we wanted to," Applejack chuckled. "Sounds fabulous." Rarity continued, only to hear Rainbow laugh again. "I'm so awesome..." She said as she kept staring at the book, only to glance up at others, "Oh...yeah. Uh...good idea." They turned to Flash, the last journal contributor, and saw him grin, "I think Equestria just found its next best seller." Twilight laughed, "I doubt that. Mainly because we're not gonna sell them. Think of it more like a free giveaway." The others laughed at this, all still believing the book was gonna fly off the shelves. And so, a new book entered Equestria's literary slipstream. After Starlight showed her how to do the spell, Twilight put her alicorn magical reserves to the test. She created so many copies of the book that they completely filled the library, Flash telling her she might be overdoing it, but the princess replied that she wanted to make sure everypony could have a copy. She then headed to many different book stores and outlets. When she told them what she wanted, they immediately agreed to shelve the book. And no sooner had the books been placed on the shelfs, they flew off, all ponies interested in hearing about the lessons and adventures Equestria's greatest heroes lived through. Every town and city in Equestria soon had at least one place that was giving away a copy of the book. From Canterlot to Manehatten, Fillydelphia to Applewood, and even Dodge Junction to the Crystal Empire. The book could be found everywhere. Of course, Ponyville's residents also got their own copies and soon everypony could be seen reading it. "I'll admit it," Flash told Springer as they were on patrol, "I thought Twilight made too many, but I guess I was wrong. She's actually had to refill the library four times between hoof-outs." They then walked beside a pair of ponies sitting on a bench, going over something they had read in the book. "Well, I think the section about Pinkie discovering she's related to Applejack was the best," the mare commented, "It's clear their family's far from perfect, but who's is?" "Well I think the one about when Spike gave Rarity that magical tome was the best. It's a very interesting look into how addiction can come in all forms and the only way to deal with it is for somepony who cares about you to help." Flash and Springer raised an eyebrow, but smiled all the same since they seemed to at least enjoy the book. But as they walked away, Springer gulped, "I just realised we've opened a serious can of worms. Now ponies are gonna know everything we've been through, including the embarrassing things." "Oh please," Flash waved a hoof, "It's not like there's anything in there that's all that embarrassing." "Come on!" said a voice, making them turn to see a young pony pushing another colt and a pair of older ones to the Everfree Forest. "We've gotta go in there since its the best way to help us. Those timberwolves aren't gonna know what hit'em!" Flash and Springer's eyes went wide before they ran over to the group, "Hey!" Springer leapt in front of them, "Where do you think you're going?!" "Into the Everfree Forest," the colt replied, "We need to find some timberwolves so I can fix my friendship with my parents." "What?!" Flash asked, only for the colt to pull out the journal and open it up to a specific page. A sentence was highlighted, Flash reading it out loud. "But thanks to my friends and a couple of Timberwolves, I was finally able to look past my fear and open my heart to my mom and dad." "Yup," the pony closed the book, "My mom and dad have been on a business trip for a long time. I want to us to be super close and according to this, I need to take them and a friend into the woods and fight off a bunch of timberwolves." "That's not what you need to do at all!" Flash yelped, "That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard!" "But you did it," he replied. "Not on purpose!" Flash almost yelled, "My parents and I just happened to get into a timberwolf attack." "And it helped you all get closer," the colt responded before pushing his very scared parents towards the woods. That is, till Springer put a shield bubble around them so they couldn't get any further. "Hey!" "Look, you don't need a timberwolf to bond with your parents. All you need is the courage to let your parents be a part of your life. That was the point of that section. I was so scared they'd abandon me again, I refused to let them into my life and it took a timberwolf attack to make me see that. Timberwolves aren't a needed part of bonding with your parents." Flash turned to the older ponies, "Take the kid bowling or something. That'll work just as well." The parents nodded eagerly and Springer dropped the bubble, the defenders watching as the parents ran off with the kids. "That was nuts," Springer panted, "I can't believe that kid took your section of the journal so literately." Flash shrugged, "He's a kid. Sometimes kids don't always get the point. I'm sure everypony else got the point of the entry." But as he said this, he went back onto his patrol, only to find Twilight and Starlight hiding behind a bush by a café. They were listening in on what two ponies were saying, the pair's eyes going wide. And as Flash and Springer got closer, they heard the ponies laugh before a pony behind them dropped their newspaper to reveal Rarity. The unicorn's eyes were watering and Lightning, who was sitting next to her, looked ready to use a Celestial Law on somepony. She burst out crying and ran off as Lightning turned to the ponies in question. "Whoa!" Springer dashed over and grabbed the unicorn before he could zap them, Flash running up to the scene and hearing Twilight speak up. "But that's not what she was saying," she held out a hoof, "Rarity-" But she didn't listen and just kept running and crying while Springer had to put a shield around him and Lightning. The ponies that had been talking looked terrified at the raging unicorn, Twilight sighing at this, "Oh, poor Rarity. She overheard all the mean things those ponies were saying. She must be devastated." Hearing this, Flash saw how angry Lightning was and walked up to him as Twilight added, "I'm going after her." "Go ahead," Starlight told her before glaring at the ponies in question. "I'm gonna have a chat with these two." Twilight nodded, Flash watching her go before turning to Springer. The jakhowl nodded back and Flash followed Twilight, flying up to her. "What the heck did those ponies say?" "I'll explain when we catch her," Twilight replied as Rarity continued to cry and run. "Rarity, wait!" But as Twilight ran, she was suddenly tackled by a pink blur. She cried out as the two rolled around, eventually ending with Twilight on the ground while Pinkie stood over her. "Twilight! Isn't it amazing?!" She shined a bright grin, "Our journals are everywhere!" "Pinkie..." Twilight moaned as she tried to get off her, "I've got to-" "Ponies keep stopping by to tell me my entries are hilarious!" As she said that, a pony marched up with a book and smiled. She seemed to know what this meant and pulled a pencil out of her mane, using it to sign the book as Flash helped Twilight up and brushed her off with his wing. "I even had somepony come all the way from Las Pegasus to say how much he liked my lessons!" "Las Pegasus?!" Flash yelped, "That sounds...expensive." "He said it was worth it!" Pinkie cheered. Twilight shook her head at this, "Well, at least some ponies are being inspired by the journal." "Hey, look!" They turned to see the Ponyville citizen Cherry Berry, who was pointing at them. "There's Pinkie Pie! The funny one!" Suddenly, everypony around them started laughing, like the sight of Pinkie was the most hilarious thing in existence. Flash raised an eyebrow at this while Pinkie laughed, "Giggly feedback is the best kind!" This caused the ponies to laugh again, Flash glaring at the crowd, "That wasn't that funny." Twilight sighed at this, "Well, at least you're getting a positive reaction. I just saw Rarity, and I'm afraid this whole journal thing really upset her." "Aww, that's too bad." Once again, Pinkie's statement was met with a mighty roar of laughter. The earth pony raised an eyebrow at this, rubbing her chin as the laughing died down. "Wait. That wasn't funny." And once again, the crowd around them broke out into laughter. As this happened, Twilight slowly said, "Oookay. Well, I guess I'll catch you later." She glanced around, smiling as she waited for the ponies to start laughing...but nothing happened. Flash's previous theory about these ponies finding anything funny went up in smoke as Cherry Berry unleashed a cough. Twilight groaned at this and trotted off, Flash flying after her. "Yup," Pinkie waved at them. "Bye you two!" And once again, her statement was met with a huge surge of laughter. "Those ponies were weird," Flash told the princess. She would have said more, but a sudden bellow from Pinkie stopped her. "YOU'VE KNOWN ME OF YEARS!" This was met with another explosion of laughter, Flash grimacing at those words before turning a corner. The two continued to search for Rarity, Twilight now telling Flash what had actually happened, explaining everything those two ponies had said about their fashionable friend. "Yikes," Flash gulped, "No wonder Lightning looked ready to kill. Maybe Springer was right about this being a little too personal." "I just hope we can find Rarity before she does something she'll regret later," Twilight replied, only for a piece of paper landed on her head, "What the-" She took it off, only for pages to fall down. "Oh, that's not gonna be good," Flash grimaced, the sight making him remember the one time he saw a book get pages ripped out in front of him...and the rage that came next. "Maybe it's time to call it a day." They then heard Rainbow's voice, the pair glancing up to see Rainbow standing on a cloud, alongside two fillies holding a book. "I wipped out all the Twilight Spawkle lessons 'cause they were getting in the way of the good ones," a filly stated with a lisp. "What do you mean you skipped the lessons?!" Twilight yelped as both flew up to them, "We've all had valuable experiences." "Hey," Rainbow looked relieved, "Here's a great idea!" She flew behind the fillies and pushed them into the couple, "Why don't you two talk to Flash and Twilight for a while? You know, so I can get back to things like working and napping and...well, pretty much anything else." "Okay!" The other pony said before turning to Flash, "Tell us about the time to took down a bunch of pirates on a desert island! Or when you beat up those three ponies when you were chasing after that minotaur criminal!" "Is it twue you helped Wainbow save Dawing Do?" The lisp filly asked, Flash rubbing the back of his head. "Well...yeah," Flash slowly nodded. "I wish I was as cool as you," she replied, "Then nopony would bothew me. I'd knock them all out in seconds." "There's more to me than just beating others up.: "Really?" The others filly asked before flicking through the book, "I'm not seeing anything that doesn't involve you doing anything else." Flash glared at this before turning to Rainbow, the pegasi glancing away before saying, "Uh...maybe you should talk to Twilight." "Aw..." the first filly moaned, "We don't wanna hear her bowing lessons!" Twilight went wide-eyed at this as they turned back to Rainbow, "Come on! Tell us again about when you met Dawing Do!" Rainbow let out a nervous laugh, "Again? Haven't we already covered that one a...couple dozen times?" "We can't get enough of it!" Lisp filly exclaimed, "Come on, you don't want to disappoint yaw fans!" She pointed at Flash and when the pegasus glanced back and saw a bunch of young pegasi flying behind him with the journal in hoof, one even wearing a rainbow baseball cap with blue wings on the side. Flash glancing back at Rainbow and saw her eyes were darting around before pointing at a bunch of dark clouds in the distance. "Uh...It's just that I um...really need to get those storm clouds back in their...pens." Flash raised an eyebrow, he and Rainbow locking eyes as he mentally asked 'really?' "Oh, cool!" Lisp filly exclaimed as Rainbow flew away, "We'll come along! You can tell us the stowy there!" The ponies all followed after her, each crying out the pegasi's name while leaving Flash and Twilight to watch them vanish. "This is seriously not going the way I planned it too," Rainbow muttered to herself as she took off. "At least it can't get any worse," Flash commented, only for the pair to hear a loud commotion under them, "Or not... "Oh dear, what's going on now?" The two glided down, now seeing a pet store was under them, which was a place Fluttershy liked to get food for her animals. And when they got closer, they found a large group of ponies standing in front of it...along with Iron pointing his spear at the ponies. "Back!" He yelled, Piecemaker giving a few threatening jabs. "Back you vultures!" "What is he doing?" Flash asked as they descended, only to see Fluttershy behind him. "Please!" Fluttershy cried, now being the size of a house cat while shaking in terror. "Just leave me alone!" "Last warning," Iron barked, "Get lost or lose a body part!" In that moment, Twilight used her magic to lift two ponies out of the way as she and Flash hovered down. "Stand down Iron," she told the knight before turning to her friend, "Fluttershy, what's wrong?" "We want answers!" A stallion in glasses yelled. "Yeah!" A mare with a funky hairdo added, "We're entitled to know!" "What is it everypony?!" Twilight exclaimed back, only for Iron to speak up. "They've been asking the most ridiculous questions ever and hounding Fluttershy!" He growled while holding up his spear, Flash needing to grab the Celestic Gear and point it toward the ground. "We just wanna know why Fluttershy keeps learning the same thing over and over again!" A mare screeched, "Be assertive already!" "Seriously?!" Flash barked, letting go of the spear and allowing Iron to point it at them. "Even I've learned more than she has!" A stallion told Twilight, "Why can't I be in the book?!" "What?" Everypony suddenly heard Starlight's voice, the unicorn stepping into view with Springer. "Really?!" She lifted the stallion into the air with her magic, "Are you attacking my friend because you want to be in a book?!" "It's that attitude that states why you shouldn't be in the book," Springer added, "Who'd wanna read about somepony as selfish as you?" The stallion then looked like a dog that had just been chastised, while Fluttershy picked herself up and grew back to normal size. "It's okay. I got this." Her friends stared at her, only to nod before the pegasus inhaled and turned to the crowd. "Listen up! I am more assertive!" She marched up at this, "And yes, it took me a while to get there." She then grew a few extra feet while pointing at the mare in question. "But can you honestly say that you could learn something one time and completely change who you are?!" They waited for an answer, but none responded. "I didn't think so." "You go girl," Flash laughed as Springer snapped his claws. "Wow..." the glasses wearing stallion gasped, "You're way different from the Fluttershy in the book." Fluttershy's serious expression morphed into a smile...which lasted about five seconds. "I don't know how I feel about that." Fluttershy let out a sigh and walked off, Iron going with her and shooting death glares at the ponies. The crowd before gossiping at this, sounding to Flash like they were a bunch of ponies at a book club. As they did this, Twilight turned to the others. "It feels like everypony in Equestria is missing the 'friendship' part of the friendship journals." Flash turned to Starlight and Springer, "How'd things go with Lightning and those two ponies?" Springer sighed and shook his head, "Well, we managed to get Lightning to promise not to kill them and the ponies apologized, though I was able to sense that they didn't mean it." "Lightning took off to find Rarity." Starlight added, "Do you know where she is?" Flash and Twilight shook their heads, "We lost her thanks to Pinkie...and I think she's starting to have trouble with the journals like Rainbow, Fluttershy and Rarity are." Flash commented, the two then asked what Rainbow's problem was, Twilight explaining what had happened like she was explaining a tragic accident. "Come on," Flash pointed to the Carousal Boutique. "I'm sure Rarity's probably opening her second tub of ice cream. We gotta stop her before her hips are lost forever." A moment later, they were inside the store...only to find it to be empty. They then walked upstairs, now hearing commotion as they got to Rarity's door, only for it suddenly get louder. "What is happening in there?" Springer asked before the door opened and Lightning leapt out, slamming the door behind him as he panted. He saw them all staring at him as he replied, "I tried calming her down, but she just won't stop." "Won't stop what?" Twilight asked, Lightning saying nothing and stepping aside to let them past. "Rarity, are you alright?" She then yelped as she ducked under a roll of fabric that went sailing over her head. They then saw Rarity leaning over her sawing machine with a bunch of different colored fabrics that anypony would know that they would look terrible together. "What are you doing?" When Rarity spun around to face them, she gave them a look so terrifying that Springer actually screamed and leapt into Flash's hooves. "Why, I'm creating a gown, darling!" They looked at the gown and saw it was the worst piece of patchwork they had seen since the Cutie Re-Marking incident. "Whoa..." Flash gulped as he dropped Springer, "And I thought your first fall formal creations were bad." Starlight elbowed him as Twilight walked up to Rarity, "For what?" "I don't know!" Rarity screamed as she turned back to her machine, "I'm stress-sewing!" She made several stressed noises as Twilight raised an eyebrow, "Stress-sewing?" "Is it any worse then your stress organizing?" Flash asked, only for Rarity to glance away from her work and trot past them. "When I overheard those two at the cafe, I suddenly understood why I've been getting cancellations for days!" She cried some more, her makeup smearing while the others raised an eyebrow. "What? Why are ponies cancelling their orders?" "Because nopony likes me any more!" Rarity screamed as she ran over to a manikin wearing another terribly made dress. "They're boycotting me!" She went over to her window and threw the curtains open, allowing Twilight and the others to look down into the street. There, a large group of protesters were standing outside the store holding picket boards with Rarity's face and a crossed out logo on them. "How did we mess that?" Flash asked before seeing Lightning going out to tell them to leave, the ponies refusing to do so and booing Rarity. A minute later, Grand showed up after having heard the noise. "This is getting ridiculous," Springer moaned as Twilight headed for the door. "I'm sure if I go out there and talk to those ponies, they'll see that they're being unreasonable." But before she could open the door, it swung open and pinned her to the wall as she yelped. It was Applejack, panting with frazzled hair before pointing at Rarity, "I need a hundred blankets, and I need 'em now!" Flash then pointed at the door, making her see what she had done. "Sorry, Twi." The door slowly opened at this, revealing a now paper thin Twilight, the sight making Flash chuckle before walking over and peeling her off the wall. "Right away, pony-who-still-likes-me!" Rarity exclaimed while working at her sawing machine and pulling up several pieces of fabric. "Ah don't need nothin' fancy!" The farm pony yelped as she grabbed some thick fabric and threw it over her back, then trotted to the door. Twilight, now recovered from her make-out session with the door, turned to the farmer, "What's the matter Applejack?" "Ah'm popular, Twilight!" Applejack replied, "Ah'm popular, and ah don't like it one bit!" She ran off, Twilight wanting to ask more questions, but turned to the still insane Rarity. "You go ahead," Starlight sighed, "Springer and I'll stay here." Springer nodded, Twilight using the breathing technique Cadance had taught he to keep herself under control before thanking them and leaving with Flash. And as they flew over the crowd, Flash turned to Twilight, "I'm afraid to ask, but what do you think we're gonna be in for when we get to Sweet Apple Acres?" "I don't know. But it can't be as bad as what we've already seen, right?" "Right..." "It's a hundred times worse," Flash corrected himself as they landed on the farm's outskirts. There they saw ponies they had never seen before, lounging around the farm like it was Equestria's next hit vacation destination. Big Mac was struggling to carry multiple pony's luggage while Granny Smith was placing trays of food down, which were all gobbled up instantly while Apple Bloom was constantly filling cider glasses. None of the Apple family looked happy about it, but none more so then Rogue. "Argh!" The bat pony trotted out of the barn with bags under his eyes, "How's a batpony supposed to get any sleep with all this noise?!?" The Knight and Princess of Friendship trotted over, Flash now noticing the new ponies all had sticky taped pieces of paper over their cutie marks. The papers all had different apple-themed symbols on them, Flash also noticing some of the ponies were having trouble with the cowboy hats they were all wearing. "Oh no..." "Applejack," Twilight asked the pony giving out the blankets, "Who are all these ponies?" "They call themselves the Sweet Apple Admirers," Applejack responded, "They say they read my journal entries, and they felt like a part of the family. And now they actually wanna become part of the family!" She gave away the last blanket and when she did, the pony she gave it too wrapped her hoof around Applejack and took a selfie of them, the flash dazing the farmer. "Your journal entries?" Applejack nodded as she moved over to push a bucket of apples over to a group. "Yeah, you know, all the stuff about how friends are like family and whatnot?" "So ponies actually wanna be in your family?" Flash asked, Applejack nodding again. "But you're being overrun. This place is like a twenty-four-seven Apple Family Reunion. But the only difference is you five are the only ones helping out." As he said that, another mare came over to take a photo. "GET A JOB!" The pony flinched before running away, Twilight then saying, "Flash is right. This is too much. Can't you get rid of them?" "And kick out my own family?!" Applejack asked, pulling two fillies to her like they were Apple Bloom who had just run into a Chimera. Before any of them could say anything else, Granny Smith trotted past them carrying a pile of empty plates and pans. "Granny Smith, hang on!" She trotted after the elder, "Let me help!" "There she is!" A pony exclaimed as Applejack kept running, all the ponies she passed now letting out unified: "YEE-HAW!" "This is insane," Flash commented, "How can one little book cause so many problems?" Twilight let out a sigh. "I wish we'd never released that journal." Flash was about to say something, but Twilight's horn sparked and she teleported away. "Oh great...that's not good." He let out a sigh before turning to go back to the castle. But when he reached it, he saw a large crowd of ponies running through the town, only to see them start following him. Taking to the air, he saw that whatever street he went too, they were just a few minutes behind, the sight reminding him of the time he had an extra Gala ticket to give away. "What's going on?" He asked as he came to a stop over the crowd, the pones now screaming things that he could barely pay attention too. "Let me guess, this is about the journal." "We read about you!" A mare exclaimed, "What's this about you having some kind of super power?!" "Yeah," a stallion added, "The book ends with you leaving that thing a mystery. You can't just have such an important subplot like that left unanswered!" "Super power?" Flash asked with a raised eyebrow, "Oh...right. We stopped writing in it before I learned about it." "About what?" Another mare asked, "Come on, if you're not gonna write a sequel, then you gotta tell us what this weird light tornado is." Flash's eye twitched, but he went on to explain about the Sacred Light and how he gained it, only for another pony to yell, "So you were just born with this power?! You didn't have to earn it then!" Flash shrugged at this, knowing he probably shouldn't tell them the story about him having to earn the right, only for the pony to add, "That's just terrible story telling." "Yeah," a mare nodded, "And you only got it because you're the last remaining descendant of the first alicorn. How hokey is that?! Couldn't you come up with a better reason to have these powers?!" Flash narrowed his eyes at this, "You're talking about this like I made it all up. You realize that Journal is technically an autobiography." "Oh please," another pony waved their hoof, "Do you really expect us to believe you were granted these incredible powers by some god that's even older than Celestia?" "Yes." "And that you were able to gain other powers using a lock box given to you by a magic tree, which then sunk into the ground to form a tree shaped castle." "Yes! That all happened!" He pointed to the castle in the distance, "What do you think that building over there is?!" One of the ponies let out a scoff, "Nice try, but nopony could do everything you said happened in this book. You clearly either made it up or exaggerated what really happened. I mean, what makes you so special that you get all these amazing powers and constantly get thrown into these dangerous situations? I bet you just wanna make yourself look like a superhero!" Flash's jaw dropped at this, only for another to yell, "Do yourself a favor and come up with a better reason for having these powers in the next book! Maybe you got bitten by a radioactive insect or something." "You ponies are nuts!" Flash barked back as he began to fly over to the castle, the ponies chasing after him. "Sometimes it feels like you and the others shouldn't even be in the stories written!" A pony cried, "You, Springer, Iron, Lightning, Grand and those other knights! It's like somepony just pushed you into a story that already existed without you in it! What's the big deal?!" "Yeah! And what about that thing with a-" The next words didn't hit Flash's ears, the defender just sighing as kept flying. It was here he saw Fluttershy being chased by her own group of ponies along with Pinkie dressed in a hoodie to hide herself, who was also running from a bunch of ponies. A figure in a large cloak was doing the same thing, along with Rainbow and Applejack as they headed to the same place: The castle. Rainbow reached the building first and knocked on the door three times. The others got up to her and as Flash arrived to open the door, only for Twilight's magic to open it and reveal her, Starlight and Springer. Twilight gasped when she spotted the large crowd behind the six, some cheering, some booing and some asking way too many questions. They all ran inside and the ponies behind them tried to do the same, Starlight closing the door before they could. "Ah didn't know where else to go!" Applejack exclaimed first as Starlight tried to keep the door closed, "Ah've got so much cookin' and cleanin' and family-in' to do...ah ain't got time for anythin' else!" Then, from out of a small flower pot located between her and Fluttershy, Pinkie popped her head out. "At least ponies aren't laughing every time you talk! Not even I want to be funny all the time! I'm telling you, my days of hilariosity-ness-ness are OVER!" She crossed her hooves and ducked back into the pot, Rainbow pointing at her. "You think you've got problems? Look, I know I'm awesome, but I can't even go to the bathroom without somepony trying to tell me how cool I am!" It was then she noticed the pony besides her, the one that had been wearing the cloak, who she removed to see a certain unicorn, "Uh...Rarity? What are you wearing?" Rarity was dressed in clothing that looked like several different dresses frankenstiened together into one giant mess. She was wearing six different scarfs around her neck and three different hats on her head. "My emotions, darling! Stress couture!" She then took out her measuring tape and moved over to Fluttershy, who looked rather miffed. "I don't know what I'm gonna do if I have to defend myself one more time!" She said before seeing the measuring tape, causing her shoot Rarity a look they hadn't seen her wear since she got Discorded. "Hmm?" She pulled the tape back. "Oh uh...sorry darling. Force of habit." "You all don't have it as bad as me. My life apparently doesn't exist!" Flash yelped, "At least everypony believes what you wrote in your entries. They seem to think I made everything I wrote up and were giving my life story critiques!" He fell onto his back and moaned. "I know we've proven several times that time travel is a bad idea, but do you think maybe...just this once...we can..." "Go back in time and stop you all from publishing that book?" Springer asked, Flash nodding as Twilight moved over to the window. She pulled the curtain back and got the quickest glimpse of Grand, Iron, Lightning and Wild, who had all arrived and were trying to get the crowd to leave, but was then forced to close the curtain when a group of ponies appeared at it She turned to her friends, all seeing their different states of exhaustion, frustration and annoyance. Starlight then turned to Twilight, "Okay, so maybe they're having a hard time with it. That doesn't mean you did anything wrong." "Yes, I did!" Twilight yelled, "Releasing the journal was my idea, and it backfired in ways I could never have imagined!" "It's not your fault," Starlight replied, "It's everypony else's! They're just focusing on the wrong things, and-" She stopped as a bulb went off in her head, "I got it! Wait here! I've got an idea!" With that, she vanished in a flash of light while Twilight shook her head, "I can't wait any longer." she turned to the doorway and trotted up, "I've got to fix this." The others followed after her as the princess threw open the doors and looked out at the mass conglomeration of ponies. "Everypony, please stop!" But the ponies only screamed louder and louder while a yellow unicorn stallion in a tie stepped up to her. "Princess Twilight," he took out a pencil and notepad. "I'm with the Canterlot Chronicle. Quick question: What would you say to ponies who wonder why you moved to Ponyville in the first place?" "I moved here to learn about friendship," Twilight replied, "That's why the journal even exists." Pinkie placed a hoof on her back as the seven of them stood in a line and looked out at crowd. "It took some time for me to get the hang of it, but it was each of these ponies standing next to me who taught me the lessons in those journals. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy and, of course, Flash too." Her boyfriend smirked at her while she focused back on the crowd. "Then it was all of you. I've learned so much from-" "What I mean is, some ponies would argue that it doesn't seem believable that the six of you would be friends." the reporter suddenly interrupted. "Believable?" Twilight asked with a raised eyebrow. "Of course it's believable," Flash added, "We wouldn't be here if it wasn't." "Maybe," the stallion lifted up the journal, "But I read this journal cover to cover, and I have to say your character would have been much more interesting if she'd stayed in Canterlot." "My character?!" Twilight yelped, "We're real ponies! This journal is a record of things that actually happened to us! We made mistakes, and we learned from them!" "What about Rarity?" A well dressed stallion chimed in, "Are we really supposed to believe everything she wrote in there?" Lightning growled at this, only for a filly to speak up, "That's why you wanna be Team Dash!" She showed the T-shirt she was wearing, which had the pegasi's face on it. "She's the only one that didn't weally need to learn anything, because she was alweady so cool." "Twilight was better before she got wings!" An old mare barked out. "And why are huge chunks of this journal only about Flash fighting somepony?!" a stallion added, "What kind of message is that sending to young readers?! That violence solves everything?!" "I know one thing violence would solve right now," Flash hissed. "And whose bright idea was it to have a group of main characters with only one stallion amongst them?!" A nerdy looking pony yelled, "You seriously sent the wrong message!" He let out a snort and pushed his glasses up his nose, "I got this book because I thought it was something completely different! What else was I supposed to think when I heard it was about a group of ponies with only one stallion?!" The girls all had to hold back a gag, only for the mare with the funky hairdo from earlier to exclaim, "Fluttershy is just so painfully shy that it's hard to relate!" A pony wearing a Fluttershy t-shirt and hat frowned, slowly moving away from the pony in question. "I mean, come on!" Twilight sweated as the ponies began arguing with one another, some saying a particular pony was great while others said they were terrible. The sight made Twilight begin to shake as she said, "Wait a minute, everypony!" Twilight's voice was stopped when Caramel cried out. "Are Pinkie Pie and Applejack related or what?!" The arguing continued, one of the journals somehow being thrown from the crowd and landing in front of Twilight. The mare saw this and looked back at her friends, all frowning at this. The sight made her eyes narrow before glaring back at the crowd, "Listen to me!" She called out, but the crowd continued to bicker. It was here that she dug deep and unleashed something she had always wondered if she could use: The Canterlot Royal Voice. "LISTEN TO ME!" The voice echoed out over the crowd, all now stopping and turning to the ponies on the castle doorway. As they did this, the universal music player in everypony's heads began to play a tune. [Twilight Sparkle] I never claimed to be perfect My mistakes are all written in ink None of us claimed to be perfect And it's sad if that's what you all think She walked down the steps to the crowd, her next words radiating with her friends and making them smile. [Twilight Sparkle] Our flaws helped to make us special They bond us and keep us strong Our flaws are what brought us together So stop actin' like something's wrong She teleported the others as they joined her in the song. [Mane Seven] We're not flawless We're a work in progress We've got dents and we've got quirks But it's our flaws that make us work Grand, Iron, Lightning, Wild and Springer all smiled at them, knowing this would be solution they needed. [Mane Seven] Yeah, we're not flawless We're a work in progress So tell me what flaws you got, too 'Cause I still like what's flawed about you With that, Rainbow and Rarity ran up in front of them. [Rainbow Dash] They say I'm a big shot That my ego's the size of a whale My confidence comes off as cocky But it gives me the courage to fail Rarity then jumped back onto what she thought was a couch, singing in her overly dramatic voice. [Rarity] Sure, I can be a drama queen A bit stuck-up, it's true She then heard Applejack's voice, making her look down and see she had accidently used the earth pony as he couch. [Applejack] And I can be too eager to please There's such thing as bein' too honest, too, 'cause [Mane Seven] We're not flawless The seven jumped back together, all singing to their hearts content. [Mane Seven] We're a work in progress We've got dents and we've got quirks But it's our flaws that make us work Yeah, we're not flawless We're a work in progress So tell me what flaws you got, too 'Cause I still like what's flawed about you Pinkie and Fluttershy walked up next, both smiling as they spoke up. [Pinkie Pie] Ponies think I'm all bubbles and laughter That I don't seem sincere I might joke around a little too much But I'm just so happy you're here [Fluttershy] It took me a while to be confident To really come out of my shell [Twilight Sparkle] But nopony has to be perfect By now, don't you know us so well? Because, yeah [Mane Seven] We're a work in progress We've got dents and we've got quirks But it's our flaws that make us work Yeah, we're not flawless We're a work in progress So tell me what flaws you got, too 'Cause I still like what's flawed about you And finally, Flash walked up. He wasn't sure if he would be able to get his point of view across to the crowd, but he took to the air and sang to his heart's content. [Flash] I never asked to be a Royal Knight. I never asked to be a hero seeking praise Being a hero gets scary. It mostly gets you hurt in very nasty ways. But I fight against the evils as such To protect the ones I love so much. Twilight then flew up next to him. [Twilight] But nopony can do that alone We work together and now it's known. Because yeah The pair turned to one another, placing their foreheads together for a moment before Twilight teleported them back to the others. [Flash and Twilight] Because yeah [Mane Seven] We're not flawless We're a work in progress We've got dents and we've got quirks But it's our flaws that make us work Yeah, we're not flawless We're a work in progress So tell me what flaws you got, too (Pinkie Pie: You got, too) 'Cause I still like what's flawed about you With that, the music came to a stop as the seven finished singing while standing in a line. Once the music was done, Twilight turned to the crowd. "So you see everypony? None of us ever claimed to be perfect. Without our flaws, there wouldn't be any friendship lessons to learn." She glanced back at her friends, giving a heartwarming smile. "Without our flaws...there probably wouldn't be any friendships at all." The others nodded back before turning to the crowd, expecting them to understand and begin to dissemble. But...they didn't. The crowd went right back to arguing with one another, the reporter stallion looking displeased as he wrote in his notebook while others held up signs of both positive and negative messages. More yelling and ranting happened, making them all sight before going back in, slamming the doors shut. "So that just happened," Rainbow growled. "I can't believe that didn't work," Flash added, "Usually a big musical number fixes anything." He slumped over to the wall, everypony all exchanging glances as they continued to hear the yelling outside. "What do we do?" "Everypony!" a new voice called out, making them turn to see Starlight walking up, "I found two ponies who have something I think you should hear." She stepped aside and two fillies appeared, Flash recognizing them as Toola Roola and Coconut Cream, a pair of friends that Twilight had helped out over the last few days. In fact, it had been them that had reminded her of the journal in the first place. "Um..." Toola blushed, "We just wanted to say thank you. To all of you." This statement caused the ponies to all look up, most having only half their attention on the two. "Yeah," Coconut nodded, "Our friendship?" She smiled with a blush, "Well, we were having trouble until we read your journal. It showed us that friends can go through all sorts of tough times and come through stronger than before." Toola placed an hoof around Coconut's neck, "It's made us better friends than we've ever been!" "Really?" Twilight asked with wide-eyes, the fillies nodding back. At the sight of this, all the annoyance, shame and doubt the seven had been feeling suddenly faded away. "Oh," Twilight looked close to tears, "I can't tell you how much it means to hear that. Thank you for telling us." She turned to the others, "We've had a tough couple of days." Then back to them, "But knowing we've helped fillies like you..." She stopped as Applejack walked over to the pair. "It makes everythin' we've been through worth it." Rarity nodded, "Absolutely. Fads come and go." She pulled Applejack into a hug, "Friendship is forever." Rainbow laughed at this, "There are worse things than not being able to do anything without being told I'm awesome." "And we can't change the way other ponies think about us," Fluttershy chimed in, "But we can change how we let it affect us." Pinkie then jumped over to her, a pie in her hoof. "Or how we don't let it affect us!" With that, she thrust it into her face. Everypony watched as the desert splatted all over her, the earth pony giggling as she glanced at her friends. "Go ahead! Laugh!" Everypony in the room burst out laughing, Starlight giving the fillies a hug while the Mane Seven dog piled into their own hug. When the laughter died down, Applejack heard the cries from outside. "Reckon' we still have to deal with them, don't we?" In that moment, the doors opened and Heart, Soul, Ace and Mira leapt inside. They all panted, having had to just wade through the sea of ponies to get inside. "What the heck is going on out there?" Heart asked as he dusted himself, "Did we...miss something?" Twilight giggled at this before turning to Applejack and winking, "Stay in the friendship moment, Applejack. They can wait a little longer." And as the next days passed, the group found they had to suffer through the questions, criticism, ponies telling them how they would have fixed a situation they read about. But they didn't care. Let those who thought they knew everything continue to yell and complain at those who had actually done it. That's all they could do: yell and complain. Eventually, two weeks later, the hype of the journal died down. Several ponies still spoke about the book, but in time, they all moved onto something else. Now the journal was just another book, sitting on a shelf that would only be read by those having problems with their friendships, and needing help figuring out what to do. It would take longer than expected, but eventually the journals would do what Twilight had envisioned for them. Help spread and strengthen friendship throughout Equestria.