//------------------------------// // The mane 7 // Story: Second chances // by jacob.galvin //------------------------------// Authors notes:Thanks Amethyst Dawn for editing ________________________________________________________________________________ The mane 7 Twilight stepped out of the gloom of the Everfree forest, into a clearly non-natural clearing. Her five friends followed close behind. "Wow I feel kinda funny" Applejack slurred as she stepped into the ring of flattened trees. "I feel just fine,” Rarity insisted, “except for having to stare at this dreadful mess." "It looks like a sonic rainboom went off or something" Rainbow offered, she too felt woozy. "Oh I hope that no animals were hurt", Fluttershy said worriedly. "Maybe sompony just had a super super fun party here!" Pinkie said bouncing into the clearing. The magic in the air was so thick that Twilight could almost taste it. Being a unicorn, she was able to channel some of the excess magic into her horn; Rarity's horn was also doing this non-voluntarily. But they were being hit full force, magic washed against them like waves against a rock. “So what are we doing out here Twi?” Applejack asked. "Investigating!” She replied excitedly. "An extremely powerful unicorn is in Ponyville, and once I get a sample of his magic aura, we can track him down. He's already put one filly in the hospital, who knows what he might do next." Twilight closed her eyes, attempting to feel the flow of magic around her, but she didn't feel the usual calm rippling of magic in the air, instead it was like an ocean in a storm, wild, bashing against itself, uncontrollable. Twilight opened her eyes," did you get anything?" Rainbow asked. "No,” Twilight replied sounding defeated, it was too chaotic. Like trying to catch individual grains of sand in a sand storm. "Oh well you tried your best dear” Rarity said hastily, “now perhaps we should leave this dreadful place." Twilight followed the others out of the clearing, she felt like screaming. She had failed to understand her horns warning, and now failed to track down the pony who had stolen Diamond Tiara's cutie mark. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As the six of them entered Ponyville, Twilight considered sending a second letter to the princess. It had been almost a whole day and still no response. In two years of sending letters, never once had one been ignored. Well the princess must have a good reason Twilight decided, maybe she's just busy with royal duties. As they approached the library, Twilight saw a brown stallion with black glasses sitting outside, leaned against the tree. With the glasses on Twilight couldn't tell if he was awake or asleep. "Oh, hiya Vanish!" Pinkie cried, bouncing past them. He smiled, "why hello there Pinkie" "Sup Vanish" rainbow said, they hoof bumped. "There ya are Vanish!” Applejack exclaimed, “I’ve been wantin ta thank ya fer helpin out Rainbow." "Um girls, what’s going on here" Twilight asked confused. "Oh we haven't met my dear" he said standing up. "My name is Vanishing Act, a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” he shook Twilight's hoof , causing the fur on her arm to prickle. “Nice to meet you Vanish, I'm Twilight Sparkle.” She said. He turned to the white mare standing to the side, “and you are?” My name is Rarity,” she said blushing slightly. "Your mane is finely styled,” he complimented her. "Oh why thank you," Rarity smiled. “Perfect!” he declared, “introductions are made.” “So uhh, Applejack, you and Vanish have already met?” Twilight asked. “We sure have, he helped me out with the apple buckin this mornin!” Applejack replied happily. “Yeah, and he talked some sense into me about Fluttershy” Rainbow added, flying down to give the yellow mare a gentle kiss. “Oh oh oh, me next!” Pinkie interrupted. “Well there I was just walking along and the all of a sudden I see somepony that I…” Twilight shoved a hoof in pinkies mouth, "I think we get the idea. Well Vanish, the six of us were actually planning to go on a picnic, and you’re welcome to join us.” “Of course I'll join you, in fact don't worry about bringing anything, I've got it covered.” With a flash they were in a field of soft grass. "Where are we?" Twilight asked. “Oh just a little out of the way pocket dimension.” A picnic blanket materialized, along with a variety of cakes, candies, pastries and various other treats that you would expect to see a child's birthday party. “D… did you say we're in another d…di..dimension!?” Twilight stammered. Discord looked confused, "why so shocked, surely you've travelled between dimensions before?" “No, as a matter of fact I haven't,” She said. "Well in that case I'll have to teach you, but right now I'd rather enjoy my time with friends" Discord smiled wide at them all. The picnic was more fun than any chaos Discord could have created if he had tried for a thousand years. They talked and laughed for hours, Rainbow showing off her new tricks, Rarity discussing what fashions were in this season, Twilight fascinating them with her new spells and magical discoveries, Discord making up stories about himself as he went along. Creating a fictional life for himself, he could be anypony he wanted, but chose to keep it simple by claiming he was from Canterlot, and had moved to Ponyville to live a quiet life. Pinkie Pie seemed content to sit quietly, glancing at him when she thought he wouldn't notice. There was something in her eyes, admiration mixed with something he couldn't quite identify. "So Vanish, are there other dimensions besides this one?" Twilight asked. "Oh of course there are my dear, far too many for me to explore, but occasionally I find a nice one like this, and keep a magic record of it for quick access." He grinned at her. Rainbow stood up, “alright, I've been saving this trick for the Wonderbolts, but I think I'd rather show you guys.” She prepared to take off, but stopped when she heard laughter. Vanish was on his back, laughing like a mad man, tears running down his face."Whats so funny!?" she demanded angrily. “Oh I'm sorry my dear, but the... Wonderbolts!" he burst out, with a fresh bout of laughter. She stood over him, glaring,"tell me what’s so funny about the Wonderbolts!" she said angrily. "You do know that they're frauds right, why in the world would you want to join them!?" He replied. "THEY ARE NOT FRAUDS!!!" she yelled at him. "Oh yes they are, they get energized with unicorn magic before every show, without it they couldn't go much faster than Fluttershy after doing a few tricks." He told her. Rainbow was speechless, her idols, the greatest flyers in all of Equestria, were nothing more than average pegasi mixed with unicorn magic. It couldn't be true, there was no way, “YOUR LYING!!!” she yelled, tears forming in her eyes, “THEY ARE THE GREATEST FLYERS!!!” “How could you possibly know that they're frauds?” Twilight asked. "Let’s just say that I'm in a position to know a lot of things," He said. Rainbow suddenly jumped up and flew off into the distance, ignoring her friend’s pleas to come back, and Vanishes cries of how sorry he was.