//------------------------------// // Chapter 3 - Starcoder // Story: 40 Years // by bookhorse125 //------------------------------// Princess Twilight arrived in Ponyville, soon followed by Spike. She hovered around town and found her friends together running in the opposite direction she was, possibly crashing into her. As soon as they spotted her, they stopped and crowded around her, talking over each other. She raised her hoof to get them to quiet down which, surprisingly, they did. She was more of a friend than a princess to them, but her orders were still a princess’s orders. She took a deep breath. “I’ve already heard about what happened. Applejack?” With shock, Applejack shrugged. “I mean, if it’s changelings, then I’ll be as shocked and angry as Winona when we rid ‘er of a mud-stained coat.” “And if it’s not?” Fluttershy squeaked, covering her face with her wings. “I guess I’ll still be shocked. Maybe even more than I would be if they were changelings. But what else could it be?” That question silenced the rest of them as they asked themselves just that. Rarity closed her eyes to imagine. “I have no idea what it could be, but it probably isn’t changelings, right? I mean, they were all reformed.” “Well, we only know some of them were reformed,” Rainbow Dash reasoned. “What about the others that weren’t there when it happened? The ones who didn’t get the chance to witness the Magic of Friendship? The ones that managed to escape, unknown to us all?” Rarity sighed. Rainbow did make several good points. “I suppose you’re right. Anyone else have ideas?” “It could always just be costumes,” said Pinkie Pie. “Costumes are no harm, just fun! And they do look very silly often.” “But what about the portal?” Rainbow Dash protested. “Ponies don’t wear costumes while jumping through portals. And how would it even open in the first place?” Fluttershy decided to speak up. “There are ponies who have magic powerful enough to open portals. And there are others who understand enough to possibly also open a portal. Take Twilight here, or even unicorns like Starlight and Sunburst.” Twilight considered her friends’ views. “How about we contact Starlight and Sunburst?” she asked them. “They probably understand as much about magic as I do, maybe even more.” They all nodded in agreement. “What about the weird-looking ponies, then?” “Just ignore them for now. If they become a disturbance, then we’ll worry about what happens next. But right now, they seem to come in peace,” Twilight explained as, through the corner of her eye, she watched a mint-green coated earth pony write things about Ponyville in her notebook. Although she had an uncanny grin on her face and a strange yet fascinated stare, it seemed to fit, as her cutie mark was a pink notebook and a blue pencil to go along with it. Her objects in reality were also these colors. She seemed so intrigued by this world that didn’t fit her, or more, she didn’t fit. She took notes on almost everything she saw, and approached ponies with a big smile, strangely as big as her big face. Her pink eyes reminded her of Pinkie Pie. It gave her a sense of curiosity, friendliness, and playfulness as anything pink did. The color pink was just a symbol of Pinkie Pie’s joyousness, and Twilight could not unsee it in any way. Twilight shook her head to clear the interest of these ponies, but she couldn’t manage to get them off of her mind. As she looked around, she noticed that nopony could. And she was one of the few ponies who thought about them in something better than a negative light. Not quite positive, but definitely not negative. She didn’t seem like much of a threat to Equestria. Then again, there were a lot of ponies, not to mention creatures, that didn’t act as expected. This pony could be one of them. She turned around to face where Canterlot Castle was. She then looked at the town, which was now almost all locked up inside, and heaved a sigh. “Can you go get Starlight and Sunburst in my old castle? I want to go see how things are going back in Canterlot. You know what? Let’s meet up there, too.” Her friends nodded, Pinkie giving her a full salute, as they headed in the direction of the Castle of Friendship. She looked down at Spike and finally showed her true emotions, her extremely concerned face. She put a hoof to her head and sighed. “Let’s go, Spike.” “Sure, but is there something you need to say, first? Something specific that you want to get off of your mind?” Twilight just shook her head. “All of Equestria is filled with these strange things. I’m the ruler of all Equestria. It’s not like there’s a problem I have with keeping all of this under control,” she finished with a slight eye twitch and a bit of hyperventilating. “You may be a lot better at managing your Twilighting, but that doesn’t mean you can’t ask for help every now and then,” Spike told her, softly resting a claw on her shoulder. Twilight groaned, stressed. “Whatever. Let’s just get back to Canterlot. Are you riding me or what?” Spike crossed his arms, frustrated with Twilight’s stubbornness. He flew onto her back as she spread her wings open and took off to Canterlot. When they arrived, all of the gates were locked as far as she could see. “Could somepony let me in?” she shouted into the possibly empty halls of the castle. One guard stepped up, not allowing her to see anything beyond him. Soon, her eyes adjusted to the darkness, allowing her to see the symbol on his helmet which marked him lead guard. “Gael!” she exclaimed with a breath of relief. “Could you please let me in?” “I’m sorry, Princess Twilight,” he said while slowly shaking his head. “If that really is your name.” “Of course it is!” Twilight shouted! “Well, I mean, the ‘Princess’ part is just a part of my title, but my real name is Twilight Sparkle. I need to get inside! Please!” “I’m so sorry, ma’am, but we cannot let anypony in without identities being checked,” he confirmed, blocking the entrance. Twilight groaned in frustration. “How do you check my identity, then?” she questioned him. “Please, I just need to protect Equestria from whatever threat this could be.” “It’s true, Gael,” came a soft, comforting voice from behind her. Twilight and Spike turned around to see the rest of the girls, along with Starlight and Sunburst. He heaved a heavy sigh. “Security is my number one job, so if the real Twilight, if she isn’t you, finds that I disobeyed my job and punishes me for it, I’ll blame you for it all. You hear me?” Twilight closed her eyes. Just the smallest things could stir up the wildest reactions of mayhem throughout the streets of Equestria. “Okay, Gael. We just need to head to the meeting room to discuss this crisis. If you’d like to come, too, then by all means, please do.” “Of course,” he replied in his booming guard voice. “I need to keep an eye out for any threats, and that includes you. Sorry.” Rainbow Dash was about to protest, but Applejack grabbed her tail and pulled her back, allowing Twilight to speak for them. “Of course. I completely understand. Now let’s go.” Spike noticed that this was all said in a somberly formal tone. He wondered when the Twilight he knew would come back. He sighed and hoped that it would be soon. They all reached the meeting room after several seconds of silent, uncomfortable walking. When they all arrived, they sat down in their designated seats, which were the ones they usually sat in when in Canterlot Castle. They stared at each other’s faces, not knowing what to say, not with a guard watching every small move. One wrong word could result in something terrible. It was Twilight who decided to break the silence. Not with something crisis related, more some random feeling that was just nagging at her mind. “This day isn’t going the way I expected. At all.” “Well, duh. It’s not like anypony would expect such a beautiful day to be filled with chaos, weird-looking ponies, and portals.” A glare from each of Twilight’s friends told Spike that was the wrong thing to say. He sank back down into his seat and watched for Twilight’s next reaction. Twilight then lit up and smiled. “No, don’t feel bad, Spike. That’s the keyword, right there! ‘Chaos!’ Do you have any idea of who it could be now?” They almost all eyed each other before saying it simultaneously. “Discord!” “It was right under our muzzles this whole time!” Rainbow Dash angrily decided. “Where is he, anyways? We’ve got to go take him out!” “Now Rainbow Dash, you can’t just jump to conclusions like that,” Fluttershy scolded in her quiet voice. “What if we all went to him and demanded that he send ponies back to their worlds when it wasn’t even him?” “Now, Fluttershy, that ain’t a bad idea, really. Discord’s magic is real powerful. Even if it weren’t him, he could still send them all home and rid the chaos in Equestria,” Applejack thought. She kept to herself after examining her words in her mind. Starlight sat back in her chair. “I don’t know. That could have extreme consequences for them. Have we ever even tried to hear their side of the story?” “Starlight,” Twilight warned. “Maybe this is one of those times where we can ignore friendship and try to address the problem directly.” Starlight looked down, ashamed, as she mumbled “Just like what happened with Stygian.” Twilight groaned, and although she needed comforting, Fluttershy had to side with Starlight. “She does deserve to be listened to, Twilight. Just like Stygian. Just like those mysterious ponies who just appeared. What if they’re lost and need a friend? Are you just going to leave them there because they seem different from us?” “Well, no,” Twilight grumbled, clearly aggravated. “But copying looks? That’s wrong of them, too.” “Who said they knew about Applejack and Scootaloo at all? What if they think Applejack and Scootaloo copied them? That’s just two examples. Come on, Twilight, you need to learn to be more understanding,” Fluttershy said. When she was like this, fighting for a strong cause, Pinkie Pie often liked to say “Flutter-bold.” It fit, but it was only because she was the element of Kindness. To be judgemental and make assumptions was cruel, and extremely wrong in her book. After this, everyone seemed to see Fluttershy’s view, the one on listening to everybody. Rainbow Dash had learned this lesson once before, so she already knew how efficient it was. Twilight was probably the most reluctant of them all, but she gave in. “Alright, we’ll do it. Let’s hear their views on this before we take any further action,” she humphed. Half of the group smiled, the other frowned, and there was Twilight, who was pretty ambivalent about the whole situation. “So, where to, Twilight?” Applejack asked. “How about we split up?” Twilight asked. “Some of us can go ask Discord for help, others will help calm down the chaos, a few will go confront the strange ponies, and others can work on magical portal solutions.” Everypony nodded in agreement as Twilight assigned groups. “Of course, Starlight, Sunburst, and I will be working with magic. Applejack, Pinkie Pie, you can go see Discord. Rarity and Rainbow will calm everypony down. That would leave Fluttershy and Spike to talk to the ponies. Everyone understand?” They all nodded once more, each going with their groups to fix the problem that had been started.  Once they left, Gael closed the windows and sighed to himself, slowly walking back to the Castle’s entrance to complete his duties. “I really do hope it was them,” he whispered to himself. Nopony knew how disastrous another changeling outbreak could be. And, most likely, nopony wanted to know. With a sigh, he prayed, “May Equestria remain safe, like it has for many generations.”