Arc 25: The Demon’s Grasp
A New Tale in Vanhoover
In the town of Vanhoover, due far north of Canterlot, a giant ground bridge portal stood on the outskirts of the village. The crystal of the portal lit up and the vortex formed around the inside of the arc. Immediately, Princess Celestia emerged from the portal with Twilight Sparkle and Spike by her side. Following from behind were Wanda Young, Sunset Shimmer, Abigail Albright, Golden Lace, Starlight Glimmer, Misty Brightdawn, Vignette Valencia, Wallflower Blush and Gloriosa Daisy.
“Mom and dad told us they would meet us back at my old hometown of Vanhoover,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“Not only that, but your brother and Princess Cadance are up here as well,” Princess Celestia explained.
“I am going to miss living in Canterlot,” Twilight Sparkle explained. “But at least I can come down through this new ground bridge portal here in Vanhoover.”
“I know it will be hard to readjust to your return here,” Princess Celestia said. “But I will support your decision to come to this wonderful place.”
“Well that being said, I’m surprised that our new friends actually live up here in Vanhoover,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“Believe it or not, the three youngsters came up here sometime after your folks took you and your big brother to the capital city of Canterlot,” Princess Celestia said. “That’s why you never met them before.”
“That does explain a lot,” Twilight Sparkle said. “But I wonder what will happen to them now that we don’t know where their folks are.”
“We’re still trying to find out the whereabouts of their families,” Princess Celestia explained. “Especially their parents. But we were able to locate a brother of one of the ponies.”
“Wait,” Gloriosa Daisy said as she ran up to Princess Celestia. “Are you saying that my brother Timber Spruce is here?”
“When Night Light and Twilight Velvet arrived yesterday,” Princess Celestia explained, “They got in contact with Timber Spruce, who told them about you and how he missed you so much. He also talked about how his parents were taking away from him in retaliation for trying to get you back.”
“I thought they went into hiding,” Gloriosa Daisy asked.
“I’m afraid not,” Princess Celestia said. “I found out from your brother that they were taken to an insane asylum while you were at Daisy Joy Tech.”
“Just like what happened to mine,” Vignette Valencia said. “Princess, why is it that we don’t know where our parents are, even after Gold Banks is now on the run?”
“Chancellor Cinch has been petitioning the prisons bureau for their location and immediate release,” Princess Celestia explained. “But I’m afraid they turned down her commands. Even my pleas fell on deaf ears.”
“Even when she’s not in power, that mean old Gold Banks is still calling the shots,” Wanda said.
“Well I wouldn’t say that,” Princess Celestia said. “After all, she’s not the only one that I worry about.”
As the group stepped hoof into the town of Vanhoover, they were amazed by the size of the buildings that surrounded the village, along with the ponies who wandered around.
“You call this place a village?” Golden Lace said. “Looks more like a city than a village.”
“That’s true,” Princess Celestia said. “Though many insisted that Vanhoover be called a city, some prefer to call it a town than a city.”
“This place makes La Maresa look small in comparison,” Wanda said.
“It does, doesn’t it?” Princess Celestia said before she gave Wanda a hoof noogie, causing the human child to giggle.
“Mommy, cut it out,” Wanda giggled. “That tickles.”
As Celestia tickled Wanda, Starlight looked around Vanhoover, amazed by the sights.
“New to Vanhoover?” Twilight asked.
“Oh I am,” Starlight said. “But I also heard that this place is great to explore, like the famous Stallion Park, or the Canteriliano Suspension Bridge, or maybe even the Welch Beach.”
“Well,” Twilight giggled. “Maybe on a future visit, I could show you more of this amazing place.”
“Oh would you?” Starlight cheered. “I would be happy to see it.”
“Oh there is a lot to see in Vanhoover,” Twilight said. “Even the old town here is a sight to see.”
Suddenly, someone shouted “GLORIOSA!” Gloriosa Daisy turned to her right to see a slightly older earth pony with a light tangelo coat, a mane with two shades of dark aquamarine, and a cutie mark that represents two leaves and a four pointed star on it.
“TIMBER SPRUCE!” Gloriosa said as she allowed the earth pony to pick her up and hug her closely.
“I was hoping I would see you again,” Timber said. “After what happened with our folks, I feared I would have been alone.”
“Thanks to Wanda’s family, we’ve gotten out of Daisy Joy Tech,” Gloriosa Daisy said.
Timber Spruce turned towards Wanda, Sunset and Abigail, to which Wanda waved at him with a grin on her face.
“These must be the daughters of Princess Celestia that Princess Cadance told me about,” Timber Spruce said as Gloriosa Daisy jumped out of his arms.
Timber Spruce walked up to Sunset and Wanda, the latter of which hid behind Sunset.
“Wanda, you alright?” Sunset asked. “You look a bit shy.”
“I do not,” Wanda said. “I think he looks cute.”
Sunset just laughed before she said “I don’t think he’s your type.”
As Timber Spruce held his hoof out, Wanda reached out and held onto it with her hand. Timber slowly pulled her up on her feet, to which Wanda just blushed.
“Oh, I dunno if I should…well…you know,” Wanda said, struggling to get the words out of her mouth.
“You don’t need to say anything,” Timber said. “After all, you are the adopted daughter of Princess Celestia. And anyone with ties to the princess is welcomed in my book.”
As Timber Spruce released his hoof from Wanda’s hand, the man’s cub pulled the collar of her dress and gulped embarrassingly.
“Me thinks you have a weakness for cute boys,” Sunset teased.
“I do not,” Wanda yelled.
“Still, if he were a human or you were a pony, it would be a match made in Equestria,” Sunset Shimmer said.
“He’s not my boyfriend,” Wanda yelled.
But as Twilight stood back with Spike by her side, giggling at Wanda and Sunset, she heard someone shout “Twilight. Glad you made it back to Vanhoover.” She turned to her right to see a pegasi colt with a brilliant gamboge coat, to tones of moderate sapphire blue mane, and a cutie mark with a lightning bolt embedded on a shield.
“FLASH SENTRY!” Twilight cheered as the pegasi ran up to her.
“It’s been a long time, Twilight,” Flash Sentry said as Twilight gave him a hug. “I was wondering how life was going up in Canterlot.”
“Well except for the fact that I was taken to Daisy Joy Tech against my will, I’d say fine,” Twilight responded with a smile.
Immediately, Twilight reached down and picked up Spike the dragon, presenting him to Flash Sentry.
“Flash,” Twilight said. “I would like to introduce to you my new baby brother: Spike.”
Flash Sentry looked directly at Spike and slowly reached his hoof out to him. But as he did, Spike gagged a bit, like he had something that was about to come up.
“Uhh Twilight,” Flash said. “I think your brother might be sick.”
“Oh no,” Twilight said, freaking out a bit. “I know where this is going, and I don’t think you wanna be around it.”
“Oh don’t worry,” Flash said. “I’ve dealt with kids throwing up on me. What’s the worst thing that could happen?”
And with that, Spike belched out a flame right in Flash Sentry’s face, burning it. Flash Sentry looked at the kid before turning his attention to the small fire on the top of his mane, immediately putting it out with his hoof.
“I see what you mean,” Flash Sentry said before he shook the soot off of his fur and mane.
Immediately, Golden Lace walked up to Twilight and said “So this is your coltfriend, Twilight?”
“Not really,” Twilight said. “Just a foalhood friend of mine that I knew before I came to Canterlot. His name is Flash Sentry, but I gave him a cute nickname.”
“And what would that be?” Golden Lace asked.
“Mordecai,” Twilight responded.
Golden Lace just stood there, almost completely dumbfounded.
“Mordecai?” Golden Lace said. “What kind of nickname is Mordecai?”
“Just a fun nickname,” Twilight teased.
Immediately, Twilight heard someone shout her name. She looked behind Flash Sentry and saw Shining Armor and Princess Cadance run up to the group.
“TWILI!” Shining Armor shouted.
“Big Brother,” Twilight cheered as she ran up to Shining Armor and gave her a big hug.
“We were hoping you would show up,” Princess Cadance said. “Your parents are waiting for you at your new house.”
“You mean my old house,” Twilight Sparkle said.
“Yeah,” Shining Armor said. “And your friends are welcome to come on over. Especially Sunset and Wanda.”
“Do you really mean it?” Twilight asked.
“That was the plan in the first place,” Princess Celestia giggled. “Oh Twilight you silly pony.
Twilight lets go of Shining Armor before she turns to the other younglings.
“Did you guys hear that?” Twilight said. “We’re heading over to my house.”
As the younglings cheered loudly, they followed Twilight Sparkle, Shining Armor and Princess Cadance through the streets of Vanhoover, with Princess Celestia walking alongside the two.
“So what do you think?” Princess Cadance asked. “Maybe I should set up a castle here if I decide to live in Vanhoover.”
“We’ll see about that,” Princess Celestia laughed.
But as everyone walked down the street, Sunset Shimmer paused for a bit with a throbbing headache. She clutched her head for the moment before it cleared up.
“What just happened?” Sunset asked.
Sunset’s ears caught the sound of a meow. She looked down and saw Abigail look up at her.
“It’s nothing to worry about, Abby,” Sunset said. “Now let’s go catch up to them.”
With that, Sunset Shimmer and Abigail Albright ran up to the rest of the group as they made their way downtown.
Later that day, in a house in the shape of a tree, Shining Armor was in his old bedroom with Sunset Shimmer, Wanda Young, Abigail Albright, Misty Brightdawn and Starlight Glimmer. There were a number of items that decorated the room such as comic books, video games and even movies.
“You had all of this the entire time?” Sunset Shimmer asked.
“I did,” Shining Armor replied. “When we first moved to Canterlot, we left a lot of our stuff behind because we vowed to come up here every summer. Dad often came here to check up on the place with Mom while I looked over little Twili. Ironic how Twili’s gonna live here once more while I look after the Canterlot house.”
Wanda looked up at Shining Armor’s video game collection. There were a lot of games to choose from that towered over her that numbered over five hundred.
“Shining,” Wanda asked. “How come you have all those video games when you can download them onto your tablet or system?”
“Well that’s a good question,” Shining Armor said as he pulled one of his games out. “Not all of us are keen on just downloading the game. I’m more of an old school kind of pony as I like to collect games.”
“Collect?” Wanda asked.
“Why would anyone collect video games?” Starlight asked.
“Because before the Canterweb was set up,” Shining Armor explained as he opened the cover of his game, “We used to buy our games on either cartridges or discs.”
Shining Armor showed the younglings the inside of the game case, which contained a game cartridge embedded in a small gap and a booklet that went with it.
“Wow,” Starlight said. “It’s that small?”
“Yeah,” Shining Armor explained as he pulled the tiny cartridge out and held it up. “This is the kind of carts used for my Neightendo Swap system. Before then, cartridges were bigger in many ways. The first Neightendo used far bigger carts for their systems.”
Shining Armor pulled out a video game tablet from a nearby drawer and plugged it into a cable. He slid the cart into the slot and turned it on.
“This is just a simple game that I used to play,” Shining Armor said as the screen lit up. “It’s all about a heroic princess whose goal is to rescue the legendary plumber from an evil dragon.”
Misty Brightdawn looked down at the screen and just shrugged a bit.
“I dunno,” Misty said. “Back during my time, we never had any of these video games. In fact, we never had any of this magitech stuff.”
“Well you’re in luck,” Shining Armor said. “I’ll show you what these kinds of games are like.”
“From that small screen?” Misty asked.
“Nope,” Shining Armor said, pointing to a dock connected to a television. “I’ve got another way to play them”
Shining Armor disconnects his gaming tablet from the plug before inserting it into the dock. Immediately, the game popped up on the tv screen, much to the amusement of Wanda, Sunset and Starlight. Though Misty still looked rather confused at it.
“Here,” Shining Armor said as he handed a controller to Misty. “Try it out.”
Misty Brightdawn took the controller out of Shining’s hooves and started playing the buttons. On the screen, the princess moved in a three dimensional arena as Misty moved the joystick.
“This is pretty interesting,” Misty said.
“The B button on the controller allows you to jump,” Shining Armor explained. “Hold it down after jumping to hover yourself in the air.”
As Misty Brightdawn continued to play the game on the tv screen, Wanda, Sunset, Starlight and Abigail sat next to her and observed the gameplay.
“So Wanda,” Misty asked. “Do you ever play like this?”
“We do,” Wanda said. “But our games are downloaded onto the system compared to what Shining Armor showed you.”
“I dunno why you would want to,” Misty said. “Especially when collecting these games are rather interesting.”
“I’m not so sure if King Sombra would approve of you playing or even collecting these,” Sunset Shimmer laughed.
“Actually,” Misty said. “Big brother Sombra collects rare antiques from across the world based on the various societies he’s seen with his eyes, along with some of the goodies he’s smuggled from various gang lords.”
“Wait wha?” Wanda and Sunset shouted.
“Gang lords? Smuggling?” Shining Armor said, surprised by Misty’s statement.
“Oh, that’s something I should tell you when we see him again,” Misty replied.
In the living room area of the house, Princess Celestia sat down on a couch, sipping at some tea. Spike the Dragon sat next to the alicorn princess. Across on another couch was Night Light and Twilight Velvet. Night Light’s wheelchair sat next to the couch while Night Light had his legs on a hoof stool.
“So I take it you’re going to look after Vignette, Wallflower and Gloriosa,” Princess Celestia asked.
“We are,” Night Light said. “There’s been no sign of their parents or any other relatives of theirs besides Timber Spruce. And the governor of Vanhoover gave us the green light to do so.”
“It’s a difficult task to look after five younglings,” Princess Celestia explained. “Even though I’ve had much experience with this, raising them won’t be easy.”
“We know about that,” Twilight Velvet said. “And we’re prepared to do so in case something horrible happens to their parents.”
“There’s also Twilight Sparkle,” Princess Celestia said. “Thanks to the completed ground bridge, she’s welcome to return to Canterlot, any time she wishes.”
“Well that’s saying a lot since she still goes to your school, Princess,” Twilight Velvet said. “After all, if Danged Spell, Sunburst and Moondancer can live in La Maresa and go down to the School for Gifted Unicorns, then it makes a lot of sense.”
“Indeed it does,” Celestia said before taking another sip of tea.
“There is one matter that does concern us,” Night Light asked. “It’s about Wanda.”
“Oh,” Celestia said, moving the tea cup from her lips.
“Actually, it’s more with the concern about her biological mother,” Twilight Velvet explained.
“Wow,” Celestia said. “I guess you would have found out, one way or another.”
“It’s more on the big question,” Twilight Velvet asked. “How come you never explained to Wanda who her real mother was?”
Princess Celestia placed her tea cup on the plate nearby. Then she cleared her throat before directing her gaze towards Twilight Velvet.
“It was Eleanor’s idea,” Princess Celestia explained.
“Eleanor?” Twilight Velvet replied. “Why would she not want her identity as Wanda’s mother be revealed?”
“Eleanor felt like that if I told Wanda about who her mother truly is, she believed that it was a sign for Wanda to return back to her own home,” Princess Celestia said. “So as a result, I swore an oath to Eleanor not to tell Wanda about who her real mother is.”
“Doesn’t that put a lot of pressure on you?” Night Light asked.
“It does,” Celestia said. “Only because it feels like I’m denying my adopted daughter the truth about Eleanor.”
“Eleanor believes she wants Wanda to be happy with her friends,” Twilight Velvet said.. “And in her shoes, I would have done the same thing. But at the same time, Eleanor needs to tell Wanda the truth about herself. And she needs to do so, one day. It’s going to be hard for Wanda. But she’ll understand.”
“I hope you’re right on that,” Celestia said as she looked out the window. “The last thing I need is for Wanda to know the truth after something horrible happened to me.”
“That’s the last thing you need to worry about,” Twilight Velvet said. “Besides, weren’t you going to let Princess Cadance supervise the other youngsters to their trip to the Carmaneah Walbridle Park?”
“That’s right,” Celestia said. “Too bad Danged Spell, Sunburst and Moondancer are too busy for this moment. Maybe on a future visit, we’ll bring them up.”
Spike the Dragon looked out the window and just said “Twilight.”
Outside, Twilight Sparkle played ball with Flash Sentry and Vignette Valencia, while Golden Lace, Gloriosa Daisy and Timber Spruce wandered around the block. Wallflower Blush stood next to a tree, staring upwards at the sky, with Princess Cadance looking after the younglings.
“So it’s going to be hard to say good-bye,” Golden Lace said.
“It is,” Gloriosa Daisy said. “But at least I don’t have to be at Daisy Joy Tech again.”
“You said it,” Golden Lace laughed.
“It’s too bad Juniper never thought about moving up to Vanhoover,” Timber Spruce said. “Her and Canter Zoom. They would have enjoyed it up here.”
“That’s true,” Golden Lace said. “But they would have to relocate the movie set here. After all, Canter Zoom is a director.”
“Well still,” Timber Spruce said. “Like La Maresa, we have our own forests to explore.”
“You’re talking about the Stallion Park, correct?” Golden Lace asked.
“Well not just that,” Gloriosa Daisy replied. “There are a lot of forests surrounding Vanhoover, like the Carmaneah Walbridle Park.”
“I’ve actually heard of that place,” Golden Lace said. “In fact, I heard the trees there are bigger than the buildings in Manehattan.”
“Oh they are,” Timber Spruce said. “Maybe before you head back to Canterlot, you and your friends should come up and check the place out.”
“Is that a fact?” Princess Cadance said, walking over to Timber Spruce. “I forgot to tell you this. But later today, we’re going to check out the Carmaneah Walbridle Park due south of here.”
“Really?” Twilight yelled as she accidentally threw the ball too hard, causing Flash Sentry to duck.
“Woah, careful Twilight,” Flash said. “I almost got hit by a bean ball.”
“Oops,” Twilight said, blushing. “Sorry about that, Mordecai.”
“It’s okay,” Flash Sentry said. “You’re just excited to check that place out, like you once did before your move.”
“I know,” Twilight Sparkle said. “The Carmaneah Walbridle Park is one of the coolests places when it comes to forests. The Trees are huge and everything is just beautiful.”
“That would be a great place for me to just kick back and relax,” Wallflower Blush said.
“Oh it would,” Twilight said, walking over to Wallflower. “You’re going to enjoy it there.”
“It’s funny you should say that,” Timber shouted. “Because before she disappeared, Wallflower Blush enjoyed going to that park just to enjoy herself.”
Twilight turned to Wallflower, who just hid her face behind her arm.
“Oh come on,” Twilight said. “Aren’t you going to tell us more about that park?”
“Well,” Wallflower said as she lowered her arm. “It’s a great place for camping. But you must be careful. Bears can pop up when you least expect it.”
“Then that settles it,” Twilight Sparkle cheered. “When do we get ready?”
“Oh silly Twilight,” Princess Cadance said. “We’ll have to wait for the others before we head out into the forest.”
Twilight Sparkle looked at the others, especially Golden Lace, who were giggling nearby.
“Whoops,” Twilight smirked. “Guess good things do come to those who wait.”
To Be Continued In…
The Demon of the Forest