A Few Years Later
Rainbowshy and Flutter Dash (note: this section has nothing to do with shipping)_______________________
Rainbow Dash woke up. She had the dream again, the dream that her life had been different. Perhaps even better. That's usually how the dream protrayed her life.
It was the dream where she raced Kev and won. She looked at her flank. Nothing was there. She was the only pony her age without a cutie mark. She thought about leaving her home today. She remembered the last time she did, the ridicule she received from everypony... She decided against it.
She would wait until Fluttershy came over. Fluttershy could stick up for Rainbow Dash, like she always did. Fluttershy was the bravest pony she knew.
Rainbow heard a knock on the door and her ears perked up. She rushed to the door and greeted her guest with a smile.
"H-Hi, Fluttershy! It's been a while!"
Flutteshy had a short, pink mane and tail and a cutie mark of three butterflies, which Rainbow thought was strange considering Fluttershy's personality.
"Hey, Rainbow! I've been thinking about what we should do today..."
Rainbow looked at Fluttershy in a confused manner, her long, multi-hued mane drooping on the cloud that she was standing on.
"I think we should have a race!"
Rainbows eyes grew large. "A-a r-race?!?! Oh... Um... I don't know..." she held her head low and scraped her hooves on the cloud. "Y-you know I... Don't like races..."
She started thinking about the day her life took the turn for the worse.
Fluttershy saw the look on Rainbow's face and quickly retracted her offer.
"Oh, right... Of course... Well, um..." Fluttershy had started to speak introvertedly. Assertive. "Is there something else you'd rather do?"
"No... I-I'm fine... I was actually planning on staying home today..."
Fluttershy sighed. "All right. Come on, Angel." There was a chirp from her bluebird friend as they left.
Research____________________________
Twilight Sparkle was about to give up all hope. None of her history books had anything about Celestia's weaknesses. She slammed her books on the floor.
"Twilight, perhaps the answer isn't in the history books." Trixie, her assistant, suggested.
Twilight thought about this. Of course! If somepony had a weakness, they wouldn't want it to be publicized... And with the power Celestia has as the princess, she can have her weaknesses put off as fiction!
"Trixie, what would I do without you?"
Trixie smiled, accepting the compliment. Ever since Twi hired her as an assistant, she had cast aside her old stage name. It seemed stupid now... The Great and Powerful Trixie... She hadn't been doing well as a traveling entertainer anyway.
Twi picked out a book titled "Nightmare Moon and other Old Mare's Tales." Nightmare Moon sounds like she'd be able to help us with our cause...
She opened the book to the story called "the Mare in the Moon." Twi liked the sound of this... Nightmare Moon. She was an alicorn. She once knew Celestia, and, in fact, was the one who ruled alongside her to raise the moon. She got jealous and took a turn to the dark because nopony appreciated her moon.
The next part Twi liked the best.
Celestia imprisoned Nightmare in the moon. She had a reason for revenge, a reason to help their cause. The only problem was that it would take 1000 years for her to escape the moon.... The good news was that 1000 years was tomorrow.
The legend said that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars would aid her escape, and she would show up in Ponyville.
Twi smile mischievously. Yes... This Nightmare Moon should work perfectly...
"Trixie, pack your things. We're going to Ponyville."
The Filly who Cried Dragon________________
Fluttershy hovered away from Rainbow's home dejectedly. She never should have brought up racing. She heard a chirp and looked toward Angel, who had a worried look on his face.
That's when Scootaloo showed up. Scootaloo was Fluttershy's biggest fan. Fluttershy stopped and Angel perched on her head.
"Fluttershy! I've been looking all over for you!" Scootaloo was panting. She wasn't exactly the strongest flyer, and she flew as fast as she could to reach Fluttershy. "There's a BIG problem!"
"Don't worry, Scootaloo. I'm sure that whatever it is, I can help. What's the problem?" Fluttershy asked with a smile.
"There's a big, scary dragon coming toward Cloudsdale! You're the braves pony I know, you can beat that dragon easy!"
Fluttershy stood rigid. She was absolutely terrified of dragons. Of course, she couldn't let Scootaloo know that she was scared. She looked up at Angel who, with a nod, flew away.
"I-I'm sure that I'll be able to... to, um..."
Scootaloo looked at Fluttershy expectantly. There was a silence between the two that lasted a while. Fluttershy felt uncomfortable and felt that she had let Scootaloo down. That is, she did, until Angel flew back to Fluttershy and shook his head.
"O-Oh, don't worry. There isn't a dragon. Wherever did you hear such a thing?"
Scootaloo thought hard, than looked down embarrassed. "Oh, well, uh... Nopony told me... But... I could have sworn I saw a dragon... Must have just been a cloud..."
Scootaloo reminded Fluttershy of herself at that moment. Of course, Scootaloo was assertive most of the time WITHOUT having to force herself, or making a promise to a friend.
A Rarity for Rarity________________
Everypony's favorite mallow mare was busy working on a dress for a very important client, one who would make her fashion known throughout all of Equestria; Sapphire Shores. She heard the sound of hooves on the floor. It was getting louder, as if the source was getting closer.
Suddenly, she felt a bump on her hind leg, causing her to lose her concentration as she consequentially dropped her needle and dress. She looked back and saw Sweetie Belle, her younger sister.
"Yes, Sweetie? Did you need something?" Rarity said through clenched teeth, trying to hide irritation.
Sweetie Belle was panting. "There's... Some... Pony... At... Door... Prin... Cess... Celestia..." she fell on the floor, out of breath.
Rarity froze up. What could the princess possibly want from her? If Celestia wanted a dress, she would become EVEN MORE famous than the dress she was making for Sapphire Shores. She slowly made her way to the door. There standing before her was Princess Celestia herself.
Rarity's eyes widened as she bowed to Celestia. She saw the calm demeanor that she had about her, one that she almost always had.
"Hello, Rarity. I must speak to you about a matter of utmost importance.
"W-Why, of course, Princess. What is it you wish to talk about?"
Celestia's smile turned into a slight frown as she looked around to make sure nopony was listening to their conversation.
"As you know, I'm supposed to be here tomorrow for the Summer Sun Celebration. However, Nightmare Moon is going to be freed on the same day. I believe she is going to be helped by somepony, betraying me and all of Equestria in doing so." She paused to let it sink in. "I need you and five other ponies to go out to the Everfree Forest and collect the Elements of Harmony in order to defeat them."
Sweet Apple Acres_____________
It's been years since AJ ran away from home, but something inside her brought her back. It was strange seeing her brother, Big Macintosh, all grown up, and the last time she was there Applebloom was just a few days old.
When Sweet Apple Acres was in view, she quickly galloped closer.
Applebloom stared at the mare running toward her and her brother, who wore a stetson. She was much too... Proper, for lack of a better word.
However, when she saw AJ's cutie mark of three apples, all doubt was cast aside, and she knew that the pony with her mane in a bun was in fact her long lost sister.
"B... Big sis'? Is that you?" Applebloom asked, having never met AJ before.
"Applebloom... I haven't seen you since... Well, since Ah was your age..." AJ quickly caught her mistake in her accent and corrected herself.
"I mean... Since I was your age..."
She looked around. The farm was extremely old fashion. She couldn't see a single unicorn working there, the farm apparently only being run by her older brother.
When she was with aunt and uncle Orange unicorns always helped with the harvest of the fruit, making it go by a lot faster.
She sighed. "Pardon me, but I have business that I positively must attend to."
She walked off to the barn.
"Big Macintosh, has AJ always been like that?" Applebloom asked.
Big Mac said nothing for a while, a dramatic silence building up.
He sighed.
"No... No she has not... Not always..." he replied.
Oh boy, a party...__________________
Pinkamena had decided to stay home at Sugarcube Corner today. Every time she left, she felt the strange feeling that she always felt, the one in the pit of her stomach. She grouped it with her collection of Pinkamena Senses, strange things that happened with her body when something was going to happen. For example, when her tail twitched, something was about to fall.
Her tail twitched.
She quickly held her pillow over her head. A small alligator plopped on top of it.
"Oh, Gummy..." she sighed, picking up the toothless reptile. "Haven't I told you not to try to sneak up on me like that?"
Gummy just stared at her and blinked one eye at a time.
Pinkamena suddenly realized something. Tomorrow was the Summer Solstice, and Celestia was coming to Ponyville this year. Mayor Mare entrusted Pinkamena with the party planning.
She loved planning parties. In fact, that's how she got her cutie mark.
She didn't, however, enjoy attending parties. She couldn't really explain it. She just didn't feel the same way everypony else did when they attended parties.
She sighed and grabbed pencil in her mouth and took out a sheet of paper to write down what they would need for the party. She suddenly stopped and stared intently at the wall, which seemed to interest her more than anything else in all of Equestria.
"Gummy, do you ever feel like somepony is watching everything that you do?"
Gummy blinked one eye at a time in response.
"Well, if somepony IS watching..." she walked up to the wall and pressed her face on it. "I have my eye on YOU!" she said, a suspicious look on her face.
After the short outburst, she went back to planning the party.
END OF CHAPTER TWO