//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Briefings // Story: Dragoning her Hooves // by Richardson //------------------------------// Her sleep was fitful; restless from the memories invading her dreams once more. Her unwilling hug assistant briefly squirmed in her grip once more as she rolled over in her sleep, sending a new wave of memories rushing down into her head. It had all started so well... -------------------------------------------------------- "AAaaauuugh!" The purple unicorn jumped, madly brushing at her mane as she shook her head and body in a wild dance to dislodge the creepy-crawlie. "Get it off, Get It Off, GETITOFF!" A spell froze her and her itchy attacker in place at the foot of the debris field. The damp and dimly lit rooms left little for her frozen eyes to look at save for the hole in the wall streaming in light from the side of the old castle that faced the river. A hurried set of hoofsteps clattered over the cracked and loose pavers of the floor as her travel companion and expedition leader appeared. "Oh, Twilight. It's only a millipede." Gentle magic wove through her frozen in time mane, plucking the intruder free with delicate care as the stasis field unwove from around her body. Twilight fell to the floor in a thump, panting as she calmed down. Well, she was calming down right up until Prin- until Celestia walked out in front of her and showed it to her at close range. "See, Twilight? Millipedes are harmless. They lack any kind of poison and are scavengers. In fact, with all of those legs, they're rather cute." "Augh!" Twilight skittered back, thumping up against the collapsed vault doors in her panic. Celestia seemed to almost droop in disappointment. "Right. I forgot that you've had so many bad experiences with nature. I'm sorry, Twilight. Nature's quite fascinating once you get past your fears, Twilight. So many variations, so many wonders." Twilight took deep calming breaths, remembering the exercise that Cadance once taught her. She sat back up and lit her horn, reaching her aura down into her rucksack to pull out a thick checklist. She partially unrolled it, casting a spell to make all the letters upon its surface to dance downwards to make room for a new number one task. "Right. New objective: Clean campsite of all ickiness with extreme prejudice!" "I wouldn't worry about our tent, Twilight. It has a spell built into it to prevent things from crawling in with us." Celestia pointed to their remarkably large temporary domicile. Twilight found herself reflexively smiling somewhat as she considered all the fun she would have studying it. It had a charm of Starswirl's Geometric Expansion, pegasi temperature spells, a free floating safe spell-heater for cooking, and somehow it had changed color and texture when Celestia had fired a spell at it. Twilight nodded somewhat numbly, though, as she stuffed her checklist back into her half-empty ruck sack. Turning around, she looked up at the wall of rubble that blocked the way down into the treasury. Sometime in the past five months, one of the towers had collapsed upon the main building of the castle, crushing the section beneath a mountain of rubble. In fact, judging from some of the pieces of tile that had escaped mostly unscathed, it had once been a part of Celestia's section of the castle. Twilight picked up a piece of the rubble with her magic, inspecting the tarnished old sunburst etched into the piece of still-polished marble. "Well, this isn’t going to be easy. Couldn't we just call it blocked off and leave it alone, Prin- Celestia?" Celestia shook her head as she lit her horn. Rocks and chunks of masonry quivered atop the pile and began to wobble, roll, and float towards the hole in the room, and the river beyond it. "I know it could be fine, but I can't put it off anymore." Twilight joined in with her mentor, adding in her own considerably terrifying telekinetic prowess to float pony-sized boulders away. Things nagged at her, including the strangest feeling that she needed to be down there, in the vaults. That there was something needing a helping hoof. "So, I still don't understand why you left these things behind if they're so dangerous Pr- Celestia." Grunt. Clatter. Rumble-rumble-RUMBLE-SPLASH! Celestia turned her horn back to the pile as she absentmindedly began talking. "Are you familiar with the term... 'schmuck bait', I believe?" Twilight jumped back as a small rockslide let more of the old tower slide down onto the pile of rubble. A rueful frown etched her face as she considered. "Yes, I'm familiar with the term, Celestia. Bright, shiny, and irresistible to many ponies for inexplicable reasons? An object that is dangerous, but somehow is considered fun to play with by many?" Oh yes, she was quite familiar with its connotations in regards to Pinkie Pie. Wood groaned as Celestia ripped a two foot thick ironwood beam out of the rubble. She inspected it, noting that its rich red color was still intact, and she set it aside for repurposing one day. "Yes, that would be exactly the term I am thinking of. Most of the artifacts that we will retrieve will try to influence us like that, unfortunately. Even more insidiously, most of the more dangerous objects will want to be used. They want to be found." Twilight paused, letting gravel roll down to pool around her hooves as she did. "Want to be used?" Celestia lifted a boulder bigger than she was, tossing it out of the castle into the late afternoon sunlight. "They can telepathically induce influences and desires on an unsuspecting target. Or a suspecting but unprepared target." Celestia paused as she remembered the last stupid mistake she had made in handling the tools of evil. "Even from a great distance, they can touch somepony's mind, especially if they know about the object. Hence part of how they gain power from being talked about." Celestia stopped upon the hill of rocks, spreading her wings to hop into the air to see how much of the pile remained. As she hovered in the air, she saw to her satisfaction that no more collapses would occur and let herself drop back to her hooves awkwardly, twisting an ankle slightly. "Ow!" "Are you okay?" "Fine. I'm fine, Twilight. No need to worry. Just out of practice." Celestia wriggled her forehoof, feeling how it sorely twinged. "Twilight, these objects worm their way into your mind. They make it seem reasonable to use them. They make you want to use them, make you covet them. Thankfully, even with all of the information in your books, Trixie has no way of getting to any of them." Twilight pensively tapped her hoof in thought as she reviewed. "So, I have to triple-check all of my thoughts to be sure?" Darker images floated in her head, of herself hanging by puppet strings from torturous devices. "Yes, Twilight." "Um, speaking of which, if they can make a pony pull a Pinkie, why were they here?" "Because I was young and reckless, and stupid. I thought I could shield the ones that I could not destroy forever." "Did you? Celestia sighed, a tear escaping her eye to run sadly down the length of her muzzle as she dipped her head. "Three years ago, you found out that I couldn't." "Wait! My thoughts have already been twisted!?" Twilight yelped as she jumped back from the pile of rubble. With a frantic panicked urgency, her hooves jumped to her head and began patting it down to try and feel or drive off any influence on her mind as she fell to her rump. Could her friendships be a lie? She-she... that's why she was always getting more organized! She was going to turn into a giant clockwork- Celestia's hoof cupped Twilight's chin soothingly. The setting sun streamed through the solar diarch’s mane, turning it into a fiery nimbus as she tenderly looked down upon Twilight. With tears in her eyes, Celestia explained the depths of her error. "No, Twilight. Not you. You saved her. Luna did not simply fall to the nightmare, she was pushed. In her desperation from more than a thousand years of neglect, scorn, and ignorance laid against her by the common pony she was more vulnerable than anypony before or since. The Helm of Horrors worked through a crack in my wards and ripped into her thoughts, corrupting her." Celestia's legs trembled as she slowly slid down to the ground. "It corrupted her, tore all the good things in her apart. And when I couldn't save her, I left her with it for a thousand years. I couldn't destroy it. But you did." "P-Celestia, I didn’t know." Twilight turned to lie against Celestia, letting the alicorn rest her chin atop her mane. "I know, Twilight. That is why I can't bring them to Canterlot. Nopony is safe from these abominations, and it would be foalish to bring them close to more victims in waiting." Twilight nodded numbly as she rested against her mentor. Her gaze flicked back to the pile of rocks. "Princess, if Canterlot isn’t safe, if the Everfree forest can't keep them locked up forever, where will you hide them now?" "I don't know, Twilight. I don't know. -------------------------------------------------------- "Fine then, General Armor, where is Princess Luna? We have been waiting for four hours for her arrival!" Cmdr. Redtail fluffed himself up in irritation and protest. Hours with Pinkie tend to do that to somepony, and the no-nonsense officer had quite soured against the thought of her tagging along. Though the sandwalker Mustari stood with him and Zecora of the zebra lands on many things, the Arabian horse and the Ponyville resident zebra were obviously enjoying her company far more than he was. Shining Armor rubbed the side of his temple with a hoof, feeling a headache coming on. How did his Twiley put up with it? It had taken him the better part of an hour to convince his former friend that he was still hard and battle ready military instead of having decayed into the softness of royalty. "I don't know Gossie. I have a few choice words for her myself. My guess is that she's probably performing another session of dream therapy with Twilight. She's still got some ways left to go before she'll have gotten over the trauma of her transformation enough to be fit for the expedition." 'Gossie' Goshawken Redtail harrumphed in irritation, looking out past Shining over the rail of the upstairs balcony to scowl at the ponies in the main hall of the library having a celebration. "And I suppose you're going to tell me that all of those civilians are coming with us onto the battlefield as well?" Mustari stomped his hoof in irritation. "Perhaps your flights have dulled your sight and clouded your mind. Look upon them again, for you stand in the presence of the Bearers of Harmony. Thrice have they stood against odds that flattened any guard unit before them, and thrice have they fought more bravely and successfully than the Celestine Guard when pressed. Faust favors them." Mustari bowed his head, murmuring a prayer beneath his breath. Redtail's talons scraped against his beak as he palmed his face with a paw. He had just barely kept from letting his lower beak flop open as he had glanced at the group. "Tell me that those undisciplined, hog-wrangling, simple-minded fillies aren't the- oh, what am I saying? Of course the sentimental-" "Enough; we cannot afford to fight! Not if we are to be the last hope of the light!" Zecora's shout echoed through the building, awkwardly catching everypony's attention. She glowered at her airborne counterpart, continuing softly. "Next time choose your words more care; lest we are not there to see how you fare." Shining Armor grunted in agreement. "Thank you, Zecora." The shamaness and former officer of Zebabwae nodded her head towards him in acknowledgement. "This bickering is pointless. Princess Luna wants them all on the expedition because they all offer something for its success. Furthermore-" Shining Armor's horn sparked impressively as something forced its way through the privacy shield around Twilight's library. "She is here." ---------------------------------- Cadance’s eyes widened in horror as she listened to the sad litany of woe of the dark pegasus before her. It was all just... "You're allergic to everything!?" Pssssnckt! Psssnckt! "No. Jud Most dings." The grey and coal black pegasus sniffled through her stuffed nose, trying to find some clean air to breathe so that she wouldn't be hurting quite so badly. She flinched away from Dash for a moment, worried that she might break out in hives from any trace of liquid rainbows. The polychromatic pegasus leaned in again, using her cleaned wing to drag Dainty back. Cadance grew pale as she tried to imagine what a life like that would be like. "You must be miserable, how can you-" "-What? Be so awesome that Rainbow Dash, Mare of Awesome had to make a fan club for her? I dunno! Oh, wait, she flies three times faster than me at 80,000 hooves, that's how!" Dash butted in enthusiastically, leaving Dainty Dish squirming to escape her grip as Dash hoof-pumped in midair. "It's nudding, really." Dainty Dish wriggled backwards, trying to pull her black and crimson striped mane free of Dash's grip. "Nothing? Nothing!? Stop selling yourself short! Heck, you've got merchandise now!" Dash reached into her saddlebags, pulling out a medium sized plushy of the pegasus, complete with the red-tinted fur of her windburned nose. Cadance squeaked a little, snatching it up to admire the little doll. "Uh-" "The Dainty Dish Merchandise Fund's been waiting for you to withdraw for the past six months, Dainty!" Pinkie started to glomp the pegasus, stopping as she realized she must still have flour dust all throughout her coat and mane as the poor pegasus started sneezing in rapid fire. She sadly smiled and patted Dainty on the back, a gesture that Dainty returned. Pinkie perked up again, then just as immediately deflated once more as she remembered the project she had been working on. "I was going to say that I had a scrumptible treat for you to try, but it got a little too hot and some stuff you can't eat developed in it so it's no good for you anymore." Pinkie perked up again, diving under Twilight's center table and jumped back out again for Dainty. "But I've got cashews!" Dainty’s eyes widened and she snatched the box of cashews from Pinkie with a ravenous hunger so she could shove her nose deep into it. Happy chomping sounds emerged as she chewed away. Her eyes rolled back a little, and she let herself fall onto her back as she plugged the box with her muzzle. Cadance smiled, ruefully shaking her head at the sight. "Okay, okay. Her life does have some good things in it. But I'm still confused as to why she's here. Unless she's here to visit Twilight." "Twilight? Wud's wrong wid her?" Dainty leaned back up, pulling the box of cashews from her muzzle reluctantly. All of Twilight's friends and family turned to her, their solemn gazes making her feel uncomfortably small. Spike was the first to speak up as he sat in a chair off to one side, surrounded by Fluttershy and Rarity. "She's been infected by some kind of artifact of doom, and it turned her into a dragon along with somepony named Trixie. Then Trixie went nuts and riled up the ponies of Canterlot against her and she ran off to the Everfree Forest for a while. She's sleeping outside in the tent because she's too big to fit in here, and she's too dangerous to be close to when she starts thrashing around in her nightmares." "So who's in there wid her?" "WHAT!?" "Tan coat, blue mane..." Night Light knew who Pinkie was referring to instantly. The normally royal blue Sparkle stallion turned redder than a beet as he remembered how often he had chased off the delinquent from the house. "SENTRY!" --------------------------------------------- "Gyah!" Twilight awoke with a start, rolling upright to see whoever had entered her tent. Her slitted pupils twitched in and out as they tried to focus to compensate for the darkness. Part of her semi-awake mind could have sworn that her dad had been screaming somepony's name to the heavens nearby. And why was the ground so lumpy and hard? "If you don't mind, Twilight, I'd like to get up now." The muffled male voice came from beneath the expanse of her chest, startling the young dragoness with its closeness and position. Twilight jumped to her hoo- her feet, looking down at the poor stallion who had somehow ended up beneath her. Surprisingly, he had held up fairly well for having a massive creature atop him as his armor had held up to the weight. Two gouges were rubbed into the ground beside him, almost as if he had been cuddled by her, but that was just silly. She scuttled back to give him some air and to keep from falling upon him. "Oh no! How did I lay on you? I'm so sorry!" Flash Sentry groaned as he slowly crawled free from his near dirt-nap, waving off her concerns with a hoof as he coughed out the pain. "My fault." His voice was still weak from having been hugged to death and then back to life again. "Thought you could use a friend, Twilight." "A friend? How did you know my name?" "Of course I'm going to know the sister of the-" "FLASH!" Shining Armor strode back into the tent, marching right towards Sentry. "Bossman!" Flash started to high five his old CO, before his gaze caught the glint of the new general's stars upon Shining's uniform. "I mean, Bossman, Sir!" A heated snort behind Shining forewarned him of his old nemesis as shivers ran down his spine. "And Mr. Sparkle! So nice to see you again!" The glare of the elder stallion intensified, and Flash could swear he could feel his mane hairs starting to melt together. "Please don't flay me with a shovel, sir!" "You touched her." Night Light withdrew a folding shovel from his saddlebags, pointing it threateningly at Flash with the intent to use it. Shining Armor and Velvet Sparkle stepped in between the patriarch of the Sparkle family and the threatened guardspony. Shining spoke first as he dug his hooves into the ground, snorting as he rose to his friend's defense. "Dad, I wouldn't have spent five years setting him up with Twiley if he wasn't good." "He's a guardspony, honey. Trained by our own son, no less!" Velvet stomped as she drug Flash forward with her magic and positioned him between herself and her son. She thumped him in the wings, shaking her hoof as she found him to be nearly iron-solid with muscle and ignoring his own grunt of pain. "See? Nice and strong for our little- uh, big girl." Night Light resolutely continued to point his shovel at the tip of Sentry's nose, ignoring the chatter from Twilight's friends behind him. "Oh, that's nice honey. I take it you forgot about the fact that he was nearly busted out of the guard for harassing Princess Luna?" Nearly everypony present save for Flash and Shining gasped slightly and turned to the guardspony, who was wondering if there was a spell to shrink him until he could get stepped on by a microbe. Shining Armor pushed the shovel tip away from Flash with his magic, stepping between his father and old friend again. "Conduct Unbecoming, not Harassment. Princess Celestia reduced the charges." "Are you listening to yourself, Shining? Especially after I caught you smoking... whatever that was on the back porch!" Velvet's gaze turned from her husband to her son, the redirected ire nearly enough to make Shining Armor hide behind Sentry. "What?" Flash could swear that he felt his heart break loose of its mounting and bounce off of the bottom of his ribcage with an audible 'THUP!' that shook the area as Shining continued his ineffectual attempts to defend him. He mentally begged to the sun and moon that Shining wouldn't try to play the age card and keep agitating Night Light furth- "I was 16, Sentry was twelve! We were young and stupid and it was my-" Celestia-damnit! "Bossman! I can defend myself; stop digging our hole before it reaches Zebabwae!" Flash stomped his hooves as he screamed out his frustration over the issues with Night Light. A couple of moments of silence let him realize that everypony had backed away from him, save for two dragons. A few moments more and his introspection informed him that he had angrily spread his wings, and that they were crackling with lightning that mirrored his frustration. He took deep breaths to calm himself before he continued far more calmly. "Mr. Sparkle, the only thing I was doing with your daughter was calming her sleep terrors that were caused by what sounded like post-traumatic stress from when she was transformed. I was humming an old tune that Shining taught me when she mistook me for one of her childhood dolls in her sleep and, uh... yeah." Flash respectfully explained himself, trying to keep his tone as neutral as possible. He didn't dare show satisfaction at the look of shock upon Night Light's face as the Sparkle stallion realized how badly his daughter had been hurting. Flash bowed his head, closing his eyes as he continued on. "And you're right; my actions towards Princess Luna were disrespectful. Unbecoming of me. I saw her hurting when she first returned, and I wouldn't back off from trying to be her friend. I should have- I should have cleared it with Princess Celestia, but I didn't. Maybe if I had, it would have turned out better." He looked up once more, his breath sharply sucking itself back in as he saw the dark figure slinking into the tent behind almost everypony like a stalking tiger. He most certainly did not let out a tiny squeak of fear as Princess Luna fixed her gaze directly upon him as her eyebrow raised imperiously in questioning. "That explains the thud." "Indeed, Lt. Cmdr. Sentry." Everypony who hadn't already seen her whipped around as the darkly melodious voice rang behind them. "And you are correct that you misjudged me in your approach. But, I never did thank you for at least trying when so many others did not attempt to ease my depression. Consider the revocation of all charges your reward." Luna stepped into the tent, her long legs striding across the partially glassed dirt gracefully. Silently, she scanned over the command staff of the expedition, marking off each in turn. Her gaze lingered upon Redtail, her lips pursing as if she had tasted something somewhat spoiled. "I would have cleared you and restored your rank earlier, but your transfer made it difficult to find you after my revelations at Ponyville last year. Are you ready to take your place by your 'Bossman's side once more?" "Yes, ma'am!" "Wait-wait! He was all 'see mopey, PARTINATE mopey', like me?" Pinkie bounded over to stand almost nose to nose with Luna, frightening the diarch slightly with her suddenness. "Yes." Luna kept the grumbles about demons to herself. "I really should apologize again, ma'am." Flash warily watched Night Light from the corner of his eye as the elder Sparkle slowly pulled the shovel away and held it by his side. The guardspony wasn't entirely convinced that it was a good development, seeing as Night Light pulled out a blade sharpening stone from his saddlebags and began to rasp it against the edge. "Yes, well, if we can move along, please?" Luna's horn began to glow as she teleported forth a series of pamphlets for the group. "Like we should have four hours ago?" Redtail inserted himself into the conversation rudely. Luna nodded. "Yes, we should have. However, I was delayed by the completion of the paperwork for our expedition, as well as dealing with Twilight Sparkle's continuing nightmares." Luna apologized gracefully, taking a long bow towards Twilight in the process. The dragoness reached up, feeling the slight crusty tear streaks upon her cheeks. "So, the dreams of one girl are enough to drop all diplomatic niceties?" Redtail dropped his pamphlet on the ground and began to march towards the exit muttering in germane. Luna's glower grew exponentially, her mane suddenly billowing as thunder rumbled from unseen lightning. He might have thought he had good reason, but he was not going to get away so easily. Her horn flashed, freezing him in place with her magic. "When that one 'girl' sits in this very tent and is the key to stopping Tirek? Yes, Twilight Sparkle is important enough." Luna unfroze him as she marched out to block him, slapping the pamphlet back into his claws. "I'b nod trying to be rude, bud I'b nod cut out for long trips." Dainty Dish apologetically mumbled at Luna, her stuffed nose rendering her nearly unintelligible. "A room is currently being fitted out in our expeditionary vessel to handle your rather extreme allergy needs, Dainty Dish. And, I have something for you now, if we can all step inside." Luna spread a wing in the direction of the library, inviting them all to share in the study material her sister had prepared. A moment of teleportation dropped off the study materials Celestia had prepared inside of the hollow tree, just leaving Twilight Sparkle for her to deal with. "Fair Twilight, do you think you could walk a hundred yards, and fit your head through one of the windows of your home?" The dragoness nodded. "I think so. I might get stuck, though." "My sister and I shall pay for the damages, Twilight. Fret not, for your once and future home will be ready when we figure out a way for you to fit within it once more." Luna stood up, walking out of the tent and stopping only to gesture with a hoof. "Come now, don't be shy! We have much to discuss." The rest quickly filtered out to head back inside, leaving only Twilight, Redtail, and Mustari to hang back and stare at one another. Growling, Redtail stalked about, his tailtip quivering as he paced. "She wants to trust this expedition to a dragon's word." Redtail quietly and almost venomously spat the sentence out in the dim darkness. Twilight looked down on him, a newfound instinct telling her to stand tall and slightly spread her wings angrily. Smoke curled from her nostrils as her toes dug furrows into the dirt. "Yes." "Then we are already doomed. No dragon can be trusted in a situation like this." Redtail angrily cawed once as he spoke, bristling without fear at Twilight's dominance display. Mustari placed a hoof on Redtail's back, holding him down without effort. "Let it go, my friend. There is nothing to be gained but scorn if you persist in antagonizing our hosts. Give her a chance." The dark grey stallion still snuck a worried glance towards Twilight in. "A chance? A chance? A chance to end the world while we sleep?" Twilight snorted angrily, sending a billowing cloud of black and choking smoke around the pair. "How will you trust anypony's word if you never give them the chance to prove it?!" Her angry rumble shook the tent with its volume. The smoke curling from her nostrils gradually lessened as she calmed, though it still sulfurously stank up the tent. "Any. PONY. Not a dragon." Twilight nearly snarled quietly once more before calming as she thought about it. He wanted the word of a pony? There was a promise she could make to fulfill it like that. Unbreakable, unthinkable to think about breaking it. "I cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my AUGH!" Redtail bristled at her. "What kind of an oath was that supposed to be?" "A Pinkie Promise. Hush-hush, can't tell anypony." "As in a promise to the Pink Djinn?" "Yeah, Pinkie Pie. And she can enforce it, too." Twilight smiled very carefully as she shifted very carefully to watch whatever happened. She spoke the next few words deliberately, measuring them out as somepony would a mixture of the most volatile explosives would. "Because breaking her friend's trust is the fastest way to lose a friend-" "For-EV-ER!" Pinkie slowly sank back down into Redtail's flattened packet again until it folded perfectly shut upon the floor once more, giving him a knowing stink-eye the whole way. "And she says she is not a Djinn." Mustari warily spoke as he approached the dropped packet. A hoof emerged from his robes, striking out with a quick motion to flip the packet open to reveal the secret passage beneath it. Or, instead the perfectly frosted cupcake within. "Yeah. If I ever went crazy, well... I'm not sure what she would do to me. Nopony's ever told me what would happen if somepony fully broke a Pinkie Promise. They all shudder and run away." Twilight shrugged, unconcerned. "So, now I'm mostly harmless." "Mostly?" "Well, I might step on you. That would be bad. As for what Pinkie is, the hay if I know, and I don't really want to find out nowadays. So, can we get inside and listen to Princess Luna now?" ---------------------------------- "Please hold still! This will sting going on, but it will let you breathe through your nose and breathe safely!" Princess Luna held a struggling Dainty Dish with her magic. The hyper-allergic pegasus twisted her head, trying to avoid letting the icky-looking device go on. Her sensitive nose already itched from the scratching of the pieces meant to go into her nostrils against her wind-burned nose. Luna forced the issue, roughly pushing the nosepiece onto Dainty with a squeak of discomfort from the dark pegasus. "There! Breathe in through your nose, out with your mouth. There is a magical charge in the filter that attracts anything that might make you ill to it to keep it from reaching your system." "What's that supposed to... mean?" Dainty's eyes spread wide as she heard herself perfectly clearly without the roar of the wind for the first time. "My voice! My nose! I can breathe!" Rainbow Dash swooped over, snatching Dainty up in a hug. "Awe-SOME! I bet we could get you going four times as fast as sound with this thing on!" The dark pegasus squirmed in Dash's grasp as her chromatic counterpart spun her giddily around in circles thinking of nothing but the thought of helping to break yet another record. "Ahem." Luna firmly cleared her throat, stopping Dash's swirling rampage. Dash flinched as she realized that everypony had been watching her act more like Scootaloo than herself. Her eyes darted about, catching smirks on almost everypony's faces, and heard giggles from a few more. "I should put you down now..." Luna reached out with a wing, catching Dainty as she wobbled back and forth trying to catch her balance as she looked decidedly nauseous. "Alas, no. If Miss Dish wishes to fly, she will have to remove it, as I am uncertain as to how well it will withstand her normal regime of flight." "Four times the speed of sound? Impossible, even for you." Redtail had heard too many tales of the sonic rainboom to dismiss it, and had seen several aviators of the Raptorian Air Guard break past the speed of sound at high altitude. But four times? There couldn't really be more to the rag-tag bunch of farmers, tailors, managers and bakers than met the eyes, could there? "Ain't her that does it." Applejack nearly reached over to snatch Dainty up in a hug, before she noticed the still decidedly green twinge to the pegasus, and the dirty state of her own hooves. She lightly bumped her with a shoulder before continuing. "Lil' Dainty here gets the sneezes and the whooping at low places 'cause of her allergies to...well, everything really. So, she went higher. 80,000 hooves higher. It's easier to fly up there from what Ah've heard, and the air is so thin she's gotta put a move on just to breathe. Can't hover worth a darn, but if ya give her a clear sky, watch out and duck yer head, 'cause she'll be gone faster than a plate of apple fritters." Redtail's questions found themselves cut short as a resounding thud rumbled through the library, followed by a great draconic yelp of pain. "Spike! You latched the window again! What would have happened if Dash crashed through it?" Spike winced where he sat on Rarity's back, looking sheepishly first to Dash, then to the window. "Sorry! Just been kinda quiet lately!" "Yeah, well, I'd rather have to just resort everything from Dash knocking stuff off the shelves rather than pay for a new window again. Or hospital bills." Twilight's magenta glow hesitantly trickled into existence around the latch of one of the upstairs balcony windows, haltingly pulling it open before the glow vanished in an instant. The great blunt lavender snout of Twilight's new form poked its way through; pushing it open as Twilight narrowly squeezed her head and upper neck through. "So, what did I miss...? Uh- Why does Dainty Dish have a mustache? I'm not sleep casting again, am I?" Everypony looked to the dark pegasus. Her personal air filter did look a lot like a thick, bushy black mustache. Dainty shrugged, looking up. "It's so I can breathe!" "Oh. Oooooh." Twilight's head slumped to the deck of the upstairs balcony. "Wow. Why couldn't I have thought of that?" "Yes, well if everypony is done now, we can continue." Luna summoned the projector that her sister had prepared, marveling at how far ponies had come. It was still cumbersome compared to the old ways, but the march of progress still fascinated her. The remote control slid in her magic over to her hoof, and she firmly mashed it to light the projector up. "Operation Trebuchet Surprise?" Shining looked to Luna in confusion. Luna's brows furrowed, and she snapped her gaze to the screen hung for the briefing. Surely enough, there it was in bright pink crayon-like lettering above a pictogram of a demonic centaur in the process of being fired out of Pinkie's cannon. She turned to Pinkie, who sheepishly shrank under her gaze as she sat beside Twilight's head. "We are not calling the operation that." "Why not? There'll be trebuchets, and a big surprise!" "No!" Luna massaged the base of her horn, feeling the headache coming on. She stomped the clicker, moving the presentation along. "Our primary objective is to locate and secure the Tomb of Tirek before Trixie is able to. If possible, we will also attempt to purify her with the Elements of Harmony, or failing that render her a non-threat." She stomped once more, ignoring the feigned yawns and their not so feigned counterparts. Tasteless curs, they had no appreciation of the finer points of bureaucracy. The world map that her sister had made finally unhooked itself, clicking through and up onto the screen. "To describe the map, the red dots represent locations we believe that Tirek's tomb may reside, or are places that can raise him from the dead." Velvet nervously shifted. It was one thing to hold out for a month, but this? "Princess, ma'am? If you have to check every one of those locations, then Equestria won't be able to hold. By train, if that's even possible, it will still take months to check all of those places." "We will not require a train." Many of the small group looked at each other, wondering just exactly what Luna meant by that. Velvet shiftily looked around, mentally filing that little tidbit away. Airships were too small and seagoing vessels too limited and slow for most of it. "I take it that those hundred blue dots are the secondary objectives?" "Yes. They are the known locations of the remains of his great demons. Fiercesome monsters whose remains can be returned to the mortal coil. Destroying them before they can rise is our chiefest priority behind preventing their master from rising." Luna stomped her hoof once more, sending a slow and dizzying array horrors clicking across the screen. Hideous abominations made by fusing thousands of ponies together, beings made of blades, great reptiles that looked as if they had just come from Tartarus itself as they towered over hapless ponies... Zecora stood a little taller, adjusting the strange mottled green outfit that she had snugly wrapped around most of her barrel. "Forgive me if I may; but how are we to defeat any of these in less than a day?" Velvet and Shining nodded in agreement with Zecora, the shieldpony speaking up and voicing his concerns. "Speaking from first-hoof experience, we just don't have enough resources to deal with these things if they get resurrected. It'd be a total country wipeout." Shining winced, shaking his leg as the talk reminded his mind of the pain he had suffered during the evacuation. He could barely hold off one, how was his mom supposed to hold off one hundred? "We have a Twilight." Luna pointed up to her sister's protégé, who blushed and found that her horns had jabbed themselves into the wall above her window as she tried to escape notice. A few chuckles escaped Twilight's friends as they considered all the things their friend had done and gathered around her. Luna pointedly looked at Redtail, waiting for him to say something. Seeing that he wished to sulk instead, she continued. "Yes, Kommandur, that is a good deal of why we are bringing her. I have been designing a set of armor that will make her even stronger and tougher than she is now to assist her in battle. Furthermore, the HMS Eclipse, my flagship, shall provide support from afar with its heavy firepower." Small grunts of confusion escaped the military ponies (and griffon) at the mention of Luna having a flagship. Equestria didn't even have much of a navy, let alone did the princesses have a dedicated ship to themselves. What Luna said next disconcerted them even more. "It shall not be alone. We are calling upon each of your countries to supply us with additional combat support in this hour of need from the forces available in our mutual defense treaty. A contingent for the Eclipse, and one for defending Equestria as Tirek will strike here first." "Kommandur, we need as many of Raptoria's fixed-wing flight vehicles as it can spare to augment our air power. We have room for a squadron aboard the Eclipse." Luna watched Redtail, watching him warily nod. She was worried he would object. "Mustari, we would appreciate it if Saddle Arabia could spare at least two sand crawlers for the expedition, for we will need them to venture into the Glasslands." "You will have them; they already await your orders." Mustari adjusted his robes, drawing up upon himself. "Bless you." "If Faust wills it." The corners of Luna's mouth twitched, as if she wanted so say something pithy in response. Her legs twitched as she straightened up and turned to the shaman in the room. "Zecora, I know that Zebabwae exiled you several years ago, but if there is any way to convince them to send us at least a battalion, I would greatly appreciate hearing it." Zecora said nothing, merely nodding her head. "And General Armor, I need as many of our Elite Pegasi squadrons, or best earth pony engineers, and lances of our battlemages as the defense of Equestria can spare. We will need them, before the end." Luna watched as he wearily nodded, remembering all too well how many had already been lost. The mutual defense clauses of the alliances had only ever been considered a hypothetical event. With the fragmented nature of the world, nopony ever expected a threat that could be great enough to require their use would arise. Redtail still bristled ever so slightly besides the silent form of Mustari as Zecora leaned against the table on the other side from them. Shining Armor started to speak up before Luna silenced him with a wave of her hoof. "We cannot fight a defensive war, even on our own soil. The Crystal Empire greatly suffered for it, ultimately leading to... well; no nation has the warmaking capacity to fight Tirek off alone. But put together, we might just be able to strike him first." Luna calmly explained herself, clicking onwards in her briefing slides once more. On the screen, a skeletal shape that looked vaguely similar to Twilight's form emerged, almost like a suit of armor. "She makes sense. After all, do six together not make a singular whole?" Mustari looked up to the balcony, listening to the light chatter there. The six friends (and baby dragon) laughed and giggled together as they spoke, talking about foreign lands and the strangeness of Twilight's new body. Zecora nodded, continuing where the Sand-Walker left off. "With those six victories are not as far; our way is illuminated by a friendship brighter than a star." Redtail bristled once more. "Friendship is nice. Friendship creates unit bonds and improves fighting spirit. But friendship is not a sufficient weapon in and of itself. Why should we bring them on the expedition? Let alone the sick pegasus?" Redtail looked up at the small knot of ponies once again. To his eye, only two had any kind of training. Namely, the one he thought was a dressmaker or prospector, and the one who was the local weather manager. "Yes. Dainty Dish shall be outfitted with a special rig that will allow her to take pictures and send them to us instantly, giving us forewarning of coming threats." Luna clicked the slide again, showing a rough mockup of the form-fitting brace wrapped around the torso of a stylized black pegasus. Night Light spoke up for Luna, remembering the lessons that Twilight had imparted upon him from Princess Celestia. "It's because the Elements act as magical amplifiers. When two ponies join their magic, their strength is considered to be added together then multiplied by the lower power of the two. That is why my daughter and her friends are going, beyond their ability to wipe out magical threats." He opened his eyes, realizing he had mostly recited from instinct. "What? My daughter's special talent is magic; she recited it in her sleep. She's the student of Celestia-" "Was, Night Light. My sister was to graduate her with full honors shortly before these unfortunate events occurred." Luna patiently corrected Twilight's sire, watching the others for reactions. Mustari grew more attentive; having learned something new as Redtail continued to blankly stare, waiting for Night Light to get to the point. "Do you remember what is said of alicorns, and the internal mixing of magics?" Night Light sighed, rubbing the bridge of his muzzle. "Quite a bit. She used to talk about nothing else when Princess Celestia put the idea into her head that she could one day become an alicorn by studying magic hard enough." Luna uncomfortably cleared her throat, blushing in familial embarrassment. "Yes well, continue." "Right. Well, when a pony has more than one race's magic within them, it becomes an exponential increase rather than a multiplication. Two is enough to be royalty, and only three ponies that I know of have enough of all three race's magics to balance the types out. Namely, Luna, Celestia, and Cadance." Night Light watched as Luna helpfully brought forth her magic, letting everyone see how there were three strands to it. The twining tendrils of blue magic dimly shone in the library, twisting and writhing against each other bound together like a rope. Cadance squeezed in, showing off her own. Disturbingly, little heart-shaped bubbles continually budded off of hers, thankfully dissipating before they could reach anyone. "Most alicorns ascend when they balance their magics, as usually one racial magic ends up vastly stronger than the other two. For me, it was pegasus magic until I accidentally cast a love spell with spectral stone." "Right." Flash Sentry closed his eyes, ignoring the deep giggles from above as he tried to tune out the images of a dragon-sized slumber party. "Bossman could technically ascend, but with him being extremely strong in unicorn magic and earth pony magic that strengthens his shields, it'd be almost impossible." "Wait. Celestia wasn't leading Twilight on?" Velvet turned a little paler as the traces of purple drained from her coat. "My baby girl... was almost-" "Yes. My sister lamented that Twilight was so close. She has been trying for the past three years to cause an ascension on Twilight's part. Unfortunately, while in any other pony it would have been enough given her surprising strength in earth and sky magics, her unicorn magics overpowered the other two." Redtail cleared his throat, growing impatient with the academic talk. "So, you're saying that you're bringing them all along to strengthen Twilight further somehow. Even though there is no known amplifier that can safely boost the power of more than three ponies. The knowledge was lost with Discord!" Luna hummed mysteriously as she teasingly filed the edge of her hoof. "If only there was somepony who came from the time before Discord, who still remembered how to thanks to a thousand years of enforced coma keeping the knowledge fresh. Oh, wait." "It would have to be close, right?" Shining looked up to his sister, a newfound look of awe twitching about his face as he realized what she could have become. "Almost coat to coat, I am afraid." Luna tapped the slide once more, showing how close she meant in an image of some of the designs that had been talked over between herself and her sister. "We tried to think of many ways to reduce the risk to the other bearers, from temporarily transmogrifying them to crystals to embed within the element of magic to somehow fusing them with Twilight. Finally, we decided to stop being so silly and focus on creating a great armored suit to house them next to Twilight within." Velvet seemed to glow ever so slightly as her mind remained lost in considering what had become of her daughter. "Wait; is dragon magic separate from pony magic?" "Clever. You noticed that as well? Yes, it is. Twilight may be even more powerful than my sister or I, depending on the strength of her dragon magics. Strong enough, that when amplified by the elements, she may just finally be able to kill him once and for all." "So, you combine Twilight's powers with the strongest earth pony I've ever known, one who seems to have a hint of pegasus speed to her." Cadance pointed to Applejack, who heard her name and blushed while drawing her hat down over her head. "Another earth pony who seems to be stronger in unicorn magics than those of the earth." Pinkie was oblivious to the hoof pointing at her as she somehow balanced on Twilight's bobbing head while ticking the dragoness's nostrils with two peacock feathers. "The second fastest pegasus known to exist, who can create impossible weather effects and make rainbows explode." She moved her hoof a little over, pointing at Dash who busily was talking about high altitude flight with Dainty Dish. "Another pegasi, who loves the earth more than the skies and who can make dragons and cockatrices cry." Fluttershy squeaked and blushed as she noticed the hoof pointing at her, ducking behind Applejack as Cadance pointed her out. "And, uh... Rarity." The dressmaker was too busy planning out an accessory line for Twilight's new form to notice the attention, cackling almost evilly in triumph. Redtail grumbled to himself as he realized that he wasn't going to get out of watching over the group of civilians. "So, you think you can repurpose your 'Elements of Harmony' to destroy?" It would be nice if they had an effective weapons system, but could the six be trusted to stay out of trouble? "Let me handle that. There is more than one way to join six souls filled with magic together." Luna quietly answered; unaware of the sidelong look that Twilight shot her. "So, then... Where are we going?" ------------------------------- Pinkie's party after the briefing had gone reasonably well. It wasn’t exactly a resounding success between Twilight having to spend half of the party unwedging herself, Redtail wanting nothing to do with it, and the troubles of Dainty Dish being allergic to 99% of the party, but it went well enough. The visiting military officers had agreed to help Velvet train her daughter to be less accidentally dangerous and to help the dragoness control her magic once more after the Iron Star of Equestria had dragged it out of them kicking and screaming. Though Pinkie's second batch of Dainty-safe cashew muffins had worked out about as well as the first, even if everypony else had enjoyed them. Twilight had curled up where she had been standing after freeing herself, basking in the glow of the setting sun to stew in her own thoughts. Unease tugged at her face when she work up to find Flash once more wrapped up in her forelegs, while Dash rested upon a branch above her and Applejack stared out into the light of the setting sun before her. The warmth of the light soaked into the dragoness, slowly drowsing her off before she snapped herself back awake. "H-how long was I out for?" "Ah'd reckon 'bout a half an hour. Ya started twitchin' and a' flailin' and a' hollerin' as soon as ya conked yerself out." Applejack turned her head from the setting sun, looking up to Twilight's face. Seeing the look of horror there, she quickly added to her statement. "Don't worry yerself any, sugarcube. He's too darn smart and nimble to get caught like ya accidentally did to Applebloom." "I'm sorry, sorry. Applejack, I'm-" "Sush now, sugarcube. T'ain't yer fault she got hurt. She was warned not to get too close when ya got like that and she did it anyway. Had her reasons, darn good ones too if Flash here is right. Ya couldn't have known." Applejack slowly trotted over, plunking herself down directly before her friend. The farmpony's hoof reached out to stroke Twilight's restored mane, only to pull it back as she thought better. "Ah forgive ya. She'll pull through." Twilight unwrapped a leg from around Flash, raising it to her muzzle where she gently dislodged a solitary tear from the corner of her eye. "O-okay. How did he manage to get to me?" "His name's Flash, ain't it? Name's kinda telling most of the time. Feller moved like Dash, and it was like he had eyes in the back of his head and all over them there wings of his. Rushed in, jumped over ever'thing and pounced ya' 'round yer neck. Started humming a lullaby straight into yer ears." Applejack jumped back as Flash's eyes snapped open, looking directly at her despite having been asleep. Her hoof stumbled as she snatched her hat off of the ground and pluncked it roughly back onto her head. Flash leaned up in the paw that had been roughly curled around his body, moaning as his back popped three times in the process. "Then you hugged me right up." He squirmed in Twilight's grip, looking to get comfortable. "I don't mind. At least so long as you don't squeeze." A wheeze escaped him. "Like right now." The guardspony gasped as the pressure quickly released from his body. It hurt a heck of a lot more without his armor on. "Sorry! Sorry!" Twilight all but tossed him from her grip as she released him back to the ground. She shrank in upon herself as he tumbled down her flank as she gasped and pulled back from him. "Twilight! Easy now, sugarcube!" The dragoness whimpered at her friend's bark of alarm. "I'm okay! I've had worse, just ask Cadance!" Flash shook his head, followed by the shiver of his shakeout slowly trembling down his whole body as his tail and wings fluffed out humorously. Applejack smirked as she noticed how much his protest resembled Dash's own post-crash antics. He waited for Twilight to stop pulling back from him before continuing. "Twilight, I only wanted to have enough air to breathe. I don't mind being a living teddy bear for you, if that's what it takes to help you get over what was done to you. You don't seem to take sleeping alone well." Flash patted the side of Twilight's thick and plush hindleg before he crawled over it to rest atop her side. Applejack nodded, shivering. 'Don't we know it. Ah lost count of the number of time's Twi here's done nearly made roast apples out of me when she's gone and fell into a nightmare 'bout what happened to her. Uh, no offense, sugarcube." The farmpony kept a wary eye on Twilight's still-twitching tail, having nearly been clobbered by it earlier. Twilight laid her head down upon her outstretched forelegs sadly, whining a little. She jerked a little bit back up as something struck her. "Flash, how do you know the song that Shining used to sing to me? It almost always calmed me down when he hummed it in my sleep!" Twilight turned her head about, staring into Flash's eyes through the fuzziness of the place between wakefulness and sleep. Flash rolled his eyes and gestured a 'throw it hither' motion with a leg to Applejack. The farmer took his ruck in her teeth and tossed it to him, accidentally smashing him in his face with it. "Bossman used to try and set me up with you all the time, Twilight. He was so worried about you." He pulled a photo out for the dragoness to look at; one that had become dog-eared and yellowed with age and the wear of having been carried around by a guardspony for years. The dragoness perked up, first leaning in close to see it. She sighed sadly as even getting so close that she tapped it with her snout failed to clear it up, then back to use her farsightedness to work for her. A look of horrified comprehension bloomed at last as a blush burned through the fur of her cheeks. "No, no! Put it away!" "Nah, let me-"The snort of amusement from Applejack burned the blush deeper into Twilight's face as the farmpony got a good look at a still blank-flanked Twilight with her nose buried deep into a book. It didn't help that she was at the top of a ferris wheel with Flash embarrassedly looking to Shining Armor on her other side. "Oh, I've got bunches more where that came from." Flash tucked the photo away. "He tried for a couple of years before I got him to stop. I've got sock puppet and everything just to mock him the next time he tries." He reached deeper into his rucksack, pulling out one sock that resembled Shining on a drunken bad mane day, and another that resembled himself after putting up with Shining's bad mane day. "Tell me he ain't serious." Twilight twitched. "I have no idea!" Flash slid the puppets on, adopting a fairly convincing falsetto of Shining Armor's voice. "Say, Flashio!" "Yeah, bossman" He made the other puppet say. "My sister is all lonely, and I need to get her out of the house before she turns into a book or something." He gave the Shining Armor puppet an elaborate show of looking depressed. "Couldn't your sister turn me into a potted plant?" "Well, yeah..." "And doesn't your Mom like to skin things?" "Kind of..." "And your dad used to go all over the world and knows shovel-fu fighting." "Uh, I think so..." "And she's Princess Celestia's student! She'll make me do a sun run if I even slightly make her cry!" "Nonsense, Celly hasn't made anypony do that in two millennia." Flash jerked entirely upright where he stood for his presentation. "Wait, that's not what he said." "Nor does General Armor have such a squeaky voice. A proper mockery would be to turn his Coltifornia accent nearly entirely unintelligible." "Princess Luna is standing right behind me, isn't she?" Flash turned whiter than Shining Armor as he realized that he was most likely a dead stallion from Luna having overheard everything he had been saying. A hoof tapped him on his shoulder, making him yelp like Fluttershy as he leapt into a midair hover. The navy blue hoof slipped back down into Flash's shadow, which had become blacker than coal. The shadow bubbled and rippled, expanding outwards for several hoofs before a long, dark horn began to emerge, dripping with liquid shadow. "Not precisely..." Applejack's jaw dropped like a bucked apple as the horn continued to emerge until at last the brow of Luna's head flowed up out of the shadow. A mischievous look smirked from her eyes as her ears flicked the darkness from their slender forms; and she took a deep breath as her nose and mouth cleared the surface. She rocked her neck back and forth as the shadow rose up around it, pulling it from her fur with a sticky peeling noise as she came forth. Darkness clung to her frame, dripping from her in rivulets as she sighed happing from the coolness receding. Wings flared forth, slinging droplets of liquid shadow as they flapped once. Hooves, just as unadorned by her vestments of office as the rest of her pulled forth from the pool with the rest of her legs one by one, letting her set them upon solid ground. She rose up, shivering all over as the night breeze touched her, pulling her hindlegs free from the vanishing puddle one by one until she stood imposingly over the shaking and quivering form of Flash Sentry. She looked down upon him as the puddle of liquid shadow evaporated and returned to its owner, gazing upon his stiff-winged form with a look of pleasure. And then she smiled widely, suddenly shaking herself out like a dog, flinging liquid shadow everywhere. Everypony spluttered as they were liberally sprayed with dripping blackness, turning their gaze back to their soiler. Flash bleated once more as he fell back to the ground, rolling onto his back unconsciously in fright. Luna giggled as she looked at her legs, noting the mosaic of spikey patches and great whorls formed from the way that the shadow had left her. Oh... "What? I was trying out a new spell devised from something Pinkamina demonstrated and suggested to us. Come now, get up, Commander Sentry. You are far too excitable at our presence!" Everypony save for the aforementioned commander grumpily glared at Luna as the liquid shade evaporated from their fur. Flash twitchingly crawled to his hooves, his eyes still quivering from the show he had been given. "Threat understood, ma'am! If I hurt Twilight in any way, especially romantically, you pull me into a realm of eternal shadow and strand me there. I have no romantic plans on her, Ma'am!" Luna's eyebrows rose inquisitively as she folded her wings and perked her ears forward. "I do not know where the threat was implied Commander Sentry, but do please continue. What are your plans, then?" Flash straightened impressively, standing at attention. "Ma'am, as Twilight Sparkle's altered form means that she is in an altered state of mind, I intend to treat her as a close friend to help her mental balance without any subcontext until such time as such that she is restored to her rightful form and her mental status treated." He shot sidelong glances at Twilight throughout his speech, sweating slightly. "Ma'am!" The slightest of sniffles escaped Twilight as she was reminded of her new 'normal'. Flash twitched as he heard it, straightening quickly from his lapse. "I said something stupid, didn't I, ma'am?" Applejack started to speak, opening her mouth before Twilight beat her to the punch and shushed her. "This IS my new normal. The magic from the Elements of Harmony that... fixed me could only do so much. They stopped Tirek from completely changing the way I think, but if I could have gone back, they would have changed me back. This isn't some purely magical transformation. The life code that spelled out the way I looked, what I was as a pony is gone. It was twisted and changed as part of the process to make me into a dragon." Twilight rose to her paws, partially crawling around the group so she could let them see her in all of her terrible glory. "Who I was, the... mare I was, all that I could have been as a pony is gone. I'll never get her back. This- this is who I am now." Her breath hitched a little as she forced herself to continue. "Even if it is so hard to try and accept it." "Eeyup. Mah big sugarcube here put on that weight legit-like. Once she got turned all the way fer a week, she got the craziest hunger and went after the royal treasury like a parasprite in an apple orchard. Next thing we know, she started growing like a weed until she darn near reached the size she is now." Applejack trotted up, slapping Twilight in her still low-hanging belly. Sure, the appetite had been terrifying at the time, but seeing a Big Macintosh sized Twilight munching on Princess Celestia's fine jeweled silverware like it was a giant cookie had been pretty amusing. Almost as much as seeing her looking just like a foal who had done gone and gotten the cookie jar nearly stuck on her head afterwards when Celestia had walked in on her and Trix-... well, seeing her waddling out several hooves higher waddling out with the biggest darn pot belly Applejack had ever seen had been pretty funny. "Thanks for reminding me of that." "Tis nothing to be ashamed of. You were under compulsions both biological and mental, and your body demanded that you eat enough to grow into draconic young adulthood." Luna smiled sadly, sitting before Twilight. "Come, Sentry. Do not be a stiff, as we are all friends here." "What?" "I said earlier that I forgave you. Come, sit. Please. You cared about ME, not just some mare who was Celly's sister." Flash nervous came closer, until Luna could suddenly snatch him up with a wing and force him to sit next to her. "Uh, thanks." Applejack slid up on Flash's other side, trapping him between two mares even as Twilight laid back down behind them. "So, why didn't ya just want to let things come out the way that they might? Ah think yer somebody who could make a cute couple with my sugarcube." Applejack nudged Flash in the shoulders, as if suggesting something. "Well, if she wants to chase after me, I'm fine with that if it helps her. If she just wants friendship, I'm fine with that too. But I know every bit of her that Shining does, and... It’d be too easy for me to manipulate her and twist her around my hoof with that knowledge. It's not fair to her that I have all the advantages at the moment." Flash shifted in place, not liking where the line of questioning was leading them. "Hey, look! I'm a big dummyhead trying to set my sister up without realizing what she would really notice!" "And I'm the big dummyhead who thinks he knows Twilight, but doesn't think to get her a rare book and read it with her!" "It's the perfect plan!" "I know, right? Dohohohoh!" Twilight looked up from the set of Flash's sock puppets she had put on her talons. Her eyebrows tweaked at the fact that she had somehow gotten her voice to match Flash's imitations of Shining's and his own mockery of his voice. "C'mon, I've lived in the same town as Pinkie Pie for two and a half years, and you think that I would somehow avoid getting... infected? It's not that hard to be funny." As Flash spluttered, Luna and Applejack laughed uproariously and they were joined by the deep and rumbling chuckle Twilight had developed over the course of her transformation. "What's all that about having all the advantages over me? That's kind of sweet that you're think of me like that, but I've still got a few surprises under my wings. But yeah, I can do..." Twilight sighed deeply. "I could use a new friend." Flash finally joined in the laughter, realizing his utter rout upon the field of funny. "Wow. I've never had that turned on me. What's next; is an even more awesome mare just going to drop into my waiting hooves?" The guardspony held out his hooves, challenging the world to make a mare appear in his grip. Right about then, Dash turned in her sleep as the laughing and chatting penetrated deeply into her haze of lethargy. A pool of leftover darkness met her back, the slick substance offering no further grip for the weathermare as she smeared it all over her back. She slipped, falling right off the branch. She dropped through the air, flattening Flash with unerring accuracy. Luna and Applejack jumped back, afraid that the universe might continue the humiliation as they stared on in show. Dash dazedly woke, feeling the slightest soreness. "Where am I? Did I sleep-fly again? And why are you laughing at me?"