//------------------------------// // The Princess of The Night // Story: The Jack of All Trades // by Lord Zalgo //------------------------------// Twilight ran into the library, with Spike still tired and scared on her back. She laid him on his bed just as he was struggling for the last bit of his consciousness. “Uh... We gotta stop Nightmare...” Spike frantically said as sleep finally took him. “You've been up all night, Spike. You are a baby dragon after all. Elements, elements, elements... Ugh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?” Twilight looked around for an appropriate book to help her, until Rainbow Dash appeared in her face with a suspicious expression. “And just what are the Elements of Harmony? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a spy? Whoa!” Rainbow interrogated before she was pulled away from Twilight by Applejack. “Simmer down, Sally. She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's going on. Don't you, Twilight?” The rest of the girls gathered behind Applejack as she politely questioned. Twilight inhaled and then began to explain. “I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them; I don't even know what they do!” Twilight exclaimed, at her wits end. *Knock, knock, knock* Silence filled the library as all eyes were glued to the door. Twilight’s purple aura covered the door handle and opened the door. Standing in the doorway, as bold as brass was: Phoenix Fortesque. “Oh... Am I late to the meeting?” Phoenix asked as he walked towards the girls. “I suppose not. How much did you hear?” Twilight questioned. “Enough. We need to use the ‘Elements of Harmony’ to beat Nightmare Moon?” Phoenix responded. “That’s about it. I still have no idea where they are or anything!” "’The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide.’" Pinkie quoted from the other side of the room. Twilight zoomed to where Pinkie was and looked at the book that she found in disbelief. “How did you find that?!” Twilight exclaimed. “It was under ‘E’.” Pinkie said in a sing-song voice. It caused Phoenix to silently chuckle. Twilight took the book out and began to read aloud for everyone to hear. “Oh. There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now: the Everfree Forest.” Twilight dictated. The colour in everypony’s faces drained. “The Everfree? We go there, we’re practically saying to its inhabitants that we’re delicious and they can come get us!” Phoenix exclaimed. “Whoa, dude. Why’re you so scared all of sudden?” Rainbow Dash said with a hint of mocking in her voice. Phoenix just scowled, unzipped his hoodie and showed his torso to the girls. Their eyes were immediately drawn to the faint scars that ran along his chest. Everypony was surprised, except Pinkie. Fluttershy walked tentatively forward and delicately touched the scars with her hoof. Phoenix didn’t flinch away from the touch, or when Fluttershy’s hoof began to trace the scar along his chest. Until she applied a bit too much pressure to her touch on one of his ribs, causing him to giggle. Fluttershy flinched away from him because of the sudden noise, resulting Phoenix to apologise. “Sorry, I’m ticklish.” Small giggles erupted from everypony but Twilight as Phoenix zipped his hoodie back up. “Laughing aside, can anyone take me to the Everfree Forest?” Twilight asked, causing the laughter to stop immediately. After some moments of silence, the girls nodded in agreement. After more silence, Phoenix agreed as well. They all left the library and headed through town towards the dirt road towards the Everfree. The town was desolate, due to fear and paranoia. And the eternal night might have had something to do with it. They arrived in front of the forest and Pinkie began to bounce in. “Whee! Let’s go!” Pinkie cheered. “Not so fast. Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own.” Twilight said, expecting everypony to turn back. Phoenix scoffed as he lit a cigarette and placed it in his mouth. ”No can do, sugarcube. We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple.” Applejack announced and walked into the forest, closely followed by the girls and Phoenix who muttered their agreement. “Especially if there's candy apples in there. What? Those things are good!” Pinkie said cheerfully, as Twilight sighed and followed. “So, none of you have been in here before?” Twilight asked the group. “Ugh, Heavens no! Just look at it, it's dreadful.” Rarity replied. “I’ve been here once before and I left with a permanent souvenir.” Phoenix answered. Twilight looked a little uncomfortable with Phoenix’s reply. “If you don’t mind me asking, Phoenix... What happened? What gave you those... marks?” Twilight asked hesitantly. “Nah, it’s alright. I passed too close to a sleeping manticore that I didn’t notice and it took a swipe at me.” Phoenix replied. “Oh, my. You don’t think there are any nearby, do you?” Rarity asked nervously. “It’s unlikely, however if one does come along, we’ll just avoid it. We’ll be fine.” Phoenix said in a calming tone. The group continued to walk in silence until Rainbow couldn’t stand the awkwardness anymore. “So, uh... Phoenix, Rarity, are you two related?” Rainbow awkwardly asked. The ponies in questions looked at her with confused expressions. “No. Why do you ask?” Rarity replied. “Well, you two have similar coloured coats and you both have Canterlotian accents. I just made an assumption.” Rainbow responded. Phoenix just chuckled and continued walking. His laughter was short lived as the cliff they were walking on began to crack and break under their hooves. Everypony began to slip and fall down the cliffside, while Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy took to the air. They began to take the girls to ground level while Applejack held onto a branch, Twilight was dangling on the edge of the cliff and Phoenix was trying to slow his decent down the slope. Unfortunately, Phoenix fell all the way down to the edge and fell over it. Twilight screamed his name as he fell, but she couldn’t see him being caught by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, who lowered his safely to the ground. Phoenix looked up to see Applejack holding Twilight’s hooves as she held onto the edge of the cliff, until Twilight let go of the cliff completely, screaming as she did so. Only to be caught by two pegasi, as the rest of the group was, while Applejack jumped to different levels of the cliff and descended to the ground. The group thanked Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash for their actions saving their lives. Fluttershy blushed and smiled slightly as she walked, while Rainbow bragged seemingly endlessly. “And once Pinkie and Rarity were saved, whoosh... Me and Fluttershy loop-de-loop around and WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time.” Rainbow flipped and flew around to illustrate her point. “Yes, Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful, but we gotta- A manticore!” Twilight interrupted her own sentence to drew attention to the beast. The girls all attempted to attack the creature in order to remove it from their path. Fluttershy tried to get the girls to halt their attacks, while Phoenix was staring at the manticore. His horn began to glow as the weapon in his pocket began to move. He lifted his gun from his pocket and aimed it at the manticore, cocking back the hammer as he did so. He applied more pressure to the trigger, preparing to fire on the creature. “WAIT!” Fluttershy yelled at what was seemingly the top of her voice. She moved to the manticore slowly and nuzzle its paw, causing it to reveal a large thorn stuck in it. “Oh, you poor, poor little baby.” Fluttershy said in a tone a mother would use for her a child with a scraped knee. “Little?” Rainbow said in a tone of disbelief. “Now this might hurt for just a second.” Fluttershy assured before she grabbed the thorn with her mouth and pulled it out. The beast roared as she removed the thorn, causing the girls to cry out her name and Phoenix to raise his weapon again. The manticore then proceeded to purr as it licked Fluttershy’s face in a grateful and loving manner. Phoenix and the girls snuck past the manticore as it was occupied while Twilight stayed to wait for Fluttershy. When the group was together again, half of them were glaring at Phoenix. “What?” Phoenix asked. Fluttershy’s glare intensified slightly as she pointed to Phoenix’s pocket which held his gun. “You were about to shoot that poor dear.” Fluttershy said in a scolding tone. “And the girls were about to charge and beat it into submission.” Phoenix retorted. “Why the hay do you even have a gun anyway?!” Rainbow demanded. “In case of an emergency where I require one. Some poker players are violent when they lose.” Phoenix replied calmly. “Poker players?” Applejack asked curiously in a narrow voice. “Yeah! Feenie is the best poker player around!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Applejack just scowled further. “It just keeps getting better with you, don’t it?” Applejack said in a narrow, sarcastic tone. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Phoenix asked in offence. “Ya have to be good at lyin’ to be good at poker. No matter what, liars are bad people. Ah guess we just saw your true colours, partner.” Applejack said as she took a threatening step forward. Phoenix stood his ground as his scowl intensified. “And maybe, now I’m seeing yours. Trying to turn the group against me, for whatever reason.” Phoenix argued, taking a step towards her. Fluttershy and Rainbow were no longer glaring and joined the girls in having worried expressions. “If we’re gonna find these Elements of Harmony, we can’t have a lyin’ phycho taintin’ ‘em.” Phoenix just stood for a moment before giving an evil smile. “Fine. Go on ahead of me. I’ll be watching. And should you need me during your little light-hearted quest of non-violence, I’ll take my sweet time, partner.” Phoenix spat the last word as he walked away, looked back and leaned himself against a tree. Applejack merely scoffed. “Come on, y’all. We don’t need him.” Applejack began to walk away and the girls slowly followed. Pinkie in particular looked quite torn. Phoenix gave her a nod and she followed the girls. Phoenix waited for about a minute before walking in the same direction that the girls did. He was walking for about a minute until he reached a group of mares on the ground, laughing their flanks off. He leaned against a tree and watched them for a moment before Pinkie spotted him. “Feenie! You just missed my song! It was about the proper way to face fears and laughing and joy and happiness and do you want me to sing it again?!” Pinkie said in one breath. Phoenix smiled and shook his head politely before making Pinkie turn her attention to the girls who had recovered from their laughter. Applejack was still glaring at Phoenix, but he was paying her no mind. “Why can’t you walk with us, Feenie?” Pinkie asked, her eyes betraying how sad she felt. “I’m proving my point, Pinkie.” Phoenix replied. “But, what if we don’t need you and Applejack’s right?” “Then, I’ll shake her by the hoof, admit I was wrong and apologise.” Pinkie didn’t reply for a second. “Really? Why?” Pinkie asked genuinely. “If I’ve been proven wrong, what’s the point in pretending that I’m not? If Applejack proves me wrong, then she’s right. Can’t do much about that, so I might as well accept it.” Phoenix explained with a smile. Pinkie smiled too and began to walk back to the girls. Phoenix caught Applejack speaking directly to Pinkie Pie. “You should stop talkin’ to him, sugercube. Liars are lost causes that’ll bring you nothin’ but trouble.” Applejack said with finality. Pinkie Pie just giggled good heartedly. “Well, then. You clearly don’t know Phoenix Fortesque.” Pinkie replied happily. Phoenix smiled at that statement and waited for another minute, then began to walk. After a few minutes of walking, the ground beneath his hooves was waterlogged. He looked to the ground with confusion as the river next to the ground was too shallow to have flooded. His attention then turned to the giant purple sea serpent sitting in the river seeming staring at its own snout. Phoenix looked to its snout and saw hair emerging from either side of it. What was even more odd, was that the hair was mismatched: one side was smooth orange hair, while the other side was curled, purple hair. Phoenix immediately recognised the hair as Rarity’s, meaning one of two things. That the sea serpent had seen the girls or had eaten them. “Excuse me?” Phoenix caught the attention of the serpent who lowered himself down to eye level with Phoenix. “Can I help you, sir?” The serpent asked. “Yes, you can, good sir. Would you have happened to have seen six mares come by this way?” Phoenix asked the serpent politely. The serpent’s eyes filled with joy as a large smile appeared on his face. “Why, yes I did! They are on the other side of the river, after I aided their cross. It was the least I could do after what that WONDERFUL mare did for me! O, stars above! I wish I could have done more!” The serpent proclaimed to the heavens. “Well, dear sir, those mares happen to be acquaintances of mine. If you would allow my passage, I’d be more than happy to express your gratitude to them.” Phoenix offered. “If you need to cross as well, then I consider it my duty! I, Stephen Magnet, will not allow a worthy lady or gentleman to be without aid in their time of need!” Stephen picked Phoenix up with his strangely fabulous, manicured hand and dropped him off on the opposite river bank. “Many thanks, Mr Magnet! I’ll let the girls know how grateful you are!” Phoenix shouted somewhat quietly as he began to trot towards the abandoned castle. Stephen expressed his goodbyes as Phoenix walked. The castle was finally in his view and despite the fact that it was falling apart, he thought the architecture was impressive. Trying to avoid panicking due to his fear of heights, he crossed the rickety rope bridge as quickly as he could without acknowledging how long the fall would be. He walked into the castle, to find absolutely nothing. He strained his ears and eventually heard magical blasts and shouts from a distant part of the palace. He instantly galloped towards the noise, but could only make it out when he entered the room. The girls each had some kind of golden jewellery around their neck or in Twilight’s case, on her head. Nightmare Moon was in front of them cackling like a madmare, as Phoenix noticed the navy blue hue surrounding the girls, preventing them from moving or using the Elements. “’Tis commendable that you found the Elements, but did you really think that I would simply stand and allow you to vanquish me?” Nightmare Moon said mockingly. Phoenix ran from pillar to pillar, getting closer and closer to Nightmare Moon. He had to do something. Anything. Anything to help the girls. His eyes slowly fell to his pocket. Phoenix stared fearfully at himself for a second before sighing quietly. ‘May fortune favour the foolish.’ Phoenix thought before he pulled out his gun and fired a shot at Nightmare Moon’s head. The bullet ricocheted off of Nightmare Moon’s helmet, preventing any damage to her, but the shock still caused her to release the girls from her magical grip. Nightmare turned her attention to Phoenix as he started walking backwards and fired more shots at her. He was eventually backed against one of the windows. “Annoying little gnat!” Nightmare screamed as she shot a blast of magic towards him. Phoenix put his hoof to his necklace and gripped it tight as he was pushed back. What he didn’t expect when he hit the window was that he kept going. Shards from the window flew around him, one even scratching his forehead. Time seemed to slow down as he fell, watching the glass fall with him and droplets of his blood falling at a slower rate than himself. A tune seemed to play in his head as he was serenely falling and waiting for death. Time seemed to be returning to normal as he started to fall much quicker. The last thing he saw before his eyes closed was a beautiful bright light emitting from the castle. And a figure approaching him at a remarkable speed. A figure... ...of pure white...