//------------------------------// // Recursive Fanworks Theater of the Pony POV Series Part 2 // Story: Pinkie Pie's Fourth-Wall Breaking Variety Show // by Alex Warlorn //------------------------------// Pinkie Pie's 4th Wall Breaking Variety Show Pony POV Series "Non-Canon" By Alex Warlorn The Recursive Fanfic And Fanart Theater Part 2 The studio returned to view...with Pinkie being chased around by a rather angry Twilight. "I am not a battery Pinkie Pie!" "I'm sorry! But we only have unicorn based batteries! And you're the best recharger I have!" Rainbow Dash just watched them running around the studio while the others leafed through the works to find their next one. Rainbow sighed bored. "Well, guess since the broadcast light is on SOMEPONY needs to be doing something fun...Maybe I'll see if this stupid What If Machine will show me what I'll be like as a Wonderbolt..." Rainbow turned on the What If Machine and it flickered to life. Twilight set in her library, around a roaring fire, a blizzard raging outside. The Roe Deer Doe politely walked over to Rainbow Dash, the Reindeer anxiously looking out the window. "Rainbow Dash, calm down." "I can't! I need to practice my jumping! I've got so many tricks to try out and it's a blizzard!" "Um...Rainbow...please calm down...you can practice jumping inside..." said Fluttershy, the other Reindeer trying to settle down her friend. "Yes, Rainbow, settle down. You'd think a grizzly was right behind you with how you're acting," Rarity added, the other Roe coming over to her. "Just relax, darling and enjoy the snow." "Rarity's right Rainbow, now come on a relax, we can tell stories or somethin'," Applejack nodded, the moose, even if she was a female, having a bit of height over her friends. "Yeah! Now come on! Let's have some fun! We're snowed in so we might as well enjoy it!" Pinkie Pie announced, the other moose hopping over excitedly with agility surprising for her large size. Rainbow grumbled. "Fine...But I get to tell the first story!" "So you're saying you're my descendant from the distant future?" Clover asked to Twilight Sparkle. "Yes! And I don't know how I got here! But I'm not alone! Things from different eras of time are being displaced!" "And this 'Nightmare Moon is one of them?" asked Starlight, looking up at the moon and night sky in the middle of the day. Bright Eyes examined the seven Elements of Harmony directly in front of them. "And these devices are the only things that can stop her?" "Yes! And one, the seventh one just showed up out of nowhere, and two, they're magic, not devices!" "Magic isn't real, that's preposterous." Twilight growled and moved her mane to reveal her horn. "I'm a unicorn!" she yelled, then levitated the box and did a few more minor spells. "See? Magic! And...Bright Eyes?" Patch sighed as Bright Eyes just stared blankly at the display. "I think you broke her." "Wait...so I grow up to be the bad guy?!" asked Dissy, staring up at Rainbow Dash. The cyan Pegasus rubbed her head. "Well...Y-Yeah...but you've still got a lot of choices ahead of you, so THIS you might have a different life..." "Now now, don't listen to Rainbow Crash, mini me," said a voice as Discord snaked around his younger self. "You'll love being the Crowned Prince of Chaos someday! Believe me! It'll be a blast!" Dissy looked around at the chaos his older self had wrought. His friends suffering, Celly and Lulu turned to gold and silver statues. "No...No!" the little Draconequus screamed, sending off a pulse of Chaos that sent his adult self flying and crashing through a wall. "I will not become you!" he yelled, teleporting to his friend's sides and freeing them from his older self's spell. "I refuse to be you!" Discord chuckled darkly. "Don't you get it? I loath cause and effect, but I still exist! That means you still become me!" His eyes went wide as he saw a familiar red orb form in his younger self's hand. "No...You aren't supposed to know you can do that yet!" "Chaos is unpredictable, isn't it?" Dissy asked, the little draconequus blowing his older self half way across Equestria (and almost in half) with the Destruction spell. "Ready to blow have pun today, Rainbow Dash?" Asked Derpy, excitedly. Rainbow nodded. "Yeah, Derpy, let's go, day's a wasting!" the two trotted off like best friends. "Enough!" yelled Rainbow, shutting it off. "Ok, us all being deer I can get, Twilight, Discord, and me ending up in the past, ok, but me and Derpy being BFFs? No way! That's just crazy!" "Um. Rainbow Dash?" asked Pinkie, now hog tied and suspended in Twilight's telekinesis while the unicorn read a mind numbingly long essay on the history of batteries. "I think we should start the show now..." "Oh...yeah...right..." "Uh...can you hold up the rules? I'm indisposed..." "Oh...ok...like this?" Rainbow asked, getting the card where it materialized out of Pinkie's hammerspace and held it up to the camera. Remember Da Rules: Nopony besides me can see through the fourth wall, the camera can’t leave the studio, the guest characters could be from any generation, toy or comic but it has to be from "My Little Pony" and most importantly everypony has to stay in character and you should have fun with everything. This episode is special, you can pick from ANY recursive fanart you can pick from ANY recursive fanart, or fanwork done for the Pony POV Series, EVER, and have us tell the readers about it, and have us share OUR thoughts on it. If someone else has already done the one you wanted to, you can have one of the others do it! Just keep us in characters and it'll be fun! Oh, and we'll be prolonging this into as many parts as need be, so GO WILD! - Working together, the others talked Twilight down from finishing the essay. While everypony else worked to clear all the soapboxes that had sprouted out of the ground like daisies, Pinkie Pie wriggled her way out of the restraints. "Okay! Let's look at something new," Pinkie said, grabbing a pair of stories and putting them on the projector one at a time. Rarity caught a glimpse of the title and winced. "Really, dear? Him? Surely there's somepony else we can read about..." "No way! I never got to meet your crush at the Gala," Rainbow said, eliciting a scowl from Rarity at the idea of Blueblood being anypony's crush after they'd met him, "I say we read it!" fav.me/d5rw1a6 fav.me/d5rw1t4 Everypony looked thoughtful afterwards. "Hmm, I suppose there was more to Blueblood than I thought," Rarity noted, "He actually seems...humble. Or at least aware of what a boorish pony he is, and trying to be better. Maybe he's more of a Prince Charming than a Prince Charmless after all..." "Too bad that Spell mare beat you to him," Fluttercruel noted, making Rarity's expression fall. "That being turned to ice part was kinda creepy," Rainbow said, "AND being chased by a fire stallion! Good thing we kicked Discord's flanks before it was too late." "Yeah!" Pinkie agreed, "Even if I could've lived with chocolate milk rain, none of his games were much fun for anypony! And this one was absolutely positively dangerous!" "I didn't realize I had that much in common with Blueblood," Twilight said, "We were both separating ourselves from other ponies. But I did it to myself by choice: Blueblood was raised that way." Maybe the next time she was in Canterlot, Twilight thought, she'd make time to say hello. Not to mention that that looking-through-walls spell he had sounded useful. - "Here's the next story!" Pinkie said as she whipped another reel of film out and set it on the projector. The others gathered around and watched. As the title began to play, Fluttershy whispered to Twilight, "Oh, it's one about Princess Celestia's alter ego? I hope they don't try and make her out to be a bad pony the way some Shadows do." "So do I," Twilight whispered angrily. "But I don't think it's about her. The name is spelled differently." "That's right, it isn't," Pinkie Pie said, gripping Fluttershy on one side and Twilight on the other. "I know her, she's a sweet filly and she really likes Celestia! She won't say anything bad about her." Contented by that, the ponies settled down to watch. http://fav.me/d59y0uz And then when it was over... "Blast Discord!" Twilight snorted, hot crimson sparks running along her horn. Fluttershy and Pinkie tried to calm their friend, but she ignored them. "He used Celestia's sun to terrorize a filly? Every time I think he can't sink any lower he proves me wrong. Oh, if I had the power to make him suffer for every nasty trick he ever pulled, I..." Her voice broke off as something like a dark, cruel smile seemed to flash before her mind's eye, along with a warning head shake from that strange alicorn she remembered, Amicitia something? "Then again just keeping him from hurting ponies is enough." Unnoticed by Twilight, Pinkie seemed to heave a sigh of relief. Meanwhile Fluttershy said, "Now, Twilight, it wasn't all bad, remember? She's not angry at Celestia and doesn't say bad things about her, not like those tabloid journalists." Twi calmed further as she added, "That and she seems to be recovering from everything that happened. Even what I," she swallowed, "What I did as Princess Gaia." The two friends nuzzled each other. "Awww!" Fluttershy and Twilight jumped as Pinkie spoke. "The Shadows all like it when we act cute like that! And I'm happy to see that Sunny Daze is doing better too." She added, with just a hint of loss in her voice, "I hope she starts surfing again." Pinkie smiled and added in her normal tones, "On to the next reel!" - “I got two stories here, they are from the attention horse with the big box from earlier.” Fluttercruel said while holding up two chapters. “He is just a bit… eccentric. He works really hard to help others.” Fluttershy added, seemingly knowing more. “Hm? Do you think he could handle dating us?” Fluttercruel whispered with a mischievous smile. “Just let us take a look at the story.” Her mother would not go into this argument. http://fav.me/d5tpulu http://fav.me/d5uhjy1 Soon the pegasus projector was finished with the two stories. “Well, I must say he is a rather charismatic fellow, with a mostly upbeat personality despite all the hardships he went through. He seems to get well along with Derpy, Celestia, his other companions and almost everybody he meets. After all the gloom and doom around Discord it is really nice to see somepony with a positive attitude.” Rarity mused. “And he doesn’t like pears. Ah think that’s a good sign.” Applejack said. “Yeah, that is the positive. And sometimes he gets a bit too manipulative for his own good and takes the ponies around him for granted. Plus you also forget to mention the teeny tiny problem that he was corrupted by Discord by exploiting his wish to save others.” Rainbow added with a sour look. “Even after the Elements did hit him, he was still paralysed with fear and almost tried to take over the world to make up for his failures… But the interviewers did help him to recover afterwards. Hey, they keep doing that. They must really like helping others. We should throw them a big ‘thank you’ party!” Pinkie Pie cheered. “Who doesn’t like helping others if have to push them outside a door to do it?” Fluttercruel chuckled, somehow getting flashbacks at the dragon migration. “But his story seems far from over. There are a few more chapters left.” Twilight pointed out while quietly reading over the later chapters at a blazingly fast speed. "Now if this would be a commercial I would pause and say that you should totally read these as well but we are not doing this here.” Pinkie Pie said with a smile into the camera. - Pinkie Pie said, "Okay, here's another one. It's about what Discord did to Octavia, and how she recovered from it." Applejack shuddered. "Take it from me," she said, "what happened to Octavia was not pleasant. And Ah should know, since Ah helped her with it." Pinkie Pie nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of depressing at first, but it has a happy ending." http://fav.me/d6iyl71 After the pegasus projector was done, everyone felt one thing: sympathy. Fluttershy was the first to speak. "Poor Octavia. What Discord did to us was bad enough, but at least he didn't torture us with our own special talents." Twilight said, "Poor Octavia. I'm really glad you were able to help her, Applejack." Applejack said, "Aw shucks, it was nothing. Ah just found out a pony was suffering from what Discord did to her, and Ah gave her some advice to help her overcome the torture he inflicted on her." Fluttercruel said, "All right, I've decided. I really hate the old man for doing something like this. It's just inexcusable." Pinkie Pie said, "Hang on, we can't go getting angry at him like that yet! Keep smiling!" Rarity said, "Indeed. It would be most unladylike to allow our anger to control us like that. After all, we can't do anything to him in our current situation." Rainbow Dash said, "It kind of stinks that we can't do anything about it, but I guess you're right." Pinkie Pie said, "All right, keep them coming! Give us another recursive work!" - Pinkie Pie said, "All right, here's one where we took a slightly different route with Discord. And before you ask, no, we didn't kill him. http://fav.me/d68791r Rainbow Dash said, "Now that's what I'm talking about! We should have actually done that instead of turning him to stone!" Twilight facehoofed. "I can't believe I didn't think to try something like that. That would have been a much smarter choice." Rarity said, "Well, you know what they say, dear. Hindsight is 20/20." Applejack said, "Still, it might be a good idea to ask the Princesses about that, in case the varmint manages to escape again." Pinkie said, "Sorry, all this is non-canon. So that's not really an option, even if it's a good idea." Twilight said, "Still, who knows what sorts of changes to the timeline using the Elements on Discord like that would have caused? It's said that even the smallest change to history can have a massive effect on the future, and this is a pretty major change." Applejack thought about the Pool of Truth, but decided not to mention it. - "Alright, the next one is actually for..." Pinkie trailed off for a moment, looking at Twilight. "A story arc centering on some members of the guard, but from a different point of view!" Twilight blinked. "Pinkie, are you hiding something?" "Nope! Roll fic!" fav.me/d5k13kx "Wow...that was...dark…" said Rainbow Dash, a little uncomfortable seeing an assassination attempt from the assassin's point of view. Not to mention the implications of the ending... "I agree. Me and the Diamond Dogs are on relatively decent terms right now, so I can say they aren't all greedy brutes. It's kind of sad to see something like this. Poor Pedro was in so far over his head on this one and didn't realize it…" Rarity followed up. "...General Lionhart of Columbia once said 'There's no good or bad side. Just two sides holding different views.' He meant it in the context that for most soldiers or guards, if they fight someone the odds are good the other fighter is only fighting because it's their orders," Twilight quoted. "I can agree with that. And I kinda like this one for looking from the other side of the coin and showing what was going through this poor guy's head. Considering what I am, I can appreciate getting to see what's going on in the 'monster's' head. What did we see of him in the actual thing?" Fluttercruel asked. Pinkie Pie took out a script. "Mainly he snuck into the embassy to assassinate somepony, got chased, and then well...the bad guys leave no witnesses when it comes to the Diamond Dogs…" The room fell silent. "...Well...that's...disturbing…" said Rarity, shuddering. "...Who was the soldier that he was trying to...kill?" Like most ponies, the idea of intentionally trying to murder someone seemed so...wrong to Twilight. "Shining...Sword!" Twilight blinked. "Shining Sword?" "Yep! Shining Sword! Completely different from Shining Armor! No relation!" "But…" "Oh, look at the time! we'd better be moving on! Next story!" "Wait a sec-" "Next story!" - Pinkie Pie said, "Whoa, this one Shadow is really on a roll! Here we've got a two-parter about a certain wall-eyed mailmare!" Rainbow Dash snorted. "You mean Derpy? This should be good for a laugh." Applejack said, "Stop right there, Rainbow Dash. If'n ya knew her, yer opinion of her would be very different." Twilight said, "That's right, it's not a very good idea to judge a pony like that unless you really know them." Pinkie Pie said, "And these should give you a very good idea about what she's really like. By the way, Fluttershy? A bit of warning. The second one kind of touches on what you did as Princess Gaia, but it also shows some of the good that came from that incident. So without further ado, we'll start out with Mine No More." http://fav.me/d4nofkb When the pegasus projector was done, everyone was depressed by seeing what Derpy had been put through. Rainbow Dash said, "Damn, I really put my hoof in my mouth saying this would be good for a laugh, didn't I?" Applejack said, "Afraid so, sugarcube." Rarity said, "Oh my. I had no idea Dinky was adopted. She and Derpy have always acted like a real mother and child, and it is not impossible for ponies to have children that belong to other races, as the Cakes proved with Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake." Twilight said, "That was a very cruel way for him to break her. And that was just his way of practicing for Rainbow Dash? I'd say this is even more proof of how inexcusable his deeds are." Pinkie Pie said, "I know it was depressing, but she and Dinky are doing much better now, and this should show how she's just as protective of Dinky as any real mother would be of her child." http://fav.me/d4qyvwm After the pegasus projector finished, Rainbow Dash said, "Okay, I really feel like an idiot now. Derpy got praised by Princess Luna herself for how strong her bond with Dinky really is, in spite of not being her real mother. I guess I really should get to know a pony better before making an opinion of them." Fluttershy said, "I kind of didn't like being reminded of what I did when I was Princess Gaia again, but it was nice to see that I helped Carrot Top, Dinky, and the Doctor recover from what Discord did to them." Fluttercruel said, "And I'm impressed by the way Dinky managed to snag some free ice cream! Well played, kid! And the way the Doctor and Carrot Top convinced the psychiatrist not to separate Dinky and Derpy for real was awesome!" Twilight said, "But what about her trip to Canterlot? We didn't get to see that part." Pinkie Pie giggled and said, "If you want to know, you should read part two, you silly filly!" Rainbow Dash suffered a minor electric shock from the couch, and snapped. "WHAT AM I SAYING?! She's the best mom in the world?! FINE! But does her being best mom stop her from electrocuting me with thunder clouds? Or me having to fix HER messes? Every time she's on the weather team it's worse than rogue weather from Everfree! She's great for Dinky and her friends? FINE! But she ISN'T good for me! I've been crushed, electrocuted, drenched, buried alive, had MY WING dislocated, she is NOT a good weather mare, and as Captain of the weather team, it's my JOB to say if a pony is a contribution to the team or not! So stop trying to make me into the bad guy because Derpy makes my job miserable!" Her five friends stared at her in shock as Rainbow Dash huffed and puffed. "Feel better now?" Fluttercruel asked. "... Maybe I do." Rainbow Dash whispered. Pinkie Pie said, "Our next piece is from the Dark World. It illustrates how broken Discord was from that mean meanie-pants Nightmare Paradox trapping him in a Groundhog Day Loop and constantly forcing him to lose everything he ever cared about, without giving him a chance to change his ways even when he genuinely wanted to change them." http://fav.me/d66cfie Fluttercruel said, "Seeing this, I can't help feeling some pity for the old man. I mean, he's only continuing to be a puppeteer in it because Nightmare Paradox is forcing him to continue to do those things." Pinkie Pie said, "Yeah. At one point, he asked a filly if she could teach him how to be good. The filly was about to start teaching him, but then Nightmare Paradox took control. The next thing he knew, the filly was gone, and there was blood on his claws." This caused everyone present to wince at how the Nightmare of Magic had made it quite clear with that act that she had abandoned justice and was just punishing Discord for the sake of punishing Discord. "Okay, doing something like that is just wrong!" Rainbow Dash said. Rarity said, "Indeed. She quite clearly cares nothing about the lives of other ponies, viewing them as simple props that she had created for the sole purpose of torturing Discord." Applejack said, "Ah wonder if our Dark World counterparts ever managed to beat those Nightmares." Pinkie Pie said, "Well, since all this is non-canon anyway, I guess I can tell you this much. The Nightmares were defeated by Twilight the Unicorn and the others forcing Nightmare Paradox to use the time travel spell again, allowing Twilight to copy it and use it for a different purpose. She reached across time and space and summoned us, as well as the main characters from the other three worlds that Equestria once was. Her spell also revived the Elements of Harmony that Celestia and Luna once used. And the Nightmares weren't able to use their Elements to destroy the world this time, because Twilight's parents, even though they were still stuck as plants, stopped Paradox by growing some vines around her, restraining her. This sent her into a Villainous BSOD and allowed six Rainbows of Light to defeat her and the other Nightmares." Rainbow Dash's jaw dropped. "Wait a minute, did you say SIX Rainbows of Light? Aw man, I can't believe we missed something like that." Twilight said, "But we didn't. We were one of the groups that was summoned there, so even if we haven't seen it yet, it's only a matter of time before we not only get to see it, but are a part of it." Rainbow Dash said, "Oh yeah, that's right. In that case, I can't wait for that to happen." - Pinkie Pie got a bunch of handkerchiefs out. "This next one...is extremely sad. It's another Dark World piece. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I'll show you, then explain. http://fav.me/d5qfdli Pinkie Pie said, "You see, Apple Bloom had managed to finally break the curse on Sunnytown, freeing all of the ponies who lived there as well as Ruby, which caused her to become known as a Saint. But by the time she managed to break the curse, she had become a zombie as well. Applejack, even though she was Discorded into Liarjack at the time, still cared about ponies, and when she heard about this, Apple Bloom managed to convince her to break the curse on her, allowing Apple Bloom to pass on to Pony Heaven." By the time Pinkie's explanation was done, there wasn't a single dry eye in the studio. Even the guards had moist eyes from hearing about the story behind that picture. Applejack said, "No wonder mah Dark World self was smilin' in spite of her tears. She had managed to finally free Apple Bloom from that curse. Ah guess Ah better do everything Ah can to help prevent somethin' like this from happening here." Rarity said, "We all will. Not only losing your sister, but being forced to give her a Mercy Kill to free her from a curse is. THE! WORST! POSSIBLE! THING!!!" Rainbow Dash said, "Don't worry, Applejack. We'll all help break that curse. That's a promise." Fluttershy, through her tears, said, "That's right. We don't want anypony to have to sacrifice themselves like that." Pinkie Pie said, "Yeah. I'm not sure I could bring myself to do something like that if Octavia was in Apple Bloom's position, and I really don't want to have to find out. I just hope the next submission is happier then this one." - Rainbow Dash literally dived into the next mountain of pictures as Rarity gave her friend a puzzled look. “Uh… Dash, you are making a mess in the studio and you might have an easier time overlooking them if we do it one by…” Carefully the white unicorn caught a view pictures that flew into her direction with telekinesis and placed them next to herself on the floor. “Yeah! I got it! Now this one is awesome, cool and radical all at the same time.” With a huge smile the Pegasus flew over to the projector. “Pinkie, drum roll time.” The pink pony nodded and out of nowhere a dramatic drum roll could be heard. “This time there is no suffering, no despair and no Discord, just the pure awesome that is…” Finally after the build-up the drum roll ended the picture was placed on the projector. "THIS!" http://fav.me/d51j9vu “My dear! This one is beautiful.” Rarity took a deep breath before continuing “There entire picture is bright and colorful with lush tasty looking grass and a sky that was surly made by a group of professional pegasi.” Then she fell back with a huge smile on her face as Rainbow Dash caught her. “Oh! Oh! Let me try next. I LOVE our expressions, they’re so unique: My happiness, Dashie’s confident grin, AJ’s determined face, Rarity’s prideful smile and Luna and Celestia also look so happy!” Pinkie Pie added cheerfully. “Happy? Celestia looks really proud on a certain purple bookworm. Whoever drew this also gave ‘Shy a smile that’s somewhere between being sheepish and being confident.” Fluttercruel added and for a moment it looked like both she and her mother smiled at the same time. Said purple bookworm had turned slightly red. “The secret are the eyes, they are so bright and cheerful. And seeing Trixie so calm and so content with herself is really something.” Twilight added as the memories of her latest visit to her friend returned to her. “Ah like it too. Pinkie almost looks like she is about to fly off in happiness. It really makes yah feel like we will make it through everything not matter what will come next.” Applejack finished their thoughts. - Pinkie Pie got another out of the pile. "Oh...well...this one's a tad bit different. It's about Derpy...again, but it's an alternate version." "Alternate version?" asked Twilight. "Like an alternate universe?" "Kinda, maybe. They're kinda 'one could be right or the other could be,'" explained Pinkie. Rainbow grumbled as she put it on the projector. http://www.fimfiction.net/story/11764/pony-pov-discorded-ponies-side-story Everypony was once more silent. "Well...this is certainly another direction to take the story, isn't it?" asked Rarity. "In the original, Derpy's cruelty was more focused on Dinky, in this one it's focused on everypony else in general...Still, shows how brutal Discord can be, doesn't it?" "He was a bit less direct in this one, in the original he focused more on her bond Dinky, in this one it's more on her bitterness at how others see her," Twilight replied, glancing at Rainbow Dash. "I suppose that makes sense, as in the other one, Discord was using her as a warm up for Rainbow, in this version, he's just playing with her." Fluttercruel grumbled. "I don't know what's worse, making her think she was doing Dinky a favor by making her hate her, or making Derpy hate her own daughter this much. Wouldn't put either past the Old Man..." Rainbow grumbled. "Ok, look, I don't LIKE Derpy, she makes life hard on me. But I'm not about to say that she deserved any of this, in either version, just I don't get along with her. I hate that blasted Discord for doing this to her as much as anyone." Everypony nodded, even if they didn't entirely agree with her stance on Derpy. "And her restoration is also different. It took this one considerably longer to reconcile with Fluttershy and...well, she threw the rock in this one..." Fluttershy nodded. "Yes..." and that was all she said, if she knew who really threw it, she wasn't telling. "Like mom said, we'll take the good and the bad, we're just glad Derpy and us are on good terms again..." "This version of Derpy also seemed considerably more...composed that the other one. Not that the other one was stupid, but she seemed a tad more naive and innocent than this one. But you can tell they're the same pony..." "Ah think that's the same with every version of us..." said Applejack, giving a smile. "It was also cute seeing her turn into a foal with Zecora's potion to have some mommy/daughter time with Dinky!" said Pinkie. "The other one was supposed to have it but the author forgot it." "I'm sorry! Geez!" yelled a voice from offstage. "Alright, moving on, next story!" - "I think we should look for something more light-hearted again," Rarity said, picking out a picture from the pile, "Now then...this one looks good. Although I've never heard of this princess before..." fav.me/d5j5rqd Rainbow Dash's head tilted to the side. "Huh...doesn't she remind you of Princess Celestia a little? Maybe she's a relative," Rainbow suggested. "She's beautiful," Fluttershy said, "Her mane flows really nicely." "I agree," Rarity said, "She looks marvelous. Oh, I can just see the amazing dresses I could make for her!" Twilight looked toward Pinkie Pie, who was blowing her nose into her hankie. "Pinkie? Are you okay?" Twilight asked, stepping closer to her friend to offer comfort. A reminder of the lost age like this must be upsetting her terribly, Twilight thought - at least, she thought it until Pinkie started bouncing in place and cried out, "It's PERFECT!" The others turned to look at her as Pinkie continued, "It looks JUST like her! She's even still a pegasus! You can really tell that the Shadow who made this knew that Star Catcher was a princess all on her own, even if she was ESPECIALLY a princess on the inside!" It took Pinkie a whole minute to finish gushing. - Carefully Fluttershy organized the stories and pictures next to her while carefully looking over everything. “Oh! I have another good one!” Fluttershy held up one picture as Fluttercruel briefly surfaced and took a look as well. “This one is more bittersweet. Not too bad.” Fluttercruel added, happy that this one was not too sugary sweet. Soon both placed the image on the pegasus projector so the rest of the group could see it as well. http://fav.me/d63r1yj' “Okay, so I don’t remember that time from this perspective. I was kinda busy arguing with Pinkamena and fighting against Angry Pie. So this was how it did look from the outside. I knew it wasn’t easy for Mrs. Cake but seeing it like this…” Pinkie Pie said before being hugged by Applejack. Rainbow Dash took the chance to continue. “Yeah but don’t forget how happy she was when you did wake up. Hey, she even did all of it while being pregnant.” “Who did order all the rain? Is there some jerk who always orders rain from the pegasi when somepony is feeling down?” Fluttercruel interrupted. “It was surely the rain that was needed to wash away some of the damage Discord did leave behind. But it certainly adds to the atmosphere of the image. The clothes with the wings on the side almost make Mrs. Cake look like some sort of guardian angel. You are even wrapped in the custom bedsheet I made a while ago.” Rarity added with a certain pride. “And Pinkie Pie looks so suffering and I can almost see how much Mrs. Cake wishes that she could do anything to help her.” Twilight finished with a sombre expression. “But that is not the point!” Everypony turned to see that Fluttershy had spoken up. “I think this captures the caring side of Mrs. Cake very well. When Pinkie Pie needed help the most, her friends and family were there for her. Yes, we do suffer as well when somepony close to us suffers. But that makes us stronger, our bonds allow us to overcome the pain together.” - Pinkie Pie frowned. The Shadows were getting bored, that wasn't good. Maybe they were tired of pictures for right now? "Well, then let's try another story! I've got a great one in mind," Pinkie said, pulling a new story out and putting it on the projector, "It even has cute little not-the-big-dumb-meanie-we-all-dislike-little-bitty Dissy starring in it!" fav.me/d4ymcjr All eyes in the room were wide. "That...was..." "SO AWESOME!" Rainbow Dash yelled, jumping into the air, "Did you see that?! The good little Discord blew the evil big Discord up! He was all 'ha ha, I'm totally evil and so will you' and little Discord was like 'eat love and friendship, you monster!' and then BOOM!" "I had no idea you even liked explosions, Rainbow," Rarity said. "I like 'em when they're AWESOME...not to mention when they kick Discord's flank." The other nodded: that last part was something everypony could agree with. "Well, I think seeing the relationship between Shady and little Discord was very sweet," Fluttershy said next. "And I liked the part where Surprise saved the day!" Pinkie exclaimed. "She did?" the others asked. "Sure! If she hadn't landed on Luna's head, Luna wouldn't have gotten into Shady's dream," Pinkie explained, "And then Luna wouldn't have gotten Shady into Dissy's dream, and then the big nasty Discord would've won! See? It makes perfect sense." "Well, I have to wonder about the ending," Twilight said hastily, instinctively uncomfortable at the idea of Pinkie making SENSE, "All of us in class together as fillies, with the good Discord as our teacher? And it sounds like Celestia and Luna are fighting something horrible...I wonder who that Nightmare they were talking about is." "Ah'm sure they were able to handle it," Applejack said, putting a hoof on her shoulder to reassure her, "After all, if that Nightmare gave 'em too much trouble, Discord could save 'em! ...That felt weird t'say." - "Uh, HUH? WHAT? I feel like we blanked out for a minute." Rainbow Dash shook her head. "More like a couple of week darling, I feel like I was making dresses for summer when it was winter!" Rarity stretched. "I feel like that time I ate so much sugar I go so excited I fell asleep." "It's called a sugar crash Pinkie Pie," Twilight said. "How can the sugar crash when it's not driving anything? KIDDING! I know what it means. But you all thought I didn't! HEHEH!" "Got us good Pinkie." Rainbow Dash said. "Dang . . . Ah hope we didn't sleep through the day or somethin' a farm pony's work is never done." AJ said working the kinky out. "Oh don't worry, we're fine. Time doesn't pass quite the same when we're filming." Pinkie Pie. "So I could practice in here forever and get ready for the bolts in a day?!" Rainbow Dash asked eager to abuse a flux in time and space for her own selfish gain. "It's 'non-canon' Dashie, that means what happens here doesn't effect anything out there. Includin' us once we leave." AJ said, feeling weird she had to be the one to explain the nature of the world to RD. "Oh." Rainbow Dash pouted. "Well darlin' what's next on the list?" Rarity asked. "Let's see!" Pinkie Pie pulled one out of the pile and set up the projection, here we go! Butterflies: Coffe Swirl: Part 1" "Coffee Swirl?" Fluttershy whispered, waking up at last. http://fav.me/d4oxk3h The story played. "THAT JERK!!!" Rainbow Dash swore, "WHERE DOES HE GET OFF TALKING ABOUT FLUTTERSHY LIKE THAT!? Doesn't he know how hurt she is already!? I'm gonna drag 'em out of that coffee shop, and stick 'em on weather duty with DERPY, FOR A MONTH!, on Lightning Storm duty! Let'em see how he likes that!" "Rainbow Dash, stop." Fluttershy said. "But Fluttershy-" "I SAID STOP!" Rainbow Dash froze . . the stare? Fluttershy wouldn't . .. wouldn't use that . . .use that . . . on-on, her? "Swirl has every right to say what he said. My good intentions hurt him. I have no excuse for that." "What for land's sake is a peddler-fill anyway?" AJ asked. "I can't say I've heard that word either." Rarity admitted. "I know what it means." RD said. THey all looked at her. "OKay, no I don't." Twilight Sparkle didn't respond as she was going through dictionaries. Fluttershy slammed it close, shocking Twilight Sparkle to her core. "Coffee and I . . . have a unique relationship," she said. Pinkie Pie was completely silent until, "Well, it looks like there are a few more parts to this story, maybe we'll come across them in the pile until we get bored and leave the studio." "Don't you mean run out of batteries?" Rainbow Dash asked. "Naw, I have extras, this time we don't stop until we all get bored with this. So anypony up for one more round?" - “Okay let gets to the next reclusive piece before…oh”. Pinkie Pie suddenly starts to shudders. “Spine Tinkling, watery eyes, tingling tail. But that only happens when I forget something super-duper important and what could I possibly forget? Unless…” Pinkie pie quickly grabs a calendar out of her mane and looks at it. Her eyes suddenly turns huge when seeing the date. “Oh no! I was having so much fun that I forgot to announce this.” She throws the calendar off stage and quickly whips out her trusty party cannon from seemly out of nowhere. “HAPPY 2nd ANNIVERSARY POV SERIES! She said while firing the cannon and sending pink confetti everywhere. “Sorry it is late, but better late than never …right? I would use the tardis to fix this but I already scared off the Doctor with those pears from earlier. Oh well, here hoping this year even more super-duper awesomer than THE LAST TWO COMBINED!!! - Pinkie Pie looked at the camera, put on glasses, and read from a note, "We interrupt this story to inform our viewers that the next installment involving Shining Armor is ready, but there is an issue. It is simply too long. When it's first loaded, it says it's about 60K, but then it posts a blank page, and then says 'can not edit due to be over size' and when we cut several pages of dialogue, it then becomes 64.1K! And there is no viable place to split it into two parts. Another author has managed to put post it into the stash file, but not as a posted story. We apologize for the delays, we're trying to work things out. If anyone has any technical advice, please tell us. It'd be very helpful. We now return to our regularly scheduled story." "Pinkie Pie! I think you uploaded this wrong! It's just a loop of Pound Cake and Pumpkin Cake playing!" Twilight Sparkle said as her friends looked at the distraction. "Sorry Twilight! Must have slipped that in by accident." Pinkie Pie lied. "So let's see if we can find a REAL piece of art or story in the pike!" "There sure are a lot." Fluttershy noted. "Just shows how awesome we are!" Rainbow Dash cheered. - “Okay, now its my turn to find something.“ Twilight proclaimed as she closed her eyes and tried to telekinetically pull a story out of the collection. As the unicorn opened her eyes she quickly checked the papers she did manage to pull out of the small mountain of stories. If there was one thing that she could do faster then Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie (and pretty much anybody else in the room combined), it was reading. “This one is good but I… er… I don’t know if I can show this…” “What? I made sure there was nothing in there with mature content inside. No need to make this story harder to read for the shadows who watch.” Pinkie Pie wondered as she took a look at the story herself. “Oh, you mean that one. Just ask Fluttershy.” Twilight looked slightly annoyed that she had managed to miss the obvious solution until Pinkie Pie pointed it out. The yellow pegasus took one glance to it and blushed a bit. “Well… okay… I guess we had revealed bigger secrets so far.” Careful the shy pony placed the story on the Pegasus projector. “And it is ‘non-canon’ as well, so we get to see your faces about the CHAMBER!" Fluttercruel added with a mischievous smile. http://fav.me/d68mqtk Rainbow Dash looked approvingly. “Now that is a cool choice for a name. ‘CHAMBER OF EXTREME KNITTING!’ is pretty cool, not radical or awesome but certainly cool. “It even comes with an explanation mark and in all caps.” Pinkie Pie added. “So how is the ‘CHAMBER OF EXTREME MODELING’ going?” Rarity asked very much exited. “It is a work in progress, right now it is pretty much a big empty room with only a walkway. We need spotlights! Recordings of camera clicks! Sounds of an audience! Dresses!” Fluttercruel soon lost herself in daydreams about the new hidden chamber. “And finally the ‘CHAMBER OF EXTREME MODELING’ also needs its own explanation mark!” Pinkie Pie said. “It is also nice to see you taking so much effort in making your knitting 100 % right.” Twilight added. She knew that Bright Eyes would be proud to see her eye for detail and intellectual side being used for art. - Pinkie Pie said, "Okay, something you should know about Makarov. His Cutie Mark has actually been changing since his first appearance." Twilight said, "Wait, how is that even possible? Once you get your Cutie Mark, it's not supposed to change." Pinkie Pie shrugged in response to this. "He's a Villain Sue and a Parody Sue. And I'd suggest you not even try to analyze it this time. For all we know, you might wind up in a coma." Twilight shuddered in memory of her first attempt to analyze the vomit stain. "Got it." With that, Pinkie Pie slid the image onto the pegasus projector. http://fav.me/d6qe9sk Rarity was the first to break the silence. "I thought it was hideous before, but now it has become too bucking grotesque for me to even look at." Fluttershy let out a squeak. "Oh my, Rarity never swears like that." Fluttercruel then said, "I can't say I blame her. It was ugly before, but now it's really ugly." Rainbow Dash said, "Yeah, that's the ugliest thing I have ever seen." Twilight said, "Trying...to...avoid...brain...shutdown..." as she started to twitch and her mane started to look messy. Noticing this, Pinkie Pie quickly slid the image off of the pegasus projector, allowing Twilight to calm down. "Thanks, Pinkie. But that was easily the most impossible thing I have ever seen. It makes the stuff Discord did seem tame, and that's saying something. Applejack said, "Yeah, that sort of Cutie Mark makes absolutely no sense." Pinkie Pie said, "It looks like there's a reason it's so weird. You see, he was originally something that was created by Discord's sister Pandora, the Concept of Imagination, as her attempt to create a being of pure imagination. But when she turned it loose in the Realm of Legends, it started twisting the stories, making them focus on it. It didn't even have a name, so it stole one from the bits and pieces around it. She was forced to dub it a failed experiment and put it in her Box, where it should have stayed for all of eternity." Rainbow Dash said, "But I'm guessing it broke out, right?" Pinkie Pie nodded. "Thanks to the Hooviets Imagination Engine in Chernobull. It literally tore into her realm, and into her. It should have all ended when the Engine and Chernobull exploded, and the Box should have remained shut, but something was able to help the Imagination Engine open the Box just enough for the Shadow of Chernobull to slip out. Now it's free, and intends to turn the whole world into its story." She then made a face. "And let me tell you something else. He had a propaganda play made. It portrayed Princess Celestia as a complete troll who solved any problem by sending it to the moon, Princess Luna was obviously evil, and Princess Cadance was a complete airhead. And Makarov was completely perfect, a boring invincible hero who was portrayed as the main character. Shining Armor was the villain, and he was also the only non-Hooviet character who was actually competent. Of course, that was just to make Makarov look even more badflank as Shining Armor got killed by him, was revived, and got killed again." Seeing how upset the others were, she hastily added, "But Shining Armor and Princess Cadance got in the last laugh. They were in disguise watching the play, and after it was over, the Princess had them remove their disguises and teleported their disguises away, to make it look like they'd been in the audience without their disguises the whole time and the Hooviets hadn't even noticed them. Then she walked up to the stage and congratulated them on having made an excellent parody. This left the Hooviets with two choices: Correct the Princess and reveal that they were all jerks, or agree with her and let everyone see that it was all propaganda, but save face and maybe get a bigger audience next time, since one of the Princesses had approved it as a parody." This earned a laugh from Rainbow Dash. "Okay, the Princess totally paid them back with interest by doing that. Best. Prank. Ever! I guess you could say..." she then pulled out a pair of sunglasses and put them on. "...she was on a troll!" Pinkie Pie then turned to the camera. "Hey guys, we haven't been getting a whole lot of material from you lately. So if you're reading this, please get off of your flanks, find some artwork, music, or recursive fanfiction of the Pony POV Series, and send it in!" - Twilight said, "Got one! These are the Cutie Marks of Cream Pie and Banana Pie, two fillies from Sweet Rock Acres in the Dark World." Pinkie Pie said, "All right! I can't wait to see the special talents of my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandkids! http://fav.me/d6qywjz Twilight said, "Well, they do live in a world where Discord won and turned us evil. Obviously, Cream Pie's dynamite Cutie Mark symbolizes an ability to create explosives, and Banana Pie's jackhammer Cutie Mark represents an ability to smash solid rock to pieces, probably through improbable strength." Applejack whistled. "And here Ah thought Ah had some of the strongest legs in Equestria. But even my most powerful applebuck doesn't have the power to smash apart solid rock like that!" Rainbow Dash said, "Wait a moment! What would they need special talents like those for?" Pinkie Pie said, "To deal with the rock monsters! Remember, this is Discord's world. You know how with just a snap of his fingers, he can rewrite the rules of reality. And this is a world where his chaos has ruled the world for 1,000 years!" Rainbow Dash blushed. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that." - Pinkie Pie said, "Okay, we've seen some of the evolution of his Cutie Mark, but we haven't seen the guy who has that Cutie Mark...until now!" Twilight shuddered. "You mean we actually have a picture of Makarov?" Pinkie Pie nodded. "You got it. So without further ado, we're going to take a look at him! Allons-y!" http://fav.me/d6r2nr8 Fluttercruel said, "Okay, I think he looks so evil that the Old Man might as well be a saint." In the meantime, Fluttershy had fainted from seeing such an evil-looking creature. Twilight said, "I have to admit, looking at this picture, there can be no doubt that he is incredibly sadistic and evil." Applejack said, "Ah totally agree." Rainbow Dash said, "Yeah, just looking at him, I wish I could hit him with a Sonic Rainboom. But based on what we've heard about him, I get the feeling that if I tried that, he'd somehow make it completely backfire on me." Rarity said, "Yes, the fact that he obviously can channel magic through his Deer antlers as well as his unicorn horn shows that he is ridiculously powerful. And his eyes...they almost seem to look into your soul!" Pinkie Pie said, "Yeah, he's totally overpowered. He was able to brew a poison that used Dragon's Bane, even though the stuff has been eradicated by Queen Tiamat herself, and he was able to literally make his fleet defy the laws of physics to trap Shining Armor and his group." Twilight'e eyes dilated and her mane started to become frazzled again. "You mean...my BBBFF and his group have been captured by a psychopath who has the power to not only break the laws of reality, but can also defy a Goddess? Rarity, I think I need to borrow your couch." Rarity promptly provided her fainting couch just in time to catch Twilight in it. Pinkie Pie said, "Yeah, it's not looking good for Shining Armor and Misfit Actual. They've been captured by Makarov, and in one day, he plans to use gas that's specifically poisonous to dragons to wipe out all dragons, including Spike." Rarity's response to this was to gently use her magic to move Twilight to the floor before using her couch herself. At this point Fluttershy revealed that she had regained consciousness. "You mean he plans to kill Spike, even though Spike never did anything to him? He's just that intent to exterminate all dragons? They might scare me, but nothing has the right to wipe out an entire species like that, not even big, scary, scaly dragons!" Pinkie Pie nodded before turning to the camera. "So how will Shining Armor and Misfit Actual manage to thwart Makarov's plans and defeat him? Sadly, it might be a while before you're able to find out, because LZ0291, the main author of the Shining Armor arc, has apparently been suffering from severe depression. So everyone, please let him know you care, but don't pester him to hurry with the next chapter. That's not how you should treat an author who's suffering from depression. Seriously, I want you to Pinkie Pie Promise to show him support instead of harassing him to hurry with the next chapter." As she said this, her gaze came extremely close to matching The Stare in its intensity. - After everypony had recovered from hearing about Makarov's latest accomplishments, Pinkie Pie said, "Okay, someone was actually willing to voice a couple of things that Makarov said. First up, his speech when he first made himself known to Shining Armor." http://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://soundcloud.com/knowyourmareinc/general-admiral-solomon-azure Twilight said, "Okay, even then he was way too powerful. I mean, Princess Luna's return was supposed to be top secret, but he not only found out about it, but he publicly revealed it to the embassy. And the lust in his voice when he spoke to Princess Cadance...it totally makes me disgusted." Rainbow Dash said, "And the way he was gloating...please tell me that I wasn't that bad when I let my ego get in the way of helping other ponies." Fluttershy said, "Um, no, I don't think you were ever that bad." Rarity said, "I must say, his Cutie Mark was disgusting, his face was evil, and his voice clearly shows how conceited he is. I do hope he receives his comeuppance soon." Applejack said, "Yeah, it makes me sick." Pinkie Pie said, "Well, there's actually another part. But Twilight, you might want to cover your ears. Same to you, Fluttershy. It's Makarov's threat to subject Shining Armor to a fate worse than death." Fluttercruel said, "It sounds like it's going to be nasty. Don't worry, I'm pretty sure I can prevent Mom from hearing it if she doesn't mind." Fluttershy said, "Thank you, Fluttercruel. If it's going to be extremely nasty, I'd rather not hear it." Twilight said, "I think I'll go take a little walk. If I have to listen to his voice anymore, I'm afraid I'll go insane regardless of what he says." With that, she teleported out of the studio. Pinkie Pie said, "Okay, if you're ready, here we go. http://www.deviantart.com/users/outgoing?https://soundcloud.com/knowyourmareinc/fate-worse-than-death Fluttercruel was the first to speak up. "Okay, that sounds even worse then some of the stuff the Dark World version of me supposedly did. I know I shouldn't be able to do this, but I need a wastebasket now." With that, she walked over to a wastebasket and proceeded to throw up. Rainbow Dash said, "Good thing you had Twilight .leave, Pinkie. If she had heard that, I'm pretty sure she would have snapped." Applejack nodded in agreement. "Yup, that varmint's threat was just plain nasty. And he thinks he can get Princess Cadance to marry him after threatening to do something like that to Shining Armor? He's obviously insane." Rarity didn't say anything, because she had been forced to use her fainting couch again after hearing Makarov's threat. Twilight then teleported back in and surveyed the room. "Okay, judging by the fact that Fluttercruel just threw up and Rarity is on her couch again, I'm glad you suggested I not listen to Makarov's threat, Pinkie. If they're having reactions like that, I'm pretty sure my reaction would have been much worse." Pinkie Pie said, "Yeah, you would probably have made your reaction to my Pinkie Sense back when you tried to analyze it look tame in comparison. As in, you would probably have become a magical nuclear bomb if you had heard that. Okay, how about something different next? Because I think we're all getting tired of that Villain Parody God-Mode Sue at this point." - "What do you mean 'Villain Parody God-Mode Sue' Pinkie?" Twilight Sparkle asked innocently. "Wait a second!" She blinked and her eyes narrowed. "WHOSE LZ0291? WHAT AUTHOR?! WHAT STORY ARC? WHAT CHAPTER?! PINKIE PIE WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN TALKING ABOUT?!" The others instantly began to crowd around Pinkie Pie with similar demands of what she meant. Now she couldn't excuse herself by being insane, they took what she said not as witless random words. Pinkie Pie began to sweat like a pig. "Uh. Oops." Only one thing left to do. She put some free cider in front of her friends. None showed interest. Except Rainbow Dash who was already downing her and asking for more. Which inspire AJ to down her and ask for more since she wasn't about to be out drank by a 'feather weight' (when she said it, it was with endearment). Pinkie Pie put on glasses, put on a lab coat and pulled out a chalk board, and began the boring lecture imaginable on the nature of existence, literature, drama, story telling, the universe, reality, the Equestrian tax-codex, and some reason Ponycraft modding. It put her friends in a glassy-eyed state faster than an economics lecture. Even Twilight found her focus waning. The cider then was downed of their own free-will by the Flutters, Rarity, and finally Twilight all just to escape the boring drone of her voice. Pinkie Pie thought, 'Given what happened to me, you can understand I think memory erase magic is bad, BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD BAD, it's bad and it should feel bad, it's not a good thing at all! It's super ultra-mean and shouldn't exist at all!!!!! But if we all get so drunk we can't tell blue from left, hopefully they'll brush off everything I said! . . . And I still feel super hypocritical and super guilty about it.' It reminded her too much of Discord's brainwashing. Pinkie Pie felt guilty. But it was to stop the forth wall from being destroyed and thus the universe. And she LIKED this non-canon universe. She gave an ANGRY AND NOT NICE GROWL AT THE CAMERA and the shadow who wrote those parts that made her slip and made her do this to her friends to keep the universe from imploding. - The what-if machine, it's gears grinding and screeching from months of disuse, slowly dragged itself back into life. Oil was quickly added by the pink, party pony to make the process smoother, before anypony suffered hearing lose, and the scenes began to come. ---------------- Applejack blinked a bit, feeling an old ache in her leg as she glanced around at five of her friends. Or, rather, at five versions of her friends. Twilight was very similar to how she knew her, save for the star on her flank where a book should be, but she'd never known Rainbow Dash to wear a set of glasses, or for Rarity to apparently have gems literally imbedded in her skin. Fluttershy had never cut her hair THAT short either (And it honestly made her look a bit too much like Rainbow Dash for AJ's personal liking), and the last time she'd seen Pinkie with short hair, there was no smile to be found. "What in the hay is going on here?" "Why don't YOU tell us that?" The bespectacled pegasus challenged, flapping closer to her and glaring. "And while you're at it, how about you tell me what you did to my friends? I'm Princess Celestia's personal student, so don't think all that Earth Pony strength is going to save you from me." "Now you just hold on there, Missy," AJ leaned forward to the point they were almost touching and glared right back. "You sure as sugar ain't the Princess's student, cause that's me." "Oh please," the version of Rainbow scoffed, "what would the princess be doing teaching an earth pony?" There was a gasp from the versions of the other four, but AJ's glare only hardened. "I'll show you what, ya rainbow faker!" Runes appeared around her hoof as a lasso of magical energy appeared and made to snag Dash. However, before it could, the pegasus flapped her wings to condense some water vapor into clouds of complex shape, another flap and a surge of lightning arced around her hooves and into the clouds. Just before the lasso could close around her, a shield spell surrounded her and left the magical rope nothing to grab onto. "So," the pegasus said slowly, "you can do magic too." There was a long pause, then more clouds like the first appeared near her. "Well then, lets see how good you are." While the other two ponies devolved into a wizard's duel, and Twilight had curled up due to her mind crashing, the other three seemed to be handling the situation in a more... direct matter. "Well, you are quite right that they do look rather painful, they actually don't hurt as much as you'd except, Darling." The version Rarity was examining some of the gems that had grown to be a part of her. "When the sonic rainboom shattered the geode in front of me, the magic inherent in it reacted with the magic in the crystals and caused them to fuse with the first thing they touched, which would be me. Oh, the initial fusing was far from pleasant, I assure you, but the pain has mostly gone away by now, and the boost in magical power was certainly a bonus." "That sounds a lot like what happened to me," Pinkamena Diane Pie spoke up, "only without the infusion. The sonic rainboom had the effect of altering my earth pony senses to the point that I could feel the ley lines and how they moved. I was eventually able to direct some of the natural mana radiation from them into various geological aspects for storage and, eventually, spell casting." From seemingly nowhere, the pink pony produced a staff with various gems and types of rocks tied to it. "It's how I made this, after I discovered which types of gems and stones had the correct properties for what I needed." "And the pocket dimension you store that in is tied to this, correct?" The version of Fluttershy tapped a necklace that Pinkamena was wearing, little more than a chunk of obsidian on a string. "Angel mentioned that he could smell magic attached to it." The spirit of the rabbit that had bound itself to the grounded pegasus nodded, before turning into a bird and fluttering up to rest on his mistress's head. "That's right. What's your story though?" The somewhat shy pony rubbed her hoof against the ground. "Well, after I fell, I was able to fly a bit before I hit the ground. By doing this, I ended up much closer to the sonic rainboom and was actually hit by the mana shock wave it generated. After I woke up, I found I could see things: Animal spirits and creatures of pure magic. I could communicate with them, on a different level than I could with other ponies, I could even get them to alter the world in a similar manner to how unicorns use magic; Angel eventually was eventually bound to my by his own choice and he helps me with most of the every day spells." "Well, this is all very fascinating, Dears, but it doesn't get us any closer to figuring out why the six of us are here, or what happened to all our friends." "Um, before we do that, we might want to stop those two." Pinkamena pointed her staff toward the two dueling ponies. Applejack had managed to create a golem out of rock, which was now hurling boulders at Rainbow Dash, while Dash, herself, had conjured up a serpent made of storm clouds and was riding atop its head, laughing manically. "Yes... that might be a good idea." - Slowly, the machine died down yet again, while Pinkie, covered in grease from all the on the spot repairs she'd had to do, finally wiped the sweat from her brow and spat out the wrench she'd been using. "Well, that was fun. I think they forgot about Rainbow's backstory though." Swirl shook his head. "No, the the shadow-who-makes just couldn't think of one that made sense and didn't change more than he was comfortable with changing from canon. Either way, I have go. Tell Fluttercruel I said 'hi' when she and Shy sober up." TO BE CONTINUED...