//------------------------------// // Chapter 11: Chocolate Rain // Story: The Fall of Night // by derpyland //------------------------------// Canterlot was an ancient city, and it had certainly seen its share of parties. As the capitol of Equestria – and the home of many of the nation’s most upper-class citizens – it was not at all unusual for it to host stately celebrations. For example, every year Canterlot hosted the Grand Galloping Gala. That celebration was a regal affair that bored pretty much everypony, but it was quite important all the same. Everyone who was anyone made it a point to be there. However, the party that Pinkie Pie threw that night was completely different. For one thing, it was done in classic Pinkie Pie style. Pinkie knew how to throw a party, and there was nothing particularly stately or dignified about them. She had one thing in mind, and it wasn’t being dignified or proper or following all the right high-class social cues: no, she was there to cut loose and have fun. How Pinkie was able to put together such an extravagant party in just a few hours was one of the great mysteries of life – but then, Pinkie herself was a great mystery. Celestia agreed to host the party on the castle’s grounds, and Pinkie went all out. There were streamers, and ribbons, and cakes, and balloons, and hats, and even cannons – party cannons, to be precise. The music was not the least bit refined. Pinkie somehow managed to contact Vinyl Scratch, and she showed up with her own brand of high-energy entertainment. Vinyl knew how to rock a party, and this time Equestria truly had something to celebrate. Not only had harmony been restored in Equestria, but Luna had been healed and could raise the Moon once again. Not only was Twilight back from the dead, but so was Trixie. Everything was exactly as it should be – if not just a little bit better. Rarity managed to retrieve their party dresses from Ponyville in time for the grand celebration, and she made sure that everyone looked fabulous. Trixie wore the magician’s hat and cape that Rarity had given to her a few days ago. The Elements were all the guests of honor, but they were far too busy to spend their time sitting around and listening to boring speeches. They were there to have fun. It was time to melt away all the stress, frustrations, and sadness of the previous month – so that’s exactly what they did. * * * * * Twilight and Shining Armor were standing by a palace window, laughing and talking. It was early evening and Luna’s moon was high in the sky. The night sky was perfectly clear, except for a few scattered cotton candy clouds that were raining chocolate milk. “I can’t believe Pinkie actually talked Discord into making those for her,” Shining Armor said, laughing. “He’s been remarkably helpful lately.” “He really has,” Twilight agreed. “I think that this time he has changed – in his own chaotic way. When Celestia first brought him to us and asked us to reform him, I thought she was crazy. How could you possibly reform the living embodiment of chaos? But I have to say she was right. If we had left him encased in stone, I wouldn’t be standing here right now.” “I just can’t believe you’re really back,” Shining Armor said. “We thought we had lost you forever. I missed you terribly, sister. Please don’t ever do that again.” “Hear, hear,” Spike said. The young dragon walked up to them and looked out the window. “You know, it’s awfully nice to see Luna raising the Moon again. I thought those days were over. Things have been kind of terrible lately.” Twilight picked up Spike and hugged him. “They’re not terrible anymore, my number one assistant! That is, as long as you’re willing to leave your fabulous life of luxury in the Crystal Empire and come back home with me. I know it will be hard for you to leave your legions of admirers, but…” “There is no place I’d rather be than with you,” Spike said. “Oh, don’t get me wrong – the Crystal Empire is nice and all. But it’s just not the same.” “I’m glad to hear that,” Twilight said. She turned to her brother. “Thanks for taking care of Spike while I was gone. I really appreciate it. I’m glad he had someone to watch over him who loved him.” “Oh, it wasn’t any trouble at all! We were glad to have him. Fortunately, he didn’t need to save the Crystal Empire a third time. Although if the Necromancer had made it to our gates, I’m sure Spike would have put him in his place.” “You’d better believe it,” Spike muttered. Twilight laughed. It was good to be home. * * * * * Vinyl Scratch had just finished playing another song, to a chorus of cheers from the audience. The upper crust of Canterlot was a bit too stodgy to appreciate her music, but there were thousands of ponies in town who knew good music when they heard it – and they loved every minute of it. Pinkie Pie grabbed a microphone. “All right, everypony, who’s got a request? What would you like to hear next? We’ve got all night, folks!” When dozens of ponies raised their hooves, Pinkie scanned the crowd intently. “Hey – you over there. Blue pony in the crazy hat! Get over here.” “What?” Trixie asked, startled. “Are you talking about me?” “You better believe it! Get your hooves up here on stage!” Trixie looked puzzled. “But Trixie doesn’t dance.” “Oh sure you do! Everypony can dance. Now c’mon! Everypony, let’s hear it for the Great and Powerful Trixie, the hero of Equestria!” As the crowd cheered, Trixie walked up onto the stage and stood beside Pinkie. “All right. Now what?” “Now Trixie is going to do a magic trick for us,” Pinkie announced. “She is going to turn into me!” “What?” Trixie gasped. “But – why?” “Because the only thing better than one of me is two of me! C’mon – I know you can do it. Let’s give these ponies a great show!” Now that’s something I can do, Trixie thought. She used her magic to levitate her hat and cloak onto a nearby chair, and then lit her horn up. A moment later she transformed into Pinkie. The two looked exactly alike. The crowd gasped, and the real Pinkie smiled. “Ok, Pinkie-number-two, do you know the smile song?” “We’ve sang it three times tonight,” Trixie pointed out. “Then let’s make it four. Hit it, Vinyl!” * * * * * Applejack, Rarity, and Rainbow Dash were sitting at a table. They watched with great amusement as Trixie did her best imitation of Pinkie Pie. “You know, she’s pretty good,” Rainbow Dash commented. “She’s really not a bad Pinkie.” Rarity spoke up. “Well, Trixie is a professional entertainer, you know! She knows what she’s doing.” “Speaking of entertaining ponies, how is Sweetie Belle doing these days?” Applejack asked. “Oh, she’s fine! In fact, I think she and her little crusader friends are around here somewhere. She can be a bit difficult to keep track of sometime.” “Tell me about it! Apple Bloom is supposed to be here too, but I haven’t seen her for more than an hour. There’s no tellin’ what kind of trouble she’s gettin’ herself into.” Rarity smiled. “Things finally are back to normal, aren’t they? In the morning we’ll all take the train back to Ponyville and then resume our normal lives. I’ll go back to dressmaking, you’ll go whack some apple trees, and Rainbow Dash will spend her time taking naps.” “Just like old times,” Applejack said, grinning. Rainbow Dash pretended to be offended. “Hey now – I do way more than just nap! Who do you think is responsible for all that great weather you get? I’ll have you know that us weather pegasi don’t get nearly the recognition we deserve.” Applejack grinned. “And you tell us about it every single day – that is, when you’re not busy tellin’ us how awesome you are.” Rainbow Dash blushed. “Aw, c’mon. I’m not that bad.” Rarity tried to hide a smile. “Of course not. We’re just having some innocent fun at your expense.” “I sure could use some fun,” Rainbow remarked. “This past month has been awful. That blasted Necromancer ruined everything.” Applejack shook her head. “Actually, Rainbow, he didn’t. Now, I agree we’ve been facin’ some terrible villains lately, but the Necromancer was really small potatoes. We beat him every time we fought him, and Trixie blasted him apart the first time she met him. He really wasn’t much of a threat.” “Not much of a threat!” Rainbow exclaimed. “He nearly killed us all!” “Nope. You’ve got it all backwards. Remember, the Necromancer was trapped in his world. There was nothing he could do to get back to Equestria – that is, until Celestia went dark and poisoned us all. She’s the one who broke the harmony and allowed him in. Then once he was here, Celestia did everything in her power to persecute Trixie – the one pony who could actually defeat him. Celestia was so determined to not help Trixie that she nearly got Luna killed. Celestia caused this entire problem! She’s been the real villain of this whole mess. None of this would have happened if it hadn’t been for her.” “I guess you’re right,” Rainbow Dash said slowly. “But at least Celestia did change at the end. She really did try to help.” “Which brings us to the second villain,” Applejack said. “I really hate to say this, but–” “I know,” Rainbow interrupted. Tears began to form in her eyes. “It was me, wasn’t it? I knew all along that Trixie wasn’t really responsible for Twilight’s death, but I refused to forgive her. I was horrible to her. Then when the time came, we tried to activate the Tree of Harmony – and because of me it didn’t work. That meant Trixie had to defeat the Necromancer alone, even though it killed her. I did all of that. She would never have died if it hadn’t been for me.” “It’s all right, dear,” Rarity said, putting a hoof around her friend. “That’s all behind us now. Everypony has forgiven you, and everything is as it should be. There’s no need to dwell on the past.” “I’ll make it up to Trixie if it takes me the rest of my life,” Rainbow said firmly. Her eyes lit up. “Hey – maybe I can teach her to fly!” “She doesn’t have any wings,” Applejack pointed out. “That’s gonna make flying a mite difficult.” “Couldn’t she just turn into me? After all, she turned into Twilight, and Twilight had wings!” Applejack shook her head. “I asked her about that. She said that when she transforms like that, the wings are just a magical construct – an illusion. They ain’t actually real and don’t actually work. Trixie can’t fly any more than I can.” “Well, that’s a real bummer. I’ll have to think of something else.” Rarity pointed a hoof at the stage. “Do you see Trixie up there?” Rainbow looked at the two Pinkies, who were dancing and singing their hearts out. “Yeah. So?” “Does Trixie look sad to you?” “Not really.” “Then I really wouldn’t worry about it. I think she’s perfectly fine. All you need to do is be your normal, friendly self – only maybe 20% less arrogant. Oh – and try not to sell Trixie into slavery in exchange for a book. I don’t think she’d appreciate that at all.” Rainbow Dash facehoofed. “C’mon, guys. That was one time! Why does everypony think I’m going to do that again?” “Because it’s downright hilarious,” Applejack laughed. * * * * * From the back of the ballroom, Celestia and Luna watched over the festivities. Everyone was happy. The crowd was having a great time, the Elements were smiling again, and there was peace. The dark cloud that had hung over the land was finally gone – not just from the sky, but from the hearts as well. Luna spoke up. “I think Trixie proved herself rather well, don’t you? She’s certainly not the pony she used to be.” “She did far better than I did,” Celestia replied. She sighed. “Oh, Luna. What’s wrong with me?” “So you made one mistake in a thousand years. Everyone has their off days.” “Not monarchs. When I have an ‘off day’, as you call it, ponies die and the land is destroyed. And it is not simply one mistake, either. I haven’t forgotten the role I played in your downfall. I did not treat you as you deserved, nor did I take any steps to save you when you started to fall.” “That was a long, long time ago. I don’t think you would make the same mistake again.” Celestia shook her head. “No. This time I made a much worse mistake – one that nearly killed you. When I finally realized what I had done, it was too late. I could not save Equestria – just as I could not stop Discord, or Queen Chrysalis, or Tirek. I used to be better than this, Luna. Do you remember the old days?” “Perhaps what you need is a vacation,” Luna said thoughtfully. “A nice, long vacation. You’ve been at work for far too long. I think Twilight and Trixie are quite capable of ruling over Equestria in our absence, don’t you?” Celestia looked at her sister in surprise. “But Trixie isn’t a princess! She’s just a unicorn.” “That didn’t stop her from saving Equestria. Besides, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time. She’s quite intelligent.” “But who would raise the sun and moon while we were gone?” “Twilight’s done it before,” Luna pointed out. “When she had all the alicorn magic in Equestria.” “Come now! I’m sure we can teach her how it is done. We’re not going to live forever, you know; one day that task will have to be passed on, and Twilight is quite smart. If she can come back from the dead then I am sure she can raise the sun.” “Those tasks are not at all the same,” Celestia pointed out. “They require completely different skill sets.” “Details, details,” Luna scoffed. “Trust your former student. I bet you can have her handling it by the end of the week. Then you and I can go on a nice, long, relaxing trip – just the two of us. Two sisters, side by side, having the time of their lives.” Celestia looked back over the crowd. Pinkie and Trixie had stepped down from the stage and joined Twilight and the rest of their friends at a table. They were talking to each other, laughing, and having the time of their lives. “I suppose a vacation wouldn’t hurt,” Celestia said slowly. “But are you sure Twilight and Trixie can handle it?” “Of course! After all, they’ve got their friends. They will be fine.” Luna proved to be right. In the years to come the seven Elements became the best of friends and had many adventures together. The day finally did come when Celestia and Luna retired and appointed Twilight and Trixie as the new rulers of Equestria. Along with their friends, the two of them ushered in a new age of peace that spanned the very stars themselves – but that is another story.