//------------------------------//
// The Beginning 
// Story: The Twin Students of the Sun. 
// by Whiteeyes 
//------------------------------//

Sunset awoke, groggy. "Ugh, is everypony alive? My head feels like it weighs a ton." She was just starting to get up and look around, trying to piece together what happened.

"I'm alive. My chest feels heavy though." Masquerade called out. "My eyes are working too, was kind of worried with all that magic flying about they'd malfunction."

"My head also feels weird, but I'm fine." Twilight said, standing up unsteadily and placing hoof to head...and feeling something there. Turning to face her fellow student, her suspicions seemed confirmed. "Um, Shimmer, why does it seem that we have crowns on our foreheads?"

"What?" Reaching atop her own head, Sunset pulled the offending crown off. It was a beautiful golden color, and set at the apex was a large violet gem in the shape of her cutie mark. "It's, it's my Element! Friendship!" Looking over she saw that Twilight's crown was very similar to her own, but with two big differences. Twilight's gem was a red representation of her own cutie mark, and her crown was silvery in color. "Twilight is-is your crown made if star metal?"

"I-I guess so. Is it just me, or does yours look like oricalcum?" Twilight asked, removing her own crown to quickly check. "So, this is what an element looks like when it's bonded with a user."

"Then how come ah ain't got a fancy crown? Not that ah'd ever get rid of my hat mind, but where's the rest of our Elements?" Applejack asked, looking around worried about the location of the ancient artifacts.

"Um, check your left foreleg." Sweetie suggested. "It's, um, got the match to mine." She lifted up her front right leg, showing off a golden bangle set with a deep green gem shaped like one of the candies that adorned her flank.

Looking at her left leg, AJ found a silvery band set with an orange apple jewel. "Well that's all right then, but how come we got fancy leg jewelry and you guys got crowns?"

"Probably the same reason me and Mask got these sweet torcs!" Rainbow called out, showing off her golden necklace set with a purple lightning bolt.

Masquerade, whose jewelry was a silver version set with a blue domino mask, nodded. "Makes sense. On pegasi it's near the wings, earth the hooves, and unicorns the horn. Basically, where we're at our most magical."

"That makes sense, I guess. But why do they look like our cutie marks? And why are they silver and gold? How do we get Celestia back now that Nightmare Moon is beaten?" Sunset asked. "There's a lot of questions that we need answered."

"I believe that I can answer many of those." came a calm, regal voice. The sun rose, and a brilliant ball of light descended from it, resolving into a regal white Alicorn. "But first let me just say I am quite proud of you all."

"Princess Celestia?" her subjects shouted in near unison, all but Sunset imediatly bowing before her.

She was too relieved to even think about bowing. "Oh thank goodness you're back! I was afraid we'd have to rediscover how the ancient unicorns rose the sun!"

Twilight was the next in line with questions. "You aren't hurt are you your majesty? How did you escape wherever Nightmare Moon had imprisoned you?"

Smiling radiantly, Celestia spoke. "I am fine, thank you for your concern. As to my prison, your defeat of Nightmare Moon freed me, shattering her cage of dark magic. I believe that answers "how to get me back", "how I escaped", and "am I alright". We seem to be on a roll here. As for the Elements...that is a longer discussion. Right now, there is somepony I need to talk to." Walking over, Celestia approached a figure that none of the others had noticed. A small blue Alicorn that seemed to have been doing her best to not attract attention. "Hello sister."

That shocked the assembled ponies. "Sister!?"

"Nightmare Moon is your sister?" Sunset was clearly having problems processing this.

Masquerade also seemed quite shocked. "What a twist."

"Nay." Celestia said, shaking her head. "Nightmare Moon is not my sister, but the entity of dark magic that possessed her, using her jealousy and resentment to take control of her." Kneeling down, Celestia smiled as warmly as she could. "It's been a thousand years. I'd love to have you back if you're willing to forgive me. What do you say Luna?"

The smaller Alicorn instantly threw herself into a hug with her sibling. "I missed you so much! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" And then Luna was crying.

"Why don't we all head on back to town? We can discuss this back there just as well, and it'll give...uh...Luna here time to calm down." Applejack suggested, not sure how to deal with a crying mare that only minutes ago was their mortal enemy.

Sweetie nodded before trotting over to Luna's side. "I think that's a good idea. Luna, are you up for the walk? You look a little unsteady."

"We-I...I can walk. It's been a long time since I was in command of my legs, but I believe I can still use them just fine." Luna noted, slowly rising to her feet. Her legs wobbled a little, but otherwise she was fine. "Mostly we...I am feeling a bit drained in power. I-Tia, my mana reserves! They feel, strange!"

Wasting no time Celestia and Sunset immediately threw detection spells at Luna. "I'm not sensing anything wrong, except I think her mana reserves are empty...or close enough. You got anything Celestia?...Princess?"

"Her...her taint." Celestia stammered in amazement. "It's, it's gone!"

"What?" Throwing out her own spell, Twilight scanned Luna as well. "That's, if what you're saying is true that's...wait, what about Shimmer? Is her taint gone?"

Seeing Celestia's shocked expression, Sunset blushed and shuffled her hooves a bit. "It uh, it came up during the adventure, my whole ex-warlock deal."

"I see." Celestia said, nodding sagely. Her horn glowed for a bit, before she shook her head sadly. "It did clear a chunk of it out of your system, I'd need instruments to figure out how much, but you are more tainted than pure still."

"Hold on, that's not fair! How come the Elements purified Luna here, but not Sunset?" Dash demanded, flying in the princess's face.

"I do not know. Perhaps because she was not the target? In all honesty, I did not know the Elements could purge the taint of dark magic." Celestia admitted. "In fact, purifying my sister was what I sought to do a millennium ago when I took up the Elements to face Nightmare Moon."

"I...think I know what went wrong a thousand years ago." Sunset admitted. "See, am I right in assuming you think my Element is Magic?" Seeing Celestia nod, Sunset shook her head. "I'm sorry, but it's not. It's real name is Friendship. And that's why you can't wield them properly alone."

"That would explain why they seemed weaker that night than when Luna and I wielded them together." Seeing the looks of shock, Celestia smiled. "The star metal ones were her's."

"Loyalty, Honesty, and Laughter...became the depressed pony who specialized in illusions, manipulations, and treachery?" Masquerade noted, aghast. "Man, that Nightmare thing did a number on you."

"It...was not so simple." Luna admitted. "I was not even in my right mind before my possession."

"Wait a minute, if Sunset not being the target was the problem, maybe we should get them workin' and blast her?" Applejack suggested.

"We can't do that." Sunset and, surprisingly, Rainbow Dash said at the same time.

Noticing the stares, Dash shrugged. "Don't ask me how. I just know my Element's telling me we can't use it for personal gain. Somehow. There aren't like any words or anything, I just know it for a fact. Like how two plus two equals four."

Sunset nodded. "Mine's basically telling me that the power of the Elements is supposed to be a last resort kind of deal. We can't use them casually."

"What if we...ah shoot we can't lie about why we're using them." AJ moaned. "That makes sense I guess. Anypony else got any rules coming in?"

Twilight nodded. "They only work if we all agree on our target. No divided Loyalty or goals."

"We cannot use them on anything that isn't a threat to Harmony or the like. No shooting a random monster just because it wandered into town and started smashing stuff. It has to be genuine evil before these things will work." Masquerade explained.

Nodding, Sweetie added her own rule to the instruction manual. "We are also required to be in Harmony with each other. Even if we all agree on what has to be done, they won't work if we don't get along."

"Lame." Dash complained, legs crossed as a grumpy scowl crossed her face, her lower body hanging as she hovered there. "I get they're like super powerful. But with all these rules, it almost seems like you really can't use them most of the time, so what's the point?"

"The point is so that we can use them when we actually need them." Mask replied with a gem roll. "Seriously, that's like complaining that the magic items from the Daring Doo books don't show up again after they're used to save the day."

Dash just looked more confused. "The what books?"

"Daring Doo." Twilight said, grinning. "I love that series. Action, adventure, ancient ruins, lost legends, magical artifacts! You should read them Dash, it's a very good series."

"Eh, no. I don't do reading. Reading is for eggheads." Dash rebutted.

Seeing the look on Twilight's face, Sunset sighed. "Oh boy, here we go."

*****************

"-and that is my two hundredth reason why reading is awesome." Twilight declared. "Hah! Two hundred reasons why reading is awesome! Game set and match Rainbow Dash!"

Dash looked shocked beyond all reason. "When I asked for two hundred reasons, I didn't think she'd actually do it."

"I tried to warn you you poor, poor fool." Sunset said, shaking her head. "Anyway, we're back in Ponyville so we can all calm down and...Pinkie is right behind me isn't she?"

Pinkie giggled. "Aww, you guessed! Anyway...hit it!" Suddenly confettie was flying everywhere and ponies raced into the streets, celebrating. "Happy "Just Saved The World" party! Oh hey, who's this?"

Smiling, Celestia nodded at the smaller Alicorn that was trying to hide behind her. "This is my younger sister."

"Ah." Pinkie said, nodding. "Well Luna, nice to meet you now that you aren't Black Snooty anymore."

All the Element Bearers and the Alicorns stared at her.

Pinkie on the other hand looked confused. "What? I thought it was obvious? Anyway, to Sugercube Corner for the party proper!"

*****************

"-and that's how we got the Elements." Sunset finished. "So, now that everypony is up to speed, do you have any ideas as to how they came to look like our cutie marks?"

Celestia nodded. "I believe so. Before the Elements appeared as regular gemstones. However, having bonded on an individual level they have taken on a form more appropriate for the one who bears it. It is a symbol of how close your bond is."

"So, are we the only ones that can use them now?" Twilight asks. "What if I get seriously injured? Can we get somepony else to wield my Element? What if I'm not worthy anymore? Oh my gosh, what if I die? If this things bonded to me forever and I die of old age if nothing else then someday Equestria might be doomed because they needed me and I died on them! Quick, is there any way to make me immortal?"

"Twilight, calm down. Those are some excellent questions, and I admit I do not know the answers, but at this point there is no reason to panic." Celestia said, beaming. "I'm sure everything will be fine."

"Plus," Sunset added in, "you do NOT want immortality. Trust me, the price you pay for that sort of stuff repulsed me, and that was back when I had aspirations to become Empress of a Dark Empire." She shuddered a bit at the memory. "Still, leaving that aside, Twilight's right, we really need to look into this."

"Don't worry I intend to. Which brings me to another point." Celestia was clearly steeling her nerves for this. "I'm going to need the Elements to study them back in Canterlot. Since you four have lives here, it would be unfair of me to ask you to come with me in order to study the Elements. As such, I'm going to have to ask you to trust me with your Elements." Raising a hoof to forestall the obvious complaint, she added "For now at least, until I've learned all that I can. I promise to keep them safe, and should the need arise they will of course be returned to you."

"Okay, here you go." Rainbow said, hoofing it over like it wasn't one of the most powerful artifacts on the planet, but instead was a spare rice cracker. "Let us know if you find out anything awesome."

The others, however, seemed a bit more hesitant. "Ah don't know bout you girls, but it feels like givin' up a part of me." AJ noted. Sighing, she took off her Elemental Bangle and passed it over. "Still, ah honestly agree it's fer the best."

"It is the right thing to do." Sweetie agreed, removing her own Element and adding it to the pile.

"Hold on just one second." Masquerade said. She then proceeded to grab some random pony's camera. "Need this for a quick pick pay you for the photo." She then took a picture of herself smiling while wearing her Element, before removing her necklace and giving it to Celestia. "Just want a photo reference so we don't get them mixed up." she joked, unable to keep a straight face.

Celestia nodded. "Thank you all for trusting me. I will do my best to safeguard the Elements, and I will share with you all whatever my students and I discover about them in our studies."

"Yeah, about that." Sunset interjected, before adding her crown to the pile. "I...I don't think I'm going back to Canterlot with you." Everypony stared at her in shock. "Don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for all you've taught me but...I think I'd be happier if I stayed here. I mean, for the first time in my life I have real friends. And I-I really, really want to keep them, more than I want to stay your student. I'm, sorry I'm blowing that second chance you gave me by not staying your student, but this is what I want to do."

They all sat in silence for a while, before Celestia broke the tension by smiling. "I think I have an even better solution. Sunset Shimmer, it has come to my attention that I was wrong about the nature of your Element. It seems that for too long we have been ignorant of the magical power of Friendship. As such, I would be happy to have you stay on as my student...while you live and study here in Ponyville with your friends. I would also assign you to study friendship, and send me regular reports as an official Royal Research Project...also by Royal Decree friendship is now a legitimate field of magical study. So, Sunset, what do you say?"

"Guah...Gah...heevle...FDA...huh...yes...I...yes!" Sunset shouted after her brain managed to finish processing the bombshell Celestia had just hit her with. "Yes! You know I never wanted to stop being your student right? I just didn't think I could do both! Princess Celestia, thank you!"

"Wow, you actually used her title. You must be happy." Twilight noted. "You know, I'm going to miss you."

Sunset waved off the idea. "We're not that far from each other, we'll be able to visit all the time. Or at least write each other. Where's Spike? I need to remind him that he's responsible for your eating if I'm not there. And that you get enough sleep."

"You're exaggerating. I'm not that bad Shimmer." Twilight said, rolling her eyes.

"Two words Sparkle, "dry sandwiches"." Sunset noted, smirking.

"That doesn't count!" Twilight shouted. "I was also exposed to toxic fumes when I though those books were food! Those poor poor books...." she trailed off, a haunted look upon her face.

"You know Twilight, if you want to stay here with your friends as well I'm willing to extend the offer to you." Celestia noted.

"Uh, I uh, I don't know." Twilight admitted. "I hadn't thought about it. I mean, Shimmer it makes sense her Element is Friendship, but I mean I still want to study under you. Do you really think I'm ready to be on my own? I have so much to learn still. Is it really a good idea for me and Spike to be here in Ponyville? Would Spike even want to be here?"

"Whether or not you wish to stay here is your decision." Celestia nodded. "I honestly believe that you are reaching a point where you will grow more with independent study than with focused lessons. You have an amazing growth curve when you put your mind to it. I honestly believe you moving to Ponyville would not hurt anything. But yes, this would also be Spike's decision, so you should probably go speak with him on the matter. I saw him over by a large tray of cupcakes earlier."

"Oh no! He'll spoil his appetite!" Twilight got up in a panic, taking off her crown she placed it with the others. "Hold on to this, thank you, will think on thenoffer, got a dragon to catch!" With that Twilight galloped off in search of Spike.

Sweetie blinked a bit. "That...was odd. But I'm confused. Why would Twilight being here mean Spike had to move too?"

"Well, it's not like the Element of Loyalty is going to abandon her own son." Seeing the looks of shock thrown her way, Sunset facehoofed. "Right, you're not in the magical academic circles. Sparkle hatched Spike, so he's technically her adopted son." Looking around, Sunset realized something. "Hey, where is Luna?"

"She...retreated to the upstairs balcony. She is...not comfortable being around so many strangers." Celestia confessed. "I believe it is lingering guilt over what she did while possessed."

"Ah." Sunset said, standing up. "I know that feeling. I think I'll go talk to her, ex-warlock to ex-warlock. Sympathize and help her work through it like I did, or at least get started." Seeing Clestia's grateful, approving jod Sunset started to walk off, she turned around. "I think that concludes our important business, so I think we're free to party now. Be down in a bit."

****************

"-and that's how I defeated Nightmare Moons magical trap!" Dash finished, smiling as her young audiance, foals from around the town, listened in rapt attention to her story. She had been toning down the story so that it was a bit more kid friendly, such as leaving the torture illusion and Sunset being an ex-warlock out. "So then, we get to the bridge we need to cross right? Only the bridge is broken."

"So then you flew them across? Zoom!" Scootaloo, a young purple maned orange feathered pegasus and self proclaimed president of the Rainbow Dash fanclub, shouted, miming flying with her fore hooves.

"Eeh, not quite. See, Mask spotted that there was a magical trap on the other side, ready to catch us if we tried that. But Twilight managed to beat the magical trap, and with her and Sunset's magic they managed to fix the bridge. Now comes the cool part where we get to fight Nightmare Moon."

*****************

"So yeah, I helped save Equestria and the whole world from eternal night." Masquerade said, chatting with her friends. "And I thought the hardest thing I'd have to do today is decide on decorations."

"Dude, you know that has to be the cover of my next album right?" Vinyl Scratch, a white unicorn mare with a wild neon blue mane, noted. "Heck, I'll even pay you guys for your likeness. Like, ten percent of sales profits each."

"Vinyl." her earth pony marefriend, Octavia, complained. "You hardly make any money on those "el pees" of yourse, don't make it even less. Though how you make any mony off of you wubtrot, ahem, "music" is still beyond me."

"Oh come on guys, can't you give the "classical versus modern" thing a break for one day?" Masquerade asked, exasperated. "Seriously, given how often you two fight, I'm surprised you're still together." She'd only know the two for the last two months, ever sense they moved to Ponyville to, apparently, get away from their parents, and for the life of her she couldn't figure out how they ever stayed together. And didn't murder each other.

"Oh, we agree on a lot of things. It's just that we each play the music the other hates. Other than that, we get along fine." Vinyl assured her. "Spraking of fine, guess who got two tickets so go see Fine Cut Beef next month in Canterlot?"

"The minotaur metal band?" Mask asked in confusion...she assumed because she couldn't hear her own voice over Octavia's scream of delight.

Seeing Masquerade's look of confusion, Vinyl smiled. "Guess you didn't know. Octy is a total metal head. However, if she wants the tickets she has to pitch in in cleaning up the house until the concert."

"Augh! Alright fine, I suppose FCB is worth cleaning. I still don't see the point in doing it every day, it's not like we're expecting company." Octavia muttered.  "Neat freak."

"Hey, I have genuine health concerns if something gets moldy. Unicorns aren't as resistant as earth ponies you know." Vinyl shot back.

"I'll just let you two work this out." Masquerade said, exiting the radius of the lover's spat as quickly as she could.

"Well at least I'm not gone most nights, leaving my marefriend lonely!"

"Yeah, but who's gone weeks at a time playing fancy stuff in distant cities on her violin?"

"It's a cello!"

****************

Celestia walked into the kitchen. "So, I don't believe I've gotten your name here. Pinkie was it?"

"Call me Pinkie Pie, or just Pinkie since that's what my friends call me. And we are friends Celestia, whatever others may think." Pinkie noted as she stirred a bowl of cake batter, pulled cookies out of the oven, mixed punch, and rolled out some dough. "So, I'm a bit busy at the moment. What can I do for you?"

"I wanted to see how you were doing, it's been a while." Celestia said, feeling rather awkward. "You, um, seem to be doing well."

"Yep. I'm an apprentice baker, and professional party planner. Well the second one I'm not a apprentice on, but you get what I'm saying. So, what aren't you saying?" Pinkie asked.

Celestia sighed. "I just want to know. Why didn't you help the others stop Nightmare Moon? I personally think you would have made an excellent Bearer of Laughter."

"You know why." Pinkie said, her serious voice in total contrast to the propeller beanie and goofy glasses she wore. "I said no to that plan before, and I'll say it again. I want nothing to do with the Elements."

Celestia shuffled her hooves nervously. Things got quiet as a long awkward silence descended. "You, uh, haven't visited your father in a while I noticed. A long while."

"I'm busy right now. Maybe in a few years." Pinkie replied, her gag gear gone, before sighing. "Look, I know he's family. But what he did? That's hard to get over. Did you want anything else?"

Celestia though for a good long while. "So...is there anything you would like to have Pinkie?"

The party pony stopped, and tapped her chin in thought. "Weeeeeeeeeelllllll....."

****************

"And don't you ever go running off into the Everfree again!" an orange earth pony with a bright green mane, her cutie mark was a trio of tangerines, scolded Applejack.

"Yes Ma." AJ said, resisting the urge to roll her eyes.

"Now Clementine." Granny Smith admonished. "You can't go scoldn' the mare that just saved the whole dag blasted world from Frightmare Spoon!"

"Don't cha mean Nightmare Moon granny?" Applebloom asked.

"Ain't that what I jus said?" the multi centerian asked.

"I know I should be proud of you but, I mean I am. It's just that, ever sense your father passed away, I don't think I could handle losing any more of my family." Clementine admitted. "I guess I'm, how would your father have put it, I'm as nervous as a bobcat in a room full of lawn chairs."

"Long tail cat in a room full of rockin' chairs Ma." AJ corrected. Her mother never could get the country sayings right. "And I know what ya mean. I miss him too."

*****************

"Sooo...how are you feeling?" Sunset asked as she sat down next to Luna. "Because in my experience, moping alone by yourself doesn't help you feel any better."

Luna looked over, clearly agitated. "We I am okay. I am still getting used to being in control again. Right now a party celebrating our...Nightmare Moon's defeat is a bit much for us."

Sunset sighed. "Yeah, this is the worst part, the crash. So I'm going to tell you two things to make you feel better. First, once you became possessed everything after that was not your fault. You had no control over your actions, so you don't have any share of the blame."

Luna sighed. "Intelectually we know this is true, but we, I still feel guilty."

Sunset nodded. "And addressing that guilt is point number two. It's okay you're still jealous of Celestia." Seeing Luna's shocked face, Sunset snorted. "It wasn't that hard to figure out. Heck, I'm still jealous of her and I don't have that whole sibling rivalry deal going on."

"You...you are jealous of our sister?" Luna truly seemed baffled by this.

"She's an immortal super mage that is beautiful by every tribes standards, rules an entire nation, is adored by millions, and everything she does seems so natural and easy. Of course I'm jealous of her. Just about anypony that has to put up with her on a personal level all the time would be." Sunset explained. "Jealousy is perfectly natural, it's how we respond to it that matters. For example, now I use it as a motivation to improve myself so I have less reason to be jealous."

"I see. It is just so hard at times." Luna admitted. "She always seems so calm and in control, no matter what is occurring."

"I know! And when she does make a mistake, everypony around her falls over each other in rushing to take the blame for her!" Sunset replied. "Like she's so perfect that anything that goes wrong with any of her plans it has to be somepony else's fault."

"Does she still do that thing? Luna asked. "You know, pull the perfect solution out of her plot and make it seem like it was her plan all along?"

"All the time. Tartarus, she did it less than five minutes ago! Created an entire new field of study so I could remain her student and stay here with my friends. And she said it like she had been planning it all along." Sunset started laughing at this point.

"And the worst part is, despite how insufferable she is at times, you know she's doing it all out of love." Luna finished, sighing. "Do you know reason she didn't get the Elments herself, or recruit ponies to wield them for her? She apparently had such a plan once, but it fell through. Then, she thought about it more and, believing the Elments would only seal me away again, abandoned the plan and tried to talk me down when I reappeared instead. She didn't even defend herself when Nightmare Moon attacked her."

"Huh." Sunset said,a thoughtful look crossing her face. "I guess that makes more sense than this being some desperate gambit to manipulate me and Twilight into assembling a team of ponies to wield the Elements for her."

Luna adopted a sly smile as she coyly asked "Oh, has Tia learned the art of subtlty over the last thousand years? Truly it is an age of wonders."

Sunset facehoofed. "Right, Celestia is about as subtle as the sun. She can be a bit tricky at times, but nowhere near this level."

Awkward silence hung there, as neither seemed to know what to do. Finally Luna asked "So, in this modern era, what do ponies do for entertainment? I imagine I will have much leisure time in between my studies to understand what has transpired in the last thousand years."

"Well some of the stuff is generally the same. Plays, concerts, reading. Though the quality has gone up in my opinion, and variety has vastly increased as they became both easier to produce and more readily available to the common masses." Sunset explained. "We also have newer versions of the stuff. Comic books which combine art with writen story, but those are mostly for foals. I know there's some stuff writen for older audiances, but I'm talking in general. There's also movies, um, think of them as being like enchanted pictures that perform plays. It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the basic idea. There's also modern music styles that didn't exist back then. Rock and roll, heavy metal, hard rock, symphonic metal, um, pop, uh, geeze uh there is a lot. The newest one i know of is something called wubtrot, I personally don't care for it but it's what they're blasting at nightclubs these days."

"Night...clubs?" Luna asked, clearly confused.

Sunset suddenly broke out into a huge grin. "Oh, oh yeah. Nightclubs. Princess Luna, you are going to love this."

****************

Masquerade had ducked out for a few minutes. It seemed like everypony and their uncle wanted to shake hooves with one of Equestria's saviors. As such she was quite surprised that not only was she not alone out here, but it sounded like somepony was faintly playing classical music, nearly drowned out by the more festive party music going on within. Rounding the corner, she was rather surprised to see who it was. "Vinyl? What are you doing out here? And why are you listening to classical, I thought you hated classical?" she asked, shocked to see the unicorn just sitting there with a miniature record player.

"Oh, hey Mask. Yeah, me and Octy decided to cool our hocks a bit, step away and calm down. And duh I hate classical music, it's the most rigid and over praised variety of music on the planet. Just because it's old doesn't make it impressive. Give any air headed pop song a couple hundred years to be just as old, and it'll technically be classical as well." Vinyl explained. "So no, I'm not listening to classical music. I'm listening to Octy play classical music. There's a difference." Leaning back, the unicorn got a far away look in her crimson eyes. "You know, Octavia is a total slob. She's unfocused, forgets things like chores, groceries, or that the sofa is on fire, long story. She's easily distracted and seems to have no goals in life. Except when she's playing her cello. When it comes to her music, she isn't just an artist. She is THE artist. She's like, perfectly focused on giving a perfect performance that is done perfectly perfect to perfection. Then she goes back to being distracted by making funny voices into an electric fan. So yeah, I hate classical music. Cause sometimes I think she loves it more than me...and if you tell anypony how sentimental I'm being I will demolish your house with my wubs."

"Gotcha, I'll just leave you alone." Masquerade said, walking to the other side of Sugercube Corner...only to find Octavia sitting there with her own miniature record player, the disk she was about to insert being DJ PON-3's latest work, I Rode a Kraken, What Did You Do Today?, as evidenced by the photograph of Vinyl riding an actual kraken that served as the sleeve art. "Uhhhh..."

"Tell anypony and they'll never find your body." Octavia said in a cheerful, singsong voice.

"Tell anypony what? I was just heading back inside." Masquerade wondered if running into these sort of "comedy of errors" type deals came with being the pony who bonded with the Element of Laughter. Because if so, she could see how that might start grating on Luna after awhile.

*****************

"So after talking it over some more with Spike and Princess Celestia, I've decided that I'll be moving to Ponyville as well." Twilight announced, much to the delight of four of her friends. The other seemed quite distracted. "Sweetie, what's wrong?"

"Oh? Sorry dear. I'm glad you're staying with us, really, it's just," she sighed "well, my marefriend was supposed to be arriving by train today, but with all the Nightmare Moon business I don't know if she'll even be arriving at all today, or even tomorrow possibly." Sweetie shook her head. "I have to idea how the trains are running after all this mess."

"It turns out, they are running spectacularly!" a very cheerful voice boomed.

Turning to the doorway, the Canterlot natives were stunned. "Lyra? What are you doing here?" Twilight asked. Indeed it was Lyra Heartstrings, the mint green unicorn that Shimmer had once dubbed her "conspiracy buddy".

Lyra subtly adjusted her bright red cape so it flowed more dramatically off her shoulders. "I, the Brilliant and Cunning Lyra, am here for one reason alone! And that is that now that I have graduated, I can be with my chocolate strudel!" she calmly (for her) explained.

"Oh caramel cake, I was so worried about you!" Sweetie Drops shouted, dashing across the room to nuzzle her marefriend.

Lyra rolled her eyes. "You were worried?! I just found out my hony pudding is now a heroine in her own great saga! You went into the dread Everfree Forest, land of terror, and survived! Not only that, but you faced down a wicked power mad Alicorn, the dread Nightmare Moooooon! If anypony should be worried, it should be I!"

"Huh, she must be upset, she's quieter than normal." Sunset noted, then saw the stares the locals were giving her. "What?"

"I think they're waiting for you to do the thing." Pinkie deduced, popping up from under the table.

"Gah!" Sunset said, falling backwards. She knew Pinkie's small size, she looked like she had Shetish ancestry, would help her fit into small places, but that hardly explained how she constantly managed to surprise everypony. "Do what thing Pinkie?"

"Uh uh uh, that's Doctor Pie, PhD in Party-ology. It says so on this piece of paper." Pinkie explained, pulling it out of her mane and unrolling it.

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Pinkie, just because you wrote it on a random piece of paper doesn't make it tru-tru-ttraaand that's a diploma from Celestia's Scool for the Gifted. In your name. With her signature and seal. Proclaiming you a doctor. Of party-ology...where and when did you get this?"

"Like half an hour ago from Celestia. See, I managed to convince her that, if there is such a thing as Friendship magic, than party-mancy has to be real too, there are way too many stories for us not to be. Plus I did a little demonstration to convince her. This is basically an almost purely political move. It both legitimizes and lends royal support to the art of party-mancy while simultaneously acknowledging the upper echelon of the art's skill as a measurable example. Finally, since I'm the only non-nomadic party pony I know of, I'm really the only valid long term study subject. The title of doctor therefore insures me respect and parallelism with anypony that seeks to use me as a subject of study, while insuring that my inputs and invites will not be ignored." Pinkie explained, having donned a lancoat and glasses sometime during the conversation without anypony noticing.

"Uhhhh..don't ya mean insights?" AJ asked, barely able to follow along.

"Duh, no. I mean invites, because I'd totally throw a "Doctor Party" and this way they'd pay attention and come." Pinkie explained rolling her eyes. "Hence, Doctor Pie. Because politics. And because I want to totally stick it to my dad. Whose "small time" now Dad? I'm a bucking doctor, and all you ever got was an associates degree! In literature!" Seeing the other ponies shocked faces, she cleared her throat. "Sorry, slight family issues."

"Right, but that doesn't answer my question. What are they waiting for me to do Pink...Dr. Pie?" Sunset grumbled. Even if it was apparently political and honorary as can be, it was still a valid PhD.

"Remember when you told Twilight that if Nightmare Moon was real, you'd drink that whole bottle of hot sauce? You haven't done that yet." Dr. Pie explained.

Sunset just stared at the party pony, then turned back to her friends who all had various grins on their faces. "Ahh, well, uh...I guess I did say that. And she was real, and I was being smug about in Sparkle's face all day about it. Aww, what the heck, that manticore pepper stuff wasn't that bad." she decided.

"Oh, uh, that's not quite right. See, the stuff you had earlier, the Ghost Manticore, was store brand. You said you'd drink some of my hot sauce, as in the stuf I blend myself. Soooo here you go!" Dr. Pie announced, sounding a bit too cheerful about the whole thing.

Sunset took the bottle, which somehow felt hot in her hooves, and read the label. "Tartarus Dragon Slayer, and the extra spicy version apparently. And oh look, it actually has a picture of a flaming pepper spearing through a three headed Tartarus dragon."

Dr. Pie shrugged. "You made the bet, and you just said against that you'd do it."

Sighing in defeat, Sunset uncorked the bottle. "Aww whatever. I pull in energy from the sun itself. I'm sure I can handle some hot sauce."

****************

"I'm sorry I'm still a little confused." Dr. Stable noted, reading over the chart. "Specifically, about how drinking hot sauce you created wound up with our patient covered in first degree burns over forty percent of her body."

"I may have gone a teeny tiny bit overboard with that batch." Dr. Pie admitted. "Still, I'm impressed she drank the whole bottle."

"So yeah, Shimmer, Spike, and I just need to pack up our things, which should only take a couple of days. Princess Celestia's already made arrangements for us to move into the library, apparently it's been abandoned for a while." Twilight explained to her assembled friends. "We should be moving in by next week. I must say Lyra, it's a nice surprise to see you down here as well."

"Thank you Twilight! It's great seeing you too! I look forward to discussing theories with you once more! Something I honestly thought I would miss when I returned to my town of birth to be with my true love!" Lyra admitted, slightly abashed.

'Everypony in this town is absolutely crazy!' Sunset thought, then broke out into a huge grin that shown through her bandages. 'We're going to fit right in then.' "Hey Nurse, could I get some of that tranquilizer I got when I was hospitalized here earlier? It really did wonders."

"That was mostly for stress." Nurse Redheart noted. "It really won't help with the pain. I can recommend the painkillers your friend Miss Sparkle used after a giant brass sun hit her though, they're pretty effective."

"That would be great, thanks."

***************

A cloaked figure trotted into the castle ruins. If this were some sort of cliché it old have been at night under a full moon, or during a storm, or coinciding with some other even one usually associated with such dark workings. Not a sunny day with birds singing and harly a cloud in the sky. Still, he was on a tight schedule, and it would be foolish to sit around waiting for a more "appropriate" time. And he was no fool.

Having reached his destination, he quickly started sifting through the remains of Nightmare Moons destroyed armor, until he finally found it. "The Eye of Terror." Indeed the pale blue cats eye gem that served as accent to Nightmare Moon's armor, and over the centuries had become a symbol of her in the minds of lesser ponies, lay there undamaged on the ground. A common fool would struggle with feelings of it glaring at them, having to tell themselves over and over again that they're not really being watched by some piece of jewelry. Unlike those fools, the cloaked figure wasn't struck with such disconcerting feelings. He knew full well the gem was alive, looking at him, and that it hated him. He didn't take it personally. The Eye of Terror hated everything.

"You failed in your plan, oh eye of all nightmares." Levetating out a specially prepaired box, a sickly lime green glow encircled the gem, which was quickly placed within, the box then sealed shut. "Now, you will serve in our plans. And so we are one step closer, to Oblivion!" In a flash of lime green fire, the figure vanished, leaving no trace that a warlock had ever been there.


The Beginning...