//------------------------------// // The First Step Of A New Life // Story: Darker Than Purple // by Arkybrony //------------------------------// The next day came. Ponyville was buzzing with rumors of mystery. Some, particularly the ones who were up late enough to know about it, were talking about the lack of stars the night before. More were talking about how the Moon looked like it did when Luna was banished there, since the Moon is visible longer than the stars, and the stars were replaced and went unnoticed by most. Some even talked about how they felt weird beams of magic hit them in the night. Some said they felt it in their dreams, some didn't. Those who didn't dream about it were also talking about the starlessness of the past night, since they had to be awake to not feel it in their dreams. But the overall number for the ponies who were talking about being hit by magic beams was low, since only a few ponies became contractors. Twilight Sparkle looked on from a window in her home. She overheard some of these conversations and could only wonder what was going on. She was, however, someone comforted by the fact that she wasn't the only one and that she wasn't going crazy. Spike walked in the room holding a letter received from Celestia overnight. "Twilight," he said, "you got a letter from Princess Celestia overnight. You will definitely want to read it. It's very important." She took the letter and read it. She was satisfied with having her questions answered, but she was more distraught. If she didn't take action, her way of life would entirely fall apart. "Spike," she said, "this is important. If anypony asks where I am, say I'm either taking a shower or sleeping in because I'm sick and that I can't be bothered at all. "So, you want me to lie?" "Well. Um.... Yes. But ONLY if somepony asks." "Ugh. Fine. What are you doing anyway?" "I can't tell you right now, but I'll tell you when it's safe." "Fine." Twilight went to her closet to figure out some way to quickly disguise herself completely, since, per Celestia's request in the letter, she didn't want to get caught as Twilight Sparkle and ruin everything for herself and for her friends. At first, she only found some dresses and her Starswirl The Bearded costume from Nightmare Night, but none of those would com close to sufficing. After some digging, she found the perfect disguise. The Mysterious Mare Do Well costume. It completely covered her, and the identity of the pony underneath couldn't easily be pinpointed by the government, since Mare Do Well was portrayed by multiple ponies, and was very popular, causing ponies to buy and make their own Mare Do Well costumes. Feeling nervous, anxious, and somewhat excited, she donned the costume for the first time in a while, knowing that the next thing she would be doing was legally treason. Once she had the costume completely on, she used a teleportation spell to get her right outside the tent where they were meeting. She stood there for a second, then boldly entered the tent. "General Buck Strongland of the Apple region?" General Swifthead said, at the end of taking roll call for his meeting. "Present." General Buck Strongland said. "Now that everyone is here, let us discuss the problem at hand. Princess Celestia. Clearly, she has banished Luna to the Moon again. Clearly, she wants to go back to the days when it was only her in the limelight, not her and her younger sister. Like it or not, that is treason. She's breaking her own law. It is our duty to punish her!" "Wait a second," Shining Armor said, "wouldn't she need the Elements of Harmony to do that? That's how she did it last time." "Are you supporting a traitor to Equestria?" Swifthead replied. "I am pledged solely to the service of Equestria," Shining Armor replied, "I would never support a traitor, even if it was Princess Celestia. I'm just saying that we need to look at all sides of this before we condemn her as a traitor." "I agree with you, Shining Armor," General Maple Silverhoof of the Vanhoover area said, "but General Nevermore of Baltimare and I have come up with some possible solutions for that." "Go on." "Well, you see," General Nevermore said, "we have determined that Princess Celestia most likely stole the Elements from the residences of the ponies that bear them using a teleportation spell." "Those ponies don't just represent them," Shining Armor said, "they ARE them, manifested in pony form." "We considered that as well," General Nevermore replied, "however, we have determined that the Elements are most likely manifested in gem form as well. We know that she did not steal the ponies that bear the Elements since one of our detectives discovered a letter from Twilight Sparkle asking Celestia about the disappearance of the stars, implying that she was still in Ponyville, since she sent a letter and was not involved herself. So Twilight Sparkle and her friends are clear, but we know that Luna is in the moon. Only Celestia has the ability to use the Elements of Harmony that way. The very facts that Luna is in the moon again and that Twilight Sparkle sent a letter prove that either Celestia stole the Elements of Harmony, or has gained enough magical ability to do it on her own." "I hate to say it," Shining Armor replied, "I really do. But that actually makes sense in magical terms. But we still don't know why. I know Celestia, and that does not seem like something she would do." "It doesn't matter," Swifthead said, "we have evidence." Shining Armor sighed. "Now," Swifthead said, "I have already hired some local kids as paper-colts to get our message of Celestia's tyranny out, so when everypony reads this, we'll have support. It's the perfect plan. We have support, she's weak since her magic is drained from creating the stars, and we have evidence." "General Swifthead," Shining Armor responded, "we're all discussing a plan to take down the Princess right now, who isn't entirely proved to be a traitor. If we go through with this, isn't that treason?" "Without proof, it's also mutiny," Swifthead replied, "but since Celestia is a traitor, legally, we're just muckrakers." Suddenly, the entire tent began to glow purple. "General Nevermore!" Swifthead said, directed at Baltimare's general, who happened to be a dark purple unicorn, "what are you doing here?" "My horn's not glowing," Nevermore replied, "this isn't me." "Well who is it!?" The tent was raised from the ground and cast into the Hell's Gate are of the Everfree Forest, leaving the ponies inside of it still on the ground around a table. "What is going on here!?" General Strongland said. General Swifthead looked and saw who was causing this, the mysterious Mare Do Well. "Somepony's dressed as Mare Do Well!" he said, "Probably one of Celestia's lackeys! Mare Do Well got very popular here in Ponyville not too long ago, so it'll be impossible to pinpoint who it is." "Well, she looks female." General Nevermore said. "And that's all we kno-" General Swifthead was cut off as he was picked up magically by Mare Do Well and brought towards her. In a voice that sounded like a disguise, Mare Do Well said "What are you planning!?" "We're discussing plans to secure Hell's Gate!" Swifthead replied, obviously lying. "WHAT ELSE!?!?!?!?!" "I swear to Celestia, there's nothing else!" Mare Do Well magically threw General Swifthead high in the air. Twilight Sparkle thought she was in over her head. In the course of a day she had gone from a super safe job as the Princess of Friendship in service of Celestia to the dangerous job as half Princess, half vigilante, wearing a costume from a trick pulled on a friend a while back, now attacking military generals. Luckily for her, they still didn't know she was who she actually was, and they showed no signs of catching on. Her disguise, including the fake voice she put on, was working. Her attack was getting intense. Using her magic, she pulled a general towards her. "What are you planning!?" she said in a fake voice. She never thought that anything in her life would come to this, and usually wouldn't agree to be this audacious, but for her beloved mentor Celestia, it was worth it. "We're discussing plans to secure Hell's Gate!" the general replied. She knew it was a lie. She had been listening in. "WHAT ELSE!?!?!?!?!?" she replied. "I swear to Celestia, there's nothing else!" Still knowing that he was continuing to lie, she had to think of something fast to get him to confess something. "Why would he swear to somepony who he thinks is a worthless traitor?" she thought. After thinking that, she came up with an idea based on something she read in a Mare Do Well fanfiction once. Fueled by adrenaline and adrenaline alone, she used her magic to throw him high in the air. As the wingless general flew in the air, screaming, the rest of the generals from the meeting, including Shining Armor, decided to attack Twilight Sparkle, AKA Mare Do Well. She had no choice but to knock them out, and the only way she knew how to do that quickly was by manipulating electricity, which could only be done by her contractor power. Knowing that dirt doesn't conduct electricity, she curled up on the ground, allowing them all to be on top of her, which is when she struck. Her entire body glowed light blue, but only the glow of her eyes could be seen. Using her electric power, she knocked them all out and pushed their stunned bodies off of her. As she did this, General Swifthead was already in the motion of falling to the ground. Right after Twilight pushed the stunned bodies off her, she got up and caught Swifthead with magic. When she caught the terrified general, she yelled in his face with her disguised voice, "SWEAR TO ME!!" "Fine! Fine!" he replied, "but don't tell anyone! This is classified information! We were discussing the possibility of a traitor within the high ranks of the Government and how we should deal with them! That's all I can say!!" She dropped him on the ground, and for her own protection, stunned him with electricity as well. When she was sure that he was stunned, she grabbed Shining Armor and teleported them both to her home.