2000 years ago, dragons ruled over the land called Dragonia. They’re leader was a dark and powerful empress called, Spectra. A black dragon, with dark green emerald scales and eyes as red as blood. Her name spread fear across the land, even some of her dragon subjects were afraid of her. Her power held no limits, mostly due to the magical power of the three dragon stones. The ruby stone, the sapphire stone and the emerald stone. These were powerful stones the shape of dragon scales capable of turning even the weakest dragon into a god. Harnessing the power of the dragon stones, Spectra wanted to rule not just this land but all other lands. Her greed for power and rule was insatiable, so much so that it started a war that has been known as: The 1000 Years War. Spectra purged the world into darkness attacking distant lands and dominating over them. Many ponies lived in fear, that is until two brave beings dared to challenge Spectra and her dragon army, but unfortunately their power paled in comparison to that of the dragon stones. The war between the two beings and the dragons waged on for one thousand years before the two beings were able to get the dragon stones away from Spectra, with the help of two other dragons and a powerful unicorn. With her powers depleted, the two beings had the dragon empress wrapped in unbreakable golden chains and chained down within an active volcano called Vesuvius.
The location of the dragon stones to this day are unknown. They were scattered the second they were pulled from spectra’s body. Legend has it that, Spectra is still within that volcano planning and waiting for the day when she will be released and finish what she started 2000 years ago.
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Spike had closed the book and set it down, amazed at the story he just read. “That was an awesome story. I wonder if there’s any more on Spectra.”
Spike’s thoughts were interrupted by Princess Luna’s entrance into his room. “Spike, it’s time to go.” she announced.
“Coming.” he said.
Today was the day that Celestia, Luna and Spike were going to take a trip to the city of Vanhoover. This was going to be Spike’s first time in the city so it was very understandable how excited he was. Celestia locked up the cabin as Spike was levitated on Luna’s back and the three of them took off into the sky. The first thing Spike noticed was that the two sisters weren’t wearing their royal jewelry. Luna had her mane pulled back into a pony tail and Celestia just had a yellow bandana wrapped around her forehead. It was weird seeing them like that, but then again how often to they get the chance to go out and just have fun.
Moments later the group approached the city of Vanhoover which was just as big as Manehatten, if not more so. The ponies that lived here seemed to be a bit nicer and the streets and sidewalks were a bit wider and didn’t feel like everything was all crammed together. When they landed they were almost immediately bombarded by photographers wanting to get close to the princesses.
They began walking calmly, ignoring the group of ponies that were clearly following them. “So where’re we going?” Spike asked.
“Well Spike, I figured that we let you choose?” Celestia answered cheerfully. “ We could go to the amusement park, or the aquarium or where ever. It’s your choice.”
Spike didn’t waste any time on giving his answer. He knew exactly where he wanted to go. “The amusement park!” he said with excitement. “I’ve always wanted to go to one.”
“Then that’s where we’re headed.” said Luna. And with the “unwanted crowd” behind them, Spike and the princesses began to make their way to the amusement park. While they were walking, the crowd behind them was getting larger, but Celestia and Luna just shrugged it off and acted like they weren’t there, until they came to a cross walk. “Maybe we should get a cab.” Luna suggested. “It would be much faster than just walking there.”
“I agree.” Celestia said while waving her hoof. Not even a millisecond went by and a cab stopped right in front of them. Spike was easily impressed. He remembered back in Manehatten, it was nearly impossible for them to get a cab. You had to just stand in a long line for who knows how long to even think about getting one. “Where to?” asked the cabbie as all three climbed in. “Just go for now.” said Celestia in a calm voice. The cabbie nodded and took off, leaving the large crowd of ponies behind them. When they were a safe distance away from them Celestia spoke up. “Okay, we’re headed to the amusement park.”
The cabbie smirked. “You got it.”
Along they way, Spike admired the city. The tall buildings, the couple of statues he noticed, and just how much nicer it seemed to be, more than Manehatten. Just up ahead of them, Spike saw a giant blue building with white stars all over it and a lot of ponies starting to gather in front. “I wonder what’s going on over there?” he asked.
“Oh that?” Said the cabbie. “Yeah, that’s the Star Swirl The Bearded Museum. It’s been in construction for months; looks like they’re almost done. I’d give it about another day or two.” Spike continued to watch the building as they passed it up. He noticed the ponies were struggling to get some kind of large object inside. Judging buy the size of it, it was probably a statue of something or somepony, well whatever it was, he was hoping to at least see what was inside of the building before their trip was up. While Spike’s attention was on the museum, Celestia motioned Luna to come closer towards her so they can speak privately. “Were you able to interact with him in his dreams?” Celestia asked.
“I was able to get inside but not interact.” Luna explained. “A dark aura seemed to be surrounding him, preventing him from hearing and seeing me.”
“A dark aura?” asked Celestia. “What was it?”
“It...it was...the Nightmare Aura. The same aura that turned me into Nightmare Moon.”
Celestia was in utter shock upon hearing this news. Of all creatures in Equestria, Spike was showing signs of turning into a nightmare creature. Celestia stopped herself from asking a question she already knew the answer to.
How did this happen?
She knew how it happen, from when Spike had that little breakdown back in Canterlot, telling her how Twilight and the others had been neglecting him, to her own memories of when Luna first became Nightmare Moon, and how it was partly her fault it happened. Had she only stopped for a few seconds and talked to her sister then she wouldn’t have transformed. Both sisters looked at Spike for a few seconds then backed to each other. “So history repeats itself.....please tell me it’s not too late for him.” Celestia asked hoping for a positive answer. “From what I saw, the aura appeared to still be in it’s early stages.” Luna explained. “We can still save him from suffering the same fate I did. But sister, I suggest that after our vacation is over that we have a talk with Twilight and her friends, let them know what nearly happened.” Celestia nodded.
****************
At the amusement park, inside a trailer that was made to look like an office, two earth ponies, a blue stallion with a dark blue mane sitting behind the desk was talking to a old brown stallion with a white mane who was clearly upset about something. “YOU CAN’T DO THIS TO ME!” he yelled.
“Look, I’m sorry Fixer, but I have no choice, you’re never around to fix the rides when we need you and when you do they’re half way done. We’ve had ten accidents in the past week and now there’s a rumor that the princesses of Equestria are in the city. If anything goes wrong they just might order us to shut down permanently.” the owner explained. “And besides, I’ve already hired your replacement and he not only does a better job than you, but he’s faster too."
Fixer was beyond angry, he got up and stormed out.
“Fire me will ya, I’ll show you.” he thought. “I got about an hour and 45 minutes till the park opens up, more than enough time.” He hurried to his shed in order to grab his tools so that he could carry out what ever it was he was planning.************************
Spike, Celestia, and Luna arrived at the front gate of the amusement park. All ponies stopped and stared at the group. It’s not everyday the two rulers of the land randomly pop up in front of an amusement park. Minutes later the park opened up and all the ponies went inside. The park was as huge as you could imagine. It had everything, a merry-go-round, bumper cars, games, a ferris wheel, lots and lots of crazy roller coasters, you name it, they had it. Spike was overwhelmed at the sheer size of the place. Never in his life has he seen so many rides and games. All he wanted at this point was to go on as many of them as possible. “So Spike, see anything you would like to try first?” asked Celestia as she walked up behind him.
Spike continued to look around until he saw a ride that caught his attention. “That one.” he said as he pointed. It was a roller coaster with two different tracks. Red and Blue. The tracks seemed to have their own pathway except at a certain point where they look like they may intertwine, but it was hard to tell. Spike, Celestia and Luna didn’t have to worry about a long line because the park had just opened so there weren’t that many ponies here...yet. As they got up to the platform they notice that the cars were shaped to look like dragons. Blue track had the blue dragon that was facing left and the red track had the red dragon facing right. The group got on the blue dragon, strapped themselves in and prepared for the ride to start. Once all the ponies were safely settled in, the operator got ready to start the ride. Celestia, Luna and Spike were sitting at the front, looking down Spike noticed a sticker on the floor and read it.
Warning:
This ride goes from 0 to 350 MPR in under 5 seconds!
Ride at your own risk!
All three pairs of eyes went extremely wide, their pupils shrank way below microscopic, immediately the decision to go on this was ride......was regretted.
The operator did a quick countdown and just like the warning sign said the ride took off, going 0 to 350 MPR. Celestia, Luna and Spike along with many others screamed their butts off as they were hitting every twist and turns the roller coaster had to offer. After the last loop they came to the final part of the ride. A head on collision, or and illusion of one. The final part of the ride made it look like the two dragons were about to crash head on with one another but at the last second they turn away. As if the ponies aren’t already in the middle of have heart attacks. The ride came to an end and all the ponies got off. Some were fine, some weren’t. Spike and Luna stumbled a bit but managed to walk away. Before they could leave, the operator stopped them. “Aren’t you forgetting somepony?" he said as he pointed to Celestia who was still sitting in her seat, frozen solid, her face was pale with the look of pure unadulterated fear. Luna walked up to her sister and tapped her on the shoulder causing Celestia to scream out loud. Luna grabbed Celestia’s frozen body and pulled her out the car so that the next group could have their turn.
Celestia was brought to a nearby bench in order to calm her nerves. “Princess...are you okay?” Spike asked, almost afraid to.
“G-give me a minute.” she said.
“Maybe we should try some of the games next.” Luna suggested.
*********************
On the other side of the park, Fixer just finished putting on the final touches to his plan. “After today, this park will be shut down permanently.” he thought as he continued working. It didn’t take him long to finally finish. He quickly packed up his tools and left the scene before anypony noticed him. Making it to the front gate, Fixer took one last look at the park and smiled evilly knowing that after today nopony will have a job. The park owner, Happy Carnival, will probably be up to his neck in lawsuits and fines. That thought brought a huge devilish smile to his face.
*********************
After Celestia finally calmed down, the group went over to the game area. The first booth they came across had different colored balloons along the back wall and had stuffed animals and other prizes hanging from the top and on the sides. “Step right up!” said the stallion running the both. “Hit three balloons of the same color and win a prize!”
“Shall we try?” asked Luna looking at her sister.
Celestia looked at her sister and raised an eyebrow. “Luna, I know how you get when ever you play any kind of game. When you can’t win, you get mad, you quit, and something either breaks or blows up.”
“What?!” Luna said in shock. “Name one time that happened.”
“Oh I don’t know, how about the time you threw a priceless antique against the wall because I was beating you in a card game, or the time you were losing in a game of chess and you blew up a mountain.”
“That was forever ago, sister.”
“That was two days ago Luna. You can really be an angry “gamer” sometimes.” Spike couldn’t help but laugh at the two sisters. He could tell that the two of them were really close. Celestia sighed. “Okay Luna, we can play, but if one thing blows up, that’s it.”
Walking up to the booth, Celestia paid for all three of them and they each got three darts. Now looking at the back wall of the booth, Spike noticed that it was a bit farther than he expected it to be. The balloons themselves weren’t in any kind of pattern, the colors were just all over the place. Spike figured it made since, wouldn’t be fun if ponies won too easy. Luna went first. Using her magic, she lifted one dart, aimed carefully and fired hitting her target, a red balloon. Quickly she did the same thing again hitting another red one. Now she was down to her last dart, really concentrating on hitting her target. When she was ready, she fired and... “Oh, too bad.” said the stallion. Luna’s dart hit the balloon dead on but instead of popping it bounced off it.
“WHAT!” she yelled in her royal canterlot voice.
“L-Luna!” Celestia warned.
“But I hit that thing dead on.” she said calming down a bit. Using her magic, she took Celestia’s darts and tried again. She got the same results. The darts appeared to just bounce off the balloons. Celestia had to raise suspicion to this and glanced over at the stallion running the booth. Luna growled trying to contain herself. She grabbed Spike’s darts and tried again, but this time she added a little extra magic when she threw the darts. Luna wasn’t even taking her time this round, she just threw the darts. The first two missed their targets completely and the third one went right through the back end of the booth. Luna growled, paid for more darts, and began throwing them radically; popping most of the balloons but not three of the same color. The rest were just bouncing off them. “Why. Won’t. They. Pop.” Luna said gritting her teeth and hitting the booth; her anger was reaching it’s boiling point.
It was clear to Celestia that the stallion running this booth obviously had it rigged in someway, but instead of announcing it she grabbed Spike in her hooves and slowly began to back away because her sister was about to explode. “Um, maybe you should calm dowm a bit.” suggested the stallion.
“BACK OFF!” Luna yelled in her Canterlot voice, causing Celestia to back up with Spike even more as a magical aura began to surround her body.
“P-p-p-princess?” Spike said with fear in his voice. Celestia responded by holding Spike closer to her body while while putting up a large magical shield, protecting them and everything that was behind them.
Luna had five more darts left. She powered them up with her magic, aimed, and fired with all of her might. The darts flew at lightning fast speeds, going through the balloons and the booth itself, leaving a holes. Luna managed to pop the balloons, but they were all of different colors. Her anger reached it’s boiling point, she charged up her horn and took aim.
“I QUIIIIIIIITTTTTTT!” Luna fired a powerful beam at the booth as she yelled causing a powerful explosion. Thankfully Celestia had her shield up so no pony behind them were hurt in the explosion. Well.....almost no pony. The stallion running the booth was caught in the explosion and was sent blasting off into the sky. “I DON’T GET PAID ENOUGH FOR THIS SHI..........!” he yelled as he disappeared over the horizon.
*****************************
Happy Carnival, sitting in his office suddenly felt the vibrations from Luna’s explosion. “What the...what was that?” he said and he went outside to check. He noticed ponies looking around in confusion for a while before going back to having fun. Deciding to check things out, Happy locked up his trailer and went out into the park.
*****************************
The dust had finally settled and Luna was standing in front of a big hole in the ground; breathing hard. “Luna.” said Celestia as she let down the shield and placed her hoof on her forehead. “This is why you shouldn’t be allow to play any games.”
“It’s a game, therefore I should be able to win at it.” Luna replied, trying to justify her actions. “It wouldn’t be a game otherwise.” Looking around, Luna found another booth that looked interesting to her, but before she could walk off, Celestia grabbed her by the tail and began dragging her off in the opposite direction. Spike couldn’t help but chuckle at the little banter that was happing between the two sisters. “Hey, let’s go an another ride.” he suggested.
Celestia froze as she remembered the last ride they got on earlier. Seeing her expression, Spike quickly added “A safer one of course.”
Celestia calmed down a bit. “Oh good.” she breathed.
The group began to make their way passed the game area, much to Luna’s protest, towards the rides. On the way the way there, Spike noticed that more and more ponies were showing up. Soon the park would be crowded and it would take forever for them to get to a ride that looks favorable, let alone ride it. “Come on come on, let’s go.” he rushed.
“Okay okay.” Celestia said laughing a bit.
They soon came across a what looked like a race track with little cars that looked liked only Spike and other little fillies and colts could fit in. The track was basically and giant circle, but with some added features. The beginning was a was a normal straight way the that soon lead into the first left turn. After that, the second straight way had a couple of small ramps on it. After the second left turn there was a third straight way which was a bumpy road that quickly lead into the third left turn. On the fourth and final straight way was a tunnel which came to an end a couple feet before the final left turn. “So, you wanna try it?” Celestia asked. Spike nodded and joined the other young ponies while Celestia and Luna stood with the parents.
The unicorn running the ride powered up her horn and shot and small been into the back of each of the cars powering them up. Spike and other young ponies strapped themselves in and prepared to race. “Okay everypony, listen up.” she announced. “At the bottom of your car there are two petals. The skinny one allows you to go and the fat one allows to stop or slow down. When I say go, press down on the skinny petal. The first one to cross the finish line after three laps wins.” After her explanation, she got out of the way and began her countdown.
“3...2...1...GO!” she yelled. Spike and the young ponies took off with the adults cheering them on. After the first turn, Spike quickly took the lead with the others closing in.
***************************
Elsewhere, a group of ponies were loaded up on a ferris wheel enjoying the ride. Suddenly, the ride started shaking a bit before it started going out of control causing the ponies to scream with terror. Not far from them another ride went crazy as bolts began to fly from it hurling into the crowd. The ponies scrambled to find their young and get to safety, but most of them were already on the rides.
Hearing the commotion, Happy carnival ran toward the crowd of frighten ponies and witnessed all his rides were malfunctioning. “N-no. Not again!” he yelled.
****************************
A group of ponies ran passed the race track screaming, catching the eyes of the princesses and the parents. “What’s going on?” asked Luna.
Soon they all heard a large noise which sounded like something breaking apart. Looking in it’s direction they saw that the ferris wheel broke from it’s base and was rolling towards them fast with ponies still on the ride.
“EVERYPONY LEAVE THE AREA!” yelled Luna.
The parents stormed the race to gather up there young while Luna took to the sky. Using her magic, she managed to slow the wheel down to a stop then began to push it back to where it came from being careful not to bring harm to the ponies on still on it or to the ones running on the ground.
Celestia levitated Spike onto her back and began to meet up with Luna when they saw a giant cage with three ponies inside, flying through the sky. “OH MY GOSH!” Celestia screamed. She set Spike down at a bench and flew after the flying cage. Sounds of ponies screaming and rides breaking apart could be heard around the park. Celestia caught the cage with her magic and gently set it down near a fountain. She started to fly back towards Spike but quickly noticed more ponies in trouble and flew to help them.
Spike stayed at the bench Celestia left him at when a nearby ride in a shape of a spider about 50ft in the air suddenly when haywire. At the end of each of it’s legs were cages; some of them still had ponies inside. One in particular had two young fillies inside and the cage itself was about to break loose.
“MY BABIES!” yelled their mother.
“OH NO!” yelled Spike as quickly ran to the seen. While the operators were at work trying to get the ride down, Spike ran passed them and jumped onto the machine. Looking around he found and long rope and wrapped it around his shoulder. Spike soon began to climb up as fast as he could. Suddenly, the ride began to descend but stopped suddenly, causing the cages to shake violently and the one with the fillies to almost break apart.
“HEY STOP IT!” Spike yelled. “YOU’RE GONNA GET THEM KILLED!”
Spike’s yell caught the attention of all the ponies there. They saw not only him climbing, but the fillies screaming for their mom. Spike’s climb continued until he got to the top. He made his way to leg where were and began to quickly wrap the rope in a very tight knot above the cage with the children. With the rope tightly secure, Spike tossed it over and began to climb down till he got to the cage door.
“Hey.” he said in a soft voice. “I know you’re scared but we’re going try to climb down okay?”
Spike stuck out his hand and grabbed one on of the fillies. She got on his back and wrapped her hooves his neck. “Okay now hold on to me tight.” he said as he held out his hand get her sister who was trembling with fear.
“Don’t worry, I won’t let anything bad happen to you.”
The little filly nodded, took Spike’s hand and wrapped her hooves around his neck. “Okay girls, were going down now.”
Spike jumped away from the cage and began to slowly descend to the ground. He saw that the cage above them was slowly beginning to break free and crash on top of them. Motioning for the ponies below to move out of the way, Spike began to descend faster, but that was when the cage broke free and coming at them fast.
“HOLD ON!” he yelled.
Spike let go of the rope and began to free fall. He landed on the ground on his feet hard then quickly jumped out of the way as the cage crashed and shattered. The crowd of ponies cheered as the fillies was returned to their mother. Spike stood up but fell and grabbed his right foot yelling in pain.
Flying over, Luna saw the ponies gathered around the spider ride. “WHAT ARE YOU PONIES DOING?” she yelled. “IT’S DANGEROUS TO STAY HERE. YOU MUST LEAVE NOW!”
Looking down, she saw Spike grabbing his foot with about three stallions around him . He looked like he was in pain. “SPIKE!” she yelled and flew down to him. “WHAT HAPPENED!” she yelled using her Canterlot voice.
“H-he just saved t-two fillies.” one stallion explained.
Luna levitated Spike onto her back. “I’ll find a doctor, you ponies get to safety, now!”
****************************
It was almost time for the sun to be lowered before all the ponies were out of the park. Spike was sitting on a bench with Luna while a doctor was taking a look at his foot. “Hmm, it appears to only be a sprain, nothing more.” he said as he wrapped Spike’s foot and handed him a pair of crutches. “But I suggest that you stay off it for a while.”
“SPIKE!” yelled Celestia. The princess of the sun quickly trotted over to Spike and nuzzled her cheek against his. “Oh my goodness, are you okay?”
“He’ll be fine.” said the doctor. “As long as he stays off that foot.”
“Thank you.” Said Luna.
The doctor nodded and was about to walk off when Luna spoke up again. “You wouldn’t happen to know the owner of the park would you?”
“Sure I know him.” he said. “Happy Carnival. That’s him right over there.” The doctor pointed to where Happy was and Celestia decided to confront him about what happened. Luna levitated Spike onto her back and followed her sister.
Happy and his employees were talking to the city’s police when they noticed the two princesses walking towards them. They were not happy. “Are you Happy Carnival?” asked Celestia in a stern voice.
“Y-yes.”
“How did this happen?”
“W-well y-you see......”
Before Happy could make an explanation a stallion ran up to the seen. “Happy, I took a look at most of the rides. This was no accident.”
“What do you mean?”
“I fixed these rides myself and there’s no way they could just break the way they did. Somepony deliberately sabotaged them.”
It didn’t take long for Happy to figure out who the culprit was. “Fixer.”
“Excuse me?” Celestia asked.
“Fixer, princess. Fixer Upper, he used to be an employee of mine.
“Use to be?”
“Y-yes. You see, we’ve had a lot of accidents here because of him. I fired him early this morning, before he opened up. He’s the only other pony with the knowledge of these rides and how they work.”
“ I want this Fixer found, NOW!”
The police nodded and scrambled to find Fixer. After a few more words from Celestia, the group began to head home.
“Not bad for a first day huh?” Spike said.
The two sisters sighed heavily at Spike’s poor attempt at cracking a joke.