I suppose a lot of you readers may be a little confused on what everypony meant by 'my awakening' during the second war with that brute Grogar while we were in the Empire. Well wait no longer, darlings.
I'm different from my friends in many ways, that's just how friends work. Sisters too. I'm better with foals for example. In part because I was the one Chaos Six who parents told fillies 'if you're in a spot where you to run into ONE of them alone, make it her.' Didn't mean the little dears weren't still getting used to me, but it did mean of all of us, when Grogar started firing magic bolts down on us, I was one of the ones (the other being Derpy, the poor dear having had to leave her retirement to save her little muffin) who the children would be most likely to not panic being lead by, especially since a number of them were my kin.
That and with little Inquisition receiving her Element of Honesty, they now had a complete set of Elements of Harmony (Scoots having taken over for Derpy), though as I would find out later Grogar wasn't of the 'we shoot them with the Elements they're done' sort...Why can't they all be like Nightmare Moon? Let's just say we didn't hit Grogar with both sets of Elements because we felt like overkilling the crafty sidewinder. Especially after he pulled out his big gun.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. While the others were holding back Grogar, I was leading a group of foals through the inner workings of Tambelon (Derpy had taken another group of foals with her in another direction, mainly ones who could fly).
=Grindery Lunar Silver Star Story (Sega CD version) =
I don't know what that place was like when my ancient ancestor faced Grogar, but now it was essentially one gigantic machine. Metal and stone locked together. It still had the aesthetics of a Three-Tribes era city, but the streets, buildings, shops, and houses were all perfectly set and organized like pieces on a game board instead of having grown out naturally. Everything was planned, set, and designed.
The spookiest part about that place was how orderly everything was. How it seemed like Grogar had made certain the entire place was run like the gears in a clock. I even overheard some of his minions say skipping your breaks without permission would get someone thrown in the dungeon. Grogar was a control freak if I'd ever seen one.
But while that unnerved me (and I was the one who'd tried to sell Discord out to this maniac five hundred years ago if you recall), to the foals who'd grown up in a world of chaos and were just now getting used to the idea of order, it was terrifying.
Little Ladybird (ironically, this whole mess had a hoof in how the New Cutie Mark Crusaders got together) almost ran off in a panic and I had to lasso her to get her back.
Some of the poor younglings couldn't take it and laid on the ground, holding themselves shivering, and I had to carry them on my back. Some I created a peaceful illusion around just to keep them from panicking.
So there we were...hiding in the cogs of Grogar's great machine, with the foals more scared of the big machines than they were the actual bad guys.
I had to think of something. My illusions were helpful, but it wasn't enough. It distracted them, but I wasn't that poor Nightmare version of Fluttershy that Eclipse had with her, I couldn't just take away their negative emotions, only provide a distraction. I needed something that would truly take their minds off of it...
...I remembered Granny Smith. How she'd sometimes tell me and...and Applebloom stories to distract us when we'd gotten frightened.
The only problem was that most of Granny Smith's stories wouldn't really catch these foal's attention very well because they'd spent all their lives in a world of Chaos. Stories about the Sassquash weren't very exciting to them. And I needed exciting...but I also needed comforting.
I didn't know any stories they'd like already...maybe I could make one up? I was the queen of lies, so making up a story wouldn't be too hard.
I found the quietest place I could in that noisy place and put up an illusion of quiet that helped a little bit, at least enough for me to tell a story. “Everycreature, gather around me. I have a story for you.”
I used everycreature because it was easier to list the sapient species that WEREN'T there. Grogar had needed a big batch for his endgame plan.
I thought about their world. Their lives. What would be close enough to the real but still sound fantastic? Still excite them? Still distract them? Still keep them calm?
=My Little Pony G3 Theme Song=
“There once was a little foal, much like yourselves. And her world was much like this one since Overcooked Carrot Discord's fall: a world were chaos was a part of life, but no pony was tortured, no pony was hurt. They were all happy and enjoyed the unpredictable nature of the world. Every day was a new game and a new adventure, they never knew what'd come next” I began, using my Element in a way I honestly don't think I'd used it before: not to trick or deceive, just to tell a story. I made a fantastic world around us. I admit it was taking a few bits and pieces of Discord's world that were actually good and generally liked, but of course embellished and idealized a bit. I tried to take aspects of as many of the foals as I could that actually looked good and worked together into my little fantasy filly. Like how Granny Smith would sometimes base the foal in her story off of me and Applebloom. Probably did the same with Big Mac...
“But one day, a cruel, crusty old wizard came and decided change the world because he didn't like things were , all the unpredictability the world had to offer. To make it structured, orderly, and dull.”
I admit, old goat face was the inspiration for my bad guy. It made sense to show what they were scared of be beaten.
And...I kept telling the story. I kept making up the story as I went. And...it just felt...right.
Cream Pie of course asked if the little filly just blew the mean old wizard up, and I said that isn't always the way. Hehe.
The other kids got into it to, sometimes I'd add their pieces to my 'quilt'...Just like every detail I heard when telling a lie was one I had to add to my excuse in a way that made sense...
And that got me thinking about how similar this was to what I'd been doing. To lying. To deceit How both were just making up stories.
The difference between a lie and story is simple: the story doesn't need to be believed. It doesn't need to 'fool' somepony to be entertaining. To distract a bunch of little foals from the craziness going on around them. It just needs to be believable enough that they can suspend reality for a bit and enjoy the ride. Just like every good lie needs enough truth to be believed...
But, I though to myself, is it really stories that are like lies? Or are...lies like stories? Or are both part of something even bigger. And the it hit me.
It was weird. Aunt Abigail was leadin' us through that scary place. Meh and Banana Pie took out monsters as a choir and we were scared stiff.
But then after Ladybird almost booked it...Aunt Abigail started tellin' us this awesome story. Ah stopped thinkin' boat Grogar's dumb machine. Ah wanted tah know what happened tah that little filly! How she stopped that stuck up wizard tah stop tryin' tah take over the world!...Even if there were a few less explosions than I would have liked.
And then...as we got closer to the end...she got this weird look in her eye. They glowed like a black and white rainbow for a second. That glowing apple she had started lighting up REAL bright.
Stories and lies...they aren't different things. They're both fiction. They're both tapestries our brain makes up. Be they to entertain or to deceive, they're making something from little details, or from nothing at all. A made up story...a big black lie...a little white lie...they're all quilts we stitch with our tongues and see with our ears. Their point isn't to be true, it's to be false with enough truth we can at least pretend to believe them.
An epic fairytale, a lie to trick the bad guys, a bedtime story to quiet down a youngster, a lie to keep yourself out of trouble with your folks. They were all fiction. They were all made up...they were all products of our imagination...and that's why they were all special. Even though lies CAN hurt...there's no denying the creativity a good lie takes. Just a great writer needs creativity to make a novel that will knock your horseshoes off.
Lies and stories...they're both parts of the same thing...
“...And at the end, with his staff destroyed and his power gone, the old wizard lamented that he'd never bring order to chaos and keep the world safe from it...but the little filly told him something important...something he needed to hear desperately...that chaos was a PART of the whole. Harmony, chaos, order? They all have their place in the world...they're all a part of the world, and one existing without the other simply won't do...and she gave the wizard her hand and helped him up. Promising him she'd show him just how beautiful that whole world could be...”
Lies and story...are both Fantasy...
Fantasy is every lie ever told, good or bad, every story ever told, no matter what genre. It is the lie a foal tells their ma so they don't get in trouble, it is the lie you tell a crook to stall him until the cops show up, it's the lie that can crush somepony. It is also the scifi story about an alien on a spaceship, it is the story of a brave knight slaying an evil dragon, it's the story of the great big war with high tech weapons we can only dream of. It is the big black lie and little white lie. It is the world renown novel and the humblest story.
It is the mask an actor wears on stage and the one they were in their lives every day.
Fantasy...is...
“And the two set off to fix the wizard's mistakes...to make the world better...and that is how the story ends...”
=Innocent Trap – Tetra-Fang=
It was like a dam burst in my heart. I felt my Element of Deceit...no...my Element of Fantasy become something else.
“Everypony stand back...” I heard Cream Pie warn like the responsible filly she is, backing them up as rainbow colored energy swirled around me. They looked like vines...no. Like the roots of apple trees.
It wasn't like when Dash takes the gloves off, but I guess that's because Dash wouldn't be Dash if she didn't do it big and loud.
The vines snaked around me, cocooning me like a butterfly. My eyes opened, I know now they glowed orange instead of the pretty green I was born with.
The energy roots exploded off of me outward, causing the lifeless stone beneath my hooves to suddenly turn into a patch of grass and flowers to start growing all around me.
I looked at my hooves, the energy roots snaking around me all pretty like. My fur wasn't orange anymore, it was a light grey with an orange tint, kind like Rainbow when she became Ender Dash. My mane was a bit longer and lost it's color too, except for an orange stripe running the length of it, same with my tail. But unlike when I turned gray thanks to Discord, I didn't look less than I was before or ugly...I couldn't help feeling I looked like I was more and beautiful, and judging by the kids looks, they did too.
“Aunt AJ?” asked Cream Pie, looking at me in awe. “That you?”
“Yeah...it's me dear...” I reassured with a comforting look. I felt so strong...I felt like I could craft an entire city from illusions alone...I felt so...free. “But I guess you can call me Ender Jack right now...hmm...might have to work on that name a bit...”
I actually wasn't too surprised...Rainbow Dash had wondered why only she seemed to have a suped up form. She'd tried helping the rest of us reach it, but so far hadn't succeeded...hehe...guess the two of us will always be rivals, huh?
My mind felt like it was making ideas faster than a speeding bullet. So many stories, so many lies, so many tall tales...so much imagination I didn't know I had.
And then it hit me. A way to get the younglings not just out of this predicament, but out of the city.
I gave my charges a smirk. “Stand back, darlings, I've got an idea for a serious diversion.”
We needed a serious distraction. And if one minion missing his coffee break was cause for alarm...
The gears around me were big enough most Earth Ponies wouldn't even try to move them. I grabbed one in my hooves and gave it a spin, ripping it clean out of the great machine in one tug. I pivoted and smashed away at other important looking stuff before sending my improvised weapon flying into a generator of some sort, gumming up the works real nice.
“Come along dears! Hop on my back!” I called.
And they did so. Yes, ALL of them. I hardly felt their weight, even as Banana tied them all to me to make sure nocreature fell off.
I planted my hooves, well aware that the entire city was now in chaos with the machinery thrown out of wack. I swear old Grogar's roar of rage was so loud I heard it. The others said my distraction had given them the chance to get away from Grogar when they needed it bad.
I charged forwards, using strength beyond anything and Earth Pony magic supercharged I had ever known to plow straight through the wall like it was tissue paper. No, I didn't forget about the kids. I made sure to punch a big enough hole that they didn't have to duck, and all the rubble was flying forward not back. The real impressive part if I do say so myself was just how FAST I was able to put up the illusion that nothing had happened to buy us time. The moment I smashed through a wall, an illusion went up to make it look, and FEEL to anycreature that wasn't me or my charges, like it was a normal wall, keeping them off our tails for a good few minutes until I'd left range.
Finally we pierced the outer wall and dashed clear out of that Father forsaken place.
Dash would give me a pat on the back later and a congratulations. She'd been trying to get one of us to make the same jump she did for awhile as I said, I think knowing we might need it...or wanting to be the mentor to the rest of us for once.
Mother Deer theorized I was able to evolve like that thanks to the Elements getting a boost from us summoning so many bearers at once, so maybe that was it...or just Rainbow started things and we'd all follow eventually. Can't tell, really doesn't matter...all I know is how free I felt in that moment...like there were limitless possibilities in front of me if I just imagined it...it was beautiful.
...And that's my realization...that's the day I realized that Deceit wasn't my full Element...I'm the Element of Fantasy, and I'm proud of it.
Sure there was more that happened that day, Grogar still had his plan B, but that's a story for another day...