Fluttershy had been watching the window longingly. She was getting worried. Seconds ticked by into hours as she just continued to look out. The moon was falling in the sky. Princess Luna was sure to pick up on that and reinforce the eventual decaying of the day. The apartment had been in pristine condition. The animals had all gone to sleep and in fact had assisted her in the arduous task of keeping everything happy and healthy. Fluttershy gazed back out the window once more. Her eyes began to poke around the room almost like a lizard in search of its newest prey. Suddenly the door broke open.
“Fluttershy, are you in here?” Rainbow Dash’s voice called out.
“Y-yeah I-I’m fine…..” She announced back.
Rainbow Dash turned her head back into Fluttershy’s corner and noticed her for the first time. With a steadfast look on her face she said “Fluttershy, there you are! I’ve been looking around for you all day. The midnight summer festival is almost ready to start. You aren’t really going to be spending all your time up in here are you?”
“W-well, I’ve got plenty of creatures and pets to take care of in the meantime, I-I don’t really want to be a burden on anyone else.”
Rainbow Dash looked at her before moving her hoof up to her face. “Fluttershy, this festival only happens once a year. It’s meant to commemorate the fall of Nightmare Moon. I thought for sure that you would be willing to commemorate such an auspicious event. I mean hay, you were one of the ones to help bring down Nightmare Moon in the first place. I would have thought for sure that you would want to come to it.”
“W-well, when you put it that way…..”
“Hah! That’s the spirit. Come on Flutters we’ve got a celebration to attend!”
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Meanwhile in a cave behind Canterlot…..
“What is taking so long? You know I don’t like waiting….”
“Ah don’t worry boss, we’ll have this thing all fixed up like a jiffy before no time at all. Heck, I’d imagine even the ol’ Princess will-“
The robotic figure slammed the mole man and looked him in the eye with his metallic ones. “Do NOT call me ‘Boss’ I am your lord and master, and I would like to be treated as such.”
“Y-yes sir.”
“Do you understand me?”
“Yes”
“Yes…. what?”
“Yes….master.”
“Yes, that’s perfect. Now as I was saying, we will be convening our approach onto the castle within 0500 hours. When we are finished here, we will send out my robotic slaves to attach the interior while you, my simple-headed buffoon, will reconvene at the bottom. When we both meet up I will attach this homing beacon to the top, while we sit back and watch the fireworks happen.”
“B-but sir, what about this machine we’re fixing up right now?”
“Yes… what are we going to do about this atomic death weapon anyways, it’s not like we’re going to you know, kill someone now are we?”
“W-well of course not, you know that sir. Princess Celestia herself says that killing is wrong and well…”
“Bah. What am I? Surrounded by simple headed buffoons? Forget the plan. When you’re finished here, move on up to the slaughterhouses. We’re going to be having mole tonight!”
“B-but s-sir, I’m your loyal servant!”
“Did you just have the audacity to question my leadership? My position? Cannibalism is too good for even you! Guards! Take him to the interrogation room. Our loyal ‘subject’ thinkgs he’s too good for our measly little plans.”
“N-no! Sir! Please reconsider! Nooooooo……..” His screams faded into the background as two robotic servants came in to take the prisoner.
“Now where were we?” He asked no one in particular as he began to drink from his tea cup. It had been coffee, watered down by milk with a bunch of sugar added to it. His favorite. He used to have advanced coffee machines back on his original planet, but since coming here to this piece of crap, he had been forced to endure the long suffering of rebuilding his former civilization. It had been long, cruel hours but he had just about done it. Most recently however, Flame had domesticated a group of “mole people” to assist him in his task at recolonizing. He puts “mole people” in parentheses because he had previously learned that if he experiments with their brains, he can domesticated them and cause them to become sentient organisms. Organisms he can then take advantage of in the form of slave labor.
When he had arrived to Equestria, he had naturally sought after the first sentient race he had come across, none other than ponies, but his metallic, bipedal stature had alerted the ponies and instantly caused them to distrust him. They called the guards and attempted to detain him, but he used his plasma rifle to kill a few of them. That really got their attention. The Princesses both called a full retreat of their guardsmen to arrest and detain the vile intruder from her lands but his superior technology had caught them unawares. He used his jetpack to fly away from the situation unseen, and there wasn’t much the Princesses could do about it. Princess Luna had been put in charge of arresting and detaining this vile intruder of the lands, while Princess Celestia had been put in charge of keeping the peace. Assuring the citizens of Equestria that nothing is wrong, and that everything is under control.
What righteous fools they were! Had I been stuck on some other planet, I would have been massacred almost on a whim, but nooooooooo. I just had to be stuck with these so called “ponies.” It was absolutely sickening.
Flame took a retreat back into his inner sanctum while some of the robot guards domesticated another one of the “mole rats” into service of his “Death Ray.”
The inner sanctum was quite lovely. It was his own command center so to speak. Quite a small room compared to the rest of his common living area, but it was “his small room.” It was a circular room, with an elongated ceiling. On all the walls were either monitors to pipes. The monitors had meeting areas to the outside where one could see any and all points of entry. One led to the entrance of the cave itself, which had nothing but brown rock in the way. Others were points of entries within the cave itself, where he could see his robotic guards either standing guard or moving around. Another camera led to the mole people. He could see his slave-work force at work, digging out rock while some of his robots and slaves led a joint operation between standing guard and moving said rocks out of the way.
Flame never really cared about any sorts of raw materials he could find in the mountain itself, he just needed the space. His dream would be convert the mountain itself into a a massive underground base, to the point where it was more base than mountain. It would be his secret hiding hole. One where even the Princesses themselves could not interfere in his adventures, and one where he could hide in case of discovery. Such a thing has been happening a lot lately. Not that he would mind, after all, he was the one who would be starting such skirmishes. Oh no. He had bigger things to worry about!
Flame went over to his chair and sat in it where he then turned on one of the monitors with his remote. Robotic mole people were busy digging away at the materials, but something was wrong here. One of the mole people happened to have red eyes. He couldn’t have that, not in his armada!
“Guards! Get in here!” In this world, Flame had no real privacy. Every command could bring the attention of the nearby guards. I guess in one case, one could say that it was considered privacy, but he never thought of it as such.
“What would you command, master?” The two robots said simultaneously.
“Go down into vault 225 and retrieve the rat with red eyes. I will not tolerate as
much as an eye change within my cavern.”
“At once, your excellency!”
Flame was stuck to contemplate his solidarity. His weapon would not be ready for a couple of hours so he was preoccupied with busying himself with monotonous tasks. He turned on the monitors and started viewing the outside. Nothing. Nothing, Nothing, nothing- wait. What was that?
He turned on his fourth monitor and viewed some strange anomaly. Outside one of the doorways was a forest. The Everfree Forest to be exact. And inside the forest, he had thought he could see a shadow move. Now, usually in the forest , it's full of deadly creatures and animals but usually nothing to be too alarmed about. Now sure, the ponies of Ponyville usually had to worry too much about this type of thing, but he had advanced weaponry as well as an army on his side.
What he did had to worry about however was that the tree itself had started moving. Nope. Make that two. Two, no three, four, five trees started to shake. Was this what he truly feared or… nope. False alarm. That’s a shame too. Everyone knows having a tree stalker would sure to introduce a bit of fun into his everyday life. Nope. I guess he just had to sit back, relax, and wait for the fireworks to happen. And in the meantime, he had to wait on his mole people to make the right decision to fixing his death ray.
“Guards get in here!”
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Fluttershy had to admit. The place had been lovely. In fact, the place had been everything she had ever dreamed of. Why on earth she would decide not to delve in the joy of the summer moon she had no idea. There was many lights, fireflies, pegasi in the clouds, everypony had been sure to make everything perfect for Princess Luna’s arrival. 'After all,' as Twilight Sparkle once said 'it only comes once a year!' She said in her teacher voice.
Fluttershy had been sure not to forget about that. Twilight was sure to keep up on this sort of stuff. She is Princess Celestia’s favorite student after all. Is she her only student? Well that would require a much more informed pony to know about it than myself. I myself sat in Fluttershy’s hair narrating the whole exchange going on, without a free care in the world.
“Now Angel isn’t this great? The lights are out, the fireflies are out, ooh did you see that mockingbird go by? Wow. The Princesses really went all out making this spectacular. Ooh Angel look!” I turned my head to look at what she was motioning at. It appeared to be a stage. No, wait, the stage had some ponies on it. Now what were those ponies doing? Dancing erratically? Leave it to a group of ponies to do something enormously worthless in their spare time. Fluttershy walked up to join the crowd who had joined to watch them. Silently he watched. He wasn’t much of a fan of erratic movements but he watched anyways. Eventually said erratic movements came to an end and they took a bow.
Everypony began clapping and stomping their hooves in applause almost as if this were something great to behold. I huffed in annoyance while Fluttershy answered back in her sweet voice “Now don’t be like that Angel. We’re going to have plenty of fun and excitement when I finally find our friends of ours.”
“Well hiya Fluttershy. Fancy meetin’ you here!” Applejack’s loud voice sounded behind her. Fluttershy felt herself leap in the air a bit at that.
“Oh Applejack, you scared me.” She said in response.
“WHAT ABOUT ME!!!!” Pinkie Pie screamed back in response causing both Fluttershy and Applejack to jump in the air. Fluttershy on the other hand had to seriously consider leaving, but decided to stay put for the time being.
“Gosh darnit Pinkie! You scared us both!”
“Oh I’m sorry. I just couldn’t help but see you two lollygagging that I couldn’t help but jump in and say Hello. Speaking of which, Hello!”
“H-hi Pinkie. N-nice to see you too…..”
“Oh Fluttershy don’t be like that. We have plenty of cotton candy and treats, and fun and ice cream all over the place. I should know. Princess Celestia herself set me up in charge of this party.”
“Now why would she ask you to do it sugarcube? Surely she has party planners of her own, right?”
“Well now that I think of it, it would probably have to do with the fact that we’re Elements of Harmony and we’re holding a terrific place in the country’s history. But even if we weren’t Elements I don’t see why the Princess would decide not to hire me. After all, I am the super best party planner of them all! Who’s best party planner of them all? It’s me! Pinkie Pie! I don’t know why I’m pink. Do you know why I’m pink? Do ya? Huh? Huh? Huh? Do ya?”
Applejack made the motion of shoving Pinkie Pie out of her face after her face had moved in after each question. “Ah don’ rightly know sugarcube. That sounds something like Twilight ought to know though. You should ask her when the ceremony is over. Speaking of which, where is our purple friend?”
“I-I heard that she was participating in the ceremony. You know, if that helps at all.” Fluttershy said.
“Now where’d you hear such a thing Flutters?”
“R-Rainbow Dash told me before she forced me to come out here.”
“Rainbow Dash forced you to come out here? Now if I ever come across that slimy virmen I’m going to teach ‘em a thing or two about proper manners!”
“I-It’s ok I don’t mind Applejack. Since coming out here, I’ve since realized tat this place is wonderful. I would have missed out on a lot tonight if she didn’t come by when she did.”
“Say Pinkie Pie, ya know where Rainbow Dash said she’s supposed ta be?”
Pinkie Pie’s face got scrunched up in a look that would give Twilight a run for her money. “I’m not sure. But I did mention to the princesses that she would make some truly awesome light effects for the show. When I told her about that, she told me that didn’t need to make awesome light effects for the show, she would simply provide the awesomeness and that she would fill in the light effects themselves. You know, I think she might be working alongside the Wonderbolts for the remainder of the show!”
“Hoo wee! Rainbow Dash must be ecstatic to be working with the Wonderbolts. That’s practically been her lifelong dream after all.”
“Oh look! There they go now!” Pinkie’s voice yelled in my ear. I looked up and saw nothing but a bunch of thunderclouds. I wonder if it’s going to rain today. Then suddenly the thundercloud did something strange. It seemed to explode from its center and a stream of rainbow streamed out of it, erupting it into a bright luminescent white that seemed to glow. Ponies all around ooohed and aaahed. That’s when something peculiar happened. The cloud began to grow while it unleashed even more parts of rainbow light surrounding the countryside with small glimmers of rainbow light. That’s strange. I could have sworn it started to start moving. It’s-it’s heading down to the stage. I hope none of the ponies don’t get hurt, nope wait they’re fine. There’s nothing on the stage.
At this point the glimmery cloud is practically half the size of town hall. More cracks within the façade are appearing. Suddenly a bright light envelops us all as the cloud itself cracks open revealing the rainbow glimmers of light from Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. They look somewhat disappointed by the lack of applause but I can see a lot of the ponies seem to be more preoccupied with overcoming their vision deficit than of seeing their Princesses in the flesh. Suddenly stomps and hollering starts off and then turns into a full-blown assault of sound. I had to cover my ears to avoid the sound from absolutely killing my eardrums.
Princess Celestia chuckles before announcing “Fillies and gentlecolts, it is great to see you as well. As you all know, we are here to commemorate the anniversary of the defeat of Nightmare Moon and the return of my dear old sister Princess Luna.” She looks over at Luna looking want to nuzzle her but doesn’t. “Now as I’m sure you’re all aware, my faithful young student, Princess Twilight Sparkle and her friends have helped to get rid of that end. In fact, she never would have become Princess if she had never done it.” She waits a second while the applause from Twilight’s coronation dies down. “Now I won’t keep you longer than you’ll feel comfortable, so all I can say is Pinkie, let’s get this party started!”
“Oh yeah!” Pinkie yells back in response. DJ PON3’s music turns up while the ponies start partying. Pinkie and the girls begin getting onto the stage getting ready fro the intermission where Princess Celestia would publicly announce their involvement in Nightmare Moon’s demise. They were herded into a back room where none other than Rarity was in charge of their appearances.
“Hi Rarity!” Pinkie Pie practically yells at her.
“Hello girls. Fancy meeting you all here.”
“Ah’ll say. It’s practically a zoo out there.”
“Heh. Well I’ve just been back here preparing. After all, a lady has to have some type of class after all.”
Suddenly a door slammed open and none other than Rainbow Dash emerged from it. “Did you guys see all that? I got to work with the Wonderbolts! They all said I did a good job in all this! A. Good. Job. I can’t believe it, they said I did a good job on the special effects. I can’t wait. First they’re paying my compliments and then they’ll be completely pleased at all my special effects that I might as well be crowned leader of the Wonderbolts right now!”
“Woah there sugarcube, I understand that it was a nice thought on their part, but you’re getting ahead of yourself there.”
“Excuse me cowgirl. Did you just say that I’m overreacting? Did you see my performance out there? It was wonderful!”
“Ah know that, it’s just you’re gettin’ ahead o’ yourself with everything and I don’t want you worryin over nothin’.”
“Is that a challenge?” Rainbow Dash said with her muzzle up next to Applejack’s. At this point, the two of them don’t really need much else between the two of them before they end of starting something.
“Bring it sugarcube.”
“Tomorrow, eight AM. I want to race you to the top of the hill outside of Ponyville. If you don’t show up, which I’m betting you won’t then I’ll be declared the winner, and you’ll be declared coward of Ponyville.”
“Anytime anywhere sugarcube. You name the game and I’ll be there to beat you every step of the way.”
“Ooooh while you’re doing that, can I get into a shouting match with Rarity? I’d do it with Fluttershy but she has me beat.” Said Pinkie Pie.
“I don’t think that’s what they had in mind Pinkie. And where on earth did you get the idea of a shouting match anyways That is absolutely uncouth and undignified for a lady such as herself, but that doesn’t exactly concern you does it?” Rarity said.
“Noperoni!”
“Figures as much.” Rarity said with a deadpanned expression as she went back to fixing herself up in the mirror while she multitasked in sewing something else.
“Girls, curtain in 10. Nice to see you all here, I’ll see you then.” Twilight said poking her head in. “Don’t worry about me Rarity, I’ve got my makeup and dress all ready.”
“Twilight, makeup? No no no darling. I’m afraid that I’m going to have to inspect it myself. I keep telling you just because you may have learned something in a book doesn’t mean you have any practical experience in the matter. You need to have an eye for the this type of stuff. If you’d just step in here please, I can go over what you missed.”
Twilight giggled which sounded strange for her in this situation. “Thanks a lot Rarity, but I got a royal stylist do it all for me.”
Rarity stared mouth agape. “What what what? You had a royal stylist to do it for you? I didn’t even know there would be anyone else here other than me? And you trust their professional opinion over mine? And how did you manage to get a ‘royal stylist’ to help you anyways?”
Twilight just smiled before showing off her wings. “I’m a Princess remember, and I’m sorry for hurting your feelings Rarity but the stylist just appeared out of nowhere and started making me up. By the time I had fended him off, he told me that the Princess had asked for me to look good so I let him get it done with. You can still look at me if you want though.”
Rarity had gotten over her panic attack and stared at Twilight with a level-look. “Well all right darling. So long as you think it’s best. I will, however need to inspect your makeup to ensure that everything is in place.”
“Would you mind moving a tiny bit out of place Angel? I’d like to fix my bangs a bit.” Fluttershy’s voice said. Looking down, I realized that I had been too caught up in Twilight’s exchange that I had forgotten all about Fluttershy and the rest of her friends. I hopped down onto one of the many stands around the room and looked out. Nothing really exciting happened for the next five minutes, while Rarity checked and rechecked everypony’s makeup and dress. Only Twilight was wearing something, but that didn’t stop her from modifying Applejack’s hat a bit.
Twilight had been true to her word. Her face had been done up excellently, and her lavender, white dress matched her perfectly. I briefly wondered why only she had to wear a dress for that, but the princesses didn’t but then I found myself at an awkward quandary. I figure that since she’s a princess she’s held to higher standards than average ponies, but at the same time she’s not a full-blown princess yet so she needs a dress to compare with Celestia and Luna;s well-known excellence. Kind of sad. Ordinarily I’d just voice my opinion to Twilight but she doesn’t speak rabbit……Or does she? I’d bet she has a book on practically everything, including how to speak to miniature rodents. Or she could just cast a spell. You can use a spell to speak in different languages right? This magic stuff has always confused me.
Soon enough, everypony’s ready. I don’t know what the big deal is. Other than Twilight wearing a dress, everypony looks the exact same, except for Applejack rubbing her eye complaining about her “coat gettin’ in her eye” whatever that means.
They wandered up a miniature staircase which for all intents and purposes looked to be hidden. Heck, they were technically underneath the stage right then. He does suppose that all this is supposed to be kept secret, but not too secretive to the point that it’s bad to hide. Just a moderate amount of secretness that it’d be embarrassing if everypony found out about but not anything to hide. These thoughts are better attuned to Pinkie Pie. I wonder what she’s doing. And sure enough she just has her eyes closed with a smile on her face humming along. Things like that going on…… makes me think that she’s suddenly going to pop up in my thoughts….
‘Hi!’ Pinkie’s voice resonates within my mind.
‘Gahhhhh!’ I internally scream. Well that does it for my interior. I’m fortunate enough that my exterior has its stoic understanding behind it.
“What’s wrong Angel?” Fluttershy’s voice flies up to me. “You look spooked for some reason.”
I try to ignore her, but then a thought occurs to me that nopony can really understand me so I voice out my concern.
“You say Pinkie Pie is inside your head?” Internally I hit myself in the head so hard I can feel my brain with my paws. I look over to Pinkie Pie and she’s still smiling, doing nothing and walking. Doing nothing and walking, doing nothing and walking, doing nothing and walking….. Somehow the melding of Pinkie’s mind and my own seems to be in effect. If I didn’t know any better Pinkie had telepathy.
“Well I’m sorry about that.” Fluttershy says when she realizes that I’ve gone silent and I remain silent for the time being as well. Not much I can really relate at this point. Eventually we come to an end to this long and elongated staircase, why do I get the feeling to say elongated, elin-gated, E-long ated, yong-gated…..
“Is everypony in positions?” Somepony kicked me out of my thoughts.
“Yes ma’am.” Twilight Sparkle says.
“Great, now get on the stage, and get that rabbit out of your hair miss.”
“Oh, ok.” Fluttershy passively said while she lifted me out and onto the ground. I ran to the edge of the stage where I could stand off to the side with the other stagepony who just asked if we were ready. The six of them all got into a certain position on the stage, forming a type of oval, with Princess Celestia out in front of them all, while Luna was off to the side. The curtain came up and Celestia smiled. One long and boring speech later, Luna being celebrated, how we’re all thrilled about Twilight and her friends yada yada yada. Eventually it got to the light show. According to the bulletin, yes I indeed can read Pony, the Elements of Harmony gather together, put on their associated Elements and then combine their individual magic with that of Princess Luna and it creates a powerful light show that apparently everypony recognizes as legendary. Apparently it’s something about rejuvenating the night sky, but personally I heard you just can’t see it for yourself and describe it to another. You just need to see it for yourself.
Finally the closing ceremony comes to a close. Princess Celestia pulls out her chest of the Elements which she summoned out of nothing. Now she’s giving it to the six friends, and…….. nothing. They’re just too damned slow Celestia gave one to Applejack, and now she’s giving one to Rainbow Dash. Ok now they’re giving it to Rarity. Yawn. When is anything doing to get really exciting? Now Twilight has to get her crown right because somehow there’s some type of arcane effect on her dress. I decide to make things interesting and run onto the stage into the group of runes on the floor.
I make it past Twilight where Fluttershy is in the background. I almost get to her when I notice a look of shock of Luna’s and Twilight’s face. Shock at me, and wait what’s that? The runes seem to be glowing a light blue for some reason. I feel Twilight try to levitate me into the air but it’s too late. It makes the rune worse and they glow a bright purplish pink. Celestia interferes with her magic as well, trying to fight back against the runic circle but she doesn’t seem to do much. I keep moving over to Fluttershy until I notice something peculiar about my surrounding. The glow is slowing my effects. I can feel myself double over in pain. I soon come to a stop without much energy to come out to move towards Fluttershy. Against my better judgment I keep moving towards her, but that makes things worse. Soon the runes glow a bright red and I can feel myself start to die out, until I touch the barrier itself and it makes things worse until the whole thing exploded.
Ponies were shocked to see all the smoke appearing, while the six friends started coughing. I looked out at them noticing that they all looked a bit smaller for some reason.
“Oh thank god that’s over.” I announce. The others just look befuddled rather than the occasional d’awwing or ignorance over my voice. I glance over at Fluttershy but a look of fear has crossed over her face. I move closer but she begins to back away.
“Fluttershy no!” I hear Twilight say behind me, but it’s too late as Fluttershy steps out of the circle while I follow her into the position that she was in before. Suddenly I feel an overwhelming surge of energy. I feel…. Kind, gentle, and mean, aggressive, angry, impassive. I roar in fury and smile an earnest smile.
“What the hay is that Twilight?” Applejack exclaims.
“I-I think it was Angel, Fluttershy’s pet rabbit.”
“A-are you sure Twilight? Angel was a small, furry little rodent, this, Ah’m not even sure what this is!”
“What are they blathering on about? I’m perfectly fine.” I say outloud by accident.
The smoke clears and the group of ponies, myself included begin examining my body in detail. Four long legs, a muzzle, black hooves, white coat. Fantastic. I’ve just been turned into a pony. That is just great. Looking myself over, I notice that a sleek black saddle has also appeared, and my hooves seem sharp as ever.
The six of them, the Princesses included just looked dumbstruck at the scene. Celestia at least has the decency to not let it show, and instead shows a stoic exterior combined with a sense of curiosity between them. Eventually I get tired of the attention and standing around that I get to work. Said getting to work however mostly requires my first task at getting off the stage. At this point, I don’t even care about walking through any other runic circles as I just plod on through Twilight’s to no effect. Before I go however, I go pay Fluttershy a visit and give her a hug. Said hug may take a bit more trouble than I’m used to however as she backs farther and farther away from me until she hits a wall. I keep moving however until she loses all sense of self-respect and runs for her life.
“Damn it Fluttershy. Get back here!” I yell, unintentionally again as I let loose a stream of a blue laser which collides with the wall and causes everything to burn. All semblance of civilization collapses at this point as all ponies below stage run away in fear. I suspect they’ve had practice at it. Twilight and her friends meanwhile look like they’re ready to attack me. I’m not going to give them an opportunity however as I jump off the stage and make a run for it. I start running for the Everfree Forest. Surprisingly Celestia and Luna don’t run after me, but Twilight and her friends, minus Fluttershy do. I suppose that since I’ve had exposure here that it’d be easier to lose them. After all, I do know of all the unique holes and and hiding places around here. Speaking of which…
I turn and dash into a nearby tree. The tree hits my muzzle in the head and shakes a few leaves off of it. Owww that hurt a lot. Damn it, I forgot I was a pony now.
End Chapter One....