//------------------------------//
// Ch.6 Showmare, Star-bear, & Scoldings   
// Story: Sage of Harmony (Season 1) 
// by Eon Seb 
//------------------------------//

	Midnight could not believe how her friends had behaved. They had embarrassed the town and themselves. She could understand why they had been annoyed by the show-mare's attitude and tales, but they could have just left if they felt that strongly about it. All they did by challenging her was to make her show look better, and stoke her ego. “Rarity I have some mane dye remover in the bath room, so you can get your hair back to normal.”
Rarity nodded feebly “Thank you Midnight.” After Rarity left the room, Midnight turned to RD and AJ.  
“I'm kind of impressed girls. That was the most backwards thinking, incomprehensibly stupid plan I've seen in a long time. “ Both  girls looked ready to explode but Midnight cut the fuse, “I understand why you were angry at her, and I agree that her behavior was deplorable, but all you did was give her more ammunition by raising to her challenge.”
Rarity had returned by that point “Is that why you ignored her challenge dear?”
Midnight nodded “I could have freaked her out with ease” the moment she said that, Midnight's mane transformed into a mass of black and blue vines, resembling the mane of  the villain in one of spikes favorite comics.  “But all that would have done was cause trouble in the long run.”
Fluttershy, Rainbow  and Gilda all blushed at the sight of Twilight's hair. After looking at their faces for a moment, Pinkie blurted out “What kind of things do you use those for?”  
Midnight blinked in confusion before a look of realization came over her as her mane returned to normal “No-nothing like what your thinking I assure you.” despite her control there was a light dusting of pink on her cheeks. “Lets just agree to ignore “The Great and Powerful Trixie” till she leaves town, okay girls?”
“Okay!” After some thought, all the girls agreed that was the best plan of action, and went about the rest of their day.

That Evening

Spike was running as fast as he could towards home, he had to warn Midnight! “Oh why did those idiots think it was a good idea to wake up an Ursa?” Spike rushed in and slammed the door the moment he reached the library.
“Hey Spike. What's the problem?” Spectrum was looking at him curiously. Before he could answer a loud roar ripped though the peaceful night air “Somepony woke up an Ursa, didn't they?” Spectrum seemed incredibly calm in Spike's opinion.
Midnight came walking briskly down the stares “Spike stay here. Spectrum, behave while I'm out okay.”
“Right, dad” and with a nod, Midnight left the safety of the library and headed back to were the roar came from. Spectrum stopped Spike from running after her “Don't worry Spike, this used to happen all the time in the forest.” Spike was still worried but decided to trust Spectrum.
Midnight arrived near the square as Trixie admitted she had lied about vanquishing an Ursa. As the two foals panicked Midnight strolled up to the angry star-bear.  Trixie tried to stop her, “If The Great and Powerful Trixie could not stop this beast ,what chance do you have?” She squeaked when Midnight tuned to face her and she got a full view of Midnight's eyes, and teeth.
Midnight turned back to the Ursa as it unleashed another roar in her face. After blinking away the tears, Midnight unleashed her mane into its vine form before she seemed to stretch. In the next instant, the Ursa was looking eye to eye with the biggest pony it had ever seen. (Twilight is about half as big as the Ursa but is just tall enough to meet it's eyes due to the difference in body shape.)
With a deep breath Midnight unleashed an unholy scream that rattled all the window's in Ponyville, and could be heard faintly in Canterlot. Before her mouth closed, the Ursa had turned tail and ran back to the safety of the forest.
Midnight turned back to town with a sigh only to blink as she could feel the magic of a unicorn trying to subdue her “Foul beast! You may have this town fooled, but some day, I The Great and Powerful Trixie will banish you back where you belong!” These where Trixie's last words as she fled Ponyville after her magic failed to even faze the great beast.
Midnight shrank back to normal as her mane re joined. Most of the towns folk were speechless, before Rainbow's voice rang out over the crowd. “That was awesome! I have no idea how you did that, but I'm so glad you are on our side.” That did the trick and the town began praising her for her heroic act . When Midnight returned to the library she just smiled gave both Spike and Spectrum a kiss on the cheek and made sure they were all ready for bed.

In Canterlot

Nightmare started awake as the sound of a shriek was heard from Ponyville “How odd. Well, I'm awake now might as well get started.” As she trotted down the hall Nightmare noticed a light was still on in her sisters room “1000 years and she still has problems going to sleep.” With a sigh Nightmare strode into her sisters office “Tia you need to go to bed. The moons up.”
Celestia looked up from her mountain of work, surprised “Oh. Just let me finish this last proposal, Luna, then I'll be right out.”
Nightmare just shook her head  “That didn't work years ago, and it won't work now sister.” Before she could protest Celestia had been lifted by Luna's magic and was carried to her chambers after being tucked in Nightmare told her “I love you Tia but this spell is for your own good. Scholar's Blanket” Celestia fell in to the comforting embrace of sleep “Knowing her, this will be the first good sleep she's had since my imprisonment. Don't worry sis, I'll make sure to keep the day and night cycle going while you rest. A soft snore was her only answer as Nightmare left the room “Now lets go deal with that, ugh paper work” With a shudder Nightmare returned to her sisters office to finish the forms, after all how hard could it be?

Twelve hours. That's how long it took to clear all the paper work. Nightmare was so glad she decided to use magic copies to help get the work done “The nobles' faces when they enter the office to see 3 Nightmares dealing with all the proposals and legislation will be hilarious.” Nightmare had checked on her sister in the dream world, and she was right. Celestia had only been sleeping when absolutely required, meaning when she passed out every few days for a few hours before getting back to work. it was so bad her magic was at about half strength, while Nightmares had nearly doubled due to having nothing to do on the moon other than sleep and dream walk. “Based on my calculations, Tia should wake up just before the upcoming Gala and be healthier then any of the current nobles have ever seen her.”
“This is going to be so fun.” Nightmare allowed herself a soft giggle as she headed for the throne room to open court for the day, with 3 clones dealing with the office work, Nightmare was going to make sure Celestia found her work load much lighter when she woke up.
Nightmare took her place on the lunar throne “Excuse me, Princess but is your sister well?” Moon turned to look at the scribe who had spoken.
“My sister is taking a much needed rest, I shall handle business till she recovers.”
The scribe sighed in relief “Thank goodness. We have been trying to get her to rest for years, but she would never listen to us.” with that the scribe returned to her spot and the doors were opened to begin the day.

“So in conclusion your Highness, this area would be perfect to expand our gem mining operation in, without infringing on any questionable territory.” Nightmare had to resist the temptation to roll her eyes, again. She still could not understand how her sister could deal with these self important plot holes all day.
“I guess this is what happens when nobility goes from an earned title that each generation must live up to, to a hereditary birth right.” Moon checked the proposed mining area with the current maps before she answered. “The area you suggested seems to be Diamond Dog territory, or has that changed recently?” Luna had once used diamond dogs as part of her night guard and she remembered bequeathing land for the pack to retire on. While this was not the same area, she did not want to kick an innocent pack out of their home.
The noble seemed insulted, though Moon thought she looked constipated. “Those vermin. We can just send a squad of guards to handle clearing them out.” She said smiling smugly, clearly believing her idea to be pure genius.
The noble mare quelled under her monarch's chilling glare “Proposal denied. The guards are for the protection of our citizens not your personal task force. I am honestly disgusted with you, had this been empty territory or you had evidence that the pack living here was a threat, I would have considered your request, but as it stands your request is nothing but a desire for prophet at the cost of others.” Here she turned to the court as a whole, activating the Royal Voice for good measure “ Hear me petitioners! My sister may have put up with petty or greedy requests, but I will not! Everypony who has a request that would not require Royal approval may submit it to the council like everyone else, and those who have requests that would put the lives and homes of others at risk with no valid or legal cause. LEAVE NOW!”

In the next 10 seconds, 80% of the petitioners ran from the room. “Next” Nightmare was smiling broadly “That is how you deal with useless crap."