Chapter 1: Mare In the Moon
"Hill... Hill... River... Hill..."
Deciding the ground wasn't interesting enough, Twilight Sparkle looked up. The late morning sky sported a large scattering of small white puffy clouds. The wind blew past Twilight, gently massaging her mane. While it felt nice, it didn't help to quench how irritated she was.
"Cloud... bird... cloud... cloud... ugh"
Twilight groaned and slumped against the guardrail with a frustrated scowl. Her morning hadn't exactly go as she'd wanted it to.
TWO HOURS EARLIER
Spike inhaled deeply. With a large breath, large plumes of green flame exited his maw. The flames surrounded the parchment and disintegrated it.
"There, it's on its way," Spike informed Twilight. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and cocked an eye. "But I wouldn't hold your breath..."
"Oh, I'm not worried, Spike," Twilight Sparkle said as she casually trotted over to the window with a smug grin on her face. She glanced out the window to the quiet streets of Canterlot. "The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she's been my mentor she's never once doubted me."
BUUUUUURRRRRRRP!
A plume of green flame burst from Spike's mouth. The fire twisted into itself and formed an emblazoned scroll.
"See?" Twilight said proudly. "I knew she would want to take immediate action."
Spike rolled his eyes and picked up the scroll. He unraveled it and cleared his throat.
"My dearest, most faithful student Twilight," he read while attempting a royal accent. "You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely..."
Twilight Sparkle grinned. She, like anypony, enjoyed being told how great she was. But this was special, seeing as it came from Princess herself.
"...but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!"
"....WHAT?"
"How did I get stuck doing the LAST thing in Equestria I ever wanted to do..."
Twilight glanced at Spike, who began to unroll the scroll again.
“My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying,” Spike continued, “So I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration hosted in this year’s location: Ponyville, and I have an even more essential task for you to complete.”
Spike looked at Twilight and smiled for emphasis. “Make some friends.”
Twilight groaned. Socializing was something she didn’t like to do. Scratch that, she LOATHED it. Never mind the fact she had little social experience; it was painfully awkward for her. Talking to ponies other than Celestia was like a chore rather than pleasure. Just like a chore, she was NOT looking forward to it.
As the buildings of Ponyville approached, a large feeling of dread built up from the pits of Twilight's stomach; the dread of actually... talking... to another pony. The mere thought was unbearable.
Noting Twilight's lack of enthusiasm, Spike rested a claw on her back. “Look on the bright side, Twilight!" He piped with a huge smile. "The princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?”
Twilight's ears perked up at the word “library.”
“Yes! Yes it does," she said, the gears in her head turning as a vague plan started to form in her mind. “You know why? Because I'm right. I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library and find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return.”
“Then when will you make friends, like the Princess said?” Spike inquired as the chariot started its descent into the bustling town.
“She said to check on preparations,” Twilight stated matter-of-factly, trying to work away around her orders. “I am her student and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends.”
Twilight looked backwards towards the shrinking Canterlot, firmly nestled into the side of the mountain. "Because the Princess asked me to, I'll try to make friends," Twilight thought. "But I'm definitely not putting a lot of effort into that. Nightmare Moon is more important."
The chariot landed in the middle of town square and the two royal pegasi pulling the carriage skidded to a halt. “Thank you, sirs,” Twilight said to the drivers with a slight bow of her head. She stepped out of the carriage and cast a long glance over her destination.
The town looked modest enough. Many colorful ponies walked through the streets of the main square, and to Twilight's surprise, they seemed oblivious to the royal carriage had just landed in their small town. Quaint wooden buildings with straw roofs spread across the edges of the streets. The town looked as if it were built in a grid structure. Twilight had to admit, the town had some good planning.
Deciding she observed enough, Twilight grabbed her checklist and gave it a quick once-over.
~~~~~~~ Summer Sun Celebration Checklist ~~~~~~~
1. Decorations and Activity Planning
Provided by: Unknown
Location: Town Hall
2. Music
Provided by: Brand Fire
Location: Parading Flames Theater
3. Catering and Refreshments
Provided by: Jinx
Location: Wonder Life Labs
4: Weather Management
Provided by: Aqua Jet
Location: 1337 Windy Street
5: Security Detail
Provided by: Prowler
Location: Ponyville Detention Center
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Twilight frowned. The first pony she was supposed to meet had a defined location, but she had no idea who or what their name was. That meant she would have to... ask other ponies about his or her whereabouts. With a heavy sigh, she magically rolled up the scroll, ready to get down to business.
"She's not getting out of this so easily..." Spike thought as he surveyed the plaza. A young couple at a cafe chatted away while they ate their brunch, laughing and obviously having a good time. Spike decided it was probably best not to interrupt them. He spied a big tan stallion that stopped to buy a pear at a fruit stand. He seemed busy and in a hurry.
“Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about?” he mused, interrupting Twilight's thoughts.
As if on cue, an eccentric-looking green earth pony bounced up. He had a long, messy white mane with black highlights that draped over half his face, and a long, messy looking tail with red highlights. His cutie mark was two crossed paintbrushes, one dipped in red, and the other in black. He stopped in front of the duo and looked at them with wide, scrutinizing eyes.
“Come on, Twilight. Just try,” Spike beckoned. Twilight forced a smile.
“Uhh…" She stammered and braced herself for the awkwardness she was sure was about to follow. "Hello?”
“Hey!" the green pony chirped with an ear-to-ear grin. "What’s your name?”
"So far so good... or maybe decent is the better word…" Twilight's legs relaxed a little. "Maybe this won't be so bad." “Twilight Sparkle. And what’s your-”
“Lemme guess, you new around here?” he asked, cutting Twilight off.
Twilight blinked twice before continuing. “Yes, I've been sent to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration that’s being hosted here, and-”
“Oh, so you’re the one I was supposed to meet!" he interrupted again. "I was wondering when you'd show up. Here, I’ll show you to the town hall right away. Come on!”
The green pony spun around and started down the main road. Twilight stood there for a second, still trying to process what just happened.
"Well, first impressions? Kinda rude and a hyperactive weirdo," Twilight thought cynically to herself. She had to trot a little to catch up to the energetic pony, but deliberately stayed a few paces behind him. The earth pony had a huge grin on his face, not seeming to notice anything around him. "Well, maybe I shouldn't be so quick to judge. His behavior is a little perky, he seemed to take to me well enough, and was friendly enough to give me directions, no less. I wonder why my checklist said "Unknown" though, he... what the?"
Twilight's gaze locked onto the green earth pony's movement and how... odd it was. He seemed to be moving in a way that was a mix between bouncing and prancing. She was repelled, yet strangely entranced by the carefree way he... prounced? They continued walking down the road, with the green pony... prouncing?... along without a care in the world, and Twilight staring at him in silence.
Twilight felt a sudden nudge on her flank. She turned to find Spike giving her an odd look, as if he were expecting something. Spike gestured with his eyes towards the eccentric pony.
"Why is Spike doing... does he want me to talk to this pony?"
Twilight gulped as she turned back towards the green stallion. "Where do I even begin talking to someone this…strange? Greetings are simple enough, but actually carrying on a conversation?" She released a quiet moan, one that she hoped neither Spike nor the new pony could hear. "I'm booksmart, not streetsmart..."
"Wait, that’s it."
Twilight's mind raced back to a self-help book she once read. "How did that phrase go again? 'Talking about another pony’s interests helps build relationships?' Oh great, I've never done anything like this before, so how can I… ugh…. Well, it’s worth a shot."
“So, uh… what do you... do?” Twilight asked, the awkward tone making Spike roll his eyes.
"I'm sorry, what?" the stallion asked. He slowed to a trot next to Twilight, giving her a look like she'd just asked him to wear a tutu. "What do I... do? What do you mean by that?"
Twilight wasn't sure what he was implying. "Like... What's your occupation?"
“Oh THAT! Well, I work at the Town Hall," he replied with a high-pitched squeal, "I’m the pony everypony goes to when they need something out of the ordinary done. I'm a jack-of-all-trades, pretty much. I like it because it's an interesting job and full of surprises." He looked up, a warm smile spreading across his face.
"Everyday's an adventure, from something as simple as cleaning to something as complicated as building a house. To somepony else they would seem normal boring jobs, but not to me! I'm skilled at making things more... Interesting..."
He winked, the corner of his mouth curling up into a mischievous grin. The green pony's voice sounded very enthusiastic, seeming to be an endless pit of boldness and gallantry. Just being around this pony made Twilight feel tired and like she couldn't keep up with his energy.
Nevertheless, Twilight felt relieved that she'd gotten that off her chest and turned to Spike with a happy smile. It quickly disappeared as she caught Spike's calm glare and folded arms. He made his dissatisfaction with the conversation very clear, shaking his head and nodding his head towards the pony. Twilight begrudgingly turned to the strange pony again, a little miffed she was being bossed around by her own assistant.
“Ummm…" Twilight tried, "What... do you do for fun?”
The pony tilted his head to the side, but somehow still managed to walk in a perfectly straight line. His smile disappeared and was replaced with a look of pure stupefaction, as if he'd been asked to wear a tutu while spinning a banana cream pie.
"What is with this pony?" Twilight thought, completely flustered by the pony's actions.
“What do I... do... for fun?" he stammered. Realization suddenly dawned on his face. "Oh! THAT'S what you meant. Well, painting is a hobby of mine, but I take a bit of pride in all of the arts and crafts-y.... arts. Part of the reason why I was given the job of decorating the Summer Sun Celebration.”
Twilight turned to Spike to see if he was finally satisfied. Instead, what she got was Spike pinching the bridge between his eyes.
“Ask him his name,” Spike suggested with a deadpan tone.
Twilight flinched and overpowered her will to facehoof. "Ugh, I am SO bad at this… does the Princess really expect me to do this?" she thought. "No, Princess Celestia gave me a task, and I will see it through. I've never failed an assignment and I won't start today."
“What’s your name?” she asked, exasperated. The green pony stopped prouncing. He turned to Twilight and gave a mischievous smirk.
“The name's Shenanigans,” he said, “and before you ask, yes, the name is the game. I love for ponies to have fun…” he winked at Twilight, “...even if it has to be at somepony else’s expense.”
‘Somepony else’s expense?’ Twilight nervously quoted in her mind. "Does he mean like pranks? Oh, Celestia help me if he does..."
"Belated, nice to meet you!" Shenanigans extended a hoof to Twilight. She hesitated at first, but eventually grabbed it. At first, nothing happened, leaving Twilight to wonder if this pony even understood the concept of a hoofshake. Suddenly, Shenanigans started vigorously shaking her hoof with enough force to shake a mountain. His vicegrip eventually released, leaving Twilight in mild pain.
"You couldn't shake my hoof like a normal pony?" Twilight gritted, her hoof now having a heartbeat.
Shenanigans laughed and gave a snarky smile. “Normal hoofshakes are boring. I like to spice it up a bit, Twilight!" His catlike grin spread even wider across his face. "Since you already introduced yourself to me I guess that makes us friends!”
"FRIENDS?" The air around Twilight suddenly dropped 20 degrees. Then raised about 60. “Yeah… friends…” Twilight stuttered, the last word leaving a funny taste in her mouth.
“All right!” Shenanigans exclaimed. “We’re here.”
Twilight looked away from Shenanigans and gasped. The Town Hall certainly was... decorated.
The building certainly looked like a traditional town hall, what with the wooden structure and white walls, but it was the decorations that made their eyes pop. Large blue neon lights laced every edge of the building, with Hearth's Warming lights draped over the roof. The entire building was decorated elaborately with balloons and shiny ribbons of all colors of the rainbow. It even had a giant yellow neon sign with lettering that spelled out, “Summer Sun Celebration" hanging over the doorway. A giant luxurious red carpet led into glass doors with giant red curtains around them.
“Wwwwooooowwww….” Spike cooed.
Shen pumped his hoof to the ground, as if he were congratulating himself for something. “Heh, the looks on everypony’s faces when they see this place for the first time,” he laughed, “so worth it! I should be thankful my pals in Las Pegasus were feeling generous enough to lend me these lights.”
Shenanigans stopped patting himself on the back and looked at the two still standing there in awe. Twilight and Spike couldn't help but stare, taking in every detail of the flashing lights of the town hall.
“So, uh, are we going to go in, or are you just going to stand out here burning daylight?” Shen asked sarcastically.
Something about the wording snapped Twilight back to attention to the matter at hand. “Yes, Right. We need to finish business here,” she muttered under her breath, “the sooner the better…”
“All right! To the entrance! AWAY!” Shenanigans shouted as he dashed into the town hall like a royal cavalier.
Twilight and Spike walked up to the glass doors and entered. The interior of the Town Hall looked much like… well… a town hall. Thin red carpets spread across the floor and long hallways with multiple paintings of obscure yet faded abstract art greeted them. The walls had a very pale beige color scheme, and there weren't many windows.
It looked normal. Nothing crazy, nothing overly dramatic or complicated. It was just simple, practical, and normal. Something that made Twilight relax a little.
“Not as flashy as the outside,” Spike commented.
“Wait, what?” Shenanigans flinched, sounding a little hurt. He surveyed the room with wide eyes. “Wow, you’re right. Hmmm….” a mischievous grin crept up onto his face.
“We’ll have to do something about that, hehehehe...” he said evilly and started to rub his hooves together.
Twilight groaned. Just when she thought she saw a bit of normalcy, it was quickly ripped from her grasp. She glared at Spike.
“What?” Spike asked. Twilight said nothing and hung her head.
“Operation Skyrocket Hall Inside Town begins!!" Shenanigans cheered, dashing from area to area, over and under furniture. "I really gotta do something about this! Look over there! Those couches need to be rainbow striped like right now! And over there, I seriously need hang like a dozen large green streamers from the balconies! And the beige walls have to go! We need like a nice orange or maybe violet! OOH! I could easily put a banner here, maybe put some glitter on it… or some lacing! What do you think, Twilight!?”
Twilight blinked, barely able to register that the earth pony seemed to teleport in front of her face.
"Wait, what was the question?" Shenanigans sat in front her, wide-eyed and expecting an answer. "Oh no! I can't be rude to him! 'What do I think?' About what? The room? What do I say? I don't know what the question was! I need... I need to figure out a response vague enough to satisfy him!"
“Ummm… errr… both?” she guessed, hoping she said the right thing.
“Both?” Shenanigans paused. His passionate red eyes drifted upwards towards the ceiling. A few seconds passed before a beaming smile spread across his face.
“GENIUS!" Shen exclaimed with starry eyes. "Why didn't I think of that? I guess it's true what they say about too many cooks spoiling the broth! ...Oh wait, what am I saying? Those people are morons. But whatever, you’re a big help Twi! So, who’s next on your list?”
Twilight twitched at the sudden change of topic. Deciding to ignore the pony's strange attention deficiency, she quickly checked her list.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Decorations
Provided by: Unknown
Location: Town Hall
2. Music
Provided by: Brand Fire
Location: Parading Flames Theater
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
“Firebrand huh?”
Twilight was so preoccupied with her list that she didn’t see Shenanigans’s head placed directly over her shoulder. All of her muscles clenched up in sheer surprise when he spoke right next to her ear.
“Well, he’s down the street, probably working on the opening fanfare,” Shenanigans said as he rolled his eyes. “He's a nice guy, but too serious for my tastes.” He looked to the side and hummed. “Well, I’ll see ya later, I need to find some orange or violet paint! Allons-y!” He crouched in exaggerated preparation and dashed out the door, leaving Twilight and Spike alone in the lobby.
“What a strange pony,” Twilight commented with a hint of revulsion.
“I think he’s alright. He’s funny,” Spike said.
“Not the word I would’ve picked…”
Twilight and Spike walked away from the town hall. They continued along the path until they stopped in front of a large classically-inspired carousel-shaped building. It sported a maroon color scheme with black and gold edges. Oddly enough, there were no windows. As they approached, soft flute music could be heard coming from inside.
"Oh, he must be rehearsing now," Twilight guessed.
She knocked on the door, and the music suddenly stopped. The door cracked open to reveal the head of a small peach-colored unicorn with a turquoise mane and blue eyes .
“Hi,” she greeted with an innocent smile.
“Hello, does Brand Fire live here?”
The filly gave a small snort. “Yeah, come in, I’ll go get him.” The little filly opened the door fully and gestured the two to come in.
The inside almost looked like a museum. The walls and ceilings all sported a red and gold color scheme, reminding Twilight of the times she'd spent with her parents at the fancy opera houses at Canterlot. A large ornate rug spread out across the tan-and-brown-checkered floor. A few mirrors and portraits of famous composers spread out amongst the walls, with numerous fancy chairs nestled against them. Staircases hugged the left and right walls, leading to a semi-circular balcony.
The peach filly went upstairs, leaving Twilight and Spike to observe the room in silence. They didn't have to wait long for something to happen as the sound of a door opening drew Twilight's attention. A skinny, yet fit-looking crimson pegasus colt with a red and yellow mane came dashing into the room. He skidded to a halt in front of Twilight and looked up at her with large curious eyes.
“Hey, who are you?” he asked with a scratchy voice.
“My name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m here to check on Mr. Brand’s music," Twilight replied and gestured to Spike next to her. "And this is Spike, he's my assistant."
“Your assistant's a dragon? Cool!”
An earth pony colt came up. This one was tan and had a chocolate-brown mane. He eyed Twilight and Spike suspiciously before turning to Spark. “So Spark, are we going to do this or what?” he asked.
The red pony replied, “Yeah, I just think we could use a little more help, Snicker. It's not easy to do this kind of thing, you know."
"Yeah, but we gotta hurry. We're running out of time."
A twinge of dread struck Twilight. These two didn't look like they had the best of intentions, what with the vague exchanges of words and Snicker's odd glares.
The tan earth pony sighed, but his expression brightened as he observed Twilight and Spike. “Hey, what if they help?” Snicker suggested excitedly, pointing at Twilight.
Twilight reeled back. A five-paragraph essay of protest assembled itself in her mind, but before she could dictate, Spark immediately cut in.
“No way! The dragon may be fun, but she’s a mare, she won’t be!”
“Ahem.” The peach filly coughed as came down the stairs. She'd evidently heard their comment, and the duo of colts started looking at each other in fear. The peach pony moved closer to the group to most likely lecture them, but they saw through her plans and dashed out the door.
“Get back here!” the peach pony yelled after them, chasing them out, and somehow in her haste having the courtesy to shut the door.
Twilight stood there dumbfounded. She didn't have much experience with foals, but surely the hyperactivity exhibited by these three wasn't normal. She certainly hadn't been that rambunctious when she was that age. A twinge of self-satisfaction spread through her when she thought about the playdates she'd intentionally missed to make for studying.
A trombone played a comic descent. Twilight turned to find a brick red unicorn standing halfway down the stairs. A trombone was levitating next to him covered in a red aura.
“I see you met the munchkins,” he said with a slight smirk on his face. He was large and stocky for a unicorn, and he wore a black pocketed vest jacket. His mane was groomed loosely back, as was his long tail. He had amber eyes and his cutie mark was a flame shaped like a musical note.
"He looks a little young to have kids..." Twilight thought.
“Are you… Brand Fire?” Twilight asked.
“I prefer Firebrand, thank you very much,” the pony corrected with a gruff yet friendly tone. “So, what brings Celestia's prized pupil here all the way from Canterlot?"
Twilight was taken aback. "He knows where I live? I've never seen him before." The red coat and yellow mane didn't ring any bells as far as she knew. The vest seemed slightly familiar, but it wasn't something flashback worthy.
"Alright, down to business; why are you here?" Firebrand asked, interrupting her thoughts.
Twilight decided to figure it out later and continue with her objective. “I’m here to supervise on how Ponyville is handling the Summer Sun Celebration," she explained, "I just need to check up on the music, which is apparently your department.”
“Got it. Come upstairs.” He turned to walk up the stairs, and Twilight and Spike followed.
"This place is huge, are you guys rich?" Spike asked placing his hand on the guardrail and admiring the sheen of the mahogany.
Firebrand gave a look that couldn't be registered as a smile or a frown. "No, just... well-connected," he stated, looking around. "We're a large family and we all get along real nicely. I recently moved out and am trying to set up a business here. It used to be a clothing store, but my family remodeled it for my line of work," Firebrand explained with a hint of disdain.
"I don't know why he's complaining." Twilight sneered to herself. "He seems to have it pretty good. Silver spoon, much?"
"But enough about me, let's talk about you." He quickly brightened up and smiled at Twilight. "Twilight Sparkle, protege of Celestia. You must have had quite the day. Do you listen to any music?” Firebrand asked.
"Some change of topic," Twilight thought as she mentally rolled her eyes. She didn't think hard about the question, as she wasn't an avid listener of music.
“Not really,” she blurted without thinking. After a brief moment, her real answer popped into her head. “Well, sometimes I listen to Beethoofen because I read in a book that he helps concentrat-“
“Beethoofen? Seriously?" Firebrand's eyes took a condescending gleam as they happened to pass Beethoven's portrait on the wall. "I was hoping for something a little more original. Come on, there's way better composers out there, like what about Dvorjock? Or Wagmare? Saddleveri's a bit of a hack but he-'" Brand stopped himself and chuckled. "Sorry, I get heated easily. You should come by after the festival. I'll introduce you to some actually decent music, as one friend to another."
Twilight narrowed her eyes. "Why does everypony in this town want to be friends with me?" she thought. "I mean, this unicorn is friendly, sure, but the apathy he has towards the chaos involving those kids unnerves me. And apparently he goes all super-critic and geeks out over anything related to something he likes..."
"Funny, one could say the same about you," Twilight's thoughts said to her.
"That's beside the point!" she argued back.
Her thoughts were interrupted as they stepped onto the second floor. "Songwriting Room" was emblazoned on one of the doors. Firebrand walked up to the door and pushed it open.
The group walked in to a large tan room. Multiple filing cabinets clung to the walls and stacks of staff paper scattered across a couple of work-desks. A pedestal in the center overlooked the entire musical ensemble. All instruments made of brass were ordered by size, with trumpet being the smallest and tuba the largest. The woodwinds were directly on the other side of the room arranged in a similar manner, with piccolo being the smallest and an enormous saxophone at the end. The percussion instruments lay at the wall opposite of the door, ranging from timpanis to triangles to drum sets, even a gong.
“I’m guessing you wanted to listen to the music I’ve done so far?” Firebrand inquired, standing on the podium in the middle of the room.
“Yes, then we’ll be on our way,” Twilight answered, anxious to get this over with. A huge smile crept across Firebrand’s face and he giddily started to shuffle his staff papers around.
“Oh you’re going to LOVE this…” he said, elated. Twilight looked at Firebrand in confusion. The serious facade dropped and he suddenly started acting like a little foal, eager to share his latest creation with the nearest pony.
“So what kind of music are we talking here?” Spike asked, “Like a trumpet fanfare or something?”
“You could say that." Firebrand said, but didn’t look up from what he was doing. He stood up and turned to his spectators. “Alright, it’s not finished yet, but I can show you the first couple measures.” He paused for a moment, then gave a garbled hiss through his teeth.
“You, uh, may want to put these in." Firebrand explained. He reached into his vest pocket and pulled out two sets of foam cylinders and handed them to Twilight and Spike. "It gets pretty loud in here. Don't want to lose your hearing!”
Twilight gave a worried look and the musical joke made by the stallion completely passed over her head. Spike, on the other hand, was pretty much handed a new toy and happily shoved the pieces of foam into his ears.
Firebrand stood tall on the pedestal in the middle of the room. With the closing of his eyes and his horn glowing, multiple instruments glowed scarlet and started levitating into the air. They began to settle in an organized manner, brass in one corner, woodwinds in the other, strings in the center, and percussion in the back. The sections halted their movement and arranged in a crescent in front of Firebrand. He paused for a moment. He then then jerked his head back and inhaled.
“Alright, Con Fuego…”
A long note could be heard quietly from the flutes. The trumpets played three ascending notes quietly, painting a perfect picture in her mind of the sun rising over the horizon. Twilight relaxed; the music was calm and put her in an easy state of mind.
“Well, this isn’t so-“
DAAA DAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!
The entire array of instruments blasted two notes with enough force to shake a building. Twilight clutched her ears; the earplugs weren’t doing their job very well. The drums started booming loudly, sending vibrations through the ground. Then suddenly… it became quiet again, just like the intro.
Twilight let go of her ears cautiously. She could hear three small notes beginning their ascent...
Realizing what was coming, she instantly grabbed her ears as the second pair of blasted notes blew through the room again. The force of the instruments literally blew through Twilight’s mane.
Then the music suddenly stopped. Firebrand removed his earplugs and turned to his audience.
“Well, that’s all I have so far,” he finished, “I’m sorry if it was too loud, but that is the volume I’ll be playing it at when I perform, because the dynamics of the rooms are different. Simulation, you understa…" Firebrand paused, now finally noticing his onlookers' condition. "Are you two okay?”
Twilight looked as if she'd gone through a hurricane. Her mane was disheveled and standing on end, and she was shaking a little. Firebrand should have been glad he couldn't read her thoughts either, because Twilight didn't exactly warm to the shocking piece.
Firebrand looked at his audience with a concerned expression on his face. “Sooo… opinions?” he asked timidly, trying to keep his bearing.
Twilight wondered how to put it delicately, “Umm… well… that… was….”
“AWESOME!!!” Spike shouted, “Your music’s really cool!”
Firebrand gave a relieved smile. “Well, I try,” he said with a hint of pride. He looked back at his sheets. “Anyhoo, I should get back to work on this. The ceremony is tonight, after all."
"You d-do that..." Twilight quivered as she backed up. She almost tripped over herself trying to get out the door.
"Oh and… Twilight?" Firebrand called, "If you want, you can come back anytime. Maybe we could take turns foalsitting.” he added with a chuckle.
Twilight resisted the urge to hiss. Firebrand turned away after he commented, so he didn’t see her obvious disinclination.
"Twilight..." Spike mumbled, "Your mane looks funny."
“What’s next on the list, Spike?”
“Food, and good thing too, I'm famished,” Spike answered over the rumble of his stomach, “we're supposed to a place called, 'Wonder Life Labs' and meet a pony called 'Jinx.'”
“Jinx,” Twilight repeated in her head. “This can only end well…”
As she walked down the street to meet the next pony, her nose caught some strange odors. She smelled chemicals and smoke, which caused Spike to sneeze. “That must be the place,” Spike sniffed.
They stopped in front of a large, ordinary-looking wooden building in front of a vast dozen acres of crops and fruits. With the steel chimney and whitish-grey paint job, one could easily suggest it was some sort of laboratory. That and the fact there was a sign posted saying "Wonder Life Labs" on the front. Twilight guessed this is where all the "agricultural" products came from.
Twilight walked up the concrete steps. A sign hung on the door, saying, "Knock quietly, pony working." Twilight found that slightly odd and raised her hoof to knock.
KABOOM!
A large explosion burst through the door, throwing Twilight back and shoving her against the ground a few yards away. Her body slid along the ground, eventually slowing to a halt.
Twilight sat up and shook her head. Her vision was clouded and low ringing buzzed along the insides of her skull. She opened her eyes but could barely make anything out due to black smoke. The foul odor of ammonia shot up her nostrils, causing her to wretch. When the dust settled, Spike came into view. He was dizzy and completely disoriented like she was. Concerned, Twilight jumped over to her assistant.
“Spike? Are you alright?” she said worriedly.
Spike's eyes were spiraling, “I... I dunno...” He sat up and blinked twice. His small body started to sway as he looked at Twilight. His expression then shifted to one of confusion.
“Wait, when did you learn the spell to make four of you?”
Twilight made a mental note to check Spike for a concussion later and looked at the aftermath. There was a giant hole in the wall where the door used to be, and wood debris lay everywhere. Twilight looked at herself and winced. Her mane was now even in a worse condition; it was sticking straight up and splotched black by the soot of the explosion. Twilight shook herself off, causing black mist to spread in the air around her. It seemed to get rid of most of the blackness on her body.
A small mumble alerted Twilight to look to her left. A stallion covered in black soot lay unmoving on his back. Before she could wonder if he was still conscious, the pony shifted his legs. He robotically inclined his body so that he was now sitting. Across his face were safety goggles with red lenses, and a small pocketed belt with test tubes and vials wrapped around his body. He lifted his goggles off his ruby eyes to survey the scene.
“Well... that didn't work...” he said softly to himself, then gave a cough, exhaling black smoke.
This new pony got up to his feet and shook himself off. He was a pitch black stallion, with a long, unkempt, and wavy black mane and tied back tail. For some reason Twilight couldn't make out his cutie mark. "Is he a blank flank?" she wondered. The stallion surveyed the damage around his house again and sighed.
“Note to self, Potassium Chlorate reacts a bit stronger than Magnesium Phosphate.”
As he continued dusting himself off, he finally noticed Twilight Sparkle.
“Oh I’m so sorry! I didn’t see you there!” the pony panicked. He rushed towards Twilight, forelegs flailing clumsily and lacking the smallest bit of grace. “Are you hurt?”
“I’m fine, just got the wind knocked out of me...” she said groggily.
“Are you sure? Nothing’s broken?” the pony asked anxiously, scouring each inch of her body with his eyes.
“Well, I have a slight headache, but other than that, there’s…”
Upon the mention of the word “headache,” the smoking black pony reached into his pouch and pulled out a vial with a red liquid.
“Drink this,” he instructed with his gentle voice, “It’ll make the throbbing go away.”
“Huh?” Twilight asked as she eyed the mysterious contents of the bottle.
Jinx gave a small grin. “A headaches cure-all potion. Made it myself,” he explained proudly. “A few sips should make it all go away.”
Twilight eyed the rubble in the area unconvinced. She didn’t think it entirely safe to just drink something that she was just handed by a random pony. On the other hoof, she didn’t want to be rude, so she reached for the vial.
“OH WAIT!” he snatched the vial away, and flushed in embarrassment. “Sorry, heh heh, wrong one. I-it’s this one," Jinx giggled awkwardly. "Whew, that would’ve been nasty…”
Twilight suddenly gave a twinge of terror. "The other ponies I met so far were just crazy, but this one... THIS one was actually DANGEROUS!" She looked at the bottle she was given and shuddered. "Still, I can't insult him... I just hope it's not going to do anything quote-on-quote 'nasty' to me..."
Twilight popped the cork off the top and guzzled a quarter of it down. It tasted very weird, like a cross between sour apples and spicy mayonnaise. She shivered as the liquid splashed down her throat into her stomach. Her head actually started to feel better, but the strange taste of the medicine still lingered in her mouth.
“Well, thanks for that,” she tried to sound thankful. “My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I take it you’re Jinx. I’ve been sent to check on how you’re handling the food. How is that coming?”
“Oh... um... Actually pretty well. The food over there, ripe for the picking,” Jinx gestured, “You can, uh, check them out if you want.”
Twilight looked at the fields. It seemed this pony had every single kind of vegetable and fruit known to ponykind. Each row contained a different selection, from grapes to pumpkins to tomatoes to potatoes to apples; Twilight could swear Jinx grew anything a pony could want to eat.
“You uh, wanna try some?” Jinx inquired.
“Well, as supervisor, I have to.” "They actually look delicious too."
“Great! Don’t worry, all the food is completely safe to eat. It wasn’t easy making these things. Really, plants are complicated stuff I tell ya. Did you know plants actually hate green light? Weird, I know; they are pretty picky when it comes to how they-“
Jinx trailed off into a long, and Twilight could swear, prepared speech of how each chemical sped up the process of photosynthesis and enhanced the brightness of each flower petal. Even though she had an appreciation for knowledge, her mind wasn’t feeling up to a lecture of this caliber, especially after the tumoil she'd gone through today. Twilight continued to take inventory, testing each plant individually and tactfully not letting on how irritated she was.
"I'm going to need another swig of the headache potion after this..." Twilight thought as she bit into a vegetable.
“-asked me to spruce up the banners with some of my color enhancers, and… wow, I never met someone that liked eating peppers raw.”
“What?” Twilight thought, her mouth full of an unknown plant. A stinging sensation started jabbing at the insides of her mouth. The stings soon escalated into a burning sensation. Twilight’s eyes bugged out, and tears began waterfalling down her face.
“HOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” Twilight screamed, almost breathing fire.
“OH MY!” Jinx exclaimed. “D-drink the rest of the headache potion! It’ll cool your mouth down!”
Twilight grabbed the vial from Spike with her magic and guzzled the rest of it down. The burning sensation stopped almost instantly. Twilight panted, completely out of breath.
“Are you all right?” Jinx inquired. Twilight whimpered in response. “Well, I’m sure you’ll feel better in a minute or two. Just... laugh it off, eheheh," Jinx exhaled deeply, then gasped. "OH SHOOT! I left some chemicals in the freezer! They’re going to spoil if they’re in there too long!” he explained quickly. “Well, I loved chatting with you; we should do it again sometime! But for now, I gotta run! See you later!”
Jinx realigned his goggles and dashed off into the remains of his lab, leaving Twilight and Spike next to the warzone of a front yard. Twilight massaged her head with her front hooves, and then eyed her empty vial.
"I'm going to need more of this..." she muttered.
Twilight deposited her vial into a trash bin as Spike greedily gobbled down his last dragonfruit. The purple dragon went through the checklist again.
“Alrighth, nexth om thuh listh isth weathuh," Spike read through his chewing. After a raised eyebrow from Twilight, he swallowed his food and continued. "It’s being monitored by a pegasus named Aqua Jet,” Twilight looked up.
The orange and red rays of the sun streaked across the dusk sky and reflected off the clouds, making the normally white clouds seem purple and blue. In fact, there were plenty of clouds in the sky. And no sign of a pegasus working on them.
“Well, then he’s not doing a very good JOB, is he?” Twilight muttered. "This Aqua Jet evidently didn't care enough to do his job on time. A tardy pony. Joy..."
SLAM!
A window opened up from the building next to them. Twilight and Spike turned promptly to see a blue flash shoot from inside it. It flew straight up into the air and started spiraling all over the sky, doing large crazy aerial loops. The flash started dispersing the clouds as it flew, slamming into small ones and gathering large ones.
Twilight could only watch in awe as the clouds were masterfully rearranged and reformed. Large round clouds were reshaped to straight and flat designs and small clouds were done away with altogether. The clouds formed perfectly covered the blue horizon, and there was not a single cloud blocking the sky where the moon would eventually be.
After a few minutes, the streak then stopped and slowly surveyed its creation. Taking this momentary pause to figure out what the flying object was, Twilight could make out the vague shape of a pegasus. The pegasus then made a large half-loop and dived straight towards the ground. It almost seemed as if the blue pegasus was going to crash, but the winged pony worked expertly and angled itself to fly in a perfect quarter circle to the ground. The pegasus eventually made contact with the ground, hooves screeching and kicking up dirt. The friction and speed caused the grass below him to catch on fire as he slowed to a halt. After taking a few deep breaths, the stallion looked back at both his ground and sky handiwork, and shrugged. He then started to trot over to Twilight.
“Ey, what's up?” he said in an airy, quiet tone.
“I take it you’re Aqua Jet,” Twilight stated, not asking.
“That’s right." Aqua Jet flicked his short, messy red mane out of his face. "Hey, I’m gonna go get some chow; you’re more than welcome to join me. Come on.” Aqua Jet trotted into his house.
"Odd that a pegasus would prefer living on the ground..." Twilight thought as she and Spike followed closely behind Aqua Jet.
As soon as she entered his house, Aqua Jet was already setting up his table, arranging white dishes and a red and blue striped tablecloth almost at lightning speed. He even brought out white dining candles, and lit them somehow. Twilight and Spike sat at their chairs with the blue pegasus still working on making an ideal dining setting. He skidded to a halt right next to Twilight, yet still wearing that emotionless face.
“So, what would you two like? Ask for anything,” he asked without emphasis.
Spike lifted a finger. "I'd like some gems, if you've got them."
Twilight recalled her earlier situation. After taste testing multiple fruits and vegetables, she wasn't feeling too hungry. Adding almost being fed a potion that would've done something "nasty," she figured she’d better play it safe.
“Maybe some water would-“
Aqua Jet dashed off and returned with a glass of water and some sapphires on a silver tray almost as she blinked. He placed the tray carefully on the table in front of Twilight and Spike, and stood back up straight. Twilight wasn't sure if he was sincerely imitating/mocking a butler or just being a good host.
“Anything to eat?” he asked.
“Uhhh… No thank you.” Twilight said, unnerved.
“Alrighty then,” He trotted over to his refrigerator and pulled out a fruit salad. “So what’s your name?” Aqua asked as he sat down.
“Twilight Sparkle,” she replied, enjoying the get-down-to-business she rarely got today. “I’ve been informed that you’re the one in charge of managing the weather," she stated with a raised eyebrow, "May I ask why you didn’t do anything until now?”
Aqua’s expression dropped instantly to one of disappointment, surprising Twilight as that was the first true emotion she'd seen him show. “Ah great..." He sighed heavily. "Look, the ceremony was being held at night; it would’ve been pointless to fix the weather until then,” he explained, resting his head of his hoof. “Call me lazy, I know, but I was at the beach and just had better things to do.”
“Better things?” Twilight asked. "What could be more important than making sure this ceremony is perfect?"
“Well, it's my job to manage the weather at the coast. I'm weather manager, lifeguard, rescue pony, all that jazz. But it comes with perks, like allowing me to practice."
"Practice? For what?" Twilight asked, then recoiled. She realized that was all Aqua Jet needed to change the subject and mentally slapped herself.
"I’m real into parkour. Daredevil Flight, the obstacle-course kind of junk," he rambled. "I plan on starting my own group of professional flyers someday, well, once I get famous enough. That means training for THAT.” Aqua pointed at the flashy poster on the wall. “The Best Young Fliers competition coming up, and that means I need to work my flank off to win that sucker and get myself recognized.”
Twilight looked at the poster in confusion. “’Daredevil Flight?’” Twilight quoted.
“Yeah. Testing your limits. Like recently I made a run through Ghastly Gorge blindfolded," he looked away and sheepishly frowned. "Almost broke my leg yeah, but it was totally worth it.”
"How could a pegasus be so nonchalant about breaking his own limbs?! Is he fearless or just stupid?"
“That sounds incredibly dangerous,” Twilight said worriedly.
Aqua Jet leaned in close to Twilight. She shuddered as she finally saw him open his crimson eyes fully and actually smile.
“That’s what makes it fun," he whispered.
“HEY! IS THAT A MARE???”
Aqua stiffened and widened his eyes in horror. Twilight nearly jumped at the sudden voice outburst.
“WHO’S THERE? IS THERE SOMETHING I SHOULD BE AWARE OF, AQUA???”
Aqua winced with clenched teeth. Twilight looked for the source of the booming scratchy voice, but she couldn’t seem to find where it came from.
“Who’s that? Your brother?” Spike asked.
“NO! He's umm...” Aqua Jet looked as if his mind was racing, “…um…heh, could you two step outside for just a sec?”
Putting on a forced grin, Aqua started to lightly push Twilight and Spike out the door. As soon as they were out he slammed the door, and loud fighting sounds and noises of a struggle proceeded. Bottles were definitely breaking and there were sounds of crashing furniture.
After the scuffle seemed to end, Aqua opened the door slightly, and was breathing heavily. His mane was ragged, and was also starting to sweat.
“I’m sorry, that… there… it’s a long story,” he said between large breaths, “I’ll tell you all about that once we’re better friends, but for now, let’s just say…” his voice lowered to a whisper, “I have a roommate I REALLY don’t like.”
Twilight gave an awkward smile and walked away slowly.
It was now nighttime. The moon slowly rose from behind the northern mountains and bathed Ponyville in a soothing silver light. Twilight would've appreciated it more if not for the fact that it reminded her of Nightmare Moon.
“Ugh, I can’t wait until this is all over," Twilight whined. "What’s next on the list?”
Spike scanned the checklist. “Security, which is supposed to be covered by a pegasus named Prowler.”
“Wait, Security?” Twilight asked, looking at Spike incredulously. “This is a Summer Sun Celebration, why do we need security?”
Spike didn't look up. “This coming from Miss ‘Nightmare Moon is returning,’” he said sarcastically.
“Touché. Where is he? We need to find him now.”
Spike looked up at the sky. “Hey, Twilight, did you see that?”
“See what?”
Spike pointed upwards. “I thought I saw something dart between the roofs…”
“It’s probably nothing. Now we need to find this Prowler before the ceremony starts and-"
“ -there it is again!”
Twilight looked up. “I still don’t see anything.”
“I know there’s somepony up there.”
“Look Spike, this is serious, we need to-“
“Hey, it’s coming this way!”
A teal flash burst from the top of a roof. It altered its course and landed on the ground near Twilight. It was a dark purple, bespectacled pegasus with bright yellow eyes and a long, windswept teal mane and tail. A cat’s eye served as his cutie mark.
He faced the stunned Twilight and proceeded to walk very smoothly in her direction. He stopped in front of Twilight eyeing her quizzically. He then started to walk around her and look her over with a frightening and piercing glare, like he was looking for something. Twilight wanted to ask what this pony was doing, but she was too petrified the pony would attack her if she moved. The pegasus then stopped in front of her, and moved two inches from her face.
Twilight was incredibly uncomfortable having a stallion this close to her face, but for some reason she couldn't bring herself to move. The stallion stared directly into her eyes, not blinking at all. After a minute, he retracted his head, and gave a smile.
“Are you… Prowler?” Twilight asked. The dark stallion adjusted his glasses and grunted.
“Yes, young mare, I am,” he answered.
“Well... my name is Twilight Sparkle, I’m here to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, and I wanted to check the security, but you weren’t here.”
“You're in luck, I just finished. Nothing out of the ordinary,” he said. “I didn’t see anypony that looked like they wanted to ruin the party, other than you, who I’ve admittedly never seen before, but…” He chuckled, the sort of laugh a fantasy villain would give. “You don’t look like anypony that would cause another pony any harm. I honestly don’t know why I hid from a pony as pretty as you.”
His voice had a strange music to it. It was almost like listening to a vampony whisper sweet-nothings into your ear before he sucked out your blood. She wasn’t really sure she could trust this pony; he seemed sketchy.
“Hid?” Spike asked, “You hide when conducting your patrols? Why?"
Prowler paused. His head slowly turned to look down at Spike, scrutinizing him almost condescendingly like Spike had said something offensive. A few second passed where nopony said anything. “Okay, this pony is really starting to creep me out,” Twilight thought.
Prowler sighed and adjusted his glasses. “If somepony’s going to break in, they aren’t going to do it if they know someone might catch them now are they?” he explained, “The smart thing to do is to make it look like there’s no security, to bait the would-be criminals into coming out; make them come to me... or I could just go look for them, wasting time and energy.”
“Can’t argue with that logic,” Spike complimented. Prowler turned his attention back to Twilight.
“Alright gorgeous, is there anything else I can help you with?” he asked through lidded eyes.
"'Gorgeous?' Is... is he flirting with me?".
“N-No," she stuttered, "You seem to be in control of the whole security thing, so, I’ll just go…”
Prowler sighed at the declination. “Alright, I suppose I’ll speak to you again sometime, maybe we could dine at my house. I’d love to have you.”
"A million ways to say that, and he had to pick THAT one." Twilight gagged. “Eh heh heh heh… bye!” Twilight dashed off towards the library.
“Twilight! Wait for me!” Spike called.
“Well, that finishes the list, so now you can…" Spike stopped. Twilight eyes were locked into the ground with an intense gaze. Air could be heard forcing its way past her nostrils.
"Twilight? Are you alright?” Spike asked.
Twilight turned to Spike with a piercing glare. “Am I alright? NO. No I’m not alright. Why? EVERYPONY HERE IS CRAZY!!! I’ve gotten screamed at, deafened, exploded, freaked out, and hit on. This is what having friends is supposed to be?! I can't wait until this dumb Celebration is all over, so we can get back to Canterlot and never see this place again!”
Spike was surprised by her sudden tirade. He folded his arms and looked away. “Gosh, Twilight, don’t take it out on me.”
Twilight winced, mentally scolding herself. “Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming and we're running out of time. I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time.”
“Twilight, you need to lighten up." Spike's voice became cheerful again. "It’s the Summer Sun Celebration; stop being such a workaholic.”
“I can’t do that, Spike. This is too important.”
Twilight Sparkle opened the door to the library. Silence. Pure silence. Surrounded by nothing but fine literature, history, and educational textbooks. Just the way she liked it.
She trotted over to the nearest shelf and started browsing for a copy of the book she'd read earlier that morning. Upon finding it, she levitated it off the shelf and opened it.
“Legend has it that in the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape and she will bring about everlasting night.” Twilight moved over to the window to look at the moon. She could see the mare in the moon very clearly, and the stars radiantly shone around it.
“I hope the Princess was right,” Twilight tried to reassure herself, “I hope it really is just an old pony tale.”
-KNOCK KNOCK-
“Oh great, what is it now?" Twilight muttered. "Spike, could you get that?”
“I’ll be there in a second,” Spike answered.
Returning to her book, Twilight tried to think. “Now where was I? Oh yes, the-“
“Twilight, it’s Jinx," Spike called back, "The ceremony’s starting and he came to get us.”
Twilight moaned. "Right as I get some free time too..." Twilight reluctantly put her book away and moved to the door. She found an unfamiliar light grey pony with a loose black mane and scarlet eyes.
“Uh, hey Twilight!" he said. "The Celebration’s starting soon, and uh… I was told you’d be staying in the library…so… you comin?”
Twlight blinked twice. She had expected to see Jinx at the door, not this other...similar one. She remembered that Jinx had a black coat, not a light grey one. The mane looked familiar, but that was it.
“Umm… who are you?” Twilight asked.
The grey pony widened his eyes in surprise. “Huh?! It’s me, Jinx! Don’t you remember me?” He sounded almost hurt.
“JINX?” Twilight exclaimed in disbelief, “But I thought you were... black all over...”
“What? OH…" Jinx shrunk in embarassment. "That… uh… well, that’s what happens when you’re in my line of work. Things can get… messy, to put it lightly. I-I got myself cleaned up for the festival.”
“We’d better get going if we don’t wanna be late," Spike added, "We wouldn't want to miss the sunrise, would we?"
"Yeah, Shenanigans would FLIP if you two didn't show up…”
Twilight entered the town hall and gave a humph; it was definitely different from this morning. The couches were all rainbow-striped and the banners were decorated with lace and glitter. The balconies were strung with festive lights and a giant chandelier hung in the center.
Twilight looked at the crowd. She recognized a couple ponies from Canterlot that showed up for the Summer Sun Celebration. There must’ve been a few hundred ponies here, all conversing. Twilight saw Firebrand off in the corner playing background music, and she was thankful it wasn’t loud like earlier.
Shenanigans bounced up behind Twilight, making her jump in surprise, then groan.
“Hey, Twilight!” he chirped, “I took your advice and spruced the place up! Doesn’t it look so much better?”
“Amazing,” Twilight said without emphasis.
Shen was able to see through her thinly veiled sarcasm. "Wow, talk about creator backlash," he quipped. "Eh, I still think it looks good..."
Twilight chose to ignore the connotations and looked up towards the sky. The white moon descended slowly towards the horizon like it always did, still with the mythical shadow of a mare painted on its surface. "Please be an old mare's tale... Please be an old mare's tale... "
The sound of booming drums signaled the crowd to quiet. Firebrand was in the corner conducting the first part of his fanfare. A middle-aged mare stepped into the spotlight.
“Fillies and gentlecolts," she announced, "As mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration.”
The crowd erupted into thunderous cheers and applause, and Firebrand cued the second part of his fanfare. Twilight kept her eyes on the moon.
The mayor continued, “In just a few moments our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year-”
Twilight's eyes widened. The stars suddenly moved closer to the moon, making it flash for a brief instant. The Mare-shaped shadow in the center disappeared.
Twilight looked at the moon in alarm. "THAT'S NOT SUPPOSED TO HAPPEN."
“-And now, it is my great honor to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria-”
Firebrand prepped the downbeat for his music. Prowler was on the second floor balcony, ready to pull the curtain to reveal their esteemed goddess.
“Princess Celestia!” The melodious fanfare sounded, and Prowler pulled the curtains back.
The Princess was nowhere to be seen.
Twilight's heart plummeted. “This can't be good.” The ponies in the room started to panic, and proceeded to chatter amongst themselves of their apparent lack of a Princess.
Firebrand was still conducting the fanfare, oblivious to what happened behind him. Aqua Jet flew over and tapped him on the shoulder.
“What is it? You just ruined my-“ he caught the scene, “Wait, where is the…"
...
“Oh.”
“Remain calm, everypony,” the mayor instructed. “There must be a reasonable explanation.”
Prowler looked around on the second floor balcony. “She’s not up here!" he announced. "She’s gone!"
The doors suddenly blew open in the wind, extinguishing the candles in the room. The electrical lights flickered and shut off. The wind began to gather and spin on the second floor balcony, and a purple mist condensed out of thin air. Everypony looked at the spectre in fear and confusion, but Twilight immediately realized what was happening.
“Oh no. Nightmare Moon!” she thought as Spike fainted next to her.
The purple mist materialized into a pony, this one with long, elongated legs, large wings, and an imposingly long horn. Her coat was jet-black and covered with cyan battle armor on her head and chest. Her purple misty mane flowed like the ocean's waves behind her.
“Oh, my beloved subjects,” Nightmare Moon smirked, scanning the room with her large blue, reptilian eyes. “It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces.”
“What is this? What did you do with Princess Celestia?” Prowler demanded.
Nightmare Moon turned to face the pony next to her and chuckled, “Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?”
Everypony in the room stayed silent, other than Shenanigans, who whispered to Twilight, “Is she going to monologue?”
Nightmare Moon scanned her audience, impatient at the lack of recognition she was getting. “Does my crown no longer count, now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" she said coolly. "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?” Nopony answered, they all simply kept looking at her in fear.
“I did, and I know who you are," Twilight stated as she walked into the center of the room.
"You're the Mare in the Moon: Nightmare Moon.”
The entire room gasped. Some broke into nervous chatter and side conversations. Shenanigans' jaw dropped and gave an exaggerated flinch.
“Well well well, somepony who remembers me,” Nightmare Moon's lips curled into an evil sneer. “Then you also know why I'm here.”
Twilight shrank back and gulped. Her mind raced as she remembered the Legend of Nightmare Moon and her original goal. “You're here to... to...”
Nightmare Moon cackled. “Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, THE NIGHT WILL LAST FOREVER!”
-
Special Thanks to Mike for helping me with the plot and Daniel for literary criticism!
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Interesting...
This is truly amazing good sir, I've noticed a lot of grammar mistakes, but I'm not a grammar nazi, so I am tracking.
I WEILD THE MIGHT SWORD OF seond god damn it
Also, thumbs up as well
>>Iambrony
WHERE? TELL ME NOW!
266584
More like a saber
i98.photobucket.com/albums/l261/guillano360/weapons/halo_energy_sword.jpg
I keep it in display to show how badass I am
266597
I MEANT THE GRAMMAR MISTAKES.
266599
To lazy to look at the mistakes!
How hard was it to come up with these names?
266605
Pretty tough. I wondered for a bit if Firebrand's name should've been Con Fuego for a while (Music, con fuego).
Shenanigans was easy.
Aqua Jet just came to me randomly, and it sort of stuck.
Prowler was a simple case of putting two and two together. This friend liked cats and was a ladies man. So...it fits.
I had to settle for Jinx, because it had to fit within the confines of musical numbers I have planned out.
266756
I am now going to say wht I say on stories that are kinda interesting and i'll track.
meh.
Ok I is dumb so are you Joshscorcher?
I've already pictured the voice actor for these guys:
Firebrand - Josh Burner (duh)
Prowler - Scott McNeil
Jinx - Jeff Bennett
Aqua Jet - Eddie Murphy
Shenanigans - Wayne Knight
Silly Twilight,
PinkieShenanigans is just pronking!I like how one of the stallions is called shenanigans
Huh... This looks a bit interesting.
1844761 Actually, I was gonna suggest these:
Firebrand: John Ratzenberger
Aqua Jet: James Arnold Taylor
Shenanigans: Tom Kenny
Prowler: Jim Cummings
Jinx: Jeff Bennet (I'll give you a point on that.)
Good cast suggestions, though.
"And over there, I seriously need hang like a dozen large green streamers from the balconies!"
I believe you meant...I seriously need to hang. Though Shen does have an eclectic speech pattern, I believe it was a typo?
Huh. I don't usually comment on chapters when there are more to read, but I did notice some writing errors. You mind if I tell?
Yer link is broken. Just thought I might be a commie about that.
I am only past the checklist, and I think this one represents Josh.
Edit: after reading the whole chapter, Firebrand definitely represents Josh.
So far, I like Jinx and Prowler. They're pretty epic! I like em all!!
I like how She's introduction includes AJ's hoofshake, Pinkie's bounciness & Rarity's artsiness
3534713 Trust me, you weren't the first one to notice.
URG!!! That pun physically HURT!
Good job, I now have a broken leg... thanks... thanks for that....
Ok, that bit made me chuckle, well played Firebrand. Heh... get it... well played... and it's a trombone.... heh... I'll shut up now....
Great, now I have a broken arm.
Ok... now it's a drinking game... take a shot every time you see a bad pun being made...
Please tell me this is going the I think it's going...
Aw, a roommate? I thought it would be a gay pony, sorry if that causes any offence, but I'm just rather interested in the concept of ponies, in this seemingly perfect world, being homosexual. I wonder if they would receive hate, like some homosexuals in this world, since Equestria is the place of love and friendship. I would love to see the reactions that the townsfolk would have to a pony being homosexual, and if they would be welcoming of the idea, or against it, or if it would be mixed, like here, some for, some against, and some who just don't know what to think. But whatever, this is a kids show, I'm taking this WAAAAAAAAY to seriously.
New best pony.
Casual day in Equestria, if you ask me.
Anyway, it seems to be a very promising story! Can't wait to see what you do with this!
Incredible! I loved this chapter so much (I finally got around to reading it).
Gotta say, Josh, it's a good story so far. The characters are a variable cornucopia (not dissimilar the show) and it's just great seeing the new way things play out. If I had to pick, I think Jinx and Prowler made the strongest first impressions on me. Jinx has a bit of a Dexter feel to him and Prowler, well... he seems to like the sexy creature of the night M.O. a bit. I'll get around to reading the next chapter soon.
As for criticism, I can't really find much of any mistakes apart for a rare missing word (I'm very guilty of this hiccup on numerous occasions). All in all, this is solid. I give the introduction a 4/5. You've got me hooked once again!
How does Twilight know Silverspoon if she just got to Ponyville?
Otherwise, great story so far.
Phew! Found it!
But now, I get to see what you were getting so embarrassed about...
king hilarious! Reminds me SO much of Pinkie Pie!
Even got her bouncy "walk" down pat!
First heard about this in your collab review of Feeling Pinkie Keen with Xain when I watched it about two weeks ago, and looked all over fanfiction.net for it. *pause* It turns out I was in the wrong fiction site.
*reads the first episode*
Okay, here we go for the new cast:
Shenanigans: Okay, this guy is f
Brand FireFirebrand: Hmm... Band, name goes with fire, and gets overly critical over something he likes... So THAT's the self-insert Xain was talking about!Jinx: You had to, didn't you, Josh? I can just imagine your outro going off when the door exploded on Twilight at the labs.
Hmm... Seems kind of like a replacement for...
...
k were you so touchy about this fanfic in that review? 
...duh...
Aqua Jet: first thing that popped into my head when I read this guy's name: "Buizel used Aqua Jet!"
This guy is obviously this universe's Rainbow Dash. But I gotta admit, I admire his motives better: Instead of joining an already established team and being "just another pony in the herd" he wants to create his own team! I can almost imagine him racing Rainbow...if only this wasn't an alternate universe where Rainbow and the others don't exist...maybe... Perhaps she's still in Cloudsdale...*thinks......* Naaaah!
And now, Prowler: .......Okay, since Fluttershy, Rainbow, Rarity, and Pinkie are taken, I'm assuming this guy is your AJ substitute. And instead of the "ethnic representative" (quote from josh's first review) we get a nighthawk womanizer... I can only hope he won't be as bad as Brock gets...
As for the chapter itself: Man, this is good! Why the f
*buzzer* Comedy effect...
Guarantee I'll be following you along with this story! Next stop: Episode 2!!!
wow just wow this took way to long to find
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there is a phrase
" born with a silver spoon in your mouth"
that means that a person (or pony) was spoiled rotten since birth
Shenanigans is best pony.
I heard over on Deviantart that the word/sound effect for quadrupedal hop-walking is now called "pronking". Is this true, or is it "prouncing"?
......................okay, I want more. Oh, oh, oh, how about a Silver-Quill cameo??
5635868 agreed, that would be cool.
If you made a fic about mane 5 meeting recasted 5 you will earn a fucktron of moustaches.
At last! After all my years of not really searching... more like knowing about it for alike 2 years and only bothering to look 10 minutes ago.
I have found Joshscorcher's self-insert pony fanfiction!
And already really appreciate the sort of self critiquing way he decided to go about portraying himself.
As such Firebrand already has the most varied and interesting selection of positive and negative traits on display of all the new characters, a nice break from the cardboard cut-out brand of oc's to be sure!
I predict his element shall be Honesty!
Also playing up the whole marine corp band thing with the connection to music.
I wonder though, were the other 4 oc's inspired by other people?
Imma lay my cards down now before the answers revealed next chapter, I think the other elements will be...
Shenanigans: Laughter (doi)
Aqua jet: Generosity (Not much to go on, but he did invite Twilight and Spike into his house and give one of them precious gemstones to eat having only just met them so...)
Jinx: Kindness (could be generosity but his actions towards Twilight seemed more born from concern for her welfare than Aqua)
Prowler: Loyalty (past his gentleman of the night bit, he seems like the type, looks like he takes his job seriously)
Either way, interests have been piqued sufficiently!
Firebrand having three kids ( I'm assuming for now). Hmmm. Does the wife happen to be a mare who goes by the name of ink rose?
.
i really like this fic. The writing is perfect and the characters are really well written. This should be fun
Hm. I haven't made a death threat about a character in the fic yet. Wonder when that will happen?
Edit
I just now realize that none of the main six have kids and their replacing 5 of the 6...
I dun goofed
rocks... trees... trees... rocks... rocks... trees... water...
broken link!
Ok, I realize I'm really late to the party, but there's a couple of things I want to point out.
That should probably say "make time for."
Let me guess. Spellcheck error? They can never appreciate a good pun name.
I nortmally don't like fanfiction that replaces the main cast with different characters, especially when one of those characters is a self-insert. But I know how critical you are of fan works so I was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt, and you didn't dissapoint me.
I expected this to go the way of most other self-insertion fics. I was expecting characters who were practically copies of the original. But you very much surprised me. You gave very different personalities, and not only that but you also created different events. My main problem with self-insertion fics is that the events in the story are exactly the same just with different characters. And even if the character is a completely different personality than the original the reactions and actions are still all the same. But you have created different personalities, and with those differences you have created different actions and scenarios then the original personalities went through. This makes the story much more interesting to read.
Getting to characters I love the new cast you have presented us with. While I was hoping we might have a female in the new cast, I can understand why you went with all guys since there are a overwhelming number of females in the show. I also like how you don't make it obvious which character is going to represent each element. In most fanfictions it becomes overly obvious to the point where it's annoying. You use a very subtle approach which is very dearly needed in the fanfiction community.
As for my predictions as to which character will bear which element:
Firebrand- I suspect to be the element of honesty. This is mostly based off how I see you in your videos which is not kind, loyal, or generous. Another character is the story did mention that Firebrand is a serious pony and therefore we must conclude that Firebrand is Honesty.
Prowler- I believe to be the element of Loyalty. This is mostly based off of his occupation. Since he is in the security detail of the summer sun celebration I can only assume that he is very well trusted, since the PRINCESS is under his protection. And in order to be trusted for a job like that you must be the most loyal person people know
Shenanigans- I think it's fairly obvious to everyone that this stallion is going to be the element of laughter. I mean the title is practically already in his name.
Jinx- I believe to be the element of Kindness. This is more of a hunch then anything else. There are a few instances in which he has been kind for example: giving Twilight that potion that stopped her headache. And the fact that he went looking for her when Time came for the Sumner Sun Celebration.
Aqua Jet- this is more process of elimination than anything. I don't feel like we got to know Jet well enough in order to actually determine what element he is yet. But the element of generosity is the only one I haven't mentioned yet so we are going with it. Plus if you keep in mind the idea of him being the element of generosity then you can see a few instances where it becomes more plausible. For example: letting Spike and Twilight into his house.
But while these characters may be completely different there are a few of them that seem to be at least slightly inspired by the original cast.
Prowler=Rarity: the reason I say that is because he seems, based off what little we saw of him, to be a very flirtatious character. And since Rarity so often seemed to use charm to her advantage I conclude that Prowler is the Rarity of this universe.
Shenanigans= Pinkie Pie: this one is pretty obvious. Shen is obviously the rambunctious one of the group very much like Pinkie Pie. Not only that but him and Twilight meet in the same time and events and Twilight and Pinkie met.
Aqua Jet=Rainbow Dash: this one, very much like Shenanigans and Pinkie Pie, is fairly obvious. Both Jet and Rainbow are major flying daredevils and plan on using this arial courage to get attention so that they may achieve a major goal of theirs.
This is where determining this becomes difficult because neither Jinx nor Firebrand are anything like Fluttershy. This makes trouble when trying to decide who Applejack is. Because you can't decide who Appkejack is without making one of the two characters we were given the timid one of the group. Really at this point I would say neither of them resemble the ithher two ponies of the original cast. However if I had to choose.......
Firebrand=Applejack: the reason I say this is because if there is one thing Firebrand is not it is putting the need of others before his own. And therefore much better matches the emotional and mental processes of Applejack.
And last but not least
Jinx=Flyttershy: much like attributing the element of generosity to Aqua Jet ththe s more about the process of elimination. Although even without that, Jinx still comes the closest to matching Fluttershy.
Personally my favorite character is Jinx. Because he's so brilliant, and he's a chemisist and I can respect a good chemisist.
Other than that there isn't much to say. The first chapter was more of an introduction for the characters, and I respect that. We are supposed to give our characters depth.
Anyway it was a great first chapter and I can't wait to see more,
I'm very interested in this alternate universe created by the Fiery Joker. I want to know more of this fantastic tale.
Am I the only one who read Firebrand's lines in Joshscorcher's voice?
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I imagine anyone who has seen these guys on Youtube read in their voices. X3
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They are the same. Try looking at FOB Equestria.