Shadow Games
Friends, Forgiveness, and Magic
Shadow Games
Celestia felt a tiny little jolt. The same jolt that she felt twice a day everyday for over a thousand years.
“What a beautiful day,” she said to herself, before she giggled.
She neatly levitated the covers off her bed, climbed out, and walked over to the window. She could already see the moon being lowered. Smiling, her horn glowed with power as she prepared to raise the sun. She blinked in surprise when the sun began to rise into the air, but without her magic.
The glow around her horn faded. “Of course. How silly of me.”
“MORNING, SUNSHINE!” Discord shouted as his head crashed through the window.
Celestia politely smiled. “Good morning Discord.”
Discord grinned and floated into the room, calming down a little bit. “Busy day today. Important day!”
“Indeed.”
“And like any important day, we start off with the most important meal! Which will be dinner, by the way. We’ll get our breakfast and whatnot tonight instead, or whenever we feel like it!” Discord snapped his fingers and donned a fancy waiter outfit. “Now then my dear, would you like breakfast in bed, at a table, or on the roof?”
Celestia tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Hmm, perhaps the roof for today. That way, I can better enjoy the sunrise with my friend.”
Discord grinned. “Splendid! Mixing things up again, are we? I was getting bored when you kept asking to eat at a table like everyone else, but once again you surprise me with your adventurous spirit!” He snapped his fingers and teleported both himself and Celestia to the roof of the Chaos Corner.
“Now then, what would mademoiselle like to eat?” Discord asked.
Celestia smiled thoughtfully before she answered. “I would very much like to have a daisy sandwich, an apple, some chocolate milk, and a piece of cake, please.”
“All excellent choices!” Discord snapped his fingers and conjured up breakfast – or early dinner – for himself and Celestia.
“You really should eat a little healthier,” Celestia said as Discord dug into his chocolate cereal, chocolate sandwich, and chocolate orange juice.
“Oh, quit worrying about what I’m eating and dig into your own meal, my dear!” Discord stared at her plate with an eager grin.
Celestia smiled and levitated the sandwich up to her mouth. But before she could take a bite, her cake started dancing and singing:
“This is your singing chocolate cake
I hope I find you well!
You’re invited to eat me whole
‘Cause I taste pretty swell!
I don’t know when your birthday is
But we can still celebrate!
For I am delicious
And my frosting is first rate!
Apples may be healthy
And sandwiches may be too!
But they can’t compare to a cake
With icing so sweet and blue!
No need to watch your weight
You’re already thin enough
Your voice is soft, your eyes are cute
Baby, you are hot stuff.
Meals aren’t the same without me
So to dessert we all say yes!
So please, oh please let’s end this song
I’m out of rhymes, I must confess!”
Celestia giggled and clapped her hooves as the cake fell down on its plate, exhausted and out of breath from the song. “Bravo! A wonderful performance. Encore!”
“Encore?!” the cake screamed.
“Ha, ha! Oh Celestia, stop tormenting the poor thing. End the cake’s suffering and just eat it already!” Discord laughed.
Celestia smiled and the cake cheered as she levitated it up to her face and took a bite out of it. When she was finished with her meal, she stood back up and stretched, feeling the sunshine on her feathers. “Thank you for the meal. I would also like to thank you once again for allowing me to temporarily stay with you in the Chaos Corner.”
Discord waved his claw. “Come now, you’ve already thanked me twice.”
“They say that the third time is the charm. And you are a very charming person, Discord,” Celestia said.
Discord chuckled. “Careful, Celestia. If old Sombra heard you say that, he’d think you were flirting with me.”
Celestia's smile faded a little as stared at Peaceville from the rooftop of the Chaos Corner. “I have gone on a few dates with King Sombra since my return. I still consider him a dear friend, but a lot has changed between us. I know I have feelings for him, but now those feelings are more difficult to understand than they were a hundred years ago. I am not sure what relationship I share with him now.”
Discord tilted his head and scratched at his ear. “Sorry, could you repeat that? I think I have an frog in my ear.” He pulled out a frog, which sprouted wings and flew away. “Ah, there it goes! Now then, you were saying?”
Celestia turned around and smiled. “Forgive me. An old mare’s prattling, nothing that you should worry about. In any case, I believe we were going to see Gilda today. If it’s alright with you, I’d like to take the scenic route.”
Discord shrugged and vanished with a flash of light. Once he had disappeared, Celestia flapped her wings and gracefully flew into the air. She took a leisurely flight to Gilda’s house, smiling and waving at every pegasus, bird, and changeling who flew by her. Eventually, she touched down on the ground beneath Gilda’s cloud house. Rainbow Dash and Gilda were already there, along with Nightmare Moon, Sunset Shimmer, Trixie, Chrysalis, Discord, Rarity, and Fluttershy.
Gilda was the first one to see her touch down. “Hey Celestia. What’s up?”
Celestia smiled. “Hello everyone. To answer your question Gilda, I’m here for the same reason we all are. Unless I’m mistaken, today is the day you receive word on whether or not you and Rainbow Dash have been accepted into the Shadowbolt Academy.”
Rainbow grinned. “You got that right, princess!”
Celestia giggled. “Please Rainbow Dash, I’m no longer a princess. I’m just Celestia.”
“If I may say so Celestia, it’s rather difficult to think of you as anything less than a princess,” Rarity said. “Why, your very presence just screams royalty! Every word you speak is carefully chosen with such eloquent phrasing, your every movement is graceful to the point of perfection…and I feel as if you’re not even trying!”
Sunset Shimmer shrugged. “Maybe that’s just the way she is, Rarity.”
Celestia blushed and giggled again. “You flatter me far too much, my friends.”
Gilda cleared her throat. “Hey um, can we focus on why we’re all here? I don’t mean to cut in, but this is kinda a big moment for Dash and me.”
Celestia nodded and sat down on the grass with a gentle smile. “Of course. You must be very excited about this opportunity.”
“They’re excited. But I’m nervous,” Fluttershy said as she fearfully eyed the mailbox. “Oh dear, I really wish the mail would hurry up. I mean, I don’t want to rush those nice post office people, but I’m just so nervous.”
Discord sighed and looked at a watch that appeared around his arm. “You don’t want to rush them,” he muttered. “Pardon me ladies, I’ll be right back,” before he disappeared with a snap of his fingers.
Nightmare smiled. “Fluttershy, it’s nice that you want Gilda and Rainbow to be accepted, but you really need to calm down. You’re acting a lot more nervous than they are.”
Fluttershy sniffled. “But being a Shadowbolt has always been their dream.” She turned to face Gilda and Rainbow. “I don’t want to see your hearts broken if you’re not accepted.”
Gilda rolled her eyes. “Heartbroken? Me? Come on Flutters, have a little more faith in me. We’re made of stronger stuff than that, right Dash?”
Rainbow smirked confidently. “Yep! In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if they made us Shadowbolts on the first day!”
“The process is a little more complicated than that,” Celestia said.
“Complicated? In what ways could it be complicated?” Trixie asked.
Before Celestia could answer her, Discord reappeared with a flash of light. “Sorry for the wait, but you’ll be happy to know that the wait is over!” He handed Gilda and Rainbow two letters. “Your acceptance letters, my friends.”
Rainbow eagerly snatched up her letter and ripped it open with her mouth. Gilda, trying to look cool and uninterested, took her own letter and ripped it open with her beak. She skimmed through the letter and smirked. “What’d I tell ya? I’m in.”
“I…I’m not,” Rainbow whispered.
“What?! Let me see…” Gilda reached out for the letter but then hesitated. She drew her claw back and smirked. “You almost had me there.”
Rainbow chuckled. “Darn. You always see through my pranks. Looks like we’re both going to be Shadowbolts!” She gave Gilda a victory hoof-to-talon bump.
Chrysalis smiled. “Congratulations you two.”
“Congratulations indeed! This calls for a celebration!” Discord readied his talons and fingers. “I’ll get the trampoline.”
Gilda patted his back with a wing. “As much as I’d love to party right now, me and Dash need to get going. The sooner we get there, the sooner we can show them our stuff!”
Sunset chuckled. “Aren’t you going to be there for over a week? You have plenty of time.”
“Hey, let us worry about all that,” Gilda said. “What I want to know is how you guys are going to survive a full week without us.”
Rainbow smirked with her best friend. “She’s right. Awesome deprivation is a very serious matter.”
Sunset snorted and rolled her eyes. “I think we’ll manage just fine.”
Discord smiled. “No need to worry about us. We’ll just be getting some filler out of the way.”
Gilda raised an eyebrow. “Filler?”
Nightmare shot Discord an odd look before she turned to Gilda. “What he’s trying to say is that on Tuesday we’ll be at Canterlot, helping them with the preparations for the Everfree Games.”
Rainbow’s eyes widened. “The Everfree Games? The most exciting sporting event in all of Everfree? I can’t miss out on seeing the games!” She bit her hoof nervously. “Oh, but I can’t not go to the Shadowbolt Academy! But…”
Nightmare patted Rainbow on the back with her wing. “I said the preparations for the games. We’ll just be setting up decorations and other things I’m sure you’d get bored with. The Everfree Games themselves are months away; you’ll be here to see them. In fact, if you do well in the academy, you might be able to join the Shadowbolts for the events.”
Rainbow slowly grinned. “Awesome…”
After several seconds had passed, Trixie walked towards her and waved a hoof over Rainbow’s face. “Rainbow? Are you okay? …Do you need the Great and Powerful Trixie to hypnotize you? Trixie has been learning the art of hypnosis for her new act, and she would be happy to wake you up from your trance!”
Gilda chuckled and nudged Rainbow. “I think she fainted from awesomeness overload.”
Rainbow blushed. “What? I didn’t faint!”
“If you did faint, it would have been pretty impressive with you still standing up,” Sunset commented.
Celestia smiled as she levitated two traveling bags over to Gilda and Rainbow. “I believe these are your bags. And I believe that we must depart for the academy soon.”
Gilda and Rainbow both flapped their wings and hovered in the air. “Yeah, we better get going.” Gilda blinked and turned to Celestia. “Wait, what do ya mean ‘we’?”
Celestia giggled. “Oh, I don’t want to spoil the surprise for you.” She turned to Nightmare and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ll see you in my dreams, my little knight.”
Nightmare blushed. “Aunt Celestia, not in front of my friends,” she whispered.
Celestia giggled, flapped her wings, and flew into the air. Gilda and Rainbow looked at each other, shrugged, and followed her lead.
As the pegasus, griffon, and alicorn flew away, Discord and the rest of their friends waved to them. “Bye Gilda! Bye Rainbow! Call me Celestia!”
Sunset chuckled. “She’s not gonna call you.”
Discord frowned and blew a raspberry at her. “Don’t you have a crystal wall to go kick?”
Nightmare sighed and began to walk back to the library. “Well, that’s done. Remember, we’re going to Canterlot in a few days. If any of you need me you know where to find me.”
The next day, Rainbow and Gilda grinned at each other as they stood together in the lineup. They were finally at the Shadowbolt academy, located in a large cavern embedded in the side of a very tall mountain. The humongous hole in the mountain’s side was the only source of light and spare clouds for the entire academy. The Shadowbolts liked to stay close to the skies, just as much as they liked the darkness that could be found in a huge cave. Even though it was still daytime, the shadowy cave and the numerous clouds blocking all the sunlight from coming in kept the Shadowbolt academy nice and dark. Gilda and Rainbow had already filled out all the forms they needed and been assigned their rooms. After they had dropped their bags off in their rooms, they lined up with other pegasus ponies, other griffons, a few teenage dragons, and a few changelings.
“Well, well, well. Look at what we have here.” The eager Shadowbolt trainees looked to their right to see Nightingale, the leader of the Shadowbolts, walk towards them. Lightning Dust walked next to her, jotting things down on a clipboard.
“Bet you all think you’re Shadowbolt material, don’t ya?” Nightingale asked as she marched past the trainees.
“Yes ma’am!” the trainees shouted.
“Here we go again,” Lightning Dust muttered under her breath.
“Think you’ve got what it takes to be an elite flyer?” Nightingale said as she marched back, staring down the trainees.
“Yes ma’am!”
“Morons,” Lightning muttered.
“Well, let me be the first to tell you…” Nightingale turned around and gave the trainees a cold glare. “You don’t. If you had what it takes to be a Shadowbolt, then you would already be a Shadowbolt. That’s why you dunderheads are here.” A few trainees shivered at Nightingale’s voice. She wasn’t shouting, which some of them had expected. Instead her voice was as cold as frost.
Nightingale got up in Rainbow’s face and glared at her. “Ah, Rainbow Dash. Lightning told me about you. Think you’re hot stuff after that little Sonic Rainboom you did? Think a tiny, little thing like that could make up for what you did to Clouds-Edge?” Rainbow and Gilda both winced at the reminder, but remained standing at attention. Unfortunately, Nightingale still saw that wince. “Did you just wince? Are you wimping out on me? Do you know what happens to wimps in this academy? They get thrown out of this cave, in the dead of night, during the worst storm we can make. Then, those spineless cowards have to climb all the way back up and beg me to kiss their boo-boos better. So I’ll ask again, are you wimping out on me?”
“No ma’am!” Rainbow shouted.
“Liar,” Nightingale hissed. “I bet you’ll be the worst flier in the whole academy. You’ll probably give up after the first day.”
Rainbow frowned. “No ma’am! I’ll never give up, ma’am!”
Nightingale turned away. “Oh, we’ll see about that.” She glared at Gilda next. “What do we have here? Little miss Element of Zeal. You think just because you wave around a fancy necklace that you’re something special?”
Gilda frowned. “My Element isn’t the only thing about me, ma’am!”
Nightingale smirked coldly. “Is that so? Good, I can’t make a Shadowbolt out of a tiny hunk of metal. So hopefully, you’ll fly half as good as one.” Next, Nightingale walked up to another pegasus mare. She had a yellow coat, and a bright orange mane and tail. “What about you hot stuff? I bet you couldn’t even fly past the first flag pole without crashing into a wall.”
The fire-coloured mare smirked. “Try me, ma’am.”
The other trainees glanced at the mare, but didn’t dare break formation. Lightning’s eyes widened as she stared at the mare. “She’s dead,” she muttered.
Nightingale got in the mare’s face and hissed. “What was that?”
“All this talking won’t impress you, so let me show you what I can do, ma’am!” the mare said.
“Alright then. Give me three hundred laps. All of you,” Nightingale ordered.
“Only three hundred? A hundred years ago, we were doing almost twice that much.” Gilda, Rainbow, and all the other trainees stared in shock as Celestia flew towards them and touched down on the ground.
“Celestia? What are you doing here?” Gilda asked.
Celestia smiled and showed them the Shadowbolt badge she wore. “I volunteered to be one of the instructors for this academy. Miss Nightingale and Miss Dust are very busy mares, so I thought I could help them with training.”
Nightingale glared at Celestia. “Could you stop glowing? It’s bugging my eyes.”
Celestia giggled. “I’m not glowing Miss Nightingale. I believe that is simply the sunlight from outside reflecting off my coat.”
“Oh yeah. You used to raise that old ball of gas.” Nightingale scowled. “Don’t you know the sun is bad for your skin?”
“Only in excessive amounts, I believe,” Celestia said.
Nightingale frowned and turned around to face the trainees. “What are you still doing here? Get those chicken wings of yours flapping. Now.” Nightingale gave her whistle a blow, and the trainees saluted.
“Yes ma’am!” the recruits shouted. They all flapped or buzzed their wings and took off into the air.
As the trainees flew, Nightingale turned to Celestia. “Aren’t you supposed to be training the junior members?”
Celestia smiled. “You’re quite right. I just wanted to see how you were doing.”
“I don’t pay you to stand around and stare at the new recruits,” Nightingale said.
Celestia giggled. “You don’t pay me at all, ma’am. I’m here as a volunteer.”
Nightingale scowled. “Wipe the grin off your face before I throw you into a thunderstorm. And get back to training the junior members.”
Celestia smiled and saluted her. “Yes, ma’am!” she said before she flapped her wings and flew off.
Lightning looked up at the trainees as they flew their laps. “They’re doing pretty good, don’t you think, ma’am?”
Nightingale nodded. “They are. Of course, they can’t know I said that. How do you think I’m doing, is my voice cold enough?”
“You don’t need to shout in order to be scary. You’re doing fine, ma’am,” Lightning said with an encouraging smile.
Much later, the trainees touched down as they finished their three hundred laps. Gilda and Rainbow both took a few seconds to catch their breath before they grinned at each other. Gilda turned around to face the other two pegasus ponies that had managed to keep up with them during the exercise. It was the fiery pegasus mare from before, followed by a light blue pegasus stallion with dark blue hair. “You guys did a pretty good job.”
“Thanks,” the pegasus said. “I’m Spitfire and this is Soarin.”
“Hey there,” Soarin said with a smile.
“You guys want something to eat in the mess hall?” Spitfire asked.
“You bet! I’m so hungry, I could eat meat!” Rainbow grinned at Gilda. “Remember that G?”
Gilda rolled her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Shut up Dash.”
“Aw, but then we wouldn’t get to hear the sweet sound of her voice,” Spitfire said with a smirk.
Gilda smirked back at her. “Ooh! I like you. You’re snarky. I think we’re going to get along just fine.”
“And now, the Great and Powerful Trixie will hypnotize these two lovely mares!” Trixie declared. She looked down at Sunset and Lyra, who were lying down on the table. “Anything in particular you want the Great and Powerful Trixie to do to you?”
Lyra smiled. “Ooh! Ooh, ooh, can you make me think I’m a dragon? What about a minotaur? A...human?”
Sunset shifted uneasily. “You can do whatever you want Trixie. I’m just here to help you out. But nothing involving my mouth!” she warned Trixie. “I don’t want to wake up and find that I kissed someone or ate something that I wasn’t supposed to.”
“Aw, and I had a frog in his finest suit all ready for you,” Discord said as he teleported inside Trixie’s magic shop. He was sitting on top of a large toy space ship, with Smog sitting behind him. He was also drinking from a bottle of blue orange juice in his paw.
Smog blinked in surprise. “Oh, hey guys. What are you doing?”
Trixie grinned. “The Great and Powerful Trixie is about to hypnotize these two wonderful assistants into believing they are a different animal.”
Sunset smirked at Discord. “Why don’t you hypnotize me into being him? It might be fun to think I’m a complete goofball.”
Discord tossed the bottle over his shoulder and hopped off the space ship. “Aw, you’re plenty goofy when you want to be Sunny!” he said as he tousled her mane.
“Quit it!” she shouted as she tried to edge away from his paw.
“What are you guys doing?” Lyra asked politely.
Smog shrugged. “Just playing a game. Discord is feeling kinda bored and Nightmare doesn’t need me to do anything right now, so I thought I’d hang out with him for a bit.”
“Does anyone else find it odd that Celestia left with Gilda and Rainbow? Perhaps we should visit this Shadowbolt academy and see what sort of mystery they’re hiding from us,” Discord suggested.
Sunset shook her head. “I dunno. What if they’re in the middle of training?”
Discord sighed. “I suppose you could be correct.” He shrugged and smiled. “Oh well. Perhaps Smog and I will seek out the Cutie Mark Destroyers and see what they’re doing.”
Sunset glared at him. “Discord, if I come back to my farm and I see a giant bubble of chaos, I’m going to-”
“And there he goes,” Lyra said as Discord and Smog vanished. “But I’m sure he heard you. Ooh! What about a changeling?” she asked excitedly. “OOH! What about an alicorn? We could be hypnotized into thinking we’re related to Nightmare!” Sunset tapped her chin in thought. Something about what Lyra said reminded her about something that Nightmare said once.
Trixie chuckled. “Yes, yes, all very good suggestions!” She smiled and pulled out a pendulum. “Now, if there are no more interruptions, let the show begin!”
“Woohoo!” Scootaloo cheered as she flapped her wings and came in for a smooth landing. “That was awesome!”
Celestia smiled in encouragement. “Well done Scootaloo. You managed to recover in eight seconds.” She turned to face the younger dragons, griffons, pegasus ponies, and changeling nymphs. “And with that, our game for today is finished. You all did very well. Remember to get yourselves a nutritious dinner from the mess hall before you return to your rooms.”
Gilbert flew over to Scootaloo and smiled. “You did great! One second faster than me!”
Scootaloo blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Well, it was only one second. It’s not that big of a deal.”
“Gilbert? Scootaloo?” The young griffon and pegasus turned around to see Gilda hovering in the air above them.
“Gilda!” Gilbert flew up to his cousin and gave her a hug. “What are you doing here?”
Gilda chuckled. “I could ask you the same thing. What are you two squirts doing at the Shadowbolt academy?”
Scootaloo grinned. “Didn’t you hear? It’s a new program the Shadowbolts are doing. Junior Shadowbolt training camp!”
Gilbert grinned with her. “Yep! Now I don’t have to wait until I’m older to begin training.”
Gilda blinked. “Hold on kiddo, I’m a little confused here.”
“I thought I already told you and the other trainees about this?” Gilda glanced over Gilbert’s shoulder to see Celestia, smiling patiently.
Gilda’s eyes widened. “You said you volunteered to be an instructor. You’re training my cousin?”
Celestia smiled warmly and nodded. “Not just your cousin of course. The Junior Shadowbolt training camp was formed quite recently. Now, Shadowbolt academy is specifically designed to help train pegasus ponies and other flying creatures who wish to be part of this elite flying team. The training can be very difficult, and not everyone passes the numerous tests. But for many stunt flyers, it is a dream worth pursuing. The Junior Shadowbolt training camp was created to help younger flyers to develop the skills they might need to join the Shadowbolts when they become adults, should they still desire to join the team.”
Gilda frowned thoughtfully. “Isn’t that what Junior Speedsters flight camp is for?”
Celestia smiled and gently shook her head. “That is to teach younglings about the basics of flight. Here at the Junior Shadowbolts, we cover more extreme flying techniques. In some cases, they are the same training exercises that you are your fellow trainees go through, but at a level that is more manageable for younger flyers.”
“We got to ride the Dizzitron today!” Scootaloo announced.
Gilda’s eyes widened. “Whoa! You guys went on the Dizzitron? What time did you get?”
“Nine seconds!” Gilbert announced proudly.
“Eight seconds!” Scootaloo announced at the same time.
Gilda whistled. “Sweet. Dash and I both got six seconds.”
Gilbert and Scootaloo both stared at her in awe. “That’s so awesome! Did you two really tie for the best time?” Gilbert asked.
Gilda shrugged. “Well Dash, might have been faster. But really, five and a half isn’t much of a difference.”
“HA! I knew Dash was faster. In your face!” Scootaloo said, grinning at Gilbert.
Gilbert glared back at her. “That’s probably just ‘cause Gilda was going easy on them!”
Celestia and Gilda both chuckled as Gilbert and Scootaloo began arguing. Celestia turned to Gilda and smiled. “I hope you are feeling less confused now.”
Gilda shrugged. “I guess so. I’m still not sure why you’re their instructor though.”
Celestia smiled at Gilbert, Scootaloo, and all the flying kids she was helping. “I enjoy teaching children. I also enjoy learning from new experiences. Sometimes it’s important to push ourselves a little.”
Gilda sighed. “Nightingale said something like that to you too, huh?”
Celestia noticed Gilda’s gloomy expression and gave her a patient smile. “Did something happen between you and Nightingale?”
Gilda sighed. “I had a talk with her after lunch today. We did the Dizzitron last night. She said we would be doing most of our training at night to get our eyes used to the dark. Anyway, Dash and I both got great times. But this Spitfire mare and her friend Soarin did pretty well too and they asked to put the Dizzitron at maximum speed.”
“Oh dear. That could have been quite dangerous. Are they alright?” Celestia asked, her voice dripping with concern.
“Yeah, they’re fine. The point is, Nightingale made them lead creatures and us the wing creatures.” Gilda frowned. “It’s bad enough that I have to take orders from Spitfire, but now Dash and I aren’t part of a team.”
“Have you had a disagreement with this Spitfire?” Celestia asked.
Gilda groaned. “Spitfire’s fine. She’s cool. It’s just…I wanted it to be me and Dash.”
Celestia smiled and placed a comforting wing on Gilda’s back. “It may not be what you expected, however you and Rainbow Dash are still part of a team. You’re both training to be Shadowbolts, to be part of one of the most elite flying teams in Everfree. And being part of a team means getting used to working with others who may not be as close to you as Rainbow Dash is. Did you not experience something similar when you first aided my niece in protecting our kingdom?”
Gilda blinked. “Huh. I guess Nightmare was the new girl in town before she became my friend.” She glanced at Celestia. “Push ourselves to try new things, huh?” Celestia smiled and nodded. “Alright then. Good talking to ya Sunny. Good luck with the kids.” With that, Gilda flapped her wings and flew off towards the mess hall.
It was a wonderful Tuesday morning. Discord and Sunset were sitting inside Canterlot castle. Sunset was reading a book while Discord was groaning loudly, trying to get her attention. “Oh my goodness, I’m so BORED!”
Sunset sighed. “Oddly enough, I’m getting a little bored too. But on the bright side, Chrysalis, Nightmare, and the others should be finished showing Miss Peachbottom around soon.”
Discord groaned again. “I already finished with decorations. The majority of our time here has been showing her around. You know, I thought there was supposed to be a lot more preparation required for these Everfree Games.”
Sunset shrugged. “The people who set these events up usually don’t have a friend that can just poof all the preparations into place.”
“Hmm. Speaking of friends who can poof stuff into place, what do you suppose our dear friend Pinkie has been up to?” Discord asked.
“I’m not sure. She’s been sorta quiet lately…”
“Too quiet?” Discord asked with a mischievous smile.
“Actually, yeah.” Sunset stared out the window in thought. “And for some reason that scares me.”
While they were talking, Nightmare, Chrysalis, Trixie, Smog, Rarity, and Fluttershy walked in through the doors. “Well, it took a lengthy tour and a lot of sucking up, but Canterlot has been confirmed for the Everfree Games,” Smog announced.
Rarity smiled. “I thought it was a rather enjoyable tour myself. Miss Peachbottom was a lovely mare too, even if her assistant was more difficult to impress.”
“Thank you everyone,” Countess Cadance said as she walked down the stairs to greet the eight of them. “I really think these games are what the people of Canterlot need to brighten up their spirits.”
Fluttershy smiled. “Hi Cadance.”
Cadance smiled back. “Hi Fluttershy. Sorry I couldn’t meet you all out here sooner. Shining Armor was telling me about some rather…unique ideas that some of the Canterlot citizens came up with for the games.”
“I thought he was at a meeting with King Sombra?” Nightmare said.
“Actually, King Sombra postponed the meeting.” Cadance sighed. “The people of Canterlot have been asleep with Celestia for a long time. They’re not sure what to think of our empire, and they still have a lot of questions for King Sombra so I guess we’re taking things slowly to ease their minds.”
Chrysalis and Nightmare fidgeted a little. “I’m a little curious too. What is King Sombra planning to do with Canterlot? He already rules the Crystal Empire, so what’s going to happen to the people here?” Chrysalis asked.
Cadance smiled gently. “He said he has a few ideas that might work, but he needs a little more time to plan everything out in his head.”
Nightmare sighed. “Well, he’s never steered our empire wrong before.”
Discord groaned loudly. “Yes, yes, the Canterlot situation is a big, jumbled up mess. Not exactly a fun mess either. Can we go home now? I’m bored out of my skull here.” To illustrate his point, Discord popped his head off his neck, and threw it like a bowling bowl down the hall. His head collided with miniature figures of Mare-Do-Well lined up like bowling pins. Once the figures were knocked over, Discord snapped his fingers and reattached his head to his body. “Honestly, I’m running out of things to entertain myself with.”
Nightmare chuckled. “Yes, I suppose things are a little boring around here when Aunt Celestia isn’t around. Countess Cadance? Do you have anything else on your schedule for today?”
Cadance blinked. “Oh! Are you inviting me to something?”
Nightmare smiled. “That’s what I was implying, yes. Just a friendly visit to Peaceville, nothing too formal.”
Fluttershy smiled shyly. “W-would you like to see how things are going in m-my store?”
“That does sound nice,” Cadance said. She smiled as an idea struck her. “Maybe there’ll be a monster or something attacking the town. Peaceville always seems to be full of excitement!”
Discord chuckled. “When you say it like that, the name sounds a little ironic, doesn’t it?” He floated higher into the air and stretched out his limbs. “Well, I’m glad we’ve wrapped things up in a nice little bow here. Any longer and I might have invited Eris here just to keep myself occupied.”
Sunset hummed thoughtfully to herself before she spoke up. “Um, Nightmare? Before we go back home, do you mind if I ask you something?”
“I don’t mind,” Nightmare said with a small shrug.
“When we were going to the wedding in the Crystal Empire, you said we might get a chance to meet your dad. But because of, um…” Sunset glanced at Cadance and Fluttershy. “...Certain events…we never got around to meeting him.”
Nightmare smiled. “Oh. You’re right; we never did get around to that. Well, it’s just a minor detour before we go back home. Are you all curious?” She paused as her friends nodded in shared interest. “Very well then. Discord, if you could take us to the Crystal Empire, please.”
“About time something interested happened today,” Discord said as he snapped his fingers. With a flash of light, they all appeared in a hallway somewhere within the Crystal Castle.
“And so by the time we got her out of that cave, she was completely covered in…oh, hello there.” The Elements and their friends turned around to see Corporal Blueblood talking to Captain Luna.
“Hi Corporal Blueblood. Hi mom!” Nightmare said cheerfully.
Luna smiled at her. “You’ll have to finish telling me that story another time, Corporal.”
Corporal Blueblood smiled at the Elements and gave a salute to Luna. “As you wish Captain Luna.” Blueblood turned around and walked down the hallway away from Luna and Nightmare as the two of them broke into their favourite song.
“Sun shines and Moon gleams
Owls awake!
Clap your hooves
And give your wings a little shake!”
As the two of them finished singing, Luna gave her daughter a hug before she turned to face their friends “It’s good to see you all again. To what do I owe this surprise visit?”
Sunset smiled. “Nightmare said she was going to introduce us to her dad.”
Luna’s eyes widened. “Truly?”
“Before I said I was going to tell them during the wedding, but you know what happened there. I guess I forgot about the subject until Sunset brought it up again. So…” Nightmare stared at her mom with a hopeful smile.
Luna tapped her chin in thought before she slowly nodded. “I suppose now is a good time. You’ll have to excuse me while I go speak with him.”
“No problem. We remember where it is,” Smog said. Luna smiled as her horn glowed. She vanished in a flash of light as she teleported to another part of the castle.
“Follow me everyone. You’re about to see a secret of this castle that few ponies know about,” Nightmare told her friends with a mysterious smile. They followed Nightmare through the castle, all the way to the throne room. Sitting in her throne was Princess Twilight, talking to Philomena who was perched on top of her throne.
“Are you sure about that?” Princess Twilight asked the phoenix.
“Yes Princess Twilight. I promise you that I’m not lying,” Philomena chirped.
Princess Twilight sighed. “Okay then. I suppose I’ll just have to take your word for it.” She looked up at she heard Nightmare and her friends enter the throne room. “Oh! Hello everyone. Luna told me what’s happening. She should be waiting inside for you all.”
Nightmare gave the princess a bow and smiled. “Would you like to come with us Princess Twilight?”
The princess smiled back. “I think I have time in my schedule. Philomena, go on ahead and tell King Sombra that I’ll be there in a hour or so.”
Philomena sighed. “Yes, Your Majesty.” She flapped her wings and flew off the princess’ throne. As she passed by Smog, she hesitated before she briefly touched down in front of him. “Smog…Nightmare…I just wanted to say…sorry. For…for those things that I did to you.”
Nightmare and Smog exchanged glances before they looked at Philomena and smiled. “Apology accepted,” Nightmare said. Philomena nodded and flew out of the room without another word.
Once Philomena left the room, Princess Twilight got off her throne, turned around, and faced the wall behind King Sombra’s throne. Her eyes narrowed in concentration as her horn glowed, her magic’s aura taking on a darker colour as she focused on a particular spell. She fired a beam of magic at a large crystal embedded in the wall. Reacting to her spell, the wall behind the thrones slid up to reveal a secret passage. Nightmare Moon and Princess Twilight led the way down a long passageway, followed by their curious friends. They eventually arrived in a very large, rectangular room filled with several magnificent mirrors. Some mirrors had horseshoe shaped rims, while others had gold frames, clawed feet, crystals made to look like eyes, or other unique features.
Nightmare led her friends to a mirror with a blue and pink frame. “My dad is on the other side.”
Sunset stared at the mirror, before he gaze was pulled towards another, more familiar mirror with a crystal arch. “That’s the mirror I saw before. The one that led to me losing my cutie mark.”
Trixie tapped her chin as she examined the mirrors. “Is that so? Very interesting. Trixie can sense that these mirrors contain powerful magic.”
“Your senses do not fool you,” Luna said as she walked out from behind one of the mirrors, startling Rarity and Fluttershy. She pointed at the blue and pink mirror in front of them. “This mirror is a gateway to another world.”
Sunset’s eyes widened in amazement. “Another world? You mean like an alternate universe? Do you know how incredible that is?!”
Luna smiled. “I do indeed. It was from one of these alternate universes that Nightmare’s father came from.” She reached up and touched the mirror’s surface, which shimmered and wobbled like water in a pool. “They’re ready to meet you,” she whispered into the mirror.
Nightmare’s friends watched in awe as a hoof poked its way out of the mirror. A dark alicorn stallion climbed out of the mirror and smiled at them all. What Sunset found surprising was that the stallion looked a lot like Captain Luna. “Greetings! I say to you all, a warm welcome on this most wonderful night!”
Luna giggled into her hoof. “It’s the middle of the day, sweetheart.”
“Aw, I thought these fine friends of our daughter’s were staying up late to see me. Can I get a redo?” the stallion asked.
Luna chuckled and shook her head. She turned to face Nightmare’s friends and said, “Everyone, it is my honour to introduce Prince Artemis.”
Rarity’s eyes widened as a grin formed on her face. “A p-p…a prince? An alicorn PRINCE?” Her eyes went out of focus as her grin turned goofy. “Ooh…ah…ooh,” she said before she passed out and fell on the floor.
Artemis looked down at Rarity in mild confusion and concern. “Nightmare, it appears that one of your friends has fainted. Is she quite well?”
Nightmare chuckled. “Oh, she’ll be fine. It’s great to see you again dad.”
Artemis grinned. “And I feel much joy at seeing you again, my beautiful Nightmare! Come here so that I may shower you with fatherly love and affection!” He levitated Nightmare over to him and wrapped her in a bone-crushing hug.
Nightmare winced, even as she tried to return the hug. “Ow. Thank you dad, but – ouch! Could you ease up a little?”
“Very well,” Artemis said as he released her. “Now then, friends of Nightmare Moon. I’m sure you have a few questions for me, so ask away! You, orange unicorn mare! Do you wish to go first?”
Sunset lowered her hoof. “Um, thank you. Sorry, but I have to ask…are you…Luna?”
Luna smiled and nodded. “Artemis comes from a world that is similar yet also very different to ours. Where he comes from, the stallions are mares and the mares are stallions. Prince Artemis is what I would be like as a stallion.” She paused and added, “And still royalty.”
Sunset stared at Luna, Artemis, and Nightmare. “And…you two had a kid? I’m pretty sure that breaks like…all the rules.”
“What do you mean?” Chrysalis asked.
Sunset twitched. “I don’t know! How can you have a kid with another version of yourself? My mind is mixed up in how insane this is! Just…RULES! You broke ALL of them!”
Luna chuckled. “Sunset Shimmer, it’s not what you think.”
“Indeed,” Artemis said. “The creation of Nightmare Moon was very different compared to the creation of other ponies. While I am the closest thing to a father that Nightmare has, she was not born in the traditional way.”
“What do you guys know about golems?” Smog asked their friends.
Sunset opened her mouth to answer, but Trixie was quicker. “A golem is an artificially created creature. It takes incredible magic to create such a creature, but the result can have the appearance, personality, and purpose of whatever its creator wants it to have. As long as they know what they are doing, that is. Trixie herself has tried to create a golem, but unfortunately she’s had little success so far. Trixie also remembers that Celestia created an army of golems to do battle with the great dragon Spike.”
“What happened to them anyway?” Chrysalis asked.
Nightmare shrugged. “My aunt said she tucked them away somewhere safe until she had use for them.”
Sunset frowned in confusion. “So then…are you a golem?”
Nightmare chuckled. “It’s our best guess. I might be something in between a golem and a pony. To be honest, we’re not completely sure what I am.”
“You see my friends, Luna and I combined our magic to create our beautiful daughter,” Artemis said.
“King Sombra also added some of his own magic to the spell,” Luna added. “His dark magic is part of the reason why Nightmare Moon looks a little like a scarier version of myself.”
Discord’s eyes widened. “Ooh! My mom and dad mentioned something about this!”
Fluttershy’s eyes widened. “Really? Your parents helped create Nightmare Moon too?”
Discord glanced at Fluttershy and blinked. “Um…probably. Possibly? I know they were present at least, but I can’t recall what they told me they were doing.”
Everyone stared at him for a moment as he stared up at the ceiling, lost in thought. Sunset faced Artemis again and asked, “So…an alternate universe huh? What’s King Sombra like in your world?”
“Queen Umbra,” Artemis said.
“Rarity?”
“Elusive.”
“Rainbow Dash?”
“Rainbow Blitz.”
“Gilda?”
“Iron Claw.”
“Celestia?”
“Solaris.”
“Fluttershy?”
“Butterscotch.”
“Chrysalis?”
“Metamorphosis.”
Trixie walked up to the mirror and stared into it. “Trixie?”
“Your counterpart is known as the Great and Powerful Presto,” Artemis told her.
A very big smile formed on Trixie’s face. “Presto…”
Sunset suddenly frowned at her. “Oh no, you don’t!” Trixie yelped as Sunset’s magic tugged on her ear. “Luna and Artemis might have found a loophole, but don’t you even think about doing anything like that!”
“Trixie was not thinking of doing anything! What were you thinking of?”
“I was hoping that even you couldn’t be that much of a narcissist,” Sunset growled.
“HA! Shows what you know. And don’t tell Trixie that you’re not even a little curious. Wouldn’t another version of yourself be the ultimate friend?”
“I’ve just been freaked out a second time by one of these mirrors, I’m not going to risk a third freak out!” Sunset shouted.
Artemis smiled. “Your friends seem like a very lively bunch.”
Nightmare sighed. “Yeah, I know.”
“Though, speaking of Iron Claw and Rainbow Blitz, where are their counterparts?”
“They’re in Shadowbolt academy right now,” Nightmare answered.
“Oh! Well, I can always meet them at another time. I wouldn’t want to distract them from their dream,” Artemis said.
Discord chuckled and waved his claw. “Oh, I wouldn’t worry about them. They’re probably not doing anything that interesting.” His smile grew sneaky. “And even as I speak…”
“I can’t control it!” Spitfire cried. She and Gilda were currently in a cloud busting exercise with the other recruits. To get ahead of the competition, Spitfire suggested that the two of them could create a tornado to clear the clouds faster. Recalling what both Nightingale and Celestia had said about pushing yourself, Gilda had agreed to it. Now, Gilda watched as Spitfire spun out of control and out of the giant tornado that they had created. Gilda struggled as she tried to control the twister. If she had created the tornado all by herself it would have been more manageable, but combined with Spitfire’s power the tornado was proving to be too wild to control. Gilda cried out as the wind flung her out of the tornado and back into the Shadowbolt academy’s cave.
“Ugh…” Gilda grunted as she recovered from the rough landing. She stood back up to see the tornado heading away from the caves. “Well, at least it’s not going anywhere.”
Rainbow and Soarin paused their exercise and flew down to Gilda to see what happened. “Gilda! Are you okay? What was that?” Rainbow cried.
Gilda grunted. “Spitfire wanted to make a tornado to get ahead of you guys. Bad news is, she couldn’t control it. Good news is, at least there’s nothing important around the academy that could break.”
Soarin fidgeted nervously. “I dunno. It’s heading out into the forest. I thought I heard someone say they’re holding an exercise for something.”
Rainbow frowned. “What exercise? We were busting clouds up there, and we’re the only recruits.”
Gilda blinked as realization dawned on her. “Guys…didn’t Celestia say she was taking the junior recruits out into the forest today?”
Rainbow, Gilda, and Soarin all stared at each other. “Oh DARN!” Together, they all flapped their wings and flew after the tornado.
As the griffon and two pegasus ponies flew past her, Spitfire blinked in surprise. “Guys? Where are you going?” Her eyes followed them before they passed over the tornado. “Why would they be chasing…” Her jaw dropped as her eyes widened in horror. “Oh stars above, what have I done?!” She quickly launched herself in the same direction they were going.
“Dash! We need to slow the tornado! Soarin! You fly ahead and get Celestia’s attention. Tell her and the kids to get the flying heck out of the way!” Gilda ordered.
Soarin nodded and flew ahead of the two, while Rainbow and Gilda flew in front of the tornado and hovered in front of it. “Should we get inside and take control of it?” Rainbow asked.
“That might take too long. Let’s find a good angle and start flapping like mad. Maybe we can push it away!” Gilda shouted over the roaring winds of the approaching tornado. Rainbow nodded and began flapping her wings as hard and as fast as she could. Gilda’s wings flapped with hers, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.
“Darn it! We can’t keep this up!” Rainbow shouted.
“Come on Dash! You said you wouldn’t give up, right?” Rainbow and Gilda glanced over their shoulders to see Spitfire, Soarin and Celestia hovering with them. The other three ponies began flapping their wings as hard as they could. With the combined strength of their wings’ magic, especially from Celestia, the tornado began to slow down before it sped back up and flew in another direction.
Rainbow sighed in relief as the tornado blew out towards sea. “Good. Nothing out there but fish.”
“Well, the fish and the sea serpents. Not to mention the…” Celestia trailed off as she noticed that the others were staring at her. “But then again, they know how to shelter themselves from rough weather.”
Gilda sighed in relief. “Great. The sea serpents know how to handle sea storms.” She turned around and glared at Spitfire. “As for you…”
Spitfire gulped as Gilda growled at her. “Um, Gilda? I am really, really sorry about that. I didn’t mean for that tornado to spin out of control.”
“My cousin could have been hurt,” Gilda growled.
“Um…” Spitfire smiled sheepishly at Rainbow and Soarin. “You guys know I didn’t mean for things to-”
“Your twister could have hurt Scootaloo,” Rainbow growled.
Soarin frowned. “I don’t really know the kids in that group Spitfire. But I do know that was too reckless, even for you.”
Spitfire gulped as even Celestia was frowning at her. “Miss Celestia, ma’am, I would never hurt those kids on purpose. I just helped you guys push the tornado out of the way!”
“And I will be sure to mention that fact. However, such reckless behavior cannot be excused when it endangers innocent lives,” Celestia said.
Spitfire sighed as her ears folded down. “You’re right, ma’am. I deserve whatever punishment you give me.”
“I’m afraid I won’t be the one issuing out a punishment, miss Spitfire,” Celestia said.
“Spitfire, you reckless, impulsive, arrogant, irresponsible…” Nightingale paused as she took a few deep breaths to calm herself. “I never yell at anyone, but I really want to right now.”
Spitfire flinched as Nightingale turned around to glare at her again. “Please ma’am, I am so, so sorry.”
“Save your excuses. You’re coming with me,” Nightingale said as she grabbed Spitfire’s left ear with her teeth and began dragging her to her office.
Rainbow bit her lip as she watched Nightingale pull Spitfire away. She glanced at Gilda, Lightning, and Celestia before she spoke up. “Um, Nightingale, ma’am?” She waited until Nightingale was looking at her. “I know that what Spitfire did was really irresponsible. But, the thing is…I did something similar once to Clouds-Edge, even if I wasn’t aiming for anyone and nobody got hurt.”
Gilda stared at her friend, before she sighed and spoke up. “Dash has a point. Nobody got hurt, and she helped us push the tornado away.”
Celestia’s frown faded as she noticed how scared Spitfire looked. “I know that this young mare needs to be punished for her reckless actions, but perhaps you could be lenient?”
Nightingale frowned at the three of them before she sighed. “Considering that she helped clean up her mess and that you saved those kids, I will try to be lenient. Now get back to work. Gilda, Rainbow, and Soarin, get up there and give me thirty.”
The four of them saluted Nightingale before they all flapped their wings and flew into the sky.
“I’m sorry about Spitfire,” Soarin said.
Gilda smiled at him. “Not your fault dude. Come on, I’ll race ya.”
As the Shadowbolt trainees flew their laps, Nightingale dragged Spitfire down the halls of the Shadowbolt academy. “Once again, I’m really sorry Miss Nightingale, ma’am.”
Before Nightingale could open her mouth to issue a retort, a Shadowbolt stopped her. “Excuse me, Nightingale? I’ve got something important for you here.”
Nightingale frowned at the Shadowbolt. The Shadowbolt had her hood up and her goggles on, so she was having a hard time figuring out who it was. The only distinguishing trait Nightingale could see was the bright yellow mane. “What is it?” she asked.
“I think it would be best if I decide what happens to Spitfire. I think we should give her a second chance. After all, that’s what my friends would want,” the pegasus mare said.
Nightingale frowned at the suspicious mare. “What friends would those be?” She examined the mare further and said, “I don’t recognize you. Who are you? And…” Her eyes widened as she stared at the mare’s hooves. “What’s wrong with your hooves?”
The mare giggled as she pulled off her goggles and removed the hood off her Shadowbolt uniform. “You can call me Surprise, ma’am.”
Nightingale stared at Surprise as she lifted her right hoof. “Those fingers…wait a minute you’re-”
Pinkie Pie snapped her fingers, causing Nightingale’s eyes to lose focus and her jaw to slacken. Spitfire stared in horror as Nightingale stared off into space. She gulped as Pinkie stepped closer to her. “So you wanna be a Shadowbolt? Well then, here’s what I want you to do…”
“W-what did you to her…” Spitfire trailed off as Pinkie snapped her fingers again.
“Well, it was wonderful to meet you all my friends! Nightmare, Luna, feel free to invite me to your world whenever you wish it so!” Artemis smiled and waved to Nightmare and her friends as he stepped back into the mirror leading back to his universe.
“I like him!” Discord said with a smile. “He’s like Luna but louder!”
“He did seem very nice,” Chrysalis said. She shifted a little as her stomach growled. “Um, are you guys hungry too or is it just me?”
“We have been talking to Prince Artemis for a while,” Cadance said. “I could eat if you guys are all hungry.”
Luna smiled as her daughter and her friends left the mirror chamber to go look for lunch. She was about to leave the room herself, when she noticed Princess Twilight staring at one of the mirrors. Luna walked up to the princess’ side and asked, “Is everything okay Princess Twilight?”
“It’s gotten bigger,” Princess Twilight said as she stared at the mirror.
Luna titled her head to the side. “Pardon?”
Princess Twilight pointed at the crystal mirror. “There. Near the corner. There’s a large crack. It’s gotten bigger.”
Luna stared at the mirror before she frowned in confusion. “Your Majesty, I don’t see any crack in the mirror.”
Princess Twilight turned around and stared at her. “You don’t? But…” she turned around again and stared at the mirror. “But how can that be?”
“Princess Twilight, perhaps we should go join the others. Your duties have exhausted you, and it’s possible that you’re seeing things. Another possibility is something in this room.” Luna’s gaze drifted all over the room. “This room holds many strange, and mysterious secrets.”
“I…you’re right, P…Luna. I’m probably seeing things.” Princess Twilight said as she followed Captain Luna out of the room.
Pinkie skipped down the hall, humming a little tune:
“We’ll be dancing on air when it happens
Dancing on air with glee.
Oh yes, they’ll be celebrating
When they see it’s me.
They’ll do cartwheels in the air when they see it
Their hopes will start to rise
From what I’m anticipating
They’ll be in for a BIG surprise.”
“Surprise? Is that what you named this form of yours?” Pinkie stopped skipping as she saw Celestia walk towards her.
“Hi there Celestia! How’s it going with training those itty, bitty, junior ‘bolts?” Pinkie asked cheerfully.
“Drop the disguise, Trickster. You don’t fool me,” Celestia said sternly.
Pinkie giggled and snapped her fingers, causing her white coat and yellow hair to turn pink. She removed her Shadowbolt uniform with another finger snap. “Ooh, you’re good. What gave me away?”
“The fact that you don’t disguise your voice,” Celestia stated.
“Huh, I guess you’re right,” Pinkie said as she lazily floated into the air. “So, how’s it hanging, Celly-belly?”
Celestia frowned at the chaotic mare in suspicion. “What are you doing here?”
“Oh you know, floating around, talking with my friends. Did you know Vortex has a birthday today?”
“Yes, however I also know that you are not friends with him.”
“Oh, you silly filly! I’m friends with tons of ponies!” Pinkie’s gaze wandered around the academy. “Ya know, it’s super duper nice of you to help out the Shadowbolts, but I’m kinda curious on the why of it all. You’re such a bright, sunny mare and here you are helping out an elite flying team that hisses at the sun and covers their heads with hoods.” Pinkie giggled for a few seconds before she suddenly gasped. “You’re not going Goth on us, are you Tia?”
Celestia was not amused. “I will not ask again Trickster. Why are you here?”
Pinkie floated closer to Celestia and placed a gentle hoof on her wing. “Hey, what’s wrong Tia? Why are you being such a grumpy grump-pants?”
“Please refrain from using nicknames around me,” Celestia said as she shrugged Pinkie off.
Pinkie sighed. “Ugh, fine. But why are you mad at me?”
Celestia frowned. “To be honest, I don’t know. Perhaps that is the reason why I am suspicious of you. I can unfortunately recall all of the horrifying things that I did as Daybreaker and I can recall all of the mischief that you caused this kingdom in the past. But something tells me that you are a bigger threat than I was. But when I try to remember the reason why that is, I come up with nothing. This wouldn’t be so serious if King Sombra did not mention something that happened during our battle.” Celestia’s eyes narrowed at Pinkie. “Apparently, Daybreaker was completely terrified of you. Apparently, I had a vision of you unleashing an unspeakable power. However, I have no memory of having such a vision.”
Pinkie tapped her chin in thought. “Huh. This sounds like quite a mystery.” She hummed as she blew into a bubble pipe. She thought carefully for a second before she vanished the pipe. “I think the Rainbow of Light was making you coo-coo crazy, and you saw a hallucination.” She beamed at Celestia. “There! I figured out the mystery in record time! Ain’t I such a smarty-pants?” she giggled.
Celestia frowned. “Or perhaps you used your powers to make me forget I had that vision.”
“Hmm…nope! I’m going with my idea. Now hold on missy,” Pinkie said as Celestia raised a hoof in objection. “You got to ask your question, so now I get to ask one.” Her crazed grin faded into a more genuine smile as she stared at Celestia. “You really love Luna a lot, don’t you? Like how I love my sister, Maud. Right?”
Celestia’s frown faded a little. “Of course. I care about Luna and Nightmare very much. And it is nice to hear that you have someone you care about too.”
Pinkie chuckled nervously as she rubbed the back of her head. “Is it really that hard to believe I care about Maud?”
“No, it isn’t.” Celestia frowned again. “Now, if we can get back to what we were talking about-”
“But what if it IS hard to believe?” Pinkie’s eyes widened. “What if I’m NOT being a good sibling? What if I’m not spending enough time with her?! Excuse me Celestia, I need to go.” And before Celestia could stop her, Pinkie teleported far away from the Shadowbolt academy.
Pinkie appeared deep within the Equestria forest with a flash of light. Maud Pie’s eyes remained focused on the rocks she was levitating with her hoof, even as her sister floated over to her. “Hi Pinkie,” she said with the same dull monotone she always used.
Pinkie smiled and hugged her sister. “Hi Maud!” She released Maud and watched the rocks float by. “You still like the powers I gave you?”
“Of course. I can understand rocks better than anyone. They speak to me,” Maud said.
“Really? What do they say?” Pinkie asked.
“Nothing, really. Rocks don’t talk much,” Maud said.
“Yeah, but that’s okay. Sometimes I feel like the people I talk to never talk much. Rude bunch of meanies. I mean, is it really so hard to keep up with me when I’m having a conversation and I’m talking and talking and talking about this thing that I did that one time?” Pinkie said. Maud mumbled something. Pinkie took it to mean that she was agreeing with her. “Exactly! Well, that’s enough chatting for now. Let’s go! It should be down there, right?” she asked as she pointed at the path.
Maud nodded as she let go of the rocks she had been levitating. The two sisters focused on the trail as they traveled deeper into the Equestria forest. As they traveled, Pinkie kept glancing at Maud and away again. She fidgeted as she floated through the air and twiddled her thumbs as she thought about whether or not it would she should ask the question she’d been having. Finally she said, “Hey Maud? Do you think…” Maud stopped and stared blankly at her sister. “Do you think my plan is a good one?”
“What do you mean?”
Pinkie rubbed her front foreleg in uncertainty. “I mean…we know what will happen if this works, or at least we sorta know. But would it really be so bad if we kept things the way they are? Do you think I could keep living like this? I mean, I have all these fun, crazy powers. I could throw parties for everyone. I could make friends with anyone…but it would take a really long time. ‘Cause now, nobody trusts me like you do.”
Maud blinked slowly as she thought up a response. “Pinkie, you gave me the power to control rocks. I can understand rocks better than anyone, because you were nice enough to do that. I can move all kinds of rocks. The little ones, which anyone can move, and the big ones, which most people can’t. I know which rocks last longer. Boulder has lasted longer than most of my pet rocks.”
Pinkie nodded. “He’s a fighter alright.”
“So are you. When you see something that you really want, you’re like a rock too. Strong like a mountain and crazy like an earthquake. Sure, you can crack a little pebble. But the wind can’t break a mountain.” Maud stared at Pinkie with the same emotionless stare than she always had, but Pinkie could see the seriousness in those eyes. “Are you a pebble or a mountain?”
Pinkie grinned as she rolled Maud’s words around in her head. “You’re right Maud! I can’t give up now!” she shouted. Feeling like her energy was renewed, Pinkie flew ahead and over to a cliff which she then launched herself off of. Once she reached the bottom, Pinkie floated back into the air and zoomed towards a large wall of crystals. “Okay Maud, do your thing!”
Maud nodded as she carefully slid down the cliff. Once she reached the crystal wall, she frowned in concentration and stomped her hooves as hard as she could. The crystal wall came crashing down, revealing the entrance to a cave. With that done, Maud stared at Pinkie as she snapped her fingers and conjured up a pink watering can that she levitated into Maud’s hoof. “Just go inside and start watering,” Pinkie said with an encouraging smile.
Maud stared at the watering can before she stared at Pinkie. “It’s nice to see that you haven’t given up, Pinkie.”
Pinkie grinned. “And it’s nice to know that I can always count on you!” She zoomed towards Maud and gave her a bone-crushing hug. Maud simply smiled and patted Pinkie on the head. Once Pinkie had released her, Maud took the watering can and went inside the cave.
While she waited for Maud, Pinkie smiled and stared at the ground. She wiggled her fingers and watched as a thorny, black vine poked out of the ground and began to rapidly grow. Within seconds, the vine was as big as a tree. A red sphere appeared on the vine and started to expand like a balloon. Pinkie floated up to the top of the vine and plucked the bright red apple from it. She floated off to a small lake not too far away from where the cave was and smiled at the water.
“Celestia. Luna. Spike. Twilight Sparkle. Pinkie Pie. Rainbow Dash. Rarity. Fluttershy.” With every name that Pinkie spoke, the water of the pond rippled. Pinkie giggled, held up the apple and took a big bite out of it.
“Eight down. One more to go.”
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My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
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I have the feeling that Pinkie's plan is to somehow bring back Equestria or something.
OKAY WHOA WHOA WHOA! PINKIE WHAT ARE YOU DOING?! THOSE ARE PLUNDERVINES!
WHO'S LAST?! Gummy?!
Actually, I think it's talon, not claw.
PFFT!
Has Chryssy been giving her pointers?
Spitfire... wat r u doing? Spitfire. Stahp.
Forgot to start a new paragraph.
Those... aren't Soarin's colors.
Aww. What a big softy.
We've got all of the original Mane 6 together save for AJ...
It's gotta be jarring to no longer be your nation's capitol...
NO WAY.
Is it incest or masturbation?
Wait. If Discord and Eris are here, then on the other side of the mirror... *headsplosion*
SPITFIRE YOU DENSE MOTHER------!
That Season 4 Opener foreshadow?
No way. She's going to try to change it back to – no way.
A casual chapter with an equivocal title and a Tartarus of an ending. Brava!
The whole breakfast scene is as adorable as it is funny. But Tia, what do you know about the nutrition of a draconequus?
The Shadowbolt Grounds sound awesome. And I love Nightingale, Lightning and their relationship.
Ouch. Gilda kicked her temper down a notch to keep cool like that, especially after what we saw in Return of Redemption.
If I would have been in her place, I would have answered: 'Well, the next time the world is going down, don't expect to be saved.'
Nightie and... Nightie (
) should found a club and make a few PSA's.
Oh my. That is interesting. But, on the other hand, Dashie was a real pony, too. So maybe Eternal Twilight scanned Gilda's brain for someone familiar and picked out two other random ponies she saw?
Yes, it's good that smog has another male in the group. And before, he had Sombra, and to a point, Garble.
I love those two.
And Celestia went teaching. And embraces her pegasus third a little more.
Sunset and Discord make for a good team within the team, as long as they can get over the other's attitude. She is analytical and tactical, he is the crazy-ideas-guy.
So, MDW is officially the group's (non-existant) arch enemy now. Or the symbol of the near destruction of their friendship. It left a big impact on Gilda, and it's good to see that Discord acknowledges that and takes MDW down metaphorically.
Go on, Blueblood, go on.
And this is why Rarity is my favourite of the Mane Six. Also, as I expected, her guess from Project Zero proved to be true, except for the 'is going to take me to his world and make me his princess'-part.
My two guesses were this, the Mirror LXIII, and something with Canon Sombra when he wasn't so evil. Mostly because of the fangs. But since he was involved in the creation, I guess it was both.
So he doesn't recognize Sunny as the female double to someone from his world. Fascinating, Captain...
Along with his behaviour, his speech pattern and the fact that he still is prince, that would mean that this world is closer to Canon. Or it just seems like that on the surface, perhaps we'll find out one day.
Two worthy members for my nerd club.
Now that is even more interesting. Especially because Eris is usually the name of Discord's Rule LXIII persona. But he called her his little sister, maybe he doesn't know any better or we're talking about mere minutes here?
Also, if Discords words from Crystal Cold Heart are to be believed, than he was created as well. Ok, we know nothing about draconequus mating, so that could be nothing worth mentioning. But maybe his parents are mirror twins, too? Mothering and fathering another mirror twin pair?
Oh, meta-knowledge, see what you are doing to me?
Did not know that one yet. Neat.
Trixie, do you really want to be featured in an endless version of Everything you can do, I can do better? Also, that is one reason why Sunset is my favourite. She just has the funniest and best interactions with her environment.
That scares me on a personal level. You see, during World War II, my grandma's teacher wanted to take the class to the forest, to collect stinging nettles for clothing, I think. My great-grandma didn't let my grandma join them because she had a bad feeling about it. Later that day, they heard something going down, a British bomb, to be exact. Luckily, it was a dud and it hit a different part of the forest than the one the class was in, but it was still a shock for everyone.
Oh shivers... Will the plan contain dressing as a Wonderbolt and going back in time to aid Eternal Twilight?
Oh, double shivers... Hm, a cracked mirror, a 'cracked' eye...
Also, it's the crystal mirror Sunset saw her human and demon version in. Interesting. So probably AJ and AB switched places with their human counterparts? But on the other hand, AB said Hearth's Warming was exactly the same, she couldn't have seen it in the human world. So, maybe AB is from another universe?
Darn it, Maud!
Darn it, Pinkie, you were so close. Also, you want to put Discord, who aided you without being asked, in the position you are so miserable in?
Typos! Don't let them get to the Mirror Chamber!
'eat at a table' or, since it is Discord, intentional?
'related to Nightmare'?
Missing comma before 'please'.
'to see me' or 'to say Hello to me'?
I think there is an 'a' too much.
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Thank you both for pointing those typos out. Fixed now.
I changed the 'chip away at a pebble' to simply 'crack a pebble'. I hope that sounds better.
As for Soarin's colours, he's actually a really light blue with really dark blue hair. The reason for my mixup is because, well it looks pretty close to white and black. But I've fixed that up as well.
Glad you both liked the chapter.
Great to see Celestia continuing to progress again. I can't think of a better way for her to bond with creatures of all different races than for Everfree's Mother-In-Chief to teach a bunch of junior flyers. It is a real shame she's brushing off both Discord and Sombra though.
I get that she's a strong, independent alicorn who don't need no stallion, but dang it, Invinsible, we want our Royal Wedding!
That scene with Pinkie was actually kind of sad to me on Pinkie's behalf. Yes we the readers know she is scheming, but still the fact that Celestia, former wielder of Love, seems to love everyone in the kingdom except Pinkie...
It's like being the one pony Fluttershy's willing to kick.
Good to see Cadance and Shining Armor are taking care of Canterlot, and that you're acknowledging the difficulties of transitioning Canterlot into Everfree (also good to know they were just sleeping). I just realized: In this fic Shining Armor is a Prince but Cadance is just a Countess (so far
). Does that mean Shining Armor is the one primarily in charge because he outranks his girlfriend, or is it Cadance because the citizens of Canterlot demand a fancy alicorn ruler of some type? If it's the latter, Sombra better give Cadance that promotion, Canterlot nobles won't settle for less than an alicorn princess.
Thanks for finally revealing NMM's father, and for making her the product of magic (a grown up Nyx) so she doesn't have an extra chromosome or something. If Sombra kicked in enough magic to change her appearance, I'm surprised he doesn't count as a second father, or at least get called uncle or something. I bet that Sunset omission was deliberate, Sunset always seems to have the unique ability not to be replicated across dimensions.
5558115 You have a fantastic point about Discord, but Pinkie's not even considering the ponies she seems like she cares about the most! Look at Rainbow Dash, she has everything she had in canon, plus her childhood friend at her side, and Pinkie is planning to rip that away from her! Or Luna and Celestia, if Pinkie's plan succeeds and she erases their daughter/niece from the timeline... If I was Pinkie I would never sleep again out of fear I have some guilt-induced nightmare and Luna finds out the truth. Heck, even the Cake twins, who I always figured Pinkie loved like younger siblings, are going to lose being successful genius child prodigy inventors!
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Not to forget Cadance's and Fluttershy's close bonds, Spike's fame within dragon culture, the Apples being rich, Luna's earned position within the guard and the Shadowbolts, Celestia's new voluntary work, the list goes on. But yes, except for Pinkie, everyone seems to have found a nice place in this universe.
Also, Polaris. What has he ever done to you, Pink One?
I think Tia is still carrying around old fears and a bad feeling about Pinkie. She accepts the fun chaos Discord is providing, but I think she's still weary of Pinkie because of her insane power level. No matter what, yes, her talk with Pinkie was quite harsh and I fear it was the critical point for Pinkie to continue in her scheme and getting even Celestia to like her with magic instead of taking the hard way of redemption.
I don't mind her taking it easy in terms of a romantic relationship. She wants to focus on her new life and on finding a place for herself now. But yes, it will be disappointing for both guys.
Why do start humming Hellfire when I think of Sombry now..?
OMG CELESTIA IS TURNING IT A DISNEY PRINCESS Dx
5559891 Don't forget the CMC members and Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon being friends! Jeeze, I hadn't thought of Polaris. At this point, the only creature that might thank Pinkie is Blueblood, and maybe not even him, after all, this Blueblood is getting sent on important missions, making a contribution, maybe he would actually prefer things the way they are as well?
You're totally right about Celestia's justifications, though I think it was that she can't remember why she fears Pinkie more than anything else, that makes Pinkie the unknown threat in a sense, always the worst kind of threat. But it was still hurtful to Pinkie, and I feel like a critical chance was lost here.
Sure, I understand Celestia needs to take it slow on the romance front, but what about all the
readerscitizens of Everfree who want to see that royal wedding? Probably the same ones who want to see another alicorn princess... Those guys should totally follow Prince Shining Armor around and wink meaningfully at him.Also had a thought: this timeline diverged right after the Hearth's Warming Eve play period. What if this was the original world Starswirl came from, and when he traveled back in time to the founding of Equestria, he bifurcated the timeline and inadvertently created the canon world?
That are Lyra
fc02.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2012/125/f/4/lyra_sees_a_human_wallpaper_by_docbullet-d4yndmp.png
Decent chapter on the whole, but I did have a few issues.
First, it confuses me why Spitfire apparently ended up in trouble, but Gilda gets off the hook completely, considering both of them made the tornado, and both of them worked to stop it. In the original episode, Lightning Dust could be seen as significantly more at fault because of the lack of concern she showed after the fact for what could have happened, but that's not the case here. I don't see how Spitfire can be seen as any more culpable in the situation than Gilda was.
Second, the whole thing with Pinkie enacting some kind of secret, sinister plan is really wearing thin at this point; we need some payoff to this soon.
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The thing about Nightingale as the trainer for the Shadowbolt recruits is that she spent the whole chapter trying to act as scary as possible to intimidate the trainees into being better. She admits to Lightning that they are good fliers and she promises Gilda and the others that she will try to be lenient. And she meant it. If Pinkie hadn't interrupted, Spitfire would have gotten minor punishment for pushing Gilda to help her create the tornado and nothing else. But Pinkie didn't know that Nightingale was planning to go easy on her. Nightingale was only acting like that to discourage the other fliers from even attempting anything reckless. I hope that clears things up.
As for Pinkie's plan, don't worry. The payoff is coming soon. VERY soon.
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Thanks for the reply. But my confusion wasn't in how she was acting, but that she only seems out to punish Spitfire (even if said punishment was going to be lenient). My point is that Gilda seems, from basically any standpoint, exactly as culpable, both in terms of blame (they both made the tornado) and in terms of mitigating circumstances (they both realized they goofed up and worked to fix it). My confusion stems from them ignoring Gilda's role and focusing solely on Spitfire.
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Well, the same could be said for Canon Rainbow and Lightning. They both started the tornado even though Rainbow then flew off to save her friends. The thing about the Shadowbolts is that even though they like to put on a show to entertain the crowds, they're comfortable in the shadows. They know how to be scary and stealthy. Perhaps Nightingale was going to punish Gilda by making her do a LOT of exhausting exercises while disguising it as training.