• Published 3rd Nov 2014
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The Magic and Mysteries of Friendship - The Stainmore Phoenix



One thousand years ago, Celestia wrote some ill checks and made a lot of enemies. Now those enemies are coming back and want to collect. What is Equestria to do?

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Ridding the Nightmare

The group finally reached the castle and stared up at the crumbling architecture. Dangersignal let out an impressed whistle and gave a slight chuckle. Memories of all the secrets came back to him and it made him smile when he remembered the times he gave his brother a scare from several secret passages.

“Well, fillies, gentlecolts, mares, stallions, ladies and gentlemen, here is the Castle of the Two Sisters,” he said, in his best butler impression.

“Ah, very good Jeeves,” White Orchid said. “I take it the Master of the Castle is out?”

“Yes, sir. I’ll give the Master your message,” Dangersignal said.

The others laughed at the banter. Once the mood was lightened, Dangersignal placed Dragonstorm in the lead and told them to head inwards. Dragonstorm lit up his horn and acted as a light source again. Everyone was grateful for that.

“Thank you,” Rarity said.

“Not a problem, Ms. Rarity,” Dragonstorm replied.

The others followed on. Two feelings made themselves obnoxiously know-Fear and Victory. The fear that they could fail and the Victory that they had overcome all their obstacles.

“I want to know what we do when we get the elements?” Twilight said.

“I wish I had an answer for you,” White Orchid said.

They soon reached a stairwell which curved upwards. Shadow Prowler was on edge. Dragonstorm asked him why.

“The fact that the stairs spiral upwards and there is no way to see above or below, because of how narrow they are and the fact that they have a low ceiling to prevent the use of wings to those who are professional fliers,” he said. “The perfect destruction zone for Nightmare Moon.”

“Your right, but we have no choice,” Dangersignal groaned, the pain from his encounter with the rogue bolt washing over him.

Aquatis Storm gave him some more pain relief medicine and acted as a brace to his friend. The others began to see that while they took Shadow Prowler’s viewpoint, they realized that they had no other option. They had failure, but that would result in things that weren’t pretty.

“Let’s not consider failure right now!” Dragonstorm said.

“Right, onwards to victory!” everyone cheered.

The group made their way to the stairs, with Twilight taking the lead this time, to give the Alicorn a break. Dangersignal leaned against the wall for support and was on the tail end. He was slower than the others, but he knew that all he would have to fight off Nightmare Moon was his mouth, which always got him in trouble.

Better not to say anything at all and take in the slander,” he thought.

The group reached the place where the elements were waiting. Eighteen stone orbs were laid about the room. The unicorns moved them into place and Twilight tried to conjure the elements, but that was rudely interrupted.

Nightmare Moon appeared and levitated Twilight away from the elements and after tossing the unicorn towards the stairs, only to be caught by Darkseige, Nightmare Moon walked over to the elements and reared up. She brought her front legs down and the elements smashed to bits before the group.

NO!” Twilight thought.

“Admit defeat?” Nightmare Moon sneered.

Twilight didn’t know what to think. She stood with her mouth a gap in defeated horror. She wanted to say it was all over, but a bandaged body appeared in front of her.

“We’ll never give in!” Dangersignal snapped. “Quitting is only for those who haven’t the stamina to go on!”

“My, my,” Nightmare Moon sneered again. “Such brave words from a broken guard.”

“Broken?” Dangersignal sneered at her. “I’m not broken, only hiding one thing from you-your demise!”

Nightmare Moon hissed and lunged. Dangersignal side stepped and gave a sharp blow to the back of Nightmare Moon’s neck, sending her crashing to the ground and sliding along to the door where the stairs were.

“Dirty tricks won’t save you this time!” Nightmare Moon hissed. Dangersignal rolled his eyes.

“Quit hissing, your not a snake,” he cheeked off. “Oh, wait, you are!”

Nightmare Moon was about to charge when a blinding light filled the room. When it disappeared, there stood the eighteen ponies with the broken bits of the elements floating around them. Twilight smirked at Nightmare Moon, who was standing with her mouth hanging opened. A look of disbelieving shocked horror had taken all control of her face.

“As Dangersignal would say-Checkmate!” Twilight said.

Just then, there came an orb, with a giant star in the middle of it. Every pony closed their eyes and the broken shards encircling each pony disappeared in a bright light. When the light disappeared, the group was surrounded in a white aura and a rainbow appeared. It twirled around for several seconds before it made a straight line for Nightmare Moon.

“YOU CAN’T BEAT ME!!!! I’M PERFECT!” she shrieked.

The rainbow ignored her and continued to wrap around her until it turned into a funnel. The funnel swirled about for a further twenty minutes before everything disappeared into a bright flash of light and a resounding “BANG!” then darkness swept over everybody.

“Ugh. Any pony get the number of that apple pie?” Dangersignal slurred out, trying to stir himself to full awakeness.

He glanced down to see the others all blacked out. He was surprised to be the first riser, but he thought of the usage of the Elements of Harmony and then it came to him. Exhausted from first time use. However, he didn’t seem to be that tired out by the use.

“Maybe I have impeccable training skills?” he mused as he rubbed the back of his head and felt something.

Using his hoof, he carefully moved a strand of hair to his eyes and they showed a look of pleasant surprise.

“A mane, Golden Ochre in color,” he said.

He then glanced back to see a tail in the matching color. He smiled then noticed that his neck felt funny, as if something was dangling off it. He glanced down and saw a pendant, in the shape of his cutie mark.

“Well, that’s a change,” he said.

He then felt something tight on his wings. Using his magic, he carefully undid the bandages and flexed his wings. They were in working order and the wounds he sustained had healed, meaning he was back in service.

HA! HA! I feel like a new pony indeed!” he mentally cheered.

“Ugh. Hhhnnn.”

Slowly the others came to and groaned. Dangersignal helped them up and acted as a brace while each pony gathered their bearings. He couldn’t help but chuckle when he came to Battery Sergeant Major Shaydefire, who was last on the list.

“I didn’t know a necklace were so befitting of a Battery Sergeant Major Thestral, who’s male,” he said.

“You must be joking,” Shaydefire huffed. “I am not wearing a necklace!”

“Look, come here, see this old mirror?” Rarity asked.

“Yes, I see…what?!”

“You are indeed wearing a necklace, sir Thestral,” Rainbow Dash teased.

Shaydefire went as red as an apple and said nothing more. Every pony looked in the mirror and noticed that they each wore a necklace, with the exceptions of Dangersignal, Dragonstorm, White Orchid, Aquatis Storm and Hurricane; who all wore pendants around their necks.

“Erm, not to be rude, Dangersignal,” Rarity said. “But…”

“I have a mane, Golden Ochre in color, right?” he asked in a bored tone.

“Yes,” she said. “You know, having a mane is really befitting of a fine stallion like you.”

“Also, your wounds are gone and you look to be in working order,” Aquatis Storm stated.

“Your right there, and I intend to stay in working order for at least another four hundred thousand years!” Dangersignal said.

“Don’t we all?” Twilight teased.

Dangersignal didn’t respond, but turned and hot hoofed it over to where a light shaded dark blue Alicorn lay in the midst of the armor of Nightmare Moon. The armor slowly, but steadily rusted away to dust, since it had no pony to bond to. Dangersignal, instead of walking the light shaded dark blue Alicorn through the armor, he levitated her over to him. She opened her eyes and glanced at him.

“Dangersignal?” she asked.

He nodded. She jumped up, burying her face in his neck, much like how his brother did when they were told their parents had been killed. She cried in his fur coat, while he comforted her and held her comfortably.

“Princess Luna, I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you from the ill harm that befell you and turned you into Nightmare Moon,” he said. “I feel guilty for letting that happen.”

“It’s okay,” she said. “I still look at you as an older brother, who’s always there for any pony who needs them. I am humbly grateful to you for that.”

He sighed, then glanced at the pendant. He closed his eyes and was going to take it off, when Luna stopped him. He looked at her.

“I am not worthy enough to be an Element of Harmony,” he said. “I failed you as a guard, I failed myself as your friend, I let down the Royal Guard and to top it off, I failed Celestia, as her subject. This was and is my only real success. Four failures in a row speaks loudly.”

Luna hugged him and began to cry again. She was deeply upset by what he was saying. After a few more minutes of sobbing, she glanced at the dark red Alicorn and smiled.

“I want to ask you a question, my loyal friend-the failures you listed. Are they really failures, or are they steps to improving yourself?” she said.

“I consider them failures, but I know that you consider them steps to improving myself,” he said. “But I have to ask-how can you have such faith in me?”

“Because I never doubted you for a minute,” she said. “For all your faults; you are a gentle, sweet, caring, happy, trustworthy, honorable and smart pony, who’s always willing to see the best in the worst situations. You saw that the outcome of this battle would return me and it did.”

He smiled. For the first time in years, he smiled a self satisfactory smile that proved Luna’s point. He then looked down at the pendant.

“Maybe I am an Element of Harmony because my friends can bring out the best in me,” he said. “I’ll give it a go. Hopefully, I can find the best in any bad situation, despite how stacked the deck is.”

“Exactly,” Luna replied.

The others watched the two talk some more, but something became readily apparent. Celestia wasn’t there. The Sun Princess wanted to make amends with Luna and she wasn’t there. Dangersignal looked over at Luna.

“Tell you what, why don’t we go back to my place and I’ll prepare dinner,” he said. “On me.”

They agreed and Dragonstorm used a teleportation flame spell and the group appeared in Dangersignal and Dragonstorm’s house. Once inside, Dragonstorm showed the guests the bathrooms and to the guests rooms, where they could rest and even unwind.

Dangersignal was in the kitchen and was slicing tomatoes for hay bacon, lettuce, tomato sandwiches, spaghetti, soup (Split pea and vegetable noodle), salad and several different drinks. He was feeling sore with Celestia, who had promised to come and repair bridges with Luna. To him, a promise is a promise and must be honored.

I’m going to let her have a piece of my mind!” he thought as he finished preparing dinner.

Getting it laid out, he could see a white Alicorn coming towards the house. He knew who it was and opened the door. She stopped a few steps short of the door and bowed her head.

“Sorry for the delay,” she said. “I had sent Courier here with a message saying I had been called away.”

“At least you arrived,” he said bluntly. “And at least your willing to make things right. I’m sure you remember what I told you? That you’ll be there for her?”

Celestia nodded in silent agreement. After a few minutes passed by, Dangersignal moved aside and let Celestia enter. Excusing himself, he went up and found Luna conversing with White Orchid about orchids. Being careful, he asked if he could borrow Luna for a few minutes.

“Certainly,” White Orchid said and Luna joined Dangersignal.

“Your sister is here to make things right,” he said once they left White Orchid.

Luna wanted to stay hidden, but Dangersignal placed a reassuring wing on her and told her that things would all work out in the end. She wanted to say he was wrong, but soon realized he was right.

Celestia looked at Luna, tears of happiness flooding her eyes. The two sisters galloped towards each other and embraced, which warmed Dangersignal. His brother soon came and the two watched, with Dangersignal placing a hoof over his brother’s neck and pulling him close.

“Being siblings may never be easy,” he said. “But it provides you a leg up.”

Celestia and Luna missed that, but they were pleased to be back with each other. That, of course, made everything all right in the end. The Summer Sun Celebration resumed four days later and after that, a private party was held, in celebration of Celestia and Luna reuniting.

Peace at last.