Bridle Gossip
We resume our story two days after the Dragonshy incident where Winter has just entered a deserted Ponyville with Trixie on a rather pleasant day… wait, WHAT?!
"… And that's how Discord was tricked by a tribe of Unicorns into dancing the Can-Can" said Winter, finishing a popular but nigh forgotten story from the Discordian times while Trixie was struggling to breathe from laughter.
"Wow, Trixie thought you were good but they blow your talent with Illusion out of the water" said Trixie, after finally controlling her laughter.
"Indeed, that's why the tale was used to teach foals to never allow their pride to get the better of them" replied Winter, chuckling at the infamous Draconequus' misfortune "Still, I like to think that their cunning and intelligence played a part and not just their skill in Illusion."
"Aww, is the big bad Winter feeling overshadowed?" asked Trixie mockingly before noticing something unusual "huh? Where is everypony?"
"I wouldn't say "big bad" but… Actually, that's a point: where's everypony got to then?" Winter wondered before seeing a pony he recognised flying by "Hey, Derpy!"
"Hmm?" Derpy looked around for who called her before seeing Winter and flying down to him "Hey there Winter."
"Any ideas where everypony is? This place is emptier than our Solar Overlord's cake vault."
"I HEARD THAT!" came an angry voice from nowhere "AND HOW COME LUNA DOESN'T GET A NICKNAME?!"
"BECAUSE I HAVEN'T COME UP WITH ONE YET AND LUNAR OVERLORD SOUNDS STUPID!" shouted Winter in the direction of Canterlot while Trixie and Derpy looked on in bewilderment.
"Is this normal?" asked Trixie as Winter and Celestia bickered.
"Only when Winter mentions the Royal Cake Vault of the Sun" replied Derpy, facehoofing at the antics of Winter and the Princess.
"So, rarely then?"
"Yes, but up until now Princess Celestia hasn't had a name to put to the voice, so Winter's REALLY stepped in it this time."
That exchange ended with Celestia issuing a Royal Decree that had Winter bring her a cake to the Grand Galloping Gala and then socialise with the guests; Winter was not very happy afterwards if his crying on the floor was any indication.
"So, err… have you checked Sugarcube Corner? They might be there getting some treats to enjoy today with" said Derpy, trying not to roll her eyes at the antics of Winter and one of her diarchs (who seemed to be a bit touchy about her cake vault).
"Great idea Derpy, thanks; We'll check there immediately" replied Winter, leaping to his hooves as if nothing was wrong. He and Trixie bade Derpy goodbye, none of them noticing the hooded figure emerging from the Everfree Forest, heading towards Ponyville.
Scene Change: Sugarcube Corner
Upon reaching Sugarcube Corner, Trixie and Winter were grabbed and dragged inside by Pinkie where they saw Twilight, Spike, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Applejack and Applejack's sister Apple Bloom; Twilight did not look pleased while the others looked scared.
"What in the name of Nightmare Moon is going on here?!" Trixie demanded, glaring at them.
"We're hidin' from her" replied Applejack, gesturing at a hooded figure through the gap between the curtains.
"Well that's not very neighbourly" interjected Winter, frowning "whatever happened to Ponyville hospitality?"
"Did you see her Twilight?" asked Apple Bloom, ignoring Winter's comment about hospitality "did you see… Zecora?"
"Apple Bloom!" snapped Applejack, glaring at her "Ah told you never to say that name!"
"Why? It's just a name" Winter asked, frown deepening at the actions of the ponies he'd come to regard as friends.
"Trixie is also curious, what has this Zecora done?" added Trixie.
"Well I saw her glance this way…" Twilight answered Apple Bloom, ignoring Winter and Trixie (who were now arguing with Applejack about forbidding ponies from saying Zecora's name).
"Glance evilly this way" corrected Pinkie, drawing out the "evil" part of her sentence.
"… And all of you flipped out for no good reason, then Trixie and Winter walked in."
"No good reason?!" asked Applejack snappishly "you call protectin' yer kin "no good reason"? Why, as soon as mah sister saw Zecora ridin' into town, she started shakin' in her little horseshoes."
"Ah did not!" said Apple Bloom, though her voice quivered when she spoke (probably because Applejack was shaking her so much).
"So Ah swept her up and brought her here."
"Ah walked here mahself!
"For safe keepin'."
"Applejack, Ah ain't a foal! Ah can take care of mahself!" Apple Bloom grumbled, glaring at Applejack
"Not from that creepy Zecora, ya can't." retorted Applejack.
"Again, I fail to see how this Zecora is a threat or has done anything to merit this behaviour" Winter put in, giving them all a cold stare "it sounds to me like you don't even know her and just jumped to conclusions because she wears a cloak."
"But she's mysterious" piped up Fluttershy, not looking at Winter.
"Sinister" added Rainbow Dash, staring at Winter as if daring him to disagree with her.
"This again Dash? I thought we'd finally worked through your phobia of cloaks last year" grumbled Winter.
"What? We did, but how… Winter, this is an entirely different situation!" Rainbow hissed, glaring at him.
"Oh really? How so?"
"There's something not right about that pony, I just know it…"
"She's spooky" interrupted Pinkie, drawing out the "spooky" in her sentence, as if that explained everything and causing Twilight to groan in annoyance. Twilight then looked out the window at Zecora again and was surrounded by everyone and they all gasped dramatically when Zecora removed her hood to reveal a black and white striped mane.
"Winter! Trixie! Stop messing around!" Twilight snapped at them causing Trixie to smirk at her and Winter to rub the back of his head sheepishly "and the rest of you, cut that annoying gasping out!"
"Would you look at those stripes?! So garish!" commented Rarity, seemingly more bothered by Zecora's fashion choice than anything.
"They're still better than… OW!" Trixie started before jumping as a bolt of lightning hit her flank, she turned round to glare at Rainbow who was scowling at her and holding a thunder cloud she'd obtained from… somewhere.
"Don't start that again Trixie" warned Rainbow, tapping the cloud threateningly "the others may have forgiven and tolerate you, but I haven't yet, so DON'T get on my bad side."
"I didn't know you had a…" began Trixie before Winter cut her off by standing between them.
"Trixie, stop insulting the ponies here; Dash, put that cloud back" he said firmly, watching the two carefully.
"Or what?" the two mares in unison as ice crystals began to grow at Winter's hooves.
"I'll lock you in a room together until you can be civil" he replied dangerously, as the two recognised the signs and backed down, apologising. Meanwhile, Twilight had been explaining to the others that Zecora was a Zebra and that her stripes were natural colours, not a fashion choice
"My books say that Zebras come from a faraway land, but I've never seen her in Ponyville" said Twilight, slightly confused "where does she live?"
"That's just it, she lives in… the Everfree Forest" answered Applejack before a loud crash came from the kitchen causing the others to shriek except Winter and Twilight.
"Spike!" Twilight snapped angrily which resulted in a sheepish sounding apology coming from the kitchen.
"Well, that explains why I've never met her before, but seriously? You alienate her just because she looks different and lives in the Everfree Forest?" barked Winter, scowling at them, making them back away from him slightly as none of them (except Rainbow) had ever seen Winter like this "I cannot describe how disappointed in you all I am right now."
"But Winter…" began Applejack carefully "the Everfree Forest just ain't natural, surely you know this"
"Not natural for you maybe, but it's perfectly natural in other lands, how do you think the clouds move in places where there are no Pegasi?"
"Why are you all so nervous of the Everfree Forest? You didn't show this much fear when we faced Nightmare Moon…" Twilight asked, confused at their actions which prompted Applejack, Rainbow and Fluttershy to explain that the Everfree Forest didn't need a pony's assistance to operate causing Rarity to faint (again).
"And not to mention, that evil Zecora lives there, doing her evil… stuff" added Pinkie "why, she's so evil, I even wrote a song about her…"
"Oh, here we go…" groaned Rainbow, rolling her eyes.
"Is there anything Pinkie hasn't written a song about?" wondered Winter aloud causing the other ponies to start thinking about it as well as Pinkie started dancing around singing about evil enchantresses.
"… And what will she do? Her arrogance will suffocate you, 'till you turn blue from her ego's…" here Pinkie stopped as she realized something "Hey that's not my Zecora song! That's my song about Trixie."
"Oh, Trixie is most appreciative of your efforts" said Trixie sarcastically, rolling her eyes before glaring at Pinkie "Trixie IS trying, you know?"
"Well, all of this sounds like a load of gossip and rumour, what have you actually seen Zecora do?" Twilight asked, resulting in Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy explaining that once a month Zecora came into town, lurked around shops and dug at the ground, which caused Winter to scoff and roll his eyes.
"I apologize in advance for my rudeness here…" he started as Rainbow (realizing what he was about to do) braced herself for a grumpy rant "but, I don't know if you've noticed, but I come into Ponyville and lurk around shops when I want to do some SHOPPING! Is it really so outlandish that she MIGHT want to do some shopping or just to visit the town?!"
"Yeah, Winter's right, maybe she's jus' being neighbourly, you know what Ah think…" interjected Apple Bloom, much to Applejack's chagrin, as shown when she cut her off.
"Apple Bloom, let the big ponies talk" she said, pushing her away.
"Ah AM a big pony" Apple Bloom grumbled as she headed towards the door.
"Frankly, all this behaviour is ridiculous, Zecora's just a normal pony and if any of you actually TALKED to her, you'd see that!" snapped Twilight, which gave Apple Bloom an idea, she told herself that she was going to talk to Zecora and exited Sugarcube Corner, heading after Zecora. Meanwhile, the argument continued inside.
"I heard Zecora eats…" here Pinkie paused for dramatic emphasis "HAY!"
"Pinkie, of all your accusations, that one is the most ridiculous!" Winter barked.
"Yeah, I eat hay! YOU eat hay!" added Twilight angrily.
"Yeah, but it's the evil way she eats hay" replied Pinkie as if that explained everything.
"How does one eat hay evilly anyway? Trixie would truly love to know" Trixie put in, sounding actually interested in how someone could eat hay evilly.
"You know what?" Winter started, storming towards the door "I'm off."
"Where're you going, Winter?" Rainbow called after him, following him at a slow pace.
"To prove once and for all that Zecora is just a regular pony!"
"WAIT! She might put a curse on you!" Rainbow cried, zooming after him.
"I have my doubts about that, Dash" he deadpanned as they headed into the Everfree Forest, where they eventually came upon Apple Bloom and Zecora standing near a field of blue flowers when they heard Applejack shout Apple Bloom's name, prompting both the filly and the Zebra to turn around.
"Beware, you pony folk…" the Zebra said upon seeing the rest of the Mane 6 standing in the blue flowers "… those leaves of blue are NOT a joke"
"Yeah? Right back at ya Zecora!" retorted Rainbow, flying in front of her friends and landing in the flowers in a pouncing position "we aren't afraid of your curse mumbo jumbo!"
"Beware… BEWARE…" said Zecora as she backed into the mist and vanished to taunts from the other ponies except Twilight Apple Bloom and Winter.
"Well, she certainly can make an exit" muttered Winter as he watched her go as he heard Applejack scolding Apple Bloom in the background and Twilight dismiss the possibility of a curse.
"Oh really? Well that's interesting to hear from Ms. Magic-pants over here" taunted Rainbow, tapping Twilight's horn as she said it which prompted Twilight to give a lecture on curses being artificial.
"I don't know Twilight, I've travelled to many places and seen many things. I'd say that curses are definitely real…" Winter started before being cut off by Applejack shouting about being right, to which he glared at and continued "…but, they're more of a hidden storage of magic designed to do one thing, and they're always accompanied by symbols or a potion as you need something to store the magic in, in the first place; I've never heard of a cure being triggered by words before…"
"But it could be done?" asked Applejack, shivering slightly.
"In theory, yes, but only by somepony with magical ability on par with that of an Alicorn. I've definitely never heard of a Zebra doing it, in fact, the worst I've ever seen was a Zebra Shaman accidentally brewing a hallucinogenic potion…" he replied thoughtfully, before realizing something "besides, that so-called "curse" of yours sounded more like a warning to me."
"Whatever, let's just all go home and forget about all this" chimed in Rainbow.
Scene Change: Winter's House
Winter could not sleep that night, so he sat on his roof and looked at the moon, thinking.
'Curses… hmm. No curse I've ever encountered was verbally triggered, so what could she have been talking about? The flowers maybe? I remember Discord used to use plants as mediums for his pranks, perhaps that's what she meant. Still, I'd need access to the Canterlot Archives to confirm this and I can't go there so soon without Celestia suspecting something; I may have been able to get in and out once without her noticing but that wouldn't work twice with such a narrow interval, she's not stupid after all.'
He scowled and looked at the Everfree Forest, observing how quiet it seemed for such an unpredictable place which had extremely courageous ponies like Rainbow Dash and Applejack scared of it.
'Perhaps the old castle will have something on those flowers, assuming there's anything left in it after Celestia left for Canterlot, perhaps an old journal or something has been left behind. If the worst comes to the worst, I can always get the info straight from the source'
Mind now made up, Winter hopped off his roof and set off for the Everfree Forest.
Scene Change: Golden Oak Library
Twilight had woken up that morning to the rather nasty surprise of a floppy horn, which caused her to tear apart the library in a frenzy, looking for a cure or at least an explanation as to what caused it.
"'Flying Chimichangas', No! 'Cheese Obsessed Gods', Now that's just stupid! 'How to Breathe Fire for Dullards, Volume I', Why do I even have this? I live in a tree for Luna's sake! 'Common Injuries and Reactions caused by Magical Fireworks' by Winter Shield, Winter wrote a book? I'll have to read that later…" said Twilight as she tore books off their shelves and threw them behind her.
"How about this one?" asked Spike, holding a green book with a drawing of a plant on the cover.
"Let's see… 'Supernaturals'? Spike, supernatural means ghosts and spirits and stuff like that, it's as fake as curses, now put that back and help me find something useful!" Twilight grumbled, dismissing the book out of principle.
"I don't know, a good many spirits haunt pubs…" muttered Spike though Twilight overheard him if her scowl was any indication.
"And where did you hear that Spike?" she asked, dangerously, causing Spike's eyes to open quite wide and his irises to shrink in fear.
"Erm… S-Sh-Shining told me…"
"I'll make sure to give him a piece of my mind when I next see him, but for now we have to find out what happened to my horn" Twilight said before Pinkie barged in and attempted to speak but due to her inflated tongue (which was covered in blue spots) all she did was create a puddle of saliva on the floor. "err, what was that Pinkie?"
"EW! Yeesh, say it, don't spray it" complained Spike after Pinkie attempted to explain but showered him in spit, Twilight was about to say something but she was cut off by a crashing sound from the window
"She's… trying to… tell you that… Zecora slapped a curse on us…" said Rainbow between impacts which ended up in her knocking down Twilight's door and breaking a ladder due to the fact that one of her wings was inverted, Rarity walked in agreeing with her statement, probably due to her overgrown coat, mane and tail.
"Rainbow, please stop destroying my library" sighed Twilight when suddenly they were interrupted by a shout coming from the doorway
"Ah hate to say Ah told you so Twilight, but Ah told you so!" it said in a high pitched voice.
"Huh? Has somepony given Applejack helium?" asked Spike before he saw her standing on Apple Bloom's back due to her being smaller than an apple.
"It's a curse I tells ye, a curse!" shouted the tiny Earth Pony.
"Bu-but Fluttershy seems just fine" said Twilight, grasping at straws to disprove this being a curse.
"Yes, I quite agree, Fluttershy doesn't appear to have a thing wrong with her" added Rarity which led to a brief interrogation of Fluttershy which revealed that she'd been given a male voice and caused Spike to begin laughing his head off.
"Okay, okay, this is hilarious, look at all of you, we have Hairity, Rainbow Crash, Flutterguy, Spitty Pie, Appletini and… erm" he paused for thought "Okay, I got nothing; seriously, 'Twilight Sparkle', how can I work with that?"
"Hahaha, this is no joke Spike" said Twilight, giving him an angry stare "now start looking for more books so I can find a cure."
"I say we find Zecora's place… make her fix this!" shouted Rainbow as she flew uncontrollably by.
"Why not just ask Winter?" asked Rarity "his place is much closer and there's less risk of getting covered in that horrible muck again."
"OF COURSE RARITY!" cried Twilight "Winter might know what's happened or how to fix it, now why didn't I think of that earlier?"
"No good Twi" answered Rainbow as she crashed in front of her "I tried Winter's place first and he's vanished. I bet Zecora knew he could mess with her diabolical plans and did something to him!"
"Ah agree with Dash, we'll go to Zecora's and force her to remove this hex" chimed in Applejack, stomping her hoof.
"IT'S NOT A HEX OR A CURSE!" bellowed Twilight, which caused the room to descend into a frenzy of arguing which Apple Bloom used to exit the room, but Applejack noticed and leaped onto her back as she left. In the meantime, Rainbow had decided to lead a charge into the Everfree Forest and gotten the support of most of the mares present, but then they realised that Applejack and Apple Bloom had gone and decided to pursue them.
Scene Change: Everfree Forest, outside Zecora's house
The ponies arrived (after picking up Applejack on the way) at a house built into a tree with a number of empty bottles hanging from the branches and a tribal mask leaning against one of the roots, when suddenly Rainbow noticed something.
"Girls, look out! We've got incoming" she warned them and they retreated a couple of meters to witness Winter (and a couple of logs) falling from the sky.
"Oh… oh dear…" he said as he landed when a brick suddenly landed on his head, followed by a Hydra landing in front of him, which appeared to annoy him, he grabbed a tree trunk and held it aloft.
"Grr, right… It's bonking time, I loves a little bit of bonking" he said, hitting the Hydra on each head with the trunk every time he said a word "three, four, five, six, seven, can't be bothered to remember the rest… bonking, bonking and more bonking…"
The Hydra popped one head up and blew a raspberry at Winter, which didn't amuse him.
"TWELVE!" he shouted as he brought the trunk down on the head, this caused the Hydra to stagger off into the trees before a splashing sound was heard in the distance "well, that takes care of that then."
"WINTER!" cried the girls in unison (well, tried to in the case of Pinkie) before tackling him with a group hug.
"Just where have you been? We thought you were in trouble or that Zecora had gotten you" demanded Rainbow, though worry was clear in her voice.
"Are you still on about that?" asked Winter as he dusted himself off, not looking at them "I've told you all before… FLIPPING HECK! What happened to you?"
"Zecora cursed us and we're gonna make her sort out what she's done to us!"
"Dash, this isn't the work of a curse, this is something… HEY! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!"
"No, look" Rainbow answered, pointing through the window at something.
"You know this is an invasion of privacy, right?" Winter asked before Dash grabbed him and forced him to look through the window, there he saw Zecora pour a purple powder into a pot of bubbling green liquid, while chanting something in a foreign language which caused Pinkie to try and say something.
"What are you talking about Pinkie? She stole your gong? That's a cooking pot, not a gong" said Winter, confused at Pinkie's exclamation to which Pinkie tried to say something then got Fluttershy to sing the song she made up earlier in Sugarcube Corner while Pinkie did the dance moves.
"Creepy masks, confusing incantations and a great big bubbling cauldron?" Twilight sighed "Everything is pointing to Zecora being... bad. Or... what if Zecora is just making soup?"
"Mmm! The perfect temperature for ponies, I presume. Now, where is that little Apple Bloom?" rhymed Zecora after tasting the mixture.
"Or... what if she's making Apple Bloom soup?!" she asked causing the other mares to scream and Winter to frown.
"Twilight, don't be ridiculous! Zecora's biology wouldn't allow her to eat Apple Bloom" he scolded her but was ignored as Applejack crashed Rainbow through Zecora's door, causing Zecora to say various things (possibly unsavoury) in her native language as Applejack and Rainbow wrecked havoc in her home as Twilight and the others burst through the door.
"What have you done with Apple Bloom?" Twilight demanded as Zecora continued to speak in her native language and Applejack continued to cause havoc until she lassoed Zecora's ear and started to wrestle with it, causing Zecora to wonder what was going on until Rainbow knocked the cooking pot over, spilling its contents everywhere.
"No! You know not what you do! You've gone and spilled my precious brew!" said Zecora somewhat angrily as Twilight narrowed her eyes at the Zebra.
"We're onto you Zecora. I didn't want to believe that you cursed us, but the evidence is overwhelming!" she snapped as the others (though Twilight was included in this) began accusing Zecora of causing their various issues.
"How dare you! You destroy my home, destroy my work. Then rudely accuse me of being a jerk?" retorted Zecora angrily as Winter sighed, rolled his eyes and stepped in.
"You know, if you had just listened to me in the first place, none of this would be happening" he grumbled before turning to Zecora "I'm terribly sorry about all this, it's all just a misunderstanding and I'll pay for any damages Dash caused if that helps."
"Hmph, well at least one of you has manners I see, too bad like him, you can't all be" she said to the others before turning to Winter and bowing in greeting "Give me your name and I shall give you mine, then maybe things from here can go just fine."
"My name is Winter Shield, it's a pleasure to meet you" he replied, bowing in return.
"No, the pleasure belongs to me, after all 'tis rare I get to meet a pony as nice as thee" Zecora said to him, smiling "Now what can I do for you? I'm afraid I have left no brew"
"HOLD ON!" Rainbow interrupted, causing Zecora to frown "You put this curse on us, now you're gonna uncurse us."
"It is unwise to venture down this road. Your actions will make my anger explode!" replied Zecora angrily, causing the other ponies to gasp.
"Dash, please just stop" Winter pleaded before Twilight headbutted Zecora.
"Where is Apple Bloom!?" she barked before said filly's voice came from outside
"Zecora! Ah think Ah found all the things ya asked for. What in Ponyville is goin' on here?" she said upon seeing what was going on in the house.
"Apple Bloom! You're okay!" cried Applejack joyfully.
"Why wouldn't Ah be?"
"Because Zecora is an evil enchantress who cursed us and was gonna cook you up into soup!" answered Twilight which caused Zecora and Apple Bloom to laugh, much to the confusion of the other equines in the house.
"Oh Twilight. Did those silly fillies finally git in yer head? You know there's no such thing as a curse."
"Apple Bloom, sweetie. You can't just stand there and tell me this isn't a curse" Twilight responded, gesturing at herself and the other mares, which caused Apple Bloom and Zecora to explain that Zecora's words were actually a warning about the blue flowers which were a plant named Poison Joke.
"I tried to tell you all before you barged in" said Winter exasperatedly "your issues were jokes that the plant played on you; it's from Discordian times, where Discord created it to play ridiculous jokes on features about themselves which ponies took pride in."
"Quite right Winter Shield, I see the results that your research yields" said Zecora, which caused the ponies to ask about the masks, chanting and soup, which Zecora explained were actually welcoming masks, the chant was a nursery rhyme and the soup was actually a herbal remedy to be used as a bubble-bath in order to cure the Poison Joke's effects.
"But I tried to find a cure in all my books and couldn't find anything. What book has this natural remedy?" asked Twilight, to which Zecora produced the 'Supernaturals' book.
"Here is the book, you see? Sad that you lack it in your library" she said, causing Twilight to look quite embarrassed.
"Actually, I do have this book, but I didn't look inside because the title was so... weird. Supernaturals: Natural Remedies and Cure-alls That Are Simply Super" Twilight said apologetically upon realizing that all this could've been avoided if she's read the whole title of the book "I...I... I'm so sorry, Zecora. I had the answer the whole time, if only I had bothered to look inside."
"More like you dismissed it after reading the title's first word" added Winter unhelpfully causing Twilight to look even more embarrassed about it and Zecora to chuckle.
"Maybe next time you will take a second look, and not judge the cover of the book" she said, looking at the other members of the Mane 6 to emphasize the double meaning of her sentence and causing Apple Bloom to laugh.
"Zecora? I hate to ask after all the trouble we've caused, but would you be kind enough to mix up another batch of the herbal bath?" asked Winter, looking at the other ponies.
"Mix it up I certainly will. Yet I am missing an herb from Ponyville."
"But whenever Zecora comes to town, all the shops are mysteriously closed" added Apple Bloom, which explained why Zecora lurked around the shops.
"Oh, well... I think we can help you with that" replied Twilight confidently, smiling at Zecora.
"That is, if the ponies there don't go and jump to the wrong conclusion" muttered Winter as they departed for Ponyville.
Scene Change: Ponyville
They arrived back in Ponyville to see that the ponies there had seen the various issues that the mares had and jumped to the conclusion that they'd been cursed and thus started to panic and retreated into their homes.
"So rude" Winter grumbled, surveying Ponyville with a frown "you'd think ponies wouldn't place such faith in ridiculous rumours, but nooo…"
Meanwhile, Twilight had gone to the door of a pony named Daisy and convinced her to give them the herb they needed as well as explaining that Zecora was actually trying to help them and that the whole problem was the result of a misunderstanding. After sorting that out, they went to the spa where Zecora prepared the herbal bath and Twilight narrated a letter as her friends were cured of their various ailments.
"Dear Princess Celestia,
My friends and I all learned an important lesson this week: Never judge a book by its cover. Someone may look unusual, or funny, or scary. But you have to look past that and learn who they are inside. Real friends don't care what your "cover" is; it's the "contents" of a pony that count. And a good friend, like a good book, is something that will last forever.
Your faithful student,
Twilight Sparkle"
"Miss Zecora, I would love to get the recipe for this bath. It's simply luxurious!" said one of the spa ponies, she was a light blue mare with a pink mane and tail with a Cutie Mark of a lotus, her name, coincidentally, was Lotus. Zecora was about to respond before Apple Bloom noticed something.
"Applejack! Hey, where's Applejack?!" she cried, causing the ponies in the bath to panic while Winter and Zecora looked on in amusement as they knew EXACTLY where Applejack was…
"Ah'm right here, little sis. Ah ain't tiny no more!" Applejack piped up from the bucket she was sitting in, which she had presumably used as her bathtub when she was small.
After calming down, Rarity noted that she had "never felt so lovely in all her life" and Pinkie prattled on about being unable to talk, much to Rainbow's displeasure, but then she smirked as she had an idea.
"HEY WINTER! Come on in, the water's fine!" she called to him, swimming over to where he was standing.
"Ah, no thanks Dash" he said, a little nervously "I've never been one for spa treatments."
"Aww, are you scared of a little water?"
"No…"
"Good, then you won't mind if I do… THIS" Rainbow shouted before wrapping her forehooves around his neck and pulling him head first into the bath. When Winter surfaced, he did not look amused.
"Dash… THINK FAST!" he roared playfully as he jumped on her, showering the other ponies in water and causing them to laugh.
"So Winter, what actually happened to ya?" asked Applejack as she joined the rest of them in the bathtub, which resulted in the other ponies looking at him with interest, wondering the same thing.
"Well, I knew Zecora's words were unlikely to be a curse, so I thought them over and came up with the hypothesis that she was warning us about the blue flowers, but I had no idea if that was actually the case and I didn't recognize the flowers" he answered, explaining why he vanished "so I went to see if the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters had any books about them left in its library, it did so I read up on them and then went to find you but I ran into that Hydra on my way out, which knocked me flying and you know the rest from there."
"Why didn't you just come to my house? I'm sure I'll have a book on them somewhere…" Twilight asked, trailing off into thought.
"I decided to go looking late at night, I wasn't going to bother you at stupid O'Clock because I was looking for a book that you may or may not have had."
"So you decided to go into the Everfree Forest at night, alone? Really Winter, sometimes you worry me…" chimed in Rainbow causing the other Ponies to laugh.
Scene Change: Canterlot, Celestia's Chambers.
Our favourite solar princess looked out over the city of Canterlot, it was night and all you could see was a few lights on in the buildings underneath a beautiful star lit sky. She had had a stressful day in court with arrogant nobles trying to bully and boss her around, though said nobles soon found themselves evicted from the throne room.
'Arrogant fools' she thought, her violet eyes (A/N: Are they violet? Well, they are now in my fic) narrowing in annoyance 'they think because their ancestors were rewarded for their loyalty and dedication to Equestria that they can strut around as if they are above everypony else? Granted, some of their ancestors would've done the same if Dark hadn't put the fear of Faust in them…'
She chuckled at the memory of her guardian and best friend scaring the nobles out of their wits (and usually out of the throne room as well) but then she sighed and turned her attention back to Canterlot as more unwelcome memories returned to her.
'They're all ingrates; they don't acknowledge the suffering we had to go through to get Equestria to where it is today. Maybe I should've let Nightmare have a bit of her fun and teach them a lesson in humility, maybe then we'd have Dark with us today, where he belongs…' she thought before clenching her eyes shut and shaking her head 'NO! Those aren't my thoughts! I love my citizens, they're like my children. I'd never abandon them to Nightmare Moon like that! And Dark was my fault, nopony else's, I can't blame them for it.'
"I think we both know that's a lie Celestia" came a voice similar to hers but rougher, Celestia turned to see a translucent mare with a blinding white coat and golden eyes, her mane and tail were not like Celestia's aurora but more like an out of control flame which changed colour every few seconds.
"Solar Flare, I thought I've told you before to stop influencing my thoughts" Celestia said to her, frowning at the mare, who smirked, revealing sharp teeth.
"Stop influencing your thoughts? Celestia, you and I are the same being, my thoughts are yours and your thoughts are mine" replied Solar Flare, brow furrowing almost unnoticeably "We both know you were manipulated at your weakest into ordering Dark away from you, but it backfired on those fools, didn't it?"
"It was you that made me angry enough to go through with it in the first place!" snapped Celestia at the darker half of her conscious, mane ceasing to flow and beginning to move like a flame, showing her anger "I'm warning you, I will NOT let you threaten my ponies! Not again!"
"I'm no more of a threat to them than you yourself are! I want what you want, remember?" shot back Solar Flare "And the situation with Dark was all your doing along with those impudent fools you call nobles, I was too busy mourning Luna… Anyway, that's not why I'm here."
"Then why are you here?"
"To tell you that I've had enough of your self pity over what happened millennia ago. Find Dark and bring him back, then keep him with you until you both die!"
"You know that'd never work, he's too much of a free spirit AND it's not fair to him!"
"Puh-lease, Dark loves you, he'd do anything to please you, why do you think he's never gotten in touch since you sent him away? And who cares about what's fair to him?! FOCUS ON YOURSELF AND WHAT YOU WANT FOR ONCE!"
"No! If Dark wants to return, then he will, I will not force him!" replied Celestia firmly, glaring at Solar Flare, the heat in the room was rising rapidly "what you fail to understand Solar Flare, is that I swore to allow ponies to make mistakes and learn from them in order to grow as a species and not to treat them as my playthings, refusing to allow them to make their own decisions! If I take that right away from one pony, how can I justify not taking it away from the others?!"
"HE GAVE UP HIS RIGHTS TO SELF DETERMINATION WHEN HE SWORE TO GUARD US WITH EVERYTHING HE HAD!" roared Solar Flare in return, storming up to Celestia and gave her a burning stare which Celestia matched "HE BELONGS TO US AND YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT! BUT YOU'RE SO BLINDED BY YOUR PRECIOUS "MORALS" THAT YOU CAN'T SEE WHAT'S BEST FOR YOU ANYMORE!"
"What's best for me is not always what's best for my ponies, and as a ruler, I must put their needs before mine" retorted Celestia angrily, though a tear could be seen in her eye "no matter how much it hurts me…"
This little speech caused Solar Flare to visibly recoil in shock, before her gaze softened and she embraced Celestia, much to the latter's surprise.
"I'm not dropping this Celestia" she whispered in Celestia's ear "if Dark shows himself to us, then I'll MAKE him stay with us for all eternity... regardless of whether you want it or not."
"Don't bet on it…" replied Celestia, a look of steeled determination visible in her eye "I won't let you harm him or any of my ponies."
"You'll come around, you'll eventually see that I only want what's best for you and our ponies… I care for them more than mother and father ever did… " Solar Flare reassured her (or tried to anyway) in an almost caring voice before fading away, leaving Celestia alone in her room.
"The saddest thing about that is I can't deny her last statement…" muttered Celestia before turning back to Canterlot.
'I WILL do what's best for my ponies, but would it be best for Dark to return?' she pondered 'I know it'd be best for Luna to have her brother figure back and he'd be able to defend my ponies if I were not able to… Hmm, I'll have to ask Luna, Cadenza and… Twilight for advice, but not now, its too early to consider making that decision…'
Meanwhile, deep within Celestia's mind, a pair of golden eyes opened and a mouth filled with sharp teeth could be seen curling into a dangerous-looking smile.
"I told you you'd come around…"
Stats
Page generated in 0.053 seconds
Total duration
1,101 users online
1,491,797 hits today, 2,364,530 yesterday
FIMFiction
My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Fanfiction
Designed and coded by knighty & Xaquseg - © 2011-2024
Follow & Support Us
Support us
SubStar
Chat!
Discord
Follow us
Twitter
MLP: Friendship is Magic® - © 2024 Hasbro Inc.®
Fimfiction is in no way affiliated with or endorsed by Hasbro Inc.®
Ha ha, nice one Burke...I mean Winter