29-Growing Flames
Chapter 29
Alan hummed to himself as he polished down the wooden railing to the Victory. The ship, fondly dubbed as “his baby,” sat only a few yards in the air, level with Twilight's balcony.
“Why did you have to dock it there?” Twilight whined from the balcony, an open book lying in front of her.
“Where else am I going to put her?” Alan shot back.
“I don’t know! But does it have to be here?” Twilight moaned. “You’re blocking my light, and my telescope.”
“You’re welcome to move them on deck,” Alan said.
“Like I am going to move a three hundred bit telescope onto that rickety thing!”
“It is not rickety!”
“Will you two shut up?!” Spike yelled from inside.
“No!” The unicorns shouted in unison. They looked at each other for a moment, and then laughed.
“Alright, alright,” Alan conceded. “I’ll try backing her up a bit,”
“Thank you,” Twilight said.
Alan walked over to the helm, and with a few quick motions from the silver hands, he set the engines to quarter speed back, and began the dangerous task of backing the ship up.
“That’s good! Right there!” he heard Twilight call once the yacht had backed up about halfway through the balcony.
Alan reversed the engines, flipping the switch the quarter speed ahead and then to off, letting the Victory come to a standstill.
He smiled for a second, before quickly looking left and right for any pegasi in the area.
Finding none, he gripped the helm with both hooves and gave it a spin. “Woosh!” Alan muttered, before suddenly grabbing it, and spinning it the other way. “Woooo!”
His need to be silly satisfied, Alan then dropped to all fours and made his way to the prow, and back into view of the balcony.
Twilight gave him a knowing smile.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Alan replied, making a quick jump to the balcony from the deck.
“Uh-huh,” Twilight muttered, going back to her book.
“Hey, you hungry?” Alan asked.
“A little,” she admitted, not looking up from her book.
“Alright, well I guess I’ll head over to Sugarcube Corner and bring you back a cupcake or something.”
“Well...” Twilight began, “I’m feeling more like an eclair today.”
“Coming up!” Alan said before heading inside.
With a few quick hops, Alan was already down stairs, passing by Dawn Flame, Daisy Chain, and a very bored-looking Spike. Walking straight past the three of them, Alan quickly went out into the street, and headed for the bakery.
He did pause for a second to admire his ship one more time, though.
After a short trot, Alan came up to Sugarcube Corner, and was surprised to see Mr. Cake behind the counter.
“Well, hey there, Alan! What can I get you today?”
“I’ll have chocolate glazed doughnut and one eclair, please,” the Pendragon ordered.
“Coming up!” the earth pony said, ducking behind the glass counter.
“So, if you don’t mind my asking, where’s Pinkie?”
“Oh, I have no idea,” Mr. Cake said, almost nonchalantly.
“No idea?” Alan repeated.
“Not a clue.”
“And you’re not worried?”
Mr. Cake looked up at him. “Alan, look. Pinkie does this. She’s here one day, gone the next, and then back again within a day. She doesn’t tell anypony where she’s going, she doesn’t tell anypony when she’s going. She just goes.”
“And you’re fine with that? Just leaving her work like that?”
“No,” Mr. Cake said, placing both the doughnut and the eclair into a brown paper bag. “But I really don’t have much choice.”
Alan blinked.
“Don’t worry too much. Even though she’s alone, she’s always been able to handle herself.”
<<<|Ω|>>>
But Pinkie wasn’t alone.
The very nervous stallion next to her was practically sweating bullets as they both walked up the narrow dirt road. Soarin, member of the Wonderbolts, was shaking as he was about to do the single most terrifying thing any male has ever done across the dimensions of reality.
Meet his marefriend’s family.
He wore his formal uniform, bristling with as many medals as he had to help impress them, but he still couldn’t keep his wings from twitching.
“Oh, relax, Soary,” Pinkie said, “I’m sure they’ll love you.”
Soarin, however was not so easily convinced. “Are you sure?” he asked. “Because I have some pretty bad experiences with earth ponies. Wing envy and all that...”
“I’m an earth pony,” Pinkie pointed out.
“You’re an exception,” Soarin explained.
“Oh, don’t be silly, Soarin. You’ll be fine.”
Soarin didn’t say anything further, but his wingtips were twitching crazily. If he had been paying more attention, he would have noticed the dry, barren ground around them, and twisted, gnarled brambles that flanked the dusty path.
He did however, notice Pinkie’s rather sudden yell directed at the small wooden shed. “I’m ho-ooooooooooommmmmmeee~!”
Soarin flinched as the high-decibel shockwave of sound blew past him. Sweet apple pies, she has a good set of lungs.
Down the road, the simple door to the cabin opened, and the figure of a stallion stood in it.
Pinkie quickly shot forward, dashing down the road at a speed that usually only pegasi could reach.
But, as Soarin had quickly learned, there was hardly anything that Pinkie couldn’t do.
Smiling, despite the fact that his wings were still twitching, Soarin took flight, closing the distance between him and his marefriend’s childhood home.
“...and so I became a general, and then I was blowing things up, and then I saw a mountain, and it had carbonite in it!” Soarin heard Pinkie explain to the golden brown stallion with the grey mane and a pickaxe cutie mark.
“Sounds like you ‘n your friends get into a lot of trouble,” the stallion said, in a slow, deep voice.
“Oh, nothing big, Daddy,” Pinkie assured.
“I’m sure,” he said, smiling. “Well, Inkie will be home soon; why don’t you come on inside? Blinkie’s making fillet de hay tonight, your favorite.”
“Sure!” Pinkie said, in what Soarin noticed to be an almost comic contrast to her father’s slow, calm voice. “But first, I’d like to introduce you to somepony!” She slid over to where Soarin stood and quickly draped her foreleg around his withers. “This is Soarin, my special somepony.”
The stallion’s expression soured like a ripe lemon.
Soarin gulped.
“He’s a Wonderbolt, and an army captain, and he also saved my life.”
The stallion’s frown lightened slightly. Very slightly.
“Soarin, this is my Daddy, Clyde.”
“A-a pleasure to meet you...Sir...” Soarin said, mentally kicking himself for being so spineless.
“That’s Mister Clyde, sir, to you, Sonny,” the stallion corrected, shooting the Wonderbolt a glare that could drill through diamonds.
“Yes, Mister Clyde, sir.”
“Who’s at the door, Daddy?” A feminine voice shouted from inside.
“Pinkie,” Clyde replied, “and a friend.”
“Friend?” the voice said again, as a greyish-purple mare pushed her way passed the father. Her light-grey mane was done up in a nice, tight bun, and she wore a simple apron, which barely left her cutie mark revealed, a split geode.
“Hi, Blinkie!” Pinkie chirped. “This is Soarin, my special somepony!”
Blinkie blinked, and then gave the stallion a face-splitting smile.
Soaring wondered if it ran in the family.
Pinkie’s sister practically shoved Clyde out of the way as she got almost uncomfortably close to the pegasus stallion. “Why hello, there! My name is Blinkamena Susan Pie, or just Blinkie for short.”
“Blinkie!” Clyde said in a bit of a whine, as he was being shoved into the doorway.
“Don’t let Daddy here put you off, he just means well.”
“Blinkie!”
“He always said that the best part about raising daughters was scaring the manure out of the coltfriends.”
“Blinkie!” The stallion cried, sounding very angry.
“Well, come on in!” the purple mare cried, waving a hoof. “No need to stand out here like a couple of boulders waiting for a landslide, come in! Come in!”
Clyde grumbled as he followed couple inside. Something about ruining the whole experience.
The inside of the cabin was not what Soarin was expecting.
He had imagined a simple, dimly lit wooden room with a potbelly stove and candles. Instead he found himself staring at tightly-packed hardwood floors, immaculate white wallpaper, and a large bookshelf, lined with...the Daring Do books?
“Please, sit down, make yourself comfortable” Blinkie said, motioning to the table, where a few plates of dinner sat, steaming. “It won’t take me long to whip up a couple of more plates for you two,” she explained, before shooting a look at her father. “Be nice, Daddy.”
The stallion grumbled, removing his hat.
Silence permeated the bright room, and Soarin quickly felt uncomfortable.
Clyde glared at him.
“So...” Soarin said suddenly, and instantly regretting it. I need a topic! Quick!His eyes fell on the bookshelves, and the single series it proudly bore. “Who’s into Daring Do?”
“Oh!” Pinkie cired, excited. “Inkie,” she began before suddenly shoving her hoof into her own mouth. “Ohf waith...Ah pwomised noth tho thell!”
Soarin blinked.
Before he could even open his mouth to ask what she meant by that, the door opened and a grey mare entered the room. She had a dark grey mane that hung straight over the left side of her face, and a pair of saddlebags on her back. “Behold!” she said in an overly dramatic voice. “I have returned!”
“Inkie!” Pinkie cried, before crossing the room and hugging her sister in a bone-crushing embrace.
“Gak!” the grey mare exclaimed as she felt air rapidly escape her lungs. “Hi, Pinkie!”
The pink ball of energy dropped her sister, and Soarin noticed with interest that the new mare had a book with a compass on the cover as her cutie mark.
Inkie took three rather deep gulps of air, before her eyes finally settled on the Wonderbolt. “Oh, hello. It’s not often that Pinkie brings company with her.”
“This is Soarin!” Pinkie cheered, a sudden burst of confetti blowing up behind him in a fanfare. “He’s my special somepony.”
Inkie looked at Pinkie, eyes wide. “You found somepony who’ll put up with your craziness?”
Soarin frowned. “She’s not that cra—”
“Yup!” Pinkie interrupted.
“Miracles do happen,” Inkie mumbled, before holding out a hoof to the Wonderbolt. “My name is Inkamena Joanne Pie, pleasure to meet you.”
Soarin took the hoof. “Um, My name is Soarin.”
“The Wonderbolt, right?” Inkie asked.
Soarin smirked. “The one and only.”
“That’s nice,” Inkie said, a smile on her lips, before digging into her saddle bags. “Here’s my next check for the books, Daddy.”
She quickly handed the check to her father, holding in just such a way as to show off the six digit number printed on its face.
Soarin blinked.
“Oh! Did you see that?” Inkie said, giving her best embarrassed tone to her question. “Now you know that I write a very popular book series!”
Soarin rolled his eyes. “Alright, I get it. I’m not the only big wig in the room.”
Inkie chuckled. “Sorry, but I don’t get to play that card too often. So, a Wonderbolt, huh? That has to be fun.”
“Well, I’m sure Surprise has told you all about it.”
“Oh, is that how you met Pinkie?”
“Yeah, actually, she’s been trying to play matchmaker on the team for the past two years.”
As the two talked, Clyde sighed. He was really looking forward to having the stallion at least shake in his horseshoes.
“Soup's on!” Blinke cried from the kitchen.
The three mares and two stallions made their way to the table, as Blinkie quickly placed an extra two plates on the table. Sitting down, Blinkie quickly released her hair from the bun, letting it droop over the right side of her face, and they began to eat.
Conversation was light amongst them, Inkie asking about the finer point of flying for her books, and Blinkie spoke of rock formations and farming techniques.
Soarin learned many things at that table with Pinkie’s family. He learned that Inkie had always been the most creative of the three, while Blinke had always had a knack for finding gems.
“Gems?” Soarin asked.
“Well, duh!” Blinkie answered. “That’s what we do here. Or at least, us working ponies.”
“Shut your mouth or I will shut it for you,” Inkie replied in a deadpan.
“Um, back to the gems? I thought you guys farmed rocks.”
“Gems are rocks,” the whole family answered in unison.
“We ‘weed’ most of the time,” Blinke said, “movin’ stones like granite or shale around, organizin’ them, and then sellin’ them to contractors. The real money in rock farmin’ though, is in gems.”
Talk went on from there to work in general, life at home, Soarin’s own family and friends. Clyde even began to ask the stallion questions, his authoritative and accusatory tone slowly dropping.
As they went on, nopony noticed that Pinkie Pie went quiet.
After the plates had been emptied, and Soarin still spoke with the friendly family he had just met, Pinkie suddenly stood up. “I’m going to go check up on Mom now.”
The entire table went silent.
Clyde nodded. “Alright, Pinkie. We’ll be here.”
Blinkie nodded, “Y-yeah, go ahead, we’ll be waiting...”
“Call if you need us,” Inkie said before Pinkie suddenly left.
Soarin sat there, wondering what was going on. Now that he thought about it, where was Mrs. Pie? “Um, am I missing something?”
Inkie, Blinkie, and Clyde all looked at him.
Soarin suddenly felt the need to sink into the floor.
Inkie sighed. “Well...if she likes you enough to bring you home, you probably need to know...”
<<<|Ω|>>>
Pinkie climbed the small, barren hill. At the crest of the dusty hill stood a dead oak, and a single, solitary stone.
“Hi, Mom!” Pinkie said to the stone.
Silence.
“I’ve been doing well,” she continued, “and I see that Blinkie finally found your cookbook.”
The stone said nothing.
“I’ve brought home my special somepony home, just like you always said I should.”
The stone did not reply.
Pinkie’s smile faltered.
“I-I miss you, Mommy...and...and...” Pinkie hesitated, and her mane began to deflate. Her vision became blurry as she stared at the lonely stone. “And...and...I’m sorry...I’m so, so sorry.”
The stone remained silent.
“I-I didn’t mean for this to happen...” Pinkie said, sobbing. “If-if only I had listened! If only I had known! You told me to stay away from that ridge!” she screamed, beating the dirt with her hooves. “And I didn’t listen.”
The stone gave no comfort.
“And now you’re dead, all because of me.”
The stone didn’t argue.
“But-but,” Pinkie said, sniffing as tears fell to the dusty ground. “I just have to keep on smiling, because it’s my job to smile. I have to smile, even if I don’t want to. I gotta smile for everypony else, I’ve got to cheer them up, and you can’t cheer up ponies with a sad face.”
The stone made no comment.
Pinkie cried.
She sobbed on the stone, its silence both mocking and comforting. It stabbed at her like a knife, but it was the only thing she had.
A hoof touched her shoulder, and she looked up to see Soarin standing there.
She launched herself into him, crying into his chest as his wings enveloped her in a warm embrace.
The stone watched in silence.
Pinkie was hurt. She was still hurting.
But Pinkie wasn’t alone.
<<<|Ω|>>>
“Yeehaw!” Applejack yelled as she jumped a fence, Silver Pauldrons following close behind, lasso in mouth.
Silver Pauldrons spun the lasso as fast as he could, before tossing it at the orange earth pony.
It landed next to her, catching nothing but air. “Ya ain’t gonna catch me with a toss like that,” the farmer laughed.
Silver growled before gathering up the lasso again.
Applejack zig-zagged through the trees, weaving through the orchard that she was so familiar with.
Silver had a hard time keeping up.
“Ya ain’t never gonna be a herder at this rate, Grey Hairs!”
Silver started spinning the lasso again.
“Come on! It ain’t that hard!” she taunted.
Silver threw the lasso again, only for the farmer’s tail to slip through it by an inch.
The soldier growled as he gathered the lasso up again, and continued his chase of the orange pony.
Applejack taunted him again, shooting off the best catcalls she knew as she dodged through the trees. “Granny can move faster than you, come on!”
Silver followed closely behind, doing his best to avoid running straight into the trees that all but surrounded him.
“Why am I doing this again?” he asked himself. To learn how to properly herd and direct a stampede. “I know that, but why?” It seemed like a pointless exercise, chase Applejack until he caught her with a lasso. Once caught, he had to tie her up until she yielded, and then she’d throw him into a tug-o-war with Big Mac. Sure it taught him accuracy and strength with a lasso, but he came here to learn about taking care of plants.
But, back to the exercise. All he really needed was a clear shot, and he’d have her.
A streak of orange flashed across her vision.
“Not yet...”
She flew between two trees, and Silver barely caught sight of the triple apple cutie mark.
“Not yet...”
Her covered head ducked under a nearby branch.
“Now!” His mind screamed. and with every ounce of his strength, he tossed the lasso forward. His neck snapped back, his eyes coming off his target as he pulled, hoping beyond hope that—
The line went taunt.
Silver grinned through gritted teeth.
He turned, throwing his weight against his quarry. All he had to do now was tie her up, and he'd be done with this stupid exercise.
She was putting up an excellent fight, there was barely any give in the rope as he pulled, and the dirt beneath his hooves was starting to give way.
“Silver...”
Silver grunted as he pulled, but was unable to make the pony move.
“Silver...”
By Celestia’s Simmering Summer! Did she eat bricks or something for breakfast?
“Silver, let go of mah tree.”
Silver stopped pulling and turned his head to see Applejack simply standing there. The lasso was caught on the branch next to her.
Desperately trying to hide the blush in his cheeks, Silver dropped the rope. “I...uh...” he briefly considered saying he meant to do that, but that would mean he meant to yank at a tree. “Right...”
Applejack laughed, as she gathered the old rope. “You did alright for today, Silver, why don’t we call it done?”
“Sounds good,” the stallion sighed, before following Applejack towards the barn.
As the two walked to Sweet Apple Acres’ main building, Applejack took a long look at the soldier.
His bronze fur seemed to gleam in the sunlight, and his silver mane, while a golden opportunity to make old jokes, suited him well. As stallions went he was not half bad looking.
He was also a hard worker, something she greatly respected in, well, anypony actually. In the time he had been at the farm, he had managed to pull up a few stumps of some trees that had begun to rot, move a couple dozen barrels of cider to be stored for fermenting, helped Big Mac plow their corn fields for their side business, and even helped rebuild the hayloft.
He also had quite the mind. Thankfully it wasn’t any of that fancy mathematics stuff, just some good, old-fashioned, down-to-earth wisdom. Like that talk that Silver had given her back during the war—it’s war, it’s not supposed to feel right. There’s nothing right about killing somepony or somegriff where they stand, but it was a sad, necessary sacrifice to protect her home.
She suddenly realized she was staring and snapped her head forward.
“Something wrong?” Silver asked, noticing the sudden movement out of the corner of his eye.
“Nope,” AJ replied, staring straight forward to keep him from seeing the blush on her cheeks.
Silver cocked an eyebrow, but didn’t push her. He had learned fairly quickly that whenever Applejack devolved into a one-word vocabulary she was either really mad, or really nervous. And, well, if she was mad, there was no way he was going to push anything.
As the saying went: “Tartarus hath no fury like a mare scorned.”
But...she didn’t look angry, so was she nervous about something? What?
“No!” his mind screamed. “Just assume she’s angry! Don’t get involved in this! Think about something else.”
Right, that was a safe thing to do.
So Silver’s thoughts turned to his stay in Ponyville. It was really possible because of the Pendragon’s initiative to have a minimal force of trained guards in every town as a form of protection should worse come to worse, although he had a sneaking suspicion it was just so that one pegasus could stay with his daughter. Flame, was it?
Well, anyway, now a permanent part of Ponyville, Silver needed to find himself a job. So, who better to turn to than Applejack and her family, especially since they had already met before and...
What could she possibly be nervous about?
“No! Bad stream of consciousness! Bad!”
As he tried to shake the thought from his mind, his eyes wandered across her form. She had a very fit body, brought on by a lifetime of hard work and healthy eating. She moved with a natural sway in her hips, and her mane bounced slightly as she—
“You know she’s your employer right?”
—moved with a professional and purely platonic grace.
Yeah, okay, even he didn’t buy that one.
Was it wrong to appreciate the beauty of a mare?
“She’s still your boss.”
Silver sighed. Yeah...yeah she was, and that made things all kinds of weird. “So...” Silver began, searching for a subject. “Where Big Mac been lately?”
Applejack jumped on the subject. “At Fluttershy’s mostly, he’s been trying to repay his so-called ‘life-debt.’”
“How’s that going for him?”
“Alright, mostly. Although she’s been having a lot of trouble at the cottage recently. A lot of ‘freak accidents,’” she said, giving him a knowing wink.
“Is that so?” Silver asked, smirking.
“Yup, she as smitten as a lovebug in springtime.”
“What about Mac?”
“Well, if I know my brother, he’s rather enjoyin’ himself, if ya get me.”
Silver snickered. “Does Fluttershy know?”
“Nope.”
“Does Big Mac know about Fluttershy?”
“Nope.”
“Oh, this should be fun,” Silver said.
“Yes, it should.”
“Serious question, though.”
“Shoot.”
“Are you okay with that?”
“Okay with what?”
“Mac and Flutters gettin’ together?”
Applejack thought about it for a few seconds. “Don’t see why not. In all honesty, I think Fluttershy could use somepony to stand up for her, and Big Mac...well, Big Mac needs to get out more.”
Silver smiled. “So you’re good with it?”
“Don’t see any reason not to be.”
“Alright...alright...” Silver said nodding.
There was silence between them for a moment.
“Bet ya five bits it takes them a year to get together.”
“Pfft. It’s gonna take six at least,” Applejack argued.
"Sounds like a bet to me," Silver said with a grin.
<<<|Ω|>>>
The Ponyville Dojo was normally a quiet, serene place. A place of peace, meditation, and balance. A place where ponies came together to learn from themselves and each other.
“Bring it on, Thunderlame!”
Normally.
Today, however, Rainbow Dash and her new sparring buddy Thunderlane were going at it, complete with insults and everything.
“As if you could handle me, Rainbow Douche!” Thunderlane retorted, striking with a powerful punch.
Rainbow Dash’s speed fit well with the Flying Phoenix Style, and she easily dodged out of the way of hit.
“Ooh, that’s a good one,” the mare remarked, “it’s a shame you can’t put your money where your mouth is.”
Thunderlane answered with a kick that was a hair’s breadth from ripping out her secondary feathers.
“Wow! Felt the wind on that one!” Dash taunted, only to shut her own mouth as a black hoof came within a few fractions of an inch from her face.
Her mane ruffled from the force.
“Bet you felt the wind from that one, too,” Thunderlane said with a smirk.
Rainbow Dash playfully batted away his hoof. “Hilarious,” she said, her face the epitome of unamused. “But seriously, how much do you practice, man? That was a pretty amazing punch there.”
“Probably too much,” Thunderlane answered with a smile. “Do what you love, right?”
“Man, and I had you picked as a total workaholic.”
Thunderlane raised an eyebrow. “How’d you figure that?”
“You’re a weather pony,” Rainbow Dash explained, “and you’ve got a thundercloud as your cutie mark.”
Thunderlane looked at her for a second, before laughing.
“What?” the mare asked, sounding irritated.
“Take a closer look,” he said before standing to one side, showing off his flank.
Rainbow looked at him. “That sounds like a really bad pickup line.”
“I know worse ones. I also know that they don’t work.”
Dash rolled her eyes before looking at Thunderlane’s cutie mark.
It was admittedly on the more complicated side of things. Not some of the common triple figure ones, just a single, and rather detailed thundercloud with a lightning bolt coming off of it.
“Yeah, a thundercloud, like I said,” Dash said.
“Look closer.”
She turned her attention back to the mark, deciding that she better look really hard to find this small detail of his.
The cloud was shaped in a bit of a teardrop, with the largest part heading for his tail and growing smaller as it headed for his head. Small tufts of cloud trailed from the end, giving the impression that it was rapidly in motion.
“I’m not seeing—”
She stopped.
“Is that...?”
She peered closer, wondering if the lights were pulling a trick on her eyes. It looked like there was something in the cloud.
“Is that a leg?”
“Yes it is,” Thunderlane answered.
It was a leg. A leg shrouded by cloud and thunder.
“That...that is actually pretty awesome.”
“Ain’t it though?” Thunderlane asked, turning to face Dash. “I’ve got a knack for hitting things. Hard. And since I wasn’t really one for the Royal Guard, I decided that bucking clouds out of existence would be a good job.”
“So, you’ve been like, secretly a ninja the whole time?!”
“A what?” Thunderlane asked.
“Never mind! Dude, you’re awesome.”
“Well...not that awesome...”
“Whatever, man! You’ve got a hoof of thunder cutie mark! That's only slightly less awesome than mine!”
“Well, it’s not like you can actually see the hoof that easily.”
“It’s still there,” Rainbow pointed out.
Thunderlane rolled his eyes.
“What’s going on?” a new voice said, and the two pegasi turned to see Rumble, Thunderlane’s little brother enter the room. The colt had a light gray coat with a gray, windswept mane, and large purple eyes.
“I’m just telling your brother how awesome he is,” Rainbow Dash said.
“What!?” Another voice cried, before an orange filly fell into the room from behind Rumble.
Scootaloo looked up at her hero, gaping. “You think he’s awesome!?”
“Well, yeah,” Dash answered.
“But...but he’s not a fast flyer!”
Dash smirked. “Being awesome is more than flying fast, Scoots. It's a mix of things. Thunderlane just has a different mix than I do.”
Scootaloo blinked, before sitting there on the spot, as if her entire world had been shifted.
Thunderlane shook his head before turning to his brother. “So, ready for your next lesson, bro?”
Rumble jumped forward, pushing himself forward with a flutter of his wings. “Yeah, I’m ready!”
The older stallion smirked. “Alrighty then, let’s get ready to Rumble!” he said with a laugh.
Rainbow Dash watched with fascination as the colt took a stance, which she thought was called the Standing Timberwolf Style, and began to punch at his brother’s hooves. Starting out slowly, he began to move faster and Thunderlane sped up as well, until the hooves of the two almost danced between them.
Rainbow Dash blinked, and her brain suddenly registered the fact that a colt, no more than twelve, was moving at a speed that she had thought only stallions could reach.
She smirked. “Seems like Awesome runs in the family.”
“Alright!” Thunderlane cried. “Charging Minotaur Style! Go!”
Suddenly the colt switched, crouching low with his hooves sticking close to his head.
As Rainbow watched, she suddenly felt a tap on her leg.
She looked down to see Scootaloo. “C-could you teach me some of that?”
Dash smiled. “I can teach you a little bit, sure. Come on, get you your hindlegs, and start punching when I say go.”
As the two foals learned, the teachers shared a look.
A big smile, and kind eyes.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Rarity stared at the mannequin. Her gaze pierced its nonexistent soul, and her eyes gazed into its very being.
Spike swore it shivered.
Luckily for it, her attention was not directly on the pony-shaped dummy, but rather on the cloth that surrounded it.
Spike sighed. Why some hotshot had to come in and get Rarity to make her a dress today of all days he would never know.
“Spike,” Rarity spoke, her voice a sweet melody to his ears, “be a dear and fetch me the Saddle Arabian Silk, please.”
Spike slithered over and grabbed a small bolt of fabric.
“And stop that dreadful slithering! I keep thinking there’s a snake inside.”
Spike slithered over to the mare, bolt in hand. “A snake? With wings like these? They wisssssssssssssssshhh,” he said, hissing the last word and sticking his tongue out a good foot, letting it wiggle in front of Rarity’s nose.
The unamused look on her face spoke volumes.
Spike chuckled before rolling out a length of the silk.
Rarity gave him a disapproving glare, before ducking her head down to cut the silk, as well as to hide her own growing smile.
Stupid, charming dragon.
Focusing back on the dress, she took the short length of silk and carefully stitched it into the hem, and with a smile and a sigh, she stood. “And done. Not my best work, I’ll admit, but it should be absolutely stunning.”
Spike smiled, snaking his neck around Rarity’s back so he could nuzzle her from both sides. “But certainly not as stunning as you.”
“Flattery will only get you so far, Spike.”
Spike smiled. “Well how about this then?”
Before Rarity could even move, she suddenly felt a weight around her neck, and a tail holding a hoof mirror came into view.
Around her neck, surrounded by gold, was the greatest ruby she had ever seen.
“I’ve been growing this baby for months now, and this very moment, it is perfect.”
Rarity simply stared at the massive jewel at her neck.
It was a fire ruby. A gem so rare and, according to Spike, so delicious, that most of dragonkind had eaten them out of existence. The heart-shaped crystalline structure was unmistakable, and she could swear the very center of the gem was glowing.
“S-Spike...I...I...”
“Yes?” he asked.
The gem was surrounded by doubtlessly Twenty-four Karat gold, and hung from a fine chain.
“I don’t know what to say...”
Spike brought her chin to face, and stared into her sapphire eyes. “Then don’t say anything.”
Spike brought her muzzle close to his snout, and they shared a long, deep kiss.
<<<|Ω|>>>
Twilight Sparkle was in heaven.
Absolute paradise.
On all sides she was surrounded by the greatest pleasures she knew.
Books, stacked in massive pillars of knowledge and stories, dotted the room, going up into the obscuring darkness that hid the ceiling. Chocolate, in hundreds of opened boxes and small, paper wrappers, littering the floor as if they were gold in a dragons den. And Alan, who was slowly, oh so slowly, feeding her those same chocolates as he kissed a line down her neck.
She moaned in pleasure as the fireplace crackled behind her, providing the only light, but certainly not the only warmth.
Alan's golden hoof ran along her exposed barrel, as a mana hand fed her yet another piece of chocolate that melted on her tongue.
“Well, my beautiful Star...” Alan said, before kissing her neck yet again, “is there anything else I can do for you?”
It spoke volumes to her that she had to really think about whether or not she needed anything else.
“No,” she said finally.
Alan shifted, and hovered over her, looking down at her and a hoof stroked her cheek. “I am glad to hear it, My Star,” he said, before leaning in for a kiss.
Twilight closed her eyes.
“Twilight Sparkle!” A voice shouted.
Twilight jumped, sitting up. Now on her rump, she quickly turned to see the nocturnal Princess staring down on her.
“Princess Luna! Hi!” she said, suddenly noticing that Alan was not there.
“Awaken, Twilight Sparkle,” Luna said, a slight frown on her lips, “your beloved needs you now.”
And with that, Twilight opened her eyes, and saw the darkened ceiling of her bedroom.
It was silent, as expected for, she glanced at the clock, 3:30 am. She was in her bed, and sadly not surrounded by chocolate.
It took only a moment to realize that she had, in fact, been dreaming, and therefore, she should probably just go back to sleep.
But the words Luna had spoken...
With a sigh, knowing it would ruin her sleep schedule, she got up and tip-hoofed her way down the stairs to Alan’s room. She paused at the door, and immediately was filled with worry,
It was wide open.
Her eyes scanned the library for a moment, and her eyes settled on the balcony door, which also hung open.
Silently she made her way over, and found Alan standing there in the cold, looking up at the sky.
“Alan...” she spoke. “What’s wrong?”
Alan didn’t respond at first, he merely continued staring at the clouds as they slowly moved across the moonlit sky.
“Six hundred and eighty three...” he said, finally. “Six hundred and eighty three stallions and mares died, Twilight.”
Twilight sighed. “Alan...”
“I...I could see them, Twilight...even if I had never met them, my brain can’t help but give them a face, a voice, a personality...” He sighed, before hanging his head. “And it was all my fault.”
“Alan,” Twilight said, standing next to him, “You know that’s not true.”
Alan nodded. “Yes, you’re right...but at the same time, I am to blame.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Nopony died when Nightmare Moon returned. Nopony died when Discord reigned, but I was the scapegoat of this war...They started the war over me, Twi.”
“Ironclaw was going to start the war anyway, Alan. You were as much a victim as everyone else.”
“I know, Twi...I know...It’s just...It’s just, why do I feel like it was my fault?”
Twilight nuzzled him. “You did the right thing, Alan. You did what you had too.”
Alan said nothing.
She kissed him, “I love you, Alan.”
Alan gave her a sad smile. “I love you too, Twilight.”
--------------------------------
And that’s a wrap.
“Awww! Romance!”
Yes, tons of it! I ship more than Amazon!
"BOO!"
"Kilokk, dude, some respect please. It's a joke about Amazon. AMAZON."
“The river?”
No...Pinkie...the website...Why do you keep ruining my jokes?
“Because you’re trying too hard to be funny.”
Sigh. Thank you, Pinkie. Anyway, next chapter, A Canterlot Wedding, and the reveal of some rather amazing secrets. Man, it’s going to feel weird going back to the episodes.
See you all next time, bye!
Stats
Page generated in 0.041 seconds
Total duration
838 users online
1,001,841 hits today, 1,822,946 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.®
WOo! I can't wait for the next chapter!
The ending of Pinkie Pie's scene transitioning to the more light-hearted Applejack chase made my emotions do a flip-flop... Confused the heck out of me...
But I can see why you might want to separate the sad scenes and have Twilight and Alan's last.
2602455
No. Pendragon as in Arthur Pendragon, rightful born King of Briton.
"This chapter in not fully edited"
You don't say?
lol
2602542
Yes, I know. So does Alan. It's the Serenity, but Alan wants to hold some form of originality.
2602660
He threw them and then I changed it.
Mostly because of this comment.
YES! Great chapter (FIRE RUBY, I SEE YOU THERE). I cannot wait for the next chapter, and I can't wait to see what happens!
And now I can just picture Scoots and Rumble getting together. You really do ship more than Amazon
All I can say is the Changelings are going to have a much more difficult time in their attack on Canterlot given that now the guards and mane 6 have combat experience.
This was quite a good idea going this direction with the story. Bravo, good sir, bravo.
Very nice chapter. Something has been eating away at me for a while and I think this would be a good a time as any to bring it up;
What happened to Discord?
He just kinda pulled a Vegeta on us sixteen chapters ago and we haven't heard from him since.
Are you going to have him come back as a good guy later on? (seemed sorta that way with the golden fur thing.)
Personally I would prefer to see him come back in a 'I know I've done a lot of bad things, but I am back to redeem myself in a heroic and selfless fashion' type way rather than in a 'I know I've done a lot of bad things and I am back to repent for my sins with suffering' type way. Or I could be WAAAY off mark and you have something so mind-bendingly awesome planned that all attempts to call it would be futile. Either way, this is some good stuff; keep it comin'.
Note: This comment did not in any, way, shape, or form have anything to do with this chapter.
to anyone reading this, please refer to my avatar as I tell you to
Deal with it,
-Addict
I like your shipping you have going on. It's several different points of "natural" shipping (no head on "I like you and vice versa, let's bang ok?"). The only one I wish I could validate in that group is Twi and Alan (damn you Cadence!). If Cadence hadn't nudged them using magic, all would be right.
I'm calling 4 years, 3 months and change
Pinkie takes on a whole new light with that (original for me) scene (now listen to Smile, Smile, Smile with this scene in your head)
Alan, it could have been six hundred and eighty four or more. You done the best you could with what you had, don't ever think differently or you'll only further torture yourself
Ooh! Wedding time!
I'm wondering if the changelings will screw with Alan by taking the forms of the war dead.
So...
...relationships, is it?
The best of luck to you six.
And in the meantime, all is well.
...but then again, if it would stay that way, the story would be long over, no?
Awaiting further releases.
2603244
As for Discord, all I have to say is, "Not yet."
Oh look, a nice family get together, Pinkie and Soarin being happy with Pinkie's family, all happy, THEN SUDDEN UNEXPECTED FEELS!
I ship more than Amazon!
Oh God, this line is one of the few that can actually make me laugh. Good job!
Can't wait to read the wedding part, Chrissy is so gonna get beat down hard, I can already tell.
Please, keep up the good work.
I nearly threw my fucking phone out of the window because of that accidental pun...
Also, this chapter yelled "Ship them! Harder! You crazy motherfucker."
I wonder what happened to Mrs. Pie?
You have an entire navy worth of ships in this story.
2608740
And you are the 18th person to make that joke.
"Miner! Be nice!"
But it's so unoriginal!
Engage maximum shipping
payvand.com/news/09/jan/IRISL-cargo-ship.jpg
I thought you meant this Amazon
images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100613100944/kamenrider/images/f/f1/Kamen_Rider_Amazon-vote5.jpg
Also, yay! I've read all the chapters!
...
Crap, I've read all the chapters.
Ah, but you don't ship more than UPS. What can brown do for you? LOL
Waiting for next chapter.
Hmm, could use more of Season 1 adventures, as well as some more of Season 2 for familiarity's sake, that's all I can think of for the moment, though....
2602461 Why have five romance scenes when you could have had six?
cdn.gifbay.com/2012/12/wave_of_feels-18739.gif
2602926 Given the scale of the war, I think they'd know about it and realize trying an invasion might not go over well for them, now that the ponies have a taste of slaughter...
The changelings need the ponies alive to feed from... the ponies don't need the changelings alive FOR ANYTHING. The changelings, therefore, are at a strategic disadvantage right off the bat.
They'd best approach humbly, dressed in sackcloth and ashes, begging piteously for a few spare crumbs of love. Like this:
Chrysalis, "Please Princess, can I have some more?"
Celestia, "MOAR?! You got all the love yer gonna get for the week! NOW BACK TO WORK IN THE MANURE MINES SLAVE!!"
Chrysalis is haz a sad. :<
In all honesty I think even if the story were to have ended here I would be completely happy with it. It was a great day of reading for me and I thank you for publishing this absolutely amazing piece of literature. My dreams tonight are sure to be good, judging from the smile this story has put on my face.
Keep writing amazing author, and may life treat you well in all your endeavors.
Ehhhh... well lets get through this.
Right, so I'm not a fan of mass shipping like this, but some of it worked...
1st thing that stuck out to me was Alan asking Mr. Cake where Pinkie was and that whole scene. It just made me feel like Pinkie was being treated like she was a child/teenager and the reason Mr. Cake put up with her antics was because he was really powerless to stop her, rather then the fact that she's an adult and is 1) capable of taking care of herself and 2) capable of making her own decisions.
The next thing that stood out to me was the Sorin and Pinkie bit. Mostly the reveal of who actually wrote Daring Do however what stood out to me was the fact that a cutie mark was used as the sole thing to point out that little secret. While it might have been a clue, if he knew to look for it, I didn't buy it as being the sole reason why he'd pick up the secret. Asides from that though I kinda enjoyed this scene... actually the reason I enjoyed it was because it wasn't really about their relationship as "special someponies." In fact the only thing that really marked it as Shipping was Pinkie Pie repeatedly saying, "He's my special somepony."
The fact that you only mentioned that Fluttershy and Big Mac were seeing more of each other and that they likely had a thing for each other was a nice bit. I really really really preferred that to having to see more shipping taking place. You already had a lot of it going on and I was worried I was going to have to sit through every pairing. Instead though you had some ponies (admittedly they were also going through the shipping train but... hey it wasn't too bad) gossiping about them and making bets about how long it would be before either of them made a move. It was a great way to infer something, but also make it fun to read.
The next thing that caught my attention was Alan's regret over the ponies that died in the war. It's a good idea, however I think it needed more of an introduction. It's something I'd love to see developed, but I wasn't fond of the "on/off" switch it seemed to have. His attitude in the last chapter and the beginning of this chapter never hinted at any type of post traumatic stress or survivor guilt. I think you could have done some more build up to this moment. Also (getting nit picky here) I felt like you lost a good opportunity by having Luna magically knowing that Alan needed support and having her tell Twilight.
Now... going back to the Spike and Rarity bit. I'll be honest I completely skipped that part and it's not because it's a terrible scene or anything (I wouldn't know I didn't read it) mostly because this is one of those lore bits that my mind doesn't yield to. I'm stuck with Spike as a 10 year old with a boy crush on Rarity who's probably about 20-22. I know you declared Spike 18 during the siege but since your story started during season 1 and did nothing until that point to say that Spike was something other then what he was in the show I found myself unable to buy that statement. So when I started reading their tidbit I skipped ahead.
Oh, and again sorry for the wait. I'll try to not miss the update next time.
2652620
Concerning the cash:
I was going to have scene later on where Alan and Celestia talk, and she mentions something about over 1000 years of taxes sitting around doing nothing. Probably should move it somewhere earlier though...
Concerning Silver Spoon's Talent:
It was supposed to be a silly, "stupid" talent. That was the point. It was supposed to be something she was self-conscious about, and would fear being bullied for it.
Concerning Diamond Tiara:
There are plans for her yet.
Concerning the Market:
How big is a Canterlot "Block?" It's a big city, they are massive blocks.
Concerning Alan's Survivor Guilt:
Hm...good point there...time to revise!
Concerning Luna's knowing:
Oh, she totally knows. She saw his dream, then she told Twilight. I'm just leaving it as "implied" for now.
Concerning Pinkie and Mr. Cake:
I was referring to the employer/employee relationship. Not so much the housemates thing. It was supposed to come out as, "And you're fine with her dropping her work like that?" Sounds like I need to do some more revision.
2655677
True but if those same rules applied he wouldn't have needed it in the first place.
2628953 this perfectly describes how this chapter started
. and then, a sudden navy of ships appeared out of nowhere
I keep thinking about firearms for some reason. Probably because I've designed several fictional ones for my own use.
If it helps, I laughed at the Amazon joke.
"There’s nothing right about killing somepony or somegriff where they stand,"
somegriff
images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20120217120632/rvb/images/0/01/Grif_in_Blood_Gulch.png
It's always right to kill griff, Silver doesn't know what he is talking about.
"Soarin", not "Saorin".
Am I the only one who thinks the best shipping out of all of these is the Thinderlane/Dash shipping? It's well-developed, you get a real sense of chemistry between them, and as a result, it's going to be even more satisfying as a result when they DO hook up. Honestly, you could take most of these scenes and have them be a separate story, it's that good.
Am I the only one who got the Pacman reference?
If you're asking what I mean, let me explain
Pinkie and her current surviving family all have the same names as the Ghosts from pacman
Clyde the orange ghost
Inky the blue ghost
Blinky the red ghost
And Pinky the pink ghost (obviously)
4373146 No, you are not.
4373146
I did.
My "David Eddings Sense" is tingling.
What you did there... I see it.
Inky, Blinky, Pinky, Clide?
No even subtle... Pacman
No, those were not tears.
They were not.
I-it was rain.
Yeah, that's it...
Rain...
In my bedroom...
Finally getting around to finishing my second reading, and here I am tearing up more than the first time.
It's not fair, DM.
It's just not fair.
Silly, Nook.
Making me double post.
chapter 29 this has a nice touch on what know as survivors gilte near the end there.
5309607
" *dies*
*Looking at that profile pic* "man, I hate those diabetes inducing filly pics
i.imgur.com/1dS6yNo.gif
Eyeep