Sage of Harmony (Season 2)

by Eon Seb

Back in Town.

While Lady Midnight was gone, quite a few things happened.

The first of these things was the Sisterhooves Social. The yearly event was quite a joy to watch; especially with the local seamstress and her young sister making a spectacle of themselves.

Slendy held back a sigh while looking around. As usual there was a massive hole in the crowd of ponies enjoying the events. The only pony brave enough to sit near him was young Spectrum and he could see many of the adults were resisting the urge to grab her away from him and run. He had been introduced to the town the previous week. Most ponies thought he was an animated manikin - until they saw his mark.

He was quite surprised to find out that his mark was famous. Apparently one of the many ponies he had chased out of the forest over the years had recorded what his mark looked like and as more and more ponies had encounters with him more stories began and as the years past the stories grew and changed.

These stories were, in point of fact, the main reason ponies were scared of him. Slendy, to put it frankly, was a monster of the forest. He had lived there before the castle of the two sisters was even being planned. He had lived there, in earnest, for 9000 years. The only thing that predated him was the Tree of Harmony itself. Slender was still not quite sure how he came into existence. He simply woke up one day and had no memories nor family. For the longest time, he did not even have a real name.

He eventually learned that ponies had taken to calling him Slendermane . Seeing no problem with it other than some irony, he began using it as his name.

Midnight and Spectrum had convinced him to try integrating into society over many hours and pots of tea. So here he was getting used to town and letting them get used to him, Most ponies kept a fair distance from him other then that pink mare who he swore was made of rubber. Fortunately the kick in the pants over their two most recent screw ups made the towns folk think before acting for once. Thus, while they were being still very wary of him, the ponies were slowly getting used to his presence.

Oddly enough, his efforts were helped by Chimera when she decided to apply for training in the night guard. Having 2 creatures deemed monsters around town on a regular bases had caused the town to slowly start acclimating to a new normal. Hopefully, he'd be able to get within 3 feet of a new pony soon.

Cutie Pox

Thud Thud Thud

The plan had been simple. Make a potion that shows ponies the meaning of their mark.
Thud Thud Thud

The girls had Zecora helping them and had double checked all the ingredients.
Thud Thud Thud

However, it still messed up. Somehow. Someway. So now here she sat.
Thud Thud Thud

Spike walked into Spectrum's room to see her head floating on a blue cloud and banging against the wall. After staring at the scene and processing just how wrong it was, he asked "What's going on?"

Spectrum's body reformed only to immediately start dancing. She had a black shoe on her flank, a Red star and a yellow triangle with an eye. Then, in a flash of light, a purple spark joined them. Without stopping her dance, she turned to face Spike before answering "I seem to have developed a perplexing disorder causing me to spontaneously gain cutie marks which I have no control over", Her voice had a heavy Stalliongrad accent.

At the same time Sweetie was making breakfast, which was not melting thanks to one of her new marks. While cleaning the floor and organizing the kitchen to be 17% more efficient. All this time, Rarity watched in awful amazement.

Scootaloo was dealing with her shifting going haywire as she tried to build a hive in the basement.

Apple Bloom was putting on a one mare talent show in the middle of town.

Diamond, Silver and Dinky, on the other hoof, had locked themselves in the tree house while their brains tried to process what was, for all intents and purposes, an existential crisis. Their brains had been full of every possible meaning of their marks. Thus, they were currently trying to list categorize and decide which meaning they each preferred. It was going about as well as could be expected.

"Okay Possibility 42 - I am the unknown heir to a foreign kingdom. Nope" Diamond stood to stretch "how's it going for you two?"

Silver and Dinky both looked up.

"I'm on 37 - child of an extinct noble house. Wrong." Silver answered simply. She had managed to chew through 3 quills while making her list.

"I'm on 25 - Apparently the flame means I'm a kirin under an illusion?" Dinky was very confused due to being new to her mark, her preferred meaning had not quite manifested itself. Her brain was dealing with a very large mental struggle over each possibility.

Screwball, however was currently in Discord's chaos dimension to prevent her fluctuating powers from turning Canterlot inside out.
It took the combined effort of Spike, AJ, Rarity, Fluttershy and Discord to gather all the girls together and get them to Zecora's.

Spike had sent a message to her before they started searching so she was in the process of brewing the counter to the potion which caused this wonderful problem.

In the end they had 3 first hoof accounts of cutie pox, 4 accounts of what was basically a cutie mark personality disorder and one new account of HRIC (Hive role identity crisis) - the last of which a disorder common in young changelings who have to fill many roles in the hive rapidly and the closest they can get to a true mental disorder.

Fortunately, the counter worked and the town survived with less than the average weekly quota for property damage.

Rainbow's training.

Dash sank into her bed

"I think my wings are going to fall off" She had been overjoyed when she reported to Spitfire for training on the first day. Now, on the following weekend, she was cursing the mare (or she would be if she had the energy to do so). Spitfire was relentless with her training and held herself to an even higher expectation than her teammates on account of being the captain. So, naturally, she held Rainbow to those same expectations and was going to whip her into shape one way or another.

"Oh I'm sure you'll be fine dear. What did she say after you finished this week?" Shy was currently massaging Rainbow to help her relax, every muscle in her body was tense from stress and work. If this kept up, she'd be able to compete with Applejack on even footing.

Rainbow smiled faintly "She said I had one of the best records at the academy!" her ears dropped along with her wings and head."So she's going to make next week even harder!"

Gilda winced when she heard that particular groan "I'm surprised she let you come home for the weekends with that attitude."

"The only reason I got to come home is because I proved I can fly fast enough to go between here and the training ground without any issues. Shy, if I die next week please let Scoot know I love her."

Fluttershy was used to Rainbow's dramatic behavior (she could give Rarity a good run for her bits in that department when she wanted to). She was quite accustomed to both Rainbow's adrenaline highs and her tortoise levels of lethargy.

She could put up with a lot from her mates.
Talking of dying, when they were not in a true life or death situation was not one of these things, however.

Gilda was shaking her head at Rainbow's dramatics when she felt something in the air. Gilda looked up at the same time that Rainbow turned around to see Shy.

When had she gotten so big? Rainbow gulped "Shy?"

Fluttershy had forced her body to grow to match Celestia in stature. This, combined with her stare, brokered no argument.

"Rainbow Dash listen to me. This training is not going to kill you. You've come home in worse shape from some of your stunts. This is what you always dreamed of and now you don't think you're up for it? I know you Rainbow. You never let us down when it counts, and right now your Princess, your squad and your family are counting on you. You Will Not Fail!"

After delivering her final piece Shy was back to normal and continued her massage like nothing happened "Also, do you think I'm going to let you die before you see our great grandfoals? Sorry to disappoint you dear, but that’s not happening."

Rainbow flopped back onto the bed and, in a few minutes, was falling asleep while Shy hummed her favorite lullaby. No, she would not fail her family. Spitfire was in for quite a shock when her trainee returned.

Midnight rubbed her eyes again. There was no way these reports were right. How? How had so many near catastrophes happened in the final week before she got back?

Throughout the week, each of the girls had saved ponies from several lethal or potentially lethal situations. Rainbow started the trend by saving a baby on her way back to training.

Fortunately, Spitfire had accepted that as a completely valid reason for being late as it was a guard pony's duty to protect the citizens above all else. The past week would have gone down as one of the worst for the year. Fortunately, all the disasters had been stopped or prevented.

Thankfully, this week, the only major event planned was Spike's birthday party - a nice safe party. "What could go wrong?" At the exact moment Midnight thought this, an imp in Tartarus sneezed.

Comments

[Comickook]

Thanks again for getting this next chapter up AND for letting me help you with the edits. I really appreciate it on both counts. Great job, of course, on the changes to canon. I'll definitely be looking forward to more, but will also be quite willing to be patient.

[Dark Feather]

Hmm. do any of you think that the Tartarian bureaucracy has taken Murph's snezzing in to account when handaling papper work?

[ShimmeringMist]

Thankfully, this week, the only major event planned was Spike's birthday party - a nice safe party. "What could go wrong?" At the exact moment Midnight thought this, an imp in Tartarus sneezed.

i love that, thanks for making me laugh and startle a cat!😂