My Little Pony: An Epic Return

by Epic Bass

Prologue

Approximately 1000 years ago-The Everfree Forest: The Castle of Two Sisters

The unicorn foal chases young Princess Luna around the courtyard. The unicorn has white fur and a purple mane. His name is Epic Bass. He and Luna are best friends. Princess Celestia does not approve of their relationship because she believes that Epic Bass is a bad influence on her sister. Epic is gaining on Luna until she takes flight.

“Not fair, I can’t fly,” Epic Bass complains.

“Na, na, na,” Princess Luna blows a raspberry.

Epic points his horn at a tree and concentrates: BLOOP! All the leaves fall off the tree and bury the princess. She jumps out and tackles Epic Bass. They tumble and roll until they stop at Princess Celestia’s hooves. She glares at the two of them while they look up at her.

“Shouldn’t you be heading home, Epic Bass?”

“I suppose.”

He is actually afraid of Princess Celestia. He starts to head home, but Luna begins to protest.

“You cannot make him leave, Sister!”

“It is getting late,” Celestia replies calmly, although it is a few hours before sunset.

Epic Bass heads home. He is upset that any time he is playing with Luna, he gets sent home by Celestia, but he is powerless to do anything, he doesn’t even have his cutie mark yet. Luna has her cutie mark. So does everyone else in his class in Canterlot. He is the only one he knows who doesn’t have his cutie mark, and Princess Luna is his only friend. Well, besides his older sister, Poetic Bass. He has never been good at making friends, and it is even worse that he is the only Blank Flank.

When he arrives at home, his sister is waiting for him. She always seems to know when he is coming home. She has a sympathetic look on her face, as always. She knows that Princess Celestia does not like him. Nobody is really sure why she doesn’t like him, she just doesn’t. She gives him a hug and leads him inside. She gives him some ice cream and they go to bed.

Weeks go by with the same routine. Eventually, Princess Luna gets sick of her sister making Epic leave all the time. She decides that it would be better if she ruled alone. She starts to rebel and become angry all the time.

At school, Epic Bass is always getting bullied by his arch-enemy, Flaring Flame. Flaring is an all red unicorn with an orange streak in his mane and tail. His cutie mark is a bonfire. He already is quite adept at starting fires with magic. He bullies everyone, but Epic especially. He bullies Epic not only because he is a Blank Flank, but also because they genuinely despise each other. Today, Flaring caught Epic’s tail on fire. The other kids helped to put it out, after they stopped laughing.

The teacher scolds them and they are put in detention. They will not be allowed to play during recess today. After the school day is over, they all head home. The days, weeks, and months go by. Every day gets worse.

One day something more horrible than ever takes place. Princess Luna becomes evil. She and Princess Celestia get in a fight, but by that time, she is no longer Princess Luna; she is Nightmare Moon. Eventually, Princess Celestia has to resort to using the Elements of Harmony. With the help of Epic Bass, (though he is not mentioned in the history books) they banish her to the moon, although it devastates them both.

After that day, things seem dreary, yet peaceful. It is strange, though, Epic does not have his cutie mark yet. He hopes he’ll get it soon. He has almost reached maturity. No one has ever taken this long to get a cutie mark before. If he does not get it soon, it may cause more problems than just bullies.

After a few months, things seem normal again, except for one thing. Flaring Flame has disappeared. His parents are extremely worried. Even though they are enemies, Epic Bass decides to go look for him. Using his gut instincts, he decides to travel through Everfree Forest looking for him. He looks around without any luck, until BOOOM! Epic runs in the direction of the explosion. In the middle of a dark clearing surrounded by thorny bushes, Flaring Flame is standing over a strange altar. The altar is a dark stone, and shapes a lot like an alicorn. In fact, it looks like Nightmare Moon!! When Flaring notices Epic standing behind him he turns and smiles evilly.

“Hello, Epic Bass. Nice of you to join us.” He sneers.

“Us?” Epic asks, wearily.

“Yes, Nightmare Moon is here as well. Not in body, of course… yet.”

“What do you mean ‘yet’?”

“I am going to bring her back, she was not done before you and Princess Celestia banished her to the moon.”

“Are you crazy? You can’t do that!”

“Just try and stop me, Blank Flank!”

Flaring Flame launches a flame at Epic Bass. Epic barely has time to jump out of the way before the ground where he was just standing is scorched. Epic quickly powers up his wubs and fires: WHOOOOOM! Flaring doesn’t even try to dodge. The blast hits him and dissipates. It doesn’t leave a mark. He launches another ball of fire at Epic and it nearly wipes him out. Epic deflects the blast with his wubs just in time. But Epic will not be able to keep this up. He is already tired, while Flaring hasn’t even broken a sweat. If Epic doesn’t finish this soon, he will not win this fight. He has to stall.

“Why would you want to do this? What do you have to gain?”

“It’s simple, really. Nightmare Moon has promised me power in return for her freedom.”

“Do you really believe that? Nightmare Moon is evil, and untrustworthy. You can’t―”

“NO!!! She chose me!! ME!!”

“Did you ever consider that she just saw you as gullible and easy to manipulate?”

“Silence!!!”

Flaring Flame charges at Epic Bass, head down, screaming. Epic Bass quickly forms a shield of explosive energy. Flaring Flame bounces off the energy shield, but rises to his feet once more, and launches yet another fireball.

They continue on like this for quite a while. Just when Epic Bass was beginning to lose hope, something happens. Princess Luna speaks to Epic in his mind. She’s not completely gone! That means there is a chance to get her back.

“I can help you, my good friend,” she says.

Luna lends him her strength and he charges up his wubs. This is more powerful than anything he has ever done. Flaring also charges up his flames. They fire at the exact same time and their blasts hit in mid-air and explodes. Epic goes flying and hits a tree. He’ll be sore tomorrow, but he’ll be fine. Flaring Flame wasn’t so lucky. He hit the altar and it cracked. Then, he started to turn to stone.

“NOO! This is not the end! I curse you Epic Bass! ‘Fall, you will soon. Fall, you will, at the full moon. Six will find you. When you rise. I will too.’ I will destroy…”

That is all he got out before he was completely turned to stone. Then, something amazing happened. His flank began to glow and when it stopped, a picture of a bass cannon was there. He got his cutie mark! But this is not the time to celebrate. He needs to warn Princess Celestia of the curse.

Epic heads back to the castle, it is damaged from the battle between the sisters. Princess Celestia is currently having a new castle built. Epic finds the princess in the courtyard. When she sees him, she beckons to him. He heads over to her and kneels.

“Rise,” she says, “What do you want?”

“I’ve come to warn you. I had a fight with Flaring Flame. He was attempting to bring Nightmare Moon back. I stopped him, but he cursed me. He doomed me to fail. He said that I will fall and ‘six’ will find me and when I rise, he will as well.”

“This is not good,” she says.

“No, but there is good news. When I was about to lose, Princess Luna helped me. That means she is not fully gone. We can get her back!”

“You must have been hallucinating. My sister is gone.”

Epic Bass is about to argue when the princess walks away. He goes to follow her, but she stops him with a look. Epic Bass heads home and his sister is happy to see that he has his cutie mark.

“You finally got it!” She exclaims.

“What? Oh, my cutie mark. Yeah.”

“You don’t seem very excited.” She says worryingly.

“I am, but I can’t be too excited after what happened today. And before you ask, I don’t want to talk about it. Good night.”

The days go by and nothing happens. Epic is beginning to think that Flaring’s curse was just nonsense, when an explosion happens in the mountains. Princess Celestia is too busy to deal with it, so Epic Bass decides to check it out. When he gets to the mountain, he finds a cave. He heads inside and heads down farther and farther. Eventually, he comes to a cavern. There is a gem in the wall and it is pulsating. Cautiously, Epic walks up and touches it with his horn.

Immediately it expands and attaches to his horn. He pulls away and the gem breaks. Part of it is still attached to his horn and it is expanding. He feels his hind hoof get heavy and looks back to see another gem expanding up his leg. He creates some wubs to break the gems, but it doesn’t do anything but cause more pulsing. He continues to use his magic as the gems surround his body. He gets one more blast before he is completely sealed.

Three days later, Princess Celestia arrives and she sits for a while. When she leaves, she puts a spell on the cave to prevent everyone but the “six” and the Princess herself from entering.

“I am sorry that this has happened to you. I know I was never kind to you, but I was just being protective of my sister. I really did like you. You are a brave stallion. I will see you again someday, I am sure of it. Until then, Epic Bass, good-bye.”