Brony Recon: Ascension

by Freescript the Bard

Song of Hearts Part 3: Shifty Tactics

Kind Greetings' POV

Alicorns! All around me, bucking alicorns! Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Skyblaze, Shining Armor, Twilight… what the hay, Shift technically has wings and a horn. Why keep him out of the bucking picture?! If the bucking Fausticorn or Chrysalis shows up, count me out of it!

I stormed down the halls of the palace for my room, the servants and passing nobles giving me a wide berth. Smart ponies. My hoofsteps practically left singe marks on the marble. In Equestria, cartoon physics apply; if you get somepony ticked-off enough, their anger can actually ignite their mane and tail. Especially in unicorns.

Sure Hoof, who somehow had the unfortunate luck of being posted at my room, jumped as he saw me round the corner. "Hey, Ben…" he greeted nervously. "What did Sky do this time?"

Why is it that whenever I'm irritated, everypony assumes it's Sky that's the cause of it? Oh, wait… right…

I calmed myself, years of disciplinary public relations classes telling me to remain docile for verbal interaction. "Nothing, Sure Hoof. I'm just ticked at the world right now."

"Heh, it would seem that way." I slowly trod toward the door. "Hey, do you ever feel overwhelmed at all by the rapidly increasing number of alicorns around here?"

I breathed a sigh of relief. "Finally, somepony who understands!" I exclaimed to the ceiling. "Yeah, I do, actually. But just you wait, Sure Hoof, it's gonna get worse."

He huffed. "How could it be any worse?"

"From what I heard, Cadence is with foal and I overheard Sky talking with Luna about parenthood. And you can bet your bits that Shift and Twilight are gonna want one eventually."

The guard paled at the thought of nine different alicorns here at one time. "I stand corrected," he mumbled. "My shift's almost over, so I may not be here when you get out, so have a nice day, Ben."

"You too, sarge." Bidding him farewell, I walked into my study…

…only to be immediately wrapped up by two pairs of grey hooves. "Hi, Benny! Guess what? I'm here!" exclaimed Derpy excitedly.

"Derpy! Dinky!" I hugged them both in a strong earth pony embrace. "What are you guys doing in Canterlot?"

"My last delivery was here, so Dinky said we should visit you," replied Derpy, pulling back to have me meet her wall-eyed stare.

"Mommy!" scolded Dinky, the small filly breaking out of the embrace to reprimand her mother. "It was YOUR idea! I don't want to take your lightning!"

I chuckled at her misplaced phrase. "It's 'steal your thunder'," I corrected amiably. Dinky was smart, but she needed to work on turning phrase. At my revision of her metaphor, Dinky slumped to her haunches and made a raspberry with her lips. I suddenly forgot what I was mad about as I was overwhelmed by the cuteness of the display.

The two grey ponies had become a shining light in my life. Whenever I wanted a break from work, one of them was always there for me. Even if Sky had somehow managed to blow up every tower in Canterlot, Derpy or Dinky always found a way to make me smile.

Feeling rather giddy from the lifting of worry from my shoulders, I took Dinky in my hooves and flipped her onto her back. Before she could react, I planted my mouth on her belly and blew my own raspberry. Dinky squealed with laughter and tried to flail away, with little success.

So engrossed was I with the adorable mirth of the filly, I had forgotten about Derpy. But it was too late. I suddenly felt feathers brush my side, eliciting a giggle from me and ending my hold on Dinky. Soon, Derpy had me on my side, laughing uncontrollably as she brushed her grey feathers against my stomach. Eventually, Dinky set to tickling my hooves individually.

"Ah-haha! Cease… haha! …fire!" I managed to gasp, my sides beginning to hurt. Derpy and Dinky Hooves smiled at each other, content with their work.

I looked up into Derpy's eyes. For the briefest of moments, her golden gaze met my brown irises. All the stress of life, all the worry and grief and strife disappeared in that moment. It is the most beautiful thing I will ever see. Behind those eyes, kindness, compassion, determination, and love were all present in an immeasurable amount.

But all good things must end, I suppose. The moment, which to me lasted too long but all too short, ended when one of her eyes slid off to peer at space. I sighed at the loss, but rose from the floor to hug the mare I had fallen in love with tightly.

"I love you, Derpy."

"I love you too, Benny."

Benny… I love it when she calls me that.

>><<>><<

Shift's POV

Courage. Courage is what you have when you face your fears. Like when you check under your bed to see if the monsters are gone. Or if we ever get Skyblaze to eat a banana. Without fear, there can be no courage.

Lucky for me, there was a lot of fear when Cadence tried to blast me. Unfortunately, the courage wasn't in large amounts. So… yeah.

"Oof!" I hit the wall from the first blast of aquamarine magic, actually rocketing backwards off the couch. The magic wasn't meant to cause collateral damage, but if that's what an illusory dispel was, then I don't even want to find out what the pink alicorn could do when she shoots to kill.

My disguise blasted off from the dispel, Twilight's parents gasped as they looked upon my insectile form. Note to self; invent spell to counter dispels. I rose to my hooves, only to throw an emerald shield up to deflect another magic bolt, this time from Shining Armor.

"Shiny, stop!" pleaded Twilight. "Don't hurt him!" She jumped in front of the advancing alicorns, flaring her wings.

"He brainwashed Twilight!" cried Cadence. For Celestia's sake, somepony give me the benefit of the doubt! I don't even know how to brainwash ponies.

"I'm not brainwashed!" Twilight exclaimed. "If I was being controlled, my eyes would be green!"

"What if he put a spell on them?" Shining Armor glared. Son of a mule! They had me on everything!

"Shift, try to hold them off!" Sky yelled. "I'll be right back!" He spread his blue wings and took off with breakneck speed through the open bay windows. The probability he's actually going for help? Nopony knows.

"Twilight, get behind me!" I said. "I don't want you to get hurt." Knowing it was impossible to stop her brother and his wife, Twi moved to my shield. I was about to lower it to let her in, but she just walked right through the wall of green to stand behind me. Weird.

"So how are we gonna do this?" I asked her as the magic bolts from the two alicorns scattered across my force field. Twilight's parents were nowhere to be seen. "I may be powerful, but I don't know any combative magic."

"You're keeping that shield up at least," she reassured. "Um, we could improvise…"

I stared at her for a minute. If Twilight is suggesting that we improvise, then we're more bucked than I thought. Twilight almost always had a plan, so winging it was almost a last resort for her.

"We need a plan. We can't just sit in this bubble the whole time."

She nodded. "We have to show them that you're sincere, and I don't think your cutie mark is going to persuade them you're not part of the hive-mind."

My cutie mark… I looked back at the double spiral of starbursts, showing my talent for the magical displays I made from emotions. Wait, emotions… that's it!

"Twilight, Cadence has power over love, right?" I asked. "Can she sense it?"

Twi shook her head. "Not if it's not broadcasted on a medium, but that's…" Her eyes widened as the revelation hit her. "Really? You want to do… that?"

"If it shows them that I love you, then yes. It will be a tad awkward, but we're getting desperate."

She groaned slightly at my idea. "Okay, I'll distract them, so be ready." Her glowed a familiar lavender color.

Suddenly, a bright flash emitted from her horn, temporarily blinding me. But I had no time to recover as Twilight wrapped her arms and wings around me. I gathered her love into my horn and released it, letting it take whatever form it chose.

As the light faded, I drew Twilight into a kiss. Whatever my magic was creating was lost on me as our lips locked, our eyes closed in bliss. The room was filled with absolute silence as my talent took it's affect. Hopefully that was a good thing.

On their own accord, memories began to pop into my head. Twilight and I on one of our picnics. Twilight playfully dragging me into the shower with her. The night of the party when we started dating. That one time she cut her tongue on my fangs when we kissed. More and more the memories poured into my head without calling.

I suspected it worked, as I wasn't a green stain halfway across the room. However, when I finally broke away from the mare I loved, I found Shining Armor and Cadence staring with their jaws practically on floor. Neither of them moved.

"Uh… Shift, what did you do?" Twilight asked as she moved toward them, the two alicorns not even flinching.

The realization hit me like Tom through the window. "I had a weird flashback to a ton of memories we had together and…" I paused and gulped. "I think I projected them."

Twilight looked passive. "That doesn't seem too bad… what was the worst one?"

I swallowed. "That one night, after Applejack's cider party…"

Twilight gasped. "WHAT?!" she exclaimed. "Shift! They didn't need to see that!"

BANG!

A crash from the front door interrupted our discussion. Skyblaze flew in, followed by Princess Luna. "The cavalry has arrived!" announced Sky as he entered. Seeing us in fit condition and the statues of Shining and Cadence, he scratched his head. "What did you do to them?"

I smiled slyly at the confused blue brony. "Rule thirty-five."

Skyblaze visibly paled. "You showed them the night after Applejack's cider party, didn't you?"

"How does he know about that?" Twilight scolded, glaring at me.

"Spike, if you must know. Poor guy was trembling," Sky responded. He looked at the two alicorns frozen in the middle of the room. "I think you broke them."

I glanced at Shining Armor and Cadence, wondering what to do. "One second." Concentrating, I changed, my body flashing green. In my new form, I trotted to Cadence's front and sat on my haunches. "Cadence, are you still mad at me for being a Changeling?" I asked in a voice only filly Twilight could pull off. As Twilight was an alicorn now, so was her filly-form.

The pink alicorn blinked at the familiar voice from her past, snapping out of her trance to look down at me. She hesitated with narrow eyes. Then sighing, she dipped her head. "I sensed the true love in your display, and as much as I hate to admit it to a Changeling, I'm sorry," she said solemnly. "But did you need to go so far as to--"

"In my defense, I wasn't controlling it," I replied, interrupting her. "As such, it just did whatever. Sorry you had to see that…"

"I'll get over it," Cadence assured, standing over my smaller form. "Um, this is gonna sound weird, but can I get a hug? You just look so cute, and- oof!" She grunted as I flung my lavender forelegs around her neck. As she returned the embrace, Twilight and I bumped hooves behind her back.

"Um… Sky, shall we make our exit before Shining Armor wakes?" mumbled Luna from the anteroom.

"Yes, let's."

Author's Note:

MB: So… much… Shift.

Skyblaze: You know, I think I shouldn't have left Luna to find the apples on her own…

MB: Why?

Skyblaze: I don't think she gets the concept of a refrigerator, yet. Microwave, fine. Coffee machine, uses with skill. Fridge, hay no.

Luna: Sky! How does one open these drawers with hooves? Curse your infernal human devices!

Skyblaze & MB: *facehoof/palm*

Ben, one of my better drawings.

Comments

[Freescript the Bard]

Remember to post who's POV you want to see!

[Archivist Nightwatch]

Very Good Loving the reactions. OH you know how they gotta go back to the human world Can we send twilight luna and them with them?

[Freescript the Bard]

1098205

[Sean1471]

Love it

[Xenotype]

I would say Shiny's but it would pretty much amount to "Bu-he-she-they-guh-wha-why-I- WHAT IS THIS I DON'T EVENdl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_TwilightWut.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Octavia_O_O.png dl.dropbox.com/u/31471793/FiMFiction/emoticons/misc_Lyra_ooh.png "
So I'm going to vote for Storm and/or Chloe.

Also are the Bronies going to bring their Significant others with them during the mandatory leave thing?

[A fat elephant]

I think Shift is my favourite of the OCs.

[JellyMyst]

1099252 No harm done, right?
Oh btw. good job on that picture of Ben.

[M3Xkillers]

i need moar e__e

[Menoshe]

1097469

Nope. 'Tis just a coincidence.

[Superswag420]

MOAR LUNA!

[LightningAce7]

More Luna to double the fun! And more Aegis wouldn't hurt.

[TonydBrony]

Derpy. :D Be pretty cool to see things from her point of view.
Am I right?

[Chrome Masquerade]

Alicorns! All around me, bucking alicorns! Celestia, Luna, Cadence, Skyblaze, Shining Armor, Twilight… what the hay, Shift technically has wings and a horn. Why keep him out of the bucking picture?! If the bucking Fausticorn or Chrysalis shows up, count me out of it!

Okay, that was funny!