Ch. 36 From Dawn...
Canterlot Castle was a hub of constant activity at all hours of the day in a countless number of ways. Whether it was in loud ways such as ponies coming to Princess Celestia with requests in Day Court or in the quieter ways that the castle staff kept the sacred structure presentable to the public, the capital building of the country was never silent. As such, it was extremely unnerving to the three Terrans-in-pony-form as they were guided through the castle's still halls. Aside from the one in front of them, the CMC saw no guards in the hall they walked through. The other thing that put them on edge was that they were told that they were not required to wear their uniforms today. What made them near nervous wrecks was the fact that Princess Celestia wanted to talk to them that morning.
"W-What do you think she wants?" Sweetie asked from Scootaloo's left.
Applebloom shrugged from her position at the Pegasus' right.
"M-Maybe she want's ta' tell us how good a job we're doin'?"
"Or she wants to yell at us," Scootaloo sighed. "I don't think she really likes us all that much, all things considered."
Her friends both shuddered at that as they nodded.
While they knew that the Princess of the Sun wouldn't think too highly of them, they expected her to be much more open about it. During the first few days after coming to Equestria they expected her to come to them at any moment to show them any number of horrors to frightening to mention. With the exception of the one day she visited them when they were learning how to walk, the Solar Monarch never interacted with them directly. Any time they received instructions form her it was always through a guard, Raven, or a letter that would occasionally appear in their room. To not only be told that she wanted to see them, but be told that when the castle was empty of any potential witnesses to their fate filled them with ice cold dread.
"M-M-Maybe she isn't mad anymore?" Sweetie gulped.
"We almost got her daughter killed," Scootaloo grumbled, eyes forward as she marched. "I doubt it."
Applebloom nodded, a dejected sigh her only vocal response to that as she brought a hoof up to the stetson on her head while she walked.
A cold sweat covered Sweetie as she walked, eyes wide and pupils shrunk to pinpricks as she remembered the first time she crossed Princess Celestia's path. The rage she saw in those eyes still haunted her dreams every now and then, as well as made her need to change her sheets more times than she was comfortable admitting.
Don't speak unless spoken to, she thought, eyes drifting to the floor as she let her body go into autopilot behind the guard. Don't say anything disrespectful. Laugh at all of her jokes if she makes any. Answer any question she asks honestly. Maintain eye...contact...at...all...times...
Her panicked thoughts steadied when she saw the bracelet on her foreleg and remembered the promise it represented. She took a deep breath and looked forward, the resolute frown on her muzzle a near clone of the one on Scootaloo's as they walked. Applebloom risked a glance at her friends and sighed as she let go of her new headwear to steady her gait. Both fillies jumped a little when they each felt a wing drape over their backs, curtesy of the orange Pegasus between them. Sweetie Belle and Applebloom gave their sporty friend confused glances that quickly turned into nervous smiles that matched the one she gave them.
By the time they reached the massive double doors leading to the Royal Dinning Room, the three girls felt like they were getting ready to meet the noose and faced the doors with nervous dignity. The guard opened one of the doors just wide enough to allow his charges access to the room beyond before stepping out of the way. The three fillies audibly gulped before they stiffly walked into the room.
The first thing they noticed was just how massive the Royal Dinning Room was compared to the other rooms they had been in so far. It was easily twice the size of their school's cafeteria and just as tall as any other part of the castle. The next thing they noticed were the tall stain glass windows fitted into the surrounding walls that filled the room with a kaleidoscope of different colors. All of that was forgotten when they took in the thirty foot long polished dark oak table at the room's heart and the plates of freshly made pancakes set before five of its seats. Pancakes loaded with all kinds of fruit and whipped cream along with small cups of what appeared to be a variety of syrups set beside each plate. Two of said seats were occupied by none other then the Princess of the Sun herself and a creature that the three fillies had never seen before outside of their most delirious fever dreams.
The three fillies shook off their shock and quickly made their way towards the empty seats, none eager to incur the wrath of their warden or her bizarre guest. Princess Celestia observed the three Terrans with a soft smile while Discord raised a brow as he observed their skittish demeanor. He gave her a curious look, voicing a silent question as he shifted his gaze back and forth between the Princess and the fillies. Her smile wilted slightly as a sad sigh slipped out of her nose, earning an understanding nod out of him as he gave their three guests the closest thing to a friendly smile he could manage. The three little ponies sat at full attention like solders waiting for orders the second they took their seats, all three staring at the Princess with nervous frowns.
"Good morning girls," Princess Celestia said, her tone soft and sweet in spite of the guilt in her core.
"Good morning Princess," the CMC said in unison, a faint tremble present in their tones that the two HIgh Royals didn't fail to notice.
"I'm sure you are all wondering why I have asked to see you," the Princess said, casually cutting into her pancakes with a knife and fork held in her golden magic.
They nodded, too nervous to touch their food at the moment.
Celestia paused for a moment as she enjoyed a dainty mouthful of pancake before continuing.
"Today is mine and my sister's birthday, a day that everypony celebrates in a nationwide party in our honor."
She suppressed a smile at the wide-eyed shock on the filly's faces as she let that sink in.
"One of the traditions for today is a nationwide day off for all of our citizens. One such tradition that is extended to you three."
They continued to stare at her in shock, before their brains finally processed what the Princess told them.
"Wait wha?" Scootaloo gawked.
"You're giving us a day off?" Sweetie blinked.
"Seriously?" Applebloom gaped.
Celestia nodded.
"After all your hard work, you have more than earned a bit of fun for a change."
The three fillies let out happy cheers at that, dread replaced with excitement as they imagined what kind of things such a massive party could possibly contain.
"Of course," Celestia continued. "I don't intend to let you all go wandering around unsupervised. You will each have a chaperone to keep an eye on and protect you if the need should arise. Discord will also use his magic to check in on you periodically as an additional precaution."
As she said that, she nodded her head towards the being in question, finally giving the Terrans a name to go with the strange creature at the table.
"That's Discord?!" they exclaimed, jaws once again going slack as they pointed at him.
Said Dreconequis chuckled at that, casually plucking a pancake off of his plate and folding it into a paper airplane before he tossed it into his mouth.
"What? Did you think I was a pony?" he smirked around his mouthful of food.
"K-Kinda?" Applebloom offered, hoof nervously rubbing her sister's hat under the table.
Discord swallowed his food before he burst out laughing at the idea.
***
A small crowd had gathered in front of Canterlot High around its mascot statue. Most of this said crowd was made up of teenage students that went to the school, while two adults and an extremely excited grade schooler added themselves to the group. Sunset watched Dinky move at speeds that would've made Pinkie jealous as she bombarded her friends with questions about Equestria. She also noticed how she seemed a little leery of Fluttershy for some reason.
"Uh, is Dinky giving Fluttershy the evil eye?" Sunset whispered as she leaned into Derpy's side.
"Oh, she thinks she's trying to steal me from you," Derpy shrugged.
Sunset blinked, then burst out laughing.
"Sh-She does know Fluttershy's already got a girlfriend, right?" Sunset smiled, small chuckles slipping past her lips as she regained control of herself.
"I keep telling her that, but she won't listen," she sighed. "Said she won't believe it until she sees it."
"Well, I don't think that's going to be too hard," Bonbon chuckled, adding herself to the conversation. "Fluttershy's been on cloud nine since she got here. Her double's probably going to meet her on the other side of the portal."
The young couple let out relieved sighs at that, glad that at least one complication was about to be dealt with today. At that moment Dinky decided to materialize in front of them, the girl practically vibrating with poorly contained excitement as she beamed up at the three girls. The sight made Sunset briefly wonder if Derpy's family was related to Pinkie Pie in some way.
"Is it time yet?!" Dinky begged.
Before Sunset could respond, an envelope appeared in her hand. Frowning in confusion, she opened it and read the letter inside. She rolled her eyes and smiled as she slipped it into her jacket pocket.
"Yes, its time," she chuckled.
"FINALLY!" Dinky exclaimed , arms up in exasperation.
Sunset chuckled, then leveled a deep frown at the whole party before saying, "We are all going through the portal one at a time this time. I don't want to end up at the bottom of a pony pile every time we visit."
The teenagers in the group chuckled awkwardly while Dinky and her parents gave the girls confused looks.
Seeing that she got her point across, she gave her girlfriend a smile and wink as she said, "See you on the other side."
With that, she stepped through the portal. After a brief instant of shifting colors and being pulled in every direction at once, she staggered drunkenly into Princess Twilight Sparkle's castle on her hind legs before instinct guided her onto all fours. After taking a second to regain her equilibrium, she moved aside to make way for the next person through the portal. As she waited, she noticed that she wasn't alone in the room. Standing a safe distance from the portal was the castle's resident High Royal, her Dragon assistant, and the native Fluttershy.
"Hey everypony," Sunset smiled. "Happy New Year."
"Happy New Year," Twilight smiled, making her way towards her friend. "How have you been?"
Before she could reply, a yellow shape phased out of the portal and shot towards Fluttershy. The poor mare had just enough time to let out a startled squeak before a pair of lips locked with hers and she was pinned to the ground on her back. Sunset and Twilight blinked in shock as they slowly pieced together what just happened. Sunset was the first to recover, but just rolled her eyes at the display.
"About as good as that," she smiled as she pointed at the two Fluttershys.
Twilight's face nearly burst into flames as she gave the couple a quick glance, an awkward chuckle slipping past her muzzle as she faced her friend. Sunset rolled her eyes as she looked at the two making out ponies and told them to reel it in. The Thestral reluctantly pulled her muzzle away from her prey's and giggled sweetly as she stepped away from her Equestrian counterpart, said Pegasus staring dizzily at the ceiling while her double walked with a happy swagger to Sunset's side with her eyes closed.
"I'm sorry," the soft-spoken Thestral giggled. "I just couldn't help myself. I've wanted to do that all week."
"Looks like the feeling was mutual," Sunset chuckled as she stared at the still stunned Pegasus laying on the ground, not failing to notice the wide smile plastered across her muzzle.
A second later, Derpy staggered out of the portal with a hoof pressed firmly over her muzzle and her eyes tightly shut. Concerned, Sunset started to make her way over to her, only to pause as Derpy took her hoof away from her face to point it at her.
"I-I'm okay," she gulped. "J-J-Just give me a minute."
After a few seconds the grayish-green Pegasus became much less green before she staggered to her girlfriend's side. Nothing of any real note happened as one-by-one, a Terran-turned pony stumbled out of the portal and moved aside for the next member of their party to come through. The small form of momentary monotony was interrupted as a small grayish-purple Unicorn filly with a light-yellow mane and tail rolled out of the portal. Dinky teetered to and fro on her haunches as she waited for the room to stop spinning.
"I think I'm gonna puke!" Dinky groaned as she put a hoof to her mouth.
Derpy chuckled as she approached her sister.
"Yeah, I hate that part, too," the Pegasus smiled as she pulled the filly to her side with a wing.
Dinky slowly blinked as her vision started to level out, then her eyes widened when she saw her own forehooves. Her jaw nearly hit the floor when she turned her head towards Derpy, her brain struggling to make sense of what she was looking at.
"S-Sis?" she gaped.
Derpy nodded, a faint chuckle slipping past her muzzle as she stared at her sister's shocked face.
"P-P-Pegasus," was the only thing she could stammer out before a wide smile spread across her muzzle as she excitedly asked, "Am I one too?!"
"Nope," Sunset said proudly as she took her place at her girlfriend's opposite side. "Welcome to the Unicorn club."
"Really?!" she gushed, hooves moving across her forehead and feeling her new appendage. "Cool!"
The two mares laughed at that as they helped the filly stand up and take her first steps as a pony. Not long after they helped her move out of the way, the portal rippled and two new ponies stumbled into the room on top of each other. One was a brown Earth Pony stallion with a darker brown colored mane and tail with sky-blue eyes. The other was a cream colored Earth Pony mare with a two-toned raspberry mane and tail and pale-green eyes.
"I think I left my stomach behind," Rose groaned, eyes spinning in her head as she rolled onto her back.
"I hope the return trip will be less...that later," Time groaned, as he laid dazed on his side on the ground.
"Nope," Sunset sighed, walking towards the Terran couple. "But it won't get any worse."
Time and Rose turned their heads towards Sunset, a glower marring their normally jovial features. That didn't last as the portal's vertigo wore off, surprise staking its claim on their faces as they took in Sunset's new form.
"This is what you normally look like?" Rose asked, blinking widely at the fiery Unicorn standing before her.
Raising a brow, Sunset nodded.
Still staring at Sunset, Rose jabbed a hoof into her husband's side and frantically said, "Time! Quick! Get the camera!"
He just nodded dumbly as he brought a forehoof to where his pocket would be on his hip, only to hit nothing but furry leg. He blinked in confusion for a moment before realization made him sigh as he looked down at himself.
"Afraid I can't dear."
"What? Why?" she squawked, still staring at Sunset.
A wicked smile grew on his muzzle as he said, "I would tell you, but I'm a little horse right now."
Rose blinked at that for a moment, then she looked down at herself. Three things registered to her at that moment. One, that was an awful pun and her husband should've felt awful for saying it. Two, she was, in fact, a pony just like Sunset said she would be. And third, she was feeling a very unfriendly breeze. With a bright red face, she let out a "Meep!" and brought her forelegs up to cover her chest. Time made the same discovery when he managed to figure out how to sit comfortably on his haunches in his new body and discreetly put his forelegs down in front of himself to both complete the look and preserve some of his dignity.
Sunset chuckled awkwardly at that as she gently guided Rose's hooves off of her chest.
"Yeah, might've forgotten to tell you about that," the light-orange Unicorn said sheepishly. "Ponies don't really wear clothes."
"We noticed," Time said flatly. "Are their any other surprises we should know about?"
Dinky staggered towards her parents, a bright smile on her muzzle as she happily declared, "Mom! Dad! Look! I'm walking like a pony!"
Both Earth Ponies stared at the filly's clumsy gait and wide smile, then at the same time took wheezing gasps as they slammed a hoof into their chests. Sunset watched their reactions with a half-lidded smirk as a thought echoed through her head.
I warned them.
***
Pinkie giggled giddily as she sat in front of her mirror, a recently bought brush passing through her mane as she got herself ready. According to Tattle, the Twilight Festival was the biggest party of the year. Literally. A party that spanned an entire country? Of course she was going to attend! Granted, she was going to have to keep an eye out for her double the whole time, but that was something she was counting on to some degree. Ever since her control of her powers increased, she became a little less scared to enter Ponyville. In fact, it made better reflex training than the local pack of Timberwolves could ever hope to be. Much safer too, since her double was a lot less likely to eat her if she messed up or ran out of magic.
She hummed a happy tune as she put the brush down to admire herself in the mirror for a bit before rising to her hooves to take her red coat off of her bed.
"You seem to be in a good mood today," Tattle commented, a smirk present in his tone as she slid the coat on.
"Parties always put me in a good mood," she giggled. "You have enough magic to last the day?"
"From noon to dawn," he said, his proud smiling face appearing in her mind's eye.
"Awesome!" she chirped, then slid her hood into place.
With a wide smile, she summoned a gap in front of herself and walked through. She was instantly greeted by the sight of a dark and cold side alley, countless voices filtering towards her from the streets beyond. Still smiling, she made her way towards the streets with a bit of pep in her step. What she saw made her stop dead in her tracks, eyes wide and mouth wide as she took it all in. Stalls lined the fronts and sides of every store and business building, each manned by a pony either operating a game or giving away some type of food or drink. Said food and drink smelled and looked amazing to the self-made hermit as she watched the chefs manning their stalls work with the level of skill that filled her with just as much envy as hunger. Banners, streamers, and balloons of every color, shape, and size imaginable decorated every available structure in sight with the banners linking to the buildings like multicolored spiderweb. Shinning sun-shaped effigies stood on top of every light post and stall, each glowing brightly like the star they represented. Ponies walked around with all kinds of sun-themed accessories ranging from hats to shirts or coats. The air was so thick with joy and laughter that it brought a small tear to her eyes.
"Are you alright?" Tattle asked.
"Y-Yeah," she stammered, wiping her tear away as a genuine smile graced her muzzle. "It's just all so...beautiful, you know?"
"Indeed," he chuckled. "Then please, enjoy yourself to your hearts content. As always, I will keep track of your double and let you know if she is near."
"Thanks Tattle," she giggled.
With that, she stepped fully out of the alley and into the lively streets of Ponyville. At the same time, a single thought ran through her head.
Tag: Ultimate Party Edition. Starting now!
***
Something Sunset took quick note of is that Twilight had a lot of spare rooms in her castle. While not something that bothered her all that much, it did give her a very familiar privilege; a place to safely scream when she needed one. As much as she loved her girlfriend's family, they were very quickly starting to get on her nerves. In the last ten minutes after they figured out how to walk, Time Turner "subtly" asked Twilight about spells that get mares pregnant, Rose Luck kept trying to yank a curtain off of whatever window she could sneak over to to cover up, and Dinky kept trying to kill everypony with her cuteness by hugging Spike like a scaly plush toy. Then again, most ponies in the room agreed that such a death was something they would openly embrace if they could. The end result was a very mortified Sunset that found herself in a well furnished crystal guest room ranting to her reflection in a wall.
"Someone kill me," she muttered to herself as she stood with her head rested against a wall.
"Penny for your thoughts, love?" asked a familiar female voice.
A tired smile graced her lips as Sunset turned to face the voice's owner.
"Just trying to think of a way to explain to Twilight why Time Turner wants to know how to get a mare pregnant."
Octavia cringed back at that, then gave her a sympathetic smile as she said, "I think he may have gotten more then he bargained for with that question."
"What do you mean?" she asked, brow raised.
"Turns out Princess Twilight is a fan of college level lectures," she said, daintily laughing behind a hoof. "She summoned a chalk board and everything."
"Your kidding," Sunset gawked.
Octavia shook her head and added, "She was already giving him the, shall we say, "fine details" before I left to check on you."
"I don't know if that's better or worse," Sunset groaned, rubbing a growing migraine forming just below her horn.
"A little bit of both my dear," a familiar male voice chuckled.
Sunset flinched, then smiled as she pulled her hoof away from her face and looked up at the empty space above her.
"Hey Discord. Or should I start calling you dad soon."
Hysteric laughter echoed through the room, putting Octavia on high alert as she looked around frantically for its source. She let out a startled yelp as the Draconequus faded into existence next to her friend with the casual grace one would display stepping out of a room.
"Let's not jump the gun there Sun Spot," he chuckled with a wink.
"Must you make an entrence ," Octavia huffed as she leveled a glare at the Chaos God standing next to her friend.
"Oh please," Discord scoffed, waving Octavia's comment away like a pesky mosquito. "If your think that was me making an entrence, I'd hate to see what you think me waking up in the morning looks like."
Sunset rolled her eyes with a smile as she watched them have their little back-and-forth. While she admitted that he could be a bit much, she couldn't deny that the former villain had a pleasant charm to him. Granted, one had to get past a veritable fortress of crazy to get to it, but it was well worth the effort in the end. Especially when she remembered how much her mother livened up around him the few times she saw them together. The solar Alicorn may have thought her interest was well hidden, but one of the few good things she kept from her dark days was how to read people. And Princess Celestia was an open book with glowing bold print in regards to how she felt about Discord. She just hoped they tied the knot before she was old enough to have grand foals. Just because they literally had all the time in the world didn't mean she did, after all.
"All the same," Octavia sighed. "To what do we owe this pleasure?"
Discord raised a brow then leaned down to Sunset's level and stage whispered, "And I thought Rarity was formal."
Sunset chuckled at that while Octavia leveled a sharp glare at the Draconequus as he straightened his posture.
"Well, if you must know," he scowled, crossing his mismatched arms. "I was responding to a message from Flutterbat."
"Fluttershy?" both mares asked.
He nodded.
"She said you all wanted some help getting Derpy's parents off of your backs and I just happen to have some time to kill."
"What did you have in mind?" Sunset asked, a slight edge to her tone.
"Nothing too crazy," he shrugged.
Both mares gave him thin frowns and raised brows.
"By pony standards," he clarified, rolling his eyes. "Just a tour around town, maybe give little Dinky somepony else to hug for a while."
Octavia stifled a small laugh at that while Sunset mulled the whole thing over in her head. While she trusted her mom's boyfriend to behave (for the most part) when it really mattered, she was still a little leery about this.
"I-I think I'm okay with this," she said, a trace of hesitation in her tone before she added, "But I want you to ask Derpy first and only if her folks are okay with it."
Of course my dear," he smirked with a bow. "No point making a deal with The Taker if you need multiple signatures. Tata!"
With that, he faded away, a light chuckle echoing behind him as he slowly ceased to exist. Once he completely vanished, Octavia gave her friend a questioning look.
"The Taker?"
"Equis version of The Devil," Sunset frowned.
"I see," she nodded, then sighed as she added, "Love, you have the strangest family I have ever seen."
"You don't know the half of it," Sunset groaned.
***
Derpy sported a deadpan as she watched her father get his just desserts, her friends and mother at her side doing the same sporting the same expressions. She'd be lying if she said a small sadistic part of her didn't find the whole situation hilarious, but that was mostly eclipsed by how mortifying the situation was as a whole. The saving grace was the bonus feature that was her little sister snuggling up to Spike like a toy, something that put the poor Dragon into a predicament he didn't think would happen for at least another ten years.
"Geez kid, let the poor guy breath," Vinyl chuckled, poking the filly in the back with a hoof.
"But he's so cute," she chirped, nuzzling the back of his head.
"Cute?" he deadpanned, looking over his shoulder at the filly hugging him from behind.
"Yep!" she beamed.
"You mean cool, right?"
"That too," she giggled as she nuzzled the back of his head again.
He sighed in defeat as he stared forward, a small blush coloring his cheeks as he tried to ignore his tormentor. The herd of mares took note of this and collectively grinned.
"Looks like someone's made a friend," Lyra smirked, lightly nudging Derpy in the side.
Derpy nodded, smiling at the display.
"That reminds me," Vinyl frowned, looking around. "Where's the Shys?"
"They said they were going to spend the day in one of Twilight's guest rooms,"Bonbon shrugged. "It's too bright right now for Flutterbat so they're going to take a nap for the night part of the festival."
"Make's sense to me," Lightning shrugged. "Sunset says that part of the festival is pretty wild anyways."
"How come?" Rose asked, tearing her eyes away from her daughter's latest act of cute.
"According to Sunset, there's a nocturnal set of pony tribes," Lyra smiled, giddy with the bit of lore her friend shared with her and a chance to share it with someone. "I can't wait to meet them!"
"That makes two of us," Rose smirked, then squirmed uncomfortably as a small blush colored her cheeks. "Do you think we can find a clothing store later? I, uh, don't know if I can get used to this whole...naked thing."
"Before or after Twilight makes dad never look at the natives the same way again?" Derpy asked flatly.
Rose, Lyra, Vinyl, and Lightning snorted at that as they gave the mortified stallion passing glances.
"After I guess," Rose chuckled. "To be honest, I'm kind of surprised you're all so fine with this.
The young Terrans exchanged looks then collectively shrugged.
"It helps if you think of your coat as clothes," Bonbon said with a dismissive wave of her hoof.
"I don't really think too much about it," Lightning chuckled.
"Says the girl that wouldn't shut up about it for about half an hour the first day we were here," Derpy said, rolling her eyes.
"Bite me," Lightning grumbled, a small smile coloring her muzzle.
Vinyl snickered at that, then froze as she felt a strange static tingle run through her horn. She wasn't the only one, as all of the Unicorns in the room went still. Even Twilight paused in the middle of her lecture as she felt a similar sensation pass through her horn. Dinky's grip on Spike tightened as a whimper crept past her lips, encouraging a concerned frown out of him. Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but never got a chance before the peace was shattered. Bright, colorful explosions filled the whole top half of the room like fireworks as neon pink strawberry scented mushrooms the size of cars appeared at random points around the ponies. Twilight's chalkboard turned into a giant s'more with chocolate sprinkles before it fell away from her and Time Turner with a hard thud. A jubilee of Blue butterflies made of jelly flew into the room through the still closed windows. The floor turned into flashing tiles of light that shifted into random colors and made honking noises. The ponies could only watch with slack jaws, minds torn between wonder and fear as they observed the spectacle around them. Then a rainbow colored well grew out of the ground and Discord floated out of it, his lion paw clutching his chest as he laughed like a loon while the other gripped a comically small inside-out umbrella.
"Helloooooooooo everypony!" he cheered, closing the umbrella as he weaved through the air above the still stunned ponies like a snake in water.
While Derpy and her friends were quick to recover, Time, Dinky, and Rose took a few seconds to comprehend what they were looking at. Dinky was the first to recover, earning a yelp out of Spike as she practically dragged the baby Dragon with her to her sister's side.
"Sis quick! Get Sunset! A boss monster's appeared!" she exclaimed, holding Spike close with one foreleg and gripping her sister's rear left leg with the other.
Derpy and Discord shared a surprised blink as the Chaos God drifted over her, only for said High Royal to flash an amused smile as he drifted away.
"A 'boss monster', eh?" he mused as he hovered over Twilight and Time, then chuckled as he said, "I like it! I wonder if I can get somepony to make it happen? Oh who am I kidding?"
He summoned a banana with a snap of his talon and brought one end of the fruit to his ear like a phone.
"Hello?" he said, admiring the claws on his lion hand. "Yes, this is me. Could you put me into the next game?"
He paused momentarily as an unintelligible voice could be heard coming from the banana.
"You do know I'm only asking as a formality, right?" he asked, raising a brow.
The voice took a moment to respond, but when it did it sounded like the speaker was grumbling.
"Hey! Language!" he frowned. "There's a filly in the room for pete's sake."
With that, he took the banana away from his face, peeled it, and ate the fruit in one gulp before snapping the peel out of existence.
"Some ponies," he huffed, then leveled a wide smile at the gobsmacked ponies below him.
"Hey Discord," Derpy smiled, waving at the smirking trickster. "Good to see ya!"
"Ah Derpy," he laughed, teleporting above her and orbiting her like a serpentine moon. "Just the mare I was looking for."
Rose and Dinky let out yelps as they jumped away from the strange being while the rest of the Terran mares simply rolled their eyes at his antics. While their first impressions of the Chaos God were less then stellar, he quickly grew on them during the Christmas/Hearths Warming party they all shared last weekend. A courtesy that Derpy's family wasn't granted as they cowered away from the strange creature talking to their oldest daughter.
"What's up?" Derpy asked, raising a brow. "Is Sunset okay?"
"Oh, she's fine," Discord chuckled. "Octavia's helping her find her center."
"Good," she sighed, then leaned towards him and whispered, "I thought she was going to Dragon Up if she didn't find a place to cool off. She's been under a lot of stress lately."
"Your normal or our normal type of stress?" he asked, a concerned frown marring his face.
"Our's," she chuckled. "No magical threat this time."
A faint tremble shot through her at that as she remembered what happened on the bridge.
At least, I hope there isn't.
"Anyway, what brings you around?"
"Oh, just fulfilling a request on behalf of my friend's girlfriend," he chuckled.
Derpy's eyes widened slightly at that.
No way. She actually asked her to ask him? I seriously owe Fluttershy big time for this!
"Surprised?" he asked, smile crooked as he raised a brow at her.
"A little," she laughed. "I just didn't think Flutters would do it."
"Derpy? What are you talking about?' Rose asked, eyes cautiously shifting back and forth between her daughter and the creature she was talking to. "Do you know this...um...him?"
Derpy chuckled at that and turned towards her mother and said, "Mom, this is Discord. He's the guy that appeared at our house a couple weeks ago when Sunset's mom visited."
Rose gave Discord a careful look over, then said, "This is what you normally look like?"
"Sometimes," he shrugged. "I do dress up every so often. Speaking of."
He snapped his fingers and in a flash, Rose was suddenly wearing a simple red dress. She blinked, then looked down at herself in both confusion and fascination as she studied her new garment.
"I'm no Rarity, but I think this will do for what we have in store for today," he smiled.
"What do you mean?" Time asked, adding himself to the conversation and putting himself between Discord and his daughters.
"Well," Discord smirked, lightly impressed by the father's bold display. "Since you all wanted to come here, it's only fitting that you meet with Sunset's family in a more, shall we say, regal setting."
"Pardon?" Time asked, raising a brow.
"What would you say to an exclusive tour of Canterlot Castle. You, your wife, and youngest daughter exploring the largest, grandest castle in all of the land."
"Tempting," Time smirked. "But I need to keep an eye on my oldest. Can't be too careful you know."
Derpy groaned at that, silently begging Discord to find a way out of this before she had to resort to Plan B (formerly plan A). While she was sure she and Sunset could out-run him, she didn't like the idea of being grounded for who knew how long when they got home. Thankfully, Discord wasn't the only force the two adults had to contend with.
"Can we go daddy?" Dinky asked, Spike now free from her cuddle attack as she stumbled up to her parents. "Please?"
Time was about to gently refuse his daughter's request, but never got the chance. His brain shorted out the second he locked eyes with the little filly. Dinky always had a knack for giving puppy dog eyes, but her new form took that talent and multiplied that power a thousand times over. Her big round eyes, folded ears, and trembling lip dragged his defenses out into the street and violently curb-stomped it to oblivion.
"Oh alright," he sighed, his lips pulling into a rueful smile.
Dinky cheered and wrapped her forelegs around her father's foreleg in a tight hug. Rose tittered lightly behind a hoof, earning her a light grimace from her defeated husband.
"Splendid!" Discord cheered. "But first."
He snapped his fingers and a full bodied black suit spawned on Time's form and a simple lilac dress appeared on Dinky. Time and Dinky blinked in confusion for a moment before the stallion gave him an appreciative nod.
"And now that all of that's taken care of," he flashed the trio a smile as he raised his hand, fingers primed to snap. "Let the tour begin."
With a snap, the three Terrans flashed out of existence. Discord was just about to follow them when a light tugging on his tail caught his attention. Taken aback, he turned his head and was greeted by a smiling Derpy.
"We owe you big for this," she smiled.
"Oh think nothing of it," he chuckled, waving away the Pegasus' comment.
Her smile slowly shifted to a frown as she whispered, "Can you do me a personal favor?"
Discord looked around, then snapped his fingers. Everyone froze and the world took on a black and gray tint like an old time movie. Derpy looked around in confusion before looking up at a concerned Discord.
"Time freeze," he explained. "Now what do you need?"
She sighed, then said, "Pinkie's missing. Well our Pinkie's missing."
"Oh?" he blinked.
She nodded.
"I've done what I can to find her, but it all just led to a dead end. Sunset told me you can do almost anything and I was wondering if you could help me find her."
He mulled that over for a second, then smiled as recent events started to make a bit more sense to him. More specifically, events that involved a certain red-hooded Earth Pony.
Now what are the odds?
"No problem my dear," he chuckled. "It may take some time, but I'll be sure to keep an eye or three out for her."
"Thanks," she sighed, a weary smile forming on her muzzle.
And with a snap of his talon time resumed, the room turned back to normal, and he was gone.
***
Many parts of Canterlot Castle were closed to the public, most of which was on the second floor and above. As such, the first floor was decorated to the nines for all who wished to attend the Castle's portion of the festival. The bulk of said arrangements were assembled in the main ballroom. Gold, silver, and bronze sun ornaments hung from the ceiling as similarly colored ribbons weaved between them from one half of the room to the other in a intricate web like pattern. Large paintings hung from the walls, each depicting Celestia in some dramatic manor. Tables loaded with all kinds of food dominated the center of the massive room with golden sun-shaped table decorations intermingled with the plates.
Two Pegasi, a mare and a filly, sat in front of one of the paintings, neither impressed by what they saw.
"Seems a bit much, don't you think?" Scootaloo deadpanned.
Crow nodded with a deadpan of her own.
"I respect their effort though," the mare said with a small smirk.
Scootaloo nodded.
Crow noticed the solemn demeanor of her charge and frowned.
"Shrimp," she growled.
Scootaloo's posture straightened out of reflex, earning a deeper frown out of her keeper. Crow spread open one of her wings and lightly smacked her across the back of her head, earning a startled yelp out of the nervous filly.
"You're off the clock, Shrimp," she smirked. "Act like it or I'm gonna make you run laps."
"Right," she said, rubbing the back of her head and smiling weakly. "Sorry. I'm, uh, not really used to this kind of thing. Sort've built a routine at this point, you know?"
Crow chuckled at that.
"You have been making a lot of progress with your punishment. Keep it up and the princess might give you and your friends a reduced sentence."
"Maybe," she mused, standing up. "But I'm not gonna get my hopes up."
As she said that, she started making her way towards the tables. Crow shrugged, then stood up to follow her charge. They both rolled their eyes when they saw Quail and Applebloom loading up plates till it looked like they were carrying food towers. Raven and Sweetie took in the display with rueful smiles, much less bloated plates hovering next to them held by their red and green magic auras respectfully.
"Honestly Quail Down. where do you keep all of that?" Raven asked, eyeing the pile of food with mild interest.
"Oh hush," the Earth Pony playfully scoffed. "You know how demanding my work can be."
"Oh please," Crow huffed. "You just need to make sure the gardens smell nice. I need to babysit an army of morons that have no idea what their doing half the time."
"Do you really want to play this game?" Raven asked flatly. "Because I am certain that helping to keep the entire country's economy from imploding on a daily basis trumps both of your burdens by a hundred miles."
"Literally," Sweetie added with a nod.
The three older ponies blinked in shock for a moment, Raven less so then her sisters, before they gave the young Unicorn pointed stares. Sweetie wilted under their gazes, a small smile forming on her muzzle as she cringed back from their intensity.
"Indeed," Raven nodded, breaking the tension as she shifted her attention back to her sisters. "But enough of this. Today is a day of celebration, not spite."
"Right," Quail smiled, plucking a slice of sweet bread off of her plate and happily taking a bite.
Crow huffed and rolled her eyes before she made her way to a stack of empty plates on one of the nearby tables with Scootaloo not far behind. Raven rolled her eyes at that before she casually levitated a slice of cheesecake off of a nearby table and took a bite. Sweetie did the same, her control shaky as she brought her slice of cheesecake to her mouth. Raven noticed and faintly smiled as she gently held the filly's sweet to her mouth with her magic.
"You can use your hooves if your control is weak," Raven whispered. "No need to push yourself or rush."
Sweetie nodded, a sheepish blush coloring her cheeks as she put up a hoof to hold onto her slice like a piece of pizza. The older Unicorn nodded in satisfaction before shifting her attention back to her own snack.
"You've gotten pretty good at that though," Applebloom added around a mouthful of spiced fruit. "Ya' don't sleep-float anymore and you can use spray bottles without gettin' headaches after."
"Y-Yeah, I guess," Sweetie said sheepishly, nibbling on her cake.
From there, the small party went on with little issue. Aside from some good natured verbal jabs between the three older ponies, there was nothing of any real note. That was, until Princess Celestia entered the ballroom with Discord and
a couple of ponies not far behind them. Seeing the princess in the company of other ponies wasn't anything too unusual, though the fact that a light-purple Unicorn filly was sitting on her back was more than worthy of a few raised brows. An Earth Pony couple trailed not far behind her, heads practically on a swivel as they took in their surroundings with looks of awe. The couple consisted of a cream colored mare dressed in a red dress that matched her dual toned red mane and tail and a suited stallion with a brown coat and darker shade of brown in his mane and tail.
The fillies didn't know what to make of what they were seeing. Of course, they knew that more ponies were going to come, but this was not how they thought they would do so. They didn't get to think too much about that, as the filly sitting on the princess' back spotted them.
"Hi!" she beamed, waving at them from her perch. "I'm Dinky!"
"Um, hi?" Scootaloo blinked, plate of food sitting on her hoof as she stood by her chaperone.
Princess Celestia suppressed a giggle as she floated Dinky off of her back and gently set her onto the ground. The filly wasted no time scampering towards the young ponies.
"What are you're names?" she asked.
Taken aback by Dinky's forwardness, the CMC exchanged brief glances before Sweetie broke the tension.
"I'm Sweetie Belle, that's Applebloom, and that's Scootaloo."
As she said that, she pointed to herself and each of her friends for clarity.
"Nice to meet you," she beamed. "Want to hang out?"
The CMC exchanged glances amongst themselves, then shrugged as Applebloom said, "Sure. Why not?"
***
Pinkie munched happily on a chocolate covered apple as she navigated the lively streets around her. All the while, Tattle kept a constant "eye" out for his lover's double. As he did so, he couldn't keep his smile off of his face over how happy she was as they made their way over to a game booth. Something he never told her was how her mindscape changed depending on her moods. When she was sad he sat in the heart of a dreary mire, gray skies and murky fog as thick as broth as far as the eye can see. When she was angry he was in a volcanic wasteland full of clouds of ash and a sky as black as tar. Fear turned his world into an open field ravaged by wild storms and twisters.
A clear blue sky greeted him from above as an open field surrounded him, soft grass and wild flowers decorating the scene better then the works of Canterlot's most distinguished artists. Birdsong and butterflies gave the scene a type of ambiance that filled one with enough energy to take on the world. It was all a scene he would fight to the death to maintain if not make stronger if he could. It was for that reason that he kept his vigilance, sensing the magical aura of one specific pony to keep her safe. A task that would've been a bit tricky under normal circumstances, but both Pinkies had such strange magic auras that he would have to be arcanely blind not to sense either of them. The mare's rate of movement did add a bit of difficulty to his tracking skills though. While she couldn't Gap Walk, Equestrian Pinkie was incredibly quick on her hooves. She also seemed to have an innate sense of where they were at all times, an ability that both impressed and concerned him at the same time.
At the moment, he sensed her in a far off building at the heart of town. The same one he sensed her in the last time they came to town to refresh their supplies. This got a raised brow out of him, but he decided to file that away as a minor detail to keep track of when it was needed.
Meanwhile, Pinkie finished her game and made her way to a crowd of ponies watching some sort of magic show. As she watched the light-blue Unicorn magician preform, she took note of everything around her and what kind of ponies stood nearby. While she was enjoying herself immensely, a part of her couldn't wait to further test her abilities. Her mind was alight with all of the ways she could escape her double's attempts. It was freeing in a way, being able to go basically anywhere she wanted. Especially after being so scared for so long in a world she barely understood.
I wonder if this is what it was like for Sunset, she mused, her joy wavering slightly at the thought.
"Pinkie, she's coming," Tattle said flatly.
She blinked, then smiled wickedly as the gears in her head started turning. Her eyes wandered towards the stage and her smile grew as a plan took shape. She waited, heart pounding with excitement as Tattle gave her periodic reports of how close her double was to her. At the fifteen foot mark she started putting her plan to work. At five feet, she lightly glanced over her shoulder and spotted her. Seconds later the native pink pony let out a triumphant cry and charged towards her. Terran Pinkie's grin grew and a gap opened between her and her charging double. A few ponies blinked in shock at that, before letting out cheers as the same pony seemingly flew out of the stage floor next to a now startled stage magician. The grinning Terran quickly closed the gaps and walked away from the performance. Equestrian Pinkie spotted her and with a determined frown charged off of the stage towards her. Terran Pinkie noticed and quickly opened a gap beneath her and a nearby red stallion. This led to native Pinkie running face first into a red wall of stallion as her alien double galloped away.
"That won't hold her for long," Tattle noted.
"Dosen't have to," Pinkie giggled.
As she said that, she slid to a stop out into the open center of town square. Her double charged into the open space seconds later and reached out to grab her. The red-hooded mare smirked as she seemingly fell through the ground at the last second. Equestrian Pinkie growled in frustration, then yelped as a pink hoof poked her in the back. She spun around to grab her only to be greeted by empty space. A tap on her shoulder made her turn her head, only to receive a pie to the face for her trouble. Terran Pinkie cackled like a maniac as she put some distance between her and her double while said double slowly plucked the tin off of her face. She licked the pie off of her face with a single swipe of her tongue and leveled a nonplused look at her parallel copy.
"Really? A pie?" she asked flatly.
"Eh, what can I say?" Terran Pinkie shrugged. "I like the classics."
The native Earth Pony tisked and shook her head in disappointment as she reached into her mane.
"Silly filly," she grinned. "If you're gonna use a classic, you gotta go all out!"
As she said that, she pulled a giant kiddie pool sized pie out of her mane. With a smile that reached her ears, she held up the giant confection up over her head with a single hoof, jumped ten feet into the air, and threw it down towards her double. Terran Pinkie's smile was just as wide as she opened a gap below herself and behind her double. In one fluid motion, she fell through her gap, grabbed her double from behind, and threw her through the same gaps she used before she closed them. The end result was a very dizzy Equestrian getting hit by fifty pounds of diabetic goodness.
"Hm... You're right," Terran Pinkie chirped happily as she daintily landed on her hooves. "It's way better if you go all out."
A frustrated scream could be heard before a pink hoof burst out of the center of the kiddie pool. A glowering Pinkie dragged herself out of the pit of sweetness.
"How do you keep doing that?!" she demanded. "I can't even do that and I'm ME!"
"Well, have you ever tried," Pinkie asked, her playful smirk visible under her hood.
Equestrian Pinkie's eyes widened at that, sputtered incoherently, then let out a frustrated battle cry as she grabbed hooffuls of pie and threw them at her. Terran Pinkie giggled merrily as she casually dodged the incoming storm, occasionally catching her opponent's attacks in her mouth to sate her forever-active sweet tooth. After running out of ammo, she reached into her mane and pulled out what looked like a purple water balloon. Terran Pinkie had just enough time to dodge it when her double lobbed it at her, a sweet smelling purple slime coloring the ground behind her. Her eyes widened at that as she shifted her attention back towards her double just in time to avoid another water balloon. She doubled her efforts to avoid the projectiles, especially when she started firing them out like machine gun rounds. When a balloon splattered next to her and a bit of the slime got on her cheek, she made a startling discovery when she reflexively licked it off.
"Taffy?" she blinked.
"Yep!" her double declared proudly. "But not just any taffy. This is Bonbon's discontinued super duper extra sticky taffy!"
"Why was it discontinued?" she asked.
"Ponies kept getting their mouths stuck," she shrugged, then grinned wickedly as she pulled another balloon out of her mane. "Perfect for catching ponies that go poof."
"We'll see about that," Pinkie grinned, crouching low.
With that, they flew into action with one pony throwing projectiles while the other avoided said projectiles with a professional's grace. Throughout their little dance, Pinkie caught onto her double's plan fairly quickly. All of the taffy balls she threw at her were aimed for her legs and the ground around her. The only exception being the straight path fifteen feet long between them. Her heart pounded in her chest as she prepared to put everything she had into one last trick, then with a grin as wide as her double's, she charged forward.
Equestrian Pinkie let loose a barrage of taffy balls, her forelegs a blur as she let her secret weapon fly in a dense swarm towards her target. At the last second, Pinkie opened a gap behind her, jumped clean over the barrage, and landed right in front of her double. With a wide smile she flipped over her, opened a gap just above her head, and landed on all fours behind her just in time to see a swarm of taffy balls descend upon her like giant raindrops. The Earth Pony screamed in surprise as she was covered from top to bottom in thick purple taffy. Terran Pinkie watched in mild amusement as her double struggled against her prison while the surrounding ponies stared in confused awe.
Noticing the audience she had gathered she quickly rose to her hind legs, bowed to them, and said, "And that concludes our little comedy skit for today. I hope you all enjoyed and have an awesome day!"
The gathered ponies blinked in shock for a few seconds before stomping their hooves in approval as the hooded pony fell back to all fours and approached her struggling opponent.
"Here," she whispered, taking a small vile out of a gap hidden under her coat and placing it within her double's reach. "This is a potion used to get rid of sap. I don't know if it will work, but it should help a little."
Before the captured Earth Pony could respond, the hooded pony jumped back through a gap and winked out of sight. The crowd went nuts while Pinkie just sighed as she took the vile her double left behind.
Back to the drawing board. Again.
***
While it was normal for ponies to take the day off during the Twilight Festival, certain establishments kept their doors open to take advantage of the holiday's tourism. More often then not these tended to be restaurants, bars, and inns that couldn't get the space needed to put up a stall. One such restaurant was playing host to the most unusual party of ponies one could ever hope to meet, especially if they met their native counterparts before hoof.
"I think I'm gonna explode," Lightning groaned as she leaned back in her seat.
"Just cuz it's says "All you can eat", that doesn't mean "Cram everything into your gullet,"" Bonbon frowned, rolling her eyes.
"You reap what you sew, love," Octavia nodded, taking a dainty nibble of her food.
"I know that," she grumbled, then added under her breath, "Stupid tasty food."
Lyra burst out laughing at that from her seat next to the pouting Pegasus while Vinyl just smiled and shook her head in her seat on the opposite side of Lightning. Sitting across from them was a chuckling Derpy and Sunset with a perplexed Twilight sitting next to them.
"Are they always like that?" Twilight whispered, tilting her head towards the trio across the table from them.
"Kinda," Derpy shrugged. "We all just kind of take turns being the butt of a joke sometimes. A couple months ago, I showed them a video on my phone and this ad came up. They still call me Victoria's Secret from time to time."
"Oh do they?" Sunset said with a mischievous smile, leaning into her girlfriend's side. "Should I be worried?"
Derpy's face heated up as she gulped out a quick, "Nope!"
Sunset giggled at that before she leaned back a bit, not far enough to be separated, but not close enough to smother her.
"Looks like things are going well for you two," Twilight said with a half lidded smirk.
Both beamed and nodded, earning a wider smile out of the Alicorn. A smile that wilted slightly when Sunset's ears and eyes drifted towards the ground.
"Is something wrong?" she asked, concerned.
Both mares exchanged uncomfortable looks before Sunset let out a nervous sigh as she said, "I'm going to meet my old friends tomorrow."
Twilight blinked, then frowned deeply at that. While she was all for second chances, it didn't mean she was willing to forget and forgive in the blink of an eye. This went double for those she held dear to her, even before she took up the role of Princess of Friendship. As such, it was difficult for her to think about her friend's Terran counterparts without a hint of distain tainting her opinions of them. Personally, it was going to take a lot of work on their part to regain her trust in them, but she was still open to give them the chance to do so. The fact that Sunset was willing to give them a chance was, frankly, a miracle in her eyes after everything she went through.
Vinyl gave the couple a sympathetic frown then raised her hoof in the air to get a waiters attention.
"Get two glasses of your strongest drinks over here," she called.
The rest of her party gave her incredulous looks while the waiter gave her a quick nod before he made his way back towards the kitchen.
"Really Vinyl?" Octavia scoffed. "Just because we can drink here doesn't mean we should."
"They're not for me," she frowned, nodding her head towards the couple at the table.
"Uh...Thanks?" Sunset blinked, smiling awkwardly.
Derpy's expression was not too different in comparison while the DJ waved their thanks away. She took off her shades and leveled a serious look at them.
"You guys looked like you could use something harder then soda. Especially Sunset."
Sunset blinked in shock at that, before smiling sheepishly at the table.
"I'm that obvious, huh?"
Derpy pulled her into a one-legged embrace while Vinyl's expression turned more sympathetic as she nodded. Sunset sighed and smiled as she leaned into Derpy's side.
"I'm not really nervous or anything," she sighed. "I was at first, but now I just want to get it over with."
"Amen to that,"Lighting sighed, frowning into her soda. "Lord knows they're feeling crappy about it all too."
"That's putting it lightly, love," Octavia frowned.
Bonbon nodded, her eyes sad as she toyed with what few bits of her food remained on her plate with her fork.
A somber mood fell over the group as recent events started to take its toll on their good spirits. Lyra noticed and racked her brain to find a way to brighten the mood. A wide smile grew on her face as a topic jumped to the front of her mind like a bolt of lightning.
"Hey! What did you all think about the street performer earlier? Pretty wacky, right?"
"Indeed," Octavia nodded, a faint smile showing her appreciation for the shift in topic. "I never knew anyone could teleport like that."
"They can't," Sunset said, her nervous frown replaced by a thoughtful one as she stared distantly at the table. "I don't know what that mare was doing, but it definitely wasn't teleportation."
"I thought so," Twilight nodded. "If she was teleporting, then she couldn't've redirected Pinkie's water balloons like that. It was like she was warping reality or something."
"So, another Chaos Mage?" Lyra offered.
Twilight shook her head in the negative and said, "Discord is the only creature that can handle that kind of magic. If anypony even tried to use it, they could risk permanently damaging their form or sanity."
"Well, she seemed pretty well put together, so that's out," Bonbon nodded. "Maybe Discord had a kid?"
"I doubt it," Sunset chuckled. "If I had a future half-sister, Discord wouldn't think twice about letting me or mom meet her."
"Assuming he could catch her," Derpy laughed. "Did you see all the stuff she was doing?"
Everypony nodded in agreement with that, impressed smiles gracing their muzzles as they remembered the spectacle they witnessed a couple hours ago. From there the group broke into elaborate theories as to how the mysterious hooded pony did what she did. Some theories were reasonable explanations such as Illusion Magic or some obscure magical artifact that she kept hidden beneath her trench coat. Others were a little less likely, such as the pony being some sort of alien or monster from another dimension. As they tried to figure out the mystery behind the mare's magic, the waiter from earlier returned and placed two large mugs onto the middle of the table.
"Bottoms up," Vinyl smirked as she pushed the two mugs towards the couple with her magic.
They stared at the mugs, then traded shrugs as they grabbed the offered drinks. They toasted and with matching smiles took a swig. Both mare's eyes popped open as they quickly slammed their mugs back onto the table, cheeks puffed up as they struggled to swallow their drinks. With regret in their eyes, they forced the mouthful of brew down their throats. Vinyl and Lighting nearly fell out of their seats in laughter while the rest of their party gave the couple concerned looks.
"What the hell did you order!" Derpy coughed, glaring at the laughing DJ with the heat of a million suns.
"The strongest thing they had," she smiled, wiping a tear out of her eye. "W-What did it taste like?"
"Like motor oil!" she snapped, wings wide open in indignation as she wiped her tongue with a napkin.
Sunset just groaned as she teetered in her seat next to her, earning a terrified gasp out of the Pegasus.
"Sunset! Are you okay?!"
She nodded, then her eyes widened as her hoof flew to her muzzle and her cheeks puffed out. Before anyone could react, her hoof left her mouth to make way for a loud belch. At the same time, a small blast of orange fire shot out her mouth. It dissipated just as quickly as it appeared, leaving behind a group of wide-eyed ponies staring at a now sheepish orange Unicorn.
"Um...excuse me," she chuckled awkwardly.
***
Four fillies walked through an empty hall in the middle of Canterlot Castle, three of more familiar with their surroundings while the new member of their group took in everything with an excited smile. While they were a bit hesitant to add Dinky to their group at first, the filly quickly started to grow on them. The little Unicorn even had the power to coax a smile out of Raven, a feat that was rivaled by her ability to inhale half a whole cake in terms of impossible acts in their admittedly thin books. But those weren't the main reasons they were glad that they decided to give Dinky a chance. The first was that she was nice and second, and most importantly, she was fun to be around. After all the grueling work and strict regiments they grew accustomed to, it was a breath of fresh air to get to spend time with someone their own age for a change. As such, something as simple as walking through a hallway bathed in afternoon sunlight with her was a lot more fun then it probably would've been under normal circumstances.
"So, what do you three do around here?" Dinky asked, smile wide and tail wagging with excitement.
"Cleanin' mostly," Applebloom shrugged, adjusting her stetson as she walked.
Dinky tilted her head at that with a confused frown as she asked, "Aren't you guys a little young to work?"
"I guess," Sweetie frowned, staring guiltily at the ground.
"Let's just say we messed up and we're trying to fix things," Scootaloo sighed, a rueful smile marring her muzzle.
"Oh," Dinky cringed. "Sorry."
"It's okay," Sweetie smiled. "You didn't know. Besides, it's not all bad."
"Really?" Dinky probed.
Sweetie's smile widened as she nodded and said, "The uniform's really cute."
Dinky gave her a confused head tilt while the other Unicorn's friends groaned and facehooved.
"Really Sweetie?" Scootaloo frowned.
"What? They are!" she snapped, her cheeks heating up as she pouted.
"If you say so," Applebloom sighed, rolling her eyes. "The food's good though."
"Definitely," Scootaloo nodded. "No offense Bloom, but Granny Smith's got nothing on the chefs here."
The Earth Pony filly reluctantly nodded before she bitterly muttered, "If the school'd let her cook the way she wants, Ah'd make you eat those words."
"What do you all do when you're not working?" Dinky asked.
Applebloom's lips pulled themselves into a soft smile as she said, "Ah usually wander around the castle gardens for a bit. All the trees help me think when Ah'm all frazzled, y'know?"
Dinky smiled and nodded at that before shifting her attention towards Scootaloo. The young Pegasus looked sheepish and looked away scratching the back of her head. Dinky gave her a raised brow and an encouraging nod. Sweetie gave her friend a confused look.
"I don't do anything all that cool, " she mumbled. "Most of the time, I'm too tired to do much, but sometimes I'll go to the tallest tower's balcony to cloud watch."
"That's cool," she nodded, then looked at Sweetie.
"I usually read or help Ms Raven with her paperwork," she shrugged.
All three fillies gave her odd looks.
"Wait," Scootaloo blinked. "You work even when we're off the clock?"
"Not all of the time," she amended. "Just when Ms Raven isn't working with anything too delicate."
"Why?" Applebloom and Dinky asked in unison.
"I like to help people," Sweetie said sheepishly.
"Weirdo," Scootaloo said with a good natured smirk and hip-bump.
Sweetie giggled at that and gave her fellow Unicorn an encouraging nod.
Dinky gave her an impish smile and said, "Me? I do the same thing with my sister every night."
"What?" they asked in unison.
She paused for dramatic effect, then gave them a false evil smile as she said, "Try and take over the world."
The three fillies blinked at her in shock for a few seconds before the facade fell apart in a fit of giggles. The three fillies continued to chat amicably amongst themselves as they strolled through the empty halls, the setting sun the only tell as to how long they enjoyed each other's company.
***
As she had done countless times before, Princess Celestia lowered the sun to make way for her sister's charge and bring an end to her portion of the festival's events. She let out a weary sigh as she made her way from the balcony into her bedroom and flopped bonelessly onto her bed on her side. As much as she cared for her citizens, the level of devotion they held for her tended to be a bit of a strain for her. Many would consider the near worship the Alicorn was exposed to on a daily basis to be a source of envy. She would gladly switch places with those foolish ponies in a nanosecond if she could.
She let out a tired groan as she teleported her accessories off of her as she thought about what few responsibilities she had left.
I need to make sure Derpy's family has a room for the night. The fillies should be in bed by now, so that should be taken care of at least.
A small pulse of magic and shift in weight beside her brought a smile to her face.
"Finally done for the day?" Discord chuckled, hugging her from behind.
She nodded with a happy hum as she leaned into Discord's chest.
"Do you think you can muster up enough strength for one last birthday gift?"
"Depends," she smiled. "Will I have to move?"
"A little," he smirked. "But I think you'll find it well worth the effort."
A snap echoed through the room and Celestia was instantly aware that things had changed. The first thing she noticed was how different her bed felt. It was soft, spongy, and smelled heavenly sweet. She raised her head in mild confusion only for it to devolve into awe as she took in her new surroundings. Clouds made of creamy root beer foam drifted through the sky over a land of cake. Trees, grass, mountains, all made of cake, frosting, marshmallows, cream, and meringue under a glowing sun like a life sized baker's display. A wild mix of sweet scents saturated the air that drew a bit of drool to leak past her lips. It was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen in her long, long life.
"You like?" Discord asked with a cocky smile. "I know how much you like cake. So I thought, 'Why not give her the biggest cake in existence?'"
Celestia shook herself out of her trance and leveled an impish smile at her lover.
"Do I like it? Let me think."
She put a hoof to her chin in false thought, before quickly pouncing on him and pinning him to the ground. The stunned Draconequus could only blink dumbly before a pair of lips locked his into a fierce kiss. A wild flare of magic raged around them, forming a massive crater as portions of the dessert landscape was vaporized by the sheer force. The solar Alicorn's body glowed as she gently broke the kiss to look lovingly into Discord's eyes.
"Yes," she whispered sweetly. "I like it."
Good lord was this an ordeal.
Thankfully, the next chapter will be a lot less demanding. Considering how long this thing was getting, I decided to reserve the night half of the festival for the next chapter. Thank you all for your patience and I hope you all have a happy new year.
And now sle-*thud* 😴zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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Like last time, I didn't get notified of this on my Tracking shelf. Did Author toggle something by accident?
Anyway, the chapter.
THIS WAS SO FUN AND CUTE AND AAAAAAHHHH!!! >w< I can't wait for the next one!
1000 points to Vinyl for giving Sunset a drink to try and forget the bad times.
PINKY: "Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?" THE BRAIN: "The same thing we do every night, Pinky. Try to take over the world."
They're Pinky and The Brain. Yes, Pinky and The Brain. One is a genius, The other's insane.They're laboratory mice, Their genes have been spliced, They're dinky, They're Pinky, and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain. Before each night is done, Their plan will be unfurled. By the dawning of the sun, They'll take over the world. They're Pinky and The Brain, Yes, Pinky and The Brain. Their twilight campaign, Is easy to explain. To prove their mousey worth, They'll overthrow the Earth. They're dinky, They're Pinky, and The Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain, Brain.
PINKY: "Narf!"
That was one of the longest chapters I have ever seen in a fanfiction.
Worth every minute.
I’d have less problems with T Pie if her feud with Pinkie was less one sided. Even if she has better instructions with portals she is literally up against a mare that has emerged from other ponies manes, can be diced to pieces and reform, and has strategic supplies of damn near everything everywhere. As stands any section with them is barely worth reading to me because they end the same way with no growth or progression.
10011903
I didn't get notified either. And I don't know why.
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Last chapter of Winds of the Past was over 19k.
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and Larry
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I'll go and read that then.
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Hah, not even close. There's a chapter in NFire's Legacy that's 97K long.
It kind of got away from him...
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Wow.
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After my "remove and re-add", it stopped working again. I only knew the new chapter was up because of my Feed.
I hope that Red Hood's misunderstanding will be cleared up soon because it hurts to see her just eternally stuck here as long as she doesn't trust anyone.
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I kind of agree. At this point it is starting to feel like she's just tormenting Equestrian Pinkie. She's just using E Pinkie as a training dummy, without her consent. She goes in, plays "pranks" on her and leaves. And since it's so one sided, and she never tries to talk to her, there's no advancement here. It's a running gag that to me has grown stale.
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Weird. I'll have to keep an eye on it then. I just went through my whole tracking list, and this was the only one that it seems to have happened for so far.
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That's a bit of a leap. If we look at each of there interactions we can see a shift in dynamics. At first T Pinkie was terrified of everything, especially The Princesses and her double. When she grew more confident in her abilities, she confronted her perceived enemy, which in turn changed E Pinkie's perspective of her. Now we have a confident Pinkie with portal powers that thinks the world is out to get her and a concerned Pinkie that wants to show that that isn't the case, but can't get her to sit still long enough to plead her case. It's also important to note that T Pinkie could've just left E Pinkie to wallow in her trap, but instead tried to help her get out of it. The old her would've probably ran the second the mare was pinned.
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I was wondering if anyone would get the reference.
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To be frank, T Pinkie doesn't go to Ponyville to bug her double. She only goes there when she's out of supplies. The rest is a combination of passively avoiding capture and being a bit of a troll.
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True, I worded that poorly, though it might look that way from E Pinkie's perspective sometimes.
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I agree. The T Pinkie storyline is just not that interesting to me. Plus with many people back on Terra worried sick about her it kinda ruins her plot arc here becuase it is like she doesn't care about her family only about herself. I hope Sunset and crew catch her and send her home so all of T Pinkie’s sisters can give her such a tounge lashing for being so self centered. Her growth here is only making her look more childish and is degrading what her role could be in the future.
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I'm honestly hoping that Flutterbat can get through to Red Hood some how.
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From my perspective she has been fully confident since about the second time, her helping her came off as more mocking than anything as it seemed to imply that it doesn’t matter if E Pie frees herself additional pursuit will end the same. The real problem for me is neither of them are taking any action beyond this. E Pie hasn’t mentioned what’s going on to anyone Equestrian or otherwise, T Pie isn’t doing anything to try to get back or make it up to Sunset, or seek answers as to how she got here. Also the question rises why E Pie hasn’t attempted to follow her, and why T Pie hasn’t tried to get supplies in a different location. They are both just spinning their wheels with seemingly no end game or purpose. Also while not a huge thing it seems odd that no one else is questioning who the red hood is more seriously. Yes Pinkie does weird things, but as with the parasprites there is usually a reason, also enough of the people present might be aware of T Pie being missing to question why someone of Pinkies colors might be in a nonsensical war with her.
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She knows how she got there. She summoned a gap subconsciously and fell through . At the moment, she is trying to do it again on purpose this time. The scenes are mostly meant to showcase character development and her abilities. As for why E Pinkie doesn't just follow her, it's not that she doesn't. She literally can't. Her Gap Walking completely bypasses her Senses. As for going somewhere else for supplies, it's too far for her to travel anywhere else (through Gap Walking or just walking.). Though I agree that her part of the story has gotten a bit repetitive at this point. Good thing I've got plans to change that soon.
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The explanation is lacking. She wanted to fix things, so why did she suddenly end up in Twilight’s castle, in another world? Why can’t Pinkie sense where she goes? She isn’t overly far off and the mare has plot breaking levels of intuition. Canterlot is literally visible a few miles away, it would be significantly safer there as she wouldn’t need to worry about E Pie. Also we haven’t really seen or heard her say much about trying to get back, no moments of frustration about how even with improvements she still hasn’t come close to bridging worlds. She spends most of her time that we’ve seen either lasciviouslly thinking about Tattle or looking forward to screwing with E Pie.
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At the start of the story, she almost died. When we come close to that, the body does what it can to survive. In this case, using magic. I suppose I might not've done a good job showcasing how much she missed her family or how frustrated she was about not being able to consciously open a gap back to Terra when she had a mental breakdown over both topics. As for her counterpart and Canterlot, there are limits to E Pinkie's knowledge of reality. She doesn't know everything and she can't be everywhere. Otherwise she'd be on Discord's level of reality warping. Also, T Pinkie doesn't have enough magic energy to make a two way trip to Canterlot and back. The greater the distance, the greater the strain it has on her.
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I phrased that poorly, obviously the reason she ended up where she did is because it took her to Sunset, I’m saying the fact that she didn’t question why it did what it did seems oblivious. As far as not being able to make the trip there and back without exhaustion she would merely need to rest between jumping there and back, and I would think given her terror concerning being confronted by someone who knows who she is and what she has done it would be significantly preferable to have errands take longer than have a guaranteed pursuer, especially since T Pie doesn’t have any guarantees that E Pie wouldn’t be able to follow her.
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Twilight is in Ponyville though, and really Canterlot is a lot bigger and thus a lot less likely that she could accidentally run in to either of the other two Princesses. Really just avoid the castle and she would probably be in the clear.
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Remember as well that Pinkie would not really be aware of additional alicorn powers, otherwise she would likely be terrified of falling asleep.
10013630
Maybe. Hard to say what Luna’s reaction to him doing that would be, especially given her earlier enthusiasm for teasing him about having a special somepony.
"puts a blanket over Arcanum-Phantasy"
You did an awesome job and deserve the nap :3
Happy New Year
"leaves behind a note for you when you wake up" ;P
"the note reads"
While I kind of agree with Vaguely Demented on a few things, I can also understand Pinkie's plight: new world that she believes is full of ponies who hate her, no way to get home (yet), and she then discovers a bunch of weird powers she needs to master in order to get home. And they're space magic powers, which are always fun to work with, so why not see how far she can push it all? And this is all on top of meeting a cutie dream entity that she winds up falling in love with, whose mother just so happens to be one of the most powerful entities in all of Equestria. Awkward, much?
I don't deny that T!Pinkie is overindulging in practicing her new powers every time she has an excuse (and she believes that E!Pinkie wants to hurt her, so...), but maybe her Gap Power is her form of Pinkie's crazy random abilities, and she's fighting fire with fire? Thinking, maybe, if she can't go home, she might as well get comfy? Still, to go this long without progress in getting her home.... I mean, the character development is good - you're the second person that I know of who portrays Pinkie Pie as wanting to take lessons from Zecora - and Luna knowing that her son has a marefriend is a good set-up for some foreshadowing, but T!Pinkie's arc has just been about her gains without highlighting her plight and the need to move forward in order to reach the promise she made for herself.
I'm all about pacing things, and slow pacing at that, but 37 chapters without showing any attempts at even attempting to get home or wondering what her family is up to is a bit cold of Pinkie. Yes, she has lots of distractions to keep her mind of them, but she's gotta think of them sometime, right? It's why I gave a sigh of relief when I read this chapter, because Discord is now aware of her absence and potential presence in Equestria and the Terran Team plus Twilight are now suspicious of the mysterious 'Red Hood'. T!Pinkie's arc is FINALLY showing signs of moving forward and that's a good thing
With all the character arcs resolving themselves and others setting things up for the future, it's about time that T!Pinkie catches up a bit.
For some reason this didn't tell me it updated.....
Wow, this was a fantastic way to end & start the year!
Love this story the only thing I'd change for this chapter is when Discord peels the banana instead of eating the part one usually eats have him eat the peel that way it better matches his chaotic nature.
you know what you did wrong
is Discord a high royal?
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By Equestrian standards, yes. To be considered a High Royal you need to embody a specific natural aspect of the world, be Immortal, have a kingdom or command over a vast territory, and command a tremendous amount of magical power. You also gain the title if you are a child of a High Royal, but hold less power than one that meets all of the aforementioned conditions. Put simply, a High Royal is a god or god-like being while there children hold Demigod status.
What does that say about Twilight Sparkle and how Pinkie keeps sneaking up on her?
Did Sweetie Belle ever manage to get 'The King of all Evil'?
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E Pinkie could be a gap walker too that would explain everything but the Pinky sense.
Uh, Twilight gave her friends a chance after The Canterlot Wedding, and Sunset's human friends gave her a second chance althought she committed all sorts of evil deeds too.So I feel like that doesn't seem like much of a surprise for the Princess of Friendship.