10. Development of Relationships
In the Castle of Friendship, Luster rushed around the hallway, packing up bags with all sorts of things.
"Luster, Krona doesn't think the Heroic Ten need all those!" Krona called.
Panting, Luster protested, "Don't need?! Krona! Get serious! This is our first meeting with the whole Council of Friendship! I mean, we didn't interact much with Princess Twilight's friends at the party for her brother and sister-in-law! Nor at the Special Rainboom Connection Anniversary!"
"The Council of Friendship knows that we're epic! We don't need to get a giant bag of supplies to the meeting to show that we're good!" Falcon Dive pointed out.
The next second, Sunshine Rays, carting an oversized camping bag, flew pass the griffon, causing him to ask her, "What is all that?!"
"All the supplies for showing our plans for the first-ever Speed Dating event in all of Equestria and Beyond!" Sunshine Rays answered, "The main focus of the event is to find a boyfriend for each male, and a girlfriend for each male. So they can hopefully become a family, have children, so we can have a population with enough young adults in the future. Because if we DON'T have enough births, that means not enough young adults to do work in the future! That means every creature will suffer! Because not enough young adults and workers to take care of the elderly and kids, not enough to harvest and manufacture food, not enough to clean the place, not enough to PROTECT us! The society and economy will collapse!"
"And we so don't want a disastrous setting like the ones in your posters that show why it is so important that we have biological parents and biological children." Evergreen stated.
"Exactly. Which is why I brought my file of posters," Sunshine Rays explained, flipping the pages of her file, all of them showing a disastrous future caused by lack of births.
"Well...at least you aren't insulting any creature with those posters," Nature Bloom pointed out.
"I tried to make them as less offending as possible. You know me, trying to make immoral creatures change, starting with trying to reason with them and make them see what is the real right and wrong..." Sunshine Rays responded, "But the main point is, I never wanted any creature to suffer, especially because of their own wrongdoings."
"We know that Sunshine!" Buffer replied.
"And we all know that you're just being a real good friend to them, even if they don't see it that way." Yellow Bright contributed.
"Because you wanted them to do what is right, and not what is wrong." Alkali added.
"Trying to show them the real BEST!" Krona declared.
"Even if it is risky, and meant going against their wishes," Luster ended.
"Um, every creature?" Volcano asked, "If we continue talking and sharing moments like this, we're going to be late for our meeting!" the dragon held up a watch that showed the time.
"Thanks for the reminder, Volcano!" Luster thanked, while rushing out of the Castle with the whole team.
After the series' theme song intro played, the Council of Friendship were in the Throne Room, waiting for ten creatures to arrive.
"I'm starting to think that they're not going to come," Rainbow Dash told her friends.
"Come on, Rainbow. I'm sure they are coming, they're just...late." Princess Twilight told the pegasus.
"Anyway, it sure is nice of them to come up with the whole speed dating event idea so every creature can have families," Fluttershy commented.
"Plus, that means a lot of birthday parties, wedding parties, and baby showers for me and Cheesy to throw!" Pinkie Pie excitedly cheered.
"My family is already big enough," Applejack announced, "I'm sure we don't need weddings right now."
"But my family sure can use more members," Spike figured, "I don't even live with them, unless I retire as Royal Advisor so I can be free to move in with my beloved Rarity." Spike affectionally hugged his wife as he said her name.
"Oh, Spike! With Luster going down a path similar to Twilight's, there's no doubt that you and Twilight's retirements won't be as distant as before!" Rarity assured.
"But it will still take time, plus, Luster and her friends probably should not know about our hopes and plans for her until the time is right." Twilight reminded, a second before Gallus cleared his throat.
"Your Majesty, they're all here, and all checked. They clearly cannot be imposters, being able to fill in every detail about their lives such as residences, both former and current, family members from parents to great-grandparents, but the main point, is, it is certain that it is them."
"They may enter, Gallus." the Alicorn commanded.
The newest heroes of Equestria trotted into the room and bowed before the Ruler of Equestria.
"Your Majesty." they greeted in unison.
"Luster, you and your friends can stop bowing now. Besides, you have a big event plan to share."Princess Twilight pointed out.
"Yes, and we all know, it was our idea to introduce it to every creature," Sunshine Rays replied.
"We just can't thank you enough for wanting to help some adorable babies have happy families!" Fluttershy squealed.
"Um, Fluttershy? The babies aren't even born, plus their parents aren't even married yet!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.
"I know, but I just can't help think of baby dragons, griffons, hippogriffs and all sorts of creatures!" Fluttershy said.
"But there won't even be any of those if creatures don't marry the opposite gender and reproduce!" Nature Bloom pointed out.
"Every reason we're acting now and not when it's too late." Luster declared.
"So, as you know, the first step of the event for the participants is to register themselves." Evergreen calmly stated.
"By filling in their names, before going through a security check to check if they were imposters or not," Yellow Bright added.
"After the check, the females will get a table," Nature Bloom continued.
"And the males will soon enter, and each get a ten minutes period of time with a female." Buffer resumed.
"And, they get to leave when they found their special some creature!" Krona declared.
"Correction, it's their 'possible special some creature'! Meeting is just the first step! The second step is..." Sunshine Rays began, before Alkali cut her off.
"Fun couple games for the couples to get along!"
"Right," Sunshine Rays responded, before continuing her explanation, "After that, they must learn to make decisions on how they will spend their time together, as in, for example, which restaurant would they go to. They only have two hours to make the decision and do as they decided. After that, all that is left for them is to have good communication as they must learn to plan their meetings with one another, Then they can leave."
"That sounds so...romantically divine!" Rarity commented, "Oh why didn't we ever thought of making such a good event?"
"It's not just an event, it is meant to ensure that Equestria populations will not decrease!" Luster explained.
"Basically, it is to ensure that the future generation will have enough young adults to serve every creature." Falcon Dive added.
"And no creatures' kind is endangered, as in, close to becoming extinct because of lack of births and numbers," Nature Bloom stated.
"Speaking of future generation and young adults, I have been doing some calculations to check on the population numbers, depending on how many couples we have in the present." Volcano told every creature, doing some workings on his chalkboard.
"Thank you for putting so much effort in this every creature," Princess Twilight Sparkle told the Heroic Ten, "I cannot thank you enough for what you always have been doing for every creature, and I will let every creature know about the event you planned. As soon as preparations are underway."
A few days later, Canterlot was all set up for the occasion, with Luster watching over the area from the balcony, alongside Princess Twilight Sparkle.
"Everything is going so well!" Luster said her thoughts out loud.
"And hopefully no disasters this time," the Ruler of Equestrian added, causing Luster to nervous chuckle.
"Don't worry, your Majesty. Lessons are learnt from mistakes, I'm sure the same mistakes won't repeat."
"Apple cider for her royal highness, Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Applejack announced, causing the alicorn to laugh.
"Applejack, you don't need to address me like that."
"I know, sugarcube, it's just what friends do to each other at times, a little playful teasing once in a while." Applejack replied.
"My Best Friend Nature Bloom doesn't like teasing, she thinks that it's awful! I advise no such behaviours like this," Luster told the two mares.
"Don't worry Luster, I'm sure we wouldn't go too far," Princess Twilight Sparkle assured, before Discord created a portal to send his wife Fluttershy to the scene.
"My bird choir is ready to perform, and Discord will handle the most romantic part of all: The Tunnel of Love at the end of the event." Fluttershy explained.
"Great! Hopefully it won't be too romantic, because too much of something is not good, no matter what it is." Luster commented.
"Your Majesty, the event's starting in five minutes!" Gallus told the princess.
"Thanks for the alert, Gallus." Twilight responded, before telling every creature else, "Come on, every creature, we got to get going."
A crowd of creatures waited for the appearance of their princess, chattering amongst themselves before the Royal Guards blew the trumpets.
"Every creature in this crowd, please make way for our princess, the Ruler of Equestria, Princess Twilight Sparkle!" Spike announced, before his adoptive sister made her appearance.
"Thank you all for supporting this event, every creature. As you all should know, this event is our newest heroes, the Heroic Ten's idea, and it means a lot more than finding a special some creature for every creature: The future depends on our decisions and actions, and we all know that the future generation will be the children and grandchildren of ours, but they won't even exist if we never became biological parents! Just like how we ourselves won't exist if it weren't for our biological parents! The true reason behind wanting you all to find a special some creature is because we hope that you can become family with children, so the future generation will have enough young adults to work for every creature!"
After the speech was over, the creatures cheered, before their ruler cleared her throat, "You all may proceed to the event, after queuing up to do security checks."
Watching from above, Sunshine Rays let out a breath, telling herself, "I hope that this works out."
"Hey, Sunshine!" Falcon Dive greeted his pegasus Best Friend, flying up to her, "So, are you happy? Not only did the Council of Friendship support your idea, but now it's happening for real! It's epic!"
"Yes, Falcon Dive. It is really good to have royalty and the leaders of a kingdom approving your idea, and then seeing it...happen for every creature to know." Sunshine Rays replied, in an obviously not happy tone.
"That is not the expression I was expecting from you," Falcon Dive told her.
"It's just that, there is more behind this whole idea than finding boyfriends for females, and girlfriends for males: I am against something that Equestria doesn't ban. But never told any creature about it, especially after how I upset the smokers of Ponyville before making it up to them, not so long ago..." Sunshine Rays answered.
"I'm guessing it's something to do with relationships, am I right?" Falcon Dive asked.
"Yes. A kind of relationship that I just cannot believe is real! I mean, I thought that every creature knows that they have biological parents, one mother and one father. I just can't believe some were even willing to go against such a basic fact, blinded by...affection." Sunshine Rays tried her best to indirectly mention what she dislike and was talking about.
"I get it, Sunshine. It will be hard to just convince them, every reason why we are using encouraging!" Falcon Dive pointed out, "Setting up activities, increasing the chances of them finding something better and alright to love! In this case, some creature that is alright for them to love, I mean, we don't want them loving villains, am I right?" Falcon Dive jokingly ask.
"I would never like villain-lovers!" Sunshine Rays furiously roared, shocking the griffon. "Sorry, I haven't mastered patience yet, so I still have a tendency to act like that upon thinking of such things." the pegasus apologised.
"Don't worry Sunshine, a tough griffon like me could use something like your ferocity to train and test courage." Falcon Dive assured.
"I will love to test your courage, but we got an event to oversee right now." Sunshine Rays replied, before diving down with her Best Friend.
After all the males diffused throughout the area, each being a female on a small table, Volcano started a ten minutes stop watch, announcing, "Let the Speed Dating event begin!"
From afar, Spike watched the creatures talk, making him express a bit of sadness.
"Is everything alright, Spikey-Wikey?" the dragon's wife asked.
"No," Spike sadly replied, "I can't help but wish that we can be one of those couples down there, going through the Speed Dating, all of its romantic festivities, improve our relationship..."
"But it is clear that it is for creatures who don't have their special some creatures! We can't be selfish and just join because we want the experience," Rarity pointed out.
"I get it, Rarity. But the main point is, I can't even live with you, until I am free from Royal Advisor duties, which probably will happen...in a distant future. We may be able to see each other once a moon, and Ponyville and Canterlot aren't that far apart, just a long walking distance away! But still...not living with you and our kids...my family...I can't help but think that this event is something we have to participate in, to improve our relationship!" Spike explained.
"I'm so terribly sorry, Spikey-Wikey, but I'm sure we don't need an experience as romantic as what those creatures will have! We still have our own romantic experience this evening, that I have planned for my beloved dragon husband, Spike!" Rarity declared, "Just like every moon after Council of Friendship meeting!"
"Thanks Rarity, knowing that we still get to spend some time together is great, only, too bad we don't do it with our children because our daughter doesn't like too romantic stuff." Spike sadly stated.
"I'm sure she will change one day, I mean, even tomboys like Rainbow Dash accepted falling in love with a gentle creature!" Rarity pointed out, just as the mentioned pegasus flew by from above.
With nothing much to do, Rainbow joined her husband Soarin in the clouds in the Canterlot skies, watching over the creatures.
"You alright, Rainbow Dash? I thought you'd be with your friends down there," Soarin told his wife.
"I'm totally fine! They just don't really need me right now, as in, Applejack and Caramel are taking good care of the apple products here, Pinkie and Cheese will have all the games perfectly fine! And don't worry, they may be party ponies, but they've thrown wedding receptions before, they won't treat such romance-center occasions like this like some creature's birthday!" Rainbow Dash assured.
"Alright.." Soarin responded, "So since we're both free, why don't try to have our own speed dating experience by talking to each other like the creatures below us?"
"Sure! I don't know what I will be doing right now," Rainbow Dash answered.
"That kind of reminds me of when you said that you wouldn't know who you'd be talking to that day, while you were talking to your friend Rarity." Soarin commented.
"Oh yeah, then you came down and told me that I would be talking to you," Rainbow Dash recalled.
"Yeah, I remember that, and...the events of that day..." Soarin started to express uncomfortable feelings.
"They are still...clear in your head, aren't they?" Rainbow Dash asked.
"They are." Soarin answered, "I just can't believe I fell for that nasty Wind Rider's tricks! Accusing you, threatening to ban you, after everything good that I knew you have done! Saving me twice when no creature else would..."
"I don't blame you, you were just doing your duty, saying that you had no choice," Rainbow Dash assured.
"But...you never deserved to be accused that easily by the Wonderbolts, especially after saving the team's commanders along with Misty Fly before, encouraged Ponyville to create that tornado to deliver water to Cloudsdale despite knowing that your chances of success aren't high, and...chose to reject my spot in a team that will surely win the Equestria Games, even though it meant giving up one of your greatest desires of all time: winning. I saw you abandon your own wishes for the sake of others, I should have known you would never do the opposite of that, but I still thought that...you could be the culprit."
"I know it was awful, but you made up for it!" Rainbow Dash pointed out.
"With some help. Making up to you was the only thing I ever wanted after the performance, I would just apologise, but since you saved my life more times than you have saved other Wonderbolts' lives, I figured that it will take more than that, so I went to Princess Celestia for advice. She advised me that actions speak louder than words, so I must do something to prove I'm sorry, not just say so." Soarin explained.
"And, your make-amends gift was everything I could ever hope for! Besides being a Wonderbolt," Rainbow Dash excitedly said.
Soarin chuckled, "Yeah, I figured that instead of just a Wonderbolt, you should be known as a more special Wonderbolt, even though you still got stuck with a nickname like the rest of the team. Back to the point, my apology make-amends gift for accusing and threatening you was..."
"Making my history of saving the Wonderbolts before I became one known to all members and the future members as it was all written down in a book!" Rainbow Dash finished for him.
"And decided to help you with endurance training because you said that you did not have the endurance to go long distances, at the dinner the night before the Royal Garden Opening." Soarin added one final detail.
"Even though it did not go so well, I'm glad that it developed our relationship for the better," Rainbow responded, just as she and her husband heard Alkali announcing to the creatures.
"Time's up, creatures! Now move on and proceed!"
"Alkali, 'proceed' and 'move on' have the same meanings!" Volcano told his Best Friend.
"Doesn't matter, they're going fine!" the hippogriff replied.
"Hold up, every creature!" Luster suddenly stopped the crowd.
"Figured that every creature could get hungry and thirsty," Krona announced.
"So we're giving out these fruit snack packets and bottled drinks for you to bring along with you throughout the event!" Buffer added, as he, Luster and Krona distributed the food.
"Why didn't we think of that before?" Sunshine Rays asked, watching from behind a corner.
"Sunshine, try to look on the bright side, like Yellow Bright use to say. At least late is better than never!" Falcon Dive pointed out.
"I'm sorry, I just don't want this event to be a disaster!" the pegasus explained.
"Neither do any of us, especially when there's a very good reason behind it," Falcon Dive responded, "Don't worry, we have the support of royalty, I'm sure everything will be fine."
After Luster gave out the last bottle, every creature automatically moved, causing the unicorn to be overwhelmed in a crowd (like her mentor did in the human world), stumbling her way out. Once she was finally out of the mess, she winded up bumping into a deer with a black coat, white antlers and underbelly, and green eyes.
"Are you alright, Luster Dawn?" the deer asked, responding to the bump by extending his hoof out to her, pulling her up.
"Thanks for the lift..." Luster thanked, before pausing as she did not know the deer's name.
"No need to thank me, Luster. I'm meant to help other creatures, as a Canterlot Castle servant, and musician. By the way, I'm Nightfall Dusk, and it was nice meeting you," the deer responded, walking away to resume his work.
"Nice to meet you, too..." Luster blushed, before her mentor came landing beside her.
"Having feelings for some creature you bump into, my faithful student?" Twilight asked.
"What?! I...well, maybe a little..." Luster struggled to respond, before the Alicorn chuckled.
"Don't worry, Luster. Even your mentor developed such feelings; bumping into somebo...some creature when first met, then bumped into each other the next day at a cafe, then bumped again the the day on a stage, basically, lots of times." Twilight tried to hide blushed as she described, luckily for her, her student never saw it.
"Really?" Luster asked, "How can I never know that?! I read a lot of books about your adventures when I was a student at the School of Friendship! None of them said something like that! Did I mis something..." Luster panicked, before Twilight assured.
"Don't worry, my faithful student, not even your mentor knows everything about you, nor her mentor."
After Twilight walked away, Luster got hit by a small pebble that was not even the size of a centimetre square. She turned to see two creatures trying to catch her attention.
"Eclipse? Shapeshifter?" Luster asked, trotting towards them, "What are you two doing here? Shouldn't you be going around Equestria to let creatures know that you're no longer...immoral?"
"We are, but we just finished on another area recently, Manehattan, the big city!" Shapeshifter answered.
"And since our work there is done, we came here, to convince Canterlot residents that we are reformed." Eclipse nervously added.
"But, Manehattan is so far from here! Why didn't you go to the areas near it before you come back here?" Luster asked.
Eclipse took a deep breath and admitted, "Well, we heard about this Speed Dating event that you and your best friends came up with, that the Council of Friendship are helping with. Knowing that means you will be here, we came looking for you, because I have something I need hep with."
"But, if you did have something you need help with, why didn't you just send a letter to me?" Luster asked.
"We...I figured that now's the most comfortable time, since you and Princess Twilight are at the same place today, with all of your friends," Eclipse nervously chuckled, "But the point is, I am hoping that you can improve my relationship with Princess Twilight, especially when you organised this relationship-centred event and all..."
"Wait, slow down, would you?!" Luster responded, "Now, this event is most likely trying to build romantic relationships between creatures, not just any relationships, but I'm sure I can make some time to help you."
"Good, because I really could need some creature who...has never been evil...or something like that, to help me with improving my relationship with some creature I...double-crossed...three years ago..." Eclipse sadly stated, as a flashback began.
In the flashback...
"Alright unicorns," Twilight instructed the students of the School of Magic, "As you all know, for today's test, you all will be showing me and the rest of your friends the spells that you are confident of to show and impress us!"
The unicorns cheered for a few seconds before their mentor cleared her throat, "Eclipse Instant, my star student, why don't you be the first candidate?"
"Of course, your Majesty. Prepare to be amazed at what I can do!" Eclipse stepped forward and casted a spell to create a pony-sized sun that shone like the real sun, before creating a moon that was slightly smaller. She then levitated the sun to the top of the ceiling, followed by brining the moon slightly below it, and slowly moving it in front of the sun, creating an artificial solar eclipse, and a cheering crowd.
"Spectacular performance, Eclipse! Now, shall we see the next student..." Princes Twilight commented, before calling the other students up.
After every student had their turn, class was dismissed, with some of the students approaching Eclipse, "Hey, Eclipse! Your performance was a lot better than ours!"
"It's about time some more creatures comment it, other than my mentor, of course!" Eclipse proudly declared/
"Do you think you can teach us how to do it? As in, how to perform the performance ou performed?" another unicorn asked.
"It can be my surprise gift for my family and friends' birthdays! Even better, I can teach them how to do it!" a female unicorn exclaimed.
"What?! Sorry, unicorns, but only the star student can know a spell like this," Eclipse arrogantly refused to teach the other students, trotting off, making them forget about their interest in learning her spells. Nearby, Princess Twilight Sparkle witnessed everything, and decided to confront Eclipse.
As she was close to her star student's room, Twilight overheard Eclipse's voice angrily saying, "This tastes awful! You're fired!"
A zap could be heard after the sentence was finished, making Twilight figure that it was best for her to use a splll that allowed the caster to see the other side of opaque objects.
To the Alicorn's horror, she could see Eclipse on a golden throne, and serving the unicorn was small soldiers whom she treated as minions and servants.
"Now where shall I put this statue of me? Probably somewhere every last one of my subjects can see it like the middle of Canterlot!" Eclipse told herself, levitating a miniature statue of herself to the middle of a model version of Canterlot.
"I can feel it, as soon as I take on the throne, I will be the one and only creature with a relaxing life of getting everything I want!" Eclipse declared, a second before there was a knock on her door, as she could hear her mentor's voice.
Quickly casing a spell to hide the throne, soldiers, and model of Canterlot, Eclipse had everything ready for her guest to see. Opening the door, she vowed, "Your Majesty,"
"Eclipse, there is no need to bow before me this moment, because there is something I have to talk to you about." Twilight insisted.
"Anything, Princess Twilight," Eclipse responded.
"Eclipse, did you create your own toy kingdom to rule over?" Twilight asked.
"Sort of?" Eclipse answered, before the next question came.
"Did you say something about taking the throne?"
"What?! How can you think..." Eclipse protested, but her mentor asked one final question.
"Did you say that you can be free to relax and get whatever you want?"
"What are you saying?! Where did you get all those ridiculous ideas?!" Eclipse played innocent, but the alicorn knew everything.
"Eclipse. I saw you act arrogantly towards the other unicorns, and came to confront you about such behaviour. I cannot have a star student like this, and was hoping that you can be a good example, but today, I am disappointed to see your true, impure heart. I saw and overheard wha you were doing in this room! I'm giving you a decision: change for the better and make friends. with others, or forever be alone."
"Or maybe...option three, I can take you down!" Eclipse smiled wickedly, before sending a huge fireball at Twilight, causing the Alicorn to teleport herself out.
Using a spell, Eclipse quickly located her mentor, and teleported herself to the same location the alicorn was.
Eclipse then used her magic to teleport both herself and Twilight to the Everfree Forest, the one place no creature would be around to witness what they were doing. The unicorn constantly tried to destroy her mentor, but their duel caught Rainbow Dash's attention, who was leading the Wonderbolts on a journey to Appleloosa.
Curious, Rainbow led her team to the commotion, and the pegasus gasped to see what she was seeing. "Twilight!"
Eclipse shot dark magic fire out from her horn, that began burning the trees, distracting Twilight, who struggled to put the fire out. Eclipse took advantage and attempted to cast a spell on her mentor, shooting a beam at her. Fortunately, Rainbow Dash pushed Twilight down, and to safety, resulting in a tree to get hit by the beam, and turned to stone.
The Wonderbolts surrounded Eclipse, causing her to furiously vanish within a flash of white.
"Twilight, are you okay?" Rainbow asked with concern.
Twilight was not alright at all, expressing sadness as all she could say was, "Eclipse..."
The flashback ended, with Luster commenting, "I can't believe that happened a few weeks before I enrolled in the School!"
"That's just half of the story you heard, now for the remaining half..." Eclipse sadly said, before another flashback began...
In the flashback...
"Really, Twilight? A day off, for me?" Spike asked his adoptive sister.
"Yes indeed, Spike. After all, tomorrow is the Special Rainboom Connection Anniversary, the celebration that celebrates the anniversary of Rainbow's first-ever Sonic Rainboom, which happened on the day you were born! So it's the Special Rainboom Connection Anniversary, and your birthday. I can't think of any way to make you happier on the eve of the event, other than giving you a day of freedom from your Royal Advisor duties!" Twilight confirmed.
"Yes! I can't wait to see Rarity and our kids, then go hangout with Big Mac and Discord, and experience a day in Ponyville!" Spike listed.
"Better stop saying and get doing," Twilight told the dragon.
"Oh right, goodbye Twilight, see you tonight!" Spike waved.
"See you, Spike!" Twilight replied.
Spike went out the door and left, but did not know that an invisible figure passed him and went through the door he opened before it was closed.
As soon as Twilight was alone, she suddenly got zapped by a beam of magic, getting a shock as she felt herself shrinking and her alicorn wings vanishing. After the transformation finished within a few seconds, Twilight looked at her hooves, which turned greyish phthalo blue, and her mane was very light azure.
"Royal Guards!" a voice commanded, catching Twilight's attention, as the voice was completely similar to hers. She turned and saw some creature with her actual appearance and voice.
"It's Eclipse Instant! My treacherous former student! Seize her and lock her in the dungeon!" Eclipse Instant, in Twilight's body, commanded.
Fooled by Eclipse's appearance and voice, the guards believed that she was their princess whom they had to obey, and seized the real Twilight, who was stuck with Eclipse's appearance and voice.
"What?! No! You're making a mistake! Things are not what you think they are!" Twilight cried to the guards as they surrounded her, unfortunately, they did not listen to any of her words, as Eclipse subdued her(Twilight's) magic.
"No! Let go of me! I'm telling you, I'm the real Twilight..." was the last thing Eclipse heard her former mentor say, before the guards took the real princess out of the Throne Room.
"Lock her up real tight and deep inside the dungeon! We can't have any creature believing her lies!" Eclipsepse called, before turning back to the thrones and smirking evilly to herself.
The flashback ended with Eclipse feeling even worse than before, while Luster responding, "Alright, I know that was not good, but look on the bright side, Princess Twilight must have forgiven you! She did help my Mum reform, even after what my Mum did! And helped Miss Sunset Shimmer reform, and helped Stygain reform...and most importantly, she forgave them all!"
"I know she never locked me up when she could have after I was defeated, but how are you sure that she has forgiven me, and she no longer views me as...an enemy?" Eclipse sobbed.
"Well, there is one way to find out your current relationship with her and its status..." Luster pointed out, "Which is none other than going up to her and talk it out."
"What?! I never really had a good conversation with her ever since my betrayal! Most importantly, I wasn't so close to her anymore! I never dared to go near her, nor her family in the Crystal empire...so Shapeshifter and I never went to the empire nor Canterlot, because I am scared that Princess Twilight..."
"Wouldn't want to see you ever again?" Luster asked.
"Or even worse, never wanted to treat me as a friend ever again," Eclipse voiced out her thoughts.
"What?! How can the Princess of Friendship want to remain enemies with some creature?" Luster asked.
"Now that you put it that way, I...figured that...at least I can give facing her again, a try..." Eclipse responded, before Krona began calling, "Luster!"
"Krona? Is something wrong?" Luster asked.
"More than that! Every creature is still at stage one: No creature moved onto the second!" Krona explained.
Luster gasped, "That can't be possible! Thirty minutes passed! At least one pair could have moved on, unless there's something wrong."
"That's exactly what Krona is saying! There's something wrong because no creature is moving," Krona plainly reminded.
"Sorry, Eclipse, I can't help you right now, but I will try as soon as I can!" Luster told the reformed villainess, before teleporting herself and Krona away.
Meanwhile, Pinkie Pie and her husband Cheese Sandwich were chidishly playing with the games that were for the participants of the event.
"Be careful, Madam Pinkie and Mr. Cheese!" Yellow Bright told the party ponies, "Don't forget that these games aren't yours to play with! It's for the participants! Who strangely haven't come to this part of the event,"
"Come on, Yellow Bright! They aren't even fragile!" Pinkie pointed out.
"But Sunshine wouldn't want anything to go wrong, being the creature who started the whole idea..." Yellow Bright reminded.
"Oh Sunshine Rays...." Cheese Sandwich slowly said, before immediately changing his tone and exclaimed,"that creature really needs to come here and join her own party!"
"This 'party' is for the good of every creature with a huge meaning behind it! Don't you two know that, especially when you're party ponies?" Yellow Bright asked.
"Sorry, Yellow. We just couldn't help but feel sorry for all these game equipments, not being played..." Cheese Sandwich apologised.
"Maybe you two should find something else to entertain yourselves? I mean, perhaps...your relationship?" Yellow Bright suggested.
"Oh! Right..." Pinkie Pie responded, before turning to her husband, "So, Cheesy, what should we talk about? All the good things? My family being alright to see me interested in you, our wedding going fine despite my mistake, having Lil'Cheese..."
"How about the time we finally met in pony, Pinkamena Diane Pie?" Cheese Sandwich dramatically asked his wife in a romantic tone.
Pinkie Pie gasped in delight before squealing, "Oh, Cheesy! That is what I was missing! I would love to talk about that!"
"Even though things didn't go so well between us when you challenged me to a Goof-Off, that led to your poor friend Rainbow Dash not being happy, and you yourself deciding to quit." These Sandwich gradually got sadder as he recalled the day he and his wife physically met each other.
"Yeah," Pinkie replied in a somewhat sad tone, before gradually changing her tone to a more positive one, "But look on the bright side! At least everything worked out good and well in the end! We made up, I figured out that you were never trying to steal my party pony job, we threw the party together, and you gave me Boneless, which was my Key of Laughter that helped defeat Tirek and grew the amazing Castle of Friendship!"
"That is good to know and remember, Pinkamena Diane Pie," Cheese Sandwich dramatically told his wife in a romantic tone, making them both laugh.
Yellow Bright watched the party pony couple from afar, happy to see them loving each other's company, a second before Evergreen called to him.
"Yellow Bright! We have a problem! No participant is moving up the stages of the event! The rest of our best friends are waiting for us at the Balcony!"
The scene changed to show most of the creatures and Princess Twilight at the balcony, looking at the crowd, just as the ten minutes timer went off.
"Another ten minutes up! Please move onto the next table, gentle creatures and colts!" Volcano instructed, speaking through a megaphone.
"Still no creatures going onto the next stage?" Sunshine Rays asked.
"Sorry, Sunshine. I'm...we're afraid not." Buffer answered.
"It's already been one hour! This is the sixth time in a row! What can be going on?!" the pegasus asked.
"Maybe the creatures are too afraid to tell each other their love for each other," Yellow Bright suggested, upon arriving with Evergreen.
"Actually...I can't disagree with Yellow Bright's statement! Maybe the creatures are too afraid to tell each other that they love each other!" Luster figured.
"Like most times, creatures will fear being rejected by who they love!" Volcano opined out.
"Even my parents are like that!" Alkali commented, "They told me and Acid about their love story of liking each other, but were too afraid to tell each other for years before they married."
The mentioned example made Sunshine Rays panic, "Years?! We can't wait for years! We need births every year! Or the future will be in danger!"
"Where is Sunshine going?" Krona asked.
"To tell those creatures that they must not be such scary-creatures and tell the truth!" Sunshine answered, but she was stopped by Princess Twilight.
"Sunshine, I understand how seriously you take this, but you can't just go forcing creatures into doing what you want them to do, that will make you..."
"Immoral, I know. But how else am I going to get them to go forward and tell some creature that they love them?" Sunshine Rays asked.
"All, as far as I read my books, declaring romantic feelings for some creature is a great step in a relationship development, so maybe they aren't ready for it," Luster explained.
"And many are scared that doing that will risk their relationship with the creature they love," Buffer pointed out.
"And going through really romantic things on the day they first met?" Nature Bloom added, "That's like taking an exam on the day they first studied!"
"In other words, you're putting them a rate that is too fast for them," Evergreen explained.
"I can't believe I never thought of it that way," Sunshine Rays sadly said.
"And we can't believe we never thought of it that way until now!" Falcon Dive commented.
"But it's still not too late, maybe we can change the rules and things for the better?" Nature Bloom suggested.
"Like, tell the participants that they can go on to the next stage as soon as they found some creature they are good at communicating with, or some creature they are able to quickly befriend?" Yellow Bright suggested.
"And maybe take the romantic settings down," Volcano contributed, "So no creature will feel uncomfortable."
"Worth to try," Sunshine Rays replied, agreeing with her best friends.
In the Canterlot Castle kitchen, Applejack and Caramel finished their cooking and covered the last meal with a silver lid.
"That's the last of them!" Applejack announced, "And now we finally can take a break."
"Good to finally stop working for a while, apple of my eye," Caramel told his wife, "We may not be able to participate in the Speed Dating since we are already married, but we still have each other, our daughter, and our happy Apple Family."
Applejack chuckled, "Oh, Caramel, I'm so glad that we're an apple pie after all the unfortunate things we had in the beggining when we finally physically interacted and met each other."
"Yes, Applejack, I remember all those events, and how hard it was for us to treat each other warmly when I stayed at your place until my house was rebuilt, but when we warmed up, it felt like we were together forever."
"And when you comforted me, sacrificed and was willing to sacrifice yourself to save me, I knew you did care for me, for real." Applejack warmly said, looking at her husband with a grateful expression.
"And I'm glad that we have a perfect family," Caramel responded, returning the expression, just before he and his wife heard some creatures galloping pass the kitchen.
"Hey, Heroic Ten! What's the rush here? Shouldn't you be outside overseeing your event?" Applejack asked.
"Long story and we can't explain it now, Applejack!" Buffer answered, before he and the others were out of sight.
Outside of Canterlot, Eclipse was preparing her speech for when she finally interact with her former mentor again, with Shapeshifter disguising himself as the Ruler of Equestria, to help his friend practise.
Stepping forward to her disguised friend, Eclipse said, what she was meant to say for her actual meeting, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am terribly sorry I turned on you and attacked you, three years ago, and this year, returned and imprisoned you for no good reasons. I am no longe the power-hungry creature I used to be, and I hope you can understand and forgive me completely."
Shapeshifter transformed back to his regular form and praised his friend, "Well done, Eclipse. I think you have trained long enough, without Luster's help."
A smile spread across the unicorn's face, as she just accomplished something without the aid of her talented heroine friend, a second before the smile disappeared when the doors nearby burst open and the Heroic Ten noticed the reformed villains.
"Eclipse? Shapeshifter?" all of the creatures except for Luster asked in shock, before Princess Twilight Sparkle was heard calling, "Eclipse Instant."
The unicorn gulped as her former mentor landed in front of her, towering over her.
Summoning her courage, Eclipse spoke up, "Princess Twilight Sparkle, I'm so sorry for double-crossing you three years ago, and wrongfully imprisoning you, and switching bodies with you. I was awfully power-hungry, but now that I have friends that satisfy me, I'm no longer after power, and I will never do any of the things I used to do, I hope for your forgiveness,"
Princess Twilight Sparkle walked towards her former student, casting her shadow over the unicorn, before replying, "Eclipse, I have already forgave you the very instant you accepted friendship. I actually wanted to talk to you, but you were not in sight. If you did not hide from me, I would have already assured you that we are friends again."
"I'm so sorry...Princess Twilight Sparkle, I was actually afraid of what our relationship will become, after what I did to you..." Eclipse apologised.
"Eclipse, how will you know what your relationship with some creature will become, if you hide from them and not interact with them anymore? Relationships need interacting to develop, and the story of a relationship always moves on."
"So...you are saying...that I have to move on and continue interacting with you, to develop our relationship?" Eclipse asked.
"To help our relationship develop," Princess Twilight corrected, "So you shouldn't be afraid of facing some creature again, when you already have interacted with them, and relationships with them like you have with every creature."
"Wait a second," Luster, who heard the conversation alongside her best friends, said her thoughts out loud, "move on, interact, face, helping relationships develop...that's what every creature needs!"
"Say what now?" Falcon Dive asked.
"We need to tell them that they can't fear their relationships ending because of one bad move, they have to move on, and continue interacting with the creatures whom they have relationships with! Just like we do," Luster explained.
"Great! So we're just going to encourage them!" Alkali exclaimed.
"Actually, there's more than that..." Sunshine Rays told every creature.
The ten minutes timer went off once again, but this time, Luster made the announcement, "Every creature, we have some news! Since my best friends and I figured that you may feel uncomfortable going through something romantic so soon, we decided to make some changes: Instead of love at first sight, we decided that you should find some creature that you can get along with, in the first stage, before you make it to the second."
"Don't worry, the games in the second stage are actually teamwork games, and not competitions," Yellow Bright added.
"And instead of going to a restaurant together, we decided that you should choose which Buffet you would like to take food from, since you can only choose one among the two, a decision that two must make. In other words, th creatures must agree to go to the same buffet, as they are meant to go through the event together." Sunshine Rays explained.
"And last but not least, a relaxing musical concert to listen to music. And not to worry, instead of sweetly romantic, the pieces will be happy, light, harmonious, or jazz, or, basically, anything except for extremely romantic for your comfort." Evergreen finished the description of the chances.
"And one more information..." Alkali began, before being hushed by Volcano.
"You mean, 'one more piece of information'! Information is uncountable!" the dragon explained.
"One more piece of information: We also have decided, that to be moe friendly, we're allowing all creatures, married or not to participate in the event! And stage one will only be necessary for those looking for some creature of the opposite gender to get along with," Alkali announced.
"But the main point is: You must not be afraid to ask your new friend to the next stage, nor be afraid to move on. If you made a mistake, you still can make up for it and continue interacting, moving on and helping your relationship develop, and not easily shunning out creatures because of bad things happening." Luster pointed out, "There are many examples of relationship stories that develop despite setbacks and tensions, as far as we go, there most likely never had been a couple with a perfect, no tensions, no setbacks, relationship. So you must not try to be so perfect, as it will just make you scared. And shunning out creatures might really put an end to your relationships with them, so you shouldn't do that as well."
"And, because it is late morning, we have plenty of time to go back to the start and have you re-meet with all the creatures you previously encountered, so you can have a second shot." Volcano added.
The sun was soon crossing the horizon and was about to set, making the sky orange-yellow. The Council of Friendship and the Heroic Ten listened to the musical performances, that was the final stage of the event.
"Great music, isn't it every creature?" Krona asked her best friends.
"Indeed," Buffer agreed.
"The nicest I heard for the day," Nature Bloom commented.
"I'm just glad that we can finally relax and enjoy the event after all we went through, right Luster?" Sunshine Rays asked, turning to the unicorn.
To every creature's surprise, Luster was in a daze, staring at the performers and blushing.
"Is she alright?" Fluttershy asked in a concerned tone.
"Fear not every creature!" Discord told the creatures he was sitting with, "I, Discord, shall make Luster all fine again..."
"No need, Discord, I believe I know what got Luster to be like this," Twilight told the draconneques.
"Fine," Discord replied, before his wife assured him, "It's alright, Discord, I know that you wanted to help in a good way, and not the way you did before Twilight's coronation."
"And I can assure you that I will never do such thing like that, ever again, every creature," Discord told his friends, before whispering to his wife, "Especially, you, my lovely Fluttershy."
Fluttershy giggled before the performance ended, with every creature exiting the performance ground.
On the way out, Luster bumped into Nightfall Dusk, by accident, again.
"I'm so sorry,..." Luster began apologising, before noticing who she bumped into, "Nightfall Dusk, I'm sorry I bumped into you, again."
Nightfall Dusk chuckled, "Luster Dawn, it's alright. We just got to stop bumping into each other like this. And, you can just call me Nightfall."
"And you can just call me Luster," Luster Dawn replied, slightly blushing, before Thye parted ways.
"That was so adorable!" Rarity squealed, making Luster blush in embarrassment.
"You...all saw that?" Luster asked her best friends and the Council of Friendship.
"The whole entire thing!" Falcon Dive confirmed.
"But don't worry, we are not the teasing kind." Nature Bloom reassured.
"I may not feel so comfortable about all of you knowing my feelings right now, but, as you all know, since we just talked about moving on, I'm going to move on, and not shun any creature out because of embarrassing situations," Luster told every creature.
"Wonderful to hear that, my faithful student." Twilight responded, "And since it is clear to me that we all have learnt the lesson of moving on, continue interacting with others, and not shunning them out in fear of what your relationship will become after a mistake or unpleasant situation, I am certain that I don't need a letter from you today."
"You may not need a letter, but a valuable lesson like this, is sure to go into the friendship journal my best friends and I keep and write!" Luster announced.
The two groups of creatures walked pass Gallus, who was still in his guard attire, just before his wife Silverstream landed beside him.
"I'm finally here, Gallus. And, sorry I had to miss the speed dating, since I got some errands. I'm really sorry I couldn't afford to be with you on a non-weekday like this." Silverstream apologised.
"That's alright, Silverstream," Gallus placed his wing on his wife's shoulder, "Because no matter what unpleasant situation occurs, we have to move on."
"And we love each other, and still love each other," Silverstream said in a quick, optimistic tone.
"And it's only because of us allowing our relationship to develop," Gallus stated.
"And as long as we interact, our relationship will be here..." Silverstream stated, before saying in unison with her husband as they held claws, "Forever."
The couple then gazed up at the night sky, as the stars twinkle.
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Well, I have to say, once again, a really good job on the exchanges, characterizations, general chapter/episode wrap-up and future chapter/episode set-up in all the right places. And, yeah, I can definitely understand about preferring straight relationships. Heck, I prefer male-female myself (though I'm mature enough to respect the rights of those that don't). But, yeah, Sunshine brings up some pretty valid points about trying to find as many new male-female relationships as possible to keep the future going as long as possible. And, it also makes sense that these new couples might be a bit too new to each other to make the first move and need more gentle encouragement. The tender moments between the already-married couples are great too.
Definitely looking forward to more of this.
Look I understand that but you gotta learn about A different between friendly teasing or a meaningful teasing
oh I'm Sensing some Déjà vu lol 😆
ohhhh Somebody got a little crush lol 😉
"All, as far as I read my books, declaring romantic feelings for some creature is a great step in a relationship development, so maybe they aren't ready for it," Luster explained.
"And many are scared that doing that will risk their relationship with the creature they love," Buffer pointed out.
"And going through really romantic things on the day they first met?" Nature Bloom added, "That's like taking an exam on the day they first studied!"
That's true relationship has to take their time so people can get used to each other Get to know each other
"In other words, you're putting them a rate that is too fast for them," Evergreen explained.
Aww thats was a nice chapter So the kids are planning a speed dating for a boy and girl to get to together Fall in love and having kids for next generation now Love can happen either same Gender relationship or opposite Gender relationship i mean love is love right? But the kids needs to know that relationship takes time and can't be rush or else other person to be nervous and not say nothing because they don't wanna ruined it so They decided to switch it up And let them get to know each other which that's a better way now I'm glad that Eclipse and twilight talk to each other And name made amends to each other which thats nice and it looks like luster has a crush on Nightfall Dusk 😉 lol and gallus and silverstream are really cute with each other That's another good lesson about relationship
I hope Luster Dawn and Nightfall Dusk see each other again in future chapters
A good chapter, and now we know that Sunshine Rays is against creatures who by their own decision do not want to have a partner or children and is the perfect definition of a homophobic and transphobic person (person who hates, repudiates or is against homosexuals and transsexuals)