Moondancer must save Equestria's past... from itself
When a new teacher From Mustangia begins to teach lies about the history of Equestria and It's ponies, Moondancer is called home to lead the crusade against this mare who is poisoning the minds of Dream Valley's youth. But even With the help of Truly and a certain zebra alchemist, will the moralistic mare be able to reach ponies who have been poisoned against her? *sets in the Firehooves Cycle universe*
Oh storm tossed and weary stallion mariner, follow the light of Celestia's Beacon. For through the foggiest and darkest of nights, it's beam shall guide thee home to Equestria, the land of ponies...
The words of that ancient poem echoed in the mare's brain, as she stared out at the endless white-capped waves. Her front hooves gently resting on the rails, the unicorn's eyes constantly scanned the horizon, searching for the familiar white sails of a ship to appear, illuminated by the constantly spinning beam of light that swung endlessly over her head. As the salty sea wind tore at her red mane and blue tailbow, the white pony said a silent prayer that the one she sought for would be all right...
"Excuse me, Miss Moondancer?" A voice called out from the open door behind her. "I'm sorry to bother you, Miss Moondancer, but it's getting very cold outside, and I've warmed some hot coca on the stove..."
"Huh? Oh thank you, Golden Light." Moondancer told the unicorn who had come out to check on her. "I'll be there in a minute."
Standing on the northern edge of Horseshoe Bay, the great lighthouse of Celestia's Beacon had guided pony ships safely into the harbor for over seven centuries. Comissioned by Princess Celestia herself in the final decades of her reign, the two hundred meter high structure resembled a large Doric column, and was topped by a glass tower adorned with a statue of the alicorn princess. Inside the tower an eternal flame, first kindled by Celestia herself, had burned brightly over the centuries. A long line of unicorn lighthouse keepers had maintained the ancient light, never allowing it's illumination to go out. Refracted though a rotating clockwork lens, Celestia's light had saved hundreds of vessels from meeting an unfortunate fate on the jagged rock that surrounded the cove. The lighthouse received all shipments of goods and visitors from nearby Hoofkaido, who claimed the light as their own landmark- just as it had been for the city of Baltimare in an age gone by.
With a heavy sigh, the worried mare trotted though the door, and back down the stairs to the elevator. There, Golden Light waited as the other unicorn stepped on board, then flipped the switch that closed the gate, and sent the elevator slowly back down the shaft, towads the keeper's quarters on the floors below.
"I'm so sorry to pull you away from your vigil, Moondancer." The blonde unicorn with a glowing light cutie mark commented. "But you really shouldn't worry. I'm sure your Bianco will be fine."
Moondacer only nodded her nervously in response. descended from one of the old Canterlot unicorn families, Moondancer's family claimed one of their ancestors had studied in the unicorn academy beside Twilight Sparkle herself. The family had experienced it's share of misfortunes during the dark age, first moving to Ponyville, then to Dream Castle in later years, but the Moondancer clan had faced adversity and endured. The proud unicorn was a stong supporter of tradition and family, and it worried her that a member of her family was now out there, lost on that vast expanse of dark and stormy ocean.
"I can't believe my husband decided to go on that diplomatic mission to the Dragonlands!" The unicorn scowled, as the elevator continued downward. "I knew it was a bad idea to leave during the storm season."
"A pity the Pegasus ponies can no longer control the weather." Golden Light replied sadly. "There would be less storms to dash ships against the rocks, but then again there would also be less of a need for this lighthouse to begin with."
The elevator finally stopped with a ding, and the two unicorns stepped out into the keeper's kitchen. Trotting over to the old gas stove, Golden Glow pulled the heated pan off water off the stove and poured it into two cups, mixing the coca powder from the packets into the steaming cups. levitating the two mugs over to the brown oak table, the two unicorns sat down to share a hot drink.
"So how are things in Dream Valley, my dear?" The yellow unicorn asked, taking a sip from her levitated cup. "I heard you were having some troubles with that Centaur Tirek."
"Yes, the Dark Lord has been giving us no end of Trouble." Moondancer replied with a sigh. "Our queen recently left on a diplomatic mission, and Tirek decided to attack while she was away."
"Oh my word, that's terrible!" The yellow unicorn exclaimed in a worried tone. "How did you defeat that horrid beast?"
"Firefly brought a girl from the human world, and she defeated Tirek with a magic rainbow." This earned her a skeptical look. "Sounds crazy, I know. But that Megan saved a bunch of us from a fate worse than..." The mare suddenly trailed off, staring of into space as dark, painful memories flashed through her mind.
"Wait, what did Tirek do?" Golden Light asked in a worried tone. "Moondancer, was anybody hurt?"
Clearing her throat, the white unicorn took a breath before replying. "He turned us all into dragons, to pull his chariot of midnight. H-he made us do such horrible things..." She looked away. "I-I'm sorry, but I really don't want to talk about this."
"It's all right, Moondancer. You don't have to talk about it, I understand." The lighthouse keeper smiled. "Tell me about the wonderful stallion in your life, instead."
"Bianco? Oh, he is a wonderful husband." The mare's frown suddenly turned into a smile. "Handsome, strong and kind... he's always fighting for some cause or other, you know." She pulled out a photo of a coral-colored Pegasus with a blonde mane. "We met at the parade of Costumes ball four years ago, he was visiting Dream Valley for a summit on Smooze corrosion awareness. The two of us just kind of hit it off."
"Wow, he looks like a male version of Starshine, one of the famous Rainbow pony monks." Golden Light noted, admiring the stallion in the photograph.
"Starshine's his sister, actually. It annoys him so much how so many people confuse the two of them." Reaching into her saddlebag, the mare pulled another photo out, this one of what looked like a baby version of herself. "This is our wonderful daughter, Baby Moondancer. She's barely three years old, and she's already talking and running around and playing on her own." The mare sighed. "I do worry about her, sometimes."
"Sounds like you have a wonderful family." The lighthouse keeper suddenly frowned. "Why on earth did Bianco decide to go out to sea at a time like this?"
"A peace summit in Draconia, he was asked to serve as a mediator between two whyrm broods who were fighting over a gem mine." The mare shook her mane. "The last communication I received from him was two weeks ago... he said he was on his way back. I decided to make the journey from Dream Valley to Hoofkaido, then follow the old lighthouse trail that used to lead here from Baltimare."
"From the sounds of this stallion, I doubt a storm could keep him down." Golden Light replied in a positive tone. "Don't worry, Moondancer. The rain's probably just slowing him down!"
"Thanks." The mare replied, smiling at the lighthouse unicorn. Moondancer knew this pony's story well; a princess from the bloodline of alicorn Celestia, she be been chosen by the council of Princess Ponies to become the next keeper of the lighthouse- a great honor, to be sure, but also the only known way giving a pony of her standing a job with her particular special talent, without it seeming degrading.
"You know, it is said Princess Celestia's spirit still dwells in the light, watching over and protecting the ponies at sea." The golden mare said with a sigh. "I'm sure she'll guide you Bianco home."
"If Princess Celestia were still here, half of these tragedies wouldn't even be happening." Moondancer replied with a snort. "Still, there may be truth in what you say."
"Princess Golden! Princess Golden!" It was at this point, that a small, yellow Dragon came running into the room, a panicked look on his face. Moondancer recognized him as Golden Glow's assistant, a baby reptile that looked like a recolored version of Dream Valley's own Spike.
"Yes Flash, what is it?" The mare asked with a giggle, as the dragon stumbled on the rug, and fell on his face. "What's got you so excited all of a sudden?"
"It's a message! I'm getting a message from Dream- BURP!" With a small belch of fire, the baby dragon spat out a scroll with Moondancer's name on it. Taking the ribbon off the parchment and unrolling it, the white unicorn's eyes suddenly went wide as she read the letter.
"What is it, Moondancer?" Golden Light asked, concern showing on her face. "Whatever in the world is wrong?"
"It's from Zigzag, the Dream Castle alchemist." Moondancer replied. "She's asking me to come back immediately... they're having a problem with Dream Castle's new schoolmare who transferred in from Mustangia."
"She wants you to go back?" The lighthouse keeper asked in surprise. "But what about waiting for Bianco?"
Closing her eyes, Moondancer's horn began to glow, as her mind reached out far across the waters... reaching for the other half of her soul to make sure he was all right. In response, she felt a faint glimmer of relief as her feelings touched his, and she herself felt relief in return.
"He's all right, just far away from here now. "She replied, looking back at Golden Glow. "Bianco won't be returning for awhile, but at least I know he will be coming back."
"Goodbye Moondancer, thanks for keeping me company." The lighthouse keeper told the mare, as Flash helped her pack her things. "Good luck with things back at the castle, and may fortune smile on you."
"May fortune smile on you as well, Princess." The unicorn replied with the traditional Ponyland farewell. "And thank you for your wonderful hospitality. Hopefully, I will be able to return here before Bianco arrives"
As the mare trotted down the stairs, she began to wonder what Zigzag could have possibly meant about their new teacher 'causing trouble'. Had she been teaching something prejudiced about Zebras- is that what had gotten the striped alchemist into such an uproar? She and the other members of the council had hoof-picked that mare from Mustangia to teach in the castle Schoolroom, and help Sundance with her workload.
If this teacher was spreading some kind of corruption to the youth, then Moondancer would be the pony to put a stop to it. The mare had had her fill of evil's taint- being forced to embrace the darkness herself, she was still haunted by the nightmares of those- things she and her friends had been turned into. She remembered becoming a monster, remembered wanting to cause harm and bring about terrible destruction. The perverse things she had done while under the dark lord's control- no, no pony would ever have to go through that again, if Moondancer had her way. Let Applejack and all of her other friends think she had become a prudish moralistic crusader, the taint of darkness she was saving them from was worth the disgust for the thankless task she had taken upon herself.
As the white unicorn trotted out the large bronze doors on the ground level, she looked forward to her latest effort to bring moral purity to the ponies of Dream Valley... it was time to head for home.
Trotting off of the ship, Moondancer breathed in the fresh and sweet air of Dream Valley. The warm winds were blowing the forest’s fragrant blossom petals, creating a carnival of color before the returning mare's eyes. But the white unicorn had little time to enjoy the spectacle, as a troubled earth pony came galloping out of the castle.
"Moondaincah, ahm so glad y'all got back yeah in such a hurreh!" The white earth mare with the dark pink mane exclaimed. "Y'all won't buhlieve the trouble that scalawag mare's been causin!"
"Now just calm down, Truly." the unicorn replied calmly, trying to assess the situation. "Whatever it is, I am certain we can deal with it in a calm and rational manner."
Considered to be the 'other' busybody of Dream Castle, Truly Heart was the castle fashion designer and pony of style. Blustery and over dramatic, this southern belle was known for having a mouth on her that could get on the nerves of even the most patient equine. Her only good trait, according to some ponies, was her wonderful ability to create even the most elegant and glamorous gowns ever seen by ponykind- a soaring talent expressed by her blue dove and hearts cutie mark.
"It's wurse thain ya'll think, Moony." The earth pony snorted, trotting back across the drawbridge with Moondancer. "Bhut it's baist ta explain it with Zigzag present."
Trotting back inside Dream Castle, The white unicorn followed her friend through the nearly endless corridors of the castle. Who but the ponies who dwelled here, could believe the tiny pink castle with four towers, housed this large cavernous interior that was four times the size of Manehatten at it's height. Walking down the endless corridors of doors, the two ponies passed several equines that they knew.
"Hey Moondancer, glad to see you back! Find another stallion wearing his ascot backwards?"
"Yo moondancer, what ya doing back here? Run out of scandals to uncover in Hoofkaido?"
"Uh oh, Moonie's back! Quick don't anyone get caught having fun!"
"Pay those rascals no never mind, dahling!" Truly encouraged her, scowling at the hecklers as they past them. "Y'all keep doin' what ya doin. Ya'll are just tryin ta make the lives of the ponies heyah bettah, wither they know it or not!"
"Thank you for the support, Truly." Moondancer sighed. "I just wish my friends understood me better."
Trotting down a long passageway, the two mares came to a sinister looking door covered in shadows. Raising her hoof, Truly knocked on the ancient, termite ridden piece of wood.
"Zigzag, y'all in theah?" The white earth pony called out. "Moondaincah's back, ahnd ah brought her with me!"
"Ah, noble Truly. So good to hear from you." A calm voice called from within. "Please open the door, and come on through."
The two ponies came through the doorway, and entered a dimly-lit room filled with strange and unusual objects. Stylized wooden masks of every shape and size decorated the walls, along with bottles and vials filled with the most bizarre liquids and ingredients filled the room. In the very center of the room sat a large iron cauldron, filled with a bizarre green liquid, and being stirred by the very equine they had come to see.
"Hello Zigzag, it's a pleasure to see you again." Moondancer addressed the zebra. "Your letter sounded urgent."
A zebra form the distant kingdom of Zebabwe, Zigzag had immigrated to Ponyland with her brother Zebara in seach of new adventures. The two had soon parted ways, however, as Ziggy special talent with potions led to to seek employment as Dream Valley's resident alchemist. Her brother, meanwhile, had followed his show business talent to Bright Valley, and she had not heard from Zeb since. Zigzag, meanwhile, had made herself most useful to Dream Castle, mixing up herbal remedies for every aliment that plagued the castle's herd.
"Moondancer, I am pleased you have come." The zebra greeted her. "For the-"
"No offense Ziggy," Moondancer interrupted her. "but for the sake of this conversation going more smoothly, could we please drop the Zebabweian accent?"
"As you wish, Moondancer." The white equine with black stripes nodded. "The reason I have requested your presence here, is that unscrupulous teacher you hired from Mustagia has been corrupting the castle's youth with her false lies."
"What, Sun Shimmer?" Moondancer asked confused. "But she came highly recommended! What could she possibly have-"
"It didn't seem anythang was wrong at first." Truly replied shaking her mane. "She took over teaching history and social studies, in order to lighten Sundance's load."
"But then the students began to tell their parents the most strangest of things." Zigzag continued. "First Baby Glory informed their mother that Celestia was a terrible tyrant that banished good ponies to the moon. Then Countdown told North Star that the princess had a powerful appetite for... royal pony guards and... forced herself on them to satisfy her tastes!"
"Princes 'Molestia'? Really?" Moondancer asked skeptically, pulling a fanciful pun name out of thin air. "That's absolutely ridiculous. The lifebond and pony physiology make such a thing impossible!"
"I heard Miss Shimmer was tellin 'em the Ponyville theme park ponies ate nothin but sugary sweets, ahnd killed anybody who ate vegtables!" Truly snorted. "Those ponies were some of our ancestors, Moony! We cain't let this historical revisionist go unahpposed!"
"The most insulting thing is what she said about my people!" Zigzag snorted indignantly. "That louse told the students the totems our totems my tribe venerates, are evil demons that order us to cook ponies up into tasty stews! This is completely unacceptable!"
"Ladies, seriously, I know you two wouldn't exaggerate, but I need more evidence before I make an accusation." Moondancer rolled her eyes. "Besides, if I accused her, how many ponies would actually take me seriously?"
"Then gather your evidence before you accuse." Zigzag grumbled, switching back to her accent. "But if you don't hurry, then we all lose!"
"Wail, y'all betteah do somethin!" Truly warned grimly. "Twailight ahnd Tohnado have already pulled Embah out of classes ta homeschool her cause ah sun!"
Nodding Moondancer turned and left the zebra's laboratory. Could Sun Shimmer really be teaching this lies? She seemed so nice when we hired her!" Moondancer though to herself. "I'd better get to the bottom of this, before something serious happens!"
"Get outta here, you big bully! Before we make ya leave!"
"W-what's wrong? Why are you three acting like this?"
As Moondancer trotted down the hallway, she heard several voices coming from around the next corner, looking around to see who it was, her eyes went wide with horror.
There, three foals- Clipper, Baby Tic Tac Toe, and one the white unicorn couldn't make out- were staring down a blonde human girl, whom they had backed into a corner. The pony realized exactly who the foals were threatening, the moment she saw her.
"Megan, oh no!" A terrified Moondancer had to stop herself from interfering. "No, Megan is our voice of reason, she'll talk some sense into these girls!
"Come on Clipper, why would I possibly be mean to ponies?" The girl in the ponytail reasoned. "You guys are my dearest fiends in all the world!"
"Liar! You boss the grown ups around when there's trouble, and control their minds with the rainbow of light!" Baby TIc Tac Toe yelled. "Miss Shimmer told us all humans are bad!"
"No, Tic Tac Toe, don't!" Megan pleaded, taking a step back, and raising her arm. "Please, I'm your friend!"
"Megan is evil! All humans are bad!" The voice of the third foal, who Moondancer now recognized as her own daughter, yelled. "Old Equestria forever!"
KRACK!
A baby pony has a powerful kick, strong enough to harm a human. The blow from her hooves smacked into Megan's midsection, sending the shocked human stumbling backward.
"MEGAN!" Moondancer came galloping forward, sending the three foals to flight.
"Run! She's summoned one of her mind controlled slaves!" the three foals galloped away. "For the glory of ponykind!"
Worried about the girl in front of her, Moondancer decided she'd deal with those kids later. "Megan, are you all right?" The unicorn asked, as the girl started to pull herself up. "Here, let me use my magic and check-"
"Get away from me." Megan replied in a chilling voice, slowly backing away from the unicorn.
"Megan!" Moondancer took a step forward, shocked at the girl's behavior. "What in the name of the horsemaster?"
"I said GET AWAY FROM ME!" Megan cried, running away from the pony in hysterical sobs. Moondancer could only look on in horror, not believing what had just happened.
Megan, dearest human friend of all ponykind, and the very heroine who had saved them from so many evils, was now fleeing in terror of the very creatures who loved her the most.
A dark snarl crossed Moondancer's face, as a red glow of rage emanated from her horn.
"That's it for today, class." The teaching mare told them, as the small cuckoo clock at the back of the room chimed the hour. "Be sure your papers on 'Princess Luna and Blueblood's adventures on the moon' is in by Friday. See you all tomorrow!"
The students all filed out of the room, as the teacher went back to erase the chalk from the chalkboard, and straighten up the front of the room. It wasn't long, however, before the pony educator had a visitor.
"Sun Shimmer!" Moondancer yelled angrily, storming into the classroom. "I would have words with you!"
"Ah, Lady Moondancer!" Standing up at the teacher's desk, the yellow mare with the crimson mane looked up from her work. "Such a pleasure to see you again. Tell me, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"My dear Sun, it has come to my attention, that you have been teaching certain... fallacies about history and politics." The indignant mare snorted. "Fallacies that have caused a surge of anger and resentment among the parents in Dream Castle, and nearly injured our herd's dear human friend, Megan Williams!"
"What, my lessons on the reassessment of Equestrian history, and the formation of Ponyland?" An innocent look crossed the mare's face. "I-I was only trying to get my students to think critically, to challenge old ideas..."
Trotting up to the front of the classroom, the Moondancer opened up the earth pony's binder containing her lesson plans.
"The benefits of a monetary economy? The case for the rights of Stallions? The Celestial empire vs. the Lunar republic?" The unicorn mare snarled. "This...this materialistic, anti- royalist trash is not what I brought you into teach in our good classroom to impressionable young foals!"
"So you want me to give them a more 'conservative' curriculum?" Sun asked, lowering her body and taking a more submissive posture before the other mare.
"No, I wish you to shift your teaching duties to asthmatics and the sciences." Moondancer snorted, walking towards the door. "Sundance will take over your duties in the areas that you have to greatly erred."
"As you wish, Lady Moondancer. I shall endeavor to carry out your orders without delay." Sun Shimmer bowed, a sinister smile crossing her face as the moralistic mare left the classroom, and out of earshot. "And don't worry, I'll be sure to let the rest of Dream Valley know exactly who is responsible for what I'm teaching!"
...
"Well ladies, looks like our problem is over!" Moondancer exclaimed. "I've spoken with Sun, and she's seen the error of her ways."
Truly and Zigzag were waiting for the unicorn in the Satin Slipper Sweet Shoppe, the most popular restaurant and hangout spot in all of Dream Valley. The two were seated at a table, and sipping their root beer floats as the white mare came up and pulled out a chair. And from the looks on their faces, the unicorn could tell her friends were not entirely convinced.
"Y'all absolutely shore that scalawag’s gonna behave hersailf?" Truly asked skeptically. "She maight just be tellin y'all what yo want ta heyah, ahgain."
"I'm afraid, my dear Truly, that there is much truth in that." Zigzag agreed, looking to Moondancer. "Perhaps I could create a potion, that could change her to a rat!"
"Truly, Zigzag, please!" Moondancer pleaded. "That mare did not trick me! I am an excellent judge of character, and Sun had merely made a mistake. I'm sure she meant well, she was just taking the wrong approach to educating our youth."
"Ahhm not so shoah about thait..." Truly replied ruefully. "Ah remebah the way thait mare had y'all eatin outta her hoof when we first met her...
"Hello, Miss Truly and Miss Moondancer." The yellow earth mare greeted them politely, as she entered the room and bowed. "My name is Sun Shimmer... and I'm here to interview for the teaching job in Dream Valley."
"Miss Shimmah..." Truly noted, looking through the papers on her clipboard with her hooves. "It sais heah that y'all were a teacha previously in Mustangia, but were let go behcause y'all held 'contraversial opinions'." The earth pony raised an eyebrow. "Caeh to explahin thait?"
"Well, it's just I that I just couldn't stand the moral corruption going on with the higher ups at the school I taught at. Some of the things they wanted me to teach the kids was downright deplorable!"
"I can respect a stance against moral decay." Moondancer relied approvingly. "It shows good character for a teacher."
"But what about good teachin skills, tah go with thait charactah?" Truly questioned her fellow council mare. "Shouldn't we consider that, as well?"
"A good well formed set of ethics is most important. The rest will follow." Moondancer replied, trotting up to look Sun over. "Besides, Sundance's talent and skill can fill in the gaps."
"While I do agree that intelligence and skill are needed for a capable teacher, I still say good ethics are just as important." Moondancer insisted, as Fizzy put her chocolate milkshake on the table. "An intelligent teacher with bad ethics can lead the impressionable youth astray."
"Which is exactly what, my dear, I'm afraid is happening here." The zebra replied. which is why I have a notion, to deal with this problem with a potion."
"Speakin' ah potions, Ziggy, y'all have thait elier ah was asking ya fore?" Truly asked, taking another sip of her float."Thait stallion is still nawt payin attention ta me, an' y'all promised me a perfume to catch his attention!"
"Indeed it is ready, this great and powerful lotion!" Zigzag handed her friend a perfume bottle. "Made from pony pheromones, and superior to any potion!"
"Y'all shuah this stuff'll work zigzag?" Truly snorted, sniffing at the bottle. "the laist pehfume y'all gave me stank like a constahpated skunk!"
"One wiff of this, and he'll brake down your door!" The zebra winked. "I learned the recipe from Zsa Zsa Gabor!"
"Zebra humor." Moondancer replied, rolling her eyes. "Add in a spice of human world references, and our striped comedian here will be ready for the Jonny Carson Show."
"Carson nothin!" Truly giggled. "She should pahform in Vegas!"
The three mares burst out laughing, both at their terrible jokes, and in obscure knowledge of the human world television shows Dream Valley picked up from earth. But it was at that point, that three angry mares came storming into that Satin Slipper.
"Moondancer, you grouchy old Nag!" The orange earth pony who was leading the group yelled. "I'm gonna wring your scrawny neck until your squeaker’s broken!"
"Applejack, what's wrong?" Moondancer asked, as Truly and Zigzag moved between her and the angry mares. "You look angry enough to-"
"Megan crying her eyes out is what's wrong!" Lofty, the angry yellow Pegasus, snorted. "She’s locked herself in her room here at the castle, and she won't come out for anybody!"
"But... I sent Sweet Stuff to comfort her!" The unicorn mare whimpered, trying to hold back her tears. Moondancer would have rushed to the girl's side herself, but she was afraid the sight of the very sight of an adult version of the pony who attacked her would hurt the girl even more.
"It took Sweet Stuff an hour to talk Megan into opening the door, and another hour to get her to let other ponies into the room." Mimic, the light green unicorn, growled. "She feels betrayed, Moondancer. Betrayed by all of her little ponies... and betrayed by you."
"I'll try to go talk to her." Moondancer closed her eyes. "But first, I need to go and deal with my daughter first."
"Don't bother, little miss moral crusader." Lofty snorted. "Since you have failed to discipline your offspring, Twilight has called the rest of the Dream Valley ruling council, they will decide your daughter's punishment. You are not permitted to attend the meeting."
"But... you can't..." The mare replied, suddenly feeling everything slipping out of her control. "Applejack, why didn't you stand up for me before the council?"
"What, the way you stood up for other ponies who are the victims of your moralisitc crusades?" AJ snorted. "You know what? Dream Valley would be better off if you had stayed Tirek's pet dragon!" She and the other two turned away. "Now get out of my face, Moondancer! You sicken me!"
The weary mare finally collapsed to her knees, this final stab from one of her dearest friends too much to bear.
"She didn't mean it, Moondancer..." Zigzag told her, breaking out of her zebra accent once more."...emotions are just running high right now..."
"Sooreh gurls, but if the council is meetin, ah'll be needed." Truly replied, trotting towards the door. "Don't worry your pretteh little head, Moonie. Ah'll stop them from sendin' her ta the glue factory... she maight even just get a slap on the hoof."
"W-what have I done?" The mare wailed, as Zigzag tried to comfort her.
...
In the Dream Castle throne room, four mares stood silently before a young filly in chains, radiating anger no less than the prisoner before them. With Queen Majesty away on a diplomatic mission, it fell to her privy council to make decisions in place of her royal decrees. But this trial was becoming more and more frustrating, however, for four mares who were desperately trying to show an incorrigible youth mercy.
"So that's it, then?" Twilight asked, standing in front of Queen Majesty's vacant throne. "No remorse for your actions? No sorrow for causing harm to another sentient being?"
"Death to the enemies of Ponykind! Down with the tyrant Celestia!" Baby Moondancer spat, her mouth overflowing with rhetoric. Angry green gemstone eyes looked at the council members in contempt, as if to say 'you are not worthy of your position'.
"That girl stood by you during the entire incident at last year's parade of costumes. She protected you from the witch Katrina." Ribbon pointed out, trying to reason with the child. "Doesn't it bother you that you hurt one who saved your life?"
"It was all a trick!" The filly snorted, stamping her hoof angrily. "she's brainwashed all of you! You’re all her pony slaves! Glory to the Lunar republic!"
"Child, think of your mama." Truly pleaded. "Megan saved her from being a dragon, doesn't thait mean anythin' to y'all?"
"She's got mama under a spell, too!" The filly spat angrily. "All humans are evil!"
"It seems there is no reasoning with you, child." Shady added sadly, shaking her mane at what she knew was coming nest. "I'm so sorry we're going to have to do this!"
With heavy hearts, the four ponies whispered amongst themselves, and finally turned back towards the prisoner.
"Baby Moondancer, for assaulting a fellow member of the herd, albeit an adopted human- and showing no sense of remorse, it is the judgment of this council that you be sent to the filly reform school in Fort Rainbow Dash." Twilight sighed, shaking her mane. "We will check upon you again in six months and, pending a review of your conduct and character, you will be allowed to return to Dream Valley." The pink unicorn turned away in disgust. "Ribbon, get her out of my sight."
Ribbon's horn began to glow, and Baby Moondancer was teleported from the room. "Miss Shimmer was right! The humans'll get you all! You'll seeeeeeeeeeeeee-" Her voice faded out as she vanished from sight.
"What about her mother?" Shady asked, dreading Twilight's response. "She's the one who brought this teaching mare upon us in the first place."
"Moondancer has proven herself unworthy of her rank and title." Twilight scowled, turning away from the other mares. "For one month, she shall be stripped for her rank and position on this council, and be reduced to a lowly assistant in Sweet Stuff's kitchens. Let's see her find immorality amongst the cockroaches she finds on the floor."
"And whut abaout the teachah?" Truly asked, horrified about her friend's fate, but unwilling to talk back to the mare who had been left in charge in Majesty's absence.
"Don't worry, Truly" Ribbon answered, in place of Twilight. "We'll being dealing with that 'revisionist' soon enough."
"C'mon, Moondancer! Hurry Up!" Sweet Stuff growled, as other ponies rush around the kitchen behind her. "Lunch just finished, and we need those dinner plates within two hours!"
As the jewel-eyed mare with a blue coat and multicolored mane barked out orders, Moondancer simply went though the motions of the 'punishment' she had been given. Levitate, wash, scrub, rinse... the endless cycle of menial busywork dulled a brain already numb to any external activity. The mare with a disshelved mane and bloodshot eyes had swept and cleaned in the kitchen these past few days like an automaton, barely noticing what was transpiring around her as she silently went about her tasks.
Her spirit broken and her mind nearly shattered, how could she care what punishment the council heaped on the unicorn? Her own daughter a monster, shipped away as punishment for her wrongdoing, the human girl she loved as a member of her own family turned against her- only Truly and Zigzag stood beside her in the castle, but that was of little comfort. Only the thought of her beloved husband, and the emotional ties to the pony she loved more than any other- kept the mare from ending her sorrow entirely. So for the sake of the one she longed for's return, the broken mare diligently carried out with her task.
"Gingerbread, get that icing on the cookies now!" The white mare with the cupcake cutie mark snapped angrily, pulling a tray out of the oven. "I just got them out of the oven!"
"I'm busy with the last batch, Cupcake!" The other earth mare snapped back, squirting the icing on several cookies from a tube. "If you want them done that fast, I'll have to fudge it!"
"Go right ahead, I need to get desert ready before the top of the hour." Cupcake replied, shaking her mane. "If you have to cut corners, so be it!"
Moondancer's ears perked up at that. Cupcake, the cook who demanded perfection, wanting something rushed? But before she had time to really contemplate this, two other angry voices filled the kitchen.
"Sweet Stuff! Those meals you had sent to my room were too hot!" A pink mare with a chartreuse mane snorted. "Baby Shady almost burned her tongue on your overcooked drek!"
"How dare you come down to my kitchen and complain, you weepy pile of mush!" Sweet Stuff snapped back, stamping her hoof. "I have half a mind to go to Twilight, and complain about your complaining while I'm trying to get supper ready!"
Sweet Stuff... angry? And Shady....assertive? the wheels slowly began to turn in Moondancer's brain, pulling her up out of her grief-stricken haze. Behind her, Cupcake called out to the head kitchen mare;
"Hey Sweet Stuff, it's time to take Megan's lunch to her room." The assistant cook called over. "Should I send Gingerbread down with it again?"
"Actually, I could take it for you." Moondancer offered, levititating the tray with a silver lid over her head. "That would save you some time to work on the cookies."
Sweet Stuff thought for a moment, then nodded her head. "Just make sure you get back here quickly, I have some more onions I want you to peel!"
"You really know how to make a girl cry." Moondacer mock sobbed, trotting out Dream Castle kitchen's revolving door with the tray. "I'll be back as quickly as I can!"
....
In the Dream Valley classroom, Sun Shimmer was going over her lessons with the student body.
"...and so class, as the evidence gathered by pony scientists, we can concur that it was self-interest and material gain, not friendship and love that led to the advancement of pony society." The mare declared, pointing a hoof at one of her students. "Baby Butterscotch, what can we conclude from this?"
"That sentimentality is a weakness, and friendship is holding us back." The orange filly with a blue mane and butterfly cutie mark answered simply.
"Very very well spoken, my dear." It was at that point, the clock chimed the hour. "All right class, that's it for today. As always, be sure to share this new truth with your parents, and I'll see you tomorrow." As the other students filed out, Sun stopped one of her pupils.
"Baby Butterscotch, I was wondering if I could ask you a favor..." The teacher handed the filly a notebook. "This is a lesson I had prepared for Baby Majesty, could you deliver it to her, please?"
"Of course, Miss Shimmer! I'd be happy to!" The beaming filly happily took the folder in her mouth, and trotted out the door. As the last of her class left, a dark smile spread across the mare's face.
"You thought you could her safe from me, Twilight?" Sun Shimmer thought to herself. "When the future queen bee falls before me, the entire hive will be mine!"
...
As she continued on her way down the hall, Moondancer was greeted with more and more strangeness. As the unicorn passed Paradise and Wind Whistler, she overheard a conversation that further raised the hair on the back of her coat.
"Are you sure you should accept the findings from this experiment, Wind?" The white Pegasus asked, as she and the other pony flapped by. "Logic would dictate that further tests would be needed to achieve a result."
"I know that, Paradise." The blue Pegasus agreed. "But I just have a feeling that my current hypothesis is the right answer, I just know it!"
"Paradise talking about logic? Wind Whistler talking about feelings?" The confused Moondancer thought to herself. Did I accidentally take a bite of loco weed or something?"
Shrugging off her feeling that something wasn't right, the mare trotted up to the door to the human girl's room, and knocked.
"Who is it?" A soft voice answered.
"Megan? It's me, Moondancer." The mare said sadly, levitating the plate of food up to the door. "I brought you your lunch, and-"
"Come in, Moondancer." The door unlocked with a small click, and the pony trotted in with her head down. Megan was lying on her bed on the other side of the room, turned away from the pony and facing the wall."
"Here's your meal Megan, sorry I disturbed you." The sad unicorn resisted the urge to cry. "I-I'll just leave your meal here, and be on my way out."
"Moondancer, wait." The girl turned to face her, getting up off the bed. "Before you go, I want to ask you something. Why did you save me from your daughter?"
"W-what kind of question is that, Megan?!?" An incredulous unicorn asked her, tears streaming down her face. "Y-you're family, and we all love you so much! I couldn't just-"
"Thank you, Moondancer. I'm glad to know you are still the same pony you always were. So many have changed in Dream Castle since the new teacher arrived." Megan replied grimly. "Twilight has told me that many of the pony's in the castle's perceptions have become warped, and I was afraid you weren’t the same as well."
"Megan I would never-!" Moondancer started in horror, but the human girl held a finger up to silence her.
"A few ponies have not had their opinions changed, like your friends Truly and Zigzag." Megan narrowed her eyes. "Twilight acts as if her outlook has been altered, and acts as the others do to convince them she has a new viewpoint. And she says a human wouldn't change their outlook under the circumstances, either." The girl took her food, and went back to the bed. "Don't you agree it would be best for you to go with the flow, and give the appearance your viewpoint had changed to that of the majority, as well?"
Moondancer was confused for a moment, then her eyes suddenly went wide with understanding. Relief and joy quickly flooded the unicorn's heart, but it was quickly covered up under a scowling face.
"You know something, human... you're quite right!" She turned around angrily, and stormed out of the room. "This will be the last time I bring you lunch. And the sooner you head back to your smelly and polluted human world, the better!"
As the door shut behind her, the white unicorn picked up her pace back to the kitchen. She would have to find Zigzag and Truly after her kitchen shift was done- and the sooner, the better!
...
In the hallways of Dream Castle, two mares- one earth pony and one zebra- were talking quietly between themselves, noticing their conversation was drawing interest from several of the passing ponies.
"Ah rally don't undahstand why the otha members of the council ah actin so strangely." Truly shook her mane in confusion. "Ah mean , they nevah been so ruthlaiss with a misbehavin' foal befoah."
"Many a mare in the castle is not herself." Zigzag agreed. "Their true personality left on the shelf."
"Indeed. We're luckey the staillions ahnd colt's don't seem tah be changi'n thier ahtitudes." Truly shivered. "Could y'all inmagine thait much stgeth ahnd fightin' skill turned against the hearhd?"
"I am pleased that the males have at least stayed true." Zigzag replied. "But I wish we knew why our fellow mares are so blue."
"Actually, ah may have a reasohn whai thait may be." Truly whispered. "See, ah doin some reasach on this little teacheah of ours, ahnd found out she haid always been a bit of a rabble rousah. So much so, thait she was not onlay faiahed but bainished from Mustangia foh her actions."
"So she has always been a troublemaker, that much seems clear." The zebra replied. "Bun once sent away, to where did she disappear?"
"Thait's the muysertious pahrt." The earth mare replied. "Ahcordin' ta what ah read, she made her way ta the Dahkstone Mountians, ahnd came back a changed mairah. Thait's when she insisted ohn the transfaih ta Dream Valleh."
"The Darkstone Mountains?!? Then we truly have a hassle!" The now-worried zebra replied . "For that means she serves -"
"There they are!" Applejack voice called out angrily, as she pointed a hoof at the two mares. "There are the two troublemakers!"
Truly and Zigzag soon found themselves surrounded on all sides by an angry-looking group of mares, who stared at the two of them with cold, unforgiving eyes.
"Gahils, gails, puhlease!" The earh mare pleaded, trying to talk some sense into the ponies before her. "WHat seems ta be the trouble heyah? Wai are y'all lookin like yer abot ta seand a pony tah the glue factoreh?"
"Sun Shimmer warned us about evil foreign influences." Ribbon growled, her horn glowing in anger. "And who's more foreign than a zebra, and a mare with a funny accent?"
"But girls... ah've been livin heyah mah whole laife!" Truly protested. "Whaih would I sail out Dream Valleh?"
"I'm sure you can tell us that," Sweet Stuff replied, in an unusually cruel tone. "From the inside of a jail cell."
"Your judgment is clouded, that much is clear." Zigzag pulled a liquid filled glass vial out of her saddlebag. "So now is the time for us to.... disappear!"
The zebra quickly dropped the vial from her mouth, shattering it on the floor. A cloud of purple smoke filled the air, and clouded the vision of the mob that had gathered.
"What's going on?" Sweet Stuff called out.
"I can't see!" Shady yelled.
A unicorn created a blast of wind with her horn, blowing the smoke away. The mob quickly noticed that the two targets of their aggression had gotten away.
"Hey, where'd they go?" Shady called out.
"They musta headed for the zebra witch's potion lab," Applejack yelled, starting down the hallway. "after them!"
The angry mob of mares galloped away, as the two equines stuck their heads around the corner.
"Wail, at least we lost em'." Truly sighed in relief.
"Yes, but our luck in this hiding will not last." Zigzag replied in a worried tone. "We must find our friend Moondancah, and fast!"
"Fastah, Zigzag, fastah!" Truly called out in a panic, as she and the zebra galloped deeper and deeper into the mastificent forest. "We cain't risk those scaliwags catchin' up tah us!"
"Oh. don't worry about that, my fine friend!" the zebra whinnied, as they raced through the trees. "After looking for this long, thier search is at an end."
"Ah certainly hope y'all ah raight." The earth pony gasped out, as the two came to a stop. "Bhut raight naow we gotta find Moondancah, an figure out what we're gonna do naow."
"I already know what we're going to do, ladies." A voice from behind them stated, as a unicorn came trotting up behind them. "We're going to save Dream Valley, just like we always do."
"Ahhhh!" The two mares screamed hysterically, before seeing the white unicorn standing there.
"Oh Moondancer, it is only you!" Zigzag sighed in relief. "When we heard a noise, we thought we were through!"
"Haw did y'all fahnd us?" The perplexed pony asked. "The last we heard, you were down in the kitchen peeling onions."
"I was on my way back to the kitchen, when I heard the ruckus you two were causing." Moondancer admitted. "When you two made a run for it from those angry mares, I just followed you out here."
"Sounds like that was quite a hassle." Zigzag replied. "Have you discovered what's amiss in the castle?"
"Megan tipped me off, when I finally got the chance to speak to her." The unicorn replied, nodding. "Ladies, I think our friends have been mind controlled by that stupid teacher we've hired. I don't know how she's doing it, but I know she's doing it!"
"Mahnd control, we shoulda known!" Truly snorted in disgust. "We really shoulda seen this possibility comin, ya know! That's what we get for hirin' ah educator without a checkin' her resume first!"
"So now we know what it is, that has set our lives askew." Zigzag added, before asking. "But the million dollar question is; what do we do?"
"Mister Moochick is away on a journey, so we'll find no help at the mushromp." Moondancer thought for a minute, before looking down the path ahead of them. "Ladies, I think it's time we pay a little visit on Gypsy!"
"The Romani pony? Have ya'll gone plum loco!?!" Truly whinnied in shock. "Moondaincah, she's a witch! Ya'll know what those Roma do tah unsuspectin ponies they catch?!?"
"From thier cradles, young foals she steals." Zigzag agreed. "So that she can cook them, into her meals."
"Moondaincah, she's the fourth most powaful pony in the valleh!" The earth pony told her in a nervous tone. "Withaout Twailiaght or Majesteh or Mimic ta hold her in check..."
"We don't have any other choice!" Moondancer cried out in desperation. "I'd rather deal with an eastern witch cursing us all. than let that lying revisionist reprogram all our friends and family!"
"Ahll raight, Moony." Truly gulped, slowly trotting after the other two. "If ya'll say so....."
The three mares walked on in silence, trying not to think about everything that was going on back at the castle. But Moondancer couldn't get how she had seen her own daughter act, and was convinced that a stop had to be put to this evil afflicting the herd, no matter the cost. And with Queen Majesty currently away, it was up to and her friends to do it.
As the three mares trotted warily down the path, they quickly noticed the forest around them was changing. Darkness and shadow creped in, as the canopy of branches above blocked out the sunlight below. The mists began to rise around them, and a thousand creepy sounds began to emanate from the trees around them.
"Wow, ah nevah noticed haow creepy this paht of Dream Vahlleh could gait." Truly whispered nervously, as a screeching owl soared overhead. "Thaih's no way this could be nahtural."
"It's probably a few well placed illusion spells, to scare off any undesirables Gypsy doesn't want around her territory." Moondancer snorted. "After all, Roma ponies have a flair for the dramatic."
"I've heard Romani came from a distant land to the east." Zigzag replied, letting her Zebra accent fall away. "It is said a wise Mareharadjah sent their ancestors to Equestria as missionaries, to spread his philosophy of peace. Then they were stuck here after the fall of the old kingdom, and became traveling vagrants after the Confederacy formed."
"Ahnd they turned ta hexin' good ponies ta survive in these hear lands." Truly continued, trying to hide the fear in her voice. "Who knows what that ol' witch'll do ta us when she finds out we're heyah."
"Truly, please don't talk like that!" Moondancer scolded her. "We really don't need that kind of... thinking... right... now..."
The unicorn trailed off, and the ponies’ surroundings grew even more ominous. A fell wind began blowing through the trees, whipping the branches around, and chilling the mares to the bone. The spreading mist permeated al every air around them, obscuring their vision right in front of the mare's snouts. The three ponies huddled together glancing around at the shadowy forest around them.
Turn Back....turn back... A voice seemed to whisper on the wind, as unintelligible whispers seemed to come from all around them. Evil faces peered out at them from the darkness, grinning and scowling at whatever fate awaited these unfortunate ponies foolish enough to venture here. It was then that they heard what sounded like hooves approaching, and the three squinted to see though the endless fog.
"Girls. look out!" Moondancer shrieked pointing out into the darkness with her hoof. "There's somebody over there!"
From the shadowy mists, three `ponylike figures began to emerge. The trio of visitors seemed to rattle and shake as they approached, and it only took a few minutes for the ponies and zebra to actually see why.
"Friends we must now run!" The zebra yelled in surprise. "Our visitors seems to be SKELETONS!"
"AHHHHHH!" The three mares suddenly took off running, three animated pony skeletons in hot pursuit. Moondancer pushed braches out of the way as the galloped, as the other two kept looking back. As the fleshless horrors closed in on their frightened prey, the three distracted mares ran into a large tree that seemed to come out of nowhere.
"Ugh!" Truly grunted, as the three slammed into the hard wooden surface. Suddenly stopped in their tracks, the ponies and zebra looked on in horror as a large cloud of smoke convalesced in front of them.
"FOOLISH MORTALS!!" the disembodied voice roared. "HOW DARE YOU VIOLATE THE SUBLIME SANCTITY OF MY DOMAIN!"
"W-hat the hay is thait?" Truly asked in horror, as a dark emerged from the darkness and smoke. A ring of flames shot up around the terrified equines, and the two skeletal beasts bowed to the pony who suddenly materialized.
"YOU HAVE TRESSPASSED ON THE DOMICLE OF THE MIGHTY UNICORN, GYPSY!" An orange mare with glowing white eyes and angry expression loomed over them. "AND FOR THAT SIN, YOU MUST PAY THE ULTIMATE PRICE!"
The demonic looking pony roared with laughter, what looked like lightning firing from her hooves.
"Thais is it!" Truly cried out, hugging Zigzag in fear.
"We're doomed!" The zebra wailed, hugging the earth pony back.
"I am Glory, council mare of Queen Majesty's court!" The mare yelled at the terrifying-looking mare in defiance. "I demand to speak to Miss Gypsy Tarot, on a matter of utmost importance!"
"Queen Majesty? Royal councilwoman?" The mare with the tambourine cutie mark's eyes suddenly stopped glowing, and she came back to all fours. "Vell, vhy didn't vou zay zo?"
With a clap of her hooves, the unicorn made the shadows, the skeletons, and the flames all vanish. All that was left behind was a well lit, clearing in the forest, with a quaint little wooden hut at the center. "Zorry about ze illuzion zpell. Please, come inzide! Und ve'll zort evryzing out, darlink."
As the orange unicorn trotted into her abode, the three mares outside collapsed with a sigh of relief.
...
The interior of Gypsy's hut was decorated with colorful treasures of the east. Colorful batik tapestries hung from the walls, and incense poured out from two golden braziers hanging from silver chains on either side of the room. The Romani pony had served each of then piping hot chocolate in a silver cup, then retired to the back to prepare.
"Do you really think this crazy mare can help us?" Zigzag asked, looking around at the creepy decor. "At our arrival, she made such a fuss!"
"She's ah onleh hope naow, Zig!" Truly snorted, taking a sip of her chocolate. "If Moondancah thinks she cain halp, well then I'm gonna give her a chance!"
"A very vise decision, darlink." Gypsy announced proudly, trotting back into the room. " Now, I vill zee if I can help vou get to zee bottom of ziz Zun Zhimmer zituation."
Clad in a veil and golden coin headdress, the orange unicorn sat down next to the scowling Moondancer. The slightly prudish white unicorn didn't really care for this oriental temptress. Sultry and seductive, Gypsy's exotic beauty put even the great legends of the harmony bearer Rarity's looks to shame. Gypsy smelled of spices and oriental perfumes, and even a glance into her lightly painted eyes could melt the heart of any stallion (as her sole visit to Dream Castle had attested). Every mare who got near Gypsy felt... inadequate next to those long legs, and perfect curves of the Roma pony's flank.
Moondancer would have to remember to keep this woman away from the castle once her husband got home.
"Gazer round, my dear mares, und join hooves." Gypsy began to wave her hooves over dark orb in front of her. "Ve must concentrate, for I am not getting a clear picture on zee crystal ball."
"I might have a reason for that, Gypsy." Zigzag replied candidly, cocking an eyebrow. "That's not a crystal ball you have there... that's a bowling ball."
"I... knew zat!" The orange mare looked down, and quickly tossed the obsidian sphere with three holes in it aside. "I must remember not to let zhat mare Surprise come out, und vizit my tent again." She grumbled, levitating the real crystal ball from underneath the table. "Now gazther round zee table, und vatch as zee true tale of Zun Zhimmer unfolds!"
As the four ponies closed their eyes, the translucent orb on the table began to glow...
The mists within the glass orb began to swirl, and a picture slowly began to form. From the haze emerged the vision of a white, rainbow maned alicorn, standing over a yellow unicorn filly with a fiery mane, and a Burning sun cutie mark.
"Thait looks just like Sun Shimmah!" Truly exclaimed. "Ahnd she's with Princess Celestiah?!?"
"Shhhh! I want to hear this!" Moondancer whispered, looking back into the orb.
"Young Sunset Shimmer, I am very pleased that you have decided to become my personal student." The Princess announced proudly. "I hope to pass on to you everything I know about magic."
"Thank you so very much, Princess!" The little filly replied enthusiastically, bowing to her new teacher. "I promise that I won't let you down!"
"Why aren't their lips matching what they're saying?" Zigzag asked curiously.
"Because the spell is translating their words into english, and it's not an exact translation." Moondancer replied. "Now will you please let me listen?"
The images moved forward in time, and the there observing equines saw Sunset grow before their very eyes, growing stronger and stronger in magic each day under Celestia's tutelage. Finally, an angry-looking Shimmer stood before the alicorn princess defiantly.
"Why haven't you haven't taught me everything you know?!?" Sunset demanded. "I want to be stronger!"
"Magic isn't just about strength." Celestia replied sadly. "I had hoped you would have learned that by now."
"The only thing I've learned is I'm done with being your student!" The defiant filly yelled, running out of the throne room. "I'm gonna become the most powerful unicorn that ever lived! I'll even become more powerful than you!"
"Why that ungrateful little tramp!" Moondancer snorted. "How dare she talk to the princess that way!"
"Vould you please be qvuiet, Moondancer?" Gypsy snapped. "Ve are trying listen to ze converzation!"
It was at that point that Sunset Shimmer began looking through books in the Royal library, and using that knowledge, found a mirror hidden away deep in the castle. This mirror was a portal to a pocket dimension, where time flowed differently than in Equestria, and Sunset thought she could go there to study magic and become even stronger than Celestia!
"By the time I return," Sunset growled, lugging a bag of magical textbooks books through the mirror. "I will have enough magic to challenge my mentor, and take over all of Equestria!"
And so, hoping to increase her magical power, the arrogant unicorn filly stepped through... and disappeared! As the mares watched, time passed quickly around the mirror, as the ages came and went. Finally, the arrogant mare came back from the mirror, shocked to see how much of the world had changed.
"W-what's happened to Equestria?!?" A hysterical Sunset screamed, looking around at the ruins of Canterlot. "What happened to my friends, my family?!?"
"So that's how she got to the present!" Zigzag noted knowingly, nodding. "The flow of time difference between the two worlds, must have changed between portal openings."
"This is all Twilight Sparkle's fault!" Sunset Shimmer growled, as she wandered the countryside alone. "I'll never see the world I knew again because of her!"
They watched the filly make her way across the pony communities, from Fort Rainbow Dash to Hoofkaido, playing the part of a simple-minded fool. Eventually she caught the eye of a Stallion, as bitter and angry as herself, and one lifebond later a young unicorn foal was born to them. They saw the filly reach childhood, as the mother trained her to be the living weapon the baby had been birthed to be.
"This is a mind manipulation spell, Sun. while not as good as mind control, it'll allow you to cloud a pony's judgment, making them more susceptible to any radical suggestion you might make."
"No! Don't wanna learn magic!" The filly protested. "Wanna go out and play!"
"NO!" The older mare screeched, smacking the toddler across the mouth, and knocking her to the ground. "You're not going anywhere until you learn the weakest version of this spell!"
"O-okay..." The little filly whimpered, wiping the trickle of blood from her mouth with her hoof. "I'll try harder, I promise..."
"You need to become the best, like I was." The mare snarled, as the four equines watched the little filly grow up with the unhappiest of childhoods. "If your going to Punish ponykind, and destroy Dream Valley- Twilight's Sparkle's legacy- you need to become the best."
The mists swirled again, and they saw a fully grown Sunset Shimmer, standing before her mother's tombstone, her eyes burning with the utter hatred and coldness her upbringing had instilled in her.
"You'll need to be the best, if you are to carry out my revenge."
As the mists in the crystal ball cleared, the four mares only sat there, staring at each other in silence.
The sea... tis' a strange wonder. An endless tapestry of blue, rising and falling with the surging tides. He had journeyed upon these endless waters his entire life, yet he still could not fathom all of the mysteries of the deep and briny blue. As he stood upon the forward deck of the Saucy Mare, the rainy wind tore at his greatcoat and tri-cornered hat. It was only when his first officer approached him, that the stallion was pulled out of his reverie.
"Captain Barnacle!" Salty called out, galloping across the deck to his commanding officer. "Captain, the main sail has broken loose, and were having trouble with the rigging!"
"Get that sail tied back at once, Mister Salty!" The blue stallion with the fiery mane bellowed, turning to face the sailor addressing him. "An' make shore the boys nail down anythin' not nailed down!"
"Aye, Cap'n!" The turquoise stallion with the purple mane saluted, than galloped back towards the aft deck. Barnacle turned back to stare at the sea, as the waves crashed against the bow in front of him.
A towering figure of a pony, Captain Barnacle star was an intimidating sight to behold. Unlike other ponies, he had defiantly and painfully trained himself from a young age to stand and walk on two legs at all times. And it was that same defiance that made him stand before the might of this storm, risking his own safety in the face of all the ocean's might lashing out a the grizzled pony captain standing on the deck.
"Captain!" A voice called out, as a white Pegasus came trotting up behind Barnacle, the howling winds blowing his rainbow mane about. "Captain, I've heard this storm has driven our vessel far off course. Do we have any idea where we are?"
"Worry not, me good Bianco. We've just been blown towards the Darkstone coast, ta the west a' Ponyland.." The captain reassured him, putting his hoof on the stallion's shoulder. “I am only sorry we t'wernt able ta get ye home from the dragon conferences on schedule." Barnacle looked upwards, as lightning flashed across the sky. "Rest assured however, we'll get ye home to yer lovely Moondancer soon enough."
"Thank you, captain." The Pegasus nodded, turning to watch Salty and the other sailors scrambled to hald the ship together in amongst this fiered and powerful storm. These brave sailors wanted to get home to thier mares, just as much as he wished to. But he couldn't escape this nagging feeling that something terrible was happening back in Dream Valley, and from the agitation and mutterings of the sailors, they felt something was up, as well.
"Blast those infernal dragons!" Bianco hissed under his breath. He never would have come along on this little adventure if he had known those stubborn old whyrms would take three months to agree to the terms of the treaty. Still he should have realized greedy dragons would never use common sense when it came to a treasure hoard. As the lighting cracked across the sky once more, the Pegasus stallion wondered if they would ever make it home alive.
"Land ho!" The lookout in the crow's nest suddenly called out. All of the sailor stallions galloped over to the starboard rail, to catch a glimpse of this reported shoreline.
"Land? Is it the Darkstone coast? " Bianco asked in a worried tone, looking up at the crow's nest. "There are all sorts of goblin and orc tribes living there, you know."
"Nay, good Bianco." The captain replied, looking out through a telescope he had pulled out of his coat. "Tis' an island, if me old eyes aren’t deceiving me."
"An island?" The confused Pegasus inquired, as Barnacle handed him the spy glass. "Capitan, do you think it could be the Isle of Pony?"
"We're too far south fer it ta be that kingdom, lad." The earth pony with the treasure chest cutie mark replied. "This place looks far more tropical than Pony isle."
As he looked through the telescope, Bianco barely saw sandy shoreline though the raging storm, lined with palm trees and sandy beaches. And as the ship drew closer to the island, the rain suddenly stopped, and the sky suddenly began to clear.
"The storm has stopped suddenly!" Salty exclaimed, as the dark clouds dissipated and everything began to grow brighter. "Tis witchcraft, the island is enchanted!"
"It would explain why we were able to see the island so clearly though the fog and haze of the storm." Barnacle noted, rubbing his hoof against his chin thoughtfully. "Perhaps we shouldn't linger here too long, lads."
"Do you really want to go back out into that storm again, captain?" Bianco asked, pointing a hoof at the crew. "Besides, I'm sure these fine fellows would love to get some shore leave after being so long at sea."
"Aye!"
"Hear hear!"
"Mmmm, very well. I canna very well say no ta ye, mi laird." The captain replied reluctantly. Even though he was captain of the ship, since Bianco outranked him as a diplomat. "Take a rowboat and six o' the men ta the shore with ye, but I must protest against this decision as foolhardy." He turned to face his crew. "And be one notice that any o' ye that go ashore do so of yer own accord, an' we shant be comin’ after ye should some ill fate befall the lot o' ye."
"Good luck out there, Bianco." Salty told him, as he and two other crew members helped them into the rowboat. "You and the others are sure gonna need it."
....
"Gee, it sure is quiet around here."
The group of stallions rowed their way toward the island, gliding though the silent waters and mists towards the beach. Bianco and the other ponies stepped out into the soft sand, and pushed the boat forward onto dry land, as they trotted onto the beach.
"This place looks... so strange." One of the sailors noted, looking around. "It's like... time is almost standing still..."
The ponies all looked around, at the ferns and palm trees. crabs along the sand scurried out of their way as they walked up the beach, and the wind blowing through the trees seemed to sing a haunting, dreamy song as the party of ponies passed by. Thinking back to their first arrival on the islands, Bianco suddenly realized how the sandy beach and rocky outcroppings seemed to resemble a large... pony's neck and head, jutting out from the rest of the island.
"Hello?" Bianco called out, looking up the beach. "Anybody here?"
"Hello down there!" A voice called from one of the cliffs above them. "Hello there!"
One of the sailors reflexively raised his blunderbuss to open fire, but Bianco pushed his hoof down. Soon, four ponies- a stallion, a mare, and a filly and a colt- came trotting sown the side of the cliff to greet them. The three all had orange coats and pink and yellow manes, and they all wore garlands of flowers around their necks and heads.
"My word, Polynesian ponies" Bianco thought to himself. "I guess this island is inhabited, after all."
"Aloha, good sailors. Welcome to Tropical island!" The stallion greeted them, as the other three placed leis around the necks of their new visitors. "It's been a long time since we've had any visitors here."
"We've been on a long journey, and a storm drove us to this island." The Pegasus spread his wings, bowing to his new hosts. "I am ambassador Bianco, and we are most grateful for your hospitality."
"I'm Papi Sunbright, and this is my wife, Mami." The stallion inclined his head towards the mare at his side.
"Aloha, honored visitors." The mare greeted them. "Welcome to our island."
"M'am." The Pegasus bowed politely. "A pleasure to meet you."
"And these are my children." Papi pointed a hoof towards the two younger ponies. "Moki and Ikki."
"Aloha, good visitors." The two ponies bowed in unison, much to the amusement of the new arrivals.
"Wow, such a lovely family." Bianco smiled, thinking of his and Moondancer's children back home. "You must be very proud."
"Indeed." Papi replied, smiling back at his two offspring. "But come, yo all must be tired. Let us take you all back to our village."
"Lead on." Bianco replied, as he and the rest of the crew followed them back up the path.
Winding their way up through the jungle, the seafaring ponies were greeted by the warm and welcome song of many tropical birds in the palm trees above them. Soon, they came to several bamboo houses on stilts, beautifully decorated with flowers. All around them, the other tropical earth ponies trotted to and from the village, bringing the day's catch up in nets, and coming back from the fields with the fruits they had gathered.
"My word, quite a large village you have here." Bianco noted, watching several of the village children at play. "Are your tribe the only ones here?"
"No my friend, there is a mainlander who also lives here among us." Papi replied with a smile. "He washed up on our island from a shipwreck, and has become like a member of my family during the many years of his stay."
"Oh, really?" The Pegasus asked in surprise. "I would certainly like to meet this fellow."
"Not a problem, old chap. I'm right 'ere." A white earth stallion with brown spots trotted out, dressed in clothing that clearly indicated he was in the pirate profession. Trotting up to Bianco, the brown-maned earth pony extended a hoof towards the Pegasus.
"Name's Pipsqueak, old bean. Pleasure ta meet ya!" The colt whinnied in the old tongue, which the ambassador barely understood. "So you're from the mainland, aye? 'ow are things back in old Equestria?"
"I tell you, Princess Celestia was the kind ruler!" Applejack snapped angrily, with the mares behind her nodded their heads in agreement. "She ruled the solar empire, and protected us all from the tyrant Nightmare Moon!"
"Nightmare Moon was just a piece of lying propaganda! How dare you talk like you were actually there!" Cherries Jubilee snapped back at her. "Princess Luna was the savoir of Ponykind, she protected the Lunar republic from her evil sister!"
What had started in the friendly debate in the garden, had turned into a seriously heated argument over the topic Sun Shimmer had assigned to most of these mother's children the day before. Just as she had intended, the mothers had read the enchanted text, and fallen under her spell just as their daughters had. The mare smiled as she passed the garden, reveling in the strife and arguing she had successfully caused.
"These gullible fools are falling right into my hooves like a moth to a flame." The mare thought to herself, as she trotted away from the castle gardens "Just throw the right fuel onto the fire, and it spreads just like a virus!"
As she trotted by the kitchen, the unicorn heard another argument coming out from the entrance, as two mares devoted their energies to another argument based on her second and third homework questions.
"I'm telling you, Pinkie Pie was a cannibal!" Sweet Stuff roared, an uncharacteristic anger spweing forth from the kind pony. "She served up Rainbow Dash as a a plate full of desserts!"
"No she did not! It was Rainbow Dash who was the monster!" Gingerbread whinnied back angrily. "That Pegasus ground up foals in Cloudsdale to make rainbows!"
She peeked her head around the corner into the kitchen, to see the two cooks hurling pots and pans at each other. Giggling to herself, the mare trotted her way down the hall, where Posey and Surprise argued about Equestria once being overrun by zombies, and Wind Whistler and Fizzy screamed at each other about Equestria forcibly turning humans into ponies on the other.
At the end of the hallway, Sun came to the iron gate to the stallion's quarters in the castle basement. The powerful unicorn Mimic held the gate in place with her magic, as the stallions behind it snarled and kicked at the gate angrily.
"You unicorn devil!" Thundercloud roared from behind the gate, as Miss Shimmer past by on the other side. "What the flank have ye done ta our mares?"
"Oh shut your trap, you filthy male!" The mare snorted back. "It's a shame you and your friends are immune to my magic due to your devolved stallion brains. Don't worry though, your ends will come soon enough." She turned to Mimic. "Make sure you keep them down there, the human sorceress has them under her control!"
"No problem, Miss Shimmer!" The mare with the glowing eyes turned and slammed her hoof against the grating. "Be silent, you stupid stallions. This is for your own good!"
Sun kept walking, finally making her way into the throne room. There, Twilight Shine protected herself and Megan beneath an energy shield her magic was generating, as other unicorns and earth ponies slammed against the barrier.
"Oh no, Twilight!" The frightened human girl cried out. "They going to get through!"
"Don't worry Megan, I can keep this shield up!" But as she saw the teacher, the unicorn with the glowing horns eyes went wide. "You! You're the cause of all this, you fork tongued old nag!"
"Ahhhh, there you are, Twilight!" Sun Shimmer sneered, as she trotted up behind the ponies that were trying to attack the two friends under the shield. "I should of figured you'd be protecting the human tramp from her just deserved justice."
"You, you old witch!" Megan yelled, clenching her fists as she glared at sun. "What have you done to our friends!?"
"Oh, just opened their eyes, with a little enchantment I put on my loyal students' homework." Sun chortled. "Can you actually believe that there is a mind manipulation enchantment that warps and clouds mares minds, that's activated simply by getting the mare to read the cursed text? Quite a brilliant genius, that old Starswirl the bearded was."
"So you were trying to take control of their minds?" Twilight asked, as the ponies continued to chip away at the shield. "But why the historical revisionism? Why teach lies if you were just going to brainwash them anyway?"
"The enchantment weaves it's magic though lies, Twilight Shine." Sun sneered. "It uses deceptions to work it's way into the brain, and so warp a mare's judgment that they are easy for me to control." She pointed a hoof back at the attacking ponies with the glowing eyes. "When I tell the foals lies like there Rainbow Dash sacrificing foals, or Pinkie Pie making her friends into cupcakes... well, it was easy to twist their minds with such fantastic falsehoods. I had to step it up with the adults, but the little kiddies led them right into my clutches."
"But why?" Megan asked, wrapping her arms around Twilight's neck defensively, as the mare tried desperately to keep the shield up. "Why are you doing this to Dream Valley?"
"Payback, for what my mother went though." The mare's eye twitched, as she glared at the pink unicorn. "Sunset Shimmer...does your family remember that name? Your ancestor left her in the human world to rot, and when she finally found her way back, Equestria was gone!" The angry mare turned away, as she tried to fight back her tears. "You... your family... this whole stinking kingdom that sheltered the house of Twilight... you're all going to feel the pain my mother did!"
"You won't get away with this!" Megan screamed defiantly, her hatred of the mare before her driving her anger. "when Queen Majesty gets back, she'll-"
"By the time your mighty Queen returns, there won't be a Dream Valley." The mare smiled, looking up through the glass dome in the center of the throne room. "You see, the second phase of my plan is about to take place."
The young girl looked up at the skylight, where she saw tiny snowflakes falling onto the roof above. a sudden chill began to fill the air, and Megan could hear the sound of a spectral horse's whinny coming from outside.
"What's that's sound?" The young girl asked, suddenly more frightened. "And why is it snowing in late May?"
"It seems all this fighting in Dream Valley has attracted some... unwanted attention." Sun looked back down at the two friends her magic could not control. "It seems without their weekly horsemaster meditations and prayers to keep them calm, the mares of the castle have gotten awfully angry..."
"The windigoes..." Twilight replied in horror. "So that's it, you're planning to freeze us all to death!"
"Oh, not you two!" Miss Shimmer chuckled. "I am going to get the shear entertainment of watching your dear friends tear the two of you limb from limb. The looks of horror on your faces before they reduce your corpses to a blood-stained mess of meat and bone will be priceless!"
"You sick demented mare!" Twilight snorted. "Take your revenge on us, if you so wish, but spare poor Megan! She has done no harm to you!"
"She will die with the rest of you!" Sun spat. "That human is the worst scourge ever visited on your herd! Taking away Dream Valley's self-reliance, leading all of you around by the nose..." The unicorn glared at Megan. "You are against everything Equestria stood for! I hate you, hate your sickeningly sweet smile, hate your cuteness and your repulsive kindness! I absolutely hate how you poison this perfect world with your sickening human presence!" The clearly insane mare shrieked, saliva flying from her mouth as she raged. "A little girl like you has no place in the world of ponies!"
"As opposed to what, hairy old men?" Megan snapped back, trying to use sarcasm to hide her fear. "I'll never leave my little ponies, you demented sicko!"
"ENOUGH TALK!" Sun raged, stamping her hoof in anger. "Now, all of Dream Valley shall feel my mother's wrath! And you two shall never leave this room alive!"
The mare's maddened laughter echoed though Dream Castle. The skylight overhead suddenly imploded, and several ferocious looking horse-like spirits swooshed around over their heads. Ice began to creep up the columns, and the hooves of their equine attackers, and Megan and Twilight huddled together to keep warm, as the energy shield slowly iced up all around them...
"M-megan..." Twilight wimpered, nuzzling up to the little girl as the last of her strength went out. "I-t's so c-cold..."
Having seen the story unfold in the crystal ball before them, the four mares were beside themselves with how to deal with the situation. Truly was pacing the floor of the hut nervously, while Moondancer and Zigzag seemed lost in their own thoughts. It was Zigzag, straightforward and blunt as ever, who finally spoke up;
"That poor child." Zigzag shook her head sadly. "How could a mother treat her own offspring so horribly?"
"Muthas cain be real monstahs Ziggy, bealieve me. h know thait bettah thain most ponehs." Truly replied, still trotting back and forth. "But thait's no excuse foh her actions."
"Are you so certain about that, my good Truly?" Zigzag pondered aloud. "I wonder if that poor unicorn was ever shown any affection, at any time during her miserable life? All she might need is just a little kindness and friendship, and-"
"Save yo breath, Ziggy. She's a monstah like all the rest thait Dream Valleh hais eveah faced." Truly snorted angrily. "Weah gonna need to go home, an' teach that lyin' ol tramp a lesson when the time is raight!"
"Zo girls, ve vinally know vhat vas ze cauze und origin of ziz threat." The Romani pony cocked an eyebrow. "Now ze qvestion is... vhat are vou goink to do avout it?"
"Ladies, we have got to back to return to Dream Castle, and rescue our friends from Sunset's dark and deceptive magic!" Moondancer declared, stamping her hoof on the table. If that witch had her way, our friends will end up tearing each other apart in hatred!"
"Naow y'all just calm daown, Mooneh." Truly tried to clam her. "We'll get back ta save our friends soon enough, but we gotta make shoah we cain win!"
"Miss Truly is indeed correct, my good Moondancer." Zigzag agreed. "If we are going to make a stand, it is obvious that we'll need a plan!"
"Und I believe zhat I have ze plan to help us combat ziz sorceress's evil!" Gypsy told her new friends, "If ve are going to vight Zun's lies, ve are goink to need to take her deceptions vith ze power of truth."
"While I do agree with you about truth being the key to victory," Moondancer pointed out. "I fail to see how it's going to help us overcome the power he's gained by bewitching all of our friends."
Zigzag spent a few minutes pondering, until she remembered a small, very obscure piece of Zoropthian lore.
"The Sparkle ponies!" The zebra exclaimed, finally realizing what the Romani pony was referring to. "They are the awnser we've been seeking!"
"Of course! Why didn't we think of that before?" " Moondancer whinnied, her eyes going wide. "We need to seek out the aid of the sacred guardians of pony truth!"
"The what naow?" The earth mare asked, confused. "What're y'all yammerin abaout?"
"Do you not recall your own faith's scriptures, Truly?" Zigzag replied. "Don't you remember the story of the poor orphaned fillies who ascended to become the embodiments of truth?"
"And it came to pass, that the reign of the tyrant Sombra came to an end at the hooves of the Alicorn sisters." Moondancer quoted from the verses that she knew by heart. "But the battle had cost ponykind much, as the reat empire he had enslaved, vaished into the snows of time. But a few young foals had remained after the Crystal Empire's disappearance, and these children the Princess Luna took into her own heart. Away from the pony lands she took them, to the safety of the Purple Mountains. There, under the watchful eyes of the princess of the night, these young fillies grew to be the most honest and pure mares ponykind had ever seen...the very embodiment of truth."
"But the day came when their beloved alicorn princess came to the fillies no longer. Despite the sadness at the loss of their surrogate mother, the mares continued to live by the virtues Princess Luna had taught them. So pleased was the horsemaster with the ponies they had become, that the creator of all ponykind gifted transformed these mares into the beautiful, glittering manifestations of truth itself. The horsemaster then invited the mares to come and dwell within the Gardens of Friendship. There, the Sparkle ponies now watch over all of Ponyland, serving as the guardian saints of truth for all of ponykind. It is they who drive the shadows of ignorance from our blessed lands, and answer the prayers of all equines who are plagued by the evils of falsehood, in all of it's myriad forms."
"Zhen our couze iz clear!" Gypsy exclaimed, trotting over to to a chest, and beginning to pack her things. "Ve muzt venture to ze lands of zee Sparkle ponies, und zeek zheir aid in deveating Zun's magic!"
"Now wait just a second... we're talking about the Friendship Gardens here, right?" Zigzag exclaimed, her eyes going wide. "As in... the place that serves as the barrier between the material world and the horsemaster's stables? The place where the souls of dead zoropothians and horsemasterists go to depart from this world?" The zebra looked around at all of the ponies assembled. "Are you ladies absolutely sure we are pure enough to go to such a sacred place?"
"Whut choice dah we haive, Ziggy?" Truly asked, desperation creeping into her voice. "By controllin' all of our freinds, she hais control of all thiar magical poweh! Even if Twalaight is still on our said, we'll need all the hailp we can get to fight Miss Shimmah!"
"What if we went to the Princess Ponies for help?" Zigzag asked hopefully. "Certainly with the elements of Harmony they could-"
"The current harmony bearers are busy with Tirek's latest insurgency, as is the rest of Ponyland." Moondancer shook her mane. "I'm afraid with this one, we're on our own."
"Very well." The zebra replied with a defeated sigh. "We'd best get to bed then, because we'll need to get an early start for Crimson Canyon in the morning."
"Wait re we sure that the old legends about there being a physical entrance to the Gardens in Ponyland are true?" Moondancer questioned. "We could be going on a fools errand, while our friends are dying!"
"Ve have to take zat rizk, darlink." the Romani pony replied with a sigh. "If ve are goink to zave our vriends!"
...
Gypsy showed the mares to a room with three straw beds, and it wasn't long before Moondancer and her friends had settled in for the night. But it was hard for any of them to sleep, however, as the worry about thier friends back home filled their hearts.
"Zigzaig, how y'all think the others ah doin'?" The southern belle pony asked, rolling over to face her unicorn friend. "Y'all think theyah goin' ta be all raight?"
"Twilight will hold things together back there, don't worry." The zebra replied, trying to sound more confident than she actually felt. "There's no way she'll let that witch harm our friends!"
"Well need to hurry, though." Moondancer continued. "Who knows what horrible fate that old witch has in store for Dream Valley."
"What about your own child, Moondancer?" Zigzag asked, rolling over to face the unicorn. "How do you think she is faring?"
"Hopefully, the rainbow monks have purified her of Sun's deceptive taint by now." Her friend replied. "At least she won't be around when this conflict reaches it's conclusion."
"Ah still cain't believe this happened! This is all Majesteh's fault!" Truly snorted angrily, rolling over. "If our behloved queen haid been heyah ta poteact us, then none a this woulda occured!"
"Don't you dare say that, Truly! The queen has to go away on diplomatic visits!" Moondancer snapped, her temper and her wits already at their end. "It was our own bad choices that led us here. I just hope some better judgment can get us out of this mess!"
"One thing's fo shoah," Truly snapped, scowling. "If we make it outta this ahlive, y'all bettah believe ahm gonna make shoah this don't happen agahin!"
"Not that I don't think this conversation is great." Zigzag admonished them. "But is it really wise for us to be up this late?"
"Our zebra friends right, we need to get some sleep." Moondancer yawned. "Good night you two, we'll pick this debate up in the morning."
Moondancer blew the candle out, and the three friends closed their eyes, and surrendered themselves to the night's slumber.
...
The sun shone down on the beautiful flowers and trees, the colors awash in a visual symphony of light... a sight no pony could describe with mere words. Among this lush paradise stood three ponies, who watched what transpired in the world of mortals.
Tall they were, and beautiful far beyond the mere standards of mortal ponies. Their entire bodies glowed and glittered with the dust of the one-time moon spirit that had raised them, a fitting sign of the love the long-gone alicorn had showered upon these now-powerful mares.
"They are coming here... coming to seek our aid." Star Hopper, a green unicorn with a golden mane, declared. "They know we hold the key to aiding Dream valley in it's time of need."
"A useless gesture, for this world may not be entered by the living." Twinkler, a Pegasus with a purple coat and mane, sighed. "Such a pity that they believe the myth that Friendship Gardens can be reached from the physical world. There is no way they can come to us here."
"Then we must go to them, sisters." Star Dancer, a pink earth pony with a blue mane, replied. "As the horsemaster's chosen champions of truth, we cannot just abandon those poor ponies to their fate."
"Agreed, Star. Our beloved mother of the night would have expected no less of us." The unicorn replied. "I feel that poor mare's pain, but we cannot let the icy touch of her deception freeze their poor hearts solid."
"They have most certainly disappointed me, however." The Pegasus sighed. "Three bright, intelligent ponies amongst them, and it is the zebra who even has the glimmer of the solution."
"Such is the way of mortals, Twinkler." Star Dancer answered. "The solution can be right under thier noses, and still they cannot see it."
"Then it is up to us, my dear sisters in truth sisters, to show these poor mares the way." Star Hopper finished. "Come now, while their slumber blurs the line between the worlds of the living and the dead. Let us welcome Moondancer and her companions to Friendship Gardens."
The three mares eyes suddenly began to glow, as the champions of truth and clarity reached out across the void, to touch the slumbering minds of those in the mortal world...
"Wow, this place is so incredible!" Salty said with a sigh, as he lay back in his hammock, and sipped a coconut full of lemonade. "If it weren't for my wife Fizzy I wouldn't ever wanna leave!"
It had been the third day since the storm came up, and Barnacle still had not been able to guide his ship thought the mysterious maelstrom that surrounded the island. The crew had been taking turns on shore leave on the island, and the current batch were currently all surrounding Moki, giving the tropical beauty pearls and other trinkets they had fished out of the cove.
"Really, this is all so very sweet and thoughtful of you... really." The Polynesian filly giggled. "But it wouldn't be right for me to show favor to just one of you."
"Aw, c'mon missy!" One called out. "Surely you'd love ta come back with me on our ship?"
"Naw, she wants ta come back wif me!" Another sailor called out. "Say you'll be mine, me lovely, an' I'll take ya away from all this!"
"My, your men certainly are trying to catch my daughter's eye!" Papi Sunbright told Barnacle, as the two watched the spectacle from the deck of the chieftain’s hut. "I've never seen so many frogs trying to capture one fly."
"Aye must apologize for that, me good host." The captain replied sheepishly. "They be usually better behaved than this, but the lads have been at sea fer quite some time."
"I understand completely." He the chief replied with a laugh, as he trotted inside, and retrieved a navigation chart. "Now, here is the map, that will show you how to navigate though the storm that eternally surrounds the island."
"Ye, have a chart, that can predict the weather patterns?" Barnacle asked, astounded. "By the Horsemaster, what a valuable treasure!"
"Only for this island's maelstrom, I'm afraid." Papi replied with a sigh. "For you see, there is more to this storm than-"
"Say no more, my good stallion." Barnacle held his hoof up, silencing the chief. "Aye assumed it was some kind o' bewitchery when aye first arrived. We deal with this sort o' stuff all the time back home."
"We will be sad to see you go, my good Barnacle, for we have greatly enjoyed having visitors here on our island, after so many moons." The chief told the pony captain.
"Nonsense, Chief Sunbright." The old sea dog replied. "It is we who should be thanking ye, fer yer generous hospitality."
"If you wish to do that, then take my son, Ikki, with you." Papi encouraged the captain, as the teenage colt came trotting out of the cabin. "He has a strong set of hooves, and will be valuable on your journey!"
"Are ye sure ye wish ta go, lad?" Barnacle asked, taking a puff on his pipe. "We shan't be back towards this island for many a month, perhaps longer. Ye ready ta be parted from yer family fer that long?"
"Oh, yes!" Ikki replied, dragging his bag of belongings along behind him. "I have so wanted to see the sea, but never had the chance to do so before!"
"Then go speak with Salty, about gettin' yer things ta the ship." Barnacle replied with a laugh. "We've been havin' a need, fer a new swabbie!" Away from the others, Bianco was trotting through the forest with Pipsqueak, as the long-shipwrecked sailor was telling the sailor how he had first come here.
"We were seven weeks outta port from Baltimare, when the mother of all storms swamped our ship!" The Equestrian earth colt told the Pegasus. "That nasty storm tore our ship ta pieces, dashing me mates against the rocks! Only I, all by meself, was able ta swim ta this island. Even as the rest o me comrades went down to King Leo's locker, Luna rest their souls!"
"So you're originally from Equestria?" Bianco asked, assuming he meant the southern colonies that still existed to the present day. "What made you want to take up a profession as dangerous as sailing?"
"Aye 'allways wanted to be a pirate as a foal, I did! Dressed up as a pirate every Nightmare night so's I could pretend!" Pip replied proudly. "Princess Luna always did favor me since I was a wee lad, she did. And sailing under her beautiful moon was the bestest way I could think of spendin' the rest o me days, it was!"
"How very... romantic sounding." Bianco replied with a chuckle, amused by the Equestrian pony's silly alicornist superstition. "Are you sure you wish to return with us, though? The chief seems to wish you to remain on the island."
"Blimey, ain't that truth." Pipsqueak sighed in annoyance. "He even offered me the hand o' his daughter so's I wouldn't leave, he did! Said I didn't belong out in that world anymore."
"Maybe he's right." Bianco replied, looking over at Salty pulling all the disgruntled sailors away from Moki. "Maybe there is something on this island worth staying here for."
"Ahh, Moki is a fine filly, Ta be sure. An I wouldn't mind takin 'er with me, if she wanted." Pipsqueak replied. "But I've been trapped 'ere for far to long, old chap. The sooner I get off this bloody island, the better." Pip slowly closed his eyes, and looked down. "All I want to do is be free again, Bianco. All I want ta do is go home."
....
"Raise the mainsail!" Barancle's voice bellowed, as the Saucy Mare glided out of the rocky cove. "Look lively now, lads! We're approaching the maelstrom!"
After a farewell feast, and many tearful goodbyes the previous night, Barnacle crew had returned to the ship with a fresh supply of water and provisions. The stallions all braced themselves, for the difficult trial ahead of them.
"Can you believe it? This is so exciting!" Ikki squealed in delight, as he help another colt raise the flag. "This'll be the first time I've ever been away from my island!"
"Blimey, you'll love the outside world, Ikki!" Pip yelled up to him, as he helped tie the mainsail. "First thing I'm gonna do when we get home, I'm takin ya to Manehatten for a good old fashioned ice cream cone!"
"Quiet it down, boys!" Salty barked to the two of them. "We're approaching the maelstrom!"
The ship quickly passed back into the mass of clouds, rain and thunder. Just as before, the ship was torn about and tossed, as the deckhands scurried this way and that, trying to keep the ship in one piece. The first officer held steadfastly to the wheel, praying to the horsemaster he kept on the narrow path Papi's chart had indicated.
"Steady as she goes, Mister Salty!" Barnacle Barked, holding onto the ship's railing. "We're almost out o' the maelstrom!"
And their captain was right, for soon the storm clouds began to break up, and the rays of light began to break through the clouds.
"We made it!" Salty cried, throwing his sailor's cap into the air. "Horsemaster be praised, we actually made it!"
The entire ship erupted into cheers, and Bianco actually hugged Ikki in excitement. "We did it! We actually did it!"
"Well done, lads." Captain Barnacle replied, lighting his pipe in satisfaction. "Aye am proud of ye all."
As the ship slowly glided away from the island, Bianco dashed back to the spot where he had last seen Pip.
"Pipsqueak we made it! You're finally free!" He looked around frantically, trying to find his new friend. "We're away from the island! You can finally go..."
There, on the deck, was the shirt and Bandana that the brave young colt had been wearing, laying on top of a pile of dust. And all at once, Bianco's face suddenly fell.
At first, everything around her was dark. She had no idea where she was, to say nothing of what she was doing. But then, a sound suddenly came out of the total darkness.
"Greetings, young ones." A voice gently whispered in Moondancer's ear, as if it were a soft breeze on the wind. "We are so pleased you have arrived in this place, and we welcome all of you to our celestial domain."
The unicorn mare opened her eyes slowly, a strange haze filling her vision. As things came into focus, Moondancer saw a beautiful garden spread out, filled with the most beautiful flowers she had ever seen. Lilacs and Daffodils, Marigolds and Chrysanthemums... it was a sight that would have sent Poesy into euphoria. The whole place evoked warm and happy feelings in the mare she couldn't explain, like being wrapped in a warm blanket made out of pure bliss. everything around her seemed brighter- more alive- than anything she had ever before experienced.
Farther off from where the mare lay, Moondancer saw Zigzag and Truly lying amidst the tulips, thier own eyes slowly beginning to open.
""W-where are we?" Zigzag asked, "What on earth is going on?"
"Moondaincah, is thait y'all?" Truly asked, trying to shake the grogginess out of her head. "Who the heck of those ponies?"
"Greetings, Moondancer of Dream Valley." A voice behind the unicorn, greeted the new arrival. "We have brought you and your companions here, to assist in your most terrible plight."
Moondancer spun around, to face three magnificent ponies that stood before her. A unicorn, a Pegasus, and an earth mare- all glowing with an inner light that outshone the beauty around them. And at once, Zigzag bowed politely, immediately knowing who these three mysterious figures were.
"Twinkler, Star Hopper, Star Dancer..." the zebra greeted them reverently. "...most esteemed Sparkle ponies, it is an honor."
"The Spahkle Ponehs?" Truly asked, her eyes going wide. "But if theyah heah, thiat means weah in...."
"-the friendship gardens." Moondancer replied, going pale even as she said it. "We're in the land of the dead."
"Worry not, my little ponies, you are still amongst the living." Twinkler assured them. "We have drawn you here from the land of your dreams, to this place somewhere between sleep and awake."
"We know of your problems with the hateful mare, Sun Shimmer." Star Hopper continued, shaking her glittering mane. "She seeks an undeserved revenge on Dream Valley, one that will leave your home as a frozen wasteland."
"But whut cain we do?" Truly asked. "Her lies have warp ahll our friend's mahnds, an we cain't get through to em' anymoarh."
"Your friends eyes have been clouded over by the ignorance of lies." Star Dancer replied. "You must open them again with the one force lies and deception cannot defeat- the truth."
"But how, honored ones?" Zigzag pleaded. "How can we possibly get them to listen?"
"The truth will always shine through the darkness of deception." Star Hopper continued. "Remember that the truth has always only helped Dream Valley, even when your herd would not face the truth about yourselves."
"Wait, what do you mean 'the truth about ourselves'?" Moondancer asked, uncertain. "What can we not see?"
"Your herd, like the rest of Ponyland, claims you scorn and detest friendship as weak." Twinkler responded. "Yet the family-like bond you each share with each other, such as with you and Applejack, are they not simply friendship under another name?"
"Honorable Sphakle ponehs, we would nevah show the waekness of befrendin ah enemies!" Truly protested. "Thait was the weakness of th' Equestrians we look dawon upon!"
"But you would forgive a foe who repented and aided you, would you not?" Star Dancer countered. "The truth is you would vanquish any threat to your families and love ones, but your hearts are not truly consumed by hate."
"Forgive me for asking, great ones." Zigzag interrupted. "But what exactly does that have to do with the current problem?"
"The point is, that it is the self deceptions in each pony's own heart that is allowing Sun Shimmer's spells to control them." Twinkler explained. "Only when they are forced to face the truth, will your friends be freed from their enchantment."
"Much as this pony here faced the truth about the world he knew existing no longer." The sparkling unicorn lowered her horn, and the image of a ship lost in a storm appeared in a vision before them. Moondancer saw a young earth pony aboard the ship remove his shirt and jump overboard, swimming back towards the island the ship had come from. "This young sailor finally overcame his self-deception that he wished to leave hid new home, and realized that his happiness lay in the arms of a mare he was about to leave behind."
"The point is, that making the ponies you love face the truth, will be the thing that brings them the truth." Star Hopper finished. "There is the answer you seek."
Moondancer looked between her two friends, confused and honestly not knowing what to think. She had no idea why the mysterious mares had shown them that odd, seemingly unrelated vision, and she was left with more questions than answers. But being that they were dealing with divine pony spirits, the unicorn did the only thing she and her friends could do.
"We thank you for your wisdom, great ones." Moondancer bowed, the other two following suit. "We shall contemplate the meaning of your words."
And with that. the three ponies and the gardens around them vanished in the sea of swirling mists.
...
"Sparkle Ponies!"
Moodancer yelled allowed, as the three mares sat up in bed. Moondancer lit the room with her horn, and saw the other startled ponies were awake, as well. They all looked at each other in shock, unsure at first that what they had each just experienced had, in fact, actually happened. Burt the look they each saw on the other's faces confirmed that the vision of the sparkle ponies had been no mere vision. And they each began to silently wonder what they were going to do next.
It was at that moment, that Gypsy suddenly burst through the door, and came galloping in the room.
"Ladies I heard a noize!" The panicked mare exclaimed, a look of worry crossing her exhausted face. "Vhat ze hay iz goink on in here? Iz everyvon okay?"
"Oh Gypsy, You just wouldn't believe" An exausted Moondacer replied, climbing out of bed and shaking her mane. "And oh boy, have we got a story to tell you..."
"Hurreh up, Zigzag!" Truly called back over her shoulder in annoyance. "If ya'll keep fallin behaind like that, we'll nevah reach Dream Caistle befoah naightfall!"
"I am hurrying, without delay!" The zebra gasped, galloping after the three ponies ahead of her. "Lest my slowness lead our mission astray."
After informing Gypsy of their vision and their plans, the four equines had taken most of the following day to make the necessary preparations, and then set off back towards Dream Castle. Gypsy had managed, through several short distance teleports, managed to wink them within walking distance of their home. Racing quietly from tree to tree, the four mares hoped to evade the vile unicorn's notice.
"Do you think she knows we're coming yet?" Moondancer asked, sticking her head out from under the tree they were currently hiding under. "She doesn't have very powerful scrying magic."
"I vouyldn't underestimate zhat pony's capabilites, darlink." Gypsy warned. "Avter all, zhat iz vhat led Dream Valley into trouble in zee virst place, now isn't it?"
"Gypsy's raight." Truly, agreed, as they dashed to the next tree. "Whay, thait scaliwag mare maight even be watchin us raight naow!"
...
"Well wel well, it looks like the four strays have come home." Sun Shimmer snarled, watching the four sneaking ponies through Queen Majesty's magic mirror. "While I was hoping to catch their monarch or her bratty daughter returning, this will do just as well."
Situated in her new palace of ice, The wicked mare smiled as the windigoes danced and flew around her in the air, still sucking what little nourishment could be had from the now-frozen mares throughout the palace. Sun was unsatisfied with her icy revenge, however, as there were still ponies away from the castle that had escaped her wrath. Twilight had managed to get a few of the fillies, including queen Majesty's brat, out before she could spring her trap. But now, three of the escapees were coming back to her, like moths to a flame.
"You up there... we have guests." The angry unicorn called up to one of the windigoes. "You and your friends go give them a reception they'll never forget!"
The horse spirit glared down at the unicorn mare, snorting it's icy breath at her indignantly.
"Hey, I am not trying to order you and your kind around- believe me, even I'm not insane enough to try that." Sun whinnied nervously. "But that's where your freshest meal is going to be, now isn't it?"
The windigo glared at her for a moment, before nodding to three of the others, and leading them out through a nearby window. Looking back towards the mirror, Sun Shimmer grinned evilly.
"Ladies, prepare for a very, very icy reception." The mad mare snorted, her eye twitching. "You four won't stop me from carrying out my dear sweet mother's revenge!"
...
"Girls, wait." Moondancer raised her hoof, stopping the rest in their tracks. "Did you hear something?"
All of the equines' ears picked up, and the heard the distant howling and whinnying of what sounded like several horses. As the sounds drew closer, a chill wind blew though the branches above them.
"Oh no, darlinks..." Gypsy said nervously, hunkering down a bit. "...are zoze zounds vhat I zink zhey are?"
The chilling wind suddenly began to pick up, and snow began to fall at an extremely alarming rate. Ice crystals formed on everything around them, as the horrible sounding whinnying and snorting drew ever closer.
"Our luck has truly reached it's lows!" Zigzag wailed in despair, confirming the roma pony's suspicions. "For we have encountered the windigoes!"
The icy spirits quickly appeared, swirling and twirling in the skies above them. The sight of these horrifying creatures from ponykind's oldest legends was enough to even give these four mares pause.
"What ah they doin heyah?" Truly asked in terror. "Mah momma told me these haunts onleh live up in the faw nawth!"
"Sun's spell of hatred must have drawn them here." Zigazg replied in a terrified tone. "And if we don't think of something, our end will be near!"
The creatures howled again, causing the four mares backed up in fear. The four stared, uncertain, until finally Moondancer spoke up.
"Keep moving forward!" Moondancer ordered them, lowering her head in the face of the now-blowing snow, and trudging forward. "Clear your mind of hateful thoughts! As long as they can't feed, they can't freeze you!"
The other three lowered their heads, and began walking forward, even as the drifting and blowing snow obscured everything around them. The mares began to recite their Zoroponthian mantras, attempting to cleanse their minds and hearts of all emotions.
"Hatred is a poison, that must be drawn out by love... anger is a raging fire, that must be cooled by the waters of serenity... one emotion must cancel out the other, so that the balance may be achieved. Such is the way of the horsemaster, the great equalizer that brings order to all things."
As a serene and peaceful calm washed through the four equines, whispers began to creep into their minds. Wither it was the windigoes or Sun's magic, they could not tell. But the intent of the voices was clear enough.
"Stupid little Roma pony! Can't you see all of the others hate you? They are jealous of your looks, and your graceful beauty! That's why they exiled you to live in the wilderness!
"Look at you! A poor, exiled mare from the plantations of southern Mustangia! You see yourself as sophisticated, but all of your so-called friends look down on you as some kind of backwater hick! Even Heart Throb -your own sister- is disgusted by how you look down on other ponies like they were slaves! Dream Valley will only ever see you as some rich snob!"
"You claim you left your tribe because you didn't want to marry the zebra daddy picked out for you... but that's not the whole truth, now is it? Your own family couldn't stand how outspoken you were, even your own brother left you! Why would any of these ponies want to listen to you shoot off your mouth?"
"You know the real reason your such a prude, don't you? You've seen what the darkness can do to a pony, haven't you? Those destructive desires you felt as a dragon, still burn in the back of your mind... the desire to see everything consumed by flames. You may have gotten the shape of a pony back, but the ferocity of a dragon still burns in your sinful heart!"
Again the four hunch down, trying to resist the poison seeping into their minds. They huddle close together, trying to stay warm as the icy spirits close in. For a moment, Moondancer honestly believes that this may be the end...
...until one word seeps into all of their hearts, silently whispered by three distant pony spirits who were watching them.
truth...
At that moment, the four ponies didn't feel weak and helpless any longer. Rather, they felt the strength and courage of a hundred stallions flowing through them, bolstered by the power of that one, simple little idea. Looking up at the three threats swirling around their heads, the mares finally knew exactly what they had to do.
"No! Ah ahm NAWT an arrogant poneh!" Truly roared, standing up defiantly. "Ah left mustangia because ah thought those ponehs were mah friends, nawt mah slaves! Ah stood up for whut was raight!"
"Zhey do not hate me, zhey just vear me because zhey do not understand!" Gypsy screamed, standing up, and stamping her hoof. "Und vile I pity zhem, I vill not hate zhem for it as vou vant me to!"
"I left my tribe, because I would not be oppressed!" Zigzag followed them back onto her hooves. "And the doubts that you have stirred, have been laid to rest!"
"It may be true, that I fear my own inner ferocity. But I don't act like such a prude out of fear of the monster I was! " Moondancer finished, standing up defiantly with all the rest. "Rather, I don't want any other pony to suffer the way I did under evil's taint! I only do what I do because I love Dream Valley so much!"
The windigoes bucked and neighed angrily, annoyed that they were being denied their meal. But then Moondancer and Gypsy's horns suddenly began to glow, along with the zebra and earth pony's eyes.
"The truth has set us free!" The four yelled in unison, their voices speaking all as one. "And we shall NOT be consumed by your hatred!"
A beam fired out form the four ponies, striking the four windigoes dead center. The icy creatures let out a howl of pain, as the beam of light tore through them. There was a bright flash of light, and the windigoes exploded into a thousand icy shards. The mares could only stare up in shock, as the icy shards rained down around them.
"W-we did it..." Truly muttered nervously, a slow grin spreading across her face. "We actually managed ta beat the windigoes!"
"Not jhust beat zem, darlink, ve destroyed zhem!" Gypsy added excitedly. "Zhat's never been done vefore!"
"If we have found a way to banish them beyond the gates of Tartarus," Zigzag added in a non-rhymed sentence. "Then our way to the palace should be clear."
"I just wonder why it was the windigoes that attacked us." Moondancer asked, looking on down the path towards Dream Castle. "Do you girls think that they could be working with Sun?"
"Aw, come awn, Moony!" Truly laughed, as they all got back on the path. "Whut could thait old witch possibly have ta offer th' ancient pony spirits a' hatred?"
"And zhe devfintiely doezn't have ze power to control zhem." Gypsy added with a shiver. "Othvise, ve might be in a lot vorse trouble zhan we thought."
"Uh, laidehs?" Truly said, as they crested the hill where dream castle became visible. "Ah think ya'll maight wanna re-think thait assessment."
To thier horror, the four mares saw the spires of the Dream Castle entire encased in ice. The chilling pony spirits zoomed around the entire structure, as all of the surrounding valley was covered by ice and snow. Trotting up beside Moondancer, the earth pony voiced the question that the other three were all think.
"Oh deah, Moony! What ah we gonna do naow?"
...
"Impossible!" Sun roared in anger, stamping her hoof on the throne of ice she had made. "How could those four insignificant equines defeat the windigoes?!?"
Jumping off the icy chair, she stomped out into the castle's main archway, looking around at the frozen ponies that surrounded her.
"No matter, I have another ace up my hoof that'll stop Moondancer and her rescue party dead in their tracks." The mare let out another soft laugh. "Don't worry mother, these stupid ponies haven't beaten your little girl yet!"
"I-I don't believe this..." Moondancer mumbled in shock, as she walked amongst the frozen trees outside and flowers outside the castle. "The windigoes froze everything. How could this have happened....?"
"It vas hatred zat brought ze vindigoes here." Gypsy replied sadly looking around at the icy landscape. "Hatred caused by Zunzet's lies und dezeption."
The four ponies crossed the drawbridge, and entered the ice-covered castle. The ceiling, the floors, everything was covered by a thick sheet of snow and ice. All across the floor, ice covered every piece of furniture, and many of the hallways doors appeared to be frozen over, as well. But it was what they saw frozen around the room, that horrified the mares the most.
"Oh no, Shady!" Truly screamed, galloping over to the depressed earth pony encased in ice. "Shady, whut have they done to y'all?"
"Zhey are all vrozen zolid, trapped in ice created vrom zhere own hatred." Gypsy replied, scanning the mares with her horn. "Zhey are ztill alvie, vut vrozen under de vindigoes zvell!"
"Whizzer... Gusty... Sweet Stuff... oh no!" Zigzag moaned looking around at all the frozen equines. "If we are to free them, their hatred has to go!"
"We need to get our friends out of here." Moondancer exclaimed, gazing at a frozen Applejack in one of the ice columns. "Before it's too late!"
"That would be a nice sentiment... were it to be true!" A unicorn mare sneered, as she approached them though the grand gallery. "But I afraid I can't let you liberate them from the ice. The windigoes and I have an agreement, ya know!"
"You! You foul she devil!" Moondancer snarled. "How dare you do this to our friends!"
"Y'all bettah free them, before we are for to lowah oursailves ta physcial violence!" Truly snorted, stamping her hoof. "Ya'll ah done hurtin' Dream Valley with yo viscious lies!"
"Oh my, just what I'd expected from a Mustangian brute like yourself, miss Truly." Sun laughed, walking around the frozen form of AJ. "And isn't that why you approved of me in the first place? Because of my lie about being from the old home country?"
"Well...ah...ah..." Truly replied uncertainly.
"And you, dear little Miss Moondancer. Wasn't it my 'upstanding stance' on morals, that won you over?" She turned towards the white unicorn mare. "My dedication to safeguarding Dream Castle's children from corruption? You lapped that load of bile up like a hungry calf drinking milk."
"But you lied to me, you lied to all of us!" Moondancer snapped back angrily, at the mae standing on the small staircase above them. "We never would have approved of you, if it hadn't been for your trickery!"
"Well, that's the whole point, isn't it? We all tell each other little lies every day." The other unicorn snarled, her horn glowing. "Little fibs to our friends so we don't hurt thier feelings, the tiny untruths we use to cover our own faults to others; such things comes to us naturally, without even thinking." Small three orbs of light burst off of her horn, and landed on the ground in front of them. "And even the sweet little delusions we tell ourselves, because we can't deal with the way things really are. Face it, lying is a part of a pony's nature, one from which none of us can ever escape!"
The three orbs of light suddenly burst into the forms of three ponies- one looking like a deranged Pinkie Pie holding a knife, one a sultry looking Princess Celestia, and one a Rainbow Dash holding a giant meat grinder. The three resembled more animated cartoon caricatures rather than real ponies, but it was still a creepy and terrifying sight to behold.
"Ohhh, a new friend..." Psycho Pinkie declared, holding her knife up in her hoof as she dove at Zigzag. "Maybe we could make some zebra cookies!"
"Get away from me, you foul beast!" Zigzag yelled, racing away from her blade-wielding pursuer. "I shall not end up as your desert feast!"
"Mmmm, such a luscious unicorn mare." The raunchy alicorn wrapped her wings around the roma pony, licking her lips. "Your princess commands you to give her the royal treament!"
"Aiee! Get avay vrom me, vou dizgustink conztruct!" Gypsy wailed, creating an energy shield to push the lustful mare. "Now I know how ze stallions I flirt vith veel!"
"Hmmm, no foals around here." The warped Rainbow Dash flew towards Truly. "Guess we'll have to grind up this mare, to make the warm spring breeze!"
"No! get away from me!" The southern belle wailed, galloping away from the grinder's blades. "Ah don't want to be gawn with the wind!"
"You see, Moondancer? Deception and lies will always bring fear, ignorance and hatred." Sun Shimmer declared, lowering her head and blasting the other mare with her horn. "And though that hatred, my mother's revenge on Dream Valley will be complete!"
"Oh please, you overgrown bag of wind!" Moondaner deflected the other unicorn's blast, with a burst of her own. "Your lines can never overcome the truth, Sun. Because while lies can be told and believed, the truth simply is, wither a pony likes it or not."
"I have had enough, of your being rude!" Zigzag snorted, turning and throwing a strange vial of chemicals from her lab at the Pinkie Pie duplicate. "But this shall give you a new attitude!"
The vial broke against the Pink nutcase, causing her to begin to melt away. "Eeeeeek! What have you done to meeeeee????....burblrburlburble...."
"Just a little solvent made of the seeds of truth." The zebra replied with a smile. "Guaranteed to melt any type of falsehood away."
As the pink ooze bubbled to nothing, the zebra shook her head sadly. "Friendly and caring was the real Pinkie Pie. Anything said otherwise is only a lie."
"Quit playing hard to get, peasant!" The sultry Celestia roared pounding away at the magic shield. "Give yourself to your princess!"
"I am zo zorry, vut you really aren't my type, darlink." Gypsy replied truthfully, batting her eyelashes at the mare. "Verhaps ve could just be vriends?"
"Arrgraaah!" The alicorn wailed, putting her hooves to her head, as the truth made her explode into a burst of rainbow light.
"Ze real Prinzess Celeztia vos a lind on true vruler." Gypsy snorted, turning her head away in disgust. "Vou vere a bad joke conjured up by her enemies."
"Ya know, ya'll ah one stupid poneh!" Truly snapped, spinning around to face the Dash caricature angrily. "Don't ya'll know thait Rainbow Dash wuz too loyal a pony to hurt othahs like thait?"
The eath mare leapt into the air, kicking the Pegasus down into her own grinder. As the walking falsehood was chopped up, the four ponies turned to face the angry unicorn above them.
"No!" Sun Shimmer wailed, taking a step back. "How did you overcome my spell?!?"
"With the light of truth, the one thing that sheds light on your deceptions." Moondancer replied, as her and Gypsy's horns began to glow. A wave of energy passed though the castle, thawing each and every of the mares out as the two unicorns telepathic message permeated their hearts and minds.
"Our dear sisters, open your hearts and minds... reject the deceptions of the liar, and remember the truth of your feelings for one another..."
"No, this can't be happening!" Sun Shimmer wailed, as the mares all around her thawed out. "There's no way my plan could be failing like this!"
"Now who's lying to themselves?" Moondancer cocking an eyebrow. "You made one fatal mistake, Miss Shimmer. bout the nature of your fellow equines."
"We may all tell little lies, it's true. But honesty is an ideal we all strive for." Zigzag continued, again dropping her rhyming to make a point. "We try every day to embrace truth, it just becomes a little hard for us flawed, mortal ponies sometimes."
As the mares all over the castle broke free of their icy prisons, and cries and shouts of joy came from all sides, followed by hugs and tears. So many ponies were happy to see their friends again, after being in the frozen grasp of hate.
"AJ. your all right!" Moondancer rushed up and hugged the still groggy earth mare.
"Sweet Stuff! Gusty!" Truly ran over to hug them. "Ah'm so glad y'all raight!"
It was then, that all attention turned back to the stunned unicorn in the center of the room, still to stunned to move or talk. They all began forming a circle around the now terrified Sun, slowly closing in on her as she came our of her shock.
"S-so what happens now?" The mare replied nervously, realizing fighting back was a useless gesture at this point. "You going to give me a sampling of your old style 'Dream Valley' justice?"
"No Sun," Moondacer replied simply, shaking her mane. "We're going to forgive you."
"Wha-wha?" The terrified mare asked, her eyes going wide is disbelief.
"Whut happened to y'all wuz terrible, Sun. Yo mama should have raised ya'll bettah." Truly stepped forward, putting a hoof on her shoulder. "Ya'll need compassion and understandin', nawt locked away in the Dream Valley dungeon."
"We would rather try to be your friend, rather than bring about your end." Zigzag agreed, stepping forward. "While to some, revenge might be great, we do not need to be frozen with hate."
"Ve vorgive vou of your cruelty, Zun Zimmer." Gypsy agreed, trotting up behind the others. "Even avter all ze pain vou caused us, ve offer vou a place at ze table."
"Put your hate aside Sun Shimmer." Moondancer offered her a hoof. "Let it die with your mother, and find a new beginning."
The mare looked around at all the somber faces around her, seeing the pity and compassion in their eyes, looking back at the four who had defeated her plans, her face suddenly turned to a look of rage.
"NOOOOO!" Sun Fired off an angry blast, stunning the ponies around her long enough to get away from them. "I don't want you pity, I don't want your forgiveness, I DON'T WANT ANYTHING FROM YOU!"
"Sun, no... wait!" As the angry mare galloped out over the drawbridge, Moondancer started after her.
But Truly stopped her friend, putting a hoof on her shoulder.
"Let her go, Moony." The earth mare told her sadly. "Sun made her choaice, it's too late fo her naow."
As Sun Shimmer sped away from Dream Valley, the Windigoes whirled about overhead, starving and argry that their deal had been broken. Honing in one the one pony in the area with anger and hatred in her heart, the icy creatures swarmed over her, like moths too a flame.
"No, get away from me!" The unicorn wailed, trying to outrun them. "Get away....accckkkkkkk!"
KKKKKK-KKKKKKK! The poor mare was quickly trapped in a block of ice, frozen solid. Her face was still controlled in the look of rage that had doomed her, and her unrepentant heart now even more frozen than it had been before.
And as the windigoes fled up and away from Dream Valley, fleeing back towards thier home in the frozen north, a cold wind blew after them, shattering both the frozen block of ice, and the mare trapped inside it, into a thousand shimmering pieces.
"Oh AJ, I'm so glad you and the others are all right!" Moondancer sighed, melting the last of the ice around Applejack's feet with her horn. "I can't believe how that mare had us all tricked!"
"Maybe now you'll do a little more research, before hiring some mare from outside the valley." The earth mare replied with a smirk.
All throughout the castle, the other ponies were busy cleaning up all of the melting ice. The released males had managed drive away the few remaining windigoes, while the mares freed the freeing the few remaining ponies still trapped in ice. Little damage had been done to the castle itself, but the same could not be said for Dream Valley's inhabitants.
"Gingerbread.... are you okay?" Sweet Stuff asked, in her usual timid voice. "I-I'm sorry about the way I acted before."
"Hey, don't worry about it, Sweets. I'm sorry, too." The mare replied with an apologetic smile. "Neither of us were ourselves."
Out from the throne room, Twilight and Megan emerged, having been freed from their icy imprisonment. As soon as she saw Megan, Moondancer ran to the young girl, smiling.
"Oh, Megan! I'm so glad you're all right!" The unicorn exclaimed, as her human friend hugged her. "I am so sorry my daughter-"
"It's all right, Moondancer." Megan reassured her. "It's not your fault, or hers. I'm just glad all of my little ponies are safe."
"Miss Gypsy, I am to understand we have you to thank, for helping in our rescue." Twilight noted, trotting up to the Roma pony. "It seems we are in your debt, then."
"Yes, I did haf a hoof in our victory." Gypsy admitted, waving a hoof dismissively. "Is nothing, really. Just doink my duty, darlink."
"But still, a heroine should not be living in the forest like an outcast." Twilight replied, putting a hoof on the unicorn's shoulder, "I'm going to prepare a room for you here at the castle. Don't worry, the council will take care of everything."
As the two unicorns walked back toward the throne room, several scowling mares stared after them, making mental notes to keep an extra eye on their husbands from now on, whenever that mare was around.
As the ponies were talking amongst themselves, Moondancer trotted up to where Truly and Zigzag stood. The expression on the zebra's face was one of clear elation, but the earth mare's angry scowl seemed to be sending an entirely different message.
"Moondacer, can you believe this?!" Zigzag exclaimed excitedly. "Everyone in the castle is being so forgiving and friendly towards their fellow ponies. It's almost like it's a new day for Dream Valley!"
"I think we've all learned the value of truth and... friendship." Moondancer gagged, choking on that last difficult word. "I have a feeling things are going to be different from now on- right, Truly?"
Both of the other mares turned towards the earth pony, who only stared back at them angrily.
"You cain act jes laike thait, aftah all thait happened?" Truly snorted indignantly. "Ladies, our system failed us heyah, We let a wolf in into the flawk, ahd the powah at the top failed tah protect us!"
"But Truly, the whole problem's solved now." Zigzag protested. "Truly, nobody in Dream Valley is ever going to let this happen again!"
"Y'all maight be willin ta fogive ahnd foget, but ah'm not lettin this happen ta us aghain!" Truly replied, trotting away angrily. "Ahnd it maight jes mean somethin needs ta be done abhout ourah somewhat questionable leadahship."
The two puzzled mares could only stare after her in confusion, uncertain at what their earth pony friend was getting at.
...
"Why is the sea always so cold?" The mare thought to herself, as the night winds whipped at her mane. "Oh, I so hope he's wearing a jacket out there, whever he is!"
It was only a week later, and Moondancer was back atop her perch on Celestia's beacon. Staring out over the rail at the stars, her heart and mind was again filled with worry over the pony who was now nearly a month overdue. The last time she had been in this position, the whole debacle with Sun had torn her away from her vigil. But this time, she was waiting for a new figure to join her in her long wait, one whom she had not seen for almost as long a time as Bianco.
As she silently leaned against the rail, the white unicorn heard the elevator doors open behind her. He ears perked up at the sound of two ponies, and mare and a filly- stepping out onto the marble balcony.
"Moondancer?" Golden Light's voice asked. "Someone's here to see you from Fort Rainbow Dash."
"M-mama?" a sad little voice came out, from a filly with a quivering lip, and tears streaming down her face. "Mama, I know you're mad, and I'm really-"
Without hesitation, the mare leapt to Baby Moondancer's side, and embraced the miserable little filly. No words were needed between mother and daughter, no apologies to express the remorse felt by one pony, and the forgiveness felt by the other. There would be time enough for apologies for past misdeeds, and reconciliation with Megan would come soon enough. For now, it was enough for the two weeping ponies to hold one another in each other's hooves.
"The guard who delivered her to the lighthouse told me that the Rainbow Monks managed to purify her of her mental toxins while she was at Fort Dash." Golden Light offered, as she made her way back to the elevator. "And they said not to blame her for what she did... her actions were not her own."
"Thank you, Golden." Moondancer told the lighthouse keeper. "You go on ahead, we'll be down shortly."
The yellow unicorn nodded, as the elevator doors slid shut. The two ponies stood there an the railing for several hours, staring out at the foggy night and mist-covered sea. When a worried look crossed Moondancer's face, a tiny hoof came to gently rest on hers.
"It'll be okay mama." the little filly told her, her soft and playful voice back to the way the elder pony remembered it. "He'll come home okay, I promise."
The mother could only smile sadly in response.
It was only a half hour after the lighthouse keeper had descended, that the loud sound of a ship's horn echoed though the fog bank below. Through the piercing light of beacon's light overhead, the two ponies could make out a large shape approaching the coast on the water below
"A ship, mommy!" Baby Moondancer called excitedly. "A big ship's coming!"
Elated, the unicorn mare closed her eyes, and felt a warm, welcoming presence coming from the approaching vessel. Her heart almost leaping out of her chest, Moondancer quickly motioned for her daughter to follow her back down the elevator.
"It's your father, my dearest." Moondancer replied happily, wiping her tears away with her hoof. "Your father has returned to us, safe and sound."
And as the two ponies descended, the glowing light of Celestia's beacon- a true and steady guide for those who sought to come safely into port- shone out over the great sea. A light to guide the weary traveler home, after many trials and tribulations.
