> Celestial's Half-hours
>  by Celestial
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Worldshaping for Fillies [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sometimes, it's just something that you have to safeguard the harmony and peace of the whole of Equestria. Sometimes, it's just something that you do for some sort of forbidden fun. Manipulating forces behind even a mortal unicorn's comprehension turns quickly from being grand to a mediocre routine, and all that's left is violating a few rules.

Even if you're the one making the rules.

It all began in a droll afternoon about 1530 years ago (my memory seems faulty on the exact year, pardon me), right after the Summer Sun had been dealt with. One of those impossibly boring afternoons that a filly (a centenary alicorn would still count as one, for many purposes) would find absolutely intolerable. So, in an act of desperation, I decided to sneak into our Royal Dad's secret chambers, being granted passage easily from the stationed guards, still quite new at their job.

I had all the seriousness and resolve tempered from boredom, and they only had a few months of training, the first ever in fact. They knew better after that than to leave me near papa's stuff.
Inside, among the piles of all the odd-looking, priceless, most dangerous, and shiniest trinkets, one caught my attention in particular: a set of mirrors, 3 of them, placed at the edges of a triangle.

What I encountered on the other side of one was dampness. Darkness. A sense of restraint, dread, and an horrible stench of manure, rot, and any other number of hygiene violations that Galaxy would have me scrubbed under several royal baths just by having THOUGHT of them.

Before I could veer back to where I came, though, I heard whimpers.

They were coming from a corner of the dark stony room I was in, where two strange creatures were huddled, one big and one small, but most alike.

They looked most curious, for while their sprawled legs were goatlike, their barrel was quite broader than a horse's, and ended in two muscular forelegs with five stubby appendages, and a bull's head.

The little one was whimpering in the bigger one's arms, crying out soft, inaudible, distant words. The bigger one heard me, and raised her declined head to look at me in shock. It mouthed tentative, trembling, frightened words in a strange tongue I couldn't comprehend.

"I-I-I'm sorry, but-" I was cut off by the bigger creature standing upright, leaving the child be, and taking slow steps in my direction. With each pace it grew more confident in expressing its gibberish. It yearned to talk to me and in spite of its misery; I felt its hope that we would somehow manage to communicate.

"I-I don't understand-" I stammered, backing slowly towards to the faintly glowing portal embedded in one of the room's walls, its gentle light warmly awaiting me.

The creature continued her approach, but alas I could stand no more and I opted to flee in panic, to the safety of the other side of the portal, back to Father's room.

I landed in haste on the floor, trembling and with ragged breaths. Few seconds passed, my younger self trying to gather her wits again, when something massive crossed the portal and landed on top of me! In panic, I stumbled them off me to realize it was them two, huddling one another on the marble floor, both taking in the alien surroundings with disbelief and utter awe.

"Just what is going on here?" Stellar's voice thundered from the corridor even before he crossed the doorway.

-----------

"I knew I was in trouble then," Celestia finishes reminiscing as she sips the last drops of her tea cup, and places it gently on the arabesque table, nostalgia crossing her expression.

"So what happened then?"

"You mean besides my punishment?" She chuckles softly. "It turned out the two were mother and son, of a race enslaved by another for the sole purpose of protecting their labyrinths, bastions where their most prized possessions were hidden away in safety.”

"Weird."

"Very. For how lost and out of place they were, my father was compassionate to them, and generously let them stay and learn our language, eventually arranging for the survival and future prosperity of their race.

She took a long breath, and stretched herself on the large royal sofa.

"And that," she finished, "is the story of how minoutaurs came to be in Equestria."
	
	
> Putting the Heart in the Small Things [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	It so happened that each week, though not always at the same hour, Pinkie pie would slip into the Everfree Forest, carrying a basket with red-and-white checkered cloth on her back, rapidly disappearing from Ponyvillean eyes into the thick of the woods.

This time was no different, and with her usual spring to her step she walked the known trail, taking all the right turns with nonchalance, and nonchalantly avoiding the overeager advances of some gnarled, leafless branches.

She stopped by the glen where she and her favourite friends valiantly laughed off the tricks of nightmare Moon, the trees now standing proud and faceless surrounding the glen. She giggled at the memory: the time with her friends had always been a blast. Of course it had! They were the bestest friends a pink pony could ever have, and she was Pinkie Pie! Master of Pranks, Parties, Preparations and P...Popularity! Mmm... that didn't work too well, she'd have to refine it later. But no matter! In her light trot she had crossed the glen already and was back on a muddy trail.

Oh, how she loved mud! She could play allll day in it (if only the Cakes would allow her anymore, that is), with that delicious sticky wet texture and all the flaky parts when you dry up that you can throw around with a good shake and how it looked like chocolate.... Mmmm, delicious chocolate flakes on her skin. She was sure she did that trick before. It had probably involved a chocolate fountain of sorts. 

But-b-b-b-b-but! You're losing your train of thought here Pinkie! What was the last thing you were thinking of? MmmmOh yeah! Nightmare Moon! She pondered if she could ask Luna to make the Shadowbolts join one of her parties sometime. Perhaps they were just part of her? Would it count if just Luna attended the party? Hmm, she'd really have to ask her later. She made Luna party already, but so that was one case covered. In the other one, though, she'd still have to. So that made this task half-done.
She mentally checked the list of "Ponies to still partieeee" with a half-check --with only the first green felt line put in the box-- besides a crayon picture of the Shadowbolts.

Oh lookie! Without even realizing, she had arrived at the desired spot in the Everfree, a large spot of underbrush covered in elongated, vibrant red flowers. Now for the rest of the master plan!
She methodically downed her basket and started to uproot the flowers, minding the black thorns of some other nearby meanie plant, landing her prizes on the checkered cloth.

She really liked how things turned out. After that fateful trip to Zecora, they had never really stopped complimenting on how DELICIOUS and MARVELOUS and AWESOME her punch was, and asking just what her secret was, but she couldn't tell. She had promised Zecora, with a Pinkie Promise at that!

----------------

"Perhaps I can help you with a new way to shape your brew," Zecora had said. (She remembered every word! She was sooo cute when she rhymed)
"A small addition of Heart's desire would make all ponies your drink admire.
Its properties are most valuable, for everyone will find it most palpable.
It will give them the taste they prefer, for an always delicious dessert.
But the flower is most rare and sought, so I ask you for the secret not to be... squawked."

----------------

Eeeeyuppers, always the most proper and delicate rhymes. She'd have to ask her someday how she did it, she'd come up with songs soooo much faster that way! But every time she visited the hut, she always got distracted with all the potions and the pretty masks and the boiling cauldron and the dry leaves and the curvy bottles...

Pinkie realized she was done picking, and covering her harvest with a cloth fold and putting it back on her back, she trotted happily on the way back to Ponyville, humming a few improvised notes. Who knows? Maybe a new song in the makings.
> Love Counter [Romance]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	They say it isn't true love until it sends your heart beating at a hundred beats a minute.

Then why isn't it so? I've truly tried anything, everything (well, except for doing prior exercise, that would be cheating) to make him beat my heart fast. We had dates together, we rested at each others' home' went for evening walks and afternoon picnics and morning breakfasts out and AAARGHHH! Why won't it just work?

I've already studied him in detail, he's the perfect one! All the calculations point to him, being EASILY a >99% compatibility match! He loves astrology, I love astrology, he loves to research, I love to research, HE LOVES BOOKS, I LOVE BOOKS, we match personalities almost perfectly! He's the perfect stallion for me! Then why, WHY won't my heart listen?!

It's one of those little things that incessantly dances about in my brain until it becomes a jackhammer, continously bombarding me with the notion that I'm doing something WRONG. I know, I know, I look crazy, I AM being crazy about this for Celestia's sake, but is it really too much for a mare to ask for the perfect stallion to hang out for an eternity with?

What? Well, Don't look at me like that, I know that ponies die eventually... well, non-alicorns, that is, hehehe. It's just, well, yes I MAY or may not have a couple of plans to make my companion for life experience a.... dramatically increased lifespan, let's say? Nothing to do with dark magicks or other misaligned magic monstosities, of course! Where did you even get that idea?

He's looking... well, staring at me right now... oh hay, I've been lost in thought for HOW LONG at OUR DATE? I smash my head on the restaurant table in sheer frustration and embarassement, groaning loudly all the way down.

"Uh.. Are you okay?" From above comes his sweet, caring, slightest-bit-concerned voice. 

"I'm fine," I reply with the political poker face of a true princess. Okay, no, he totally didn't buy the strained voice and the sheepish smile.

I sigh, releasing a great deal of tension I didn't know I was holding. This looks so hopeless.
"Time Turner, can I ask you a question?"

The tan Earth Pony stallion is quick to put on his smile, a genuine, comforting, reassuring arch of his lips that dispel the rest of my insecurities. "Of course, Twilight. May it never be that I prevent a fellow scientist from satisfying her curiosity."

"Well..." I take another deep breath. Might as well go all-out. "It's just... When you look for a love interest, what do you look for in a... partner?"

"Oh.." He says, looking pleasantly surprised by what I said. Perhaps he's reading this as a more forward advance? "To begin with, I suppose I would look in a partner some common traits with me. Shared hobbies, say, or perhaps same work, common habi-"

I stomp a hoof on the table right there. "Okay, so this makes no sense. I've looked and we've got EVERYTHING in common! EVERYTHING! If you changed field of studies and got a horn, you'd be basically me! ... Well, you'd need a pair of wings too, too, and perhaps you'd need to be a protege of the prin-"

He puts a hoof forward. "I understand what you meant." His expression is level, inscrutable. "Please continue."

I cough once. "By what my research suggests we're the statistical perfect match, a one in a billion event! We should be perfect together in any possible way!" I push my hooves to my temples in desperation, "Then why doesn't my heart beat fast every time I see you? Why aren't I genuinely looking forward to spending time with you? WHY DON'T I LOVE YOU, TIME TURNER?"

Okay, that one was a little louder that necessary. The whole restaurant may or may not have heard it, but they're certainly all looking in our direction now. Heh.

Turner, for his part, is practically steaming from his embarrassment, trying to make himself as small as possible on the seat. "Can- can we go outside to discuss this?"

"Er- Sure."

--------

"Listen Twilight, I'm going to be direct and address your problem right away." He looks deeply into my eyes, leaving me entranced.
"Love is not all about finding somepony as similar to you as possible. It helps, of course, but that's just a starting criteria. More often than not, it's about something else.
"You know how two blind ponies don't perform well together when helping each other navigate? It's good for the blind one to have a non-blind partner.
"We all have flaws, Twilight Sparkle, and love is not about finding someone with the same flaws as us, but rather someone that complements us. That can be your own mirror into what you're not, into a more whole, perfect... you know, WHOLE. In love it's good to look for someone that you're not, so that he or she may remind you to strive for that which you're lacking. So that you may, one day, teach your foals that there's more than one way of living life. That differences is what make life beautiful, so much that you may come to appreciate how everything may not be perfect itself, but it's rather part of a perfect union.
"And with that, Sparkle, I must beg my leave. The bill is already paid. I really hope you find the stallion that will make your heart beat fast."
> Tricks and Parties, medias res [Romance]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	After all I've put them through, after all the times I've shouted at her to leave me alone, why won't she give up?

For all my cunning, my tale spinning, and the amounts of ways my magic could embarrass her (and has done so a number of times already) she won't just pry herself off me!

What is it that makes her tick? Why of all ponies would she choose me to torment endlessly, for all of a whole two days? What can I do to shake her obnoxious flanks off my back?

"Why won't you just stop with these tricks to... to catch me off guard and dethrone me and just leave? Leave! Go back to your Sugarlump Corner where you belong and just leave the Great and Powerful Trixie alone! ALONE I say!"

She just stares at me, with those infuriating, oblivious blue eyes, like she's not even reading the rage I'm wearing as I snort in her direction, in angered, quick breaths.

"But you know I promised, Trixie, I wouldn't leave you alone for this week, no matter what it takes! And I'm going to make good on it, or my middle name isn't Diane Pie! Wait, it's just Diane actually, but still!" She stomps a hoof to the ground in emphasis.

"And just why did you make such a stupid promise?" I swear, the more I try to remember it, the more I feel an headache closing in. And I don't even know if it's because of how utterly idiotic the reason were, or if it's because of all of her impossible weirdness that surrounded the event.

She giggles. She actually has the face to giggle at me. "Because you needed it, silly! If one thing is my responsibility, it's making sure that everypony, and I mean EVERYpony in Ponyville is happy and smiling and content with what they're living through! And it's not something I will look over just because you happen to be a passing magician!"

So yeah, that was the reason for the headache. I groan as my reply struggles to assemble itself in my head. "How do you even PRETEND to know what makes Trixie happy, much less forcing that on her? I am a stage magician, for Celesia's sake!  And my cart, my whole life's worth of earnings and future shows, has been smashed by a giant beast that threatened to eat ME! And that you stupid Ponyvillians are still PUTTING ME AT FAULT for that! I have every right to be depressed, and I will do so REGARDLESS of your futile attempts to do otherwise!"

"Hey, we aren't blaming you for that, hmm okay maybe the Flower sisiters are, but hey weren't even there at the show! They just assumed it was you!"

"Which makes it even MORE of a stupid country doohickery on your part!" I'm shaking with barely contained anger, and I'm starting to feel my blood rush around my body, giving me an alien tingling all over. And why is she starting to look blurry?
"You gotta forgive em, they aren't really the mares to give a clear report on panic-related issues. For that there's always Twilight! And me! Oh by the way, Twilight thinks you're totally innocent too!"

"YES! I know that!"

"And we could always help you rebuild your carriage, you know, you could just ask. There's four ponies in Ponyville who live by just by rebuilding after each disaster. And they make cheap prices too! Or, you could always make another show to pay-"

OK, that was absolutely idiotic even for her standards. "You insensate foal! What makes you think that the farmers here would want to see a repeat of last time's disaster?"

"Well, because it wasn't a disaster, duh!" She even stuck out her tongue at that. "We were all enjoying it, many were still laughing when you started making fun of my friends. But you could make a better show, without insults! And with cake batter! Everything's better with cake batter! Oh, and do you think you could work your streamers in?"

The absolute last straw. "WHY, WHY, WHY DO YOU CONTINUE TO IMPORTUNE TRIXIE?" I repeated, pounding both my hooves on the cobbles in rage and impotence. I would have blasted her to the moon and beyond a thousand times already by now if I didn't know already that my magic was wasted more often than not on this mare... abomination...thing.

She looked at me with the most compassionate eyes. "Even if you think that you don't want friends, or don't deserve thew, every one needs a ray of sunshine in their life. And I'll be here all week to show you yours!" She finished on an infuriatingly chipper note.

I sighed, long and hard. There was no way I was getting this mare off me. Well, at least I could always try tomorrow. After a good night's sleep. At her house. Again.

Whatever. Let's just get this over with.
> Diplomatic Clash [Adventure]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	That was it. I was trapped, surrounded on all sides by the roaring, snarling, cheering beasts: terrifying bipedal monstrosities, like giant lions standing on their hind legs, who I was regretting more and more I had been assigned as lead diplomat to.

"We don't do things your way around here, puny pony." The crowd laughed and roared all the more at the declaration of their chief: a scarred, armored, ornamented hulk of a lion-beast that was standing right in front of me, in the middle of the circle. "You come to demand submission, and that-"

"We ask for no such thing!" I interrupted, shouting over the roar of the crowd. "Princess Celestia and Luna offer an alliance that would allow Equestria to-"

"SILENCE!" The chief thundered. "We will never take pity from anylion! Your kind is weak and miserable, a prey coming to offer themselves in a position of parity with predators! Cattle pleading not to be slaughtered!"

The crowd was growing mad with excitement, at least as far as I could tell.

The chief lifted one single claw. "But if there's ONE thing we cannot ride over, little prey, is our honor. You wish to be our allies? Our PROTECTORS? Then show us! Show the Lionids that you are worthy of our respect! You want this village to your command? Then TAKE IT! Duel me and take it from my dying claws, if you have the guts!”

"I will do no such thing! We come in peace and-”

A deafening roar was all it took him to silence me. "It is not a choice of yours anymore, pony. You have claimed your parity with us. You have only left to prove it. Choose your weapon and stand your ground. Face your challenge or die in dishonor.”

The look on his face drained any hope of mine of avoiding this. There was no running away. Nevar in my travels I had encountered a species so fierce and warmonger, and now it rested on me, like all other times, to cement a working relationship with the new discovered tribes.

Only this time my life was on the line.

Celestia, Luna, please watch over me and my soul…

"I... will use my blade for this." I drew out in my telekinetic sheath the machete I carried in my missions to fend off hostile flora and fauna alike. It's not like I was trained in the use of any other weapon anyway.

The lion chief drew out a hearty laugh. "Very well!" He gestured for another of his kind to come and bring him a sword and shield, both out of some sort of richly crystal-encrusted metal. He wore them on like he was born wielding the stuff.

I gulped. I hoped Starswirl's lessons would help me now. I never had to face an intelligent creature before…

"Are you ready, whelp?" The chief shouted.

I steadied myself in a wide-legged stance. "Ready as I'll ever be.”

"Then we BEGIN!" He immediately lunged, swinging his blue sword at me that I parried by instinct. He bashed my barrel with his shield and slammed me away, digging multiple holes in my skin with the protruding crystals.

I coughed, laying on the sandfloor. This was getting bad fast... In an act of desperation, I shot a beam of raw magic at the charging chief. At that, he reacted by raising his shield... that absorbed the ray in a 'whuff'. What?

The impact had pushed him back anyway, so this gave me time to prepare a spell. Right when he was on top of me again, I teleported to his side and shot another ray towards him, only for him to turn in a smooth movement and shield even that. Darn it!

In a pang of realization, I lifted him whole in my telekinetic aura, only for him to cut through the field with his sword and interrupt it. Just HOW in the name of the royal sisters was ho doing that?!

"You think us unprepared against magic, pony? Well, you’ll want to think again!" Another teleport saved me from a furious mid-speech lunge.

Again and again I tried hitting him on his rear and sides, keeping my distance, but he was too fast, too liquid in his movements, and my magic was wearing me out.

Then he did the unthinkable: he removed his now-glowing shield and threw it in my direction. It was too sudden and unexpected for me to teleport away, so I simply dodged it.

And on contact with the ground, the shield exploded, pelting me with blue crystals that dug into my skin and muscles, filling me with indescribable, unbearable pain. I could feel raw magic flowing out of each shard, and it was filling me with Tartarus's suffering. The crowd was roaring mad with cheering.

Seeing me writhing on the sand, helpless, the chief approached me calmly and picked me up with a single paw. "Now for the ritual part where I declare myself the winner, if you don’t mind. I suggest you cooperate and stay calm and be a good pony if you wanna crawl back home after this. Hah, but I'm sure you will cooperate! Hahahaha!" Laughing his way to a bull-trained wooden chariot, he tied me with a rope to its rear, mounted on it, and with an order to the bulls he started dragging me across the sand streets all around the city, for every lion to cheer on and throw insults and rejoice.

Through the pain, through the bumps in the road, through the blinding and choking sand rushing by, a single thought filled my head: they're gonna pay for this.

Celestia and Luna help me, this is a declaration of war.
> A Royal Visit [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	There is no way I'm going to make this. Sweat creases my brow as I struggle to hold the pencil in my telekinetic grasp. At the teacher's desk, Celestia is being busy instructing two royal guards, and what's worse than her ignoring my panic, are the periodical glances she would cast at me, full of hope and confidence that I would ace this test.
I chuckle nervously and returned to my paper. "#19: What taste has the last color of the alphabet?" What in the hay? And the answer I had checked for #18 isn't even there anymore! Did my sweat wipe it away? Oooooooh... This isn't going well at ALL!

A warping sound interrupts my hysterics, as I raise my gaze to notice the blakboard, the wall, the whole room, Celestia and the guards, all collapse and dissolve, revealing behind and around a peaceful, nocturnal meadow. My flanks now rest on soft grass and flowers as I start wondering just what IS happening.

"Our sincere greetings to thee, Twilight Sparkle."

I turn to the voice to notice a tall, midnight blue unicorn... alicorn, climbing the small hill and approaching me, her expression distant, unreadable. "Thy may rest easy now, for thine troubles are now dispelled."

I remember now. She is Princess Luna, Steward of the Night and Protector of Dreams, the princess I saved from Nightmare Moon just four months ago. This was the second time I was meeting her in a dream, although the first had to be cut short, apparently from a little rust in her dreamwalking skills.

"Luna.. I mean- Princess Luna, it is always an honour." I bow to the approaching alicorn.

"Thy do not need to bow to Us, Twilight Sparkle, for it is Us rather who are in debt with Thee. Indeed, this is the first time since our return We have witnessed Our sister partaking in a nightmare, hence We thank thee even more; We felt We needed the reprieve from seeing Our own shadow creeping in the minds of some too impressionable foals." Her frown melts into a faint smile, directed at me.

"Oh, er... Thanks?" I don't really know exactly what the etiquette for conversing with a Princess in a dream was. Just why didn't I look it up as soon as I could, you silly filly? Oh! I remember, I actually TRIED looking for it, only for every book to come completely empty on the subject. So much for that.

However, I quickly reach the conclusion that doing small talk like I do with Celestia is probably better than standing there like a staring stone statue. "Uh... How's Celestia been treating you?" Oh yeah, great. Master of smooth moves right there, miss 'Magic of Friendship'.

She doesn't seem fazed by your question though. "Most understandingly, considering our past errors. Complete amnesty has been sentenced, and We agreed to allow Us full recovery before Our further appearance in public." This 'royal We' business is getting a little confusing... "We do not, however, truly know if Our efforts will ever be able to repay all the damage We've caused to Our sister and Our realm."

She sags a little.... She's actually confessing her tribulations, right in front of you! Oooh, think fast Twilight, think think think... Aha!

"Well... I-I'm sure you wouldn't have to worry about that, Princess Luna. You see, Princess Celestia and I have been sending each other letters and reports on friendship, and... Well, she told me that since you're back from being Nightmare Moon, and finally back at her side... She's-she feels the happiest she's been in a thousand years! She's extremely delighted to have you with her again, and she's looking forward to..."

Our gazes are locked together; she's basically hanging on my lips. "T-to spending time with you, and to confessing to each other, and to have a sister near her to... to share all those long years with, once again. 

"...Oh, and also all the hours of sleep she couldn't afford herself when she was the only ruler, hehe."

I can't weather her inquisitive stare anymore, and I look down. "I-I-I think, as long as you stay by her side and support each other... That would just be everything she could ever ask of you." 

Silence stalls our conversation. I didn't overstep my boundaries in revealing her something Celestia told me in private, did i?.My panic only grows as the seconds tick by.

"Thy are a most wise subject, Twilight Sparkle; and possessing the courage to speak truth when needed, as well. Things may have been very different, having more likes of thee inhabited Equestria a thousand years ago.
"Thy must pardon Us if We have been possessing doubts on the special protege of our dearest sister at first, a new wielder of the powerful Elements, at that, but Our fears are now ultimately erased."

With a silvery metal horseshoe, she lifts my gaze back to meet hers: her smile had grown to a genuine one of pride and understanding.
"Believe Us Twilight, when We say We shall congratulate Ourselves with Celestia for choosing such a gifted student to take under her protection and tutelage."

I still breathe uneasily, trying to recover from the development, and find something to say. "Princess Luna... if I-I ever need it, I woul- I mean, me and my friends would be honoured to be YOUR friends, a-at any point. Or time."

A frown immediately crosses her features. "It is unwise to speak on behalf of other ponies, Sparkle," she says --I'm suddenly feeling a chill at the contact with her metal regalia--, "But I shall keep your generous offer in mind with the utmost respect. Fare the well for now, Twilight Sparkle, Element of Magic."

Her expression returns to a neutral one as she walks away from me, and the landscape begins to twist and retreat and fade.

"We thank thee most graciously for all your efforts."
> Cutie Mark Reunion [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as Scootaloo stepped down the train at the Ponyville Station, she was greeted by a warm hug on each side by her foalhood friends.

"Aww, hey Sweetie, hey Bloom," she said, frazzling a bit the mane of each in return. "Getting impatient for those autographs, I see?" She snarked.

Applebloom answered that with a glare that could melt rocks.

"Just kidding! It's good to see you guys again," Scootaloo said, returning the hugs with full force.

----------

Around a table at Sugarcube Corner, the three mares were enjoying an "Extra-large-superriffic- Pinkie Sundae", standing in all its overboarding glory in the middle of them.

"So why didn't Babs join us again?" Sweetie Belle said, before levitating another bite to her mouth.

"She's bein' real busy with a client right now; she's mighty sorry she couldn't join fer this."

"Oh."

"Too bad," Scootaloo commented. "Guess it's only us three for this weekend... Like in the good ol' days of crusading."

The other two simply nodded and mhmm'ed, focusing more on the ice-cream.

"Hmmm..." She tapped hoof on chin in thought. "How's the music lessons going about Sweetie?"

"Oh, they've been EXAUSTING!" Sweetie threw her forehooves up in the air. "Piano Forte is driving me up the walls with all this theory and scales and-and all that SOLFEGGIO, ugh! That is the. Absolutely. Worst. Thing!" She sighed. "But Rarity says that it's 'positively fundamental' to have a solid theory...."

"Yeah, I guess six months of that can't be too pleasant... How's your project faring, Bloom?"

"Oh, it's going pretty well. Rumble has gone to Manehatten to see if the idea can sell, meanwhile Ah'm stuck at the farm helping for harvest season."

Scootaloo edged closer. "Do I smell.... a COLTFRIEND?"

"I know!" Sweetie joined in. "That's what I said when I first saw them! They have toootally the hots for each other!"

"Oh come on Sweetie, you know we aren't a thing or anythin'!"

"Are too!"

"Are not!"

"Are too~!" Sweetie gave her a mock-sultry look.

"Are- Oh for land's sakes Sweetie," Applebloom said, jabbing Sweetie lightly, while all three giggled at the antics. "What about you Scoots?"

Scootaloo went starry eyed. "Oh, I'm totally gonna be the lead attraction of the next show in Trottingham! This is. So. Amazing! I've been, like, sending dozens of letters to Rainbow Dash to warn her, free VIP tickets for her and friends and  everything! I'll totally wow her when I perform my 720 double inverted spin! I've been working on it for a week, now, you see, I've had to order a new ramp JUST to reach the desired height..."

-----

"So is that it? Are our days of crusading over?" Scootaloo said to her friends, who not dared return her gaze as they shuffled through the crowded streets of Ponyville.

"I don't know... Thinking back on it, we were doing pretty dangerous stuff," Sweetie Belle Said.

"But that was like, half the point! Awesome things are awesome because they're dangerous! And cool! How could we ever get a cutie mark in something awesome if what we did wasn't?"

"Ah reckon that worked for you, Scoots, but us two weren't really cut for the daredevil department," Applebloom said.

"Yeah... I guess it fits that I would get my cutie mark outside of a crusading session," Sweetie Belle said.

"Well... Ah guess there's also the fact that we weren't crusading as much at that point, Sweetie, with me and Scoots havin' already found our special talent and all."

"Yeah..."

"But there MUST be something we can still do, right guys?" Scootaloo offered. "What about... Mmmm... Oh! We could play pranks around Ponyville! I could go ask Rainbow Dash for advi-"

"I remember Rarity saying that Pinkie Pie was the Ponyville expert on pranks." Sweetie belle hazarded.

Applebloom chuckled. "They're even worse when they're together, trust me. AJ will never forget that time they coloured two acres of the orchard's apples."

"Wow, that's so cool! I'll go grab the colours right away, we can-"

Another death glare from Applebloom, under which Scootaloo wilted. "Oh, ehehe, right, so I guess we can throw that idea away."

"How about we put on a show?" Sweetie Belle perked up. "I'm sure we could get it right this time!

"You mean, like that time at the talent show?"

"Oh yeah, same as always, how we got our cutie marks, only this time we can actually tell the tale from the other side of a cutie mark realization!"

"We could show the foals how to get theirs!" Applebloom said. "Ah'm sure our stories would be good inspiration."

"Awesome! And let me guess... we'd be playing by our strengths this time, right? So Applebloom in charge of..."

"Scene props, costumes and organization, eeyup!" Applebloom saluted.

"And Sweetie Belle tasked with..."

"Music and lyrics! Ooooh, I KNOW I can make something really special for this one!"

"And the one and only Scootaloo in charge of the choreography and dance routines! Looks like it's all set girls, let's get cracking!"

"YAY!" All three cheered, high-hoofing in the middle.
> Baptism of Fire [Dark]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The thin wire wrung tightly around her neck; the console screen she was sat in front of was being tugged out of her vision. Applejack had barely had time to work out how to turn it on, much less how to check her messages like she wanted. Her breathing was now cut off at her throat, each mouthful of air denied. 

Throwing herself up, pushing the chair behind, choking on her breath trying to call for help and pushing her hooves under the wire were doing little to help, while she started feeling a vacuum in her lungs from the lack of in-breath.

Acting in pure fear, she bucked backwards in a low sweep, and felt something she hit give out and slump on her back. Then she heaved, like in her youngest days of rodeo, and managed to throw the aggressor completely off the ground, and flip it in midair until it landed in front of her, freeing her of the chokehold.

Sprawled on the floor and quickly recovering was a striped equine, mostly covered in a dark grey cloak. A zebra. An assassin!

"*cough* *wheeze* Help! *cough* *cough* Somepony he-" was all she managed to sputter before the aggressor produced a blade from under her cloth and lunged at her.

Applejack reacted by instinct and raw self-preservation. She moved in the way she knew best: she turned in place, and bucked.
What she heard next was the crunch of her hooves connecting with barely protected hide, a heavy thud against the wall, and a softer one on the floor right underneath.

Then, a slam from the door as two Ministry guardsponies, a mare and a stallion, barged in.

"Miss Applejack? We... Oh Luna, you're hurt!" Said the mare with horror, as the stallion rushed to the zebra laying on the other side of the room, unmoving.

"Miss Applejack, what happened?"

There was no answer. The ex-farmpony could just gape wide-eyed, stunned, as the guardstallion gripped the assassin in a hold.

Tense, silent seconds passed as he inspected her, before standing back up.

"She's neutralized," he declared, trying to keep her voice neutral.

The orange mare stammered, trying to will herself to form words. "Wh-w-w-w-"

"Snapped neck. Er, I mean... was, snapped, before we came in." He said.

Applejack's felt her head swim, and her legs on the verge of giving out.

"Miss Applejack, we have to take you to the infirmary," the Guardsmare gently suggested, which was answered with an empty stare and a small nod.

The guardsmare slowly wrapped a hoof on AJ's back and accompanied her to the corridor, while the ex-farmpony's mind was slowly recovering from the adrenaline rush; she still barely noticed the pain from the gash on her side while she was busy attempting to rationalize her... her murder. 

She managed to walk only a few steps, before retching and galloping to the nearest trash bin, emptying her stomach in it inbetween pained gasps for breath.
> A Line of Thought [Twilight tries a spell]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Ever since she had been a student for Celestia, Twilight had always wondered what the limits of magic could be.  No matter how much she delved into it, how many sleepless nights studying and thousands of spells cast, there was always something more to witness or learn or elaborate.  It really felt like a bottomless well of surprises, so much that she wondered if even Celestia or Luna would have reached by now some sort of true mastery over any school of magic; or if they would ever; or if something like that would even be possible at all.

The delicious jasmine tea she was sipping in her library could do little to distract her from this.  

The mere idea of fitting all the possible ways to bend reality into a single brain...  all the combinations, nuances, leylines, of all the different schools...  no, there couldn't really be such a way.

Or was there?

Maybe she would have to approach the problem from another angle.  What if someone had already done that?  She surely couldn't be the first overenthusiastic magician asking such a question.  What if someone had succeeded?  How would have they done that?  If they couldn't have alone...  would they have stored it somewhere?  Recollective crystals perhaps?  Fused books to their being?  No, these were still finite solutions, and Twilight was looking for something effectively limitless, if not outright infinite.  How would one achieve that?  Maybe...  maybe there could just be a way to ask the source directly?  The very ambient magic, the receptacle of all possibilities?  Figuring out a proper decoder would be like having a calculator to do the proper math for you, instantly, instead of running it through your head each time.  It would make accessible schools of behaviour previously unheard, maybe un-thought of!

So what if this had already happened, in some form?  One would perhaps leave a trace of magical radiation if she were fused with the ambient, or communicating with it in some way; the echoes of their inquiries may be traced, if one knew what she was looking for.

She quickly composed a detector spell in her mind and cast it: she located all traces of spells from every pony in Ponyville at first, but that wouldn't do.  She'd need to go deeper...  expand her range...  trying to figure out a common pattern...

After interminable minutes of pure concentration, all of a sudden, she saw, like noticing a hidden pattern in a picture, that was always staring at her, being everywhere and nowhere, a soft reverb that she had always mistaken before for part of the magic ambient noise, until now.  She gasped, shivers running through her spine from the enormous find.
She set her magic to resonate with it, and the vibrations in her horn grew; she fed it more power, and her horn started glowing with extra layers of overcharge.  She'd have to catch the frequency as right and clearly as possible...

-----------

Suddenly, Twilight Sparkle stopped feeling her own energy flow.  And her body, for that matter.  She just...  was, an observer in the middle of a world more of thoughts and emotions than light and sound.  It was...  she felt like in the middle of a teleport, only she wasn't cruising along precise leylines this time, and she wasn't straining to concentrate on anything.  In fact, she found that when she concentrated, waves of magic would ripple outwards from her being.  That her every thought shaped the magic around her.  That she herself in that moment was pure magic, possessed and directed by a consciousness.

A single thought, sharper and louder than the sea of ideas that comprised her horizon, reached her.
It spoke without words of a warm greeting to her.
It offered congratulations on reaching this existence like others did, both in the past and in the future "before" her (for truly, time and space had no meaning here)
Twilight wanted to inquire who she was talking to, and much like a wall would answer any sound with an echo of its own, the answer was immediately apparent to her, by the very fact that she asked.  It was Arcane Scroll, a grand spellcaster that Twilight remembered for studying his contributions to alchemy and astrology, who the books said lead an intense life at the court of Princess Celestia and Luna, more than 1200 years before her time, and who died young in his studio.

Twilight realized what all this meant.  Here in this world, magic was closer than thought itself.  Magic was the very place she was in, it was a part of her, or she was a part of magic, and all she could have ever wanted to know about it were plain in front of her, much like a rainbow would display all the possible colours.  She could study magic, the ultimate force of change, from within, so much so that any event she'd fantasize of occurring would just be thought into being, faster than instantly.

She thought of Celestia, of completing her studies, of the tasks that she would ask of the prodigal unicorn, and just as she did so, it had already happened: all the victories against evil with her friends, all the celebratory parties, the coronation at Celestia's side, her career as a teacher at Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.  It was all in her memory.  It was part of her.  It had all happened.  It was all done.  

Each time she thought or wanted something, it had already been fulfilled.  She had possessed and wielded magic beyond comprehension.  She had discovered new schools of magic and optimized, if not outright revolutionized all the existing ones.

She had already returned in Ponyville to her friends to tell them of this fantastic tale.

> Nightly Adventures [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Goodnight sweetie."

With a kiss on her cheek and a nuzzle, Dazzler left the room, flicked the lights off, and closed the door behind him, leaving his daughter Trixie alone in her bed.

She heard the hoofsteps slowly fade away, until they were no more. He had gone to sleep. Perfect.

Trixie slowly slid her covers off, lighted up her horn just the tiniest bit, and reached under the bed to retrieve a large, colourful tome. 

Shivering partly for the cold biting her uncovered limbs and partly in guilty pleasure, she set the book on her pillow and opened it at the bookmarked page. Time for adventure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There is absolutely no way the treasure is hidden there!" yelled Captain Stellar Crash. "Pegasopolis has been abandoned for a reason! And then looted and ransacked who knows how many times! And then lost to the four winds! There's no way something this important can still sit there undisturbed, much less have us find it!"

"The map cannot be saying anything else, captain," Azure Dreams replied with the utmost certainty. "And no one has found the contents yet, yet, of that we can be sure."

"And what makes you think this time will be different for us, eh, you little, presumptuous filly?"

"Well, for one, this," Azure tapped her head, "And for another, this," she pointed further up, to her horn. "Only pegasi have been there after the Fall, but you said Greenbeard's crew counted all kinds of ponies in her ranks, isn't that true?"

"Er... ye, you're right laddie," grumbled Stellar, rubbing her chin.

"Which means it may be protected by some barriers or.. or protections that only unicorns can disable! Azure, you're a genious!" Exclaimed Peppermint, jumping up and down to the captain's side, who was trying her hardest to ignore her second-in-command's over-excitement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The whole scene was unfolding in front of Trixie's eyes, quite literally: by use of her recently discovered talent, she was witnessing and hearing the conversation between the pettish purple pegasus pirate, the foalish, light pink earth pony admiral, and the blue, intrepid, smart, adventurous blue unicorn filly (which looked suspiciously a lot like Trikie).

The strain of keeping the illusion up barely registered as a tug on the back of Trixie's consciousness at his point; it'd been quite a long time by now since the large pictures had become just for reference. First it's been a single character moving awkwardly, then two, then with a simple backdrop added, and so on, until she could recreate the majesty of the Cannon Star in full, the pegasus pirate cloud-ship which scourged the cloudbanks above oceans and landmasses alike.

Slowly but surely, the filly kept reading, her voice whispering every action of the small puppets located between her and the large open tome; the bedsheets well served as the unending Cloudsea on which the Cannon Star sailed.

And on she went, following closely every step of the trio's adventures, fighting adverse weather, meeting shady characters, trying to stay one trot ahead of their nemesis Greenbeard and his pegasus band of looters and raiders, and battling giant monsters of the high skies.

The pirate trio had engaged a giant, enraged phoenix, when Trixie yelped and pulled her hoof back in pain: she could swear she felt the heat when Dawnfury had breathed fire near her forehoof. Noticing in relief nothing had in fact happened to it, she giggled quietly to herself, and resumed reading.

Action and hard choices awaited them at every turn, until her heroes were finally in sight of the ancient lost city of Pegasopolis. It looked just as amazing as she had... well, not exactly, it was really kind of simple, just a cheapish cloud city in ruins, and it looked kinda blurry too...

Trixie's eyelids were drooping on her, and the profound yawn confirmed that not only her magic was unfocused, but she was falling asleep on the spot. With a thought, she dispelled the illusion, plunging the room into darkness. Slowly, methodically, Trixie set the bookmark, closed the book, and lowered it under the bed, then covered herself and adjusted herself on the pillow.

She was asleep just seconds later.
> Giving a Flying Feather [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash was aching everywhere.  Not just her wings, sore from countless hours of straining to the limit of her endurance, but also her barrel, subjected restlessly to all-new G forces; her legs, kept pointed behind all this time to improve her flight profile, and absorbing hard meetings with the ground when they weren't; her hair, whipped countless times back and forth by the supreme winds and now protesting at the root; her face, numbed from all the cold air, having managed to even pierce her natural resistance to frigid temperatures.

She was really outdoing herself this time, to the point she had wondered multiple times, more convincingly with each new ache coming up, and with each new yawn surfacing from her throat, if this would really serve her in the end.

AS she ascended to try her Immelman practice once again, she physically shook the notion out of her head, like last times.  Madness!  She had a routine to perfect, and she wasn't there, not quite yet.  She had the whole Triple Twisting Traversing loop to perfect, and the Bucanneer Blaze was never coming out the way she imagined it.  Maybe she was just too tired to put this much energy in it anymore...

No!  Nonsense!  If she wanted for real to be a Wonderbolt, she'd have to be prepared for anything!  Like doing stunts for the little foals after an exhausting day or training!  Or saving a city from an enraged dragon right after a performance!  Or...  retrieving an ancient artifact right after being chained to...

Wait, that can't be right.  That had to be...  Daring D-
Her loss of concentration costed her hard, for she angled a wing too high right in the middle of an high-speed barrel roll, and ended up spiraling out of control.  

'Okay, no biggie, Dash,' She thought to herself.  She had recovered multiple times from a plummeting, spinning situation.  What were those called?  No matter, priorities Dash, priorities.  That is, if her brain would just activate the right instincts like all the other times...  Nope, time for manual override.  What was the routine...  #1. Glide to safety and keep wings- No wait, that has got to be at least #3, maybe #1 went-

She didn't notice that in the meantime the spinning Earth had welcomed her with open hooves, and relocated  her in the low branches of a red-leaved oak tree, but not without tho fair share of new aches and pains caused by all the higher branches that valiantly sacrificed themselves for the pegasus.

Even then, her eyes were threatening to close, to catch the smallest ounce of rest..  and maybe coming back up in five minutes, yes, more energized that ever...

No!  Rainbow Dash forcibly pushed her eyes open.  No matter what the stakes were, she couldn't continue anymore like this.

As much as she had the biggest chance to join the Wonderbolts in her life ahead, in a mere 4 days, and she would have to compete against Thunderlane AND Lightning Dust for the spot, she couldn't deny that she couldn't even execute an emergency recovery maneuver to LITERALLY save her life at the moment.  This was too much.

Groaning in pain, she turned in place on the branch, until she slipped and fell to the ground (way easier that trying her wings and having to deal with all those sticking things in the way), landing with a grunt.

Slowly, with the determination and enthusiasm of a zombie-pony, she marched towards Twilight's library.  She would know what to do.  She would help her exercise more.  Maybe with a spell, or a potion, or...

-------

Knock.  Knock.  Knock.  

"Spike, could you answer the door please?"

"One moment Twilight," Spike said, putting down the pile of books that Twilight had JUST asked her to retrieve.  Mares sometimes...

She walked all the way to the other side of the room, grumbling, and opened the door. "Yes?  Who is- WHOA!"

The dragon assistant found himself submerged by the slumping, leaning, snoring body of Rainbow dash.

"Spike?  What's happening?  I heard....  Oh."

"Yeah," Spike deadpanned.

"Can you awake her?"

"...Nope." Spike declared, after several unsuccessful slaps and pinches to Rainbow's face.

"Er, well...  I guess we can give her the guest room until she wakes up," Twilight concluded, lifting the pegasus off Spike with her magic and bringing her upstairs.
	
> Career Jumpstart [Slice of Life] [Comedy]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Are you sure this is gonna work, Apple Bloom?" asked Sweetie Belle, looking upwards, sitting in the middle of an Apple field.

"Of course it is, Sweetie! It's all made of the best wood and nails we could find around!" replied Apple Bloom, who was busy triple-checking a blueprint.

"That's not saying much...."

"Plus I managed to implement my design on it!" joined in Scootaloo from the top of a rickety wooden platform, pointing right below to an oversized, unbalanced see-saw, proudly donning flame-coloured streamers. "Now I- er, we can look cool while doing awesome things! Rainbow dash will be so proud to see that we improved his design so much!"

"Yeah, Ah'm sure..." deadpanned Apple Bloom.

Scootaloo donned the goggles. And spent several seconds checking her wings.

"Is this really necessary?" said Sweetie belle, innocently.

"A prepared flier is a successful flier! Rainbow Dash said it, so it must be true!"

"That doesn't sound like her," said Sweetie Belle.

Scootaloo did a double-take at that. "Oh yeah! Must have been Twilight Sparkle while she was being taught by Rainbow Dash! Can you even imagine? Teaching a princess of Equestria how to fly! How radical is that?!"

"Yeah yeah, jus' jump down and let's see if this works will ya?" Applebloom cut in.

"But you said it will-" said Sweetie Belle.

"It's jus' to cut her blabberin' short, Sweetie."

"Oh."

Taking an appropriately epic run-up (as much as the platform would allow anyway) Scootaloo galloped, jumped and fell towards the board at the end of the long lever, speeding down with her buzzing wings, and pushing on the wood as hard as she could...

So much that the boulder on the other side lifted a good two meters in the air.

Sweetie clapped her hooves. "Wow, congratulation Sco-"

The boulder fell back down on a vertical, hitting the board once again and propelling Scootaloo at speeds never before experienced into the open air space of Ponyville.

"-ots.... Hey! You said it would work!"

Apple Bloom took on the defensive. "Hey, it did work Sweetie! Only, Ah guess it worked a little too well this time..."

------------------

Scoots meanwhile was doing the only reasonable thing: enjoying the side effect fully.

"I'M FLYYYYYIIIIIIIIIIIIINNNNNGAAAAAAAAAA-Ooof!" Her mid-air parabola was cut short by a collision with a cloud wall of Rainbow Dash's house.

"Hey squirt! What are you doing up here?" Asked Rainbow dash, leaning from an upper window.

"Mmmmph! Mmmmmph! MMMMMMrgph!" Answered Scootalooo from partly inside the wall, flailing her back legs.

"Oh yeah," Rainbow Dash chuckled as she flew down and pulled Scootaloo out of the wall.

"*cough* RAINBOW DASH!! Did you see it? Did I get my leverage cutiemark yet?" exploded Scootaloo, as she checked her flanks, in vain.

"Leverage? What do you mean kid? How did this happen anyway?"

Scootaloo cleared her throat. "Well, we wanted to try a new thing for crusading and so we asked Big Mac for wood and nails but he said 'Nnnnope.' so we told him that if he didn't we'd publish the photos about the time when he-"

Rainbow Dash flailed a hoof to interrupt her. "Whoa whoa whoa there kid. Am I hearing this right? Why would you possibly want a cutie mark for THAT?"

Scootaloo pondered. "Er... well, to move big things? To build bigger things than we are capable of alone?"

Rainbow Dash wrapped a hoof around Scootaloo to bring her closer. "Squirt, listen to me. That way lies only the career of a politician, or a bureaucrat, and you don't really want neither. Besides, there's Princess Celestia and Luna for the big things anyway. Don't sweat this, kiddo."

Scootaloo was growing increasingly confused. "But Princess Celestia can't just come for any big rock that needs to be moved out of the orchard!"

"Well, yeah, there's subordinates for that. You know? Administrators, mayors, lawyers, all those kind of ponies that do nothing but spend all day in an office, never feeling the sweet sun and the fresh air on their faces. Trust me, kiddo, you rrreally don't wanna glide down that path." A large sweep of her hoof sealed that.

Scootaloo wasn't exactly sure of how to take this, but if Rainbow Dash said that, who was her to contradict her hero? "Well, thanks a lot Rainbow Dash! I'll go tell the rest of the Crusaders right away!" She galloped towards the farm, only to stop short of the cloud border in alarm. "Hehehe... Could I get a ride down?" She asked, embarassed.

-------------------

She reached the other two fillies at a gallop. "Crusaders, stop this immediately! We're dismantling the project and thinking of something else, stat!"

Apple Bloom lifted her head from her hammering spot in disbelief. "But why Scoots? Ah'm sure Ah fixed the schematics for good! Next time the boulder will just roll off the platform!" 

"Yeah! We even kept the flame patterns!" offered Sweetie Belle, pointing at said streamers.

Scootaloo shook her head. "That's not the problem girls. If we keep doing that, we may get a cutiemark for staying all day in a cold office moving heavy rocks and not seeing the Sun ever, and I most definitely do NOT want that to happen!"

The other two Crusaders shared a look of hopeless confusion.
> Love is Blind [Sad]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Starswirl, my faithful student."

Celestia approached the young blue unicorn in the main corridor of the Royal Castle, and nuzzled him affectionately. He was carrying large tomes in his saddlebags, and looked neutrally attentive.

"There's a most intriguing set of artefacts Luna has recovered from an enchanted tree in the Freeroam Forest not far from here. Perhaps-"

His demeanor instantly shifted to intrigued as he waved a hoof to Celestia. "Oh, there's no need to even ask, Princess. You have my undivided attention." With just that, they trotted in the direction of the Royal Vault, Celestia explaining in her warm voice all the way through what they had already gathered about the six coloured gemstones, and what made them seem very special indeed. Starswirl just nodded along, gears already spinning furiously in his head.









Starswirl shoved telekinetically the quill against a wall of his study chambers, leaving a small splatter of ink on it. Why were these dumb rocks deflecting his efforts all the time, when the Royal Sisters had managed with next to no knowledge of their workings to activate them? 

He was hiding his head in his hooves when Celestia entered the laboratory.

"Is everything well, Star?" She asked gently, in a comforting tone, walking towards him while examining his drawings and research papers scattered around.

He grumbled. "Just a little impasse, nothing more. I'm sure I will get the proper resonance matrix in no time." 

She draped a comforting white wing over him, which he accepted reluctantly. "While I'm confident in that, I'm also sure taking some time off your studies and enjoying some fresh air might do wonders for you. All my other subjects are so happy whenever they get to enjoy a little free time and make some new-"

"Friends, friends, yes, Celestia, I've heard this a thousand times already," he monotoned. "Friends distract me from my research, and ultimately give me nothing I need. Now, if you're done, I may get back on figuring-"

"Perhaps I could help?" Celestia half-pleaded.

Starswirl sighed. "I have already your reports on your interpretation on the Elements, and I've expanded on them since then in almost all sections. You have no need to be here, Celestia. You can go have fun and mingle yourself; I'll stay here and do what I do best."

Celestia sighed, retreating the white wing to her side. She could have always forced him out of his smelly alchemical laboratory, but she couldn't help but factor that she was the one who proposed him this task in the first place. Torn with guilt, and with a flicker of hope that he might conclude this, or reconsider himself, she walked for the door.

"Be well, my student."









Entry #98

... The Elements exemplify indeed a basic fact of Nature: that any single creation thereof is incomplete, and is meant to be compensated in multiplicity for protection, support, masking flaws with another's strengths, and overcoming challenges bigger than a set amount.

I, however, find myself utterly repulsed by this vision. If the individual cannot be perfect, then I see no point of trying at all to improve or discover. Life is meant to be perfect. It is demanded of it, the directive flows in it as truly as blood or sap does. And perfection means spontaneous expression of what Nature holds, in all of its facets; spontaneous, unimpeded, instantaneous channelling of its Magic, instead of the normal bodily restrictions that even a unicorn never really learns to overcome in a lifetime.

Instead of allowing All that is Good to spread out and dilute itself through Creation, converge all that into a single individual, a pinnacle of Power and Change. Order perpetrates division; a true avatar of Nature shall instead unite.









As the Rainbow of Harmony had completely ran over Discord, Celestia couldn't stop the tears flowing from her closed eyes, as she struggled to channel the Elements and keep her concentration.

"I'm sorry it had to be like this, Starswirl. Please, please forgive me for ever being so blind. Never should I have left you alone through this. Come back to me, and I will make it up to you in any way I can."









Celestia sat laying in front of the statue of Discord, alone in the secluded inner atrium of the Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters. 

Her mind wouldn't stop coming back to those fateful days. Thinking back at how the grand, promising unicorn and the terrifying avatar of Chaos couldn't be more opposites to her. And still... the Elements had found nothing to fix in him. The transformation into Discord had left no part of her former student behind, so all the mercy they could bestow was to suspend his life and prevent him from causing any more harm.

Luna found her sister in the same position as the last two times she had come here: sagged, eyes downcast, almost unmoving in her penance.

"Why are you still troubling yourself so, Celestia? Was one pony so important to you to forget the rest?"

The Princess of the Sun gave no answer.

"So important to come each night here to grieve? To give your time to a blind and deaf statue of an avatar of all that we oppose, of a deceiver and a sadist, when you could be caring about your subjects? Or your sister?"

Celestia sighed. "He was my best student, Luna... His talent, all his power... He had so much to give to ponykind, I-I had never laid my eyes on such a unicorn like him. And now he's just..."

"Something that you would do well in throwing away and never think upon again."

Celestia sagged even more, and shook her head. "It's not so simple, Luna..."

"Oh, surely, we know all about that. It wasn't just his gift with magic, we've come to observe, as your words betray you. You felt something more for him, is that not? You have come in time to cherish him deeply, caustic and insufferable as he may have been."

"He wasn't that way on the inside, Luna, you should have se-"

"So much your obsession with him was," Luna continued in a louder voice, "That he came to completely obscure your judgement, thus allowing him to continue his study on the most powerful of the Kingdom's weapons, when what sits here in front of Our eyes very clearly speaks that he really shouldn't ever had! Are you a fool enough to deny even this, dearest Sister?"

"..."

Luna breathed out as she deflated her anger. "Let this be a lesson for you, Celestia. Love you gave to a mere single pony, unwavering faith in a simple being, all the hope you put in it, and it all crumbled in front of your very eyes. I truly hope you will exercise better judgement on the matter in the future."

With that, she retreated back into the shadows.

Left alone once again, Celestia sobbed openly, and spilled fresh tears.

"You don't understand, Luna..."
> This can't be real [Adventure]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight fled, deep into the Everfree Forest, on a narrow path barely lit by the full moon above the black trees, caring little for the branches and leaves that were assaulting her fur; she had bigger problems after her.

"She's gotta be here! Keep looking for some tracks, guys!" Came the faint voice of Rainbow Dash from behind her.

"Hmph, that will be no problem, dear! I'm personally interested in finding her and then beating some proper manners, and fashion sense, in that hard head of hers!" Rarity said.

"Hah, More like, egg head!" Rainbow mocked.

"Make sure you distract her Fluttershy, Ah'll make sure to lasso her good," joined in Applejack.

This is bad, really really bad!, Twilight thought, squinting around and trying to spot a good hiding place to gather her thoughts. So maybe she could make a mental checklist of the things she'd screwed up this time and how to fix them. 

Not far ahead, she found a large burrow under a massive, old root, and dove inside. She tried to catch her breath and still her panicking heart in the damp darkness.

As much respite as this offered, she knew it wouldn't last. They were coming for her, they would reach her eventually, and what could she do? Run away some more? Put them out of the fight? That would only make things worse!

"Um, I think she's here, girls!" said Fluttershy, right outside her burrow.

Eyes wide with panic, Twilight rushed outside, caring only to escape, and in passing she smacked aside the leaning Fluttershy, who tumbled to the ground with an "Oof!"

"Now you've done it Twilight!" Pinkie Pie yelled to the retreating unicorn, stomping a hoof to the ground. "When we get you there will be absolutely no parties for you, for ever ever!"

Twilight felt tears spill from her eyes as she strove to focus ahead and keep on the move.

	Why do I always screw up? Why can't things be peaceful and still for a while? It's always the next impending disaster with me around, and now I botched this one badly, she thought. I couldn't save the day this time, and now everyone hates me.

Twilight broke into a clearing as she wrecked her brain, thinking of just what she could possibly do to repair the damage, to make some sort of amends, but her thoughts were interrupted by a sharp cliff that came into view right at her hooves, forcing her to a desperate braking. From here, she could only gallop back into the woods she came from, now filled with the voices of her former friends.

So, this is it, she thought, sagging in defeat. There isn't really anything I can do if don't even watch where I'm going and keep making mistakes like this all the time, right?

She hung her head and waited for the inevitable; but just as she felt ready to give up, something else sparked inside her.

No, that can't be. It just can't. This goes against everything that I have learned so far. My friends might be mad now, but they would understand, if I just tried to explain everything to them. They would stop. They would listen. I have to believe this. Her friendship with them demands that I do.

So she stood, and she fought the shivers through her spine as she heard the frantic rustling and the shouts get louder, closer. She could see the bushes shaking few meters away. She took deep breaths and steadied herself. 

Be strong, Twilight. Believe in your friends.

Suddenly, the shaking and the noises stopped; instead of five angry mares, a single, dark blue alicorn walked out from behind a tree, approaching her. 

Twilight blinked. "...Princess Luna?"

"A warm welcome to you, Twilight Sparkle. Please forgive me for not dispelling your nightmare sooner, but We... I thought this could be a good opportunity to determine your inner strength," she said, her expression calm and unreadable.

Twilight's mental gears spun back into motion. "My inner... Do you mean this was a test? Why were you were testing me? Why did you make my friends say those horrible-"

Luna interrupted her with a forward hoof. "It is not I that conceived this nightmare, Twilight Sparkle; I merely allowed it. I needed... I wanted to ascertain if you could stand in the face of hopelessness."

"Well..." Twilight reasoned, I am an Element of Harmony after all, Equestria's final resort, and she knew from experience her role involved facing unfavorable odds. "I guess that makes sense..."

"There are many enemies of Order in Equestria who will not hesitate in misdirecting your efforts, instead of confronting you directly," Luna continued. Twilight nodded; she may have had faced Discord's and Sombra's tricks already, but she figured the Princess may want some reassurance from closer up. Besides, what was done was done.

"You must be cautious, Twilight Sparkle, for a dominant role in the preservation of Peace and Harmony carries large dangers with it. 

"You must keep your eyes and ears open, and your mind sharp. Question and be above any event that touches you. Investigate properly, and reason soundly. Do not give in to rushed assumptions."

The princess's expression turned softer. "And above all, believe in Us, and in your friends. Whatever evil may befall the land, you and your friends can find the way to dispel it.

"And whenever all hope seems lost, and its light would not shine upon Equestria, then you can be that spark, Twilight, as you have already shown in more occasions.

"You have proven yourself a worthy bearer of the Elements once more, Miss Sparkle. We bid you a good night," she concluded, turning to leave.

"Er...Wait!" Twilight said, "Will I have dreams like this one again, then?"

The Princess of the Moon cracked a small grin. "That will depend on you alone, Twilight Sparkle. For tonight, sleep well," she stated as she took to the skies, and disappeared behind the treeline.
> A Nightly Rescue [Adventure]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow was woken rather abruptly from her dream by the shouts of a filly, just below her cloud. Jumping to attention, she zipped to the edge and looked below, to the vast moonlit savannah, trying to pinpoint where the shout had come from...

There! A zebra filly was galloping in panic, shrieking as she pushed high yellow grass aside, being chased by something more than double her size, looking predatory enough in its feline gait to sound an alarm in RD's head.

She bolted off the cloud with enough force to dissipate it, diving straight for the feline's muzzle, hoof outstretched.

"Try someone more your size, won't ya?" She delivered, allowing the lion just enough time to turn before the hoof connected and blasted its whole face, dissolving it into sand, partly picked up in Dash's contrail as she sailed past.

She hovered in place to survey the scene. "Whoa," she said, glancing at her hoof in disbelief. "Are all things around here this dehydrated or something?"

She turned to the filly, who had stopped and was now jumping in place, calling out to her, "Makini! Kuwa makini! Ni kuja kwa ajili yako!" and pointing fervidly at the beast all the while.

"Hey kid," she waved back, "Yeah, I know I'm pretty good, but that's nothing I-Whoa!" By pure reflex she dodged the snapping jaws of the jumping feline that had almost reached her dangling hind legs. "Seriously? Why don't you guys ever know when to quit?"

Sand was still flowing to the lion's muzzle, recomposing it, which didn't prevent it though from growling loudly in displeasure.

"I guess you'll need a bigger lesson then. Let's see if you can handle this!"

Rainbow dash bolted down and started spiraling around the beast, enveloping it in a furious rainbow-coloured twister. The creature snarled and tried to swipe at the blurring pegasus, but was gradually coming undone, claws and limbs and muzzle and tail reverting to sand and being thrown up into the vortex...

When Dash was done, all that remained was a drifting cloud of dust high in the air, carried away by a rogue wind. She landed, only to be immediately tackled by the filly, her tears already wetting the pegasus's barrel.

"Heh, all in a day's work, kid," she said as she patted her with a wing, trying to console her sobs and to ease her crushing hug, but only time made the filly relax, clinging as she still was to the pegasus.

"It's okay, squirt... it's okay... Say, do you have a family nearby? They're probably worried sick about you."

The zebra just stared at her, eyes wide. It felt like she'd never let go of her.

The pegasus sighed. "Okay, let's look for your parents now," She forcibly released the embrace and stood up on all fours, nodding forward to the zebra to go ahead.

Sniffing, the filly wiped her eyes and started walking north, if the stars and Dash's pegasus senses were of any indication. The filly talked to her a couple of times during the trip in her zebra language, but the pegasus to her side thought little of answering besides a headshake and a "Sorry, kid."

Half an hour later, they arrived to a zebra village, their straw huts illuminated and their inhabitants rushing to greet the two as many hugs and relieved words mere exchanged between them and the lost daughter.

Rainbow Dash sighed. "Yeah, I guess this is my cue to leave. Be more careful next time, squirt!"

She was about to take off when an adult zebra called out to her; she turned to see all of them staring at her, the filly in particular with the most pleading eyes she had ever seen. She figured out they didn't want her to leave.

"...Alright then, I guess I'll stay, but-" she was interrupted by a yawn, "It better be about a place to crash, cause I was already exhausted before I made that sand lion thing bite the dust, hehe."

She was grabbed by a hoof from the filly, and escorted to a hut, where a leaves-and-hay bed seemed to be waiting for her in a corner. RD had thought of haggling down the hospitality, but she figured she could be doing better things right now than trying to gesticulate her way out of another culture's sense of neighborliness.

Specifically, snoozing her way to the next sunlight.

She barely noticed the little zebra scooping next to her as she drifted into unconsciousness.
> A Stubborn Student [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the orange glow of her magic, Sunset Shimmer opened the great, carved wooden doors of her family's mansion as she returned from her daily session with Princess Celestia, her saddlebags lifted form her by a close-by unicorn butler, and her father rushing to greet her in a hug, which she accepted in indifference.

"How's the day been, my prettiest ray of sunshine?"

She sighed, patting him twice on her back to return the gesture. "It's been fine, we've taken a break today and we've had a picnic together. No, there's been no new lesson this time. Yes, she has complimented me on the icefire sphere spell," She droned through the routine questions, "Can I go to my room now?" 

Her father blinked, releasing the hug. "Oh, but of course! Dutiful, please escort her," he gestured to the butler standing by.

Shimmer would have snorted in mild annoyance at having to be led to her room, hadn't the whole daily routine simply worn her emotions to mere tedium.

-----------------

Once in her massive bedroom, she slumped in her bed, and took deep breaths.

"I can't believe this."

Her cat was by the window, snoozing in the sun's rays, so she thought of distracting herself a little, and channeled her magic.

A small pot plant nearby grew abnormally and slithered towards the unknowing feline, enveloping him and lifting him off his comfortable spot, which earned some disgruntled growls, soon put to rest though as the branches started scritching him in various places, earning her a satisfied purring routine at last.

"Just how long does she think she can go on denying me to know? Isn't it thhe entire point of what she's doing?" She tossed and turned on the bed, hooves batting on the elegant covers, trying to find a comfortable position on the pillows.

"Who does that old hag think she is anyway to hog all that knowledge? To make sure that entire schools of spells get forgotten the moment she has a memory slip? Or a fire starts in the library?

"She thinks I'm not ready, Fuzzykins. Can you believe it? I can recite every lesson she's given me practically by rote by now!"

She only received contented purrs in response.

Her frown deepened. "Like she's one to talk. Never moves a hoof out of the castle, not if somepony's life depended on it. Wastes all her time on those ceremonies. Pfah."

"And let's not even mention all those bucking nemeses of hers she keeps in her backyard as stone decorations. Can't she even manage the common sense to carry out her decisions to their consequences? She's gonna have her flank handed out to her sooner or later, her soft heart's not made to last.

She telekinetically shove a pillow to the wall in frustration as she kept rambling. "Is that how you get to be a Princess? Really? By not making decisions as important as these?"

Sunset shimmer huffed, spun some more in her bed, and pondered. She always knew she was born for greatness, ever since she had cured her father of that magical mental illness, and had been called to be Celestia's protegé shortly after. She was to become a princess herself, Celestia had told her that much, but now the white horse was only slowing her down with all that secrecy and that stalling.

A princess had to make important decisions, and she figured that Sunset Shimmer, Future Princess of Equestria, had to start somewhere at some point. Like right now

Firstly, she got bored with playing with the cat, so with a glow of her horn, she implanted into him the strength and the rage to cut the vines off himself.

Secondly, she jumped out of the bed, a burning determination in her eyes to take the matter of her advancement fully onto her hooves.

"I am ready."
> Passing the Torch [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"So Amber Velvet, what is the preferred resonance of a ruby crystal when infused with raw mana?"

Twilight Sparkle was sitting in the main room of her library, a grand tome of magic levitating in front of her. On the other side of the study table, an orange unicorn filly surrounded by scribbled notes was looking irritated and spent.

"It's... about 35 Hearts? 37?"

"I'm afraid not, sweetie," Twilight answered, eyes still planted on the book, "Rubies are usually tuned to 80 Hearts; you were thinking of raw diamonds there."

Amber snorted in annoyance. "And why should I know this if even you need a book to remember that?"

"Oh?" Twilight actually lifted her gaze for this one, "But I wasn't! I was checking up on the progression of ward magic theory, see?" She said, turning the open book to face Amber, who managed to only glance a full-page image and copious scribbles on the other before the tome returned to Twilight. "Today we can approach the basics of permanent incantations and 3D gridding. We're going to have so much fun!" Twilight clopped her hooves together.
Amber for herself slumped her head on the library table. "No we aren't."

"Huh?"

"I said, no we aren't!" Amber punctuated that by pounding a hoof on wood, "All we do is read books and recite trivia all day! How am I supposed to actually learn real magic this way?"

Twilight took on a compassionate expression. "Sweetie, hard study is at the foundations of every practice of spells beyond the level of-"

Amber gritted her teeth in response. "I know, I know, but I'm sick of it! Two whole weeks and I haven't still cast a single spell! I'm fed up with this routine and with your studies! This isn't something I want to do anymore! You can tell Celestia that I quit, I'll find some other way to learn myself!"

Twilight gaped, stunned, as the filly galloped to the library door and exited the premises with a slam. Had herself ever done this with Celestia? Twilight has always been enraptured by what Celestia had to say, but again, most of the theory Twilight had learnt was self-taught; Twilight thought she could save Amber all the endless wading through books alone by presenting her all this in a academic, rigorous format. What was not to like?

Twilight sighed. No matter her intentions, it looked like she had done something very wrong here with her student. She didn't really know what though, so she figured the best course of option was to ask her.

She reached the outside, where Amber was not too far off, levitating a small rock and looking displeased that his rock was somehow cycling between different colors. Remembering what Celestia did with her, she simply approached her and sit to her side, waiting for Amber to make the first move.

"Sorry Twilight." She finally said, after several minutes, putting down the rock.
Twilight took a deep breath. "Did you... mean those things you said in the library? That you don't-"

Amber sagged, trying to find the right words for a while. "I meant it when I said that I'm not fond of these lessons. It's literally all we do! Can't we get some other real practice in?"

"Well..." Twilight was shifting her hooves uncomfortably. "You see, when I was at your level in magic studies, I can safely say that it WAS all I did because I wasn't near the level required to practice the spells Celestia told me to, and so I studied all day, just to reach it."

Amber pondered a bit on that. "So Celestia just told you from time to time to do some spells? No lessons or study or anything?"

"Well... I admit her lessons were more... metaphorical than what we did so far, and... I guess she did give me freedom, but maybe she did because she knew I'd end up studying them anyway before attempting something rash or dangerous."

Amber threw a coy smile at her mentor. "Or maybe because she only wanted you to forge your own road? To figure it out for yourself? Whatever it was you'd end up doing?"

"You... It is possible it could be that way, yes."

"So why don't you do the same with me, Twilight?" Amber countered, standing to position herself in front of Twilight. "Don't you think that maybe you could have ended up hating books if all Celestia asked you was to read them all day?"

"... I don't think that would have been possible Amber," Twilight merely stated.

Amber groaned and facehoofed. "Right. But that doesn't change that she didn't! She totally just let you with a problem and please Twilight, just please, let me do something interesting for once!"

Twilight looked at least partly convinced, and brought a hoof to her chin. "Well, let's see.... mmmm... Haha!"

Without a further word, she cantered to the library, and returned after some minutes with a torch floating at her side.

"Try and light this torch," she stated, planting it in front of Amber. "Let it burn for five minutes straight."

The filly, for her part, looked surprised, then smug. "Just that? I can do that in a jiffy, watch."

She focused, producing a red glow from her horn, and indeed. with some effort the torch lighted up. "What I said, no problem at a-"

The flame had already dissipated, the embers immediately fading to mere burnt cloth. "What? Is it..."

Twilight grinned. "Yes, the torch is warded with a basic Dissipation Charm. I figured it would make a nice introduction to wards and their workings, provided you are willing to learn their intricacies..."

Amber for her part, seemed to not have listened to a whole lot of that, and was staring intently at the torch, gripping it in her red field, turning it over and over. After several minutes of strained attempts and Twilight's observant patience, a last effort managed to light up the torch and have it stay lit for good.

"That's impressive," Twilight said. "How did you do it?"

Amber was beaming. "Hah, simple! I took the spell and inverted it so that it wouldn't quench the flame anymore!"

Ah, lateral thinking. While admirable, Twilight figured Amber would still have to deal with how to prevent the ward from immolate the torch in the span of about 50 seconds, all the while freezing the air around it.

But it was a start. Twilight smirked: this may turn out better than she expected.
> Change of Life [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I'll see you tomorrow, honey," the mare said.

"I'll think of you all the time at work," Was my response as I kissed my beloved delicately, and delighted myself in the last delicious hints of devotion I'd taste of her for the day.

Exit stage left; gone with Golly Whiskers, loving earth pony and travelling veterinary extraordinaire, a mask discarded in the solitude of a poorly-lit alley; then, a little touch of my personal magic, and in went Razzle Dazzle, elegant walk and flowing hair; gorgeous, proud, tall unicorn mare, ready to walk the crowded streets of Manehatten and soak up admiration and worshipping form the passer-bys.

Such, and much more, mas my life now -- the life of a lucky drone who found herself lost without a queen, tried in blind panic and empty hope to try and continue doing what she'd been doing all this time, infiltrate society and gather social and military intelligence, only to try and send reports that would not be answered again, and felling a weight gradually lift off her shoulders when she wasn't hearing the commanding voice of her supreme Queen anymore, dictating orders and expecting compliance...

It was freedom, she thought. Something that she was only beginning to truly absorb in concept from the multitude of ponies surrounding her, but one that she was trying to enjoy as much as possible.

That, and the sensation of all the love that the exhilarated ponies in the boulevards were throwing at her, that she could keep to herself as much as she wanted and let linger in her tissues and muscles and feel it flow in gentle, warm currents all through her body and flushing her face and horn with what she could only call pleasure...

She had, with time, forgotten any and all pretences of finding back the swarm and rejoining them, reforming the connection with the new queen, and resuming all that talk of war..

Why talk war when she could enjoy love all day.

Month after month, she had grown into the lifestyle, and now she wanted more. The most important pony saying she had heard was "Distance makes the heart grow fonder," and she used this to great effect: stay away for work ta make mares' hearts ache for your return, and smother you in love when you reunite.

Dole out your shows and public shows, do not let your fame dilute into boredom and staleness; instead, tantalize your fans, tease them, make your few appearances all the more precious.

She found it was easy for her to never overstay your welcome, when she could just up and assume a new pony identity to start over with literally anypony in the city. No chains to a dimmed love affair. No big deals with public scandals. No consequences. No worries.

Freedom.

It was such a beautiful concept. She wondered if she could actually love it, as much as these fans around her were adulating her persona, drooling for an autograph, a suggestion, a recommendation.

She wondered if the streams of love running through her body would actually keep her alive and healthy indefinitely.

She wondered if all this plenty would trigger in her a transformation into a new, powerful queen.

There was much she hadn't been thought about herself back in her swarm days; much of it had been either deemed unnecessary, or outright dangerous to the integrity of the colony.

How ironic then that the most of herself, she would learn amidst a sea of aliens; wonderful, plentiful creatures of love and magic.

She considered if she should whisper to one of her fans about a most titillating secret, an announcement of a future fashion show she would show up in, just for that extra taste of privileged ecstasy.

She wondered if maybe she could write something about her life at some point. She could surely would have appreciated if some other had explained all this to her before venturing face-first into pony civilization.

She briefly considered at what time she should show up, as Emerald Smiles, and wearing what, for her nightly affair.
> Airshipping is Best Shipping [Romance]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Fluttershy was feeling a little out of place, navigating the endless, spotty cloud bank below Equus Island, overlooking the Endless Sea. She was there with Rainbow, that was true, but her friend seemed to be playing circles around her and going too fast to hold a proper, paced conversation.

She kept following the blue blur until it settled on a cloud, waving at her to follow. She complied, landing on the soft vapor and sitting alongside Rainbow Dash, waiting for her to go on.

It seemed to Fluttershy that Rainbow was attempting to give her a passionate stare.

"Did you like the cloud Fluttershy"

"Oh, well, it's really soft, and nice," Fluttershy answered, hoofing the cloud with uncertainty.

"No I mean it's a special one it looks like a heart from above"

"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't notice that when coming here, should I-"

Rainbow shook her head. "It's cool I wanted to say something to you first"

Fluttershy stood there, forelegs crossed, and nodding in Rainbow's direction.

"We've been friends for a long time but lately I was thinking that we're both in need of a special somepony

"And you would like be perfect because you're the coolest one I know"

Fluttershy was taken aback by that. "Do- Do you mean you want me just because you wanted to be engaged to somepony?"

"Yes I mean no" she blurted. Then, she thought a little more about it. "Well yes but everypony thinks they want to be with somepony when they do this stuff right"
Fluttershy pondered on this in turn, head tilted. "Well, I suppose that's technically true, but I guess that's still something that-"

RD interrupted that train of thought with an outstretched hoof. "I'll start over okay"

FS just nodded again, faint hope showing in her eyes.

"Fluttershy you're the most awesome friend I know and I think you're a nice pony 

"It's pretty radical when you get to watch those animals and all the care you put in tending them and it's cool that you find time to spend time with us too

"And I really like your eyes"

Fluttershy just put on a demure smile, still not opting for answering.

"And you're pretty much the only pegasus I know and I would really like to spend more time with you in a special way

"Also your ears are very cute"

Fluttershy blushed this time, caught off-guard by the unusual compliment. "Oh... That's... nice..."

RD pressed on her advantage and leaned in for a kiss.

Fluttershy didn't react fast enough at first, but found herself quickly melting into Rainbow's amazing kiss.

Minutes passed, and forehooves were wrapped around each other before the kiss was released. Fluttershy stood amazed, cheeks hot. "Oh... Oh my..."

Ranibow still wore her straight face. "I hear it's even better if we do it going fast"

FS's eyes widened at that. "B-but... isn't it dangerous? What if we hit something when we're not looking? I can't even fly that quickly..."

"Baby I'll just carry you and there's like nothing but clouds for ever in all directions

"We gotta try Fluttershy I mean this was already radicool and everything I do is better when I go fast"

Fluttershy thought a little about it, but ultimately smiled and nodded, and was immediately swept off her hooves by her already airborne companion, speeding off in a seemingly random direction.

And they embraced and locked lips, with all the adrenaline and passion rushes of a spin through the air at mad speeds and a first love found, respectively.

When they released their lip-lock, Fluttershy wheezed against the whipping air, looking dreamy, while it was a grinning Rainbow Dash who expressed her feelings first:

"Tubular"
> Until Either Your Body or Your Mind Breaks [Dark]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Zapp blearily opened her eyes, realizing bit by bit she was stuck in place, strapped to a vertical table, her four legs spread and bound, and that a tight, cold metal band around her waist was pressing on her and making it unconfortable to breathe.

"Oh, look who's awake," cooed an earth pony figure, right in the middle of the large laboratory room, idly swinging a pocket watch to and fro, tethered to his brown hoof.

He wore a dapper suit and a bowler hat, mostly covering his wild red hair. "Don't bother about using your powers, Zapp; I've found ways to push them out of your capacities for the time being," he stated, smirking, walking closer to the bound superhero.

Nonetheless, Zapp tried her hardest to thresh out of her confines, with no success. "Rrrrgh! You know you'll never get away with this, Hypnotist! Me and my friends won't let you!"

The earth pony tilted his head in mock surprise. "Oh? I'm afraid I'll have to correct you there miss Zapp, for I will shortly be getting away with 'this', and precisely because you'll be helping me with 'this', and out of your own volition if I may so add."

Zapp was stunned. "What? No! You'll never convince anyone of us to join your dirty schemes! That's preposterous!"

"Why, you'll find three of your friends may already be saying otherwise. And you'll see why soon." With a push of a conveniently-near red button, the bounds on Zapp's legs began pulling away, and stretching her body to her limits. Her screams were already filling the room.

"You see, I'm making this simple to you. This machine won't be stopping until it brings your end, or I interrupt the process. And all it takes for you to stave off the inevitable, is simply to agree to my conditions, to play my little game for a while. You'll even be set free with your friends after I've done so."

Zapp managed to gather strength for a few words between gasps and shrieks. "You'll- *gasp* I'll die before giving up to you!"

"But is it really your best choice, miss superhero?" The Hypnotist continued in his mellifluous voice. "I'm sure your friends will miss you if you do."

"AAaaaaargh- Somepony else will come after me, and will- RRrrgh- defeat you!"

"Oh, but I'm afraid a death on the job wouldn't really set a good record for that, will it? Your stunt may actually scare new recruits away from such a demanding job, after all."

Zapp just screamed in response, as the pull was stretching her beyond what she thought was even imaginable for her body to bear. She could feel joints shift and muscles stretch in pure pain.

"And I'm honestly surprised you haven't even considered that if you're not among us anymore, you won't be able to help your friends get out of trouble ever again. It'd just be the end of that for you, and them.

"But there's always the alternative, you see. The one you heroes always take. The night before the dawn. The moment when all hope is lost, and you all have succumbed to the threat to the city. You should be comfortable with this kind of things, wouldn't you? You can do just the same here. Give up now to live tomorrow. Surrender to fight another day. All you have to do..." He was fixing his eyes intensely on Zapp's, who couldn't for her efforts, to pry them off his. Inbetween them, the pocket watch swung.

"Is shut out the pain... stop resisting and join your blissful sleep..."

Despite the pain, Zapp's half-lidded stare kept up, and she nodded.

"Fighting evil is something you'll do another day... Now, to gain your freedom, you'll have to play my game. Follow my orders, and you and your friends will be safe. Everything will be fine.

"Rest, and think how you are going to serve your new master, the Hypnotist."

Zapp nodded herself off to unconsciousness, after which the earth pony pressed the red button again, and all bonds retreated into the table, dropping the costumed pegasus unceremoniously on the floor.

The Hypnotist looked very contented with the outcome. "Marvellous," he said. "I believe Filly-Second's in for the next appointment."

He allowed himself a chuckle now that nopony was listening. "Let's see you Power Ponies wiggle out of this one..."

---------

Spike shut the comic book closed, unable to continue. Wide-eyed, he just walked upstairs and slithered into bed, trying to get all the thoughts to leave his head. He was starting to regret of ever buying that Very Mature edition comic under Twilight's nose.
> A Brief Introduction to the Best Things in Life [Romance]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Twilight awoke in her bed, feeling slightly groggier and confused than her average morning, slowly coming to the realization that another body was pressing on her, indeed big-spooning her. She turned slowly to find a candid, sleeping Pinkie, her mane a chaotic, unruly mass of pink, just as always, and a smile fixed on her muzzle. She jutted her eyes open. "Hi Twilight! Had a good night?"

Twilight shrieked and scampered for her half of the bed. "What are you DOING here, Pinkie?"

Pinkie took all of one second to stand up and gather her thoughts. "Well, just yesterday night we were all having the 'Peewee Birthday Party' party and you didn't really catch on that the punch was spiked and after a while you got really woozy and talkative, and when I asked you how you were doing you replied 'I'm fine Pinkie, but I've been feeling the lack of some more close friendship lately' and I said 'Silly Twilight, you have already best friends!' and then you murmured 'Not that kind of friends though...' and I went 'OoooooOOOOOoooh' and then I kissed you!"

Twilight stared, shell-shocked by the reveal. "Y-You kissed-"

"Eeeyup! Good ol' 'Prench technique' style! You looked reeeeally confused at first but then you said 'Whoa, this felt actually good', and then you leaned in, well more like fell towards me, and you kissed me again! And then eeeeverypony was watching and cheering and saying 'You go Twilight!' 'Yay!' And after a while of that I called the party off early because there was a DIFFERENT kind of party to be played upstairs!"

"WuwuwuwuWHAT Pinkie! What did we do?!" exclaimed Twilight, jumping off the bed, still covered in her blue blanket, and pointing an accusatory hoof at her bedmate.

Pinkie circled a hoof. "Oh, you know, the usual, 'be a smoochy woochy and cuddle and say sweet things to each other all the way to sleep' party. Kinda like a slumber party, but with sexy undertones!"

Twilight was just blushing furiously at this point, unable to do anything but stammer back onto the bed, restoring the cover to its place.

Pinkie chuckled. "You really liked to cuddle in bed, didn't ya Twily Smiley Wyley?"

"I suppose I do," she admitted, clopping her hooves together in shame.

"And if you liked this thaaaat much, I can actually introduce you to..." A drumroll was heard, out of nowhere.

"...THE HAREM!! There's Rainbow Dash in it and Cloud Kicker and Lyra and Blossomforth and Rarity and aaaall the good mares in town who want a good time! And oh boy you should see Cloud Kicker deliveri-"

Twilight stammered. "R-RARITY?! B-but whose harem is this? Is there even a male in all this?"

"Nope, but that's the best part of it! Since it's nopony's harem it's EVERYPONY's harem! Equality and and freedom and vaginal stimulation FOR ALL!" Pinkie declared with a grand sweep of her hoof.

Twilight felt her face boil and opted for hiding herself under a pillow, to which Pinkie giggled.

"You're really cute when you're flustered, you know?"

Twilight hyperventilated for a good while from under the safety of her improvised pillow fort, where none of Pinkie's far-from-comforting reassurances or spine-tingling nuzzles could fully reach her. 

When she emerged, she acted in a blur, lifting Pinkie off the bed, enveloped in her purple aura, together rushing for the front door downstairs.

"OkayPinkieI'llcertainlythinkaboutwhatyouofferedmeandyou'llbethefirsttoknowanythingandthanksforthebirthdaypartybythewayandalsoeverythingelseBYE!" *SLAM*

Crisis finally averted, Twilight slumped on the shut door, sighing long and hard.

But she wasn't done with this. Not by a long shot.

She shouted, "Spike! Wake up and bring me the book order form! FORMS!"

She had a whooooole lot of studying ahead of her.
> Chrysalis is Coming to Town [Parody]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three changelings in rusty blue armour were resting, sprawled, in the middle of the dark, enclosed, rocky expanse of their current Hive.

One of them, Echo, was simply sitting in a stupor, watching geysers of green gas occasionally send small clouds into the air.

The second, by the name of Mirror, was massaging his scarred butt. "Guilt, those lousy Royal guards! I won't be able to sit for a week!"

The third, Shadow, was pushing idly a rock into a small hole in her foreleg. "Yeah? You know, if it weren't for those ponies, we'd be runnin' the joint."

"Yeah. By anger, I hate ponies."

"So roundy."

"And hairy.

"And pastel-y.

"And by rage, are they..."

They both shouted "UuuugLY!" And laughed.

From a high perch, a taller figure emerged, to bear on the three, faint amusement flickering in her slitted green eyes. "Oh, surely ponies can still come useful, can they not?"

All three turned in anticipation.

"Queen! Queen Chrysalis the Twenty-fifth!"

Two of them bowed, though only Mirror managed to come forward: "Have-have you..."

"I don't think you really deserve it," the Queen deadpanned, levitating in her aura a green stasis pod, with a sleeping rabbit inside. She flung it in their direction, letting it splash on the floor violently. Immediately, the three proceeded to lick the rocky surfaces clean of the emotionally-charged goo.

Meanwhile, the Queen continued her musings. "I only asked my best drones to provide basic intel on the Royal Marriage... and you almost got yourself caught." She sighed, "Canterlot is almost certainly on high alert right now."

"Well, you know. It wasn't exactly like Cadence was alone, Chrysalis," Shadow intervened, licking her muzzle clean of the goo.

"Yeah," Mirror joined in, "What are we supposed to do, kill Celestia?"

Chrysalis grew the widest smirk. "Precisely."

The three changelings paused from eating and looked up at her questioningly.

To this, Queen Chrysalis gave her best evil laugh, and with flash and thunder in the distance, she jumped down, wings fluttering, to ground level, where several geysers welcomed her with spews of noxious green fumes. Xylophones and ominous hums were accompanying her regal walk. The powers of song would best explain her plan.

She started circling Echo, still obliviously licking the goo off the dead rabbit.

"I know that your powers of retention

Are as wet as a siren's backside,"

She kicked the rabbit out of the way, to which Echo responded with a sharp salute.

"But I'm still your Queen, pay attention!

My words are a matter of pride." 

She waved a hoof in front of Echo's unblinking, staring insectoid eyes.

"It's clear from your vacant expressions 

The lights are not all on upstairs,"

Two drones were laughing at the victim merrily, but the Queen decided to admonish them too.

"But we're talking queens and successions;

Even you can't be caught unawares!"

Her outburst sent them on an exploding geyser each, spiralling them into the air with a high-pitched shriek, and back down.

"So prepare for a chance of a lifetime,

Be prepared for sensational news"

Chrysalis, for all that, just continued with her theatrical, royal strut up the perch.

"A shining new era

Is tiptoeing nearer"

Shadow peeked out from behind a rock, timidly, to ask:

"And where do we feature?"

"Just listen to teacher," Chrysalis replied, digging mock-affectionately her hoof in Shadow's cheek.

"It will be most guarded

But you'll be rewarded"

As Shadow massaged the mistreated cheek, the Queen continued her regal ascent.

"When at last we are given our dues

And the marriage deliciously impaired"

Once on the top, she pointed her horn up and sent out a green magic beacon, calling the Hive to herself, and blasting a nearby drone out of the way in the process.

"Be prepared!"

Mirror, enchanted by the light, nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, Be prepared. Yeah-heh... we'll be prepared, heh. ...For what?

"For the death of the princess," Chrysalis announced.

"Why? Is she sick?" Mirror asked, buzzing up to her height.

"No, fool," she responded, grabbing the drone in her magic aura and shaking it, "We're going to kill her. And the Elements too," she finished maliciously as she threw it back down with the others.

"Great idea! Who needs a Princess?" Shadow commented, and threw up a little dancing gig with Echo. "No princess! No princess! la--la-la--la-laa-laa!"

"Idiots! There will be a Princess!" Chrysalis thundered in response.

Mirror looked confused. "But you said, uh..."

"I will be Princess!" She continued. "Serve me unquestioningly, and you'll never go hungry again!

Both Shadow and Mirror seemed ecstatic at the news. "All right! Long live the Queen!"

A great mass of other changelings, summoned by their superior, perched on every surface available, with more buzzing in the air, joined in. "Long live the Queen! Long live the Queen!"

Together, they marched in tight formations below of Chrysalis, the song resuming its steady beat.

"It's great the succession has brought us.

a real queen who'll be all-time adored."

Chrysalis, seemed very pleased with the proceedings, smiling complacently at her subjects, and singing further.

"Of course, so you know, you're expected

To take certain duties on board,"

Hundreds of changelings were parading under her, a seemingly endless scape of obedient soldiers. Canterlot would be no match for a well-timed attack.

"The future is littered with prizes

And though there's some problems to solve,"

She jumped down her cliff once again, bearing intense stares on her close subjects.

"The point that I must emphasize is

My strength will destroy their resolve!"

The ground started to shudder and rise, as gases shot out new ripples in the ground. The queen for herself decided to ride a rising chunk in style, as her troops accompanied her both in elevation and musically.

"So prepare for the coup of the century

(Oooh!)

Be prepared for the murkiest scam

(Oooh... Ah! Ah! Ah!)"

Three drones shook their flanks at the rhythm of the music, as the gases and the pillars continued to rise. 

"Meticulous planning

(We'll have love!)

Tenacity spanning

(Lots of love!)

Decades of denial

(We adore)

Is simply why I'll

(Endless love!)"

Finally the night sky came into view, as the queen's song and the drones' excitement were reaching a climax.

"Be Queen undisputed

(Aaaaaaah...)

Respected, saluted

(...aaaaaaah...)

And seen for the wonder I am

(...aaaaaaah!)

Yes, my fangs and ambitions are bared

(Oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo-oo)

Be prepared!"

The swarm joined in the main voice, their grins proudly displaying their sharp teeth, wings buzzing in elation.

"Yes, our fangs and ambitions are bared

Be prepared!"

The whole swarm joined in a massive-scale evil laugh, that reverberated for miles and miles of desert.

-----------

Luna shuddered, apparently for no reason, in the middle of her nightly guarding routine. She was getting jumpy, she thought; more stressful nights like this, and she'd wear herself down, and then who knows, she could even end up calling the day of the marriage off!
> Big Brother Best Guard Forever [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	The young Shining Armor sighed happily as she accompanied the jumping, frolicking, and overall ecstatic unicorn-filly-sister Twilight Sparkle through their favourite park in Canterlot, carrying their picnic basket on his back.

It was a day they decided to spend together, like many others. With practiced ease , Shining levitated the chequered blanket on the grass and set up the meal for the two of them, while Twilight was busy staring intently at a cricket on a nearby tree.

"Did you know that crickets chirp by rubbing their wings together?" She explained, eyes full of wonder.

Shining chuckled. "Do you think pegasi could manage to make a sound like that?" He replied. He knew it felt a bit like a stupid question, but he always liked seeing Twilight's mental gears spin into motion on a new problem, like she was doing now, hoof on chin, brows furrowed.

"Hmmmm.... The frequency of the sound would mean... but then the wing hardness... factor the square-cube law... lack of chitin...mmmm... nope!" She chirped. "They can do it with their voices, but their wings wouldn't be able to."

Shining just smiled in response. "Here Twiley, I've got your sandwich." Dandelions, roses and mayo, her all-time favourite.

She skipped happily back to the picnic blanket, snatched the meal in her forehooves and dug enthusiastically into it.

Shining was slower and more contemplative in his eating. "Twiley... Have you seen the guard patrol just before?"

"Yup! Marching in formation through Winter Plaza, punctual and polished as always!" She nodded, speaking through her full mouth.

"I know... They really look great, don't they?" Shining mused.

"Yeah, and they look like a perfect fit for my Big Brother Best Friend Forever to join in!" She blurted in.

Shining Armor jumped to attention: when did Twilight catch on to that? "Twiley... How do you-"

The filly gulped hastily. "Are you kidding? I've seen you always admiring and talking about the guards of Princess Celestia or the Castle rounds or the patrols or the skirmishing training- You're just an open book to me, brother," she concluded triumphantly, adding a sizable bite of her sandwich to the celebration for her deduction.

"Yeah... I guess I do go on about them a little..." He conceded, hoof rubbing the back of his neck.

"And I know for sure that, with the current ratio of time spent training to time available, you'll be able to enlist in the Royal Guard in no time!"

"Really?!" Shining was all ears; Twilight did NOT throw hyperboles around. When she said something, she meant it. "Why do you say that?"

"I've been studying you," she said, plain and innocent as the filly she was. Oh yeah, that was Twiley alright. "I've ranked your attentiveness, observance, protection factor, magical reflexes, AND fitness-"

Shining did a double-take. "Wait- Is that why you kept throwing toys and plates and quills around the hou-"

"-AND my results point to a perfect 10/10 score, as clearly shown in the-" It was Twilight's turn to interrupt herself, pointing hoof hung in midair. "Oh... heh, I guess the proper data recollection and graphs and pie charts will have to wait until we get home, hehe." Twilight rubbed her hooves together, in slight embarrassment.

"That's OK, Twiley- Please continue," Shining encouraged, nuzzling Twilight; this was too interesting to wait.

"Well, alright- As I said, the cross-referenced and compared graduations show a top result in the combined ranking of defensive capabilities of the ponies across all of- Well, all of the books I could find, really, but that's a whole lot! I've managed to gather a pool of two thousand units and extracted the relevant statistics by fitting them on standard sca-"

"Whoa, you're losing me, Twiley," Shining admitted, hoof massaging his temple; his adolescent mind had not been in the least prepared at school for this kind of scientific onslaught.

"Um, I suppose I'll arrange an abridged version at home- but as a conclusion, you're the best! The best BBBFF I could ever ask for, AND the best candidate for being a Royal Guard and protecting Princess Celestia!" She declared, full of enthusiasm.

"Well, I'm not sure the Princess keeps them all that clo- Wait, do you really mean THE BEST?!" Shining was absolutely shocked.

"There's really no one like you, Shiny," Twilight said, looking right in his eyes, sniffing a bit before continuing. "I know, I checked. The job of a Royal Guard must take a l-lot of hours each day on duty," Twilight was starting to stutter and struggling to keep talking, "But yesterday, as I-I read all the gr-great things all the g-guards have done, I realized it doesn't- It doesn't matter."

Her eyes were getting moist, as she kept her gaze on her brother, hooves leaning on him. "Even if it means I'll ha-have to share my BBBFF with the rest of Equestria, that m-*sob*-means I'll have to do that sacrifice for the better of all ponies.

"There's really no one *sob* I-I'd rather have watching over me, and that means it's best if you do that with as many- as many pones as you can."

This show was too much even for the tough show that was Shining Armor. Eyes watering, lip trembling, he swept his little sister in his tightest hug, shuddering with the power of the words she had delivered. To hear your lifelong aspiration confirmed by your best sister... His brain was swimming; it felt more like a dream to him in this moment. At the same time, he knew she had to be completely right. That he felt just natural in the role of big brother and protector. That he'd rather do this all his life rather than anything else.

A few minutes later, when they released the hug, Twilight noticed in ecstasy that a little something had appeared on her brother's flanks.
> A Prophecy [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Sunshine Smiles wandered the endless scape of her dream city, fully blended into the hustle and bustle of its imaginary inhabitants. Celestia had long ago taken a habit of dreaming herself a common earth pony sometimes, and spend her nights mingling with peers, living all the simple joys of pony games, hobbies, mundane conversations, and jobs, all blissfully first-hoof.

But her sleep had been troubled recently; even when calling for her, she could never manage to summon her dear dream sister, Selene, the enchanting and dignified midnight blue pegasus, to join her.

Not since she had used the Elements.

Wandering aimlessly the crowded streets of Everfree, a colourful tent caught her attention, drawing her to it, in a way Celestia recognized being too powerful for a simple pleasing of the eye. She felt compelled to enter, and so, Sunshine Smiles crossed the canvas door, finding inside a brown, bearded Earth pony in red and white exotic clothes, head wrapped in a turban, idly shuffling two dozen cards.

"Come in, o Protector - the trafficked roads are no place for a filly as troubled as you."

Sunshine cocked an eyebrow in surprise - he had called her with one of Princess Celestia's many appellatives. This figure knew a lot more than a simple dream character. Wordlessly, she walked to the divining table and sat on the stool awaiting her.

With a single, relaxed gesture, the magician brought the small deck across the table, leaving 4 cards in its path, and keeping the rest of them piled nearby. 

"It is a heavy burden that crushes you, sadly," he spoke, as he turned the leftmost card, to reveal a picture of An Earth pony and a Pegasus, one on the ground, the other in the air, locking passionate eyes on one another, separated by the twilight line that also divided the day and the Sun from the night and the Moon.


VI - THE LOVERS


"It has been a hard choice you made," he continued, "But also a choice born of love; a choice that forced you to make clear your loyalties, and who you cared about the most."

Celestia felt her throat choke at the pony's description: here where she had hoped to forget, at least for a night, all was revealed yet again, laid out plain as day. Yet, she couldn't even fathom to leave an occurrence such as this. With an heavy breath, she blinked to clear her blurry vision, and merely nodded.

Showing a compassionate smile, the diviner went on, and revealed the second card: A skeletal unicorn, carrying an old scythe in its black magical grasp, galloping through a field of withered grass and trees, yet showing green offshoots right behind his path.


XIII - DEATH


"Things end, but what is a conclusion, if not the occasion for another beginning?" The pony offered. "The cycle is ever moving, and anything that is brought out is merely an occasion for more to be brought in. Transformation is the way of all things," he emphasized. "And nothing is ever truly lost."

Sunshine's ears perked up; was he really saying there mas still hope for Luna? She couldn't almost bring herself to believe it yet; how was this possible? She had been confined to her Moon, being all even the Elements could do to fix things. She shuddered, feeling the dreadful thread of hope traverse her features.

Undeterred, the magician continued, flipping the third card, upside-down to her view unlike the other two: A white marble tower, struck by lightning in a storm, crumbling at the top, together with a giant plummeting Royal Crown, and two ponies falling to the rocks below.


XVI - THE TOWER


"Some changes, however, can be forceful, and not without their dark periods. The night comes before the day. One day, fate comes to sweep the board, and some ponies get washed away by the wave, and are left hoping that others will be able to hold the tide together."

Celestia struggled to let the meaning filter into her comprehension - Was that meant for her? Would she be unable to help? To aid her sister in her purification? Or would she just be banished somewhere so that the Eternal Night would actually come to pass?

Sunshine was trembling in her seat, the weight of Destiny pressing on her small shoulders; she felt enclosed, trapped, and was breathing laboriously.

With a reassuring smile, the diviner flipped the last card: A shining, radiant Sun, and Celestia herself walking forward with confidence, the sunflowers in the field having eyes only for her.


XIX - THE SUN


"Nonetheless, all stories are bound to a happy ending eventually - no matter the wait, success and accomplishment attend those who know their powers, and how to use them. War can only end in peace; hatred can only end in love; and just as well, separation only ends in reunion."

Sunshine blinked away tears, as her heart threatened to explode inside her chest. Hiccupping from the overwhelming stream of relief, excitement, resolve, and gratitude inside her, she acted on instinct - and jumped forward, over the table, to give the diviner the tightest hug she could deliver, upending the stool and scattering the cards in the process. The dressed pony took this in stride, and reciprocated the embrace with patient love, and caring comfort. 

Minutes passed as the magician's clothes were wet with an happy tear after another, and the silence filled with body-wrecking sobs.

One last time, they looked in each other's eyes, exchanging hope and gratitude. As the colours of the scene began to blend and Sunshine's body to lose feeling, the magician finally spoke. "Remember, o Blessed Sun," he said softly, "The Stars will aid in her escape. 

"Be prepared."
> Breaking Point [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"I need a moment with Prim Hemline. I have to rush back to Ponyville, but I just wanted to thank her first for—"

"Uh-uh-uh, you'd best steer clear of Prim for a while. She's pretty... furious. Isn't that right?"

Coco Pommel felt a bulge in her throat, and had to look at the ground to manage a "Um... yes."

She registered the rest of Rarity's friends coming to join her, but she knew how it probably would play out now. Her head was swimming, barely hearing that they were going to enjoy a last theater play before returning to their city.

"And that is how it's done, hehe," Suri Polomare declared, walking out of the building to see them go, "Pretty clever how I convinced her to stay away from Prim, wasn't it?" She chuckled some more for good measure. "Wouldn't have wanted her to find out the truth now, would we?" Her intimidating gaze on the apprentice left her speechless, forced to withheld her gaze with a heavy spirit and a screaming heart.

Without adding more, Suri turned and walked back inside; all was left for her was playing the waiting game, trying to subtly convince the judges that Rarity's behaviour implied that she would not really come back, like she had been for the past half hour. Coco, however, left alone, felt more restless with each passing minute.

Walking back and forth in the hall, she had all the time to wonder just what had happened. She had realized Suri had basically stolen the fabric from the white unicorn, and even still, in a single day, Rarity had managed not only to sew a completely new, successful line, but to invent it out of thin air, outside of her studio, in the first place.

The same mare who had just offered the fabric to Suri out of her own volition.

The same mare who left the ensemble not once, but twice, because she cared more about her friends than... than these petty games of competition, really; she knew by now the unicorn was more than talented. She was... open-hearted, and the more she compared the unicorn to herself, the more she realized her priorities might not be straight as she wanted.

She stopped in her circles as she contemplated the simple question: Why are you doing this?

Working for a mare that the harder you worked, the harder she would berate you to work faster? 

Passing sleepless nights sewing someone else's pride to call your own?

Not even contemplating about getting a life because the mea- your 'mentor' could call up in the middle of your free afternoon because she didn't like the stitches and wanted them redone a different colour, like she did three days ago?

All this, for what? Getting to learn something new? Petty idea theft and overexertion were being added to your resume currently, that much was sure.

Hoping for recognition maybe. But were you even going to get that recognition in the first place? You sure didn't the last three times, when you sewed everything and added all the best touches you could think of to Suri's line; the very same details that the patron liked so much.

And what are you doing to reach that? Daily slavery? Swindling the most kind-hearted mare you ever met of her impossibly well-deserved prize not once, but TWICE?

No. This was where she drew the line. This was not where she had ever wanted to end up. Nothing could justify the amount of low blows she was stunting anymore. She was bringing some changes in her life, and she was starting right that instant.

For the first time in weeks, she could feel relief washing over her, and the fire of resolution sparking in her chest, growing as she contemplated how much she could do to fix things while she could.

It took her little to figure out that if Rarity wouldn't come back to claim the prize, the best next thing would be bringing the prize to her.

But not before making it up somehow to her. She knew already a gift shop along the way to the theater where she could have something wrapped, and she knew just the thing: the rainbow spool she always carried with her, ever since her mother passed it to her. So that she could remember that 'Creativity is as wide as imagination, and as varied as a rainbow, and any source can flare the brightest spark.' 

She wondered if that could help her, now that she was coming up with a plan to effectively steal the first prize... even if just for a small while.
> Sugar Rush [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	As sunset rolled over Ponyville and tinged the kitchen interior in a red light, Bon Bon was frantically zipping around the cabinets, taking biscuits out of the oven and cooking the sugar for the caramel and then mixing some more pastry and checking the other oven and cutting the roses in very small pieces and putting them in the mixer as well and WHEN DID THE CARAMEL MANAGE TO GET BURNT she'd have to make another batch and she was FALLING YET MORE BEHIND ON SCHEDULE and she may have come partly to terms that she wouldn't be able to complete that order by tomorrow morning but some part of her still refused to believe it and IF IT HADN'T BEEN FOR THAT USELESS PINOT NOIR she would have gotten her order of Alchermes in time and NONE OF THIS WOULD EVER HAD HAPPE-

A gentle, yet steady rapping at the open frame of the kitchen interrupted her train of thought. She barely glanced to register a worried pony at the doorstep. "Hey Lyra."

The unicorn took a long breath. "Bon Bon, are you... Is everything going alright?"

"Yup, just peachy," the cream mare replied, obvious tension in her voice, as she poured yet more flour in the mixing bowl.

"...Bon Bon, you've been at this all day, maybe you should need a rest or something..."

"I'm FINE," she replied, a bit louder than she intended. She couldn't stop, she couldn't break the pattern, Not now that she had figured out how to slot the timings properly so that she wouldn't have to lose a single second to-

Lyra continued, voice meeker and more tentative than before. "Look, I-I'm just saying, I've never seen you so frantic around your tools, an-and honestly I can see why... You're kinda making a mess around here."

Bon Bon allowed herself to break her pace and concentration, take a step backward, and really take notice that the kitchen was in a quite inexcusable state. Even now the mixer was spilling some of the overflowing pastry around. She went to turn it off, and sighed hard as she allowed her few seconds of on-the-spot resting. "That's true, but I'm to keep working if I want to finish tomorrow's order," she monotoned.

"You don't seem convinced."

The earth pony rested her head on the counter with a small *thud* "I'm not entirely sure I can manage to  complete the order this time."

"Oh." A few seconds passed in silence. "Well, why don't we ask Sugarcube Corner to cover some of the work? Even if it's kinda late, I'm sure they'll be more than happy to get more-"

"But that will put me into REMISSION!" Bon Bon jumped up, repeating something she had already argued with herself. "I'll lose money on the order if I do that!"

Lyra staggered back, and took a few breaths to recover from the outburst at her. "Bon Bon, I... think you might need to set your priorities straight here. First, how confident are you to keep this up all night, considering how... sloppy you're being even now, and finish that order?"

The cream mare stared blankly as she was forced to consider the issue sincerely this time around. "Not at all."

"...Which means you'll need some help to finish it," Lyra offered kindly. "Aaand I think I've already proved last time-"

Bon Bon allowed herself a nervous chuckle. "Yeah, letting you try recipes that complex was not our best idea."

"So that leaves someone else; and I'm pretty sure you know already how much more important is customer loyalty than a one-time profit."

The baker simply nodded.

"Not to mention, Bon Bon, y-you can't stress yourself like this, ok?" Lyra's voice was taking on a nervous, pleading tone. "I-I don't like-I mean it's not really good when you're being this nervous, ok? You get all... strange, it's not like you to do that!"

Bon Bon blinked, frowning, contemplating saying something rash, but then understood, and smiled as calmly as I could manage. "It's... still me inside Lyra, I promise. I can take a little roughing, I'll be fine. I'll... I'll just do the list for Sugarcube Corner, ok?"

"Ok," Lyra replied with a sniff and a nod. She just stood uncomfortably for a while at the doorstep, head low.

"I mean, I'm sure whatever lesson was to be learned here, you have probably already got it," she continued, "...Not that I could tell you, I wouldn't really know what it was about in the first place and what got wrong and you know a lot more than me about pastries and-"

She was interrupted by Bon Bon gently placing her hoof, holding the list, on Lyra's shoulder. "It's fine," the earth pony offered, reassuring her with the best smile her tired features could manage.

Lyra smiled and nodded, wordlessly levitated the list and her saddlebags from the living room, and walked for the front door.

As she opened it, Bon Bon spoke again. "Hey Lyra?... Thank you."

Lyra stopped and giggled, sharing one last eye contact with the earth pony. "What are friends for?"
> Serious Businesses [Action] [Comedy]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Pinkie had been stuck for hours in place guarding the priceless MMMM (though hopefully not prizeless), her senses still sharp as the first watch turn (she was up at her fourth, each time swapping with herself), when suddenly a talon slithered from above her, towards the pastry composition. Pinkie was quick in deflecting it with a well-placed hoof.

"Ouch!" the figure said.

Pinkie turned to discover Gustav le Grand, donning a dark cape. "Get your claws off that cake, you cur!" She shouted and pointed a hoof at the griffin culprit, who promptly grabbed her with both talons at the barrel and dashed for the cabin door.
He realized only up close, in the penumbra of the room, that the glass of the door had been cut in a circle, from which a small golf-like ball was thrown. It exploded at Gustave's feet, releasing a green gas, but the griffin was quicker in covering his beak with his cape (shielding the pink pony on his chest too in the process). 

As the smoke dissipated, Gustave allowed himself an evil laugh and a mustache twirl. "Ohohohoho, your master plan is defeated, mon ami'! Show yourself and fi-"

The door slammed open, dazing and hiding from view both Gustave and hitchhiker; circling stars were visible just behind the bottom of the glass pane.

Con Mane walked stylishly, eyes closed, right up to the MMMM, and with both front hooves pulled his bow-tie, releasing a spray which highlighted the laser traps in place around it.

He reached for the mirror in his pockets, but just as he was closing in to his prey, a shadow behind him forcefully applied a frying pan to his head, knocking him down with a *clang*.

The donkey ninja jumped down from the ceiling doing three loops, and unsheathed her trusty ninjatō, focused entirely on her objective, the cake. 
"MULIA MILE!" A high voice ringed from behind the door, grinding the ninja's gears to a halt. "You will not be permitted to slice up, carve, or othervwise redecorate improperly the MMMM," she said that with a moan of delight, "as long as the Stealth Mare is on the case!" A pink pony in a black sweater and mask jumped out, donning orange night-vision goggles.

The ninja braced herself as her opponent jumped on her, initiating a catfight. Soon the other two recovered from their daze, had a menacing, teeth-bared glance at each other, and soon joined the fray with the other two. 
Several seconds of incoherent shouts, dust, hair-pulling and confusion were interrupted by the door slamming open once again.

"JUST WHAT IS HAPPENING HERE?" Shouted a pissed, bed-maned Twilight Sparkle from the edge of the disaster zone.

The four immediately stopped, though entangled in each other's grips and frozen stances. "Errr... he started it!" pointed the Stealth Mare at Gustave le Mond, who for himself looked terribly offended. "Miss Pie, I would like to remind you that-"

"I DON'T CARE WHO STARTED IT!" Twilight reestablished order once again by way of overpowering decibels. "Just... What are you all doing here in the middle of the night??"

Of the four, Pinkie was the less inhibited to answer. "Duh, sabotaging each other's pastries, of course."

Twilight hung her jaw in disbelief. "...But for what reason? Couldn't you just wait until tomorrow and let the judges decide?"

Pinkie shook her head and gave the unicorn the compassionate, condescending look. "Oh Twilight, there's still so much you have to learn about of competitive bakery."

Twilight's left eye twitched. "So what, are you just going to... what, continue fighting?"

They exchanged looks briefly, before nodding in unison.

Twilight was grinding her teeth, her reason failing to process properly, as some of her hair shot up even more. "Well, ALL RIGHT! So I suppose I can come back here in the morning and see if there's ANYTHING LEFT OF ANY OF THIS! Make sure to leave some in plates!" She shouted as she slammed the door behind her, leaving them alone once again.

The four stood in silence for a while, staring at the door for eventual further interruptions.

"Er.... So, where were we?" Mulia Mild said.

"I think Con Mane was about to throw an explosive donut onto the ground," offered Gustave.

"Ooooh, yeah, I was, here's it right here," Con Mane said as he showed the baked weapon in his hoof.

"Oh, ohohohohoh!" Joined pinkie, hoof shot up in the air. "Think I can incorporate a diving kick once you get the smoke going?"

"Uh, I don't see why not," said Mulia.

"GREAT!" said Pinkie, and the fight resumed.
> Twilight, and Sparkles [Parody] [Kind of Dark]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	"Uh... Twilight? Have you seen Fluttershy?" Spike said, stopping his walk and turning to look at the market ponies.

"Not yet today, actually it's been some days, why? Is she-" Twilight followed Spike's pointing claw right to a shopping pegasus mare, talking to an entranced orange seller.

Fluttershy looked the same as always, for the most part, yet Twilight couldn't shake her eyes off her; the more she stared, the more the pegasus appeared to her like a furry marble statue had gotten off a pedestal and decided to stroll casually the roads of Ponyville. 

"Twilight? Twilight?" Hard as he tried, Spike's claw-waving and poking couldn't divert Twilight's gaze from the perfection she was witnessing; he sighed. "I guess I'll go buy the groceries then. See ya later," he deadpanned, shuffling away, shopping bags and list in tow.

Fluttershy in the sunlight was shocking. Twilight couldn't get used to it, though she'd been staring at her all this time. Her skin, despite the fur covering it, literally sparkled, like thousands of tiny diamonds were embedded in the surface.

At the same time, the ponies she interacted with didn't seem bothered at all from the change; rather they looked charmed, if not outright spellbound.

Twilight decided to approach the pegasus; a soft scent washed over her and she found herself leaning in closer. It was a honey sweet smell, like lilacs and sun. A part of her rational brain was trying to point out how could something ever smell like sun, but the rest was too entranced to care.

"...Twilight?" Fluttershy said, looking mildly concerned. It barely managed to bring the unicorn out of the reverie.

"...Fluttershy? Fluttershy! How come you're... sparkling?" It was all Twilight's addled brain could manage.

"Oh... It's been happening for a while," Fluttershy said, in a monotone voice.

"It is something new, right?" Twilight was finding it difficult to think properly, swimming in a hypnotic, lusty haze.

"...Yes."

"Would you... would you like to discuss it with the rest of the girls?"

"...Yes."

"...Alright then, see you at the... the library, yes. In an hour," Twilight managed, before forcing herself to distance the pegasus, shake her head into focus, and go gather the rest of the team.

---

Inside the library, the sparkling was almost unnoticeable, and the attraction much more manageable.

"Fluttershy dear, what happened to you? Is it the reason why you had to skip our spa appointments last week?" Rarity said, quite concerned.

"...Well, yes. I thought I'd wait to see if it would go away," Fluttershy said, emotionless as before.

"But what's happened?" said Pinkie Pie. "Have you been cursed by an ancient spirit? Oh! Have you run into a patch of Poison joke again? Or maybe-"

"Not really, Pinkie," Fluttershy cut in, "I just think... It's something that I started noticing ever since we made the fruit bat sanctuary."

"What's the sanctuary gotta do with all this, girl? You worried for the varmints? Caught a bat flu or sumthin'?" Applejack said.

"Ummm... I guess I'll just show you..." Fluttershy offered, opening her mouth to reveal four sharp, long canines, looking completely out of place on an herbivore teeth set. There was a collective gasp.

"Fluttershy! You're... you're still a vampony?" Rainbow said. "B-but Twilight changed you back! We saw it!"

"Not completely, I guess..." Fluttershy said. "I still have to suck juices from fruits, and... My skin is a lot harder than before. And Angel says I'm very cold."

"Is he talking about your temperature, or your temperament?" Twilight inquired.

"...Both?"

"Oh my goodness," Rarity said, putting a hoof to her muzzle, planning to faint, but at the same time too intrigued to follow through.

"And... I think I'm stronger than before, I started to break a lot of things. Oh, and I can't sleep at night. I don't think I need to anymore, actually."

"Really? that's gotta be useful! Can I make a surprise party for you at midnight then?" Pinkie said.

"So I've been caring about the night animals more than usual," Fluttershy continued, ignoring Pinkie's intervention, "And talking with Discord, and... I've been observing Time Turner... When he sleeps. As a bat."

"What." Said Applejack and Twilight at once.

Fluttershy just looked down, not opting for a further answer.

A stunned silence hung in the room for several seconds.

"...Does Discord think anything of this?" Managed Twilight.

"He said he's 'loving this'," replied Fluttershy.

"Hm. Anything else ya wanna share, Fluttershy?" Applejack said.

"Um, I encountered a timberwolf in the Everfree and I wanted to run away, so I flew to my cottage in... no time at all, probably, so there's that."

"Wow," commented Rainbow Dash, completely floored, hovering in place by sheer habit.

"Awesome!" cheered Pinkie, hoof thrown up to the ceiling. "I'm toootally setting up a 'Fluttershy became a super-strong-super-super-Flutterbat' party!"

"I'd probably rather not Pinkie. ...We can have a party for the fruit bats being happy in their sanctuary, maybe?" Fluttershy rallied as she noticed Pinkie starting to tear up.

"Well... From what I'm seeing it's probably not contagious," said Twilight, "so it should be safe and contained for now. We can progress next week with-"

"Actually Twilight," Rainbow interjected, "Can you make me a vampony too?"

"WHAT?!" Twilight shouted.

Rainbow threw her legs forward. "Oh come on Twilight, this is amazing! She's literally got superpowers all over the place! I could go even faster than before! That's gotta be like, a whole new level of radical! What's not to like?"

"What's not to like?" Echoed Twilight, in hysterics. "Well, maybe the part where you're NO LONGER A PONY? Or where you lose- Hrrgh, look, none of this will happen! Actually, Fluttershy will just wait for me to research a counterspell and we'll bring her back to normal as soon as possible, right Fluttershy?"

"Um... I don't know, Twilight," said Fluttershy, "I kinda like how I am right now. It feels... nice. And everypony's been treating me nicely since I-"

"That's because you're probably sending off crazy vampire pheromones or something and BENDING THEIR WILL TO YOUR OWN!" Replied Twilight.

"Oh..." Said Fluttershy. "It's still nice, though."

Twilight ground her teeth together, threatening to explode. With the help of deep breaths and hoof movements, she managed to calm down at a merely simmering level. "At least I guess we should be grateful this happened to Fluttershy and not somepony else."

"Yes darling, I shudder to think what could have happened with such powers in the hooves of Pinkie Pie," Rarity said.

"Oooooohhh," Pinkie commented, as she contemplated all the FURTHER impossible, physics-defying things she could do with her new powers, though it wasn't adding up to much.

"Are you really saying you want to leave this thing only for Fluttershy?" Rainbow insisted. 

"Look, We don't even KNOW the full extent of the consequences of this transformation!" said Twilight.

"But- Just look at her!" said Rainbow. "Do you thing this is a bad thing? Now everyone even respects her! Do I have to gather more fruit vampire bats to make that spell again, or something?"

"Actually, I've been wondering if it's actually contagious..." Fluttershy mused.

"No," Twilight declared, "No Fluttershy, this is entirely too risky, something HAS to be done and I'll do it, I'll send a letter to princess Celestia while you stay in the library and not move a single mu-"

Fluttershy just stared at her, utterly unfazed by the outburst.

Twilight was feeling the weight of gaze on her, and suddenly felt uneasy for some reason, and quite a bit embarassed. "Er... well, I do suppose it looks quite harmless so far, doesn't it?" She said, sweating cold. "And I wouldn't want to impose too much, you do have animals to tend, and you're adapting to your new lifestyle and should be left some leeway in your decisions, right? Hehehe."

It was Applejack and Rarity's turn to stare at Twilight in disbelief. 

"Very well," Fluttershy concluded.
> A Mind Left Wandering [Slice of Life]
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	That afternoon, Princess Celestia thought of spending her free hour with just herself, claiming a balcony of the palace and resting on the sun-touched marble, contemplating the city's hustle and bustle down below.

She took a deep breath of the fresh air, and observed her little ant subjects for a while. Her thoughts drifted to the current taxes, if she should visit Manehattan again soon, perhaps deigning the griffins another diplomatic gift before Hearth's Warming Eve, how Twilight Sparkle was growing up to be a studious, responsible mare, how well would she take on her destiny that Celestia herself had chosen for her, if all this would have gone differently had Discord given her and her sister different powers...

She sighed. She remembered now why she kept herself busy with duties all the time: having an empty hour of schedule never failed to resurface her first years, and all the murky thoughts and emotions that followed.

Of how Discord had 'crafted them', as his words were, 'whole cloth', with the intent of watching over the ponies under his domain, tired as he was to keep them alive one by one.

Of how they learned from the ponies that there had been a time without the Avatar of Chaos subverting everything to its will, and all the beauty that it had been found there.

Of how impossibly attached to the past those ponies had seemed to the two newborn alicorns --eager to fulfill their purpose, but also eager to learn-- and how in a world of change, they had found the most solid knowledge to spring from the ponies' unanimous, unending nostalgia.

Of how the little ponies had devoted their now-useless talents to painting, describing, chanting, recounting all that was good and beautiful in their past homeland and transmitting them to two eager, overgrown fillies.

Of how Discord had created, in his callous haste, two rulers that would relate more to their subjects than their uncaring and self-centered father.

Of how fast they had grown longing for a place that had never been there for them, and how they resolved to get it back, no matter the cost. 

Of the time they finally got their cutiemarks, claiming the celestial bodies for themselves, and decided to call themselves Celestia and Luna.

Of how one day, not far from the castle Discord had set up just for them, they discovered something that would change everything.

Of how, wielding together the Elements of Harmony, they confined their father into eternal stone.

The guilt always threatened to resurface at this point, but she remembered it hadn't been only her choice. The Tree of Harmony itself had been a last resort from Mother Gaia to bulwark the Love and Order left in Equestria, coalescing them into something not vegetable, not mineral, not magical, but all three, or perhaps neither. Living Stones. Crystallized Virtues. Abstracted Beings. Condensed Vibrations of Love. Natural Artifacts. Possibly the most paradoxical anythings Equestria would ever contain.

It felt strange at times for her to contemplate that more than a thousand years had passed, during which she basically managed to make stuff up as she went along, giving a unified rule to a race that had known nothing of the sort as far as history remembered.

She couldn't suppress a small chuckle when considering the irony in having offered willingly the rule of the land to two literal spawns of Chaos.

Well, at least it's been two until one of them had spiraled out of control and in her madness, threatened to kill her and shroud the land in eternal night.

She couldn't shake that terrible feeling, that fear that sat in her belly, wedged in like a black nail, preventing her from completely relaxing, that maybe, maybe she wasn't completely sane either, sane as a sane little pony was.  

That maybe Discord itself had gifted them with his twisted perspective, unknowing of a pony's viewpoint about life and pleasure and fear, and that she would never really see the world like a common pony does.

Both she and her sister had struggled for long years to finally appreciate and revere the world as the ponies saw it, and even then, they would never feel they were peers to the little ones, no matter how much they tried.

Which perhaps, all things considered, might have been for the best afterall; an immortal ruler would have different visions about existence by necessity.She was coping well besides, so her best bet was to just carry on.

She wondered just what awaited in the future for her little ponies, and if she would really want to expedite the process.  The rediscovery of great and potentially terrible powers.  Advancement both technological and magical.  Possibly a timid probing, followed by a torrential expansion, onto the Outer Planes, and later even new dimensions.  She giggled, thinking that some thousands years in the future, her ponies could become beings of mere soul, energy and magic, jumping between realms of existence with the ease they could breathe presently, and crafting experiences simply unimaginable from here.

But, she thought, that moment would have to wait.  She knew that her ponies weren't ready yet, and wouldn't for a long time still; she knew that hardships and battles would have to be fought to get there, and she couldn't bear herself to expedite the process.  Her current role was to watch over their precious lives and make sure that they possessed the conditions to be happy: pushing them forcefully into a revolution would only bring more disparity and misery, even if only in the short term.  "Don't fix what isn't broken', she always repeated herself, no matter ho much all this kept nagging her.

Fancy that, how an eternal being would care a lot more for the short-term than many of her subjects, be they artists or budding scientists or philosophers or historians.  What she concerned herself with was the present state of her realm, and so such far-sighted activities would have to be left to the mortals.  

She knew it was foolish, because she was denying the present ponies all kinds of future improvements in quality and duration of life.

She knew it was cowardly, because she was just postponing the problem instead of facing it head-on.

She knew it was silly, because she would eventually push it herself out of sheer boredom with the world, if the world didn't.

Yet, every time she looked at her guards living long lives in time of peace, or fillies frolicking in the Royal Gardens, she was reminded that she wouldn't bear putting any more strain than necessary on any one of them.  She really loved them too much, she mused.  They would have to settle for what she would offer her, a peaceful nation with no real worries of famine or social disasters for any point in the future, and let them come up with means to subvert that on their own.

She smiled, as she rose from her spot on the balcony, walking the halls in the direction of the royal carriage that was most certainly awaiting her, for her next appointment.