> Timeless Rulers
>  by Arcanum -Phantasy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Royal Meeting
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 1: Royal Meeting

A massive castle towered over the land, far beyond the majesty of Canterlot. Its great marble walls and golden towers were riddled with small runes of immortality preventing it form taking the abuse of age. In the main hall at the heart of this mighty construct, sat beings of unimaginable power. Approaching these titans through the many hallways of the castle were four ponies, each possessing an equal level of magical power as the ones they drew closer to. One was the glorious Princess Celestia, her tricolor mane flowing in its usual nonexistent breeze. To her left was the infamous Princess of the Night and younger sister Princess Luna. To her right was the dazzling princess of love Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, who was only slightly less relaxed than her much older Aunts. A large amount of her concern was centered upon the lavender Alicorn trotting beside her.

“Are you okay Twilight?” Cadence asked.

“Y-Yeah,” she stammered, a lock of her mane curling out of place. “I’m fine. Totally fine. C-Couldn’t be better!”

In truth, she was a nervous wreck! After the battle with Tearek, Twilight Sparkle felt that there wasn’t anything that could scare her. After all, what could possibly be more frightening than fighting a magic-eating monster from the pits of Tartorous? Three words; Grand Royal Summit. Every year, all of the few existing Alicorns from all across Equestria gathered at the ancient Castle of Beginnings at the northern point of the world to discus the conditions of their different kingdoms. This put Twilight in a very uncomfortable position. This would be her first time meeting other Alicorns aside from Cadence, Luna, and Celestia. Heck, she didn’t even know there were any other Alicorns in the world. In addition, these were members of her new race that were much older and infinitely more powerful than her, making her feel like the youngest foal in magic kindergarten.

What do I do when I see them? She thought desperately. Do I try to act all formal around them or would they like me better if I were more casual? Are they going to be friendly towards me or treat me like a foal because I only just recently ascended? Oh what do I do? What do I do?!   

Celestia noticed her former student’s demeanor and smiled.

“There is no need for worry my friend,” Celestia said, looking ahead. 

“Indeed,” Luna agreed. “And if any of thyn kin tries to bring harm to thee our punishment will be swift!”

Though she appreciated the attempt, Twilight still felt nervous. 

With a sigh, Cadence leaned down to Twilight’s level and whispered, “Don’t think of them as Alicorns. Just pretend that they’re ordinary ponies.”

Twilight gave her sister-in-law a look of ludicrousy before letting herself relax, even if it was just by a small fraction. Mentally, she tried to tell herself that the ponies she was going to meet were no different than herself and her friends. To her surprise, it actually worked. Though not completely, so in order to settle her nerves she did what she always did; mentally recited the periodic table of elements.

It wasn’t until they rounded a corner into the hallway towards the main hall did a fraction of Twilight’s tension return. The magical auras she sensed were enormous! Leaving the former unicorn feeling like a bird flying towards a mob of tornados. Every fiber of her being was telling her to retreat, but taking Cadence’s advice and the knowledge that she wasn’t facing these pillars of power alone, she walked forward, ready to present herself to the rest of her kind as the Princess of Friendship.



*** 


The main hall was massive, roughly the size of Celestia’s throne room. It was circular and had gems and various other precious metals decorating the walls, floor, and ceiling. At its center was a round jade table, encircled by thirteen chairs , each baring the cutie-mark of the prince or princess it was reserved for. A tall and slightly boney stallion occupied one. His coat was an ashy grey and his mane was bright silver that moved like small flames across the back of his neck. He looked around the room with listless dark-blue eyes that carried with them the cold indifference of countless ages of judgment. His wings and horn were the darkest shade of black. The black crow perched on a scythe that adorned his flank matched the one on the head of his seat. Sitting across from him was a fierce black mare with a long mane that looked like flowing orange flames. Her left eye was covered by an eye patch while her right was gold and bore the kind of glint one would see in the eyes of a falcon searching for prey. Her wings were bright gold and her horn was copper. Aside from her morning star cutie mark; the only marks on her body were battle scars from countless confrontations. To her left sat a stallion whose coat looked like he was dropped into multiple vats of neon paint. His wings, horn, and mane all bared the same chimera of colors. His cutie mark was a pair of theater masks. Unlike the previous Alicorns, this one gave off a much less intimidating aura, his hazel eyes scanning through a magazine. Next to him sat a sapphire blue mare with a mane and horn a slightly brighter shade than her coat. Her cutie mark was a trident surrounded by bubbles. Next to her sat a dark green mare with an emerald mane. Her flank bore a tree covered with fruit. Her eyes were a deep amethyst purple. Teetering in the seat next to her was an Alicorn mare with a much brighter shade of green in her coat and a bubblegum-pink mane. Her dopy eyes were as brown as fertlile soil and a wineglass cutie mark decorated her flank. An ornate crystal bottle sat in front of her on the table. A silver Alicorn stallion sitting next to her gave a slightly annoyed sigh. His cutie mark was a white coliseum. He shifted his light-blue eyes back to his other neighbor. Much like him, the Princess sitting next to had blue eyes and her whole body was one color, only she was white instead of silver. Her cutie mark was a tornado. The other stallion she was sitting next to was bright red with brown wings and mane. His black eyes kept darting around the room impatiently, boredom beginning to gnaw at him. His left hind leg was a chrome prosthetic that was enchanted to function like a normal limb. His cutie mark was a golden hammer.

The room held an eerie silence that was only broken by the occasional cough. After what felt like an eternity, the doors to the main hall opened and the last four Princesses stepped inside. All of them bowed in respect to Celestia as she and the rest of her group took their seats. The second they did, all of them stared at Twilight, some with curiosity and others with scrutiny.

Twilight noticed all of the attention and she gulped.

Okay, she thought. Here goes nothing.

Twilight opened her mouth to say something, but was cut off when Celestia loudly tapped her hoof on the table.

“Greetings, and thank you for attending this years Grand Royal Summit. Normally, we begin these meetings with progress reports and comparing the developments of our respective kingdoms, but first I feel we should introduce ourselves to the latest member of our family.”

Family?! Twilight thought, frazzled by this sudden announcement.

“Fair enough,” the silver Prince said casually as he rose from his seat. “I’m Platinum Blitz, Prince of Competition. It’s nice ta’ meet ya.”

“Um, like wise?”

With a confident smirk, he nodded his approval and sat back down.

The white mare stood up next.

“I’m Tempest, Princess of Wind,” she said with the same kind of pride she heard from her friend Rainbow Dash on a daily bases. 

With a kind smile, she bowed to her and said, “It’s and honor to meet you.”

With a raised brow, Tempest returned to her seat, perplexed, but not insulted by Twilight’s formal attitude.

The blue Princess took her turn.

“My name is Princess Cascade, the ever fabulous Princess of the Sea,” she said, dramatically brushing a hoof through her already flowing mane.

For a moment, Twilight thought she was looking at an Alicorn version of Rarity, but pushed the thought out of her mind and bowed in respect.

“It is a pleasure to meet you, Princess Cascade.”

The Princess of the Sea flashed a slight smile at the younger Alicorn before returning to her seat.

The red stallion stood and in a gruff voice said, “My name’s Heavy Burden, but most call me the Prince of the Forge.”

She bowed and greeted Heavy Burden just like she had all of the rest, gradually becoming more confident. When he sat down, the dark-green mare stood.

“Greetings,” she said with a calm smile. “My name is Drassiel and I am the Princess of Nature.”

She smiled back. In some ways, Drassiel reminded her of her mom. She just had that warm glow to her.

Drassiel sat before the mare sitting next to her greeted Twilight.

“Hiya,” she hiccuped, taking a swig of the bottle sitting in front of her. “I’m (hic) Grapevine. But most ponies call me the Princess of Wine.” 

Twilight didn’t know how to react to this one. Granted, she’s dealt with her fare share of drunken ponies in her time, but none of them were royalty. Deciding the safest route was the smartest one, she settled on giving her the same greeting she gave Tempest. Grapevine let out a drunken cackle then flopped into her seat. At speeds that both startled her and gave her a sense of déjà vu, a multi colored Alicorn flew from his seat to the empty space beside Twilight and started shaking her hoof.

“Hi!” he said with a massive grin on his face. “I’m Mirth Hour, the Prince of Theater, but you can call me Mirth if ya want!”

“S-Sure,” Twilight stuttered as Mirth Hour’s hoofshake rattled her like a tambourine. “N-Nice to m-meet you.”

“Likewise,” he smiled, letting go of her hoof. “I can tell we’re gonna be best friends in no time!”

With that, he gave her a hug and teleported back to his chair.

Huh, another Pinkie Pie, she thought, shaking off her dizziness. And he’s a Prince. The world truly is a strange and wondrous place.
	
It was then that she noticed another Prince standing up and a strange feeling came over her. She could tell that he was different than the other stallions in the room. He seemed older, wiser, and, well, tortured. Twilight couldn’t explain how she knew this, but when her eyes met his, she saw a pony that found happiness as alien as she did about romance. They were the eyes of somepony as fragile as glass, yet as strong as tempered steel.

“Greetings, my name is Nevermore and I am the Prince of Death. May our time together be both enjoyable and productive.”

Though his voice lacked any emotion, she could tell his wishes were sincere.

“Likewise,” she said confidently.

With a bow, he returned to his seat.

At this point, all of Twilight’s anxiety from before had completely disappeared. They really were no different from other ponies. Perhaps this meeting wouldn’t be so bad after all. Those feelings instantly started to fade as the last Alicorn rose from her seat.

“My name is Morning Star,” she said with a growl. “I am the Princess of War.”

Without even waiting for Twilight to return the greeting, Morning Star sat back down, deliberately trying to avoid eye contact.

Okay, that was rude, Twilight thought, raising a brow.

“Well, it’s a pleasure to meet you Morning Star.

No response.

Choosing to think nothing of it, Twilight motioned to take her seat, but stopped when she noticed the expectant looks coming from the other Alicorns. She looked curiously at Celestia who chuckled and whispered behind her hoof, “You haven’t introduced yourself yet.”

Twilight internally face-hoofed then turned towards her pears.

“My name is Twilight Sparkle, but you can call me Twilight if it’s more convenient. I’m the Princess of Friendship.”

The reactions to this announcement was mixed. Some of the Alicorns smiled and nodded in acceptance while others gave her vague indifferent looks. Morning Star, however, looked almost murderous, as her head snapped back into Twilight’s direction.

Twilight cringed.

She didn’t like making enemies especially if they were ancient beings. The fact that the one Alicorn she seemed to have turned against her was the Princess of War didn’t make Twilight feel quite as comfortable as she was earlier with her current company. Perhaps it wasn’t too late to take another swing at Tearek? It was then that Celestia slammed her hoof onto the table to get everyponies attention. The room once again became quiet.

“Thank you. Now, as Princess Twilight already knows Cadence, Luna, and myself, we will skip our introductions and move on to the matters at hoof.”

As she said that, she used her magic to materialize thirteen sheets of paper, each with various numbers and figures printed on them.

“What you are all looking at are the different levels of economic growth, population, and resources of each of our domains since last year. Just looking at it what do you see?”

Everypony did as they were told and for most of them the news wasn’t pretty.
“As you can see, with the exceptions of Canterlot, Ponyville, and the Crystal Empire, everyponie’s domains are heading into a gradual downward spiral in at least one of these crucial factors.”

This shocked Twilight. Considering she only recently manifested her castle, she didn’t realize that Ponyville was now an official royal domain. Not only that, but one of the most well maintained.

“I fear this may be due to the fact that all of you spend very little to no time getting to know any of your subjects on a more personal level.”

A few of them looked away and scratched the back of their heads like foals caught lying.

“Fortunately,” she continued. “I have thought of a way to give all of you some practice.”   	

Everypony except Morning Star gave Celestia a curious glance.

“For two months, all of you will be living in Ponyville along with Princess Twilight Sparkle. In addition, each of you will need to form at least one genuine friendship within that timeframe. Should any of you fail to do this, I will use my authority as First Princess and maintain control of your kingdom until you do.”

Everypony, including Morning Star, looked at her in stunned fear. It was rare that Celestia made such a threat, but when she did, it was widely known to not be a bluff. Knowing this, nopony gave her any resistance or argument

“You each have one day to gather what you will need and meet at the Castle of Friendship. This meeting is now closed.”

With that, she slammed her hoof onto the table to officially end the meeting. With a few irritated groans, everypony teleported out of the main hall back to their castles to get ready for their two-month rehabilitation. One particular lavender Alicorn returning to her previous state of nerves.

> An Hour of Surprises
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 2: An Hour of Surprises 


Twilight paced back in forth in her throne room, her friends watching her with concern.

“Twilight darling,” Rarity said, her tone cautious. “Please do calm down.”

“Calm down? CALM DOWN?! How can I possibly calm down? Nine of the most powerful ponies in the world are coming to my castle in four hours and you want me to calm down?!”

“Um……yes?”

Twilight groaned before walking up to a wall and slowly pounding her head into it.

“Look sugar cube,” Applejack said, gently pulling her away from the wall. “I don’t think Princess Celestia would’ve put ya into this situation if she didn’t think ya’ll couldn’t handle it.”

“She’s right,” Rainbow Dash cheered, landing next to her and putting a foreleg around her shoulders. “And you’ve got us to back you up if things get crazy.”

“Thanks girls,” Twilight smiled, coming back to her normal state of mind.

Pinkie Pie hopped over to the bundle of mares and said, “And I can throw a ‘Welcome to Ponyville’ party and we could be best, best, best friends forever!”

Twilight thought that was a pretty good idea at first, but then she remembered Princess Morning Star.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea Pinkie.”

“Why is that?” Fluttershy asked. “If you don’t mind me asking.”

Twilight sighed.

“Let’s just say one Alicorn isn’t too thrilled about this whole arrangement.”

“Boy is that an understatement.”

Everypony jumped at the sound of the unfamiliar male voice. They looked around but failed to see whom the voice belonged to until they looked up. Reclined on a cloud made of multicolored confetti was an equally multicolored Alicorn eating a hay burger. Rarity, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie all looked at him in shock while Fluttershy dashed behind Twilight with a soft “Eep”. Twilight let out a relaxed breath as she looked up at Mirth Hour.

“You’re early,” she said.

Mirth Hour laughed, before wolfing down the burger and jumping off of the ‘cloud’.  The second he did, the cloud burst into a confetti rain that exploded into bright lights of color like fireworks as he theatrically hovered through it to the ground.

“Sorry about that,” he said, ignoring the slack-jawed expressions of Twilight’s friends. “I’ve never been to Ponyville before and I just couldn’t wait!”

After shaking her hoof he took notice of the other ponies in the room.

“And who are these fillies?”

“Oh, these are my friends.”

“Your friends?” he asked, a smile growing across his muzzle. “Splendid!”

Twilight smiled and began introductions.

“Everypony, this is Prince Mirth Hour. Prince Mirth Hour, these are my friends Rarity, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy.”

“It’s an honor and privilege to meet you all,” he bowed. “But please, call me Mirth.”

Everypony shook themselves out of their stupor.

“That was awesome!” Rainbow Dash cheered, shaking Mirth’s hoof. 

“Indeed,” Rarity agreed.

“Um, it was…..nice,” Fluttershy said, stepping out of her hiding place behind Twilight.

“It’s great to have ya here Mirth,” Applejack said, tilting her hat at him in respect.

“Great to be here,” he smirked.

Mirth paused when he saw that Pinky Pie was still in the same star-struck trance as when he made his entrance. He walked up to the pink mare and waved a hoof in front of her face.

“Uh, is she broken or something?”

Everypony just shrugged.

Pinkie?” Twilight said, taking cautious steps towards her.

“Yoo-hoo,” Mirth said, poking Pinky in the chest. “Are you okay?”

He looked to Twilight at his left to get some kind of answer, but all she did was give him a concerned look. He shifted his gaze back to Pinky just in time to see her suddenly reanimate and charge into him. She quickly pinned him to the ground and before anypony could react, locked her lips with his. At first, Mirth tried to force the party pony back, but even his Alicorn strength was no match for her. Finding no other way out of this situation, Mirth kissed back and to his surprise, he liked it. Just as quickly as when it started, Pinkie ended what was probably the best kiss he had ever experienced in over five hundred years. She looked down at him with half-lidded eyes and a playful smirk. 

She lowered her muzzle to his ear and whispered, “Welcome to Ponyville.”

For the first time ever, the Prince of Theater was left speechless. Even as his “attacker” giggled and hopped off of him he just laid there for a few minutes before staggering to his hooves.

Twilight ran to him, a look of horror plastered across her face.

“I’m so sorry Mirth! I have no idea why she did that!”

He looked at her and flashed a drunken smile.

“You know, I think I’m gonna like it here.”

With that, a series of fireworks shot out of his horn, filling the air with pink heart-shaped explosions.    

> Friendship is for Fools
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 3: Friendship is Foolish


In an attempt to keep more surprises from happening, Twilight asked Applejack to help Mirth get to one of the castle’s guestrooms. As the cow-pony guided him through a set of large double doors, he had a dopy grin and a larger supply of red on his face than usual. Making Applejack’s task even more daunting was the fact that he was teetering this way and that like a pony under the effects of one to many shots of cider. After a few minutes of swearing and stupid giggling, Applejack managed to drag Mirth into a guestroom. With a loud grunt, she heaved the dazed stallion onto the bed. He let out a chuckle. She sighed and walked out of the room.

Damn it Pinky, when I get my hooves on you I swear!

With an angry snort, she made her way back to the throne room. 

Meanwhile, Twilight was trying to do the impossible; figure out Pinky Pie.

“Why in the name of Celestia did you DO that Pinky?”

Pinky smiled and opened her mouth to answer but suddenly stopped. Her expression changed from Pinkie’s normal jubilee to a rare look of contemplation. 

Why did I do that? She thought, suddenly letting the weight of her actions take hold. Oh no. NonononononononononoNO! WHAT HAVE I DONE?!

Her eyes widened with horror as she stuttered, “I don’t know what happened! He just looked so amazing with all those fireworks and the colors and for a minute my brain turned off. Then all of these weird feelings started building up really really fast and when I came too they just burst and I was kissing him! But then he kissed me back and I-I….”

Tears started to leak from the corners of her eyes. Twilight was going to try and comfort her confused friend, but Rarity beat her to it.

“Pinky dear,” Rarity said, giving her pink friend a tight hug. “It’s okay. Everything’s going to be okay.”

“A-Are you s-sure?” she sniffled.

“Yes,” she cooed.

After a few minutes Pinky started to calm down and gently pulled herself out of Rarity’s embrace.

“Thanks Rarity,” Pinky smiled, wiping stray tears out of her eyes.

“Anytime darling,” Rarity smiled.

Pinky gave an embarrassed chuckle than said, “ Sorry everypony, I don’t know what came over me. Nothing like that’s ever happened to me before”

“What, the cry’n?” Applejack asked, stepping into the throne room.

“You heard that from the guestrooms?” Twilight gasped.

“The guestrooms? I’m sure half of Ponyville could’ve heard her.”

Pinky let out a sheepish giggle before saying, “No, not that. But it is rare that I do that. I’m talking about that feeling I had before I kissed Mirth. I wonder what it was?

“I think I know~” Rarity smirked slyly.

Everypony gave her inquisitive looks.

“Well? Don’t leave us hangin’,” Applejack said raising a brow.

Smirk not leaving her face, Rarity said, “I’ll tell you all on the way. It’s getting late and I do believe Twilight would like to shelter her remaining guests without anymore possible complications.”
Pinky flinched before blushing a little. 

“Ah guess you’re right Rares,” Applejack sighed. 

“Aw man!” Rainbow groaned. “I wanted to see them!”

“We all will have plenty of chances to meet them after they’ve settled,” Rarity, barely hiding the edge in her tone. “Besides, one of us is going to need some support right now.”

Rainbow’s eyes drifted to Pinky and she scratched the back of her head in shame.

“Yeah, I guess your right,” the cyan Pegasus sighed.

With that, her friends said they’re goodbies and left, all the while tending to a still somewhat fragile Pinky Pie.

I hope she’s going to be okay, Twilight thought sadly.

Suddenly remembering her situation, she stared out the window at the setting sun.

Oh no! They’ll be here any minute! We need to hurry.

“Spike!” Twilight called as she scrambled through her castle, quickly trying to get ready for nine of the most important ponies she was ever going to share her castle with



*** 



“It’s a lot bigger than I thought it’d,” Grapevine said, seeming to be in a more sober state than she was at the meeting.

“Seems a bit flashy to me,” Heavy Burden said, giving the castle’s interior a hard look. “And is it just me or does it look like some parts of the entryway got trampled by yaks?”

“Yes I do believe your right,” Cascade said, looking around in a much more casual manner. “That aside I must admit that Princess Twilight’s castle is simply stunning. You really need to spend less time focusing on the petty details my dear Heavy.”

“Me?” he retorted.

Tempest and Platinum Blitz hovered above the rest of the Alicorns, laughing to themselves as they watched the two.

“I’m glad it’s big,” Platinum Blitz smiled. “Makes it easier to move around.”

He did a lazy back flip to prove his point. Tempest laughed at her partner’s antics.

“Same here,” she smiled. “Plus, Twilight’s kinda cool. A little stiff, but cool.”

“She was probably nervous,” Drassiel said kindly. “After all, she only recently became one of us and it was her first summit meeting.”

“Yeah, but didn’t she take down guys like Discord or Sombra?” Grapevine said. “I mean, I know we’re Alicorns and all, but I don’t think any of us are scarier than them. Well, maybe Nevermore is, but still.”

Everypony turned to the pony in question, but received no response. They all sighed in disappointment. As far back as any of them could recall, not once had Nevermore shown even the slightest hint of emotion. Even if he was injured or insulted, his mask of indifference remained firmly in place. Though it was probably a bad idea to provoke the living embodiment of death, they still wanted to see him express some kind of emotion.

Seeing as that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon, they returned their attention to the castle. Nevermore, no longer feeling like a lab experiment, instead gave the black warhorse at his side his attention.

“I saw how you were acting at the meeting,” he said in his usual hollow voice. “You know such behavior is unacceptable, correct?”

She nodded, not looking him in the eye.

“I know that the topic of friendship is a delicate one for you, but I do not want to see you shame yourself like that again. Am I clear?”

At this, she did look him in the eyes.

“Crystal.”

He looked at her for a moment than said, “Good,” before shifting his attention back to the ponies in front of him. Morning Star followed suit. Soon, they all made it to the throne room and standing at its center was their host, Princess Twilight.

“Hello again to all of you,” she said, earning an eye roll from Tempest from her formal speech. “As I am sure you are all very tired from your travels, I will escort you to the castle’s guestrooms that I personally prepared for each of you.”

This surprised them. To them, the concept of housekeeping was best left to servants or other such ponies of lower stations. To hear that Twilight herself prepared there rooms almost seemed blasphemous. Before they could form any further opinions of her, she guided through the same hallways Applejack used not too long ago. Eventually, they came to a long hallway lined with doors, each had a scroll pinned to the front with the cutie marks of the Prince or Princess it was assigned to.

“Well, here we are,” Twilight said with a smile. “Make yourselves at home.”

With some yawns, they casually strolled over to their rooms, though some chose to simply teleport to forsake the effort needed. Cascade and Tempest went a more unique route by phasing through their doors.

I wonder if they can teach me how to do that, Twilight thought with fascination. 

The only Alicorn that hadn’t retired for the night was Morning Star and the look she was giving her could turn a dragon pail. But instead of scaring Twilight, the look angered her. Unlike at the Castle of Beginnings, Twilight was in her home turf. This was her domain, not Morning Star’s and she wasn’t going to show fear to her in her own castle.

“Hey!” Twilight said angrily.

“What, foal?!” Morning Star growled.

This caught Twilight off guard, but she stood her ground.

“You’ve been giving me the stink-eye ever since you saw me at the summit. I never once insulted you, belittled you, or did anything bad to you in any way, shape, or form.”

“Your point?” she responded, not phased by Twilights words.

She groaned.

“Why do you hate me so much? What did I ever do to you?” 

Internally, Morning Star smiled. She had always been skilled at telling a pony’s character traits. All she needed was one quick look at them and she knew everything she needed to know. Everything from how they talked to how they held themselves told her just what buttons to press to completely destroy them from the inside out. War isn’t only about weapons and bloodshed. It was mostly a strategic clash of minds and patience. Regardless of whether this was a battle of blades or words, this simple dynamic never changed. Twilight had at that moment left herself completely open with those two questions. And now, it was time to strike.

“You want to know why I hate you? Ha! How can I not.”

She glared daggers at the younger Alicorn.

“You represent the ultimate lie I had to live with for most of my young life!

“What?”

Morning Star laughed.

“Listen and listen well Twilight Sparkle. Friendship and all the harmony that is said to come from it is nothing more than an illusion fit for those too weak to accept the truth. Kindness and generosity are nothing but openings that lead to servitude and stupidity. Loyalties change at the drop of a hat depending on whether or not you gain anything from it. And laughter? That is nothing more than a joke in itself! I will admit that honesty is the most acceptable virtue born from your lie, but only because I’m invoking its powers at this moment. What does that make your own element?”

Twilight only stood there in stunned silence, struggling to find a counter argument to the torrent of verbal attacks that threatened to end her, but none came.

“I’ll tell you,” she continued. “Foolishness. Because that is all friendship is in the end. A foolish game for the weak and helpless. Strength is what one needs to overcome obstacles Twilight Sparkle. And it is that simple truth that pulled me out of that lie. Friendship is foolishness. Strength is truth.”

And with that, Morning Star teleported into her room, a venomous smirk across her face as she lade herself down onto her bed. All the while Twilight struggled to pull herself together. She needed to think. She needed to find a way to help Morning Star.

> A Pale Shade of Theater Red
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 4: A Pale Shade of Theater Red


Pinkie Pie laid in her room staring at the ceiling, everything that Rarity told her spinning around her brain like a hurricane.

I’m in love with him? Nah, that’s silly! I’ve only known him for like, fifteen seconds!

“Then why do I feel like this?” she mumbled, putting a hoof to her chest.

She let out a weary sigh before rolling into a more comfortable position on her side.  Eventually sleep managed to take her, though it didn’t last that long. In her dream, she was mixing cake batter in the kitchen at Sugar Cube Corner, though for some reason, she was having a hard time getting the mix to stir. It looked and smelled the same as regular batter but it was as thick as cement on the verge of drying. She grunted as her forelegs started to throb.  

Just when she was going to give up, Mirth appeared behind her.

“Let me help you with that,” he said, rearing up on his back legs.

He drew her in close and slid his forelegs down hers towards the mixing bowl. With his great strength, he helped her mix; only applying enough force to assist her but not hurt her. She felt his warmth coursing through her and gave a happy chuckle.

“What’s so funny?” he asked, playfully flicking her on the nose with one of his wings.

She smiled up at him.

“Nothing. Just happy.”

As she said this she raised her head up to his level and the two of them brought their lips together for a kiss. But before they could actually kiss, Pinkie rolled out of her bed and slammed into the floor.

“Owy,” she mumbled groggily, rubbing the back of her head. “What happened?”

She looked around her dark room and the pieces started to come together.

I must’ve fallen out of bed, she thought, staggering to her hooves. 

She yawned then slid back into bed.

“But wow, that was one crazy dream,” she mumbled to herself. “Shame it ended before it got to the good part though.”

As she closed her eyes, thoughts of what could’ve happened if the dream hadn’t been interrupted passed through her head. Everything form simple fun and games to things that even Pinkie didn’t know she knew about. She tried to force away these thoughts but that just made things worse.

Pinkie? This is Pinkie. Stop thinking about him and get some sleep! You have a busy day tomorrow and you need your rest!

But Pinkie, she whined to herself. I can’t help it! He’s just so hot!

What’s so hot about him? So what if he has really soft feathers and has a super duper buff body and is an amazing kisser and don’t get me started on his flank!

Mental Pinkie number one raised a brow at number two.

Okay, I see your point. Though you gotta admit, that confetti cloud trick was pretty cool!

Yeah,she mentally sighed.

Thinking of that and her dream made her face blush so much, steam started to flow out of her mane. It also gave her the same level of insomnia as thirty cups of espresso would to Pumpkin and Pound Cake. Frustrated, she rolled onto her belly and plopped her muzzle into her pillow, thinking that forcing her eyes to stay shut would eventually make her fall asleep. It didn’t, but now she knows she can hold her breath for two hours strait. That was something at least.

This was going to be a long night……. 



***  


Pinkie woke the next morning feeling like she was thrown into a washing machine then beaten with a stick. Of course, getting only half an hour’s sleep will do that to a pony. Groaning, she pulled herself out of bed and staggered to her bedroom mirror. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy like she had just finished crying. Her mane was deflated to the point of looking like chewed bubblegum as apposed to its usual cotton-candy poof. In short, she looked like hell.

And I felt like it too, she thought miserably. 

Luckily, she had something just in case something like this happens. She walked into her bathroom and opened her medicine cabinet. Sitting on the bottom shelf was her secret weapon; a small plastic vile with a jogging pony on it.

A Five-Hour-Energy Trot.

Pinkie sighed as she pulled out the small energy drink. To be honest, Pinkie didn’t like using it. It tasted awful and she on the rare occasions that she did use it she would have a hard time blinking from time to time.

Well, here goes nothing.  

She uncapped the vile and dripped a small drop onto her tongue

The effects were immediate. Her mane returned to its usual poof and her eyes no longer looked puffy. She still had some slight bags under her eyes, but she could live with that. Enough of her fatigue faded away that she could function, but she still wished she had gotten a little more sleep.

At this rate I won’t be able to give Twilight’s guests their welcome party! She thought with a yawn. Then again, I should probably wait until they’ve settled in a bit first. Don’t want a remake of what happened with Cranky after all.

Of course, she had another reason to put off the welcome party. One that made her pink face turn a deep shade of red as his face passed through her mind for the umpteenth time.

Baking! That should help get my mind off of him!

With that, she made her way downstairs to start the day.



***


Pinkie let out an exasperated sigh. Throughout the day, she accidentally tried to bake an oven-mit, forgot to put on the lid for the milkshake blender, poured salt into somepony’s coffee, somehow turned vanilla pudding into oatmeal, and almost sold Missis Cake to a griffin. Everypony just wrote it off as normal Pinkie shenanigans and let it drop without getting too upset about it, though the Cakes did feel a little more nervous around her. At the moment she found herself working the register while the Cakes cleaned up most of the damage. 

At least it’s a slow day, she thought, miserably.

No matter what she was doing, her mind kept drifting towards Mirth. How he made his entrance really left a huge impact on her. She also loved the way his coat glittered in the light and just thinking about how soft it was under her hooves made her heart pound. Memories of the dream she had last night didn’t make things any easier. The warmth she felt from his embrace was like being wrapped in a security blanket and the feel of his strong frame made her feel safe. What stood out the most for her was the feel of his wings, soft as silk yet stronger than any fabric. 

I wonder if his wings really are that soft, she thought with a dopy grin as her mind started to wander.

As she stared off into space, two ponies walked into the bakery, one of which had a very distinct coat. With a smirk, the pair strolled up to the counter and rang the bell. 

Still in lala land, Pinkie said, “Welcome to Sugar Cube Corner, can I take your order?”

Mirth’s smile widened as he saw how out of it Pinkie seemed to be.

At least I’m not the only one. 

“Yeah, I’ll take a Pink Pony to go please.”

Pinkie nodded and was just about to walk to the kitchen to deliver the order to the Cakes before realization made her pause.

Wait, that voice!

She slowly turned around. Standing across the counter from her was Mirth Hour. 

“M-M-M-M-Mirth!” Pinkie squeaked, nearly jumping through the roof. “W-What are you doing here?”

“Well, I was talking to Grapevine about what happened yesterday and how I wanted to meet ya again.”

“Grapevine?” Pinkie asked.

It was then that she noticed the light-green Alicorn mare standing next to him.

Must be his marefriend, she thought feeling a small part of herself break. Makes sense. Why wouldn’t he have one? 

On cue, he gestured towards his neighbor and said, “Pinkie Pie, meet Grapevine. She’s been a good friend of mine for, well, a long time.”

“Oh,” Pinkie smiled. “It’s nice to meet you.

YES! THANK CELESTIA, YES!!!

“Likewise,” she bowed. “So you’re the mare that molested my friend, eh?”

Pinkie’s eyes widened as her face turned cherry red.

“Um, well, yes?” 

Grapevine gave her a long hard look before bursting into a massive laughing fit.

“Oh, man,” she gasped, wiping a tear out of her eye. “I’m so glad you’re real. The last time Mirth told me a mare made the moves on him it turned out to be a super realistic Spitfire piñata!”

Pinkie burst into a laughing fit of her own as she pictured him trying to pull such a lame fast one. Mirth just scratched the back of his head from the awkward moment.

Why did I bring her along again?
After a few minutes of small talk the pair Mirth said that they had to get a few things for their rooms at Twilight’s castle. As the pair made for the door Grapevine looked back at her and asked, “When do you get off work?”

“In a couple of hours, why?”

“I was thinking we could go get some drinks at The Punch Bowl later. You in?”

Now, Pinkie didn’t drink all that often, but when she did things had a tendency to get a little wild. The last time she had a few, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy somehow had their color pallets swapped, Spike was stuck talking backwards, and Rarity’s coat was covered in some strange mixture of tree sap and wood-sealer. Of course, this was mostly because Pinkie made the fatal mistake of drinking alone. With an all-powerful Alicorn keeping an eye on her, Ponyville would at least still be standing the next day.

“Will Mirth be coming along?”

“Only if you are,” Grapevine smirked, playfully nudging him in the chest.

With that said, Pinkie beamed and nodded enthusiastically. 

“Great! See you in a couple of hours.”

“Okei-dokei-loki!” she cheered.

As soon as they left she zoomed into the kitchen and found the Cakes just seconds after they put a tray of cookie dough into an oven. The pink party pony was so happy she was vibrating, which both pleased and unnerved her bosses.

“Guess what! Guess what!” she said, giddy as a filly on her first day of school. “I bet your never gonna guess it!”

“Uh, Gummy grew his first tooth?” Mr. Cake asked cautiously.

“Nope!”

“You potty trained the twins?” asked Mrs. Cake

“Nope!”

They looked at each other for a moment then said, “We give up,” in perfect unison.

With a soft giggle, she took a deep breath and said, “I’VE GOT A DATE TONIGHT!!!!!!!"

As soon as their ears stopped ringing, the Cakes congratulated her then everypony went back to work. After that, the day went smoothly with Pinkie now able to focus on what few customers came in. In fact, Pinkie was doing so well that the Cakes had to close up early. It wasn’t long after that Pinkie started to feel the effects of her emergency energy drink start to wear-off.

I guess a quick nap won’t hurt, she thought looking at the clock by her bed. Wouldn’t want to fall asleep in the middle of it.

With a yawn, Pinkie set her alarm and plopped into bed. The second her head hit the pillow, she fell asleep, a peaceful smile gracing her muzzle.

This is going to be the best night ever…….



*** 


Berry Punch, the manager of one of the biggest bars in Ponyville, let out a bored yawn. Though late in the day, it was still too early for any of her usual customers to show up. That meant that for the next three hours she had nothing to do but keep track of inventory or clean some mugs if she really got bored. Her eyes drifted towards a wine bottle she kept hidden under the bar and she shrugged.

Even though she had a bit of a reputation when it came to drinks, Berry Punch was actually a very responsible drinker. She has enough to get a decent buzz going and no more then that. She had to have these standards, being a single mother and all. Though, it probably didn’t help that she had an extremely powerful tolerance to alcohol.

“Uh, I wish somepony’d show up already,” she groaned, popping the cork before taking a swig. “I hate the weekdays.”

Just when she was about to take another swig, the front door opened and a certain pink pony hopped in. 

Berry Punch stowed the bottle of pineapple wine she was drinking in its hiding place and said, “Welcome to the Punch Bowl. Leave your troubles by the door and have a drink.”

Pinkie bounced up to her, grinning bigger then ever before and positively glowing.

“Hiya Berry, long time no see!”

“Tell me about it,” she smirked. “You want your usual?”

“Yeperooni!” she smiled. “But could you wait a couple minutes before you make it. I’m meeting somepony here and I want us to drink together.”

“No prob Pinks,” Berry shrugged. “Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy again?”

“Nope!”

“Applejack?”

“Guess again!”

“Twilight?”

“Nope!”

Berry thought about this for a second. She knew that Pinkie couldn’t be meeting Rarity here. She only comes by on the rare occasions that a business deal flops and since she didn’t hear any dramatic screams of despair that day she could only assume that it wasn’t the fashinesta. 

She flashed a sly smirk.

“A coltfriend?”

Pinkie stopped bouncing and with a sheepish laugh rubbed one foreleg with another.

“Somepony I know?”

She shook her head, blushing.

Must be a pretty hot piece of flank if he’s got Pinkie this riled up, she thought maintaining her smirk.

“Well than, I hope he gets here soon. I’m dying to get a look at him.” 

No sooner had she said this did the front door open again and two ponies step in. 

“He’s here!” Pinkie squealed.

Berry was just about to say her bar’s slogan when the door closed and she was able to get a better look at her new customers and stopped. Her jaw hit the floor as not one, but two Alicorns walked up to a very excited Pinkie.

“Good afternoon, miss,” Mirth said before exchanging nuzzles with Pinkie Pie.

Berry Punch just stood there looking dumbly between Pinkie and Mirth.

She landed herself a Prince?! Damn I knew she had connections but holy Celestia!

Grapevine snapped her out of her stupor by waving a hoof in front of her muzzle.

“I know they make a cute couple, but could you get me a drink?”

Berry blinked then, still feeling a little shocked, turned her attention to Grapevine.

“S-So what’ll you be having Princess?” she asked, trying her best to sound professional for the first time in a while.

Grapevine saw through the act and smirked.

“I’ll take the strongest drink you’ve got,” she said, surprising Berry with her less than formal speech. “And just call me Grapevine. The whole ‘Princess’ thing is really overrated.”

“As you wish,” Berry said, trying to remember what her best drink was. “And you sir?”

“I’ll have the same,” Mirth said, bringing Pinkie closer to himself with one of his wings.

“Okay,” she said, feeling a mix of jealousy and happiness towards the new couple. “Just take a seat and I’ll be back with your drinks.”

As she got to work, she spotted the group taking a seat at one of the booths in the farthest corner of the room. 

She’s so lucky, she thought as she shook a drink mixer. I wish I could find somepony like that.

Forcing back her depressed thoughts, Berry put the finishing touches on her concoctions before putting them on a tray. Balancing it on her back, she walked over to the trio. 

“One Pink Parade for Pinkie Pie,” she said, taking a mug off of her back and placing it in front of Pinkie. “And two Wild Berry Ciders.”

Placed in front of the two Alicorns were mugs full of a strange rainbow colored liquid. Grapevine looked at it with a raised brow wile Mirth gave it a cautious sniff before grabbing the mug with his magic and taking a sip. It was powerful, even by his standards, but that didn’t mean he didn’t like it. It had a slight bitter flavoring mixed with just the right level of sweet to keep it from being over powering. Though he couldn’t quite place the flavor. It was obviously made using some kind of fruit but he just couldn’t tell what one.

“How is it?” Pinkie asked before taking a sip of her drink.

“New, but good.”

“Wanna trade sips?”

Mirth smiled.

“Definitely.”

The two switched mugs and had a taste. 

To Mirth, Pinkie’s drink looked more like an ice cream sundae, what with all the whipped cream and sprinkles coming out of the top of the mug, but to his surprise that made it taste even better! Unlike his drink, he could tell right off the bat that Berry Punch used fermented strawberry juice and a light dash of cherry syrup. But what made the already sweet drink even sweeter was the fact that it touched the lips of the mare sitting next to him.	When he set her mug back onto the table to ask Pinkie what she thought about the drink, he saw her set it back onto the table and with a dopy grin she said, “It was amazshing.”
With a maniacal laugh, she slid a little closer to Mirth and leaned into him, a content smile on her face. 

Realizing that she had been staring, she turned to leave the booth. Just than, Berry felt a wing drape itself over her shoulder and pull her back.

“Hold on their pal,” Grapevine said, a playful smirk plastered across her muzzle. “Why not stick around and enjoy the show?”

Berry looked at Grapevine with a bit of shock.

“I think the love birds could use a little privacy,” she said, trying to get out of the grip of Grapevine’s wing. “Besides, I’m still on the clock.”

“Oh come on,” Grapevine protested. “The place is a ghost town right now, and I highly dout the world’s gonna end if you hang with us for a few minutes.” Seeing no other way out of this, Berry let out a defeated sigh than nodded. Her capturer let out a happy cheer and took a swig of her drink. “Yeah! I maid a friend!”

Berry laughed nervously.

Even with her limited experience with royals, Berry could tell the two Alicorns sitting with her were not the typical noble types. Unless it was normal for a princess to yell “Yolo,” before finishing a large mug of booze in one go.

“Ah, that was good,” Grapevine sighed, setting her mug down. “You make a good drink pal.”

“Thanks,” Berry said more than a little shocked that the mare was still coherent. “I’m glad you liked it.”

“Yeah. Wish it was stronger though.”

Berry’s eyes widened.

Are you kidding me?! That thing had a gallon of vodka in it! She shouldn’t be conscious right now and she’s telling me it wasn’t strong enough?!

Grapevine noticed the look Berry was giving her and smiled.

“I’ll show you some tricks later. For now, lets enjoy the show.”

As she said that she leaned back into her seat and pointed at the couple sitting across from them with a wing. Berry looked and her jaw hit the floor. Pinkie and Mirth had already finished their drinks and now had there forelegs wrapped around each other, kissing with wild passion. Every now and then they would separate to get some air, but that would only last for about a second before they were diving back into each other. After what was probably the longest hour ever, the two broke apart before slumping back into their seats, panting.

“That. Was. Amazing,” Pinkie gasped, an ecstatic smile on her flushed face.

“Yeah, well. I live to please,” Mirth laughed, his breath coming out quick and labored. 

The two asked for a refill but before Berry could tell them no, Grapevine grabbed the mugs with her magic and with a flash, they were filled to the brim. The two drunk ponies cheered as the mugs were put back in front of them. Berry gave her an annoyed look.

“Don’t worry,” she said casually. “I’ll pay for the drinks.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about,” Berry glared. “I just don’t want my bar to blowup or something.”

Grapevine looked at the two sheet shot ponies and realized her mistake.

“I see. Tell ya what, I’ll drag them out of here as soon as they finish their drinks and take care of the bill. Deal?”

Berry nodded.

As it turns out, that was a very smart choice. As the two of them drank they became more inventive with their antics. Pinkie some how managed to summon a confetti cannon out of her mane and started blasting everypony at the table with it every time she hiccupped and Mirth used his magic to teleport all of it back into said cannon. Then, at one point Mirth thought the rooms gravity was broken for some reason and tried to “fix” it by reversing the gravitational pull of everything in the bar. It was around the time that Berry’s coat got turned blue with rainbow colored polka dots that she said she had enough.

“Please get them out of here before it starts hailing in my bar!”

“Yeah, good point,” Grapevine said sheepishly.

With that, she returned the Punch Bowl to its original form and used her magic to drag her group out the door. Not that they were resisting, they just didn’t have enough control of themselves to stand. Though they had enough to lip-lock apparently.

“Sorry about this Berry,” Grapevine sighed. “Next time I’ll leave the lovebirds at home.”

She shrugged.

“Eh, I don’t mind. Just give me a heads up next time so I can get the hose ready.”

The two laughed. Then Grapevine hoisted Pinkie and Mirth into the air with her magic and walked away.

That was a lot more fun than I thought, she thought with a grin. But now what do I do?

She looked up at her friends and sighed.

I can’t bring them back to the castle with me. Twilight would have a fit! But I can’t just leave them lying around in the middle of the street either. I guess that only leaves one option.

With a wicked smirk, she made her way towards Sugar Cube Corner.

This is going to be priceless!



*** 



Pinkie woke the next day feeling like a new mare. Well, a slightly hung over new mare, but a new mare none-the-less. Still in bed, she rolled onto her side so that she wasn’t facing the window and groaned.

Just a few more minutes.

Just then, she felt something warm and soft drape over her. At first she thought it was her blanket, then it started to pull her towards something on the side of the bed she was facing. Feeling a little scared, she opened her eyes to see a multicolored chest just inches away from her muzzle.

Mirth Hour?

Her fear instantly disappeared, as she saw that it was, without a doubt, the notorious Prince of Theater himself.

But why is he in my bed? Wait. Did we- No! No way! I mean, yeah we both got drunk, but I wouldn’t do something like that on the first date, would I?

It was than that Mirth wrapped his foreleg around her, pulling her into a hug. A content smile crossed his lips.

Oh who cares, she thought, snuggling into him, a soft smile gracing her lips. So long as it was with him, I don’t care.
	

> Strength 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 5: Strength 



Fluttershy sat at her table, sipping tea while a frustrated Twilight sat across from her. After what happened the previous night, Twilight decided to ask Fluttershy for some advice on how she could help Morning Star. On her way out, Nevermore asked if he could accompany her. Seeing no harm, she agreed and the two of them flew to Fluttershy’s cabin. After about an hour of trying to calm her jumpy pegasus friend down when she saw the Prince of Death, the three of them settled down at her kitchen table where she served them and herself some herbal tea and cookies.

“So you see,” she concluded. “I have no idea how to help her.”

Fluttershy took another sip of her tea, then said, “Oh my. This is serious.”

“I know.”

While the two mares strategized, Nevermore stared at the cookie on his plate with confusion. 

What am I supposed to do with this? Is it food? Decoration, maybe? 

He gave the treat a cautious nudge with his hoof.

This got Twilight’s attention.

“Uh, Prince Nevermore? Are you okay?”

He raised his head towards Twilight, his usual blank expression greeting her.

“Yes, Princess Twilight Sparkle, I am just trying to ascertain the purpose of this thing on my plate.”

Twilight raised a brow.

“Uh you’re supposed to eat it,” she said.

“Ah, thank you,” he said, levitating it to his mouth with his magic.

Do they not have cookies where he’s from?

Choosing to set that inquiry for another time, she shifted her attention back to Fluttershy.

“So any suggestions?”

Fluttershy set her now empty cup down on the table before putting a hoof to her chin. Then after a moment, she looked at Nevermore and said, “If you don’t mind me asking, do you know were she is right now?”

“Yes,” he said mechanically. 

“Would you be willing to tell me?”

Twilight’s jaw dropped at what she suspected her friend was planning. 

“Yes,” he said before Twilight could protest. “In fact, I would greatly appreciate it.”

“Thank you.”

“Woe, woe, woe, hold it!” Twilight cried. “You do know that we’re talking about an Alicorn with PTSD and a serious grudge against the Elements of Harmony, right?”

“I know,” Fluttershy nodded. “And that’s why I should be the one to talk to her.”

“I agree,” Nevermore said, taking a sip of his tea. “Though my former student can be wild, she will not attack somepony she perceives as weaker than her. So long as she’s not provoked, that is.”

Taking that into account, it did make sense to have Fluttershy reason with her. While her friends were very kind and considerate, they weren’t the most democratic ponies in Equestria. Fluttershy was patient, kind, and always carful not to offend those she spoke to. If she weren’t so skittish, Fluttershy would’ve made a great politician in the Canterlot Royal Court. All the same, Twilight didn’t like the idea of throwing her friend into the lion’s den by herself.

“Are you sure you want to do this?”

Fluttershy looked at her, determination shining in her eyes as she said, “I don’t want to do this; I have to do this. She insulted you and our friends and there is no way I’m going to let that stand. Somepony needs to talk some sense into her and I’m the best one for the job.”

Twilight was dazzled by her friend’s sudden shift in personality.

“Alright Fluttershy, but I don’t want you to go alone. Nevermore and I will be close by to protect you if anything goes wrong.”

“Thank you Twilight,” she nodded, smiling.

With that, she turned towards Nevermore.

“Were is she, if you don’t mind me asking.”

“Give me a moment,” he said closing his eyes.

His horn began to glow a wicked black light as he cast a locator spell, or at least some variation of one. Twilight noticed that the spell seemed to have a more subtle feeling of emptiness behind it. Almost like it was made of thin mist. The feel of it sent a chill down her spine as it passed her. After about three minutes, the magic rushed back into Nevermore’s horn and he opened his eyes.

“She’s a lot closer than I thought she would be,” he mumbled to himself. “She’s in a clearing in the Everfree Forest, approximately one mile away from here.”

“Thank you Mr. Nevermore,” Fluttershy bowed. “Let’s do this.”

With that, the three of them stepped out of the cottage and, to Twilight’s surprise, fallowed Fluttershy into the air. Twilight could only stare at her friend in wonder as they headed in the direction of the clearing Nevermore designated. Fluttershy was the most timid pony Twilight knew. Not to long ago, just talking to any strange pony would’ve made the pegasus cower. And yet, here she was, flying right up to a war-damaged Alicorn that even Twilight was afraid to confront.

You just never cease to amaze me.

“There it is,” Nevermore said, pointing to a rapidly approaching clearing.

Twilight nodded. 

“Good. Let’s do this.”

“Wait,” he said, stopping.

The two mares fallowed suit, giving him puzzled looks.

“It would be a bad idea for all three of us to land right next to her.”

“Why?” Twilight asked, tilting her head.

“Morning Star will feel our magic and will most likely take it as a challenge. The whole point of Miss Fluttershy coming here was to prevent such an outcome.”

Twilight nodded in agreement.

She hadn’t thought about that. With their current location being so close to Ponyville, the last thing she wanted to do was cause Morning Star to feel the need to fight. 

“Miss Fluttershy has next to no magic to her name,” he continued. “Therefore, she will most likely giver her little to no notice what-so-ever.”

“I see,” Twilight agreed.

“Keeping that in mind, this is my plan: the two of us stay back just outside of Morning Star’s range of perception while Miss Fluttershy approaches her on her own. As soon as we sense anything hostile, we take it from there and subdue my former student before she doe’s something regretful. Any questions?”

The two of them thought about it carefully. The plan, though risky, did sound effective, but before Twilight could point out any possible flaws in Nevermore’s strategy, Fluttershy had already started flying off. Twilight made to fallow her but was held back by Nevermore’s magic. Twilight struggled against the black aura surrounding her, as she was pulled down to ground level with its source.

“Calm down Twilight Sparkle. I understand your concerns, but getting any closer to her would put both of you in very real danger.”

“B-But Fluttershy-” 

“Chose to do this herself,” he said, his tone cold, but firm. “She understands the danger that she was going to put herself into by taking this course of action. In spite of the danger, she chose to put her faith in our hooves should anything go wrong. Can’t you give her that same faith?”

As what he said sank in, her struggles ceased. With a sigh, she nodded and Nevermore canceled his magic.

“Good. Now, lets wait and see how this goes.”

“How will we know if Fluttershy’s in trouble?”

“Trust me,” he said coldly. “We’ll know.”



*** 




Morning Star stood at the center of the open field, a glowing orange sword floating a foot ahead of her. By her will, the blade slowly glided through the air, the weight of it in her magic bringing a familiar sense of satisfaction. Closing her undamaged eye, she moved herself into a series of strikes and forms. Each movement was swift and with rigidly rehearsed purpose. As she moved, memories of how these techniques saved her life flashed into her mind’s eye, as well as the lives she ended. To most, such memories were the stuff of nightmares, a mountain of regrets better left sealed to the back of the mind and forgotten, but not to Morning Star. Each face, each scream, every time the stains of blood or the wounds of battle marred her coat was a testament of her strength. That in the time before her ascension, she had proven herself to be one of the few strong enough to survive a cruel world of pain and treachery to bring the peace so many ponies took for granted. Ponies, she felt nothing but disgust towards. 

With a grimace, she cast aside these distracting thoughts and continued her sword dance, letting out a satisfied grunt with each successful swing. The sound of hooves on grass got her attention. Dispelling her sword, Morning Star turned towards the intruder. 

“Greetings,” she said, eyeing Fluttershy with little interest. “Can I help you?”

“Your Princess Morning Star, correct?”

Morning Star nodded.

“I need to have a word with you.”

The bold tone in Fluttershy’s voice both perplexed and shocked the ebon mare. Here she was, standing before a being of overwhelming power and the light yellow pegasus looked as calm as could be. As a reward for the wisdom she sacrificed for courage, she decided to humor her.

This should be amusing.

“Oh? And what pray tell could a lowly peasant have to say?”

Fluttershy flinched, but otherwise held her ground.

“First, just because you’re a princess, doesn’t mean you can talk down to me. Second, you need to apologize to Twilight for all of the hurtful things you said to her.”

“And why should I do that?” she asked, walking towards Fluttershy.

“Because its not right!”

Morning Star laughed coldly.

“Sorry to be the one to break it to you Shutterfly, but that’s how the world is.”

At this point Morning Star stopped just a couple of feet away from Fluttershy, using her overwhelming size and presence to show the vast gap in power between the two mares.

“If one wishes to obtain anything, be it an apple or prestige, it always comes at the expense of another who is weaker than you. The same is said for what is right or wrong. Those who have the power to dominate and make the necessary sacrifices can push the prospects of morality in any direction they choose. And than, when somepony of greater strength arises, they change the flow of thought. In the end, strength is what truly rules this world, while weakness is destroyed.” 

Fluttershy locked eyes with her, not showing even a spark of fear. Instead, calm resolve shined inside her teal eyes as she stared her down.

“Your wrong.”

“Excuse me?” Morning Star blinked, a slight edge in her tone.

“Your wrong!”

Morning Star leaned back slightly at Fluttershy’s sudden change in volume.

“Prove it,” she said with a venomous smile.

“Gladly. Together, my friends and I have taken on multiple dangers to Equestria; all of them several times stronger than us and we all made it out without a scratch. Nightmare Moon, Discord, Queen Chrysalis, King Sombra, the Equalist Cult, Tearek, all of them would’ve destroyed us if we faced them alone, but together we were able to defeat them.”

Morning Star did accept that Fluttershy did have a point. Her friends did overcome some fierce opponents, but that wasn’t the end of her tirade.

“Though I will admit, the six of you have done some impressive deeds for First Princess Celestia, I can not say that those are valid points against my claims.”

“How so?”

“In all of your battles, you had the assistance of either a magical tool or another Alicorn. The only conflict that you and your friends eliminated by your own powers was when you confronted the Equalist Cult. And even that was a narrow victory.”

Suddenly, countless orange swords appeared around Fluttershy, all of their blades pointing directly at her.

“I on the other hoof,” Morning Star continued. “Could end you at any time with my own power, but do you know what stops me?”

Ignoring the weapons, Fluttershy shook her head.

“First Princess Celestia. It is because she is infinitely more powerful then I that I won’t strike you down. Do you see? Strength yet again rules the world.”  

For a moment, the two mares stood in silence. Then a calm breeze washed over the open field as Fluttershy broke the silence.
“You’re wrong.”

Morning Star raised a brow.

“You won’t attack me because you know I’m right.”

Morning Star’s eye narrowed.

“Because at one point you saw how powerful friendship can be. How opening your heart to somepony can give you the power to do amazing things. Things you didn’t know you yourself were capable of doing. How even when you’re pushed into the darkest pit of despair and fear, somepony would lend you a hoof and pull you out into a brighter future. Something horrible happened to you, making you close your heart. So now you hide behind a shell of hatred and trap yourself in an illusion of what you think the world is. But ultimately, Miss Morning Star, the biggest reason why you wont attack me is because you’re afraid of me.”

“Afraid? Me? What dribble!” Morning Star snarled. “What about a lone pegasus born in a pampered life of peace could I possibly find intimidating?!”

At that moment, Fluttershy gave off an aura of serene grace that for a moment made her resemble an Alicorn herself. 

“Because while I can continue to move forward and grow with my friends, you will always be the same. Cold, bitter, and afraid.”

“I AM STILL STRONGER THAN YOU!” Morning Star roared, her magic blades jerking closer to the light yellow pegasus.

Without showing a trace of fear, she looked the raging Alicorn goddess in the eye and said, “No Miss Morning Star. Compared to my friends and I, you are weak.”

Morning Star’s eye widened with fury before narrowing. Her lips curled into a shaky and cruel smile.

“Weak am I? interesting. How about we TEST THAT THEORY!”

With that, she slammed a hoof into the ground. The impact sending an earth trembling wave through the clearing and surrounding forest. Immediately, the swords she conjured flew to the outer perimeter of the clearing before planting themselves blade first into the ground. As soon as the last sword was planted, an orange cord of magic lashed out to their neighbors until they formed a circle around the two of them. From this circle, more energy surged up into the air and merged into an enormous orange barrier.

“Now,” Morning Star growled, her mad smile turned predatory. “Let’s see just how strong you really are!”  

> A Book and its Cover
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 6 A Book and its Cover

Twilight and Nevermore flinched as a massive surge of magical energy filled the air around them. They immediately took flight and a chill shot down their spines as they saw the barrier.
Fluttershy!
Twilight pored all her strength into her wings and bolted towards the orange dome, Nevermore keeping pace. As she got closer, Twilight aimed her horn at the barrier, magic gathering at its very tip. With a fierce roar, she stabbed her horn into it. She was immediately blasted back, her magic reflected like light on a mirror into its source. Before she could fall to her doom, Nevermore caught her with his magic and gently set her on the ground. The second he let go of her, she ran to the barrier and slammed herself against it. Like before, the force of her attack was thrown back at her. Frustrated, she slammed her hoofs into it in a futile attempt to punch through to help her friend.
“It is no use Twilight Sparkle,” Nevermore said as he touched down next to her. “This is the Grand Coliseum, one of Morning Star’s most powerful spells. Not even First Princess Celestia can break it.”
“B-But,” she sputtered. “Fluttershy!”
“I know,” he said, his normally blank face showing signs of anger. “I never thought that she would take this so far. How could Morning Star fall so low?”
Twilight gave the barrier one last pound before breaking into tears. 
“What can we do?”
“Pray,” Nevermore said, returning to his normal state of emotional neutrality. “Pray that you friend can get through this, and have faith in her abilities as an Element of Harmony.” 



*** 



Fluttershy dove to the side as Morning Star charged at her with an orange sword. With a snarl, the Alicorn materialized three more blades and fired them at her with pure murderous intent. Just like with the last strike, Fluttershy sidestepped out of the way than took to the sky. Unknown to her friends, since the Tornado Day incident, Fluttershy continued her flight exercises to try increasing her wing power.  At a result, she now had a level 9.75 wing-power rating, a solid 10 in short busts when she needed it. This gave Fluttershy the added boost she needed to avoid Morning Star’s wild attacks, but that wasn’t the only trick the yellow pegasus had her disposal. After dodging a few more attacks, Fluttershy flew towards Morning Star’s right and landed a light jab with one of her forelegs before flying away to avoid another sword swipe.
“Is that all you have?” Morning Star snarled, throwing one of her swords at the canary yellow pegasus. “Is that the limit of you so called ‘strength of friendship’?” 
Fluttershy didn’t answer. She was to busy keeping track of Morning Star’s weapons and openings in her defenses.
Two inches below the neck, Fluttershy thought, avoiding an attempted decapitation. Six inches above the left side of the flank. One sixteenth of an inch towards the spine between the primary wing bones. Three inches above the knees facing out to the sides. And finally, one inch below the base of the horn. 
“DAMN YOU!!!” Morning Star roared, taking to the air. “I’VE HAD ENOUGH!!!”
With that she poured a massive amount of her magic into her horn. In a brilliant orange flash, the ceiling of the barrier was filled with countless magic blades, all pointed at Fluttershy. 
“DIE!!!”
On cue, the mass of orange death rained down, ready to end the life of a lone pony. This should’ve terrified the poor mare. By all rights, she should’ve been begging the furious Alicorn for forgiveness and mercy. She didn’t do any of these things. She was as calm as a saint walking through a flower garden as she stared down the incoming barrage. 
Now!
As soon as the first sword was a foot above her, she reared up on her hind legs poured some of her magic into her wings, and flapped her wings together. On contact, her wings let out a thundering burst of sound, the force of which blasting all of the swords coming at her away in random directions, the rest getting planted harmlessly into the ground.
“H-How did you do that?” Morning Star stammered her rage momentarily replaced with astonishment.
“I used my magic to create a small thunder clap,” Fluttershy answered calmly. “It’s not that difficult. I could teach you how to do it later if you want.”
The compassionate smile she gave the war Princess filled her with unbridled fury. 
She had the gall to think she could teach me something? What nerve! Let’s show this worthless fool true magic!
With a roar, Morning Star channeled more of her magic and pulled all of her swords back into the sky, but instead of returning to their former positions, they gathered into a single point, merging into a massive ball of magic. She grinned wickedly as she asserted her will over the orb and shaped it into her signature weapon, an engine of destruction that won her countless battles. A titan that granted her her cutie mark. A massive spiked ball the size of Canterlot Castle hovered at the highest point of the barrier’s ceiling a thick chain anchoring it to a glowing orange handle held in Morning Star’s mouth.
Fluttershy’s eyes widened as she saw the moon-like death tool hovering above her, a slightly shaky “Oh my” passing from her lips.
Morning Star glanced down at Fluttershy, her eye narrowed.
Block this!
Using both her magic and strength, she tightened her grip and swung her goliath of a weapon down towards Fluttershy. The canary yellow mare wasted no time getting out of the morningstar’s path as she took to the air. A massive explosion filled the countryside as the weapon hit the earth. With a soft grunt, Morning Star pulled her namesake weapon out of the ground to take another swing at her prey, but paused as a strange feeling passed over her. Portions of her right side started to feel numb, making maintaining her center of balance more difficult.
What’s happening? Did I use too much magic? That can’t be it. Some kind of poison?
She didn’t get long to ponder this, as Fluttershy suddenly appeared in front of her, foreleg reared back to strike. She tried to move back to give herself the distance she needed to use her weapon safely, but the numbing effect on her body prevented her from moving the way she wanted and Fluttershy lightly jabbed her just below the base of her neck before flying to her left side.
Oh hell no!
She didn’t know what Fluttershy did to her, but she didn’t like the end result. In an attempt to ward off the mare, she swiped at her with one of her own forelegs, but Fluttershy dodged it and landed a light tap onto the space below Morning Star’s left front knee. She tried to buck her when she flew towards the empty space behind her, but that faired about as well as the Alicorn’s last attempt. When Fluttershy gave the space above her flank a firm slap Morning Star let out a mortified growl and abandoned her weapon.
“HOW DARE YOU!?” She bellowed, a slight blush on her cheeks as she tried to punch Fluttershy.
Looking slightly sheepish, Fluttershy dodged it and whispered, “I’m sorry” as she tapped her foreleg just below her right knee. Morning Star yelled in fury as she tried to plunge her only useable weapon, her horn, into Fluttershy’s chest, but before she could land the fatal blow, Fluttershy tapped her right between the eyes, just below the base of her horn. A sharp jolt shot through Morning Star’s body and she made a shocking discovery; she couldn’t move.
Impossible….
As the shock of her current condition set in, Fluttershy flew above her and tapped where Morning Star’s wings connected to her body and those too became useless. For a moment, Morning Star felt the familiar feeling of falling just before she felt a set of teeth bite down on her tail. Slowly, she was lowered onto the ground. The look in the warhorse’s eyes was a mix of fury and confusion.
“How?!” she growled. “How did you do this to me?! What did you do to me?!”
Fluttershy sighed.
“I spend a lot of time taking care of animals. Birds, mice, bears, even other ponies when things get desperate. Nursing so many sick creatures can make somepony very familiar with anatomy.
Morning Star’s eye widened as the pieces started to fall into place.
“You attacked my pressure points.”
Fluttershy nodded.
“I hate hurting ponies,” Fluttershy sighed sadly. “But I also know that I need to defend myself. When I asked Twilight what I should do, she told me that I needed to find a way to end a fight without hurting anypony more then I had to.”
“So you turned to your study of anatomy,” Morning Star growled, struggling to get to her hooves.
“Yes. That way, even somepony as frail as me could handle myself when I needed to.”
Morning Star let out a frustrated roar as she forced herself to stand, her legs straining in the attempt.
“And you think that makes you strong?!” she snarled. “Don’t make me laugh! A pony born in an era of peace has no idea what it truly takes to be strong! To put you own life on the line, end the life of those who dare stand against you and your army. To endure countless cuts, burses, sacrifices, betrayals, and still make it through to see the next day; that is true strength!”
Now fully standing, Morning Star towered over the pony that crippled her.
“A pony like you,” she continued. “Can never understand what I had to go through. You can never know the significant of the scares I bare. OF WHAT I HAD TO SACREFICE TO BECOME AS STRONG AS I!!!”
Suddenly, Morning Star flinched as if she had just been struck. With a pained grunt, she raised a hoof to her patched eye.
“No,” she growled. “Not her. She’s not worthy.”
“Miss M-Morning Star?” Fluttershy asked, backing away cautiously.
With an agonized scream, Morning Star looked into the sky and a blood red dome of magic formed around her like a bloody cocoon. Before Fluttershy could react to this sudden development the red dome shattered like glass, revealing a being that made her blood turn to ice.
Morning Star’s cote turned a muddy shade of red and her wings were midnight black. Her horn looked like an obsidian dagger that matched her silver mane and tail perfectly. Her good eye looked like a dragon’s eye dyed with flames of hatred. She smiled, revealing multiple pointed teeth. But what made Fluttershy cringe wasn’t her adversary’s resemblance to a former enemy, but the scars. All of the scars covering Morning Star’s body were glowing and dripping steady beads of blood like fresh wounds
“Now,” she leered, her voice sounding like a demonic echo. “Shall we begin the next round?” 


> Crimson Gale, Radiant Breeze 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Crimson Gale, Radiant Breeze




Twilight's blood turned to ice.
"No," she whispered, trembling. "Not that. Anything but that!"
Desperately, Twilight flung herself against the barrier, slamming her hooves into the dome in a feeble attempt to rescue her friend. The second Morning Star transformed, Twilight knew that whatever chance Fluttershy had in this fight was gone. Any chance Fluttershy had of surviving this fight was gone. What Morning Star had done was not a simple transformation spell. It was a forbidden spell called Berserker. When cast, the target is cursed with overwhelming power that far exceeds the limits of the pony's natural abilities both physical and magical. In exchange, the victim loses all rational thought and becomes an unstoppable engine of destruction. Add that to an Alicorn's already absurdly massive power and nopony could ever hope to survive.
Suddenly, Twilight felt a massive force slam into the barrier from just a few feet away from her left side. Looking to her side, she saw Nevermore standing next to her, his right hoof planted firmly in the impenetrable wall before them. Twilight flinched at the look of fear the normally adamant Prince was directing at the two mares.
"Morning Star!" he cried. "Do not give into the power! Fight it!"
Morning Star turned her head towards him, and with a cruel smile said, "Crimson Gale will show you my prayers."
Twilight was confused by that statement, but Nevermore understood the weight behind those words. 
"She plans to kill her," he gasped, his voice just barely above a whisper.
Suddenly, an inappropriately happy laugh filled the air, fallowed by a bright flash between the two Alicorns. With that, Discord appeared, a bucket full of popcorn wrapped in his lion arm.
"My, my," he said, gazing gleefully into the barrier. "Things seem to be heating up around here."
"Discord!" Twilight exclaimed, a wave of relief washing over her. "I'm so glad you're here! Quick! Teleport Fluttershy out of there!"
Discord looked down at her with his usual goofy smile.
"Nope," he said flatly.
Twilight stared at him.
"What?"
"I'm not getting her out of there," he said, popping a piece of popcorn into his mouth.
"WHAT?!" Twilight and Nevermore screamed. "WHY?!"
"Don't need to," he replied casually.
Twilight's jaw dropped.
"But-But, she's going to kill her!"
Discord gave her a knowing smile.
"Not likely," he said. "Fluttershy still has one last ace in the hole that could end this in one foul swoop."
They gave Discord a confused look that forced a light chuckle out of the Dragonequis.
"The only question is," he continued. "Will she use it?"



*** 



Fluttershy stared at Morning Star in shock. Even with everything she's seen in her life, seeing her opponent turn into an even scarier version of Nightmare Moon stunned her to the core.
Morning Star leered at her. As she took a step towards Fluttershy, the yellow pegasus felt a wave of malice wash over her, sending a chill down her spine. This mare wanted to kill her. Every cell in Fluttershy's body screamed this fact to her. However, she refused to give in to the growing fear inside of her. 
I know her weak points. I can win this!
With that thought in mind, she spread her wings and soared towards Morning. Snarling, Morning Star charged as well. In a fraction of a second, the two mares passed each other, each standing at opposite ends of the arena. For a moment, the two of them stood stone still, a silent dread filling the air. Suddenly, Fluttershy let out a scream of pain, clutching her right shoulder, blood leaking out of a deep gash.
Morning Star grinned as she turned to face her. 
"Aw. What's wrong little one?" she asked in false concern. "Did somepony get a little boo boo?"
Grimacing, Fluttershy turned towards her enemy, a tear building at the corner of her eyes.
"You will not beat me."
The hell horse's eyes narrowed.
"We will see."
With that, she charged.
This time, Fluttershy opted for a more cautious approach and waited for Morning Star to come to her. This was a wise choice, as now she knew how she hit her. The blood leaking out of Morning Star's woands coiled and hardened into a six foot long crimson blade aimed strait for Fluttershy's throat! Fluttershy quickly took flight, narrowly avoiding the previous weapon and a new one that sprouted from Morning Star's back. Her mind was racing, desperately trying to think of some way to get past her enemy's new ability. However, time for thought was starting to become all but nonexistent, as Morning Star effortlessly barreled past Fluttershy to cut off her access to the higher altitudes of the barrier. A second later, Fluttershy felt blood trickle down her left hind leg. She didn't have to look to know she had received more injuries from Morning Star's bloody armaments.  
With a maniacal smirk, Morning Star widened her wings and her blood slowly slid up her body into the feathered appendages. Then, with deranged laughter, she gave her wings a swift flap and sent the blood flying like crimson rain. Fluttershy had just enough time to see them turn into knives before they swarmed around her. All she could do is cover her face and scream in agony as the rain of blades surged around her, slashing all across her body as they did. As soon as it was over, Fluttershy moved her hooves way from her face, determined to not loose track of her enemy. Unfortunately, that was exactly what happened.
"Your not the only one who studies her opponent," said a chilling voice behind the yellow mare.
Panicked, she turned, hoof raised to strike at whatever pressure point she could reach that wouldn't get her stabbed by a blood blade. However, the sky behind her was completely empty. Immediately, a sharp pain erupted from her back as the now familiar feel of a blade cut into her.
"Your faster then you seem," Morning Star taunted, taking intense pleasure in hearing Fluttershy's screams of panicked pain before disappearing again.
"You attack by shutting down a pony's nervous system so that you can end a fight while dealing very little critical damage to them."
As she said this, she took another swipe at Fluttershy. Another gash. Another agonized scream.
"But that makes you a sitting duck to an enemy like me," she continued, maintaining her assault, moving steadily faster as the fight dragged on.
"With my blades, I've rendered your one weapon against me useless."
Slash. Slash.
"With Berserker empowering my body, I'm infinitely faster than you."
Slash. Slash. Slash. Slash.
"And most importantly-
Slash! Slash! Slash! Slash!
-I'm not afraid of killing."
SLASH!!!!! 
With that last strike, all of the strength in Fluttershy's wings finally ran out. Barely able to stay conscious, Fluttershy opened her wings just enough to slow her fall. Though it wasn't as fatal as it could've been, the poor pegasus pony hit the ground hard.
Panting, she tried to rise to her hooves, blood loss and pain making her vision blur.
I have to get up. I can't let it end like this.
Suddenly, Morning Star landed next to her, and with sadistic glee in her eye, she slammed her hoof down into Fluttershy's back, pinning her to the ground.
"What a pathetic pegasus," she sneered. "Barely able to survive a fraction of my true power and you have the gal to say your stronger that me? Even going so far as to say you scare me. You don't even deserve to share the same air as me! A disgrace like you, poisoned by the lies of friendship is not worthy of the wings fused to your back."
"In fact," she said, a smile creeping across her muzzle. "Why don't I do you a favor and just take them from you?"
In a flash, two blood blades sprouted out of Morning Star's barrel and cleanly sliced Fluttershy's wings off. All the yellow pegasus could manage was a soft gasp before she was kicked to the opposite end of the dome.
"Peh, worthless," she growled, turning her head to the three spectators standing outside the barrier. "Maybe Princess Twilight Sparkle can put up more of a fight.
"..........N-Not over........"
Morning Star turned to see a barely breathing Fluttershy staggering to her hooves, a determined scowl on her muzzle.
Morning Star laughed.
"You still want to continue? I'll admit, its impressive you're still alive, but what can you possibly do in your condition.
In response, Fluttershy, as battered and bruised as she was, pulled herself into a shaky yet dignified pose and said, "Save you."
In that moment, a bright light enveloped her and when it dimmed, Morning Star's eye widened in shock at what stood before her. It was a yellow pegasus that looked a lot like the shy mare, only her mane and tail was longer and colored with teal, sky blue, orange, and violet streaks. Her wings shifted from familiar yellow to neon pink with heart patterns at their edges. She radiated a kind and warm aura, like one would expect from a loving mother, which would normally fill anypony around her with a sense of calm and joy, but all it did was rouse Morning Star's fury.
"Who are you?" she growled. "How did you get in here?!"
The saintly mare laughed delicately.
"Oh my. Do you not recognize me?"
The demon horse grit her teeth as realization washed over her.
"DAMN YOU!!!!" she roared, firing a barrage of red daggers out of her wings. "DIE!!!"
Fluttershy let out a frustrated sigh as all of Morning Star's weapons desolved on contact with her new glowing aura.
"I was hoping I wouldn't need to use this power," she sighed, slowly walking towards the rampaging Alicorn. "It almost feels like i'm cheating."
With a frustrated growl, Morning Star drew blades from all of her gashes and charged. She hacked, stabbed, bucked and released another rain of blood knives, but no matter what she tried, none of her attacks could penetrate Fluttershy's field of rainbow light.
"So much pain," Fluttershy said tears leaking from the corners of her eyes. "You had to endure so much."
In a mix of terror and fury, Morning Star continued her assault, desperate to regain control of the situation.
"That's right," Fluttershy cooed. "Let it all out."
"SHUT UP!!!" she growled.
Fluttershy continued to advance, her calm and warm smile never leaving her muzzle. Eventually, the two mares stood face to face, the look of fear from Morning Star clashing tragically with Fluttershy's relaxed demeanor. Realizing the futility of resisting to a much stronger enemy, Morning Star closed her eye and waited for the finishing blow. Her eye popped open as instead of the fatal strike she was expecting she felt a pair of forelegs wrap themselves around her in an embrace.
"That's enough," Fluttershy whispered. "You don't need to prove yourself anymore. The battle is over."
As she let her words sink in an incredible warmth washed over her, like the first rays of the sun in spring. As she reviled in this both alien and familiar sensation of blissful peace, her eye gradually became heavy. 
I can stop. 
With that, her fight with sleep ended and for the Princess of War's world faded to black.
	 
> Aftermath 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Aftermath 


Ugh, my head, Morning Star thought, her mind falling out of a dreamless sleep.
Morning Star's eyes fluttered open, her body feeling like lead. From the position she was laying, she could tell she was in somepony's living room and a rather unusual one at that. The furniture was relatively simple, not going beyond what could be considered the bare necessities. Though she felt this was more of a requirement than an act of aestheticism based on the second thing she noticed. More then half of the walls, ceiling, and floor were covered with various types of animal dwellings. Birds, squirrels, rabbits, and various other furry critters scurried around, a few stoping to examine the drained Alicorn before dashing up a set of stairs.
Where am I? She thought dizzily.
A fox hopped on to the couch, its nose twitching with curiosity as it crept up to her barrel.
"Go away," she croaked, glaring at the young pup.
The fox just stared at her, then climbed up on top of her to curl up on her back.
"Stupid beast," she growled, raising her head to glare at the fox. "Get off of me!" 
In response, the fox raised its head, gave her a playful lick on the nose, then lowered it back down. Morning Star didn't know wether to yell at the creature or nuzzle it for its stubborn courage in giving her company.It was then that she noticed something else; all of her scars were gone!
"What in the name of the First Princess?"
That wasn't all. She noticed that everything looked strange. Her surroundings looked more defined and crisp. She could also better judge distance and her perimeter of vision was wider.
How is this possible? she thought trembling slightly. The world hasn't looked this clear since before-
Shocked, she rose a hoof to her face. As she did, she could see her own hoof coming closer until it covered the eye she hadn't seen through in countless centuries. Her hoof fell back to the sofa, all its strength sucked dry by her surprise.
"How?" she gasped.
At that moment, Fluttershy stepped down the stairs, ready to do her usual routine of feeding her animals and tiding up her cottage. When she made it to the foot of the stares, she noticed the frazzled Alicorn, now fully conscious.
She smiled.
"Your awake," Fluttershy sighed, startling Morning Star. "That's good."
"Uh, yes," she responded awkwardly as the yellow pegasus mare stepped in front of her. "Where am I?"
"You're at my cottage," Fluttershy said, smiling sweetly.
"I-I see," she said, slightly startled by Fluttershy's direct answer.
The fox on her back let out a yawn.
"Oh!" Fluttershy squeaked. "It looks like you made a friend!"
Morning Star groaned.
"I would not go that far. The stupid beast simply lacks the common sense to avoid me."
As she said this, Morning Star gave the fox a venomous glare.
"Oh, now don't be that way," Fluttershy sighed. "It's rare that Ember takes a liking to anypony."
"Ember?" Morning Star said, raising a brow.
"Yep!"
On cue, the fox lifted its head and let out a playful bark.
"I suppose it fits," she mused, staring at the fox pup.
Ember gave her an approving bark, then hopped off her back to congregate with the rest of Fluttershy's menagerie.
"How are you feeling?" Fluttershy asked, putting a hoof to Morning Star's forehead.
"Sluggish, but otherwise fine," she sighed, genteelly pushing Fluttershy's hoof away. "And that is what concerns me."
"Hmm?"
"What did you do to me? My scars. My eye. How did you do this?"
Fluttershy let out a weary sigh, then said, "Its my rainbow power."
"Come again?"
"After the battle with Tearek, each of us obtained some sort of unique ability from the Tree of Harmony based on our elements. Since my element is kindness, I have the power to heal any living creature."
Morning Star's eyes widened.
Granted, she'd heard rumors about First Princess Celestia's Elements of Harmony and their exploits, but she always assumed that they were just that, rumors. At the same time, she wasn't so ignorant as to believe the element bearers to be helpless mares with rare gems tied around their necks. She knew they had magical abilities that made them unique among their own kind, a certain pink pony in particular, but she didn't think that their powers ranged to such high levels. And as if to add insult to injury, the very element she considered to be the weakest, defeated her at the peak of her magic. 
"Incredible," Morning Star whispered.
"Pardon?" 
"You single hoofedly overwhelmed the power of a divine army. No pony has ever existed that can make that claim. You truly are my better."
As she said this, she bowed her head in respect to the yellow pegasus mare. Fluttershy blushed and hid herself behind her bangs.
"Oh please your Highness," Fluttershy whispered. "All I did was what I thought was right."
Morning Star smiled.
"Nonsense. You sell yourself to short Dame Fluttershy."
Fluttershy's eyes widened in shock.
"Dame?!" she squeaked.
"And you may simply refer to me as Morning Star. Being addressed so formally by one's better can be quite taxing."
Fluttershy was about to object, but stopped when she saw the determination in the drained princess's eyes.
Fluttershy sighed.
"Okay, but then I want you to just call me Fluttershy. No 'Dame' okay?"
Morning Star smirked.
"I make no promises, but I will try, my mistress."
Fluttershy let out an exasperated sigh.
"How's about 'friend'."
Morning Star blinked, then burst out laughing at the irony.
"Very well," she gasped, wiping a tear out of her eye. "If that is what you wish,"



*** 



The rest of the day went by peacefully, with the occasional scuffle between animals being the only form of conflict. Due to her sever depletion of magic, Morning Star was confined to the couch, requiring assistance from her host or Fluttershy's bear for tasks such as using the restroom. Though moments like that were rare, allowing the Princess of War to retain some of her dignity. Every so often, Fluttershy would check on her condition, much to the Princess's embarrassed pleasure. As the day went on, a long forgotten feeling of content peace filled the war horse. It wasn't until the sun had set and she was eating dinner with Fluttershy that she discovered what consequences her actions created.
"Desention?!" Morning Star coughed, choking on a large portion of cucumber salad.
Fluttershy nodded.
"Princess Luna was furious! It took everything Discord and I had to keep her from taring through my front door to get to you. I even heard her say she was going to snap your horn off!"
Morning Star cringed at that, gingerly placing a hoof on her horn as if to make sure it was still attached.
"If Prince Nevermore hadn't shown up, I don't think we'd be having this conversation."
"First Prince Nevermore?"
Fluttershy nodded.
"He was able to talk Princess Luna down and lowered your punishment."
Morning Star sighed in relief.
"I thank thee m' lord," she whispered. "So tell me. What is my punishment for my foolishness."
Fluttershy nervously stared down at her salad.
"He sealed your combat magic."
An awkward silence filled the room, broken a few moments later by a wry laugh from Morning Star.
"I see," she grinned. "Did he say anything else?"
Fluttershy blinked, surprised by how well her guest was taking this news.
"Oh, well, he said that the seal will break as soon as you learn what true strength is."
At this, the alicorn burst into bellowing laughter.
"He did. did he?" she panted, struggling to regain her composure. "Heh, figures. Somethings never change."  
"Huh?"
"Nothing, nothing," Morning Star smiled, waving a hoof dismissively. "It's a long story. In the mean time though, I suppose I'd better get comfortable."
Fluttershy raised a brow.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, if I am going to learn about true strength, it only makes sense to stay as close as possible to a genuine expert. Plus, I do not think I can make it back to the castle in my condition.
"Well.... I mean......I guess there wouldn't be any harm in letting you stay for a few days."
"Wonderful!" Morning Star cheered. "I promise to study hard. I will not let you down Fluttershy!"
With that, Morning Star turned back to her salad and with new gusto, devoured it. Fluttershy just stared at her food as her mind tried to process what she had just agreed to.
	
> Harvest's Mother-In-Law
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Harvest's Mother-In-Law



"Are you sure?!" Mirth hour cried, gripping a slightly annoyed green alicorn by her shoulders.
"For the millionth  time,"Grapevine growled. "I. Am. Sure!"
A trace of doubt lingered in the multicolored stallion's eyes as he let go of his fellow High Royal. Grapevine caught this and let out an exasperated sigh.
"Look, I'm The Princess of Wine, remember? I can enter other ponies drunken hazes and keep them from doing anything too stupid. The more smashed somepony gets the more haze I can enter, and you two were pretty recked."
He nodded, looking only a little bit less frantic.
"Besides, don't you have a thing for that mare anyway? So what's the problem with getting a bit of flank?"
Mirth Hour's face turned such a bright shade of red, all of the other colors in that part of his coat seemed to disappear.
"THAT'S THE WHOLE POINT!!!"
Both of them flinched as the castle's acoustics amplified Mirth Hour's version of The Royal Canterlot Voice. Something of a taboo if your standing in a castle full of very easily irritated alicorns at five in the morning. 
Slightly less red-faced, Mirth Hour cleared his throat and with a shaky voice not worthy of a pony of his rank, continued.
"Sorry. The thing is, I really do have a thing for Pinkie Pie and that's exactly why I don't want to do anything to buck this up. I mean, what if we did do something and she thinks I'm only after her for her body?"
"It wouldn't be the first time," Grapevine shrugged.
"Hey! A stallion's got needs and when you live as long as we do it's kinda hard to keep a steady relationship," Mirth snapped. "Besides, most of those mares just wanted to be with me for my title or as a trophy. But Pinkie's different; she looks at me and sees "me", not "Second Prince Mirth Hour, Ruler of Theaques". Do you have any idea how great that feels? No pony has ever made me feel like that in twelve thousand years!"
Grapevine gave him a big grin.
"That must've been one hell of a kiss then."
He returned her smile.
"Girl, you have no idea."
"So what are you panicking so much for? If she's so amazing I'm sure she wouldn't mind getting a little action so long as it was with you."
"M-Maybe," he mumbled, still filled with a bit of doubt. "But what if I got her pregnant."
"Imposable," Grapevine deadpanned.
"Because Alicorns can't reproduce?"
"No. BECAUSE NOTHING! BUCKING!! HAPPENED!!!"
"My you two sure are routy this morning," chuckled a much older green alicorn as she stepped into the room.
"Morning Drassiel," Grapevine smiled. "Did you sleep well?"
"Very," she yawned. "Now what has the two of you so riled-up?"
Grapevine flashed Mirth Hour a venomous glare before answering.
"Lover boy over here is freaking out because he decided to get drunk one night with his new marefriend and woke-up in bed with her."
"I see," she said, face showing maternal indifference as she shifted her attention to the alicorn stallion. "Is this true?"
"Yes ma'am," Mirth cringed, feeling like a foal caught steeling a cookie.
"Do you truly care for this mare?"
"Absolutely."
Drassiel saw the determined glint in the younger Royal's eyes and her features softened.
"Good. So long as she feels the same way about you I fail to see the need for such theatrics. Even from you."
"Yeah!" Grapevine cried. "Besides, I don't think Pinkie Pie's the type of mare that plays "tong hockey" with somepony she didn't really like." 
"Pinkie Pie?" Drassiel asked. "That is certainly a unique name."
"No kidding," Grapevine chuckled. "But trust me, it fits."
"Though it does sound familiar," Drassiel said, putting a hoof to her chin, muzzle scrunched in thought. "Now where did I hear it."
"Probably in the paper," Grapevine said, flashing a cheshire's grin at the uncomfortable Prince. "She is one of First Princess Celestia's Elements of Harmony after all."
A look of recognition crossed Drassiel's face.
"Ah, yes, now I remember. The Element of Laughter," Drassiel gave Mirth a slightly mischievous smile of approval. "Well done Mirth hour."
"Thank you."
"The only problem is," Grapevine grumbled, glaring at her friend. "This twit thinks the two of them were screwing around and no matter what I tell him he won't listen!"
"I see," she smiled. "Well, do you mind if I go and see if this "Pinkie Pie" is really expecting?"
Mirth gave her a confused scowl.
"Of course, but how are you gonna-
"That's right!" Grapevine cried, a relieved smile crossing her lips. "You're the Princess of Nature! Fertility and pregnancy are within your domain!"
Drassiel nodded.
"With just a glance I should be able to tell weather or not a pony is pregnant. Would my word be sufficient  enough to alleviate your fears?"
He nodded.
"Very well." 
With that, she turned and made her way back down the hall she'd gone down, a light chuckle slipping past her lips.
Oh that former student of mine; still giving her friends a hard time.



*** 



The early morning rays cascaded across the dew soaked green fields surrounding Princess Twilight's castle, giving the healthy green carpet a brilliant rainbow sheen. Taking in this bright display was a single green alicorn standing just three feet away from the castle's main entrence. She hummed as a cool breeze passed over her, her emerald green mane flowing with it like the leafy branches of a weeping willow.
So beautiful, she thought, smiling blissfully as she breathed in the crisp air. 
Still taking in her surroundings, the Princess of Nature made the trip towards Ponyville, her stride slow and leisurely so as not to rush past this moment of peace.
Ah, what an excellent day for a stroll.
Long walks were always a zen moment for Drassiel. It always helped her organize her thoughts as well as revitalized her in ways ponies could never understand. This was mostly because the  bottoms of her hooves connected with the natural flow of magic in the earth. Because of this, she seldom used her wings when traveling , only doing so when she needed to get to places quickly. It was also through these currents of power that she was able to get a reading of all the different lifeforms around her, including the one she was searching for.
She smiled as the flow of energy locked onto a small pulse of bouncing energy moving towards an enormous mass of earth pony energy.
My, my, she thought. What a fine twist of fate. 
With a tingle of excitement running through her, Drassiel continued her casual stride, though at a slightly quicker pace than before.



***



It was a typical early morning at Sweet Apple Acres. Applejack and her brother Big Macintosh were going about their normal routines.
Looks like its gonna' be a good day today, Applejack thought, wiping her brow.
With a satisfied smirk, she eyed the eighty-two loaded baskets she filled no more then six minutes ago.
"Ah just might finish a li'll early today."
Smiling, she moved into position to buck her next tree when all of a sudden, a pink pony magically popped out from under a pebble in front of her.
"YEEAAH!" she yelped, falling flat on her belly.
"Hiya Applejack!" Pinkie Pie said, bouncing in place.
"Hey Pinkie," Applejack groaned, staggering to her hooves, desperately trying to get her heart back into her chest. 
"Are you okay?" Pinkie asked, stoping her bouncing to get a good look at the cowpony. "You look like ya saw a ghost."
"Nah, I'm fine," Applejack smiled. "Just don't do that again. Ah don't think my heart can handle it."
"Okie dokie lokie," she smiled. ""Oh by the way, did you see what happened yesterday? That was amazing!"
"Ya mean that weird earthquake?"
"Yeah! Yeah! That was really really crazy right?"
"Heh, tell me about it," she sighed, glancing at some uprooted trees not too far away.



***



Pinkie nestled herself into Mirth Hour's barrel, loving the feel of her new coaltfriend's frame against her's. Feeling a little more mischievous than usual, she lightly traced a hoof across him slowly counting all the colors in his coat. The dozing stallion would twitch, but the party pony was careful not to bring her lover any closer to the waking world than that.
He's hot even when he's asleep, she thought, barely containing an impish giggle.
She had just got to two hundred thirty-seven when her whole body broke into shivers fallowed by a twitchy tail and a her mane frizzing. Her eyes widened in terror and at a speed that would've made Rainbow Dash jealous, shot out of bed. In a matter of seconds she was standing in the middle of Ponyville, took a deep breath, then yelled at the top of her lungs, "EVERYPONY TAKE COVER!!!"
A second later, a massive orange shock wave soared over the town, knocking several pegesi out of the sky. Afterwards, the ground let out a grinding roar as it shook with the force of an angry dragon.  Pinkie, Rarity, and a small group of unicorns quickly went to work, saving the stunned pegesi and doing whatever they could to keep the buildings from toppling over. Anypony else took shelter wherever they could. Though the town wasn't the only place to feel the effects of this phenomenon. 
When the wave made it to Sweet Apple Acres, the farm's namesake crop took the brunt of the blow, uprooting most of the younger trees and knocking the leaves off of the older ones while the fallowing quake caused a few of them to split down the middle. Applebloom and Granny Smith took shelter in the house while her older siblings tried to keep falling debris from coming near their family home. Then, just as suddenly as it happened, it stopped, leaving an eery silence behind.



***   



"What do ya think happened?" Applejack asked, internally morning the loss of so many trees.
"Don't know, but whatever it was, it was a real doozy."
"Indeed," said an unknown female voice.
Startled, the two mares quickly tried to find its source. Then, the sound of snapping branches and bending wood filled the air, drawing the farm pony's attention towards the same pile of destroyed trees she spotted just moments ago.What she saw shook her to her core. Slowly, the damaged trees started to pull themselves back together, roots lifting them off of the ground like spider legs before shambling over towards the craters that had once been their home. The two mares could only watch in stunned silence as the apple orchard restored itself.
"Wha'-but that-how in-?"
"Wow Applejack," Pinkie Pie gasped. "I didn't know you're farm was magic."
"It-It ain't!" she exclaimed, not taring her eyes away from the spectacle that was going on around her. "At least.....Ah don't think it is!" 
A light chuckling behind them made the two of them turn their attention away from the agricultural impossibility. Instead, their focus locked onto  a smiling green alicorn mare.
"My, my. What good children," the alicorn said, gazing upon the trees.
For a moment, the two of them just stared at the newcomer, their minds not quite able to process what they were looking at. Even Pinkie Pie was frozen. Though she was also the first to recover from her shock.
"Hi!" Pinkie smiled, blurring into existence a foot away from the green alicorn. "I'm Pinkie Pie! What's your name?!"
Drassiel was slightly startled by the mare's sudden forwardness, but at the same time found it somewhat refreshing.
Ah, so this is Pinkie Pie. I can see how she urned Mirth Hour's heart.
"Greetings Pinkie Pie. I am Princess Drassiel. It is a pleasure to meet you."
"Ditto!" she smiled, bouncing in place. "You must be one of the alicorns Twilight was talking about, do you know Grapevine and Mirth?"
"Why yes," Drassiel said, smiling patiently. "In fact, Grapevine is a former student of mine."
Pinkie gasped.
"Really?!"
"Yes, though I do wish she took her talents away from making alcohol."
Pinkie giggled.
"Yeah."
A sudden idea made the party pony's eyes widen and a devious grin crossed her lips.
"Maybe she could help with the drinks at the Pinkie Party!"
Drassiel rased a brow.
"'Pinkie Party?' What is that?"
"Oh, you'll see," she giggled before bouncing past her towards the property's exit.
Before she got to far, Drassiel gathered a small amount of her magic and gave Pinkie Pie a hard look. What she saw surprised her.
Oh my. Mirth is not going to believe this! 
Meanwhile, Applejack stared at the two, still stunned from her tree's sudden moment of impossibility. She knew that alicorns had a lot of power. Heck, she was close to a pair that could move the moon and sun all by themselves. Even a new alicorn like Twilight had the power to cast some extremely powerful spells. But to restore an entire orchard single hoofed and not even break a sweat, that was more than enough to run past Applejack's level of disbelief. 
Once Pinkie was out of sight, Drassiel shifted her attention to the apple farmer. With a simple "Greetings", she snapped out of her stupor and gave the alicorn a warm smile.
"Welcome ta' Sweet Apple Acres, yer Majesty."
Drassiel chuckled.
"Please dear. No formalities. Just Drassiel will be fine."
"No promises," she said, feeling a little awkward. "So what brings ya to our little corner of the world?"
"Well," Drassiel smiled. "I heard rumors of an apple orchard that grew the best fruit in all of equestria and since I was in the area, I thought I would see this magic grove for myself."
Applejack raised her head in pride.
"Well, ya came ta the right place. Ah don't think anypony's farm could top our's."
"I see. Then this should prove to be a most exciting day for me."
"Darn tutten'! Know what? Hows about Ah give ya a tour of the place."
"That would be delightful Miss....uh....."
"Applejack. My name's Applejack."
Much like with Pinkie Pie, Applejack's name jogged a memory in the nature princess.
So this is Applejack. Honesty certainly chose an interesting bearer.
"Thank you Miss Applejack, a tour would be greatly appreciated."
With that, the two casually made her way into the orchards, taking comfort in each others company.



***



Much to Applejack's relief, the rest of the day went by without any other oddities. Although, she swore she occasionally heard wood creak in unnatural ways from some of the trees they got close to. Drassiel gazed at the trees and various farming equipment with great interest, almost to the point of seeming to connect with them. Applejack did raise a brow when the green alicorn decided to spend some time with the chickens and pigs in their pens, but didn't think too much about it. She wasn't hurting them and the animals seemed to be loving the attention. Plus, the last thing she wanted to do was anger a nature goddess. It wasn't until she caught her talking to a tree that Applejack decided to say something.
"So Drassiel, what do ya think o' the farm so far?"
"Oh it is simply wonderful," Drassiel sighed, a dreamy look in her eyes. "So much natural energy working together in such an intricate web. Your children must love your family very much."
"P-P-Pardon?" Applejack sputtered, eyes wide as dinner plates.
"The trees," she said, gesturing a hoof around her. "Never have I felt such a strong bond of love for their parents. Only that could've provided the strength necessary for them to hold back the force of yesterday's incident."
Applejack let out a relieved breath she didn't even know she was holding.
Ooh, so she was just talking about the trees. Ah guess that makes sense. Hey, wait. What was that bit? 
Before Applejack could question the Princess about yesterday's events, she noticed her attention had shifted to something by the barn. Fallowing her gaze she saw her brother pulling a cart full of apples into the big red structure for storage.
"Who was that just now?"
"Oh that? That's mah big brother Big Mac," Applejack said, watcher her brother close the door to the barn.
"Is he now," she said, her face an unreadable mask. "I would like to speak with him."
Applejack blanched.
Until now, Drassiel had been harmless and carefree, reminding Applejack of some of her goofier cousins, but now the Princess seamed more like her title would suggest; a fierce and unstoppable force of nature. Not willing to see what penalty came from disobeying a High Noble, Applejack bolted towards her brother. All the while wondering what could've brought about this sudden change in attitude.
"Big Mac!" she called as the red stallion stepped out of the barn.
"What's wrong sis?" he asked as he watched his panicked sister nearly plow into the side of the barn.
"Yah see that there mare over there?" she panted, pointing at the green Alicorn ten yards away.
"Eeeyep," he said, brow raising.
"Well, she want's ta talk to ya."
Big Mac's eyes widened.
"W-Why?" he stuttered.
"Ah don't know, but Ah think ya'll better get over there and find out."
With a nervous gulp, he made his way towards the emerald mare.
To say Big Mac had experience with royalty would be the same as saying his sister was the queen of the moon. Most of the time, he would be busy taking care of the farm while Applejack and her friends were off saving the world from some kind of umbral evil force. The closest thing he had to dealing with a High Royal was when Princess Luna visited Ponyville for Nightmare Night. As a result, Big Mac was a mountain of nerves as he got closer to the foran Princess. By the time he stopped about five feet away from her, he was frozen stiff.
"Y-Ya wanted ta see me?" he gulped.
Drassiel stared down at the apple farmer, her face still unreadable.
"Yes," she replied, her tone flat. "And please relax Big Mac, as I have no intention of hurting you."
Big Mac let out a relieved sigh and most of the tention leaked out of him.
"I simply wish to tell you that you and your family are doing a fantastic job maintaining these children."
"Thank ya kindly yer Majesty."
"Also," she continued, slowly starting to walk around him. "I wished to ask you a few questions. Is that okay?"
"Eeyup."
"Thank you," she smiled. "First, do you have any foals of your own?"
"Nnnope."
"I see, that's quite shocking considering..... Anyway, do you have a significant other?"
"Nnnope."
Drassiel's face seemed to brighten a little at this.
"I see. Does anypony in particular catch your interest?"
"Nnnope."
A bright smile graced her muzzle and she stopped her pacing in front of him.
"Really? That is such a shame."
"Why's that ma'am?"
With a slightly hungry smile, she leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on his forehead.
"Because somepony has caught mine."
With a light giggle, she gave him a farewell bow and stepped away from a very stunned Big Mackintosh. All the while she playfully walked in such a way that gave the stallion a clear view of her plot. Once he could no longer see her, he shook his head and stumbled back towards the family home, a strong bottle of aged cider calling his name. 
	

> Wrench in the Gears
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The skies over Ponyville were clear with Celestia's sun filling the land with just the wright amount of heat. Perfect weather for a nice relaxing flight. A fact that most of the native Pegesi took full advantage of as well as a certain red Alicorn. Being an Earth Pony prior to his ascension, Heavy Burden didn't fly as often as the rest of his new kin if he could avoid it. However, his Pegasus traits and instincts made staying grounded consistently difficult. Normally he could alleviate his unwanted urges by hovering for a few minutes, but some times his wings demanded more. It was because of this that he found himself soaring several thousand feet above Ponyville, trying desperately not to look down.
Six hundred years and I still can't stand this, he thought with a sigh. 
In an attempt to get his mind off of his predicament he thought about his forge back home. The smell of melted metal and ash. The sound of hard iron slamming into heated steel. The feeling of flames and shards of displaced alloys flying into his coat. All of it calmed his nerves as he continued to gently glide through the sky. He closed his eyes to further immerse himself in his musings, a move that allowed him to somewhat enjoy his arial jaunt.
Suddenly, something slammed into his side, knocking him out of his revelry. Startled, he opened his eyes and looked around for what had hit him.  Hovering  about a foot away from him was a light grey mare with a messy blond mane and tail rubbing her head with her forehooves.
"Owy," she groaned.
"My apologies Miss," he said, rearranging himself so that his front faced her. "I wasn't watching were I was going. Are you okay?"
The mare looked at him and smiled.
"Yeah, I'm use to it," she said, lowering her hooves.
When he got a look at her eyes, Heavy was taken aback. Though he could tell she was looking at him, he couldn't help noticing that she was wall eyed. Immediately he deduced that she had hit him a lot harder than she was letting on and was most likely concussed.
"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked sounding guilty.
She nodded, still smiling.
"Yeah, this sort of thing happens to me a lot."
Heavy cringed.
He was going to suggest that the mare return home to recover or visit the hospital to be safe but was stopped when she began to talk.
"I'm Derpy, what's your name?"
"Heavy Burden," he said, caught off guard by her forward attitude.
"Nice to meet you," she smiled. "Wanna hang out?"
"Hang out?" Heavy repeated, tilting his head.
"You know, spend time with somepony."
Heavy nodded in understanding.
"Ah, I see. I suppose I can manage that."
Derpy beamed.
"Goody! Where do ya want to start?"




***



"Wowwie! That was so much fun!" Derpy cheered as she walked towards her front door, a bit more of a spring in her step. "Don't ya think?"
Heavy Burden staggered after her, stopping a mere foot away from her with an exhausted sigh.
"Yeah......fun," he said between pants.
Though he spent most of his time in a forge, Heavy Burden considered himself a very well built pony. With the exceptions of Platinum Blitz and Morningstar, none of the other High Royals could match him in both strength and speed. When it came to magic, he was no slouch either, especially when it came to restoration and reconstruction magic. However, like anypony else, he had his limits. In five hours he casted over three hundred different repair spells on everything from tables to carriages, most of which were damaged by the smiling grey pony standing in front of him. Granted, none of the damage was deliberate, but it was still taxing to keep things under control. It eventually go to the point that he was starting to wonder how the pony was still breathing in the wake of so much bad luck.
The wall eyed Pegasus gave him a bright smile as she fished through her sattle bags with one of her wings. After a moment, she pulled out a key and unlocked the door. Still cheery, she stepped into her house and called out "Dinky! Momma's home!"
On cue, a small series of thumps could be heard as little hooves trotted their way from the second floor to the stares leading to the first floor. Heavy only had enough time to see a small blur shoot from the stares to his temporary companion as he stepped past the threshold. What he saw made his hard heart melt a little. Hugging tightly to Derpy's left foreleg was a little light purple Unicorn filly with a blond mane and tail. 
So precious, he thought, chuckling.
The filly pulled her muzzle out of Derpy's foreleg and looked at Heavy. As she looked at him curiously, he noted that she had the same gold eyes as her mother, though that was the only similarity they shared. Still looking confused, the filly shifted her attention back to her mother.
"Momma, who's that?" she asked, pointing at him.
Derpy smiled and stepped back from her daughter.
"Dinky, meet Heavy Burden."
Heavy bowed as Dinky turned towards him.
"Heavy, this is my daughter Dinky Do."
"Hi...." she said, shyly.
Heavy smiled.
"Hello there Miss Do."
Dinky blushed and hid behind her mother, peeking out just enough to see him and still keep her concealment. 
Derpy giggled. 
"Sorry, she's a bit shy."
"Its fine," Heavy smiled. "I guess I am a little scary looking."
The two of them laughed before Derpy started to walk further into her house.
"C'mon," she smiled, nodding towards a door that Heavy figured lead to the living room. "Make yourself at home!"
Heavy blinked in surprise at the mare's friendly gesture.
"That's very kind of you Miss Hooves, but I really should return to Princes Twilight's castle before anypony starts to wonder were I went."
Derpy drooped.
"Oh...Okay," she sighed. "Maybe we could do this again sometime?"
Heavy was taken aback by that. In spite of the chaos he endured, Heavy Burden had to admit that he had fun that day. With a calm smile, he said, "I don't see why not. How does next Tuesday sound?"
Derpy's face broke into the brightest smile Heavy had ever scene.
"Perfect! I can't wait!"
Again, the Alicorn was taken aback, but not from shock, but something that he couldn't quite define.
"Yes, well," he coughed awkwardly. "I will see you then."
Derpy gleefully nodded and with that, Heavy let himself out.
As Heavy made his way through the still busy streets of Ponyville, he pondered what that strange feeling was. At first, he thought that it was just magic depletion, but he dismissed that theory. He'd experienced magic depletion on more occasions then he wanted to admit and it never felt like that. As the Castle of Friendship came into view, he let out a frustrated groan, before he set the thought to the back of his mind and entered the castle. 
"Enjoy your day?"
Heavy stopped and looked to his left. Casually, Cascade strolled out of a nearby hallway, a relaxed smile gracing her muzzle.
"Yes, your Highness," he said, bowing in respect.
Cascade sighed.
"Heavy Burden, we have been over this. You are no longer my student."
"Of course," Heavy blushed as he rose back to his full hight. "Old habits die hard after all."
Cascade tittered behind a hoof.
"Of course. Now, tell me, have you found anypony interesting today?"
Heavy raised a brow at this. 
"What are you implying?"
The sapphire Alicorn's grin shifted from casual to sly.
"Oh, no particular reason," she said, slowly trotting past him. "Just curious."
As soon as the mare slipped out of sight, Heavy frowned and made his way to his room. All the while, he wondered what is former teacher was trying to imply. Too tired to give it too much thought, he shelved the inquiry and walked into his room. For the tired stallion, his bed looked like paradise as he wearily threw himself onto it. After a moment of getting himself comfortable, he closed his eyes and readied himself for sleep to take him. As he fell deeper into Luna's domain, his mind drifted to the gray mare he'd spent that day with and her bright, pure smile.
> Overburn 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

	Rainbow Dash let out a content yawn enjoying the warm summer sun in the comfort of a cloud she found drifting over Ponyville. She'd spent most of the morning practicing her stunts and was just about to take a much deserved early afternoon nap. As her eyes started to get heavy, she thought about how things around town had changed recently. 
Apparently, Pinkie managed to nab one of the visiting Princes and Fluttershy somehow tamed a Princess that wanted to kill Twilight. She never got the full story, but supposedly the huge shockwave that wrecked the town a few weeks ago was somehow related. Rumor was that Derpy's been spending a lot of time with a red Alicorn stallion, but it seemed he was there more for damage control then anything else. Some of Berry's regulars have been talking about a green Alicorn stopping by every now and then to talk business with the infamous Bartender. At one occasion, when she was walking through town square, she heard two depressed mares groaning about how Big Mac was off the market because an Alicorn mare was making moves on him.
Rainbow closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
It wasn't that she wasn't curious about Ponyville's new guests, she just didn't know how work with nobles. Even with Princess' Celestia and Luna Rainbow felt awkward. They're eyes and poise always had this weight to them that just put her on edge. Cadence and Twilight didn't have this heavy presence which made them easier to deal with but she wasn't so sure about the others. 
If only they weren't so uptight, she thought letting out another yawn. 
Suddenly, something shot over her cloud, a loud whistling and torrent of wind blasting Rainbow out of her near sleep state.
"What the hay?!" she growled, as she jumped to her hooves and scanned her surroundings.
Immediately, a silver blur caught her attention as it zipped through the air. Rainbow's anger turned into intrigue as she watched it barrel through the sky, moving at speeds that even her trained eyes had a hard time keeping track of. 
What the hay is that?
As soon as that thought crossed her mind, the blur broke away from its original course and bolted towards her. Rainbow shut her eyes and braced herself for impact, but nothing happened. Cautiously, she opened her eyes. Hovering a foot away from her cloud was a bright silver Pegasus stallion.
"Hey," he grinned. "You're Rainbow Dash, right?"
"The one and only," she boasted, puffing out her chest.
"Awesome!" he cheered. "I'm Platinum Blitz."
As he said this he held out a hoof.
"Nice ta meet ya Platinum Blitz," she grinned, shaking his hoof.
Huh, why do I feel like I've heard that name somewhere before? she thought as she let go of his hoof.  
"So," Platinum smirked, snapping Rainbow out of her thoughts. "I hear your the fastest Pegasus around here."
Rainbow raised a brow.
"Around here? Buddy, I'm the fastest flyer in Equestria," she said, puffing out her chest again.
"Oh really?" he asked, eyes narrowing. "Wanna prove that?"
A cocky grin crossed Rainbow's muzzle as she locked eyes with him.
"What'd ya have in mind?"
"Just a little race," he shrugged. "No big deal."
"How far?"
Platinum thought about it for a minute then said, "From here to the top of Canterlot Castle and back."
Rainbow laughed.
"That's it?" she asked, hovering off of her cloud. "No sweat! I can do that in ten seconds flat!"
Platinum raised a brow.
"It takes you that long? HA! Then this'll be a cakewalk."
"Yeah right," Rainbow chuckled.
The two flyers hovered side by side, looks of determination on their faces as the aimed themselves at the massive marble castle in the distance.
"Ready?" Platinum asked, eyes locked on the castle.
"Yeah," Rainbow smirked.
"On three then. One. Two. Three!"
In less than a second, Rainbow shot forward, her body strait as an arrow for maximum thrust. After about three seconds she looked back and saw that Platinum was still at the starting line.
Ha! Probably too stunned by my awesomeness!
Meanwhile, Platinum watched her fly, all the while smiling as he mumbled, "Seven. Eight. Nine......TEN!"
As soon as he reached ten, Platinum blasted himself forward, shooting past Rainbow Dash like a shooting star. Rainbow watched him pass her with a slack jaw.
What the!?!
Shaking her head, Rainbow focused on catching up to the silver Pegasus, but as she felt herself getting closer to her maximum speed, she noticed that instead of getting closer to him, she was starting to lag behind. Frustrated, Rainbow flapped her wings harder, almost desperate to match her opponent at the very least. Risking a glance past him to see how close they were to the castle, Rainbow spotted some large clouds that drifted into their flight path. A slight grin crossed her muzzle, because she knew that if Platinum wanted to maintain his speed, he would need to pass through them, a move that would distract him long enough to give her the time she needed to pass him. Her confidence turned to shock for the second time as she watched him tuck his forelegs in and did a close-winged barrel role through the clouds, completely destroying them from the inside out with the wind pressure.
That's the Sky Cutter! Only three Wonderbolts in history ever managed to pull that off! How the hay did he do that?!
Deciding to worry about that later, Rainbow did everything she could to close the growing gap between Platinum and herself. Eventually, they started to close in on Canterlot Castle with Platinum maintaining a ten and a half foot lead. Rainbow growled as she saw him shift into a glide as he moved closer to the top of the highest tower to make it easier for him to orbit around it. Panting, Rainbow pushed her already strained body even harder, determined to win this contest. In a flash, Platinum soared past the top of the tower and u-turned , passing Dash with a wink before returning to his original speed. Fuming, Rainbow maintained her speed as she pulled a risky high speed u-turn and bolted after him. It had been years since Rainbow Dash had been pushed to this degree. Her wings were sore, her breathing was ragged, and every muscle in her body felt like they were being crushed by the air pressure she was forcing them to endure. She could tell that she was almost at her limit, that if she tried to go any further she could seriously hurt herself, but her pride just wouldn't let her quit.
C'mon damn it! Move! MOVE FASTER!!!
At that moment, everything seemed to stop as all the strength and feeling in Rainbow Dash's wings disappeared. The rest of her body started to fallow as she was barely conscious of her surroundings, only able to tell before her vision started to fade that she was falling.
Damn it...... 



***


A groan crept out of Rainbow's mouth as her eyes opened a crack, all required strength to open them further nonexistent. Her whole body screamed in agony, more so whenever it moved. Though groggy and drained, Rainbow could tell she was moving, or at least being carried by something. The sounds of trees and crunching leaves told her she was in a forest while the chill she felt in the air was enough to tell her that it was most likely evening. A set of hoofsteps to her left let her know she wasn't alone, which only gave her a small amount of relief. A strong gust of air passed over her, causing a chill to shoot down her spine.  As she curled deeper into her soft transport, a warm material draped over her, chasing the cold away. As she let the new blanket wrap around her, the sweet scent of morning dew and ozone lulled her back to sleep, a content smile on her face.
When Rainbow returned to the waking world, she found herself laying on her back in a comfortable lavender bed staring at the familiar crystal ceiling of one of Twilight's guest rooms. Confused, she tried to sit up, but was stopped by a massive wave of pain. As she let out the briefest of agonized whimpers she noticed a slight weight on her side. Carefully, she turned her head and what she saw made her eyes widen in shock. Sitting with his top half sprawled out on top of the covers was Platinum Blitz. A Platinum Blitz with a bigger body and a horn sticking out of his head!
Rainbow's brain shut down. Not only had she raced a mother-bucking Alicorn, but now she was stuck in a room with one! The last bit of info made her face turn bright red as all kinds of provocative thoughts started to run through her head. 
Just then, Platinum's eyes started to flutter open and with a loud yawn, pulled himself into a full sitting position. After a minute of blinking the sleep out of his eyes, he looked towards Rainbow Dash and said, "Ah, good, yer up. How are you feeling?"
Rainbow just stared at him with wide eyes for a solid three minutes before shouting, "YOUR AN ALICORN?!"