(Prologue) Old Dreams [reedited]

Canterlot Square

Twilight ran as fast as she could down the road, "I can't believe I lost track of time! Oh I hope I'm not too late." With a final burst of speed, she was just able to catch up with her friends, "Hi Moon Dancer. Hey Sunburst." Twilight had a smile on her face, until she saw the look in her friend’s eyes, angry did not even begin to describe it. "W-what’s wrong guys?"

"You are what’s wrong, you magic thief!" Moon Dancer yelled, "How could you? I thought we were your friends, but all this time your were just leeching off us! No wonder I kept doing a horrid job on practical exams!"

Twilight's eyes widened in shock, "No, I would never hurt you guys. I just learned about that ability yesterday!" she exclaimed, on the verge of hyperventilating.

"Right," Sunburst growled. "Because you had to know about the ability or it would have never worked, is that it? You always wanted to get into Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns, what better way than by stealing unicorn magic."

Twilight could not even respond. How could her friends think she would do that? "Nothing to say? Fine then, guards! " In the next minute, Twilight was tackled and tied up with magic suppressing chains. She barely heard one of the guards say "you have the right to remain silent" before she blacked out.

Throne room

When Twilight woke up, she was seated facing a group of ponies. Among them sat her friends, her family, and at the front, with a scroll signed by the Princess herself, was Blueblood. "So the little monster is finally awake?" he sneered, "Before your official punishment for the crime of stealing magic, these good ponies have some last words for you."

Twilight wanted to scream, to beg, to just say anything, but her mouth refused to move. Her parents began to speak, "You are a disgrace to our family. Never in the years of its existence has one of its members stooped this low. You are no daughter of ours, you no longer deserve the name of Twilight Sparkle." Her ex-friends had no more to say to her, and as she looked at her brother, pleading with her eyes, the look he returned was as cold as a windigos heart.

Blueblood resumed speaking as he read her sentence, "Midnight Void, as punishment for your crimes, you are to be stripped of your magic and are banished to Tartarus for the rest of your natural life." Twi- Midnight could say nothing as she was dragged away, her last thoughts being someone, anyone, save me! Mom, Dad, BBBFF, please!"

“WAKE-UP!” Midnight jerked awake. As she struggled to control her breathing, she looked towards the voice that had woke her up, and saw her little joy, Spectrum Shadow, AKA The Pony of Shadows. "You were having a nightmare again papa. Won't you please let me help you fight them?" she pleaded with big puppy eyes.

Fortunately, I'm immune to those by this point. "Shady, you're still too young to fight in the dream world. Besides, your mother will be coming home soon, and she'd skin me alive if I let you get hurt."

"Hmm, I hope she teaches me how to dream walk. Then I can make sure you never have a bad dream again, and when she gets home we can make sure she and auntie make up, then we can be one big happy family and you won't have to be sad anymore."

"Yeah, everything will turn out just fine, dear," Midnight smiled, hoping her daughter didn't notice how worried she really was. "That's right Nightmare Moon will be returning soon. Hopefully the plan we made will do the trick,” because if what she had seen of the future was any indication, they were soon going to need all the help they could get.

Ch.1: Preparing for the Celebration [reedited]

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"Yawn, finally done re-shelving," Moondancer sighed, as she placed the last book in its proper spot. " It took us two days with no sleep, but we now have an accurate record of every book in the archives," growl. She blushed as her stomach demanded food for the third time in the last 10 minutes. "Let’s see if Spike has dinner ready," she said as she cantered on to their living quarters just off the main library entrance. "Hey Spike, Spicy , when's dinner? I worked up quite the appetite," Moon dancer was not surprised to see both her partner and assistant in the small kitchen.

"Just a few more minutes, Moon, and our mega salad will be ready to go," Spike responded. He was slightly concerned when Moondancer started to drool after hearing what they were making. "So did you finish your section of the library?" as Spike had hoped, the question brought her out of her daze.

"Huh? Oh, yeah, I just finished sorting the last books in section N. So how did it go on your end Sunburst?" Moondancer asked with a small smile as she watched Sunbursts eyes droop from exhaustion.

"I just finished section Z, and I plan on sleeping for a long time after this. How you convinced me to keep sorting for two days, I will never know." He sent a small glare to get his point across, which was hindered by him yawning at the same time. Spike defused the situation by serving them his magnificent salad, complete with his own made of assorted gemstones. After dinner had been cleaned up, and they had made sure the library was locked, Spike suddenly belched out a scroll.

"I wonder what the Princess wants at this hour," Moondancer said with a sleepy drawl.

"Hopefully nothing too important," Sunburst responded, in the same drawl.

Spike opened the scroll and read:

"My dearest librarians, I would like for you to be the overseers for this year’s Summer Sun Celebration. Included in this scroll is a list of all the preparations and the ponies in charge of them. Please make sure everything’s running smoothly. The Celebration will take place in Ponyville one week from today. Signed, Princess Celestia." "Wow, I better start packing." Spike was wide-eyed with excitement.

"Spike, buddy, we can start packing in the morning, after we get a good night’s sleep," Sunburst explained with exasperation.

"Oh, good night then, see you in the morning guys." Spike walked off to his room with a spring in his step as he planned what to take on the trip.

"I have no idea where he gets that much energy from," Sunburst said with a groan, "I wish I could sleep till it was time to get going."

"Spicy, did I hear that right? We'll be going to Ponyville?" after Moondancer said that, Sunbursts eyes opened wide with realization. "Do you think we will have time to visit Twilight?" she asked with a small voice.

"We'll make time. Five years is far too long to be out of touch with our friend," Sunburst said with conviction. "All we've been able to exchange up till now were birthday cards, or the occasional Hearthswarming gift. I'm sure she'll be quite surprised to see us."

With that uplifting thought, and a plan being made, they went to bed so they'd be ready to attack the next day.

One week of planning, packing, and organizing latter, and the group of three had just arrived in Ponyville. "Let’s see, first on the list is catering from Sweet Apple Acres," Spike said, with a jovial voice. "I can't wait to try some of the food. I wonder if Twilight works here?" he pondered, with a look of contemplation.

"I'm sure we'll find her eventually. If we're lucky, someone in charge of the preparations will know where she is," Sunburst said with a smile. Just then they saw an orange earth pony with a stetson kicking an apple tree. "That's odd, I've never heard of that farming technique before."
After some quick introductions, and almost being run over as the pony named Applejack called the rest of the family for a meet and greet, they were finally able to ask about their friend.

"Do any of you happen to know a pony by the name of Twilight Sparkle? She moved here about five years ago." Moondancer was quite surprised when she saw the look of fear on everypony’s face.

"Y'all know that creepy mare!?" Applejack yelled, Moondancer was quite confused. "The only pony that arrived in town 5 years ago was a strange feller that came running out of the Everfree forest! She's got dark purple fur, with sharp teeth and eyes like a snake. She visits the market every two weeks or so to buy food. She normally buys a bucket of Apples from my stall, and a basket of fish from ol' trusty hook."

By this point AJ's eyes were wide and her breathing ragged. "I have no idea where she gets her money, and I don't want to know. But, she said her name was Midnight, and I've never heard her answer to anything else."
All three of them were in shock at this point, what had happened to their friend?!"Thank you for telling us. We need to go check on the other preparations now, see you at the celebrations." Moondancer said.

Everypony they talked to had reactions that were just as extreme as the Apple's.

The pony in charge of decorations, a unicorn by the name of Rarity, had to summon a fainting couch just after hearing the pony's name. "Oh it was horrible! I saw her at the spa one day, and then I kept seeing her everywhere I went for the rest of the day. Even when I went to pick my sister up from school I saw her out the corner of my eye! I barely slept a wink that night, but the next day, she was nowhere to be found. And even when I saw her on her visits to the market, she didn't even say one word to me." After that chilling story they went to check on the weather-

-Only to narrowly avoid being run over by a rainbow maned Pegasus, Rainbow Dash, who was supposed to be keeping the sky clear. After picking herself up, and proving she could clear the sky in ten seconds flat, (Sunburst used a stopwatch to prove it) she told them about her encounter with Midnight. "So, I was practicing my routine one morning, when I saw a pony sitting on a cloud. At first, I thought it was just a Pegasus on vacation or something, because I run the weather team and I'd never seen them before," the others were alarmed to see fear in her eyes. "But when I got closer, I realized they didn't have wings, or a horn. Then she turned and looked at me. It was Midnight. She was standing on a cloud with no help, or even a parachute!" Rainbow shuddered. "She just looked at me and said 'you should check on your team mates, they seem to be in a spot of trouble.' I flew as fast as I could to find the others, and I found them fighting a storm that was headed straight for Ponyville! Luckily, we were able to pull together and clear the storm before it reached town."

Their minds were full of ideas and possibilities. How could an earth pony stand on clouds without aid? How did she know the weather crew needed help? Why did she follow Rarity around for an entire day?

The last stop they made was to check on the music. After introducing themselves to the conductor, Fluttershy, who lived up to her name, and having spike break the ice, they asked her about Midnight. Surprisingly, she seemed to stand a bit taller when they asked. "Oh, w-well, I met her once, when I was counting the animals near the forest. While I was distracted, a timberwolf found me. It chased me out of the clearing and caused me to get lost in the forest! I was so scared," she had started to tremble just remembering the attack. "J-just when it had me cornered, Midnight showed up. She yelled at the wolf, and when in refused to back down, she bucked it right into a tree. It splintered apart, and before it could reform, Midnight did something to it, it was like she pulled the energy right out of it," the trio’s eyes widened at that revelation. "After that, she guided me out of the forest, and warned me about which areas to avoid during that time of year."

The organizers were deep in thought after leaving Fluttershy to her rehearsal. Moondancer finally asked "Do you guys think Midnight is actually Twilight?"

After a moment of consideration, Sunburst responded "I hope so, but she acts so different from when we knew her."

Spike just snorted, "So? We haven't seen her in five years. That's a lot of time to change."

Moondancer agreed, "Yeah, and the only way we've been able to contact her was by having he parents send our letters. But I thought the letter she left them said she was the local librarian? Why would she be living in the forest?"

Sunburst just sighed, "Well we're almost at the library, let’s go in and see."

As they walked through the door, the lights flipped on, and their ears rang as well over a dozen voices yelled "Surprise!" Everypony they had seen in town, including the ones in charge of the preparations, were there, and at the front was a pony that appeared to be the living embodiment of pink. "Hi, my name's Pinkie Pie. I saw you arrive and how you were going around meeting everypony so I decided to throw a party so you could meet everypony at the same time then we can all be ready for the sunrise together." Moondancer wasn't sure if she had taken a single breath during that explanation. "I also heard you asking about Midnight. I think she is so cool! ShemakesmethinkofmybigsisterMaudIwantedtoinvitebothofthemtoothepartybutponieskeptcomplainingaboutthetwooftheminthesameroomendingtheworldasweknowitorsomething." Sunburst had gone cross-eyed after that rapid fire story, "Well, see you guys later enjoy the party."

Sometime later, after the trio had made many new friends, and got to know their fellow organizers better, the mayor called for everypony to gather in the town square.

This was it, the big moment. The hall was ready, the birds were singing, the food was prepared, and the sky was clear. The large curtains were pulled back to reveal, nothing. No Princess. A very confused crowd watched as smoke seemed to gather on stage, suddenly revealing the form of a large, black alicorn with sharp teeth and dragon like eyes. She laughed at the gawking crowd, "Ah, my dear subjects. How good it is to see you all again." Multiple voices rang out, some scared, others angry. Where was the Princess? "Does nopony remember me? Am I no longer important enough for the common folk?" She appeared to become less amused and more angry with every question, before one voice rang out above all the noise.

"I know who you are! Princess Nightmare Moon, and you have a lot of explaining to do!" As one, the trio turned, recognizing her voice even after all these years. Standing at the back of the crowd, was Twilight Sparkle, the earth pony genius, and she did not look happy.

Ch.2: Reunions, The Elements Eclipsed [edited]

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In a blink, The Nightmare was standing before Twilight, with a scowl that could stop a dragon’s heart. "Just whatmust I explain to a fool like you, little mare?"

Twilight met her angry glare with a flat look, and in a monotone voice answered, "Go to your old throne room and see what I mean, I will be there shortly." Nightmare continued to stare at her for a moment before, with a snort, she returned to her smoke form, and raced off to see what could be so important in the old palace.

Before Twilight could disappear again, there was a flash of magic, and her three old friends were in front of her, "Look, if you're going to yell at me, can it wait 'till after we've dealt with the current emergency?" Twilight was about to continue, only to be dog-piled by her friends as they bombarded her with questions.

Sunburst spoke up first, "Why would we yell at you? We don't get to see you for years, with the only correspondence being the one letter, and you think we should be angry?"

By this point, Moondancer was crying, "What happened, Twilight? You just vanished one day, leaving a note saying you moved here to be the librarian. But after that, nothing, not even a response to our gifts at Hearth's Warming!" Spike said nothing, just holding on to his "aunt", whom he thought was gone forever.

Twilight's eyes were wide and confused, then, for the first time in Ponyville’s memories, her visage cracked, "I'm sorry guys!" She yelled, trying to return the hug as best she could. "I was woken up by a pair of guards at my door. They had a warrant with orders for me to be thrown in Tartarus," everypony’s jaw hit the floor after that revelation. "That's why I was in the forest. I managed to escape when they dragged me through it to get to the gates."

AJ was the first the regain her voice, "Is that why you changed your name? You were afraid of being turned in?"

"W-Why were you being arrested?" Fluttershy managed to ask.

Twilight sighed, "The warrant said my name was changed to Midnight Void, and that I was accused of stealing magic." They all looked at her stunned. How could someone steal magic? "I will try to answer all your questions later, but for now, we need to get to the castle of the two sisters."

The trip through the forest was strangely uneventful. About halfway to the palace, the others couldn't hold their questions any longer.

Rainbow was the loudest, "How do you keep knowing when big storms are coming? You helped us stop at least one major storm each year."

Rarity was still eyeing her with suspicion. "Why did you follow me all day after that meeting at the spa?"

Twilight answered with a small smile, "I get visions of the future. I warned the weather team whenever I saw a storm coming, and I followed you around that day because I had a vision of you being capture by Diamond Dogs while you were out gem hunting. I just wanted to make sure you stayed safe." The girls developed thoughtful looks as they went over every previous interaction with Midnight. With a start they all began to realize she had never tried to hurt anypony, despite how the town reacted to her. In fact, she had saved several townsfolk from bad accidents without asking for any reward.

While the girls were re-evaluating their opinions of her, Midnight, Sunburst, and Moondancer where catching up (Spike had volunteered to stay behind and help keep the town from panicking). "I can't believe he grew so much, you both must be very proud." Midnight seemed to have fully come out of her shell, they could see their old friend again, but she seemed to have matured well beyond the years they had been apart.

"Well yeah, he does a great job as our assistant, but we were thinking about helping him find his own job. He should be quite a bit bigger by now, I wonder why he still looks like a baby?" Moondancer had been wondering about this for a while, unlike most other times she asked this question today she got her answer.

"Well, he is a gem collector. They tend to only get a bit taller than the average pony, and they age slower." Midnight grew a mischievous grin, "Oh, whatever will you do when your first little one moves out!" she was rewarded with neon blushes from her friends.

Sunburst managed to respond after a moment."TWILIGHT! We are not a couple! Even if we were, we have no idea how to raise foals!"

Twilight's smile grew smug, "Time will tell guys, time will tell." As Twilight finished her ribbing, and her friends faces cooled off, she brought the girls out of their contemplation with her next announcement, "Here we are, the old castle. Lets see how things are going."

When the group made it to the throne room, they were surprised to see Nightmare Moon and Celestia hugging with misty eyes. Sitting by them was a filly with a black coat, blue mane and purple eyes. She was the first to notice them and said, "Hey papa, it worked! Mommy and Auntie finally cleared the air." That brought the group up short, only for them to go bug-eyed when Midnight walked forward and said,

"Good job Shady. So, how did your first meeting with mom go?"
The filly squinted cutely before she began her tale. "Well, I did what you asked, Papa, and waited for Mommy like a good girl..."

Flashback

Nightmare swirled into the throne room, her eyes ablaze for anything new, anything out of place any- "Hi." Nightmare blinked as she heard a tiny voice greet her. When she looked down, she saw what at first looked to be a tiny version of herself.

"Who might you be little one?" Nightmare was surprised when the filly smiled at her without a hint of fear.

"Don't you recognize me?" Her ears had folded back, making her look both sad and adorable.
Moon’s eyes widened as she remembered the piece of her magic that was torn off when she was banished, the same magic that had allowed her to continue viewing dreams and to keep up with the changes in the world. "Are you the shadow pony?" Nightmare tried to hide the hope in her voice.

With a large smile, the filly answered, "Yes, but I go by the name Spectrum Shadow." The next instant, Spectrum had been lifted off the ground in a bone crushing hug as her mother rejoiced. "Mom, I'd like to talk with you about the plan for eternal night, Okay?" Nightmare nodded, eager to hear her daughter’s opinion. "Right here's the thing" -one long explanation involving charts books and high quality snuggles later- "And that is why we need both you and aunt Tia to work together."

Nightmare had a look of fear in her eyes, but with a calming breath, she released the spell containing her sister. When the spell ended, Celestia was standing slightly confused as to how she had been freed, only to get bowled over as Nightmare glomped her, "Tia, I'm so, so sorry, I was just so mad, jealous, and sick of being ignored. Please forgive me."

Celestia looked at her sister, still in the form of Nightmare Moon, but with genuine regret and love shining in her eyes. She had only one thing to say, "Only if you can forgive me, Luna. I should have seen how much pain you were in, but I put my duty before my family, I'm sorry."

Both princesses eyes began to fill with tears as they hugged for the first time in one thousand years.

End Flashback

"And then you guy's came in while they were hugging," everypony in the room was staring at Twilight and Spectrum.

Luna walked over, "So you are the one who cared for my child?" Twilight nodded happily only to go stiff as a board when Luna hugged her, "Thank you."

As Luna began to back out of the hug, something bumped Twilight, causing her to fall forward, and her lips to crash into Luna's.

Both went wide eyed as Spectrum giggled from behind Twilight, "Mama and Papa, sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G." The others joined Spectrum in giggling at the expressions on Twilight and Luna's faces.

After calming down, Celestia looked around in confusion before asking, "What happened to the Elements? I could have sworn I left them in this room."

After a moment, Twilight answered her,"Oh, I put those back where they belong about four years ago."

Both Celestia and Luna looked at her for a moment, before yelling, accidentally calling on the Royal Canterlot voice in their shock, "WHAT!?!"

Ch.3 Explanations and Revelations (edited)

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Both Princesses were staring at her slack jawed. Celestia struggled to regain her composure before asking "What do you mean you put them where they belong, miss?"

Twilight smiled before she answered, "I think it would be better to show you. Come on everypony!" With some confusion, the group followed Twilight. After a short walk, she had led them to what most would say was the most beautiful tree they had ever seen. Upon closer inspection, several facts became obvious. The tree had six glowing jewels attached to it and a large number of strong black roots surrounding it. "This, is the Tree of Harmony," Twilight said, with no small amount of reverence, "The core of the forest and the strongest source of magic in the world. I am ready to answer any questions, but please, one at a time." Twilight sat before the others calm and at peace.

Rainbow was the first the speak up. "Thanks for all the warnings. You helped stop three catastrophe level storms before they could get going. But I have to ask, why did I keep seeing you following me during your first year here?" The others shared Rainbow’s question, they had all noticed her tailing them during that first confusing year.

"The answer for that is quite simple," Twilight looked quite happy "You five represent five of the Elements of Harmony while I represent number six. I was following you, collecting small amounts of magic from each of you to revive the Elements before returning them to the tree."

This prompted Applejack's question, "What the hay do you mean 'collecting magic'? Did you do something to us?!" Her eyebrow was raised and her body tense waiting for an answer.

Twilight blushed lightly and stared at her hooves. "Well I, that is to say, I." Before Twilight could embarrass herself further, Sunburst spoke up .

"Twilight and her family have the ability to absorb magic. Twilight was the first earth pony born in her family, so her ability works different than that of her unicorn relatives." After that explanation the others, including the Princesses, looked to Twilight for confirmation.

"Yes, I passively absorb small amounts of magic from the area, and ponies, around me." Upon seeing the concerned faces around her, she quickly continued, "I only take ambient magic or magic released naturally. I would never pull magic from another pony, unless they were trying to hurt me." The others visibly relaxed. "So, to answer your question Applejack, I was following all of you around to absorb the excess magic you released, and then pushed that into the elements to revive them." AJ backed down with a satisfied nod.
Luna spoke up next, "Why did you return the elements to the tree if you knew who the bearers were?" Twilight could tell Luna was not angry, just honestly curious.
"Because when you took the Elements to beat Discord, you weakened the tree. It had almost gone dormant when I found it." Both Princesses' eyes widened after hearing that. "The tree helped me understand my role in Equestria; even activating my cutie mark." Everyone glanced at her flank to see a bright blue crystal star with a ring of countless smaller stars surrounding it." the tree wants to help protect Equestria, and will give power to those who represent the Elements to aid in that regard but-"

" I can speak for myself, Midnight. " everyone jolted as they heard a voice, soft but powerful, in their minds. "Do not be alarmed. I am the Tree of Harmony, though young Spectrum has taken to calling me Herman, but enough of that. I grant to you, who represent my elements, the power to spread Harmony throughout the land. " the tree glowed brightly and the five citizens of Ponyville were suddenly shrouded in magic. After several moments had passed the magic dispersed. Each of the girls had grown slightly, though the most obvious change was Fluttershy.

Her body was black with a yellow barrel, her mane and tail were translucent pink, and her eyes, once they opened, where a bright yellow. "Oh my," she was in obvious distress as she tried to shrink into the ground.
Rainbow was by her side and hugging her protectively in an instant. "Hey, it's okay Shy. Nopony is going to hurt you," Rainbow said in a caring tone.

The others were all staring at them in confusion. "What did that tree do to Fluttershy?!!" Pinkie yelled loud enough to wake a dragon, the others all shared similar thoughts.

"Th-this is how I always look," Fluttershy said. The others stopped to hear what she said properly "I-I am what is known as a changeling. We feed off ambient emotions, and can change our form to blend in. I use that ability to look normal so I don't scare anyone. I only feed off my animal friends, that's why I live so far out of town, so no one could find out my secret. I-I just wanted to fit in!" at this point she was nearly in tears.

Rarity was the first to speak as she went to comfort her friend, "I wish you had trusted me enough to tell me about this dear, but I understand why you would keep this secret. Never fear, you are my friend. No matter how I may overreact, I will not abandon you." Rarity then turned to the side, "On that note." She promptly fainted onto her convenient couch.

Applejack approached next, "I don't appreciate you lying to me, but I can understand the reason, so you will have no problem from me."

Pinkie bounced forward, "You still love my parties, right?" at Fluttershy's nod Pinkie smiled and settle into a loving embrace, "I'm all good."

Celestia and Luna spoke quietly for a moment before they faced the girls. Fluttershy waited nervously for their reaction. Rainbow released her embrace, turning to defend her oldest friend should the need arise. Celestia finally said "Well, since you have been living here peacefully, and have shown no desire to harm others, we see no reason to change anything at this time," by that point both princesses were smiling. After hearing that Fluttershy stood up and, with a flash of pink fire, regained her normal appearance.

At that moment Spectrum spoke up, "Come on guys. We still need to show everypony that the Princesses made up, then we can have a real Summer Sun Celebration!" she was practically vibrating in place with joy.

With a small chuckle Midnight agreed, "Okay, everypony. Let’s go home."

As the group exited the forest, they could see a crowd of concerned townsfolk. Celestia amplified her voice to heard over the worry and avoid a panic. "Fear not, my little ponies, we will be continuing the celebration after a brief but important announcement." After everyone had been gathered back in the town hall she continued, "Citizens of Ponyville, it brings me great pleasure to introduce to you, returning from her thousand year seclusion, my sister, Princess Luna." Here she paused before smirking, "Who was apparently too eager to wait for her introduction, and made a dramatic entrance." Luna was very happy her fur made it hard to see her blush.
The announcement seemed to help calm everyone down, but some of the younger crowd were still worried. One orange filly bravely spoke up, "Are you really Nightmare Moon, or was that a joke?" she then went back to huddling with the other children when she noticed Nightmare watching her.

With a sigh, Luna took the stage, "I am Luna, Princess of the moon, but most will know me by another name. I am also Nightmare Moon, Princess of dreams and darkness." She smiled brightly, showcasing her fangs, causing the children to gasp, "and I promise not to try and eat anypony, okay?" this seemed to end the last of the townsfolk fear as they all chuckled at Nightmare's promise. "Now let us welcome the new day." With a brilliant light show, the first day of summer finally began.

After a delightful party, the Princess and the royal overseers began the trip back to Canterlot, with one exception. It took the endorsement of all five of the girls, both overseers, and Luna, but Twilight finally got her job as the local librarian. Spike volunteered to stay with her to get to know his old friend again, allow for easy communication with home, and put his skills as an archivist to use in a new library. Spectrum stayed as well, due to Luna having many duties to reclaim, and to avoid rocking the boat even more than Luna's return was going to anyway.

Twilight had informed the Princesses as to why a member of the respected house of Sparkle was living in one of the most dangerous places in the country. Needless to say, both were quite shocked. Celestia promised to check the records, because she had no memory of any orders involving banishment or imprisonment passing her desk. Normally, that would not be needed, but any order involving Tartarus required her seal of approval to be carried out. Luna intended to speak with the family of her daughter’s caretaker to see if she had truly been kicked out of the family or not. Luna only had one final question before leaving "Spectrum dear, why do you call Midnight your father, and how should I introduce you if the topic is brought up when talking with her parents?"

Spectrum giggled before elaborating, "Because she used part of her magic to make me go from a specter to a flesh and blood pony, so I'm made of half your magic and half her magic, that's why she's Papa and you’re Mama. So I'd be introduced as her daughter. Right?" no one could find an argument for that explanation, even after they had picked their jaws up off the floor.

As the new family of three settled down in the library for the night after a long day of paperwork, explanations, and goodbyes, they could not think of anyway the day could have had a better ending.

Ch. 4 Investigations, Introductions, and Inspiration. (edited)

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Late at night, in the richest district of Canterlot, a pair of shadowy figures lurked. With a quick check of their surroundings, they hurried to the side door of one of the largest homes. After being granted entry, they took a steadying breath before delivering the bad news to their master "Sir, the Princess has discovered your attempt to imprison the bearer of magic. What should we do?"

The response was quick, cultured, and calm, "No need to worry. None of our men are listed in the guard rosters, and none of the paperwork has any connections to me. We will have to be careful for a while, though. They are going to be on high alert through the next Gala at the very least. Continue to gather information. I want to stay as up to date as possible." With a nod and a quick bow, the informants left, melting into the shadows as if they were never there.

Celestia was facing her oldest and most hated foe. Worse than Discord, more ruthless than Sombra, and almost as painful as Nightmare Moon's betrayal at times. What enemy was this? Simple, the paperwork backlog to get Luna reinstated. The nobles had had a field day when she introduced Nightmare Moon to take up the vacant second throne in the Diarchy. Oddly enough, were it not for the support of her "nephew" Blueblood, it would have taken twice, or even thrice as long to calm everyone down and get the word out. Celestia looked at her overfilled desk with a heavy sigh. "I still need to check the court orders and guard reports for that incident 5 years ago. I hope Night is having better luck with the Sparkles."

Nightmare walked up to the door of a well maintained home in the mid section of the city with her jaw set and address in her magic. "This should be the place, and if I timed this right, the good captain should be here as well." with that in mind she knocked firmly but politely. No reason to be rude, yet.

The door opened soon after, "How may I help...?" The blue unicorn who had opened the door paused mid question upon seeing who was at the door. His eyes were wide and confused.

"Good day, sir. May I come in to speak with you for a moment?" Night tried for a kind smile but it seemed to have the opposite effect as the stallion at the door fainted at the sight of her fangs, "Oh dear."

A moment later a light grey mare with a white and purple striped mane arrived at the door. "Dear what seems to be the problem?" she paused as she took in the sight of her husband passed out with the newly announced Princess standing at the door. "Oh, ah," after gathering herself, she put on a charming smile, "Please come in, your Majesty." she led the way, levitating her husband to the sitting room, where they joined a Blue maned unicorn stallion and a pink alicorn, who both rose to greet the new visitor.

"Princess Nightmare! Um, it is okay to just call you by one name, right?" the other alicorn seemed quite surprised to see her.

"Yes, it's fine, but I see no reason for you to use my title young one. You are Princess Cadenza correct?" Night settled for a close mouthed smile to avoid a repeat of the previous events.

"Oh yes, though I prefer Cadence." She then looked at the pony seated next to her, "This is Shining Armor, my, uh, coltfriend, and these are Night Light and Twilight Velvet," she pointed to each pony as she said their name. By this point Night Light had been revived and was looking rather sheepish. After a pause, Cadence asked " So what business do you have here, Nightmare?"

Nightmare took a moment to recompose herself, "I was wanting to talk to you about your daughter, Twilight Sparkle." After that announcement, the other occupants seemed to burst with questions.

"Where is she? is she hurt?" Night Light was the first to speak up, he seemed near hysterical.

"Whatever we did that made her cut off contact, we're sorry! Please tell her that for us." Velvet seemed to shrink into her chair.

"What do you want to know Princess?" Shining was in full captain mode, but Night could see the worry in his eyes.

"Is everything okay? Does she need help?" Cadences question surprised Nightmare the most. At her inquisitive look, Cadence continued, "What? I can't worry about somepony I used to foalsit?"

Night raised a hoof for quiet. "I was here to inquire as to the validity of a claim that she had been banished from the family, but it seems that is not the case, correct?" if the questions from earlier had not convinced her, the insulted looks on the other's faces did. "According to her, she was handed a document striking her of her name and re-dubbing her Midnight Void. That is why she never contacted you. She believed you never wanted to see her again."

Velvet growled "We never signed such a document. Is that why she moved to Ponyville?"

"No. That involves something my sister is investigating as we speak. You knew about her moving to Ponyville?"

"The last piece of mail we got from her said she was moving there to accept a position as the local librarian. Was that not true?" Velvet seemed to have become the unofficial spokesman of the group.

"She is the librarian now, but originally she was living in the ruins of my and my sister's old castle. She was also caring for a young one while there," upon seeing the faces of the others, Nightmare realized she may have said too much.

"Where is the bastard that abandoned my sister/daughter with a foal?!" The males of the Sparkle Clan appeared ready for war with the ladies of the house not far behind them.

"She found the child there when she arrived and took it upon herself to care for them." Nightmare knew this part would be sensitive, she would have to tread carefully. "Cadence, how much has my sister told you about my history?"
Cadence seemed to grow sad just hearing the question, "A-all of it. She wanted to make sure she wouldn't let history repeat itself."

Nightmare sighed before continuing, "My seclusion was not of my own choice," the Sparkle families eyes all widened as they contemplated her words. "At the time of my banishment, part of my magic was left in the old castle. That magic became its own entity over time. When Midnight found them, she used part of her own magic to make it flesh and blood. She named the new filly Spectrum Shadow in honor of her legend as the Pony of Shadows. So young Spectrum views Midnight as her "father" and, myself as her "mother," at the end of her tale she noted that Night Light seemed to have fainted again. Velvet was stone faced. Cadence seemed to have gone introspective and Shining was just staring at her with wide eyes.

"Tw-Twily's a, dad?!" Shining came out of his stupor with a shout, "You mean I'm-I'm an Uncle?" he seemed to wobble for a moment before joining his father in blissful unconsciousness.

Velvet looked at her son and husband exasperated before turning to face Nightmare with a look that managed to send a shiver up her spine. "So, will you be making an honest mare out of my daughter, your Highness?" the question could have frozen a windigo. Cadence started out of her thoughts after hearing that, she was looking at Nightmare in much the same way.

Nightmare felt shock, fear, and no small amount of joy. If they were willing to stare her down, she knew that her daughter had found the perfect "Father", "I will be honest with you. I do not know if we’ll be together. But I intend to put my all into making this work for my daughter's sake if nothing else. Twilight is a strong, brave, and beautiful mare, so I promise you I will not hurt her, but neither will I lie to her if things do not work out. We will be adults about it and settle things so that we both can be happy."

Both Cadence and Velvet found that acceptable, "So what can you tell me about my granddaughter?" Velvet's kind smile was back in full effect. As they sat to begin sharing stories, Cadence whispered to her new aunt "beautiful huh?" Once again Nightmare was grateful for her black, blush proof coat.

At the same time in Ponyville, a very different meeting was taking place. "Hi. My name's Spectrum. Mind if I sit with you guys?" Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle and Scootaloo were surprised when the new student asked to join them for lunch. She had been quite the sight that morning, with her black coat and odd eyes. Many students were avoiding her due to how much she resembled Nightmare.

Apple Bloom was the first to speak, "Sure ya can sit with us, right girls?" the others nodded. After she had situated herself, and got her lunch out, Scootaloo could no longer contain herself.

"Are you related to Princess Nightmare Moon?" they all looked at Spectrum waiting for an answer.

After a pause she whispered "Can you girls keep a secret?" After all 3 had nodded, she said "Okay but you have to Pinkie promise not to tell anyone until I give the okay." After the promises had been made she leaned in close, "Nightmare Moon is my mom."

After the girls had calmed down Sweetie asked. "Why are you living with Miss Midnight, then?"

Here she smiled, thinly to hide her small fangs. "Because Midnight is my dad." she giggled at the shocked looks on the girl's faces.

Before any of them could get their wits together to ask what she meant, they heard a loud voice, "Oh look. The loser table has a new member. Hey, new blank-flank, what's with the eyes?"

As one, the girls began to get angry. How dare those bullies insult their new friend. Before they could do anything, though, Spectrum winked at them and whispered "Let me handle this." She turned and in a bubbly voice said "Hi! Want to join us for lunch? I brought some extra fish," She said this while smiling with her fangs in full view, much to the bullies' shock.
"Oh ah, n-no thanks. We'll just go over there. Come on, Silver." They walked as fast as they could in the opposite direction without flat out running.

Spectrum giggled as she turned around to see the looks of awe on the girls faces. "Now let's eat, I would offer you some fish but I don't think you'd like it." and with that, the CMC gained it's newest member.

The rest of the school day passed without any further incidents. "So, what do you girls do for fun?" Spectrum was still bursting with energy.

Scootaloo answered, "We try to get awesome cutie marks," she than deflated. "Well, more like try to get any cutie mark." The girls seemed to get disheartened after that, but Spectrum seemed excited.

"Great. I have a list of things I've been wanting to try, but dad said I had to have others with me to be safe. Want to see if there is anything on the list that sounds fun?"

This seemed to bring the girls out of their funk as they all ran to the library. The town was soon treated to a shout of "Cutie Mark Crusader Wolf Riders! YAY!" At that moment, Midnight had the strangest feeling that she was going to need to stock up on tree sap remover.

One week later (start of applebuck season)

Midnight had just finished getting the library ready for the day when Rainbow crashed through her window, again. "What is it this time? Did the girls try to tame a beast from the forest again?"

It had come as a surprise to no one that, with a fourth member, the CMC were causing even more problems than before (though having the girls over constantly to have the tree sap removed had given Midnight more time to meet with her friends, and learn that Scootaloo had been adopted by Fluttershy).

Rainbow just shook her head, "Worse. You remember two years ago when Big Mac had to clear the orchard on his own?" That had been interesting, he had managed to do it but only by focusing on work for a full week with no distractions. It was a bad time for AJ to be down with the flu.

Midnight nodded, now quite worried, "How could this be worse?"

Rainbow answered her with haunted eyes, "AJ's going to be trying to clear the orchard this year, and I don't think she bothered to cancel any of the other things she had planned this week."

Midnight went wide eyed as her brain went into hyper plan mode. "Okay, we can fix this. You go gather the girls and have them all meet back here. I'm going to go try and convince AJ to come over so we can settle this before she goes insane."

"Consarn it, Midnight! Put me down!" Ponyville was a strange town, but seeing the local librarian carrying one of the Apples hog-tied on her back was one of the strangest things that had happened to date.

"Nope. You refuse to listen to reason. You shrugged off the advice from the rest of your family, ignored my advice to clear your schedule, and I could tell you weren’t going to bother getting proper sleep. Since you are being this stubborn, I am taking matters into my own hooves, and I got Granny Smith's permission first, so there."

"What?!" Applejack could not believe it. Why would Granny turn on her like this?

"Yeah. She agrees with me that you are likely to overextend yourself and get hurt before you ask for help, so to avoid you joining your brother with an injury, she gave me the okay to stage an intervention." By this point they had made it to the library, they walked in to see the confused faces on the rest of the girls.

Rainbow just looked at Midnight with a shocked expression, "I thought you were going to talk to her!?"

"She refused to see reason, even when her family said my idea should help." Midnight put AJ down and untied her. "Now we are all here to make sure our friend does not kill or injure herself this week. Ideas?"

Pinkie spoke up first "Raribear agreed to help me with baking so you can focus on getting the apples down, Jackie."

At AJ's confused look Rarity continued, "I want to see just how beautiful I can make some of the sweets we'll be making. This should be quite fun."

Fluttershy spoke up next, "Rainbow agreed to help me with the bunny census this year if I help with her stunt practice, so we've got that covered. Is that everything?"

AJ was struck dumb, "Now hold on, I can still help." She stopped talking when she saw the looks the others were giving her.

Rainbow sighed "AJ, I know how stubborn you are. If we let you continue the way you were planning ,someone was going to get hurt - most likely you. You're always around and ready to help any of us, so just let us help you for once, okay?"

AJ started at Rainbow for a long moment, then, with a sigh, she said "Okay. Does anyone want to help me gather the apples?" She was not expecting an answer.

"I'd be glad to," Midnight (who had gone upstairs during Rainbow's speech) responded. She was coming back with a blue work hat and an old book, "You buck the trees, I pick up the apples, and with some hard work, patience, and a little bit of luck, we can be done in no time."

"What's the book for?" Applejack sounded slightly relieved.

"Just an old spell I found that helps increase how long we can keep working. Rarity, mind casting this on our hats?"

With a curious nod Rarity opened the book. "Inspiration Manifestation. I don't recognize this spell at all dear," she still cast it on the hats after Midnight assured her it was mostly safe

"We just have to make sure we take the hats off before we try to sleep and we should get the orchard clear in no time." Everypony went off to do what they planned, the girls letting AJ and Midnight know that if they needed more help at the farm, they just needed to ask.

"Finally done." Rainbow flopped on to the ground.

It had not been easy, but as the others got done with their plans and joined the workforce, they had managed to gather all the apples. There had still been a few problems however.

Such as a rainbow-shaped hole in the wall of the library which Midnight found after finishing the second day of harvesting.

"So how exactly did this happen?" Midnight was using all her practice with Shady to be both tough and fair with her friends.

After placing an ice pack on Rainbow's head, Shy answered "Um, w-well, Rainbow wanted to see how fast she could go if launched by a large earth pony so I, shifted once we made sure no one was around and we forgot that the launcher was pointed towards the library. Sorry Midnight."

"Okay. Just tell Rainbow to be more careful next time, and pass me the hammer, please." It was a good thing Spike joined them for the bunny census. He was able to stop the plans of the evil Angel Bunny before they started. That was the first time Midnight had actually seen Fluttershy mad, and she never wanted to see it again. Then there was the muffin incident.

Well, not incident. More like small scale battle. Apparently Rarity made the muffins look too good. The local mail mare, a pegasus by the name of Ditzy Doo, AKA Derpy due to her walleyes, had started a small riot over who got the last of the "Perfect" muffins, resulting in several ponies being knocked out, and Derpy getting banned from Sugarcube Corner for a week.

Now all the girls were gathered around a table in the orchard, the spell had been removed from both hats, and they all sat enjoying a nice cool glass of apple juice with friends. Each wondered when the next small adventure would arrive in Ponyville.

Ch.5 Homecoming (edited)

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Ever since the days they spent harvesting apples together, the girls had agreed to share a lunch in the orchard every week to share any news, and enjoy each other's company. This week, Fluttershy had some interesting news, “I got a letter from Gilda this morning.”

Rainbow, having been taking a nap, shot wide awake and responded instantly, “What happened!? is she okay!? The last letter she sent said she was going to talk to her grandpa, Grunt I think.”

“Gruff actually,” Fluttershy corrected her friend. “She said she needed time to cool off after telling him, and she'll be arriving later this week.”

By this point the others were quite confused. “Who in the hay is Gilda?” Applejack asked.

Rarity provided the answer, “Isn't that the name of the gryphon who visits you on occasion?” The others all turned to Fluttershy for her answer.

Fluttershy shrank under the group’s stare, before she could answer Rainbow decided to butt in. “Gilda, Shy and I are kinda in a relationship.” At the looks the others gave her, she continued. “Shy has the ability to sense emotions, so she could tell that Gilda liked me and that I liked her, so she tried to set the two of us up together. It worked, but when Gilda found out, she decided to thank ‘Shy by inviting her to join our 'herd.' It took a bit, but Shy finally joined in after Gilda saw her undisguised and was okay with it.”

At the end of the story, Rarity had just entered a gossip induced faint, AJ looked contemplative (and a tad sheepish), Midnight was smiling in a slightly worrying way, and Pinkie looked ready to explode, “How long have you been a herd? When did it become official? What is Gilda's favorite dessert?” Pinkie had gone party crazy!

“A-about ten years this Friday, and she loves poppy seed buns.” Fluttershy finally rejoined the conversation.

AJ spoke up next “I always wondered what was going on with that. I kinda figured something rotten was going down, but I had no proof. Glad to hear I was wrong 'bout that.”

By that point Rarity had regained her wits. “Pardon me for asking but. You are happy for them, right darling?” Rainbow shot Rarity a dirty look. “I mean, let’s face it. Rainbow, you are very loud and intense, and from what I've heard, Gilda is brash and quite - open with her feelings - shall we say.”

Fluttershy stood up straight, “I am quite happy with my herd Rarity. I understand why you asked, but in this regard, I can take care of myself.”

As Rarity was blinking in mild shock at the sudden burst of assertiveness, Midnight laughed, “I guess that answers my question about who runs the house between you three.”

Spike (who had been enjoying his gem bowl quietly) spoke up, “How do Gilda and Scoots get along?”

Rainbow answered to avoid Midnight's knowing grin. “This'll be the first time they've officially met after ‘Shy adopted Scoots, but they both seem eager to meet each other."

“Well, see you girls. I have a major party to plan!” and with those parting words, Pinkie shot off like a rocket. The girls all said their goodbyes, each looking forward to meeting their friends' mare-friend for different reasons.

Day of the party.

Gilda could say with 90% accuracy that this was the worst day of her life. First, the pink pony (who had to be high on something!) had traps set up for her all over the place (which she had to deal with after she'd already had to go around town and meet ponies who almost fainted before she opened her beak). Thus, her mood was already bad. To top it all off, in a moment of rage, she had roared at one of her marefriends. “Yeah, today sucks.” Gilda was sitting on top of a hill trying to come up with a way to save her flank when the oddest pony she had ever seen walked up. “what do you want fang-face?”

If she was insulted, Midnight did a good job of not showing it. “You still want things to work with them right?” Gilda hopped up and growled at her, but after a short staring contest, she just slumped.

“Yeah. More than anything. I know 'Shy loves flowers, but I can't just walk into a store. This is going to have to be big.”

Midnight smiled kindly, “Follow me, I know the best places for wild flowers. Just don't pick anything I tell you to avoid, okay?” Gilda was stunned for a moment before she ran after the odd pony with a happy nod.

“So what’s your name, fang-face?”

“Midnight, Midnight Sparkle.” She had been ecstatic to hear the truth from her family. It felt good to use her real name again Twilight 'Midnight' Sparkle.

'Shy and Rainbow were sitting in the former's cottage enjoying some tea. Pinkie had come by earlier and explained why she had set so many pranks for Gilda, “I saw how grumpy she was and thought, pranks are funny, they always make me laugh. I was sure that would cheer her up. When you see her next, let her know I have an apology cake for her. No jokes or pranks. Pinkie Promise.”

Now they were sitting, thinking about what to say to the third member of their family, and hoping they could come up with a good plan before Scoots came home. Just as Fluttershy got up to refill her cup, she heard a knock on the door. When she opened it, her vision was filled with flowers and a sheepish gryphon.

”May I come in?” Gilda was quite the sight. She had a bunch of flowers almost half as big as herself, her feathers were a mess, and she looked like she fell in a mud pit. Fluttershy pulled her into the house so fast she squawked.

“Gilda, what happened to you? are you okay? do your wings hurt anywhere!?” Shy was in full medic/mom mode. Gilda wasn’t sure how to react. On the one claw, what other reaction had she been expecting? On the other, why was she not getting at least a dressing down for blowing her top? Before she could contemplate further, Rainbow was right in front of her. Before she could speak though, Gilda started her apology.

“Look, Dash, Shy, I-I can't think of the right words to say how sorry I am for losing it. I hoped spending time on my own after talking to my Grandpa would calm me down, but nothing worked. I hoped seeing both of you again would help, but then everything just seemed to go wrong. All I can ask is just please, please give me another chance. I promise I won't-”

Rainbow interrupted her “You feather brain! Was that what you were doing all this time? We just spent the last two hours trying to find you, hoping you were still in town.” Rainbow was near tears, “When you roared at 'Shy, I thought it was my fault, like I pushed you too fast when you were tired or something. Pinkie found us and explained what happened, she was trying to cheer you up in her own way and it backfired. She promised to make you an apology cake of your choice, no pranks involved, and she always keeps her promises. “

Fluttershy took over the conversation at that point “Gilda, I forgive you. You weren't mad at me, you were just mad and reacted. I feel the love radiating from you dear, so I know you're telling the truth. Now go wash up and come help me start dinner. Our little girl should be home soon and she can't wait to meet you”

Gilda felt her heart melting, They still love me! She still felt terrible though. “I still think I should do something, anything.”

Fluttershy paused before she said “Stay with me.” At Gilda's look she continued “Live with us. Stay in Ponyville. We can get you a job working with the Cakes and we know a family that could love your more traditional dishes. That is the only thing I can ask of you. We are your family now, Gilda, and if Gruff won't accept that, then it's his loss.”

Rainbow was nodding along with 'Shy, “Yeah this is your home now G, so let’s get ready before Scoots gets here, you don't want to meet the newest member of our family looking the same way she will, just with mud instead of sap.”

Gilda was very happy but slightly confused, “Sap, what do you mean?”

The door opened at that moment, “Moms, I'm home.” Gilda spun around to see an orange filly with a purple mane and small wings who was completely coated in tree sap. They looked at one another for a second, before the filly exploded with excitement, “WOW! You must be Gilda! Is it okay if I call you mom, or is that too fast?” Scootaloo waited for Gilda's answer with baited breath.

Gilda looked at the little filly, who looked as dirty and tired as she felt, and had to resist having a heart attack, “Yeah, you can call me mom, squirt. Now let’s go wash up before 'Shy dumps us in the tub.”

“YEAH! I'll show you where the muck remover is.” As Gilda followed her new daughter to the bathroom, she looked back at the other members of her family, and for the first time in a long time, she finally felt like she was home.

Ch.6 Showmare, Star-bear, & Scoldings

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Midnight could not believe how her friends had behaved. They had embarrassed the town and themselves. She could understand why they had been annoyed by the show-mare's attitude and tales, but they could have just left if they felt that strongly about it. All they did by challenging her was to make her show look better, and stoke her ego. “Rarity I have some mane dye remover in the bath room, so you can get your hair back to normal.”

Rarity nodded feebly “Thank you Midnight.” After Rarity left the room, Midnight turned to RD and AJ.

“I'm kind of impressed girls. That was the most backwards thinking, incomprehensibly stupid plan I've seen in a long time. “ Both girls looked ready to explode but Midnight cut the fuse, “I understand why you were angry at her, and I agree that her behavior was deplorable, but all you did was give her more ammunition by raising to her challenge.”

Rarity had returned by that point “Is that why you ignored her challenge dear?”

Midnight nodded “I could have freaked her out with ease” the moment she said that, Midnight's mane transformed into a mass of black and blue vines, resembling the mane of the villain in one of spikes favorite comics. “But all that would have done was cause trouble in the long run.”

Fluttershy, Rainbow and Gilda all blushed at the sight of Twilight's hair. After looking at their faces for a moment, Pinkie blurted out “What kind of things do you use those for?”

Midnight blinked in confusion before a look of realization came over her as her mane returned to normal “No-nothing like what your thinking I assure you.” despite her control there was a light dusting of pink on her cheeks. “Lets just agree to ignore “The Great and Powerful Trixie” till she leaves town, okay girls?”

“Okay!” After some thought, all the girls agreed that was the best plan of action, and went about the rest of their day.

That Evening

Spike was running as fast as he could towards home, he had to warn Midnight! “Oh why did those idiots think it was a good idea to wake up an Ursa?” Spike rushed in and slammed the door the moment he reached the library.

“Hey Spike. What's the problem?” Spectrum was looking at him curiously. Before he could answer a loud roar ripped though the peaceful night air “Somepony woke up an Ursa, didn't they?” Spectrum seemed incredibly calm in Spike's opinion.

Midnight came walking briskly down the stares “Spike stay here. Spectrum, behave while I'm out okay.”

“Right, dad” and with a nod, Midnight left the safety of the library and headed back to were the roar came from. Spectrum stopped Spike from running after her “Don't worry Spike, this used to happen all the time in the forest.” Spike was still worried but decided to trust Spectrum.

Midnight arrived near the square as Trixie admitted she had lied about vanquishing an Ursa. As the two foals panicked Midnight strolled up to the angry star-bear. Trixie tried to stop her, “If The Great and Powerful Trixie could not stop this beast ,what chance do you have?” She squeaked when Midnight tuned to face her and she got a full view of Midnight's eyes, and teeth.

Midnight turned back to the Ursa as it unleashed another roar in her face. After blinking away the tears, Midnight unleashed her mane into its vine form before she seemed to stretch. In the next instant, the Ursa was looking eye to eye with the biggest pony it had ever seen. (Twilight is about half as big as the Ursa but is just tall enough to meet it's eyes due to the difference in body shape.)

With a deep breath Midnight unleashed an unholy scream that rattled all the window's in Ponyville, and could be heard faintly in Canterlot. Before her mouth closed, the Ursa had turned tail and ran back to the safety of the forest.

Midnight turned back to town with a sigh only to blink as she could feel the magic of a unicorn trying to subdue her “Foul beast! You may have this town fooled, but some day, I The Great and Powerful Trixie will banish you back where you belong!” These where Trixie's last words as she fled Ponyville after her magic failed to even faze the great beast.

Midnight shrank back to normal as her mane re joined. Most of the towns folk were speechless, before Rainbow's voice rang out over the crowd. “That was awesome! I have no idea how you did that, but I'm so glad you are on our side.” That did the trick and the town began praising her for her heroic act . When Midnight returned to the library she just smiled gave both Spike and Spectrum a kiss on the cheek and made sure they were all ready for bed.

In Canterlot

Nightmare started awake as the sound of a shriek was heard from Ponyville “How odd. Well, I'm awake now might as well get started.” As she trotted down the hall Nightmare noticed a light was still on in her sisters room “1000 years and she still has problems going to sleep.” With a sigh Nightmare strode into her sisters office “Tia you need to go to bed. The moons up.”
Celestia looked up from her mountain of work, surprised “Oh. Just let me finish this last proposal, Luna, then I'll be right out.”

Nightmare just shook her head “That didn't work years ago, and it won't work now sister.” Before she could protest Celestia had been lifted by Luna's magic and was carried to her chambers after being tucked in Nightmare told her “I love you Tia but this spell is for your own good. Scholar's Blanket” Celestia fell in to the comforting embrace of sleep “Knowing her, this will be the first good sleep she's had since my imprisonment. Don't worry sis, I'll make sure to keep the day and night cycle going while you rest. A soft snore was her only answer as Nightmare left the room “Now lets go deal with that, ugh paper work” With a shudder Nightmare returned to her sisters office to finish the forms, after all how hard could it be?

Twelve hours. That's how long it took to clear all the paper work. Nightmare was so glad she decided to use magic copies to help get the work done “The nobles' faces when they enter the office to see 3 Nightmares dealing with all the proposals and legislation will be hilarious.” Nightmare had checked on her sister in the dream world, and she was right. Celestia had only been sleeping when absolutely required, meaning when she passed out every few days for a few hours before getting back to work. it was so bad her magic was at about half strength, while Nightmares had nearly doubled due to having nothing to do on the moon other than sleep and dream walk. “Based on my calculations, Tia should wake up just before the upcoming Gala and be healthier then any of the current nobles have ever seen her.”

“This is going to be so fun.” Nightmare allowed herself a soft giggle as she headed for the throne room to open court for the day, with 3 clones dealing with the office work, Nightmare was going to make sure Celestia found her work load much lighter when she woke up.

Nightmare took her place on the lunar throne “Excuse me, Princess but is your sister well?” Moon turned to look at the scribe who had spoken.

“My sister is taking a much needed rest, I shall handle business till she recovers.”

The scribe sighed in relief “Thank goodness. We have been trying to get her to rest for years, but she would never listen to us.” with that the scribe returned to her spot and the doors were opened to begin the day.

“So in conclusion your Highness, this area would be perfect to expand our gem mining operation in, without infringing on any questionable territory.” Nightmare had to resist the temptation to roll her eyes, again. She still could not understand how her sister could deal with these self important plot holes all day.

“I guess this is what happens when nobility goes from an earned title that each generation must live up to, to a hereditary birth right.” Moon checked the proposed mining area with the current maps before she answered. “The area you suggested seems to be Diamond Dog territory, or has that changed recently?” Luna had once used diamond dogs as part of her night guard and she remembered bequeathing land for the pack to retire on. While this was not the same area, she did not want to kick an innocent pack out of their home.

The noble seemed insulted, though Moon thought she looked constipated. “Those vermin. We can just send a squad of guards to handle clearing them out.” She said smiling smugly, clearly believing her idea to be pure genius.

The noble mare quelled under her monarch's chilling glare “Proposal denied. The guards are for the protection of our citizens not your personal task force. I am honestly disgusted with you, had this been empty territory or you had evidence that the pack living here was a threat, I would have considered your request, but as it stands your request is nothing but a desire for prophet at the cost of others.” Here she turned to the court as a whole, activating the Royal Voice for good measure “ Hear me petitioners! My sister may have put up with petty or greedy requests, but I will not! Everypony who has a request that would not require Royal approval may submit it to the council like everyone else, and those who have requests that would put the lives and homes of others at risk with no valid or legal cause. LEAVE NOW!”

In the next 10 seconds, 80% of the petitioners ran from the room. “Next” Nightmare was smiling broadly “That is how you deal with useless crap."

Ch.7 Dragon vs Queen, or a Day in the Life of Fluttershy

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Fluttershy clicked her teeth as she woke up to the sight of a wall of feathers, “Gilda always did love holding me.” She carefully extracted her self from Gilda's embrace and buzzed over Rainbow to get to the door.

Scootaloo woke up to the smell of fresh pancakes, as she ran downstairs and into the kitchen, she noticed that mama (Fluttershy) was not wearing her illusion. Scootaloo had been filled with joy when mama adopted her. The first time she saw her mother's true form, she had understandably freaked out, but she calmed down quickly when she realized that mama was just as scared as her. After they both calmed down, the situation was explained to her, and she had been assured that no she was not just a food source. Scootaloo was glad to keep her mama's secret, still.

“Mama your disguise dropped again.” With a start, Fluttershy regained her normal appearance Gilda and Rainbow came stumbling in as Shy finished setting the table “Morning mom (Gilda), Mommy. (Rainbow)”

“Morning, squirt.” Gilda said as she took her seat, and her coffee

“Good morning, Scoot” Rainbow was eating on autopilot with her eyes drooping.

Fluttershy took her place at the table “Rainbow, I know you want to do some stunt practice today but I checked the schedule. Please remember to organize today's rain shower before you practice, dear."

Rainbow just nodded, but Shy could tell she was listening. After breakfast, the family split. Scootaloo and Fluttershy headed to school while Rainbow and Gilda headed to their jobs as weather manager and a baker respectively.

Shy hummed a happy song as she went about her daily chores in the light rain. “Let's see: eggs, and honey for the market, assorted venoms for the hospital, and young critters for the pet store, done” Fluttershy finished dropping off her deliveries on the way to Sugarcube Corner, “I wonder how Gilda's doing?”

“Welcome to Sugarcube Corner! Oh hey Shy, how's your day going?” Gilda was the main cashier for the bakery. The Cakes had been a bit wary of hiring her, but after she proved her baking skills, they were happy to let her join the team. Plus no pony was dumb enough to try and short change a gryphon.

“Good I J-just came by to see you dear. Um would you mind bringing some fresh buns home for after dinner?”

Gilda laughed “Yeah, yeah. I'll get them, it's Rainbows turn to pick up the squirt today, right?”

After Fluttershy nodded, she continued “Okay see you at dinner.”
With that, Fluttershy continued on her way back to serve lunch to the animals. “Ha, How that mare can handle bears, snakes and bees, but still be afraid of other ponies is beyond me. Better make sure to grab those buns.”

Gilda had been a little wary of working at the local bakery when she remembered that the "pink mare of doom" works (and, as it turns out, lives) there. But, after she applied and got her apology cake, she found that working with the mare was quite fun (though frequently headache inducing). Gilda had managed to integrate into town with ease once everypony got used her blunt manner, and she could say with absolute sincerity she had never been happier.

Several days later.

Fluttershy trailed behind the others as they headed up the mountain. Why, oh why, had she agreed to face a dragon? She did not want to be a BBQ'ed bug! Each of the girls tried their hoof at convincing the dragon to leave, with mixed results. Rainbow finally became fed up with being polite and charged in "Rainbow, I love you, but why must you give me heart attacks?" Shy was well aware that if she had not been born with 2 hearts, then Rainbow's stunts would have caused her to die from worry years ago. When the dragon came out of the cave filled with rage, Flutters hid behind a rock, till she saw her friends get blown away by its breath. In that moment, her instincts as a Queen surfaced.
The next instant the dragon was staring cross-eyed at the strange insect pony on his snot. Fluttershy proceeded to chew the dragon out in a rage fueled rant "Why you big, dumb meanie! Apologize right now or I swear to Celestia I will {censored} {censored} {censored in buffalo}!"
She continued on in this fashion for about five to six minutes. The end result of which saw the dragon taking the bulk of his hoard and leaving for a new cave in the north (though he left a small amount as an apology for the unintended crisis his snores had been causing). With the source of the smog gone, the weather team was able to quickly clear the sky. The girls celebrated having avoided yet another disaster and took note to never anger their shy friend under any circumstance. Unnoticed, two figures flew off to inform their masters of what they had seen.

In Canterlot

"Sir, we have found the lost Queen, she appears to be one of the Elements. What should we do"
After a moment the leader answered "Carry on for now, but pay special attention to her, look for any weaknesses to exploit, we can't afford any loose ends." After the spy left he continued "So you hid away in some slum,. No matter where you go, or where you hide, I will find you, my pet."

In an undisclosed location

" You're sure this is accurate?" A soft mixture of buzzing a clicks was her answer. "Good, good, you have done well." The figure returned to her throne as she pondered "You thought you could escape your fate, my child. Though the fact that she could stop a dragon is worrisome. No matter. Soon, there will be nothing that can stand in my way, even the mighty Celestia will bow to me." "Enjoy your freedom while you can, Shyrosa, because one way or another you will fall. I am the only true Queen!"

Ch.8 "Slumber" Party

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Spectrum was bursting with joy. It had taken weeks of begging, and several Pinkie promises, but dad finally agreed to let her hold a slumber party. She and the girls (plus Spike) would be sleeping upstairs for their party, while dad and her friends would be having their own downstairs. Once everyone arrived, the groups split off.

With the chaperones

"Are you sure Spike can handle them darling?" Rarity may have felt it was odd to let a male sleep in the same room as the girls, but they were all still young, so she could accept it. This does not mean she thought he could keep the girls out of trouble.

"Come on, Rarity They ain't that bad." AJ may be just being optimistic, but she wanted to give Spike the benefit of the doubt.

"Don't worry, girls. I locked all the windows. The only way for them to sneak out will be by getting past Spike AND us." Midnight had planned ahead.

"I hope they have fun. So, what are we doing?" Shy was here just to keep an eye on Scoot. Rainbow had worn herself out, so was just sleeping at home, and Gilda was on a supply run with Pinkie (somehow they had ran out of sugar, again).

Midnight pulled out a book "This has all the directions for the perfect slumber party, proven by science" The girls gained looks with varying degrees of horror. What had they gotten themselves into? Midnight lost her calm in seconds.

After calming down, though, she continued "Sorry. That was just too easy" She realized she had made an error when she was hit with a ballistic pillow. "Oh It Is On" and with that, the most epic pillow fight never recorded began.

Back upstairs

The girls had spent five minutes trying to sneak out to keep crusading. Spike just sat and waited as he helped lock up the room. The only way out was the main door and that lead straight down to where the others were. After accepting that they were not going anywhere without permission, the girls started the sleep over by telling scary stories. Each of them got a turn with mixed results. Scootaloo's retelling of the Headless Horse had the others huddling in a pile, Sweetie Belle's Story with the rusty horseshoe made Scootaloo jump (though she would deny it till her dying breath). Apple Bloom tried to scare them with the Legend of The Pony of Shadows. She was not expecting Spectrum to laugh. "What in tarnation is so funny! That's a serious story."

Spectrum regained control of her giggles before answering "Sorry, sorry. I thought everypony forgot my legend by now." as she was talking Spectrum's body changed till she looked like a pony shaped piece of the night sky. The girls somehow got the impression she was smiling.

"That's right, I'm the Pony of Shadows, and I challenge you to truth or dare. "

That deceleration broke the spell of fear that had come over the others. No matter how she looked, it was still Spectrum. With that, they all settled down for a game of embarrass yourself in front of your friends who will never let you live it down.

After a very long game, the friends were all ready to go to sleep. As they drifted off, several of them would dream of what they had just done.

Sweetie Belle had a cute dream about singing in front of a crowd with Spike on the piano. She had been dared to kiss him on the cheek and both of them went red as Apple Bloom's bow.

Apple Bloom dreamed of working with her family on the farm while wearing her new gold trimmed ribbon to hold her hair back. She got it after surviving a dare to be Rarity's dress up doll for an hour. (They still don't know where she got the outfits from.)

Scootaloo was dreaming of learning to fly with her mothers. She had picked truth and one of the worst questions was telling them her greatest fear, being unable to fly.

Spike was dreaming about being on an expedition with Daring Do. He had admitted some of his favorite past times while telling the truth which led to them reenacting scenes from the books.

Spectrum, despite having fun, answering many questions about her adventures and winning the pillow fight, (Go intangibility!) was not having a very good dream.

Spectrum was in agony. "Mommy! Whatever I did, I'm sorry,!please believe me." The dream ignored her and continued its work.
"You are not a child! You aren't even a pony! All you are is a magic copy gone wrong, now go back where you belong!" Spectrum screamed as the pain worsened. Her magic was being torn apart.

Suddenly her pain was gone and she was staring into the bright concerned eyes of her real mother "Spectrum. Do you really think I would do that to you?" Nightmare felt pain in her heart. Why was her own child afraid of her?

Spectrum wiped the tears from her eyes "No. I know you love me, but I was so afraid that would happen when you first saw me I had no way of knowing what you thought about me. So, my mind made up a bunch of scenarios both good and bad." Spectrum managed to get back up after her tears ended "Mom, please teach me how to fight bad dreams. Dad told me I had to wait for you to come home before I learned, so will you teach me. "

Nightmare pondered for a moment. She had just had to save Midnight from a nightmare of her own involving losing control and expanding the forest to destroy Ponyville, and she had been about to move on to the rest of Equestria. Having a helper was sounding quite nice. "Okay I feel another nightmare nearby we can start there." Spectrum jumped for joy and then fell in step behind her mother as they went in search of the bad dream.

They arrived at the dream door for Spectrum to begin her lesson. Part one observe: Spectrum entered the dream, she watched for the pony in question. When she saw who's dream it was, she almost left. Diamond Tiara was pacing in her room waiting for her mothers verdict, "Oh I hope she likes my cutie mark"

She stopped pacing as her mother entered the room. "So, that's it? I guess that works, you were always good at being a princess just, remember to do as I say and you will never have to deal with anyone beneath you again.
Diamond was devastated "That's it? No good job? No I'm so proud? I don't want to just sit around. I want to be mayor or a council mare. I want others to know me."

Spoiled just grimaced "Why would you ever what to do something like that? You are a lady, and as your mother you will do as I say, only I know what's best for you, young lady."

Spectrum was close to losing her temper completely she could not just stand by and watch this, this farce "No mother worthy of the title would act like this. GO AWAY!" With a burst of magic the dream shifted Diamond was now the youngest mayor in Ponyville history.

While Spectrum was observing and changing the dream Nightmare went to check the dreams of the distressed filly's parents

"Her fathers seems nice enough, If a little too focused on his business. I'm sure her mother is just strict. This can't be too bad."

Oh how wrong she was. Nightmare stormed out of the dream after 5 minutes of watching.

Seeing a pony dream of being a Royal? Common.

The pony now being an alicorn in the dream? Just as common.

Dreaming about being Queen of Equestria, with Tia, Cadence and Nightmare herself as your maid servants? That was new, and it took every ounce of control Nightmare had not to turn the dream inside out.
When she returned to where Spectrum was learning, she could tell from a glance that the dream had been turned around she found spectrum snoozing. After dropping Spectrum off back in her own head, Nightmare returned to Midnight's dream, she needed ideas for how to deal with this mare and just reporting her to the police did not feel like enough.

Ch.9 Confrontations & Curses

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Nightmare strolled down the street (under the illusion of a unicorn) with Spectrum by her side. Midnight (who would have been with them had it not been for an incident currently going on at the market) had managed to talk her out of killing the pretentious mare for the years of mental abuse she heaped on her own daughter. But she could still scare the crap out of her. Nightmare, before her Ascension, had always loved foals, and would protect them with a vengeance. This trait had only been amplified when she became a princess and had lost any chance of having her own (or so she thought at the time) due to the laws and customs of the time. She had been mortified the first time she heard the rumors of her eating foals! (This was actually one of the major factors in her change from Luna to Nightmare). She had taken many foals away from bad homes during the old days, and while she was happy to say that this was not as common now, it was still needed from time to time. She hoped to avoid that route as she could still respect that Filthy Rich was doing his best to be a good father. Thus, this visit was to serve as a warning, and if Mr. Rich agreed, would bring Diamond under the protection of the Lunar throne.

Knock, Knock

After reaching the home of the Rich family, and gaining permission to enter, they set the plan in motion. Nightmare went to meet with Mr. & Mrs. Rich about "Business" and Spectrum was lead to a room to "play" with Diamond Tiara Once the door closed, Diamond spoke up "What are you doing here, blank flank? Only important ponies get the honor to visit us."

Spectrum just rolled her eyes "My mom wanted to talk with your parents about getting you a seat in a class with one of the best professors from Canterlot all about politics, though if you keep that attitude up the offer won't last long" Spectrum smiled when she saw Diamond perk up. She had been ignoring an idea that popped into her head after seeing Diamond's dream. But seeing her happy just brought it back tenfold, for some reason "And I shall call her snuggles."

Diamond suddenly paled "Heh, no hard feelings about that blank flank comment. Right?"

Spectrum blinked as she brought her mind back to the task at hoof before she could answer however, Diamond asked another question "Do you happen to know any of the details about the agreement your mother is trying to make?"

Spectrum kept her cool "I don't know a lot. But I can tell you that your opinion will count quite a bit, so be honest when asked about the lessons."

Diamond continued " Okay. First, how important is your mom, Does your dad hold any high political ranking, and finally why are you here if your family has connections in Canterlot?!"

Spectrum answered each question in order " My mother is one of the highest ranking mares in Equestria, my father is a respected researcher from a noble house, and I live here to avoid most of the grandstanding the nobles do till I'm older." Spectrum had to contain her giggles at the fish-slapped look on the other girls face .

Before the gaping girl could gather her wits beyond closing her mouth, the door opened and the adults came in. Mr. Rich spoke first "Diamond, honey, this nice mare has an offer for you."
"Miss Tiara, would you be interested in learning the arts of politics and finances with one of the best teachers in Canterlot?"

Diamond did not need to think. This was her chance, but before she could open her mouth "I see no reason for my daughter to attend such classes. She will learn everything she needs to know right here."

Diamond was crushed this was her chance, and she was not going to let her mother take it from her "I would be honored to be part of these classes ma'am."

One look at Spoiled showed what she thought about this answer "No, Diamond. I forbid you to join this class. A proper lady has not need to know such things." Diamond was to conditioned to speak up a second time. "There, you have your answer now kindly leave us alone."

"Now dear-" One look from his wife was all it took to shut Filthy up. After a moment he just shuffled out of the room , claiming he had some documents to check.

Nightmare was livid "I shall inform the instructor than." Spoiled gave a brisk nod believing the matter settled.
Spectrum would not let this stand "Diamond gave her answer and it was a resounding yes. That was her choice. What reason do you have to keep her from it!?"

Spoiled was not going to let this blank flank freak bad mouth her in her own home. "You little abomination! No one asked for your opinion, or are you too dim to understand that blank flanks like you should be seen and not heard?" Spectrum burst into tears at the verbal assault (She may be 1000 years old, but she is still mentally a child ) With a bright flash of magic Nightmare regained her full form, and She Was Mad! Spoiled shrank under the gaze of her monarch, as Diamond hid behind Spectrum (who had regained control but was sniffling) "It's still Diamond's choice, you heartless crab apple!"

Nightmare felt pride swell in her chest but stayed focused on the task at hand "Well said my daughter. Now what should I do with you for making my child cry?" Spoiled was in denial; there was no way one of the Princesses had just seen her at her worst. This was bad. "Now allow me to educate you on the proper treatment of foals!"

After Nightmare encased herself and her victim in a cone of silence, Diamond came out from behind Spectrum, staring at her with wide confused eyes. "Y-your the daughter of Princess Nightmare!?" Diamond was scared out of her mind, she had insulted Royalty. Multiple times! She sunk to the ground in front of Spectrum "Your Highness, please forgive me! I swear I'll never bully you or your friends again!" Diamond waited for an answer, when none came she dared to looked up, and felt tears form in her eyes when Spectrum leaned towards her, fangs visible, her hooves reaching to crush Diamonds neck "Is this how I die?!"

Spectrum pecked Diamond on the nose before pulling her into a kind hug "I forgive you, but I am going to hold you to that promise." Diamond began crying in relief, she was safe. Once Diamond cried herself out Spectrum continued "Do you remember your dream from last night?"

Diamond thought for a moment before her eyes widened. she had been having a rather frequent bad dream recently but the previous night, before it could really get going she heard a voice yell "GO AWAY!" and it changed to one of her favorite dreams. She thought she imagined the voice at the time but now. "Did, did you stop my nightmare?" Diamond was not sure what answer she wanted.

"Yes I was practicing my duties as a dream guardian and found you, I knew that dream was bad the moment it started, and no matter how you act, no one deserves a bad night's sleep. Now the offer mom has for you is real, but there is one catch. Would you, Diamond Tiara, of the family of Rich accept the post of my lady in waiting?"

Spectrum was so glad for both her black coat and her fathers training no emotion showed as she waited for an answer.

Diamond's world view had been shattered " S-she saved me. Even though I bullied her, she's still willing to help me" She had only one answer to give "YES! Hem, I mean if it pleases you, my lady, than I graciously accept this duty."

Spectrum giggled, then, in a posh tone, stated "Welcome, Miss Tiara, to the Junior court of the moon."

Several hours later

Spectrum was so excited, she had no idea how she was going to sleep. She could not wait for Monday, then they should be able to clear up everything and the Crusaders could grow from 4 to 6 (AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH). She had spoken at length with Diamond about who she could tell and how they should act in public. They both agreed that Silver should be let in on the secret and that, outside of joking around with friends, her status would remain private till an official announcement. Nightmare had finished her lecturing of Spoiled just as Filthy returned to check up on them, after everything had been explained he was quite proud of his daughter for getting a place in the royal court ( even if it was only with the heir) He also hoped this would stop some of his wife's worst behavior.

Spectrum woke up to the sound of laughter. When she got down stairs she found her dad rolling around laughing, with Spike right beside her. After a quick glance around the room (and seeing the blue spots on Pinkie's tongue). She joined them in laughing as she realized what happened. Rainbow finally lost it "What's so funny? That witch cursed us!"

Spectrum regained her wits enough to respond "Did you girls run through a bunch of blue flowers?"

After each of them nodded, she resumed laughing.

Fortunately Midnight had recovered "Ha, Ha, sorry girls. I snick know what's wrong and it was not Zecora who cursed you." The resounding cry of what made her ears ring "Ow, yeah. The flowers you ran into have very strong wild magic. They cause random effects that seem like cruel jokes thus the name Poison Joke." Here she looks at each of the girls with narrowed eyes "Now I know how to make the cure. But due to the reason you got hit, I'm going to go get help from my friend Zecora, and when we get done I want each of you to apologize for the way you've been treating her" Before the girls could protest she continued "I know Zecora. I've worked with her on many projects and she's even watched Spectrum for me on occasion. The way this town reacts to new ponies honestly makes me sick! Its no wonder Shy won't reveal her true self. The town would probably panic, or start a mob."

One by one, the girls hung their heads in shame. They had treated Midnight much the same way and she still helped them. Once they all made it to Zecora's hut (which made Rarity gasp) and spent some time with her, they realized just how wrong they were. Even when she realized that Fluttershy was in disguise, she accepted it (after making sure the others were aware of the fact and that she had not been replaced). After they had been cured, the girls marched into town with Zecora and cleared up the mass panic that had been growing. The entire town got a lesson in proper behavior and not jumping to conclusions. Midnight felt it had been a very good day.

Ch.10 Swarms & Memories

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Why oh why did she not check her calendar? Midnight could not believe it. Not only did she miss diverting the migration path of those famine inducing insects, but now one of her friends had brought them into town, and she fed them. "Oh. Joy" Midnight was in the middle of planning how to evacuate the town when "Wait. What did Pinkie just say?" With a start, she turned to her pink friend "You know what those things are?"

"Well duh! Now I need to go instrument hunting" Pinkie jumped back when Midnight ran up to her

"You know how to get rid of them?!" after Pinkie nodded she continued "Please tell me! please, please, please!"
After a quick discussion, both mares left to gather instruments. Leaving a very confused friend behind.

"Why would anyone want to get rid of these little cuties?" Fluttershy continued on her way to show the new creatures to the rest of her friends.

Meanwhile, at the schoolhouse

The CMC were quite confused. Diamond Tiara had not insulted them all day. Not one scratching remark or rebuke. At one point she even complimented Spectrum (Scootaloo used an old feather to clean her ear afterwards)! They finally cornered her and Silver during lunch. The answer they got was, surprising. Diamond just stared before she turned to Spectrum "Didn't you tell them?".

"I was going to but they marched over here before I could get a word in." The girls were looking between them with confusion (suspicion in Scootaloo's case).

Diamond sighed "I promise not to intentionally bully you three again." She looked a Spectrum before saying the next part "sigh Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye."

By that point, the Girls jaws were on the floor. Apple Bloom spoke first " Who are you and what did ya do to Diamond Tiara?"

Silver giggled "This is how she acts when she's using her brain, instead of just acting like she owns the world" Diamond glared at her friend "What? Its true, DT. You do tend to not think things through."

Diamond hung her head "Yeah, but did you have to say that in front of my new boss?"

Scootaloo finally had enough "What are you talking about? What boss?" at this the girls turned to Diamond waiting for an answer

Spectrum decided to intervene "Officially, she is now my lady in waiting" The CMC just looked at her uncomprehendingly "It means she works for me. In old times, it was a position held by the daughters of lesser nobles who worked for higher ranking nobles to help raise their status, in modern terms, it means she's my friend, and will be joining me in lessons on politics with dad, she also has an open invite to join me at any social event I go to and vice versa" at that moment the bell rang 'We'll continue this at the club house. Okay, girls?" After everyone gave their okay, they rushed back inside to finish school.

In the dream world

Nightmare was walking down a familiar beach, but she had not been here for well over a thousand years. "Figures she would dream of here, after all this was the last place we met 'him' on good terms". She soon found her sister lounging by the water, on top of a giant sand castle. She snorted "Really Tia. Which of us is the older sister again?"

Celestia just laughed, It's a dream, Lulu. I can do whatever I want, and I felt like making a sandcastle" Tia seemed to deflate "I still can't believe I forgot to use the copy spell for so long" Probably would have cost less magic to maintain in the long run." she paused here before perking up with a mischievous grin "So how are things going with your mare-friend Lulu dear?"

Nightmare blushed strong enough for her coat to turn burgundy. "Tia, I haven't even asked her to dinner yet" At Celestia's raised eyebrow she continued "I found out what her favorite place to eat was and I'm trying to set up reservations for a 'thank you' dinner that I hope can lead to actual- dates, is it? Yes that's the modern term. Dates."

Celestia just chuckled "I wish you luck sister." She then became serious "Do you feel it as well?" Nightmare just nodded stone faced "We will need to plan Lulu. I let you down. I've let so many ponies I love down. It ends now as soon as he returns we will use the plan we had before we decide on the elements. I'm sure it will work."

"Agreed sister I will make sure everything is ready, one way or the other, we will get our professor back."

The Ponyville library.

The girls were all quite confused they were on the way to the clubhouse (Which Diamond and Silver agreed was more private, if not as comfortable as they would have liked) when Spectrum saw Rarity's new pet and freaked out. She dragged all of them to the library, closed the door, than proceeded to kick the same type creature (which spike had one of for some reason) out the window before closing it. "Those bugs may look cute girls but do not be fooled they can, and will, eat any plants they come across that we would use for food, and the more they eat the more their numbers grow."

One by one, the girls eyes widened in horror as they realized how bad this could get (to an extent). "The apples! I got a warn my family" Before Apple Bloom could rush off, Midnight forced open the door with Pinkie behind her with an assortment of (seemingly) random instruments.

After catching her breath Midnight noticed the group in front of her "Girls. How much do you know?" After they told her what Spectrum had explained she continued " Okay Apple Bloom. Make sure none of those things are near the orchard and let your family know what's up." She shot off back home to sound the alarm "The rest of you, follow us. If all goes well, we should be able to drive these things back into the forest and back on their way before the town's food stores go belly up."

It took a few hours to find all the Parasprites. Still, with Pinkie's one mare band and Midnight's horror stories about the damage the Parasprites could do, they managed to get all of them back into the forest before the town got too messed up. From there, they could all go home happy.

Ch.11 Discussions & Lessons

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Diamond could not believe she was doing this "How are they not dead yet?" She had just watched 4 plans for four different talents explode horribly resulting in all 6 of them getting coated in tree sap! She would have skinned them if they had not already told her about having an easy way to remove the sap from their fur. "Enough!" She made sure everyone was listening before she continued "I think I finally understand you four, but if you keep going the way you are now, something bad is going to happen. Lets just get to the lessons we have with Miss Sparkle. I'm sure she has some ideas of how to do this with less property damage."

A sharp response had been on the end of their tongues before she mentioned the lessons with wide eyes. They all scrambled to get to the Library. for their first practice.

It had been quite a surprise when Diamond and Silver joined them in the clubhouse. After explaining what was going on (including being offered lesson of their choice from Spectrum's father), they had decided to give the ex-bullies a chance. So far, it had been business as usually for the girls. Tiara had made several suggestions for their plans that in retrospect would have made them slightly safer. So, even if it was annoying, the girls agreed to listen to Diamond at least a little from now on.

At the Library

Midnight had just sent the girls to clean up when there was a knock at the door. She opened it, and was tackled in a hug by her mother.

"Oh my baby!" Midnight just hugged her mother back and nodded to Cadence when she walked in. She was quite confused, while she was happy to see them. Why had they not sent word ahead?

"Hi, Twilight. Good to see you. I'd greet you in our normal way but you seem occupied" Cadence was just smiling at the heartfelt scene in front of her.

"Dad, we're ready." Spectrum came out of the bath room to find her dad being hugged by a mare, who seemed to be cooing. It took her a moment to recognize who both the new ponies were which was long enough for the others to catch up with her.

"Hello. You must be Spectrum. Your mother told us all about you. and who are these young ladies with you?" After realizing that yes, this was an alicorn, and she was talking to them. the girls answered as Spectrum had taught them to (If they ran into anypony important or had to go to a formal event)

"Howdy I'm Apple Bloom, youngest member of the apple clan. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Sweetie Belle of the Belle family. Pleased to meet you."

"My name is Scootaloo, adoptive daughter of Fluttershy. How's it hanging" Spectrum face hoofed, while Cadence just giggled.

"My name is Silver Spoon of the Silver family. A pleasure to meet you ma'am."

"I'm Diamond Tiara of the Rich family, Lady in waiting to Spectrum Shadow. It's an honor to meet you."

Cadence had to admit she was impressed. Those introductions were perfect, for the age of the ones giving them. Okay, perfect might not be the right word but they were still very good. "I am Princess Mi amora Cadenza, but you my call me Cadence young ones" here she paused before returning to her more fun loving attitude "So why were you all in the bath room just now?"

Spectrum looked down and they all looked sheepish "We had to wash off the tree sap from our latest adventure." of all the reactions they could have gotten, laughter was not uncommon. What she said next, however, WAS new.

"Let me guess; you 4 were trying to find your cutie-marks and you 2 were helping them stay safe, right?" At their astounded looks she elaborated "I can't tell you how many times Twilight and I came home coated in something from her adventures, though for her it tended to be cheese. We must have hit every place in Canterlot that sold cheese at least once a week. She's had a hatred of it ever since."

While Cadence was simultaneously destroying and increasing the girls opinion of Midnight. She had just managed to get out of the hug to speak with her mother. "I'm very happy to see you mom, but why did you not tell me you were coming? it would have helped me make sure everything was ready. " Velvet was just thinking that this was just like her daughter when her expectations where stumped "Fortunately, tonight is the night the girls stay at Fluttershy's for their sleep over so it will give us time to make sure the guest room is set up. Spike should be back this evening from his day off, so that will help. Now I would love to visit with you mom, but I promised the girls I'd start their lesson's today, we will be covering safety, politeness and when not being polite is the proper response to a situation. Would you and Cadence mind helping me?"

Velvet was off kilter. Where was the mare who was more neurotic than her father yet more stubborn than her? With that one sentence she had just blown her mothers mind. "I'd be happy to help you dear and I doubt Cadence will mind. I had planed to stay for a bit but considering how short the train ride was I can just come visit from time to time, I mean how else am I going to get to know my granddaughter."

Cadence was happy to help and the girls had a fun lesson, including acting out scenes to practice what was right in what situation. After an enjoyable lesson, the girls made sure they were packed up and on their way to the cottage with Gilda as a guide (Gilda got interrogated by Velvet before Midnight vouched for her). Spike showed up soon after and working together they had a guest room ready in no time. Before going to sleep Midnight agreed to show them around the forest the next day (Lesson number 2) and they sent a message to Shining about coming to teach to girls about the guard structure. All and all, a good end to a fun day with more adventures waiting on the horizon.

Ch.12 Forrest Tour & Dinner Plans.

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Velvet was close to losing her mind in the past hour. She had seen 4 of the deadliest beasts ever recorded, much more closely than she had ever wanted. Now she was watching her daughter - her organized, neat-freak over-reactive daughter- stare down a Chimera (and she was winning)! "Now what reason do you have for trying to give us heart attacks?" Midnight was not in a good mood. She had just had to prove to several of the older creatures (who should really know better) why she was the Harmony appointed caretaker of the forest. While the title did not mean much in the long term (the forest was basically self regulating with the tree to temper it's growth), her main job was to make sure that the native animals/monsters stayed where they belonged. She'd had run ins with this chimera before when she helped the tree add the fire swamp to its territory. She had thought that the problem had been handled. So what prompted this?

The tiger and snake looked a bit sheepish, the goat had no such reservations "Bah. We were trying to scare those fillies out of here" the girls and Velvet looked at her in confusion "The number of times those girls have come in here to do something stupid could give us an ulcer. We only saw you once we jumped out. Sorry." Velvet felt the need to clean out her ears. this creature was her daughter's friend!?

Midnight could only shake her head. "That's why I'm with them; to teach them about the forest and help prevent things like that from happening. Now, if they do something like that again, let me know and I will handle it. Okay?" All three heads nodded before the chimera headed back into the deeper parts of the forest. "Well that was fun. The only thing left to warn you about would be the Ursas, but you should already know how bad those are thanks to Snips and Snails. Any questions?"

Velvet had been asking questions the entire time. The amount of knowledge her child had gathered was staggering, she knew the migration habits of the timber wolves the average sleep schedule for a hydra, the weak points of a cragadiile and the preferred diet of a Manticore, along with knowing where they would be, and how they would act during different times of day. As much as she did not want to admit it, her little girl had finally grown up she was both elated and sadden by this realization. Cadence was enjoying watching her old charge shine. It was obvious she had found both her talent and her passion here. It may have been a little scary to her, but Cadence knew her friend had found her place in the world and she could not be happier for Midnight. The girls were of one mind when they agreed to never come to the forest alone again. They had seen hydras angry manticores, hungry cragodiles, and a timber wolf the size of a house. Spectrum had taken her list of ideas and shredded them.

That afternoon, Velvet and Cadence left for Canterlot with smiles on their faces and joy in their hearts. They had come to see a missing young one and found a full grown mare. Midnight sat enjoying her evening tea. Despite some bumps along the way , it had been a fun day. Just as they were getting ready for bed Spike burped out a scroll . After carefully opening it, Midnight had a need to sit down .

Letter

Dear Twilight 'Midnight' Sparkle

We Princess Luna cordially invite you to dine with us at The Golden Dragon for dinner this Saturday. Please respond ASAP for all relevant details.

Midnight read the letter again. It was still short, honest and to the point. She blinked once, twice, and proceeded to faint, instantly entering the world of dreams. "PRINCESS!?"

Nightmare appeared a few moments later, rubbing her ear "Yes?" She paused when she looked at Midnight's face her expression was neutral, but her eyes held pure panic. "What's wrong?"

Midnight took a calming breath "did you just send me a letter, inviting me to dinner?"

Nightmare was a little confused "Yes. Was there a problem with it?" Inside she was worried "What did I do wrong? Was it to formal, not formal enough what?"

Midnight sighed "Good. That clears that up. So, you want to go to dinner with me, is this just a normal dinner or-" Here she blushed " Will it be something more?" Midnight just looked at the Princess awaiting her response. When she saw the wide eyed expression on Nightmares face she back paddled "I'm sorry. I still need to work on not jumping to conclusions"

"Like a Princess would ever want to date you, the weird little wild pony?"

Nightmare started when she heard that and realized that her shock may have cost her, she had to be honest "I, I wanted this to be a potential date, but did not what you to feel obligated. I want to get to know you and for you to know me, not as a Princess but as a pony." There she had said her piece.

Midnight looked at her for a moment before she seemed to explode "YES!" She seemed to realize how she sounded "I mean, yes, I would love to have dinner with you this Saturday, Nightmare." Here she paused "Can we go over some of the details to make sure we are both on the same page?"

Nightmare was smiling so big you could use her teeth as a piano "Yes, yes we can Midnight."

Ch.13 Date & Secrets

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Midnight sat on the train as she looked down at her dress. She thought about the past week. Spectrum and the other girls had been well behaved (well, better behaved; they still got coated in tree sap 9 times out of 10 but it was getting better). She still chuckled every time she thought about the girls' more recent adventures. Diamond had been inspired during their lessons and seemed to have memorized the guard manual copy Midnight gave her. The reason she gave was interesting "My talent is Leadership or at least the potential to be a leader. I thought the best way to do that was as a politician. But as a new member of the Royal court; even as a junior member; I have more political potential than any member of my family ever has, so trying to gather more seems kind of dumb. I want to be able to leave an impression on those around me and be remembered. The leaders of the Guard go down in history remembered by all ponies. We still have lessons about them in school here, for the brave things they've done defending our home's. That's the kind of recognition I want for things I do; not who I am or who I know."

She proceeded to politely take over as the organizer for the activities of the CMC. All ideas where considered (except the ones involving the forest; they all agreed those were not going to happen), discussed and then set out in order depending on what they wanted to try. This method increased the time they were able to activity go crusading and with Silver double checking all safety measures, the number of accidents had gone down, slightly.

They had all been happy to hear about her upcoming date, though some tried to not admit how happy they were (Scootaloo). Her friends had been quite happy to offer her any advice she asked for (and some she didn't). Rarity was overjoyed when Midnight asked her to make the dress for her date, though the short argument they had over price was quite odd considering the one buying the dress had to argue the price up. She had also set up a nice spa day to make sure she was looking her best with one little addition as a surprise. Now here she was. the train had stopped. It was time to face the music.

Nightmare had decided to meet her date at the door of the restaurant. Convincing the guards she did not need an escort had actually been quite simple. Once they knew who was showing up they calmed down considerably. Nightmare had to stop herself from staring when she saw Midnight. Her dress was a beautiful violet with hints of blue and black but the crowning piece was a stunning crystal flower placed tastefully behind her ear. The dress alone was beautiful. When worn as part of such an ensemble it was magnificent, and made the pony wearing it look completely majestic. Nightmare was very glad she managed to not gap or drool. Once they were at their private table, they both had to share a laugh "The faces those nobles made was hilarious" Nightmare had never seen them that confused.

"They looked poleaxed." Midnight could not deny a feeling of satisfaction at seeing the shocked faces on some of the patrons. They managed to contain their laughter and order their food before swapping stories of the past week.

Midnight's jaw hit the table "You're purposefully pissing off the nobility, Why?"

Nightmare just grinned "Only the ones who show desires of hurting or replacing me or my sister consistently in their dreams. I can't use any evidence I find in dreams due to my power over them, but I can keep an eye on those who show signs of being a threat and pull them to a situation where their true intentions become clear. " Nightmare had been quite blunt in her behavior during court. Most nobles adjusted to it with little problem but a small few were not doing well at all. The fact that they were the most annoying, whinny, and pompous was just a coincidence. "So how are things going for you?"

Midnight told her some stories about the past weeks and some events from important days like the previous Nightmare Night (Moon spent it trolling some ponies and pranking the guards). Midnight had a fun time guiding Spectrum and her friends around town. She even turned the library into a haunted house using some of the things she learned from the forest and a few props. She gave every foal in town a good scare with at least one thing (she also told the story of the Running of the Leaves, but - just for the record - that's the same as canon).

Nightmare was particularly interested in one part of her Nightmare Night story. "You went as a Vampony?"

Midnight nodded enthusiastically. "I've always enjoyed the old stories and legends. I even found some proof that they once existed." Her voice became somber here "I also know what happens if a pony with no cutie mark gets hit by the dark spell that causes the transformation."

Nightmare was intrigued. "You know. How?"

Midnight continued in the same vain "I found a town full of ponies in the forest. They let me help them, after a long argument during which they tried to turn me. The tree helped me stabilize them, but they were stuck as ghouls. they don't feel like mingling with other ponies quite yet."

Nightmare was in a state of shock. "She knows about us. She's not afraid. How , how would she react if I told her?"

The arrival of their meal gave Night some time to think and calm down. The staff were very helpful, especially when they both ordered a dish that was more popular with visiting gryphons. The only response to their orders was a shrug from the waiter.

After the meal Nightmare decided to stall a little longer. "So. Just where did you get that dress Midnight?"

Midnight smiled fondly "Rarity was nice enough to make it for me, and if I'm perfectly honest, it's one of the best designed and made dresses I've ever owned". Nightmare agreed that it was one of the best she had ever seen and asked if Midnight would mind delivering an order form to her friend for a dress for the Gala "Oh she is going to love this."

Nightmare smiled before she became serious "Well best just get it over with" "Midnight I have something I'd like to tell you, okay." After waiting for Midnight's nod Nightmare continued 'Alicorns are equal parts earth pony, pegasus and unicorn, at least that's what we tell everypony. While that is true for my sister, I am quite a bit darker; darker than I appear even now. the pony types that I represent are the Diomidens (vamponies), Thestrals (bat ponies) and Karkadann (dark unicorn)" She was a bit afraid of Midnight's reaction.

"When was the last time you got to feed?" Nightmare stared before Midnight continued "Don't give me that look. I know what vamponies need. What do you think the fangs I have are from? I'm just lucky enough to not need blood, but I can drink it if I need to. So, when?'

"I, I've been putting it off since I got back." Nightmare was not expecting Midnight's reaction, though it was not unwelcome. She was not prepared, however, when Midnight sat closer to her and pulled the fabric of her dress away from her neck.

"That won't do at all. You need to feed, it won't hurt me and I promise not to tell until you give the okay, Nightmare".

Nightmare stared at her date. This was the first pony to offer her their blood other than her own sister. she started to lean towards Midnight when the mare paused and reached into her pocket before putting a small ring on her ear. "That will stop me from taking magic from you" Nightmare just nodded before sinking her fangs in.

The taste was amazing coppery sweat, salty, and full of life she could hear Midnight gasp and moan softly feel her heart speed up and smell the blood as it pumped in her veins. But something felt wrong. It only took her a moment to see the problem, the anti-magic ring. With a deft use of levitation she pulled the ring from Midnight's ear the moment it was off she felt it Midnght's magic came alive. At the same time her magic was being pulled into Midnight, at the same rate she was drinking her blood. The feeling of shared bliss and togetherness was indescribable. they continued the exchange of energy for almost 2 minutes before Nightmare reluctantly broke the circuit.

They were both breathing heavily with flushed faces "That.. Was... Amazing, Luna-" Midnight's eyes shot open when she realized what she said "I, I mean-"

Nightmare just laughed 'Its fine Twilight and I agree with you, but I think we need to start heading home, I can teleport you home if you'd like."

"That would be great. Just one more thing, could we step outside first?" Nightmare nodded and the left the restaurant (after paying of course) they spent a few minutes sitting in the evening sunlight appreciating the sunset.

While they were out a group of 5 ponies noticed Midnight one of them decided to be witty "Well, if it isn't the markless wonder. Where'd you get the dress?"-She gained as nasty smirk- "or more precisely who'd you have to sleep with to get it?"

The others laughed at their leaders 'witty' question. This was Bluebell, the younger sister of Blueblood and bane of Midnight's foalhood. The group had not noticed Nightmare at first due to the angle of their approach.

Nightmare was indigent but before she could turn to respond to such a rude comment, Midnight just winked at her before focusing on a small patch of dirt nearby, from which sprang a flower. It was breath taking; a deep violet with a light blue center. Midnight walked over picked it with care before dumping the pollen and presenting it to Nightmare "A flower for my Princess, grown from my own magic"

Nightmare went from angry, to amazed, to ecstatic, but she kept her composure "Thank you, My lady. I shall treat it with care."

With those parting words, she teleported them both to Ponyville, the last thing they saw being the stunned faces of the bullies who had just realized they had insulted the Princess's date.

Library

They appeared in front of Midnight's friends (who were waiting for details) only for the girls to shrink away from them in fear. Nightmare just raised an eyebrow "What? Is something on my face?". Midnight just looked at her for a moment before commenting

"Luna, why did your horn and wings change?" Her wings had become bat like and her horn had curved losing it's rings and gaining a hint of blue near the tip.

"I decided to stop hiding. This is what I truly look like and from now on I don't care who knows I'm done pretending" the girls seemed to calm down after her passionate speech and the conversations before they left helped banish any remaining fear. She caused Rarity to go over the moon (thankfully figuratively rather than literally) when she put in an order for a dress that she planned to use at the upcoming gala. The only black mark being when Pinkie noticed the bite mark on Midnight's neck. Friendly ribbing and insinuation were cut off when she revealed to true nature of the bite (after which she had to pull both Fluttershy and Pinkie out from under the sofa). Even there though, after the full situation was explained to them, the girls calmed down.

Soon after everyone left and, at Spectrum's pleading, Nightmare spent the night. They both went to sleep for a moment only to wake up quickly when they appeared in the same bed. After trying to separate 3 more times, they realized that something was pulling them back together while they slept so they just gave up, for the night, and hunkered down together "I could get use to this" was their mutual thought as they drifted of to sleep, each listening to the other's heartbeat.

Ch. 14. Old Friends and Older Truths

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Fancy Pants was a smart stallion with a good head on his shoulders, which is why his first thought upon seeing the new look of the new Princess was to make sure his daughter was paying attention. "Watch closely, Fleur. I believe we shall be bearing witness to one of the most fantastic mind-bucks of our time. and we will get to see many of our fellow nobles make fools of themselves, again."

Fleur giggled softly "Yes father, this should be fun"

Nightmare made no indication if she heard them, but her smile became a bit more hungry. "Time to start the show" She motioned to the guard at the door to open court for the day. Shining had never been happier to be on door duty. He may be captain, but a bad training session the previous day had taken both the assigned guard and his substitute out of commission. Thus, Shining decided to fill the spot himself today disguised as a normal guard. Cadence was here as well at Luna's request 'so she could see what an average day in court was like'. Now she realized it had just been an excuse to have her there as someone the nobles could not bribe, or order to keep quiet.

(Luna's general appearance by Gerviousfan )

Most of the nobles had been talking among themselves before court began when they brought their collective attention (Little as there was) to the Princess the reaction was immediate. Most of them just stared taking in the bat like wings and curved horn before blinking/shrugging and getting ready for the day. A few, however, had very extreme reactions. The most noticeable example was the ever-so-loved ( by the press) Prince Blueblood who lead the charge. Namely, he was the first pony to pass out and be carried to the hospital. Although he fainted first, however, he was the last to regain awareness.

Meanwhile

While Nightmare was causing yet another big wave in Canterlot, Midnight was consoling Rarity, as the only one of her friends who had not been involved in the dress fiasco with Hoity Toity. She had been involved in a meeting with the mayor which ran longer than expected The good news was she got the mayor to agree with a new plan for Winter Wrap Up. The bad news she had not been around to try and talk the girls out of 'helping' Rarity. To be fair, she would have tried as well if she had been there at the time, but Rarity did not need to know that.

After she calmed down and agreed to speak with the others (who apologized ) they all started working on setting up a new fashion show using only her designs. Midnight decided to go find Hoity. She had met the stallion and his wife Photo Finish many times in the past and, while she was not the best of friends with them due to their normal behavior, she had seen the true side of them in more ways than one.

"Miss Sparkle? How are you? Haven't seen you for years! Ever manage to get your cutie mark, young lady?" This was the Hoity she could deal with, the polite if direct stallion who had chased her and his daughter Vinyl around the block for (somehow) causing a cheese explosion with a sub-woofer. On the bright side, Scratch got her mark out of it, so they considered the sore flanks worth it.

She had been able to re-connect with several of her old friends recently (including Vinyl and Lyra who she had met during a music concert). Through them she also met Octavia and Bonbon. She was happy to help them when they both finally decided to tell their significant others what they were.

Vinyl is a Karkadann, not a surprise considering her whole family are of the night tribes. Octavia had been shocked but after being brought around (with smelling salts) she only had one question "You don't plan on eating me anytime soon, right?" Vinyl's vehement denial and clams of slander had them in stitches.

Lyra was a bit harder to prove as she is a Kelpie (Siren in MLP); the cousin to the Hippocampus or sea pony. They had to dunk her in a salt water bath to break the transformation. Her horn was just an extension of her magic to help her play her music so in her true form it was absent. However, Bonbon had just looked at her before asking if she should add fish to their dinner plans, or would that be rude?

Midnight could not have been happier for her friends and now she was happy to help another "Things are going well Hoity. Listen, I know the last dress show was a flop but we put another one together, it would mean a lot to the budding designer if you came." He agreed after a few minutes this is where she got serious. "Hoity I want you to give your honest opinion, no over statement's, no grandstanding, no being the Plot hole of the fashion world you like to play for kicks."- Here she gained a nasty smirk-" and to make sure your honest, if you try to back out of this or give an answer I know is false or hurtful on purpose. The local paper will be getting a hold of some very nice photos of you, and you won't have your shades to hide behind. Mr Diomidian . "

Hoity's eyes widened. Memories surfaced of weeks spent looking for those photos this little foal had taken of him and his wife. They had found all the physical copies but the negatives had vanished. He also vividly remembered when she stole his family's collection of sunglasses after they all scared the crap out of her one Nightmare Night. She never tried to do anything truly malicious before, so Why would she use them now? "Why are you trying to pull this, Twilight? I don't recall ever doing anything to piss you off this bad-"

He was brought up short when she smiled kindly at him "I just want you to stop hiding. Your Princess has returned the night tribes can come out of hiding now, and stand beside their monarch in the new age of Equestria."

Hoity was very glad he still had his sun glasses. "She-she told you, when!?"

Midnight happily told him about her date and the Princess's confession, explaining in detail how she had dropped her disguise and was going to be taking her place as the dark alicorn .

Hoity paused to think but, what other answer could he give "Twilight I promise to give an honest review of this and every future fashion show I go to. No more being the douche canoe as my daughter once said."-here he smirked "Throw in the negatives and I'll agree to take my shades off indoors from now on, once I speak with the Princess tonight." Midnight had explained how to summon a copy of Luna in the dream world to speak to her.

"Deal. Can you leave the shades off with the girls? They already know about the Princess." He agreed and joined her on her walk back to the fashion show. The reaction to Hoity's true look bright purplish blue eyes with slit pupils and fangs was funny (for them). After everypony calmed down, however, they got the fashion show underway and He could say with complete honesty that it was one of the best he had been to in quite a while.

The girls (especially Rarity) were overjoyed to hear his honest and constructively critical opinion. They all went to bed that night in a good mood, though Midnight could not help but giggle at the shock Equestria would be getting over the next few days.

15. Pie Family Sense. Makes Sense? Welcome to Ghoul town

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Midnight was ready to lose her composure completely. "You mean to tell me, not only were there other ponies with this problem, but there is an entire family with records, and examples of this crap?!" Midnight had just witnessed first hoof the Pinkie sense. She had experienced this type of phenomenon before, due to absorbing so much unicorn magic from living in Canterlot. Only she had no one around to help her understand the pains and twitches other than harsh reality and trial and error. After gaining her cutie mark, the precognitive ability became the unicorn equivalent (previously thought to be exclusive) passive ability of future sight which she could activate with meditation and practice every morning to get a general idea of how the day was going to go, but she got no warning about this.

"Yeah I have the most warnings due to my talent. Dad gets signals about the farm or work, Maud can find ponies whereever they go if they hurt one of us. Limestone can always tell when it's going to be a bad day and Marble can tell how likely it is that something bad is to happen, so she gets nervous very easily. Why?" Pinkie stopped her explanation only to watch as Midnight ground her teeth.
She calmed down after a moment "So mind if I make a list of all the feelings you know about?" Pinkie gave the okay and they spent the next few hours going around town as she explained all of the many feelings and combos that she could think of. They got to experience several of them and Midnight took a few hits but she learned fast and never got caught by the same warning twice (apparently like her own ability). Pinkie's did not like being studied, but while hers had just shutdown when she tried, Pinkie seemed to get annoyed and actively send warnings as late as possible to try and get her hurt or make her give up.

They were having a lot of fun till Pinkie got a warning about Foggy Bottom Bog. They ran as fast as they could only to find Fluttershy trying to run away from the hydra who lived in the bog. This was the same hydra who Midnight had previously needed to warn off hurting the towns folk many times. However, she had finally had enough. Pinkie and Fluttershy managed to get a fair distance away but the hydra just kept after them. "Enough! Foggy! You have five seconds to stop and go home before I get mad. 5" 3 of the heads ignored her while the fourth laughed and he kept chasing her friends.

"4" Unnoticed by the others, Midnight's ears had grown bat like and her fur was rapidly becoming black.

"3" The girls managed to hide in a tree and watched as the hydra advanced on Midnight.

"2" Her mane had gone vine mode and her eyes were glowing a solid purple

"1" As the hydra reared one head back to strike her, the vines snapped to attention catching the head on the downswing and holding it fast

"Times up" With one fluid motion, Midnight's mane erupted into eldritch blue flames as she tore the head from the hydra's body and reduced it to ash. The neck healed quickly and soon after, 2 new heads sprouted the now 5 headed hydra looked at Midnight in anger and no small amount of fear

"Foggy, go home now!" the hydra ran back to the safety of his bog and Midnight returned to normal (not counting the ears).
A few moments later, Pinkie and Shy were standing beside her. They both did a double take when they saw the tears in her eyes "Midnight, t-thank you for saving us. Are you okay?" Fluttershy was worried for her friend. This was the first time she had seen her really cry.
"That was amazing! How did you do that? What else can you do?" Pinkie was worried as well, but expressed it in her own way (in this case meaning a hug).
"She just tore the head off of something, which was cool, but I doubt she's in a good mood, Pinkie"

"I know, Mina, but - What should we do?"

"sigh, Just keep doing what your doing for now. That should help, silly"

"Oh good, I knew you could help me. Thanks"

"Ditz"

"Grump"

Midnight managed to gather herself enough to reciprocate Pinkies hug (unaware of the mental argument) "I, I hate doing that. He used to only have one head but he just keeps trying to eat me, or other ponies. I found out how effective that was, so I use it but I hate it." The girls understood enough about what was going on for now, so they just hugged their friend and let her cry herself out.
After awhile she seemed to get tired. Before they could ask any questions, she simply said "Let's go home, girls." She knew she would have to explain herself soon, but, for now, she just wanted to sleep,

Deeper in the forest

Nightmare appeared in a swirl of mist she had managed to convince most of the remaining night tribe members to come out of hiding. The only place left was the town in the forest. Midnight told her that they had been told about her and that she would visit them eventually.

"Well, no time like the present"

With that in mind, she had blinked close to the town and was just entering the main area. Every pony there looked almost the same (to her). She could tell they were under heavy illusions but, to her, they were all dark ash grey with solid red eyes. It did not take long for them to notice her once they all gathered in the town square.

She was surprised to see how few of them there actually were. Considering the size of the town, she had expected almost 50 ponies not the dozen or so who where there.

The oldest looking one stepped forward "Princess, it is an honor to meet you. I wish I could tell you my name, but most of us have forgotten who we were before becoming what we are. Mayor Midnight told us to choose names for ourselves but some of us, such as myself, are still trying to decide."- Nightmare was quite confused. They had elected Midnight mayor?-

"I know you must have questions. I will tell you our tale and I hope this clears everything up." ( AN For those who are curious, this is based on The Story of The Blanks so the backstory explained there is the story they tell Luna, only with Midnight breaking the curse and putting those responsible for it to rest)

Nightmare listened to their story and understood their pain and fear, but she wanted to help them in the best way she knew how. "I understand your fear, my little ponies" (she had always wanted to say that) "But our time is now. We are all coming out of the darkness. Soon the world will know about us and no pony can harm you simply for being what you are. Report to Midnight in the morning. I will let her know you're coming so she can help get things ready for you. "

Reluctantly they agreed that they would be using the fluidity of the town's position to move it to right outside Ponyville and use the magic of the tree to make it stay put.

With a plan in mind, Nightmare left to enter the dream world "Well, tomorrow will be interesting that's for sure."

16. Explanations and the Sonic Rainboom

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Midnight was sitting and enjoying a lunch with the girls as they talked about the events of the last few days. The appearance of a completely new section of town with about a dozen new ponies had been quite confusing for the locals. Add that to the fact that Vinyl aka DJ-Pon3 was walking around town with a curved horn and fangs, along with Blossomforth showing up to work with bat wings and Roseluck having snake eyes, the town was understandably reaching their collective wits' end. After an announcement from the mayor and getting to see that none of the revealed 'dark' ponies were acting any different, the town slowly went back to normal (well, as normal as things EVER got around a Weirdness Magnet like Ponyville anyway).

The girls had been very curious about Midnight's full power and what she could do, she explained that most of her power was tied to the forest. This meant that the further away she was, the weaker she got until she only had her personal abilities to draw on (which consisted of future sight, cloud walking, augmented strength, and magic absorption).

They were all taking a break with Rainbow to help her relax before the upcoming competition. The fact that the Princess would be there along with the Wonderbolts made it all the more stressful for her. The girls were being as helpful and supportive as they could. Rarity had even learned the cloud walking spell so they could all come to support her during the event. She had been practicing for weeks with Shy and Gilda acting as spotters. The only problem was she could not seem to perform the Sonic Rainboom (TM) no matter how many times she practiced or what she tried.

Cloudsdale day of the competition

The girls had gathered in the stands. Scootaloo had managed to cute her way into coming on the trip to see Rainbow compete. They had still had a few problems however, such as the adult bullies that they all (Rainbow, Gilda, Shy) remembered from flight school. The brick-heads proved that age does not always equal maturity, by trying the same shit they used to do.

Word to the wise: never anger an adult gryphon and do not proceed to insult the mate of said gryphon after you have angered them. Two out of those three bullies learned that the hard way. Fluttershy's intervention was the only thing that stopped her from killing them (though she had been more worried about how much trouble Gilda would be in for murder, rather than if those two idiots lived or not). Regardless, they had made it to the stands and eagerly awaited the start of the event.

"So any luck finding a guard captain?" Midnight was sitting beside Luna during the proceedings. The guards were a bit alarmed that she got in to the box without them seeing her, but Nightmare allowed her to stay.

"Not so far. Most of the more experienced soldier's don't want to leave my sister's ranks, so I'm looking for new talent. Thankfully, the night tribes are more than willing to fill out the ranks, but finding anyone with true leadership skills is hard'-

Here she smirked-"If this keeps up I may have to hire you as the captain and put you through the grinder to get your skills up to par"

Midnight gave her (at the moment) secret marefriend a flat look "That better come with some big benefits, your Highness. I'm afraid my brother's example has given me high expectations for those.". They continued to watch the competitors as they talked enjoying the skills of the many contestants .

"I might be open to 'negotiations' after the show, my dear. But first I need to see if any of the fresh talent has the right potential. I refuse to let my sister have a better military force than I, so I intend to start a new flying squad, I think the name Shadow Bolts seems appropriate."

Midnight nodded. She was one of the few ponies alive who actually knew what the original roles of the Princesses were (Thank you Herman). Celestia had been the head of legislation and held ultimate veto power over all laws, which is why she had so much paperwork. Luna, on the other hoof, had been the head of military affairs.

The structure had changed after her banishment. Thus, at the moment, she had equal power to her sister but no real influence in the long term. They were both now the head of state for legislative and judicial purposes, but Nightmare needed to start building her own court to have any true say in what laws would be put up for debate and have any say in the military again. So here she was looking for fresh talent to make her own part of the guard and air force. "I think you'll find at least one of the potentials has the right stuff, Moony"

"We shall see. Care to make a bet on that, with the usual spoils?"

Midnight found herself nodding before her mind finished processing the sentence. "I am going to enjoy myself." They returned their full attention to the event. As Rainbow began her performance the show was spectacular, before it all went FUBAR. Scootaloo was sitting very close to the edge watching her mother and with one careless misstep she fell, her wings buzzing uselessly. Rainbow saw what happened and dove after her daughter abandoning the show in an instant, but she was too high up. Then, with a thunderous crack, the world exploded into color as she raced down catching Scoot at the last second and bringing her to safety.

The entire crowd went ballistic at the display. After awarding Dash her prize as the best young flyer Nightmare stood by her partner "You knew this was going to happen, didn't you dear?"

"Not exactly. I knew the Rainboom would happen, but not why. So what do you think?"

"I think I need to stop making bets with you, I never win. She would make a perfect candidate I just need to get her some proper training, and I owe you the usual. shall we?"

Midnight nodded happily. With a flash Nightmare teleported them to the library. Soon after the sounds of laughter could be heard as Midnight attacked her Princess's sensitive belly. Spectrum just shook her head and plugged her ears. The girls all came back from the show happy, though Fluttershy refused to let go of Scootaloo for the rest of the day. They all went about the rest of their day happy for their friend, who was coming ever closer to reaching her dream

17 the CMC meet the Queen

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The girls were, as usual, having their sleep over at Fluttershy's cottage. They had an agreement where, at least once a week, they would meet up at the home of one of the girls' guardians to have their sleepover. Fluttershy and Gilda were the ones willing to put up with the girls the most often. Scootaloo had been talking with her mothers since the incident at the best young flyers competition about any way for her to gain the ability to sustain flight safely. They had exhausted every medical book they could get a hold of but there was no real way to fix her wings that had ever been discovered. At least no way by PONIES. Fluttershy had told her of one option that would work, but it would not be easy. In order for her to gain the ability to fly she would have to go through a metamorphosis pod and become a changeling.

The process was old and very specific. It could not be forced, it could not be done to a pony who had their cutie mark and the process would create a young queen. So most hives would not have bothered with it in the first place. Fluttershy was willing to set up the pod if Scoot decided to go through with the procedure but it had to be her decision or the pod would just spit her out. She had spoken with the girls about it without revealing what the treatment would be, only that it would be permanent.

Fluttershy had been speaking with her friends (and the Princesses [eep]) and had agreed after some 'gentle' prodding over several weeks and a promise of protection to reveal her true form at the up coming Gala when Midnight and Nightmare revealed their relationship. She was being offered a place as the head of a new noble house due to her being of foreign royalty, which was enough to be considered noble with royal permission.

Now came step one: letting the girls know. "Scootaloo, how much have you told the girls about the treatment?" the girls jumped they had not heard her come in.

"Only a little. Is that okay, mom?" Scootaloo did not want to cause her mother any more panic problems.

Fluttershy smiled "If its okay, I'll explain the procedure to you all."

The girls were sitting in front of her, immediately ready to hear what would happen to their friend. "Now the process she can use is to go through something that is akin to a cocoon for a caterpillar. The procedure will allow her to fly by turning her into a little known type of pony called a Changeling" The girls were speechless for a second.

"How would that help her?" Sweetie bell was the first to speak up.

Fluttershy smiled kindly before erupting in a pink flash revealing her true self "This is what a changeling looks like, girls. We have the ability to fly and cast magic and are able to change our appearance at will to blend in. I hope I don't need to explain why we would need to do that?"
The girls shake their heads but Diamond has a contemplative look "Why are you telling us about this now?" The others look at her for an answer which she happily gives.

"The Princesses have made sure we're included in the anti-discrimination laws when they were updated this year and seeing as I'm technically a Changeling Queen, I can apply for noble status and I'm on record as Princess Nightmare's Beastmaster for the Lunar court.

Apple Bloom had to say something here "Hold on. You mean we have 2 princesses living in Ponyville?" at the same time Diamond was hiding the fact that she was about to pass out from having insulted 2 royals on a regular bases before getting some sense knocked into her.

Fluttershy nodded "Well Scoot will only be an official princess if she decides to go through the change."

Scootaloo interrupted her mother. "I'll do it."-the girls looked at her shocked "The only reason I was worried was because I had no idea what to tell you girls. If I don't have to hide, I have no problems."

Once Shy double checked that yes, Scoot was ready and the girls did not mind staying with her, she set up the pod for Scootaloo and made sure she was comfortable. The girls than spent a lovely evening talking with Scoot through the pod before she fell asleep due to the procedure so the girls finally went to bed to be ready for the next day.
The next morning the girls were woken up by the sound of something cracking. when they looked the pod was shaking then it burst open and Scoot tumbled out.

(By Astrera )

Scoot stood up, rubbing her eyes and without noticing, she started to hover her wings buzzing like crazy. She felt stronger than ever, the love of her friends and family had been feeding her during the transformation as such she was in much better condition than most changelings. She still had her mane. No holes were present anywhere on her body and, with a quick internal check, she was happy to see that she was still producing her own supply of love energy. Just like mom.

That had been surprising to discover the tree had apparently activated the ability to produce proper levels of love in Fluttershy, to remove her greatest weakness and her fear of hurting other ponies when she had to feed. The girls had to run to school with a letters explaining scoot was absent for medical reasons and Scootaloo spent the rest of the day learning how to shift back into her pony form. Fluttershy had a feeling that this was going to take awhile.

Scootaloo was back at school the next day but she was twitchy. Her disguise was good, but she still had some trouble maintaining it. Fortunately, the girls would cover for her if she had to drop and remake it. That was, until she ran into a certain wall eyed unicorn.
Dinky just stared at the strange bug pony that, just a moment ago, had been Scootaloo. "So that's why you looked blurry, thank celestia I thought my eyes were getting worse".

While Dinky was happy, Scoot was confused

"You could see through my illusion?" Scoot was about to panic before Dinky shoved a hoof in her mouth.

"Relax. Mom and I can both see through illusion, due to our eyes not working the same as other ponies. We see the illusions as blurs so know they aren't real. I don't know why your hiding. You look nice to me, but I won't rat you out, okay."

Scoot calmed down, she knew that Dinky was not that well liked due to how clumsy she was but she had never been mean or lied to anypony in class before. "Thanks. Um, would you like to hang out with us?"

Dinky just looked at her for a moment before nodding scoot could tell she was trying not to cry and realized this was (probably) the first time anyone in class had offered to be her friend, and meant it. So, after rejoining the group and explaining what happened, it was Diamond who first offered her hoof in friendship

"I know I was cruel to you in the past, Dinky, and I'm sorry for that. I can't give a good reason for how I acted other than not thinking how I would affect others. I hope you can forgive me" Dinky's only response was to open her forelegs in the universal sign of a hug and with a sudden group snuggle, the girls gained yet another true friend.

18. Lessons 2 and magic practice.

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"Okay, girls. Let's go over the squads one more time." the CMC (plus Dinky) were all enjoying their lessons. Diamond had asked what the position of the Wonderbolts was in the guard which lead to a full explanation of the guard squads and their roles along with the command structure.

"The royal guards of Canterlot are the city's equivalent of a high trained police force. Officially, this is due to the large concentration of important targets that live there. Unofficially, it was done to shut up the more whiny nobility and give them a way to send off what were considered unneeded heirs without putting them on the front lines of the frozen north in the Solar guards." Apple Bloom had this memorized because Big mac was part of the local squadron.

The royal guards actually protected every town in Equestria. They were only out in the open in Canterlot to make the city look better protected. "The Night guard takes over during the latter half to early hours rotating every 12 hours to avoid letting one squad get too tired."

Diamond took over at this part "The solar guard is traditionally made up of the best of the best but has changed in recent years so any citizen can sign up for training. Thus, it is not uncommon to see cows, donkeys or even buffalo in the guard. Their main job is protecting the borders of Equestria, The northern and southern borders are particularly guarded because they lead to the Frozen North and the Badlands respectively. The western border ends at the sea, so the guard force there is basic. The eastern border runs right through the Everfree so no guards really go out that far. "

Scootaloo spoke up next "The Wonderbolts are a supreme air force unit which has roots in old pegasus traditions. The squad has changed over the years in many ways but the root of being a squad for entertainment and emergency evac has stayed the same."

Sweetie Belle went on the explain the research and development department which was predominantly run by unicorns.

Spectrum described the plan for the Lunar Guard, which was a stealth and internal security defense force.

While this was going on, Dinky was focusing on trying to convince a piece of paper to float. However, it had not budged an inch no mater what she tried. Her mind began to wander and, while she was thinking about how Spike sent a letter with his fire, she felt the magic leave her horn and watched as the blank paper burst into flame only for Spike to spit it out a moment later. Everyone in the room looked at Dinky as her flank glowed for a moment as the image of a letter and a scroll surrounded by fire appeared.

The CMC were in shock "How does that work?" Sweetie was not happy.

"Calm down girls. Dinky, was this the first time you've done anything with mail?"

"No. I help mama a lot. But - if my talent is sending letters, why did it only happen now?"

"I thought so. You see, girls, cutie marks are based on the harmonious magic that holds ponykind together. It's what sets us apart from other species and lets us have true insight into what we are supposed to do. This magic will try to pull you to what your talent is and reveal itself once you discover that talent. Zebras and donkeys have their own forms of magic, but they aren't as obvious. Most bovines have some magic, but they rarely try to learn to harness it. Griffins, minotaurs and the creatures from the forest all use wild magic, or magic that is very hard to control." Midnight explained but added the following only in her silent thoughts:

"Actually, the griffins and minotaurs used to live in the forest until they grew smart enough to want to found their own nations, but I don't think the girls are ready to hear that yet."

After several hours of practice and assurance that her new friends were not going to abandon her, Dinky had managed to master the spell as much as it could be taught. Now she just had to practice to make sure the letters went where she wanted them to. The girls had taken the lesson to heart and decided to try finding their talents in the upcoming school talent show.

Midnight and the others went to watch what was simultaneously the funniest and the most embarrassing thing they had ever seen their younger family members do.

Midnight showed it to Nightmare that night. Nightmare, in turn, showed it to her sister in her sleep.

Spectrum was never going to live this down no mater what she did. Her family would always remember her attempt at juggling pies (the desert, not the family). The girls went home embarrassed but happy at the fun they had during the show.

As they were leaving, Midnight gave Rarity a book on old traditions with a passage about old deals and treaties marked. "What's this for, darling?"

"I thought you might find it interesting. Most of the nobles have to memorize this book, though they rarely use the information it contains." that was all she needed to say. Rarity was nose deep in it in an instant and Sweetie had to guide her home to avoid running anypony over.

Midnight smiled "That should make things run much smoother next week"

19. Diamond Dogs and Honer

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Rarity could not believe this was happening. She had followed all the rules, even listened to Spike's advice in dealing with them but the Dogs just refused to listen to any reason. After being pulled down she heard Spike yell that he was going for help and would send a message to get the guards on their way. Now, here she was trying not to cry and wait out the time stuck pulling a cart. "Oh, I hope they get here soon."

Ponyville outpost.

Mac was sitting in his office thinking about the new squad members. All 12 of the strange adults with no marks (who the town had taken to calling the blanks) showed up with applications and health forms to join the guard. Their applications explained that they were sufferers of a strange illness that, while not contagious, had made it impossible for them to find their marks. Mac had been ready to admit them for training when Ditsy came out of her office. As odd as the part time mail mare was, her appearance and behavior masked a sharp mind. Why she never used it outside of guard duty confused her squad mates to no end. She had taken one look at the new ponies and had them all in her office before they or Mac could blink. He could still remember the conversation.

Flashback

Ditsy Do; squad leader of the Ponyville garrison and local mail mare (walking disaster); was staring down the 12 new anomalies in town as best she could. She knew they were each under a heavy illusion but had no idea why. Because they were not causing any trouble she would have left them alone normally, but she was not going to let new ponies join the ranks without knowing if they were safe or not. "Okay folks, I know your all disguised . If you want to join the guard, I better get an explanation now!"

Mac was surprised. He had no idea she could see through illusions. The ponies (Ghouls) looked at one another before nodding the room suddenly seemed very small with 12 gray colored red eyed walking corpses in it "You see ma'am its like this."

Flashback end

The story of those poor souls still gave him the willies. Still, the fact that they wanted to join the guard to protect those who still had a chance to live despite what they had gone through was awe inspiring to him. While Mac was pondering this, Spike ran through the door "Help! The diamond dogs in the hills kidnapped Rarity"

Mac was alert in an instant. They had never had problems with the pack before, but the alpha was getting old. Oh he hoped that idiot Rover had not somehow gained power. Mac had a team consisting of himself, Bulk, Blossom, Clamper, Scrapper and Pixy ready and on the move in under 10 minutes. It would still take a bit for them to reach the best entrance to the tunnels though. Thirty minutes later, they were entering the tunnels proper after some searching they managed to find where Rarity was. They just had to follow the constant noise.

Rarity had snapped. She was currently trying to impale Rover with an amalgamation of all the gems she had collected, none of which they had allowed her to claim. She had come here hoping to meet them due to an old deal she had found. Diamond Dogs and gem hunting ponies used to work together quite often with an equal split of the gems found between each individual. Rarity had been angry when the dogs made her do most of the work but she was used to doing all of it anyway on her hunts. However, when they tried to take all of the gems without giving her a cut, the last bit of her normal behavior went out the window.

The squad charged in Mac pinned Rarity while his companions took Rover's minions into custody. "Miss Rarity, I know yer upset and ya have every right ta be but killing him will just cause more trouble than it's worth."

Rarity was spitting mad, but as she was trying to calm down. Rover tried to jump them, Mac kicked his teeth out on reflex. Once he made sure Rarity was not going to go nuts again, he proceeded to drag Rover to his minions and make sure they were tied up correctly. Not noticing the eyes of a shocked mare on him "I never realized how brave Macintosh was. He was always strong but..." Rarity had spoken with Midnight about the nobles on several occasions and while her view of them had dimmed, she still held out hope of finding her prince.

While they were cleaning up, an absolutely ancient dog arrived "What's all the noise for?" This was Beethoven, the elder of the pack and, despite Rover's many challenges, still the alpha.

Rarity was still angry but she was not going to take it out on someone who looked as old as or older than Granny Smith. "Well, you see, sir, these ruffians decided to kidnap me and ignored anything I said, even when I enacted the gem hunter's treaty."

Beethoven just face pawed. The word idiots could be heard among his long suffering growl. "I apologize for the behavior of my pack mates. In accordance with the treaty, all gems found go the wronged party. Ma'am if you should ever like to go gem hunting in our territory again, look me up and i would be glad to find some of our younger pack members who would be happy to work with you." - here he turned to look at the 3 wrong doers- "I would normally ask that they be left in my custody but, as this is far from their first idiotic stunt, I think some time in the Ponyville jail house would do them some good, especially considering they have to go through re-training again afterwards."

The 3 were lead away and Rarity managed to convince Mac to help her pull the cart back to town. Once the whole mess was handled, Rarity still got what she wanted and Midnight was able to get a message from the Princess to Beethoven the pack would soon regain its honor. Even if they have to put the 3 schmuck-heads through re-training again, if they could reclaim their spot in the guard, the elders considered it a fair trade

20. Da Magics come to Ponyville

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Midnight was just finishing doing the library's inventory for the day when Gilda and Rainbow broke down the door (Again!). "Yes? what is it this time ladies?" She had given up trying to get them to stop breaking into her house.

Fortunately, Rainbow Dash and all related incidents were covered by all of Ponyville's home owner's insurance. Due to this and the fact that Rainbows job had her listed a civil servant, the Mayor would dock her pay for every incident reported. Midnight had agreed not to report incidents that could be fixed on their own as long as Rainbow agreed to help her fix them.

Gilda spoke up, while Dash tried to put the door back. "Rarity dragged Shy off to be her model." Now, this was nothing new (particularly after Rarity learned about Shy's ability to shift - meaning she could model any of Rarity's designs and still have them fit perfectly) "The problem is that some odd pony with a camera showed up and started gushing over her modeling skills."

Dash finished with the door and picked up the explanation "Rarity is in a bad mood because her designs were ignored. The shoot is over for now, but Shy is a nervous wreck."

Midnight felt a pit grow in her stomach. "What did this pony look like?" She hoped she was wrong.

Gilda tapped her beak in thought "Blue, long dress, purple shades white mane earth pony. Why?"

Midnight just sighed "Let me guess. She was going on and on about 'Da magics' right?"

Rainbow and Gilda both nodded.

Midnight just slumped and walked over to the wall. "I'll talk to her before it gets worse tomorrow. See you there."

After they left, she spent the next 20 minutes beating her head on the wall. Spectrum had to explain to Spike that this was normal for her to make sure she did not fly off the handle when dealing with a stubborn dummy.

Midnight managed to find Finish quite easily, (especially since she never was very quiet). "Twilight, dear. How are you?"

"I'm good, I wanted to talk to you about Fluttershy. I know how enthusiastic you get, but she is a very private pony. So I just wanted to give you a heads up. If you cause her a panic attack, we may have to save you from an angry griffin."

Photo just waved off her concerns "Come, dear. I'm not so bad. Tomorrow will be a wonderful shoot. The pictures will be going out to some of the best magazines in all of Equestria. It will be amazing!" She left without another word, too focused on her plans to notice Midnight's expression.

Midnight just started to head out "I better stock up on Iodine and get a blood pack or 2. She's going to need them".

Midnight just knew tomorrow was going to be a spectacle of epic proportions.

The next day Carousal Boutique

Rarity was helping clean up the mess from the photo shoot. She could not believe how bad it had gone. She lost her temper, Shy now had a phobia of cameras and Photo Finish got decked by Rainbow for causing Shy to have a minor heart attack ( only one stopped working). Gilda rushed Fluttershy to the hospital while Midnight applied Iodine to Finish's face and had her lay down before helping with the clean up. Once they all fixed the mess, they spoke with Finish.

Rarity was still not sure what Midnight had told Finish, but it prevented her from trying to press charges (for the punch).

This, combined with a reminder about what she had been told many times, made her calm down.

Finish was able to speak calmly after that and explained to Rarity that:

1. she would be sending both her and Shy checks for the photos based on how the magazines sold

2. that she would be putting Rarity's name on her list of top designers,
and

3. would be making sure it was known she now had the seal of approval from two of the biggest names in the fashion world.

Rarity was very happy with this outcome but Finish showed her true heart with her next sentence "Allow me to pay for any damages and for Ms Shy's medical bills. I may not have appreciated the hoof to the face, But I can understand. If some one caused Hoity - or, Luna forbid, Vinyl - to need the hospital I doubt I would have only hit them once."-

At their confused looks, she chuckled-"It's obvious that those 3 are together and I hurt one of them even though I was warned of what would happen. Now I hope you have a good day, ladies. I must be on my way, see ya."

Midnight and Rarity were able to find Shy, Dash and Gilda as they were leaving the hospital and explained everything to them. Shy was happy it had all been cleared up and was never going to model again if a camera was even in the room.

After everything was cleared up, they all went to see AJ as she had asked them to help with something that afternoon.

When they arrived, they found her carefully uprooting a tree with - a large bed near by? They had the feeling that this was the start of yet another adventure. When she explained that she wanted them to help her transplant a tree to the south western town of Appaloosa, they all agreed ready for another fun trip. After all, how hard could transplanting an apple tree be?

21. Appaloosa here we come.

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While all the girls agreed to go help plant Bloomberg, it took some time to organize everything. So, one week later, all the adults (including Gilda) and Spectrum boarded the train. The CMC had been invited, but at the time, they had not been interested since the trip was mostly for the transplant and not for the sake of getting to actually see what was in town. Spike stayed behind to keep the Library running (and help watch the girls).

The argument that evening caused Spectrum and Gilda to head to the car with Bloomberg (they could still not believe the tree had a name). The next morning resulted in a stolen train car, Rainbow needing her face fixed, 2 sentient beings missing and AJ, Pinkie and Rarity having to subdue 2 of their friends.

Midnight lost it when she saw Spectrum being dragged away in the train car. Pinkie and AJ had to pin her down to stop her from breaking the door and chasing them. The roar she unleashed was heartbreaking and bone chilling at the same time. Shy lost her form completely. Because one of her mates was hurt and the other was kidnapped, Fluttershy's normal reservations were understandably replaced by a protective instinct. Despite the fact that she sympathized with Fluttershy, Rarity had to subdue her for her own good.

Braeburn was waiting for his cousin and her friends at the station. Seeing AJ carry a purple mare out on her back while 2 others came out also carrying ponies one a pegasus the other, an odd bug pony, however, was not what he expected.

"What happened to those 3?" Braeburn quickly asked.

The pegaus sat up "Uh, what did I hit? A mountain?"

The pink mare giggled "No silly you hit the crossing sign."

The rainbow mare grimaced " Right. I am so going to get that stupid buffalo"

Braeburn felt his stomach drop but tried to hold his smile he turned to cousin Apple Jack to ask about her friend when he saw the look in the purple mare's eyes. The fact that they looked like a sidewinders only compounded how hollow and dead they looked. shuddering he turned to look at the last pony who was waking up.

"Now, Fluttershy, Darling. I know you're upset but please try to calm down."

The bug pony only nodded her head. She was startled when she noticed Braeburn staring at her, but after a moment she just sighed and walked over to the pegasus.

"Shy? your disguise dropped!?" Rainbow was confused when Shy just put a hoof over her mouth.

"I don''t care about that right now. Who are they going to tell anyway? Now are you okay dear?"

Rainbow blinked slowly before she nodded "Yeah. My head hurts a bit, but I'm good"-She then looked around-"Where's Gilda?'
they all started when a hollow voice answered

"She was in the car with Spectrum and the tree"-Midnight had come out of her depression somewhat-"Now, Mister Breaburn what can you tell us about the local buffalo herd?"

Braeburn had seen many scary things in his life, but the face of this mare terrified him to his very soul. "Sigh, you see it's like this-"

Meanwhile

Little Strong Heart felt her life flash before her eyes when they opened the train car to come face to beak with an infuriated griffin. When they heard the blood curdling scream from the train, they thought they had gotten away from the monster, not brought one with them! The buffalo still remembered when the griffins where deadly hunters to all, rather than just brutish jerks, so seeing one with the tree they had stolen was not good.

"So some one want to explain what's going on, or do I have to get physical?" Gilda was not happy but she did not want to scare Spectrum any more than she already was so injury was not likely, for now.

Strong Heart spoke up "W-we just wanted to get the tree, we had no idea you were in there, honest" She paused when she heard a sniffle and the oddest looking pony she had ever seen walked in to view. Well her eyes did at least, they could not see her properly until she ventured out of the car due to her black fur (which they did not know ponies even had) .

The snake eyed, fanged filly just looked at her with big confused eyes "Why did you want the tree so bad? Can't you get food from town?"

This brought them up short, she thought they wanted it for food? "If you would come with me, I'm sure the Chief would explain it better than I could." After a moment they both nodded and Spectrum hopped on Gilda's back as they went to see the leader of the buffalo.

That night

Spectrum was pacing in the dream world. "Okay so the ponies of Appaloosa needed to expand their orchard and used the tribes sacred ground to do so, without speaking to the tribe at all or even trying to offer compensation something is going on here."
With a look of determination, Spectrum sped off in less than a minute she had alerted her mother to the problem and pulled her father into her dream to get the town's side of the story.

Midnight was overjoyed to see her daughter unharmed and Nightmare was quite concerned (fortunately Midnight was not in trouble). After hearing Spectrum's explanation, both were confused though for different reasons.

"The plans for the town specifically mark all tribe territory as off limits and even marks several square miles for expansion. They can't have needed all of it already, surely."

Midnight was now even more confused "But, I checked the town records. The area the orchard was expanded on to is marked as unused flat land?"

Nightmare's horn glowed as she summoned the memories of the town map from both their minds. There it was, clear as day, someone had tampered with the plans given to the town to not show the buffalo territory at all.

Nightmare gained a very irked glint in her eye," Twilight, dear, please go get the leader of Appaloosa for me. Spectrum, go get chief, Thunder Hooves, did you say?"-Spectrum nodded-

"Right and I shall get my sister from her dreams so we can sort this out."

Silver Star was quite confused, to be honest, When that creepy purple snake eyed mare dragged him out of his dream, he thought he was going to die. Now he was entering a room with the Princesses!? "Your majesties how may I be of service" He was so caught up in their presence he did not notice the leader of the buffalo enter as well, who merely inclined his head in greeting before waiting for them to speak.

Celestia stepped forward "We called you both here to speak about the recent hostilities in the area. Chief, as you represent the injured party"-the Sharif started-"You may speak first."

Thunder Hooves had heard stories about the pony leaders, but had never had the chance to meet them. He was quite impressed with their power and their integrity (he hoped) "My tribe has used that same sacred ground to stamped on for generations, we would have been willing to share it with the town had they spoken with us but to just claim it; even for something as vital as food production; without even consulting us is a grave insult."

Spectrum had spoken with the Chief and explained that, while she agreed that the town was in the wrong ,perhaps they had not had any choice but to use that land. So the chief was willing to compromise, but not surrender.

Silver Star was in shock. Sacred? No one had said anything about sacred ground "Sheriff what do you have to say in response to this?"

Normally Silver Star was as stubborn as a rock and would have stuck up for his town, but these were the Princesses, practical goddesses in pony form. Who was he to say they were wrong? "I can only claim ignorance and apologize profusely for said ignorance, your majesties. Our maps mark that area as unused."

Celestia sighed "It is as you said sister"-

She brought both maps forward-"This is the map we have on record at Canterlot and a copy of one from your town hall. Something is quite wrong. I find it very hard to believe you used all the allotted orchard space in less than 500 years."
The sheriff double, than triple-checked, both maps and he hung his head in shame before turning to the Chief "I, again, apologize, on behalf of the entire town over what we did. If it ain't to much to ask, could your tribe help us move the orchard trees to where they should go? Just to make sure we don't mess up again."

Chief Thunder Hooves was happy to agree to that deal and they both returned to their own dreams ready to start the new day as friends.
Aftermath

Midnight had woken up early to let her friends know what happened and, when the buffalo returned with Bloomberg and their family members, the whole town got the work re planting the orchard (once the whole situation was explained). Little Strong Heart had apologized to Rainbow for allowing her to get hurt and she helped plant Bloomberg herself as an apology for stealing him. Once the whole mess was sorted out, the town and tribe had become much closer (and the buffalo gained a new appreciation of what the orchard had to offer). The girls were all able to go home, happy that a crisis had been averted.

Never noticing the shady figures with them on the train.

22. Plans Exploding

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In a secure area underneath an ancient house in Canterlot, a twisted being was looking over the report of yet another of his plans going up in flames. After dismissing the informant, the curved horned miscreant proceeded to rage, yell, and break several non-expensive objects that were placed in the room for that exact purpose. They were finding the need to replace them more and more often with each reported disaster.

First the dragon they had redirected was sent away. No. The first mistake had been attempting to remove the bearer of magic while she was still in Canterlot. How had it all gone so wrong? the original plan would have moved their ploy to have the 10 ancient noble families combined ahead by several generations. The one responsible for messing that up was still being prepared to undergo their punishment.

Honesty, having your cutie mark carved off and sacrificed to increase your magic was not that bad. He had gone through it and his core had increased by one third it's previous size. Granted, that ritual and the rituals to activate his connection to 7 of the 10 houses had been spread out over about eight months rather than done all at once, but still. Each of the awakenings had multiplied his power by a factor of 2, add this to the Karkadaan transformation ritual which flat out doubled his power and he could match some of the strongest mages in history.

So why were all of his plans blowing up?!

Plan A: Marry the bearer of the element of magic to remove the Elements of Harmony as a threat and gain the Sparkle family magic at the same time: Ruined.

Plan B: Lock up the element bearers one by one to stop them from meeting: Foiled.

Plan C: Prevent the Lunar throne from gaining power: Stopped before it began.

Plan D: Kill the bearers with a dragon: Prevented by an angry bug!

Plan E: Free Discord: Still in planning stages and won't be ready until AFTER the Gala

Plan F: Old standby: joy

Plan G: Find way to dethrone a Princess legally; HIGHLY unlikely

He was reduced to using the old standby; plan for the next generation and try to unite the 10 houses to make a body for their King to inhabit. Over the years, 6 of the 10 families had been absorbed into his, so only 3 remained in some way.

Those being the House of Fancy, the House of Platinum, and the House of Sparkle.

No mater what he tried Fancy Pants refused all marriage contracts for his daughter so that was out.

The Line of Platinum had disappeared completely and the Sparkle clan had nothing to do with arranged marriages after that busy body Night Light took over as head. That Stallion had a spine made of Jelly coated arcanium! Nothing could convince him to sign his children into any contract.

With this knowledge, his plan of having the first legally recognized herd in over eight hundred years went down the drain.

It looked more and more like he would have to cut his losses and try to seduce Fleur De Lis on his own. "sigh" his public persona was not going to help with that. Unless he lucked out and found a daughter of the Platinum line running around, he might just be sunk. On the bright side, any children he had would be even stronger than he was. True, this would be at the cost of their mother not surviving the birth, but sacrifices must be made in war.

Now he could handle his plans blowing up (right) but this last one just hurt. That carefully engineered feud/war with the buffalo to cut off one of the Princesses' allies was 400 years of work (the better part of his father's life) gone to shit! "I can't think of one way for this to get worse"

In Tartarus

An imp that went by the name of Murphy got a sudden headache followed by a sneezing fit. He had the feeling that his workload and entertainment was about to increase dramatically

Back in the lair

The dark unicorn suddenly got a chill up his spine, as if a stampede had gone over his grave. "Hum. Perhaps I should not have said that. Oh well, I'm sure it will be fine. What could possibly go wrong?" At that moment, a flash of teleportation magic foretold the arrival of his most annoying accomplice. "Ugh, What do you want?"

She grinned condescendingly "I wanted to check up on the latest failure. Why our king bothers to keep you around, I'll never understand."

"Shut up! Like you've done any better. Your latest plan won't be ready until some time next year and, knowing your love of drama, you'll mess up just like usual."

"Well someone's grumpy. Besides I don't get how you can call me a screw up. What have you done recently that worked? So far, I'd say you're the biggest failure to the plan since Snowfall Chickened out!"

"Hey leave my Grandmother out of this! I already have the one who made my plan to absorb House Sparkle useless in the Ritual chamber."

"What punishment did you use on the poor sod?"

His grin was nasty "None, yet. However, all the rituals of power will be done at once to make her ready to bring our king's new body into the world. We even found a way to include the power boosts from House Fancy and Sparkle with some stolen blood."- Here he showed faked confusion

-" And I seem to have misplaced all the pain numbing runes for the ritual. "

This caught her attention "You are a sick being. No wonder I like you." His grin grew several notches.

"We have everything set up. Care to watch?"

Her response of "Yes" was more hiss than words. She was an avid fan of the art of causing pain.

23. The Ritual (Dark Themes)

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The room was lit only by torches. 9 figures held by chains were around a large runic circle. The entire array sloped down in the shape of a large bowl. In the center of the circles sat a single quivering pony, a bowl and a large assortment of tools. The 2 ring leaders of the cult stood high above the circle well out of range of any retaliation as the ceremony began.

First, the main pony was forced to drink three potions which caused them to gain the traits of the families whose blood was used. This particular ritual was still allowed with the consent of all parties involved. The combination of 3 blood adaption potions caused the recipient to feel as if they had ingested glass before being put into a blender and then wrestling a bear, as they tried to incorporate the new DNA.

Next, the longest knife was used to carve out the area around their cutie mark before prying them off and placing them in the bowl, which was ignited with a pitch black flame as the talent was stripped from the pony and raw magic flowed into them forcing their core to grow rapidly and set their frayed nerves aflame. The screaming could match some low level demons at this point. The cauterizing of the open wounds only increased the shrieking until their throat went raw.

While this was happening, the nine ponies had all of their major arteries cut. As they gasped and chocked out their dying breaths, the blood flowed down through the circle activating each rune and joining at the center as power was forced into the last living participants. Their core proceeded to increase by two to the power of nine, increasing to the point that they were forced to grow about 3 hands in height just to help contain the power. Their blood felt like molten steel in their veins, their bones creaked and splintered with strain as they grew and their tendons and ligaments snapped as the muscles cramped themselves off the bone. But the blood and life of the sacrifices prevented the victim from dying.

With a sickening crunch, the sobbing wreak of a pony's horn was wrenched from their skull and tossed into the black flames causing their magic to increase yet again, forcing their muscles and flesh to reform full of magic and life but with no way to control their new power, they had no way to escape the final step.

With agonizing slowness, the brand was heated and as it pressed into the ponies newly healed but blank flank, they felt their magic become trapped sealed up like an old tomb. Thus, the ritual was completed and the quivering mess of a pony was brought before the leaders. The broken mare looked at them with dead eyes and asked only one question "Why?"

"Don't feel too bad, my dear. This is a joyful day. You shall have the honor of bearing the foal which shall house the spirit of our great king."

In the flickering light, the shine of madness could be seen the eyes of all present as the victim was taken away to rest and prepare of her new role as the king's incubator.

The twisted duo shared a look before leaving to return to their duties. As nice as the show had been, they both had work to do and the time to strike was fast approaching.

24. Party of One Plus One

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If She was honest with herself, this was bound to happen eventually. It took a lot longer here, but it happened. Her crazy parties had finally driven her friends away. The shock was so bad, Pinkie had retreated into their shared mind leaving her to pick up the pieces, again. Not that she minded; it was nice to be the one in charge from time to time.

"Lets see, Stalliongrad and Trottingham are out; they still give us weird looks. We can't set one hoof in Fillydelphia without the guards/cops watching our every move."

This fact still pissed her off ,that no matter what evidence they found, no one believed she was innocent. So what if the shithead called her parties stupid? She was not the one who stabbed him 37 times in a back-alley.

"Not like we can leave anyway. Still got work to do, sigh. It's a good thing my talent still involves baking" She looked back to admire the light grey rock flanked by a muffin and cupcake on her flank. Why they had 2 different cutie marks was yet another source of annoyance for her. Far as she could tell, puff ball Pinkie held most of their odd abilities and the magic that they used while she, Pinkamina Diane Pie held more of their earth magic; making her stronger, and more tied to the laws of physics.

They had tried looking up the phenomenon, but found no information on it.

Cotton candy had wanted to ask Midnight about it. She shoot that down faster than Rainbow could crash.

They were not going back to the doctors, who tried to seal her away. They never believed that she was the original and she would not allow them to seal off her fun side, even if they had.

She knew she was broken. She figured that out the first time she crushed a rat on the farm and felt nothing over it. But her fun side could feel things 'correctly'. She could live a normal life, and woe to anything that tried to stop that or truly tried to hurt her. "May Celestia have mercy on them, for I have none to give."

Now, she could try going to speak with Pinkie's friends but the last time she tried that, it just made them have to leave town faster. So she would just keep baking and wait till she could go back and sleep like normal "Not like they'd want to hang out with me anyway. Who'd want to be friends with a near-sociopath?"

Elsewhere

It had taken some fast thinking and even faster talking, but they had the party for Pinkie's birthday all set up. It had not been easy. In fact, they had all (including Spike and Gilda) had to rush here to literally get away from an interrogation from Pinkie. now they just had to wait for Rainbow to bring her and they could get this party started.

Rainbow had been waiting here for five minutes and been flat out ignored by the pink mare. Well enough was enough! She charged into the kitchen, only to stop short at the sight of the dull pink mare with a flat mane who was doing the baking. Her response upon seeing Rainbow was, different.

"What do you want?" Her tone was clipped and her voice cold, so cold in fact it made Rainbow want to curl into a ball. But she had a job to do and nothing was going to make her back down, after ten minutes of pointless yelling and arguing RD just flew under Pinkie, picked her up and rushed back to the barn.

After realizing that her friends had actually tried to throw HER a party for the first time in her memory, Pinkie had to avoid crying."See? No need to cry now they still love you. Heck, they love you more then most other groups of 'friends' you've had."

Giggling was not the response she expected. "Silly. This is YOUR birthday. *I* was born when we saw the Rainboom"

"Your point? This is your party so come out here and be with them, or something" She was near panic now, no one could learn their secret.

"Hum, nope. I wanted to introduce you to them for months now, so get used to it Mena. They're YOUR friends now too."

With that, Pinkie cut the connection and left her grumpy counterpart to meet her friends, hopping nothing went wrong.

With a heavy sigh, Pinkamena spoke to her counterpart's friends "Girls, there's something about me you should know."

She proceeded to tell them in detail about how they were split and how their childhood went because of it, leaving out nothing. If they were going to know the secret she was going to get it all over with. "If you don't want me around, I understand. Just, please, don't treat her any different. It would"-

Whatever she was going to say next was drowned out as she was buried under a group hug. "We aren't going to abandon you dear, and you don't need to hide when we're around."

"Darn straight. You're just a new friend for us. This may take some getting used to but I'll manage."

"I-it's nice to meet you. Um do you have a name or are you just Pinkie?"

This caught her off guard for a moment "I normally just use our full name so just call me Pinkamena or Diane. If that works better, I don't mind." this was better than she ever dared to dream. They not only accepted that she was a part of their friend but they wanted to be her friends as well. The rest of the party went off without a problem, and they all had an enjoyable time getting to know the new side of Pinkie.

25. planning for the Gala

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Midnight just finished going over the basic plans for the Gala. Each of her friends were invited 'as friends of the royal suitor' but Luna had plans that would bring each of them into the Lunar court for different reasons.

Rarity was going to be invited to be the official dress maker of the Lunar court. Nightmare enjoyed her styles, and her business practices and knew through her dreams she would not abuse the position, (well, too much anyway).

Applejack was going to be offered a contract for her family to be the main suppliers of produce for all court functions, and have the title the family should have received after founding not just one but now 2 towns bestowed. In other words, they would then be Land Barons; the most basic of nobility.

Rainbow was going to be offered the position as the captain of the new Shadowbolts, with training from Spitfire to get her up to par. They were quite sure she would say yes.

Pinkie had been kind enough to let Twilight have a copy of her party plans and planning methods. After reviewing them, Nightmare wanted her as the court's event organizer. Her style may be strange but a bit of explanation should help her build some of the greatest events seen in Canterlot since the death of Puddinghead.

Fluttershy, after a metric ton of encouragement, was going to reveal herself at the next Gala and be announced as a new noble. She would normally receive the title of Countess at the most. But, with her actual title (though she rarely used it) being Queen, they might be able to swing her being a Duchess and not give the current nobility a collective heart attack.

Now if only they could convince the girls to stop acting so stupid about it! They all knew the plan for Fluttershy because it took all of them to convince her to agree to it. But AJ had wanted to bring a cart and stall to sell apples, even when they explained how the Gala normally ran. It took Midnight, Velvet, Cadence, and Nightmare (clone) a total of, four hours! To convince Applejack to just come and enjoy the party. She'd had an easier time pulling out Spectrum's baby teeth!

Rainbow had been convinced to spend the night with Shy so that was okay.

Rarity was not hearing anything against her plans to woe the buffoon of Canterlot. Midnight thought she was doomed to fail but wished her luck.

Pinkie was odd (shocker?). She was convinced quite easily to behave once they explained what type of party the Gala actually was. She was disappointed at first, but cheered up when she realized that this was how the normal guest wanted the party to be, and that they were going to turn quite a few of those expectations on their head.

Canterlot

Nightmare had just finished preparing all the paperwork to rush in the new court members. All that she need was the relevant signatures which she would gather at the Gala. She had also taken the liberty of preparing the area for younger guests in anticipation of her daughter and her friends' antics. They could have a small party of their own without disturbing the other guests until it was time for the big reveal.

She felt absolutely giddy with anticipation. Not only would her sister be awake for the Gala, not only would she be able to announce her heir to the world (as she had wanted since first meeting her), but if she played her cards right, she'd be able to get rid of the remaining threats to the royal family at the next Gala on her terms. It felt good to be the mare in charge, sometimes.

Lair

After months of searching, he had found it! The one foolproof way to unseat a royal. He could not believe that law was still in place. "Note to self: remove law as soon as I gain power". All he had to do was beat one of the Princesses, or their chosen champion, in a sanctioned duel with high enough stakes and he could take their throne as spoils. It would be risky; he'd have to put all the political power he had on the line to get this to work; but he could handle it. After all, one of them was half drained and the other just got back from the moon. They would be in no condition to fight, and he could overpower any unicorn in Canterlot. No other pony would be brave or crazy enough to take part in a magic duel. There was no way this could fail! With this final thought, the former unicorn swung his head back and roared with the laughter of the mad and morally corrupt.

26. The Gala & Confrontations

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The time had come. After months of planning, they were ready. Celestia had awoken the previous day and the nobles finally understood what their elders had told them about her, the first time they saw her. Gone was the regal Princess and in her place stood a pony that could only be described as divine. Her mane and tail shone like chromatic fires her eyes full of light and life for the first time in a millennia. She seemed to shine with an inner light that could pierce the blackest shadows.

Seated beside her sister, who seemed to make even the greatest darkness seem bright, they had all the grace and form of deities. Some of the weaker nobility felt the urge to bow just from seeing them. This was the true form of the Alicorn, a being of raw magic and abstract concepts to try and kill one was the very definition of insanity.

Celestia was fully aware of the plan her sister (and her sister's date) had concocted and she could not wait for the fire works to start. The ground work had been set. Even the traditional meet and greet had been cancelled for this evening due to the large number of announcements that were going to be taking place. This was, at one point, the purpose of the gala; not a party for the rich and influential to strut around like peacocks but a social gathering to announce all new additions to the upper classes of society and congratulate ponies on what they had earned with hard work from the previous year. Due to several changes that had been slipped in during her infrequent naps, there had been no changes in to noble structure of any real value. That stopped now.

All relevant records had been brought out each noble family was up for revision and harmony help them if they had failed at their duties. Because she was not going to put up with it any more.

The girls were all ready. Their dresses had been made and adapted for the party, the younger members of their group were ready to go and they were on the train. Granted there had been some complications, such as Spike's suit (which had to be made on the fly by Rarity as she had never had a biped customer before). Convincing Gilda to wear a dress had been an uphill battle. Scootaloo and Shy had to use their combined cuteness to make her agree to a dress based on ceremonial griffin garb.

Applejack had brought a cart of food that was going to be served along side the regular fair with none the wiser of where it came from (until after the announcement of course).

Pinkie had taken a step back and decided to let Pinkamena run the show during the Gala "I like more subdued parties, and I'll be less likely to fly off the handle or try to 'spice up' the party". Thus, Rarity had to change the dress to fit that side of Pinkie, which was very much appreciated by their new friend.

Now here, they were ready for the show to begin, even had a spontaneous heart song about it. "Okay girls time to get this party started."

The Gala was progressing as usual, when the herald made an introduction that caught everyone's attention. "Announcing as a guest of Princess Nightmare, Lady Twilight Sparkle" The faces on most of the younger nobility were nothing short of trout slapped. How was this elegant mare in a dress which seemed to be woven from deep shadows and starlight, the same brat who thought they could get in to a magic school based on theory? What happened next caused several of them to black out. Twilight walked straight up to Nightmare and hugged her before nuzzling her "Hello, dear."

Nightmare smiled kindly and wrapped Twilight in her wings "It's good to see you, my dear."

While the Nobility was undergoing a major brain reboot, AJ Rarity and Pinkamena took the chance to join the party as they were not important enough (to the nobles) to warrant an introduction. The younger girls took advantage of the confusion to rush to the area that had been set up with their age group in mind.

**********

In the section for the younger guests, the girls were mostly on their own. No one wanted to bring foals to this event anymore. The only other child there was an odd filly who looked like DT with Pinkie's mane and swirly eyes. "Screwball? They let you come to the Gala?" Diamond was quite surprised to see her estranged twin. They had visited on occasion, but, due to her being an in-effect life patient in the sanatorium, Silver was the only one she had told about the fact that she even had a sister.

The smile she got in response was just as upsetting as usual "I'm allowed to go out to 'special functions' with supervision. So, who are your friends? I haven't got to see you in awhile, sis. "

"You have a sister!?" Diamond winced at the outburst of her friends. but before she could even start explaining.

"It's okay. Mom doesn't like anyone talking about me. I'm used to it."

The girls started to back away from Spectrum as she began to growl "Diamond, explain."

DT sat down and began to explain as best she could "I honestly had no idea how to tell you all about her. Like she said, mom acts like she doesn't exist and, until recently, I was too afraid to even talk about her in private. I love my sister but I, I just had no idea what to do." By the end of her explanation, Diamond was near tears. This is what she hated most; having to admit she had no idea about something.

Before any tears could fall, she was pulled into a hug by Spectrum "I'm sorry. I wasn't mad at you. This is just one more thing your mother has to answer for." The girls spent the rest of the time waiting for the announcements getting to know Screwball.

*******

The next introduction caused several ponies to faint "Introducing her grace, Queen Fluttershy of the Changeling tribe and her mates Madams Gilda and Dash."

The nobility were floundering. How was that strange bug creature considered a queen!?

While those 3 were dealing with a large group assault (of questions), Applejack had taken up a place watching the food tables to see which items were being picked most. Pinkie had been pulled into a conversation with a unicorn mare who looked oddly familiar. But Rarity was too focused on looking for her prince to pay much attention to the others.

He wasn't hard to find, he was off in the corner taking advantage of the confusion to make out with a pair of mares who looked like their combined brainpower would have trouble running a light bulb. Rarity was crushed, this was not how a proper stallion was supposed to act! She wondered over to the buffet, hoping to drown her aching heart in sweets.

AJ had just watched the destruction (consumption) of a pie, a full pie by a single pony. She thought the only one who could do that was a depressed Rarity. Speakin' of which, the mare had just arrived at the table and looked like someone just killed her cat.

Before she could so much as say one word to her friend, however, they heard a loud voice boom throughout the hall.

"ATTENTION ALL GUESTS! MY SISTER HAS SOME NEWS SHE WISHES TO ANNOUNCE! PLEASE GIVE HER YOUR UNDIVIDED ATTENTION."

Nightmare stepped up to where everyone could see her

"Thank you sister. Now I have several announcements to make and boons to hand out. All questions, and complaints, will be addressed after I am finished." -Here she paused before bringing out a scroll-

"Applejack, Rarity Belle, Pinkamena Pie, step forward" The girls were confused. This had not been explained to them. When they were standing before the lunar diarch, she continued "I have a contract for each of you,"

"Miss Belle, you show some of the most honest practices and produce outfits of the highest quality. Would you join us as the official seamstress of our court?"

Rarity's brain just went from the depths of despair to the highest levels of euphoria. She barely managed to say yes and sign the contract before losing her balance with a smile on her face that looked like a botched attempt at plastic surgery. Nightmare showed no reaction despite laughing her withers off internally

"Miss Apple, I have a contract here for your family to be the produce supplier for all functions for the Lunar Court." She smirked at this point-" Based on the reactions to your provided cuisine, I don't see anyone complaining about that arrangement."

Several of the lesser nobility turned pale at the realization that they had eaten 'common food' while one of the Wonderbolts had to be restrained from throwing himself before the mare to beg for access to more pie.

AJ was too surprised to notice that display, thankfully. She signed the contract after reading it for a moment. What Nightmare said next caught her off the hop however. "In accordance with the laws of settlement, we bestow upon the Apple Clan the title of Baron. Why this was not done after they founded 2 successful towns is currently under investigation."

Some of the nobility wanted to protest the appointment on principle, but after hearing the reason, only the dumbest and most stubborn of their numbers still disagreed with the boon. AJ had been helping Rarity stand when the Princess made that proclamation. She was able to pull Rarity over to the side and support her while making it look like she was not actually using Rarity to stay upright herself.

"Miss Pie, the contract we have for you is a role as the official organizer of all events sponsored by the Lunar Court."

Pinkie took a moment to process what was being offered and for once was grateful for her blunted emotions. "I would be honored to work for you in this manner your majesty." She signed to contract and quickly joined Jackie and Rarity in the side line, so she could watch what was coming next.

"Queen Fluttershy, you have expressed a desire to join the ranks of our society fully. To do so ,you will need to join or start your own family by our laws. Due to the fact that you have 2 mates with you, and have filled out the proper paper work in all forms you are now the official head of the house of Clover - the first in over 800 years."

Blueblood looked about ready to suffer a stroke. The house of Clover was one of the rare marque houses. This led to issues as they had set a very specific requirement to take up the title, and this creature had some how met that?

He was so distracted, he didn't even notice when she thanked the Princess and disappeared out back to see the animals. The others turned their eyes back to Nightmare wondering when the next bomb would drop.

"Madams Dash and De Lis step forward please" After both mares had taken their place before the Princess she continued

"Both of you have shown both the great skill and the drive needed for the guard. Fleur De Lis of the house of Fancy, do you accept the post as Captain of the Night guard?'

Fleur was shocked. She had been on the reserve roster ever since Shining had been appointed captain. Now, here was the same role being dropped in her lap. What else could she say but? "Yes your Highness. Whom will I be working with?"

"I will tell you in private, captain. Now then, Rainbow Dash of the revived house of Clover, will you accept the post of captain of my new flying squad, the Shadowbolts?"

Rainbow's response was immediate and obvious "YES! Thank you thank you thank you! I won't let you down." Rainbow had soared into the air at her proclamation but had finally come down at the end of her answer.

Nightmare chuckled lightly 'I'm sure you won't. Spitfire will be in contact with you soon to set up your training."

Rainbow made an incomprehensible noise as she walked over to the others.

"Now then, Twilight dear, would you bring the last individual here please"

The nobles stared when she came up the side of the stage with a young pony on her back, When she had just left. They looked in confusion at the kind smile that grew on their Princess's face as she picked up the foal with her magic. "Ponies, it gives me great pleasure to introduce you to my daughter and heir Spectrum Shadow."

The hall was so quiet, you could have heard a mouse fart. The next moment, it was full of so much noise, a statue in the garden was mentally swearing "Keep it down, some of us are trying to sleep. So rude"

One voice was heard above all the others " First you somehow beguile the Princess and now we learn you some how procreated with her. You really are a blight. You magic stealing mudpony." Blueblood stamped forward from the crowd, but something was wrong. He seemed to have grown in height. His eyes were full of malice and his horn, once a pristine white, was now curved with a pale green hue. "I challenge the Lunar throne to a duel for the current holder is clearly compromised, Who among your court will face me?"

This was perfect. He could see it in the faces of all present with the loss of his illusion. His full power was brought to bare. While it did not match the beauty of the elder Princesses, his aura was at least as strong as that of Cadence. No unicorn was crazy enough to fight someone with that much magic, and no pony was dumb enough to enter a magic duel without a horn.

Nightmare was ready to pop this insolent snot's head and she could tell by her sister's expression she would not intervene if that is what happened. Before she could get involved, however, Twilight stepped forward. "You have insulted my honor, my heritage, my integrity, and my Princesses. I hope you have an active will." in the next instant Twilight disappeared in a flash of magic. Standing in place of the regal pony was a creature from legend. Her body was made of a strange black plant. Her mane was now a set of vines, Her hooves seemed to be made of turquoise and her eyes glowed a solid violet. "I am Midnight Sparkle, harmony appointed Caretaker of the Everfree Forest. Hope your ready to lose."

Blueblood could only stare at the Timber pony before him and just laughed. "You just revealed how much of a monster you are. You're not a pony. You're just a creature from the wild places. This will be over in seconds.' Saying no more he blasted her with a raw magic attack that could have taken out several walls and even a few support beams. Midnight, however, just calmly opened her mouth and let the magic be drawn in. She swallowed the attack like it was a hayburger.

The faces the nobles made must have hurt considering their jaws were closer to the ground than their heads. Blueblood, however, took the cake. His face would go down in history as one of the top 3 best shock faces ever seen by pony kind. "Blech, well if your goal was to get me to throw up, it worked. I've never tasted anything that foul."

She looked at the faces around her, "What? I can eat magic. Did you really think that was going to work?" The duel continued much in the same vein; every spell he cast was either deflected or absorbed by Midnight, depending on what type of spell it was. As a final act of desperation, he cast a spell which released a thin drill like beam, aimed at Spectrum. Midnight jumped in front of it, absorbing the power only to double over in pain as her core felt like it was splintering.

Celestia and Nightmare intervened, however, smacking Blueblood with their wings. This caused him to cascade into a wall and drop out cold. Celestia looked at the remaining guests. "The duel is over. Midnight won. Her opponent used a spell has been outlawed for 600 years and, thus, he is disqualified." They all heard a gasp and turned to see Midnight had wrapped herself in her hair vines. In the next moment, a blast of raw magic shot into the sky, practically forming a new star and the vines fell showing a pile of charred wood and ash.

Epilogue

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Blueblood was dragged from the hall in chains, as the girls and Princesses gather around the remains of their fallen friend. Some of the nobles were hiding the fact that they thought this was a good thing. After all why should an immortal Princess bother with a mortal creature. No one was dumb enough to voice that opinion however.

They had just finished the clearing of the hall, when Spectrum noticed something moving among the ashes. She drew the attention of the others just as a strange plant sprouted from the ground and spat something out before withering. The slime covered, but sweet smelling, thing rolled over and groaned "Dear, remind me to kick who ever was pulling that cart."

She may have looked like a drowned rat but her voice was unmistakable. "TWILIGHT!"

The following hug tackle resulted in a pony pile where several ponies got poked in the eye or less appropriate places and all the girls got covered in the gunk that Twilight was coated in. Not that they cared right now. Even Rarity was too relieved about her friend being alive and well to be concerned about the gunk until much later, which is really saying something.

"Dad, your okay, how?" Spectrum asked.

Midnight may have been sleepy, but she was not going to leave this till later "I'm the hamadryad for the Everfree"-when she saw the others uncomprehending looks she elaborated "I'm tied to all the trees and plants that exist in the forest and all plants grown from them. Basically, as long as one tree from the forest still lives, I can't die."

The girls looked at her in confusion before her vision was obscured by black wings. Nightmare wrapped her now public mare friend in her wings. "Dear, never scare me like that again. I, I though I'd lost you." Midnight just held on to her mare as best she could and they all enjoyed the feeling of relief that a tragic event had been averted.

Nightmare stepped out of the embrace after a moment "Now then, there is something I wanted to offer each of you this has no bearing on anything else we already agreed upon but, if you should choose, I can make you a member of the night tribes."

She paused when she felt a rush of air turning to see a shacking pot with a pink tail. she turned to address the plant "Miss Shy there is no need to fear. As I said this is your choice."

"Um Princesses, I'm over here." Nightmare turned to see Flutters waving next to Gilda.

She turned back to the pot with a look of confusion. "Miss Pie?"- The plant quivered for a moment and a head popped out, they were surprised to see it was still the flat-maned Pinkie. "So I take it your answer is no?"

She just nodded and came out of hiding "Sorry I kinda have a fear of vamponies. I know most of them won't intentionally hurt me and I'm working on it, but when you made that offer, I just over-reacted."

Nightmare slumped " No problem Pinkie, now do any of you wish to become members of the night tribes?"

After several minutes of talking and asking questions. Dash decided to accept the change after being told that the magic would not mess up her speed. The normal process for this spell was long and painful but with an alicorn casting the spell it was as easy as breathing. Dash felt great but had no idea if anything had changed. "How do I look. I feel awesome but, that's just me"

Rarity pulled a mirror out of somewhere and let Dash get a look at her new self.

(made by magister39)

Rainbow started to gush about how she was now 200% cooler.

Celestia noticed that Midnight was coming around (They had cleaned her off with magic and sat her in a chair) "Midnight, could you explain to us how you reformed here?" The girls stopped when they heard the question and turned to look at Midnight, they wanted to know too.

"Normally I would have been spat out in a random part of the forest, fortunately and unfortunately. This was the first time I've had to do that OUTSIDE the forest. As for HOW I did it, that's why I carry a flower from the forest with me all the time. The seeds from the flower allowed me to reform where my body died so I can be back where I'm needed, and help calm everyone down. On an unrelated note, You need to send some ponies to investigate Blueblood's home. I felt blood magic when I ate his spells. I think this was a long time coming."

Both Princesses looked like they had been kicked in the teeth. "Night, you stay here make sure the area is defended. I'm going to tear blue manor apart till I get to the bottom of this."

Celestia disappeared in a flash of light and for the next 3 hours the sounds of a falling building could be heard throughout Canterlot. While this was going on, Nightmare and Midnight explained the nature of each of the girls new jobs and apologized for not telling them ahead of time. When Celestia returned She was carrying a pony in her magic who looked like she had been through Tartarus "Bluebell? What happened to you?"

The broken mare just looked at Midnight for a moment before breaking down "I'm sorry. I hate acting like an ass to every-pony, but I knew what he was planning. He wanted to trap you and Fleur, and any other mare he could get to increase his power. When I found out, he swore me to secrecy so I started acting horrid, trying to drive any mare he'd be interested in away. I know there's a bigger plan going on, but I don't have any real information. Please forgive me."

Midnight was shell shocked, this mare had risked her own life (and paid quite the price if her appearance was anything to go by) to stop her brother's scheme. "I forgive you. I should be thanking you. Your brother bet everything on a duel, but I can sense you're not like him. As the last remaining member of the house of Blue, I return to you all titles held by your ancestors."

"Thank you, By the power vested in me as an archduchess I swear loyalty to the diarchy of Equestria. Long may our Princesses reign." Despite not have her horn any more the Princesses could feel the magic of the oath binding her.

As one they responded "We, the Princesses, accept your oath Bluebell.'

They all sat to absorb what they had learned. Something big was coming. They needed to be ready. Celestia stood up and cast a Spell to project her voice "Twilight Sparkle, For services to the crown and your actions this day, we dub you Lady of the Everfree forest by legal and magical right. The forest is yours to control and govern as you see fit. So we have spoken, so it shall be."

Midnight looked ready to hyperventilate. but pulled herself together "Thank you your majesty. I swear to stand by Equestria and all it's allies for as long as I live."

Something big was coming indeed, but they would be ready for it. They and all the races that stood with them as one, together. They would stand, or fall.

Sage of Harmony (Season 1)

by Eon Seb

(Prologue) Old Dreams [reedited]

Ch.1: Preparing for the Celebration [reedited]

Ch.2: Reunions, The Elements Eclipsed [edited]

Ch.3 Explanations and Revelations (edited)

Ch. 4 Investigations, Introductions, and Inspiration. (edited)

Ch.5 Homecoming (edited)

Ch.6 Showmare, Star-bear, & Scoldings

Ch.7 Dragon vs Queen, or a Day in the Life of Fluttershy

Ch.8 "Slumber" Party

Ch.9 Confrontations & Curses

Ch.10 Swarms & Memories

Ch.11 Discussions & Lessons

Ch.12 Forrest Tour & Dinner Plans.

Ch.13 Date & Secrets

Ch. 14. Old Friends and Older Truths

15. Pie Family Sense. Makes Sense? Welcome to Ghoul town

16. Explanations and the Sonic Rainboom

17 the CMC meet the Queen

18. Lessons 2 and magic practice.

19. Diamond Dogs and Honer

20. Da Magics come to Ponyville

21. Appaloosa here we come.

22. Plans Exploding

23. The Ritual (Dark Themes)

24. Party of One Plus One

25. planning for the Gala

26. The Gala & Confrontations

Epilogue