> Reincarnation
>  by Silver Butcher
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Welcome 'back' to the World
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike looked up at the sun, crying at the light that he hadn't seen in over a century, tears fell from his eyes, freezing over as they left his eyes "It’s...it’s...it’s Beu...beautiful," He said as his voice began failing him, the light fading from his view as he struggled to breath "Thank you Rar..." The light died and Spike felt nothing, he heard nothing, he saw nothing, he expected something to happen, his consciousness to fade to nothing, to see a bright light and hear old voices, maybe her voice, he felt that for an indefinite amount of time, I could have been a second, or an eternity when it began, he began to get his sense of feeling back, then he immediately began to feel weird, he felt warm, he felt fuzzy, he heard screaming, he was disoriented as he felt something pulling on him, a force pushing against him, he was somewhere tight and moist, he was horribly uncomfortable, then he was blinded as light invaded his eye's, noise rang in his ears as he felt something holding him, he felt so many different things happening, then a single unfamiliar voice sounded out.
"It's a Girl!" Spike looked around, his eyes settling to the light's around him when he felt something grab him and pick him up, after a moment he felt something fuzzy next to him, holding him, hugging him. Spike looked over and saw a Female Kirin, she looked exhausted, like she'd just been through something traumatic, she was Pale with a Yellow mane.
"She's beautiful." She muttered, exhaustion etched into her face as she looked down at Spike, who was not only confused but feeling the most level headed he had in years. He looked around for a moment and attempted to get up, only to find he had less than phenomenal control over his legs, he was used to that, but he felt no aches, no random pains, he didn't feel like the old fossil he was, he looked down and discovered why he didn't feel like the old fossil he was because he wasn't, the body he looked down at was tiny and fuzzy, it's was a pale color, his tail ended in with a Bright Blue Tuff of fur, he tried moving it, and in doing so discovered why a voice had said It's a girl.
"I'm a Female," He Thought "I am a baby Kirin girl." he blinked at that "Ahhhhh!" he mentally screamed, what came out of her mouth was a squealing sound, which happened just as the Doctor had begun picking her up.
"Oh," he said as he picked the winning newborn up "Seems she's already attached to mommy" he set her back down "I suppose a few more minutes of Maternal contact can't hurt, While she gets to know you better, have you decided on a name? Next to the Kirin in the bed was a Male, he was Dark Green with a Light Blue Mane. He looked at his wife and she nodded.
"Leaf storm." They decided as they looked down at her, she blinked at them.
"Look at her eyes." The female said, "Oh come look at her Onyx come look at her!"
"I'm looking River, I'm looking." He replied as he did just that, Leaf started at them.
"ok, don't panic, don't panic." Spike took a deep breath and tried to stand up, this resulted in her falling on her face. "Dammit!" he mentally screamed, her voice once again came out as squealing, her mother reacted at once and carefully lay Leaf on her chest, Leaf stared at her and River smiled back.
"Do you think she's hungry?" Onyx asked Leaf's eye's shot wide open at what that suggested.
"Nope, bail, I wanna be old again!"  Spike decided, she once again tried to get up before mentally slapping and cursing herself "Wait I'm a newborn, I won't be walking for at least a week dammit!" Spike gave up his futile attempts to get up and just lay in defeat on Rivers' belly.
"When she's hungry she'll try to start suckling." River replied simply "No need to force her into it when she's ready, she'll be ready." The Doctor came back in looking at a few papers.
"Alright has she begun feeding yet?" he asked.
"Let's talk about something else!" Spike thought.
"Not yet doctor." River replied as she lay on her stomach, Leaf was gently lowered down to her mother's teat.
"No," Spike thought "No!" Then her stomach rumbled "Don't think about it, just do it and get it over with." after a Moment River nodded and the Doctor picked Leaf up, who was trying very hard not to think about what she'd just done. she felt something being slid on around her arm and looked down as a nurse put a small bracelet on her, followed by her new parents getting one each, then they did something with the bottom of her hooves before the Doctor handed her off to the Nurse who walked out of the room, Leaf didn't have much time to look around her surroundings before she was placed on something soft, she didn't have time to react as the nurse flipped a switch, the bed Leaf storm was laying in heated up to a nice warm temperature, Leaf storms ears went up as she felt the heat seeping through her.
"It's like a Lava bath." Spike thought before realizing "Wait, I can't take those any more shit." the Nurse left to go do who knows what and Leaf storm lay on her stomach lost in thought,
"Alright, so I died, then I undied I guess, and now I'm a Baby Kirin." Spike thought on that for a moment "Nope, still sounds crazy." he decided "Have I just gone supper senile like I'm aware that something wrong but it's all a lie?" Leaf Strom shook her head. "What the fuck am I talking about?" he wondered as her eyes felt heavy, her belly full and her body a nice warm temperature. "This is...nice."  she decided as she closed her eyes, sleep overtook her fast and in no time she was resting soundly.
> New Family
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf storm had no Idea how long she had been asleep, but she figured it had been a while, seeing how she was no longer in a hospital, she blinked at the dim morning sunlight, there was talking around her, it took her a moment to figure out where she was.
"Ah, baby carriage," Spike noted, after getting a good look at her surroundings she noted that she was wearing a Diaper. "I already hate all of this." he decided, she looked around and heard the voices that belonged to her new parents.
"...should wake her up, just to make sure she's fine?" Onyx was saying.
"Honey she's fine, just let her sleep." River said as she pushed the carriage "we're almost home, once she's in the crib and you've had your coffee you can get back to me on that."
"But..." Onyx started.
"Honey just be happy it's a Saturday, we have two days before we have to worry about getting the boys to school so get your drink while I set her in the crib." as they had been talking they had gotten to their home and Leaf Storm got a view of her new home.
"Even after being reborn, I'm still living in a tree," Spike mentally sighed "This is some Cosmic bullshit," they rolled her into the dark house, she didn't really get a good view of the inside before being rolled up a long ramp "hu, this place seems pretty Handicappable friendly."  once they where at the top she was rolled to a door and River opened it, once the door was closed behind her River moved to her daughter and saw her wandering eye's taking in the room.
"Well look who's awake." She said as she carefully picked Leaf up and placed her in the Crib. "Welcome to your new home."
Spike, or Leaf storm he supposed, immediately looked to his new "mother" as she said those words. I think my brain broke for a second. Did she say 'new family'? No, no, it must have been home, yes that was it.

Just then the bedroom door opened and a Kirin colt came in looking bored, or at the very least disinterested, in all of the things as he went and flopped on the bed that Spike had somehow missed and started reading a comic book.

"Ahh Astral good to have you back why don't you come and meet your new baby sister." The older Kirin said in a sweet voice. Astral barely looked at them before going back to reading.

Ok Two things, one Rude, and two how many issues of power ponies have I miss? River waited for a moment before adding with a less sweet voice.
"Don't make me get your father again." Astral sighed and walked over to Leaf.
"Oh wow, look I'm paying attention to it." He said irritably.
"Dick."  Spike thought, what came out of Leaf's mouth could only be described as a Baby noise.
"See it..."
"Your sister's name is Leaf Storm." River said, "And you better drop that attitude of yours young man or I will be taking your comics from you again, and I won't be giving them back any time soon." Astral was about to reply when Onyx called from the kitchen
"Astral Thunder, you Listen to your mother." Astral sighed and leaned down to Leaf Storm.
"Look I'm giving her attention, see she's lov-yow!" Astral jumped back as Spike made an important discovery, he could light himself, or herself, on fire.
"I forgot Kirins could do this," Spike thought "Guess I'm not fireproof in normal mode tho." he added as Astral shook the flame off his singed and lightly burned hoof.
"Oh, her first combustion!" River squealed. "Onyx! Onyx get the camera! Leaf's combusted!" There was a sound of breaking china and scattering around, not wanting to ruin their moment Leaf focused on Astral and the shitty look he was throwing at her, she did her best to throw it back.
"That's right bitch, I pack a motherfucking punch! and I'm a baby so you punch back you gonna get fucked by...I guess she's my mother now." while she was thinking of that Onyx burst in with a camera.
"Oh, sweet Rain Shine!" He said as she sat in place staring at Astral "Look at daddy sweetie!" He said as he focused the Camera at her, Reacting more to the word, Daddy, that anything Leaf looked over and was blinded by the flash. She let out a noise of displeasure before she felt herself being picked up, she looked up to see her mother had combusted herself to pick Leaf up. As they left the room Onyx looked at his son.
"You're lucky I got that on Camera or you'd be in trouble for whatever you did to make her combust."
"I just got close to her." Astral replied, "Not my fault she's jumpy." Leaf looked around, counting a total of 4 more rooms in the house before the hall ended, due to married couples sharing their room and general math, she figured that since she seemed to be sharing the room with Astral that there were at least two other ponies living here, that or both of the other rooms were in use so much that it would be too much of an impact of their lives to clear one out, she figured one of the rooms had to be a bathroom since River made her way down the hall. as they made their way down the halls one of the doors opened, and an older Kirin walked out to inspect the commotion, he looked less than happy walking out of the room, but once he saw River and Leaf his expression changed.
"Oh! Is that my newest grandbaby I see?" as River's mouth was full of Leaf at the moment she just nodded, the elder walked across down to the final door on the right and pushed it open, revealing a Bathroom. he walked in and water sounded, River carried Leaf in after the elder and found that he had turned the water on in the tub, River walked over and placed Leaf inside, the water steamed for a moment as it battled with leafs flame, since she was just flaming due to lack of knowing how to turn it off her flames died in the water instantly.
"Well hey there." The elder said happily "I'm your Pop-pop." he leaned forward and his white mane fell into the tub.
"Oh, sweet Celestia." Spike realized "This is happening!" the moment of clarity that the rushing water gave him, also gave him a second to fully comprehend what was happening "Oh sweet Celestia I've been Reincarnated!"
> old Memories
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As soon as he had fully realized what was happening things had gone downhill fast, Leaf Storm had gone for 2 hours of continuously reigniting as soon as she was taken out of the rub, she also learned that she was wrong in her assumptions about her normal mode not being fire resistant, cause both River Moon and Pop-pop had seemed fine with the fire, which raised some questions on why Astral has been burned, questions she was too distracted to ask.
"I fucking died!" Spike had screamed in his head "And now I'm a Kirin foal! A female Kirin foal!" Leaf Storm had vented this out with crying, after the two hours she had calmed down entirely due to overexerting herself and ended up crying herself to sleep, all of this came rushing back as Leaf awoke with a start at the sound of rocking, looking around she found that it was around afternoon now, the house was rather quiet, she assumed that most of the family was either at work or school, the sound of rocking that had awakened her was still going and she attempted to turn to the sound of it, only to realize she was placed in a baby bouncy toy, as soon as she tried moving it made a heck of a ruckus, she made a series of baby noises as she looked at all the toys she could see in front of her, she also noted that the rocking began dying down, she was greeted by the sight of a new face entering her eyesight,
"Wonder how long I've been out," the new face was a Kirin of about 8, he had a pencil in his mouth, which he discarded as he walked over the Leaf, he was a light shade of Orange with a Dark Green Mane.
"Hey sis, I'm your big brother Sunrise," He said it in a tone that suggested he might have been practicing the line just so he could say it in just the right way, Sunrise picked up his baby sister and took her to the kitchen. "You gotta be hungry after being almost constantly on fire." And He was right Leaf was hungry and, now that he thought about it, Spike was pretty sure he didn't eat much of anything the day before. Pulling a bottle of milk from the Fridge Sunrise then carefully heated it up with his own fire before giving Leaf the bottle to which she put up a little fuse but the promise of food was too much to ignore.

"I'm so glad mom made us take those baby classes now." Sunrise then burped Leaf who was very proud of it as it was a solid nine out of ten, especially doing it with hooves, Sunrise then put Leaf in her playpen while he went back to doing homework.

Well As happy as I am to have food in my belly I don't think Jerk face took any of those Classes Sunrise mentioned. Excellent Leaf looked around the room from her playpen. She could see Sunrise sitting at a desk, she managed to get a glimpse of what was behind her thanks to a well-placed mirror, she saw her grandfather, or pop-pop as he liked to be called, sleeping in a rocking chair. Judging from the view of the kitchen behind Pop-pop she placed herself in the living room, It made her want to get a better look at the house.

" I refuse to do the upsy thing because I wanna explore the house."  Spike thought to herself, at least until a funny thought crossed his mind. "Oh sweet Celestia, when I ask them where babies come from it's going to take all my will power not to bust a lung laughing," Leaf shook her head "But that's for later right now I need to work on walking." Leaf Storm focused all her willpower and attempted to push up, the result was a brief moment of raising before her hooves slid behind her, resulting in falling to the floor face first, this forced Leaf Storm to let her instinct's take over, Her ear splitting cry filled the room as she, once again, ignited in flames and started screaming at the pain in her face as she beat on the floor, this resulted in several reactions, an angry voice came from somewhere else in the house,
"Someone shut her up," 
"Why don't you shut up?" Sunrise called back as Pop-pop got up,
"Wha?" He asked sleepily "Whas happened?" he blinked the sleep out of his eyes and comprehended what the noise was "Oh no, Little Leafs a Blazer!" He ran over at a walking pace to the crib, "Whoa there little one," He said as he leaned down and picked up the little ball of fire and screaming,
"That hurt exponentially more than it once did!" Spike screamed in his mind as the pain pulsed through his face "Being a baby is a load of bullshit!" Leaf Storm was to busy screaming to the extent of her sound-making capabilities, there was the sound of a door slamming open and Astral could be seen from the railing,
"Just stick a pacifier in her mouth and shut her up, she's interrupting my me time," Astral tossed said pacifier down and got a dead shot on Leaf, who proceeded to explode in a column of fire, Astral sparked as he made his way downstairs "Sweet Rain Shine, I'm leaving I'll probably be back by Dinner,"
"Astral Thunder, you get your ass back here," Pop-pop said, smoke coming off his long mane as he set Leaf down, "Sunrise calm your sister down, Comet, come down here and help care for your sister for a moment," Astral ignored him and made his way out the door, Pop-pop ignited and moved angrily after his grandson, Comet came running down the stairs while Sunrise tried to calm Leaf storm down, who had dissolved again into pounding on the floor and screaming angrily at the pacifier that had hit her in the face.
"What happened?" Comet asked, looking at his brother, the two were the same size and Comet was a Light shade of Green with a dark Orange Mane.
"She just started crying, then Astral threw something at her, and now she's just exploding!" Sunrise replied, jumping back and forth on his hoves in panic. "What do we do?" Comet looked down at her
"She's a baby, just find something!" Comet and Sunrise ran around the small play area that had been set up for her, Sunrise tried a Rattle and Comet tried a teddy bear, both got denied by Leaf
"I Want Twilight! I want Fluttershy! I want Applejack! I want my friends!" Spike screamed mentally as he began rapidly hitting the ground. "I don't wanna be a baby, I don't wanna be a Kirin, I wanna be me!" Leafstorm went from raging to crying, and from crying to sobbing, she ended up extinguishing herself as she cried "I wanna be me, I don't want to be forgoten, I don't want my friends to not know who I am!" Comet and Sunrise watched as she went from screaming to crying, she lay on the ground sobbing,
"What did you do!?" Sunset demanded.
"How was I suppose to know she didn't like Teddy bears!?" Comet shot back, "Um...lets try the wonder flame!" Comet and Sunrise began tapping hard on the floor the tapping got Leaf storm to look up as she cried, the two jumped up on their back hooves, Sunrise wobbled for a moment before saying.
"I am Sunrise Storm..." He positioned his front hooves to his right, on his left Comet spoke
"I am Comet Storm..." He pointed his front hooves to his left, the two spoke in unison,
"And together we are..." The two waved their hooves and with a clack, they touched their hooves together and ignited.
"The Wonder Twins!" The then gave her some Jazz hooves, they sat in awkward silence as Leaf storm cried at them, her cries turning into baby squeals of joy as Spike mentally laughed through his problems.
"Mother fucking Wonder twins up in here, what is this shit?" Spike began laughing and as such Leaf Storm began squealing at them and waving her front hooves as she mimicked their sitting position "These two are way better than captain shit head," the angry voice of Onyx indicated his arrival at the scene of the crime, the door slammed open and Astral walked inside, grumbling angrily as he walked back up the stairs,
"Now she stops crying," He mumbled angrily as Electricity sparked across his body, Onyx and Pop-pop walked in, both smoking lightly.
"Thinks just cause he has the rare Electrical mode he's entitled to always get his way," Onyx muttered "Thank fucking Rain Shine Leaf Storm has Fire, Electrical Kirin are always so self-important, can't believe my own son is one, " Muttering angrily Onyx turned and froze, both Comet and Sunrise were standing still as Leaf storm squealed with joy, just to make sure he knew they were helping, not raging. "I thought you two where gonna stop doing that,"
"We panicked," they said in unison, Onyx walked over and congratulated his sons on dealing with the situation while Pop-pop walked over and lay next to Leaf Storm, his ignition had left him tired, Feel somewhat bad for the old Kirin Leaf storm made her way to him and patted him, Pop-pop looked at her, looked back at the argument, then his eyes shot up,
"Onyx, get the camera now!" Onyx and the boys looked over and froze, Leaf storm was standing proud as she patted pop-pop, not even noticing that she was finally up and about in her attempts to comfort the old Kirin, Onyx took off like a rocket to grab the camera,
"Pop-pop don't move and maybe she won't either," Comet whispered,
"Not a problem I assure you," he replied,
"The fuck is happening?" Spike wondered, still not aware he was standing.



The Table was full of noise, Astral had been grounded for a month and was now ignoring his family and eating at full speed so he could get away from them, Leaf Strom was in a baby seat, she wouldn't be ready for actual food for a good while so she instead had a bottle of now empty milk, a pacifier, and a chew toy, which squeaked as she bit into it, it was nice to enjoy the simple things from time to time, She looked around the table as she chewed not really listening to the conversations going on around the table. She gave out a series of babbles before returning to chewing,
"I remember when Twilight and I use to sit down together for dinner, one time Rainbow flew through the window and ruined the entire meal, which resulted in us going to Sugarcube corner and running into a few of our friends, what had started as an accident turned into a huge gathering, the Apples showed up, Rarity and Sweetie where there, Fluttershy brought Discord, Rainbow called in Scootaloo and her aunts, Starlight had..." Spike lost his train of thought and Leaf Storm froze, she sat in silence, leaving her toy on the table as she looked out the window, "...I miss her, I miss them, all of them, the CMC, The Cakes, Trixie, The Apple family, so many ponies from my past are gone, and there was no seeing them again, there was no afterlife, there was reincarnation, and there was no way of seeing them again," Leaf storm frowned as she padded at her squeaky toy, River noticed Leaf storm had died down to doing nothing, She got up and picked up Leaf, who grabbed the pacifier,
"Time for bed sweetie," She said sweetly as she made her way around the table, with the best of her skill Leaf swung over and tossed the pacifier at Astral, who got hit in the eye and swore,
"Hey, you want to get more grounded?" Onyx asked,
"She threw a pacifier at me!" Astral spat back,
"And now you two are even," Pop-pop replied as he drank his cup of juice, "Atta girl Leaf! Making Pop-pop proud,"
"I'm starting to like that guy," Spike thought as his mind began to cloud, "Stupid baby sleep cycle," River walked up the stairs, into Astral and Leafs shared room, and tucked her into bed,
"Night Leafy," River said as she leaned in and kissed her on the forehead, "Mommy loves you," River nuzzled her before turning and leaving the room, closing the door as she left,
"I miss my old Family," Spike thought "but Maybe I'll like my new one,"
> Birthday
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf was at the store with her mom as she tried on various dresses, but it was for a good cause she was turning six.

Of course I would forget my actual date of birth in reincarnation but hey its free cake. Spike though as she came out of the dressing room in a light blue dress with a bow on the back with matching Tiara.

"Oh, my baby girl looks so cuuuute." Her mother squeed as she took a picture and put it with the others.

"Mooooom." Leaf wined "This is embarrassing why can't I just wear a tuxedo?"

"As cute as that would be the party is princess themed so you're are stuck with getting a dress." Leaf sighed but excepted her fate. Her new family wasn't poor but they weren't exactly well off either with the only source of income coming from their general goods store that was across the street from their house. The consequence of this meant that when her mother noticed that the princess themed items were half off because of the lack of interest in princesses,  her mother had taken advantage to give Leaf the biggest Birthday she had ever had, in this imparticular life at least.

"At least there will be cake." Leaf muttered as she turned back into the dressing room, inside was a mountain of dresses she had tried on, they had been there for over 3 hours and she was so ready for this to end,

"Oh Honey this dress is Seafoam Green with a Seashell necklace, and a pair of clip-on seahorse earing! And this one is a white with a lovely Tiara with a little red gem in it, oh and this one matched your fur color!"

"Oh sweet Celestia I'm gonna be here forever," Spike groaned



After another 2 hours of trying on dresses, they finally settled on a ruby red dress with a fake horn ring and slippers. It wasn't Spikes first choice but he could deal with it, anything to get some cake in her belly. The pair then headed to the park where all three of Leafs friends would be waiting for the party to start. Upon seeing them her friends ran to them and they all hugged.

"Winter Breeze, Summer Rain, Autumn winds I'm so glad you could all make it." Leaf said in sincerity as she danced on the spot, she had figured out long ago that she probably wouldn't be seeing her other friends for a fairly long time, if ever, and as much as the thought had saddened her, she had pushed past it and moved on, but always set a tiny amount of hope that the day she see them again would come.

Winter was wearing a light blue dress that matched her fur and scales, Summer was wearing a bright orange dress that contrasted her fur and scaled, and lastly Autumn was wearing a bright pink dress that was a little big for her.

"Happy birthday Leaf." Summer said as the group went over to where their parents were so they wouldn't mess up their new dresses.

"Winter I'm happy to see you got over your cold." Autumn gave a smile as she used her magic to spread out a blanket for them all to sit on.

"No joke it was awful being sick I'm just glad I got sick over the weekend so I didn't have any homework to catch up on." Winters' throat sounded weak. Leaf figured from all the coughing she probably did.

"I'm just happy you know who isn't here." Leaf said and her friends instantly shuddered. Leafs eldest brother had not improved over the years and in some aspects got even worse, being one of the only 4 Electrical Kirin in existence had made him famous, his fame had died by the time he was 9 but it had molded him into a self-centered ass that expected everything to be done his way, what was worse was that their great aunt, Ocean Smog, had encouraged this behavior and favored him heavily, due to being an electrical Kirin herself most likely. Spike remembered the day his parents had kicked him out of the house, at the age of 19 paying no rent and never having a job, Ocean had scooped him up and he was now living the high life with her and her wealthy husband. "And let's just hope he doesn't come here," She added with a nod "Just spent like three hours with my mom trying to just pick one and leave, but no, we had to try them all on just to make sure," her Three friends look at her for a moment and Summer shook her head,
"I just realized I've never seen you wear a dress before," the other two nodded,
"Leafy you look amazing," Winter said, "my dad's brother's wife makes clothes if you want I could get you a few more dresses,"
"I prefer tuxedos," Leaf storm replied, earning a sigh from her friends, 
"Leafy," Winter whined, "Why can't you just let us stuff you into a dress, maybe put on some makeup, really make you glow?" Leafy gave her the stink eye.
"First because I don't enjoy this stuff, I'm doing this for mom, second I have seen you put makeup on Autumn and I don't want you doing it to me,"
"You were just intimidated by how awesome I looked," Autumn shot back, as they had been having their talk River and the rest of the parents present had been setting up a small picnic table, complete with the Leaf storms favorite cake, a Vanilla cake with small hard candies that looked like little gems, expensive, but since it was Leaf storms special day she did her best to make it as special as possible,
"It's time for the birthday girl to make a wish," River said, sitting at one of the several tables Onyx was talking with a few of the other parents, at the cake table, sitting at the end Pop-pop was in deep, and well-thought-out, discussion with Sunset and Comet,
"My gift is better," He said simply,
"No ours is better," The said in unison, Pop-pop shook his head,
"My gift is better," He said matter-of-factly,
"No ours is better," The three had been doing this for over 9 minutes non-stop and only stopped when River informed them it was wishing time,
Leaf walked up to the three of them and cleared her throat. "I believe I will be the judge of the best gift." She joked as Pop-Pop and the wonder twins blushed a little before laughing at the fact that a six-year-old is more mature than they are. But then again Leaf has always been responsible for her age. Always writing down lists of stuff that needed to get done along with important dates and the like.

"Alright let's go get some cake." Pop-Pop then used his magic to pick up Leaf and put her on his back. "Besides I know I have the best gift."

"IT,"

"IS,"

"ON," The twins say in alternating words. Leaf felt she would never understand how they do that but it was always amusing. River poked Onyx who jumped and got out of his chair, joining the family and friends to sing happy birthday to Leaf storm, who was placed at the end of the table by Pop-pop, The candles had been light and the song was about to begin when a voice sounded out.
"Well, well, well," Astral said as he made his presence known, He was standing beneath the shadow of a tree and leaning against it, his face showed he expected a hero's welcome as he walked to the party,
"Oh Celestia dammit," Spike thought as he approached "this'll make 6 birthdays in a row he's ruined, and that's like my entire life, as far as he knows, which makes it even more of a dick move in my books," Astral was very clearly empty hoofed, his present being 'the honor of his presence' as he put it, Astral walked to the table and took a seat, he looked over at Leafs friends and gave his usual comments,
"Look at this, still pretending to like you to try and get close to me, it's adorable, really girls stop leading her on," Leaf knew her parents were trying very hard to ignore their son, Comet and Sunrise however bit back with words,
"Do you see what I see Sunset?"
"Why yes, Comet I think I do!"
"It's the worlds first walking tub of lard,"
"I must say tho even for lard it is exceptionally repulsing," the two snicked when Pop-pop snaped
"Hey!" the two looked a them "Now what has lard ever done to you two to deserve that?" The Twins laughed as Pop-pop smiled at them before getting up, having openly admitted to disliking his grandson ages ago, Astral denied this by saying it was his way of trying to be fair since the other three would never get as much attention as he would,
"Hey Pop," Astral said with a nod "You almost dead yet?"
"I've got a good 17 or 18 years left in me, and when I do die you ain't gonna be getting an inheritance from me," Astral shrugged,
"Doesn't matter if you do or not, by then I'll have friends up so high I'll just have to ask em and they'll fix it so I get what I deserve,"
"Oh, now Astral," Leaf spoke up "Why must you deny Pop-pop the joy of seeing that, I think you should get what you deserve now," Pop-pop and the twins snicker at that as Astral looked over at her,
"Leafy, Leafy, Leafy, I know you're trying to hurt my feelings, but taking out your anger over you future striping career on me..."
"Astral," Onyx said calmly "Finish that sentence, go ahead, try me," Onyx and River were both smokings as they stared at their son, wishing that River's sister Ocean had never found out he had electrical powers and flaunted him to the world,
"Alright, so this is 6 in a row right?" Leaf asked "all of my birthday parties that you've ruined," Astral waved her off,
"Please, a party celebrating me getting a sister without me, I just saved this..." Astral gave her a disgusted look like he had just looked at a dead thing, "...speaking of saving, that dress is not helping your problem area,"
"Alright cake time!" Pop-pop decided, not wanting an Onyx, Astral shouting match for the third year in a row. "Leafy you hate that old song anyway right?"
"You hate it too," She replied.
"I'm old, I've heard it too many times,"
"I've heard it was more Pop's trust me on that," Spike thought as Pop-pop cut the cake, he gave a nice big piece of Leaf when Astral pointed at himself,
"Star of the show here," he said dully "I'll take the first piece thanks,"
"Absolutely not," Pop-pop replied coldly "Birthday girl get's the first piece, you can have what ever's left when all who were invited get a piece,"
"Um," Astral said "This part is celebrating me getting a sister, so I should get the first piece, the accessory can have the second piece,"
"I want the first piece" Leaf declared loudly as Pop-pop set it down and proceded to serve Leafs friends, River and Onyx moved to the twins, asking them to help set up the presents, as this went down Astral made his move,
"Thank's for holding this," He said as he attempted to push Leaf off her seat, as soon as he got close she combusted and he jumped back, this was when Leaf made the sad discovery that her new dress was not fireproof, the ring on her horn melted and the dress turned to ash, she looked down at it in silence, not angry, but more disappointed at all the time wasted  picking it out, Astral tried going for the piece and she hissed at him, he turned in apparent defeat as Leaf turned to her long-awaited slice, when Astral struck his back hoof out, nailing the slice and sending it flying, Leaf sat in silence as Pop-pop turned just in time to see Astral shove the rest of the cake to the ground,
"Vanilla, Disgusting, how hard is it to get Chocolate right?" all of the party goes where about to make a move at Astral when Leaf gave up
"I'm done," Leaf declared loudly, gaining all of their attention "I'm leaving, Astral enjoy your motherfucking party," With that Leaf turned and stormed off, leaving flaming hoof prints behind her, Astral scoffed and was about to head out when Comet and Sunrise got him in a headlock,
"I think you should smell with your nose-" Comet began and he shoved something small up Astrals left nostril,
"-what we have to see with our eyes," Sunrise finished as he shoved a similar thing up Astrals right nostril. the two let him go and he turned, with sparks coming off him when the two balls in his nose deflated, reviling themselves to be the twins special skunk bombs, Astral howled as his eye's water and he ran, screaming for someone help, he was ignored by the party who where all trying to figure out what to do, Leafs friends where whispering to each other about their three pieces of cake,
"I'll go get her," River sighed as she made to go get her daughter,
"Excuse me," A voice said "We were just passing through and noticed that little scene," River turned and froze at the two standing before her,
"You...you...you..." was all she could stutter when Pop-pop finished for her
"You're the Princess of Friendship,"
"Yes I am," Twilight said with a wave "Discord and I are here to speak to Rain shine and we noticed...that happening, you wouldn't mind if I talk to your daughter real quick would you? I feel I might make her day a little better,"
"Please do that," River begged "I'll pay you to do that,"
"How much we talking here?" Discord asked, earning a glare from Twilight "Joking," he amended as Twilight gave River a short bow Discord walked over to the twins who looked up at him in awe, he said nothing as he was suddenly wearing a Trench coat with a Fedora and smoking a Cigar, he reached into the coat and handed them a card,
"Where you both 18 go to a place called Cordio's, It's a joke shop I created, just place that card on the counter and I'll give you both jobs and market you skunk bombs," With that he moved to the table and sat down, his costume disappearing, looking at the trio talking as Twilight made her way after Leaf, the twins looked in amazement at the card,
"Dang," they said in unison looking at each other.
> Friends to the end
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf had gone to the small children's play park nearby and was sitting on the swing, using her tail to push herself back and forth, She swung silently on her swing, missing the old days when Pinkie would liven up any party, even when there were grouchy crashers,

"Hi there," A voice said, a voice that made her ears stand on end as she turned to its owner, looking at her kindly stood Twilight.

"Sweet Mother of the River!" She yelped as she jumped and fell flat on her face as her swing fell back without her, "Ow" She added, Twilight levitated her back onto the swing and joined her with a smile, Leaf looked at her in silence, a mixture of feeling flowing through her as she looked at the mare that had been her sister, but now saw her as a Stranger, she wanted to say so many things, things she knew she would probably never get to say again After a while Twilight started the conversation,

"I saw what happened," She said "Such a little Kirin using such a...harsh word," Leaf Storm blushed as she laughed nervously, "Yeah, this isn't the first time Astrals ruined my party, that's what Daddy called him when he thought I couldn't hear,"

"I'm sorry to hear that," Twilight said, Leaf Storm could feel she meant that and it made her smile.

"Oh, you don't know the half of it." Leaf said as she got down off the swings to look Twilight in the eyes. "I had to share a room with the stupid son of a bitch," Leaf then let out a very angry whinny.

Twilight was stunned at the idea of a child learning such words. "I can assume he taught you that?"

Well, actually, it was Celestia after she found out that blueblood was gay. "yeah among other things that got me my own room because my folks kicked him out when they found out." Leaf said while doing a motion with her hoof, running it back and crossing against the soft dirt, Twilight got off the swing and offered Leaf Storm her hoof,

"I'm very sorry to hear about this, I use to have brothers and they were the best part of my life before I became a Princess," Leaf Storm looked at her in silence as she continued "My brother Shining was a Great Pony, he was the best Big Brother I could have asked for and he single-handily ended the Great Pony Griffion war, and my brother Spike was a hero through and through, I know you know his name, that goofball managed to become a hero in every non-pony nation, with the Exemption of the Chrysal Empire, to this day they say he's a god waiting to return to the world and bring peace," Twilight seemed lost in thought as she put her hoof down and with a start Leafstorm realized she was crying,

"Don't cry," Leaf Storm said holding in her own emotion and throwing out the sentimental comfort she now knew to be a lie, "They're up in the clouds, and I'm sure they're proud of the Princess you are today," Twilight smiled.

"Aren't you a little sweetheart," she replied "I'm supposed to be cheering you up and you've gone and turned the tables on me," Twilight wiped her eyes and cleared her throat. "Back on point, what I was going to say was that while it's tragic one of your brothers is literal trash, I couldn't help but notice your other two brothers rushing to the scene and stink bombing him," Leaf looked at her for a moment before her mouth pulled up at the corners as she tried not to laugh,

"Please tell me they shoved Skunk bombs up his nose again," She said, laughter beginning to come out of her "I love it when they do that,"

"I'm sure they'd love to tell you about it if you'd come back to your party with me, I left them with Discord so I can only hope it hasn't gotten out of control." Twilight once again offered Leaf storm a hoof she took in silence before they made their way back to the party, Discord was floating over her three friends who seemed to be trying to do something on the table, Pop-pop and the Twins were watching as Astral still struggled with the skunk bombs up his nose, the parents were trying to figure out if they should call an officer when Onyx noticed Twilight and Leaf come back.

"Oh thank goodness," he said, his wife doing the same before leaving the group and heading to the table,

"Honey are you ok?" River asked as the Twins and Pop-pop came back from their glorious view of Astrals suffering

"We still got presents to open," Pop-pop added "I'm sure one of them will kick this party up a little.

"I have a better idea!" Discord declared getting the groups attention as he moved and presented what Winter, Summer, and Autumn had done, they had each cut their surviving slice of cake in half and placed one of each of their halves on a plate for Leaf storm, they had even picked off the Gem candies form their halves and placed them on the cake, the Trio levitated the cake in front of her and Discord snapped, a candle appearing on top of it. Leaf storm looked like she was gonna cry as the trio smiled.

"Happy Birthday!" They cheered, the rest of the party joining in, Leaf storm took a deep breath and blew out the candle, the party kicking into gear as soon as she did so, as Leaf storm and her three friends began talking to each other River walked over to Twilight.

"Princess I can't thank you enough," She began "But you don't have to stay, I understand you're a busy pony,"

"Oh I don't mind," Twilight said happily "I'm the Princess of Friendship after all, and I do love a good party," Discord was floating overhead, looking down at Leaf storm in silence, he was no longer looking at her physically, he was looking at her through the spirit realm, as he looked he got a good view of the table and smiled, where Leaf storm sat he could see the Green and purple spirit of Spike, and next to him he could see the spirits of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo, after a quick once over he found two more in the twins with Flim and Flam.

"Ah," He thought "I've been wondering where these lot were," He pulled out a pen and pad and wrote a note to himself "Spike especially, I was worried he might have been fully reincarnated but it seems the spell worked, his soul is still in one piece, Leaf storm should have some Spike like personalities in her once she gets old enough, so it's a safe bet..." Discord finished his writing and flew over to River, presenting a small box to her,

"I Present to you," He declared as she watched him pull the small bow on top "The Instant Cakebox," as soon as the bow left the box is expanded and turned into an exact copy of the cake Astral had trashed, River stared in silence when Discord placed the bow back on and it turned back into a box. "Just a little something to surprise the Birthday girl with when you get home," River took the box and he smiled and winked before going over to Leaf Storm. The four young Kirins were in the midst of arguing over dresses,

"I prefer tuxes," Leaf replied simply, "None Flammable Tuxes" She added, there was a snap and she blinked, looking down she was wearing an orange tux with a Purple undershirt and a Purple bowtie. "Oh! Thank you Discord," Even Discord was taken aback by how unsurprised and casual she sounded, almost like she had expected it.

"Hmm," Discord thought "She might have a few echo memories, have to keep an eye on this one," Discord pondered for a moment before blinking "The hell am I doing if she's just like Spike then..." Discord looked down at her with a pair of comically large glasses "You know, just by looking at you I can tell you are overly prepared and responsible for your age.

"he's got you there Leaf," Winter laughed "You're so good at listening to the teacher you only take notes to give to us, she's like super smart, I bet she could multiply if she tried," The trio made a ruckus about how advanced she would be, one look at Leaf told Discord she didn't find multiplication to be advanced.

"Well then, here." Discord said handing Leaf storm a card with an image of a golden Discord on it. "When you've graduated from High School, just come to Ponycity, head to Twilight's castle, and press that card on the ground, I'll give you a job as my assistant in a heartbeat." Discord took the glasses off and put them on Leaf Storm before leaving.

"Wow," The Trio said as Leaf Storm placed the card in her tux pocket, and looked at them through the glasses that were bigger than her head.

"Anyone want a pair of giant glasses?" She inquired, "Her brothers shot up next to her and claimed them as their own. She let out a chuckle as the two used their powers combined to share the glasses, each using one side and holding them up with their magic. Leaf storm took another bite of her cake when Pop-pop declared

"Alright! I've waited long enough!" he got up "Present time!" Leaf storm didn't even have time to respond, her family, and her friends all levitated their respective presents over and sat waiting for her to pick one to open,

"Well since there seems to be a contest between them I'll open Pop-pop and the twin's presents first." Discord heard a noise and looked over to see Astral had gotten the bombs out of his nose, with a snap Discord replaced them and turned back to the presents, Astral began swearing and he snapped again temporarily surrounding Astral in a noise proof barrier that followed him around. Leaf storm opened Pop-pops first and found a thick book named: "The History of the Crystal Empire."
"Oh, dangit," Comet muttered, looking over at Pop-pop. "That's cheating," he muttered as Leaf storm picked it up, even after being reincarnated Spike held a special place in his heart for the Empire, Leaf sat in silence and Pop-pop reacted.
"Quick before she starts the crying part!" The Twins placed their present down and Leaf began opening them, Comets present was full of still in the package Harmony toys, it had the Mane 6 and a fair number of ponies who were only known as the toys now, among them she spied the toy Spike and smiled before moving to Sunrises, she thought it was a large book, but inside was a huge stack of Power Ponies reunited comics, both Comet and Pop-Pop gasped

"you broke the oath," They said staring at Sunrise who was now wearing the giant glasses in victory, using his magic to keep them from falling off.

"I win," he declared with pride.

"Indeed you do!" Leaf storm agreed as she looked at them "I love Power ponies so much!"

"Yup, she has a fair amount of Spike in her she does," Discord decided as she began opening more presents. Pop-pop and Comet were getting onto Sunrise for breaking the promise to not get the obvious winner, River's present had been a stack of Power Pony comics as well, and after a quick check Leaf storm found her mother had gotten her issues 1-50, and Sunrise had gotten 51-98, she looked over at her mother who had a twinkle in her eye.

"Shh, don't tell 'em it was a group project we've been working on all year," She whispered, Her father had been in on it too, his present was 99-178, meaning she was only 2 comics off from the full collection, once she opened Winters she found that her friends may have also been in on it as she pulled out a neatly boxed Masked-Matter-horn and Filli Second, Leaf Storm laughed and held up Matter-horn, looking over at Twilight as she did so, something that didn't escape Discords notice.
"Spike once told me that they got sucked into a power ponies comic...and that Twilight was Matter-horn," He mused on it "I wonder how much of Spike is still in there?" Summer had gotten her Saddle Ranger and Mistress Marvelous, and Autumn had gotten her the Zap, Radiance, and Humdrum combo pack, at the last birthday she'd had Power ponies action figures and comics, then Astral had claimed them as his and made off with them when the house had been empty, they had been unable to get them back due to Ocean Smog refusing to let them on her property and claiming that girls shouldn't play with boy toys, looking at them she was overjoyed that her missing collection had been returned, and now had an extra 15 comics to go with it. As Leaf Storm began thanking her family and friends for the gifts Discord released Astral from the Stink and the dome, he shook his head and stood up to take vengeance when Discord loomed above him.

"Morning" Discord said "I take it your the brother," Astral looked thrilled.

"I am Astral thunder, yes the Astral thunder, I know, I know you are impressed."

"Listen," Discord said simply "I like your brothers and your sisters, so just an F.Y.I for the future," Discord leaned in with yellow glowing eyes "you fuck with 'em again, you steal something, you ruin their social lives, you kick another cake off a table, and I'll know, and when I snap my fingers you won't be removing what I place in your nose," Discord stood up "Now Mr. Douchebag have a shit day." Discord teleported back to the party and held up a piece of paper to Twilight.

"Oh, I forgot!" She said as she looked at it "We still have a meeting with Rain shine!" Twilight waved goodbye and headed out "Goodbye Leaf storm," She said as they headed off "Discord you got that little shit's name right?" She asked.

"Astral Thunder," he confirmed

"Good, I'm gonna make sure Rain shine knows just what kind of a Kirin he is,"

"Oh, I love ruining terrible creatures' images." Discord sang as they headed out, Astral walked to the table and glared at the twins in silence, when they noticed him they spoke just loud enough for him to hear.

"Did you hear mother?" Comet asked getting the parties' attention "Discord offered me and Sunrise jobs," before their parents could display their joy Sunrise added.

"And offered one to Leaf Storm when she's old enough,"

"Oh yeah," Leaf storm said pulling out the Card, "Mom can you hold onto this?" River took the card and began tapping in excitement,

"Oh Onyx this is amazing, alright let's wrap up I got a get this card to a safe place." Astral watched as Leaf said goodbye to her friends and the party split up with the twins making sure all the presents were carefully taken home. Astral glared at his siblings, settling on Leaf storm,

"I am the special one here! I'm the one that deserves to kick it up in luxurious wealth. Not my lessers. Just wait until Aunt Smog hears of this. This time tomorrow that card will be trashed and you'll be back where you belong Leaf. Below me!"
> Downfall
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leafstorm watched in silence as her parents tried to get rid of Ocean Smog, she was Chocolate Brown in color her mane and tail were Ocean Blue. she had her window open and was listening as the argument went down. The sheer level of entitlement coming from Ocean was unbelievable.
"Do you know who I am?" Ocean demanded, "The Kirins I know, I'll have your rinky-dink antique store shut down like that!" Ocean punctuated her threat by stomping her hoof on the ground. "That card is rightfully Astrals, I can't believe you think for a second that your sad excuse for a daughter..."
"Finish that sentence!" River said, moving forward "I fucking dare you to try and talk down to my daughter!" Ocean was about to give her retort when a hoof closed Leaf's window, blocking the sound out enough for it to be unintelligible, Leaf over as Sunrise who was giving her a nervous smile.
"I'm sure mom and dad have this," he said with a smile, "And if Aunt Ocean starts winning old Pop-pop will come out and open a can o whoop-ass on 'er,"
"Sunrise," Comet called from the door, "You said you were gonna stop teaching Leaf new swear words," Sunrise looked at Leaf and winked, earning a giggle from her.
"I dunno what you're talking about," he called to his brother "I'm just comforting her"
"Sure you are ya cheater," He called back, Sunrise chuckled.
"To be fair," he said whispering to his sister "Comet and Pop-pop made that rule after I had already gotten most of the comics," he smiled "So I call not being a cheater on a technicality," Sunrise patted her head and left the room, Leaf watched him go and waited a moment before reopening the window, the sounds of an angry entitled aunt not getting her way was music to Leaf's ears. But that didn't last long as Her old life had presented a unique opportunity for her. To be able to go see her old friends and family again and reminisce about all the good times, the only thing preventing that was her lack of proof to back up she was Spike since most of what she knew of her old friends was just basic history at this point, 

"Hey, Leaf you coming down for dinner? you've just been staring out that Window all day." Pop-pops voice called from beyond her door as Leaf blinked in surprise and checked the position of the sun to find she'd been at the window a good few hours,
"Sorry, Pop-Pop just thinking about Discords offer," she called back as she shut the window, lingering just a moment as Aunt Ocean stormed off, screaming about shutting down their store, before locking it shut and leaving her room, she turned to head downstairs before calling behind her "By the way you two suck at sneaking," 
"Lies," Comet replied as he and Sunrise joined her on her way to Dinner "You just have amazing hearing,"
"It's unnatural,"  Sunrise added "It's like you've trained your hearing to pick out small noises that most others would miss,"
"Like that time you heard the stink bomb in your room and let Astral walk in first," Comet said with a laugh, the other two joining in as they thought back to the event, 
"Man he was so P-" Pop-pop's head appeared at the bottom of the stairs as he gave Leaf storm the stink eye "-iiiiiiieeeeeeved off, Peeved off, yeah that's what I was saying,"
"watch it Leafy, we all know what you were really going to say," Pop-Pop warned.
"Sorry, Pop-Pop." Leaf storm said with a hung head.
"It's alright but just between us Your hearing is really spooky." He joked with a chuckle
"My hearing isn't that good I just clean my ears." She muttered as her brothers howled with laughter behind her, the fun was interrupted when the front door slammed and the three siblings jumped. Their parents made their way into the room, Onyx was grumbling and River was literally steaming. Leaf caught what Onyx was grumbling as he walked past him.
"stuck up entitled cunt," He looked over and fell on his face when he saw Leaf raise her hooves to her mouth in reaction to his words. "Oh no, please tell me you didn't hear that," he begged.
"I could lie but that won't make the word any less real to me," she replied through her hooves, hiding a huge grin as she tried not to laugh as River helped Onyx up.
"What happened?" River demanded, Onyx tried to think up a reason but Leaf already had one ready,
"I was just asking daddy what cunt means," River and Pop-pop instantly gave the twins a death stare, who held their hooves up in surrender.
"I did not teach her that!" They both screamed out in synchronized fear. River looked down at Leaf who smiled at her.
"That bad of a word hu?" She asked.
"Where did you learn that word?" She demanded, her tone soft but her eye's hard.
"Aunt Ocean," Leaf storm replied "I'd forgotten about it but seeing her again reminded me of the word," She smiled innocently, her lie guaranteed not to fail, thanks to it not being a complete lie. River didn't both fact-checking as she instead started smoking harder.
"Leaf honey," She said with an amazingly leveled voice, "That is a very, very, bad word, please don't use it again, I'll have to ground you again if you do,"
"Oh, OK," Leaf replied with a sweet smile as her mother walked into the kitchen, the sound of water could be heard, followed by a huge cloud of steam coming out of the kitchen. Pop-pop made his way to the kitchen to open a window and air the room out while Onyx looked down at his daughter, there was a moment of silence before he sighed.
"As thank you for not sicking your mother onto me you can get that Power ponies game," Leaf light up.
"But I'll take it away if your Grades drop,"
"I'm in first grade," Leaf storm called back "If my grades drop it's because I got bored and fell asleep in class, not cause an awesome game," Onyx didn't reply as he made his way into the kitchen for Dinner, The Twins were staring at each other for a moment, then at Leaf who was smiling, They where sweating, waiting for her to say it.
"Sunrise gets 2nd player," she decided.
"Curse you!" Comet cried out as Sunrise and Leaf made their way to the kitchen "Curse you and your oath-breaking ways!" there was a moment of silence "I call fighting winner," he called out as he ran to the kitchen.
> The Last Week
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf Storm groaned as her alarm went off, Informing her that it was Monday morning and time to get ready for school, School had been interesting at first since she'd never got to really experience it as Spike, but it got old fast, she was beyond happy she had gotten to skip through almost all of Highschool thanks to letting some of her skills shine, she'd held back a little and had ended up going to her Senior year of High School at the same time as the Twins, she could have graduated by now but this way she and her brothers could head to Pony city at the same time, The Company would be nice.
"One Week," Leaf groaned as she pulled herself out of her blankets. "And I never have to go to school in this lifetime again," She rubbed the sleep from her eyes and made her way downstairs where her mother was already making breakfast.
"Morning Honey," River said when she saw her daughter "Pancake or Waffle?"
"Pancakes please," Leaf said sleepily as she got into her chair, an Oversize mug of Coffee was waiting for her with enough sugar to make Pinkie Jealous. As Leaf Storm chugged her drink Comet and Sunrise made their way down the stairs, arriving just in time for breakfast to be served. The Table talk was little at first, but near the end, it picked up.
"So Leaf," Comet said with a smile "I heard about you turning down that Freshman yesterday at the Park,"
"Hm?" Leaf asked in confusion as she thought for a moment "Oh Yeah, I said no to his advances,"
"I heard you slapped him," Sunset said with a smile.
"When he got a little to close after I told him no for the 4th time, yes I smacked him across the face,"
"Ah, good memories," Comet said, Leaf looked at them and answered before they had a chance to ask.
"I do believe he's the Swim team captain's younger brother," The Twins had an evil glint in their eyes and they nodded in silence.
"Boys," Rain said with a stern tone in her voice "You better not,"
"Not what mother?" Comet asked innocently "We're just going to tell Highnoon about what her younger brother did is all," Rain gave them a suspicious look and they smiled back at her sweetly.
"Alright then," Rain said, the look of suspicion still in her eye "but I'm checking all three of your bags before you leave for school,"



Leaf Storm said goodbye to the Brothers as they headed to their friend group and she headed to her's, her only year of Highschool had been weird by luckily her friends were Freshmen and she had some ponies to hang with during the beginning of the day, Lunch, and during her two free periods. Winter, Summer, and Autumn were all waiting for her, Autumn was going on about something irritably.
"-and he had the gall to keep advancing," She said angrily before noticing Leaf, "He and his 'crew' were being a bunch of..." She cut off when she noticed Leaf and waved at her. "Just telling them about yesterday," she said angrily "fucking Midnight Falls, that guy is the biggest-"
"Chill," Leaf said patting her friends back "The Twins have his scent,"
"Good," Autumn said angrily, she was going through a bit of a rebellious phase having gone so far as to shave off the right half of her Mane to tick her parents off. "Hope they fill his bag with Skunk bombs,"
"Why did you tell your brothers?" Winter asked with an air of exhaustion, she had cut her mane so her neck was showing and was the only one to have not only had a boyfriend, but the only one to have multiple X's. "They're just gonna make trouble,"
"Their brand of trouble is always hilarious," Summer said with a large grin "Remember our first week here, Confetti Snake's were all over the place, took weeks for them to all be cleared out."
"There was no proof that was them," Leaf said calmly as she thought back to when she had helped them set the prank up. "no proof at all," Summer smiled at her friend with a laugh before it slowly turned into a frown.
"Can't believe this time next week your gonna be gone," there was silence for a moment.
"I'll visit," Leaf assured for the umpteenth time "and in four or five years you can be the one's to come and visit me,"
"Yeah, I guess I just thought we'd have more time together," She said with a sigh, her eye's giving away she was a thousand miles away at the moment. The other two looked at Summer in silence, anticipating something, what it was Leaf had no idea. "Look, Leaf," Summer said, her face slowly getting redder "Could we...maybe, something...go-" The bell cut Summer off and Leaf jumped.
"Oh Shoot, Sorry guys, first class is on the other side of the school, see you at lunch," Leaf hightailed it and her friends sighed before Turing to Summer who was bright red.
"Timing," Autumn said simply "You need to work on your timing,"
"Shut up," Summer snapped back "I have a week-"
"You've had the last few years," Winter corrected. "You only have a week left before she moves to Pony City and becomes the assistant to the God of Chaos, so no pressure but...time is ticking," Summer watched as her friends rushed to class and picked up her bag. She made her way to her locker and opened it, a Picture of her and Leaf from about 3 years ago was stuck to it and she frowned.
"Only a week," She muttered "Yeah...Yeah, I can do this,"
> Twin Vengeance.
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf groaned as she made her way down the empty halls, the bell ringing to signify anyone who didn't have a free period was late, Leaf had easily earned her free period, but due to her lack of friends in the same grade, she'd have to wait till first lunch began to hang out with one of her friends. As such, she was on her way to the pool to watch the Swim team sit around and bitch at each other, Upon arriving at the pool she instead found the twins bitching with the Swim team, a welcome change to a boring routine.
"I don't see why we should trust you two," One of the Swin team members scoffed "Not after what you did at the Swin finals,"
"Ok, first that was cheap and had no taste, it wasn't us," Comet replied irritably.
"And second we are somewhat irritated that Midnight Falls didn't have the mental capacity to accept that our sister was denying him," Sunrise added, "So we'd just like to...talk to him after school," Despite his best efforts Sunrise had the shiftiest of looks on his face.
"And I told you," A Kiren Female replied as she towered over pretty much every other Kirin in the room "That I have to live with that little piss, so like it or not I can't have you two skunking him up and subsequently skunking up my house,"
"Ok so we won't skunk him," Comet said seriously "How about the Tar Trap?"
"No, mom will make we baby him for like a week while he wines about his fur loss,"
"How about the Candy of Salt?" The Mare scratcher her chin for a moment.
"Maybe," She said as she scratched her chin, "any other options?" The Twins huddled together and started whispering, at this point Leaf Storm was sitting on the bleachers watching as she pulled a Lollypop out of her bag, she unwrapped it and was about to put it in her mouth when it was suddenly snatched out of her grasp, she turned on the spot and saw Midnight Falls pop it in his mouth as he gave her a look that made her want to puke.
"Well hello again?" He said with a smirk "I knew you just couldn't stay away from your favorite Kirin" he pulled the Sucker out of his mouth and licked it slowly, Leaf groaned at him.
"Yeah, your sister," Leaf repeated for what might have been the hundredth time as she looked back at the Large Kirin "I'm here to gawk at your sister and her rocking bod, not you and your-," On Instinct Leaf Scooted down the bench and Midnight held his arm out, it landed where her shoulder had been a few second prior.
"Oh come on Leafy," Midnight said as he looked at him "Why lie to yourself, you want me, I want you, let's just make it happens, playing hard to get can only get you so far baby gi-" Midnight was cut off when the room echoed with movement, Leaf looked over as his Sister Highnoon made her way to them and up the steps, Leaf sat in silence as Highnoon got to them and stared down at her brother before pulling out a Sucker and handing it to him.
"Stop stealing other's candy brat," She said simply before turning back and heading back to the twins, who had an evil look in their eyes. Leaf watched as Midnight tossed her sucker to the side, letting it stick to the bench before unwrapping the new one and pointing it at Leaf.
"So anyway," He said with a greasy smile "What say we end the games? You're about to Graduate and I have a shining rock career coming soon, think about it you get with me, I drop out, you support me for a few years, I become a star, and you get to be my Hotwife,"
"I don't know what kind of movies, or T.V show, or shitty online forum you got that from but no one in their right mind would ever-" Leaf backed up as Midnight moved forward with a smile.
"Come on girl, you know you want me, just give it up and come-" Leaf was done, She moved forward, grabbed his hoof, and shoved the sucker in his mouth, he choked on it for a second, he made to pull it out when his eyes suddenly popped at the taste. Leaf made her way down the steps of the bleachers as he fell over and rolled back and forth on the top as the sucker stuck itself to his tongue.
"New recipe?" She asked as she made it to the twins and Highnoon.
"Focus groups pointed out it was kind of pointless since the victim could just spit it out instantly, semi-sticky coating means it sticks to your tongue, cheeks, or the roof of your mouth for about 40 seconds, really lets the mixture of Sour, Salty, and Spicy get all up in there.  Highnoon smiled as she reached into her bag and pulled out an actual Sucker and handed it to Leafstorm, who took it happily.
"Sorry about him," Highnoon said with a groan "Our Mother dropped out of school to be with our dad and that dumbass has been bothering the shit out of the Senior girls for months to try and do the same, I finally got him to stop cause I told them he was too young...He then immediately turned all his attention to you," She shook her head as she looked up at her brother, who was crying as he tried to get the foul-tasting candy out of his mouth.
"I heard from my friends that he's getting held back a grade," Leaf said as she turned to Highnoon, who looked like she was about to laugh as Leaf reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of crumpled up paper, "Saw him trash this the other day, though you might be interested in showing it to your folks," Highnoon took it and looked at it with a smile.
"A Dreadful Report Card," She said with a smile "Mom and Dad have been asking about this for a while," Highnoon put the paper in her bag and ruffled Leafstorms mane, "Thanks kid, Dad'll finally take that stupid Guitar away from him," Highnoon turned back to the rest of her Team and Leaf made her way out of the Pool area with the Twins.
"You bitch," Midnight suddenly screamed getting a fair amount of attention, Leaf turned and moved out of the way as a sucker was tossed at her. "I hope you're happy, you just tossed away your best chance at a happy future, have fun flipping burgers, While I rise to star-"
"Hey, twat, " Leaf called up interrupting him "I have a job waiting for me in Ponycity, But good luck being a rockstar when your Parents take way your Guitar," Midnight watched her leave before scoffing at her.
"Yeah right, my parents are idiots, oh sorry Mommy I don't know where my Report Card is, Sorry Daddy I'll ask my teachers about it when I got to school tomorrow, I don't know why they didn't mail it to you," Midnight laughed as he pulled the sucker he had tossed away off the bench and put it back in his mouth, "Gullible," as Midnight laughed Highnoon looked at him with a smile, excited to see the look on his face when she handed their parents his report card.
> A Friend asks Questions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Autumn groaned as she leaned against the walls of a small cave, it was full of books, notes, a small table with three chairs, and even a list of daily activities.

"I'm bored," Autumn groaned for maybe the 9th time.

"Shut up," Summer snapped back as she looked at her wall of paper and string. "Alright so I ask Leafy out, take her to the Comic store and get her the newest Power ponies comic, take her to the cinema for her choice of movie, then after the movie, we go to the park?" Summer's confidence began dying down near the end before she gave an odd yowl and ignited, setting the paper and string dictating her plan ablaze. "NO! The park is so dull, why do I keep ending with the dam park!?"

"Because Leaf storm loves the park?" Autumn offered as she approached Summer with a blanket "You know, the place she met the Princess of Friendship and her soon to be Boss the god of Chaos," once she got to her side she began beating Summer with the blanket until she killed her flames and Autumn switched to beating the burning wall.

"I know Leafy loves the park," Summer replied as she rubbed the bridge of her nose, "But I want it to be special for the two of us, I can't compete with a Princess and a literal god!" Autumn gave no reply as she beat the last of the flames out.

"Why not the cave then?" Autumn suggested as she rolled up the blanket for later use. Turning back to Summer, Autumn noticed her friend's dumbfounded look. "What?"

"You mean this cave that we hang out in all the time." Summer deadpanned. "The only creature that would find a cave a desirable date location would be a dragon."

"I mean we are like half-dragon or something." Summer face hoofed and shook her head earning yet another "What?" from Autumn 

"That's just a myth. Autumn we just share a common ancestor, genetically speaking we are nothing like dragons." Summer informed her less than an academic friend.

Autumn rolled her eyes "Jeez” she said with a shake of her head “you sound like my 3rd-period teacher,"

“Can we get back on topic?” Summer demanded irritably as she tapped the wall that had once held her plan upon it “I need to create the perfect date so Leafy will love me,”

“Well I believe in you,” Autumn replied casually as she got up "I mean you've been preparing for this for over 7 years now, I'm sure one of your plans is foolproof, good luck figuring out which one though, now come one where gonna be late, we're supposed to meet Winter and Leaf at the Malt Shop, I'm sure Winter can help you form a good date, she's the only one of us who's actually gone on one after all," Summer perked up at that.
"Hey...your right!" Summer ran past Autumn and out of the cave "Winter can help me!"



Winter and Leaf were sitting in a booth at the Local Malt shop, Winter had a small Vanilla malt while Leaf was midway through her 2nd Choco-Mango Swirl Malt with a mountain of Whip cream and Marshmallows stacked ontop, Leaf was rocking a Whipped Cream Beard while she actively did her best to eat as much of her malt as she could with only her mouth and her magic.
"Leaf darling," Winter said rubbing her temple with her hooves as she tried not to look at her friend, "Why can't you just use a spoon?"
"Spoons are for small creatures, I am a large dragon, and they don't make giant Spoons so I must use mighty maw to eat my food," Her reason given Leaf continued to eat as improperly as she could.
"Honey your using magic," Winter sighed "That alone already breaks your reasoning," Winter flipped her mane back and sighed.
"Look," Leaf said as she reemerged, her creamy beard dripping into her under-mane as she looked up at Winter "I get that you think me doing this is gonna make you look bad in front of your new boyfriend, but's it's just the age-old test if he tells you that you need to drop me as a friend for the sake of popularity...then he's a Got rotting dumpster fire,"
Winter sighed "I know," She wined "But he's just so adorable, oh I really hope things work out, we agreed to meet in about 2 hours, that way it doesn't cut into our time with Autumn and Summer,"
"I still can't believe you guys are planning to take me to all our hang-out spots to spend an entire day just reminiscing," Leaf said as her beard began melting onto the large mess she had made at the table. "Remember when we use to sit at that table, but then we had to move to this one because Kirins and other creatures walking by wouldn't come in when they saw me in the window eating like this!" Leaf stuck her face into her malt and started mortar boating it. Earning a laugh from Winter.
"Oh, whatever creature ends up catching your eye is gonna be crazy," Winter gasped at a sudden idea "Is that why you're so excited to be working for Discord? Does his crazy body do it for you?"
"Winter," Leaf said in a very serious tone "I've said it before I'll say it again," Leaf storm pointed at her chest and declared proudly "Gay,"
"Oh, your no fun," Winter said as she fluffed her mane "That being said it must be so hard to have to look at me and know that this luxurious neck will never be yours for the taking.
"Oh yeah," Leaf said sarcastically "Casuse it's so hard to get a look at your neck," Winter stuck her tongue out at her friend and Leafy did the same before diving back into her malt. there was a moment of silence before Winter spoke up.
"Do you think Autumn's ever gonna tell Summer?"
"Autumn's given up I think," Leaf replied "Summer is way too into me, don't know why, we have so little in common It's amazing where even friends, she and Autumn do literally everything together and somehow I end up the crush,"
"It's just your face," Winter replied "Even I must admit I'd kill for a face like yours,"
"Maybe we should do something, Summer's never gonna tell me, and I don't wanna break her heart,"
Winter tapped her chin in thought when the door opened and Autumn cried out.
"Where my homies at?"
"The same place they always are," The waitress behind the counter said merrily, the task of cleaning up after Leaf Strom being far outweighed by the amount of money Winter always tipped as an apology. Autumn and Summer made their way to their friends and took their seats. Winter and Leaf agreeing to continue their talk in private later.
"I see the Malt dragon has returned," Summer said with a smile as she looked at Leaf, who had finished off the whipped cream and was now rocking a Choco-Mango malt mustache.
"This Malt dragon never left," Leaf replied simply before digging back in, earning a laugh from her friends as she did so.
"I love this shop," Autumn said with a happy sigh.
"of course you do," Winter said "If it wasn't for this place we'd have never met Leafy," The Trio all looked at the front Counter while Leaf Storm crawled under the table to get past Summer and made her way to the counter, she got on her front hooves and tapped the bell to signify she wanted to order again. The Mare behind the counter made her way and looked down at her happily.



"How Might I help you?" A bord-looking Teenage Mare asked dully as she looked down at the 4-year-old Leaf storm being held up by Comet so she could reach the counter.
"I want a Vanilla-Peach swirl," Leaf storm said simply "with 3 extra orders of Whipped cream on top and some Marshmallows," Leaf storm was set down while Sunrise barely managed to pay off the bill. Leaf storm looked around the establishment with a groan.
"This place doesn't hold a candle to Sugar Cube Corner," She frowned at the thought "Hu...I wonder if Sugar Cube Corner's still a thing? maybe it's a historical landmark or something? I'm confident Pinkie kept it in working order," Leaf storm paid little mind to those dining in the establishment as her elder brothers carried her to an open table and put her on one side while she sat on the other.
"I told you she could talk," Comet said smugly.
"I don't understand," Sunrise said in a mystified tone as he looked at Leaf storm, who stared blankly at him, "Dad's convinced you can't talk! I was convinced you couldn't talk, how long have you been able to talk?" Leaf storm didn't respond to him and instead looked to the window.
"If I'm doomed to constantly get reincarnated it's better not to get attached and suffer the emotional turmoil of endless loved ones dying and being replaced with random new ones,"
"Oh come on," Sunrise whined as he turned to his brother, who was sweating slightly.
"I accidentally stepped on her tail yesterday," Comet said with a shrug "And got her to help me con you into paying for malts," he frowned "I did not figure why she refused to talk to anyone though, but... technically it's progress?" as Comet and Sunrise put their heads together to try and figure out why Leaf storm refused to talk her malt arrived and gained her the attention of the table behind them, three young Kirin girls sat with their own malts while their Parents all sat another table away talking about business opportunities and other such things.
"That's a lot of whipped cream," Summer said as they watched Leaf pull the straw out and lick it clean.
"Do you think we should offer her a spoon?" Autumn asked, across from them Winter was eating her malt with a spoon.
"I don't see why you should," Winter said curtly, "She hardly looks worth the trouble, and Father said I should never associate with the lower class, regardless of what Great Granny Rarity tells me,"
"Yeah, yeah," Autumn and Summer said in unison as they rolled their eyes at her.
"Why are we friend with her?" Summer asked irritably as Winter continued eating her malt.
"Because my Mommy said it would help her and I imagine your Daddy told you the same thing," The duo sighed and looked back at Leaf storm and both lost all interest in Winter when they saw Leaf storm has stuck her head in the Whipped cream and was licking away at her malt with no care for anyone looking at her.
"Wow," Summer said in awe "I wanna do that," Upon hearing that Winter looked back at Leaf and ended up jumping over the seat to look down at Leaf.
"What are you doing?" Winter asked in confusion "You do know you're in Public don't you lower-class Kirin girl?" Leaf storm did not give any indication she had heard winter as she pulled her face out and began whipping at her creamy beard and licking her hoofs clean. "lose class Kirin girl?" Winter asked again, not use to being ignored "Can you hear me? do you have whipped cream in your ears?"
"No," Leaf storm replied blandly as she licked at her hoofs.	
"Why did you stick your face into your malt? is that something lower-class kirin children do for fun?"
"No," Leaf replied "I'm just eating like a giant dragon that can't use spoons or straws cause they don't make giant spoons or giant straws," Leaf made to dive back into her food when Winter started talking again.
"So it is a lower-class kirin game?" She asked curiously "are those two your friends then?"
"No, they're my brothers," Leaf said looking over at Comet and Sunrise, Comet was looking at Leafstorm with a pair of Binoculars and turned to Sunrise who was writing in a notepad.
"Write that down, write that down," Comet said to Sunrise, confusing Leaf storm to no end.
"I don't have any friends," Leaf storm said simply, earning a laugh from Winter.
"Well that's sad, maybe you should try harder,"
"Why? you don't have friends either and you seem fine," Winter frowned at that before pointing behind her.
"I have Autumn and Summer," She said before sticking her tongue out.
"I have really good hearing," Leaf storm said as she pointed to them "and they just said there only hanging out with you because their parents told them to, that is not friendship, that is business," Leaf storm turned back and was about to go back to her malt when she heard sniffing and looked back at Winter and found her crying.
"You guys don't like me?" She asked in a voice that made Leaf Storm's ears go flat.
"Well," Sumer said with a shrug "no offense but...we don't have any feelings towards you, you never really wanna do anything with us, you just always sit across from us and don't engage in our conversations," Winter started sniffing and was about to start crying when she felt a pressure on her cushion and looked over to see Leaf storm taking the seat next to her, wiping the cream off her face with a napkin as thousands of years of being with Twilight over-rid her desire to not experience any more heartbreak in outliving friends or family.
"Alright first I apologize it wasn't my place to say that," Leaf storm said to Autumn and Summer before turning to Winter "Second allow me to teach you a few things about Friendship,"
"But you don't have any friend either," Winter wined.
"That's 'cause I'm apathetic towards life, I could make a friend if I cared but I don't so I...don't," Leaf storm heard her brother whisper among themselves and she chose to ignore them, "So first thing's first, if you want some creature to be your friend, you should probably talk with them when the opportunity arises, like now, you're all in a malt shop, why not talk about what kinds of malt's you got and why you got them? or Literally anything? A friend asks questions, it's not a friendship if you never take an interest in the one you're trying to befriend," Winter looked at her malt, then to Autumn and Summer.
"What kind of malts did you get?" She asked.
"Oh, um... I got a Strawberry," Autumn said awkwardly
"I got a Chocolate," Summer said as she picked her's up with her magic
"I got a Vanilla," Winter said, she looked at her Malt then smiled and jumped in her seat excitedly "Oh this is fun what do we do next?" She looked to where Leaf had been in excitement but found the spot empty, the three young girls all looked behind them and found Leaf was once again digging into her malt.
"What kind of Malt did you get?" Winter asked excitedly, the sheer excitement hit Leafy and she was unable to force herself to ignore Winter.
"It's a Vanilla-Peach swirl," She said with a sigh earning a squeal from Winter.
"Oh, I did it, I'm friends with a low-class Kirin girl!"
"2nd lesson, calling someone Low-class is a good way to lose a friend,"
"What's your name?" Winter asked excitedly "Is it Spring?"
"It's Leaf Storm," She replied simply.
"I'm Winter Breeze,"
"I'm Summer Rain,"
"Oh, I'm Autumn Winds," Leaf storm winced as the trio all squealed in glee, giving her an odd reminiscence feeling she couldn't quite place.
"This is so much fun," Winter said merrily as her father came over to investigate the squeals and spotted the twins, Leaf did not like the look in the man's eyes and had a sudden chill that she was about to be trapped.
"I'm sorry," Winter's father said, "Aren't you two River Moon's children?"
"why yes," Sunrise said with a shine in his eyes "You know, our mother runs an antique shop, it makes a fair amount of money during the tourist seasons, and I bet she'd love to put your products on display, you know, since your the father of her daughters only friend,"



Winter sighed as Leaf storm squeezed her way back to her spot.
"I miss anything good?" She asked as she put her hoof into her malt and began cleaning out the bottom of it while waiting for her next one.
"Just thinking about the good old days," Autumn said as she got up "Alright come on Leaf, I need to use the bathroom and I'm sure you don't want your last malt mix to mix in with your next one,"
"True," Leaf said as she once again crawled under the table and joined Autumn in going to the bathroom.
"Winter," Summer said with determination. Winter's ear's perked and she smiled
"Take her to the park," Winter said without hesitation "Leafy Loves the park,"
"I know," Summer cried out as she face-planted the table "but how am I suppose to compete with the memories of a Princess and the literal God that's about to be her new boss!" Winter shrugged.
"I'm just telling you what I know, and I know that if Leafy went out on a date she'd prefer it to be at the park,"
"How would you know," Summer said with a sigh, Winter looked across the Malt shop to the very table she had been sitting at when she first met Leaf storm and smiled before simply saying
"A Friend asks Questions,"
> Starry Night With Stars so Bright, you make me miss my Night light
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leafstorm sat in silence as she looked at the sky, her window was wide open as she stared at the stars in the sky, the constellations in the night sky was the only thing left from her old life that she'd had for the last few years, She sat there in silence doing the same thing she did every year on this date, stare up at the sky and trying her best to pick out a single constellation, As she looked old memories went through her head.



"Your joking," Spike cried out with a laugh as he made his way through the snow, sitting on his back where Shining Armor and Night light, Shining's was hiding his face in his hoofs as Night light laughed along with Spike.
"I'm being serious," He said as he patted Spike's back "Shining asked his mother how to prose and she told him to ask me, so he proposed to me!"
"I was drunk," Shining said into his hoofs "I also Proposed to the dining room wall, and the bathroom sink," him saying this did nothing to quell Spike and Night light's howls of laughter.
"oh, boy's," Night light said once he managed to stop laughing "we should really get together someday when it isn't a holiday," Night light coughed into his hoofs before adding "Your old man ain't gonna be around forever now, what say we get together in a few weeks and go fishing for old time sake?" Spike and Shining looked at each other in silence before replying
"Sounds like a plan,"
"Can I bring Flurry?" Shining asked "I'm so she'd love to spend some time with her Granpa,"
"Sure," Night light replied happily, the three moved on in silence through the snow before Night light spoke up about the looks his sons were giving him "The Results came back negative, I don't have cancer,"
"Oh my sweet Celestia," Shining said as he grabbed his chest "You nearly gave me a heart attack old man, next time lead with that and not a line about how you gonna die someday!"
"I'm sorry," Night light chuckled "I forgot, me and your mom only just got the results back yesterday," he sighed "Altho it did scare some life back into these lazy bones of mine for a while, I went mountain climbing, always wanted to do it but kept putting it off, the idea of dying put some vigor back into me that's for dam sure," he sighed as he looked up at the late-night sky "Remember when Spike was just a little tot, back before he could come with Twilight to her lessons with Celestia, he'd refuse to come inside until she came home so we'd spend hours waiting outside for her,"
"Oh yeah," Spike said with a laugh "I was afraid she'd get lost, I thought all the buildings looked the same and figured there was no way she'd ever find her way back alone,"
"Cadance thought that was just the cutest thing," Shining said with a smile, "Come to think of it, so did I,"
"We spent hours out there, the whole family waiting for our little Twi-Twi to come home, Hey Spike, can you still find your 'constellation'?" Night lights question earned a laugh from both Shining and Spike.
"Oh no," Spike said with a laugh "I forgot about that,," Spike looked up at the stars as he slowed his walking pace.
"There," Shining said, lighting his horn and used his magic to connect the stars to make a picture of a gem "Spike's consultation, an Emerald"
"No," Spike cried out in mock horror "Get it away," he chuckled with a head shake "It's just a rectangle, gosh I was stupid,"
"Least you didn't propose to your own dad," Shining said, making Night Light laugh.
"I will never in my life live to see something funnier that," after a second he started coughing again "Alright Spike, mind moving a little quicker, it's almost midnight and you know how your mother gets if were late for hearth's warming eve,"



Leaf storm sighed at the memory as she found the spot and lit her horn, drawing a rectangle in the night sky, just as her clock ticked to twelve. She sat there in silence as she looked at the rectangle and slowly started crying.
"Thanks for lying to us dad, we wouldn't have been able to celebrate with you properly if you'd told us it was the last hearth's warming eve we were getting with you, but don't worry, me and Shining still took Flurry on that Fishing trip, we took her to your favorite spot every year," Leaf storm sat staring at the rectangle she had drawn in the sky, thinking of the last night she'd spent with Night light and of the fishing trip they'd never gotten to go on.
> A day in the Park
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf storm looked around in silence as she sat on the blanket, across from her sat Summer, Summer had high hopes for today, Autumn and Winter were watching the duo from a vantage point. Summer had an earpiece hidden beneath a hat so her two friends could help guide her. So far the 'date' wasn't going all too well.
"Conversation," Winter said into the walk-e-talkie "You've been sitting there staring at her for the last 5 minutes, at least open the basket,"
Summer slowly opened the basket-like it might explode and her movement was all Leaf storm needed to start talking.
"So are Winter and Autumn not joining us them?" She asked casually.
"Um...no....no....no," Summer replies shakily "there...doing things and stuff, and....no,"
"Winter probably just asked Autumn to help her break up with her new colt friend, I dunno what he called me, but whatever he said made Winter go Nirik, I honestly can't think of a time when I've ever seen her do it before, it was honestly really scary,"
Summer chuckled "Really? Didn't think she had it in her,"
"I know right," Leaf said with a chuckle as she looked up at the clouds, doing her best to not look where Autumn and Winter were hiding, her spy had notified her of the evening plan and together had decided it was time to end thing once and for all. The last few years had been fun, getting to experience life as most children did instead of how he had the first time around, as Twilight's assistant he'd put most of his focus on helping her and hadn't really started his own life until they had moved to Ponyville. The notion that someone had a crush on her was absolutely adorable, but the idea of loving another creature, knowing she might one day reincarnate again, was out of the question, over the years she'd hoped that pretending to not notice Summer's advances would cause the Kirin to one day move on to the Kirin who had been paddling after Summer for years, and she felt it was time to correct this mistake.
"So, you and Autumn still use that old clubhouse?" Leaf asked much to the shock of Summer.
"Oh...ye-yeah, we spent two years carving that bolder in my backyard into a cozy cave," Summer took a sip from her juice box and Leaf nodded as she examined the sky and decided on the direct approach.
"Cool...so you two dating yet?" Summer instantly spat her drink into Leaf's face. "You can't tell me you don't know about her crush, everyone knows about it," Summer stared silently at Leaf as she turned to the bush where Winter was dragging the red Faced Autumn from their spot in the bushed with magic.
"Summer you and Leaf just...don't have that spark," Winter said simply as she placed Autumn on the blanket, "You two have a lot in common, but also a lot not in common, you two would be a bad break up in less than a month,"
"That's generous," Leaf storm noted "Summer you follow me around a lot but you just like the way I look, I like comics, Power Ponies, and I love sugary sweets. You hate reading, you don't even like super hero's you like adventure movies, and the only time I have ever seen you eating sugary stuff is at the malt shop, and you always give me your malt before you even get a quarter way into it," Leaf sighed as Summer looked like she was about to cry. "I didn't want to do this, I had hoped beyond hope you'd find someone better, the one Kirin you are literally always with, you and Autumn have been friends longer than any of the rest of us have, you two go camping together, and don't think me and Winter didn't hear your experiments during that Sleepover," both Autumn and Summer went bright red looked to Winter, who was nodding.
"Yeah,"
Leaf storm sighed before continuing "you two, are a duo, and frankly out of the 4 of us I think we all know Winter plans to move to Ponycity one day, but neither of you two wanna leave this country behind, you both love your family too much to stay away from long," Leaf made her way to Summer and took her hooves as she braced herself, she had promised she wouldn't long ago, but she was finally ready to admit to herself that she had broken that promise years ago.
"Summer, your one of my dearest friends, and I want you to know I love you, but I can't give you what your want from me, I would never work between us, stop looking towards your fantasies, and look to reality, you have someone who can and will give you want you need," Leaf let go and both she and Winter left the Picnic.
"Did we do the right thing?" Winter asked as she looked back at Autumn comforting the now crying Summer.
"Only time can answer that, but I can say that they won't be talking to either of us for a while," Winter looked at Leaf with a deep frown.
"Guess I'll be alone this summer," Winter said as Leaf gave her friend a hug.
"They won't be mad at you for long, but your right, if things work out you might get left behind, but I'll have a place for you in Ponycity, that said I don't think they'll be talking to me again anytime soon," The two looked back as Summer and Autumn left the Picnic behind and made their way out of the park. "I do hope they'll forgive me one day, but breaking a heart and revealing one's most private feelings is a pretty hard wound for a Friendship to heal from," Winter and Leaf gave each other a hug.
"I'll miss you," Winter said.
"I'll miss a lot of people, but I'll miss my first Kirin friend the most," the two broke apart and Leaf storm sat down and Winter made her way home. Leaf sat there, staring at the sky for hours, so much time passed that she was pretty sure it was now the next day.
"Why'd I have to remember?" She said to the empty night sky "Why do I have to live my life knowing I'll outlive all my friends again?"
> Welcome to Ponycity
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf was surrounded by creatures, most of whom she hadn't seen in this life, and one or two she hadn't even seen as Spike. Sitting next to her were Comet and Sunrise, both of them looked somewhat concerned about the creatures sitting across from them, something Leaf was mildly offended about seeing as it was a young dragon. the Dragon paid them no mind as Leaf's brother cowered before it, and Leaf decided to ease their mind.
"Hi," She greeted the Dragon, who looked over at them.
"Yo," He said with a salut "First time out of your home lands?"
"Yes," Comet said with a whimper, earning a laugh from the Dragon, one that made her brothers push further into their seat but one that made Leaf smile, she could read the dragon's emotion with ease, something the Dragon noticed.
"Ah, the youngest one is the bravest one I see," he said "so what brings a trio of Kirins out of their enchanted forest?"
"I am heading to Ponycity to meet my new boss, Discord the lord of Chaos," The look on the Dragon's face made Leaf laugh, "Not what you expected?"
"Not at all," The Dragon said with a smile "You must be Leaf Storm!" The Dragon smiled back as Leaf stared at him in confusion,"
"Hu?" She asked in confusion as the Dragon offered her his hand.
"I'm Mortamire, I'm in charge of protecting the Market District of the city, think of as one of the guys who works directly with the Captain of the Royal Guard," Leaf's brother's instantly lost all fear in the Dragon.
"You know Sunflower Glaze!" Comet asked in awe "Even we know about her!"
"I don't," Leaf defied in confusion, not use to being the one out of the know.
"Oh yeah," Comet said shaking his head "you hadn't been born yet, it was back when Mom was still pregnant with you, Sunflower Glaze was in Mom's shop while in the Enchanted forest on business, she was so hot!" Comet was smacked by Sunset.
"You're an idiot, you can't just say that, there's no way she's not married,"
"She is not," Mortamire said with a smile. The look on Comet and Sunrise was hilarious.
"Ain't she a little too old for you two?" Leaf asked with a chuckle.
"She was only 20 when we first met, she'd be in her later 40 by now, and Earth Ponies live like Three or four hundred years or so, compared to us long-lived Kirin folk she's right about in our age demographic don't you think?"
"I have my doubts," Leaf replied as she looked to Mortamire, leaving her brothers to plot in secret to win the heart of the guard captain. "So how did you know my name?"
"You kidding me? you've been the talk of the castle for over a year, Discord has never in all of Equestrian history hired any staff for the castle, he usually hires them for his Joke shop, he's always worked alone on keeping up the balance of Chaos in Equestria, you gotta tell me, what'd you do? It must have been a spectacle of Chaos like none other!" Before Leaf could even think of something to say Comet and Sunset jumped in.
"Can't do that," Comet said as he covered Leaf's mouth with his hooves.
"Yeah, if you knew, you'd tell others, then other people would attempt it to get Discord to hire them, and Equestria would fall to chaos,"
"Dang it," Mortamire said with a snap "That's true, I'm a terrible gossip," he gave the twins a once over "So what's your story, just escorting your sister?"
"Naw, we got the Joke shop thing," Comet said waving his hoof.
"Well as a member of the royal guard, I'd be honored to escort Discord's new Assistant to the castle so you two can get straight to work," The two twin instantly gave Leaf to puppy dog eyes.
"What, like I forcing you to stay, go one wonder twins, go live your lives,"
"Make sure to send a note when you get to where ever it is you'll be living," Comet said as he instantly jumped out of the seat.
"And remember the Ticket, don't lose it," Sunset added as he followed after his twin, Leaf smiled as the two brothers left, knowing it would probably be a while before she got to see them again. Leaf looked to Mortamire, who smiled at her.
"Alright, so first things first, you got any luggage?"
"I did but it all disappeared in a puff of what I assume was chaos smoke so Discord got that covered,"
"Good, I don't have any either, wanna bail out the window and just fly straight to the city?" Leaf looked Mortamire dead in the eyes.
"Yes,"



Leaf was laughing like mad as she held onto Mortamire's shoulders, who had easily outpaced the train, before them was the massive city of Ponycity, the massive Tree castle that had once been on the edge of Ponyville was now the center of the city, the city surrounding it looked very similar to the Crystal Empire compared to what had once been Ponyville, off to the side Leaf felt her heart jump as for the first time in centries she saw the large open fields full of Apple tree's that was Sweet Apple acres, now almost 3 times bigger in size. Leaf could feel tears in her eyes and couldn't tell if it was from the wind of the emotional punch that was seeing Ponycity. She spotted the Monument that was Sugar Cuber Corner and saw a Billboard with Rarity's face on it, then she saw the Rainbow, not just any rainbow, a moving one, Leaf's heart almost stopped as Rainbow Dash herself flew past them, paying them no mind as Leaf almost sent herself plummeting to the ground to stare at her old friend.
"Wow," Mortamire said with a smile "The Rainbow Dash in the flesh, flying you in was definitely the best option, what's it like seeing a living legend in person?"
"I can't stop crying," Leaf replied as she tried to stop the tears.
"That might be the wind resistance, my bad, I'll slow it down, take in your fill of the city, we'll be at the castle in a few minutes," Leaf storm said nothing as her eyes danced around the city, trying in vain to catch sight of everything, when she saw something that made the crying worse, in the center of the city's large park and at the tail end of Rainbow's now dissipating rainbow, was the statue of a dragon, one that use to greet her in the mirror every day. Leafy said nothing as they passed over her own monument and instead just let it sink in that Rainbow had been visiting it, Leaf needed a way to tell her friends who she was, and while she had nothing, she was hoping Discord might have something, she refused to believe that him making her his assistant was anything less than a sign that he knew who she was, altho if he knew she knew was another matter altogether," as they grew close to the castle Leaf saw the fence keeping tourists out of the massive lawn, Sitting upon the Castle lawn was a single massive boulder that Leaf was confident hadn't been their, what shocked her more was the massive purple scale that rests against it like a giant bandage.
"Quick warning," Mortamire said as they got closer to the castle "Don't touch the rock it's..."
"Holder's Bolder," Leaf said in shock "That's suppose to be at the Rock Farm, Limestone would be pissed if she found out Pinkie had moved it," Leaf blinked as she realized she'd said something she shouldn't have known about, only for Mortamire to laugh.
"you're joking, Discord told you about that? man, Peach Pie has some serious power of fear if the god of chaos told you about her bolder above all things,"
"Only that no one touches it," Leaf said.
"Yeah, about 300 years ago the Pie family rock farm began collapsing in on itself, earthquakes and what not, Pinkie Pie refused to let her family legacy die and against her family's wishes moved Holder's bolder to the castle. The Pie farm is now known as Pie Lake, and even though Pinkie saved the rock, her family has been less than grateful for it, really old fashioned bunch, she was cast out for letting magic touch the most ancient of Pie family legacies, Peach is an improvement though, first Pie to actual talk to Pinkie in over a century, even if it's mostly in insults...it's a start I suppose," Leaf frowned at the news that Pinkie Pie had saved her family's legacy and been cast out for it.
"I never did understand the pie family," Leaf thought "But there has to be more to the story, there's no way Pinkie of all ponies was cast out for a rock," before Leaf could even think as to what could have happened Mortamire landed at the castle gates and set Leaf down.
"Congratulations," The Dragon said "You have touched the ground and so I officially say, Welcome to Ponycity,"
> First Day on the Job
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf waved goodbye to Mortamire as he flew over the castle wall to report he was back from wherever it was he had been, the guards at the gate watched Mortamire fly away and then looked at Leaf as she pulled out the Golden card, Leaf heard the two whisperings to each other, probably wondering why Mortamire had dropped her off at the gates, she ignored them and placed the card down on the ground.
The ground began cracking and shacking as Discord's laugh filled the air, the cracks filled with gold light as Discord broke through the ground laughing, his arms grabbing Leaf as they passed by her and pulled her high into the air as his body fully emerged, a team of tiny discord began repairing the ground beneath them, Discord floated a little way's in the air as he inspected Leaf storm.
"I've been waiting for you," He cheered "Why you're even several years early," Discord's tail wrapped around Leaf Strom and he released her from his hands and flew over the castle walls, with Leaf Storm waving at the guards as she was carried off, Discord flew face-first into the grass and went through it, Leaf following in after him and found herself in the confusing voice that housed Discord's home, Discord flew into his house and released Leaf storm, where she was left to float in the air due to the absence of Gravity.
"So," Discord said as he sat on the couch and waited for Leaf to Spin herself so that she was facing him, albeit she was now upside-down, Leaf storm could tell Discord was about to test her, and she had a feeling it was to test if she remembered being Spike. "What do you think of this?" Discord motioned to the table side and Leaf looked at a tiny Discord lamp wearing a lampshade like a skirt.
"You still have that stupid thing?" Leaf demanded "What, you still have the Twilight staff too?" that answer was all Discord needed.
"Spike!" He cheered as he hugged his old friend "Oh sweet Me, you have no idea how confused I was when I first met you, you seemed just a little too much like your old self and I wondered how much of you had survived the re-birth, enough it would seem,"
"How did you recognize me in...this?" Leaf demanded motioning to her own body.
"Details," Discord said waving the question off "Now tell me, how much of Spike do you remember?"
"How much? Discord I don't have Spike-like memories, I'm still Spike, never stopped being me even when I was born," Leaf storm shivered "oh breastfeeding was a nightmare,"
"So...you never stopped being you?" Discord asked as he examined Spike in silence "That's not right, you must have soaked up too much of the spell over time, overcharged it,"
"Pardon?" Leaf demanded suspiciously. Discord took hold of Leaf with his tail and tapped his fingers together.
"Well, I knew, long before anyone had even thought about it, that one day Fluttershy and the rest would outlive...everyone, and that loss might destroy them, and it has destroyed a few of them mentally, usually when a creature dies they go back into the great cycle and are reincarnated, a little piece of their past stay as a part of them and it can loosely shape who they become, of course over time and many life spans, their personality's dissolve, and change and any trace of that past life is erased from them, so I thought I would create a divergence in the cycle so that the souls of those closest to them wouldn't be recycled, they'd lose their memories but they'd be the same as they had in their old lives,"
As Discord talked he began pacing and snapped a few pictures before Spike, Showing old faces next to new one's, "Shining armor will always end up as Captain of the guards, Trixie will always speak in the third person, the crusaders will always end up with one another, most of them are even still part of their old bloodline, but none of them lived anywhere near as long as you had, the only dragons in the rotation where you, Ember, and Smolder, and while they lived long, no dragon lived quite as long as you did, most dragons are put to rest once their memory starts to go, but you were taken care of for hundred's upon hundred's of centuries once your mind went, and each moment you lived the spell continued to leak into your soul," 
Leaf stared silently at the pictures of her old friends, but her eye's rested on several in stunned silence, next to a picture of the three Cutie Mark crusaders was a picture of Winter, Summer, and Autumn. Next to them, a Picture of Comment and Sunrise with a Picture of Flim and Flam, and lastly was a picture of the very Friend she had only just made Mortamire was next to an Image of Gabby.
"Oh my fuck, my new friends are my old friends," Leaf said as she started crying "Are my brothers are con-kirin, dammit all Discord you fuck,"
"Yeah, I'd planned on telling the rest, but I...just couldn't tell them there was nothing after death when you die you just become someone else," Discord sighed as he sat on the couch with Leaf looking at all the new faces to old friends,"
"Sweet Rain shine, Discord did you just fucking cast this over everyone in Ponyvile?"
"Well, sadly I didn't think about it soon enough, afraid the first one to die and be caught by the spell was Big Mac when he had that heart attack, anyone who died before him...didn't get to stay close to friends and family in death,"
"So Nightlight, Granny Smith..." Discord frowned at Leaf's storms face when something else hit him "Starlight?" the pleading look in Leaf's eyes was given no response as Discord looked away and released her to float in the air, Leaf took that as a yes "I was hoping beyond hope...that I'd get to see her again, that she'd be out there waiting for me in a new form, that we might have a second chance..." Leaf stopped talking to Discord and looked in silence at the room as she limply floated around the air. After a while Discord got to his feet, Leaf having bumped into a wall and smashed her face against it in silence.
"Look, Spike I..."
"I'm not Spike," She replied from the wall "I'm Leaf Storm now," Discord walked to her and removed her from the wall
"...I'm sorry, but there's nothing either of us can do, otherwise I'd have already done it," Leaf didn't reply to that and before Discord could continue trying to console his old friend there was a knock on the door and both Discord and Leaf storm went wide-eyed.
"Discord?" Fluttershy called from outside "I know we aren't scheduled for tea until next Tuesday but Mortamire told me that friend of yours you always talk about was finally here,"
"Fluttershy," Discord squeed in delight, as he rushed to the door, dragging Leaf along for the ride still curled up in his tale. Discord opened the door and positioned Leaf so that she was behind him and out of view "oh what a lovely surprise, do come in," as Discord opened the door Leaf saw the tuff of Discord's tail turned into a hand and snap, resulting in a potted flower to appear in Leaf's hand, instantly her eye's starting burning and she went full Nirik and started sneezing.
"Oh, whoops," Discord said as Fluttershy walked in and was greeted to the sight of Leaf in full flame mode as Discord removed the flower from her "My bad, Dragon Sneeze flower, has a nasty effect on any creature with a bond with fire, Dragon, Kirin, even some Unicorns if they use to much fire magic, do apologize Leaf storm,"
"I saw you snap this in," Leaf shot back before sneezing, knowing full well Discord had snapped it in just in case Leaf Storm had been crying into the wall, she hadn't but she appreciated him trying to save her face upon meeting Fluttershy, although that didn't make her any less irritated about it.  "You just wanted to see what would happen,"
"Maybe," Discord replied as he tossed the plan out the open door and closed it "Anyway, Fluttershy this is my new Assistant Leaf Storm, Leaf Strom no introduction necessary I assume,"
Leaf extinguished her flames and went back to her Kirin form as she offered her hoof to Fluttershy, who shook it merrily. "Oh it's so nice to meet you, Discord's never had anyone working for him before that wasn't him, whatever did you do to get his attention?" For a fraction of a second Discord looked concerned, clearly not having a story ready, but Leaf had been given one as a parting gift from her brothers.
"Can't tell that story sadly, Discord said if anyone found out about it they might try to imitate it and the world would fall into Chaos,"
"Yes," Discord agreed, jumping onto Leaf's story without hesitation "I'm afraid I can't tell even you, it's a remarkable story, Even Twilight doesn't know the full story, as far as she knows me and Leafy met when she was walking past her Birthday party, let's just say..." Discord looked around dramatically and leaned in close to Fluttershy "...Leaf Storm here has lived almost as long as you," the look of Shock on Fluttershy's face was remarkable and Leaf, in turn, whacked Discord.
"Alright shut up, that's enough of that story," Leaf storm was set on the couch and Fluttershy joined her as Discord snapped a nice chair into existence and set out a spread for an improvised Tea Party.
"You look fairly young for one so old," Fluttershy noted as she took a cup of tea.
"I uh..." Leaf Storm tried to think of a good way to say what needed to be said, "I technically died and came back from it,"
"oh, Like a Phoenix?" the excitement in Fluttershy's voice brought back the memory of when the two had first met and Leaf wasn't able to stop herself from laughing.
"Close, a Phoenix dies and in a burst of flames is reborn, I die and I come back as something completely random," Leaf decided that was the closest to the truth and nodded, unsure how Fluttershy might take the news of Leaf being Spike she decided that Fluttershy probably shouldn't be the first one to be told, might go over easier if they stared with someone slightly less emotional, meaning Rarity and Pinkie were probably also not good first picks. Leaf shook the thoughts from her mind, she and Discord could talk details later, now she was just happy to be talking to one of her oldest friends again.
"How interesting, um..." Fluttershy tapped the seat they were on and cleared her throat "...if I might be so...so bold, how did you die?"
"Age," Leaf said simply "Physical body gave out,"
"Oh..." Fluttershy looked at Discord, who nodded "Did...did it hurt?" She asked, the fear in her voice told Leaf she was thinking of something that wasn't Leaf.
"It was kind of like falling asleep," Leaf said with a shrug "I didn't even notice I had died at first," Fluttershy looked like she wanted to ask more but lightly shook her head.
"I'm sorry to ask such rude questions, so Leaf Storm, how did you and Discord meet?" it seemed Discord had an answer prepared for this question.
"Well, not too long after that Grandgalaping Gala with the smooze, I decided to try and broaden my horizons with new friendships, Leaf storm here was one of them, and while some of those old friendships have fallen apart, Leaf and I always had some fun together, and when she was dying she asked if I could send her to Equestria for her next life, and here we are," The three continued talking for a while until Fluttershy got to her hooves.
"it was very nice to meet you Leaf Storm, but I have to go now, It's almost 4 and I have a previous engagement," Leaf and Discord wished Fluttershy a good day as she left the house they waited a moment before Leaf threw her drink at Discord.
"A Dragon Sneeze Flower?" She demanded irritably.
"Oh hush," Discord said as he caught the cup and ate it "A Precautionary measure, now then, why don't I give you a tour of the castle since you've 'Never' been here before? We can start with the courtyard and end at your new office," Discord smiled and Leaf waved for him to get it over with, and with a loud snap Discord's home was left empty.
> Castle Tour and Office Space
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord and Leaf storm appeared in the courtyard of the castle, in the same place they had dived into the lawn, Leaf instantly looked towards Holder's bolder, and the purple scale stuck to it, the scale had something reminiscent of glue oozing from beneath it holding to the surface of the rock.
"Um," was all Leaf said as she pointed to the scale that had once been a part of her body.
"Oh, that's just Peach pie trying to fix Holders Bolder," Discord said with a shrug "A chunk of it was lost during the collapse of the Pie rock farm, altho the Pie family blames Pinkie for it," Discord rolled his eyes "Family drama, relatives making up problems for the next generation," Discord shook his head "I'd fix it but Peach..."
"Would break you in two is what She'd do," A new voice replied making Discord Jump, Leaf looked to the new Pony, A Strawberry Pink Unicorn with a lemon yellow mane that had a lime green stripe running through it, she had piercing blue eyes that made Leaf shiver beneath her gaze.
"Peach," Discord said as he shoved Leaf forward "This is my assistant, Leaf this is Peach," Peach stared at Leaf without a word, and Leaf returned the favor.
"You're eyes show you are wise," Peach said simply.
"You're eyes tell me you'll kill me if I touch Holder's Bolder," Leaf replied with a nod.
"Only a Pie is allowed to touch that boulder," Peach said as she walked past the two "I will never forgive anyone who touched it," Leaf watched her walk over and sit in front of the rock before looking over her shoulder "and that includes you Draconequus,"
"I did not break it," Discord said definitely, Peach didn't reply to them and Discord shook his head as he and Leaf made their way to the castle.
"So who was that?" Leaf asked as they walked.
"Limestone Pie, now a Unicorn who was ostracised from the Pie family just like Pinkie, although no one knows why," before Leaf could even think of what might have happened to Peach she was pulled into another meeting with new ponies standing at the front entrance of the castle was two guards, one was trying not to laugh while the other was being yelled at by a mare in an expensive-looking dress.
"you know how many colts look at me, thinking how badly they want this?" The mare said to the exhausted-looking guard.
"How many colts look at you like they want you, honey?" The guard replied dully.
"All of them, and you really need to learn to appreciate what you have, I could have married anypony, and I chose you out of..."
"Mellow," The guard said suddenly " God of Chaos is coming with a Kirin, don't embrace me in front of the new kid," the Guard stood at attention while the mare Leaf assumed was his wife gave an annoyed Huff and turned away, walking off through the castle yard.
"Discord," The other guard said with a wheeze, "you missed it!" The guard and stared laughing "She's been yelling at him for 40 minutes because he forgot their anniversary again!"
"Hello!" The other guard said as he tried to not look at his laughing friend "You must be Discord's new assistant, welcome to Ponycity, a pleasure to have you here, I am Brick, my friend over there is Shiver," Brick motioned to Shiver, who was now on his back laughing like mad.
"You have no idea, you just can't...she was so ready!" Shiver started hitting the ground as he laughed.
"Shiver!" Brick said angrily "You're on the job, be professional," Shiver said nothing as he laughed and did his best to get to his hooves again. Leaf now also trying not to laugh, entirely because of how infectious Shiver's was, While Shiver was composing himself Leaf took this to get a good look at the two of them, Shiver was a white Pegasus Stallion with a light blue mane, while Brick was a large Red Earth pony Stallion with a black mane.
"Alright," Shiver said as he shook his head "I'm ok, it's all cool, so who might you be?"
"This is Leaf storm," Discord said simply as he presented Leaf to them "My Assistant, and please do note she is not allowed to speak about how she got the job,"
"Ah read my mind," Shiver said as he kicked his back hoof out, Brick doing the same, a pony looked out from above too quickly for Leaf to get a good look at before they popped back in and the front door opened.
"You two can just open the dam door yourselves," A Mare called from above them.
"But that's your only job," Shiver called back "Hate you make you obsolete,"
"Welcome to the castle Leaf storm," Brick said with a salute "How you enjoy your time with us," Leaf and Discord entered the castle and instantly hear Shiver explode with laughter again.
"Dammit Shiver," Brick said irritably.
"She's coming back!" Shiver cried out, the two heard Brick give a yelp and heard Mellow pick back up in her breathing of him.
"I have several questions," Leaf storm decided, a Chair appeared and Discord sat upon it, motion for Leaf to ask away.
"Does that Mellow lady work here?"
"No, but not all the resident of the lower floors do, Twilight has made the lower section of the castle the staff barracks, so some of the guards and staff have moved their families inside the castle, no rent, free electricity, and water, one of the safest places in the city to be," Discord waved his hand "There's even a school on the 6th floor for the children here,"
"So this castle is basically a small town?" Leaf noted.
"Indeed," Discord confirmed.
"Alright, so those three, I know them?"
"Shiver back there is one Flash Sentry, Mellow petal is Zephyr Breeze, and Brick is none other than Mrs.Cake," Leaf made a choking sound, and Discord patted her. "Yeah, I thought for sure it was Big mac when I first met them,"
"How...how did that happen?" Leaf demanded as she pointed back "How is Mrs.Cake married to Zephyr breeze?" Discord pulled a pair of glasses on and pulled out some notes.
"Well from what I've gathered...Brick is a chicken," Leaf just stared at Discord and he continued "Brick was planning to break up with Mellow, only for Mellow to pop the question before Brick could bring himself to end the relationship, now their very unhappily married,"
"Are you sure that's Mrs.Cake?" Leaf asked.
"Listen, I can't just make them the same person, life will always change a creature no matter how hard you try to keep them the same, Brick just didn't have the luck that Mrs.Cake had in life, simple as that,"
"So... they're all the same, but different at the same time?" Leaf asked as she rubbed her face "yeah ok, like this wasn't confusing enough already," Discord simply shrugged and scooped Leaf up in his arms.
"Come now, we have more castle to see," Discord made his way down the hall and Leaf found that the interior of the castle had changed dramatically, the bottom layer had a few staircases leading to the upper floors, and the rest was mostly open space, the room itself was huge and Leaf could see the 2nd floor above them, from what she could see it was filled with movement, She figured out why when she the smells hit her nose.
"Is that a kitchen?" She asked slack-jawed.
"Indeed, the entire 2nd floor is the staff kitchen, the kitchen for Twilight and her friends is on the 34th floor.
"How big is this place?" Leaf demanded as she looked around, the floor plan of the first floor seemed to be mostly open, it somewhat reminded her of a lobby for a hotel, only it was bigger than most hotels she'd seen in her life. there were sofa's and tables scattered about, bookshelves lined the walls with worn-looking books covering the walls, near the back of the room she saw tables and chairs set up near a buffet table where she spotted Mortamire talking with a Griffin and a Diamond Dog.
"Oh the staff barracks take up the first 3rd, 4th, and 5th floor with the 6th floor being taken up by school, and finally there's another common room on the 7th so those living on the high floors and the students don't have to trek down so many stairs to get some food,"
"This place is a paradise, no rent, stable job, school, free food, and amenities," Leaf looked back at Discord who shook his head.
"No, really that's it, no catch or anything like that," Discord sighed "I put in a lot of effort making this place a paradise, one day I'll be able to tell them all what I did, and know with you I think that day will soon be upon us,"
"Alright, but I'm telling them my way got that? and in my own time,"
"Yes, yes of course," Discord said as he pushed Leaf storm to the stairs, Leaf saw a few eyes on her and managed to wave at Mortamire, who waved back happily," Upon reaching the stairs Discord picked leaf up and the shot up, passing the small area that made up the entrance to the kitchen and going up to the 3rd floor, Leaf spotted a few of the other residents but Discord rushed them past before Leaf could take much of their appearances in.
"Time for the meet and greet can wait, until then, behold!" Discord waved his hand to the door in front of them, it had a small sign on it with the Numbers 3-83 on it along with another sign bearing her name. "Your new home, and office," Discord snapped and a Key dropped on top of Leaf's head, she took hold of it with her magic as Discord opened the door and presented her to her room, it was large and empty, there was a simple living room, a kitchen off to the side with a counter separating it from the rest of the complex, Leaf spotted a small balcony near the back of her new home with two doors near the back that Leaf assumed held the Bathroom and Bedroom.
"Nice place," Leaf said as she walked into the room, and Discord shut the door, "Where's the office part at?" Discord flew to the wall closest to the front door and put one of his eagle claw finger's against it, instantly a wonk looking door popped into existence, it was round in parts, had an odd V like shape to the top, and had a handle at the very bottom, Discord showed the function of this handle by grabbing it and pulling up, revealing the door to function similar to that of a garage door.
"Your office," Discord announced, Leaf poked her head in and found a medium-sized room with a desk and a chair floating aimlessly in it, along with what looked to be a Tuba embedded into the wall "Oh, and here's the gravity switch," Discord added as he pointed to a light switch and switched it to on, all the stuff in the office crashed to the floor and Leaf sighed before flicking it back off.
"I'm not gonna clean up an office when I know you'll just turn off the gravity anytime you pop in, I'll just keep it off," Discord's response was to flip it back on with an evil grin. "Of course, you can still just do the same thing but in reverse,"
"Welp," Discord said as he closed the door, "Here's your luggage," he snapped and most of Leaf's belongings appeared randomly around the apartment "You start work tomorrow, time is pointless, just go into your office whenever I list of very well thought of tasks will be waiting for you,"
"You didn't know I was coming so soon... you're just gonna make up a bunch of shit aren't you?" Leaf storm asked casually.
"Well Duh," Discord replied with a laugh "you're like 3 years early," with that Discord snapped and turned into ash, leaving Leaf Storm to look around her new home, now a mess with boxes containing her stuff.
"He better not have put my bed in a box," She said irritably as she began the epic quest to organize her own belongings.
> A Flurry of Emotions
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf yawned as she got out of her bed, her new bedroom was full of boxes yet to be opened. Instead of unpacking, she chose to ignore it and deal with it later as she grabbed a single box and dragged it behind her with her magic, making her way to her bathroom and opening it up, tossing her bath supplies into the tub, and retrieving her toothbrush and toothpaste. After a quick brush she skipped the bath, mostly because she had no idea where her towels were and instead made a B-line to her office.
Upon opening the door she found the gravity off and her desk and chair floating with a mug, a straw, a fair amount of coffee, an empty box, and about a dozen donuts. "Zero-G Breakfast," she gave another yawn before covering herself in her magic and walking into the room, plucking the straw out of the air she sucked into it as she filled the loss liquid towards her and drank her coffee from the air as she set to work tying her chair and desk together before taking a seat and finding that the chair had a built-in seat belt, she buckled herself in and snagged a Donut out of the air before picking up the single piece of paper on her desk and reading it.
"Greetings from your chief of staff Discord, your tasks of the day are as followed, go to the kitchen, retrieve a Banana Cream Pie, and throw it into the wall Tuba at 12:13. The rest of the workday is to be spent reading the books that are now outside your office to catch up on the years you missed while you were either Senile or dead, I know you'll probably know about some of it, what with being nearly a legal adult in age, but it never hurts to catch up on what you missed, Also this Letter is now a Chicken," just as Leaf got to the last part the Paper exploded and she found that there was now a chicken floating around her office space. Leaf watched as the chicken stole one of her Donut's and decided to unbuckle herself and headed out of her office, leaving the chicken to partake of the donut's and coffee as she inspected the box that was now outside her door.
Leaf storm opened the box and was hit in the face by confetti as a pink book leaking confetti and tied up with balloons floated out of the box. Leaf grabbed it with her magic to stop it from flying away and found an upside-down picture of Pinkie's Cutie mark upon the cover. Leaf turned her attention to the box and began emptying it, the next book was scratched up with ruffled pages and a few cyan feathers poking out, this one bore Rainbow Dash's Cutie Mark. Following it was a brown book with Animal stickers on it, this one had Fluttershy's Cutie Mark on it. Following after was a dirty book with mud stains on it, it had Applejack's Cutie mark, although one of the apples had been partially scraped off. The next book in the bunch was Tied up neatly with a nice bit of Ribbon and had Rarity's Cutie Mark on it. knowing what was next Leaf looked into the box and found the least decorated of the books with Twilight's Cutie mark on it, Unable to resist she lifted it out of the box and opened it.
The book instantly began flipping through blank pages and opened in the dead middle where Twilight's Cutie Mark lit up in a fashion similar to that of the old Cutie map, and then Leaf heard Twilight sobbing from within the book.
"Rainbow was right," She sobbed from the pages "I shouldn't have left for the dragon lands, I...I thought I could find something to help him. I thought I could save him, but when I got back he...he was on the front lawn with Rarity," Leaf stood in silence as Twilight's anguished wails came out of the book, "I'm so sorry...Spike, please...I'm sorry," Leaf stood in silence as Twilight's sobbing echoed from the pages before softly closing its pages and levitating the books to her kitchen counter, having to tie Pinkie's book down.
"I am going to slap the shit out of that Draquanaquess when I see him again," Leaf said shakily, still unnerved after Hearing Twilight's Despair. Leaf walked away from the books and headed out of her home and into the halls of the castle, planning to go get the Banana Cream Pie, shove it down the Tuba, then write Discord a strongly worded letter. Leaf's plan was cut off as she ran into two creatures talking about her outside her home.
"And here she is!" Mortamire cheered as he presented Leaf to a face she already knew.
"You must be Leaf storm," Princess Flurry Heart said in greeting as she shook Leaf's hand, Leaf storm simply stared at her in shock and said the only thing she could think to say.
"Your tall," she noted, as she had always been taller than Flurry it felt weird to stand over a head below the shortest of the Princesses.
"Can't say I've been called that before," Flurry said with a chuckle "I'm actually kind of short compared to most princesses. But that's another conversation altogether, I was just dying to meet Discord's Assistant," Flurry gave Leaf a once over and nodded "I see you're a little young,"
"I'm 17," Leaf replied.
"Correct me if I'm wrong," Mortamire said as he scratched his chin "but Kirin's have... an extra stage of schooling compared to ponies right? Like 5 or so extra years I think...so wouldn't you barely be high school age?" Mortamire's question seemed sincere and Leaf assumed he had tried to learn a little about Kirins and the school system had stumped him. not that she'd blame him she herself barely understood how it worked.
"I skipped a few grades," Leaf replied proudly "And I'll be of an Adult age in less than 3 months,"
"Well allow me to welcome you to Ponycity," Flurry smiled and gave a wink before adding "Although the resident's of the castle-like to call these lower area's Ponyville sometimes,"
"After the original town?" Leaf asked, earning a wide smile from Mortamire.
"look who studied ancient pony history!" He said with a grin "most of the native's to the town don't even know that," Mortamire shook his head and rolled his eyes "There mostly noble's so that's just how it is, the rest are part of the Apple family in some way or another so I bet they know,"
"well this has been nice," Leaf said as she made to go down the hall "But I have to go get a Banana cream pie and shove it down the wall Tuba, and I gotta move fast before that chicken finishes all the Zero-G Donuts," Leaf noticed the two staring at her in silence and she raised a brow "What?" She asked.
"Why don't I go get you that pie so Flurry can do her usual thing," Mortamire offered, Leaf shrugged and the dragon headed out for the pie, leaving Flurry and Leaf alone.
"So this usual thing?" Leaf questioned.
"My special talent," She said excitedly "I can sense the connections creatures have with each other, romantic, friendly, familiar, and so many other kinds," Flurry motioned around the floor as Leaf grew mildly concerned about Flurry figuring out she was Spike and spilling the beans, it might make things easier, or make things really weird really fast. "However, everyone in Ponyville, the castle living area not the ancient town, have an odd connection I've never been able to figure out, it's been like that for hundreds of years, " Flurry looked at Leaf excitedly "I have no idea what it could mean," Flurry lit her horn and both she and Leaf could see thin trails sprawling all around the castle, the one that caught Leaf's eye what the bright shining string attached to her chest that was directly in Flurry's, Flurry looked at it in confusion and moved, clearly expecting it to go past her, but instead the line contorted and followed her.
"This good? this bad?" Leaf asked as the light of Flurry's horn dissipated and the world turned back to normal "I dunno how to read magic line's,"
"Have we met before?" Flurry asked in confusion "I don't usually see bonds that deep connecting creatures who aren't related to each other or married,"
"Only Princess I've met before you was Twilight," Leaf said, Flurry stared at Leaf in silence when the door to Leaf's room opened and a Chicken carrying a donut walked into the hall.
"Huh," Leaf said as the Chicken walked to her and presented to her the Donut "Naw it's cool, you can have it, thanks though," The Chicken clucked and walked back into Leaf's home, closing the door with a click behind it. "Did that just happen?" Leaf asked Flurry, only to find the Princess was gone. "Did any of this happen?" She asked in confusion as Mortamire flew back with a Pie in hand.
"What happened to Princess Flurry Heart?" He asked as he handed off the pie.
"The Chicken opened the door, offered me a donut, and she was gone by the time that exchange ended," Leaf replied as she tried to open the door and groaned "Chicken you locked the door," there was a click and the Chicken poked it's head out and clucked at Leaf. "Of course this is for the Tuba," Leaf said to the chicken as she walked into her home, "what else would I use the pie for?" Leaf shut the door and could hear Mortamire laughing on the other side for some reason.



Flurry Heart sat alone in her room on the upper level's over the castle, having moved in the long term over a century ago to investigate the mysterious connections of the lower floor, now however she had her spell up and was staring at the line that now connected her to Leaf. The spell has to be used on both parties to work so there was no way to know how long the line had existed, but for it to exist at all there had to be something between her and Leaf she was missing. She had a theory, one she felt was too cliche to be true, and had called in an expert to help her. As expected the answer was almost instant once she sent the message.
"Is this true!" Cadance demanded as she teleported into her Daughter's room, note in her hoof.
"I dunno," Flurry replied "I just met Leaf today and...I've only seen lines this strong between relatives and married couples," Flurry looked back at her mom with a confused look, "I think I might have just met my future wife,"



The Chicken jumped as Leaf gave a mighty sneeze, having just put the pie in the fridge she wiped her nose and looked around in confusion.
"I just got a horrible chill up my spine," she said as she looked around suspiciously "like something bad is about to happen,"
> The Tuba Tube
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf was floating next to the Tuba that was embedded into the back wall of her office, Being held in her magic was the pie she had been instructed to throw into it, she was waiting for 12:13 to come so she could be done with the pie. the only noise in the office was the constant clucking of the Chicken that had once been a note.
"Would you hush," Leaf said as the bird floated past her head and clucked into her ears, the Chicken gave several clucks of indignation before letting out a rooster cry, Leaf took that as her queue and opened the office door with magic, setting the chicken outside before turning back on the Gravity, resulting in her desk and chair crashing to the floor, she held herself up with magic and put the pie in one hoof and shoved it into the tuba, she waited for resistance and instead found herself being sucked into it, she blinked and found herself sticking out of a Saxophone hung up on the wall, sitting directly under her was Discord, who was talking with Princess Celestia, neither of them seemed to have noticed Leaf Storm or her Pie.
"...so I'm thinking of coming back out of Retirement," Celestia said, earning a Chuckle from Discord.
"Again?" He asked "I seem to remember you coming out a Retirement 2,000 years ago, only to go back into it a thousand years later," Discord shook his head "Just admit you like taking thousand-year vacations,"
"This is serious," Celestia said as she got to her hooves, "You know what Twilight has been trying to do,"
"Well if your so intent on stopping her from piercing into the veil then just tell her there is no afterlife," Discord said simply, Feeling she had heard too much and not wanting to be noticed Leaf decided to make it seem like she had just arrived.
"Hey, Discord!" She cried out making Both Discord and Celestia jump and turn to her as Leaf threw the pie and nailed Discord in the face "It's 12:13," Her job done she put her back hooves against the wall and attempted to pull herself out to no avail "I'm also stuck,"
"Ah Leaf storm," Discord said, making no effort to clean himself off and instead floated up and took the Saxophone off the wall, bringing Leaf along with him as she was now stuck in it, "Celestia, this is my new assistant," Celestia looked at Leaf in silence, who waved casually.
"This was a tuba when I crawled inside of it," Leaf assured the Princess before being hauled over Discord's shoulder like a rucksack.
"Anyway Princess my assistant has reminded me of an important summons I must be getting to, I'm sure you'll come out of Retirement regardless of what I say, so have fun with that," Before she could reply Discord snapped and he and Leaf were in the kitchen, Discord went from being playful to a full-blown panic.
"What are you doing?" he demanded.
"You said to throw the pie," Leaf replied as she continued her attempts to free herself.
"I said throw the pie into the tuba, not crawl into the tuba, and then throw the Pie," Discord groaned as some of the kitchen staff gathered around him.
"Mr. Discord," A Female Griffin greeted "What an unusual pleasure,"
"Not a Pleasure I'm afraid, my assistant here is stuck in a temporal warp, I'm going to need Pickle juice, lots and lots of Pickle juice,"
"Um," The Griffin said as she looked around at the staff, "We can get that for you but it'll take some time,"
"Eh don't worry, all the time in the world, there's just no other way to get her out other than a pickle bath,"
"Couldn't you just snap your fingers?" Leaf asked.
"I could, but you'd be ripped in half, half of you in the tuba, and the half in this saxophone,"
"I'll take the pickle bath," Leaf replied, after a moment she rubbed her face with a groan "Wait...why a pickle bath?"
"well you're stuck, just need to lather you up and you'll slip right out, and when pickles mix with a temporal vortex they make a residue that's slipperier than soap,"
"Oh alright then," Leaf said with a shrug as Discord turned back to the Griffin, who Leaf figured to be the head chef.
"We'll be on the first floor when you have the pickles ready Flower,"
"No problem Mr. Discord," Flower said as she waved to him, Discord snapped and they were at a table with Mortamire and Shiver, who had been building a tower of cards, they both yelped and they knocked the cards over.
"No!" Shiver cried out dramatically before hitting the table "we destroyed it, we blew it away!" Shiver let out a sobbing sound then sat back up straight "Oh well, next time,"
"Discord," Mortamire greeted "Why do you have a Saxophone?"
"This is my assistant," Discord replied holding the Saxophone up and showing Leaf to the two "She got stuck in a vortex, mind watching her while I go retrieve her legs?" Discord didn't wait for an answer and instead set Leaf down and disappeared.
"Um?" Mortamire asked as he picked up the Saxophone, Shiver had chosen the more appropriate response to start wheezing as he tried not to laugh in Leaf's face. Mortamire instantly turned to Shiver "Really, your gonna laugh at this?"
"She's stuck...in a Saxophone!" Shiver said as he began crying at the way Leaf looked.
"It was a tuba when I crawled into it," Leaf said defiantly, this broke Shiver and he began howling with laughter.
"Come on," He said as he looked at Mortamire "you don't think that's funny? She climbed into a tuba, and now she's stuck in a Saxophone!" while Mortamire and Leaf tried to figure out why exactly that was funny Shiver's laughter gained the attention of some of the residents and they came to look at Leaf, the reaction was split between those who were worried and those who laughed at the absurdness of the situation,"
"I'm sorry," Brick said as Mellow gave him a hard glare for chuckling, Leaf waved him off as she was confident he was only laughing because Shiver's own laugh was infectious.
"I don't think we've properly met," Mellow said as she took Leaf's hoof "I'm Mellow petal,"
"I'm Leaf storm," Leaf said as Discord snapped back in, Wielding the Tuba that housed the back part of Leaf's body, resting on her butt was the Chicken, now rocking a little vest and mohawk with a Maraca in its beak.
"I'm stuck in a Tuba for a few minutes and my Chicken start's a Punk rock Maraca band," Leaf said irritably when she saw it shaking the Maraca around "Shouldn't have let you have those donuts," Leaf turned at the sound of banging as Shiver started hitting the table, he only got worse when the Chicken began shaking to the beat of Shiver hitting the table. Before anyone else could join the Punk Chicken band Flower and some of her workers made their way down to the first floor from the opening that connected the 2 floors, the crew landed and set a barrel of Pickles down next to Discord who casually picked up the Tuba and dumped it into the Barrel, earing a shark yelp from Leaf.
"Cold and slimy," She complained as some juice began coming out of the Saxophone,  Discord snapped and Leaf had a pair of goggles on just as she felt something pulling her and she was forcibly sucked back into the Saxophone and was submerged in the pickles, she quickly submerged and spat out some juice.
"Well this has been Terrible," She decided as Discord snapped the Tuba and Saxophone away.
"Well sorry to bother you all, have a good day, thank you Flower," Discord snapped and he, Leaf, and the chicken all disappeared and reappeared in Leaf's home.
"Now then, I have fixed it so you should be safe to jump into the tuba and show up near me without getting stuck,"
"Thanks," Leaf said as she lay on the floor "why does my chicken have a mohawk,"
"I 'unno," Discord replied with a shrug "Enjoy the rest of your day," Discord snapped away and Leaf picked herself up and looked at the Chicken, who was still shaking his maraca.
"See that corner over there," Leaf said pointing to the cover of the home opposite of her bedroom "You can have that corner to exist in since your a thing now," The chicken simply walked over to the spot, dropped its Maraca and then sat staring intently at the wall.
"Freaky," Leaf said as she grabbed one of the books Discord had left and decided to open up Fluttershy's, whose voice filled the room as she spoke about her day.



Leaf had done some unpacking and how had a cushion to sit on as she listened to books, now listening to Rainbow dash talk about the not so up to date roster of the Wonder bolts. She snapped the book shut when she heard a knock. Leaf quickly gathered the book and put them back in their originating box before tossing it into the gravity-less Office and making her way to the front door.
"Leaf storm," Flurry said once Leaf opened the door "May I come in?"
"Sure," Leaf replied as she moved and let Flurry walk into the room, closing the door behind her. "Just don't bother the Chicken," Leaf pointed to the chicken, who was now wearing a cloak and sitting in the middle of a circle of candles "I have no idea what it's doing or where it got that cloak but I want no part of it," Flurry looked at the room and her eye's lingered on the single Cushion on the floor.
"Don't you have a couch?" Flurry asked.
"I have a cushion," Leaf replied as she walked over to it and flopped onto her side with a huff. Leaf could tell Flurry wanted to talk about something but decided it would be best for Flurry to talk at her own pace. "the only furniture I brought with me was my bed," Flurry looked around the mostly empty space, ignoring the chicken as per Leaf's request, and found the room oddly empty, even Leaf's kitchen was empty save a Refrigerator she had a feeling was empty
"Do you have any food?" Flurry asked, the tone of worry in her voice made Leaf smile.
"I do not," Leaf said, knowing full well that Flurry wouldn't like the response. "I put it in my brother's luggage cause knowing them they didn't pack enough to get them to their first paycheck," Leaf's eyes shot open as she felt something hot on her face and found Flurry was all up in her space. Leaf and Flurry stared at each other for a moment before Leaf slowly rolled away from Flurry and off the cushion until she was on her belly and got to her hooves. "Relax, there's literally a free buffet downstairs,"
"Did you know that when you moved here, or where you just planning to not eat for a week?"
"I figured Discord would take care of it," Leaf replied as she made her way to her front door "All this talk of food had reminded me I only had one donut this morning, wanna come and get some food with me?"
"Yes," Flurry said so quickly Leaf looked back at her, finding Flurry was now looking away from Leaf and was instead looking towards the chicken, Leaf didn't say anything about it as she opened the door, as she and Flurry a set of eyes were watching them from afar.
"So that's Leaf storm?" Cadance said as she spied on her Daughter and the Kirin that her daughter thought she was destined to marry "There's definitely something here," Cadance said as she tapped the floor "I smell... a possible romance perhaps," Cadance gave an evil grin as she tapped her hooves together, "Yes...Leaf storm might work well with my little Flurry," Before Cadance could continue she heard a knock on the door.
"Cadance," Luna called from behind the door, "Why are you in Ponycity? Your not playing matchmaker with your daughter again are you?"
"She agreed to it this time!" Cadance cried back "It was even she who called me here!"
> Flurry Heart and Leaf
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cadance stood her ground as Luna opened the Doors and revealed her base of Operations.
"Answer me this then," Luna squinted suspiciously at Cadance as she spoke, "if your daughter truly did consent to this then…" Luna raised her Hoof dramatically and motioned around the room "-why are you hiding in my bathroom?"

“because.”Cadence replied as she stood before the princess of the night, doing her best not to look or sound guilty. “I like the smell of Your Soap?” 

"I stole that soap from my sister," Luna replied flatly.

"Dammit," Cadence then sighed “Fine I was spying on Discord's new assistant because my daughter asked me too, happy now?”

"Ok, But why my bathroom?" Luna demanded once again

"I thought you would be asleep," Cadance said as she tapped the floor.

"Well I was! Then someone started laughing like an comic book villains and woke me up,"

“That could have been anypony”

“It was either you or your spyglass.” before Cadance could defend herself from Lunas accusations the spyglass set in the middle of the room began glowing and Cadance lit her horn as Flurry shone inside it.

"Nevermind," Cadance said as she waved Luna away, "we can talk later, this needs all my attention at the moment,"

"Fine but I'm watching too, this is my bathroom after all,"





Leaf storm looked back as Flurry looked at the ceiling with her horn lit, She was curious but seeing as Flurry had been kind enough not to ask about the Chicken Leaf decided to leave Flurry to her own devices and continued down the hall, She waved at a few of the residents that were either off duty or who were coasting off a roommate. Flurry had caught up with her once she reached the stairs.

"Sorry," They both said at once, Flurry turning slightly pink at the exchange.

"Well I'm sorry for not waiting for you," Leaf elaborated, failing to notice Flurry turn a slight shade pinker "But you didn't ask about the Chicken so I decided to return the favor and let you do whatever it was you were up to,"

"Oh! yes, Alicorn business, couldn't tell you if I wanted to," Flurry said hurriedly "So, you've been here a little over a day now, any potential friends?"

"Mortamire," Leaf decided "And maybe Shiver, his tendency to find the most mundane of things funny is interesting, even more so with his contagious laugh," The Two made their way down the stairs while Leaf shook her head "But if I remember right Mortamire is working down in the Market district until 6, and Shiver is in the Guard rotation until 8,"

"Well then you and I can get to know each other better," Flurry said happily as they made their way down the staircase I can get us some food and drinks from the buffet table and we can just...talk,"

"Sounds good," Leaf replied as they made it to the bottom floor "I'm a go check out the selection of books over by that vacant table," Leaf made her way to the bookshelf and barely had time to begin reading the book names when she heard the clatter of china and found quite the spread from the Buffet, including a glass of water, Coffee, and soda. Flurry sat Silently and waved at her. Leaf just stared at her blankly.

"You must really wanna talk," Leaf decided she took a book off the shelf at random and sat down upon looking at the book she instantly threw it back at the shelf upon finding it was about Teaching Chickens to dance. "Well, I'm all ears sister, what's up,"

"Oh nothings up," Flurry said sweetly, "Just wanted to get to know you better, you know with you being Discords assistant,"

"Well to start I'm not allowed to talk about how I became his Assistant," Leaf said simply "Even Princess Twilight doesn't know the full story, and she was there for most of it,"

"Alright," Flurry said, zipping right past that "How about your social life, Friends, Loved ones?"

"My Brothers, twins, are working at Discords Joke shop. My parents and Pop-pop are back in Kirin country, and I had a few friends but when I turned one down for a romantic relationship she ran away crying and I haven't seen any of them since...probably not a good sign." Flurry nodded.

"Not into girls?" Flurry asked carefully.

"Quite the opposite thank you," Leaf storm replied before chugging her coffee, she heard a slight yes, and nearly choked as she looked over her drink, finding Flurry putting some marshmallows in her Coco.

"Thought I'd forgotten to grab them," Flurry said "Anyway, mind if I ask what's up with your pet Chicken?"

"It was originally a note Discord sent this morning" Leaf assured her "Discord turned it into a Chicken and I just accepted I had a pet chicken now and moved on with my day,"

"Ah," Flurry said as Leaf Storm continued partaking of the food before her "So when is your 18th Birthday?"




"Cadance," Luna said after taking a deep breath "Is your daughter attempting to court an Underage Kirin?"

"No," Cadance laughed back "She's gonna wait till she's 18 to make her move," Luna just groaned.

"I...I can't even think of what to say to this,"

"And she's not courting, she's just getting to know her, see if she's the right one for her," Luna made an attempt to reply but just gave up.

"I have too much to do tonight, and don't have the time to deal with this right now, just...just be quiet and let me sleep, I'll deal with this when I have the energy," Luna made her way out and quickly looked back. "And don't touch my soap" Cadance looked back at her daughter and Leaf Storm.




Leaf Storm was eating a bagel while Flurry heart told her about events she had attended as Spike.

"...and I just think it's funny," Flurry laughed nervously as she spoke "It's funny how no one talks about the fact I destroyed the Crystal heart when I was a newborn, I mean have you ever heard about it?"

"I am basically a history major," Leaf replied simply "Did you know that the dragon Spike spent that time with the Unicorn Starlight pushing her to rekindle her friendship with Sunburst,"

"I did," Flurry said excitedly "How in equestria do you know that!?"

"Discord has millions of years worth of notes," Leaf said simply "The time he spent as a statue is surprisingly even worse than I thought it would be, just a thousand years worth of notes describing how annoying it is not being able to snap,"

"So, everything I just said in the last half hour, you already knew then?"

"I can actually point out several things you got wrong if you would like," Leaf Storm said simply Before Flurry could accept that offer a familiar voice called out to them.

"Yo Leaf," Leaf turned and waved back.

"Mortamire," She greeted before blinking and looking around "Wait is it already 6?"

"It's almost 9," Mortamire corrected.

"oh no," Leaf storm said as she rubbed her brow "I left the Chicken alone all day, there is gonna be a cult up there when I get back,"

"Morty," Flurry said as she got up and shook the dragon's hand "Always a pleasure to see you, how has your day been?"

"Dull," Mortamire said without hesitation as he took a seat next to Leaf storm, who had started mindlessly eating again. "So Leaf tell me about this Chicken cult,"

"How about no," Leaf replied simply as she began making a S'more.

"Need a light?" Mortamire asked kindly, Leaf just slowly turned to him with a confused look on her face.

"I'm...I'm a Kirin," She said in confusion.

"And?" Mortamire asked, Leaf looked to Flurry, who seemed confused at the comparison. Leaf storm raised a hoof and changed it into her Nirik form, making them both jump back, Mortamire falling out of his chair at the sudden fire.

"And Kirins can turn into Niriks," She said simply as she held her Smore over her hoof, melting the chocolate and the marshmallow at the same time, along with slightly burning the bottom cracker in the process.

"You're a firehorse!?" Mortamire demanded as he shot to his feet.

"Am I the only Kirin here?" She demanded in confusion.

"Only one I know," Mortamire noted. Flurry walked close to Leaf and inspected her arm and the tuff of flame around her hoof area, Leaf hadn't even looked at it when she lit it, but Flurry's question suddenly brought great concern to Leaf.

"So were you named Leaf because the flames are Green?" Leaf storm held up her arm and, just as Flurry had inquired, her flames were emerald Green. This time it was Leaf Storm who fell out of her seat.

"Why am I Green!?" She demanded as she went full Nirik "Are all my flames Green!?"

"Should they not be!?" Mortamire demanded, "Is that bad, are you gonna go supernova or something!?"

"Nirik's don't come in different colors," Leaf said angrily, "Black with bright red Fire, some areas may be Blue or purplish, but not fucking Green!" Leaf then had an idea, "Oh that Mother fucker," Leaf turned on the spot and ran to her room, "Discord I'm gonna kick your ass!" Leaf storm left Flurry and Mortamire behind.

"She is a brave son of a gun," Mortamire decided "I wouldn't call out Discord for a fight even if he turned me into a woman,"

"Yeah but you're the kind of dragon who'd wanna be a woman at least once just to see what it's like," Flurry replied as she chased after Leaf Storm.

"Not untrue," Mortamire agreed as he ran after her. The two followed Leaf Storms Green rage up to her room and found the door burning,

Flurry put out all of the fires while Mortamire followed the trail to Leaf Storm's office and found it devoid of Leaf, the tuba on the wall filled with flames. "She's gone to the Saxophone," he sighed "No way to follow her now," Mortamire looked around Leaf Storms home and saw the Chicken wearing a hooded robe. They stared at one another for a moment before the Chicken hissed at him and he backed out of the room.

"Is she.." Flurry cut off at the look on Mortamires face.

"Can Chickens hiss?" He demanded as he stared back into Leaf Storm's room, Flurry looked in and saw the Chicken Sleeping in the corner.

"Morty we don't have time for one of your jokes," Flurry walked in and when she looked into Leaf Storm's office the Chicken turned its head and glared at Mortamire for a second before going back to its slumber.
> Recycled Magic
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord was sitting in a recliner that was casually floating in the air, reading a magazine with Fluttershy on the cover when he heard a familiar voice call out in an angry scream.
"Discord I'm going to kick your ass," He blinked in confusion and looked to the Saxophone that connected to Leaf Storm's office, frowning at it as a bright Green fire burst out of it and Leaf storm slid out of it, leaving burns on his floor as she steadied herself. "Why am I Green!?" She demanded. Discord however had a different reaction and instead dumped a bucket of water over her head, extinguishing her for a moment before she lit back up, now accompanied by a cloud of steam.
"Huh," Discord said as he looked inside the bucket, he shrugged and tossed it away. "Are you not usually Green?"
"Nirik's only come in one color," She yelled back as she reared up on her back hoofs, Pillar of flames shot up around her and burned a hole through Discord's roof.
"I had no idea Kirin's possessed as much of a Firehazard as Dragon, he noted as he looked up at the burning hole in his ceiling"
"You've seen me as a Nirik before, we only come in one color" Leaf shot back, now pacing in a circle "If you didn't do this then why am I Green?" Discord moved in and looked her up and down before producing a pair of large tongs and picking her up off of the circle of flames she had paced into his floor. He looked at her, shook her, and stuck a popsicle stick in her mouth, he pulled it out mostly burnt and Leaf spat out its remains in a fire loogy. "This isn't helping," She said angrily.
"I have an idea," Discord decided as he snapped a scroll into existence above Leaf Storm, as soon as it hit her flames it burned, but instead of turning into ash it turned into Smoke and shot away, Leaf went out when she realized what had just happened.
"Was that my messenger breath!?" She demanded "Who did I send that to? What was it?"
"Just a blank letter and we're in another dimension so I doubt it'll really get anywhere," Discord smiled. "I guess this must be a side effect of you being in the area of the reincarnation spell again, this is where you died, you must of started sucking up your old dragon magic as soon as you entered the Ponyville area of the castle,"
"So...I'm just Green now?"
"Maybe," Discord replied with a shrug "If you use your fire too long outside of Ponyville it might lose the Dragon magic, but coming back should just recharge you," Discord chuckled for an uncomfortably amount of time.
"This is where you tell me the bad or weird news I assume," Leaf asked with a sigh.
"Well, It is possible you might start absorbing the recycled magic of any other creature who has lived in or near the Ponyville area for too long, Like Twilight and the Girls for example,"
"So your saying I could go Nirik and then, without warning, just turn into Pinkie Pie or something!?"
"Not turn into them per se, you'll just be able to do as they do. Firey wings for flight, enhanced magic, that kind of thing, course the magic has been accumulating for hundreds of thousands of years at this point so, In all honesty, there's no telling what could happen to you," Discord smiled ear to ear and Leaf storm just stared at him, now a Green Nirik again. 
"Wait...is that why I can talk to my Chicken and understand what it says?" Discord's response was to slam his own open palm with the end of his tail in the shape of a fist.
"Oh yeah, The Chicken was supposed to disappear, but since you just accepted it, it's possible you unconsciously rerouted my recycled magic into the Chicken, Shoving one of the souls that had yet to be reincarnated since their last death into the Chicken," Leaf storm looked at Discord blankly.
"Could...could you bother yourself into telling me who's soul exactly?" Discord frowned and snapped a list into existence, after a moment she saw him sweating.
"Oh no," He said, fear in his voice "Leaf storm we have to kill your Chicken!"
"The hell we do," Leaf shot back as she pulled at the list, being a magic list it didn't burn at her touch "Who is it,"
"There's only one soul unaccounted for, the first one I experimented with," Leaf thought for a moment and frowned, now confused as her light went out.
"Wait...Big mac?"
"No," Discord said waving her off "Big mac was the first to die and get sucked into the big spell, I'm talking about when I was still experimenting with it small time, you know..." Discord let out a low whine "...using Animals," Leaf frowned and, in an instant, could only think of one Animal Discord would not want to be around forever.
"My Chicken better not be Angel Bunny," She said angrily.
"I mean," Discord said with an awkward chuckle, Leaf went alight again, new anger in her eyes.
"Starlight died almost two decades after that fucking rabbit," She said angrily "Why the actual fuck didn't you use it on her? or Nightlight!?"
"Spike these are souls we are talking about, Angel was a success, albeit one I was hoping would fail, But he was also technically a failure...seeing as he still had all memories intact,"
"Son of a bitch," Leaf said angrily, no longer looking forward to going home and informing her Chicken she knew its secret Identity. "Explain why that's a problem besides it being Angel!?"
"Spike looks at you," Discord said motioning to Leaf storm in general "I only cast this spell so you Twilight and the rest would always be around those who understood them, have a castle following with people who loved and cared for them, even if they couldn't place the reason why. Sure right now you don't mind, but what happens when Leaf Storm dies? and you wake up as a new baby, and then that baby lives it's life and dies?" Leaf let go of Discord, not having ever considered the fact that not only was she going to have to watch all her friends and Family die again, but she was also going to be going through it for eternity,"
"I don't care," She decided, "So long as I can be with Twilight and she can know that I'll always be there for her, I don't care how many times I have to live through heartbreak and death, so long as I get to live the good times I'll take the bad," Leaf turned back to her Saxophone. "But just to make it easier I'm fucking keeping Angel, so don't touch my dam Chicken!"
"Fine," Discord replied "But you tell him if he even tries to sell me out he'll immediately explode into pure magic,"
Leaf storm didn't reply and instead jumped back through the Saxophone and Found Flurry putting out the last of the Green Flames as Mortamire, now having a bucket propper onto of his head, began slowly approaching Angel Chicken with his arms up.
"nice Chicken," He said as he moved slowly "nice demon Chicken,"
"Mortamire," Leaf called getting the room's attention, "stop messing with Angel," Mortamire looked over to Leaf, while the Chicken instantly shot up and looked at Leaf in shock. "Angel, go to my room, I'd like to have word with you when the company is gone," Angel made his way to the bedroom door and, unable to Open it, simply sat in front of the door, staring at Leaf with curiosity in his eyes.
"You names him Angel?" Flurry asked "what a cute name,"
"What an Oxymoron," Mortamire said as he looked at the Chicken, who looked over to him and glared back with obvious hate. Leaf Storm ignored the two and lit her horn, pulling her Office door shut like a Garage door.
"I was wondering where the door was," Flurry said as she gave it a once over. "Oh, did you find out why your fires are Green?" knowing the truth wasn't an option Leaf told the first lie she could think of.
"Discord wanted to emulate the fire message system of Spike the Dragon, so used a little of his fire he had as a keepsake and enchanted me against my will," Leaf and Flurry looked at each other in silence before Mortamire slid in with an exciting look.
"The Spike!?" He demanded "The Hero of the Chrystal Empire? Living Base of the Yak wars," Mortamire leaned in with a shine in his eyes "One time Spike and his lovely Wife saved the town of Applelossa from a very lost giant Moose,"
"I bet Leaf already knows that story," Flurry said with a chuckle.
"Well enough to know you left out Trixie, and that it was a herd of many Moose, not one giant one" Leaf replied simply.
"Trixie? Who's that?" Mortamire asked in confusion.
"I'll tell you the corrected version when I have time" Leaf replied with a sigh, knowing that the story had probably gone through about a thousand years worth of miss-tellings.
"Oh, who cares," Mortamire said excitedly "You're telling me, that you have the messenger breath of the legendary Hero!? And your not excited about it!?"
"It takes a lot to excite me," Leaf replied dryly. Leaf heard Flurry mutter something about liking challenges but ignored her, figuring she was daydreaming about fighting a Giant Moose. "Look, I'm sure this is a really big development for you, but I have business with my Chicken, mostly about what kind of accommodations he'd like me to order, and then I have to start unpacking, so Mortamire, Princess Flurry Heart, could I have my home to myself please? I've never lived alone before and I'm still trying to get used to it. Mortamire wished Leaf a Goodnight and recommended she lock her door and sleep with a bat beneath her Pillow just in case the Chicken made a move against her, and Flurry simply told her she was confident she would find a special some pony to share her home with. Leaf wished them both a good day as she closed and locked her door. After waiting a few moments she slowly turned to Angel, who was staring at her in Silence.
"In the room, then we talk," Leaf said simply as she walked over to him and opened the door. Angel walked in and jumped up onto Leaf's bed before snuggly up on the foot of it and then looked at her waiting for her to talk. "So," She said sitting in front of him "I assume you've realized you died and came back as a Chicken?" Angel nodded "But I'm guessing you don't know how you came back, why you started out as a full-grown Chicken, how long it's been, or why you still have all your memories?" The Chicken bucked at her a little and Leaf nodded "Oh, and also who I am and why I know who you are," Leaf thought of how to explain and figured diving in the deep end was about all she had to go with.
"Well," Leaf rolled her hooved "When you died Discord was testing out a spell to reincarnate the loved one's of Fluttershy and her friends since she was destined to live for as long as Kindness existed in the universe, and he successfully kept your soul intact but also kept the memories, he deemed you a failure and...not wanting his plan to be exposed, he stuck you in purgatory. However, when the letter he wrote to me this morning turned into a Chicken, I accepted I just had a Chicken and went on my day, doing so with my...unique circumstances resulted in your soul being ripped out of purgatory and shoved into the empty shell of a magical Chicken. Hence you now exist and, as per my agreement with Discord, the one I made when I ran screaming and on fire, He is not allowed to kill you, regardless of how much he wants to, on the condition you don't out him, that said if you try to tell Fluttershy who you are your body will explode into pure magic, he will then probably shove you back into purgatory,"
Angel stared at Leaf in silence as she stopped talking, letting him take a moment to soak in the information Leaf had told him so far. He then clucked a single cluck, and Leaf answered simply.
"A little over 6 and a half thousand years," Angel's reaction was far from tame and Leaf simply waited for his panic at being so far in the future to end, once Angel calmed down enough he looked to Leaf and clucked at her in a demanding tone.
"Oh your gonna hate the answer to that," Leaf leaned in, with a big smile "It's me, Spike," The Chicken looked at Leaf for a moment and then cocked its head to the side. "I feel that was meant as an insult, but Thank you, I'm sure I am a lot prettier than when I was a Dragon, now Angel you and I are stuck with each other, but I promise you that when I figure out how to prove to Fluttershy and the rest who I am I will also tell her who you are," Angel bucked and Leaf sighed "I am confident Discord just want's to drag this out, so no, I can't just tell them and expect Discord to back me up, he's never been one to go with the easy solution, likes it when people solve their own problems,"
Leaf stood up and offered Angel a ride on her back, he climbed on and she lit her horn. "Alright once I've unpacked I'll see about getting you a place for you to keep your stuff in the corner, like a Dog house or a small Chicken coop thing," Angel looked to Leaf and she shrugged, "I mean if you want a dog bed you can have a dog bed," Angel snuggled into Leaf storms back and clucked "Yeah I figured you liked me better as a Kirin when you called me Pretty,"
> Breaking into the Kitchen
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf Storm was standing in her living room, her office door was open and Angel was vibing in the anti-gravity. Leaf took a deep breath and went Nirik, she looked at her green flames and raised her hoof, shooting a fireball at a presently unpacked vase, as soon as it hit the vase it turned into magical smoke that went straight to Leaf Storms horn, it swirls and she fired the smoke like a blast of magic at her kitchen counter, upon hitting the counter the vase appeared and tipped from side to side before settling.
"Yes!" She gave a laugh of success and hoof pumped "First try!" Leaf did a little dance and raised her hoof to fire another fireball before blinking, her flames now bright pink, she looked at the fire in confusion and it immediately went back to being green. "What!? No, wait I wanna see what Pink does," Leaf shook her hoof and frowned as it stayed green.
"Stupid Magic fire," She muttered angrily, Before she could play with her Fire anymore she heard the call to action and extinguished herself as she made her way into her office. As she suspected Angel was once again stealing her Donuts, she left him to his sugary treats and made her way to her seat, buckling herself in. she picked up the letter with her duties for the day, and took a deep breath.
"If I end up with an Opal Chicken I'm a get real mad real fast," She unfolded the note and read her tasks.
" Greetings from your chief of staff Discord, Today you will be sneaking into the kitchen storeroom, you are to steal a barrel of Pickles and place it in the 7th floor common area, You will then take a Pickle and throw it out the first Window you find, afterward you are to go to the 6th floor and steal as much chalk as you can carry and dump it into the Pickle barrel before dumping it down the stairway. Also this Letter is now a house plant,"
Right on queue upon finishing the letter, it exploded and both Leaf and Angel watched as a tiny palm tree floated around with them.
"I'll take it," Leaf decided as she unbuckled herself and took the Palm tree in her magic, taking it to her little balcony and looking around. One of her neighbors was out watering a few flowers, Leaf set the tree down and snuck back inside to avoid conversation. "Angel I'm going to work, don't mess with the tree," Leaf exited her home and made her way to the stairs, She was about to start heading up when a familiar face tracked her down.
"Leaf Storm," Shiver cheered upon seeing her "Heading up to the kitchen?" Leaf looked around and motioned him to move in closer.
"I'm off to serve some none specific Chaos,"
"Oh! Can I help!?" Shiver looked fairly excited and Leaf looked around.
"Discord never said I couldn't let someone in on it," she decided.
"Oh yeah, what are we up to?" Shiver demanded as he moved in closer and lowered his voice "Because I have a set of chattering teeth if we need a diversion,"
"First agenda, we have to steal a Barrel of Pickles from the Kitchen storeroom and get it to the 7th floor,"
"You wanna steal from the kitchen," Shiver grinned from ear to ear "Here not even a week and already attempting the Ultimate heist! If we don't make it tell my wife I wish she existed," The two made their down a floor and spied at the entrance to the Kitchen floor, There was a very small area set aside for the entrance, it was set up with a few benches and a window to order at and one to pick up food from.
"Alright," Shiver said as he put his arm around Leaf's neck "The chefs are very serious when it comes to the ruling staff only, so there's no way we're getting in without sneaking in, and if we get caught they'll ban us from the buffet and ordering for a week, if we get caught with the Barrel we'll be banned for a month, trust me you don't wanna go through the hassle of going out to eat, First you have to get out threw the front gates, find a place that isn't overrun with nobles, then you have to wait for them to let you back in, it takes like 20 minutes and it sucks,"
"So is any part of this story going to help us get in?" Leaf questioned.
"I've been planning a heist for years," Shiver said seriously "They always put out the Fresh baked goods at midday on Thursdays, Fridays, and Mondays, and I work on all those days so I've never gotten to tase Flowers famous Honey Buns,"
"Pretty sure it's Sunday," Leaf noted.
"Exactly," Shiver said "They bake the goods today and store them in the Walkin, reheating them the afternoon next day and serving them, Oh you just can't begin to comprehend the agony of always smelling them being cooked but never getting a taste, But as luck would have it, Your Pickle Barrel should be in dry storage, right next to the Bakery Walk-in Fridge section, Their's an air vent you can sneak into that will take you straight into the Bakery freezer, should be easy to get to. the walk-in has three doors facing the front door the right one will take you to the dry storage." Leaf's ears were burning but Shiver hasn't finished his plan as he continued telling her every detail he could think of.
"Once there you can put the Barrel in the lift, it can only be operated with a Key card on the 7th floor, but no card is required if you use it from the Kitchen. The Lift should be clear for another 5 hours, they use it to stock up the 7th floor for mealtime," I'll go chill on the 7th floor and, once it's clear, I'll block the stairway and wait for you,"
"Alright so we have every part of the plan but the part that gets me inside,"
"Just wait by the entrance and watch me work my Magic, and move fast," Shiver walked to the front counter, looked at Leaf with a sly look, and then started banging on the order window.
"I demand a Honeybun," He cried out "Give me one," Leaf took her place next to the entrance and, sure enough, it opened up towards her, hiding her from view as Flower and a short Diamond dog came out, both looking exasperated.
"Shiver why must you always do this?" Flower demanded as her Diamond Dog friend walked over to Shiver and waved a large spoon at him.
"I have to clean that," He said pointing to the glass screen in front of the ordering area "every time you do this, I have to clean it,"
"Then hand over the Honeybun Fern and I shall leave," Shiver stood his ground for about three seconds before running away with a yelp as Fern began swinging his large spoon at him.
"If we make an exception for you then every creature will start doing this," Fern said angrily, he and Flower made sure to wait for Shiver to head up the stairs before turning back into the Kitchen, leaving the area outside the Kitchen empty. Fern set his spoon on the order counter and reached under it to get the glass cleaner when he noticed something and let out a groan.
"Who was playing with the vent?" He demanded as he walked over to the opening to the ventilation system the Vent having been halfheartedly put back into place, He picked it up and looked inside, finding it empty and with far less dust than one would expect "AH, someone cleaned it." He Put the vent back into place and tightened it back into the wall as Flower came over to see what the commotion was about. "Nevermind," He said "Someone forgot to tighten the vent hood after cleaning,"
Leaf was grumbling as she made her way through the ventilation shaft, she barely fit and was using her magic to force her way through it. She was coated in dust, cobwebs, and things she didn't want to think about. After what felt like forever she found herself over a vent hood that was covered in a glass cap, looking down she frowned as she looked into the freezer. The Glass cap was sealed shut to keep the cool air in and Leaf banged her head on it.
"Dammit Shiver," She said as she was forced to continue going forward, She made her way past multiple vent hoods and saw many creatures working away in the kitchen making lots of different kinds of meals for different ponies.
"We have an Order of 3 Hayburgers, One Hayburger plain, 2 Hamburgers, 5 Sides of Tater tots, one side of Fries and one side of Onion Rings," Leaf kept crawling through the vents when she was suddenly forced to a stop.
"Oh no," She said as she felt something pulling on her, after a moment she was pulled to the Closest Vent Hood and shot out, ending up in a Room full of Cleaning Supplies.
"Aha!" Fern said, a Unicorn standing next to him, "I knew no one here cared enough about cleanliness to clean out the vents," Leaf shook her head and coughed out some dust before looking down at Fern who was tapping one of his feet and looking her up and down. "Care to identify who's under all that muck?"
"I'm Leaf Storm," She said simply.
"Ah, so you're the Kirin everyone's been talking about," he said "Just so you know, we typically toss out intruders but seeing as your new around here, and you saved me about a month's worth of vent cleanings, I'm willing to offer a deal. If you can prove you have what it takes to be back here you're welcome to come and go as you please, so long as you agree to come in on reserve should something happen and leave us understaffed," Leaf took a deep breath and burst into Green flames, after a moment she was burned clean and turned the flames off.
"I'll take that wager," Leaf replied "What do I have to do?"
"Show me you got what it takes, cook up something to really knock my socks off," Leaf smiled and offered him her hoof.
"deal," She decided as Fern took her hoof and shook it.
"Fantastic, Sunstone go grab our friend an Apron while I jolt down what she'll be needing for her dish.



Leaf was standing in front of a cooking station wearing an Apron with the words 'supervision required ' written on it, laying in front of her were almost all the ingredients she would need for her meal, A block of Cheese, a Bag of Plain Flour, Corn Flour, Milk, a single Egg, onions, and Pickled Ginger," She was waiting for the last two Ingredients to arrive as they hadn't had them in stock. Sunstone the Unicorn teleported in next to her and placed the last of her ingredients before her, a bottle of Dashi Stock, a bottle of okonomiyaki sauce, a bag of tenkasu crispy tempura crumbs, and a Pan specially made for her dish.
"Alright Ms. Storm," Fern said "Cook away," Leaf lit her horn and picked up the Cheese, Slicing it into bite-sized pieces and measuring them by grams, she stopped chopping when she had 100 grams and placed the bite-sized pieces in a bowl before pulling out a second bowl and combining 140 grams of Plain Flour, 10 grams of Cornflower, and 1 tbsp of milk. She then pulled out a third smaller bowl and broke one egg into it and whisked it for a while before adding it to the bowl with the flour. She Grabbed the Bottle of Dashi Stock and poured it into a measuring cup, once she had 450 milliliters she slowly began adding it to the main bowl before taking the whisk and mixing it together.
Leaf turned on the Stove and took out the pan, after adding some cooking oil and letting it heat she added her batter, the pan had wells, and Leaf slowly began filling the wells up and began putting one piece of cheese in each well. As she was doing this she used her magic to chop up the onions and the ginger, she pulled out three measuring cups and filled one to 1/2 a cup with onion, another to 1/4 with the pickled ginger, and the third one to 1/2 with the tempura crumbs.
Once she had some cheese in each piece she began sprinkling them all with Onion, Ginger, and Tempura crumbs. She let them cook for a while and, once they started to look crispy she used her magic to cut a square shape around each well. As Leaf let them cook she took a few toothpicks and used them to flip her food, slowly making them ball-shaped as they cooked.
As Leaf grew close to finishing her meal several staff members were drawn in by the smell and were eagerly awaiting her meal to be finished cooking. Leaf storm asked for some plates and began moving her finished meal onto them while cooking more with her ingredients, by the time she ran out of ingredients she had 3 plates with 10 balls on each. She turned off the stove and lit her horn, picked up the okonomiyaki sauce, and began pouring it over the balls in a zig-zag pattern, after a moment she set the ball down and nodded.
"Behold my Cheese Takoyaki, typically you use Octopus but since not every creature here eats meat I used cheese, you can also use ham, bacon, or chicken," Leaf storm lit her horn and pierced each ball with a toothpick, and took one for herself before Fern walked over and took one, he took a bite and his eyes bulged for a moment before he inhaled the rest of it.
"Sunstone write this down, and order the supplies you were sent out for in bulk,"
"typically Takoyaki is also topped with Aonori powder and Bonito flakes, and the okonomiyaki sauce can be replaced with BBQ if you so choose,"
"Sunstone make a note of that," Fern called out "And Ms.Storm, feel free to go swipe whatever it was you were after,"
"I'm here for an entire barrel of Pickles," Leaf declared bluntly
"Dry Storage, next to the Bakery freezer," Fern replied as he pointed her in the direction before walking over to Sunstone, Leaf chuckled at the lack of questions and made her way to claim her prize, she opened the door and looked around the large room, after a moment she found a few barrels and found the Pickles, She lifted it in her magic and began moving it towards the lift when she heard the sound of it arriving. Unsure as to what to do she set it down and hid behind it. She watched as the Lift came to a halt, and Brick the Guard walked out. He stood in front of the lift, staring out into the storage room in silence.
Leaf hid behind the Pickle barrel in silence, not wanting to be questioned about why she needed it. After about two minutes the door opened and Flower flew in, in her claws was a small box and the smell instantly hit Leaf storm and she realized that she had just stumbled on a Pastry deal. She continued to hide as Flower landed and offered the pastry to Brick, who took it and placed it down before leaning into Flower, Leaf watched in shock as the Married colt kissed the Griffin and pulled her in close.
"Oh Brick, I've missed you," Flower said as she rested her head in his chest for a moment, "I have to go, we have a lot to do, meet me tonight, my place, 9:30" They kissed again and Brick pulled her in, they continued kissing and Leaf tried to stop looking and hit her head, she watched as a box began tipping at the end of the shelf, and knew there was only one thing for her to do. The Box hit the ground and the two snapped apart. Brick looked around and walked towards the misplaced Pickle Barrel, finding nothing around it he turned to Flower who shook her head, the sound had startled her half to death.
"Happens sometimes," Flower decided
"Want I should move this?" he asked, pointing to the Barrel.
"It's probably old, take it up to the 7th floor, It'll be thrown out along with any other leftovers after the school has lunch. Brick picked up the Barrel and Carried it to the Lift, making sure to grab his honeybuns on the way, once in the lift he kissed his hoof and blew it at Flower before hitting a button and being sent up. Brick sighed and shook his head, shame evident on his face.
"Your a coward," He said to himself before pulling himself together and walking out into the empty 7th floor, He put the Barrel next to the empty buffet table and made his way out, after going down the stairs there was a bang and one of the removable trays on the buffet table poped up as Shiver looked around.
"How suspicious," He mused "Why is Brick using the kitchen lift?"
"Trust me," Leaf said making him jump, he hit the floor and looked to the Pickle Barrel as the lid popped off and Leaf emerged from it "You do not want to know,"
> A Sticky Situation
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf and Shiver pushed the pickle barrel to the center of the room and popped the lid open.

"Alright," Shiver said as he looked inside the barrel "So now what?"

"First," Leaf lit her horn and took a pickle out of the barrel before walking to the closest window, sliding it open, and tossing the pickle outside. She shut it and walked back to Shiver. "Alright, now that I've done that, we need to go to the sixth floor and swipe as much chalk as we can carry, shove it into the Pickle Barrel, then dump it on the stairs."

Shiver let out a sigh and Leaf looked at him and found him saluting the staircase.

"I remember that one. I was only seven at the time, but I remember it well. Had to call the school day off because it flooded the sixth level due to a drainage problem. The chalk mixed with the pickle juice and became a sticky sludge." Shiver shook his head sadly, and Leaf could tell what was coming before he even said it. "Leaf, I'm sorry but I can't follow you any further down this path. If Sunflower Glaze found out I was involved in this, I'd lose my job." Leaf walked up and offered him her hoof, he shook it and headed down the stairs, "Good luck my friend. I salute you."

Leaf watched him leave and shook her head before making her way down the stairs and looking at the sixth floor. Similar to the kitchen, there was a zone separating the stairway from the rest of the school. The walls of the zone had many doors leading to what Leaf assumed was the different levels of school. Leaf storm looked at the area and saw a couple of young ponies, a few dragons, several griffins, and even a Changeling. Leaf looked around, unsure as to how she was going to bullshit her way inside a school. When one of the many doors opened, and a pony she hadn't seen since her last life came happily bouncing out.

"I have snacks," Pinkie cheered as a handful of staff followed her with a few trays of food "Specially made on the 34th floor!" Leaf couldn't think of how to proceed as she simply sat down and stared at Pinkie bouncing around, her staff passing out the food.

"I'm not nearly ready enough for this," She decided as she began walking back, unable to go through with having to talk to Pinkie like a stranger," Leaf decided to retreat too late as a Pink Blur shot up to her.

"Why hello," Pinkie said as she came to a stop next to her, Pinkie looked her up and down and smiled "Supervision Required?" She asked, Leaf was confused for a moment before realizing she was still wearing the apron Fern had given her. "From the look of it, you must really like pickles! Your apron is covered in pickle juice stains." Pinkie took Leafs hand and shook it. "I'm Pinkie Pie, Element of Harmony and head chef of the 34th floor, I assume you've heard of me?"
"Yeah," Leaf replied, still not mentally prepared for this exchange.

"So, do you have a name?" Pinkie leaned in grinning ear to ear.

"Oh...my name? It's... it's Leaf storm." To which Pinkie let out an exaggerated gasp and grabbed Leaf.

"You're Discord's Assistant!" Leaf was shaken up and down with every word Pinkie spoke. "Twilight told me about you, she's pretty sure you and Discord have met before? Is she right?"

"Something like that... not allowed to say really."

"Ooh, Mysterious," Pinkie put her arm around Leaf and dragged her away from the staircase. "Well Leaf storm, as the Premiere Party Pony, unopposed since my late Husband Cheese Sandwich, I would be remiss- nay! I would be devastated, if I let you go one second longer without a Welcome to Ponyville Party. Have you been told about that? Ponyville is what we call the lower levels."

"Yes, after the original town," Leaf replied.

"Spot on Leafy," Pinkie said as they walked through a door and Leaf realized Pinkie had just taken her inside the school area. "Anyway, I just need a few notes, favorite color, favorite food, any family nearby, pets, friends?"

"I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to be here," Leaf said as she looked at the lockers lining the walls.

"Don't be silly, Discord trusts you, and he's had a solid trust ratio for a long while, few hiccups that nearly destroyed Equestria, but he's been going solid for almost a century," Leaf took a deep breath, trying to keep calm as she gave Pinkie what she wanted.

"Favorite Color is Green, Favorite Food is Gem Candy, I have two brothers who work at Discord's Joke shop you can't miss them their the only Kirins there, I have a pet Chicken, I'd have to say the only friends I've made since I got here have been Mortamire, Shiver, and Flurry heart,"

"Oh someone's been busy," Pinkie smiled "So tell me, am I the first Element of Harmony you've got to meet?"
"I saw Rainbow Dash in the park upon arrival, and I met with Fluttershy at Discords house,"
"I'm third?" Pinkie asked "Man I've really let myself go. How long have you been here?"
"I think today is the third day," Leaf said.

"Three days?" Pinkie demanded, "Oh that's just unacceptable, That's it!" Pinkie stopped in her tracks. "It's time. The old me wouldn't have let a pony go an hour without a proper welcome, and it took me three days to get to you! Nope! it's gonna happen!" Pinkie turned on the spot and left Leaf standing in the hallway "Cancel all of my everything, it's officially time!" Leaf watched as Pinkie marched away angrily declaring it was "Officially time!" and then looked to her left. A Supply Closet was begging her to walk in and swipe as much chalk as she could carry.

"Thanks, Pinkie," Leaf smiled as she opened the door and, after a quick search, took a Cardboard box full of smaller boxes that had Chalk in them," Leaf searched a bit and upon finding a sharpie wrote the word Trash on the box just to be safe before looking around and heading back the way she had come. She found Pinkie making a big ruckus as the ponies she had come in with were trying to calm her down from her declarations that it was officially time.

Leaf made her way to the stairs and then up, breathing a sigh of relief as she walked up to the 7th floor. After making sure it was still empty Leaf opened the box and began taking individual boxes of chalk and dumping them into the pickle barrel, It took her almost 5 minutes before she kicked the box and put the lid back on the Barrel. Leaf dragged it to the staircase and checked to see if anyone was coming. After seeing no pony around Leaf kicked the Barrel and upon falling over the sticky wet sludge she had made poured down the stairs like a waterfall, leaving a thin sticky membrane behind it as it flowed down the stairs.

"Wait just one second," Leaf realized as she looked at the staircase "How the actual hell do I leave?" Leaf looked around, deciding that going up wouldn't help and realizing she had just trapped herself when she remembered how she had first arrived. She ran to the lift and looked for a way to activate it, after a moment she found the button with a card slot next to it and pressed it to no avail, desperate to escape Leaf checked the Apron Fern had given her and found a small pocket in the middle, putting her hoof inside she pulled out a small card and read it.

"Temporary Lift access, do not use without supervision," Leaf ignored the warning and put the card in the slot before pressing the button, there was a ding and Leaf retrieved her card before getting into the lift, just as angry voices could be heard making their way up the stairs. Leaf went down on the lift and arrived back in dry storage, Leaf made her way out of the lift and, not wanting to look too suspicious, grabbed a second barrel of Pickles. She backed out of the room and began slowly moving the barrel when Fern noticed her.

"Oh, there you are," He said with a chuckle "you sure took a while with those pickles, let me guess you went to the wrong storeroom,"

"Something like that," Leaf replied as she made her way towards the entrance. She backed out into the entranceway and quickly found that her prank had already made it to the lower levels as the entire Kitchen entryway was covered in sticky residue smelling of pickles. Feeling somewhat bad for Fern she held the Barrel up and stepped in it.

"Dammit," She said in exaggerated anger, getting Fern and some of the other cooking staff's attention.

"What in the name of Tartarus?!" Fern demanded when he saw the mess, then jumped back as it began leaking out, Leaf took the loss and move further into it so they could shut the door. "Sunstone! Get me every sponge we have, several soap bottles, and a hose." Leaf continued wading through the sticky residue but upon stepping on the stairs, slipped and ended up pouring the pickle barrel onto herself. Leaf slid down the steps and made her way to the second floor, shaking the pickle juice from her eyes as she attempted to make her way home, only for something to grab her by the middle and pull her free.

"I got you Leaf. " Mortamire said as he pulled her free. "What happened to you?" He added as he shook pickle juice from his hands.

"I wanted a barrel, so I broke into the kitchen, got caught, proved I had what it took to be there, and then got a barrel of pickles, then walked out into this mess." Leaf said simply, lighting her hooves on fire. The heat caused the pickle and chalk to harden and resulted in her hooves crusting over, making them no longer sticky but making them rather clunky to walk with. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go take a seven-hour bubble bath,"

"Have fun with that," Mortamire said with a wave. "I've got more prank victims to rescue," Leaf trudged her way home, and put the barrel and its lid next to the door.

"Angel, you better not have eaten all my donuts," Leaf called out, there was a clucking sound from her office and she nodded. "Alright good," Leaf lit her horn and three donuts flew out of the office, and to her, she began eating them out of the air as she made her way to her bathroom and turned the water onto the hottest temperature she could make it before getting in and groaning as she lit her legs on fire and made the water boil. Once she had boiled all of the juice and chalk off she drained the tub, dumped an entire bottle of Bubble bath into it, and then refilled it before getting in and sighing.

"Angel! I'm not leaving this tub for another seven hours! If Discord calls, tell him he can come to me." Leaf leaned back and just let the water flow over her and wash the stress of the day away as she continued eating her donuts.
> I Don't Wanna
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf yawned as she rubbed the sleep out of her eyes, as she got up she realized she had fallen asleep in the living room, she pressed her hooves into the cushion, Flurry heart had arrived the previous day and delivered her a Couch, and a food card with enough cash on it to cover Leaf's food bill for a year. Flurry was adamant that it was just a sign of friendship, but Leaf got the feeling that Flurry was on to her being Spike, or at the very least suspicious that something was off with her. Upon setting up the Red couch Leaf took the center Pillow out and replaced it with the Purple Cushion she had brought with her, giving the red cushion to Angel, who had was still trying to pick out a pet house as Leaf had just given him a pamphlet and told him he could have whatever he wanted from it.
Leaf picked up the Power Pony comic she had fallen asleep reading and placed it with the rest of her collection, she looked up at the collection of Power Pony figures she had gotten on the same birthday where Discord had found her, all she could do now, however, was frown. It had been bad enough when Autumn and Summer had let her leave without so much as a goodbye, but now that she knew they were also Applebloom and Scootaloo it just made her miss them even more. So Far Winter was the only one who had sent her any letters, now knowing she was Sweetie belle Leaf kind of wished Winter had been born gay, as Sweetie had been the only mare he had ever dated besides Starlight, ironically they cut it off when Sweetie realized she was a Lesbian and was just dating Spike because he had looked very feminine during his 3rd molt.
"Stupid universe," Leaf muttered "I lose Starlight, and now Sweetie isn't gay enough to be with me," Leaf muttered at the injustice of her love life "I should have dated Summer when I had the chance, but no, I had to be the good person I am and turn her away because she was literally just horny for my body, not for me as who I am," Leaf rubbed her face and let out a sigh. "Dammit, I'm lonely," Leaf groaned "And I have to wait another 3 years before I can get drunk," Leaf flopped back onto her couch. "Day off and I'm sitting around, being all sad because everyone I've ever loved either doesn't remember me or is gone!" Leaf flopped onto the floor and found a shadow covering her head, she looked at Angel and he just clucked at her.
"No," She said defiantly "I don't wanna start dating, I'll just outlive them and go through this again when they die," Angle clucked and Leaf blew air out of her mouth.
"I think the oldest Kirin was 612," She decided "But that chick was in a hospital bed for over two centuries, she only died because the life support system got too old and failed," Angel clucked and Leaf shook her head. "I don't wanna stop being pessimistic, I just wanna lie around, get fat, and die sad," Leaf rolled onto her back and waved her legs around dramatically "Take me now death," Angel clucked and Leaf blinked. 
"Excuse you?" She demanded as she got to her hooves "I am not," Angel squinted and clucked, Leaf's face slowly went from defiant to guilty "I...I mean me and Starlight did it all the time," Angel shook his head and clucked "Alright fine, so maybe Starlight was the only creature I ever got it on with, so what? I have no shame about my lack of a sex life, I'm only 17," Angel looked at Leaf, raised his wings, and bucked, using his wings to make chopping motions. "Mentally I'm like 6,000, yes, but Sex is all Biology chicken, I'd expect you to know that seeing as you had like 20 children yourself,"
Angel clucked like mad and motioned around, Leaf laughed nervously as she tried to think about how to defend herself.
"I mean, I don't really know what Ponycity is like, what if I go out there and it sucks?" Angel shook his head, clucking his disappointment before nodding, and giving a simple cluck. "Don't you dare," Leaf said, Angel looked at her in defiance before running between her legs, Leaf turned on the spot and ended up falling, as she got back up Angel opened the door by jumping up to the lever and landed on it, the door clicked open and he slammed into it hard enough for it to slide open, he jumped and ran into the hallway just as Leaf slid out after him. Using her magic to shut the door as she ran after Angel, who was high tailing it to the staircase.
"Angel Chicken get back here," Leaf demanded angrily,  as she ran Angel scared a foal and she dropped her toy as the chicken ran past, the arm of the figurine popped out and the foal let out a low wine, Leaf slid to a stop and without a word used her magic to pop the arm back into place and put her most powerful enchantment on it, being a Kirin her magical powers where very weak so the best she could do was make it dance for the child, who laughed with glee as her toy danced for her.
Leaf turned back to Angel and continued chasing, Her anger at being forced to leave her home ended up making her turn Nirik, it took her a second but as she ran she became aware of the fact that she was once again Pink. "What?" She demanded as she slowed down in confusion and looked at her body "Why?" Leaf shook her head, confident she had no control over her flames as she continued running after Angel.
Angel rushed down the stairs and Leaf continued running after him, in an attempt to grab him she jumped down the stairs and was introduced to the effect of her pink flames as she proceeded to jump so high she hit the ceiling and rolled down the stairs.
"Ow," Leaf complained as she rubbed her head, she looked at the Pink fire and then felt incredibly stupid. "Pinkie Pie," She realized "I'm channeling Pinkies recycled Magic," Leaf took a deep breath and forced herself to laugh, instantly her flames started glowing brighter, Leaf laughed a genuine laugh at figuring it out, and proceeded to lose the ability to control her bounce as her flames coated her hooves and bounce her up, rolling with her new found power Leaf gave chase to Angel and bounced forward, moving faster with each movement of her hooves against the floor, just as she was about to catch him he sidestepped and she hit the wall, instead of hurting she just felt her body compressing.
"Oh no," She said in realization before she shot back and began bouncing all around the first floor of the castle, causing a mild panic as she screamed out "I can't stop," No longer enjoying herself and being in a room without laugher Leaf turned green and she smiled for a second before seeing the incoming wall, she braced her self for the painful face plant but after a moment of no collision she opened her eyes and found herself enveloped in blue magic just in front of the wall.
"Oh sweet Celestia," Leaf said as her fears burned out her fire "That could have ended really badly," Leaf was set down, and then turned 180 degrees to face who had caught her, a Tall white Unicorn mare with a flowing Golden Mane looked down at her in judgment. "Wow," Leaf said at the look on the mare's face "That is an impressive amount of anger to store in one place,"
"Name," The Mare demanded simply.
"Leaf Storm?" Leaf offered.
"Oh really?" The mare asked the disbelief somewhat offending Leaf storm.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Leaf demanded "Yeah I get it's weird my parents named me after a Leaf what with the blue mane, pale whitish fur, and red horn, but I have Green eyes, and my scally bits are green too, so the name works on some level,"
"Well, no offense but you're far from the first creature to claim to be Discords supposed assistant to try and get away with a prank,"
"First of all that wasn't a prank, it was an example of why you don't practice new magic indoors. Second who around here has been using my name in vain? No assistant worth their ass would ever get caught pulling the prank," Leaf Scoffed "Amatures," The Mare pointed to herself and said simply.
"I am Sunflower Glaze," She said simply "Captain of the Royal Guard, and I don't tolerate this kind of behavior in my castle,"
"Pretty sure this is Twilight's Castle,"
"Well then, Miss Assistant to Chaos, how about we go Pay the Princess a Visit and see if she confirms your identity or not,"
"Well, why don't we?" Leaf demanded back before adding "But before we do that can you grab my Chicken?" Leaf pointed to Angel who jumped at being called out and attempted to run for it, only to be grabbed in Sunflower's magic.
"This one I presume?" She questioned.
"You!" Leaf said grabbing Angel "This is your fault, you're lucky I like you, or I'd take away your cushion," Sunflower just shook her head and carried them to the staircase.
"Well you certainly seem like the kind of creature Discord would employ,"
"The hells that suppose to mean?" Leaf demanded as Angel continued to attempt an escape.
> Pinkie's Plan
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf storm lay on her side as she attempted to count the floor number they were on.
"You know, this place doesn't feel like it should be tall enough for almost sixty floors," she complained "Just watching you walk up all these stairs is starting to make my hooves hurt," After a moment of receiving no response from Sunflower Glaze Angel clucked at her and Leaf groaned.
"I'm not apologizing for something you started," She snapped back irritably, Angel clucked back at her indignantly and Leaf just stared at him.
"That's not even an argument," Leaf said bluntly as she shook her head "that's deflection," Angel began clucking back only to be cut off by Sunflower.
"We're here," She announced before opening the door to a room that Leaf felt was too large to be so high up in the castle, the room itself was filled with too many noises to identify, and seemed to take up two or three stories on its own, with several catwalks and stairs running along the back of the room, the middle of the room housed a large elevated platform where Twilight stood, around her was a long circular control panel, with levers, buttons, dials, and levers scattered all over the place, several screens where hung in the air around her displaying different information to her.
Completing the room the entire back half of the wall had a Large archway stuck directly to the wall, wires were all over the wall, some small, others larger than Leaf Storm.
"What the heck is happening in here?" She wondered in confusion as creatures in lab coats and safety gear all walked around them, some carrying weird-looking tech, others with tech that looked to be melted and burnt. Sunflower ignored everything and walked straight to Twilight.
"Ma'am," She said, saluting as she did so.
"Hello Sunflower," Twilight said happily as she waved without turning around "What can I help you with today?"
"This Kirin is claiming  to be Discords assistant Leafstorm," Sunflower said simply, "I need your help identifying them,"
Twilight turned and looked up at Leafstorm, who could tell Twilight wasn't entirely sure if it was her.
"I never did get to thank you for helping out with Astral, he has not had an easy time trying to force his way up in the world thanks to your words against him, Rainshine certainly seems disinterested in him,"
"Yup," Twilight decided "That is definitely Leafstorm, how have you been,"
"I have a pet Chicken," Leaf offered Angel, walking along Leaf's back and taking roost on her head "I have named them Angel, and the jury's still out if they're he or she, No eggs yet," Angel clucked indignantly and Leafstorm shook her head. "You keep saying that but you're also a lying bastard so I'm waiting to see if I find any eggs," Twilight cocked her head and Sunflower just shook her head.
"I dunno, she just talks to the chicken, juries out if she can understand it or not, but given she works for Discord it seems like the kind of nonsense he would cause,"
"So what's...all of this?" Leaf asked as she looked around, she wanted to talk with Twilight more but felt she wasn't in a position to just ask her to hang out for a while. Instead of Twilight a second pony suddenly put their arm around Leaf and pulled her into a sitting position, Leaf turned, and Found Pinkie Pie was now in the bubble with her.
"It's Science," She declared proudly, startling both Twilight and Sunflower "Delicious Magical Science," 
"Pinkie," Twilight looked confused, Sunflower saluted again as she set them all down, and Leaf simply began laughing.
"How did you even get in there?" Leaf demanded as the magic dispersed, before Pinkie could Answer there was a flash and Leafstorm was once again a Pink Nirik.
"Oops," Leaf Storm noted, worried she might have burnt Pinkie, who pulled her arm back and looked at the pink fire blazing on her arm, Leaf watched mystified as the fire curled up and with a soft popping sound turned into fire-shaped cotton candy. "Wait I can just do that?" Leaf demanded before biting at her flames and finding random candy in her mouth. "Chaos is amazing,"
"I didn't know Kirin's came in Pink," Pinkie cried out "With added sweet summoning powers to boot!"
"We do not," Leaf corrected "This is basically a curse, a delicious bouncy curse,"
"How do I get cursed?" Pinkie demanded "I wanna make candy appear in the air,"
"It's complicated," Lead muttered "And wildly unpredictable, It's only Pink if I or someone around me laughs,"
"Oh, what other colors do you have?" Pinkie asked excitedly, Before Leaf could attempt to answer Twilight cut in.
"Magic fire is interesting but Pinkie what are you doing here?"
"Oh, I was just stopping by to say I'm taking a few years off from being the head chef to go work in the second-floor kitchen, I've been up here too long Twilight, I haven't gone below the school level in what feels like years, maybe it has been years, I need to get back in touch with the locals, maybe try some...family bonding again,"
"Pinkie that mare hates you beyond reason," Twilight said with a sigh.
"Peach just has some issues to work out," PInkie said confidently "I know she said never to show my face again, but maybe I could slowly make my way in," Pinkie sighed with a distant look "She reminds me of Limestone sometimes and it just...I just want her to be willing to hear my side of the story,"
"Um," Leaf said awkwardly "I feel like I'm intruding on a personal moment so I'm just gonna back away,"
"Oh Leaf," Pinkie said dramatically.
"Why did I speak?" Leaf demanded oh Sunflower and Twilight as Pinkie pulled Leaf in close.
"Maybe you can help me, you're the one who convinced me I needed to go back down to the lower levels and reconnect with others,"
"I was just trying to steal some chalk," Leaf defended "You talked yourself into it,"
"All because of you," Pinkie smiled as she pulled Leaf closer "So here's the plan, you befriend Peach, then tell Peach she should consider talking to me, then something, something, boom all is right in the world,"
"That's not even a plan," Leaf argued as Pinkie began dragging her away.
"Sure it is," Pinkie replied "You just have to believe,"
"Hu," Twilight smiled, "I haven't seen Pinkie that excited in years," Twilight was about to turn back to what she was doing when she heard a cluck and both she and Sunflower looked down at the Chicken staring blankly at them, "Oh, Sunflower please return Leafstorms Chicken to her,"
"Right away ma'am," Sunflower said with a salute as she picked Angel up in her magic and followed after Pinkie and Leaf.
> How Peachy
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf storm sighed as she made her way outside, having wanted to hide away for the day she was less than happy about being drafted into Pinkie's Family Forgiveness Plan. Leaf walked up to Holders Bolder and sat down in front of it, knowing if she just sat long enough Peach would probably appear.
"How odd," Peach said as she seemed to suddenly appear next to Leaf "Every other time some creature walks up to the rock they try to touch it when I'm not looking, but you seem to have no desire for it,"
"I don't feel like being hurled across the skyline," Leaf said simply.
"Hm," Peach and Leaf both stared at the rock in silence, Leaf stared silently at the Purple scale on the side of the rock and felt the need to ask.
"That scale is all that remains of the Dragon who use to call the Cavern below the castle home," Peach said simply "It's been sealed off but I managed to find a way in, a few of his scales were still laying around and I've been using them in an old Pie family Rock repair recipe,"
"Oh," Leaf cocked her head as she looked at the scale paste, feeling an odd familiarity with the goo, "My family has an old recipe for rock repair," Leaf muttered "my Pop-pop has it framed in his room since His Pop-pop's pop opened an Antic shop when their family rock farm went bankrupt,"
"Tragic," Peach said sadly, "Did you ever go visit it?"
"My Aunt Smog got the dead to the land when my Granny passed away, she died when my mother was seven months pregnant with me, and My Aunt paved the rock farm and rented the space out as luxury apartments, so no, I never got to see my family's legacy,"
"I've never seen mine either," Peach said as he gently rubbed Holders Bolder "It caved in on itself and ended up being a deep lake, this rock is all that survived, but by saving it my Great Auntie Pie Pinkie committed the crime of using magic on it, and the words of my Great Granny Pie Limestone say no one must ever touch Holders Bolder, especially those who don't belong to the Pie family, and Magic must never desecrate it," Peach sighed.
"So, where is the Pie family?" Leaf questioned.
"They have a large plot of land that was once called Appleosa, they only let members of the Pie family in, save for one day where they let new blood visit to help replenish the bloodlines, but once the children are born the new blood is banished,"
"Yeah, no that's not crazy," Leaf said casually "Probably a normal family practice,"
"No, my family is a lot, I love them but in the end...my way of life left me in the same position as my Great Auntie Pie," Leaf wanted to ask, but could feel the boundary Peach was already preparing to set up.
"Sorry to hear about that," Leaf decided, not wanting to push Peach too far on their first real talk.
"I like you," Peach decided "Not a lot of creatures can notice when I don't want to talk about something, and they keep asking about it even when I ask they drop it,"
"I understand having secrets that you can't share," Leaf said simply.
"Thank you," Peach said before going back to staring at Holders Bolder, Leaf joined her, making sure to keep a respectable distance as she did so. "So," Peach said in an attempt to start up a conversation "How did you become Discords assistant?" Leaf turned and Peach immediately shook her head "Ah, I see, some secrets can't be shared," Leaf smiled at Peach before turning back to the Bolder.
Leaf wasn't sure how long she had been staring at the rock when Mortamire showed up next to her.
"Bonding over a shared love of rocks?" He questioned.
"Back away Mortamire," Peach hissed in instant irritation.
"You touched the rock," Leaf  recognized immediately as she shook her head "Shame upon you Morty, fore shame,"
"It was an accident," Mortamire cut in "mostly, I just wanted to get a closer look at the scale,"
"The scale is a bandage, and if you touched someone's bandage they'd tell you to stop touching them, so touching the scale is the same as touching the bolder," Peach said angrily.
"Alright, sorry, I'm leaving," Mortamire held up his hands and Leaf got up.
"I better leave, he'll just come back if I stay,"
"What a horrible creature to have crushing on you," Peach said sadly.
"I do not have a crush on her," Mortamire called back "It's her delicious knowledge of Equestrian History and the fact that she can channel the Fires of Spike the Dragon," Peach ears perked at that.
"You can do what?" She asked with mild interest.
"Oh yeah Discord gave me some fire he saved from Spike the Dragon and infused it with my Nirik form, but it also opened me up as a magical conduit so now any magic that has been present in these parts for long periods of time is flowing into me like a sponge," Leaf began walking away and was immediately followed by Peach.
"Could I see it?" She asked with interest, "The Dragon Spike was one of the oldest living creatures in history, his scale alone has increased the healing process of Holders Bolder tenfold, if I had some of his actual fire I could distill it down into pure magic and with that, I might actually live to see the rock fully repaired,"
"Owch, that's some slow healing," Leaf noted before holding up her hoof and summing forth Green flames "I can provide the flames but I'm not entirely sure how exactly to distill literal fire," Peach simply stared at Leaf storms hoof in awe for a moment.
"Come back tomorrow," Peach decided "I'll have everything set up and if this works you'll have my eternal gratitude, even if you are only here because my Auntie Pie asked you to aid in her scheme,"
"I'd be impressed, but you're a Pie so I'd be lying in saying I didn't suspect you knew what I was doing right away,"
"Regardless I do appreciate you didn't go for a touch, the last create she sent tried to rip the scale off,"
"It sounds bad when you say it that way," Mortamire called out "I just wanted a little piece was all,"
"Oh Morty," Leaf shook her head "what are we gonna do with you?"
"He's a dam fool," Shiver declared loudly, causing Mortamie to jump slightly as he found Shiver standing next to him, Shiver laughed at Mortamire and Leaf instantly burst into Pink flames.
"Oh not again," Leaf groaned as Shiver began wheezing. "Shiver go get medicated, there is no sane reason to laugh at every tiny thing,"
"Your Pink," He wheezed "Why are you Pink?" Leaf Attmepmted to jump to Shiver with her bouncy power and smack him to stop his laughter, but her ears went flat as she bounded up and a familiar sound filled the air.
"Oh I did not just boing," Leaf said irritably as she jumped again, and the sound that followed Pinkie Pie everywhere she bounced sounded out, "I did," Leaf landed and attempted to stop bouncing only to immediately bounce back up, "Help, I can't stop, some creature shut up Shiver or wack me away from the bolder,"
Leaf regretted her demand as Peach proceeded to light her horn and calmly slam Leaf Down to the ground,  "What a bizarre power," Peach said as she looked at the pink flames "I bet my Great Auntie Pie loves it,"
"She does," Leaf wheezed as Shiver began wailing on the ground as he laughed, "Morty shut him up please,"
"Come on Shiv," Mortamire said as he picked his friend up like luggage "You coming in for Dinner Leaf,"
"Once I turn off the Pink," Leaf replied simply only to be picked up in the Magic holding her down.
"We have a lot of prep work to go over for the distilling of the flames, I don't usually like eating with others but I have protection spells around the rock so I'll know if anyone tries anything funny," Peach carried Leaf Storm inside and Leaf was about to speak when Peach once again said what Leaf was thinking "I'm aware, but she won't be announcing it until tomorrow so we won't be seeing her until then, and we'll already be on the train by then anyway,"
"Oh," Leaf took a moment to fully understand what she had just heard "I'm sorry train?"
"We'll need a few ingredients to distill the Magic, and most of them need to be fresh so we'll be going to the Crystal Empire, if we leave just before sunrise we should be able to get back just before Midnight,"
"Oh, man that sounds like so much fun," Mortamire chuckled "I'm sure you and Leaf will have a ton of fun..."
"I'll show up an hour earlier than that so long as you force Mortamire to come purely to make him carry everything," Leaf demanded in response to Mortamires mocking laugh.
"Deal," Peach said instantly "I'll ask my old Friend Sunflower to lean him to me for the day,"
"Why did I think I was gonna get away with that?" Mortamire moaned out "You're the Assistant to the flippin' God Chaos, why did I think I could just mock you and not pay for it?"
"Well on that note of thinking why did you touch Holders Bolder?" Leaf countered earning a smile from Peach.
"You know, I think distilling a Gallon of Magic from your flames will be about enough, don't let that fool you though each drop of pure magic is heavier than a vice,"
"I hate you both," Mortamire muttered.
"Maybe two Gallons just to be safe?" Leaf countered with an evil grin.
"Let's met in the middle and make it Three," Peach decided as Mortamires cry of disdain rattled the castle.
> The Cult of the Dragon God
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf looked out at the seemingly endless fields of eternal winter as she sipped her hot coffee, on her head Angel was clucking demands that only she could hear.
"Does it still hate me?" Mortamire asked carefully, Leaf looked up to Angel, who clucked at her.
"That slur indicates to me that he just might" Leaf noted before siping, "Word of advice, maybe wash that fried chicken smell from your breath and he'll mellow out," Mortamire immediately turned away and checked his breath only to earn a Hoof to the snout shoving him back.
"Yeah," Shiver said with a disgusted look on his face "You reek of Fried Chicken," Across from them Peach shook her head by the window before looking to her side.
"Did you have to bring him?" She questioned, next to her sat Sunflower, who sat with her hooves crossed and motioned her head to the final member of their travel group.
"Sorry," Flurryheart laughed nervously "But Sunflower insisted that she escort me, and brought Shiver along to help Mortamire," Peach shook her head at Flurry's response.
"Alright, then why did you come?"
"Leaf storm and I have an odd connection that I haven't been able to explain," Flurry declared proudly "I have to spend more time with her to see why our magical fields are so connected,"
"I might just be due to all the magic she's absorbed from Ponyville," Shiver said as he scratched his chin "I had to take my droopy pills just to keep Leaf from becoming Pinkie Pie,"
"The Connection existed before Leaf began absorbing centuries-old magic," Flurry responded after a short pause "Whatever connection we have it existed before she became a magical conduit,"
"Speaking of being a conduit," Leaf spoke up, taking the opportunity to gain Peaches attention "Discord warned me that while Spike's flames won't burn through the magic, if I access any other colors, like Pinkie's for example, The result will cause me to burn through the magic swiftly, and if I burn through too much I won't be able to use Spike's flames until we return to Ponycity at least,"
"So if someone sets you off before we're ready everything will go to ruin," Peach responded with a frown "The Ingredients to distill dragon fire need to be fresh, but the Crystal Empire marketplace is a very active place, people will be laughing at some point no matter what,"
"I have an Idea!" Mortamire's hand shot up at the opportunity to not have to carry gallons of Liquid Magic around all-day "I know a church in the empire that should be relatively quiet since they're not due to have service until Wednesday, I could escort Leaf and keep ponies away from her so she doesn't burn up her flames," Leaf saw no reason to object to Mortamires solution, but quickly noticed every creature else was staring at him like he had asked them all to jump off a cliff with him.
"I wasn't aware the Empire had a place of worship," Leaf cut in, Mortamire looked excited at the chance to escape, only for Flurry's heart to stamp his dreams to dust.
"Very well, Sunflower and I will go with Leaf and make sure she no other creature triggers any emotional flames to flicker forth, Mortamire and Shiver do your best to help Peach,"
Shiver snickered at Mortamire's look of defeat and Leaf patted his back as she spotted the Crystal empire's protective field coming into view.
"I just want you to know, I'm doing all of this because you laughed at me yesterday,"
"I know," He sighed in defeat.



Sunflower quickly called forth a large number of Crystal Empire guards and soon she was leading them to their destination, with Flurry and Leaf having a large circle of guards keeping the crystal ponies at a fair distance.
Leaf was content to listen to Angel squawk in anger about every little thing they passed until Flurry cleared her throat. 
"So," She said in a calm tone that Leaf could tell was thinly masquerading contempt towards the church they were heading to "I should probably warn you about this 'church' we'll be spending the day in,"
"Is it something along the lines of you telling me it's not a real church?" Leaf asked, taking a few content clues from her tone of voice and facial expression.
"It's a cult," Flurry looked irritated simply thinking of their destination "one my mother should have stomped out decades ago,"
"So it's new?" Leaf asked "Would explain why I've never heard about it,"
"It's not new exactly," Flurry said with a twitch of her ear "They've been around slightly longer than I've been alive but they've only recently declared themselves a religion,"
"Don't tell me they worship Sombra or something,"
"I'm not sure who that even is," Flurry said, almost making Leaf laugh.
"Forget about it, just some old King who your uncle Spike and mother killed," Flurry looked at Leaf expecting some punch line, after receiving nothing Flurry made a mental note to ask her Mother about Sombra as the Guards spread apart and wished Flurry heart a good day as the trio entered what could only be described the entrance to a storm shelter.
Leaf quickly discovered the stairs went a long way down and, after nearly 3 minutes of walking, they found themselves inside what looked to be a cathedral. Multiple Crystal Ponies in cloaks were walking around, talking amongst themselves in various groups, their hushed voices all echoing feebly against the walls.
"Cheery," Leaf noted before almost tripping over herself upon seeing the centerpiece of the room, a Large Statue of Spike was in the center of the room, the one that had been erected after he had been credited for Sombra's defeat and been made a hero of the empire "Holly crap," Leaf stone lost all interest in the ponies around them and began doing laps around the statue, checking every tiny crack and detail on it as she passed around it.
"Princess," A Female voice called out almost mockingly, Flurry sighed and turned to a Mare in a purple robe with a green time, on the back a picture of a purple and green dragon was on the back surrounded by a crystalline heart. "How wonderful to have you in the church again, How long as it been? Five years maybe, or has it been six?"
"Sardonix Moonstone," Flurry said angrily "What a present surprise, how's the cult going? Making good coin with my Uncles name?"
"Oh come now my child," Moonstone said sweetly to the pony that was centuries older than her "You know our circle has nothing but love and respect for the great lord Spike, I am sure he would want you to be here when he makes his return,"
"This crap again," Flurry murmured angrily "He's dead Moonstone, my uncle lived a good long life, but you and ponies like you are dragging his name through the mud with you dam cult and half-assed stories, I don't care how much you think you're in the right, eventually I'm going to see this stupid cult become a problem, and in doing so it'll drag my uncles' good name into the mud from beyond the grave, I've seen some of the crap your followers pull to get donations,"
"That wasn't us," Moonstone said angrily "Those Buffons in the cloud district have nothing to do with us, their just a bunch of rich snobs trying to make a quick buck off of the great lord's name, they will be the first one's to face his wrath when he returns from his journey beyond the veil,"
Flurry's heart turned away from Moonstone, Sunflower quickly putting herself between Flurry and Moonstone as they moved to the opposite side of the room.
"Incredible," Moonstone turned at the new voice and took a quick interest in Leafstorm, Flurry having gone to do a quick breathing exercise, and Sunflower giving her all her attention left Leafstone alone with Angel as she inspected the statue.
"Why hello," Moonstone greeted, having missed Leaf Storm coming in with Flurry, Leaf storm in turn had been too enamored by the statue to notice Flurry hearts conversation with Moonstone "I don't think we've ever had a Kirin in the sanctuary before," Leaf Storm simply nodded her head to show she had heard Moonstone as she continued marveling at the statue "It is quite a remarkable forgery isn't it?" Moonstone asked "I bet it could have passed for the original,"
"It is the Original," Leaf Storm whispered back in glee as she ran around the base, spotting centuries with of wear and tear, some of which she had personally been to blame for, "the Crack in the arm holding up the arm from when Spike and Shining Armor get into a Drunk Hoofball match and had failed to properly fix the damage, the large cracks running through both legs from when Spike, on his last visit to the empire before he became to old to be safely moved, accidentally tripped and broke it a the knees, the crack in the eye from the magical blast that Starswirl the bearded shot form his horn right before his heart attack, you can even see the change the spade of the tail from when Spike ate the original and they had to replace it,"
Leaf storm was beaming as she looked at the old statue that had been erected in her honor centuries ago "Oh It's such a beautiful piece of History," she declared as she began crying at the sight of it.
"How could you possibly know all that?" Moonstone asked, bemused at Leaf Storm's claim, she had seen many a pony try to prove or disprove the statue's authenticity, but they had all done so by trying to date the material or by claiming the shape in certain parts of the statue was off, never had one done so by matching the statue's wear and tear to stories of its lost history.
"Ain't no creature alive today that knows more about Equestria History than Me," Leafstorm said proudly, Moonstone stepped back as Leafstone suddenly burst into flames "This Statue is older than Princess Flurry Heart herself, it was originally built to honor Spike, then called Spike the Brave and Glorious, for defeating King Sombra, although most ponies leave out the part Cadance played in the events, it became a very popular spot for changing a few years later after the events that lead to Spike and Thorax becoming friends, later resulting in the Changling peace treaty that still holds value to this day," Leaf Storm couldn't contain herself as she felt a burning passion to tell all who could hear about the extensive history she had helped craft.
"Ma'am," One of the Ponies listening to her said with concern, Leaf storm turned and found that she had attracted a huge crowd of ponies around her "Why are you green?" he asked with a shine in his eye, Leaf looked down and quickly extinguished her flames. She looked back to Angel, who had apparently not been bothered by her flames.
"Sorry about that, that happens sometimes when Kirins get riled up with passion, not just rage," Leafstorm made to try and excuse herself when Moonstone rushed to her side and grabbed onto Leafstone.
"Your flames," She cried out with joy "They are fueled by the spark, his spark, your soul burns with the power of the great lord Spike, You have returned to us!"
"Oh, no, wait," Leaf tried to back away as she was picked up and lifted up in a cheer "Wait, No, I can explain, stop worshiping me," Leaf was enveloped in Magic as Flurry and Sunflower noticed she was being moved.
"What is happening!?" Flurry demanded as the Unicrons of the mob tried to pull Leaf storm back.
"I can explain the fire," Leaf storm said as she and Angel held onto each other for dear life, Angel clucked and Leaf shook him "shut up Angel, that's stupid," After a moment Sunflower began helping Flurry and their might together overwhelm the number in the mob and they pulled Leaf storm away before bubbling themselves.
"What did you do?" Flurry asked as the mob began surrounding them.
"Kirins can sometimes turn in Niriks if they get too passionate about something and that Stautue being the real thing kind of sent me on a tirade," Flurry and Sunflower looked at Leaf storm for a moment.
"the real thing?" Sunflower asked as she looked back at the statue.
"There is no creature alive who knows more about me when it comes to history," Leaf said immediately "And that Stature has far too many blemishes that perfectly match up with damage it received from historical events, like Starswirls heart attack, and Spike final Visit to the empire,"
"How sure are you that you can verify its authenticity?" Flurry asked before shaking her head "That can wait, why are they all over you if you're saying their statue is real?"
"I'm enchanted with Spikes fire," Leaf Storm replied bluntly, knowing full well if she tried to use the cult as her backing to being Spikes reincarnation she was going to receive massive backlash from her friends and family of the present and the past, "And they just kind of took that and fucking went all in on it,"
Flurry took a deep sigh before turning to Leaf storm "I'm sorry," She said "But there's only one thing I can do,"
'You gonna throw me at them and run aren't you," Leaf asked, Flurry simply nodded "You gonna go get your mother so she can try and solve this due to your bad blood with the cult?" Leaf added, Flurry nodded again and Leaf picked up Angel and handed her to Sunflower "That Chicken is a Demon, literally," Leaf said to Sunflower "He is very dangerous and if you let him leave your sight he could cause massive destruction due to being a literal magical time bomb, Do. Not. Let him eat Strawberries or touch Marachas," Sunflower was visibly taken aback at how Serious Leaf was as she said this, more so when the Chicken hissed at Leaf and made several inhuman noises at her. "You kill me and you die too," Leaf shot back, the Chicken said nothing "yeah, thought so, Flurry throw me to the masses, Sunflower for the love of Celestia don't let Angel out of your sight for even a second," Flurry picked up Leaf in her magic and threw her out of the Barrier before teleporting herself, Sunflower, and Angel chicken just outside the front entrance.
"I guess Mortamire was right," Sunflower noted as she enveloped Angel in magic and kept him at a distance, Angel chose to simply chill in the bubble, bucking innocently at passersby as he did so "This Chicken is evil,"
"I'll deal with that later," Flurry noted "I gotta go get my mom and save Leaf storm before she's spoiled into oblivion,"
"I'll stand guard over the entrance, and the Chicken," Sunflower reported back with a salute as Flurry ran after in the direction of the castle. "Oh, you gonna walk there, great, love it when the ultra-powerful Alicorns decided to walk in an emergency instead of just teleporting there in a matter of seconds,"
> All Hail the Great Leaf Storm
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Leaf Storm did her best not to look like she was loving every second of being worshiped like a god as she lay on a fainting couch taking part in a large buffet of food that was coated in crystal candies that she could vouch really did taste like real gems. She had been given her own personal quarters and just about everything about what was happening was perfect. The only part she wasn't enjoying was Sardonix Moonstone and her endless questions.
"Reincarnation is a thing," Leaf Storm said with a shrug "That's the best I can share with you at the moment,"
"Oh, of course, you have been dead for years after all Lord Spike, I'm sure you need time for your soul to properly adjust to your new mortal body before you write out your scripture of the veil," Moonstone shuffled about in excitement before continuing on with her questions "Please do tell me Lord Spike, did you catch that Chicken Demon as a prize or did it attack you in the great beyond?"
"That would be telling," Leaf Replied "And you can just call me Leaf Storm,"
"Of course, Spike was the name you were given in your old vessel, Leaf Storm! What a Beautiful name thank you for gifting me with the knowledge of knowing your true name My Lady,"
"You're welcome," Leaf Storm replied in an attempt to get Moonstone to go away "Maybe you could go grab me some Nachos with a few of these gem candies mixed it?"
"Right away," Moonstone rushed to fulfill the request and Leaf Storm took this opportunity to enjoy the feinting couch.
"All that's missing is some creature fanning me and this would be perfect," Leaf Storm continued partaking of the mixed buffet when she heard voices asking to see her, She expected to see Flurry Heart coming in with a plan to get her our, and instead watched as a very familiar looking Kirin entered the room and stared dumbfounded at her.
"Winter!?" Leaf storm demanded as she jumped out of the Fainting couch.
"Leafy!" Winter practically screamed out as she ran to her friend and the two pulled one another into a hug "How the hell did you take over a cult!?"
"Why the hell are you in the cult?" Leaf Countered, grinning from ear to ear at seeing one of her oldest friends with the knowledge that she had been her friend in a past life as well.
"I asked my Great Auntie Rarity to help me pick a subject for my History project that's due at the end of the week-long break we currently have in the Groove, and she brought me here to learn about the Crystal Empire, and we came down here to look at this crazy cult about one of her oldest friends...and here I am, but what the hell are you doing here!?"
"Long story short Discord cursed me with some of his old friends Spikes fire that he had as a keepsake so I could long-range message him, and these crazy fucks took that and proceeded to run a marathon with it,"
"So did the God of Chaos send you here to cause mischief..."
"Oh no I was helping out my new friend Peach with a rock thing, and we needed the cursed magic, and it works weird so to avoid it being drained in the empire I was brought here so no one would laugh, and now I'm just waiting for Flurry Heart to come back here and save me,"
"Princess Flurry Heart!?" Winter demanded, "You personally know a Princess!?"
"You're literally here with the Element of Generosity," Leaf Storm shot back.
"Well yeah, but she doesn't really know me all that well, this is only the 2nd time we've really met and she's less interested in me than she is in talking about that Spike guy,"
"He did have a massive puppy dog crush on her, and she was reportedly the pony that was by his side when he died," Leaf informed Winter casually "But enough about history and princesses, How have you been, are Summer and Autumn talking to you again? the old trio back in action?"
"I'm...not talking to them actually," 
"Oh sweet drama no," Leaf let out a sigh "What did they do?"
"Well... they're officially dating now, and they seem to be having a great time of it, I tried to get back into their lives but they just...kept going on and on...I just couldn't..."
"They wouldn't stop bad-mouthing me?" Leaf inquired, with a nod in response from Winter. "Welp I rejected one of them and threw the other under the bus, It worked out but I understand the sentiment of not wanting to be anywhere near me for a good long while, Maybe when they get out of High School they'll give me another chance, or maybe they're just done with me," Winter looked like she wanted to say something but Leaf cut her off "Winter, don't let me but the hill you die on, this was a fluke meeting, odds are we won't see one another again for a few years after today, I won't take it personal if you use my name in vain so you don't have to be alone in your formative schooling years,"
Winter didn't exactly look thrilled at the request and muttered something about their friends being petty.
"If she's still on my case in like a year then yes, Summer is just being petty, Autumn on the other hoof had the deepest of secrets that she trusted me to keep revealed by me just to spar my own ass the trouble, again it worked out but it was also kind of a shit thing of me to do so frankly she's got all the right to hate me and Summer might just be still on it to make Autumn happy or something, I dunno Winter creatures are complicated and usually have reasons outside what we see for why they act,"
Leaf Storm left her words of wisdom to sit as she got back into her lazy chair and went back to eating from her spread of confectionaries, the spread lost all its interest when several ponies rushed in wielding Nachos with fake gems.
"I am in heaven," Leaf cheered as she chowed down to her heart's content,"Want some Winter?" Winter just watched for a second as Leaf made a cheesy mess of herself and the mental image of a Young Leaf Storm jumping into a large pile of Nachos rose up in her brain and she failed to stiffen a laugh.
"Malts, Fake Gems, and Nachos," Winter laughed and instantly the room turned pink as Leaf Storm turned Pink she quickly had a freak out before she managed to extinguish herself.
"Oh man," Leaf Storm took a deep breath "Be careful Winter, I am on an important mission, and I will fail it if I let all the magic leak out through the flames," Winter thought on that notion for a moment.
"Could you tell me exactly how your fire gets its magic?" She inquired.
"Friend of Friends pull up a seat and lend me thine ear," Leaf Storm replied with a smile.



Sunflower was completely devoting herself to staring at Angel, trying to figure out how exactly she was going to question Leaf Storm about him, she was still on the fence about asking how she turned it into a Chicken and Why she even had it in the first place when A bright light flashed before her, years of training help her keep her calm and she saluted at the two Princesses 
"Why would you go anywhere near the Church of the Fallen Dragon?" Cadance demanded of her daughter.
"It's a long story," Flurry shot back "Just trust me that it was the only option we could think of at the time to work around Leaf Storm's...condition,"
"Yes she has magic fire," Cadance waved the problem off "Why didn't you just bring her to the castle, I could have set you both up in a private room,"
"She's still underage Mom," Flurry shot back instantly "I'm interested in her but I'm not making a move till she's an adult," Flurry heard Sunflower mutter something and turned to see she was preoccupied with the chicken.
"We'll talk later," Cadance noted as she approached Sunflower "Why the chicken?" She inquired.
"Leaf storm informed me it's a Demon turned into a Chicken," Sunflower noted as the Chicken let out an innocent-sounding cluck "I'm still not sure what Demon is referring to but I'm betting it was like a super powerful Basilisk or something,"
"Hu, the mystery of Leaf Storm thickens," Cadance noted "Discord clearly already knew her from how Twilight told the story, maybe this chicken has a tie to their past?"
"Leaf storm once told me it was a note that turned into a chicken," Flurry noted "That however might have been a silly sounding cover up now that I say it aloud,"
"We can ask Leaf about this later, first off we need to safely extract her from the Chruch, and hope we can talk them out of praising her as being the reborn form of Spike," The Two Princesses made their way down the staircase with Sunflower in tow, still keeping most of her attention on Angel. Cadance was prepared to be met with a slew of Ponies guarding the entrance and instead found a familiar mare was already trying to talk the worshipers down.
"Darlings please," Rarity begged of the crowed "Losing Spike was hard for everypony who knew him, this is just going to bring about hard times for everypony involved, especially the poor creature your trying to make out to be Spike,"
"Rarity," Cadance greeted getting the Fashionista's attention.
"Cadance," Rarity said with a wave "I swear, the pony who their claiming to be Spike isn't apart of this willingly, My Great Niece Winter says she's an old friend of her's and-"
"-And that old friend of hers is also a friend of my daughter," Cadance assured Rarity, who let out a sigh of relief.
"Thank stars I was stressing myself out something fierce," Rarity quickly pulled herself back together before speaking up "Mooney honey I know your somewhat overly fond of Spike, and that might be partially my fault,"
"Wait is Moonstone related to Rarity?" Flurry asked in confusion.
"Rarity took a new husband at the start of every other century for the first few thousand years and had a lot of children, frankly speaking Rarity has roots in every corner of Equestria, It is honestly impressive that she knows nearly all of them, last week she was in Manhattan for one of her great grandkids Flute recitals,"
"Auntie Rarity this i big," Moonstone cried out with glee "She has his flames,"
"Mooney you have to understand this is just Discord having a laugh at your expense,"
"How would you know?" Moonstone shot back "This is Discord we're talking about, I bet he and Spike had a deal or something, Even if Leaf Storm isn't Spike's exact copy, she has his flames, she might just be a vessel to bring his soul back from beyond the veil, even her eating habits are reminiscent of Spike's you know, Nachos and fake Gem stone candies,"
"That might just be a result of the fire," Flurry noted "And besides she can also absorb centuries-old magic, hell if you laugh near her she'll turn into Pinkie Pie, and she's absorbed enough of Fluttershy's essence that I'm pretty sure she can just casually talk to animals, or at least Angel back there,"
"Angel?" Rarity asked looking back to the chicken "How funny, you know Fluttershy used to have a pet bunny named Angel, It's possible all that Magic is affecting her mind,"
"More on point, however," Moonstone pointed up to the Spike statue that was the centerpiece of the church "Leaf Storm claims she can prove this statue is the real deal, not a forgery, and has used the statue's own history to prove so, things like Lord Spike and Sir Shining armor broke the arm while drunk, the leg cracks being a result of Spikes final visit to the empire, the eye being damaged by Starswirl when he had that Heart Attack," Moonstone motioned at the statue "How else would she know so much unless she was Spike!?"
"I can answer that one," Flurry called back "Discord is known to watch people without their consent and has a large library of everything that's transpired across Equestria, granted a lot of it is apparently just how much it sucks to be a statue, but once he was reformed I'm told it gets better,"
"And let me guess," Moonstone turned to Flurry "Leaf Storm told you this, but has failed to prove it I'd assume,"
"Sure, Leaf Storm has a lot of secrets but I doubt with all my heart that her big secret is she's actually my dead Uncle,"
"Yo," Leaf Storm spoke up, gaining the attention of the entire room as she emerged from the back room, her face a mess of melted cheese "I have one of the books with me, If I show it to you can I leave? I have things I need to get around to,"
"Alright," Moonstone replied "Let's see this book," Leaf Storm reached into her Mane, and proceeded to pull out a Book with Balloons tied around it. Leaf Storm let the Book float for a second before pressing the cover, Suddenly Pinkie's Laughter filled the entire room.
"OH You should have seen the look on his face," She laughed "Shining armor was so wasted, he tried to throw the ball to Spike, but threw it to the Statue instead, probably a good thing since he chucked that sucker so hard he popped the arm off the statue," an ancient-sounding voice joined Pinkie's laughter.
"That's funny," An elderly Spike replied, "I remember Shining....he was the Big Red guy right?"
"No Spike, that was Big Mac," Pinkie informed him politely "You know, Applejacks Brother?"
"Oh no thank you, I'm not hungry," Spike could be heard yawning before adding "Say, have you seen Fluttershy lately? It'd been ages since she stopped by and I-" Leaf storm pressed the book again, knowing full well her old self was about to go on a senile rant on how Fluttershy never visits due to not remembering who she even was.
"That good?" Leaf inquired before hearing a sniffling sound and turned to see Rarity tearing up, Winter having rushed to her side to offer her a tissue.
"No, no I'm fine," Rarity told Winter, now wearing a wistful smile on her face "I just never thought I'd get to hear him again is all,"
"See," Leaf put the book back in her mane "Is that enough...wait," Leaf suddenly started poking at her mane in confusion "How the hell did I do that?" Leaf storm reached into her mane and proceeded to pull out a bugle horn "I'm gonna beat that Draquanauis upside the head the next time I see him, why is my Mane a portal?"
"See" Cadance spoke up "Discord is just having a laugh at you," Moonstone frowned, her face giving away she wasn't fully convinced.
"Fine," She decided "I'll drop it for now, but Leaf storm please feel free to come back, I imagine we'll need your help in authenticating the Statue and having it returned to its rightful place,"
"You know I haven't found any mentions of it yet, why is the Statue down here?"
"It was stolen a couple hundred years ago," Cadance informed Spike simply "Apparently by the founders of this church if this is the real deal,"
"The Sins of the past are in the past," Moonstone replied casually "I just want everypony to be able to marvel at the wonders of Spike,"
"Great can we leave now?" Flurry begged her mother "I hate this place and its associated locations"
"We are not associated with the Cloud Distract," Moonstone called back angrily "Hate those snobby brats," Moonstone rushed over to Leaf Storm just as she put the Horn back into her mane and took her hooves in hers "Please, do come back sometime,"
"I live in Ponyville, or I guess Ponycity technically, the residents of the castle like to call the lower floors Ponyville after the original town, But yeah it's not that long of a trip, and frankly the food here is amazing, kind of want something with some cherry in it now though,"
"Like a Cherry-Chunga?" Rarity questioned, much to the confusion of those present.
"Yes," Lead Decided "I don't know what that is but I need one,"
"Pinkie can make one," Rarity assured her before adding to Winter "The Magic is definitely messing with her mind so tell me if anything changes,"
"I'd love to, but I have to go back to school next weekend and..."
"I've heard you've lost your two friends," Rarity noted to Winter, it just so happens that Ponyville has a fairly nice school program, PInkie recently decided to move to the lower floors, and...you know I'm sure your Parents wouldn't mind if you moved in with me, I can even get you into a good College and get you a job in the castle when your schooling is done," Winter smiled at the thought and looked over to Leaf Storm, who was still trying to get past Moonstone.
"Really?" Winter asked in excitement.
"I don't usually like picking favorites but...I don't know something about you reminds me of my dear Sweetie Bell, and I think it's about time I spent more than a day or two with some of my family," Winter squealed in excitement.
"Ok, ok, but don't tell Leaf until my Parents say yes, and tell them Leaf will also be here," Winter frowned for a moment and sighed "I'm gonna miss Summer and Autumn," She added.
"Don't you worry, they just need some time to themselves, I'll be sure to offer their parents the same offer with College and a job, just after they finish high school," Winter smiled.
"Leaf did say they needed time," Rarity chuckled at that.
"She sounds like a smart young lady," Rarity was about to walk up the stairs before realizing something "Wait...do you think she could turn into me as well?"
"Yes," Winter replied with a nod "She sucks up old magic and turned it into her fire since you and your friends have a long history with Ponycity,"
"If that's true...couldn't she technically turn into Cadance or Flurry?"  Winter stopped at the notion.
"Hey Leaf Storm," Winter called out to her friend just as she got away from Moonstone, who wished her a good day. "You can suck up all ancient magics now right?"
"Yeah," Leaf confirmed.
"Doesn't that mean you could technically turn into Cadance?" The two Princesses both looked to Leaf Storm who hit herself in the face.
"Why didn't I think of that, Cadance has been here forever, guess I just need to think about love and..." Leaf storm shut her eyes and pictured Starlight with all her might. After a moment she opened her eyes and found herself glowing in three different colors.
"I guess Pink was already taken," Leaf noted as she looked at the fires that shared their color scheme with Cadances Mane.
"So," Flurry chuckled "who'd you think about?"
"I'm not answering that," Leaf replied instantly "That is my business, welp Let's go give Peach the good news about my fires, "Bye Moonstone, I'll come and visit," as the group began their assent up the stairs Winter took stride next to Leaf Storm and whispered to her
"So, were you thinking about me?" Winter asked with a chuckle.
"I mean you're hot but I don't love you," Leaf shot back "I mean I like you as a friend but love is a bit much,"
"At least you honest," Winter noted "But come now, just between you and me, who were you thinking about," Knowing she couldn't flat out be honest about it Leaf told the simplest lie she could think of.
"I was thinking of Peach Pie," Leaf decided after a moment "I like her energy,"
"Somekirin has a crush." Winter teased with a smile "About time honestly,"
"Pardon me" Sunflower cut in "Can you take this Chicken back now?" It keeps hissing at me.
"Yesh, he does do that" Leaf noted as she took Angel in her magic and placed him atop her head "You hiss at me and I'm eatting you" Leaf warned, earning a defiant cluck in response.
"Why a chicken?" Winter questioned.
"That story is both short and stupid" Leaf assured Winter as they reached the end of the staircase "but for now I need to focus on finding Peach and the others so I'll tell ya the tale another day"