Keith and Lance must work together to help themselves and others in the land of Equestria.
After the others attack them due to a misunderstanding and Shiro yells at them, Keith and Lance end up in Equestria to heal both physically and mentally. Along the way, their fellow paladins and the Mane 6 end up running into them, complicating things. Will things get better for the duo and will they open themselves up to past and new friends or will they, especially Keith, get lost in their own hurt and angry feelings?
Team Voltron was having a number of problems, problems none of them could figure out. First, they could only form Voltron in dire circumstances. Second, the black and red lions have acted out of control at times, like they wanted to be somewhere else. Third, Pidge and Hunk started to notice that Lance was distancing himself more ever since Keith left.
In order to figure out what was wrong with the lions, they were doing a scan on both the red and black lions, only to find out nothing. Shiro even went flying in the black lion in order to figure out what the problem was himself.
While Allura and Coran were waiting for Shiro to return to black's hangar, Hunk, Pidge, and Lance were trying to do further scans of red in hopes that they might be able to find out what was wrong with the lion.
"Did you guys find anything?" Lance asked his two friends.
"No, Lance. We haven't," Pidge responded, annoyance clear in her voice.
After waiting a minute, Lance asked once again, "Did you guys find anything?"
"For the fifty-third time, Lance, no we haven't!" Pidge and Hunk both responded angrily.
"Yeesh. I was just being curious. We've been looking for hours. You think we would have found out something by now," Lance huffed, unhappy with the lack of progress.
"We know Lance. The lions haven't been as responsive for a while." Pidge explained.
"Yeah, the strange thing is the lion's became less responsive after Keith left. Do you think there is a connection?" Hunk was curious.
"Maybe, but he's with the Blade and Shiro said not to disturb him. Besides it's not like he calls us," Pidge bitterly added on.
"Is it strange that I miss Keith?" Lance asked.
"Not really. We miss him too," Hunk said as Pidge nodded in agreement.
"Yeah. Hopefully we can talk with him soon. Besides, with Voltron not forming unless the circumstances are dire, we may need to talk with him and get him back sooner rather than later," Lance sadly noted.
Before the three of them could continue, Allura called Pidge and Hunk to do another scan on the black lion as Shiro just returned leaving Lance alone with the red lion. Just then there was a small explosion behind him. When the smoke cleared there sitting on the ground looking exhausted and covered in soot was someone that looked like Keith wearing a ripped in the back blade uniform. They had wings on their back, the wings were like pegasi wings on the inside and on the outside theory were like butterfly wings. When the person looked up Lance notested that there was a necklace glowing around the person's neck and star-like tattoos on their face; one red one one blackish red.
"L-Lance I need help, get the others please." Said the person sounding like they were in pain. Lance immediately recognized the voice.
"K-Keith is that you? Are you ok? What happened? How did you grow wings? Why did you get face tattoos?" Lance asked with concern in his voice.
"Yes it's me. I don't know if I'm ok. It hurts. I haven't slept in days. I don't know what's happening and neither does the Blade. After a mission I just collapsed and when I woke up I was like this, and no I did not get face tattoos they were just there when I woke up." Keith replied to Lance's questions.
"Yikes. That doesn't sound good. Don't worry. We'll find out what is going on with you. I promise you we'll fix this," Lance tried to comfort. Meanwhile, Keith saw a hallucination of a monster behind Lance and immediately raised his arm. Suddenly, a magical blast shot out from his hand, barely missing Lance, much to Lance's shock. "Hey! What's the big idea?!"
"There was a monster behind you. Don't worry. I dealt with it," Keith panted out, exhausted from the lack of sleep. At this, the red lion roared out throughout the castle ship.
"Um, Keith? Maybe the lack of sleep is getting to ya, buddy. There wasn't a monster behind me," Lance awkwardly informed his friend. "Also, what was with that magical blast?"
"Oh, that. It became a thing that happens ever since I started having these problems," Keith explained.
"Okay. Weird. Anyways, we better go get everyone else. Maybe they have a better idea what this could be," Lance offered.
Before they could leave the hangar, the rest of the paladins and Coran arrived, drawing their weapons against Keith, believing him to be a dangerous invader.
"Whoever you are, stand back! We are not going to let you do whatever you plan to do so easily!" Pidge yelled out at Keith, failing to recognize him due to the distance and new body features.
"Hold it, Pidge. Maybe we should try to talk this out," Shiro offered.
"Yeah. Remember, we should at least see why they are here before we judge them as an enemy," Allura said.
"Yeah. This guy broke in here, caused red to roar, and is holding Lance hostage. Definitely a good guy," Hunk sarcastically and fearfully said.
"They may be right, Hunk. After all, is it just me or is there something familiar about them?" Pidge was suspicious.
"An alien that we just met looking familiar? Unlikely," Hunk doubted. However, after looking for a few seconds, he noticed something familiar about the invader. "Hey, now that you mention it they do look familiar. In fact, they look like…"
Before they could question the "invader" Keith thought he saw monsters behind the rest of Team Voltron getting ready to attack them. So Keith attacked the "monsters".
Team Voltron, believing the attacks to be meant for them, immediately attacked Keith. All the attacks hit him dead on, causing him a fair amount of pain. The attacks left behind electric wounds on Keith's left arm (Pidge), blaster marks on his left leg (Hunk), laser whip marks that wrapped around his right leg (Allura), and a bloody wound left on his chest (Shiro).
After their attack at the "intruder" Pidige and Hunk got a good look at their face and were shocked that it looked like a terrified Keith. Shiro, Allura, and Coran didn't notice and the two were getting ready to attack again. Just then, Lance grabbed Keith before the others could get to him. He noticed that the glow from Keith's necklace was getting brighter by the second. Suddenly, Lance heard a noise coming from behind him. He turned around and saw a portal colored red, orange, pink, purple, light blue, and magenta. Lance was so shocked by the portal that he tripped backwards falling in and taking Keith with him.
When he opened his eyes, he thought he saw a White tall horse with wings and a horn wearing a crown. He blacked out from all the stress and shock.
Everyone just stared, where Lance and the "intruder" were and didn't know what to think. Somehow the intruder had opened some kind of small wormhole and kidnaped Lance.
"Who was that?" Pidge questioned.
"Where did they go? What happened to Lance?" Hunk also questioned.
"Why didn't the alarms go off?" Allura asked worriedly.
"Ok team I know this is bad, but time is of the essence. Pidge, Hunk, look over the security footage and find out what you can. Allura, talk to Lotor and find out if he knows anything about this intruder and ask to help find any information. Coran, inform the Coalition and the rebels we need an apb (all points bulletin) on them immediately."
"Right!"
Before they left Allura asked "Shiro what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to go and contact the Blade of Marmora and get Keith to return. We're going to need a Red paladin till we find Lance."
"Ok."
They all left to do their tasks hoping they would find Lance fast.
Hunk and Pidge went to check over the security footage. Upon getting there, they looked over all the footage up until Lance and the "intruder" left in the portal. Though looking over the footage and audio, they found out, to their shock and horror, that the "intruder" was Keith. Not only that, but he was suffering big time in part due to them and in part due to this strange affliction that he was suffering. The two of them felt incredibly guilty for what happened and began to cry. After drying their tears they rushed to Shiro with this information.
When they got there Shiro was having an one sided argument with Kolvan not letting the Galra rebel leader get a word in.
"What do you mean you don't know where Keith is?! I can't believe this, aren't you supposed to be on top of this? How do you not know where one of your members are? Forget it, call us when you find him and get him here immediately." Shiro yelled before ending the transmission.
Hunk and Pidge were shocked. Hunk for never seeing Shiro this angry before and Pidge only seeing him this angry at Slav. Before they could tell Shiro what they found Allura and Coran came in.
"Shiro I've contacted Lotor and he has no information on the intruder, but he will keep an eye out and has told the rest of the empire to do so as well." Allura revealed.
"I've just told the Coalition and rebels and they will keep an eye out and use their networks to find information. Any news on when Keith will be returning?" Coran informed.
"They don't know where he is. They said he just disappeared a few Vargas (hours) ago. we have to assume that he may have been kidnapped by that thing until proven otherwise." Shiro said.
Coran and Allura looked distracted. Coran quickly left to add Keith to the list of people for everyone to look for. Pidge and Hunk tried to tell Shiro and Allura the truth but they did not listen and just dismissed them like children. For the next two Movements (weeks) Pidge and Hunk tried to tell the others but they would not listen. Saying they were too busy no matter what they tried to say.
Over this time Pidge and Hunk were using everything they could think of to find them too and had the same vigor that Pidge had while looking for her brother and father not too long ago. Over this time they also noticed that Shiro has been acting weird, more distant, more angry, and they both swear that they can see his eyes glow purple every once in a while. It's like he was a different person. After about a movement Shiro personally stopped looking for Lance, Keith, and the intruder and Spent all his time looking for a new red paladin. For the few people he tried nothing. Red would not let down her particle barrier. When discussing red, Allura told them it was like she was very mad and upset. Her and Shiro concluded that she was just mad that her two paladins were kidnapped. Pidge and Hunk knew better.
To their dismay they were not able to find anything. They were able to tell Matt the truth. He was shocked that Shiro would just give up on finding his younger sibling and friend. They were both shocked to find out that Shiro and Keith were siblings. Turns out Shiro and his ex-finance are Keith's legal gardens and that Shiro's parents had adopted Keith when he was younger before they died. They both didn't know what to say about this new information.
Matt was confused because she and Keith had met before when their family and Shiro's family had meals together before the Kerberos mission. Pidge said that she remembers Kat (Katherin) not Keith. Matt informed her that they were the same person. As it turned out, Keith was genderfluid, meaning that Keith could identify as either gender depending on how they felt.
Pidge and Hunk were surprised and confused upon hearing this, but decided to accept the fact that Keith was genderfluid. After all, there was nothing wrong with him for being this way. They decided, thanks to Matt, to not push Keith on this issue of their gender fluidity and to let them admit to it when they felt like it.
As for Matt, he agreed with Hunk and Pidge that he would tell everyone that the "intruder" was Keith and to work harder to find Keith and Lance.
By the end of the second movement Hunk and Pidge were done with waiting, being treated like children, and Shiro's poor behavior. It was in this frame of mind that the two of them approached everyone else, trying once again to tell them that the "intruder" was Keith. Just then, they heard the red lion roaring and the alarms going off.
Lance woke up feeling dizzy. He opened his eyes to what looked like a hospital room. He looked around to see if anyone was around but there was no one there then he noticed the nurse call button. When he reached for it, he noticed something that freaked him out. He had claws. Bird claws. Hippogriff claws. Then he noticed the rest of his body. His entire body was blue. The same shade as the blue lion. He felt something on his back move. When he looked they were wings on his back, they looked like bird wings. Not only that, but he felt his face and noticed he had a beak. All of this just sunk in and he screamed at the top of his lungs.
While he was screaming four ponies came into the room, three females and a male. The male pony, named Shining Armor, was a unicorn who had white fur and blue hooves. Not only that, but he had a blue mane, with multiple streaks of blue with a shield-like mark on his flank with a magenta star on it. He was also wearing a golden and purple suit of armor, with a magenta star on the front. One of the females also had white fur and a red cross symbol on her flank, also being a unicorn. In addition, her mane was white with red stripes. The second female, named Princess Cadence had a thinner body structure than the other two, with pink fur, a crystal heart mark on her flank, and a mane colored purple, magenta, and light yellow. In addition, she had both a unicorn horn and wings on her body. She also wore golden shoes, a golden necklace, and a golden tiara with purple jewels in it. The last figure, who was the biggest of the four, also had a unicorn horn and wings, though hers were much bigger that Lance's. She had white fur, a sun mark on her flank, and a flowing, sparkling mane colored green, light blue, purple, and pink. In addition, she also wore golden shoes, a necklace, and a tiara. Her name was Princess Celestia.
Cadence used a spell to calm Lance down. When Lance calmed down he noticed them. "Where are we? Who are you guys?" asked Lance, wanting to know who these ponies were and where he was.
"My name is Princess Cadence," the pink pony responded. "This is the captain of the royal guard, Shining Armor," she said as she gestured toward the white male pony, "And the tall pony here is my aunt, and the ruler of our land, Princess Celestia. As for where we are we are in Equestria's capital city of Canterlot in the hospital wing of the castle."
"Greetings, young hippogriff. Now, I have to ask you something," Princess Celestia said, preparing to ask the questions about this other creature, "What is your name? Do you know where you came from? Do you know who did this to you?"
"My name is Lance, and I come from Earth." When asked that memories of what happened raced through his head. His response was "I don't remember," with a hurt look on his face.
"Ok. Thank you for answering our questions," Said Celestia.
They were about to leave and let him rest when he said, "Wait! Where is Keith? The person/pony I was with."
"Your friend is currently in the ICU. His injuries were far greater than yours," answered Celestia.
Lance asked, "Please can I see him?" with a worried look on his face.
They answered, "Yes, but in a few days. You both need rest."
He felt dejected but said ok.
A few days later
When Lance was let into Keith's room by the nurse pony his heart dropped when he saw Keith. All four of his hooves were wrapped in bandages and his right hoove had blood on the bandages. His coat was as red as the red lion with a black mane. What shocked Lance was that instead of being an earth pony, unicorn, or even a pegasus he was an alicorn. From what Cadence and Celestia told him there are only two or three alicorns depending who he asked. The nurse had told him that Keith was in a mini coma and won't wake for a few months. He did not want to believe her but looking at Keith now he did.
Celestia walked in to talk to Lance. "So now that you have taken some time to rest and think, do you remember who did this to you?"
"No, Princess, I don't." Lance simply responded.
Celestia responded, "Well, if you ever find out, just let me know."
Celestia then revealed that "I have seen this before. The two of you most likely come from a different dimension. Thankfully we can help you both get back to your home dimension. Here is a pair of dimensional scissors and a book about the different dimensions." She took out a pair of scissors, with a symbol of a sun on the blade, and a book that was incredibly thick. "You know, that alicorns are incredibly rare. So I did some DNA testing and it turns out that Keith here," she gestured to Keith, "Is related to me, at least distantly."
"Wait, what?!" Lance cried out in shock. "Keith is part royal alicorn pony?! Here I thought that it was strange for him to be half Galra."
"I think I know how this happened. My youngest sister, Dawn, liked to jump through different dimensions. She must have had a child with one of these Galra was it?"
"What happened to her?" asked Lance
"I'm not quite sure myself." Celestia said suddenly a lot more sad than before.
There was a minute of awkward silence before Lance said. "Well, I better get started on that book to get Keith and me home." Before he left the room he turned to Celestia and said " Princess Celestia if you ever want to talk my door and ears are always open."
Celestia looked at him with a smile and just nodded.
It took a total of two months for Keith to wake up. During this time, Lance had some love counseling sessions with Princess Cadence. Thanks to her, he realized that Allura was unlikely to feel romantic love for him, allowing him the opportunity to begin moving on and finding love elsewhere.
When Keith woke up, he woke up with a start. His arm, legs and chest were in a lot of pain. He looked around and he was in a hospital room,there were horse nurses and doctors around him. He looked down and saw that he had hooves. He was freaked and thought he was dreaming but the pain was two real to be a dream. A blue hippogriff he just noticed was in the back corner looking at him with excitement and worry. The other ponies won't let him get close to him. The doctor horse told a nurse horse to go get someone. A few minutes later, this large white house with a horn and wings and a tri-color mane walked in.
She told them to give them some privacy and all but the hippogriff left.
The blue hippogriff spoke first. "Keith you're awake!" he said happily. He sounded like-.
"Lance, is that you? What happened?" Keith asked, confused as to what was going on.
"We are in another dimension, but I have been looking for a way to get us home," replied Lance.
Keith asked, "Why is everyone but you horses? And you are… a horse-bird hybrid?"
Lance corrected him by telling them that, "They are ponies actually. And I'm a hippogriff. Seriously, why doesn't most of these ponies understand that? They think I'm a griffon."
The larger pony walked up to his bed and said, "Hello Keith. My name is Princess Celestia and I am your aunt."
Keith's response was, "Wait, what, how?"
"When we found you we noticed that you were an alicorn and those are very rare. So we did a DNA test and found out we are related distantly. You are my youngest sister's great great grandson."
"This is definitely a lot to take in. I never would have figured I was part alicorn princess," Keith said.
"Once you have recovered you can stay at the castle until you both get back to your own dimension." Celestia reassured.
He thanked her and then she left the room to go back to her duties.
"How long have I been out for?" Keith asked
"Two months," was Lance's response
Lance asked, "What do you remember about what happened?"
"I remember being in a lot of pain then I saw a monster behind you and attacked it. Then the rest of Voltron arrived and I noticed some monsters behind them that I attacked, and then excruciating pain then nothing. Do you remember?"
"I'm still processing everything. I'll tell you later. "
"I hope everyone is doing ok without us and Voltron." Said Keith
Lance responds with, "Don't worry, We'll get home soon no matter how long it takes."
Keith and Lance were in Keith's room looking through the book Celestia gave them to find which dimension they are from. While Lance was looking through the book Keith was doing some of the physical therapy exercises that the doctor gave him to get better. After all these months most of his muscles felt better except his chest. The doctors could not figure it out. It looked like it was healing but no matter how much time passed it still hurt like on the day he woke up.
"Ugg," Lance said as he checked another dimension with the magic mirror celestia gave them to see into other dimensions. "That was not our world either. We have checked hundreds of dimensions and still nothing. We are in the p's of this book and I feel like we are not any closer to finding the right one."
"Don't worry. I'm sure we will find our dimension soon," Keith said with a little worry in his voice. "Why don't you take a break? It's my turn to look now."
"Ok, fine. But don't over do yourself." Said Lance.
Knock knock knock
"I'll get it," said Keith with a knowing look on his face. Keith opened the door and a castle guard was there with a serious look on his face. "How are you feeling your majesty?" He asked
"I'm fine," said Keith. "Like I was ten minutes ago when I told the last guard and the one before that. Can you please stop asking every ten minutes?" Asked Keith.
"I'm sorry your majesty, but these are the princess's orders." Keith then closed the door after he left.
"Man, how long is Aunt Celestia going to keep this up?" Keith asked in frustration. "Patience yields focus. Patience yields focus," Keith muttered to himself, trying to calm himself down.
"Wow, you just called her Aunt," Lance teasingly said.
"She insists I call her that," replied Keith. "Uh, just forget it! Let's just get back to work."
Three months later
Keith and Lance had snuck out one night to the garden to just stargaze after a long and busy day without Celestia or the guards knowing.
"The constellations are different from the ones back home," said Keith
"Yeah," replied Lance, a little sad as he was getting really homesick, "So how is the training going with Celestia?" asked Lance.
"Great," said Keith, "I have learned so much like levitation and other useful spells. The big one she is teaching me is a spell to hide my wings for when we get back."
"That's great," replied Lance.
Looking up, Lance said, "I think it's time to talk about what happened with the others."
"We've been over this Lance. I don't think you're remembering that right." Said Keith. There is no way the others attacked me."
"Well you did not look like yourself when you came by."
"Yeah but-"
"And you were kind of irrational and sleep deprived."
"Yeah." said Keith dejected.
"And you were seeing things that weren't there and may have looked like you were attacking them."
"Yeah your right. I just hope they don't hate me." Said Keith.
"I'm sure they won't. It was just a big misunderstanding. I'm sure they'll be more upset with themselves when they find out they hurt you," said Lance.
"Yeah you are right," said Keith. They then spent the next few hours calling out different constellations till they got caught.
Three months later
They were checking dimensions again. They were on s's and losing hope.
"This is going to take forever. We will never find the right one," said Lance with a hopeless look on his face.
"Don't lose hope. I'm sure we will find it soon," said Keith with a sad look on his face. "Hey I know we both said it was way to obvious and a little dumb but why don't we look to see if there is a Voltron dimension. Every dimension we looked at so far was named after a big event that happened there," said Keith.
"Yeah you are right," replied Lance.
"So the biggest thing to happen in our dimension was Voltron so we should at least check to be sure," said Keith
"You're right. Let's check," said Lance.
They flipped the book to v section and looked and found that there were four Voltron dimensions. The first dimension looked so 80's and pidge was a guy, the second dimension looked CGI, the third one had what looked like the team from the first dimension but older and three kids were with them, and the last one was the one they were looking for. They were happy they found the right one but upset that it took so long and that the obvious answer was the correct one.
"Well we can finally go home. I can't wait." Said Lance.
Then there was a knock on the door and Celestia walked in.
"Hello you two. How is the search going?" she asked.
"Great! We found the right one. Once we get all our stuff we can go home," Said Keith.
"Really," said Celestia "But what about your wings?" she said with a concerned look.
"It's ok. I mastered the spell to hide them months ago."
"All right," she said worried and a little sad, "But at least come to the Grand Galloping Gala. It is in two days and I was hoping you both would come and hopefully liven things up a little bit. The gala can get so boring sometimes."
Lance and Keith looked at each other both knowing what the other was thinking nodding their heads both said, "Yes."'
"We would be honored to come," said Keith
"Especially after all you did for us," said Lance
Celetia smiled at both of them and gave Keith a hug before leaving
"Looks like we are going to the biggest party of the year. Better get special outfits for this big occasion," said Lance.
"Yeah," said Keith with a little worry.
"You ok?" asked Lance with concern in his voice.
"Yeah, I'm fine," said Keith as he left the room.
The night of the Grand Galloping Gala
Lance was waiting outside of Keith's room waiting for him to come out so they could go to the Gala. He was wearing a blue and silver tux. "Hey Keith, are you ready to go yet?" asked Lance.
Keith walked out but instead of wearing a tux like Lance was, he was wearing a form fitting red and purple dress with gold accents and that sparkled like stars.
"You're wearing a dress."
"Yes. Yes I am. What about it?" Keith asked, curious as to why Lance was asking why Lance seemed to be making a big deal over such a small detail.
"Nothing, it is not important." Lance awkwardly responded, blushing all the while.
"If you are wondering what this is, I am genderfluid. What it means is that I don't have one fixed gender. I rotate between being male and female. In Equestria, my body also changes to go with the gender I am feeling. For example, I constantly feel female in Equestria like right now for instance so I am wearing a dress." Keith explained.
"Oh. Well, that explains why your body figure has been constantly changing depending on the day and time." Lance started to understand.
They arrived at the Gala. For some reason everyone walking in was singing.
It confused the both of them. They walked into the main room and saw a long line of people to see Celestia. After seeing the long line they both agreed to meet up with her later. They walked into the main ballroom to get some snacks and Lance went around and flirted with some of the mares and looked at some of the stallions. Most of the mares stuck up their noses at him or laughed and giggled in his face and left him there. None of the stallions even looked at him.
He turned to Keith and asked in a joking tone if she wanted to try. He said as they walked to a balcony that had no one on it. "So do you want to try?" he asked with an eyebrow raised.
"No I'm not interested." Keith said.
"Oh guys not your thing?" Lance asked.
Keith sighed. "Actually, I am into guys. I just don't have any interest in looking for a relationship right now."
"Oh, okay. I was going to help you find someone, but if you prefer to be single, then I won't interfere," Lance said.
"Thanks Lance. Most people are not as understanding as you are. At least that is from my experiences from back on Earth."
"Actually, thanks to Shiro, I've learned that I am bisexual, myself," Lance revealed.
"Oh, okay. Don't worry. I'm not going to judge you," Keith reassured.
"I don't know if this is rude to ask but who knows you're into guys?" asked Lance.
"No, it's ok. The people who know are Shiro and Adam. They are the ones that helped me figure myself out with my gender identity and me being homosexual."
"That was cool of them." Lance responded. "Hey, do you have a female name yet?"
"Yes. My female name is Katherin or Kat for short. However, I think that maybe we can find more Equestrian names to have while we are here," Keith answered.
"Well, I was thinking since you are currently harmonious with yourself, maybe you should be called Harmony."
"Harmony. Sounds fitting. Thank you," Keith, or rather Harmony, thanked Lance. "Hey I've heard some of the guards joke that you are like my knight. Maybe I should call you Lancelot."
"Lancelot. Yeah, that sounds pretty awesome Harmony." Lance responded, happy to have received such a cool nickname.
They spent the rest of the Gala taking, joking on Lance's part and telling stories about their time back at the Garrison. And putting some of the water under the bridge after becoming as close as siblings while they were here. When they got back to Princess Celestia they could tell that she was bored. They spent the rest of the Gala just talking to her and trying to cheer her up.
The next day
They just finished getting ready to go home after so long. Lance was wearing his jacket and shirt that was fixed up and Keith was wearing a red jacket and a black shirt. They had their saddles packed and and Keith just finished the spell to hide his wings just like he did last night. They heard someone knock on the door before Princess Celestia walked in with some tears in her eyes.
"Are you sure you don't want Shining Armor to come along or at least one guard or two?" Asked Celestia with worry in her voice.
"We told you before Aunt Celestia we don't need a guard or two or the captain of the guard. We will be fine. Like I told you before they are our friends. They would not hurt us," said Keith.
"I know, but I worry. Just know that you always have a home here and that you both are welcome here anytime," said Celestia.
They both hugged each other while Lance looked on with a smile on his face then he open the portal with the scissors. He was handing them to Celestia before she pushed his hoove back and shook her said, "No. Keep them. That way the both of you and those friends of yours can come and visit. Oh and if either of you need help with anything my door is always open," she said.
They both nodded smiling with tears in their eyes and went through the portal home.
When they stepped out of the portal they landed in the red lion's cockpit. The second they stepped in the lion it woke up all the controls light up they both felt a happy, but angry purring sensation in their heads.
"I guess red must be so happy to see us after so long, said Lance.
"Yeah you're right. Sorry red," said Keith.
When they looked at the camera to the outside hanger they saw the other paladins and Coran with looks of shock on their faces. Shiro was trying to get through Red's forcefield.
"We better get out there before Shiro hurts himself," said Keith with worry in his voice.
"Agreed," said Lance.
Suddenly, Keith felt a lot of pain in his chest which Lance noticed. "Are you OK?" asked Lance.
Keith responded, "I'll be fine."
They exited the red lion and went through the particle barrier, then they got tacked by the rest of the paladins and Coran into a group hug. When they looked up they noticed that all of them had tears in their eyes.
They were given a rapid fire of questions by everyone.
"Are you ok? Are either of you hurt?" asked Hunk.
"Where did you guys go?" asked Pidge.
"Keith, How did you and Lance get rescued?" asked Shiro.
"What happened to that dangerous creature?" asked Allura.
"Do you know what it wanted to do with all of us?" asked Coran.
"Yes, we are OK. No, neither of us are hurt. We went to another dimension. We didn't need to rescue anyone. What dangerous creature? We don't know what you mean," Lance answered each of the questions.
"What do you mean? Lance was kidnaped by that thing," said Allura.
"It is good that you guys came back, though. We were about to replace you guys as the red lion's paladin," Shiro tactlessly said. "Either way, good to have you guys back. We should probably get going to Oriande."
"Hold on. What are we going to do about that creature? After all, we can still be in danger so long as it is out there somewhere," Coran cautiously referenced.
"I'm pretty sure that Keith and Lance already dealt with the creature on their own, right?" Shiro said.
"Wait what? We didn't kill anything," responded Keith, feeling awkward and uncomfortable about this conversation.
"What do you mean you didn't kill anything. Is the creature still alive?" asked Shiro. In an annoyed and angry tone.
"Yes," was Keith and Lance's responses.
"How can the two of you be so stupid?! You put this whole team in danger! If you two are this in competent then you two should not be paladins anymore. You two will be easy to replace. Get out right now and never come back," Shiro yelled in anger.
Everyone was so shocked at Shiro's words that they didn't notice his eyes glow purple while he said it. When he was done yelling his eyes stopped glowing and the words he said sunk in and he immediately regretted them.
Everyone was so in shock they didn't say anything.
"Keith, Lance I-" Shiro tried to get out.
Before he could say anything else, they ran back into the red lion with tears in their eyes. Pidge and Hunk ran into the red lion after them.
Before anyone could say something to Shiro he ran after them.
"Keith, Lance!" he yelled. He heard something sound like talking from the cockpit and went to it. When he got to the door he heard what sounded like talking then a loud poof. When the door opened there was no one there. He searched the entire lion. They were all gone.
A few minutes earlier with Lance and Keith
Lance was in tears. "How could Shiro say that? How could the others agree with him?" said Lance, very upset.
Keith had tears in his eyes but did not cry. "How could Shiro say that? He promised that he would never abandon me. He promised. He is like everyone else," said Keith. Keith clenched his fists and just said, "I want to go back to the Blade," over and over again while on his knees hugging himself. Lance grabbed Keith's hand asking if he was OK and before he knows it Keith's hands were glowing and the light was enveloping them. Pidge and Hunk had gotten into the cockpit and were about to approach the duo, when they were suddenly enveloped by the light as well. When everyone opened their eyes they were surrounded by the Blades.
"Kit, there you are. And the other paladins are with you. You just vanished two movements (weeks) ago," said Kolivan in the stern tone he usually had, but it had underlines of care and worry.
"Wait, it has only been two movements?!" Lance cried out in shock. "It has been a year for us! We went to another dimension. We learned that Keith was part pony 're telling me that we spent a Deca-Phobe (year) in Equestria trying to get home only to get kicked out of Voltron and we only left for two movements here?! Also, what do you mean the other paladins are here?"
"Wait, you went to another dimension?!" Pidge was shocked to hear this.
"Yeah, and you were gone for a year while there? Was the dimension even safe?" Hunk was concerned.
"The dimension was peaceful, and what are you both doing here?" Lance asked the duo.
"You see, we found out that the two of you were who we attacked. Sorry, by the way, and we have been trying to find you guys while you were gone," Hunk explained and apologized.
"Yeah. We don't at all agree with what Shiro said. We wanted to say we're sorry for everything that happened because of us. We would like a second chance at being friends with you guys," Pidge apologized.
"Well, I'm not sure how easily we can accept your apology, guys," Lance responded. "What about you Keith?"
Keith answered with, "I need some space and time to think about it, you two."
Before anyone could say anything else Keith grabbed his chest in pain. Kolivan called for a medic to look at it. When the medic removed Keith's jacket he found that on Keith's chest was a black veiny jagged scar running from his chest to his shoulder.
Kolivan questioned, "Where did you get this wound?"
Keith revealed, "When I arrived at Voltron they thought that I was an evil creature and attacked me." Unbeknownst to Keith, his mother, Krolia, was also in the room and she looked furious.
Kolivan finally said, "With this wound on your chest, I would say you are in no condition to continue fighting for the moment. However, if time really works differently in this Equestria then it may be good to recover in this land instead of ours. That is, if you can return to this land."
Before Keith could say anything Lance said, "Yes we have these dimensional scissors that can get us back there." Kolivan nodded.
"If you want us to, we can take you back to Earth," said Kolivan.
Lance looked at him then at Keith. "Thanks but no thanks. I may miss my family a lot but my parents taught me to always help a friend in need and Keith needs my help and I will not abandon him." Kolivan just nodded.
They got everything ready and opened another portal. Before they walked through, a hand placed itself on Keith's shoulder. It was Krolia, who said, "I will be here for you when you return." Keith did not know how to react so he just nodded.
Before they went through Lance asked, "What was that all about?"
Keith's response was "I will tell you later." Then they went through the portal to Equestria.
Before the portal could close, Pidge and Hunk blindly decided to rush into the portal, not wanting to lose their friends again. However, the portal changed color after Keith went in and while they entered Equestria as well, they found themselves in a different part of Equestria than Keith and Lance.
When they got back, Celestia was surprised to see them so soon. While she was happy to see them again, she was also concerned seeing as how they had returned so soon and also because Harmony seemed to be different. Before, she was withdrawn but still capable of being close to others. Now, she was more withdrawn than before and was also more sarcastic, pessimistic, and snarky than before. Overall, she looked on the negative side of almost everything. And for the next month things continued down this path.
The day before the Summer Sun Celebration
"Over the past month I have noticed that you have become more withdrawn towards other ponies," said Celestia. As she was saying this, Keith looked up from his notebook that he was drawing in throughout the following conversation.
"Ugh. You have known me for like a year, what makes you think I've gotten more withdrawn?" responded Keith snarkilly.
"Well you talk to less ponies than before and even to the ones you talk to from before you talk to them less."
"Yeah this coming from the relationship expert. Isn't your best student the mare that almost never interacts with anyone outside of you, her assistant, or her family on occasion?" Keith snarked back.
"You can't judge me on Twilight's study habits," replied Celestia. "Besides, I have been looking for ways for her to make friends."
"Ugh, what was your plan? Close the library and have her attend a party? Chances are she would just bring a book, you know," Keith responded.
"Oh, I have a much different plan," after she said this a letter appeared. Upon reading it and seeing that it came from Twilight herself, she began writing her response. "See? By giving her the duty of looking over the Summer Sun Celebration, she'll have to meet other ponies and hopefully she'll make friends."
"What if she doesn't make friends? What if she only completes the bare minimum and does very little else? I can see her doing that just like I can see myself doing that." Keith countered.
Celestia's smile did not disappear as she said, "Don't worry. If that doesn't work I have a Plan B."
"What's Plan B?" Keith questioned out of confusion.
"It's nothing that you have to concern yourself with," Celestia responded.
"Whatever." Keith responded while rolling his eyes, his attention starting to leave the current conversation.
At this, Celestia left the room and Lance entered the room.
"What was that all about?" asked Lance.
"Celestia was trying to convince me to make friends while also saying she can get Twilight to try and make friends with this plan of hers. I doubt the plan will work." Keith responded full of doubt.
"Just give it a chance, maybe she'll be right. About both her and you. I know you have your doubts but I swear that if you give people a chance they won't let you down," Lance responded optimistically.
"I gave people a chance before and look where that got me."
"Being royalty in a castle?"
"Not what I meant. Besides you and the Blades everyone from our dimension has abandoned me."
"I doubt you know everyone in our dimension. It's pretty big. Besides, Pidge and Hunk may still be worth giving a chance."
"This is not a joke! Besides, it is complicated when it comes to Pidge and Hunk."
"Look," Lance started to say genuinely. "I know what Shiro said hurt you and I know that the other's silence also hurt you. It hurt me too. You don't have to take all of your walls down at once. But it would be good to at least try starting. This place seems as good of a place as any given how nice everypony is. Besides, even if that doesn't work, you're stuck with me, Samurai."
Later that night
Keith was in the middle of practicing a new spell, one that would hide his horn from being seen by other ponies for a few hours .
"Hey it worked," Keith said.
"Cool," said Lance as he looked at his cutie mark. "Hey, what do you think our cutie marks mean?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well you know how every cutie mark represents our individual destiny and what we are best at, correct?
"Correct. But what does that have to do with us?" Keith questioned.
"Well, we both have a shield as a cutie mark, with yours being red and black with a sword added on behind the shield and mine being red and blue with a bow and arrow added on behind the shield. On top of that, they each have six multicolored gemstones on them surrounded by a six pointed magenta star."
"Yes. And?"
"I just want to know what ours means seeing as how we lack any real indication what these marks mean. Especially since our marks are so similar to each other. Besides, being a hippogriff, it is unusual for me to even have a cutie mark."
Just then the clock chimed telling everyone in the room that it was the next morning and Celestia will be raising the sun soon.
"Maybe Aunt Celetia can help you with that when she gets back," Keith offered.
"Ok, you're right. Hey, I'm going to watch the sunrise. You want to come?" Lance asked.
"Sure, but only because you asked."
They waited five minutes then another ten.
"Ok something is wrong the sun should be up by now," Lance brought up in concern.
"Maybe something is keeping her up," Keith brought up as a possibility. They waited five more minutes and still there was no sign of the sun coming up at all. "Ok something is wrong. Let's go see what's going on."
They arrived in Ponyville and went to the library where Celestia's student was supposed to be staying.
They entered the library and found Twilight's assistant, Spike the dragon, who was asleep in a basket. They shook him awake to see if he knew what happened and what he told them was shocking. As it turns out, the old pony's tale, Nightmare Moon, was real and she was back for revenge against Celestia. She wanted to make the night last forever to spite the world that slept while it was night outside rather than enjoy the night she created. They all looked around and found a book on the elements of harmony Lance laughed at the name and Keith gave him a look. After reading, Spike told them Twilight probably went to get the elements. Spike wanted to go help Twilight but Keith and Lance stopped him and told him to go to Canterlot and tell Cadence and Shining Armor what happened and get the royal guard. He nodded and went on his way while they went to the Everfree Forest.
The Everfree Forest looked like any other forest, except there was an air of creepiness to it. Said creepiness was present even from looking inside the forest from the outside.
As they tread through the forest they felt like something or somepony was watching them. They did not notice the blue smoke following them.
They looked up ahead and what they saw looked like a person which confused them both. When they were close enough to see it clearly they were shocked.
"Shiro, is that you?" asked Lance as he looked at Keith with worry.
"You are both just cowards and selfish, thinking of no one but yourselves. You are both useless and easily replaced. Everyone thinks so," "Shiro" said.
"This has to be fake. You're not real," Keith said.
"Why would you think that?" he said as he got closer, ready to attack.
"Why are you attacking us? Because you are a monster," Keith responded. They tried to fight back but Keith's right hoove was starting to spasm.
"What? Does the truth hurt too much?"
They both did not know what to do so they ran off the path away from "Shiro." As they ran away "Shiro" turned into blue smoke and disappeared.
Meanwhile, in the Everfree Forest, Pidge, a deer, and Hunk, a yak, had gone out to look for and collect food to eat.
"Man, it would be so much easier to get food to eat if the town was opened up whenever we went in," Hunk was annoyed. "Still, I'm taking what we can get. I can find ways to make what we can find good."
"Yeah, what do you think is the reason it is always closed up when we go there?" Pidge was curious and confused.
"I don't know. But if everywhere is as dangerous as this scary forest, then I take it that we better stay in the less dangerous parts of the forest," Hunk was wary.
"According to Zecora, it is called the Everfree Forest, not just a scary forest, Hunk. Anyway, I'm more curious as to why it is still night out. It should have been daylight by now," Pidge was curious. "If only this civilization was as advanced as ours, we would have news as to why this is the case."
"Maybe there is a villain like Zarkon taking the sun away," Hunk jokingly commented.
"We don't know that, Hunk. Maybe when we get back we should ask Zecora. She may know what is going on," Pidge suggested.
They ended up in a clearing in the middle of the forest. Before they were able to catch their breaths, they were attacked by a manticore.
"What the heck is that thing?!" asked Lance.
"A manticore!" responded Keith.
"What do we do?" Lance questioned.
"Just fly!" Keith responded. They flew away almost getting hurt by the manticore neither noticing the thorn in its paw and not caring that it was going to the main path where, unbeknownst to them, Twilight and the others were going to get the elements were.
As they walked forward, they found a grove of trees with "scary" looking faces. This did not scare them so they walked through. They were so focused on the tree's faces that they didn't notice they were going the wrong way.
As they walked through deeper into the forest they were both starting to get hungry they both stopped and took the apples and carrots Lance brought. Before they ate, Lance noticed some small forest animals looking very hungry. Looking around the clearing, seeing no food for them to eat then at the food and then at the animals again, he then gave his share of the food so the animals could eat. Keith then gave half of his food to Lance. The animals were so grateful that they showed them the way back to the path towards the castle of the two sisters.
As they walked, Lance tried to talk to Keith about what fake Shiro said but Keith was not hearing it.
"You know that it wasn't really Shiro that said that, right?" Lance tried to comfort Keith.
"I know, but that doesn't change what the real Shiro said," Keith countered. Lance tried to think of something else to say Keith said, "Can we talk about this later? Nightmare Moon needs to be stopped." They were so into their beginning of an argument they didn't see the stairs blocked by fog and fell down. Luckily, they were able to get a downdraft and flutter down to the ground but got separated in the fog.
"Why do you stay by each other's side? I can give you anything you want if you join me," a sweet, yet sinister voice said. In front of each of them was something different. In front of Lance was his family, friends, and Allara looking at him with love in her eyes. In front of Keith was his parents, the other paladins, Coran, and the Blade all looking at him with acceptance and love. "This can all be yours if you join me," said the mysterious voice.
Both Keith and Lance took a moment to consider what they were shown. From the looks of it, this was a good deal for them. They would gain back what they lost in their home dimension and more. However, they were both still conflicted as they would have to give up their close friend and possibly betray Celestia and the nation of Equestria if this was who they thought it was. So they both know what to do, no matter how hard for them it would be. So with a solemn look they both yelled, "I will not join you!" and ran away from the illusions. They kept running until they bumped into one another.
They looked at each other with suspicion for a second.
"Is that you?" asked Keith.
"Wait, how do I know your the real one?" Lance asked, wanting to make sure he was talking to the real deal and not a fake.
"I don't know, Lance. Maybe you should ask around and see if you see any other versions of me nearby," Keith sarcastically said.
"Oh, Keith it is you!" Lance hugged Keith in relief.
"How can you give up on my deal so easily?" said an ominous figure in the fog.
They both backed up from the figure into a tree made out of crystal.
"You two really believe that you stand a chance against me? ME?! Nightmare Moon?! The true ruler of Equestria?! I can destroy you without a second thought if I wanted to, you know!" Nightmare Moon screamed at the two of them. "However, if you kneel before me now, maybe I will forgive your insubordination."
Before they can say anything Keith's spell wore off and his horn returned.
"You? You are an alicorn?! How can there be another alicorn in Equestria?! I should be the only one remaining! What, did Celestia get another alicorn to replace me?" Nightmare Moon got ready to attack, but before she could the crystal tree sensed the presence of Keith and Lance and the tree sent out a beam of rainbow light that hit the figure in the fog. "The tree, of course!" The figure suddenly disappeared before she was fully enveloped in the light. "As soon as I am done with the other six ponies, I will be back for you two!"
As Nightmare Moon disappeared into the castle after the six ponies that came here to stop her, Keith and Lance were worried about their safety. They flew up the stairs and over the bridge into the castle. When they got into the castle they looked all over but could not find anypony then they noticed a bright rainbow light coming from a tower. They went to investigate, hiding at the door frame and found six ponies, two earth ponies, two pegasus, and two unicorns, one being Twilight, that were all wearing strange jewelry. Five wearing necklaces and Twilight wearing a tiara.
"Gee, Twilight! I thought you were just spoutin' a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the elements of friendship." the orange earth pony said.
"Indeed you do." Princess Celestia's voice suddenly rang out. At this, the sun finally rose and a bright light orb entered the room. Eventually, the orb took the physical form of Celestia herself as the light itself vanished. All six of the ponies bowed upon seeing their ruler take form.
Twilight gave out a gasp as she saw her mentor. "Princess Celestia." Twilight called out as she approached her mentor, happy to see her again, nuzzling against her mentor's neck.
Celestia returned the gesture, then said, "Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it."
Twilight was confused at this, "But... you told me it was all an old pony tale."
Celestia politely countered by saying, "I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart. Now if only another will as well. Princess Luna!" At this, Celestia turned her attention to another smaller, blue pony surrounded by several bits of glowing blue armor. This smaller pony, who was apparently Princess Luna, gasped upon seeing her smaller size and how Celestia was walking towards her while towering over her. "It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister."
"Sister?" Twilight and Rainbow Dash said in confusion, as they never knew Celestia had a younger sister before. Meanwhile, Keith and Lancelot were also confused, seeing as how the only sister they knew about was named Dawn.
"Will you accept my friendship?" Princess Celestia offered her sister this second chance.
Silence fell across the room, as all six of the ponies leaned forward expectantly, hoping that the younger princess would accept. The pink earth pony leaned forward so much that she fell forward. Finally, the younger sister responded, approaching her older sister, "I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!"
Not wanting to interrupt the touching reunion, Keith and Lance left the castle to inform the guard that Celestia was safe and that they didn't need to storm Ponyville.
Later that day after Keith, Lancelot (Lance wanted to be called this after everything that happened) and the guard got back to Canterlot.
They were waiting for Celestia and Luna. When they walked into the throneroom and saw the two princesses there, Lancelot and Keith ran even if it hurt his hoove to do so into Celestia's hooves. As Celestia hugged Keith, Luna looked at him confused at the new alicorn.
"Aunt Celestia, are you and Aunt Luna ok?" Keith questioned to make sure the two princesses were fine.
"How did you know Luna's name?" Celestia asked, seeing as how no one else had said Luna's name in this conversation yet.
"Uhhh. Read it in a book?" Keith awkwardly answered.
"Lucky guess?" Lancelot awkwardly answered.
Celetia looked at them with a knowing look. "So you know or guess that this is my sister Luna." Celetia explained to the both of them about Nightmare Moon, what happened, and how the day was saved. Luna didn't say anything because she felt very shy and discouraged about what happened.
"So Twilight and Spike are going to stay in Ponyville and Twilight is going to send me letters about her findings and lessons on friendship. I think it would be in your best interest to read them with me." Celestia explained.
"Just what I wanted to do with my time. Learning lessons five year olds learn." Keith sarcastically quipped.
"I know that you have your own misgivings in regards to making friends. However, I think that you would be better off reading these lessons. It would be helpful in getting you ready to make friends again," Celestia calmly responded.
"Ugh, fine! But Lancelot has to be there too." Keith answered as he pointed to Lancelot. "I will not be going through this torture alone."
Celestia was not exactly pleased with this response. However, instead of addressing it, Celestia decided to ignore the bitter quip and said, "It has been a long, exciting and eventful day. I would recommend that we all go get some sleep."
At this, Keith and Lancelot both left the room. After they both left the room, Luna finally spoke, "So, this Keith pony is he related to you?"
Celestia shook her head, "No. He is the great, far off, grandchild of our sister, Dawn. Look, it is pretty late. We should probably get some rest and talk about this more later, Luna."
Celestia, Harmony, and Lancelot were in Celestia's study getting tickets for the Grand Galloping Gala ready for the lucky ponies invited. The normally clean study was left messy with several scrolls and gala tickets scattered across the room. Most of them had already been sent out, though there still remained a few scrolls with their pair of tickets that had yet to be sent.
"So, whose tickets are next to be sent out?" Lancelot asked.
"Let's see. Next up is Twilight Sparkle's tickets," Celestia answered upon seeing what was present on the list of invited ponies. "Oh, this is kind of exciting. Twilight has never gone to the gala before. She was always too busy with her studies. Now, however, she is bound to want to go now that she is more open. I'll do the honors of sending out her tickets and scroll."
Celestia proceeded to gather up two tickets into a scroll. Afterwards, she proceeded to cast a spell that burned the scroll, though instead of turning to ash, the paper instead proceeded to be teleported away in a puff of smoke through Spike to Twilight.
"Did you just send two tickets to your student, Aunt Celestia?" Harmony asked.
"Yes, I did. Everyone gets one ticket and one guest when the gala comes around," Celestia confirmed. "Why do you ask?"
"I ask because, from what I remember, Twilight supposedly has five friends, six if you count Spike," Harmony explained.
"She does. However, not everyone will want to go to the gala. I don't want anypony to feel pressured into going. Besides, if she does want more tickets all she has to do is ask."
"You do realize that virtually everypony wants to go to the gala, right? It is the biggest party of the year," Harmony explained her thought process.
"Judging from what happens in the cartoons, there is a good chance that all of Twilight's friends will want to go to the gala," Lancelot guessed.
"Following that, they will act all crazy and selfish in order to try and get a ticket to the gala, not caring that they are hurting Twilight in the process," Harmony said pessimistically.
"How would they abuse their friendship?" Celestia, confused as to this terrible line of thinking.
"Give unwanted favors and attention, playing the friend card, stuff like that," Harmony simply stated. "It's impressive that you still consider friendship to be a good thing. I mean I still consider Lancelot my friend and am conflicted on whether or not to see Pidge and Hunk as friends, but still. Friendship is more trouble than it is worth," Harmony cynically said.
"Isn't that a little pessimistic? Also, if you don't mind me asking, who are Pidge and Hunk?" asked Celestia with a little worry in her voice.
"It doesn't matter who Hunk and Pidge are. Also, what's your point?" Harmony asked in turn while shrugging.
"Ok, I think it's time we return to work, right Princess Celestia?" Lancelot tried to take the conversation off of the route it was currently on.
At this, the pair of princesses agreed and started to continue sending letters to the lucky ponies who had gotten to go to the gala.
Harmony and Lancelot were playing the Equestrian version of old maid called old mare and they were getting really competitive about it. At the side of them was a chalkboard with tally marks of their scores. The score was ten to eight with Harmony in the lead. Just then, Celestia came in with a letter from Twilight with Luna following after, appearing to be larger than before.
"Now, let's see what Twilight wrote for her first letter on friendship," Celestia wondered, as she opened up the scroll. To her confusion, both of Twilight's tickets were in the scroll. "Let me see. ' Dear Princess Celestia, I've learned that one of the joys of friendship is sharing your blessings, but when there's not enough blessings to go around, having more than your friends can make you feel pretty awful. So, though I appreciate the invitation, I will be returning both tickets to the Grand Galloping Gala. If my friends can't all go, I don't wanna go either.'"
"Called it," both Harmony and Lancelot responded, feeling validated in being right.
After giving them both an annoyed look, Celestia wrote a response to Twilight and it said 'My faithful student, Twilight, Why didn't you just say so in the first place?' With it she also placed six tickets into the scroll. In an instant, she caused the scroll and tickets to disappear in a puff of smoke and be sent to Twilight.
"There. That should fix everything," Celestia said in relief.
"Um, Princess Celestia? What about Spike? Lance asked, making sure that the young dragon wasn't forgotten.
Celestia quickly realized her error and wrote another message that said 'And one for you, Spike.' Said message was quickly sent to Spike with a ticket placed within it. "Now after all that is cleared up, what have you learned?" Celestia asked from her niece.
"That it is a great idea to give enough for only a few ponies instead of for everypony?" At this, Celestia shot Harmony a glare. In response, Harmony then cynically said, "Don't have anything special or your friends will pester you about it?"
"Lancelot, do you have any views on the lesson?" Celestia asked.
"Sure. I think that friends can feel bad if you don't have enough for everyone and that it is good to share what you have in spite of this," Lancelot interpreted.
"Good work. Don't worry Harmony. Maybe after a few more lessons you will interpret the letters in a less cynical way," Celestia reassured. "Now, it is getting late. It would be best for you both to head to bed soon. Pleasant dreams." At this, Celestia left the room. Everyone headed to their respective rooms, with Harmony and Lancelot going to bed and Luna starting her job checking on ponies' dreams.
It was a week since Twilight's first letter when the next one came. Keith was drawing and Lancelot was being his life model. Celestia came in with the next letter. "Let's see what the next letter has to say. 'Dear Princess Celestia, My friend Applejack is the best friend a pony could ever have, and she's always there to help anypony. The only trouble is, when she needs help, she finds it hard to accept it, so while friendship is about giving of ourselves to friends, it's also about accepting what our friends have to offer. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle.'
"So what did you learn from this letter?" asked Celestia.
"Sounds like she is a workaholic to me," Harmony bluntly stated, not really caring about the letter, even if the message was a good one to keep in mind.
Celestia was not really happy with this answer, having hoped that Harmony would at least be willing to listen to the letter. Clearly, it would take a long time before Harmony would be more willing to be open with the idea of friendship and other ponies, if at all.
Keith and Lancelot were in the castle library looking up things about the other races in and outside the borders of Equestria like hippogriffs, yaks, griffons, dragons and many others. It had been a week since Twilight's last letter. Celestia walked in quietly to talk to Keith about something important.
"Hello Keith, Lancelot. How are you both doing today? What are you reading up on?" Celestia asked out of curiosity,
"We're doing good. Just reading about some of the other races in this dimension." Keith responded.
"That's good to know. Keith, I have something that I need to talk to you about," Celestia started to say.
"What is it? Does it have to do with Twilight's letters? If it does, I want as much to do with it as ponies want to do with other races," Keith disagreed.
"I know that Twilight's letters have not resonated with you. However, I also believe that they would do you some good as well. In fact, I've been thinking and maybe seeing Twilight and her friends in person would be very helpful for you."
"Unlikely. Though I do like the idea of getting out of the castle," Keith muttered.
"How about this? I will let you go to Ponyville without guards provided you spend time with Twilight and/or her friends," Celestia offered.
"Hey, Keith. That sounds like a pretty good deal, don't you think?" Lancelot tried to persuade.
Keith took a deep breath before he finally said, "OK, let's go."
Lancelot and Keith were walking through the town looking for Twilight. Additionally, Keith was hiding his unicorn horn with magic, making him look like a pegasus to most ponies.
"Man, isn't this exciting, Keith? We get to spend the day here in Ponyville without the guards. It's kind of a relief not having the guards check in on us. Not only that, but we get to meet people and make friends as well. So, what do you think, Keith?" Lancelot said to Keith, who was walking next to him.
"What do I think? Well, for starters I am glad to have the freedom of not having to be near the guard at all times," Keith said. However, at this Keith suddenly started stomping as he walked and grew a sour expression. "However, I am also annoyed that I am only allowed outside to make friends with other ponies. I don't need other ponies to be friends with."
As Keith was saying this a fast pink blur rocketed into them. "Oh, sorry new ponies that I accidentally ran into. I was just about to grab a trampoline so that I could- wait. New ponies?! Greetings. Welcome to Ponyville. My name is Pinkie Pie. What are your names?"
"Well my name is Lancelot and his name is Keith. Also, I'm not a pony. I'm a hippogriff," Lancelot corrected.
"Oh sorry about that. I'll try to remember that you are a hippogriff." Pinkie quickly apologized. Then she proceeded to quickly say at about a mile a minute, "So, this is interesting. We have two new creatures visiting Ponyville in one day. Also, are hippogriffs related more to griffons or ponies? Because you have pony-like bodies with talons and beaks like birds. But, anyway, sorry I can't throw you two a welcome party yet, Lancelot and Keef, but I need to catch up with a friend of mine, so bye." At this, she zoomed off faster than the duo could blink.
"Keef? My name is Keith." Keith growled in annoyance.
"Hey, the mistake isn't that bad, Keef. You just need to chill out," Lancelot jokes.
"Yeah, because Keef is totally a good name to listen to all the time." While Keith was saying this sarcastically, Pinkie Pie ran behind them while holding a bunch of balloons. "Anyway, can you please stop calling me that?"
"Why should I? It sounds good to me."
"Well not to me."
"OK, fine. I was just joking around anyway. You shouldn't take things too seriously," Lancelot teased.
"Thank you. Now then, where do you think that Twilight lives, anyway? Celestia just said that she lives in a treehouse library. Where do you think that is?" asked Keith. As Keith was asking this, Pinkie was flying in a pedal helicopter device into the sky.
"How about over there?" Lancelot pointed to the Golden Oaks Library that was only a few feet away.
"Spike. Are the cookies and punch ready for our guests yet?" Twilight asked the baby dragon a bit frantically as she finished dusting the bookshelves.
"Yep, ready and accounted for." At this, Spike ate one of the cookies.
"Good. Celestia said that there were some special guests coming to Ponyville to learn about friendship just like me, and I want to make a good first impression."
"You need to calm down, Twilight. Chances are they won't care if a single book is out of place." Spike snarked. Meanwhile, Twilight was in the middle of rearranging some of the books on the bookshelves.
"Hey!" Twilight said, a bit annoyed. "First impressions do matter here Spike. What if they tell Celestia that I didn't make a good first impression and she thinks that I'm not taking my studies seriously? She could decide that I deserve to be punished and lose some traction in my studies on friendship," Twilight said full of fear for what her teacher would think.
"Relax, Twilight. Celestia won't care if the first impression isn't perfect." At this, there was a knock on the door.
"That must be them. Spike, get the door."
As Spike went to do this, he turned to Twilight and said, "Same with these ponies. I'm sure they won't be much of a problem at all."
Spike opened the door to show Harmony and Lancelot on the other side. "Hello, you two. The name is Lancelot. This is Keith. We are the fine pe-err creatures that will be hanging out with you guys today," Lancelot merrily greeted.
"It is nice to meet you two and, Lancelot, I notice that you are not a pony. What are you supposed to be?" Twilight greeted.
"Oh. I am a hippogriff in case you were wondering. Also, what do you want to do?"
"Um, I don't really know. What do you guys want to do?" Twilight tried to offer.
"Can we just go and see another one of these friends of yours?" Keith rudely interrupted.
At this, Twilight's mood immediately sank. Spike tried to fix that mood by offering, "Do you guys want a refreshment?" Fortunately, the pair were willing to accept the cookies and punch.
"So, uh, I heard that you two have a close relationship to the princess, just like I do. Care to explain what that is?" Twilight asked with the biggest fake grin she could muster.
Keith and Lancelot were unsure of what to say. They have heard quite a bit about Twilight from Princess Celestia and from what they heard, she can be prone to overreact. The last thing either of them wanted to do was to give the unicorn mare a panic attack. Fortunately, they were quickly interrupted by a knock on the door. "I'll get it," Keith offered. He walked to the door and opened it, revealing Pinkie Pie on the other end.
"Oh hey it's you two again. I'm sorry I can't talk to you both right now, but I need help from Twilight right now. Hey, Twilight, I need your help!" Pinkie called out for her friend's help.
"What is it, Pinkie Pie? I'm in the middle of something," Twilight anxiously said, nervous to have an interruption at a time like this.
"I am having issues with a mean old griffon friend of Rainbow Dash's and I need your advice," Pinkie explained.
At this Twilight's mood lifted. Not only would she be able to help her friend out, but she may even be able to give a friendship lesson to both Keith and Lancelot. "So Pinkie Pie, are you sure that this friend of Rainbow Dash is really so mean?" Twilight asked her friend as she looked through a book for advice.
Pinkie responded with a frustrated groan, "Um, yeah. She keeps stealing Rainbow Dash away, she pops my balloons, and she told me to buzz off. I've never met a griffon this mean. Well, actually, I've never met a griffon at all, but I bet if I had, she wouldn't have been as mean and grumpy as Gilda."
Twilight responded as she put her book down, "You know what I think, Pinkie Pie."
"Hmm?" Pinkie anxiously waited for her friend's response.
Finally, Twilight responded with, "Well, I think... you're jealous."
"Jealous?" Pinkie reacted, exacerbated at being given this answer.
"Green with envy. Well, in your case, pink with envy." Spike added on.
Twilight proceeded to explain her reasoning, "Well, yes. Jealous. Listen Pinkie, I don't want to upset you, but just because Rainbow Dash has another friend doesn't make Gilda a grump. I mean, perhaps it's you, Pinkie, who needs to improve her attitude."
"You know what, Twilight? That actually is a pretty good point," Lancelot complimented. "Don't you think so, Keith?"
"Eh. It seems fitting to believe I suppose," Keith simply stated.
"You all believe this?!" At this, everyone else nodded their heads to Pinkie's frustration, "Improve my attitude? But I... D... B.. It's Gilda that... D... Are you seri…" At this, Pinkie growled in frustration and stormed out of the library.
"Well, as you can see, jealousy can be a very troubling thing. So troubling that you may not want to accept it," Twilight awkwardly stated, embarrassed that her attempt at helping wasn't working out as well as she hoped. "So, what do you think of this piece of advice? Help you with friendship, any?"
"I agree, though I was already aware of this," Lancelot encouraged. "What do you think, Keith?"
"Can we just read here for a while?" Keith responded, not wanting to directly interact with anyone else anymore.
"Sure," Twilight groaned in disappointment. As the duo began to pull out books to read, Twilight turned away and walked to look over her bookshelves.
Spike noticed Twilight's dejected behavior and, concerned for her, asked, "Are you okay, Twilight?"
"No, Spike. I'm not. I am supposed to help these two understand more about friendship, but they don't want that. All they want is to stay in themselves and read. How can I help them if they just want to read?"
"Don't you read and study a lot, though?" Spike countered.
At this, Twilight blushed and nervously laughed lightly. "Well, sometimes. But they don't even seem willing to learn at all, at least not Keith. What am I going to do, Spike? Celestia wanted for them to learn about friendship, and Keith doesn't want for them to learn anything."
For the next hour, Keith and Lancelot did nothing but read. During this time, Spike was reading a comic book while Twilight was reading a Daring Do book, barely paying any attention to it as her mind kept jumping to her disappointment and fear at having failed Celestia. Before Twilight could stew in her anxiety any longer, there was a knock on the door. Twilight miserably walked to answer the door, only to see Pinkie Pie once again.
"Hello Twilight, Spike, Lancelot, and Keef. I would like to invite you all to a welcome to Ponyville party!" Pinkie said in great excitement.
"Really?! We just got here. Are you sure?" Lancelot asked, happy to have gotten such a kind gesture.
"Yep. The party is for Lancelot, Keef, and Gilda. Though, everyone in the town is invited to the party. Trust me, by the end of the party all three of you will feel right at home in Ponyville. Well, I must get going. The party is in an hour and I still need to contact more ponies." At this, Pinkie walked backwards out the door, closing it as she left.
"Did you hear that? We get to go to a party, Keith!" Lancelot said, excited and giddy.
"Parties aren't really my thing. Do I really have to go?" Keith questioned.
Twilight's mood had brightened upon hearing this conversation. Maybe going to a party would be just the thing to get Keith to open up more and want to form strong friendships with others. "Please say you'll go. Pinkie Pie's parties are the best."
"Yeah, come on Keith. Please." Lancelot pleaded with his friend.
Keith looked back and forth between Twilight and Lancelot several times. While it was true that he wasn't a fan of parties, him not wanting to go to the party went beyond that. Truthfully, he didn't want to risk making new friendships that could end as poorly as the ones he had with the paladins. He also didn't want to risk undergoing sensory overload. However, he also found he couldn't handle the sad looks he was being given by the other two. "OK, fine. I'll go to the party. But there better be sweets."
"You really got your aunt's sweet tooth, huh Keith?" Lancelot teased. At this, Keith stuck out his tongue playfully. Twilight looked at this sight with a smile on her face.
One by one, Pinkie Pie was greeting the guests that were arriving at the party. At this point, most of the guests had arrived in the spacious room of Sugarcube Corner. The room was decorated with streamers and balloons all over and there were refreshments available on numerous tables and a table coated in presents for the trio of guests.
After Twilight had finished asking Fluttershy about Gilda, only to not get an answer on how Gilda was, she returned her attention to Keith and Lancelot, "So, as you can see, Pinkie's parties are a great place to unwind and have some fun. In addition, it is also a great environment to start making friends with others."
"Sounds great," Lancelot responded. Meanwhile, Keith stayed quiet as he prepared to pick up some sweets on a plate he had picked out.
Before Twilight could become disappointed, Rainbow Dash showed up, "Hey Twilight. How is it hanging?"
"Well, it could be worse," Twilight groaned out.
"Um, what's the matter Twilight? You doing OK?" Rainbow Dash asked out of concern for her friend.
"Oh, nothing. It's just that there are two guests, who are kinda the guests of honor along with Gilda, that I am supposed to help understand friendship and so far things are not working out for one of them," Twilight said as she gestured to Keith.
"No problem, Twilight. I'll just get Gilda over here and between the two of us and our awesomeness we can probably get this guy's shell to break. Speaking of Gilda, you two totally have to meet. She is just the coolest griffon ever," Rainbow Dash offered.
Twilight's mood started to lift upon hearing her friend's offer for help. After all, maybe her friend can open up Keith's seemingly impenetrable shell. However, before Rainbow Dash could make do on her offer, Pinkie Pie suddenly called out, "Everyone, I'd like you all to meet Gilda, a long-time, dear friend of Rainbow Dash. Let's honor her and welcome her to Ponyville." At this, numerous ponies cheered out in happiness, willing to greet the griffon with open arms. Pinkie Pie also introduced, "Oh, and I would also like you all to meet Keith the pegasus and Lancelot the hippogriff, who are also new guests to Ponyville." Pinkie Pie offered vanilla lemon drops to the three guests, "Please help yourself."
"Vanilla lemon drops. Don't mind if I do," Gilda accepted the lemon drops. At the same time, Keith also walked towards Pinkie to accept one of the drops, with both the pony and griffon gulping down their drops at the same time. However, instead of having a sweet taste to them, both of them felt extreme heat coming from the lemon drops. In fact, they were so hot that they both breathed fire, with Pinkie Pie grabbing and holding a marshmallow on a stick up to the flames. "HOT!" the griffon yelled out in agony.
"G, the punch." Rainbow Dash pointed out to the griffon so that she could quell her burning mouth, laughing all the while. Keith got the picture and drank his glass of punch to quell the flames. Gilda, on the other hand, went to drink a random glass of punch near the punch bowl only for the liquid to pour out halfway up the cup, much to Gilda's confusion and anger
"Well, whaddya know, pepper in the vanilla lemon drops, and the punch served in a dribble glass," Pinkie Pie pointed out.
"Ha. Priceless. Priceless." Rainbow Dash laughed out in response to the prank.
Meanwhile, Gilda found another coconut cup to drink from, finally quelling the burning heat in her mouth. "Yeah, hilarious," Gilda gasped out, far from pleased with the prank that was pulled on her.
Gilda was very pleased to see that there was a table of gifts left out for her, not noticing that there were labels for Keith and Lancelot as well. Picking one that was shaped like a cylinder, she opened it only to be met with a flurry of toy snakes popping out of the container. "Ha ha. I bet I know who that was," Gilda sarcastically growled.
"You do?" Pinkie innocently asked.
Before anything else could happen, Rainbow Dash approached Gilda and asked her, " So, G, a friend of mine needs help with getting somepony to be more open to others. You game to help them out?"
"Oh, I would love to Dash, but I wanted to get to meet some of your other friends on my own, if that was OK." Gilda claimed, not wanting to come off as mean in front of the pegasus.
"Cool. Later," Rainbow Dash zoomed off, looking for Keith. She was quick to find him walking up to the presents with Lancelot. Lancelot opened up one of the gifts and, unlike Gilda's, was completely prank free. Rainbow Dash was a bit disappointed by this, especially after all the effort she put into leaving behind some gag presents. Her disappointment wouldn't last for long, however, as Keith opened a present that contained a music box. Upon being opened, the box played a reel of high pitched laughter which quickly upset Keith's much more sensitive hearing. In fact, Keith was quick to destroy the box so that he wouldn't have to deal with the audio agony anymore. Rainbow Dash was a bit annoyed at this, seeing as how her hearing wasn't affected the same way Keith's was. In spite of this, Rainbow Dash decided to approach the duo in hopes of helping Twilight. "Good afternoon. The name's Rainbow Dash. You've probably heard of me."
"Not really," Keith responded, being unfamiliar with the cyan pegasus in front of him.
"Oh," Rainbow nervously laughed, awkward at how he didn't seem to know who she was. "Well, I helped with defeating Nightmare Moon a few weeks ago. That help you any?"
"Now that you mention it, I do kinda recognize you," Keith said, starting to recognize the cyan mare as being among the mares that defeated Nightmare Moon. Rainbow Dash looked very pleased with herself for being recognized by the pegasus. "So, what do you want?"
"You see, I am friends with Twilight Sparkle and she says that you are having trouble with wanting to make friends," Rainbow Dash explained. "So I figured that maybe you would be more willing to talk to someone like me rather than an egghead like Twilight. So, Keith, into any sports?"
"Not really. However, I do train to fight," Keith answered.
"Me too. See? We already have some things in common. All right, do you like to fly?"
"Personally, I don't really care much either way."
At this, Rainbow Dash started to get a bit frustrated with the pegasus. However, Rainbow Dash wasn't ready to give up just yet. "What about pranks? Do you like pranks? Because I sure do. In fact, just between you and me, I've set up a few pranks throughout the party for anyone to be affected by if they aren't careful."
Up until this point, Keith wasn't very interested in the conversation and was barely interested in talking to the cyan mare. However, upon hearing that the mare had set up pranks at the party had gotten him into a sour mood, especially once he remembered that he had been harshly pranked earlier during the party. "So, wait," Keith started to realize. "The pepper in the vanilla lemon drops and the high pitched music box were your doing?"
"Yep. They were all mine. No need to thank me for the jokes," Rainbow Dash bragged, not noticing how insensitive she was being to the pegasus stallion's feelings.
"Thank you?! Why would I thank you after you tormented me with your jokes?!"
"Tormented?" the cyan mare was confused. "Come on. I wasn't that harsh. Besides, they are just jokes. Everyone enjoys a good prank."
"Yeah, everyone but me and your griffon friend," Keith countered. "You may think those pranks of yours are all fun and games, but in reality they can do real damage to friendships."
"Hey!" Rainbow Dash cried out, offended at having her pranks and her friendship with Gilda criticized. "My friendship with Gilda is strong. We've been on great terms since we were young. Do you really believe my pranks are breaking my friendship? Besides, if she wasn't taking my pranks well she would have told me."
"Maybe," Keith groaned, "Or maybe she is being bothered by them and is just not saying anything. You would be better off checking before you assume." At this Keith turned around to leave this conversation. However, before he left he couldn't help but add in one final barb "But, even then, your friendship is unlikely to survive for much longer," Keith muttered under his breath.
"What did you say?!" Rainbow Dash intercepted Keith leaving, outraged at what was being implied. "We won't stop being friends just because of a few pranks, trust me!"
"If you are so sure, then why do you need to defend your friendship?"
"How do you think you can make friends if you are unwilling to look on the bright side of anything?!" Rainbow Dash countered.
"Who said that I wanted to make friends?!" Keith yelled back.
Both ponies growled in anger, their noses touching each other as the two were looking ready to erupt into aimless bickering. However, before the two pegasi could fight any further, Lancelot and Twilight arrived to drag the two away from each other. "Okay, that's enough friend making with her for one day," Lancelot said as he dragged Keith away.
"Yeah, why don't we just take a break," Twilight said with the biggest fake smile she could muster as she dragged away Rainbow Dash. After the two pegasi were separated, Twilight whispered in aggravation to Rainbow Dash, "Rainbow Dash, why did you lose your cool? That was a very esteemed pony that Celestia sent for me to help."
Rainbow Dash grumpilly whispered, "Well, then you should tell him that making friends requires actually trying to make them rather than being bitter and judgemental of everypony."
"Are you kidding me?!" Twilight harshly whispered. "We are all supposed to help Keith make friends, and I need for things to succeed otherwise Celestia will think I am slacking on my friendship lessons."
"Yeah, because failing to make the child of the mean and snarky friends will totally mean bad things for you," Rainbow Dash sarcastically said. "Seriously, Twilight. You shouldn't worry about how this stallion does at friendship stuff. He is not worth it."
"Friendship should be important for anypony, Rainbow Dash, not just for us. Even outside of pleasing Celestia, I still want for Keith to want to have more friends," Twilight explained herself.
At this, Rainbow Dash's expression softened a bit, having gained some perspective as to why Twilight wanted to do this. However, that didn't mean she wanted to help, "Okay, fine," Rainbow Dash relented. "I'll help you, but for you not for Keith. I don't care what you think, but I will not think about him differently anytime soon."
"Thanks Rainbow Dash." Twilight thanked her loyal friend.
As the party went on, things were mostly pretty calm at the party. Gilda and Keith were met with very few pranks, if any, and were able to go back to having an okay okay time at the party. Keith and Rainbow Dash didn't interact much at all during this time, still not happy with how their previous interaction went. Rainbow, however, was willing to at least try to give Keith a second chance for Twilight's sake if Keith was willing to want one.
Eventually, the calmness of the party eventually started to waver once the cake was brought out. While Spike wanted to blow out the candles on the cake, Twilight insisted that Gilda do so as she was one of the guests of honor and also as she figured it would be best to leave Keith and Lancelot to their own devices for now. Gilda blew out the candles only for them to reignite. She tried again and again only for each of the multiple attempts resulting in the candles reigniting. Gilda was not pleased, believing that Pinkie Pie was responsible for the prank. Rainbow Dash checked with her to make sure she was okay, though Gilda denied having any problems with the prank.
Shortly after this, it was time for pin the tail on the pony. Gilda forcibly made herself the first one to go. When Pinkie tried to get Gilda ready for the game, Gilda assumed that Pinkie was going to prank her again and ended up making a fool of herself when she slipped on cake icing. When she was met with laughter as the toy tail was on her beak, she roared out in anger, having had enough of the pranks and the ponies' laughter.
"This is your idea of a good time? I've never met a lamer bunch of dweebs in all my life." Gilda yelled as she flew above the guests, finally fed up with the pranks she has had to deal with. "And Pinkie Pie, you! You are queen lame-o with your weak little party pranks." She pointed to said pink pony as she moved closer to said pony, who was only meeting the griffon with a nervous smile. "Did you really think you could make me lose my cool? Well, Dash and I have ten times as much cool as the rest of you put together." She yelled as she settled onto the ground. "Come on Dash, we're bailing on this pathetic scene. Come on Rainbow Dash. I said, we're leaving," she yelled as she was turning to walk away.
"You know Gilda, I was the one who set up all those weak pranks at this party," Rainbow Dash admitted to the griffon, much to the griffon's shock.
"What?" the griffon muttered in confusion.
"Ooh," the pink pony uttered.
"So I guess I'm queen lame-o," Rainbow Dash countered, angry at how her griffon friend had treated Pinkie and the others.
"Come on, Dash, you're joshing me," Gilda tried to believe that the pranks were not Dash's doing.
"They weren't all meant for you specifically, it was just dumb luck that you set them all off, and Keith for one of them," Rainbow Dash calmly explained.
"I shoulda known, that dribble cup had Rainbow Dash written all over it," Pinkie Pie said aside to Spike.
"No way. It was Pinkie Pie. She set up this party to trip me up, to make a fool of me," Gilda tried to defend herself, unwilling to believe that the party was thrown for any other reason.
"Me? I threw this party to improve your attitude. I thought a good party might turn that frown upside down," Pinkie Pie said and, at this, turned her head upside down.
"And you sure didn't need any help making a fool of yourself. You know, this is not how I thought my old friends would treat my new friends. If being cool is all you care about, maybe you should go find some new cool friends someplace else," Rainbow Dash defended her Ponyville friends, both of her wings flaring out.
Rather than try and make up with her friend, Gilda instead replied with, "Rrgh. Yeah? Well you, you, you are such a, a flip-flop: cool one minute and lame the next. When you decide not to be lame anymore, gimme a call." As Gilda left, she let out a loud eagle shriek.
"Not cool," Rainbow Dash simply said, unhappy with how her friendship had sourly ended. After this, many of the ponies present started talking about Gilda and how rude she was. Before Rainbow Dash could say anything else, Keith suddenly jumped into the conversation.
"Well, it looks as if what I said earlier was right. Your friendship with Gilda did end after all," Keith butted in.
At this, Rainbow Dash was beyond furious. "What did you say?!" Rainbow Dash fought back. "Did you see how mean she just was?! She dissed everyone here, especially Pinkie Pie, and wanted me to give up on all my new friends here!"
"Or she was frustrated because she got pranked constantly and believed that she was being met with revenge," Keith countered.
"Well she wasn't. My pranks were just bad luck and coincidences. Besides, that doesn't excuse her behavior at all!"
"I know that. I am just thinking that there is more to her behavior than her just being a jerk," Keith explained. "Of course, though, I won't be getting much sense from someone as rage filled as you."
"I AM NOT RAGE FILLED!" Rainbow Dash screamed at the top of her lungs. Before either of the two could continue, Lancelot grabbed Keith and pulled him away.
"Well, we must get going. Thanks everyone, the party was great," Lancelot thanked everyone as he dragged Keith out of Sugarcube Corner, trying to be nice and trying to downplay how Keith was just saying in front of everyone else.
After the duo left, Twilight sighed to herself, disappointed in how she failed to help Keith make friends. Spike noticed how Twilight had become sad and wanted to try and comfort her. "Twilight? Are you okay?"
"No, Spike. I was supposed to help Keith make friends, but instead all that happened was a complete mess," Twilight said, hanging her head down in shame.
"Hey, it's not your fault. Things just went bad, that's all," Spike tried to comfort. Upon seeing that Twilight's mood was failing to lift, he then added, "Besides, maybe Celestia will send them back and you can do better next time."
At this, Twilight's mood started to lift. "You're right. Thanks Spike. I will make sure that things will work out better the next time they are here. Besides, it looks like at least one friendship is working out," at this Twilight gestured to Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie.
"I'm sorry everypony, for bringing Gilda here," Rainbow Dash began. "I didn't know how rude she was. And Pinkie Pie, I'm really sorry she ruined that awesome party you put on for her."
"Hey, if you want to hang out with party poopers, that's your business," Pinkie Pie replied.
"I'd rather hang out with you. No hard feelings?" Rainbow Dash offered her hoof
"No hard feelings." At this, both of the ponies shook hooves only to be mildly electrocuted as a result. As it turned, both ponies had hoof buzzers on their hoof that they had set off. Both the ponies gave out a laugh at their prank on each other, proving that there truly were no hard feelings.
"Hey Pinkie. Sorry I accused you of misjudging Gilda. Looks like I'm the one who misjudged you," Twilight apologized for not trusting Pinkie earlier.
"It's okay Twilight, even you can't be a super smart smarty smart-pants all the time. Come on everypony, there's still a whole lotta party to finish," Pinkie Pie accepted the apology, as many of the ponies present cheered at the mention of the party continuing.
When Keith and Lancelot returned to the castle, Celestia was there to greet them. "Hello, you two. I trust that you both had a good time in Ponyville?"
"Well, there were… complications," Lancelot simply answered as Keith grumpilly entered.
"So, did you two learn anything while you were there?" Celestia questioned as she got out Twilight's letter.
"Yeah," Keith bitterly responded, "I learned that pranks are absolutely terrible and so are the ponies that pull them on others." Keith followed this up by walking away to his room as Lancelot followed. Once the two were gone, Celestia sighed to herself as she left to return to her study to read the letter on her own.