The continuation of Puppy-verse encompassing season 5 of MLP
Twilight Sparkle, her brothers, and their friends have just dealt with Tirek, saved the breezies and grown a castle out of a small treasure chest.
The Ponyville betting pool has never had bets this wild before on what the Sparkles will do next.
Still for once they would very much like a break from all the nonsense for a while. Of course the universe has other plans.
With unstable unicorns, a tree that gives missions, dating demi gods, another suitor chasing Rahs, Song Fishies return, wanted criminals, Yaks, Discord, Friendship summits, new shops, reworking spells, crossdressing, cutie- marks, time travel, concerts, feuding families, an invasion, and the edgiest unicorn mare you have ever seen, the Sparkles and their friends find there there truly is no rest for the wicked.
[ As usual I post my Slightly dirty tag here as while there is no clop or smut, it's hinted and and conversations tend to get a little filthy, also Cadence.]
Useing Ko-Fi to accept donations to get Fan art for the story. What art I have so far is also linked HERE!
TGaP now has a TV Tropes Page thanks to matt+s0101745, You can find that HERE.
[ Canterlot, Cadence's Love Lab, One week after Tirek]
Luna smiled, as she looked at the annoyed Cadence, who sat at the other side of the table being grumpy.
Celestia sat on another side of the table calmly sipping tea.
“Well you seem grumpy.” Celestia pointed out the obvious to Cadence.
“I have not gotten laid in a week.” Cadence growled. “Chryssy has cock blocked me every time. What's worse is Shining managed to logic his way out of any punishment by saying at worst he would have been drained and would have recovered later. He also pointed out that his doing his Guard duty was how we learned Tirek couldn't drain him in the first place and that my part in the plan was far worse.”
“He is a Sparkle.” Luna shrugged.
“Welcome to the dry spell club.”Celestia huffed. “Bitch to me when you have a few hundred years untouched.”
Luna smiled, her time clubbing in disguise had resulted in a number of fun encounters, though unlike her sister she made sure nothing would come of said liaisons. She had enough issue with Sombra and wanted to at least get him to stop hating her before she even considered another foal. Granted after Solomon her interests had shifted more towards mares than stallions so there was no risk there any way.
Luna blinked as Cadence glared at her.
“What?”
“STOP THINKING SEXY THOUGHTS!!” Cadence snapped.
Luna grinned.
“You are simply mad because your choice in the game has lost a large number of points due to the fight.”Luna kept up the grin.” And Trixie is more well regarded by Rahs than the others simply by not getting involved.”
“I am not so sure of that sister. After all from my understanding Rahs has agreed to another date with Sunset. Their third.” Celestia smiled. “ Evidently Sunset's quick thinking was well appreciated by everyone.”
“I certainly appreciate it, if it means Teacup is no longer around. That breezy was terrifying.” Cadence huffed.
“You know not the half of it.” Luna shuddered recalling how the Breezy descaled a dragon in one blow during the migration, and it was not a small dragon. Still it was Seth's own fault for not leaving like he was told.
“There is the chance that Teacup can come back. Twilight reported the gate in the crystal castle can be repowered, though they have not tried it yet.” Celestia offered.
“So about that castle what's going on with it?” Cadence huffed.
“It is quite interesting, there is a massive root structure that runs all the way under Ponyville and acts as a ley line channel, much to the Mayor's annoyance. We have also noticed that it has created it's own warding and it encompasses the entire town, nothing as potent as what Twilight has done, but more than enough to drop insurance rates. The Mayor was quite happy about that.” Luna explained. “We have also taken some of our own budget and purchased the land from the farmer that owned it at a reasonable payout. And with the Mayor's help we have registered the tree castle in the Sparkle's name.”
“Really? The letter I got from Twilight said she wants no part of the castle, it's too Princessy for her.” Celestia frowned.
“Yes we were given that impression as well.”
“Then why give it to Twilight if she doesn't want it?” Cadence asked.
“Three reasons. The first is the obvious signs that the tree is meant to be hers. The very shape of it resembling her cutie mark, and the flag being her cutie mark that formed along with the tree. Then there was how it was created though a rainbow magic spell that seemed empowered by the Tir Na Nog.”
“Something all of them hated, particularly Rahs with all the rainbow colors he was turned.” Celestia offered.
“Yes well, it seems Harmony managed to find a way to speed up the process of the gates moving and simply added it to the box. We expect the tree knew Tirek might show up again and that Twilight and her friends would be the ones to stop him.”
“Probably had the Fates nesting in it's branches again.” Celestia offered.
“That is where they were rumored to be first created at, and White in it's roots.” Cadence sighed.
“I still say White is a joke of Discords.” Celestia offered.
“And you're a joke of Law. OOOOooooooooooooo.”Dscord's voice called out.
The trio of alicorns looked around for the chaos spirit before they went back to their talk as they didn't see him.
“The third thing is that the crystal tree told me that it was there for Twilight and the Sparkles.” Luna added.
“It told you?” Cadence asked.
“Yes.” Luna nodded.
“How would a tree tell you something?” Celestia frowned.” You didn't gain a plant portfolio did you?”
“Not at all, we are still focused on coffee.” Luna offered. “But did you really expect the child of Harmony not to be able to talk?”
“The box was a seed?” Celestia offered after a moment of consideration.
“That makes far more sense than I like.” Cadence offered.
“Oh, changing the topic, did Chrysalis get the thank you gift I sent her for her help with Tirek?” Celestia questioned taking another sip of her tea.
“Yes and it's driving her mad trying to figure out how it's going to kill her.” Cadence frowned.
[Crystal Empire]
Chrysalis frowned as she stared at the statue that sat in a secure area of the Crystal Hive. It was a simple thing really, just a marble work depicting a generic changeling and a generic unicorn shaking hooves with a brass plaque commemorating the effort put forth by the changeling race to help Equestria and her citizens during the rampage of Tirek.
Chrysalis had hidden it and run every scan she knew over the damn thing and come up with nothing.
This thing had been a gift from Celestia and she was certain it was going to explode or come to life and murder her, but she had no idea what the heck was going to set it off or what it would do.
“Tell me your secrets, you damned rock!?!” Chrysalis screamed.
Luna frowned looking at her sister, then back to Cadence before shaking her head.
“There's no trap on it, is there?” Luna sighed as Celestia burst out laughing like a mad mare.
“I don't care. I'm not interested in the castle.” Twilight huffed.
“And I don't care, that you don't care.“ Spike huffed right back. ”We are going to have a look at it.”
“I dun wanna.” Twilight growled from where she was tucked under Rahs' arm as the moon dog rolled his eyes.
“Woof.” Rahs offered.
“I am not embarrassing myself, you are embarrassing me by carrying me!” Twilight snapped.
“The moment Rahs puts you down you're gonna teleport away.” Spike grumbled. ”I've been waiting to check this place out all week.”
“Then you should have come out yourself.” Twilight crossed her forelegs, snapping her teeth at Rahs' tail as it thwacked her in the nose. That her brother was carrying her backwards didn't help her mood.
“Place is in your name, and I don't want a breaking and entering charge filed against me. ”Spike shrugged.
“Why the buck does every one want me to go into this stupid castle?” Twilight demanded.
“Why are you trying to avoid going into it so much?”
'Several reasons. The first is the castle seems to really want me to go in, and that screams trap. ”Twilight offered.
Spike considered looking up at the towering structure as they approached. “Yeah okay, I'll give you that one. But it could be that it was simply designed for you by Harmony. Probably as a 'please don't break reality' gift, slash, bribe.”
Twilight considered. “Okay. That is a possibility after all I did to the box to try and get it open.
“Arf.” Rahs added.
“Yeah, and him.” Spike shuddered.
“What does my old pet fish have to do with this?” Twilight demanded. “ Never mind. Another reason is that thing is a demi god. It's the child of Harmony.”
“It's a tree.” Spike frowned.
“So is Harmony. That box must have been a seed.” Twilight ranted. “And I refuse to live inside something's child.”
Spike and Rahs looked at each other and rolled their eyes.
“So who's child do you think Golden Oaks is?” Spike asked.
“That's different, Golden Oaks is a tree and trees don't have children like that....fuck you and your damn dragon logic.” Twilight fumed as Spike and Rahs laughed.
“Oh come on, this might be fun. You already found a portal, what else might be in there?” Spike smirked.
“Is this a bad time?” a voice asked
Rahs and Spike looked over to see the Guard Captain of the Ponyville Guard trotting up. The dark gray winged nox-cal was in his armored uniform so this was likely a business call. Rahs was rather surprised he could walk after his mare friend was done with him after the fight and the results for the Guard in Ponyville. A number of the older ones had retired in the last week having had enough finally.
“Nah, whatcha need Comet Trail?” Spike asked.
Comet Trail regarded the two brothers and the rump of Twilight tucked under Rahs' arm, and decided not to ask.
“I actually needed to speak with Twilight if you don't mind.” Comet Trail looked up at Rahs.
The Moon Dog simply shrugged and pulled Twilight from under his arm spinning the mare around to face Comet Trail.
Upside down of course.
“You know. I can kill you now and since you won't die it will be nice and legal.” Twilight glared up at her brother.
“Please don't.” Comet Trail sighed.
“Fine. For now. What is it you need Captain?” Twilight asked.
“Err yes. As you know during the encounter with the Sirens the old stone Guard tower at the edge of the Everfree was destroyed. We've been in the process of designing a new building and considering costs and the like as well, but it seems we may not have to.” the nox-cal offered
Why's that?” Spike asked.
“We've sent a few investigations to your Crystal Tree since it appeared...”
“Not mine. Luna's.” Twilight corrected.
“Yours.” Comet Trail corrected right back. “Registered to a one Princess Twilight Tuesday Sparkle. Nice and legal.”
“Damn it Luna...... hey since she's a god can I...” Twilight began.
“Still regicide.” Comet cut her off.
“Plus you'd piss off Sweetiebelle.” Spike added. “And making her mad just snowballs into disaster.”
“At any rate we found a structure in one of the massive roots on northern side of the castle, left of the main door facing the town proper. Upon investigating it seems the place was designed to be a guards barracks.” Comet Trail continued. “The lay out of it is pretty much everything we would need and I would like to ask your permission to use it. After the last few major attacks we will be getting a larger contingent of guards. Enough to be an actual force rather than a police unit like we have been and given we are down to only ten guards after all the retirements we need the support. Plus with it out here, it's right between Sweet Apple Acres and the town itself rather than between the town and the Diamond Dog warrens. Since those warrens are abandoned now and the Jade Wolves are friendly this is a better position for the new Guard Post Though we still will have a watch tower or two set up on the other sides of town.”
Twilight stared up at Rahs, or down from her perspective.
“I told you it was too Princesssy, it's even got guard barracks. And look at the uniform, you cannot tell me that's not someones ideas of my coat for Princess colors.”
Rahs raised an eyebrow looking at the purple and dark blue armor trimmed in a brighter green the nox-cal wore, then back at the purple and magenta mare he held
“Woof.”
“What do you mean you don't see it? I know you're not color blind.” Twilight ranted.
“Twilight. The Mayor chose these colors. The green is to represent the founding of the town based on farms. The purple is representative of the royal grant that allowed the town to flourish and the blue is one of three colors chosen by the design team after the Guard flat out refused to wear red.”
“Red?” Spike asked.
“Red clothing is considered bad luck in the guard, or any security field in truth.” Comet Trail pointed out. “Shirts in particular.”
Twilight grumbled to herself a moment. “You know what fine, go ahead, if it means the mayor gets off my case about reinforcing everything again, plus I'm sure she'll be happy with the tax bits saved that she doesn't need to pay for a new Guard post. Rahs let's get this over with.”
Twilight waved a hoof and Rahs shook his head walking off towards the castle.
Spike stood there a moment more before glancing at Comet Trail. “So how long did it take you to come up with that string of bull shit?”
“About six seconds, I didn't think she would ask about the uniform color.” Comet Trail smirked. “Seems you figured it out though.”
“Please, it's not that hard. All the Guards watching us and trying to hide suddenly vanish and you get fancy new uniforms and armor?” Spike grinned. “Clearly the Princesses decided it would be easier to simply post more guards around.”
“And we got a bunch of 'new' recruits as well. Though Rarity has been asking for a male Guard as well for some reason.” Comet Trail considered.
“She needs a new dress horse I expect.” Spike nodded sagely.
“I thought that was what Sombra was for?” Comet Trail chuckled.
“He's put on some muscle since he started blacksmithing ,she needs a different body type.” Spike offered.
“SPIKE, get your lizard tail over here if you wanna see this thing so bad!” Twilight bellowed.
“She's a bit pissy today isn't she?” Comet Trail sighed.
“It's been quite a week for everyone.” Spike nodded lopeing after his siblings.
“Ain't that the truth.” Comet Trail nodded, taking to the air with a snap of leathery wings to head off and start the paperwork.
The inside of the crystal castle was immense. Far bigger than it should have been. Despite her reluctance Twilight was quite curious about this place. So far she had found her brothers could all get in as could the other Element Bearers though none of them had seen the same rooms when they came in.
Rahs claimed he could smell magic, but he couldn't taste it, as if the power was being kept just out of his reach.
Spike at some point either licked the wall or bit it as he complained for a while that the castle tasted like wood rather than some tasty gem.
The living quarters of the place were bigger than Golden Oaks, and even though the glowing crystal walls and floor made it seem like the rooms would be bad to sleep in, the crystal dimmed at the tap of a button making the room dark.
There was a kitchen, some rather modern bathrooms, a fairly large dining area, rooms that almost seemed tailored to the other Element Bearers in design, even if the furnishings were not there. There were also a number of extra bedrooms and store rooms.
Twilight took note that the castle was clearly trying to entice them to stay.
Spike was already enthralled with some of the rooms, many seemed perfect for his games and storage of other game things.
Her youngest brother was already talking about hosting a gaming con with all the space.
The massive empty book shelves of a library, that some how dwarfed the size of Canterlot Library, coupled with numerous smaller libraries every where she looked made things tempting. But it also made her certain there was something at work here.
Spike had gone nuts over the odd holographic table of the world. Given how the shadows and light moved, the map updated in real time, though none of them could figure out how to control or do anything with it.
In the end, it was a large set of doors just off the main hall that spelled the end of her resistance.
Mostly as she wasn't going to be given a choice.
Opening the massive double doors lead into a fair sized lobby area with what looked like a booth for a teller you would find at a bank or information kiosk, to either side of the booth were another set of doors.
Opening these was when Twilight realized she had lost any argument she tired about moving into this place before it even began.
The doors opened into a massive auditorium, with a large stage at the front. While there was no equipment, the riggings for curtains and lights were all present.
Twilight was certain the squee her brother let out hurt the ears of the diamond dogs in the warrens outside of town. She had hardly seen him move before Rahs seemed to be every where at once checking out everything.
When he finally came back to where she was , he was targeting her with a set of puppy dog eyes that he hadn't used since they were younger. That he had pulled two moon dog puppies from the Oneiroi. Their parents were probably going to be mad at him when he brought them back, though both of them were also doing the cute begging look, one even had a quivering lip.
“Thanks for the help girls. This would have been a pain in the flank other wise.” Twilight offered floating a book up onto another of the crystal shelves.” Particularly with my brothers not helping me.”
Sombra huffed setting down a box of books and storming back out into the main hall.
“Not a problem at all darling. Happy to help, though where are your brothers? Shouldn't they be done with their moving now?” Rarity asked as she dusted off a few books that had been sitting for a while before passing them to Twilight though she paused looking at one.” Wait isn't this a library book?”
“They're still moving their own stuff. Spike is rather protective of everything he has and isn't comfortable with the Crusaders helping him move aside from Applebloom. “Twilight pointed out. Rahs is currently rampaging around trying to decide what room is closest to the theater. The room he first found was nice, but he's also looking at a massive room with a small balcony that over looks the theater.”
“Surprised that's a choice for him.” Rainbow Dash smirked dropping off another box of books.
“The theater room is more a conference room build and it doesn't have a bathroom attached like the other room, granted I figure the tree will put one in at some point or another.” Twilight explained..
“Oh, oh, have you named the castle yet?” Pinkie Pie asked exploding out of a pile of books much to Rarity's annoyance.
“Seshat.” Twilight offered.
“A female name?” Fluttershy asked.
“Given all I have are brothers and a tree wouldn't have a gender any way, giving a female name seems to work for me.” Twilight smirked..
“Mistress of the House of Books.” Sunset offered as she slotted another book on the shelf. “Saddle Arabian?”
“Close, it's from Somnambula on the Hisin Peninsula.” Twilight corrected.
“Ahh. A lot of stuff I knew keeps getting confused with what I learned in the human world. There has to be some connection if for nothing more than the similar names.” Sunset sighed.
“Well, you can study that another time, for now let's get this finished.” Applejack offered rather gruffly as she dropped off another box of books. “How many books do you have any way?”
Twilight smirked looking at the barely filled main library of the Castle.
“Not nearly enough.”
“So this is the table?” Sunset hummed looking over the odd furniture. The thing was massive, likely big enough for six to eight ponies to stand on without bumping into each other and was propped up on rough crystals that grew from the floor.
“Yeah. I've only looked at it briefly so far though.” Twilight offered.” Celestia and Luna came to look at it and they had no clue. I even asked Chrysalis and she told me not to bother her while the statue of imitate doom had yet to doom, whatever that means.”
“Wow this map has everything. Hi mom and dad.” Pinkie waved to a small farm on the map.
“Huh this is pretty cool. It's got a real time update of Cloudsdale's location as well as some of the larger weather systems.” Rainbow Dash whistled floating over the map.
“Doesn't smell like anything either. Kinda odd if it's any sorta magic.” Applejack offered.
“It's very pretty.” Fluttershy supplied.
“Very much so darling, but one would expect a throne or a series of them around this sort of thing given it seems a centerpiece to the whole castle.” Rarity considered.
“Rarity if I had seen anything even resembling a throne in this place I wouldn't be moving in. “Twilight stated.” Still Spike was right this was a rather large mccguffin and I have a feeling this map is just going to add to that somehow. I just wish harmony had added instructions with the instant castle kit we were given.”
“Sunset? What are you doing under the table?” Pinkie Pie asked.
”I dunno, just for some reason I thought there would be a small dog in this thing.” Sunset hummed.
“What, on a wheel like a hamster?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“Ehh I dunno.”Sunset huffed.” But I really wanna know how this thing works.”
“You and me both, though I suppose we can add that to the li.. WHOA!” Twilight began, jumping as she felt something tickle her flank along her cutie mark. Looking back she could see it was glowing. As the other girls yelped or giggled The alicorn's gaze swept the room to see every pony else but Sunset's cutie marks were glowing. After a moment transparent images of their mark floated off their rears and glided over the table to swirl around the map before forming over the giant crystal tree visible on the surface.
“You are here.” Pinkie Pie giggled before pointing to the ocean. “ Your luggage is over there.”
The group watched as the marks floated around the table before they all stopped over a small town at the edge of Equestria.
“Ummmmm.” Rarity raised an eyebrow.
“Looks like it wants us to go there.” Applejack offered. “Not sure why.”
“Could be another threat.” Rainbow Dash considered. “I mean how many have we dealt with now, Even if we don't count Chrysalis?”
“... The Vines, The Diamond Dogs, The Timber Wolves, Tirek, and the Sirens. And if we count all the minor issues like PETA and the parasprites as well as the rest of the stuff we've stopped quite a lot.” Twilight continued. “This might be Harmony's way of telling us something is going on here that we should fix.”
“After everything with Tirek we're being sent on another adventure?” Applejack huffed. “Fine, I'm down, maybe this is like an early warning system and we ken git the drop on something first.”
“That's not a bad idea. Though is it only you girls going? Does it just show who needs to go, or who it wants to go?” Sunset pointed out.”Hell does it even have any other cutie marks that it could send any where or just you six?”
Sunset blinked as her cutie mark glowed and she looked back as it floated above the table and stopped over Sweet Apple Acres. It flashed a few times though it didn't go any where.
“That is the most obvious 'you stay here' I've ever seen from something that doesn't talk.” Pinkie Pie stated.
“Right.“ Sunset huffed. “I guess that means that it just wants you six to go.”
“Well I suppose I can.” Fluttershy muttered.
“I'm game.” Pinkie Pie smirked.
“ Of course I shall come along Darling.” Rarity scoffed.
“This route looks like a bit of a trek the train only goes so far, and the rest would be on hoof. “ Rainbow Dash pointed out looking at the map. “Seems like an of adventure. I'm in.”
“Well guess I'm stuck holding down the fort.” Sunset sighed. ”Though good luck convincing Spike and Rahs to let you go on your own.”
“Neither of them are showing up on the map, and Rahs has his own stuff to look after. It will be fine. Spike's going to be too distracted with moving and what Rahs doesn't know won't bother him.” Twilight frowned.
The others stared at Twilight silently before the purple alicorn sighed.
“He's standing right behind me isn't he?” Twilight grumbled as the others nodded.
“Bork.” Rahs stated simply.
“First off.” Twilight whirled to face him. ”No, you are not coming. You got hurt a lot more than I did in that fight and it's only been a week. You are staying here.”
Rahs leaned down nose to nose with his sister.
“Bork.”
“I most certainly can make you stay here.”Twilight growled her horn starting to glow.
“Bork!” Rahs snapped back, his tail lashing as his ears flattened to his head.
“Oh Shit. GET TO COVER!” Pinkie Pie bellowed.
[ One hour, six fires, one small gravitational singularity, a few thousand bits of damage, and a very confused ferret later.]
“BORK!” Rahs stated.
“What he said.” Twilight grumbled.
“I DON”T CARE.” Spike snapped. The dragon stood on the map table glaring his siblings, both of whom had their noses to a different corner of the room where Spike had made them stand.” We just moved into this place, and I had just set up my figures on my shelves when they all got knocked down. Do you have any idea how much glue and touch up painting I'm going to have to do to fix them all? These weren't the easy to repair plastic ones you guys broke either, NOOOOOO. You some how had to manage to break ONLY the old metal ones, ones that getting an arm or sword to stay on was a nightmare and a half. And don't get me started on the models with the stupid heavy metal wings. Plus I'm out of the shade of green that I used on half of them. I need to go to Canterlot to get my paints and don't think I won't tell every Princess I find, PLUS mom and dad about this stupid fight over this stupid table.”
The table chimed lightly.
“Stuff it!” Spike snapped, stomping on the table. “Now then, I'm playing the outsider on this one despite agreeing with Rahs. So here's what's gonna happen. Rahs is going with you, and a couple of Guards too just to make sure this isn't something massive again.”
“Now wait just a.. AGGH!!” Twilight started before Spike spritzed her with the spray bottle he held.
“No buts. Whenever you get to where you're going the Guards and Rahs are gonna hang back and let you do your thing, whatever that is unless something bad happens.“ Spike ordered. ”The guards are only gonna be there to report back if something does go down because I know how much bullshit you two can take.”
“Woo... AKKK!!” Rahs started before he was spritzed.
“What did I say!? No buts!” Spike growled. “We all just went through something that could have killed everyone and I'm not to happy that you're throwing yourself into something else again so soon. And you don't even know what it is! Personally I'd be more than happy to just let the Princesses know and let them send a whole squad of Guards out there to deal with it. But for some reason the tree thinks you six are enough. So I'm going to hold off calling in a freaking strike force in case this can be dealt with peacefully with just you six. And if you don't like it, I can have you argue with the Princesses, who I might add, due to your refusal Twilight, outrank you still. And they can and probably will, order you to stand down.”
The other girls glanced to each other then to Spike who glared at his siblings as they grumbled and growled respectively.
“Good. Now I'm going to go see if Comet Trail has a couple of ponies who want to go along with you to be messengers. Then I'm gonna head up to Canterlot and try and get my glue and paint. Seriously you'd think Ponyville would get a game shop or a full on comic shop by now with how much I spend on stuff.” Spike ranted. “The rest of you should get ready too.”
The train ride out towards the village was uneventful, save a few small arguments breaking out between Twilight and Rahs.
Most of which Pinkie Pie solved with a spray bottle and rolled up newspaper.
One was solved by the conductor coming in and telling them to sit down, shut up, or get off his train.
The stallion was neither cowed, nor impressed by the Guards, or the alicorn and her brother. Evidently he used to be on a route that regularly transported Yaks.
Guard Captain Comet Trail had assigned eight guards to accompany them, three of them pegasi and one thestril, the other four were; two earth ponies, a unicorn, and a kirin. By the time they got to the town however there would only be two with them, as the rest would hang back in pairs at three strategic points along the path to the town with one flier per group. The final two would set up with Rahs outside of town and keep an eye on things while the six mares went into the town. The relay was set up in case Twilight's ability to send things through magic was blocked or removed.
The Guard Captain was not happy with Twilight's insistence that the other Princesses not be informed.
Twilight was not happy that the Guard Captain informed them anyway.
Ditsy was not happy that Twilight was yelling at her colt friend.
Dinky and Mr. Tiny Sniffles were not happy that Ditzy was arguing.
Twilight could not contend with cute of the magnitude that Dinky possessed and apologized reluctantly.
Rahs and Spike were amused.
Surprisingly the only response back from Canterlot was a message to keep them informed of what was happening. For a copy of any notes taken while studying the castle tree, and a small packet of information on the towns founding.
There was little information in truth in what was sent from Canterlot. There was the initial well worded request to set up the town in a location near the edge of Equestria, and the forms filled out to process the request. The only relevant information was that the place was called, 'Our Town' and was founded by a one Starlight Glimmer only a few years ago.
The last census listed it as having a fairly sizable population of a little over three score of ponies, though there were no major imports or exports and it was rated as a self sufficient location that paid it's taxes on time.
The hike through the hills and up into the mountain range wasn't that hard, as a worn, if not well used, path ran straight to the village where it lay nestled in a peaceful looking valley between a series of peaks in the range.
Rahs had already talked to the moon dogs that guarded the dreams of those in Our Town. He took note they were a little thin, but other wise healthy. Their reports on the townsfolk dreams had most of them overwhelmingly being about cutie-marks, as if the whole town were foals that were still waiting to get theirs, and were dreaming about them. This group was some what isolated from the main packs in the Oneiroi. With all the empty land between the next closest city and Our Town, there was a lot of dream wilds to be crossed to get here. This meant that it might take Rahs a few days to get back to Ponyville if he tried to travel through the Oneiroi.
Rahs also couldn't find the moon dog who watched Starlight Glimmer's dreams.
Twilight and the others made a note of that and Twilight pointed out there was a rather impressive Ley Line network set up under the town, one that could easily power a location twice the size of what they saw. Clearly the founder was thinking to expand.
The Guards set up their final camp off the side of the path where it crested a rise. This allowed them to stay out of sight of the town, yet still look down over it.
The girls and Rahs stood at the ridge staring down at the odd layout of the town. The completely even two rows of homes and businesses on each side, with only one home sitting at the end of the straight path running between the other buildings seeming off.
“Well. That is some rather exacting city planning.” Rarity hummed.
“Neat and organized. I kinda like it.” Twilight offered. “Now remember fur ball, you're gonna park your butt here and not go anywhere near this place. We already don't have any idea how any of them are going to react to six random ponies trotting up. And you tend to unnerve ponies at the best of times.”
Rahs growled.
“Hey I wanted you to stay home, but Spike made me agree to this part, now you stick with yours.” Twilight demanded.
Rahs said nothing, but his ears flicked a little in a quick pattern and one of the Guards let out a short bark of laughter before silencing it when Twilight glared at him.
“One of these days I'm going to learn guard cant and then I'll know exactly why you'll be sorry for that.” Twilight growled before looking to the other girls. “Come on. Lets go.”
Rahs watched the small group head down the path towards the town.
He had a bad feeling about this.
[ Ponyville]
The Crystal Castle was not fully unoccupied. Spike was in his new room trying to put together the broken models, and Sunset was in the map room. Sunset was still evidently not far enough away to avoid hearing the creative swear words Spike came up with while trying to fix a particularly annoying figure.
“Sunset's log, star date, no one will get this joke but me any way.” Sunset began, the crystal tablet Rahs got her for Hearths Warming a bit back floating in her magic, recording what she said. “I've run every scan on the table I know, and some I stole from Sombra. Something about this place shows up as both magic and not magic at the same time. Interestingly enough I have traced the power source of this place to the Breezy gate itself. Seems the Tir Na Nog itself is the source of power. I'm not sure this is a good idea after the realm was split apart by Tirek draining power, but there doesn't seem to be any issues. I've opened the gate once to check on everything and got a update from Seabreeze that everything was fine on their side of things. Though Seabreeze was a little weirded out that Teacup was mellow. Not sure if the Breezy is still a god, but Seabreeze said Breezies lived practically forever in the Tir Na Nog so it would be rather hard to tell if Teacup was mortal again. Seabreeze also said Teacup was avoiding the gate but going everywhere else in his homeland.”
Sunset frowned poking the rocks under the desk again still wondering where the idea of a little dog came from.
She sighed shaking her head.
“With a little fiddling I have figured out how to zoom the map in and out as well as adjust the location tracker to show the current location of the others rather than just where they are going, so I suppose that is progress. There's still nothing on why it's sending them there however” Sunset huffed.
“Twilight said the tree of Harmony could talk, but would it's off spring have that ability?” Sunset pondered. “And. If so, how would one go around talking to it?”
“Well you could ask.” A female voice chimed up from the table making Sunset shriek.
“You have to be doing that intentionally.” The table stated.
[?]
Discord looked up from a newspaper.
“Move along, I'm not in this episode. Go on, shoo.”
[Our Town.]
“This. Is. Really. Creepy.” Rainbow Dash muttered from her place behind a rock.
“It's just a town....” Applejack whispered. “ Look there's some sort of crops growing off to the side of it, though they don't look real healthy.”
“I don't know darling, they are giving me the willies.” Rarity grumbled.
“Is any one else worried that Rarity is creeped out?” Fluttershy muttered. ”I mean with the night mare and all..... just me? Okay.”
“Those smiles are wrong. Trust me I know smiles and those are not the right kinda smiles.” Pinkie Pie growled.
“Forget the smiles, look at the cutie-marks.” Twilight pointed out, her eyes narrowing.
The group had decided to sneak closer, with Twilight casting an alicorn level notice me not spell so the towns folk didn't notice them. Despite that, the group still ducked behind a large rock just to be safe.
“I bet there's some sort of horrific monster behind it all.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“Why do you say that?” Fluttershy asked. “I think the town looks lovely.”
“Look at our track record.” Rainbow Dash pointed out.
“I hate to say it, but we are not going to find out anything else without actually going in a talking to some of them.” Twilight muttered.” Not sure I want to now though.”
“Twilight, yer a god, I'm a magic eating wolf, Shy's a bat, Rarity's part nightmare, and Pinkie is Pinkie. “Applejack offered.” Ah'm pretty sure we ken deal with whatever is wrong in this town, and if not we got yer brother fer back up and a couple of trained guard. If anything is wrong with this town, it should be worried about us.”
“What am I chopped liver?” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“Is that a thing you can become? Is it like a zombie or a golem?” Pinkie Pie questioned.
“You know what, never mind.” Rainbow Dash sighed.
“I agree with Twilight in this case, we cannot learn why we were sent here if we hide behind a rock the whole time.” Rarity sighed. “Plus Twilight will be annoyed if we leave without finding anything.”
“I'm not annoyed at being cautious I'm annoyed at being told what to do by my brother, who is the same age as me, if not technically younger, and thinks he knows better despite the fact he can't even decide on a mare friend. Right, whatever. Let's go.” Twilight offered as she stepped out from behind the rock and dropped the spell as the others joined her approach.
“Welcome...” one of the ponies stated as she noticed the group.
The moon dog had yet to stop pacing at the edge of camp and was wearing a rut in the grass.
The two guards had watched for a while before the pegasus, Slipstream, got bored and took to the air to do some perimeter scouting, leaving the unicorn mare, Snowy Path, to watch the moon dog pace like a caged tiger.
Thankfully after a few minutes, or sixty three back and forths, the pegasus came back.
“Not much of note around here besides the town. I spotted an old mine further up on the ridge there, though the path leading to it doesn't look well used. There's another cave near the base of the valley that looks more traveled, but it was closer to the town than I wanted to get.” Slipstream reported. “I poked around the mine though, and found there's a few caves marked with signs along this side of the mountain. Most of them are faded but the one I could read marked it as Snow Drop Mine, number three.”
“Any sign of the company name?” Snowy Path asked pulling out a map.
“I think Snow Drop was the company name.”
“It's not marked on this map, but the name sounds familiar. Pretty sure Snow Drop is a mining group that still operates out of Manehatten. I'm gonna send a message back with the information, see if any of the others have heard of it.” Snowy Path offered, before writing out a note and sending off a message with her horn with a faint wince.
Rahs paused, and looked back at the mare as she rubbed her horn. His ears flicking an apology.
“You're fine, though I'm gonna head over here a bit more to make sure any responses come back easier.” the unicorn muttered.
Slipstream watched Rahs start pacing again, then glanced down to the town watching the locals finally seem to notice the bearers trotting into town.
“What are you worried about? Can't you just pop in there if there's any trouble?” the pegasus asked.
Rahs frowned and shook his head, his ears flicking a little.
“Resistance?” Slipstream questioned rubbing a hoof along his amber furred chin.” How is there resistance in a teleport?”
“According to the information he doesn't teleport, it's more like a dimension door, he steps into another world that allows him to move faster, and then steps out where he wants to be.” Snowy Path offered.
Rahs raised an eyebrow questioning at the Unicorn Guard.
“Don't give me that look. Do you not think the Ponyville Guard wouldn't have a record sheet for every notable individual in town. You and your siblings have a whole file cabinet drawer on your own. We all had to study that before we were reassigned to Ponyville.” Snowy path stated. ”Seems Slipstream here just didn't read that part.”
“It's a lot of big technical magicy words.” The pegasus protested.” Besides I'm still stuck on the file cabinet sized notes for the Crusaders. There's no way three little fillies could have done that much.”
“One's the daughter of the Captain of the Wonderbolts, and her second. Ones an Apple apprenticing to a Zebra Shaman. And ones parents are RED, and that same one is is officially Princess Luna's little sister.”
“Yeah that sums it all up nicely.” Slipstream sighed. “Is it too late to change my posting?”
Rahs shook his head patting the pegasus on the back.
[Our Town]
“Welcome..”
“Welcome.”
“Welcome.”
“I now dub this place, uncanny valley.” Twilight muttered.
“Do you have the power to do that?” Rarity asked.
“I will find a way.” Twilight shuddered offering a small nod to another 'Welcoming' pony.
“This is a very pleasant place.” Fluttershy giggled.
“So much for adventure, thanks, map.” Rainbow Dash grumbled.
“Welcome. Pardon my forwardness, but are you an alicorn?” a blue gray unicorn stallion asked, his smile wide enough that the girls could see the town had a decent dentist if nothing else.
“Ummm... yes?” Twilight agreed eyeing the pony cautiously.
“So what brings you to town?” A pure white earth pony stallion with the same smile and very similar mane cut asked as he trotted up.
“We're not exactly sure.” Twilight admitted.
“I see.” the white pony nodded. “ Well all are welcome here in our little village. I'm Double Diamond and this is Party Favor.
“Well howdy. Ah'm Applejack, this here's Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Twilight Sparkle.”
“Ahh, well and you all have your own unique cutie marks.” Double Diamond pointed out.
“Is he looking at my butt?” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“If you don't mind me asking. Has there been any sort of … trouble here recently?” Twilight asked.
“Trouble? I don't think we've ever had any trouble in our little community.” Double Diamond considered.
“Seriously? No big centaur guy stomping around draining magic?” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“Can't say I've seen any one like that.” Double Diamond considered.” We don't get that many visitors out here. Perhaps you'd care to speak with out founder, Starlight Glimmer.”
“She's here?” Twilight blinked.
“Oh yes. Her house is right here at the end of the road.” Double Diamond gestured to the odd house at the end of the road before he started towards it.” Come on, I'll introduce you.”
“This place is very friendly.” Fluttershy smiled.
“This place is very wrong. Somethings rotten in Our Town, not our town, our town of Ponyville but this place called Our Town out here... though given Ponyville's track record there might be something rotten there too. I think I forgot to put the eggs away ….” Pinkie rambled.
The stallion rapped lightly on the door of the house. “Starlight. We have some new visitors.”
“Be ready, anything could come through that door.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
The door opened and a lilac furred unicorn mare stepped out looking the group over, her purple eyes settling on Twilight. Her dark purple with light blue streaked mane was done up a bit fancier than the other mares they had seen in town and she didn't have the vest that made Rarity wince, but her cutie mark was exactly the same as the others.
“Welcome. I'm so pleased to have you here.” Starlight smiled.
“This is Applejack, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash , and Twilight Sparkle.”
“Forgive my bluntness but I'm assuming it's Princess Twilight Sparkle?” Starlight questioned.
“I'm not a princess!!” Twilight snapped.
“Ignore that, it's a bit of a hot topic with her dear.” Rarity offered.
“Err right, sorry, we don't get many alicorns out here.” Starlight continued eyeing Twilight warily. ”Sooo how did you hear of our little village?”
“It's kind of a long and confusing story, let's just say we found a map.” Twilight sighed.
“Well, however you found us, we're happy to have you! We're happy to have any pony who want's to experience true friendship for the first time.” Starlight explained.
“Say what” Applejack questioned.
“Oh, indeed. That's what's so unique about our village, you see. Around here, we don't flaunt our special talents because we don't have any special talents to flaunt.” Starlight continued.
“Is that what's going on with the cutie-marks?” Twilight questioned.
“Perhaps it would be easier to understand if I gave you a tour of the village!” Starlight offered.
The six of them blinked as a odd drum cadence started up from somewhere.
[Ponyville]
“What the hell!?” Sunset demanded.
“I don't understand the context of that query.” The tree responded.
“Okay, what the Tartarus?”
“I still do not understand. What does that phrase even mean?”
“It's slang!” Sunset pointed out. ”Common slang at that.”
“Miss Shimmer I was only born a week ago. How much slang do you think I could learn in that time?” the tree protested.
“Yeah I suppose you're right on that...... wait a minute.” Sunset frowned. “Are you messing with me? You've got a pretty complex vocabulary for something born a week ago.”
“Define,' Messing with me.”
“GAH!!”
[Our Town]
“Well.... I now know how Sombra feels about random songs like that.” Rarity shuddered.
“I'm more worried she expects us to give up our cutie marks.” Rainbow Dash muttered.
“She does seem rather convinced they are a bad thing for some reason.” Twilight sighed.” Though I have serious doubts that we were sent here to join this town.”
“There's no need to be so suspicious. They do seem to be rather happy with their choice.” Fluttershy offered.
“Don't believe the smiles Shy.” Pinkie growled.
“What in tha world is a false promise of a cutie mark. This whole thing is weird.” Applejack muttered.
“It seems we have a bit of another issue. We are being watched.” Rarity offered, the others trying not to notice the plethora of purple eyes that opened in her mane to watch in all directions at once, thankfully they weren't that noticeable past a certain distance. “Not only is Double Diamond hanging close but there are quite a number of other ponies watching us and trying to stay out of sight or pretend they are not.”
“How many?” Twilight questioned.
“Most of the town is, though they are being blatant, some are trying to pretend they are not.” Rarity grumbled the eyes fading before she whipped around to a shop and the stallion there pointing a hoof at something on display..” Oh my stars. WHAT. IS. THAT!?”
“It's the local fashion. We have cloaks this month!” the stallion announced.
“Wha— Ooh, er, perhaps another time, good sir, thank you. “ Rarity shuddered muttering to herself.” No wonder most of them aren't wearing anything.”
“Ah can't believe we ran to the end of Equestria before we even knew what that map was.” Applejack sighed.
“If we were at the end of Equestria, we'd be sitting on a big 'A'! “ Pinkie chimed up. “Get it?”
“Pinkie Pie this is hardly the time for jokes.” Rarity huffed.
“It is always time for jokes.” Pinkie nodded solomly.
“Yes well, why were we even sent out here?” Rarity asked as the group took seats around a table out side what they expected was a cafe.
“Well something is clearly wrong here.” Twilight muttered.
“Way to state the obvious Twi.” Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Is this a bad time?” A mare asked as she walked up to the table to take their order.
[ Ponyville]
“ Okay... now is everything settled, or can I expect more bullshit after I explained slang, swearing, and phrasing?” Sunset growled.
“I think so fucker.”
“What did I say about the appropriate timing?” Sunset snapped.
“Sorry.”
“Right. Now then. I have some questions of my own.” Sunset sighed. “ First off why did you send the others to that little town on the map?”
“Because something is wrong there.” the table replied.
“What's wrong there?”
“I do not know.”
“What?” Sunset demanded.
“I do not know what is wrong there. I only know the ones I sent are the best ones to solve the issue. Rahs going might alter that some how though and I am no longer certain if it can be solved.”
“How do you mean.”
“I can pin point a problem to a fairly small area of a quarter of a mile. I do not know what the problem is only that it is something that cannot be solved with out outside interference.” the table offered.
“Hmmm. A disruption in harmony perhaps?” Sunset offered.
“Yes. That sounds correct. “
“Okay that makes a bit of sense given whose seed you sprouted from. I guess Harmony wanted a bit more insurance.” Sunset considered. “There's precedent for that sort of prediction with the zebra god Velkorn, Pinkie's Pinkie sense, and Rahs' dramatic timing.”
“I also have a vague understanding of who would be best suited to go. Which may be a problem as I do not think Rahs was supposed to go with them.” the tree table offered, there didn't seem to be any one source of where the tree spoke from and while it bugged Sunset, she was trying not to dwell on the fact she was sitting inside a sentient creature, tree or not.
“Alright. Well, we'll have to see how that turns out. But now for the most important question.” Sunset nodded.
“What is that?”
“Are you interested in trying to date Rahs? Cause there are already far too many and I don't want another one.” Sunset demanded.
“I'm a tree.” the table responded.
“At this point something like that hardly seems to matter.” Sunset snapped.
The trio at the small camp were not surprised at the appearance of a scroll out of thin air at the unicorns horn. Though all three were curious as to what it had to say.
“Okay we got a message back from bravo team. Seems PFC Buttercup worked with Snow Drop before joining the guard.” Snowy Path offered.
“Which one was she?” Slipstream asked.
“The green earth pony mare with the black hair we left at point two. Snow Drop is based out of Manehatten, so I got that correct. She doesn't know this mine, but the SOP for the company when mining is to build a town for the workers and she says the description of the layout of this place is too odd for it to be a mining town, so it was likely exploratory mining and this Starlight bought the land and built the town after the company pulled up stake. Snow Drop exploratory mining SOP was to dig numerous channels to the core of a mountain and then a vertical shaft out the middle to the top and connect all the tunnels to it. The mountain of that size should have at least forty or so exploratory tunnels dug into it from various heights and locations around the mountain itself.”
“Sounds like a perfect monster nest to me.” Slipstream grumbled.
“Probably. Though this isn't exactly useful to us.” Snowy Path pointed out.
Rahs considered flicking his ears as the other two watched the cant.
“Yeah... maybe the target is in the mines and not the town.” Snowy Path considered. “Something to consider and to pass onto the Bearer's when they return.”
[Our Town]
“This place just gets weirder and weirder.” Rainbow Dash muttered as the group trotted along a worn path.
“At least you didn't have to eat those muffins. I've accidentally eaten cardboard that tasted better.” Pinkie Pie groaned.
“I'm delighted you're interested in our cutie mark vault. We hope someday every pony in Equestria will make a pilgrimage here to our little village to have theirs removed too, and our message of perfectly equal friendship can finally spread across the land.” Starlight beamed.
“Errrr yeah.... that's a bit..... optimistic really.” Twilight considered, picking her words. This had to have something to do with why they were here. The very idea of having ones cutie- marks removed was abhorrent, and that everyone here still seemed interested in cutie marks, save Starlight. Something was clearly wrong here. Rahs' report on the moon dogs in the area was odd as well, they all seemed to even dream about cutie marks, yet the moon dogs looked like they weren't getting enough food. Did cutie marks have something to do with the Oneiroi? Twilight made a note that studying the link again might be needed, though she already had a rather long list. Better still, where was Starlight's moon dog?
“Just through here! Behold! Our cutie mark vault!” Starlight gestured after leading the group into a cave just outside the edge of town.
The gathered mares all stopped and gawked at the massive glass wall filled with little boxes, each containing a single floating cutie mark inside it.
The brief silence was finally broken by Fluttershy.
“What the shit?”
[ Bayston]
Adagio stared into her drink as the music played in the background. Her sisters were on stage, playing for the crowd that was currently beating the fool out of itself in a classic bar room brawl.
This was not optimal at all. They might still be in Equestria, but they were forced to keep a low profile. Worse still was she had yet to figure out a way to augment her powers. Sure, she wasn't exactly weak, and of the three of them she knew more magic than the others, hence why she stuck with a unicorn disguise rather than any other, granted being a cross between the goddess of sea ponies and whatever her father was supposed to be didn't exactly make the most inconspicuous of normal forms. Still thanks to their mothers side of things they could adopt land forms that resembled ponies rather than be stuck in their Siren forms.
Of course sea ponies as a whole could alter themselves as they needed to. Like the nox-cal, sea ponies were three distinct tribes under one name.
The Kelpie, which tended to be the largest and most hardy of the three, they resembled earth ponies on land. Aria more closely followed them then any other. In the water the Kelpie looked more like sharks crossed with ponies than anything else, their Siren forms had a lot of that look.
The Mer were the pegasi equivalent. Fast, flighty, and in control of the currents more than any of the other three. They were the ones everyone thought of when some one mentioned sea ponies, likely due to their wanderlust matching the Thestrils and the Pegasi, they tended to want to be every where. While the land form didn't have wings per say, the long gossamer fins they possessed looked like wings despite not being able to provide true flight beyond gliding and fluttering about. Sonata tended to ignore that most of the time somehow, though her younger sister still rarely flew.
Then there were the unicorn equivalents, the ones that very rarely every left the deeper waters. While some of them did have horns, most of them tended to also have squid tendrils in their natural forms both as limbs and around their maws. While on land they did resemble unicorns however but it was rare that this tribe left the water. Adagio thankfully only took after them in terms of power rather than the looks the Innsmouth had. Though there were a few occasions in the human world she wouldn't have minded tentacles, particularly when they traveled through Japan.
Still with her ability to boost her magic limited since her gems destruction she had to come up with other ideas. One she had come up with should tip the odds in their favor next time some one tried to stop them. She couldn't wait to turn the tables on that goddess. Sure she couldn't kill her, but tormenting her for stopping them was a decent enough payback.
After all, the mare might be the goddess of magic, but if the magic came from another world, or something she hadn't studied before, the few moments of surprise would be more than enough to catch her off guard.
Though Adagio doubted the same trick would work twice on the purple alicorn.
[Cutie mark vault ]
“I've never seen anything like this.” Twilight muttered looking at the vault and the mass of floating cutie marks. There had to be one here for every one in the town with plenty of space left to spare.
“And here is the Staff of Sameness. It was one of the great mage Medowbrook's nine enchanted items. We are incredibly fortunate to have it here. This is the tool that allows us to free ourselves from our marks! I'm curious, how did the subject of the vault come up?”
“Oh, some ponies were telling us how much they missed their cutie marks, and..” Pinkie Pie ranted.
“Pinkie!” Twilight snapped.
“Oops...”
“Were they? Well, it seems you inspire all sorts of free thinking, don't you?” Starlight frowned.
“Ah am a might concerned that that staff don't smell like magic...”Applejack offered.
“Well, w-we certainly didn't intend to cause any disruptions to your charming little..” Rarity began.
“Good.” Starlight stated flatly before grinning wide the staff yanked from the pedestal.” Let's just make sure of that, shall we?”
“What?” Twilight demanded before a wash of magic from the staff enveloped the group.
A chorus of screams filled the cave as the girls cutie marks were yanked from them. The marks floating in the air before quickly being sealed away in jars bay the cackling unicorn.
“Aw. I don't blame you for what you tried to do here today. You've spent your whole lives thinking those marks are a good thing.” Starlight smirked.
“Give them back!” Twilight demanded, her horn sparking as she tired to focus on a spell and failed.
“Well, now you can spend the rest of your lives here with us! And we'll teach you just how much better life can be without your cutie marks!” Starlight chuckled.
“You're not gonna win. Rahs will save us” Pinkie Pie cried out.
“Who?” Starlight questioned.
“Him.” Pinkie pointed.
Starlight glanced back not seeing anyone or anything in the direction the pink mare pointed.
“Umm?” Starlight blinked.
“Oh no! Him,... him... come on, Him.” Pinkie demanded gesturing wildly. ”Rahs this is a super dramatic moment, where are you?”
The ritual spell had taken Starlight a few hours to set up. Honestly despite her annoyance at those in town for thinking about cutie marks, she wasn't going to punish any pony as their interest delayed these six long enough for her to get set up.
It had taken her years to develop this into the way it was now, a prelaid ritual in the cave that was undetectable with all the magic the vault, another of her creations, was giving off. She had learned a few things in her travels, including suppression magic to hide it's radiance from any one seeking it, or in some cases trying to eat it. Artemis had been weird, but she had learned a lot from it, and she likely never would have been able to set this up if she hadn't found it.
Pity she had parted on such bad terms.
That and she forgot where the heck the place was beyond in the mountains some where. Starlight admitted her sense of direction had never been great.
Starlight had seen a lot of things since she had first put together the spell that allowed her to remove cutie marks. She had seen ponies crying, seen ponies get mad, or even more depressed, she had once even seen one of them break into a very disjointed, and frankly terrible, song about losing their cutie mark.
This however was new.
She had expected something from the alicorn, but at the moment she was still getting over the loss of her cutie mark as expected, just like the blue pegasus and every other pony the spell had hit in the past. They were always going to be useless for a time simply due to the shock of what their bodies were going through.
Starlight doubted it would of worked had the princess not been taken by surprise.
The pink mare was much the same, despite her demands for this 'Rahs' to appear.
The spell had taken far more power than she expected right off the bat and she would need to rebuild the ritual before she could use it on those guards outside of town. Most of the magic seemed to be getting pulled into the orange pony.
Granted the orange pony also wasn't an orange pony any more and was now a massive witch wolf. Starlight hadn't expected another encounter with those from Artemis, but she was glad she had set up parts of the ritual for them, just in case.
Granted this witch wolf seemed intent on attacking the white unicorn. A white unicorn who was wreathed in shadowy tendrils and was lashing out at the witch wolf with just as furious of attacks. She also wouldn't stop screaming, a deep unearthly howl that actually set Starlight's fur on end. The multiple eyes thing in her hair was just creepy, as was the three fanged maws running along her neck and torso.
Seriously what the buck was that thing?
The yellow thestril was currently hanging from the cave roof hissing at every pony. That was just weird too.
And the blue witch wolf was just glaring at her angrily as he advanced.
Wait a tick.
[ Outside of Our Town]
“CODE PURPLE!! CODE PURPLE!!” Slipstream screamed out as Rahs vanished from their sight.
The pegasus was already off like a shot to the relay point as he cried out, Snowy Path started sending messages almost at the same time. If something interfered with the magic sending, his wings would get the message to the next point.
Snowy Path quickly moved away from the camp and into cover, all but vanishing in the treeline to keep an eye on the town and take note of anything that might change. If the look on Rahs' face was any indication, something had happened to Twilight Sparkle. And if something could take down the goddess of magic, the unicorn guard wanted as little to do with it as possible.
[Cutie Vault]
The towns ponies who had gathered to help Starlight with their guests were at a loss of what to do. There were three out of control monsters flitting around the fallen princess and the pink earth pony. Two of them were fighting and it was only the deadening of their instincts when their mark was removed that kept them from fleeing at the very sight of the beast ponies and the nightmare.
Then there was the massive diamond dog creature that was attacking Starlight.
Despite having lost their cutie marks, talents, much of their common sense, and individuality it could be said that they were almost on par with the residents of Ponyville.
In other words, none of them was stupid enough to get between a Sparkle and his target.
Starlight screamed out as she dodged back, the beasts claws grazing across her muzzle leaving red lines of blood as he came for her.
She was not prepared for a witch wolf to suddenly appear and start attacking her, sure she had left Artemis on bad terms, but she didn't expect a murderous reaction like this.
Teleporting was out of the question, with two witch wolves the spell would have too much magic drawn from her to allow a long teleport back to her house so quickly. A short range blind fire would be easier to cast, but it could drop her into a rock and getting shunted out of a boulder was not a pleasant feeling, particularly if she was shunted back into the cave.
The witch wolf was relentless, though it seemed reluctant or disoriented?
Starlight shrieked as fangs snapped at her, going for her throat. Nope not either of those.
She brought up the Staff of Sameness, blocking the bite, though that saved her she cried out at the feeling of something smacking her horn as the witch wolf devoured the magic holding the staff, and then snapped the stick in two with a bite.
“RAHS NO, that's what she used to take our cutie marks.” Twilight called out.
“Woof!” Rahs snapped back, pausing momentarily to respond and spit out wood.
“What? What did you say?!” Twilight blinked. “Rahs!”
“Woof!” Rahs repeated.
“I...... I don't know what you're saying.” Twilight stammered.' I don't understand you....”
“This isn't the first time I've dealt with one of your kind witch wolf.” Starlight stated her magic gathering a number of small rocks from the cavern. She really wished she hadn't been as meticulous cleaning this place out. A big boulder would have been perfect.
Rahs lashed out, not as distracted as Starlight thought, as her horn flared, the planned projectiles dropping to the ground as his claw tore across her face to smack her horn, the attack nearly taking her eye as it left three long gouges in her cheek and temple, bleeding profusely.
Before she could counter, his other claw whipped up grabbing her by the neck and yanking her off her hooves, before he slammed her repeatedly into a wall dazing the unicorn and making her drop the glass jars.
One of them shattered.
The trio of diamonds swirled in the air before quickly launching over to the shadow monster impacting it with a flash of light.
Rarity blinked her ears drooping as the multitude of tendrils eyes and mouths faded, confusing the out of control Witch-Jack.
“Oh my... that was...... uhhh.” Rarity began before falling backwards in a faint, some how landing on a couch.
Rahs blinked watching the mare faint before turning back to the unicorn he held as if to demand an answer, only for a massive build up of power and a sudden blast of energy to slam into his head setting his fur on fire and melting his eyes.
“Take that you AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!” Starlight snarled only for the witch wolf not only not go down, but to clearly get more pissed off despite half it's head burned away.
She screamed out as she was flung through the air, slamming bodily into the cutie vault, shattering it in a grand explosion of color.
Rahs cursed clutching his head as his eyes reformed. He had planned to keep the mare alive for questioning, now he wasn't as interested in that result.
The gathered towns ponies gasped in shock as the marks floated around returning to their owners who reacted either the same as Rarity, sans couch, with stunned silence, or celebration.
Rahs ignored that, blinking as his sight came back, ready to finish off the unicorn mare when a large orange furred bitch practically enveloped him in her arms purring loudly and she started licking his face trying to clean his fur, her huge tracks of land rubbing heavily against his back.
Rahs was briefly torn about dealing with the unicorn or letting Witch-Jack continue her grooming.
“Rahs! Twilight's starting to freak out! Get the jars with our cutie marks.” Pinkie Pie cried.
Witch- Jack's grooming was suddenly cut off as an apple was shoved into her maw. Rahs growled advancing on where he threw the unicorn as Flutterbat tackled Witch-Jack trying to get the apple.
“You damn fools. I was making a utopia of friendship and equality, and you damned fools had to ruin it.” Starlight snarled pushing herself up from the glass pile that used to be the vault, the mare bleeding from numerous wounds, though her cutie mark remained the same equal sign.
“I will not allow everything I've worked for to be ruined like this! “ Starlight roared. “ You come to my town and disrupt my life! Let's see how you like having your lives disrupted without your marks, and no Starlight or Our Town to guide you to real happiness!!”
“That's bullshit! You lied to me and stole my mark when all I wanted to do was find out what happened to my sister!!' One of the towns ponies yelled back. A group of them that were still up seemed quite pissed off and were advancing on the mare.
Rahs just rushed her.
Starlight snarled having had enough time for a proper teleport and she vanished with a pop of magic along with the jars, though the presence of two magic eaters meant she didn't manage all of the remaining five.
A pony slammed his hoof down on the jar left behind, the pink butterflies floating up out of it and darting over to reconnect with Fluttershy. The mare blinked in confusion as her senses returned to her. Granted Witch-Jack took advantage of the pause to take back the apple and sit on the yellow mare in order to eat it in peace.
“She's outside!!” Double Diamond shouted.
Rahs surged through the crowd and outside to spot his target fleeing into the town.
With an angry howl he was off after the mare, with several other towns ponies running after him, some of them now with torches and pitchforks from somewhere.
This was not supposed to happen, Starlight cursed to herself. Her dream utopia free from the curse of the cutie marks. No pony would ever be torn away from another by the stupidity of some arbitrary design that appeared on their flank. And she had it!! She had managed to take the mark of an alicorn, the god of magic at that if the rumors were true. The very idea of what she could have accomplished with such a pony devoted to her cause was the stuff of her dreams.
And it was ruined, the whole town was beyond salvage at this point all due to that damned witch wolf. She had half a mind to turn in Artemis and let them all be destroyed for interfering. Had she known the orange one had a mate floating around some where she would have tried to send the earth pony away before trying to take the others marks. She should have focused less on the alicorn and more on the others, she might have noticed the give away of the light around that orange pony's ears and tail if she hadn't been so tunnel visioned. Now she was stuck trying to escape to the mines since her whole town was turned against her.
The whistle of something cutting through the air made her yelp and jump to the side, only for a balloon made up to look like an arrow to fly past and shatter another one of the jars she carried with her. The apple cutie mark spun into the air and shot off back to the cave.
She turned her gaze back to see an angry looking Party Favor standing on top of a building with a bow made out of balloons.
“Damn it.” Starlight shouted. “WHAT HAPPENED TO BELIEVEING IN THE CAUSE!?!”
“You don't convince ponies to join you by locking them in a room until they give in!” Party Favor shouted back, quickly making another balloon arrow.
Starlight cursed, vanishing with another teleport.
“She's headed up the trail.” Night Glider shouted launching herself down at Starlight, dodging the blasts of magic the unicorn sent her way before slamming into the mare and sending her sprawling. The jars falling out of her magic grip, one shattering on the rocks allowing a trio of balloons to swirl in the air and shoot back towards the cave.
The roar of something from the cave shook the mountain and made both mares stop to look.
“I'M GONNA BLACK LIST YOU SO HARD YOUR FOALS WON'T TASTE SUGAR UNTIL THEY HIT THEIR THIRTIES!!!!”
The shout caused both mares to shudder, though Starlight recovered first and drove the pegasus off her with a right hook.
“You're willing to give up all this for strangers!?”Starlight growled.
“We gave up everything for you because we thought 'you' were our friend, but then you acted like a tin pot tyrant and started grabbing ponies who didn't want to join you and forcing them to join. Then you expected us to help them cope with what was stolen while you patted yourself on the back.” Night Glider snapped pushing up to her hooves only for Starlight to vanish in another teleport.
The pegasus took to the air again, noting the blue diamond dog running from behind one rock and vanishing behind another.
“What is up with that thing?” Night Glider questioned.
Rahs was pissed.
He felt the connection with his sister vanish and had immediately stage lefted into the town. Finding no sign of her there. It took him a few moments to reorient on the flood of power he felt and burst in to see the girls in varying states of panic and a odd unicorn looming over them.
With the target identified he had attacked hoping to take her down fast enough that she couldn't react and yet not hard enough she couldn't answer questions.
That had been a mistake.
He should have just torn her throat out and been done with it.
Rahs didn't like killing things he wasn't going to eat, but he was more than willing to make an exception for things that threatened him and his family. They had almost lost to Tirek, and his sister was down for the count here by some stupid unicorn.
He was going to take an ax to that tree. Maybe Luna would allow him to borrow Dr. Choppy.
Stepping from stage right he made a lunge at the mare as she ran past, his claws missing her, but he did manage to grab a jar with his tail, quickly smashing it against the rocky path.
A swirling cutie mark of a rainbow colored lighting bolt emerging from a cloud shot off in an eye blink towards the cave at the bottom of the mountain.
Rahs jerked his head back as a massive boulder was launched at him from the unicorn. Who ever this mare was it seemed she either learned quick or had fought a magic eater before.
“I don't know why Artemis is involved with a princess, but I'll be damned if I let you stop me now that I know I can convert gods to my cause. I will make sure every pony knows the lies their cutie marks tell them!” Starlight snarled.
Rahs took note that she mentioned Artemis much as Daring had done, but at this second he really didn't give a shit.
“GET BACK BEAST!” Starlight snapped her horn lighting up with a purplish glow as the last jar was enveloped in a different colored aura.
The mares normal magic tasted like mints. This magic smelled different, still mint, but wrong. Corruption magic.
“Not one step closer or we both find out what happens if I cast mages disjunction on a magical cutie mark.” Starlight snapped backing up towards the mouth of another cave.
Rahs paused, having heard of the spell but unsure of the effect himself if used on a cutie mark.
“That's a good dog just stay right there.” Starlight sneered.
“Meow.” Rahs offered.
“The fuck? Screw this. FETCH!” Starlight snapped flinging the jar off the edge of the path over the cliff with the spell launched right after it as she pulled back into the mine entrance.
Before Rahs could react a blue blur tore past, snatching the jar out of the air, the spell spiraling off to hit the mountain on the other side of the valley.
“I got it Rahs! Fuck her up!” Rainbow Dash called as she wheeled around yanking the jar open and letting the spinning star cutie mark within free.
Rahs whipped his head back to the mare who had barely made it into the mine. He took a step forward only for Starlight to blast the ceiling of the cave, dropping tons of rock down to block the entrance and hopefully crush her pursuer.
As the rocks slowly stopped raining down Starlight coughed a little in the darkness from the dust, she wasn't ready to rest just yet, the witch wolf seemed to be able to teleport. Taking a moment to drop a dimensional anchor to prevent that long enough for her to escape she was caught off guard as some one spoke.
“Starlight Glimmer.”
The unicorn mare blinked, looking to the wall of fallen rock and a large boulder that had not fallen all the way down, showing the light from the outside, framing the face and upper body of the witch wolf that had been after her.
Rahs grinned looking at the panicked mare in the cave before him as he kept the one rock from falling all the way. His ears perked at a scream from below and frowned recognizing his sister's voice. As much as he wanted to catch this mare, he had to check on Twilight.
“Make sure you don't receive any head trauma until we meet again.” Rahs snarled. “I'd hate for my new chalice to get damaged before I can harvest it!”
Starlight's eyes widened before Rahs stepped back, letting the boulder drop.
Turning around Rahs was greeted to the sight of a small group of the towns ponies looking terrified at his statement, save one blue unicorn who looked thoughtful for a moment.
“That was from Princess of Demons act three wasn't it?” Party Favor asked.
Rahs smirked, nodded and pointed at the pony before darting off to find out what happened to his sister.
Rahs flung a pony aside who wasn't fast enough to move out of his way as he entered the cave once again. A glance around showed that a number of ponies still hadn't moved from where they fell when their marks came back. Some of them were hyperventilating and others simply weeping. Those unaffected were trying to help those that were, or were getting in his way for some reason.
Rahs' attention however quickly zeroed in on his sister.
Twilight was sitting on Rarity's couch, hyperventilating as Witch-Jack, Rarity, and Fluttershy clustered around her. Witch-Jack was looming, glaring at any other pony in the cave that even looked like they were going to come close to Twilight. Rarity was doing much the same and with the shadows floating around her black furred form she was doing a better job than Witch-Jack. Fluttershy was humming softly trying to calm her friend with little success.
Dash was still scouting the town and Pinkie was trying to help the others in the cave.
Rahs strode over pulling off his coat and draping it over Twilight before taking a seat and pulling her into his lap, making sure she didn't feel bound, but could still tell he was there. He hadn't seen Twilight freak out like this in a long time. He could hear her muttering something under her breath, but she was going to fast for him to understand it. Her eyes were little pin pricks as she rocked against him not seeming to notice him for the moment.
Rahs let out a low sigh.
“Woof. Bark. Arf. Rrrr...” Rahs spoke at a low volume, slowly counting upwards for her, taking deep breaths as he did so, giving her two things to focus on.
After a few minutes Twilight's breathing started to return to normal though Rahs continued.
Rainbow Dash frowned, looking skyward from her perch atop of Starlight Glimmer's house. A number of ponies had shown up there either intent on burning the place down or taking something out of it. Rainbow Dash had prevented that, either with words, or her hooves. Given she was spoiling for a fight and was trained to fight, meant most of them left the place alone after a few ponies were sent violently to an unscheduled nap time.
Rainbow Dash didn't like waiting, but the training she underwent as a Wonderbolt, though not the full training, thus far included quite a number of ERT, or Emergency Response Team courses. One of the first things taught in the case of a crime was to ensure that the crime scene was undisturbed until a team could get there. While she couldn't secure the whole town, the house of the main perp was something she could lock down.
So she did.
It had only been maybe thirty minutes since Rahs had first shown up when she felt her feathers twitch as the air pressure changed over the town.
Looking up to the thick cloud cover again she saw why almost immediately.
The dark oak underside of an airship broke the cloud cover like a shark passing through a school of fish. A swarm of pegasi and thestril flowed around the craft as it rapidly descended.
The air ship was a newly launched warship assigned to the night guard, while it's construction wasn't complete in time to be used against Tirek, but it was finished soon after. It utilized crystal technologies, mithril hull reinforcement a series of ward patterns laid down by some of the best mages in Canterlot and was more protected than even Golden Oaks according to what she had heard. The dark blue envelop was divided in to numerous reinforced cells and even if the air bag was some how destroyed the ship could maintain itself in the air due to levitation runes, which would allow it to easily make an emergency landing either immediately or right after it took out what blew up it's air bag. It boasted minotaur cannons, balista, and other armaments while being both the heaviest armored and fastest airship of it's size in the fleet.
Princess Luna herself had christened it, The Waning Moon.
Standing on the prow of the ship staring down at the town, said Princess regarded 'Our Town' even as the swarms of Guards descended ahead of the craft to secure the place.
“Shit. Keep us informed they said......” Rainbow Dash muttered." They were ready to fuck shit up."
[ Later]
“Nothing of note was found. Starlight evidently didn't keep any journals or spell books in her home and aside from a list of town supplies and work orders there wasn't anything useful.” Luna stated to a large mirror that reflected the visage of Princess Celestia.
The magic communication mirrors were a rarity and while the Guard could very much use this sort of instant communication, the unweildly size and power cost to maintain them made it useless for anything beyond static locations having them. Or in this case, a massive warship.
“How is Twilight?” Celestia asked.
“Rahs says she is doing better. The shock to her system with the removal of her cutie mark as well as not being able to understand her brother or feel the connection any more threw her for a loop. “ Luna sighed. “ She is able to understand him again now, but that throws everything we thought we knew about our moon dogs connections to their partners out the window. The loss of a cutie mark should not remove the link. Moon Dogs pups pair with foals before they even get a cutie mark.”
“Perhaps it is something unique to Twilight and Rahs. The two of them did ascend together after all. It may also simply be that the magic traveled the link to Rahs and the removal of the connection was what it affected with him.”Celestia considered. “I still find it odd that a spell like that would have worked on the goddess of magic.”
“We had a team look over what was left of the ritual area. It is quite complex and clearly designed for those who might be strong enough to resist. Though to be fair, just because one is a god of something does not make one immune to it.” Luna offered. “Hence why you have such issues with sunburns if you are out too much in your own sun. What bothers us the most is it was also designed for individuals like Applejack.”
“Like Applejack?” Celestia blinked. “Witch Wolf infected ponies?”
“Indeed.”
“That means there are more of them out there as she had to learn that from some place.” Celestia frowned.
“We already knew that.” Luna added.
“What? How?”
“Rahs has gained the major portfolio Witch Wolf, to go along with Moon Dog.” Luna pointed out.
“When?”
“During the Tantabus situation.”
“Why didn't you tell me!?”Celestia demanded.” This is serious, as far as we know there has to be at least twenty individuals for there to be a god of a race.”
Luna raised an eyebrow at her sisters demand.
Celestia blinked then flattened her ears with a sigh. “Fair enough, but still.”
“What part of Rahs is the god of Witch Wolves did you not hear. If they are out there and they are a problem do you not think they would have been found by now? Do you not think Rahs wouldn't deal with them if they 'became' a problem now?” Luna asked.
“Fine. I will leave that to him and likely you to sort out, but keep me informed. Though on the subject of moon dogs, you mentioned that Rahs said he couldn't find one connected to Starlight?” Celestia asked.
“Indeed, we looked ourselves when we arrived. Starlight does not have a moon dog connected to her. She does not show up in the dream realm as the Sparkles once didn't.” Luna explained. “We have mentioned this before that not all individuals are paired with moon dogs. Some creatures simply do not dream. But without moon dogs eating the over abundance of magic that creatures produce,if they can adjust to the power they can become quite potent. Your friend Thunderbolt has no moon dog. Neither does Rhederic Pelt. Both of them are exceptional individuals, and there are several members of the Guard like that as well we are watching. Far more that we expected in truth, even if the numbers are still only in the single digits. It is not impossible that Starlight controls such power because it has backed up within her. We would need to capture her to find out for certain.”
“What of the rest of the towns ponies?” Celestia considered.
“Out of the sixty eight towns ponies, four of the most recent are foalnappings who were converted against their will. We found a house rigged up with a speaker system that piped in 'positive messages.” Luna frowned. “A few of them are reported missing ponies as well. The majority of them are upset and feel they were tricked, yet there are a worrying number who still feel the same as they did before, that their cutie marks are a curse. A couple are also being detained for now until their involvement in this becomes clear. Like the Empire we will probably need to have a large number of psychologists and therapists speak with every pony here.”
Celestia was silent for a moment before she finally spoke again.
“Pride?”
“We believe so. We have Guards checking the mines where she escaped to. Progress is slowed as they are infested with monsters. We are unsure how Starlight might have gotten through, or if she did at all.”Luna frowned.” Ponies are posted at each mine exit we could find, but thus far no luck.”
“I see. I'll have some posters made just in case. Was there anything else?” Celestia questioned.
“Yes.”
“Oh?”
“Rahs borrowed Dr. Choppy before they all headed home.”
“That does not sound good.”
[Ponyville, the next day]
“BORK!!!” Rahs snapped, brandishing a very large ax as he strode into the map room.
Sunset yelped as Rahs burst in, she hadn't heard any one having come back yet.
“Rahs what is going on!?” Sunset demanded.
“BORK!”
“He is rather upset that Twilight was injured in the mission I sent them on.” the tree offered.
Rahs and Sunset paused at that statement, Rahs being surprised at the tree speaking. Sunset surprised in what was said and that the tree could understand Rahs.
“1670 degrees to 1713 degrees Celsius.” Sunset recited her eyes narrowing.
“For the last time Sunset I am not interested in Rahs that way.” the table stated in a way that included an eye roll from something without eyes.
“WOOF!” Rahs snapped.
“As I told Sunset I do not know what you will find when a mission comes up. I can only tell when there is a problem, where it is, and who would be best sent to deal with it when the problem arises.”the tree offered.
“It has a premonition power, like the Pinkie Sense and what the god Velkorn supposedly has. Granted it seems to be limited.” Sunset explained. “Also enough with the ax, you're threatening something that's the equivalent to a newborn.”
Rahs frowned resting the ax on his shoulder as he growled.
“No. I do not know what happened. I also do not know if you being there changed the outcome. I know sending the six out there had the best possible outcome, with you and the guards there, that might have changed.”
“BORK!”
“Really? That may have been why I felt sending all six was best. If the issue was that bad simply sending them all did have the highest chance of succeeding.”
“WUFF!”
“Nothing is stopping any of you from ignoring what I say, but the chance of the situation getting worse is a real possibility. What would have happened if this Starlight's plans had continued?”
Rahs growled.
“So you see my point. We have no idea if the outcome would have been different from you being there or not, and thus while you see your actions as having fixed the problem, I can view that running Starlight off as you did may have made things worse in the long run. Perhaps the others could have convinced her that her plan was bad, or convinced the villagers that following her was bad. Instead you brought up a violent solution which may or may not have made things better or worse.” The tree continued. “ In fact, by your own description of the story, your sister did not start to freak out until she couldn't understand you. Had you not been there to speak with her, perhaps she would have never known that your connection was gone and been fine.”
“BORK!”
“I don't understand the context of that. I am a tree and do not possess the ability to self reproduce as you suggest. Nor do I understand why you would tell me to do so.”
Rahs growled flattening his ears to his head before finally just slapping his face with a paw and muttering something.
“Why are you counting?”
“Hey, Seshat. Sorry I threatened to set you on fire. “ Sunset offered drawing the trees attention to her. “ I'm pretty sure he has less than zero interest in you now, so thanks for that.”
“You are... welcome?” the tree offered.
“Woof?”
“No, I cannot make any one do anything they do not wish to do. I can only direct on what I feel is correct for the situation. As such while I would strongly suggest the ones I select to go, I cannot say that they are to be the only ones. I can only suggest where ponies are supposed to be. Hence why I pointed out that Sunset was to stay at the farm.”
“Well you got me on that one. Where the Crusaders learned about nitroglycerin is anyone's guess.” Sunset sighed, before grinning.” But setting off what they made at the edge of the farm was damn fun! It only blew out three windows in town.”
Rahs looked at Sunset and sighed.
“Ruff.”
“As I said I cannot stop you if you decided to go along, just know that unless I feel you are supposed to be there I will not suggest it and events may change.” Seshat explained. “Though as a side note I have installed the master bathroom attached to the large room by the stage as you wanted, as well as the hallway to another bedroom for Sunset as she requested.”
“You weren't supposed to say that part!”Sunset stammered.
“To repeat the phrase you used before, hardened crap.”
Rahs blinked looking at Sunset as the mare buried her head in her hooves.
[ Seshat, One Week after the events of Our Town, nearing the end of summer.]
Twilight let out a sigh as she looked over her notes, trying to organize them.
She was not proud that she had a panic attack at a crucial moment, but then again that was the issue with panic attacks, she couldn't control them. It had been a while since she had even had one. Really with everything that had gone on in her life, that she had not freaked out more was more surprising than anything else.
Rahs and Spike both were hovering over her for a few days and she finally had to physically throw them out of the room she was in one day to get any peace. Thankfully they got the hint.
And just sicced Seshat on her.
At least the tree was quiet most of the time.
Granted Twilight planned to have the tree keep an eye on Spike when it was just him and Applebloom here so quiet helped.
They trio were still settling in, most everything was moved in now, though the Mayor had argued that a large number of the books that Twilight took from Golden Oaks library , belonged to the Library.
And by a large number, the Mayor pointed out there were no books in the library.
Mayor Mare was not happy with Twilight's insistence that the mayor needed to stock the library either.
With the fraction of her collection returned to Golden Oaks were they were supposed to be Twilight had searched the tree to find a spot for a lab.
She had found a fairly large room in one of the root areas that formed a basement. Twilight was fairly certain that the area was on the other side of the great hall from Rahs' theater, and Seshat had informed her that the area was reinforced from any explosions that might happen.
The fact her new home talked didn't even rank on the weird meter for her any more. It was just one more thing to adjust to.
Twilight paused a moment as she thought about that. When exactly did her perception of what was normal get so skewed?
“Oh right. Dscord.” Twilight considered.
“You rang?” Dscord stated, stepping out of a door that wasn't there before to a chorus of canned laughter and cheering at his arrival.
Twilight took a few more notes on her work, unphased.
“Hello Dscord. I might have, but not intentionally. Did you need something?” Twilight offered moving a few pages to read a note she left before on the formula.
“Well.... that was a lack luster response. Still, not sure I like the new digs you moved into, makes me itchy. I take this is the fabled Familiar spell you are working on here?” Dscord questioned, suddenly wearing a lab coat and large protective goggles as he looked over her shoulder.
“That spell was put together by Law. It's not something I can mess with or would even want to.” Dscord huffed. “ I've had enough 4th dimensional ulcers lately, thank you very much.” Dscord huffed.
“Hmm, figured I would ask any way.” Twilight sighed continuing to work. After a moment of Dscord standing there not doing anything but knitting a scarf with his thumbs Twilight sighed again.
“Dscord I'm going to lay this out to you. It has been a very bad few weeks and if you are here to cause trouble I am not in the mood for it at all.” Twilight pointed out.
“Mmm, so I have heard. And before you ask, yes I hid from Tirek. Do you really want to see what he could have done with my power?” Dscord questioned. “I mean, no one wants to see what 'I' can do with my power most of the time."
“No. I expected that though, given how many other gods fled, but why are you here?”
“What?! I can't come and visit to see your new tree house?” Dscord mock gasped.” To be fair I liked the other one better, though this one is much more roomy.”
“I suspect you can. But I also suspect you didn't.” Twilight offered.
“You know. You are making it very hard to have fun with you.” Dscord huffed.
“Don't care.”
“Fine. I came by because I have a favor to ask.” Dscord harrumphed snapping his lab coat away.
Twilight paused her reading, and set down the paperwork to look at the God of Chaos. This was going to require her full attention, particularly since Dscord had been...subdued since he got here.
“And what is that?” Twilight questioned, certain she was not going to like this.
“Simply put, if you encounter the Sirens again, I would request that you do not go full Sparkle mode on them.” Dscord stated. “Better still I would prefer if you just ignored them and left them alone.”
“WHAT?!” Twilight jumped up on her back hooves smacking her fore hooves on the table, her chair falling over behind her.
“I'm asking you this as one god to another, to let them be. Drive them off if you have to, but don't hurt them.” Dscord asked simply snapping Twilight's chair back upright, though the wood was a bright blue now.
Twilight stared at him a moment before sitting back down and taking a moment to calm herself as Dscord sat there while she composed her thoughts.
“Okay.... you do know what those three have done right?” Twilight demanded.
“Yes.”
“And the amount of damage they did?”
“Also yes, it was only slightly more than what usually happens when a fight breaks out in this town on a Tuesday.” Dscord pointed out. “This town is great like that.”
“Ponies could have been hurt or even killed during that riot they caused.” Twilight snapped.
“No. I stopped that.”
“What?”
“Sparkle I highly enjoy this town and most of the ponies in it. “ Dscord waved a clawed hand. “And let's face it, corpses don't make much chaos. I do my best to make sure I don't create any no matter how weird it gets. I also made sure that when you lost it, your attacks didn't hit anything important.”
“I knew you were involved in that! What, did you create them and turn them loose to spread more chaos!?” Twilight growled.
“In a manner of speaking.” Dscord smirked.
“Dscord those three are dangerous, and like everything else we've encountered they need to be put down.“ Twilight growled her ears flattening to her head. ”You're going to have to give me a very VERY good reason to ignore them or worse, let them go if I meet them again.”
“They are my daughters.” Dscord stated.
Twilight stared at him a moment her eyes narrowing. “You're joking.”
“Not about this no. I generally do not joke about family as I have so little of it.” Dscord offered his usual jovial tone darkening. “And despite my asking for a favor in this, if you actually managed to 'put down' any of them as you say, you will find that you would much have preferred if I stayed a mere annoyance rather than the direct enemy I would become.”
Twilight continued to stare at Dscord.
Dscord stared back.
Twilight turned away first.
“They're not Celestia's are they?”
“By the stars no. Sun Butt was my rebound girl after their mother and I split due to.... differences of opinion.” Dscord frowned waving his paw in the air, the brief moment of tension gone.
Twilight rubbed her temples. “As much as I feel I may regret this. If I am able, I will 'TRY' to avoid maiming them. That said if they managed to seriously hurt or even kill any of my friends or family....”
“Yes, that in itself is the issue.” Dscord sighed. “I am trying to give them the freedom they want, but at the same time I really should reign them in more. That said I have warned them to stay away from you, hopefully they will take the hint and I am keeping an I on them at the moment.”
“I feel like that was a pun, but I don't know why.” Twilight grumbled.
“That's because you are still a dabbler in the art of chaos.” Dscord grinned.
“Right. If you can keep them in check and away from Ponyville we'll be fine, I won't actively go to stop them, though Seshat has decided she's going to send us out on various missions when something goes wrong.”
“Who?”
“Me.” the tree offered from a wall.
Dscord raised an eyebrow.
“She does that. She's Harmony's child.” Twilight explained.
“Ahh and like the Elements he's got his daughter doing a bit of spot cleaning. Typical really, worse still that he's got to lean heavier towards order since Law is still missing.” Dscord nodded.
“I've heard that before, what do you mean missing?” Twilight asked.
“Really i don't care if any one finds her. Simply put though no ones seen her for a long time. I think the last any one heard of her was when Tamberlane was still around.” Dscord considered.
“Tamberlane?”
“Home of the goats, and rather funky cheese. Not all the goats mind you, just the Rupicaprinae, which had their own god apart from Billy. Great guy billy, will eat anything. I gave him the nickname , matter eater lad, but no one gets the joke. The Rupicaprinae were supposedly wiped out in the Shadow war, but they were all dead quite a long time before that.” Dscord nodded.
“Hold on I don't recognize the name, but the Rupicaprinae were still trading with the buffalo right up until a group of Dreadnoughts destroyed their village in the mountains.” Twilight frowned.”Iinii was quite sure of that when I spoke with him about his history.”
“Oh yes, they were still moving around and trading all the way up to the point Solomon was killed.”
“You just said they were dead.”
“Yes.” Dscord grinned. “But enough about that. I'm glad we could come to some sort of arraignment. Though if you'll excuse me I need to go turn Applejack's orchards into cupcake trees.”
“One tree.”
“Calling in the favor already?” Dscord shook his head.” On such a little thing too.”
“Not at all. Just change one tree, and have the spell move to another tree every once and a while. If she finds it she'll be annoyed it vanishes before she can deal with it, particularly if all she finds are fallen cupcakes. And if it moves she can't eat the magic to make it stop if the spells not where she thinks it is.” Twilight explained.” You' have to figure out how to hide the scent yourself, but she can't smell or taste the magic in the apples she's helped grow personally.”
Dscord blinked.
“I'm still not happy with her about the whole ankle biter scenario with Tirek.” Twilight explained further.
Dscord smiled. ”I knew there was a reason I liked you.”
With that the god of chaos vanished with a snap.
Twilight sighed and shook her head a little. This was something she hadn't expected, though having Dscord on her side or at least viewing her favorably was good. And it was a interesting thing to know those three were his kids. Not that she knew what to do with that information. This did explain why he hadn't been around pranking any one in a while though.
She also wondered why his name sounded odd to her today.
Shaking her head Twilight looked back to her notes and stopped dead, one eye twitching.
The perfectly laid out and organized notes that she wrote in black ink, were still perfectly laid out and organized as before.
[Ponyville, a few weeks after Twilight invented new curse words as she had to recopy her notes back in black ink. End of Summer]
“Are you still grumbling?” Spike asked as he walked out of the kitchen with a bowl of gems.
“No” Twilight huffed.
“Yes.” Seshat corrected.
“Who's side are you on?” Twilight huffed.
“Side? I am on nobody's side, because nobody is on my side, little pony.” Seshat offered.
“Give it a rest.” Spike huffed. “They got sent to Manehatten, there's already a massive Guard presence there in case something goes wrong. Besides it's Rarity, Applejack, Sombra, and Rahs. It's like some weird double date or something.”
“There really is a problem though.” Seshat offered.
“Yeah and if those four can't deal with it the city just needs to be obliterated from orbit.” Spike muttered. ”At last you can sit here and be bored, I've got to comfort my moping filly friend that her sister can't make the Sister-hooves social this year because of this.”
“They have been every year since it started haven't they?” Twilight sighed. “Pity I can't convince 'Gleaming Shield' to come back for another year.”
“Given how he said Cadence and Chrysalis acted around his female form? Spike rolled his eyes, “I don't blame him.”
“Ummmm, Big Mac is at the door.” Seshat offered.
“Let him in.” Twilight smiled. ”I certainly could use the distraction.”
“Eww.” Spike grumbled.
“Hush you, there's nothing wrong with Mac.......” Twilight trailed off as the large red stallion trotted in.
Spike and Twilight both stared as the burly stallion shifted uncomfortably at the look.
“Why are you in a dress?” Seshat finally asked.
“And the beehive wig.” Spike commented.
“ And …. is that makeup?” Twilight asked.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac offered.
“Okay, I gotta hear what is going on here.” Spike stated.
“As do I.” Seshat stated.
“Why do I find this strangely hot?” Twilight offered.
“Alright now I DON'T want to hear it.” Spike grumbled.
“Ditto.” the tree agreed.
[ Manehatten]
“How many other shops are we going to get run off from in front of here?” Sombra growled.
" Twenty easy."
“Not that many. Ah say at least six, and we still ain't any closer to finding anything really wrong here cept every ponies running around like mad.” Applejack offered glancing over to Rahs and Sombra.
“Oh, try not to worry, Applejack. The map picked us for a reason. I'm sure it's nothing too dangerous as Twilight was not chosen as well. Although how we're supposed to uncover that reason, I haven't a clue. We can't possibly approach every single pony in town until we find out what we're meant to d—ooh!” Rarity stopped in front of a sign, looking it over before she started reading it out loud. "Please help us restore our long-lost but beloved tradition, the Midsummer Theater Revival...
There was a loud gasp.
“We just lost the Sparkle.” Sombra grumbled.
“....There's a guest performance by a local theater troupe, the Method Mares, as well as games, food, and much, much more. This event promises to bring our Bronclyn neighbors together and restore our sense of community, but there's so much to do and we need your help." Rarity continued ignoring the Moon Dog who was practically vibrating in place. “Huh. Darlings this is it! The contact on the flier is Coco Pommel!”
“Isn't that the mare you foisted the theater job off on?” Sombra asked getting a look from Rahs that was soon turned to Rarity as if demanding an explanation for why she would avoid a theater job.
“Well it's not like we have any other leads.” Applejack shrugged.
[Canterlot]
Princess Celestia and Princess Luna stared down over Canterlot from the balcony on the tallest spire, that was left, in the castle.
“This is ridiculous.” Celestia said as she stared out over the city. The reconstruction was going full tilt now that the mountain itself had been deemed safe. Celestia had called in a favor owed to her by Fjörgyn, the God of the mountains, abyssinians, and potato stew. The goddess was herself a mountain lion sort of abyssinian.
This caused a bit of panic when she showed up and a good deal of annoyance from Luna, as the abyssinian questioned if Rahs was still single after spotting his image in the repaired stained glass.
The feline did check over the mountain and shored up some potential problems and future sink holes to make sure that the damage done by Tirek could be repaired without any other issues coming from it.
The last thing Celestia wanted was to have the city fall off the mountain. It would probably fall off the mountain on a Friday and some how not hit the ground until Tuesday when it would land on Ponyville.
The abyssinian also warned that the Storm King was getting more active in his territory grabbing before she headed home.
“What is it this time?” Luna asked with a yawn, she had a hard time sleeping with all the construction going on into the day. Some how the jackhammers and noises managed to make it through her silencing spells.
“The same thing it has been, the prophecy. By the most optimistic predictions, we have seen all of them now.” Celestia offered. ”Madness, was obviously Discord....”
“I resemble that remark!”
“We know.” Luna dead panned ignoring the voice otherwise.
“Envy was Chrysalis, though she wanted Cadence and was jealous of Shining. Well , That's the best guess.” Celestia frowned.
“Fairly well.” Luna yawned.
“Lust was Sombra.”
“Which makes no sense, certainly he desired something, but to claim it as lust?” Luna offered.
“Well Lust could have been Chrysalis, and Sombra Envy, but they were out of order.” Celestia pointed out.
“It still makes more sense.” Luna huffed.
“Magic was either Twilight's ascension or Sunset's return.” Celestia offered.
“We believe the former.”
“Greed was obviously Tirek.”
“Truer words unspoken.”
“And with Greed confirmed that means all the others are passed save Pride, and everything we have found out about Starlight Glimmer fits Pride rather well.”
“And the Fiery, Purple, Blue center indicates Spike, Twilight, and Rahs who were in the middle of all of it.” Luna finished.
“Indeed. And therein lies the problem.” Celestia sighed.
“We are not seeing the problem if we have it figured out.” Luna added.
“Luna, have you ever known Velkorn, not to show up and gloat about how her prophecies are fulfilled after they are over?” Celestia asked.
Luna considered then blinked a little before growling. ”This is ridiculous.”
“It is. Either Starlight is not Pride, or she's not done yet, which means she got out of the caves and some how evaded the entire Guard we sent to find her somehow. “Celestia pointed out tapping her hoof against the marble railing of the balcony. ' The fact Spike wasn't involved in that encounter leads me to think this is the case and we are not done with her.”
“We find that very surprising as according to Snow Drops CEO, the mine was abandoned as it quickly filled with horrendous monsters and it was no longer safe to go any where near.” Luna considered. “If she survived that she is far stronger than we thought.”
“It gets worse.” Celestia frowned.
“It does?”
“The reason all the monsters are in the mine is Martle put them there.” Celestia offered. “Many of them are the sapient sort.”
“Martle? Why would he fill a mine shaft with monsters. We thought he agreed to keep most of his more dangerous subjects away from pony lands. The mine was abandoned because monsters were in there, so he must have filled it while they were still digging.”
“Well I asked him.” Celestia stated.
“And we feel we will not like what he said.” Luna frowned.
“On that you are correct sister. The reason Martle directed so many monsters into those particular mines, is because White asked him to.”
Luna stared at her sister a moment before cursing and turning around to storm off the balcony.
“If I would have known a cutie-mark would lead to forced manual labor, I would have tried harder to avoid getting one.” Sombra grumped as his magic held up some boards for Rahs to hammer into place.
“Ahh quit yer grousing, yah do more work in yer forge than yah've done here.” Applejack fussed.
“Yes, but I enjoy that.” Sombra grumbled. “I expected this would be some sort of problem that could be taken care of with a bit of quick violence. Not weed pulling and rebuilding a stage.”
Sombra had been rather careful not to insult the rundown old outdoor theater.
Particularly with Rahs there.
The god of theater had set paw on the ground of the theater and had frozen in place in some sort of trance for a good five minutes. The moment he was out of it however he was off and bounding everywhere around the old stage revealing a hidden old storage area, then he had drawn up the full layout of the stage and the outbuildings as well as the park itself as if having perfect memory of how it looked new.
Sombra had heard of some gods communing with what they represented at times, though this was the first time he had ever seen anything like it.
He was also doing his best to not piss of Rahs as only a fool would challenge a god on their holy ground.
Certainly a god could gain power from a thing, like being in the shadows or the sun being out. But if a god had a portfolio that was a location, such as Aqua and the ocean or Troph in Tartarus, they were neigh unstoppable in those locations.
Rahs was the god of theater, and this was a theater.
Sombra would have sooner wished to fight with Pinkie Pie.
“Woof.” Rahs pointed out gesturing to the stage canopy that was set up.
“He's got a point.” Applejack offered ripping out another bushel of weeds. “Aside from Twilight, yer tha only unicorn who doesn't get headaches from using a lot of magic around us. We prolly couldn't finish this as quick without yah.”
“Hrumph.”
“ Well we got this place starting tah look pretty good. Nice tah see yah can actually do some work when you got motivation.” Applejack snarked at Rahs.
“Hrumph.”
“Don't copy me.” Sombra growled.
“Still feels kinda silly that this is what we were all sent here for. Doesn't seem all that important...”
Rahs clutched his chest drawing in a sharp high pitched gasp of shock at that statement.
“You know what ah mean!” Applejack huffed. “After that first mission ah agree with Sombra, ah thought we'd be fighting something.”
Rahs paused a moment to consider then gestured to the over grown mess of the park.
“Woof?”
“No. A don't think tha weeds count, though they are annoying.” Applejack offered.
[Ponyville]
“Soooo this … this is a thing that's happening?” Scootaloo asked.
“You know. I would make a lewd joke here, but that's Big Mac in a dress and Twilight is in earshot. “ Rainbow Dash muttered. “I ain't saying shit.”
“Did... did he forget that Sunset exists and could have taken Applejack's place?” Firefly asked the changeling colt having come to see Scootaloo preform in the game. He was currently in a form that seemed a colt version of Scootaloo's colors only reversed.
“Sunset is teaming up with me since technically I'm her aunt. And that counts for the sign up.” Sweetiebelle stated. “But that's only because Rarity got called away and Luna is too busy so she suggested Sunset.”
“Glad to know I'm number three on your list.” Sunset huffed. ”Auntie.”
“Mai life is ruined.” Applebloom groaned.” Years from now ah'm going to be talking to mai therapist and this repressed trauma is gonna come up and they'll put me in a jacket that allows me to hug maiself.”
“It's not that bad.” Spike offered.
“How is mai brother dressing up like a mare and pretending tah be mai cousin in tha most easily seen through disguise ever, not bad?” Applebloom demanded.
“Oh not that. The straight jacket. They are very comfortable.” Spike corrected.
“What?” Applebloom blinked in confusion.
“Keep in mind who his siblings are.” Rainbow Dash pointed out. “Can you honestly tell me that you don't think there are personalized straight jackets out there for all of them?”
“Also his sister helped with Big Mac's makeup.” Scootaloo offered.
“Is that why it's so awful?” Firefly asked.
“Twilight doesn't do makeup.” Spike agreed.” But, every pony knows Twilight helped him get ready for this. And not a single one of them is stupid enough to call him on it in earshot of Twilight.”
“If he wanted tah spend more time with me there are plenty of other options.” Applebloom muttered.
“He's been hanging around Twilight, Rahs, and Pinkie Pie too much.” Sunset offered. “This is clearly the most over the top dramatic way about this that any one could think of. Honestly if Rahs didn't get called away I bet he'd try something like this.......”
“Picturing Rahs in a dress huh?” Rainbow Dash grinned as Sunset trailed off.
“Oh yes.” Sunset purred.” And I don't know why that interests me so much.”
“I have pictures for sale still with him in a dress.” Spike exclaimed, “Both in pony form and moon dog form.”
“How much?” Sunset demanded.
“How are you okay with this?” Applebloom demanded.
“You have to make the trauma work for you.”Spike stated with a grin. “How else do you think I can buy all the game stuff I have?”
[Manehatten]
“..... so if I was youze I would suggest youze purchase our fine insurance policy. Would hate fer there tah be any sort of accident to youze lovely stage.” the gruff looking pony offered.
Rahs raised an eyebrow at the group of six toughs who stood around the speaker.
He turned his head to look at Sombra who returned the look.
The pair of them looked back to Applejack who frowned as she looked between both of them before sighing.
“Quick question, do any of yah know what a Sparkle is?” Applejack asked.
“Isn't that that Japony cleaning product?” the largest goon asked after a moment of the ponies looking confused.
Applejack sighed. “ Whelp, every pony's got tah learn sometime. Y'all two have fun, but don't take too long we got a lot of work tah do.”
Rahs smiled.
Sombra smiled.
The mobsters did not smile.
[Ponyville]
Amber Waves and Purple Mountains sat on the bleachers , several empty bottles of Berry Punch's 'Special blend' laying empty between the two mares as they tried to finish off another few bottles to wipe the event from their memory.
For the third year in a row the event was trashed.
And there were no participating Princesses this time.
Between Big Mac having the grace of a freight train, Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo's over exuberant 'have to win' mentality, and Sunset 'if fire doesn't solve your problems, you're not using enough of it' Shimmer, there wasn't much left of the events.
That wasn't even taking into account Twilight's reactions to any one who got too interested in 'Cousin Orchard Blossom'.
The two sisters were quite certain this event was cursed. And yet, ponies kept signing up every year.
The list for those interested for next year was even longer after this years events.
The pair sighed and knocked back another bottle each. That was their future selves problem.
[ Two weeks after the Sister Hooves Social. End of Summer, Carousal Boutique ]
“Trixie cannot believe that Trixie has missed all of that.” Trixie huffed taking a sip of tea after hearing the story of the recent events in Ponyville.
“It has been a rather busy few months to be sure.” Rarity offered with a small shrug. “To be fair I did fully expect you to some how be in Manehatten when we got there.”
“Trixie tries not to work in that town. There's something of a 'entertainment mafia' that demands a cut of profits.” Trixie huffed. ”Brigands the lot of them.”
“Yes well darling I doubt you need to worry about that too much any more.” Rarity smiled. “ Though I do need to ask. I was under the impression you tended to only speak in the third pony when on stage or nervous. I expected after everything the two of us got along well enough despite how things started, and you horrid contribution to the fashion world.”
“Trixie again states that there is nothing wrong with her capes pattern and you are being too snooty about your design tastes, but it is not you that is bothering Trixie.” The show mare gestured to the other two ponies sitting at the table.
Princess Luna and Princess Cadence both sat at the table calmly sipping tea as well. Well Cadence was sipping tea, Luna had a coffee.
“Ah yes. I forgot you are not as used to them showing up at random as we are.” Rarity nodded. “ Though I thought you were Luna's student.”
“Trixie was, but nothing came of it unfortunately. “ Trixie sighed.
“To be fair, we did put an excessive amount of faith in something we found out to be false later and we still hope that Trixie learned something from our time.” Luna offered.
“Trixie did learn the exact amount of caffeine needed to give an alicorn a heart attack.”
“That was one time.” Luna frowned.
Rarity and Cadence both looked to Luna curiously before they looked back at Trixie.
“Trixie watched her use an espresso machine filled with energy drinks instead of water.” Trixie explained. “ She then put it all in a big gulp mug and put in enough sugar to give a full grown dragon diabetes.”
The pair looked back at Luna.
“We apologize for nothing. We are trying to train to survive the coffee from the Pink one.” Luna huffed as Cadence shuddered.
“Moving on.” Rarity stated quickly. ”What brings you all here today?”
“Mostly to see how Twilight, Rahs, and Spike are doing.” Cadence offered.” Though Lady Jynx sent me a letter asking me to stop by. Likely it's to discuss the diamond dogs she has working up in the Empire.”
“ The Ponypalooza Rock Concert.” Luna stated.
The others looked at her curiously.
“What? We have been back several years now and have been rather active in the club scene of Canterlot. Not to mention one of the acts used to be in our employ.” Luna offered. “We wish to see how Pontera is doing.”
“Trixie was hired by the pink one to set up the fire works. Plus Trixie showed up to see how Fuzzy was doing, only for him to be GONE!!” Trixie ranted. “Because a TREE told him to!!”
“Yes, well. I suppose we should expect that a lot.” Rarity offered. “It also sent Sunset and Pinkie Pie for some reason to Bayston.”
[ Bayston]
Rahs smiled as he looked out of the train window at the city. After that last event in Manehatten happened he felt the interest in live theater revive in the area. Sure Coco had gone on about how it was restoring the community, but he was a bit too distracted by Applejack, who seemed to think Coco was flirting with him.
Which was ridiculous, the mare was just nice. That would have been like Fluttershy flirting with him.
Oh... wait, she did....
Pinkie Pie and Sunset were with him as well, though the latter was trying to flirt in an not at all subtle way, though he wasn't sure if what she was doing was flirting, or just laying innuendo so thick he couldn't help notice.
Thankfully Twilight had told Pinkie to keep an eye on Sunset. Given the pink mare was pulled away from a big concert she had planned after going out of her way to recruit a big star for the show, she was more than happy to take her annoyance out on some one who deserved it. Either with a squirt bottle or a rolled up newspaper.
Rahs was just happy to get away from the screaming he knew would happen in a rock concert. Maybe he could find a nice jazz place around here, or an opera show once the mission was over.
At any rate, despite the last mission being relatively calm and non violent, Rahs wasn't about to be lax in this situation.
“Wait, you know Countess Coloratura?” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“Ah dunno, ah had a friend as a filly named Coloratura, but she wasn't no Countess.” Applejack offered.
“It is most likely a stage name.” Trixie offered.” Most big stars use one.”
“Maybe... why are you here again?” Applejack demanded glaring at Trixie.
“Pinkie hired me to run the fireworks, and since she's not here Twilight took over the organization of the event.” Trixie pointed out. “And since Twilight is in charge of everything now I need to talk to her about where I'm supposed to set up as soon as she's done writing her lists. Helping some one else look good isn't usually my thing, but a paycheck is a paycheck and this one isn't bad.”
“Still surprised is all.” Applejack offered. ”Specially since Rahs ain't here.”
“I was hoping to see him but Trixie didn't know he was going to be sent away by a tree!” Trixie snapped.
“Sorry.” Seshat offered. “But he was needed.”
“For what?” Trixie demanded.
“Huh guess you didn't get the story.” Rainbow Dash offered.
“Rarity told me some things but I may have missed it due to the Princesses being here.” Trixie offered calming back down.” While we wait for Twilight I wouldn't mind being filled in on everything.”
“Yer being awfully civil fer some reason.” Applejack muttered. “ Specially with me here.”
“Please, Applejack, Trixie is always civil while on the job. And in truth while I am not happy with you also chasing after Fuzzy, given your condition we understand it. While we do not fault you for your interest, we are most certainly not going to let you win. But it is pointless to fight over some one who is not even here.” Trixie explained. “Besides, most of my issues are with the bug and the other bitch, not you or Sunset. Granted Sunset and Trixie have multiple other things to argue about that do not involve Fuzzy after Trixie's time as Princess Luna's student. In any event something was brought up to Trixie that almost guarantees Trixie will win Fuzzy.”
“Oh this ah gotta hear.” Applejack huffed. “Hey I wanna know too, I might need to change my bet.” Rainbow Dash offered.
“It's simple. Fuzzy is the god of theater.” Trixie began.
“Oookay.....” Applejack frowned.
“I'm gonna need more than that to change my bet.” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“Trixie is a show pony, a student of the theater. However Trixie is just that, a pony. Trixie is not the daughter of a goddess like Sunset. Trixie is not able to shape shift into anything he might desire like the bug, Trixie is also not cursed with a form that is enough to make him drool like you. And Trixie most certainly isn't a bitch that is the diamond dog ideal form of beauty and power.” Trixie explained. “ Trixie is just a pony. Trixie is the one with nothing that puts her ahead of anyone else.”
“Ummmm” Applejack blinked then narrowed her eyes as she caught on.” Oh you sneaky.....”
“What?” Rainbow Dash demanded.
“ Trixie is the underdog in this battle for love Rainbow Dash. “ Trixie grinned. ”Which means Trixie's victory is all but certain as underdog wins are the most dramatic sort there are.”
[ Bayston]
“Nah, ain't nothing unusual round here ah've seen” The guard stallion shrugged looking to the large blue diamond dog and the pink mare with him. “ But if yer looking for something crazy, the club scene down town is always nuts it's like we gotta break up a fight every night.”
“What about the long pigs?” the other guard with him offered.
“Pfft. There ain't no such thing. Next you'll be telling me there are gators in the sewers, and that PETA group proved that was false. There's no gators in the sewers, just nest of huge rats down there, and they want to be part of the city council.”
“Not sure I'd want a rat on the city planning board, no matter how smart.” the other guard muttered.
“HAH, how could you tell the difference from what we already got?” The first guard offered as they both laughed.
Rahs raised an eyebrow at that before he looked down to Pinkie Pie who shrugged.
“Any luck?” Sunset asked trotting up to the two pair as the Guard moved off to continue their patrol.
Rahs sighed shaking his head.
“Not even a little lead. We've talked to the Guards, to locals, to shop keepers and bakers and grannies in the windows who watch everything and we haven't found out anything except Gummy doesn't have any family here.” Pinkie huffed.
“Well I've got good news then. Because I think I found why we're here.” Sunset grinned magically floating a bar flier up for the pair to read.
“Tonight at Cheers, five bit cover and mares enter for free. Live bands on stage. The metal band Mega Dog headlining, also including Days of the Gnu, Iced Equss, Katty, and Clench.”
“What, no not that part!” Sunset huffed.
“I should hope not, those bands all go hard except for Days of the Gnu. Their fastest song is at best considered slow rock. Everyone else is gonna fire up the crowd and the mosh pit, when they play , everyone's gonna wander off and take a nap.” Pinkie Pike explained
“Pinkie Pie read the bottom.” Sunset growled. ”That concert was yesterday.”
“Oh. Let's see then, Wednesday night's live band is..... The Song Fishies......” Pinkie Pie frowned. “ They can't be that dumb.”
“I asked, they are, the descriptions matched.” Sunset smiled.
“Woof.” Rahs smirked.
“Yer, gods damned right.” Pinkie Pie growled.
“Hope the club owner has insurance.” Sunset cackled.
[ Ponyville]
“So is that enough to change your bet Rainbow Dash?” Trixie grinned.
“Nah.” Rainbow Dash offered.
“Really?” Applejack questioned.
“Yeah. See I might not be as into theater as Trixie and Rahs, But I've seen a heck of a lot of plays in the last few years. And I've seen a lot of narrative tropes.” Rainbow Dash waved a hoof. “ Took me a minute to understand what Trixie was getting to there though.”
“No offense, but Trixie is surprised you know the term, narrative trope.”
“Whatever, any way, the underdog winning is one thing, but then you've got the 'cursed mare' trope that Applejack fills. Heck that's more beauty and the beast than your stuff. Granted it's sort of a reverse of that trope since both of them would be the beast, but whatever. Then there's Jynx which fits the whole 'Princess of an enemy tribe turned friend' thing. Then you've got Sunset rocking the bad Princess who needs to be set straight trope, though that may be from porn, I dunno.” Rainbow Dash offered her wings fluttering. “ Then we have the monster princess trope from Saturnia. Really all that equals out to the dark horse thing. Cause all of them are pretty drama heavy and boring. The only one missing is the evil overlords daughter turned good from the power of love and we'll have a whole set.”
Applejack and Trixie stared at Rainbow Dash.
“Is it a changeling?” Trixie demanded.
“Ah dunno.....” Applejack offered.” Ah ain't never seen her go full nerd a'fore.”
“Oh screw you both. Do you have any idea how many plays and operas and shit I've been dragged to by Prince and his parents? Mostly his mom, it's like she's trying to force' culture' into me. At least when it's Prince bringing me the play tends to be interesting if it's not part of his job, or it's so boring we can have some fun in the booth.”
“Trixie does not like the 'cultured' Rainbow Dash.”
“What the hell is this? Are you trying to get us killed?” Aria snapped.
“What are you on about now?” Adagio grumbled.
“She just saw the flier.” Sonata offered.
“Oh, is that all.” Adagio shrugged.
“Did you forget that we are trying to hide and that name is what we used in Ponyville. The one they are looking for!” Aria snarled.
“Relax. I want them to come.” Adagio smirked.
“And they say I'm the crazy one.” Sonata chimed in.
“You are.” Adagio rolled her eyes. “I've finished the spell I was working on. These last few test runs have shown it works perfectly.”
“Except it hits us too.” Aria sighed.
“That can't be helped It took me a week to get that much power to happen that fast, the effect should happen faster than those magic eaters we encountered can react to it. And since it doesn't target them directly but a large area it should affect them before they can stop it.” Adagio explained. “ Dad did go on about them for a bit.”
“That's a lot of shoulds.” Aria frowned.
“Yeah, well it's magic. I don't gotta explain shit. It doesn't bother us as much as it does everyone else so it's perfect. Worse case it fails and we blow up the club, any guards, or hero types will be more interested in saving the other club goers than to bother with us.” Adagio sighed. “Besides you two have been building power for the last two weeks and since I don't see any gods wandering into some little dump of a nightclub in Bayston any time soon we should be fine.”
“But every one knows our name here, I dunn wanna blow it up. Where would Norm go for a drink?” Sonata asked.
[Ponyville. Sweet Apple Acres.]
“It just ain't right! He's manipulatin' her, and she's just not seein' it! .” Applejack muttered. “Rara was never like this. Ah see things that remind me of who she was but....”
“Mustn't kill them, doing this for Pinkie, mustn't kill them, doing this for Pinkie.” Twilight muttered to herself as she peeled another apple with her magic.
“Errr right, ah'm gonna go have a word with her an try and get her tah see what he's doing.” Applejack offered backing away from the fuming Twilight.
“Doing this for Pinkie, though that mare owes me....” Twilight growled.
“Ahh there you are Twilight. I've been looking for you.” Trixie exclaimed as she trotted up, surprisingly not dressed in her trademark hat and cloak, but a thicker coverall with what looked like a bomb squad helmet carried along with her.
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!” Twilight screamed still peeling apples.
“Seriously, I understand you may not like me that much, but this is the second time you've screamed out when I've shown up.” Trixie sighed, “ And this time I'm not even here to hit on your brother but to do a job I was invited here to do.”
“Sorry sorry. It's just that I am being run ragged for this concert.” Twilight sighed. “ The demands are nuts.”
“Ah. So she's gone full diva.” Trixie nodded sagely. ”It happens.”
'”Imported water, specialty straws, floral arrangements from the Royal Canterlot gardens... Chocolate eclairs made by Gustave le Grand... A selection of crystals from the Crystal Empire... Freshly picked cherries from Cherry Jubilee's farm separated red from yellow... “ Twilight ranted.” And then the asshole manager lost his shit on premium oats. Hence apples.”
“Yikes.” Trixie winced. “Well the good news is, all I need to know is where you want me to set everything up for the fire works. The only instructions Pinkie gave me, were 'Big', 'Excessive' and 'fun'.”
“Sorry. You'll be setting up by the southern field, near where the performers trailers are. It should be in the right position for the fireworks to go off and be seen as a back drop for the stage that's set up.” Twilight let out a low sigh.” I should have gotten to telling you that earlier but the Countess' manager Svengallop has been running me ragged.”
Twilight paused the apple peeler and the apple she was working on stopping in mid air as a chill ran down her spine. Twilight turned back to look at Trixie curiously wondering what she had just felt.
“Trixie is sorry Twilight Sparkle, but did Trixie hear you correctly.” Trixie stated each word punctuated with the the same feeling as one gets in the silence between a flash of lightning and the boom of thunder. Twilight could smell ozone and gunpowder.
“Did Trixie just hear you say that Svengallop was here?” Trixie demanded.
“Umm, yes, he's Countess Coloratura's manager.” Twilight blinked not having seen this sort of anger before even when Trixie was fighting the others after Rahs. It was rather interesting seeing this sort of thing from the outside.
“White furred stallion, hazel eyes, expensive looking blue suit, cream colored mane and tail that looks like a runny turd?” Trixie asked.
“Not sure on the last part, but that does match the description.” Twilight pointed out, both worried, and excited as to where this conversation might go.
“Twilight, Trixie's dear friend. Do you think you can have the Guards be somewhere else for about an hour?”
“The concert has to happen Trixie. And you can't kill any pony.” Twilight stated.” No matter how much I might want to.”
“Oh no, no, no, dear Twilight. Trixie isn't going to kill him. For what he did to Trixie when she was first starting out Trixie very much wants him to live a long, long life.” Trixie's grin was almost feral. “And Trixie will make sure that the show goes as planned after all.”
“Okay then.” Twilight nodded. “In that case, this conversation never happened.”
“Indeed. Trixie is going to set up now.” Trixie turned and trotted off, though not before cackling like a mad mare.
“I am torn between wanting to know, and wanting not to know.” Twilight muttered before looking to the apples she had left and continuing to peel them.
[ Bayston, Cheers ]
The crowd was transfixed at the sight before them on stage. Well at least those not involved in the increasingly angry mosh pit at the front.
To them they were witnessing this petite blue pegasus mare with fancy wing belt out a metal tune in a tone so low it rattled their teeth.
The purple earth pony behind her was adding an accompaniment, but that sounded normal by comparison.
“For the ones who never die Dreaming through forgotten times I call your hallowed name From beyond the grim stars Not dead which eternal lie With stranger aeons death may die I call your hallowed name Chained by the sigils of moon “
“ Wow that sounds like the kinda music Fluttershy likes.” Pinkie Pie offered to her companions, none of whom could hear her over the music.
“Where's the third one?” Sunset demanded looking around.
The music suddenly cut off despite Sonata still trying to sing, though she trailed off as well looking around confused only to spot a group of Guards ponies coming up on stage and surrounding the pair.
“Freeze! By order of her majesty Princess Celestia, I hereby place you two under arrest.” one of the Guard shouted pointing at the pair on stage.
“Who called the Guard?” Sunset frowned.
“I did. “ Pinkie Pie huffed. “They made Fluttershy bad and Fluttershy didn't like being bad and cried and they are soooooo not getting away.”
Rahs raised an eye brow as he looked down at Pinkie Pie his eyes snapping open wide as he felt a surge of magic from one of the tables in the corner, spotting the third one casting a spell.
“Fuck the police.” Adagio cackled as a flash of magic blinded everyone in the club.
Jynx ran her claws through her mane as she looked at the two goddesses before her.
She had asked Empress Cadence here not only to discuss how things were going with the Dogs she left in the Crystal Empire, but to see if she knew what this folder thing was. She had not expected Princess Luna to accompany her. The moon goddess made her nervous every time they met.
With good reason.
Still the reaction she received was not what she expected when she showed the folder she could make.
Luna had looked very annoyed at the fact.
Cadence had developed a grin and looked quite smug.
“Well..... we suppose this means that Forthe is dead.” Princess Luna finally broke the silence. “We should have a word with the council about this. They should know there is a new goddess of Diamond Dogs, and Ore, with minors in Gemstones and Mines”
“Goddess?” Jynx questioned.” What?”
“Annnnnd.” Cadence hummed.
Luna grumbled. “ And Cadence's choice has decidedly gained some points from this.
“Hold on. What?” Jynx demanded.
[Ponyville]
“But not because you scare ponies into thinking I won't perform for their charities otherwise! I would never do that to my fans!” Coloratura snapped at her manager. ”Which is why you should have known that I would never cancel the school ponies' contest!”
“Hmph. All this charity and school pony contest nonsense is just remnants of that boring little Rara I met back in Manehattan!” Sevngallop growled.
“You clearly don't understand the real me!”
“Ha, that's a joke! I made you some pony!” Svengallop snarled “What can you even do without me? Good luck,Countess Coloratura! Good luck.”
Applejack moved up slowly as Svengallop stormed off towards his wagon behind the stage.
“Oh, Rara, I'm so sorry. Are you gonna be okay?” Applejack asked.
“Of course. I still have a concert to preform though, after all, the show must go on.” Rara smirked as the pair of them headed towards the stage.
None of the three noticing the figure in full bomb squad attire sneaking away from the wagon Svengallop was headed towards.
[ Bayston, Cheers]
Complete pandemonium would be an understatement to what was going on because of the spell.
Adagio's father was rather proud of that.
To the ponies and other species in the crowd, they had all suddenly undergone what was called a baleful polymorph. It was a dark magic spell that corrupted the normal polymorph spell to affect others against their will.
Despite her not being a god, Adagio was a demi god and the caster of the group. Even with no stone to boost her power, she was far from weak. She had been testing this spell for a while now to work out all the kinks. She had also inscribed a few runes to boost the power on the backs of the band fliers posted around the club that she had put up while she helped the bar owner for a pittance of bits.
As such the entire bar and a good bit of the block around it was affected by the spell.
All the targets in the area, including a number of the sewer rats who were just as confused as everyone else, had turned into large, mostly hairless bipeds.
And no not chickens like Plato found out.
The massive throng of Equestrians turned human were panicked and losing their damn minds. Adagio, Sonata and Aria all were used to being humans so the change was barely disorienting at all. For those used to walking on four hooves suddenly being transformed into something else was panic inducing at best. But in a crowd of others like them. Well, there was a lot of screaming and flailing around.
Aria grumbled, ripping a bit of the curtain off the stage and wrapped herself up in a bra and loin cloth set up as she fixed her hair back up into the twin ponytails.
Sonata was in a light blue frilly dress and no one bothered to ask how.
Adagio didn't bother covering herself up as she grinned, her amusement at the chaos only dampened a bit by the reminder of how much bigger her sisters busts were than hers.
“Well that worked out quite well didn't it?” Adagio chuckled.
“I never did figure out how to use spells like this sooo, I CAST CHAIR!!”
“What?” Adagio looked to the side as one of the humans with red and yellow almost bacon like hair, and a bust bigger than hers, smashed a chair into Adagio's face as she rushed her.
“Dagi!!” Sonata cried out running across the stage only to be stopped by a wall of pink.
Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes at Sonata, the mare turned human was dressed in a frilly pink almost ball gown with her cutie mark sewn on the side.
“Oh no you don't, you're mine.” Pinkie Pie growled as Sonata narrowed her eyes.
“Yeah, I should have expected this.” Aria sighed rubbing her forehead. “And I bet the third one is fine with the transformation too and I gotta fight him.”
“Well to be fair, I was already a biped. I am a bit chilly though with out my fur however. And lacking a tail feels weird.”
Aria turned, blinking at the navy blue skinned man before her. He had short cropped hair almost in a Mohawk that was only a bit darker blue than his skin. Bright amber eyes glared at her as he stood easily a foot taller than she was. He was dressed in a gray pair of cargo pants and a large maroon long coat.
“You know what. Fine. Let's go.” Aria growled stepping back and adopting a stance she had learned from some human world fighters.
Rahs grinned.
“Alright.”
The moon dog turned human flung off his long coat showing his well muscled form, somehow now glinting in the stage lights as he looked like he was covered in oil. His face was also covered in a brightly colored purple and green luchador mask with a cat theme.
“Have at thee!” Rahs grinned.
Aria blinked.
“Woof.”
“I have no idea what any of that technical jargon was.” Rahs responded.
[Crystal Empire]
“Huh....” Shining Armor considered looking at himself in the mirror.
“What?” Chrysalis tilted her head looking at him.
“I never got a real good look at myself when I was on the other side of the mirror.” Shining Armor offered. “ I gotta say I look pretty weird, and I'm fairly certain my dick shrunk some and changed it's shape. But maybe that's how they are there.”
“Huh.” Chrysalis considered a flare of green covering her form as she turned into a biped like shining though clearly female with rather large 'assets'. “Hmm so this is what a female looks like based of the spell affecting you.”
Shining glanced back at Chrysalis raising an eyebrow.
“Huh. I didn't remember any one there save the version of Celestia in that world having a chest that big. Are those supposed to be teats?” Shining asked.
“Well, lets find out hmm?” Chrysalis purred as she walked towards him.
[ Ponyville, Jade Wolf Warrens.]
Cadence twitched, her tail lashing behind her as she narrowed her eyes looking to the north.
“My Shiny sense is tingling.”
“What?!” Jynx demanded not having got a single answer to anything yet from the pair.
[Bayston]
Pinkie and Sonata continued the stare down. The pair of them having started the fight moments after they met. The blue haired siren and the pink menace were deadlocked in their conflict.
The crowd was still screaming and freaking out in the club as the two faced each other on the stage.
Rahs and Aria were trading blows as Aria did everything she could to keep the larger Rahs from grappling her as she lashed out with a number of strikes that only seemed to slow him down a bit.
Adagio was was doing little better as she and Sunset had quickly devolved into hair pulling and name calling as they rolled around the floor trying to beat the hell out of each other. So far Sunset was winning.
Pinkie Pie narrowed her eyes.
“Cloud three.” Pinkie stated.
“Miss.” Sonata responded as she tapped something on her side of the game board.
“Sky five.” Sonata stated.
“Miss.” Pinkie Pie stated intently.
[ Ponyville, Seshat]
Twilight sat back in the chair looking down at herself curiously.
“Huh.” the alicorn turned human girl once again frowned as she poked her boob with a finger. “ Why am I upset these are not bigger?”
“TWILIGHT!!!!” Spike screamed tumbling into the room as he tried to get purchase on the crystal floor with the odd feet he had.
Twilight looked up at the human Spike taking note of the short green hair that was spiked up on top of his head, and the purplish colored skin he had. He was a good bit shorter than he normally was and looked younger than she had been in the human world.
“What?” Twilight asked poking her boob again, there had to be a spell for this.
“What do you mean what!?! We're those monkey things from the other side of the mirror.” Spike demanded glaring at his sister.
“Yes, and?” Twilight asked calmly. Maybe an enlarge spell that was focused?
“And? What do you mean and? I mean I'm glad I'm not a dog, but something had to have happened to Rahs, and one of my dicks is missing!” Spike shouted.
“Well mom told you it would fall off if you played with it.” Twilight stated, prodding her other boob, maybe she could fake it with an illusion.
“ No she didn't, you both dumped the sex ed on Bleu and her answers were' yes' and 'often as you can'” Spike snapped “What the buck is wrong with you?”
“Language!” Twilight snapped.
“This is perfectly appropriate time to run through the entire collection of swear words I know instead of the simple pony ones Twilight, and you know it!” Spike retorted.
[Bayston, Cheers]
“Not bad.” Aria smirked as Rahs blocked a low kick before he lashed out with another grab attempt.
He had gotten a hold of her once and that had almost been the end of it until he realized he had grabbed her chest and he had let go apologetically, only to receive a blow to the gut in response as Aria backed off.
Still Aria had held off taking advantage of his recovery time from that, there was something to be said for those males who didn't cop a feel on a half naked girl they were fighting.
“You're not going to win though. You've not been able to touch me and I'm beating the hell out of you. “ Aria smiled.
“Do I even look injured to you? “ Rahs asked raising an eyebrow under his mask.” And yet you're starting to get tired, I can do this for days. Sooner or later you're gonna make a mistake and that's going to be it. You can surrender now and I should be able to stop my sister from trying to toss you into the sun or something.”
“Playing good cop now? So who's your sister the orange one tearing out handfuls of Dagi's hair?” Aria asked.
“Nah, that's Sunset. Honestly surprised every things not on fire at the moment with her, but no my sisters Twilight Sparkle. Heard of her?” Rahs grinned.
“Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit!” Aria cursed.
“That's about the expected reaction nowadays.” Rahs nodded. ”It shouldn't be that bad if you give up now, thus far no one's really hurt, and we do need jobs for all the psychologists we keep hiring.”
Sunset screamed out as Adagio bit her.
“Well.... no ones seriously hurt.” Rahs shrugged.
“Cloud ten!” Sonata cried out.
“You grounded my albatross!” Pinkie Pie gasped.
“And I have no idea what's going on there.” Rahs admitted.
“Yeah this whole thing is pretty surreal. But I'm kinda used to that with dad. “ Aria let out a sigh. “ Any way thanks for the offer, but I'm not going back inside any cage again, gilded or not.”
“Hmm. While I don't know your issue, I do know what you've done since we found out about you is not something I can over look. The only reason I'm going easy on you is because thus far you've not being overly violent about it.”
“You've yet to prove you can do anything.” Aria frowned shifting in her stance.
“Ahh you say that now, but we're on a stage.”Rahs grinned even wider, Aria took note his teeth were much sharper than a humans should be.
“And what should that matter?” Aria frowned.
“Because I'm the god of theater.” Rahs stated, a massive rumble of thunder shook the building at the statement as the lights flickered going out and leaving Rahs and Aria in a spotlight. At least until Pinkie Pie and Sonata both clicked on flashlights for their game.
“DAMN IT DAGI!!!” Aria screamed. “ 'I don't see any gods wandering into some little dump of a nightclub in Bayston any time soon!' You fucking jinxed it!”
Her reaction was not what Rahs expected.
Actually, if these three were sisters, he should have expected that.
“Shut the fuck up Aria!!! I'm done with this shit!” Adagio shouted back flinging Sunset off of her with a flash of magic, her other hand lifting in the air and starting to glow.
“Fuck. “ Aria growled. “ Look Sparkle she's about to blow up the damn club with every one in it. You let us go now and you save the the locals, other wise she's pissed enough to bring the whole place down.”
Rahs frowned, and looked back at the mass of screaming 'humans' the crowd had become, then back at Aria.
“Rahs.”
“What?” Aria asked.
“My name is Rahs Sparkle. Next time we meet Aria, I'm going to put a stop to this little violence causing excursion of yours.” Rahs crossed his arms over his chest as he glared at her, another boom of thunder turning the lights back on in the club.
Sonata sighed snapping her wings and zipping over to grab her sister before a second flap brought the pissed of Siren back onstage. Adagio looked worse for wear with a number of bruises and cuts, one of her eyes looking like it was starting to swell.
Sunset climbed up on stage looking a little better though she had a bite mark on her arm that was bleeding lightly.
“I'm gonna need to get a rabies shot after this!” Sunset snarled advancing on the trio.
“Let them go Sunset.” Rahs ordered. For the moment Adagio was only holding the spell ready to cast and Rahs held his position. He wasn't exactly sure if he could eat the spell like this. Sure he managed it as a dragon in the human world, but he couldn't eat magic as a pony and wasn't sure if it would be the same here. He wasn't going to risk the crowd in the club on the chance he 'might' be able to stop it.
The Sirens backed off before vanishing back stage. A loud thud and the sound of a alarm marked their exit from the buildings fire door.
Rahs let out a small sigh looking down at Sunset as she bitched. The orange haired girl snatched up Rahs' coat and putting it on. Despite the clothing nothing important was covered up and Rahs did his best not to look.
“Do you think you can fix this?” Rahs asked with a mutter and a red flush on his face.
“Probably.” Sunset offered, doing her best to make Rahs look at her and the presented assets, he was a boob dog after all, and while she wasn't too much a fan of humans, she had to admit he looked rather good as one.
“SHE CHEATED!” Pinkie Pie snapped staring at Sonata's half of the board that was covered in white pegs on the lower half marking all the places Pinkie called out so she could move her ships around.
“So did I.” Rahs stated with a grin, holding up a necklace with a large red gemstone on the end.
[Ponyville]
Svengallop paused as the door of his lavish trailer clicked closed behind him. He had only a moment to register the bit of flint that struck a spark to a fuse as soon as the door closed fully. His attention after that moment was taken up by the massive piles of various fireworks stuffed in his trailer that the fuse was just now reaching as he took it all in.
Svengallop screamed.
Trixie sat at the back of the stage her bomb helmet removed as she watched the fireworks shoot into the sky lighting up the night as Countess Coloratura sang.
Trixie was a little miffed that the explosions would be slightly off center, but she let that drop as the professional in her seeing a problem that wasn't there.
“Trixie I said not to kill him.” Twilight snapped from off to Trixie's left as she stormed up.
Trixie raised an eyebrow as a moment later Svengallop tore across the field running towards the river along side the farm. His mane and tail on fire and his six thousand bit suit a chard mess.
Trixie turned to look at Twilight with a frown.
“First of all The Great and Powerful Trixie is highly upset that you dare doubt her skills.“ Trixie stated. “Secondly what in Equestria are you supposed to be right now? Some sort of long pig?”
“... Relax this isn't something that is easy to learn. Do not worry if you cannot get it on your first try.” Luna offered.
Jynx let of a small sigh her eyes closed as she sat cross legged, her hands on her knees as she concentrated.
She had been quite excited, once everything had been explained to her, that she could regrow her tail.
The old scar had always been a reminder to her that there was always a chance some dog could get the better of her if she was ever lax. The talk with Princess Luna and Empress Cadence had taught her that such worries were no longer much of a concern unless the powers what is decided to make it an issue. And since random bad luck was something Jynx was not worried about as it would be beyond her control, she found she wanted a different reminder, and something to show that she was the alpha to all dogs whether they liked it or not.
She was not happy that she could not regrow her tail, the wound was made before she ascended and thus was not repairable, much like the scars on Rahs' arm. However Cadence had suggested something else, which Luna was trying to show her how to do now.
Gods occasionally had displays of their powers visible on their bodies. The sisters wavy manes, Discord's odd shape, the flow of water that seemed to stay around Aqua, the fact that Iinii was always the largest thing in a room, no matter what, and even Rahs' lights on his ear tips and tail were signs of a gods power, though in Rahs' case the balls of light were the same, but the one on his tail was now a crescent.
It was that sort of thing Jynx was trying for.
It had taken several hours of practice, but it had born results.
Jynx smirked a little looking at the short spade like club that had formed on the end of her tail restoring the missing length to how it had looked before she lost it, with a slight difference. The current material her new tail club wasn't flesh and bone, it was made of a blackish stone with a deep green hue when it caught the light in a certain way. The new jade tail club would take some getting used to as she had been so long without the weight of it, but to have the biggest flaw she had in her own self image repaired, she hardly cared.
“So all that is left is to bring you before the council and have your name added to the roster.” Cadence offered.
“No thank you.” Jynx stated.
“Oh?” Luna questioned.
“You have brought up that there are others who do not participate in the council. I have far to much to do to change how Diamond Dogs are to get involved in something else right now. In time we will, but not now.” Jynx explained. “You have also said Rahs has not gone before the council.”
“That is mostly because he wishes to do so in the most dramatic fashion possible.” Luna sighed.
Jynx smirked.
“Then I shall wait for him to do so. I am quite sure as dramatic a reveal of one god would be, suddenly having two to reveal would be even more dramatic.” Jynx offered. “I will speak with him first, but I am sure he would agree.”
Luna frowned as Cadence's grin got even wider.
“As you wish. We expect the fates already know about you, as does White. So there is no rush.” Luna sighed.
“When ever you are ready Luna and I will happily sponsor you and if you have any questions feel free to ask us. I'm sure auntie Celestia, and Twilight would be willing to help as well.” Cadence smirked. “ Though given a particular agreement between us, try to get up with me first.”
[ Seshat]
Rahs dropped back onto the couch with a groan. Twilight hummed to herself at the table as she looked over the intact gemstone he had brought back. The siren's stone was drained of any magic simply by being near Rahs, though he had taken a few bites out of the magic filling the stone.
It tasted like Swordfish steak.
Sunset had taken a bit of time teasing him as she worked out how to fix the the spell. Granted once she had focused on fixing it it hadn't taken long for her to figure out the nature of the spell, it had taken her a bit longer to reverse it as she had to figure out magic in the new body. Still once everything was fixed and explained to the guards Sunset had quickly drug Rahs off on a impromptu date in Bayston. It was more a sightseeing and food tour, but Rahs certainly wasn't going to complain about that.
“Well this is certainly interesting. As if Discord didn't confirm it himself, this is a chaos artifact.” Twilight sighed. “At least this means there's only one left, though if what you say is true they are still dangerous if they managed to cast a spell like that. Spike is at least very happy with Sunset fixing it. Though I'm a bit upset I didn't get to do much with that form before we changed back. Applejack also wasn't too happy that I borrowed her hat.”
Rahs raised an eyebrow at that, considered, then decided he didn't want to know.
“There was something else I was going to tell you too before I got distracted by this.” Twilight considered tapping a hoof against her chin.
“FUZZY!” Trixie cried, plowing into the couch as she dove onto it to hug Rahs, the whole thing tipping over with a crash.
“Oh right. Trixie is here.” Twilight nodded.
[?]
“While I must admit you make a compelling argument, nothing you have shown me makes me think you can do anything you've offered.”
“I expect you would be suspicious, at the same time I have no reason to tell you anything else. After all you have done nothing to show that you would even be willing to work with me and you are not some one I was initially going to contact at all. Had you not caught my eye I would have never come here. You have potential, but thus far that is all. “
“And yet I have nothing to prove to some one who cannot give me any reason that they are even worth my time.”
“This is true as well. But I will say I have quite a number of plans, and several of them are already coming to fruition. Besides, your issue is revenge, that is such a simple thing.”
“The issue is hardly just revenge. With what I was forced to endure, revenge is just the start. Total domination is the ultimate goal, I don't need to kill them all, just force them under my hoof.”
“ Delusions of grandeur then.”
“How dare you...”
“Calm yourself. With my help they would hardly be delusions and what I offer would put you on equal footing with your foes, to be fair however what you ask is a great deal, but it aligns with my end game.”
“And you'll need some sort of test subject for that as you say. I don't see how that benefits me.”
“No no. I don't need a test subject, I can grab any pony off the street for that. The theory of mine is sound and the results in several of my tests have been favorable. What I need at this point is some one to use as a prototype for everything to progress beyond that. After all there is still so much we don't know about the process. And to think that bearded idiot figured it out centuries before I was even born. Ah well, that path seems lost now, but he proved it can be done.”
“So what exactly would you need of me?”
“I need backing, as well as some one I can trust as a second. Some one who has a reason not to betray me. What you want would easily be that reason. I've been stabbed in the back once before by some one I trusted, and I assure you, once is enough. But I am going to be gathering others, who will be far less trustworthy and would prefer at least one who would willingly watch my back.”
“And you think that is me?”
“Of course not, not yet, but our goals align in places, and our end games differ enough that we would hardly be at odds with one another. So to put it simply. Prove to me you're worth my time, and I shall make it quite worth your while.”
“Aren't ya glad ya'll came with me tah see Applejack compete in the Appleloosa Rodeo?” Applebloom smiled.
“You mean, come with you to see your sister try and impress Rahs on a working date?” Scootaloo asked.
“Well he is interested.” Firefly pointed out, the changeling colt was wearing his reverse color Scootaloo, pegasus disguise. Something Scootaloo seemed to approve of, even if her ego wasn't as big as Rainbow Dash's yet.
“Yeah, well the rodeo's a bit like theater and you know how he gets with stuff like that.” Spike grumbled.
“Well enough about that. This place is a cutie mark gold mine.” Sweetiebelle chimes in.” I mean there's barrel racing, roping contests, rodeo clowning, steeplechase....”
“What I want to see is your sisters reaction if you get a rodeo cutie mark.” Scootaloo grinned.
“That would be something.” Applebloom considered.
“You don't think she'd like it?” Sweetiebelle pouted.
“To be fair, Luna would love it, Rarity would be happy for you too, but you know how she gets around 'dirty' events and things.” Spike offered.
“And what would you say if ah got a barrel cutie mark?” Applebloom asked staring at Spike.
“Probably' Damn I lost twenty bits.' “ Spike offered. “I've already got a prediction about what your cutie- marks gonna be.”
“And yah won't tell me.” Applebloom huffed.
“Because that would invalidate the bet.” Spike stated.
“Hrumph” Applebloom huffed.
“Awww, you know you love me.” Spike laughed.
“More like you're lucky she does, her record for throwing colts that annoy her is about two blocks.” Scootaloo offered.
“Woulda been four, but Rumble remembered he had wings and invalidated the throw.” Sweetiebelle added in.
“Had a good throw of Snips too that one time, but tha building got in tha way.”Applebloom nodded sagely.
“What the heck do you guys do when I'm not around?” Spike raised an eyebrow. “ I really can't tell if you're joking or not.”
“Better you don't ask.” Firefly offered. “Perhaps we should focus on the cutie marks?”
“Of course!” Scootaloo agreed.
“Hey Scoots. Ah gotta ask. You have yer cutie-mark, why yah still crusading with us.” Applebloom offered. “ It can't be good that yer hanging around with two blank flanks as old as we are.”
“Hey none of that. We made an agreement when we formed the crusaders that we would work towards ALL of us getting out cutie-marks. “ Scootaloo pointed out.” Besides, you're my friends. What am I gonna do, hang out with Diamond Tiara?”
“Yeah, she's not been doing too well lately. Silver Spoon doesn't even hang out with her any more.” Firefly offered.
“She brought it on herself.” Applebloom huffed. “It ain't right tah be happy about her gitting her comeuppance fer being a pain in tha flank fer so long, but by tha same token ah ain't gotta feel sorry for her neither.”
“Fair enough.” Spike shrugged. “Back to the topic at claw. This at least a rodeo promises to be a safer way to try and get a cutie mark than anything Luna would come up with. I still expect fire and tree sap however.”
“Alright, every pony, listen up! We need a big presence at this here rodeo, so make yourself plenty seen! I want that low-down varmint to know we mean business!” A pony in a sheriffs hat shouted to a group of guard ponies in deputies' hats.
“Hmm what's this?” Firefly asked.” They're all worried about something.”
“Sounds like there's some sort of trouble maker. A big un too, if tha sheriffs got all these guards running around like this.” Applebloom offered.
“And now we are gonna get involved because I opened my big mouth about this being safer.” Spike slapped his face with a claw.
“I may be new to the group Spike, but even I knew that was coming.” Firefly offered.
Rahs raised an eyebrow watching the tower of hay bales grow even higher. He had no idea what this event was supposed to be, but it did seem rather neat. He watched as Applejack kicked a bale sending it up to the top of the towering structure.
The yellow pony had one foreleg up in a sling and a buffalo cow helping him support himself.
Little Strong Heart had grown a bit since Rahs had last seen her, though it was also pretty clear she and Braeburn were a thing. No accounting for taste supposedly, clearly she liked the easily excitable type.
“Whew, it's been quite a while since ah've been able tah compete. “ Applejack huffed hopping down off the tower. “ To much arguing about whether or not ah was using performance enhancing magic with my change.”
“Woof.” Rahs pointed out.
“Yeah ah coulda got tha Princesses tah clear me, but that felt like cheating.” Applejack huffed.
“Well, I guess havin' injured kinfolk in Appleloosa sure paid off then, huh, cuz?” Braeburn chuckled.
“Just doing mai best tah fill in for yah. “ Applejack offered. “ Still not sure how yah managed tah hurt yourself tah begin with.
At that question both Braeburn and Little Strong Heart blushed a bit and tried to look any where but at Applejack. Applejack blinked and narrowed her eyes.
“Changed mai mind, dun wanna know.” Applejack muttered. “Good tah see you two are getting along alright at least. Still dun let my cousin fool yah, he's smarter than he acts.”
“He chose to date me, I should hope he was smart.” Little Strong Heart smiled.
“Heh, good enough.” Applejack chuckled. “Hey where'd mai sister and that crew go?”
Rahs blinked looking around a moment before perking his ears up to listen.
A small explosion seemed to go off in the distance.
“Not our fault.” Scootaloo bellowed.
“Bark.” Rahs pointed in that direction.
“Great. They need tah keep it in check, Appleooza dun have Crusader insurance like Ponyville.”Applejack sighed. “ Let's go make sure whatever blew up wasn't expensive.”
“Ah'm telling yah we didn't do anything. We were gonna git somethin tah eat and tha pot fulla beans blew up.” Applebloom fussed. ”Tha cook prolly had tha lid to tight or somethin.”
“That's ridiculous, ah'm, a professional chef , them beans was good fer another ten minutes.” a nearby pony in a chefs hat shouted. “What I wanna know is why you kids shouted you didn't do it when it blew up!?”
“Force of habit.” Scootaloo admitted, pushing her overly large cactus hat back up out of her eyes.
Applejack blinked looking between the two of them with a confused look on her face.
“This has all tha markings of that polecat Trouble Shoes.” The sheriff stated out of nowhere forcing the whole group to jump back away from his sudden appearance as a harmonica riff filled the air.
Rahs held up a card with a number 7 on it.
Applejack looked even more confused at that statement.
“There ain't no one at fault but this guy fer forgetting he was cooking somethin.” Applebloom huffed.” that there was a steam explosion pure and simple.”
“Forget that, you kids are up to something! Just look at the shifty eyes on that one!” the cook shouted pointing at Sweetiebelle who was halfway through a caramel apple.
“Whamf?” Sweetiebelle asked.
“Deputies! Look for clues!” the sheriff shouted as six burly looking stallions ran up.
“Hup hup hup hup hup!” the group chanted as they all ran into the back of the food cart into a space that probably could have held two of them at the best of times.
There were a number of crashes and bangs as the whole cart shook, a whoosh of flame could be heard, and then some more banging before all six came out of the cart.
“Hup hup hup hup hup.” the six chanted with the last pausing to shake his head at the sheriff before running off with the others.
“He's close. Ah ken feel it.” The sheriff offered before turning and heading away.
“My cabbages!” the cook shouted rushing into the cart seeing the trail of destroyed produce the deputies left in their wake.
Rahs and Applejack looked at each other, then to Braeburn and Little Strong Heart, both of whom just shrugged though Braeburn winced at the movement.
“Woof?” Rahs asked.
“That's tha thing. Ain't none of them lying. They all were certain they were telling tha stars honest truth.” Applejack sighed. “Though ah'm inclined tah believe Applebloom over that chef, ah mean who needs that much cabbage with beans? That's asking fer trouble in a couple hours.”
“No accounting for taste.” Braeburn huffed staring at Applejack, “ Cabbage and beans is a mighty fine soup.”
“Not like I'm allowing him to eat it unless he plans to sleep in the yard...downwind.” Little Strong Heart added in.
“So what's the deal with this Trouble Shoes tha sheriff was on about?” Applejack asked.
“He's a dangerous criminal that's caused a heap a trouble with every rodeo around here fer tha last few years.” Braeburn listed. “Knocking over barrels, sabotaging steer pens and a whole bunch of other disastrous shenanigans.”
“He is quite skilled as well, even our best trackers haven't been able to find him beyond the fact he lives in the forest just south of here at the foot of the Macintosh hills.” Little Strong Heart offered. “He only seems to target rodeos of all things, so it is not as if there is a year long stallion hunt for him either.”
“That's a might odd.” Applejack offered.
“Yeah well they'll git him this time. Sheriffs got himself a big posse ready tah bring him in.” Braeburn smiled.
Rahs and Applejack looked at each other, then looked around for the Crusaders, before looking back to each other.
“Ten bits say the Crusaders find him first.”
“Sucker bet.” Applejack huffed.
“Are you sure we're not gonna get into trouble for this?” Firefly asked.
“Nah , we should be good.” Spike offered as he moved into the edge of the forest. “ You got everything you need Applebloom?”
“Yep, got a couple of glue bags, flares when we find him, and a couple of varmint begone punks tah burn in case anything here is too stupid tah be afraid of a dragon and the smell of fire Scootaloo reeks of.”
“Hey, I can't help that!” Scootaloo huffed.
“Well it's better than Sweetiebelle, she smells like she rolled around in a caramel vat.” Firefly sighed.
“Why are you sniffing Sweetiebelle?” Scootaloo demanded.
“How can you not smell her.” Firefly asked.
“I am not comfortable with this.” Sweetiebelle added in.”I don't need a reminder, it's gonna take me hours to get the caramel out of my fur.”
“I still don't understand how we're gonna track him down when he's supposedly been hiding here for years.” Firefly sighed.
“Simple, we track him by his emotions. The Guard in Ponyville have called in changelings a few times to help in tracking down missing ponies in the Everfree.” Spike stated.
'Yeah but.... oh..... right....” Firefly sighed rubbing a hoof against his forehead. “Well alright. But if this backfires I am going to go on a I told you so rant.”
“Fully expected.” Spike nodded.
“Mai sister finally gets tah compete in a Rodeo again and ain't no one gonna stop that from happening.” Applebloom snorted. “Also, have ya seen the bounty on this guy?”
“Let's go!” Scootaloo shouted as the group set off into the woods.
“Why am I here again?”Saturnia sighed glancing between Twilight Sparkle and Sunset Shimmer.
“Simple, I'm looking to study the changeling transfer thing that your mother used to give me the portfolios of the princesses.” Twilight spoke up. “I'm thinking it may help with figuring something out with the familiar spell.”
“Umm.” Saturnia narrowed her eyes, having been warned a few times to avoid Twilight when she was studying something.
“If you help Twilight with this, she'll use it on her brother and helping the eldest Sparkle sibling will get you points with Rahs.” Sunset sighed.
“So what do you need?” Saturnia stated immediately.
“I need to understand how changelings do something like that.” Twilight offered.
“They can't” Saturnia pointed out.
“Hold on, I've experienced it first hoof...”Twilight frowned.
“No no. A regular changeling cannot transfer power, they can do a bit with energy as it fits in with the feeding, detecting, and siphoning emotions. But that just at best adds up to a jolt of energy like a triple strength coffee, or a burst of emotion, or the love honey some can produce.” Saturnia explained.
“Love honey?” Sunset asked.
“There are bug like traits changelings have, mothers in particular produce love honey rather than milk to feed their offspring. It contains both emotion of love as well as actual nutrients to help the pupa grow. “Saturnia explained further. “It has a rather .. interesting effect on non changelings as well, but it's rather hard to gather in large quantities for obvious reasons.”
“Alright, back to the power transfer.” Twilight stated.
“Yes, that's something mother can do because she's the god of change, and changing a gods portfolio to another god is still change. That's why she was able to move the princesses powers to you.” Saturnia offered. “I can do that to a limited degree, but in my case it's mostly moving the magical energy from one subject to another. There's no other changeling who can do even that, and I suspect I only have that ability because I'm a demi god.”
“Hmmm, still it's something to look into just in case. I might need to study this ability of yours later.” Twilight considered.
“Yeah, that should be for another day though Twilight, better to have your brother here in case of any mishaps.” Sunset offered standing up from the table. “Besides I need to talk with her any way.”
“Remember the rules.” Twilight offered.
“Talk does not mean set on fire.” Sunset snapped, her ears drooping a bit as Twilight and Saturnia both stared at her in disbelief. ”Most of the time.”
[ Appleoosa, Woods.]
A flash of lightning cuts across the sky with a massive peal of thunder that seems to shake the very trees around them.
“Meh, I give it a four.” Spike offered.
“A four?” Firefly asked, Scootaloo having yelped at the crack of thunder and immediately clung to the disguised changeling.
The other girls and Spike were not going to say a damn thing about Scootaloo getting scared on something, as they didn't want a shouting match, and Firefly wasn't going to complain that his filly friend was clinging to him.
Of course he wasn't sure how he even got a filly friend, but he just rolled with it.
“Yeah, given where we are and everything else, the fact it's starting to get dark while we're hunting for a bad guy, the storm is just dramatic overkill. This would have been a much more tense encounter if it was just dark, with odd noises coming from the trees. “ Spike explained.” A storms going to drive off most of the possible threats and now we're probably gonna find our guy in his hide out, off guard because what idiot comes out in a storm? Actually that might work in our favor.”
“I don't think real life works following dramatic timing and story.” Firefly frowned.
“You would be surprised.” Spike nodded sagely.
“Come on you guys, ah found another giant hoof print.” Applebloom stated.
“ What does that make. Three over the whole trip? Does this guy float?” Sweetiebelle asked.
“What worries me is the size of the hoof prints.” Spike frowned. ”Any luck yet Firefly?”
“Hmm.” The changeling colt considered looking around.
“There's a couple of content bears over that way. I think they are bears, the emotions are simple and not too filling. I can feel something akin to... depression? I think, that way.” Firefly pointed a hoof, now that Scootaloo had untangled herself from him and was trying to pretend she hadn't been scared.
The others continued to ignore it.
“Alright, so we go that way.” Applebloom nodded.
[ Ponyville, Le- ho Foxes]
“So what is it you want?” Saturnia asked regarding Sunset with a bit of worry. She hadn't had too much interaction with the other demigod. To be asked to lunch by the mare was quite worrying. Still she had heard the beet chow mein in this place was delicious.
Sunset snapped a pair of chopsticks apart expertly guiding them with a hoof to gather noodles. Saturnia didn't even try to figure out how she knew how to do that, even the changeling had to take a form with fingers to use chopsticks.
“It's fairly simple. I want to make a deal.” Sunset explained as she clicked the sticks and gathered up the noodles, the kitsune shop keep was a little surprised that the pony ordered a meat dish with chicken.
“A deal?”
“Yep.” Sunset offered slurping a noddle. “The two of us are the ones who are going to be around the longest as such we are the ones who are likely going to have the best chance of hooking up with Rahs. Even if it's after some one else dies of old age. As such I'd like to make a deal with you.”
“And what might that be?” Saturnia asked gathering a forkful of food.
“Simple, the two of us don't fight each other. Hell, we might even be able to team up and ensure that we get him by working together.“ Sunset offered before downing another bundle of noodles from her chopsticks. “It's not as if something like that is unprecedented with the Sparkles, look at Cadence, Shining Armor, and Chrysalis. Maybe it's something sort of ingrained into their heads?”
“Neither Spike nor Twilight have more than one they are interested in.” Saturnia pointed out.” And besides, my mother and her mess are a special case.”
“Not hardly. There's quite a few gods out there with multiple partners, granted not many of them are married to any of them, but still.” Sunset offered. “Besides I expect you'd be willing to share if you get what you want. I may not be into mares that much, but if it takes something like that to ensure victory, I'm down.”
Saturnia frowned a little as she ate, not liking the fact the fire bug was making sense.
“Heck, it seems to work out well enough for your mom, and the married couple.” Sunset offered.” I mean, what does you dad think of that, or is he still around?”
“She is quite enamored with the arrangement.” Saturnia sighed. “Cadence is my sire.”
Sunset paused a moment tilting her head a little before she swallowed what was in her mouth.
“Cadence is your father?”
“Yes. And yes, I know it's weird....”
“Pfft, welcome to the club, Celestia isn't my mom.” Sunset chuckled.
“What? Wait....” Saturnia blinked.
“Yeah, Cadence had to have learned that spell from somewhere.” Sunset offered with a shrug.
“Eww.”
“No kidding.” Sunset agreed as she considered. “Huh. I just thought of another reason for the two of us to join forces.”
“And what's that?” Saturnia questioned taking a moment to get back to her food.
“Think of how pissed off Chrysalis and Celestia would be if the two of us worked together, let alone their reaction if we win and the pair of them suddenly become related by marriage.” Sunset grinned.
Saturnia considered, then laughed at that.” Alright, I do like that mental image. We'll work out the details, but you have a deal Sunset Shimmer.”
“Sweet. Then maybe you can help me with this other spell I've just seen in action, Rahs seemed to enjoy the result of it so I'd like to duplicate it.......”
[Crystal Empire]
Cadence frowned, standing on the balcony of the rebuilt palace staring southward.
“Shenanigans are at hoof.” Cadence uttered as she narrowed her eyes.
“Get back in here already or close the door, you're letting out the heat.” Chrysalis shouted.
“I don't suppose you know where we are?” Sweetiebelle sighed.
“There's too many random jolts of fear from all the animals every time there's lightning or thunder. Every things drown out, and we're too far from town for me to feel that.” Firefly sighed.
“Great.” Applebloom sighed.
“It's not that bad. Soon as the rain lets up Scootaloo can fly up over the trees and either spot the town or the mountains and we know to head north from them to get back to town.” Spike explained.” Our biggest issue now is finding some place to shelter from this mess.”
“How about that?” Scootaloo pointed out from her new perch half wrapped around Firefly.
The group looked to where she was pointing and in a flash of lightning they could see an old gypsy cart broken down under a tree.
“What was that about real life not working by following dramatic timing and story?” Spike asked.
“Stuff it lizard.” Firefly sighed as the rain poured down on the group.
The five of them sat on one side of the trailer watching the massive stallion manage to smash, tangle, and break nearly everything all around them in a series of horrible events that Spike didn't even think Rahs could set up for a show.
With a last massive crash as the table lost a leg and fell atop of the massive pony everything went silent save the pained groans of the stallion.
“So how does this fit into your narrative dramatic timing and story?” Firefly asked Spike.
“Stuff it bug.” Spike huffed.
[ Appleoosa.]
“Hup hup hup hup hup.” the deputies chanted.
“So why exactly are yah following us?” Applejack demanded glaring at the sheriff and the group of stallions with him.
“What do yah mean?” The Sheriff asked.
“ We're just going tah git my sister and her friends.” Applejack offered.” Yah don't need tah come ready fer a fight like this.”
Rahs glanced back at the group before sniffing the air easily following the scent of Scootaloo's wings, and Firefly's pony form. Sweetiebelle and Applebloom's scents were there too, but the rain had washed away most of that, and Spike's magic wasn't really something he could follow either, it was like trying to track his own spit.
“Miss Apple. Ah am quite aware of who your sister and her friends are. And with how their reputation proceeds them, ah am nearly one hundred percent certain they have some how run into, or driven off Trouble Shoes.” The sheriff added as a harmonica solo played when he said Trouble Shoes name.
“Fair enough.” Applejack shrugged.
“Sheriff look!” one of the deputies shouted pointing to a massive form with several smaller forms moving around it.
“TROUBLE SHOES!” The sheriff shouted as a harmonica riffed from some where. “You're under arrest for vandalizin' the property and peace of mind of the good rodeo-lovin' ponies of Equestria! Not to mention fillynappin'! And... generalized mayhem!”
“Fillynapping?” Applejack demanded. ”They're prolly bringing him in. Yah better not be thinking of trying tah welch on that bounty yah posted Sheriff.”
“Hey, hold up this isn't what it seems....” Spike began only for Trouble Shoes to get dog piled by the deputies. “Yeah, okay, who saw that coming?”
The crusaders all raised their hooves, as did Rahs and reluctantly Applejack.
There was a great deal of arguing, but in the end the sheriff won out and Trouble Shoes was carted off, much to the annoyance of the Crusaders who were mostly ignored as they tried to tell the story.
The group was half way back to town before they noticed Rahs and Spike were not with them.
“Woof.” Rahs stated.
“What now?” Spike asked. “ Who are you talking to?”
Rahs frowned glaring at a tree for a moment more his eyes narrowing as a almost pony head sized star spider descended from a strand of silk out of the branches.
“Well, the Sparkles. Two of you any way, fancy meeting you out here.” Murphy offered.
“Whoa, talking spider.” Spike offered.
“Bark.”
“Oh really? Cool. You're one of those Fates Twilight was talking about.” Spike offered looking up at the spider.
“I am. I am known as Murphy.” Murphy explained. ”Still I thought I was hiding myself fairly well.”
“Bork.”
“He says the magic you were using on Trouble Shoes was easy to detect as there was nothing else out here. ”Spike blinked looking at Rahs who continued to stare at the spider. “He also wants to know why you're here and screwing with a pony. He says the rules say you aren't supposed to do that.”
“Well color me surprised that you know that.”
“Ehh, Twilight's our sister, she kinda went over all those rules the council gave her with a fine tooth comb. She's also written out about thirty new rules to cover all the loop holes she found. “ Spike smirked.” I talked her out of telling you guys in case she has to use some of them.”
“Yes well. There's a couple of those loop holes Karma and I are using right now. We've got a plan for that pony and as such it's something I need to see through. ”Murphy explained.
“A plan? Is that plan to depress some pony by ruining his life. I got a portion of his story on the walk back here and he has been through some shit for no reason, well no reason we saw at the time.” Spike demanded. “You need to leave him alone.”
“There is always a reason drake. Also don't presume to tell me to do anything , you might be a demi god, but that is hardly a protection of what I can do to you.....”
“Rrrrrrrrrrrr.” Rahs growled.
“Which is absolutely nothing and I would never touch a scale on you.” Murphy finished quickly. “Still though, don't try to order gods around, it's bad for your health.”
“So what exactly is the plan any way? I seriously doubt the Princesses would be too thrilled that you are here messing with one of their subjects.” Spike huffed. “ Seriously the poor guys a wreck.”
“Fine. Okay look the fates don't have full control over the weave of existence. We fix snarls, fiddle with things here and there and can occasionally work something in a way to make a preferred out come happen, and we can't do shit about gods, you guys are off the weave fully and we can only watch due to the ripples you make. Rahs.” Murphy narrowed his eight eyes at the moon dog. “ But we can fiddle enough to make certain things happen and usually go the way we want. Mostly for the better, but hey I'm an optimist.”
“Get on with it.” Spike sighed.
“Kids these days.” Murphy huffed.
“Ruff?”
“Seriously, what do baby goats have to do with anything?” Spike questioned.
“Never mind, look the reason I'm working on Trouble Shoes is...”
[ Appleoosa]
“This is completely unfair. He didn't do anything wrong.” Scootaloo huffed.
“So what are we gonna do about it, the rodeo's starting soon.” Sweetiebelle offered.
“Mai need fer justice is warring with mai need tah let my sister have her rodeo.” Applebloom huffed.
“ Well it's not like we can do anything any way. The sheriff won't listen to us and Spike and Rahs are still missing.” Firefly offered.
“ We have to do something!” Scootaloo growled.
“What can we do? Write a strongly worded letter to the Princesses? Appeal to the judge at an unknown trial date? Bust him out of jail?” Firefly rolled his eyes. ”Until some one listens to us we can't do anything.”
“Firefly your a genius.” Sweetiebelle gasped.
“I am? Why am I...... oh no..... I was joking!?!” Firefly panicked as the Crusaders ran out the door.
“CUTIEMARK CRUSADERS JAIL BREAKERS YAY!!!”
”Where is Spike?!? I can't deal with this! I just wanted to play O&O....”Firefly whined as he ran out the door after the trio.
“ I hate this.” Spike huffed. “ It's stupid and so convoluted it can't possibly work.”
“Woof.”
“Of course I know that means it will work, I just don't have to like it.” Spike grumbled.
“So does that mean you won't tell them about it?” Murphy asked.
“Fine.” Spike growled.” But I don't like it, and if she catches you I'm denying everything.”
“Wouldn't be the first time, we've been doing this way before she showed up. Rahs?” Murphy questioned.
Rahs considered before nodding. A bit of payback for what had been done to him was quite worth it.
“Excellent.” Murphy nodded. ”I should get back to it then.”
Applejack sighed. No doubt about it, that was Trouble Shoes out there being a rodeo clown.
A durn good one too it seemed like.
Still whether this would work out or not wasn't her concern.
Making sure the Crusaders didn't literally break him out of jail was, though she could see the group of them over at another fence watching the show. She chose to ignore the rising smoke cloud coming from the sheriffs office, as well as the fact all four of them were covered in tree sap when they were in a desert practically.
Spike was still missing though, as was Rahs.
Applejack frowned, things were getting a bit more complicated in that department.
Jynx had come to see her directly.
Despite the usual urge to brawl, the big bitch had only wanted to talk. The discussion was an odd one as she explained a lot of how Diamond Dog life was. There was also a good bit of talk about blood lines and recovery time between litters.
The long and short of it was that Jynx seemed willing to share if the two of them were to team up to make sure they were the ones who got Rahs.
Applejack wasn't sure what to make of that, and the whole idea embarrassed the fool out of her.
A small part of her was considering it, she didn't know if it was the witch wolf part of her mind that was trying to sway her or not. She certainly didn't see Jynx as an Alpha over her, so that wasn't it. Apples were really big on family and with the exception of Sunset, Applejack didn't really like the others after Rahs, though she had some respect for Jynx due to what she had done with her pack. With Rahs being a god it might just take more than one bitch to keep him occupied.
Still Diamond Dogs and Apples had a rather bad history. Applejack knew it wasn't Jynx's pack that did it, but diamond dogs had killed her parents, and that didn't sit to well still with any of the family.
She had told Jynx as much and the large bitch seemingly understood that. She also said her offer would stand and that if she wanted to Jynx could train Applejack as she did Rahs in fighting. It wouldn't be much help while she was a pony but as a witch wolf it should be quite helpful. No strings would be attached to that either.
Applejack had said she would consider it and had been doing so for much of the trip out to Appleoosa.
So far the only thing she had decided on was that she would take Jynx up on the training. Something like Tirek could happen again and she wanted to be ready for it when it did.
[ Out in the ocean. ]
“WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN IT'S GONE!!” Adagio screamed out.
“What the fuck do you think I mean!? I don't have the rock any more. That Sparkle took it!“ Aria snapped. ”You left me fighting a god so you could fucking play hair pull with some chick. We're damn lucky to even have gotten out of there at all!! One of the stupid gems if a fair trade for that since they are practically useless any way with out the one you lost first!”
Sonata winced as the pair continued to scream at each other, the ship rocking back and forth as this carried on. The two had been arguing since they had run from Bayston. Adagio wanted to head south and continue to hit the random villages and towns of Equestria, Aria wanted to cut and run for the border and head to Griffenston like their father had suggested to start with.
Aria had finally revealed the why of her choice and Adagio had lost her mind that Aria's stone was gone now too. Of course Adagio did not take too well to that. The pair of them were at each others throats already, and right now everything was just screaming.
It wasn't going to last. It never did.
Sonata hated when it went this far, the pair were going to storm off and be pissed at each other for weeks. She hated being the go between.
CRACK!
Sonata's eyes snapped open wide as she watched Adagio fall back to crash against the side of the boat, blood leaking from her mouth.
Aria snarled having rear up on her back hooves to belt her sister across the face with a hoof.
“You shut the fuck up and you listen for once in your stupid ass life.” Aria snarled. “ You left me to fight a fucking GOD! Not a demi god, or one of those idiots from the human world, a fucking EQUESTRIAN GOD! The kind that doesn't die when you kill them. This isn't screwing with dad or pissing off mom, this is fucking fighting some one that has TRIED to kill us once already since we've been back, the sort of fuckers we avoided like the plague before the bearded fucker tricked us into that damn mirror. We lucked out he was more interested in keeping the club goers safe than bringing us in. Do you remember the purple alicorn, the one who ripped apart most of her own town to get us? Do you think the next one we piss off will give a shit? This one all but told me he was going to be hunting us. And I am sure as hell not going to make it easy for him. You want to go fuck with the gods of this place? The waters right there get swimming, cause I am taking the ship to the Griffon lands and as far away from this place as I can get. They can fucking have the rock.”
Aria panted as she glared at her sister, Adagio glared back though she rubbed her jaw with a hoof.
“I've played along with your issues with mom for what feels like for fucking ever and I don't care any more. Because of your dumb ass plans we have nearly been caught twice, and I am not going back to that gilded cage as long as I can fucking avoid it. We are headed to Griffonstone, because they don't care about Equestria so long as they are paid, we can hole up there for a century or so and hopefully the gods that got riled up will forget about us.” Aria snarled. “We didn't live through the Spanish flu, the Great depression, World War 2, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, countless hurricanes, typhoons, earth quakes and freaking volcano eruptions, just so you can get us killed when we are finally back home.”
Aria let out a long held breath.
“I'm tired off this shit, I don't need to prove anything to any one, I just want to be left the fuck alone to do what I want, and I can't do that if I'm dead, in a jail cell, or stuck back in Neighlantis, so fuck whatever plan you think you have, because I'm not doing it.” Aria snapped. “The rocks gone, we're not going back for it and I've got no interest in any sort of revenge against the ones we fucked with to start with.”
Aria turned trotting into the ship, a moment or two later the motor started and the craft started to move across the water.
Sonata looked to where Aria stood at the wheel , then back to where Adagio still remained where she fell against the ships side rubbing her cheek.
“ The usual crying and carrying on, but just like last year she didn't destroy anything or try to change reality to suit her whim.” Fluttershy nodded.
Rahs and Spike both sighed in relief.
“So we don't need to worry about her blowing up the weather factory again?” Spike questioned.” That's good, that first year was nuts, and even with all of us watching her the following year to prevent a repeat, shit got weird.”
“I'm still trying to figure out who told her flying around Equss at rain boom speeds would rewind time.” Twilight huffed.” White was amused or will be amused by it.”
“I'm a little more concerned that she tried to use my blood to make Tank a dragon last year so he wouldn't hibernate.” Spike huffed.” Where did she come up with that?”
“Probably Daring Doo” Fluttershy sighed.
“Daring Doo and the Dragon of Summer Burning to be exact.” Twilight pointed out.
Rahs paled at that, knowing what he did about Daring Doo.
[ Later, Seshat, unnamed theater]
Rahs raised an eyebrow at the crowd before him. Of all the things he had expected today, this wasn't one of them.
Sunset, Saturnia, Jynx, and Applejack all stood at the front of the crowd glaring at each other.
Trixie was there as well, standing by Rahs and glaring at the small group of other girls.
About eighty others stood around the four females confused as to what was going on.
He and Trixie had been discussing plans for the next date as well as what to possibly do with the theater. The show mare had about a week before she had to get back on the road, as evidently word had gotten out about what she and a number of other entertainers had done during Tirek's attack and it had brought quite a number of new business contracts for the lot of them, so she was going to be busy for some time.
The crowd here at the moment however consisted of a number of the Apple family, brought in by Applejack. A large number of various Canterlot players brought in by Sunset. A collection of Diamond Dogs brought in by Jynx. And a selection of Changelings brought in by Saturnia.
“Fuzzy, what even is all this?” Trixie muttered as Rahs shrugged, while the other four females after Rahs bickered about whose idea this was first and who stole it from whom.
“What is going on in there.” Rarity asked as she munched on a cucumber sandwich.
“I am quite certain I don't want to know.” Twilight offered taking a sip of her tea.” Seshat are you keeping an eye on that?”
“I don't have any eyes, but given there is a large mob of four separate factions currently inside of me, it has a good deal of my attention.” Seshat offered.
“Understandable.” Rarity nodded. “Still darling, you were explaining how the cutie mark thing works.”
“Right as I have mentioned before when I set up a mission I only know that there is something going on and who would be the best to send. I also get a feeling when the problem has been resolved and can send out another signal letting you know it's finished.” Seshat explained.
“And in situations like the trip to Bayston, no second signal was sent because the Sirens are still out there.” Twilight offered.
“While I did not know it was the Sirens, I still feel there is something unfinished there. It is annoying.” Seshat huffed.
“Is that why after we helped Coco my cutie mark glowed again?” Rarity considered. “Interesting.”
“I felt that mission was complete.” Seshat agreed.
“So what's the range on that, who can you call to a mission?” Twilight questioned.
“Almost anyone. My roots run deep.” Seshat offered.” Granted I can't make any one come to me, nor tell them why their cutie mark is glowing. It is also a little harder to connect to those who do not have a cutie mark to them it's more a feeling that they should be doing something.”
“I can see why that might be confusing.” Rarity nodded. ”But what might be the goal of this even? Surely there are countless problems across the world all the time. Given it's been some time since our last mission surely there is some goal in mind as the missions have to be being cherry picked for us.”
“Right, despite what Rahs said, the theater production couldn't have been as important as dealing with the Sirens or Starlight.” Twilight pointed out.
“I do not know. I know that these missions aid Harmony, but to what end I am unsure.” Seshat offered. “The theater seemed just as important when I felt the disturbance as the Sirens did. But neither of them felt as strong as when I sent all of you after Starlight. I am afraid I do not know more than that. You would have to ask my.... father feels appropriate here. He made me and therefore he would know why I was made.”
“Made you? I understand you are a tree but...” Rarity considered.
“Trees grow out of seeds, I grew out of a large crystal box that needed six keys to open to release me. I did not grow, I sprung fully formed into being as a large crystal tree.” Seshat pointed out.” While Sunset has stated there are tales of gods having offspring appear fully formed from a splitting headache, that is not the case here. I was not so much born as made and even I am unsure as to why.”
“Calm down Seshat, you're too young to have an existential crisis.” Twilight placated.
“I am not having one. I am stating I do not know my true purpose, just what I am supposed to do.”
“Fair enough.” Twilight offered.
[ Unnamed theater.]
“ And why do you get to help him decide?” Saturnia glared at Trixie.
“Because unlike you lot, Trixie has theater experience and is better suited to tell whether or not some one is fit for the stage.” Trixie explained as the other four suitors glared at her. “ Besides the only thing that has been done so far is to tell those that didn't want to be here or were being forced to show up that they could leave. You cannot force acting skill.”
Sunset and Applejack both looked at Saturnia and Jynx, both of whom had half their groups head out at this.
“Then there was the prior contract set up and those expecting a large payment per performance, this is a unknown start up stage thus far.” Trixie explained. “ Salary is not going to be that high or offered at first.”
Saturnia and Jynx both looked at Sunset and Applejack, both of whom had large portions of their groups leave at this announcement.
After some talking and interviews there were only a few left.
There were currently five ponies, two of them Apples, four changelings and a single diamond dog left after Rahs and Trixie did their interviews.
Of the ponies, two of them were stage crew, one was a actor looking to do more than side roles, and the two Apples were more props designers than actors.
The changelings were all actors as prior to the invasion they had been infiltrators and now were rather bored.
The Diamond Dog however was the one who had Rahs' attention at the moment much to Jynx's amusement. It seemed the short gray furred dog was a script writer, and Rahs had been reading something he had brought with him, the moon dogs tail wagging excitedly as he read through it.
“Well Fuzzy is going to be busy with that for a moment.” Trixie explained. “So what Trixie wants to know is, how the lot of you are so calm. Trixie has not seen any of the bickering or petty infighting that is usual here when more than three of us are in the same room. Aside from that display at the start which strangely worked itself out.”
Trixie's eyes narrowed as she noted Jynx and Applejack look to each other, and the same reaction happened with Sunset and Saturnia.
“Shit.” Trixie grumbled catching on.
“Perfect we are doing this play as the theaters first show! This is gold!”
The Diamond Dog, Ashmutt, was quite excited about that.
The sun was still hours away from rising when all hell broke loose.
Across Equestria every creature with a cutie mark was woken up, unless they were third shift, to their cutie marks glowing and thrumming. Even those without a cutie mark were awoken and all of them had an odd urge to go some where and do something, though they didn't know what.
And that was just the ones who didn't know.
Princess Luna and her sister had been informed what the odd event meant and before her sister had even woken, Luna and the entire legion of night Guard descended on Ponyville With the day guard and her sister close behind.
In the Crystal Empire there was a great deal of chaos as well though only Shining Armor set out to Ponyville with a gate spell created by Chrysalis that allowed a hundred strong force of Crystal Guard and Changeling warriors though before Chrysalis couldn't keep the gate open any longer.
In Ponyville things were much worse, the entire town was gathering at the Crystal Tree, Seshat, feeling drawn to it, and all of them freaked out more as swarms of Guards descending on the town.
Inside the crystal tree things were a bit wilder, mostly due to Seshat freaking out.
Rahs, Spike. Twilight, and Big Mac who was staying over, were trying to calm down the tree who was screaming about something. The most they were able to get from her was that whatever the issue was it was at Rich manor.
And as the sun started to rise in the sky, nearly fifty percent of Equestria's Guard marched on Rich Manor.
The investigation was short and the results terrible.
Every pony in the manor, from the maids, to the Rich's themselves was dead, save one filly.
[That afternoon, Seshat]
“.. We had the poison traced, but due to the nature of it, it's pretty easy to tell where it came from, and it's not illegal in Griffonstone, not even in large doses. Mrs. Rich had several deliveries from unconfirmed locations with strict instructions to be delivered directly into her hooves, not any servants. We found the box with traces of the poison still inside of it. The Rich's had a water softener on site and the poison was put into the water supply there along with the salt needed for filtration. Given the nature of the poison it would have been undetectable as anything more than organ failure had it not been for us finding that box and the sheer number of those affected. The only bright note in all that is that they all would have blacked out before their body stopped working so it would have been relatively painless death.” Comet Trail read off the scroll he had. Given the Guard presence in town Comet Trail had taken over citing local jurisdiction, though he accepted the aside of several specialists in the other parts of the Guard.
Two Princesses, The Sparkles, The Day and Night Guard Captains, The Element Bearers, as well as Saturnia and Jynx representing two of the local groups shifted nervously at this information.
“What was the poison?” Saturnia asked.
“One of our alchemists identified it as Wind Serpent Venom, It has an antidote, but if it's not administered before the victim has fallen asleep, it's too late. Even contact with the poison is enough to be fatal, which is what we believe happened to Mrs. Rich. We've treated all the guards who came in contact with the box as well as everyone else near the site just in case, including the daughter.” Comet Trail continued. “The information provided by her matches this hypothesis as she was informed not to drink the water very strictly before bed last night by Spoiled.”
“How is she doing?” Pinkie Pie asked with a frown.
“The therapist Mending Spirit is staying with her, she believes Diamond Tiara is in shock.” Comet Trail offered.
“Obviously.”
Comet Trail spared a glance at Rahs, who looked like he wanted to fight something, Comet knew the feeling, but there was no bad guy to punch this time.
“So far she's launched herself straight into what I want to call business mode. Mending Spirit called it something else, but the gist is she's focusing fully one tending to the estate given she's the sole inheritor. She's already summoned the family lawyers and is having her mother retroactively removed from all records of the family line.” Comet Trail. “ She's setting up the funerals already, opting for cremation of the bodies on our recommendation to avoid possible issues with the poison getting into ground water.”
“Is there a motive that we can ascertain?” Princess Luna asked.
“Surprisingly yes. “ Comet Trail sighed. “Seems like it was nothing more than greed and possibly jealousy. One of the maids who has been on vacation for the last week and the gardener were interviewed.”
“The Gardener's alright?”Applejack questioned. “Not that ah'm not glad, but ah'm surprised given he'd likely be in contact with tha water more'n any pony else.”
“Evidently Mrs. Rich had a issue with him using the house's water on the plants, so he used an old well near the back of the estate to tend the gardens rather than deal with her. This may have been part of the plan as the plants would have shown the effects of the poison long before a pony.” Comet Trail explained. “As for the motive the two of them explained that Spoiled and Filthy argued quite a lot with there being several times Filthy threatened divorce over something or another. “
“Unfortunately this seems very cut and dry.” Princess Celestia sighed. “ I suppose not having dealt with a murder that left six dead is what caused the commotion with Seshat?”
“This is not the end of this. The issue is unresolved.” Seshat stated clearly.”This only feels like the beginning of something worse.”
“There is a young pony who has been made an orphan by her own mother.”Shining Armor spoke up. “Of course this isn't over, it likely never will be for her.”
“Well this has been a thing.” Applebloom sighed as she looked at the boarded up store front of Barnyard Bargins. The building was empty and stripped of any signs it had been anything in just a few days.
“Well you can't really blame her for wanting to leave this place.” Spike shrugged.” Though closing up the family store here, selling the manor and canceling the deal with the Apples was a bit much.”
“Meh, that part ain't gonna hurt us. Granny's been turning down other deals fer Zap apple products for years cause of the agreement with Mr. Rich.”Applebloom offered. “ Closing down Barnyard Bargains don't sit right due tah all tha ponies who are now outta work until some one else buys tha building.”
“Rarity says that she didn't close all the stores just this one because it under preformed. Mr. Rich supposedly only kept it open as it was his first store and this is his home town.”Sweetiebelle explained.
“Also she's not selling the manor, she's having it bulldozed and selling the land.” Scootaloo pointed out. “The demolition team has already put in a request to have the weather team hold off the scheduled storms for a while. My aunt is rather annoyed at the extra paper work.”
“I really can't tell if this is bothering her or not.” Firefly offered as the group walked past the closed down store.
“What do you mean?” Sweetiebelle asked.
“Well, I've run into her a few times around town and all I get out of her is anger, there's not even a hint of depression or sadness.” Firefly shrugged.
“Well she did tell Silver Spoon to buck off when she tried to talk to her.” Sweetiebelle offered.” I don't really see any change in her really either.”
“Sweetiebelle,Firefly, shush. Much as we dun like her Diamond had something horrid happen to her and we ain't gonna say anything bad bout her.”Applebloom huffed.” She's gone any way tah live out in Detrot, so it ain't our problem.”
Spike winced a little rubbing his filly friend's back as she pressed against him. Diamond wasn't the only one that went through something like this after all. Even if Applebloom barely recalled her own parents.
[ North bound train.]
“I expected to see you sooner.”
“It's not as if I can travel as easily as you, there are far too many creatures who might notice me and they would not take kindly to my continued existence.”
“Like that stupid tree?”
“That was unexpected, but it seems so yes. I received your message and was there. Forgive me for not revealing myself at that point, but with as many gods as were in town I certainly didn't want to be seen, thankfully they were all distracted.”
“Well?”
“Hmmph. While not what I expected from you, it was certainly something. But I am hardly impressed with pointless death.”
“It was hardly pointless. Though it was far too easy given she was going to poison my father's drink any way, I just expanded the targets making it easier to pin on her. Poison is easy to understand when you studied alchemy to keep ahead of one of your rivals, though i'm far behind her now that she's studying with a zebra.“ the young mare huffed. "Their deaths mean that everything on both sides of the family's empires are mine. The wording on the form for my mother put all she owned in my name before hers' was erased from the records. My grandparents on her side don't have any sort of claim any more either."
"Impressive."
"It's like my mother used to say, 'if there is a problem, do whatever it takes to remove it and come out on top'. Backing your project will not even be questioned now.”
“True, true. I suppose I should give you this for now before I tell you anything else.”
The pink maned stallion offered the young mare before him a braided bracelet made out of some black fibrous material.
“A friendship bracelet? Seriously?”
“Hardly. I've been cultivating a particular type of vine that has very interesting properties in regard to gods powers. It will only last a few weeks before you will need a new one, but it will keep beings like Luna from snooping in your dreams and the gods won't be able to scry you, or in some cases even see you. However it's a temporary thing. While it will allow you to move unwatched by the Fates and a particularly annoying rabbit, it will wear out as the vines dry out. It doesn't seem to work that well on the tree either, though perhaps my bracelet had gotten old.”
“Whatever, so then is this enough?”
“Very much so. With your money and cunning, my research should progress much faster, particularly as I no longer need to hide in questionable locations to set up shop. Constantly having to move has been quite annoying. Once everything is set up, then I can start to keep my end of the bargain. And better still I will be able to show you the progress I've made thus far.” The stallion smirked. “That should remove any fears you have about me.”
“I expect so, all you've made thus far are promises, and until I see proof, I very much will worry about you Jedidiah .”
“Please Miss Diamond Tiara, we are going to be working together and need to trust one another. “ The stallion smiled. “Call me Solomon.”
Spike flipped through one of his gaming books, his head laying back against Applebloom's side as she flipped through a magazine.
Scootaloo and Firefly were playing a game of stacking blocks on the table, the game was cranked up in challenge due to the occasional shaking of the train car as it rolled along the tracks.
Sweetiebelle was currently napping in her room.
This would be the second year Spike had been invited to the Crystal Empire's gaming con, developers were rushing to the new convention as the Crystal Ponies were fast becoming the highest purchasers of leisure items like games and so forth. His own popularity and enjoyment of games clearly spurring it on, and due to his popularity with the Crystal Ponies, he was pretty much a guaranteed invited guest to the con for the foreseeable future. He was also highly amused at how many publishers sent him copies of their game to test out in the hopes that he would give good reviews of it at the convention.
It was a good thing he was a demi god, because it would already take more than one mortal life time to play all these games.
This year however it seemed nearly everyone was going. Twilight, Rahs, Applejack, Pinkie, Fluttershy, and Rarity were heading up there for a bit of relaxation after the last few months. Heck even Rainbow Dash and Prince were tagging along.
Sombra still had a restraining order, but he was okay with staying home.
Of course, most of 'Rahs' Angels' as Sunset had taken to calling those interested in Rahs, were coming along too. Trixie was already in the Crystal Empire on a job, Jynx was coming along to check up on the dogs she left to run the mines, Saturnia was showing up to visit her mother and father, and Sunset didn't bother to come up with an excuse to go, she just joined them.
“Hey Spike..?” Applebloom asked.
“Hmmm?”
“Do yah think there's such a thing as a bad cutie mark?”
“Is this one of those hypothetical situations mares ask with no right answer, like 'would you still love me if I grew a dick?”
“that's a question?”
“So I've been told.”
“What even is the answer to that?”
“The popular response seems to be 'is it bigger than mine'?” Spike offered.
“But you have two.” Applebloom considered.
“So would the proper response be, 'Do you have three?” Spike considered.
“No, wait, we're off topic with adults weirdness, back to the cutie marks.”
“Well. What do you mean then?”
“Like Trouble Shoes. His cutie mark was causing him a disaster.”
“Trust me when I say it wasn't his mark causing the problem.” Spike sighed.
“Yeah, but what if I get a bad mark, something that I dun wanna do?”Applebloom huffed.
“You think that would be worse than not getting one?”
“Well no.... maybe...”Applebloom admitted. “ What if I get... , I dunno a bug busting cutie mark?”
“Don't worry about it. I doubt there's a bad mark. I mean if it's something you don't want to do just spin it so works for you.”
“Huh?”
“Okay, look at Miss Cheerilee. She has some flowers and she says it's a teaching cutie mark. Rarity claims hers helps with her fashion stuff but it's a couple of gems and she doesn't use gemstones on everything she makes.”
“Well ah guess yer right...” Applebloom frowned.
“I might not be, but it's what makes sense and since as far as I know Discord didn't make cutie marks...”
“Nope that was all Law she though ponies needed more structure in their lives.” Discord huffed floating above the two.”Bleah.”
“Sup Discord, haven't seen you in a while.” Spike offered non pulsed at his appearance.
Firefly however was a bit freaked out by the chaos god appearing, but that was mostly due to the block tower game he and Scootaloo were playing having all the pieces suddenly turn into bananas.
He was even more upset that Scootaloo didn't seem to care and had managed to remove one of the bananas without the tower collapsing.
“Oh I've been around, it is a great big world after all and I can't hang around Ponyville all the time.” Discord offered.
“Ehh makes sense.” Spike shrugged. “ Oh, I've been meaning to ask, did you want to join in one of my O&O games?”
“Spike?” Applebloom asked as a pile of bananas tumbled over the table to Firefly's annoyance.
“What, I'm morbidly curious as to what he might do.” Spike offered.” Granted it doesn't have to be O&O I have tons of games now.”
Discord considered for a moment. “I may take you up on that, though I've got far too much on my plate right now.” Discord nodded.
“It's cool, we generally meet on Saturday nights during the school year.” Spike offered.
“Playing games on Saturday night? As young as you are, you should be out living the night life.” Discord pointed out.
“Okay first off both of us have over protective siblings who can sniff us out anywhere, literally. Second Twilight and Big Mac usually go out on Saturday and we have the whole place to ourselves. And third I can call the game early any time I want just to stay with Applebloom.” Spike smirked as Applebloom blushed.
“Ahh, you are a clever one.” Discord nodded. “ Be glad you're not a pony, or calling you clever would be much more disastrous.”
With that Discord snapped his fingers and vanished, the banana block tower turning into a pile of frozen fish sticks.
“Seriously!?” Firefly snapped. “What is it with him and food?”
[Crystal Empire]
In a dark corner of the rebuilt Crystal Castle something was happening, beyond dust bunnies breeding in the corners.
No, they were not related to White.
There was a faint sound in the room, like a large drop of water hitting a still pool in a large cave system. The sound died out rather quickly turning to a faint hum as something magic activated in the mithril room.
Most of the artifacts in there were dormant, subdued by the materials that constructed the room.
The tall horseshoe shaped mirror on the other hoof, glowed in defiance of this place. After all, magic nullification was something that happened to other ponies creations, not things made by the Great Starswirl the Bearded.
A figure emerged from the glowing mirror with a sound like a bit striking the pool at the bottom of a wishing well, the air was filled with the faint whiff of ozone and clear water.
The figure then fell on their face as their new hooves slipped out from under them.
There was a groan of pain before the mirror flared and dumped a whole bunch more figures on top of the first with a painful sounding crash and a good bit of whimpering and fussing.
The largest figure of the group stood up shakily on two legs and looked around curiously before noticing it was wearing a bluish black long coat over navy fur.
"Toto, I've a feeling we're not in Kansas anymore. We must be over the rainbow!" no longer a bird Rahs exclaimed.
“Oh, well, congratulations? I think.”Fluttershy meeped from the pile of bodies.
“THEY ALL LAUGHED AT MY GENIUS!!” Twilight ranted.
“Honestly darling I don't think any one was laughing at that part.” Rarity huffed.
“BUT I SHOWED THEM I SHOWED THEM ALL!” Twilight continued.
“Yah mean yah showed tha five of us yah invited tah look?” Applejack pointed out.
“WHO'S LAUGHING NOW!?!?” Twilight demanded.
“Not you, because you better be getting off my spine!!”Rainbow Dash growled.
“Bark!” Spike added.
“I'm not, though this is still highly entertaining.” Pinkie Pie pointed out from where she sat outside the pile.
"Well, here's another fine mess you've gotten me into!" Rahs offered.
The group slowly disentangled from each other as Twilight was unceremoniously shoved off the top of the pile by Rainbow Dash.
“ I feel weird. So now what? You managed to jump us all to who knows where with that doohickey you made.” Rainbow Dash demanded. “What now?”
“Actually all my device does is open the portal and hold it stable. Ummm...Errrr, now?” Twilight blinked not having thought that far.
“How about we find a light source first?” Applejack muttered. ”It's a might bit dark in here.”
The group tried to look around peering into the darkness without any luck, at least until Pinkie Pie turned on a flash light, the bright beam lighting up a stone room large enough to hold the dragon that had visited Canterlot High.
“I can see!” Rahs exclaimed, before he winced as the light was shown on him causing him to fall over over backwards with a yelp. ”Nope, I was wrong.”
The rest of the group cried out in panic and fear as the flashlight lit up the large canine creature in the coat that had been looming over them until the light blinded it and it fell over.
“What the heck is that thing!?” Rarity screeched.
“I think that's Rahs” Fluttershy offered.
“Oh .. Sorry.” Rarity corrected.
“Frankly my dear I don't give a damn.”Rahs retorted.
“Language!” Twilight snapped.
“BARK!” Spike offered.
“From you either!” Twilight scolded.
Pinkie shown the flashlight on Spike revealing a purple and green scaled dragon sitting there blinking in the light, his tail wagging light at the attention he was getting.
“Spike?” Applejack gasped.
“Bark.” Spike offered.
“Wait, didn't they call the dragon Rahs?” Rainbow Dash demanded getting the light shown on her.” Gah Pinkie, seriously.”
“Oh my gosh, you're so cute!!” Fluttershy squeed.
“ What the hell?!?” Rainbow Dash snapped looking down at herself. She was a light blue pony creature with wings and a mane and tail colored like a rainbow. ”I look like a bag of skittles!?”
“Yah've always looked like a bag of skittles.” Applejack huffed. “Them blue one's that's sour.”
“Green.” Pinkie Pie corrected.” The blue ones are tropical.”
“Taste the Rainbow.” Rahs agreed.
“Fuck you.” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“Barn door don't swing that way sugar.” Applejack smirked wincing as the light shown on her. “Dangnabit Pinkie stop aiming fer our eyes.”
“Huh, I expected you to be red.” Pinkie Pie pointed out. “You know cause apples.”
“Ah ain't 'all' about Apples.....” Applejack huffed.
“You nearly bit my head off last time I offered you a banana.” Rainbow Dash snapped.
“Cause you were doing it all suggestive like.” Applejack snapped back. ”Perv.”
“Interesting, unlike Rainbow Dash you seem a normal horse or pony. The coloration isn't that far off some of those found in certain breeds, the same with your mane and tail. “ Twilight offered.
“You also kept your hat.” Rarity offered. ”Unfortunately.”
“The eyes are odd though, the skull is shaped weird and the eyes are more forward facing and not slitted. Those are traits found more in predators than prey animals like ponies.” Twilight continued.
“We're going to need a bigger boat.” Rahs added.
“You calling me fat, bird?” Applejack glared at Rahs, who for once, wisely shut up.
Pinkie Pie shown her flashlight on Rarity who blinked in surprise as she looked down over herself.
“Well now, predator or not I am simply gorgeous.” Rarity smiled tossing her head and making her mane spill over her shoulders.
“You also have a horn.” Twilight added.
Rarity gasped pulling a mirror from some where and looking at her self. She practically squeed as she pranced around in place on three hooves.
“How is she holding that?” Twilight questioned.
“A unicorn, oh I am simply the perfect picture of grace and beauty.....” Rarity began.
“Right grace and beauty, at least until you need to figure out how to wipe your butt with hooves.” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“Plus yer furs white and will show any stain yah git on it, not to mention white horses have an awful time with sunburn.” Applejack nodded.
“How crude. Must you take the fun out of everything I do?” Rarity growled.
“Sorry can't hear you Rarity, you're a little horse.” Dash cackled.
“How long have you been waiting to use that one?” Pinkie Pie frowned.
“Since I first found out I was a blue winged horse.” Rainbow Dash grinned.
“Pony” Twilight corrected.
“Whatever.” Rainbow dash shrugged.
“Not to interrupt, but is any one else concerned where we are?” Fluttershy offered. “I mean the Princess and the others took Sunset back a few days ago, shouldn't we at least see some signs of the damage that all that rubble outside the portal came from?”
Pinkie Pie shone the light across the room again showing smooth walls with odd crystals here and there in strategic placements..
“You're right, this place looks like it isn't damaged at all.” Pinkie Pie chimed in.
“The stone seems different th.. OW!” Twilight began before the light hit her face showing a purple unicorn with glasses.
“You're a wizard 'arry.” Rahs pointed out.
“So two unicorns? Hey if the nerds a unicorn what does that make Rarity?” Rainbow Dash snorted.
“Three seconds from a homicide?” Rarity offered.
“Shutting up now.” Rainbow Dash stated.
“Good girl.” Rarity growled.
“Bark!” Spike stated confused but excitedly at the same time.
“No, I said good girl, not good boy...... Actually are you a boy or girl dragon?” Rarity considered.
“That is something worth looking into.” Twilight pondered.
“I have another question.” Pinkie chimed in. “What are you gonna do when your brother shows up?”
“Why would he show up. He doesn't get off of work until six PM today and we've only been in here about thirty minutes, we have at least eight hours to go before then.” Twilight waved a hoof.”
“Except for the fact it's two AM now.” A male voice stated.
Pinkie whipped the flashlight around to show a white unicorn in full police riot gear staring down at the group from where he had stepped through the mirror.
“Uh oh, spaghettios.” Rahs frowned.
“Portal. Now.” Shining Armor growled. “The entire force is looking for you girls as well as everyone's family. If it hadn't been for Professor Cranky spotting you girls on campus while he was in to deliver his vacation request for his wedding, we still wouldn't have found you.”
“Hey, I didn't even want to come.” Rainbow Dash huffed.
“And yet, here you are. March!” Shining snapped.
Spike barked and rushed back through the portal with Fluttershy quickly following. Rarity trotted through the portal with a bit of worry followed by Applejack and Rainbow Dash.
“This is the find of a lifetime, a parallel dimension I had to investigate!” Twilight shouted.
“Twilight. If it were my choice I would ground you until you were old enough to get a senior discount. Now that I know you're safe anyway But mom and dad have already decided that they are just going to sign you up for softball this season.” Shining Armor frowned. “They're also taking away your basement lab privileges and will be making sure you spend the summer outdoors doing physical activities.”
“Which is fine, because at the moment you're not a human.” Pinkie Pie added as both of them glared at her. “What?”
“Boy that escalated quickly.” Rahs stated as Twilight moped through the portal.
“Rahs, Pinkie Pie. Go!” Shining Armor ordered.
“Okie Dokie.” Pinkie Pie stated, standing up, brushing her dress off with her hands before putting the flashlight back in her hair and walking through the portal.
“What?” Shining Armor blinked.
“There is no spoon.” Rahs nodded sagely.
“Yeah that's the best I can come up with too. This is weird enough as is standing with hooves and whatever you are.”Shining Armor sighed. ”I hope Cady's not too mad I missed dinner with that friend of hers.”
“Hasta la vista, baby.“ Rahs offered stepping through the portal with Shining right behind him.
[Crystal Empire.]
The door opened with a bright flare of light that lit up the entire room. The only thing in the massive chamber was a horseshoe shaped mirror that was no longer glowing.
“Woof.” Rahs offered stepping into the room sniffing the air.
“Seems it. The wards have been tripped , something came in and then left.” Twilight offered as she trotted into the room. Cadence, and Chrysalis came in right behind her with Shining Armor and a large guard presence stopped at the door way. Behind them was Sunset and the rest of Rahs' suitors as well as the other Element Bearers.
“So is there anything in there Twilight?” Shining asked from behind the gods. The guards at the door were only there to seal the room fully and sound the alarm if something was heard inside the place. Their orders then were to find the the nearest god and let them deal with whatever came through the portal. No one knew what else Starswirl dumped in the portal, but Forgescale was enough, and several ponies theorized the Sirens had come through as well as signs that they had shown up were around the same time.
“No, nothing in here, it's not like it could hide.” Twilight offered her magic plucking one of the crystals from the wall.
“Bark.” Rahs pointed out.
“Several things were in here? And they smell familiar?” Shining Armor asked.
Twilight frowned and tapped the crystal with her horn, lighting it up. The crystal projected an image on the far wall and the group watched it for a while as the humans turned ponies argued then were made to go back through the portal, before Cadence let out a sigh of relief.
“Well good, nothing that's going to destroy the castle again. Twice is enough.” Cadence huffed.
“Still, now we have to keep an eye out for a Twilight from another dimension.” Chrysalis grumbled.
“Is that something to really worry about?” Shining Armor asked.
“I would be worried. She did jury rig the mirror to open at the wrong time.” Sunset offered.” Plus she's a Twilight, so she's probably worse than anything else that's come out of the mirror so far.”
[Ponyville, Seshat. End of fall, Nightmare Night, main lobby of the castle tree]
“Alright time to go over the checklist one more time.” Twilight stated excitedly.
Everyone else in the room, including Seshat, who was the room, groaned.
“Hey, there's nothing wrong with a good checklist.” Twilight huffed. The purple mare was dressed in a skin tight red and black jester's outfit with white face paint with only her wings exposed, a cartoonisly large mallet leaned against the wall in the room.
“Twilight, we're not Big Mac. We don't find your checklists interesting.” Sunset sighed. The mare had figured out the spell the sirens had used and was currently sitting in her human form. She rarely used it as it hampered her ability to cast spells. However it seemed she had opted to use it as a costume tonight. She wore red thigh high, high heeled boots, fishnet stockings, a tight red corset and bicep length gloves. Her skin was pale almost white rather than orange, and her hair was done up in black and seemed to move on it's own.
Spike had called her a human version of the Mane-iac. Sunset had mentioned that wasn't far off, but less foal friendly despite the show it was from.
Rahs remained silent about it.
Rahs was wearing a rather tight fitting pair of pants, a frilled white shirt and a large super spiky blonde wig. He was also carrying around a cane and a couple of crystal balls he could juggle.
He claimed the costume was something called a Goblin King.
Sunset claimed she was going to be sticking to him like glue all night.
Thankfully for everyone's sanity the rest of the girls after Rahs all seemed busy. Trixie had a big show in Wilmingtrot.
Saturnia was helping her parents in the Crystal Empire keep an eye on things. Nightmare Night was not a very popular holiday in the Crystal Empire, and the last few years the few celebrations set up had a number of Crystal Ponies go out of their way to try and destroy the holiday.
This of course put that faction into conflict with those who had found out that Nightmare Night was one of the Royal Family and the other Sparkles Favorite holidays.
While the older Crystal Ponies were still leery of it, the foals were all about dressing up for free candy. The candy tribute to Nightmare Moon however was something that didn't happen in the Crystal Empire.
Jynx was swamped with work as news of her new role had gotten out and packs of Diamond Dogs had flocked to the Jade Wolf territories. The area couldn't deal with the number of new dogs and she and Princess Celestia were currently working out places where they could build warrens.
The normal response for a pack getting too large was to dig tunnels further down, but where the Jade Wolf Warren was set up , digging down too deep would drop them into the a section of the Duck Pond, and flooded tunnels full of giant squid were no ones idea of fun.
Applejack was helping with the Apple Family Haunted Maze, which was where Twilight was going to go after she was done being a pain in the ass about her list. Pinkie Pie, Rarity were there as well, though Rainbow Dash and Prince were in Canterlot crashing parties and pranking.
Most of Ponyville hoped the pair stayed in Canterlot this year.
Seshat was dressed up as well.
As a tree.
It was a very good costume.
The crusaders were again waiting for Luna to show up, though all of them were particularly ready to go out for candy. While no pony said anything, all of them were quite aware that it wouldn't be too much longer before it was no longer sociably acceptable to go out on Night Mare Night for free candy, so the lot of them were more than willing to do so as much and as long as they could.
Sweetiebelle had dressed up like a Royal Night Guard, complete with graying of her coat and adding a paper mache bit to her horn to make her look more like a Kirin.
Scootaloo had put together a Shadowbolts costume like Rainbow Dash had done years prior.
Firefly, who had the ability to change into any form he wanted, had just cut some eye holes in a sheet and was wearing that.
Spike however had gone all out. With the help of Rahs he had put together a mock up of a Adaptus Alicornus Salamander Armor to wear.
Granted Applebloom had countered that by managing to put together a Daughter of Battle suit of armor. Spike was a little more concerned that she had some how made the armor suggestive like some of the art in the older books.
Applebloom really had to thank Rarity for the help with how much it distracted Spike.
“Right, so costumes?” twilight questioned holding her pen.
“Duh.” Spike huffed waving a bolt rifle prop.
“Seshat are you certain you can give out the candy?”
“I can make new rooms as need be Twilight and warp the rooms in any shape I want. I most certainly can give out candy to foals who come knocking.” Seshat sighed. Twilight was a little leery of that as so far there was just a massive bowl of candy in the front lobby on a table with a black table cloth.
“Rahs...”
“Is not part of your checklist.” Sunset cut Twilight off as she grabbed Rahs' arm. ”He's mine tonight.”
Rahs rolled his eyes.
“Whatever.” Twilight sighed. ”Alright, Crusaders are going to wait until Luna gets here and you all have your routes planned out for the night. I think that may be everything.”
“We went over that five times for such a short list.” Scootaloo huffed.
“Shhhh, do you want to get her started again.” Sweetiebelle hissed.
“Excuse me, Ms Sparkle.” Firefly speaks up.
“I told you just call me Twilight.” Twilight sighed.
“At least he never called you Princess.” Spike pointed out.
“Different chain of royalty with changelings.” Twilight pointed out.
“Err yeah, so any way, is there any thing on your list about dealing with a massive bundle of fear hiding under the candy table?” Firefly pointed at the table with the large bowl of candy on it. The table was currently trembling and a long pink tail was sticking out from under the black table cloth.
“Fluttershy?” Spike questioned.
“How did she even get in here without me noticing?” Seshat demanded puzzled.
“Well at least she's not trying to hide under his coat this time.” Sunset huffed.
“With as tight as his outfit is, ah dun think she'd fit.” Applejack offered staring at Rahs and trying not to drool. ”Tah be fair ah'd still like tah try that.”
“No, bad Applejack, my date tonight. ”Sunset hissed. ”I will get a rolled up newspaper.”
“Aww yah know ah'm just playing.... a little bit.” Applejack smirked.
The farm mare was a bit odd in her costume, her hooves were wrapped in white and teal ribbons and she wore a simple if some what ratty teal dress with a large white belt that had a single trailing strip of cloth like a tail. Her usual Stetson had been replaced by a red skull cap with cat like ears on it, and she was carrying around something that looked like a steam punk version Pinkie's party canon.
Big Mac had opted to join in Spike and Applebloom's cosplay and was currently green, with a red monocle, several of his limbs had fake cybernetic parts on them. He was also speaking with a cockney accent the few times he did speak and was yelling everything he said which confused everyone who knew him.
Twilight was not that amused at the nerdy costume, though the promise that she could help him get rid of all the green paint later kept her quiet.
“Fluttershy why are you out here?” Pinkie Pie questioned with more than a bit of worry in her voice as the pink pony was practically wrapped in the yellow pony.
Pinkie Pie was dressed in a yellow and blue skin tight suit with a weird finned mask. She also was chomping on a big bubblegum cigar and had two fake blades poking out of her fore hooves.
“I must say I am quite surprised as well darling. Sombra isn't a fan of the holiday either, but at least I can convince him to answer the door and give out candy, even if he eats half of it.” Rarity huffed.
The white unicorn was completely covered in some sort of dark red armor with a billowing red cape and a horned helmet with a Mohawk like crest along the top of it.
“Angel bunny ran out of carrots.” Fluttershy muttered.
“Like that varmint can't go out an git his own food.” Applejack huffed.
“Last time Angel bunny went to get his own food twelve ponies went missing for a week and half of downtown caught fire.” Pinkie Pie explained.
“Oh yeah, forgot about that.” Applejack winced.
“What even is that rabbit?” Sunset huffed.
“Grandson of White.” Twilight offered.
“That explains it.” Sunset nodded.
“Really, I don't think it does. I thought only the children of gods were demi gods.” Rarity asked.” Angel does far too much for just an ordinary rabbit.”
“Cause he cheats.”
“They are.” Sunset offered ignoring Rahs for the moment. “But the grand children of gods are born the best their race can ever achieve, the apex of their entire species. But because they are not demi gods nor as important as their parents and grandparents a lot of them get kinda a chip on their shoulder. And the thing about being born the best your race can be, doesn't mean you can't get better. So if you take the pinnacle of a species and then train them even more, there's really no upper limit to how powerful a grand kid of a god can get.” Sunset explained. ”I know like three of those now... well I did, they can still die of old age. But they can also be the scariest things to walk the planet.”
“So what you're saying is we got a possible Keter class world ending scenario here.” Firefly offered.
“Meh, what's one more in this town?” Sunset shrugged.” We've got, what eight?”
“Fair enough.” Spike nodded.” And eleven last I counted if we include Sweetiebelle as separate from the Crusaders as a whole.”
“Hey!” Sweetiebelle protested.
“Why did we move here again?” Firefly muttered to himself.
“Hey!” Scootaloo huffed jabbing her sorta colt friend in the ribs.
“So what are you going to do Fluttershy, I know you have issues with being out on Nightmare Night. We can try and get some carrots for you if you want to go home.” Twilight offered.” Though it is nice to see you out and about. I don't really like immersion therapy, but I can't deny it has some benefits.”
“But I don't want to be out on Nightmare Night.” Fluttershy muttered.
“And you don't have to be, but you're already out you could try to stay a bit and see what's going on.” Twilight offered.
“You already have a costume too.” Applebloom pointed out. “That cool proto thestrial thing yah got going on.”
“No... I don't like that I scare ponies with that and I don't like how spooky everything is. This holiday just isn't my cup of tea. I've told Pinkie Pie that several times.” Fluttershy shook her head.” The whole thing terrifies me with everyone trying to be as scary as they possibly can.”
“Doesn't stop you from stealing some of my candy haul.” Pinkie Pie offered waggling her eyebrows.
“Yes, well I think I'll just get the carrots and go home.” Fluttershy muttered.
“Well if you're sure.” Twilight offered.
“I am.” Fluttershy nodded.
“Well alright. Hate tah say it though, ah got no clue where yer gonna find carrots. After Glace's farm got leveled they're kinda scarce in Ponyville right now remember. Didn't yah have tah go to Canterlot last time yah ran out?” Applejack offered.
Rainbow Dash lifted her head as the dying roar of the screamed expletive echoed around the buildings. The city was still being rebuilt though there was more than enough of it for pranking and Nightmare Night shenanigans, even if sun set was just starting.
Her costume had confused Prince as she was just in a large yellow and orange spotted caterpillar costume, a far cry from her usual horror or 'cool' costumes.
Evidently she had lost a bet.
Prince was dressed in a blue body suit with a helm, over sized leg guard and one of his fore hooves ended in what he called a mega buster.
“That is the loudest profanity I have heard since Aunt Celestia found Tiberius in her cake vault for the first time.” Prince offered looking out over the edge of the city with worry.
[ Canterlot, The morning after Nightmare Night.
Two Guards stood out side the solarium where Princess Celestia and a guest were having tea. Well Princess Celestia was having tea, the guest was having fruit juice as Caffeine evidently did not agree with her.
“ And over here we have Princess Celestia's Solarium, initially designed in seventy six ANMM, by the well known architect Frank Lope Wright. Normally a visit inside this marvel of design would be on our tour, but Princess Celestia has claimed it's use for today.” the tour guide called out to the group with him.
“OOOH”
“AHHHH”
Camera's flash as dozens of pictures are taken of the door and the guards outside it before the tour moved on.
Tour groups were going through the castle at the moment, a rather sizable group from Neighpon, a few school groups and a tour from a senior center in Baltamare with a small army of very tired looking orderlies and more cats and small yippy dogs than the Guard or the castle maids were comfortable with, all were in varying stages of the the castle tour.
The two guards outside the room however were both twitching nervously as they sweated buckets.
One was even considering asking to be transferred back to the guard unit that watched the crusaders rather than have to take this post again.
“So how is your juice?” Celestia asked.
The room itself was what many would consider tastefully opulent. A former large balcony framed in glass and white oak with intricate floral trim that matched the plethora of plants hanging in the room or by one of the many large windows. A marble pillar carved with various channels and swirls stood in the middle of the room with water cascading down it's sides and along the channels, the movement of a single pebble at the top could turn the water down to a barely audible trickle, or a cascading waterfall that while relaxing made it hard to hear any one else in the room talking.
“Surprisingly not poisoned.” Chrysalis pointed out.
“True, it is getting harder to figure out new and painful ways to try and destroy you.” Chrysalis offered sipping her juice.
“ Indeed which brings up a interesting point. It seems our daughters have teamed up.” Celestia explained.
“Really?” Well so much for my being able to lord her win of Rahs over you.” Chrysalis sighed.
“Trust me I do understand that feeling. Sunset was a shoe in to beat your daughter for his affection.” Celestia sipped her tea.
“Who even told you this?” Chrysalis questioned.
“Rainbow Dash.”
“Who does she have money on?”
“Whatever percent the house gets in Ponyville." Celestia sighed. “ She's running the current pool there.”
“She's going to make a killing no matter who wins.” Chrysalis smirked.
“Well whatever they are doing I certainly hope it works or we are never going to have grand foals at this rate.” Celestia pointed out.
“True enough there.”
“Still it begs the question that if our daughters can get along can we?”
“Hmmm.” both of them consider.
A side room of the castle explodes.
“And over here we have a special treat that has only started in the last few years. Princess Celestia and the Changeling Queen Chrysalis fighting to the death and ensuring that there will always be work for construction workers in Canterlot.” The Tour Guide announced.” And by Lunar decry, any damage done by the pair comes out of their pockets, not your tax bits.”
“OOOH”
“AHHHH”
Camera's flash as dozens of pictures are taken of the fight as another explosion rocks the castle.
“RAHS! “ Twilight screamed out towards the stairs,” Get your furry butt up! We're going to be late!!!”
Rahs raised an eyebrow from where he was standing by the door behind his sister, already dressed and holding a large brightly wrapped wedding gift.
“Bork.” he stated simply.
“Owch.” Spike offered as he tucked a pair of bolas into a belt under his dress jacket. ”Also he's right, we have three hours still. Getting ready this early for a five to ten minute walk is a bit much.”
“Woof?” Rahs asked gesturing to the bolas as he fiddled with the tie he was wearing.
“Oh these? They're in case Applebloom tries for the bouquet.” Spike offered.
“Woof?” Rahs asked confused.
“Tossing the bouquet is a tradition that stems from before the unification. Mares used to try to rip pieces of the bride's dress and flowers in order to obtain some of her good luck. To escape from the crowd the bride would toss her bouquet and run away. Today the bouquet is tossed to single mare with the belief that whoever catches it will be the next to marry.” Twilight explained ignoring Rahs' 'surprise being up and on time for once' nonsense. ”Is that why you've been practicing with those things all week? I thought you liked Applebloom?”
“Yep and I do like her, but one, we're still in school, and everyone freaks out at any hint of us kissing I don't wanna see what the reactions would be if she manages to grab the flowers. Two I've seen how mares can get at these things, remember the brawl at the last wedding?” Spike questioned.
“Of course I do, I won three hundred bits off that fight.” Twilight smirked. “I knew Rarity was going to cheat.”
“Right, and this time Sunset, Trixie, Jynx, Saturnia, and Applejack are going to be at the wedding, as well as Rarity.“ Spike offered. ”By stopping Applebloom from getting involved, I'm probably saving her life.”
Rahs whined a little.
“Sorry dude, I don't have any more bolas. Heck I'm surprised these made it in time for me to practice with after I ordered them.” Spike offered. “Not that I think even expertly thrown bola's would stop any of your girls, or Rarity.”
[ Canterlot]
“Lulu? Are you ready to go yet?” Celestia called out.
“That depends, do we need to pack a spray bottle to keep you and Chrysalis apart?” Luna questioned.
“Wait, she's going to be there?”Celestia questioned.
“Yes, she's a friend of the bride.”
“Hold on I need my hammer.” Celestia turned .
“NO! You traumatized all the Guards and some old ponies last week, this week you are going to be civil or we are leaving you at home!” Luna snapped.” Which means no wedding cake.”
“But Luuluuuu.” Celestia whined.
“NO!”
[ Friendship Express, southbound towards Ponyville]
“I'm still not happy I wasn't chosen to preside over the wedding.” Cadence huffed. ”After all I did for him.”
“We know Cady, you've been regaling us with that complaint for the last eighteen hours nonstop.” Shining Armor pointed out as he flipped through a gaming magazine.
“You're edging close to sleeping on the couch with that tone buster.” Cadence huffed.
“What was it you said to me last time you were in the dog house?” Shining questioned without looking up. ”In a relationship triangle like ours if one partner isn't in the mood or angry, the other one is still available?”
Chrysalis leaned up over the back of Shining Armor's seat and wiggled her eyebrows at Cadence.
" Just saying you're annoying me too Cady.” Chrysalis offered.
“I hate you both right now.” Cadence growled.
“Good thing it's a big couch then.” Chrysalis murred.
“Any way, why are you upset? It's being presided over by Iinii not Celestia, she's a guest same as you, so what ever competition you have going on with her for wedding presiding doesn't matter here.”Shining Armor pointed out.
“Wait!? Celestia's gonna be there? Is it too late to go back and get my swords?” Chrysalis asked.
“Yes.” Shining and Cadence both stated.
[Ponyville]
“Are you girls ready to go?”
The deep rumbling voice had the three mares look up from their work on arraignments as a massive figure ducked his head to enter the shop. The flower trio had thought their shop had a tall ceiling until they had met the massive Nox Cal, Nocturne they were currently dating.
Lodestone blinked, the massive nox-cal looking nervous at the way the three mares were looking at him in his black suit. He ran a claw like hoof up though his close cropped fuchsia colored mane, his brilliant orange scales glinting in the light through his burnt sienna colored fur as he moved.
“Almost, Lodey.” Rose offered as she turned back to work on an arrangement.
“We're finishing up the last few set pieces, most of them are already over in town hall these are just a few filler pieces and the Bouquet.” Daisy offered.
“This one's tricky, given who all was invited to the wedding the flowers for the bouquet have to be both durable and pretty, and I'm not talking just able to withstand a few bumps and some jostling. I mean these have to be durable enough that they could knock out a dragon if thrown hard enough.” Lily explained pulling a welders mask back over her face as she fired up an acetylene torch and went back to working on the flowers. “We'll be done soon enough and join you out there.”
Lodestone blinked at that and nodded, backing out to let the trio work without distraction.
[Sugar Cube Corner]
“Cake cake cake cake cake!” three year old Pound Cake chanted beating his fore hooves on the table.
His sister Pumpkin tired of the noise, grabbed a cup in her magic and bounced it off her brothers head dumping juice all over him.
Pound responded in kind by starting to throw things back at her.
Carrot Cake sighed before trotting over to the squabbling pair looming over the two before leaning his head down between their bickering.
“Stop it.” Carrot cake said simply with the small hint of a growl.
The two foals stopped, blinked and went silent.
Carrot shook his head and started toweling off his son. This had been a hectic three years since the pair were born. Not just from all of Ponyville's usual chaos, but due to a few suggestions from some ponies he knew, Carrot doubted at first the foals were his. This had made him unconsciously distance himself from forming an attachment to the foals at first, and his wife had pointed out he seemed cold and angry regarding them and her.
He finally had some tests done on them when Cupcake left the foals in his care and went off to visit her sister for a week.
The tests proved that those suggesting Cupcake cheated on him were full of shit. The foals were indeed his.
Unfortunately due to how he acted when he thought other wise, the foals had grown to be wary of him despite his improved mood around them. As such when they were being bad he was the one who was the disciplinarian of the couple rather than his wife who had expected to hold that role.
Really every pony expected the foals to walk all over Carrot.
“Cake?” Pound questioned.
“After our work is done, and only if you two are good.” Carrot offered. “No screaming, and no throwing things.”
“Okay.” they both chimed up.
Carrot looked down at them both before he smiled and headed back towards the kitchen to check on his wife was progressing with the finishing touches on the wedding cake.
“For the love of Celestia Vinyl, YOU ARE NOT A VAMPIRE!!” Octavia shouted.
“As far as you know.” Vinyl growled from the darkness of her room.
“Yes, as far as I know, and I know you are not a vampire, you were sunning in the yard last week and didn't burst into flames.”
“SPF 6000. Works great.”
“SPF of that level would be paint, or latex.”
“Oh ho, does little Tavi have a fetish?” Vinyl chuckled.” How else would you know the SPF of latex?”
“SHUT UP!! We are going to be late to the wedding if you do not get up right now.” Octavia shouted.
“You're not my mom.” Vinyl snapped.
“Yes I am. I had you in the past, but I was born in the future. And I'm telling you, it's great there. The air is clean. The water is clean. Even the dirt is clean! Bowling averages are way up. Mini-golf scores are way down, and we have more excellent water slides than any other planet we communicate with. I'm telling you, this place is great, but it almost wasn't. You see, seven hundred years ago, the Great One ran into a few problems. So now I had to travel back in time to help out. If I should fail to keep you along the correct path, the basis of our society will be endangered. Ah, but don't worry: it'll all make sense. I'm a professional. “ Octavia ranted.
“What? Really?” Vinyl blinked sitting up.
“No you idiot, now get up if you want to get paid, we have a job to do.” Octavia huffed.
“Heinous...” Vinyl grumbled.
[Town Hall]
“Well this is going surprisingly well.” Bon Bon offered looking over the decorations. The flowers were all in place, with the Flower Trio still moving around arraigning things. A group of changelings had been hired to set up the furniture and they were going over last minute details, like how to get the massive buffalo that was to preside over the wedding into the building without knocking everything over.
“With you by my side, I knew we'd get it done in time.” Lyra offered
“There is nothing like a 'best' friend, is there?” Bon Bon chimed in.
“Oh by the stars, the sap.” Minuette whined.
“What sap? We're just friendly....”Lyra sing songed.
“Reeeeeaaaaaaaaaaally friendly” Bon Bon added with a bit of a leer.
“You two are never going to let me live down I didn't notice you were dating for four years are you?” The blue unicorn huffed.
“Of course not.“ Moon Dancer smirked. “I was pretty much a social recluse for that time and even I noticed.”
“Be glad Lemon and Twinkle are busy with the reception food, or you'd be hearing it from them too.” Lyra laughed.
“Speaking of things unnoticed. Where's your minder Minuette?” Shining Lights asked.
“Hmm, oh he's over there pretending to eat the flowers and terrifying the Flower Trio.” Minuette gestured a hoof towards a small white rabbit floating around a large floral arrangement dodging Lily's attempts to drive him off with a broom.
“You know with how often we saw that little tag along of yours I'm surprised it took me as long as it did to realize White was involved when I first showed up at the Crystal Empire.” Moon Dancer shrugged.
“Perils of making something of interest to the god of time I guess.” Minuette shrugged.
A loud roar cut off any further conversation.
“What the heck was that?” Shining Lights asked.
“Prolly some monster attacking Ponyville again.” Lyra shrugged. ”Picked a bad day to do it too.”
“Villain of the week or something from the Everfree?” Bon Bon asked in the same nonchalant tone.
“Is this normal?”Minuette demanded the white rabbit following her now hiding in her mane.
Lyra moved to look out the window. ”Monster, looks like a bee bear or something.”
“A bee bear huh that's...” Bon Bon trailed off before rushing over to the window staring at the Bug Bear looking to start a rampage. Granted at the moment it looked like it was about to attack a well dressed white unicorn mare and a well dressed black unicorn stallion.
“The Bug Bear it found me....” Bon Bon.
“What are you talking about Bon Bon?” Lyra questioned.
“My name isn't Bon Bon. It's "Special Agent Sweetie Drops". I work for a super-secret anti-monster agency in Canterlot called EIS, or at least I did until the bugbear went missing from Tartarus a few years back.” Bon Bon offered.
“Wait isn't Tartarus guarded by two gods? When and why did Canterlot try and put a agency in Tartarus. That's stupid.” Minuette offered.
“Well it is the Equestrian Intelligence agency, not the Equestrian 'we're smart' Agency.” Moon Dancer responded.
“That makes no sense.” Lyra complained.
“You've clearly never dealt with government before.” Moon Dancer sighed.
“I can't tell you any of that. You don't have the clearance.” Bon Bon frowned.
“I have green tea cake level clearance.”Minuette offered.” I do dental work for nobles and royalty. I was one of the first to know about Princess Luna and that Sombra was alive and in Canterlot.”
“I've got Triple espresso roast level clearance.” Shining Lights pointed out. ”Heck I make half the spy gear the EIS uses.”
“I know things.” Lyra shrugged.
“I have Chocolate Angel Food level Clearance, Truck-Kun clearance, as well as Shoggoth's Milk Level clearance.” Moon Dancer offered. ”And if Twilight ever develops a Princess level clearance for information I'll probably have that too.”
“She's not a princess.” the others chimed up reflexively before giggling.
Bon Bon stared at the group in clear confusion.
“Oh relax, the group of us were part of Celestia's School the same year as Twilight Sparkle, while none of us are at her level...” Shining Lights began.
“Debatable.” Moon Dancer huffed pushing up her glasses up with a hoof.
“ You're not an alicorn.” Lyra pointed out.
“Yes, and what has that done for her?” Moon Dancer raised an eyebrow.
“Point.” Lyra shrugged.
“Any way. While we may not be at her level, we're all considered geniuses.” Shining Lights continued.” Except maybe Minuette who couldn't figure out you two were dating for four years.”
“Buck you Lights.” Minuette huffed.
Cranky and Matilda watched as some strange combination of a bug and a bear, a bug bear if you will, was getting mauled by shadows and black crystals while two very well dressed ponies stood nearby directing the assault.
The pair turned to watch as a series of ponies rushed past heading into town hall where a lot of yelling was going on.
“Oh My.” Matilda gasped.
“See this is why I was so insistent we had our wedding some where else last month. “ Cranky huffed as the Bug Bear was launched back into the forest at a speed that made it look plaid. “This town is just too crazy.”
[ Train from Canterlot]
“Jer'rahd? What are you doing here?”
The gray furred unicorn stallion opened one eye looking up at the short gray pegasus standing in the aisle as the train clacked down the rails.
“I could ask you the same thing Starfall.” Jer'rahd smirked.” I thought you didn't like trains.”
“I'm headed to Ponyville.” Starfall smirked in return. “ I didn't want them to see my coming by flying in.”
“Ahh heard the same thing I did then?”
“Of course. I missed Shining Armor's wedding as Princess Cadence called in a favor to get me to stay home.” Starfall explained before grinning more. ”I'm not going to miss a second chance to join a gathering of all the little birds who made it through a unrestricted class of ours.”
“Princess Cadence talked to my wife to stop me from crashing her wedding, but otherwise I'm here for the same reason as you.” Jer'rahd grinned wider.
The pair of them started cackling like mad.
Luna and Celestia peered in from the door to the next train car.
“Those two are evil.” Luna offered as Celestia nodded sagely.
[Ponyville later]
“And thus by the power invested in me as God of the Buffalo and the Snows, as a member of the Council, and by Larry's Roadside Ordainment and Casino of Los Pegasus...” Iinii concluded, the Buffalo god some how managing to fit in the building and still seem bigger than the building. “I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now kiss the bride.”
The gathered crowd at the wedding all screamed out and cheered as Ditzy Doo and Comet Trail kissed.
The pair married on the date of their first meeting
“Finally after all this time, my planning has come to fruition. MUHWAH HA HA HA!!” Dinky cackled, the dress the filly wore making it hard for many to look at her with how adorable she was. A few hearts had to be restarted when she came down the aisle with the flowers, Mr. Tiny Sniffles following behind in a custom Tux with the ring pillow balanced on his massive head.
“Okay she is absolutely adorable when she does an evil laugh.” Star Scream pointed out. The pegasus Heart Guard in his dress uniform for the wedding.
“To be fair, pretty sure she's adorable no matter what.” Bedrock offered. The large Royal Guard Earth Pony was also in his dress uniform.
“This is true. I almost feel sorry for any colt that catches her eye.” Light Hook offered. The unicorn heart guard smirked as he shifted uneasily in his uniform.
“Really, cause I've heard she's interested in one already, a colt from Trottingham, Pipsqueak or something.” Swiftshot offered, the former Night Guard having needed to retire due to the injuries he sustained fighting Sombra in the Crystal Empire. No one was quite sure why he moved to Ponyville or even tolerated the presence of Sombra here. Though the pair of them didn't interact if they could help it.
“SHE WOT?!?!” Pipsqueak yelped from nearby the guard stallions.
The town hall had cleared out rather quickly, leaving only a hoof full inside. The rest were gathered outside with a range marked off for what Shining Armor's shield would cover.
All were placing bets of course.
Ditzy stood by a window ready to throw the bouquet inside before Shining put up his shield.
Inside were seven figures.
Jynx was unsure what this tradition was until Cadence explained the one to catch the bouquet would receive good luck and it was often thought it would signify the one who caught it would be the next to marry, then she was all in. The large diamond dog glanced to her left, where Witch-Jack stood, both of them wearing rather nice dresses Rarity had made that fit their forms.
Applejack looked at Jynx and frowned.
“Ain't no peace fer this.”
“Indeed.” Jynx nodded.
Trixie shifted nearby tensing up as she cricked her neck.
On the other side of her Saturnia had taken a Abyssinian form and was shifting to limber up as well as she adjusted to the cheetah forms speed, trying to figure out how to crank it up higher. Next to her Sunset coughed a little.
“Our deals off for this event.” Sunset stated.
“Of course.”Saturnia grinned.
Rahs peered in the window looking at the group, whimpering a little. He continued to ignore Spike demanding his help as the dragon had managed to tie himself up with his own bolas. Applebloom was sitting next to him just poking Spike with a hoof, wondering what he had even been trying to do.
Back inside, Rarity stood on the other side of Jynx, her fur already dark gray with shadowy tendrils lashing around.
Sombra stared nervously through another window with Cadence and Celestia looming behind him with large grins.
The final pony in the room made everyone nervous, a large red stallion in particular.
Twilight Sparkle smirked, her wings fanning as she waited for Ditzy to throw the flowers.
“We just had this place rebuilt...” Mayor Mare whined to Raven as Ditzy tossed the flowers and the shield was raised.
Seven very angry females stared through Shining Armor's shield.
A whole crowd of wedding guests stared as well.
Mayor Mare silently thanked the stars she wouldn't need to have the town hall rebuilt again.
Ditzy had thrown the flowers and some how bounced them off the window frame before the shield could be raised, and they flew back out into the crowd behind the newlywed mare.
Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow and lifted her head looking up at the flower bouquet now impaled on her horn.
“Well. This is awkward.” The Princess offered.
“The tabloids are going to love this.” Luna rolled her eyes. “ Almost as much as that Zebra fertility dress you were caught in.”
“That was not a …. where's Rahs I need words with him about those pictures now that you reminded me.” Celestia huffed.
“Mare I know what level I'm putting into this thing and I am as spot on as you can get without a mana scope and a 20 digit calculator.” Sunset snapped from behind a large shield.
“And yet you're off by four.” Twilight retorted, her goggles pulled down over her eyes as she stared at a cube on a stone lab table.
“Should I come back?” Saturnia asked from behind another large shield. The changeling thought she knew something about magic until these two got together, then she felt like a philosopher, only knowing she knew nothing.
Rahs sighed leaning against the back wall of the chamber just in case something went wrong. His sister was hard at work again trying to get the familiar spell to work. She had raided Celestia's school for one of the high end magic training cubes to use as a test for the spell. The device was a perfect target for new spell development as it was designed to simulate various possible spell targets. The rune covered chunk of heart wood and rubber could handle a ridiculous amount of magic being poured into it without breaking. Twilight, prior to ascension, had only managed to break one during a surge when she was younger.
Rahs had eaten three. With as much magic as these things were soaked in they were the perfect chew toy.
He had needed to sign a waiver that if he ate this one he would have to pay for it.
His budget wasn't THAT much.
Twilight had to sign one that if she broke it she would have to buy a new one.
Her budget wasn't that much either.
So in a show of surprising foresight she was letting Sunset cast the spells.
Rahs was mostly there as a safety measure if something went wrong, they were evidently into the bigger spells today and needed him just in case.
Saturnia was there as well for something, though Twilight's explanation of adjusted thrums and power transfers went way over his head. Evidently she could doe something as a changeling like transferring power or something. He didn't understand it, so he sat back letting the egg heads work while he looked pretty.
He was good at that.
As his sister yammered on, his mind wandered to where it had been going for the a good while lately, the Oneiroi.
He was supposed to be the ruler of that place, but in truth he hardly needed to even be there. The alphas kept things running fairly smoothly and it wasn't as if even they were needed too often. Moon Dogs rarely had a reason to fight or argue with each other so long as there was enough food, anything they wanted or needed otherwise could be converted out of the dream stuff around them, and the few other things that lived in the dream world were barely an issue as the moon dogs were the apex predators of the place, aside from the occasional vicious nightmares or a 'thankfully' much smaller tantabus or two there wasn't anything to bother them.
Twilight had mentioned that might be bad if they got too specialized, or if something disrupted the flow of mana into the dream world, but she couldn't figure out how such a thing might happen, particularly with the very existence of Discord and all the other things that had attacked over the last few years driving up nightmares of ponies and others in Equestria.
The moon dogs had an over abundance of work dealing with just nightmares after Tirek.
Then there was the Oneiroi itself, he was only just figuring that place out.
A massive untamed land of unclaimed wild dreamscape and unknown void.
No that wasn't quite right.
The void was filled with things, stuff seen on the edges of dreams, the dreams of wild animals mingling , the rare few structures built by the slumbering dead and life dreamers that hadn't faded yet.
There were... territories for lack of a better word in the Oneiroi. Most of the dogs he had met were in an area that was roughly the size of Equestria. The geography in the Oneiroi shifted and changed, but where larger packs of dogs gathered tended to be equivalent of where cities or major settlements were in Equestria. Between the larger packs were well worn' paths' through the dreamscape, routes that allowed for fairly quick travel between places in Equestria if one knew how to access them.
Though some places were isolated, like that 'Our Town' place and there was no easy path through the swirling wilds of the Oneiroi. The dogs tended to follow the ones they were assigned to in their movements, and most ponies rarely left Equestria.
There were a few however we traveled quite a bit through the dreamscape as their bonded traveled along Equss and they knew that there were other large packs out there and countless smaller packs in the wilds of the Oneiroi, some of them looking quite different than the moon dogs around Equestria.
Rahs was rather curious about them, but he would have plenty of time later in life if he got bored to investigate, he was sure word about him was getting around anyway.
Right now his concern was his sister Bri, and the fact she had just had two pups.
Rahs hadn't even known she had been dating any one let alone she had a mate for the last five years.
Bri had been promoted to join the group of alphas after Rahs had expressed his displeasure at several of the members of that group. One didn't stay long in favor when the wholly accepted god of your race didn't like you. So at least three of them had retired. One had done so and faded away having been watching over Celestia far longer than most things had been alive. The other two were likely going to go the same route before long with no one bonded to them they would fade into the dreamscape itself in time.
Rahs had thought that a ridiculously dramatic and over the top way to go. None of the other moon dogs thought it was that strange.
He was starting to see where his flare for drama had come from.
Still Rahs had met Bri's mate, a rather large burly moon dog named Jen. Jen was bound to a young nox-cal nocturne and was a decent enough dog as far as he could tell.
Also Bri had threatened Rahs with bodily harm, god or not, if he fucked with her mate.
Bri herself was now bonded to Cadence fully and was an alpha of the tribe. Evidently that was the sort of thing the pair had been waiting for as she became pregnant not long after she had bonded with Cadence.
Bri was one of the few dogs who could bond with a god to watch over their dreams as she had never been bonded with anyone else after she was born for just that purpose. The other two who had bonded with Celestia and Bleu respectively had been raised much the same way.
Granted with how little the alphas needed to meet, Bri having pups meant there would hardly be any issue with her tasks beyond watching over Cadence's dreams or being an alpha. Though there had been some hoopla when she had suggested Rahs name the little male and female pups.
Rahs was thrilled and after freaking out every dog with the old Denise and Denephew joke, he gave the pair the names Oberon and Titania.
Twilight had called him a nerd about his worship of the bard when he told her, but he hardly cared, it was a weird feeling to be an uncle for the pups of a sister he didn't even know he had for most of his life.
“Huh that's funny.” Twilight muttered.
Rahs snapped immediately back into focus, those were dangerous words. Ponies often thought that yelling Eureka, or Shooka or some other catchy phrase heralded discovery. In his experience the words to watch out for were ' That's funny', and 'Oops'.
Both could either be something good, or in his sisters case something that needed him to eat some magic, usually the latter.
“What is.... oooooh..” Sunset begin though she quickly saw what Twilight was talking about in the spell she was holding. “Why is it being drawn to that? I don't even have...... THAT'S why it wasn't working!”
“Looks it, let me take over the spell I want to see if I can do this.” Twilight offered as the pair swapped the spell. Twilight taking over the control and the power of it.“This is still well within the ord cube's power to hold, how did we miss this?”
“Because we were focused on major portfolios not minor, like the main spell used. “ Sunset frowned. ”Going by this particular layout, the cost wouldn't be that bad and it would just lock a secondary. That might put off some of them though.”
“Then that's on them.” Twilight offered, her smile growing wider as the cube started to float off the table throwing out sparks. “Yes... YESS YESSS!!!!!!!!!!!!! HA HA!! This is it! This is the Familiar spell, and it will work!!!!!YESSS!!”
Then the cube exploded.
[ Crystal Empire, Crystal Castle, the next day]
Rahs rolled his eyes, popping his sister in the back of the head to get her to stop ranting. Cadence, Chrysalis, and Shining Armor had all gone glassy eyed.
“Ow, what!?”
“Woof!” Rahs pointed out.
“It was not too technical!”
“Twilight I'm afraid you lost me about the point you mentioned giga thrums.” Cadence sighed.
“That was the second sentence!” Twilight huffed.
“Did better than me, I lost focus when she started talking.” Chrysalis smirked.
“You need to train better, just look for a certain gleam in her eye then tune her out.” Shining smirked.
“Ugh fine. The short of it is the spell works, we got the Familiar spell to work and we're ready to move on to physical trials, and you were the ones who offered to do so.” Twilight stated.
The two gods perked up and Shining looked nervous.
“Are you sure it's ready to go that far Twily?” Shining asked noting how the two mares shared looked.
“Yes, Sunset and I triple checked everything. The spell works just like the original with one caveat. Casting the spell will take up one lesser portfolio. That's more of a safety feature than anything else. Since lesser portfolios are locked in terms of power and don't create gods themselves if passed on, using them as a focal point works perfectly. It's a bit of a work around, but you can have as many, well I don't want to call them familiars, companions, as you have lesser portfolios. Powering past that doesn't turn out well.”
“So what would that mean?” Chrysalis asked.
“In terms of the spell, the casting is only a little different. In terms of the target it should act exactly like the spell would with an animal. Immortality on par with a demi god, and some traits of the god that they became the companion too rather than just what the lesser portfolio is.” Twilight explained.
“Hmm I am curious as to what he would do with one of mine.” Chrysalis murred. “Just think if he got a bit of shape changing power.”
“Hmm or some of my abilities, with how good he already is.” Cadence murred.
Shining shifted nervously.
“Well, we would have to start with Cadence.” Twilight continued on obliviously as Rahs looked at his brother in pity. “ Changelings are just different enough in magic that it would require further testing to be safe.”
Twilight made a few notes before offering a scroll to Cadence.” The spells not that different but it will feel a little odd on your end compared to the original.”
“I never cast the original.” Cadence shrugged. ”I never saw a need for a familiar.”
“Never had time for one myself.” Chrysalis added.
“Well time to learn.” Twilight grinned.
With Twilight directing, the spell was set up and a very nervous Shining Armor had the spell cast on him.
“Hmmm.” Twilight offered looking over her brother, her horn glowing as she scanned Shining. “Rahs did you feel anything over the link?”
“Oh right he can eat spells like that.” Chrysalis frowned.
“Bark.” Rahs shrugged.
“ A bit of a surge. Judging by the scans however the spell did take. However I did adjust this spell to not feed down the link, so it shouldn't drain Cadence and feed Rahs.” Twilight offered. “How do you feel Shiny?”
“No different really.” Shining Armor offered. “What should I have been expecting.”
“Not much at first, there may be some power creep from Cadence in time, but the primary thing it did was make it so you're no longer going to age. There should be an increased durability as well, just short of what a demi god has, but more than a mortal. That may increase over time.” Twilight explained. “I'll have to run some tests.”
“That is a scary word.” Shining Armor shuddered.
“Tell you what Twilight. Go visit Moon Dancer or something and come back tomorrow, we've got a few tests of our own to do.” Cadence purred.
“Right, run along now.” Chrysalis offered with a feral grin.
“Really, I should make sure the tests your doing aren't too.. WHAT!? Rahs put me down!” Twilight yelled as Rahs grabbed his sister having seen these two like this before.
In three steps he then flung both himself and his sister out the window of the room fifteen stories up.
“FLY YOU FOOL!”
There was a startled scream from Twilight before a crash and explosion as the pair destroyed a haberdashery stall set up with other shops underneath the palace.
[ Ponyville]
Rarity frowned looking up from the dress she was working on.
She was suddenly very cross with Rahs.
Thinking on it she shrugged and went back to the hemming.
[The next day, Crystal Palace]
“Hello? Any one up yet? Twilight called pushing open the door and peering in. Rahs leaned in over her head to look around, the moon dog sporting a number of bandages around his head, that he didn't really need even after Twilight was done bludgeoning him for throwing her out of a window, but that he was still wearing for sympathy or drama or something.
The place looked trashed, the couches were flipped over, blankets and sheets tossed around the room as well as a few bits of clothing best worn in private.
Twilight blinked noticing a groaning pink form on the floor and a black form half buried under a couch.
“My legs... I can't feel my legs.” Cadence whined.
“You think that's bad, I can't feel my ovipositor.” Chrysalis groaned.
“You don't have an ovipositor.” Cadence offered.
“By the stars it's worse than I thought!” Chrysalis yelped.
“What?” Twilight blinked.
“Don't mind them.” Shining Armor offered stepping out of the bed room looking like he was freshly showered. “They just found out what happens when a mortal who can sorta keep up with them finally gets on their level.”
Twilight and Rahs blinked.
“So, you wanna get breakfast, I'm thinking pancakes.” Shining offered.
“It's after noon.” Twilight pointed out
“Still thinking pancakes.” Shining shrugged walking out the door with his siblings leaving Cadence and Chrysalis behind.
“Well I guess we know the spell works.” Twilight shook her head.
The large pleasure air ship cruised over the mountainous terrain headed north towards Griffonstone. The ship had met up with the Waning Moon at one point for an escort across a patch of territory where a large number of bandits were said to be located. The Night Guard's new warship was constantly on the move rooting out bandits and raiders along Equestria's borders.
The massive warship had veered off after the escort to go deal with another problem that popped up further along the border.
While the Griffons were supposed to be allied with Equestria, the fall of the nation years ago had caused all sorts of problems with bandits and thieves. Princess Celestia forcing the nobles back into their own country had caused even more problems and there were not a few of the former rich birds that were out on the street after being robbed blind by those they were supposed to be ruling over.
Celestia had used it as an example to Equestria's nobles of what happened if they pushed their pompousness too far.
She did set up the soup kitchens though and life for Griffons who were citizens of Equestria didn't change in the slightest.
“I must say this is quite possibly the strangest thing I have done in some time.” Prince smirked looking down over the side of the ship to the ground far below.
“What? Had your butt glow and then get sent on a epic quest by a tree?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“.... actually that's pretty much spot on, thank you.” Prince offered as Rainbow Dash giggled.
“Ah don't worry about it, trips paid for by the crown cause of how important it probably is. We've got a full compliment of Guard on board and you got me an Pinkie coming along, and we can handle about anything. “Rainbow Dash shrugged. “And what we can't handle, that's what we gots us a Rahs for.”
“Where is he any way?” Prince offered.
“Same place he's been all trip, up on the front of the ship posing and letting the wind whip though his coat.” Pinkie Pie gestured to the front of the ship and the moon dog standing at the bow his arms crossed as his long coat billowed dramatically behind him.
“ So help me if he does that top of the world thing I'm gonna push him off.” Rainbow Dash rolled her eyes.
“I thought you liked that movie?” Prince asked.
“Trottanic was great, but the freaking door was big enough for both of them!” Dash ranted.” And afterward everyone was doing that stupid pose.”
[Ponyville, Seshat.]
Twilight was at a loss for what to do.
She had passed on the newly adjust Familiar spell after making sure Shining was one hundred percent in the clear.
His magic level had increased further as had his durability, stamina, and strength. All were on par with Sombra and Sunset, the only physical change that was noticeable was that he was a bit taller and one of the stars of his cutie mark had become pink and heart shaped.
Iinii had gone out of his way to get the spell and was currently trying to convince Maohk to accept the spell. A discussion he seemed to be winning.
Celestia and Luna also had access to the spell, though neither claimed to really have any one they would use it on at the moment. Still they were wary about passing it out to too many creatures. At Celestia's suggestion Twilight was holding onto the spell until she was sure all the kinks were out of it. And Celestia was planning to only let it be offered where it might have the most advantage.
Another council meeting would be held in Canterlot in the spring and Celestia planned to fully bring it up there.
Celestia was using the spell as leverage against a few particular gods who were issues and bring them over to her side in some votes. Others would be offered it as a gift for their continued alliances.
Twilight really didn't care much about it and left the politicking to the Princesses.
Granted none of that was why she was at a loss.
Right now she was at a loss because she asked Big Mac if he wanted her to cast the spell on him.
And without any hesitation, he had said no.
She had expected something like that from the earth pony farmer, though it still hurt.
So for the moment Twilight simple sat in her room staring at the ceiling at a loss for what to do.
“I knew the place was bad, but damn.” Rainbow Dash offered.
Rahs looked out over the landscape around them with a frown of his own. At first glance this place looked abandoned with crumbling buildings, a ruined castle in the highest point, with weeds and garbage everywhere.
Even watching the ruined landscape for a while one could only see a few griffons even moving around the place. For a place that was supposed to be the greatest city of the Griffon race, it looked more like a run down slum on some backwater pirate island some where.
“Things have not gone well for the griffons since the reign of King Guto. The first King of Griffons united the race and raised Aerie into an empire equal to, if not greater, than Equestria back in it's prime. They held lands that were part of the Crystal Empire when it was still a Equss spanning nation and the two often fought. Then the Empire fell and the Griffons expanded their borders. The main drive behind all this was the fabled Idol of Boreas, a symbol of national pride, though no one knows what it actually was or even did.” Prince explained. “There are only a few records here and there and some of their old Jess coins show images of the idol on one side with former kings on the other.”
Rahs blinked as he listened, Pinkie Pie glanced back at him and Rainbow Dash sighed.
“Yeah and all that came crashing down due to the last King Guto. Careful mentioning him around here as his names sort of a swear word to Griffons.” Rainbow Dash added.” The castle was invaded by an Arimaspi, or maybe that was the name of the guy, whatever, it came in took the idol and ran off with it.”
“This was only a few years before the war of the night and the creature was possibly one of Solomon's followers.” Prince offered. “The king stopped the creature, but the idol was lost into the Abysmal Abyss, and since that point the downfall of the nation started. They joined the war, but they lost a lot of territory to the Empire before it fell and they never bothered to reclaim it. During the war many of the nations heroes were lost and just after the war the god of Griffons retired and passed the power on to another, the current God of Griffons, Lockheed. Lockheed was a warrior not a politician so while there was conflict, his leadership kept the griffons going. When the war of Night and the Equestrian civil war ended the army he gathered started to splinter into differing factions following their own motives.”
“Dude made a last ditch effort to attack Equestria to keep his forces focused because he thought Equestria had been weakened by the war. Princess Celestia bitch slapped him back across the border and decimated the forces he brought.” Rainbow Dash added. “After that a deal was struck and over time most of the griffons who could afford it moved to Equestria.”
“Actually a lot of them used political leverage to not only move to Equestria but to live on Celestia's bit with calls of diplomatic issues and ambassadorial duties. Griffonstone despite supplying nothing to Equestria had the biggest ambassadorial corps and budget until recently. Even the God of Griffons maintained a residence in Equestria.” Prince continued. “Three years ago my aunt had enough of it and banished all the nobles and griffons that were living on her bit back to Aerie. Of course having lived off Equestria's bit and ignoring their own people for so long, they were not greeted warmly on their return. Some fled after they were attacked and robbed of everything they brought with them, some had enough bits to hire their own personal guards to protect them, but all of them are in dire straights and there's not a single griffon that will listen to any of them without being paid.“
“So you can get anything you want with enough bits, but you can't get anything with a Jess any more. I think the current rate is something like ten thousand Jess to one Equestrian bit. Melting the coins down for the metal pays more than an actual Jess, so they don't even make them any more. It's better to just sell the metal than try and stamp it.” Rainbow finished.
Rahs and Pinkie Pie both stared at her curiously. Rainbow jabbed a hoof out pointing at Prince who simply smiled smugly.
“Well that's a great history lesson, but what are we supposed to do here?” Pinkie Pie asked with a sigh.
“That's rather what I hope you would tell me.” A large griffon demanded as he landed on the deck nearby with a heavy thud.
The griffon standing on the deck was not a pretty bird. The bird was scarred, with a oddly shaped beak and clearly carried a bit of weight on him though he wasn't fat. He seemed a cross between a tiger and cassowary with his black feathers and faded blue head, the feline part of him was a deep gray almost hiding the black stripes. He had a slight list to one side as he settled down ignoring the guards that rushed to intercept him. He stared at the ponies and moon dog before him with the air of some one who, when they asked a question, it got answered.
In particular though his gaze was focused on Rahs.
Prince blinked a moment in confusion not recognizing him, though Pinkie Pie spoke up.
“Hi Mr. Thunderbolt.” Pinkie Pie waved, having thrown a party for all the former prisoners back when the Crystal Empire had been freed.
The griffon blinked. “Miss Pie was it?”
“Yuppers. I haven't seen you in years!” Pinkie Pie chimed up. ”How have you been?”
Thunderbolt blinked, completely thrown off his angry looming by the cheerful pony.
“Thunderbolt? Prince Thunderbolt? Of the Fairchild Republic?” Prince asked in surprise.
“Pfft. The republic no longer exists and hasn't for nearly eight hundred years.” Thunderbolt huffed. “ And I can hardly be a prince of nothing. Now then, why is an Equestrian ship coming towards Griffonstone? This city may not be much anymore but it's still my home and I will defend it.”
“To be fair we don't really know, we were sent here by a tree.” Pinkie Pie explained.
“What.....?” Thunderbolt raised an eyebrow.
“It's a bit of a story, but we can catch you up on it if you like.” Prince sighed trying to be diplomatic as he waved the guards back. ”Though first introductions, you seem to know Pinkie Pie, she is the Element bearer of laughter.”
“She is not some one easily forgotten.” Thunderbolt sighed.
“This is Rainbow Dash, bearer of the Element of Loyalty.” Prince continued.
“I question that, given the stories I've heard.” Thunderbolt snorted.
“What was that? Who do you think you are?” Rainbow huffed tensing up before him.
“The one who bore that Element before you.” Thunderbolt stated making Rainbow blink and step back with his glare.
“Yes, well. I'm Prince Blueblood...” Prince offered moving between Rainbow Dash and the griffon.
“A Prince?” Thunderbolt raised an eyebrow.
“No, that's my name, Prince.” Prince offered with the long suffering air of someone having had to explain this all his life.
“And the Witch Wolf?”
“Woof.” Rahs responded.
“He says he's a moon dog.” Pinkie Pie adds in.
“I fought and killed your kind for years.” Thunderbolt frowned. “There isn't a difference as far as I care.”
“Perhaps a thousand years ago this was true Thunderbolt. “ Prince placated. “ But this is Rahs Sparkle, one of the four who was primarily responsible for freeing the Crystal Empire when it returned.”
Thunderbolt blinked raising an eyebrow at Rahs who returned the look impassively.
“Hmmph.” Thunderbolt offered. “ Tell your pilot to set down in the courtyard of the castle ruins. No one but me lives there now and if you land any where else some griff is going to charge you a stupid amount of bits to park.”
Thunderbolt pointed to the ruins of the castle before taking off again. The large bird seemed rather ponderous as he took off but once in the air seemed much more comfortable.
“Well. This could be useful for information.” Prince smiled.” Perhaps we can figure out why we were sent up here sooner than I thought.”
Aria sighed dropping down into the deck of the boat and rubbing her temples with her hooves as she stared at the sky.
The Song Fishies had been parked in a cove a few miles from the main city of Griffonstone and was hidden well enough that even had they the inclination, the griffons wouldn't find it. She didn't want to get any closer to the city as the river turned harsh and fell into a massive gorge that she hadn't been able to see the bottom of from the top. So she had parked much further up river having come in from the north.
While they had made it to where their father had put a mark on the map, there was nothing here.
As far as Aria could tell this entire country was one big run down slum. Hell, she had gone through slums in the human world that were less slummy than this place.
Adagio had of course set herself up almost instantly even without the stone she easily could control the griffons around here and get them to do her bidding, rather impressive for how greedy they tended to be with their bits.
Sonata had gone out and made a friend.... sorta. Aria found she had been hanging around with a griffon hen who was selling scones, and she had some how convinced the griffon to let her help make them, which had some how improved the former rocks into something that was at least edible.
Sonata had claimed her goal was to teach the griffon to make proper cakes and such as well so she would have a source of sweets while there.
Aria figured her sister was just bored and didn't want to get in the way of her and Adagio's fighting.
Adagio was still pissed at her, and while the eldest siren was the best at magic, Aria had been the bruiser of sorts for all the plans Adagio had ever made, and was a decent enough fighter she probably could have joined the Neighlantis guard if her mother had allowed it. Which she hadn't. Still it was enough to make Adagio pause before trying to confront her on something. This wasn't the first and it would doubtfully be the last time the pair fought. Aria went along with things easily enough usual, though if something got her worked up she wasn't going to be moved.
At the moment the pair were not on speaking terms and while that was fine with Aria, it was also boring as fuck.
There was nothing for her to do in this place, the griffons didn't have any tech worth a damn and there was no use for her engineering skills, so for the most part she stayed on the ship to guard it. Adagio occasionally popped in to see if anything had changed before going back to her minions. Sonata at least came back every night to sleep before running off to harass that Gilda griffon or whoever it was.
Aria wasn't dumb enough to tempt fate by saying anything out loud, but damn was she bored.
[ Ponyville Sweet Apple Acres]
“He's gone?” Twilight gasped.
“Yup sorry bout that Twi.” Applejack offered as she checked on a tree that was blooming despite being the middle of winter. The crystal tower barn was still somehow keeping off the worst of the winter weather despite it having been years since the spire landed on the farm.
“He, Sunset, and Granny headed up to Canterlot today to talk to a few folks about the zap apple production. After all that went on with the Richs we got a bunch of other folks who want ta buy inta tha stock. We're still the only farm in Equss that produces zap apples so it's a pretty big deal.” Applejack concluded.
“ Oh.. well do you know when he's supposed to be back?” Twilight asked.
“He didn't tell yah?” Applejack frowned at that oddity. “ They're gonna be up there a couple of days with how many folks want a cut of the crop. Prolly gonna be negotiating fer tha whole time. Princess Celestia's letting them stay in tha castle so we dun have tah worry bout hotel costs. Granny could use a little pampering ah suppose.”
“Yeah okay...” Twilight sighed and vanished in a flash of teleportation leaving Applejack to wonder what was wrong.
[Ft. Fisher, former HQ of the Fairchild Republic, later the former Castle of the King of the Griffons]
“Sorry about the mess, I'm a warrior not a builder, so there's only so much I can do with this place.” Thunderbolt offered, leading the small group to a larger room that might have once been the throne room, but now had a table and a few scattered chairs around in varying states of repair and stability.
In truth it was an upgrade to rummage sale over the slums outside.
Everyone took a seat after Thunderbolt did, save a few guard who moved around the room checking it over.
“Neat Castle Thundy, did you inherit this? The rent has got to be insane.” Pinkie Pie offered up rocking in her chair.
“Thundy?” Thunderbolt raised an eyebrow.
“Trust me just roll with it, it's safer for everyone's sanity that way.” Rainbow Dash placated with both Prince, Rahs, and all the Guards nodding in agreement.
“And I thought that damn dragon was bad as Laughter.” Thunderbolt sighed shaking his head. “ So what's this about a tree?”
“WellawhilebackwemetHarmonywhilelookingforthetenticlesthattookPrincessCelestiaandPrincessLunaandtheywereallattackingPonyvilleandTwilightandtherestofustalkedtoTheTreeofHarmonyandgavebackhisfamiliersandwegotalittleboxandittookusthewholeseasonandafightwithTirektofigureouthowtoopenitandtherewererainbowsandexplosionsandgodsandabigcrystalcastletreenamedSeshatandshesendsusonfriendshipmissionsandoncetogetabagoffertilizerbutdon'ttellTwilight.”Pinkie Pie rambled.
The griffon blinked staring at Pinkie a moment before looking to Prince.
“Harmony had a daughter and she can sense problems and who is best to send to deal with those problems, this time she sent us.” Prince translated. ”So far Seshat seems fairly accurate that there's trouble some where.”
“She's not too good on telling us what the problem is though.” Rainbow sighed.
“Hence why we are curious as to if you might know anything that is plaguing this area.” Prince continued.
“This whole country is a plague.” Thunderbolt answered seeming pained by saying it.” I hardly recognize any of it. Not the buildings, not the landscape, and certainly not the people. We were an honorable race, not greedy bastards like this.”
Rainbow Dash winced at that having heard much the same from Gilda.
“Have you tried talking with Aunt Celestia?” Prince offered. ”I'm sure she would be willing to help with what ever you need.”
“Oh I know, she's said as much. But all I've got left is my pride and I won't sully that with begging.” Thunderbolt snorted.
“It's hardly begging if she offered.” Prince sighed as Thunderbolt frowned. “Fine. I won't get into this discussion. Surely though you have some idea how to fix this or have seen some griffon who isn't only living for bits.”
“A few. Though most of them would claim otherwise. “ Thunderbolt rumbled. “ Grandpa Gruff has taken it upon himself to raise a host of abandoned chicks, but to talk to him he acts like every other asshole around here. Some of the chicks he's raised have turned out different as well. But it's not enough when all the older griffons still act like greedy magpies looking to swoop in and take everything they can.”
“Bark.” Rahs questioned causing Thunderbolt to look at him.
“He wants to know where Lockheed the god of griffons is.” Pinkie Pie translated.
“That useless sack of shit. He's set up shop further north along the border of Aerie and the Crystal Empire. He's got quite a few griffons following him, though he's only set up that close to the border so he can pop over to the empire for his luxuries. Meanwhile he leaves every grif who doesn't have their beak shoved so far up his ass they can smell what he had for breakfast in the cold.” Thunderbolt huffed. “While I appreciate he stays out of the business of trying to rule the griffons, he should be doing something at least to try and help rather than just make himself comfortable.”
“He is raking in quite a number of bits for giving mining rights to certain areas of Aerie.” Prince pointed out.
“Yes and that money should be going to fix the nation not pad a pompous waste of spaces already fat ass.” Thunderbolt sighed. “But there is no Griffon nation, just a bunch of squatters scrounging and stealing to get by. I've been trying to set up something, but there's no one interested. Well Gabby is, but she's far too chipper for her own good, and while that chick of Gruff is one of the few who want to hear about the past, he's more interested in what it was like as a knight for Fairchild Republic. He's also a sarcastic little shit.”
“Well this is truly upsetting, but I'm not sure what we are supposed to do to help with that. “ Prince offered with a frown.
“Jump starting an entire economy and changing the minds of pretty much every bird in Aerie seems a little beyond what we can do.” Rainbow Dash grumbled. “Even my awesome has it's limits.”
“Ruff?” Rahs asked.
“Yeah that's a good point. What about that idol thingy?” Pinkie Pie offered. ”Isn't that supposed to be the pride of the empire or something?”
“The Idol of Boreas?” Thunderbolt blinked then considered. “Well the legend is well known enough it could be used as a start, but that thing fell into the Abysmal Abyss during the attack on the castle. That was the final straw before King Guto went full tilt into the war. He was a good griffon, but the loss of the idol and later his life during the war was the end of the age of Kings in Aerie.”
“What happened?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“The creature that attacked was soly after the artifact and destroyed half the castle to get to it. King Guto and his knights, myself included, fought the beast as best we could but it still managed to get the idol and escape. We pursued and managed to slay it, though both it and the idol fell into the abyss. Attempts were made to recover it, but that chasm is dangerous at the best of times, and most of the able bodied Griffons were needed for the war. King Guto always planed to recover it, though he was ambushed and killed along with most of his knights in an encounter with witch wolves.”
Thunderbolt glared at Rahs who simply stared back impassively. He had heard a lot of bad things about witch wolves, but he also knew the full story of them.
“At the time I was chosen to be the Element of Loyalty and was currently training with the others who had been selected.” Thunderbolt offered.” I often wonder if my presence would have helped, or doomed me as well.”
“And how did that happen?” Dash asked.
“Some zebra gods prophecy and likely some pushing by my grandmother to keep me out of harms way.” Thunderbolt sighed. “Of course that little plan got me trapped in the Empire when it vanished and with me presumed dead my grandmother gave up being a god to the current idiot and retired.”
“Back to the idol, would that work? If we recovered it I mean?” Rainbow Dash considered.
“Honestly I don't know. It may be a start and it would draw in a number of those who know the legend. It did make who ever possessed it far more likable and made griffons listen to what they said.” Thunderbolt muttered.” My grandmother made it for the first king back when the griffons were just warring tribes."
“The Abyss is fairly large, running several miles before ending in sheer cliffs at the sea. How would we even find it?” Prince questioned.
“I was there when it fell. I know the general location of where it should be, but something like that will take a team and more bits than I have access to. You can't fly down into that place, you'll be ripped apart on the rocks on the way down.” Thunderbolt explained.
“Sounds like we will have to rappel down then.” Prince stated, a grin forming on his face. A few of the Guards who were used to him groaned seeing where this was going.” I have some climbing gear already on my ship, it shouldn't be too hard to set something up if we know where to go down. Plus we would have my airship to base out of rather than the possibly risky cliff sides.... ooh maybe we can do the cliff sides any way, that sounds fun.”
Thunderbolt raised an eyebrow as both Rahs and Pinkie Pie also stared at Prince as he started making plans.
Rainbow Dash smirked. “Don't worry about it. Stuff like this is why I'm dating him. This is gonna be fun.”
[ Hours later.]
“I'm not saying it's not a good idea.” Pinkie Pie offered. ”I'm just saying I don't think that's why we're here.”
“Come on, it's an awesome idea.” Rainbow Dash smirked.
“Ruff.” Rahs shrugged walking along with Dash and Pinkie though the town. A number of griffons stared at them as if considering trying to rob them, though the towering Diamond Dog looking creature warded them away.
Guards had attempted to come with them though Rahs had waved them off. If there was something he Dash, and Pinkie couldn't deal with they wouldn't have a chance either. The guard didn't like it, but he was a Sparkle and there was a whole section in the Guard trainer that was about how to deal with the Sparkles.
Still it suited everyone fairly well to stay around the airship as a large number of griffons were gathered around the site. Some curious, though most seemed ready to snag anything that wasn't nailed down, so the guards were busy. Rainbow Dash was all for going after the idol, but she also easily got bored with the prep work needed before a climb and had wandered off with Pinkie Pie and Rahs.
“You're right, it's not like I have any other ideas. And Sunset wasn't sent with us this time, so it's not like there's any bad guys.” Pinkie offered.
“Yeah that kinda sucks. I wanted to clobber those sirens for that nonsense on my birthday.” Rainbow Dash growled.
“Woof?”
“Ehh, you've been sent on every mission so far after the first one. I think Seshat is just trying to make sure you don't get mad at her again.” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “ Hey, listen! Do you smell that?”
Rahs blinked looking around. ”Bark?”
“Yeah, that smells like baking. Come on!” Pinkie Pie gasped pronking off towards a ramshackle looking cart and the griffon hen standing next to it.
Rahs and Rainbow Dash looked at each other shrugged and followed along.
Rainbow however frowned and slowed her approach when she recognized the hen.
The griffon and the pegasus lock eyes and glare at each other.
“Hello Gilda.” Rainbow Dash stated coldly.
“Dash.” Gilda retorted.
“Pinkie!” Pinkie chimed in as Rahs sighed.
“What are you doing here?” Dash demanded.
“I'm a griffon, this is Griffonstone, what's your excuse dweebs?” Gilda snapped.
“Hey these dweebs are here to help Griffonstone.” Dash snapped.
“Help it what?” Gilda questioned with a sneer.
“WellawhilebackwemetHarmonywhilelookingforthetenticlesthattookPrincessCelestiaandPrincessLunaandtheywereallattackingPonyvilleandTwilightandtherestofustalkedtoTheTreeofHarmonyandgavebackhisfamiliersandwegotalittleboxandittookusthewholeseasonandafightwithTirektofigureouthowtoopenitandtherewererainbowsandexplosionsandgodsandabigcrystalcastletreenamedSeshatandshesendsusonfriendshipmissionsandoncetogetabagoffertilizerbutdon'ttellTwilight.”Pinkie Pie rambled.
“What?” Gilda blinked clearly confused by the rant.
Rahs sighed again.
“Long story short we're here to get the Idol of Boreas.” Rainbow Dash snorted.
“Don't tell me you believe in that stupid legend.” Gilda rolled her eyes.
“You'd better believe in it! “ a door bursts open from a nearby building as a haggered old and nearly bald griffon stomps out, a fez perched on his head. A young blue griffon chick peered out the window of the building he came out of watching with interest. “It was the best thing to ever happen to us griffons!”
“Shards, you got Grandpa Gruff started.” Gilda grumbled.” I knew I should have parked my cart further down the road.”
“And I'll tell you the whole tragic tale for a few bits...” Grandpa Gruff offered.
“Thanks but we already heard it from Thunderbolt, he was actually there.” Pinkie Pie stated.
Grandpa Gruff blinked, snorted in annoyance, and tipped his fez forward before storming back into the house grumbling about uppity young griffons stealing his shtick.
“It really is a sad history of this place after the king was killed..” Pinkie Pie called after him.
“Sad? Do we really look sad to you?” Gilda snorted.
Gruff slammed his door sending several shingles falling from the ramshackle house to the filthy street with a crash. The three Equestrians looked at the mess looked around town, then to each other before looking back at Gilda.
“Yeah, I think we need to get that idol back pronto.” Rainbow Dash nodded.
“No one cares about the damn idol, everyone here only cares for themselves and that's how everyone likes it!” Gilda shrieked.
“Forget this, we're gonna find the idol and make this dump cool again. Come on.” Dash took top the air looking at Pinkie and Rahs.
“I'm gonna look around a bit more.” Pinkie shrugged.
Woof.” Rahs gestured to Pinkie Pie. Some one had to keep the pink mare out of trouble.
“Alright, I'll be back at the ship when you guys wanna be heroes.” Dash huffed and with a last glare at Gilda flew off.
“That's the problem with you sharding ponies. Always have a hero complex, always have to fix things that aren't broken.” Gilda snarled.
“Not us. Rahs isn't a pony and I just wanna party.” Pinkie Pie smiled. “Wait, ooh that would do it , I can throw a party. Where's your party store?”
“Our what?” Gilda questioned.
“Alright maybe a song?”
“No singing here.” Gilda ordered.
“ But how do you break into uplifting musical numbers with no singing?” Pinkie Pie questioned.
“Yeah, that's Griffonstone's biggest problem – lack of uplifting musical numbers. “ Gilda rolled her eyes as Rahs smirked a bit.
“Uh, how about cake? Nothing cheers folks up like cake! Where's a bakery?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Gilda raised an eyebrow at the pink pony.
“Seriously? No singing, no parties, no cake?” Pinkie huffed exasperatedly.” What is this place?”
“You're welcome to leave at any time.” Gilda shouted. ”You're as bad as that blue pony.”
Rahs perked his ears at that.
“Well, that just takes the cake. Wait, no! It can't take the cake 'cause there is no cake! Or muffins! Or griffon scones! “Pinkie Pie huffed
“Oh, we got griffon scones. That's my specialty. “Gilda smirked with a bit of pride.
“Ooh I'll buy one.” Pinkie Pie offered giving Gilda a bit and popping the scone into her mouth chewing thoughtfully.
Rahs hesitated a moment to see how Pinkie Reacted before he was willing to try one.
“No refunds.” Gilda snapped.
“Not bad. You need a little more baking powder and maybe some blueberries and it would be perfect.” Pinkie Pie offered.
“Uggh, that's exactly what the blue one said.” Gilda sighed.
“Blue one?” Pinkie asked.
“Yeah, another damn pony poking their nose into my business. She usually comes around to bug me about lunch time.” Gilda growled fanning her wings. “Speaking of which. There she is over there.”
Gilda gestured pointing a talon to a blue furred and blue maned pegasus pony with pink gossamer wings hopping along happily towards them.
Pinkie and Rahs both stared.
Sonata stopped dead as she spotted the moon dog and pink pony.
“SHIT!” Pinkie and Sonata both shouted as Rahs rushed at the siren.
“Well, that was a thing that happened.” Pinkie Pie offered. “So any way, like I said, baking powder and blue berries, maybe strawberries.”
Gilda blinked, as she watched down the street Rahs and Sonota had run down in confusion.
“What the buck was that all about!?” Gilda demanded.
“Trade secret.” Pinkie Pie claimed.
Before Gilda could question further, Rahs tore back around the corner barreling towards them. He ran past the cart without stopping, scooping up both Pinkie and Gilda as he continued to run.
“What the shard dog, what the Tartarus are you doing, let me go!” Gilda squawked.
“BORK!” Rahs snapped.
“What?” Gilda demanded.
“He said look behind us.” Pinkie Pie frowned.
Looking back Gilda's eyes widened as a horde of griffons armed with what every weapons they could get came roaring down the street after them.
“Never mind, RUN FASTER!” Gilda screeched.
[ A few seconds earlier]
Aria perked her head up at the sound of screaming.
Adagio tilted her head as she stood in front of a fairly large building that looked like it was supposed to have been an inn in its better days. It still looked like an inn, but it had looked better.
The pair had been arguing, no real surprise, though the sound of screaming drew their attention as a blue figure rounded a corner and tore down the street towards them.
“ARIA, DAGI, HE'S HERE!!!” Sonata shrieked as she ran down the road, hot on her hooves rounding the corner a moment later was a large blue figure the other two recognized.
“Shit, it's the mutt.” Adagio cursed.
“Because of course it is.“ Aria grumbled. “ Because we can't catch a fucking break.”
Rahs slowed as Sonata zipped around hiding behind Aria. His eyes narrowed as he strode up to the three glaring down at them.
“Well well, I didn't expect you to show up in this cess pit.” Adagio sneered looking up at him as she strode forward a few steps before shifting into her large serpent form so she could look down on him instead. ” But do you really think one of you can stand against us?”
Rahs blinked, though he was clearly still unimpressed, he turned his head looking to Aria curiously.
“Yes I told her you were a god, and no, I have no idea what is going on in her head.” Aria sighed.
“Simple idiot. I'm cheating.” Adagio smirked before her tone became more melodic. “Come on out boys.”
The inn and several buildings crashed as windows and doors broke open revealing scores of griffons, most of them armed with house hold implements or kitchen knives.
Rahs frowned, but still seemed unperturbed as he glared up at Adagio.
“Oh don't give me that look, I'm sure as a god you could work your way through them all and get to us, but what about the ship you came in on and all the ponies there? Not to mention all these innocent griffons still in town? Even this lot isn't doing this cause they want to.”
Rahs' eyes widened.
“Kill everyone.” Adagio sang gesturing a fin sending the flock rushing along the ground ignoring the moon dog and charging towards the ship and the middle of town.
Rahs snarled and turned loping back at full speed back down the street in an effort to get ahead of the murderous griffons, there were far too many for him to eat the spell from before they got to Pinkie and the ship.
“HAHAHAHAHAHA, stupid ass hero types.” Adagio grinned.
“Great, he's busy let get the hell out of here.” Aria shuddered. “We should be able to make it to the ship and get out of here.”
“No.” Adagio stated.” Not this time. I'm not running any more. I'm going to take over this damn city, kill the damn ponies and nail that god to a wall. Fuck this shit.”
“Adagio!” Aria snarled.
“Shut the fuck up. I'm going to do this and you can stop being a cowardly little shit and help me or I'll have them kill you too.” Adagio snapped down at her sister.” Over half this fucking town is mine and I'm going to use them! And I certainly don't need you telling me what I should do!”
Adagio turned heading off down the street after the flock of her minions.
“I don't like this.” Sonata muttered watching her go a moment more.
“Yeah ...me either.” Aria grumbled before the pair took off after their sister.
The Princess Bride was in pandemonium.
A number of guidelines hung off the side of the ship which floated over the Abysmal Abyss, the large craft moored to both sides of the chasm. The idea had been to use the ship as a wind buffer to keep the climbers from being swung around, but the wind didn't seem to be bothered in the slightest by the massive sky yacht parked across it which had meant more work.
Unfortunately for the long suffering Guard the only two experienced climbers were their charge, Prince Blue Blood, and his mare friend an Element of Harmony Rainbow Dash.
The Guard LT in charge of was going to make sure that little detail was fixed the moment they got back To Equestria.
Prince had readied the two custom harnesses he and Rainbow Dash had used before and the moment she came back they both had been fitted and ready to descend.
Prince however was stopped by one of his asides who noticed one of the buckles on his gear was worn and starting to crack and needed to be replaced. Rather than wait for Prince, Rainbow Dash had kissed him on the nose, stuck out her tongue at him, and gone over the side to start her descent.
She had barely gone out of ear shot when Rahs, Pinkie, and a griffon hen rushed up the deck with Pinkie Pie screaming all sorts of alarm code phrases, some that made sense, some that didn't and others that there was no way possible she should have known.
Of course the sight of scores of griffons armed for bear like an unruly lynch mob coming at them had the guards quickly ready themselves.
The large serpent creature following them made the worry even more.
The mob paused at the end of the ramp leading up to the ship as the Guards and crew of the Princess Bride readied for battle.
Then the big creature began to sing.
Rahs felt the spell wash over him and break apart, though he had tasted the song before, albeit only through the link he knew what was coming.
This was going to be bad.
And the spell tasted like fried clams.
Rahs growled, dropping Pinkie Pie and Gilda, he brought his hands up to his muzzle and quickly spit on them before slinging his arms back and slapping the two closest figures to him, Gilda and Thunderbolt.
Wait what?
Rahs looked back to see Pinkie had some how shoved the other griffon into his hand, the spit disrupting the mind control spell the Siren was casting.
“I'm good.” Pinkie Pie offered having ducked the spit. “I prefer my mane spit free thank you.”
“Gah what the fuck are you doing?!?” Gilda screeched.
“The big fish snake is mind controlling everyone and Rahs just stopped it from making you a fishie thrall.” Pinkie Pie chimed up.
“That hardly puts us out of danger.” Thunderbolt growled, pulling free of Rahs' claws as the Guard on the ship as well as the crew all turned to glare at Rahs and the others unaffected.
Rahs growled and spit on his paws again glaring at the big siren.
Hooves struck the surface of stone as Rainbow Dash pushed off the cliff wall, sliding further down along the ropes. Her head turned looking over every crack and ledge on the way down for any sign of the idol, her helmet head lamp shining light in the near complete dark of the deep chasm.
A glance up showed the ship as a dark dot across the line of light far above her and she sighed.
Thunderbolt had been correct, there were a lot of old stones here that looked like brick and parts of what could have been a bridge. The idol had to be close.
Dash smirked.
At this rate she was gonna find this thing and get back up to the ship before Prince even got his harness fixed.
[ On the deck of the Princess Bride]
Rahs swallowed hard looking at the growing crowd, many of them with proper weapons now that the Guard was enthralled.
Pinkie Pie winced noting that the ropes dangling over the edge moved every so often and she didn't see Rainbow Dash so the mare must have gone down the side, probably with no idea what was going on up here.
Gilda was looking around with a great deal of worry as the griffons had taken to the air to come at them from all sides, making her chance of getting out of here impossible.
Thunderbolt looked bored.
The large griffon cricked his neck and took a step forward standing up on his rear legs and pulling a pair of thick armored gloves on over his talons.
“The fish might want to bring some more to attack us. This is hardly a warm up.” Thunderbolt offered.
Then the griffon moved.
Rahs blinked and the griffon was gone and three Guards were sailing head over tail to crash to the wooden deck with hard thuds.
Prince's face met the main guide rail and two griffons were unconscious on the deck before the others caught up to what Thunderbolt was doing.
The big griffon seemed to float between attacks against him, shifting to his back legs hopping over attacks and wading into the midst of the gathered crowd the way a fish wades through a stream.
There were no wasted movements, every strike he made downed someone, his wings, talons, beak, paws, and even his tail all moved with a purpose, and every time they moved some one went down with a crash.
Rahs watched him catch a sword with his gloved talons, snap it in half with his tail, and then knock the guard out with the flat of the broken blade before the guard had even completed the swing of his weapon.
In ten seconds the black feathered bird had laid out the same number of targets, and he only seemed to be warming up.
“What the carp?!” Pinkie questioned.
“Woof” Gilda stated.
“Woof?” Rahs asked.
“No no, stick with scones. Meringue is too advanced for you just yet.” Pinkie Pie told Gilda.
“What?” Gilda demanded.
[ Crystal Empire]
“Oooh that's a interesting tingle... “ Cadence shuddered before cackling. “ I SHIP IT!”
“What?” Shining Armor asked.
“You figure by this point you would stop asking that sort of thing.” Chrysalis pointed out.
“Yeah but I'm trying to seem interested in her hobbies, particularly if I'm sharing one of her portfolios.” Shining Armor explained.
“Hmm, valid point” Chrysalis shrugged.
“ Any time you lot want to do something.” Thunderbolt offered knocking a griffon aside with his wing, sending him bouncing off the ships air bag then crashing to the deck. “ This would be a lot easier if I could just kill them, and if this persists I will start doing that.”
“What the fuck is that you're even doing!?”Gilda pointed at Thunderbolt.
“Griffonese Kempo.” Thunderbolt said simply snatching a spear from a guard and knocking a pegasus out of the air with it before then taking the first guard out.
“That is not Griffonese Kempo, I'm a black belt in Griffonese Kempo and that shit ain't it!” Gilda screeched.
“Hen, what I am doing is very much Griffonese Kempo, and I know because I invented it.” Thunderbolt stated, his tail lashing around a griffon's talon yanking him off balance and bowling over three others with him.
Rahs shook his head with a sigh, slapping Prince in the forehead with a spit covered hand as he tried to get up.
“You need to stop this. You're going to bring every nation down on our heads if you kill the element bearers.” Aria snapped up at the massive serpentine form of her sister.
“I would say it's the other way around. All of them are going to leave me the fuck alone if I kill their heroes and can control the rest.” Adagio snarled. “ I'm tired of running, tired of hiding, I'm never going to show that bitch up if that's all I do.”
“You're not going to prove anything to mom if you're dead either. The Equestrian gods might be reluctant to try and kill us, but I doubt any of the others are and you sure as hell know dad can't keep them all off us.” Aria snapped back.
“So you would have us keep running? Hide more? How is that any different then being in a cage, you still can't do what you want, and how is always watching over your shoulder free?” Adagio snapped back. “It's just a cage of your own making.”
Aria blinked taking a step back with a wince, though before she could respond Sonata stepped up.
“You need to stop this, Aria's right Dagi, we're just gonna make things worse if we try to take over here. There's the griffon god up north and I'm pretty sure he'd be mad if we hurt any one here.” Sonata offered. ”We can find something else. I mean we've lasted this long cause we've had each other right?”
“ Sonata...” Adagio sighed, before she changed her form, to shrinking down to a slightly bigger than pony sized serpent. “Where did you even come up with something that stupid, some fucking cartoon?”
“Well it worked, so it's not stupid.” Sonata smirked at her sister.
“No it didn't.” Adagio stated, her fin lashing out and grabbing Sonata's necklace yanking it free. Before the pegasus siren could react Adagio spun bringing her massive tail around to smash into Sonata sending her flying, the flight stopping short as the blue siren crashed into a boulder, slumping to the ground in a heap leaving Adagio clutching Sonata's red gemstone.
“SONATA! Adagio what the fuck.” Aria snarled, launching herself as her sister only for the yellow siren to lash out with her magic smashing Aria to the ground. The purple siren pushed to her hooves with a growl only for a second blast to slam directly into her fore leg with a sickening crack. Aria collapsed with a scream as her leg was shattered.
“Well now. Time to end this.” Adagio grinned looking to the ship starting to sing again as the gem glowed in her fin.
“Get away from that rope!” Pinkie shouted kicking a guard away from the side of the ship.
“Forget the damn rope and worry about your own ass mare!” Gilda snarled nearly getting skewered by a pitchfork.
“I can't leave it, Dashie's down there!” Pinkie Pie explained
“What the pluck is she doing in the damn hole?” Gilda demanded.
An explanation turned into a yelp as a magic bolt shot past her from a unicorn guard and blasted a good chunk of the ship as well as the main climbing anchor off into the chasm.
“AHHHHHH!!” Pinkie and Gilda both screamed as the rope, winch , and a large section of railing fell away from the ship into the Abysmal Abyss.
“There it is! HA, I called it.” Rainbow Dash laughed.
On an out cropping of stone just on the other side of the chasm was a large skeleton of some unknown creature, and half buried under one of the massive bones that might have been it's hand, was the glint of gold that reflected in the lamp light.
Dash smirked and pushed hard off the wall she was descending, swinging over to the other side fanning her wings to keep her pressed to the wall as she hammered in an anchor piton before she started descending the rest of the way to the outcropping. Hammering in a few more anchor points as she went to make sure Prince could follow the guide rope along to this side of the chasm whenever he got down here.
Her time with Prince had hammered quite a bit of safety regulations into her as in their climbs she had been watching out for him more than herself. She could fly if something went wrong after all, and it had become something of a second nature to have both of them double checking each other as a pair of crazy thrill seekers.
So anchored as she was, she wasn't immediately yanked off the outcropping as several hundred pounds of rope and ship parts fell past her into the abyss. The metallic pings of the added weight popping loose all the anchors above her, snapped her attention to the problem just as the first of the three anchors she put into this side of the chasm popped loose.
Dash blinked seeing what was going on and cursed loudly quickly working to take off her gear as the second anchor point yanked free.
She fumbled with the ties as the third was yanked free and the falling gear yanked her off the outcropping into the abyss with a scream.
There was a moment of silence before a blue form surged back over the edge, free of her harness though barely keeping in the air as she was buffeted by the abyss's winds.
Still screaming Rainbow Dash jerked as hard as she could with her wings sending her tumbling onto the out cropping with a crash that sent bone and old rocks scattering around the outcropping and brought another scream from the mare as the giant skull rolled from the impact, crushing one of her wings under it.
Gilda was in shock. One of her oldest friends, maybe one of her only, had just been cut loose to fall into a supposedly bottomless chasm right in front of her.
The rest of the world faded out for a moment as Rahs and Thunderbolt managed to keep the area around them mostly clear.
The loud echoing scream made her flinch, though the expletive that was barely head over the howling wind not long after made her smirk, then narrow her eyes.
The griffoness rushed over to the second winch system grabbing the rope and harness quickly trying to put it on.
“What are you doing!?” Pinkie Pie demanded.
“Going down to get Rainbow Dash.” Gilda growled.
“You can't do that, there's a four day safety course you have to take before you can use this safely.” Pinkie Pie explained.
“Are you sharding joking?” Gilda growled.
“Yes, and this clasp goes here,.” Pinkie Pie offered quickly readjusting the strap before connecting Gilda to the rope.
Gilda blinked as she looked over the side of the ship then cursed to her self before rappelling off the side of the ship into the abyss.
“And now I win.” Adagio smiled as she began to sing again, the gem vibrating a little before the stored strife and anger in it was released, joining the power of the song.
On the ship the effect was immediate, the few Guards and other griffons Rahs had managed to free shuddered as their eyes turned red again.
Thunderbolt winced, his eyes glowing as well as he turned to face Rahs and Pinkie Pie as the two backed up against the railing guarding the winch Gilda had taken down The griffons and the Guard and ships crew that hadn't been knocked out cold advancing on them. Pinkie growled at the approaching horde, though Rahs perked his ears looking to the cliff face and the sirens on it.
“How the hell are you even using that, it's Sonata's gem.” Aria winced pushing herself up to three legs out of the crater, her left foreleg burned and bent at a odd angle.
“Pfft he explained it himself. He made them for all three of us, he never said that any of them belonged specifically to any of us. We've just thought that so long that we never tried to switch, but I could still feel Sonata's. “ Adagio smirked, attaching the gem to a wire and hanging it around her neck. ”And if I figured that out sooner I would have been able to use all three gems and could have left you annoyances in Neighlantis.”
“So what now then, going to destroy us too?” Aria shuddered.
“Of course not. You are my sisters after all, and the last thing I need is for father to try and stop me.” Adagio sneered.” Besides I've paid you back for that sucker punch you landed and shown I'm better.”
Aria frowned as her sister lorded over her. “You remember when I was six and you broke my favorite wooden shark toy that dad brought me from the surface, because it was something you didn't have?”
Adagio blinked. ”What does that have to do with this?”
“Nothing really, aside from to point out that I can break your toys too.” Aria snapped, lashing out with her good hoof suddenly.
The impact of one who was at least partial earth pony, well partial everything thanks to their father, hitting the armored scales of the siren form of another creature of the same mixed breed at best would have knocked the siren form back without any real damage.
However the red gem hanging from her neck was not so armored, and the impact put it between a very hard hoof and very hard scales shattered the gem like glass.
The gem however had a rather sizable storage or strife and rage from the fighting griffons and Guards, and when it shattered it released that energy in a massive burst.
“Hang on loser I'm coming.” Gilda shouted down fanning her wings to push herself to the other side of the abyss seeing the light from Rainbow Dash's helmet light not far below her.
“What...? Gilda?” Dash blinked looking up before letting out a short pained laugh. ”What took you so long doofus?”
Gilda grunted as she landed on the outcropping moving over to push against the massive skull roaring out as she lifted it enough for Dash to pull her wing free.
“Ehh I've had worse, prolly broke it again though. “ Dash shrugged.
“You seem way to nonchalant about that.” Gilda blinked.
“Yeah well I'm dating a rich guy. I'm gonna get waited on hoof and tail until I'm healed.” Dash smirked as she moved a bit away from Gilda grabbing the idol and shoving it in her saddle bag.
“ Really? You settling down with someone?”
“Dating isn't settling down.”
“Oh. I've got to hear about this guy.”
“It's a bit of a story.” Dash admitted.
“Later let's get out of here before something else happens.” Gilda warned just as the entire chasm started to shake and rocks started to tumble down the wall.
“Fuck!!!” Dash and Gilda snapped as the griffon grabbed the pony and started back up.
The burst of energy canceled the spell leaving a large number of griffons and ponies looking around confused and disoriented. It also shattered the cliff that the three sirens were on, dumping them and tons of rock into the chasm as the side of the Abysmal Abyss started to crumble.
Adagio screamed out as she wasn't able to keep on her coils and fell along with Aria and the still unconscious Sonata.
Aria's eyes widen as what little ground was under her fell away leaving her looking over a chasm she couldn't see the bottom of.
A blur of movement was caught out of the corner of her eye before she felt her rear leg grabbed and her fall stopped, though she was now flying sideways pulled along by her back leg, a glance up showed a blue furred form holding her leg and snatching Sonata out of the air with his other arm before a fanged maw snapped closed on Adagios tail. The four of them dangled there as they came to a sudden stop and the canine holding her winced though he managed to keep his grip on the three of them as the cliff side fell off into the abyss.
Looking up Aria saw a rope attached to the side of the ship was wrapped around his midriff and one leg leaving him swinging by the limb. Far above she could see some of the crew starting to try and pull them up.
“YOU!” Adagio snarled lifting her head to look up at Rahs with his fangs sunk into her tail.” THIS IS ALL YOUR FAULT!”
The yellow siren screamed out at him lashing out with her fin and sending a bolt of magic at the moon dog.
Rahs snapped it out of the air.
Adagio screamed at the sudden jolt of pain as her spell was eaten, only noticing a moment later that she had been released and was falling.
“Come on we're half way there.” Gilda growled. ”Did you gain weight?”
“Oh ha ha.” Dash grumbled.
“I'm serious. Dating that rich guy has clearly gotten you fat, from all that posh food you've been eating.” Gilda smirked.
Rainbow Dash's retort was cut off as an orange serpent like creature fell past them screaming.
“What the frak was that?” Gilda demanded.
[ An hour later. Inside the Castle of Griffonstone]
“What am I supposed to do with this damn thing?” Gilda questioned looking down at the idol shoved in her claws.
“Give it to him!” Dash rolled her eyes gesturing to Thunderbolt. “You're the hero who went down and retried it after all.”
“You're the one who recovered it!” Gilda frowned.
“Pfft I just carried it, you're the one who hauled it up.” Rainbow Dash smirked.” Besides with how everyone is pissed at ponies around here, it would be better if a Griffon restored the national pride by recovering the idol wouldn't it?”
“You set me up!” Gilda bristled.
“Welcome to my world. I just wanted to fly with the Wonderbolts and blam! National hero, funny how that happens so suddenly if all ponies just wanna be heroes huh?”
Gilda growled before smirking.” You're not getting out of telling me about this stallion of yours.”
“Yeah well. Maybe later.” Dash offered.
“Seems you two have a more complex history than I first heard .” Thunderbolt offered looking between the two.
“Ugh right this thing. Here.” Gilda said all but shoving the idol into Thunderbolt's claws.
“Thank you Miss Grizelda. “ Thunderbolt nodded taking the idol. “By the way I know you showed a interest before, but if you would like, I can train you in proper Griffonese Kempo.”
Gilda blinked looking at the tom with an eyebrow raised.” Um yeah sure whatever. Don't you have like, noble things to do or something?”
“Oh I'm sure they'll be time, this isn't going to fix everything at once after all.” Thunderbolt nodded.
“So how is she?” Aria asked.
“ I've never worked on something like you before, though as far as I can tell she's just been knocked out and should be fine. “ The unicorn doctor offered. ”You're leg is a bit more concerning, it's broken in at least two places.”
“Well she better stay out of those places.” Sonata chimed in.
“What?! Oh you little... were you faking being asleep?” Aria snapped.
“Nah Dagi hit me pretty hard, I just work up in time to hear you cussing as the doc worked on your leg.” Sonata offered with a sigh.” Daddy's not gonna like this.”
“Yes well. Neither of you should be moving much, you might have a concussion or internal injuries and you need to stay off that leg.” The doctor huffed.
“Yeah well. I don't expect we're gonna be doing much of anything for a while sitting in a cell.” Aria frowned gesturing to the collection of Guards around them and the moon dog watching as well.
“There's not exactly a cell on the ship, so they're setting up a room. We'll be heading out in a few hours once everything is secure.” The doctor said. “We'll move you to the ship in when it's done. I suggest you don't fight.”
“I'm too tired to fight.” Aria muttered. “ This day sucks.”
“ It may get worse.” a guard offered as he came in the door. “ The god Lockheed is here and he's demanding we turn the sirens over to him.
“ You will give over the captured sirens to me now.” Lockheed demanded.
“For what, so you can turn them in and line your pockets with more bits?” Thunderbolt growled.
“They attacked a griffon settlement and as the God of Griffons I will deal with them.” Lockheed snapped back.
“Like you give a shit about this place any other time.” Thunderbolt retorted.
“I am doing what I can to restore the nation, just because you are not seeing the effects of it here yet doesn't mean it isn't happening!” Lockheed shouted back.
“All you have are a bunch of brown nosed ass lickers following you cause they think it will make them rich and important again.” Thunderbolt snarled.
“In case you forgot I am the god here and I say I am taking the sirens.” Lockheed returned the snarl.
“I have no idea why my grandmother would allow some bird like you to be the God of Griffons.” Thunderbolt glared at Lockheed.
Lockheed let out a long sigh shaking his head lightly as he seemed to calm himself.” Neither do I. But she did and if I need to call your oaths into this Prince Thunderbolt I will. I am taking these two with me.”
Thunderbolt winced.
The collected pony guards and Prince watched the argument with some interest, though the Guard's attention was on the small force of griffon soldiers Lockheed had brought with him.
Pinkie, Gilda, and Rainbow Dash watched on worried at the situation.
Sonata and Aria did not look thrilled with the idea either.
“Bork.” stated Rahs in the silence.
“What?” Lockheed asked turning around to look back at the blue diamond dog. He seemed rather familiar.
“He said no, you're not taking them.” Pinkie Pie translated.
“Really? And who do you think you are that can tell me what I can and cannot do mutt.” Lockheed snarled.
Rahs stepped forward looming over the griffon with a smile on his fang filled face.
“Hi, I'm Rahs Sparkle. You might remember me from such world altering events as, the defeat of Nightmare Moon, the Mauling of Discord, the liberation of the Crystal Empire, or more recently the ass kicking of the centaur god Tirek.” Rahs listed his grin getting wider showing more of his rather sharp teeth. “Nice to meet you.”
Everything went silent for a moment before a couple of the griffon soldiers Lockheed had brought with him turned and marched out of the old throne room.
“Fuck this shit, you are not paying us enough to deal with a Sparkle.” the lead soldier shouted and soon the rest of the small force took off out of the castle leaving Lockheed standing there in a stare down with the grinning moon dog.
The pair remained staring each other down just long enough to everyone else to become uncomfortable before Lockheed snorted.
“Fine. I shall let you extradite them, though I will be lodging a complaint with Celestia about a bounty hunt in Aerie.” Lock heed stated still glaring up at Rahs.
“I am quite certain Auntie will listen to your complaints with interest.” Prince offered.
Lockheed snorted before turning and storming out as well.
“Great, can we leave before anything else happens?” One of the Guards whined.
“I did warn you.” Discord stated, lounging against the ceiling with his lower body propped up against one of the beams as he looked down at the three occupants of the room.
Aria was sitting at a small table across from Rahs who was reading a book, given he and Pinkie were the only ones immune to the Sirens without generous globs of spit, the pair were switching in and out as the trip progressed. They were still a day out of Canterlot at the moment.
Sonata was laying on a bed flipping through a comic Pinkie gave her.” Hey daddy.” She waved.
“Yeah yeah, you warned us about this guy, not that Adagio would turn on us.” Aria grumbled pointing her good hoof at Rahs. The moon dog looked shocked that any one would need to warn any one about him for any reason.
No one was buying it.
“I warned you about there being some people out there you should avoid.” Discord sighed. “And I know I told you not to mess with that one, and here you are chatting him up.”
“Right, I'm bored being watched, he's bored watching so were talking about stage tech.” Aria sighed wincing a little as she leaned back too far and moved her leg bound in a sling.” I would hardly call that chatting him up.”
“Mmmmhmmmm.” Discord chuckled. “At any rate Sparkle, I would like to have a word with my daughters alone, so if you would.” Discord gestured towards the door.
“Woof!” Rahs frowned.
“Oh calm down, I have no plans to spring them, or do anything too crazy.” Discord huffed.” I have no desire to end up as a chew toy again, particularly since my squeaker is broken.”
Discord holds up a toy mouse that looked broken in half.
Rahs stared at him a moment.
“Bork.”
“No need to be rude, I shouldn't be long.” Discord shook his head.
Rahs spared a glance at the two sirens as he closed his book tucking it into a coat pocket before stepping out of the room with a glare at Discord, who was oddly dressed as an angel complete with a little halo on a stick over his head.
“I take my I off you three for a few seconds and you try to bring about civil war with the griffons.” Discord sighed as the door clicked closed.
“That was the Apex and God doing that.” Sonata chimed up.
“Yes, over who got to keep you two.” Discord sighed.” If Lockheed had won that stare down I would have put you two back on the ship.”
“Right, after just what little I've seen Rahs wasn't likely to lose to that idiot.” Aria offered.
“I wouldn't put too much money on that.” Discord offered. “Lockheed may be an asshole, but he's far from weak and unlike the blue Sparkle outside he's trained in fighting his whole life. Thing is he's a true misanthrope. He would love nothing more to be in the woods hunting and having nothing to do with anyone. But because he was made a god simply due to he was the only one around at the time, he can't do that. Half the things said about him are simply not true, the other half certainly are. I almost feel sorry for him, almost.”
“And you're not gonna take us back to the ship now because?” Sonata asked.
“Simple I'm pulling the father knows best card.” Discord offered pulling out a Chance card with 'Father Knows Best' written on it.
“You've been running around two worlds for a long time and it's time you went home.” Discord said flatly.” I wasn't watching you because I've been speaking with your mother. She'll be waiting in Canterlot for you to arrive.”
“Shit.” Aria sighed.
“I don't want to hear it from you. Dagi's gone and I most certainly am going to do what I can to protect you two.” Discord offered sternly.
“What... Dagi's gone, you mean like dead?” Sonata gasped.
“I told you this, Rahs saved all of us, then Adagio decided to try to blast him and us by proximity. He dropped her and ate the spell, which was weird as shit, and she fell into the abyss.” Aria pointed out.
“No, she's not dead.” Discord sighed.” She's just going down a road I am going to have to follow very very carefully if at all to make sure she doesn't wind up worse than dead.”
“Well that's not ominous at all.” Aria grumbled.
[Ponyville]
It was raining. Sure the rain was scheduled, but that didn't mean anything to Twilight who was simply staring out a window watching the water bead on the clear crystal.
Sitting at the table in the room, Spike was going over his DM notes, with Princess Luna drinking a cup of coffee next to him. Luna had teleported in only about twenty minutes ago to inform them of the news that had been sent back by the mission to Aerie, which should be in Canterlot tomorrow morning.
Twilight acknowledged this and continued to mope.
“So she has been like this for the last several days?” Luna asked curiously.
“Yup. I even threw a brand new book at her and she ignored it.” Spike offered.
“Both the book and him hitting her with it. I thought I would need to fix another wall with a Spike shaped hole in it.” Seshat offered.
“Another?” Luna questioned.
“What? Just because they're gods now you don't think I'm gonna stop screwing with her or Rahs do you?” Spike offered. ”Besides I need to remind them I can still give as good as I get so their egos don't get too big. And trust me that's a constant struggle with Rahs.”
“Right, and this current issue is because of Big Mac refusing to allow her to make him her... 'companion' we think it is being called now?” Luna asked.
“Yup.” Spike stated. “It's not like he broke up with her or anything, he just said no when she offered. I can sorta get behind him not wanting to live longer than the rest of his family, but Twi's taken it pretty hard. Doesn't help matters he had to go to Canterlot for a couple days with Granny to deal with some business. Something she KNEW WAS COMING IN ADVANCE!!”
Luna blinked at the yell as Twilight simply sighed.
“I am not understanding this. Isn't living longer the goal of mortals?” Seshat questioned.
“Some of them yes, some of them no. It depends. Some ponies think being immortal is the end all beat all, while others prefer the natural cycle or want to make sure they meet those they have loved and lost in the Elysium fields of the after life.” Luna explained. “We ourselves are on the fence about this due to all those we have lost and all those who are still around. We understand both sides of the issue and do our best not to judge on any ones beliefs. Which is likely why we get so many fliers from Tuesdayists”
“That still doesn't quite make sense to me.” Seshat stated.
“Do not worry, it is a complex subject that you may understand in time. Even if you do not, it is not something to dwell on. Gods have lost much sleep over this over the eons and it is not likely to stop, though with Twilight's adjustment of the Familiar spell, some of the arguments may ease off.”
“ I see... well I don't, but I suppose...... Oh. Big Mac is at the door...... I think?” Seshat offered though a blur of purple was already out of her seat and racing towards the door.
“Well. I think perhaps we should make sure that nothing disastrous happens.” Luna stated picking up her mug as she stood up, trotting after Twilight.
“Ehh prolly for the best, I don't want to deal with this moping for any longer.” Spike shrugged hopping up and following.” It's not even funny moping like when Rahs does it and makes it a show.”
The pair made their way to the front hall where Twilight was talking with Big Mac. The large stallion wore a huge bright yellow rain coat and hood.
Seshat grumbled about him dripping water all over her, but she was largely ignored.
Twilight was rambling about things like, 'she understood why he might choose not to stay with her' or 'become immortal' and was working herself up into a rather fevorius tizzy.
Then Mac booped her in the nose with a wet rain boot covered hoof and derailed Twilight completely as she tried to wipe the cold water off her nose.
“Ah never said ah didn't wanna do it. Ah just said no tah you doing tha spell.” Big Mac offered.
Twilight blinked a moment as Big Mac pulled off his rain coat.
Big Mac was already larger than Twilight, but now he positively towered over her. His fur had taken a deeper shade of red and his straw colored mane had grown out a good bit. His tail didn't end in a normal ponies whisk anymore, but in a more serpentine length with a number of spines along it that ran up the length of it. His hooves were split, not quite cloven but seemingly edged like claws. He had a scattering of scales around his joints and hooves that were a brighter red coloration. His green eyes were reptilian slits as they regarded the stunned Twilight. Then he smiled showing he did indeed have some natural fangs now.
“Wha...” Twilight stammered, her brain blue screening.
“Big Mac came to us to ask a favor in this regard, it seems that while curious to what having the spell cast on him by you would do, he had also calculated you might enjoy something a bit closer to a Nox Cal and theorized that I might have the best result for your tastes.” Luna stated sipping her coffee. “ Given we have no plans any time soon of taking any one as a mate due to our... last encounters, we saw no reason to refuse after all that you have done for us. Plus with how your life generally goes, we thought it best that you not use any of your power for such a thing until we are sure you shall not be bothered.”
“Baa, wha?” Twilight offered staring.
“Do not think such a gift is not without price however. If Sombra and Rarity ever decide to go a bit further than their 'not dating' we would expect you to make the same offer to Rarity for the sake of our son.” Luna stated blinking as Twilight stared on. “ And you haven't heard anything we've said....”
“I will inform her when her brain reboots.” Seshat sighed.
“Alright , please also tell her she needs to be in Canterlot at about eight am for when the Princess Bride returns. We feel our sister shall need more back up than just us.” Luna sighed.
“So.... Princess Luna....” Spike questioned scratching his chin.
Luna snorted.” Yes Spike, if you wish and she agrees we may do the same for Applebloom at a later date. Unless you find another god to aid you. I would suggest avoiding Rahs however. Applebloom has enough dramatic moments as a Crusader without having Rahs add to it. Now we need to leave, thank you for the coffee.”
“Cool, gimmi a moment to get my bag.” Spike nodded.
“Your bag?”
“Yeah, as soon as Twilight snaps out of this she's going to tackle him and what gets done after that I'm pretty sure I don't want to be around for.” Spike explained. “Sorry Seshat.”
“Sadly I am getting used to it. I take you would like me to hide the doors to your room just in case?”Seshat asked.
“Yeah thanks! Might wanna lock down the theater too.” Spike offered running to get his stuff.
[Abysmal Abyss]
“Tell me again why I have wasted all this money to get us to this horrid place?” Diamond Tiara snarled.” These griffons are the greediest things I have ever seen in my life, and that is saying something given my mother.”
“Patience my friend. I have a reason for coming out here. You are not the only one who's caught my eye.” Solomon offered.
The pair of them were hiking along a wide river that led into the bottom of a massive chasm. It had taken a good number of bits to run off the griffons guarding the river. Still it had been done and with nothing else in their way the pair had walked along the river bank as far as they could with a Rich Inc, barge following along slowly behind them in the river.
Solomon had been sending forth small motes of shadow into the darkness ahead of them before he finally stopped and smiled.
“There she is, and still alive too.” Solomon smiled.
Diamond Tiara frowned as a gathering of shadows carried a large yellow serpent like form out of the darkness of the abyss before them.
“A siren?” Diamond Tiara frowned as she got a good look at the form. ”I do not think this is a good idea.”
“It isn't really.” Solomon offered as the body was floated over and laid out on the shore before him. He moved over the siren looking over the wounds and not seeing anything immediately life threatening.” But at the same time this is a calculated risk.”
“How so?”
“From my study of her she wants power to over throw, or destroy, or beat, or show up, or something involving her mother, I don't know for certain, nor do I care, but power is easily granted. I can give her one of my sons old trinkets, I've a box or two of those lying around after all. One of them should suit.” Solomon shrugged. ”However the goal will be to keep her around and either happy or interested.”
Diamond Tiara raised an eye brow at him.
“ Think my friend. She is a demi god, a very important piece of the puzzle, not to mention she's the child of chaos and the tyrant of the seas. With her on our side retaliation is less likely to come from those two. Either due to letting their child do what she wants, or fear I might do something to her. Who knows, she might even agree with my plans and join us willingly just to further her own ends.”
“And you trust her to do that?”
“Not in the slightest. There was a reason I came to you with that offer Diamond and why I am keeping you in the loop of my dealings. You and I have a deal to watch each others back against any future allies we gain. This one, well, she's one to watch out for of course, but she's far to useful at the moment for me to not have her around.” Solomon smiled. “Signal the barge, lets bring her on board shall we?”
[ On Board the Princess Bride, Currently preparing to dock over Canterlot.]
“Finally. That trip felt like it took forever.” Rainbow Dash sighed as she stared over the railing as they descended, trying not to flex her injured wing. Not like she could with the amount of straps and bandages the doctors put on it to keep her from doing just that.
“Yeah, this episode did take nearly a month to write.” Pinkie Pie offered.
“What?” Rainbow Dash asked.
“What?” Responded Pinkie Pie.
“Bark?” Rahs asked, ignoring Pinkie.
“Hmm? Of course I stuck around. It might be some time before I get to hang out with my babies again. Maybe I can send them a metal file with a cake inside while they're in prison.” Discord considered. “ Or stage a jail break on their birthday. Does that blue pyro friend of yours give discounts on explosives?”
Rahs sighed, he was quite glad this was going to be someone elses problem very soon.
“Well then, I'm off, good luck to everyone.” Discord stated pushing off the railing.
“What? Where are you going?” Prince asked. “I would figure you would be wanting to make sure everything went fairly for your daughters.”
“Oh I do, but see, here's the thing Bluey. My ex wife, and my ex mare friend are down there. Together, and very annoyed." Discord explained. “And I may be as mad as a hatter, but in no way shape or form am even I crazy enough to get near both of them at the same time.”
“Huh. Well I suppose I can see where you're coming from. I had quite a lot of trouble with mares in my time as well.” Prince stated.
“Really now?” Rainbow Dash chimed up her eyes narrowing at Prince though she wasn't hiding her smirk very well.
“Oh don't even give me that. You know what I mean.” Prince sighed, kissing Dash on the nose.
“But at any rate. Toodles.” Discord offered snapping his fingers and vanished with a noise like a clown nose honking.
“ Well.” Prince sighed, looking down over the edge of the ship to the airship dock and the very large collection of Royal Guard and what seemed to be armored sea ponies and hippo gryphs gathered around the docks. “Lets see what all the fuss is about. Wait, Rahs what are you doing?”
Twilight lifted her head as the ship came in to dock, ignoring the fact that Rahs leapt from the bow before the ship came to a full stop and did a three point superhero landing on the dock.
All the sea pony soldiers bristled and shifted to aim weapons and spells at the moon dog, though the Royal Guard mostly ignored him save a smattering of applause from some. Rahs bowed to the Guards. and ignored the sea ponies before strolling over to Spike, Twilight, and Shining Armor.
“Keep up crap like that and you're gonna start a international incident.” Shining chuckled.
Are you kidding, that's on one of our checklists for the year.” Spike grinned.
“Woof.” Rahs shrugged.
“What do you mean you already started one?” Twilight demanded. “What the heck happened?”
As the ship finished mooring, Rahs started to explain.
Princess Celestia , Princess Luna, Empress Cadence, and Queen Chrysalis stood at the end of the dock surrounded by all manner of Guards from their various groups.
Across from them floated the massive serpentine form of Queen Aqua, surrounded by large numbers of her own sea pony soldiers. She was not floating over a bucket of water as she had been in the meeting chambers during the council session. However she had no need to as it was raining outside and all the water from that was swirling round her in a near solid globe of water. The sea pony god didn't really need the water, but it was far more comfortable for her, and Celestia had set up the unscheduled rain just for this purpose.
There had never been any sort of open conflict before between Equestria, and the seas. Most dealings were pleasant in fact, despite how rare they were. Luna even had some small connection to the seas with her moon.
Despite all that Celestia was quite worried.
Aqua was known to be temperamental at best and her moods affected the very waters themselves out in the seas. The Royal Ocean Waters Engineering Review Society kept a careful watch on things and had already reported a number of savage rip currents and budding wild storms in the waters, a sure sign of Aqua's mood behind her serene demeanor.
Word of the 'sirens' had gotten to her, and while she hadn't believed it, Discord had evidently pulled something and gotten her to come out here now to see for herself.
Aqua was clearly not happy about that.
The few words exchanged as the ship was mooring were terse and mostly political small talk. Aqua's full attention was on the ship as the gangplank was lowered and a number of Guards came down escorting two figures.
Aqua stiffened and Cadence and Chrysalis both turned their attention fully to Aqua, eyes widening before their heads snapped back to the two being brought before them by the Guards.
“Queen Chrysalis if this is some sort of trick by your changelings, Princess Celestia will be the least of your worries.” Aqua stated flatly.
“Keep in mind, that I had no idea you even had any children, as I was sealed in a volcano at the time.” Chrysalis pointed out. “So if this is a trick it certainly isn't one of mine.”
Aria and Sonata were guided over before the royals with the Sparkles moving up behind them as the Guards backed away.
There was a tense silence around the group broken only by the sounds of the ship being unloaded, and Rainbow Dash whining about being carried off to a doctor. There was also the loud crash as a yellow and pink missile slammed into Pinkie Pie and sent both of them crashing into a pile of freight.
Everyone steered clear of that area.
“Yeah, you are not who I wanted to see today.” Aria sighed finally breaking the silence.
“Hi Mommy.” Sonata chimed in with a small wave of her hoof.
Cadence tilted her head looking between the Sirens and Aqua curiously. She spared a glance to Chrysalis who nodded before the Changeling Queen stepped back to talk to a few Guards who nodded and ran off.
Shining Armor even looked a little confused his attention focused on Queen Aqua.
Aqua's eyes darted over the pair of them her whole form tense. “And why are you in these forms?”
“Broken leg, I don't want to stress it.” Aria stated seeming to ignore the wince from the sea pony queen.
“Cause we would have a hard time fitting in the ships cabin if we were big.” Sonata offered. The blue siren offered seemingly reigning herself in at the look Aqua was giving. She sighed a moment shifting from her pony form to a pony sized sea serpent form.” Umm, tada?”
Aqua's eyes widened.” And where is Adagio?”
“Fell off a cliff after trying to kill us.“ Aria reported. ”Dad says she's fine. Which is great because that means I can pay her back for breaking my leg.”
Aqua tensed at that.
“Fine. We shall discuss this at length at home. Come.” Aqua ordered turning to head away with a few of her soldiers moving up to escort the Sirens.
“No.” Celestia stated simply making Luna wince. This part was why Celestia had been worried.
“Excuse me?” Aqua questioned turning back towards Celestia.
“These two are wanted for numerous crimes in Equestria. As such they will be held here and tried here and serve their sentences here, before they are allowed to go any where else.” Celestia explained.
Aqua turned and loomed over Celestia glaring down at her. Celestia didn't break eye contact staring back up at her.
“I am taking my daughters and leaving Celestia.” Aqua declared.”They have been gone for thousands of years.”
“No, you are not.”Celestia declared back. “And that will be brought up in the trial as well, to see if they will be charged for the damage they caused in the past in addition to the present.”
“Your ponies need the sea to trade and travel and survive Celestia. Are you willing to risk that?”
“And yours need the sun to grow their crops and maintain the food chain for the larger animals that swim. Are you willing to risk that?”
"Can we not do something that would cause more harm to our subjects." Luna placated.
“Ooh, tense.” Chrysalis chimed in. “Hey can you suck all the water out of sun butt, I wanna see her shrivel up like a raisin.”
“If I may.” Twilight begin. “Article seven of the Council charter states that in situations of conflict and crime the god that made the claim has the right to hold the accused so long as the claims have been verified by at least three other gods, that has already been done here. The Council itself is allowed to put appoint a impartial judge to oversee the proceeding trial. We've already sent a message to Iinii about that.”
“Do not cite the laws to me mare, I helped write them.” Aqua snapped turning from Celestia to Twilight who was flipping through said book.
“Well then you really should know these rules, particularly since you are one of the council heads.” Twilight stated, not even noticing the glare Aqua was giving her. Her brothers on the other hand were meeting Aqua's stare down as calmly as Celestia had been. Twilight continued to flip through a few more pages.” Besides said trial would need to be of peers and right now we have quite a few demi gods that can be called upon to fill a jury box. Spike, Sombra, Sunset, Saturnia, Angel Bunny is an Apex too soooo we could get him by the rules, but I wouldn't recommend that. Shining may count due to the spell, but that's something that might need to be run by the council before we can tell for sure.”
Aqua blinked staring at the purple alicorn.
“If I get a say in this I say I'd rather be thrown under this freaking castle than go back to Neighlantis.” Aria offered up loudly.
“What?” Aqua turned to look at Aria.
“You ever consider why I left in the first place?” Aria inhaled .”Because you wouldn't allow me to do ANYTHING! And what you did allow me to do was so heavily watched and monitored and timed and measured and guided that I wasn't even sure I was the one doing it. The first time I scraped a fin on some coral I was wrapped up like a mummy and forced on bed rest for two weeks and it didn't even draw blood! You only eased off that a little when Sonata was born and only a little, I have no idea how Adagio put up with it, or maybe she didn't, and that's why she hates you. In any case if it stops me from going back I'll happily pick a fight with any and every one around here so I can be charged with something else.”
“Please don't.” Princess Luna sighed.
“Shit. Does this mean the one who was considered an abomination god until about a year ago is the only god who managed to raise her kid properly and not get them to turn against her?” Chrysalis smirked.” Seriously!?!? I'm the only one who managed to raise an emotionally and mentally stable child?”
Luna, Celestia, and Aqua all glare at the Changeling Queen as Cadence and Shining both face hoof.
“No you didn't. Saturnia is clearly brain damaged.” Twilight interjects waving a wing at Rahs.” She's attracted to this lump of fluff, there is clearly something wrong with her.”
Rahs slaps his sister in the back of her head.
“Seriously isn't this supposed to be an official royal meeting. How is it turning out into something like this?” Shining muttered.
“Have you met us?” Spike asked. ”Like all of us here?”
“Yeah, sorry, I realized it was a stupid question as I was saying it.” Shining Armor sighed.
“Aria...” Aqua began softening a little.
“Not to interrupt again, but you wouldn't be staying in Canterlot.” Twilight stated.
“Yes she would, I have a list of damages and injuries that have been brought up against them.” Celestia offered.
“Yes you do, but the rules state the first god making the charges is the one to detain them. Most of the charges you have were given to you from what happened in Ponyville, a place I currently represent as I am the one who lives there and I brought up the first charges.” Twilight stated. “The damages may have been paid for, but there is still the crime itself. Ponyville is also home to four of the five individuals who are immune to, or can resist the abilities of the sirens making it the better place to secure them. Add on top of that holding them there avoids any more stress between Canterlot and Neighlantis by providing a more neutral location.
Twilight glared at the two larger gods clearly annoyed at the threats they had made.
“How is a land locked town a more neutral location?” Aqua frowned. “Your rivers are not that deep and are far from the sea.”
“The Duck Pond.” Twilight offered.
“The what?” Aqua questioned.
“ The duck pond in Ponyville was there when the town was founded and is connected to the underground sea and the greater oceans if Fluttershy's friend Over fiend the Squid is correct. The duck pond water is always cold, and is more brackish than fresh with a higher saline content the deeper one goes. It's situated in a park that was reclaimed from the Everfree near the founding of Ponyville, though it was undeveloped as no one could fill in or use the water from the pond. If need be we can probably find the tunnel to the sea and you can use that as a access for visitation.”
Everyone who was not from Ponyville stared at Twilight.
“Heck that could even be used to set up an embassy to keep Neighlantis ambassadors so they don't need to worry about the dry mountain air in Canterlot. “ Spike offered. ”Never hurts to improve relations.”
They all turned to stare at Spike.
“Well.“ Luna spoke up. “ If this is acceptable to all parties, we see no reason against it.”
“For the moment. I agree.” Aqua stated.
“I do as well.” Celestia agreed, finally allowing all the Guards and Soldier's collective butt holes to unclench.
“What the hell just happened?” Aria blinked.
“My sister finally found a way to dump all the community service hours the Mayor has slapped her with over the years on some one else.”
Aria glanced up at Rahs raising an eyebrow at that.
A Guard ran up to Chrysalis and whispered to her and the Changeling Queen nudged Cadence.
“I'm sure there are more details to work out, but for the moment Queen Aqua, we have prepared a private area for you to speak with your daughters.” Cadence offered, her voice dipping a little. ”Despite needing to keep up appearances, we can tell how you really feel about each other and suggest a private setting might allow you to reconnect with out worrying how any one would react.”
“I watched them do it, and even I'm not sure how they did it.” Spike huffed tilting his head as he looked over what was once the duck pond.
In just three days the pond had grown to a lake as the edges were pushed back to encompass most of the park and some of the Everfree. A large castle like structure made of coral that rivaled Seshat in size was built, or more accurately grown by a collection of sea pony workers.
Seshat took offense to that and made herself bigger.
The builders then made the coral castle bigger.
Seshat then made herself bigger.
The mayor started yelling at both of them as the town was half in shadow now and forced both of them to reduce their size after she slapped a height ordinance on them with fees that made Twilight whimper and even the sea ponies wince.
After a quick height reduction and some trimming, the workers began to grow the coral in various ways to make a structure that not only encompassed the far side of the lake both above and below water, but was still filled with water above the surface with only some dry corridors for visitors.
Twilight was fascinated by the construction and the magic involved and spent most of the first two days getting in the builders way before she was banned from the construction site.
Rahs was likewise banned, though they had a harder time doing so as he kept sneaking in to sample all the magic that was being used.
The builders had a restraining order on him by the third day with the local Guard enforcing it.
This left both Rahs and Twilight in a pouty mood, which meant Spike did his best to stay away from them both.
Spike had tried a piece of broken coral and decided he didn't like it as it was too salty. Given he wasn't bothering any one directly he was allowed to be the go between, between the mayor, and due to his messenger flames, Canterlot as need be.
But only him, the rest of the Crusaders had a much larger restraining order than even Rahs.
Even in Neighlantis they had heard of the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
Sonata and Aria had expected to be stuck in some secure room some place until the coral structure was finished, only to arrive and find their ship was sitting in the duck pond with a fresh coat of paint, and one room that had been Adagio's emptied out with a note saying everything was put in storage.
Despite their being allowed to return to their ship Aria was certain there were always a few eyes on them.
Aqua found that she had not been prepared to deal with Ponyville.
At all.
When she had arrived to purchase the pond and the surrounding land she had actually been forced to haggle with the Mayor on the price, the Mayor barely even seeming to regard the massive floating sea pony queen as anything other than some one wishing to buy land in Ponyville. Titles, obvious royalty, and the fact she barely fit in the mayor's office were barely noticed by the mare.
And the amount of paperwork she had to fill out was ludicrous even by Equestrian bureaucracy standards. The town required property owners to sign up with at least three different insurance companies to deal with overlapping issues. There was Crusader insurance, which only covered acts by the Cutie Mark Crusaders, Monster insurance, the standard fire, flood, and wind insurance, Acts of Gods insurance, Sparkle Insurance, Element Bearer insurance, and even Tuesday insurance that only covered events on Tuesdays, though there was some arguments on blending that into the Sparkle insurance and jacking up the premiums.
Aqua was also forced to register all the sea ponies doing construction with the local Guild of Builders stationed in Ponyville before any ground breaking could be done at all.
That everything was set up and done in a few hours was a great surprise, though The Mayor had pointed out that all of this paper work had been done so often that she could do it in her sleep, and on several very odd occasions with the town she had.
Aqua also found it odd that despite Twilight Sparkle being an alicorn, she flat out refused to have anything to do with the local government if she could help it. This made trying to bypass all the paperwork by speaking with her that much more annoying, particularly when Twilight complained that they had cut the four hundred or so pages she had first suggested down to the paltry number of pages there was now.
Aqua had been around longer than most other gods that were alive now save the three primes, also perhaps Iinii and maybe White, one could never tell how old he was. In any event she had seen many odd things.
This town was by far the strangest, and that was before she found out that every single one of the sea pony workers who had started work had had a party thrown for them. She wasn't sure how, but she knew there was a pink pony at the center of that, and it worried her.
Finding the passage from the sea had been easy , making sure it was secure was currently underway, though this area needed to be suitable for her daughters before she would leave herself.
She had no idea why the pair of them preferred that boat.
Though perhaps she should try to understand that.
She had thought them dead. Had given up hope of finding them after they vanished. She had even thrown out Discord after their loss when he refused to stop searching.
The loss of their daughters had driven him mad.... well, more so than usual. And she herself had closed herself off to everything, focusing only on running her kingdom.
Discord had been right... she had given up too soon, because here they were. Aria and Sonata were here and she knew Adagio was alive at least.
She didn't know how to act, she didn't know what to do. What Aria had said was wrong had forced her to think and try to recall how she acted all that time ago and in truth she didn't recall things being that bad, but looking at it from her daughters point of view perhaps it was. She had no reason to doubt Aria, particularly after the claim that she would rather be in jail than go home.
Despite the rather tearful reunion once they were in private which Aria seemed annoyed about, she was still concerned. Granted Aria always seemed annoyed so it was hard to tell if she was fine or not despite what Sonata had told her.
As such she had decided to do something about it.
“You want what?” Chrysalis questioned.
The pair of them were sitting in the kitchen of her daughters proto hive under Ponyville.
She had met Saturnia briefly when the pink changeling had come in seen Aqua sitting at the tiny kitchen table with her mother and noped right the fuck out of there.
“I would like to know how you have maintained such good relations with your daughter.” Aqua asked. “Preferably in a non smart ass response.”
“Well I can tell you , but I don't think I can do it non snarky. In addition to being born with a horrid crippling aliment I've really got no filter.”
“An aliment?”
“Yeah I was born without a gag reflex....” Chryssy smirked.
Aqua blinked” A what?”
The smirk fell from the changeling Queens mouth as the joke itself fell flat.
“Never mind, Cady would have laughed... any way I honestly don't know. I know Sun butt didn't even tell her daughter she was her daughter until like , two years ago. And I've heard Twilight and Sunset both ranting about it. Sombra... well in truth that wasn't really Luna's fault. Well, leaving him on his own in the empire was, but any way. “Chrysalis shook her head. “With Saturnia I mostly just let her do her own thing and tried to be there when she needed me. I do my best to keep in touch as well, though I give her enough space to do her own thing while still doing my best to annoy her. Not sure that would work with you, you're pretty straight laced as far as I can tell.”
“I married Discord you know.” Aqua frowned.
“And one day I might be comfortable enough around you to ask about that, cause that had to have been an amazing courtship. But that is not today, and tomorrow doesn't look good either.” Chrysalis pointed out. “Okay look, I'm not sure what the full deal is between you and your daughters. But from what I gathered it may be best just to mostly let them do their own thing, keep an eye on them but don't hover or go overkill on the super protection. They've been on their own for a long time now evidently. I get that you want to keep them close as you can right now, but I don't think they would like that. Sparkle gave you a chance, I say go with it.”
“I still wonder why she bothered with all that.”
“She's the goddess of Friendship along with all the rest of that stuff. I think she's using that some what instinctively like Cady does with some of her portfolios. Like she's making the best option for everyone without really thinking about it.”
“And her brother?”
“The little one, the big one or the big one in the right place?”
“What?”
“Spike, Rahs, or Shining?
“All of them I suppose.”
“Right. Well Shining is off limits, but he's super protective of his siblings. Rahs is a thespian and has a tendency to go with the most dramatic thing he can at any given point in time. He's also got a good bit of power kickback from a connection with Twilight. And Spike is going to be at the center of a massive bidding war in a few years as a bunch of different groups try to hire him on as an adviser. I think Cadence has the best chance as he's already well liked in the Crystal Empire.”
“Interesting.” Aqua considered. “ What else can you tell me about Rahs?”
“ Why the interest?”
“He did save my daughters lives according to Sonata and Aria.” Aqua offered.” And Aria seems to have an interest in him if I am reading her correctly.”
“Shit.” Chrysalis sighed.
“So what's the game here?” Aria demanded looking over to Spike curiously as he watched the construction from the new beach.
“O&O. Though I'm trying to get the girls more into Battle Mallet and some other game. Sweetiebelle is already building a Chaos army which worries me more than I like.” Spike offered holding up the gaming magazine in his claws.
“No what's the game Rahs is trying to play.”
“He plays O&O too, but thankfully only rarely. He plays a bard, and not the common 'try to sleep with everything bard' a 'proper bard', the sort that makes rookie GMs weep with the sheer amount of bullshit he can pull off.” Spike shook his head.
“No I mean with all this?” Aria waved a hoof vaguely.
“This?” Spike questioned.
“Yes. He could have said nothing and I would be in a dungeon or back in Neighlantis and none of you would have had to bother with me or Sonata again.” Aria snapped. “Yet for some reason he got your sister to stand up against my mom , that doesn't happen.”
“You don't know Twilight. If it's something in a book she will most certainly point it out to any one and everyone. Her last words are probably going to be' But the book says'. Your mom made a mistake in letting her get a copy of the Council's rules. She's already poked holes in it and figured out ways to get away with nearly everything she could ever want. She's in the process of re writing it to close loop holes she doesn't like.”
“Wha.... that doesn't explain Rahs.” Aria snapped
“It kinda does. Dudes the god of theater. If it's something dramatic or comedic he's gotten like a sixth sense about it now.” Spike explained.” Plus in the grand scheme of things he's generally nice like this to everyone unless they piss him off. He'll help if some one needs it, especially if by helping he can do it in the most over the top way possible. Siccing my sister on your mom was very over the top.”
Aria blinked at that information.
“I mean it's not like you're even the only former bad guy here. We have Sombra, we have Sunset, though she was more a thief than a real bad guy despite her plans. Princess Luna and Queen Chrysalis come around here a lot, Applejack is sort of a monstrous boogy mare sort of creature. We have diamond dogs, Crusaders, Lawyers, Trixie, Heck even I was a giant dragon rampaging through town once.” Spike shrugged.” Ponyville's just sorta like that. And truth be told most of that is because of us. Ever since we showed up here, everything has kinda gone nuts.”
“Umm.”
“Look You're gonna have some ponies who are leery or still angry with you for a while, but they'll get over it.” Spike shrugged. “As for Rahs he explained you turned on your sister and probably saved a lot of people breaking that gem. Says he felt the change of heart trope, whatever that means and that you might not be horrid. Personally I think he just wants to pick your brain for any Neighlantis stories and plays, as well as what you might have seen in the human world that Sunset missed. “
“That makes very little sense. “ Aria muttered.
“And yet, here we are.” Spike gestured with his magazine before he considered and pulled a town pamphlet from his bag offering it to her. The pamphlet looked more like a moderate sized book.
Aria looked at the light novel curiously flipping it open and seeing all the warnings mixed in with places of interest.
“Huh? Avoid white rabbits? Do not question the Pink One? Do not avoid parties. Do not taunt super happy fun ball? She is NOT an evil enchantress, but she does dance fairly well. Discount Tuesday Bunker supplies? Do not flirt with Big Mac. How to protect against Cutie Mark related disasters. Common prismatic pegasus pranks and how to avoid them. Do not eat anything made by Sweetiebelle. Who is eligible for what Ponyville betting pools?” Aria flipped though reading at random. “What the hell is this?”
[ Friendship Express, Winter. The day before Hearths Warming eve ]
“It's so excitin'! Related or not, it's gonna be a hoot havin' our families together under one roof!” Applejack grinned.
“Apples and Pies together again for the first time! Maybe. Unless we're related! Which maybe we're not. I think I just confused myself. “ Pinkie Pie offered shaking her head.
“Well statistically there's a good chance you're related still. Even if the connection I found isn't correct.” Twilight offered. “Also, thank you for inviting us along as well.”
“Shoot Twi, yer practically family already, and would be if Big Mac would do anything proper like.” Applejack glared at her brother, who now towered over her even more with his new form.
“Yah ain't one tah talk sis.” Big Mac offered back glancing over to the other side of the train car where Rahs and Sunset sat, the latter draped over the lap of the former as she fiddled with her crystal tablet. Rahs however hardly noticed as he was snoring softly his head propped up against the train window.
“Yah ken shut up Big Mac.” Applejack sulked.
“Still I'm surprised you invited us along regardless.” Spike offered. “ It's a bit weird not to be going to Canterlot for the holiday.”
“Sonly fer a few days. Sides ah thought you an yer folks didn't get along?” Applejack asked.
“There's still a few issues and topics we tend to avoid, but all in all we're doing a lot better than we were years ago.” Twilight offered.” Besides, we're immortal and they're not, I'd rather have good memories of them in the future instead of bad.”
“Ah ken understand that, ain't got much memory of my own ma and pa.” Applejack offered.
“Moren' ah got.”Applebloom sighed before Spike hugged her.
“ Yeah, yah were only a month or two old when they was taken from us.” Applejack let out a sigh. “ Damn diamond dogs. Didn't even leave us anything tah bury.”
“You seem to be getting along fairly well with Jynx though.” Sunset pointed out.
“ Yeah ah guess. She's only a bit oldern me an her own parents were killed in tha feud they had with tha Bone Hounds. So it ain't like her pack are tha ones who done it. Still hard not tah think about it round tha holidays though.”
“Woof.” Rahs added having woken up for the drama.
“Pfft. You ain't got nothing tah be sorry bout, just me gitting all melancholy over it is all.” Applejack shook her head.” Now if we ken git Sunset and Celestia tah get along we'll be set.”
“We've gotten better.” Sunset offered. “Every so often though she'll say something that reminds me and I need to leave before I'm set off. It's still a work in progress. I'm doing better than Sombra and Luna at least.”
“Yeah that's a whole nother mess.” Applejack offered. “Not tha least because he's gonna be stuck with Rarity and her parents fer tha next few days.”
“An Luna when she comes to see Sweetiebelle.” Applebloom pointed out.
The group paused to consider before shuddering.
“Changing the subject, where's Fluttershy?” Twilight asked of Pinkie.
“She's visiting her parents in Cloudsdale. She and Marble don't get along very well any way.” Pinkie Pie chimed. ” And I'm under strict orders not to go with in four hundred feet of her brother by a restraining order in six cities, including Cloudsdale.”
“What did yah do?” Applejack asked.
“Legally I'm not allowed to say.” Pinkie Pie shrugged. “But lets just say it was something not nice for his upsetting Fluttershy.”
“Given there's still a number of Changelings who run off screaming at the sight of you.” Spike pointed out.” I'll take your word for it.”
“What about Rainbow Dash?”Applebloom asked.
“She finally is taking Prince to meet her parents.” Twilight explained.
“Woof.” Rahs smirked.
“Yeah. I'd kinda wanna be a fly on tha wall fer that meeting too.” Applejack chuckled.
[Stone Field train depot]
“That is not a word Pinkie.” Twilight frowned.
“ It is now. Rooftastic, verb, as in, I'm gonna stand on the roof and yell to every pony how rooftastic this is! “ Pinkie Pie explained.
“So help me if I catch you trying to glue that into the dictionaries in Ponyville I'm gonna...” Twilight growled
“... What if our families don't like each other?” Applejack muttered looking back at the others.
“We are friends, Applejack, and after tonight, our families are gonna be friends too. Do you know what that means? Number of Apples times number of Pies is twenty four, minus my preexisting friendships plus one for Maud and you makes five from twenty four is...nineteen new friendships!” Pinkie exclaimed whipping around and glomping her sister as she appeared on the train platform behind them “MAUD!!”
Twilight frowned trying to calculate Pinkie Pie's math. Big Mac didn't even bother.
“I'm so excited to see you, Pinkie Pie. You too, Applejack. I hope you had fun sledding yesterday.” Maud stated with no hint of emotion.
“How'd you know that?” Applejack blinked.
“Isn't it obvious? There are specks of extrusive andesite on your hoof. It's a mountain rock.” Maud explained.
Oh she's good.” Granny nodded before leaning over to Applejack in a hushed tone.” Didn't ah teach yah tah wash yer hooves?”
“So how's school going?” Twilight asked.
“If you thought quartz was high on the Mohs hardness scale, wait 'til I tell you about corundum.” Maud stated.
Lights glittered from every surface, reflecting off the pure white snow and lighting up the multitude of crystals scattered around the yard turning the scene into a kaleidoscope of colors shifting and moving in an almost hypnotic pattern.
“This is beautiful.” Applejack gasped as the others nodded in agreement.
Spike however was rubbing the back of his head and glaring at his brother who had smacked him for trying to eat one of the crystals.
“Come on, every pony! Meet my super-mega-fun-derful family! Every pony, meet every pony! “Pinkie Pie exclaimed.
The front door to the house opened and a very earth tone series of ponies walked out, a brown stallion in a black hat, a gray mare with a pair of rather fancy looking glasses. A very angry looking grayish purple mare, and another gray mare that was half hidden behind the others, at least until Pinkie Pie pushed her forward.
“May Providence favor thee well, and to thou comfort our humble homestead bring. “ The stallion spoke.
“Umm well hello then.” Granny Smith offered.
“Surely thy name is not but Granny Smith. I am called Igneous Rock Pie, son of Feldspar Granite Pie.” the gray stallion spoke.
“Thou shalt know me as Cloudy Quartz.” The mare stated.
“Gaze into the eyes of Limestone Pie. Ma and Pa may own this rock farm, but I keep it running. Cross me and— “
“Aye aye, Captain Grumpy! No one's gonna mess with your precious mine!” Pinkie Pie rolled her eyes pushing her sister away from Applebloom and Spike..
“Or Holder's Boulder! “ Limestone snapped.
Pinkie Pie sighed darting across the lawn to point up at an ovoid shaped boulder sitting in the yard.
“Or Holder's Boulder.” Pinkie pointed it out. “There, you happy now.”
Twilight looked at the boulder a moment.” Actually that looks like an egg more than a geological formation....” Twilight offered.
“WHAT DID I JUST SAY!” Limestone snapped.
“I had considered that a few times before miss Twilight. But I don't know everything about rocks, yet.” Maud placated.
“ Woof?” Rahs asked offering a paw to the gray mare who Pinkie had pushed up before him.
“This is Marble Pie, my baby sister who's only a few minutes younger than me but she'll always be a baby to me, isn't that right? She's so excited to meet every pony! Oh, and she wishes you all a happy Hearth's Warming! “ Pinkie Pie added in chipperly.
There was a moment of expectant silence as everyone looked at the mare.
“Mmhmm...” Marble muttered.
“I suppose Pinkie does the talking for her.” Sunset muttered to herself getting a smirk but a shushing motion from Applejack.
“ Well okay .. But yes Ah'm Granny Smith. This is my Grandson Big Mac.”
The Pies all looked up to the towering stallion with draconic features.
“What prithee art thou feeding him?” Cloudy asked.
“Apples mostly.” Granny Smith Shrugged. ”This here's his mare friend Twilight Sparkle.”
“An alicorn?” Igneous blinked. ”Thou are not related to the dark one of the moon are you. She hast been insistent on learning mine mother's recipes.”
“No that's Princess Luna, I'm not a Princess.” Twilight stated.
“Actually...” Spike began.
“Finish that statement and I'll return all of your presents back to the store.” Twilight growled.
“Rude.” Spike huffed but he didn't finish.
“This here's my middle grand foal Applejack. She's got a bit of an issue bout magic though it ain't nothing tah worry bout. That orange one over there's Sunset Shimmer, my half sister, she and Applejack are currently feuding over tha big blue one there, Rahs Sparkle.”
“Charmed.”
“A moon dog?” Cloudy blinked.
“No, he's a moon... wait what?” Twilight asked. “Most ponies thing he's a Diamond Dog... how did you know he was a Moon Dog?”
“Umm, Pinkie told us?” Cloudy offered.
“Mmm.” Marble offered looking up at Rahs curiously.
“ Err so they're feuding over him?” Igneous asked changing the subject.
“They are with a couple of other ones.” Granny shrugged.” Not sure what anyone sees in im though.”
Rahs clutched his chest and gasped as if in shock at the insult.
He was ignored.
“This here's mai youngest Grand foal, Applebloom. And tha dragon fella with her is her colt friend, dragon friend, whatever.” Granny Smith offered.
“Not sure I am comfortable with a dragon around.” Igneous offered. “No offense.”
“None taken really, but trust me you'll want me around if these two idiots start something.” Spike Gestured to Rahs who stuck his tongue out at him and Twilight who just glared.
“ATTENTION!!” Pinkie Pie shouted zipping up to the top of Holder's Boulder.
“ WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT THE BOULDER!?” Limestone growled.
“That he was conflicted?” Sunset asked.
“What!? NO!”
“So the boulder is no longer conflicted.” Sunset nodded.
“What... PINKIE GET DOWN!”
“I'll just be a second. Every pony get settled in! There's plenty of room upstairs. And then it's time for Hearth's Warming Eve dinner! “
[Canterlot , Winter, Not long before Hearths Warming]
Shining Armor looked up at Princess Celestia, cricking his neck from side to side a little.
A few of the Guards around the throne room were wary as most of them expected another Chrysalis plot, particularly as Shining went through the usual channels to gain an audience with the other petitioners to come before Princess Celestia.
Princess Celestia herself was regarding him warily as well.
“So what brings you here today Emperor?” Princess Celestia offered warily.
“Oh I'm not here in any official capacity Princess. So just Shining Armor works.” Shining placated. “ I mostly came down to visit my sister and brothers with my parents for a early Hearths Warming before they went off to the Pie family farm for Hearths Warming there.”
“And you're alright with that?” Princess Celestia raised an eyebrow.
“Not in the slightest, but I can't protest about Big Mac as much due to what he went and did, plus any protest against him would lead to me getting into an argument about Spike and Applebloom, and Rahs and AJ and Sunset with my mom. And no thank you to that.”
“Understandable, while I wish Sunset was going to be here for the holiday, that she is going to meet some of her extended family works as well I suppose.” Princess Celestia offered relaxing a little as this seemed to be Shining. “So what brings you here then?”
“Ahh, well, to put it simply Cadence and Chrysalis are both pregnant.” Shining offered. “My mom was more than ecstatic, insulting at points, but ecstatic.”
“Well congratulations, though I don't know why you needed to go through official channels for that.” Princess Celestia offered.
“Hmm? Oh no that wasn't just for that. As I said Cadence 'and' Chrysalis are pregnant. As such. You're going to stop this feud with Chrysalis until the foal is born. If she attacks you, ignore it. “ Shining Armor stated flatly.
“That sounded less like a request and more like an order Shining.” Princess Celestia frowned. ”Emperor or not you do not out rank me.”
“And I told you that I wasn't here as the emperor. What I say has nothing to do with the Crystal Empire.” Shining Armor stated still standing there calmly. “And it was less an order and more an ultimatum. Ignore anything Chrysalis does to you until the foal is born. Period.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes. ”Shining Armor, whom do you actually think you are to come before me to threaten me?”
Shining Armor seemed to consider a moment before offering a small smirk to the Princess of the Sun.
“Fuck around and find out.” Shining Armor stated flatly before he turned and trotted out of the court with the Guard and the Princess watching him leave in confusion and a good bit of worry.
“Twilight do you think you can teleport back to the last town and get like a hay burger or something?” Sunset whispered, leaning over to Twilight.
“No … that would be rude... besides it's Hearths Warming, nothing would be open save maybe a griffon place.” Twilight muttered back.
“That works, they might have bacon.” Sunset responded.
“... I'll consider checking.” Twilight agreed.
The Pies continued to eat their rock soup without evidently hearing any of them talk, though it was little surprise given the loud crunching of the rocks.
Spike of course, was munching happily on the soup and the rocks.” This is good. I really need to get the recipe from you. I'll finally have something that can be saved as leftovers that the bottomless pits I live with will leave alone.”
“That's my line.” Twilight snorted.
Rahs and Applejack both refrained from speaking as they each rolled a soup rock around in their mouths, tasting the odd, but rather tasty magic on the soup stones.
Big Mac was also rolling the stone around in his mouth curious that the rock was so flavorful, but not willing to risk his teeth.
“Eat up, so we can get to our Hearth's Warming dolls!” Pinkie Pie offered chipperly.
“Well. At least that seems normal.” Twilight smiled.
“Why must you jinx us so?” Sunset demanded.
Rahs ears perked up at hearing the word jinx and looked around for both trouble, or a certain Diamond Dog alpha.
“Spike stop eating the Hearths Warming Dolls!” Twilight snapped.
“ Then stop making them so delicious!” Spike snapped back.
The group was outside by the entrance to the mine with a variety of stones pulled from a cart. Most were rocks, but a large number were various gem stones.
“Honestly this is rather interesting.” Sunset offered from a good distance away from the others, she had been put over there after she stopped trying to sculpt a doll with the mini pickax and started to simply crank up the heat enough to melt parts of the rock into the shape she wanted.
Maud was rather impressed.
Not that anyone but Pinkie noticed.
Big Mac stared at the diamond he was given before waiting until he thought no one was looking before giving it a lick.
“Stop tasting the diamonds Mac, you're not the mayor.” Pinkie Pie called out. “It's not Mac safe.”
“Uh... y'all don't have traditional crocheted dolls passed down in your family?” Applejack asked.
“Come on AJ. This is making your own decoration rather than just hanging up some old dolls.” Sunset offered with a smirk.” It's fun.”
“Not all of us ken melt rock..... or shape it like you and Twi.” Applejack sighed looking over at Twilight who was using some spell or another to mold the rock like putty, though she wasn't very creative and had only made a couple of books, one Big Mac, and rock that looked exactly like another rock.
Maud was impressed by that too.
Maybe.
Rahs frowned smacking the pick on his rock, the rock broke open revealing a hollow inside with numerous pink crystals.
“YOU FOUND THE MAGIC GEODE!!” Pinkie Pie screamed.
The rest of the Pie family gave a rather unenthusiastic cheer save Limestone who grumbled in annoyance.
“Woof?” Rahs asked confused.
“That means you get a prize!” Pinkie cheered.
Rahs was about to ask what the prize was before he got smashed in the face with a banana cream pie, the food, not another member of the Pie family.
“We used to let you take a drink from the fire hose, but it's cold out.”
“Great … the only real food ah've seen tah day and it's now fulla dog hair.” Applebloom sighed poking at her rock.
“You gonna eat that?” Spike asked looking at the rock she was prodding.
“Limestone, Rahs you're the judges! Big Mac, Marble Pie, you're team one! Spike and Maud, you're team two! Ma, Pa, you're gonna be with Granny Smith. Don't think of it as team old. Think of it as team three! Sunset, Applebloom, and Twilight are team four. And I'm with Applejack of course, since we might be cousins! “
The groups looked at each other save Granny Smith who was glaring at Pinkie for the old crack. She briefly considered changing out the gift she got Pinkie for coal, but the pink mare would probably like that.
“So now that we're all split up, mind tellin' us what we're doin'?” Applejack questioned.
Pinkie Pie jumped up on top of Holder's Boulder again.” As every pony knows....”
“STAY OFF HOLDER'S BOULDER!” Limestone snapped.
“Sheesh. “ Pinkie huffed climbing down. “When the three tribes united to form Equestria, the first flag was sewn by Nimble Thimble. It's tradition to raise a flag on Hearth's Warming to celebrate that famous day.
There were a few nods and general agreement from the others.
“But who gets to put the flag on Holder's Boulder?” Pinkie Pie asked.
“ You mean a flagpole?” Sunset asked.
“No, silly, it goes on the highest point! And who's the lucky pony?” Pinkie demanded.
“Traditionally, it's the youngest...” Twilight began.
“THREETWOONEGO!!!” Pinkie shouted grabbing Applejack and darting off with her.
“What?” Spike asked.
“I hid obsidian earlier today. Go find it!” Limestone snapped.
The non Pies looked to each other before shrugging and heading off to hunt for the rock.
“AND STAY AWAY FROM MY MINE!!” Limestone screamed.
Rahs raised an eyebrow at that looking down at the intense mare.
[Canterlot , Winter, Not long before Hearths Warming]
Princess Celestia frowned as she watched another petitioner go out the door. She had quite a few of them left before the day court was over. This close to a holiday always brought a rush of ponies.
Granted she was still dwelling on what Shining Armor had said to her earlier.
Before she could dwell on it further the next petitioner came in. A light gray unicorn mare with a purple and white streaked mane with a trio of stars as her cutie mark.
“Twilight Velvet.” Princess Celestia smiled.” It has been some time since I have seen you.”
“Hello Princess.” Twilight Velvet offered.” I suppose the last time we talked was at Shining Armor and Cadence's wedding.”
“I believe you are right. I am rather upset with him at the moment however.” Celestia sighed.
“Ahh he came in to threaten you to leave Chrysalis alone didn't he?”
“Yes. He did.” Celestia offered.
“How childish.” Twilight Velvet shook her head. ”Was it at least a good threat?”
“It was vague and menacing.” Celestia admitted.
“Of course. He did. It's fully understandable, he is a first time father after all. You should have seen Nightlight the first time something even vaguely threatening came near me when I was pregnant with Shiny.” Twilight Velvet offered with a giggle.
“I take it you will speak to him then?” Celestia smiled.
“Of course I will. I told him to let me deal with you.” Twilight Velvet spoke.
“What?”
“Oh please. I have a chance of getting two adorable...yes adorable , I've seen Saturnia's foal pictures, grand foals out of this. You are going to leave Chrysalis alone until after the foal is born.” Twilight Velvet ordered in a motherly tone.
“Seriously? You too?”
“Of course, after all I managed to raise Shiny, Twi, and Spike up from the infant to the toddler, as well as the tween and teenager stages, and Rahs through the last two. To be fair Rahs' emo stage was the cutest. But one of them is a demi god, one is an emperor, and two are gods, and they weren't much calmer before they ascended. And I managed to keep them in line despite the occasional hiccup. Just picture the sort of skills I have from that and consider your options Princess.”
Twilight Velvet smiled wide, very much like Rahs, Twilight ,and Spike did when something was about to have a very bad day, only with less fangs.
“Umm.” Celestia offered.
“Have a nice day Princess.” Twilight Velvet chimed up and trotted out of the throne room.
“She is decidedly your daughter.” Aqua sighed as Discord beamed proudly.
“Look. Sparkles not here, and since we're paroled to her I'm not going any where.” Aria sighed.
“But I wanna see the decorations...” Sonata pouted.
“Look, you can go if you want, if any one asks, I'll cover for you.” Aria sighed.” To be fair I don't even think any one would care much, The Mayor was more annoyed at Twilight pushing her community service time off one some one else than anything. “
“Yeah well, it's changed this year whether we like it or not. Still there's nothing stopping you from coming back after seeing the kelp lights and stuffing your face full of poffins. Not like I can really swim at the moment any way.” Aria shifted her fore leg that was still in a sling. “ Seriously go have fun and don't worry about me.”
Sonata stared at Aria.
“Aria. Is there a reason your father keeps trying to offer you a radio?” Aqua questioned.
Aria blinked and looked back at Discord who was grinning like a fool and holding a fancy looking radio.
“ What...... oh that. Ugh of course you remember that. A basic radio isn't going to burn water. It's not even efficient you have to put more power in than you get out.” Aria grumbled.
“I'm not sure what I am happier about. The fact you tricked your father some how, or that you are not doing what he wanted.” Aqua offered.
[ Pie rock farm]
There was a flash of light and a soft popping sound.
“Alright I've got a bag of bacon potatoes.” Twilight offered hefting the bags as she approached her small group after the teleport.
“Gimi gimi!” Sunset squeed.
“Calm down. Chicken Alfredo..” Twilight offered handing over the bag to Applebloom raising her eyebrow at the order.
“Don't yah judge me.” Applebloom huffed.
“Right So anything happen while I was gone?” Twilight asked opening her own food to begin scarfing it down. She was still mad they didn't have any ketchup.
“Dunno about the others, but Spike's in a food coma after Maud kept asking him what certain rocks tasted like.” Sunset offered.
“And did you keep an eye on Mac and Marble?” Twilight questioned.
“Yeah, that was weird.” Applebloom pointed out.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Eeyup.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Eeyup.”
“Then it got weirder when Rahs got involved.” Applebloom added.
“Mm-hmm.”
“Eeyup.”
“Bark.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Eeyup.”
“Bark”
“ Of course if their goal was tah drive Limestone mad, it worked”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Eeyup.”
“Bark.”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Eeyup.”
“Bark”
“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
“I'm kinda surprised at you Twilight.” Sunset offered gulping down half her food like she was starving.” Another mare is with Big Mac and you're not freaking out.”
“It's fine. I trust Mac. I only get upset if the mare after him is the super insistent or flirtatious sort.” Twilight offered.
“No you don't, you see any mare git near um and yah blow up like a psychotic pyro” Applebloom accused.” Yah need tah calm down.”
“Seriously, you do. There's only room in Ponyville for one psychotic pyro, and that's me.” Sunset offered ignoring the other two looking at her with a hint of worry.
“So how'd yah meet Iggy here any way?” Granny Smith asked.
“We were chosen by the Pairing Stone and betrothed within a fortnight.” Cloudy offered.
“The choosing stone decreed, "Thou shalt love one another." And lo, it was so.” Igneous stated.
“Hoo-wee, I gots to look into this oldfangled choosin' stone thing. You reckon it knows any apple-farmin' hunks?” Granny Smith cackled.
“Indeed so.” Igneous agreed.
“Mmm “ Cloudy added.
“Must be somethin to it too given yah got four daughters outta what tha stone told yah.” Granny nodded.
Igneous and Cloudy spared a short worried glance to each other.
“Indeed.” Cloudy stated.
[That night]
“Can't believe ya didn't save me any food.” Granny Smith grumbled.” Ah'm still to pretty tah be wasting away from starvation.”
“We've gotta do somethin', y'all! Pinkie Pie's family never had a real Hearth's Warmin'!” Applejack muttered to the group with her.
“What really?” Granny Smith asked.” She tell yah that?”
“Nah but she described her whole thing and it's jus kinda weird. They hide the presents rather than give um out, and some years they don't even find tha gifts.” Applejack explained.
“Woof?” Rahs asked.
“I don't think it's a finance sort of thing, rock farming has always been very lucrative given how many things need specific crystals. Sure I bet the market dipped in the last few years thanks to the return of the Crystal Empire, but the demand for them is still higher than the supply.” Twilight explained.
“Even if it was that , it's not something easily brought up as it might be a sore spot.” Sunset shrugged.” We can ask Fluttershy later though if we need to.”
“These are prolly just their traditions.” Applebloom shrugged. “ They're weird, but that's cause we've used tah ours.”
“I know they have their traditions and we have ours, but I just want them to see how much better theirs could be.” Applejack offered. “Ah mean ah don't expect them to change up theirs, but maybe we ken bring some of what we do intah what they do. Particularly if we're family.”
The others looked at each other.
“Well that would mean we would have had to open the presents yesterday like we do.” Twilight offered.” We started doing that for Spike to try and spread his birthday as far from Hearths Warming as we could.”
“Urp.” Spike offered from where he had been rolled into the corner, the dragon having stuffed himself into a food coma on all the rocks and gems.
“Look ah ain't saying we should go all out, but at least a little bit tah show um how we do things as Apples.” Applejack offered.
“Ah suppose we ken try that out.” Granny agreed. ”Save's us from hauling all our extra luggage back ontah tha train.”
[Canterlot, Winter, Not long before Hearths Warming]
Celestia sighed sitting back in her throne.
“Alright every pony. Be ready.” Celestia muttered after Raven told her of the next petitioner.
The Guards around the room tensed and backed away from the throne to press against the walls.
Raven swallowed and darted off to the side diving behind a hastily built bunker.
A moment later the doors were kicked open and a pink alicorn stormed into the chambers.
“Oh Aunnnnntie...” Empress Cadence sing songed.
“And here we go.” Celestia sighed. “ Hello Cadence.”
“I need a word with you....”
“You're pregnant and so is Chrysalis and you want me to not do anything to her .” Celestia offered.
Cadence stumbled in her advance towards the throne, her whole rant derailed.
“How? What?” Cadence stammered.
“You're the third one today to come in. Shining Armor was first, then Twilight Velvet.”Celestia offered with a small smirk.
“What?! I told them to leave this to me.” Cadence huffed.
“Yes well, Twilight Velvet said the same thing.” Celestia shrugged. ”Would you like to at least offer up your threat?”
“Not much of a point now. I was just gonna use the fact I'm the goddess of love to take away your love of tea and cake.” Cadence huffed.
“Mmmm, credible threat.” Celestia nodded.
“Don't patronize me.” Cadence snapped and turned to storm out of the throne room slamming the doors behind her.
“Well. That coulda gone better.” Applebloom sighed.
“Which part? Upsetting Igneous and Cloudy, or causing Marble to faint? Maybe giving Pinkie a mental break down? Or the fault line thing?” Sunset asked.
“All of it pretty much, though ah noticed yah didn't say anything about Limestone freaking out.” Applebloom frowned.
“Ehh after all her talk and rudeness, bitch deserves some stress.” Sunset shrugged.
“WHAT WAS THAT!? YOU WANT TO GO MARE!?” Limestone snarled stomping over to glare at Sunset.
The orange unicorn mare considered a moment before she shrugged.
“Actually. Yeah.” Sunset nodded before Limestone jumped her this was followed by an explosion of fire.
Applebloom blinked, winced, then went off to find Rahs, or some one else sane and able to do something. Those sort were in short supply since Spike had fallen into another rock fueled food coma from breakfast.
Applebloom was going to suggest Twilight put him on a diet when they got home.
“Why was there a fault line in the middle of your front yard?” Twilight questioned as she floated down the side of the cliff towards the mine entrance, not using her wings of course.
“Limestone dug too deep. “ Maud offered, simply walking down the side of the cliff by planting her hooves in the rock wall.
“Woof?” Rahs asked as he stepped out from behind another large rock at the base of the cliff and approaching the fallen Holder's Boulder. The trip through the Oneiroi had been odd, not that he expected anything else. He had met Pinkie's Moon Dog before. She was a nervous wreck and probably suffering from several mental issues, but she was functioning enough to do her duty and rather fanatic about guarding Pinkie's dreams as if all life depended on it.
The rest of the families moon dogs were a little better, though they didn't talk much and only answered a few of his questions, not speaking much on how they got along with the Pie's dreams.
“No, it doesn't look damaged. What are the odds that Applejack would have planted the flag pole right in a fault line?” Twilight sighed before blinking.
Both Twilight and Maud turned and looked at Rahs who flattened his ears to his head.
“Bork!”
“Family drama is still drama, so I can, and I will, blame this on you.” Twilight huffed. ”So how does it look Maud, is it broken or can we haul it back up?”
“It's hollow.” Maud stated.
“What?” Twilight demanded trotting over to where Maud was. On the bottom of Holder's Bolder, where it had been sitting on the ground, was a pony sized hole.
“Some sort of nacre. This was not in my studies.” Maud offered as she looked inside.
Twilight and Rahs looked inside, the inside of the rock coated with some sort of iridescent material that looked like mother of pearl, though the rock farm was far away from any seas or oceans.
“Some theories say Equestria was mostly under water ages ago, but none of the gods recall that being the case. Well Discord might, but he's kinda cagey.” Twilight offered.
“Bark.” Rahs stated.
“Yeah, I know he's trying to stay on my good side due to his daughters, but he's still Discord so even his good answers are infuriating.” Twilight sighed. “I have no idea what could have made this It's not a dragon, because Spike ate his egg moments after he hatched and that seems to be the norm.”
“It's not anything my studies have mentioned.” Maud frowned.
“Rahs do you smell anything?” Twilight questioned.
“Ruff.” Rahs shrugged.
“Just Pinkie huh? Well she was all over this yesterday so no surprise there.” Twilight sighed. “ There's no magic on it either, it's just a hollow rock from my scans.”
“No. Something came out. Notice the crumbling around the edges of the hole. Layers were cracked and something left from the inside.” Maud frowned. “Years ago looking at the wear.”
“So it's nothing threatening at least, or it would have done something by now.” Twilight nodded pretending not to hear the cursing, nor the laughter and multiple explosions that rang out from the top of the cliff.” Well as much as I want to study it, I doubt your sister would let us. “
“No.” Maud agreed. “Can you get it back up?”
“Shouldn't be a problem, but I'm content to wait here until what ever is going on up there is done.” Twilight sighed. ”I'm only a guest of the Apples. So AJ, Pinkie and everyone else can work this out.”
“That may take some time. Every pony is upset.” Maud offered.
“Nah, this will work out into a friendship. I can feel it.” Twilight smirked.
“There y'all are. Sunset and Limestone are tearing up yer south field in a big ole fight.!” Applebloom screamed down at them from the top of the cliff.
“What was that about Friendship?” Maud asked.
“Sunset is still learning the term.” Twilight muttered.
“Mine husband's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Holder Cobblestone found the boulder in a dragon's nest, older than time itself. He built the farm around it, even though it tis just an ordinary rock. It always brought good luck.” Cloudy Quartz explained to Granny with a tone that made the explanation sound well rehearsed.
“An heirloom, an odd one, but still an heirloom.” Granny Smith nodded as the two of them sat in the kitchen while everyone else was working on fixing the farm, or burning and smashing it. Sunset and Limestone were still tearing up the southern field. No one was stopping them and Pinkie and Twilight were already betting on the winner.
“You seem rather calm about all this compared to yer hubby.” Granny questioned as Cloudy sipped her earth gray tea.
“Mine families traditions differ from mine husbands. This sort of merriment is not unknown to me.” Cloudy explained. ”It is a thing that happens when mine great grand matron comes for the holiday as well.”
“Oh? That the fabled Granny Pie Pinkie goes on about?” Granny Smith asked.
“Indeed. Though she is of the pegasi race and oft travels the world, her returns here are limited thankfully.” Cloudy sighed.
“Well ah suspect we might meet her at some point if she comes tah visit Pinkie.” Granny nodded.
“I hope thine are insured.” Cloudy offered. ”Much as she is loved, trouble follows that one.”
“We're kinda used tah trouble in Ponyville.” Granny nodded as another explosion rocked the south field. “Brought half of it with us too.”
“THIS ISN'T OVER LIMESTONE!! YOU HEAR ME?!?” Sunset bellowed out of the train window. The orange mare was bruised and dirty and clearly irate still.
Rahs also had a hold of her tail to keep her from launching back out the window to continue the fight with Limestone.
“I WILL END YOU!!” Limestone screamed back, held in place by Maud. The gray mare was covered in soot and light burns.
As the train chugged off Limestone kept glaring at it until it was out of sight before a smile crossed her features.
“Have fun?” Maud asked.
“And here I thought this was going to be a boring holiday.” Limestone chuckled.
“Mmmm.” Marble offered.
“What? Seriously?” Limestone grumbled.
“Mmhmm.”
“Ehh well. Yeah, I guess he was kinda cute, for a dog.” Limestone considered.
“Hmmm.”
“Surprised that you weren't fawning over the red one.” Limestone looked at her sister.
“Mmmm”
“Huh, I guess being part dragon is a bit of a turn off there, even though he didn't eat any rocks.” Limestone huffed.” Unlike that little one.”
“Spike has a wealth of flavor knowledge on rocks.” Maud stated.
[Canterlot , Winter, Not long before Hearths Warming]
Princess Celestia rubbed her temples with a hoof as Raven warned her about the next name.
Really she should have expected it, but she was hoping at least one of them would be content to think one of the other ones passed on the message.
A dark blue unicorn stallion with a navy blue mane and tail trotted in the main door. His cutie mark was a pair of crescent moons, the smaller in the hollow made by the larger.
He trotted up to the throne a pair of saddle bags bouncing lightly against his sides.
“To you as well Nightlight Sparkle. I assume you are here to threaten me to leave Chrysalis alone as well?” Celestia sighed.
“Of course not. I'm sure my son, daughter in law, and wife have done that more than enough.” Nightlight explained, shaking his head. “Besides Chrysalis has already gone into hiding so I doubt you'd be able to do anything to her even if you could find her.”
“Well that was some what expected, though I am surprised you are not coming here to warn me away or something.”
“Please Princess. I'm an aging Royal Astronomer who dabbles in amateur archaeology, exactly what would I be able to threaten you with?” Nightlight pish poshed.”No no, I'm here about this.”
Celestia narrowed her eyes skeptically as the unicorn reached into one of his bags and pulled out an envelope floating it up to her.
Celestia blinked taking the envelope. She opened it cautiously drawing out an eight by ten glossy picture.
The picture had barely cleared the envelope before Celestia's eyes shot wide open and the image and envelope were reduced to less than ash before any one else in the room could get so much as a glance of what was on it.
“Where did you get that!?” Celestia demanded her voice quaking as she glared at Nightlight clearly both pissed and terrified.
Nightlight offered the sort of grin that was usually accompanied by a fin cutting through the water above it.
“I have copies, and a multitude of other pics along the same vein, though that one was by far the least of them. All scattered across Equss in various banks and secure locations, all to be released if anything untold should happen to me.” Nightlight continued to grin.” While no one else has seen them but me so far...”
“WHERE DID YOU GET THEM?!” Celestia demanded.” Cameras were not even invented yet!!”
“Funny story. Years ago I was at a dig and I found this strange blue box that I thought was a tomb to be fair, though it had a door and an odd light on top. However before I could open it to see what was inside I was stopped by a white rabbit who offered me a trade for the artifact.” Nightlight explained.” He took my camera, vanished, and came back with a host of pictures. He explained that I should only do something with them when the time was right. And well. I think this counts.”
“White.” Celestia growled, her throne starting to melt.
“As I said Princess this is hardly a threat. This is more of a doubling down on what has already been threatened. “Nightlight considered. “After all our family motto is 'Quare utere malleo aequatam, cum a tribula malleus in vobis?'”
Celestia blinked, then groaned.
“Why use a mallet when you have a sledge hammer?” Celestia translated as Nightlight's grin grew wider.
“Indeed. Have a good Hearth's Warming Princess.” Nightlight offered before cheerfully trotting back out of the throne room.
Celestia sighed watching him leave with a shudder. “This family is going to drive me to drink.”
Princess Celestia sighed and sat back in the replacement throne. It had been an alright few days since the meeting with the Sparkle family. She and Luna had exchanged gifts, both of them having to go rather out of the way to find something the other didn't have. That was one of the more fun things for the holidays. She had found an old game system and a number of retro games Luna didn't have. Well as much as a system only five years old could be retro. Luna had found her a unreleased copy of the new Double Moon novel, this one oddly focused on the love between a crystal pony and a dragon. Who ever that writer was they managed a number of odd pairings that were beautifully written.
Due to budget constraints after all the fighting with Chrysalis, She had to go a little cheaper than she liked with some gifts. Sunset was given a gift box from a Griffon deli that contained bacon among other things she could always share with Rahs if she didn't want them. And Sombra was gifted some rather rare ore that he could smelt and forge.
Both she and Luna had been surprised that Sombra had sent a card to them. It was more than he usually did for Luna. Celestia expected Rarity was involved in it, though Luna's reaction to it had been fairly heart wrenching.
Still all that was a few days ago and aside from the usual pile of gifts from admirers, suck ups, and foals wanting to write her a card, many of whom wrote Luna this year as well, she was back to holding court to deal with the after holidays build up. Though she expected most of it was going to be complaints about places not taking back various horrid gifts. She didn't know why ponies came to her, she didn't have any say over any stores return policies.
“Princess.” Raven stated. Celestia looked to her assistant to ask her about how she fared for the holidays before noting the look on her face.
“Oh No...”
“I'm afraid so Princess.” Raven frowned more.
The doors to the throne room burst open with a slam and a large navy blue furred moon dog strode in like he owned the place. Flanking him was a purple alicorn mare, and a purple and green teen aged dragon.
“HELLO PRINCESS CELESTIA!” Twilight called as they advanced towards the throne.
Celestia watched them approach her lips pressed together tightly.
“Nope.” Celestia stated flatly, vanishing in a teleport.
[Canterlot. Two days before the New Year.]
In a nondescript building on a nondescript street, in a some what run down section of Canterlot that lay by the airship ports and was nearly always in shadow thanks to the mountains peak, was the head quarters of the thieves guild.
While the location was not really a secret, the owners and operators of this particular building were the sort of legitimate business ponies that made a proper Guard feel oily just from speaking with them.
No matter how many raids, investigations or stake outs were preformed, nothing could ever be brought up that was enough evidence to shut them down.
The thieves guild had go so far as to mock the Guard by naming their building, Exuberant Annexation group, or as it said on the building in large red letters EA. On the legitimate side of things they ran several insurance companies, a few freight transportation companies, and even a small number of private investigators who specialized in the recovery of items you seem to have misplaced, or had walked off on their own. They also owned the local stadium, which was obvious if you thought about the average price of game tickets and the bags of peanuts sold at the concession stands.
On the not so legal side of things they delved in foal napping, robbery, muggings, petty theft, jay walking, and a protection racket that they called a 'season pass' which a payer would be certain not to have anything stolen from them for at least a year, though those terms changed at a whim. They also had something called a Preorder bonus, in which your unborn foal would be guaranteed not to have candy stolen from them for at least two years after birth.
They were also known to dabble in assassination, though that was rare, and very very costly as Princess Celestia herself had had a word with the last assassin who had been caught trying to take out a member of her court when another noble wanted them gone. That word was very much the last word that particular assassin ever heard. Though the guild was spared the cost of cremation at least.
On this particular bright sunny day, because deals done in the dark or in the rain made the guard more suspicious and no one really wanted to still be up at night just in case a highly caffeinated Lunar Princess and her rather educated ax stopped by to see what all the activity going on in her night was about.
They had been forced to claim they were setting up a new club due to her arrival at one point right before a break in. They then very quickly put one together which unfortunately became the Princesses favorite club in Canterlot which forced several members of the guild to go legit just to run the place to keep up appearances.
The EA Headquarters however was were several of the higher ranking members of the thieves guild met with a mare who had a job for them.
Kingpin was a well dressed older stallion. He had been running the thieves guild for close to thirty years now. The white coated stallion had gone gray years ago, though he had yet to start to sag, keeping him self fit despite his rich lifestyle.
His secretary, a light gray mare named Moonlighter, who had retired from her house breaking after an injury years ago, let the mare into his office. It was hard to tell much about her from the thick gray hooded cloak she wore to cover herself, but that was often the sort of pony who came in for a particular service they could offer.
Kingpin looked up as two of his guards shifted in the back of the room, making their presence known to the mare in case she thought to try anything. Kingpin wasn't particular on who came to offer a job, but he wasn't dumb enough to think some of them wouldn't take offense at the prices he gave.
“Greetings miss. What brings you to my desk this fine day?” Kingpin questioned. He already knew of course, the mare had been asking questions had led her to him rather quickly. She didn't seem stupid as she had hunted down a thief to question about this location. She had also taken down a number of non guild cut purses and muggers in her search, so she was nothing to trifle with.
“I have a job for you or at the very least I want information on who I need to contact to have this job done.” the mare stated.
“Well then right to brass tacks. What is the job?” Kingpin questioned.
“I need you to kill someone.”
“Really... Well I can't speak from experience, but such a thing is not cheap I would expect...” Kingpin trailed off as a massive sack of bits was dropped on the desk before him from the mare.
“Fifty thousand now, Fifty when the job is done.”
Kingpin stared at the bag, then looked to the two guards, one of them cast a quick spell that ran over the room, there was a faint crackle before the guard nodded and Kingpin let out a sigh.
“Well then. You are quite direct. I suppose I can indeed find some one who would take your job. Though I will need to ask, who is the target?”
“Twilight Sparkle.”
There was a moment of silence as the three thieves in the room stared at the mare before all of them burst out laughing.
“And what is funny about that?” the mare growled.
“Alright first off, this is no where near enough money to even try for the princesses former student.” Kingpin chuckled slowly regaining his composure. “Second Twilight Sparkle is an alicorn, a god, she can't be killed any way, not at least without doing something that would change the entire world, which would be eliminating whatever her portfolios are. The bits you're offering MIGHT be enough for us to find out what those portfolios are, maybe.”
“Fine then target her brother, the dog cat thing. Kill him.”
There was another laugh, from Kingpin and one of the guards, though the other guard, a large scarred earth pony, only shuddered, he recalled how his first attempt at foal napping went and he still had nightmares about the teeth.
“Lady. The Sparkles, ALL of them are off limits. They are so off limits even the town they live in is off limits. As a foal Twilight fancied herself a junior detective and busted six of our major businesses before she got bored. An attempt at foal napping her turned three of our best into frogs, and not even big frogs, little pond frogs that if I'm not mistaken are still enjoying eating flies on lily pads in the palace gardens. An attempt to snatch Rahs resulted in the horrid mangling of several guild members, and the one who tried to grab the dragon became the first pony to survive being turned to ash. He was dropped right in front of the princess who was at the time touring the guard training facilities. The less said about what happened to a group that tried to mug Shining Armor the better. And even the parents are to be feared. The mother systematically broke every bone in each leg of a bruiser who tried to rob her when she was gravid with Twilight, all while naming the bone as she broke it and lecturing the poor fool about what part of the body it supported. A group that broke into the royal observatory while Nightlight was on duty were never heard from again.” Kingpin listed off. “They are the only family that is in our little red book of do not mess with, EVER. There is no pay in the world worth even trying.”
“Don't forget what happened with the Red Chief incident.” the unicorn guard stated.
“Yeah but that was the Crusaders more than Spike, and those two were stupid.” Kingpin stated. “Point is miss. No one here is going to take any job that might bring them in contact with the Sparkles for any price.”
“Ricky might.” the burly guard offered.
“Yeah but we trained Ricky wrong as a joke. I want him to go mess with somebody in the red book so he can be shown as an example to everyone else of why we have the red book.” Kingpin sighed.
“So you are all useless then.” The mare sighed.” I should have known better than to trust a group like yours. I would have thought that a group professing to be very skilled in what they do might actually be able to do something. It seems I need to do it myself.”
The mare rose reaching for the bag of bits only for Kingpin to slap his hoof atop of it with a grin.
“Well see that's not very nice of you miss. After we gave up some of our valuable time to hear you out.” Kingpin offered.
“And you think laughing at me like I was joking counts as valuable time?”
“Hmm you do make a good point. But on another point you did just trot right into a den of thieves with a big sack of money and expect to walk out again with it? Sure you've taken down a few mooks to get here, but only the best get this far up in the guild.”
“Really?”
“Consider it a consultation fee, and of course it's not like you can go to the Guard, cause trying to hire an assassin? Well. That's a bigger crime than a bit of price gouging.” Kingpin explained.
“Hmm, you have a point I suppose. I didn't think this through as much as I should have.”
“Smart mare.”
“Still for the record, you have been a rather lousy host, you never even asked my name,”
“Really? And would that matter?”
“Doubtful, but it would have been polite.”
“Alright, so what's your name then?”
Kingpin blinked as the mare grinned under her hood.
The warehouse district by the airship docks was known by most of Canterlot as the shady side of town, literally, to be fair. It was also one of the places that was mostly unharmed during the attack by Tirek.
Given the centaur was the God of Thieves, this was cited by several Guards as proof that the who area should be swept clean and everyone rounded up and questioned.
Tirek had actually gone out of his way to avoid this section of town, and only a few ponies who stayed in that area had been drained. The centaur had even looked at the EA building and chuckled before continuing on towards the palace.
With so much of the rest of the city destroyed and so many hurt, that this area of town was untouched pissed off a lot of Guard.
Particularly now during the holiday season, where the number of shoplifters, muggers, purse snatchers, and burglaries was at an all time high as gifts ponies got were easily stolen while they celebrated.
As such it was, there was no small amount of glee on the faces of a number of Guards when the EA building exploded.
Before the last bits of the building even started to fall back to the ground, the Guard was mobilized en masse to the site. Not only to rescue any survivors, but to sift through the wreckage to see what evidence they could find before any one could hide it.
A chunk of wall was pushed aside and a coughing white pony pushed his way out of the rubble with a groan. His two guards lay in a heap off to the side along with a large number of others he had called in when things got a bit heated, his secretary was half buried under her broken desk on the other side of the rubble. Scanning the area he saw the Guard surging towards the location and groaned.
“Miss Moonlighter.” He stated clearly, though he coughed up a bit of smoke.
“Sir?” Came the pained reply from under the desk.
“Please add the name, Starlight Glimmer, to our red book.” Kingpin offered before he fell over.
[Ponyville, Winter, one month after Spike's Birthday]
“I cannot believe you.” Spike growled.
“It wasn't supposed to affect him like this!” Twilight protested.
“That means it was one hundred percent going to affect him and all of us too!” Spike snapped. ”You keep using him as a spell dump and act surprised when shit like this happens!”
“Language.” Twilight chides.
“It's appropriate!!” Spike growled.
“It would have been nice if you told me there was a poison joke mixture in there!” Rahs growled. “I'm not immune to that!”
“I told you to break the spell!” Twilight snapped.” Not the gem!”
“There was only one damn spell in the room and that was on the gem!” Rahs snapped back.” The Gem broke as soon as I ate the spell!”
“Screw this, I am not going to school until you fix this Twilight, and you better fix it before his girl friends find out, cause I'm pretty sure none of them are into mares!!” Spike shouted. " And you know as well as I do Shining is on his way."
In Ponyville it was quite a common thing for the Sparkles to argue, there was a safety zone set up around where they lived in fact. The two non pony brothers and their alicorn sister were normal in that regard, many siblings argued and fought, maybe not as much as these three, and certainly not as powerful. Though other siblings also didn't get up to what these three got up to almost daily.
Of course at the moment, thanks to a late night experiment boiling over and Twilight asking Rahs to eat it in a bit of a panic, the Sparkles were currently a non pony sister, a alicorn sister, and an alicorn brother.
“How in Tartarus did you manage to make me a pony and a mare without turning yourself into a dragon and Spike a dog?” Rahs snapped sounding very much like Luna as he shouted. The former moon dog was now a navy blue alicorn mare, who honestly looked more like Rainbow Dash in terms of build than anything else. His mane and tail while the same color as his coat whipped in an unseen breeze, flickers of images barely perceptible appeared or formed from the whipping mane and tail like fading dreams.
Spike was a little freaked out by that.
“Drama?” Twilight offered. The purple alicorn was a rather robust stallion, while not quite as well built as Shining Armor, he was a bit bigger than Rahs. Something which amused Twilight greatly. Twilight's voice had deepened considerably, and while it wasn't quite like Rahs' it was close.
“She's using your own powers against you dude.” Spike offered. To the untrained eye Spike only looked slimmer than the had been before. To those who knew him his barbs were rounder and his muzzle a bit more angular, his slimmer form also had more pronounced hips and chest like the teenage dragonesses he had met years ago. His voice sounded rather like Sweetiebelle's as well, complete with the occasional crack.
“Blasphemy!!” Rahs shouted.
[ Crystal Empire]
“I'll see you two later, I'm off to Ponyville to kill my sister.” Shining Armor called back, half storming, half galloping out of their chambers.
“You sure you don't want to try for a third foal Shiny!?” Cadence called after the white unicorn mare.
“Eenope” Shining shouted back and vanished with a pop of teleportation.
“Hmmm.” Chrysalis considered.” Did he look shinier than usual to you? Like he was made of crystal?”
“I wonder what Twilight did this time?” Cadence hummed.
[ Ponyville]
Rahs growled as she stormed out of Seshat on her way towards the Spa. An angry female raccoon sitting on her back chittering curses back at Twilight.
Blakeney was not thrilled to be a female.
Owlowiscious had been the calmest of the pets, clearly annoyed at being female now, but going back to sleep given it was the middle of the day.
Peewee had tried to set Twilight on fire.
Then Spike had succeeded on setting Twilight on fire.
Seshat had not been happy about all the flame inside him, but he wasn't against Twilight being set on fire.
They hadn't even been sure trees could have a gender though the female voice of the tree was decidedly male right now.
Rahs was just annoyed with it and wanted to get cured as fast as he could. Granted he wasn't even sure if the usual spa treatments could fix it, but it was better to try than to just sit around and argue with his sister.
“Hey, hold up!”
Rahs blinked, and stopped to glance back seeing about a score of of Ponyville males approach her.
Rahs frowned recognizing Thorax, Caramel, a few sea pony workers, some other changelings, a few other stallions, a couple of Diamond Dogs, and a griffon tom that moved into town.
“So help me, if any of you even think about trying to ask me out, I will go back and kill my sister at least twice.” Rahs snarled." And that's after I'm done mangling whoever asked."
“Relax Rahs, we know it's you.” Thorax waved a hoof, the changeling glanced to the side where another larger changeling stood apart from the rest of the group, but he was clearly listening in. Rahs though that one might be Thorax' brother, though his name eluded her. ”None of us are going to try and date you or anything like that.”
“Though he does look very good as a mare....”
“Shut up Caramel.” Another stallion snorted.
“Then what do you want?” Rahs questioned as he glared at Caramel.
“Simple, we want to know how you did it.” the Griffon Tom asked.
“Did what?”
“How you managed to get some of the hottest females this side of a literal goddess chasing after you of course.” One of the diamond dogs demanded surprisingly eloquently. “
“You've got Jynx who I'm told is the end all beat all of Diamond Dog attractiveness,” Thorax began with all the Diamond Dogs in the group agreeing. ”Saturnia, who IS one of, if not the hottest changeling there is..”
“Sunset who has me scaroused every time I talk to her.” Another stallion offered.
“Don't forget Applejack.... not sure on that wolf form of hers but other wise …. daaym,...” one of the other stallions pointed out.
“The wolf form is that too.” One of the Diamond Dogs offered.
“And even the normal one, Trixie, is damn cute.” offered another stallion.
“Not to mention there are rumors one of the queens daughters has taken an interest in you.” A sea pony asked.
“What!?!” Rahs snapped before slapping her hooves to her face before swearing profusely as her hooves hurt a lot more than his paws did.
“Let's not forget he had nearly the entire female populations of the Crystal Empire and Cloudsdale chasing him.” Another stallion offered.
“ How are you having trouble? Don't the mares in Ponyville outnumber the stallions six to one?” Rahs demanded.
“Maybe a couple years ago, but since the influx of ponies recently, it's evened out.” Caramel offered. “ Maybe even gone the other way with how many mares seem to like other mares, or situations like the Flower Trio all claiming that one Nox -Cal fellow.”
“Not sure if I envy or pity that guy.” One of the stallions muttered.
“So before it gets any more unbalanced we'd like to up our chances of finding some one, and with how successful you are, we kinda wanted to know the secret.” Thorax concluded.
“Secret, what secret?” Rahs demanded having no clue how she did any of that.
“Come on now, please?” One of the sea ponies pleaded." Don't keep it to yourself you have enough girls."
Rahs opened her mouth to respond, then closed it having no clue what to say to this lot, she really had no idea at all how she had all these females after her... well maybe the ones from the Crystal Empire, but nearly dying was not a valid way to attract females. She had no idea why Saturnia, or Sunset wanted him, Applejack was a special case, as was Trixie, and Jynx had explained her interest was ingrained in her culture. There wasn't any one thing that could account for all these girls chasing after her like that.
She was about to tell that to this lot, when an idea struck her.
Rahs grinned. “Well.... if you must know....”
The group leaned closer, and even Thorax's brother, who had been trying to look disinterested by staring at the sky, leaned in a little closer to hear.
“The thing is....” Rahs smiled. “Women seem attracted to those in theater...”
[Canterlot]
“Mare. You need to stop this.” Sombra growled.
“It's only a few thousand more stitches. It will be fine darling.” Rarity winced.
“Per dress, and you have two hundred more to make.” Sombra shook his head. “You need to inform that one who is the boss, and who is the hired help.”
“It is not as easy as that.”
“It is EXACTLY, as easy as that.”
“It's fine, I've got this.” Rarity muttered still working.
“You made a dress for Sweetiebelle for her birthday and she wore it to Canterlot to sit in on a Night Court, some noble wench sees it and wants one of the 'Princess Dresses' and now you're making hundreds of them.” Sombra snapped.
“Yes well. It became popular.” Rarity flattened her ears to her head.
“Have you even managed to make anything else?” Sombra asked with a frown.
“Of course not, every one wants one of the Princess dresses.” Rarity sighed.
“Welcome to Carousel Boutique where every garment is chic, unique and magnifique. Sombra parroted in a horrid, yet perfectly insulting mockery of Rarity's catch phrase, well the catch phrase after 'Darling' . “While I have no idea what chic is, I am seeing this 'Princess Dress' as far from unique, particularly if you're making two hundred of them.”
“Three hundred and forty eight were ordered.” Rarity muttered.
“If you want an assembly line pumping out the same dress, you should set up an assembly line factory in Aerie and let the griffons do it for a pittance.” Sombra suggested.
“I don't...... I don't want anything like that.” Rarity sighed. ”You're right... this isn't what I wanted to do with my shops at all...”
“Good. You are seeing reason. Finally” Sombra added with a nod before he turned away from Rarity heading towards the door. ”I'll go tell that employee of yours.”
“Sombra, are you going to be polite and calm, or are you going to be abrasive and violent?” Rarity asked narrowing her eyes.
Sombra stopped at the door to consider the question. ”I was going to split the difference and be calm and violent.”
A tendril of shadow lashed out grabbing him and dragging Sombra back in the room before he could get fully out the door.
“Sombra no...”
“Sombra yes!”
“Oh stars, you've been hanging out with Sunset again.”
Cold air blew over the balcony, the breeze hardly bothered the diarch of the sun however. Winter was ending soon and it would only be a few days until winter wrap up in Canterlot started.
The last snowfall was several days ago and while there were places where the snow was piled high, much of it had already melted and joined the falls spilling down the mountain side. What was left would be taken care of with the wrap up, along with the planting and clean up of the city after the season buried under snow. The veritable army of civic workers, seasonal workers, hired by the nobles, and numerous experts were already meeting to prepare how everything would go this year.
Once everything was agreed on, which shouldn't take long due to the rules put into place after the strike of 836 ANMM, Winter Wrap Up in Canterlot would begin.
The nobles had really messed it up that year with their bickering, and the entire team had walked. It had been winter in Canterlot that year until mid August.
Of course it would have been fixed sooner had she been in charge, but due to a deal Celestia had made over a hundred years prior, the Winter Wrap Up wasn't part of any activity by the crown. It was left to the nobles to run as they saw fit. At the time it had been a good idea, as it freed up much of Celestia's rare time for other things.
In time however with how many nobles had gotten involved, it was suddenly less about cleaning up Canterlot for the spring and more about what Winter Wrap Up could do for them. It was particularly bad one year when the ones in charge demanded a large tax break for their work on Winter Wrap Up hinting that they would delay Winter Wrap Up until their demands were met. Celestia had given them what they wanted that year rather than have her ponies suffer.
When the strike happened several years later however Celestia immediately took advantage of it by levying ridiculous fines against those responsible for every week they failed to wrap up winter. They protested of course, but they themselves were the ones who put the Fines Clause in the original charter with the idea to turn it on any workers going to slow or delaying the event. They clearly never though it would be turned on them.
Celestia also secretly hired all of the workers on a retainer so they would continue their strike for as long as they could, instructing them not to back down from their demands in the slightest.
In the end, the fines made from the nobles not only paid for the tax breaks she had given them to start with, but also paid for the workers retainer, and the pay they would receive to preform the Wrap Up. That the entire city placed the blame for the failure on those in charge who had started the mess to begin with made bringing the event back under control of the Crown much easier.
Celestia had put a smaller, less pompous committee in charge and let them do their thing without any spoiled rich ponies input.
Things went much smoother after that, and she was able to remove the tax breaks she had been forced to give.
A knock on the balcony door drew her from her thoughts as a guard opened the door allowing Twilight Sparkle, and Princess Luna to come outside onto the balcony overlooking the city.
“Ahh good to see you made it Twilight.” Celestia smiled looking down at the smaller alicorn.
“Is this about the Chrysalis thing? Seriously I didn't know my parents, Cadence, and Shiny came out here too.” Twilight sighed. “I mean we couldn't even find you to do anything to be honest.”
“That is because she was hiding under our bed.” Luna snorted.
“Don't give away my hiding places Lulu.” Celestia huffed.
“Well if it's not that what is it?” Twilight questioned. “Don't tell me something else has come up? It's been pretty calm this year for once. Have you figured out the Pride part of the prophecy?”
“While I still suspect that to be this Starlight Glimmer you met last summer, no that is not what this is about.” Celestia offered. “I would like your help with something.”
“My help?” Twilight questioned.
“Really you are going to ask her that?” Luna questioned seeming more surprised than anything else.
“I am.”
“Ask me what?” Twilight frowned.
“Every few years the Yaks send a delegation to Canterlot to discuss trade and opening their borders to outsiders.” Celestia offered. ”And every time the talks fail and the Yaks head home for another few years to seal themselves away.”
“Really? What happened?” Twilight frowned.
“Various things really Yaks are rather temperamental at the best of times and they like things just so or they get mad.” Celestia offered.
“Seriously?”
“I'm afraid so, however this year may be different as Prince Rutherford has expressed an interest in meeting the mare who, to quote' Smashed stupid Centaur,' end quote. “ Celestia offered with a mock angry voice.
“Again, seriously?” Twilight doubted.
“Indeed. I figure if you agree something can be set up in your castle given you have the room. I know Ponyville's Winter Wrap Up is a few days before Canterlot's planned event this year so the timing is quite perfect as well.” Celestia offered. “All that said you are welcome to refuse and nothing will change. And even if you accept and fail to convince them it simply means nothing will change. It is not something that you can actually fail, and you have a better chance of succeeding with the Prince's interest than we would here. I am also willing to offer the stipend that usually accompanies ambassadorial hosting for the time they spend with you.”
Twilight considered for a time. ”Well I suppose I can, though I'd like all the information you have on the Yaks and their homeland.”
“Of course, you needn't even have asked for that, I will warn you we only have a few books on their culture and a few other books based on our experiences with the visiting ambassadors.” Celestia stated.” Their borders have been closed for easily six hundred years since the last time there was any trade.”
”Hmmmm. Alright, I'll help out. It's finally something sorta normal for a change. “ Twilight shrugged. ”Might be fun, I'll have to run it by the others first though.”
“Of course Twilight. Let me know if you need anything else. The delegation should be here by next Monday. That should give you time to prepare after your Winter Wrap Up.”” Celestia suggested. “Raven will be in her office now, go ask her to take you to the archive, she knows the tomes I mentioned. Good luck.”
Twilight nodded and trotted back through the doors to the balcony heading to Raven's office lost in thought.
Celestia watched her go while Luna watched her sister.
“Thou art a cruel mare.” Luna stated flatly.
“Who me?” Celestia asked, her grin spreading wider.
“Thou knows EXACTLY we mean thou.” Luna huffed.
Celestia smirked even wider before she started to giggle. ”Prince Rutherford is not going to know what hit him.”
Luna rolled her eyes as her sister fell over cackling like a mad mare.
A group of eight ponies sat around a table laden with noodle bowls, small boxes, and various other food stuffs as a kitsune with three tails wandered around behind the shops counter prepping a meal for another customer.
“So she just asked you to do it?” Sunset questioned, popping a piece of sweet and sour chicken into her mouth.
“Yup, in three days the Yak delegation will come to Ponyville for talks.” Twilight offered munching down on some fried rice. ”I'd like everyone's help with that if you don't mind?”
“Sure. Ah suppose ah ken help, little to early yet tah do much mor'n watch seeds grow so ah got a few free days.” Applejack shrugged, the farm pony practically inhaling a big bowl of beet chow mein.
“Sure it'll be a party and I love parties.” Pinkie Pie added, it was any ones guess what she was eating as she seemed to be stealing a little from everyone elses plate to try it.
“I'm not sure what I can do, but I'll try to help.” Fluttershy offered, the mare was the only one aside from Sunset and Pinkie Pie who had figured out the chopsticks, though she was currently using them to effortlessly fend off Pinkie who was trying to snag one of her spring rolls.
“Yeah I'm down, maybe put some of this crap Prince tricked me into learning to use.” Rainbow Dash offered making a mess of her self with her shrimp and cashew meal.
“Of course darling I would love to assist if it means that the trade for that wonderful fur of theirs will be back on the market.” Rarity offered with a flourish of her fork as worked on her broccoli and garlic.
“Fur?” Sombra questioned calmly munching on Tsu's tofu.
“Yes, like us yaks tend to shed seasonally though with how long and thick their hair is they often treat it and sell it, it was one of their main exports the last time there was a trade agreement.” Rarity sighed.” I've only ever seen one outfit made of yak fur and it was the softest warmest thing I have ever experienced, sooo many ideas of what to do with that. Do you think if we succeed I might be able to get a deal of my own going for the material?”
“I don't see why not, though didn't you just strike a deal with Jynx?” Twilight questioned.
“Yes I did, though it is going to be some what of a hard sell despite how lovely leather is as a material is.” Rarity sighed.
“I rather wish you wouldn't” Fluttershy muttered.
“Darling if a creature is going to die to be a meal for some one else would you rather as much of it be used as possible, or just the meat and leave the rest to rot?”
“I'd rather they didn't at all.” Fluttershy muttered to herself.
“Fluttershy dear, when you are able to convince carnivores to turn to a vegetarian diet without them dying horribly as they waste away from malnutrition I'm sure leather will go away too, but for now I will take advantage of any new material I find.” Rarity stated, seeming a little vindictive in her tone towards Fluttershy.
Twilight glanced to Pinkie, who shrugged and tried to steal a piece of Sweet and Sour chicken without getting flash fried by Sunset. Clearly something had come up with this before. Probably like the bat thing to be honest. Pinkie had said Fluttershy got a bit out of control sometimes.
“So what did you need me and my cousin here to do?” Sunset asked gesturing to Sombra.
“To be fair.. avoid the delegation at all costs.” Twilight muttered.
Sombra and Sunset both looked at Twilight then looked at each other.
“That's a fair cop.” Sunset shrugged as Sombra went back to eating.
“Seriously, no offense, but I was told the Yak's were temperamental, and Sunset your temper is shorter than mine. Sombra the Yaks are from near the Crystal Empire and well, you have a history there.
Sombra shrugged.
“It's fine Twilight, I can lay low if you need me to.” Sunset offered.” What about Rahs and Applejack though, don't the Yaks have some sort of legend about Witch Wolves too?”
“Oddly no. Which makes little sense as they were supposedly both at war with and sided with the Crystal Empire during the war of the night.” Twilight frowned.
“It is not that surprising.” Sombra added. “If I recall correctly the Yaks were never on any ones side during the war but their own, not mercenaries either. They were just as likely to attack the Empire's forces as they were to attack the other side. As soon as someone called them on it they closed their borders for the rest of the war. I think it was Bleu who had a talk with them, so that reaction was completely understandable.”
“I really need to pick your brain for all that history one of these days.” Twilight muttered.
“Good luck Sparkle, I know tidbits. For the majority of the war I was a foal, and then an emotionally compromised teenager. By the time I started to get a handle on everything Solomon's trap sprung and I woke up to fight you.” Sombra explained. “And I wasn't too interested in anything for that window but sulking and trying to hold together a failing empire.”
“Still. Any way I'll draw up some plans based on what I've learned from the books and I'll get those to you so you can set up a bit later today.” Twilight smirked.
“Great since you're getting us to help you, does that mean you're buying lunch?” Pinkie Pie asked.
Twilight stopped smirking.
[Three days later, morning, Seshat.]
“Prince Rutherford, your Majesty. On behalf of all of us, I welcome you to Equestria.” Twilight Sparkle smiled welcoming the Yak delegation into the main foyer of the castle. Rahs, Big Mac, and Spike stood nearby also going with a bow to the Prince. The three yaks with Prince Rutherford looked around curiously as they entered.
“Me honored. Yaks hope for great friendship between ponies and yaks. Friends for a thousand moons!” The Prince stated before looking around, then eyeing Twilight. “You are Princess Twilight Tuesday Sparkle?”
Rahs and Spike barely held back snickers and Twilight let out a calming sigh.” Yes your majesty I am, though it's a name more than a title.”
Prince Rutherford eyed Twilight a moment more before snorting. “Much smaller than me expect. Ah well. Not first time me disappointed with female.”
Twilight blinked a little confused though she shook her head, gesturing to the next room. Big Mac however glared at the Prince like he was contemplating beating him with his own horns.
“You must be hungry after a long journey.” Twilight continued. ”We've prepared a banquet of traditional yak foods. “
“If things not perfect, yaks get mad. Yaks always get mad when things not perfect!” Prince Rutherford offered as the group headed into the room with the food Spike and several chefs Twilight had found had prepared.
The trio watched the yaks enter the dining hall and begin to eat without much ceremony. The other three seemed to be enjoying themselves though the Prince only took a small taste before bellowing,.
“This no taste like yak food! Fake pony food make yaks mad!” Prince Rutherford screamed out.
The four of them watched as the group started rampaging and smashing things in the dining area ruining the food and the furniture.
“Okay … small set back.” Twilight muttered.
“Right.... “ Spike sighed. ”I can see how this day is going to go.”
“Eeyup.” Big Mac added.
“I think I prefer Twilight's experiments.” Seshat grumbled, her voice sounding some what shaky as the whole castle seemed to vibrate with the rampage going on.
[ Sweet Apple Acres]
“So with what I've read about your homeland and living spaces I've asked my friend Applejack to set up more traditional yak living quarters at her home. With the weather like it is, it's still cool enough outside to feel closer to how it is in the mountains.” Twilight explained as the group approached the orange mare standing at the door to the barn the family recently built last month.
“Howdy y'all. So we know y'all are noble warriors who avoid the so-called finer things, so me and my family set this up fer yah. Applejack opened the barn door for the yaks.
“Hmm this not bad.” Prince Rutherford offered as he and the others wandered in looking over the beds and simple designs of the sleeping quarters they were granted.
“Thanks for this Applejack.” Twilight sighed as Rahs watched the yaks move around the barn checking out everything.
“No problem, so how's it been going?” Applejack asked.
“WAIT THIS NOT YAK HAY!”
“Kinda like that.”
“What tha hay is yak hay?” Applejack questioned glancing up to Rahs.
“YAK SMASH!!” Prince Rutherford bellowed as the group started trashing the barn.
Twilight rubbed her temples with her hoof as the barn crashed down to rubble, the yaks still smashing it.
“I am really sorry about this.” Twilight muttered.
“Ehh . It's okay, “ Applejack shrugged. “We hadn't lost a barn yet this month and ah was a little worried ah'd have tah burn it down maiself.”
“What?” Twilight blinked.
“Yaks gonna die now.” Pinkie Pie growled, her hair losing all it's poof as she advanced on the group as they rampaged while Fluttershy did her best to rescue all the animals they were stomping around..
“Pinkie Stop.” Twilight called moving between the delegation and the pink mare.
“Twilight my friend, you know I love you, but you also know how I get when Fluttershy is being threatened and she was nearly stomped, several times. So I am acting fully appropriately, and not going through you right now to get to them.” Pinkie growled. “That will last ten more seconds. Move!”
“Svengallop.” Twilight frowned starring down Pinkie Pie.
Pinkie paused, twitched, sat down and shoved her fore hooves into her straight mane pulling hard on it as she screamed out into the sky
“Ooh good war cry. Yaks approve” Prince Rutherford offered .
A moment later Pinkie's mane was poofy again and she turned back to face Twilight.
“All right, okay, all right, yup, okay, sure.... but we're even now.” Pinkie offered.
“Thank you.” Twilight sighed.
“I'm still gonna set up tonight's party, but neither Shy or myself are gonna be there, otherwise it would be a very dangerous time to be a yak.” Pinkie stated ”Particularly when Shy gets over her panic and shock and realizes these guys just tried to stomp some baby animals.”
“Right.” Twilight sighed looking at the yaks, and noticing there were only three now. “What?”
Twilight blinked as Rahs pointed down to an angry looking white rabbit.
“Oh for the love of.....” Twilight growled. ”Alright, alright, come on, we've got other events to get to.”
“Where Ronco?” the prince asked looking around for the missing yak.
“Ugh he gonna take all day. Come Ronco can catch up.” Prince Rutherford nodded.
Rahs glared at Angel Bunny, who glared back. The moon dog waited until the yaks weren't looking before giving the rabbit a big grin and double thumbs up, before dropping the expression and following his sister and the yaks.
Angel rolled his eyes with a huff and hopped over to Fluttershy.
“How are they mad about the snow?” Rainbow Dash tilted her head in confusion as the yaks rampaged.” I even got them to crank out some polycrystal snow cause that's what the book said was the most common type in the mountains? Do you know how hard that stuff is to make? I had to call in all my favors with Fireball and the team.”
Prince snorted in amusement behind her.
Twilight twitched.
“I expect the bigger question.” Prince Blueblood offered. ”Is why are you putting up with this nonsense Twilight?
“Because I'm the god of friendship and the yaks are so solitary and standoffish that the possibility of making friends with them is enticing in its own right.” Twilight grumbled.
“Bork.” Rahs added.
“And my idiot brother thinks I'm trying to prove something to Celestia still by doing something she couldn't” Twilight growled.
“Yeah, that sounds about right.” Rainbow Dash nodded.
Rarity drew in a deep breath, resting a hoof against her forehead as she composed herself.
“Twilight...... darling......”Rarity began. “At no point in the entire three hour lecture you gave me on yak fashion did you inform me that there would be A TASTE TEST!?!?”
Rarity snarled, her form turning dark as the shadows around her thrashed.
“Please Twilight darling, give me one reason, ONE reason, why I should not go in there and pluck them all bald a hair at a time and TAKE that fur of theirs to pay for the damage they caused to my shop?”
“ The budget Celestia gave me is big enough to cover everything, plus a great deal in repairs and can easily cover the damages to your shop.” Twilight offered.
“That's it?”
“You only asked for one reason.”
“Yes well... I suppose that is on me then, I set the bar too low.” Rarity sighed.
“Piano play itself?! Music a lie!” Prince Rutherford bellowed.
“Oh shit!” Spike yelped, as he rolled away as his piano was smashed. Prince Rutherford reared up again over the dragon though the expected stamp never came. A navy blue form slammed into the side of the yak sending the massive figure stumbling to the side before crashing to the ground.
The other two yaks gasped, though before they could react a magenta aura surrounded them both and lifted them in the air to flail uselessly.
“I have experienced an epiphany. I have endured quite a multitude of this very day. I have redistributed the majority of the allotted capitol presented to me to reimburse those distressed by your escapades. I have spent the favors I was granted for naught, and I am led to understand that all of my companions are particularly cross with me currently.” Twilight drew in a long breath as if she was trying to calm herself. “And you have just attempted to compress my youngest sibling.”
“Oh great she's pissed off enough to break out the 15 bit words.” Spike rolled his eyes. ”Tone it down book horse, let them know they are being insulted.”
“Insulted? Yaks great warriors! No forget this insult. Not friends with ponies!”
“Great warriors? All I've seen today are a bunch of weak little bitches....”
“Bork!” Rahs corrected.
“Sorry, weak little infants who can't do anything but throw a temper tantrum the moment something isn't perfect enough for the bias preconception of reality their peanut sized brains offer.” Twilight ranted.
“You dare insult yaks! THIS MEANS WAR!!” Prince Rutherford screamed.
Twilight twitched as she tossed the other two yaks aside, grabbing Prince Rutherford and yanking him through the air to float nose to nose with her, though the massive yak was held upside down.
“I'm sorry, did you just declare war?”
“YES YAKS SMASH PONIES FOR INSULT.” Prince Rutherford screamed back at Twilight.
“Right... War...you declared war.... You know what...” Twilight nodded, her left eye twitching before her whole form exploded into fire turning her to a flame haired white furred alicorn. “..Bring it!”
“Whelp, you owe me five bits now, as the tree is not awash with yak blood.” Sunset offered.
“Fine. That was a rather optimistic bet from me anyway given she can simply vaporize them.” Sombra offered looking around curiously as they headed into the crystal tree.
In the main room they found Spike sitting on a couch reading a comic book. On the other side of the room at a small table was a very large yak eating a pie.
“That will be ten bits Sunset. We only found Spike here.” Sombra smiled. ”And one yak is alive.”
“Feh, I fully expected Rahs to be here and there to be one on a slow roast spit. Mmm yak bacon. “Sunset sighed. “Everyone else was sure Twilight was gonna snap and nuke them.”
“Sup guys.“ Spike offered with a wave as he lowered his magazine.
“Greetings.” the yak offered politely.
Sunset and Sombra stared at the yak before looking to Spike.
“Yeah, that's Charleston, the actual ambassador, but the prince always insists on coming out to the talks and he has to obey him. With Prince Rutherford out of the picture he's actually been pretty polite and willing to broker trade.” Spike shrugged. ”I'm waiting on Blueblood to show up to start the actual talks.”
Sunset frowned passing some bits to Sombra.
“There were four of them, where are the others?” Sombra asked.
“Well one of them met Angel Bunny, so we'll see him in a week or so.” Spike stated watching as Sombra passed bits to Sunset. “ And Seshat took offense to the last guy still wanting to smash things so she's got him held up in her branches like a screaming Hearths Warming ornament.”
“YAK NO GOOD WITH HEIGHTS!!” a high pitched voice screamed out far above them.
“You should have thought of that before you decided to try and smash my floors.” Seshat snapped back.
“Who had bits on Seshat getting involved?” Sunset asked.
“Applejack.” Sombra grumbled. “Of course.”
“So where's Rutherford?” Sunset asked.
“Twilight and Rahs have him. Rahs flung him into the Oneiroi and they are dragging him all the way through any nightmares they can find all the way back up to Yakyakistan after they figured out he was a demi god to have a word with his father.” Spike stated watching the two. “What no bits exchange?”
“I had that he was still alive, and Sombra had she was going to yell at the king, so we kinda broke even on that one.” Sunset shrugged.
“Well I expect she's gonna do more than just yell.” Spike rolled his eyes.
“To be fair, a lot of yelling is very much yak culture.” Charleston pointed out.
The war between Equestria and the Yakyakistan, was not the shortest in history, that distinction belonged to a tribe of furbogs who used to live in the south on an isolated island. The group were know and avoided by most of the locals in the area as they tended to pretend to be pirates and raid ships that came near their island, as well as raiding any settlements along what they called their land. They were highly territorial as well, and anything coming near their island was immediately attacked. And if any creature set foot , hoof or claw on the island itself, the furbogs declared war on that entire species of creature and went out of their way to kill any they spotted.
They were against a lot of species in the end, but since they were far away from any major powers, the main response was to try and avoid them, and fight back only if they attacked first.
Then the Breezy Migration passed over the island one year.
The 'war' was considered started at the first attack the furbogs made, and lasted nine minutes and fourteen seconds.
The nine minutes were mostly Teacup trying to track down those that fled.
Teacup's record still stands, despite the Sparkle's best efforts.
However second place for the shortest war of all time, at seven hours and thirty six minutes, is still impressive, particularly when you consider the seven hours were how long it took Twilight and Rahs to get to Yakyakistan.
That was not a pleasant seven hours for Prince Rutherford.
[Yakyakistan, seven hours since Twilight snapped.]
To the average yak of Yakyakistan, nothing really exciting happened. Despite her anger Twilight was still able to distinguish fighters from civilians.
Granted Rahs helped with that.
It was however considered interesting, that the few yak warriors who did try and stop the rampaging alicorn tended to have second thoughts rather quickly going by how their prince was used as a hammer against EVERYTHING that annoyed said alicorn.
And she was very annoyed.
The front gates were smashed, several guard huts were smashed, a few buildings and market stalls went down, as did a large number of yak warriors.
Judging by the high pitched screams Prince Rutherford was emitting, Twilight's magic was using a very sensitive bit of yak anatomy as a handle for her hammering.
Rahs was also enjoying himself. As while most adults had the sense to stay clear of everything, herds of calves came to see what was going on as Twilight stomped through town and they were entertained by the very yak like smashing. Rahs added to that and kept them away from Twilight by doing magic tricks he learned from Trixie, things like pulling baubles from the air pulling or silk ribbons from his coat sleeves. Some of the young yak cows took the ribbon to tie their braids back.
After a few more warriors get knocked senseless, Twilight finally remembered to keep one conscious enough to find out where the Yak god was hiding. With that information she stormed off, using her screaming hammer to break down another few walls and buildings, heading straight towards the god, while Rahs took a multitude of bows and waved to those watching as the Sparkles exited stage right.
“What. The. Fuck?” Twilight demanded as the pair of them came to a stop on a lovely black sand beach over looking the cool blue ocean at the far north of Yakyakistan.
Rahs just stared.
“Dood?” The overly large penguin with a blue fanny pack, and ragged red scarf questioned from where it lounged on a beach chair.
“Woof?” Rahs asked.
“Dood!” the penguin retorted sitting up.
“Ruff?” Rahs questioned.
“Dood!” The penguin nodded and pointed out to sea where the pair could make out a large shape drawing closer in front of one of the crashing waves.
Tossing Prince Rutherford across the beach to slam into a large boulder Twilight narrowed her eyes at the massive sandy blond form coming into the shore, it looked like the yak was riding on the water.
The yak was bigger than the other yaks they had met and it's long hair was braided up with beads and seashells with tie dye colored bands around his massive horns. The wave behind the yak crested and the yak wobbled a bit before the crash of surf surged him forward and up onto the beach it self.
“Yo Prin, you see that dude, that wave was gnarly.” The massive yak cheered hopping off what looked like a large yellow painted plank of wood that he had been riding. He kicked the board up grabbing it with a hoof and planting it in the sand as he approached the group stomping over without seemingly having noticed any one but the penguin.
“What?” Twilight demanded as Rahs stared at the yak slack jawed.
“That was awesome dude, the wave was finally a good size, primo surfing.” The yak offered, before he paused to look over at the rock Twilight had embedded the prince into. ”Whoa what happened to Ruthy? That's a harsh looking wipe out.”
“Am I having a stroke? Is this what having a stroke is like?” Twilight asked.
“Huh?” The yak questioned before he reached a hoof up to push some of his fur, which this close they could see was all in matted dreadlocks, out of his face showing a very large pair of round rose tinted glasses.” Whoa Prin. Who are your friends, wait, is that Cely? Whoa hadn't seen her in many moons dude, and a moon dog? Cool I knew a dude named moon dog once, though he wasn't a moon or a dog, that was just, like his name. He made the best brownies....”
Rahs continued to stare.
Twilight sputtered, her anger unable to keep up with the shock fizzled out, dousing her mane and tail and turning her back to normal purple.
“Whoa dude, you're like, a color changer! Does that happen with hot and cold water or is it more like a mood ring?” The yak asked.
“Bork.” Rahs offered.
“Dood!” Prin translated.
“Angry? Whoa, yah gotta fix that, align those chakras proper, I know some yoga poses that might help...”
“Dood.”
“What? Awww man, not cool. What did my little Ruthy do this time? Did he start another war?” The yak looked over at the twitching form in the rock. “Buddy, I told yah you can't keep doing that, it'll screw up yer karma, and trust me that spider can be mean when he wants ta be.”
Twilight slowly blinked staring at the yak.
“Dood.” Prin offered.
“Oh right. Yeah dude, I totally forgot about that. “the yak offered.” What's up, I'm the yak god, Shaka, I'm the god of yaks, smashing, surfing, and sand.”
“Uhhh.” Twilight offered before whipping her head quickly to clear it. “Twilight Sparkle, goddess of magic, friendship, Tuesdays, and Books. This is my brother Rahs, who isn't going to get introduced any further than that due to some pictures he has of me that I would like to remain hidden.”
Rahs grinned.
“My best bud Prin here is the god of penguins, flightless birds, sardines, and imaginable violence.”
“Imaginable violence?” Twilight asked not able to help herself.
The penguin grinned evilly and drew out two thick bladed butcher knives from his fanny pack, whisking them around like mad as he cackled, before he put them away like he hadn't done anything.
“Yeah, just a minor though, he shares that with a few gods.” Shaka nodded. “So what brings you this far north. Yah got no board so it can't be the waves, granted that works out pretty good I've been out all day and only got the one, it's mostly ankle slappers out there.”
“Right no, Twilight don't surf.” Twilight muttered.
“Dood?”
“What's the smell of napalm got to do it?” Shaka asked.
“Okay, here's the deal, this fat fuck here....”Twilight began gesturing to the prone yak on the other side of the beach.
“Hey now, that's my kid.” Shaka droned.
“Sorry, This fat fuck, you call your son, here, tried to kill my younger brother by stomping on him because he was upset Spike couldn't learn the Yaktovian waltz in the three days we had to prepare. Spike used a player piano he borrowed, with a music roll to fake it.” Twilight pointed out. “This is after your son was a insufferable pain in the ass all day and destroyed numerous ponies property and even attacked Fluttershy's pets. All of this while he was supposed to be there to talk about opening trade. There was ZERO talk of trade, just a whole lot of yak smash.”
“Yeah, well can't help yah there. I stay out of politics.” Shaka offered.” Really grody stuff.”
“He's your son!”
“I'm kinda a free range sort of dad. I let the dude do his own thing and only pop up if he needs advice or something.”
“He declared war on Equestria.”
“Yeah that's kinda his thing, Cely knows he isn't gonna do anything about it. He's pretty much just gonna come back here and sulk for a few hundred moons before going out and doing it again.” Shaka offered.
“So are you gonna do anything about this at all?” Twilight fumed.
“Maybe get him some band aids.... he looks pretty roughed up.” Shaka offered looking over at the other yak on the beach.”
“Dood?”
“Nah yah can't spank yer kids, it'll do things to um psychologically.” Shaka explained.
“GAH!!! I should have just got a hold of Bleu and let her come up here, Sombra said that worked last time when you lot did something stupid.” Twilight ranted.
Both Prin and Shaka paled, and not a little bit either, both the sandy blond yak and the dark gray penguin turned almost pure white.
“Bleu... why would come back, isn't .” Shaka stammered.
“What?” Twilight questioned.
“Uhhh, Why would Bleu come here?”
Twilight blinked looking to Rahs who looked back at her before both of them grinned wide.
“Because my younger brother Spike, the one that your idiot son tried to smash is Bleu's son.”
Prin screamed and turned as he rushed down the beach and dove into the water, the penguin swam off so fast he left a rooster tail of salt water high in the air. Shaka was sweating hard, the large drops falling away as ice cubes in the arctic weather.
“Umm. How bout we don't.” Shaka suggested.
“Are you going to do anything about him.” Twilight pointed a wing to Prince Rutherford.
“Umm.... what do you suggest?” Shaka asked sheepishly.
“So then what happened?” Celestia asked taking a sip of her tea.
“Well then, when he woke up, Shaka made Rutherford start fixing all the damage done by our visit, and when Spike sent me the deal drawn up by the actual ambassador, he told Rutherford to sign it.” Twilight offered.
“ I got a copy of that, it was quite well written.” Celestia nodded. “ Seems everything went fine.”
“Yeah well, there was a bit of an issue. Seems once I came back though the main village, my rampage gained me the interest of a number of Yak bulls.”
“Oh?”
“Thirty six marriage proposals, and more than twice that in salacious offers.” Twilight grumbled.
“I expect your brother was amused?”
“As far as I know the idiot is still laughing.” Twilight sighed. “Then it got weirder.”
“Weirder?” Celestia questioned.
“Discord showed up.”
“Oh no.”
“With Big Mac.”
“Oh No.”
“And well... lets just say after Big Mac had a few words with some of the more insistent bulls, and launched a few into a low orbit, he had a bunch of awe struck yak cows fawning over him.” Twilight grumbled.
“Twilight.... are there any Yaks left in Yakyakistan who are not injured?” Celestia muttered.
“Quite a lot actually, that thick fur of theirs absorbs impacts surprisingly well..” Twilight offered.
“Right..”
”Still the whole thing went surprisingly well once I name dropped Bleu. No idea where Prin went though.”
“Well Bleu has not always been the nicest of gods. For quite a while she took after her father because that's how she was brought up, even after she beat the fool out of and banished Forgescale from the dragon lands she was very aggressive. The War of Shadows hardly calmed her down and she picked fights with a large number of other gods afterward, myself included. Then one day she seemed to lose the taste for it as if she had realized everything she had lost, and she even gave me the egg you hatched into Spike as a peace offering.“ Celestia explained. “Granted it was much more complicated than that, and she also agreed to help Chrysalis for some reason, but at the very least she doesn't fight with every one any more. Since Shaka's last time in public was her coming to have a word with him at the height of her angry stage, it's small wonder he is terrified of her.”
“Still this whole mess could have been avoided had you told me that the prince was an ass.” Twilight glared at the solar princess from the other side of the table.
“I did, as a matter of fact every failure to appease them was noted in those books I had Raven lend you.” Celestia retorted.
“Alright that is true, this was on me then, I didn't think any of those failures were anything but embellishments due to how ridiculous they all were.” Twilight huffed.
“Then you met Prince Rutherford.” Celestia smiled.
“Then I met Prince Rutherford. “ Twilight agreed.
“Still Twilight you succeeded. “ Celestia offered. ”Because of that. I may have something else for you, a little less strenuous, if you want it.”
“What is it?” Twilight stared at Celestia skeptically.
“Something more local and less yaky, the Grand Equestria Pony Summit.”
“Really? Huh, doesn't Cadence normally do that?” Twilight asked.
“Usually yes, but she's been a bit busy the last few years and it's not been as big of an event as it used to be. Cadence wants to start it up again like it was, but she has to run the Empire on top of being with foal. While I'm sure she would come and help, I don't think I should put the whole thing on her, and Luna... well. She still has some issues, thankfully I've managed to get her away from the Neighties fashion trends she was enjoying.”
“Oh no...”
“She had so much neon and day glow clothing and gear on at one point it blinded me, and I stare into the sun every day.” Celestia smirked.
Twilight chuckled.
“So are you interested?”
“Alright, I'm game. Dealing with the yaks wasn't that bad in the end and it gave me a few ideas of my own. If I can handle this, I might have my own project to set up. I figure Rahs and some of the others would be willing to help particularly with a known thing like the GEPS.”
“Well then I'll let Cadence know, the event is planned for the start of next month, that should give you plenty of time to get together with every pony and Cadence and figure out what you are going to do.” Celestia offered.
“Please explain what is going on.” Princess Celestia sighed as she looked down from the raised dais her throne was on to the two ponies before her, a pair that included Empress Cadence, and the Royal Gardens Grounds Keeper.
“AHHH!!” a pony cried out falling from the air with a thud nearby. The Guards having seen this quite often in the last hour quickly rushed in and grabbed the confused mare and drug her away from the throne to check her over for any injuries.
“Right well. You know I was only here to advise and Twilight was running everything right?” Cadence offered.”And that this has been the biggest turn out to the Equestrian Pony Summit yet because of all the representatives of the various towns of Equestria wanting to meet Twilight after all she's done, as well as the latter half of the event being open to all of Equss this time.”
“I am well aware of that.” Celestia nodded as a park bench appeared and crashed to the ground nearby. Another group of Guards rushed over to grab it and carried it off to put with the pile of other things gathered.
“Right well, turns out Twilight stayed up for three days straight to make sure everything was perfect and orderly according to countless lists she had due to the limited time before the event. Something she decided to make the best she could.” Cadence smirked before she continued.” She succeeded of course but exhausted herself and then tried to speak in front of a large crowd for the opening ceremony. She managed to do it, but her tiredness coupled with her issues had her break down and hide out in her room before she crashed. Big Mac is slowly getting used to being treated like a stuffed bear, and Rahs has been quoted as saying, 'Better you than me” to Big Mac. After this, Spike and Rahs tried to take over to keep things running, but you know how Rahs is. He spent most of the time overreacting from the amount of stupid that tends to fill these sort of events. At one point some pony was complaining that his friend stole his seat and Rahs lost it finally, and ripped the chair in half before he made both of them sit on the tattered remains of it. Granted that worked and the pair became friends again if only to complain about Rahs.”
Celestia sighed as a large tree formed and crashed down from above her, bouncing off the shield she had up before it fell crashing to the ground, destroying more of the marble tile floor. A number of Unicorn Guards darted over slicing up the tree with magic and carting it off as the Royal Grounds Keeper winced.
“Alright. That's a nice recap, now how did we get to this in only six hours since that introduction?” Celestia asked.
“ White Heart Cherry Trees.” Cadence offered, gesturing as another of the said trees appeared in the air above Celestia and bounced to the ground with a thud after sliding off the Princesses shield.
Celestia raised an eyebrow.
“Also known as Dragon Sneeze Trees.” Cadence offered. “The trees themselves don't produce any edible fruit despite the name, and were used as an outer defense in the Crystal Empire to ward off dragons as it was found to cause uncontrollable sneezing in anything with draconic heritage.”
“I remember those. Bleu torched as many of them as she could find with lightning after a rather unfortunate event with a young dragon before the War of Shadow..” Celestia sighed.” It is quite a sight to see, watching a dragon sneeze itself to death. And not something I want to see repeated.
“Right, they are an endangered species and thought extinct until we found a great deal of the seeds for them in an old shed in the Empire. A number of them were sent to the Royal Gardens given their former extinct status. Evidently they were planted and grown and only just started to bloom this spring.”
A still running chainsaw appeared, crashing down on the barrier before the blade bounced and started tearing over the floor zipping around the room tearing up the marble floor even faster as a number of Guards tried to catch and yet still dodge the machine.
“Lovely. So you planted a war crime in the middle of the pavilion that was going to have draconic guests attending.” Celestia sighed glaring at the Royal Gardener. “ Again.”
The mare winced at that.
“Again?” Cadence blinked looking at the beige earth pony with a tree surrounded by flowers as her cutie mark.
“Mrs Arboretum, despite being very good at her job, other wise she would have lost her position the first time something happened, has on four separate, but very very very remarkable, occasions now, caused a disaster.” Celestia narrowed her eyes as a bird bath fell and shattered over her shield.
“To be fair Princess. The eucalyptus was ordered by my predecessor.” The mare protested.
“This is true, so the fires from the very flammable and explosive sap the trees produce cannot be blamed on you as I have said before, Though the infestation of chlamydia ridden drop bears can be, when you didn't remove the ones that didn't explode like you were told. Then there was the poison joke salads you let the palace chefs make after you assured them that the blue flowers were not poison joke and were in fact very tasty.”
“Yes well. I didn't know at the time that I was one of the rare ponies immune to poison joke.” Mrs Arboretum offered.” And every one did agree they were tasty.”
“The less said about the Hura crepitans the better.” Celestia growled as the mare winced again.” I had to declare a state of emergency for that event.”
Another pony appeared in the air bouncing off the shield before picking themselves up with a grumble. The new arrival was dressed in a slightly singed nurses uniform and once she got her bearings waved off the Guard looking to help her and stormed towards the exit with a glare at the Head gardener.
“Any luck nurse?” Cadence asked.
“I got him to stop sneezing for about two minutes before we found out the smoke from the burning trees has the same effect. “The nurse offered as she headed back to the courtyard.” We can't even get close enough to get him out of there, nor do we want to risk it if we need to take him past anything else flammable. There's still eucalyptus trees at the outer edge of the courtyard.”
“Well. Mrs Arboretum, make sure all traces of those trees are removed far away from Canterlot before you burn them. Not replant them, Burn them, and have it done by the end of the day. The Equestrian only portion of this event is going to end in two days and then the Equss portion starts up. There will be a contingent from the Dragon Lands at this event, and I would very much like all the Nox-Cal and some of the entertainment we have to be able to breath and stop sneezing as well. And if the Dragon Lords Daughter so much as sniffles we are going to have a larger problem and I will see about demoting you back to manure spreader are we clear?”
“Yes Princess.” Mrs Arboretum winced.
“Good, there are far too many creatures showing up for this thing, and while I am mostly staying out of it beyond hosting it in Canterlot I want to make sure that this goes well for Twilight.” Celestia offered as another random pony fell from the air over her head bouncing off her shield.
[Far South West]
The sound of armored hooves thudding against stone filled the room as a cloaked figure entered the large meeting hall where several others were gathered including a massive form at the head of the table.
“You called for me sir?” the cloaked figure asked, eyes darting to the others around the table with disdain.
“Yes.” the large figure agreed. “How are the new toys you were presented working out?”
“Exactly as they were supposed to. Though we have not tested them on anything as powerful as we will be facing so I am not one hundred percent convinced yet.”
“They will work.” One of the figures at the table offered, a unicorn with a pink mane.
“I hardly trust your word.” the cloaked figure frowned.
“True enough. Trust does need to be earned which is why I am here and have been providing the information and supplies that you need.”
“Enough. I believe this will work and that is all you need to know. I have a mission for you.”The large figure stated\ cutting off the others before the bickering started.
“It's time then?”
“Indeed. They have presented us quite the opportunity and I would be remiss to miss it. There is a change to the main plan however. You will be accompanied by Squall's forces as well.” the larger figure ordered.
“Prince Squall?” The cloaked figure sneered.”No offense sir, but your son is a psychotic idiot.”
“Some taken.” The larger figure chuckled. “But he has his uses, even if it is as little more than a distraction for you to complete your mission. He has been told to follow your lead in this.”
“Do you really expect him to do that?”
“No, but I do expect you to adjust for his stupidity. If you have to leave him there, or use him as a meat shield to accomplish your goal, do it. I can always make more pig headed fools, my bed chamber is rarely empty.”
“Do we have a plan to get close?”
“Interestingly enough, yes. We were invited in fact.” The larger creature smirked holding up a flier for an event called the Friendship Festival.” This event lasts a week and the global community has been requested to send a delegation or representative. That will be you. You will set out immediately and you should make it by the closing ceremonies”
“As you wish sir. Though do not forget your promise.” The hooded figure pushed back her hood revealing a mulberry colored unicorn mare with a scared face and a broken horn.
“Of course. Tempest Shadow.” The Storm King grinned.”Bring me the alicorns and I'll do what I promised.”
“And if you have to ask what 'the movie' has to do with the magic pun theme of the season , you've obviously never heard of 'the magic of of theater.. Rahs would be so disappointed.” Discord smirked as he waved a taloned hand.
“But enough about that, now for what every one shows up to the theater for.....
...
....
...
The Previews!!”
Discord dropped back into an armchair, slaps a pair of 3-d glasses on his face, the old red and blue ones, and starts eating the popcorn bucket leaving the popcorn in it alone as the room goes dark and the screen flickered to life.
Clouds rolled across the screen, thunder boomed and blue lightning flashed across the clouds, lighting up the theater
“In a dark world of darkness, where everything was dark, one black and red alicorn stallion gets all the chicks. You know... that way.....”
“It's the angsty cringe worthy Self Insertion fanfic you've all been waiting for....
Dark Angst 6, now with twice as much angst... and darkness.."
Discord tilted his had and shrugged.
“The third one was the best one. The musical number was perfect.”
A sweeping shot of the top side of a massive forest. Birds scatter into the air at the sound of something large moving under the canopy, shaking the tree tops.
“The Everfree Forest. “ voice over guy stated.
A slow shot of the ruins of the castle of Whinnysor and the deep chasm surrounding it.
“Legends tell of the horrific flora and fauna that live in this cursed place. This is the tale of such creatures.”
The shot pans over a field of strange yet pretty blue flowers shrouded in mist.
“From the best selling book, The totally Awesome Guide to the Deadly forest of Death, comes....
A massive roar is heard and several hydra heads poke up over the tree line in the distance.
“The totally awesome Guide to the Deadly Forest of Death, the movie.”
A swarm of parasprites fly past.
“The Nature documentary you didn't know you needed to see.”
A half tilted home video like shot partially out of focus of what seems to be Spike.
“Narrated by By that guy who does True Facts as soon as we can get him.”
Rahs striking a dramatic pose.
“Coming soonish, to a theater near you.”
“The book was better. Even if that's only a prologue so far.”
A rumble of thunder sounds and a drumbeat starts, a guitar begins as a chorus swells.
“FLASH ... AH ~AHHH”
A blue haired human in a varsity jacket looks around curiously at the cry.
“What?” Flash asked.
“SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE.”
“Hold on what?” Flash questioned.
“FLASH, AHH- AHHH!!”
“Who's doing that?” Flash demanded.
“HE'LL SAVE EVERYONE OF US!!”
“Seriously, Lily Blossom is that you?” Flash queried.
“FLASH, AHHH-AHHH!!”
“Hello?” Flash questioned.” Any one there?”
“HE'S A MIRACLE!”
“Okay this is creepy.” Flash muttered.
“ Seriously? Why do they keep making remakes of good movies, just HD the original and re-release it if you're that hard up, costs a fraction of the bits too.” Discord rolled his eyes. “ This'll be in the two bit bin a week after release.”
The Royal Gardens of Canterlot.
( Panning shot of the gardens that runs along the main castle and back to all the statues.)
This sprawling collection of rare plants, beautiful fountains, and priceless statuary covers a sizable portion of the Canterlot mountain and a good portion of the city itself.
The garden has been part of Canterlot since the city was first founded and was present in the old monastery that was here before the great city. Many of the statues were here when the city was built, left overs from the former structures.
But not all of the statues in the gardens, are made of stone.
( Scene zooms in on a statue of a pony seeming to be screaming in fear.)
From the creator of Twilight Gets a Puppy....
( Panning shot of conflict, griffons and ponies tearing each other apart in a bloody battle.)
And the creative mind that brought you Not All Who Wander....
( A flight of black dragons soars over head, obliterating the pony ranks with fire and acidic breath, forcing them to flee with the griffons and now dragons in pursuit, cutting them down like a scythe through wheat.)
Comes a fic that's been out for a while now....
(A gray pegasus with purple hair screamed out as she plummets from the sky towards the attacking dragons, an explosion of color bursts from around her as she slammed into one of the flying dragons smashing it out of the air, the rain boom exploding and sending the others dragons flying wildly trying to keep air born. The burst of rainbow colored light rallying the pony troops who turn to fight back against the attackers.)
TDR presents....
( An armored Princess Luna charges forth at the head of a heard of armored ponies, colliding with the the griffon and dragon lines and sweeping over them like a tsunami of steel and flesh.)
Stories in Stone, Luna's Royal Guard.
( The scene is just a wall of black until two rows of five red eyes and one green one open and an ungodly roar shakes the theater.)
Already here at a Fim Fic near you.
(The outro music is barely heard, a mare singing.)
“A falling star.......”
Discord sighed
“You just can't let that fic go, can you rabbit?”
>LAST WEEK ON PONY BALL Z!!<
Twilight stands in the middle of a field on her back legs, hooves lifted over her head, horn glowing brightly. She wore a bright orange GI with Celestia's cutie mark on the back of it, and her hair spiked up to a rather ludicrous height.
Across from her on the other side of the field Trixie stands on her back legs, forelegs crossed in front of her, a dark grin on her face and her mane spiked up to ridiculous proportions.
Behind Twilight, lay three forms. Gilda, who for some reason was missing a claw and was painted green. She also wore some sort of strange purple outfit with a white turban on her head.
Spike, who had two rows of three dots on his forehead, seemingly made of small gem stones. He was dressed much the same as Twilight.
And Sweetiebelle who was dressed like Gilda, though she thankfully had all her limbs.
“She's too strong....” mutters Spike.
“SOLAR.....” screams Twilight.
>THIS WEEK ON PONY BALL Z!!<
Twilight stands in the middle of a field on her back legs, hooves lifted over her head, horn glowing brightly. She wore a bright orange GI with Celestia's cutie mark on the back of it, and her hair spiked up to a rather ludicrous height.
Across from her on the other side of the field Trixie stands on her back legs, forelegs crossed in front of her, a dark grin on her face and her mane spiked up to ridiculous proportions.
Behind Twilight, lay three forms. Gilda, who for some reason was missing a claw and was painted green. She also wore some sort of strange purple outfit with a white turban on her head.
Spike, who had two rows of three dots on his forehead, seemingly made of small gem stones. He was dressed much the same as Twilight.
“She's too strong....” mutters Spike.
And Sweetiebelle who was dressed like Gilda, though she thankfully had all her limbs.
“WAVE.....” screams Twilight.
>NEXT WEEK ON PONY BALL Z<
Twilight stands in the middle of a field on her back legs, hooves lifted over her head, horn glowing brightly. She wore a bright orange GI with Celestia's cutie mark on the back of it, and her hair spiked up to a rather ludicrous height.
Across from her on the other side of the field Trixie stands on her back legs, forelegs crossed in front of her, a dark grin on her face and her mane spiked up to ridiculous proportions.
Behind Twilight, lay three forms. Gilda, who for some reason was missing a claw and was painted green. She also wore some sort of strange purple outfit with a white turban on her head.
Spike, who had two rows of three dots on his forehead, seemingly made of small gem stones. He was dressed much the same as Twilight.
And Sweetiebelle who was dressed like Gilda, though she thankfully had all her limbs.
“She's too strong....” mutters Spike.
“FLARE!!!” screams Twilight launching the built energy towards Trixie.
“ Well I didn't expect to see that old fic referenced here.”
Perchance people perusing popular products pounced physically on prepared polygon packed purple ponies presenting proper protruding point protection. Please placate probable panic, purchasing a pizza packed with peperoni and parmasian pleases? Poor plan? Perhaps. Please placate persons protesting planned perfectly polygoned ponies premiere. Perhaps ponder when previous pixalated ponies provoked protest and prodding.
Proper producing, plotting, and payout provide ponies, perhaps, properly planned. Plot precived presently as patheticly phony, possibly pretty pleasant.
Perhaps pissed? Pause premature panic. Picture the proper panorama, ponder the pioneer, pet a puppy, play PlayStation products, then properly pick apart presented ponies. Provide patience primarily.
P for Pony.
“Perfect.” Discord cackled. “Still. Too packed? Didn't partake? Watch the new show before bitching about it.”
The picture turns black and white as cartoon drinks popcorn and generic candy bars start dancing across the screen singing.
“Lets all go to the lob~by Let's all go to the lob~by. Let's all go to the lob~by and get ourselves a snack.”
There was a massive explosion as the projector exploded taking out much of the back wall as Discord snapped destroying the projector.
“Right, those soulless eyed things are creepy, even by my standards.” Discord huffed.” Though they are not entirely inaccurate.”
Discord looked at his popcorn shaped box and the solid soda with ice that had a straw in it in his other claw.
“I can never make these last past the previews. Ah well this was a wonderful set of previews of things that exist have existed or will. “ Discord grinned sounding like White a moment.
“So while I go stock up again, ...it's time to end this segway...” Discord held up some odd two wheeled scooter thing before tossing it over his shoulder ignoring the resulting explosion of ducks. “ ...and get on with the feature presentation.”
“Trixie is not happy about this bullshit.” The show mare sniffled, turning her head to the side to sneeze.
“You're selling apples to an apple sauce maker.” Spike groaned, his claws pressed to his chest where his ribs and lungs still felt sore from all the sneezing two days ago. Applebloom frowned rubbing his back as the dragon sat hunched over in his chair.
“I think you've been hanging out with the Apples a little to much, you've taken on their sayings.” Trixie offered. Like Spike, her draconic heritage had been quite apparent due to the dragon sneeze trees, though she had done a little better than the Nox-Cal who had been in the area, many of them had gone to the ER due to the severe reactions to the trees that they had.
The lingering effects of the pollen of the tree had been blown out off the mountain with the weather team along with the smoke, but the damage was done, any one with any dragon in them was having a bad few days.
Spike, Applebloom, and Trixie were sitting in a waiting room at Canterlot General. Spike and Trixie had been declared healthy enough that they could go home, though a few medications were being prepared for them. The effects of the White Heart Cherry tree were much worse than first thought, as such the dragon delegation was turned away at that gate citing possible health risks.
“Ain't nothing wrong with that saying.” Applebloom protested. She had come to the hospital with Spike, though she was also waiting on Big Mac to be checked out. He had an adverse reaction to the trees as well. This of course set off Applejack, and doubled the annoyance of Twilight who was already pissed about what happened to Spike. The less said about Rahs the better, last this group had heard he was considering finding a Tantabus to dump into the head gardener's dreams.
“I'm not saying it's wrong, I'm just saying hearing Spike say it rather than your sister is weird.”Trixie placated. The show mare was annoyed that she had been affected like this, but she was still getting paid despite not being able to preform.
There was quite a lot of damage done by the trees even as they were cut down and carted off, the pollen being spread more than expected and affecting a large number of ponies. Luna's Guard was practically all taken out as almost all of the Nox-Cal in the city were affected to varying stages, forcing the rest of the guard to spread out more to cover all the areas the sick ones were forced to vacate. The whole thing turning into more of a bio-hazard situation than a simple mistake. With the number of lawyers lined up and frothing at the mouth Mrs. Arboretum was in far more trouble than she might have thought.
[Canterlot Throne room]
“ So the orders been given to destroy any more of the trees we find, though we will be keeping three in one of the secure greenhouses for study.” Shining Armor offered.
“Probably for the best. Princess Celestia offered.
“So much chaos over a tree....” Luna huffed rather upset that something so simple could take out most of her Guard so easily.
“Indeed, still the faire is still going on and we need to prep for the closing ceremonies.” Princess Cadence explained.” Twilight's managed to handle this quite well save for the few hours of her and Rahs obliterating trees and threatening the gardeners.”
“We are glad that is all she did.” Princess Luna sighed.
“At any rate, we should all go prepare, we are expected to be in attendance for the closing. Despite the fiasco with the trees this has gone quite well.” Princess Celestia offered.” We have representatives from every major race on Equss, as well as a few smaller ones, Twilight really did send out invitations all over.”
“That she did, you should have seen the lists.” Shining chuckled.
Saturnia sighed as she looked around the crowded pavilion. A multitude of creatures and ponies wandered around her, some going a bit out of their way to avoid her, others not caring about the changeling in their midst.
She wasn't too thrilled with needing to come to Canterlot, but with her mother hiding from Celestia still she needed to make an appearance at least, no sense avoiding a friendship festival that was open to all races so soon after being declared an actual race rather than an abomination.
Besides with this many here, it was easy for a number of changelings to move around gathering love and other emotions and a faire was a perfect place to do so.
Kevin was already a hit, it seemed he knew ninety percent of those present somehow.
She was not going to think about that.
She had planned to spend some time with Rahs, who she was certain would be tired of his sisters antics in running the faire by this point, but there were the obvious problems with that.
The first was the damn trees and the problems those caused, that forced Rahs to stay near his sister.
The other problem was the other girls.
While Jynx was thankfully too busy with another tribe of Diamond Dogs that wanted to join with the Jade Wolves to show up, Applejack, and Trixie were still here.
Trixie seemed out of commission but Applejack was still around somewhere.
So was Sunset, but the other pony had been roped into something else by Twilight, she still questioned the idea to join forces, but thus far Sunset had kept her end of things, though they hadn't had much chance to try and drive off the others. Not like it mattered, as demi gods the pair of them had time the other suitors didn't.
At least for the moment. Twilight's spell might change that, so the pair needed to put a bit more effort into it to make sure Rahs chose one of them. She had been considering going on a sort of double date with Rahs and Sunset and vamping the fool out of him, though she might need to show Sunset some pointers on that.
So for now Saturnia just wandered around and chatted with a few others discussing Changeling things.
There was plenty of time for fun later after business.
Sunset sighed, how the heck had she been roped into this again?
The orange mare closed her eyes and let out a sigh.
That was right, she managed to piss off Twilight.
The horde of foals chicks and other toddler to pre-tween kids playing around and bouncing in the large room that had been purposed as a daycare. There were other minders for the children, but Twilight had put Sunset in charge of it as an act of pure spite, or because she was fairly good at keeping the Crusaders from destroying things. Not as good as Spike, but good enough.
Sunset did however know exactly why Twilight chose her. While some of these children were just locals, others were ambassadors or other important people's kids.
Twilight knew Sunset would deal with anyone who tried to harm or foal nap any of these kids rather harshly.
Twilight also knew Sunset had a crystal tablet that could take pictures and could easily pair the parents with the child.
Twilight also knew Sunset's blood magic could detect changelings and would help see through most tricks.
Sunset knew she wasn't fond of foal sitting.
Twilight knew how to manipulate Sunset by urging her to show Rahs how good she was with children.
Sunset didn't realize she was dumb enough to get played like that until she was.
Witch-Jack frowned staring up at the sky as she leaned back on the park bench. This wasn't how she expected today to go..... aww who was she kidding, it was exactly how she thought today would go.
The mass of various creatures milling about meant a massive amount of various magic flying around too.
Despite her having two years to deal with this nonsense she still couldn't control or resist large amounts of magic and had an accident change happen.
While she had gotten used to that and adjusted to deal with her new form, there were problems still.
The main one is that quite a few races had stories about witch wolves, and while very few of the ones here recognized her as such, the few that did had started a fuss and Applejack had decided to go off for some alone time to let them calm down and allow her to burn off the magic she had taken in.
That part was getting harder.
There were only a few ways she had to get back to normal. The easiest way was stick close to Rahs and let his presence drain some of her excess mana until it dropped to the point she could change again. She didn't have to get rid of all of it, but there was a point she couldn't change back until she was below. By the same token she could have her mana so low she couldn't change into the Witch wolf, there was a sweet spot she preferred to stay in just in case she needed to change one way or another, but situations like this got away from her.
The second way was to get hurt really bad and burn away the magic to heal her wounds.
She wasn't fond of that one.
The third and slowest way was to bleed the excess magic into the ground through her hooves or paws in this case.
It was something of a earth pony trick that Witch-Jack hadn't even known was an earth pony trick given earth ponies kinda did it instinctively to help the land grow and flourish around them.
It went faster if she focused and it made her trees healthier and everything else grow faster the more magic she pushed through her hooves.
It was slower than the other methods, but she was fine with that.
Witch-Jack let out a slow breath as the grass on the ground around her paws inched higher.
Sweetiebelle wandered the pavilion with Scootaloo and Firefly. The pair of them were walking pretty close together and she was pretty sure she heard Scootaloo giggle once or twice at something her changeling colt friend said.
It kinda made Sweetie feel odd.
Rarity had spoken about her being the third wheel, but she didn't quite get that, their parade float had three wheels and it was fun, why was being a third wheel bad?
Ehh whatever, she was only fifteen this summer, she didn't have any interest in colts, or filly's when asked by some other ponies. Sure she might want a date or find someone at some point, but there were more interesting things to do, like some of the lessons her big sister Luna was giving her or the antics of her other sister Rarity and the 'not a couple' she was with Sombra.
That was an interesting pairing there, Sombra was technically her nephew, and her sister was interested and pretending not to be interested in him. Sombra for his part was just going along with whatever, that was kinda his thing, but Sweetiebelle had been around him enough to know he really was interested in Rarity.
Granted it was probably okay, cause Rarity had refused the offer of becoming royalty from Luna back when she adopted Sweetiebelle as her little sister. Did Rarity know she would be dating Luna's son? Had any one even met Sombra by that point?
Ehh whatever, they were pretty good for each other, Sombra needed some one who could put up with his grump and Rarity wanted a tall dark handsome prince.
Sweetiebelle really didn't care about that lovey dovy stuff, there was too much else to focus on, like how wild it was that Twilight had gotten this whole massive event thing together in such a short time. And expanded it to include griffons and diamond dogs and changelings and yaks and horses, and sheep, and llamas, and alpacas, and little gray hedgehogs that were eating their weight in cake.
Actually that was interesting, the short hedgehog looked like his whole head unhinged and he stuffed a cake from one of the tables into his maw. The white maned little guy was putting away pastries almost as fast as Celestia could. She studied him a little slowing her trot letting Scootaloo and Firefly move past her.
He was wearing a black long coat a hat and sunglasses and looked a little like those community watch signs.
Oh that was neat, he had a violin case at his feet, he must be part of one of the bands Sweetiebelle wondered which one, with his outfit she expected one of the jazz bands.
Oooh, that was a hippo over there, wow she was huge and pulling off that pink tutu so well for her size...
Sweetiebelle left the hedgehog to gorge himself and went to watch the dance number, curious as to how the thin alligator was going to catch the hippo as she pranced around stage.
Who needed a special some pony to distract you from all this neat stuff? After all Scootaloo and Firefly hadn't been paying attention to any of it.
Sombra narrowed his eyes.
The green gemstone eyed buffalo cow did the same.
They both glared at each other as if daring the other to give them an excuse.
Well, Maohk stared at him like that, Sombra simply stared back because she started it. He had been quite content to let the cow and the rest of her group rot in the dungeons when they were caught and have nothing more to do with them.
Back then he had actually planned to ransom the lot of them to get the gathered forces to leave the empire alone as he tried to figure out what to do now that he had been placed in said position by the death of his father and abandonment of his mother.
That hadn't worked very well, and according to those looking over the Empire, the fact he captured them may have been what set off the trap. The buffalo cows eyes were green gemstones created by a god and containing the power of an artifact. That was what the researchers theorized had set off the spell in the first place when she was tossed in a cell.
Sombra didn't know, nor did he care as the Crystal Empire wasn't his problem any more. While it didn't end the way he liked, there were far worse ways to lose a kingdom, and it wasn't as if he really cared about it to start with.
Still he was the ruler when the cow was imprisoned and as such he had been getting some glares today from the three he had captured, because of course all of them were here.
He had no fear of the Griffon. Despite the fact the tom could kill him like it was nothing, Thunderbolt understood the issues of being a ruler and seemed content that Sombra was no longer in any position like that, though he had been surprised to hear that Sombra had renounced any claim to the Crystal Empire despite technically being royalty there.
Granted that act was what made sure a blade from a shadow wouldn't find a way between Sombra's ribs at some point.
Rhede Pelt was not some one you wanted against you, play colt exterior aside, he was a very good 'ambassador'. Sombra renouncing his claim had been Pelt's idea and Sombra simply agreed, and signed whatever the crystal pony wanted.
As bad as the other two were Maohk was the dangerous one. She had taken down witch wolves on her own and led the buffalo in a war against Solomon that forced the former ruler to devote quite a lot of resources into just fending them off. Maohk and her force were quite good at destroying Solomon's creations and had more Witch Wolf, Dreadnaught, and Juggernaut kills than any other force but the dragons during the war. And they were known to have the least losses due to Maohk's leadership.
This one was considered wise and very dangerous, that she was one of the first to accept Twilight's Familiar spell given by Iinii, her husband, that now made her on par with, or at least close, to a demi god herself, not like she needed the power boost..
If it came to a fight Sombra was certain she would win, no matter how much time he had to prepare. He actually considered his chances better against Thunderbolt. The cow had been fighting his father and then himself a bit longer than he had been alive and it had only been a stroke of luck he had managed to capture her and the others when he did. Then there was her current state, and Sombra considered her an even more dangerous creature now.
“Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Darling when are you expecting!?!?!” Rarity squeed from next to him.
Maohk blinked turning her gaze from Sombra to Rarity, who was practically prancing in place ranting about the obviously gravid Buffalo cow. There was a great deal of chatter about foal showers and possible clothing for the infants that came out in a gush that reminded Sombra of Pinkie Pie.
Sombra let out a small sigh and simply stood where he was, happy to let Rarity's particular brand of nonsense keep the cow distracted.
He might just survive today after all.
“Prince consort huh?”
“Shut up.”
“Not interested you said.......”
“I'm warning you....”
“Thought I was crazy for suggesting it huh?”
“Damn it Dash, shut it.”
“So then, have yah been doing a bit of ,prepping, bit of the ole in and out, banged, knocked talons, locked the beaks, shooting the meat rocket into the sausage wallet , post presenting event, pickling the prime meridian, baking the potato, beat the guts, bludgeoned the stick, bodged, boffed, boinked, gland to gland combat, gut sticking, humpty squirty, lust-n-thrust, making a magical sandwich, pogo in the shrub, putting condensed milk on the waffle, Sticking the llama’s head up the lift shaft, playing the barbed flute, vulcanizing the whoopee sti...AKKKKKK!!!” Rainbow Dash began, before screaming out as she was tackled out of the air.
“I warned you!!” Gilda snapped, growling and red faced as Dash slipped free and started trying to fly off with the griffon hen in hot pursuit.
“Gah, halp, halp, international incident!” Dash yelped zipping around in the air just ahead of Gilda.
“So... have things been well since we last met Thunderbolt? I hear you have managed to gain quite a following.” Prince offered, ignoring Dash and Gilda.
“A bit, if anything good came out of the Sirens it was that a large number of griffons have come to help rebuild Griffonstone. “ Thunderbolt offered as Dash screamed out, trying to get away from an angry cat bird. “Seems the idol had more sway than I thought and they all look to me to lead them. Not sure how I feel about that.”
“You'll do fine.” Prince placated as Dash lost a few strands of hair from her tail as Gilda grabbed at her.
“You guys suck” Dash stated before Gilda managed to get a hold of her.
Rahs glanced down as he felt Twilight press against his leg. He shook his head and smirked a little, as she continued to talk to the representative from Shetland, a rather small and hairy pony with an odd accent.
His sister was doing better, much better in fact, a year or two ago and a crowd this size of creatures all wanting to talk to her would have sent her hiding under his coat .
With the whole crap with the cherry trees a few days ago he had needed to step up to take over for Big Mac in helping Twilight after the half dragon was sent to the hospital along with any one else with a bit of dragon in their family tree.
To be fair he was rather surprised that he and Twilight hadn't come down with something too given the poison joke and other world forms they had. Though Rahs had a bit of a runny nose and Twilight griped about her throat feeling scratchy, there was nothing more than that, and with the trees and the pollen mostly taken care of now, the pair of them were fine.
The mare in charge of the gardening here wasn't fine, but Celestia was keeping who she was from them, so they didn't do anything.
That was alright, Rahs could just ask some of the moon dogs who focused on those in Canterlot who was having nightmares about him and his sister and go from there if he really wanted to.
He expected Celestia could deal with her own personnel though, so he didn't think it really worth his time right now since Spike was recovering and it had been a mistake, a rather complicated and convoluted one, but a mistake none the less.
Twilight let out a sigh that made him glace down.
“Woof?”
“Yeah it's almost over. I just need to go up on the podium and finish out the closing ceremonies.”Twilight shook her head.”This has been an experience, though if I agree to do this next year, I'll have longer to plan it out and maybe we can avoid some of the stress next time.”
Rahs smirked glancing over as the Princesses came to the slightly raised dais in the middle of the pavilion. Twilight pushed off from where she was leaning against him and went up on stage with the other three alicorns. Shining Armor moved up to where Twilight had been offering a light jab of his hoof against Rahs' side.
“How's she holding up?” Shining asked.
“Bark.” Rahs offered.
“Really? That's great. It means she's still improving.” Shining nodded.” I remember when she would have freaked out even suggesting she do this sort of thing. She might even be able to deal with it next year without needing you around her.”
Rahs nodded.
“Then you can spend the festival fending off the girls who want to jump you and I can have a good laugh seeing it first hoof finally.” Shining grinned.
Rahs frowned glaring at his older brother as he laughed.
Twilight let out a sigh, she was almost done, the Princesses had spoken as had the Empress though most of the crowd had been rather fixated on the fact the pink alicorn was obviously with foal now and was expecting perhaps at the end of summer.
Still one last speech to get finished and this would be over for this year.
She stepped forward to speak, opening her mouth, then closing it again her ears perking.
Twilight blinked watching as a shadow grew over the crowd in front of her. She and the other Princesses on the stage looked up curiously
“What the heck is the weather patrol doing?” Rainbow Dash asked making Rahs, Shining and several others around her look up, something that was followed by most of the gathered crowd as they noticed that Twilight and the other alicorns were staring.
A massive dark storm front had blown in surprisingly quickly and was starting to spread out over Canterlot. No rain fell from the nearly black clouds though they quickly blocked out the sky as far as any one could see, a low rumbled of thunder could be heard rolling among the storm.
A much darker shape started descending from the sky bursting out of the underside of the dark storm clouds and drifting down towards Canterlot and the main concourse where every one was.
The black and dark oak airship drifted slowly down towards the faire, the dark purple gas bag above it was armored almost as much as the ship was and those with a keen eye saw the multitude of gun ports and armaments, though at the moment the ports were closed and the few weapons they could see on deck were not manned.
The Guards had already started moving ushering civilians and dignitaries away from the spot where the ship looked as if it was going to land, a few of the pegasi Guards taking to the air to intercept the ship, but none of them tried to board it yet.
“Maybe those are the clowns I ordered.” Pinkie Pie offered to Fluttershy who had moved behind the pink pony.
The armored ship collided with three of the decorative spires surrounding the area the crowd was in shattering the pillars and raining the stone down on the evacuated tents and booths smashing a number of products and destroying nearly the whole area.
“Those are NOT, the clowns I ordered.” Pinkie sighed.
“Why did you even order clowns of all things?” Fluttershy whimpered.
“To make everyone uneasy enough at the end of the event so that they would all leave and let the clean up start.” Pinkie Pie explained.” Big party one oh one. Never tell the guests to leave, but make them want to leave on their own.”
The crowd watched in morbid fascination as a single balloon dog drifted out of the wreckage, untouched by the stone pillars collapse and landed neatly on the ground in front of the airship as it touched down.
A section of the ship opened, dropping the metallic gangplank with a massive clanging thud. The metal slammed down directly on top of the balloon dog crushing it completely to many started gasps and one blue unicorn losing his mind over the balloons destruction.
“BRIAN, NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!”The blue unicorn screamed.
“Oooh, poor Pokey.” Pinkie Pie winced.
The inside of the ship was dark but the clang of steps could be heard as smoke and steam billowed out from the opening in the ship.
Out of the smoke a figure emerged, a mulberry colored unicorn mare stepped out and started to head down the gangplank. Her hooves striking the metal with resounding clangs that almost beat out a dirge. The mare was armored in what looked like black plated leather, though that wasn't enough to hide the corded muscle as she moved. Her wine colored mane was swept back almost like the Mohawk worn by some zebras.
What drew nearly everyone's attention however were the blue sparks that occasionally flickered around her shattered horn.
Shining Armor however had noticed the symbol on her armors flank and he growled lightly.
“Storm King.” The eldest Sparkle sibling growled.
Rahs glanced down at him then back to the mare as he rubbed his chin. He then reached into his coat and held up a score card with a 9 on it.
“Hmmm.” Shining Armor hummed to himself as the mare finished making her way down the gangplank to the ground.
“Bark?” Rahs questioned.
“Oh just thinking. Remember, I did say when I came back from the future, that the sixth one in your little fan club was going to be a rather intense mare.” Shining Armor gestured to the mulberry colored unicorn. “That fits as pretty intense, and then there's the dramatic entrance and crap. Think that's her?”
Rahs flattened his ears to his head glaring at his older brother, whose grin just widened.
He sighed, rolling his eyes and sniffed the air, getting a lot of other scents, but with most of the crowd moving out from between the stage and the ship he got a good read on the mares scent.
“Woof.” Rahs offered.
“Huh, still smells like prey then,plus, bears, and oil?”Shining Armor shrugged. “Ah well, it was worth a shot.”
“Arf.” Rahs added.
“And yeti?”
“Ruff.”
“Lot's of yeti...... “ Shining Armor's eyes narrowed.” I'm going to move to the other side of the stage to better cover everyone, be ready for anything. If this mare tries to do anything to Cadence I'm going to send what's left of her back to the Storm King in a matchbox.”
Rahs glanced down at his brother who was already moving to the new position. He spared a glance to the alicorns on stage, meeting Luna's gaze, the dark alicorn nodded to him, then he turned his attention back to the mare and the ship.
If she tried anything, she was in for a world of hurt.
He had to admit though, this was the most ballsy thing he had ever seen, and this mare had a poker face that would have made her a killing in Las Pegasus.
“Twilight.” Cadence frowned as she muttered under her breath, stepping back closer to Shining Armor as he moved up..
“I know, I know. Though I did invite everyone, even the Storm King.... sorta, it was a open ended invite.” Twilight sighed, glancing to the collapsed pillars. “Maybe she's just a bad driver?”
“Be on your guard Twilight Sparkle. Something is odd with this.” Luna muttered.
“I think I know that mare.” Celestia considered regarding the one before them.
“Err hello, welcome to the friendship summit, I'm Twilight Sparkle, who might you be?” Twilight asked moving to the edge of the dais closest to the mare, though she was still a good twenty to thirty feet away. Twilight spared a moment to glance at her brothers,noting that both of them were ready for any shenanigans.
The mulberry colored mare looked at the purple alicorn with interest then looked to the white unicorn and the moon dog on either side of the dais.
“Well isn't that convenient. My name is Tempest Shadow. I come bringing a message from the Storm King.”Tempest offered, her voice loud enough to echo around the nearly silent pavilion.
“Right, okay.”Twilight smiled a little trying to be friendly” What's the message?”
The Storm King requests your immediate and total surrender. He also demands your magic as well as the magic of the other three alicorns. Give it up and this will be over quickly with no one needing to suffer... much.” Tempest ordered.
There was silence for a moment after the proclamation.
“She's kidding... right?” Sombra muttered to Rarity who was next to him on the other side of the alicorns. Rarity simple shrugged and Pushed Sweetiebelle behind her.
“Right..... There are only so many ways to take that without me blasting you in the face to 'give' you my magic. “ Twilight sighed.” I think perhaps what is best for you right now is to get back on your ship, and leave. You can pass a message back to the Storm King, that I said no.”
“Your funeral.” Tempest stated lifting her hoof, revealing a strange golden orb resting in it. She gripped a ring jutting from the side of it in her teeth and yanked the pin free and calmly tossed the glittering golden orb at Twilight.
The ball had barely left her hoof when a magenta shield formed over the dais, the ball bounced off of it and landed on the ground rolling a bit before getting stuck between a gap between cobblestones and coming to a stop..
“ We think perhaps she is not going to deliver thine message Twilight.” Luna frowned.
“Ummm, seriously was that it?” Twilight questioned, sparing a glance back at Shining Armor seeing if it did anything to him or his shield. Her older brother was simply glaring at Tempest.
“Of course not..” Tempest offered, spitting the pin to the side.” The pins out, the magic will release in three... two..
“Rahs!” Twilight snapped, though the moon dog had already snatched up the orb, the first flare of magic coming from it was bitten into and ripped from the device and devoured.
Rahs growled, it tasted like black licorice.
The golden coloration of the orb faded, leaving a dull gray ball. Twilight frowned noting that the only spell she had seen on the ball was a basic glamor illusion, likely to make it appear gold.
Tempest sat down raising her fore hooves before her, slapping them together as she clapped.
“Bravo, Bravo Sparkles.” Tempest grinned.”You did exactly what I thought you would do. I win.”
“What?” Twilight demanded, her head whipping to the side as Rahs yelped.
The ball had crumbled to dust, but that dust clung to Rahs hand and seemed to rapidly grow, spreading along his arm as he tried to brush it off, his coat cracking and splintering like stone as his hand slapped at it as the gray climbed higher towards his chest . The gray spread quickly covering the moon dog in a few seconds turning the blue furred figure into gray stone, leaving him with one arm outstretched and a look of panic on his face.
Before any one could react, The shield dropped as both Twilight and Shining Armor cried out, coughing and wincing, A cough from shining spread the gray powder out of his muzzle as he clutched his chest, his nose and head rapidly turning to the same stone gray as Rahs. Twilight barely lasted a moment longer, managing to light up her horn as if to attack Tempest, before she was turned to stone as well.
“SHINING!!” Cadence screamed out.
Luna and Celestia shook off their shock turning to Tempest only for the mare to have charged her horn and fired a blue a spark of energy into the air. The bolt exploded in a burst like a firework.
A moment later scores of airships descended from the clouds, the Storm Kings entire fleet dropped from the sky, weapon ports open and and firing off cannons and balista bolts as they descended.
“You should have surrendered.” Tempest stated as yeti started swarming out of the ship behind her.
The chaos of the attack had started a stampede with the crowd, as ponies and other races tried their best to get away from the explosions and balista raining down on them.
Despite the mass of them easily seen and slowed in their mad rush to get away from the main pavilion the crowds were not the targets.
The airship docks were obliterated with the first few volleys from the descending ships, the guard stations at numerous points in the city were blasted apart soon after. With the main targets gone the ships picked secondary ones, destroying Guard training grounds, various roads and and paths out of the city, perhaps a good mile of train track and several trains. Some of them targeted roads and random buildings in the city cutting off paths of fleeing civilians and keeping the panic high and as many clustered around the event area as they could.
It was a targeted strike to cause as much chaos as possible to keep the Guards and any other threat busy for as long as possible.
Several other ships landed while most of the others played over watch for them. The landing ships opened up and disgorged a veritable army of yeti to rush out into various areas of the city. Some were armed with melee weapons, but most had odd firearms.
These guns however didn't shoot shrapnel or bullets like standard minotaur weaponry most ponies had heard of. These weapons fired gray spheres that when they hit their targets turned them to stone like the Sparkles had been, it didn't matter if the target was flesh or landscape, even some walls had large patches of gray stone where wild shots had gone.
After all, if your enemy is too busy trying to help those that are injured, they cannot effectively counter attack. As such, numerous guests and random citizens were turned to stone as the yeti surged through the streets, sowing terror and looting anything that caught their eyes.
Cadence screamed out in rage as she whirled on the attackers, though Tempest had not sat idle, before the alicorn princess could do anything another ball arched through the air and struck her, thrown from the broken horned unicorn who was now moving forward with the yeti from her ship to secure the area.
The gray mass engulfed the pink alicorn as fast as it had the others.
The yeti with Tempest fired at random, some trying to hit the other two alicorns, who had wisely scattered, the rest just aiming for those in the crowd who didn't seem to be running away fast enough.
Numerous guards were caught as they rushed forward to counter attack as well as a large number of civilians. The initial attack was already shaping up to be devastating in the ten minutes since Tempest had first arrived.
The street was awash with fire, the screams of the yeti as they burned or were forced to flee was drown out by the crackle of flames, as even the bricks along the walls sagged and seemed to melt with the heat.
Sunset Shimmer stepped out into the inferno that resembled the inside of a forge staring after the fleeing yeti, at least the ones that were not blackened husks.
She wanted to go after them, to burn the ships and drive the damn creatures from Canterlot, they had struck first after all so it was only fair.
A glance back into the building she had stepped out of showed why that wasn't going to happen. The yeti had burst in and managed to take down one of the other caretakers with their odd guns before Sunset had reacted.
There were still two left to watch close to three score of kids, but neither of them were the sort to be able to deal with something like this, if the yeti came back.
Sunset cursed, stepping back into the doorway, keeping an eye out for anything else dumb enough to come this way.
She had a lot more fire to share.
Rainbow Dash winced trying to pick herself up from under a collapsed stall that sold peanuts, her newly healed wing hurt and she had a lot of lumber, and peanut barrels piled on top of her. The stupid thing was, the stall hadn't collapsed cause it was attacked, it collapsed cause she was pushed into it and the Abyssinia who set up the shop clearly hadn't followed building code as she hit one beam and it brought the whole thing down.
Granted she blamed Prince for this whole thing as he was the one who shoved her into the stall. The moment the yeti had rushed into the market area she Gilda, Prince, and Thunderbolt were in, they fired off their guns into the crowd. Prince's horn lit up and shoved her aside into the stall before the report of the guns was even heard.
She growled shifting herself and trying to wiggle free of the wreckage only for a claw to grab the board over her head and yank upward forcing more of it off of Dash and allowing her to crawl free.
Glancing up, the annoyed face of Gilda stared down at her.
“Thanks G, that's two now.” Dash grumbled. “Where's that idiot who shoved me?”
“Seems we both are interested in the noble idiot type.” Gilda growled gesturing behind her.
Standing in the middle of the road where she had last seen them stood Prince and Thunderbolt, both of them stone statues.
Saturnia growled, holding up a yeti with one of her four arms, blocking the stone balls the others shot at her.
As the yeti she held turned to rock, she flung it at her attackers before rushing them as they tried to dodge the statue.
She smashed into the first one, crushing him against the wall before two of her girilon forms arms smashed the other one and sent him flying into the air to crash down atop one of the few undamaged stalls in the area.
The culdasac she was in was shattered, the street damaged and covered with debris as the end of this road had once had a guard gatehouse into the castle. Now that was a massive pile of burning rubble that blocked escape to the possible safety of the castle.
The street was dotted with stone statues with a large number of civilians and dignitaries huddled in what cover they could find.
Saturnia let out a sigh, where were the Guards, the air was clear save the ships, there had been quite a lot of pegasi in the air a moment ago? What in Tartarus was even going on?
A growl from her left drew her attention to the massive manticore that was spitting out yeti blood as it moved away from the pile of bodies it had made.
Saturnia shook her head. Pharynx was not taking any alive like she was. It was clear who was the warrior changeling and who took more after an infiltrator here.
Not that she blamed him for venting.
She spared a glance back again to the statues behind them before she and Pharynx shifted to a gray pony form resembling statues to free in place at the beginning of the street. To deal with the next batch of yeti.
Behind her were quite a few statues that used to be alive, including Kevin, and Thorax
Maohk frowned at the gun shots, this was unacceptable.
Blades flew through the air, each one a perfect throw that hit the stone balls destroying them in mid air, before a second set of blades followed the first cutting down the shooters before they realized that their shots had failed to connect.
Rhede Pelt snorted as he moved in front of the buffalo cow scanning the street for any more threats.
“ I am not an invalid Pelt, I am quite capable of defending myself.
“Fuck that right out of the hoof ball park.”Rhede smirked. “ After the yelling from Iinii I had to endure when we got back for getting you stuck with me in the Empire? Ain't no way in Tartarus I'm going to risk you AND his kid in this place. I'm getting you out of here if I have to carry you.”
Rhede considered snapping his rear leg out and burying a blade in the eye of a yeti peering around the corner. A second blade ended the creatures screaming. The Crystal pony barely seemed to notice.
“Please don't make me carry you, I don't think I could have done it before, and now you're even bigger.” Rhede offered.
Maohk growled.” Are you calling me fat Pelt?”
“Why is that the first thing mares, and cows in this case go to with those words. You nearly doubled in size when that Companion spell was cast on you and you've got a whole new body in your belly right now. You . Are. Bigger.”
“ And yet you are trying to herd me to safety rather than letting me fight like a warrior.” Maohk frowned.
“That's because you're unarmed and unarmored and all it seems it one of these things touches you and you're a statue.”Rhede offered , the shrug noticeable even in the bulky red and gold of the ambassadorial robes he wore. “ You didn't even think to bring a knife to a gun fight like me.”
Another set of blades was loosened in a movement by the pony and a group of yeti fell back screaming at the steel now buried in various parts of their anatomy.
“Fine. But we will have words about this Pelt.”
“We are having words about it now, that's what speaking is.” Rhede smirked as Maohk moved further down the road .
Witch-Jack sighed as she walked down the alley out of the park, something weird was going on here, a buncha big white burly fellas had shown up and shot her with these strange gray balls.
There was a poof of powder, some weird magic and then she was a witch wolf again.
She had just gotten back to normal too.
She vented her annoyance on the idjits who shot her. The flavor of the balls reminded her of the basilisk she and Rahs had taken down that one time when it got too close to the farm.
Witch-Jack glanced up at the ships in the air and frowned. Yup never a dull moment, unfortunately. And it wasn't even Tuesday.
No wait this was Canterlot. What was the day here, ah right that would have been yesterday.
“There you are!”
Witch-Jack turned to see Pinkie Pie running towards her with Fluttershy on her heels, the pink mare was covered in soot, gray ash, and what smelled like blood to Witch-Jack, but it didn't seem to be Pinkie's.
“Pinkie Pie?” Witch Jack questioned.” What tha hay is going on?”
“No time. We need to get to the Hospital, there's a bunch of yeti headed towards it.”Pinkie Pie snapped.
“Mac and Bloom are there.”Witch- Jack growled, sparing only a glance to the other mares before she took off down the road with Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie chasing after her.
Some body was about tah be in a world of hurt.
Rarity dove for cover with a yelp as a barrage of gray orbs struck the overturned tables and chairs around her. She cursed to herself and pushed Sweetiebelle down back behind her just in case.
Her sister was screaming about Scootaloo and Firefly and struggling to get loose from the shadow tendrils Rarity had wrapped around her to keep her in place out of harms way.
Rarity glanced over top of the table spotting the pair of Crusaders, Scootaloo reared up as if trying to take off and Firefly in the form of a massive tiger, both of them stone.
She needed to get her sister out of here, and herself of course.
A tendril of shadow wrapped around a table, yanking it up to block a ball that almost got them, the wood turning to stone and becoming more than her shadow tendrils could lift.
Grabbing a few chairs, Rarity pushed Sweetiebelle to run towards a building nearby, it wouldn't be as protected as her shop with all the enchantments she had Twilight layer it with, but it was better cover than patio furniture and for the moment that's all that was needed.
Her protection was shot away from her as she ran, for the first time in her life she would loved to have a more subtle or darker coat, as the white and purple of her form, even darkened with the shadows still drew the attention as a target.
Maybe she could bring back camo in her next line.
She cursed as the last chair was turned to stone leaving her without cover only half way to the door of the shop.
Something that got even further away in her mind as a pair of large brutes moved before her bringing their weapons to bear on her and Sweetiebelle.
Oddly they didn't fire and in fact, both of them fell over with wet thuds, one of their heads rolling free.
“Stop staring mare and get moving.” Sombra snapped flicking the blood from his sword. The dark unicorn moved between the pair and the largest portion of the attackers.
Rarity surged forward practically flinging Sweetiebelle before her towards the shop. Sombra cursed smacking a number of the gray balls out of the air with his sword before they got close to the pair.
He frowned his magic was starting to strain as his sword became heavier and heavier with the layers of stone gathering around it until he could barely lift it.
Rarity pushed Sweetiebelle inside of the shop as the sword fell crashing to the cobble stones looking little more than a massive hunk of rock.
“I lose more blades due to magic bullshit...” Sombra growled looking back to make sure Rarity and Sweetiebelle were safe.
Whirling back around he cursed as several yeti's had locked onto him with the guns. Sombra winced at the sound of them firing his eyes shutting as he expected to feel the hit.
No hit came.
His eyes snapped back open, seeing his vision filled with dark blue feathers that were quickly turning gray. He was just able to see the yeti's fall as they were cut down by shadows before looking up and meeting the gaze of Luna, who shielded him with her wing.
She met his look sadly as the stone overtook her.
Sombra blinked staring at the statue of his mother, unable to process the situation.
Before any of the remaining yeti could target him a tendril of shadow wrapped around his middle and yanked him back into the shop.
Comet Trail surged forward laying waste to the yeti. His nose was still running from the effects of the White Heart Cherry Trees, but he could be sick when the city wasn't under attack.
The hospital was under siege and the collected Nox-cal there were fighting back, though the yeti were simply saturating the area with those odd stone balls of theirs. A group of the Ponyville Guard had punched through the forces to push out into the city forcing the yeti to fall back or be surrounded, though most of his command was making their way towards the center of this mess.
Comet Trail had another goal.
Ditzy and Dinky had gone out to the food court at the event to get lunch and were planning to bring something back for him.
They hadn't returned yet.
Comet Trail tore through the city, leaving a trail of broken, injured, and dead Yeti in his wake as he came across them, his meteor hammer screamed as it whirled around him. He avoided some groups and only felled those who got in his way not bothering to check if his attacks crippled or killed them so long as they were down enough to not stop him. His progress was still slowed as he was forced to fly low over the streets, the ships took pot shots at him if he flew too high.
A howl reached his ears and he pushed on harder bursting out to where the food court had been. The place was now filled with wreckage with a few of the stalls on fire, and a mass of statues. In the center of the area was a massive dog, howling into the air, with a large number of badly mauled yeti scattered around him.
Before the large dog was a pegasus mare clutching her unicorn daughter, both of them turned to statues.
“MOVE FORWARD!” Tempest bellowed, “We have three, there's one left. If it moves and it's not one of ours shoot it, I don't care if it's a bird a mouse or a wind blown piece of paper!”
The yeti filling the square marched forward with even more of them rushing out of the ship to go into the city.
Until they weren't.
Tempest blinked at the bright light, not even feeling the heat until she was thrown forward bouncing across the pavilion square as the ship she came in on was suddenly not there. The flash of heat marked the reduction of the armored craft to little more than vapor and loose atoms.
Tempest picked herself up next to the statue of Twilight Sparkle, her ears flattening to her head as all she heard was the crackle of the melting stone where her ship, and the yeti that had come out of it had been.
Looking back towards where she had been all that was there was a perfectly circular gaping hole in the ground that looked melted rather than exploded, and there was no trace her ship had even been there.
There was a faint crackle that sounded like something cooking and Tempest looked up, and watched as a orange beam swept across a number of the ships still in the air.
There was a brief second of silence where nothing happened, then every ship touched by the beam burst into multiple explosions as all the ammo in the crafts were cooked off at the same time filling the city with massive echos of their destruction, the detonations looking like clusters of fiery grape bunches that arced across the sky.
Another beam swept over the same area as debris started to fall, the second beam removed any trace there even were ships there, and prevented any of the falling wrecks from touching the city as anything more than dust.
Great swaths of the cloud cover were also boiled away by the beams showing the blue sky and a angry red sun that loomed in the sky as if staring at the world trying to decide what to burn.
Tempest blinked, pushing herself back to her hooves, only for a vice like grip to close around her neck, yanking her up from the ground into the air, her throat being crushed in the golden grip of magic.
The unicorn heard heavy hoof steps and was whirled around in the air.
Princess Celestia strode towards the kicking mare as she dangled from nothing but a vice like grip of magic around her throat, the alicorn's horn blazing with golden light.
Another beam came from the alicorn's horn, followed by a second a heart beat later and half of the Storm King's fleet was gone from the air, as if it never existed. Several of the ships sank lower hiding behind buildings.
This hardly seemed to matter to the Goddess of the Sun as the beams switched from coming from the alicorn's horn to raining from the sky itself, turning some of the hiding ships to ash.
There was a reason Canterlot never needed any real air defense.
The white alicorn herself was hard to see with the waves of heat radiating off of her, giving her a fuzzy look about her, though it was easy to see her mane and tail were not the calm cool colors of the dawn, but an angry red coloration of fire as it crackled and whipped over her form.
“Congratulations mare. You have made me angry.” Princess Celestia stated, bringing Tempest up to meet her nose to nose, the unicorn sweating heavily from the proximity, the fur closest to the alicorn curling as it smoldered.
Tempest made to grab for a ball from her armor only to wince as the pack and much of her armor was seared away from her with out the alicorn even looking. Her fur and skin sizzled as it burned with the melting metal plates of her armor, but surprisingly leaving her without too much pain.
“Don't get cute now. Given you seem to be the leader here you're only alive until I can find out how to reverse these effects. “Celestia snarled as another group of ships was turned to less than ashes they tried to slink off using the buildings as cover, the ground under the ships not so much as being warmed in case there were any civilians there. “But for the record, you would be very surprised what you can live through, and what body parts you do not need to survive.”
Tempest gasped trying to breath as the magic tightened around her throat.
“I have tried to be calm, tried to fix what I've seen as problems with my reactions and ruling alone for so long. In the span of minutes you have taken my niece, sister and a close friend and former student from me, as well as attacked my city for no reason.”Celestia snarled.”Suffice to say you have pissed me off to the point where I am quite willing to simply forget I was trying to hold back.”
Tempest gasped her hooves grabbing at the magic holding her.
“ Don't worry, there won't be much left of the Storm King when I'm finished with him either, I can't kill him, but I can certainly make sure that he will think Tartarus is a nice place before he's turned over to the council. So then, little pony, before I finish off your fleet and toss you to the Guard for questioning, do you have anything to say for yourself?”
Tempest gasped as the magic around her throat lessened allowing her to breath in finally. The unicorn panted a moment, during which even more of the airships were atomized, leaving the fleet a fraction of it's size.
Tempest Shadow narrowed her eyes, and met the gaze of the furious alicorn with an angry glare of her own.
“You talk too much.”Tempest growled.
Celestia frowned, though before she could say anything, she jerked in surprise and turned her head back to see gray stone start forming rapidly over her flank. She looked up, her eyes widened as she spotted a hedgehog crouched behind an overturned desert table with an open violin case at his feet, and a long rifle like what the yeti had been using.
Tempest dropped to the ground as the alicorn of the sun turned to stone, the temperature of the area dropping rapidly, though the angry red sun remained high in the air.
“Grubber what the stars kept you? Tempest snarled rubbing her throat.
“Sorry boss, you'd think with a flank that big she'd be an easy target, but that mare can move.” Grubber offered as he reloaded and trundled over to Tempest. “Did we get them all?”
“Yes that was the last one, though he's not going to be happy with these losses.” Tempest sighed lifting her head to fire another flare into the air, her horn sparking.
The scattered clouds far above the city that had managed to avoid the hot beams of death seemed to burst open and a massive battle ship larger than any of the other craft sank down towards the crater that was all that was left of Tempest's ship. Numerous other ships sank out of the cloud cover as well, less than what had been in the air, to start but far more than had first been seen.
The massive armor plated flagship of the Storm King's Armada landed hard, splintering the road and half hanging off the side of the mountain as the gangplank was lowered.
A loud klaxon sounded from the ship as the front split open releasing another wave of yeti.
“All four of them are here, hurry up and get them on the ship before anything else goes wrong.” Tempest snapped.
The yeti nodded and rushed out, picking up the stone forms of the alicorns and bringing them back to the ship.
Striding down the gangplank of the massive warship as the alicorns were carried aboard was another figure.
The towering yeti was a blue gray coloration that matched the color of the dark clouds roiling above them, his bright green eyes seemed a counter to the darker coloration of his coat, seeming to glow as he approached Tempest and Grubber, the latter hiding behind the pony.
The figure was heavily armored, with a massive sword across his back that was longer than two ponies. His gaze swept the pavilion and a smirk crossed his lips.
“Well. Seems you made quite a mess Tempest.” Squall chuckled.
“No thanks to you.”Tempest snarled.”Where the buck were you?”
“Setting fire to some fields and forests around the base of the mountain, tearing apart a few more miles of train line as well. The ponies can't counter attack if they can't eat and need to deal with a forest fire or four.” Squall offered with a shrug. “Besides, I told you I wouldn't risk my ship until the alicorns were dealt with.”
Squall gestured to the airspace above the city, only a few of the first ships remained and they were ones that had landed to release troops. Several were lifting off now, signaled by the alarm from the flagship to retreat.
“Near forty percent of the fleet gone due to just one alicorn. My father is not going to be happy about that.” Squall chuckled. “But at least you accomplished the mission, so there is that at least.”
Tempest growled.
“Aww don't be that way, I do rather wish I had a chance to land earlier, there was likely quite a bit of delightful fighting to be had here, perhaps I would have found a worthy foe.” Squall shrugged.” Ahh well. Let us be off. We have three days before we are back home and I see no reason to hang around here letting the rabble take pot shots at us.”
The massive yeti turned, and strode back up the gangplank without ever setting foot on the ground. Tempest spat to the side before she followed him up, with Grubber moving behind her. She would have rather walked back than flown on this fools ship, but she had to make sure the alicorns were secure.
With all four alicorns secure, the massive battleship lifted off, the gangplank closing as it rose, and the fleet, then turned south leaving the savaged city behind them as they returned home.
[Isle of the Storm King , far to the south. 3 days after the attack on Canterlot.]
“ Boss....Boss?” Grubber blinked, and reached out to lightly prod the twitching mare.
Tempest moved with a blur, one hoof belting his hand aside, the other darted catching the hedgehog in the belly , the impact brought him up to slam into the wall behind, her her broken horn pointed at his face sparking wildly.
“GAH !!” Grubber squealed.
Tempest blinked, the sparks faded from around her horn as she pulled her hoof back letting the hedgehog fall to the ground with a thud before she stepped away.
“Why did you wake me up?” Tempest grumbled.
“Cause no one else will.” Grubber winced picking himself up and dusted himself off.” They got a pretty good reason for it too.”
“Not. Why 'you' woke me up why.....never mind” Tempest sighed rolling her eyes as she looked around the store room she was in. The four alicorn statues stood in the room with her in various poses unchanged from when they were first loaded on the ship.
Tempest still felt like all of them were staring at her despite none of them looking in her direction.
“What is it Grubber?” Tempest sighed as she adjusted her armor. Her spare set had gone up with her ship but she had managed to put something together that was not scraps out of bits of other armor. Well Grubber had, he was fairly good with basic tasks like that.
“You okay, you looked like you were having a nightmare or something.” Grubber questioned sounding a bit worried.
The mare was about to snap at him, before she relaxed and let out a sign, yelling at the hedgehog was like kicking a puppy half the time, and there was no one else here that she needed to prove herself to, so ultimately it was pointless.”It's fine. Nothing I've not had nearly every night since I was a foal.”
She shook her head a little clearing the images of the monstrous bear from her mind. “Do you have anything to report?”
“Oh Yeah, a few things boss. You were right. Squall pulled all the guys loyal to him back and let the ones who follow you and the Storm King take the brunt of it. Most of the armada follow him more than you or his father now.” Grubber offered. “Heard a few grunts talking about it.”
“I expected as much, he's probably going to finally make his play to take over.” Tempest grumbled.
“You're prolly right boss. But I don't understand.”
“No surprise. What don't you understand?”
“Why hasn't he tossed us over board then?” Grubber asked.” Or at least you, as no one seems to notice me unless they need some one to kick around.”
“I haven't figured that out yet. He could have killed me and left me for dead in Canterlot.” Tempest sighed. “Only thing I can figure is he plans to blame me for the loss of most of the fleet. Not like that will do anything. The Storm King doesn't care about ships and yeti so long as the mission is done. No I expect it's that cheap honor code he pretends to have, he thinks if he overthrows his father he can convince me to join him.”
“Would you?”
“Heh, only if he can fix my horn if his father can't.” Tempest snorted. “ Anything else?”
“Yeah boss. We're gonna be docking in about twenty minutes at tha castle.”Grubber offered frowning muttering the last bit sarcasticly.”Finally home.”
“Good. My end of this deal will be done, and as soon as he has these four he can hold up his end.” Tempest growled.
“You really think he will?” Grubber asked curiously, looking up at Tempest's broken horn.
“He better.” Tempest snapped.
[ Storm Kings Castle, main chamber. 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
“Well, it seems you were not as full of shit as I thought.” The Storm King chuckled as he waved off the scantily clad female yeti who came in to tell him most of the armada had returned.
“I feel I should be insulted, but having doubts is never a bad thing particularly with what I claimed my equipment could do. Particularly when it comes to magic eaters.” the pink haired unicorn stallion seated at the long table offered.
The Storm King regarded his guests curiously, the self proclaimed weapons merchant had come to him a few months ago offering him a way to expand his holdings.
Skepticism had been met with the reveal of the first of the items he had been shown, something the merchant, who called himself Jedidiah, had called Basilisk rifles.
The design of them was fairly simple, a lever on the underside of the weapon was cranked, filling the butt of the rifle with air, compressing it tightly. Ten pumps was optimal, with anything more than twenty risking rupturing the air tank. A gray ball sealed in clear wax was rolled into the barrel and then the gun was aimed and fired.
The gun was not anything that impressed him, it was well crafted and mass produced, clearly there was a factory some where churning these things out.
It was the alchemical ammo that turned the target to stone that of greater interest. There were other types of ammo as well, less than lethal bean bag rounds and various other alchemical rounds that did everything from explode to release various gasses. Finding that the stone balls were supposed to work on gods was something he had not been expecting, and what had caused him to listen to the odd unicorn in the first place.
The unicorn's companions were of little more note than to recognize them as servants of Jedidiah, inconsequential for the most part.
The big haired unicorn mare was attractive enough in her own right he supposed, likely arm candy for the merchant as she was dressed rather expensively if he was any judge of pony fashion. She spent much of the time he saw her fiddling with one of those new crystal tablet things ponies had invented to put libraries on so you could carry them around.
They would never replace books.
The other companion confused him at first. The pink earth pony was young, perhaps in her teens. Maybe the merchant's daughter? Though it was a rather odd profession to have a 'bring your daughter to work day'.
That theory had been removed as valid when they started talking price for enough weapons to equip his forces. The pink mare had her own tablet and was using it to document what was needed. A intern secretary then, odd but not his concern.
The stallion was the only one talking and he was clearly in charge, so he was the only one the Storm King really felt was relevant.
The rifles were easy for the yeti to use and the stone balls were supplied in great bulk, likely made in mass like the rifles. Though it was the information the pink maned unicorn provided that sold the Storm King on the whole purchase.
A warning about creatures who eat magic and a way to counter them.
Creatures that eat magic were not something unknown to the Storm King, he had encounter Artemis before when he was much younger. Pity he could never remember where it was to raize it to the ground when he had established himself.
But it was known that Canterlot had two of them, though one was more dangerous than the other.
The golden bomb Jedidiah had provided was a prototype, there was only the one, but he had explained well how it worked and the Storm King had given it to Tempest to use. The mare would do anything to get her horn back, which was something he had been holding over her head for a while. Sooner or later she would fail one of his outlandish orders and he wouldn't need to worry about being badgered by her any more, or his son would kill her, and in that fight which ever of them died would be to his advantage.
“ So you have all four of them?” Jedidiah questioned his face impassive.
“So I am told, all sealed up nicely by those balls you gave me.”The Storm King smirked.
“Good, I suppose you'll be wanting the last thing I promised then?” Jedidiah questioned.
“Of course. If this does even half of what you say, it will make you a wealthy stallion.” The Storm King chuckled.
“You already have, though I am quite surprised you have not asked why I am selling you something so potent.” Jedidiah questioned.
“I care not why, just that there are results.” The Storm King snorted.
“Fair enough, I have given you quite a few of those already.” The unicorns horn lit up showing a magic that flickered between black and pink. A small square wooden box was placed before the Storm King by the merchant's magic.
Opening the top revealed four crystalline rings each just big enough to be slid over a large unicorn horn, or in this case, an alicorn's horn. The yeti god picked up one of the rings noting it seemed to be filled with some sort of red liquid that oozed slightly as he moved the ring, but remained a solid dark red ring inside the crystal one.
“ They are to be placed over the horns of your captured alicorns. They will draw the gods power into this.” Jedidiah stated, his magic setting a much longer wooden box on the table.” All prototypes mind you, so please try not to break them, I used up far too many materials in making these.”
The Storm King opened the larger box and frowned. He lifted up a deep red staff with crimson crystal set in the upper crook of it. The crystal was far from perfect and looked to contain fur , bits of bone, and what seemed to be a small chunk of flesh inside of it that was still oozing blood.
“A bloody stick?” the Storm King growled.” You are presenting me with a stick you shoved a rock on the end of before beating some creature to death with and you didn't even clean it.”
“An apt observation, but that is a very very specific type of treated wood, and very rare viscera in a custom grown crystal.” Jedidiah placated.”The general design of it is based on the fabled Staff of Sacanas. While the original staff was destroyed a long time ago, this will do much the same so long as those rings are placed on whom you wish to draw the power from. It doesn't matter if they are a statue or not.”
“Is that so?” The Storm King frowned looking at the staff again.
“Of course. Has anything I've sold you failed yet?”
“There is always a first time.”
“Should I take my business elsewhere?”
“Do not get snippy with me pony.”
“I wouldn't dream of it.”
“We shall see if this works, then I will decide if I should pay you the rest or simply destroy you so you don't sell anything to anyone else.”
“I would hope you choose the former, if for no other reason than to see what I might bring next time I show up.”Jedidiah smiled.
The Storm King let out a sharp bark of laughter, though any response he might have had to that was cut off as another yeti rushed into the room shouting something in their guttural language.
The Storm King snorted and glowered at the ranting yeti. He suddenly stood up and grabbed the smaller yeti by his head, his fingers digging into the smaller creatures skull and soft tissue enough to make the messenger yeti scram and flail. The Storm King jerked his arm, flinging the yeti across the room where it impacted the wall with a sickening crack before falling to the ground with a thump.
The Storm King took note that none of his guests seemed bothered by the act. The pink mare frowned and stared at the corpse a moment before she realized she was doing so and turned her attention to something else. Jedidiah seemed.... disappointed? And the big haired one never even looked up from her tablet.
“I take there is a problem?”the pink maned unicorn asked.
The Storm King snorted gathering up the box with the rings and the staff before marching to the other side of the room and out onto a grand balcony overlooking the rough seas far below the towering castle.
Jedidiah and the other two rose as well and followed after curiously.
Looking out over the choppy sea and the expanse of dark clouds that constantly surrounded his island , the Storm king narrowed his eyes as he spotted an airship in the distance approaching the island.
The airship was massive, a dark oak constructed warship with a dark blue envelope. The ship was armed and armored to the teeth, and dwarfed even his armada's flagship. The Equestrian flag flew proudly and very visibly on the ship even from this distance.
The Storm King immediately recognized it, he had sacrificed five of his ships in basic piracy raids near the griffon border in order to keep this ship away from Canterlot for the invasion. The pink pony with the weapon merchant clearly knew what it was too.
“The Waning Moon.” The young mare stated with the slight tone of one impressed by such things.
“The 'scuttled scrap' is more likely. One ship against my armada, even partially depleted this is a suicide mission for the fools.” The Storm King scoffed.
There was a click behind him and the yeti god glanced back, noting the big haired mare had put away her tablet and was staring out at the ship, her ears perked up high out of her ridiculous hair. She glanced to the pink maned unicorn, then turned and trotted off the balcony humming something to herself.
“Well I shall leave you to it, it seems my companion is not interested in the coming slaughter. I'm afraid I agree with her, more for preferring not to be under hoof as it were.” the merchant shrugged.”Feel free to use this as a test of your new toy. Personally I would rather not run the risk of being spotted by any possible survivors at this point. No sense risking it, do enjoy yourself, we will be taking our leave for the day.”
The Storm King frowned as the pink mare and the unicorn trotted away after the big haired one, before he turned his attention back to the ship.
That wasn't a bad idea actually, it was not as if a single ship could get past his armada, and the islands defenses, and even if it could, well, by the time it got close the alicorns would be in place and he could use their own gods power to destroy them.
The arrival of the massive warship set off another minor panic in the city before anyone noticed the Equestrian flag the craft was flying.
The Waning Moon's captain, a slate blue furred Nox-cal Kirin named Thrawn had brought the craft back to Canterlot at top speed once word had gotten to them about the attack.
The pirate raid against the border settlement was taken care of with no damage to the warship, nor the settlement.
The Storm Kings raiding ships however, well Thrawn was the sort to ask for surrender once at the start of battle, and if it was refused, he ignored any other requests for the same afterward, particularly from pirates.
Princess Celestia was not fond of him, but even she couldn't deny he was effective.
The ship took up a position over the city while the mobile Guards on board moved to aid the remaining Guards in the city. The crew of the ship remained at stations, every one of them almost twitching to take a shot at the Storm King's fleet if they returned.
Captain Thrawn however left his ship to head to the castle. In his experience everything was going to be a cluster fuck of arguing right now. Doubly so if there were no Princesses present.
[Canterlot General Hospital]
“Whata yah mean it ain't magic?” Applejack questioned.”Ah ken smell it”
“Yes and while I am well aware of your condition Miss Apple, what you are smelling is the only thing keeping the victims alive.” The doctor snapped at her, making sure he kept himself between the orange mare and the statue behind him.
“What?” Applejack blinked.
“I shall try to explain this simply. What ever this stone effect is, that is over as soon as it covers the victim. From that point their condition is stable, and non magical some how. The magical part of this is a stasis effect that is keeping what ever is trapped in the stone alive and in a mild hibernation. If you eat that the magic stasis will end, and all body functions will try to start again, only everything is encased in stone and therefor it cannot start, the creature would die, as stone throats do not allow the passage of oxygen. Whatever this is it has filled every oraface it is able to all the way to the lungs and stomach.”
“Shit.....” Applejack muttered taking a step away from the statue in the room.
“Exactly, who ever made this knew very well what they were doing, and it is designed to keep normal dispelling as well as your own abilities from working the way we want them too. My theory is they are likely holding the whole of them hostage at this point unless we can figure out how to break the stone before the stasis effect.” The doctor offered. “As it is Miss Apple, given we are working on gathering those affected here and in field hospitals we are setting up around the building, I very much would like you to leave, just in case.”
“Ah get yah. If yah need me fer anything ah'm headed tah that castle, a spect there's gonna be a lot of folks trying tah figure stuff out there.” Applejack sighed, heading out the office glancing around warily as she did so, trying to keep away from any statues.
“So what did he say?”
Applejack blinked and looked down to her sister.
Applebloom was staring in hope at her, and the look on Applejack's face ruined that.
“Ah see.”
“Ah'm sorry Applebloom. Ah ain't much use here. Doc said ah'd make it worse.”Applejack sighed.” They said they couldn't use normal magic stuff on um cause they got tah git rid of the stone afore they ken get rid of what's keeping everyone alive.”
Applebloom closed her eyes, Applejack knew she had been crying, not that she blamed her, there was a dragon statue in this place that gave her a good reason to do so.
“Come on. Ah'm gonna meet up with Sunset and see if ah ken do anything at tha castle. We ain't gonna be much help here...”Applejack sighed. “Big Mac's already headed over there.”
[ Storm King's Castle, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot.]
Squall and Tempest stood on the loading dock as a group of yeti carried out the statues of the four alicorns. The pair of them were staring out to sea and to the approaching airship.
“This makes no sense.” Tempest offered. “They had to have seen we still had most of the fleet, and yet they chase after us with one ship?”
“You ponies are creatures of whimsy, perhaps this was just a whim, they clearly just came after us as soon as they got word from Canterlot.” Squall huffed. “Pity, that is quite a nice ship. I doubt there will be enough left of it when it gets here to make a hook to hang my helmet.”
Tempest stared at the ship with a frown before turning to head after the stone alicorns.
She had a bad feeling about this. Despite the leadership of their gods gone, Tempest knew there were some very dangerous and clever ponies left that could cause issues. Sending one ship like this, no matter how powerful, was both stupid and a waste. And she doubted the Guards were that desperate.
At it's current speed the ship would be in range in about ten minutes.
There had to be more to it, and she wanted her horn back before she found out what that more was.
[Canterlot 7 hours after the attack]
The throne room was stuffed to bursting with ponies, Guards, nobles, the remaining element bearers, dignitaries, and ambassadors that had managed to avoid getting caught in the attack.
The twin thrones sat empty on the raised dais of the throne room. Applejack, Rarity, Sunset, and Rainbow Dash stood in front of the thrones along with a seething Comet Trail and Captain Thrawn.
On the right side of the throne room were all the dignitaries and ambassadors. Griffons, Yaks, Diamond Dogs, Kitsune, Harpies, Orcs, Elk, and countless other races that had been invited to the event were gathered here. Most of them were calling for blood and screaming curses at those on the other side of the room.
Sunset had known the Canterlot nobles would slow things down in terms of getting the alicorns back, but she hadn't expected the fools to grind it to a screeching halt within the first day.
“And I say again we are NOT authorizing a rescue mission at this time!” Posh Posh of the Posh family shouted back at the other side of the room. With his father as one of the casualties, the unicorn had slid into the position of speaker for the nobles before any of the others could get a word in edgewise. His usual entourage of most of Twilight's evil exs adding a good bit of power to his new claim, given how influential they were on their own. And with most of the Blue Blood family, and the other 'smart' nobles out of commission or not in Canterlot at the moment, Posh had swept in to take control of the crisis.
The other members of his little group stood with him simply following along with what he said, well it was hard to tell if Percy was doing that, given the size of the schematics he had hovering in front of his face.
“Bullshit!!” Comet Trail snapped ignoring the frown from the minotaur delegation.” We need to act now before they manage to do whatever they are planning to do with the Princesses!”
“I think commander that you are not thinking things through due to your current loss.” Posh stated flatly getting a growl from Comet Trail, both at the wrong title being given as well as the statement.” Perhaps you should be relieved until you come to terms with it. Rash decisions will help no one. The first thing we need to do is secure firm leadership from this point forward. The council of nobles will have to appoint some one”
“WE HAVE LEADERSHIP!” Comet Trail snapped.”There is a royal order of succession.”
“No one believes that Prince Sombra is to be trusted with the throne of Equestria.” Another noble shouted out.
“Yeah I'll give them that.” Sunset smirked.
“ We also doubt the claims that Sunset Shimmer has anything to do with Princess Celestia and is in fact an attempt by the apple family to claim nobility.” Another shouted
“WHAT THE FUCK!?” both Sunset and Applejack snapped, though the noble who had yelled that wisely hid back in the crowd.
“None the less, with the Sparkles out of commission and with Sombra unfit and Sunset's claims unverified there is a vacuum of leadership that must be filled before we are able to progress enough to react to this. “ Posh explained. “Due to damage to property and everything else we shall reconvene in a week in order to hold a proper discussion on who to suggest for the role.”
The roar of the ambassadors screaming at the nobles was cut off again by Posh screaming at them.
“Your opinions on Equestrian politics are noted and ignored. You are little more than guests here and you have overstayed what short welcome you have. Please leave, you should not have even been allowed into these hallowed halls at all!” Posh snapped.
A shrill whistle cut through the screaming, that said shrill whistle came from a dark gray mare, with far too many eyes and spiked tendrils that ended in teeth that would have made a cragodile back away slowly had more to do with the sudden silence than the noise itself.
“Thank you darlings the shouting was getting a bit much. Now then going back to the royal succession you seem to have forgotten something.” Rarity offered letting the nightmare form fall away now that she had everyone's attention.
“Empress Cadence is not in the line of succession after her claim on the Crystal Empire.” another noble shouted.”Therefore neither of the bugs has any claim on Canterlot no matter what their parentage or marital status is in that state.”
“Ooh delightful loop hole there darling, but no. I was not speaking of them.” Rarity offered.
“Then who...” Posh questioned.
“Me.” Squeaked a voice from behind the Element Bearer.
Rarity stepped aside and the entire room beheld a white unicorn filly, perhaps in her teens, sitting on the Throne of Night with the unicorn adviser to Princess Celestia, Raven Inkwell, and the heavily armored zebra mare who was Guard Captain Moskau of the Six Sixty Sixth, Royal Guard flanking her.
There was a moment of silence followed by riotous laughter from most of the nobles, which had Sweetiebelle raise an eyebrow.
“You cannot be serious.” Posh gestured to the filly.
“Really? Do you think this is a joke?” Sweetiebelle asked plainly.
“Of cou...” Posh began.
“I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!!” Sweetiebelle bellowed, the Royal Canterlot voice actually knocking Posh off his hooves.
“This is preposterous she's what twelve?” another noble questioned.
“Fifteen, Princess Platinum was twelve when she took over for her father, and since half of you claim to be descended from her, that invalidates your entire line if you protest Princess Sweetiebelle Reignolds age.” Raven Inkwell offered.”To clear up any other arguments she is indeed legally the sister of Princess Luna Nocturne and Princess Celestia Solaris. Something eighty five percent of the noble council agreed to because and I quote' Maybe taking care of this brat will keep her out of our manes' end quote.”
Sweetiebelle narrowed her eyes at the nobles, some of them had the decency to look sheepish.
Posh was not one of them.
“This is preposterous, you cannot expect a child, not even of a noble line to run the country. Let alone in a time of crisis.” Posh snapped.
“Actually I have learned a lot from all the time sitting in in Big Sister Luna's night court.” Sweetiebelle offered adopting a bit of a innocent pose.
“Oh like what?” Posh demanded.
“Well first off is that most nobles are entitled little shits who don't even deserve the title, and second is the easiest way to remove said little shit, is with one command.” Sweetiebelle listed as Posh had asked.
“What?” Posh sputtered indignantly.” A command?”
“Yep. “ Sweetiebelle grinned , the smiling expression dropping off her face as she glared at the noble before her.”Guards. Execute order sixty six.”
“What?” Posh questioned.
There was a momentary pause at those words, the sound of collective noble butt holes puckering nearly audible. A few of the Guards around the room looked confused and one even pulled out his Guard handbook to search for the order.
Moskau and Comet Trail however developed grins that were positively feral.
Captain Thrawn rolled his eyes at the theatrics.
Raven Inkwell decided to step in.
“Posh Posh of the Posh family. By order of Princess Sweetiebelle Reighnolds you are hereby stripped of all land titles and holdings granted to you and your family by the crown by your title. Which at latest census is sixty five percent of your holdings, with the noble title stripped from your family you are also subject to retroactive taxation from the time of the title being given to be accounted for without the tax adjustments that come with the title. Your families title was given two hundred years ago and going by current Equestrian standards and rating will account for an estimated three billion bits.” Raven stated reading off her clipboard.
“What?” Posh nearly squeaked.
“Say 'what' again! Say it again. I freaking dare you mother bucker say 'what' one more time!!!” Sweetiebelle snarled at him standing up in the throne to lean towards the noble as if she was about to leap off and deal with him herself.
“Princess please contain yourself.”Raven sighed.
“Princess Celestia would never stand for this!!” Posh whimpered.
“You're right. Princess Celestia wouldn't allow it, it's why Big sister Luna never used that command.” Sweetiebelle offered with a smile, that turned very dark very fast.” But Princess Celestia isn't here right now is she? Get him out of my sight.”
Several Guards rushed forward grabbing the former noble dragging him off.
“You can't do this to me, I'm important!” Posh cried out.
“No you're not.” Sweetiebelle called after him before turning her attention to the other nobles who looked like cockroaches who had been caught when the kitchen light came on. Except Percy, who didn't seem to have noticed anything was going on and currently was setting up a easel to put another schematic on.
“The rest of you sycophants listen up.” Sweetiebelle snapped. “Right now you have three choices. Help, get charged with treason, or get the buck out of my way.”
[ Canterlot 7 hours after the attack]
“No you are not.”
“Like Tartarus I am not!”
“You are staying right where you are and that is final.”
“I'm your mother you can't tell me what to do!”
“You are pregnant and need to stay in the Crystal Empire in order to keep them calm given both their leaders and their heroes have been taken down.”Saturnia responded calmly to the irate Changeling Queen in the mirror. “You have the entire Empire that you need to keep a hold of to prevent any panicking, it has been a rather chaotic time for them and leaving them completely leaderless is not the thing to do right now.”
Saturnia raised an eyebrow as she twirled a blade on her hoof rolling her eyes at the noise the god of changelings was making.
“Don't growl at me mother, I've already interrogated a number of the yeti that were caught and while they didn't know much they did know that their little guns could take down gods., We've already lost five of them today and that is going to be something of a problem as it is. No one is going to allow more gods to go on this mission and have even more portfolios tied up for who knows how long. We have no idea how to fix any of the problems just yet, but we know the Storm King cannot be allowed to do what ever he planned with the alicorns.” Saturnia snapped.
“Fine, fine, I'm calm, I'm cool... the only reason I am agreeing with this and not going there myself to rip off his fool head and shit down his throat is because of the grub I'm carrying.” Chrysalis hissed.
“Good. Now that all that is out of your system I want the Widows to mobilize. Pharynx and the warriors in Canterlot are going to join in to help whatever the Equestrians come up with to represent the 'face' of the changelings, but I want to make sure The Storm King doesn't have any chance what so ever.”
Chrysalis smiled. “Oh I'm well ahead of you on that my daughter. The Widows are already moving.”
[Canterlot 8 hours after the attack]
“ Alright. Enough. Recap the high points one more time.” Sweetiebelle ordered as she glanced at those present.
“ Nearly all of those affected by this stone magic have been moved from the streets and are at the hospital and the surrounding area in makeshift tents and triage units. No progress has been made thus far on the study. We have every alchemist and medic in the city, and several who came with the dignitaries looking into this. By your order, the zebra Zecora has been contacted and flown here in order to offer a hoof with her assistant Applebloom, we have also sent word to the goddess Ascepius, though we have no idea how long it will take her to get here. “ Raven offered to the murmmering of the nobles and the remaining dignitaries.
“Right, next?” Sweetiebelle offered.
“The dockyard is a complete loss, we have three Guard airships still capable of extended flight including the Waning Moon. There are a no suitable civilian craft remaining for our purposes save one, The Princess Bride.” Captain Thrawn pointed out.
“Prince's ship survived all that.” Rainbow Dash whistled.
“It did.” Thrawn offered.
“Inconceivable.” Rainbow Dash nodded.
“ We are down to forty percent Guard strength in Canterlot right now. The Day Guard are at 5% as they bore the brunt of the attack. The Night Guard took a heavy toll in the defense of the hospital and are at 30%. The six sixty sixth monster hunters and the 42nd training division are largely untouched given they were not in Canterlot at the time of the attack. The Ponyville Guard had a small presence in Canterlot during the attack but are at 95% with the rest heading to Canterlot now save a skeleton crew to remain in Ponyville. The Heart Guard and Changeling Guards are also present but in smaller numbers than even the remaining Royal Guard. We are rolling all of them into three units, one of which will stay in Canterlot and the other two will prepare for pursuit.” Guard Captain Moskau offered. ”The Outer Guards will stay in their locations in various outposts and the local guard in the closest cities shall do the same. We are bolstering them by activating the reserve units to maintain order in the face of everything when word gets out.”
“ The Wonderbolts are ready as well.” Spitfire offered. The mare was still smoldering as the occasional flame flickered along her fur as she sought to remain calm.” We can bring in our own reserves to aid in the city and we have several contracts that we can bring to bear from sponsors for supply aid.”
“Good.” Sweetiebelle nodded looking at the next mare.
“Infrastructure of the city itself is in bad shape.” a crimson unicorn mare in a bright blue robe offered. Strawberry Snap was head of the arcane order in Canterlot, a smaller branch of the Guard that focused on magic more than anything else. They also oversaw the cities ley line network and as such often worked closely with the city planners.” Bad news. The attack targeted a number of power supply points for the ley line, road, and rail lines. Trains will not be running and most roads are impassable to and from Canterlot. There were a number of Guard buildings targeted that included included the main armory,two of the secondary armories and one of the manufacturing plants we use for Guard gear.
Strawberry Snap took a breath.
“Now the good news. The store houses of raw supplies for said factory are untouched and if we conscript the blacksmiths and other factories in the city we can restock the armory without waiting for the factory to be repaired. Also we should have the ley line grid up and running again in a matter of hours. Contingencies we put in after the attack by Tirek have paid off rather well.”
“ Well that is some good news at least. Make sure the power stays on with the hospital and the labs primarily divert it from non essential areas like the commercial districts if need be.”Raven suggested.
It shouldn't be any trouble to do so.” Strawberry Snap stated.
“If I may suggest something.” Rarity chimed up.” I know quite a few merchants and crafts ponies around Equestria, if need be I can see if they would wish to help with the armor and weapon shortages.”
“That would be helpful, we have a few in Canterlot but some of our usual contacts were caught up in this.” Strawberry Snap nodded.
“At the current rate what's the estimate that we can go after them?” Sweetiebelle questioned.
“At current four or five days.” Comet Trail grumbled looking at the notes the group had compiled.
“They will be back in their own territory by then.” Captain Thrawn pointed out.
“Not good enough.” Sweetiebelle frowned.
[ Canterlot 8 hours after the attack]
Applejack let out a small sigh, she had not expected she would be put in the position she was currently in and she certainly would have chosen to be any where else if she had the choice. She also knew she was going to smack the fool out of Sunset for sending her here to deal with this.
Currently the orange earth pony farmer was in a large room with large pregnant buffalo cow.
Maohk didn't seem to want to be here either. The reason of course was the four gods who were also here.
Iinii towered over all of them, which was rather odd given how big Bleu was. Lockheed seemed rather indifferent to the whole situation and Aqua was also fairly calm.
Applejack wasn't sure where any of them had come from, but they all showed up at the same time and Sunset had sent her out to deal with them rather than let them come to an already stressed Sweetiebelle.
Bleu was of course pissed off to the point that she was drooling lightning and ever movement filled the air with sparks.
Aqua was clearly upset, but aside from pointing out she had met Pinkie and Fluttershy in Ponyville a few hours ago, she wouldn't say why.
Lockheed seemed to be annoyed that he was even here.
And Iinii... well. Applejack had seen a pissed off buffalo before at eye level, and this one was the size of her barn, the new crystal one, not her new new one, though she suspected that the new one had gotten trashed by a stray cannon shot somehow during the attack.
“I will end him.” Iinii snorted, ice forming in the air from his breathing.
“You will not.” Maohk stated.
“His actions put you in danger again. He will not be allowed to repeat that.” Iinii stated flatly.” If I had a bit for every time some stupid god put you in danger lately.... well I would have two bits, but I will make sure that it shall not happen a third time by showing an example.”
“Get in line, my sons a rock due to that bastard.” Bleu snarled.
“Funny how he is only your son when it suits you.” Lockheed snapped.
“THE FUCK YOU SAY!?” Bleu whirled on Lockheed who stared back at the dragon without a hint of apology or fear.
“:You heard me Bleu. And you heard the Element of Honesty, The Storm King has weapons that can trap us. We are not going any where near him, there is already going to be enough trouble if the sun remains where it is for long. In a weeks time this side of the planet will be scorched barren, and the other side frozen. “Lockheed explained. “I have no idea what the removal of magic and love will do if anything, but we have very real physical problems right now that will only be compounded if we lose the God of snows and the god of storms.”
“I agree with Lockheed on this.” Aqua stated. “While he needs to be put down, this is not a task for gods. I have already sent word and have a force gathering as we speak. The Storm King has caused a number of problems to the hippogryph population in that area and I am currently sheltering refugees from Mt. Aris. Although there is no current hippogryph god, I have taken them into my protection. This was something to bring up 'again' in the next council meeting.”
“And I for one feel that we should simply remove his head and throw it in Tartarus.” Bleu snapped.
“Indeed.” Iinii snapped.
“Seems this has come to a vote then. Yet I can see it is already deadlocked.”Lockheed stated.
“You are making this a council vote?” Iinii asked.
“I am, and you will be bound by the rules of the vote. I am not one of the council heads, but neither is Bleu, but in this instance I will invoke the Council rules to prevent you two from doing something stupid.” Lockheed pointed out.
“I second this and I am one of the council heads, as is Iinii.”Aqua stated. “We are not going after the Storm King ourselves.”
“I disagree.” Iinii snarled” And in a deadlock, nothing is solved and there fore we are not held to anything.”
“Can yah do anything bout yer husband?” Applejack muttered to Maohk.
“No. He is stubborn when he gets like this.” Maohk sighed.
“That is a loop hole that needs to be closed.” Aqua frowned.” We have put forward the motions for it before.”
“ And all times it was ignored and there is no vote for that here. Therefore with two votes for and two against, you cannot stop us with council rules.”Iinii growled.
The arguing may have started again though a figure that had been at the back of the room took this moment to stride forward pushing between Lockheed and Bleu without looking at either.
Applejack blinked at the approaching form, and the gods in the room stared at the black furred canine with the white braided hair that stood now before the Bearer of Honesty.
The massive diamond dog bitch looked down at Applejack.
“The enemy have something that can stop gods?” Jynx questioned.
“Yup. They got all four alicorns and Rahs.” Applejack frowned.
“Of course he cannot be left alone for a second.” Jynx snorted.”Fine the gods will stay out of this.”
“What? Who do you think you are to tell us anything!?” Bleu snapped dropping her massive fanged maw to eye level with the black furred diamond dog.
Jynx turned and looked passively up at the massive dragon head before her, a single tooth in the maw as large as she was.
Jynx reached up with one hand, and wapped the dragon on the snout with a glowing folder like she was a bad puppy.
Bleu yanked her head back snarling though Jynx ignored it.
“My name is Jynx. I am the goddess of Diamond Dogs and thus the tie breaker in your argument. The gods are not getting involved directly.” Jynx stated staring at the four confused gods before her holding up her own portfolio to them before she turned to look over her shoulder at Applejack with a smirk on her face.
“Do you think that was dramatic enough for Rahs?”
Applejack couldn't help but snicker at that.
[Storm Kings Keep, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
The Storm King sighed ignoring the sound of the yeti setting the alicorn statues into position in his throne room.
His gaze remained out at the approaching air ship and the ever present storm that surrounded his island.
His portfolio did not hold storms, something that annoyed him, he had a minor in lightning and some smaller weather phenomenon and clouds. His main portfolios were yeti and islands, an odd mix to be sure. Granted the Island King was hardly the image he wanted.
Even so his gaze lingered on the ship, his own armada was already starting to move to intercept. He only sent a score of ships as he expected this was a diversion, and keeping the rest near his island would prevent any surprises.
The craft was a long way out yet, but rapidly approaching, but despite that, carried on the wind, he was certain he heard the first strains of music.
[Storm Kings Island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
The Storm King's fleet moved into position forming a wall of airships between the approaching craft and the island. This was hardly all of them, perhaps little more than a score of the airships left at his command, plenty to deal with one craft.
This close the yeti could see the approaching ship and the odd lack of any crew milling about on deck, but what got the attention most was a blue mare standing on the bow looking at them, her darker blue mane was done up in a long pony tail and a pair of gossamer wings stretched wide out from her sides. The grin on her face was wide, and her teeth were something more akin to a sharks.
The soft plunking of a piano started booming out of large speakers mounted on the deck and being tended by a purple colored mare with twin pigtails and a equally sharp grin.
“ This is your time to pay... This is your judgment day....”.
[ Ponyville, 5 Hours after the attack on Canterlot]
“This is the dumbest thing I ever did, and I went with you to Woodstock.” Aria snarled. The Siren's leg had recovered enough for her to start on the community service she had agreed to, though she was still limping slightly.
“But that was fun!” Sonata pointed out.
“I got a contact high just from looking at the place, I don't even remember any of it.” Aria snarled.
“You're just mad cause you don't know who took your panties.” Sonata smirked.
“Less gabbing and more dusting please.” Seshat interrupted.
Aria whirled at the nothing, glaring at a random chunk of wall having already had enough of this.
“No, first off, why the heck are we cleaning someones house as a community service!?” Aria snapped.
“A large portion of me contains the Ponyville Guard barracks, and Twilight has some how fandangled the local government into making me a monument site to the defeat of Tirek, but also a semi public research library and theater.” Seshat explained.”Therefor I do fall under the community service guidelines.”
“Okay.. fine alright I'll give you that one, but why are we dressed like French maids?!” Aria demanded.
The pair of Sirens were indeed dressed in the frilliest black and white maid outfits that Seshat had ever seen while they dusted and cleaned, the also had lace stockings and the hint of garters.
“I don't recall telling you to wear those.”Seshat stated.” How would I even know your size?”
“What!?” Aria demanded. “Sonata said.....”
Aria trailed off as she noticed her sister was trying to sneak out of the room as quietly as she could.
“DAMNIT SONOTA!!!”Aria snarled and rushed after her sister who yelped and started running.” GET BACK HERE!”
“Please don't get blood any where you have already cleaned.” Seshat offered far more used to sibling on sibling violence than she cared to be.
There was the sound of a scuffle, some curses then a loud thwap, a splash, and a scream before Aria stormed back into the room ripping off the maid outfit and shoving it in a trashcan.
Sonata came out a moment later with a mop bucket slammed down over her head.
Seshat was about to remind them to clean the mess up the mess they just made when her attention was drawn to some one at the front door.
“Pinkie pie and Fluttershy are here.” Seshat stated.
“Oh?” Sonata questioned as she pulled her head out of the bucket, the wet mop of hair plastered over her face. She whipped her head back and for the rapidly, slinging water and when she was done her head was dry and her mane perfectly how it was before she was drenched.
“The Mayor and Queen Aqua are here too.” Seshat stated, that got Aria's attention a bit more.
Pinkie Pie darted in and slammed all four hooves down to stop, only to hit the freshly mopped floor and to skid across it to crash into the next room. There was a series of crashes and bangs as well as the sound of several heavy things hitting the floor.
“We are not cleaning that up again, she made the mess she can do the cleaning.” Aria snapped at Seshat.
“Pinkie are you alright?” Mayor Mare asked, tilting her head to try and look into the room Pinkie had slid into.
“Why are you dressed as a Prench maid?” Aqua asked Sonata
“Weeeeeeeeeeeeee.” Pinkie Pie spiraled out of the room still sliding over the floor to crash into another wall knocking photos off the wall and toppling an end table.
“Please stop.” Seshat pleaded.
“Pinkie Pie... this is important.” Fluttershy muttered.
“Right! Business first, fun later.” Pinkie Pie shouted walking calmly back over to the others without sliding at all.
“Pinkie Pie we heard explosions all the way down here, and a burning airship crashed into the Apples new barn. Granny didn't really seem surprised or upset over it but still. What is going on in Canterlot?” Mayor mare demanded.
Aqua stared at her daughter as the Mayor rubbed her temples with a fore hoof.
“By the stars, there's THREE of them.” Mayor Mare grumbled.
“What?!” Aqua demanded again.
“They said...” Fluttershy and Aria began at the same time. The both paused and looked at each other in confusion. Both shared a small smirk before Fluttershy urged Aria on.
“They said that Canterlot was attacked by the Storm King and the alicorns were turned to stone and taken. The nobles are being a pain in the ass and they came down here to try and get help.” Aria translated.” There was more in there but meh that's the brunt of it.”
“She forgot to mention that the Storm King has weapons that turned them to stone, so it might be best to not let any other gods go to try and get them back.” Fluttershy added.
Pinkie Pie was pondering a moment before she spoke again.” Hey you guys can still do the singing thing right? Can you do anything other than make every pony angry?”
“Of course.” Sonata added.” We are very versatile, you want angry, we got angry, you want sad, we got sad, you want Blues Traveler, get me a harmonica.”
“It's been a while since we've done anything like that. I think we did a Halloween concert once and we pumped fear into the music, but any emotion music can produce we can make it a hell of a lot stronger.” Aria shrugged.” Why?”
“Cause we can use you guys, if we can make the yeti run before we even have to fight them or make every one super ready to kick some ass.” Pinkie Pie ranted.
Aria opened her mouth to tell the pink pony to fuck right off with that idea but Aqua spoke up first.
“No. They are not going to fight for you, my girls are staying right here.” Aqua snapped at Pinkie.
Aria frowned. “Hey mayor, how many community service hours do we get knocked off if we help the Royal Guard like that?”
“What? Aria, I said No.”Aqua snapped.
“You get the Princess back and I'll drop at least half of it and try and dump the rest back on Twilight.” Mayor stated.
“Aria what did I say!” Aqua growled and was ignored.
“Hey Pink one, we're down, just tell me what you need. And I want that in writing Mayor” Aria grinned as her mother started sputtering at being ignored.
“Right we need to contact some people first. Hey Seshat, fire up the table we got a list of names we want you to bring to Canterlot.” Pinkie Pie shouted at the tree.
[ Storm King's Island. 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
The Captains of the ships in the Storm Kings fleet were not stupid. They might have no idea what was going on here, but that didn't stop them from filling the air with cannon shots, blasting the Equestrian warship with full broadsides of cannons and balista as well as a few spells from the ship mages, not even planing to bother with why the pony was singing.
The music continued as if nothing happened , and every shot passed through the ship as if it wasn't even there.
Before the confused crew could react, the Waning Moon suddenly changed color, the airbags going from dark blue to purple festooned with stars and moons. The Equestrian flag with the alicorn sisters circling a half moon, half sun, turned bright blue and the image was replaced with a star topped wand showing a swish of starry magic.
The pegasus and earth pony vanished from the deck and were replaced by a light blue unicorn mare with a white mane and tail dressed in a gaudy purple hat and cloak.
“And now for the Grrrreat and Powerful Trrrrrrrixies greatest trick so far, she will summon your doom!” The voice boomed in a pause in the music.
With that the ship before them faded into nothing, and the clouds that had gathered in the sky with the storm faded as well, revealing scores of ships flying above the Storm King's ships, Far below in the waves even more normal ships faded into view all armed to the sails and packed full of soldiers.
In the air were numerous pirate craft flying alongside Equestrian air ships including, Griffon, Abyssinian, and Minotaur craft.
The real Waning Moon loomed over the forward force of the Storm King's airships and before the crews could react to the fact the enemy was far more numerous and further above them than they thought, the Waning Moon opened fire. The massive report of cannon fire deafened the yeti as several other ships opened fire as well ripping apart the Storm King's craft in a hail of crossfire.
A single volley was fired and the advancing force continued on, leaving nothing but raining debris and smoke as a sign there had been anything in the air with them.
“Welcome to the show.” Trixie cheered out as the air around the ships burst with fireworks while the song continued.
[Storm King's Island 3 days after the attack on Canterlot.]
“How in Tartarus did they get here so fast!!” The Storm King snarled from his balcony.” LAUNCH ALL SHIPS!! READY ALL DEFENSES!!”
With a rush he whirled stomping back into the throne room. He pulled open the box with the rings in it. If these fools wanted to die so badly he would oblige.
Storming towards the stone alicorns he jammed the rings down over their horns and whirled back towards his balcony.
“Sir.” Tempest stated.
“Not now Mare!” the Storm King snarled.
[ Canterlot 1 day after the attack on Canterlot]
“Sunset!” Applejack snapped, spotting Sunset as she stormed into a cafeteria for the castle staff. The room was fairly crowded with various races grabbing a quick meal before going back to what they were doing.
“GAH!! I said I was sorry. I thought it was just Iinii who showed up and you and Maohk could deal with him easy, I said I was sorry!” Sunset yelped, holding up a lunch tray between her and Applejack as if to ward off the orange pony.
“What? No... Ah get that, ah ain't happy, but ah git it.”Applejack shook her head.”Nah, ah got an idea but I need tah ask if yah know that spell Princess Luna used to git to tha Oneiroi.”
“What...... I've seen it cast but I don't know it per say. “
“Trixie knows it.”
“Damn it. Ah was hoping we could use that as a gate. Rahs told me it only takes half tha time tah get places using that.” Applejack huffed.
“Trixie knows the spell.”
“Twilight said it was a fairly simple spell, maybe we can see if she wrote it down some where.”
“Trixie knows the damn spell.”
“Well maybe Seshat ken help us find it...” Applejack continued before being cut off as two peanut butter crackers belted both her and Sunset in the side of the head.
Trixie slammed her hooves down on the table before Sunset and Applejack glaring at both of them.
“Trixie doesn't give a crap what you think of Trixie but ignoring Trixie is just plain rude.” Trixie snapped.
“Trixie what are you even doing here?” Sunset sighed.
“Trixie was hired to preform at the festival, and after wards Trixie was assigned to keep the large collection of foals calm and entertained while their parents worked or recovered.”Trixie snapped.” The same as she did at Hollow Shades when Tirek was attacking. Right now Trixie is at lunch.”
“Right, so you actually know the gate spell into the Oneiroi. How?” Applejack demanded.
“Trixie was Princess Luna's student for a year Applesack.” Trixie scoffed. “ Do you think Trixie learned nothing?”
“Frankly.. yeah.” Applejack growled.
“She has a point. Luna did try to teach her a lot of things, most of which detonated, but still. “ Sunset shrugged. “ So now that you say you know, it can you cast it?”
At that question Trixie looked a little sheepish.” While Trixie has some skill in the transportation magics, she does not have the power to open said gate....”
“Fer fucks sake.” Applejack snapped.
“Well we're not any further behind than we were before, particularly if Trixie can write out the formula.” Sunset offered.
“So you just need power huh..... I can help with that, since I'm not allowed to do anything else.”
The three turned noting the large blue dragon sitting at the table with them, that there was no way they could have missed.
“It's not like I've used that companion spell Sparkle gave me either.” Bleu grinned.”And it smells like you've already got a bit of dragon in you mare, not to mention a proper taste in fur color.”
[Storm Kings Island, 3days after the attack]
Trixie winced as she slid back to lean against the inner bulk head sliding down it onto her rump, her claws reached up to her head pressing against the base of her horn as she winced.
“You alright Trixie?”
She opened one eye, the nictitating membrane parting to show the lavender slitted orb that turned up to stare at the orange farm pony.
“Trixie has a headache like you wouldn't believe.” Trixie exhaled, a few sparks of electricity darting along her muzzle and the sharp teeth within.
“Come on let's get yah intah tha ship, yah ain't gonna be helping much if yer burned out.” Applejack smirked.
“Trixie was certainly not going to let you, Sunset, and the bug have all the fun of rescuing Fuzzy.” Trixie stated as she stood up, towering over Applejack, her hooves thudding on the wood, as leathery wings fluttered to try and keep her balance.
“Yah did great, but we need tah git yah below deck afore we start taking fire.” Applejack placated.
“Trixie can make her own way down. Hiding an entire fleet might have drained lesser ponies but....” Trixie started.
“Less bragging and more walking.” Applejack scoffed.
Trixie likely might have argued more though she instead winced and grabbed at her head again before making her way bellow deck, a light blue serpentine tail whipping behind her.
Applejack shook her head. She had expected something like what happened to Big Mac when Bleu cast the spell to make Trixie her familiar, not... well whatever that was.
[ Canterlot 3 days after the attack]
Brooding.
It was something he was good at and had done for a long time.
When he was king, short reign through it was, he spent far too much time in his old room with the toys and books of a foal who still believed he was loved and cared for. A memory of when he was happy, even if it was a false happiness born of lies and the ignorance of youth.
His father cared nothing for him, his mother cared even less.
So why......
Had he been wrong?
Had something changed?
He could hear the noise of the airships outside the room, the sound of those working to prepare to go out and seek the Storm King and recover those foal napped and bring vengeance on them.
He pushed all the errant thoughts from his mind.
Vengeance he could deal with, that was what he could focus on. He could figure out the other emotional hurdles later. Push them down and focus on the goal.
His eyes turned back to the room he was in, the navy blue and stellar theme that she was known for permeated everything in this room. The only oddity he saw were the pictures, both of Sweetiebelle, Rahs, and himself. He did not even recall having seen a camera in the few scenes he recognized in the pictures.
Words would be had about privacy.
Later.
Focus on the goal.
Sombra breathed out deeply, his magic wrapping around the object he had come here for.
His sword was lost with no time to make another, this would have to do.
“Shall we?” Sombra asked looking at the weapon before him.
[Isle of the Storm King, 3 days after the attack.]
Captain Thrawn allowed himself a small smile as he watched the reaction brought about by the mages trick, he hadn't expected that much from her in truth, but when it was suggested, she said she could do it, and she proved she could. How much of it was her own skill and how much was the power the dragon goddess gave her hardly mattered.
His gaze drifted to the view port on his left and he frowned.
They were not real view-ports, just a crystal image projection of a full three hundred and sixty degree arc around the out side of the Waning Moon. There were redundant back ups of course and even the option to 'blow a hole' and view the outside through armored glass.
Thrawn was however focused on another ship that had joined them.
While there were quite a few pirates and freebooters like Captain Celaeno, Red Beard, and The Dread Pirate Greg, that he would love to see placed under arrest, there was one that he was simply itching to take on.
The massive mage craft airship was keeping easy pace with the Waning Moon. The green craft had no airbag and was kept aloft by means known only to the captain and crew of the ship.
The ship was nearly as big as the Waning Moon and had been a thorn in his side since he first joined the Royal Navy.
The skull and crossbones that decorated the whole front of the ship seemed to mock him even now.
But as irksome as the pirate ship Arcadia was, the Captain of it pissed him off more.
[Canterlot 2 days after the attack.]
“Ah don't like this.” Applejack growled.
“Tough.” Jynx Growled. “I was not supposed to participate in the last battle as it was for gods. Now that I am a god I am not suppose to participate in this one as it is NOT for gods. This is vexing.”
“Yeah well, it was kinda a surprise tah hear yer new status, but tha rest jus seems like bad luck. Still though...” Applejack gestured to the gathered diamond dogs Jynx had brought with her, all of them armed for war and making most of the Guards running around nervous.
“I do not think I have taught you enough, though for now it will have to do. These dogs are under orders to follow what you say as if it came from me.” Jynx explained as she turned her head and glared back at the one who seemed to be in charge under her. “Or Else.”
The gathered Diamond Dogs were clearly uncomfortable with that 'or else.'
“Ah ain't happy yer forcing them tah help like this.” Applejack muttered.
“I am not forcing them to fight, I asked for those who wanted to fight to come. I AM forcing them to obey you. You are going in my stead Applejack. I am simply giving you what back up I can.” Jynx grinned.” You cannot even say I get to stay here with Rahs. He is a rock.”
The Diamond Dogs suddenly bristled all of them drawing weapons and pointing them at a large blue figure who stepped through the door near Applejack and Jynx.
“Hey Applefact, the portals set. Move your ass.” the blue figure ordered before whipping around and leaving the room, the scaled blue tail lashing behind her.
There was silence for a moment
“What the fuck was that!?” Jynx demanded.
“Oh, you ain't tha only one tah get an upgrade.” Applejack chuckled.
[ Canterlot 2 days after the attack]
Captain Thrawn gritted his teeth staring at the Pirate that stood before him. The Abyssinian pirate he was glaring at returned the stare with his one good eye.
The brown feline had long darker brown hair that partially covered his face, though the eye patch and the scar that trailed across his face was easily visible. He wore a long black and red cloak with a high collar, the clasp of it the same jolly Rodger as on his ship.
Thrawn narrowed his eyes at the cat.
The cat smirked a little.
“So you want WHAT now?!?” Princess Sweetiebelle demanded as she looked over the collection of pirate captains that had gathered.
“Well that depends on the Captain you see. Most of us would like to have out crimes cleared.” Captain Celaeno offered with a small shrug.
“Not happening.” Sweetiebelle stated as Raven whispered in her ear.” You've committed crimes against Equestria and even helping now is not going to give all of you a clean slate.”
“I think you misunderstand young lass how bent over a barrel you are.” A griffon pirate with a red beard chuckled.
“And I think you misunderstand how easy it would be to impersonate you, return to your ships, kill all your crew and have the fleet we need without you.” Saturnia stated, green flame washing over a naga pirate revealing the pink changeling standing there spinning a dagger on her hoof.
The pirates quickly went for their weapons as did the guard as a good dozen more of the pirates turned into changelings.
“ENOUGH!” The one eyed Abyssinian stated, making every pirate in the room freeze as he spoke up. “None of you are here to demand anything, you are all here because a favor was called by one whom you owe it. Or have you already forgotten what Heart has done for us? Or what the Storm King himself has done to us?”
The feline made a sweeping gesture, and Fluttershy in the back hid behind Pinkie Pie as the collected pirates murmured as they glanced to her.
“All we need Princess, is supplies, and two days head start from your Guard fleet when this task is over.” the brown feline stated. ”Give us that and the pirates of Turtle Toga will follow your banner until the Alicorns are recovered.”
There was some nodding agreement from the others.
“That, I can agree to.” Princess Sweetiebelle stated.
Any further discussion was cut off as a portal opened against the far wall. All those present drew weapons again as the dark purple circle in nothing hummed softly.
Stepping out of the portal was an orange furred canine, in shorts and a vest and a brown stetson hat.
“Applejack?” Pinkie Pie questioned.
“Howdy. Sorry bout the entrance, but we were in a hurry. Ah found a guide who ken open tha portal for us and drop us off right on tha bastards front door.” Witch Jack smirked.
Stepping out behind her was a short navy blue male moon dog with nothing on in the way of clothing save a large leather belt draped over his shoulder holding a large crate of some sort. His muzzle was a bit longer than Rahs' and he was about half as tall, though he was bulky and wide at the shoulders. His chin also had a great deal of dark blue scruff fur as if it was a beard. Amber eyes regarded the crowd as the portal closed behind him.
“Woof.” Rahs' father Cosma declared.
[ Canterlot 2 Days after the attack. Canterlot Horsepitol]
Cosma stared up at the statue of his son with a frown. It was far more dangerous in the waking world than he had thought if even gods could be felled like this.
He was getting a few looks from a number of bleary eyed ponies and assorted other creatures. A younger one he recognized as an Apple was taking a lot of notes and generally being sent around as a go-for for the others in the lab, with only the zebra really accepting her observations and allowing her to try things.
Rahs had been chosen as a test case here due to him being the first one caught up in the attack, something the elder Sparkles had suggested. Granted they knew he was a god, and anything tested wouldn't hurt him if it failed. The zebra and the little pony knew as well, but it was doubtful any one else did.
His son had wanted to keep it quiet for some reason.
He had spoken with the Elder Sparkles before he came here and found they were working with the current Princesses parents in order to deal with some issues popping up.
Cosma didn't know what 'planned regicide' or a 'coup' were, but Nightlight had assured him that Sweetiebelle's parents were very good at dealing with that sort of thing, and making sure it was dealt with in a way that it didn't need to be dealt with twice.
It really wasn't his concern, once the ponies were ready, he had another mission.
Applejack had shown up and wanted help. She was surprised that there was as much panic in the the Oneiroi as there was. The stone balls were causing all sorts of chaos there as well. While it seemed only Rahs' link was enough to transfer the spell though, all of the trapped ones were still alive, and even in stasis they still slept and dreamed. And right now that was hundreds of creatures who when asleep had nightmares about being trapped.
Being an apex predator in a realm where little to nothing could hurt you, most of the moon dogs were rather lazy, the sudden rush to have to do something other than eat was causing all sorts of confusion and stress as there were far more nightmares coming from their bonded than usual.
That had sent every moon dog into a frenzy as the number of tantabus' appearing skyrocketed.
Of course that had helped him in this endeavor.
Cosma shifted the strap on his shoulder, ignoring the hisses, screams, and growls coming from the box, despite everyone else in the room staring at him in confusion and or terror, at the sounds.
The Goddess Luna had taught him the spell to go between worlds so he could visit his son. Unfortunately he would need to gorge himself on dreams to be able to cast it once just to head out of the Oneiroi.
When Applejack had asked for help and told what she had planned he had volunteered and set out to gather what he needed.
So here he was in the waking world, with a box full of tantabus snacks to keep his energy up looking to open a gate for an airship fleet. A fleet that would take eight hours to get through the Oneiroi with his guidance to a destination that would take three days in the waking world.
Cosma would let them out then wait until they needed to come back. He was an old dog, and was never a fighter, but he was certainly going to offer any aid he could to those looking to take down the one who had hurt his son.
[Storm Kings Island 3 days after the attack]
“Red three report.”
The pony glided up landing lightly on the cloud with a salute.
“All ships in formation commencing attack on the island, they should be in range of anti air fire from the stronghold in two minutes.” The pegasus stated .
“Right. Operation Shock is complete, it's time for Awe. Red five, you're up. Lets see if you're as good as you say.”
“I am.” Rainbow Dash grinned.
“Spearhead formation, follow the cone, just like in training.” Spitfire snapped following Rainbow Dash as she lept off the cloud, with Soarin to her left just behind Rainbow Dash.
Behind them three score of Wonderbolts and reservists dropped off the cloud in a wedge formation spiraling from the sky at top speed towards the island, all of them carrying large satchels slung under their fore limbs, and some of those in the back towing sulky carts.
The goal was to drop behind enemy lines and take out as much of the anti air defenses as they could for the fleet to approach.
Of course Spitfire had been keeping an eye on Rainbow Dash during her training, particularly with how much her little filly gushed about the mare. She had found Scootaloo wasn't exaggerating too much in her descriptions, and the Rain boom thing the mare could do had a lot of possible uses. As such when she had the chance she drilled the team in it, finding only Dash was able to break the last barrier, but every one else could follow in her slipstream and even be buffered from impact by the wave pushed ahead of the rainbow maned hopeful.
Dash had earned her place on the roster several times over, but she was kept as a reserve simply due to the fact she was an Element of Harmony, and that job was far more important than a Wonderbolt.
Truth be told she outranked Spitfire in that regard, but it seemed no one told her.
Far below on the island, the yeti were still getting over the shock of scores of ships appearing.
The Awe was lost on them as the Wonderbolts exploded out of the sky with a ring of rainbow light and started dropping bombs on the anti air weapons and landing with the sulky carts. The miniaturization spells on the troops inside dispelling as they touched the ground releasing squads of demo teams and Guard shock troops in the middle of the enemy stronghold.
[ Storm Kings Island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
The guttural cry of a yeti sent several armored troops rushing down the hall inside the castle. The leader a yeti in better armor with the rank of a sergeant, rushed up to a wounded yeti coughing and clutching his side where a good bit of blood stained his white fur, outside of one of the armories.
The lead yeti barked an demand.
The injured yeti explained about the pegasus attack and gestured to the armory behind him indicating several were inside with several guttural grunts.
The leader growled and rushed his squad of yeti inside to deal with the threat.
The injured yeti straightened up and stopped coughing as they rushed past, reaching into his belt satchel and drawing out a large angry looking red crystal.
He smacked it against the wall and the colors inside started swirling and growing brighter before he tossed it into the room the other yeti had run into. He quickly ducked around the corner of the hall just as the room exploded with a burst of fire and the screams of the yeti that had been inside.
The injured yeti smirked, a wash of green flame rushing over his form revealing a female changeling in black armor with a red hourglass on the flank. The flame continued and now the leader of the burning group of yeti stood there.
A quick check was done before the 'new' sergeant rushed down the hall to find some one he could order to do something stupid.
Similar things were happening all over the fortress.
The Queen had given the order.
The Widows answered.
[ Storm Kings Island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
“What the fuck!?!” the Storm King bellowed, as the entire castle shook from multiple explosions. The ring of rainbow light radiated away from the island, washing over the attacking fleet and his own making them bob in the air like leaves on a pond after a stone was dropped in.
The Storm King looked back as dust and bits of rock fell from the ceiling of the great hall, along with a few large spiders that scuttled off into the corners of the room.
Tempest glanced at the creatures that came towards her, her glare seeming to make all of them decide to skitter elsewhere.
“TEMPEST GET OUT THERE AND DEAL WITH THIS!!” the Storm King bellowed.
“I believe we had a deal. I get you the alicorns, you fix my horn.” Tempest stated flatly.” You have the alicorns, now fix my horn.”
The yeti god growled pointing the staff at the mare, who simply continued to stare at him.
“Three days ago I saw the face of death in the sun. You don't frighten me.” Tempest stated flatly, though the storm king could see she had flicked open one of her saddlebags, and he could see several stone balls in it. He sneered at the mare turning his attention to the airships passing over the crashing waves at the edge of his island.
“Fine I will deal with this my self and then your insolence.” the Storm King snapped raising the staff and pointing it at the lead Equestrian airship, The Waning Moon.
There was a hum as four differing colors of magic formed around the crystal, the light of it growing brighter as the yeti lord cackled. With a thrum of power that shook his bones, he launched a beam of energy powered by four alicorns at the ship.
[ Storm Kings Island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
The sirens had just changed up as the first song ended. She turned tossing the mic to her sister a grin on her shark toothed maw. The blue siren moved back from the prow of the ship and the purple one moved up.
Applejack wasn't sure where the song came from, they didn't have any instruments or anything that played music, but something was playing a tune while they sang.
There was magic in it too, that she could smell every where like it was reaching out to all the attackers, not enough to change her, but if she stayed here for long it might, she was back a bit to make sure she wasn't draining them, but neither seemed bothered by her as she tried to force herself not to eat any magic. She had drained herself dry in the Oneiroi helping Cosma with the gate figuring she could pick up some magic in the area and so far she had, she was just shy of being forced to transform.
Some of the others seemed bolstered or ready to go and even a few of the Diamond Dogs Jynx had sent with her seemed to be motivated by the tune. The new one was less peppy, but had more anger in it.
“And it all crashes down And you break your crown And you point your finger, but there's no one around.”
Applejack wasn't a fan of the tune, and of course it did nothing for her, but she couldn't disagree that the pair could sing.
The orange mares attention snapped suddenly to the front of the ship, the feeling of immense power and a scent stronger than anything else was coming from below them. Applejack leaned over the side spotting a glowing ball of energy down on a castle balcony with a yeti holding a staff aloft pointed at them.
The mare rushed forward at a gallop feeling the power grow even stronger, she shoved Aria aside and hit the front railing of the ship leaping off hard enough to crack the railing sending her soaring into the air before she started to fall, her hat flying off her head as her leap brought her between the ship and the yeti. The music dimmed as the massive bolt of magic slammed into the farm pony.
The Waning Moon rocked back, pushed up in the air from the pressure wave shaking from the near impact but undamaged.
The massive spell however arced like lightning finding a copper pole and angled down as it followed what it hit.
No, not followed
The immense magic bolt was being dragged.
The falling magic slammed into the beach, glassing several thousand feet of sand and rock before there was a echoing sound of something tearing, and the magic was ripped away from the staff held by the yeti and dragged down towards the beach.
The magic faded out leaving a blackened crater of glass in the beach, the tide just low enough that it hadn't started to fill the hole with sea water.
A number of yeti who were on the beach readying to fight blinked the spots from their eyes as they looked over to the crater.
All of them froze as something came out of the smoking hole.
An orange furred canine that looked like what a Diamond Dog wished it could be stood on the lip of the crater. The towering form stood taller than the yeti's god. A wild mane of blonde hair billowed floating around the creatures wolf like head like a halo of gold. Long pointed ears poked up out of the mass of hair each tipped with a nearly blinding orb of silvery light. The females fur crackled with energy, burning off into the air like saint equines fire as it danced over her form wreathing her in multicolored flame. The ample chested females tail lashed behind her, the crescent that glowed on the end of her tail as large as a scythe as it whipped through the air behind her
She stood on the edge of the crater panting heavily, but unmoving other wise. The armored yeti cautiously approached, freezing and raising their weapons as the canine looked up into the sky.
Following her gaze they saw a brown object flutter down from above, the creature reached out her hand catching the object as it fell in her claws, She smirked brushing it off with her other hand, then placed the battered stetson on her head and grinned wide her green eyes blazing as she regarded the yeti around her.
She spoke with a growl flickers of energy danced over her fangs and tongue, nearly letting her spit the sparks at them.
“Ya'll took a couple of friends of mine. I'd be much obliged if you gave them back … right now.” Witch-Jack growled ready to let the yeti know why so many other races were afraid of Witch-Wolves.
[ Canterlot, 3 days after the attack on the city, while the attack on the island is happening]
A rumble of thunder sounded over the mountain as three figures sat on a rock ledge further up the mountain.
“You should have let me eat him for that comment.” Bleu snorted.
“He did not lie Bleu.“ Aqua stated. “I know dragons rear their young differently, but not many would have given their off spring to another species to raise.”
“I have some issues alright, drop it.” Bleu muttered.
“I noticed you did not threaten the new Diamond Dog goddess, despite her smacking you on the nose.” Iinii pointed out, looking up at the sky.
“One of her portfolios is gemstones, I'd rather not piss some one off who can fuck with my food.”Bleu admitted.
“At any rate what Lockheed said stopped you which was the point.”Aqua stated.”I am constantly impressed and disappointed at the things that come out of that griffons beak.”
“He never wanted to be a god, but at the time honor dictated he become one. Now that he is one he enjoys too many of the perks to pass it on, but he cannot stand dealing with others.”Iinii commented. ”When Celestia threw all the griffon nobles out of Equestria they all flocked to him with their petty grievances and whining. For some one who only wishes to be left alone, that is quite the punishment.”
The four gods were silent a moment looking up at the storm above them. The god of snows had layered thick clouds over half of the planet, and the goddess of the wind and lightning had made sure the thick roiling clouds didn't dissipate. It was a stop gap solution for the sun still being in the sky three days later, but it would keep the world from burning up for a while yet.
It was Aqua who noticed the extra god first.
“You are late.”Aqua snorted.
“I am never late, nor was I early.” White offered waving a sprig of clover he was munching on at the sea pony goddess.
“I question why you have not done the same with the pony goddesses as you did with us, White.” Iinii rumbled in his deep baritone.
“Why? You have dealt with it quite well, those storms will protect the land and those who will dwell on it.” White offered.” Also I didn't do it this time, so it wasn't done then either. Besides as always, the pony gods are doing things differently.”
“You mean the newest pony god is.” Aqua sighed.
“Who else should I mean? Celestia was set in her ways. Luna will be skittish. And the less you know about what Cadence has, will, and is getting up to the saner you will be.” White huffed.” To be fair she will be young yet, though she won't have been any better when she was older by much either.”
“You are not telling us something.” Bleu growled.
“Of course I'm not telling you something. Where would be the fun if I did that?” White smirked.
“You are adding more credence to the theory that you are a spawn of Discord.” Aqua huffed.” And I have enough issue with my own children from him to worry about a step child too.”
“HA. No worries my dear. I will not be a spawn of Discord. I was a spawn of myself.” White smirked.
“What?” Iinii question.
“He's his own grandpa.” Bleu smirked. ”Rhino owes me my weight in rubies now.”
[Storm Kings Island, Deck of the Waning Moon, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
The gathered diamond dogs watched as the beam of magic faded out, grounded in the sands below them. The group had watched the orange pony they were reluctantly ordered to follow leap off the prow and slam into the bolt.
They all blinked in surprise looking over the side wondering if Jynx was going to be mad about the pony blowing herself up, when they all witnessed the massive orange witch wolf step out of the crater.
The collective intelligence of the dogs on the deck could easily be counted by a foal just learning about numbers from a picture book. Jynx had sent this particular group due to their combat skills not their intelligence.
However even a broken clock is right twice a day.
“That pony. She the orange bitch?” One uttered
“Alpha not beat her in fights.” another added.
“But it fun to watch.” a third said, and the group hummed their approval of that mental image.
“Wait. Alpha and orange one fight over moon dog.”
“Shhh. Enjoy mental image.”
“No Fleabag. Alpha send us with her. Alpha know who pony is. That mean Alpha think her pack mate for moon dog.”
The others considered, a few brain cells rattling in their head.
“Lucky dog.” Another one drooled.
“Yes. But what you think alpha do if something happen to pony?”
There was another pause then a collective shudder.
“So we fight then. For pony?”
“For pony.” The slightly smarter one agreed.
“ FOR PONY!!!!” The collective pack howled out and rushed to the front of the ship to fling themselves off of it over the beach, howling all the way down.
The yeti on the ground were already wary of the large orange diamond dog that had crashed in their midst, particularly since the had kicked the first one to attack her a half mile out to sea. One didn't expect a diamond dog to have that well developed hind legs.
The sudden howling made the yeti and their approaching reinforcements look up at the literal rain of dogs.
Witch -Jack winced as the first one hit the ground, the sand bursting into the air from the impact, the others hit soon after with great impacts and showers of sand as they cratered.
Did Jynx send her with a bunch of suicidal idiots?
It only took her a moment to realize that their were no bodies in the craters, just holes.
She barely managed to spot him when the first armored diamond dogs burst from the ground at the feet of the yeti and dragged the screaming creature back into the sand with him. Others did the same and pulled the yeti into holes or just popped up and laid into them, the Diamond Dogs tunneling at ridiculous speeds through the sand.
“Well.... okay.” Witch Jack blinked.
[Storm Kings Island, Deck of the conscripted Princess Bride, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
“WE'RE HIT!!” screamed a guards pony as an explosion rocked the main deck scrapping one of the balista mounted there and blowing a hole into the lower deck, several Guards being flung from the impact site.
“MEDIC!!” Screamed another Guard dragging the injured gunner away from the wreckage of the balista he had been on.
One of the smaller ships of the Storm Kings fleet had managed to slip past the main guns of the battle ships ahead of them and was flitting among the airship fleet firing at random at every ship it passed, causing quite a bit of damage to anything not heavily armored. With the smaller ship in their midst the ships larger weapons couldn't be brought to bear without risking hitting their own ships, and smaller weapons were being used to negligent effect.
The small airship veered, the small crew of it manning their four deck cannons and firing at anything they could while the yeti captain kept the ship going at top speed, propelled by a massive fan spinning behind the ship.
“SHOOT THAT THING!” One of the Guard screamed out only for a loud whistle to fill the air and something to explode against the side of the yeti craft.
The impact was such that the gondola swung hard nearly spinning up over top the balloon, two of the yeti being knocked off it to drop screaming into the water far below.
“Nice Shot!” the Guard yelled looking around, though he didn't see any one on a gun that could have hit the ship.
“Little low.” stated a voice nearby.
“Eeyup.”
Turning, the Guard saw Prince Sombra standing by the pile of balista rounds meant for the destroyed weapon, behind him was a massive red Nox-Cal with a green apple for a cutie mark. The massive stallion hefted another balista bolt like he was picking up a rock to skip across a lake and flung it at the still wobbling enemy ship.
The bolt spun in the air like a slung stick rather than a javelin and slammed into and cut through the airbag of the speedy little ship. The airbag rupture caused the yeti airship to fly exactly the way a rock doesn't, meaning more screaming yeti and another crash into the ocean far below as the ruined airship hit the water.
“You need to work on your throws, there was too much spin on that.” Sombra offered to the massive draconic pony, who simply shrugged and picked up another bolt.
[ Canterlot, 3days after the attack, just before the Princess Bride departs.]
The ships were loading the last bit of supplies and going over a few last minute checks before heading out to the large area where the gate would be opened. Most of those on the ships were wary of the idea of traveling through another realm to get to their goal, particularly with how the crate the little moon dog was carrying around cried and screamed sounding much like something out of ones nightmares.
The Princess Bride had been conscripted as had a few other civilian craft to carry troops, though the smaller ones were going to be little more than launch platforms for the Wonderbolts and other pegasi Guard. The Princess Bride however was armed and armored already, if lightly, but it was quite easy to upgrade it with more deck guns and protective enchantments.
The ship was mainly going to be used as a troop transport, being one of the few craft that had a opening in the prow of the ship. The orders were to touch down where they could release the troops on board and dust off as fast as possible.
The detailed intel provided about the Storm King's castle from the Changeling Princess Saturnia was a bit worrying to some of the Guard commanders, but they were reassured that the changelings were on their side, or at least the side of the Crystal Empire, which was on Equestria's side.
In any event the Captain of the Princess Bride, a earth pony named Washborne, had looked at the layout of the Storm Kings castle, and stated his chosen landing point was going to be in a courtyard in the middle of the structure.
He was laughed at of course by everyone who didn't know the captain and crew of the Princess Bride. Putting down in such a small space was a surprisingly common occurrence when Prince Blueblood wanted to do something exciting.
A Royal Guard stood on deck as the last of the troops and supplies came aboard, the unicorn going over the checklist, before he frowned at something and moved in front of a pony who had just stepped off the gangplank onto the ship..
“Hold it.”The unicorn Guard stated meeting the dark unicorns gaze.”Prince Sombra you are not supposed to be here, you're not on the list. Who authorized you to come aboard?”
Sombra raised an eyebrow at that and glanced at the pips on the ponies armor....” I go where I want lieutenant. Besides, the question is not who authorized us, but who is going to stop us?”
“Us?” The Guard questioned before letting out a yelp as a hoof pushed against his chest plate, lifting him up off the deck to eye level with a very large and very red Nox-Cal nocturne.
“Eeyup.” Big Mac stated flatly before setting the unicorn to the side, clearing the way for both he and Sombra onto the ship.
[ Storm Kings Island, Castle, Main hall, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
“WHAT IS THIS BULSHIT!?!!?” The Storm King roared, as he watched the immense blast of magic he had fired off at the ship get dragged away from his target and hit the ground.
He stared down off the balcony and growled at the sight of the massive orange furred beast that emerged from the crater.
He grumbled something about damn magic eaters before pointing the staff back at the ship and firing it again, only for the rod to sputter a little and produce only a few sparks.
Glaring at the rod the Storm King took note that the crystal in the staff was dull, though it was slowly starting to regain it's luster.
“IT'S GOT A FUCKING CHARGE COOL DOWN?!”The Storm King roared.” These are alicorns not a damnable video game!”
“It's still the power of four alicorns in your hand. Alicorns I delivered to you as promised.” Tempest offered, her tone cold. “And given you promised to restore my horn before you even had such power, I will ask again that you fulfill your promise and fix my horn.”
The Storm King whirled on the mare swinging the staff at her. Tempest simply ducked under the swing with little effort still glaring up at him.
“You are getting on my last nerve mare.”the Storm King stated.
“The feeling is mutual.”
The yeti god snorted.”We are in the middle of being attacked and you are demanding this now?”
“Why not, it will force your hand if you want my help with this. You know as well as I do that your troops couldn't organize their way out of a wet paper bag without some one yelling at them.” Tempest stated.
“Ever the strategist.” The Storm King snorted.
“Well?!”
The Storm King regarded the mare for a moment then turned to look back out over the balcony as more and more ships approached, a rather large one was dropping down into the court yard somehow. There were no gods that he could sense, so killing them would only be a matter of his going out there and doing it. Of course he knew they were all coming to rescue the alicorns so he planed to stay put and simply pick them off. What mortal could deal with a god on his own turf?”
“No.” The Storm King stated.
“What?!” Tempest growled.
“I said no. You may have done what I told you, but I have little further use for some one who doesn't obey me.” The Storm King stated.
The growl and lunge was fully expected. He had been ready for that, what he had not been ready for was the savagery. He moved to belt her away with the back of his hand the moment she lunged at him and the mare had broken his arm in three places with her hoof before she shattered a few ribs, and knocked out a several teeth as she laid into him.
No movement was wasted as the mare raged , every strike hitting and doing damage on the yeti lord even if he blocked that arm would be shattered.
He was almost impressed.
He was less impressed when the mare managed a kick with her rear hooves that would have made a mortal and likely even a demi god sterile for the rest of his life.
He should look into getting that spot armored a bit better.
Of course the mare showed no signs of slowing down in turning him into a pulp.
Still this was annoying, with a wave of his broken arm the area around him exploded in lightning, flinging the mare back, though surprisingly despite the shock she landed on her hooves looking all the world like she was about to attack again.
“Stupid pony. Even if I knew how to fix that shattered stump of yours did you really think I would bother?” The Storm King uttered, the words garbled at first until his jaw repaired itself only a few seconds after she had broken it, the rest of his body fixing itself much the same, he was after all on an island. It took either a fool or the mad to challenge a god on their holy ground.
Tempest lunged at him again and this time his counter attack was too fast to block or dodge and the mare was grabbed by the throat and lifted in the air. She rained blows on his arm as he held her out, with his focus on her fully she was unable to do more than cause brief bruising as his claws dug into her throat. Her horn started to charge and he let loose another bolt of lightning from his hand electrocuting the mulberry colored unicorn. She screamed out, though she remained conscious and still attempted to fight.
The Storm King snorted, and shocked her again, eliciting a weaker scream this time.
He would have done so a third time had a massive explosion not rocked the entire island, and staggered him a moment. More spiders fell from the arched ceiling along with several light sources, the glow crystals shattering on the ground plunging much of the room into darkness lit only by the light from the balcony and a few crystals that had not broken when they fell.
He looked back at the balcony before he flung the charred mare aside, her limp form slammed into the wall with enough force to crater the stone. Tempest fell to the ground panting hard, her armor shattered and falling from her battered form. He idly noted several of the stone balls she had been carrying rolling away from her to scatter about the room like lost marbles.
“Pathetic, as expected though. You were quite the useful tool. But I suppose all tools wear and break, some faster than others. Rather refreshing that you were loyal for a time instead of simply afraid of me. But I have no use for loyalty, just obedience. You should have been simply content to serve a god, you mortals are weak and have no other purpose than to obey, to serve your betters, and none are better than me.”
The yeti god smirked as he glared at the mare while she struggled to rise, he raised the staff pointing at her with a grin, noting the crystal was glowing again. A waste of power to be sure, but he was rather curious what would happen to one targeted by such power at such close range
There was the sound like the shattering of glass and the crystal on the staff winked out.
“What!?” The Storm King demanded lifting the staff to stare at the dark crystal on the end.
“None are better than you huh....?” asked a voice.
The Storm King blinked and looked towards the throne room as the sound off hoof falls could be heard echoing around the room.
“...No use for loyalty....a mortals only use is to obey, huh...?”
The glow of magic lit up the shadowy area showing four crystal rings floating in it's grip rather than on the alicorn's horns where they should be. All four of them were cracked and being crumbled to dust in that magic grip, red fluid oozing out of the cracks to splatter on the floor.
A mare strode out of the throne room into the light of one of the fallen glows. She dropped the shattered rings to the floor with the tinkle of shattered glass. The alicorn fanned her wings a little as she glared at the yeti, before she cracked her neck, then started advancing on the yeti god
“... Interesting philosophy you have there.” Twilight Sparkle growled. “Lets see how that works for you.”
[ Storm Kings island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
The Storm King gaped as he stared at the purple alicorn like she was a ghost.
“How in Tartarus did you get free!?” The yeti god demanded.
Twilight paused and considered for a moment.
“I have no idea.”
She tilted her head and considered again, one ear flicked once in thought.
“Correction, I have a idea, but I don't plan to leave you in any state to process my theory coherently.”
[ Canterlot Horsepitol, 3 days after the attack on the city, during the counter assault on the Storm King's Island.]
There was a slosh of liquid before a dabbing and the light scrape of a cotton ball against stone. After a brief pause there was a sigh.
“Mix 443, … no effect.” stated a tired voice.
For the last three days the research ward had been a hot bed of activity. The goddess of medicine Ascepius had shown up to offer a claw and every alchemist, blood mage, and doctor that could be found was currently started to look over everything they could to try and save the ones trapped in stone.
“Mix 444, … no effect.”
The captured yeti didn't know anything about how to undo what the stone balls did and several of the more unscrupulous blood mages and doctors used what stone balls were recovered from the fallen yeti on the captured ones to test them. That had caused a massive fuss that had several of the experts put under guard or out right imprisoned, limiting the horse power that was already low.
“Mix 445, … no effect.”
Rahs Sparkle had ended up the main test subject of the mixes the alchemists had put together as he was considered patient zero being the first one affected..Granted the fact he had the most comprehensive medical data on file that any one had ever seen thanks to the research of Princess Celestia when he was a pup, and later on Twilight Sparkle, who took insanely detailed notes was a bonus too. Applebloom had found that it was weird that he was accepted, given that no one really had agreed on anything else before that or after, though she chocked it up to Rahs' bullshit drama power and hoped that it meant that this could be cured soon.
That had been three days ago and countless magic, alchemy, and mystic nonsense had gone on since then.
Most of the others working had taken breaks or gone off to sleep. Applebloom was having none of that. Her colt, errr dragon friend was a statue and had turned into one in front of her eyes. She wasn't gonna do anything else until he was cured.
“Mix 446, … no effect.”
Of course she wasn't sure how. Early on it had been discovered that it wasn't real rock that had encased everyone it was some form of lichen composed of tiny fibrous dark gray vines with thorns on them. Zecora had pointed out that they looked very similar to the vines that had stolen the princesses away over a year ago.
This had started another argument as no one was willing to believe some brush shaman with an accent like Zecora's, knew something no one else did. That argument got loud and shouty until the Goddess of Medicine and Healing told all of them to shut the fuck up, because if they had the energy to argue they had the energy to do some work.
“Mix 447, … no effect.”
One did not argue with a doctor four times your size with fangs longer than your hoof who could swallow you whole.
Most of the more argumentative ponies had eased off or simply chose to ignore those they didn't consider being skilled enough to even be here. Most of those were sent off to other groups.
In the end this part of the labs was full of those who could put ego and possible fame aside and actually work to save ponies.
“Mix 448, … no effect.”
Zecora and Applebloom were part of this group, though Applebloom being a novice still, despite studying three different types of alchemy, including one from another world entirely, was mostly used as a gopher or for those tests that were repetitive. Like testing the mixtures on the statue of Rahs, or his coat at least.
“Mix 449, … no effect.” Applebloom droned, the bags under the teen fillies eyes big enough to carry at least half of Rarity's luggage.” And 450.... nothing.”
“ Damn. I was sure the nirn root mixture would do something.” one of the doctors called out from the next set he was working on.
“Nirn roots only good for fortifying stuff.” Applebloom yawned.
“And as a conjuration material.” A unicorn offered from another table.
“That doesn't mean too much to non casters though.” A griffon offered.
“AhppleBloom you should be in bhed, yah already look like you're hahlf dead.” Zecora yawned as she trotted in. The zebra mare had left about six hours ago in order to take a nap and get something to eat.
“Ah'm fine.” Applebloom grumbled.
“Like Tartarus you are filly. You've been in here non stop for the last three days, you've out worked the god in the room.” the unicorn from before offered.
“I ate lunch, you cannot tell me you poniesssss don't get drowssssy after eating.” Ascpicious huffed as she looked over some notes.
“Yeah well you ate a whole pig, so I'm not even going to try and figure out the digestive issues with that,” The griffon offered.
“ Ah'm fine.” Applebloom grumbled.
“Look if you don't want to sleep, okay, I think we all know about your colt, dragon, whatever, friend.” The unicorn stated once more. “ But go down to the cafeteria and get some food at least, you're gonna make yourself sick.”
“Hey while you're down there, can you grab me a few more charged crystals?” A Kirin asked from a table behind the Rahs statue.
“What more of them? I just brought you a brand new box an hour ago!” the griffon pointed out.
“Yeah, you must have found a bad box though, all of them are drained. It's not vital, but I can't use the spectra scope until I get new ones.” the kirin explained.
Applebloom froze, something in her mind clicking over through the haze in her mind.
“Wait a minute.” Applebloom questioned looking at Rahs.”He eats magic.....”
“Yeah that's in the reports, I've had him come in to clear out a magic malady once myself.” the kirin stated.
“No, it's passive too, like mai sister. He's draining tha batteries...... and all these potions. He's eating tha magic in them afore we ken use it on him.”” Applebloom gasped, before she darted over to a table.
“Ah will hahve to sahy this is true, my mixtures hahve a bit of mahgic too.” Zecora agreed looking at Rahs.
“Wait so the mixturesssss only failed because of the passsssive magic consumption rendered them null?I was unaware his passsssive drain was that high.” Ascpicious considered.
“His body thinks he's hurt. Applejack did the same thing after the big Timber wolf bit her It's drawing in magic trying tah heal.” Applebloom explained as she started grabbing things and making notes.
“This was a problem I had not considered when we chose this particular Sssssparkle.” Ascepius considered.
“That would explain why ensuna didn't work.” the unicorn considered.” but does that mean that he'll heal himself?”
“Not ahgainst the the odd vine.”Zecora considered “Celestiah and Lunah were both stuck that time”
“Indeed ssssso was I. It was not pleasant.” Ascepius stated before she looked over at Applebloom.“What are you doing?”
“Poison joke, we know that affects him and we add in Everfree Thyme tah speed it up afore he ken eat it, pair it with that basic gold needle mix Zecora made and add in some plant grower.” Applebloom stated combining the items.
“Plant grower? We don't want the vines getting stronger.” the griffon frowned.
“Poison joke is a strahnge plahnt, if you ahdd something to grow, it simply cahn't” Zecora considered.
“Can I get a translation?” the Kirin sighed.
“Poisssson joke tendssss to go with the funniesssst thing or what every one least expectsssss, if she's right we will either get a room full of vinesssss or a bunch of dead onesssss, and sssssince we expect it to grow, the percentage is in favor of them dying.” Ascpicious considered.”Ssssshe might be onto sssssomething, if not, it's not like we've made any progressssss.”
Applebloom let out a shudder, blinking furiously to keep from mixing something wrong before she moved over with a slightly fizzing blue vial pouring it on Rahs' arm.
The collective doctors and alchemists all paused their own work to watch, staring at the liquid as it fizzled on the moon dogs arm.
And did nothing.
There was a collective exhalation as everyone let out the breath they were holding.
“That... that should have worked...” Applebloom frowned looking at the vial.
“A lot of things should have worked.” The unicorn offered. “Don't be too hard on yourself kid.”
“True, you have given us some ideas with some new data, we might be able to make more progress now if....” Ascpicious began though she was cut off by the sound of a loud crack.
Everyone turned back to the statue watching as the gray stone started to turn brown in the spot the liquid had been poured, then very quickly started to spread. The stone started flaking and falling away as more and more cracks formed in the statue, bits of it dropped away in patches before, with a last echoing crack, a sound like a rock slide was heard as the moon dog under the stone flexed, shattering the confinement, and littering the ground with shards of stone like growths.
Rahs growled and brushed off the shards of stone still on his shoulders, his eyes darting around the room.
There was a bright flash of light that drew everyone's eyes from the freed moon dog to the yellow and red maned pony who had mixed this success.
Applebloom blinked grinning like a fool that it had worked as she stared at Rahs.
“Applebloom, your cutie mark!?” Ascepius blinked pointing to the young pony.
Applebloom turned her head to look at her flank, and the conical flask now adorning hip, half full of blue liquid with a small red apple floating in it.
Applebloom and everyone else in the room stared at it a moment before Applebloom finally spoke.
“Huh. Neat.” Applebloom offered, then she passed out and collapsed to the floor.
The door to the room burst open with a crash, drawing everyone's gaze from the collapsed filly to the door and the sound of faded shouting from further down the hall. A white unicorn with a blue mane covered in shards of stone looked around the room, his eyes locking onto the moon dog.
“Rahs!” Shining Armor snapped.
Bork.” Rahs growled darting out of the room as Shining vanished in a flash of light, the kirin glanced out into the hall seeing neither of them in the long corridor.
“Ssssso. That happened.” Ascepius sighed as she moved over to look at the notes Applebloom had been taking.
“The Sparkles really are the worst patients.” the unicorn offered.
“At least we can duplicate that. Can we can drop the poison joke and just use the thyme and gold needle mix?” the griffon pondered.
“Ahem.”
The gathered group all looked back to the door and the purple and green dragon that stood there brushing stone from his shoulders.
“Sooo why is everyone standing around looking stupid while my girl friend is passed out on the floor?” Spike demanded.
[ Storm Kings island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
There were screams and panic in the yeti lines as more devastation was brought about by the Widows. One of the smarter sergeants had rushed all the yeti he could gather to the store room with the Basilisk rifles, such potent weapons would surely turn the tide.
The squad had made it to the store room when they were all flung back as it exploded with a blast that shook the whole castle.
The sergeant pushed himself up right growling before his eyes went wide and he fell over, a dagger buried in his back by one of the other yeti.
Green flame flickered over the yeti that stabbed him as the pink changeling yanked the dagger from the creatures back. A glance to one of the other yeti rising to their feet was greeted with a salute and a flash of green flame.
“Report.” Saturnia questioned as a number of other changelings fell on the remaining yeti.
“ We've knocked out a great many of their anti air weapons and destroyed all the store rooms that had the rifles, we're currently working through the supplies still in the main fleet.”the black armored changeling stated as an explosion sounded out side like a ship crashing.”There are several villages on the surrounding islands with yeti on them, but none of them seem to be sending reinforcements and earlier investigations showed they contained mostly females, children and elderly.”
“Any problems?”
“We've lost a few of our own in one of the back halls, who ever is there seems to be able to see through our disguises or is just killing anything that comes close. Preliminary reports suggest it's the arms merchant who sold the Storm King the rifles and stone balls.”
“Direct more forces towards that area , I want that merchant.” Saturnia ordered.
“As you wish Princess.” the black widow saluted and took off.
[ Storm Kings island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
A yeti screamed out as it flew through the air, the snap of a whip sounding as it soared and smashed into a wall sliding down it with a faint whimper.
Sombra regarded the fallen yeti curiously, making sure it wasn't going to get back up before he approached the sound of whirling and the clang of metal along with the sound of deep laughter that had brought him down this particular hall.
Looking into the large room there were quite a number of bodies, pirate, guard, and yeti scattered about , most against the walls or smeared across them. Some were still moving trying to get out of the room, some were obviously dead, and several were in a number of pieces.
In the middle of the room two figures were fighting.
The first Sombra recognized. The dark gray furred, black maned Nox-Cal thestril, Comet Trail.
The Ponyville Guard Captain was a blur of movement, the weighted chain he used was positively screaming as it whirled around his form. The heavy ball on the end swinging in an arch before a subtle movement of his wing or hoof against the chain changed the direction of it to move a completely different way. The pony's skill with his chosen weapon was undeniable and Sombra was certain a number of the fallen yeti around the room were his hoof work, including the one that hit the wall as he came in.
His opponent was a massive blue gray yeti in black and deep blue armor, A pair of short black horns sprouted from his head larger than what the mooks had, one of them however was missing a few inches from the end. It seemed an old bit of damage as aside from a few dents in his armor, the massive figure seemed to be enjoying himself.
The yeti wielded what looked to be a sword, it was massive, thick, heavy and far too rough. It was much too big to be a sword. Indeed, it was like a heap of raw iron.
The yeti shifted and whirled with the massive thing, deflecting and knocking aside blows as he swung the blade with one hand, treating it more like a rapier or a short sword than the massive blade it was. Sparks flew and the echos of the impact danced around the room in rapid fire clanging like a foal had been given the chance to pull the bell on a train.
Sombra had seen what the weighted ball could do at the end of the chain that made up the Guard Captain's weapon. He had also felt it more than once as well, that the yeti was blocking so easily was worrying.
Judging by the blood splatters on his armor, this creature was the cause of many of the casualties from their side in this room.
“YES YES!! That's it pony, COME ON! MORE MORE!!” The yeti cackled, laughing as he blocked the blows raining down on him, his own attacks being deflected by the whirling chain, or dodged by the practically dancing Nox-Cal. ”This is what I was after, a real battle! Come pony, show me everything you have!!!”
Comet Trail growled and Sombra frowned. He could see where this was going, the yeti was not unskilled and he was playing with the Guard. Sombra considered it pure foolishness to play with someone so dangerous, but the yeti hardly seemed troubled by the fight.
The armored yeti suddenly stepped back tilting his head back to avoid the end of the chain by barely an inch. He shifted his grip on the blade, both hands holding it as he brought the massive thing behind him as if winding up for a massive swing,the yeti's armor clanging as several blows from the Guard Captain struck home and were ignored.
The yeti shifted stomping forward and brought the blade across before him, not even seeming to try and hit the Nox-Cal given he had turned so the flat of the blade cut across the air producing a strong gust of wind like a fan.
The impact of the wind made the pony wince, not because it damaged him, but because his whirling weight was knocked out of it's spinning arc sending the main mass of it to clatter to the floor with the momentum blown away. The yeti continued the swing, spinning the blade as he brought it up over his head and then down in a brutal arc with all that weight behind the movement. Comet Trail dodged aside, though the massive blade came down severing several lengths of the chain and sinking a good foot into the stone floor after destroying the Guard pony's weapon.
Before the thestril could react the yeti heaved the weapon side ways towards the nox-cal gouging a foot of stone floor from the ground like he was scooping butter from a tub. The deft motion flung broken bits of chain and large chunks of stone at Comet Trail.
No mater how good he was the Nox-Cal could not avoid everything, and chunks of his own weapon and the stone floor tore into him, smashing against his armor and unprotected wings, sending the pony flying with the force of it.
Sombra watched the nox-cal crash to the ground and tumble along the stone and bodies to impact wetly into a pile of bodies near the wall.
Comet Trail winced, quickly pushing himself upright upright though Sombra could see the left side of the pony was a mess of blood and destroyed armor, bits of stone were embedded in is side and he was favoring his rear leg, the less said about the state of his wing the better.
“Ahhhhh.” the yeti grinned shaking loose a clump of stone from the end of his blade with one hand before he advanced on the guard. “That was fun pony. Know this in your end, that if nothing else, the fight with you has been the highlight of this battle for me so far. I doubt I shall find another conflict so enjoyable.”
The yeti raised his blade with one hand bringing it down at the wounded nox-cal. The massive blade halted suddenly, as if it weighed no more than a foals stick sword.
The edge of the weapon remained a inch above a black crystal that had sprouted from the ground between him and the nox cal to block the final blow that didn't come.
“The highlight of the battle.” Sombra stated picking his way across the battlefield towards the yeti.”Well. Far be it for me to stop you from enjoying the last win you will ever have in your life, but the two that care for that one are not a pair I'd wish to have annoyed with me for letting him die here.”
The yeti blinked, then grinned as he took in the sight of the black unicorn that was advancing towards him, the pony's black mane whipping in a unseen wind.
“King Sombra... or is it Prince now? This is unexpected.” Squall grinned, before he swept his sword to the, side shattering the black crystal and knocking it and Comet Trail across the room with the flat of the blade, more to get the pony out of the way than to finish him with this new fight about to start.
Sombra bared his fangs, and shifted the ax he carried over his shoulders to bring before him.
His mother considered the weapon a battle ax. A massive cutting edge with a long handle.
Doctor Choppy was not a battle ax.
Doctor choppy was what most cultures considered an executioners, or heads mare's ax. This was not a weapon for combat, but one designed to remove the heads of those slated for death.
That his mother carried it as her personal weapon and wielded it like an ax half it's size worried everyone more than anything else. Sombra himself preferred swords, but it wasn't as if he was unskilled with such a odd weapon. Nightmare Moon and Solomon had taught him to wield many of their favored toys. Despite the look it conveyed however Sombra never saw a reason for Solomon to carry a scythe, it was far too unwieldy of a tool.
Sombra pushed himself up to his rear hooves, his fore hooves shifting to hook the long handle under his left fore limb, his hoof keeping the massive ax head lifted and pointed at Squall, his other hoof raised towards the yeti making the 'bring it' gesture.
“Supurb.” Squall growled with a wide grin as he readied his sword.
Dr. Choppy seemed to vibrate in excitement.
[ Storm Kings island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
Flames lapped along the stone walls, charring everything in the hall way and setting alight spider webs, drapes, and anything, even remotely burnable as a figure advanced down the hall. Waves of heat obscuring the vision of any one who looked down the hall.
“I'm the bitch you hated. Filth infatuated... yeah.” the figure sang.
A group of yeti appeared at the end of the hall firing, several of the stone ball guns the figure. The waves of heat pulsing out of the hall made the shots fall short, the air fired balls barely leaving the guns barrel before falling to the floor, burning to ash before they could even activate. The yeti cried out as they were cooked as well, their fur seared off and the air starved from their lungs by the heat, though they collapsed, Sunset left them alive. Two could play the escalated casualties game, not that she really expected the Storm King to work too hard to save his minions.
“I'm the pain you tasted, fell intoxicated.”
Sunset hummed to herself stepping out into a large room with several halls leading off of it, her gaze shifted around as she looked for a likely path to something important, or better still Twilight, her cousin, aunt, and … well she still wasn't sure if she should call Celestia mom or dad, but she did hope Celestia was alright, if for no other reason than to teach Sunset the spells she used to fry all the airships.
A series of spells shot at her from down one of the halls, forcing the mare to hop out of the way, as the ground where she had been exploded.
A flick of her head sent a good dozen fireballs down the hall in retaliation, the explosion and wash of flame oddly not bringing the expected screams.
Sunset frowned as a number of figures marched out of the hall. Sunset noted none of the approaching yeti even seemed chared or even disturbed by the flames as they moved to encircle her, weapons drawn.
“Hmmm.” Sunset considered, taking note of the spell caster that was with them. At least that was what she expected the spindly yeti was, with his stupid robe and gaudily decorated stick.
“GRAAAH raraa!” The yeti mage grunted.
“Huh... nullified my fire huh?” Sunset considered, her ear flicking, yeti language was pretty simple, she had learned it as well as several other languages waaay back when her mom thought she might be an ambassador before everything went south. “ It's a bold strategy, Cotton. Let's see if it pays off for you.”
“Rarr rah grrrr.” the mage grinned.
Sunset wished Moon Dog was as easy to learn as yeti had been.
“Yeah right whatever, you're fire proof. Like that's even possible. Fire is NOT my only skill, I just enjoy it more than anything else. “ Sunset explained. “Besides it's the easiest ability to control to make sure I don't kill everything. I don't plan on doing a genocide run... I look horrid in stripes.”
“Gragga RARRA!!” the yeti snarled.
“Surrender? You're taking prisoners? Interesting maybe I should be a little more careful.” Sunset considered. ”I mean the death toll in Canterlot was pretty low, save all the buildings that collapsed on ponies, and several ponies who got broken by you guys once they were statues, and a number of guards who tried to stop you... Nah... I should be less careful. But seriously if you think making yourselves fire proof is gonna help, I've got bad news for you.”
One of the larger yetis took her rant as a opportunity and lunged at the mare bringing a halberd down on her. Sunset yelped and jumped out of the way wincing as the blade scraped along her shoulder deep enough to draw blood.
The mare jerked her other hoof up to jab at the unprotected side of the armored yeti, hitting him just under the arm, making him jerk back away from her quickly.
The large yeti looked down at his arm curiously with a bit of worry, then back to Sunset before he grinned and shouted about how he barely felt the blow.
“Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru...” Sunset stated getting a lot of confused looks from the yeti around her.
“It means. You are already dead.” Sunset smirked
The yeti continued to stare at her before the large yeti's head exploded in a shower of gore, the spurting blood falling around the room like rain coating all the others as well as the walls.
Not a drop of it touched Sunset.
“I like fire, but I trained longer to be a blood mage, fuckers.” Sunset smirked as her horn glowed.
There were barely any screams as the yeti were torn apart by the blood that covered them. When the noise stopped however the room was quickly engulfed in fire once more, turning the blood and viscera to ash, leaving no evidence of a fight save melted slag that used to be armor and weapons, and most of that trickled into the cracks in the floor, leaving no real trace of any fight here.
Blood magic being used in combat was highly frowned upon after all.
[ Storm Kings island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
Comet Trail winced as he pushed himself upright, very much surprised he was even alive. He must have blacked out from the last blow as there was a space of time he couldn't recall, and he was lucky he hadn't bled out. He looked around and found he was surrounded by shattered black crystals. He winced as he tried to put down his rear hoof, and only glanced at his battered wing to know if he made it out he was going to spend a bit of time on medical leave.
The clash of metal against metal was easily heard, and the Guard turned his attention to the fight still going on in the middle of the room.
The black unicorn was bleeding from a number of wounds and was panting rather heavily.
Opposite him however was the gray yeti who was also sporting several gashes including one along the side of his neck, and chunks of his armor were missing.
Sombra stepped back with a huff glaring at the yeti who was also panting. Oddly the yeti stepped back as well letting Sombra breath.
“Impressive, while I would cite my lack of preferred weapon as the reason for my poor performance, I must admit your skill with the blade is greater than mine.”Sombra huffed.
“Thank you for the compliment, but you are far from unskilled.” Squall grinned ”But this fight is far from over.”
“I'm afraid it is. To progress as I am, I will not defeat you, but it seems I have discovered a glaring weakness in your combat style.” Sombra smirked.
“Oh? And what might that be?” Squall asked
“You are too noble to cheat.” Sombra stated flatly. Squall blinked in confusion at the statement before jerking hard his eyes widening as he looked down at his chest, a small sliver of black crystal poking out of his fur.
Turning his head to look behind him, there was a much larger part of said crystal emerging from the ground and piercing his back.
Squall's eyes narrowed as he turned to glare at Sombra, the yeti demi god striding forward and pulling himself off the black spike with a wet splorch. He managed several steps towards the black unicorn and brought his blade up as if to strike before he crumpled to the ground with a crash, blood pouring out of the massive hole in his back.
Sombra shook his head and stared at the yeti a moment to ensure he was dead. He had not held onto the Crystal Empire for so long by being honorable in combat. His head quickly snapped up, his gaze locked on a point further up and further away in the castle, before he snorted in annoyance. He whirled in place setting the ax over his back and trotted back towards the hall he had come in from.
“Well come on if you can walk, if you cannot I will send some one back for you if I meet any one on the way back to the ship.” Sombra stated glancing over to Comet Trail..”We have run out of time and I for one will prefer not to be in the blast zone.”
[ Storm Kings island, 3 days after the attack on Canterlot]
Twilight Sparkle, was in no way a warrior.
She bounced constantly between easily distracted and insanely focused, had a list of issues and phobias, that while she had gotten better about, still affected her. As of late she had leaned far to heavily on anger to power through some of her issues when presented. This made many uncomfortable.
Twilight was primarily a scholar. She was most at home researching something or studying. She was also a clear bibliophile and thanks to her oldest friend, now sister in law, she had developed a few other odd interests.
None of which Big Mac seemed to mind.
She was also the Element of Magic, part of a set of six, and the most gifted spell caster in the last few generations.
She was still not a warrior.
She was however the goddess of Magic, Books, Friendship, and Tuesdays.
She wasn't sure on one of those.
She did exercise and keep fit but that was mostly to combat her sedentary life style of a book horse.
However Tirek had changed that, despite her skill she had been losing, even with Rahs' help, she had been losing.
If it hadn't been for some rather convoluted 'Deus Ex Treeina' she would have lost and she felt it was because she treated the power she had like a hammer and everything else was a nail, which really didn't work if some one needed a screwdriver or a wrench.
Okay the metaphor got away from her there.
At any rate she had those who could show her things. Princess Luna, and her older brother were quite interested in showing her some things. As was Sunset and surprisingly Sombra.
So while Twilight Sparkle was not a warrior, she had learned enough that others might just think she was.
Like a stupid yeti god who thought overwhelming strength was the best way to fight.
Two halves of the floor shot up on either side of the Storm King, Smashing the god to a pulpy jam before they fell away allowing him to reform.
A stone spike shot from the floor impaling him, when he reformed one came from the wall, then the ceiling.
Twilight then cast an enlarge and charm on one of the massive spiders and let it have a meal before she returned it to normal and let it run off.
The yeti god tried lightning, brute strength and even the staff again.
What Twilight didn't counter she blocked, what she didn't block she ignored. Thus far the Storm King hadn't even ruffled a hair on her head.
He however had been subjected to quite a number of painful, embarrassing or stolen from Celestia and Chrysalis's fighting, spells and effects.
“Impossible!! THIS IS MY HOLY GROUND You should not be more powerful than me on my own island!!” The Storm King snarled as he yanked a chunk of his own armor out of his chest that Twilight had driven into him after it shattered when she had beaten him to death with it, this was after she tore him in half pulling it off in the first place.
“Yeah okay, I know there's quite a boost of power from being on your own holy ground and such.” Twilight shrugged. ”But that's all you have going for you right now. That whole holy ground thing is magic, so are all your god powers, which means they are powering me. Plus there are quite a few of my friends around and you invaded on a Saturday, then took three days to get me here. That means it's Tuesday. All of that trumps you with a big stupid rock poking up out of the water.”
The Storm King raged at her but everything he did was countered despite Twilight seeming to do little more that just use telekinesis, the mare actually looked bored.
“You have caused no end of trouble and hurt far too many for you to be allowed to get away with this.”Twilight stated calmly, shattering the Storm King's arm with a massive chunk of stone as he tried to cast something.”While I seriously doubt there would be leniency I do suggest you surrender, I got to hear quite a bit about you and your followers while I was a statue. I was rather surprised I wasn't put to sleep by the stone, but I was quite able to think and listen, though most of the voices were muffled. Being turned to stone is quite uncomfortable. Now I know why Discord was so pissed off when he first got free. Words do not justify how itchy your nose gets when you cannot scratch it.”
“Then it's a pity you are going back !!” the Storm King roared, having taken the time of her speech to heal and grab two of the stone balls that spilled from Tempest's. He quickly launched the pair at the purple alicorn.
Twilight frowned, her head tilted a little as the two balls were snatched out of the air with her magic. She brought them close to look at them before frowning.
“You forgot to break the wax seal around them.” Twilight offered the balls being compressed a little, emitting a slight pop as the wax broke, before they were launched back at the Storm King faster than he could dodge, one striking his chest and the other his upraised arm.
Twilight watched as the yeti god was quickly enveloped in stone leaving him a statue.
Twilight sighed and trotted up to him regarding the statue curiously.
“I've found that despite how angry I get, I always stop myself before I kill some one, or I'm stopped by some one else. This was not the case with the fight with Tirek, but then again, he was a god and wouldn't die by my hoof any way. Same as you.”
Twilight hummed, her horn glowing brightly.
“And as a god you grow back from the largest piece left of you, or if completely vaporized where you last slept. I have no idea how that works.” Twilight considered.” But that means I can do things to you that would kill a mortal. Though I expect in the end you will wish you were mortal.”
Her horn flared and a blast of energy launched from it slamming into the stone statue of the Storm King. When the light faded, she reached out quickly and caught the severed head of the yeti god, still in stone, the rest of him atomized.
“I don't feel like carrying all of you back for trial any way.”Twilight sighed looking around the room with a frown.
“This was..... disappointing.”The purple alicorn muttered having expected a epic fight rather than her smacking around a idiot for ten minutes.
Twilight sighed her ears perking up as she shifted the Storm Kings stoned head in her magic.”Well that takes care of that at least” The purple alicorn frowned, then turned her attention to the battered broken horned unicorn against the wall the mulberry furred mare looking at her with pure terror on her face.” Now what to do about you....”
[ Canterlot 4 days after the attack on the Storm King's Island.]
The main dining room of the castle had been partially repaired from where a stray cannon shot put a hole in the wall, and several figures were gathered around the table. A few drinks and snacks and various heavier foods covered the table, though most of those who were there were only picking at it.
Aside from an occasional server, the room was filled with gods.
Twilight Sparkle sat at the far end of the table sipping tea, and taking small bites out of some sugar cookies that sat on a plate before her.
Scattered around the table where the other alicorns, Bleu, Iinii, and Aqua.
Ascpicious was going to be here, though she was reminded of what happened last time she was near Twilight, and remained away. Chrysalis was also there, though her presence was through a mirror propped up in a chair.
The three other alicorns had been freed the moment they were returned to Canterlot.
The nobles had flocked to Celestia begging for her to save them, as Sweetiebelle had gotten it into her head that there were going to be a LOT of changes in Canterlot.
Celestia had them all shooed away and decided she could do with a day or two to relax before taking over her duties, provided Princess Sweetiebelle was okay to continue until then.
She was.
Luna was silent and contemplative. Upon her being freed Sombra had confronted her and spent a good hour berating her for her actions, as she was more important to things than he was and sacrificing herself like that was stupid.
He had then returned Dr. Choppy and thanked her for the rescue.
He had also called her mother at least twice in his rant. And once when he thanked her before he stormed off back to Ponyville.
Cadence had been threatened to be chained to the bed until the foal was born by both Chryssy and Shining.
They had changed their minds once she seemed interested in it and considered a mithral cell instead.
With the sun back under control, the off season snow storm that covered much of the world had dissipated, though there were numerous complaints from other gods to the council. That was something to deal with later.
Twilight being the completionest she was, went back to the dais where it all started , finished the speech to mark the end of the event, checked it off her list then went to get something to eat with Big Mac as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
This was later revealed to be part of her ongoing therapy, something about doing what one could with what one could control in life.
The pirates were pretty much the only ones around to listen to said speech, though afterward they immediately took over nearly all the bars and clubs in the city for the next two days, paying their way with stuff they had nicked from the Storm King's Castle.
Before midnight hit on the second day however there was not a single pirate or pirate ship insight of the city, much to the annoyance of the Guard who were hoping to grab a few drunk pirates after the grace period ended.
Thrawn was probably the most pissed off.
Gilda, Dash , Prince, and Thunderbolt had a awkward double date where the lot of them got into a bar fight with said pirates and wound up in a drunk tank cell for the night until Prince's father bailed them out laughing like mad the whole time.
Prince's mother was less amused.
White did … well... something, maybe.
Comet Trail was nearly sent back to the ICU after his wife and daughter were freed due to his injuries being reopened.
He was put on a months leave, minimum, before he would only be cleared for paperwork for a while.
Aqua laid into her daughters when they showed back up, though neither of the sisters payed attention to it, and Aqua finally stopped in annoyance.
Discord thought it was funny.
Aqua then laid into him and he couldn't ignore it as easily as his daughters.
He still fled first chance he got.
Bleu took her favor back from Trixie, having only given it to the pony temporarily after all, then she went to check on Spike , who was spending his time with his filly friend, who had recovered from her exhaustion enough to get exhausted again after losing her mind about her cutie mark.
Rahs was, of course, mobbed by five females the moment he made an appearance after trying to get himself and Shining to the Storm King's island though the Oneiroi, and meeting the ships halfway back.
Cosma was happy to see him before he went home himself.
The yeti islands were left in chaos and leaderless, the castle itself was plundered by the pirates and the injured and dead were recovered before the airships all left and before any of the remaining yeti could form a coherent counter attack.
Ninety five percent of the Storm Kings fleet was destroyed, and the location was quickly occupied by hippogryph and sea pony forces to prevent any other nation from rushing in for revenge or to claim the island chain as their own. Most found that the yeti remaining didn't seem that troubled by the loss of the Storm King and most of the remaining soldiers simply surrendered or tried to run in the remaining airships. Not that they made it far.
Saturnia and the Widows had indeed found the weapon merchant, and after a bloody fight, had managed to kill him, though his two companions were already gone.
The black furred unicorn pony with pink hair, that was found to be dyed, had a cutie mark of six bits, though most of his other identifying marks were destroyed in the conflict. The body was not recognized by any of the Guard or Changeling intelligence units.
They did however find a good bit of necrotic degradation in the ponies organs, but it was unsure the cause.
While the pink mare with him was not identified, the big haired mare was identified as Adagio of the Sirens, proving she was alive, and still a problem.
The recovery of Canterlot and those who had been turned to stone was still ongoing, but thus far everyone who had been turned to stone was coming out of it still alive and healthy, if a bit traumatized.
Luckily due to the events of the last few years, the number of psychologists and therapy providers had increased to where help was easy to get for those who needed it.
“So then, while this has not been wrapped up as neatly as I like, there are only a few loose ends now.” Celestia stated sipping her tea.
“And most of those involve Adagio and the mysterious pink pony.” Aqua sighed.
“ Though there is the matter of Tempest Shadow and the Storm King himself.” Cadence stated.
“I've already questioned Tempest of everything she knows.” Twilight stated simply. “ Unfortunately she didn't know anything more about the arms merchant beyond he called himself Jedidiah. The stallion was the only one she ever heard talk and the other two seemed like arm candy and a secretary to her. She figured they were more, but the Storm King never bothered asking any questions, and she never had a chance.”
“We would like very much to know where all the weapons and those stone balls came from.” Luna muttered.
“Unless we catch Adagio or the pink mare we won't likely know.” Iinii considered. ”But at least we have a cure and can start developing countermeasures.”
“One of them is to simply use a feather touch modifier to any spell you are using to block.” Twilight offered” If the wax seal isn't broken the ammo won't discharge, and even if it is broken with the spell modifier it still won't activate fully if you get rid of it quick enough and don't touch it. The gold ball, I'm less sure about, but according to Tempest that was the only one, and the merchant called it a prototype.”
“Still what to do with Tempest?” Celestia sighed. “ One of my own little ponies turning on her own kind like this is unacceptable.”
“She could be insane.” Cadence suggested.”A broken horn like that, I've never even heard of such a thing, and I've seen unicorns swinging by their horns after they've been impaled into a ceiling beam with no ill effect.”
“What? When?”Chrysalis demanded from the mirror.
“When Shiny and I really started dating after he got out of basic training. There were a few ponies on some of our dates that didn't seem to take the hint.” Cadence grinned.
“She's not insane, she's gullible and very driven , but not insane.” Twilight offered.
“She cannot be allowed to get off free, tricked or not.”Iinii stated.
“She isn't. She's working for me.” Twilight stated.
“What!?” the group of gods questioned.
“Twilight... seriously you can't....” Celestia began
“Can't what? Make another claim of an attack on a god like I did with the sirens?” Twilight smirked.” Because I can if I have to, but I don't think it will come to that.”
“Why would you want her any where around you at all?”Bleu questioned.
“Because she is a very interesting study in physical and mental trauma, and I was very much looking for something else to do now that the Companion spell is completed. Figuring out how to repair a massively damaged horn like this would be of a significant benefit. Cases like this are very rare where a unicorn's horn is broken and they survive, but they do happen, and the case number is so small there is no real research going into it.” Twilight explained. “Plus there is the fact that she out maneuvered all of us and stared you down when you were obliterating things left and right.”
Celestia blinked, then frowned.” And her little minion shot me in the ass.”
“Are you mad about that sister or his comments afterward?” Luna smiled.
“Yes.” Celestia stated.
“How can you trust her after all that?” Aqua questioned.
“I don't, but unlike the Storm King, I am actually interested in solving her issue, even if it's not soly for her benefit. Not to mention the fact if I dump her in the Ponyville branch of Guards they can only improve further with her skills and training.”
“The Ponyville Guards are already terrifying enough.” Chrysalis muttered.
“Still I cannot agree to allow a criminal of her skill to simply be placed in Ponyville, she belongs in Alpalcatraz at the very least.” Celestia stated.
“Why? She fits right in with all the other criminals in Ponyville. Sunset the dimensional thief, Sombra the evil king, the riot rousing Sirens, Discord occasionally, Chrysalis when she comes to visit her daughter.... what's one more. Particularly versus things like the Cutie mark Crusaders. One of whom STILL doesn't have her mark and I'm sure her friends are going to double their efforts to fix that. ” Twilight grinned.
There was a collective shudder from the gods.
Celestia sighed.”You are going to do the same if we ever catch Starlight Glimmer too aren't you?”
“Her issues have got to be fascinating.”Twilight grinned.” I may as well go for the whole set of the prophecy after all, minus Tirek though.”
“We feel that this might bite thee on thine ass Twilight.” Luna muttered.
“I dunno, I already have some very dangerous individuals watching my back, adding a few more to that list can't be a bad thing. Seriously I figure if I can fix Tempest's horn , I'll have to stop her from forming the church of the Sparkle god or something in gratitude. Seriously if the Storm King had played her fair we might have had more problems than we did.”
“Well I don't like it , but this is not my business.” Iinii sighed.”However I would very much like for you to turn over the Storm King's head so he can be restored to stand trial for this. His actions threatened more than just Equestria, and I do not see him escaping banishment in Tartarus.”
“Yeaaahhhh about that...” Twilight sunk down in her chair a little, all confidence she had when talking about Tempest gone in an eye blink as she now refused to meet any ones eyes.
“Hmmm? Bleu asked.
“I kinda...... misplaced his head on the way back....”
There was a moment of silence, and then a whole lot of yelling.
[Storm Kings Island. 4 days after the recovery of the alicorns.]
Three figures moved silently down the hall in the darkness, the only light was cast from the silvery moon far above peeking in through cracks in the foundations from the battle and the occasional window. One of the three figures moved almost instinctively to avoid these silvery patches of light and to stay in the shadows.
“We don't have much time, before the patrols come back.” a younger female voice stated.
“Relax. Most of them are keeping the yeti away from the castle, the few who are inside are currently scrounging a few floors above us.” Another female voice offered.
“It's such a pity. He had everything he needed and he lost it all because he was too petty and sure of himself. Such a waste of time and resources.” a male voice muttered.
“We didn't even make back enough of a profit to pay for this excursion nor the equipment we used.”the first voice huffed.
“It's fine Diamond. We took far more than he offered and I got to see the flaws in my designs. I really didn't think they would figure out how to fix it so soon. But to do so and free Twilight Sparkle at the worst possible time. That sort of timing should only be in stories.... fitting for the goddess of books though I suppose.”
“It was likely her brothers doing. I told you before he claimed to be the god of theater Solomon.” the second female snarked.
“True true. I had discounted his power as irrelevant, but maybe that particular batch was too weak to deal with a god fully. It's not as if I got to study any moon dogs before they were corrupted any way.”Solomon sighed.”I do know she made them to feed on chaos some how, perhaps the plunder vine mix had too much of that still in it?”
“Focus.” Adagio muttered.” I would rather not be found out by my mothers minions while they are swarming the place.”
“Apologies, I am not settling into the spare as well as I thought, this one is still fresh and a bit of an ill fit. I should have let it ferment more before putting it on.”Solomon tilted his head, the black unicorn with pink hair looking much younger than he had before.
“Well you will need to deal with it as it is the only spare you brought with you.”Diamond Tiara stated.
“The other ones back at the lab should be grown by now, so if this one is faulty I'll have another soon enough.” Solomon sighed.” Such a waste of resources.”
“Why are we even back here?”Adagio grumbled.
“Well as I told you both before I'm not as much a free agent as I like.” Solomon grumbled. “ And my boss wanted very much to secure a nice isolated race and their god for his own research. With the Storm King now in possession of Equestria this place is useless to him however.”
“Then why are we still here?” Diamond Tiara looked around the room they were in , even in the dark the pile of bodies was left where it lay. Even if the moon had not cast enough light through all the holes and cracks in the walls, the buzzing of flies and the stench was enough to tell all of them the room was filled with bodies of the yeti slain.
Solomon trotted over to a spot, his hoof reaching out to trace over a spike of black crystal emerging from the floor.
“Heh, my son's hoof work, he was always quite skilled at back stabbing. One day I will have to return the favor.” Solomon grinned then chuckled. “But revenge is the pleasure of those who have already won, and we are not quite there yet.”
“That doesn't answer my question.” Diamond Tiara frowned.
“Sorry, rambling again.” Solomon apologized looking down at a massive body on the ground, before he kicked it over onto its back with a hoof.
“As I was saying, my boss wanted results that I can no longer deliver, but he shouldn't be too upset if we bring him a gift.”
Solomon's horn flashed and several spots of light appeared around the body forming a warding circle facing inward.
“Give me that scroll I've had you carry Diamond. My boss won't teach me his secrets fully so I'm still reliant on him for a few things.” Solomon sighed, taking the scroll and unrolling it.” That's fine for now, however....”
The spell from the scroll was cast as the unicorn touched a bit of flame to the paper, the spell and parchment consumed with a flash of sickly green energy. A low hum filled the air as the green energy darted down, enveloping and sinking into the corpse in the circle.
“... I learn more by doing than reading any way, and if the old goat won't teach me what he knows, well I'll just have to steal it from him a little bit at a time.”
The was a sudden gasp as if air was being drawn in and a pair of glowing green eyes snapped open as the yeti demi god Squall sat up with a lurch.
[Ponyville, Seshat, the day after the return of the alicorns to Canterlot]
“Seriously?! There is actual food in the cabinets and ice box, you do not need to dig in the garbage!”
“But there was half a cupcake in there, you can't let that go to waste.”
“It was in there cause it was moldy!” Spike snapped. “Tempest if you are staying here tell your pet to stop digging in the garbage!”
“Grubber....” Tempest sighed.” We are trying not to piss any of them off here.”
“Yeah well.. old habits.” Grubber grumbled.
“Ehh?”Spike questioned.
“Ehh what? You honestly think I got stuff like this living with Yeti?” Grubber huffed gesturing with he half eaten moldy cupcake. “Before I met the boss this is how I ate. You'd be amazed what you can find dumpster diving.”
Spike narrowed his eyes at the hedgehog.
“Twilight might be dealing with your boss, but I see you need some work too.” Spike stated with a growl, pointing at what was in his hand with a claw.” First things first, this is a broom.”
“I know what a broom is.” Grubber rolled his eyes only to have said broom shoved into his hands.
“Good, then you can start cleaning up the mess you made. I already live with two complete slobs, I'm not dealing with another one.” Spike snapped.
“Tempest, Rahs would like a word with you in the theater,.”Seshat stated. “It's the door on the left of the main entrance.”
“Err yeah thank you.” Tempest stated moving out of the kitchen quickly, despite the fussing, Spike had been fairly helpful she and Grubber were staying at the tree until a place could be found for them, or they could be trusted to live any where else.
Tempest was both confused and terrified, though a little hopeful. After seeing what Twilight did to the Storm King and hearing what she might be able to do, the former Storm King solider was trying to be on her best behavior.
This wasn't helped by Shining Armor Sparkle sitting around in any room she was in, saying nothing, but simply staring at her as if he was hoping she would step out of line.
She hadn't seen Rahs since she was brought here. Spike said he was working on his theater as he was behind on the opening production of something or another that was coming soon.
Still she wondered what it was he wanted. It was not as if Twilight had been able to get away from Canterlot in the past few days. She was supposedly being forced to look for something in all the ships that came back by the Princesses and a few other gods.
Tempest trotted down the hall marveling at the crystal tree as she went, all things considered she figured she had gotten damn lucky to wind up here. She had no idea why Twilight had decided to do this, but she was going to do her best not to screw this up. If the goddess of magic couldn't fix her horn she doubted any one could.
Still...
She was still pondering her life decisions as she made her way into the theater.
Tempest had no real judge of the size of it or the meaning of anything hanging on the walls, none of the posters or names were known to her, and some were in languages she couldn't even read.
The main thing Tempest took note of was how undefendable the location was, the seating was all raised so any one on the stage could easily be targeted, but there was no cover in the seating areas from attacks from the stage. Not to mention the large room was in an outer wall, thus was a structural problem in terms of fortification, though she hadn't dealt with a living crystal tree that could talk before so maybe that hardly mattered.
There were a number of things clustered around the stage including a ladder and a scaffold, the small wall at the top of the stage that hid the curtain was being decorated, there was some filigree style design inter spaced with frowning masks and smiling masks across half of it and it looked like who ever was working on it had paused right in the middle as there was only a smiling mask up on the wall at the end and a pile of supplies to finish the other half of the design were sitting on the scaffolding.
Tempest moved up on stage figuring Rahs was back here some where, given she didn't see him in the theater any where else.
“Rahs? You wanted to see me?” Tempest called curiously, feeling very exposed up on the stage, even with the room empty.” Hello?”
There was a loud click and all the lights in the room went out, before Tempest could react a number of spotlights cut on, isolating the unicorn mare in the middle of the stage in a large circle of light surrounded by darkness.
“My sister has a bit of an issue....” a voice stated from some where, Tempest tensed looking around to try and figure out where it was coming from, her ears perked as she shifted, on her guard.”.... she tends to trust people she shouldn't, or at the very least she isn't as wary of them as she should be.”
Tempest frowned, the voice seemed to be coming from all around her with no sure direction.
“Perhaps it has something to do with her portfolio of friendship, though I'm a bit guilty of that as well given the whole Song Fishies thing, but they are my problem not hers, despite her part in them being around. “the voice continued in a smooth baritone.” So far this has worked out fairly well for us, while I am not exactly fond of some of those who are around, and I do not like her idea of what to do with one of our problems still running around, that right now isn't your concern.”
Tempest swallowed and tried to charge her horn to let out some sparks for more light, only for the blue motes to vanish with the sound like the gnashing of teeth and a feeling like something had slapped the tip of her broken horn.
“Black cherry, not the flavor I was expecting.”the voice continued after a pause and a noise that sounded like someone licking their lips. “In any event, despite how my sister feels about you, you used me to harm my brothers and sister, and that does not sit well with me at all.”
Tempest's eyes widened feeling hot breath on her ear, she turned her head slightly looking back to the massive form that towered over her that she hadn't even sensed it until it was on her, though her vision was taken up by nothing but very sharp teeth.
“You back slide a little bit into working against Equestria, you betray what little trust my sister has in you, you so much as scuff a scale on Spike, a hair of Shining, or a branch of Seshat and I will make all your legs match your horn, are we clear Fizzlepop Berrytwist?” Rahs growled.
“How...?” Tempest tensed up further, she hadn't told any one her real name.
“I know your hopes, I know your dreams and your nightmares, and I assure you, you fuck up, your little minion fucks up, and not only will you never be able to run from your problems again, I'll make sure every waking and slumbering moment of your life is a literal nightmare. Do you understand your position in my eyes mare?”
Tempest swallowed hard, not even able to move away from the teeth that were nearly brushing her eye lashes as he spoke.
“Yes.....” Tempest agreed.
“Good.” The teeth receded as Rahs leaned back and stepped into the shadow just outside the spot light.”Now get off my stage.”
The lights all came back up as the spot light went out, and there was no one standing any where around on the stage and she couldn't see any where he could have run off to.
Tempest swallowed hard, quickly moving off the stage and heading out of the theater back to the small room she had been given. She barely noticed as she passed Shining Armor and Spike as they headed to the theater.
Rahs shifted, dusting himself off as he moved back onto the scaffolding so he could finish hanging the filigree over the stage. He adjusted the comedy mask in the center of the display, he had left it a little crooked after all when Tempest came in.
His ears perked at the sound of hoof steps and he looked down as Spike and Shining Armor moved up, both of them stopping to regard his work.
Rahs smirked slightly looking at his brothers before reaching into his coat and pulling out a chunk of stone he had stashed there. He regarded the look of horror on the stone head's face a moment. He chuckled slightly noting the small smiles on his brothers faces as he secured the head to the wall next to the mask of Comedy.
Once Rahs thought it was secure enough, he pulled out the tragedy mask and put it over the face of the Storm King, hiding it from view. He leaned back a little to regard his handiwork, before he moved on to finish the decorations.
[ Ponyville, two weeks after Tempest came to town. Sea Pony embassy]
“I must thank you again for allowing us to tap into your ley line network Mayor, it will be quite helpful to maintain the current in the building. Some of the plants we have brought in do not do well in still waters.” Aqua stated.
“You are welcome Empress Aqua, but I would like to point out that I was fully against a ley line network and it was only since Seshat grew here that we have one at all.” The Mayor offered.” Not that Miss Sparkle has told me ANYTHING about extending it as she did nor any of the other things she has done to it!”
“You were fine with it when I managed to use it to protect down town.”Twilight huffed.” That network is still there, but since I don't live in Golden Oaks any more refreshing it is more of a bother. Seshet was born with a network already in her root structure and since that is now spread across town and all the way out to Sweet Apple Acres, I've just been utilizing the protection spells through that and thus keeping property values up.”
Twilight paused a moment.
“You're welcome.” Twilight concluded.
“It is not what little value you are giving , nor the additional protection, though I will admit the fire suppression spells are quite useful for when Sweetiebelle has a home ec class. “The Mayor grumbled.” I am more worried about what you are going to do with said network than anything else. Your tree has a much bigger no fly zone than the library did.”
“ As I have told you before Mayor, a mana network is completely safe, most major towns have a mana network, Canterlot, Manehatten, Bayston....” Twilight continued.
“So did Neighgasaki...” The Mayor grumbled
“Yes one city out of hundred that was destroyed at the beginning of the creation of the mana network.” Twilight grumbled.”Think about all you can do with that energy, the whole town can be put on the grid and we wouldn't need to use the hydroelectric dam as much for the power supply. You know how bad that things age is showing. We can shut it down to finally make all the necessary repairs or forgo them entirely and hook everyone up to the Ley Lines. That would bring a boost in sales as ponies move to switch to the new equipment to tap into the network.”
“I still do not like it.” The Mayor offered.
“Seriously? I am the goddess of magic, the network is being run by a demigod, and I can make everything safer than it's ever been before with this network, all the spells that can be run through it will help keep everyone secure.”
“It is exactly that you are the goddess of magic that I do not like this. You've been in town for five years Twilight. “The Mayor pointed out. “I've seen what you've done these last five years and I am absolutely terrified that you now have a way to do some of that to the whole town.”
“I never did anything...”
“I've seen the fields after you participated in the sister hooves social, I've seen the basement of the Golden Oaks” The Mayor ranted. “And i was actually present when you managed to make something blow up with enough force to blow the entire library out of the ground, spin it in the air and drop it so the main door of it faces away from the road now and towards the park. You managed to get a tree out of the ground in it's entirety and spin it!!”
“That was not what was planned at the time.” Twilight muttered.
“Twilight, you have blow up half a block with a crank pencil sharpener and a orange.”The Mayor grumbled.” I am terrified of what you will do with a mana network.”
“Is it too late to relocate the embassy in Canterlot?” Aqua questioned looking warily at Twilight.
“Look my work on the ley line has been checked and double checked by experts in the field. “Twilight rolled her eyes.” Nothing ca OOOF!!”
Twilight was cut off as Aqua lashed her tail suddenly smacking the purple mare in the mouth knocking her on her rump.
That was the better result as the mayor had ripped out a massive chunk of the road and was about to bludgeon the purple mare with it to stop the words being uttered.
“You know better than that Princess Sparkle!”the Mayor snapped
“Awww come on she almost said it.” a voice from a tree nearby whined.
“Murphy....”Aqua sighed as a large star Spider the size of a ponies head descended on a silk line from the tree canopy.
“What?” Murphy asked innocently.
“Why are you here?” Aqua questioned.
“Are you kidding? The Everfree's been a nest of mine since ponies abandoned the castle in there.” Murphy huffed. “ I mean where did you think I went when not at meetings?”
“To be fair I thought you simply appeared when you were invoked.” Aqua frowned.
“That too” Murphy agreed.
“Murphy my children are here, you need to leave this town alone and not bother it with your manipulations.” Aqua ordered.
“How about no.” Murphy stated. “I was here first Aqua and the Everfree is a perfect spot for my kids. Sure a lot of them get eaten, but that's why there's thousands per egg sack. Now if only they were a bit smarter.”
“Murphy.......” Aqua growled.
“Excuse me,.... you say you live in the Everfree and have since Princess Celestia moved the capitol out of it?” Mayor asked
“Yep at least a thousand years. To much screwing with the weave in those woods and I just opted to stay after I fixed it. Seemed to have caused some issues with local towns on certain days but ehh.”Murphy gave the spider equivalent of a shrug. ”Pony problems.”
“The forest belongs to Princess Celestia, did you ask her if you could live there ?” Aqua demanded.
“It's a wild place, it technically belongs to Martle and he was cool with it.”Murphy pointed out.
“The forest was actually granted to Ponyville not long after the Apples settled here about ninety or so years ago. “The Mayor pointed out.” So technically the whole thing belongs to Ponyville.”
“Oookay.” Murphy stated.” So?”
“As by Ponyville tax code you and your family owe at least ninety years worth of back taxes, adjusted for inflation... Twilight what's the spawn rate for Star Spiders?”
“Errrr every other spring if I recall correctly with an average brood size of 800 per egg sack.” Twilight stated, calculating.” Going by breeding rates...”
“Hold on now, Star Spiders count as wild animals.”Murphy stated, “And I'm a god..”
“Being a god is irrelevant to the Equestrian tax code, and according to the regulations any direct spawn of a god counts as a demi god as those are considered sapient enough to be taxed as well.”The Mayor stated.” Twilight would you ask Big Mac to crunch the numbers for me in terms of how many may still be alive and since Demi gods are immortal we can write off the star spiders normal life cycle and add those numbers.”
“Errr I'll ask.” Twilight blinked.” He might like the challenge given Canterlot switched to those E-Z tax forms last year.”
The group looked back at the tree to see that Murphy was gone.
“WE'LL SEND YOU THE BILL ONCE IT'S TALLIED.”The Mayor yelled after the fleeing spider god.
“You are scary.” Aqua nodded with a bit of respect.
“I love the smell of bureaucracy in the morning.' The Mayor grinned.” Smells like victory.”
[ Ponyville, Seshat]
“Spike. Where's Rahs?” Tempest asked curiously as she trotted into the castles kitchen.
“Huh? Why?” Spike asked looking up from one of the gaming books he was reading.
“I would like to know where he is in relation to me at all times.... for reasons.”Tempest stated with a steel that tried to hide her nervousness.
“Heh, guess his threats did a number on you huh?” Spike smirked. “I wouldn't stress over them too much. He's threatened a lot of creatures and all of them are still around.”
“Really? So he was just talking shit?” Tempest frowned.
“Oh no, I mean he did turn Discord into a chew toy, one of those really mauled ones that you see after a dogs gotten bored with it and torn out the squeaker, and he ripped out the throat of a witch wolf, though I don't think he threatened him first, so he doesn't count. Then there was Tirek, I mean I'm sure you've seen the pictures of our back yard before it was cleaned up. I'm also pretty sure no one died at PETA, and the guy he mauled as a pup could probably have walked again, eventually, prosthetic have come a long way..... Yeah okay maybe you should worry about him.”Spike considered. “Ehh still I wouldn't worry about it. Twilight wants to keep you around, so he won't do anything.”
“Right... sooo where is he?” Tempest asked working on hiding her nervousness again.
“In the Oneiroi, seems his sister had her pups. Two of them at that, boy and a girl. Rahs is freaking out over being an uncle and he's already in trouble for foal napping the town vet and a couple of doctors in Canterlot who treated him to make sure his sister and the pups are alright.”Spike explained.” Speaking of trouble, Where's Grubber?”
“He got a job.” Tempest stated
“Really? Who would hire him” Spike considered.
“Those two mares who own the spa. They found out he has a steady claw and a good bit of skill with make up.”Tempest explained.
“Makeup?”
“Yes.”
“I didn't expect that to be one of his skills.” Spike considered.
“Really?” Tempest asked raising one immaculately done eyebrows.
“Nope, but any way, don't worry too much about Rahs, unless you turn heel again , he won't do anything.”Spike waved a claw.
“Well that's good to know.”Tempest let out a held breath. ”Though given your brothers I'm surprised you haven't thrown out a threat or anything yet.”
“Well I could threaten to get you into Battle Mallet, you'd never have enough money to do anything after that.”Spike considered.
“Battle what?”
“Never mind, any way you don't have to worry about me in all that. If I decide to do something, you'll be awake, you'll be facing me and you'll be armed.”Spike explained.”You'll also have already lost ten steps before that point.”
Tempest blinked as the dragon went back to reading his magazine.
Despite never having developed a taste for yeti vodka, Tempest felt she really needed a drink that would kill some brain cells right now.
[Ponyville]
Sunset tilted her head looking up at the burning building. A swam of Ponyville fire fighters ran around the building, the unicorns stopping the fire from spreading to other houses with basic pyromancy, the pegasi brought the water, while the earth ponies on the team created fire breaks and made sure everyone was out of the house.
Not that there was any one in the building, the old structure was a storage area for the now closed Barnyard Bargains. The former manager had bought the main property to open a new store there, but he hadn't offered enough to purchase all of the property and some of the outbuildings like this one were still owned by Ponyville real estate.
The fire should have been put out within minutes of it being noticed, the Ponyville Fire Department was the literal best in Equestria at what they did, so much so that their ranks were often bolstered with rookies from other department who were there to train with the near weekly disasters the town had.
Sunset had happened to be nearby on market stall duty with Big Mac when the fire started and she had wandered over to see what was going on.
The fire had been doing it's best to ignore the actions of the fire fighters.
Fluttershy had been there as well and she was fretting, which was normal, though this time it seemed one of the animals she had been tending was in the building. Fluttershy had claimed he had been upset when she told him that he was nearly ready to be released back into the wild and he had run off to sulk and wound up here.
So not wanting to have to return to a retail job, something Big Mac was probably happy about given she scared customers more than his towering half draconic form, Sunset trotted into the fire to find whatever critter Fluttershy had lost.
Sunset adjusted her shield over her in case anything fell and formed an air bubble over her head . Just because the fire meant nothing didn't mean the lack of air and falling wreckage wouldn't be an issue. Sure she could have altered herself so she wouldn't need to breath, but that would take a few minutes with her blood magic, sometimes normal magic was easier.
There was a tense few moments from the firefighters after Sunset went into the building.
It only grew worse when there was a scream from inside, though before any one could react they heard sunset again.
“HOLY SHIT, YOU'RE ADORABLE!” Sunset squeed.
Looking around in confusion, the firefighters noticed their efforts were suddenly bearing fruit and redoubled them to get the blaze under control.
A happily burning Sunset Shimmer pranced out the front door holding something in one hoof.
“Ooh look at his itty eyes and the feets. “ The mare smirked as she moved up to Fluttershy.
“Ohm, thank goodness he's alright.” Fluttershy let out a breath.
Sunset continued to burn, and one of the rookie firefighters moved over to see what she was talking about.
Looking past Fluttershy to the flame crackling form of Sunset, he took note of a confused looking small lizard that sat on her hoof. It looked like a gecko save the bright red coloration, and the fact it was on fire as well.
“BY THE STARS, THAT'S A SALAMANDER!!” The fire fighter shrieked back peddling away from the pair.
The others in the area stopped for a moment turning to stare at the two mares who were looking at the Lizard, most of them glaring at Fluttershy who was wearing what amounted to a blacksmiths apron and heat shielded mask, both of which she had put on the moment Sunset came out..
“Alright. Who had bits on Fluttershy bringing a Salamander into town?” One of them asked.
“Dammit I bet on a a firefly.” one groaned
“I had a phoenix chick, but I knew that was a long shot with Peewee still being around.” another called
“I had money on a torkoal.” a pegasus muttered” I think that rookie Knight-King had a salamander.”
“How does that blond idiot keep winning these bets.” Another bemoaned.
“I think I will call you Ray, as you Ray-diate fire.”Sunset grinned.
Ray licked his eyeball.
“Sooo cute!!” Sunset squeed.
“Alright. Check. One two three.” Aria muttered tapping the mic a little, the sound echoing around the stage.
“Woof.” Rahs offered from the auditorium.
“He says the bass is a bit off.” Sonata called to the stage, no one had bothered to ask how she understood Rahs.
“Yeah, I can hear it, easy fix though. Still that's three of five of the lapel mics working, I'm surprised you found these so cheap and still functioning.” Aria hummed. “Even with the Empire back this crystal tech stuff ain't cheap. I figured you'd just go with the boom mics.”
“Arf.” Rahs offered.
“He says that the first play he has planned is mostly a musical and some of the singers need to stand out over the background singers more clearly.” Seshat translated.
“Makes sense.” Aria considered. “Might want to put these things through all the paces then.”
“Zeppelin?”Sonata asked getting a confused look from Rahs.
“Yep.” Aria stated taking a deep breath.
Rahs blinked his ears perking as music started playing from an unidentifiable source. He frowned at that. The source was clearly Aria humming, though to come with something this complex and loud, there were drums and a guitar with what sounded like a bass-line as well, the music was repetitive only a few notes that had a sound like a rising and falling pitch. The sound system was picking it up as well though it hardly seemed a test. Rahs glanced over to Sonata and noticed she was wearing a very large pair of earmuffs over her ears.
Rahs had been around Pinkie Pie long enough that he very quickly slapped his hands over his own ears.
“AhhhhhAHHHHHHHHHHHH AAAAAHHH!!!” Aria screamed out, the entire tree vibrating from the sound.
Sunset perked her ears as she looked out off the porch of the Apple family house, the scream had brought both her and Granny to the porch as the two had been discussing where Ray could live on the farm. She could see Applejack in the field looking around as the second of the screams hit.
Sunset smirked a little at the tone before offering a few lyrics.
“We come from the land of the ice and snow From the midnight sun where the hot springs flow.”
“What?” Granny demanded.
“Hammer of the gods.” Sunset offered back.
“What is that some sorta new toy ah Celly's?” Granny questioned.
[Crystal Empire]
There was a worrying crunch and the crinkle of falling crystal broken from the impact sounded out from a two story house about a block from the palace.
Starlight Glimmer winced as she flailed in the magic holding her upside down against the interior wall. The mare holding her was a nerdy looking unicorn with thick glasses, an over sized sweater with her mulberry mane pulled up atop of her head in a lopsided mess. Streaks of purple ran through her mane and tail as well, and the cream colored fur that covered her looked stained in places. Her cutie mark was of three stars with a crescent moon in the center. Her lavender eyes had bags under them, that had bags under them, that had travel bags of their own.
Behind her, trying to calm the mare down was a orange unicorn stallion with white patches of fur on his legs and nose, he also didn't look like he had slept much.
“Listen here you attempted home wrecking little shit.” Moon Dancer snarled, turning Starlight to see her eye to eye, though the purple mare was fully upside down and pinned to the wall right now. “ I don't care who you are, you do not come here and try to drag off my husband.”
“Dear.” Sunburst sighed.
“Don't dear me, Sunburst. If she had showed up and been friendly or at least polite I wouldn't be bothered, but she burst in here like she owned the place pushed me aside and started ranting to you about fucking KITES!” Moon Dancer snarled.
Starlight winced her horn glowing, she wasn't going to take this.
Moon Dancer didn't even look away from Sunburst as she brought a hoof up and slapped the base of Starlight's horn,hard, skewing her building magic and making the upside down mare go all cross eyed.
Moon Dancer turned away from her husband who simply sighed.
“Listen here mare. My name is Moon Dancer, not 'hey you', or 'get out of the way'.I'm the head researcher and expert on the Crystal Empire, Princess Luna's modern age teacher, I've got eight doctorates, three PHDs, have denied and over powered GODS, and am the mother of a very very curious foal who asks 'why' more times a day than citizens of Vanhoover speak at all, a foal who has gotten to the stage in his life where he does not sleep alone, and he does not sleep still, and is currently in his 'lets see how far I can push my parents to drink' phase of life. I am running on less sleep this week than a mayfly gets , which is to say, NONE, and I am currently weighing the options to see if preforming a horrific grisly murder so I can be thrown in jail is a decent enough option so I can get some sleep or not.”
Starlight was shaken in the air and bounced against the wall a few more times.
“DO NOT TEST ME, or I will destroy you to the point that the god of time will have to go back to when you were born to find any trace of you, ARE WE CLEAR?” Moon Dancer snarled, more than a hint of madness in the mares eyes showed Starlight that she was quite under prepared to deal with an irate mother of a three year old.
“Umm yes.” Starlight managed.
“Good. BYE.” Moon Dancer stated her horn glowing.
“Perhaps we can talk another time Starlight. Maybe in a few months when my son starts sleeping in his own bed again.” Sunburst sighed.
[ Three miles outside of the Crystal Empire]
A large plume off white powder and Tuesdayist fliers shot into the air as the teleported mare crashed into the snow bank.
Starlight gasped pushing herself out of the snow mound blinking as she glanced around at the pile of pamphlets, display cooking knives, and broken vacuum cleaners lay around her.
That mare clearly did not like solicitors.
Starlight sighed, well this would not do. She might have found Sunburst, but once again his cutie mark was the problem. He had met that nightmare made pony flesh at the school he had run off to.
Something else she needed to fix.
She was his oldest friend and he said talk another time, brushing her off like that.
Starlight paused frowning.
Another time huh?
Reaching into her saddle bags she pulled out the scroll she had found in the mines surrounded by all those monsters. She didn't know who this Minutte was who had signed it, but the spell on the scroll allowed the wielder to go back in time.
She had been hesitant when she found it, but all the other options she had tried to fix her problem had failed.
Well then. Lets see little miss alicorn and her little dog stop her from making sure they didn't exist at all.
[ Cloudsdale, five minutes before the first sonic rainboom.]
“Sparkle Maneuver six!”
“ I am not letting myself be thrown that far”
“She's making a run for it!”
“Bork”
“Go Go GO!”
Rahs launched himself over the clouds as Shining and Twilight backed him up. The magic from Twilight's cloud walk spell only stuck with him a few moments, even if sent through the link and when their target started casting and his magic eating kicked into higher gear it lasted even less time.
Rahs had fallen through six or seven clouds since this whole thing started.
Sky diving without a parachute was quickly becoming his least favorite hobby.
Shining was hanging back with Twilight, using his shields to try and create platforms for Rahs to run over, He had tried bubbling Starlight to start with, but the mare had just used the time spell and jumped out of it. Shining hadn't figured out how to block that just yet.
“What?” Starlight questioned looking to the left and spotting Spike who was also rushing towards her, the young drake was still rather gangly for his size, but he was well past his young waddling stage of movement and could keep up with Twilight at a dead run at least for a bit. The dragon drew a deep breath through his nose letting out a massive gout of green flame, hoping to catch the mare and send her directly to Twilight without passing go or collecting 200 bits.
Starlight yelped, leaping forward instead of away from Spike's flame, the dodge sending her just out of Rahs' grip as he burst out of the cloud bank to her right, though his claws sliced through a few strands of her tail hair.
“SHIT!” Starlight shrieked and galloped across the cloud bank, firing spells at random every where.
“Shit! Twilight parroted as the random spells blasted holes in the clouds, destroyed a starting line and turned a few pegasi into a group of gerbils, and one confused toucan.
With that time line disrupting attack Starlight vanished with a puff of magic, leaving the Sparkles to clean up her mess again. Twilight sighed and changed the ponies back before the four of them vanished in a flash reappearing on the ground far below Cloudsdale next to a large crystal table.
“So I wonder what an attack on Cloudsdale screwed up.” Shining Armor sighed as the table and the four with it vanished.
[ Equestria 001]
“Well this seems like a normal Ponyville.” Spike offered.
Rahs sniffed the air and sighed.” Woof.”
“No Moon Dog scent huh?”Twilight considered.” I wonder why there's been so few time lines with your in them?”
“Well Rahs was pulled out of the Oneiroi when the rainboom caused a surge in you, most of the time lines we've been in Starlight stopped the the rainboom.” Shining Armor shrugged.
“Yeah, but I get what she means, there've been a couple where the rainboom wasn't stopped and something else happened, and there was still no Rahs, and a couple of times there was no rainboom and Rahs still showed up.” Spike pointed out.
“Or some other weird thing like that time line I was a stallion and Rahs was a creature called a Sun cat and one of Celestia's followers.” Twilight muttered.
“Yeah that doesn't make sense from a time line perspective unless Starlight went back and changed the entirety of history.” Shining Armor shrugged.
“Seriously what kind of name is 'Barb' for a dragoness? It sounds like a counter worker at a diner.”Spike grumbled.
“These time lines keep changing like they are whole different universes, not just time hiccups.”Twilight muttered.
“Well, this is interesting.” Another voice stated.
Looking over the four Sparkles took note of an alicorn Twilight with a Spike riding on her back.
“Well I'm at least an alicorn this time around.” Twilight sighed.
“Who are you? Changelings?”Twilight from this time line asked.” I thought Thorax told everyone that they were not allowed to imitate royalty.”
“Well they are not doing too good of a job. “ This worlds Spike stated.” I mean Shining Armor doesn't have a black spot of fur, that one has made your mane too long, I don't have any blue spines, and he's too tall to be me. Also what's with the diamond dog?”
Rahs sighed.
“Right I'll figure this out.” Spike stated.”Hey you who's supposed to be me Who's your mare friend?”
“What... uh, I don't have one.” this time line Spike stammered.
“Okay who are you crushing on?” Spike demanded.
“Is this necessary Spike?” Twilight grumbled.
“Yes so we can figure out what's screwed up other than Rahs not being here.” Spike pointed out.
“Err no one.” Spike from this time line lied.
“Whose the best looking mare in town?”
“Oh Rarity claws down, she's gorgeous.”this time line Spike started ranting about the mare while this time lines Twilight looked between the two Spikes confused.
“Yep , this place is horrid, I'm a dumb ass here.” Spike sighed.
“Harsh.” Shining Armor nodded.” But accurate.”
Rahs slapped Shining Armor in the back of the head for that insult, though Spike didn't seem to notice.
“What's going on here?” this time line Twilight demanded.
“Time line shenanigans.... again.” Twilight sighed.
“That's ridiculous time travel isn't scientificly possible,” Twilight from this time line started , building up a rant.
“Oh shut up, you've already encountered at least two to three time travel spells by this point, so clearly they are not magically impossible.” Twilight snapped.” Focus on something important like there being no such things as ghosts or curses.
“As far as you know.”
“What..” This time line Twilight questioned looking at the diamond dog and her clone..
“Okay look. Spike I'm gonna level with you, you need to be dating Applebloom.” Spike stated.
“What? Why would I be dating Applebloom, she's just a kid.” Spike from this time line protested.
“So are you, and one reason is she's freaking adorable, another is she's a great kisser, and another is if she grows up looking even close to how her sister does every damn stallion in town is gonna be jealous of your scaly butt.”Spike explained. “And that's just the Applebloom for you, not even my Applebloom, who's a million times better.”
“Err okay.”
“Right never mind, alright focus on this instead, Rarity is like in her thirties or some shit, by the time you're old enough to hold her interest she'll be a cougar at best. If you're so focused on how Rarity looks go after her younger sister instead. Sweetiebelle is about your age and she'll probably grow up looking like her sister and probably won't be so focused on that fairy tail prince crap.”
“Sweetiebelle?” This time line Spike asked about ready to protest, then paused to consider.”Well I see your point, but heck how would I even pay for a date?”
“Use your paycheck... wait Twilight's not paying you is she?” Spike questions.” Damn it not another one.”
“But I'm her number one assistant.” Spike from this time line frowns.
“Yeah a title with no pay for all the work you do, it's bad enough you fall into a honey trap with Rarity in like, fifty other time lines but this, this is bullshit! Stand up for your self! Do you know how much money a good secretary costs? A lot, ask Raven Inkwell how much she's making, then check on how much an assistant librarian makes, or a regular one I know you're doing more work than Sparkle butt here.”
“HEY!” Both Twilight's snap.”Language!”
“Don't care time line crap going on I should have been using strong language this whole time, maybe it would have had the strength to knock the crap out of Starlight! Any way. Fight for your money, strike if she refuses to pay you, get a lawyer, there are child labor laws after all you can dig up your own gems and Foal Protective Services won't let her throw you out, not even considering what Celestia would say. Take back your life, lose your chains, it's your money and you want it now!” Spike rants.
“Spike will you please stop trying to unionize all the other Spikes we meet.” Shining Armor sighed
“Hey hey, ho ho” Spike chanted ”This Twilight's greed has got to go!”
Rahs rolled his eyes before he walked over and scooped up Spike, who was still ranting as the four of them walked back over to the crystal table and vanished in a puff of time nonsense.
This time lines Twilight and Spike stared at the spot the table had been for a moment before Spike looked up at Twilight.
“So how much DOES Miss Inkwell make?”
[? Ponyville 3025]
The Sparkles frowned looking up at the massive mechanical pony stomping past the ruins of Ponyville in the distance, fire and smoke filled the air. In the much further distance, more of the metal things stormed around. Most were on four legs but some where on two. A swarm of missiles and blue beams of light fired from the closest one, arching off into the distance and slamming into one of the other massive machines with a ear piercing explosion, sending shards of blue painted metal in a shower of violence
The far distant machine shook as fire and smoke poured out of it, the sight of a small rocket bursting out of the top of it with what looked like a pony strapped to it like it was supposed to be a chair was briefly noted before the machine started emitting waves of green light before exploding into a massive mushroom cloud, the blast knocking over two of the other machines near it.
The one that had fired continued stomping closer, vents opening around the legs blasting out waves of heat generated from the weapons fire, the red and gray paint job on it not telling them anything, nor did the black snake with a dragon head curled around three diamond mean anything to the Sparkles either.
“Well this is a thing, and I think it's a thing we should not be near.” Shining Armor stated getting nods of agreement from the others.
I can't believe this bullshit came about because Starlight SAVED Fluttershy from falling off the cloud.” Twilight grumbled.
With a few taps on the glowing parts of the stone table the group vanished just as the mechs in the distance recovered enough return fire.
[ Ponyville]
Twilight stared at Twilight.
Twilight stared back at Twilight.
“You are not scientifically possible.” Twilight stated.
“Don't even start with that.” Twilight huffed fluttering her wings. “We went through that last time we time traveled!”
“It doesn't make it any less scientifically possible.” Twilight stated.
“We literally know a god of time, and Minuette. It's magically possible.” Spike snapped.
“Yeah, what I said.” Spike offered as well.
“Woof.” Rahs nodded sagely.
“Bark?” Rahs asked.
“Yeah, it's just timey whimy stuff. Don't think about it too much, kinda like Pinkie Pie.” Shining Armor added from where he sat next to a large stone table that appeared in the middle of the library.
“I for one would like to know if I can borrow both Rahs' for a bit. I have had an idea that I am not sure a cloning spell would work on....” Sunset offered biting her lip a little as she looked between the two moon dogs.
“No.” The collected group stated, save the Rahs' who simply looked at the mare with wide eyes.
“So if you are me from the future, what sort of dire message do you have?” Twilight huffed. “What's gonna happen next Tuesday that brings Shining in too?”
“Nope, we're a little more than a year in the future if I recall correctly. And really there's so much shit that happens I can't really explain it all. Good news, the rest of that stupid prophecy is figured out. I can tell you that you don't need to worry about figuring out the stupid box because that comes into play this summer, I also figure out the Familiar spell.” Twilight added with a small glare at Sunset at the mention of the spell.”
“The next expansion of, Fallout Equestria is pretty neat, but don't buy it day one, there's so many bugs and stuff you wanna wait until about the end of the year before picking it up.” Spike told himself. “Also hold off getting any new Battle Mallet rule books as 9th edition is gonna drop in the middle of next year.”
“Sweet.” Spike nodded. ”See this is the sorta stuff that's important to know from the future.”
“Bark.” Rahs offered making Rahs stiffen.
“BORK!” Rahs gasped.
“Yes, he means six, by next year you're gonna have a a rather intense sixth girl chasing you.” Shining Armor chuckled. “I still can't believe it.”
“What!?” Sunset snapped. “Who is she so that I may burn her!?”
“No.” The collected group stated, save the Rahs' who simply looked at the mare with wide eyes.
“Annnd it's reasons like that which are why we are keeping this simple.” Twilight sighed.” This is all I told you when I came through last time so this is all I'll tell you coming through this time because of the time issues. And I really don't want to annoy White.”
“Fair enough.” Twilight agreed.
[?]
YARRRR!!The pirate growled before a right hook from Rahs knocked the griffon on his ass.
The ass was not thrilled to be landed on, though a sleep spell from Twilight finished him off too.
The group of them looked around for any more pirates with shovels and very stereotypical eye patches.
Spike made the mistake of mentioning the eye patches which started Twilight into lecture mode about the patches and night vision and ships decks.
The others ignored her.
Of course the brothers were far more interested in the large pile of chests full of gold gems and other treasures the two pirates had been trying to bury on this small shore of an island.
Twilight paused mid rant and managed to identify some of the larger items as lost crown jewels of Princess Platinum that were said to be stolen by the Strawhat pirates , who in turn lost it to another pirate raid that took their whole haul of loot in one piece. Said lost treasure was well lost and never found again even in the modern age, though parts of it were known to pop up in private collections from time to time.
This only made her brothers smile wider.
When the two pirates woke, they would still have their shovels, but the treasure, their attackers, and that odd crystal table were gone.
[ Anywhen]
The white rabbit lifted his head as something disturbed his realm. With a small sigh he hopped and slid side where to when the issue would be.
The realm itself was filled with his children and grandchildren and many of their offspring and mates. In truth he hadn't had that many mates in the past, though with the amount of offspring that were around fiddling with parts of the time streams and eating tangents, he was likely going to be around quite some time with more than a few wives, or at the very least his kids were going to be super prolific. Maybe he should see if some of them wanted to head out into the real world. White doubted a warren or two of intelligent immortal carnivorous rabbits would have any issue with the echo system.
I mean there were wolves made of wood out there after all.
There was one he was interested in now, but he wasn't sure how to approach her as this was a bit out of his normal wheelhouse.
White tilted his head as he stepped from anywhen to everywhen and wheneverafter.
Before him was a large crystal table with a number of swirling sigals and other bits and bobs on it. Standing around it were two unicorns, a dragon, and a blue diamond dog thing. They were currently arguing about something.
He was certain he had met them already, but not yet. Still there was a first time for everything.
“Hello.” White offered.
The four of them whirled to face him, all of them seeming to relax at the sight of him. Well clearly they had met him already. White wondered how long it would be until he met them again for the first time.
“White...look, there has got to be a better way to do this.” The purple alicorn mare stated. “Starlight is always one step ahead and if we catch her she still manages to do something and throws everything into chaos.”
“Hmm well .” White pondered not remembering the name. “ It seems you have me at a disadvantage. Who are you? Clearly two gods a demi god and a ….... well to be fair I have no clue what you are but it does paint a interesting picture.”
“What? White seriously, you just sent us on this quest to fix the issue here.” the alicorn ranted.
“Woof?” the large diamond dog stated. White was certain the current diamond dog god was Forthe. How far ahead were this lot from? Well in any case he certainly hoped Forthe didn't notice this ones presence here . White would never hear the end of it.
“What do you mean he probably hasn't met us yet?” The white unicorn demanded.
“Look we're bouncing around in time trying to stop Starlight... maybe we don't exist in this time line?” the dragon offered.
White considered.” No. If you're here then you're here, just maybe not yet, or well after, if you know me though I would say not yet.”
“Uhhhhhhh” the four seemed to blue screen as White sighed.
“Look whatever I will tell you, you clearly haven't done it yet or you wouldn't be here.” White sighed. Why was stuff like this so hard for everyone to understand? “ Now then who are you four, you clearly know me.”
It was at that point White was introduced the first time to the Sparkles. They didn't stay long and in fact left with their table not long after the conversation happened.
Despite that, White figured it might be the best to keep an eye out for that group in the future, and the past.. well just in general.
[Ponyville, non time fuckery, Two weeks after Rahs' sister had puppies, early summer]
Seshat was a little concerned with the amount of ponies and other towns folk that were making their way in through the main doors into Rahs' theater. Something he had thus far named 'The Ball'
He claimed it was a tribute. Seshat thought it must be a dog thing.
Both Rahs and the Diamond Dog playwright, Ashmutt had been trying to get the cast for this first play settled.
Seshat had been privy to a number of back stage set ups. Including the meek looking Caramel Apple getting the lead opposite one of the changeling infiltrators. A number of other local stallions were back ground characters or with small parts, with Thorax playing the part of the antagonist in a very odd form.
Of course the crowd had all of Rahs' suitors in attendance, as well as his siblings,and both sets of parents, though Cosma and Blink were a little confused. Cadence was there as well, Chrysalis was still hiding, particularly since Celestia and Luna were here as well as Shirley. The crusaders were not allowed in unless they were all separated with their family, though Applebloom could sit next to Spike.
Much of the rest of the town was present with the whole town looking for something to do that didn't involve the usual chaos they were used. Some chaotic theater might be interesting however.
Twilight had double checked to make sure everything was in order on the checklist she made for Rahs. She fully expected him to be too excited over the opening night and forget something.
Still thus far everything had gone off without a hitch, the bits made from ticket sales were quite high, though not as high as the popcorn, drink and autographed pony Rahs pictures Spike and Pinkie Pie were selling
Aria and a few others were running the sound system and lights, after the mares sound test a few weeks ago she was back on community service after a rather sizable fine for disturbing the peace.
Though the crowd started to quiet as the lights dimmed and the curtain rose.
“ Well.... this is unexpected.” Twilight muttered.
“Yeah I'm a bit surprised myself. It does have a bit of horror, but I didn't expect a musical.” Spike offered back.
“ I dunno that there plant is a might creepy.” Applebloom offered.
“I think that's Thorax.” Spike considered.
“As the toothy plant?” Twilight questioned.
“Yeah it's too animated to be fake, and the voice sounds like Thorax.”Spike offered.” I mean they have other changelings in the show, but I really don't get why Kevin was put in as a back ground Changeling.”
“I guess they needed some one to play a changeling, not sure the make up on him is that good though, Kevin just doesn't look believable in the role.” Twilight noted.
“What I want to know though, is where's Rahs?”Applebloom asked.
“Well we've seen the leads, and the main antagonist... It would be just like him to make himself a bit player in the first play he's running himself.” Twilight sighed.
The trio looked back up to the stage at the sound of a roar and a scene change. The three mares on the stage standing next to what looked like a street all seemed unbothered by the noise so no one panicked despite the roaring.
Then a few strings of music started and Rahs could be heard singing.
“When I was younger, just a bad little pup,
My mama noticed funny things I did,
Like shootin' puppies out a trebuchet,
I'd poison guppies, and when I was done
I'd find a pussycat and bash in its head
That's when my mama said....
A manticore roared as it lumbered across the stage with Rahs riding on it's back, Rahs swung his legs off the beast landing as if he had been standing still as the manticore continued off the stage with a horrendous crash and a scream.
“I'm okay.” Bees called out weakly from off stage, and was ignored.
“What did she say?” The trio of mares asked in harmony, continuing the song as they all looked to Rahs who was dressed in a black leather jacket
“She said, "My boy, I think someday,
You'll find a way
To make your natural tendencies pay..”
Rahs walked towards the front of the stage as a new scene dropped down behind him looking like a doctors office with a mare dressed as a nurse walking behind him, a nurse who was punched in the face By the Moon Dog as he said 'Pay',
“You'll be a dentisttttttttttttttttt”
Rahs shouted out yanking off his jacket showing a dentist coat underneath. He tossed the jacket aside knocking over one of the extra's sitting around as a patient before he started moving through the dentist waiting room menacing the other 'patients' , the room being snatched up and carried off stage as others slide onstage making it look like he was walking through the office.
“You have a talent for causin' things pain
Son, be a dentist
People will pay you to be inhumane”
Rahs added tearing the head off a doll a filly was holding before moving to the next room.
“Your temperament's wrong for the Guard
And teaching would suit you still less
Son, be a dentist
You'll be a success”
Twilight slapped a hoof to her face after Rahs' scene.
Spike and Applebloom stared wincing a little at parts of the scene.
“He owns the theater and has set up the play and he still typecasts himself as the villain.” Twilight grumbled.
Trixie sighed having the same thoughts as Twilight on Rahs' character.
Jynx wasn't sure what was going on though the story was interesting.
Saturnia and Sunset were both impressed with how Rahs looked in the leather jacket.
Applejack was doing her best push down her increased interest in the 'bad colt' Rahs.
“BULLSHIT!!! Minuette shouted from the back of the theater!!” I have a hard enough time convincing ponies to go to the dentist without this sort of crap!!”
[Ponyville, four days after Seshat's last mission, Summer.]
“So how did the date go?” Twilight asked as she and her brothers made their way back home from the grocery store, all three of them loaded down with the food for the week.
Despite no longer being a librarian, or assistants, or such Celestia still kept the former Element Bearers and the Sparkles on a payroll for their status as national heroes as well as a few other things. Rahs had the theater take , as well as the licensing agreement where he got a small percentage of the cut from Ashmutt's first work getting the Diamond Dog into the theater scene with a few of his contacts. It was only 2% off the take for that first play, but it combined with his Guard hunting bounties and the book deal, none of the Sparkles was hurting for bits, particularly with Spike working the system of those interested in Rahs, and those upset that others were interested in Rahs.
There were arguments from the nobles of course with Celestia still giving the group bits despite them no longer having the Elements, though Twilight had pointed out that if she didn't have an income she might need to try her hoof at Princessing again.
The vote to pass was unanimous.
“Woof.” Rahs shrugged.
“Well it sounded like fun, even if the music might not have been to your taste.”Spike shrugged.” How are the other girls taking it?”
“Bork.” Rahs rolled his eyes.
“Exactly as expected then.” Twilight laughed.”How you picked up a sixth girl out of no where, and it's that one, still has me baffled. Granted, that you found any one to have any interest in you has been a weird combination of luck , timing, and clear brain damage.”
Rahs slapped his sister in the back of the head with his tail as he growled ignoring his sister's laughter.
“Geez, lay off already Twilight.”Spike chuckled.” You know as well as I do that he only has that many due to his bullshit drama powers.”
Rahs narrowed his eyes at his younger brother, though he didn't argue with the logic. While Twilight had started getting taller due to her alicorn status, Spike had grown some as well. He wasn't the pudgy little dragon he was to start with, he had grown taller and more lanky as he progressed in his teenaged years, his spines had gone from the rounded points to sharper more spade like protrusions as he grew. Several of the spines along his back, not just the one he lost, now had a blue coloration instead of the green. Bleu had explained that wasn't unheard of among dragons as they grew and his purple scales might even turn burgundy or wine colored as he aged reflecting his father.
The dragon god clearly wasn't happy about that, but she didn't pass that on to Spike, and left before he could ask about his actual father.
“Hey there you are.”
The trio stopped looking over as their eldest brother trotted up the path towards them. Like Rahs Shining hadn't changed much in recent years, with only the patch of black hair around his horn the only difference. Twilight found it odd that even as a 'companion' to Cadence, he showed no signs of any changes unlike Big Mac, granted Moahk hadn't changed any when Iinii cast the spell.
“Shining? What are you doing here?” Twilight demanded. ”Shouldn't you be with Candace and Chrysalis, they're due any day now.”
“Yeah, but seems last time they were in Canterlot the two of them had some wood cutter start working on custom cribs, we got a letter saying they were done and I popped down to pick them up, as well as the several metric tons of things mom has bought and packed up for us, and what Celestia got, and Luna, and Cadence's entire home town, and several of the hives, and all the nobles trying to curry favor....”
“Woof?” Rahs asked.
“ Currently six train cars worth. I decided to come down here and see how you three were doing while they loaded the seventh rail car.” Shining shrugged.
“Shouldn't you be there to supervise at least?” Spike asked.
“Mom took over after the first car, made them unpack the whole thing then pack it properly to her specifications. I just told the crew lead and the Guard in the area to do it her way, it will be safer for them.” Shining grinned.
“And then you ran.” Twilight chuckled.
“And then I ran.” Shining agreed still smiling.
“So aside from the obvious with Chrysalis and Cadence how have things been in the Empire? Seems we rarely get to actually talk most days without something happening. Twilight questioned.
“Have they got a list of celebrities yet for the next Crystal Con?” Spike asked.
“On that , supposedly Daring Doo has agreed to show up for it, but so far that's just a rumor thus far.” Shining chuckled. “As for the Empire well, it's pretty cool to be in charge some days, and other days I wished I followed your 'not a princess' plan.”
“See I told everyone I'm the smart one.” Twilight smirked as the group approached the Crystal tree, the statement getting a few faces aimed at Twilight from Spike and Rahs and an eye roll from Shining.
As the small group walked up to the door however the three local Sparkles stopped staring at the front door before they looked to each other then set the groceries on one of Seshat's roots that was shaped to be a bench outside the door.
“What? What's going on?” Shining questioned.
Rahs pointed up to the top of the door where a portion of the crystal archway was dark purple almost black.
“Some one's tripped the wards.” Twilight frowned.
“Not to mention Seshat didn't open the door when we walked up.” Spike added.
“Ruff” Rahs added with a frown.
“You don't smell any one but Tempest, peppermint, and blood?”Twilight considered.”Right... back door?”
“Might be trapped too.” Spike stopped them. “Rahs, stage right?”
“Woof.” Rahs grinned as he picked up some of the groceries, the others followed suit with a confused Shining Armor tagging along as they walked around the side of Seshat.
[ The Ball ]
“What the buck?” Shining armor asked, he had just followed his siblings around the corner of the giant crystal tree palace and now he was walking onto the stage from the right side of it.
“Your furry brother is the god of theater, with his own theater, and you're surprised at this sort of thing?”Spike asked.” Maybe Twilight is partially right about the smart thing.”
Rahs set down the groceries and frowned.”Bark?” Rahs asked the stage.
“I do not know who the unicorn mare is but she is holding Tempest hostage so I do not alert you. She appeared out of no where, Tempest managed to get the drop on her but the intruder blasted Tempest before she could be stopped.”Seshat whispered from the stage floor. “She knew about me and threatened to kill Tempest if I warned you, she's got a spell watching the front door, the back and several windows. I've sealed off a few important places like the portal and your lab, but she appeared in the map room. Seems she also went through the Guard barracks as well and laid a few traps for them there. No one is there at the moment and I'll warn any that try to come in. I am not sure how she got past my wards, I didn't even notice her until Tempest attacked her.”
“ What's this pony look like?” Twilight asked.
“Lilac coat, darker purple mane with a blue streak in it, Cutie mark is covered with simple worn saddle bags. She looks like she had been around a good bit as her mane and tail are unruly , she also has a set of scars on her face running across her cheek and temple to the base of her horn, and another three across the front of her muzzle. Faded but noticeable.”Seshat described.
“Grrrrrrrrr.” Rahs growled.
“Starlight Glimmer.” Twilight narrowed her eyes.
“That's the cult leader you stopped last year that took ponies cutie marks right?” Shining Armor frowned.
“Sounds it.” Spike agreed setting down the groceries and pulling out a bottle of ketchup cutting free the red label and sending it off with a green flame to Celestia.” Back ups alerted, I'll try to flame her to Celestia, should be a pack of guards here before long as well. But if I can send her to Celestia the Princess can deal with this mess before anything here gets destroyed, I just got all my pewter models back together and painted. I don't want to have to fix them again.”
“Given how I just showed up, she probably doesn't expect me. If you three confront her I can probably get the drop on her. “Shining Armor growled. This was a mare that had hurt his sister, and brother.” If I can get a bubble around her she's not going any where. I could stop gods attacks with it before I became Cady's companion.”
“Right Seshat, make a path to the map room for Shining to follow. Spike hang back and send a proper message to Celestia and any one else you can get. Rahs and I will go to confront her directly, I seriously doubt she's managed to destroy any of our portfolios let alone all of them.” Twilight stated.” So even if she managed to take one of us out some how we'll be fine in a couple of minutes.”
“You're being a bit more cautious than I expected.” Shining stated.
“Dude... who ever this mare is, she got past the wards Twilight put on Seshat.” Spike explained. “So far the only people who've managed to do that are you, Rahs, and Discord”
“Bark” Rahs added.
“Pinkie Pie was kinda a given really.” Spike shrugged.” And even Discord has set them off a couple of times.”
The four of them split up with Spike sticking with Shining as Seshat made a path from the back of the theater towards the kitchen through a few of the side rooms. The map room connected to the kitchen on one side, and that's where Shining would come from.
Rahs and Twilight would go in the main door, with Twilight going to help Tempest, and Rahs going to take Starlight down.
There was a plan, and it was a pretty good one, so of course it was not going to work. All four of them knew this and went along any way.
“Welcome home Twi... GAH!!!” Starlight began only to need to teleport away as the chair she was sitting one exploded from a blast from Twilight, Rahs was already rushing her as well growling loudly.
With the mare distracted Twilight quickly tossed a shield up over where Tempest lay in a heap near a cracked crystal wall.
Twilight telporting over to Tempest, checking on her and breaking a few enchantments laid on the mare without much effort, Twilight then teleported the mare to the front step, setting her on a bench before telporting back in only to watch Rahs go flying across the room as Starlight smashed him away with a chunk she had ripped out of the wall.
“What the buck, you just straight up blast me as I'm sitting there?” Starlight demanded.
“Well if you start running I can blast you then too.” Twilight snapped firing another blast, purposefully working to stun or distract the mare, though she wasn't holding back and was launching shots that would knock out a dragon.
The wall behind the mare opened up and a shield suddenly formed around the mare barely giving her any room to move. Oddly Starlight only glanced back at Shining as he stepped out of the wall with Spike as if confused then amused by his appearance. Most caught in a shield like this would struggle, Starlight only smiled.
Twilight growled walking up to the bubble taking note of the bit of blood on her muzzle and the growing bruise around one of her eyes, Tempest had not gone down easy.
“Spike send a message to the hospital, Tempest is out cold by the front door. Seshat open all the doors and set off any traps she set before any one else gets here.” Twilight ordered.” Starlight what are you even doing here?”
The mare grinned as she held up a scroll with a hoof. Twilight only got a glimpse of it before the scroll flared with magic. A loud hum from the map table drew the groups attention to it as the blue aura around the scroll also covered the map table and a new layout took over looking much darker, and more ruined than Equestria should be.
“Ooh that does not feel good.” Seshat whined.
“I'd tell you, but I don't want to ruin the surprise!” Starlight cackled her own horn flaring as the Scroll she held was turned to ash. “Won't be needing that anymore.”
The entire room suddenly sounded like it was ticking with great booms of a time piece of some sort before a glowing dome etched with runic markings formed inside the shield with Starlight bursting out of the shield and forcing Shining to take a step back and wince as his bubble ceased to be.
“The Buck!?” Shining snarled as the dome grew larger taking up most of the room above them.
Starlight cackled again her horn igniting as she tossed herself into the dome above her, vanishing from view.
With a few more tocks that echoed in the room the spell above them vanished leaving the Sparkle siblings alone.
“What just happened?” Spike demanded.
Before any other others could answer Seshat screamed, and everything went gray.
[ Anywhen]
There was a light thump and Twilight opened her eyes with a wince. She was laying on... well nothing. It was hard like there was something, though aside from the formless gray there didn't seem to be anything solid. Lifting her head to look around she heard the muttered cursing of Shining, the groan of Spike and what sounded like a whimper from Rahs. The crystal map table also sat nearby, the map illuminated but showing nothing.
“Well.” stated another voice.” Seems we've come to this part, and of course it was while I was preparing for a date. But I knew that already.”
Twilight turned her head to spot a white rabbit, in a fancy looking gray and silver vest complete with pocket watch sitting before her on the gray nothingness seeming to adjust his vest in a particularly shiny patch of gray haze.
“Wha... White?” Twilight questioned.
“Indeed, if you are here then I suppose it is time for you to earn that favor I owed you.” White nodded and whirled quickly on the mare.”Should I wear the red tie with my jacket, or the black bow tie?”
“What?” Twilight questioned.
“ Which looks better.” White offered holding up both of them with his paws swapping out the bow tie with the dress tie as Twilight stared.
“Err the bow tie?” Twilight suggested, noting her brothers were all staring at the rabbit as well.
“I thought so. Bow ties are cool.” White nodded.”Fez might be too much though.”
“White.. why are we here? “ Twilight demanded.
“Ahh , that's easy. There's a error in your time line that needs to be corrected and I need you to go fix it.” White offered putting on the bow tie.
“Isn't that your job?” Spike snapped.
“Yes yes it is, but given you already fixed the problem, it's up to you to go fix it. Shouldn't take too long, you're all very capable individuals.” White explained.” And to be blunt, utterly pants darkening as a team with a goal.”
“And how are we supposed to fix it, let alone find it?” Shining demanded.
“Hmm? Oh. With the table there, It's been set as a focal point for you. It should take you immediately to what you need to fix give or take a few years.” White considered flicking one ear.” Actually maybe not. Starlight Glimmer has done a number on the time stream, so I suppose I should set the table to lock onto her first, then the table will take you back home, unless you didn't fix the issue, then there's no telling when in anyplace you might end up. Still if you stick with the table you can reset to try again. Time is a simple thing to correct mostly, you just have to keep trying until you do it.”
“Woof?” Rahs asked.
“Hmm?”
“He wants to know what that scroll she used was, he said it smelled familiar.” Spike translated.
“Oh... Yes that. It was a scroll written by your friend Minutte back when she first joined Celestia's school, it's why I assigned her a minder. A foal being able to create a brand new spell to screw with time. I mean she didn't even use any of Starswirl's formulas, I had counter set up for that idiot. Do you know how often he caused a cascading paradox just because he was upset the meal he just ate didn't last long enough so he wanted to eat it again?” White huffed.” More times than any one with any sense should consider after the first screw up let me tell you.”
The Sparkles all glanced to each other then to the bunny who was adjusting his bow tie again.
“Is Seshat gonna be alright with the table out here?”Twilight asked.
“Hmm Yes she should be fine so long as you fix the paradox, the tables not really her. It's sort of a part of her like the gate to the Breezy realm. You can take them out and she'll be fine, if a little freaked out.” White explained.
“She was screaming.” Shining Armor frowned
“Really?” White considered. “Well I better adjust that to go back an atto or two after I took it when it goes back. Just in case.”
The Sparkles all glared at the rabbit who did his best to pretend not to notice, though his ear was twitching.
“Any way I have a date and you have a task. Just hit the green button on the table to get out, it won't leave without all of you touching it just in case and there's a few other holographic settings I've put on it so you can tell which anywhen or otherwhere you are. Should be easy to figure out. Any way I need to depart, can't be late.” White offered before he turned bowed and hopped into the air vanishing with the faint clicking of a clock.
The Sparkles stared at the spot the rabbit had been, then at each other, then at the table.
“Soooo. We have to save the world...... again.” Twilight grumbled.
“Seriously do we have a punch card? Save everything five times and get a free snow cone?” Spike sighed.
“Bork.” Rahs shook his head adjusting his coat.
“True.” Shining agreed. “After Sombra, Discord, Nightmare Moon, the Storm King, and all the other crap, It's expected. Still with all that one unicorn mare shouldn't be a problem.
The other three all turned to glare at Shining.
“Damn it.. you would think I would learn by now.” Shining sighed.
“To be fair, Twilight does it all the time too.”Spike offered.
The four Sparkles moved around the table with Spike hopping on top of it looking over the control council that floated in the air instead of the usual map.
“Whelp here we go.” Spike stated slapping the big green button when the others were ready.
The table shuddered, and with the ticking of a clock, vanished along with the Sparkles.
[Ponyville,( Nontime fuckery) 3 days after the premier of Tiny Shop of Terror, at The Ball]
Twilight flinched feeling the cold water wash over her form as she sank into the pond. It was still early summer and despite the comfortable heat, the pond was ice cold.
Of course it only took her a moment to get used to it, it was the rest that she was steeling herself for.
Twilight fought her own instincts and her bodies reaction to the water, opened her mouth and inhaled.
She nearly choked of course, even expecting it, but after the first breath it became easier.
“Don't breath so hard or you'll hyperventilate.” a voice advised.
Opening her eyes, she saw Empress Aqua floating in the water before her. The massive sea pony god some how seeming much more impressive in her element.
“Baby shark, doot doot da doot da doot.” Sonata sang as she swam behind them.
“The pearl's power should be a complete change without out any trouble. It might be your own portfolios that are causing issues.” Aqua offered “ I don't think I've ever had another god willing to subject themselves to the power.”
“It's a fascinating study.” Twilight spoke, jerking in surprise at how clear she sounded despite her lungs full of water. ”It's a sort of transformation magic one doesn't normally see. I mean how potent is the artifact to not have a limit of how many it can transform?”
“Well it did change an entire kingdom's worth of hippogryphs into part sea pony.” Aqua explained. ”I expect Queen Nova will wish to return home now that the Storm King is dealt with, though she's currently reluctant given no one can find him.”
“Daddy shark, doot doot da doot da doot.” Discord sang as he swam behind them dressed in a sailor suit with a cap and no pants.
Twilight turned her head to intentionally miss the glare the sea goddess leveled at her, and to look over those who had joined her.
Fluttershy was flitting all over the place talking to any fish or animal she saw. The pegasus pony seeming to have no issue with the transformation from her normal form to a sleek gossamer finned sea pony. Despite that, Twilight noticed that her friends teeth were more like a sharks and she had a few sharper more dangerous looking fins on her form.
Big Mac floated nearby, his massive form much sturdier and more serpentine than even Fluttershy's. He seemed to be having a bit of issue with not feeling ground under his hooves as he spun slightly in a circle.
Rainbow Dash and Prince both were all over the place, a blur of movement as they both seemed to take to the new experience like they had done this before. Granted with some of the things the two got up to, they might have.
Aria and Sonata were there as well, though they were massive serpents that towered over even their mother. Twilight had seen them like this already so was not surprised, though she had been surprised when Sonata had pointed out their mom wouldn't even fit in the pond if she went full size, let alone Ponyville.
Tempest had also insisted on coming. Twilight had not been sure why until Seshat had pointed out to her that the mare was doing everything she could to stay close to and try to protect her last chance to get her horn fixed.
Also that Twilight was the Sparkle she was least worried about eating her.
Tempest was a rough looking sea pony, she had no gossamer fins and had a set that seemed to be strong and dense for propelling her around with great speed. She also had a face that was 50% tentacle, something she was freaking out over.
Sunset had tagged along due to boredom, as there was some stealth nonsense going on at the farm she wanted no part of.
Like Tempest she had a face full of tentacles and was currently talking with Sonata about having seen enough hentai.
Pinkie Pie was.... an earth pony in a scuba suit. Aqua had stared at her in confusion, then given up immediately in trying to figure it out.
Spike had tagged along as well given Applebloom had some task or another to do that would take up most of the day. Sweetiebelle was with her parents, and Scootaloo and Firefly were out together and Spike didn't want to be a third wheel.
Granted he hadn't stopped complaining. And right now was a squat looking purple, green, and blue puffer fish that seemed completely pissed off at the world.
“Every freaking transformation I've ever had has been bullshit. Is there a 'Pick on Spike' clause when it comes to transformation spells? Two dogs and now a Spiky beach ball. Seriously?” Spike griped.” Where's Rahs, I know he's gonna have something cool because he always does.”
“I think he's behind you.”Fluttershy offered.
“Pyro shark, doot doot da doot da doot.” Sunset sang as she swam behind them.
Turning with a wobble Spike looked behind him and was greeted to a mouthful of teeth twice the size of his new body.
With a yelp, the former dragon inflated into a ball of spikes and started drifting, tumbling over himself in the currents, cursing up a storm.
Behind him was a massive navy blue shark, the figure even bigger than Big Mac. The tip of his fins and the end of his tail between the crescent fins each had a ball of soft light that glowed rather brightly under the water.
“Yep. His bullshit drama powers are in full effect.” Twilight sighed.
“Pinkie shark, doot doot da doot da doot.” Pinkie Pie some how sang though her air mask as she swam behind them.
“Oh shit he's adorable!!” A voice cried and suddenly Rahs the shark was engulfed in a massive purple serpentine form and crushed in a hug.
Every one stared as Aria squeezed the blue shark in a death grip like he was a stuffed animal.
“HEY!” Sunset snapped! “ MINE!”
Aria blinked lifting her head from where she was rubbing her nose to the 'cute' shark Rahs and noticed everyone staring at her.
“Ehh, fuck it.” She stated and continued to baby the massive shark.
"Help meeeeee...."
“What?” Twilight questioned.
“Aria really likes sharks. She thinks they're adorable, always has.” Sonata offered. “You should have seen the theaters reaction when she was cheering for the shark in Jaws. Left the theater crying at the end though.”
“Really?” Aqua questioned.
“Yup. Of course she also has a thing for Rahs she was doing her damnedest not to say, but I guess that's over now.” Sonata shrugged.
“Really?!” Discord added. “ Be right back.”
“Indeed, I will return in a moment as well.” Aqua offered as the pair vanished.
Celestia and Luna sat at the table with Cadence in the 'Love Lab', still under the castle, having tea. The pink mare was currently going over the massive cork board that took up one wall with her shipping charts tallying points for which of the girls had managed to get ahead. The reveal of Jynx being a goddess had elevated her quite high, though the team up of Sunset and Saturnia might be enough to surpass it depending on what Applejack ultimately decided in regards to Jynx's offer.
Luna was mad that Trixie was falling behind in points.
The discussion ended as a flood of water poured from cracks in the ceiling to land with a sploosh on the floor before forming into a tall sea pony goddess.
“Aqua?” Celestia frowned.” What's going on?”
“Put me down for Aria getting Rahs.” Aqua smiled, tossing a bag of bits onto the table.
“WHAT!?!” Cadence snapped, though the Sea Pony goddess turned back into water and flowed back out of the room without answering.
“Well.... that was unexpected.” Celestia offered.
There was a boom of thunder and Discord appeared standing next to the table. He dropped a brown pony with a red mane and tail on the table with a crash sending the tea set flying.
“A hundred grand on Aria!!” Discord cried before vanishing with a sound like some one stepping on a grape.
Celestia and Luna looked at the pony on the table.
“A Hundred Grand?” Celestia asked.
“Errr, my name, Princess.....” The stallion muttered.
“Banker?” Luna asked.
“Err no. I make candy bars.” the stallion offered.
“GRAPGHARKALGRAB!!” Cadence frothed, shredding the board with Rahs' information on it, gnashing a chunk of the cork board in her teeth.
[Several hours later]
“I DEMAND JUSTICE!”
“Justice was done, yer just bitchin cause it wasn't in yer favor.”
“That was in no way justice!!”
“Yer friend tried tah eat mai little sister and got what was coming to her.”
“How was ANY OF THAT what was coming to her!?”
Aqua rubbed a fin against her temple. When Martle had shown up and demanded justice from the council, or at least the one present and easy to reach. Aqua had thought it was a territory dispute, or some skilled pony had taken out a hydra and Martle was throwing a tantrum that one of his own had been killed.
Again.
Then Applejack had shown up and the issue became clearer. The one Martle was bitching about was a Chimera, rather than on of the mindless beasts under his portfolio.
Aqua felt a bit of sympathy at that, as Martle was quite protective of the rare magic beasts that had an IQ higher than a turnip.
When it was first brought up Aqua had thought it was Applejack that had killed the chimera, likely as a witch wolf. That was a can of worms she had not wanted to open as Applejack's existence, while known had not been brought up in a meeting yet, and there would be quite a few who would call for her head, particularly if Martle started the vote. The god of beasts and monsters was usually very neutral in his dealings with any one, and fairly agreeable, and if he wanted Applejack destroyed, it would be a hard fight to convince otherwise.
Then the information came to light the Chimera was not dead.
The snake, goat, and tiger, not only their heads and part of their bodies, but three separate individuals, were all heavily chard, mostly teal, and babbling incoherently at being split apart into three separate animals.
Aqua turned to the last member of the group, one who was quite annoyed at the whole thing.
“Ah dun wanna hear it, yah were gonna eat me and tha pies ah was delivering. As it was, they was almost late causea you.” Applebloom snapped at the babbling beasts. “And that potion'll wear off in a couple hours, so quit yer bitchin.”
“Umm sure, thank you.” Twilight offered staring at the creature before her.
“These cookies are good.” Spike offered.
“Is ooold famiwy wecipie.” the creature offered. ”Has delicious phs-getti one too, every pony love it.”
Rahs did his best to ignore their host, she had been rather blatantly hitting on him at least twice, and it had to be blatant if he caught onto it.
“This is lovely... some what strange, but lovely.” Shining Armor added.
“Why thank yoo”
The host of this tea party in this worlds version of Canterlot, was not Princess Luna or Celestia , or Noctus, or Chrysalis, or Avianna, or any manner of a hundred other Princesses they had come across thus far.
Who they encountered was a tiny white creature with black hair that looked like a cross between a cat and a dog and had the ears of both of them, she was wearing a shirt, she also had a tiny horn and a tiny pair of wings and was sitting on her own throne between those of the sun and moon when they arrived.
It introduced itself as Princess Temmie, and invited them to a tea party.
Refusing such a thing would have been rude, and so the Sparkles agreed, and had a lovely tea party with Princess Temmie, one that filled them with DETERMINATION.
[Timeline 14-13-13]
“I'm going to freaking gnaw her horn off.” Spike growled.
“Not if I get to her first.” Shining growled.
“Bork” Rahs snapped.
“I don't care if you claimed first dibs, I need blood!” Spike snapped back.
“We are not killing her.” Twilight interjected getting all three of her brothers to turn and glare at her.
“Twilight we have been hopping timelines for a freaking MONTH in our time.” Spike snarled. “If we wouldn't have found a few nice timelines to resupply we... well at least me, would have starved to death by now.”
“Pretty sure I need to eat too.” Shining Armor added.
“Half the time she's already done something and altered the timeline before we even find her.” Spike grumbled.
At the moment they were back in what was supposed to be their own time, the moon was high in the air, and the land was a frozen hellscape as the sun had never risen again and all life in Equestria was gone. Never having survived the years of night that came from Nightmare Moon's return and madness.
“This particular timeline isn't even feasible. Nightmare Moon wanted to rule not shut off the sun. Even if filly Rainbow Dash was arrested for illegal gambling as a foal , this sort of scenario should not have been possible with such a change. Besides there are too many other gods who would have stopped her from freezing the world to death like this.” Twilight explained. ”I'm starting to think we aren't even hopping timelines, but realities.”
“How do you mean?” Shining asked.
“Look at how many realities we've been in where we are not even ponies.” Twilight pointed out. That sort of world over evolution is not going to happen in just 15 years.”
“Closer to sixteen, remember that event was my birthday.” Spike pointed out.” I'm fighting this for my ability to still have cake and ice cream.”
“Either way sixteen years is NOT enough to turn all ponies into humans like some of the timelines we've seen. Evolution doesn't work like that. Princess Temmi was several thousand years old, there is no one like her in our timeline.” Twilight explained.
“Woof?”
“Right, this is pointless, because nothing Starlight is doing is changing our timeline, at the very least if she did Rahs and Spike wouldn't be here trying to stop her.“ Twilight pondered. ”If the timeline was that fragile you two wouldn't been here with me, you'd have poofed by now.”
“Maybe there's a paradox stopping thing with the table?” Shining asked.
“Maybe, but that wouldn't explain the human forms nor a lot of other things we've seen.” Twilight offered.” I mean most of the time, we change to suit the world as well. That reminds me of the mirror bullshit.”
“Hmm so what you're saying is, Starlight isn't what White wants us to fix?” Spike theorized.
“I'm not sure, but we've popped up on him a few times, I guess we just need to ask directly if we see him again. Twilight sighed.
[Time Line 16-15-11-5-13-15-14 ]
“Look it's a shiny winged Rapidash!!”
“Oh come on.” Twilight growled, her mane and tail on fire as yet another red and white ball bounced off her head. Twilight turned and blasted the offending party , who fainted and left some cash as they were carted off some where by a big pink egg like creature in a nurses hat with an actually egg in it's belly pouch. “Why the buck are we still here SPIKE?”
“Because this is funny.” Spike offered, the bright green haired human boy sat on the edge of the table looking at his sister, the purple and blue outfit he wore glaringly bright. “The gods of transformation have finally smiled upon me and I want to savor it.”
Shining Armor stood on the other side of the table, his blue hair falling over his human face as he chuckled watching his sister get pelted with poke balls.
Rahs, much like Twilight was unchanged from his normal blue furred form. Though the first thing he had done when some kid tried to capture him was eat the yellow rat the kid had with him.
The moon dog was draped over the side of the crystal table looking a bit green, the electric rodent clearly not agreeing with him.
[Timeline 19-16-1-1-19-19-13-1-8-18-5-5-14]
“LOOK XENOS!”
“FUCK TO THE NOPE!!” Spike shouted slamming his claw on the button sending the table away as bolter fire and grenades exploded around where they had been.
[ Timeline 7-18-1-22-5-25-1-18-4 19-8-9-6-20]
Twilight regarded herself curiously.
The other her returned the gaze with caution, with the one eye she had left.
A wheel chair bound Applejack stared up at navy blue creature, then over to the two Spikes, one clearly older than the other given his size. The pair of them were arguing comic books, and talking about unionization.
Rarity and Pinkie Pie were looking over the white blue maned unicorn, with Pinkie Pie asking a million questions at once, and Rarity obsessed with him being a Prince. Fluttershy was hiding some where.
Applejack considered, then looked back up at the one known as Rahs who was regarding her with a clear look of worry on his face as his eyes darted over her half healed injuries.
“Yah know....” Applejack offered. “Mai aunt Ginger would absolutely love you.”
[Timeline 7-12-21-2 7-12-21-2]
The scream of burning reality sounded constantly, like a fog horn mixed with a kazoo being piped through a sound system built by Disaster Area.
The form of the creature itself took up the entire blighted horizon from as far as one could see east to west. Tendrils of unknown size and mass swayed and distorted the air, floating on their own or wrapping around the few landmarks like mountains and castle ruins that could be identified. Millions more curled into the sky seeming to grip the very stars themselves as well as a Sun that was in two pieces and glowing red and orange.
The Moon was intact though it was surrounded by a blue shield and was green and blue rather than silvery gray and had no tendrils near it.
Twilight was currently thrown over Rahs' shoulder as Spike frantically mashed the button on the table trying to get it to go with Shining Armor pranced on the other end of the Crystal table. Rahs lept up onto the table, the magic activating and starting to swirl.
“G̴͚̥̫͙̼̞̟L̶͉U̗̗̲͚͝B͚͎̦̜ ̭͈̯͈͙G̤L̵̘̼̪͉U̳̪̹̖̼͇̥B̳͇̤̮̮̰ ̠̦̥̀DE̲͙̮̰̣̪͟M̸͉̠̥̟͔͚̜A̛̗̟̥̪͇̫̞N͇̞̞̖͖DS̩̘ ̠̱̼̗F̼̜̞̫I͓̤͈S̢̲̱̰H̜̜̻̹̘̀ ̯̪͓̱͎͢F͈L͔̟͉̤̘̮A̞̭̥͙̜̣K͔̪̪͟E̗̤͍̬S͞!̛̹!̢̱͇!͉̘͎͘ ” The eldritch entity screamed in a million voices.
“I TOLD YOU YOU WOULD GET FAT.” Twilight screamed back at it as they vanished from the time line.
[Main Timeline]
She coughed doing her best to keep her head down as she had been taught when there was a fire, though she never knew a fire could be like this.
The theater she and her mother had gone too to see about a funny stallion who attacked windmills had turned into an absolute disaster as some special effect had gone wrong and engulfed the whole room in a blaze that kept growing. She had lost her mother as the crowd rushed to get out of the theater pulling them apart and nearly trampling her. She hid under one of the seats avoiding the stampeding hooves, but now the fire had surrounded her , catching on the carpets and the seats and she couldn't see through the smoke to know where the exit was.
“Mommie...” She muttered coughing again when she heard the clicking of something on the floor over the crackling fire.
Lifting her head a little there was a figure striding through the flames as if they were nothing, his form was purple and seemed to glitter in the fire light. Green and blue spines ran down his back as his green eyes regarded her with some interest as he moved closer.
She drew in a sharp breath and started coughing again trying to back away, there was a dragon in here. Though he was kinda short to be a dragon like in her story books, where was her knight to save her?
“There you are, come on, I'll get you out of here, your mom's looking for you.” the dragon stated.
The filly blinked though she didn't try and back away as he moved over and picked her up easily. He put a small rock in her hooves and suddenly she could breath easier. The dragon turned and marched back out though the fire, lifting her high over his head to keep her out of the flames as he waddled through stopping suddenly when there was a great crash.
Looking over the filly saw that part of the roof had collapsed and fallen over the exit.
“Crap.” the dragon uttered. “RAHS, I NEED AN EXIT!!”
There was another crash and a wall next to where the dragon had been going exploded inward, a massive blue furred diamond dog stepped through the hole brushing the wood and plaster off his gray long coat. Behind him was a white unicorn with a blue mane.
“Spike this way.” The unicorn called.
The dragon nodded and ran over to them still holding her up as the flames lapped over his legs.
The diamond dog whined slightly looking over the burning theater, his ears flat to his head.
“This was supposed to happen. It did happen.” The white unicorn stated as he pulled back out of the hole followed by the dragon and the filly leaving the diamond dog to stare a moment more and sigh before following along.
The filly was passed off to her mother after a purple unicorn checked her over for any injuries and took back the rock the dragon gave her.
Her mother hugged her, the blue furred filly returned the hug though she looked over to where the dragon had been and saw none of those that had come to rescue her. She looked around and didn't see any of the four in the chaos of onlookers and the fire brigade.
Lily Lulumoon smiled softly as her mother fretted over her. Maybe her knight wasn't a stallion in shining armor that would slay the dragon.
Maybe her knight was the dragon.
[Timeline 23-15-18-13]
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♦ Topic: A New Thread In: Boards ► DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD TRJ (Original Poster) (At Ground Zero: Brockton Bay) Posted On May 16th 2011: WHAT THE FUCK WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK!?!?!?!
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►BadSamurai (Moderator) Replied On May 16th 2011: This is not a proper start to a thread @TRJ , but given your location, I am willing to overlook it this once.
JUST this once.
►TRJ (Original Poster) (At Ground Zero: Brockton Bay) Replied On May 16th 2011: Sorry Sorry, but i mean ..... the Smirugh is DEAD liek dead dead I can't even, and Levithin and Beheamoth are GONE.
►Ultracut Replied On May 16th 2011: Wait seriously? You're not just smoking some new Merchant stuff are you?
►TRJ (Original Poster) (At Ground Zero: Brockton Bay) Replied On May 16th 2011: Okay I'll try to explain this. Yesterday as everyone knows the Endbringer sirens went off, and we get the info here in Brockton Bay that Leviathan has decided he wants to come play with us. And most of us are scared to shit cause the damn thing sinks countries, what's our piddly little city gonna do, rust poison him from all the crap in the bay?
So mom and I were making our way to the nearest shelter, when the alarm goes off AGAIN, and we all think it's nothing, but turns out they detected seismic activity and Behemoth is coming our way too. So everyone's like, game over man game over, when the alarms blare a third time cause the SMIRGH is dropping out of orbit on our town.
At this point no one bothers to head to the shelters any more cause, what's the point, the shelters only gave us a 60% chance to survive with just ONE Endbringer, and we're getting all three.
So a bunch of us we head up to the hills around town where all the fancy houses are, and find some guys house who had already split on his private helicopter or what ever, maids let us in we raid the fridge, everyone's drinking and having a house party on this guys dime, cause we figure we've got maybe an hour to live tops.
The capes are all gathered ready to make a stand, the news is just staying there to film it cause like everyone else they figure we're fucked and you can see the capes know that too but everyone's still gonna do their damnedest to try and fight, even the damn Nazis.
So the first one we see is the Simurgh, she comes diving down like a bat out of hell and comes to a stop over a school on the east side, Winslow i think, a moment later Leviathan sweeps in and lumbers over across the place to the same spot. Then Behemoth pops up out of a parking deck and moves to the same spot.
And the heroes are blasting them shooting everything they got and they are being ignored.
Then this weird lightning starts flicking around the place, if you saw the old Terminator movie kinda like that when Arnold appeared.
And the second that starts all three of the Endbringers start cutting loose with everything they have on the school. Heroes in the way are simply vaporized, the whole area around these bastards is just being turned into a river of molten slag. Simurgh is ripping things out of the air firing weird tinker shit she put together in an instant, Behemoth's cranking out heat that starts melting the side paneling on the rich dudes house, and we're maybe two three miles away easy. Leviathan is just smashing all the water from everywhere into this spot, just obliterating the spot this school was on. The show was enough that i'm starting to think the damn things were sandbagging every time they fought before cause the school and everything for three blocks around it was vaporized down to bedrock
So after about easily fifteen minutes of just fucking up this school, the three stop.
And in the middle of all this, as the mist and poison and shit fade, there's this glowing pink bubble thing, every where around it is fucked , but this big globe is sitting there floating in the ruined landscape, just unfucking touched.
Then the bubble opens and this massive fucking dragon, I'm talking the size of a battleship or bigger easy, just unfolds out of this bubble like one of those little sponges you grow with water out of a capsule.
So this massive dark blue dragon just unfolds and the Endbringers are all have this WTF expression for a second and in that second, the dragon EATS THE SIMURGH.
One bite, horrific crunching, strained scream song or whatever it was from the bitch, and it's over in like thirty seconds of chewing.
Then Leviathan vanishes with a pop, and a pink shield appears around Behemoth. The pink bubble just starts getting smaller and smaller and smaller until we can't see it any more.
And the news chopper decides now is the time to get closer, as the dragons not doing anything but looking at something at his feet.
The chopper gets close enough and you see a purple haired girl and blue haired guy and a weird looking purple dog standing on a big table made of crystal at the dragons right foot. Then Scion shows up, and blows through the chopper like it was not even there, I doubt the people inside even knew what killed them.
No clue what the hell the gold fuckers problem was, but he shows up after it's over and then kills more people than three Endbringers did in this fight.
And he stops in front of the dragon and the two stare each other down, and then suddenly he's gone, like poof, gold boy vanished.
Then before anything happens, the dragon vanishes as well as the people the table, and their little dog too.
►Lolitup Replied On May 16th 2011: Okay that sounds like a wild dream or you've been Simurghed.
►Bagrat (The Guy in the Know) (Veteran Member) Replied On May 16th 2011: @lolitup Ummmm. No.... TRJ is legit. The Endbringers are gone. A giant dragon appeared, ate the Simurgh, The theory is the pink bubble crushed Behemoth into nothing, and Dragon(the tinker not the blue one) has gotten confirmed sightings of Leviathan in space on a trajectory towards the sun. No info on what happened to Scion though.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX Replied On May 16th 2011: What i wanna know is, what happened to that purple haired chicks clothes? Cause damn, she got some nice boobies.
►BadSamurai (Moderator) Replied On May 16th 2011: @XxVoid_CowboyxX The Endbringers are dead, this is the lowest death toll from an attack ever, a massive dragon, a real one, that makes Lung look like a anole shows up, and you're focused on boobs? While that is some dedication, I should ban you on principal.
►XxVoid_CowboyxX (Banned) Replied On May 16th 2011: User was banned for this Post.
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►BadSamurai (Moderator) Replied On May 16th 2011: @XxVoid_CowboyxX I knew i should have gone with my first instinct. Enjoy your week ban, you earned it.
►Uber (Verified Villian) Replied On May 16th 2011: Just a heads up, our little seeker got perfect shots of the whole thing and that will be on our channel just as soon as we put some nudity filters on them.
Please support us on Patreon.
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[Timeline 14-25-24]
“Hmmm, this looks like another Nightmare Moon won world.” Twilight sighed hopping down from the table her hooves thudding on the ground.
“Seems it. It's dark, it's slightly windy, there's a few clouds and a clear silvery moon. Not that cold though, a bit foggy however.” Spike offered.
“Well we weren't attacked the moment we appeared this time.” Shining sighed. ”So what did you even do to that gold guy?”
“Ehh he was just a projection though a rather interestingly designed quasi portal, I just locked the portal. Though he did kill the people in that machine, so I added a bit to it so every time he tries to open a new portal it only opens back to where it came from.” Twilight shrugged.” Pretty easy dimensional inversion, it pretty much powers itself too.”
“Bleah.” Rahs added.
“No one told you to eat it, so it's not my fault you have the taste of chicken feathers on your tongue” Spike snarked. “Where are we any way?”
The four of them suddenly go silent as they hear singing. It's indistinct at first though it sounds like a little filly.
"....I see trouble on the way. I see earth quakes and lightning I see bad times today"
The four of them look around and notice everything seems to be getting darker, the trees and fog and even the moon seeming to loom over them more
"Don't go around tonight well it's bound to take your life. There's a bad moon on the rise."
A shadowy shape in the fog is seen, looking like a small filly, though looking closer it seems to be an eyeless version of Twilight as a filly.
The figure grins wider than her mouth should be able to before laughing in a discordant nightmare of hearty chuckles, childish giggles, panicked cackling, and diabolic laughter.
The noise comes from everywhere before suddenly stopping dead with not a single sound nor sign of the figure.
“Okay, who's all for hopping the next train to 'Buck this I'm Outsville?" Twilight asked
“Aye” The Sparkle brothers agree.
“Neigh.” an echoy filly voice from the darkness replies, far closer than they liked.
“The ayes have it." Twilight stated as the group rushes the table climbing onto it as Spike repeatedly smashes the button.
As the table vanishes a dark furred filly walks out of the shadows with a small pout.
“Awww they left. Now it's gonna be boring again.” The dark filly sighs. ”Oh well only three hundred days until Nightmare Night. Let's see what mom and Jack are up to.”
With that the filly trots off towards a tree, and opens a door that looks like a pumpkin before stepping through.
[Timeline 4-18. 1-4-15-18-1-2-12-5]
“So let me get this straight.” Twilight sighed taking a sip of the tea she had been given. “You over threw Princess Celestia and Princess Luna...”
“Yes , they were very adamant that I do that.”
“And you did that after you defeated Applejack, who is the worlds greatest Hero, Captain Apple?” Twilight continued.
“Yes, that's correct so far.”
“But that defeat was accidental because she broke the weapon you were going to use on her, by trying to use it on you and it exploded and killed Rainbow Dash?” Twilight frowned.
“Yes.” Fluttershy sighed her ears drooping. ”That was not supposed to happen.”
“Tell us again who Twilight is here.” Spike asked as all three of her brothers smiled deviously as Twilight face hooved.
“Well, she goes by the name of Bad Horse here...” Dr. Adorable stated.
Three stallions dressed in western garb popped up out of no where.
“Bad Horse, Bad Hoooorse She's Bad... She rides across the nation, the thoroughbred of sin....”
“This universe is great.” Shining Armor cackled as Twilight glared at him.
[Anywhen.]
The Sparkles stared at White and his guest.
White raised an eyebrow, his guest rolled her eyes.
“Seriously?” Twilight demanded.
“What?” White questioned as Twilight gestured at his guest.
“Yeah, seriously, what Twilight..” his guest demanded.
“This is who you went on a date with?” Twilight snapped.
“Oh... that's right you did help me pick the bow tie.” White nodded considering.
“BUT She's a PONY and you're a rabbit!?” Twilight snapped.
“Wow... speciest much?” the guest asked.
“Yeah sis.....” all three of her brothers growled, “Something wrong with dating a pony?”
“Why are you glaring at me?” Twilight snapped at Shining.
“Chrysalis.” Shining Armor added
“Oh right....”Twilight realized before whirling back around. “ NO that's not right, you're a rabbit, the size difference alone....”
“Oh he's quite big enough when he wants to be.” the guest smirked as White beamed.
“Oh stars TMI.” Twilight snapped.
“Agreed.” Spike offered as Rahs whined.
“I dunno, I could stand a bit more information.” Shining offered.
Everyone looked at him.
“Who am I married to and bonded to with Twilight's companion spell?” Shining Armor smirked.
“Well, in a long list of weird things we've done or seen since this started, this is near the top.” Spike sighed.
“Yeah well it was rather unexpected for me at first too, but honestly it kinda works.” the guest offered with a shrug.
“Stop there, my brain is full and we still need to get Starlight.” Twilight snapped. “White is this mission you sent us on to actually stop Starlight or is it something else, because we cannot have been bouncing timelines.”
“You are, but divergent timelines, Starlight doesn't have to be the one to have changed them, but every time she screws up your time line it either makes a new path or shunts you into the nearest applicable timeline.“ White explained. ”Or even back and forth on your proper timeline as it recalibrates, don't think I won't see what you did with that treasure you found.”
“I've got two kids coming who need college money.” Shining shrugged as Twilight nodded having invested her share as well. “The interest alone in that bank I put it in will cover that plus some.”
“Woof.” Rahs offered.
“He says that since no one knew who the mysterious donor that saved that theater was, it might as well have been him.” Twilight offered. ”He also said watching it burn down felt like it physical hurt him.”
“I will not apologize for getting all those first editions.” Spike nodded. White glanced over to the steamer trunk sitting on the crystal table.
“At any rate when you catch Starlight or at least stop her the table should take you to where you need to be.” White explained. “Then you should know what to do.”
“Fine... “ Twilight sighed, before glaring at White's guest. ”But you better invite us to the wedding.”
“I already did.” White smiled.
“You haven't even proposed yet.” his guest sighed.
“Yes I will.” White frowned.
“Linear time dear.”
“Oh, well, alright....”White huffed.
The Sparkles hopped back on the table, vanishing with the sound of ticking, leaving white and his date Minuette alone again.
Pinkie Pie huffed in annoyance glaring at the map table. Spike was sitting at a plain wooden table with a number of chairs around it off to the side of the table prepping for his O&O game.
“I'm sorry Pinkie, but after some consideration I didn't feel as if you should go on this one.” Seshat offered.” Quite the opposite actually. I felt quite firmly that you should stay here.”
“It's fine.. really it's fine... I'll just sit here and...... I dunno, wonder what Fluttershy's doing on this potentially dangerous mission...”Pinkie Pie whined.
“Seriously, calm down. Fluttershy has Rahs and Twilight with her.” Spike offered.” If anything bad does happen we'll probably feel the explosion from here.”
“Yes well I get Fluttershy and Twilight, and Rahs always goes now as back up along with a Guard or two, but WHY is Tempest going?” Pinkie Pie demanded.
“Mostly due to the Guard who was training her in protocol is going and if she is serious about guarding Twilight and aiding the Ponyville Guard this is the sort of thing she would need to do.” Seshat explained.
“At least Grubber has to work.” Spike shrugged. ”He can get super annoying without Tempest around to reign him in.”
“And yet, I don't get to go?” Pinkie Pie snapped.
“Well I wasn't stopping you, but I felt you shouldn't.....” Seshat offered. “REEEEALLLY felt you shouldn't.”
“GAAAH!!!” Pinkie Pie ranted.
“You could always go take over for Fluttershy's Book Club.” Spike offered.
“That would mean I would need to go deal with Angel Bunny alone, I'm not 'that' crazy.” Pinkie snapped.
“Fair enough.” Spike shrugged.
Twilight felt that this had been the dumbest, most pointless waste of her time ever, and she had been to one of Fluttershy's book club meetings once.
It had been rather galling to find a field mouse had a better understanding of the themes and story of a Tail of Two Cities than she did. And that was AFTER she became the goddess of books.
Evidently there were two family's in the middle of a feud. A feud that had been going on so long there was actually a filly and a colt from both families who were secretly sneaking into the forest to spend time together. Rahs had immediately pulled those two away to make sure there would be no stupid Romeo and Juliet shenanigans going on.
From what Twilight could tell, one side was full of crap builders, and the other side was full of crap farmers.
Which was weird enough on it's own given the crap builders managed to make functioning cannons to fire pumpkins at the crap farmers. It was even stranger that the crap farmers had sheds full of watermelons and enough hay to bale it and use it as ammo.
Twilight was sorely tempted to blast them both when they refused the Guards cease fire order. The only thing the two family leaders seemed to be interested in was winning the fight to prove they were better at fighting.
Still it was up to her to fix this. Tempest was staying back deferring to what the Guard with them was doing, Rahs was working on the two lovers trying to get them to keep it in their pants, and Fluttershy had already saved a bunch of animals caught in the crossfire.
After the cake fiasco the conflict had gone into a full out brawl with the valley between the two hilltop homesteads erupting into food flinging and fighting.
Twilight was confused that the two families had been using the Equestrian non escalation style of conflict, which really was based on a lie created by Celestia during that stupid cupcake fort battle she imagined and they were just using food and less than lethal attacks.
Sadly however it seemed that was no longer the case as now that the feud had moved into the valley, hooves, sticks, pitch forks, torches and other farm implements were being brought to bare.
Thankfully it was all a bunch of uncoordinated brawling and shouting thus far.
“ENOUGH!” Twilight shouted, her horn flaring as she shoved every pony away from every pony else on the field. Unfortunately they all immediately charged back together to continue the fight.
She then grabbed Big Daddy Mcolt, and Ma Hooffield yanking them both in front of her. The pair of them ignoring her and trying to stab each other with the large wood chisel and a pitchfork.
“You two stop it!” Twilight snapped stepping between the pair and glaring at them. “ You two don't even know what you're fighting about any more. This needless conflict needs to stop!!”
“AHH what do you know!!?” Big Daddy shouted.
“RIGHT, BUTT OUT.” Ma hollered as well.
“Well at least they agreed on something.”
Twilight glared at her brother, before she felt sharp pain in both her sides.
There was a brief moment after that, where reality itself seemed to freeze in place.
Twilight glanced down, noting a chisel and a pitch fork that had both been prodding at her while she had been trying to get the pair to see reason, where now both a few inches deep into her sides. Twilight glanced to both sides at the heads of the families. Both of them had the same annoyed expression, but they also seemed surprised that she hadn't moved from the prodding and actually gotten stabbed. Neither realizing the reason she hadn't pulled away was because the other one was prodding her other side.
Twilight took a deep breath feeling the warm trickle of her own blood start running through her fur from the holes on either side of her body.
There was a sound behind her that marked the realization from those who had come with her on what had just happened. The growling that started wasn't just coming from Rahs.
Twilight let out her breath as the moment still hung in the air, a stillness that was almost as unsettling as what she knew was about to happen.
“May the stars have mercy on your souls. Because there is no god listening who will.” Twilight stated flatly.
Then the world exploded into violence.
Twilight sat back as the Guard bandaged her sides. She didn't really need it as the wounds healed almost as soon as the weapons were removed but the guard was doing his best to not pay attention to what was going on in the valley.
Rahs had went off obviously and was not the slightest bit concerned on which of the families felt his ire.
Tempest too, had also gone off and Twilight was quite impressed at the mess she was making of everyone, like Rahs she was completely indiscriminate on her rampage. She had a slightly smaller body count than Rahs, but only just.
Fluttershy too had decided to react, and the angry proto thestril was surprisingly brutal, though it seemed that she was less doing this because of Twilight getting hurt and more due to all the animals around who had been hurt or nearly hurt from the fighting.
“So what do we do when this is over?” The guard asked looking at the wreckage, Tempest and Rahs had not settled from taking their annoyance out on just the ponies, the farm and fort were both on fire and half collapsed as well.
“Well for starters we arrest the lot of them for their part in this conflict, especially the two leaders due to them actually stabbing me. We find any close families to take the children to and then we either have the government itself take over the land or we let the love struck pair have it and start over.” Twilight sighed. “ In either case this fighting is going to be brought up to Princess Celestia and she can deal with that part of it and what to do with the land. What annoys me is that in order to preserve harmony here we pretty much had to kick the flanks of everyone involved. This does not fit well with anything I know on harmony or friendship. Why was I even sent out here when a host of Guards could have done the same thing. I mean what was the lesson here?”
“Hmmm. Maybe, ' Don't stab someone who has two overpowered protectors willing to engage in ultra violence at the drop of a hat?” the guard offered.
“And Fluttershy?”
“That's easy, 'Be kind to animals. Or else.' “ The guard explained.
“Meh Better than anything I could come up with for this.” Twilight sighed.
“Well that was a disaster.” Twilight Sparkle sighed as Starlight vanished with a cackling laugh.
“Which part? Where my shields still didn't catch her due to her teleporting faster than I could block, or the fact Rahs fell through the clouds the moment he stepped off the table?” Shining grumbled.
“Maybe it was the complete uselessness of me because you 'didn't have time' to cast a cloud walking spell on me.” Spike grumbled.” Or how you only fired off some paltry ass stun spells that a parasprite could shake off at her, while pretty much announcing our presence with a rousing speech that she interrupted twice and ignored the rest of the time?”
“BORK” Rahs snapped clawing at the edge of the table as he stepped out of a cloud bank and barely managed to grab the edge of the crystal table before he fell through the clouds again.
“Look this is the first time we encountered her, things can't go perfectly the first time.”Twilight grumbled.
“Yeah save no we lost the element of surprise.”Spike growled.”And that mare is scary competent at being a pain in the ass. So you even see what she did?”
“No, not really I was trying to stop her.” Twilight responded.
“She stopped the sonic rain boom from happening, by doing nothing more than startling Rainbow Dash before she left the starting gate with a firecracker spell.” Spike grumbled.”I've heard this story enough to know exactly where we are.”
“Okay.... and...” Twilight asked before blinking.” Oh.”
“Right no rain boom, no Elements of Harmony, it means you never hatched me or pulled Rahs from the Oneiroi, it means Applejack stayed in Manehatten, Pinkie never leaves the farm and Rarity never finds the gemstones, and you never get into Celestia's school.” Spike snapped.
“What about Fluttershy?” Shining asked.
“She still fell off a cloud so unless she splats on the ground I don't think much changes for her.”Spike shrugged. “ But with no Elements guess who never beats Nightmare Moon? She screwed the whole time line up with a freaking cantrip spell. That mare butterfly effected the crap out of us.”
“How would she even know all this about you?” Shining asked.
“Grrrrrrr.” Rahs added.
“Paparazzi right.” Shining sighed. “With all the interviews and stories that came out after the Element's of Harmony became known her knowing most of your history and how you six were connected should be fairly common knowledge.”
“Plus our book delved into cutie marks a little using Twilight's and the others as an example.” Spike sighed
“You think she has a copy of our book?” Twilight considered.
“If so we can autograph it for her in her blood.”Spike snapped.
“You're being kinda out of character vicious today Spike” Shining pointed out.
“Dude the mare made me no longer exist, yer damn right I want blood.”Spike ranted.
“Language.” Twilight chided.
“No, fuck that. Until we take this mare down I am using whatever language I find appropriate and I assure you I have an extensive vocabulary of the word FUCK to work through.”Spike growled.
“Fair enough.” Shining Armor shrugged.” I suppose all we need to do now is hit the button and see what the worlds gonna be like before we reset and try again.”
“Fine. But if I vanish into nonexistence next time you see that mare you better take her head to fix this because I am not willing to not be born just for some stupid friendship feeling for the no longer a god in this time line here.”Spike gestured to Twilight.
“Agreed.” Shining Armor stated. “I can set up a small anti teleport bubble in a second, just enough that it would leave a portion of her head behind if she tried to teleport while it was up, it won't offer any protection or capture ability,it just prevents a spot it surrounds from teleporting.”
“You can do that?”Spike blinked.
“I've learned a lot of things watching Chryssy and Celestia kill each other.”Shining Armor nodded sagely.
The other Sparkles sighed or shook their heads at that information before Spike hit the button White told him too sending the table back to the starting point.
[Time line 18-5-9-7-14 15-6 14-9-7-8-20]
The table appeared in what looked like a field of carrots . The Sparkles looked around curiously seeing the muted colors of the plant life and the pitch black night that surrounded them.
“Well.. looks like a Nightmare Moon win to me.” Spike offered.
“Wuff.” Rahs added sniffing the air.
“Ponies? Well seems it's not a frozen death planet scenario.” Twilight nodded her gaze sweeping over the pale vegetation, and vast amounts of moss. “Still bad.”
“Is that Pinkie Pie?” Shining asked gesturing to a pink mare with straight hair at the other end of the field lit up by a lantern she carried. The way the mare moved and the bulge of her belly seemed to show she was with a foal.
“I don't know....”Twilight stammered.
The crash of armor and the thunder of hooves caused the mare to douse her light and run off into the dark, The Sparkles turned the other way and Rahs growled again.
“Guards?” Shining asked.” They sound like they are armed for war too.”
“Sounds like they are headed this way.”Spike offered.”I think it's time to go before we get caught up in whatever happened to this place.”
“But think of the research possibilities.”Twilight stated.
“You're right we should stop and see what is wrong with this time line and completely ignore trying to fix our own for the sake of science... oops I already pushed the button too bad maybe next time.” Spike rambled as he mashed the button causing the table and the Sparkles to vanish.
The collection of Guards rush up to the spot their gaze shifting around, the sound of armor all that was heard as no mutters or words come from any of the guards.
Another pony trots up the Guards in midnight blue and black part for the approach of the pony in thick armor that looks like bone and smells faintly of oranges. A large double bladed sword with slightly curved edge resting on his hip wrapped in leather straps.
The only thing visible on the bone armored pony is the gray fur of his jaw and one red eye and one green eye showing through the helm's visor.
“Whatever was here is gone now.” Jer'rahd Kaisur, head of House Loyalty muttered mostly to himself.
[Time line 7. 9. 10-15-5]
“So what your saying is your two forces have been fighting for years and neither side has secured a solid victory, nor any real deaths just a lot of property damage, destroyed aircraft, and gun fire.”Twilight blinked.” Though you usually manage to push them back for about a week before they attack again the following Saturday?”
“That is correct.” The tall blonde man in a military uniform nodded.
“Well now we know.” Spike shrugged.
“And knowing is half the battle.” Duke offered.
Rahs rolled his eyes and hit the button.
[Time line 2-1-20-13-1-14]
Twilight blinked looking down at herself. She was human again, though her skin was more a peach color. Looking over to the others she was surprised to see Shining also a human with black hair and in an outfit that looked like a police uniform.
Glancing to a very annoyed looking Spike he was a plain brown dog of some kind, only really identifiable by where he sat on the crystal table.
Rahs was the oddity, and he seemed even more pissed than Spike as he was a large black raven with more hints of blue in his feathers than a normal bird.
“Okay this is odd.” Shining pointed out as he looked around, they seemed to be on the beach of a bustling city, just along the side of a large pier that ran out onto a large body of water, perhaps a river or even a gulf of some sort.
The thud of footfalls on the pier above them brought all of their attentions upward as a man in a gray and blue costume that looked vaguely like a bat ran up to the railing and looked down at them, a large black ball held high over his head with a wick that was slowly burning down.
The Sparkles looked at the man, he looked and them and he sighed.
“Some days you just can't get rid of a bomb.” The man sighed and ran off away from the railing.
After a few more moments there was an explosion and the sound of water crashing back down after being blown into the air.
“Well that was a thing.” Twilight stated as Spike mashed the green button.
[ Time line 4-5-1-20-8 2-1-20-20-12-5]
The scream of engines causes all the Sparkles to wince and the sonic boom that hits a moment later knocks Spike and Twilight off the table, leaving Twilight frantically flapping her wings trying to regain her balance, while Spike just face plants in the grass.
Shining quickly puts up a shield bubble stopping anyone from tumbling too far from the table and protecting them from whatever just buzzed them.
Looking around they spot a gray red and blue machine flying through the air cutting above the tree tops chasing after a small blue figure that Rahs makes out as Rainbow Dash.
“What the Tartarus is that thing chasing her?” Shining demanded.
“It looks like something Sunset described from the human world called a jet plane.” Twilight offered.” We have similar things but most of our air craft are pony powered, though I have heard of a few fixed wing craft using magic in development.”
“Okay what ever it is just launched some rockets at her... “ Spike frowned.
Rainbow Dash yelped and shot up into the air, the rockets chasing after her.
The plane stops in mid air floating there a second before there was an odd noise and the plane changed to a giant robot that continued to hover in the air, looking up at the missiles chasing the blue pony into the clouds.
“Okay... that was kinda cool.” Spike pointed out at the transformation.
“Wuff?” Rahs considered.
“Yeah that would be a neat toy, I bet we could make a comic or a crystal show series .” Spike pondered. “Granted the whole point of those would be to sell the toys.”
Rahs blinked, before looking at the fourth wall and raising an eyebrow.
“Shouldn't we do something? That thing is attacking your friend.” Shining Armor stated with a frown.
“Nah, just wait for it.” Twilight offered.
“Wait for what?” Shining asked.
A sudden boom and a ring of rainbow light blew apart the clouds as a streak of light shot down out of the sky, the missiles exploding where the ring hit them. The beam shooting down was lead by a blue pegasus pony who then plowed into the robot with a massive explosion and a rainbow colored mushroom cloud.
“Yep.... Fights over.” Twilight offered as chunks of the robot were scattered across the landscape.
[ Time line 4-15-7-7-5-18]
Shining armor swallowed a little, keeping the smile on his face as the mares swarmed around him.
“I'm sorry ladies but I'm already taken.” Shining offered getting a good feeling that he was well aware of what these mares were after, and it wasn't his winning personality.
“Awww.” a few of them offered.
“You sure they wouldn't mind a few more to join your heard.... we can share...” a teal unicorn purred.
“While I am quite certain Cady would be okay with that, I doubt Chryssy would, she's a bit of the jealous type. And besides I have two foals on he way and I'd rather not upset them.”
“Ooooh, well we know he's virile now girls....” another mare cooed.
Shining drew in a slow breath and pressed back against the tables edge as the mares crowded in. This place seemed relatively safe, unless you were a male, but there was some weird stuff.
When they first arrived most of the town had looked at them for a moment then moved on with their business with only a few mares staring.
So typical Ponyville really.
Not long after that a massive snake had made it's way between the buildings, causing a bit of fright from the locals though most ignored it, or tried to. It seemed more curious about the table and those on it, and didn't appear threatening though Shining and Rahs were both tensed for it to do something.
Twilight of course saw the giant thing, screamed and shot off into the distance her scream dopplering as she zipped through the buildings.
Shining was certain the snake had rolled it's eyes then slithered off through the town going about whatever business giant snakes had.
The second thing that happened was a massive three headed dog showed up, looked at them, growled a little, licked Rahs with one head, stared at Shining with the other, and picked up Spike with the third head before lumbering off.
The Cerberus was stopped from having a very very bad day by a mare coming up to the table and explaining that Fluffy was the town's Truant officer and was just taking the teenaged dragon to the school house.
Rahs decided to go find Twilight and left Shining to guard the table, which was where the mare swarm came in.
Shining really hoped Rahs would hurry the buck up.
It was at this moment that a group of figures approached the gaggle of mares.
“Alright all of you piss off he's taken by a Princess so your interests are invalid.” a Twilight snaps, a notebook held in her magic that she was furiously writing in.
Another Twilight with wings followed behind her writing things down furiously in a note book of her own.
Next to the first Twilight is a tall human with dark hair and a some what scruffy appearance, floating next to him in the air is Rainbow Dash, both of them seem confused and slightly amused at things.
Just behind them is Rahs and what Shining assumes is a human Pinkie Pie judging by the hair, she wass talking animatedly at Rahs as the moon dog looks over what seems to be a stack of paperwork in his hands.
“Woof?” Rahs asked.
“Yep all you gotta do is get them to sign it and it should be all good. Of course you need to go over it with your dimensions legal teams but it's fairly solid.” Pinkie Pie gestured.
“Cause there's a whole bunch of people and ponies and other things out there who are all for this result.” Pinkie Pie smirked. “I'm just speeding along my bet by passing on the paperwork.”
“Bork?”
“Okay not 'my' my bet, but my bet, you know?” Pinkie Pie shrugged.
“Alright I see you found yourself.” Shining Armor points out as the two Twilight stop in front of the table the gaggle of mares taking that moment to back off, though a number of them still stared at Shining, with a few others giving Rahs an appraising look as well.
“Quite a interesting divergence in this time line.” Twilight stated, her voice a little rough, likely from the screaming at the giant snake.
“Possibly not a time line but a dimensional divergence, there are after all a few examples of it already.” This time line's Twilight offered.
“Okay and who is this then?” Shining Armor asked, looking up at the human.
“Oh that's my husband.” This time line's Twilight pointed out.
“Are you Serious?” Shining asked.
“Yes. Yes I am.” The human grinned.
“Ugh. Don't get him started.” Rainbow Dash sighed not hiding her smirk very well.
“WE NEED TO LEAVE NOW!!”
The entire group turned looking up as Spike ran up to the table, hoping onto it and slamming his hand on the button like it was one of those stupid, 'you get this, but this happens' buttons with no real consequence.
The other Sparkles blink as the table doesn't do anything but shake a little as Spike pounds on it.
“Spike we need a few supplies and this seems like a safe enough time line to do just that.” Twilight offered.
Spike stopped mashing the button with his claw standing up and kicking the button with a foot as he faced his siblings, terror on his face.
“Twilight. This place has it's own Cutie Mark Crusaders, ELEVEN OF THEM!! They have raised the dead, tormented hydra, formed a herd with themselves, crossed dimensions, rewritten portions of reality with Sweetiebelle's cooking, hunted werewolves which got ONE of them their cutie marks for, taught earth ponies how to fly, the massive three headed dog is Applebloom's pet, rewritten the progress of an entire nother world, introduced an entirely new race of creatures to Equestria, tamed a wild unicorn from another dimension, and I'm pretty sure Sweetiebelle is carnivorous." Spike ranted. “We go now. Going is good, staying is bad.”
Rahs nodded tucking the paper work Pinkie gave him in his coat picked before he picked up his sister and brother and hopped up on the table .
With Spike still mashing the button the table fades out with the sound of a ticking clock.
Those remaining blink as their Twilight continues to write in her notebook
“Well. I do hope they are going to be alright.” Sirius Black offered.
“Oh I'm sure they'll be fine,” Pinkie Pie offered. “Though Twilight seemed a little horse.”
[Any when]
“THERE YOU ARE!!!”
White blinked and turned his head to watch as a lavender unicorn stormed across the gray landscape towards him.
Numerous rabbit heads and bodies appeared in her wake, all of them glaring at the mare as if ready to go off on her like piranha, a few of them starting to spin up their teeth.
White shook his head slightly, turning to face the mare, the swarm of rabbits looked disappointed as they fade back into the gray.
“Something I can help you with Starlight Glimmer?” White asked as he turned back to the nothing and everything he was fiddling with in the expanse of gray.
“You!! You are ruining everything you damned rabbit.”Starlight growled. “The Sparkles should be GONE but you sent them after me!”
“My what an ego you have. I will send the Sparkles to deal with a issue they already dealt with when they will. “White offered. “At no point would I have ever said that YOU were the issue. You are barely worth note in the grand scheme of things. Certainly you may be important, but there are just as many times when you are not.”
“SHUT UP YOU FUTURE HASENPFEFFER!!”
Starlight screamed out in rage, her horn flaring as a blast of arcane might hits the white rabbit, exploding it in a shower of gore and flame.
Starlight growled panting heavily at the discharge watching as the gray absorbed the mess and char. She whirled around with a satisfied smirk and a white rabbit floated before her inches from her nose.
A paw reaches out and touched her nose.
“Boop.” White stated.
Starlight's nose suddenly shattered and scrunched up like she had just been hit a bat wielded by a dragon, her head whipped backward as her skull is forced backwards, her head flying and dragging her body with it, tearing ligaments, shattering bones and ripping flesh as she is sent tumbling end over end, crashing and bouncing across the surprisingly hard and jagged expanse of gray until she comes to a stop. Her limbs manged, her nose and jaw broken, her spine feeling dislocated and her horn cracked.
White flicks an ear.
Starlight floated up from where she landed tumbling back towards the rabbit, wounds and injuries healing as she bounced back across the landscape, her body recovering as she spins back up to where she had been standing at the start, not a mark on the mare, though she remembers it all.
“Boop.” White says, and Starlight's nose is again shattered as her body tumbled across the plain.
Starlight only lays in the pained heap for a few seconds before time rewinds and she's sent back towards the floating rabbit.
“Boop”
The mare barely has a chance to scream.
“See this is what I will be talking about. Boop. You come into MY house, talked shit. Boop. And then try to blast me. That's pure ego right there. Boop. Or perhaps it will be little more than anger coupled with stupidity. Boop. It has become rather clear that despite how smart you are, you will also be damned stupid. Boop.” White ranted his ear flicking occasionally as he simply holds his paw out to contact the mares nose every time she rewinded. “It is said that my existence might be the most fragile as time is only a construct of conscious thought. Boop. Those who say that tend to forget that time is ALWAYS there. Boop. Even if there are those not sapient enough to perceive time. Boop. The fact the seasons exist, the rotation of the planet, the pulsing of distant stars, the aging of reality. Boop. I might be weakened if no one was sapient enough to perceive time, but it would hardly be enough to destroy me. Boop. Time exists whether anyone is smart enough to perceive it or not. Boop. Plus I also have rabbits and carrot cake as portfolios so. Boop. “
A flick of an ear and the mare tumbles back to the rabbit, though White has lowered his paw, though he is nose to nose with Starlight now.
“You are hardly a speck of worry in my mind mare. You are not the main character, you are barely important enough to be more than a background character in this world. The title is not Starlight Fights a Puppy. Though I fear now that I will say that some one made it happen.” White sighed. ”Mare there is a reason even Discord will not go against me and what I just put you through is not the why of that. Now get back to your plot line and out of my sight, it's almost done any way.”
White lands lightly on the mass of gray as Starlight takes the moment to vanish with a pop of magic and the ticking of a clock.
“So were you going to tell her the reason I don't mess with you is I lost a bet?” Discord asked from nearby.
“Of course not. She didn't need to know about that.” White smirked.
“I still say you cheated.” Discord huffed.
“I will not cheat. I had no need to.” White wiped his claws on his chest holding them up to look them over a moment.”You just suck at cards.”
[The Moss Pit. Canterlot's premier concert venue.]
Rahs had been surprised that there was a club in one of the few heavily forested areas of Canterlot. He was even more surprised at the type of music played here. The heavy bass made his stomach rumble as the mass of ponies milled around and danced to the flashing strobe lights and lasers flying everywhere.
In a clearing under roof well hidden in the canopy was a dance floor and a massive DJ booth where a familiar white unicorn mare with a blue mane and tail, and who was still wearing sunglasses at night, kept the music going.
Rahs hadn't known what to expect, though the seafood dinner prepared by a sea pony had been rather impressive, though he had never had anything that was cooked over a geothermal vent under millions of gallons of salt water. It was a decidedly different taste.
Rahs wasn't too sure what brought on Aria's interest in him, though to be fair he was only vaguely aware of the interest of some of the others, mostly Jynx and Applejack to be honest, and maybe Trixie, though Saturnia and Sunset confused him, but they were interested and he didn't see why he shouldn't humor Aria as he did them.
Granted he wasn't sure why they hadn't given up and judging by his own comment from the future Aria didn't either.
One of these days he would learn how to say no to a pretty girl asking him out.
Aria was in her pony form and some how managed to make herself look even more 'punk' as Sunset had called it.
He wasn't sure what 'punk' was, though Pinkie had told him 'Punk was anything that annoyed those in charge'. Given how Aria's mom reacted to half of what she did, Aria was very punk then.
The dance floor was crowded with ponies, griffons and a few other creatures, he wouldn't call what they were doing dancing, more spazing to the music, but he could see some rhythm here and there.
“Well then, it's busier than I expected when Vinyl told me about this place.” Aria half shouted half whispered.”Still impressive.”
Rahs nodded, noting the bar was made out of a massive fallen log and despite the club being outside technically, unless you looked you likely wouldn't even notice with how the trees and the few structures were placed.
“Well come on let's dance.” Aria called.
Rahs blinked at the dance floor frowning, this really wasn't his thing.
“Seriously? Don't tell me you're scared.” Aria snarked.
Rahs raised an eyebrow at her.
“Not it huh, well then maybe you just don't know how to dance?”
Rahs' eyes narrowed as Aria smirked wider, her shark like teeth giving the grin a sinister air. Joke was on her, sharp teeth didn't bother him.
Rahs snorted cracking his neck and advancing towards the dance floor offering back a fanged grin of his own.
“Challenge accepted.”
[ Ponyville, Seshat]
“ So what did Princess Celestia say?” Applejack asked adding a bit more pepper to the pork chops and applesauce she had before her on the table.
“Well the two heads of the families are going to get a bit of time to think about things in Alpacatraz. If I was a normal pony I might very well be dead, so the charge is sitting at attempted involuntary pony slaughter, which is something they had to come up with on the spot. And every other member of the family turned on the heads when confronted, saying they were the ones spurning them on to fight.”Twilight explained. “Not that Celestia believed that and she had everyone else in the family spread across Equestria in various work crews at Guard out posts. She also revoked the land grant that made that place theirs to start with. Most of the foals are going to stay with their actual parents at the places they are sent. At least after the adults recover from the maulings they received.”
“So what about tah couple?” Applejack asked.
“They are allowed to stay on the land for the time being, Princess Celestia is considering granting them the land if they can figure out a new name for their family before they get married. Neither is too thrilled with keeping their family names after all this.”Twilight shrugged eating a bit of garlic bread, the only thing close to the awesome of bacon in her mind.
“Yeah got some of my kin are gonna be headed out there soon as well. Seems tha families are both connected to tha Apples some where along tha way.” Applejack shrugged. “Princess Celestia sent Granny tha info a couple days ago and we got a few distant cousins who were looking fer somewhere new, even if it is working on land owned by someone else.”
“Well it might be given to who ever can settle it. Around those two hills is a very large bit of land that will need more than just two ponies to tend.”Twilight shrugged.”Still I'm kinda wondering why we got sent out there when all it took was some senseless violence to fix everything.”
“But you are good at that.” Seshat offered.
Twilight sighed as Applejack chuckled.
“So yah ever figure out what caused tha feud tah start with?” Applejack asked trying hard not to wolf down her meal.
“Yes.” Twilight sighed.
“And?”
“.......”
“ Twi?”
“It started as a fight between the founders on how you put a toilet paper roll on the rod .”Twilight sighed again.
Applejack stared at her a moment.
“Yer not joking.”
“No.”
[ Canterlot Royal Gardens]
“You can't do this to me!”Wind Rider stammered.
“You sent me after my mother. I should break your nose on principle for reminded me she exists, let alone that fake warning that she had done something stupid again.”Spitfire snarled, and the expression on Soarin's face could have melted stone. “Instead I'm doing what I can do to you. First off, Rainbow Dash gets your spot in the event tomorrow, second I'm revoking your record for misconduct.”
“What!?”
“The bolts have to trust one another in the air and out of it, you should know that. You trying to get rid of a promising young up and comer just to keep a stupid record spits in the face of that tenet. You are lucky you're retired or I'd throw you out completely after stripping you of any rank you've ever held for this petty bullshit.“ Spitfire growled. ”You tried to ruin another Wonderbolts reputation for your own ego, and sent me on a dangerous trek to deal with an idiot that might have led to me committing murder this time if I wasn't thinking clear enough. Don't expect another invite to fly with us ever again either. Now get the buck out of my sight before I change my mind about breaking your nose.”
Wind Rider opened his mouth to say something only for Soarin to stride up and pick him up bodily with his hooves before flinging him out the door leaving Rarity and Rainbow Dash staring after the ejected pony as the door slammed.
Wind Rider picked himself up with a growl, glaring back at the door before storming off only for a white foreleg to reach out of a side hall in the castle and yank him down it by his scarf.
“URKK!” Wind Rider gagged.
The pegasus was pushed into a spare store room of the castle, before a light formed, the glowing ball illuminating the caster. A white furred unicorn stallion with a blonde mane and blue eyes.
“Ah good. I was hoping to get a hold of you before you left the city.” Prince offered.
“Prince Blue Blood... what.. what is the meaning of this?” Wind Rider demanded.
“Oh I simply wanted to inform you of how you fucked up, well... beyond pissing off Spitfire and Soarin, I mean” Prince offered nonchalantly, buffing a hoof against his vest and inspecting it briefly before turning to regard Wind Rider as if he was a piece of dirt that might stain it.
“The mare you tried to pin a crime on is one Rainbow Dash. An Element of Harmony, Loyalty to be exact. The sole drive for her for most of her life is to be a Wonderbolt. The thing is, due to her status as a hero, she practically owns the Wonderbolts as a military branch. If she wanted to she could say 'jump' and every bolt would have to ask 'how high?' She knows this by the way and doesn't want it. She is busting her flank going through the ranks like a normal pony, and she is doing everything she can to not be seen as better than anyone else unless she earns that. She's probably arguing with Spitfire now that she doesn't deserve to take your place in the event.”
Wind Rider blinked at the explanation.
“How is that...”
“Shut up I'm not done talking.” Prince snapped. “Your attempt could have ruined everything that she has worked for all her life just for your own ego. Still even if you had succeeded Dash likely wouldn't do anything to you in repercussion. That mare is very much a hero, and those in the know would like to keep it that way, as such, there are those of us who have no issue getting our own hooves dirty to protect her. Even if I wasn't dating her.”
Wind Rider's eyes widened.
“So allow me to introduce some associates of mine who would also have no issue if I gave an order that your body should not be found.”Prince points a hoof as a figure stepped into the light.
The diamond dog is massive, even considering his kind, he would likely tower over Jynx if the two met. The gray furred brute was all muscle and covered with scars, one eye was hidden by a ragged eye patch.
“This is claws Smith. He got in trouble some time ago for tearing some ones face off and shoving it up their ass. And by that I mean their traveling partner, an ass, not their own posterior.”
Another gesture from the Prince and a smaller Griffon stepped out of the darkness. The blue green bird was wearing full leather dyed black, red, and it was studded with metal spikes, several knives hung from a belt at her waist and from a few sheathed on her forearms.
“This is Bonnie Blade. I needed some one of her skills, so I'm currently hiding her from four separate kill orders across three nations.” Prince continued as the Griffon and the Diamond Dog loomed over the pegasus.
“And this friend of mine is Crimes Malone.” Prince gestured as a nox-cal nocturne even larger than the other two and who couldn't have possibly fit in the damn door of the room loomed over all of them, the the black scales along his muzzle glittering in the mage light.
“What... what did he do...” Wind Rider questioned.
“HE? I'M A MARE MAGGOT.” The nox-cal growled in a deep baritone.
“Crimes is the worst of the lot I'm afraid. She pours the milk in the bowl before the cereal.” Prince shrugged. “ Now then... I will say this to you once. Don't let me ever see you again. Or no one will ever see you again. Understand Wind Rider?”
Prince waited for the nod before kicking the door open behind him and letting the pegasus tear out of the room at top speed.
There was a moment of silence as they listened to the crashes and cries of outrage as the pegasus fled the castle.
“Seriously boss? Shoved his face up his ass? Do you have any idea how hard it was to keep a straight face?”'Claws cackled, flicking up the eye patch showing he had both eyes.
“Oh that was easy.” 'Blade' trilled. “What killed me was 'Crimes' here and his 'I'm A MARE growl.”
“Seemed like a good idea at the time.” The nox-cal chuckled.
“In any case. Thank you for coming by on your days off. Listening to Rainbow Dash this morning when all this came to light made me suspicious enough to ask for help. I'll tell the captain to let you three off on some longer than normal shore leave some where nice.” Prince smirked.
“Sounds good. Maybe I can get 'blade' here back in a bikini again.”'Claws' grinned as the griffon blushed a little.
“Maybe if I can find that banana hammock you wore on our last vacation.”The griffon offered back getting a blush from the diamond dog.
“While appreciated boss, all of us like Dash. I think I'd rather have a invite to the wedding.”The nox-cal stated.
“Pretty sure the whole crew of the Princess Bride wants that.” 'blade' laughed.
“I haven't even proposed to her yet.” Prince yelped.
“YET!” The trio of 'goons' laughed as Prince sighed.
“Nice of you tah invite me tah this little shindig.” Granny smirked settling back in the soft couch with a mug of warm cider.
“Given my children are interested in yours I figure we were going to meet like this sooner or later.” Twilight Velvet smirked.
“I'm a little uncomfortable being this close to sun butt to be honest.” Chrysalis murred softly, disguised as a gray mare with a dark mane and tail that seemed perfectly designed to blend in. Cadence was still in the empire as some issue or another had come up. Chrysalis was quite happy to be an off hoof style of ruler, though she was surprised at the invite.
“Don't worry about it.” Night Light offered as he walked past with a small smirk on his face the couch. “Princess Celestia won't do anything to you.”
“If she knows what's good for her.” Twilight Velvet chuckled.
Granny and Chrysalis looked at the evil grin on the mare and simply shrugged. They had both met her daughter and Twilight had to have gotten it from somewhere.
“Right well it was still nice to invite us over for dinner. Yer not a bad cook.” Granny offered.
“Nope that was all me.” Nightlight offered. ”My wife is much like my daughter, she can some how set fire to the water she's trying to boil.”
“I hear the couch calling your name tonight dear.” Twilight Velvet frowned.
“Guess that means you don't want the leftovers and I can send them all back with Chrysalis.” Night Light offered getting a small growl from his wife and a laugh from the others present.
“Well yes.... my skills aside, I can say that her cooking ability is not my fault. When the recipe calls for the oven to be set to 350 for an hour, it doesn't mean setting it up to 700 will drop the time to a half hour. It does mean over clocking the stove will make a house fire, but still.”
“Ha, bet yah got a lot of stories like that from those four of yours.” Granny chuckled.
“I do, and the main advice I am giving you Chryssy is take LOTS of pictures.” Twilight Velvet lifted a large book up and dropped it on the coffee table with a thud. “And make lots and lots of copies.”
“Is that the Hearths Warming Book?” Nightlight asked leaning over the back of the couch.” Didn't Twilight turn that one to ash last year?”
Twilight Velvet smirked flipping open the book of pictures.
[ Sparkle Household, first Hearths Warming after Spike hatched.]
“Mom! Where are the lights for the tree?” Shining Armor asked.
“They should be in the green box. Make sure you check the mana charge on them before you put them up. It's a pain to try and recharge them when it's on the tree.” Twilight Velvet called back as
“ Got it!” Shining Armor yelled rolling his eyes knowing how to do that much.
“Don't roll your eyes a me.” Twilight Velvet called from the other room.
A response was thankfully cut off for the teen colt as the front door was kicked open and a large Hearth's Warming tree floated in leaving a path of bristled pine needles across the carpet as Night Light guided it into the living room.
“Look out … Shining, get the stand!” Night Light called from the depths of the massive tree.
“Got a big one this year I see.” Twilight Velvet sighed as she came into the room. ”Is it even going to fit?”
“Of course. I measured it myself.” Night Light Smirked setting the tree in the stand and putting it upright. Plaster from the ceiling showering on top of the unicorn as the top of the tree drug across it.
Nightlight blinked a little clearing his eyes of the plaster dust as his wife sighed and his son smirked.
“I'll get the broom.” Twilight Velvet shook her head heading back into the dining room, pausing to make sure Spike was eating his gem past instead of smearing it over his face again.
Nightlight sighed using his magic to trim the top of the tree another foot or so before casting mend on the plaster and repairing the rent..
“Alright lets put some lights on this thing.” Night Light smiled as Shining Armor offered over the lights.
Night Light went to work wrapping the tree with the lights working on making them even on the tree before stepping back to look it over.
Twilight Velvet came back in as Night Light dimmed the lights carrying Spike.
The little dragon made a noise as the lights went out then let out a soft squeal as his eyes focused on the tree.
“Do you think we should go for electric lights maybe this year?” Shining offered. ”Princess Celestia said Rahs eats magic and we have had a number of mana batteries drain around him.”
“Nah, those are expensive. It'll be fine, we just keep him back from the tree. These lights have lasted years with only a few charges. Even if he drains the magic it's no trouble to recharge them.” Nightlight shrugged. “Once Twi and Rahs get home from their lessons with the Princess we can start decorating it.”
As if on cue the front door opened and a large book floated in followed by a small purple unicorn with heavy saddle bags behind it.
Next to her was a small blue ball of puppy cat looking fluff who occasionally nudged the filly to not run into anything.
Rahs stopped suddenly looking into the living room, his amber eyes widening at the glittering tree inside the house.
Twilight bumped into him and paused looking over her book to the living room before lowering the book fully as she smiled.
“Alright you got the tree!” Twilight cheered marking the page she was on and tucking it away in her already over burdened saddle bag.” It's a big one too.”
“Yep. It's the first Hearths Warming for Rahs and Spike, I figured this would be a good event. We might even be able to put up all the ornaments on it this time instead of having a box left over like last year.” Night Light smiled.” What do you think Rahs?”
there was no response, not even a bark.
Night Light glanced over to the puppy blinking as he saw the moon dog practically vibrating in place by the door as he stared at the tree and the blinking lights. His amber eyes were wide open and the blinking lights were reflecting in them as he shuddered.
“Oh yeah....” Twilight began as Rahs tensed. “Rahs kinda had the same reaction to Princess Celestia's tree.
Then Rahs surged forward.
Twilight Velvet held up the image with a smirk, the picture showing Rahs clinging to the top of the massive tree, half wrapped in the strand of lights that were already starting to go out.
Nightlight, Shining and Twilight were trying their best to get him down while Spike laughed himself into hiccoughs, clearly it was Twilight Velvet who took the picture.
“He still does that sorta nonsense in tha apple trees.” Granny huffed. ”An every now an again ah catch AJ up in one too.”
“You have to have more, this is hilarious.” Chrysalis chuckled as Twilight Velvet turned the page.
[ Canterlot Shopping Mall]
'Santa Hooves' eyed the next mare in the long line of foals and parents waiting for a chance to sit in his lap and tell them what they wanted for Hearths Warming. The brown unicorn pony wasn't too thrilled with this job. He needed to change his pants twice already when a little foal couldn't control their bladder in the excitement.
Still the pay was okay and he enjoyed passing off screaming brats to one of the 'helpers' nearby to send them down the slide and away from him. One had to enjoy the small things in life. As well as the occasional tip from a parent who wanted to know what their child wanted and would only tell 'santa'.
Still he had seen all manner of foals in the years he had started doing this, including a few Nox-cal foals, though he was wary of the nocturne, their foals were almost as big as a normal pony.
He had had diamond dog pups and even griffon chicks on his lap before.
But this was the first time he had ever seen a baby dragon.
He tensed a little as the mare brought the purple and green dragon over. The little thing was dressed in a puffy blue winter coat and was looking up at him in awe.
It was rather adorable in a way.
The mare sat the little dragon on his lap, and stepped back to the edge of the platform ready to go down the stairs to retrieve him after he was put on the slide. 'Santa' looked down at the dragon curiously.
“And what's your name little, uh... one.” 'Santa' asked.
“Mm'Spike.” the baby dragon mumbled.
“Well Spike... What do you want for Hearths Warming?” 'Santa' asked.
“Hippopotamus.” Spike responded as the mare with him rolled her eyes.
'Santa' chuckled. “Might be hard to fit down your chimney, but I will see what I can do. Now smile for the camera there.” 'Santa pointed at the mare who had brought him.
What he didn't notice was that his fake beard was tickling the baby dragon's nose as he shifted to look at the camera. Nor did he think anything as he heard the almost cute sounds of the baby getting ready to sneeze.
“Well, on the plus side the beard was fire resistant and no one was really hurt, though Spike was banned from visiting the mall Santa because of that.” Twilight Velvet chuckled. The picture she was putting away showing Spike in a winter coat sitting on Santa's chair at the local mall wiping his nose with a sleeve, with a pony dressed as Santa screaming as he ran away from Spike with his beard on fire. ”Twilight was banned after she accused him of being fake and nearly started a riot with the foals in line. Oddly Rahs was never banned and sat on his lap every year until he was thirteen, when they met the real Santa Hooves.”
“Please tell me you have something on Shining like this.” Chrysalis was nearly vibrating with excitement.
“Not for Hearths Warming sadly, I didn't get the camera until Twilight was three. Though when he was seven he got a junior red rider cross bow and nearly shot his eye out. I almost beat my husband for getting him that thing.” Twilight Velvet grumbled.
“It builds character.” Night Light offered.
“It nearly built a myopic unicorn foal thank you very much.” Twilight Velvet rolled her eyes as she turned the page.
[Mare-ry C Williams elementary school.]
“...So in conclusion, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer not only doesn't exist, but the whole song is about how being different is something to be ridiculed and tormented until that difference becomes profitable or useful.” Twilight stated.
“Thank you Twilight....” The teacher sighed. Honestly when she gave out the assignment to do a report on a Hearths Warming song she should have expected this level of nonsense.
She had vetoed the choice of song for Twilight being 'Baby it's cold outside' expecting Twilight like many older students she had tearing into the song for it's theme. Though Twilight had oddly defended that by bringing up that it was a product of it's time and that that sort of back and forth was expected from mares in that age no matter what they wanted.
“ Rahs you're next.” the teacher sighed knowing Twilight was going to have to read his too.
The Blue puppy walked up and sat down as Twilight took out another single sheet of paper and frowned at the horrid writing on it.
“I can't read this.” Twilight sighed.
“Wuff.” Rahs offered.
“Fine, I'll translate.” Twilight grumbled.
“Bork.” Rahs stated.
“You're a mean one Mister Grinch is not a Hearths warming song. At no point is Hearth's warming even mentioned in the song. It's just three minutes of some guy insulting some other guy set to a slow tone of music...” Twilight translated as the teacher dropped her head to the desk with a thud.
“Suffice to say my daughter has her own oddities for the holidays. Not that Rahs was any better.”Twilight Velvet chuckled as the others cackle.
“Now when they were nine Rahs and Twilight were in a school holiday play. A Hearth's Warming Carol. Twilight has the acting chops of a tuna fish, so she wound up being cast with a few other foals as trees and background scenery.” Twilight Velvet began.
“Ah ken see that.” “I can see that.”
Chrysalis and Granny offered at the same time before laughing.
“Of course Rahs took it too far and clearly got his first taste of acting.” Twilight Velvet offered.
“So that's where it started huh?” Chrysalis smirked as Granny laughed.
[Mare-ry C Williams Elementary School, Cafeteria stage]
The little sea green foal dressed in a beard and a gray nightcap stared up at the black cloaked figure looming over him, the skeletal mask poking out of the hood showed two glowing amber eyes behind the fact bone.
The black cloak he wore fluttered as Rahs slowly moved his arm to gesture to the cardboard headstone he was standing next to.
The foal playing Scrooge stared up at Rahs his eyes wide stammering.
A tree behind him softly hissed as lines were stage whispered.
“Spirit who's lonely grave is this....” Twilight muttered.
“SssSpirit.. who... who's grave is this...?” Scrooge stammered.
The deep baritone that came out from behind the bone mask startled quite a number of parents and others in the crowd.
“ Why yours Ebeneezer, the richest stallion in the cemetery!” the ghost of Hearths Warming Future growled before throwing his head back with the sound of booming dark laughter, as the foal playing Scrooge tore off the stage at top speed while the curtains quickly closed, almost hiding the foal crashing through the scenery in an effort to get away.
“You're over doing it.” Twilight hissed.
Twilight Velvet smirked.” To be fair I think that might have been the first time even I was certain he spoke plain Equish.”
“Why does he even do that any way? We know he can speak just fine.” Chrysalis hummed.
“Yeah most any one gits outta him is a bark or something though.” Granny considered.
“Oh, well there's a reason for that. You see..” Twilight Velvet began only for a sudden explosion of magic to cut her off as her daughter appeared on the table.
Twilight looked around frantically at Chrysalis and Granny, before snatching up the photo album and vanishing with a pop of teleportation.
Granny and Chrysalis blinked, as Twilight Velvet sighed.
Night Light trotted back in at the sound. ”Was that Twili?”
“Of course. One of these days I am going to figure out how she knows when I break out the photo albums.” Twilight Velvet chuckled.
“Well that was fun while it lasted.” Granny cackled..
“Oh don't worry. My children have destroyed or stolen hundreds of photo albums over the years.” Twilight Velvet Smirked her horn glowing as another photo album appeared in a flash of teleportation before her.” I have more copies than they've stolen so far.”
“I will have to remember that.” Chrysalis smirked.” I just have all of Saturnia's hidden away, like the one where she used me as a stage to sing horrid off key Hearths Warming songs when she was five.”
“Okay that I wanna see.” Granny grinned.
“Well conveniently … “ Chrysalis drew a photo out of her saddle bag, and showed IT to them.
“Let's see who you really are!” The blonde human stated grabbing the face of the figure that Twilight had wrapped in her magic. The mask peeling from the monsters face like cloth revealing.....
“Rahs what the fuck!?” Shining Armor demanded.
The moon dog grinned
“Woof.”
“That was hardly a dramatic reveal, I bet Twilight ten bits it was you and she wouldn't take the bet cause it was so obvious.” Spike grumbled.
“So like, where's the real Barking Ghost?” Another human male with brown hair and a green shirt, who reminded Twilight of Fluttershy's friend Tree Hugger, asked. Twilight narrowed her eyes at the man, that human had way more power than should be reasonable hidden inside of him.
The brown haired man met her stare and grinned sheepishly.
“Bork.” Rahs rolled his eyes and pointed to a closet.
The short curvy female in the orange dress walked over and opened the door letting a man bound in rope, gagged, and half dressed in another Barking Ghost costume fall out with a crash to the floor.
“Mister Withers?!” The group of humans and their great dane gasped.
The man worked the gag free. “ And I would have gotten away with it too if it wasn't for you meddling kids.”
“Ahem.”
“And your unicorn...” the man grumbled.
“Ehh we've had weirder cross overs.” The brown haired man shrugged.
[ Time Line 5-22-1, 14-14-2-15-4-25 4-9-5-19]
“WE HAVE A BLUE SIGNAL!!” a man at a computer cried out as alarmed blared around the control bridge.
“Where is it!!??” Screamed a purple haired woman as she gripped the back of the chair of the man who shouted.
“IT'S ALREADY IN THE GEO FRONT!!” A woman screamed out from another computer.
“WHERE!?!” the purple haired woman demanded, sparing a glance back behind her to a desk with an old man standing next to it and another man in a pedophile beard watching the goings on over steepled hands covered in white gloves.
“SHIT! There's more than one field commander!” some one yelled from another counsel
“WHAT!?”
The main screen of the bridge came up showing a graph with two insanely large aura graphs filling the screen going past the ability to measure.
“There's two of them!?” the purple haired woman gasped and with that kind of power?!”
“No, there's five.”
“FIVE!?”
“Look here, there's three other signals that are being masked by the two main ones. If the first two were not so ridiculous that we tried to filter them out as false readings, we never would have seen these three.”
“So the big two are false?”
“No.”
“Shit. Five angels?” the purple haired woman sighed. “ What's the Eva's status?”
“Unit one is ready and Shinji's already in the plug. Rei's just getting here but Go-ku.... I mean unit five is already prepped.”
“Of all the times for Yui and Asuka to be on a trip.” the purple haired woman grumbled.
“Unit one is now ready and five is moving into carriage two.” another bridge bunny called.
They all stared at the readings a moment.
“Five is ready.”
“LAUNCH EVAS!!” Misato cried out
Out on the geo front a crystal table sat with two unicorns, a dragon, and a moon dog sitting on it.
“Well this place is kinda nice.” Spike offered.
“I wonder what's above the dome, think they ruined the planet's surface like all those others we found.” Shining considered
“Might be another Nightmare Moon world and this is how the ponies survived.” Spike scratched his chin.
“Wuff.” Rahs huffed.
“More human scents huh? We seem to find a lot of them.” Shining shrugged
“Well this is just further proof that this is a dimensional thing rather than time lines., there is literally no way Starlight fucking around could change the dominate species when humans are not even native to Equss.”Twilight theorized.
“Well, least we landed in a garden. I hope the owners not gonna be too upset we're stealing his watermelons “ Spike offered.
“Meh whatever, I'm tried of all this.” Twilight sighed.
“So can we just kill Starlight and be done with this?” Shining asked.
“No. Now I'm even more sure that's the wrong answer.” Twilight huffed.
“You're just being stubborn. We've been doing this for like two months.” Spike rolled his eyes.
“Look obviously Starlight is something we need to resolve, but White never said she was the goal just that we were tied with her cause she was screwing stuff up.” Twilight considered.
“It took you two months to figure that out?” Shining sighed.
“I've been distracted.” Twilight grumbled.
“Better than disgusted. Seriously how many freaking worlds have we come across where you're either banging Shining, me, or Rahs?” Spike shuddered. ”Both male and female variations and in one case, both.”
“I thought we agreed never to speak of such places again!” Twilight snapped.
“Look. I want to go home. I'm tired of this and we could have been done with this day one, if you didn't stop us. Every one of us has a way to end that mares life before she does ANYTHING to change the time line, but you don't want to do that.” Spike grumbled.
“We've gotten closer and I have an idea.” Twilight offered her head lifting at a distant rumble.” But we should probably hit the button and go now, seems some locals showed up.
Staring out over the field a massive purple humanoid figure strode towards them, followed by a four legged figure with a massive drill on one arm.
“Hit the button Spike.” Shining sighed.
“On it.”
Inside Eva unit one, Shinji stared at the table as it and it's occupants vanished.
“Right, did you see that control?”
“You mean a purple unicorn, a purple dragon, a white unicorn, and a werewolf sitting on a crystal table eating stuff they stole from Kaji's garden?”
“Yes.”
“No I did not, and neither did you. This test run of the systems worked fine, come on back to base and scrub the cameras data.”
“Done and done. There are some levels of weird I just can't handle.” Shinji sighed noting that Itchi had saved the pictures and was squeeing at the sight of the real unicorns.
Shinji did his best to not think on how his little sister/ Eva fan girling over a purple fluffy unicorn.
[ Timeline, 19-20-1-18-12-9-7-8-20 23-9-14-19]
“You are a fool Twilight Sparkle.” Starlight growled, her wings spreading out wide as she stared down at the mare from atop her throne in Canterlot. “And you shall die as one.”
“Err hello? I've got wings too. Puffing up like a turkey isn't intimidating.” Twilight sighed wishing she had paid more attention to the table rather than the strangeness of this timeline. Starlight's Guards had nicked the table when the Sparkles weren't looking and they had to chase them down to get in back.
Fortunately the Guards were all 'equal' and thus total shit against Shining and Spike.
Rahs had vanished and Twilight had just wandered into the throne room to get the table back.
Alicorn Starlight snarled, moving to get up from her throne only to find she couldn't. She tried again and fell back against the back. She looked around in confusion as Twilight slapped a hoof to her face as Rahs kept tilting her throne back to keep Starlight from sitting up.
The lilac colored mare flared her wings to fly off her throne only for Rahs to yank the chair back all the way to the floor making the mare shriek as she fell backwards and denying her any dramatic way to stand up.
Twilight sighed as the sounds of violence and more screaming was heard. She removed her hoof from her face to find Starlight, sans wings, mauled, and hung from a rafter beam by her tail with her 'equal sign' cutie mark rubbed off for all her followers to see when they finally came to rescue the false alicorn.
[ Elsewhen]
“Wuff.” Rahs smiled looking around at the milling mass of gray they found themselves in, though he didn't see White any where.
“Cathartic or not, do you always have to go with the highest drama value at any given time?” Twilight demanded.”
Rahs considered for a moment then nodded with a grin as Twilight rolled her eyes.
“Yeah well it's nice you got to vent a little. I still want to set the mare on fire.” Spike grumbled.
“Only if you get to her first.” Shining Armor offered.” If I miss my foals being born because of her I'm pulling her tail out though her mouth.”
“WE ARE NOT KILLING HER.” Twilight snapped.” For fucks sake what the crap is wrong with you three?”
The brothers looked at each other then at Twilight.
“Starlight.” all three said.
“Tartarus is an eternity locked in a small room with your closest friends.” A voice from the gray offered. “Or about ten minutes with siblings.”
The four Sparkles on the table turned spotting another crystal table with four other Sparkles and a terrified looking lilac unicorn sitting in the middle of them , much paler than usual and twitching heavily.
“ I see you got her.” Twilight sighed. “And she's alive.”
“So .. much blood...” Starlight whined.
“Yeah we got her, though we drug her along to a bit of stress relief soon after.” future Spike sighed.
“Bork.” future Rahs grinned evilly getting some chuckles from the other male Sparkles and eye rolls from both Twilights.
“Any way this was about the point we met ourselves when we did the first time, and so here we are offering you a cheat that we gave ourselves when we were the past ourselves.” future Twilight offered.
“What now?” Shining Armor questioned.
“Spike?” Future Twilight offered.
“Right, hey me, you see the little blue bar on the thing under the green button to time jump?” future Spike offered.
“Yup.” Spike stated.
“That controls how close you show up next to whatever the table is locked onto.” future Spike explained. “Left for closer, right for further away.”
“Wait, you mean?” Spike gasped.
“Yup.” future Spike stated as he cackled.
“Wait so if you're telling us this, who told you?” Twilight asked.
“We did.” future Twilight explained.” From our future.”
“Then who told them?” Twilight demanded.
“Probably their future selves.” future Twilight offered watching her past self closely.
Twilight stammered then questioned it her ears twitching as all the other Sparkles in the area watched the mare blue screen and sit down hard on her rump.” But .. what... then...”
“Huh... it is kinda funny from this side.” Future Twilight smiled.” Whelp, time for us to go and do whatever it was White said we did.”
There was a clicking of the clock as the future group faded out. The past group leaving a moment later after Twilight's brain rebooted, Spike cackling the whole time as he adjusted the slider.
[Cloudsdale]
Starlight grinned looking down at the little filly prepping to race. She chuckled, casting that spell she found to get here was a perfect plan. Twilight would no longer be a god, and she never would have gotten that vicious monster she called a brother. And all it would take would be stopping one stupid pegasus from racing.
It had taken countless tries and an encounter with that horrid rabbit, a few encounters with the Sparkles to get to this point, encounters where they always failed to catch her. She was ready for their shields and their rushes and everything else that damned family could do. Power meant nothing without skill, and Starlight had that over them.
Starlight grinned casting a quick spell , watching as the blue pegasus filly wobbled and fell over asleep as her spell took hold.
“Victory again.” Starlight smirked.
“TALLY HO!!” Spike yelled.
“What?” Starlight looked around and then up where the voice came from. Her eyes widened and she screamed as a massive crystal Table fell from the sky straight at her with the Sparkles all clinging to the back of it as it fell at terminal velocity.
The huge thing missed the mare by inches, and she was witness to all four of the Sparkles looking dead at her and grinning. Before Starlight could react to the completely absurd entrance and just as they were falling past her a blue furred claw snapped out grabbing her horn and yanking her onto the table as it fell through the clouds, screaming from the sky towards the ground far below.
“I thought you were going to put us as close to her as you could!!” Twilight screamed out.
“Pffft she would have reacted to that, dropping from near orbit was the best plan!”Spike cackled. ”No one ever looks up!”
“Ehh, tactically sound.” Shining Armor shrugged.
“WOOF!” Rahs offered holding up a still screaming Starlight by her horn, holding her off the edge of the table so she smacked every cloud on the way down and saw the ground racing towards her.
“AWESOME!” Spike offered and mashed the button, the sound of a ticking clock was heard as the table vanished right before it could hit the ground.
[Timeline- the end]
The table landed with a light thump and Starlight was tossed into the dirt kicking up a dust cloud. She quickly pushed up to her hooves to glare at the four figures at the table.
Spike was sitting on the edge staring at her with Rahs next to him leaning on the table his arms crossed. Twilight was standing before the table closest to her and Shining Armor spared a glance around before his glare focused fully on Starlight.
“So, we're back here.” Shining Armor sighed. ”I hate this timeline.”
“Shouldn't take long.” Spike shrugged.
“Starlight.” Twilight offered.
“Don't you Starlight me . I WON. Rainbow Dash never did her little trick and you're left with NOTHING!” Starlight snapped.
“Yep. Congrats. You stopped the rain boom from happening and made sure that my friends and I never met. “Twilight offered.
Starlight grinned though that slightly faded as none of the Sparkles seemed too worried about this fact.
“...at least in that particular timeline. I mean heck you must have made hundreds, we've been doing this for months now, and I'm not sure what happens to you each time, but we have seen some shit.” Twilight sighed pushing away from the table and gesturing with a hoof to the sky.
“For instance in this one. There was no Elements of Harmony to stop Nightmare Moon. So she imprisoned Celestia and before she could take over the world the other gods jumped on her and sealed her in Tartarus, leaving Equestria with no one to protect them. A lot of towns fell to the Diamond Dogs as they warred with each other. And due to Celestia being gone and Nightmare Moon refusing to say anything about where she was most of the planet withered. Eventually they found a spell to control the sun but it was stolen by a griffon and he used it to demand a tithe from everyone else.” Twilight explained. “And lets just say what he wanted wasn't bits given he liked to hear his food scream in pain and beg for mercy when he ate it. And since all the other races blamed ponies for losing control of the sun, despite no one having anything to do with it, guess who paid that tithe the most.”
“Then Tirek showed up and ate whoever was left so pretty much all the ponies are extinct here.” Spike shrugged. “Congratulations, death is a great equalizer. No ones better than anyone else, and cutie marks don't matter, everything you wanted.”
“We've been to this place quite a bit Glimmer.” Shining Armor stated. “We've poked our noses into the few libraries we found intact. Turns out my wife and concubine did hook up here, though both of them were trapped when the Crystal Empire appeared, along with a number of other gods. Then the empire vanished, taking them and the portfolios they had with them. So no love, no change, no wind, no a lot of things the other gods had are gone.”
“You're lying!” Starlight snapped.
“Honestly at this point why would we bother to lie?” Twilight shrugged.
“You're trying to stop me and it won't work.” Starlight snapped. ”I'll fight you forever!”
“You don't frakking get it do you.” Spike snapped back. ”Time is still passing for you, even if it's not as fast as with us. We're not going to grow old and die, every one of us is immortal, you're not. In about oh fifty years you're going to be a decrepit old nag who can barely cast the time spell, and we'll be the same as when you first met us. Twenty years after that, you'll probably be dead. That amount of time is nothing to us. We could simply wait you out and let you die of old age still fighting us when we don't even have to do anything. We spent months in here already and we've still reluctantly not killed you at first sight because Twilight wants you alive for some reason.”
“Wuff.”
“What do you mean you just wanted a chalice?” Spike asked.
The other Sparkles looked at Rahs in confusion, though Starlight paled, her hoof reaching up to rub the faded scars on her face.
“You've got potential, and something in my portfolio is rather insistent that Friendship can indeed be taught to you in a way that you can become a better pony.” Twilight offered.” Hence why I've stopped these louts from just ending your life, or ignoring you and bouncing around time for a few more decades until you sort yourself out.”
Starlight stared at the mare, this was bullshit.
“So what's it gonna be? Give up? Die of old age? Die because I stopped stopping my brothers?” Twilight asked.
Before Starlight could response Shining spoke up.
“Twili. We've been sitting around too long. Grogars here.” Shining offered.
Looking to where the white unicorn was pointing Starlight's eyes widened at the shambling horde of zombie ponies lurching towards the table, with a old blue goat standing behind them, the necromantic power simply radiating off him.
“Kill them all, the power of that crystal is mine!” Grogar snapped.
“ Bork.” Rahs stated looking in the other direction. The ground seemed to ripple in that direction like something was swimming under it before a mass of diamond dogs armored for war burst from the ground with a howl on the other side of the table.
“Great. Butch and the Bone Hounds.” Spike sighed noting Rahs almost manic grin.
“Ahhh what's this delicious smelling thing.” A voice boomed, a red centaur striding up out of the wastes staring down at the gathered forces.
“ And now Tirek.”Twilight sighed “ All we need is....”
The flap of wings was heard above and the darkened sky was blotted out further with the beat of thousands of wings as an army of griffons flew in with a griffon in heavy gold armor riding a gold chariot carried by six other griffons appeared, the bird on the chariot a corpulent thing with grease on his beak and down the front of his armor.
“Ahh ponies. Kill the rest but get me those two, it has been far too long since I had horse flesh.” the griffon cawed.
“ And there's King Bile.” Twilight sighed. “Right hold on Starlight.” Twilight asked turning to her brothers. “ So what did you want to do?”
“Make it nine. Some of these guys can fly.” Spike suggested
“Okay but that's only gonna last about fifteen minutes before Rahs eats it.” Twilight nodded laying a whole host of spells quickly on Rahs, the effects running to all the Sparkles. ”Starlight sit by the table this shouldn't take long.”
“Attention invaders of the nation of Equestria. You are being given two choices here.” Shining Armor bellowed. “Surrender or what.”
“What?” Tirek, Grogar, Bile, and Butch questioned along with a number of their troops.
“They chose WHAT!” Spike grinned.
“Shame.” Twilight shrugged.
Starlight was about to ask what the Tartarus the group was doing when all four of them moved. She recognize the layers of spells that Twilight had cast on Rahs, it was an insane mix of various combat buffs and several spells she had never heard of.
Her attempt to recognize them stopped sharply as the Sparkles started to lay into the gathered armies. There was already untold carnage when the screaming finally started.
Starlight Glimmer started to pale, things were not supposed to bend that way, blood was not meant to flow uphill, nor be out of bodies in such quantities and she had never seen what happened when a mana vacuum was turned inside out .
The lilac unicorn sat down hard, her eyes wide as she whimpered and turned nearly white as the four Sparkles had some much needed stress relief against those that deserved it.
[ Elsewhen]
“Tartarus is an eternity locked in a small room with your closest friends.” A voice from the gray offered. “ Or about ten minutes with siblings.”
The four Sparkles on the table turned spotting another crystal table with four other Sparkles and a terrified looking lilac unicorn sitting in the middle of them , much paler than usual and twitching heavily.
“I see you got her.” past Twilight sighed. “And she's alive.”
“So .. much blood...” Starlight whined.
“Yeah we got her though, we drug her along to a bit of stress relief soon after.” Spike sighed.
“ Bork.” Rahs grinned evilly getting some chuckles from the other male Sparkles and eye rolls from both Twilights.
“Any way this was about the point we met ourselves when we did the first time, and so here we are offering you a cheat that we gave ourselves when we were the past ourselves.” Twilight offered.
“What now?” past Shining Armor questioned.
“Spike?” Twilight offered.
“Right, hey me, you see the little blue bar on the thing under the green button to time jump?” Spike offered.
“Yup.” past Spike stated.
“That controls how close you show up next to whatever the table is locked onto.” Spike explained. “Left for closer, right for further away.”
“Wait, you mean?” past Spike gasped.
“Yup.” Spike stated as he cackled.
“Wait so if you're telling us this, who told you?” past Twilight asked.
“We did.” Twilight explained.” From our future.”
“Then who told them?” past Twilight demanded.
“Probably their future selves.” Twilight offered watching her past self closely.
Past Twilight stammered then questioned it her ears twitching as all the other Sparkles in the area watched the mare blue screen and sit down hard on her rump.” But .. what... then...”
“Huh... it is kinda funny from this side.” Twilight smiled.” Whelp, time for us to go and do whatever it was White said we did.”
“Catching Starlight wasn't it?” past Shining Armor asked.
“Seems not. “ Shining Armor sighed.
There was a clicking of the clock as the future group faded out. The past group leaving a moment later after Twilight's brain rebooted, Spike cackling the whole time as he adjusted the slider.
[ Main Timeline]
“Huh..... where are we?” Twilight asked.
“ I think the question might be when.” Spike considered. “Everything looks fine.”
“Wuff!” Rahs pointed out.
Looking to where he was pointing they could see a fair sized town down the path they were standing on, enough of it was visible from the rise they were on for them to identify the town.
“Huh Ponyville. It looks a little odd though, a lot of the buildings from the expansion are missing.” Twilight hummed.
“Think we're in the past?” Shining Armor asked.
“Probably. I can see the fence posts for Sweet Apple Acres southern field over there and Granny said that's only been up for about twenty five years, so we're not that far back.”
“You sure?” Shining asked.
“With as much time as I spend at the farm, yes.” Twilight smirked as Shining Armor glowered at his sister.
“Grrrrrrr.” Rahs growled.
“Diamond Dogs?” Spike asked.” Wait you don't think.....”
Rahs, Spike, and Twilight all looked at each other.
“Wait if this is our past... we can't change anything...”Shining Armor stated noting the look.
Starlight simply shivered.
Before any one could answer there was a mares scream from further up the trail.
Rahs, Spike and Twilight were moving before Shining could even protest.
“Fuck. ” Shining snapped wrapping Starlight in a bubble shield before he took off after his siblings dragging the near comatose mare along with him.
The scene he came across was several Diamond Dogs practically ripped apart and a broken wagon that looked like it had been attacked laying on it's side. A peach colored mare with curly straw colored mane and tail stood by the cart starting in shock at Rahs. A large red maned stallion with the same fur color as Applebloom stood between her and the moon dog staring at the purple alicorn as if he was trying to figure out if he should bow or not.
Spike was standing nearby furiously writing in a note book.
“Damn it! What did you do? “Shining Armor snapped as he stormed up to them carrying along the freaked out Starlight.” We just did this whole thing with this idiot,.” He gestured to the bubbled unicorn. ”I want to get back to be there when my foals are born, not have to do this again and again because you wanted to save some people who died.”
“Shining...”Twilight began.
“Arrgggh okay... look. Sorry. I get you want to help, but this happened you can't fix it it'll butterfly like everything else....”Shining sighed.
“Nope.” Spike stated. “Rahs check this did I miss anything?”
Spike tossed the notebook to Rahs who looked it over his ears perking.
“Ruff.” Rahs added.
“Shouldn't be an issue, Twi light only knocked that guy out, we can give it to him to run off with when he wakes up. Though where is the yoke?” Spike asked.
“Over here.” Twilight stated yanking the yoke that had been used to pull the car free. “ Rahs it needs a claw mark.”
“What the buck are you doing?” Shining demanded.
“Fucking with history and events.” Spike stated pointing at the two earth ponies who were looking at the group in complete confusion as Rahs clawed up the heavy yoke before dropping it atop of a snoring Diamond Dog.
“What. Shining asked.
“This is Bright Mac and Pear Butter. Applejack, Big Mac and Applebloom's parents. Bloom was only about a month old at this point when they were supposedly killed by the Bone Hounds during the Diamond Dog war that dragged Ponyville into it. In fact their deaths were why the war stopped because the Guard got involved. “ Spike explained. “ But the thing is, there were never any bodies recovered. Only a lot of evidence to say they died here.”
“Ah'm sorry we what?” Bright Mac demanded.
“Don't worry about it. We got this.” Twilight stated.
“Well that's good. Ah ain't even sure what 'this' is.” Pear Butter offered. “How do you know our foals.”
“Weeeeell long story short... “ Twilight started.
“You don't do 'short' stories. Let me explain.” Spike offered.
A grumble from Rahs drew the pairs attention to him as the moon dog huffed.
“Come with us if you want to live.”
Every little thing she does is magic.... Season 5 Epilogue
Every little thing she does is magic.... Season 5 Epilogue
[Ponyville, Seshat, five minutes after the table vanished.]
Shining armor sighed rubbing his temples with his hooves. His siblings had already run off with the passengers. The two Apples having been really reluctant to come with them, though between Twilight being an alicorn and explaining everything, and the three of them kicking the shit out of a mass of diamond dogs that were trying to kill them, they finally agreed.
Shining thought it was going to screw over things. That idea lasted until the table had dropped them right back into Ponyville with nearly exactly the same time they left, with a faint musical bing from their cutie marks signaling 'mission completed'.
Seshat was not happy and claimed the entire process felt weird and she hated it.
She claimed she was going to go lie down, which confused Shining, but the others seemed to ignore it as they rushed out the door leaving Shining to watch over the pale, wide eyed, and twitching Starlight.
The mare hadn't said anything directly after the four of them trashed Grogar and the others back in that one time line.
Twilight had torn into Grogar and his zombies, Shining dealt with Tirek and the others tearing up everything else. He was glad to see his siblings had listened to him when he started working on training them a little more in combat during their trip.
They were not up to his standards yet, but he was happy they could hold their own.
The front doors slammed open, and there was an explosion that rocked the building. Shining Glanced to Starlight who twitched, before a series of other sounds went off along with Seshat bitching as various spell traps went off before Shining could hear the thunder of hooves as a collection of Guard and Princess Luna all rushed into the room. They quickly adopted a sun burst configuration to avoid being taken out by one large attack, yet still close enough to shield each other. Standard forced entry protocol really.
“Sup.” Shining Armor offered.
“Shining Armor, what has happened, when we received Spike's message we were prepped for the worse.” Luna offered the magic shield around her still throwing off wisps of smoke and a few faint crackles of energy from the traps.”For some reason this time of year seems to have some sort of horrid event happen.”
“Yeah well it did, but we dealt with it. This mare was fucking around with the time stream. We managed to convince her it was a bad idea.” Shining Armor shrugged.
Luna and the Guards looked at Starlight who whimpered a little. Finding Tempest unconscious and showing signs of spell damage had made them more worried though there was a medic team with her at the moment. That this one unicorn mare had taken down what many of the Guard considered a very dangerous combatant gained her a few cross looks.
“We only received the message a few moments ago..... to solve it this quickly must be a record for you four.” Luna smiled, prepping a scroll and sending it off to her sister. The pair had done a quick rock paper scissors for the choice of who would go. Luna won because her sister always threw rock first.
“Not really. We've been gone months for out time, and maybe days for this mare.” Shining Armor sighed. “If Seshat hadn't told us barely any time had passed since we left, I'd be freaking out quite a bit for missing my foals births.”
“Understandable.” Luna nodded, gesturing as the Guards fanned out checking the place over, the outpost on the other side of the tree had several magical traps set in it and with Rahs not here the team had to do things the hard way. Or let the Princess rush through them like a minotaur in a glass shop, which is a saying Luna never understood as the Minotaur were very skilled and careful when it came to making and selling glassware.
“Shining Armor sir.” one of the Guards offered, though Shining notice none of them were turning their back to him and the shields were still up.
“Yeah yeah. What is this Tuesday? Lets see, the Ponyville code was Midsummer Nights dream. Really they shouldn't let Rahs help with the passwords. And I believe Canterlot's today is, One cup white sugar. Half a cup butter, Two eggs, two teaspoons vanilla extract,a cup and a half of flour, one and three fourths teaspoon of baking powder, and half a cup of milk. Serves twelve, or just Celestia.”
“It checks out,.” The Guard offered with a nod as the others started to relax.
Luna opened her mouth to say something when the air over her horn lit up and a scroll appeared. Snatching it out of the air she looked it over.
“Ahh. It seems my sister has started to get the Guard forces to stand down, though there was a missive from the Empire.” Luna read.” Oh. Cadence has gone into labor.... as has Chrysalis. Well that was fairly interesting that they are EEEEKKKK!!”
Luna yelped as the moment she lowered the letter Shining Armor was practically in her face on the other side of the scroll.
“Luna open a portal to the Empire like you did for Chrysalis” Shining demanded.
“Shining Armor while I understand you are a new father you cannot......” Luna trailed off noting the bloodshot eyes and the slightly smoking mane of the stallion. She also took note that the tiles under his hooves were cracked and that all the Guards that had been in the room with her suddenly were no longer in the room.
“Portal.” Shining armor hissed. “Please.”
Luna blinked once, her horn lighting up as she poured magic into the portal to the Crystal Empire again, which Shining was through before the thing was even fully formed.
Luna watched it for a moment and sighed before she closed the portal, noting that several of the Guards were suddenly back in the room as if they hadn't fled.
“Cowards.” Luna huffed narrowing her eyes at them as they blissfully continued to pretend nothing had happened while looking for other traps as if they had been doing that all along.
“Yeah well we don't regenerate Princess.” one of them stated getting an eye roll from Luna as she moved over to the still trembling mare.
“So then miscreant . What is thine part in this?” Luna demanded.
Starlight mumbled to herself.
Luna frowned.
“Knave pay attention when your Princess is speaking with you.” Luna prodded the mare on the shoulder.
Starlight wobbled and then fell over on her side still stiff as a board and mumbling.
Luna sighed. She wasn't sure why she bothered to get up some days.
[Sweet Apple Acres]
Twilight, Spike and Rahs stood at the edge of the fence row watching as the Apples encountered Bright Mac and Pear Butter again after over ten years.
Applejack and Big Mac had recognized them immediately and after a good bit of shock had practically tackled them. Granny had reacted much the same, though Applebloom and Sunset seemed hesitant, the former as she didn't remember them, the later as she didn't think she had ever met them.
Sunset trotted over to the Sparkles as the rest of the family had their reunion.
“What the hell is this?” Sunset asked.
“Time fuckery.”
Twilight sighed as her brothers smirked.
“Isn't this going to be an issue with White?” Sunset asked.
“I doubt it. I expect this was what he said we already did when we did it though we hadn't yet. Besides he hasn't shown up to do anything.” Spike shrugged.
“Hmmm. So what now?” Sunset offered as there was something of a gleeful scream as Pear Butter was crushing Applebloom in a hug.
“Now I'm going home and taking a nap after I check on Tempest and figure out what to do with Starlight.” Twilight sighed. “It's been a long few months.”
“Months?” Sunset questioned.
“Time fuckery.”
Twilight sighed glaring at Rahs.
“Any way we have things to do, and I figure we should let the Apples reconnect after all that happened.” Twilight offered. “I expect we'll get drawn into it in a few days or so when it comes up that they are dating us.”
“I'm rather curious as to what they're gonna say when they find out their youngest is dating a dragon and their oldest is dating an alicorn.” Spike smirked.
“What is Rahs chopped liver?” Sunset huffed.
“Yes,” Spike and Twilight stated both of them getting cuffed in the back of the head by an annoyed Rahs.
“Any way Sunset can you give these to them once everything calms down?” Twilight offered as Rahs handed the orange mare a pair of small books as the trio headed back home.
Sunset glanced down at the papers with a small frown.
“So you've been displaced in time, By Twilight Sparkle. Third edition.” Sunset muttered.
[Canterlot. Royal palace]
Princess Celestia sighed reading the note her sister sent. With how everything had gone the last five years she had truly expected something terrible when Spike sent the message with a warning. There hadn't been much too Spikes message. There was the usual red item he sent before hoof that warned that he might be sending something dangerous to her to deal with, though when nothing came after that Celestia had assumed the worst and sent a number of Guard down there with her sister to see if they could deal with whatever was happening. Luna would lead an smaller advance force while Celestia prepared a larger force.
Given that the red item was a wrapper cut away from a ketchup bottle rather than the whole bottle made an accident unlikely.
It had only been a short time since they all left, but the message back from Luna informing Celestia that the situation was dealt with and more information would be forth coming.
Celestia had gone to the war room and informed the Guard Captains to stand down for now. All of them had seemed rather happy about that, to be fair so was she.
She was on her way back to the throne room when Raven came up and informed her some one was waiting for her in the small dining hall she and her sister shared breakfast and dinner in.
“So who is it?” Celestia asked.
“One of your God friends.” Raven sighed. “The sort I tend not to ask any questions of.”
“Fair enough.” Celestia shrugged trotting towards the dining room, expecting Aqua or Inni or even Discord.
She nearly blew out a wall as she walked into the room and spotted a zebra mare with a red horn made of crystal spouting out of her forehead.
The zebra mare was sitting in a chair calmly sipping tea from one cup and looking at the contents of another as if reading the leaves, green eyes tilted up towards the smoldering Princess as she trotted in. Celestia did note there was a small bag of bits sitting on her end of the table as well.
“Velkorn.” Celestia snarled.
“Celestia.” the zebra goddess offered back.
“I knew this was going to happen you ALWAYS do this. We finish one of your damned prophecies and you show up to gloat about how right you were.”Celestia ranted.
“I do not always do that.” Velkorn sighed.
“Yes you do!” “No I don't.” “Yes you do!” No I don't.” “Yes you do!” “No I don't.” “Yes you do!” No I don't.” “Yes you do!” “No I don't.” “Yes you do!” No I don't.” “Yes you do!” “Yes I do.” “No you don't.” Yes I do.” “ No you..... wait a moment... Damn it mare.”
Velkorn smirked slightly.
“ We had Discord, Sombra, Tirek, Chrysalis, Sunset or Twilight's ascension, the Storm King, and now who ever this Starlight mare is. And the Sparkles were at the center of it all. Just as you predicted with that stupid thing. “ Celestia growled.”I hate this prophecy crap, I've told you that every time . And the Sparkles very very much want to have a word with you, likely with clubs for punctuation about speaking clearly.”
“And?”
“ And your stupid prophecy is over, done finished finally.” Celestia grumbled.” Maybe I can actually get the damned vacation now.”
“Ahh.” Velkorn nodded to herself.”That is where you are wrong.”
“What? Starlight isn't Pride?”
“No. You think the prophecy I gave is over.” Velkorn frowned. “Celestia, that prophecy hasn't even started yet.”
