> My Little Pony: The Draconic Sister - Reboot
>  by RobtheMorpherPony
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

> Prologue - Change of Fate
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity had finished gathering as many gems as she could've from the boulder and started to head down the mountain when she suddenly heard what seemed to be a baby crying. Upon investigating the sound, Rarity came across a recently hatched Baby Dragon.

"Oh, you poor thing..." Rarity said before grabbing the baby dragon and putting it on her back. "I best get you home to mother and father; I will convince them to adopt you into our family as my little sister." The unicorn added before she headed for home.





Shortly after brining the baby dragon home, Rarity got two suprises. The first was that the dragon was a dragoness. And the second came shortly after: Rarity was getting an actual baby sister.

The dragon addition to the family was named Smolder by Rarity's parents, and over the course of the next six years, Smolder became just as much of Rarity's sister as her biological sister Sweetie Belle.

...No one would realize that a change of fate had just happened that day.

In the vast meta-verse, the slightest change can have far-reaching effects on certain events.

This is the story of how the addition of one Dragoness changed the course of history in Equestria.

This is the story of The Draconic Sister.






From the one who brought you such stories as "My Little Pony: The Changeling of Friendship" and "My Little Pony: Reversed Roles"

Fimfiction proudly presents a Rob Snowden Production...

My Little Pony
The Draconic Sister

> Chapter 1 - The Changes Begin (Friendship is Magic Part 1 & 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Here it is Smolder." Rarity said as she and Smolder came up to a rather large building in the middle of a town known as Ponyville. "This is Town Hall. Mayor Mare has put me in charge of decorating it for the Summer Sun Celebration happening tomorrow. And with Sweetie Belle staying home, I've decided to let you help me decorate it." Rarity said.

"I suppose since we'll get to meet this Princess Celestia tomorrow, it'll be worth putting up with this." Smolder said. "But hopefully I can meet another dragon at some point. Kind of sucks that we haven't met any dragons that I've found the least bit interesting." Smolder said.

"Any particular ones you're looking out for?" Rarity asked.

"You're going to think it's so corny, that it's impossible." Smolder said as she and Rarity entered Town Hall.

"This coming from the tough girl who likes playing pretend with my other sister as a Princess." Rarity said.

"...Fair enough. I'm hoping to meet a dragon with the spirit of a knight in his heart." Smolder said.

"Hoping a knight in shining armor will come sweep you off your feet, 'Princess Smolder'?" Rarity teased.

"Oh, ha ha ha. See, I knew you'd think it's impossible." Smolder said as she and Rarity began decorating Town hall.

"Cheer up, I'm sure you'll meet the perfect type of dragon for you sooner or later." Rarity said.

"Well, I'd honestly like to meet them now if that's okay with you. The sooner I can meet the perfect male dragon specimen, the sooner I can actually subtly romance him." Smolder said.





A bit of time passed, and soon the doors to town hall opened, when a purple unicorn and a purple dragon about Smolder's age showed up.

"Beautiful." The purple dragon said.

"Yes, the decor is quite beautiful Spike." The unicorn stranger said.

"Not the the decor, I mean her." The dragon known as Spike said. He then dashed right up to Smolder.

"Another dragon? Well hello there." Smolder said.

"Hello." Spike said, love struck. Smolder rolled her eyes.

Oh great. Another one of these doofuses. I might want to let this one off easy... Smolder thought to herself. But then she noticed Rarity dragon the new unicorn away and followed them. "Who's your unicorn friend?" Smolder asked.

"That's my big sister Twilight Sparkle. Her family adopted me after she hatched me from an egg." Spike said.

"...Huh..." Smolder said. She knew that any unicorn that could do that would have to be on the same level as Celestia herself, which meant that Twilight had a lot of magic at her disposal.





Sometime later, Nightmare Moon showed up, and started to attack the citizens, and the said evil alicorn was about to blast Smolder when Spike showed up and used a table to block the blast.

"Smolder, are you okay?" Spike asked. Smolder blushed.

"Y-yeah...I'm fine." Smolder said.

"Good. We gotta get out of here. Twilight and the others have already left. We can't stay here." Spike said and grabbed Smolder's arm.

"Ack! Why are you grabbing me?" Smolder asked.

"There's no time for an explination, let's just go!' Spike said.





The two arrrived at the local library.

"Phew...I don't think Nightmare Moon noticed us." Spike said. "Which means we're safe for now." He added.

"That was kind of brave what you did back there when you used that table to protect me." Smolder said.

"It was nothing really. I saw what was happening, and I just reacted is all." Spike said.

"You say that, but I doubt it." Smolder said. I stand corrected on this guy; he's defiantly got the heart of a knight deep down. He might actually be the one. She thought to herself.

"Phew...I'm beat after that. I hope you don't mind if I get some sleep. You might want to think about getting some shut-eye too." Spike said.

"Y-yeah, that sounds like a good idea. Not sure where our pony sisters are, but I'm sure they are fine." Smolder said.

"Pony sisters? Oh I get it." Spike said.

"Hey Spike, I was wondering if when this was over you might--" Smolder started to say when she noticed Spike was fast a asleep. "...Rest up you adorakable knight." Smolder said before giving him a kiss on the cheek. "May not have been the kind of knight I was hoping for, but you'll do." The dragoness added.





Around 8 hours later, the two dragons were part of a party.

"What's wrong, my student?" Celestia asked.

"Well it's just that, now that I've made some actual friends, I kind of...don't want to leave them..." Twilight said.

Celestia smiled and had the whole thing issued as a royal decree so long as Twilight made friendship reports.

"Uh...Princess Celestia." Smolder noted.

"Yes, Smolder is it?" Celestia asked.

"Might...want to be a bit clearer..." Smolder said.

"What do...ah...I see." Celestia said. "Twilight, let me be frank, I only want you to make friendship reports when there's actually something to report on. No sooner." She added.

"O-of course, Princess Celestia." Twilight said.

"Funny thing is, I was going to ask you Spike if you could convince Twilight to stay. Guess that didn't need to happen." Smolder said.

"Eh...would've done it anyways. Besides, not often I get to hang out with another dragon. Never met another one before you, Smolder." Spike said.

"Well then, I'm glad I'm your first." Smolder said before she hugged him. Spike then passed out in a collection of hearts. "...Your still quite the doofus I see~" Smolder teased.

"...What just happened with Spike?" Celestia asked.

"...I honestly couldn't tell you. Potential future friendship report perhaps." Twilight said.

"Fair enough." Celestia said.
> Chapter 2 - Ticket Tussle (The Ticket Master)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike groaned as he was sitting around Ponyville Park before Smolder showed up. "Why the long face, Spike? Something going on?" Smolder asked.

"Twilight just received two tickets to the grand galloping gala, and now your sister, Pinkie Pie, Apple Jack, and Fluttershy all want her spare ticket." Spike said.

"Hold up one moment, what about Rainbow Dash? I figured that since the Wonderbolts would be there and everything..." Smolder said.

"Yeah about that..." Spike said.





Earlier that day...

"Oof!" Rainbow Dash said as she flew into Applejack and Twilight. "Sorry about that you two. Doing some practice before the Grand Galloping Gala." Rainbow Dash said.

"Hey, I saw Twilight's second ticket first." Applejack said.

"Huh...I guess I should've expected Celestia to give Twilight two tickets as well." Rainbow Dash said.

"...What's that supposed to mean?" Applejack said.

With a grin Rainbow Dash took out two tickets to the grand galloping gala from her own being. "Luna's already hooked me up." Rainbow Dash said before also showing off the letter she got.

"'Rainbow Dash, there are some things I wish to speak to you about, and the upcoming Grand Galloping Gala celebrating my return seems like the perfect excuse to do so. As such, I invite thee to the event and include a ticket for you and one guest of your choosing. I hope you do not disappoint me. Signed Princess Luna'" Spike read off. "Huh...what do you know..." He added.

"Yep. Of course, I'm unsure of who I'm going to take with me, to be honest. I figured though if I'm going to be going, I might as well see if I can get to talk with Spitfire, Captain of the Wonderbolts. I have no idea what Luna is thinking of asking me about, but since I'm going to be going for official royal business and all..." Rainbow Dash said.

"Huh...I guess even you'd have your own reasons for going to the Grand Galloping Gala." Twilight said. "I'm hoping I'll be able to talk with Celestia. But who really knows what could happen outside of that. The possibilities are endless!" She added.

"You know it Twi. So Applejack, why do you want to go the Grand Galloping Gala?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, ah was hoping to sell some apple products to raise money for the farm really; maybe earn enough to replace a few things." Applejack said.

"That's actually the best reason I've heard so far. Pinkie Pie simply wants to go because it's a party and Rarity wants to see if she can attract the attention of someone named Prince Blueblood. No idea who that is, but at least your reason is the least selfish one I've heard so far." Rainbow Dash said.

"Did you just mention Prince Blueblood?" Twilight asked.

"Do you know him, Twilight?" Applejack asked.

"Only too well. That spoiled prompus cousin of the Princess should never be considered royalty. Especially the way he always talked nasty in regard to Spike." Twilight said. "I should go warn Rarity." She added before heading off.

"...Hey Twilight wait!" Spike said.





Present time...

"...And as we were heading to Rarity's, we ran into both Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie on the way, and by the time I finally caught up to Twilight at your sister's place, Rarity was already talking about how much she didn't believe Twilight in regard to Prince Blueblood." Spike said. "Trust me, I still have a scar about it the one time I stuck up for a young colt he was trying to belittle that was in Celestia's school who was from far away." He said before showing off a scar in the shape of a hoofprint.

He...he stuck up for young colt?! He really does have the heart of a knight deep down. Wait, more importantly... Smolder thought to herself before she grapped Spike and hussled over to her sister's place. "Rarity, we need to speak with you!" Smolder said.

"Smolder, is that you?" A young filly asked.

"Oh. Sweetie Belle. Where's big sis?" Smolder asked.

"I think she said she was going to be at Twilight's place." Sweetie Belle said.

"I'll introduce you to Spike later then. For now, we got to go." Smolder said and dragged Spike off with her.

"...Ooookay..." Sweetie Belle said.





Sometime Later

"...I didn't think Rainbow Dash would willingly also follow what Twilight was doing." Smolder said.

"Me neither, but now everyone can go. Including the two of us." Spike said.

"So, Smolder, you said there was something you and Spike needed to show me." Rarity said.

"Yeah, what is that about?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Spike." Smolder said. Spike nodded and showed off his scar.

"Ah. Yes I remember when that happened. It was during my second year of Princess Celestia's school when a new student known as Sunburst had come into the system from way out of town. However, early on, Spike here stood up for Sunburst when Prince Blueblood was belittling Sunburst." Twilight said.

"Oh...oh my..." Rarity said. "I...deeply apologize Twilight. It seems you were right after all." She added.

"It's fine actually." Twilight said.

"Still, to stand up for one who couldn't defend themselves. That was so brave of you, Spike." Rarity said.

"It was nothing really. I just acted." Spike said.

"What's with you and defending others really? First you defend that colt, and then you defended me." Smolder said.

"When did Spike defend you, Smolder?" Rarity asked.

"When Nightmare Moon showed up. She almost blasted me, but Spike here grabbed a table and blocked the blast." Smolder said.

"Yeah that sounds like Spike. He's always defending others." Twilight said.

"I think we should go on a picnic at the park now." Pinkie Pie said.

"Not a bad idea." Rainbow Dash said.

"Then come on, let's go." Applejack said and the ponies go off.

"So...little sister huh?" Spike asked Smolder.

"Heh...Sweetie Belle already has this Button Mash guy after her. But I doubt your interested in her." Smolder said.

"Why would I be? She's not a dragon like you are. But I'd still defend her either way if she ever got in danger. I don't know why I defend so many like I do. I always do it on instinct, I swear." Spike said.

"You just keep telling yourself that." Smolder said before hugging him; causing the purple dragon to collapse into a collection of hearts. "Your still a doofus by the way." Smolder said. But your most certainly a knight at heart. She added in her thoughts.
> Chapter 3 - Smolder & Dresses (Applebuck Season)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity was currently taking measurements on Spike.

"So, why are you taking my measurements again, Rarity?" Spike asked.

"Because, I'm going to make you one stunning tuxedo." Rarity said.

"You can trust my older sister to give you some really good threads. I mean, you can see her work around the shop. Even I can't help but be impressed." Smolder said.

"And she's not taking your measurements first because...?" Spike asked.

"Please, I already know Smolder's measurements. I've been measuring her every step of her growth." Rarity said.

"Speaking of, we really need to talk to Twilight about starting some sort of hoard for you sooner rather then later." Smolder said. "The sooner you have some kind of hoard, the sooner you can prevent yourself from going godzilla on Ponyville." She added.

"Do I want to know?" Spike asked.

"Smolder's 8th birthday, the entire town started giving her a bunch of gifts, and it was making her go giant sized. One pony in town yelled out 'RUN IT'S GODZILLA' by the time she finished growing." Sweetie Belle said.

"The answer is no, no I did not want to know." Spike said.

"If you're going to prepare, you're going to need to know the reason." Smolder said. "Because once your greed growth gets triggered, you'll lose all sense of yourself and only thing about taking everything, including the kitchen sink." She said.

"I thought the saying was 'everything but the kitchen sink'?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, that saying doesn't really work for greed growth." Smolder stated. "Because I actually did take a neighbor's kitchen sink while I had lost all sense of myself. It was only when Rarity snapped me out of it did I finally go back to normal." She added.

"You did a lot of damage to the town in the process. Hence why you, me, and Sweetie Belle had to leave while Sweetie Belle was still only three years old." Rarity said.

"I'm just glad that's all that happened." Smolder said. "And I'd rather not you and Twilight be forced out just because you couldn't control a greed growth." Smolder said. Suddenly the ground started shaking. "What's that about?" Smolder asked.

"I don't think this is an earthquake." Rarity said.





As it turned out, the ground shook because of a hoard of cows being frightened and Applejack stopped them.

"That was too close." Smolder said.

"Well at least the town's in one piece thanks to Applejack. Now we don't have to repair anything for the once." A mare named Bon Bon said.

"Wait, what do you mean for once?" Smolder asked.

"You didn't know? There's some kind of attack on the town at least once a week." Bon Bon said.

"...Are you...are you serious?" Smolder asked.

"Sad but true." Bon Bon confirmed before heading off.

"...Why do I suddenly feel like going godzilla due to greed growth won't be so bad here?" Spike asked.

"Not chancing it!" Smolder shouted, making Spike take a backflip in shock.





Smolder was busy trying on a few dresses when there was a knock at her door. "Just one minute." Smolder said before opening the door to find Spike. "Sp-spike?!" Smolder exclaimed. Spike was staring at her in her current dress. "Um...this isn't what--" Smolder said before Spike suddenly nosebleeded. "...Huh..." Smolder said.

A bit later, Spike came too and Smolder was out of the dress. "Ah. Your back. Sorry about that." Smolder said.

"Dang Smolder, you sure looked drop dead beautiful in that dress." Spike said.

"Hey I--wait, you don't think it's...too girly?" Smolder said. "Not to mention totally not dragon like at all." She added.

"Doesn't matter if it's girly nor dragon like. If you enjoy putting on dresses, then you rock that Smolder. Because that's you. And you should let anyone tell you otherwise." Spike said.

"...Heh...that's quite the way to pep talk me. I'll admit it, I do indeed enjoy wearing dresses. I thought my family were the only ones who didn't care. Guess I was wrong." Smolder said.

"Hey, I actually don't mind that you wear dresses. In fact, I think you make them look really good." Spike said.

Obviously, still a bit of that love-at-first-sight thing he's got there. But this time...I actually don't mind it... Smolder said. "So...wanna see me wear a different kind of dress? There's one I'm dying to show off for you." She added. Suddenly a bunch of mares started screaming down below. "Oh, what now?!" Smolder exclaimed.





Sometime later, after helping Applejack take care of the orchard, Spike and Smolder were back in the dragoness's room.

"So now that all that stuff with Applejack is more or less taken care of what do you say I show off that dress type I wanted to show you before?" Smolder said.

"Sure thing." Spike said. Smolder then put on a princess dress, complete with accessors. "W-whoa..." Spike said.

"So, what do you think?" Smolder asked.

"Hubba hubba..." Spike said.

Smolder couldn't help but giggle. "I take it that means you like it. That's good. I plan on wearing one of these to the gala." She added.

"Well I guess I have something to look forward to. Rarity said she's done with my tux, but I'd rather it not get dirty so...I'm probably not going to wear it except to the gala." Spike said.

"Seems we both have something to look forward to huh?" Smolder said. "Well, I'm sure Twilight has a letter to send Celestia, so off you go." She said.

"Yeah. You got a point." Spike said.





Sometime the next day, Smolder would go over to the library, hoping to get a peak at Spike in his tux, but failed. Either way, that purple dragon is still quite the doofas. I honestly can't wait to see him in that tux my sister made for him. I just hope she didn't go super overboard with it. Smolder thought to herself. She did notice Spike putting away a few comic books. Comic book hoard huh? Well, it suits him. The dragoness added to her thoughts before going back home.
> Chapter 4 - Illusions (Boast Busters)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"I can't wait for this illusionist to visit Ponyville." Twilight said, looking at a poster.

"Tch. I'm sure you'd do better magic Twi." Rainbow Dash stated.

"Actually, illusion magic is one field of magic I have no expertise in. It's totally different type of magic from the spells I'm able to pull off. Because Illusion Magic not only incorporates actual magic into the spell, but it also relies on what's known as the sleight of hoof trick." Twilight said.

"What's is the sleight of hoof trick?" Smolder asked.

"It's something that's boggled the minds of magic experts everywhere. It's why I'm hoping to use tonight's performance to get some insight into the whole thing." Twilight said. "I really want to learn how to do Illusion Magic." She added.

"Are you sure you want to know how to do this field of magic?" Applejack asked.

"Who knows? It might come in handy at some point down the line." Twilight said.

"...Admittedly, that's true. We don't know what's going to happen down the road." Fluttershy said.

"If you think Illusion Magic could help us down the road Twilight, you've got my vote on it." Rainbow Dash admitted.





That night, everyone was treated to a unicorn mare.

"Hello Ponyville! I am the Great and Mysterious Trixie. I am here to dazzle you with tricks and magic galore! Now, I would like a volunteer. Is there anyone daring enough." Trixie said.

"I'm doing it." Smolder said.

"Ooooo. We got a dragon here folks." Trixie said. "And now...nothing up my sleeve..." She suddenly flashed her cape to the crowd and when she pulled back, Smolder was suddenly replaced with Spike.

"What the..." Spike said. Twilight noticed now Smolder was next to her.

"What the....how did she..." Smolder said.

"Tu-dah! Wait..." Trixie suddenly blinked. "Err...y-yeah, I meant to do that." Trixie said, playing it off. Funny...I didn't think there were two dragons in Ponyville... "You may return to your originals seats now..." Trixie said.

"Whoa. That really was something else. Switching the two dragons with each other. Guess I should've had more faith in this whole thing." Rainbow Dash said, her speech disguised by the cheers from Ponyville.

"Next, I would like to see a stallion come up on stage." Trixie said. Big Mac volunteered. "Now, then...you seem like one whose been working very hard. Very, very hard. I'm sure you can take this moment to just relax...drop down...drop deep." Trixie said. Suddenly Big Mac fell asleep. "And there you go, one big stallion fallen asleep on stage!" Trixie said.

"H-how did she put my brother to sleep? It has to be that Illusion Magic of hers." Applejack said.

"Um...can I get some help to remove this stallion from the stage now? Let's not disturb his slumber, shall we?" Trixie asked. Some mares helped Big Mac off the stage. "And now, for my final act, I would like for a Pegasus to come forth." Trixie said.

"Show me what you got." Rainbow Dash said, volunteering.

"Oh, you're certainly a fun one. Now..." Trixie said before flashing her cape again. Before anyone could react, when Trixie pulled her cape back, Rainbow Dash's entire body had swapped colors with her mane and tail color.

"What the..." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh, don't worry, I'll fix that right now~" Trixie said before flashing her cape and turning Rainbow Dash back to normal.

"Wh-whoa...THAT IS JUST AMAZING!" Twilight said.

The crowd cheered as Trixie took a bow and the show ended.





As Trixie was in her cabin, a knock happened at her door.

"Hmm?" Trixie answered the door.

"Hello. I'm from the audience." Twilight said.

"Huh. Didn't expect anyone to want my autograph." Trixie said.

"Oh, I'm not here for that. I was hoping you could perhaps teach me a bit of your Illusion Magic." Twilight said.

"The Great and Mysterious Trixie's magic is not something she gives out for free, nor does she give out at all." Trixie said. Suddenly a roar happened before Twilight's eyes went wide and the purple unicorn pulled the blue one out of the trailer before an Ursa Minor smashed it to bits. "What in Equestria is an Ursa Major doing here?!" Trixie exclaimed.

"Um...that's not an Ursa Major. That's an Ursa Minor. It must've been woken up by someone." Twilight said. Suddenly Snips and Snails; two colts; ran past. "...And I think I know by whom. But for now..." Twilight said. And using a series of spells, she was able to put the Ursa Minor to sleep.

"Wh-whoa..." Trixie said.

"Sorry about that." Twilight said. "Now, I know I have quite the grip on magic, but Illusion Magic is the one field I'm no good in. I was hoping you'd teach me a bit of it...if that's okay." She added.

"You...just saved my life..." Trixie said. "But...I...still can't teach you any new magic..." She added.

"Huh? Why not? Illusion magic is something I wish to learn about." Twilight said.

"I can't teach you any magic, because that whole thing about magic being involved in Illusion Magic is a fabrication; in other words, it's a lie." Trixie said. "Every bit of it is sleight of hoof, a fool the audience kind of deal." She added.

"But...then how did you manage to get Spike and Smolder to switch places with each other?" Twilight asked.

"To be honest, I don't know! I was aiming to simply turn her purple and green; not have her trade places with another dragon." Trixie said. "...Even I sometimes flub my own sleight of hoof from time to time." She added.

"Even still, I would like to learn a bit of this illusion stuff. It could really come in handy someday. You never know. In exchange, maybe I can help you add some actual magic to your future acts." Twilight said.

"...Huh...not a bad thought. I have been feeling like my routine has been growing stale. Okay then, you have a deal. By what name do you go by." Trixie said.

"Twilight Sparkle." Twilight said.





Outside nearby, Spike and Smolder had both heard everything.

"So, everything was just some big illusion? Wow. Even Twilight got fooled by it." Spike said.

"All the same, it could still come in handy. You never know. I still can't help but wonder how we switched places." Smolder said.

"Does it even matter? The show still was a smash hit either way." Spike said. "We should consider that the better option then trying to figure out who hijacked Trixie's show." Spike added.

"I suppose you've got a point. Besides, it obviously failed." Smolder said, before hugging Spike who passed out in a collection of hearts. "...You're still very much a doofus." Smolder added.
> Chapter 5 - Two Dragons & a Zebra (Look Before You Sleep & Bridle Gossip)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had started out as a normal day in ponyville with Spike over and Smolder's place on the request of the Orange Dragoness. Smolder wanted to see which one of her Princess Dresses Spike liked seeing her in the most.

But to warm up to those, Smolder had started off with the normal dresses.

"You're really something else in those dresses Smolder." Spike said. "Your just as beatiful in each one." He added.

"Boys..." Smolder said. "But I will take the compliment. I'm glad you don't think that me wearing dresses is too un-dragon like." Smolder said.

"Well your the only other dragon I know of. And that's enough for me." Spike said. "I don't really need to know much else about dragons. I'm sure however other dragons are they aren't like you and me." He added.

"...Sadly, you've hit the nail on the head there. I've met a few other dragons, and each one is either a complete jerk-face, or a total doofus." Smolder said. And yet, while you Spike are a doofus, you're a far better deal than the others I've met. She thought to herself.

"Plus, you shouldn't be ashamed of wearing dresses. If there's one thing I've learnt from being around Twilight so much, is that I shouldn't question girls." Spike said.

"Cute. Strange statement, but cute." Smolder said. Not to mention smart, but I'd rather not say that one out loud. She thought to herself.

Just as Smolder went to her drawer of Princess dresses, a storm hit. "Whoa. Guess that's why Twilight was concerned about me being over here." Spike said.

"I'm sure she'll understand. Best to remain indoors until that storm passes." Smolder said. "Hey, at least you'll be seeing me in my princess dresses while the storm blows over." She added.

"Good point." Spike said. When Smolder came out of the closet with a princess dress on, Spike totally nosebleeded and fainted.

"...Seriously?" Smolder said. "And this time it's even worse..." she added.

"S-sorry..." Spike said, coming to quickly. "It's just...woof...so much woof. I literally have no words. Just when I thought you couldn't get more beautiful, I see you in that kind of dress." He explained.

"You really think it's even better then the other dresses? I feel like this should've gotten some kind of negative reaction." Smolder said.

"Hey, you do you Smolder. Plus, I really don't mind what I'm looking at." Spike said.

"I guess in a way you wouldn't... Smolder muttered.

"What was that?" Spike asked.

"I said you really think I look even better in these Princess Dresses?" Smolder asked.

"Oh yeah. You bet." Spike said. Smolder continued to show off her dresses for the rest of the impromto sleepover, and meanwhile Twilight had her own sleepover with Rarity and Applejack.





A week passed, and the next week there was this whole thing involving a zebra named Zecora and a plant known as Poison Joke.

However, while the main six had their special bubble bath, Zecora had asked to speak with the two dragons.

"It is quite rare to see more than one dragon in any given place, especially in a location not normally compatible with your race." Zecora said.

"Well funny thing is is that Twilight hatched me from an egg for her entrance exam into Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." Spike said.

"And Rarity found me when I got hatched nearby where she had found a whole bunch of gems. Both of us have actually grown up with Pony families. So we're most certainly not your typical dragons. Not by a long shot." Smolder said.

Zecora chuckled. "Yes indeed you both are not like the rest of your kind, but I wonder if you have certain counters in mind." She said.

"If your talking about the dragon instincts, Rarity and I have managed to figure them all out and we know how to deal with them. As such, we're imparting that knowledge onto Twilight and Spike so the purple dragon is better prepared to keep those instincts in check. That includes our greedy natures." Smolder said.

"So I can see that is indeed a fact, and my I be frank, there seems to be some side effects put into the rank." Zecora said.

"...What are you talking about?" Spike asked.

"I think Zecora means is that, you've defainltly grown a few inches Spike." Twilight said.

"Most certainly. Now your just a couple of inches shorter than Smolder." Rarity said.

"Wow...I didn't even notice." Smolder said.

"These additions to your frames work both ways, but it seems you have everything under your trays." Zecora said.

"Ugh...can she stop rhyming? It's making my head hurt..." Rainbow Dash said. Everyone chuckled at Rainbow Dash's expense.

"Well, I know one thing is for sure, I'll have to adjust Spike's suit a little. It's not even finished yet which is good." Rarity said.

"Well, you do that sis. But I'd like to see Spike in it before the gala." Smolder said.

"I think it's best you have that left to your own mind; something tells me when this gala occurs, you'll like what you find." Zecora said.

"...Okay that one's not as brain hurty." Rainbow Dash said. Everyone once again chuckled at that.

"I suppose I can wait. It'll be interesting to see what you look like in your tux." Smolder said before hugging Spike who fell over in a collection of hearts.

"...My sense is very keen, and yet it seems, that I cannot see why Spike is on the floor seams." Zecora said.

"STOP HURTING MY BRAIN!" Rainbow Dash yelled. Everyone that wasn't Spike and Rainbow Dash chuckled at the cyan pegasus's expense once again.

Here's one thing I know for sure about Spike: He's certainly still a doofus. Smolder thought to herself.
> Chapter 6 - Stressful Situations (Swarm of the Centry & Suited for Success)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a seemingly normal day when Fluttershy discovered a winged creature. But Smolder couldn't help but notice that Pinkie Pie seemed to know what the creatures were.

"Hey Spike, let's go talk with Zecora." Smolder said before grabbing one of the creatures.

"Uh...okay sure thing Smolder." Spike said.





The pair of dragons came to Zecora's place in the Everfree Forest.

"Great, we came here with one, now there's three of the things. What even are these?" Smolder said. "Since you know everything Zecora, maybe you know something?" She asked.

"What is this before my eyes; are these Parasprites I spy?" Zecora asked.

"So you do know about them. Fluttershy found them outside the forest, and they keep multiplying. Pinkie Pie ran off for some reason, but I was hoping you'd know what they are. So, they're called Parasprites huh?" Smolder said.

"Tales of crops and harvests consumed; if these creatures are in Ponyville, I'd hate to say it but your doomed." Zecora said.

"Wait, so are you saying you don't know how to deal with them?" Spike asked.

"Sadly that much is true as much as I'd hate to say; because to my own knowledge, there is no one that knows the way." Zecora said.

"Pinke Pie said something about getting a Tuba. Maybe has some idea." Smolder said.





The two dragons found Pinkie Pie gathering up quite a few instruments.

"Pinkie Pie, do you know something about these Parasprites?" Smolder asked.

"You can bet your tough as nails dragon scales I do!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Her tough as nails dragon scales?" Spike asked said.

"Pinkie Pie, that is the most random--" Smolder was saying before suddenly Pinkie Pie threw a bowling ball at her.

"SMOLDER!" Spike said. But Smolder just stood there as the bowling ball broke apart on contact. "...Wait what?" Spike asked.

"See, tough as nails!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Seriously Pinkie Pie? How do you know about my super hard scales?" Smolder asked. "Wait a second...it's you I'm talking about. Never mind." She quickly added. Not going to lie though, Spike's concern for me when he didn't know otherwise was both Nobel and really sweet of him.

"Holy gwackamoly!" Spike said in surprise.

"Anyways, can you help me get some intruments? I need them if I'm going to stop these Parasprites!" Pinkie Pie said.

"...I have no idea what your plan is, but considering it's you..." Smolder said.





The next day, suddenly Pinkie Pie had managed to get the Parasprites to leave before they devored too much of the crops with the instruments she had collected.

"Huh...didn't think Pinkie Pie was onto something." Twilight said.

"It's Pinkie Pie. If there's one thing I've come to learn about her in this town, it's that you don't question her methods." Smolder said.

"Huh...guess I should've remembered that..." Rarity said.

"It's okay sis. Your lucky I did. And what do you know, there's still time to get the stuff that was lost with Princess Celestia's catering before she gets here." Smolder said.

"Wait, Celestia's already coming." Spike noted.

"Princess, is something wrong?" Twilight asked her mentor when she landed.

"I know I promised to come visit today my dearest student, but something has come up. Manehatten seems to be in trouble. Something about an infestation." Celestia said.

"Infestation? I wonder what kind..." Spike said.

"Pinkie, don't." Smolder said.

"...I only wanted to offer to help." Pinkie Pie said. "You know, just in case it was more Parasprites." She added.

"Para-what now?" Celestia asked.

"Don't ask. Actually come to think of it, I do have some kind of friendship report to make." Twilight said.





The very next week though, there was a moment where things got even more stressful for Rarity, but thankfully Smolder reigned in the Unicorn and helped things out. In fact...

"Look, my sis is really good at making dresses. And she has this uncanny ability to make things look really good. I know you all might have your own tastes, but I trust my sis and her abilities. So why don't you instead not criticize what she's going to be making. I know my sis well." Smolder said.

"Not going to lie, the tux she made for me was something else." Spike said.

"Wait she already gave it to you? And I didn't even get to see you in it before the gala? Gah..." Smolder said.

"Sorry Smolder, looks like you'll have to keep it together until the gala." Twilight said.

"Well either way...you should still trust in my sister. I know I sure do. Spike can attest to that." Smolder said.

"He can?" Rainbow Dash asked confused.

"I can?" Spike asked equally confused. "Wait...is this about your dresses?" He asked.

"...Smolder has dresses?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"And I'm not afraid of the fact that I like wearing them!" Smolder said. "I own up to liking how much of a princess they make me feel like. It's...a bit of a personal quirk. I'm sure we all have them." She added. "...Some more than others." The orange dragoness added, noting how much Pinkie Pie was vibrating before she suddenly squeed.

"I was wondering when you'd reveal the fact you like wearing dresses so much! Phew, now I can stop hiding the fact that I knew." Pinkie Pie said.

"...Pinkie Pie you are SO random..." Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm not afraid to admit that I like wearing dresses. In fact, Rarity even custom made some very special dresses." Smolder said.

"So then...Rarity is the one that made those dresses that were outright Princess themed?" Spike asked.

"Bingo." Smolder said.

"Huh...in that case then, yeah, you girls should totally trust what Rarity makes for you." Spike said.

"You've seen those?" Applejack asked.

"Yep. When the storm hit and I got trapped there with Smolder, she showed off her Princess Dress collection. And I thought she looked good in dresses already but those...all I can say is woof." Spike said.

"You're not a dog Spike." Pinkie Pie said.

"...She doesn't get it, does she?" Smolder asked Rainbow Dash.

"Doesn't seem like it..." Rainbow Dash noted.





The next day, Rarity had the dresses made with Smolder's help, and the rest of the Main Six liked the way they looked on them.

"Wow, I guess Smolder was right. Even if I won't wear this much, I got to admit, this dress just screams awesome." Rainbow Dash said.

"Ah don't know about awesome, but it most certainly fits you RD, and ah can certainly say the same for me." Applejack said.

"Told you my sister knows what she's doing." Smolder said. "In fact, in a couple of days, she's hoping that you all would participate in a bit of a show off with them for Hotty Trotty." She added.

"Sure, why not? It's the least we can do to pay her back for these." Twilight noted.

"Not going to lie, Twilight may have some trouble keeping nobles off her at the Gala." Spike said.

"Guess you'll have to be her knight then~" Smolder said before hugging Spike who proceeded to faint in a collection of hearts.

"...Why does that keep happening?" Fluttershy asked.

"...I still can only speculate right now..." Twilight admitted.

Spike may still be a doofus, but he's most certainly a knight under those scales. Smolder thought to herself.
> Chapter 7 - Chewing Out (Several Episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Feeling Pinkie Keen


"So the whole reason why Twilight was in bandages for the past several days is because she was figuring our Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense?" Smolder asked. "I have half a mind to give her a lecture about not questioning Pinkie Pie." She added.

"Don't Smolder. I know Twilight well enough to know that she wouldn't have just let it go. And while I believe Twilight's going to let go of trying to understand it, she might still try to figure it out in a different way." Spike said. "...Hopefully a way that doesn't involve her getting hurt." He added quickly.

Smolder opened her mouth but paused. "...I suppose even your sister has her quirks. Rarity somehow summons a couch whenever she faints." She said.

"So I've noticed. I've also noticed it's the same red velvet couch each and every time." Spike said.

"Yeah my sister has her own fainting couch. How she keeps summoning it whenever she needs to faint is beyond me, but I've learnt to stop questioning it." Smolder said.

"Well in the same way, I know Twilight's just trying to figure out some kind of explanation for Pinkie Pie's Pinkie Sense. Even if that explanation boils down to 'it's Pinkie Pie, best not to question it'." Spike said.

"You've got me there." Smolder said.






Sonic Rainboom


A couple of days after Rarity had taken over the Young Fliers Competition due to being given butterfly wings, Smolder was over at Twilight's house with Spike and the purple unicorn helping to give the orange dragoness some medicine for her suddenly sore throat with Rarity nearby.

"I was wondering what all that yelling was about yesterday. So, Smolder gave you a verbal lashing because of what happened at the Yong Flier's competition." Twilight said.

"She felt like she really needed to get it through to me that what I did was both reckless and short-sighted. It's my sister's way of showing that she cares for me I suppose." Rarity said.

"Still doesn't make what you did any less stupid." Smolder's voice was barely above a whisper right now.

"Easy Smolder..." Spike said giving the orange dragoness some medicine. "You really shouldn't be talking right now. Take some time to rest that voice of yours why don't you?" Spike said.

Twilight, seeing an opportunity to have a chat with Rarity, pulled the white unicorn into a separate room. "So Rarity, I can't help but notice that ever since Spike protected Smolder from that blast of Nightmare Moon's, your sister has been getting rather close to my brother." Twilight said.

"Don't be hard on her Twilight. She's tried to find the perfect dragon for herself for a long time, but every dragon so far has gone and turned out to be not what she wants. And yet, Spike seems to line up with her wants quite well. If things progress further, they might just actually work out. That would make me the happiest sister ever to see her finally find the dragon of her dreams." Rarity said.

"...I was going to say I really hope she knows he'll protect just about anyone. Spike's always been quite the protective one whenever it's someone in danger." Twilight said.

"Well then, I dare say he's perfect for her. She's always dreamed of being in love with a knight of honor, and it sounds to me like Spike fits that description to a T." Rarity said.

Twilight opened her mouth to counter, but then realized Rarity was right. "...Huh...how about that. Spike really does fit that description. Oh boy..." Twilight said. "...Guess I might want to get used to seeing Smolder and Spike together, because something tells me this was fated to happen." She added.






A Dog and Pony Show


The Diamond Dogs had thought they had stumbled onto a gold mine when they found Rarity.

...What they didn't expect was for Spike who had accompanied her to suddenly grow out of control.

"SPIKE PROTECT!" Spike had said in a really deep voice 

"RUN, IT'S GODZILLA!" One of the Diamond Dogs yelled out.

"It's not Godzilla, it's just a giant dragon." Another diamond dog said.

"...You do realize that's not much of a difference right?" A third diamond dog asked.

"Fair enough point." The second diamond dog said before all the diamond dogs started to run off in pure fear.

After Spike returned to normal and returned to Ponyville with Rarity, Smolder practically smothered Spike with kisses after Rarity explained everything.

"You were right Rarity, I suppose Spike fits the definition of a knight to a T. Still, I didn't even know Dragons could suddenly grow and shrink in size like that." Twilight said.

"Technically, we can't, but Spike here is most certain special." Smolder said before she resumed smothering Spike in kisses. Spike meanwhile was just passed out with a dopy smile on his face.

"Won't deny that. Must be part of how I hatched him." Twilight said. "I'll have to ask Princess Celestia about this." She added. The two unicorns turned their attention to the two dragons.

"...When Smolder eventually finishes thanking Spike for protecting me." Rarity said.

"...Indeed." Twilight said.






Green isn't your Color


It was a couple of days after Fluttershy had that failed modeling career, and once again Smolder was in the library being given medicine for her sore throat.

"Again Smolder? Rarity was just being super jealous of Fluttershy landing a modeling career; she wasn't even being stupid this time." Twilight said.

"Doesn't make it any less something to get on her case about..." Smolder's voice was once again just barely above a whisper.

"Smolder, rest your voice. The yelling me and Twilight heard yesterday was just as loud as the last time." Spike said.

"It's just my sister's way of looking out for me." Rarity said.

"Fair enough." Twilight said.
> Chapter 8 - Chaos Averted? (Return of Harmony Part 1 & 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So Twilight, any idea why the Princess has summoned us on the day just before the gala?" Smolder asked the purple unicorn.

"I'm not sure, but considering this involves all of us and that it's official summons from Princess Celestia, you know it has to involve something big." Twilight said.

"Well this will mean you guys are going to meet Shining Armor, Twilight's brother who just so happens to be the captain of Celestia's royal guard." Spike said.

"Your older brother is a captain?" Rarity asked.

"Yep. And my BBBFF!" Twilight said.

"...What in tartarus is a BBBFF?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Big Brother Best Friend Forever!" Twilight and Pinkie Pie both said at once. "...Do I even want to know?" Twilight asked.

"Just a hunch." Pinkie Pie said. Twilight just sighed.

"Of course it is..." Twilight said.

"We're here." Spike said. "And that's Shining Armor right there." He added.

"Hey Twily. These all your new friends?" Shining Armor asked.

"Most certainly. Shining Armor, this is Rarity and her adoptive sister Smolder." Twilight introduced them.

"A pleasure." Rarity said.

"What's up, Knight boy?" Smolder said. This most certainly explains Spike's knight-like heart She thought to herself. But I'm sticking with my own species thank you very much Knight Boy. The dragoness added to her thoughts.

"Knight boy?" Shining Armor asked.

"Don't think too much on it. We've also got Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie." Twilight said.

"Nice armor." Rainbow Dash noted.

"Uh...thanks?" Shining Armor said, a bit confused if the Pegasus meant his actual armor, or him.

"Rainbow was um...commenting on your actual armor. It's very shiny." Fluttershy said.

"Oh. Thanks for clearing that up." Shining Armor said. That was a close one. He thought to himself.

"Nice ta meetcha!" Applejack said, shaking a hoof of Shining Amor's, which she easily shook his whole body to.

"Whoa...that's quite the grip. You must have some kind of training regime of your own." Shining Armor said.

"Actually, Applejack's a Farmer. And hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, I'm a party planner extraordinaire. I also work for Mr. and Mrs. Cake at sugar cube corner and--" Pinkie Pie started to ramble.

"...Is she always like this?" Shining Armor asked.

"Eeyep." Applejack said.

"More or less." Rainbow Dash said.

"Anyways, better get you all to the castle now." Shining Amor said, but Pinkie Pie was still going as she followed along.

"--Did I mention the fact that I'm a party planner extraordinaire yet? Because I am!" Pinkie Pie finally finished.





"Thank you so much for coming. Late last night, one of my guards reported the fact that a certain statue was no longer where it should be. Have any of you heard of a Draconequus known as Discord?" Celestia asked.

"Not really no." Rainbow Dash said.

"I remember coming across the term 'discord' which means 'absence of harmony and order' in my books once or twice but I'm guessing that's not what your referring to, is it Princess?" Twilight said.

"You would be right my dear student. The being I'm referring to is known as the Lord of Chaos, a draconequus who once turned Equestria into a land of chaos shortly after the Friendship Fire was formed." Celestia said.

"Now that I do know about. Once long ago, our three tribes were arguing with each other over the littlest things, until three of them united in their last moments and caused what we know today as the Friendship Fire." Rainbow Dash said. "It's all part of Heart's Warming's Eve." She added. Everyone looked at the cyan Pegasus. "...What? My parents told me the story when I was like two years old okay?" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"I'm not sure what surprises me more: The fact that Rainbow Dash knows about the tale, or the fact that she only remembers the basic premise of it." Twilight said.

"Your not the only one." Smolder said.

"Make that three." Spike said.

"Regardless, it seems Discord must have escaped, and I'm willing to bet he's taken the elements of harmony with him. With me and my sister no longer able to wield them, you must find Discord and the Elements of Harmony before he once again turns Equestria into a land of Chaos." Celestia said.

"...Wait a second Celestia, were the statues of the Canterlot hedge maze always look like some kind of strange head?" Fluttershy asked.

Looking out the window, Celestia saw what the yellow Pegasus was referring to. "Discord's handiwork. You must go now." Celestia said.

"Right away Princess!" Twilight said. The group left.

"...Oh Twilight. I hope you can forgive me for not telling you everything one day..." Celestia said.





The group soon arrived at the hedge maze when they were greeted by a strange creature.



"Well I'm surprised your here. I wasn't going to be ready for you for a little bit longer and..." Discord said before noticing the two dragons. "...Hold up one moment, how is she here?" Discord asked.

"Who me?" Smolder asked. "My name is Smolder, I'm the adoptive sister of Rarity." She said.

"She's not supposed to be here. Never before has she been here. It's been three hundred cycles of the world, how is she here now?!" Discord said, looking like he was reading some sort of book. "This is not right, so not right! You! Do you know any dragon named Garble?" He asked.

"Nope. Never met anyone by that name. Doesn't sound like a pleasant dragon though." Smolder sadi.

Discord suddenly froze, and turned white, quite literally at that! "Th-that doesn't make any sense..." Discord said.

"Hey, don't pick on Smolder. If you want to get to her, you're going to have get through me!" Spike said.

How dreamy... Smolder thought to herself.

"Wh-wh-what?!" Discord said. Suddenly it looked like he froze in place. Until he did so literally.

"Hey, what's going on out here?" A male voice said. Suddenly a new Canterlot guard showed up.



"Oh I recognize that guy. I just saw him head for Ponyville not too long ago." The stallion said.

"Uh...thanks. It was nice to meet you mister..." Twilight said.

"My name is Flash Sentry." The Stallion said.

"R-right...can you watch over our dragon friends for a bit? Thanks." Twilight said and the girls ran off.

I think Twilight's got a crush~ Rarity thought to herself.

As the two dragons and Pegasus stallion watched the main six run off, they heard cracking, and when they turned around, Discord suddenly fell to a million pieces in the most literal sense of the term.

"...Is anyone else suddenly as confused as I am?" Flash Sentry asked.

"I think we all are." Spike said.

"How very bizarre" Smolder said.





Sometime later, the main six returned with the elements, when they saw Discord still in a million pieces in the most litteral sense of the term.

"What happened while we were gone?" Twilight asked.

"I don't know. He did this to himself." Flash Sentry said.

"It's true Twilight." Spike said.

Suddenly Discord put himself together yet, he was laughing. "This is quite the treat! We've got a displaced Smolder who knows nothing about her real family, and we got her getting together with Spike. Ha! I can already see the chaos just waiting in the winds! I look forward to seeing how things unfold from here. I'm going to need popcorn. SO MUCH POPCORN!" Discord said before vanishing.

"...What just happened?" Smolder asked.

"I couldn't even begin to tell you. But it sounds like to me, Smolder's got some family we don't know about." Twilight said.

"Meh. My adoptive family is all I need. I don't need anyone else. Besides, if my blood family really was my family, they wouldn't have just abandoned me as an egg you know." Smolder said.

"Still, it'll be interesting to see what this Garble is really like at least. Don't you think, Smolder?" Spike said.

"Meh...if you think it's worth it Spike, only if you come with~" Smolder said before hugging Spike, causing the purple dragon to collapse into a collection of hearts.

"...Huh..." Flash Sentry said. "Hey I know you, aren't you Twilight Sparkle? Our paths crossed once before this. You don't remember me, but I certainly remember you. I was in the Knight Academy while you were still in Celestia's school remember? You were walking to one of your classes--" He started.

"--When I accidently bumped into you and lost all my books. You kindly helped me gather them back up and helped me get to class a whole five minutes early. Your that Flash Sentry!" Twilight said.

"What are the odds we'd meet like this again? Not very likely I'll say." Flash Sentry said.

Twilight blushed. "Well...I suppose if your going to be here for the Grand Galloping Gala...I wouldn't mind a dance partner..." She added.

"It'll be my pleasure." Flash Sentry said and then went off.

Wow...Go Twilight... Rarity said. While she was jealous of her friend, she couldn't help but admire Twilight's smoothness in that asking out even if purple unicorn was very clueless about what she just did.





"I suppose letting you keep the elements for now would be best. I've already put a spell on them to prevent Discord taking them again." Celestia said.

"I'll just keep them at the library for the time being once we get back." Twilight said.

"Though I must admit. I had delayed the gala a whole week because that's how long I expected this situation to last. Getting everything ready for three days from now instead will take way too much of my time." Celestia said.

"Leave it to me Princess! I'll be glad to help!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Thank you Pinkie Pie." Celestia said.

"Yeah...say girls, I'll have to catch up another time, Luna wants me for some stuff." Rainbow Dash said and flew off.

"...I wonder what that's about?" Twilight asked.

"Actually, I'll have to catch up later too. Prince Blueblood has asked to speak with me specifically. Maybe I'll give him a piece of my mind about Spike while I'm there." Rarity said.

"Give him a good lashing sis!" Smolder said.

"I intend to." Rarity said before heading off.

"I could most certain provide the food for the gala if you wish, Princess." Applejack offered.

"Oh I have been meaning to have some of your finest goods Applejack. I believe I will give your family quite the hefty sum of cash for this." Celestia said.

"...Huh...I think everyone's got something to look forward to in three days." Twilight said.

"Indeed. And I've even made friends with the animals here. They are all so cute~" Fluttershy said.

"...That was fast..." Twilight said.





Elsewhere, Flash Sentry was approached by Shining Armor. "Captain, is something the matter?" Flash Sentry asked.

"I couldn't help but notice you with my sister. And I'll just tell you this up front cadet: If you hurt her in any way, shape, or form, I'm going to personally come find you, and make you regret it." Shining Armor said.

"...No offense sir, but if that's the best threat you can come up with, you've got work to do." Flash Sentry said. Not that I plan on playing with Twilight's heart; I know how important she is to you, and I wouldn't dream of hurting her for the world. He thought to himself before walking off, leaving a very shocked Shining Armor.

He...he didn't even blink... Shining Armor thought to himself. Flash Sentry...who exactly are you? He added to his thoughts.
> Chapter 9 - The Talks (No featured Episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash was in Luna's room. "You wanted to see me, Princess Luna?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes I did. When I was Nightmare Moon, I believe I had tempted you with something known as the Shadowbolts. The truth of the matter is, long ago they were indeed my version of the Wonderbolts in every sense of the word, with one key difference: I also made sure they had the capabilities to fight if and when needed." Luna said. "It was my way of trying to keep Equestria safe. But as I noticed more and more ponies siding with my sister and her Wonderbolts, it helped spark the situation that created Nightmare Moon in the first place." She added.

"But I doubt the Shadowbolts are still up and running, considering you were gone for a thousand years and all that." Rainbow Dash said.

"They may be no longer running right now, but I am currently looking to renew them once more. My sister has actually considered it a good thing that I am considering it, as she wants her Wonderbolts to have some actual competition since my banishment a thousand years ago." Luna said. "I honestly can't believe she wished for the competition, but I suppose that is her way of showing that she wants me to be as equal to her as possible. I am currently in the process of seeking out ponies I believe will do well together, but rest assured, the ones I seek will be in the initial line up." She added.

"Why do I sense there's a catch?" Rainbow Dash said.

"There will be a series of tests in place to see where everyone will be on the actual roster. The one who becomes captain will be the one who earns the highest score through the tests, with a tiebreaker race scheduled just in case there's a tie." Luna said. "I know I had mentioned you being my captain as Nightmare Moon but--" she started.

"Actually that's fine by me. I prefer to earn things under my own merit. It's not worth it if it's just given to me." Rainbow Dash said. "...That said, I'm not exactly sure about it. Do I have time to think it over?" She asked.

"Oh you have plenty of time. I'm waiting until the month after the Equestria Games will be held this year to hold the tests. All of those I'm calling for a personal meeting will have until the end of the same month as the Equestria games to come to me with their decision." Luna said.

"That works well with me. See you around then." Rainbow Dash said.





Rainbow Dash was on a cloud above Canterlot skies for the time being, more so just contemplating a few things. Suddenly she noticed a Pegasus Stallion coming towards her. "Oh. My. Gosh. It's Soarin of the Wonderbolts!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Fancy seeing you here again Rainbow Dash. I'm willing to bet your here for the same reason I am: Luna wants to create a Shadowbolt unit. And she's offering me a transfer into it." Soarin said. "...And I'll be honest, I'm seriously considering it." He added.

"But your already a Wonderbolt. Why would you want the transfer?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Spitfire may be the team's captain, and we may have a manger, but the Wonderbolts have these three ponies who have the final say in the team and it's roster. We call them the Higher Ups, and trust me when I say they are pure politicians, only giving the greenlight to those in the Wonderbolt Reserves they feel would give the Wonderbolts the highest public viewpoint. And trust me when I say there are some really good fliers in the reserves who I would like on the main team in a heart beat, but each and every time I see them get skipped over for someone whose more favorable in the public eye and doesn't have the absolute best of the best in terms of flying skill. It's honestly gotten to the point where I'm sick and tired of it. I know for a fact Luna would never let that happen as Celestia has no clue about the higher ups." Soarin said.

"...So your saying that my chances of getting into the Wonderbolts are very slim..." Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm saying that you should consider if you want your status as a stunt flier to be about you or if you want it to be about politics. You are after all one of the ones who saved Princess Luna after all, that's already a high public profile. But then there's the fact that you went and saved me and several other Wonderbolts. Not going to lie, that's another huge high public profile on your resume. What I'm trying to get you to understand, is that if you do get on the team, it's going to have everything to do with Politics and nothing to do with your actual skill. And you seem like a mare who prefers skill over politics." Soarin said.

"You've got me there Soarin." Rainbow Dash said. "Now I'm really not sure what to do as Luna's already filled me in on the details." She added.

"If you ask me, you should stick with what you value the most. I do wonder however, if you wouldn't mind actually hanging out with at the Gala? I'm sure I can slip away from the rest of the Wonderbolts for it. The nobles aren't going to give a single bit over a suddenly missing Wonderbolt at the table because they only care for the fame we bring. But I figure your more about the skill." Soarin said.

"Heh...well, if you can manage it, I'll certainly enjoy it." Rainbow Dash noted. "But even if you can't, I think you've given me a lot to think about Soarin. See you around." She added and flew off.

"...Make the right choice Rainbow Dash, the right choice for you." Soarin said.





Meanwhile, Rarity was in the actual castle wondering around aimlessly. "...Oh dear, it appears I am lost." Rarity said to herself.

"Oh Rarity was it?" It was Shining Armor. "Something the problem?" He asked.

"Yes well, I seem to have gotten lost in the castle finding Blueblood's room." Rarity said.

"...Yes, you most certainly have gotten lost. Considering Prince Blueblood's room is on the other side of the castle and I mean that in the literal sense." Shining Armor said. And then Rarity fainted, a couch suddenly being teleported to her. Where on Equestria did she get that couch? Certainly not one of the castle's couches. My sister's new friends sure are strange between having a farmer with a royal guard-like grip, a party planner whose had too much sugar, and from what I've heard about Rarity, a Fashion designer who can teleport a couch to her for whenever she faints. The Royal Guard captain thought to himself.





After being guided by Shining Armor to Prince Blueblood's Room (and recovering from her fainting spell which Shining Armor was pressured into not talking about), Rarity headed right on in.

"Miss Rarity, I see you took your time. Either that or you got lost. But then again, from what I heard it's customary for a mare to be late." Blueblood said.

Oh I'm going to enjoy ripping into this one for Spike. Rarity thought to herself. "So, is there a reason for you to summon me?" Rarity asked.

"Well considering you live in ponyville, I was wondering if by chance, you've come across a particular mare I've been looking for for the past three years." Blueblood said.

"...Seriously? That's why you called me? Twilight was right, you really are a pompus jerk." Rarity said.

"N-now let's not be so hasty..." Blueblood said.

"You think I'm going to listen to you? I saw what you did to Spike all because he stood up for that one unicorn colt. You should be ashamed of yourself for harming a growing youngling, even if he is a dragon. I hope you never find the mare your looking for. Ever. You deserve to be forever alone for what you did to Spike." Rarity said before storming right out of the room.

...If she had stayed, she would've seen Blueblood actually crying in deep shame.
> Chapter 10 - The First Gala (The Best Night Ever)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Grand Galloping Gala was finally here and there was much going on.

But as soon as the group had arrived there (with transportation being covered by Celestia) Smolder had gotten one look at Spike in his tux and collapsed into a collection of hearts.

"...I can certainly say for my sister, that seeing Spike in that tux was defiantly worth the wait for her." Rarity said. Spike's tux while still very much a tuxedo in every sense of the word, it also had a bit of a knight's look to it.

"So. Much. WOOF!" Smolder said. "I know my sister is good, but dang sis. You really know how to spoil me sometimes." She added.

"Shall we head in then?" Twilight asked.

"Yeah sure." Rainbow Dash said. While her dress wasn't one she could fly in, she had to admit it looked good on her. Suddenly, as she headed in, she ran right into Soarin.

"Ouch! Oh I'm so--wait, Rainbow Dash?" Soarin asked.

"Yeah. It's me. Ow...be careful." Rainbow Dash said.

"Wow. You certainly look really good. Like really good, woof." Soarin said.

"Thanks. So, I'm guessing you managed to slip away." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yep. But just to be safe, we should hang outside. The nobles can easily recognize me and that wouldn't be a good thing. The less I'm seen around them, the better." Soarin said.

"Good call." Rainbow Dash said. The rest of the mares minus Fluttershy went inside. Fluttershy meanwhile went to the gardens to enjoy the animals.

Inside, Rarity decided to see if she could make a few contacts here in Canterlot. Meanwhile Pinkie Pie was just having fun in general with Applejack more or less joining in. As for Twilight though, she was currently waiting on Flash Sentry who soon showed up.

"Woof Twilight, you look really good." Flash Sentry said, he was in a simple tuxedo.

"Th-thanks. My friend Rarity made it for me." Twilight said.

"She does some fine work then, I must say. Though, is that your dragon brother over there? Whose he with?" Flash Sentry asked, motioning towards Spike and Smolder.

"That would be Rarity's adoptive sister Smolder." Twilight said.

"What kind of dress is she wearing? Never seen one like that before." Flash inquired, very curious.

"Smolder calls it a Princess Dress, and she's not afraid to admit she likes wearing them; despite actually having a bit of a rough and tough attitude." Twilight answered.

"Really? That's interesting. So, shall we dance?" Flash Sentry asked.

"S-sure thing." Twilight said, blushing all the while as she danced with Flash Sentry.





The next morning, the entire group was ready to leave with Rainbow Dash and Twilight talking with the stallions they were with in separate locations. But both stallions more or less promised the same thing: That as soon as they were able to, they'd come visit their respective mares in Ponyville.

...But there was one stallion who simply watched from his room in the castle. It was Blueblood. He had a photo on his desk of a gray pegasus mare.

"Aunty, I'll be heading to Ponyville in a couple of days." Blueblood said to his aunt, Princess Celestia.

"...You really wish to find her then?" Celestia asked. "If only I had been able to tell Rarity about what had happened three years ago..." She added.

"I know. It's not her fault or yours. I blame myself for not having the courage to speak up. But I must find the mare I met three years ago." Blueblood said. "To that end, I will search this entire country if I must, but that mare...I will find her. And I will marry her." He concluded.

"Be safe." Celestia said. Blueblood nodded.
> Chapter 11 - Ponyville Station (No featured episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group of six ponies plus two dragons came off the train and onto the platform at Ponyville.

"Phew, that was some kind of trip." Twilight said. Suddenly the group noticed Sweetie Belle and one other pony coming up.

"Welcome back sis." Sweetie Belle said. The other pony; an orange Pegasus filly; just smiled.

"Hey Sweetie Belle. Whose this with you?" Rarity asked.

"Scootaloo, what are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Just thought I'd come meet you with a new friend I made." The Pegasus filly said. "Turns out we both don't have our cutie marks so we kind of just clicked like that." She added.

"Rainbow Dash, do you know this Pegasus filly?" Smolder asked.

"You mean Scootaloo? She's this orphan filly I adopted as my child." Rainbow Dash said. "The fact that she idolizes me and wants to be just as awesome as me one day may have factored into that." She added.

"Rainbow Dash, you never told me you adopted anyone." Fluttershy said.

"...It was going to be something I was hoping to reveal at your next birthday party, Flutters..." Rainbow Dash said. "In fact, I was going to tell every pony eventually, but I guess she sort of saved me the trouble." She added.

"Sorry mom..." The newly named Scootaloo said.

"It's alright Scootaloo. This just saved me a ton of trouble for later." Rainbow Dash said.

"You didn't get your parents to adopt her so she could be your sister?" Smolder asked. Both Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash suddenly looked at the orange dragoness. "...Why are you both staring at me?" Smolder asked.

"Um...let's just say that Rainbow's parents...they aren't...um...what's the best way to say this..." Fluttershy said.

"They're support of me was very vocal. It wasn't uncommon for them to show up to one of my races waving flags and the like. It was very obnoxious to me. It's one of the reasons I moved out of my Parent's place to begin with. The other is because of finding Fluttershy." Rainbow Dash said.

"To me, it doesn't really matter if Rainbow Dash ended up my sister or my mother; I'm happy all the same she's taken me under her wing." Scootaloo said.

"You said it squirt." Rainbow Dash said, ruffling Scootaloo's mane.

"...Typical Rainbow Dash." Applejack said.

"Kind of sucky that I won't get to run the Sisterhooves Social later this year, but if you ask me, that's a small price to pay to be able to take care of Scootaloo." Rainbow Dash said. "...She wasn't going to be able to fly stuck in that orphanage after all." She added.

"I didn't even know there was an orphanage around Ponyville." Twilight noted.

"Most ponies don't know there is one because it's so small as Ponyville doesn't have a lot of orphans. Most fillies only end up orphans around ponyville when all known guardians are either missing for more than three months, or all known relatives are dead." Rainbow Dash said.

"My real parents tended to be gone for so long, I ended up in the care of my aunts, but about five months before Nightmare Moon showed up, one day while we were out for a walk around the Everfree Forest, when this strange bear-bee hybrid thing showed up. My two aunts were unable to escape in time, and I probably wouldn't have escaped either if my aunts hadn't had noticed a path that led straight out of the forest. They told me to follow it and don't look back." Scootaloo said. "...Their bodies were found three days later." She added.

"Which is how Scootaloo ended up in the Orphanage. But once I realized she was a big fan of mine upon seeing her old room and talking with her, I just...I did what I felt was the right thing to do." Rainbow Dash said. "So, I took her in as my own daughter. I didn't want her to spend long in that orphanage. She's only six years old after all." She added.

"But what about Scootaloo's real parents? Do they know?" Twilight asked.

"They haven't been back since they left. It's been three years since I've last seen them period." Scootaloo said. "...They could've at least come back as soon as the accident happened, but they didn't. Some parents they are. As far as I'm concerned, they don't need to come back." Scootaloo said.

"...Scootaloo, how about you and Sweetie Belle go off and play together, okay squirt?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"...Yeah. That's cheer me up. Thanks mom. Come on Sweetie" Scootaloo said and went off to play with Sweetie Belle.

"Rainbow Dash, was there a reason you sent her off to play with my sister?" Rarity asked.

"...I didn't want to say anything in front of her, but you know how loyalty is everything to me. That includes loyalty to family. But Scootaloo's family...she's lost her two aunts, and the two parents she does have haven't been back since her aunts died. Those two ponies who call themselves Scootaloo's parents can't even be bothered to come back for three whole years." Rainbow Dash explained before she suddenly landed.

"R-Rainbow Dash..." Fluttershy noted.

"...That's why I did what I did. I wanted to be there as someone she could depend on, some pony who would show her loyalty like no pony else could. In my heart, I just felt a kinship with her. As such, I reacted to her situation and did what I felt like doing, which was adopting her as my daughter even if I have next to zero idea how to raise a child. But, I won't let that stop me. Because I'm Rainbow Dash, a future stunt flier who values loyalty above all else. That's who I am. And Scootaloo needs someone like me looking after her." Rainbow Dash said.

"I'll say this much Rainbow Dash: You've surprised me in ways I couldn't begin to describe. Why don't you go on ahead into Ponyville." Twilight said.

"Thanks Twilight. Figured you'd understand, egghead." Rainbow Dash said before flying off.

"...Twilight, what do you mean Rainbow Dash surprised you? Just sounded like her usual ego filled self to me." Applejack said.

"It's her heart, she simply did what she felt was the right thing to do. She adopted a filly simply because she wanted to show that filly what a real parent is supposed to be like. I'm sure without a shadow of a doubt, she'll succeed." Twilight said before going off.

"...A real parent...ah guess I get what that's about..." Applejack said before the rest headed off.

...

On the other side of the train station was a disguised Blueblood who had heard everything.

"...Interesting. I suppose I'll be seeing what that six are really like as I explore Ponyville." Blueblood said before heading off in a different direction towards Ponyville.





Meanwhile, in an unknown location, a single colt with black fur and a cutie mark that was identical to that of fire but was instead of being colored red and orange like how fire is normally symbolized, the symbol was colored pure white.

"...Finally. I am here." He said, looking up at Ponyville Elementry. "...Ponyville Elementry." He said.
> Chapter 12 - School Time (Call of the Cutie)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Can't believe it's time for school again." Sweetie Belle said as Smolder helped her get ready for school. "At least there's the potential for me to make a new friend." The filly added.

"Yeah look on the bright side of things. Here's hoping you make more friends besides just Scootaloo." Smolder said.

"Thanks sis. Plus, you get to spend the entire day with Spike seeing as he's going to help you and our sister Rarity with her orders." Sweetie Belle said.

"Part of me believes he's only coming because of me though." Smolder said.

"You don't really believe that do you? It's obvious he likes you and you like him." Sweetie Belle said before leaving. She thought she would've heard Smolder say "I DON'T LIKE HIM, BAKA" as the filly left, but the Dragoness remained quiet. "Huh...weird..." Sweetie Belle hurried to school.

"...She's not wrong you know. I just don't want to move too fast is all." Smolder said, sensing Rarity behind her.

"Think about how Spike feels about it. It's obvious he wants to try and make this last just as much as you do. It's why he's trying not to move too fast." Rarity said.

"How do you know that?" Smolder asked.

"I'm a fashionista by trade darling; it comes with the occupation. It's my job to notice the small details, and while Spike might not admit it due to being a dragon, he knows he doesn't want to take advantage of you." Rarity said. "Hence why he's doing his best to take things slow." She added.

"...He really is a knight...in more ways than one it seems..." Smolder said.

"Pretty fitting for a 'princess' isn't it?" Rarity teased a little, but she wasn't using her normal teasing tone; it was more of a tone of acceptance.

"Yeah...you could say that..." Smolder said.





"Good morning class. Today we have a new student joining us, and they wanted to weigh in on the topic of cutie marks since theirs is so unique compared to others." Cheerilee said.

Tch...a colt his age with a cutie mark? How boring...I can at least pick on Apple Bloom and those other two blank flank losers... Diamond Tiara thought to herself as a black colt with a white fire cutie mark suddenly came into the room.

"Hello every pony. My name is White Fire. I was moved to Ponyville to live with my uncle as my parents grew up here despite this being so far away from where I was born. And while my cutie mark is unique, it's due to the special way I look at cutie marks. While I have a fascination with fire, I wish to continue to find other things to fill my life. My uncle said that just because I have a cutie mark at my age, doesn't mean I shouldn't explore and find more options for myself because I'm so young. And I admit that he is right. We are all of a young age to the point where we can still find other things to do if we have a cutie mark, and those without can be there with us to help us find more things to fill our lives with. That's why I see the pure white of my cutie mark as a sign of the endless possibilities I can see filling up the fires of my life while I'm still young." The colt explained. The bell rang soon after he finished. "...Think of that what you will..." The colt said.

"Alright every pony, it's recess time." Cheerilee said.





"Can you believe the talk of that White Fire..." Diamond Tiara said to her friend Silver Spoon.

"I know right. He must think he's so full of himself because he believes in that non-sense his uncle spouts." Silver Spoon responded.

"EXACTLY! I say we teach him a little lesson." Diamond Tiara said and tried to sabotage the various games White Fire would get involved with, only to fall victim to her own traps. How in Equestria can any pony be this darn lucky?! Diamond Tiara thought to herself.

How foolish if she thinks she can cause me humiliation. I was dealt a bad hand once already, and I won't let it happen to me again. White Fire asked in his thoughts.

"Hey White Fire, that was some speech." Apple Bloom said. "...Of course those two, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon...well they bully me quite a bit." She added.

"...I see..." White Fire said. "...Well, they won't be getting away with that scot free any longer, I gaurentee you that." He added.

"Tch, what are you doing, talking with the Blank Flank?" Diamond Tiara asked. Suddenly out of nowhere, she was hit with a bag of leaves.

"Sorry about that!" Derpy said as she flew down. "I just don't know what went wrong..." She said grabbing the bag of leaves and leaving.

"...Derpy Hooves...Ponyille's clumsiest mailmare." Diamond Tiara said.

"At least she's found something she enjoys doing and it's actually productive. Plus, she's a clear hard worker. You? I'm guessing spoiled lifestyle. I'd advise getting out of it as soon as possible. It's not healthy." White Fire said.

"What the...how the..." Diamond Tiara was left speechless. "...Well...well whatever. Look, I'll be a little nice, and invite the both of you to my cutecenaro tomorrow. It's a tradition here in Ponyville." She added.

"...I see." White Fire noted. "...But don't think you can pull anything." He added and left.

"...C'mon Silver Spoon." Diamond Tiara said.





At said cutecenaro, the two spoiled fillies were showed up when Apple Bloom became friends with Sweetie Belle and Silver Spoon, creating the Cutie Mark Crusaders.

"...Heh...You three definitely got something special going on." White Fire commented shortly after. "Way to show up the spoiled fillies. At least you three aren't like that." He added.

"Your White Fire right? We kind of saw what you did before, sticking one to Diamond Tiara like that." Scootaloo said. "You're okay in my book, so if you want to, we might consider letting you tag along with our crusades from time to time. Might help you broaden your horizons." She added.

"Heh...perhaps I'll consider it. I'll let you know if I'm ever interested." White Fire said. Surprisingly, I didn't even need to do anything to embarrass Diamond Tiara at her own party; those three did my job for me. Perhaps this will be a bit of a new start for me. White Fire thought to himself.





Unbeknownst to any pony at the school the day before, the disguised Blueblood had got a glimpse of Derpy Hooves.

"...I've found her..." He simply said in his hotel room at the same time of the forming of the Cutie Mark Crusaders. It was three words that he then wrote a piece of paper that was sent to his aunt.
> Chapter 13 - Clubhouse Time (Stare Master Aftermath + AU Show Stoppers)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Smolder, why didn't you get on Sweetie Belle's case for the whole situation with Fluttershy's chicken?" Spike said.

"Because Fluttershy sort of did my job for me." Smolder said. "And yes, I was overhead keeping an eye on her and her friends." She added.

"So...where are they right now?" Spike asked.

"With Applejack. Past that, I have no idea..." Smolder said.





Meanwhile Applejack was about to lean on her old clubhouse when suddenly, she spotted a snake slithering up the tree. "SNAKE!" Applejack shouted before running down from the tree with the crusaders in tow. "GET BACK YOU RASCALLY VARMIT!" Applejack said.

"Wondered where you took those three." White Flame said as he showed up. "Some old clubhouse? Your lucky Carol appeared and spooked you; you were likely to fall through a wall of it or something to that effect." Whie Flame said as the snake slithered over to him. "And Carol, you should really stop spooking other ponies like that." He added.

"...You have a pet snake?" Applejack said. Suddenly Carol bit one of White Flame's hoofs as it wrapped around the colt, causing Applejack to scream. "LAND'S SAKE, AH GOTTA GET YOU TO A DOCTOR RIGHT AWAY!" Applejack yelled.

White Flame chuckled; looking no worse for wear. "Your not the first pony to think that about Carol: She's a coral snake, they aren't poisonous." The colt said. "My uncle has a saying about them and their look-alikes about their red spots: Red touch yellow, stay away fellow; red touch black, safe for jack." He added.

Carol extended her body to show that her red spots touched black. "...Oh..." Applejack admitted. "Still, your little critter scared the hay out of me." She admitted.

"Carol does that to a lot of ponies; not the first time she's done so. Heck, even others who know she's not poisonous tend to get spooked by a sudden appearance of a snake." White Flame said.

"That is so cool how you have a pet snake though." Scootaloo said.

"She technically belongs to my uncle, but Carol tends to follow me around more." White Flame said. "She's probably scared of the fire my uncle uses to make bits for the equestrian minting process." He guessed.

"Your uncle helps make more money?" Apple Bloom asked, to which White Flame nodded. "That's very nifty~" The filly said.

"So what are you doing here anyways?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Figured I'd come by and see how you three were doing. Now I'm going to help you fix this clubhouse up." White Flame said.





When Scootaloo returned a bit later as the group fixed the clubhouse up, she ran over Carol, splitting of the snake's tail by accident.

"...I am so dead..." Scootaloo noted before White Flame showed up. "White Flame, I am so sorry I--" The pegasus tried to say.

"Carol, what have I told you about being in the middle of the road before?" White Flame asked as Carol slithered over to him and wrapped around him again. "That's the fifth time this year you've lost your tail." The colt added.

"...Bwah?" Scootaloo was confused.

"Don't worry about Carol; snakes regrow their lost parts over time so Carol will be good as new in a couple of weeks. This isn't the first time she's lost her tail due to being run over by a passerby." White Flame said.

"Dang...I'm still sorry that I run her over." Scootaloo said.

"It's fine. It's not the first time she's gotten run over like I said. She really needs to learn to stay out of the middle of roads." White Flame said.

The group found Sweetie Belle soon enough. "So White Flame, was there something you had in mind for a crusade maybe?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Actually, now that Sweetie Belle is around, I might as well tell you: The school's doing a talent show, and Button Mash is entering as a contestant. He's got something planned to show off for Sweetie Belle." White Flame said. "Can't say what, he swore me to secrecy, but I noticed Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon off in the background behind him when he told me. Those two are planning to sabotage Button Mash's surprise for Sweetie Belle." He said.

"We can't let them do that! Not after Button Mash worked so hard to impress me." Sweetie Belle said, jumping at this.

"Oh don't worry, I got a plan~" White Flame said.





Later that week, the talent show was underway, and when Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon went to sabotage Button Mash, suddenly, they were approuched by something reptillian. "SNAKE!" They both yelled and ran from behind the stage, making it known they were trying to do some sabotoging. And then out came Carol behind them which curled around White Flame.

"That's a coral snake you two, it's harmless." Cheerilee said. "But I know two fillies who are herby disqualified." She added.

"YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" Diamond Tiara said.

White Flame just pet his pet snake. "Good girl, Carol." White Flame said.





Safe to say, Sweetie Belle was very impressed by Button Mash's surprise so much, the two now had plans for the next weekend.

Meanwhile though...

"Can't believe that colt White Flame has a snake for a pet." Diamond Tiara said.

"But how on earth did he know we were going to sabotoge Button Mash and embarrass him so Sweetie Belle would have nothing to do with him?" Silver Spoon asked. Suddenly Carol showed up.

"SNAKE!" The two fillies said before running home.

"Oh for the love of...I didn't want you to scare them twice in the same night, Carol." White Flame said.

"They kind of deserve it though for trying to be mean bullies." Scootaloo said.

"I hear you." A male voice said. Suddenly a male pegasus colt showed up. "Couldn't help but notice your friends with White Flame. Well any friend of his is a friend of mine." The colt said.

"Oh hey Rumble. This is one of Apple Bloom's friends Scootaloo that I told you about." White Flame said.

"Well I think she's gonna be cool to hang out with. See you around Scootaloo." Rumble said before leaving.

"...Ba-dum..." Scootaloo said simply.
> Chapter 14 - More Aftermath (Several Episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Cutie Mark Chronicles


"So wait one second here Scootaloo, Rainbow's Sonic Rainboom not only caused Spike's egg to hatch, but also mine on TOP of allowing her, Twilight, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy, AND Applejack to get their cutie mark ALL AT THE SAME TIME?" Smolder asked.

"...Well when you put it like that, that sounds like something super awesome. Didn't even realize that that's what happened." Scootaloo said.

"It also means that she wouldn't have been able to adopt you otherwise." Smolder said.

"...Well now that you mention that..." Scootaloo said. "You know what, I guess that is kind of awesome." She added.

"And you are going to do something awesome yourself squirt; I guarantee it." Rainbow Dash said.

"Aw mom..." Scootaloo said.






Lesson Zero


"At the very least, thanks to you Smolder, Twilight didn't go into full on freak-out mode and wanted to know if it was alright for her friends to submit friendship lessons they've learned. That was a good thought to prevent her from going completly bonkers." Spike said.

"Yeah. But mind telling me why Twilight gave Big Mac that strange doll?" Smolder asked.

"Twilight calls it Smarty Pants, and I honestly couldn't tell you the reason why." Spike said. "So, why are we here at a gym again?" He asked.

"To help you get stronger. Trust me, you'll need it." Smolder said. And I want to see how ripped you can get. The dragoness thought to herself.






MMMystery on the Friendship Express


Turns out, that while the main six was away from Ponyville, Spike had to defend the place from a monster.

The monster would be telling its friends about how there was the equivalent of Godzilla defending the town and not only not be believed, but also outcasted from it.

But elsewhere in Ponyville...

"...Your still around, aren't you?" White Flame was asking while looking out over the village of Ponyville on one of it's nearby hills. "...I can't let Apple Bloom or any of the others know about you. Your burden is mine and mine alone to bear. One way or another, I will be free of you this time." The colt said before coming down from the hill to play with his friends; both his two colt friends and his three filly friends; which included Apple Bloom.






Fall Weather Friends


Smolder was simply just rolling around on the floor laughing; litterally.

"...What's with her?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Well, I told your sister that Applejack and Rainbow Dash had ended up tying for last because they kept trying to mess each other up--" Spike said before Smolder's laugh got louder briefly. "...And she's been like this for the past couple of minutes." He said.

"Wait...what place did Twilight get?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Fifth place." Spike said. Smolder's laugh got louder briefly again. "...And that also made her laugh like this..." The dragon added. And then Sweetie Belle started rolling on the floor laughing. "...Gee you two really are sisters at this point..." Spike said, shaking his head.
> Chapter 15 - Love in the air (No featured episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flash Sentry had managed to get some time off to come to Ponyville to hang out with Twilight and her friends.

"It's nice that you've managed to find time off. I think I would've been bored otherwise as I've read all the books in the Golden Oaks Library at this point." Twilight said. "So, this saves me the trouble of finding something else to do today." She added.

"It was no problem Twilight. And helping you is kind of my thing isn't it? I did help you get to your class on time after you accidently bumped into you that one day." Flash Sentry said. "By the way, where's your draconic brother?" He asked.

That comment made Twilight chuckle. "Never heard him be called that before. And he's with Rarity's adopted dragoness sister Smolder and that's as much as I know." Twilight said.

"Ah that dragoness I noted earlier. So, Rarity has a draconic sister huh?" Flash Sentry asked.

Twilight chuckled again. "You are on fire with that, aren't you?" She asked.

"What can I say? I like seeing you smile." Flash said.

"Oh you~" Twilight said, nudging the pegasus stallion.





"White Fire? Why are you staring off into space?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Oh sorry. I was just thinking of a...rival of mine from my hometown." White Fire said. "I hope he doesn't come here of all places." He added.

"Hey even if he does, you got all of us White Fire." Button Mash said.

"No! You must not get involved. The burden of defeating him must be mine and mine alone." White Fire said.

"You shouldn't have to let that be the case White Fire. Let us help you when the time comes." Rumble said.

"Yeah, what Rumble said." Scootaloo said.

"But this...rival of mine could kill you if you're not careful." White Flame said.

"So? That's a risk we're willing to take. Got to trust in your friends after all." Sweetie Belle said.

"You...really don't care that you could die young..." White Fire said.

"Maybe we will, but if it stops that rival of yours once and for all, and stops him from killing any pony else, then at least our deaths will have meaning." Apple Bloom said.

"...I...I see..." White Fire said. "...I still don't want you to, but I guess I can't stop you either way." He added.





Meanwhile, at the Ponyville Gym, both Spike and Smolder were currently working out.

"Man Spike, you're really getting at it~" Smolder said, really liking the results Spike was getting.

"Originally I didn't think this would be worth it, but I am starting to like the results of my efforts from this." Spike said.

Oh trust me, you're not the only one. Smolder thought to herself, secretly swooning. This is going to come in handy in case this Garble is just as much of a stuck-up jerk as the other dragons males I've met. The dragoness added to her thoughts.

"By the way, on the way here, I swear I saw Blueblood. Worst attempt at a disguise ever. It was like he wasn't even trying." Spike said. "But because he seemed to be headed to the post office, I paid him no further mind than that." He added.

"The post office? But doesn't Canterlot have one too?" Smolder asked. When Spike nodded, the dragoness added "...Then why the buck is he all the way in ponyville just for the post office?" Smolder asked.

"I haven't the faintest idea Smolder, but from now on, what Blueblood wants to on his off time is his business, not mine." Spike said. "Unless of course he tries to bully or harm anyone; then he's going to be in for a big surprise." He added.

A scene suddenly played itself in Smolder head of Blueblood bullying some random filly and then Spike went into his giant form and then there was a scared Blueblood saying "RUN, IT'S GODZILLA!" as he ran from the suddenly giant dragon.

"...Yeah, a big surprise indeed..." Smolder said.





Meanwhile, at Ponyville's post office, Blueblood approuched the counter.

"Hello, how may I help you sir?" The mare at the counter asked.

"Um...I was hoping to speak with a specific employee. Gray fur, blond mane, yellow eyes..." Blueblood said.

"Hmm...is the mare you're asking for have crooked eyes by any chance?" The counter mare asked.

"I honestly wasn't paying attention to that..." Blueblood said. "So you mean there's more then one th--"

"I kid, I kid. I only have one employee who matches the rest of your description. Unfortunately, she's out doing deliveries for the time being. But if you would please wait, I'm sure she'll be back shortly. Unless she ran into something. Again." The mare said.

"What do you mean by that?" Blueblood asked.

"Well...the mare your looking for is named Derpy and she's pretty clumsy. But if it weren't for the fact that she's my top tier postal worker DESPITE all her accidents, I would've fired her long ago with how clumsy she can be. But I only have ONE other employee besides her and he's a total rookie who tends to actually misplace several packages. Though he hasn't been to work for the past few days." The mare said.

"Well then if you ask me, this Derpy sounds like despite the fact she's clumsy, she's a mare who works hard to make sure she keeps her job intact. For you to even consider firing her...the very thought is unthinkable!" Blueblood said.

"...I suppose when you put it that way..." The mare said. Suddenly Derpy flew into the building. "Oh, here she is now." The mare said.

"Um...boss, whose this?" Derpy asked.

"Beats me. He's looking for you though." The mare said.

"...I feel like I know you..." Derpy said.

"You should...even if we only met once..." Blueblood said.

That voice...is it him? Derpy thought to herself.

"Can you...meet me at the hotel in about an hour? I'll be there waiting." Blueblood said.

"Sure thing." Derpy said. "Right boss?" She asked.

"Err...actually we don't have any more orders for the day so...enjoy time with the strange stallion." The mare at the counter said.

"Yay!" Derpy said before she suddenly tripped in the air and fell to the ground. "...I just don't know what went wrong..." Derpy said.

Why do I get the feeling she says that A LOT? Blueblood thought to himself.

It was later at the hotel when Blueblood revealed himself to Derpy that the two had a LONG discussion about some things. While it's unclear exactly what they discussed, it was clear there were some things that shouldn't be repeated.
> Chapter 16 - Sisters by Fate (Sisterhooves Social AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a normal day in Ponyville, and Apple Bloom was seemingly excited which confused White Flame.

"One of you telling me why Apple Bloom is being so excitable?" White Flame asked.

"You mean you can't guess? Tomorrow is the Sisterhooves Social, and she's going to get to run with her sister." Scootaloo said. "And while Rainbow Dash likes competition, she knew right now I needed a mother, not a sister." She added.

"So you're not going to get to participate then. Are you fine with that though?" White Flame asked.

"I at least get to cheer on Apple Bloom as the running champions are always Derpy and her sister Surprise." Scootaloo said. "Not to mention Spike's going to be the announcer this year from what I've heard." She added.

"Huh. What about you, Sweetie Belle? Aren't you going to compete?" White Flame asked.

"I wish I could, but I bet Rarity's not going to have any thing to do with it considering it involves getting messy like there is no tomorrow." Sweetie Belle said.

White flame raised an eyebrow. "Who said anything about competing with Rarity?" He asked. "After all, even if she is your adopted sister, I'm sure Smolder would love to run with you." The earth pony colt said.

And on that note, Sweetie Belle rushed RIGHT out of the clubhouse. "...Was it something I said?" White Flame asked after she left.





"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there, what's this about a Sisterhooves Social?" Smolder asked.

"Well there's this annual competition from what I understand that takes place on Sweet Apple Acres, and since you're my sister; adopted or not; then I figured that you would love to participate with me. It'll be fun." Sweetie Belle said.

"Hmm...I do enjoy a little competition every now and then...I suppose I could participate with you, Sweetie Belle." Smolder said.

"...Spike's going to be the announcer." Sweetie Belle said.

"...WHY DIDN'T YOU LEAD WITH THAT?! I AM SO THERE!" Smolder said. "...Um, should I wear anything?" She asked.

"You probably shouldn't. The competition is going to get all kinds of messy so...best not wear anything you don't want to ruin nine ways from sunday." Sweetie Belle said.

"Meh...fair enough. I can deal with getting messy if it means I get that first-place trophy." Smolder said.

"We're going to have to beat the defending champions then, which would be Derpy and her sister Surprise." Sweetie Belle said.

"I don't care who we have to beat, I'M SO GETTING THAT FIRST PLACE TROPHY! I BETTER DO SOME WARMING UP TODAY!" Smolder said and then rushed off upstairs.

"...What just happened?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I think you've lit a fire under Smolder's legs the moment you mentioned Spike was the announcer. Now she's got this fantasy of Spike handing her the first place trophy in her head. She might think it'll be the moment he really falls for her even though he already has fallen for her HARD." Rarity said from behind her sister. "Still, I'm surprised you didn't basically beg me to attend. I...might have sacrificed my dignity for a little competition." Rarity said.

"I didn't think you'd bother. Besides, now there's no going back. Plus, I should probably use this opportunity to get closer to Smolder. You remember how much she used to hate the fact that I was born and you spent so much time with me." Sweetie Belle said.

"You don't need to remind me...." Rarity said.





"Well...this is a bit unusual...never had those who have adopted siblings participate." Granny Smith said. "But what the hay? Ah don't see why you can't participate anyways. Especially since Dinky and Surprise aren't competing this year."

"Huh? What happened?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"I can answer that." A female pegasus with a tan coat said. "My sister wanted to spend today with some pony very special to her and left it at that. Mostly because I didn't push and because it seemed VERY serious." She added.

"Wonder who she's spending the day with then in that case..." Smolder said.





Meanwhile...

"And this is Dinky Doo. You'll get to meet her more personally later." Derpy said, showing a photo to Blueblood.

"Yeah, I guess I will, since she's most certainly my kid." Blueblood said.

"I've tried my best to raise her on my own, but it's nice you found me." Derpy said. "Wonder what brought on looking for me all of a sudden though." She added.

"I actually never stopped looking." Blueblood said.





"I swear to god if Blueblood hurts Derpy, I'm going to tell Spike about it." Rainbow Dash said.

"Rainbow? What are you doing here?" Sweetie Belle said.

"Figured I'd see what this whole competition is about really. Figured I'd see if a mock-up of it can be done for fun at some other points in the year." Rainbow Dash said.

"I see..." Smolder said. Suddenly Big Mac took a few pies out onto a table that was set up.

"...Okay no. Now I'm glad I'm not participating. I...can't really eat pie." Rainbow Dash said. "It's not that I hate it, it's that I really can't eat it." She added.

"Why can't you eat pie?" Smolder asked.

"Don't know, but the one time when I was a young filly and I tried eating pie, I ended up sick for a whole twenty-four hours. I had to miss flight camp entirely the next day." Rainbow Dash said.

"YIKES! Talk about your allergic reactions..." Sweetie Belle said.





So as it turned out, Sweetie Belle and Smolder managed to beat out Applejack and Apple Bloom that year, but Smolder said that she couldn't consider herself the new champion until she gets beats Derpy and Surprise next year.

For now though, after a shower, she was with Spike.

"That was something else. Didn't think you'd be able to do so well. I bet that between now and next year, you'll be ready to take on Derpy and Surprise next year." Spike said.

"Thanks for the vote of confidence Spike. So, in addition to the trophy, how about I take you out on a small little date tomorrow?" Smolder asked. Spike proceeded to faint into a collection of hearts. "...I'll take that as a yes. You're still a bit of a doofus, but your still very much a knight too~" Smolder said.

"Sis, did you HAVE to ask Spike out on a date when I was still in the room?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Gah! How long were YOU there?" Smolder asked.

"Long enough. But I say go for it sis." Sweetie Belle said. "If you ask me, Spike's PERFECT for you." She added.

Smolder blushed. "One of these days, you'll understand the same for your own special some pony sis." Smolder said. "But don't worry, you'll still be my sister, adopted or not." She added.

"Pretty sure the adopted thing doesn't even matter. I say it's fate we ended up sisters." Sweetie Belle Said.

"Heh...you know what? I can agree with that. Sisters by fate." Smolder said.
> Chapter 16 Bonus - Smolder & Sweetie Belle (No featured Episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Three years after Sweetie was born...

Smolder was very upset at Sweetie Belle, as the young unicorn was always hanging out with Rarity. It was making Smolder very, very mad. And really wishing Sweetie Belle had never been born.

Today, Rarity was off doing something that is a surprise for a different point in time, leaving the dragoness alone with her adoptive family.

As Smolder contemplated things, Sweetie Belle came up to the dragoness. "Oh great. What do YOU want?" Smolder asked.

"To pway with you." Sweetie Belle said.

Smolder was confused. "You want to play with me? And why?" Smolder asked.

"Because Wawity said the last time I pwayed with her that I should consider pwaying with my other sister. Which she claw-i-field was you." Sweetie Belle said.

"I think you mean 'clarified', Sweetie Belle." Smolder said.

"That's what I just said. So, what does my dwaconic sistew want to play with me?" Sweetie Belle asked.

The moment Sweetie Belle had said and called Smolder her "Draconic Sister" Smolder was hit by overwhelming cuteness. Aw...I can't stay mad at such cuteness. Smolder thought to herself. "Okay then kid, we're going to play a game, and we're going to enjoy it." Smolder said.

"My name's Sweetie Belle, not kid." Sweetie Belle said.

"I know that squirt, I'm just trying to be a good older sister all the same." Smolder said, smiling.





Present day...

Smolder was in the Arcade with Spike. "...And afterwards, we went to an Arcade in town like this one and proceeded to beat the pants off a couple of locally known bullies figuratively speaking of course. Showed them up right then and there." Smolder said. "Ever since, me and Sweetie Belle have been pretty thick as sisters." She added.

"SO...AWESOME!" Spike said.

"So, what do you say we try out a few games too? Maybe we'll make a similar memory." Smolder said.

While the two dragons were unable to beat some locally known bullies at a game in the arcade that day, the two dragons were very much growing closer together, and Spike had a better understanding of Smolder's place in Rarity's family.
> Chapter 17 - Preventions (Several Episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Cutie Pox AU


"Let me get this straight Apple Bloom: You're wanting your cutie mark because of Diamond Tiara, right?" White Flame asked.

"Well yeah. So, she can stop bullying me." Apple Bloom said.

"Look, bullying is bad, but you shouldn't just try and get a cutie mark just to stop a bully from doing it." White Flame said. "Besides, I have much more humane methods of dealing with Bullies, remember?" He asked.

The next day at school, Carol had shown up during Recess and scared both Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon into the schoolhouse while White Flame played it off like it wasn't even planned. Though the three CMC knew better than that but chose not to bring it up. Apple Bloom couldn't shake the feeling that maybe this was better than asking Zecora to help her with a cutie mark for some reason but couldn't put her hoof on why.






Owl's Well That Ends Well AU


When Spike had accidently burnt the book he was meant to fetch, he decided right then and there to come clean about it, thanks in part due to Smolder also being there.

"I'm so sorry for the book Twilight." Spike said.

"That's okay Spike. You told me that a bunch of dust caused you to sneeze, and it caused you to burn said book." Twilight said.

"Yeah, we dragons have to be careful around dust especially around books as they trigger us to sneeze and shoot out a bit of flame. Something I learned the hard way." Smolder said as she was helping out today as well as Rarity wanted to spend today with Sweetie Belle.

"I can see how that's a known issue. Not to worry though Spike, I'm sure I'll find another copy of this book at some point in time." Twilight said and put the book away.

"Told you she'd understand." Smolder said.

"As usual, you were right Smolder." Spike said.

Later on, Twilight would end up getting a pet owl, but Spike couldn't feel like there was something that was prevented by him coming clean about accidentally burning the book but couldn't put a claw on it. Getting along with said owl; who Twilight named Owlicious; probably helped as well.






Over a Barrel AU


"Question, would you like some pie?" Smolder asked, handing the Buffalo some pie.

"...Well, we are feeling quite peckish." The leader said before the buffalo chowed down. The buffalo very much enjoyed the pies. "These pies are amazing, what was baked into them?" The buffalo leader asked.

"Apples." Smolder said simply.

And thus, Smolder became known for being the one that got the buffalo and the Appalossa ponies to reach an agreement in record time; though Applejack couldn't help but wonder what could've happened if Smolder hadn't had stepped in like she did, but the farm pony couldn't put her hoof on what it was Smolder just prevented.






Luna Eclipsed AU


"It's Nightmare Night Luna. Instead of trying to simply chat with ponies, why not get in the spirit of things and try scaring a bunch of the young colts and fillies? I know you want to not be looked at as evil anymore, but this is the one night where you can scare ponies, and no one will mind in the least." Spike said.

"...That...I suppose is a curious suggestion. I shall give it a genuine try." Luna said.

And thus, Luna proceeded to do as Spike suggested and ended up becoming much beloved by the young ponies because of it. Though Twilight couldn't help but think that Spike just avoided some kind of near misunderstanding, but the purple unicorn couldn't put her hoof on what it was. At the very least, Luna was very pleased how the night turned out to be for her at least.






Super Speedy Cider Squeezy 6000 AU


"And we are here to..." Flim and Flam were trying their sales pitch out when White Flame came on the scene.

"What's going on over here? Oh...it's you two." White Flame said. "What scheme are you up to now?" He asked.

"...Meep..." Flim said.

"Uh...nothing...we were just uh..." Flam said.

"Trying to sell a bunch of cider, knowing full well it's not up the same quality in the long run as Apple Family Cider because it's not about the quantity that makes the Apple Family Cider well known, but the quality?" White Flame asked.

"...And away we go!" The two unicorn brothers then high tailed it out of there.

"...White Flame, what was that about?" Applejack asked.

"Those two tried running a massive scheme once back in my hometown when I exposed said scheme as what it really was: A massive fraud." White Flame said.

"SERIOUSLY?! And those two were going to ruin cider forever with another frauduliant scheme?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yep." White Flame said.

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but think White Flame just prevented something crazy but couldn't put her hoof on what.
> Chapter 18 - Lucky Flame (Last Roundup Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike and Smolder were keeping an eye on things over in their areas while the main six were tracking down Applejack.

But as for the Cutie Mark Crusaders...

"Wow, this place is actually neat." Button Mash said.

"No foolin. Awesome treehouse." Rumble said.

"I-it was Apple Bloom who did most of the work admittedly. I'm just the one who suggested we make it the HQ." Scootaloo said, blushing.

"A treehouse as an HQ is still awesome." Rumble said. Scootaloo's blush deepened.

"So, why are they here with White Flame again?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Isn't it obvious?" White Flame asked. "They don't have their cutie marks yet either. I've been helping them out where I can but figured that with the things you girls get into to get your cutie marks, they wouldn't mind tagging along every now and again." He added.

"And White Flame just told us all kinds of activities you girls do." Button Mash said.

"Which are defiantly awesome and not at all what I was expected. Heck, it got ME interested." Rumble said. That confused Scootaloo.

"Rumble, thought you weren't into getting a cutie mark?" Scootlaoo asked.

"That used to be me yeah. But then White Flame opened my eyes." Rumble said. "White Flame is very interested in the smithing world, hence his cutie mark being that of a flame, but he doesn't want to limit himself to that and is finding out if he can have some on the side hobby. Which got me thinking when I saw him actually trying out Ziplining: Even if I get a cutie mark in something like Ziplining, what's to stop me from finding something else I'm interested in as like a hobby? And it could be ANYTHING." Rumble said.

"Wow White Flame, that was lucky of ya to do that for Rumble." Apple Bloom said.

"Heh...I guess I'm just lucky like that." White Flame said.

"But what about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon when they tried to hamper you? Was that really just a bunch of luck?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"What can I say? I'm just THAT lucky." White Flame said.

"Ah'm surprised you don't have a four-leaf clover as a cutie mark in that case." Apple Bloom said.

"I'm sure it's just a coincidence Apple Bloom. Besides, who are we to complain about Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon getting EXTREME compupance and humiliation for the bullying they do around school to foals like us." Scootaloo said.

"I can agree that they do do a lot of bullying. Once, Diamond Tiara stole my Joyboy before she got caught by Miss Cheerilee. In her defense, I had accidently left my locker unlocked when she stole it. Still had to do without my Joyboy for a whole day because of it. After all, your technically NOT supposed to have Video Games in class, but because it was originally in my locker and not out in class, you could say I was allowed to get it back after just one day." Button Mash said. "Bet she was planning something." He added.

"Huh, your right. That DID happen, didn't it?" Sweetie Belle asked. "Wait a second...YOU OWN A JOYBOY?!" She exclaimed.

"Yes. I also own a PES and a Super PES. Hoping for the new Pony 64 this Heart's warming." Button Mash said.

"...I want to come over to your house like, YESTERDAY." Sweetie Belle said. "I've been wanting to play some of those PES and Super PES games." She added.

"Oh boy...Sweetie Belle's a gamer girl..." White Flame said. "Looks like you're the lucky one now Button." He added.

"Huh? Wait...Sweetie Belle's a..." Button Mash suddenly fainted.

"Lol, looks like he's crashed. I better hit L, R, A, Start!" Sweetie Belle said. Button Mash then stuck his hooves up into the air as Sweetie Belle went over to him.

"...What the buck did he do that for?" Scootaloo asked.

"Pretty sure Sweetie Belle just showed Button Mash just how much of a gamer the unicorn really is. No idea what the L, R, A, Start thing is about." Rumble said.

"It's a gamer inside joke." Sweetie Belle said.

"...Sweetie Belle really is a gamer girl...oh my gosh...oh my gosh..." Button Mash said, practically panicking.

"Slow down Button." White Flame said, stopping the gamer boy. "Chill. It's way too soon for romance, though I'm sure you'd both like to take your time with this development anyways. Trust me on this: You both know it's way too soon." He said.

"Your right White Flame." After a deep breath Button Mash calmed down. "...I'm okay now. I'm okay." Button Mash said. Still, the girl I have a crush on is a gamer girl. Didn't think I'd get that lucky. The gamer colt thought to himself.

"Now, I was thinking, that before we do anything cutie mark releated, it might be a good time for Scootaloo and Rumble to have a small session." White Flame said.

"I getcha. Your thinking I've got what it takes. Heh...alright." Rumble said.

"Huh? What's White Flame Talking about?" Scootaloo asked. Rumble smiled.

Insert Flipping Screen transition here

"Stop." Rumble said as he flew down to a struggling Scootaloo. "I see what you're doing wrong already." He said.

"Huh?" Scootaloo asked. "I know I've got underdeveloped wings and all, but you're telling me I'm doing something wrong?" She asked.

"It's not the wing size that matters, Scootaloo. It's how you use them. And I know I think or two about overcoming underdeveloped wings." Rumble said.

"Yeah. Believe it or not, Rumble has underdeveloped wings too, yet you've seen how he is able to fly." White Flame said.

"Wh-what?!" Scootaloo was shocked to hear this.

"It's true. Now, listen closely..." Rumble said.





Later on, after the main six got back from hunting down Applejack, Rainbow Dash was looking for Scootaloo when suddenly something orange and purple flew right into her. It was Scootaloo.

"Scootaloo? Since when could you fly?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Rumble helped me. He helped me a lot. Still had a bit of fun crusading for Cutie Marks with my friends, but the highlight HAS to be fact that Rumble helped me to fly. He's got underdeveloped wings like I do, so he was able to help me as he was able to figure it out. So yeah, I can fly now! I can SO fly now!" Scootaloo explained.

"Well I'm proud of you squirt. And I'll totally have to give thanks to Rumble the next time I see him. Brother of Thunderlane or not, he did a good thing for you Squirt." Rainbow Dash said.

"His brother is Thunderlane? Isn't Thunderlane a member of the Wonderbolts?" Scootaloo said. Would explain how Rumble was able to overcome his problem. She thought to herself.

"Yeah. I guess Thunderlane is the bad apple of the two. Hopefully anyways. I don't want to see you get hurt the way I was Scoots." Rainbow Dash said.

"What do you mean?" Scootaloo said.

"Thunderlane once cheated on me. Gave him a stern talking to about it later, though he's never really caused problems for me since. So, let's hope Rumble is learning from his brother's mistake." Rainbow Dash said.





"Huh...that's cool little bro. Can't believe you helped that filly." Thunderlane said.

"Yeah. And Scootaloo is super awesome and stuff. I'm really hoping I don't screw things up with her, you know?" Rumble asked.

"Oh that's easy: Just treat her right and don't you dare look at any alternatives. Trust me bro, you don't want to end up screwing up the only good thing in your life." Thunderlane said. "So, I heard you mentioned Scootaloo has a new adoptive mother. Do you know who it is yet?" He asked.

"Oh. Sorry bro. But I don't want to ask Scootaloo that. I'm sure I'll meet her adoptive mother eventually." Rumble said.

"Heh...playing it cool are we? That's perfectly okay by me. You just do whatever you can to not screw this up." Thunderlane said and then left for his room.

"Don't worry bro. I'm not going to. And trust me, I know how bad you screwed up. I'm not going to make that mistake. At all." Rumble said.
> Chapter 19 - WF Mystery Crackers (No featured episode)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Applejack was wondering around the house when she discovered that the cider cellar door was open. Curious, Applejack went down it, and found quite the area separate from all the cider.

"What is this?" Applejack asked, noting all the things in the room. They seemed to be some photographs.

One Photograph was noted as "First Friends" which depicted the cult White Flame with both Button Mash and Rumble.

Another photograph had White Flame playing tag with the fillies, with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon circled face down in some mud. "Coincidence?" was labled on it.

The various things went on and on.

"Wh-what in Equestria..." Applejack heard some pony coming and hid, only to then see Scootaloo flying. Curiouser and curiouser... The farmer pony thought to herself as Scootaloo began reorganizing the small area. There was even a new photo, one labeled "Lucky Button?" which was added to a dart board with the others.

"There's got to be some kind of connection." Scootaloo said. The photo had Sweetie Belle over an unconscious Button Mash with a Selfie of Scootaloo and Rumble posted next to it noting "Lucky me?". "This whole mystery has me curious." Scootaloo said.

Applejack chose to not say anything. "First, Sweetie Belle ends up being a total Gamer Girl which makes her perfect for Button Mash, and that's not even mentioning the fact that Rumble has underdeveloped wings just like me, making him perfect for me." Scootaloo said. "And that's not even mentioning the fact that before meeting us, White Flame was perfectly fine being friends with the two of them. So why? Why introduce us properly now and bring all this information to light?" She asked. "There's got to be some kind of connection. Is White Flame really just that lucky and things played out that way? Or did he use some very slight of hand trick to make us THINK he's just lucky when he's got some kind of magic that makes him appear extremely lucky?" The orange Pegasus asked. "Either way, I'm going to get to the bottom of this mystery. Also, you can come out of hiding Applejack. I know your here." She finished.

"How'd you know I was here?" Applejack asked as she came out of hiding.

"Mom's been teaching me how to read my surroundings as I fly. And I had noticed you as you tried to hide thanks to that." Scootaloo said.

"For once...looks like RD's done something right if you were able to notice that." Applejack said.

"Exactly. And Rainbow Dash has proven to be the best mom. She could totally send me to flight camp now but chooses instead to let me study here in Ponyville while also teaching me flying basics at the same time. Plus, I got Rumble helping out too." Scootaloo said.

"That's...a lot of help." Applejack said. "What is this anyways? Why are you doing it in my cellar?" She asked.

"Because Rainbow Dash knows I'd make a mess out of my room, plus she knows that so long as I have my own area away from the cider, I'll be fine." Scootaloo said. "Actually, might need a little help. It's about White Flame. When he first showed up at school and started hanging with Apple Bloom, I had noticed he was somewhat of a lucky colt. Plus your sister is TOTALLY into him, even if she doesn't show it." She added.

"...Like you are with Rumble?" Applejack asked.

"Tch...that's a low blow and you know it. Besides, White Flame is more important because your sister is into him." Scootaloo said.

"Alright, I'll give you that." Applejack said. Having hung with Rainbow Dash, the farm pony knows how stubborn Pegasi can be, and considering the speedster Pegasus adopted Scootaloo, that stubbornness would exist with Scootaloo more so. "So, why are you gathering all this stuff?" Applejack asked.

"To see if I can spot something about White Flame. I mean, you were listening to my spill weren't you?" Scootaloo asked. Applejack nodded. "Good. Then you are mostly caught up. See, before being friends with me, Sweetie Belle, and Apple Bloom, White Flame was friends with Button Mash and Rumble. Now Button Mash already had a crush on Sweetie Belle and her gamer girl attributes? Just made the crush THAT much stronger. And that's to say nothing about my crush on Rumble now." Scootaloo said.

"I think I see where you're going with this. It's all just a coincidence." Applejack said.

"Is it really a coincidence that the two colts who me and Sweetie Belle could possibly romance with in the future are perfect for us, and it's White Flame who made us become aware of it? He introduced us to his two original friends while you were gone after all. And I bet your sister is all over him what with him helping out her new friends." Scootaloo said.

Applejack had no argument there. "Okay, that IS a bit strange." Applejack said.

"Exactly. Look, for Apple Bloom's sake, I need some help with this, and your the only pony I can trust with this. After all, I'll need some pony like you on my side. Mom's busy with both her weather duties and training to become a stunt flier. Rarity's probably just going to do nothing but hard SHIP her sister with Button Mash. So of the three we Cutie Mark Crusader fillies are related to, the best one to find the truth would be you. And I'm not asking much. I'm sure White Flame will be around the farm sooner or later." Scootaloo said.

"For my sister Scootaloo, ah'm willing to help out." Applejack said. "Where and when I can that is." She added.

"Good. Just be careful." Scootaloo said. "White Flame's got his ways. I just know he does." She added.
> Chapter 20 - Blooming Romance (Hearth's Warming's Eve Aftermath)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire group was back in Ponyville a few days after the Hearth's Warming's Eve play. Smolder was allowed to attend the play as part of the audience as well as the CMC, White Flame, Button Mash, and Rumble.

When Applejack had asked Princess Celestia as to why the three fillies and three colts were allowed to attend on top of Smolder, Princess Celestia simply said "Because the play should be for every pony to enjoy" which was enough for Applejack initially but then Apple Bloom wanted to talk with White Flame for a while. So now, Scootaloo and Applejack were back in the cellar.

"Ah hate to say it sugarcube, but you were right: Something about that colt just doesn't sit right with me. I can tell he's honest about his whole story, but I can also tell he's holding something back. Must be part of my element." Applejack said.

"I'm not exactly sure if your element has anything to do with how you can sense White Flame is holding something back Applejack." Scootaloo said. "Must be what mom refers to as 'a protective instinct' when it comes to Apple Bloom. Even if you are not Apple Bloom's mom, from what mom told me, you've had to raise Apple Bloom yourself more or less. Because of what happened to your parents." She added.

"...Didn't Rainbow Dash tell you that the subject of my parents was sensitive to me?" Applejack asked. "But I can't lie to you, I guess I do want to look after Apple Bloom as I don't want something bad to ever happen to her." She added.

"EXACTLY. And as her friend, I also want to make sure she isn't being played by White Flame and this whole thing hasn't been some long con of some sort." Scootaloo said. "...Wh-whoa..." She shivered. "...I don't know why, but I just felt a chill run down my spine. Talk about freaky..."

Applejack just stared at Scootaloo. Wonder what that was about? White Flame isn't even here. Probably best to ignore it. The farmer thought to herself. "So, putting that aside, anything to add to the board of coincidences?" Applejack asked out load.

"Maybe...I'm not entirely sure yet. Would need to know why Button Mash's mom, Rumble's brother, and White Flame's uncle allowed the three to go to canterlot with us. The three of those I just mentioned were only there to take the colts to the train and pick them up after and when Apple Bloom wanted to be with White Flame, White Flame's uncle didn't hesitate to give the okay." Scootaloo said. "Best keep that information on the back burner for now." She added.

"...You sure that's a good idea? Could be important for figuring out the truth behind White Flame." Applejack brought up.

"I know it could be important." Scootaloo answered. "The problem, is that I don't see where this information could tie into things yet. But I guess that's true of everything." She added before posting a picture of White Flame's uncle on the corkboard though it had no caption on it unlike the rest of the pictures. "I guess for now, I'll pin it to the board. White Flame is super careful not to let any information that would explain everything away slip. But if there's one thing my mother did pick up from you, Applejack..." Scootaloo turned to Applejack. "...It's that secrets can't stay secret forever." The pegasus filly said.

"Heh...I honestly can't believe she remembered I told her that." Applejack said.

"That's actually another reason as to why I know I can trust you to help me out on this. Mom would trust you to want to look after your sister." Scootaloo said.

"...Funny thing is that's not wrong to think..." Applejack said.





Meanwhile, Apple Bloom and White Flame were enjoying some time together at Sugar Cube Corner, when who else would show up but Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon.

"Well well well, looks like the Blank Flank is dating someone clearly above her social status. Listen White Flame, your too good for her." Diamodn Tiara said.

Apple Bloom was looking ready to wilt. "Says the spoiled rich kid." White Flame countered.

"...I'm just going to ignore that comment this time. A colt like you shouldn't be wasting time on a Blank Flank like her." Diamond Tiara said.

"How about you start running?" White Flame asked.

"And pray tell, why would I do that? You really can't expect your pet snake to scare me off this time. I'm expecting it." Diamond Tiara said.

"But were you expecting this?" White Flame asked. "HEY PINKIE PIE, YOU'VE GOT TWO FILLIES INSIDE THE BAKERY WHO ARE HARRASING CUSTOMERS AND TRYING TO GIVE THEM FROWNS." He yelled out.

Diamond Tiara's eyes became pinpricks as she went wide eyed before Pinkie Pie suddenly showed up. "HOW DARE YOU COME INTO SUGARCUBE CORNER AND TRY TO GIVE FROWNS TO PONIES!" The pink mare said before suddenly throwing the two rich fillies right out of Sugarcube corner. "NOW BEAT IT, AND ONLY COME BACK WHEN YOU DECIDE TO BE NICE!" Pinkie Pie shouted at them.

"Wow White Flame. That was pretty cool." Apple Bloom said. "Thank you so much for sticking up to me like that. It means a lot." She added.

"I was only doing what any pony should do." White Flame said.

"Don't you mean will do?" Apple Bloom asked.

White Flame sweat dropped. "Yeah...yeah sorry. I guess I was thinking back to my hometown. Ponies there wouldn't go out of their way like I did." White Flame said.

"Well, you're not in your hometown anymore, White Flame; you're in Ponyville. It's natural for us to want to help one another." Pinkie Pie said before going back behind the counter.

"...Pinkie Pie took what ah was going to say out ma mouth, but ah will add that you are kind of silly sometimes, White Flame." Apple Bloom said.

White Flame blushed. "Heh...thanks for that compliment I guess?" He asked. She reminds me a little of...no...no bad White Flame. You promised yourself you wouldn't ever think of that part of your life ever again. Plus, you know she never did any flirting with you. And Apple Bloom won't do that right now. Your both still kids. White Flame thought to himself.

"By the way, ah have to say, your also very very brave." Apple Bloom said. "Ya should be proud of that." She added.

Oh...oh my...she is flittering with me...I think...I've never been flittered with before... White Flame thought to himself while his blush only got deeper.
> Chapter 21 - Progress Between Pairs (No featured episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike and Smolder were on a hill having a picnic together. "This is quite nice. You sure you don't want me to take you someplace like a resturant?" Spike asked.

"I'm quite sure of that Spike. But...it is very nice you wish to offer that." Smolder admitted. "Honestly...this whole dating thing is new to me." She added.

"Never been on a date before now, huh?" Spike asked.

"Not really. Sure I've been offered to go on dates with other dragons but, before now I've always turned them down. But that's because they just weren't the kind of dragon I was looking for. I was looking for a dragon that was more chivalrous almost knight like in nature. No dragon ever exhibitted that before you, Spike." Smolder said.

"Well, you've met Shining Armor. He had a huge impact on my life. I kind of look up to him as an example." Spike said.

"Well, he's definitely a good influence on you; that much I won't deny." Smolder said. "Of course, your ability to suddenly go Spikezilla when you want to protect something also comes in handy." She added.

"To be honest, I'm not even sure where that comes from." Spike said. "It might be something to do with how much magic Twilight pumped into me when she hatched me for her exam to enter Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." He added.

Smolder suddenly did a spit take; making sure to aim away from spike. "THE PRINCESS DID WHAT?!" The orange dragoness exclaimed.

"At once point Twilight asked the princess about it. From what I was told, the egg was never supposed to be hatched. It was a test to see how a unicorn would handle failure." Spike said. "...But of course, you know what happened instead." He added.

"Rainbow Dash managed to perform the Sonic Rainboom and it caused Twilight's magic to spark out of control until Princess Celestia herself got things under control." Smolder said. "In the process, you were not just hatched, but turned into a giant dragon." She added.

"Yeah. Princess Celestia returned me to my proper baby dragon size from there, though it quickly became obvious that Twilight had a lot more magic in her then any other unicorn ever has had before or will ever again." Spike said. "That's what Princess Celestia told me. Princess Celestia helped Twilight control her massive amounts of magic so now there's no danger of Twilight causing mass destruction with it." Spike said.

"Your family is full of wonder." Smolder said.

"I could say the same about yours. After all, you have seamstress as one sister and a talent finding one as another." Spike said.





Speaking of Sweetie Belle, she was over at Button Mash's house (Rarity had given Sweetie Belle permission to be there, and Button Mash's mom also allowed the sleepover) and she was playing games with Button Mash. Funnily enough, Button Mash was only in a slight edge over Sweetie Belle.

"Dang...your good Sweetie Belle." Button Mash said.

"I've always wanted to play the Pony systems. My mother got me the other systems though." Sweetie Belle said.

"You're referring to the Pegasus Genesis and Pegasus Master System systems, right?" Button Mash said. "The Pegasus systems have a rivalry with the Pony Systems." He added.

"Oh, I know, I know. But if you ask me, the games for the Pony Systems are WAY cooler." Sweetie Belle said. "Not to mention I can actually play them without dying a billion times, and whenever I do lose a life, it's actually of my own fault not the game's fault1." She added.

"I've heard the games for the Pegasus systems were harder than the Pony ones." Button Mash said.

"Oh yeah, they are much harder than these are that's for sure. A lot of the times when I got hit in the Pegasus System games, it was from something I could not see coming until it was literally right on top of me." Sweetie Belle said.

"Well, if you ever want to come over and play more, I'd be super willing to do so." Button Mash said.

"Aw...that's super nice of you Button." Sweetie Belle said before kissing him on the cheek. Button Mash proceeded to essentially blue screen when he fainted, a dopy smile on his face.





Meanwhile, elsewhere Rumble was relaxing on a cloud with Scootaloo. "I really enjoy being able to fly up to one of these clouds without needing my mom to fly me up here with her." Scootaloo said.

"Well, I know that being able to fly with you Scootaloo was just as awesome as I believed it to be." Rumble said. "And...if you see your mom, could you tell her that I apologize on behalf of my brother." He added.

"Why? You don't need to apologize for Thunderlane's cheating." Scootaloo said.

"Maybe I don't, but...it just doesn't feel right if Rainbow Dash doesn't know that I'm nothing like my brother; that I'm not going to use you like he did her." Rumble said. "As far as I'm concerned, until the day we both decide that we aren't going to work out at all, you're the only one I'm keeping in my sights, Scootaloo." He said.

Scootaloo blushed. "That's...wow..." The orange pegasus started. "I really don't know what I could say to that without coming off as dismissive or insulting..." Scootaloo said.

"Then how about instead of saying anything, you let your actions do the talking for you? That's the way I always do things when I can't find the words without sounding like a total jerk." Rumble said.

Scootaloo smiled. "You know what Rumble? I think I will." Scootaloo said before giving Rumble a kiss on the cheek.

"...Oh...my...gosh..." Rumble said. "OH. MY. GOSH! SCOOTALOO JUST KISSED ME! YES! ALL MY YES!" He exclaimed.

"Wow, aren't you excited?" Scootaloo said cheekily.

"Heh...sorry. I couldn't contain myself." Rumble said.

"So I noticed." Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes but kept smiling.

"Um...I worry that we're moving a little fast though. We are just kids after all." Rumble added.

"True, but we can worry about things later." Scootaloo said.

"Heh...I suppose your right." Rumble said.
> Chapter 22 - Surprises in Ponyville (Post Winter Wrap Up)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"You know Blueblood, you could've come down and helped with Winter Wrap Up if you wanted to." Derpy said.

"As much as I'm sure you would've appreciated the help, I'm not sure if I'd be welcomed here." Blueblood said. "...Let's just say I'm not proud of what I've done in the past, and there are certain ponies who are holding that against me." He said.

"Well, I'm glad you're here now. Dinky's been wondering where you went off to." Derpy said. "So, maybe this time you'll stay for a lot longer in my life." She added.

"Trust me, I'm trying to figure out a way this can work. Sometimes, my relationship to Princess Celestia as her nephew is both a blessing and a curse." Blueblood said.

"Then buck the curse part." Derpy said. "If you truely loved me, you wouldn't care what any pony else thought." She added.

"...Heh...you know, your right. I shouldn't care what any pony else thinks." Blueblood said. "I would like some time to prepare things first." He added.

"Oh? Exactly what do you need to prepare?" Derpy asked.

"It's a secret to every pony." Blueblood said1.





"Can't believe it's been around five months since Twilight and I came here." Spike said.

"Well, I can't believe it's been five months since we started hanging out." Smolder said. "And yet, look at you." She added. Since coming here, Spike had grown to be slightly taller than Smolder is, and has even gained a bit of muscle.

"Well I wouldn't have thought to have hit the gym unless you were insistant about it." Spike said. "Though I'm not sure why I would need it." He added.

"You needed someway of defending yourself. I don't want you going all Spikezilla protecting some pony all the time." Smolder said. Let alone me... She thought to herself.

"Yeah. I wish we could've hung out sooner than this admittedly, but..." Spike trailed off.

"It was your own fault for falling asleep on that ice chunk." Smolder said. "You have no one to blame for yourself when you've gotten so big, it'd take another dragon to lift you. And in case you forgot, I don't have wings." She added.

"You mentioned something about a molt right?" Spike asked.

"Yeah. It's important that during that time, we stay indoors as much as possible. The smell attracts some pretty vicious animals that would mistake us for food and would be easily able to eat us." Smolder said.

"That's no good. And you mentioned that we also turn to stone for a short period of time too." Spike added.

"Yep. There is also this other thing about dragons leaving their families after a molt, but I don't think we'd want to leave Ponyville. Nor our sisters." Smolder said.

"Ain't that the truth." Spike said, hugging Smolder. "And you know, I'm hoping we go through our molts at different times. That way, I can protect you during yours." Spike added.

Smolder suddenly blushed. "That's...admittedly very thoughtful of you Spike." She said. "I guess it's nice to know you care so much." The dragoness added.

"I would do anything to protect you or any pony else. But you especially Smolder." Spike said. "I wouldn't change you being the first dragon I've met for the world." He added.

That made Smolder's blush deepen. "You know it's funny...I've met other dragons, and none of them are anything like you. Your something special. All the other dragons I've met are grade A jerks and that's a fact I'll argue for until the end of time." She explained. "And yet, I wouldn't change you being the dragon I got to meet during the Sun Celebration for anything either." The dragoness added.

"Do you think it was some twisted form of destiny that brought us together like that? Some kind of invisable hand of fate?" Spike asked.

"Bah. I don't care if it's fate, luck, destiny...whatever. There's only one thing I do know: You are some kind of white knight for sure, and I am as I said, some form of a princess. You've seen my dresses." Smolder said.

"Dresses that you rock like nothing else." Spike said. "I wouldn't mind asking Rarity for some knight costumes to match, if your really seeing me as your knight." He added.

That made Smolder blush all over again, and even deeper then before. "Why are you so good at this? And when did you get so good at being such a smooth talker?" The dragoness asked.

"When you hang around Twilight and Flash Sentry as much as I do, you pick up on a few things." Spike said. "I wouldn't be surprised if those two started getting serious." He added.

"I wouldn't be surprised either honestly." Smolder said. "I also know one other thing for certain." She added.

"Oh? What's that?" Spike asked.

Smolder turned towards him. "This...has been a long time coming..." She added as the sun began to set. The dragoness soon closed the gap between the two of them and kissed Spike right on the lips. The two dragons then melted right into the kiss for a while.





Meanwhile, half-way across Ponyville, Pinkie Pie's eyes started to itch while she was with the rest of the main six as well as Flash Sentry. "My eyes are itchy...like, REALLY itchy." Pinkie Pie said.

"Your eyes are itchy? What on earth could THAT mean?" Twilight asked.

"I couldn't tell you." Pinkie Pie said.

"Huh? Why not?" Twilight asked.

"My eyes have never been THIS itchy before. All I do know is, I need to throw a party for Spike and Smolder. LIKE, TOMORROW!" Pinkie said before rushing off to set up said party.

"...Wonder why Spike and Smolder need a party?" Applejack asked.

"...I think I have a good idea of what. Call it a sister's intuition darling." Rarity said.

Flash Sentry's eyes went wide. "...You don't think...?" Flash Sentry asked Twilight.

"...I wouldn't put it past them..." Twilight said.

"Am I missing something?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I think Smolder just did something Spike's been waiting for ever since he first laid eyes on Smolder." Twilight said.

"...Wait...you don't mean..." Rainbow Dash trailed off.

Instead of saying anything, Fluttershy just squeeled.
> Chapter 23 - Hearts & Hooves Day (Hearts & Hooves Day AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was shortly after the Cutie Mark Crusaders of Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo gave Cheerilee a giant hearts & hooves day card for her hoping that she had some special somepony in her life, only to find out their teacher didn't, they left the school only to bump right into White Flame, Button Mash, and Rumble.

"Oh hey. That was pretty nice of you girls to make something for Miss Cheerilee like that." Button Mash said.

"Yeah. But it's kind of sad that she doesn't have a special somepony." Sweetie Belle said.

"Well obviously, she hasn't yet met the right pony for herself. But before you two try and play matchmaker on Hearts & Hooves day, know this: My parents told me that finding that special somepony doesn't happen in a day's time, it can take several months for a pony to realize that whoever they hang out with is their special somepony." White Flame said.

"Funny, bro said the same thing." Rumble said.

"Huh...you know, my mom said that's what happened with dad too." Button Mash said.

"Speaking of your dad, I don't think we've ever seen him before." Sweetie Belle noted.

"My dad's a bit...special. He'll hopefully come around sooner rather than later. Then again, he always gets distracted by pottery." Button Mash said. "Don't ask." He added quickly.

"I wasn't going to." Scootaloo said.

"It's still sad that Miss Cheerilee doesn't have a special somepony in her life." Apple Bloom said.

"Don't. Even. Think of it. Even if you wanted to hook her up with some stallion today, there wouldn't be time for her to give them a proper Hearts & Hooves Day gift. And the day is meant to be spent with the pony you find yourself interested in the most." White Flame said.

"And how do you know that?" Scootaloo asked.

"It's called basic knowledge learnt from actually reading about the holiday with in-depth research." White Flame said. "Twilight even has a couple of books on the holiday. That's how I learnt about it, and gathered my own thoughts about what the holiday should be about." He explained.

"...Of course, Twilight would have a book or two about specific holidays." Scootaloo admitted. That's not super specific. Still, I'm onto you, White Flame. She thought to herself.

"Speaking of Twilight, we just saw her hanging out at Sugarcube corner with that orange pegasus guard. Flash Sentry I believe is his name." Button Mash said.

"WAIT WHAT?!" Scootaloo said, her jaw dropping in response.

"I don't even know the full details, but it's clear they see something in each other, otherwise why spend today of all days together like that?" Rumble asked.

"But it's Twilight Sparkle. You know, the pony whose most known for reading books." Scootaloo said.

"Hey, if you don't believe us, you can go check for yourselves." White Flame said.

"...Funny thing is, I do believe you..." Scootaloo said. Something's fishy here... She thought to herself.

"Well, if this day is about spending time with the pony you care the most about; then White Flame, guess you can hang out with me then." Apple Bloom said.

"Wait what?" White Flame asked.

"C'mon, ah wanna show you something that we can do in the town together." Apple Bloom said.

"Err...sure I suppose we could do--YIKES!" White Flame began to get dragged by Apple Bloom. "OKAY OKAY, I GET THE MESSAGE!" He yelled out.

Scootaloo was stunned by this. Wh-what just happened? It looked to me that White Flame is not used to a filly being so forward with him like Apple Bloom is being.

"In that case...Button Mash, want to hit the arcade?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Uh...sure." Button Mash said, blushing before leaving with Sweetie Belle.

"...Guess it's just the two of us now." Rumble asked.

"Err...yeah..." Scootaloo said, a bit of a blush on her face. What the buck just happened? She thought to herself.

"Want to go flying together? It'll help you stretch your wings a bit more." Rumble said.

"You don't need to tell me twice." Scootaloo said. I can dwell on this whole situation later. Spending time with Rumble is more important right now. She thought to herself. ...Whoa. Where did that come from? The orange pegasus pondered but didn't get to for long as she started to fly off with Rumble.





Each of the CMC ended up having quite the day with each other.

Scootaloo and Rumble ended up spending the entire day flying with each other before Rumble offered to preen Scootaloo's feathers for her. A deeply blushing Scootaloo agreed to this.

Meanwhile, Button Mash and Sweetie Belle pretty much OWNED the arcade as they were pretty evenly matched no matter which game they were playing. They were so good that the arcade owner actually had to ask them to leave an entire three hours ahead of closing time.

And as for Apple Bloom and White Flame? The two ended up actually at the gym.

"Why did we go to a gym?" White Flame asked, confused.

"Because ah wanna get stronger, and ah'm sure you wanna do so as well." Apple Bloom asked.

"I guess that makes sense..." White Flame said. The two would then go on to spend the entire day at the gym working out. Eventually, the two stopped and headed out. "That was actually not a bad time." White Flame admitted once the pair reached the middle of Ponyville. "I wouldn't mind hanging out like that again sometime. Just...don't go dragging me next time." The colt added.

"No promises." Apple Bloom said. "Ah gotta get going if ah'm to make it home before sunset. See ya White Flame." She added before hugging White Flame. The colt was caught completely off guard before Apple Bloom left.

"She...she hugged me...she actually hugged me..." White Flame said. "I...I gotta get home..." He said and ran off.

He didn't know that Scootaloo and Rumble had seen that little exchange. "Huh...I've never seen White Flame like that before. Apple Bloom must have really gotten to him." Rumble said.

Scootaloo had unknowingly taken a picture of the moment when Apple Bloom and White Flame had hugged, labeled the picture "New at romance", before stashing it away for later. "...Yeah...I guess you could say that." Scootaloo admitted.





Meanwhile, White Flame was alone in his room holding a picture of Apple Bloom.

"...Tell me something Apple Bloom: If you knew who I was and what I had created; would you still want to be my special somepony, or would this relationship end up just like the one I had with her?" White Flame asked no pony in particular.
> Chapter 24 - Crushes and Dragons (Post Sweet and Elite + Dragon Quest AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rarity finally returned home from Canterlot.

"So, Twilight tells me you were really into Fancy Pants." Smolder said to her older sister.

"So? What if I am? You and Spike have been getting quite close lately." Rarity said.

"I think my older sister has a C-R-U-S-H~" Smolder teased.

"Wh-SMOLDER!" Rarity said.

"Oh come on, it's not like you didn't tease me about my crush with Spike before I finally confessed." Smolder countered.

"SMOLDER!" Rarity yelled with a blush clearly on her face.

"Search your feelings you know it to be true~" Smolder teased some more.

"I'M WARNING YOU SMOLDER!" Rarity pratically snapped, her blush deeper as a result.

"Rarity and Fancy sitting in a--" Smolder started

Meanwhile, outside Twilight and Flash Sentry were enjoying a small picknic at the fountain when Smolder came flying into it, getting the pair wet.

"...What just happened?" Twilight asked.

Smolder surfaced out of the fountain. "...Rarity couldn't handle a little payback from all the teasing she gave me towards Spike." The dragoness said. That cause the pony couple to start laughing at this, getting the orange dragoness to join in shortly after. "Okay, yeah, that is pretty hilarious. Can I stay with you tonight, Twilight? I don't think Rarity's going to let me back in the house today." Smolder asked.

"Sure." Twilight said.





A few days later during which Smolder ended up spending the time at Twilight's place much to Spike's enjoyment due to Rarity still being upset over Smolder's teasing, there was a dragon migration happening.

"Wow, I never thought I'd see a dragon migration." Spike said. "You think that Garble fellow Discord mentioned is in there?" He asked.

Speaking of the avatar of chaos, he suddenly poofed into existence. "Did someone mention my name?" Discord asked.

Twilight face hoofed. "...Hello Discord. If you're going to try anything, you might want to think again." The purple unicorn said.

"Oh really now? And give me one good reason why I should." Discord said. Out of nowhere, Spike turned giant sized, and despite his best efforts, Discord's magic had no effect on Spike right now. "...Your reason has been noted." Discord said simply, fearful for his life before Spike shrunk back down. "So peculiar how you can do that on command essentially." Discord added.

"Comes with my desire to protect others. And I'm willing to beat the tar out of you all the same if you don't confirm if that Garble fellow you mentioned is part of that dragon migration or not. For Smolder's sake, you better answer, or I'll make sure you regret it." Spike said.

"...You've made your case so I oblige. I can indeed confirm that Garble is part of the migration; not that I wouldn't have told you without the threat. Watching the chaos that'll occur when Smolder meets her biological brother will be worth the confirmation alone." Discord said.

"And let me guess, you want me to watch with you." Twilight said.

"And what's wrong with that? At least I'm not going to do anything to harm you." Discord said.

"If I find out that you did something while my back was turned, you're going to get it Discord." Spike said and left with Smolder.

"...Suddenly I am scared of a dragon." Discord said.

"With Spike, you should be." Twilight said simply.





Soon Spike and Smolder caught up with a red dragon who was with two other dragons.

"Hmm?" The dragon noticed Smolder. "It...can't be." He said.

"Hey you, do one of you brutes know where we can find some dragon named Garble?" Smolder asked. Smolder had debriefed Spike on dragon behavior on the way here.

"That would be me actually." The red dragon said. "Didn't think I'd ever see you though. Not after my parents said they lost who was going to be my baby sister over some mountain top." Garble added.

"So it's true. You are my biological brother. Tch. And I bet your just as much of a brute almost every other male dragon I've met." Smolder said.

"What do you mean almost?" Garble asked.

"She means me. My name's Spike. No I'm not the one that adopted her in case you were wondering. But that's not really important. What's important is that we came here to find you because someone we met mentioned you." Spike said.

"I see. Well your welcome to join me and my buddies, we're just about to go to a pheonix nest." Garble said.

"...And what, pray tell, are you going to do there?" Spike asked, sensing something wrong and Smolder could see it.

"Well, I've heard Pheonix Eggs are delicious." Garble said.

"Yeah, that's what I thought. You're going to go fly away and leave those eggs alone now." Spike said.

"Why should we?" One of Garble's friends asked.

"Because if you don't, I'll mess you three up something fierce." Spike said.

"Do you really think we're scared of you? Your barely half our height." The other friend of Garble's said.

"You should be scared of my boyfriend here." Smolder said.

"Boyfriend?! I think I'm the one whose going to mess him up." Garble said. "Give me one good reason why I should be scared of him." He added.

Suddenly Spike grew into his Monterious form again, which Smolder then smugly leaned against. "...This a good enough reason for you?" Smolder asked, smirking.

"...On second thought, I stand corrected..." Garble said. "RUN! IT'S SPIKEZILLA!" Garble shouted.

"WAIT SPIKE WHAT NOW?!" Garble's first friend said.

"I THINK HE SAID SPIKEZILLA, AND I THINK HE'S RIGHT THAT WE SHOULD RUN!" Garble's other friend said.

"...I hate it when your right." The first friend said before the three dragon males fled the area.





Back in Ponyville, there was only one thing Twilight said about what Garble called Spike's monsterous form since thanks to Discord, she was able to see what had just transpired.

"Spikezilla? Seriously? SERIOUSLY?!" Twilight was having a freakout session suddenly.

"...Oooooo, I got to remember that one~" Discord said before writing "Spikezilla" on a piece of paper.
> Chapter 25 - Deepening (Post-May the Best Pet Win and The Mysterious Mare Do Well AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the day after Rainbow Dash had a pony pet play date with her friends with her new pet Tank. And Soarin was heading over to visit Rainbow Dash. The Stallion had knocked on the door, and Rainbow Dash answered it.

"Hey Rainbow Dash." Soarin said to her.

"S-soarin? I wasn't really expecting you." Rainbow Dash said.

"I wanted to surprise you as I wanted to check to see how much you've given thought to what we talked about." Soarin said.

"About the whole 'Wonderbolts rely on publicity rather than skill' thing? How about you come inside and tell me more as honestly, I'm torn. I honestly am." Rainbow Dash said.

Soarin went inside and Rainbow Dash gave some food to Tank. "A tortoise? Huh. I pegged you for more of a bat type." He said.

"Actually, for a bit, I was leaning for a hawk. This little guy stuck it out the most. It's kind of why I gave him his name. I call him Tank." Rainbow said.

"What sort of contraption is that attached to him?" Soarin asked.

"It's something Twilight rigged up. Runs on a crystal given a little unicorn magic so that it can run indefinitely." Rainbow Dash said.

"Speaking of her, I noticed her with some pegasus nearby." Soarin said.

"Oh, that would be Flash Sentry. He's actually getting really close with Twilight. I'd almost call them a couple at this point." Rainbow Dash said. "But enough about me and my friends, we're here to talk about the whole publicity thing." She added.

"Right. Again, I'll be honest, some of the Wonderbolts in the group right now got in just because they either had the right connections, or they just drew the right amount of positive press. There are reserves that I'm certain would be MUCH better fliers then some of us still on the squad, but it's always the more popular ones that get the spots. That's why I'm honestly thinking about taking Princess Luna's offer. I'm so sick and tired of watching every fantastic flier who makes it into the reserves be forced to wait. And I checked something just to make sure, and there was one reservist who was stuck on the reserves until they got so old, they were forcibly kicked out of the Wonderbolt altogether." Soarin said. "...I don't want that to happen to you, Rainbow Dash. I want you to be able to fulfill your dream to its fullest. It's why I really want to push you to accepting Princess Luna's proposal. Hell, I'll even do the same if you do." He added.

"...Wow. No one's really cared that much for me before. You obviously want what's best for me, and well, I still have time to think about it. But you've given me some very sound advice Soarin, and shown you really do care for me." Rainbow Dash said. "...And for that, I think I'll go flying with you today. Just try and keep up~" She added before flying off.

"Heh. She's one unique Mare that's for sure." Soarin said.





A couple of days later, there was a Rainbow Dash fan-club going on in one of the houses. Suddenly, into the club came Scootaloo still flying. "What's with all this?" Scootaloo said.

"Oh hey everyone, it's Rainbow Dash's daughter, Scootaloo!" One of the colts said.

"ADOPTED daughter." Scootaloo corrected.

"Be honest with yourself, considering your biological parents never came when your aunts died, whose the better mother: Your biological mother, or your adoptive mother Rainbow Dash?" One of the fillies asked.

Scootaloo was about to say something but paused. You know, now that it's been brought up, Rainbow Dash HAS been a much better mother then the one I'm biologically related to has been. She's never once given up on me, and after I've started flying, she takes time out of her training to help me get to her level. Some would just call that being a good role model, but the way all these ponies see it, that's Rainbow Dash putting forth the effort of being a proper mother to me. And now that I look around, there are at least seventy-five different colts and fillies here. I didn't even know there were THAT many in Ponyville. The orange pegasus thought to herself.

"Alright, break it up." White Flame's voice suddenly said. Rumble was with him.

"Yeah, the lot of you are putting way too much pressure on poor Scootaloo." Rumble said.

"White Flame? Rumble? Since when were you two here?" Scootaloo said.

"Does it really matter right now? Rainbow Dash got a little worried since your a little late for your arial manovers lesson today." White Flame said.

"And I'm honestly thinking about joining you." Rumble said.

"That actually sounds like fun." Scootaloo said and the three exited the building.





A bit later after Scootaloo and Rumble had some lessons with Rainbow Dash; the cyan pegasus even praising Rumble for wanting to learn more about flying and wanting to do it with Scootaloo; Scootaloo posted a picture of White Flame and Rumble in the doorway of the club they got her out of as Applejack soon approuched the orange pegasus.

"So, what happened here?" Applejack asked.

"Rumble said White Flame was the one who led him to where the club was, and they basically got me away from it. I honestly never thought there were so colts and fillies in ponyville, let alone that many that were fans of my mom." Scootaloo said.

"...Err, are you referring to Rainbow Dash or--" Applejack started.

"Who else would I be referring to? Seems the only relation I have to Mane Allgood is by blood. Neither she nor Snap Shutter even bothered to show up after my aunts died. The only pony whose even been a proper mother to me is Rainbow Dash. So as far as I'm concerned, she's my one true mother. Mane Allgood and Snap Shutter can do whatever they feel like as far as I'm concerned." Scootaloo said. "Even if they show up one day, I don't want anything to do with them. Even if Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood try to take mom to court, because of how much she's taken care of me like I was her own daughter, there's not a judge in the world that WOULDN'T give Rainbow Dash full custody of me. In fact, I'm going to have a talk with Rainbow about making everything official tonight." She explained.

"Wow. That's just wow. Ah got nothin' to say to that." Applejack said. "Ah know for a fact how important family is." She added.

"Yeah. And Rainbow Dash is my family. She's the only family I got right now. And if she ends up together with Soarin? I wouldn't mind eventually calling him dad." Scootaloo said.

"...Yer something else Scootaloo. Ah was a little worried for a bit that Rainbow Dash would be too ego driven for you, but it seems that was misplaced." Applejack said.

"Rainbow Dash may have some ego to her, but she's doing her best to be a mother. And you know what? She is a mother. She's my mother. And nothing is going to change that." Scootaloo said.

...Whoa. Never thought Ah'd live to see the day I'd be praising Rainbow Dash for a job well done. Guess ah owe Pinkie ten bits when ah see her next. Applejack thought to herself.
> Chapter 26 - Something more (Post Party of One and Secret of My Excess AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was the day following Pinkie Pie's birthday surprise, Smolder and Spike were at Twilight's place.

"So...Pinkie Pie really thought we were going to say goodbye to her?" Smolder asked.

"Please don't go chew her out." Spike said.

"I won't but...seriously? SERIOUSLY? Who doesn't know their own birthday?" Smolder asked.

"I do apparently." Pinkie Pie said, after appearing out of the nearby dresser.

"What the--at this point, it's not even worth questioning." Smolder said.

"Seriously, the girls caught me completly by surprise. Makes me wonder what to expect for next year." Pinkie Pie said before bouncing off.

"...Something tells me, she's going to have one heck of a visitor between now and then that's REALLY going to be perfect for such a thing. Call it a dragoness's instinct." Smolder said.

"Isn't that also because at this point, she's the only one we know about who doesn't have a special some pony in their life?" Spike said.

"You mean besides Applejack?" Smolder asked.

"...I don't know if Applejack can even have a special some pony. She seems more asexual to me." Spike said.

"...Good enough point." Smolder said.





Some days later, it was time for Spike's birthday, and thankfully, thanks to Smolder's help from before, his greed instincts didn't kick in.

"Guess we'll have to thank you for preventing Spike from going Spikezilla on Ponyville." Pinkie Pie said to Smolder.

"Spikezilla? Really? REALLY?!" Twilight complained.

"Twilight, you've already used that joke." Pinkie Pie said.

"...How do you know about that?" Twilight asked.

"Just a hunch~" Pinkie Pie said.

"I don't think I'll ever understand Pinkie Pie." Twilight said.

"Join the club." Smolder said.

"Too true." Rainbow Dash said.

"Even ah can't understand Pinkie Pie, and that's saying a LOT." Applejack said.

"Seems to be a running theme around here huh?" Spike asked.

"Yeah, one could most certainly say that." Smolder said. "Though I have to wonder, didn't you have some sort of heart shaped ruby looking gem once?" She asked.

"Are you talking about Spike's Fire Ruby? I--" Twilight was interrupted.

"FIRE RUBY?!" Smolder suddenly shouted.

"...And it seems my draconic sister has something on her mind." Rarity said.

"SPIKE, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW RARE A FIRE RUBY IS?!" Smolder exclaimed.

"Err, not really, but judging from how much your yelling, I'd say it's extremely rare." Spike said.

"Extremely rare doesn't even begin to describe it. How in Equestria did YOU manage to find a Fire Ruby?!" Smolder exclaimed.

"I just happened to stumble across it is all." Spike said.

"It's true. Me and Spike were just on the outskirts of Ponyville when we found it." Twilight said.

Smolder's eyes twitched. "That's just lucky as all get out." The dragoness said.

"Though as I was saying, I actually don't know where Spike hid the thing. I swear he had it yesterday and now it's just mysteriously vanished altogether." Twilight said.

"Huh." Smolder said. "Spike, a word of advice: You shouldn't eat that thing. It's way to valuable and rare to be eating. Trust me on that one." She added.

"I had a feeling considering it was heart shaped and everything. Besides, I have a better use for it then eating it." Spike said.

"Oh? And what would that be?" Smolder asked.

"That would a surprise." Spike noted.

"Ooooooo, I know what it is, but I'm not telling~" Pinkie Pie said.

"Now I REALLY want to know." Smolder said.

"As much as I like you Smolder, trust me, this will be one surprise worth waiting for." Spike said.

That was just making Smolder more determined. "I'm going to find out one way or another. Just you watch." Smolder said.

"I look forward to seeing you try." Spike said.

"Oh it is on!" Smolder said.

"...Should one of us step in?" Twilight asked.

"Nah. Spike's just being a giant tease right now. And I think I also have a fairly good idea of what the purple dragon is planning." Rarity said.

"...You don't say? Now I think I'm starting to pick up on it too. If it is what I think it is." Twilight said.

"Wait, is every pony already figuring it out ahead of me?" Smolder asked.

"Better step up your game Smolder if you want to find out before EVERY pony in town picks up on it~" Spike teased.

"OH IT IS MOST CERTAINLY ON NOW!" Smolder said before leaving.

"...I hope I didn't just offend her too much. I was trying to be cool." Spike said.

"Trust me Spike, Smolder thinks your much cool after that." Rarity said.

"You would know, wouldn't you?" Spike asked. "Speaking of teasing, seems you don't take kindly to some good old fashioned payback." He added.

"Wait, you too Spike?" Rarity asked.

"Well why not?" Spike asked.

"PLEASE DON'T!" Rarity said.

"Probably not a good idea right now." Twilight admitted.

"...Yeah your right. Besides, I've got some place to be before I go grab my cake." Spike said before leaving.

"Um...where is he going?" Applejack asked.

"Heh...I think I know. The hints are all there, and Smolder is just being that dense." Rainbow Dash said.

"Even Rainbow Dash has figured it out it seems." Twilight said.

Applejack's eye twitched. "RAINBOW HAS FIGURED IT OUT?! BUT SHE'S NOT THE BRIGHTEST BULB IN THE SHED! Err, no offense Rainbow Dash." The farm mare said.

"None taken, but seriously AJ, how can you NOT figure it out." Rainbow Dash said.

"Can ah get a hint?" Applejack asked.

"You've got enough hints already. Or has no pony ever shown you a..." Rainbow Dash whispered the next word into Applejack's ear.

"...WAIT THAT'S WHAT HE'S DOING?! OH CELESTIA, HOW DID AH MISS THAT?!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Heh, took you long enough." Rainbow Dash said.

"That's going to be one heck of a doozy when Smolder figures it out." Pinkie Pie said.

"Something tells me Smolder is so oblivious to the obvious." Twilight said.

"Agreed." Rarity said.
> Chapter 27 - Surprises (Baby Cakes Background and Read It and Weep Addition)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, looks like Pinkie Pie might be busy for a little while." Smolder said as she and Spike exited the hospital with the mane 6 minus Pinkie Pie who had all gone to see the new babies of Mr. and Mrs. Cake.

"What makes you say that?" Spike asked.

"C'mon, you saw what she was doing." Smolder said.

"Oh. Oh I see. Heh. Yeah. She's probably going to think that she can just play with those two new foals like it's nothing special." Spike said. "...I wonder what's going to make her realize that babysitting is nothing like what she's expecting it to be?" He asked.

"Wait you know?" Rarity asked.

"Twilight's got pictures of the times she was helping Celestia out with me when I was little." Spike said.

"Boy, did you have it easy having Celestia raise you. I had to help raise Sweetie Belle and while I didn't like it at first, over time, what else can I say besides the fact that she grew on me?" Smolder asked.

"Especially considering how often you've gone out of your way to say how much you thought she'd replace you fully in Rarity's eyes when that was never the case." Spike said.

"Ha! Way too true." Smolder said. "By the way Rarity, you may think you can hide it, but I'm certain I heard you and Fancy Pants downstairs last night." She added.

"Wh--SMOLDER!" Rarity said, blushing.

"Oh please, like you probably haven't overheard me and Spike upstairs from time to time." Smolder said.

"SMOLDER, I AM WARNING YOU!" Rarity said.

"I mean don't even get me started on--" Smolder started before Rarity suddenly bucked her into the sky. "WOOOOORRRRRRTTTTTHHH IIIIIIITTTT!" Smolder yelled out as she was sent flying.

"...Looks like Smolder is staying over for the next few days again." Spike said.

"As Big Mac would say, 'Eeyep'." Twilight said.

"...That was a surprisingly a good impression." Applejack admitted.





The next day as Smolder was staying over at the library due to her teasing of Rarity, the two dragons had no idea that later the same day, Pinkie Pie would be babysitting the cake twins. Regardless, in the middle of the day, Twilight answered the door, and found Derpy with a package. "Oh, isn't this rather late in the day for a package?" Twilight asked.

"Special Priority delivery. Besides, this is going to be my last ever package delivery. I'm going to be moving to Canterlot in a couple of days. I already applied for my two weeks' notice some time ago." Derpy said.

"Something come up that would require you to move there of all places?" Twilight asked.

"Well Dinky's father finally found me, and I want to make sure I don't lose him. Again." Derpy said.

"I'm sure Ponyville will miss it's delivery pony." Twilight said.

"Makes me wonder who the father is." Spike asked.

"He made me promise to never tell you or Twilight. Don't know why, but I feel like it's personal so I won't pry." Derpy said.

"...Makes me wonder who it could be..." Spike said before taking the package inside.

"So, what's in the pacakge?" Smolder asked.

"My surprise." Spike said before unwrapping it, revealing the Fire Ruby which was fastened into some kind of necklace. Spike then put it around Smolder's neck. "There we go. Told you it'd be worth the wait." Spike said.

"You mean, you seriously had the Fire Ruby fashioned into a necklace, just to give to me?" Smolder asked.

"Well, I may not have known it's rarity, but I can't think of anything else I'd rather do with it." Spike said.

"...YOU. ME. UPSTAIRS. NOW!" Smolder said before dragging Spike upstairs and closing the door.

"...Guess I'm sleeping downstairs tonight. Not that I'm blaming Smolder for this. I'm sure one day, Spike's going to do the same exact thing. Things are getting REALLY serious with Flash Sentry after all." Twilight said.





A few days later, Rainbow Dash had to be checked into the hospital for injuring herself during one of her flights. And while she was initially not wanting to read, she relented at reading the Daring Do series and found herself enjoying them. One day, as she was about to read another book, Soarin decided to drop by.

"Did you get a day off or something?" Rainbow Dash asked the Wonderbolt.

"Yeah. And then when I asked Twilight where you were, she told me everything. Heh. Reminds me of one time I injured myself during Wonderbolt practice and also another member too. I never told you this, and I specifically told the doctors I wanted us alone so I could tell you this, but every wonderbolt has their own nickname. But it's not meant as something to be awesome, it's meant to humble us. My nickname for instance, is Clipper due to that whole incident I just mentioned." Soarin said. "...It's something to make sure we remember that even we, the wonderbolts, aren't perfect." He added.

"I see..." Rainbow Dash said.

"And from what I understand, you took a major crash landing. So I was wondering if it would be--" Soarin was about to say.

"Before you even say it; as I'm sure I know exactly what you're about to say; you should know, when I was called that name, it was done by some mean Pegasuses..." Rainbow Dash said.

"Pegasi." Soarin corrected.

"...Thought Twilight was the only one who did that. Regardless there were these mean Pegasi who would constantly tease me for crashing into the stadium during a race against them by calling me Rainbow Crash." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh. I see." Soarin said. "That was done out of malice, and I can see there's some history there that you may end up being reminded of in that case." Soarin said.

"...You know what? No. You took the time out of your off-day to come see me. That means more then you could ever know 'Clipper'. So, if you want to call me 'Crash' just because you're used to that sort of thing? Just...try not to do it around my friends okay? Fluttershy would unleash fury upon you because of it otherwise, and that's far WORSE than anything I could do to you." Rainbow Dash said.

"...Heh. Fine. Geez, it's always the quiet ones huh?" Soarin asked.

"You have no idea Soarin. Trust me on that one." Rainbow Dash said.

"...Yeah, I have a feeling." Soarin said.

"I mean it though. I'll remember this." Rainbow Dash said. "So, I owe you for this." She added.

"...By the way, seems you're into Daring Do. I see the book. I actually like it too." Soarin said.

"Guess it's perfect for us huh?" Rainbow Dash said before giving Soarin a kiss on the cheek. "...Now you better get going." She added.

"...Yeah." Soarin said before leaving. Though afterwards, he was practically giddy as can be.
> Chapter 28 - Stirring (It's About Time Background and Hurricane Fluttershy Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


It's About Time


A couple of days after Rainbow Dash got out of the hospital, Spike and Smolder were actually out and about in Ponyville's Park with the CMC, Button Mash, White Flame, and Rumble.

"So, your this White Flame that Sweetie Belle's been telling me about lately." Smolder asked, looking at Button Mash.

"Uh...Sis. That's not White Flame. That's Button Mash." Sweetie Belle said.

"Oh. My apologies. But Sweetie Belle's mentioned you too. Heh...I have a feeling you and her are going to get along very well." Smolder said.

"Th-thanks I guess?" Button Mash was a little nervous.

"Hey chill. So long as you treat my sister right, I got no problems with you." Smolder said.

"Ahem, I would actually be White Flame." White Flame spoke up.

"...Huh. Guess I should've realized from the Cutie Mark." Smolder said.

"I don't think there's ever been a cutie mark like that one though." Spike said.

"White Flame does say he comes from a village far away. He stays here in Ponyville with his uncle because his parents went to school here when they were our age and felt like White Flame should learn here than in his hometown." Apple Bloom explained.

"Heh, I guess that's understandable, but I expected my sister to be saying that. Got a little crush on him, Apple Bloom?" Smolder asked.

"So what if ah do? Got a problem with that? You ain't my sister or Granny." Apple Bloom said.

"...Granny?" White Flame asked suddenly.

"Yeah. My grandma's Granny Apple Smith." Apple Bloom said.

White Flame's jaw dropped. "YOUR GRANDMA IS APPLE SMITH?!" White Flame exclaimed. "She's known for being the pony who practically FOUNDED Ponyville." He added.

"...Wait what? Ah didn't know that." Apple Bloom said.

"Hell, part of Ponyville's growth today is thanks to her. You've got some grandma there." White Flame said.

"Wow. Looks like we finally have something to shove into Diamond Tiara's face." Sweetie Belle said.

"...She's still picking on you three? I thought I made it clear that's not welcome enough as it is." White Flame said. Scootaloo stared at White Flame for a while.

"So whose this other colt?" Smolder asked.

"My name's Rumble. I actually helped Scootaloo learn to fly." Rumble said.

"I see. I'm sure Rainbow Dash is very pleased with you about that." Smolder said.

"Yeah Mom was over the moon pratically about it when I told her." Scootaloo said.

"You talking about--" Smolder started to say.

"OF COURSE I MEAN RAINBOW DASH! I already went over this with Applejack, and I much don't feel like going through it again." Scootaloo said.

"...Dang. Your one brave cookie to be interrupting a dragon like that." Smolder said.





A bit later in the day, Smolder followed Scootaloo down into the Apple Farm's basement in secret where she found the orange Pegasus and orange mare near a bullitan board. "Things are really not adding up now." Scootaloo said as she posted a picture of Apple Bloom and White Flame looking at each other. "I didn't even know that Granny Smith was so important to Ponyville's history, and then White Flame starts talking about it like it's no pony's business." The orange Pegasus said.

"Ah didn't think that any pony outside of Ponyville knew about Granny's history. And that's saying something." Applejack said.

"Yeah. Also, Smolder, seriously? Trying to sneak up on a Pegasus like that?" Scootaloo asked.

"What the--how did you know I was here?" Smolder asked.

"Trust me Smolder, ah tried the same thing, and even ah couldn't just evesdrop on her." Applejack said.

"Also, what is all this?" Smolder asked, looking at the various photos.

"This is stuff about White Flame as something about him just rubs me the wrong way." Scootaloo said. "I mean seriously, there's been way too much of these strange incidents for all of this to be some big coincidence." She added.

"...Normally I'd disagree with a notion like saying it's not a coincidence, but looking at all of this it's a little hard to say that it is a coincidence." Smolder said.

"And I have the strangest feeling that something's going to happen soon that's REALLY going to put him on my radar." Scootaloo said.

"...You know what? Count me in." Smolder said.






Hurricane Fluttershy


A week later, there was this whole thing going around Ponyville with Rainbow Dash when Soarin was being sent to oversee some kind of water collection thing for Cloudsdale. Meanwhile, there seemed to be something happening at Canterlot specifically...

"Wow, this is a nice place you have here." Derpy said to Blueblood.

"Why thank you." Blueblood said. "You know, for a while, I thought I'd never find you again." He said.

"I honestly thought you'd never find me, and just forget about me." Derpy said.

"Like that would happen. It's not often I'm left with an impression of any pony, but you made yourself memorable." Blueblood said.

"Flaterer." Derpy said, blushing.

"Doesn't make it any less true." Blueblood said.

Derpy giggled. "Your something else Blueblood." She added.





Elsewhere...

Somewhere in the great lands beyond equestria, a ball of what seemed to appear of purple energy appeared out of nowhere.

"Where are you Ganth? Do you honestly think you can hide from yourself? I'll hunt you down and make you remember that you can never escape yourself. Never." A voice coming from the ball of purple energy said. While somewhat distorted, it was clear the voice was masculine. "Hmm? I sense a great deal of negative feelings. Yes...the one who has them will prove most useful to me." The ball of energy said before it left towards what could only be described as a large mountain.
> Chapter 29 - Flame of Mystery (Ponyville Confidential AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was currently recess time at Ponyville Elementary as the Cutie Mark Crusaders were spending the time thinking up new ways to earn their cutie marks when Diamond Tiara approached them; Silver Spoon was not with her.

"Seems the three of you are still a threesome of Blank Flanks." Diamond Tiara said.

White Flame then showed up with Button Mash and Rumble. "Again with your insults? Seriously Diamond Tiara?" White Flame said.

"Geez, how do you always show up as if right on cue. Besides, this time I'm not going to be insulting these three beyond that. Figured that since they seem so determined to get their cutie marks, they might consider doing an after-school activity to try and get their Cutie Marks and stop being Blank Flanks." Diamond Tiara said.

"An after-school activity? Like what?" Scootaloo asked.

"Well, that's actually why I'm here this time. See, after school, I run the Ponyville Confidential Newspaper and lately, I've been feeling like the paper has been missing something. That's when it doned on me when I remembered the three of you are looking for cutie marks: If you want to try it, I want to introduce a gossip section into the newspaper. You go around town, find juicy gossip to write about, and if I think it's juicy enough, I'll publish it in the newspaper." Diamond Tiara said.

"What I find a bigger mystery is why you're suddenly trying to butter up the Cutie Mark Crusaders with a little after-school labor." White Flame said.

"Hey, it's only labor if their getting paid for it. And I don't think a little in-school extra credit is considered payment. And besides, you never know: One of them might walk away with a brand-new cutie mark because of it." Diamond Tiara said.

"That's a fair and reasonable point you know." Rumble said.

"I still don't trust it. In fact, I'd advise against it. Something just smells of fishyness." White Flame said.

"Then we won't do it." Apple Bloom said.

"...Apple Bloom, you sure?" Scootaloo asked.

"Think about it: It's kind of out of the blue for Diamond Tiara to want to offer us positions with an after-school program and even going so far as to hang a potential cutie mark over our heads. Considering the amount of time she's bullied us, don't you find this a bit strange that she'd actually do something this nice just out of the goodness of her heart? My sister and brother didn't raise a dumb filly. I'm with White Flame: Something stinks about this." Apple Bloom said.

"Well, if you ever change your mind, I'm always around." Diamond Tiara said before leaving.

"...And there's one other reason: That was the one-time Silver Spoon has not been with Diamond Tiara. Which is a red-flag if I've ever seen one." Apple Bloom said.

"Now that you mention it, that is strange." Sweetie Belle said.

"Exactly. So ah can't trust that offer." Apple Bloom said.

"I wonder about something: What do you think the work at the program is really like?" Scootaloo asked.

"You aren't suggesting we sneak into her little hide-away and see what's really going on?" Button Mash asked.

"That's EXACTLY what I'm thinking. Besides, if we figure out Diamond Tiara is doing something mean spirited with it, we'll tell Miss Cheerilee and get the whole thing shut down or at least under different management." Scootaloo said.

"Considering it's Diamond Tiara, count me in." Rumble said.

"...Yeah, now that Rumble is in, I'm in too." Button Mash said.

"Consider me at your disposal as well." White Flame said.

I think our chances to find out the truth just skyrocketed. Scootaloo thought to herself.





The group secretly followed Diamond Tiara after school where they discovered inside was a bunch of other foals from school that were being basically slave driven by Diamond Tiara who was running the press with an iron hoof. After seeing this, the group got a ways away so the rich filly couldn't see them.

"I can't believe it, White Flame was right." Scootaloo said.

"I had a feeling. Call it intuiton. A filly like Diamond Tiara whose being spoiled rotten and used to getting her way suddenly offering the three of you a job? Something like that made me suspecious as hell." White Flame said. Scootaloo just looked at White Flame.

"Well regardless, we should tell Miss Cheerilee about this as soon as possible. And lucky for you, I know exactly where she lives in Ponyville." Rumble said.

"Really? That's convenient." Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, she lives right next door to White Flame's Uncle." Rumble said.

"...What are the odds?" Scootaloo mumbled to herself, but it went unnoticed.

The group then went to Miss Cheerilee and told her everything. With six ponies saying the same thing, Miss Cheerilee took it upon herself to see for herself, then immediately after seeing that it was fact, kicked Diamond Tiara off the editor's chair and put Pipsqueak in charge instead.





Later that same day, Scootaloo, Applejack, and Smolder were at the basement in front of the Pegasus's White Flame Board as she posted two more pictures. The first was of the former state of the Ponyville Confidential News Press and the other was of Miss Cheerilee's house with White Flame's Uncle's house being in the picture too.

"Things are still not adding up with White Flame. Not only are the chances his uncle is the neighbor to Miss Cheerilee already insane, but it's like he could tell something was up with the Ponyville Confidential News Press." Scootaloo said.

"It's like the more things that happen with him, the deeper this mystery becomes." Smolder said.

"Tell me about it. Sooner or later something has to give." Applejack said.

Meanwhile, elsewhere the purple ball of energy had stopped above Diamond Tiara's house before moving further on; heading to some kind of smoldering hot mountain range.

"If this is not Gareth, then at least the one who I sense will be a useful pawn." The Purple Energy Ball said as it traveled.
> Chapter 30 - A Wild Intruder (A Canterlot Wedding AU Part 1)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group was heading to Canterlot with Twilight still mad at her BBBFF for the time being. Earlier that day, the group had been notified that Shining Armor was being married to Mi Amore Cadenza.

"Seriously, you'd THINK my brother would learn to keep in touch with me more than THIS of all things." Twilight said before they finally got out of the train after passing through a barrier.

"Wonder what the barrier's about." Fluttershy couldn't help but wonder.

"Sorry about that." Shining Armor said as he approached the group. "Word on the street is that there are changelings out and about lately. We're taking precautions." Shining Armor said.

"Speaking of, how could you NOT tell your little sister that you're getting married. And who is Mi Amore Cadenza anyways?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Don't you remember? Mi Amore Cadenza is Princess Cadence; your old foal sitter." Shining Armor said.

"You mean Cadence, the best foal sitter ever?!" Twilight exclaimed. "Oh my gosh. Still, to not tell me about this." She added.

"Sorry. We wanted things to be kept under wraps just in case." Shining Armor said as Princess Cadence soon joined them.

"Eeee! Cadence!" Twilight said. "Shine shine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake~" Twilgiht sang and did some strange motions but Cadence did not follow.

"Um..." Cadence looked confused.

"...Cadence, do you not remember our greeting?" Twilight asked.

"Sorry Twilight, it's just this whole wedding has got me all rilled up." Cadence said.

"I guess that's understandable. I mean it's not like--" Twilight started.

"Hold up." Smolder said. She was with the group too, as were the CMC, White Flame, Button Mash, and Rumble.

"Something up Smolder?" Rarity asked.

"...Cadence, is it just me, or do you smell funny?" Smolder asked.

"...Wait, did I forget to take a bath this morning? Oh my gosh, I better go take one right away!" Cadence said before rushing off to Luna Knows where.

"...That wasn't the smell of some pony who hasn't taken a bath lately." Smolder said.

"That is concerning, but it's not much to go on. Before I go, I was hoping Twilight if you would be my best mare." Shining Armor said.

"Would I?! The answer's yes of course. But you're not off the hook for not telling me about this. Trust me when I say this: Payback is a bitch." Twilight said.

"Right..." Shining Armor said before leaving. Suddenly Flash Sentry and Soarin showed up.

"Flash, what are you doing here?" Twilight asked.

"Why wouldn't I be? I'm part of Shining's royal guard unit after all. Did I forget to tell you that?" Flash asked.

"It most likely just slipped his mind. But why are you here, Soarin?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Actually, I asked Spitfire if I could help with security around here what with the changeling threat." Soarin said. "She actually agreed to it, though I doubt she'd know if you'd be here." He added.

"Well I think my friends and I can help with the wedding decorations." Twilight said. Before they could go anywhere however...

"Trust not what your eyes tell you." A strange almost horse like voice said as a robbed figure approuched them. "The Pink Princess is not who she says she is. Go to the caves underneath the castle. Find the real Cadence there." The figure spoke.

"That's suspicious as hell. Who are you?" Flash Sentry asked before the figure suddenly vanished into an intense set of flames.

"Who the buck was that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"It could've been a changeling." Soarin said.

"I smelt that figure though. Not the same smell as with Cadence though. That smelt more like some pony who hasn't had a bath their entire life." Smolder said.

"...Then maybe he's telling the truth." Twilight said. "Flash, help me search the caves. Every pony else, help with the wedding preparations to buy us some time." She added before going with Flash towards the caves.

"...Are we really going to trust some random stranger?" Applejack asked.

"I think we're trusting Smolder's sense of smell then some stranger." Spike said.

"Yeah. We dragons can smell more then you ponies can, and if that helps us find some imposter changeling? It's more likely going to be Princess Cadence if it IS the real Cadence." Smolder said.

"Good point." Applejack said as the rest of the ponies decided to help out with the wedding preperations.





As it turns out, the stranger was right: Twilight and Flash found the real Princess Cadence down in the Canterlot Mines and soon arrived at the altar with her in tow.

"STOP THE WEDDING! THE ONE UP ON THE ALTAR IS NOT THE REAL CADENCE!" Flash exclaimed before the real Cadence was revealed. "The one at the altar is a changeling in disguise!" Flash said.

"Wha--" Some of the guests said before the 'Cadence' at the altar suddenly tranformed into a changeling.

"Tch. Of all the lousy ponies. How in the name of the Great Mother did you find her?" The Changeling said.

"Some stranger pointed us in her direction." Twilight said. "So, who are you, really?" She asked.

"My name is Queen Chrysalis. Remember it fools, because I'll be taking over soon enough." Chrysalis said.

"As if I'd let you!" Celestia said before fighting Chrysalis before loosing to the Changeling Queen soon enough. But then, the robed figure showed in a pillar of flames.

"So, you've decided to reveal yourself at last. I've been waiting for you to show your true colors, Chrysalis." The Figure said.

"Hey, it's that guy who pointed out Cadence's location." Rainbow Dash noted.

"Who are you?" Chrysalis asked.

The figure suddenly cast off their cloak, revealing a very hairy bipedal being. "Call me The Wildman." He said. Chrysalis suddenly had a look of horror on her face. "...Yes. We've met before Chrysalis. The day I killed your parents in fact. I'm sure you remember me." The Wildman stated.

"He-he killed her parents? In cold blood?!" Fluttershy exclaimed.

"It doesn't matter how much love you've absorbed Chrysalis. Your still nothing to me. Your parents had a lot more love than you do right now, and even they couldn't stop me from killing them. I had hoped to kill you all those years ago, but that one changeling interrupted me before I could kill you in your sleep. It's about time I finished the job..." The Wildman explained as he took out strange metal claws as strange music played and before long, the entire scene went grayscale as something showed up in the corner of it.



TO BE CONTINUED
> Chapter 31 - Love Conquers All (A Canterlot Wedding AU Part 2)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Previously, just after Queen Chrysalis defeated Celestia, suddenly a mysterious hairy being calling himself "The Wildman" appeared and announced that he was going to murder Queen Chrysalis.

"It's time I finished what I started all those years ago Chrysalis. Only the slimmest of opportunities has allowed me to come back to do what I meant to do the same day I killed your parents." The Wildman said before he quickly overpowered Chrysalis. Before long, she was down on the ground, injured with The Wildman standing over her.

"He's really going to just kill her? I know she was planning on enslaving us all but isn't killing her going a little overboard here?" Flash asked.

"This Usurper must be killed. Trust me, if the roles were reversed, she would not hestitate to strike me down. Grow up you dumb ponies. This isn't some cartoon. This is real life. I grew up in the wild, and something I learnt is that in the wild, you can only depend on yourself and trust no one. However, I wouldn't want you ponies to lose one of your precious rulers. So what if I helped you? It was for my own benifit to lure Chrysalis out of hiding so I could kill her." The Wildman said.

"You've lost all sense of morality. Just who are you, really?" Twilight asked.

"I already told you, I'm The Wildman." The Wildman said before raising a claw only to be hit by a magic blast from Princess Luna.

"Sorry I'm late, and it's a good thing too: This intruder should not be allowed to do whatever they please. If you don't mind, we will take Queen Chrysalis into custody where she will be charged by our laws." Luna said.

"If that is what you want, you'll have to fight me for it." The Wildman said, then with a roar The Wildman lunged forward.

Cadence quickly made her way to Shining Armor's side as the rest of the ponies began fighting with The Wildman. The Wildman himself was somehow able to summon forth Fire, Ice, and Lightning as if it was nothing; sometimes using these elements to launch an energy-based slash attack at the ponies.

Meanwhile, the ponies were forced to attack with various methods. Due to Wildman somehow having the ability to just warp around the arena at will, the earth ponies had to rely on throwing rocks which were provided by Pinkie Pie and every pony decided to dwell on that later.

For the most part, the Pegasi were only able to attack Wildman for whenever he manipulated the earth itself in a line in front of him before the end of it erupted in a pillar of fire not unlike the one he first showed up to the wedding in. Rainbow Dash however was able to strike him almost every other warp. And as for the unicorns and Luna? They were blasting him with magic when they could. Spike and Smolder meanwhile were forced to sit on the sidelines as they could litterally attribute nothing to this fight.

"Something's wrong, nothing's working." Twilight said. Suddenly Cadence got through to Shining Armor and soon the two were producing a large amount of magic which The Wildman warped into.

"ow! what kind of magic was that just now?!" The Wildman exclaimed; his normally hoarse voice suddenly risen to a relative normal level.

"...Your kidding right? Well then..." Twilight said before grabbing Flash and then kissing him; causing more of this same magic to appear.

"ow! seriously, what the hell is that?!" The Wildman exclaimed.

"...I'm picking up what's being put down. Totally NOT going to hear the end of this from Applejack later." Rainbow Dash said before grabbing Soarin.

"Hearing the end of wh--" Applejack started before seeing Rainbow Dash kiss Soarin, causing even more of that magic to appear.

"OW! SERIOUSLY, WHAT KIND OF ATTACK ARE YOU DOING?!" The Wildman yelled out now, his voice starting to raise in level more now.

"...Well this is one heck of a time to find myself late to a wedding." Blueblood said and he was with Derpy.

"What is he doing with Derpy?" Rarity asked before Blueblood kissed Derpy; this ended up causing a massive love magic explosion, sending The Wildman flying.

"YOU HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST OF ME!" The Wildman yelled out as he was sent flying with Chrysalis and a bunch of changelings.





"...So let me get this straight..." Rarity said and now Fancy Pants was in the wedding hall. The wedding had gone off without a hitch once The Wildman was taking care of. "The one Blueblood was looking for was Derpy of all ponies?" Rarity asked.

"Well he is Dinky's father. That's why he made me promise not to tell anyone before I moved here to be with Blueblood." Derpy said.

"...Well I suppose as long as you know what you're getting into." Rarity said.

"I have a lot of making up to do, admittedly." Blueblood said.

"We'll just see how long that lasts. If you even think about breaking Derpy's heart, I'll beat you up." Spike said.

"Somehow, I don't doubt that considering how buff you've gotten." Blueblood said before leaving with Derpy.

"Wow, Spike didn't have to even go Spikezilla to threaten Blueblood." Smolder said.

"...I can't believe what I'm seeing." Spike said.

"Some have the ability to change who they are. Seems Blueblood is one of those folk." White Flame said. "Well, who wants to party at the reception?" He asked.

Clever segway, White Flame. But I'm still keeping an eye on you. Scootaloo thought to herself before joining the party anyways.
> Movie: Rescue the Crystal Empire (The Crystal Empire AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Mane Six were all on a train bound for the frozen north with the CMC and White Flame's Gang accompanying them.

"So Twilight, we're heading to the Crystal Empire to help Cadence huh?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That was what we're doing. Thing is, it won't be without danger." Twilight said.

"Right. You mentioned it on the way over here that some tyrant known as King Sombra once enslaved this place from what Princess Celestia told you." Rarity said.

"There's a good chance we'll encounter him, and you'll have to face him." Twilight said. "Spike and Smolder will be with me though. I did some research, and there was a relic known as the Crystal Heart that had gone missing once Sombra took over." She added.

"So, you're going to take the two dragons with you to find the Crystal Heart." Applejack said.

"That's the plan. Besides, Spike has his whole 'turn into a giant dragon' in case of emergency." Twilight said.

"Don't you mean him going Spikezilla?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"I. REFUSE. TO CALL. SPIKE'S GIANT FORM. SPIKEZILLA." Twilight said.

"So why are the CMC and the colts here? I mean there is the danger of Sombra and all." Rainbow Dash said.

"White Flame insisted on coming." Twilight said.

"Yeah that's what bothers me. Rainbow Dash has to take me because she's my mother, but why is White Flame coming?" Scootaloo asked.

"I have my uses. Couldn't bring Carol because of how cold it is. But I have other uses." White Flame said.

"It's true. He's a unicorn." Apple Bloom said.

Scootaloo had a confused look on her face. "Come again? I don't see a horn on him." Scootaloo said.

"Hmph." White Flame parted a part of his mane that was covering his forehead, showing that he indeed was a unicorn.

"YOU MEAN HE'S BEEN A UNICORN THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"I don't tend to use my magic unless it's in self-defense. And even then, all I know is a basic shield spell. I tend to rely more on my hooves and muscles then my magic." White Flame said. Scootaloo just looked at him.

"So why are the rest of the CMC here with Scootaloo?" Rarity asked.

"Well considering Sweetie Belle would also be the only one home, she was coming along too. And since two of her friends were coming, it just made sense to include Apple Bloom in the fun as well." Twilight said.

"So why are Button Mash and Rumble here then?" Scootaloo asked.

"White Flame made some very convincing arguments for both. With Rumble, he argued that Rumble and you could team up to help keep an eye out for Sombra." Twilight said to Scootaloo.

"And Button Mash?" Scootaloo asked.

"I was going to make an argument when Button Mash's mother wanted him out of the house for a few days because something happened that she wouldn't tell me about." White Flame said.

"A sink burst in the kitchen and dampened a bunch of the carpets. This gives me the perfect excuse to be away while she gets everything replaced." Button Mash said. "At least it was downstairs. My video games weren't touched." He added.

"Well, I think my sister wouldn't mind if you stayed over at our place." Sweetie Belle said.

"I suppose we could do that." Rarity said.

"So White Flame, why are you coming along then?" Applejack asked.

"I have my reasons." White Flame said simply.

Clever boy, using such a vague but still honest answer. Eventually White Flame, your secret's going to come out. Scootaloo thought to herself.

The group soon arrived at the station in the frozen north and were greeted by Shining Armor.

"Twily, so glad you could come. Cadence is already in the empire helping out where she can. But there's already been a few sightings of King Sombra." Shining Armor said.

"That's not good. We need to protect the Crystal Empire from him." Twilight said.

"I know." Shining Armor said. "What's with you bringing six kids with you though?" He asked.

"I'll fill you in as we walk." Twilight said.





"Well that's my sister for you at times. Still, I'm rather surprised that White Flame prefers not to use his magic." Shining Armor said.

"My parents are both Earth Ponies, my uncle is one too, but my father's grandfather was a unicorn as was my mother's father." White Flame said.

"So, he's had two different unicorn family genes mixing and ended up a unicorn in an otherwise earth pony family." Applejack said.

"Those are only the ones from my parents part of my family. I have an aunt who's a unicorn, one of my three cousins is a unicorn, and my uncle's sister is marrying a unicorn." White Flame said.

"Wow, that's quite a few unicorns your calling family." Twilight said.

"There's also the fact that my mother can actually trace her bloodline to Princess Platinum of all ponies." White Flame said.

"WAIT WHAT?!" Twilight exclaimed. "I'm shocked. I never believed you would end up related to Princess Platinum." She said. Scootaloo was looking at White Flame.

"Yeah unicorn genes run strong in my family it seems. Though I won't lie, earth ponies fascinate me much more then my Unicorn kind. It's honestly why I've styled my mane to hide my horn. I much rather no pony know I can use magic. You never know who might want to take advantage of a colt with a horn." White Flame said.

"Ah can't argue with that logic." Applejack said. "We're here." She added.

"Twilight. Your here." Cadence said she looked tired. "Maintaining a barrier is exhausting, but it's either this or risk King Sombra getting the empire." She added.

"I can tell. And I think I have a solution. On the way over here, with some material Princess Celestia gave me, I was able to detirmine something we can do to lift the spirits of the crystal ponies: Something known as the Crystal Faire. It's a fair full of games and activities." Twilight said.

"Games? Activities? SIGN ME UP!" Pinkie Pie said.

"So, you're going to have us run this fair?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I trust all of you to do just that." Twilight said before leaving with the two dragons.

"Look on the bright side: We get to actually spread smiles. My specialty~" Pinkie Pie said after Twilight said.





"Well this is a strange door." Twilight said, noticing a door with a black crystal on it. "...Something tells me this is no normal door." She added before simply opening it's doorknob with magic. However, she was greeted to some kind of strange sight. It was a large orb of purple energy looking down on her and her friends with only her barely concious, with White Flame there as well, looking determined.

"Gareth, I've searched far too long for you." The Orb said, it's voice somewhat reminding Twilight of White Flame.

"I am not Gareth. The one known as Gareth is dead. My name is White Flame." White Flame said.

"You really expect yourself to believe that Gareth? Don't you remember that I am you?" The Orb said.

"I'm not you. Not anymore. I threw away every part of myself that had to do with you. Your days of controlling my life are over, Zanth!" White Flame said.

The Orb seemed to laugh. "We'll just have to see about that then, won't we?" The Orb said.

Suddenly Twilight was snapped out of whatever she was witnessing by Spike. "Twilight, are you alright?!" Spike exclaimed.

"I-I'm fine. I think it's some sort of door that is meant to show one their greatest fear, but I think something's gone wrong with its enchantment. Something that is far more eviler than King Sombra did this, I'm sure of it." Twilight said.

"What could possibly be eviler this Sombra character?" Smolder asked.

"I have a bad feeling we'll be finding out soon." Twilight and the two dragons went up some stairs to find the Crystal Heart, and using her magic, Twilight retrieved the heart from a distance which managed to trigger what appeared to be some kind of trap.

"Smart thinking Twilight." Spike said.

"It was far too obvious really." Twilight said, but noticed the forcefield around the empire was fading during the Crystal Fair. "Th-there's no time for me to get this down the tower." Twilight said and shoved the Crystal Heart into Spike's claws. "It's up to you now Spike." The Purple unicorn then used her magic to throw Spike out the window.

"I'm going to go help." Smolder said and then lept out the window after him while Twilight started rushing out of the heart's hiding place.

Soon enough, Cadence caught Spike and even Smolder before taking the Heart to the spire where it was energized by the Crystal Ponies. Sombra had gotten there just a moment too late though and was almost vaporized. Yet he felt something grab him.

"We did it!" Pinkie Pie said.

"What in Equestria is that?!" Rumble exclaimed, pointing to where King Sombra was, only for there to be no King Sombra.

Only a large purple orb. "That's the--!" Twilight recognized it from her vision.

"Hey, what's up with White Flame?" Button Mash asked. White Flame looked pale.

"White Flame, snap out of it!" Apple Bloom said before rushing to White Flame's side.

"Raef eurt ekirts lliw taht mrof a uoy tnarg I, egar erup fo arbmU repusU" The Orb said before suddenly it gave form to King Sombra once more, only parts of his body were made of the same purple energy as the orb now. "I’d love to stay and chat, but not only does it seem you'll be busy, I've got someone I need to find. Ciao~" The Orb said before seemingly teleporting away.

"Wh-what just happened to Sombra?!" Pinkie Pie said. The now transformed Sombra let out some kind of distorted snarl, before he/it started to attack.






Transformed Usuper Umbra
Void Sombra


Void Sombra while using his usual crystal attacks like normal, were much more purple and staring into them just seemed to fill one with intense sadness and despair.

"What happened to Sombra and his attacks? Everything has gone haywire." Shining Armor said.

"I-I can't believe of all the places he'd show up, it'd be here." White Flame said.

"Do you know what that orb thing was?" Scootaloo asked.

"That orb was a being known as Zanth; an entity created from sadness and despair. He must have come here being attracted by Sombra's own sadness and despair." White Flame said.

"...Sombra has sadness?" Rainbow Dash questioned.

"Sometimes, the sadness of a broken heart is more than some can cope with." White Flame said.

"You say that like you know what that's like." Scootaloo said.

"There will be time for this talk later, we need to rescue the Crystal Empire from this menance. This new version of Sombra won't be content with stopping with destroying us, it'll start infecting the ponies here too." White Flame said.

"Ah believe you." Apple Bloom said. "Don't ask me why ah do, ah just do." She added.

"Apple Bloom..." Was that...a tear that treaded down White Flame's face? "...Thank you." The unicorn colt said.

The ponies did their best to attack Void Sombra the best ways they knew how, but then suddenly a unicorn mare appeared and tackled Sombra.

"Sombra, stop this." The mare said.

"What the-where'd she come from?!" Twilight said.

"Listen to me, you don't have to be some monster. You don't have to be like this. I...just hope this works..." The mare said before casting some kind of magic spell which started connecting to Sombra's horn.

After some time, suddenly Void Sombra turned from the transformed state into what seemed to be a normal Unicorn Stallion.

"...Hope? You...your still alive?" Sombra asked.

"Of course I am you dolt." The mare said.

"...Did he just call that mare 'Hope'? As in Radiant Hope?!" Twilight started to fangirl.

"Why...why did you save me?" Sombra asked. "You know...what I did..." He said.

"Doesn't matter. I still love you. Always have." Radiant Hope said.

"Hope...I can't stay here...you know that." Sombra said.

"Then don't. Wherever you go, I go. Let us search for our own purpose together." Radiant Hope said.

"I...would like that..." Sombra said. With a flash of light, the pair teleported away.

"That...was something else..." Rainbow Dash said.





The main six, CMC, and White Flame's gang were on a train back to ponyville with Cadence and Shining Armor becoming the new rulers of the kingdom.

"So White Flame, what's this whole story about Zanth?" Scootaloo asked.

"...I suppose with his appearance, it's time you all finally knew the truth." White Flame said. "The part of my family, it's legacy, and who I am was all true. I never once lied about that. But what I've been keeping secret is that I was once someone else. Someone different." He began. "White Flame is the name I was given when the person I was previously used their remaining power to reincarnate into a foal to be reborn into a better world: Your world. It was the name my parents gave me to contrast with my black body. Before I was White Flame however, I was a man known as Gareth. A long time ago, before the existence of your world, I had lived in a town where if you were ever accused of a crime, then even if you were found innocent of it, the people would treat you as if you were guilty with no exception." The colt started.

"That's horrible!" Fluttershy said, hooves over her mouth.

"Luck was not on my side. One day, when I went to go cash in my recent paycheck, the local bank was robbed and was blown up by the robbers. As they fled in the smoke caused by the explosion, they had left me with a bag of the money which ended up making me become accused of the crime. Soon enough, I was tried and found innocent, which was when my entire life feel to pieces. The only person who ever defended me was the mayor's daughter Galina. But eventually, the mayor blackmailed her, so she stopped defending me. It was then in my moment of pure sadness, when a mysterious figure offered to give me the power to make others suffer in my despair. In my moment of desperation, I accepted the deal, but it transformed me into a dangerous being known as Zanth." White Flame explained. "Eventually though, things happened, and I chose to try and make up for the things I had done as Zanth. Eventually, it led to a point where I escaped from the Void Energy that made me into Zanth where the Void Energy became a seperate entity. You saw what it had become: A floating orb of pure sadness and despair." He continued.

"That was this new Zanth then? So what happened after that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I followed Zanth to a different version of your world, one that was far more along it's timeline then yours. Eventually, with help from version of you from that world, Zanth was defeated or so I thought. When I reincarnated myself into a foal in your world, ever since I was three, I've felt Zanth's presence once again." White Flame said. "...He's searching for Gareth, but the man once known as Gareth no longer exists. I'm not him anymore." He added.

"You got that right." Apple Bloom said. "Ah don't care who you were before. What matters is who you are now. And who you are now is White Flame. Yer still the same colt who stood up to Diamond Tiara. Yer still the same colt who moved to ponyville to attend school here. And yer still the same colt who ah became friends with. Yer right about one thing: Yer not Gareth. Your White Flame." She added before hugging White Flame.

"...Even...even though you know the truth...you still..." White Flame said.

"Hey, I was convinced you were going to be some pony totally evil or something. Now I know you were just delt a really bad hand and now you want to reshuffle that deck." Scootaloo said.

"Heh...my daugher's right. Even if the card metaphor is kind of cheesy." Rainbow Dash said.

"We'll help you give Zanth a proper hoof kicking when the time comes." Pinkie Pie said.

"Yeah, you can count on us." Button Mash said. "This'll be more fun then any video game could ever be. Hmm...note to self: See about turning this into a video game." He added.

"Of course he'd say that, but it's fine." Sweetie Belle said.

"All of you..." White Flame shed another tear. "...Thank you. You don't know what this means to me." He added.

Twilight meanwhile couldn't help but stare and White Flame. But what happened between now, and my vision? I think Zanth was trying to mess with my head at first, but now I have a feeling I just saw the future. And it doesn't look good. She thought to herself.
> Chapter 32 - After the Reveal (No Featured Episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Every pony was now in Canterlot with Princess Celestia and Princess Luna. Considering what White Flame revealed, the information had to be taken to the princesses.

"This is admittedly quite shocking." Princess Celestia said. "White Flame; as far as I'm concerned; has done nothing wrong." She added.

"Thank you, Princess Celestia. That's what we've been saying the whole time, more or less." White Flame said.

"You still bear some responsibility for creating Zanth in the first place in your past life." Twilight said.

"Why do you think I told you about him? I want that madness dealt with. Permanently this time." White Flame said.

"Um, couldn't you reason with him; maybe politely ask him to just stop?" Fluttershy asked.

"...You are talking about a sentient roaming cumulation of void energy shaped into an orb. When you get infected by that stuff to a large degree, you lose all sense of yourself and want to do nothing but spread sadness and pain. It was only a miracle that mare showed up and somehow brought Sombra out of it." White Flame said.

"This mare you mentioned, you said Sombra called her 'Hope'." Princess Luna said.

"Yeah that's right." Rainbow Dash said.

"I took a picture if that helps." Scootaloo said, showing off a photograph.

"...When did you take a picture of her? More importantly, how?" Rainbow Dash said.

Scootaloo produced a small camera-isk device. "The trick was turning the flash off and making sure no one noticed." The orange pegasus said.

"Huh. I was with you the entire time and I never once noticed you taking a camera out to take a picture." Rumble said.

"I took pictures of a few other things, but this one is the one that's relevant." Scootaloo said.

"It IS her." Princess Celestia said. "Seems she found a way to become immortal after all." She added.

"She mean something Princess?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight, while you are no doubt of the best students I've had, you are not the first. The first was admittedly this mare. Her name is Radiant Hope." Princess Celestia said. "I've had many students over the years. But she was the only one outside of you that Luna ever knew about." She added.

"That's only because she was my sister's student before I had become Nightmare Moon. I was still around at that time." Princess Luna said.

"And while I've had several students between you and her Twilight; she was different. She only agreed because she wanted to have enough magic experience to cast a spell that would make her never age past a certain point; essentially allowing her to live forever. It just so happened that on the same day my sister had become Nightmare Moon, Hope had decided to leave the castle without my knowledge." Princess Celestia said.

"Guess she must have found a way afterwards. She must have been from the Crystal Empire I'm guessing." Twilight said.

"Actually, it was Hope herself that told us about Sombra." Princess Luna stated.

"Huh. Well, it seems that Hope's love for Sombra managed to destroy the void energy Zanth infected him with." White Flame said. "It had to be super strong, because normally one cannot cure one possessed by void energy. Only a super strong positive emotion can hope to pierce that veil." He explained.

"Well from what I understand, Hope did feel very strongly towards Sombra even though he was enslaving her kind. It was her one condition: That we do not kill Sombra; we were allowed to take him into custody and imprisson him, but she did not want to see him killed." Princess Celestia said.

"Of course, you ended up imprisoning him in the Frozen North instead." Twilight pointed out.

"It was regrettable. Ironically, sealing him away happened shortly after we imprissoned Discord." Princess Celestia said.

"Somebody mention me?" Discord asked shortly after popping up.

"...Hello to you too Discord." Twilight said. "What are you up to?" She asked.

"Oh don't mind me. I'm just wondering what you all are up to being gathered like this at Princess Celestia's castle." Discord said.

"...Interesting..." White Flame said.

"Hold up, whose this?" Discord said, referring to White Flame.

"My name is White Flame. And don't you even begin to start." White Flame said.

"...Oh. I see. Yeah that's probably enough chaos in this area already. Even as the avatar of Chaos, even I know when I'm outclassed." Discord said.

"So wait, does that mean you know all about Gareth? AND YOU STILL LET ME INVESTIGATE EVERYTHING ABOUT WHITE FLAME?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Well I knew you were investigating White Flame. And I have to admit, I was a little curious to see what would happen. After all, he's as unfamiliar to me too. But now that I got a look in his eyes, you could say I know now who he is." Discord said.

"The one known as Gareth is dead." White Flame said. "I am White Flame." He added.

"...You actually believe you can escape your past, don't you?" Discord asked.

"Leave him alone." Apple Bloom said, stepping between the two.

"...Say what?" Discord asked.

"Ah said leave him alone. So, what if he WAS Gareth before? That ain't who he is now." Apple Bloom said. And suddenly Discord went pale. No really, he became all white. "And if you've got a problem with that, ah don't care what crazy chaos you'll cause; I ain't gonna let you pick on White Flame." Apple Bloom said. Suddenly Discord quite litterally fell to pieces.

"...Well, this seems familiar." Spike said.

"Yep." Smolder said.

Discord reformed himself. "I really cannot believe what I'm seeing right now. Someone is actually DEFENDING Gareth." Discord said.

"How many times does he gotta say it? His name is White Flame." Apple Bloom said.

Apple Bloom... White Flame thought to himself. And then Discord suddenly fell to pieces a third time.

"Okay that's starting to become a trend now." Spike said.

"Agreed." Smolder said.
> Chapter 33 - Trixie's Return (Too Many Pinkie Pies AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was helping Trixie with some things. "This was sort of short notice for you to show up Trixie. But why the sudden visit?" Twilight asked.

"Family issues. Trixie has a half-sister who's a bit jealous of Trixie thanks to what you've helped Trixie with." Trixie said.

"You never mentioned you had a half-sister." Twilight said.

"That's because Trixie's half-sister tends to torture Trixie. Or used to anyways. It was because Trixie didn't have good magic before. Now Trixie can do many spells she could not before. Which she thanks you for whole heartedly." Trixie said.

"HEY TWILIGHT." Pinkie Pie suddenly showed up out of nowhere.

"GAH!" Twilight exclaimed and fell over.

"Twilight, are you okay?!" Trixie was no doubt worried.

"...You'd think by now I'd be used to Pinkie Pie just showing up out of nowhere, but I'm not." Twilight said.

"Just checking in on you. Ooooo. Whose your guest?" Pinkie Pie asked.

Twilight stared at Pinkie Pie. "...Pinkie Pie, did you forget? This is Trixie. I helped her with her magic after that Ursa Minor destroyed her wagon, remember?" The purple unicorn asked.

"...I'll be right back." Pinkie Pie said and left.

"That was most unusual." Trixie said.

"I hope this isn't the work of Chrysalis again." Twilight said.

"You mean the changeling queen that you messaged and warned me about? Don't worry. Trixie knows how to tell fakes apart from the real thing." Trixie said.

Twilight tilted her head. "How does that work exactly?" Twilight asked.

"When you've used Illusions your entire life, you pick up how to tell whose real from a fake. And Trixie knows your real. Trixie has a sixth sense on whose real and who is isn't from her usage of Illusions." Trixie explained.

"I see. Still, it was odd Pinkie Pie didn't remember who you were. Every one of my friends knows who you are as you got to know each of us during your stay here." Twilight said.

"Well that's where the problem really lies. Trixie could see that it was not a changeling pretending to be your friend. But at the same time, that wasn't really Pinkie Pie as you know her." Trixie said.

"...But that doesn't make any sense." Twilight said.

"Trixie heard of something called a Mirror Pool on her travels. From what Trixie understands, it creates a clone of whoever uses it." Trixie said.

"...Say what?!" Twilight exlcaimed and started sorting through her books.





A bit later, Spike and Smolder soon rushed into the Library with Sweetie Belle.

"Twilight, we've got a problem. Pinkie Pie is litterally everywhere outside!" Spike said.

"...You mean she's made THAT many clones already?!' Twilight exclaimed.

"...What?" Spike asked.

"Hello Spike and Smolder." Trixie said from nearby.

"Trixie, what are you doing in Ponyville?" Smolder asked.

"Trixie is getting away from family for a while. And besides you will need Trixie's help soon." Trixie said.

"...We will? What do you mean?" Spike asked.

"Well according to what I've come up with, seems Pinkie Pie has been creating clones of herself through a thing known as the Mirror Pool. But in order to get rid of the clones and find the original Pinkie Pie, we need to do something that will help us find the real one." Twilight said.

"And Trixie suggests asking many who know Pinkie Pie, and we set up a quiz show. Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy." Trixie said.

"...That sounds more like a Pinkie Pie thing to say." Smolder said.

"Well right now, we have no idea where the real one is, so Trixie felt like taking over her job of saying silly things in this time of great stress." Trixie said.

"You know what? That's probably the most normal thing happening today." Spike said.





Sometime later, thanks to the Quiz Show, the real Pinkie Pie was found and the clones were gone.

"Ugh. I'm going to go with my bad on this one girls. I just felt like, with so many things to keep track of, I figured there could be lots more of me to help with everything. Only thing is, things got out of hoof in a hurry." Pinkie Pie said.

"You can say that again. Please don't actually do so." Trixie said.

"I won't. Also, hi Trixie. What are you doing here?" Pinkie Pie asked. "Wait, don't tell me: You're here because of your half-sister becoming super ultra jealous of your new magical talent, right?" Pinkie Pie asked.

"What the-how did you know that?" Trixie aske.

"Just a hunch~" Pinkie Pie said.

"I missed that today." Rainbow Dash said.

"Your friend is weird, but I guess you would get used to that after a while." Soarin said.

Trixie did a double take. "Since when was a Wonderbolt here?" Trixie asked.

"Soarin was actually here flying around with me when the Pinke Pie hoard happened." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah, that sort of came out of nowhere. I did notice a strange mare wearing some kind of black and red amulet near the edge of town." Soarin said.

"...That would be Trixie's Sister. You mean to tell me she grabbed the Alicorn Amulet to try and mess with Trixie?!" Trixie asked.

"What's the Alicorn Amulet?" Twilight asked.

"Trixie doesn't know the details. Only that Trixie's mother said to never ever wear it." Trixie said.

"...Come Trixie, we're going to find Zecora. I have a bad feeling about this." Twilight said.
> Chapter 34 - Twisted Sister (Magic Duel AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The entire main six were at Zecora's hut.

"Zebra homeland decor. Trixie like." Trixie said.

"You know about Zebras?" Applejack asked.

"Mom said that Zebras come from far away, and while they may appear strange, they can have vast insight." Trixie said.

"That's a fair point. There've been a couple of times Zecora has helped us out when we were stumped." Twilight said.

"You mean like that time you all got infected with Poison Joke? Or that time with the Parasprites?" Smolder asked.

"Yes. Exactly." Twilight said.

"While it is nice to help my friends true, I have to wonder what it is that makes you woe." Zecora said.

"...Mom didn't mention anything about them rhyming however. Trixie head hurts already." Trixie said.

"Trixie's half-sister was spotting wearing something called the Alicorn amulet. Got any info on it?" Twilight asked.

Zecora gasped. "Do my ears deceive me on this day, or did you say that the Alicorn Amulet is in play?" The Zebra asked.

"You know of it Zecora? Trixie just knows that her mom told Trixie to never touch it." Trixie said.

"And for quite the good reason as I can say, that gem is nothing but a bad day. No book has the details in their pages, but I am aware of its damages." Zecora soon started showing something in her cauldron. "Tales of those who wear this gem in red and black, find their minds twisting and turning into evil flack. The only way to remove the gem from it's wearer, is for the amulet to be removed by it's bearer." The Zebra explained. "And true to its name I think you'll find, that it grants a power that'll put you in a bind." She finished.

"Are you saying that it grants the power of an Alicorn?!" Twilight exclaimed.

Zecora nodded and brought out a green jewel. "We must find a way to convince the bearer, and make them become this jewel's bearer." She added.

"...Then it's time to put the things I've learnt from Trixie to the test. But I'll need help from every pony in town." Twilight said.

"What are you planning?" Trixie said.

"You'll see~" Twilight said.





A lone mare soon entered Ponyville, and Trixie was there to greet her.

"Ah, Trixie. I've been waiting to upstage you and show you whose the better sister between us. And with this amulet, I'll be doing just that. Maybe I'll even enslave this backwater town while I'm at it." The unicorn mare in front of Trixie said.

"Trixie thinks you will be doing no such thing. Because Trixie isn't alone." Trixie said as Twilight soon joined her.

"Ah. Twilight Sparkle. The student of Princess Celestia. But...what is that around your neck?" Checker asked, referring to the green jewel attached to Twilight's neck.

"This is the Jewel of Mastery. We heard about how you got your hooves on the Alicorn Amulet, and we were lucky to come across this hidden gem right here in Ponyville. It was created as a counter to your amulet. With all the powers that go with it." Twilight said.

"Ha! I'll love to see you try. I challenge you to a duel." Checker said.

"I very much accept." Twilight said.

Checker and Twilight would start doing magic back and forth, with each one doing several different spells. However, it seems that Twilight was doing them better and even added in a few bonuses too.

"Wh-what?! How can that gem be beating the power of this one?!" Checker said.

"Trixie thinks you need to pay attention: The Jewel was created to counteract the Alicorn Amulet." Trixie said.

"Why you..." Checker soon rushed at Twilight and took the jewel from her. "With this then, I'll become invincible!" Checker said before swapping the alicorn amulet for the green jewel. Only to find it did...nothing? "Huh? What gives?" Checker asked.

Rainbow Dash Quickly scooped up the Alicorn Amulet. "Heh heh...what do you think happened?" She asked as some of the townsfolk showed up, giving off the real truth: Everything Twilight did was an elaborate illusion.

"You...you tricked me using illusions?!" Checker was stunned.

"Kind of ironic huh? We did it so well, you actually believed it was real magic." Twilight said. "Seems even the most powerful gem in existence falls to Illusion Magic." She added.

"Face it sis: You were tricked and you fell for it. What does that say about your skills compared to Twilight?" Trixie asked.

"I...I..." Checker just ran off crying without finishing her sentance.

"Oh that felt good to stick that to my sister. She was always bullying me." Trixie said.

"In that case, serves her right for messing with one of our friends." Fluttershy said.





"I really have to thank all of you. By the way, that gem was nothing more then some powerless rock wasn't it?" Trixie asked.

"Indeed it was, I just decided to use it to our advantage." Twilight said.

"And my sister just ran off with it." Trixie said.

"It's fine. Zecora says she has plenty more just in case. To be extra safe, I had the Alicorn Amulet sent to the Princesses." Twilight said.

"That's probably a good idea. Well then, here's hoping when Trixie next visits, there won't be any crazy happenings like a Pinkie Pie hoard or Trixie's Half-sister trying to upstage Trixie." Trixie said.

"I agree wholeheartedly. Yer welcome anytime Trixie. Take care." Applejack said as Trixie left. "...Though ah'll be honest: Ah didn't agree with that fake magic." Applejack said.

"Hey, the magic may have been fake, but the threat was real. Look at it this way: We used fake magic to beat evil magic." Rainbow Dash said. "That's a win in my book." She added.

"...Ah suppose I'll let that slide. Wish we could've done something with the amulet before we sent it to the Princesses." Applejack said.

"Huh? Why's that?" Flash Sentry asked.

"Ah...Ah can't have kids. There. Ah said it. Now leave me alone!" Applejack said and ran off to the farm.

"...I have a feeling what we'll be doing soon enough." Spike said.

"Agreed." Smolder said.
> Chapter 35 - Keeping the Flame Alive (Unique Episode)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It wasn't even that long after Applejack dropped her major bomb shell that the rest of the Main Six were trying to think of ways to make Applejack feel better.

But what Applejack didn't know, was that there was some pony much, much different listening.

Some pony who was willing to lift Applejack from the pits of depression and give her hope.

And that pony was willing to act fast.






Keeping the Flame Alive


Applejack was at the farm now, she looked out at the various apple trees. She was going to have to get to harvesting a few soon. And that's when she felt some pony there and turned. "Oh. It's you White Flame." Applejack said, noticing the black unicorn colt.

"...I was going to be hanging with Button Mash and Rumble today now that Trixie's sister is not going to cause any trouble. But as I was heading over to Rumble's place, I couldn't help but overhear a few things." White Flame said.

"Oh. You heard that huh?" Applejack asked.

"I wish I could tell you I know what you're going through, but I don't. But I think it's too soon to be dropping the aspect of never being able to have kids." White Flame said.

"Are ya suggesting some kind of magical solution? Look, call me old fashioned, but that's just not for me." Applejack said.

"I wasn't going to suggest that. Never assume Applejack. Doing so will only make an ass out of you and me." White Flame said.

"...That some kind of saying you picked up when you were Gareth?" Applejack asked.

"That's a little bit of a low blow, but yes. Doesn't matter anyways. That's not important for what I wish to talk with you about." White Flame said.

"Right. Listen, ah've raised Apple Bloom to the best of my ability in place of our ma and pa. Ah'm the closest thing to a mother she's been able to have." Applejack said.

"And you've raised her well. I hope your mother and father will return soon so they can see just how good of a job your doing. Oh but wait, that's me jumping the gun isn't it?" White Flame asked.

"Huh? What do you--" Applejack started.

"...I couldn't help but notice a couple of gravestones on the edge of the farm's boundaries. Bright Mac and Buttercup...a loving father and mother. That was the inscription." White Flame said. "...How did it happen?" He asked.

"Timberwolves. A whole fifty of them. Apple Bloom was only two months old at the time." Applejack said.

"I see. I apologize for your loss." White flame said.

"Ya got nothin' to apologize for. It ain't your fault." Applejack said.

"It's a thing. It's about letting some pony know that their thoughts and prayers are with them." White Flame said. "...Not everything I picked up when I was Gareth was bad you know." He added.

"I think we're getting off topic. Why bring up the fact I raised Apple Bloom like ma own daughter?" Applejack asked.

"Right. Back to the real topic at hand." White Flame said. "I'm sure Scootaloo really appreciates that she was basically adopted by Rainbow Dash, and I'm sure that any court would see that Rainbow Dash has proven to be a better parent then Scootaloo's biological parents ever considering they didn't even show up with Scootaloo's aunts died." He said.

"What's that got to do with--" Applejack started to say.

"You may not be able to have a child be related to you through blood, but I'm certain there might be a colt or filly in the orphanage you could raise instead. Just look at how Apple Bloom turned out if you want an example of how good of a mom you'd make. And I'm sure any child would love to call you their mom just like how Scootaloo calls Rainbow Dash her mom." White Flame said.

"...Ya wanna know something White Flame? Ah may not have initially trusted you, but yer right. Yer one hundred percent right. Ah should take a page out of Rainbow's book and adopt my own foal." Applejack said.

"I'm glad I could be of service then." White Flame said.

"And despite the fact you've got a horn on yer head, you've got the heart of an earth pony in ya. Don't matter if I can't birth my own foal, ah can still be someone's ma anyways. Guess ya can be real mature at times White Flame." Applejack said.

"Part of that comes from having a past life you know." White Flame said.

"Don't care. As far as I'm concerned, yer an honorary Apple. So if you want to continue hanging out with Apple Bloom, ah'll support you two 'till the day ah die." Applejack said.

White Flame was stunned. "Th-that's...wow..." White Flame said. "I'm not used to this kind of treatment." He added.

"Ma little sister was right: Your not Gareth. Yer White Flame." Applejack said. "And you most certainly kept my flame alive." she added.





A bit later, White Flame was invited to dinner with the family, and afterwards, Granny Smith approuched him.

"Ya did a fine good job with my grand daughter ya know. Really cheered her up." Granny Smith said.

"It wasn't nothing special Granny Apple Smith. I just did what came naturally to me." White Flame said.

"Ya got a way with words ya know that. Yer welcome over anytime as far as ah'm concerned." Granny Smith said.

"Th-that's such an honor. I promise you won't regret it." White Flame said and then left.

"No ah won't whippersnapper. No ah won't." Granny Smith said.
> Chapter 36 - Alternate Routes (One Bad Apple AU & Spike at Your Service AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


One Bad Apple AU


It was a normal day in Ponyville yet Apple Bloom was quite excited. The CMC and White Flame's group were together at the train station.

"Didn't know you had a cousin who lives in manehatten. But then again, you did once tell me that you have family practically all over Equestria." White Flame said.

"Well I'm planning on helping ma cousin Babs Seed avoid Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon while she's here." Apple Bloom said.

"Oh don't worry. I took care of that already." White Flame said.

"SNAKE!" The voices of Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon suddenly shouted before the two started to run far, far away from the train station just before the train pulled into the station.

Out of the train came an orange filly. "...Cuz, who in the world just yelled about a--" The filly was asking before Carol suddenly was next to her. "SNAKE!" She said before Apple Bloom stopped her.

"Chill out Babs. It's just White Flame's Pet Coral Snake." Apple Bloom said as the snake in question slithered over to White Flame.

"You really need to stop scaring ponies unnecessarily Carol." White Flame said before Carol bit his leg before wrapping around him.

"Err...isn't that dangerous to have a snake bite you?" Babs Seed asked.

"Coral Snakes aren't poisoness. Though people confuse them for their similarily colored cousins. It's like this: Red touch yellow, stay away fellow; red touch black, friendly jack." White Flame said.

"...Uh...Coral Snakes are too poisoness." Babs seed said before noticing that Carol was indeed red touching black. "...That's not a Coral Snake. That's a Milksnake." Babs Seed said before taking out a book. "See?" She added.

Sure enough, there it was clear as day. "Huh...well what do you know." White Flame said. "Guess I'm going to need a new name for Uncle's Pet, though I doubt she wants to be called anything different now." He said. Carol was hissing very fiercely at the idea of her name being changed. "...Thought so." White Flame concluded.

"Guess she's grown attached to her original name. And ah don't think you should change it either. Would make things weird and confusing." Apple Bloom said.

"So, wait a second, why did those two foals run away from a Milk Snake?" Babs asked.

"Because it's very easy for Carol to sneak up on other ponies and make them panic so much they forget to check for the coloring and thus, even though Carol isn't venomous, if she sneaks up on ponies, they'll be running for the hills anyways." White Flame said.

"...Huh. That's actually pretty neat. Ah can tell we're going to have fun while I'm here in Ponyville." Babs Seed said. "And if your hanging with my cousin, you can't be a bad pony." She added.

"White Flame may already have a cutie mark, but he's been super exploritory and even helpful at times. Just ask Sweetie Belle and Button Mash." Scootaloo said.

"It's true. Once, I wanted to do something nice for Sweetie Belle and it turned out Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon planned to sabotage me." Button Mash said.

"But thanks to Carol, those two never even got the chance." Sweetie Belle said.

"Wow. Yer something else ain't ya?" Babs Seed asked White Flame.

"It's a gift." White Flame said.






Spike at Your Service AU


"Thanks for choosing to help out around the shop for the day Spike." Smolder said as she and Spike were helping Rarity out around Canterlot Boutique.

"Well hey, your sister is important to you; and I want to make sure she doesn't become super jealous of our relationship." Spike said.

"Ha! There's no chance of that happening. Yeterday just before Babs Seed left back to Manehatten, Rarity had Fancy Pants over again." Smolder said.

"What the--how did you know he was here?" Rarity asked.

"Oh please. The two of you were loud enough that even me and Sweetie Belle could here you." Smolder said.

"Oh dear..." Rarity said.

"And from the sounds of things, you two are REALLY getting close now. So, when's the relationship going to go into full-blown romance?" Smolder asked.

"Wh-SMOLDER!" Rarity said.

"Just saying that you should really think about making this serious. It's about time you did so too." Smolder said.

"SMOLDER I'M WARNING YOU!" Rarity said.

"And to top it all of, I think you might actually be in lo--" Smolder was interuptted when Rarity suddenly bucked her out of the shop. "WOOOOOORRRRRTH IIIIIITTTT!" Smolder shouted as she flew out through the roof.

However, when Spike went to make sure she was okay, she had hit the pavement outside this time. "Oh...oh dear..." Rarity said when she came up to the sight of a now injured Smolder.





Some time later, Smolder was being treated by Spike and had a few bandages all over her. "Boy you really did it this time Rarity. I had a feeling eventually you'd buck Smolder out of the boutique and end up injuring her. You should be lucky she's a dragon, as this kind of fall would hurt any pony." Twilight said.

"Yeah. Dragons are thankfully made of tougher stuff. One time to actually be glad to be a dragon." Smolder said. "Ow!"

"Hold still, I'm putting some special ointment Twilight used whenever I got injured on you." Spike said.

"You got injured like this?" Smolder asked.

"Maybe not being as severe as this is, but yes; I did need treatment." Spike said.

"Wow. Your something else. Because this stings." Smolder said. "Ow!"

"It only stings if your moving." Twilight clarified. "And I'm going to be having a long talk with Rarity downstairs about her bucking you out of the house since it's gotten to this point." She added.

Rarity Gulped. She was not going to be looking forward to that talk. Not at all.
> Chapter 37 - Strange Times (Keep Calm & Flutter On AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord was currently looking at some kind of book when suddenly Smolder landed on top of him.

"OOF!" Smolder said. "...Hi again Discord." Smolder said before she got off of the Draconequus.

"Smolder. Mind telling me what caused you to come flying out of Rarity's house?" Disocrd said. "It's my first time back in Ponyville since your migration so I'm afraid I'm not up to date on current events." He said.

"Well my adoptive sister Rarity has started dating Fancy Pants of all ponies and I decided to tease her about it for all the teasing she gave me with Spike. Safe to say, she can't take payback very well." Smolder said.

"...Wait back up. Did you just say Rarity is dating Fancy Pants?" Discord asked.

"That is what I said yes. Why, is something wrong?" Smolder asked. Suddenly Discord shattered himself into a million pieces again. "...I'm grabbing Twilight." The orange dragoness said.





Some time later in Fluttershy's house, Discord had put himself back together.

"Um...hi." Fluttershy said.

"...Thought Smolder said she'd get Twilight." Discord noted.

"Um...well, she did. But because Twilight is going on a date with Flash Sentry you were dropped of here by the two of them." Fluttershy said.

"...Wait Twilight is going on a date with Flash Sentry?" Discord asked.

"Um...yes. That's right." Fluttershy said. Suddenly Discord broke into a million pieces again. "Oh dear. I suppose this is what happens when you haven't been checking up on the rest of us. I mean, between White Flame being a thing, most of my friends already mostly having a special some pony in their life, you've clearly missed a lot." Fluttershy said.

"White Flame? That's a name I haven't heard before." Discord said after putting himself back together. Suddenly White Flame entered and returned some bird seed.

"Thanks for the loan Fluttershy, but the bird feeding cutie mark the CMC were trying to do...well it didn't work out." White Flame said.

"Oh. Well that's fine. Did the girls get covered in tree sap?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nope. Shield spells, remember? I better get back." White Flame said and then left.

"Whoa whoa whao, do you know who that WAS?!" Discord exclaimed.

"Kind of. I mean, he told us about who he used to be and all but that's not him anymore." Fluttershy said. "He's White Flame now." Fluttershy said.

"BUT IT'S GARETH! If you knew the kind of madness he's capble of, then you'd avoid him like the plauge. Zanth cannot be trusted." Discord said.

"Um...except something apperently happened and now Gareth AKA White Flame is a seperate entity from Zanth." Fluttershy said.

"Wait what?" Discord said. "How much have I missed?" He asked.





It took the entire rest of the day, but Fluttershy was able to catch Discord up on current events.

"...Woof. And I thought the fact that Smolder being around Spike this early on was already chaotic as it was. But now all of this?" Discord said. "Clearly, I shouldn't be leaving for such long periods of time. Otherwise, I'll miss more chaotic changes." He asked.

"Well you can always stay at my place. I don't mind. Just so long as you keep your chaos to a minimum I don't mind." Fluttershy said.

"Well I won't need to cause Chaos at this point. White Flame's existance in this world seperate from Zanth is already bound to cause major levels of chaos. Seriously, you DON'T realize what kind of danger Zanth is." Discord said.

"White Flame just discrabes Zanth as a being born out of the sadness, hatred, and isolation that had happened to him while he was Gareth." Fluttershy said.

"...That's just the beginning. A being like me knows all too well what kind of devestation Gareth is capable of. I should know: I got a front-row seat to the whole thing long ago. And I'm talking literal eons ago." Discord said.

"You've been around for that long? Wow." Fluttershy said, eyes beaming.

"...But having been around secretly when Gareth became Zanth is both a blessing and a curse. It's a blessing because I know better then to get involves with Zanth. But it's a curse...when your forced to watch a being made up of pure dark Void Energy slaughter your own parents." Discord said.

"Wh-wh-what?!" Fluttershy was suddenly not feeling well.

"Zanth isn't like Luna's little episode as Nightmare Moon, Chryaslis wouldn't even hold a candle to Zanth's power, and what's more, Sombra's tyranny looks like sunshine and rainbows in comparison to the absolute destruction Zanth caused." Discord said. "But for the two of them to come to this world of all places...what is going on here?" He suddenly mumbled.

Fluttershy was looking troubled, but she couldn't help but notice Discord mumbled something. "Um...excuse me, what was that last part?" Fluttershy asked.

"Pay it no mind. I don't know what Zanth is doing here, but now I have to stay with you. I...I won't let him take you, Fluttershy. That's a promise." Discord said, suddenly giving Fluttershy a protective hug.

"Well...that's nice of you to say~" Fluttershy said.
> Chapter 38 - Double Sided Story Part 1 (Just for Sidekicks AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a normal day in Ponyville at first, but Twilight and her friends; plus the special some ponies of those that had them minus Fancy Pants though; were boarding a train to the Crystal Empire.

"We're just about ready to go. Spike, are you sure you and Smolder will be fine watching over every pet while we're away?" Twilight asked.

"It'll be fine. Though I have a feeling the CMC and White Flame's Gang will probably show up at some point. They all are still trying to get their cutie marks after all." Spike said. "And if that happens, I guess we'll just have some extra hooves to help." He added.

Suddenly Discord showed up. "Excuse me, but did some pony just mention White Flame? I guess it'd best if I stayed here to keep an eye out." Discord said. "I mean, after all, you are all heading to--" He was suddenly cut off by Pinkie Pie who hit him with a sign that had the word "Spoilers" inside of a red circle with a red line going through the word diagonally.

"...Sometimes, Pinkie Pie's antics both confuse AND amuse me." Twilight said.

"Is that supposed to be some sign meant to be anti-spoiler?" Flash Sentry asked.

"Yes, it is. Thanks for asking~" Pinkie Pie said with practical glee on her face.

"...And suddenly I feel confident in what we're planning to do." Flash Sentry said.





While Spike & Smolder did gather all the pets of the main six, they were shortly assisted by the CMC and White Flame's group.

"Wow, Spike was right about the six of you deciding to help. Guess he must be Psychic or something." Smolder said.

"No, I just had a very good feeling this would end up being the case." Spike said.

"You know us well." Sweetie Belle said. "Part of that might come from being my draconic sister's love interest, but I digress." She added.

"...Bwah?" Scootaloo asked. "Seriously Sweetie Belle, it's like your walking dictionary at times saying words I don't even know exist." She added.

"Let it go Scootaloo." Rumble said.

"...Yeah fair enough." Scootaloo said.

"Plus, I don't even hold a candle to Twilight who probably knows even more words than I do." Sweetie Belle said.

"Actually, Twilight's more known for getting overly scientific." Spike said.

"...Fair point." Sweetie Belle said.

"Since we've already helped round up the pets, we might as well help out where we can." White Flame said.

Suddenly Discord showed up. "Hello, White Flame." Discord said.

"...Hello. Have we met yet? Because I don't think we have." White Flame said.

"...You don't remember?" Discord asked.

"I have no idea what you're talking about. I really don't know you. I've never met you in my life." White Flame said.

"Which life are you referring to?" Discord asked. "...Fluttershy told me everything." He asked.

"Oh. No. I don't think we've met either in this life or my old one. I'd remember you. You have a very distinct shape." White Flame said. "We can talk later. There are pets needing to be taken care of. And I wouldn't cross Fluttershy if I was you. She may be meek and timid, but she detests acts of animal cruelity. And if she hears you occupied us when we were supposed to take care of all these pets...well..." He added.

"...You raise an extremely good point. But I'm keeping my eye on you, White Flame." Discord said before vanishing.

"...Did I do something to offend Discord?" White Flame asked.

"To my knowledge? No." Spike said.

"Hmm..." White Flame said.





It was soon the end of the week when the Main Six came back after their own adventure and found the CMC, the two dragons, Button Mash, and Rumble cleaning up Angel.

"Oh hey. Looks like Spike was right." Flash said.

"I guess he just had a feeling." Twilight acknowledged.

"Indeed, I did. White Flame helped out a bunch too." Spike said.

"Really? Where is he right now?" Twilight asked.

"Talking outside with Discord." Smolder said.





Meanwhile outside, Discord reveals why he was watching White Flame.

"...I see. The thing is, after I seperated from Zanth, while I was aware I did many bad things while he and I were still sharing one body, I have no memory of what the actions were. So if something that I did while we were one being, I apologize for it." White Flame said.

"No. I should apologize to you. I thought you'd still remember everything. And I guess I should direct my anger towards the true source of my pain. And yours." Discord said.

"Zanth. I swear that this time, I will make sure the suffering comes to a close. That's my mission." White Flame said. "This will be the last world he ever enters." White Flame said before entering the library.

"...If only you knew what this world was White Flame, then you'd find it quite ironic that you wish such a thing on this world of all worlds." Discord said.
> Chapter 39 - Double Sided Story Part 2 (Games Ponies Play AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a normal day in Ponyville at first, but Twilight and her friends; plus the special some ponies of those that had them minus Fancy Pants though; were boarding a train to the Crystal Empire.

"We're just about ready to go. Spike, are you sure you and Smolder will be fine watching over every pet while we're away?" Twilight asked.

"It'll be fine. Though I have a feeling the CMC and White Flame's Gang will probably show up at some point. They all are still trying to get their cutie marks after all." Spike said. "And if that happens, I guess we'll just have some extra hooves to help." He added.

Suddenly Discord showed up. "Excuse me, but did some pony just mention White Flame? I guess it'd best if I stayed here to keep an eye out." Discord said. "I mean, after all, you are all heading to--" He was suddenly cut off by Pinkie Pie who hit him with a sign that had the word "Spoilers" inside of a red circle with a red line going through the word diagnally.

"...Sometimes, Pinkie Pie's antics both confuse AND amuse me." Twilight said.

"Is that supposed to be some sign meant to be anti-spoiler?" Flash Sentry asked.

"Yes it is. Thanks for asking~" Pinkie Pie said.

"...And suddenly I feel confident in what we're planning to do." Flash Sentry said.





Once the group arrived in the crystal empire, they were quite surprised to find Fancy Pants waiting for them there.

"Fancy Pants? What in equestria are you doing here?" Rarity asked.

"News that the Equestria games starting soon, and a location being decided drew me here. Since this place hasn't been seen for over a thousand years, I figured that I might as well have a look around the place." Fancy Pants said.

"The wonderbolts already toured the place a couple of weeks ago, but I guess a noble like yourself would become interested with such a place." Soarin said.

"You never told me that the Wonderbolts were here." Rainbow Dash noted.

"Wasn't supposed to. In fact, nopony besides Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor were supposed to know we were even here. We were on vacation, and we didn't want to risk getting mobbed by fans here." Soarin said.

"Oh trust me, you wouldn't have gotten mobbed if the Crystal Ponies knew you were here." Rainbow Dash said. The group soon found themselves in front of a giant crystal statue of Spike & Smolder both holding a replica of the Crystal Heart. "Especially since the crystal ponies have two specific dragons they would sooner mob then you guys." Rainbow Dash concluded.

"Huh. So that's what that dragon sister of yours looks like. You simply must introduce me to her at some point." Fancy Pants said. "I know all to well what Spike looks like, so the other dragon being depicted must be Smolder." He added.

"So can any pony tell me why's there a statue of the two draconic lovebirds?" Soarin asked.

"Well they were the two who delivered the Crystal Heart to Cadence." Twilight said. "So I'm guessing the Crystal Ponies revere them in that way." She added.

Fancy Pants opened his mouth to correct Twilight, then remembered something: Twilight's brother was Shining Armor. "Something the matter Fancy Pants?" Rarity asked him.

"...Just being reminded that one of your friends has a brother who's married to one of the Princesses." Fancy Pants said as most of the group went on ahead.

Soarin and Rainbow Dash didn't follow right away though. "So, about the whole, Wonderbolts being here on vacation thing in secret..." Soarin started.

"You're lucky I understand that you were worried that you'd get fan mobbed, but honestly you had nothing to worry about." Rainbow Dash said. "Just don't hide things like this from me again." She added.

"Well actually, the fan mob wasn't the only reason why I didn't tell you. I was worried that if Spitfire found out about us, she'd find a way to just shut down everything. And I mean everything." Soarin said. "And I know how much being part of a team that inspires others like the Wonderbolts is supposed to stand for means to you." He added

"Oh." Rainbow Dash said, getting it right away. "I guess in that case, I can really overlook this since you were looking out for me. Sometimes, you really just make the best gestures. Come over to my place once we convince the Equestria Games inspector that this is the place for the games; I'll give you a reward." The cyan pegasus then went to catch up with the others with Soarin close behind.





Sometime later that day, Rarity had Fancy Pants over for some tea. But what was most notable was that Fancy Pants looked like he was writing a few things. "Fancy, I don't mean to pry but...why are you writing things down?" Rarity said.

"Beats me. For some reason, I feel like I should remember this and make sure I remember this right. My sister always jokes about how I will be writing things down when I should remember them correctly. But I always tell her that I've always felt like it's best to have two sources of information: The stuff you memorize, and the stuff you write." Fancy Pants said.

"That's actually not silly at all. I suppose the more information you have to yourself, the better." Rarity said.

Little did either unicorn realize, Fancy Pants's writing of information would play a part in a few days time...

TO BE CONTINUED...
> Chapter 40 - Magical Mystery Cure (Magical Mystery Cure AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had started like a normal day in Ponyville when Twilight had cast an unfinished spell by her idol Starswirl the Bearded. This unfortunately caused the cutie marks of all her friends to switch around and become jumbled up.

"I've got to figure out a way to fix this." Twilight said as started heading back outside the Library. Spike and Smolder were currently out of town which Spike had let Princess Celestia know. However, as soon as she opened the door outside, not only was Flash Sentry there, but so where Fancy Pants and Soarin.

"Hey Twilight, we got a bit of a problem." Flash asked.

"I may already know what it is. But I'm going to fix it." Twilight said.

"Kind of hope you will, considering there are things that just don't line up between our memories and Fancy Pants's various notes." Soarin said.

"...His what now?" Twilight asked.

"Ever since I was a child, I've written pages of various information in regard to every pony I've ever met. You know, just in case some malevolent force would one day try to take away or change my memories. I've always said that it helps to have a documented case of your memories just in case such a thing was to become a thing." Fancy Pants said.

"You do realize how niche of a situation that would be, right?" Twilight asked.

"I'm aware of it, but I think in this case, my hindsight might have just discovered some real major error between my physical memory and my written memory." Fancy Pants said before laying out some of the documents he had based on the other members of the Mane Six.

And being as smart as she is, Twilight saw what Fancy Pants was talking about right away. "These documents are details of my friends, the way that I know them to be." Twilight said.

"But for some reason, not too long ago, Flash Sentry, Soarin, and even myself started remembering your friends differently from what I've written down. Rarity being in control of the weather for Ponyville, Rainbow Dash being an animal caretaker, and so on and so forth." Fancy Pants said.

"That's...kind of the problem. Princess Celestia sent me a spell made by Starswirl the bearded, but it seems that casting it in it's unfinished nature has caused the cutie marks of my friends to become jumbled up." Twilight said.

"...Did you really just cast an unfinished spell? What am I talking about, it's Starswirl the Bearded. Of course, you did." Flash Sentry said. "Sometimes I wonder why you fixate on him." He added.

"He was a very wise and powerful unicorn mage. So, the legends say before he mysteriously vanished long ago under unknown circumstances that to this day, are shrouded in mystery." Twilight said.

"Right...So, how can we help? We'll do what we can to help you fix this mess." Soarin said. "Got permission from Spitfire as soon as the memory difference happened, because I had a feeling it was urgent and probably Princess Celestia related." He added.

"I could use all the help I could get. Especially from you and Fancy Pants Soarin." Twillight said.





With some help from the three stallions, Twilight was able to fix the jumbled up situations of her friends.

"Never thought I'd find my entire identity rewritten because of some unfinished spell." Rainbow Dash said. "Thanks for helping out though Soarin. That really meant a lot." She added before hugging the wonderbolt.

"It was nothing. Though apperently, while you were mixed up..." Soarin said.

"Yeah that was weird. Not only did that spell change our cutie marks up, it also made Rarity attracted to Soarin, but me attracted to Fancy Pants." Applejack said.

"Can kind of overlook that since we were all mixed up from the whole 'Unfinished Spell' business." Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm just glad we're back to being the friends we know each other as~" Pinkie Pie said.

Twilight then gasped. "I think I know how to fix the spell!" Twilight said and then ran off with every pony following after her.





There were quite a few events that played out from there, but the most important one of all was that Twilight had ascended into an alicorn. As soon as that had been a thing, Flash Sentry immediately had gone to Princess Celestia to request a permanent transfer to Ponyville right away. This did not go unnoticed, however.

"So Corporal, any reason why you're transferring to Ponyville? Is it just because my sister is a princess now?" Shining Armor asked.

"Honestly, that's the biggest reason. But I think you can guess that I have other reasons too. She may be an alicorn princess now, but she's still Twilight Sparkle, the same pony that was studying under Princess Celestia and the one I bumped into when she was in Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns one day. She may have changed on the outside, but I doubt she's changed much on the inside if at all." Flash explained. "And then there's the fact that, I want to help her where I can. She needs some pony to make sure she doesn't lose sight of who she is. And if I can be that pony for her at all times, then so be it." He added

"...That...wow...My sister has had quite the effect on you huh?" Shining Armor asked.

"That's your sister in a nutshell: She has that effect on ponies." Flash Sentry said.






Unknown Location


Meanwhile, elsewhere in Equestria, there was a mysterious mutant mole looking at some kind of bricked building that had the front of it blown apart.

"This...can't be..." The Mole said. "This is really it then. I can't believe it. The boss was right." He added. "...I better check to make sure Zanth is here for sure before I report back in with my superior officer. After all, that's my duty as a soldier." The Mole concluded before starting to walk away, and just before the scene fades to black, on his shoulder one could spy a military badge marking the mole as a three star general.
> Chapter 41 - Vine Country (Equestria Girls Aftermath + Princess Twilight Sparkle AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a few days since Twilight became an Alicorn Princess. There was an official announcement and celebration of such done at the Crystal Empire. That same night, there had been a theft of Twilight's element which turned out to be another of Celestia's students and the one just before Twilight: A mare known as Sunset Shimmer.

Spike had gone with Twilight through the mirror after Sunset Shimmer, leaving the rest of the main six and Smolder to wait for the pair on the other side on Celestia's orders. Around three days later, the pair eventually emerged from the mirror.

"Oh Spike!" Smolder said before hugging her dragon boyfriend. "Missed you!" She added.

"Missed you too Smolder. Amongst other things." Spike said. "We'll have to tell you later." He added.

"I'm sure you've got plenty to tell. But I have to know: What happened with Sunset?" Celestia asked.

"...Currently, I figured that she could learn the magic of friendship over in that world. Figured it was better that way." Twilight said.

"I see. That's better than I could ever hope to do. Besides, I don't know if I'm ready to see her again just yet." Celestia said. "I do know though, that I will one day." She added.





Finally, it was back to business after another few days. There would be a special role for Twilight to play in the upcoming Winter Sun Celebration. So, both Rainbow Dash and Flash Sentry had been helping to teach Twilight how to fly. Speaking of Flash Sentry, ever since she got back from the human world, Twilight's been spending a lot more time around Flash and not just because he's soon to be transferred to Ponyville on a permanent assignment to protect Twilight.

"Wow, you're really getting the hang of flying." Rainbow Dash said. "Guess having two tutors really helped with that." She added.

"It really has." Twilight said as she landed.

"Really kind of wish you gals could stick around, but orders are orders: I have to escort you five to the train station to go back to Ponyville. You'll be seeing each other tomorrow however and then I'll be going back with you." Flash said.

"Yeah. This'll be your last assignment in Canterlot essentially." Applejack said.

"I honestly can't wait to have you over at Ponyville. I'm sure Twilight will give you a good old-fashioned tour of the place. And I REALLY have to make plans of my own." Pinkie Pie said.

"Plans? What plans is she talking about?" Flash asked.

"It's not much of a surprise to say this, considering Pinkie Pie throws a party for every new pony she meets; so let's just say you better be ready for cake." Twilight said.

"...I guess her working for the local bakers of the town has it's perks." Flash said.

"Yeah. Which I guess includes living there." Twilight said.

"SHE LIVES IN THE BAKERY?!" Flash exclaimed

"The cakes had plenty of room. Plus, living there gives me the ability to make many, many cupcakes." Pinkie Pie says before she takes out a cupcake out of her mane and eats it.

"...How does she hold so many cupcakes in there and not get any hair on any of them?" Flash Sentry asked.

"Flash, want to know something about Pinkie Pie that I learned all to well by this point?" Twilight asked.

"And what would that be?" Flash asked.

"It's Pinkie Pie, don't question it." Twilight said.

"Heh...she's learnt well." Rainbow Dash said.





What would've been the day of the Winter Sun Celebration turned into a nightmare when Luna and Celestia had gone missing, and the sky was stuck between both day and night.

"Since both Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are missing and these black vines are starting to spring up here and there, we as the royal guard have to turn to you Princess Twilight as Princess Cadence and Prince Shining Armor are still in the Crystal Empire." The Royal Guard Officer who had been explaining things to Twilight said.

"...I see." Twilight said. "In that case, Flash, your coming with me. Every pony else, keep searching for Celestia and Luna." She added.

"Understood." The Royal Guard officer who had spoken before said before the unit left.

"So where are we headed?" Flash asked.

"Over to Ponyville. If something has happened to the royal sisters, I have a feeling we'll need the help of my friends." Twilight said.

"Fair point." Flash said and expanded his wings. "...Shall we fly?" He asked.

"Good idea. Magic may not be safe right now." Twilight said.





The Alicorn and Guard returned to Ponyville, and the library where the rest of the main six, the CMC, and White Flame's gang were getting overwhelmed by the black vines. Soarin and Fancy Pants were there too.

"So, I'm guessing your here because of the Princesses? Surely they must know something is up." Soarin said.

"Actually, both Princess Celestia AND Princess Luna are missing." Flash Sentry said.

"Say what?! Oh, this just got worse." Fancy Pants said.

"So what are they doing here?" Twilight asked.

"Well I noticed that these vines were growing like crazy, and Fancy Pants here...actually, why are you here? I at least have permission from Spitfire since this seemed serious. The other Wonderbolts are already on their way considering we all saw this. Spitfire's concerned for the civilians." Soarin said. "Though I'm not sure how she'll respond to two of our princesses going missing." He added.

"He was waiting for me at the boutique. He wanted to surprise me and come with us to the Winter Sun Celebration." Rarity said.

"Didn't expect to have to help take care of a lot of vines." Fancy Pants said.

"Maybe Discord knows something. I don't know if he's involved, but he could have an idea or two of what's going on." Rainbow Dash said.

"That's actually not a bad idea." Smolder said, coming down with Spike. The two dragons had stayed in Ponyville.

"True, Discord could know something." Twilight said.





"You actually believe that I have something to do with this?" Discord asked.

"Not saying you actually did anything." Twilight said. "We're not accusing you of being responsible. We're just asking if you know anything about these vines." She added. "There's a big difference between accusing you of doing this, and just asking if you know something." The alicorn finished.

"Fair enough point, but you should probably know, I actually had forgotten about these things. It was so long ago when I planted their seeds." Discord said.

"...You planted these things?" Twilight asked.

"Oh yes. However, since it's been so long, I figured the Plunderseeds were all dead." Discord admitted.

"...Well apperently they weren't. Can you do something about it then?" Twilight asked.

"Oh really, and what makes you think you--" Discord was about to counter when Spike grew to his monster form. "...Right. That." Discord said. "Well, I guess it's a good time to mention, just in case, I already tried to use my chaos magic on the vines but...it's not working." He added.

"But you planted them. How could you not be able to control them?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Must have something to do with where the Princesses first found the elements: The Tree of Harmony." Twilight said and saw Zecora heading out of the forest.

"And it looks like Zecora is fleeing the forest. The tree must be in there." Applejack said.

"Zecora might be able to help us find the tree." Twilight said.





Eventually the main six returned the elements to the tree and got rid of the vines. The tree spit out a chest and then the mane six returned to Ponyville.

"Oh your back and have saved the day. So, where are the elements?" Discord asked.

"Well they may have been returned to the tree of harmony, but don't think that means you have a free pass." Twilight said.

"...Wait, are you referring to..." Discord started before Twilight nodded causing the lord of chaos to gulp. "...Yeah. I'll be good. Something tells me I don't want to get on Spike's bad side." Discord said.

"You better believe you shouldn't." Twilight noted. "Told you with Spike you should be scared of a dragon." She added.

"Now I'm hating it that your right. Normally I'd be glad to be wrong, but in this case, I'm not." Discord said.

"Better behave yourself then, unless you want to hate me being right even more." Twilight said.

"...Right..." Discord said.





Meanwhile in the dragon lands, the mysterious mutant mole was taking photos of Garble talking with the giant purple energy orb now known to the ponies as Zanth. The Mole had some kind of high-tech device and was chatting with a blurred figure.

"Zanth has been spotted. He can't be allowed to reuinite with Gareth under any circumstances." The Mole said.

"I see. Then you know what you have to do. It's the price of our job sometimes." A male voice said from the other end of the line.

"Understood boss." The mole said before the connection was cut.
> Chapter 42 - Castle Stay (Castle Mania AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight had her head on the Library table. "Still not finding anything?" Flash asked.

"Nope. I've been coming up with nothing. Nada. Zero. Zilch." Twilight said. "And of all the times for Spike to be away with Smolder on a dare into the Everfree Forest." She added.

"...Why are they doing that again?" Flash asked.

"After Smolder's latest teasing of Rarity and Fancy Pants's relationship, Rarity decided that if Smolder and Spike can survive for 24 hours together in the Everfree Forest without ever getting scared and make it out alive, then Rarity will stop kicking Smolder out of the house every time Smolder teases Rarity." Twilight said.

"So less of a dare, and more of a deal." Flash said.

"Yep. Thing is, they've already been in there for 10 hours so far. So, I have a feeling Rarity is going to be losing that deal. Pinkie Pie even bet Rarity 10 Bits that the dragon couple will win and if there's one thing I've learnt about Pinkie Pie, it's that you don't question her. And she's been right about every bet that's happened." Twilight said.

"So your trusting Pinkie Pie's intution with that?" Flash asked.

"Yep." Twilight said. Suddenly a letter materialized. "Ah. Right. I sent a letter to Princess Celestia asking about this." The purple alicorn said.

"Really? Were you asking about the archives?" Flash asked.

"Figured they might hold a few clues." Twilight said and opened the letter. "Huh. So apperently, Celestia admits that while the archives might help, there are books at the old castle that predate the mondern equestria books. Do you know what this means? Thousands of books just waiting to be discovered!" She added.

"Maybe you'll find something new to read then. Haven't you read each of these books a thousand times or something by now?" Flash asked.

"You know me too well." Twilight said.





Quickly within the Castle of the Two Sisters, Twilight and Flash ran into Smolder and Spike.

"Oh hey Twilight." Smolder said.

"Smolder? What are you two doing here?" Twilight asked. Spike then flashed a book titled "Survival 101" at her. "...Huh. I had a feeling you were the one that took that." Twilight said.

"And one of the most important things this book states is to have a shelter. Figured neither Princess Celestia nor Princess Luna would mind if we borrowed the space for the deal." Spike said.

"Plus I found a kitchen. Makes whipping up meals quite a breeze." Smolder said. "Didn't know Spike here was an even better cook then I am." She added.

"...You cook Smolder?" Flash asked.

"I do. I kind of have to. Rarity is very busy with her work, and Sweetie's cooking is...well..." Smolder suddenly trailed off. "...Is calling it a disaster too harsh?" She asked.

"That bad huh?" Twilight asked.

"You have no idea." Smolder said. "One time, I got sick and couldn't cook; Sweetie tried and ended up burning juice. I MEAN HOW IN THE WORLD DO YOU BURN JUICE?!" She exclaimed.

"I don't want to know..." Flash asked.

"That makes two of us." Twilight said.





Some time later after the rest of the main six was accounted for after some shenanigans in the castle, the group had stayed over night at the castle.

"Well this was quite the past few hours. Though I admit, things really got out of hand." Rarity said.

"Yeah. Especially with Rainbow Dash and I." Applejack said.

"Not sure how the CMC and White Flame's group got here though. Thought you six were crusading?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"We were, but then White Flame wanted to explore this place." Apple Bloom said.

"Hey, you don't know. One of you might have gotten an archologist's cutie mark from this. There are a few ruins like this one scattered across equestria. Do you know what that could do for history's sake?" White Flame asked.

"Well it might be something I'll look into, but nothing that I feel concrete about." Rumble admitted.

"Yeah same. Might be something fun to work on on the side." Scootaloo said.

"That's my daughter for you." Rainbow Dash said, ruffling Scootaloo's mane. "Kind of wish I knew what dad was talking about in his letter." She added.

"Hmm? What do you mean?" Twilight asked.

"Dad wrote me a bit ago. Seems he found out about my adoption of Scootaloo as my own daughter. And Windy Whistles just got cancer. Thing is, apparently according to him, she's not my biological mother. But he refuses to tell me who it really is. Just that my real mother's out there. Somewhere." Rainbow Dash said.

"Ooooo...I sense a doozy coming in a couple of days, and woo boy, this one is MUCH bigger then Twilight believing!" Pinkie Pie said. "Oh by the way Rarity, you owe me ten bits." She added.

"I do?" Rarity asked.

"Yep." Pinkie Pie said before an alarm clock sounded which the party pony took out of her mane and silenced. "It's been exactly twenty-four hours since the dragons left for the forest and thus, they won your little deal." Pinkie Pie added.

"Wow." Spike said.

"Time flies when you find your sister suddenly crying over a tapestry she wanted to restore." Smolder said. "And reading Princess Celestia's dairy." She added.

Rarity quietly handed over ten bits to Pinkie Pie. "So, a couple of days from now, something doozy is going to happen? Now I'm excited. Good thing I have things in place with Thunderlane just in case I have to go out of town for a bit now." Rainbow Dash said.

"You actually talked with my brother?" Rumble asked.

"I trust you more than him honestly." Rainbow Dash added.

"...Yeah, that sounds about right." Rumble noted.
> Chapter 43 - The Mole (Daring Don't Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was just this morning that Rainbow Dash and the rest of the main six had left for the house of A.K. Yearling. None of them seemed to be back though yet the CMC and White Flame's gang were enjoying a picnic.

"Mom's really liking that I'm getting out of the house more thanks to White Flame. Seriously dude, thanks for convincing me on that." Button Mash said.

"You can still enjoy your video games if you want. Plus, I hear the Pony 64 will allow for up to four players for certain games." White Flame said.

"Mom already felt me on that one apparently: She admitted she already put in for a pre-order since the system seems to support me being able to play with many of my friends at once." Button Mash said.

"Wow. Guess having good grades really helped." Scootaloo admitted.

"Well, you all have made studying quite fun. Guess having friends can do a lot." Button Mash said.

"Told you." White flame said.

"Oh look whose hanging out with the blank flanks again." An all too familiar voice said.

"...Diamond Tiara." Apple Bloom said.

Sure enough, Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon started approaching the six children when suddenly they were seperated from one another when the ground between them started being disturbed. "What the heck? What's going on now?!" Silver Spoon exclaimed.

The ground was apparently being dug through as a large amount of dirt was risen from it as something continued to borrow its way around the eight children. "What is this thing, some sort of mole?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I have a strange feeling it's something a lot more than some mole." White Flame said.

Sure enough, White Flame was right when out popped some kind of mutated mole person. "Found you, Gareth." The Mole said, pointing a claw at White Flame.

"This isn't Gareth. This is White Flame. Plus, he's our friend." Scootaloo said.

"Do you even understand what he is? What else is here if he's here?" The strange Mole said.

"We know, and we don't care. He's our friend." Rumble said.

"...Be that as it may, I have orders. I am General Johnson Molloy, but you can call me by my code name." The Mole creature said. "...The Mole." He added before he started rushing right towards White Flame.

"...Tch. Of all the lousy things..." White Flame said then parted his hair before bringing up a magic shield.

"HE'S BEEN A UNICORN THIS WHOLE TIME?!" Diamond Tiara exclaimed.

"Gee, guess White Flame REALLY hid that well didn't he?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Yeah. Heck, until you revealed it on the way to the crystal empire, I was convinced he was an earth pony this whole time." Button Mash said.

"Same here." Rumble said.

"Yeah he defiantly does not give you the impression that he's a unicorn. Even now that we know that, he really does come off more as an earth pony then a unicorn huh?" Scootaloo asked.

"You said it, not me." Sweetie Belle said.

Suddenly The Mole was hit by some sort of purple attack which skinned his body. "What the..." The Mole said after being bounced back and seeing the damage. "That's impossible. My body was genetically altered to withstand everything that could be thrown at me." He said.

"Maybe you should check who attacked you first before you go around making assumptions." A strange, very mature sounding voice said before a mysteriously strange creatured colored purple and gray appeared wearing a cape. Not only this, but this creature had some sort of wings on their butt, their head made a strange V pattern, and they were admittedly kind of tiny. They did have blood-colored eyes though.

"Wha--no. That's impossible." The Mole said.

"Been a long time, hasn't it Johnson? We haven't seen each other since the day I died after all." The strange V creature said.

"Shallor. How are you here? Your supposed to be dead." The Mole said.

"You have your orders and I have mine: I've been asked by forced far beyond you-know-who's purview to make sure White Flame isn't murdered. So, when wind of your orders to kill White Flame reached my superior's ears, I was given a pass you could say to make sure you learnt the hard way to leave White Flame alone. If absolutely necessary, that is." Shallor said.

"Tch. Why would the Creator want White Flame alive? He knows how dangarous Zanth is." The Mole questioned.

"It's not the Creator I take orders from right now. Someone witch much more authority then even that." Shallor said.

"...Tch. Fine. But I'm keeping an eye out on White Flame. The moment he does something evil though, all bets are off. Got that Shallor?" The Mole said.

"...Wouldn't have it any other way." Shallor said before vanishing into a piller of shadow and then Johnson burrowed away.

"...What just happened?" Silver Spoon asked.





Later on, there was quite the revaluation at Rainbow Dash's resident that night. "DARING DO IS YOUR WHAT?!" Scootaloo's voice could be heard all across Ponyville.

"...Guessing Rainbow Dash told Scootaloo." Twilight said.

"Yeah. I never expected that not only finding out A.K. Yearling was really Daring Do, but that Daring Do was Rainbow Dash's real mother was one hell of a shocker today." Spike said.

"Tell me about it." Smolder said.
> Chapter 44 - Johnson Molloy (No Featured Episodes)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The next day, Johnson Molloy was at Fluttershy's cavern as the yellow pegasus allowed the mole to stay at her cabin while he keeps an eye on White Flame. Thankfully, according to Apple Bloom, there was this strange creature that convinced this course of action.

"So, about that creature Apple Bloom mentioned. Do you know him?" Fluttershy asked.

"...That would be Shallor. Thing is, last time I saw him, he had sacrificed his life to stop a technological demon known as Haywire. Guess he really is dead and doing something for a certain someone I've been made aware of." The Mole said.

"I see. I guess he's not important. I'm more interested in you as you are a mutated animal." Fluttershy said. "Didn't know animals gave consent to be mutated into some sort of soldier." She added.

"...You could consider what I was before to be an animal I suppose. Surely, from what I understand, you know of humans already. I used to be one. That's where my real name comes from anyways: Johnson Molloy. When I became what you see before you, I was given the codename of 'The Mole'." The Mole said.

"In that case, why become a mutant animal just to become a soldier?" Fluttershy asked.

"Because initially, I couldn't. I had a rare blood disorder that prevented me from going into the military. I became devastated. That is until, I was offered an alternative: To allow myself to undergo a mutation into a mutant animal soldier. Thus, I became what you see before you now." The Mole said.

"Didn't know whatever world you came from would be allowed to do that sort of thing." Fluttershy said.

"...Thing is, there is no world that exists that would condone this sort of thing. Not a real world at least." The Mole said. "From what my boss told me, he created my story before well...everything that happened with him. That's right, I'm not even from the real world: I'm from a written story." He added.

"So then, how did you become real?" Fluttershy asked.

"A villain known as the Abomination stole the original copies of my boss's story and then modified them before bringing them to life." The Mole said. "Of course, while he had modified those stories, he couldn't modify my personality. So, I turned on him and ended up starting to work for my boss." He added.

"Wow. You're basically a fictional character given life. Twilight's already had a field day with learning her favorite adventure story series is based on a real person's adventures." Fluttershy said.

"This Daring Do character? Yeah, I'm nothing like her though. That is a story series about someone who already existed right? My story was based in pure fantasy. Yet the abomination made me real." The Mole said.

"Well at least your nothing like The Wildman." Fluttershy said. At that moment, Johnson dropped the teacup he was holding. "Did I say something wrong?" Fluttershy asked.

"What do you know about 'The Wildman'?" Johnson asked, his tone was a lot more serious; almost cold even.

"Well...um...only that he apperently killed the parents of Queen Chrysalis." Fluttershy said.

"Oh. I guess that would be fair that he would do something like that before my boss encountered him. How did you come across this information?" Johnson asked, though his tone was a little more relaxed.

"Well...he told me and my friends." Fluttershy said.

"But that's impossible. My boss killed him three years ago." Johnson said. "Unless someone brought him back to life for whatever reason." He added.

"Why would your boss kill someone?" Fluttershy asked.

"Because, when my boss killed The Wildman, whoever he really was had gone completely feral and was shrugging off every other attack. Eventually, my boss decided to show the man who had become the feral beast known as The Wildman mercy by simply killing The Wildman with his most deadly attack of all: Elemental Cyclone." Johnson said. "...But anyone who would revive that beast doesn't know what he did. He gave my boss intense PTSD, and it took him until last year to finally put that PTSD into a corner of his mind." He added.

"Oh...oh my..." Fluttershy said.

"If The Wildman returns again, for his sake, you must put him out of his misery once more, before he causes you or anyone you care about to suffer from PTSD like my boss did." Johnson said.

"I'll...I'll tell Twilight..." Fluttershy said before rushing off.

"...So, The Wildman is here too huh? Guess I've got two baddies on my plate now." Johnson said to himself.
> Chapter 45 - Filly Time (Power Ponies AU & Bats! Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Power Ponies AU


The mane six, the CMC, and WFG were all at the Castle of the Two Sisters cleaning the place up. The two dragons were there too.

"So, remind me again: Why are we choosing to clean this place up?" Smolder asked Spike.

"Something Twilight thought up because she wants to see if this place can be made into some kind of hideaway." Spike said.

"Maybe she got the idea from the 24 hours we spent in this castle~" Smolder said.

"Wouldn't put it past her." Spike said.

"Speaking of, which one of you was it that had the bright idea to use this place as a shelter?" Rarity asked.

"It was Spike." Smolder said.

"...What?" Rarity was confused. "I would've expected that to be your idea, Smolder." She added.

"Nope. Totally Spike's idea. Even if I was the one who managed to scrounge up all the food we ate." Smolder said.

"...Your kidding me right? Applejack, help me." Rarity said.

"Ah ain't no lie dictator. Ah may be able to tell when some pony's lying through their teeth, but sometimes, ah just can't tell if and when some pony is lying." Applejack said.

"...Yeah, that's probably for the best. Would start to feel super overpowered after a while." Rainbow Dash said.

"Says the mare who can pull of that Sonic Rainboom like it's no pony's business." Applejack said.

"Well actually, she's not the only one who can do something like the Sonic Rainboom anymore." Scootaloo said, rubbing one of her legs.

"...Don't bucking tell me that you can do it too, Scootaloo." Applejack asked.

"And don't forget Rumble." Scootaloo said. And then Applejack fainted.

"You just broke Applejack. Congratulations Scootaloo." White Flame said sarcastically but in good fun as he snickered.

"I will wear that like a badge of honor." Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes even though went with the joke, snickering afterwards.

"Wait, is that why my animal friends were all in a tizzy yesterday when those two light explosions happened back-to-back?" Fluttershy asked. And then Rarity fainted onto her usual fainting couch.

"This has got to be some kind of record." White Flame said.






Bats! Background


A couple of days later, the CMC, WFG, and the two dragons were out and about around town hoping to find something to do to earn cutie marks. There was one place they had to stay out of.

"Sis told me that for the time being, we need to stay away from Sweet Apple Acres. We got Vampire Fruit bats muching on our crops this year." Apple Bloom said.

"Couldn't we try hearding them away from the farm for her? Who knows, one of us might get a 'Bat Chaser' cutie mark or something." Scootaloo noted.

"Sis already contacted the other adutls. Ah know it sucks that we can't help out, but with Twilight there, there will be a plan that will solve the problem so easily, none of us will have time to GET a cutie mark from wrangling the fruit bats." Apple Bloom said.

"That's a fair enough point." Rumble admitted.

"Besides, there are all sorts of other activities around ponyville we could do instead." Apple Bloom said.





Sadly, both that day and the next day that were spent, no pony got any new cutie marks. However, there was one thing that did happen the very next night when Applejack had a trap set up for any way ward vampire fruit bats and then that brought something to the forefront.

"Wait, you mean that Fluttershy is still turning into some kind of bat pony once a week?" Rainbow Dash said.

"Princess Celestia, can't you do anything?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Sadly no. But I do believe that Fluttershy has the condition under wraps now." Celestia said.

"More or less. Once Apple Bloom gave me an apple, I was more myself." Fluttershy said.

"That was a longshot Apple Bloom." White Flame said.

"Hey, it worked, didn't it? I guess Fluttershy's going to need a steady supply of apples from now on." Apple Bloom said.

"It's fine. I tend to buy apples by the bushfold from the market anyways for all the bunnies that live near my house. Guess I'll need to stockpile ahead of time." Fluttershy said.

"Way to not let what happened drag you down." Johnson said.

"Why is that mole guy here at Fluttershy's place again? Oh right, because he wants to watch White Flame." Scootaloo said.

"Yeah. That's exactly right." Johnson said. Amongst other things that go way above the station of either of these princesses. He thought to himself.
> Chapter 46 - O&O (Rarity Takes Manehatten Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

While the Mane Six had all went over to Manehatten, the CMC and WFG were having a stay-over with Button Mash. The two dragons were there too. It had been Button Mash's mother who had asked Smolder why this was going on. To which the orange dragoness responded by saying it was for a fashion exposition.

"...I see." Button Mash's mother said. "I guess in hindsight, I should've expected that." She added.

"Here's hoping things go well over there. My older sister can be quite generous with things." Smolder said.

"Heh. That defiantly sounds like Rarity alright." Sweetie Belle said.

"Still don't have a Pony 64 so more of us can play at once though." Button Mash said. "One won't be out for at least another week." He added.

"Well, there may be something you could all play. Back when I was your ages, we had to do with various tabletop games." Button Mash's mother said as she digged through a nearby closet. "Ah. Here it is." She said and brought out a cardboard box.

"Hey, is that an older version of Ogres and Oubliettes?" Spike asked.

"...Wait you know what that is?" Button Mash asked.

"Yeah. I'll be right back." Spike and rushed off.

"...He's got a copy of the game at home I bet." Smolder said.

Spike was back not a second later, holding a much newer looking box of the same one Button Mash's mother had. "Here it is. Was right where I left it too." Spike said.

"Spike, you play Ogres and Oubliettes?" Button Mash's mother asked.

"Yep. Though mostly just with Big Mac every now and again. This box has some of the latest rules." Spike said. "Of course, it's not the most modern edition. Twilight is still working on figuring out how we can get the newer rulesets without having to spend bits on the newer editions." He added.

"Could just ask Princess Celestia. Sure she'd find a workaround." Scootaloo mentioned.

"Pretty sure Twilight wants to prove she can do the Princess thing without help. She's already fed up with just having to show up and not really having any real duties to perform." Spike said.

"Fair enough." Scootaloo said.

"So what kind of game is this 'Ogres and Oubliettes' thing anyways? I know my mom called it a tabletop game, but it sounds a lot more complex than something like Ponopoly." Button Mash said, noticing one of the other games in the closet.

"Well it's a bit of a role playing tabletop game. I can help everyone get started with creating their own characters." Spike said.

"I got a weird feeling about things suddenly..." White Flame said.





After Spiked helped the others create their characters, the game had really begun, with Spike taking over the DM role for the time being while Button Mash's mom did join in the fun for the players.

"Hmm..." Scootaloo said.

"Problem?" Spike said.

"Well it's just...I want to use my speed stat to check for traps, but after Rumble got a crit fail for a similar check earlier..." Scootaloo said.

"It was ONE time. Since then, I haven't really been getting that unlucky. Besides, my character's speed stat is nowhere near as high as yours. Even with a one, you'd only get a minor fail." Rumble said.

"Rumble's right. Why did you buff your character with so much speed anyways?" Button Mash's mom asked.

"It's because she takes after Rainbow Dash so much. Isn't that right, Scootaloo?" Smolder guessed but smirked knowing she was right.

"Yeah, you could say my mom really rubs off on me." Scootaloo said. "Why else do you think I put the fact that my character was adopted by a Pegasus mare after my character's parents disowned her into my character's back story?" She asked.

"Isn't saying your biological parents disowned you a little harsh though?" Button Mash asked. "Though then again, with how long it's been..." He trailed off.

"No way would any court say your biological parents should retain custody of you with how long it's been. And that's assuming they're even still alive." Rumble said.

"Ouch. Dark much Rumble?" White Flame asked.

"Just being realistic. Rainbow Dash has been much more of a mother to Scootaloo then Scootaloo's actual mother anyways." Rumble said.

"...Thanks Rumble. I needed that. Okay then, here goes nothing for the speed checking for traps by flying." Scootaloo said and rolled. She managed to roll a perfect 20.

"WHOA! Talk about luck of the draw. And ah thought White Flame's earlier perfect 20 was lucky." Apple Bloom said.

"...I don't think luck had anything to do with Scootaloo's roll." White Flame said.

"...Ah don't follow." Apple Bloom said.

"I'll tell you later." White Flame said.

"Regardless, by flying over the area, Fast Pass was able to see that there were exactly twenty-five traps scattered about the room." Spike DM'd. "In the process, he also managed to pass through the room in it's entirety." He added.

"Everyone be careful." Scootaloo RP'd. "There's twenty-five traps scattered about the room. I suggest that you make the order you go in count." She added.





Soon it was nightfall and every pony had returned home. Rainbow Dash had even picked up Scootaloo. "So Scoots, did you have fun today?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes mom. I did." Scootaloo said. She had a picture with her. This one of a moment when during that session, Rumble had kissed Scootaloo as thanks for using her character's speed to save his from a deadly trap. "...I really did." Scootaloo added, sneaking a peek at the picture.
> Chapter 47 - Scootaloo's True Parents (Three's a Crowd AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a seemingly normal day in ponville when two specific ponies suddenly showed up.

"So, shall we get looking for Scootaloo now dear?" An earth pony stallion said.

"Yes. I bet the poor dear is all in woe at her aunt's home all alone, thinking she can take care of herself." A Pegasus Mare said. The two ponies then went to the former house of Scootaloo's deceased aunts: Aunt Holiday and Auntie Lofty. However, to their surprise, the home had become foreclosed upon.

"Oh dear. I guess the town didn't waste time foreclosing this place." The Earth Pony Stallion said.

"We must find Scootaloo Snap Shutter. Otherwise, who knows what torment she's enduring at the Orphanage if they believe she didn't have parents." The Pegasus Mare said.

"I agree Mane Allgood." Snap Shutter said.





"Hmm, Scootaloo, Scootaloo, Scootaloo..." The Ponyville orphanage caretaker a gentle and kind mare known as Sweet Thing was saying. "...Nope. Sorry. I have no records of a Scootaloo ever being accepted into this orphanage." She confirmed.

"But how can that be possible? Surely some pony must have realized she was in her aunt's house." Mane Allgood said.

"Well, there's a high chance that some pony adopted your daughter before she even arrived at the orphanage. You'll need to go to Town Hall and see Mayor Mare for that." Sweet Thing said.

"Thank you for the advice." Snap Shutter said.





"Scootaloo? Oh yes. She was originally going to be sent to the Canterlot Orphanage actually, since we had no way of contacting the two of you." Mayor Mare said.

"Wait, why not the Ponyville Orphanage instead?" Mane Allgood asked.

"There just wasn't enough room there for her. Budget cuts at the time you see thanks to the previous orphanage owner being the cause for those budget cuts. It's been three whole years since Scootaloo got adopted, and the new owner who bought the place out has done a much better job running the Ponyville Orphanage." Mayor Mare said.

"Then who is it? Who adopted our daughter?" Snap Shutter asked.





"Keep up the good work Scootaloo." Rainbow Dash encouraged her daughter.

"Thanks for supporting me so much. Especially with everything." Scootaloo said.

"Hey, that's what being a mom is about after all. No way I'd leave you hanging." Rainbow Dash said. The two pegasi soon parked on a cloud. "Keep this up, and soon you'll be just as good as I am. Tartarus, maybe you'll even join a flight team." Rainbow Dash said.

"Speaking of, have you decided on if your going to join Princess Luna's Shadowbolts or Princess Celestia's Wonderbolts. Because I want to join what you join." Scootaloo said.

"Still having a hard time deciding Scoots, I'll be honest. Never in my life have I been so conflicted. And it's mostly because of Soarin." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah. I've noticed things between the two of you have gotten serious. So, when can I start calling him dad?" Scootaloo asked.

"Heh. Probably soon after the Equestria Games and I settle on my answer." Rainbow Dash said. "...Hold up, is that..." Rainbow Dash noticed Snap Shutter and Mane Allgood down below with Princess Celestia.

"...My biological parents..." Scootaloo said, though there was obvious disdain in her voice.





"So, you've been the one looking after Scootaloo since everything." Mane Allgood said. "Ugh. If only news of Scootaloo's aunts reached us sooner." She added.

"Doesn't matter. You obviously didn't care three years ago." Scootaloo said.

"Now Scootaloo, don't say that." Snap Shutter said.

"Oh yeah? Then tell me right now 'dad', who's the one that's been taking care of me for four years straight?" Scootaloo asked.

"It's more like three years." Mane Allgood said.

"Actually, the fourth-year anniversary of when I adopted Scootaloo is in two days. Pretty sure Pinkie Pie's going to throw a huge party because of it too." Rainbow Dash said.

"Pinkie Pie? Whose that?" Snap Shutter asked.

"One of Rainbow Dash's friends and Ponyville's premier party planner. And I must say, her skills are nothing to scoff at when it came to organizing last year's grand galloping gala at the last minute." Princess Celestia said. "And to think, she got everything ready two days before it would happen." She added.

"Yeah, that sounds like Pinkie Pie alright." Rainbow Dash said.

"Even still, you can't just keep our daughter." Mane Allgood said.

"Oh yes she can. Rainbow Dash has been taking care of me for almost four years now. All by herself. And where have either you or Snap Shutter been 'mom'?" Scootaloo asked.

"But that's not a fair comparison. We'll take this to court if we have to." Snap Shutter said.

"And I can garentee you'd lose that case, no matter which court you went to." Princess Celestia said.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Mane Allgood asked.

"The court would look at the accountability of you and Snap Shutter versus Rainbow Dash who has been doing a fine job of raising Scootaloo alongside her various friends; one of whom is even an alicorn princess. There is no court in Equestria let alone the world that would ever grant custody to the two of you over Rainbow Dash." Princess Celestia said. "That said, if you want visiting rights, that can be arranged." She added.

"We don't want visiting rights; we want our daughter back." Snap Shutter said.

"News flash Snap Shutter, but I haven't BEEN your daughter for almost FOUR YEARS now. I've been Rainbow Dash's daughter and nothing is going to change that. It's too little, too late." Scootaloo said.

"And your choices aren't very good: Either you accept visitation rights, or you lose Scootaloo entirely." Rainbow Dash said.

"But what about when you have to be away from her? Do you have any pony trustworthy to look after her if you and all your friends are away?" Snap Shutter asked, hoping for something to nail Rainbow Dash with.

"Already covered: Unless she informs me of other plans, then whenever I'm away, she stays at Thunderlane's place. And he's retiring from the Wonderbolts at the end of the month. Forcibly though." Rainbow Dash said. "Details are classified though." She added.

"...You've got to be kidding me. She knows one of the WONDERBOLTS?!" Snap Shutter exclaimed.

"Two of them actually: Her coltfriend is Soarin Winds." Scootaloo said.

"ARE YOU BUCKING SERIOUS?!" Mane Allgood exclaimed.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Princess Celestia exclaimed, ceasing the counter arguments. "This is your last chance: Either take the visitation rights, or I will personally have you unable to ever see Scootaloo ever again." The white allicorn warned.

The two biological parents of Scootaloo gulped. "...I suppose this is a losing battle at this point." Snap Shutter said.

"We'll accept the visitation rights. Bregrudendly mind you." Mane Allgood said. "Scootaloo, no matter how much you want it, you'll always be my daughter." She added.

"...Just go now. I'm sure you've got some job to do." Scootaloo said. Her biological parents then left.

"You going to be okay Scoots?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"...I'll be fine mom. Just fine." Scootaloo said before hugging Rainbow Dash close.

"...Yeah. I think you will." Rainbow Dash said, smiling. You've made your decision on who your true mother is squirt; now it's my turn to make my decision on where I want to go to become a stunt flier. She thought to herself.
> Chapter 48 - Enter Cheese Sandwich (Pinkie Pride AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash stamped a calender as she woke up in the morning. "Today's the day Scoots." Rainbow Dash said. "Hard to believe it's been four whole years having you as my daughter. Sure, there's been ups and downs here and there this past year, but dang am I ready to see what Pinkie Pie is going to cook up this year." She explained.

"I just wonder how she's going to top last year's super mega cake at the end of a rollercoaster." Scootaloo said.

"I don't know, but we better get going down to Ponyville." Rainbow Dash said. "Knowing Pinkie, she most likely has everything set up by now and is ready for us." She added.





"I AM NOT READY!"

That was Pinkie Pie at Sugarcube corner, suddenly in a state of panic. "This has never happened before. How could I possibly have forgotten the party that was meant for Scootaloo! Oh, how on earth am I going to top last year's rollercoaster cake on short notice!" Pinkie Pie said.

"...You know, I've never seen Pinkie Pie actually panicked until today." Mr. Cake said. "Ever since I allowed her to live here and let her be an employee of the store, she's never once had a panic attack until today." He explained.

"Guess the saying is true: Never say never. Like how I believe no pony whose been here for as long as my friends have would believe Pinkie to be capable of a panic attack. Let alone me." Twilight said.

"Must be a warm day on Pluto or something." Spike said.

"Is Pluto even a planet?" Smolder asked.

"No. And I have no idea where that came from. I am officially taking a break from online videos and returning to my comic books." Spike said.

"Probably a good call." Sweetie Belle said.

"White Flame, can't you do something?" Scootaloo asked.

"What do you expect me to do?" White Flame asked. "My magic is defensive if you'll recall correctly." He argued.

"Don't you have some insane luck or something?" Scootaloo asked.

"What gives you the idea I have any control over my luck? I deliberately made myself as weak as possible so Zanth couldn't find me." White Flame said.

"...That's a surprisingly effective strategy." Johnson admitted.

"Does NOT help us with Pinkie's panic attack though." Sweetie Belle said.

"Sad but true." Rumble said.

"Sudden appearance of a brand-new character? If this were a video game, that would happen at this time." Button Mash said. There was suddenly a commotion outside.

"...Why do I have the strangest feeling Button Mash called this one?" Scootaloo asked.





A little bit later, the entire population was treated to Cheese Sandwich. "...Button Mash BUCKING called this one." Scootaloo said.

"Scootaloo, Language!" Rainbow Dash said.

"Honestly I was just guessing. Didn't expect it to actually happen." Button Mash said.

"Uh oh...I think Pinkie's off to have a few words with Cheese." White Flame said.

"This can't be good." Apple Bloom said.





"Cheese Sandwich, seriously, you don't know what Rainbow Dash and Scootaloo need for this. At least let me help." Pinkie Pie said.

"But I don't want to ask for help. Because I want to show how far I've come because of you." Cheese Sandwhich said.

"...Say what now?" Pinkie Pie asked.

And that's when Cheese Sandwich revealed something interesting:


"...Cheese..." Pinkie Pie suddenly tackled him. "That is the most ridiculous and craziest thing any pony has ever done for me. Come here." She said and dragged him off.

"...Best not follow them." White Flame said.

"With you there. Bet once Soarin and Rainbow get serious, I doubt they'll want me to see what goes on behind closed doors myself." Scootaloo said.





Some time later, Scootaloo's fourth year anniversery party was quite a blast. There had to be a new package of stuff delivered because one package was "compromised" for some unexplained reason even Smolder and Spike had an idea of what that would be.

"Got to admit, this has been some party." Flash Sentry said.

"You said it." Scootaloo said. "Makes me wonder how things are going to get topped over this NEXT year." She added.

And at that both Pinkie Pie AND Cheese Sandwich fainted. "...What is with Scootaloo and fainting the grown-ups?" Rumble asked.

"How am I supposed to know?" Scootaloo asked.

"You'd think she'd have a cutie mark in making adults  this point." Diamond Tiara said, though she was wearing some sort of costume.

"...What are you doing here and..." Scootaloo took one look at Diamond Tiara's costume: It was a blue bunny rabbit. Then Scootaloo started to laugh.

"Oh laugh it up! Mom's making me wear this because she caught me cheating on my test." Diamond Tiara said. The rest of the CMC and even WFG joined in. "...This is SO embarrassing..." Diamond Tiara said.





Meanwhile, Zanth was watching the festivities, and had the thought of making things go south in a hurry but then...

Well then he spotted both Pinkie Pie and Cheese Sandwhich discussing things off to the side. "...Nope. I am NOT doing anything when there's basically TWO Pinkie Pies in the same place." Zanth said before flying off back to the Dragon Lands.
> Chapter 49 - More O & O (Simple Ways Skip & Filli Vanili Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The CMC, WFG, Spike, and Smolder were all staying over at Rumble's place for a sleep over while Rarity prepares for a fundraiser happening tomorrow. The group was setting things up to play Ogres & Oubliettes.

"Hey Sweetie Belle, didn't your sister show around Trenderhoof the other day?" White Flame asked.

"She did. Ah know because Trenderhoof got bucked by my sister." Apple Bloom said.

"Heh. Well if you ask me, he deserved it." White Flame said.

"Really? Why's that?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Because Trenderhoof is a Womanizer. Or whatever term you ponies use." White Flame said.

"What's a womanizer?" Rumble asked.

"How's the best way to put this? You by now how Thunderlane cheated on Rainbow Dash right?" White Flame asked.

"I think we all know that by heart at this point with how often it gets brought up." Scootaloo said, rolling her eyes at this old news.

"Well think of a womanizer in this case as a stallion who goes around cheating on mares on a regular basis." White Flame said.

"Yeah that's way worse then my brother." Rumble said.

"Yeah no kidding. I did it once, and I'm going to go to great length not to do it again." Thunderlane said. "Once was enough." He added.

"By the way, why are you being forced to retire Thunderlane?" Apple Bloom asked.

"...My little affair with Rainbow Dash has been made public. Spitfire's forcing me to retire so that the Higher Ups can't completely can me." Thunderlane said.

"Oof. That's got to SUCK." Scootaloo winced.

"At least this way, I can still get retirement money, but I'm basically going to be forced to be a stay-at-home kind of stallion from here on out. Unless somepony wants to hire a public cheater that is." Thunderlane said.

"Maybe you should talk with my mom? She trusts you enough to look after me whenever she's out of town, so maybe she'll also hire you on as part of the weather crew for Ponyville." Scootaloo said.

"...And how in the world would your mom be able to hire me?" Thunderlane asked.

"What? You mean you don't know? Rainbow Dash is the manager of the Ponyville Weather Team. At least for the time being." Scootaloo said.

"...What?" White Flame asked, stunned. He wasn't the only one.

"Does no pony else know this? I thought it was public knowledge by now." Scootaloo said.

"...I cheated on the Ponyville Weather Team Manager?" Thunderlane asked.

"Yeah. Well, she wasn't the manager at the time when that went down though. She was on her way to becoming the manager though." Scootaloo said.

"Oh. Still, maybe now Spitfire forcing me into retirement before the brass can cut me off of my retirement checks makes more sense." Thunderlane said.

"Is there a reason why that would look bad?" Scootaloo asked. "I don't get adult stuff." She added.

"The Wonderbolts are meant to have a good trustworthy relationship with all the various weather managers. So, if a Wonderbolt is caught cheating on one..." Thunderlane started.

"...Then it would hurt the entire organization, causing cut-backs." Spike finished. The foals, Smolder, and Thunderlane looked at the purple dragon at that. "...What can I say? I learnt politics from hanging around Twilight so much since she became an Alicorn Princess." Spike argued.

"...No comment." Smolder said.

"Same." Thunderlane said.

"Yeah, even I've got nothing." White Flame said.

"How about we just start playing this game?" Button Mash asked.

"I can get behind that." Sweetie Belle said.





The session has lasted for a bit.

"Uh oh. I just realized; my character's low on health." Button Mash said.

"You're JUST now noticing you're low on health? You've been low on health for the past NINE rooms of this dungeon." Spike said.

"Yeah. How is the half-asleep never been Dungeon Master to a game like this before paying more attention than you?" Smolder asked.

"Smolder be nice." Sweetie Belle said.

"...Yeah, that was unintentionally rude. Sorry Button Mash." Smolder said.

"Honestly I deserved that jab." Button Mash said.

"The better question is how have you managed to roll just enough every time to not take any more damage?" Scootaloo asked, glancing at White Flame.

"For the last time, my magic doesn't influence luck, and it's purely defensive based." White Flame countered.

"...Just making sure." Scootaloo said.

"You've argued that for like the past five rolls of White Flame though, Scootaloo." Smolder said.

"Can you blame me? Who on Eques rolls five perfect twenties in a row? No pony is that lucky." Scootaloo said.

"Says the filly who rolled a perfect 20 when they wanted to save their coltfriend from a booby trap that would've killed them in our last session." Spike said.

Scootaloo raised a hoof, and then lowered it. "...Okay fair enough point." Scootaloo said.

"That gives me an idea." Sweetie Belle said. "We may be out of potions, but I do know a heal spell." She added.

"And you've got plenty of MP too. Go for it Sweetie." Apple Bloom said.

"Right. Here's goes. Rolling to see if I'm able to heal Button Mash or accidently kill him with a backfire'd spell." Sweetie Belle said before rolling her dice.





The group had to spend an extra few days over at Thunderlane's place due to unforseen circumstances involving a requested performance and Fluttershy, but all in all, the group had fun.

...Though probably the biggest take away from this session, was the kiss Button Mash gave Sweetie Belle when her heal spell ended up restoring him to full health just before a boss monster would've killed him in the next room otherwise. All from Sweetie Belle rolling a perfect twenty.
> Chapter 50 - The Gamer Colt (It Ain't Easy Being Breezies Skip & Maud Pie Add-On)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days ago, Fluttershy got her friends together to get the Breezies escorted safely to their special flower patch and back home to their dimension.

And then just yesterday, Pinkie Pie's sister Maud Pie had visited, though it was hard initially for any pony to connect with her. It was the next day when something crazy was happening.

"A gaming tournament right here in Ponyville?" Button Mash asked. "I'm so in." He added.

"You sure about that Button? Silver Spoon is also entering." Sweetie Belle said.

"Then this will be the best chance I have of showing her up." Button Mash said.

"Wait, Sweetie, you're not going to enter?" Scootaloo asked.

"Even if I do enjoy video games, I'm not as good at them as most of the colts and fillies that will be showing up for this thing." Sweetie Belle said.

"That's a fair point. Of the six of us, Button Mash is the only one who plays video games in any competitive compacity." Rumble said.

"Yeah. I'm taking a back seat on this one. Besides, I think we can best help Button Mash cheering him on." White Flame said.

"Then we better make sure we cheer loud." Scootaloo said.

"I'll have to make sure I cheer the loudest then." Sweetie Belle said.

"Of course, you will." Apple Bloom said, rolling her eyes.





The nearby Ponyville Arcade was packed with colts and fillies of around Button Mash's age.

"Hello and welcome to the Ponyville Junior Tournament. Since Ponyville has been the site of several events already, it was agreed that a special Junoir Tournament that does credit for the overall Junior Championship creditials would be held in Ponyville once every year. And today marks the first edition of this tournament. Some of you come from right here in Ponyville, while others come from places forign. This tournament has exactly 90 contestants, which is a little much to say the least. So therefore, to trim things down, we will start with some qualifying rounds. In these rounds, the lot of you will be assigned a specific game within the arcade that is high score based. After five rotations of your groups, the points you scored in your games will be tallied up and only the top thirty-two highest scores will progress to the actual versus tournament. All tournament scores are final, though anyone who uses cheat codes will be automatically disqualified and we have plenty of onlookers looking for such cheaters." The Arcade owner said.

"Looking out for cheaters is Ponyville's resident Alicorn Princess, Twilight Sparkle." The Arcade owner said going from left to right. "Also on duty is none other than Cream Heart, ex-arcade champion" He added.

Mom was an arcade champion?! Button Mash exclaimed, clearly not expecting his mother to show up to this let alone that little tid-bit. He had been so distracted that he missed the other three watchers.





Button Mash managed to get into the top thirty-two easily, having the second highest score overall. Silver Spoon however...

"YOU GOTTA BE KIDDING ME, I LOST BY TEN POINTS?!" Silver Spoon exclaimed, her jaw dropping as she saw how close she had gotten.

"Oof. That sucks. I wonder how much you'll improve for next year." The colt that beat her said. "I might need to step up my game if a local girl is THIS good." He added.

"...Is that your attempt at a compliment?" Silver Spoon asked.

"It's both a compliment and an invitation: I wouldn't mind sticking around to know a girl with mad gaming skills like you. My gamer handle's Control Hax, but my real name is Max Razor." The colt said.

"...Wait, you don't mean Max Razor, as in the Canterlot Oprhan Noble, do you?" Silver Spoon asked.

"So, you've heard of me. We'll talk more later." Max said and joined the other winners for the tournament.

Silver Spoon fainted shortly after that exchange.





It was nearly sundown when the tournament finally drew to a close with Button Mash having managed to beat all of his competition.

"Phew. I won't like there were some close calls there." Button Mash said.

"Yeah. That looked really tough." Sweetie Belle said.

"He's his mother's child alright." Cream Heart said before she came up to the group of six foals.

"Mom, don't embarrass me." Button Mash said.

"You just won your first ever tournament; I can't embarrass you for that." Cream Heart said.

"Button Mash has skills that's for sure. Some very good ones too." The Arcade owner approached the group. "After reviewing the footage, it was discovered that Button Mash's last opponent used a cheat code." He added.

"Wait, Button Mash's opponent cheated and yet Button Mash STILL beat him?!" Apple Bloom exclaimed.

"...There's tired saying that I know of that seems all to appropriate for this scenario: That Cheaters never win. That said, when that phrase was conceived, I doubt this sort of scenario was thought up." White Flame said.

"Wow, if even White Flame got caught off guard, then you know what Button Mash just did by beating a cheater without cheating himself is super mega impressive." Scootaloo said.

Button Mash smiled. That was true: Beating the likes of that cheater using fair and square tactics really proved Button's skill. There was a small flash on Button Mash's flanks. "Hey look Button: You just got your cutie mark." Rumble pointed out.

Button took alook: His cutie Mark was that of a video game controller. "Whoa. Honestly didn't expect THAT to come of this." He added.

"It makes sense: You pretty much are THE gamer colt at school." Sweetie Belle said.

"Bet I could use my skills to teach others how to play video games the fair and right way." Button Mash said.

"Heh. That's my son~" Cream Heart said before hugging Button.

"...Okay NOW I'm being embarrassed by my mother." Button said.

Every pony just laughed, including Button Mash AND Cream Heart.
> Chapter 51 - A Flash Proposal (Leap of Faith Skip & Unique Episode)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A couple of days ago, Flim & Flam had visited again with another scheme, this time marketing water as some cure-all tonic. Eventually Applejack told the truth about the tonic and was given a single bit from the stallion who was with Flim & Flam known as Silver Shill. Though just before leaving, Silver Shill had admitted to some random mare that tried to flirt with him that he was asexual.

"Hey Applejack, was that a glance you just gave Silver Shill as he left?" White Flame asked.

"Ah don't know what you're talking about. I'm asexual remember." Applejack said.

"Being asexual has got nothing to do with romantic feelings. Something that has occurred to me is that love will always find a way." White Flame said and then went off.

"...Love will always find a way huh..." Applejack muttered to herself and then went off to contemplate things.





However, that was all two days ago. And today, Flash Sentry was out and about around Ponyville when Spike & Smolder spotted him.

"What on earth is Flash doing?" Smolder asked.

"I don't know. He's been all over the place for the past two days. I think he's up to something. Shall we see what he's up to? I'm worried that this could be really, really bad. Or it could also be really, really important." Spike said.

"I'm in." Smolder said, shaking claws with Spike.






Unique Episode: A Flash Proposal


The two dragons started to follow Flash around. "Wonder what he's up to? He's been to Bon Bon's candy store and the local Pizza place in the past three hours." Smolder said.

"Wait, that building he just went into just now is the Jewelry store. It's actually ran by none other than Silver Spoon's mother." Spike said.

"How do you know that?" Smolder asked.

"Because it's the same place I went to when so you could have that." Spike said, pointing to Smolder's Fire Ruby necklace that she's been wearing ever since it was made.

"Oh." Smolder said. Then suddenly gasped. "Oh..." Smolder added.

"What? What is it?" Spike asked.

"I just realized what Flash is planning to do, and it's one heck of a surprise for Twilight." Smolder said.

"...You mean he's going to you-know-what?" Spike asked.

"Ponies are really big on that sort of thing after all. And I think I'll be having you sleep over at Rarity's place tonight." Smolder said. But then she got out a camera. "...Though first, I need a picture." Smolder added.

"What's with the camera?" Spike asked.

"I hoard pictures, okay?" Smolder said.

"Hey, I'm not one to judge. I hoard comic books." Spike said. "I just never pictured you as the picture hoarding type." He added.

"Hey, I have to hoard SOMETHING." Smolder said.





Flash soon arrived back at the Ponyville Library, just as Twilight finished with her latest book.

"Wow Flash, you never have this good timing." Twilight said.

"I guess I got lucky." Flash said, smiling.

"A stay-at-home pizza night. You never cease to surprise me with your small little gestures Flash." Twilight said.

"Heh, I try. Gotta keep things fresh because I like our dynamic, even if me being in ponyville has allowed us to get that much closer with each other." Flash said.

"Part of me wonders if you did that for more than just to live in the same town as me." Twilight said.

"Well, that was a part of it, but it was mostly because I was honestly fed up with the long-distance thing. Hard to believe that's almost been a full year since we ran back into each other when Discord got loose." Flash said.

"The anniversary of that happening is in two more weeks. I'm sure Pinkie Pie's going to be more prepared this time. Especially if it gives her an excuse to call over Cheese Sandwhich." Twilight said.

"Yeah those two were made for each other. As are Soarin and Rainbow." Flash said.

"That one's putting in midely. Rainbow told me that shortly after Luna has her tests done for the Shadowbolts, the two are planning on getting married." Twilight said.

"Huh. I wonder if you'd convince her to have a double wedding event." Flash said.

"Oh yeah, Rainbow Dash would SO go for something like that. But, who else could possibly get married on that same day?" Twilight asked.

"I was honestly thinking it could be us..." Flash said before producing a horn ring. "I know you're an Alicorn now and all, but we got together while you were still a Unicorn, and I figured that ran deeper for you than your recent flight." He added.

"Flash, are you..." Twilight started.

"Yeah. I'm proposing to you." Flash said.

"...THAT IS ALL OF MY YES!" Twilight said before tackling Flash and kissing him.

Just at the two kissed though, a flash went off. "Yep, that's totally going in my hoard." Smolder said.

"Smolder? Spike?" Twilight noticed the two dragons.

"Hey it was either her take a photo, or risk some photogopher who didn't care about helping you get revenge on Shining Armor." Spike said.

"...You'd actually help her do that?" Flash asked.

"Shining Armor could use being delt a hand of sweet, sweet payback." Smolder said.

"Well then I'm glad it's you two who found out first." Twilight said.

"Yeah. Spike's staying over at Rarity's place today, however." Smolder said before dragging Spike away.

"...Heh, dragons may not be big on the marriage thing, but I'd dare say they are more or less a couple at this point." Flash said.

"I agree. Just like us huh?" Twilight asked.

"Yep. Most certainly. And we hardly need words." Flash said.

"Between us, our actions are worth a thousand words anyways." Twilight said as the two resumed kissing each other just before the scene faded to black.
> Chapter 52 - Three Snippits (Trade Ya! AU, Inspiration Manifestation AU, and Equestria Games AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------


Trade Ya! AU


The trade fair was underway in Canterlot, and Fluttershy, and Scootaloo were attending.

"Thanks for agreeing to help me find a wedding present to give to mom." Scootaloo said.

"Well, I was hoping to obtain a bird whistle anyways, and I do hope I can find one." Fluttershy said. The pair found a pony who had a first edition copy of Daring Do and the Sapphire Stone, signed by the author.

"Oh wow. A first edition copy of the first Daring Do book signed by the author." Scootaloo said.

"Uh...that's the thing that caught your eye? I'm not sure what could ever convince me to part with this." The pony said.

"Oh dear, we may have to look--" Fluttershy said.

Scootaloo soon produced a mint copy of the daring do book that Rainbow Dash appeared in, Daring Do and the Ring of Destiny. Also signed by the author. "Perhaps this would be a fair trade?" Scootaloo said.

"Isn't this the most recent book by the author? How in the world did you manage to hold onto a mint copy signed by the author for all this time?!" The pony exclaimed.

"My mom has a non-mint copy back at home. And she knows the author." Scootaloo said.

The pony was flabbergasted. "...I'll trade for that, no questions asked." The pony said and traded for the book. There was a bit of ferociousness going on behind her. "Oh not again. That darn animal of mine is out of control again." The pony said.

"Um, not to brag, but I am really good with animals. But this is a trade fair." Fluttershy said.

"Ugh. What could I possibly offer you--" The pony said.

"Got a bird call?" Scootaloo asked. "She's looking for one. Also, before you ask, no, this pegasus is not my mother. She's a friend of my mom." She added.

"I actually do happen to have a bird call. Done deal." The Pony said.






Inspiration Manifestation AU


"Oh why thank you so much." Rarity said. Fancy Pants, Smolder, and even Spike had all helped Rarity create an amazing puppet box for a puppetter that was there for the Ponyville Carnival.

"It was nothing Rarity. I'm always willing to help out where needed. Besides, I was going to be here for the Ponyville Carnival anyways." Fancy Pants said.

"Plus, I believe the Puppeteer is going to LOVE this thing." Smolder stated.

"Here he comes now." Spike said.

"Oh my..." The Puppeteer said. "This is simply the best Puppeteer stand I've ever seen." He added.

"Well I didn't do it alone." Rarity said.

"I don't care. This is way beyond my expectations. I'll pay double." The Puppeteer said and gladly paid for the trouble and then took off with the Puppet Stand.

"...Wow. And I thought sis could be generous to a fault." Smolder said.

"Some ponies just need the right desire sometimes." Spike said.






Equestria Games AU


Thanks to some help from Smolder, Spike was feeling very confident in lighting the torch to kickstart the Equestria Games.

Ponies from all over had come to view these events. However, what no one realized was that they were all being watched by none other than Zanth.

"There is far too much positivity going around right now. I need to change that and soon or I may be forced to alter my plans." Zanth said. "Gareth is here. I'd bet my powers on it, but he is clever in having somehow hidden his own power from the likes of me." He added before suddenly chuckling. "Not that it matters one little bit. I don't know what he did, but he made it so we can no longer become one being again. He has severed our connected link. That mutant mole believes killing Gareth would kill me too, but he would instead only be killing Gareth as a result." Zanth explained. "Not that I need to become one with Gareth anymore. I have found a way to become powerful without his assistance." He added. Zanth turned his attention to Soarin. "First thing is first though; it's time to make these ponies fall into despair. I won't kill any of them, but I'll make something just as despairing happen." Zanth said before laughing hauntingly.
> Chapter 53 - Fall of an Idol (Rainbow Falls AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Before the actual Equestria games could begin, there were some qualifiers to take care of, and one such qualifier was taking place at Rainbow Falls. However, it seems that Zanth had scouted the place out, and yet, he was maliciously laughing.

"Can these ponies be clumsier? I didn't even do anything yet, and already one of those Wonderbolts; specifically, the one I was going to target; sprained his own wing. If these ponies are THIS clumsy, then sending this world into total despair will be easier than I thought. Now all I have to do, is sit back and watch the fireworks." Zanth said as he started to hone his gauge onto the track below.





"So, here's the plan: Fluttershy, you'll be our starting flier. Bulk, you'll be right after her, and then I'll finish things off." Rainbow Dash said.

"You really think this is a good situation?" Fluttershy asked.

"It's the best we got. And I believe in you guys." Rainbow Dash said. She noticed Spitfire waving at her. "...Be right back." She said before flying over to Spitfire. "Hey, where's Soarin?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well, he ended up getting himself injured. Now I could very much put a different Wonderbolt in his place, bu--" Spitfire was saying, when she noticed Rainbow Dash suddenly had a dark look on her face. "...What's with that look?" Spitfire asked.

"...Are you seriously about to ask me if I want to replace Soarin on your team?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Uh yeah. Figured you'd want--" Spitfire was saying.

"Where is Soarin?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Wh-what?" Spitfire said, worried.

"I asked you a question: Where is Soarin? And you better answer me honestly." Rainbow Dash said.

"He's at the infirmary, but I don't see why--" Spitfire said before Rainbow Dash suddenly took off. "...What is going on?" Spitfire asked.

"Beats me." Fleetfoot said. "This is new." She added.





Rainbow Dash noticed Soarin on the hospital bed, currently sleeping. "...When do you think he'll wake up?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Well he'll be awake in a few hours. Visiting hours will still be active though if you wish to talk with him." The doctor said. "He's lucky it's just a minor wing spring. Very treatable, and he'll be flying again in a couple of months; though he'll miss the Equestria Games because of it." The Doctor added.

"...That's not my concern. I'm just happy to hear he'll make a recovery. If he wakes up, tell him I'll want to talk to him." Rainbow Dash said. "Just say that 'Rainbow Dash' will have a message for him." She added.

"...I see, and what pr--" The doctor tried to say but Rainbow Dash rushed off again. "...In all my years as a doctor, I've never seen behavior like this before." The doctor said.





Luna was currently working on some paperwork when Rainbow Dash started to tap on her window. Using magic, Luna opened the window. "Oh. Rainbow Dash. Didn't expect to see you today." Luna said.

"I'm in." Rainbow Dash said simply.

"...I beg your pardon?" Luna asked.

"The Shadowbolt program; I'm telling you I'm accepting your invite." Rainbow Dash said.

"But there's still a couple of months left." Luna said. But the look in Rainbow Dash's eyes told her everything. "...But recent events have made you come to your decision early because of something you hold very seriously. After all, I don't think a pony like yourself has ever shown this much loyalty to anything. First Scootaloo, and now Soarin. These past few years have been testing your dedication to loyalty and what it means to you." Luna said.

"One could say that. I just know the pony I thought I could become loyal to, has turned out to be willing to throw one of their own team members under the bus so to speak." Rainbow Dash said.

"I see. Well then Rainbow Dash, you can hold onto this." Luna said before handing over a skull pin. "That pin is for those that accepted being a part of the Shadowbolt Program only. Hold onto it." She added. "Oh, and take this too." Luna then handed over a different pin, this time with a lightning bolt on it. "I don't know why I had this thing laying around, but I think it fits you perfectly." Luna said.

"...Thanks Luna. Now I've got some unfinished business to take care of." Rainbow Dash said before flying off; almost pulling off a Sonic Rainboom with very minimal effort.

Even Zanth noticed that, and he suddenly got the shivers. "Whoa. I don't know what I'm feeling right now, but it isn't the despair I'm trying to spread. Whatever just awoke within that mare isn't any form of negativity at all, but rather a fierce competitive edge that will mark the end of an era for the Wonderbolts." Zanth said.





Rainbow Dash returned to Spitfire shortly thereafter.

"Where on Eques did you go?" Spitfire asked.

"To take care of some things. I can't believe that you would ever think about replacing Soarin Winds. You've made your loyalty very clear when it comes to your own team: You don't have any loyalty what-so-ever." Rainbow Dash said. "He sprains his wing, and your first thought is to have some pony from some other team take his place just to tempt them with the prospect of winning?" She asked.

"Hey now, this is a simple misunderstanding, I can explain." Spitfire said.

"Save it. Soarin was right: The wonderbolts have become nothing more than publicity glory hounds. And to top things off, their leader is a two-timing, back-stabbing mare who thinks of nothing more than getting a gold medal and being at the top of the charts." Rainbow Dash said.

"Now listen here Rainbow, if you'll just--" Spitfire tried to say.

"You don't get to call me Rainbow anymore Spitfire. From here on out, we're rivals. And when the Equestria Game finals come up, I won't be racing for the gold. I'll be racing for Soarin. And when I race for some pony besides myself, I can't lose." Rainbow Dash said before returning to her own team.

"...Fleetfoot, why do I have a bad feeling about things suddenly?" Spitfire asked.

"I do too captain." Fleetfoot said.





With fierce determination, Rainbow Dash had pulled off a Sonic Rainboom during the finals, and thus won the gold medal. While the competitions were still ongoing, Rainbow Dash was visiting Soarin Winds in the infermory.

"Heh. About time you got here. Looks like you won the gold." Soarin said.

"Yeah. And you should know: Spitfire was going to try and tempt me with joining the Wonderbolts team and doing the Equestria Games with them. I refused of course, amongst other things." Rainbow Dash said.

"...Wow. I can't believe she'd do that. Guess I better turn in my resignation then, because I'll be accepting Luna's offer for sure after a stunt like that." Soarin said.

"Yeah. By the way, this is for you." Rainbow Dash said before slipping the gold medal around Soarin's neck.

"Huh? But you won this fair and square." Soarin said.

"Yeah. But I won it for you. I didn't win it for myself. Next Equestria Games, I want us both to put Spitfire in her place." Rainbow Dash said.

"...Heh. I can agree with that." Soarin said.





A couple of days later, Rainbow Dash was tossing away all her Spitfire memorbellia with a sad expression on her face. Just as she prepared herself for a mid-day nap, suddenly Daring Do popped into her home. "...Mom? What are you doing here?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Heard what happened from Twilight." Daring Do said. "So, I asked her where I could find you." She added.

"Tch. I just need some time to myself. I don't need to be babied." Rainbow Dash said.

"Didn't come here for that. Came here because I know what it's like to look up to a certain pony and find out they aren't at all what you expected them to be like." Daring Do said.

"You mean you had your own 'Spitfire' in a way?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yeah. Her name was Madison Goldman. If that name doesn't ring a bell for you, don't worry, she was before your time kiddo." Daring Do said. "See, I had one adventure before my first ever written book that I never wrote about. Before that adventure, as I was growing up, I adored Madison Goldman like a hero. The books she published of her own adventures always made me want to get into archology. I eventually did, but after doing so, I soon discovered something horrible about the pony I had been idolizing: That she was a fraud, and her adventures were fake." She explained. "It turned out, Madison always followed closely behind real adventures, waiting for them to fall into some trap, before going off to claim all the glory for herself. In short, she never once had a real adventure." The yellow pegasus said.

"...So, this leads into the one adventure you never wrote about huh?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Yes. Very much so. My first ever outing was actually to find a lost city. Not some mystical treasure that belonged in a museum, or something that could've caused the end of the world as we know it, but rather I was following the trail that would help me discover the ancient lost city of Ponyopolis." Daring Do said.

"What?! But I think a book like 'Daring Do and the Forgotten City' would've made for a great read." Rainbow Dash said.

"...There is no pleasure that can be taken, for falling into a trap set by the pony you had learnt the real face of. Turns out, all the traps the adventurers Madison Goldman had been following, were creations of Madison herself. And Madison had created one, hoping to take the glory away from me, just as she had countless others." Daring Do said. "...There was just one difference between me and her other victims." She added.

"What difference was that?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Madison Goldman may have been a Unicorn, but all of her victims were earth ponies. They weren't able to fly their way out of trouble like I could. And just like that, I could easily escape Madison trap, however, by escaping her trap, the place we were in began collapsing, and while I was able to speed fly my way out of there before the only clue to the lost city of  Ponyopolis was gone forever, Madison Goldman was not so lucky." Daring Do said. "That's because as it turned out, Madison Goldman could not use teleportation." She added.

"...So she was buried in that chamber, and the city of Ponyopolis became lost forever along with her." Rainbow Dash said.

"I never wrote about this adventure, and I never told any pony about this adventure before now either. So promise me you'll keep it under your hat." Daring Do said.

"...I pinkie promise to never tell any pony without your permission mom. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Rainbow Dash said.

"...For some reason, I can trust that." Daring Do said.

"You should really come by and hang out with my friends more mom. Think you'll enjoy time here in Ponyville." Rainbow Dash said.

"Heh. You know what? I think I will. So long as you don't mind being a guide for your own biological mother." Daring Do said.

"I don't mind at all one bit." Rainbow Dash said with a grin. "...Though really, thanks mom. I needed to hear that story." Rainbow Dash said.

"Any time kiddo." Daring Do said. "I wouldn't mind helping you dispose of this stuff that you want to get rid of either." She added.

"Tempting, but this is something I have to do by myself. You'd understand, right mom?" Rainbow Dash said before grabbing the pile of stuff she was going to throw out and leaving.

Daring Do smiled. "Believe me kiddo, I know the feeling." She added before taking out a very burnt photograph that was so burnt, you couldn't tell what the subject matter was anymore. "...I know the feeling all too well." She added before tossing the burnt photo into Rainbow Dash's own fireplace.
> Special Movie - Lord Tirek VS The Mole (Twilight's Kingdom AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Twilight was huffing as she returned to Ponyville; Spike had not gone with her because Celestia wanted Twilight by herself this time.

"C'mon, Discord gets to go out and stop Lord Tirek while I'm stuck being nothing more than some glorified figurehead at this point? Ugh." Twilight said to herself. "...Well. I'll show her. I've been doing research on the chest that appeared, and I'm betting there's something to the whole thing. I'm going to go gather my friends and tell them to bring the objects they were given through some of the things they've been doing." She added.





"So, why are we here?" Rainbow Dash asked. She only brought the Lighting Bolt pin with her which, mysteriously gave off a rainbow sheen.

"We're here because of this chest. And I'm willing to bet the objects you got when you came across things that challenged your own element have something to do with how to open it." Twilight asked.

"Yeah, that makes sense." Applejack said, noting the bit Silver Shill gave her also gave off a rainbow sheen.

"So, how we do this then?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I bet if we placed those objects on the chest, they might do something." Twilight said.

"Oooo, that sounds interesting." Pinkie Pie said, before placing Boneless 1 on the chest which then turned into a key.

"Kind of figures. Not that I ever doubted Twilight. I can always count on you to be the smart one of us." Rainbow Dash said. "Been learning not to argue with that." She added.

Soon, Rainbow Dash, Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy put their objects on the chest which turned into four more keys. "We've got one missing." Fluttershy said.

"Yeah mine. Thing is, I know for a fact that I don't have mine yet. Though I'm sure it'll come by eventually." Twilight said. "...Wait, where is White Flame's Group and the CMC?" She asked.

"The Mole said about getting them safely hidden from Lord Tirek; ESPECIALLY White Flame." Rainbow Dash said.

"Johnson's probably worried that White Flame's leftover exposure from being Zanth might give Lord Tirek the ability to absorb alicorn magic instantly or something to that effect." Fluttershy mentioned.

"That honestly wouldn't surprise me from happening." Discord said, suddenly being there. "I was going to hint at the chest and your journal, but it seems you've beaten me to it." He added.

"Right. I may not like that Princess Celestia is not letting me at least accompany you to find Lord Tirek. And I doubt you'd want me along anyways however, I insist as one of Equestria's Princesses that you take some pony with you. Like perhaps, Fluttershy." Twilight suggested.

"Ooo, I'd love the road trip with my first friend, especially since that mole character is literally hiding White Flame so Lord Tirek can't find him." Discord said. "Consider this a deal." He said before grabbing Fluttershy.

"Um, are you sure this is a good idea Twilight?" Fluttershy asked.

"I'm sure with Discord with you, and given that Lord Tirek's probably not that strong yet, the two of you can handle him easily." Twilight said.

"Your friend has a good point. Let us be off!" Discord said and went away with Fluttershy in tow.

"...Why do I think he partly agreed with taking Fluttershy simply because it was something different form the three thousand other times this scenario has happened?" Flash Sentry asked.

"I don't think that's Discord's only reason." Twilight said.

"...I did say it was only a partial reason to begin with." Flash said. Suddenly Soarin flew in.

"Hey, what's with the gathering?" Soarin asked. "Oh yeah, my resignation is final as of this morning. You wouldn't mind an extra roomate, would you, Rainbow?" He asked.

"First off, no I wouldn't. Second off, we're gathered because of Lord Tirek getting lose." Rainbow Dash said.

"Oh. Guessing that's why Fluttershy isn't here and why I didn't see that Draconequus isn't here either." Soarin said.

"One could defiantly say that former second lieutenant Soarin Winds." Johnson suddenly called out as he approached the group. "What? I studied up on your customs while I've been crashing at Fluttershy's place. Don't be so surprised. Being a General myself, I honor and respect military positions, and Soarin would've been considered a second lieutenant what with being the former co-leader of the Wonderbolts, being there for in case Spitfire was unavailable for whatever reason." He explained.

"Wow. You never told me you were co-captain." Rainbow Dash said.

"Didn't want you thinking we could never work because of me being co-captain, so I kept that position away from our conversations. Doesn't really matter now though, considering I'm no longer her co-captain." Soarin said.

"Fair point, and I'm glad you let me really get to know you beyond your whole now former career." Rainbow Dash said.

"...Heh. You remind me of the time I was in love. Sad part is, lost the one I was in love with some time ago. No matter though." Johnson said. "I'll find someone else for myself. Do not think I won't. My boss waited ninety years to marry the woman of his dreams, and with my expanded life span of one hundred and fifty years, I can afford to be just as patient to find that right woman." He said.

"O-one hundred and fifty years..." Twilight said before her jaw dropped to the ground.

"...And on that note, quick subject change time: Did you make sure to hide the foals?" Flash asked.

"Yep. Mr. and Mrs. Cake also made me hide their kids too in the same spot. Only I know where they are hidden, so as long as I'm up and running, they will remain perfectly safe." Johnson said.

"Then in that case, I recommend we have our selves a little picnic to pass the time until we hear back from Fluttershy and Disocord." Flash said.

"I'll agree to that." Twight said.





A bit later while the remaining members of the main six alongside Flash and Soarin were enjoying their picnic, Discord came limping up to them with a drained Fluttershy.

"Lord Tirek tried to make me turn against every pony, and Fluttershy talked me into refusing. That's when he did the unthinkable: He drained her of her magic right then and there before doing the same to me." Discord said.

"SERIOUSLY? Dude is gonna pay." Rainbow Dash said before grabbing Fluttershy from Discord.

"I managed to get this off of his neck..." Discord said before handing over a mysterious thing that was part of a broken necklace. "In the three thousand cycles I've been around to witness, never before have I ever thought that my first insticnct would've been to just protect Fluttershy. When she wakes, tell her that for me..." Discord said before passing out.

"Lord Tirek will no doubt be speed running things now." Twilight said, noticing the rainbow sheen the necklace gave off. "Let's go to the treasure chest." She added.

"You all go ahead." Johnson said. "I'll keep Lord Tirek Busy while you open that chest." He added.

"Your basically invincible against him, right? Leave him conscious and walking as we really want to get him for what he did to Fluttershy AND Discord." Rainbow Dash said.

"Heh. I won't need to go that far." Johnson said as the group of ponies headed off. "Here goes nothing." Johnson said.





Lord Tirek soon came to Ponyville, having drained the magic of Celestia, Luna, and Cadence. It was there that he came across Johnson Molloy. "A strange creature with no magic stands before more. If you value your life, you will get out of my way." Lord Tirek said.

"That won't be happening Lord Tirek. I have a tittle of my own: General Johnson Molloy." Johnson said.

"I warned you." Lord Tirek said and blasted Johnson, only to find his power did nothing. "What is this? How can you be immune to magic? Such an ability doesn't exist." The centaur said.

"That's because I don't come from the normal plane of existence. I am a fictional character brought to life. You may have the magic of equestria and three alicorns behind your strikes, but now you face a soldier of justice!" Johnson said.


Mutant Soldier of Justice
General Johnson "The Mole" Molloy




As the music started, Johnson rushed forward and started slashing at Lord Tirek. As the music continued, Lord Tirek tried to crush Johnson, but The Mole was simply too fast for the dread centaur.

As the music continued on, Lord Tirek was still trying to do his best to squish The Mole, but Johnson avoided the attempts with ease, and the few times Tirek did get Johnson, Johnson guarded with one arm, and slashed with the other, causing the centaur to stumble in pain.

As the music began reaching it's climax, Johnson soon began slashing Lord Tirek at breakneck speeds to the point where it was getting hard for the centaur to stand up. And as the song hit it's final notes, Lord Tirek collapsed as Johnson took a heroic pose.

"You never stood a chance." Johnson said as the main six, Flash, and Soarin showed up with the rainbow power.

"Really? Looks like you did most of the work here." Flash Sentry said.

"Lord Tirek was a lot easier then I gave him credit for it seems." The Mole said. "Now you should blast him and return the magic he stole." He added.

"Gladly." Twilight said as the rainbow power removed the magic Lord Tirek stole and returned it to the ponies he stole it from.

"Sweet, this was easy." Rainbow Dash said.

"Dare you say, a little too easy?" A familiar villainous voice sounded out.

"O-oh no..." Twilight said as Zanth showed up and started poring power into Lord Tirek.

"My first attempt and testing my power against this friendship of yours was inconclusive thanks to that mare Radiant Hope. It doesn't matter. I believe this pawn will prove much more useful in testing your so called 'friendship magic' against my pure negative power of total despair~" Zanth said before Tirek had become corrupted by the void energy Zanth fed the centaur. "I really wish I could stay and see the results for myself, but I still have to find that other half of mine. So this is where we say goodbye~" Zanth said before vanishing. Lord Tirek had become changed beyond recognition, and then roared to life.


Corrupted Centaur of Greed
Void Lord Tirek




For some reason, Void Lord Tirek has the ability to cause earthquakes as he walks, preventing Johnson from even getting close the centaur.

...But as for the main six, Flash, and Soarin, they were magically flying around thanks to the rainbow power and did their best to attack Void Lord Tirek whenever they could.

As the battle raged on, soon the other alicorns arrived.

"Wha-what happened to Lord Tirek?!" Celestia exclaimed.

"This is Zanth's doing. He just corrupted Lord Tirek." Johnson said. "...I know you ponies always try your best not to kill your foes, but I'm afraid in this state, there's simply no other course of action." He added.

"...I-I see." Celestia said.

"Fluttershy, will you be--" Discord began to ask.

"...It's an act of mercy." Fluttershy said.

"F-fluttershy?" Rainbow Dash asked, just as surprised as any pony else.

"There's no other way is there? The one known as Lord Tirek has become lost by whatever Zanth just did to him, right?" Fluttershy asked. "So, in that sense, killing Lord Tirek would be an act of mercy, right?" She asked.

"...I suppose one could see this as an act of mercy." Johnson said.

"Then we have no choice. For the sake of Lord Tirek, we must kill the monster he's become." Fluttershy said. "Sometimes the kindest thing to do is the meanest thing possible." She added.

"...Right." Flash said, agreeing but not liking it.

However, after enough damage had been delt, something unexpected happened: The void power began evoporating from Lord Tirek and the centaur was back to their frail and weak self; but also more importantly back to normal too.

"Wh-what just happened? This sort of thing has never happened before with any of Zanth's victims." Johnson said.

"How curious..." It was Zanth again! "This 'Friendship Magic' is able to counter my own power when I corrupt someone." Zanth said. "Do not think this is over though. I have a different sort of pawn in mind for my next scheme, and they have been easily persuaded out of their own free will to work with me. Until then..." Zanth said before vanishing once more.

"...Where does he keep going?" Flash asked.

"I'm more worried about that bombshell he just dropped where he said he was working with some pony else." Rainbow Dash said. Applejack stared at Rainbow Dash. "...What? Even I'm not dumb enough to miss a threat by a big bad guy that's blatantly saying they have an ally." The cyan pegasus said.

"Ah don't know what's more surprising; The fact that you actually admit that you aren't the sharpest tool in the shed RD, or that you actually understood what Zanth just said." Applejack said.

"I'm not that dumb. C'mon AJ, cut me a little slack." Rainbow Dash said.

"Rainbow Dash may be a jock, but that doesn't make her unable to grasp simple common sense." Twilight said.

"Yeah. Hey wait a minute..." Rainbow Dash said. "Was that an insult just now?" She asked.

"Oops. Didn't mean to come off that way. Sorry Rainbow." Twilight said.

"Eh. It's fine. I suppose I'll let it slide." Rainbow Dash said.
> Chapter 54: Being of Despair (The Cutie Map AU) (Updated)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Main Six had wondered what the map in Twilight’s new castle was about when it suddenly showed their cutie marks over a remote village. Going there, the ponies were shocked to see ponies injured.

“Who did this?” Twilight asked. A stallion came up to the group.

“You’ve gotta help her. This black ball showed up and took her to the vault.” The stallion said. “It’s up there!” He said.

“We’re on it!” Twilight said and led the group to the vault where the saw Zanth and a unicorn mare; Zanth was holding a bunch of cutie marks.

“Ah, I see you have arrived. Good. Then I can test my latest theory.” Zanth said.

“Theory?” The mare said.

“Yes. Thanks to you, Starlight Glimmer, I have many cutie marks in my possession. Even if you did not gather them for me, they are now mine!” Zanth said before absorbing the cutie marks and suddenly transforming into a giant Alicorn. “This power is incredible. Let’s see how your magic of friendship stands up to me now!” Zanth said.


Being of Despair
ALICORN ZANTH


Fighting this Alicorn form of Zanth was like fighting Nightmare Moon on steroids. Zanth was capable of causing earthquakes, shooting various kinds of magic from his void horn, and even flying.

It really was like fighting Nightmare Moon on steroids. Thankfully, the elements seemed to sense the need for power, and granted the main six the rainbow boost and this allowed them to defeat Zanth, making him lose his Alicorn form and released the cutie marks he had absorbed.

“Interesting. It seems your friendship with one another is very strong. I look forward to our next meeting.” Zanth said.

“Enough!” It was White Flame. “Zanth, you want me? Well here I am!” The colt said.

Zanth stared at White Flame. “I have no interest in what a colt has to say. Begone from my sight!” Zanth said before vanishing.

“White Flame, what the hell dude?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“…That’s not possible…” White Flame said.

“Huh? What do you mean? What’s not possible?” Twilight asked.

“Zanth’s reaction to me…” White Flame said. “…It’s like he doesn’t even recognize me anymore…” He added.





Afterwords, Starlight Glimmer had been revealed to have had her cutie mark still and thus ran off by the townsfolk.

“There is pain in that Unicorn’s heart. But for some reason Zanth didn’t take advantage of it and void her.” White Flame said.

“That is strange. Is Zanth skipping?” Twilight asked.

“I think Zanth is beginning to lose his composition. It probably won’t be long until he dissolved completely.” White Flame Said.

“What will happen to you then?” Fluttershy asked.

“Nothing. I used what magic I had before my rebirth to make it so if he vanishes, I won’t. I’ve effectively cut our link.” White Flame said.

“So wait, killing you won’t kill him then?” Johnson asked.

“Afraid not.” White Flame said.

“…And here I go…” Johnson fainted.

“So, what do we do then?” The stallion from before asked.

“That depends on you really. You may have your talents, but don’t let that stop you from exploring other ventures.” White Flame said.

“Trust this kid. He knows a thing or two about exploring things and finding out what he can be good at besides blacksmithing.” Twilight said.

“You are a wise colt.” The stallion said.





“Ugh. Stupid stupid stupid.” Starlight said as she fled. “That mare doesn’t know what I’ve been through. But when I’m done with her, she will.” She added.

Zanth was spying on her. “This mare has zero clue. But it’s odd. She reminds me of this unicorn that was with that Alicorn Twilight Sparkle the day I was imprisoned. But it can’t be her. The Unicorn with Twilight was the alicorn’s friend.” Zanth said to himself.





When Zanth returned to the hideout he shared with Garble, it entered a strange state of not glowing. Eventually, Garble came back, but to strange voices.

Guilty. Guilty. Guilty... The voices said.

All rise for the trail... A voiced mixed in with the others said.

Guilty, guilty, guilty... the majority of voices said.

I hearby find the defendent not guilty! A strange authority voice said.

The voices started to loop for a while.

"Z-zanth?! You're seriously freaking me out dude!" Garble said.

Suddenly strange ghost figures showed up in the room. They were mostly saying the same things Garble had been hearing.

"Seriously Zanth, what is going on?!" Garble said. Eventually Zanth went back to glowing. When he did, the voices and ghost figures faded.

"Garble. So, you've heard them then. The voices. I hear these voices like an eternal echo in my head hours on end. There is no end to them. I can barely concetrate. Normally, I can simply tune them out but, something about this world is making that next to impossible. It's becoming harder and harder for me here." Zanth said.

"In that case, I need a plan to rescue my sister from those no good ponies and their dragon slave fast!" Garble said.

"No. Patience is a virtue. I grow weary from my events today. I saw a colt who believed they knew me. But I did not know them. I am too busy searching for Gareth." Zanth said.

Garble growled but just left the hideout anyways. That's when he approuched none other than The Wildman.

"Please, tell me you've given more thought to what we've discussed." Garble said.

"Not until you ditch the evil despair orb will I listen to you. That thing will destroy you if your not careful." The Wildman said. And then he left.

"...Wildman..." Garble said. "Who exactly are you?" He asked before heading off elsewhere himself.

When Garble left, there was but one ghost figure behind him. That of a young lady. "...The time for the truth of this world draws neigh..." The ghost said before vanishing.
> Chapter 55: D.E.C.A. (Unique Episode)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

The group had met once more in the castle of Friendship. Johnson Molloy had called them there for a reason.

"Thanks for coming. I figured that with everything that's been going on between Zanth making an actual apperence and the Wildman out there, it was the right time to introduce you to a certain somepony as you say around here." Johnson said.

"Oooo, are they hiding somewhere? Because I don't see them." Pinkie Pie said. "Honestly, I can't wait to throw them a 'Welcome to Ponyville' party." She added.

"Of course you would." Rainbow Dash said with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm not sure how you could throw a party for who I have to introduce you to." Johnson said before taking out somekind of tablet and turning it on. Suddenly, the screen of the tablet started spewing a bunch of ones and zeros before suddenly displaying some text



This tablet houses a copy of D.E.C.A., short for Digital Encyclopedic Computerized Assistant. D.E.C.A. is a highly advanced AI program that can learn and feel emotion like a normal Intelligent being and thus, should be treated not as a program, but as living being. -Notice written by Expert



"Whose Expert?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"A person who lived a long time ago. He was quite intelligent, but had no knowledge of his own name." Johnson said. "Yet, despite this, Expert was a very gifted man. Or so Deca details. He died before I became real, so I never personally knew the man. D.E.C.A. was Expert's creation, the last thing he did before his death." He added.

Suddenly on the tablet there was a face. "Start up sequence complete. Greetings intelligant life forms, I am Deca." A computerized voice said from the tablet with the face on the tablet moving like any normal face would.

"That thing can talk?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Of course I can talk. I wouldn't be able to be who I am without being able to talk." Deca said.

"...Why does Deca sound like a girl?" Twilight asked.

"I am a girl." Deca answered.

"Oooo, I've never thrown a party for a program that is essentially a living being before. Yay!" Pinkie Pie said.

"...A party? I'm do not comprehend this. Why would any life form want to throw me a party upon first meeting me?" Deca asked, confused.

"Because silly, your new to Ponyville. I really got to go work on making that 'Welcome to Ponyville' party now. Later." Pinkie Pie said. She soon ran off, leaving behind a cloud of dust.

"...Welcome to Ponyville Party? I still do not comprehend." Deca said.

"Deca, there are two things you should know about Ponyville. The first, is that if your new here, Pinkie Pie; who just left; will throw you a party." Twilight said.

"I see. And what is the second thing about Ponyville I should know?" Deca asked.

"DO NOT QUESTION PINKIE PIE." Pratically the rest of the main six shouted at once.

"...I see. I suppose that would make sense to avoid headaches. But I do not suffer headaches." Deca said.

"Tell that to Twilight. Once, she spent an entire week trying to understand Pinkie Pie and wound up with not only various injuries, but a serious headache." Spike said.

"Duly noted, but I am sure I can comprehend things better then she could." Deca said.





As it turned out, Deca couldn't. Despite Pinkie Pie hanging out with Deca all day, even the AI couldn't understand Pinkie Pie.

"...It seems I was underestimating the severe complexity that is Pinkie Pie. I guess it is true that no pony should question Pinkie Pie." Deca said.

"You were warned." Smolder said.

"In fact, I can comprehend that Pinke Pie's complex nature is due to a huge flux of abnormal energy. Yet, I cannot detect the origin of this energy. Either it hasn't happened yet, or it happened to an alternate version of her that has affected all versions of her." Deca said.

"Abnormal what now?" Applejack asked.

"...What she said. Abnormal what now?" Twilight asked.

"If even Twilight doesn't understand what Deca just spewed, then I doubt I will." Rainbow Dash said.

"Ah. My apologies. Anbormal energy is a blanket term used by Expert that I have inherited that covers all things unexplainable and irregular. In other words, it means your friend Pinkie Pie is so vastly different compared to the rest of Earth Pony kind, that it would take millions of years to understand her." Deca said.

"...She ain't wrong." Applejack said.

"Ain't is not a word." Deca said.

"That's just Applejack's southern accent peeking through." Twilight said.

"I see. It seems I can learn a lot from each of you. I hope you will let me learn from all of you." Deca said.

"Well, it's always nice to make a new friend." Twilight said.

Over in the corner, Johnson was smiling. "Honestly, didn't expect them to click so well with Deca of all creatures." The mole said to himself. "I can't wait to see the look on that Draconequus's face though." He added.
> Chapter 56: The Shadowbolt Arc Part 1 (Wonderbolt Academy AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Rainbow Dash couldn't help but be surprised at the number of pegasi who were here. She had expected there to be at most twelve, but not thirty-two. She and Soarin were amongst that number.

"Let me preference things by saying I did not expect there to be a high number of pegasi that would be interested in my program. That being said, I had planned around it." Luna said. "Which is why, there will now be a series of preliminary tests. You'll be paired up with others at random, and to ensure that the process is as unbiased as possible, I chose to have your names put into a jar and then I drew them randomly." She added.

"What happens at the end of these preliminary tests?" asked one mare with a blonde and a lime-green coat.



"Well, depending on your performances, it will detirmine whether or not you actually make it into the actual squadron at all." Luna replied.

So, it was a series of tests to determine who'd actually make the final cut, and who wouldn't then? "It that case, the rest of you might want to try to keep up. You might at LEAST make the cut." The same mare as before said. "But that captain's seat is mine." She added.

Rainbow Dash frowned. Because these tests were being done in a stadium, it meant the tests could be watched. And since every one of the pegasus's friends were there, she gave a nod to Applejack that for most, would've gone unnoticed.

"What was that just then Applejack? Why did Rainbow Dash just nod at you like that?" Twilight asked.

Applejack smiled. "She knows ah'd agree that that ego driven mare needs to be taken down a peg." She replied.





Meanwhile, since the main six, the two dragons, the CMC, AND White Flame's group was off watching Rainbow Dash's tests, Johnson was watching over Fluttershy's animals. That's when he heard something in the bushes.

"...Whose there?" Johnson asked before out stepped a figure that made him instantly brandish his claws. "You..." Johnson said in a tone that made it clear, he was bitter.





Back with the cast, they had no idea what was going on back home as the ponies were paired up. Rainbow Dash was lucky to get together with Soarin. She had no doubt that with his help, they'd crush that mare; who they learned was named Lightning Dust; and show her that she was way too egotistical.

"Lightning Dust makes me think of mom and not in a good way." Scootaloo said.

"Rainbow Dash isn't that egotistical." Spike clarified. But then he caught on to what else Scootaloo said. "...Wait..." He noticed.

"Yeah. I think this could've happened to mom if she hadn't had adopted me." Scootaloo said.

Applejack bit her lip. That was not an image she needed in her head. But it was one she couldn't deny. Dear Luna, please watch over ma dreams tonight. The farm mare thought to herself.

Soon, the tests began.





The tests in question, mostly revolved around simple things, but at one point, there was a cloud busting test. Lightning Dust had taken it upon her self to spin around really fast.

"! Lightning Dust, don't do that!" Rainbow Dash said.

"What? Afraid you'll--" Lightning Dust was saying when suddenly, her speeding created a tornado. "...I did NOT plan for that. But I can stop this." Lightning Dust said before trying and failing to stop the tornado.

"It's going to hit the stands!" One of the other pegasi said.

Grimmacing, Rainbow Dash took to the air and managed to calm the tornado down within a few seconds. "That...was too close." Rainbow Dash said. She was going to have words with Luna when she--

"WHAT THE TARTARUS WAS THAT ABOUT, LIGHTNING DUST?!" Luna exclaimed, almost going full on royal voice on the whole lot of them. "YOU COULD'VE EASILY INJURED THE SPECTATORS WITH THAT STUNT!" She added.

"Whoa whoa, easy now. It was brought under control, and no pony got hurt, so we're all good right?" Lightning Dust said. But pratically every Pegasi and even the ponies in the stands were glaring at her. "...Right?" Lightning Dust said hopefully.





It wasn't all good. Lightning Dust's team was immediately disqualified from the entire testing procedure, and thankfully for Rainbow Dash, her calming down of the tornado had pushed her team right up to the top of the pack. Not that it would've made that much difference since they were there anyways, but it basically ensured they'd move onto the next set of tests.

"Rainbow Dash, a moment." Luna said. "I would like you to be aware, that I honestly, wish I had done better background on Lightning Dust before sending her an application. What I found regarding her shortly after the incident, it only made me realize I should've dug deeper." She added.

Rainbow Dash smiled. "It's cool princess. How bad can it possibly--" Rainbow Dash was handed a criminal record on Lightning Dust. What surprised the pegasus the most was how detailed and long it was. "...I had to open my mouth..." Rainbow Dash finished.

"Safe to say, I have essentially taken it upon myself to have Lightning Dust blacklisted from all stunt related activities. Including that infamous daredevil group known as The Washouts." Luna said. "But, seeing as I am unable to find her after announcing her team's disqualification, I cannot do anything more then this." She added.

"...I'm sure me and my friends will keep a look out for her. And next time Trixie comes around, we'll see if she'll keep an eye out too." Rainbow Dash said.

"You bet I will do just that!" Trixie said, she was suddenly right next to Rainbow Dash.

"GAH!" Rainbow Dash said. "Wh-where did you come from?!" She exclaimed.

"A magician never reveals their secrets." Trixie said. Rainbow Dash looked at her. "...Okay fine, I happened to catch wind that you'd be doing these Shadowbolt tests and wanted to come see it for myself. Happy now?" Trixie asked.

"So, you'll keep an eye out for Lightning Dust on your travels too, Trixie?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"But of course!" Trixie said.





Meanwhile, the figure that Johnson had found was none other than The Wildman. But he was out for blood.

"Maybe now those ponies will think twice before preventing me from stopping an urserper." The Wildman said before he went away.

There, in a pool of blood were two simple words.

NO MERCY
> Chapter 57: The Shadowbolt Arc Part 2 (Testing Testing 1, 2, 3 AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Discord was a bit worried. He felt something was off. Really, really off. Like something happened that would make Fluttershy faint just from looking at the wrongness. Normally, he as the spirit of chaos would never feel this way. But something doesn't feel right. It is on this notion, the Draconequus heads to Fluttershy's cottage, and hopes that everything is fine.

Yet, as it turned out, everything was not fine.

There, laying in a pool of blood, was Johnson Malloy; otherwise referred to as The Mole. Judging from what the avatar of chaos was seeing, it was a sudden cut across his torso.

The Draconequus could also tell that this cut was made by something that had lost all moral.

Something, that had gone completely and utterly feral.

"...This is NOT good. Not good at all." Discord said. Even he could see how wrong this was. He may be an avatar of chaos, but even he would never stoop to this level.

This wasn't an act of something sentient.

There was a beast out there.

And it was out for blood.





Meanwhile, in Canterlot, Luna announced who would be proceeding to the more complex tests that would determine where in the squadron each of those who made the cut would be on the team, and more importantly, who would end up as the Shadowbolt's captain.

Rainbow Dash's team was an obvious pick, mostly thanks to Rainbow Dash's actions in saving the spectators. But what made Rainbow Dash smirk was the fact that Luna brought up that Lightning Dust's team; had they actually managed to complete the preliminary tests; would not been able to make the cut. They were just too far behind in points for it to have made any difference regardless of if they had been disqualified or not.

"Ha. Ah'd love to see the look on Lightning Dust's face if she learned that." Applejack said. Right now, there was a fifteen minute break and there was a provided locker room.

"Just goes to show how being too egotistical and reckless won't get you ahead in life." Rainbow Dash said. "I thankfully had Scootaloo to keep me grounded." She added.

"I don't deserve all the credit mom." Scootaloo said. "Your so close to becoming the leader of the Shadowbolts now." She added.

"...Yeah." Rainbow Dash said simply. Applejack suddenly blinked.

Is it just me, or did Rainbow Dash suddenly sound like she doesn't want that? Applejack asked.





The more complex tests were soon underway, and these tests were only for individuals. While Rainbow Dash did well, Soarin was keeping up with her. And whenever Rainbow Dash struggled a bit with a test, Soarin would not or vice versa.

"Dang. Soarin is able to give mom a run for her money." Scootaloo noted. "I guess that's what makes him the perfect stallion for mom." She added.

"What makes you so sure they'll be getting married?" Rumble asked, curious.

"...I can't say. I made a pinkie promise." Scootaloo said. "And you don't break those." She added.

"Yeah, otherwise you lose a friend FOREVER!" Pinkie Pie said, suddenly appearing between the two foals.

"PINKIE!" Both pegasi foals yelled at her before she went back to her original seat.





The day after the group returned from Starlight's village.

"YOUR GOING TO WHAT?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Not so loud Scootaloo." Rainbow Dash said. "It's supposed to be a giant surprise." She added.

"Yeah but, I didn't think you'd actually put a ring on this relationship so soon. Feels a little fast if you ask me." Scootaloo said.

"Soarin and I talked about it. He feels like this is destiny. And I can't blame him for thinking that way. There's just, something about him that I know I can trust." Rainbow Dash said.

"...Wow. You ARE serious." Scootaloo said.

"Promise me you won't tell any pony though. This is meant to be a big surprise." Rainbow Dash said.

"Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye, I will not tell any pony that you are going to marry Soarin after the Shadowbolt tests conclude." Scootaloo said.





Present day...

Scootaloo was thankful that Rumble dropped the conversation after that. And soon afterwards, the tests concluded.

"Well, it seems we have a tie." Luna said. "Rainbow Dash and Soarin, the two of you are both tied for the same number of points across the tests." She added.

"Dang. We got close." Soarin said.

"I had a feeling this would happen." Rainbow Dash said. As if she wasn't surprised in the slightest.

And Applejack caught that. Okay, some pony please tell me Rainbow Dash isn't acting a bit off suddenly? She thought to herself.

The farm mare didn't get to conteplate this long, when Discord suddenly showed up. "EMERGENCY! EMERGENCY!" The Draconequus said, having sirens go off.

"DICORD, WHAT IN TARTARUS ARE YOU DOING?!" Luna exclaimed.

"I'm sorry, but this couldn't wait. It's about Johnson." Discord said.

"Oh really? I hope he's okay." Fluttershy said. But then she noticed Discord's face falling. "D-discord?" She asked.

"I think you need to see this one for yourself." Discord said.





That is when they saw what had become of the mutant general.

Just then, Twilight booted up Deca. "Hey Deca, we need some advice." Twilight said.

"Sure. How may I--" Deca said before she noticed Johnson's body. "--JOHNSON?!" Deca exclaimed.

"Do you know who on earth could've just killed Johnson like this?" Twilight asked.

"...I can think of only one individual..." Deca said. "...Wildson Malloy, AKA The Wildman, AKA The Erasure." She concluded.

"...Wildson...Malloy? That's his real name?" Twilight asked.

"Let it be known though, that he no longer has rational thought if he's capable of doing this." Deca said. "He's just a beast. A big, bloodthirsty, feral beast." She added.

"F-f-feral?!" Fluttershy's jaw dropped.

"The only thing you can do for him now, is to kill him. It's the only form of mercy available to him once he's turned feral. Because when he turns feral, the only thing he has on his mind is that it's kill or be killed." Deca stated.

"...So the one known as Wildson Malloy...he's lost in that beast?" Twilight asked.

"Yes. That's exactly right." Deca said.

Fluttershy noticed something in the blood. And that one of Johnson's claws was dipped in his own blood. It seems Johnson was leaving them a message from beyond the grave. And it was two words.

"...Then we do what Johnson would want us to do." Fluttershy said. "We show no mercy." She added.
> Chapter 58: The Shadowbolt Arc Part 3 (Newbie Dash AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

For a day a creature was being buried into the ground, it was surprisingly sunny.

"The one day the weather team doesn't schedule rain for Ponyville is the one day where it would be the most fitting." Rainbow Dash said.

"You still have the weather team schedule?" Soarin asked.

"I only put in my two weeks' notice the day before yesterday. It takes longer then that for me to stop getting the weather schedule for free." Rainbow Dash said.

"For what it's worth, rain would've only caused a more somber mood." Twilight reassured her friend.

"Twilight, I don't think anyone is looking for a ray of sunshine right now. How can they? A soldier just died." Flash Sentry said.

"Flash is right sis." Shining Armor said. "I may not have gotten to know him like you and your friends did, but..." He trailed off. Twilight's entire family had decided to attend the funeral. "I know personally the pain of losing one of the royal guards in combat. And this was a General who was not afraid to fight on the front lines." Shining Armor said.

"I just hope that Johnson's boss doesn't mind that we burry his body here amongst nature." Fluttershy said.

"That's the one thing we never found out." Rarity said. "He never told us." She added.

"But who could have such a high command that they'd outrank the government itself?" Fancy Pants asked. He decided to be there too.

"I really hope wherever Johnson's spirit is, he does his best to never frown." Pinkie Pie said. "But I hope when we see him again, I get to throw him the BIGGEST 'good to see you again' party ever!" She added.

"Never change Pinkie." Twilight said, smiling. Seems the party pony was doing her best to try and make things not be so bleak right now.

"Time flows, seasons change. But in the end, what we all will do, is return to the earth." A male voice said.

Rainbow Dash suddenly swiveled in her place towards the owner. "...No. Bucking. Way." The speedster Pegasus said.

A lone black fox suddenly appeared on the scene, approaching the grave of Johnson. "I never expected I'd have to say goodbye to you like this, old friend." The black fox said.

"...Rob Snowden." Rainbow Dash breathed.

"Wait, you mean that mysterious traveler?" Soarin asked. "THAT'S him?" He asked.

"It seems that The Creator's take on fulfilling Wildson Malloy's wish, has finally taken it's dark turn." Rob said.

"The Creator? You speaketh of that god figure my sister knows well?" Luna asked.

"Why would a god give a mortal the power to kill someone whose hide can't be pierced anyways?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"That was an unfortunate side effect that I never got to tell Johnson to be careful of. I had hoped that I wouldn't regret not informing Johnson about it." Rob said. "But I should've taken the precaution when he told me The Wildman had returned." He added.

"It's not your fault boss." Deca said. "Until Johnson's body was found, neither he nor I believed Wildson had been revived." She added.

"...Doesn't matter. Not anymore." Rob said. "Johnson would've preferred being buried amongst nature anyways." He added. "I have my attention to focus elsewhere, however. So, I leave the matter involving Wildson to you." The fox said. "I only ask you promise me one thing." Rob concluded.

"Name it." Rainbow Dash said.

"Promise me, you'll give him Tartarus. And I don't mean send him there." Rob said.

Rainbow Dash smacked her forelegs together. "I think we were going to do that anyways. Dude is going to pay." The Pegasus said.

Rob smirked. "That's what I like to hear." The fox said before suddenly vanishing.

"...How does he do that?" Rainbow Dash asked.





The day after, it was finally time for the tiebreaker race between Rainbow Dash and Soarin. Since they had been dragged down from the crystal empire and figured one more day away would be understandable given what just happened, Shining Armor and Cadence were in the stands too. As were Night Light and Twilight Velvet.

It was to be a simple 100 lap race across a simple oval track. No obstacles, but trying to push one another was off limits. Any physical contact that was seen to be intentionally done would be seen as poor sportmanship and would get the guilty party disqualified and banned from the squadron effectively immediatly. But thankfully, considering the two ponies there, neither one was willing to do something that dishonorable.

"Well this is it Rainbow. Any final words before we do this thing?" Soarin asked.

"I didn't think we need words between us, Soarin." Rainbow Dash said.

"...No. We most certainly do not." Soarin said. He could see something with Rainbow Dash. And he was smiling.

And at the bang of a gong, the two racers took off. Seems Rainbow Dash was taking some time to pace herself here, not opting to go full speed so she wouldn't accidently pull off a Sonic Rainboom out of left field.

"Rainbow's really holding herself back so she doesn't cause a Sonic Rainboom in this arena." Said a very familiar voice right next to Twilight. When Twilight realized who it was, she opened her mouth, only for a yellow hoof to shut her up. "We'll talk later." The mare said, smiling.

Twilight nodded. Of course you'd be here to see your daughter, wouldn't you, Daring Do? The purple alicorn thought to herself.

Soon, it came down to the wire, and when it came to who won, it was a literal photo finish. There had to be some time to review things to decide who won. Eventually, it was revealed that Soarin had managed to win.

"That was so close mom." Scootaloo said. "But hey, you'll at least be Soarin's wing-pony for sure." She added.

"I don't mind that one bit. Even if I had won, I would've just given the position to Soarin anyways." Rainbow Dash said.

"...But mom, you've always wanted to be at the top." Scootaloo said.

"True. But I realized something. He has experince being part of a stunt team. I don't. And if there's something I've learnt from Johnson's death especially, no one's at the top forever. He was a guy whose hide was seemingly impossible to be penetrated, but that Wildson guy did it effortlessly. No one is invincible forever." Rainbow Dash said.

"...Well said." Daring Do currently disguised as A.K. Yearling said with a smile. Soarin came up to them.

"...So, should we tell them what's next for us Rainbow Dash?" Soarin asked.

"...Might as well." Rainbow Dash said. "Now that the tests are over, we are getting married." She added.

"Well dang it Rainbow Dash. Ya just HAD to find some way to outdo Pinkie Pie in the bring a smile to our faces department huh?" Applejack asked.

"Hey Deca, do you know what wish it was Wildson made?" Twilight asked.

"Oh? I guess Rob forgot to mention it. Wildson's wish was that he wanted a method to exact revenge on the one who killed his parents. But The Creator gave him those claws of his and those special claws are able to cut through anything like a hot knife through butter. Sure, that's a tired cliche at this point, but it's none the less true in this scenario." Deca said.

"...So, those claws of his, they were able to allow Wildson to kill Johnson. Then without them, that beast is attackless." Twilight said.

"You're already coming up with an attack plan, aren't you?" Flash asked.

"You know me well Flash." Twilight said, grinning.

"Wildson is going to regret the day he messed with one of our friends then. Next time we see him, he's in for a world of pain." Rainbow Dash said.
> Chapter 59: There for you (Rainbow Rocks Addition & Castle Sweet Castle AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Flash Sentry was currently wondering the Friendship Castle as Twilight's castle had quickly become known as. As he was doing so, his mind had a recalling of events from four days ago.





Flashback

Flash Sentry was currently with Twilight Sparkle as the two rode the Friendship Express to Canterlot. The pegasus guard couldn't help but sigh. "Can't believe your being called to Canterlot just because Prince Blueblood is a total pain in the flank." Flash said.

"I seriously cannot believe Blueblood is this stubborn really. I get it, there was a bit of a mess in Canterlot after the gala that me and my friends accidentally caused, but for him to want the heads of my friends like this, and even threatening to demolish ponyville because of it, is just crazy." Twilight said.

"Sounds pretty petty in the grand scheme of things. Like you said, it was an accident. And accidents happen." Flash Sentry said.





It took quite a while for Twilight to pretty much counter Blueblood's stance, the prince was still peeved.

"Look, I don't care what you say. Your just some commoner that got lucky." Blueblood said.

Something broke in Flash just then. "...What did you just bucking say?" Flash asked.

"Well it's true. Twilight really is just some commoner who got lucky." Blueblood said.

Suddenly Flash was right in Blueblood's face. "Last I bucking checked pal, Twilight more than EARNED being an Alicorn Princess. Unlike you. When have you ever done anything that gives you any right to continue being a prince? And this whole thing with Twilight's friends? It was an accident. And I'm sure you know that accidents happen. If you're going to continue hounding Twilight's friends JUST for some accident, then if anyone here is more deserving of being royalty, it would be Twilight. Not you." Flash said.

Shining Armor's jaw dropped. W-whoa. Flash just BURNED Blueblood HARD. He thought.

"Listen here you, I don't care if you ARE part of the royal guard. I can have you get canned just from that. Apologize now, you ungreatful Pegasus!" Blueblood said.

"Make me. There's not a thing you can do to me that's worse than living in the Parish District." Flash said.

"...Y-your from the Parish District?" Blueblood asked, suddenly having fear in his voice.

That got Shining Armor confused. What's so bad about the Parish District that it's got Blueblood spooked? The unicorn thought to himself.

"I grew up there. Worked hard to get to where I am. So you threatening to take away my guard status? It's nothing compared to what I've already been through." Flash said.

"I-in that case, I-I think I'm just going to go. Y-yeah." Blueblood said.

"And just where do you think your going nephew. I am going to have so many words with you right now." Celestia said.

Flash smirked. "Good luck with that. What your about to go through is nothing compared to the Parish District." Flash said before returning to Twilight's side.

"Flash, what exactly is the Parish District?" Twilight asked.

Flash just smiled. "Let's just say, Canterlot has it's poor population and leave it at that." He added.

Shining Armor just blinked. There's more to it then just that. What's so bad about the Parish District that it's got even Blueblood scared for his life? He thought to himself.





Present day...

Of course the very next day, moving into the castle took a bit, but the two of them were here now. Of course though, Twilight had to get called to the mirror world thanks to Sunset Shimmer. That was nearly three days ago. Suddenly, the mirror activated and both Twilight and Spike returned.

"Twilight!" Flash said, going to his marefriend, who seemed very distraught.

"Be careful Flash, she's been through a lot." Spike said.

"F-flash. A-am I ever so glad to see you right now." Twilight said, wrapping her forearms around Flash.

"...Something bad happened over there, didn't it? It messed you up a little, huh?" Flash asked.

"Yes." Twilight said, tears streaming down her face as she continued embracing Flash.

"...There there, Twilight. I'll always be here for you." Flash said.





The next day...

"You want us to what?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Decorate the castle a little." Flash said. "I'm going to treat Twilight to a day out in the town today. And while I'm doing that, I think you should all decorate the castle a little. I think Twilight would love that. Would make her come to terms with living here a little better." Flash said.

"You can count on us." Scootaloo said.

"I know I can." Flash said.





Smolder ended up coming with as well, wanting to spend more time with Spike. The two dragons were more or less a full on item at this point. Which made Twilight smile.

"Spike sure is growing up." Twilight said.

"Heh. He's been doing that ever since Smolder got her claws on him. But don't worry, I doubt Spike will never stop needing you. You are essentially his sister after all." Flash said.

"That's good to know, Flash." Twilight said, smiling as she leaned up against the Pegasus.

Eventually, the group was back in the castle, where the rest of the main six, the CMC, and White Flame's group had shown off the thing they added: A chandeleir made from the roots of the Golden Oak's Library and some memory crystals.

Flash wanted to crisize, but when Twilight said that it was perfect, he just smiled. He had to know that it was something so little that would mean so much to his marefriend. Seems I was right to trust Twilight's friends. I guess even a minimilist approuch can go a long way. Flash thought to himself.

At least until the group revealed that they may have gone a little overboard in one of the dining rooms.





Meanwhile, a now disowned Blueblood was traveling through the streets in Canterlot. Derpy close by his side. "Should've just kept my mouth shut." Blueblood said.

"Yeah. Now we're going to have to spend a whole week in this part of town." Derpy said.

"I'm scared. This is the Parish District after all." Blueblood said.

"What's so bad about this place anyways?" Derpy asked. "Just seems like a place where the poor folk hang out to me." She added. Suddenly, the two were face to face with a building that had obviously had its front blown up.

"...This." Blueblood said. "It's said to have been an old bank a long, long time ago. Evidence collected shows some kind of explosive was used to blow up the front of the building." He added.

"How long ago are you talking?" Derpy asked.

"...Longer then even when the various races of ponies were racially divided. Heck, even long before the existence of the Unicorn King." Blueblood said. "In fact, carbon dating places this ancient bank as having been around for over one thousand eons ago." He added.

"But-but that means..." Derpy said, hoof suddenly covering her mouth.

"Yep. It means this bank has been around longer than any known pony." Blueblood said.
> Chapter 60: A Flame Against the Darkness (Bloom & Gloom AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Apple Bloom was a little dejected today. And it wouldn't be hard to understand why. It had been earlier that day when Diamond Tiara decided to pick on specifically Apple Bloom that day.

"So, still lacking a cutie mark, huh?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"No insult this time?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Actually, I'm just thinking, perhaps it's best you don't ever get a cutie mark. At least I have one my family is willling to accept. But considering how many family members I heard you have, I'd hate to be in your horseshoes if you got a cutie mark your family could NOT accept." Diamond Tiara said. "What I'm saying, maybe you should be glad you don't have a cutie mark. I mean, just think what would happen if you got a cutie mark your family couldn't accept, and thus, disowned you!" She added.

"Th-that'll never happen. Ah'll get the best cutie mark ever!" Apple Bloom argued.

"Right. Just keep telling yourself that. I bet you'll get a cutie mark that'll make you become an Anti-Apple in a matter of minutes!" Diamond Tiara said.

That was what did it. That was the straw that put Apple Bloom in a funk all day long. Not even her friends could help her.

And that was what made White Flame worried. Such negativity was a hot spot for Zanth. The unicorn colt knew that he needed to snap Apple Bloom out of this funk, and FAST.





That is why after School, White Flame headed for Sweet Apple Acres. He soon approuched Apple Bloom.

"Oh. Hey White Flame." Apple Bloom said.

"Still worrying over what Diamond Tiara said? You know what I say to what she said? That she doesn't know your family at all." White Flame said.

"H-huh?!" That got Apple Bloom's full attention.

"You think my cutie mark changed how my family viewed me? Because it didn't. Diamond Tiara is trying to get under your skin, and your letting her." White Flame said. "There's no way in the world your family would disown you just because you got a cutie mark that wasn't in line with the other Apples." He added.

"H-how can you be so sure?" Apple Bloom asked, voice a little shaky.

"Because they accepted me. And I'm about as different as it can get. Even Granny Smith doesn't mind that I hang out with you a lot. Not only am I a unicorn, but I'm also essentially a reborn being. That's about as out of place as it can get. And despite that, your family has accepted me. Heck, I've even been named an honorary Apple. And as you know, that's not given out lightly." White Flame explained. "So what if your cutie mark ends up different? That shouldn't change who you are, nor should it effect how your family treats you." He added.

"I...your right..." Apple Bloom said, coming out of her gloomy state. "Your certainly insightful sometimes White Flame." The earth filly said.

"Hey, you also accepted me for who I am. Despite everything I've told you, you refuse to see me for some pony besides the pony I am now. And that means more to me then you could ever think." White Flame said.

"Well, ah was honestly just trying to be a good friend." Apple Bloom said. "But then again, perhaps at this point, we're more than just friends." She added.

"Aren't we a little young to be special someponies? No clue what the future will hold." White Flame said.

"Screw what the future holds. Ah know in my heart, the two of us can tackle anything the future can throw at us. So long as we have each other and our friends." Apple Bloom said.

"...Heh. Now who's the insightful one?" White Flame asked, teasingly.





"Gotta hand it to White Flame, my sister has been doing much better. Far as ah'm concerned, he's more than earned his place as Apple Bloom's special somepony." Applejack said.

"He really is different then. Goes to show what I know." Discord said, currently disguised as a Pegasus stallion as he, the main six, Soarin, Fancy Pants, and Flash Sentry were all hanging about Canterlot.

"Yeah. Those two really get along, don't they?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Wish mom and dad could see my little sister now." Applejack said.

"They just might be. In their own way." Twilight said. "Gotta keep that hope alive, right?" She asked.





The next day, both the CMC and WFG were gathered at the CMC clubhouse.

"So, why are we all here exactly?" Rumble asked.

"It's kind of important." White Flame said. "After discussing things between us, Apple Bloom and I came to a realization about our two groups." He added.

"You mean besides our groups being opposite genders?" Button Mash asked.

"Yes Button Mash. Besides that. Just because you and Sweetie Belle play video games together a lot is a huge part of this meeting." White Flame said.

"Don't forget Rumble's continued help with my flying." Scootaloo said.

"And our continued flying sessions with Scootaloo's mom. And I don't mean that--" Rumble was suddenly interrupted when Scootaloo put a hoof in his mouth.

"I know my mom used that word to describe Mane Allgood, but that doesn't mean you get to repeat it." Scootaloo said.

"Besides, language!" Sweetie Belle said.

"All right, so what's going to happen here isn't much, but I figured it was best to make this official." Apple Bloom said, giving some capes to the three colts. "I think the three of us fillies can agree, you would make great additions to the CMC." Apple Bloom said.

"All right. Now we can hang out even more often!" Rumble said.

"What the heck? I'm game." Button Mash said.

"You already know my answer when we discussed this." White Flame said.

"Heh, I don't mind them joining one bit." Scootaloo said.

"We should get Pinkie Pie to throw a small party." Sweetie Belle said.

"ALREADY PLANNING ONE!" Pinkie Pie said, suddenly appearing from a nearby cabnit drawer.

"PINKIE!" The six foals said. The pink mare then vanished back into the drawer.

"Still don't get how she does that." White Flame said. "But then again, it's Pinkie Pie. Best not to question it." He added.
> Chapter 61: Saying Goodbye (Tanks For Memories AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Canterlot - Parish District

The cold temperatures were starting in Equestria now. And during this point, Derpy and Blueblood were still in the Parish District. Currently though, the Pegasus mare was being hugged by the unicorn stallion while the Pegasus was shaking like a leaf. Given what they discovered though, it was obvious why: A single unicorn stallion neither recognized with his throat slit was laying on a mattress dead. Blood long since dried up.

"I was hoping we wouldn't see this during the time we were forced to be here, but I suppose I was too hopeful. This, Derpy, is where the Parish District gets its name from. For some reason, the ponies here are much more likely to kill one another. And no one; not even Aunty Celestia's greatest psychologists; can figure out the reason why." Blueblood said.

"It's so horrible. How can any pony live in a place like this?" Derpy asked shakily.

"It takes a miracle for some pony to live for long enough and escape. And keep in mind, Flash managed to do just that. He's not your typical Royal Guard. I'm so glad that he didn't turn out like other ponies from this place. I've met a few. And they are all much more violent and prone to threating to kill a pony then any other. Flash, meanwhile, has come from this place and managed to keep himself in mental stability." Blueblood said. "In other words, dude has the mind fortitude stronger then iron." He summarized.

"By the way, do you think Flash will marry Twilight soon?" Derpy asked.

"I bet he will. And I don't mind one bit. He deserves some form of happiness. Twilight will keep him from becoming like the other ponies in the Parish District. She has to." Blueblood said. "Besides, I've already found my mare." He added with a smile.

"That you have. Oooooo...is that a playground?!" Derpy asked.

"It is. And it's surprisingly intact despite it's age." Blueblood got out some kind of device. "That Johnson had this device on him. I've managed to work out how it works, and I think I can use it to detect how long this playground has been here." He added. He soon scanned the Playground equipment. While he did indeed get a reading back, Blueblood's jaw prompty dropped cartoonishly to the ground.

"Blueblood? Honey? Is something wrong?" Derpy asked.

"Th-this playground..." Blueblood said. "It's been here just as long as that old former bank has." He added. "What in the name of my aunt is going on here?!" The unicorn concluded.

"Do you think there might be more relics just like this that have yet to be discovered from that same era?" Derpy asked.

"There might be. By the stars, this could be legendary history lost to the annauls of time itself!" Blueblood said.

They didn't notice a strange ghost figure looking at them. "...The pains of this world await those two. And they don't even realize the reason why the ponies are going mad. And they won't until they discover everything..." The ghost figure said before vanishing.





Ponyville - Ponyville Outskirts

“Thanks for coming with.” White Flame said. He was accompanied by all his friends.

“Of course we’d come to help you see Carol off for Winter.” Rumble said.

“Mom should be here soon too. Both her and Mane Allgood.” Scootaloo said.

“Wait she’s coming too?” Rumble asked.

“Yeah. Not sure why though.” Scootaloo said. “Come to think of it, mom wants me to sleep at your place tonight Rumble.” She added.

“…Huh…” Rumble said. Rainbow Dash, Soarin, and Mane Allgood arrived; the rainbow haired mare holding Tank.

“Kind of strange. At least Tank will be back come spring.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Carol too.” White Flame said. “Heh. I still remember when Babs Seed revealed Carol to be a Milksnake, not a Coral Snake.” He added.

“Where is your snake, White Flame?” Mane Allgood asked.

“What do you mean? She’s right--“

“SNAKE!” Two very infamous fillies shouted before the group saw Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon run out from a nearby bush and Carol to slither back up to White Flame.

“…Those two will never learn, will they?” Scootaloo asked.

“Don’t think so.” Rumble said.

“Carol. Guess you had to scare them one more time before winter huh?” White Flame asked, petting his pet snake.

“Pets are the best. Too bad ours have to hibernate through winter huh?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Yeah.” White Flame said. Suddenly an Earth Pony Stallion rushed up to the group. “…Uncle?” White Flame asked.

“Ah…good…I made it…” WF’s Uncle said. “…White Flame, I…I don’t know how to say this. But Carol’s last check up? Didn’t look good.” He said.

“U-uncle?” White Flame asked.

“…Doctor said…this will be Carol’s Last Winter.” WF’s Uncle said.

“N-no…” White Flame said. He looked Carol in the eyes. “Carol…” He said. The unicorn colt was looking into the eyes of his pet snake.



There was a montage of the clips of Carol from the series up to that point. But not all of them.

White Flame, with tears in his eyes, hugged Carol. “I’m gonna miss you Carol…” White Flame said as he hugged and petted his snake. He then let go of Carol, and watch her bury herself.

The rest of the clips of Carol played, right up until now.

“She was a good snake White Flame.” Apple Bloom said.

“…Think we should keep him company for the day?” Rumble asked.

“Yeah.” Apple Bloom said.

As the entire group headed off after Tank Buried himself, White Flame took one last look back. “…Thanks for the memories, Carol.” White Flame said, before leaving with every pony else.
> Special Movie: Wild West Rumble (Appleoosa's Most Wanted AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow, I'm surprised Applejack was so willing to let us come to Appleoosa for the annual rodeo competition." Scootaloo said.

"It didnt' take much to convince her honestly." Apple Bloom said.





Flashback

"Really? Me and the other crusaders can come? Even the colts?" Apple Bloom asked. She has just asked her sister about potentially coming to the rodeo.

"Of course ya all can. Just stick together for the most part you hear? So long as your safe, ah doubt anypony there would mind if you tried some lighter versions of the activities to get your cutie marks." Applejack said. "Who knows? One of ya might end up with a bonified cutie mark related to one of those activities." She added.

End of Flashback





"Of course the real victory was when you told Diamond Tiara your plans." White Flame brought up.

"Oh, I can still remember the look on her face." Apple Bloom said, remembering that Diamond Tiara pratically fainted straight away after hearing how many activities were at the annual redeo competition.

"Well, I guess it's time then." White Flame said. "My parents will be there too." He added. "I've...already told them about my secret." The colt admitted. "They didn't mind though. Said that means I don't have to be looked over as much." He concluded.

"Wow. I just realized we've NEVER met your parents before today." Rumble said. "Wonder what their like..." He added.





"Well lookie here, it's our son!" An earth pony mare said, hugging White Flame really close to her.

"Mom, your emparrassing me..." White Flame said.

"You know that's how your mother shows her love to you, Whitey." An Earth Pony Stallion said.

"They gave him a nickname?" Rumble asked, facehooving.

"Our son has told us a lot about you in his letters." The Mare said.

"...Yeah. Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, Scootaloo, Rumble, Button Mash; I'd like to formally introduce you to Crop Circle and Crop Pattern. My Mother and Father respectfully." White Flame said. "Mom, Dad, this is well...every pony." He added.

"Pleased to meet you Mrs. Circle. You too, Mr. Pattern." Apple Bloom said.

"You can just call us Mr. and Mrs. Crop if you want Apple Bloom." Crop Circle said.

"He much prefer that anyways." Crop Pattern said.

"My family calls others by their first name rather then their last name if they have one." White Flame said.

"So, did White Flame get his name changed when he got his cutie mark?" Scootaloo asked.

"Nope. We thought that the name 'White Flame' would contrast with his dark purple coat." Mrs. Crop said.

"Can't argue with that logic." Rumble said.

"Well you kids stay safe. I hear there's an outlaw in these parts." Mr. Crop said.

"...An outlaw? You think it's The Wildman?" Rumble asked.

"Could be. That guy is wanted in every town in all of Equestra last I heard." Scootaloo said.

"Hmm...hunting a wanted criminal. Now there's a cutie mark I wouldn't mind having." Rumble said.





Rumble was proven wrong, when it was revealed who the outlaw really was: A stallion known as Trouble Shoes.

"Things are a mighty bit more dangerious then ah thought it'd be." Applejack said.

"But that's okay. The foals are with White Flame." Mr. Crop said.

"...Beggin yer pardon? You do realize he has little to no magic, right?" Applejack asked.

"He may not have magic, but he has all that wisdom from his past life right?" Mrs. Crop asked. "So it'd stand to reason, he'd know how to keep the other foals safe and sound." She added.

"...Can't argue with that logic." Applejack said. "Well then, so long as you all stick with White Flame, you can continue with the activities." She said.

"...That's strange though. A pony with an upside down horseshoe as a hoofprint? Something is fishy about this, and I'm detirmmined to get to the bottom of it." Rumble said.





Turns out, that when the group of foals found him, Trouble Shoes was just a stallion who had become cursed with bad luck. Thankfully, the CMC managed to turn his life around, and managed to get him on as a Rodeo Clown.

"Twas a nice thing you lot did for Trouble Shoes." Applejack said.

"Yeah. Not even we could've guessed that Trouble Shoes wasn't sabotaging anything really; it was his bad luck that caused all the incidents." The Sherif said.

"Alls well that ends well." Rumble said.

"By the way, whose your friend?" Trouble Shoes asked.

"Who me?" Rumble asked.

"No not you. Him." Trouble Shoes said, pointing over to a very specific figure.

Every Pony recognized them right away. "The Wildman?!" All the fillies yelled out at once.

"Nice catch there. For an ex-fugitive from the law, you have sharp eyes." The Wildman said. "That said, your not stopping me this time!" He added before suddenly, all the grownups became suddenly paralyzed.

"What did you do to them?!" Scootaloo exclaimed.

"Just gave them a small dose of paralysis. That way, they can witness me gutting you, pegasus filly, right open for all to see. I'm doing this because my efforts to warn you ponies to stay out of my way when it comes to finishing my unfinished business here in Equestria have gone not only to waste, but also actually encouraged you ponies to stop me. So I've decided, my method this time is going to be much more personalized..." The Wildman said.

"You...you just don't care who you hurt, do you?" Rumble asked. "Your so consumed by your new belief, you can't see how many innocent beings your harming in the process." He added. "I...I..." Rumble suddenly had fire in his eyes. "I WON'T ALLOW YOU TO CONTINUE THIS MURDER SPREE ANYMORE!" Rumble said.

"Bring it, you pathetic colt. I will show you why I call myself 'The Erazer'." The Wildman said.


The Erazer Wildson Mandoli
The Wildman




The Wildman drew his metal claws and started unleashing his attacks on Rumble, but Rumble effortlessly dodged them.

"...How are you able to so easily dodge my attacks?" The Wildman asked.

"I was there when you battled Twilight and her friends. So I know each and every last trick in your repitare." Rumble said.

"I see. But are you ready for something I've been practicing?" The Wildman asked. "Ready?" Suddenly, some of the stuff from around the area was drawn into a makeshift ceiling above the heads of both the feral being and Rumble.

"What the..." Rumble said before The Wildman suddenly teleported, attached himself to the ceiling, before dropping down and unleashing a double claw swipe which Rumble just barely dodged.

"This is my latent psychic abilities. Weren't expecting that were you? With them, I can create a ceiling out of anything, and unleash my attacks by dropping down on my foes." The Wildman said before teleporting to the make-shift ceiling again. But this time, Rumble was ready, and struck him right down.

"Did you forget numbskull? I can fly. Now it's time to strike you down!" Rumble said.

"ow. cheap shot!" The Wildman said. But as he got up, he suddenly held his head in pain.

"Huh?" Rumble was confused, but the fight resumed, yet for some reason, the Wildman's attacks came slower.

This lead to the Wildman having to once again, hold his head in pain for a bit, before regaining his compusure. Only now his attacks were even slower.

"That's strange. He's getting slower." Apple Bloom said.

"Who gets slower like this? I know you can get slower as you age, but this feels different." Scootaloo said.

Eventually though, not only did the make-shift ceiling fall away, but the paralysis on the adult ponies suddenly wore off. "Ngh...I underestimated my staminia for being able to do that." Wildman said. Suddenly, his voice changed and became dark. "Seems you got lucky this time. If I continue this fight, you'll mop the floor with me. So, I have no choice but to flee for now. But know this: I won't stop until I restore the proper heir to the Changeling throne." The Wildman warned before he suddenly teleported away again.

"He got away. Again." Applejack said.

"But Rumble that was awesome. You really showed him what's what." Scootaloo said. "Between that and solving the Trouble Shoes misunderstanding, you might just have a talent in solving issues." She added.

"I was only doing what I felt was right. Which was protecting innocent lives. Nothing more, nothing less." Rumble said. "All I did was act, and...it did feel good to protect the innocent." He added. A brief flash occured on his flanks.

"Rumble, your cutie mark!" Scootaloo said. Rumble's cutie mark was a sheild of sorts. But it was a shield within a sheild.

"...Whoa. Guess my special talent is defending the innocent huh?" Rumble asked.

"And you were worried about the foals." Mr. Crop said to Applejack said.

"...Guess ah don't have to worry as much now." Applejack said.





Meanwhile, in an unknown location...

"I was careless. I let my psychic abilities almost let out my inner beast. I have to keep that contained. At least until I put the proper heir on the Changeling throne." The Wildman said. He soon brought out a picture of a male and female changeling that looked very different from the ones in Queen Chrysalis's hive. Both holding two different changelings. The adults featured one more purple changeling without holes, and the other a pure pink without holes. One changeling nymph was a bright green without holes, while the other was still black, yet also had no holes. Plus, it wasn't the same black color as the changelings of Chrysalis's hive. What's more, the two adults had orange antlers of sorts"I made you two a promise: That I would put your eldest son on the throne. And I don't want to lose myself until I'm able to do that." The Wildman said. "It's the only thing I can do, after all you helped me with..." He added. "You'll be avenged, one way or another, King Morph and Queen Meta" The 'feral' being said.
> Chapter 62: Trixie's Permanent Return (Make New Friends but Keep Discord Skip & The Lost Treasure of Griffonstone Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

As Twilight was waiting to hear from Rainbow Dash & Pinkie Pie about their friendship quest, she and Flash had been doing a castle date when there was a knock at the castle's front door.

"Now who could that be?" Twilight asked before she went to open the door. There, she found none other than Trixie. "Trixie?"

"Yes it is I; the Great and Mysterious Trixie! I have come to grace you with my prescence once more, Princess of Friendship!" Trixie said. "...Yes, Trixie heard the news on her travels. Sorry I wasn't there. Was on tour at the time." She added.

"It's alright Trixie. You've been keeping up with the mail at the least." Twilight said as Flash came up to the two of them.

"So, this is Trixie Lunamoon..." Flash said. "Wait a minute, NOW I recognize you. You're that drop out of Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns." He added.

"...Wow, way to bring up a bit of history I wished to forget..." Trixie said. "Besides, Trixie didn't drop out, she was expelled! There's a HUGE difference." She added.

"That's only because you failed both your mid-term exam AND your re-entry exam." Flash said.

"Well Trixie is not that mare anymore, thanks to Twilight." Trixie said.

"...Wait, you actually helped her?" Flash asked.

"Well, I really wanted to learn Illusion magic. It was the one field of magic I wasn't an expert in." Twilight said.

"And seeing as I wanted to get better at actual magic, it was an easy partnership." Trixie said.

"Though it did bring your half-sister Checkers to Ponyville chasing you. Complete with a magic amulet that made her as powerful as an Alicorn." Twilight said.

"Checkers has always been trying to put Trixie down, and when you helped Trixie become an overall better mare, she became furious that she could not bully Trixie any further." Trixie said.

"Wait, is that why Cherkers Lunamoon is considered highly dangerous?" Flash asked.

"Wow, guess Princess Celestia took that little incident seriously." Twilight said.

"Now come on Twilight. Even if she's your mentor, Princess Celestia is your fellow Princess. You can drop the pretext now." Trixie said.

"You too Trixie?" Twilight asked.

"Guessing she already wanted you to do that huh?" Trixie asked.

"...Yeah..." Twilight said.

"Wow. In that case, your former mentor is outright giving you PERMISSION to do so. So why not take it?" Trixie asked.

"...I'll think about it." Twilight said.

"...It's almost like I'm not even here." Flash said.

"Sorry Flash. Guess we got a little carried away." Twilight said.

"Yes. Trixie is sorry." Trixie said.

"I suppose it's fine. Honestly, it was kind of fun to see you two bounce off each other like that. Guess that's what makes you such good friends." Flash said.

"Speaking of, don't know what purpose you have for your visit this time Trixie, but thankfully, the only thing to note is that Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie are off on a friendship mission." Twilight said.

"...Friendship Mission? What's that?" Trixie asked.





"HOLY CELESTIA, THAT IS A BIG MAP!" Trixie said once she saw the friendship map.

"Yeah. I think this covers all of Equestria and a couple of surrounding areas." Twilight said.

"Oh you bet it does. Trixie recognizes everything here." Trixie said.

"So why are you here anyways?" Flash asked.

"Yeah. Your last letter said you'd be back in a couple more weeks." Twilight said.

"That was Trixie's original plan. But..." Trixie bit her lip. "...Trixie...has been everywhere she can..." She added.

"...Say what?" Twilight said.

"I'm serious Twilight. I've seen everything Equestria has to offer. My last show was in Manehatten. That was where my show before Ponyville was. And once I had finished that, that's when it struck me: I've gone full circle, Twilight. There is literally no where in Equestria where I haven't been." Trixie said.

"...You...you just said that whole thing without once talking in third person..." Twilight said. "You only do something like that when it's serious." She added.

"Yes. That is why Trixie has decided that she will be moving to ponyville on a permanent basis." Trixie said. "Considering the size of this castle, I'm sure you can afford to have me around here." She added.

"Well...that's not something I thought I'd be hearing today." Twilight noted.

A couple of minutes later, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie showed up. "Oh, speaking of Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie." Flash said.

"Hey we're back. Also, hi Trixie." Rainbow Dash said.

"Hello Rainbow Dash." Trixie said. "Well then, Trixie has things to unpack." She said and left.

"...Wait, what's that about her unpacking?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"I say we swap stories, because I'm sure all of us have something to mention." Flash Sentry said.

"OOOOOOO! I LOVE SWAPPING STORIES! I mean I've never done them, but it sounds super mega ultra fun like super mega awesomely so!" Pinkie Pie said.

"...Pinkie, you can really give out headaches sometimes, even when I'm not trying to understand you." Twilight said.

Every pony just laughed before they swapped stories that day.
> Chapter 63: Wild Truth (Slice of Life Background + Add-on)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

There was seemingly chaos going on in the town of Ponyville today because of there being a wedding between Cranky and Mitilda plus a Bugbear showing up out of nowhere.

While every pony in town was getting ready, including the foals, White Flame did notice a changeling just randomly wondering around.

"How'd a changeling sneak into the village?" White Flame asked.

"There's a changeling here?" Apple Bloom asked. By the time she looked, the Changeling has shape shifted. "...Ah don't see any changelings where your looking." She added.

"...I swear he was just here..." White Flame said.

"He must've flown off because of the Bugbear." Scootaloo said.

"I wouldn't blame him honestly. Your mother Rainbow Dash and the other elements of Harmony are already battling the thing." Rumble said.

"Yeah. Plus, I don't really feel like we should risk fighting a bugbear at all. I mean, that kind of cutie mark would be so specific." Sweetie Belle said. The group ran into Bon-bon AKA Special Agent Sweetie Drops in her disguise.

"Oh, excuse me miss." Button Mash said.

"Err...it's alright." Special Agent Sweetie Drops said.

"Hey wait a second..." White Flame looked her up and down. "...Your Bon Bon, right?" He asked.

"...You didn't see anything." Special Agent Sweetie Drops said before a flash of light occurred, blinding the group.

"Wh-what just happened?" White Flame asked. "And where'd Bon Bon go?" He asked.

"What are you talking about?" Button Mash asked.

White Flame quickly realized, whatever Bon Bon just did, it was meant to wipe their memories of the encounter with the candy mare. So how come I'm immune to that? Is it because of who I am? White Flame thought to himself.





Meanwhile, the Changeling was being tailed by Wildman, and before it could enter the venue, it was grabbed by the feral being.

"Ack! Please don't hurt me!" The changeling said, Wildman having removed it's disguise.

However, Wildman suddenly went wide eyed. "y-you!" He said before dropping the Changeling. The changeling quickly fled after slipping into the wedding, which locked behind it as the wedding was about to take place. "...That was him..." Wildman said. "Thorax...so we finally meet face to face..." He added.





After everything seemingly calmed down for the day, Twilight found a note on her door. It was from Wildman.

"Seeing as there is no way for you to know this, I figured I should tell you this. I would tell you this face to face, but I would not dare risk exposing myself right now. Circumstances have changed, as I have found the one that I've been looking for. Seeing as I've now found him, it's time you knew the truth about Chrysalis and her parents: The parents of that changeling 'queen' are murderers, plain and simple. Chrysalis isn't even the rightful heir to her hive. That honor belongs to another, the one that I was searching for. I made a vow to the proper king & queen of the hive Chrysalis rules over with an iron hoof as you would say that I would make sure their oldest son would take the changeling throne. And I will not stop until I fulfill this vow; it is the reason why I have come here. I have no clue who revived me, but it doesn't matter how I was revived; all that matters is what I'm doing here, and that is to make sure that the proper heir to the changeling hive's throne takes that spot. To this end, that is why I seek Chrysalis's death and why I killed her parents in the first place. Consider this the next time you see Chrysalis." The note said.

"...Wildson Mandoli..." Twilight said as she looked out towards the sunset. "...Just who are you, really?" The alicorn asked as she entered the castle.





That night, Blueblood and Derpy were back in the Parish District this time with a team of experts. The discovery of a playground that was just as old as the bank ruins drew even Princess Celestia's interest, so a team of expert architectures & landscapers was called upon to be guided by Prince Blueblood and his Fiancé.

"So, you're saying even the soil samples here date back to same era of time as the bank ruins?!" Blueblood exclaimed when one of the landscapers told him about that.

"Indeed. The soil samples around this playground area are indeed from the same era of time as the bank ruins." The landscaper said.

"By the stars." Derpy said.

"Prince Blueblood, you're not going to believe what we've found!" An archetict said.

"Try me." Blueblood said before he and Derpy were led to what seemed to be a now deactivated water fountain. "An old water fountain?" Blueblood asked.

"Yes, and carbon dating says that it was also around the same era as everything else we've discovered." The architect said.

"A structure that looks like a bank, a playground with stallion sized seats, and now a deactivated Water Fountain; I may not have good hoof eye cordination, but everything so far is making this place out to be a very old village." Derpy said.

"...That's what I'm afraid of..." Blueblood said.
> Chapter 64: Darkness Escape (Princess Spike Aftermath + Party Pooped Skip)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Late at night, shortly after Spike returned with Twilight to Ponyville, the purple dragon was getting an earful from Smolder.

"Seriously, you could've just told the truth. I have half a mind to also give Candace a good scolding as well, but she's the ruler of her own nation now, so that's not a good idea." Smolder said.

"Lucky me; that means I get the full brunt of your lecture mode." Spike groaned.

"Trust me, this time I am not going to throw out my--" Smolder said before the entire castle began to rumble. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!" She exclaimed.





At the grave site of one Johnson Molloy, a strange black blob was causing the massive earthquake, and suddenly, the body of Johnson Molloy was lifted out of the grave. This is the site one Angel bunny bore witness to.

"Excellent. The first part of my reemergence is completed." A voice completely cloaked in pure malice said. The black blob soon started to carry away the corpse of Johnson Molloy when Angel bunny hopped his way into Fluttershy's cottage.

Fluttershy was tossed awake a little from the massive earthquake. "Oh dear, what was that all about?" Fluttershy asked. Angel Bunny hopped up to her. "What is it Angel?" Fluttershy asked. Angel bunny talked in his usual manor. "...WAIT WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?!" Fluttershy exclaimed.





The next morning, the main six, the two dragons, the CMC, Celestia, Luna, and surprsingly, Rob was at the grave site. "...Yep, just as I feared." Rob said. "Of course he'd find some way to escape his daughter's grasp." He added.

"I apologize if we took you away from something important, but never before has any pony ever disturbed a grave before. Honestly, I figured you'd know who it is right away. I'm guessing I wasn't wrong." Celestia said.

"You'd be right. But it wasn't a pony that did this." Rob said as he got up from his croutching position. "It was Gorzon." The black fox added.

"Gorzon? Never heard of him." Rainbow Dash said.

"Of course you wouldn't have. He was contained by his own daughter a few years ago. Guess it was only a matter of time before he managed to worm his way free." Rob said.

"Well then, nothing to do but capture him and contain him again, right?" White Flame asked.

"You ponies should stay out of this. Especially Luna." Rob said.

"What do you mean? We can handle him." Rainbow Dash said.

"Plus, Luna is an alicorn." Fluttershy pointed out. Everypony turned to her. "Um...I'm just saying..." Fluttershy said.

"...Dang Flutters, go you." Rainbow Dash said.

"No. You can't. Gorzon will take control of your darkest thoughts, turning them into a shadow being he can control. And in Luna's case where she was corrupted by her own dark thoughts, it'll cause her to become Nightmare Moon all over again, and having to deal with that again would tire you all out." Rob said.

"That's not mentioning the fact that then Nightmare Moon will be Gorzon's puppet." Deca spoke out.

"Are you bucking serious?" Rainbow Dash said.

"It's no joke. And Gorzon won't hesitate to do it either. This isn't like Sombra who was saved by his true love, or anyone else effected by Zanth." Rob stated. "If you took Sombra's deeds when he was his tyrant self, and then multiplied that sort of wickedness by a million, you still wouldn't get close to Gorzon's cruelty. The dude was willing to try and cause the spirit world and living worlds to collide with each other in order to destroy everything." He added.

"...Okay now I'm getting scared." Celestia said.

"...If Princess Celestia is getting scared from that, then that just shows how out of our league Gorzon is." Twilight said.

"Exactly. Leave this one to me. You just focus on staying on guard. If you do spot a sentient black blob squirming around, don't engage it; contact me." Rob said before he vanished.

"...I hate it when he just vanishes on the spot like that." Twilight said.

"You get used to it after long enough." Deca said.

"Here's hoping we don't have to." Rainbow Dash said.

"Yeah, and this Gorzon guy better stay away from us if he knows what's good for him." Smolder said. But then she blinked.

"...Knew that was coming." Spike said.





A few minutes later, Smolder was being fed her throat medicine like every other time she threw out her voice because of her lecture mode. "Seriously, I know Spike made some bad decisions, but I've already had a chat with my sister-in-law about enabling Spike's decisions." Twilight said.

"Not. Funny." Smolder said as Spike fed her more medicine.

"You know, you've hardly had to lecture any pony; so I'm surprised your body still makes your voice go horse whenever you lecture some pony." Spike said.

"It's probably a thing that she'd have to train her body to withstand, but I would most certainly not recommend it. If need be, we can and will convince Rarity to get an actual doctor to sign off on that." Twilight said.

"You don't have to rub it in. I get the point. I just hate it when people decide to be idiots." Smolder said before Spike gave her more medicine.

"Well you don't have to full on lecture mode them. I'm sure you can get your point across without ruining your voice. Like say, the draconic growth?" Spike suggested.

"Haven't been able to get it to trigger like you can." Smolder said.

"I'm more surprised the medicine actually survived the Library being destroyed." Flash Sentry pointed out.

"Heh. Same." Twilight said. "This did sort of ruin our plans for this evening. Again." She added.

"No. I think I can handle things with Smolder from here. You two go enjoy your date tonight." Spike said.

"...Alright Spike, if your sure." Twilgiht said and then left with Flash.

"...You just said that to also have some alone time with me. Hey, the medicine's starting to work." Smolder said.

"Maybe. But then again, I'm sure we can have our own sort of date once you have your voice fully back." Spike said.

"...Wow, you sure can spoil me sometimes." Smolder said.

"Hey, isn't that kind of my thing to do?" Spike asked, teasingly.

"Perhaps. Hey, my voice is back to normal." Smolder said. "Here, how about I give you a kiss before we start doing anything." Smolder said before kissing Spike. The purple dragon then collapsed into a collection of hearts. "...Missed that happening~" Smolder said.
> Chapter 65: Pony 64 (Amending Fences Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"So, Moondancer decided to come by and visit Ponyville, with Twilight wanting me and Smolder to spend some time with you guys." Spike said. Earlier that day, Moondancer had come by to visit. She and Twilight had been actually pen pals for a while now, and the surprise visit caught even Twilight off guard.

"That's great. We were actually about to go over to my place for the day." Button Mash said.

"By the way, did you hear? There's a planned show for the Shadowbolts tomorrow right here in Ponyville." Scootaloo said.

"It'll be Rainbow Dash's first Shadowbolt performance." Rumble said.

"...Why does it feel like something should've happened with Rainbow Dash at the upcoming Wonderbolts Canterlot show?" White Flame asked.

"Beats me. Let's just head over to my house." Button Mash said.





"Now remember Button Mash, try not to stay up too too late tonight with your friends playing your new system and some new games. I did my best to gather as many of the multiplayer games as I could, but a few just aren't being released for another few months, and I didn't want you to wait." Cream Heart said.

"That's fine. Me and my friends will just take turns with the solo games if we completely run out of things to play otherwise." Button Mash said.

"That's...honestly something I never thought I'd hear you say..." Cream Heart said.

"Hanging out with my friends did that to me I think." Button Mash said as he and his friends headed upstairs to get the console set up.

"Err...are you sure you don't need my help?" Cream Heart asked.

"You forget, I was once much older than I am." White Flame said.

"Right..." Cream Heart said. Even she could not get behind how a grown-up mind could be in such a little colt's body, but then again, by White Flame's own admission: Strange powers were at work here to begin with, powers that went above even Princess Celestia's head. Besides, the Princesses themselves did not seem that concerned with White Flame's old life leaking into Equestria.





"So, the first game I can see that is multi-player is...Pony Kart 64?" Sweetie Belle read off.

"I also see something called Pony Party." Rumble stated.

"Welp, I spy a single player game called Super Pony 64." Scootaloo said.

"Hey, what's this one?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Wait...no way. That's The Legend of Adlez: Flute of Time!" Button Mash exclaimed. "I heard that Ponies were expecting that to become one of the greatest games of all time." He added.

White Flame just said nothing. Instead, running the names in his head. Pony Kart 64? Pony Party? The Legend of Adlez?! By the Fates, I think I know what these are... White Flame said.

"Well then, even if it's Single Player, let's check it out!" Scootaloo said.

"Yeah, let's see if the hype is worth it." Rumble agreed.

"Sure, why not?" Sweetie Belle asked.

"Even if we all take turns, we'll get to see the game for our own eyes." Apple Bloom said.





Cream Heart was heading up stairs, when she heard the foals talking.

"Watch out, Giant Bubble!" Sweetie Belle was heard saying.

"Yikes! Compared to the one from the Forest Temple, that one was huge!" Button Mash was heard saying.

"No kidding. But seriously, can the text load a little faster?" Scootaloo asked.

"Not going to lie, that is a little annoying." Rumble said. Cream Heart was in the room now.

"Oh my. What exactly are you kids playing up here? This looks a little too mature if you ask me." Cream Heart said. She spotted an opened box. "...Oh. It's one of Button Mash's Legend of Adlez games. Is this in 3D?" She asked.

"Yeah. We all wanted to check out together. It's yet another remixed version of Alternate Equestria." Button Mash said.

"You mean the setting from the other Legend of Adlez games?" Cream Heart asked.

"Yeah. But I have to wonder why Princess Adlez is a unicorn in this game and not an Alicorn like she is in the first two. I know she was a Unicorn in 'A Link to the Past', but seeing as that game seemed in a pre-history part of time, I ignored it." Button Mash said.

"Maybe this game is the same way then? Another look into the past? I mean, so far this sounds like the Sealing War that was mentioned in 'A Link to the Past' just with the details mixed a little. But those sorts of details would change over time." Sweetie Belle said.

"She's got a point. Who knows how far back in time this game takes place from 'A Link to the Past'." Scootaloo said.

"True. But the time travel mechanic with magic seems really advanced." Button Mash said.

"Meh. It's a video game. Probably best not to think too hard on what is and isn't realistic. This is an Alternate Equestria after all." White Flame said, but in his mind, he didn't have the heart to discuss with them the full Zelda timeline, which this series was obviously based on. Besides, it's best I table this discussion for later, when more games come out. White Flame thought to himself.

"Well, you kids should pause. It's lunch time." Cream Heart said.

"Oh wow. We should get something to eat." Button Mash said.





By dinner time, the group had managed to make it to the Shadow Temple, but had to stop after due to bedtime.

"Tomorrow, after the Shadowbolt Show, we should totally finish that game." Scootaloo said.

"Yeah. I can't wait to see where Princess Adlez was the whole time." Rumble said.

White Flame rolled his eyes. It's funny, I know exactly where she is, and yet, I don't want to derrive my friends of the massive plot twist. At least I can say it's a good plot twist. White Flame thought to himself before everyone drifted off to sleep.
> Chapter 66: A Different Kind of Party (Double Background)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow. Didn't think there'd be a lot of hype around the Sisterhooves Social happening this year. Lots of sisters from across Equestria are appearing this year." Button Mash said.

"Yeah. I know Rainbow Dash would've loved to compete, but she's devoted herself to being my mother and not my older sister." Scootaloo said.

"...As much as ah hate to admit it, Rainbow Dash has been doing a really fine job with you Scootaloo. Shadowbolt duties and all." Applejack said.

"Yeah. I just cannot compare to her now." Mane Allgood said.

"Did you and Snap Shutter come to document the event?" Rumble asked.

"Nah. We wanted to cheer on Apple Bloom and Apple Jack." Snap Shutter said.

"Well, me and the rest of the foals want to play more of Button Mash's Pony 64 games; especially that Pony Party 64 game." Scootaloo said. "So it'll be nice for Apple Bloom to have support outside of me and Rainbow Dash." She added.

"Isn't Cream Heart out of town though?" Applejack asked.

"Heh, who do you think is looking after the place in the meantime?" Rainbow Dash asked, holding a house key.

"...Dangnabbit Rainbow. It's like something changed with you the minute you took up Scootaloo as yer foal. I can barely recognize you." Applejack said.

"Look, I get it: I was very ego driven when we first met. But after the Running of the Leaves incident, I realized just how much my ego could get in the way of taking care of Scootaloo. So, I guess you could say our tie for last place that year, really set me straight." Rainbow Dash said.

Mane Allgood's jaw just dropped. S-she only needed the one wakeup call...and she really decided to put forth the effort and then some. She thought to herself. How was she supposed to compete with that?

"I hope you aren't thinking about me not being there Apple Bloom." White Flame said, who was suddenly right next to Apple Bloom.

"Gah!" Apple Bloom said.

"LAND SAKES WHITE FLAME, WHERE DID YOU COME FROM?!" Applejack exclaimed.

"Around..." White Flame said.

"...You know, ever since you lost Carol, you've been getting sneakier." Rainbow Dash said. Then she realized what she just said. "Oh...crap..." She added.

"It-it's fine. I know I should move on, but it's still a little hard." White Flame said.

"I know. I shouldn't have brought it up. I'm sorry." Rainbow Dash said.

Now even Applejack jaw-dropped at that. Th-this is not the same Rainbow Dash ah tied with during the Running of the Leaves incident. Not one bit. The farmer mare thought to herself.

"I said it's fine. I'll just take my mind off by cheering for Apple Bloom and Applejack tomorrow." White Flame said.

Applejack's cutie mark glowed. "...Welp, Twilight must want something." She said before heading off.





The next day, the foals were playing Pony Part 64, with Rainbow Dash, Spike, and Smolder watching.

Before playing, they read the instruction manual, as it was recommended that you read it before you started playing.



Thank you for purchasing Pony Party. This manual has a few things you should know before you start playing. If you don't want to know the full controls right away, and just want the "Things to Know Before Playing" tips, jump to Page 7



This promptly caused them all to jump to page 7 before reading.



There are a few things to know before you begin playing. First off, please note that if your of the competitive sort, it is worth it for you to know that one of the board gimmicks known as Boo can steal stars from other players. If you don't wish for this to be a thing you and your friends do with each other, if there are four of you, form some sort of truce or some sort.



That was exactly what Rumble and Scootaloo did, saying they would only steal stars from the ones that had more then them, and not steal stars while in first place. This rule was implied for all foals.



Additionally, it is not recommended that dragons play this game. We are fully aware of Dragon Greed being a thing good dragons try to avoid, and that can be something difficult to do while playing this game since the goal is to hoard as many coins and stars as possibly. Therefor, if you are a dragon that has gone out of their way to avoid Dragon Greed, we do not recommend that you play this game at all unless your just that good at controlling it.



This promptly made Spike and Smolder bow out of playing, as they didn't want to risk it. Happy to just be with each other as they watched the others played.



Finally, this game contains various amounts of stick rotating mini-games. We have included an option to turn these into button mashers in the Options House as many foals in the home country these games are made have already hurt themselves spinning the control stick like crazy. We do not encourage bodily harm, so please turn this option on otherwise you might find blisters on your hands. We withhold responsibility for your injuries if you ignore this warning.



So the foals decided to do exactly that and then the games began. Eventually, Button Mash proved his expertise in video games by winning their match before Apple Bloom, White Flame, and Big Mac soon arrived with Applejack just before dinner.

"Did you all have fun with the game?" Applejack asked.

"Yeah. We'll have dinner soon." Button Mash said.

"Mind if we join?" White Flame asked.

"Not at all. So, how'd the Sisterhooves Social go?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"No clue. Ah wasn't there for it." Applejack said. "Friendship Problem in Manehatten." She added.

"Can't...unsee...so many questions..." White Flame said.

"Uh...what's wrong with White Flame? I don't think I've ever seen him like this before." Button Mash said.

"How about we tell you over dinner?" Apple Bloom asked.

"No! Please don't! Want to forget...don't wanna remember..." White Flame said.

"Too bad! I wanna know what went down that caused White Flame to act like this." Scootaloo said.

"Oh please no!" White Flame begged.

"Oh please yes!" Rumble said.

"Your going to regret this..." White Flame said.





Meanwhile...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE WEREN'T MANY PONIES THERE IN THE AUDIENCE?!" Crecent Moon exclaimed. "It's Canterlot. Bucking Canterlot. You should've had a sold out crowd." He added.

"We should have..." Fleetfoot said.

"...But instead, most of the seats were empty." Spitfire said.

"Great...that's just great...well hopefully the next show that's in manehatten will have a much better crowd." Crecent Moon said. Suddenly the phone rung. "Hello?" He asked. "WHAT? WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE SHOW'S BEEN CANCELLED?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU HIRED SOME OTHER FLIGHT TEAM?! WE'RE THE ONLY ONES I KNOW OF!" Crecent Moon was yelling.

Oh...oh no... Spitfire thought to herself. It...it begins... She added to her thoughts.
> Chapter 67: Evil Incarnate (Unique Episode)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had been a normal day, but Gilda had rushed over to grab Rainbow Dash on an emergancy. Leaving Scootaloo with Twilight for the day, the cyan mare flew off with Gilda.

"So...the main reason Rainbow Dash went off with Gilda was to make up for loosing some Griffonstone treasure?" Mane Allgood asked.

"Yeah. But that's Rainbow Dash for you: She won't abandon a friend in need. And Gilda certainly looked panicked over something." Twilight said.

"...Yeah I guess that would be something to pass down to your own kid..." Mane Allgood said. The more I learn about Rainbow Dash, the less likely it's looking like I could ever compete with her. She added.

"I just hope mom gets back soon. But know her, this shouldn't take long." Scootaloo said.

"Don't jinx it, Scootaloo." Soarin said, entering the room. "Rainbow Dash sent me over." He added.

There's also him. Mane Allgood said.

"I really don't know what's going on, but I've felt something strange in the winds this morning. Not weather bad, but something truely evil." Soarin said.

"Evil just doesn't exist in Equestria." Twilight said.

"Queen Chrysalis." Scootaloo pointed out.

"Lord Tirek." Soarin decided to add in.

"Discord." Mane Allgood said. But every pony in the room glared at her. "...What?" She asked.

"He was more looking to spread chaos and want to spice things up around places. Fluttershy's even gotten him to not go super mega overboard with his chaos like he did before he got imprisoned in stone." Flash Sentry said.

"I...see..." Mane Allgood said. "I thought we were just listing off the threats there have been to Equestria." She added.

"Well from what we've learned about Chrysalis, seems she and her parents weren't above straight up murder for the Changeling Hive. As for Lord Tirek, the dude has had what? Three chances for friendship yet botched each one? That's three strikes." Scootaloo said.

"Okay, I see the point you two are making. And the Wildman seems to just want Chrysalis's head so he doesn't count Flash. He's more of a threat to Chrysalis then Equestria as a whole." Twilight said.

"...She has a point there." Soarin said. "But I'm talking something far worse then Chrysalis's family here." He added.

"What on earth could be worse than murdering a hive king & queen?" Twilight asked.

"Twilight!" Rainbow Dash said, bringing in a very tramutized looking Gilda.

"Rainbow, what happened?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"No time. Soarin, we gotta grab the Shadowbolts: Griffonstone emergancy, stat!" Rainbow Dash said.

"This is serious..." Soarin said as he left with Rainbow Dash.

"Gilda? Gilda what happened?" Twilight asked.

"E-evil...incarnate..." Gilda said.

"...Well that's not helpful." Scootaloo said.

"...Let me try something." Twilgiht said before using her memory spell then projecting Gilda's most recent memories.





Flashback...

"What the...already?!" Gilda exclaimed as she and Rainbow Dash flew down, seeing a strange black blob.

"Ah...more guests..." a voice said, before the black blob suddenly morphed into what appeared to be a Griffon.

"Are you a changeling?!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed.

"Changeling? What's a changeling? I am much more then some mere one species. I am a shapeshifter of pure evil and malice. You may call me, Gorzon." The Griffon said before he shape shifted into a pony, then a being that more resembled what Wildman was, without all the hair on him.

"...Wait, are those...what hands are?" Rainbow Dash said, noticing the ends of Gorzon's arms.

"Why yes, what a good eye." Gorzon said, before he shape shifted back into a Griffon.

"Your some sort of master imposter aren't you?! Your kind is not welcome in Griffonstone." Gilda said.

"That's what they said, and look what happened to them." Gorzon said. "I'd say you have about...thirty minutes." He added.

"Thirty minutes? For what?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"To fly your friend to Ponyville, gather the Shadowbolts, and rush back here before Griffonstone sinks below ground to save all these Griffons." Gorzon said.

"That's not gonna happen buster. Griffonstone will never sink below the ground." Gilda said.

Suddenly, the smile Gorzon gave off, made Gilda suddenly wince in pure fear. "...Oh? Is that so?" Gorzon said before unleashing a mysterious spell into the ground. Suddenly, the ground below began to crack and the buildings began to shake. "You might wanna rethink that. Last I checked, a lot of baby griffons were just born with a few eggs still to hatch." Gorzon added.

"You...what the hell are you?! Why would you do something like this?" Gilda asked.

"I'm Gorzon. And I am Evil Incarnate." Gorzon said.

End of Flashback...





"...I...I think I've seen enough." Twilight said, stopping the memory.

"T-that was Gorzon? No wonder Princess Celestia was like 'yeah no, I'm peacing out of this.'" Scootaloo said.

"I better inform her right away." Twilight said.





"It's gone...our home...everything we had..." Granpa Gruff said.

"E-evil...incarnate..." Gilda said, still traumatized. The griffons, Mane 6, Cadence, Shining Armor, Flash Sentry, and the princesses were looking over a giant hole in the ground.

"I thought that by staying out of the business with Gorzon, no one of this world would suffer like this." Celestia said.

"He doesn't care." It was Rob, he suddenly walked in on the picture. "That's just how Gorzon works." Rob added.

"I-I have no words..." Rarity said. "I would've loved to perhaps, style up Griffonstone Griffon style." She added.

"Now's not the time Rarity." Rainbow Dash said.

"Your right darling. I am just trying to lighten the mood a little." Rarity said.

"Heh...you need that sort of attitude. But maybe now you'll leave Gorzon to me. I think I may know where he's planning to do next anyways." Rob said before leaving.

"...I hope for your sake, Rob Snowden, that you can stop him before any more suffer." Princess Celestia said.
> Special Movie: Breaking Limits, Soaring Hearts, and Cutie Marks (Crusaders of the Lost Mark Add-on)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Loading Deca Information File #8098765

...

Hyper Break Information Loading complete.

Hyper Break is a recent occurrence in the great vastness of infinity. This capability is known to only exist when someone suddenly develops a large surge of inner willpower for one reason or another. Under normal circumstances, this overflow of willpower tends to make one lose control over their own thoughts and body. However, if someone possesses a strong mental fortitude, they can take control of their willpower overflow and turn it into a weapon to use against their enemies.

This state of being that allows one to take control of their overflowed willpower and turn it into a weapon is known as "Hyper Break". Hyper Break allows one to have the power to defy fate itself, as one of the three fates created by Furro knwon as The Omega was defeated in a battle when Rob Snowden used the power of Hyper Break as his will to protect all life overflowed into him, and his strong mental fortitude allowed him to achieve Hyper Break status.

A second occurrence occurred when Rob was venturing down a dark path, and he was healed when a version of Rainbow Dash who also had the mental fortitude to pull of Hyper Break found her will to heal Rob's heart and stop him from his dark path overflowed her own willpower, allowing her to pull off Hyper Break.

And yet, as I have said earlier, Hyper Break is still under intense study. Just when I thought I had discovered it all, another example of someone with the mental fortitude to control their overflowed willpower appeared, and this one posed even more questions. I have attached a video file detailing this occurrence.





"It's your Cutie Marks, their amazing!" Diamond Tiara said.

White Flame had to agree, but then he noticed something. "! Apple Bloom, look out!" White Flame said before he pushed Apple Bloom out of the way before a void bolt struck him.

"White Flame!" Apple Bloom said. White Flame...was unchanged. "...Bwah?" Apple Bloom was confused.

"Strange..." It was Zanth! "I know for sure I did not miss just then..." Zanth tried again, still unable to do anything to White Flame. "This shouldn't be possible...unless..." Zanth suddenly looked pleased with itself. "At last I have found you, Gareth!" Zanth said.

"I am not that person anymore Zanth. I am not like you. I'm nothing like you. I have everything I could ever want now. You can't effect me anymore." White Flame said.

"Go White Flame..." Diamond Tiara muttered.

"It doesn't matter! I have another target I can hit!" Zanth said before he hovered over Spoiled Rich.

"! Mom!" Diamond Tiara suddenly pushed her own mom out of the way of one of Zanth's Void Bolts.

But just like before, nothing happened. "Oh come on! There's no way you can be immune!" Zanth said before trying again.

It was then that White Flame saw what no one else could. ...Garina? Is-is that you? White Flame asked in his thoughts.

Yes...it is I Gareth. Or rather, White Flame. It seems we still are not destined to be one. And yet, I am okay with this. You have grown. You are different. I am different too. Do not dwell on who my spirit resides in now. Dwell on who you've fallen in love with. A female voice said. The presence soon vanished.

"Nice try Zanth. It looks like Garina's spirit has been reincarnated into Diamond Tiara. You could never have voided her, and you won't be able to do it to this one version either." White flame said.

"No no no no no!" Zanth said.

Spike and Smolder soon arrived. "Your not getting away this time, Zanth!" Smolder said.

Spike cracked his knuckles. "I'm ready to go rage mode on you." Spike said.

"No no no no no no no!" Zanth said.

"I think it's time you learnt I'm not yours to play with anymore!" White Flame said.

"No no no no no no no no no no! I won't let this go! I will kill all you kids if it's the last thing I do!" Zanth said before he trapped the CMC, their Coltfriends, Diamond Tiara, Silver Spoon, and the two dragons in a dark bubble.

"Scootaloo!" Rainbow Dash said, flying at the bubble, but was rejected.

"Deca's in there too! Scootaloo said she wanted to borrow her for today." Twilight said.

"We gotta get through!" Rainbow Dash said.





The foals and dragons were in some sort of mysterious space.

"YOU KIDS HAVE ANNOYED ME FOR THE LAST TIME; NOW YOUR IN MY WORLD!" Zanth shouted as everypony basically floated around.


Void Being of Despiar
ZANTH SOUL




Zanth began by unleashing varous elemental attacks, starting with a fire based attack.

"Are these...they have to be! Their magic attacks from Final Fantasy!" Button Mash said.

"Seriously? He's using video game magic?" Diamond Tiara asked.

Suddenly, Zanth began manipulating rocks to throw at the group. "And I'm guessing that was supposed to be Earth." Button Mash said.

"It's like we're fighting a mega super boss in a video game." Sweetie Belle said.

"Oh I wish a Video Game could have something like this in it! Maybe in the distant future." Button Mash said.

White Flame quickly looked at a spot in the void bubble. Do you guys want to tell him, or should I? White Flame thought to himself.

"What are you looking over there for?" Apple Bloom asked.

"I think we have more important things to worry about." White Flame said as the group had to dodge lightning strikes next.

"Yeah, let's just attack!" Silver Spoon said.

The group was attacking, but it didn't seem to be doing anything. "Fools. Did you really think you could hurt me? We're in my world now." Zanth said.

"No! I won't give in!" Spike said before he started glowing a bright white.

"! What's happening to Spike?!" White Flame exclaimed.

"This power...It's Hyper Break!" Deca said.

"Forgot you still had that thing." Diamond Tiara said.

"To be honest, I forgot I had it." Scootaloo said.

"Can we focus. What's Hyper Break?" Rumble asked.

"Your about to find out." Deca said as the group had to dodge dark magic blasts.

And then not only did Spike go Spikezilla, he was coated in a bright white light.

"What the...NO! THIS CAN'T BE! THE POWER TO DEFY FATE ITSELF!" Zanth said before Spike suddenly walloped on Zanth.

After being subjected to this for a long while, Zanth got rid of the void bubble and Spike returned to complete normal. "RUN! IT'S HYPER BREAK SPIKEZILLA!" Zanth said.

"Hyper Break what now?" Twilgiht asked.

"Got me." Flash Sentry said as Rainbow Dash rushed to cuddle Scootaloo.





A bit later at Sunset, Smolder was going up to Spike. "So, looks like you went Spikezilla on Zanth." Smolder said.

"Wish everyone would stop calling that form that, but yeah. I guess I did." Spike said.

"So, I was thinking, we should think about really becoming official soon." Smolder said.

"I was thinking the same thing." Spike said.

A bit of a ways away, Twilight was looking at the two dragons when Flash Sentry said. "So, do you think your adoptive brother will approve of us coming out soon about our relationship?" Flash Sentry asked.

"I'm sure he'll understand. But it's my other friends I'm worried about." Twilight said.

"They are your friends. They should understand too." Flash Sentry said.

"Yeah...yeah your right." Twilight said, leaning into Flash Sentry.

As the sun continued to set, both couples shared one passioniate kiss; and with the dragons, neither one fainted from it.
> Chapter 68: Improving One's Self
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Wow, so this is your clubhouse." Silver Spoon said. She & Diamond Tiara were at the CMC's clubhouse.

"By the way White Flame? I am...sorry about Carol." Diamond Tiara said.

"It was her time. I just wish I would've had more time with her." White Flame said. He sighed. "It's going to be lonely at home without her." He added.

"Do you think you could get another pet snake?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"Diamond, that's not very nice to ask. Carol was very special to White Flame." Silver Spoon said.

"No, that was actually a very valid question because I...I just don't know yet." White Flame said. "Trying to think of what Carol would prefer me to do...has me wondering if I should actually try and get a new pet snake." He added.

That actually made Silver Spoon look at him. "Are you...are you serious? Do you believe you could just replace Carol like that?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Silver Spoon, can't you see White Flame is struggling? It's obvious that he's struggling with this enough as it is." Diamond Tiara said.

"I'm...actually surprised Diamond Tiara is being so understanding..." Babs Seed said. She was visiting from Manehatten.

"Tell me about it." Smolder said. She and Spike were there too.

"Well ah know one thing..." Apple Bloom said. "Even if you do get a new pet snake, Carol will always have a place here." She said, putting a hoof to White Flame's chest.

That made White Flame Smile. "Th-thank you, Apple Bloom." White Flame said.

"Dang, no wonder you two like each other. I still have some ways to go before I'm more comfortable with talking with any colts like that. I want to get better as a pony. Being shown a better way was just the start honestly." Diamond Tiara said.

"Growing from your mistakes...I've been there you know. I told you." White Flame said.

"Still can't believe we have someone who basically went Nightmare Moon but turned up to eleven living in Ponyville." Silver Spoon said.

"Silver Spoon!" Diamond Tiara said.

"That's actually a fair assessment. Yeah, it's made me more self-aware of things, but I feel like I can become a pony better then I used to be. It helps that this world is so full of friendship and hope." White Flame said.

"From what I understand, it took ponies nearly freezing to death over not trusting the other races to come together like this." Scootaloo said.

"Err...no offense, but since when did you learn about that?" Apple Bloom said.

"The hearth's warming play my mom and her friends did in canterlot that one time. Duh." Scootaloo said.

"Huh...you know, I sort of forgot that was a thing. My how long it's been since then." White Flame said.

"Yeah, no kidding." Spike said.





The group would then head for the nearby lake. "So why are we here?" Diamond Tiara asked. "I know I asked you to help me become a better pony, but I fail to see how this factors into that." She added.

"It was White Flame's idea." Apple Bloom said.

"Never been Waterboarding before? It can be kind of fun." White Flame said.

"Fun? Is there a point to me having fun?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"You mean outside of just having fun for the sake of having fun?" Scootaloo asked.

"We're foals. This sort of thing should be normal. Plus, don't you want to loosen up a bit? Well then learning to just have fun with other foals is a good start to that." White Flame said.

"Err...but won't Diamond's mom get mad over this?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Why should I care what she thinks of what I do? I'm doing this! I've never tried having plain old fun before." Diamond Tiara said.

"That's the spirit." White Flame said.





"Some pony please tell me where that lone tree came from?" Silver Spoon said. She and the rest of the foals were covered in tree sap. The two dragons however, were not.

"More importantly, how in equestria did we manage to all crash into it? The only tree around for miles, and we ran into it." Rumble said.

"Be nice Rumble. We all had fun. Wasn't that the important part?" Scootaloo asked.

"I guess...still sucks we all got covered in tree sap." Rumble said.

"My sister is gonna make sure I have a bath when we get back in town." Sweetie Belle said.

Button Mash looked at his crush. "...I thought my mother was picky about how clean I am..." He said.

"Her sister is Rarity, in case you forgot." Apple Bloom said.

"Oh right. Yeah we're all taking a bath when we get back." Button Mash said.

"Wait...we are covered in tree sap right? This isn't an illusion?" Silver Spoon asked.

"Yeah. what's the problem?" White Flame said.

"...Uh..." Babs Seed was looking at Diamond Tiara who was looking at every pony.

"Oh..." White Flame said.

But then Diamond Tiara smiled. "You know...I bet we all look very silly right now~" Diamond Tiara said, before she started having a giggle fit.

The other foals and even the two dragons just stared at the pink earth pony.





Later that day, every pony was heading home. "So, what was that Diamond Tiara?" Silver Spoon asked her friend.

"What was what?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"How come you didn't get mad at...you know..." Silver Spoon said.

"And what would that have accomplished? White Flame was right, I should try to loosen up more. So I figured I'd try making light of a huge mess." Diamond Tiara said before she headed home by herself.

"...I am so not going to get used to the new Diamond Tiara." Silver Spoon said.

Meanwhile, there were a pair of colts watching. "I don't buy this..." One of them said.

"Me neither. No way Diamond Tiara has changed for good." Another said.

"Hey, what are you two doing in this bush?" White Flame said.

"RUN!" The two colts; Snips and Snails; ran for it.

"...Yeah I miss Carol already..." White Flame said before heading home himself.
> Chapter 69: Tiara with a Heart of Diamond
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A few days later, the school was making an event called the Hoofloose. With every pony chipping in to help. Diamond Tiara was mostly leading things, and had convinced her parents to supply the money for this.

"This is going to be one of the best events ever." Sweetie Belle said.

"I'll say. I'm a little...nervous about doing this event though." Button Mash said.

"Geez Button Mash, learn to just do things. At the big event, you'll be getting to dance with Sweetie Belle." Diamond Tiara said.

Button Mash blushed a little at that. "Th-that's true I suppose. I'm just worried I might not dance that good." Button Mash said.

"You should see Twilight dancing sometime." Smolder said. The two dragons were allowed to participate and decided to help out two.

"Smolder, I thought you said you wouldn't make fun of Twilight's dancing." Spike said.

"Hey, I'm just saying Button Mash can't be any worse than the Princess of Friendship." Smolder said.

"That's actually not helping." Button Mash said.

"...Oh..." Smolder said.

"Please don't make fun of Twilight's dancing again." Spike said.

"Fine. I Pinkie Promise I won't make fun of Twilight's dancing again. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Smolder said.

"So where's Silver Spoon?" Apple Bloom asked.

"Here I am, I've got the streamers." Silver Spoon said before she tripped and the streamers ended up covering Diamond Tiara. "Oh...oh no..." Silver Spoon said.

Then Diamond Tiara just giggled. "Actually, I look a little silly don't I?" Diamond Tiara asked.

The others were looking at each other, still not sure how to deal with Diamond Tiara acting like this.





However, meanwhile, Snips & Snails were planning something. Something big. "Are we almost ready?" Snips asked.

"Yep. I've got the jar of jam ready to be dumped onto Diamond Tiara during the big moment." Snails said.

"Good. Then we're ready for phase 2." Snips said.





While the entire group of eight foals plus two dragons were at the clubhouse, Snips & Snails had come by to invite Silver Spoon and Diamond Tiara to the Hoofloose. That had actually made White Flame pause.

"...That's odd as heck." White Flame said. "I've got a feeling about this..." He said.

Later that evening, the entire CMC got to dance with their special some ponies, but Diamond Tiara had to settle for dancing with Silver spoon for the time being. That said, however, While White Flame got to be crowned the king of the Hoofloose, Diamond Tiara became the Queen. Which set off more alarm bells for White Flame.

Alright, I don't do this often...I do my best to hide it, but the fact that all the votes cast for Queen of the Hoofloose were on Diamond Tiara, I am stepping in on this... White Flame said.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, Snips and Snails fell, suddenly covered in Jam; the railing beneath them had snapped in two. "What the..." Snails said.

"What are the odds that the catwalk would break like that?" Snips asked.

"Is that...jam?!" Miss Cheerilee exclaimed. "Just what do you two think your doing covered in jam?" She asked.

"I believe this was all just some big humiliation stunt these two were trying to pull." White Flame said. "I thought something was odd the moment you two asked Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon to the Hoofloose. But the fact that every vote cast for the Queen of the Hoofloose ended up on Diamond Tiara just made it all click into place." He added. "You planned on dumping that jam on her, and humiliating her in front of every single pony in the worst possible way." The unicorn colt said.

Snips and Snails were noticibly silent. Heads hung. "I can't believe you two." Spoiled Rich suddenly said. "Honestly, all this just to humilate one pony?" She asked.

"Should we run Snips?" Snails asked.

"How? We're being held down by this jam." Snips said.

"Oh, I'm sure there is quite the punishment awaiting you soon enough." White Flame said.

The two colts were scared for their lives.





Sometime later at the Riches's mansion, the CMC and two dragons were with Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon enjoying the indoor pool there. "Was really nice of you to have us over for this." Rumble said.

"Heh. Got to admit. I enjoy this." Scootaloo said.

"Ah can't believe your mother agreed to let us come over for this." Apple Bloom said.

"Oh please. If she tried to refuse, she'd knew I'd convince her." Diamond Tiara said. "Though I think she agreed for a different reason." She added.

"Oh? Oh wait, I get it." Sweetie Belle said.

"Wow, that is kind of cruel." Button Mash said.

"Considering what could've happened had that little plan of Snips and Snails gone off the way they wanted it to?" White Flame asked.

"Yeah this is even more of a punishment. And nowhere near the fury they would've gotten had the whole thing succeeded." Silver Spoon chipped in.

"Err...would any of you like something?" Snips asked. He and snails were wearing butler uniforms.

"I'll take a tall glass of lemonade." White Flame said. "Make sure there's ice in it too. And get two straws." He added.

"Sure thing..." Snails said.

"Think they'll learn their lesson after this?" Diamond Tiara asked.

"If they don't, they'll just end up embarrasing themselves further." White Flame said.

"Yeah, ya don't mess with White Flame, or his friends." Apple Bloom said.

The foals at the pool all laughed together, while Snips and Snails were being completely embarrassed over this.
> Special Movie: Being of Darkness (Friendship Games Add-on)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It had seemingly been a normal time at the annual friendship games at Canterlot High. That is until the human universe's Twilight Sparkle became a monsterious being known as Midnight Sparkle, before she was ultimately talked down by Sunset Shimmer.

But that was far from the end of this incident. Because Darkness was about to strike...





"Hey wait a second, where's the device that Sci-Twi used to trap all the magic?" Sunset asked.

"She's right; it's gone missing!" EG Rainbow Dash said.

There was suddenly a dark, forboding laugh; one that was haunting and full of malevoilence. "W-who's laughing?" EG Spitfire asked.

"Finally..." A dark male voice said. Nearby, a mysterious man was holding the device Sci-Twi once had. "I should really thank that former princible, Abucus Cinch for pushing you, Twilight Sparkle into using this." The man said. "Now I have everything I need." He added.

"What's that supposed to mean? Who are you? Where'd you come from?" Principal Celestia asked.

"Gorzon. You will stop right there." A male voice came from the other male. The one that had shown up to help judge the friendship games. Suddenly, the man threw off his trench coat and revealed a seemingly average male.

"Well, why am I not surprised? It's Rob Snowden. Should've known you'd follow me here." Gorzon said.

"I will not allow you to do whatever it is your planning with Johnson's body. Return it at once." Rob said.

"Oh? You mean this body?" Gorzon said, before suddenly a mutant mole being was drawn out of some sort of hyper space. "Heh, I suppose you can have your precious mutant general back." Gorzon said.

"I'll grab it for you." EG Spitfire said and went to do so.

"Wait, don't!" Rob suddenly shouted before suddenly the mutant mole suddenly attacked EG Spitfire and she went flying. "...Why am I not surprised?" Rob asked.

"Of course, he may be a tad more...aggressive then your used to." Gorzon said before giving off that same evil, haunting laugh.


Reborn Through Dark Powers
General Johnson Molloy



Fluttershy tried to calm the out of control mutant mole down, but failed.

"Don't bother trying that. That body is nothing more then a puppet now." Rob said.

"Well then, we'll just fight it." EG Rainbow Dash said, but found that her fist did nothing. It felt like she just hit a brick wall. "Ow, that hurt!" She said.

"Don't tell me his defenses are being increased with some sort of dark magic." Sunset Shimmer said.

"Thier not." Rob said.

"...But?" Sci-Twi asked.

"...How'd you know there was more than that? You know what, don't answer that. It's actually having to do with the whole way Johnson was turned into this form. He's impervious to most harm you could hope to throw at him." Rob said.

"How are you supposed to fight something like that?" EG Rainbow Dash asked, dodging a claw swipe in the process.

"Hmph. You don't. Besides, I have a better idea." Rob said, before he went to Johnson, and threw him over his shoulder which caused the mutant mole to land face down in a newly formed pot-hole; knocking The Mole out.

"Whoa!" EG Applejack said.

"Seems your little plan to use Johnson's body against me has failed Gorzon." Rob said.

"That would normally be cause for celebration, IF my plan had anything to do with Johnson in the first place." Gorzon said.

"...Wait what?" Rob asked.

"I just needed to buy time..." Gorzon suddenly opened up Sci-Twi's device, letting the magic contained within be aborbed by him. "FOR THIS!" Gorzon said. Suddenly, he created a giant black pillar that he now stood on. "With all this magic, I can easily cause the undead to rule this pathetic world." Gorzon said.

"Of course..." Rob said.


Being of Darkness
Gorzon



Rob and the Main 7 began climbing the stone pillar. "You really think you can stop me this time? Ha! I won't let you." Gorzon said, as he used various magic attacks to attack the group as they climbed the stone pillar, which they had to dodge.

"Why are you even doing something like this? Why do you want the undead to rule this world?" Sci-Twi asked.

"You ask me why? Why does the living have to always compete with each other? Why does the living have to always cause some sort of war? Sometimes even a Cival War? And not just that, the living demolishes forests, building cities in their place, and kill animals without a care in the world just so they can have some 'luxury item' that they don't need. That puts many animals on the endangered list, don't you know?" Gorzon asked.

"Mistakes happen. There's not much that can be done to change those mistakes. Only learn from them." Rob said.

"Mistakes? You want to talk about mistakes?! What about the mistakes you made? Like the time you created four seperate stories, and didn't keep them under lock and key, leading to the characters coming to life. Sure, you got Johnson out of that ordeal, but what about the other three? The truely evil ones." Gorzon said.

"I dealt with that situation. Besides, it's not like anything like that could happen often to begin with." Rob said. "How was I supposed to know something like that could happen to begin with? I may have a lot of powers, but one of those is not forsight." He added.

"Okay, fair enough on that one. But what about Slade Johnson? Have you ever once stopped and thought about how he became such a big threat to begin with? If you hadn't used your time stones to do what you did for that one alien, the war that caused him to become one of four surviving humans wouldn't have happened. Slade wouldn't even be a thing." Gorzon said.

"What are you talking about with that? I did what I did to make sure that said alien could live." Rob said. "And how do you know about that? That information was kept top secret." He added.

"I know everything. Slade exists now because you went and changed history for a different planet. If you didn't do that, Slade wouldn't have killed your mother. But because you would do that at some point, it creates what's known as the Bootstrap Paradox. Where Slade exists but shouldn't exist yet, because you wouldn't have gone back in time to rewrite a planet's hitory. But Slade has to kill your mother so you have motivation to seek out The Ultimate Darkari, the one who hired Slade to kill your mother. And that would lead you to gathering the seven time stones so you could go back in time and rewrite a planet's history, so that Slade could then exist." Gorzon said.

"Lies. I refuse to listen to anything you say in regards to my mother." Rob said.

"The truth hurts don't it? This is what I'm talking about. The living just can't stop lying to themselves." Gorzon said.

"Yeah, well what about you?" EG Rainbow Dash said, being the first one up on the top.

"Wait excuse me?" Gorzon asked.

"Last I checked, your very living. So, your basically calling out yourself." EG Rainbow Dash said.

"How did you get up here so quickly?!" Gorzon exclaimed.

"Now you go bye bye." EG Rainbow Dash said, before she punched him off the pillar, which sent him falling down to the ground.

"Ow..." Gorzon said, but when he had hit the ground, he turned into some kind of puddle of black goo.

"What the..." Sci-Twi said.

The pillar went away, and the magic that was absorbed returned to the device before it was destroyed.

"I hurt now..." Gorzon said.

"What...is he?" Fluttershy asked.

"A shapeshifter." Rob said. "But this is his true face." He added.

The black goo reformed into the human form Gorzon took. "Falling from such heights can really hurt a person. You've won this time, but the next time I come around, you won't be so lucky. I'll be pulling out all the stops once and for all then." Gorzon said before he turned back into his black goo form. "Mark my words: You haven't seen the last of me!" Gorzon said as he fled.

"Tch. Guess he ran away. No matter, the device is gone, Johnson's body has been recollected. All's well that ends well." Rob said.

"...Uh Rob Snowden was it?" EG Fluttershy asked, shyly.

"Yes? What is it?" Rob asked.

"I'm...afraid Johnson's body is missing..." EG Fluttershy said.

"...Wait what?" Rob looked, and sure enough, it was gone. "...You've gotta be kidding me? Now I better start a search for it. Again." Rob said. And then he went off.
> Special Movie: Ancient Evil (Cutie Re-Mark AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Currently, Twilight was dealing with Zanth, while Starlight was talking with a strange human girl with magical powers.

"Starlight, please...listen to me..." The girl said. "You need to let go of the past. You can still change your future the right way." She added.

Starlight closed her eyes. She thought back. Really back. And with that, the scene began to shift...





It had all started that day when Twilight had revealed the incident that led to her and her friends all getting their cutie marks at the exact same time. Which gave Starlight the thought of stopping the Sonic Rainboom so Twilight and her friends could not ever become friends. All so Twilight would know the pain of how cutie marks can tear friendships apart.

At least that was the plan, but then for some reason, as she thought of it, she experienced something from Twilight's perspective. The various other bad futures it seemed.

The first one that was visited, was unlike any other, instead of Equestria, it was a land where some strange eye creature with a mass of tentacles ruled over what would've been Equestria with pure evil and darkness. Happiness was a distant memory here.

The second one that was visited, was one where some mare named Sunset Shimmer had enslaved the entire world, and she saw an alternate version of herself being forced to do manual labor forever.

The third one, was where Starlight was wishing she could end this vision. Because there, ponies were being hunted by strange cybernetic bees, that sought to turn their world into a cybernetic version of itself and control everything. Those ponies that resisted being captured were brutelly murdered.

And that's where she found the one that Twilight showed her. That future where the mysterious Zanth had turned Equestria into a lad devoid of any hope. It was full of nothing but total despair.





But speaking of Zanth, when he had shown up in that version of Equestria, suddenly, Twilight and Starlight heard chanting of four male voices in unison.

"Tim bul tuo mor ess ma di..." The four male voices chanted. "Tim bul tuo mor ess ma di..." Twilight and Starlight heard as they were suddenly drawn through a purple time portal. "Tim bul tuo mor ess ma di..." the voices continued as the duo was suddenly drawn to a place in the middle of four identical men, with different hairstyles.

"Did you...did you call us here?" Twilight asked one of them.

"We...did...urg..." One of them said before they started to fall. Twilight grabbed the one that spoke.

"Do you have any idea what using that kind of magic could do to you?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"We...don't care...we did it...for our sister..." He said. "Please...you must help her...help her stop Zanth..." The brother managed to get out before he went completely limp.

"What...what happened to them?" Starlight asked.

"They...they expended their life force to summon us here." Twilight said. She looked up towards a stone monument, where Zanth and a young girl could be seen. "Up there!" Twilight went ahead with Starlight not far behind.

"You...you took the form of my boyfriend...and tricked me...I'll never forgive something like that." The girl said.

"Ah Angela...you were so naive. But that's the cost of your hope: It's so naive. Despair will rule all. There is no room for hope in this world. There never was. I should know. I was born here. I was almost convicted here. Back then, if you were convicted of a crime, everyone would turn against you. It is the very definition of despair..." Zanth said. His voice not sounding like it usually would.

This...this must be when Zanth and Gareth were still one and the same... Twilight thought to herself.

"Once I'm done with you, I'll find the Heart of Despair, and use it's infinite power to destroy the universe. Then, I'll remake it in my own image. Where there will be nothing but despair. Because that's all that should exist. No one deserves hope. No one deserves anything. If I can't have hope, then I will make sure I remove hope." Zanth said.

"Stop this. You can still become better than this." Angela said.

"No. Despair is all there is for me. So despair will be all there is once I'm done with everything." Zanth said.

"No! I won't let you." Twilight said before taking flight.

"A new opponent huh? Fine. I was about to get bored anyways." Zanth said.


Being of Despair
Ancient Zanth



Zanth would start off by using the same basic spells against Twilight that he used against the CMC back in the true present. However, Twilight; having learned of that battle; knew how to dodge the attacks and was able to outsmart Zanth.

"Your pretty good. But, let's see you handle this." Zanth said, before he suddenly started launching all new kinds of elemental attacks, starting with a combination of Water and Lightning, which made the attack turn out to become much stronger than it would normally as when the bubbles popped, much larger and wider electrical bolts would happen shortly after.

"What the..." Twilight said.

"It's as I feared...Zanth is able to use every part of the mage magic he must've gotten from killing my boyfriend..." The girl, Angela, said as Twilight dodged a combination of Earth and Fire which created some sort of lava attack.

"What was your boyfriend like anyways?" Starlight asked.

Angela smiled a little. "Dependable, a little bit of a clutz sometimes, but he was always there when you needed him." She said. "That is what drove him to the army. He wanted to protect the way of life for all. I...fell in love with him because of that desire we shared, to protect life. Just before he...he went off during his last deployment, I had brought him back to my hometown. It caused some strife with my brothers, coming back after I left them to persue my own dreams of college." Angela said. "I wanted to research more about mage magic. It's another thing Krado and I had in common: Our ability to access Mage Magics. While not the rarest ability in the box, Krado and I...we could do more then just simple spells. While I could embue magic into other things, Krado had the ability to use combo magics like this." Angela said.

"If your magics were so different, why did you fall in love with him? Your not equal." Starlight said.

"What's the point of equalization anyways? I never understood my brother's stance on that." Angela said.

"Wh-what?" Starlight asked.

"My brothers...they wanted to find a way to get rid of mage magics, because they believed it orchestrated those that didn't. They believed that magics separated others. But I never understood it. I even have a few friends from college who don't have mage magics, and I made sure they were never orchestrated for that." Angela said.

"But...but why? Why would you do that? Why would you not want to get rid of your magic for a more even playing field?" Starlight asked.

"Because my magic makes me unique. Just like how my personality makes me unique. If everyone had the same skills, they would grow bored of having those skills. If people had the same personality, they would grow bored of hearing the same personality all the time." Angela said. "Equality...that's a fool's errand. To become truley equal, you'd have to make everyone basically the same. Make their talents the same, their personalities the same, their skills the same..." She added, as she closed in on herself. "I...I can't imagine why anyone would want to do something like that. It just sounds like something that would get boring." Angela said.

"Boring..." Starlight was suddenly questioning her own ideals. Was it really worth it then? To create something that could become boring? Something that would cause others to basically become clones of each other? That was never Starlight's goal, but upon hearing Angela...that's exactly where her ideals would lead to. It didn't matter if that's not what Starlight would want.

And Sunburst...

Suppose she did find him? She did manage to make him a part of her cult? What would happen is she had gone so far as to make sure he was equal too?

No.

No she couldn't do that.

It brought tears to her eyes just to think about it.

"Starlight Glimmer...that's your name, isn't it?" Angela suddenly asked, causing Starlight to pause.

"How...do you know..." Starlight Glimmer said.

"It doesn't matter. And I don't know why your tearing up. Could it be that you were thinking along the lines of my brothers, without you knowing what could come of that thinking? I told this to them, and they had the same tearing reaction. But your thinking is rooted in your past." Angela said.

"Then what I am supposed to do?" Starlight asked.

"Focus on your future. You still have the chance to do what's right." Angela said. Zanth was building up to a big attack. "Starlight, please...listen to me..." Angela said. "You need to let go of the past. You can still change your future the right way." She added.

"...Your right..." Starlight said.

"Good. Then I'll need your help for this next part." Angela said before she started sharing her powers with Starlight Glimmer.

"Whoa!" Starlight felt her magic become the most powerful it's ever been.

"BY THE STARS IN THE SKY, THE ONES THAT SHINE EVEN IN THE DARKNESS...I HEARBY CALL UPON THEIR POWERS TO LEND US YOUR AID. HELP US DEFEAT THE MONSTER KNOWN AS ZANTH!" Angela shouted. "NOW WITNESS THE MOST POWERFUL ATTACK OF ALL TIME...GALACTIC STAR RUSH!" She suddenly shouted.

Without warning, a bunch of magical stars fell from the sky, hitting Zanth where it hurt and hard. They kept bombarding the monster without mercy, without end it seems.

That is until one final giant star fell onto Zanth, seemingly obliverating him. "GYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Zanth called out as he vanished.

Twilight noticed something. There! So that's when Gareth must have been freed from Zanth initially...

"Huff..." Angela said. "My brothers...where are they?" She asked.

"They...they sacrificed their lives to bring us here." Twilight said, sad.

"...I see. So much destruction...there is only one way to heal this world..." Angela said. "But you need to head back now." She said. Suddenly, Twilgiht and Starlight were sent back to where the duo would witness the Sonic Rainboom which Starlight would not stop now. "...I know what I must do..." Angela said.





Suddenly, after this event, the duo returned to the proper present.

"One castle of friendship, check." Spike said. The other main 6 ponies soon showed up too. "And one group of friends, check." Spike said.





After much debate, it had been decided that Starlight had learned her lesson. However, for the time being, she was under Twilight's supervision until the mare learned true friendship.

However, elsewhere, Blueblood and Derpy soon found something even more disturbing in the Parish District.

A house with strange pictures in it. Pictures that showed strange beings. When he showed them to Princess Celestia, the princess ordered all ponies living there to evacuate until further notice.

"...How can this be? Carbon dating matches with the rest of the things you found, right?" Princess Celestia asked.

"Yeah. But I've never seen creatures like these before." Prince Blueblood said.

"...Well, Twilight has. As have I. That's how I wanted it to stay. But..." Princess Celestia said.

"But what, aunty?" Prince Blueblood asked.

"If these pictures exist...that could be most devastating to one White Flame." Celestia said.





Meanwhile, present Zanth was looking around places. "Where is it? Where is the Heart of Despair? If I'm going to have any chance of defeating those ponies and their friendship now, I must find it." Zanth said.

But also meanwhile, The Wildman was looking out towards the Crystal Empire.

"So this is where you ended up, your highness..." The Wildman said. "Soon, I shall return the throne to your bloodline, King Thorax. That is the promise I made to your parents." He added.
> Chapter 70: Return of the Wild
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

It was a seemingly normal day in ponyville while Princess Twilight and her friends were readying themselves to go to the Crystal Empire. In one part of Ponyville, a lone unicorn stallion named Fair Price was putting a "for sale" sign up on a house.

"Can't believe the stallion who lived here would move away. He was actually one of the nicest ponies I've ever had the pleasure of working with." Fair Price said. He suddenly had a shadow cast over him, and turning around, he spotted none other then The Wildman.

"I'm only going to ask you this once..." The Wildman said. "Where did the stallion who lived here go?"

"I-I don't know! I was only given instructions to sale the house and keep the money I'd make off reselling it." Fair Price said before levitating some documents. "Here, read these if you don't believe me."

The Wildman said, before he quickly noticed the image of a snowflake on the paperwork. "Seems a clue has been left behind. You are free to go." The Wildman said before he returned the paperwork and left.

"...That...was too close." Fair Price said.





As The Wildman caught a ride on a different train then the main six, there was a strange credit roll.


Produced by Rob Snowden

Published on Fimfiction

A Leo Kingdom Productions Product

My Little Pony: The Draconic Sister






The train Wildman was on just so happened to be the same one that Twilight's parents were on. And he was caught almost immediately. "You again?" Shining Armor asked.

"If you know what's good for you, you'll stay out of my way. I must find Thorax." The Wildman said. "He is the only rightful ruler of the changeling hive that Chrysalis commands. And I won't stop until he is properly placed in charge of said hive." He added.

"Wait, your saying there are other changeling hives out there?" Twilight asked. "If that's the case, then why haven't they shown up?"

"Because they aren't breaking the rules of the Changeling Council. And one of those is to never impersonate any ponies that legally exist." The Wildman said. "Most of them just take up jobs where they can be around ponies and other creatures so they can feed off their love without going too far with it. That's how changelings operate after all. Or at least, that's how they are supposed to operate."

"So, Queen Chrysalis's hive broke the rules." Starlight said.

"I was able to convince the Changeling Council that Chrysalis is a single rogue changeling, and that the other changelings of that hive should not be held accountable since they mistakenly believe Chrysalis to be their queen. Which isn't the case at all. The true ruler who should sit on that throne is Thorax." The Wildman said. "I've followed Thorax's trail here, to the Crystal Empire. I must make sure he is safe. I have to make sure he is safe, for if he dies, then all hope for Thorax's hive is lost, and the high coincil will cull the entire hive. And I can't allow that to happen, otherwise I'd be letting a mother's dying wish go unfulfilled."

Pinkie Pie's eyes went wide. "...A dying wish...that's even more sacred than a Pinkie Promise. It's something you have to fulfill, no matter what." The usually peppy mare was serious.

"How do you know about that wish?" Twilight questioned.

"Because I was there when Chrysalis's parents killed the parents of Thorax and his brother. Those nimphs had their memories erased, and were forced to be reborn. Thankfully, I was able to kill Chrysalis's parents before they could modify Thorax's mind. And now, I must put Thorax on the throne to ensure the safety of his hive. So don't you dare try and stop me." The Wildman said.

"Wait, let us help you." Twilight said.

"Twilight?" Shining Armor was confused.

"If what your saying is true, then...then everything you've tried to do is for the sake of that hive. So let us help you find Thorax and give Chrysalis the boot from that hive." Twilight said.

"Twilight, are you sure about this?" Shining Armor asked.

"...I don't know why, but I believe Wildson Mandoli on his words. It doesn't really feel like a lie." Twilight said.

"...Well, now that she mentions it, he ain't lying. Ah have an easy time telling when some pony lies, and Wildman ain't lying." Applejack said.

"...So Chrysalis really isn't the true ruler of that hive..." Shining Armor said.

"We'll do our best to keep Thorax safe once we find him. You have our word. At least until a plan to get rid of Chrysalis from her throne is come up with." Cadence said.

"I'll handle Chrysalis. You focus on keeping Thorax safe." Wildman said.





Spike had ended up being the one who found Thorax, and thanks to his demenor, he was so easily accepted by the Crystal Ponies. Which put Wildman's mind at ease.

"Wildman, where do you think your going? I heard what you did to Johnson." Starlight said.

"It's his own fault. I warned him to not push me. So he fell victim to the beast within." Wildman said.

"...Not sure what you mean by that. But I don't fully believe you." Starlight said.

"Well, he ain't lying again, but...honestly, ah can't even think of what beast Wildson's talkin' about." Applejack said.

"Stay out of my way, and you won't need to know." Wildman said.

"Fine, but not before this." Starlight said before hitting Wildman with a blast of magic which scarred his skin. "Whoops. Put too much power behind it. That was meant to be a simple tracking spell."

"Your going to regret that later...right now, I have other business to attend to. Namely, finding out where Chrysalis is hiding the new cave." Wildman said before he left.
> Chapter 71: Relic of the Past
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eons Ago at a courthouse in an unknown location...

There was a trail undergoing at a courtroom, but already the gallery was shouting.

"Guilty!" they cried. "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" it just continued, as if some kind of chant.

"Please! There must be silence in the courtroom!" A baliaf said.

"Why are we even having this trial to begin with?" One member of the gallery asked.

"Yeah, why not just hand down the guilty verdict and be done with it already?" A second member of the gallery responded.

"Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" The Gallery erupted again. "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!" They continued.

"Silence!"

A load booming voice as the court's most feared judge "Un M. Portant", a judge known for having never given out a "Not Guilty Verdict" took the Judge's bench. He was also the cruelest judge ever conceived.

"This place is a place of sacredness. Never forget that. And what is more sacred then silence?" Judge Portant asked.

"Now then, all rise for the trail of Garrison Moris..." The Baliaf announced as a human was brought into the courtroom. "His charges include both theft...and terrorism..." He said.





Present day...

White Flame was having a sleepover at Apple Bloom's place, with said filly currently looking at the tossing colt who was speaking in his sleep.

"I shall now hand down my verdict, even if it is unprecedented..." White Flame said, mimicking the voice of Judge Portance. "I find the defendant..."

"WHITE FLAME, WAKE UP!" Apple Bloom yelled out. That actually made him jump, and wake up.

"Ugh...what? How long did I over sleep?" White Flame asked.

"About three hours. Even Granny Smith was starting to get concerned." Applejack said.

"...Oh..." White Flame said.

"Were you...having some sort of nightmare?" Apple Bloom asked. "Because it almost sounded like it, from how you were talking in your sleep in all those voices..."

"...I guess you could consider it a nightmare, if by nightmare you mean the trail that lead to the domino effect of everything." White Flame said.

"...So Garrison Moris is your human name then?" Apple Bloom asked.

"That name...it means so little to me now. I guess I experienced the day that started me on that path of becoming Zanth as a nightmare." White Flame said.

"Wait a second, the verdict...your judge voice was saying it was unprecedented." Applejack said.

"Because it was. My verdict was the first and only 'not guilty' verdict that Judge Un M. Portant had ever given out." White Flame said.

"Oh. So I guess everyone after you he only ever gave guilty verdicts after you then, huh?" Apple Bloom asked.

"You say that with the assumption that there was a trail after mine." White Flame said.

"...You mean...one of the first things you did when you turned into Zanth..." Applejack said.

"That's right. And I'm not afraid to admit it." White Flame said. "...One of the first things I did, was wreck that courthouse, leaving only the courtroom where my trail took place in tact, and during the destruction, Judge Un M. Portant was killed by falling debris."

"That's...gotta hurt..." Apple Bloom said.





Meanwhile, the last of the ponies who were living in the Parish District were relocated as a group of experts were now combing the district for more of the strange relics that seem to exist eons before any known species appeared on Equus.

"Something still isn't adding up. How can any of these relics exist before any species; pony or otherwise; appeared on our planet?" Blueblood asked.

"It most certainly does not make any sense. It's beyond both my understanding, and my sister's." Celestia said.

"What I want to know, is why prolonged exposure to this area of Canterlot drives ponies to be so aggressive." A unicorn stallion known as Chancellor Neighsay said.

"Tells of how aggressive ponies from this district tend to be have reached even my ears, Chancellor. It's why the fact that Flash Sentry coming from here managed to not only survive, but defy the odds. Sure, he's still aggressive, but he's managed to channel that aggressive behavior and weaponize it." Prince Blueblood said. "But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that trying to make another pony be able to do what Flash Sentry does is not wise; the mortality rate in this part of Canterlot is abnormally high."

Chancellor Neighsay said nothing to that, but made a mental note to himself. Perhaps he should reconsider his pony-only education policy. After all, if ponies can be driven to become psychotic killers just from growing up in a specific area of Canterlot, then ponies are not safe from each other. It'll make it that much harder to trust your neighbors if words spread of other suvivors from this district. In Neighsay's mind, this was a case of "ignorance being bliss" and that other creatures aren't so dangerous compared to a specific area that drives ponies mad.

"Princess, we found something huge!" An archologist Unicorn said. He presented a picture frame, one whose picture has been completely lost to time. Except for one thing.

"...What kind of judge has the name 'Un M. Portant'?" Blueblood asked.
> Special Movie: A Dragon's Heart (Gauntlet of Fire AU)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike began to pick himself up off the floor of the cavern.

"How pathetic..." Garble said. "To think I was actually scared of you."

"...You should be." Spike said.

In the purple dragon's mind, everything had began earlier that day. And today had started out so perfect.





Earlier that day...

Spike has come over to Rarity's place just in time to catch both Rarity & Smolder about to leave for the nearby mountains. "Need more gems for your outfits, don't you Rarity?" Spike asked.

"That and some for Smolder too. Your welcome to come join us." Rarity said.

"Doubtless you'll join though." Smolder said.

"You know me well." Spike said. "Besides, some dragon's gotta keep those Diamond Dogs in check."

"Trust me, they better not have forgotten about you." Smolder said.

"If they have, I'll just give them a reminder." Spike said.

"Of course you will." Smolder said.

"Daylight's wasting, lovebirds. Let's go." Rarity said. The trio began to climb the mountain soon enough.


Produced on Fimfiction.net

And published by Rob Snowden

Presenting a very special movie like no other...

My Little Pony: The Draconic Sister -
A Dragon's Heart






"Look whose back in the mountains. It's you lot." A pack of Diamond Dogs had assembled quickly.

"You sure you want to mess with us?" Smolder asked.

"Oh please. What do we have to fear from the likes of you?" The Diamond Dog leader asked.

"You should've remembered me." Spike said. "Perhaps you need a reminder."

"And what's a welp like you going to do about it, hmm?" The Diamond Dog Leader asked.

Spike grinned. "Glad you asked." He then easily went Spikezilla.

"...Oh...right, forgot about that..." The Leader said. "IT'S A GIANT DRAGON; RUN!"

The diamond dog pack soon ran like cowards before Spike returned to normal. "Really wish I didn't have to do that so much." Spike said.

"Maybe one day, you no longer will have to whip out your Spikezilla form." Smolder said.

"Why does everyone keep calling it that?" Spike asked.

"Sorry Spikey; Discord's little name for that form has stuck like glue." Smolder said. Suddenly, she and Spike began to glow, and it irratated them both.

"Ugh...what is this?!" Spike exclaimed.

"Sis...I think we may need Twilight's help." Smolder said.

"I was thinking the EXACT same thing." Rarity said before quickly grabbing the dragons and getting out of there.

However, the diamond dogs had noticed the glowing. "...That glow..." The leader said. "If that means what I think it means, then we're all in big trouble if the wrong dragon wins."

"Yeah. We may not like ponies, but dragons are worse." A diamond dog pack member said.

"So what are you thinking boss?" A second pack member said.

"We make sure one of those two wins. Better to deal with the devils we do know, then the devils we don't. At least then we can work out an arrangement." The leader said.

"That's why your the alpha male, boss." A third pack member said.





Rarity had unexpectingly interrupted tea time between the Princesses, who had explained that what was going on was the call of the dragon lord. Seems that the Gauntlet of Fire challenge was being issued. Initially, niether Spike nor Smolder wanted anything to do with this, but then Spike overheard Garble saying something he had to tell Smolder.

"My so called brother wants to do what?!" Smolder exclaimed.

"He said he wants to declare war to the ponies unless they specifically hand you over. I don't trust him to keep to his word though." Spike said.

"You and me both. Spike, you've got to stop him from winning. At all costs." Smolder said.

"I do have you-know-what." Spike said. "Times like this, I'm glad you were raised by Rarity."

"Tell me something I don't already know." Smolder said.

"Well when the fire here glistens off your scales, you look fantastic." Spike said. "Maybe there's a dragon here who wouldn't want war against the ponies." Spike then ran off.

"...Flatterer, smart, courageous, and practically a knight in dragon's clothing...am I the luckiest girl around or what?" Smolder said.





It didn't take long for Spike to catch up to Garble, and then the two began to have a fight. Though, the red dragon used his size to his advantage.

"Runt, you just don't get what I want." Garble said.

"What you want puts a lot of lives I care about in danger. Including that of your own biological sister." Spike said.

"I doubt you even have a single biological sibling." Garble said.

"Maybe I don't. But my adopted siblings, Twilight & Shining Armor...well, if either of them were in danger, I wouldn't hesitate to try and rescue them. But what your doing? That's not like that." Spike said.

"I'm making sure my biological sister can learn the ways of the dragon kind." Spike said.

"So? Doing things this way isn't the right way." Spike said.

"Your so niave. Shouldn't expect anything less from one so young." Garble said. "Enough talk. I won't let anyone stand in my way. I don't care if my sister is sweet on you, I won't hesitate to hurt you."

"You think she'll appreciate that at all?" Spike asked. Garble winced at that, and said nothing. "...Thought so."

"Just move. Now. I really don't want to have to hurt you." Garble said.

"Not unless you can promise me you won't do anything you might regret." Spike said.

"Tch. My sister just doesn't know what's best for her. Still, at least I can tell you care a lot for her. I'd actually be glad to call you family." Garble said. "You've got a fire in you, kid. Your just so niave that it's sickening me."

"I won't hestiate to protect those I care about. Don't test me." Spike said.

Garble growled and swung his tail at Spike; making the purple dragon hit a nearby wall. "Ow..." Spike said and then fell to the floor. But he was breathing. Spike began to pick himself up off the floor of the cavern.

"How pathetic..." Garble said. "To think I was actually scared of you."

"...You should be." Spike said. Without warning, he then unleashed his Spikezilla form.

"Oh you've GOT to be kidding me." Garble said.

"RUN; IT'S SPIKEZILLA!" A dragon suddenly said.

Nearby, the diamond dogs saw Spike turn Spikezilla against Garble. "Heh heh...that red dragon should know when he's beaten. That purple dragon whelp just put the fear in most of the other dragons." The Alpha Dog said.

"He going to be dragon lord though. You okay with that boss?" One Pack Dog asked.

"Better him then someone like the Red Dragon there." The Alpha said. "Wait...what's this?"

A blue dragoness was looking at the scene, not fleeing like most of the other dragons. Spike had met her earlier, her name was Ember, daughter of the current dragon lord Torch.

T-there's no way...it can't be...can it? Ember thought to herself.

"You. Shall not. Pass!" Spike said.

"I still don't understand how your able to do that in order to protect those you care about." Garble said. "But I won't let you scare me this time. Let alone stop me. You may be big, but your not as strong as I am."

Garble's statement turned out to be false, when he was easily flicked away. "Try saying that again." Spike said.

"How...have you gotten this strong? You seem so scrawny normally." Garble said.

"Been working out. A lot. Your sister seems to like it." Spike said.

"Seriously? Do you have to keep bringing her up?" Garble asked. "But you'll have to kill me to stop me this time."

"Not going to happen. I've got a better idea on how to handle you." Spike said before grabbing Garble and throwing him out of the volcano altogether.

"Dude, that was some throw!" A Pack Dog said.

"Hmm...right into a nearby lava pit too. Soft landing, AND he'll won't get injured that badly." The Alpha dog said. "Now we just got to worry about this blue dragoness."

Speaking of, Ember soon approuched Spike. "Dang, you got aim." Ember said.

"You again." Spike said.

"Heh, interesting that you can do that. We should really talk later." Ember said. "You don't want to leave your pony siblings, do you?"

"No. I won't allow harm to come to any of the ponies I care about, let alone my adopted family." Spike said, still in his Spikezilla form.

"That's all I need to know kid. No...not kid. Spike, right?" Ember asked.

"That's my name." Spike said.

"Well then Spike, come find me later. You and I...we have some things to talk about. Not going to steal you from this Smolder chic though. She's lucky your you. Trust me on that." Ember said.

"What are you even getting at?" Spike asked.

"Tell me something: How do you view the ponies from Ponyville? Do you consider them your treasure?" Ember asked.

"They aren't things to be owned. But I will protect them if that's what your getting at. Without a second thought at that." Spike said.

"That's good. Great even. And it only makes our need to talk later all the more important." Ember said. "You can trust me on this: There's no way in the world I'd ever think about doing anything against your wishes."

"...I have your word?" Spike said.

"Dragon's honor." Ember said.

"...Fair enough." Spike said.





The next day in Ponyville...

"Can't believe that Spike did that." The Alpha Dog said.

"But, we are spying on him still." A pack dog said.

"...So I was right..." Ember said, examining the egg Twilight hatched.

"You know about where I came from?" Spike asked.

"Something like that. We'll have more to talk about soon, Spike." Ember said. "But know this: You won't have anything to fear from me anytime soon." She added. "So, see you around." Ember then left.

"Wonder what that was about?" Smolder asked.

"Not sure, but something tells me I can trust her. Not exactly sure why." Spike said.

"Oh wait, forgot to ask something." Ember said, coming right back. "Would you mind if I brought some gems from the dragon lands next time I come to visit? There's some there I doubt you can find in Ponyville."

"You'd do that?" Spike asked.

"For you and your girlfriend? I'd gladly go out of my way for that." Ember said and then left for real.

"Think we're beyond dating status at this point though." Smolder said. "Your a real great dragon Spike."

"Your one heck of a dragon too, Smolder." Spike said. The two then began to kiss passionately.

"Hey Twilight, wasn't that the new Dragon Lord that just--" Flash said, but then noticed the two dragons kissing. "...Should we let them have their moment?" He asked.

"We should." Twilight said and left with Flash.





Meanwhile...

"...And your certain it's him?" Torch asked his daughter.

"One hundred percent, without a doubt." Ember said. "He's got the same genes we do. Heck, he's even got that heart of gold."

"...Who would've guessed all this time, your lost brother would be being raised by ponies?" Torch asked. "Have you told him yet?"

"No. Not yet." Ember said. "Way too soon. I don't want to upheave his entire life view right now. Better he doesn't know yet."

"That's fine. I understand. He's been doing great for himself so far. Why bother him so soon after you just became Dragon Lord?" Torch asked.

"Better we withhold this information until a later date and time." Ember said.

"Indeed..." Torch said.

To be continued?
> Chapter 72: Darkness Decending (Gore & Death Included)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Manehatten during the Gauntlet of Fire...

A stallion found himself cornered in his own appartment. "Wh-who are you? What are you?!" The Stallion exclaimed.

"I am the King of Despair." a strange katana wielding individual said. "But during your last breath, call me Slade."

Screams were drowned out by the noise of ponies outside.





Ponyville Present Day; two days after the Guantlet of Fire...

"This is the third pony that's been found murdered this way in the past month in the Manehatten district. There's no connection to the victims that even the best investigators could find." Princess Celestia said.

"No connection? Not even a shared interest at the very least?" Twilight asked.

"No connections. The only thing that connects these victims in any way, shape, or form, is how they were murdered." Princess Celestia said. "Each one had their insides sliced open, blood was being drained in a slow and methotical process. During this blood spill, it seems the killer takes the time to methodically dress the room in the victim's blood with the victims all conscious as they watch their killer in their dying moments. The final touch is a triangle pointing down with the letter 'S' inside of it before the victim looses too much blood and dies from the blood loss." She explained.

"Wait...those details...are you one hundred percent certain that the victim remained alive and concious as the killer painted the room in blood?" Deca asked.

"You've seen these details before?" Twilight asked.

"Many times. In fact, it's been way too long since that one's last murder." Deca said. "It's the work of one Slade Johnson; a serial killer who does contract killings. Essentially, he's selling his killings as a service. His victims seem to be all over the place, but the method used for killing is the exact same every time: Every victim is cut open, dies from blood loss while the room is painted in blood, and the final splotches of blood make an upside down triangle with an 'S' inside of it; but the one other detail that's normally kept secret is that each victim is also very much concious to watch their killer taunt them by painting the room with blood."

"How'd anything like that come to exist?" Luna asked.

"It...was a consequence that came about when Rob saved an ally & friend of his known as Veronica and her race. Veronica and Slade come from a planet not unlike Rob's planet which was named 'Alternate Earth'. Humans once existed on that planet, alongside many anthro forms of some of the animals you have here on Equestria: Rabbits, Owls, Pigs...you name it." Deca siad.

"What happened to those humans?" Twilight asked.

"They got used by an android they had created known as H1V3-QU33N. The android became too powerful for them to fight back against. Rob stopped the android before her plans could go through by making use of time travel. However, as a consequence of the altered timeline, Slade Johnson became a serial killer. It seems this one human is the only one who can go wherever he wants." Deca said.

"How is he able to remain human in Equestria? Our magic should've turned him into a pony." Celestia said. "When Sunset came over a while ago to ask about the Memory Stone, I know for certain she went from human to pony again."

"Beats me. I do sense a magical field that should've turned Slade into a Pony. But I can't seem to understand why it's not working." Deca said. "Regardless, if you should ever come across him, you should know that despite him being able to use both of his hands to attack, he is mostly left handed."

"Your telling this because...?" Luna asked.

"Slade will flee easily if you disarm his left hand." Deca said. "Any attempts to capture him have ended in failure."

"Any idea of his next target?" Celestia asked.

"Your guess is as good as mine." Deca said.





Meanwhile, Scootaloo and Rumble were enjoying their own time together. "Think we're getting serious too soon?" Rumble asked.

"Not really. I mean, we feel right." Scootaloo said. "Especially because after Soarin became my new dad, it's been easy to just call him Dad now."

"You deserve great parents Scoots. And Rainbow & Soarin are great parents." Rumble said.

"Thanks Rumble." Scootaloo said. However, she quickly moved him.

"What the..." Rumble looked towards a sword-wielding figure.

"Rumble...someone wants you dead. And I've got a contract to fulfill." The figure said.

"Who are you?" Scootaloo asked.

"I am the King of Despair. But you can call me Slade." The figure said. He swung again, but this time was met by a pony in a strange disguise wielding his own sword. "What?!" Slade was taken off guard.

"Isn't he wearing some sort of upgraded Mare Do Well suit? Didn't Mom's friends cancel that plan about my mom's ego?" Scootaloo asked.

"Call me Shade." The colt in the suit said. The masculine voice gave away that this was a pegasus colt in a Mare Do Well suit.

"You dare get in my way?!" Slade exclaimed. Suddenly, the princesses arrived.

"That's him! That's Slade." Deca said.

"Oops! Time to get out of here before that tablet sends a signal to Rob Snowden. But know this: I'll be back for your head, Rumble." Slade said before he suddenly vanished using dark magic.

"Wasn't that dark magic?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Indeed. But, that is not important." Celestia siad.

"Whoa, what was that?" White Flame and the rest of the CMC soon joined.

"Not sure." Rumble said as every pony noticed Shade had vanished. "What the...where'd that colt go?!"

"No idea." Twilight asked. Suddenly, Prince Blooblood & Derpy arrived.

"White Flame, we need you to come with us." Blueblood said.

"Huh? Why? What's going on?" White Flame asked.

"It's about the parish district. We found some DNA at a courthouse there. It tested to be one hundred percent match to only one pony: You." Blueblood said.

"What? But that's impossible!" White Flame said.

"I have a bad feeling about this..." Twilight said.

To be continued
> Chapter 73: Parish District Truth
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Eons ago...

A little boy was chasing a little girl around the playground.

"Better keep up, Garison." The little girl said.

"I'll get you yet, Allison." The little boy said.

The two children were seemingly enjoy themselves countlessly. However, suddenly, the playground and them began to fade...





Present day...

...And fade away it did, to reveal the playground Prince Blueblood and Derpy had found.

"This...this is..." White Flame said, as he looked at the strange ruined structure that looked not unlike one of the structures at Ponyville Elementary only more ruined. "I remember this...I chased Alison around this playground back when were just kids." White Flame said. "Everything here...how is this possible?" He asked.

"We were hoping you could tell us." Blueblood said.

"I...I just don't know but...there's no mistaking this place..." White Flame said. "...This is where my life as Gareth happened..." He said.

"The bank, the playground, the courthouse, and even the judge portriat...they were all pointing to existing eons ago." Celestia said.

"Even if that portriat has faded to the point of uselessness, I'll never forget that week." White Flame said.

"Your trial lasted one whole week?" Apple Bloom asked.

"No. Only one day. But the rest of that week was hell. Sunday, I was caught up in that bank explosion. Monday, I was officially being chaged with my trial scheduled for Tuesday. Tuesday, my trail happened, and despite my not guilty virdect, the week got no better. Wednesday, I lost everything but Allison's support and had to stay at her place. Thursday, Allison chose her father over me. Friday was when I made that deal with the devil. Saturday was the day when I; as Zanth; caused this destruction." White Flame said.

"That was a different life." Apple Bloom said.

"You have no idea." White Flame said. "I just don't understand...how did my home planet turn out like this? What did Angela do?"

"Angela? What's she got to do with this?" Starlight asked.

"Everything." The voice of Angela said. Suddenly, an appriricion of Angela appeared.

"Angela..." Twilight acknowledged.

"I used what remained of my own life force to renew this planet; waiting for the day new life would sprout on it. That was when the first of the ponies appeared. Life went on, generation after generation, until today. History was made along the ways. Heroes rised, villains fell, things progressed like an oiled wheel. Still, the important thing was that life existed where once there was nothing left." Angela said. "I wanted to move on with enough time, until one day a seed was planted above where my body had long since decomposed. That seed became what you now call the Tree of Harmony. It is a part of me now. And I am a part of it."

"You mean...your the..." Twilight said.

"I am the spirit of the Tree of Harmony now." Angela said before suddenly taken on the form of a pink alicorn with no cutie mark. "And I can now take on many forms as I so wish. But, I will choose this one for now."

"Angela...I'm sorry this had to happen." White Flame said.

"It's not your fault. You were hurting. It just took the right filly to help you find your way." Angela said.

"...Me...you mean me..." Apple Bloom said.

"Yes you. Despite what you may think, no; you are not some reincarnation of Alison. Her spirit reincarnated into some pony else. But, it's better you know nothing more then that." Angela said.

"What about Zanth? What should we do about him?" Celestia asked.

"Do what you think is nesscessary. He is weakening. And he will eventually just be vanquished. So long as he does not find the Heart of Despair; an ancient relic from eons ago; then he will eventually fade away." Angela said.

"Where is the Heart of Despair anyways? Is it here in the Parish District? That would explain why ponies become much more violent if they grow up here." Blueblood said.

"No. The ponies who grow up here are being driven mad by the spirits that haunt Zanth. Once he's faded away, or he's been truely defeated, the spirits will no longer drive ponies mad." Angela said. "No, I personally hid the Heart of Despair in a very secret place. It's highly unlikely any pony has ever found it, and unlikely any pony ever will."

"Let us hope you are right." Celestia siad.
> Final Chapter Prologue: Spike's Proposal
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Spike had been waiting for this. That's why he got something nice for Smolder.

"So, your really going to do this, huh?" Twilgiht asked.

"Yep." Spike said.

"Look at you...growing up. It's great." Twilight said.

"Twilight..." Spike said.

"Well then, take care." Twilight said.





Smolder was in the Town Hall, where a party for White Flame was being held. A "Welcome back to your homeworld" party to be percise.

Seriously, seems like Pinkie Pie will give for ANY excuse to throw a party; even if it's a party that only applies to White Flame. Smolder thought to herself.

"You know, I have to admit, White Flame having a previous life in this world where he got essentially the worst possible deck of cards, actually answers a lot of questions." Scootaloo said.

"We should probably let that go now. Kid's having a much better life now." Applejack said.

"True. So very true." Scootaloo said.

"Could've told you that a few weeks ago." Smolder said. Soon Spike & Twilight arrived.

"Where have you two been? The party's begun already." Pinkie Pie said.

"Sorry about that Pinkie. Spike had something he wanted to pick up on the way here." Twilight said.

"Oh really? Like what?" Pinkie Pie asked, but suddenly got her vibrations. "Whoa! I'm suddenly sensing a WHOPPER of a doozy." Pinkie Pie said.

"And that's why you'll find out pretty quickly." Twilight said.

Spike went over to Smolder. "Hey Smolder." Spike said.

"What's up Spike? What's Twilight talking about?" Smolder asked.

"Well, Twilight realized that knowing Pinkie Pie, she'd take any excuse to throw a party. Even if it's a party that would only ever work for White Flame and no pony else." Spike said.

"Duh! What kind of mare do you take me for? Of course I was going to throw this kind of party!" Pinkie Pie said. "It's meant as a reminder to White Flame that, this isn't the same world that he grew up with anymore."

"Been having that thrown in my face a lot while I've been living here. My parents are even considering letting me stay in Ponyville full time, considering all the friends I've made here." White Flame said. "I...I would like to give a speach to everypony if you don't mind."

"Mind holding off a bit? I want to ask Smolder a very important question." Spike said.

"...I see..." White Flame instantly understood.

"What's so important?" Smolder asked.

"Well Smolder..." Spike suddenly got out a very shiny ring. "Will you marry me?" Spike said. "I can think of no better time then right now."

"Y-you dork..." Smolder suddenly glomped Spike and began kissing him. A lot.

"I take it that's a yes?" Spike managed to ask.

"Of course it's a yes you knight in dragon armor you." Smolder said.

"...I could complain about how mushy this is...but for some reason it's not bothering me..." Rainbow Dash said.

"I was honestly about to say the same thing." Scootaloo said.

"That...that does mean a lot that you'd accept Smolder. And I can think of no better way to really state how much that means to me...then with my speech..." White Flame said.

"Whoa! The doozy is coming!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Attention every pony, can I have your attention please." White Flame said. Every pony turned their attention to the pony of the hour. "As you've been made aware, this used to be my home planet. And it was...much different than it is now." White Flame began. "But over the years I've spent here, I've met a lot of wonderful ponies. Some have grown to calling me a friend." He continued while the camera panned on Diamond Tiara and Silver Spoon. "Others, I've known for a lot longer, to the point where they became my best friends." White Flame went on as the camera panned on Button Mash and Rumble. "And there are even a trio of fillies who really accepted me for the kind of pony I am." White Flame said as the camera panned over Apple Bloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo. "And when Carrol died last winter, you all stuck by me...made me certain I could move on. And just now, Spike took this oppertunity to propose to Smolder." White Flame continued as the camera panned onto the cemented dragon couple. "You've made this world into a much better state then the way it was when I left it. And for that, I just have to say...thank you. Thank you all. This means so much to me. Because of you, I can finally shed the shadows of my past, and face the future; a future which looks brighter every passing day." White Flame said.

"Th-that was one heck of a doozy...AND IT WAS SO BEAUTIFUL!" Pinkie Pie said, as she then bust out the water works.

"That was a very well done speech." Mane Alligold said.

"Getting me all tear eyed now...geez..." Rainbow Dash said.

"I'm not crying...your crying!" Scootaloo suddenly blurted as tears were constantly streaming down her face.

"Dang...way to really bring it all home huh?" Smolder asked.

"You said it. Here's hoping to some amazing years to come." Spike said. "No matter what comes our way, we'll be ready for it!" He said.
> Final Chapter: Front Half - The Beast Within (To Where & Back Again AU) (Death Warning)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Never would I have thought things would come to this of all things..." Starlight's voice was heard, even if her lips weren't moving. In Starlight's vision, the infamous Wildson Mandoli alias "The Wildman" was battling with Spike in his Spikezilla form and was holding his own. "Honestly, if you had asked me two days ago if I would be seeing someone take on Spike's godzilla-isk form without much issue, I'd probably laugh in your face. No joke. The idea would've seemed too outrageous to become reality." Starlight said as Spike suddenly grabbed something off the neck of The Wildman. "Then again, that became my reality today. But let's rewind here and take you back two days..." Starlight said.





Two days earlier, Starlight's P.O.V.

"Your being invited to the summer sun festival at the village you took over?" Twilight asked me.

"Yeah. They apparently want me there." I answered. "Not sure exactly why yet..."

"Well, I'm sure whatever it is, it'll be fine." Twilight said.

"I hope your right..." I said back.

I did ask Trixie if she'd be willing to take me there, and she agreed to do so. The travel wouldn't take long; we'd be there pretty quickly. Though she would need some time to get her old wagon ready for travel, which would take the entire day.

I did have a bit of nightmare that night, but thankfully Luna comforted me. Ponies are growing to appreciate her dream walking abilities.

Regardless, the next day, Trixie & I set out for Our Town; no joke, those ponies didn't bother to change the name.

Sadly, I got way too nervous when the townsfolk wanted me to lead the sunset festival. I just...I just chicked out. Mostly because I didn't think I was ready yet.

On the way back, I decided to take a nap as it was getting pretty late. However, the dream I had was odd. Seems Luna was trying to warn me about something that was taking her and the other ponies.

Turns out, it had been Queen Chrysalis and her changelings again. They had been secretly stealing away ponies and assuming their identities way under the radar.

Together with Trixie, Discord, and Thorax; a changeling who The Wildman had been going out of his way to protect; Discord warped us to nearby the changeling hive, though it turned out, Queen Chrysalis had created a throne made of crystals that nullified all non-changeling magic. Great...that's just great...

Trixie and Discord got captured as we tried to infiltrate the changeling hive; this lead to me having to tell Thorax to just give his love to Chrysalis, which metamorphed him.





Third person P.O.V.

Once Starlight had done that, she encouraged the other changelings to do the same. Most did, admittedly. This resulted in Chrysalis being thrown into her throne which destroyed it and the back wall behind it. Chrysalis would emerge from the rubble though, hissing but was obviously outmatched.

"I feel the presence of despair..." Suddenly out of nowhere, Zanth appeared. "Which is good. I've been needing a good canidate my recent void experiment." Zanth said.

"Wh-what?!" Starlight said.

Zanth suddenly summoned forth a dark cloud of swirling darkness. "I'm sure Princess Luna over there would recognize this: This is the darkness that existed in her heart when she was Nightmare Moon. And it has just been begging for a new host." Zanth said. "And you, Chrysalsis, are going to be that host." He added.

However, out of nowhere, the darkness exploded, sending Chrysalis back towards the group that had converged on her, and Zanth was sent flying.

And as the smoke cleared, a familiar face was seen.



It was The Wildman!

"I have to hand it to you, Chrysalis...you hid the new location of this hive well. But I knew that following along Starlight and her little group would lead me right to you." Wildman said.

"Your still going to kill her, aren't you? You haven't gotten past that?" Starlight asked.

"I have orders this time. If Chrysalis isn't killed, the Grand Council of Changelings wants this entire hive culled." Wildson said.

"Culled? What do you mean culled?" Starlight asked.

"...He means the entire hive will be killed off." Thorax said.

"I was able to convince them to spare this hive, and let me kill Chrysalis for being the rogue changeling who took over from her tyrant parents. The ones who killed Thorax's parents." Wildson said.

"...Your not calling her queen because of that, are you?" Twilight asked.

"What?" Thorax was suddenly confused.

"It all makes sense...why would Thorax have those antlers as part of his new changeling form if he wasn't royalty?" Twilight said.

"Wow. I didn't even need to spell that out for you. Yes, this means Thorax is the true heir to the seat of power of this hive. But before he can take over, I need to kill the traitor. And this time, you ponies can't get involved with stopping me. For the grand council was very clear: If any ponies get involved, then this entire hive gets culled." Wildson said.

"Just to confirm: They did say specifically ponies, right?" Spike asked.

"That's correct. Now, if I may be so kind..." Wildson said, but Spike soon got in his way. "...What?!"

"Spike, what are you doing?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Chrysalis's specific crimes have been towards Equestria." Spike said. "Therefor, it should be by our system Chrysalis's fate should be decided. You should convince the grand council of that."

"Boy, you should stand down. Now. I won't hesitate to kill you, dragon." Wildson said; the venamous tone in his voice was evident.

"No. I won't let you hurt anyone. Not today. Not ever." Spike said. "Because that's just who I am."

"Very well then, don't say I didn't warn you, whelp!" Wildson said as a battle suddenly broke out.

But that's when Wildson suddenly broke out into a song.


Raised Wild and Free
Yeah that's me
Voice changed by fire
Dragons tourched my parents
Now I won't stop until they all drop dead

But before I seek my revenge
There is something I must do first
Taking down that tyrant queen
So that this hive can live
And I can do so because I am Wild and Free

Wild and Free
That's what I am
Out in the wild
I learned it's Kill or be killed
Out in the wild
A Moral compass doesn't exist
That's why I am the way I am
Rasied Wild and Free

Now I'm going to get my revenge
And make sure the dragons all drop dead
But first is that tyrant queen
Raised Wild and Free
Yeah that's me
Raised Wild and Free
Yeah that's me
Killing those that have wronged me

Starting with those dragons
And the tyrant queen
And you can't stop me
Because I'm Wild and Free
I'll make sure they all drop dead
And it'll be great
Because then my revenge will be all complete
I am Wild and Free!


"Did...did he just..." Twilight questioned.

Spike was struggling a bit to keep up with Wildson after that.

"He did..." Starlight said. "He just hearthsonged himself."

"Sure. Why not at this rate?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"Surrender while you still can, dragon; your not my target. Not today at least." Wildson said.

"Not going to give up." Spike said before his eyes went reptilian. "Spike...PROTECT!" Spike said before going Spikezilla.

"Whoa what the heck?!" One changeling suddenly said.

"How the heck did Spike manage to go Godzilla?!" Thorax exclaimed.

"What is this?! Your able to control that form?!" Wildson said as Spike was now tying in power with wildson. "How are you able to tame the beast within?!" Wildson said.

"Spike protect!" Spike grumbled as he kept fighting.

"...If you had asked me two days ago if someone could go up against Spike's Spikezilla form, I would've laughed in your face. No really, I would have. The thought would've just been to ridiculous to be real." Starlight said.

"Ah don't think anyone would blame you." Applejack said.

Suddenly Spike grabbed a necklace off Wildson, and then crushed it. "You lose." Spike grummaced.

"No! You fool! Don't you realize what you've done?!" Wildson said as he clutched his head. Suddenly something began to happen to him, as he dropped to the ground. He began to drool. Excessively.

"Wh-what's happening?!" Thorax exclaimed.

"I-I don't know..." Fluttershy said. "But I'm sensing bloodlust."

"What's bloodlust?" Twilight asked.

"...Something that can turn any creature...into a monster..." Fluttershy said as Wildson's eyes became eclipsed by the color red.

And with a roar from Wildson, a splash screen occured


The Beast Within
Feral Wildson Mandoli


All sense of rational seemed to leave Wildson as he began to move and attack in such an errotic and feral mannor, it made fighting back much more difficult. Worst part was, nothing was safe; Feral Wildson was attacking everyone and anyone in sight.

"He's lost all sense of himself. There's simply no reasoning with him." Fluttershy said.

"There might be one thing..." Twilight said. "It'll be draining but, it might be the only thing that can save Wildson from himself."

"You mean the elements? You think they'll help normalize Wildson?" Celestia asked.

"I know it's a long shot, but it's worth a try." Twilight said.

"We'll cover you." Thorax said.

The changelings and the rest of the ponies who weren't the main six covered the main six as they began to call upon the elements of Harmony. Eventually though, the charge up was complete, and the element's power was unleased onto Wildson.

He was knocked over, but he seemed to be back to normal. "It-it worked..." Twilight said.

"Ugh..." Wildson said.

"Hey, his voice is all normal now." Trixie said. "That's a good thing though. The constant horse voice was getting on my--"

Just then, Wildson's body began to age a little. "Uh...oh..." Twilight said.

"...Looks like you did too good of a job this time..." Wildson said. "Sure...you normalized me. But you had no idea what that truely meant did you?"

"...You became agless from the dragon fire...and now that your normalized...your going to turn to dust at a rapid pace..." Twilight said.

"Seems that way." Wildson said. "But there's one thing I just gotta do first." He said before suddenly he latched onto Chrysalis who was trying to get away.

"Wildson, what do you think your doing?!" Twilight exclaimed.

"The right thing of course." Wildson said. "Going to use what little magic I still got to split the difference between me and Chrysalis." He said.

"But if you do that, you'll both die!" Starlight said.

"...I should've already died...a long time ago." Wildson said.



"By all accounts I should've died a long time ago in that car when the dragon burned it to a crisp." Wildson said. "But I have to make sure Chryaslis dies, or this whole hive gets culled." Wildson said.

"But there has to be another way; another way for everything." Twilight said. "You were robbed of a normal life, you deserved better then this."

Suddenly tears streamed down Wildson's face. "...That has to be the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me." Wildson said. "My only regret...is that I don't think I'll ever see you again, Twilight Sparkle." He said. "You'd make for one hell of a mother..." Wildson said as he and Chryaslis suddenly turned to dust which blew away in the wind.

Wildson's claws suddenly hit the ground, and then turned to rust colored dust and scattered to the wind.

"...Goodbye...Wildson Mandoli..." Twilight said.

No one said a thing for the longest time.

What could they even say?
> Final Chapter: Back Half - Making up for Mistakes (Plus Sequal Hook)
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------

A bit later, the ponies were all in Our Town using the Sunset Celebration as a means to party.

A bright light suddenly decended on the village and turned into a pure white alicorn stallion.

"The Creator...it's an honor for you to be visiting us." Celestia said.

"This isn't just a social visit, Celestia. I have thanks to give. Mostly to your former Student turned Princess of Friendship, Twilight Sparkle." Creator said.

"Me?" Twilight asked.

"Do you remember the claws Wildson Mandoli had? Those were my creation I'm afraid. The man tricked me; plain and simple. Before I made him those claws, I made him vow on his life that he would never kill a single dragon outside of the one who killed his parents." The Creator said. "But he played me. He found out a loophole that would ensure that he wouldn't break the vow, and still kill many dragons: He roused other humans from his home world to kill the dragon enmasse. Many lives; both human and dragconic; were lost in the process. All because Wildson had abused a loophole."

"I-I see..." Twilight said.

"But now Wildson is gone. And the claws with them. I thank you for cleaning up this mess." The Creator said.

"Oh it was no trouble at all. Besides, most of the credit goes to Spike. He's the one who initiated the battle with Mandoli by abusing a similar loophole." Twilight said.

"Where is Spike by the way?" Rainbow Dash asked.

"Smolder's kind of missing too." Rarity said.

Twilight grinned. "...Where do you think?" She said.





"Boy, that was crazy." Smolder said. "I'm just glad everything worked out."

"Yeah. I took a chance. Didn't think what would happen would happen though." Spike said.

"Spike, from now on, promise me this: That you won't ever use your Spikezilla form unless it's to protect others outright. Don't think Chrysalis deserved protecting. She was going to get her punishment one way or another." Smolder said.

"I just acted. Something in me wanted to try and initiate battle with Wildson. I guess...I wanted to try and save his soul more then I wanted to protect Chrysalis from getting killed." Spike said.

"Your such a dork." Smolder said. She then leaned towards Spike. "But your my dork." Smolder said, smiling.

The two dragons kissed as the sun began to set on one crazy day.





Meanwhile, in an uknown location on Eques

"So...your the one known as Zanth." A male voice said.

"And you are the storm king, yes?" Zanth's voice said. "It seems you've collected a lot of things in this hold of yours." He said. "In exchange for nursing me back to health, I will give you want you want. I will ensure the takeover of all the world will be completed. I only ask one favor in return."

"If you can ensure the takeover of the world with such confidence, then by all means, name your favor." The Storm King's voice said.

"There exists a mystical artifact. One that will increase my powers to beyond that of the fates themselves. It'll ensure that I'll become one of the most powerful beings in the entire mutliverse." Zanth said. "Normal beings such as yourself cannot use it. Only energy beings like myself can use it without being driven by madness."

"And what is the name of this artifact?" The Storm King asked.

"The Heart of Despair...". Zanth's voice suddenly became dark and twisted.






The story of this world is not yet over...

What exactly is this mystical Heart of Despair?

What exactly will happen once Zanth obtains it?

Find out in the sequel!





My Little Pony: Draconic Lovers