> The lost princess > by Minagoesmew > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- > A lifelong dream > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- A soft, warm feeling enveloped rainbow dash as she stared up, a figure of all light colours stood over her, speaking soft words she couldn't make out, then a pressure on her forehead, the figure retreated, rainbow dash tried to raise a hoof, to call out for the figure to stop but it was too late, rainbow awoke with a start and then a groan. The cyan pegasus rolled out of bed onto her soft cloud flooring, again with that damn dream, she groggily walked towards her kitchen, placing a kiss on the still sleeping tanks shell as she passed by his bed. As rainbow entered the kitchen she flapped her wings, taking flight to reach a high up cupboard, opening it to reveal a box which she quickly took down to her table "Come on head, lets try and get SOMETHING more than just a few blobs on the paper this time" she sighed before removing a piece of paper and a paint set from the box, taking a brush in her mouth before she got to work as she had many times before, first the few definite features she had down, two blobs of light purple that she had long decided must be eyes, a light colour framing what must be the mystery ponies head, interpreted as a mane, rainbow went with a light pink this time around, and finally, she realised with a start, what must be a horn on the forehead, quickly adding it to the vague attempt at trying to get the visage of this pony. Rainbow dropped her brush into a mug of now murky water with a sigh, this was definite progress, but she was no closer to finding out who the pony was, after all, there had to be millions of unicorns with light purple eyes and a light coloured mane, she couldn't even pin down what colour their coat was. It had been years since the first time rainbow had had that same dream, at first all she could remember from it was the gentle voices unintelligible words, for over a year that was all she could remember, until she first performed a sonic rainboom, then it was like a barrier between the dream and her mind had been broken, then she could see the eyes, as it stayed for years, until the summer sun celebration a year ago, then came the mane, and now had come the horn, but the only thing that had happened was the areal relay tryouts at the rainbow falls yesterday, the wonderbolts pin was currently hanging in her room on a lanyard that she'd kept from the event and that wasn't as magical as the rainboom and when she and her friends had saved luna. Rainbow sighed as she moved the paper aside and dropped her head to the table, she really thought she'd found a link to what let her remember more things with the magic idea, yet the horn had come today and not after something like discord or the cutie mark switching spell twilight cast, therapists had tried their hand at explaining this dream, she didn't want to think how many times they tried to suggest she try something else in the dream, and how mamy times she'd had to switch therapists due to breaking their muzzles. Heck once she even asked princess luna to take a peak at her dreams, that was one of the few times she'd had a normal dream, it was like the dream itself was fighting her need to make sense of it. Rainbow was about to move the painting away to dry when she realised something, even if only two out of three times were magic events, this would be right up a certain purple alicorns alley, a mystery that has some link to magic, that egghead would be all over trying to make sense of it, quickly setting the painting back down she rushed to a drawer in her room, taking several similar paintings from it and slipping them into her saddlebags, she tossed some lettuce into tanks food bowl before rushing out the door, making a beeline for the tree slash library slash house that her friend resided in. Twilight looked over the paintings as her cyan friend explained the strange dream to her, inspecting each element closely "and then today i finally managed to get down that they had a horn, and that didn't happen the day after some big magical thing, but i figured you might be all over figuring out what this is, so what do ya think?" "I think that normally I'd be killing you for waking me up this early, but the idea of figuring out a dream that even princess luna couldn't cracks saved you for now, but just to be sure, you HAVE tried to do anything else, even just looking around or not raising your hoof?" The alicorn spoke calmly as she took out a quill and notepad, writing down all known info "As I've told you and several therapists before, yes, it's like the dreams pre programmed to only happen like that" rainbow sighed from her place opposite twilight. "Just making sure i have all the data correct, so obviously the first step is to monitor you whilst you're sleeping, follow me" with that she led the pegasus down to her basement where a machine sat, currently inactive. "So first of all I'll need you to lay down and get comfortable, I'll need you asleep for the tests" Rainbow quickly obliged, setting down a cushion she'd pilfered from the main room of the tree before a dome with wires leading towards the machine was dropped on her head "ya'know this isn't doing wonders for the get comfortable part" "Sorry rainbow but you're going to have to deal with it or we can't get the readings we need" twilight called over, flicking some switches on the machine. Sighing rainbow did her best, soon dozing off, the dream once again coming to her with its unknown pony and their words that refused to make sense in her mind until, before the pony could retreat, she was shaken awake by the purple princess "Rainbow! Rainbow! I've figured it out!" "What the-" rainbow replied groggily before the words connected in her mind. "Wait, already!" The pegasus shot up, tossing aside the dome on her head. "Yes! It took me a bit to figure out why the readings didn't make sense until i realised it wasn't mormal readings for REM sleep, instead it was as if you were stuck in a memory, which is why luna couldn't help, because it wasn't a dream" she explained excitedly as she showed printouts from the machine that made absolutely 0 sense to rainbow, but the word memory certainly rung a bell. "Wait- so I'm not going crazy, this pony was real, do you know how we can figure it out?" Rainbow was quickly trying to think back to when a unicorn with a light coloured mane could have spoken to her that also included a light pressure to her forehead, but to no avail. "I have one thing that just might work, since this is a memory instead of a dream i have a potion that just might be able to bring you back to that moment and learn the identity of this pony!" Twilight explained as she rushed upstairs, quickly returning with a bottle with a gold, red gem encrusted neck and a white liquid within. "Zecoras potion?" Rainbow had seen how it looked from the outside, she didn't want to know what it felt like to experience it. "But i thought it only responded to alicorn magic" "Yes, but if i channel my magic into it whilst you drink it, the potion should work" twilight levitated the bottle to rainbow. "And if it doesn't?" Rainbow eyed the bottle suspiciously. "Hopefully nothing should happen if it doesn't" rainbow didn't like how twilight said that but, it was possibly her only chance of finally learning what her dream was about, who that pony was. "Okay, lets do this" and so twilight concentrated, sending a beam of her magic into the potion as she levitated it to rainbows lips, the pegasus took a gulp as the bottle was set aside, grimacing at the taste. "Ew, whelp that didn't wo-" she was cut off by a feeling of falling as her mind was dragged into the past. Next thing rainbow dash knew she was in cloudsdale at night time, but there was something strange, she didn't feel completely there, then she noticed a large cloaked figure. "Hello, sorry, can you tell me what's going on?" The pony didn't respond as she simply walked on, approaching a house rainbow remembered far too well. "What are you doing here?" Again the cloaked figure didn't respond, as if they couldn't hear her as they glanced from side to side before a basket was levitated from under their cloak, inside, rainbow noted, was bundled a light pink filly with light, rainbow hair and a horn. The filly giggled as they raised their forelegs up, causing the blanket to fall, rainbow gasped as she noted the pair of tiny wings on the fillys back that stretched out, an alicorn. "Hush now, sunlight, it's time to rest, when you wake you'll be in a loving home, with a loving family" the cloaked pony spoke, clearly a mare, voice soinding close to crying. "And please remember, no matter what, no matter where you are, your mama will always love you" the mare then placed a soft kiss and then a long, white horn on the alicorn fillys head, rainbow dash stared as the soft pink coat shifted hue to a hauntingly familiar shade of cyan, the pale rainbow mane becoming more vivid and the horn disappearing, rainbow dash stared in awe as she watched herself as a filly get swaddled up and laid back down before the cloaked mare retreated, rainbow followed her, wanting to stay with the filly that couldn't be anyone but her, but needing to know the identity of the mare who retreated to an alleyway before her horn lit up with a warm golden glow, rainbow could hear a knock at the door and commotion as it opened and two voices she knew too well before the mare dropped her hood, revealing a four light coloured mane, light purple eyes and a white coat, rainbow stepped back in shock as the face of princess celestia stared back at her, tears in her eyes before she was falling again. Rainbow shot up from where she'd clearly fallen, almost butting heads with twilight, who had clearly been sitting over her in worry, but she couldn't worry about that as she started pacing, trying to consolidate what she just learned with what she thought she'd known "rainbow, slow down! What did you see?" That was it! If that was all a bad trip then the spell celestia cast in the dream shouldn't be real. "Twilight i need you to check if there's a spell over me, not a normal one, alicorn magic!" "Rainbow- what? How could there be an alicorn spell on you, there's only four of us and i doubt any of us would do that to you" rainbow sighed. "Twilight, please, i need to know, i need to know that was all just a bad trip from a backfiring potion, please" she was close to tears at this point. "I- okay, I'll see" with that twilight, with a bit of trepidation placed her horn on rainbows head, focusing, trying to find something, until she felt it, a spell, an old one, twilight gasped, a spell this old, only an alicorn could cast magic so strong to last this many years, twilight pulled, dispelling the magic before retreating, watching rainbow dash worriedly. The moment twilight retreated rainbows coat began to shift colour, from her normal cyan to a soft pink, lighter than cadences, her mane and tail shifting to a paler rainbow, her cutie mark even changed from a rainbow bolt coming from a cloud to a rainboom shockwave, a rainbow coming from the center leading into the original cutie mark, and then, she grew, as tall as big macintosh, and finally and most shocking of all, a long horn grew from her forehead, rainbow was an alicorn. "Wh- what the?" Rainbow looked down at herself, her body, her colouring, then she raised a hoof to her head, feeling the horn, then a sound caught somewhere between a laugh and a sob escaped her mouth. "So it's true, all this time, that dream- no that memory....." rainbow took a steadying breath as she tilted her head up trying to not let the tears drop. "My parents arent my parents, and princess celestia is my mom" All twilight could do was gawp at her transformed friend as she tried to not cry, what she said, it couldn't be true "...rainbow? Are you okay?" "No! I just learned that my life is a lie and I'm not even who i think i am! Of course I'm not okay" she snapped, then, she took a breath "i- sorry, twilight, I'm just- going through a lot right now" rainbow spoke, tears now freely flowing. It had taken a while to get the now alicorn to calm down, though there were still tears pricking at her eyes. "So now what do we do?" Rainbow asked, a faraway look in her eyes "I- I think we need to contact celestia, try and find out what exactly is going on" almost as if on cue spike came down the stairs. "Uhh twilight, princess celestia is here and- woah, i... think i know why now, uhh, hi there, I'm spike, what's your name?" Rainbow glared at the tiny dragon. "Spike! It's me, rainbow dash!" She growled. "Wh- rainbow, what happened?" He was clearly taken aback at the now pink alicorns appearance. "How did you become an alicorn?" "Questions for later spike, for now i think it's best we speak to celestia, come on rainbow" twilight quickly led rainbow dash upstairs where princess celestia was waiting as spike promised "Hello twilight, rainbow" the princess was not as composed as she usually was, her almost constant gentle smile was replaced by a tired one. "I can imagine that you have a few questions for me" "Yeah, like what the buck!?" Rainbow interrupted, twilight gasped at rainbows outburst. "Why did you leave me on that doorstep?" Celestia grimaced. "I can understand why you'd say that, you see i didn't have much choice" rainbow dash clearly had something to say about that but celestia raised her hoof. "When you were born i could not have been happier, i was lonely, before teaching sunset and twilight, before cadence became an alicorn, I had no one close to me, and then one day, i came across a spell that would allow me to have a child of my own without the need of a partner, i cast it, not realising the consequences, that first month i was happier than i had been since i had to send luna to the moon, but then i remembered, in only a few years my sister would return, and i feared what nightmare moon would do to you when she did, so i searched for a couple who would care for you, and cast a spell over you so that you could live among others without anyone being the wiser of your true nature, it broke my heart to leave you on that doorstep that night" the larger alicorn explained. "But then why didn't you say anything when we stopped nightmare moon, when rainbow wasn't in danger anymore?" Twilight questioned her mentor. "Because i saw the mare she grew to be and feared your reaction, i decided to just allow myself to be happy that my daughter was safe and happy, that she was surrounded by friends." That tired smile returned to the princesses face. "Did i even have a name, before you abandoned me?" Rainbow spat out, glaring at her mother. She winced at her daughters words before she spoke "i had named you Sunlight Heart, and it doesn't matter now, i can take you in, we can be mother and daughter again" a hopeful look came to the white alicorns face. "It seems to me that all i was to you was a poorly thought out way to keep yourself company, instead you dropped me off when you realised it and now you're trying to make up for that, well i don't want it" she growled before storming out, quickly taking flight and making her way far away from the tree and its current occupants. Twilight looked at the door in shock, glancing towards her mentor and her hurt expression before taking a breath "...i think that maybe you should give rainbow some space, she's learned a lot today and she'll need time to process it all, i can't make any promises, but I'll try and convince her to at least talk to you soon" with that she left towards a certain cottage, leaving the princess of the sun to sit there and process what happened. > Some friendly advice > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight sighed as she left her mentor to ruminate in the golden oaks library that she herself called home, it wasn't like she didn't want to be there to support celestia but she knew that her mentor needed time to think, and her friend needed someone there for her, to help her come to terms, and as she arrived at the little cottage on the edge of the everfree forest she could already see the perfect pegasus for the job. Rainbow sighed as she flopped down onto her bed, grumbling as her legs and wings dangled off the sides now, she curled up to try and get comfortable before her horn knocked against her headboard, the now alicorn glared up at the appendage, then, there was a knock at her door. "Rainbow dash?" Came the small voice of fluttershy. "Rainbow dash isn't here right now" the alicorn called out, trying to bury herself further into her pillows. The door soon opened. "Rainbow, please, speak to me?" Fluttershy spoke softly, moving to lay on the bed next to her friend. "About what? The fact I'm not even rainbow dash, that it's 'Sunlight Heart', good talk" she growled, only to feel a sharp pain in her left wing, leaping out of her bed to find tank there with a smug look. "Thank you tank, now we can actually talk, rainbow, what's going on with you?, you're not the type to be wallowing in self pity" fluttershy spoke, walking over to her friend. "That was before i learned the truth, i wasn't even born, i was just.... conjured cause celestia felt lonely!" rainbow dropped onto her haunches, head low. "She didn't even plan on telling me after we freed luna, i wouldn't even know this if i didn't go to twilight!" She sighed "i just- what am i supposed to do about my life now?" "Well, what you were doing with it before, you're not less because you're not exactly who you thought you were, and nopony will see you much different, at least, i know tank and i don't." The yellow pegasus sat next to her friend, wrapping a wing around rainbows back as tank nuzzled her leg. "And this doesn't erase who you are, you're still the first pony in equestrian history to perform a rainboom, you're still the element of loyalty, still you, you just learned something new about yourself" Rainbow didn't know what to say, instead nuzzling into her friend as she hugged tank close. "Mo- windy and bow would've probably cheered me on as the best princess the moment they found out" she finally let out with a slight chuckle. "And I'm sure scootaloo will just see it as more proof you're the coolest pony in equestria" fluttershy added "As if there was ever any doubt" rainbow smiled "thanks shy, sorry, its just been...... a lot all at once, kinda shouted in celestias face and ran off when i found out" "Then why don't you talk to her, properly this time, i'll be there for you" fluttershy stood, holding out her hoof for the other mare. The alicorn smiled, setting tank down before rising. "Thanks, it means a lot" and with that rainbow and fluttershy were off. Rainbow sighed as she pushed in the door to the library, only barely remembering to duck as to not knock her horn against the doorframe, inside sat celestia, still in the same spot she'd been when rainbow left, she quickly got to her hooves when she noticed rainbow. "Listen, Sunl-" she was cut off as rainbow raised her hoof. "Look, im.... sorry for what i said, it was a lot, and i was overwhelmed and i lashed out" rainbow finally said, sitting down near her mother "and its gonna take a while before I'm used to.... this" she gestured at herself "heck, I'm not even sure i want a coronation, it's just- give me time, and I'll come to you when I'm ready" rainbow sighed "That's.... fair, I'm not one in the position to rush things, just remember, if you need anything, you can come to me" "I will, thanks" rainbow hugged the larger alicorn She rose "Now i must be off, i left my court the moment i felt the spell break, i can only imagine the chaos thats been going on since" and then, she reached into a saddlebag rainbow hadn't noticed she'd been wearing "I'd had this made for you, i hope you like it" with that she set down a tiara similar to her own, with a gem the same colour as her eyes before disappearing in a flash. "Thanks...... mom" rainbow sighed, staring at the tiara, pnly to be broken out of her thoughts by an explosion of confetti and a certain pink pony wrapped around her neck. "HAPPY LEARNING YOU'RE AN ALICORN DAY!!!!!" Pinkie pie shouted, the library somehow already smothered in confetti, streamers, balloons and rainbow banners. It looked like the party pony was about to start singing so, in an attempt to save her sanity rainbow shoved her hoof in pinkies mouth "pinkie, please. No singing." The party pony unwrapped herself from rainbow, sitting down and tilting her head before trying to mumble something through the hoof in her mouth. "Told ya she wouldn't like it" came the voice of applejack from behind her, rainbow hadn't even noticed her other friends arrival. Pinkie pulled back, removing dashes hoof from her mouth. "Yeah but come on, i threw a party when twilight got her wings, it wouldn't be fair to not throw one for dashie" to emphasize her point she pulled out a photo of the small party pinkie had set up soon after twilights ascension. "Look- pinkie, i appreciate it, but right now I'm not really in the mood for big parties" rainbow explained. "Not even for your big birthday bash?" The deflated hair and look the party pony gave her portrayed how devistated she was at that idea, birthdays were her favourite. "We'll see, we've got a month to go there, or- give or take a week or two, celestia wasn't very clear on how long it took between casting the spell and leaving me on a doorstep" rainbow joked, the effect it had on pinkie was immediate, hair poofing right back up. "Oh my GOSH! TWO BIRTHDAYS!!?" With that, pinkie rushed off to who knows where to begin planning. "Ya do realise ya just gave her a golden ticket with that one" applejack spoke, walking up to rainbow. "Depends on when i was actually born, best case, two straight days of partying, worst, two birthdays" rainbow smirked. "....so, you're an alicorn, huh? Try out that horn any yet?" Apple jack knocked her hoof against the horn as she spoke. "Tried, haven't even been able to lift anything with magic yet, not gonna be fun trying to learn that, at least i know how twilight felt when i was teaching her to fly." "Did somepony say LEARN?" twilight grinned as she finally returned with rarity in tow, the look on her face was one of manic glee and rainbow knew she'd be regretting mentioning learning something in the same town as the shorter alicorn. > A glass of water makes the world of difference > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- It had been a week since Rainbow had learned she was an alicorn, work had been weird, even though she had access to the royal accounts now she still loved her weather work, even if she felt like she had to fight with the weather commission to get her regular work schedule. Then came the reactions from friends, Rarity had almost demanded she be allowed to sew the gown for her coronation, even when Rainbow insisted that she may not even WANT a coronation, she'd instead allowed her that IF she had a coronation then the fashionista would get first dibs on the gown. Pinkie had been ecstatic to learn that she'd get to throw Rainbows birthday bash a week earlier, currently she was holed away redoing certain decorations and basically going wild with new, alicorn themed decorations. Meanwhile Twilight was drilling into her during magic lessons, at which Rainbow had yet to finish lesson 1. Rainbow panted as she dropped her concentration, the quill laid in front of her had yet to move an inch. "I think i saw it glow!" Twilight said encouragingly. "Twilight, as much as i love the enthusiasm we both know that isn't true" the prismatic alicorn sighed, she'd been at this for an hour with no sign of even a spark of magic from her horn, to say it was disheartening was an understatement. Knocking came to the door. "Just a second!" Twilight called out, smiling sheepishly to rainbow before opening the door to see a second pink alicorn. "Hey Twilight, are you ready for our day out?" Cadence then looked in, seeing Rainbow "oh! So that's what you look like now, hey Rainbow dash!" "Celestia told you?" Twilight tilted her head. "I was in canterlot to visit last week, after we calmed down the court she didn't take long to tell us" Cadence explained. "So how's the alicorn life treating you?" "Oh it's been great, learned hitting your horn on doorframes hurts like an ursa, now I'm here failing to move a single tartarus damned quill with magic" Rainbow growled, glaring at the quill. "Yeah it took me a bit to learn that too, it'll come to ya in time, the first hurdle is always the hardest to get through, sorry I'm gonna have to steal your magic teacher for the day, but we've had this day planned for weeks" Cadence pat her fellow pink alicorns back. "Unless you wanna come with? I'd love to spend some time with my cousin as well as my sister in law." "Sorry i uhhh..... need to check on Tank, gotta make sure he hasn't set fire to the place while i was gone, you know how wild tortoises can get.... heh" "And then i left, no offence to Twilight but i heard about the Starswirl exhibit in ponyville today and knowing her that's exactly where she and Cadence'll spend the day, I'd rather not" Rainbow concluded, sighing. Tank gave her a look. "I know it'd probably help with my magic, but i Don't even know what to say to Cadence, 'so how's the weather'? What do you say to somepony you helped with saving a kingdom only to learn they're your cousin?" Tank blinked at rainbow. "You know, i hate when you make a good point." He kept his eye contact, Rainbow sighed. "Fiine, I'll see if they're still at the library, if not I'm not searching all over ponyville for that exhibit, I'll just finally get around to seeing wether i still qualify for the equestria games, I don't want all that effort to go to waste if ponyville isn't competing with its best flier" The alicorn bragged, the tortoise simply jumped off rainbows bed. "I'll see ya tonight, please don't eat all your food too soon, don't want a repeat of when we went to manehattan." With that the prismatic alicorn zipped out of her house, ready to possibly face the awkwardness of dealing with family that she never knew was family. It didn't take long for Rainbow to reach her friends library, and the flashes inside told her that somepony was in, with a steadying breath she pushed open the door, only to get flung back by a wave of water. "Okay i KNOW Twilight would never let her books get wet!" With that Rainbow stood back up and rushed through the door, quickly finding. "Everything's dry??" "There is ONE cure for the blue flu" rainbow knew that voice, and she KNEW he wasn't supposed to be here. "And you didn't think to mention this earlier because?" Okay, that was cadence, that calmed her down a bit, rainbow rushed up the stairs, only to find her friend, her cousin and a blue Discord. "It slipped my mind- oh! Rainbow dash! Oh I'm sorry, PRINCESS Sunlight Heart, how lovely for you to check up on me!" The draconequus coiled himself around the pink princess. "If i knew you were here i would've stayed home!" She growled, trying to push discord off. "What's he doing here?" "He's sick and was just about to tell us the cure" Cadence lifted discord off of rainbow before casting a spell over her. "An anti sickness barrier, just incase he's contagious, now, the cure?" She turned to discord, eyebrow raised. "Ah, yes, you simply need the petals of a certain flower..... on the other side of equestria" the three alicorns deflated. "Oh don't be too glum, it should be less than a days trip, though in my state i doubt I'd be able to make the flight, so we'll have to make some arrangements." "What kind of arrangements?" Rainbow dreaded the answer. "This isn't SO bad" Cadence tried, panting. "I've been meaning to take a nice long fly" "A good flight does help clearing your head, but NOT when you're pulling a sick draconequs on a way too heavy chariot" Rainbow interjected, the only alicorn of the three not gasping for breath. "You're one to talk.... You're the most in shape" Twilight glared at her over cadences back. "I'm an athlete, it's kinda a prerequisite!" She growled at her friend. "How HAS getting re qualified for the equestria games been going?" Cadence grasped at the chance to change the subject. "It's been..... going, the games commission have been fighting on if they could even let an alicorn compete, i was planning on going to see if they finally decided if you weren't at the library" Rainbow was rubbing at her neck with her hoof now. "You should've gone, we could handle thi-" Twilight couldn't finish her sentence as all three alicorns were stuck in place, midair. "We're heeerre~" sung discord as the chariot descended, dragging the three princesses with it. "It's at the top of that hill, and it's going to get dark soon so you'd better hurry" "Are you SURE we can't leave him here?" Rainbow growled as she managed to unhook herself from the chariot. "No, Fluttershy wouldn't be happy with us if we did" Twilight responded as she helped Cadence out of her harness. "Come on, let's get this flower, cure discord and spend some quality family time together, all three of us" cadence smiled softly, even if her mane was matted with sweat. And so the three began the trek up the large hill, quickly reaching the plateau, where there was nothing but a green pillar. "Are. You. KIDDING ME!" Twilight shouted. "No flower! None! Discord just took us on a wild goose chase!" "Uhh twilight? You might wanna look up." Twilight followed her sister in law and friends eyelines and sure enough the pillar was actually the stem of a titanic pink flower. "........oh" "Okay! You two can grab this flower and we can get the heck outta here! Something about this place doesn't feel right." Twilight and Cadence nodded, igniting the magic in their horns, soon the flower was being lifted in twin magical glows as its roots began to give way, dirt and rocks crumbling down into the mountain. "Almost... got it!" The two grunted as the last of the flowers roots gave way, allowing it to float freely through the air. "Now to get this to doscord and-" Twilight was interrupted by a massive roar coming from where the flower once stood. "What now?" The purple princess groaned. From the hole left by the flower arose a giant serpentine creature whose mouth split open four ways in a ground shaking roar. "It's a tatzl wurm!" Cadence shouted as the beast tried to snap at her, only to be met with a magical blast to the face. "Stay away from my sister!" Shouted twilight, only to barely dodge a tail swipe, not noticing as she flew straight into the path of its mouth. "Stay away from MY sister! Roared Cadence as she blasted the wurm away, flying up to Twilight. "You okay?" "I'm good" she smiled, neither noticing as the tatzul wurm descended from above, jaws open wide, until a giant flower was swung into it, encased in a violet light. "Stay away from my family!" Rainbow panted, horn glowing and sweat dripping down her face from effort. "Rainbow! Your magic!" Twilight exclaimed. "Not the time, it's coming back!" With that Cadence flew aside, blasting at the returning wurm, Twilight following as they coralled the beast with blasts of magic back into the hole before blocking it off. "What a relief, lets get this thing back to discord before it comes back for more!" Twilight exclaimed, taking the flower from rainbows magical hold as the three galloped down to the chariot, only to hear a certain draconequs laughing. "Ha haaaa she went to the ends of equestria for me! Against such danger all for me!!!" Discord danced, his colouring back to normal and moving far better than he should with his 'sickness'. "You. Were. FAKING!!?" the purple alicorn shouted as she got face to face with the chaos spirit. "I swear i have a good explanation" he raised his paw and claw in a placating motion "We're listening." Twilight growled as she landed by the two pink alicorns. "Well you see, i was in my thinking tree, where i do all my really deep thinking, and i thought to myself" as he spoke a tree shot up beneath him as he coiled around its branches. "Twilight SAYS she's your friend, but she never writes and never visits." "I Don't even know where you li-" Twilight was silenced as he pinched her lips. "Maybe now that she's a princess maybe she thinks she's too good to be friends with dear old Discord" Twilight was about to interject when Discord once again interrupted, this time with a clothespin over her mouth. "How do i see if I'm still friends with one of the most important ponies in equestria?" At that he wrapped his tail around Twilights midsection, lifting her up. "By seeing if you would go to the ends of equestria for me of course, and you PASSED! CONGRATULATIONS!" At this he released twilight, shaking her hoof before placing a half heart necklace around her neck, placing one that appeared around his own next to hers to complete the heart, it depicted Discord and Twilight, half of Twilights face covered by Discords claw in a thumbs up. Twilight growled at the draconequs, lifting away the necklace with her magic. "Oh why the anger Twilight? I thought you loved passing tests! I hope it's not because my test put a damper on your little visit with cadence, is it? Made it so there was no time for you two to spend together?" "You didn't put a damper on our visit at all" cadence chuckled. "I/he didn't?" The two turned to cadence, shocked. "Sure, spending the day at the starswirl exhibit would've been more relaxing, but relaxations the last thing i need, Don't get me wrong, life in the crystal empire is fun, but it's gotten a bit predictable, I've enjoyed the excitement today, plus i got to spend time with both my favourite sister in law AND my cousin i never knew i had" Cadence grinned, turning to Rainbow dash. "Plus if it weren't for this little.... trip i don't know WHEN i would've finally learned how to do magic!" The prismatic maned alicorn smiled as she tapped at her horn. "Though, maybe next time we start a little smaller than a giant flower" "Yes, well it was a totally amazing day, it was a blast" Discord pouted, crossing his arms, only to stumble as the ground began to shake and behind Discord the Tatzl wurm erupted from the ground. "BY THE HAIRS ON MY TAIL WHAT IS THAT??!?!?!" Discord exclaimed, coiling around Twilight as the beast snapped at the four until its head shook and then it sneezed all over discord before retreating, the barrier put up by Cadence protecting the three alicorns. The effect was immediate as Discord was tinged green, many spots appearing all over his body. "I think it's pretty clear that Cadences visit didn't go quite as intended, but i learned that as long as you're with good company, even the most chaotic day can bring everyone closer together." Twilight dictated as spike wrote in the diary that the friends shared. "Wouldn't you agree discord?" Said draconequs was currently laying on a sofa within a plastic bubble, sneezing into a tissue. "Yes, twilight" he coughed out. Applejack approached the bubble, still giving it a wide berth. "Now I'm not sayin' ya got what you deserved." Rarity quickly walked up beside her. "Well i am, YOU GOT WHAT YOU DESERVED!" she shouted at the sick chaos spirit. "Now now, he's learned his lesson, isn't that right my little patient." Fluttershy admonished her friends as she pushed her hoof through a glove to stroke Discord within the bubble. "I'm so glad you're back from your trip Fluttershy, just you being here is making me feel better already, but could i just trouble you for one, tiny little thing?" He raised his paw, pinching his fingers together to show how small it would be. "NO!" Twilight shouted immediately. "What? I was just going to ask for a teeny tiny glass of water." Discord smiled sheepishly, twilight groaned at his words. > A birthday to remember > -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Twilight sighed as she trotted downstairs, half awake, searching for the smell of breakfast, quickly arriving to the sight of Spike, hard at work with a batch of pancakes. "Morning Twilight! There's some pancakes on the table, and a letter came for you from Celestia." The small dragon pointed to the table where, true to his word, sat a plateful of pancakes and a rolled up scroll bearing the sun seal of the solar princess. "Thanks Spike" twilight got out as she quickly began to chew through her first pancake, lifting the letter up in her magic, unrolling it to read the message from her mentor. Dear Twilight Sparkle I apologise for writing to you so early but i would like to ask for your advice, SunliRainbow Dashes birthday draws near and I still have yet to figure out what to get her, I'd like to ask your opinion as her friend, please write to me as soon as possible. Your Mentor Princess celestia. Twilight stared at the letter, trying to figure out what to send back, her own gift for her friend lay wrapped and hidden under her bed, a book on aerodynamics that twilight thought would help her friend prepare for the equestria games with her new, larger stature, after a while she called out for her pseudo son "can you write a response for me Spike?" The fact the baby dragon already had a quill and paper in claw made her smile. "Thank you, Dear princess celestia, while I'm surprised you came to me for this i do have one or two ideas i was mulling on before that i believe Rainbow may enjoy, the first is signed Wonderbolts memorabilia, She's always been a big fan of them, the other is a first edition copy of Daring Do and the quest for the Sapphire Stone, she's been searching for one to complete her collection, i hope this helps, your faithful student, twilight sparkle." As She finished Spike rolled up the paper, sending it off in a burst of emerald flames. "Celestias really trying, isn't she?" Twilight nodded, hoping that this birthday didn't somehow end in disaster as other events tended to around ponyville. Rainbow sighed as she watched on, it had been a simple meeting between her and Pinkie, the party pony, having decided on the final decor for Rainbows party, was detailing the planned events to the birthday girl when a yellow stallion decided to butt in, which led to her current situation. "This is the party for a PRINCESS! This isn't something you can just hold in a bakery, it's a town wide event!!" Cheese got onto his hind legs, stretching his forelegs out far wider than should be possible to show his point, having placed a paper crown on his head "I don't want a town wi-" Rainbow was about to interject when Pinkie interrupted. "Rainbow Dash SPECIFICALLY wanted a SMAALLL party!" To emphasise her point as She yelled small Pinkie pushed her hooves as close together as possible. "Anyway! Rainbow SPECIFICALLY said i had exclusive rights to planning her birthday party this year!" Pinkie pulled a scroll out of her mane, pushing it into Cheeses face. "Why are you even talking about this?? Pinkie, you already put together the whole party, don't give this guy the time of da-" "WAIT!!!" Cheese shouted, cutting of Rainbow mid sentence once again. "It says here in the party contract article 65, subsection sprinkle streamer B that this contract can be handed to another party planner if the party plan-ee decides that the second party planner can plan a more fun party!" The yellow stallion held out the scroll, pointing to an extremely small print with a magnifying glass. "Give me that!" Pinkie growled, taking scroll and glass to read it over, muttering to herself. "I really should read the fine print on these things! Whelp! Plan away, if Rainbow decides your party is better than I'll step aside!" With that she held out her hoof. "May the best planner win!" "I plan to!" With that Cheese slammed his hoof into Pinkies before both party ponies walked off. "Ugh, I've gotta stop this before this gets out of control...." Rainbow groaned before lifting the scroll the party ponies have made in her magic and taking off to her friends library. "So is there anything in this contract that says how i can get this Cheese guy to back off?" The prismatic pink alicorn was currently pacing as her purple friend perused the contents of the party contract. "Unless you either have a tea kettle shaped like a turkey or a bipedal cat with a hat, no, the contract doesn't specify that you can deny other party ponies from trying to win the contract from Pinkie, why did you even sign this??" Twilight sighed as she set the scroll down, shaking her head. "Pinkie says its because she's a Union Planner, not allowed to plan parties without contracts." Rainbow groaned, the party planning business was apparently Ruthless. "Ah! Rainbow! I just finished drawing up the first draft of my party! I need you to look over it so we can get all the paperwork in order to hand the contract over to me!" It spoke to the two alicorns experience with Pinkie that the new party ponies appearance through a bookshelf, folder in hand, didn't surprise them as much as it should. "Alright but i doubt I'll be deciding on your party over pinki-" as if she was summoned by her name the pink party pony dropped in from the ceiling, dangling by a rope tied around her barrel. "Rainbow! I just came to tell you about a feeeew revisions i made to the party plan from before" as she spoke she reached into her tail, shoving her foreleg deep into its curly pink depths. "Just some small things like location" apparently needing to search deeper Pinkie shoved her head in. "Also a bit more food, just some standard stuff, i also revised the guest list a liiitle bit!" As she finished she pulled out a tome as thick as her barrel and twice as tall. "Why!? I was already happy with the original! I was gonna-" a yellow hoof was shoved in her mouth as Cheese silenced Rainbow, shoving his face into Pinkies. "Hey! It specifically states in article 10362, subsection chocolate, of the party planner union rules that any party revisions can not be placed whilst another party planner is proposing to take their party contract!" The yellow party planner pulled out a pink tome covered in streamers and balloons that was twice the size of pinkies revised party plan, pulled up to a page with an arrow pointing directly to the article in question. "Except it ALSO states in the following subsection, subsection alpha green velvet cake, that in the event the initial planner is personal friends with the plan-ee that the initial planner can still show revised plans as long as they are pushed as SUGGESTIONS!" Pinkie turned the page and pointed towards the supporting subsection. "Oh! Well carry on then!" Cheese chuckled, stepping back and removing his hoof from Rainbows mouth. "Eugh! First off, never do that again or I'm biting off your hoof, second, please i just want a small party, can't you two just work together on something?" The look the two party planners gave her was as if she had decided to trot over their grannies graves. "Absolutely not! That would break article 37146! If a party is initially contracted as a single planner party then it cannot be changed to a dual or tri planner party!" Cheese stated, not noticing as a purple aura encased his planner guide book, sliding it away. "And not to mention it'd be just plain silly, multi planner parties are only authorised for things like weddings and other such parties that include multiple sections! I'm sure Spike still has the contract he had to sign to be authorised to plan shining armours bachelor party!" Pinkie giggled, as if it was obvious to the two alicorns. "Aha! It says here in article 3529154p that if a planner is being challenged for a party contract they can choose to take the challenge to a goof off instead of a simple decision on the part of the plan-ee!" Twilight shouted, standing over the massive tome. "Pinkie! Do you want to elevate this to a goof off?" "Yes! That'll be perfect! I, Pinkamena Dianne Pie challenge you to a goof off!" Pinkie roared at the yellow stallion. "Then i, cheese chester sandwich the third, accept your challenge!" He shouted back, raising his hoof to his chest. "Okay, I'm probably gonna regret this, what's a goof off?" Rainbows left eye twitched as she was sat on a piñata throne in the middle of ponyville, both party ponies were currently preparing as a crowd gathered in front of the gazebo that had been set as the arena for the goof off. "Why is this ANY better than just going over plans??" "Because this way you won't have to spend hours reading through party plan revision after revision." Twilight sighed. "Though i was hoping they'd pick a less public place to have this, sorry Rainbow." "It's alri- whaat in the name of the sun is that?!" Rainbows attention was immediately drawn to the first move in the goof off, a giant painting of her face done in different coloured rubber chickens, Cheese sandwich grinning smugly at its base before beginning to play a tune by pushing on specific chickens on the mural. Rainbows attention was violently jerked away by pinkie as she was lifted up by a claw grip that wrapped around her middle, rising to come into view of a menagerie of bubbles in the shapes of ponies that were somehow moving in a breakdance. Despite herself Dash yelped in pain as she was pulled away by her tail into a dance with Cheese Sandwich, she didn't even register what he was singing as she was pulled along in doing the worm. How a springboard was placed under the two would probably have bothered rainbow more if she hadn't somehow landed in front of Pinkies party cannon "What's a party if not a BLAST!?" as she shouted that word the cannon fired, flinging rainbow into a large metal tube that filled her with an intense amount of dread as she poked her head out. Pinkie stared on as horror filled her fellow pink friends eyes as she stared down at Cheese Sandwich, currently standing by a panel at the ground with a single large button saying fire!, the titanic cannon primed to launch Rainbow. "Well if a bang is what you need then how about a ear rupturing KABLAM! from my party HOWITZER!!!" he raised his hoof, ready to slam it onto the button. "WAIIIIT!" Pinkie shouted, moving in front of the button before Cheeses hoof could descend. "What? You can't block my move in a goof off!" He glared at the pink pony. "That's the thing though! I forfeit, look at her, none of this is what Rainbow wanted!" Pinkie pointed towards the alicorn in question, who was currently back on the ground, trying to calm herself down from what must have felt like a near death experience. "If what Rainbow wants is a party planned by you, then i won't stop her" with that, she walked off, head held low as she heard Cheese celebrate. Pinkie sat at the edge of a lake, mane deflated, sighing sadly as she stared at her reflection. "Room for one more?" Came a voice from behind her. Pinkie turned around to see her fellow party pony. "Cheese!? What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be planning Rainbows birthday party?" "I would be.... if i didn't quit, i realised even if i planned the perfect party, it wouldn't make her happy, because I'm not her friend, I'm sorry, i kinda got carried away with wanting to plan a party in front of you, after all, you helped me get my cutie mark all those years ago." He pointed to his flank. "I remember it like it was yesterday." He sighed dreamily. "Anyway, i relinquish this party to you, and alongside it" he set down a rubber chicken with a bowtie on it. "Boneless, i think he'll do much more in your hooves" with that he rose, trotting away as the pink party pony pulled boneless close. "Goodbye, Cheese sandwich" with that her mane poofed back up as she sat boneless across her back. "Now! We've got a party to set up, the way Rainbow WANTS." Rainbow smiled as she set a photo on her shelf, it depicted her and her friends, each covered in different arrays of streamers and glitter, aside from the chaos with the goof off it had to have been her best birthday yet, she landed, fully ready to go to bed when a knock came at her door. "Who is it?" "It is princess luna, though i have recently discovered that auntie may also be an apt description" came the voice from the other side of the door, rainbows eyes widened as she rushed to open the door, revealing the moon princess, carrying a wrapped box on her back. "May i enter, i come bearing gifts" The slightly larger alicorn stepped in before Rainbow could respond, setting the gift on a table. "Thank you, though I'm still trying to get used to the whole 'part of the royal family' thing" Rainbow lifted the gift, reading the tag. "From mom, i didn't think she'd get me anything" "Quite the opposite, she was agonising over what to get you and how to get it to you as she didn't want to push the situation too soon, it just so happened i wished to visit you and get to know you better as your aunt, Faust knows I have been barely holding myself back from visiting since tia told me you were hers" the alicorn coughed awkwardly "needless to say i was not happy that i was kept in the dark about this" "You and me both" Rainbow muttered as she tore open the wrapping paper and opening the box to reveal a note reading: 'dear Rainbow, i know it may not be welcome but i wanted to get you something for your birthday, i hope this is to your liking, from what twilight tells me you're quite the fan of these books your mother, celestia' As Rainbow set aside the letter she reached into the box with her magic, revealing a hardcover book that she could recognise instantly; daring do and the quest for the sapphire stone, and as rainbow lifted the front cover she was met with a gold ink hoofprint of the author, this was a first edition copy. "How did she know i was looking for this?" Rainbow spoke softly, gently pulling the book close to her. "I believe it was on the suggestion of Twilight, even if she had to send a castle worker to manehattan for the day to purchase it" Rainbow chuckled, something about the princess of the sun stressing over a gift till the last minute only to call in help from a friend was amazing, it brought her mind back to the tiara currently sat in her bedroom. "Luna? I need some advice, i want to get to know celestia, as my mother, but how do i do it?, how do i even begin to startwith that?" The prisma maned princess sighed. Luna hummed, mulling it over. "Why not Spend time with her, come to canterlot for a while, try and build that connection." She finally spoke, walking up to her and setting a wing over her neices back. "I.... i think i will, I'll sort some things out here first, and try to visit, i just hope it isn't too late" she sighed, nuzzling her aunt in appreciation, it would take time, but hopesully, this family would begin to mend its cracks.