Chapter 2, Friendship is Magic.
707cloud: Sorry for the long wait of getting the chapter done, even though dragonlord1337 and I are both working on this together we both have separate rolls, I do the writing of the story while dragonlord1337 does most of the spellchecking and just about of all the character, item and location descriptions, and he had some personal affairs to see to, resulting in me only being able to write down the events and storyline until he was back in full, I don't blame him for such things and I understand the need for personal endeavours, Isn't that right mate?
dragonlord1337: that's right, cloud. I apologize for the delay guys but life and personal matters rarely care for what projects you may be working on. but I am back and hopefully, things will be a bit smoother but I can't guarantee anything. and thanks to both 707cloud and you the audience for your patience.
707cloud: alright then, so please read, review, and enjoy the story, and remember opinions and ideas are more than welcomed. To the story!
"Normal talking"
""repeating/reading out loud""
"Thinking"
"'talking through thought/Telepathy'"
'Moves/Attacks/Techniques/Spells/Incantations'
-memory/flashback-
{Over communication/texting/messaging/latter: talking}
{Over communication/texting/messaging/latter: thinking}
#Translated talking#
#Translated thinking#
[Computer/Robotic talking]
[sound effect(s)]
*theme sound/music/transformation/songs*
*song lyrics*
* "singing song lyrics" *
"inhuman/demonic talking"
""inhuman/demonic repeating/reading out loud""
"inhuman/demonic thinking"
"'inhuman/demonic talking through thought/Telepathy'"
""Once upon a time, in the magical land of Equestria, there were two regal sisters who ruled together and created harmony for all the land. To do this, the eldest used her unicorn powers to raise the sun at dawn; the younger brought out the moon to begin the night. Thus, the two sisters maintained balance for their kingdom and their subjects, all the different types of ponies. But as time went on, the younger sister became resentful. The ponies relished and played in the day her elder sister brought forth, but shunned and slept through her beautiful night. One fateful day, the younger unicorn refused to lower the moon to make way for the dawn. The elder sister tried to reason with her, but the bitterness in the young one's heart had transformed her into a wicked mare of darkness: Nightmare Moon.""
[lightning crack]
""She vowed that she would shroud the land in eternal night. Reluctantly, the elder sister harnessed the most powerful magic known to ponydom: The Elements of Harmony. Using the magic of the Elements of Harmony, she defeated her younger sister, and banished her permanently in the moon. The elder sister took on responsibility for both sun and moon and harmony has been maintained in Equestria for generations since." Hmm... Elements of Harmony. I know I've heard of those before... but where?" spoke a young filly reading from a book as she lay upon a small area of grass with a small tree just near her, the book was thick and heavy bound in brown leather its spine was reinforced by a pair of riveted brass plates, the corners of the cover are decorated with brass coloured filigree and in the centre of the cover are a series of three concentric circles over which is attached a stylized brass figure of a unicorn's head and neck with small crystals for its eyes.
this young pony is called Twilight Sparkle, the magical apprentice to Princess Celestia, appearing to be 16 years old, she is a young unicorn standing at 5'3, not counting the horn that extended a few inches from the top of her forehead, she had an average build and a low b-cup bust, her skin tone was a pale shade of greyish mulberry, her eyes were a moderate violet colour, and her mid-back length straight hair was a dark sapphire blue with a single moderate purple streak and brilliant raspberry streak with short bangs hanging over her forehead and her tail matching her hair, the tips of her expressive pony like ears poking from the sides of her head, her cutie mark was a large pink coloured six-pointed sparkle that had six smaller white secondary points surrounded by five smaller white sparkles.
As Twilight thought about the book and its mentioning of the Elements of Harmony she stood to her feet and levitated the book into her white and blue satchel white a golden design and then placed the bag resting against her waist above her hip before making her way down a pathway.
After a short while of walking Twilight is stopped by the approach of three ponies.
the first in the group was a young unicorn named Lemon Hearts. She appeared to be around the same age as Twilight but she was slightly taller at 5'4" not counting her horn with a slightly larger b-cup bust and an average figure. She had light yellow skin and raspberry-coloured eyes and pony-like ears. Her shoulder-length hair was a moderate cerulean as was her tail though it did have a lighter cerulean streak as well. Her cutie mark is three hearts with two of them being light blue and one being light green.
the second in the group was also a unicorn named Twinkleshine who is also the same age as Twilight. She was the tallest of the group at 5'6" not counting her horn and had a mid-sized b-cup bust. And a slightly curvy figure. Her skin tone is ivory coloured with electric blue eyes, pony-like ears, and light pink curly hair that reached down to just past her shoulder. Her tail matched her hair in both colour and curls. Her cutie mark consisted of three sparkly blue stars.
The third and final unicorn in the group was named Minuette who as with the others was the same age as Twilight. She was the middle one in the group with a height of 5'5" not counting her horn and a mid-sized b-cup bust that was slightly smaller than Twinkleshine's but larger than both Twilight and Lemon Hearts. The had an average figure with a light blue skin tone. Her eyes were a dark blue, with pony-like ears and her mid-back length hair was dark blue with a Persian blueish-grey stripe her tail matched her hair, and her cutie mark was an hourglass.
These ponies' names where Lemon Hearts, Twinkleshine and Minuette respectfully, they were just the somewhat few friends Twilight had, each carrying a present of different colours and sizes.
"There you are, Twilight! Moon Dancer is having a little get-together in the west castle courtyard. You wanna come?" Twinkleshine asked with a smile as the three of them lent in a bit eager to hear Twilight's answer, causing the said pony to lean back slightly.
"Oh, sorry, girls... I've got a lot of studying to catch up on." Twilight said awkwardly looking away before speeding off with a slight dust trail behind her away from the three ponies.
"[sigh] Does that pony do anything except study? I think she's more interested in books than friends." Twinkleshine said to her fellow ponies sadly as they watched the unicorn run off into the distance.
Meanwhile Twilight ran as fast as she could with a determined face while her thoughts still turned in her head, the encounter with the three ponies already forgotten "I know I've heard of the Elements of Harmony." She said out loud as she sped back to her tower, passing by Lyra Heartstrings without acknowledging her greeting.
She soon arrived at her tower and raced up the long stairway, the tower was circular and coloured white with bronze and gold trim. it was several stories tall and had a slight taper as it reached the top similar to a candle. dotted around the exterior of the tower serving as doorways and windows were several gothic arches. and spiralling around the outside of the tower was a staircase ending at the top room which was situated within the golden teardrop-shaped roof of the tower.
she soon barged through the doors, unknowingly smacking a young dragon in the process.
The young dragon's name is Spike and she is a female dragon appearing to be around 14, she is 4'11" with emerald green eyes. she has light purple scales covering her face, shoulders, arms, back, and the top of her tail legs and feet. Beginning under her chin and spreading over the front of her throat and down the front of her body covering her crotch and inner thighs and the underside of her tail is an area that does not have scales and instead has smooth soft light spring Budish grey skin. She has a curvy pear-shaped figure with wide flaring hips and luscious thighs and rears with a large b-cup borderline c-cup bust to match. Her tail is long and muscled tapering down to a near point before flaring out into a triangular spear tip. She has messy shoulder-length green hair and fin-like ears on the side of her head that are a lighter shade of green. And starting at the crown of her head running down the length of her spine and stopping near the tip of her tail is a series of green Spikes that are about an inch long. Her fingers and toes are tipped rounded well-maintained claws.
"Ow!" Spike shouted as she was hit by the double doors and sent slightly through the air before landing on her back. Spike was carrying a present covered in red paper with a yellow bow wrapped around it when she got smacked back by Twilight's entry and causing her to land on the gift.
"Spike! Spi-ike! Spike?" Twilight called out to her assistant before noticing her on the ground in front of her rubbing her head slightly to get her bearings "[groan]" Spike groaned as her head finally cleared.
"There you are. Quick, find me that old copy of Predictions and Prophecies. What's that for?" Twilight requested as she ran up to the library before noticing the girt speared onto Spike's tail.
"Well, it was a gift for Moon Dancer, but..." Spike said a little sad as she pulled the gift off her tail before a teddy bear dropped out of the hole of the gift with stuffing falling out of it and going [squeak] as it hit the ground.
"Oh Spike, you know we don't have time for that sort of thing," Twilight said with a slight huff as she knocked a few books to the side looking for what she needed.
"But we're on a break!" Spike exclaimed letting go of the ruined gift box, not even trying to fix it or the gift it had once held and then beginning to help Twilight.
Twilight then began to use her magic, levitating books all around her, pulling them towards her one at a time before bringing moreover with a shake of her head "No, no, no... no, no, no! [grunts] Spike!" she called out in frustration at not locating what she was searching for.
"It's over here!" Spike called from up top of the ladder with a book being waved in her claws and about to make her way down…before the said book was grabbed by Twilight's magic and both it and Spike were instantly pulled down to floor level [whack] with Spike making an impact with said floor, making her breasts squish together on the ground, while still holding the book in her clawed hand. "Ah!" Twilight said in delight as she pulled the book from her assistant's claws and took it over to a Reading Stand, leaving Spike to start picking up the book's Twilight had left on the floor.
Twilight began flipping through the pages quickly using her magic "Elements, Elements, E, E, E... Aha! Elements of Harmony, see: Mare in the Moon?" Twilight said seeming a bit confused at the indication towards another book.
"Mare in the Moon? But that's just an old ponies' tale." Spike said confused as she balanced a few books while climbing a ladder to put them away, only for her words to fall on death ears.
Twilight was on another floor looking through another book with magic while speaking out loud, before coming to the page she was looking for "Mare, mare... aha! "The Mare in the Moon, myth from olden pony times. A powerful pony who wanted to rule Equestria, defeated by the Elements of Harmony and imprisoned in the moon. Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about nighttime eternal!" [gasp] Spike! Do you know what this means?"
"No— whoa!" Spike said while balancing on the top of the ladder before losing balance and falling downwards.
[smack]
Only to be caught on Twilight's back with an "Ow!" even though her breasts had softened it a little when they pressed into Twilight's back, and then she was handed a quill and parchment by Twilight. "Take a note please, to the Princess." Twilight said stiffening her tail out for Spike to use as a sort of slide then land on her feet "Okie dokie." Spike said at the ready to write.
"My dearest teacher, my continuing studies of pony magic have led me to discover that we are on the precipice of disaster!" Twilight said with an urgent yet respectful tone even though it was just a latter.
"Hold on. Preci... preci..." Spike said stopping Twilight from going on as she struggled with the word Twilight wanted to be written…but then looked towards Twilight for help.
"Threshold." Twilight offered instead.
"Threh..." Spike tried but then just gave Twilight the dragon version of a shy child look.
"Uh, brink?" Twilight tried again only to get an "Uh..." expression from Spike whiling also leaning backwards slightly "Ugh, that something really bad is about to happen!" Twilight said giving up on an intelligent formal word with Spike writing it down with her tongue pocking out the side of her mouth, Twilight then continued talking as she began walking back and forth "For you see, the mythical Mare in the Moon is in fact Nightmare Moon, and she's about to return to Equestria, and bring with her eternal night! Something must be done to make sure this terrible prophecy does not come true. I await your quick response. Your faithful student, Twilight Sparkle." She finished as she came to a stop and looked out the large glass window.
"Twi... light Spar... kle. Got it!" Spike said finishing the letter "Great! Send it." Twilight replied "Now?" Spike asked "Of course!" Twilight said as though it was obvious. "Uh, I dunno, Twilight, Princess Celestia's a little busy getting ready for the Summer Sun Celebration. And it's like, the day after tomorrow." Spike said with an unsure expression.
"That's just it, Spike." Twilight spoke as she came up to Spike's face with a concerned face "The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration!" she said looking up towards the sky and sun out the window "It's imperative that the Princess is told right away!" she stated leaning so far into Spike that the young was leaning back against the library ladder, before leaning back up as Twilight leant away.
"Impera... impera..." Spike said trying to write the word down in the letter "Important!" Twilight shouted losing her patients resulting in Spike rolling backwards from her yell with a "Whoa!" as she came to a stop with her back against the extremely large bookshelves with a [crunch].
"Okay, okay! [inhale]" Spike said rolling the letter up and sealing it with a red ribbon and gold insignia before inhaling and burning it away into smoke which left through a window in a mere few seconds with her green dragon fire breath, "There, it's on its way. But I wouldn't hold your breath..." Spike said while wiggling her claw at Twilight.
"Oh, I'm not worried, Spike. The Princess trusts me completely. In all the years she's been my mentor she's never once doubted me." Twilight spoke with confidence to Spike before said dragon [belch] burped out a flame that turned into a letter and fell to the ground "See? I knew she would want to take immediate action." Twilight said as Spike picked it up and unrolled the letter.
"[clears throat]" {My dearest, most faithful student Twilight. You know that I value your diligence and that I trust you completely.} Spike spoke in a royal way as she read out the letter from the princess "Mm-hm!" Twilight hummed with pride.
{...but you simply must stop reading those dusty old books!} Spike said crashing Twilight's proud moment making Twilight [gasp] in shock.
Later on.
Sometime later the unicorn and dragon were riding in a golden-coloured chariot with a rounded front that extended back to look like a pair of spread wings at the side. The wheels were made of the same material as the body. From the bottom front of the body came two long piles made if the same golden-coloured material that ran forward before curving up into a decretive plate that resembled two outstretched wings with a large purple gem set in the middle with two Pegasus guards pulling it through the sky to their destination with Spike repeating the rest of the letter just to remind Twilight {My dear Twilight, there is more to a young pony's life than studying, so I'm sending you to supervise the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration in this year's location: Ponyville. And, I have an even more essential task for you to complete: make some friends!} she said leaning towards Twilight to emphasize the last part.
"[sigh]" Twilight sighed in sadness and leaned over the side in gloominess as they came upon the town, it was a nice quite looking place with many buildings placed in various ways with some even on hilltops and a windmill, all coloured in an assortment of whites, yellows and purples.
"Look on the bright side, Twilight. The Princess arranged for you to stay in a library. Doesn't that make you happy?" Spike said trying to cheer her up and accept their situation…only for it to have an unexpected result.
Twilight suddenly shot up with a determined smile on her face "Yes, yes it does. You know why? Because I'm right! I'll check on the preparations as fast as I can, then get to the library to find some proof of Nightmare Moon's return."
"Then... when will you make friends, like the Princess said?" Spike asked as they came into town and started to lower down to ground level.
"She said to check on preparations. I am her student, and I'll do my royal duty, but the fate of Equestria does not rest on me making friends." Twilight replied as they came close to landing.
Spike let out a little sigh at Twilight's reply until she noticed something else on the letter "hold on, there's something else written here" she said getting Twilight's attention {p.s. there is a friend of mine within the area, they are very unique, I hope you cross paths with them during your stay, good luck.} Spike read looking confused, a look Twilight shared "a friend? Of the princess? Here? I wonder who that could be…well it won't matter for the moment; we have things to do" Twilight said as they landed softly on the ground.
[whinnying] Royal guards whinnied as they landed indicating they had come to a stop "Thank you, sirs." Twilight thanked the guards after dismounting getting a smile and [huffing] with a node from the Royal guards before they took off again.
"Maybe the ponies in Ponyville have interesting things to talk about." Spike offered as a pony came walking in their direction with a smile and closed eyes.
She was a young earth pony of about 16 standing at 5'4" with a pale greyish raspberry skin tone and light cerulean eyes. She had a slim slightly hourglass figure and was slightly toned and had a low c-cup bust. She had mid-back length curly brilliant raspberry-coloured hair. With a floppy curl of hair that hangs down in front of her forehead occasionally switching the side on which it rests. With a matching curly tail and pony-like ears adorning the side of her head. Her cutie mark is of three-party balloons in a triangular formation with the top balloon being yellow with a blue string and the bottom two being blue with yellow strings.
"Come on, Twilight, just try!" Spike insisted towards the pink pony who had stopped just before them when she noticed them.
"Um... hello?" Twilight said in a very shy voice and look, trying as Spike and the princess asked her to do.
[prolonged gasp] only for the pink pony to suddenly leap into the air with a gasp and then shoot off at super speed away from the pair.
"Well, that was interesting all right," Twilight said with a slightly confused look before she turned and began walking away, making Spike [sigh] before following after her.
A short while later the two were walking down an old very well-used path with many wide fields on either side and many spaced-out apple trees, with Spike carrying a list in her claws.
"Summer Sun Celebration official overseer's checklist. Number one, banquet preparations: Sweet Apple Acres." Spike said as they came up to a good-sized farm.
the farm was a massive plot of land surrounded by a fence with much of it devoted to apple orchards there are also other crops being grown there including corn, grapes, hay, and carrots. the farm was dominated by the barn/house that served as the main building of the farm with a series of four smaller buildings a short distance to the right of the barn. to the left and behind the barn is an orange building at the top of a small hill next to a field of carrots. the barn was the largest building three stories tall. the barn was painted red with white trim with black vines painted on the walls. attached to the left side of the barn as an add-on building with a half door leading into the interior. there were various windows dotted around showing the number of floors with a purple shingled roof. atop the spire where the attic was a weather vane topped by a decorative apple.
"Yeehaw!" Twilight and Spike jumped at the sudden yell as they came into the farm and looked to see the yell come from a pony running towards an apple tree.
The pony is a young female earth pony that is about 16 years old. She stands at 5'8" and has a brilliant gamboge skin tone. She has a slightly curvy figure that is well-toned and well-built from living and working on the farm. Her bust is a large c-cup. Her eyes are a moderate sap green with a cluster of three white freckles below their corners on her cheekbones and her mid-back length hair is a pale light greyish olive colour that she keeps together with a red band tied a few inches up from the end with a matching tail which she also has gathered with a matching red band a few inches from the end. She has pony-like ears at the side of her head. Her cutie mark is three red apples arranged in a triangular formation. And sitting atop her head is a brown cloth cowboy hat.
[thump] the orange pony did a 180 turn and hit the tree with her leg, causing the tree to shack and apples to fall neatly into five large wooden baskets below around the tree trunk, the orange pony crossed her legs and placed her hands on her hips with a look of satisfaction.
"[sigh] Let's get this over with..." Twilight said as she made their way over to the pony "Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle—" she was cut off as the pony started to shack her hand at such a speed it was a blur and started talking "Well, howdy-doo, Miss Twilight, a pleasure makin' your acquaintance. I'm Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like makin' new friends!" the now-named Applejack said in joy "Friends? Actually, I—" Twilight tried to talk but came out shaky from her being shaken so much.
"So, what can I do you for?" Applejack asked letting go of Twilight's hand, but Twilight's arms still went up and down fast until Spike stopped it by grabbing it, [snickering] resulting in Spike snickering slightly, getting a slight look from Twilight.
"[clears throat] Well, I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. And you're in charge of the food?" Twilight inquired.
"We sure as sugar are! Would you care to sample some?" Applejack asked with a smile "As long as it doesn't take too long..." Twilight replied resulting in Applejack zooming off before she was even done talking.
[triangle ringing]
"Soup's on, everypony!" Applejack shouted as she rang a triangle loudly, resulting in a stampede of ponies making a beeline towards her, causing Twilight and Spike to [thump] be taken away with the group and dizzily find themselves sitting at a table covered in a cloth under a very open gazebo made with six trees as pillars holding up a small open-top roof.
"Now, why don't I introduce y'all to the Apple family?" Applejack said as she popped up next to the two getting their attention as she pointed out to the ponies around them.
"Thanks, but I really need to hurry—" Twilight tried to decline but was not heard as Applejack started listing them off as they came up and placed a dish of food that seemed to relate to their names
"This here's Apple Fritter."
Apple fritter is a young female earth pony that is about 17 years old. She stands at 5' even and has a light-yellow skin tone. And a normal figure with a mid-sized b-cup bust. She has emerald green eyes and malachite green hair that reaches down to her shoulders and is gathered together with a red bow that ends with pony-like ears. Her tail matches her hair. And her cutie mark is three small apple fritters. She placed a plate of Apple Fritter down on the table.
"Apple Bumpkin."
Apple Bumpkin is a young female earth pony that is about 14 years old she stands at 4'10". and has a pale greyish-olive skin tone. She has a normal figure and a low b-cup bust. Her eyes are a light gamboge in colour. She has brilliant crimson-coloured hair that is wavy and reaches her shoulders that has a light amaranth-coloured steak in it with her tail matching her hair. Tied around her neck is a green glad bandana. Her cutie mark is three caramel apples. She placed a plate of caramel apples down on the table.
"Red Gala."
Red Gala is a young, female pony earth of about 16. she stands 5'3", and has a pale greyish raspberry skin tone. She has a large b-cup bust Her eyes are a light chartreuse green. Her shoulder-length hair matches her eye colour. Her tail has a streak of even lighter chartreuse green. And her cutie mark is three cupcakes with green icing on them. She placed a plate of caramel apples down on the table. She placed a cupcake with green icing down on the table from atop her head.
"Red Delicious."
Red Delicious is a male earth pony. He was young at 17 years old and stood at 5'10" tall he had a medium build with toned well-developed muscles gained from working out. He had moderate cornflower blue eyes. With pale greyish olive skin tone and pale greyish cobalt blue hair with pony-like ears at the side of his head. Between his legs were his sheath and testicles. And his cutie mark was a single large red apple.
"Golden Delicious."
Golden Delicious is a male earth pony who appears to be 20 years old. he stands at 5'11" and has light pistachio green eyes and a light amber skin tone. he has a medium build from exercise that al the apple family does. he has pony-like ears on the side of his head and very dark grey hair in a smooth style with a matching tail. between his legs are his sheath and testicles his cutie mark is three yellow apples in a triangle formation.
"Caramel Apple."
Caramel Apple is a female earth pony who appears to be 19 years old. she stands 5'6" tall and has moderate harlequin eyes and a light-yellow skin tone. she has a normal figure with a low c-cup bust and proportional rear. she has a toned and fit physic from daily exercise and occasionally helps her family out on the farm. her back length curly hair is a brilliant gamboge colour. her cutie mark is three caramel apples arranged in a triangle.
They then started coming so fast the two couldn't keep track of who placed what or what they looked like as the food became a small tower.
"Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples, Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp... [deep breath]" Applejack then took a deep breath before finishing up.
"Big McIntosh"
Big Macintosh is a male earth pony and Applejack's elder brother who appears to be about 18 years old standing at an impressive height of 6'4". he is powerfully built with a broad chest and lean cords of muscle and a toned abdomen with six-pack abs that he earned through years of hard work on the farm. he has moderate sap green eyes and brilliant amaranth skin tone with three small white freckles at the corner of his eyes and light yellowish-grey markings on his hands and feet. his hair is coloured brilliant orange and is cut short and is a bit shaggy with his tail cut to match. between his legs was a larger-than-average sheath with accompanying testicles. his cutie mark was a large green apple that has been cut in half showing the seeds within. he wears a heavy yoke on his shoulders that he uses in his various tasks around the farm. He held up a cupcake with a small apple slice on top in greeting.
"Apple Bloom"
Apple Bloom is a female earth pony foal who is approximately 8 years old. she is the youngest sister of both Applejack and Big Macintosh. she is cute and petite standing at 4'4" and has brilliant gamboge eyes and a pale greyish olive skin tone. her hair is brilliant amaranth in colour and falls to her shoulders with a matching tail. she does not have a cutie mark. and she wears a large pink bow in her hair. She carried a three-layer chocolate cake with green icing and filling with an apple on top, which was nearly as big as she was.
"And Granny Smith." She said after shoving an apple into Twilight's mouth and pointing towards an elderly pony napping in a rocking chair as it rocked gently.
Granny Smith is a female earth pony and the elderly matriarch of the apple family and grandmother to Applejack and her siblings. though she has aged gracefully and still retains much of her looks from her youth. her age still shows in the fine lines around her eyes and the light grey of her hair and tail which are both pulled into buns and her worn hands from a lifetime of farm work. she stands at 5'5" and has light orange eyes and a light lime green skin tone. she has a normal figure but is not as fit as she once was due to her age and a bad hip. her cutie mark is an apple pie. and she wears an orange shawl tied around her shoulders that is decorated with red apples and has a white lace frill on the edge.
"Up'n'attem, Granny Smith, we got guests." Applejack called to the elder pony causing her to wake "[snort] Wha...? Soup's on? I'm up, here I come, ahm comin'..." Granny Smith said getting up and walking other to the group after cracking a few joints to loosen up from her nap.
"Why I'd say you're already part of the family!" Applejack said as she patted Twilight on the back slightly.
[spit] Twilight spat out the apple in slight shock at Applejack's words "[nervous laughter] Okay, well, I can see the food situation is handled, so we'll be on our way." Twilight said a little nervously as she tried to get Spike and herself out of the strange situation, she found them in, getting slightly sad looks from the ponies around her.
"Aren't you gonna stay for brunch?" Apple Bloom asked with a sad look of a puppy dog which would pull at any ponies' heart.
"Sorry, but we have an awful lot to do..." Twilight said slightly sad trying to explain so as to not hurt their feelings.
[disappointed sighs] only for the Apple family to all get slightly sad.
Twilight bit her lip slightly for a moment before "...fine." conceding to their wishes.
[cheering] resulting in the Apple family shouting in joy and laughter.
Later on, the pony and dragon made their way back into town after finishing up with the apple family, all their delicious foods and meeting the large family in detail.
"Food's all taken care of, next is weather." Spike said as she ticked the list she held in her claw as she walked.
"Ugh... I ate too much pie..." groaned Twilight as she tugged along behind rubbing her bloated belly from all the amounts of food she had eaten back at the apple farm, only for her stomach to soon return to normal size.
"Hmm, there's supposed to be a Pegasus pony named Rainbow Dash clearing the clouds," Spike mentioned as she tapped the rubber-tipped pencil against her lower check while looking up to the sky as they stopped in the town square, where a statue was placed.
The statue was depicting a female earth pony who was wearing a saddle of some sort on her back. she was smiling as if she were having fun while she was balancing on a ball with one foot. the statue was made of pink stone and was placed at the centre of a fountain.
Twilight looked at the sky in a few directions taking note of how there were quite a few clouds in the sky "Well, she's not doing a very good job, is she?" she commented…
[whack] [splat]
…only to suddenly get tackled from the side by a multicoloured blur and wind up in a mud puddle with a female Pegasus on top of her, both covered in mud.
the female Pegasus looked to be 16 years old and stood at 5'3". she had a pale greyish cerulean skin tone. And moderate cerise eyes, she had a normal figure and a toned athletic build with well-defined muscles, particularly in her chest abs and back. her bust was a low b-cup and she was sporting long messy hair that was coloured in bands or streaks of colour the colours were brilliant amaranth, brilliant vermillion, pale greyish olive, moderate harlequin, moderate cerulean, and moderate purple through which the tips of her pony like ears poked through with a matching tail. her wings extended from her shoulder blades and were roughly the same length as her arms. they were covered in soft feathers that matched her skin tone. her cutie mark is a cloud with a single blue, yellow, and red lightning bolt coming out of its side.
"Nng." Twilight grunted as the blue Pegasus got up from atop of her "[sheepish laughter] Uh, 'scuse me? [more sheepish laughter]" the Pegasus said sheepishly to Twilight as she hovered in the air slightly with her wings.
"Nnnn." Twilight moaned in reply with a slightly less than pleased face "[laughter] Lemme help you." The Pegasus said then zoomed off for a moment, allowing Twilight to stand up just as the pony returned with a slightly small grey cloud, she then started jumping up and down on top of the could [rushing water] causing a small waterfall of water to come pouring down on Twilight.
The pony soon stopped with the cloud turning white, allowing her and Spike to see that Twilight, although clean, was completely soaked with her wet hair and tail slopping down her body and her bangs covering most of her eyes.
"[more sheepish laughter] Oops, I guess I overdid it." The pony said while Twilight just gave an unimpressed look "Um, uh, how about this?" only for the look to turn to one of shock as the pony began zooming around her super-fast creating a small rainbow-coloured tornado "My very own patented Rain-Blow Dry! No, no. Don't thank me. You're quite welcome." The pony said as she stopped and landed with a proud look before looking at Twilight, who's, although now dry, hair and tail were now a crazy curly mess "[bursts out laughing]" the pony tried to hold her laughter while biting her lower lip, only for it to be useless as she burst out with some tears and fall to the ground from how much she laughed and Spike quickly joining her while also laying over her back.
"Let me guess. You're Rainbow Dash." Twilight inquired to the pony of the laughing duo.
The now-identified Rainbow Dash stopped laughing and shot up, causing Spike to go flying off her "The one and only." Rainbow Dash replied with a hand on her breast in pride "Why, you heard of me?" she asked as she floated up just above Twilight leaning towards her, causing said unicorn to lean back a bit.
"I heard you were supposed to be keeping the sky clear." Twilight stated causing Rainbow Dash to scoot back a bit as she straightened up "[sigh] I'm Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather." Twilight said a bit lighter with a light smile towards Rainbow Dash, only to see said pony now lying on her back on top of the cloud from earlier with her arms behind her head and leg crossed over the other in a lax position.
"Yeah, yeah, that'll be a snap. I'll do it in a jiffy. Just as soon as I'm done practicing." Rainbow Dash replied with a wave not even looking back.
"Practicing for what?" Twilight asked curiously, resulting in Rainbow Dash flipping over with excitement "The Wonderbolts!" she replied pointing towards a poster on the side of a building with a picture of a starry night sky just after sunset with four beams of light silhouetting four stylized Pegasi as they fly at high speed. bellow the silhouettes in the foreground of the picture are three more stylized Pegasi each standing proudly at attention. all three had golden-rimmed aviator goggles on, and blue hair the two furthest from the camera had blue skin with white markings on their chest and belly with the closest one having blue skin and light blue markings on his chest and belly. below them was a black banner that had a winged lightning bolt in the centre flanked by two more lightning bolts each pointing down and in.
"They're gonna perform at the Celebration tomorrow, and I'm gonna show 'em my stuff!" Rainbow Dash said as she did two backwards aerial loop-d-loops with her wings before landing on another cloud.
"The Wonderbolts?" Twilight inquired with a slight voice that Rainbow Dash didn't notice.
"Yep!" Rainbow Dash replied laying back in her relaxing position.
"The most talented flyers in all of Equestria?" Twilight said with a slight wave of her hand and her voice still retaining its odd tone.
"That's them!" Rainbow Dash confirmed from her cloud.
"Pfft! Please. They'd never accept a Pegasus who can't even keep the sky clear for one measly day." Twilight retorted with disbelief as she looked away to the side.
"Hey, I could clear this sky in ten seconds flat." Rainbow Dash stated with her arm outstretched towards the sky.
"Prove it." Twilight challenged with a look to Rainbow Dash who gained a look of her own and then instantly zoomed off throughout the sky at breakneck speeds, taking out cloud after cloud with kicks and punches in a blur of rainbow colures and making Twilight and Spike's hair blow from one side to the other from the wind.
[whooshing noises]
"[sounds of exertion] Loop-de-loop around, and wham! What'd I say? Ten. Seconds. Flat. I'd never leave Ponyville hanging." Rainbow Dash said as she took out the last cloud and landed on the stone railing of a bridge, leaving Twilight capping with wide eyes at the display of almost instant sky clearing with spike mimicking her to a slightly lesser degree "[sheep baaing] [chuckles] You should see the look on your face. Ha! You're a laugh, Twilight Sparkle. I can't wait to hang out some more." Rainbow Dash said to the still as a stone unicorn, which seemed to have finally snapped her out of her trance as the Pegasus did a loop and zoomed off.
"Wow, she's amazing! [laughs]" Spike exclaimed in awe pointing towards the now gone pony, before slightly bouncing a part of Twilight's still crazy hair with a little snickering laugh.
"Rrgh." Twilight gave a slightly annoyed groan as she began to walk away with spike following after towards a large building.
It was the Townhall, a three-story tall round wooden tower in the centre of town with the third story occupying space within the teardrop-shaped roof at the top of which was a small spire. its levels were marked by balconies that wrapped around the tower and had large windows/doors facing in all directions. the building was painted a creme white colour with brown trim. the roof had red shingles. it was decorated with blue triangular flags for the celebration.
"Wait! It's kinda pretty once you get used to it!" Spike said, though if she was referring to either the view of the sky or Twilight's hair it was unknown.
The pair soon came inside the town hall.
"Decorations. Beautiful..." Spike said marking down the list before looking up in awe.
the interior of the town hall had a large open hall. with creme-coloured floors. with dark brown wooden walls with bronze trimmings and a long red carpet leading to a dais at the end of the room where we're balconies and galleries overlooking the main floor from the second floor. the hall was currently being decorated by blue drapes and large round plaques with crystals at their centre arranged around the walls and balconies which also had banners hanging from them that depicted either the sun or moon. in preparation for the coming celebration.
"Yes, the décor is coming along nicely. This ought'a be quick. I'll be at the library in no time. Beautiful indeed." Twilight said as they made their way to the centre of the room and she looked around at all the stunning decorations in approval.
"Not the décor, her!" Spike exclaimed as she pointed towards a pony just in front of them going through decorations.
the pony was indeed stunning she was a unicorn that looked to be around 16 years old and stood at 5'7" not counting her horn. she had a light grey skin tone and beautiful moderate azure eyes. her long hair and tail were moderate indigo blue and fell into beautiful flowing waves and curls. With the tips of her pony-like ears showing, she had a classic hourglass figure and slim athletic waistline that accentuated her assets perfectly combined with her high c-cup bust and shapely rear and legs making her a rare beauty. Her Cutie Mark is three sparkling diamonds arranged in a sideways triangle formation with the top point pointing behind her.
"No, no, no, oh! Goodness no." the unicorn said as she switched different coloured ribbons with her magic.
Spike gazed at this stunning pony with heart-shaped eyes and the sounds of birds humming and her heartbeat in the air around her "How are my spines? Are they straight?" spike asked as she patted her fin ears and then held her tail in the inspection as hearts start floating off of her into the air, which got a fond smile and roll of the eyes from Twilight before making her way over to the busy pony.
"Good afternoon—" Twilight attempted to speak only to be gently interrupted.
"Just a moment, please! I'm 'in the zone', as it were." Said the pony politely barely glancing back with one arm under her breasts holding the elbow of her other arm with her free hand tapping her cheek lightly, she switched from a yellow to a blue ribbon before finally coming to a red ribbon with satisfaction and tying it to a pole with her magic "Oh, yes! Sparkle always does the trick, does it not? Why, Rarity, you are a talent. Now, um, how can I help yo— [yelp] Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?!" the now identified Rarity said before exclaiming in shock and general worry once her eyes had laid upon the chaotic mess that was Twilight's hair.
"Oh, you mean my mane? Well, it's a long story. I'm just here to check on the decorations, and then I'll be out of your hair!" Twilight said waving it off as nothing with a smile.
"Out of my hair? What about your hair?!" Rarity exclaimed in worry as she got behind Twilight and started pushing her by the shoulders from behind, leading them out of the building.
"Wait! Where are we going?! Help!" Twilight questioned at the suddenness of their departure, with a still starstruck spike who seemed to be floating behind them and following by using her tail as a propeller.
The pony and dragon were soon taken to another place by the elegant pony who insisted [cough] kidnapped [cough] they come to fix Twilight's dilemma of a hair.
Her shop was a circular three-story building that had a carousel theme to it. The walls were a light blue colour with a pink checkerboard patterned tiered rooves with golden trim in the eves. The door was a dark purple horizontal split double door and the ground floor had large oval windows with golden striped awnings with pale blue or white filigree painted or stencilled around them. Over the door was a sign depicting a carousel pony on its pole with more carousel ponies on poles decorating the second floor which was a bit narrower than the ground floor and had smaller circular windows that had blue filigree painted around them. and at the top of the building was the third floor was housed inside of the top roof which was vaguely shaped like a teardrop with a small gazebo-like structure built at the very top of the building with a small red flag flying from a flag pole at the very top of the building. The interior of the main floor was a large open space that had a fairly high ceiling. the walls were painted various shades of purple with golden trim and heart decorations and filigree. the floor was coloured in lighter shades of purple in a wave pattern. the floor space was divided into two main sections the first was a full tailoring station including a measuring pedestal surrounded by a semicircle of full-length mirrors a changing section with curtains for privacy and several mannequins for displaying and making the articles of clothing dotted around. The second section was for a full hairdressing salon complete with three styling/washing stalls and large professional hairdryers. In the back were a set of stairs leading up to the next floor.
No, no, uh-uh." Rarity said out loud as she had Twilight try on many clothes, after fixing her hair, one after another while commenting on each one as they did so.
"Too green." Rarity said about a pale green robe-like dress resting on her head just behind her horn was a large green spiked tiara and she was given a tablet accessory to hold in her left hand, her hair was mostly hidden by the tiara. But what was visible had been gathered and pulled back into large loose curls.
"Too yellow." to a yellow blouse and knee-length ruffled skirt combo that hat flowers decorating the front of the blouse and a large yellow sun hat also decorated flowers completed the outfit, her hair had been pulled back and allowed to fall loosely down behind her head and over her shoulder.
"Too poofy." now she was wearing a poofy red knee-length dress that had a ruffled skirt and collar with a yellow overcoat that had poofy sleeves and shoulders, and her hair had been teased in a big fluffy wavy style that fell to her shoulders.
"Not poofy enough." the outfit was a light blue calf-length sundress with white polka dots and a frilly pinkish-purple collar with two crossed lapels with a matching belt, her hair had been styled with the back being curled and drizzled into a puffy mass while her bangs were left in their usual style.
"Too frilly," she said to a red pants suit with a golden frilly coat and resting on her head was a large headdress that was a light purple and decorated with a couple of flowers and white lace frills that curled and waved down the sides resembling an old powdered wig with curls hanging down to her chest, the headdress completely hid her hair which was presumably styled in a beehive style given the shape of it.
"Too... shiny." the next outfit was a tracksuit made from a shiny material the pants were a light blue with a yellow stripe and the top was an orangish-yellow colour on her forehead was a blue and yellow sweatband with an orange scrunchie at the base of her tail, her hair had been pulled back and allowed to fall behind her in loose waves.
"Now go on, my dear. You were telling me where you're from." Rarity asked while Twilight was wearing nothing but a white lace corset that was encrusted in various jewels and did wonderful things to her bust with the largest jewel being a large emerald set between her breasts, her hair was back in its usual style. Rarity then began pulling on the lace straps from behind tightly, even going as far as to place both her feet upon Twilight's back to pull harder.
"[wincing] I've... been sent... from Canterlot... to-" Twilight struggled to say as her life was being squeezed out of her as her waist nearly became nonexistent along with her eyes nearly rolling into the back of her head with a tear in her eye.
Only to get cut off as Rarity said "Huh?" with surprise and lost her grip on the straps causing them to snap back and for the pair of ponies to go flying in opposite directions.
[crash]
And crash into either end of the room, with Twilight landing next to a still star gazed Spike.
"Canterlot?! Oh, I am so envious! The glamour, the sophistication! I have always dreamed of living there!" Rarity exclaimed with joy and passion as sparkles appeared around her in her joy as she made dramatic poses, before coming up close to Twilight and pressing into her side with their breasts slightly pressing against each other and checks nearly touching "I can't wait to hear all about it! We are gonna be the best of friends, you and I... Emeralds?! What was I thinking? Let me get you some rubies!" she said in soft joy before noticing the centrepiece of the outfit she had fitted Twilight with "oh and don't let that little dragon of yours go anywhere, she has just the most luscious waist, hips and thighs I have seen in a while and can't wait to try some of my lower body outfits out on her" Rarity said as she finally left the room for the moment.
"Quick! Before she decides to dye my coat a new colour!" Twilight exclaimed as she ran past a still-dazed Spike while removing the clothes from her person, only to get a [sigh] from the still-awed dragon, resulting in her grabbing the young dragon with her magic and leaving the building.
Soon the pony and dragon duo were walking over a bridge into a peaceful grassy land just outside the village, spike still with a slight daze look as she rode on Twilight's back.
"Wasn't she wonderful?" Spike asked with fondness as she leant more into Twilight's back.
"Focus, Casanova. What's next on the list?" Twilight asked slightly irritated over the previous events and her young assistant's lack of concentration on matters at hand but soon smiled again as they got back on track.
"[clears throat] Oh, uh, music! It's the last one!" Spike said as she straightened up slightly.
[distant birdsong fanfare]
Only to hear the musical whistling of birds from close by, the two looked at each other before going in sech of the sound, resulting in them going through some bushes before seeing a slightly odd sight.
A little distance in front of the pair was a Pegasus gently floating in the air in front of a tree containing several different birds whistling the musical tune the two heard.
She was a gorgeous young pegasus-type pony appearing to be about 16 years old. she stood at 5'5" and had a pale greyish-gold skin tone with matching feathers on her wings. her eyes were a moderate Cyane colour. her hair was a pale greyish rose colour styled into a long elegant sheet that curled slightly at the tips with her tail matching. she had a figure that many would be jealous of. she had the classic hourglass body type with a large mid-D-cup bust slim flat belly and a large shapely rear and long luscious legs. with her cutie mark in its usual place on her outer thigh, it was a cluster of three butterflies each having a blue body and antennae with purple wings.
"Oh my. Um, stop please, everyone, umm." The pony spoke up in a very soft and kind voice as she flew up to a tree branch with a slightly off-tune blue and white coloured bird, having all the birds stop in their musical making "Excuse me, sir? I mean no offence, but your rhythm is just a teeny-tiny bit off." She said with softness and kindness, getting a nod from the bird as she flew back down in front of the tree of birds to begin again "Now, follow me, please. A-one, a-two, a-one two three-"
"Hello!" only to be stopped by a shouting Twilight.
"[yelp]" resulting in the pony yelping in shock and having scared the birds off in one fell swoop.
"Oh my, I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to frighten your birds. I'm just here to check up on the music and it's sounding beautiful. [pause]" Twilight said in apology with a soft admiring voice as the young pony floated down and rested on the ground, folding her wings into her back making them seem almost nonexistent, only for there to be a slightly awkward pause. Twilight gave an awkward smile and attempted a conversation "I'm Twilight Sparkle. [pause] What's your name?" she asked with a short pause in the middle.
"[very quietly] Um... I'm Fluttershy." The pony said in a near-dead whisper that no pony could hear clearly.
"I'm sorry, what was that?" Twilight asked indicating she hadn't heard the pony's reply.
"[even quieter] Um... My name is Fluttershy." The pony said, if even possible, quieter than before while taking a step back and shrinking into herself a bit.
"Didn't quite catch that," Twilight said while taking a step closer in hopes of both calming and hearing the pony better.
"[squeaking]" only for the pony to withdraw further into herself with her hair covering most of her face and a small squeaking voice in reply, along with another step back.
There was another long pause before Twilight spoke up again and looked up to the now-refilled bird tree "Well, um, it looks like your birds are back, so I guess everything's in order. Keep up the good work!" she gave an awkward smile to the still hiding pony.
"[squeaking]" and got another small number of squeaks in return.
"Oookay." Twilight said as she turned around and walked to a close bush, where spike came walking out of "Well, that was easy." She said to spike with a slight smile.
"[gasp] A baby dragon!" the shy pony exclaimed doing a complete 180 in personality, causing some birds to fly off as she shot towards the aforementioned dragon.
[thump]
And crash into Twilight, making the unicorn go flying over Spike as the now joyful Pegasus stopped in Twilight's place and started talking happily while admiring the young dragon "Oh, I've never seen a baby dragon before. She's sooo cute!"
"Well, well, well...!" Spike said with her hands on her hips as she looked towards a dazed Twilight before crossing her arms under her breasts as she turned her gaze back to the happy pony, with a proud smile as though she was being admired, which she was in a way.
"Oh my, she talks. I didn't know dragons could talk." The pony said as she took a slightly closer look at spike "That's just so incredibly wonderful I, I just don't even know what to say!" she said in soft joy as she floated upwards a bit with her wings, while her hands where clasped together between her breasts pushing them up slightly.
Until magic surrounded Spike, wiping off her proud smile and lifting her, over the floating pegasus and onto Twilight's back, who spoke as she did so "Well, in that case we'd better be going." Making spike a little dazed before getting her bearing as Twilight started walking.
"Wait, wait! What's her name?" only for the other pony to ask with her wings spread out and started walking alongside them as they went, resulting in Twilight gaining a bland look on her face.
"I'm Spike," Spike said with a smile, still liking somepony taking an interest in her so much as she rode on Twilight's back.
"Hi Spike, I'm Fluttershy. Wow, a talking dragon! And what do dragons talk about?" the now-named Fluttershy asked with a smile as they continued along the dirt road.
"Well, what do you wanna know?" Spike inquired as she had her full attention on said pony.
"Absolutely everything." Fluttershy stated with conviction making Twilight's eyes bulge for a moment before "[groan]" letting out a deep exasperated groan, knowing that it was going to be a long walk.
Spike smiled at Fluttershy's request and began her tale "Well... I started out as a cute little purple and green egg..."
Later on, the three were still walking as the blue sky of the day became the lovely orange of the evening as they walked through the town.
"...and that's the story of my whole entire life! Well, up until today. Do you wanna hear about today?" Spike asked as she finished the tale of her life, leaning in towards Fluttershy for her response.
"Oh, yes, please!" Fluttershy said with rapt attention to the young dragon.
Spike was about to continue her tale with today's events "Gyah!" but was cut off as she was spun around from Twilight quickly spinning to face Fluttershy.
"I am so sorry; how did we get here so fast? This is where I'm staying while in Ponyville and my poor baby dragon needs her sleep." Twilight said indicating the building they had come to a stop at and attempting to stop any further talks so she can get inside quickly without seeming to be rude.
the unique building was built into a massive hollowed-out living oak tree that appeared to be about four stories tall, it had several windows built into cutoff hollowed branched that were either round or arch-shaped with moss or lichens growing over them. the main doors are coloured red and split down the middle again with a mossy overhang shading it. from the main window set in a cutoff branch on the right-hand side of the front of the library is a lantern that is hanging off of a spike on a chain. the library sign is to the right of the main door and there are two balconies or observation decks nestled within the topmost branches of the tree with a telescope set up for astronomy.
"No, I don't— whoa!" Spike attempted to say before Twilight shook her hip and backside throwing the young dragon into the air and to the ground, causing her to land on her backside and become a little dizzy before snapping out of it as Twilight began speaking in a baby voice and giving said pony a not impressed look "Aww, wook at dat, she's so sweepy she can't even keep her widdle bawance!" giving a forced smile to Fluttershy, who promptly swooped in and picked up the aforementioned dragon, floating in the air as she did so.
"Poor thing, you simply must get into bed..." Fluttershy said in slight worry holding the young dragon in her arms against her large chest like a child, then opened the door to the library and flew inside, only for Twilight to zip in and bring Fluttershy back out, without Spike in her arms, almost instantly.
"Yes, yes, we'll get right on that. Well, g'night!" Twilight said before [door slamming] slamming the door closed on Fluttershy, leaving the unicorn and dragon in a darkened home.
"Huh. Rude much?" Spike remarked with her hands on her hips in an unimpressed voice and look…if you could see it that is.
"Sorry, Spike, but I have to convince the Princess that Nightmare Moon is coming, and we're running out of time! I just need to be alone so I can study without a bunch of crazy ponies trying to make friends all the time. Now, where's the light?" Twilight said while making slight googly eyes at the crazy remark before trying to see through the darkness for a light source.
[light flicks on]
Only for the lights to be switched on without warning taking both Twilight and Spike in surprise and alarm as a "[honk]" went off with confetti falling from the ceiling balloons floating towards the ceiling and the two spotting streamers going across the room and an unknown number of ponies surrounding them shouting "Surprise!".
[kazoo blows] a kazoo blows beside Twilight who let out a "[groan]" at coming to understand everything that just happened and gaining a bland look once again as the music starts playing in the room.
"Surprise!" the pink pony from earlier that day that ran off without a word popped up shouting as party whistles blow in the background.
"Hi, I'm Pinkie Pie, and I threw this party just for you! Were you surprised? Were ya? Were ya? Huh, huh, huh?" the now-named Pinkie Pie asked excitedly as she jumped in place then over Twilight to the unicorn's other side with a large smile on her face.
"Very surprised. Libraries are supposed to be quiet." Twilight stated not looking that impressed at the invasion of her thought to be a temporary, quiet, sanctuary in this crazy town.
"Well, that's silly! What kind of welcome party would this be if it were quiet? I mean, duh, bo-ring!" Pinkie Pie said as she leant her head into Twilight's before straightening up and pulling a face at the boring remark and following Twilight as she began walking away continuing to speak "Y'see, I saw you when you first got here, remember? You were all "hello" and I was all [deep gasp], remember? Y'see I've never saw you before and if I've never saw you before that means you're new, 'cause I know everypony, and I mean everypony in Ponyville!"
"[groan]" Twilight groaned as she came to a table with food and drinks and poured herself a drink without really paying attention to either drink or pony.
Pinkie Pie continued as she popped from one side of Twilight to the next while said unicorn continued pouring her drink "And if you're new, that meant you haven't met anyone yet, and if you haven't met anyone yet, you must not have any friends, and if you don't have any friends then you must be lonely, and that made me so sad, then I had an idea, and that's why I went [deep gasp]!" Pinkie Pie said as Twilight stopped poring and placed a straw in her drink and began sipping "I must throw a great big ginormous super-duper spectacular welcome party and invite everyone in Ponyville! See? And now you have lots and lots of friends!" Pinkie Pie finished as Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity and Fluttershy appeared behind her in an instant, but Twilight's face suddenly went odd and started becoming red with tears making their way down her now puffing out cheeks with [kettle whistling] noise coming from her as she faced the group.
"Are you all right, sugarcube?" Applejack asked a little worried at the pony's face.
[train whistle blowing]
Only for Twilight to jump into the air with a whistling noise like a train, with steam coming out of her ears along with her hair and tail shortly becoming a blaze of fire before zipping off at high speeds up the stairs to the next floor.
This caused the group to become slightly surprised "Aww, she's so happy she's crying!" until Pinkie Pie spoke up with a fond smile.
"Hot sauce" Spike stated as she picked up the bottle Twilight had poured into her drink, clearing up what had happened.
Only for Pinkie Pie to push the bottle in Spike's claws so it poured its contents onto a cupcake then promptly toss it into her mouth where she eats it up, getting looks of surprise from the other ponies "Ooh... [with a mouth full] What? It's good!" until Pinkie Pie commented on it and getting found smiles instead.
Later on, on one of the upper floors of the library, was Twilight, laying in her room on her bed with the curtains drawn open allowing for a clear view of the clear night sky and full moon, her head under her pillow, in an attempt to either block out the muffled disco music or the day she had today was unknown. Twilight raised her head, with the pillow still upon her head, to look at the ticking clock on her wall, seeing that it was 4:05 am and the party was still going on downstairs, resulting in a "[groan]" from Twilight.
[door opens, music gets louder]
"Hey Twilight! Pinkie Pie's starting "pin the tail on the pony"! Wanna play?" Spike asked in joy as she came into Twilight's room opening the door and letting more music in while wearing a pink frilly lampshade and a few confetti streamers upon her head.
"No! All the ponies in this town are crazy! Do you know what time it is?!" Twilight snapped finally fed up with everything that has come to pass in just one day and not getting a break from all the crazy stuff going on.
"It's the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration. Everypony has to stay up, or they'll miss the Princess raise the sun! You really should lighten up, Twilight. It's a party!" Spike said like she speaking to a child and turned towards the door making her way back to the party.
Twilight mockingly imitates Spike's words as she leaves the room with the door closing behind her, making the music stop for now, and leaving Twilight once again alone in her room with her thoughts.
"Ugh, here I thought I'd have time to learn about the Elements of Harmony but, silly me, all this ridiculous friend-making has kept me from it!" Twilight complained as she lay on her back holding her pillow in annoyance, before looking to the side and towards the full moon and its shadowy visage of a face with a horn upon its glowing surface, before getting up and moving towards the window ""Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night."" Twilight repeated the legend from memory while raising the book to have a small look at the picture inside of the same moon and shadowy image before returning to the moon and four shining stars that seem to shine brighter than the other stars and seem to be slowly moving closer to the moon "I hope the Princess was right... I hope it really is just an old pony tale..." Twilight remarked in hope, but still feeling slight dread…
"C'mon, Twilight, it's time to watch the sunrise!" before Spike burst into the room and got Twilight to get up.
At the town hall everypony in Ponyville gathered for the celebration, the hall was almost packed completely with unicorns, earth ponies and pegasi on the main floor, the second floor and balconies and even some in the air, with some royal guards placed at the outer edges of the room, all except for the main large balcony at the end of the hall and stage under it was taken up by any ponies, with Twilight and spike, sat upon her back once more, amongst them.
"Isn't this exciting? Are you excited, 'cause I'm excited, I've never been so excited— well, except for the time that I saw you walking into town and I went [deep gasp] but I mean really, who can top that?" Pinkie Pie asked Twilight excitedly and stopped just as the fanfare of birds sang up with Fluttershy conducting them, stopping to allow a spotlight to come down upon a pony walking on the stage towards the gathered ponies.
She was of average height standing at 5'5" with an appearance of aged maturity with youthful good looks, her bust was a mid-b-cup and slim waist, has Moderate phthalo blue eyes behind small glasses, Light cornflower bluish-grey coloured hair with a lighter streak running through it, with the reverse for her tail and her skin was a Pale, light greyish amber colour, her cutie mark was of a scroll with a blue ribbon tied around its middle.
"Fillies and gentlecolts, as mayor of Ponyville, it is my great pleasure to announce the beginning of the Summer Sun Celebration!" Mayor Mare declared getting cheers from all the ponies, except for Twilight who was still slightly worried.
As Mayor Mare continued Twilight looked to the moon and saw the four stars around it close in on the moon before a soft flash and the image upon the moon was gone, worrying Twilight to no end "In just a few moments, our town will witness the magic of the sunrise, and celebrate this, the longest day of the year! And now, it is my great honour to introduce to you the ruler of our land, the very pony who gives us the sun and the moon each and every day, the good, the wise, the bringer of harmony to all of Equestria..."
"Ready?" Fluttershy asked the birds as the moment came.
"...Princess Celestia!" Mayor Mare announced and with that, the birds sang in an announcement as Rarity pulled the rope, pulling the curtains away for all to see the princess of the sun…only for her not to be there.
"Huh?" Rarity asked as she noticed the absence of the princess, followed by several ponies chattering quietly and nervously in the background, wondering where the fair princess was.
"This can't be good," Twilight said to herself in fear at the absence of her teacher for most of her life.
"Remain calm, everypony, there must be a reasonable explanation!" Mayor Mare calmly said trying to get everypony to relax at this moment, even though without the princess the sun would not raise and the sky remained night when it should have been dawn by now.
"Ooh, ooh, I love guessing games! Is she hiding?" Pinkie Pie said hopping up and down excitedly before looking in different directions for the possibly hiding princess.
"She's gone!" Rarity announced after taking a look in the back and finding not a trace of the royalty, resulting in ponies gasping in shock.
"Ooh, she's good. [yelp]" Pinkie Pie said regarding Rarity's dramatic announcement, only to yea as a shadowy mist started growing from the large balcony having the ponies gasping in fear.
"Oh no..." Twilight whispered as a figured appeared from the mist as it split in two.
she was around 7" feet tall, she appeared to be 26 years old, her skin was a Very dark cornflower blue that seemed to suck in all the light around her, she had a slim curvy figure and a med D-cup bust, her hair was long reaching down to her calves and was coloured Brilliant phthalo blue with greyish Persian blue outline, her tail matching it as well, her eyes were coloured Moderate cyan with the eyes being slit like that of a cat and sharp as though they pierced through all they looked at, her wings matched her skin colour and seemed sharp as though her feathers could cut through anything, her cutie mark was of a half-moon on a dark splatter, she wore a silver helmet that had a blueish tint to it that made her even more haunting like that of a ghost and her horn securely fitted through it, with a matching necklace chest plate that went around her neck and between her breasts with curves that went around the top and underside of her breasts but ended before touching on the outside, in the centre of the chest piece was a similar half-moon symbol like of her cutie mark, and on her wrists and ankles were silver guards of the same style and coloring.
"Nightmare Moon!" Twilight finished saying in a whisper, identifying the dark, intimidating mare that stood in front of all.
"[sigh]" Spike sighed as she fainted, falling off Twilight to the ground.
"Oh, my beloved subjects. It's been so long since I've seen your precious little sun-loving faces." Nightmare Moon spoke with a slight disdain to all present as she looked around the gathered ponies, with her appearance alone causing many to shiver in fear and fright.
"What did you do with our Princess?!" Rainbow Dash shouted angrily before attempting to zoom at the mare in an attack, only for Applejack to grab the pegasus tail with her teeth and say "[muffled] Whoa there, Nelly..." with her mouth still in use in an attempt to calm and stop her friend from doing anything reckless.
"[chuckle] Why, am I not royal enough for you? Don't you know who I am?" Nightmare Moon said mockingly before frowning at those gathered as if trying to get them to understand where they weakly stood with her.
"Ooh, ooh, more guessing games! Um, Hokey Smokes! How about... Queen Meanie! No! Black Snooty, Black Snooty- [muffled noises]" Pinkie Pie said honestly trying to guess the mares name only for Applejack, still holding Rainbow Dash's tail with her teeth, to shove a cupcake into her mouth in an attempt to quieten the pink pony.
"Does my crown no longer count now that I have been imprisoned for a thousand years?" Nightmare Moon asked as she came in close to Fluttershy, causing the pony to shy away and attempt to cover herself with her hands, and the birds to fly off in fright, before moving to Rarity and stroking her chine with her moving hair before flicking it like ones hand would "Did you not recall the legend? Did you not see the signs?" she questioned before a voice cut in "I did. And I know who you are. You're the Mare in the Moon – Nightmare Moon!" Twilight announced with an act of bravery to the imposing mare, resulting in ponies gasping at the realization of who the mare finally was.
"Well, well, well, somepony who remembers me. Then you also know why I'm here." Nightmare Moon said sounding pleased at the acknowledgement before glaring in challenge to Twilight and her knowledge, daring her to say it to all.
"You're here to... to... [gulp]" Twilight attempted to say only to lose her bravery at the implications of what was to come.
"[chuckle] Remember this day, little ponies, for it was your last. From this moment forth, the night will last forever! [laughter, thunder]" Nightmare Moon announced in sinister glee before laughing madly with her hair growing and swirling around the ceiling into a vortex of a thunderous storm with lightning striking from the dark mist in the air, Nightmare Moon's evil laughter echoing throughout the air.
"Seize her! Only she knows where the Princess is!" Mayor Mare shouted pointing towards the evil mare and the royal guards snapped to do so, flying towards their target.
"Stand back, you foals! [laughs]" Nightmare Moon declared as her eyes glowed white with her evil laughter and had lightning lash out at the three guards, zapping them away like bugs, then having her misty mane should her and become a mass of dark mist before shooting out of the hall through the entrance doors past the downed guards, causing ponies to scream and dash out of the way in fright.
"Ergh..." Applejack grunted as she attempted to keep a grip on Rainbow Dash's tail, only for the pegasus to finally break from her strong teeth and chase after the dark mist.
"Come back here! [pants]" Rainbow Dash shouted as she dashed through the doors and to the sky, but as she came to above building height the mist was already too far away and out of view, as she panted, she spoke out loud "Nighttime? Forever?" she asked with worry as to the evil mares plans, before looking down to see Twilight, with a still unconscious spike on her back, running past and down the road in the opposite direction "Where's she going?" she asked to herself.
After a run back to her temporary home, the library, Twilight had placed a slightly stirring spike into her little bed.
"Uh... We gotta stop Nightmare! ..." Spike shouted drowsily before falling back to sleep, Twilight placed a blue blanket on her sleeping form and tucked her in with a fond smile.
"You've been up all night, Spike. You are a baby dragon after all." Twilight said fondly as she quietly walked out, turning off the light as she made her way downstairs [CRASH!] only to start making noise as she began throwing one book after another in a desperate search "Elements, elements, elements... Ugh! How can I stop Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony?" Twilight asked out loud in despair and she used her magic to flick through a few books in search of the correct one.
Only for Rainbow Dash to suddenly appear in front of her floating in the air slightly with her head pressed against Twilight's with a slight glare "And just what are the Elements of Harmony? And how did you know about Nightmare Moon, huh? Are you a spy? Whoa!" she questioned causing Twilight to back up as she did until she was yanked away by her at, with the culprit being Applejack once again pulling with her teeth before letting go.
"Simmer down, Sally. She ain't no spy. But she sure knows what's going on. Don't you, Twilight?" Applejack stated with a sigh before turning to Twilight with Rarity, Fluttershy and Pinkie Pie coming to her side in question toward the intelligent unicorn.
Twilight looked at them for a moment before beginning to explain "I read all about the prediction of Nightmare Moon. Some mysterious objects called the Elements of Harmony are the only things that can stop her, but I don't know what they are, where to find them; I don't even know what they do!" she said in sadness as she looked to the moon through the upper window.
""The Elements of Harmony: A Reference Guide."" Before Pinkie Pie read out loud the title of the book she had been looking for on one of the selves like it was normal, until Twilight shot to her side, bumping into her, causing Pinkie to be flung to the side as Twilight took her place looking at the book.
"How did you find that?!" Twilight asked in shock over how much trouble she had been having to try to find said book.
"[sing-song voice] It was under "E"!" Pinkie Pie sang as she hopped past Twilight happily, causing Twilight to blush slightly at the obvious place for it to be and a bit annoyed at herself.
"Oh. "There are six Elements of Harmony, but only five are known: Kindness, Laughter, Generosity, Honesty and Loyalty. The sixth is a complete mystery. It is said, the last known location of the five elements was in the ancient castle of the royal pony sisters. It is located in what is now-"" Twilight readout, not aware of a dark mist floating past her upper window, before stopping and leading the group to the edges of the town near an old road leading to the creepy dark forest that had fog flowing between its trees.
"The Everfree Forest!" Everypony exclaimed in fear at the well-known and feared forest before them that the book spoke of.
[spooky music]
"Whee! Let's go!" Pinkie Pie happily exclaimed taking a step towards the dark woods.
"Not so fast." but was stopped by Twilight's voice mid-step "Look, I appreciate the offer, but I'd really rather do this on my own." She said looking towards the ominous forest with determination.
"No can do, sugarcube. We sure ain't lettin' any friend of ours go into that creepy place alone. We're stickin' to you like caramel on a candy apple." Applejack stated getting a slight twitch from Twilight at the word "friend" but didn't notice and go an [agreed hmph] from Everypony as they started following her towards the forest.
"Especially if there's candy apples in there. What? Those things are good." Pinkie Pie said to Twilight before following her fellow ponies leaving Twilight behind all alone for a moment.
"[sigh]" Twilight sighed in defeat knowing there wasn't any convincing these odd ponies not to go with her and started following after to catch up to the group.
A little while later the group were walking through the thick dark forest, which was as creepy inside as it was outside, making their way to their destination of the princesses' old castle.
"So, none of you have been in here before?" Twilight asked nervously as the group walked in the darkened still night sky.
"Ugh, heavens no! Just look at it - it's dreadful." Rarity exclaimed indicating the sharp and dangerous-looking plants as well as the crooked and looming trees around the group.
"And it ain't natural. Folks say it don't work the same as Equestria." Applejack said with a nervous voice, which was quite unlike her.
"What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asked with growing fear, none of them noticing a shadow mist flowing around the edges of the trees and the appearance of various glowing green eyes watching the group.
"Nopony knows. You know why?" Rainbow Dash said coming out of the shadow of a tree branch making half the group stop and she began stalking towards them hunched low in a predator-like way.
"Rainbow, quit it." Applejack said trying to get the mischievous pony to stop scaring everypony with her unneeded playing around in this dark, scary and serious moment.
"'cause everypony who's ever come in has never come out!" Rainbow Dash said as she crept closer, ignoring the other ponies' annoyance, before jumping up at the "out!" part, causing the ponies to jump back with slight fright at her behaviour.
"Well, it ain't that bad, not since the guardian showed up" Pinkie Pie spoke up as she popped out of nowhere, killing Rainbow's fun and spooking Twilight slightly, but got a confused look from Twilight "guardian?" she asked in reply.
"Oh yes I have heard of them dear" Rarity spoke up calming down from Rainbow Dash's mischief "you see these forests are very dangerous with all manner of dark and disgusting creatures and monsters lurking in shadows, but it was a lot worst, until around a year ago all those dark things started becoming slightly less and any pony that did go in since then has been either lead back to Ponyville or saved from the forest and monsters" Rarity explained to Twilight piquing her interest.
"So, ponies have seen this guardian then?" Twilight asked "yes and no" Applejack said gaining the unicorn's attention "the figure always wears a brown cloak and hood so no pony has seen their face or much of their body to say what they look like or if they are even a pony at all, only a few have heard them talk and not enough to tell if they are a female or a male. Though some say they have incredible abilities, able to lift a tree like it was nothing, run faster than lightning, jump higher than any earth pony, wrestled a Cragadile with their bare hands, know when somepony is in danger and has no fear" Applejack listed the rumours that ponies that have to have seen the figure have said with her hands.
"but those are just speculation dear, things ponies have said happened, we don't know if they are true or not" Rarity pointed out to Twilight with a hand on her hip, who was becoming slightly impressed at this mysterious being "there, um is the, um, music" Fluttershy quietly spoke up just enough for them to hear.
"Oh yea, that's right!" Rainbow Dash said agreeing with what Fluttershy brought up "music?" Twilight questioned "yea! All the ponies that have said to have seen the guardian have said that they were playing some sort of whistle instrument before showing up! And there have been other ponies that have heard something like that while passing the forest but not going in!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed getting in close to Twilight, making the unicorn back up a little.
"no pony knows why they play it, or why they live in the forest, or why they save ponies that are foolish enough to come in here, but one thing's for sure, they must have a mighty fine reason to do so" Applejack stated getting nodes in agreement from most of the group.
"well as interesting as this guardian is, we have a mission to get done, so we really should be moving along," Twilight said getting them back on their goal at hand, getting nodes from everypony "quite right dear we should [snap!] be…moving…on…" Rarity began saying but slowly trailed off at the snap of a twig from the dark forest, she and the other ponies started looking around them, and that's when they noticed the glowing green eyes in the dark surroundings "oh dear!" Rarity said backing up to the group of ponies that all huddled together, watching as whatever was in the shadows made its way towards the group out of the shadows revealing what they were.
They looked like wolves, but their bodies are comprised entirely of twigs, logs, and leaves with glowing sickly green eyes and sharp jagged teeth.
"Timberwolves!" the group exclaimed as a whole horde of the wooden wolves came stalking out of the forest around them from all sides towards them "we can handle them!" Rainbow Dash said smacking her fist into her hand "now normally I would agree with you sugar, but I know I can only take on a handful at a time, same with you, the others I'm fairly certain could in their own way…but that's only a small group, this is a whole horde of them varmints, we would be tired out and probably tired afterwards" Applejack said voicing her thoughts "which we don't have time for" Twilight stated as they all prepared for a more than likely long battle.
As the Timberwolves got ready to pounce on the young ponies with their deep growls…they stopped, frozen almost in silence as they raised their heads and their twig ears flickered from one side to the other.
The ponies were confused by this until they heard the faintest of sounds.
*Start: Lugia's Song from Pokemon on STL Ocarina*
It was music, lovely music of wonder and light, as the music became louder the Timberwolves suddenly darted around and shot back into the forest, almost as if they were afraid, something the ponies took note of.
"What could be so terrifying about some music that would cause THEM of all creatures to turn and flee?" Rarity asked as the beautiful music became clearer for them to hear "I think we are about to find out" said Twilight as she looked in the direction the music seems to be coming from, which seems to be where they were heading.
After a moment a figure began to be seen walking down the path, the figure was just above average in height, wore a simple brown cloak over their shoulders covering their body with the hood pulled over their head shadowing all but their mouth, over their shoulder was a brown satchel and in their hands was an instrument the ponies had not seen before, seeming to be played as a flute would with it placed to the figures lips that could just be seen in the hoods shadow and their fingers covering holes to change the sound coming from it, soothing the ponies with its sound.
*End: Lugia's Song from Pokemon on STL Ocarina*
Soon the music reached its end as the figure came to a stop within feet of the group, pulling the instrument away from their lips and giving a small bow in greeting to the group before them, then placed the instrument within their satchel before turning back to the group.
"Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie and Twilight Sparkle, it is good to finally meet you all" the figure suddenly spoke greeting each of the mentioned ponies, shocking them that the figure new their names.
"You know us?" Applejack asked confused "how?" Rainbow Dash demanded with suspicion "I do know you, as I know many things, such as your quest for the Elements, as for how I know I cannot say at this point, merely know that I mean you no harm or have any intention of interfering in your mission, yet I cannot help you in what's to come" the figure said in a calming voice seeming to calm the group down slightly.
"What do you mean? I do not understand" Twilight asked in slight confusion towards the figure "as you are no doubt aware of there will be dangers ahead, things I cannot interfere with as this is your quest for the Elements, I will be nearby just encased of extreme events, but I can't do anything else" the figure stated to the group "I still don't understand" Twilight admits "you will when all is done" the figure replied and stepped to the side and raised their arm in the direction they were headed, to begin with, revealing a small wooden bo staff no more than 2 feet long with beautiful swirling runic writing and designs engraved into its wood, seeming to stick to their back without the need of straps or a holster "the path lays ahead, time is of the essence, is it not," the figure said getting nodes from the ponies as they all began making their way down the path once again.
As they walked Applejack had to ask the figure a question "are you the guardian? The one that has lived in these forests for the past year?" the figure kept looking forward but answered none the less "I have lived in these woods for the past year, but as for the guardian remark, although it is true that is the title the ponies have called me, it is not my name" the figure replied.
"What is your name then dear?" Rarity asked wanting to know the one that has been helping from the shadows as they walked along the cliff edge, not seeing a shadow mist seep into the side of the cliff under them. The figure was about to respond when.
[crash]
The ground of the cliff suddenly gave way beneath them all and send all but Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, who used their wings to float, down the steep side of the mountain, all of them, except the figure, screaming in terror as they slide down at great speeds, each trying to slow themselves down.
"Fluttershy! Quick!" Rainbow Dash called out to her fellow flyer before zooming down towards the falling ponies "Oh, my goodness, oh my goodness." Fluttershy said hurrying after even though she wasn't as fast as her fellow pegasus.
"[screams]" Rarity screamed as Rainbow Dash grabbed and lifted Pinkie Pie from sliding any further, with Fluttershy soon flying down to Rarity and grabbing her tail with her teeth, slowing the fashionista down somewhat.
Applejack meanwhile was able to grab onto an old root of a plant with her hands, halting her fall, but Twilight was not so lucky as she continued to slide down towards the edge of the mountain towards a sheer drop, screaming as she was only just able to stop herself as she came to edge with her lower body hanging over the drop.
"Hold on! I'm a-comin'!" Applejack called as she let go of the root and slid down to Twilight and grabbed her hands with her own, and as strong as Applejack is, even she was struggling with the angle they were in while keeping a grip on both Twilight and the edge.
"Applejack! What do I do?" Twilight asked in fear as she tried to get a footing only for her feet to keep sliding with loose rocks, Applejack thought for a moment, looking up slightly, before looking dead at Twilight and answering in a serious yet gentle tone "Let go."
"Are you crazy?" Twilight asked looking into the earth ponies' eyes.
"No, I ain't. I promise you'll be safe." Applejack replied still with a calm caring voice.
"That's not true!" Twilight rebuked a little freaked out at their situation.
"Now listen here. What I'm sayin' to you is the honest truth. Let go, and you'll be safe." Applejack said with a kind voice that meant what she said, with the moon glowing slightly behind her just striking what she was saying deeper into the unicorn's panicked heart and calming her slightly.
After a moment of looking into Applejack's eyes, Twilight's own eyes became trusting and closed them, then with a breath she let go of Applejack's hands and fell over the edge, falling downwards with a "Yaaah!" she continued to scream until she was caught by both Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy who each held one of her arms between their breasts, once realizing she was okay Twilight let out a "Phew-wah!" sigh and then a little yell as the three of them jerked down slightly before slowing again.
"Sorry girls. I'm not used to holding anything more than a bunny or two." Fluttershy apologized as they slowly lowered down towards the awaiting Rarity and Pinkie Pie on the ground, allowing Twilight to look and see Applejack getting down the cliff by jumping from one high ledge to another like an expert.
"Are you alright dear?" Rarity asked as Twilight finally touched down "I am fine, thank you" Twilight replied to Rarity while also indicating towards the others that helped her "it where nothing" Applejack said tipping her hat slightly with nodes from the others until they noticed something "hey where's-?" Pinkie Pie tried to ask about the missing figure until they heard something from upwards and they all looked up just in time to see the figure go sliding off the edge like a snowboarder, do a backflip in the air and land on their feet in a slight crouch leaving a making a small impact into the ground as they did so, with their hood remaining over their head. Leaving the group slightly slack-jawed at the display as the figure stood up and lightly dust off their cloak, before looking back and asking "what?" in an innocent-like voice, snapping the group out of their stupor "DO IT AGAIN!" Pinkie shouted with a huge grin, getting a chuckle out of the figure "perhaps another time, there are things to do" the figure replied, and the others nodded before continuing onwards.
Just as Applejack passed the figure said figure spoke up "you have a truly strong and honest heart Applejack, it takes a lot of bravery to speak the truth, especially to one's friends and loved ones, it is my pleasure to travel with such a good heart" giving a slight bow of their head in respect before continuing, unknowingly leaving a slightly blushing Applejack just behind them before said pony shook her head and caught up with the group quickly.
Little did they know that a shadow mist was nearby watching them before shooting off towards the forest and at the figure of a creature, when it reached the creature there was a [slink!] sound followed by an animal roar.
The group continued on their journey on foot as Rainbow Dash did a few aerial tricks while reciting the previous events with pride, like an adventurer retelling their adventure "And once Pinkie and Rarity were saved, whoosh... Me and Fluttershy loop-de-loop around and WHAM! Caught you right in the nick of time." She said as she landed next to Twilight, now walking alongside her fellow ponies.
"Yes, Rainbow, I was there, and I'm very grateful, but we gotta-" Twilight said with a roll of her eyes but a grateful smile before she was cut off by a large creature stomping into the group's path.
It was large, easily twice the size of the ponies, it had the appearance of a lion with a red mane, bat-like pointed ears, dragon wings and a scorpion tail.
"[gasp] A Manticore!" Twilight exclaimed in shock as the beast raised its claws high and roared at the group.
"We've gotta get past him!" Twilight stated with determination as they prepared to fight, not noticing that Fluttershy had seen something with the Manticore.
The beast roared and pounced at Rarity winging its claws in anger and trying to hit the unicorn only for her to duck under its swipe and deliver a back kick to its face "Take that, you ruffian!" she shouted with slight pride at her hit, only to get a large roar from the beast with enough force to blow her hair back and once it had stopped the ponies hair had become a frizzy mess.
"My hair!" Rarity cried in alarm looking at her messy hair, only to remember the beast next to her and zip away with "Woop-" and run past Fluttershy who gave a quiet "Wait." Which no one heard…except for the figure who was calmly standing next to her, watching as the events before them played out.
"[roar]" the Manticore roared again as it chased Rarity but stopped at a sudden weight on its back, looking up confusedly the beast saw Applejack upon itself holding on like he was a bucking bronco "YEE-HAW! Git along, little dogie." Applejack shouted as the Manticore started bucking around attempting to throw her off.
"Wait." Fluttershy tried again but her soft voice went unheard again as Applejack and the Manticore stomped past her and the figure.
"[roars]" the Manticore roared as it jumps around two more times before finally tossing Applejack off itself who gave a cry of "Whoa!" and sailed through the air in a lazy-like arch passing Rainbow Dash, who was floating in the air, while upside-down mid-flight saying "All yours, partner." In a calm almost everyday kind of voice before heading back to the ground.
"I'm on it." Rainbow Dash replied with a serious face, determined voice and a salute before zooming down towards the beast, passing Fluttershy who once again said "Wait!" in a soft only to be once again unheard, except for her present company, and have her hair blown into her face as rainbow went past them. The figure gently patted Fluttershy's shoulder, and although it didn't calm her it did get a smile from the soft pegasus in thanks for trying.
Rainbow Dash zoomed around the Manticore making two rings of a rainbow around it, causing it to give off several roars in protest as the other ponies watched from a few feet away, but soon the Manticore had taken enough and swung its scorpion tail out, hitting Rainbow Dash and sending her flying with a scream.
"Rainbow!" Twilight shouted in concern as said pony went flying, soon skidding to stop in front of the group of ponies, slowly getting back to her feet, while Twilight gave a hard look to the beast as she stared at it.
"[grunt]" the manticore grunted as it clawed the ground away with its claws in challenge towards the ponies, who replied with their feet scraping the ground in reply with Twilight snorting right back at it, having the ponies charge, well Pinkie hopped, towards it at a good speed.
"WAIT!" only for Fluttershy to, in an un-character way, shout at them while standing in their path, getting them to stop in their tracks…after a few moments of silence, and surprised, somewhat confused, looks from the former charging ponies, Fluttershy turned to the raging Manticore calmly with a soft smile as she made her way towards him.
"[roar]" the manticore roared raising on its hind legs with its paw high into the air, claws extended, ready to swing at the soft-spoken pony, getting the others, except the figure as they continued to watch on, to flinch and close their eyes while raising their arms in protection.
"Shhh... It's okay." Only to hear Fluttershy's soft voice and open their eyes to see said pony gently rub her face against the manticore's left paw, making him fall silent and go slightly soft in his stance while looking into the pony's big soft eyes, he hesitated for a moment before gently lowering his right paw and turning over his left, revealing a large torn as big as the ponies ears stuck in the palm of his hand to Fluttershy "Oh, you poor, poor little baby." She said in empathy to the creatures now revealed pain.
"Little?" Rainbow Dash questioned out loud with slight disbelief at everything happening before her and the other ponies.
"Now this might hurt for just a second," Fluttershy said as she grasped the large torn with her mouth, then gave a quick pull, instantly removing the object of pain for the manticore with a soft [ping].
"[roar]" only for the manticore to grab her in its paws, bring her up to its face and roar loudly into her face causing her hair to blow backwards.
"Fluttershy!" Everypony screamed out in worry for their fellow pony… "[purrs]" only to see the manticore holding said pony gently while purring like a kitten and licking her, causing her hair to be pushed upwards from his large tongue as the pony smiled at the big soft-hearted feline.
"[giggles] Aw you're just a little ol' baby kitty, aren't you? Yes, you are, yes you are." Fluttershy said in a fond baby-like voice as the others smiled and trotted past the pair to the other side where they were headed, with Twilight hanging back for Fluttershy, who now had her hair slicked back and up like an ocean wave.
"How did you know about the thorn?" Twilight asked confusedly as Fluttershy walked closer to her "I didn't. Sometimes we all just need to be shown a little kindness." The pony replied gently as she walked past towards the others, leaving Twilight to think for a moment before gaining a soft fond look with a small smile before following.
As the two went on the figure hung back for a moment next to the Manticore "sorry about that Manny Roar, but this was needed in order to show the truth of what needs to be known" the figure said to the manticore now identified as Manny Roar, who gave a small growl but a node before giving the figure a lick in forgiveness "thank you, my friend, I must go now, be safe…who am kidding, you will be fine you big fierce kitty cat" the figure said fondly and Manny Roar growled with a grin in agreement as he stalked away and the figure began catching up with the group.
As the figure caught up they commented low enough for only Fluttershy to hear "a soft heart with a pure soul, many would say that is weakness, I say that is true strength, to show kindness to others no matter who they are, I am blessed by just being near such a pony as you" they commented with a node to Fluttershy, who turned their head away hiding her face with her hair along with the massive blush she now had, unable to comment to such kind heartfelt words.
As the group left, the large thorn that caused the troubles began to spin on its side before becoming a shadowy mist before flowing away, leaving behind an empty clearing.
The group continued through the dark forest after their encounter with the surprisingly soft manticore, continuing to seek out the Elements to hopefully stop Nightmare Moon from casting the lands into eternal darkness and get their sun princess back.
"No. My eyes need a rest from all this icky muck." Rarity commented as they walked with a slight groan of disgust at their surroundings, only for her words to be answered as the trees overhead suddenly became thicker, blocking out the moon and sky, leaving the group in near-complete darkness "Well, I didn't mean that literally." She muttered at the now lack of vision.
"That ancient ruin could be right in front of our faces and we wouldn't even know it," Twilight remarked as the group kept walking in the dark, none of them noticing a shadowy mist flowing past their legs towards a tree root, seeping into it and causing it to give a slight glow in the cracks of its bark.
"I didn't see you there, my apologies." Rarity spoke up when slightly pumping into a member of the group, as they all started talking at once while slightly knocking into one another "Right here... guh..." Rainbow Dash spoke up trying to help indicate where she was in the dark as they could barely make out each other.
"Oh wait, I think I stepped in somethin'." Applejack spoke up making the group stop in both walking and talking as a [squish] sounded from her feet moving.
"[scream]" only for Fluttershy to suddenly scream out while looking towards Applejack.
"It's just mud." Applejack said as she walked forward a bit [tree growls] only to look at the tree ahead of her, it was glowing with crooked claw-like branch arms, piercing eye-like bark and a gaping jagged mouth-like hole bearing down towards her.
"Aah!" Applejack exclaimed in fright and leapt away to the other four ponies.
The ponies looked around them seeing they were surrounded by growling trees that seem to be drawing closer to them all while everything seemed to get darker but said trees, resulting in them drawing together, closing their eyes and screaming out if fright and fear.
"[laughter]" only for the joyous laughter of Pinkie Pie to make them stop with a "Huh?" with Pinkie Pie continuing "[laughter] Bleh. Ooo! [funny noises] [laughter]" while also making some faces that so-called scary trees as though they were nothing.
"Pinkie, what are you doing?! Run!" Twilight exclaimed trying to get the pink pony to flee from the terrifying trees.
"Oh girls, don't you see?" Pinkie Pie asked as music began to play while said pony began to swing her hips in a dance and begin singing as everything seems to become lighter again.
*Start: MLP Pinkie Pie's Laughter Song*
*Pinkie Pie*
*When I was a little filly and the sun was going down...*
"Tell me she's not..." Twilight started to ask only for Pinkie to appear just above her on her left side as though she had appeared and floated out of nowhere while singing then pop to the other side in the same manner.
*Pinkie Pie*
*The darkness and the shadows, they would always make me frown...*
"She is." Rarity answered as the group followed the singing pony.
* Pinkie Pie*
* I'd hide under my pillow
(Pinkie hops around the back of the group)
From what I thought I saw
(Group watches Pinkie as she passes)
But Granny Pie said that wasn't the way
(Pinkie hops around the front of the group)
To deal with fears at all*
"Then what is?" Rainbow Dash asked as Pinkie got in close with the sides of their heads touching.
* Pinkie Pie*
*She said, "Pinkie, you gotta stand up tall
(Pinkie crouches a little then stood up high)
Learn to face your fears
(Pinkie zooms off)
You'll see that they can't hurt you
(Pinkie hops up to a nearby scary tree and poses)
Just laugh to make them disappear."
Ha! Ha! Ha!*
([pop] a pink smoke and the tree is normal, Pinkie smile towards the group)
"[gasp]" Ponies gasp in realization and smile at each other.
* Pinkie Pie*
*So, giggle at the ghostly
(Pinkie jumps past as Fluttershy fly's up to a spook tree and laughs [pop] turning it to normal in yellow smoke)
Guffaw at the grossly
(Pinkie watches as Rainbow Dash laughs at a spook tree and [pop] turns it to normal in blue smoke)
Crack up at the creepy
(Pinkie jumps past a spook tree as Rarity follows and laughs [pop] turning the tree to normal in purple smoke)
Whoop it up with the weepy
(Pinkie stood next to a spook tree and Applejack jumped onto her back and then up to the tree with a "wahoo!" laugh and [pop] turns it to normal in orange smoke)
Chortle at the kooky
(Pinkie pushes Twilight in front of a spook tree who, after a second, laughs with a hand to her mouth and [pop] turns the tree to normal in violet smoke)
Snortle at the spooky
(Pinkie sings while upside down above the group with the figure among them all standing in front of four spook trees having the five laughs [pop] turning them to with pink smoke)
And tell that big dumb scary face to take a hike and leave you alone and if he thinks he can scare you then he's got another thing coming and the very idea of such a thing just makes you wanna... hahahaha... heh...
(Pinkie sings in one long breath while peeking around a spook tree, then upside down from between two spook trees and the final part while inside the "mouth" of a spook tree with a slight airy laugh)
Laaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuugh!*
(Pinkie finished the song as all the spook trees turned to normal)
*End: MLP Pinkie Pie's Laughter Song*
"[laughs]" everypony laughed while on the ground in joy as the once scary area became filled with bubbling happiness.
The group got up while still laughing and chased after Pinkie in fun as she hopped through trees and then around the side, only for said laughing pony to stop hopping and laughing as they came to a roaring river, making the other ponies pile into her back.
Each pony looked over Pinkies shoulders to see the river in their path "How are we gonna cross this?" Pinkie asked the group while watching the crazy waves.
"[distant cry]" until a cry was heard through the air gaining a "Huh?" from Pinkie Pie and the group's attention, following the sound through some nearby bushes they see a Sea serpent in the river crying its eyes out.
as the group moved towards the distressed creature, the figure hung back to walk by Pinkie pie "a pony filled with joy, helping to see past dark fears and find the joy deep within to lighten the world if only a small amount, to help others laugh, you have warmed my spirit with such joy" the figure commented with a light smile to the pink pony and getting a much bigger smile in return as they continued onwards, not noticing the faint blush on the pink ponies cheeks.
"[sobbing] What a world, what a world." The Sea serpent cried out as he slammed his arms into the roaring river beneath him.
"Excuse me, sir. Why are you crying?" Twilight asked kindly as the group came to stop near the giant distressed creature, gaining his attention.
"Well, I don't know. I was just sitting here, minding my own business, when this tacky little cloud of purple smoke just whisked past me and tore half of my beloved mustache clean off, and now I look simply horrid. [wails]" the creature explained the events that had transpired to him and fell back into the waves of the river while he cried out, resulting in the group getting drenched with their hair dripping down in the giant splash of water from his actions, getting a groan from one or two of the ponies.
"Oh, give me a break." Rainbow Dash said in a flat tone low enough for the giant not to hear her "That's what all the fuss is about?" Applejack questioned in the same tone of voice.
At that moment Rarity shot in between the two ponies looking slightly insulted at what they said while her hair was slicked down with water "Why, of course it is. How can you be so insensitive?" she questioned the two as she walked towards the distressed serpent who now laid his chin on the ground in front of the group biting his lower lip, who looked on slightly surprised at the designer pony who had been complaining about the forest not too long ago as said ponies air soon dried and became normal "Oh, just look at him. Such lovely luminescent scales." She commented giving the serpent chin scales a slight stroke in admiration.
"[sniffs] I know." The serpent agreed with a slight sniffle and whine to his voice as he was no longer biting his lower lip.
"And your expertly coiffed mane." Rarity pointed out the serpent's hairstyle, gaining the serpent to sit up and agree "Oh, I know, I know." with a lighter voice while slicking back said hair with his clawed hand.
"Your fabulous manicure." Rarity said complimenting the serpents well cared for nails "[gasp] It's so true!" he remarked with a hand to his chest before pressing his cheeks with his hands.
"All ruined without your beautiful mustache." Rarity stated in empathy to the serpent's feelings of sadness over such well-styled facial hair "It's true, I'm hideous!" he exclaimed covering the top of his head with his crossed arms in near shame.
"I simply cannot let such a crime against fabulosity go uncorrected." Rarity declared with determination set on her face, she then bit into one of the serpent's scales and plucked it from his being.
"[yelp] What did you do that for?" the sea serpent exclaimed with slight pain as a single tear leaked from his eye "Rarity, what are you-" Twilight attempted to ask only to cut herself off in shock, along with the rest of the group, as Rarity swung the sharp scale like a blade and sliced off her own luxurious tail curls "[moans]" getting the sea serpent to slightly faint in shock at such an action.
Rarity dropped the scale and used her magic to lift her severed tail locks over to the awake and watching serpent and thread the severed strands perfectly into his cut-off moustache hairs, creating a lovely new curly indigo-coloured moustache "Oh-hohohoho! My mustache. How wonderful." The serpent exclaimed with joy while doing a slight pose.
"You look smashing." Rarity commented with a smile as the others walked up to her "Oh, Rarity, your beautiful tail..." Twilight said with slight sadness as she indicated towards the once beautiful now butchered tail.
"Oh. It's fine, my dear. Short tails are in this season. Besides, it'll grow back." Rarity commented lightly not truly bothered by such a loss while flickering her shortened tail, this gained a soft look of admiration from Twilight "So would the mustache." Which stayed even with Rainbow Dash's comment gaining fond face.
"[gasp] We can cross now. Let's go. Ah!" Twilight said in joy noticing the calm waters, indicating to the sea serpent been the cause of his distress from before, and began making her way across the slightly deep water, only to give a slight yell as she was lifted by a part of the sea serpents body, which had made four arch's, just like walking stones, across the water for the group.
"Allow me." The sea serpent said with a light bow to the ponies before diving into the water creating a fifth arc in the chain, allowing for the group to jump from one arc to the next until they came to the other side of the river and make their way through the trees once again.
The figure was the last to cross and hung back for a moment "is it them, the ones you have spoken of for so long?" the sea serpent inquired as he came down beside the figure "yes they are" the figure replied "they are strong, not in just body, but mind, soul and heart, they will have many trails ahead of them as you have said" the serpent commented watching the ponies walk away "indeed, but they will succeed, because they have each other" came the reply getting an agreeing node in return "I am sorry about your mustache Steven Magnet" the figure apologized to the now named serpent "although it was painful I understand, it will grow back and I have that fashionable unicorn to thank, so no need for apologies my friend" came Steven Magnet's reply getting a node in thanks from the figure as they made their way to catch up with the others "you are wrong about one thing my friend" came the serpent's voice having the figure stop for a moment "they don't just have each other, they also have you" Steven Magnet stated before diving back into the river and out of sight, leaving the figure to their thoughts before catching up with the group.
The figure soon caught up with the group with Rarity near the back, allowing for the figure to come up beside her as they walked "beauty is in the eye of the beholder as they say, it takes true beauty to see such in other beings and objects, to give such a noble sacrifice, you are truly a kind and generous pony and one I am honoured to know" the figure spoke for only Rarity to hear while giving a slight bow like a gentlecolt would, not noticing the slightest of blush from the unicorn who gave a bow of her head in thanks as they continued onwards.
After a while of tracking through the undergrowth, the group came out of the pushes to a small clearing with mist, fog and clouds covering the area making it hard to see, they then spotted a castle-like structure through the fog in the distance.
"There it is, the ruin that holds The Elements of Harmony. We made it!" Twilight exclaimed in joy as their quest came closer to its end and then took off in a gallop "Twilight, wait for us!" Applejack called with the same joy and smile as she and the group followed after at the same speed.
"We're almost there. Whoa!" Twilight said in excitement only to yell out in surprise as she tripped and the top half of her body hung over a cliff with an old rickety bridge hanging down into the ravine she was now hungover, unable to know how deep the ravine just might be due to the amount of fog and mist making it near impossible to see downwards.
Twilight was a little scared as she hung there for a moment only for her to be pulled back and onto the ledge by Rainbow Dash pulling her tail with her teeth, once Twilight was safely back on solid earth the multicoloured pegasus let go and asked in a light voice "What's with you and falling off cliffs today?"
The group all gathered near the edge and looked down at the sheer drop in slight shock, Pinkie Pie and the figure looked other to the other side of the ravine seeing the other side of the hanging bridge "[sighs] Now what?" Pinkie asked at their new obstacle.
"Duh." Rainbow Dash remarked lifting her wings and giving the tips a wiggling flap to emphasize before jumping up and flying to the edge "Oh yeah." Pinkie Pie replied watching the pony go other the edge and down into the thick fog, grabbing the snapped-off pieces of bridge and flying to the other side tying one of the ropes before tightly pulling the second one ready, not noticing a shadowy mist flow past behind her as she did so.
"Rainbow..." a soft, airy voice faintly called from nearby, making rainbow drop the rope and look around her "Who's there?" calling out as she did so.
"Rainbow..." the voice called again "I ain't scared of you! Show yourself!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed bringing her fists up and doing a few quick punches in a boxing-like fashion from one direction to another looking for the source of the voice.
"We've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the best flyer in Equestria." The voice spoke again, coming from the opposite direction of the cliff this time, prompting the pegasus to follow it a few feet "Who?" Rainbow Dash asked slightly confused "Why, you, of course." The voice replied as though it was obvious.
"Really?! I mean... Oh yeah, me. Hey, uh, you wouldn't mind telling the Wonderbolts that, would ya? 'Cause I've been trying to get into that group for like, ever." Rainbow Dash exclaimed in happiness at the praise and asked the voice in the mist.
"No, Rainbow Dash. We want you to join us, The Shadowbolts." Said the voice as three pegasi charged out of the fog and stopped in front of Rainbow Dash, causing her to be slightly confused.
All three of them wore dark purple leotards and masks that covered their faces with pale yellow lightning bolt markings that cut the purple off into pale black at the elbows, knees and neck, two of them had grey skin while the female in the middle had pale light blue skin.
"We're the greatest aerial team in the Everfree Forest, and soon we will be the greatest in all Equestria, but first, we need a captain." the pale blue Shadowbolt Leader said as she floated past Rainbow Dash getting said pony to light up in a big smile, the Shadowbolt then began floating around said pony listing off the things they needed, enticing the young pegasus.
Shadowbolt Leader "The most magnificent-"
Rainbow Dash "Yep."
Shadowbolt Leader "Swiftest-"
Rainbow Dash "Yes."
Shadowbolt Leader "Bravest flyer in all the land."
"Yes, [chuckle] it's all true." Rainbow Dash said with a sliver of pride in herself.
"We need... you." Shadowbolt Leader whispered in the young mare's ear, prompting Rainbow Dash to jump several feet into the air with the use of her wings with a shout of joy.
"WOOHOO! Sign me up. Just let me tie this bridge real quick and then we have a deal." Rainbow Dash said flying down to said bridge's last rope to be tied up "No! It's them or us." The Shadowbolt Leader exclaimed shooting in front of the rainbow pony in a dark firm voice with the two stallions backing her up from either side, causing Rainbow to flinch back in fear from the three.
"Rainbow, what's taking so long?" Twilight called from the other side of the ravine beside the others seeming confused at the amount of time passing "Oh no." until she saw the three ponies in front of their companion "Rainbow!" she called in warning only for the Shadowbolt Leader to glare at them and their goggles to flash yellow and fog to shoot between the group and their comrade over the unfinished bridge "Don't listen to them." Twilight tried to call only for it to become muffled in the fog cover.
Rainbow Dash looked slightly torn as she looked down "Well?" Shadowbolt Leader asked making Rainbow look up at them determined "You..." Rainbow Dash finally said, getting a victorious look from the Shadowbolt leader "Thank you! For the offer, I mean," rainbow said up close to the pony with a smile and no regret in her voice, gaining shocked looks from the Shadowbolts as she zipped back to the bridge and tying the final rope pulling it tight "but I'm afraid I have to say no." rainbow finished as she flew up and back to the others.
Not seeing the Shadowbolts sneer and [poof] into shadow mist one by one, mould together, then flow away through the trees out of sight.
Rainbow Dash flew back across the now repaired bridge with the fog clearing behind her enough to see the other side and bride as she came to stop in front of the rest of the group resulting in the ponies cheering and congratulating her as they began their way across the bridge.
"See? I'd never leave my friends hangin'." Rainbow Dash said flying next to Twilight for a moment before going slightly ahead, leaving Twilight happily impressed at the pony who gave up the chance of her dream for them.
The group soon came to the other end of the bridge and saw the old castle just ahead.
As they made their way to the castle the figure came closer to a floating Rainbow Dash and spoke low enough for only her to hear "Loyalty is an admirable trait, to choose your friends over your ambition is something very few would do, for it takes true strength to make such a choice, so few have true loyalty such as yours and for that I thank you" the figure said with a proud smile before looking ahead, not seeing Rainbow Dash stop in midair with a deep blush across her cheeks and a smile twitching at the corner of her lips, before shaking her head and following after the others.
The group soon came to the steps of a pair of large chamber doors, they walked up and opened the doors leading into a large chamber.
"Whoa." Twilight softly said in awe as she saw the room and the large stone structure in the centre of said room.
"Come on, Twilight. Isn't this what you've been waitin' for?" Applejack called as said unicorn walked through the group and to the stone structure.
"The Elements of Harmony, we've found them." Twilight spoke with soft joy and soon the group began collecting the stone orbs, Rainbow Dash floating up and taking hold of the one with an octagon engraving while Fluttershy took hold of the orb with the upside-down triangle engraving, both bringing them down one at a time to the ground near Twilight's and the others "Careful, careful!" Twilight cautioned as they did so.
"One, two, three, four... There's only five!" Pinkie Pie said as the stone orbs were placed in front of them, confused and concerned over there being one less then there should be.
"Where's the sixth?" Rainbow Dash asked as Fluttershy placed the final diamond-engraved stone orb down with the others.
"The book said: "when the five are present, a spark will cause the sixth Element to be revealed."" Twilight replied, repeating what was written in the old book, as she sat on the ground with her legs tucked under her and leaned forward on her hands, her breasts almost touching the stone floor from leaning close towards the orbs in thought.
"What in the hay is that supposed to mean?" Applejack exclaimed in confusion at what the words where implying.
"I'm not sure, but I have an idea. Stand back. I don't know what will happen." Twilight stated with determination as she sat up straight, getting the others to back away as she closed her eyes and her horn glowed with magic, falling into deep concentration.
"Come on now, y'all. She needs to concentrate." Applejack said to the group as she walked out the doors, leading the others outside, the figure was the last to leave as they gave a final look back towards Twilight before leaving after the others.
Not one of them noticed a shadowy mist come flowing from one of the dark corners of the chamber towards Twilight after they left, it flowed past the distracted unicorn to the stone orbs, then began swirling around them, picking up speed until it became a hurricane of darkness lifting the orbs into the air, it wasn't until it was up to Twilight's head in height when said unicorn finally opened her eyes and let out startled "Aah!" gaining the attention of the group outside who cried out "Twilight!" and rushed to get back to their fellow pony.
"The Elements!" Twilight exclaimed jumping into the dark whirlwind just as it and the stone orbs vanished in a small flash of light, just as the other ponies came in to find the unicorn, shadows and elements gone, making them panic.
All five ponies started talking over each other in worry and fear for their missing friend.
Fluttershy "Twilight?"
Applejack "What?"
Rarity "Where did she go?"
Pinkie Pie "What happened?"
Rainbow Dash "What's going on?"
The group began running around trying to find their missing companion while the figure stayed nearby "Twilight, where are you?" Applejack called out in worry while not running about like the other, though she was still dearly worried for the unicorn as she kept looking about for said pony.
"Look!" Rarity called grabbing the attention of the others as she pointed through an old broken window towards another part of the castle that had a light flashing through its windows.
"Come on!" Applejack shouted to the group and they charged their way towards the shining building at full gallop, with determination written across their faces.
Meanwhile inside the building a small flash went off in the middle of the room followed by a puff of dark smoke that filled the area for a moment before disappearing "[coughs, gasps]" revealing a Twilight who coughed from the small amount of smoke, then gasped as she looked up to see Nightmare Moon standing upon a raised floor next to a crumbling stone throne.
She had the stone orbs clasped in her shadowy mist-like mane around her as lightning flashed by her as she gave an evil laugh, resulting in Twilight giving a slight "[gasp] Hmph!" in surprise before narrowing her eyes, leaning forwards slightly and scrapping her hoof on the ground twice, getting a slight disbelieving and unimpressed look from Nightmare Moon who responded saying "You're kidding. You're kidding, right?" and a hand over her right breast as if not believing Twilight as her mane placed the stone orbs down.
Twilight didn't back down and with one more scrap of her hoof she charged towards the dark mare with her horn glowing brightly, who responded in equal action and charge at the young unicorn, the two came closer to one another and just before they impacted Twilight's horn glowed even brighter before she was encased in a flash, vanishing from sight and making Nightmare Moon come to scraping halt passing the point the unicorn disappeared, only for a flash to appear where she had once stood with the Elements revealing Twilight had teleported to them.
"[groan] Just one spark. Come on, come on." Twilight said after she rubbed her head from the short-range teleportation, leaning her head downwards and concentrating on the stone orbs, encasing them in her magic.
Nightmare Moon was not pleased as she ground her teeth and had her mane swirl around her into a vortex that floated into the air before quickly shooting towards Twilight and reappearing before the pony amongst the stone orbs just as they gave a spark and struck Twilight in the chest sending her flying back with a cry of "Aah!" she came to a sliding stop a moment later a short distance away.
"No, no!" Nightmare Moon cried out as she glared at the sparking stone orbs beneath her that seemed to be glowing with power, Twilight looked on in triumph waiting for the dark mare's defeat, only for the orbs to fizzle out and the magic to stop, leaving nothing happening.
"[gasp] But... where's the sixth Element?!" Twilight gasped in shock as Nightmare Moon laughed at the display of the inert elements before raising her hoof and stomping down, destroying the orbs in shards, making Twilight watch in despair.
As Nightmare Moon spoke mockingly and in victory, Twilight shrunk back in fear at the loss of their final hope "[laughter] You little foal! Thinking you could defeat me? Now you will never see your princess, or your sun! The night will last forever! [evil laugh]" as she taunted her dark mane burst upwards like a blaze of flames that soon swirled around overhead in a stormy vortex of chaos.
Twilight watched on, feeling hopeless until the voices of five ponies talking over each other from the stair wat reached her ears.
Pinkie Pie "Don't worry Twilight, we're here."
Applejack "Don't worry, we'll be there."
Twilight's eyes suddenly grew wide with a "[gasp]" as she came to a sudden realization and a spark flickered in her widened eyes, before smiling and looking back to the dark mare and speaking "You think you can destroy The Elements of Harmony just like that? Well, you're wrong, because the spirits of The Elements of Harmony are right here." She declared as Applejack, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash came to her side with the last two floating in the air above her, but the figure who had followed was at the back near the stairway watching the events unfold before them.
At that moment the stone shards of the Elements of harmony floated up into the air from around Nightmare Moon causing her to let out a confused "What?" looking at the fragments that glowed with six different colours.
Twilight then began to speak of all the events that had transpired up to this point.
"Applejack, who reassured me when I was in doubt, represents the spirit of... honesty!" she declared resulting in orange fragments shooting towards said earth pony and began circling her in midair around waist level.
"Fluttershy, who tamed the Manticore with her compassion, represents the spirit of... kindness!" she declared resulting in pink fragments shooting towards said pegasus pony and began circling her in midair around waist level, getting a slightly timid look from said pony while she floated in the air.
"Pinkie Pie, who banished fear by giggling in the face of danger, represents the spirit of... laughter!" she declared resulting in blue fragments shooting towards said earth pony and began circling her in midair around waist level as said pony jumped up then crouched low as if ready to attack.
"Rarity, who calmed a sorrowful serpent with a meaningful gift represents the spirit of... generosity!" she declared resulting in indigo fragments shooting towards said unicorn pony and began circling her in midair around waist level as she gave a light bashful smile.
"And Rainbow Dash, who could not abandon her friends for her own heart's desire represents the spirit of... loyalty!" she declared resulting in red fragments shooting towards said pegasus pony and began circling her in midair around waist level while she floated in the air.
"The spirits of these five ponies got us through every challenge you threw at us," Twilight stated in determination towards Nightmare Moon as she stood with the other five ponies.
"You still don't have the sixth Element! The spark didn't work!" Nightmare Moon declared, sounding almost desperate, trying to lower their growing hope, in the events transpiring before her.
"But it did! A different kind of spark." Twilight stated as she turned to the others with a soft smile "I felt it the very moment I realized how happy I was to hear you, to see you, how much I cared about you. The spark ignited inside me when I realized that you all... are my friends!" she declared turning back towards the dark mare, only for a light to shine from above, they looked up to see a sixth stone orb, with the engraving of a six-pointed star which floated down to just above Twilight, the light shining so brightly that nightmare moon tried to cover herself with her hands "You see, Nightmare Moon, when those Elements are ignited by the... the spark, that resides in the heart of us all, it creates the sixth element: the element of... magic!" Twilight declared as the light engulfed all six young ponies and lifted them into the air.
The pink shards around Fluttershy glowed pink and flowed together into one light then surrounded her chest and neck, forming a golden necklace with a pink butterfly-shaped gem in the centre.
The red shards around Rainbow Dash glowed red and flowed together into one light then surrounded her chest and neck, forming a golden necklace with a red lightning bolt-shaped gem in the centre.
The blue shards around Pinkie Pie glowed blue and flowed together into one light then surrounded her chest and neck, forming a golden necklace with a light blue balloon-shaped gem in the centre.
The orange shards around Applejack glowed orange and flowed together into one light then surrounded her chest and neck, forming a golden necklace with an orange apple-shaped gem in the centre.
The indigo shards around Rarity glowed indigo and flowed together into one light then surrounded her chest and neck, forming a golden necklace with a purple diamond-shaped gem in the centre.
Finally, the sixth orb above Twilight glowed white, becoming light and then forming into a golden crown of flowing design with a six-pointed star-shaped gem at the top of it, that placed itself upon her head.
As the Elements finally became claimed by their true users the ponies all began to shine in a brilliant light of their respective element colour and float closer together with their eyes closed until they were all engulfed in a blinding sphere of light, resulting in a double helix of colours shooting out of the top of the sphere, one of green, blue and purple while the other was of red, orange and yellow, swirling upwards until they met at the top and with a [bang!] became a six-coloured sparkled rainbow of said colours, which shot down towards Nightmare Moon who gave a cry of "Nooo! Nooo!" as the rainbow struck at her feet with a continuous beam of a rainbow and swirled around the dark mare forming a hurricane rainbow trapping her within, Twilight then opened her eyes revealing them to have become glowing orbs or white energy resulting in a white light enveloping all.
When the white light faded it was revealed that the six ponies were laying on the stone floor, each slowly opening their eyes with a slight groan, meanwhile, the figure that had been hanging by the stairway, who had to cover their eyes from the intense light, slowly came over to help the ponies up carefully.
"Ugh, my head." Rainbow Dash remarked lightly rubbing her head as Pinkie pie rolled from her back to her front, squishing her breasts to the ground.
"Everypony okay?" Applejack asked those present with slight worry as the figure helped her stand back up, giving the said figure a grateful smile in return.
"Oh, thank goodness." Came Rarity's joyful voice causing the others to look over to said unicorn seeing her bounce her behind slightly having them see her tail had returned to its former full glory.
"Why Rarity, it's so lovely," Fluttershy spoke up next to the pony with a smile while rubbing her arm in a slightly bashful way.
"I know! I'll never part with it again." Rarity replied raising her rear slightly and swishing her tail around a bit in happiness before clasping it in her hands and running her fingers through it in a fond way.
"No. Your necklace. It looks just like your cutie mark." Fluttershy corrected pointing towards said object around Rarity's neck, making said pony look down at it then her cutie mark before looking towards Fluttershy and saying "What? Ooh. So does yours." Getting a "[gasp]" from Fluttershy as she admired her own necklace.
"Look at mine! Look at mine!" Pinkie Pie exclaimed hopping, literary, over to the figure and Applejack, who had been looking at her own necklace, before pushing her chest and breasts out for the earth pony to get a better look at it.
"Aw yeah." Came Rainbow Dash's voice as she admired her necklace with pride while sticking her chest out a bit to get a better look.
Meanwhile Twilight was inspecting her lovely element crown upon her head as the figure walked up beside her with a soft smile as they spoke loud enough for Twilight to hear "The magic of friendship is a truly amazing thing. But remember it is only possible through true friendship and friendship is born of the Elements of harmony, honesty, kindness, laughter, generosity, loyalty and just that spark of magic, they are what feed it and make it grow, so hold on to your friends and grow closer to them as I hope to grow closer to you" the figure said with a bow of their head, gaining a blush from Twilight and a small shuffle of her foot before having her attention grabbed by Applejack speaking up.
"Gee, Twilight! I thought you were just spoutin' a lot of hooey, but I reckon we really do represent the Elements of friendship." Applejack said with a smile and getting nodes from everypony in agreement.
"Indeed, you do." Came a voice as a light came in through the nearby window, making everypony look on in awe as the sun raised high into the sky in a matter of seconds and for a smaller but no less as bright sphere to come through the window and then gently land in front of the group, the light faded away revealing Princess Celestia in all her glory.
The five ponies bowed on one knee before their princess, except for the figure, who stood behind the group giving a light bow of their own, and Twilight who spoke up in joy "[gasps] Princess Celestia." And made her way up to her teacher where they both embraced in a caring hug.
"Twilight Sparkle, my faithful student. I knew you could do it." Princess Celestia said with a smile to see her student well and with a slight tease at the end as if she knew something the young pony didn't.
"But... you told me it was all an old pony tale," Twilight replied as she steps back a little, slightly confused by her teachers' words.
"I told you that you needed to make some friends, nothing more. I saw the signs of Nightmare Moon's return, and I knew it was you who had the magic inside to defeat her, but you could not unleash it until you let true friendship into your heart." Celestia explained softly as the other ponies raised back to their feet, with Pinkie hopping up, and all six gaining smiles in response, along with the figure smiling slightly as well from under their hood "Now if only another will as well. Princess Luna!" Celestia said looking towards said pony who lay on the stone floor near the remains of her destroyed armour, back to her original smaller Alicorn form as the darkness that once coated her body faded away into nothing.
"[gasp]" Princess Luna gasped as she opened her eyes and timidly looked at the approaching Alicorn of the sun as she sat up while still laying on the ground.
"It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this." Celestia spoke as came to the pony, before kneeling on the ground before her with a soft smile "Time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister."
"Sister?" Twilight and Rainbow Dash spoke up in surprise at this once-dark mare being Celestia's little sister.
"Will you accept my friendship?" Celestia asked as she stood back up with a gentle hand towards Luna, prompting the main six to lean forwards in anticipation, resulting in Pinkie Pie leaning forwards and falling onto her chest with a "Whoa!" and bouncing on her breasts slightly from the impact.
Luna looked down slightly in sadness before jumping to her sister in a hug "I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!" she said as Celestia hugged her back while a small number of tears flowed from their eyes "I've missed you, too." Celestia replied giving a little extra squeeze to her little sister in comfort.
"[blows her nose] [sobs] Hey, you know what this calls for?" only for Pinkie Pie to blow her nose with her own fountain of tears at the touching moment, before snapping back to her happy self with her question.
[beep-beep. beep-beep. beep-beep. beep-beep.]
Only for a suddenly loud rapid beeping alarm to go off, stopping everything as everypony looked towards the source, it being the figure, who shot up straight and reached into their satchel, digging out a small object, it was about the size of the palm of her hand, It was silver with runes engraved around its edge with a small loop of metal at the top through which ran a bit of chord, It projected a screen that was made up of a white background with a series of purple lines and rings a few inches from its surface.
"I'm sorry to have cut this beautiful reunion sort, Celestia, but it seems he is finally making his move" the figure spoke up with a tone of apology as they pulled down their hood with their free hand, revealing a female face with slightly tanned skin, slightly rough tomboyish black with white-streaked hair just touching her shoulders and soft blue with a bit of grey coloured eyes, with most of the ponies noticing her ears weren't like their own. She walked over to the princesses and passed her satchel to Celestia, who surprisingly took it without fuss with her magic and a smile, which the woman returned and gave one to Luna as well, who seemed to duck slightly behind her sister at the unknown being in front of her.
"I completely understand Shadowguard, we will catch up after the present matters are dealt with" Celestia replied with an understanding smile, but received confused looks from everypony else "sister who is this that speaks to you in a common way as though you are old associates?" Luna asked still holding close to her sisters' side.
"yea we want to know as well, we've been travelling with her all this time and only know her as the Guardian that showed up a year ago" Rainbow Dash spoke up saying what the rest were thinking "I did mention to Twilight in my latter about her" Celestia replied looking to her apprentice "wait, SHE is the friend you wrote about?" said mentioned pony spoke up.
"Sorry to say but as much as I would like to explain you will have to talk about me without me because here it comes!" Shadowguard announced and just in time as well, because just as she did so a dark shadow raised from the ground around the broken remains of Nightmare Moon's armour, raising it, restoring it and moulding around it, soon taking on a dark form that was familiar to all present.
They looked just like Nightmare Moon only with harsh differences, her hand were slightly larger wither menacing claws that looked as though they could tear through stone, with matching claws on her feet, the wings were now demonic bat-like, and her teeth had all become pointed and sharp, and her eyes were now pure white
"N-Nightmare Moon!? But I thought Princess Luna was Nightmare Moon?" Twilight spoke up in fear and confusion as everypony backed up slightly, Celestia pulling a slightly scared Luna closer to her in a protective hold, while Shadowguard stood her ground and simply handed the silver object over to said sun Princess without taking her eyes off the being before them "she was, but that's not Luna, it's not even Nightmare Moon, its what's called a Shadow Beast, it must have been formed with the remaining leftover dark energy that was expelled from Luna being purified" Shadowguard explained as she watched the snarling duplicate flex its claws ready to fight.
"well whatever it is, we'll just blast it away like before!" exclaimed Rainbow Dash getting the other five to nod in agreement and prepared to use the Elements again "no" only to be stopped by Shadowguard's voice "whatever do you mean dear, we simply must blast that beast back to where it belongs!" Rarity said in confusion.
"You can't. The Elements of harmony may be powerful but they would do little to nothing against it" Shadowguard explained as she walked forward a few steps towards the Shadow Beast "then what do you reckon we do then?" Applejack spoke up wanting to know what they could do to stop this monster as Shadowguard came to a stop between the group and the Beast.
*Start: Fall Out Boy - Centuries*
*Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du...*
"There is not much you can do, but that's why I am here. I was chosen to take care of them, so have faith in me!" she replied with a slight smile pushing her cloak flaps behind her shoulders to her back, revealing a handful of minor scars across her exposed body as well as her not having a tail and her cutie mark as she got into a fighting stance, the left side of her body towards the SB (Shadow Beast) with fists clenched, her feet spread to shoulder width, knees bent slightly, feet pointing straight ahead while on the balls of her right foot with heal upwards, her right elbow and forearm close to her body, left arm and forearm placed slightly in front of her body, head slightly tilted forward with the chin near her collarbone and her body was loose but slightly tense in anticipation while slightly bouncing, the stance was foreign to the ponies but the SB took this as a threat, roared and then charged at Shadow with great speed.
*Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries*
The SB was upon Shadow in seconds swinging its claws at her, only for Shadow to lean backwards out of its reach, this did not deter it as it kept swinging only for Shadow to weave, bend and dodge all the strikes while not taking her eyes off of it. This just enraged the SB, resulting in it bringing both its claws down onto the girl, impacting and creating a giant dust cloud, making the main six and Luna gasp in horror for their friend.
Only for the dust to clear showing Shadow with her arms crossed above her head blocking the claws in their tracks and slight cracks in the stone floor beneath her feet, shocking all but the princesses at her being unharmed from the strike.
*And just one mistake
Is all it will take
We'll go down in history
Remember me for centuries*
Shadow looked up with a small smirk towards the SB before saying "my turn" then pushed her crossed arms up with a mighty push throwing the SB's clawed arms above its head before delivering a solid right hook to its stomach, making it bend forward only to be punched back up by Shadow's other fist to the chin and then a spinning kick to its head sending it twirling backwards a few feet away before catching its balance and going on the attack again.
Jabbing out with its claws the SB attempted to skewer Shadow's head only for her claws to clip a few strands of hair as Shadow ducked out the way and come back up with a knee to its stomach, but the SB countered with a claw swipe to Shadows stomach leaving a few light claw marks and pushing Shadow back enough for it to deliver its own kick to Shadows right side, who was barely able to pull her arms up to block, sending her rolling across the ground then through an old pillar causing it to crumble and crash down as she landed behind it.
*He-e-e-ey ya, oh he-e-e-ey
He-e-e-ey ya
Remember me for centuries*
Shadow was just barely able to get her senses back when she had to roll out of the way of a clawed foot impacting the stone floor where her head once was, as the SB had jumped from its previous spot to high into the air trying to stomp onto her head, causing the stone to be crushed beneath its clawed foot.
Shadow quickly rolled to her feet and turned with a punch that impacted the SB's own clawed punch, the impact which caused a slight tremor throughout the building and deep cracks in the stone around the two, something that Shadow took notice of. "it's not safe to go all out here" Shadow remarked out loud in thought, then turned her fist into a grab and pulled the SB towards her and spun it around a few times to get momentum, then let it go making it go tumbling across the room, but it soon flipped to its feet ready to strike back, only to get a hard right hook to the face and go smashing through the glass of a large window and outside.
*Mummified my teenage dreams
No, it's nothing wrong with me
The kids are all wrong
The story's all off
Heavy metal broke my heart*
Shadowguard crouched down slightly before sprinting to the broken window and jumping through it after the Shadow Beast, leaving behind a mostly shocked group of ponies at her and the beast's fight and actions.
"Sister, what that young girl said, is it true? Is that truly a Shadow Beast?" the silence was broken by Luna's questioning voice to her sister "I'm afraid so dear sister, what we feared most is coming to pass, the entity is returning" Celestia replied with a serious face which gave the main six a shiver "then we must help her, she cannot possibly hope to defeat that beast" Luna stated about ready to go after the two.
"It is alright dear sister, our champion can do it, have faith in her" Celestia said stopping Luna in her tracks and looking at her sister in confusion "but we never got the chance to summon our champion" Luna stated confused "your right, we didn't, but we will" Celestia replied using her magic to summon a scroll floating in midair next to her, it only took a moment but Luna let out a "[gasp]" at seeing the royal seal upon it "that's our seal, but we never-" "no we didn't, but we will, and Shadowguard is proof of that" Celestia said cutting of Luna "but all that will be explained later, for now, we must keep track of those two, come," the sun princess remarked and made her way down and out of the old building with Luna and a still confused group of ponies following behind them.
*Come on, come on and let me in
The bruises on your thighs like my fingerprints
And this is supposed to match
The darkness that you felt
I never meant for you to fix yourself*
As Shadowguard free fell from jumping out of the window she looked out for the Shadow Beast, only to get struck from the left by a dark blur causing her to spin slightly in her fall and for her staff to go flying, then get struck again to the face making her backflip mid-air then get struck in the back straight down into the ground with great force making a small crater upon impact.
Shadow slowly pushed herself up causing dirt and stone to roll off her back while cringing in slight pain with a slight shake of her head to clear it, she looked around for her target, taking note of the forest nearby, and saw the Shadow Beast above her in-flight "forgot she had wings" she muttered to herself only for the SB to charge at her, making Shadow quickly jump and roll to the side, resulting in the SB impacting into the small crater she had just made only for it to become slightly bigger, but the SB quickly burst out from the ground and rubble then shot towards Shadow.
*Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du...*
Shadow bent completely backwards while placing her hands on the ground and bringing her right leg up to connect with the SB's back as its claws went over her and just barely missed her waist, causing it to go flying forwards slightly while Shadow saw her staff just off to the side sticking up while half implanted into the ground, Shadow then spun on her planted hands doing a handstand spin before pushing off the ground with them towards the SB, impacting her heels into its back between its bat wings and springboarding off making the SB go crashing into a tree as she rolled forwards grabbing and freeing her staff from the ground, coming to her feet while spinning around and extending her staff to a full 6ft length with its markings glowing slightly before diming again as she spun, just in time to strike the SB that had recovered and flew straight at her with claws and teeth bared.
Knocking the SB to the side slightly Shadow quickly spun her staff in her hands and poised it at the ready just as the SB got its bearings, turning back to Shadow with a deep growl before roaring out and charging again.
*Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries
And just one mistake
Is all it will take
We'll go down in history
Remember me for centuries*
The group of ponies came down just in time to see Shadow bash and swipe the SB's claw strikes and kick slashes away from her before standing herself and her staff straight as the SB went for a double claw strike only to have its claws go sailing past either side of Shadow, who then twisted and spun her staff like a pinwheel, forcing the SB's arms to crossover each other before giving a strong solid kick to its mid-section sending it flying backwards with a grunt.
The SB stood back up with slightly shaky arms before roaring to the heavens and causing black clouds to suddenly form overhead casting darkness over the once sun-filled sky, with bolts of lightning flashing here and there across the darkened sky.
*He-e-e-ey ya, oh he-e-e-ey
He-e-e-ey ya
Remember me for centuries*
As everypony looked up at the sudden change in weather Shadow only speared it a moment's glance before focusing on the SB, which gave a devious smirk with its razor-sharp teeth before raising its left arm to the heavens and glowed slightly with magic from its horn, before a thunderous lightning bolt struck down to its raised arm, lightning now sparking over its body as it stared at Shadow, who just figured out what it was doing and leapt to the left just as the SB raised its right arm towards her and a burst of lightning shot from its right claws towards Shadows previous location, causing the land to burst in a small explosion with bits of earth falling all around.
This caused everypony to cry out in shock and fear while Shadow continued to run in a wide circle around the SB as it began shooting multiple bursts of lightning at her with lightning continuing to strike its raised arm like a lightning rod, Shadow took note of it's still raised arm and picked up a small stone that she quickly and expertly flicked at the SB's raised arm while still running, knocking it slightly just as another bolt of lightning came down but missed the knocked arm causing the bolt to hit the ground next to the SB making the earth explode slightly causing the SB to stumble slightly "that's it, she can't focus the lightning without it striking her arm to power said attacks" Shadow mused to herself as she quickly changes her rounding run to a charge straight towards the SB.
*And I can't stop 'til the whole world knows my name
'Cause I was only born inside my dreams
Until you die for me, as long as there's a light, my shadow's over you
'Cause I, I am the opposite of amnesia
And you're a cherry blossom
You're about to bloom
You look so pretty, but you're gone so soon*
This action received cries from most of the ponies as they called for her to change course, which she didn't, even as the SB got its bearings and started shooting a barrage of lightning shots at Shadow who weaved around them while still running forwards, she was struck by a few bolts as she got closer though, one to the right arm that held her staff, one to her left shoulder, another to the right hip and a final one to her left foot, but even so she kept going until she was but a short distance away then launched her staff like a spear which jabbed the end into the SB's stomach, enough to knock some wind out of it and lose its hold on the lightning above until Shadow closed the gap then gave a palm strike the other end of the staff making it impact deeper into the SB sending it shooting back as its breath was completely knocked out of it as Shadow grabbed her staff back with a twirl of her fingers.
The SB was very angry now as it got back up, only to kneel slightly then burst upwards into the sky where it took flight once again. It flew high in the air in a wide circle before closing in and going faster, picking up speed until a vortex of wind began to form "uh-oh, everypony hold onto something!" shouted Rainbow Dash by the group as she realized what was coming and everypony grabbed onto something tightly as a giant hurricane formed from the SB's actions, all except Shadowguard who didn't have anything to grasp while also being too close to it, so she stuck her staff deep into the ground in an attempt to halt her movements for the moment.
*Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du...*
It was working for a moment before an old large tree branch came tumbling at her at high speeds, to avoid taking too much damage Shadow had to release her staff from the ground, causing her to fly back with the wind and place her feet onto the oncoming branch like a surfboard, riding into the hurricane with a slight tumble through the wind.
As Shadowguard rode into the swirling vortex of wind she looked around her watching out for oncoming debris in the harsh winds, ducking, blocking and dodging stones, earth and branches that came from any direction, but she failed to spot the SB before it was too late and got blindsided from behind sending her hurtling off the tree branch in a wild spin into the chaotic winds once again losing her staff from the impact making it go flying into the winds.
*Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries
And just one mistake
Is all it will take
We'll go down in history
Remember me for centuries*
Shadow did what she could to control herself in the harsh winds but every time she managed to she got hit by the SB from a different direction, as she got hit for the fourth time Shadow took note of the area below her and a crazy plan came to mind, she didn't have much time to think on it however as she noticed the SB was coming at her again. Shadow waited as the SB came straight at her and then as it came within a few feet of her she unclipped her cloak and spun it into the speeding SB, covering the top half of its body, blinding it but still getting impacted by its claws, sending Shadow flying out of the tornado and straight towards the forest at a downwards angle.
As Shadow quickly approached the tree she flipped herself so her legs went first and landed on a large tree branch, which bent almost halfway around the trunk of the tree, surprisingly not snapping from the strain, Shadow quickly turned around so she was facing forwards just as the tree branch snapped back into place, launching her up and forwards at a fast speed, it was unfortunate that it wasn't the right height to reach the still cloak struggling SB in mid-air inside the still magically active tornado, but that wasn't a problem as Shadow had shot past the hurricane and towards the old castle building she and the SB had once been in, impacting the wall feet first leaving a giant indent in it before pushing with great strength in her legs and through the air like a shot, causing the wall to crumble a little, and straight up to the SB.
*He-e-e-ey ya, oh he-e-e-ey
He-e-e-ey ya
Remember me for centuries*
The SB had finally removed the cloak from its body only not to notice Shadowguard coming straight at it from behind until it was too late and received a double punch to its back and wings, making it lose its concentration of the hurricane resulting in its dispersing as the two fighters shot back towards the ground in the forest area, impacting into branches and trees before their grip on one another loosened and they crashed into the ground separately a good distance from each other.
Meanwhile, the group of ponies let go of whatever they were holding onto and quickly made their way closer to see what was going to happen and if Shadowguard was alright while still staying a distance in case the fighting was not done yet, as they did so Fluttershy noticed the lost staff and Rarity her discarded cloak, they picked them up taking them with.
*We've been here forever
And here's the frozen proof
I could scream forever
We are the poisoned youth*
Shadow shakily got to her hands and knees after the crash with a small hiss of pain, she gently touched a cut that was now on the left side of her forehead with a small trace of blood running down from it to her left eye as she slowly got to her feet [boom!] only for the SB to once again burst from its own crashed area ahead of her, but Shadow could tell it was nearly beat as it was panting and hunched slightly.
The SB raised its wings to once again take flight "[row!]" only to yell out in annoyance as its left wing barely lifted halfway up, being damaged from Shadow's last attack and then the impact doing it in, meaning it was now grounded with limited movement within the forest, this got a small smirk from Shadow which the SB got angry at as it then roared out with its horn glowing, making rocks, boulders and a few trees levitate up around it before they burst into smaller pieces and rotated to point towards Shadowguard.
*Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du du-du, du du du-du
Du du...*
Shadow let out a breath as she stood up and just stood there for a moment with her eyes closed, a moment passed before the SB let out a thunderous roar and launched the hovering objects one after another towards Shadow at high speeds, said hero snapped open her eyes then charged at a fast run straight towards the SB, getting cries of shock from the group of ponies as the princesses raised a magical protective shield dome, protecting them all from any stray shots.
As Shadow ran she weaved, jumped and ducked any oncoming shots as best she could, to the left away from a spear of wood, to the right away from three small boulders, ducked and roll forward under a wave of stones, but even so, she was still hit and nicked from those she could not see or dodge in time, a rock to her left side, a tree branch scraping her right shoulder, nearly falling on her face from a bolder just nicking her right leg leaving a cut along the side, but even so, she still kept running with eyes locked on her target.
*Some legends are told
Some turn to dust or to gold
But you will remember me
Remember me for centuries
And just one mistake
Is all it will take
We'll go down in history
Remember me for centuries*
As she got closer the SB gained more rage and started launching more of its surroundings at the closing in Shadow, who slide under a tree branch, then just as a boulder came upon her she leapt onto said object and then onto a still-planted tree's trunk to the right then leapt off onto another tree to the left while bending in an arch avoiding sharps wooden shrapnel and bowling ball-sized rocks, she did this a few more times getting closer until she was just a few feet away from the SB.
Shadow jumped onto an approaching airborne tree, running along its length then jumping high into the air, where the SB shot the remaining bombardment of its improvised ammunition along with magical blasts from its horn up at Shadow, who flipped, rolled, ducked and dodged like a monkey swinging from projectile to projectile and towards the ground like an eagle diving.
*He-e-e-ey ya, oh he-e-e-ey
He-e-e-ey ya
Remember me for centuries*
As Shadowguard got closer the SB summoned a huge amount of magic into its horn making it glow like a beacon and pulse with immense power, with a final roar it let loose the intense magical beam right towards Shadow, blasting and vaporizing all the debris in its path.
As the beam approached Shadowguard was barely able to move to the right, avoiding getting hit but her left arm got a bit burnt from the raw energy, Shadow soon came within a few feet of the SB as she touched back down on the ground just as the SB's magical beam tapped off and rolled forward, drawing her right fist back she delivered an almighty punch to the SB with a yell, sending it rocketing backwards with incredible force that made the wind blast around it and impact into a tree with a great [slam!] having it become slightly indented into said tree.
*We'll go down in history
Remember me for centuries*
The SB twitched for a moment before its head fell forwards and didn't move a muscle afterwards.
*End: Fall Out Boy - Centuries*
for a moment all was quiet, except for Shadow's slight panting, then there was a cheer from the group of ponies that made their way towards Shadow after the Princesses put down their shield, moving around debris as they approached Shadow who shaky stood up and tip slightly to the side but kept herself standing with a light smile as the dark clouds above began to slowly disperse.
"THAT WAS AMAZING! The way you wham-pow! Then zoom-crashed! And ca-boosh!" exclaimed Pinkie Pie as she suddenly appeared next to Shadow with a large grin, making sounds to imitate the battle they had all seen while also throwing two punches and a kick which made her fall on her back only to instantly be back on her feet with a still wide smile "it was the most super-duper-incredible-ultimately stupendous thing I. have. Ever. SEEN! Just like earlier today when I first saw Twilight and was like all [gasp] and had to go off and-and-and [huff] [gasp] [huff]" at this point Pinkie was losing her breath from how fast and amazed she was talking.
"I think we all get the idea sweetie, now please calm down and take a breath" Rarity spoke up calming Pinkie down slightly so she could take some needed breaths "but she is correct dear, that was truly an awe-inspiring display of strength and grace in how you battled that beast" Rarity stated with a smile to Shadow "that was truly impressive, I don't think any of us could have done such a thing," Twilight remarked as she walked up just beside Rarity.
"Yea! I may have never seen fighting like that but that was downright impressive, and that's coming from me" Rainbow Dash stated as she hovered down to the ground next to the forming group "Rainbows right, that was quite the show you put on fighting that thing, how are you by the way, I hope you're not too banged up?" Applejack asked as she and Fluttershy joined in with Fluttershy also asking if she was okay with a soft caring concerned look, but Shadow didn't get a chance to answer as Celestia and Luna came upon the group "well-done Shadowguard, you have truly gotten stronger since our last meeting, my sister and I would have had great difficulty to subdue, let alone defeat, that beast even with the Elements to assist us, you truly are our champion and chosen, though you took quite a few hits as Applejack mentioned, do you need some medical attention?" Celestia asked with slight concern about Shadow's injuries.
Shadow was about to answer "hahahaha" but was cut off by a deep slow evil chuckle that filled the air, sending shivers down all but Shadowguard, Celestia and Luna's spines, everypony looked to the source of the dark laughter, it being the embedded Shadow Beast.
The SB raised its head to look at the group, revealing its eyes had become blacker than the darkest shadow, making most of the group back up slightly, Shadow stood her ground though "so…this is the chosen champion that wishes to beat me…I must confess, I am slightly impressed, but not by much given past experience" the dark voice from the SB said looking at Shadowguard "and you must be the entity that was sealed away, correct?" Shadow replied not backing down.
"well you are smart and brave to speak to me without fear I'll give you that, but your struggles are futile, the gears are in motion, I shall be freed from this realm and you cannot stop it" the entity stated " … you know what I can't talk to you like this, I can't call you "entity" forever" Shadow stated making everypony nearly stumble at her blatant disregard to the events going on around them "from now on let's call you Void, because that's what you are trying to do, bring all of existence into a dark void"
"…a simple but not untrue name, Lord Void is a perfect title for your destroyer, now back to business, you may have beaten my Shadow Beast this time but you shall not win forever, there will come a time you shall fall, one way or another. So, enjoy your fleeting victory while it lasts, for soon you shall know despair and darkness." The now named Void declared with his voice passing over all like a looming shadow of despair, but they noticed that the SB that Void was speaking through was beginning to disintegrate into dark wisps of shadows "it seems our time of talking is coming to a close, but before the connection with this Beast ends, I ask this only out of the mild respect you have earned this day for your small victory, what is your name?"
"Me? I am the guard that protects those from the dark shadows. I make sure others can sleep in peace at night and play without fear during the day. I am the one that shall stand in your way and fight all that you send. I am Shadowguard and you will not win." Shadowguard declared without fear and stood tall at the fading SB.
"Mmm, Shadowguard…I have heard your name and shell remember it chosen champion, for the day you shell fall beneath me or my Shadow Beasts, but till then I await our next confrontation! Haha-hahaha!" and with those parting words and haunting laugh, the Shadow Beast and Voids voice faded away into nothingness, leaving behind an empty indent in the tree and everypony alone in the quiet forest.
"and I'll be ready" Shadowguard stated only to suddenly cringe in slight pain and topple to the side falling towards the ground, only for Applejack to grab hold of her and steady her with an arm around her shoulders "Woah, easy there partner, you put up quite the fight," she remarked with a smile that Shadow returned as the dark clouds complete faded, leaving the clear sun-filled sky once again.
"my friend, you have indeed fought a brave fight, but now you must rest and heal" Celestia spoke up with a gentle smile as Applejack helped Shadowguard to a toppled tree to sit down on "the princess is right, we have to treat your injuries" Fluttershy spoke up as she and rarity placed Shadows staff and cloak beside her and started checking her over "injuries?" Shadow quietly asked herself but was still heard resulting in Celestia summoning a full-length mirror so she was able to look at her body as the adrenaline began to wear off.
Looking into the summoned mirror, Shadowguard began to examine her injuries, the first thing she noticed was the many bruises that were forming all over her body from the many harsh impacts she had endured and judging from the pain in her ribs at least one or two were cracked, the next thing she noticed was the cuts that were still bleeding the worst of which were the four cuts on her stomach courtesy of the beast's claws, though there was also a cut on her forehead just above her left eye which was still bleeding into it causing her vision to blur, with one last cut on her leg from the grazing blow from the boulder, the last thing she noticed was the slightly black scorch burn marks on her right arm, left shoulder, right hip and her left foot where she had been struck by the beast's lightning, with a 2nd degree burn on half of the back of her left forearm being the worst from when she had barely avoided its final attack.
"ah well that explains the pain I'm starting to feel, must have been too busy…to…notice…" Shadow began to say until her voice trailed off as her mind caught up with her surroundings, her surroundings being the eight beautiful naked females around her and her naked state making her blush completely red and turn her head away from the group, making all but one confused at her actions.
"[giggles] don't tell me you are still shy about your state of body my friend," Celestia remarked with a slight sly mischievous smile that didn't go unnoticed by all present, least of all Shadow who seemed to blush slightly more at her comment.
"I'm a lot better now than I was before, so don't give me that sunshine!" Shadow rebuked trying to defend herself "so it's just the fact you surrounded by cute and pretty girls that got you going red then?" Celestia stated making Shadow somehow blush harder and glare at her but the pouting she gave with her red face just made the sun princess laugh in amusement.
Meanwhile the rest of the group just openly stared with gaping mouths at the banter of the two, none of them believing that the princess was being so cheeky and teasing while the mysterious fighter bantered with her so openly like it was nothing!
"Okay, that's it! I'm sorry princess but this takes the cake, I got to know! you talk as though your old friends, she fights better than anyone I've ever read about and fought a creature with an evil voice coming out of it, which you said would have been greatly difficult for yourself and Princess Luna to do even with the Elements, like it was nothing! Just who is she?!" Twilight exclaimed to her teacher and pulled at her hair with frustration at not knowing something of this magnitude.
Celestia did stop giggling a moment after her students cry of frustration, waving a hand over the sitting Shadow making a small glow of magic shine from her horn to lightly coat the young fighter, cleaning her wounds, bandaging them and numbing her injuries for the moment, knowing that they would need a proper look at later but would do for now until they got back to town.
"Patients my dear student, first off Shadowguard here is as she appears, but with the added knowledge she is from another dimension sent by myself and Luna's future selves to the past one year ago" … there was a moment of stunned silence and large wide eyes from all but Shadowguard, Luna and Celestia at said ponies remark.
"nice Celestia, you just had to make it more complex," Shadow remarked making the princess smile with a slight blush as her own died down "okay let's walk back to town and I'll start from the beginning," Shadow said as she slowly got up with the help of Fluttershy and Applejack steadying her and helping her put on her cloak, staff and satchel that Celestia returned "yes it is true I'm from another dimension but it all started at the end of my school day when I started my trackback to my place of residence… " Shadow started explaining as they began their trackback to Ponyville.
As they travelled Shadowguard explained, along with Celestia, about how and why she was brought here by future Celestia and Luna from her dimension, about the entity's, now named Void, history, plans as well as his Shadow Beasts, which got some fearful looks until they were calmed by the princesses and Shadow saying he would not return for a long while yet. she also mentioned that she does know one timeline, but made sure that they understood that her knowledge was to one timeline that has already changed from what she knows, the changes being the body aspects of the species, ponies and such, being different than what she had seen along with her and Voids involvement as well as they weren't present in the timeline she had seen, so it may be completely off from her knowledge, and even if it wasn't she won't mention what's to come unless the need arises. She went on to say how she agreed to help when she didn't need to and that she was sent back to the present a year ago with the items she still has with her so she could adjust and have time to train, which she spent in the Everfree forest, which lead to her saving and leading stray wandering ponies that came into the forest back to the town, thus creating the tale of the Guardian the ponies have come to know in the past year.
"…and that's how I came here and why I decided to stay, to do what I can to help and protect" Shadow finished her tale as they saw Ponyville just off in the distance, gaining enraptured attention and looks from most of the group "so wait, you knew what was going to happen while we were looking for the Elements, but didn't do anything?" Rainbow Dash asked speaking up.
"I did but also didn't, as I mentioned I didn't know if things would have changed too much by just being there so I had to be careful and if I had interfered and changed things then the traits you all have wouldn't have been shown, resulting in Twilight not realizing the truth of the Elements and not being able to defeat Nightmare Moon" Shadow explained getting wide eyes in the realization of what could have happened "but you had nothing to worry about, if something had happened that shouldn't have or placed you in danger or I can change without fear of the future changing too much then I would have stepped in, so there is no need to worry about the "what ifs" or "could be's" or what could happen in the future, leave those things to me and do what you feel is right, have faith in me and yourselves," Shadow said with conviction calming the ponies down.
"Wow, I can't even begin to understand the burden you carry or what you are going through, I only just came to understand friendship and yet now I can't imagine myself without my friends, you must miss yours a lot," Twilight said with sad eyes to Shadow who gave a soft smile before replying "it's not as bad as you think, I didn't have any friends in my world, to begin with," she said with a slight shrug, resulting in the other's eyes going wide in shock.
"Wait, how could you NOT have friends!?" exclaimed Pinkie Pie coming up next to Shadow "your strong, smart, good-looking, kind, caring, considerate, thoughtful and a whole lot of other stuff, how could anyone not want to be your friend?" "I must agree dear, to consider you not having friends seems impossible" Rarity spoke up after Pinkie agreeing with her as Shadow gave a light blush at the "good looking" remark.
"well it's not that I didn't want any friends, I just didn't have the time" Shadow replied getting slightly confused looks "I did have those I considered acquaintances but not friends, you see while Twilight here didn't consider friendship much until coming here, I on the other hand treasured friendship, but I had a lot of things to do and goals to achieve, from studying to training and doing what was right, I just didn't get the chance to form friendships, no matter how much I wanted to, there just wasn't time" Shadow explained with a soft smile at the memories of her going to school, the library and other such places but not getting to relax much.
"Man, that sounds so constricting and tough, you really didn't get a chance to make any friends?" Rainbow asked with a slight frown at how someone like Shadow not gaining any friends "afraid not. But that's okay. I may not have been able to make friends in my former home, but I'm happy I'm able to here, first with the princesses, then with those in this forest and now you girls, so thank you" Shadow stated with a caring happy smile that made them blush slightly and smile back as they continued on.
"By the way, shouldn't you place the Elements somewhere safe?" Shadow asked looking to Celestia and Luna indicating towards said powerful artefacts still being worn by the mane six "ah yes, you are correct, let us take care of that now" Celestia replied using her magic to lift the Elements from the girls then teleports them away with a small flash of magical light.
Shadow nodded as they all continued "so I got to ask, but what's the difference between our world and your own, also why do you blush so much and the princess's comment before?" Twilight spoke up asking her questions with a slight hop in her step at the possibility of gaining new knowledge.
This got a slight chuckle from Shadow as she answered "well first off I want to admit my world not only isn't as peaceful as yours but it is also a bit prudish. You see where your world can find peace with talking most of the time mine kind of has a stubborn prideful streak where the leaders of the different lands can't admit when they are wrong or help one another out of pure goodness, don't get me wrong there are those that do try to do the best out of simple goodness but the past is sown with many dark deeds that many do not wish or want to let go" she explained with a slight shack of her head "one of the faults with humanity I suppose, that's our species, by the way, evolved apes, Homo Sapiens, we are considered the only sentient life on our planet, named earth or terra by others, where your world has real magic ours does not or has become extinct, just sleight of hand things these days, though there is one who could have real magic, but it's never been proven, we mostly have evolved our technology to the point of travelling to other planets, but that is mediocre at best. As for why we are prudish as I mentioned before…well…I don't know when but it was when we first started as a species and started becoming intelligent over centuries of evolution, too bad many wars came of it, but we got self-conscious about our bodies, and we started to cover up and hide ourselves, at one point it was called a beastly act to show a good portion of skin and not have it under a mountain of clothes, it's only in the past 200 years or so that such things have been thrown out the window and much more revealing, some called scandalous, clothes are being worn by younger adults. So, I blush because I am still getting used to having my body in complete view for all to see, I have gotten better than when I first arrived but I still tend to blush even though I am proud of my body" Shadow finished explaining with a faint blush across her cheeks.
"wow I never thought such a society would exist, no wonder you blush so easily," Twilight remarked with interest and slight understanding "though your world sounds amazing and frightening…you mentioned wars, I hope you don't mind me asking, but how many?" "too many, its history is nothing but manly war, even in the modern-day they still had wars going on in the background, only instead of mass destruction it was silent and in the shadows" Shadow replied with a grim tone before brightening with her next words "but your world truly is a gem, magic with a good little mix of science and humble lifestyle, truly something you should all treasure, I am honoured to be in such a place and to call it my new home, hopefully, I can give advice on what shouldn't be invented in times to come" she stated with a lighter tone making them all smile and nod in agreement.
"I hope ya don't mind me asking this, but what about your folks, won't they worry about y'all?" Applejack asked Shadow, who in turn was about to answer "Princess!" until a shout called not far from the group, they all looked ahead to see a group of five royal pegasus guards come flying up to them and once in front of them they landed and bowed on one knee before the princesses.
"Princess Celestia, it is good to see you well, we have all been most concerned with your disappearance at the believed hand of the one called Nightmare Moon" the lead guard spoke up, relief in his voice clear at the return of their princess.
"thank you for your deep concern my guard, but I would not be here now if not for these brave six young ponies, who trekked through the terrors of the Everfree forest to find the ancient Elements of Harmony and then defeat said Nightmare Moon" Celestia replied gaining the guard's attention as they looked up and towards said young ponies and their strange cloaked companion "I see, in that case, you have our humble thanks for saving the princess" the guard spoke as he and the other guards bowed their heads slightly before coming to stand once again.
As they did so the lead guard noticed Luna standing to the side just behind Celestia and taking note of her Alicorn status "Princess if it is not out of my place to ask, but who might the Alicorn beside you be?" the guard asked the princess towards the pony of the moon, which had Celestia smile slightly and gently push Luna forward so they were beside one another before replying "this is my sister, Princess Luna, who was corrupted into becoming Nightmare Moon by darkness but has returned to us, to me, once more of sound mind and heart thanks again to the ponies before you" she explained taking the guards by slight surprise before bowing to Luna who looked somewhat surprised "that is indeed good news Princess, it is good to have you both returned" the guard said before he and the others raised up once again.
Celestia smiled at the guard's words but then took notice of Shadowguard, who was slightly swaying and had a small grimace of pain on her face, signs that her injuries were affecting her more now than before, they would need to get her looked at and rested soon, the others could do with a rest and checkup as well "solder, it seems that our companions are tired and in need of medical attention, would you please send word to Ponyville that we shall be arriving and for a carriage to be sent for us" Celestia requested to the lead guard who gave a look to said others and nodded while saying "of course Princess, you two go to the town and do as the Princesses requires, spread the word of the Princesses return, have a doctor on standby and bring a carriage or two for the Princesses and their companions to ride in, posthaste" he ordered two of the guards who gave quick nodes before taking flight at quick speeds.
Celestia nodded in thanks to the guard before turning to the slightly swaying human "I think you should sit down friend, you look as though you are about to collapse" remarked Celestia as she and the guard came over to said girl as Applejack gently took hold of her left shoulder to help steady her "I could do with a moments rest now that you bring it up Celestia" Shadow spoke up and took a slight step only for her knee to give out and for Applejack and the Guard to catch her before faceplanting into the ground.
"here, allow us to assist you" the guard spoke up helping Shadow back up with Applejack and helping her over to a chair Celestia summoned at that moment for her to rest on "t-thank you" Shadow thanked with a slight stutter and blush at the guard and Applejack as she was placed down in the seat "your welcome hon," Applejack remarked with a smile "indeed, though I must ask, what could have done such damage to harm you in this way?" the guard questioned getting a better look at Shadows injuries.
"It was a Shadow Beast, manifested from the dark remnants of Nightmare Moon leftover from Luna being purified" Celestia answered for the guard gaining his and the remaining guard's attention "a Shadow Beast? But I thought those were a mere pony tale to frighten the young and keep recruits on their hoofs?" the lead guard spoke up getting a head shake from the Princess "I'm afraid they are all too real, my sister and I can attest to that from our time in the great battle, as well as the confirmation that the entity, now named Void, is returning" Celestia stated in a serious voice.
"It's true, we all saw it appear and then the battle between it and Shadowguard" Twilight spoke up getting the guards' attention "not to mention that frightening discussion with that Void character through that Beast" Rarity added with a shiver at remembering that being's presence alone not to mentions its dark voice.
"then what you say is indeed true Princess, in that case, I should send word to all the guards across Equestria and prepare for this Void's next attack at once-" "there will be no need for that my loyal guard" Celestia spoke up cutting off the guard making him confused "with all due respect princess we need to be ready for when this Void attacks again, why would you halt such actions?" the guard asked trying to understand his princesses motives.
"as harsh as it may sound, we cannot defeat Void, even when my sister and I with the combined effort of every creature of shape and size fought against him long ago it was for not, we barely harmed him let alone defeated him, trying again at this point would be both a waste of effort and plague many minds with worry. He is also not strong enough to leave his prison yet, this will give us time to calmly figure out how to beat him when the time of his return comes" Celestia stated making the guards understand her reasoning.
"But what of the Shadow Beasts? If he can send one then he could no doubt send others, maybe even more powerful than this recent one" the guard replied getting some nodes of understanding and slight fear at the prospect of another of those Beasts but stronger "that is why my sister and I summoned Shadowguard, she is the only one capable of dealing damage and defeating them along with their master" Celestia revealed indicating towards the resting girl.
The guard looked to the aforementioned young lady before looking back to his princess "I mean no disrespect your majesty, but how can she accomplish such acts where you, yourself cannot?" he respectfully questioned "no disrespect taken and as for the how there are two factors for how she can do so, the first id the summoning spell used allows for the chosen champion to have a small piece of pure magical light energy which allows them to fight the Shadow Beasts and Void on an equal footing by negating their resistance to damage. You see Void and his creations are made of pure darkness, while everything else is both light and dark, this results in barely if anything being able to harm him or them, no matter how strong the light spell may be. But with the pure magical light energy inside Shadowguard, she has the chance of beating them, while the rest of the world would barely do anything to them" Celestia explained getting not only nodes from the guards but the others present as well "and the second-factor princess?" Twilight spoke up.
"That would be my cutie mark" Shadow spoke up grabbing their attention "how does your cutie mark count as an advantage?" Rainbow Dash asked with confusion "well for one, my species don't have them" Shadow stated getting surprised looks "and second, take a closer look at it" she finished moving to her side slightly so everyone could get a better look while she blushed slightly from them roaming their eyes along her leg.
"I have been meaning to ask but what does your mark mean?" Twilight asked as she gazed closely at said mark, her breath just brushing it enough to send a small tingle through Shadow before answering "it's similar to a gauge or limiter, as we know they show somethings limits, but mine is clearly breaking past the limits, meaning-" "that you can go past the normal limitations that any other being would normally have, effectively making it so you have limitless potential if not no limits at all!" Twilight spoke up in realization cutting Shadow's explanation off who merely smiled while giving a small nod in confirmation and pulled her leg back.
"well I'll be, it seems that you really can face these oncoming threats" the guard admitted with slight awe at the implications of Shadow's abilities along with the others present "indeed, though she is still able to be harmed, but I'm sure she will become stronger to such damages over time" Celestia stated getting a few nodes in understanding before seeing three carriages, one large and two small, fast approaching.
The carriages soon came to a stop beside the group with the guards pulling them letting out a [oaf] like sound "your carriages await my princesses" the guard spoke gesturing to said rides with a slight bow "thank you" Celestia thanked as she and Luna climbed aboard the large carriage, while Shadow raised from her seat and made her way to one of the smaller carriages with the slight help of Applejack and Fluttershy as her former seat was sent away with a bit of magic from Celestia.
Shadow was placed on the carriage between Applejack and Fluttershy with Twilight beside said shy pegasus, while Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie got into the other small carriage, the guards then took off pulling the carriages down the road back towards the town.
After a few minutes of nice riding, they began to make their approach into the town Pinkie Pie spoke up "Hey, you remember what I said this calls for?" the others looked slightly confused until she jumped up out of the carriage with arms up high shouting "A party!" revealing all the decorations around the town, wrapped on the trees, with confetti and streamers suddenly falling down everywhere, as well as the running ponies of Ponyville chasing after them towards the middle of town with music and cheering ponies to be heard everywhere at the return of the brave ponies and their Princesses.
The carriages soon came to a stop allowing for all passengers to disembark with a crowd of partying and joyful ponies all around them, then a wide-awake Spike came running out of the crowd to Twilight and jumped into the unicorn's arms, the pair wrapped each other in a joyful huge at seeing that the other was alright.
Celestia stood tall and radiant in front of everypony with Luna next to her looking down, resulting in all of them bowing to one knee, except for Shadowguard as she was leaning to the side slightly with her slight injuries. Luna was still upset about what had transpired so she didn't look up until two young filly pegasus flew up and placed a neckless made of red and white roses up and around her neck, taking her by slight surprise for a moment before looking to her sister of the sun with a small watery smile that said sister returned with a soft smile of her own.
But just off to the side stood Twilight, looking on for a moment in thought before looking down with sadness, something of which Celestia took notice of as she approached her young student and began speaking "Why so glum, my faithful student? Are you not happy that your quest is complete and you can return to your studies in Canterlot?" she asked getting Twilight's attention before replying sadly.
"That's just it. Just when I learned how wonderful it is to have friends, I have to leave them." Twilight replied as the aforementioned new friends and Spike watched on with their own sad eyes at the fact their new friends would be leaving now that the quest was done.
There was a moment of silence before Celestia spoke up "Spike, take a note, please." Said dragon quickly pulled out a parchment and quill while between Applejack and Fluttershy then began to write down the princesses' words "I, Princess Celestia, hereby decree that the unicorn Twilight Sparkle shall take on a new mission for Equestria. She must continue to study the magic of friendship. She must report to me her findings from her new home in Ponyville." She declared taking Twilight by surprise but smiling in joy as the other main ponies quickly came next to her hugging her from both sides, Pinkie Pie leaning her back against her legs looking at her and Shadow merely giving her a pat on the back, all cheering in joy at their friends staying with confetti and streamers falling all around.
"Oh, thank you, Princess Celestia! I'll study harder than ever before." Twilight stated with joy making the ponies cheer along at her statement.
"and as for you, my old friend" Celestia spoke up towards Shadow "I do not think it is necessary for you to remain in the Everfree forest anymore, so what do you say to moving in with my student here in Ponyville, after your injuries being taken care of that is?" the Princess offered receiving a smile from Shadow as she replied "I believe you are right my friend, I would love to, that is, if you both don't mind an extra housemate?" she said asking Twilight and Spike who shook their heads in reply "we wouldn't mind at all, after all, I still have many questions for you and your home" Twilight replied.
"Alright then, seems I'm here to stay" Shadow stated getting more cheers from everypony in joy, Shadow smiled as she looked up to the blue sky, knowing that the adventure, and battle, had only just begun.
As the camera zoomed out to see all of Ponyville Pinkie Pie suddenly appeared in front of it and started talking hipper and happily "Isn't this exciting? Are you excited cause I'm excited I've never been so excited, well, except for the time that I went [deep gasp] but I mean really-" Pinkie was cut off as the screen closed in turning all into darkness.
707cloud: sorry Pinkie but time is up, and we need to move on to the next chapter/episode, ain't that right mate?
Dragonlord1337: that's right. Thanks for reading this super long chapter that covers episodes 1 and 2 and we hope you enj-[splat!] (gets hit in the face with a pie)
Pinkie Pie: I WANT MORE SCREEN TIME! (Then throws more deserts)
707cloud: what the- (ducks) PINKIE!? How the heck did you get in here?! (dives out of the way of a cupcake)
Dragonlord1337: (removes pie tin from face) hmm good pie. Remember mate she can break the fourth wall. We should have expected something like this (dodges a flying cake)
707cloud: … ah, yes, I nearly forgot that (hides behind the sofa) but what I meant was I didn't think she could get in here! (grabs an airborne cupcake, takes a bit then throws it back)
Pinkie Pie: I am the god of deserts! AND I DEMAND MORE TIME! (pauses and turns to camera) By the way 707cloud and Dragonlord1337 don't own My Little Pony only the oc characters and monsters, enjoy! (turns back to throwing)
707cloud: Pinkie that's our job!
Dragonlord1337: (catches a pan of fudge brownies) anyway folk's thanks for reading and we hope you enjoyed the chapter. Now if you excuse us, we have to deal with Pinkie see you guys soon.
707cloud: mate get down! (Dragonlord1337 ducks as a pie sails overhead hitting the cameras lens with pie) not the camera…
707cloud.
Now to help those that don't know or understand My Little Pony Terms and Phrases here is a list of them for all your benefit.
Single-word terms:
Term - Real term - Example(s) of usage.
"anypony", "anygriffon", "anygriff" - "anybody" - "Does anypony know where I can find an accordion?".
"birth-iversary" - "birthday", "anniversary" - "My birth-iversary's already looking way cooler!".
"businesspony" - "businessperson" - "I hadn't realized you were such a savvy businesspony!".
"colt" - "boy" - "Let's hear it for all our talented fillies and colts.".
"congresspony" - "congressperson" - "What are you doing? Let me out of this right now. My father is a congresspony!".
"cowpony" - "cowboy", "cowgirl" - "Yee-haw! Ride 'em, cowpony!".
"cute-ceañera" - "quinceañera" - "You're still totally invited to my cute-ceañera this weekend.".
"everypony", "everycreature" - "everybody" - "Thank you, everypony, for being here bright and early.".
"filly" - "girl", "lady" - "When I was a little filly and the sun was going down...".
"fillynap", "dragon-nap" - "kidnap" - "Trouble Shoes, you're under arrest for [...] fillynappin'!".
"foal" - "fool"/"baby", "child" - "Stand back, you foals!"/"Two new foals for me to play with?".
"gallop" - "run" - "I have been galloping all overlooking for you.".
"Gesundhoof" - "Gesundheit" - "A firm "Gesundhoof" when I sneeze".
"henchpony" - "henchman" - "To market, henchponies!".
"hoof" - "hand", "arm", "finger", "foot" - "I challenge you to a hoof-wrestle."/"Would you like to try your hoof at a nest?"/"Just put one hoof in front of the other.".
"hooficure" - "manicure", "pedicure" - "I am going for a hooficure and that is that!".
"mailpony" - "mailman" - "I wish the mailpony would just come already!".
"mare" - "girl", "lady", "woman" - "I would stroll through the gala, and everyone would wonder, 'Who is that mysterious mare?'".
"mare-trimony" - "matrimony" - "Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to join these two in mare-trimony.".
"month-iversary" - "month", "anniversary" - "Happy month-iversary to you and you today!".
"neighsayer" - "naysayer" - "It seems we have some neighsayers in the audience.".
"nopony" - "nobody" - "I don't need no help from nopony!".
"Pegasister" - "Pegasus", "sister" - "No sweat, my Pegasisters and dragon boyz.".
"Pegassistance" - "assistance" - "Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, a little Pegassistance?".
"pony-pedi" - "mani-pedi" - "I had a pony-pedi and I am not about to chip a hoof because you dislike my style of digging.".
"rocktorate" - "doctorate" - "Maud is heading out to get her rocktorate in rock science...".
"salespony" - "salesperson" - "We're the world-famous Flim Flam Brothers, travelling salesponies nonpareil".
"scaredy-pony", "scaredy-dragon" - "scaredy-cat" - "Don't be such a scaredy-pony.".
"schoolpony" - "schoolboy", "schoolgirl", "schoolchild", "schoolkid" - "She's just a harmless schoolpony engaged in a little harmless gossip.".
"showpony" - "showman", "showgirl" - "Showpony business is tough.".
"snowpony" - "snowman" - "I spy a snowpony!".
"somepony" - "somebody" - "If only somepony hadn't been so pernickety.".
"stallion" - "boy", "man" - "She deserves to have one of the best stallions as her very special somepony.".
"toraindo" - "tornado", "rain".
"trot" - "walk" - "Are we gonna gallop or are we gonna trot!?".
"wingpony" - "wingman" - "After all, Spitfire did make me the leader and you the wingpony.".
"worryworm" - "worrywart" - "Quit bein' such a worryworm and follow your ears!".
Phrases and expressions:
"Attention Horse".
"best mare", "best beast" - "best man" - "You want me to be your best mare?".
"blow your horseshoes off" - "blow your socks off" - "Grade-A, top-notch, five-star, blow-your-horseshoes-off, one-of-a-kind cider!".
"cutie mark" - "beauty mark" - "Today we are going to be talking about cutie marks.".
"fillies and gentlecolts", "mares and gentlecolts" - "ladies and gentlemen" - "Fillies and gentlecolts, may I present for the very first time, Princess Twilight Sparkle!".
"for pony's sake" - "for X's sake" - "for pony's sake, stop sweatin' the small stuff and help me get rid of this thing!".
"goody four-shoes", "goody two-horseshoes" - "goody two-shoes" - "I couldn't risk a goody four-shoes like you giving that ticket away to just anybody.".
"hold your horsefeathers" - "hold your horses" - "Now you hold your horsefeathers, little seed!".
"hoof thing" - "groove thing" - "Who's ready to shake their hoof thang?!".
"mare and colt", "jack and jenny" - "husband and wife", "man and wife" - "I now pronounce you mare and colt.".
"Iron Pony competition" - "Iron Man competition" - "I challenge you to an Iron Pony competition.".
"mane event" - "main event" - "Time for the mane event!".
"old ponies' tale", "old mare's tale" - "old wives' tale" - "Mare in the Moon? But that's just an old ponies' tale.".
"Pin the Tail on the Pony" - "Pin the Tail on the Donkey" - "How about a game of 'Pin the Tail on the Pony'?".
"pony of ceremonies" - "master of ceremonies" - "I have been chosen as pony of ceremonies for the Ponyville Days festival.".
"sonic rainboom" - "sonic boom", "rainbow" - "I could do sonic rainbooms in my sleep.".
"trot to it" - "hop to it" - "Trot to it, ponies!".
"trot of life" - "walk of life" - "I also see so many ponies from all trots of life, brought together by love.".
"what the hay" - "what the heck" - "what the hay is going on?".
"Ziegfilly Follies" - "Ziegfeld Follies" - "I'll be touring all of Equestria with my latest concert, Sapphire Shores' Ziegfilly Follies, so I need to look seeensational!".
707cloud.
And there you go, we hope this has helped and if there are any we do not have or have missed, need altering and or adding, please let us know.
707cloud.
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter; it took us a long time to do and is possibly the longest chapter I have ever made up to date.
Now I would like to point out a few things.
1. all the characters that are sentient, as in can think and talk like everyone else, is humanoid in form and appearance unless said otherwise, so think of Equestria girl faces and bodies but with horns, wings, and other such things.
2. all the characters, unless said otherwise, are completely naked, with no clothes unless mentioned in the story, so every creature goes around exposed/naked as it were. Public nudity is the norm.
3. this story will contain a large range, if not all kinds, of sexual-related activities hopefully in the coming chapters, we hope you enjoy what is to come in this regard.