A Stranger Among Them
Chapter 3: Harvest Festival
Hello again, everypony! I trust you've been enjoying yourselves while I've been away writing?
My lil sis finished the picture, and it looks great, but I' trying to find a way to get it copied and made in Flash, like the show, you know? EqD accepts them if they're like that, but that's not to say they don't accept them in other ways. Idk, if it's made in flash, it just looks more like the ponies are, well, ponies from MLP.
In any case, this chapter will be the first of many chapters to come that rely on music to help set the scene. What I like to do is listen to some music while I write out certain scenes, mainly to get the mood, and then I recommend the readers to listen to them. Just look up their titles on YouTube.
That said, what I will do is have a marker like this: [A]. It will go where I want you to turn the music on, and because people read at different speeds, I recommend finding an extended version (it will be marked N-E if non-extendable), or finding a site with automatic playback so you don't have to keep going back and hitting play again. To stop the music, I typically do this: /[A]\ because if I do the slashes inside the brackets, it turns into HTML code. The letter corresponds to the order of music here, d'you see? The one(s) for this chapter are:
A. Final Fantasy V Advance " Harvest"
B. The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword "The Seal Breaks" (N-E)
What I recommend doing is finding all the music on separate tabs, so when the time comes for you to stop the song, you can just close the tab rather than pause it, and you can start the next one on the next tab over when you get to it.
Now then, legal disclaimer will not be mentioned again, because it was two chapters ago. I once had some parasprite come in and flame me for not having it every chapter (true story), so I've taken to posting notices that it was in the first chapter just to say "Well, did you read the disclaimer in this chapter?"
So, I present Chapter 3: Harvest Festival.
Allons-y!
I groaned so loudly, I'm pretty sure I may have infected Luna with my exasperation. I had done this twenty times today alone! Why did I need to do it more!
However, rather than looking exasperated, Luna looked, if anything, amused. That troll.
"You're getting it, little by little. You're almost there. You've made it happen, but you lack the finesse a true master would have, Flare. So, what I want you to do now is make it rain lightly, rather than heavily enough to drown everything," she said, glancing at the ruined flowers behind us.
I rolled my eyes.
"Finesse? What does finesse have to do with anything?"
Luna blinked, and that more than anything really made my gears grind. Not that it made me mad that she didn't enjoy the question, but the fact that now she was deliberately doing it to piss me off. And she knew I knew it. Well, two can play at that game.
I shifted a bit, then again, and again.
Her amused expression turned into an irritated one.
It was hard to stay angry at her, with such a cute irritation war going on between us. We were both laughing in moments.
"Why is it," she started to say, before she landed on the ground, "that the things we do really tick the other one off, but when we do it to deliberately tick them off, we both just laugh at it?"
"Because it's all in good fun, of course," I said immediately. She threw an appreciative smile my way.
We were walking back up to the castle now, our lesson over for the day. It had been a little over two months since I had started these lessons and gotten my name, and I had FINALLY figured out how to move clouds, and was now able to do it at an average speed, according to Luna. Now we were working on actual weather manipulation, like causing rain, which had taken me two weeks to learn how to do regularly, and now was taking me even more time to learn how to control whether it sprinkles or floods.
Me and Frigoris hadn't really improved our relationship any better since that first night. He was too stuck up to apologize, and I wasn't going to show him any respect until he deflated his overly large head and told me he was sorry that he was such a huge idiot. But these two months had let me meet the other Nightmares.
There was Serenitatis, who was usually calm and level-headed, despite what her idiot friends were doing around her; Humorum, with his joking nature; Cognitum, the smartest pony I have ever met, and who wasn't absolutely full of herself about it; Fecunditatis, the one who cared for all living things, particularly plants (and who we had to bribe to stay away while I was practicing the Rain Manipulation); Crisium, equally as violent as Frigoris, but she seemed to know when to bring it out, unlike her thick-headed male counterpart; Nectaris, a survival expert, who knew how to live off of the land with nothing but a small knife and a canteen; Vaporum, a bubbly, random girl who thrived on confusing everypony; Nubium, a quiet, normally soft-spoken pony, but everypony listened to her when she had something to say; and finally Insularum, a bit of a foil to Frigoris (he was usually the one who kept Frigoris level-headed, but he wasn't on the same group as him that night).
Speaking of the Royal Guardsponies, the Captain himself was coming to meet us. I had gotten ample time to sit and talk with Captain Squall (who was quite a badass for one so old, might I add. I had walked in on him sparring with several guards, and he whooped them all) about teaching me how to use Pegasus magic for combat. Whenever I did, he would just give me a slight smile and shake his head. The one time he ever really told me anything was the first time. I asked him, and he shook his head, but he also said, "Boy, Pegasus Magic in combat is nothing more than your imagination. Use your ingenuity to affect everything around you."
I was really hoping for something along the lines of "This is how you shoot lightning at ponies without having to use a cloud to do so."
Back to the topic at hand, Captain Squall was trotting out to meet the both of us as we walked along the path that led up to the Canterlot Castle Courtyard, accompanied by his usual group of guards. When we were about ten feet away, he stopped and bowed to Luna, and nodded his head in my direction.
"Princess Luna, your sister would like me to relate a message to you."
Luna looked at me in surprise, and curiosity.
"Okay, what message?" she asked.
Squall cleared his throat.
"She says that harvest season is upon the ponies of Ponyville, particularly at Sweet Apple Acres, and they are having an annual Harvest Festival in celebration. Princess Celestia asks that you attend in her stead. One, because she is sure it would greatly benefit you to travel there with Flare Dancer here. Two, because she would like to attend, but she cannot, and someone from the Royal Family typically attends. Shining Armor expressed interest in going, but I was forced to put my hoof down. He is needed here."
Luna looked at me while replying, "Well, I would love to visit the citizens of Ponyville again, since it will be the first time I will have seen most of them since the Nightmare Night Festival, but what about you, Flare?"
I nodded eagerly. I've wanted a day off for a while now. I've been going two months of Pegasus Magic training day after day, and as a result, my wings were now strong enough to keep me aloft for more than six hours at a time, not to mention I had gotten fast enough to give Luna a run for her money when we raced out to wherever it was we were going to practice for the day.
But she's an alicorn. She cheats with her magic.
"In that case, tell Tia that we will be delighted to attend. I'm sure Rainbow Dash would be eager to see Flare again," too true, as she had sent me five letters over the two months, but she kept addressing them to No-Name, "but tell her to leave out the detail that he has a name now."
Squall bowed again.
"Milady," he said as he turned about face and marched back up to the castle.
"A Harvest Festival?" I asked.
Luna gave that grin that she usually gave when she was about to troll me.
"Why, yes. It's a festival held in Harvest Season," she said, sounding uncannily like Cognitum. I suppose that is to be expected. She did make Cognitum, after all.
"Really, no shit," I said, glaring at her in mock irritation.
"Seriously though, it typically marks the beginning of the Apple Family's harvesting time, so they have a big party to celebrate. There's games, contests, a hoe-down, Pinkie Pie scaring everyone out of their minds when she lets off her Party Cannon," she listed off, failing to keep a straight face on the last one.
My mind went back to the time she had pulled a cannon from nowhere and was trying to use it on Tenebrae.
"Oh, so that was her Party Cannon? Rather unorthodox weapon, don't you think?"
Luna rolled her eyes.
"We are a peaceful society. What need do we have for weapons? Also, unicorns can cast magic lasers. Your argument is now invalid."
We made it into the castle. I had grown quite familiar with the place by now. My room was the furthest away from the main entrance, while Celestia's and Luna's were on opposite ends of the castle, with Celestia's being closer. The Throne Room was at the top of the highest tower (and not in any way cliché), and that bucktard Frigoris' room (which is currently booby-trapped to have the bathtub's tap not stop flowing, and that's not to mention the clogged drain) is located, conveniently, right down the hall from the Caretaker's closet. Thank Celestia for janitorial supplies.
"So, when exactly is this Harvest Festival?" I asked.
Luna dropped the trolling.
"As a matter of fact, I'm not sure. They typically announce it in Ponyville a week before the actual event, since harvest season changes each year-"
"It's tomorrow," came a voice from inside the door we were about to go through. It opened, and Princess Celestia stood there, followed by her usual entourage of four guards.
"And, where are you off to, Sister?" asked Luna.
Celestia conjured a small map.
"Well, Stalliongrad, Fillyattle, and Whinneapolis are all hosting their own Harvest Festivals, since the Pear, Kiwi, and Banana families have their own day to celebrate, and since I simply must attend," she sounded annoyed by this, "because all of the Fruit Families are competing against one another, except the Apple family, I've had to drop in on all of them every year. That's the reason I'm asking you two to go. Stalliongrad's a day's flight away, so I need to leave now in order to make good time. While we both are gone, Cadence should be taking care of normal affairs. I'll handle the sun and moon. You two get a whole day to yourselves. Use it wisely."
It may have just been me, but I coulda sworn I saw a little gleam in Celestia's eye when she said that. And once again, I am thankful for my black coat. I felt my cheeks heat up when I noticed that, and I am sure I was blushing.
However, Luna seemed not to notice.
"Will do. Pray tell, what will we wear?"
I stifled a laugh. Luna heard it and gave me an agitated glare.
"Flare's of the right mind on this. There's no reason to get all dressed up. It's a giant party, after all. I'm pretty sure Rarity will be trying to dress everyone up for it. Particularly Applejack and Rainbow Dash. Anyway, enjoy your day off. I have to leave now."
She cantered out to the Courtyards and took flight, followed by her guards.
"Goodbye, Princess!" I called after her as she left, and to my surprise and amusement, Luna had called a goodbye at the same time.
As Luna and I went toward her room, I noticed she seemed… off.
"What's up?" I asked.
She looked at me, then shook her head a little more vigorously than she usually did, her mane getting slightly messed up.
"It's nothing."
I rolled my eyes.
"Don't lie to me, Princess. Something's clearly bothering you. What is it?"
She huffed and looked at me with some apprehension in her eyes.
"The last time I was in Ponyville was for the Nightmare Night Festival. Forgive me, but I'm a little nervous about going back. What if the Canterlot voice comes out again?"
She just kept complaining, and complaining, and speculating until I finally reached a hoof out and stuck it right on her lips, silencing her. Her eyebrows shot up, and she gave me a surprised look.
"Princess," I said, looking her straight in the eyes, "just relax and be yourself. It'll come out alright."
She looked at me for a moment, then relaxed.
"You're right, Flare. Twilight Sparkle will help me out if anything goes amiss. And considering Rainbow Dash is going to be all over you, based on the sound of that last letter she sent, you won't have to worry about-"
There came a very loud yell from upstairs. Apparently Frigoris had turned the bathroom tap on.
Luna looked up, suspiciously. I, however, was not going to wait around until Frigoris came downstairs.
"Whelp, I can't stay Luna! I gotta get the buck out while I still have legs. Gottagobye!" I said, flying out as quickly as possible.
-X-
I managed to get off scot-free in the case of Frigoris' room. Well, I did receive another clop to the back of the head from Luna, but that was it, because she reluctantly agreed to cover for me by saying that the water has been screwing up all day, and proving it by showing Frigoris her tap.
In the meantime, I was busy cleaning myself up from the day's practice. I finished showering, put on a towel, and started heading back to my room, but as soon as I opened the door to the guest bedroom, I found myself face-to-face with Luna.
She looked me over for a moment, then commented dryly (no pun intended), "I thought you said getting cleaned up for this festival wasn't necessary."
I snorted.
"There's a difference between cleaning up and getting dressed up. Did you come down here just to catch the sight of me in a towel?" I added with a smirk, raising my eyebrows suggestively.
Her cheeks flared red (again, no pun intended), and she got all flustered.
"What- no! Flare- I- you- augh."
She face-hoofed. I, however, laughed. I thought her embarrassment was rather cute.
"You are incorrigible, you know that?" she said, glaring at me.
I smirked.
"I don't know the meaning of the word."
I really don't.
She rolled her eyes and gave me a playful push.
"When should we leave tomorrow? I know it begins at sunrise, and it is one of their more important celebrations, so punctuality is important."
"Well, what's wrong with leaving tonight and spending the night over there? That way we can wake up with as much sleep as possible."
She gave me one of her looks.
"You're still going to be very… uncooperative."
"Ah, I've got an idea. I'll ask Pony Joe for some coffee beans to make my own."
She suddenly raised her head, alert.
"You plus coffee, seeing as how you can't sit still for more than a few seconds? That's like giving Pinkie Pie sugar! Bad idea!"
I rolled my eyes.
"Trust me, Luna. It'll be better than what I'll be like tomorrow morning if I don't get any form of wake-up at all."
She looked at the ceiling thoughtfully.
"That is true, I suppose, but why go to Pony Joe? Why not ask Cordon Bleu? He has an excellent roast."
I rolled my eyes.
"Because he's absolutely ecstatic about that time where I showed him how to make an omelet for Princess Celestia. You saw how much your sister liked it, and now he's absolutely filled with joy and wants to thank me every time I see him. It gets annoying after a while. Now he wants me to show him how it is I made my breakfast burrito. I swear, if I keep this up, I'll have successfully converted your society from herbivore-based to carnivore-based. I'm sure that's something Fluttershy would not like."
"That doesn't mean you can't ask him for the coffee roast. Trust me on this. He's got some of the best coffee anywhere. I'm sure he'd be more than happy to share with you his recipe, considering you shared yours."
I sighed.
"Alright, fine. But I swear, Luna, if this is decaf, I will personally go to Rainbow Dash and ask her to teach me how to strike ponies with lightning. You will never have another peaceful moment again."
Luna left me in peace shortly after, and I went straight to my room, finished drying myself, and back to the kitchen, where I pulled the cord attached to a series of pulleys in the ceiling. If I pulled it, it would call one of the servants, but most likely Cordon Bleu because of where it was the pull was coming from.
I had a basic idea on how to make coffee, so I started pulling out what I knew went into coffee-brewing, such as a filter, and a spoon, as well as a measuring cup.
I didn't have to wait long. Cordon Bleu must have been close by.
"Ah, eet eez Flare Dahncer! Again, thank you zo much for letting me use ze omelet recipe for Preencess Ceylehsteea."
He was practically shaking my hoof out of socket. I pushed his hooves off and backed up.
"Yes, you're welcome Cordon Bleu. Please stop thanking me every chance you get. I get it. Now, there is another reason I called you. Can I get your help?"
"Anytheeng!" he said enthusiastically, smiling widely. He looked over at my supplies.
"Oho! You vould like me to teach you how to brew coffee, yes? Een zat case, you vill be vanting to use my seegnature brew's eestructions. Here. Use zeese beans."
He showed me how to grind the beans, to filter the water through the ground beans and the filter, how to make the ground not too coarse, and not too fine, and by the time it was over, a good fifteen minutes later, I had made quite possibly the best cup of coffee I had ever tasted. I wouldn't know about anything prior to my arrival in Equestria, so I'm not going to make it all-encompassing. I bid Cordon Bleu a farewell when the time came for him to go attend to the castle's lunch, and he cantered out, whistling at the chance to repay me for what I taught him.
By the time I was finished, Luna had sent Imbrium my way to let me know that she wanted to leave in a few minutes. I had nothing to pack, except coffee-making supplies, so I told him to go ahead and tell Luna that I would be out on the landing (yes, that's what that balcony is technically called) shortly.
When I was finished, since there was really nothing to pack to begin with, I grabbed the small bag of coffee beans, which came with a filter and a teaspoon that Cordon Bleu had given me, and cantered out to the landing, where Luna was waiting for me. Noticeably absent were the guards.
"So, the Nightmares won't be coming?" I asked.
"No, they won't. I don't think anyone will be attacking us in Ponyville of all places."
"You say that now…" I commented dryly.
With that, we took off, retracing the path I had flown only a couple of months before. It was a quick flight down the mountain, and then following the railroad to the town itself. By the time we reached Ponyville, it was nearly nighttime. I pointed out the Books and Branches Library from a distance, and we both started flying toward it.
As we drew closer to the library, Twilight Sparkle exited it with Spike, who was carrying a small list with him. Apparently, they were off to buy supplies for one thing or another. I hailed them as we got closer. She looked up, raised her eyebrows, then smiled and waved. We flew a shade faster, and when we got there, landed next to her.
"Hello, Twilight Sparkle!" I said.
"Hi No-Name! What brings you to Ponyville?"
"One, we're here for the Harvest Festival. Are you out buying stuff for it?"
She nodded. "Yep. I have to buy a few things that I forgot to get earlier."
"Ah. And two, I have a name now. My name is Flare Dancer."
Her eyebrows rose again.
"Wow. I like it. Who gave it to you?"
I nodded my head toward Luna.
Twilight let out a small snort, Luna went slightly pink, and I had no idea what was going on. Luna noticed my confusion and whispered, "I'll tell you later."
"Well, do you need a place to sleep? I can conjure up two beds for you, if you need them."
She suddenly grinned roguishly.
"Or one, if you feel like you don't need the other one."
Both Luna and I went wide-eyes, looked from Twilight to each other and back to Twilight and started stammering, embarrassed.
"Uhh, n- no that's-"
"Two will be-"
"We don't want-"
"He snores in his-"
"I do not!"
Cue simultaneous face-hoofs. And Twilight giggling in that obnoxious way that only she can.
"Suit yourselves," she said, grinning mischievously as she conjured up two beds in the middle of the room.
Someone tugged at my tail, and I lowered my head. Spike had a hand in front of his mouth and one of those surreptitious looks on his face.
"Just so you know, all the donuts in the box in the corner are mine. Don't you get any ideas about taking any-"
"Spiiiiike?" called Twilight from a few yards away.
Spike walked on over, but with two fingers, he pointed at his eyes and back to me, then back to his, then over to the box of donuts he had talked about.
I shook my head, half-chuckling at Spike's antics, half sighing exasperatedly at Twilight Sparkle and her… implications.
"I'm ready for b-" I started, but then failed to stifle a yawn, "bed," I finished.
"Me too. I want to take tonight to fully enjoy my night off," Luna said, cantering into the library.
"By sleeping? Aren't you normally awake the whole night? Which begs the question, how are you awake nearly all day too?" I asked, posing the question that had been bugging me for some time now.
Luna looked over at me as she climbed into her bed.
"I am normally nocturnal by nature, which is appropriate, given what I'm the princess of, but one of the privileges of being an alicorn is the ability to use certain magic, like temporal alteration."
"In common Ponyspeak, please."
"I can pause time for a while, while I catch up on sleep, and then restart it. Though, to be honest, stopping time is impossible, so I guess I just slow it down to a snail's pace. But I haven't had a proper sleep in a couple of days. My spell keeps getting negated while I sleep."
She lay down and promptly pulled the covers over her. I climbed into my bed, which was a couple of yards away, and lay down also.
We both lay awake, just talking (well, I read and talked at the same time), until Twilight and Spike came back. They had spent a couple of hours attempting to get everything.
And when Twilight Sparkle said she was getting only a few things, I think what she really meant was "I'm emptying the shelves of everything on the list." And Luna noticed too.
"Umm, Twilight? I thought you said you were only getting a few things that you had forgotten," she said, struggling not to burst out laughing as Spike attempted to pull an overly-full burlap sack full of supplies through the door. "Forgive me if I am ignorant, but a thousand years ago, the word 'few' implied small numbers."
Twilight looked a little flustered.
"But what if a few isn't enough? This way, I got as much as possible, and if something goes wrong, it doesn't happen because I was under-prepared."
I facehoofed.
"Twilight, there's a difference between being prepared for average circumstances and being under-prepared. I'm assuming Applejack gave you that list of things to bring, right?"
"Well... yeah. But she only prepared for about three hundred forty-six ponies last year, according to this number up here," she said, levitating the list up and indicating the tentative guest list. "I make three-forty-seven, and Spike makes three-forty-eight. And I suppose you, Flare make three-forty-nine. Applejack did not take into account three extra guests this year. Three extra guests means less of everything for everyone, and that means some ponies aren't as satisfied. If they aren't satisfied, some might go on a rampage and destroy Sweet Apple Acres because the quality wasn't as good as last year, or they might not show up the next year, meaning the Apple family gets fewer bits than they're used to, possibly resulting in a budget deficit, causing them to go in debt. And in either case, if the Apple Family has to leave Ponyville, Ponyville's economy goes under."
I was fighting very hard to keep a straight face at Twilight's troll logic. Knowing her, she actually thought this was a legitimate possibility. Luna, however, was laughing from where she was laying down.
"Twilight, really dear, it'll be alright the way it is. Well, considering now you have enough supplies to account for the cities of Canterlot, Ponyville, and Cloudsdale combined, I suppose it really will be alright."
With a crash, Spike managed to get the over-full sack through the door (and through the walls on either side, if you catch my drift). The sack was shut, and nothing spilled, so Spike let out a tired sigh and went right to his bed and plopped right down.
Twilight magicked the lights to a lower setting, summoned a book from the shelves, and started to read in her bed. I simply stayed up chatting with Luna for a few more minutes, occasionally including Twilight in the conversations when she felt like looking up from her Daring Do book.
After the lights were out, all three of the others fell asleep quickly (and I had forgotten just how irritating Spike's snoring was), but I lay awake, staring outside, wishing it were so easy to fall asleep. I knew I had an early morning ahead of me, and I don't think my bitchiness would go over well with Luna or Twilight Sparkle.
I saw a streak of light cross the sky, and realized I had seen a small shooting star. It seemed childish, but I supposed I could make a wish upon it. But what to wish for?
I decided against it, and turned over, facing the inside of the library. Owloysius turned his head my direction for a moment, then back outside. I felt sleep start to finally come, and I felt grateful for it.
The last thing I saw before I closed my eyes was Luna sleeping, a peaceful expression on her face.
-X-
BAM!
"ARGH!"
I woke up on the floor of the library, tangled in the sheets, and experiencing a migraine of epic proportions.
Twilight and Spike were already moving around, but Luna had been sleeping soundly. Until now, that is.
"WHO DARES WAKE THE PRINCESS OF THE NIGHT!" she thundered, eyes opening blearily, stumbling out of her bed, and promptly tripping and falling onto the ground next to me.
Twilight and Spike were laughing, I was clutching at my head, and Luna was looking around frantically, her horn glowing blue with her magic.
"Peace, princess," said Twilight, still trying to stifle a laugh.
Luna looked around wildly, then started to understand the situation and lowered her voice rather dramatically.
"Ugh. Did it really have to be THIS early? Couldn't you have let me sleep another five minutes?" she asked, rubbing her eyes with her hooves.
"Actually, that was me, Luna," I said, apologetically. "Woke up with a migraine. And a very painful one, at that."
Luna fell back onto the ground, sighing heavily.
"Twilight Sparkle, what time is it?" she asked.
"It's about 5:30 in the morning. I was just about to wake the both of you when Flare Dancer fell out of his bed, clutching his head and complaining at the top of his lungs of a headache."
Luna gave me one of her looks of annoyance. I smiled nervously and got to my feet.
"Where's my bag?" I asked.
Twilight gestured over to a nearby table, which Owloysius was perched next to, and I made a break for it, eagerly grabbing it and starting to take out the contents.
It took a few minutes, but I finally got the cup made, and I eagerly drank it… and scalded my tongue.
"ARGH! DAMN IT BUCKING-"
"Hey!" shouted Luna and I stopped, still having no feeling in my tongue. Great, just great. Way to start the morning.
I let it cool down for a few minutes, then took another drink. Better, and I eagerly gulped it all down, feeling clarity start to come, and my general bitchiness wash away, but it was a very slow process.
"Better?" asked Luna, arching an eyebrow at me.
"Much better," I said sarcastically. "Did you really think it would be immediate? It's gonna be a while before I'm my usual self."
Luna, however, rolled her eyes.
"Right, because you totally aren't like this normally."
I had no comeback. She did have a point. In the meantime, though, Twilight was packing everything for the festival in her saddlebags, and getting ready to leave.
"When you two are ready, we're out at Sweet Apple Acres. Princess Luna, I think it starts at sunrise, and you need to be there at least a few minutes early. Enjoy the Festival!" Twilight called as she started cantering to Sweet Apple Acres with Spike on her back, half-asleep. The door shut behind them after they had gone a few meters.
"You want to give it a few minutes, or leave now?" I asked.
Luna shrugged her wings.
"I'm open for any time. Tia always raises the sun at around 6:30 every morning, so we have a good hour before I'm supposed to be there."
"You mean before we're supposed to be there. I'm going with, remember?" I asked, nudging her.
"Oh, right, because you're obviously Equestria royalty," she remarked.
I blinked. That was rather unexpected.
"How much have I been rubbing off on you? I've never heard you use two instances of sarcasm in the same day before, much less the same five minutes."
She grinned.
"Does it surprise you? I mean, you're the only pony I've been chatting with regularly. It was bound to happen sometime. I guess you've grown on me," she said.
I felt my cheeks heat up slightly, but I shook it off and smiled warmly at her.
"Well then, Princess Luna, that makest me compelled to ask thee for a dance at the Harvest Festival," I said, raising an eyebrow suggestively. "How was that, for a 'ye olde Equestrian' speech pattern?"
She laughed.
"Not bad, not bad at all, but there's room for improvement. You want a dance, eh? I'll hold you to that. I suppose we'll just have to wait for the right song, won't we?"
I cantered over to the door and opened it.
"I take it you're ready to go?" I asked, holding out my arm.
She nodded, cantered over, and looped her arm through mine.
We set off for the Sweet Apple Acres at a pleasantly slow pace, which was nice for me. I didn't know it would be so awkward to walk on three hooves. It seemed that every few steps, I would stumble, and she would be the only reason I didn't fall flat on my face. She would chuckle every so often, so whatever dignity I saved by not falling would instantly be drained.
It took a few minutes, but we got there in good time. It was only around 6:00, and hardly anyone was there yet. The Apple Family had hired an ensemble of musicians who were currently setting up and practicing. They included a pale green unicorn (whom I had met before, named Lyra) with a harp-like instrument (Luna called it a lyre when I posed the question to her), a deep green Pegasus with a set of bagpipes, a brown earth pony with a small set of drums, and a grey Pegasus with a trumpet. At the forefront of them, with a music stand, was a grey earth pony with a long black mane.
Twilight Sparkle and Applejack were currently erecting a banner, the words of which I couldn't see. When it had been raised and supported, Applejack wiped her brow and gave me a cheerful wave. I waved back, grinning eagerly. She cantered on over to the both of us.
"Well howdy, Princess! An' howdy to you too, No-Name!" she said as she got within a reasonable distance.
"Hello, Applejack," said Luna, and at once I noticed something wrong. She sounded stiff, which meant she was slipping back into formal-speech. That meant it was only a matter of time before the RCV broke out again.
I nudged her and whispered into her ear, "Loosen up." She looked at me with irritation and blinked. I rolled my eyes.
"Princess, yer seat's over by the banner," Applejack said, pointing at a roped-off area. "So whah couldn't Princess Celestia make it t'day?"
"My sister journeyed to Stalliongrad, Whinneapolis, and Fillyattle to placate your kinsponies of the Pear, Kiwi and Banana families. She sends her sincerest apologies, and instead, she asked me and Flare Dancer if we could take her place."
Oh dear, now she was being archaic, just without the Majestic Plural and "Thees, thous, and thines."
I motioned to Luna to follow me as I headed to her reserved spot, which was being modified to fit two ponies. She looked at me quizzically, but she did as I asked.
"You're getting formal again. Loosen up. Be who you are around me and everything will be fine," I whispered into her ear.
"Were it so easy," she growled back. Her sudden hostility caught me by surprise.
"Are you actually scared?" I asked back, smiling in spite of myself. "You're seriously acting like you're scared of all these ponies. And why, exactly?"
"I'm not scared!"
She decided to say that one out loud. Great, now everyone's looking at us…
I clopped her to the back of the head (though I refrained from doing it as hard as she did to me that one night).
"Let's just go sit down. What time is it?" she asked, eyes narrowed in a resigned fashion.
"We have a while," I said, yawning and shifting where I stood, eager to be moving around, rather than being fenced off just for a five-minute ceremony.
"Where are Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy?" I asked.
Luna gave a smirk.
"Knowing Rarity, she's probably trying to get them all dressed up for a casual event. However, Rainbow Dash always dresses in style, even if the event in question doesn't call for any clothing. Rarity always overreacts to these sorts of events, from what I understand."
The thirty minutes went by surprisingly quickly. I got to meet my old friends from a couple of months ago, when Tenebrae and I had our first round of fighting. I was beginning to wonder if there would ever be a round two, to be honest.
While in the middle of talking with Lyra and Bon-Bon, whom I had met once when going for a walk (they were sitting on a bench and bickering and I got in on it after a while of listening), there came a strange noise, which got progressively louder, and a flashing blue light from about 50 meters away. Nopony really paid it too much mind except me. When I looked over, a blue box with the words "Pony Call" across the top of it was appearing out of nowhere.
Seeing my interest in the object, Luna gave a small laugh.
"That's Doctor Whooves and his TARDIS. He uses it to go from place to place, and time to time to fix problems that are occurring, but he always comes back here for some R&R."
"Wait, does that mean he can take me back to wherever it is I'm from?" I asked, curiosity now perked.
"Highly unlikely. Besides, you've got no memory of your former life. How would you know where exactly to go to?"
My momentary happiness was gone. Damn, so close to being able to get home, wherever home was.
"Yeah, I suppose that would be a problem."
Out of the TARDIS came a brown earth pony with a somewhat spiky darker brown mane, with a white collar and greenish tie, and an hourglass cutie mark. He looked around, waved at a few ponies who had smiled and waved at him, then motioned toward the box itself, and out of it came none other than Derpy Hooves.
She eagerly flew herself over to Lyra and Bon-Bon, collapsing on the ground when she landed. I would have watched the entire thing play out, but Luna tapped me on my shoulder.
"It's about time to go. We need to be in our spot," she said, starting to canter on over back to our reserved section.
"Alright, settle down, all y'all!" called Applejack, standing over by the tree closest to the crowd of ponies watching.
It took a minute or so before the entire crowd settled down (mostly due to Lyra, who had continued talking until Bon-Bon elbowed her). When they quieted, Applejack motioned toward a large red earth pony and a small pale-yellow filly with a red bow in her mane, and they cantered on up. Well, the earth pony cantered up. The filly ran eagerly up to Applejack, smiling broadly.
"Granny Smith couldn't make it t'day," AJ explained to the crowd. "She's over in Appleloosa, helpin' with the relatives and their own Harvest Festival. Now then, Ah reckon it's time to git on with the show, eh Bic Mac?"
The large red earth pony nodded his head and said, "Eeyup."
"Well then, we figured since we've been doing the first tree-buckin' all these years, it's high-time fer little Applebloom here to give it her best shot," said AJ, smiling down at the little filly.
Applebloom's jaw dropped when she heard that. "Aww, sis, you really mean it?" she asked, a smile spreading across her face.
"Sure do! Come on over, sugarcube."
I leaned over to Luna, who was watching the little ceremony with a small smile on her face.
"I swear, I'm gonna die from overexposure to 'D'awww' if this keeps up."
She giggled a little but otherwise continued watching.
Applebloom walked up to the tree, turned around, and gave the tree a really hard buck. The leaves shook a little, but overall nothing happened. However, Applebloom didn't look down. On the contrary, she bucked even harder, and this time, a single apple fell out of the tree, which Applejack caught.
She gave it to Applebloom and whispered something in her ear. Applebloom galloped on over with the apple in one of her front hooves (I swear, how can everypony but me walk normally with three hooves?) and gave it to Princess Luna.
"Here ya go, Princess Luna! The first apple of Applebuck season!" she said, offering her the apple.
Luna used magic to bring it to her, and she took a bite out of it, then promptly ate the rest of it rather quickly.
Applejack then waved her Stetson in the air.
"Now that the ceremony's all over, we can start with the partyin'!"
The crowd let out a collective cheer, and immediately, the musicians started playing.
[A]
Applejack and Big Macintosh set to work, bucking trees to gather apples for the celebration that had now started to kick into full gear.
Luna, rather than join in the festivities, led me over to where Twilight Sparkle and her friends were. It seemed the other four had shown up while we were occupied with everypony else. However, acting very blatantly differently than when we had first met, Pinkie Pie looked rather down about something. I mean, she was still bouncing around as usual, but her energy wasn't the same. The others noticed it too.
"Pinkie, what's up?" I asked, cantering over.
Pinkie Pie stopped and looked at me with very large, very forlorn eyes.
"This isn't a party! Where's the streamers! Where's the balloons? WHERE'S THE CAKE?" she let out as she started flailing in mid-air before landing as if nothing had just happened.
Also, I swear I saw her eye twitch.
"Pinkie, this isn't one of your parties. This's Apple fam'ly terdition. We can have ourselves a nahce one of your parties some other tahme, but we really cayn't be havin' unbridled insanity, sugarcube," explained Applejack, sounding apologetic, but making it perfectly clear that Pinkie was not to do anything to the party.
"Insanity schminsanity! I can make this party 20% cooler in ten seconds flat!" she shouted, now lost in the possibilities, a dreamy expression coming across her face.
Rainbow Dash, however, face-hoofed. Up until now, she had been lazily flying in the sky on her back, front hooves behind her head in trademark relaxing pose, and both eyes shut.
"You just HAD to say that, didn't you Pinkie?" she said, clearly exasperated by this. However, she shook it off and went back to flying.
Luna cleared her throat.
"So, Tia tells me something's been happening in Ponyville since my last visit," she said, in one of those voices that said, "I know something's up, so you may as well tell me."
Twilight Sparkle opened her mouth to speak, then closed it, looking at me.
"Flare, Princess Celestia told me not to let you in on this yet."
I blinked, annoyed.
"Whyever not?" I asked, trying to keep my voice casual. I know I failed, and Luna noticed. She elbowed me in the flank.
"My sister wants to do a little more research on this matter. We think it may be the key to being able to get you back home. And we do not want a certain demigod to be aware of this. We know he's keeping an eye on you," Luna said. She looked stern, but her expression softened when mine didn't. "I'm sorry, Flare, but you're going to have to go occupy yourself elsewhere while I hear this out. If it makes you feel better, how about that dance you promised me?"
I still don't like being kept out of the loop. But that dance sounds like a good incentive. I nodded, smiled, and cantered off to talk to some of the other ponies.
First on the list: Doctor Whooves. Wonder if he can enlighten me on what a human is.
Well, looks like I have to get in line. Lyra's already jabbering away on what sounds like the same subject. Wait a minute, if Lyra's over here, and she's supposed to be playing...
I looked over to where the musicians were to find the lyre in question levitating and playing normally, albeit surrounded by pale green magic. I looked back to Lyra and saw her horn glowing with that magic. Okay, that works, I suppose.
I cantered on over to them, intent on listening to OH MY HEAD!
I felt myself hit the ground as I fell, clutching at my head. I think I may have yelled out at least once, because this was definitely the single worst headache I'd experienced since I got here. All I know is that as soon as it went away, I was in the dirt, twitching madly while my eyes adjusted to the strangely distorted look of everything.
Once my vision returned to normal, I saw three ponies around me, looking down. One I recognized as Luna, who it appeared had charged over when she saw what was going down, based on her lack of breath. The second was Doctor Whooves, and the third was Derpy.
"Are you alright Flare?" asked Luna, concerned.
My breath was coming in ragged gasps, but I nodded. What was up today? First the one this morning, then the one just now. I guess that lack of sleep really did affect me. I slowly got to my hooves, stumbling a bit on the way, and still trying to get my eyes to adjust.
"What was that?" asked Doctor Whooves. His accent was different from the normal Ponyville dialect. It sounded like he came from Trottingham. I'd met a few ponies in Canterlot who had come from there, and their accents sounded alike.
"I would have thought a Doctor could figure this out," I said. "That was a pretty painful headache."
"Well, I'm only trying to help!" said the Doctor, rather indignantly. It was then that I realized I had just given a rather sharp remark to the Doctor.
"Sorry 'bout that," I said, my eyes finally coming back into normal focus.
"Apology accepted. Here, let me have a look. I do have a doctorate," he said, looking me straight in the eyes. "Have these kinds of headaches happened before?"
I nodded.
"Once before, actually. I had a case of three short headaches all in a row when I first got here a couple of months ago. No need to question me about that one. I remember everything."
Doctor Whooves looked confused.
"Wait, when you first got here two months- Oh! Oh, I understand now. You're that pony who appeared here a couple of months ago. Should have guessed, you don't look like any pony I've ever seen."
"Yeah, well, Tenebrae said I was a human he brought here to serve his purpose. You wouldn't happen to know what a human is, or looks like, would you?"
Doctor Whooves' eyes widened.
"Would I? I used to be homo sapien in appearance myself, before I became an Earth Pony. But I'm afraid my brand of human isn't the same as yours, and I am no expert on human to pony transmogrification, so any discrepancies that come with your transformation I won't be able to do anything about."
"Umm, Doctor?" asked Derpy.
"Yes, miss Hooves?" he asked, still looking me over.
"Is he gonna be alright?"
Doctor Whooves looked me over a tad longer before replying, "Yes, I think so. Just a simple migraine, albeit a rather spontaneous one."
He walked off with a rather cheery wave back at me as he and Derpy wandered off toward a long string of tables, where already different foods were popping up. I grimaced. No meat, but I knew it was to be expected.
It still annoyed me, though. I'm a growing Pegasus. I needs me some protein.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Luna asked, sounding unconvinced. She looked as though a matter of national security was going down. Apparently, a migraine striking me is that serious.
"It's gone now. Don't you have important business to discuss with Twilight?" I asked.
"We've decided to postpone our discussion until such a time as we can get a more… private… location to speak. And we're not about to pull Applejack away from her family and their biggest party of the year," she said matter-of-factly.
"Mmh," I grunted.
"In the meantime, it doesn't look like the ensemble over there is planning on playing anything other than this tune that sounds like it comes from Horse-And-Pony."
Now's when I notice they hadn't stopped playing even though I'd had a freak out moment not a minute ago.
"Where's that?" I asked, curious. Strange name for a town, if you ask me.
"It's up by Trottingham. Their main source of income is the massive potato business over there. And before you ask, no, there is no such thing as the Potato family," she added, for I had opened my mouth to make my usual smart-ass remark.
My stomach growled, and at once, Luna started to drag me over to the table. Now more than any other time am I aware that I have officially rubbed off on her over the last two months. Damn, what does the future have in store for me if she's going to be like this?
"But I don't like food that's not meat!" I whined as her absolutely cheap and unfair unicorn magic literally dragged me by the tail toward the food table, plopped me down, and picked up an Apple Tart, which Applebloom had just set on a stand, with magic. I, however, tried to get up and leave.
"Flare, where do you-," more of me getting dragged back by magic, "-think you're going?"
"I don't like fruit. Can I please go wander around?"
"No, now sit thine five-bit ass down before I maketh change," she said, a devilish grin slowly working onto her face.
Damn her and her archaic speech.
I face-hoofed and said, "You totally took that line from Rainbow Dash."
She, however, stuck her tongue out at me and said, in the most trollishly evil tone of voice possible, "So?"
She magicked my mouth open, despite my protestations, and proceeded to put the Apple Tart in. I'll be honest, it wasn't bad at all, but I still didn't really like the texture, and I sure as hell wasn't going to give her the satisfaction, so I took it out.
"Flare! Stop acting like an immature little colt! Act your age!" she said, obviously exasperated, though she couldn't help but grin.
"Yes mom," I said with a malevolent grin right back at her.
However, of all the times ever to interrupt, Twilight Sparkle picked this one to.
"So, when's the wedding?" she asked from right behind me.
I blinked several times, and Luna face-hoofed.
"Twilight Sparkle, what has gotten into you as of late?" asked Luna.
"Yeah, seriously," I concurred, turning to see her with a big ol' smile on her face. "You used to be really studious and I'd be very surprised to hear this brand of comments come out of you even once, judging by those three days I stayed at the Books and Branches. Rainbow Dash hasn't been rubbing off on you, has she?"
"I haven't been rubbing off on who?" came the voice of RBD herself, as she flew on down.
"Oh, hello Rainbow Dash," said Luna, winking at me while I resisted the urge to head-table. "Flare was just saying, he thinks you're rubbing off on Twilight Sparkle."
I turned my head and looked up to see RBD in her signature Lazy-Pose (trademark), hovering above Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, and Rarity. Unsurprisingly, Applejack was still working Apple sales.
"I'm totally okay with that," said RBD. "I mean, that would totally make her-"
"Don't you dare say it would make her 20% cooler. She's cool enough as is," I said, feeling rather defensive of my favorite pony of the lot.
"Umm… Princess Luna?" asked Fluttershy in so soft a voice, I almost didn't hear.
"Yes, Fluttershy?" Luna asked.
Well, I decided not to participate in the conversation. I took the opportunity while Luna was occupied to get away from the table under the pretext of going to grab a drink from the drink table. In truth, I once again had the itch that something was wrong. I couldn't really place my hoof quite on what, but it really reminded me of the last time the Large Ham of Darkness had deigned an appearance.
Luna gave me a quizzical look as I cantered off, looking around just to take in the sights.
Flare Dancer! Listen to me!
I looked around, alert and looking for the voice I had just heard. It sounded vaguely familiar, but-
It is I, Lux! Listen to me! Tenebrae is on his way there now! You must alert the Princess of the Night and get every citizen of Ponyville to safety!
Wait, Lux? Yes! I remember her! She was the one who told me to go to Canterlot.
Indeed I am. However now is not the time to chat inside your head! We've got to get every pony here to safety! Tenebrae's not looking to be as… lenient… as he was last time. The headaches you're experiencing are not normal. They are actually alerting you to the fact that Tenebrae is breaking through the walls keeping him out.
Wait, then why can only I feel them?
Because, as I said before, you are a living door to this world, and now you are out of reach of Princess Celestia, the Nightmares, and the Solar Guard. The Time to strike has never been more appropriate. I'm doing what I can to hold the walls together, but I cannot hold him for long. You must alert Princess Luna and have her get everyone to safety!
Roger that. But, I mean, are you sure? It seems like it wouldn't be a good idea to get everypony here all riled up for something they can't see, only for them to find out that nothing happened.
Flare Dancer, this is more important than this festival of yours. While Tenebrae cannot directly harm the ponies at this current time, he can destroy the town itself, and indirectly, the carnage could put the lives of everyone here at risk. You must get them to safety!
Fine, I'm on it.
I flew up and started searching as fast as I could for Luna. Thank Celestia she's taller than everypony else.
I saw her cantering with a small group of citizens of Ponyville, chatting amicably with them, and I dashed on down toward her.
She saw me coming before I landed, but I didn't wait that long to shout "Tenebrae's on his way here now!"
I landed, causing a cloud of dirt to spring up around me, which in turn caused everypony to start coughing until it cleared up.
"I said," I started, before succumbing to another fit of coughing. "Tene- *cough* Tenebrae's on his way here now. You have to get everypony to safety before he arrives!"
She blinked, looking confused. The other ponies around us were thoroughly nonplussed, looking at each other.
"Wh- what do you mean Tenebrae's coming?"
"He's breaking through whatever walls are holding him out. That's why I've been having the headaches. I'm a living door to the world, right? I'm going to be affected by anything that happens to the barriers around this world- AARRGGHH!"
Cue massive migraine. I fell down, clutching and yelling again. I was aware of one of the nurses appearing and running up.
"What's wrong with him?" she asked in a slightly concerned voice.
"I'll tell you what!" came a voice I had never been more glad to hear as Doctor Whooves ran on up to us. I slowly recovered and stood up.
"There's some form of extra-Equestrian reading coming from the TARDIS, and whatever it is, it's giving off huge amounts! Princess, you need to see this!"
Luna looked back at me, and I tried to tell her with my eyes, "Please believe me! They have to get out."
She looked into them for a moment, then raised her head high and nodded, proceeding to gallop back toward the festival. She jumped onto a nearby table, scattering the food every which way. She was already drawing more than a few eyes by this behavior.
"CITIZENS OF PONYVILLE! YOU ALL ARE IN DANGER AND NEED TO EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY!"
/[A]\
She got everypony's attention with the RCV, and while some looked convinced, others however, did not.
"ALL OF YOU NEED TO HEAD AT ONCE TO THE EVERFREE FOREST AND TAKE SHELTER UNTIL WHAT IT IS THAT IS CAUSING THIS PROBLEM HAS PASSED!"
Some ponies immediately started going to the forest, others looked half-hearted about it, and still some looked entirely unconvinced. It wasn't mass panic, and I'm very glad it wasn't. It would have been much harder to direct everyone to the forest if it was.
Twilight Sparkle and her companions ran up to Luna, who immediately looked relieved to see them.
"Twilight Sparkle, I need you and your friends to direct everyone there safely. Tenebraae's decided to make a return appearance, and I have to stay to help fight him off if his intentions are less than honorable."
Rainbow Dash looked in her element.
"Aww yeah! I've been waitin' for a chance to go hoof-to-hoof with him!" she crowed, landing and assuming a classic Kung-Fu pose from one of her many action movies that she had forced me to watch.
"No, Rainbow Dash. This… entity, is far too powerful for you to face. It must be me and my sister. Where's Spike?" she asked, urgently.
Twilight Sparkle's horn glowed, and Spike was teleported in front of her, right in the middle of talking.
"And that's what happened when I turned into a grown-up dragon for- whoa!" he said as he finally got a good look around. "Geez Twi, why'd you have to teleport me when I was in the middle-"
Luna, however, decided to interrupt him also.
"Spike, I need your help on a matter that is of the utmost importance!" she said sharply, causing him to immediately look up at her.
"Uhh, yeah Princess?"
"I need you to write a letter to my sister explaining that she needs to get over to Ponyville immediately. She'll be in Whinneapolis, Fillyattle, or Stalliongrad, or somewhere in-between. Hurry! Time is of the essence!"
He nodded and said, "Mm-hmm!"
Luna nodded at him, then looked up to address everypony else.
"Thank you Spike. You all know what you're doing, now get it done. We don't have much time left."
They all galloped off. I watched them go as everypony that had previously stayed now decided to go along with it for now, and started to canter off after the group that was making their way to the Everfree Forest. I wiped my brow, satisfied that I had successfully gotten everypony moving.
"I love you, Luna," I said out of relief, "I mean, how would I get all these ponies to move without you?"
She went slightly pink when I had said that, and she looked down at me warmly.
"Save the joking for later. We have bigger problems on our hooves," she said, returning her attention to the quickly-fleeing crowd. For that one moment, everything seemed as though it would turn out alright. Everyone was fleeing to safety, and one of the alicorns was ready to defend the town.
It was short-lived.
[B]
Little wisps of darkness started to appear in the air, and they all began to draw in toward a spot in the air. The shape they coalesced into, however, did not look like it had the first day I was here.
It looked as though a pony had been stood straight up on its two hind legs, with its front hooves hanging straight down at the sides. Five digits were arranged on the ends of his arms, and overall, he looked like he was a bipedal creature this time around. When the cloud of darkness vanished, Tenebrae stood tall and haughty, looking directly at me with his red eyes.
His skin was very pale and fair, with hollow cheeks, and a rather hooked nose. He was wearing what looked like a black cloak, with intricate silver trim, but there appeared to be no changes in fabric. It was as if the entire garment was one.
He shook his head, causing his long and somewhat spiky hair, which was black with silver ends, much like his mane had been, to flail wildly for a moment before settling down.
The ponies who hadn't been moving very fast earlier were now positively booking it. Funnily enough, despite everypony's apparent panic, I noticed Lyra looking rather fascinated at Tenebrae's new look, but Bon-Bon quickly clopped her on the shoulder and got her running with the rest of the group. I suppose that must be a human shape, then.
Luna's horn glowed with magic as she prepared to fire her Magic Lasers of Death at the Demigod.
"Tenebrae!" she shouted.
Tenebrae's red eyes travelled to her briefly, but he returned his attention to me.
"Well well well, it's been a while. Did you miss me, Flare Dancer?" he asked, saying my name in the most mocking tone he could summon up. "What a pitiful name. I expected something better, Luna. I suppose next time you find an amnesiac pony on your hands, you'll have to do better."
Luna shot a magic beam at him, but Tenebrae simply batted it aside with his right hoof-substitute-thing, causing it to hit a nearby tree, setting it aflame, which soon spread to nearby trees, and was rapidly heading for the Sweet Apple Acres grove.
"Might want to attend to that, Princess. We don't want Sweet Apple Acres burning to the ground, now, do we?" he asked rather sardonically.
Luna looked directly at me.
"Buy time for Tia to get here. I don't think you'll be able to do very much damage to him, so try to steer clear of him. I'll help you as soon as I can put this fire out. We can't lose it."
I nodded, and she flew off, heading right for the advancing flames.
Tenebrae watched her go, looking amused.
"How in my name does she think she and her sister can hold me off?" he asked as he returned his attention to me. "Well now, I'll be honest. I've been watching you ever since you made it to Canterlot. I'm rather disappointed in your progress. You're two months in and you've only just now made it rain? I expected lightning a month ago."
"Shut up! Or are you all talk?" I shouted at him.
Tenebrae smiled cruelly.
"No, I'm not, but by the time I'm done with you, you're going to be wishing I was."
Aaaand… scene.
Well, I had a couple more reviews, but overall, nothing too major to reply to (mainly because I replied via private message). Mainly things like "Good story, keep writing pl0x," out of all four Ch. 2 reviews.
I'll be honest, I was having lots of trouble writing as the Mane 6, so I did what I could, but I had Flare conveniently find a way to get away from them. I'll try to fix that later.
Also, I actually DO know what "incorrigible" means. It's when something is so bad it can't possibly get any worse. It's all one big Scott Pilgrim joke. Todd Ingram uses the excuse "I'm a rock star" to basically say "I can do whatever I want," to which his girlfriend Envy replies "You are incorrigible, you know that?" to which he naturally replies "I don't know the meaning of the word. Cue side-note that says "He really doesn't."
Next chapter is little more than an excuse for me to whale on my own OC Protagonist. And I'll be honest, based on what I've already written up, it's proving very entertaining for me. I dunno. I guess I'm like J.K. Rowling. Her favorite character to write was Snape because he always got to insult Harry.
Preview for Chapter 4: The God Behind The Mare Within The Moon
"You really thought that would work?"
"Brother! Stand down!"
"And are you going to stop me, Lux?"
"Flare! Look out!"
"How long ago was it that we first met, Luna? A thousand years or so, right?"
"That was YOU!"
"Yep! That was me."
"You must come to the Old Castle of the Royal Pony Sisters at once!"
"Man, I wish the Nightmares were here."
""Even Frigoris?"
"Especially Frigoris."
"Such a lovely day it was. Too bad I had to spoil it for the rest of you."
Rytex, signing off for now. Have a good day!
Also, one final thing for you all. English to Binary translators are so useful, eh?
0110100001110100011101000
1110000001110100010111100
1011110111011101110111011
1011100101110011110010110
1111011101010111010001110
1010110001001100101001011
1001100011011011110110110
1001011110111011101100001
0111010001100011011010000
0111111011101100011110101
1001000101000101110111001
1010001110111001110010101
0111011001110101100001100
01101010001
