Thread 11: Stories 91-105

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>32
"Sombra"

"And there we are, locked up safe and sou...aw blast it all."

>What?

"I forgot about Tourmaline's clothes."

>Oh, whoops, here you go, I told you where to tell the guards to find him, yes?

"Yes, yes indeed. And here is where we part ways, I hope your endeavors with those creatures bears fruit."

>Thank you, your majesty, I hope you enjoy the whole...undead spectre business.

"Eh, it has its ups and downs."

Sombra moves to leave the dungeon, opening the doors to the ballroom and beholding a scene of absolute chaos.

"What in the..."

Shining Armor and Celestia ran past, then came the ball of doom and...passed through him. His things however were another story.

"MY CLOTHES! TOURMALINE'S CLOTHES!"

And so the chase became, Shiny and Celestia, the ball, Two, and one frantic ghost.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>Cadence
"AJ 10"
{BBB}
~~~~~

>And that's pretty much the whole story of why I am an Alicorn now!

"...that sounds made up."

{ERROR! SEVERAL CONFLICTING PARAMETERS NOTICED! ERROR!}

>Why does everyone keep saying that?

"Well, backstory aside, how's your expansion going?"

>Badly, my poor bottom hasn't grown an inch! I've tried everything!

"...Meant your Empire's expansion."

>Oh!... good, I guess.

"You guess?"

>Yes.

"..."

>...

{...ERROR! SILENCE IS NOT PREFERRED IN THIS SETTING! EXTERMINATE!}

>How can you exterminate silenc-

What sounded like elevator music started playing from his mouth speaker.

>Ah.

"Yeah, he's kind of cool. So, has the party been fun?"

>Not really, no. Dancing with Shiny was alright, but everything else is just a bore.

{INQUIRY! IN THAT CASE, DO YOU WISH TO GO ON THE RIDE?}

>Oh, a ride sounds fun! Does he fly?

"I took out his rockets, I don't know what he's-"

And just like that, they were gone.

{...WE WISH YOU AN ENJOYABLE TIME ON YOUR RIDE!... WE ARE SO HELPFUL!}
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>SA
"Celestia"
'???'
-2-
[???]
~~~~

>HONEY!

"Well, shoot. That thing just ate Cadence. Worse, plan "Get Twilight to fix it" is officially dead. This is pretty tragic, that normally solves EVERYTHING!"

>It has also grabbed up pretty much everyone important too.

"And most of the background ones."

>Which means it's pretty much down to us.

"..."

>...

"...Is bailing an option?"

>It is not. At least, not for me. Kind of have a LOT of loved ones in there.

"Well, if you have any ideas, shoot. Because all I have is 'melt the thing', and I'm pretty sure that would cause multiple third degree burns on pretty much everyone, if not suffocation and death."

>I could make shields around everyone, but I'd only be able to get the ones on the surface, and the ones on the other side would be out of reach!

"And since they're all glued together, we can't even teleport them out! Not to mention we have to be careful not to hurt Two."

>...Hello? Star pony up there? I could use a hoof, please!

'Wheeee!'

>...

"You asked for this."

>Chrysalis?

'Yuh-huh?'

>How drunk are you, one to ten?

'Eehhhh, four and a half. This is just fun.'

>Okay, hold up, I might be able to work with this! You, me and Celestia might just make this work!

'HAH! He moves on quick!'

"Normally I would be thrilled to join you in a bout of innuendo charged banter, but this is important. What's the plan?"

>Okay, Chrysalis? Can you still do that echo thing?

'Sure.'

>Does it work through liquids?

'Yeah, I... ooooooohhhhhh...'

>Celestia, Chrysalis take off your dresses.

'Oh come on! You can't tell me to be serious and then say stuff like that!'

>Just do it!

In a flash, the three were now bare.

>Alright... Tia? Crissy? You're going to have to trust me.

'Saying that WAY too much tonight.'

"Ready when you are."

>Okay, one... two... GROUP HUG!

The three stopped dead in their tracks, embracing each other as tightly as possible. As expected, the mass rolled over them, and nothing was left behind.

The wisp tailing them stopped dead, worriedly looking for someone, ANYONE to help. Nobody left. Nobody to help. All.. alone...

-WHEEEEEEE! ISH A RUMBLIN!-

Well, sure enough, the large mass WAS rumbling! Vibrating as if it were stuck on some oversized dryer. But just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

POP!

The noise rang out, but nothing seemed to happen.

POP!

POP!

POPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPOPPP!

One by one, the ponies locked within were surrounded by a warm energy, covering them from hooftip to the tip of their tails. It could not cut them free of the gunk, but it enveloped them all the same. Until, at last, it enveloped the small Changeling leading this charade at the top of the ball, and stopped.

The world began to rumble, power unseen seeping into the air itself. A hissing, angry noise bubbled up from the mass of gunk. It warped and deformed, as if it were sick.

And then everything exploded.

The masses inhabitants rocketed every which way, sticking to walls, the ceiling, the windows, everywhere. The only one unaffected was the tiniest Changeling in the bubble at the very top. With a pop, her shield vanished, and she fell into the waiting grip of the stallion sitting in the center of the carnage, with either of the tall mares still clinging to his side.

>Hey, Two. Have fun?

-Heeey, Shinyyyyy... C-can I go to the huggy part now? I dun wanna do da blargy part.-

>Of course, Sweetie. Have a nice rest.

-M'kay... this was... shoo... fun.......zzzzz.....-

'WOO! That was awesome!'

"Somehow I always knew I would end up with Shiny in the room and covered from head to hoof in white gunk."

'HAH!'

>TIA!

"She's asleep and the danger is past, I get to make quips again."

'I like her better like this anyway.'

[Well, bravo.]

>....Applejack.

[Yes sir.]

>...WHERE THE-... where the fu.... where were you?

[Watchin'.]

'...Uh huh.'

[What? Tia said she wanted some fun. And ya' got it, by golly!]

"I did! Thanks for the lack of intervention."

>...

"...Don't say it."

'HAH!'

[Well, Sug' ah' know ya' wanna go kill Spike an' all, but could ya' wait a bit? Ah' got some words ah'm savin' fer' him mahself.]

>...

"Oh, don't be like that, it looks like you need to get little missy loaded up and ready to go anyway."

-Zzzzz.....-

>...FI-...fine. But I am going to chew him out so much!

'C'mon, huggy. Let's go get loaded up on the train, I'm tired of this place anyway.'

"She said, hiding the fact she's trying to run away."

'Plplplplpl."

"..."

'...Fine, I'm maybe at a seven.'

[...So are ya'll gonna help me get them down?]

" ' HAH!' "

"No. That's what YOU get to do!"

'You know, since you didn't help.'

[...Well, buck all ya'll too.]
~~~~~
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

-Discord-
>SA
~~~~~

-Frk wzzk wkka zzzwak wkka-wkka... chka frzzzzwak!-

>Erm...

Discord held up a finger of one paw, unhinged his jaw and reached into his mouth, stopping at about the elbow. Pulling up the record which he posed delicately on an immobilized white unicorn's horn, he gave it a spin, dragging one needle-sharp nail across its surface as he spoke:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SG4zSd8H-fs

-I say, that impressive heft! The rising tide of familial love! We are moved. When it gets that big, it's hard to tell what you have the most of. My, Equestria really is full of things.

>Who are you even talking to? What are you wearing? Is that a toilet paper roll stuck sideways on your head?

-Why, your darling little changeling of c-- oh, for goodness' sake! Hmph, well, some other time I suppose.

>...You did this?!

-No no, I dropped a marchmalley, SHE did the rest, do try to keep up little Prince.-

>I-- you-- that's-- YOU're lucky she's asleep or I would--

-As amusing as your death-threats are, Glittering Body-Condom-- -

>Shining Armor!

-Right, that's what I said, I'm afraid they're terribly predictable, and we're all out of time.

>Wait, at least clean up the mess!

-So sorry, We have plans to get together with Fluttershy, so We'll be going to space now. Royal Rainbow!-

And with a deafening crash, the draconequus launched himself through the ceiling on a rainbow trail, fading into the night until he let off one final star-like twinkle and was gone.

~~~~~
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>18
"42"
'Cadence'
~~~~~

>...What are the odds we would all land right next to each other like this?

"Really, 18? That's what you are thinking of? Not-"

'OH SWEET MERCIFUL CELESTIA THIS IS *NEVER* GOING TO COME OUT OF MY COOOOOOOOAT!'

"...that, why can't you be more like that?"

>Chitin is easier to clean, I guess?

"Fair point."

'WHYYYYYY!?'

"...I had fun."

'...'

>...

"...It was nice."

>...I liked dancing with Shiny.

"There you go!"

'Seeing Chrysalis get taken down a peg was a welcome change.'

"Not quite what I was hoping for, but you're getting it!"

'And we got to show all of Canterlot we can dance!'

>We got to dance with Princess Celestai too!

'And getting drunk was kind of fun!'

>And 42 beat up all those guards!

'And she lost her cookies when Shiny asked her to dance!'

"Okay, not quite what I wanted-"

>And did you see her in the five-way? Hysterical!

'And she punched Shiny through a bunch of walls!'

"...You guys su-"

'And, to top it all off, Shiny covered us all in his sticky white mess!'

>'BEST! NIGHT! EVER!'

"...I'm not coming back next year."
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The Gala's evening was winding down, guests were leaving, and Spike was spending his time helping clean up the mess when five shadows stood over him. Five silhouettes he recognized as Shining Armor with a sleeping Two on his back, Twilight Sparkle, Diamond Tiara, Rarity, and the dubbed PotatoJack. Each of them looking at him with varying levels of ire in their eyes.

"I don't suppose you're going to offer to help me clean up, are you?" Spike asked a bit nervously. He was met with a unanimous shaking of heads.

"Darling, we've already talked to the Rainbolts who you roped into your scheme..." Rarity began.

"I conveyed a bit of what you told myself and Diamond Tiara to the others..." Twilight continued.

"So now, 'why' is the very big question? Depending on your answer, I may or may not add 'dragon slayer' to my list of titles." Shining Armor finished.

In Spike's mind, he briefly wrestled with his conscience to lie or tell the truth, but hanging around Applejack had made him a bit suicidally honest. "Alright, alright, which reason do you want first, my noble ones or ignoble ones?"

The group went into a huddle to discuss the matter briefly.

"Well if it's like good news or bad news, maybe we should hear the bad news first so the good news softens the blow?" Twilight reasons and the others concurred, the meeting adjourned and the went back to Spike. "We decided on the bad reasons first, let's hear 'em."

Spike drew in a calming breath and conceded to his fate. This was his fault as much as theirs.

"Because I enjoyed it. After spending my first Gala, abandoned, alone, and trying to drown my sorrows, the fact that not one, but FIVE ponies WANTED me to be their dates! After spending a lot of my life thus far being brushed aside or ignored, it felt good to be the center of not just any attention, but the attention of mares. I'm not going to ask Shining Armor what he complains about because it's not the same. I could have just sat you all down, but I didn't."

"Now... About the more noble reasons-" Spike was cut off to find a rocket launcher in his face and the sensation of ozone from several charging spells, and the sound of drawing swords.

"No explanations! You're dead!" Diamond Tiara screamed.

"You mean you let tonight happen because you wanted to add my daughter to some sick harem fantasy of yours?!" Shining Armor snarled.

"Uhhh... None of you want to hear the rest?"

"NO!"

Spike's expression faltered. "Oh... Fair enough." And his heart sank as all hell was unleashed on him

SUPER POWER NINJA TURBO NEO ULTRA HYPER MEGA MULTI ALPHA META EXTRA UBER PREFIX

COMBO!!!

K.O.

Shine Armor, Twirigh Spakr, Rarati, Potatojack, Diamon Tiara WIN!

Somewhere in the afterlife, Spike's soul drifted towards the gates of some nondescript eternal punishment where Tirek the soulless played 80's style, synthesized country music with lyrics by Yoko Ono, and the weather was always not-quite pleasant enough and the sun shined way too brightly right in your eyes.

"Huh... Well this figures..." Spike mused as he approached the Home for Infinite Losers before he was whisked up by the back of his neck on a fishing line, and very briefly before returning to the living world, he swore he saw the stars swirl in the infinite aethers of the astral plane to spell out "NOT YET YOU DON'T"

With a start, Spike woke up in the hospital and was informed by nurse Redheart it had taken hours to get his condition from dead to critical.

It wasn't long before Applejack swept into the room as a visitor.

"Howdy, partner, how're ya'll holdin' up? Her cheerful demeanor evaporated as her train of thought continued. "Ya know... Fer... Someone who was declared dead..."

Spike reassured her by laughing it off. "I can't complain honestly. I mean having a redundant nervous system is great."

"Dragons have those?"

"Not sure!" After a few moments in silence Spike sheepishly added "I'm sorry I couldn't give you the last dance of the Gala."

"Spike, ya got yer ass kicked by five angry ponies, Ah think that's plenty good excuse." She took a seat next to Spike's bed and revealed a few mini-apple pies hidden under her wings. "Smuggled these in fer ya, migh' wanna take 'em, they're burnin' mah wings."

"Oh, praise Cel- Well, Praise Applejack." Spike corrected himself with a grin and greedily grabbed the confections to ravenously devour.

"Glad ya'll appreciate it, but if ya praise me again like that, Ah'm sendin' ya righ' back to the afterlife." another moment of comfortable silence until Applejack finally said "Ah'd like to hear 'em."

Spike looked up with pie still on his face and in his mouth. "Hear wha?"

"They told me you had two sets o' reasons fer 'leadin' 'em on'- fooey if ya ask me, they strong armed ya, anyway though, they wouldn' shut up 'bout it but no one's heard yer good reasons."

"Oh, that." Spike licked the pie from his face and swallowed the remainder. "Well, it was pretty simple: I wanted to sort of bond with my old friends, make some new ones, and make sure they had a good time for their first Gala. And ya know what? They did, least when I was with them. You know PotatoJack likes to leave the ballroom to camp out in the mountains around Canterlot and survive on the land? She can do that. And despite being a prissy, prim and proper rich kid, Diamond Tiara really knows her stuff on weaponry. Two can sing beautifully, bet even Shining Armor didn't know that and he really has to, and it goes on."

"Spike... Ah'm so sorry that ya felt so deeply from tha last Gala ya felt ya had to go through all this. We really owed it to ya then an' owe it double to ya-"

Spike smiled and cut her off. "No. I did bring this on myself in the end, I can accept that. And you know what? I had fun, I enjoyed it, if given a choice, I would do last night all over again. So what if it ended badly? For the first time in a long time, I connected with my friends."

Applejack just smiled and then watched Spike grunt and slowly pull himself from the bed. Ony shaking legs he offered his hand. "Princess, may I have this last dance?"

Picking Spike up, the pair began to sway to an invisible song.

"Ya know, a lotta them 're still seethin' pretty mad."

"I know, it'll take time to regain their forgiveness, if I ever do. But you know what I learned?"

"What's that?"

"Bumps and bruises, scrapes and cuts, glory or disgrace, and good times or bad... Friendship is worth every bit of work you put into it."
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>Luna
"Celestia"
~~~

>Mine sister, we are most irate at you!

"Hm?"

>Thou did nothing to warn us! And now our dress is completely ruined!

"Can't you just be happy my dress still looks fine?"

>NO!

"Rude. And after I saved you too!"

>T'was your request for chaos on this night that even caused it in the first place!

"I regret nothing. I got to wear a pretty dress, we had a massive dance-orgy, a shocking pregnancy reveal, our guards got into a massive brawl, all hell broke loose, literally, Shining Armor was harassed, puked on, assaulted and re-assaulted, Chrysalis had a startling revelation, some weird truths came out, song battles, singing changelings, chaos reigning and finally we ended it all with a massive bang... Er, splat. This tops last time, no contest."

>...What are you going to do next year?

"...Hrmmmm....."
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>BM
"Mayor Mare"
'GS'
~~~~~

>...Huh.

"You know what? For once, I'm not questioning why you're quiet."

They had decided to beat a hasty retreat after prying themselves from the mess, having had enough 'party' to last an entire lifetime, thank you. They had expected to come home to a quiet, serene town, and maybe get a bit of talking in.

They did not expect, of course, that there would be beaten and bloodied creatures of all sorts of varieties strewn about the town, injuries ranging from 'skull fracture' to 'looks like they were hit by a flying castle'.

Needless to say, they were stunned.

More needless to say, the red stallion was racing towards his house in the next second.

>Applebloom!? Granny!? Ya'll here!?

'ZZznnsnk! Keep yer' voice down, can't ya' see a lady is tryin' ta sleep! Ah' though ya'll were raised better than that!'

>Where'r the fillies!?

'...Huh, Ah' may have fallen asleep while watchin' 'em... when the sun was still up.'

>GRANNY!

'Now don't ya'll sass me! Ah'm sure they're fine!'

>THERE'S DEMONS OUT THERE!

'...But just ta' be sure, let's go lookin' fer' 'em.'
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>29
"AB"
'SB'
-SL-
[SS]
{BS}
~???~
~~~~~

With a loud yawn, the yellow filly stretched out her hooves, and rubbed the sleep from her eyes.

"Dang, that was the best sleep Ah've had in a while!"

[No kidding.]

One by one, the rest joined her in the land of the woken.

'Hey, Mr Bug monster! You get a good nights rest too?'

The Changeling sitting on the chair at the end of the room, watching over every sleeping figure like a hawk, would have twitched, but that part of him broke long ago, and may never return.

"Is it almost mornin'?"

>It is.

-Great! Everyone should be back from the Gala soon, they normally don't arrive till the next day.-

'And since Mrs Cheerilee went, no school today!'

{YAY!}

[Why are you excited? You don't go to school here.]

{I'm trying to fit in, thank you!}

>I am going to sue the hell out of your parents, guardians, relatives, I will sue the MAILMARE WHO DELIVERS YOU ALL YOUR MAIL! This night has been hell. I am not being fallacious or hyperbolic, hell rose up and I had to make it dead. No matter how long it takes, no matter how many lives I ruin, I SHALL-

~Thank you Mister.~

The room went dead silent as all of the kindergartners rose up as one, almost as if they had trained to synchronize perfectly.

~We can go now.~

>...W-what?

Single file, they began to walk over to the Changeling, and surrounded him.

>I... I don't understand.

~Our mommies and daddies left us.~

~And we got so mad, so hateful, we couldn't leave.~

~We kept clinging to the idea that nobody could love us, so we stayed here. Where our teachers were once. We knew they didn't love us, but we hoped they would pretend.~

~But then you came along.~

~You protected us from the scary monsters.~

~You played with us and tucked us in.~

~You read us a bed time story and made sure we slept.~

~You loved us, like a daddy.~

~Thank you, Mister 29.~

As one, they spoke.

~Thank you.~

He didn't try to fight them off as they closed in, and gave him one last hug.

~And now, we can finally go.~

~There is someone who loves us here, maybe someone is waiting for us out there.~

~We won't forget you.~

~Please don't forget us.~

>I... I won't.

Still in that same single file, they walked over to the door, opened it, and started to walk outside.

The moment they passed through the door frame, their bodies dissolved away, a ethereal light replacing where they had been.

No fear, no worries. Every one of them passed through the door, until soon, only one remained.

~We love you, 29.~

He wanted to say something back, but he couldn't. He just couldn't. And soon, it was too late.

They were gone.

In silence, the group sat, soaking in what had just happened.

'...So are we going to turn into light when we go through too, orrr....'

Their glare could have cut through diamonds.

Unconcerned with her words, the Changeling simply trotted over, picked up the story book he had read to the little fillies and colts, and began to head out the door.

>Come, we should... we should get you back home.

"Yer' not still mad?"

To this day, he cannot decide if it was insulting she would even ask. But for the record...

No.

He felt something else as he left that classroom behind.

And he wondered if he would ever feel it like that again.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>Night Guard Mare
"Changeling"
________

"..."

>I know, strange, ain't it?

"No, it's... I mean, well, yeah, it is but...."

>Just completely missed us.

The pregnant mare under Luna's duty and the Changeling under Chrysalis's rule glanced about the interior of the ballroom, now coated in a heavy layer of sticky, dripping confectionary treat.

>I wonder why, though. It almost looked like it went out of its way NOT to drag us into that!

"I know why."

>Hm? Why then?

Wordlessly, the Changeling nuzzled his face into the curve her neck, the action so sudden that her bat-like ears flickered, a bright hue of red overtaking her cheeks.

>W-w-what are you-

"Because someone's going to be a mom, and even chaos knows what hell it'll catch if it messed with that process."

>...okay, now you have me blushing. I hate you.

"I love you, too."

>St-stop that!
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>Chrysalis
"Cadence"
'18'
-42-
[SA]
~~~~

The ride home had been mostly quiet. The five passengers each had their own thoughts to work out, their own things to deal with. You would think that after the precious little bundle of the still smiling daughter was wrapped up tightly in her bed and down for the night, that they would spend the time beyond in their own contemplative world.

You would be wrong.

>I hate you all, I just want you to know that.

"What did we do?"

'Seriously, do you think we had anything to do with the ball?'

-You weren't even in the thing like us!-

>Not about that, you idiots! You all suck because you ruined my favorite fantasy!

"...What?"

>Here we all are, in the shower, washing each other off and getting all sudsy. The way I pictured this was us using each other as giant sponges, just rubbing allll over and getting all slick and wet, and making it steam when the water is COLD... and yet, this isn't sexy at all! Nothing about this is titillating! Here I am, rubbing soapy stuff all over Shiny with you guys, all of us working with each other, and you know what? Nothing. I'm not even feeling a little tingle from this! In fact, I feel anti-tingle! From my favorite fantasy! This is the FIRST thing I was going to program into the magic room before Shiny ripped it apart!

[I stand by my choices.]

>But now, all I can think about is all the dirt and muck and ICK just seeped in there. There are chunks of your coat just ripping out!

[Speaking of, painful.]

>It's a load of shit, that's what I'm saying.

"...I feel you."

[COME AGAIN!?]

"Not with her here, obviously! But yeah. She kind of made that sound nice."

'Yeeaah... that really did sound sexy.'

-For the brief few moments I WASN'T scraping out insects from the gunk, at least.-

>See? There are so many gross things in here, I can't even rev myself up talking about it! My fantasy is ruined, and it's all your fault!

"I told you to use the other shower!"

>That one doesn't have the good shampoo!

"SO IT WAS YOU! YOU'RE STEALING ALL MY EXPENSIVE STUFF!"

>Yeah? What of it!

"THIS IS WHAT OF IT! NEH!"

>Don't spray me with it! YOU'RE WASTING IT!

"MAKE ME!"

>FINE! NEH!

'Should we-'

[No.]

-You sure-

[Yes. Just... please, get this stuff off my coat. I'm just going to watch them ineffectually splash hair care at each other.]

>NEEEEEEH!

"NEEEEEEEH!"

'...So can I get your-'

[42's on backside duty.]

-........yay....-

[What was that?]

-NOTHING!-
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

"Spike"
'Applejack'
~~~~~
'So what now, loverboy?'

>PotatoJack, as she is so often called steps outside of her tent in the Canterlot mountains and finds a strange package labeled from Spike. She's half ready to throw it out until the smell of its contents hits her and makes her tear into the package and even spit out her ever-present potato to rejoice at the sight of quality, prime beef cuts imported from the Griffon Kingdoms

"I gotta make my apologies."

>Twilight wakes up, not at her desk but on a bed, besides her is a hot meal of soup and sandwich, still fresh and a small note. She can only smile as she see thinks of her number one assistant.

"Some will be easier than others."

>Spike puts the finishing touches on the new incinderary and napalm ammunition he creates with Zecora's help and presents them to Diamond Tiara. She promptly tries testing them Spike

'An' wha if they don' forgive, ever?'

>Spike stands outside the Crystal Palace, holding a box of various, homemade marshmallow candies and treats as an apology to Applejack Two. Instead he faces an irate Shining Armor and Cadence who slam the door in his face, and some seconds later drop a vat of boiling oil on him. It does nothing to Spike but the message is clear.

"Then it's their right to. But I'm not gonna stop trying."

>Rarity lays lethargic on her fainting couch, half consumed by guilt, half consumed by rage at being cheated on. But a small part of her, the part that hurt the most was the part in her mind that feared Spike was moving on from her, and her dragon would be lost forever. These fears were dispelled when Spike stood before her, a sheepish smile on her face, and held out a drawing in crayon of the two of them holding hand (and hoof) surrounded by sapphires in a heart shape with the words 'Forgive me?'. His answer was to be scooped into her arms and hugged the hell out of

"Because, maybe I've misread, and frankly if I have I'm glad I did, but that's part of what being a good friend is. Owing up to our mistakes and making the effort to apologize, to mend the bridges we burn with our less noble actions."

>Spike wanders the Crystal Empire, scowling that Shining Armor went so far as to issue a notice that the dragon was no considered 'Persona Non Grata' and couldn't find a single place that would serve him, nor would anyone approach him.

Applejack just chuckles

'Sugacube, Ah'm thinkin' maybe we shoulda been sendin' our friendship reports to you.'

>As Spike depserately tries to get a train ticket back to Canterlot, he's finally approached by someone, no one else but a beaming Two who runs up and glomps him with a squee and proceeds to thank him for the best first date ever

'But ya know who's fault this really is?'

"Modern Society's for discouraging proper person to person communication?"

'Nope!'

Applejack sweeps Spike closer into her legs and nuzzles him

'Mine fer not askin' ya first.'

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>Celestia
"Twilight"
~~~~

>So, is he back in the land of the living?

"Yes, and Diamond Tiara assures me she had no reason to believe he was horribly allergic to whatever she had crammed into that rocket. I should have him genetically immunized before he even wakes up!"

>Please stop genetically altering your assistant.

"NEVER!"

>Look, another reason I wanted to talk to you is, I might need you to create something for me. With science. Magic science.

"Celestia, I am begging you, please don't let what comes next be something horrible-"

>I need you to see if there is a way to create a small teleportation device between here, and the Crystal Empire.

"...Oh! Uh, sure. That's a reasonable request. But we both know the real limitation to that."

>Indeed. It will require a vast amount of magic, and will strictly be down to personal use. But the ones who would be using it are very powerful, we should be able to manage if we work together.

"Who is this for, if you don't mind me asking?"

>Well, Chrysalis is quite attached to the Empire at the moment, but her traveling clear over here so frequently is a problem. This will hopefully allow her to take a bit more of a proactive approach with her subjects.

"..."

>...I know, but I'm hopeful, alright?

"Anything else?"

>Hmmm? Oh! Of course, you will be permitted to use it to go visit your brother as well.

"SCORE!"

>You wish.

"What?"

>I said "this", as in I was agreeing with you.

"Oh! Great. I'll get started right away."

>You do that... unrelated, how's the marshmallow dissolving concoction coming along?

"Uh..."

>...Shit.
_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

>Bat-mom
"Dadling"
~~~~

>So, how did it go?

"Absolutely nobody has any idea what's going to happen."

>...

"...Well, I mean, I haven't gotten a chance to ask my Queen, but besides that."

>UGH! Does she always have to go over there?

"Hey, I'm not complaining. Before she did, I had to wait for 18 to stop by and sap some love from her. When she stopped coming back I got so brittle I broke my lower jaw trying to brush my teeth. Thank Chitanious the Wall-breaker that 42 occasionally gave me some, or I probably would have shattered my legs just trying to stand up. Since she's started popping over there and back, I've felt more filled than I have in... ever."

>...Oh.

"Yeah, she sucks at, you know, economics... or education... or documentation of culture... or caring for her subjects... or basic management, but I'm not dead!"

>Yay?

"Hey, yes yay. Every other colony is dead... We think. Not being dead is a HUGE thing."

>So... we are going into this having no idea how I'm going to react to the pregnancy.

"Nope."

>No idea what complications might arise.

"Nuh-uh."

>And we also do not know if I will actually give birth to a living thing, and not and egg of some kind.

"Totally up in the air."

>...

"...Well, I mean, when you put it like THAT."

>Gotta tell you, those twenty two minutes? Not sure if it was worth it.

"Totally was for me!"
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>Cheerilee
"Demons"
'???'
~~~~~

>And just what did you think you all were doing?

"Taking over the town..."

>I am SO disappointed in you!

"We're sorry."

>Are you, are you really?

"No, we're demons from beyond the blackest pits of darkness. We feed off the suffering of the living. We feel no joy if there is no bloodshed to be had. We wonder aloud what it would be like to torture and flay the most innocent, just to know what kind of screams they would make. We wish nothing but pain, hate and death upon all."

>And look at where that got you!

"We may appear to be impaled and hanging by a thread, but tis all a ruse!"

>Oh yeah? Spring it.

"..."

>...

"...Please get me down, he might come back."

>That's better. Now, you all are going straight to your room, and if you ever try to take over the world of the living again there is a beating for you in it, mister! That goes for you, and you, and you too!

"You're not our mother."

>Don't you backsass me!

"Fine! Damn."

>And don't think I missed... wait, you're not a demon.

'P-P-Peon... get the Great and potato Trix rabbit to the red crossy place, she cannot see straight and tastes of butter."
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