tacobob

 

“I’m sure your folks won’t mind.”, the young dragon started to clean up.  She was slightly curious what sort of creature he would turn into with that magic pearl. She heard horror stories from Spike that he turned into some sort of puffer-fish! Oh the horror of horrors! The poor guy mentioned he had to scratch his butt for the longest time, but couldn’t due to his useless flippers. And when he got a good look at himself via a underwater mirror, he was aghast when he found out he didn’t even have a butt! Phantom Flank! ARRRGH!

 

Oh-Oh! She had to be somewhere! Smolder increased the speed of her cleaning. Gotta go fast “Thanks for stopping by Princess Bluebelle. It was nice to talk to an adult without getting the usual amount of judgment back." she nodded as the royal pony moved on. "And you Missy.", she gave her friend a wink. "When you get back from this little adventure with blue-bird-boy, you'll have to tell me EVERYTHING. Every little smooch, all the times he does that smooshy thing with his beak when he is perturbed. That kind of reminds me of a confounded sock-puppet." Wow! She was actually getting use out of her 'New Word A Day Calendar" Twilight got her for her birthday!

 

 

"That's why there are publishers. They're the ones who handle all the boring stuff. Making copies, selling copies, sending copies.". Library books were different than book store books. Library books were put together stronger as they were meant to be read more than a few times. Her mother spent time between updating the R.E.A. manuals and writing her cute little romance adventure stories...However with other species joining the ranks of Equestria's military might, her books needed some major rewrites. Thankfully the higher rankers gave her a team for these updates.

 

The mare let out a chuckle, "They try not to use the table for anything other than the map.", she glanced over at the helpful little bit of magic. "One of Cutie Mark Crusaders...I forgot her name..The unicorn...Freaked out when she decided she would enjoy a book and a cookie. The table turned on, and she freaked out and fell backwards on her chair. Nearly choked on her cookie."

 

Yep! It was time to move on. "You two will like this room.", the mare pushed open the door and lead the pair into what she called the 'Media' room. Some comfortable chairs,  a film projector and a screen. Fire Walker had a fun little documentary on the history of the castle that she needed to test out.  Bevel and Dunnie would be a perfect pair to test this on. As the clever unicorn would be very good at judging its storyline and logic, while Dunnie would be the best at gauging the whole entertaining factor. She wouldn't say anything, but the moment the movie got dull, she would simply snooze away. No need for a hoof up or down, when this mare was sleeping, that movie wasn't meant for peeping.

 

"Mister Spike did a great job at narr....oh."

 

There was a rather large mirror standing in her way. "What is this doing here?", she gasped. And what mirror was this? It was clearly magical, but there were more than a few magic mirrors in the hidden storage. There was one that showed your greatest desires. One that showed an version of its viewer from another world. One that showed the 'fairest one of them all'. One that can be used to spy on somepony, and one that could allow you to travel to another world. Which one is this?

 

"Um. I need to go find Princess Twilight...This shouldn't be here..", there was a hint of fear in her voice. They kept some really powerful magical items hidden away here. And not just in the broom closet or second half-bath, but in another dimension. "Let's go back the way we came...I can use the thing to alert her.. I know she's not that far away..I er...oh!", she let out a yelp as a what appeared to be a magical hand appeared from the mirror and pulled the poor officer in.

 

She vanished without a sound!

 

 

 

 

“I don’t see any issue with that.”, the dragon responded. “You can take him to experience the entire 'Three Days of Freedom Celebration', which I think would be fun. Three days of partying. And considering you missed it last year." She hated the idea of her favorite blue-buddy staying at the school alone this year...And what did SHE have planned? There was this year's 'Feast Of Fire' and she did have a really good story to tell this year. Still, three days of partying with Terramar or a pile of gems. Hmm. There was always a chance that yummy little bird was already seeing some creature. Ugh. And her brother had something he had been wanting to do this year. She could only assume he was going to tell his story via beat poetry.

 

"There's also the other griffon cities like Rockwington. He might prefer a visit there soon...I heard it's not the prettiest of cities, but it's filled with artists and other creative types. Guy might get inspired and feel a little better about his kind." She knew Gallus was an orphan. What happened to his folks? Did they run away, or did they..er...best not to think about it.

 

"Ah shucks.", she smiled back at the mare. "Still, would be nice to find out what happened to his folks....See why he became an orphan.", she turned to Silverstream, "Poor guy didn't even know what a cousin was when you were telling about your holidays...I don't even know who my cousins are, but I know what they are...what cousins are..." Dragons did not keep family trees! This was not good! Cousins would marry cousins! This is probably why there were some pretty odd looking dragons.

 

 

 

This was by far the silliest adventure she had ever been on. More so when she, Dunder, Muggo and her brother, Walk Walker were chased about the Everfree by a pack of vicious wolf fly-ders! These were Fly-ders, who in turn were a race of green-skinned multi-legged insects that fly, bite, and spin webs that were giant versions of said flying insects but also had wolf heads were reasons. Nature is weird.

 

As the 'Ghost' broke out into song, the officer's boggled brain tried to catch up with everything, she caught sight of an old tin sign that were near the hooves. "Paradise Estate Studios", she read out-loud. Before she noticed the farmer was getting into a fight with the large what's it. But as she turned and got ready to rush over to her friend's aid, an trap door opened and she fell! This door closed, once the Pegasus was gone!

 

At first, Applejack could not lay her hooves on the frightful fright. It dodged and weaved as it sung it song. It bopped and bobbed like a professional prize-fighter. Until its song ended, it stayed still just long enough for the feisty farmer to knab it, and she probably wish she didn't.  As it felt like a very cold and very large pile of phlegm..It was basically a very large booger.

 

"Ha Ha!", it laughed before it broke out into another song. As it sung, Applejack realized it was not it who she had caught, but It was 'it' that had caught her and was slowly pulling her into its body.

 

"I am the meanest meanie I ever met

But I'm just half as bad as I'm gonna get

Why should I be humble?

I'll make the mountain crumble..."

 

Out of the corner of their eye, she noticed one of the robed guards had wandered into view who quickly shook off said robe. It was Swift Star! She appeared to have been in a trance and seeing her commanding officer in trouble was enough to shake her out. "Captain Applejack!" She was missing her uniform.

 

She bravely charged towards the 'ghost' and pony, and gave the farmer a good nudge, breaking her free of the spirit's pull. Unfortunately she went directly into the gunky ghost's open maw.

 

 

 

But after a quick tussle, she soon was out, and covered in a white, slimy goo. The 'Ghost' took off and floated up into the ceiling, leaving another pile of goo. As it left, it added. "You an't seen nothing yet!"

 

Poor Swift Star curled up into a ball and groaned, "This is exactly how our last officer party went. Exactly..", she shivered.

 

 

The young dragon nodded her head as Silverstream spoke. Sirens were rather scary. They were beautiful creatures, but also terrifying at the same time. The picture, well, it was a drawing showed three standing over a wrecked ship with a few pony skeletons laying nearby. They could take over your mind to make you helpless or even attack your friends, and then when you were done, it was all over for you! The part that creeped her out the most were their eyes, so dark and evil. Smolder did not sleep well that night.

 

"They vanished? That's good." Or was it? Evil creatures had an bad habit of going away for hundreds, if not thousands of years only to return even nastier. Imagine going through your life as air-breather only to spend years living under water. So many changes. You'd have to learn how to eat underwater. Drink underwater..How do they do that? Use the restroom....And not just the usual 'oops' in the public pool she might have done once or twice recently.

 

"Yeah, I wouldn't recommend you marry any cousins. That's how we ended up with Crackle." This was something that bothered Smolder about her own race. Unlike just about any other race out there, dragons were all very different. Some could look like ravishing beauties with orange scales, orchid scales and the body of a rock-star, or you could look like an terrible two-pony Nightmare Night costume. One dragon she knew was mostly a tail with feet. The dragon gods were cruel creatures.

 

"I gotta say this and when I say this, I'm saying it as quietly as possible.", she dropped her voice down rather low, "Dragon Lord Ember is a better leader than her father ever was.", to be sure, the dragon glanced up into the sky, "She is actually um, leading us and trying to make a difference. I fought her tooth and nail when she dragged me to Ponyville, but she was right." And Smolder was spoiled with comfy beds, indoor plumbing and really good friends.

 

This would be interesting! Some mountebank pretending to be royalty to swindle bits from the birds! Why would any creature do such a thing? That would be like robbing a rat and stealing his dumpster! Gallus rarely spoke of his homeland as it was all very unpleasant for him. He grew up without a family and very few friends. She had heard the griffons there were trying to make things better. She hoped they succeed!

 

 

 

 

“Well, I don’t intend on spending my life as a pig..So I guess.” Once Applejack bolted, she quickly followed. Towards the temple of doom!

 

While the farmer was a good deal faster than the Pegasus, Fire Walker managed to trail slightly behind her and with a gasp, she saw the weirdest battle. Pigs verses cloaked ponies! Little pink piggies rolled up into hog-balls and slammed into the heads of the ponies. She did not like seeing the weapons the guards had, but it seemed both side were fighting to stop, not to kill their opponents. Maybe the spell-touched ponies were fighting against their respective spells! Or whoever was behind the temple did not want blood outside their creepy temple.

 

While not terribly fast, the Pegasus pony was rather agile and had little difficulty avoiding the guards, pigs and spells. “Sorry.”, she tried her very best to avoid interacting with the warring factions, but as two threatening, but still adorable piggies tried to sneak up on her, the officer sent them into slumber-land with two quick thrusts of her wings. Geez! Pig on somepony your own size!

 

Oh no! Now there was the staple of the Daring Do books! The slowly closing temple door! And behind her, one of the larger hogs rolled up into a giant hog-ball! That’s another! It was similar to the larger boulder-trap the heroine would come across while lurking around creepy tombs! Thankfully Applejack got inside! But she was going to be late! The fleeing pony doubled her speed and quickly dropped into her stomach and slid....rather slowly under the door. which was still open. Applejack had control of the door. She could have ran and made it. Oh boy.

 

“Uh.”, the officer grunted as she slowly got up. They were now in the temple.  “Huh.” It looked all rather temply. But the closer she got, the cheaper it felt. “I think this ‘temple’ is an old movie set.  She spotted a wall that was slowly rotting away and behind which was probably painted Styrofoam was a wood plank. Movie studios had a bad habit of filming on location and simply leaving their sets behind as it was more cost effective to do that instead of ripping them down.

 

Still, while the temple was fake, the magic was real and she needed to stay on her hooves as anything could happen. What were they going to do? As she tried her best to come up with a clever voice, a creepy voice could be heard. It was SINGING?

 

Oh I wouldn't try that if I were you

You never know what I might do

I'll disappear then peek-a-boo

I'll hold your nose till you turn blue

I'd get out fast if I were you

Before you end up in a stew

I'd say a'hey, say toodle-doo

You've bit off more you can chew

I'd get out fast if I were you

You won't catch me, ever

No one can match me, ever

I'm simply much too clever...clever!

I think it's time that you were through

Or something awful may ensue

Before your darkest dreams come true

I'd get out fast, I'd get out fast

Oh, yes, I'd get out fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast, fast

If I were you

 

 

 

 

Fire Walker watched as the be-goggled mare gamboled about the library. She didn't want to say anything, but there wasn't really anything here that was really that special. A few 1st editions, and some very basic spell-books. They were all library-bound, which made them slightly better than what you find at a book-store. There were some books higher up that had really fancy looking bookends, but they were just old copies of Knickerless Knickleby or Rarnaby Budge. There was a new and special edition of 'The Amazing Adventures of Captain Gladys Stoutpamphlet and her Intrepid Spaniel Stig Amongst the Giant Pygmies of Beckles'. But everything was safe. Bevel was not going to find an anything of interest. Powerful magic books were kept locked away, either in Canterlot's well guarded libraries or impossible to sneak into pocket worlds. Fire Walker had the privilege of visiting one during her meeting with Princess Twilight. They had recently learned the hard way that a powerful book could easily overwhelm even the more competent unicorns.

 

"That would not be fair to the writer or publisher.", the officer responded, "That's why we have libraries. Like a book, take it home for a few weeks, but if you really like it, that's when book-stores come in.". Then you can read a chapter and toss it the corner. Fire  had a really bad habit of buying a book, getting bored with it, and then adding it to the ever-growing library in Fillydelphia. And also her personal library in her room at the castle. And also the guest-room at her parents house. And the vacation house in Las Pegasus. She had freaking books all over Equestria. Not to mention the ones 'borrowed' by Zelda, Docket and Presteza.

 

"I'm pretty sure the table only works for Princess Twilight and her companions. Maybe Spike...", she trailed off. Crickey! Bevel could move quick for such a little pony. "Well, unless you have any further questions, we'll move on to the next room.."

 

 

 

“Ah.”, There was something that was bothering the young dragon. "If I recall from that one report you did awhile back.", her eyes fell upon Silverstream, "Your kind were originally straight up hippogriffs until the Storm King came to town, and then you used magic to turn yourselves into seaponies to escape his wraith.  So I'm sure there are regular hippogriffs and regular sea ponies that can't transform into the other races? And what's with meremares? Is that a thing? And Kelpie and Sirens. I heard they're just really big seaponies that can use magic singing. Usually to distract lonely sailors into crashing their boats, and then  they eat yah. ", She was slightly disturbed by Rockhoof's story about his encounter with the three Sirens. When he said 'eat', his eyebrows did that thing. Did he mean eat eat? Aka munch a bunch or baku baku? Or eat, eat? Like the one done best in private?

 

Sweet Ember, her mind keeps going into one direction. Think of something not-sexy. Celestia. No....That's the opposite. Rockhoof...Nooo...Ah! Snips and Snails! Perfect! Smolder took another sip from her cup. There was a few bits of cold tea along with a small bit of harden honey that floated to the bottom of the cup. Yuck.

She glanced back up and listened some more. "Nah, we're not anywhere near a ruling class. Maybe when our last dragon lord was young. But after that, we for the most part just kept to ourselves and avoided everyone..Sometimes a foolish dragon would try to pick on a pony and learn the hard way, size doesn't matter, especially when the poor soul you're picking on can use a spell to shrink you down to her size and hit you between the eyes with a hoof."

 

Smolder managed to find some crumbs on her plate as the shape-shifting princess talked on. She nodded her head. Her future was out there and it did not involve sitting in a cave. She had far more opportunities than her parents ever did, and hoped she could find her way in this new world. She did miss her chance to see where Bluebelle's eyebrows went when she said 'cuddle'. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ho-Boy. Now the reception had begun.

 

Fire Walker gently wiped away her tears and hoped nopony saw her take place in one of the oldest wedding clichés ever. Now they just needed the over-drunk uncle or somepony to storm in and declare that –they- were truly in love with one of the now married ponies. The officer’s ears perked up as she heard a very familiar voice.

 

“Oh Dunders.”, she quickly scooted over to her special friend and gave him a proper hug. She had not seen her former adventuring partner since a rather odd mishap with a magic mirror in her former place of employment. So much had changed since then. “The Twilight Guard has mostly been dissolved as the good Princess now has an whole country to rule. I’m back with the R.E.A proper.”, her voice dropped down to a whisper, “I also have an upcoming change of my own.”, she patted her stomach. “There’s nothing really there that can be seen, but I’ll be bringing a foal of my own into the world in a little over ten months.  And don’t worry.”, she smiled at the stallion, “About the cake. I’m pretty sure I heard there’s a few back-ups in the kitchen in case the usual shenanigans break out. And if a larger crowd turned up.”

 

The good Princess Bluebelle made her way over to the pair. Could she imagine as a child that she would know more than one princess personally? Being the proper sort, she gave the royal pony a proper Canterlot curtsy. "He was supposed to be here already.", she whispered with more than a hint of stress in her tone , "And yes, I believe I was with you shortly after that happened. Was it last year's Hearth's Warming Eve?" Or maybe even the previous? Time was going by so quickly.

 

Ooh! They had that one mare..The cellist that was at every  Grand Galloping Gala. She is very good! And along with Countess Coloratura. Fire's little sister Wind was a big fan.

 

 

Fire Walker was excited! This was the first time she was allowed to vote in Ponyville! She officially had a home here along with her mail, which was still going to Princess Twilight's former castle. This she needed to fix.

 

It was a battle between the wife that was part of a family that had nearly as strong as a connection to Ponyville as the Apples. The farmers had their impressive farms, but would have not gone very fair without Filthy Rich's business.  Versus a carpetbagger with an odd name. Strong Copper? Copper isn't strong, it's weak! He seemed to be a nice enough fellow, but they didn't need a nice mayor! They needed somepony who was strong! It takes nerves of steel to cut ribbons at new stores and wear those sashes. Somepony also needed to award Apple Jack her usual amount of awards for saving the village from whatever bothered it.

 

The officer had no idea what mayors do. Call the Power Ponies?

 

Once there was a booth available, she trotted in and thought very hard. Who would she vote? The tough mare who was a bit of a bi...grating pony. Or the likeable stallion with zero Ponyville connections? Once her mind was made up, she dipped her hoof into the ink and stamped her ballot.  Once it was in the proper box, Fire Walker stopped and quickly washed her inky hoof off. A volunteer was there at the exit who hoofed over a STICKER! It informed all those nearby that she in fact voted. Yay! After placing the sticker on her blue scarf, she made her way out. She had packages waiting for her in the Crystal Castle. Also Yay!

 

And also bills.

 

boo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Thanks." Fire Walker smiled back at the mare and soon she had a glass of 'Magic Apple'.*

 

It was good, but it was still not the same. This was going to be a very long ten and a half months.

 

The Pegasus had just enough time to finish her drink when the magic happened. She was a little bummed as Swift was still not around. Where did he go? It was time for the wedding proper!  She quickly made her way to seats, where, when it was her turn to be seated, she followed her usher to her assigned place to sit. Right next to an empty seat where Swift was supposed to be. Hmmmph. Fire had recognized some of the ponies and of course cute little Spike. And the always gorgeous Fluttershy. Everypony was just so utterly beautiful or handsome. Or both.  They were beautsome. Is that a word? More ponies entered the room. Princess Twilight was also there and it was she who going to solemnize the marriage. The purple mare gave a lovely speech. Everything was perfect and lovely and while she hated to do it, there was already a good deal of tears that started to flow. Oh woe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay! This is it! Fire Walker was very sure she was actually still laying in that ditch and was just dreaming this. Or maybe she had an concussion? The odd pig was not only standing, which wasn’t that odd. Wind Walker taught her corgi Gumby and how to stand up and shake his fuzzy rump. But he eventually had to get back on all four. This odd creature was now talking. Maybe they breathed in some wacky mushroom spores during their travels? Was Discord behind this? He was behind all those sea-monsters eating her ice cream!

 

“Of course, I’m talking.”, the pig turned to Fire Walker, “Maybe I should be talking to you instead, as you look a bit more..er..”

 

The red mare was trying her very best to register all of this. A piggy princess and her piggy army. All this wedding stress was getting to her brain. She really should have kept her original plan. A quick and cheap wedding at one of those twenty-four wedding chapels at Las Pegasus. Only 29 bits for the wedding and a coupon to one of the many questionable buffet style restaurants nearby. They would even have a pony dressed as the famous rockabilly artist, Juke Joint handle the wedding!

 

The pig was not very happy. She spoke to a pony and she did not respond. She was being IGNORED.

 

"PLEASE LOOK AT ME, when I talk to you.", she growled. "I am Princess Porcina and I intend on taking over that temple. I was told that there was an powerful and very large gem inside that I could use to amply my powers.", she moved her piggy hooves away from a gold necklace that she wore. The emerald attached to it oozed magic. "I've been converting all those stupid guards into pigs for my army, but for every five guards I convert, ten more replace them. I have no idea where they are coming from! I need you two ponies to break into that temple and bring me back that gem...Or I'll." she stroked the gem, "Turn you into mindless pigs and try to overwhelm those guards. Most of my pigs will probably die in the process, but as long as I get that gem, it does not matter."

 

WHAT WILL THEY DO? Will the ponies pilfer precious stones for Princess Porcina or proceed to pair up with her peccable piggy patrol?

 

“Oh, right. Magic stuff.”, Fire Walker was HORRIBLE when it came to special armor. Somepony would give her a impressive suit of magic armor to wear, and the forgetful mare would almost always forgot to use the cool features, either due to the rush of battle, or maybe she felt it was cheating. But she would be of no use if some creature started to control her.  She would probably end up attacking her friend or even worse be forced into poses one should never be caught dead doing, and have rude pictures taken of her and mailed to loved ones. True evil. 

 

The mare pushed her purple button and paused to let the magic do its thing. Out of the corner of her eye she spotted more of those cute little beach piggies. So cute! If Wind Walker hadn’t already owned a dog, she would have brought one of the little porkers home with her. The officer slowly walked along with the farmer of many talents. There probably wasn’t a single thing that mare couldn’t do, and if there was, it wasn’t worth doing!

 

Still, she could not help but notice more pigs. There sure were a lot of them on this island! The red mare nodded her head as she moved along with the Earth Pony. Right a distraction, she would do one of those. Before she could think of a clever diversion, one of the pigs stepped out from the woods. Unlike the others, this one walked on two of her hooves, and held a mirror in her right front hoof. The odd creature had curly red hair and a golden crown with a emerald that oozed unpleasant energy from it.  The crown was matched by a medallion of the same color and build.  Her green, rather greedy looking eyes glanced away from the mirror and with an malicious grin on her face and pointed at the pair and let out an loud squeal. In moments, a small army of no longer cute piggies appeared behind her.

 

Fire Walker really wanted to laugh at the whole spectacle. Somepony actually put lipstick on a pig! Instead she asked...

 

"Uh, Applejack? What is that?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

Smolder could not help but smile at Bluebelle's 'droll' comment. She understood why she said it. That was a bit silly. Judging a mate on how they can burp. Still, she patiently waited for the royal pony to exchange a few words with her friend and only spoke when she had the opening.

 

"I hadn't really noticed it until recently,  but with my brother's friends have been hitting on me and all... Well, they hit me and I then I hit them until they fall over. But instead of looking defeated, they just smile. That's the old way, dragons want strong mates to produce strong whelps. But now that certain pony things are coming in like marriage, I really don't want to end up with a big lunk-head. I' want something more than 'grunt punch breath fire grunt grunt' sort of guy and if you have something unique or different, dragons tend to mock you for it instead of celebrating like the other creatures do. "

 

The young dragon realized she was starting to repeat herself, so she asked, almost shyly. "Would I be bad if I looked to other creatures for my er. um.", A million words floated in the dragon's mind. None of them polite. A few would either get her suspended or arrested. "Aggressive cuddling? Eh?", she glanced around hoping she was safe. "Other creatures have more dimensions.", she glanced at Hippogriff, "They might be silly at times, but they're also cute and funny and know what to say to make you feel better, even if it's not positive but truthful. And also are capable of giving good cuddles. Some of my brothers friends look like they were put together by bored toddlers and are truly capable of very little. And I'm sorry I'm rambling but all of you have grown up with this experience. Families. Parents who stay with each other and do cute little things like give each other baby names or kiss each other on the snouts or beaks or whatever. Last Saturday, she purposely hung around Sugarcube Corner watching the Cakes interact with each other. After the one hundredth, 'Can we help you' ,. she told them a little white lie saying she needed to watch how a candy-store operates for her studies. Well, she need to watch how a candy-store married couple operate, and operate they did! They each knew when to support the other and how. They knew each others weakness and were able to counter them. Like some big stony bridge over rapid waters or a well oiled machine. They even knew how to handle Pinkie Pie!

 

"My kind might have that kind of relationship in the future, but now? I'm worried that if I go for the easy route and date a griffon or pony or any creature that's not a dragon, would I be bad for not helping my kind advance just a little? Am I making any sense?", she glanced at the pair with a true look of utter wistfulness.

 

 

 

 

 

The red mare grinned back at draconequus, "I'd usually say if you hadn't brought your umbrella, it would have rained all day, but the Pegasi of Ponyville made sure there was going to be perfect weather for a perfect wedding so they were all out there getting rid of the clouds earlier today. Even my folks and lil' sister were out there helping out.". Once Wind Walker freshened herself up and got her dress on, she would hopefully get here just in time for the ceremony. And what sort of gift would Discord have? Hopefully a gift card. One that did not try to eat the brides.

 

Ah, the mare's name was Berry Punch. "Heh.", she let out a chuckle, "I could never even picture my father, the 'Old Major' pushing a shopping cart through the local Cantermart while Muzak played on in the background. Nope. He'd probably lose it after a few minutes after trying to figure out what the difference was between ketchup and catsup.", She did raise an eyebrow when the sneaky serpent tossed some garlic into a bowl. She was about to say something but stopped when she noticed a familiar pony via the corner of her right eye. Tempest Shadow, the traitor. The mare who got away from justice. Fire Walker quickly pushed such thoughts from her mind. This was a wedding. Happy thoughts. And besides, she did not know the full story. There had to be more than what she knew. Tempest might have had reasons to do what she did.

 

Thankfully happiness did appear in pony-form. There was the always impressive Fluttershy, Applejack's big and handsome brother, and the farmer's first foal, Zap Apple. "As his mother would say, he's cuter than  a speckled pup under a wagon with his tongue hanging out." Did Applejack say that? Or was it the grandmother? Maybe even little Apple Bloom said that? Huh. She simply smiled back at the small group of ponies

 

And then there was her fiancé who was being extra-Swifty today. "Well, considering how many weddings I've been to, I'm probably an expert by now,", she leaned into the nuzzle. There she caught the stallion looking at the broken horned-unicorn. "Relax.", she whispered, "Don't worry about her Swifty..We're just here two celebrate the coming together of two very special ponies. No drama. I'm sure she'll be good."

 

She spied a pony deserving of praise, "Archancellor Bluebelle.", the red officer bowed her head, "Lovely to see you as always." Good gravy! There were too many attractive mares here! From Fluttershy's perfection, Bluebelle's regal magnificence, and even Tempest Shadow's menacing, haunting beauty! Compared to those mares, Fire felt rather old and ugly. Somepony was going to confuse her for Swift's mother. Or grandmother. Or make her sit in the 'mule's section'.

 

 

"Nothing like the present to start a good habit.", The red mare kept her voice down low. "My hubby-to-be is a total teetotaler and while I could never really give it all up, I probably could cut it out for the moment, considering I also have a little one on the way as well."  She was still way too early to be able to use the 'I'm eating for two!' excuse considering her kid-to-be was the size of a bit.

 

"Thankfully he, or she will be out long before next year's 'Taste Of Ponyville' starts. I heard they'll be doing Apple Cider Mules and I can't miss that.", her whole family loved Mules. During her brother Walk's wedding, her family completely wiped out the restaurant's vodka and ginger beer supply. "I'm pretty sure I've seen you more than once. Can't say I remember your backside." Ugh! What was her name? Berryshine? Pinot Noir? Or was it Berry Punch? "Lived in Canterlot before I came here. Both my parents and kid sister live her as well. I..."

 

She stopped. She had that odd feeling and there was a familiar scent in the air. "Hello Mister Discord." she had a feeling he would show up. Grape juice? Fire wondered if the powerful creature could even get drunk? Of course, the things alcohol does to the brain. from feeling more impulsive, less anxious, and less restricted. This was something Discord already felt.

 

"Excuse me.", she was always rather polite to the odd looking creature, "I was wondering if you could help a lady find her dear Swift Squall, my most dearest and dapper Draconequus? I'm hoping he isn't bugging Princess Twilight, or even Applejack!" He was a goof, a sweet goof, but even he would not dare bug a bride before her wedding!

 

 

 

Smolder glanced over at at Silverstream as she spoke. Good question, but probably not the best way to ask it, aka it being 'weird'. Which it was. But they lived in a world where many things could be considered 'weird'. It wasn't that long ago that she would have considered anything ponies did as 'weird'. Smolder had also considered asking how the transformation went. Was it a nice and safe POOF? Or did she shift back into her male form bit by bit. Would it be painful? This she did not need to know. She would push this image into her mind. Bluebelle shouted 'Shimbaree, Shimbarah, Shimbaree, Shimbarah' or maybe even, 'Izzy wizzy, let's get busy!' and a magic poof of magic would magic into the air, and magic her into a him. That's it. Nothing like that one werewolf movie she saw last year.

 

The young dragon nodded her head as she spoke about gold-diggers. "I completely understand.", Smolder spoke as like someone who had been through the same thing. "During the last dragon migration I completely shattered old Belchgutt's record by letting loose a burp of over a hundred and eleven decibels! I nearly blew the scales off my brother!", she could not help but look a little on the proud side. "After that, EVERYONE wanted to hang around with me, which was cool at first with dragons hanging on my every word and offering to do stuff for me, but it got old very quick. Mostly they wanted to know my secret, and that was a cold can of Nozz-A-La Cola! Drink that really quickly, then you need to eat an apple, also quickly, jump up and down, and Walla! You got yourself a big ol' burp!" She thankfully, did not actually act this out.

 

After that PERFECTLY proper talk to a member of royalty was over, she listened to the dreaded secrets of her transformation! Was it a magic word? Magic Sword? Did it only happen on the second full moon of the third month? Nope! It was her choice of coffee or tea! Smolder tried to avoid coffee as it made her need to avail herself to the little girl's room and as dragons would say, dig for Andalusites!

 

"Well.", she actually had a question to ask, "Since dragons are slowly getting closer to the pony way of thinking in some areas, like relationships and marriages and families and such, how do you know when a guy or gal likes yah?"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 It was her second year at the academy where they taught defense against mind control. Even non-unicorns needed to study and learn how to defend themselves from nasty magic. And unlike unicorns, they couldn't just throw up a magic shield. There were other ways. Never looking directly at the spell-caster. Never concentrate on what they are saying. Ugh. There was so much more! And they learned about those who could use such spells, from unicorns to great beasts. Even horrible aquatic spirits that could put you under their control and drag you into the sea.

 

"Huh?", Fire Walker allowed herself to be slack, making it far easier to be moved, or pushed into the bushes. Where she tumbled far longer than she really wanted to tumble.

 

"Ouch.", the Pegasus pony groaned. She was going to be hurting tomorrow. Thankfully she was very sure nothing broke. Did she see anything odd? Besides the stars that were circling her head, she didn't see a thing. "No..I wonder if our valley girl friend has something to do with this. She is a Siren after all." The red mare really hoped it wasn't her.

 

"We should be sneaky and find the creature that is controlling everyone. Usually if you knock out the puppet-masters, all the puppets go free." But first they needed to know where they were.

 

 

 

 

Oh how things have changed so much over the last few months. At the start of the year, Fire Walker had moved to Ponyville to accept a position at the castle and become part of  Princess Twilight’s special guard. And then a good deal of craziness came crashing in. There as a battle and now Twilight was ruler of all of Equestria, and the red mare was back in the R.E.A.  Her own wedding was quickly rushing towards her and she was now with foal. Thankfully this foal was the size of a penny. Still, the fact that she learned all of this from a valley girl siren just seemed to make sense for her way of life. She still made sure to visit her doctor once she and the others got back from their mission.

 

And now she was attending the wedding of a pony she considered the bravest, and toughest country gal that ever roamed Equestria and also Rainbow Dash. She was a decent sort. The officer’s fiancé was supposed to be here.  Whew. She was beat. And thirsty! Thankfully there was some food and drink prepared  like some juice-bowls.  But she could not just go willy-nilly into these. She had to ask. Thankfully there was a mare who looked like an old college friend of hers named Pinot Noir was she one of the caterers?

 

"Excuse me miss.", she made her way towards the mulberry coated mare, "Are any of these non-alcoholic? I need to watch what I'm drinking...And also any without mango? I'm really allergic to that." The rather worn out looking creature really needed to just sit down and chill for a moment. This was not her wedding. She was just a guest.

 

 

 

 

Ponies had celebrations for EVERYTHING. Some made sense. There was Nightmare Nights, which was her favorite. Creatures could dress up in all kinds of costumes and there was free candy. The local movie theater also sold cheap tickets for fun old horror movies. Hearth’s Warming was also fun with the decorations, food and gifts. The movies were not as good, as most of them either one where the 'Gift Givers'  reindeers can't give out presents due to some silly excuse, or a movie where a busy business pony is too busy with business to handle his or hers kids and holiday demands!  Oh no! Will busy parent spend a day with his or hers kids or finish the deal with the Dinklebirds!? And there was also the stress over being an 'Hearthswarming Helper' and not doing a joke gift. Although Gallus did look really cute in his lederhosen that was two sizes to small.  Maybe slapping him on the but while shouting, "Tanz für mich Vogel junge!" might have been a bit too much.

 

There was also this 'Summer Sun Celebration' which was a thing. There was also a event going on in the castle. She knew her friends Silverstream and Gallus were here. Did they invite her to tag along? Nope. Hmm. They have been spending a good deal of time together. What could that mean?  She slowly entered the garish building. Did she smell fire? Could anything actually burn in this place? Everything was made of crystal! Even the toilets!

 

Well, there were at least potato skins. She liked those! Nice overcooked half a potato loaded with cheese, crispy hay sticks and sour cream! Yum! Now where were the others? Was she going to find her pals hiding in a room somewhere giving each other beak-smooches?

 

“Dwah.”, the dragon cooed, “His adorable little quirks make him far more appealing. And I tend to maybe.”, she tapped two of her claws together as she spoke, “Sometimes and occasionally might air a minor grievance from time to time.”, she added with a wink, “I don’t do it to be mean or just to hear myself holler, but to correct a mistake. And...”, she paused to take a sip from her mug. “When going to a public pool, I’m actually rather terrified to step on the drain as I’m worried that it might suck me in. Just don’t like them. They’re like jail bars or a gateway to another world.”. She shivered a little bit as she thought of what creatures could live there. Those hairless monkey creatures Spike told her about?

 

There was one thing that the good princess mentioned that confused her so. “Wait a second, you did not get a marefriend until your curse? Didn’t that happen recently? And you were already rather.” Her little Shoulder Angel who now appeared as a white rabbit for some reason shouted ‘Don’t Say Old!’ ,”Well into the early stages of being an adult. If I may ask.”, she moved a little closer to the royal pony, “Why did it take so long? I saw a picture of you as a guy and as we dragons would like to say, you were a bit of a hotty.”

 

It had been a rather long time since the red coated officer had been in an actual real battle. This was always a good thing, because she believed her job was to keep the peace. Technically she recently had been part of a rather large force of ponies, dragons, gryphons yaks, changelings and many other types of creatures that were asked to stand against the Changeling Queen, Lord Tirek and some small child. She was not asked to attack, but to keep the two villains and one child unfocused by flying really quickly by them. This was successful and the baddies were turned to stone. Something that ended well. She was also later told the kid was a evil kid. Huh.

 

After making sure the others had the right spot to hide, Fire Walker quickly found one of her own. Once the spell was cast and the mercenaries were startled into fleeing into random members of her squad, their foes would be easy pickings. And sure enough, Gleaming Shield's scary snake illusion was terrifying. But something was wrong. Instead of running for the hills, the mercenaries stopped what they were doing and slowly waddled towards the fake snake with their weapons drawn. The way they walked reminded her of a horror movie, a zombie movie.

 

She then noticed something was odd with their eyes. Oh dear. Worried, the officer poked her head, 'They are being hypnotized', Fire mouthed to the farmer. And what creature had the ability to do that?

 

 

 

 

Smolder snatched up her second sandwich while the others spoke. This was something she both hated and liked during a proper afternoon tea time. Tea-Sandwich-Roulette. There was always a chance she would get something she did not like. Like a herbed onion sandwich. Those always made her gassy, and one never should make a dragon gassy. Of course, she could always either ask the gal who brought the sandwiches, or simply lift up the bread, but where would the fun be in that? "Wow..This is really good..", she was out of her comport zone. This was new to her. So far she tasted mayo, a hint of onion, which was okay and artichokes? Hokey smokes, that was good and she feel slightly embarrassed once she noticed it was already gone. One must savor the flavor and not misbehaver and gobble her tiny sandwich so quickly.

 

"Hmm." Pony names were weird. She was just 'Smolder'. It wasn't a pretty name at all, as with most dragons as they tended to sound more like threats than actual names. "Yeah, I never got that. If you're not going to use that letter, don't have it in your name!" Guy was probably really far on the 'fancy' side. Wordsworth! Ha!

 

Oh right! He was her -younger- sibling, which confused the dragon as he was really tall. Like about the same size as Applejack's 'ayup'n brother. "Eh.", she shrugged her shoulders, "I have not really said that much to your brother, but I wouldn't." Uh-Oh! Don't go there Smolder! Thankfully her very own shoulder-angel that only she could see, appeared before her. No salty sea puns! No innuendos! To be safe, the angel carried a very large rolled up newspaper if the dragon dared to go astray, she would whack her with it! Yes, the dragon was gill-ty! She dolphin-ately wanted to get aboard his ship and..WHACK. "Ouch." It wasn't there, but she could feel it.

 

"I mean,who wouldn't want to hang out with Terramar? He's kind of cute..."