MLP: FiM - The Talent Tournament - Chapter 15

Chapter 15: The Truth Hurts

After Princess Twilight and all of her friends finished with both dinner and their conversation, they went to go check on how Prince Blueblood was feeling as he rested in bed while Nurse Redheart was looking after him and medically treating the poor Prince with the assistance of Moon Dancer, Crafty Arts, and Gabby Griffon.

“Hi everypony, how's Prince Blueblood?” Twilight asked gently.

“So far, he's alright, but he still hasn't woke up,” answered Crafty Arts, worried for the Prince’s sake.

Nurse Redheart added, “Well, all that matters now is that he gets as much rest as he possibly can. Physically, he should be alright. However, if what Trixie told me is indeed true… that Prince Blueblood was actually possessed by an evil monster from Tartarus itself… then the REAL damage done to him is both mental and emotional.”

“We know, and I for one would be more than happy to help out too, if you’d like,” said Shadow Shinobi, “I can use the same types of healing techniques I used back in Canterlot when Trixie-chan herself was recently freed from Dark Mind’s control at the time.”

“That would be wonderful, thank you,” said a grateful Nurse Redheart, “But Trixie was under Dark Mind’s control, too?”

“Well, yes, but I’ve already recovered more than enough from that ordeal,” Trixie replied, “After all… no dark magic nor evil monster can keep the Great and Powerful Trixie down forever!!!”

“Shhhh!” everypony said to her, trying to get her to keep her voice down while Blueblood was still resting in his sleep.

Everyone looked to make sure that Blueblood was still asleep. Luckily for Trixie, he was AND suddenly let out a big snore.

Applejack then whispered to Rainbow Dash, “And I thought YOU snored loudly. ”


As Nurse Redheart and Shadow Shinobi looked after Prince Blueblood and continued the healing process while he slept, everyone else went off to bed.

However, there was one thing that needed to be asked to Princess Twilight…

“Excuse me, Princess Twilight?” said Crafty Arts, a little nervous to speak to her, “Gabby and I wanted to ask you something… if that’s okay with you, Your Highness.”
“Sure, girls,” said Princess Twilight, “What’s on your mind?”

“Well...” said Gabby, also quite nervous, “We overheard Trixie saying that that someone named Dark Mind was what attacked Prince Blueblood and possessed him… not to mention that it was copying the talents of others and making Prince Blueblood act really bizarre in the Talent Tournament… and that you and your friends knew the whole time, but didn’t want to really say anything about it because if you did, Dark Mind would try to possess the minds of everyone in Equestria… so… is that… true?”

Princess Twilight and the rest of the Mane Seven all looked at Trixie quite unamused, as Trixie said to them sheepishly, “Well, when Prince Blueblood had apparently been teleported back to Rainbow Falls and was unconscious at the time, I had to tell Nurse Redheart the entire situation if she was going to help him. I didn’t know or notice that both Crafty and Gabby here were around at the time. Honest!”

Princess Twilight sighed saying, “Crafty… Gabby… the truth is… YES… we did know the truth about Dark Mind possessing Prince Blueblood AND we kept that much secret from everypony else… but we did so in the hopes of protecting them and finding a way to stop Dark Mind once and for all, which we did successfully I might add. But… even so… it doesn’t change the fact that we were lying to everypony, including you two, even if our intentions were good at the time… and even though we DID mean what we said when we said to everypony that there was nothing to worry about concerning whatever bad guys there might or might not be.”

Applejack added, “And believe me, Sugarcaubes, it was NOT easy to keep the truth hidden from everyone as long as we did. Of course, tomorrow, we’re gonna have ta go and tell the citizens livin’ and stayin’ here in Rainbow Falls the entire truth about Dark Mind, the Talent Tournament… everything.”

“And we’re so sorry, you two,” Princess Twilight said sincerely to both Crafty and Gabby, “We don’t blame you if you hate us, but please… whether or not you can ever forgive us for lying to everyone, we hope that you can at least forgive us for WHY we did so. ”

“Of course we forgive you!” said Gabby, suddenly so perky that her wings began to flap out.

“Yeah, you've already saved Equestria multiple times, including NOW, and even though you were lying to everypony this time around… it was so you could save all of us AGAIN. We'd never hold something like that against you!” said Crafty Arts, also cheerful.

“Thank you,” Princess Twilight said gratefully, “But we’re going to have to both announce and explain EVERYTHING to everyone in this town first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Yeah…” said Rainbow Dash, “So, wish us luck with that. ”
“Is there any way we could help?” Crafty Arts asked them.
“Well, you could both vouch for us,” Princess Twilight answered, “But that would be just a start… if we’re lucky enough…”

“Yeah, but don’t forget,” said Flash, “It’s just like Crafty and Gabby said: you and your friends have saved Equestria and all of its Ponies, if not also our entire world, from evil threats more times than anyone can count. I’m sure they’ll all be more than willing to hear you out and understand why you did what you felt like you had to do for Equestria’s sake.”

“He's right, Twilight,” said Applejack, “Ah definitely know fer a real fact it feels bad that we lied ta everypony… an’ we’ll definitely have to live with that fer quite possibly the rest of our lives… especially me… BUT if anythin’, we at least had more than a good enough reason to do what we did… ‘cause we did what we did in order to try and protect everypony from Dark Mind’s crazy wrath.”

“That’s definitely surprising coming from YOU, A.J.,” said Princess Twilight.

“Ah know, Twilight…” said Applejack, holding her head down, “Believe me… Ah know… but another thing that’ll help us get through this is the fact that tomorrow mornin’, we’re gonna tell everypony THE TRUTH about everythin’… and hope for the absolute best.”

Noble Wind replied, “Well, not only will Crafty and Gabby vouch for you guys on all of this tomorrow, but so will I. Definitely. ”

“Thanks, pardner,” said Applejack.

Moon Dancer then yawned saying, “Well… after the crazy past few days we’ve had… I am ready to go to bed and sleep like a foal tonight… or at least try to, since tomorrow morning is going to be a doozy for all of us.”

“I heard that,” said Starlight Glimmer, “Well… goodnight, everypony.”

Everypony said goodnight to each other, and then they all went to bed.

They were all able to sleep just fine that night, but as soon as each of them woke up the next morning… they were all thinking of the same thing: telling everypony in Rainbow Falls the truth.

Needless to say, Princess Twilight and her friends were all feeling fairly uneasy and worrisome over what would and could happen the very minute they did what they needed to do. It became even more obvious when they all ate breakfast together with an awkward silence in their inn’s dining hall.

Everypony was eating while looking at each other nervously, dwelling on the day ahead.

After Princess Twilight had finished her breakfast first, she cleared her throat and spoke up saying, “…Everypony ready for today?”

They all simply nodded in agreement, as Applejack then said, “As they say… tellin’ the truth will set ya’ll free… but it certainly ain’t always easy.”

“Yeah…” said Rainbow Dash, “And THIS is gonna stink… big time… but we gotta stay loyal to our fellow Ponies, so… let’s get this over with and hope for the best.”

By the time everypony had finished their breakfast, they headed for Rainbow Falls’ town square. It was there that they had met up with both Princess Luna and Discord, who had just gotten back from their important trip to both Tartarus AND Canterlot, the last place being where both important Equestrians had to finally report in to a worrisome Princess Celestia about the recent victory over Dark Mind.

It was then and there that Prince Blueblood had arrived on the scene as well, just finally waking up and fairly well recovered from the Dark Mind experience.

Blueblood was still feeling a little out of it, but at the very least, he had a strong enough hold on his wits to focus and get done what needed to be done.

Princess Twilight looked at Princess Luna and Discord, then at Prince Blueblood, then at all of her group’s mare and stallion friends.

Princess Twilight then said, “Everypony ready?”
Everypony looked at each other and then nodded as Starlight Glimmer replied, “…Ready as we’ll ever be.”

In just a matter of minutes, the Royal Guard soldiers that had been stationed in Rainbow Falls blew their trumpets to let everypony in town that an important, royal announcement was about to be made.

Flash Sentry was wearing his golden Royal Guard armor as he said, “Hear Ye, Hear Ye, my little Ponies! Presenting two of the Royal Princesses AND one of the Royal Princes of all of Equestria! Twilight Sparkle, Luna, and Blueblood!”

All 3 Royal Ponies stood in the center of the very stage where the Talent Tournament was being held on. Princess Luna then spoke up first…

“Greetings everypony, and thank you all for giving us your full attention," she said, “We sincerely apologize for this important announcement happening somewhat randomly, but we assure that it is of the utmost importance.”

Princess Twilight then stepped forward, cleared her throat, and spoke, “As many of you may remember… a great number of the Ponies currently here in Rainbow Falls are originally from Canterlot. We had Discord here teleport them from the royal city because we were trying to keep everypony safe and away from the evil monster known as Dark Mind, who had the power to take over the mind and body of anypony it wished… particularly those that were capable of performing magic. More specifically, Unicorns and Alicorns. Discord teleported ALL of the citizens of Canterlot here to Rainbow Falls safe and sound before Dark Mind had a chance to strike, and we were able to capture and then later defeat the monster completely… or so we thought at the time. For you see, it turned out that the Dark Mind we thought we defeated at the time was actually a clone it made of itself… when the real Dark Mind had actually, well… taken full control of Prince Blueblood’s mind and body.”

Everypony was a little shocked to here that.

“And to make matters worse…” said Princess Luna, “While the Talent Tournament that has been going on for the past day or so was originally planned to be a fun competition… Dark Mind saw it as a way to gain more power for itself. For you see, Dark Mind had the ability to copy and even combine the very talents and abilities of just about anypony and everypony that was competing in the Talent Tournament. That’s why Prince Blueblood appeared to be just copying off of everypony when he was onstage. Dark Mind was using him while also using its own accursed powers of copying and manipulation.”

“But that isn’t the worst part…” said Prince Blueblood, “The truth is, everypony… Dark Mind said to me, my Royal family members here, and all of their friends that… if we tried to intervene Dark Mind while the Talent Tournament was going on… the monster would immediately use its dark magic at full power to take over the minds of practically everypony in not just all of Rainbow Falls, but also all of Equestria!”

Everypony gasped out of pure shock from hearing THAT.

“That’s right..” said Princess Twilight, as she then said sadly, “The horrible truth is… we… the very Ponies who are practically sworn to protecting Equestria and have already become well-known for it… we all KNEW that Dark Mind was here in Rainbow Falls, in the Talent Tournament, using their evil magic to try and do harm… and we didn’t really do anything to stop that monster as soon as we should have because we… we were afraid that it would try to hurt and destroy everypony in Equestria! When we said that there was nothing to worry about regarding a potential threat to Equestria during the Talent Tournament, we DID mean it because we were determined to stop it… and we DID stop it. But even so… all this time… for the past few days, in fact… we’ve been LYING almost completely to everypony just to try and protect them! While it DID eventually prove to be the best yet only option, after it led to Dark Mind and Blueblood losing to Moon Dancer during their dance contest in the tournament AND finally giving us a real chance to defeat Dark Mind once and for all in a distorted yet safer dimension provided to us by Discord himself… none of that changes the fact that we LIED to everypony here during the entire ordeal!”

Princess Twilight was almost on the verge of tears at this point, “And we’re all so sorry, everypony… Even though we did what we thought was best at the time AND even though Dark Mind is now finally locked away in Tartarus where that monster belongs… we’re all so very sorry that we lied to EVERYONE during this entire Talent Tournament! So… if you hate us or despise us… and don’t even want to be in the Talent Tournament anymore at all… we understand…”

Princess Luna added, “We are not really asking any of you here to take pity on us… All we are asking, our dear little Ponies, is that even though you might not be able to forgive us for WHAT we have done… we hope you can at the very least forgive us for WHY we did what we did.”

Everypony in the crowd all looked at each other and mumbled to one another, wondering what they should really do.

It was then and there that Gabby Griffon flew up and said very sincerely to the crowd, “Everypony, listen to me! If you feel resentment towards the Royal Ponies here and their friends for lying to you all this entire time, I don’t blame you at all! But like they said, they did what they thought was best at the time – what they thought was best for ALL of us here and the rest of Equestria! And when you really stop to think about it, it wasn’t really all THAT different from all of the times they’ve saved Equestria from all of the monstrous threats before Dark Mind! As far as I’m concerned, and ALL things considered, they TOTALLY just saved Equestria and all of us in it AGAIN. Maybe what they did wasn’t THE most perfect way to protect us all, but it still protected us from harm AND they’ve already defeated Dark Mind so that nobody will have to worry about that monster ever again. So, if all of that isn’t reason enough to at least forgive them and thank them for doing what they thought was right for ALL of our sakes, then I don’t know what is!”

Gabby then landed her feet and claws on the ground before the very stage that the Royal Ponies and their friends were all standing upon, then Gabby knelt down respectfully saying, “…I forgive you. ”

Suddenly, Crafty Arts stood next to Gabby, then also bowed in respect to everypony onstage as she said, “I also forgive you.”

Everypony else in the crowd, starting with Noble Wind and then Lyra and then Bon Bon and so on and so forth… they bowed one by one.
Nearly the entire crowd was bowing down.

Seeing all of that made Twilight cry again… only this time, it was tears of joy. Twilight smiled as she sniffed and wiped away her tears saying, “Thank you, everypony… thank you-”

“OH, GIVE ME A HOOFIN’ BREAK!!!” said someone in the crowd.

Needless to say, THAT caught everyone off guard, until they all looked up to see who it was talking so disrespectfully…

…A certain disrespectful, female Pegasus that was colored cyan-green and had a slicked back yet aerodynamic dark blonde mane.

Rainbow Dash realized exactly who it was as she said, “Lightning Dust?!”
“Oh, no…” said Applejack, facehoofing herself.
Spike was just as surprised as Rainbow Dash was, as the baby dragon said, “You have GOT to be kidding me right now!”

Everypony in the crowd was confused about what was going on at the moment.
Lightning Dust then said, “All of these Ponies here who have supposedly ‘saved us’ from evil forces time and again have been lying to all of us during the entire Talent Tournament, and we’re just supposed to let it slide?! That is just pure BULLSNOT!!!”

Everypony gasped out of shock from what Lightning had just exclaimed, a few parents covering the ears of their children, then Flash Sentry called out to Lightning, “WHOA, girl! Language!”

“What're YOU doing here anyway, L.D.?!” asked an angry Rainbow Dash, as she flew up to the blonde bully of a Pegasus mare.

“I’ve been checking out this Talent Tournament since yesterday, though I didn’t arrive here in Rainbow Falls until it was already too late to sign up for it,” said Lightning Dust, “It was actually making me wish I had gotten to this town earlier… until NOW, that is. You and your friends, Rainbow… even though you all did what you did to try and protect us, you still lied to all of us! Clearly it was because all of you so-called ‘Guardians of Harmony’ were far too WEAK to stop this ‘Dark Mind’ villain completely head-on the first time around!”

“We lied to keep everypony safe, Lighting!” Rainbow Dash replied trying to explain, though still quite angry, “Dark Mind would've taken control of everypony in Equestria, including YOU, if we didn't do what we had to do!”

“That may be true, but YOU are not listening!” said Lighting, getting up in Rainbow’s face before saying, “C’mon, everypony, REALLY think about it! The very Ponies we’ve always ‘looked up to’ lied to us instead of destroying Dark Mind right away because they were far too WEAK to do that! And this isn’t even the first time this sort of thing has happened! I mean, if I recall past current event news correctly, Queen Chrysalis and the Changelings – who were defeated by our so-called ‘Guardians of Harmony’  the first time around – actually managed to get the jump on said guardians and take their places almost far too easily! If it hadn’t been for a surprisingly small and insignificant ragtag squad of nobodies beating Chrysalis and the Changelings with nothing but sheer dumb luck – SHEER DUMB LUCK of all things – all of Equestria, if not the entire world, would have been renamed ‘Changelingia’! Just the face facts, everyone! Princess Twilight and her friends and the entire Royal Family can no longer be trusted with protecting anypony any longer!”

Everypony was certainly shocked by what Lighting Dust was exclaiming.
Of course, Princess Luna was NOT liking such accusations as she said, “You don't know anything about how our last encounter with Queen Chrysalis happened! You clearly don’t even understand how this entire ordeal with Dark Mind happened, even after we just explained it to you from start to finish! You aren't one to be pointing hooves at us or anyone else, Lightning Dust!”

“And you so-called ‘Guardians of Harmony’ aren’t fit to protect Equestria!” said Lightning Dust, “In fact, I would go as far as to say that the Royal Family isn’t even fit to lead Equestria at all! Because all of you Ponies standing before us here are TOO DANG WEAK TO PROTECT OR LEAD ANYONE!!!”

And THAT right there was the big, honkin’ cherry on top of the world’s biggest insult cake…

I know the analogy probably isn’t that strong, but hopefully you all get the point.

Lighting Dust had just straight up and greatly insulted not only Princess Twilight and her friends, but also Princess Luna and the entire Royal Family that led Equestria!

Everypony was definitely shocked by that as the entire crowd went silent.

“They are all wonderful Ponies!" a light blue unicorn mare shouted in defense, revealing she was Minuette.
“Totally!” both Twinkleshine and Lemon Hearts agreed.

Thunderlane spoke up next saying, “They may not be perfect, but they’ve always tried their hardest to protect us!”
“Yeah!” said his little brother, Rumble.

Cloudchaser added, “And during this entire time that the Talent Tournament has been going on, they were doing just that: protecting all of us, even if it meant that they had to keep the truth about this Dark Mind guy hidden from all us until now when the ordeal with that monster is already over!”

“She’s right!” said Flitter, “Even though they might be flawed in one way or another, they have ALWAYS been the Ponies we’ve all grown to know and love! So who cares if they’re not perfect? They had good intentions, if nothing else!”

This was surprising Princess Twilight, as more and more Ponies in the crowd agreed to stand up for Princess Twilight and all of her friends and Royal Family members. It actually made Twilight weep tears of joy again.

Apparently, and at least in a way, after all of the times that Twilight and her loved ones had stood tall for Equestria… Equestria was now standing tall for them.

What was most surprising that even with ALL things taken into full consideration, Lightning Dust was actually the ONLY Pony in Rainbow Falls that was both standing and speaking against Princess Twilight and her group.

Rainbow Dash folded her arms and hooves as she said to Lightning Dust proudly, “Looks like another harsh storm you’ve created has dispersed all too soon, L.D. ”

Lightning Dust growled in anger as she said, “Fine! All of you idiots can be that way for all I care! But when the day comes that Equestria can no longer be protected by these so-called ‘Guardians of Harmony’ of ours because they’re too weak and flawed for their own good or anyone else’s own good for that matter, don’t come crawling or crying to me, ‘cause I’ll just be throwing at all of you hot, boiling servings of ‘I Told You So’!”

And with that, Lightning Dust zoomed off with an orange, lightning-like streak trailing right behind her.

Princess Twilight then said under her breath, “Well, I’m glad THAT’s over.”

“Indeed,” Princess Luna agreed with her just as quietly, “But I have to admit… Lightning Dust may not have been THAT far off from the truth.”

“Maybe…” said Princess Twilight, “And if she was mad and hateful just now because she really is concerned about Equestria’s future… and not just so she can be a total jerk to everyone around her… I don’t blame her for feeling that way. Once this Talent Tournament is completely over, Princess Luna, I think I need to talk to you and our friends about something important… Something that I’ve been thinking about since just before I first met Starlight Glimmer.”

“Well, that’s interesting of you to say, Twilight,” said Princess Luna, “Because Discord and I have something important to tell you all as well… Something that we realized thanks to Dark Mind, believe it or not… and we already discussed it with Princess Celestia  before returning back here to Rainbow Falls.”

“Really?” Princess Twilight asked, “What is it? ”
Luna replied, “Well, like you suggested, Twilight… it’ll have to wait until AFTER the Talent Tournament is over. And I do believe we should end this tournament by having its third round be its final one.”

Princess Twilight nodded saying, “Okay, Luna, I think I understand.”

“Ah can't believe all them Ponies here stood up fer us!” said Applejack, quite amazed from what she was seeing.

Pinkie Pie replied, “Yeah! But why do you think Lightning Dust kept calling us ‘Guardians of Harmony’? Is that really what everypony in Equestria sees us as? Because as awesome as that would be, that fancy title sounds more like a toy franchi-”

Discord quickly covered Pinkie Pie’s mouth saying, “I wouldn’t finish that sentence if I were you, dear Pinkie. For some reason, my ‘Don’t Want to Risk Getting Any Lawyers Involved’ Senses are tingling. OH, wait, I think I might’ve just done that by making that reference to-”

Discord was interrupted by Princess Luna as she readdressed everypony in Rainbow Falls by saying, “Thank you, everypony, for standing up for AND for keeping your trust in us! We promise all of you and all of Equestria that we will always do our best to prove that your trust in us is NOT misplaced!”

Princess Twilight then whispered something to both Starlight Glimmer and Rarity, as Starlight then said, “Wait, you want ME to describe what the final round of the tournament is going to be?”

“Well, this entire tournament WAS initially yours and Rarity’s idea, but since you’re my personal pupil… I think it would be more fitting if YOU said it,” Princess Twilight said, giving her pupil a sincere smile.

“I understand, Twilight, and thank you…” said Starlight Glimmer, as she smiled and blushed somewhat adorably, “But what IS the final round going to be?”

Princesses Twilight and Luna both discussed it with Starlight quietly, while Rarity overheard it and then asked, “Are you sure THAT is the best idea?”

“We believe so,” said Princess Luna, “After what everypony has been through during this entire ordeal with Dark Mind… I think they’ll all agree that they’re all ready to wrap this Talent Tournament up as soon yet as proper as possible.”

“Alright then,” said Starlight Glimmer, as she took the stage and told everypony that the third and final round of the Talent Tournament was going to be none other than…

“…a Talent Royale!”