Letters From a Little Princess Monster
The First Day and Night - Part One
As the moon rose, it spread a thick coat of silver light across a single hollow tree towering quietly just outside of the Everfree Forest, tucked into the last few trees of an apple orchard. The tree had not been there last night. And it certainly had not gotten up and walked there on its own. That meant somepony had moved it there.
In that tree lived a small filly who had once been an adult unicorn named Twilight Sparkle before she had embarked on a terrifying journey of discovery and growth that ended when she saved a goddess from certain destruction. It could be said that the adult unicorn died and was reborn after having had her entire body turned into energy through an ancient artifact that had once created Equestria, but that was a bit confusing to explain to normal ponies, so it had been decided to simply declare Twilight Sparkle had gone ‘away’ for a while. The little alicorn filly with the muddled colors went by many names, both Monster and Twilight to her friends, Flower to her adoptive mother, and Menace to the new librarian of the town, but with a brand new world at the end of her nose, she wanted to pick a new name that would fit her new life.
Also in this hollow tree were many ponies, exhausted by a day of hard labor. There were six older ponies who had found themselves drawn together by some most unlikely friends, and they were still adjusting to the situation. Two zebras relaxed around a bubbling caldron in one room, one of them laying sprawled out across the ground while the other massaged her tense back and shoulders with great expertise and skill. He still cast the occasional disbelieving look at both the adopted child scratching a note by the fire and her mother lying contentedly under his hooves, but he seemed perfectly happy to remain in the situation he had fallen into. Five little ponies huddled nearby in a warm pile of multicolored bodies, having fallen asleep with little flecks of pie crust still on their face from dinner. And curled up around the bubbling caldron was a baby dragon, his tail inside the flames while a warm purr of happiness surrounded him, much like a cat.
Snuggled up next to the dragon was the small alicorn filly, a quill grasped in her magical field while she very carefully inscribed letters onto a scroll with the same exacting concentration a gemcutter would have for cutting a million-bit diamond.
Finishing the first line, she examined it with sparkling eyes, finally giving a sharp nod before bending down to continue.
dear princess luna.
today we moved our house in to town. we found a place by appleblooms house and the zapaple trees to put it and your sister even helped. i finally met appleblooms brother named big mac. he’s a nice pony. you would like him.
---~^~^~^~^---
Big Mac took a moment to wipe the dripping perspiration off his face before taking a long look at the hole they had dug in the ground. It matched almost perfectly against the painstakingly drawn diagram that Apple Bloom was proudly double-checking, due to the carefully arranged strings and stakes that had been laid out before their arrival.
The hot summer sun had been almost directly above them while they dug the huge hole, and the heat made the labor brutal despite all the water they were drinking. Even Rainbow Dash had quit trying to get shade clouds to stay put overhead this close to the Everfree Forest and vanished off to somewhere cooler, probably for napping purposes.
“Does the hole meet with your approval now, oh Royal Observer?” asked Applejack with a particular quirk to her tone that indicated the bucket of fresh water she was drinking out of was about to get a secondary use.
“Huh?” Trixie jerked awake and tilted her chaise lounge forward, tilting her new hat backwards to look between the papers Apple Bloom showed her and the muddy hole. “Yes, I suppose. There’s just one thing missing.”
“Ah don’t see nothing wrong,” said Applejack, looking down into the hole while ignoring the distinctive tinkling of ice cubes as Trixie shook her empty glass. “‘Cept it might be missing one obnoxious royal observer and a few shovels of dirt on top.”
“Applejack, please!” Rarity adjusted her parasol for an increased angle of shade, peeking out the top of her sunglasses at her friends. And Trixie. “You’re only encouraging her.”
“Well, I don’t…” Trixie trailed off, looking down the trail that led into the Everfree Forest with sudden interest. Something was moving this way, slowly, deliberately, and casually pushing trees to either side as it approached.
“Monster!” squealed Apple Bloom, running around in circles. “She’s here! She’s here! We’re going to get our cutie marks in moving!”
“Moving what, mountains?” said Trixie in a daze, unable to tear her eyes away from the huge thing moving through the trees with slow, ponderous steps. With a crashing noise, the emerald green forest canopy opened to reveal… more emerald green foliage, only with a certain rainbow-maned pegasus perched on top and waving.
“Hi, Trixie!” called Rainbow Dash, waving a blue hoof cheerfully. “Remember when you said you were going to be living in the largest hollow tree in Ponyville. I think you meant the second largest hollow tree in Ponyville.”
The huge tree slowly began to rotate its roots in the direction of the hole as the Apple family moved forward to get a better look at the tree. A thick coat of vines and leafy branches accumulated during the trip made it almost impossible to see what creature was carrying it, or even if it was walking by itself, but a brisk rustling along the forward edge of movement showed the answer was soon forthcoming. With a snort to clear a leaf from her nose, a little multicolored unicorn filly poked her head out from under the branches and looked up at Big Macintosh with an expression of curiosity, as if she were trying to remember where she had seen him before.
There was something familiar about the eyes to Big Mac, those entrancing violet orbs that drew his own gaze and triggered a memory he had tried to forget. An affectionate memory from a terrifying, scarred adult unicorn with the scent of estrus in the air who would not stop pressing up against him in a clumsy attempt at mating. He had almost managed to stuff that memory back into whatever closet it had been caged inside when the little unicorn filly took a sharp sniff at the air, extended her wings, and a look of happy recognition filled her face.
“mac!”
The stories his sisters had told him of Monster’s epic battle with Nightmare Moon suddenly crashed in on him, combined with the memories of his own encounter with the scarred unicorn she had once been (and possibly a little bit of heatstroke). With a soft sigh, the stallion collapsed in a faint.
---~^~^~^~^---
… i think i scare him a little but celesta says hes sweet.
---~^~^~^~^---
The huge hollow tree finished lifting up and gently floated over above the carefully crafted hole, paused for a moment, then slipped its roots down into it just as neatly as a puzzle piece. As the golden light that grasped the tree faded away, a shout of joy rang out from Apple Bloom, followed by a number of joyous fillies (and one colt) who bounded out of the door to the hollow tree. Moving much slower after the little ponies were Zecora and a rather unsteady male ‘zebra’ who, from his somewhat tilted and squiggly black and white coat, had not quite figured out just how to make stripes look right⁽*⁾.
Princess Celestia regarded the tree with a great deal of pride and no small amount of dripping perspiration. It had been centuries since she had pitted her physical strength against something this heavy for this long a time, and muscles long-dormant gave happy little twinges that flushed her cheeks and other body parts with a vigorous bloodflow they had not experienced… Well, since technically she had shed most of her physical form while imprisoned in the sun and reformed her alicorn body from the solar plasma, she was feeling a little bit young again, in particular around certain bits.
Twilight Sparkle was hovering around a large red stallion she recognized as one of the Apple family, fanning her little filly wings over his face as the rest of her friends clustered around and discussed various resuscitation techniques that might induce a cutie mark. Her magic showed a strong heartbeat within the powerful stallion, with the scrambled thoughts that indicated a severe mental shock. She strode over to the fallen warrior, still next to his shovel, and listened to his friends.
“No, you corn-fed country hick,” snapped Trixie, her blue magical aura wrapped around the bucket Applejack was trying to dump on her brother. “If he’s having heatstroke, that could send him into shock. We need to wipe his face with a damp cloth and get him under some shade. Or more normal shade,” she added with a glance at the towering tree above her.
“A’m saying ah know how to treat mah own brother, you city-bred hussy. You just want to get your hooves all over his sweaty hide.”
“I’m sorry, but you’re both wrong,” said Celestia gently, moving closer where she could breathe in the thick scent of the stallion’s healthy sweat mixed with the rich dark earth that the excavation had displaced. “He needs mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.”
“Princess?” asked Trixie, somewhat stunned by a look in those big violet eyes she had never seen before. “I’m not certain that—”
“Hush, student. Your princess knows what she is doing.”
* * *
The world was a vast field of floating clouds and light breezes with only the distant sounds of the forest and rich scents of freshly turned earth that could differentiate it from Elysium Fields, where ponies went after they died. A heavenly choir sang sweet praise in the background, while a rich wave of scents swept gently over the stallion’s nose. It smelled of a summer day, bringing back memories of when the sun baked the grass underhoof to a crisp rustle as he walked through the pasture to the drone of bees and the taste of fresh wildflowers. Somehow there was also the scent of cake, a sweetness that wafted along with another scent. A familiar scent. It was a sweaty odor, but not the stale reek of stallion. Instead, it smelled of mare, a strong and powerful mare who had been out in the fields all day alongside her stallion. It smelled of mother, of memories he had nearly forgotten as a colt. His nose tingled with the smell, and his lips felt hot, as if the sun were shining down upon them and lighting a bonfire of pleasure. Somewhere in the distance he could hear a voice saying meaningless words that wanted to pull him from this heavenly place. Insistent words. Whining words. Unimportant words.
“Princess? I think he’s breathing now. You can quit any time. The kids are watching, and I think Menace is taking notes. All right, you asked for it. Applejack, give me the bucket.”
“Ah thought you said it weren’t a good idea to dump water on Big Mac?”
“It’s not for him.”
(*) [Translated from the original zebra:]
My husband has a problem, as you can clearly see
His stripes are not quite the same as the ones that cover me
While my stripes start at the top and go directly down
His stripes go from down to up, which makes him frown
While learning a zebra’s way is now his goal
His stripes will come before the foal
What? You say you did not know?
Certainly you will see when I begin to show.
The stars have written his fate quite clearly
And to Luna I am grateful, for I love him dearly
First comment is reserved for the author. With the number of Hub leaks about Season 4, I thought it would be a good idea to get what I have written on this story out before I would have to rewrite it. Once chapter a day will be posted for your enjoyment, until I run out of chapters in about eight days.
Oh, and Big Mac is one studly stallion.
Please remember this is an ALTERNATE UNIVERSE fic for those of you who have not read The Monster in the Twilight
YES! The sequel I dreamed of is totally here.
3439937
Hey didn't it say Twilight turned into an alicorn at the end of the last story or did i derp?
Hee hee. Celestia calls first dibs. I'd say her libido certainly got younger.
Eeyup.
well it seems EVERY female pony is after Bigmac this can ONLY GET BETTER and I SO plan on being along for the ride to laugh at every bit of his hell of course the real hell will start when they start to get possesive
Wonderful!
When I saw the title in my inbox, I thought this was going to be about Sunny. But Monster's good too.
3439937 While I appreciate the story and I like how it looks so far, I'd like to point out that if you are worried about having to rewrite stuff -- and keep in mind that I am terrible at recognizing sarcasm even in conversation, so if you were joking I apologize -- then wouldn't it have been better to wait so that your readers don't have to rearrange things in their head later?
3440245 See if I can rephrase that a little. Currently, the story is ready to be enjoyed now. If I were to wait until December to publish it, I might have to do some major internal edits to match canon, and I'm lazy. So I can publish it now, you can enjoy it now, and we'll take Season 4 as it happens. Past Sins had much the same problem until Pen Stroke quit updating to match the cartoon and simply put his foot down. (Although in my wildest dreams, I'm nowhere near the story teller as he is)
3440164 Just wait...
3440143 You're right. I just can't find a good picture of Twilight as a filly alicorn, in particular with the Monster paint scheme (early pastel tie-dyed).
3440161 (whistles)
The saga continues! Huzzah!
Eagerly looking forward to more.
Oh, yay! Very much looking forward to this; I loved The Monster in the Twilight, and some warm and fuzzy bits with Luna and Twilight trying to fit in once more will be lovely! Hopefully we'll see more of Cadence and Shiny, too.
Also - poor Mac. Too much of a stud for his own good.
3440161 Booyackashaa!!!
3440161 Booyackashaa!!
3440164 Booyackashaa!!
This shall go on my read later list until I decide whether it deserves to be a favorite. Certainly off to a good start, though.
3439937
Big Mac is best studly stallion!
Also, I'm quite amused by the fact that Celestia's getting frisky. Doubly amused by Tallgrass being so adorkable.
Big Macintosh is a total mare magnet, even getting Princess Celestia kissing him!
Anyways, this universe continuing is happy! Though, I wonder if Twilight and Luna are going to recover from their experiences in the last story...?
Maclestia? Interesting
3439937
Ey yo, One more question, what kind of interactions can we expect with twilight and luna considering they are kinda, sorta in the same boat?
I really wish you'd have started the summary with the mention of a prequel. There goes some spoilers for the first one, if I decide to read it. Chances are I will.
3440589 Well, all the way through the first one, I promised several times in comments that there would be a happy ending to the story. You would be amazed at what some people considered 'happy' about the endings they proposed. I think you'll enjoy it a lot. I know I had a lot of fun writing it, and any time you can use a few hundred tons of nitrocellulose to blow up Chrysalis is a good time.
3440485 Heartwarming, thoughtful, and occasionally shocking. Really the focus will be on Monster with Luna as a side-story. And Celestia. And Trixie. Yeah, expect a broad focus with many little bits to cover.
3440454 (snicker)
3440410 (also snicker) You never recover from experiences, you simply use them to build on.
3440360 Well, Tallgrass has always been the odd duck in the hive.
3440297 (snicker) Trying to write as warm and fuzzy as possible.
3440295 Eagerly writing more too. It's just fairly slow. I only have eight chapters in the can, so once those are uncanned, the process will slow. Darned real world.
Out of curiosity, while Zecora is Monster's mother, how does Twilight's biological family feel knowing she's still alive? I don't want interaction with them to be antagonistic, I'm just wondering. I think I remember only Shining and Cadence still held hope after so long. Hopefully she'll have two families in the end, if you decide to introduce them.
Also, how long has it been since the last story? Trixie seems to have settled in and Zecora and Tallgrass are now apparently together.
This looks like its gonna be as good as the first one!
3440809 About 24 hours, hence the title of the chapter, The First Day and Night. Imagine the chaos at the castle, where Celestia has effectively breezed in and said "This is my sister. She's going to be ruling at my side. Go over to the Lunar wing of the castle and clean every thing up for her please. I expect a new throne for her by Tuesday."
3440840 With fewer explosions, one would hope.
3440276
I fail to understand your logic. The story is already alternate history so doesn't have to fit season 4 anyway.
And I just finished Monster a couple days ago
Woot Monster is back!! Now with more Mac attacks and adorkableness!
That was hilarious,
bucket of water.... no
cold compress and shade......no
mouth to mouth resuscitation........no.... yes?
Poor Macintosh, it's apparently his fate to be surrounded by terrifyingly powerful women.
Edit: Huh, wonder how I got a downvote for this. It wasn’t intentionally misogynistic or anything, but I suppose I could see how it might be taken that way.
Some of the writing didn't seem very E-for everyone... But other than I hope you write some more.
May want to bump that up to Teen. Other then that, great chapter. Love seeing the return of Twilight/Monster. The humor was great too and I can tell that this will be a great sequel.
3440276
Don't sell yourself short. Modesty is fine and all, but your story provoked more of an emotional response in me than Past Sins did. Never really got what the big deal was about that story, but I very much enjoyed yours, more than I thought I would.
SO MUCH YES THE UNIVERSE CAN'T EVEN HOLD IT ALL! WHOO-HOO!
It begins... or continues, rather.
Glad I stopped going to EqD awhile ago; I hate spoilers.
3442265
troll.me/images/pissed-off-obama/yo-bro-fuck-you.jpg
3442432 That's one way of getting the asshole out of the way.
sequel?
Sequel.
SEQUEL!
That out of the way, I ADORED your last fic, and look forward to reading this one.
AAAND you did not disappoint! I must say, the adorable is in full force, though if you plan to go with this much d'aww, I hope you aren't planning to continue talking about *cough* events *cough* with big mac too much... I went into a slight bit of shock when it went from 'filly being adorable' to my brain trying to figure out what exactly to think about that.
Damn you Big Mac! Leave some for the other stallions...
A quiet guy being the center of attention of several girls who each got enough power to level a country... This can only go well, ain't that right Tenchi?
wallpapers5.com/images/wallpapers/40162227/Cartoons/Anime/Tenchi-Muyo00223.jpg
3440276
Pen Stroke kinda sucks as an author. Like everone who has done spinoffs of his stories or sequels did better...
Hey! Give Celly a break! It's been centuries since she last had any action!
A pleasure to see this sequel. Things won't always be this cute and funny as I expect ya to put that "sad" tag to good use tugging at my feels.
Big Mac is probably going to be bouncing about much like a certain party-planning-pink-pony for the next week after that kiss Celestia gave him.
And congratulations to newly married couple Zecora and Tallgrass... while I would feel worried about a zebra/changling hybrid foal being ostrized by other foals for being "odd", having a big sister named Twilght "Monster"-"Flower" Sparkle certainly will make things easier and fun.
3441677 Whoops, thought I had it on Teen. Fixed.
3442526 Ah, the sound of frying neurons. Music to my ears.
3441188 It has its advantages...
3442687 Nopony's going to bully her in school, that's for certain.
OK, going to have to go read The Monster in the Twilight. Sticking this in the to-read que for now. I think you're trying to explore the same idea that I was in Immutable, but doing a better job at it. I had given that a pass; I don't generally read anything with a sad tag.
I'm hoping the "sad" tag is just for heartstring tugging events in the course of the story, and not tragedy or tragic events or endings....
Sad is a redundant tag, and misleading. I think they should replace "sad" with "heartstring puller" or something like that, seeing as this is how that tag seems to be most commonly used.
3442643 You do realise you're technically speaking to Pen Stroke's fan?
3442822
... And?
3442830 Just warning you, that's all.
3442835
... Why would you be "warning" me?
3442843 You told Georg, who is one of Pen Stroke's fans, that Pen Stroke sucks as an author. That's it.
3442847
Uh huh... And I'd tell Pen Stroke he's a shitty writer too!
Why do you feel the need to comment?