//------------------------------//
// Chapter Eight 
// Story: The Gates of Equestria 
// by SapphireRose87 
//------------------------------//

Phantasia smiled as Sandy Fire stood before him and she was bowing to him. True, he did tell her not to bow because he wasn't the ruler of Equestria. Yet…

He was confident and awfully sure that he would be the ruler of Equestria one day. He had all of his dominoes set up and all he had to do was push one over with a hoof and everything would fall into play. 

Phantasia rolled his eyes when he looked over and saw Little Snack shifting on her hooves nervously. Phantasia thought, Little Snack, look at her, no confidence whatsoever! She better straighten up if she wants to be in my army when we go for the Gates and then after that, Equestria! Yes, Equestria will be all mine!

Phantasia made a motion for Sandy Fire to stand up and look at him, "You know you don't have to bow to me Sandy. I'm not the ruler of Equestria yet. But you know for a fact that I will be one day, and when I start ruling I'll be saving Equestria from those spineless Princesses rulers and tall tales about these stupid Elements of Harmony."

"That's just it Phantasia sir," said Sandy Fire, "the Guardians already know that you know about them. They're probably on high alert looking out for more of your scouts. That is if you've sent any more of them out? That's not all."

Phantasia raised an eyebrow, "Oh? Please do tell, but before you do that, Little Snack?"

Little Snack stiffened as she looked over at Phantasia. "Yes sir?"

"Could you please step out so I can talk to Sandy Fire with only Rapid present?" Phantasia asked. "I'll send for you when you're needed okay?"

Little Snack nodded and promptly exited the room. Once she was gone Phantasia turned his attention back to Sandy Fire. "So, what were you starting to say before I excused Little Snack?"

"It seems that the so-called Elements of Harmony bearers have been assigned to work with the Guardians this time." Sandy Fire said.

At this information, Phantasia tried to keep his composure, Crap! Why didn't I take into account that whoever the Head Guardian is would put this action into play. Great. Perfect. 

Phantasia was snapped out of his thoughts when Sandy Fire got his attention again. "Um, sir? We might have a little bit of an advantage with the one who guards the South Gate."

This made Phantasia curious, "Really, now what might that be?"

"Well the Guardian for the South Gate was rather smaller than the average stallion," said Sandy Fire, "although he did stand his ground against me, but I didn't show him the full extent of my power and I'm pretty sure he didn't show me the full extent of his. But with him being so small, I doubt he has a lot of power anyway."

Phantasia laughed, "Oh, that's rich! Now that was a stupid move on the Head Gaurdains part! Ha ha ha! Now, if this Guardian is as small as you say he is, I could probably have the upper hand in the war to take Equestria."

"What do you mean by that?" Sandy asked.

"Because we could capture the guy," said Phantasia, "and use him as a bargaining chip for control of the Gates."

A wicked smile spread over Sandy's face. "So you want me to go back and capture the one who I call Small Stallion?"

"Not yet," said Phantasia, "there are a couple more dominoes I need to put into play before I push them over with a hoof and Equestria will be mine. Thank you for telling me this information Sandy Fire. You may go now."

Sandy nodded, "Yes sir."

Once Sandy left, Phantasia sat back in his chair and grabbed his glass of wine with his hoof that was sitting on a nearby table. He looked over at Rapid and once again she didn't look happy. 

"I know that look Rapid," said Phantasia, "yes this is coming along much slower than I want it to, but I'm thinking now is time to start gathering an army. Only gather them and train them, but do not let Equestria know that they are present. Do you understand?"

A smile spread across Rapid's face as she jumped for joy, "You mean it Phantasia? You really mean it?"

Phantasia absolutely loved it when he made his marefriend happy like this and as a bonus the army would be trained by her and be ready for them to take Equestria with him as their leader. 

Rapid ran up to Phantasia and gave him a passionate kiss. The kiss surprised him because the glass of wine that was in his hoof dropped to the ground and shattered. 

Rapid quickly broke the kiss after the glass shattered and frowned, "I'm so sorry about the dear I-"

"Sssh, it's fine Rapid," said Phantasia, "nopony got hurt so don't worry about it. One more thing honey, could you be a dear and teach Little Snack to stand up straight and have a backbone? True, she's figured out how to say cuss words around me now. But she's timid about things that would involve being in my army."

Rapid nodded. "Yes dear and I'll send for somepony to get you another glass of wine."

Phantasia smiled as he watched Rapid leave. All he had to do was put one more domino in place and then Equestria would be his.


*	*	*


Aether sighed as he sat down staring out the glass window of his home. This really sucks! Why me? Why am I the first Guardian that has to know about trouble at the Gates? Why couldn't it have been Firewing? Or better yet Thunder? Sweet Celestia.

He smiled when he looked up at the sky. To him the sky was another ceiling, but also a really big painting; another roof over the roof of his house so to speak, but with awe inspiring beauty. He knew that wherever he went, all over Equestria, that the sky would be the roof over his head, and in a way, the sky always brought a serenity to his mind, much like how nature brings Fluttershy peace. He envied Pegasi in how easily they could adventure and explore that vast, wondrous expanse. The tufts of cloud in the everlasting blue sky also reminded him of cotton candy. That thought made him hungry.  

I just had to think of cotton candy didn't I? Aether thought as he groaned. He looked down when he heard the low rumble of his stomach growling to confirm that he was hungry. Yeah yeah, I know. Aether thought in response to his stomach.

When he pushed open the kitchen door he lit up his horn and a soft yellow glow came out of it. He smiled as he looked over at the brown cabinet below the counter by the stove. The soft yellow glow opened the cabinet door as he floated out of the cabinet, a medium sized cooking pot and placed it on top of the stove. 

He then proceeded to take out of the refrigerator, a variety of vegetables, carrots, peas, broccoli, etc and set them down on the counter next to the stove. After turning on the stove with his magic, he got to work making some vegetable soup. It was a secret recipe that he learned from his grandmother before she passed and he was grateful that he learned it. That way he always had a special piece of her with him and he knew that she was watching over him in the afterlife.

The soup was almost done when he heard a knock on the door. He called out, "Coming! I'll be there in a moment!"

He put the setting on the stove to a low heat setting so the soup would cook on a slow simmer. He stopped before he got to the door like he always did and lit up his horn. He would do this spell many times as a safety precaution before he answered the door. The spell he did allowed him to see who was behind the door. When Aether lit up his horn and cast the spell, he was confused when he saw it was Pinkie Pie behind the door. Pinkie? Aren’t the Guardians on high alert right now? She should be at the West Gate with Fancy! I guess I'll have to open the door and figure out what her excuse is for being here.

Aether opened the door and he was greeted by a smiling pink face with poofy magenta mane. 

"Hi there!" Pinkie said.

"Hey Pinkie, uhm." Aether said. "Why are you here? Aren't you-"

"Supposed to be at the West Gate?" Pinkie said. "Yeah I know. I just stopped by for a visit!"

She paused and sniffed the air, "Yum, it smells like you're cooking vegetable soup!"

"I am," said Aether, "do you want some? I-I wasn't expecting visitors today, so I can make some more if you want."

Pinkie nodded. "Yeah why not? I'm hungry anyway."

Aether went to the kitchen and pulled out another cooking pot and made another serving of vegetable soup. 

When they sat down to eat, Aether was eating his food at a slower pace than Pinkie was. Aether's jaw dropped and landed on the kitchen table when Pinkie just picked up the bowl of soup and gulped it down as if she was drinking a bottle of water.

Pinkie was finished with her soup in under a minute flat. She burped, "Thanks so much for the soup Aether! That was delicious!"

Aether picked his jaw off the kitchen table and said, "It's no problem Pinkie. Really, but I have to ask - why are you here again?"

"I told you I'm here for a visit!" said Pinkie, "Besides Sapphire's at the West Gate at the moment so figured I could step out for a bit and see how the Guardians are doing, you know because of the stress of the Guardians being on high alert."

"Oh," said Aether, "thanks Pinkie."

"Sure no problem," said Pinkie, "now as payment for the food I shall give you this!"

"It's okay Pinkie there's no need to-" Aether's jaw dropped once again when Pinkie pulled out of her mane the biggest cake he had ever seen. How in equestria does she do that? Does she have some sort of secret compartments in her mane or something? I wonder if anypony knows the answer to that question. I suppose I shouldn’t try to figure her out, I don't feel like dying of a heart attack before the war even begins just from trying to figure her out.

"Go ahead! Take it!" Pinkie said excitedly, with a big grin, "There's no hair in it, so don't worry about that!"

"Um, how are you even able to do that?" Aether asked. 

Pinkie shrugged, "Don't know? For the longest time, I've always been able to do it. So yeah. Alright, that's enough visiting for me!" 

"But you were only here for half an hour!" Aether said.

Pinkie nodded, "Yup! I came, I saw, now bye!"

After Pinkie left, Aether just stood there in utter amazement at what she just did. 

The things that filly does, I will never understand. Aether thought. 


*	*	*


Little Snack paced back and forth in her bedroom and she just couldn't sit still. Now that Phantasia gave Rapid the go ahead to gather an army and get them ready to take over Equestria, for whatever the reason Little Snack felt nervous about it. 

Golly damn it! Little Snack thought, I knew this was going to happen eventually, but now that's happening, I don't know what to think or do! Should I go along with this- no Little Snack, Phantasia is the ruler Equestria needs! I will do whatever I can to make that happen!

As Little Snack was pacing she stopped when she heard a knock on the door and heard Rapid speaking, "Little Snack why don't you answer the door? We need to get started on gathering the army that will help Phantasia take over Equestria!"

Little Snack gulped and reluctantly opened the door, "Yes Rapid, I uh know that. So when do we start?"

Rapid had a smile on her face and said, "Today!"

Little Snack paused. "Today? Can't it wait until tomorrow?"

Rapid shook her head, "Nope, it has to happen today Little Snack! You seem nervous about this, which is to be expected, because of how you are. But that's okay, you'll be a tough pony warrior when I get done with you."

Little Snack stood there and pawed the floor with a hoof. "Well I uh…"

"Oh Little Snack," said Rapid after rolling her eyes, "come on, let's get going!"

Little Snack nodded and after making sure her apartment was secure, she followed Rapid down the hallway.

*	*	*



"Come on Little Snack!" Rapid cheered. "You can do it! Show a little bit more authority. If you're going to be my Second in Command, you better start showing backbone."

Little Snack took a deep breath and let it out. She stood up straight just like Rapid told her to and barked a pretend order at her pretend army that Rapid had set up for her to practice with. "Do you think you have what it takes to be in Phantasia's army? Well, do you?" She paused. "I said, do you?"

Little Snack looked over at Rapid to see that she was covering her snout with a hoof trying to stifle a laugh. I'm never going to be able to get this down. It's not working if Rapid's trying so hard not to laugh. I'm really trying though!

Rapid composed herself and she sighed, "Honestly, Little Snack, that was a good try, but you're going to have to do better."

Little Snack sighed, "But how do I show authority when I, well, don't normally do that?"

Rapid smiled, "With practice and hard work. We'll practice for another hour and then you can do it for real. We have new cadets waiting outside to greet us."

Little Snacks eyes went wide, "You mean, I have to do this for real? And in one hour too?"

Rapid nodded. "Yup! Now do it again, Little Snack." 

Little Snack nodded. She kept practicing for the full hour just like Rapid told her to. She really wanted Phantasia to be the ruler of Equestria and she was going to do everything in her power to make that happen.