Chapters Foundations of our nation
Everfree evacuation
"But daaaaad!" squealed the small filly.
"No buts Twinkle, everypony is going to the new castle today... unless you want to stay in this creepy forest?"
The small purple unicorn seemed to think about this for a moment, casting a glance at the magically cursed forest that was growing through town so fast she could see it moving outside her window.
"sigh, OK daddy..."
Twinkle didn't want to give up her room for anything, even a fancy nobles house in the new capital. This was her room and she had worked hard to make it perfect.
"If you really want, we can make your new room look just like this. You can even bring your dolls but we have to go now."
"Can I even bring smarty pants?" The little fillies eyes twinkled brightly, glimmering with excitement.
"hmm... I don't know..." said the stallion, smirking slightly. "Only good fillies who are organized get to bring assistants with them."
The fillies eyes widened.
"But I am organized and on time!" she pouted. "besides, I don't care about those other toys, just miss smarty."
The lavender stallion groaned. He could not remember when the tradition of passing that doll down through the family had started, each generation fixing her up and passing her down every thirty years or so. Not even his great grandmother could remember who owned the doll first.
"But Twinkie, those toys were expensive!" the stallion cried, pointing his hoof at the large pile of fancy dolls and fluffy toys.
"I don't care!" Twinkle exclaimed. "According to my list, smarty is the only thing of value left in the room, the books are already packed right?" The filly said in her usual intelligent manner.
"You're so cute when your scolding" the stallion said in an amused voice.
Twinkle grimaced and started to retort but she was interrupted by a mares voice from outside.
"Twinkie! Sparkie! Are you two ready to go?" she called from outside.
"Coming Lula, come on twinkle lets go meet mom on the cart" said sparkle.
Glancing around the room one more time, Twinkle picked up miss smarty pants and followed her father from the room.
Celestia watched the last family move out of the castle, squinting against the daylight to identify the ponies on the cart.
She recognized the pony trio as the sparkle family, watching the light reflect of Lulamoons white hair and the sparks of purple magic emanating from twinkle's horn as she tried to lift passing rocks with her magic.
"Such talent for a very small filly." she commented to nopony in particular.
Signing, Celestia glanced at the sun to gauge the time. Being princess of the sun meant that she could tell the time down to a second, but looking at the sun always calmed her, old habits and all that.
Letting out another sigh, Celestia stretched her wings; her mighty wingspan easily going past the tower roof she was standing on. With a strong push of her legs, Celestia heaved her large body into the sky. Magic or no, she was still a large pony. Her majestic form required a lot of strength to lift off and touch down without stumbling.
Pumping her powerful wings she climbed above the trees of the cursed forest, gliding above the treacherous, battle scarred terrain.
Deciding on a moderate pace, the princess flew towards her newly built castle. The shining white towers were easy to spot from this distance and Celestia orientated herself on the still under construction rail-road while she flew.
The new site for the castle was perched upon the edge of the largest mountain in all Equestria, this mountain had been chosen for a few reasons. One such reason was its position in the center of her nation, this would provide easy access to most smaller settlements by rail and its height allowed flying transports to glide gently down for miles.
A more important reason was one that Celestia did not make as well known, but not kept as a guarded secret. This mountain was magical.
Very few ponies were skilled enough in the use of magic identifying spells or "magic vision" to see it, but Celestia was a goddess. She gazed up at the towering green pillar of magic essence, it stretched from just a little past the edges of the mountain base and went up further than she could see or sense. Such a large quantity of magic would easily outmatch Celestia's power or even the elements combined with both alicorn sisters.
This alone would scare Celestia away from the mountain if it were not for one fact.
The magic upon and around the mountain was just an essence inside a lump of rock, not a living creature. Living creatures contained both an essence and living magic, this must have been some powerful spell cast on the mountain to keep it around. Celestia was unsure why someone would want to keep a mountain the same for such long periods of time, but she had personally seen discords power become useless when he tried to do anything to the mountain. No doubt he had been trying to make it flip upside down like he had before to other mountains, but his power was ineffective against the strength of the mountain.
Celestia also new that this spell was not created with harm for ponies in mind, the magic of the mountain alone giving benefits to the ponies who lived upon it. The ponies just chalked it up to Celestia's blessing and ignored it.
Reaching the base of the mountain, Celestia gave an extra strong push with her wings to begin her ascent. One white feather became dislodged from her wing and fluttered slowly down.
Down, past the cliffs of the mountain. Down, past the tops of the mighty pine trees. Down, past flora and fauna alike until it settled on a small river flowing from above the city.
The current was swift, quickly carrying the feather towards a large waterfall.
It passed over the edge of the falls and fell through a rainbow vista of water droplets and was picked up by the wind around the waterfall's base.
The wind carried the feather on its back, performing many acrobatic stunts as it went. Eventually, the feather came to rest inside a large cave where it would remain undisturbed for over one thousand years. Still sitting, caught in a cracked section of rock, until a blue and white unicorn would enter the cave, dislodging the feather with a large brush she held in her magic.
"Huh, so this is where miss Ursa lives." said Colgate as the gloom swallowed her.
Foundations of our nation
Colgate's conundrum
"Will do Zecora!" Colgate called to the zebra mare standing in the door of her forest home.
Turning to face the mountain she could just barely make out through the trees, Colgate trotted off into the forest.
"If I can't make my cutie mark change with magic, I'll have to trust Zecora's instructions and go on this quest to find the... Ah well, I'm sure I'll know what I'm looking for when I find it like Zecora said." Thus resolute, Colgate leapt over a large root that was bordering the path back to Ponyville and pushed her way through the jungle.
Soon after leaving the path, Colgate came across a large stone wall. The wall went all the way up to the tree tops and had stairs on the side, Colgate decided to climb them and see what she could see from up higher.
She had only just started looking around the tree tops from the top when she heard a voice call out to her.
"Hey! Toothpaste mane!" called the voice, rather rudely.
"Who are you calling toothpaste mane!" Colgate cried indignantly at the voice, unsure where it came from.
"Up here dummy" Trixie called from her hot air balloon, a few feet above Colgate.
"Trixie!? What are you doing in that balloon in the middle of the forest?" Colgate was surprised to see anypony in the Everfree forest, let alone the annoying actress.
"The Great and Powerful Trixie does not have to explain her presence on public property to you!" Trixie boomed in her stage voice. "But if you must know, The Great and Powerful Trixie is here to sell you her Amazing Products for Ridiculously low Prices!" Trixie almost screamed at Colgate, scaring a flock of birds into flight nearby.
"You don't have to capitalize so many words Trixie" Colgate grumbled, thinking how annoying she would be to write. "What do you have anyway?"
Trixie immediately began to talk Colgate through a long list of products, each one sounding more fake than the last.
"Horn Enlarging Serum! Scientifically proven to make You Horn at least 20% larger~ Wings for a Week! Take this potion Once and get a pair of Fully Working Wings as good as any Pegasus's for a Whole Week!" She ranted on.
"What do you have for three bits?" Colgate interrupted Trixie halfway through explaining a wonder machine called the 'AB Mare PRO'.
"THREE BITS!!" Trixie shrieked, causing Colgate to jump. "Three bits wouldn't even pay for my time telling you what I don't have for that much!"
"Well I only have three bits on me right now, I didn't expect to be buying anything in the middle of a forest." said Colgate firmly. "In fact, I'm only going to be going into the Ursa cave for a short time and I can buy things back in town afterwards."
Trixie paled at the mention of the Ursa cave and did some quick calculations in her head.
"Alright, tell you what. I'll give you the Ponyville news for three bits and then you can go away, hows that sound?" All pretense of a fancy accent was gone from Trixie's voice.
"Deal!" Colgate exclaimed before Trixie could change her mind.
There was a flash of magic as Trixie powered up her horn and cast a spell. Suddenly, Trixie was wearing a news presenters outfit and glasses, holding some papers in front of her while miming talking to an invisible pony beside her.
Then she turned to face Colgate (sort of). Trixie faced an area somewhere above Colgate and a little to the left and began talking.
"Good morning everypony, the time is ten thirty AM and its another bright and sunny day in ponyville. In today's news: Strange cries have been heard from the Everfree forest and ponies are warned to stay away from the base of the Canterlot mountain area, more at eleven. But now here's sport with Soarin..."
Colgate waited for Trixie to say more but she just stared off into nothing while apparently listening intently to a voice Colgate couldn't hear.
Backing away slowly, Colgate turned towards the Canterlot mountain and glanced around for more landmarks. To the east she could see the Unicorn range and to the west, the Foal mountains.
Colgate carefully stepped down the steps on the wall, leaving Trixie (who had started talking to herself again) behind her as she carried on.
About half an hour later, by Colgate's reckoning, Colgate started to hear some odd animal sounds from the forest ahead. Roars pierced through the silence of the trees, echoing between the silent trunks, sending shivers up Colgate's spine.
"Now's not the time to turn turtle Colgate!" she exclaimed, climbing the rise in front of her to look into the next gully.
"Timber-wolves!" she gasped and indeed, there were several wooden wolves running around in the gully. They seemed to be chasing ghosts or just running around aimlessly. Whatever, thanks to the wolves aimless running, Colgate should be able to sneak past without detection. Strengthening her magical grip on her brush, Colgate started across the clearing cautiously.
Several times during her crossing, a timber-wolf would nearly run into her, but they took no notice of Colgate.
Until she accidentally clobbered one on the head with her brush.
Snarling the wolf orientated its body on Colgate and rushed towards her, jaws agape.
"Take that, monster!" With a cry, Colgate smacked the wolf on the head again with her brush. Several other wolves took notice of this and started towards her in a line. Colgate spun her brush around through the air, smacking all three wolves repeatedly as her brush spun through them.
"Ha! Your bark is stronger than your bite it seems" Colgate yelled at the dazed wolves. Now would be a good time to note that Timber-wolves can understand the pony language, it also seemed that they had heard this joke before. It was not funny the first ten times so why would it be funny now?
The three wolves gather together and started to fall apart, Colgate cheered at this as she thought them defeated. She was therefore shocked when a HUGE Timber-wolf stood from the pile of wood, glaring at her with glowing crimson eyes.
The Wolf let out a howl of what sounded remarkably like pain and charged towards Colgate, Its large body allowing it to reach her in seconds. Colgate just stared at it with wide eyes until it was practically on top of her, then took one tentative step to the left.
Foundations of our nation
Tough teeth toots!
"There we go Mr. Wolf, good as new!" Colgate exclaimed, cleaning the last of the decay and rotting food from the giant timber-wolf's mouth.
"Now remember to brush at least once a month and floss regularly, unless you want to end up running around with a toothache again."
The wolf whined and gave Colgate a large lick on the cheek with its vine-like tongue, afterwards it stood and looked at her with a sheepish look before padding off into the forest. Silently it weaved its way between the foliage despite its size, heading back towards the deeper parts of the forest.
"Bye!" Colgate waved after it, smiling with a typical perfect dentists smile. Turning around, she trotted off towards the mountain, pausing briefly to chuckle at the large, wolf-shaped dent in a tree beside her.
"Poor thing, a toothache is never fun for anypony, no wonder it was angry." Colgate mused to herself while trotting sedately through the forest, heading on-wards towards her goal. Keeping her pace even Colgate weaved through the thick bushes, occasionally using her brush to push branches out of her way. The brush was a bright blue color, its bristles, the colors of her mane. Bright blue with a dark blue and white streak through it, the white glinted slightly in the spots of sunlight filtering through the canopy above.
The brush was comical in its size, easily as long as Colgate herself and about eight inches thick in the handle. Although it looked like plastic, it was in fact magically enchanted steel; enchanted so it only weighed as much as the shovel sitting in Colgate's garden shed. It gave off a gentle glow of its own as she held it in her magic, small sparkles glinting up the handles leading edge. Colgate was proud of her brush, not only was it a symbol of her chosen career but it also served as a luxurious mane brush. Its soft hairs were softer than any coat-brush's bristles that she had ever tried but stiff enough to comb hair to perfection.
Now the brush proved itself useful once again as she propped it up against her leg as she walked, making an improvised walking stick.
By now, Colgate had worked up quite a sweat weaving through the difficult terrain.
"Now would be the perfect time for a bath, I swear there was a river around here somewhere." Colgate's brow furrowed in thought, she failed to notice the large stream she was approaching until it was too late.
"Waaaaah!"
Splash!
Coughing and spluttering, Colgate surfaced and began to tread water.
"Found it!" she exclaimed.
"Indeed you have..." chuckled a large serpent, circling her with an amused smile on its face.
"But now what will you do with it, I'm fairly sure you've already had a good soaking." Colgate blushed at this and pouted.
"hey! I meant to do that!" she cried, turning as red as an apple.
"I'm sure you did" said the amused snake with a knowing smile on his face.
"But couldn't help but notice you dynamic entry and- Hey!" The serpent cried as Colgate splashed water at his face.
"Ooh now your in for it! I'm going to eat you now!" He roared bearing his teeth mere inches from Colgate's face, expecting her to scream and run from his patch of river. He was therefore surprised when instead she started inspecting his teeth, muttering under her breath about forest creatures and their lack of dental hygiene.
"when was the last time you brushed your teeth?" she asked, pulling out a notebook and dipping a quill into a pot of ink.
How she kept the paper dry after being fully submerged in water was a mystery.
"uh- about two months ago I ate some apples, does that count?" he responded, unsure of what she wanted exactly.
However, the serpents response seemed to have been the wrong one... Yep! Defiantly the Wrong thing to say around this crazy mare.
"Well then! Your due a check-up aren't you Mr. serpent?" Colgate said with an only slightly terrifying gleam in her eyes.
"Uh- I -I mean... sure? The names slinky by the way." said 'slinky', slightly unsure of what he was getting himself into.
His eyes widened in shock as the blue mare pulled a giant toothbrush from apparently nowhere and advanced towards him slowly.
"NO no no no! I refuse to let a pony near my teeth! These things are my most prized possessions, your not going to touch them!" he screeched, acting more like an angry filly than an Everfree monster.
"Oh don't worry dear, this wont take a moment." Colgate splashed towards slinky in an intimidating manner.
"I'll rip you limb from limb before letting you brush my teeth!" roared slinky as he lunged towards Colgate, jaws agape.
"Why did I agree to come with you again flutters?" asked Rainbow dash for the tenth time in their boring walk.
"Now Dashie, you know about the roars from the forest as well as I did. Somepony or some creature could be hurt and in need of aid and besides, you were the one who offered to come and keep me safe " Flutter shy responded.
"Just think of it as an adventure into the unkno-"
ROAAAR
"D-did you hear that Dash?" asked Flutter shy, trying to make herself as small as possible underneath the rainbow mane of the cyan winged pony.
"Yeah, lets check it out!" Rainbow dash replied, blushing slightly at the sudden contact.
"I think it came from that way..." she said, dashing off from on top of Flutter shy and flapping up to a short line of scrub and trees.
"Can you see anything?" called Flutter shy from the ground. Rainbow dash did not answer her and she had to hastily land on a branch to stop herself from falling, her wings had gone completely rigid. After being ignored by Rainbow, Flutter shy started working her way through the bushes in-front of her.
Rainbow dash was too busy staring at the scene unfolding to pay any attention to anything else, a blush rising to her cheeks that could shame any apple.
"You couldn't have done this the easy way could you?" shouted Colgate, delivering a vicious uppercut to the giant python.
As she slammed her giant brush into Slinky's chin, she exploded upwards from the water and up to his towering eye level. Rainbow watched as though in slow motion and Colgate flew up from the water, droplets of water covering her body and filling the air around her, casting a rainbow effect around her. Dash swore she could hear the twinkles of light bouncing off each drop, Colgate's mane was wet and hung suggestively down her neck, bringing Rainbow's wings to a standing vertical salute.
At this moment, to Dash at least, Colgate was a daring, adventurous and hot mare. Her awesomeness outstripped even Dash's, although she would never admit this to anyone. Rainbow dash wanted, needed to meet this mare.
Colgate brought her brush crashing down on the giant pythons head, performing a stunning forward flip and bringing her back hooves down towards his for-head. She coiled the muscles in her legs, her damp coat accenting the outlines of each muscle for her silent audience, then slammed her hooves down onto the snakes head.
Just as the python came crashing down to the ground beside the river, Flutter shy broke her head through the thick brambles.
"Was that so bad, the way you were acting you would think I was going to murder you." Colgate scolded the snake.
Flutter shy stifled a gasp as she watched Colgate gently clean Slinky's teeth with a giant brush, displaying a deep caring for animals that Flutter shy thought only she possessed.
"She's so kind..." Flutter shy mumbled under her breath as she watched the pythons grunts of pain cease, Slinky had refused to let her treat his teeth, the most she had gotten him to do was eat some apples. At this moment, in Flutter shy's eyes, Colgate was a kind angel, similar to herself. Flutter shy's eyes drifted up her flank, Colgate's wet coat and mane made her look extremely hot .
Flutter shy's face flushed.
"O-oh my...."
"there, now can you please direct me to the Ursa cave slinky?" Colgate asked the prone form of the snake.
"hurmph" Slinky grunted unintelligibly, pointing with his tail to a gap between two trees.
"thank-you Slinks, I'll be off now, ta-ta!" Colgate called from the edge of the clearing. Colgate turned back towards the trees and dove into the depths of the forest once again, for half a second she thought she heard a mare's voice cry out through the trees, but it sounded too much like a throaty moan to be a pony. She adjusted her magical grip on her brush and continued through the trees.
"No way!" Rainbow dash cried, hearing Colgate's last words before she disappeared into the trees on the opposite side of the clearing, that last little statement was enough to force her over the edge and she fell from her perch in a sweaty heap on the ground.
"We have to follow her Flutters!" she called to the, still red faced, yellow Pegasus.
"Bu-But the Ursa's are very L-Large and scary dash!" Flutter shy stuttered. "I don't want to go anywhere near them!"
"Don't worry, if we fly to the caves then we can beat her there. What was that mares name again? min- something I think" dash mused.
"Come on flutters! lets go before she gets there!" Dash cried, picking Flutter shy up by in her arms and carrying her up into the sky.
"with my speed, we will be there in no time!.... whats that smell?"
Flutter shy blushed.
