Friendship's Touch

Chapter 3

Twilight awoke to the smell of crisp spring air and the sounds of chirping birds coming through her open window. She slowly opened her eyes as they were met with sunlight blazing through the window. She wondered what time it was as she turned her head to look at the clock that hung by her bed. Ten o’clock?

“Wow, I really slept in.” She thought as she rolled out of bed, a few pops echoing through the room as she stretched out.

She made her way over to the mirror to brush out her mane a bit, before giving herself a nod of satisfaction. She made her way down the short staircase to the first floor of her room, then headed through the door to the main part of the library. When she looked out into the public area, she saw that Spike was up the ladder, re-shelving returned books.

“Hey Spike.” She smiled as she helped him put some of the books back with her magic.

“Hey Twilight, did the Festival go well?” he asked, climbing back down the ladder. “I tried to stay up for it, but I guess I just conked out before the Night Weaving.” He added as he grabbed another stack of books.

“Yes, it was the best festival I’ve ever been to. And the Night Weaving was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.” She smiled as she clapped her hooves together.

“That is so nice of you to say,” Luna said from the reading room as she stepped into the doorway.

“I mean it Luna, everything was absolutely beautiful. And it was a nice touch having the band and Gael perform that lovely song.” She smiled to Luna as she took a seat by the table that stood in the middle of the room.

“Yes, I always loved hearing the Éires sing. You know that song was written for me?” Luna asked as she walked in and took a seat before Twilight at the table.

“Really?” Twilight asked, getting a nod from Luna.

“Indeed. They always loved my work.  They were some of the very few ponies that did.  But then they faded out of existence as some civilizations tend to do, and then I was alone.” Luna sighed as she hung her head.

“That’s when you started feeling alone and unappreciated; because nopony was around anymore to enjoy your lovely work, and the ones that remained could care less?” Spike asked from up on the ladder, getting a glare from Twilight.

“Yes, as you now know, one of the perks of being the Mistress of the Night is my ability to walk among other ponies in their dreams. I always used to love walking amongst the Éires in their dreams, but after their disappearance; the dream world started to get lonely, because no one else ever dreamed like them,” she said. “But it was very good to see that their ancestors are still around and in touch with their past.” She said as a smile came back to her face.

“I would love to hear more about them sometime. There’s only so much a book will tell you,” Twilight remarked, before catching sight of Spike wobbling on the ladder a bit as he balanced an armful of books. “Spike, be careful!” she shouted, but it was too late.  With a shout, Spike came tumbling down from the ladder; Twilight and Luna dodging a shower of books before Luna caught him on her back.

“Are you ok, Spike?” Luna asked him, getting a shaky nod from the dragon as he regained his bearings.

Twilight began to pick up the books, when she stopped at one that had fallen open.  She set the books down that she had already gathered, then picked up the one from the floor with her magic to bring it up to read.

“Spike, where did this book come from?” Twilight asked him as she looked at the title. “Legends and Tall Tales of Equestria.” She read aloud before turning the book over to look at the page she had noticed.

“Um, Lickety Split returned it this morning; he borrowed it a couple weeks ago from the mythology section.” He said as he recalled everything from his memory. He was like a little info bank when it came to the library and its books.

As Twilight read the pages carefully, Luna and Spike looked on with confusion, turning to shrug at each other before Luna took a step forward.

“Are you ok Twilight?” Luna asked, receiving no response. “Twilight? Twilight?” she persisted, before finally reaching out with a hoof to nudge the unicorn.

“Hm? Oh, sorry,” Twilight said as she snapped back to reality.

“Are you ok?” Luna asked again.

“Oh yes I’m fine.  It’s just the craziest thing,” Twilght said, turning the book around to show Luna. There, on the page, was a picture of six Alicorns, Celestia and Luna’s recognizable younger forms amongst them.  “These two, right here.  I almost thought I saw them at the festival last night.” she said, pointing to a black and chocolate stallion with a mountain peak cutie mark and a green mare with an earth cutie mark.

“You mean you saw more Alicorns?” Spike asked Twilight, as Luna began to stare at the two ponies, her eyes wavering a bit.

“Yes but that was it though, this couldn’t be the two I saw because this is just a book of legends and tall tales. And most importantly, those two were definitely not Alicorns. I’d say I was just mistaken, given that it was pretty dark out.” Twilight deduced as Luna grabbed the book from her, placing a hoof gently on the images of the two strangers. Twilight and Spike looked at her with concern.

“Luna?” Twilight said.

“You said you saw them here? In Ponyville?” Luna asked, her eyes pleading to the unicorn.

“Um, well, I saw a pegasus and unicorn that looked like them,” Twilight said looking a bit nervous.

Without another word, Luna took off out the front door. Twilight looked at Spike, receiving a shrug from the little dragon before she took off after Luna.

“Keep an eye on things Spike!” Twilight shouted, hearing a ‘will do’ called back to her.  She stopped after traveling a few feet out the door, not seeing Luna anywhere. She looked out through town, and then up in the sky, spotting Rainbow Dash floating by.

“Rainbow!” she called to the pegasus.  Rainbow Dash looked back at her and banked hard left to drift down and hover above her.

“What’s up Twilight?” Rainbow Dash asked, tilting her head a bit.

“Did you see Princess Luna come by?” Twilight asked.

“Nope, maybe she teleported to Canterlot to see the Princess?” Rainbow Dash suggested.

Twilight shook her head. “No, you still would have seen the flash. I showed her a picture in a book of some ponies I thought I saw last night, and she just took off.”

“Hm. Well I haven’t seen her but I can help you look.” She offered.

“That would be great.” Twilight said with a nod before making the book of legends materialize and open to the right page in front of Rainbow Dash. “Better yet, while you’re looking for her, keep an eye out for these two,” she said, pointing to the two alicorns she’d recognized. If we find them, we’re sure to find her.” She said as she tapped a determined hoof on the ground.

“Oh are you two playing hide and seek?” Pinkie Pie asked, suddenly appearing beside Twilight, causing Rainbow Dash to look around in confusion.

“How did…Oh never mind, No, we aren’t playing hide and seek. Something might be wrong with Princess Luna,and we need to find her,” Twilight said.

“Oh, well then I can help anyway!  I’m good at hide and seek, and I especially want to help the Princess!” Pinkie Pie bounced up and down excitedly.

“Ok then. If you bump into the other girls, see if they can help too,” Twilight said, before showing Pinkie Pie the book as well and giving them a more up to date description of the mystery ponies. “Alright, we’ll meet back here.” She said with a nod and then took off towards town square, Pinkie Pie and Rainbow Dash heading in opposite directions.

Twilight ran through town, checking every alley and side street.  She even poked her head inside a few shops just in case, but still found nothing.  She soon skidded to a halt when she saw Zecora and Rarity talking together by Doctor Whooves' clock shop.

“Rarity! Zecora! Have you seen Luna?” she asked as she ran up to them.

“I have not seen her since last night. What is it that fills you with such fright?” Zecora asked with a look of worry.

“I just left the boutique dear. Is something wrong with her?” Rarity asked with a hoof on her chest.

Twilight shook her head a bit. “I don’t know what’s wrong, I saw some ponies last night, but when I recognized them in a book just now, I showed them to her and she took off.” She explained.

“We’d be glad to help you look for her if you want,” Rarity said, looking over to Zecora, who returned a nod to her.

“I did see a strange pony in town admiring Daisy’s flowers. I could feel, just by observing her, some intense powers.” Zecora told her.

“Was it a green unicorn with a purple vest and an earth cutie mark?” she asked, getting a nod from the zebra. “Can you show me where?” she pleaded.

“I will show you where, and perhaps, she may yet still be there.” Zecora said as they turned and headed off quickly towards the direction of where she had last seen the unicorn. They soon skidded to a stop, however, at the sound of Rainbow Dash’s voice.

“Twilight!” came Rainbow Dash’s voice, as she and Fluttershy appeared overhead. “I saw that creepy unicorn over by the post office spying on Derpy!”

“Did you find Luna?” Twilight called back.

“We haven’t seen her, but we only searched the east and north part of town before we went to get Applejack to help, she’s searching the west half now,” Fluttershy said as she settled down to run alongside Twilight.

The group ran along the street before turning a corner.  Sure enough, there, behind a newspaper stand, stood the unicorn from the previous night. She seemed to be hiding as she peered around the stand, using the same magic that she had used the night before on Derpy as the pegasus collected the mail for her route. As she turned to leave, she caught site of the girls and waved.

“Hey girls!” she called, causing the unicorn to look in their direction with a start.

“Great,” Rainbow Dash said with a roll of her eyes.

Sure enough, upon seeing the girls approaching, the unicorn quickly started to run, only to end up colliding with Derpy. After untangling herself from the confused and disoriented mailmare, she ran off. Fluttershy stopped to help Derpy, while the others continued after the unicorn, who ducked into an alley and used her magic to tip over a stack of boxes into their path. Twilight used her magic to levitate the boxes so they could pass under them, before dropping them back to the ground, continuing on until they stopped at a dead end to find the unicorn gone. They began to look around in earnest before hearing hoof beats coming from above them. Rainbow Dash quickly shot up and shouted as she spotted the unicorn fleeing across a rooftop. The girls quickly made their way back onto the street, using Rainbow Dash as a reference so they could head the unicorn off. As they approached town square, they spotted Applejack with Luna, who was nervously looking around.

“Applejack! Luna!” Twilight called, happy to see Luna had been found.

“Twilight, what in the hay is goin’ on here?  Luna’s being very dodgy with her answers to my questions.” Applejack said, glaring at Luna, who hung her head a bit.

“No time, we’re chasing that unicorn I saw right now,” Twilight said causing Luna to look up with wide eyes.

“Where is she?” Luna asked Twilight desperately.

“Rainbow Dash is following her on the rooftops. We’re going to cut her off,” Twilight said, as they all took off following after the rapidly disappearing rainbow tail. “When we catch her, I want some answers,” Twilight said, shooting a glare at Luna, who turned her head away. “Luna!” she shouted, intensifying her glare.

“OK, Twilight, OK. But first we must find her,” Luna said. “And him,” she thought to herself.

The gang followed Rainbow Dash all the way to the edge of town to see the unicorn jump down from the last roof and gracefully land on the ground, before continuing towards Sweet Apple Acres. She turned and frowned as she saw Rainbow still hounding her steps despite her best efforts to lose her earlier. Suddenly, she stopped and turned to face Rainbow Dash, aiming her horn at the unsuspecting pegasus and hitting her with a spell which caused chains with weights hanging from the ends to wrap around her body, effectively binding her wings and sending her plummeting to the ground before landing on a ... mattress? Rainbow Dash looked up from her predicament to see the unicorn speeding away into the Red Delicious orchard, using her magic to grow thick thorny brambles between the trees, making a wall behind her.

“Rainbow!” Twilight shouted as the girls skidded to a halt in front of her. “Are you alright?” she asked as she used her magic to remove the chains.

“Yeah, that was a good move with the mattress by the way, thanks for that.” she said as she wiggled her wings to make sure they were alright.

“Um, that wasn’t me,” Twilight said as she looked at the mattress; the residual aura around it was definitely from the other unicorn.

“Well I didn’t do it either.  It had to be that other unicorn,” Rarity chimed in as she joined Twilight in her investigation of the mattress.

“Well why in the hay would she take the time to save the person who was chasin' after her?” Applejack asked scratching the top of her head a bit in thought.

“Because she is not a bad pony, at least when I last knew her,” Luna said as she looked towards the orchard.

“Luna, I think it’s time you told us what’s going on.  Who is that pony?” Twilight asked her as Fluttershy caught up to them, landing softly on the ground beside Applejack

Luna sighed, hanging her head for a few seconds as the others looked on expectantly.  She took a deep breath before looking back up at them.  “She is no ordinary pony. When I last knew her, before I went mad and was banished to the moon, she was an Alicorn just like me. Her name is Gaia, the Earth Mother.”

The girls gasped and looked to Luna with confusion.  Twilight took a step forward and looked up at her.

“That’s just a legend, Luna, that’s why I saw the picture in a book of legends and tall tales. This pony obviously is just a normal unicorn.” She said, trying to reason with her.

“I wouldn’t be so sure Twilight.  Every legend has some kind of truth.  Why I reckon I’ve heard dozens o’ stories involving Gaia. All us Earth ponies look up to her, she used to be responsible for growing crops; and this here unicorn did a mighty fine job growin' them brambles right quick.” Applejack chimed in as she stepped up beside Twilight.

“She's also known for tending to all the animals of the world,” Fluttershy quietly interjected with a smile.

Twilight rolled her eyes “But she’s just a regular unicorn! You guys saw her yourself!” she said to them. She then sat down and thought for a second, her hoof lightly tapping her chin, “Well, she could be using a spell perhaps to disguise her wings. Such a spell exists. An appearance of two Alicorns would rouse some suspicion. Being that Princess Celestia, Luna, and Cadence are the only three known Alicorns.”

“I suppose you could be right, she is quite powerful. But that still doesn’t explain what she’s doing here in Ponyville.  And what about the pegasus I saw with her last night?” She said, turning back to Luna.

“As to the question of why they are here I have no idea, but as for your second question,  the pegasus is an also an Alicorn by the name of Atlas.” She said, saying the name with great affection, causing Rainbow Dash and Applejack to look to each other with a grin.

“Oh come on! You can’t possibly mean Atlas, the Earth Shaper?” Twilight said with exasperation, receiving a nod of confirmation from Luna.

“Well I’ll be. He’s responsible for formin’ the earth and directing the channels for the rivers so that the Earth Ponies had a place to farm in the first place.” Applejack said as she remembered the legend that she’d once heard from Granny Smith.

“Ok, so assuming that on the off chance we do have two mythological ponies right here in our very town, why are they here in the first place? And why was ‘Gaia’ spying on Derpy and Big Mac?” Twilight said, making quotes in the air with her hooves when she said the unicorn’s name.

“Of her intentions I am not certain.  But I did see her in town observing me from behind a curtain.” Zecora added as she walked up to the group.

“So she’s a spy for sure.” Rainbow Dash said with suspicion. “Now we have to figure out exactly where she went.”

“Well, they had to have a camp set up somewhere. Applejack, would you know if they were camped out on your land?” Twilight asked her.

“Well, we haven’t really walked a lot o’ the land since Winter Wrap Up yet.  But I or Big Mac would definitely have found ‘em by now.” She said.

“Perhaps we can follow her hoof prints through the orchard.” Rarity suggested as she went over to the brambles, using her magic to clear the way, revealing more walls stretched out before her.

“This might be a bit more difficult than we thought,” Twilight said. “Wait a minute! I could detect her magic when she was using it last night. Maybe I can pick it up now!” she added as she lowered her horn and closed her eyes.

After a few seconds of concentration, her horn began to slowly pulse.  As she turned her head, the rhythm of the pulsing would increase or decrease depending on how close or far away she was to the unicorn’s direction.  Slowly, she turned her head until the pulsing became a steady glow, pointing to the direction of town.

“This way.” She said, bolting off towards town, the others following close behind.

Rainbow Dash flew up beside Luna, casually looking over to her. “So Luna, I take it you know this Atlas pretty well?” she asked, sharing a look with Applejack, who ran on Luna’s other side. It seemed the girls couldn’t pass up a good opportunity to dig into the Princess.

“Yes, he and I were close.” Luna said, guessing where this might be going.

“As in good friends?” Applejack pressed.

“You could say that,” Luna responded uncomfortably, quite aware now of where their questions were heading.

“There!” Twilight shouted, pointing a hoof at the unicorn, who had reappeared at the post office.

The unicorn spotted them and took off once again, heading east now.

“Not this time!” Rainbow shouted as she darted off after her.

“Rainbow Dash, wait!” Rarity shouted after her.

“Hey guys! Whatcha doing?” Pinkie Pie suddenly said, appearing beside everypony much to their surprise.

“Pinkie Pie? Where in tarnation have ya been?” Applejack frowned at her.

“I was spying on that pegasus like you told me to.” She said as she bounced along beside everypony.

“Wait, what?” Twilight asked, suddenly skidding to a halt, everypony else stopping short of slamming into her. “Pinkie we were looking for Luna first and foremost.”

Rainbow Dash returned and landed beside them. "That cheater teleported on me!" She shouted with a huff and crossed her arms.

“Yeah, and you guys found Luna, so I went with plan B.” Pinkie smiled back at Twilight.

“That’s…Good, actually,” Twilight said. She ignored Rainbow Dash for now, and focused more on keeping her brain from seizing up from all the Pinkie Pie logic flying around.

“Despite anything else that may be said about you Pinkie Pie, you do indeed have a keen eye,” Zecora said as she walked up to her.

“Yes, if we follow Pinkie to where she found Atlas, then Gaia’s got to eventually end up where he is.” Twilight said after some thought.

“Pinkie Pie, could you lead us to where you saw the pegasus?” Luna asked her with  hope in her eyes.

“Sure, let’s go!” Pinkie Pie said, hopping off without a worry in the world.

“Pinkie Pie, you are so random,” Rainbow Dash said with a shrug.

The girls followed Pinkie Pie to the edge of town, where the Everfree Forest dared to creep into the land ruled by the ponies, its very existence in defiance of the order and discipline that Celestia and Luna's kingdom stood for.  They continued along  the edge of the forest until they came to a camp, hidden in a small copse of trees only a few yards from Fluttershy’s home.  There were two sleeping bags and a couple of weathered saddle bags underneath a small lean-to made from a large blanket stretched over some sticks to make a roof and a back wall. The side walls were made with logs stacked on top of each other, with branches lying against them as a wind break. In the center of all this there was a fire pit dug into the ground, so that the flames would not be seen when they had it going.

“They were this close to my house?” Fluttershy squeaked with fear, her eyes narrowing as she looked past the copse to her front door.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy. I only saw him peek in your windows once while I was watching him,” Pinkie Pie said with a few bounces, while Flutershy’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground.

“Shh, there’s no telling where they might be. Let’s go about this slowly and quietly.” Twilight said as they crept forward and peeked through the bushes watching for any sign of activity.

Their wait was short as they saw the unicorn come into the camp from the direction of Fluttershy’s house.

“Atlas? Where are you?” she called, looking around for the pegasus.  Despite her seemingly harsh attitude, she did appear outwardly like a benevolent being, not unlike Luna or Celestia. Though now that Twilight could study her closely, she confirmed that this unicorn was just a plain old unicorn; there was no way she could be the immortal being of the Earth.

They watched her in silence for a few minutes as she moved around the edges of the camp looking for the pegasus, having to duck out of sight when she came in their direction.  After a few more minutes of looking, she shook her head and exited in the same direction she entered the camp with a sigh.

“Come on, maybe we can figure out what they’re up to.” Twilight said as she slowly crept out into the camp, looking around for danger.

“I feel bad about this. They are my friends Twilight; I shouldn’t be creeping around like this.  As soon as we found Gaia I should have approached her.” Luna said as she looked inside the lean-to.

They walked around the camp a bit, with Applejack and Rainbow Dash keeping watch.  Rarity walked up to the saddle bags and opened one with her magic, rooting around inside a bit with a hoof.

“Oh!” she squealed, causing the others to look at her holding up a cloak. “What a garish thing, this style is so one thousand years ago,” she said getting a collective eye roll from everypony.

“Oh give me a break,” Rainbow Dash mumbled, crossing her arms.

Suddenly, Rainbow Dash’s ears perked as she heard a twig snap, before being suddenly hurled to the ground much in the same manner as before, except that there wasn’t a mattress there to catch her fall this time. As Applejack saw what was happening, she quickly sprung into action to help Rainbow Dash, only to find vines wrapped tightly around all four of her own legs, and the more she struggled the tighter they got. She watched helplessly as Rainbow plummeted like a rock, only to be caught and imprisoned by more vines. The others gasped as they saw things quickly getting out of hand and leapt to help their friends. Fluttershy screamed and cowered in fear as she and Zecora were surrounded by a cage of vines, which Pinkie Pie barely managed to hop free of before turning back around and attempted to bite the vines to free her friends.

“Everypony, stop!” Luna pleaded as Twilight and Rarity stood side by side facing the forest.

“Come out now!” Twilight shouted as her horn began to glow, readying a bolt of magic.

“Everypony!” Luna repeated only to be ignored once more.

Suddenly, Gaia burst forth from the brush, her horn blazing green with magic. “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

“I should ask you the same thing, why are you spying on us? Let our friends go this instant!” Rarity shot back at her with a stomp of her hoof.

“And I, WILL ask YOU, the same thing. And no I will not let them go, pretty girl.” Gaia spat back as she sent a bolt of magic at the two unicorns, which Twilight deflected with a magic barrier towards a tree, the magic causing it to transform into a butterfly.

"Well at least I have enough sense of style to wash my mane and update my wardrobe on occasion." Rarity replied with a huff as she readied some of her own magic to send at her.

“I SAID ENOUGH!” Luna shouted in her traditional Canterlot voice as she stomped her hoof on the ground, which sent a split in the earth between the battling unicorns.

As everypony stared at her in awe, Luna’s glowing eyes returned to their normal look. She looked at everypony and prepared to speak, before there was the sound of rustling behind her

“Nice to see you haven’t lost your touch,” said a male voice from behind Luna, teasing the Princess.

Luna whirled around with shock on her face, her eyes widening as the pegasus stallion stepped out of the bushes.

“Atlas?” she asked, her voice wavering with a mixture of disbelief and hope.

The stallion looked back at her with a mischievous look before a more affectionate smile crossed his lips. “Hello, Luna.”