A Darker World

by Vinop

Rating: mature
Tags: Alternate Universe, Adventure
Length: 15028

Twilight sets out to get answers from an aged Goddess. However she finds that this simple journey is going to lead her to more than she asked for.

Celestia is dead. Nightmare Moon is banished. Luna has lost her magic. The nation she and her sister forged fell apart. Luna has retreated from the world and let to go its way. The sun has faded from being the beacon in the sky to nothing more than a bright star moving across the sky.

Centuries later Twilight Sparkle meets a mare claiming to be a goddess. Natural that is impossible, but Twilight stills finds herself following this mare's request to met her in the middle of the Everfree Forest.

Within the small town of Ponyville trouble is brewing. Tired of being under the iron hoof of Canterlot's martial law the ponies are thinking of taking another path. And stuck trying to keep the peace, Rarity and Applejack are finding it isn't that easy, and perhaps it is impossible.

Published 1970-01-01 00:00:00 UTC
Last updated 2013-12-02 16:36:36 UTC

Chapter Two: Tricking a Father

        Twilight stepped into the outer office, a spacious room with plenty of sitting space for ponies waiting to meet with the Dean of the University. She raised her hoof to greet the pink earth pony at the secretary sitting behind her desk when a voice spoke from the opened door at the rear of the office. “TWILIGHT SPARKLE,” the booming voice sounded, “GET IN HERE RIGHT NOW!” That voice was certainly not happy about something. Unfortunately Twilight knew exactly what. The secretary sitting at her desk right next to the open door was jerked up by the sound, she brought a hoof up to her ear and rubbed it, giving Twilight a sympathetic look as she passed. She had known their family for as long as Twilight could remember, she knew what that voice meant. Twilight lowered her head a bit and stepped through the door.

        Once inside the office, the door behind her slammed shut. Eep, he is really pissed off this time. Twilight thought to herself as she raised a hoof to wave. “Now Dad, let me explain before you-”        “YOU will sit FIRST Twilight. THEN we will talk.” The commanding tone in her father’s voice only got worse when he was glaring at you from behind his desk. Twilight nodded and moved to one of the empty chairs before the large desk in the room.        The room itself was quite spacious like the outer office, although you wouldn’t have been able to tell easily. Between the large desk with papers on it, the bookcases attached to the walls, the sofa and coffee table, and the few chairs in the room it was quite full. Twilight had many fond memories of this room, coming here when she was a filly and studying with her father, playing small games with her brother while they waited for their parents to come back from a meeting. Enough happy memories that it normally brought a smile to her face. This time was not going to be another happy memory added to the set, if nothing else the enraged figure of her father on the other side of the desk would see to that.        His soft blue body held itself up, his hooves resting squarely on the desk in front of him. His darker blue mane still remained neatly combed so at least he hadn’t been worrying about her. The silver chain that normally rested around his neck with the purple pendant telling everyone he was Dean of the Canterlot University and the horn ring of his council seat that ruled Canterlot rested on the corner of the desk. That at least meant that he was working in his persona as her father, not her boss in this case. At least that will help a little bit, I hope.        Twilight reached the desk and seated herself in the open chairs, the other chair was occupied by a certain well known armored pony. After a few moments of sitting under her father’s gaze, Night Light sighed and sat back in his chair. “Spike would you please remove the mask for now. The door is closed and Peth won’t let anyone in for right now.”        Spike noded and reached up with an armored hoof, or rather, the armor outline of a hoof since what it was off the chair Spike uncurled his claws and reached around with his long talons detaching the latches holding the mask over his face. Once uncoupled Spike pulled the armored pony mask off, stretching his long scaled neck out. The purple scales rustled slightly against the rest of the armor, a few green spines popping up. He turned and smiled at Night Light. “It always feels nice getting to stretch my neck in the middle of the day. You sure nothing is going to interrupt us?”        “Yes I am sure, Spike. I don’t have any meeting for at least another hour. Now, trust your father and relax for a moment.” Turning his attention to Twilight, Night Light’s expression hardened again. “Now Twilight. I assume you know exactly why you are here, the smart young mare that you are certainly had the forethought to send Spike over once he finished with the lecture, a lecture might I remind you that is for YOUR class, to alert me and tell me at least a bit of what happened rather than letting the rumor mill or another professor get it to me first.”        After a few moments of silence Twilight leans forward a opens her mouth to speak but gets cut short as her father keeps going. “Ignoring your responsibilities is NOT something you learned from me or your mother, so at first I could only assume that it was something amazingly important, perhaps you got lost in your research again, wouldn’t be the first time afterall. Ducking away and getting out from under Spike’s claws is ALSO not something you got from me or your mother and you know how hard we had to work to get everything set up so that he could be with you. So I assumed not only was it part of your research but that it was a flash of inspiration that hit you in the middle of a meal or something. But no. Imagine how I reacted when I found out that you had teleported off to WHO KNOWS WHERE with one of the crazy cultists.” Even with his level tone and calm expression the words cut straight through any attempt of Twilight to respond for the moment. In the brief lull, she looked back up at her father.        “Not well?” was all she managed to squeak out.        “Not well indeed. Not only did you ignore your responsibilities and run off without Spike you vanished to who knows where and into who knows what dangers. A remarkably stupid act, especially for you. And that is all combined with the fact that you were arguing with the cultist that you teleported off with not a moment before. So, Twilight, what, oh what, was so important for you that you committed such a stupid act?”Oh crap. Telling him that they had proof to their claims won’t work, considering I only half believe them right now. Think, Twilight, Think!        “The cultist had mentioned something about knowing some old spell formulas. I pretty much demanded to see them,” Twilight spoke quickly, glancing over to Spike, who was thankfully more interesting in chewing on one of the candies in her father’s candy bowl then correcting her story, “Actually turned out to be pretty interesting stuff.” Come on Twilight, you’ll need more than that to convince him. AH HA! The experiment! “They actually had a spell circle designed to pull out an unicorn’s full magic into a spell, I kinda got lost looking it over, what with my research right now and all.” Twilight looked up at her father, trying not to let the hope that he would fall for her lie out.        The raised eyebrow showed his interest and his next comment certainly showed it worked. “What do you mean pull out an unicorn’s full magic?” He said.        “It ignored the limit of magic unicorn’s could pull! It was designed to tap into it differently, kind of like bursting a balloon of water rather than letting it slowly through the opening. See with the research into the idea that our full magic isn’t tied to how much we can pull at any given time I was interested to see how they did it.” Twilight replied, mentally racing ahead to fill in pieces of information.        “And did you find anything out?” Night Light replied.        “Well...no. Not directly at least! But I have some modifications to my experiment that I want to do from looking it over that would help!” Twilight said as she smiled at her father, his anger from earlier having left his voice.        “Are there any documents of theirs that showed it being used successful? I have never heard of such a magic circle.” Night Light asked.        “No...I wasn’t planning to use the exact magic circle just some concepts from it! But um...I need a lot of space to do it. None of the magic labs have the space I’ll need. I’ll have to head out of Canterlot to test. I was thinking of heading south to Ponyville, it’s only a few hours and I’d be able to do some study on the stars while out there as well.” Twilight quickly smiled at her father as she twirled the need for her to reach the Everfree into her research. Ponyville was the closest town and was under the Canterlot Guard's protection.        However her quickly planned out idea came to a screeching halt.        “NO! I will NOT send you to Ponyville! That town is unsafe for a young mare like you!” His quick and negative reaction took Twilight back, shocking her a moment.Well, let’s recap for a moment Twilight. You came into an office with a father who was mad at you, got him calmed down and interested into a lie, and now he is back to being mad. Yep. Full circle. Crap.        “And why not, Dad? I’ll have Spike with me! You couldn’t ask for better protection from being mugged or anything else! Plus I’ll only be there a few days!” Twilight put on her best pleading voice and face, enough of it and her father always gave in when she was a filly.        “No! Even with Spike it would take a Guard squad to ensure to your safety and it’s not like I can whistle one up whenever I want!” Night Light insisted.        “Well, Shining’s squad just got back from that trip out to the Cloudsdale plains. He’s been wanting to spend some time with me as well so I could just take them along. They are sitting around waiting for assignment anyways and you know what he said about his squad, they are more calm on the move then sitting around. It’d be perfect, Shining gets time with his sister and there’s a Guard squad for protection, plus Spike! And the town is under Canterlot control. It’ll be about as safe as it can be that way. What’s the worst that could happen?” Twilight spoke, mixing her desire to get to Ponyville and the fact her brother was in town together to convince her father.        For a moment Twilight was sure her father would in fact find something but he grunted in the end. “Fine, alright. You are determined to go and I know from experience getting in your way doesn’t work. Go home and talk to your brother, we’ll get everything completely set up at dinner tonight if he agrees.” With her father’s reluctant agreement Twilight smiled and leaned over the desk to pull him into a hug.        “Thank you father!” Letting him go as he reached to the edge of his desk and grabbed his necklace and horn ring to put them back on.        “Yeah, yeah. Get going you two, I’ll see you in a few hours.” Twilight trotted towards the door as Spike latched the mask back on, standing up and following her. “Love you both.”        “Love you too, Dad.” Twilight opened the door and headed out, Spike a step behind.

        The grunt of effort from the white stallion was rewarded with a moan of pleasure from the petite yellow pegasus mare below him, her wings stretched wide and quivering. The sheets of the bed were thrown on the floor, needless for them right now. A squeak of sudden excitement followed by longer hum of pleasure echoed through the room. The faded beam of light from the Day Star played across the backs of the two ponies, leaving the rest of the room in a dim light. Not that there was much to see, the room was spartan as fitted a soldier, a simple desk, the bed, a dresser, short bookcase, and a trunk for his personal items. A simple room in a simple barracks.        The moaning increased in volume, panted breath filling the room. Both of the ponies lost in their interaction. Ignorant to the outside world. At least until the sharp knock sounded on the door. Both ponies suddenly went quiet and very still. For a moment both wished the offending knocker was imagined but sadly that moment was broken when the knocker banged on the door again.        The stallion grumbled, backing off the mare and looking at the door. “What is it?” His voice sounded, a hard voice more used to shouting orders than anything else.        “Captain Shining, your sister has come by the barracks to see you. She is currently waiting downstairs in the mess hall with Pyro, Stomper, and Flick.” The knocker spoke quickly and with a heavy voice.        Shining Armor started to step off the bed towards the door when the small mare below him leaned up against his body and moved her head back, pushing her orange mane out of the way and nibbled at one of his neck. “Don’t go now, I might go get in trouble with another stallion if you go anywhere big boy.” Her soft voice whispered in his ear, heavy with her desire to get him back into her.        For a moment Shining was tempted to leave this encounter where it was, this mare wouldn’t turn him down if he approached her again later. But even as he paused for a moment the mare didn’t give up, pressing back into him and pushing him back into her just a little bit sending a jolt a excitement up Shining’s spine. “Tell her I’ll be down in ten minutes Crusher. Just need to finish up a bit of paper work.” He spoke quickly, leaning down against the mare and running a hoof along the underside of her wing, getting the desired twitches from the sensitivity limbs.        The sound of the heavy footsteps echoed away from the door, leaving the two ponies alone again. Shining leaned his head down and nibbled at the mare’s neck for a moment. “Where were we? Ah yes…” And with a forceful push that produced a startled squeak from the mare they were back at it.

        Ten minutes later, a cleaned up Shining stepped down the stairs into the mess hall. Sure enough there was his sister sitting at one of the tables chatting away with another unicorn. Instead of his sister’s purple coat and clear academic life the other unicorn mare sported an orange coat with a bright yellow mane and a build that showed all of the hard, tiring, draining training she got as a Guard. Although no where near the heavy build that Shining or the two gray earth ponies had, the unicorn’s mage training didn’t leave much in the way for excess fat to build up in place of muscles. Knowing his sister the look on her face meant she and the other unicorn mare were talking about one magic theory or another.        A quick glance around the room confirmed that only four members of his squad were present, Pyro Spark, the unicorn mare talking to Twilight, Stomper and Crusher Grounder, two large heavy built gray earth ponies, and Flick Flyer, a black pegasus stallion that was happier flapping his wings to get as high as he could in any room then sitting still. That meant Strong Hold, his other unicorn mage(though sometimes Shining wondered why he put up with the overly chipper dark gray stallion) and Swirl Back, his remaining pegasus, were out, though knowing her and Strong he’d be able to find them at the bar nearby, the same one he met his friend who had just slipped out his window at.        “So the core theory I want to test is counter to the long held idea that the amount of magic a unicorn can pull at any time is related to the total magic that unicorn could pull.” His sister was talking about a magic theory, though it seemed that she wanted to uproot a long held one. “It’s not a theory anyone has really put to the test you see, at least not and documented it.” Normally Pyro wouldn’t be interested in any theories Twilight wanted to experiment with. Pyro was much more the type to take what she knew she could do and use it to cause as much damage as possible, with fire if she had a choice. However Pyro seemed wrapped up in whatever Twilight was talking about.        Shining smiled and walked up to his sister and gave her a hug before she noticed he was there. She looked up at the hug and saw him, smiling back and hugging him tightly, “Hey big brother!”        “Hey little sister. So what is it that has Pyro paying attention to this theory of yours?” Shining released his sister from the hug and sat down next to her, glancing over at Pyro.        “Oh!” Twilight’s eager grin at her brother’s interest could have lit up an entire room by itself. “I had an idea since I’ve been using magic so much more recently. It’s long been held that the amount of magic an unicorn can pull at any given time is directly related to how much they have.” Shining nodded, he knew this theory well, any unicorn did, it was a basic concept of magic. “But no one has very really tested it, mostly out of fear of harm to said unicorn. But! I think I have a way to disprove it. But I’ll need your help. And the help of your squad.” Twilight looked up at her brother with the most innocent look she could pull, after all if it could convince him to sneak out in the middle of the night to get her ice cream as a filly it should work now.        Shining glanced up from his sister to his squad. Pyro was nodding her head with as much enthusiasm as he saw out of her last time he let her go nuts on a building. Crusher and Stomper nodded once, but then they always enjoyed helping Twilight out, they almost thought of her as a little sister. Flick shrugged under Shining’s gaze. In the end Shining looked back at his sister. “Alright, we’ll help out any way we can what do we need to do?”

Chapter Three: Undercurrents

        The white unicorn mare smiled as she leaned back in her chair and relaxed a bit. Her purple hair falling down behind her as she tugged the pins holding it up out. It had been awhile since she had the time to really work on her hair but the needs of her job came first. The last piece of paper work had been finished up and was currently sitting in the overflowing ‘OUT’ box on her desk. A small bit of magic glowed around her horn and she pulled the curtains over the window open a little bit. The Day Star was still out, providing the light needed for ponies to move around in the little town. It was getting late in the day however, the Day Star lingering up over the roofs of the houses. Soon enough she’d be out of here, back to her house to a nice cup of tea. Maybe she might even get to work on one of her projects, it had been awhile.

        However the world had other plans for her. A polite knock on the door was followed by it creaking open. The face of a younger mare, all green coat with soft sea blue eyes and a braided brown mane poked through the opening. “Magistrate Rarity, Miss AppleJack is here to see you.”        “Really? I thought my next meeting with the farmer representatives wasn’t for another few days?” Rarity spoke as she sat up in her chair, glancing around the room to make sure everything was straight, Of course it is Rarity! Stop worrying so much you keep it as clean as you can already. Rarity reached down and opened one of her drawers, flipping through the files with her magic quickly then lifting out a small folder with a few sheets of paper in it, the work that Rarity had been working on with Applejack and a few of the other local farming families.        “Ah! Hearth would you kindly file these papers away and get the signed ones copied and out to their respective parties, please? I know it’s been a long day and we would leave it till tomorrow but it seems like we will be stuck here a little while longer.”        “Of course Magistrate Rarity.” The younger mare walked into the office and over to her desk, lifting the papers up from the ‘OUT’ box and balancing them on her back. “Shall I send in Miss Applejack now?”        “Please do. And stop calling me Magistrate Rarity, I think I have been working with you long enough to knock you out of that habit Hearth, just call me Rarity.”        “You are the one always saying that appearances are important. Just doing my part to maintain them, Magistrate Rarity,” Hearth smiled at Rarity, making her way to the door and out, just missing the outstruck tongue that Rarity pointed in her direction.        A few moments later a mare closer to Rarity’s age stepped in. Her orange coat and yellow mane standing out sharply against Rarity’s plain white office walls. A tougher build then Rarity or Hearth marked this mare as a farmer of a special sort, even among Ponyville’s many farming families the Apples had always been considered one of the best and it showed on them.        Rarity smiled and got out of her chair, walking over to meet Applejack. The hardworking farming mare had become one of Rarity’s few friends around the town since she moved here. Applejack always cut straight to the point on issues which had been a great boon when it came to working with the other farmers.        “It is so good to see you my dear!” Rarity wrapped Applejack in a friendly hug which she returned. “I wasn’t expecting to see you for another few days. Is everything alright?”        Applejack returned the smile as she released her friend. “Everything is just fine Rarity, don’t you worry. Ah just wanted to come by and talk a little about that fancy request you are putting together to send off to Canterlot for us, if you don’t mind.”        “Of course, of course. Would you something to drink? Tea perhaps?” The two spoke to each other as they moved towards the desk, Applejack seating herself in one of the chairs opposite Rarity’s.        “No, Ah’m just fine right now Rarity, thank you though.”        Rarity moved to the other side of the desk and sat back down in her chair. “Now if I remember right,” Rarity opened the folder on her desk and pulled out a small collection of papers, quickly flipping through them, “we were mostly down going over this. There were a last few points to talk about but nothing that should take too long. Then off it goes to Canterlot again. Third time’s the charm and all that, right?”        “Right.” Applejack shifted nervously in her seat while Rarity was focused on the papers in her hooves.        “Now what part did you want to talk about? Most of it we worked out already, the trade amount to Canterlot, the expected pay, which families are producing what. The only bits left were transit and some medicine supplies that we just needed to work out the details on.” Rarity glanced up at her friend who seemed a little more stiff than normal under Rarity’s gaze.        “Ah thought we were just going to use the trains for transit of the food?”        “Well, yes, but who conducts said train? Is it a Ponyville citizen or a Canterlot noble? Is it plagued by passage tax for the train lines or free of them? Last the Canterlot council never even got to that part so we have a free hand right now on it that we can negotiate with. Personally I would say that it would be best of Ponyville to lease a train from Canterlot and operate it ourselves. Could even lease it from one of the richer families allowing us to run it free of the passage tax, though we would be having to pay said family for leasing it, but we could have them bid themselves to death and end up with a wonderfully cheap train to use.”        “Ah see. That sounds perfect, Ah’m certain the Carrot clan has a colt who can operate that train for us.” Rarity nodded and she jotted on a mostly empty page, her quill wrapped in her magic.        “Alright, that would work. I can think of a few families that might be willing to lease a train, the Castor clan or the Tale clan are the two major families that run the train network, they would be the most likely to lease one to us. That leaves the medicine supplies. If I remember right Ponyville has pretty much all the supplies it needs in terms of medicine just lacks a fully trained doctor, correct? Nurse Redheart does all she can, I know, but her and her small team over at the clinic aren’t replacements for a full on doctor, we still are having to send people to other towns to receive medical aid if it is too bad. I was thinking we should request a doctor be sent out to the town which should be fairly easy, Canterlot’s hospital can’t even hire all the medical personnel that graduates up there.”        “Why not request training for Nurse Redheart instead, Rarity? Ah know she’d be happy to go get more training.”        Rarity leaned back in her chair and tapped her chin with her hoof. “I think we could swing that. Might have to run at less money coming into the town for a few years to cover her expenses at the university but with the training and experience she already has she’d be a quick study. Alright, if she is willing to leave for a few years and get the training we’ll go with that.” Rarity’s quill took to the paper again, scratching way. “There we go! Done. Now we’ll just present this to the other families in a few days and off it goes!”        “Ah, actually Rarity Ah was going to ask. Do ya think you could take it up there and present it yourself? The last two times didn’t go well. We were thinking that sending you along might help it. You could argue for us directly.” Applejack said, speaking softly.        “I can’t just do that Applejack, the process takes a few weeks and I can’t just abandon my duties here for that long. Canterlot wouldn’t look to kindly to that and I don’t want to risk having a replacement for me come in. You know how hard I struggle to keep those nasty Guard ponies from cracking down on you all even more, if I weren’t here you know as well as I do they’d come down hard.”        “We’ll be fine, Miss Rarity, it would only be for a few weeks after all.” Applejack spoke, the formal tone causing Rarity to look up at her friend.        Rarity narrowed her eyes at her friend. Applejack hadn’t called her Miss Rarity for a few years. Not since Rarity had been invited to one of the Apple family parties. Rarity didn’t remember much but Applejack said she had taken to the cider just as hard as the Apple’s did and had made quite the impression. The Apples over at the farm certainly had livened up to her since then. The occasional chuckle from them and Applejack’s refusal to tell Rarity what happened had been the cause of a few nervous nights afterward.        However Applejack wasn’t acting very relaxed right now. She seemed held up by nervous tension, holding her head and eyes level and back straight. No, this wasn’t Applejack her friend, something was wrong and Rarity thought she knew what it was.        “Applejack what’s going on?”        “Nothing is going on Rarity, Ah just think it would be better for you to go there and present it yourself to them, help smooth it along as it were.” She managed to almost say it in a believable tone. Almost. It didn’t help Applejack’s attempts that Rarity had acquired a knack for tell when a pony was trying to avoid a subject.        “Uh huh. Dear, I have told you that you are the worst at lying?” Applejack raised her hoof to interject but Rarity kept going. “I’m sure what you are saying you believe, me going to Canterlot would help. But that’s not everything is it Applejack? Something is going on and you want me out of Ponyville. What is happening and why?”        For a few second Applejack looked determined to continue holding to her line. But then she sighed and caved in, leaned over in the chair and releasing a held in sigh. “Rar, the town as a whole appreciates what you’ve done. Tartarus knows you didn’t exactly get the warmest welcome when you arrived back here as Magistrate Rarity rather than the dressmaker you visited us as. We saw you as yet another Canterlot pony coming down, an attempt to present a peace offering while actually controlling us more. But you proved us wrong and everypony warmed up to you. You’ve fought for us. You’ve lived with us, you’ve made us your friends. But you are still a Canterlot pony deep down inside and many ponies view you as that still. We don’t want to see you hurt if something happens. You may be a Canterlot pony at heart but you’ve become part of Ponyville’s family. But you can’t be here. Go home, back to Canterlot. It’ll be easier if you aren’t in town for you.”        Silence hung in the air for a moment. Neither mare spoke while what Applejack said held heavy on her and wormed through Rarity’s brain.        “Applejack, what are you all planning? I know your group of farmers has been getting restless. But you all have kept them calming so far, what’s changed? I know I’ve said it before but you all can’t do anything rash! Ponyville is right on the edge, if anything happens that pushes it over Canterlot won’t stop with martial law.”        “Rar, Ah know. Ah’ve spoken to them about this, but now they are, and if Ah’m to be honest myself and my family, beyond the point where we think it’ll help. Rarity, we’ve tried your way, we’ve worked, hard, at it, trying to find a proposal that Canterlot will accept. But each time those damned ponies up there take it and spit it right back out at us! Rarity it isn’t working. Ah can’t hold them back and Ah don’t think Ah want to anymore. We have to do things our way now. Please, for your safety, go back to Canterlot.” Applejack’s tone was pleading, begging Rarity to leave.        “No. You said it yourself Applejack, I’m part of the Ponyville family now. I am more at home here than I am in Canterlot now anyways. If something is happening here then I’m going to stay right here and see it out.” Rarity’s response held a firm line, she would not back down from her position.        Before Applejack could respond there was a sharp quick knock on the door, different from the one before that request attention this knock demanded it. Rarity looked at Applejack unspoken words agreeing to continue this later.        “Come in!” commanded Rarity.        The door opened and in stepped Hearth, an expression of shock held on her face. No, not shock. More like someone who just had very important news and is still processing it.         “Rarity! I mean, Magistrate Rarity, there was a...I mean I just got word that um,” the mare was stumbling over her words, whatever it was that had happened certainly had affected her.        “Breath, dear, take a moment and calm yourself.” Rarity spoke softly to the younger mare while shooting an accusing look at Applejack, who merely looked wide eyed and shook her head quickly, whatever had happened she didn’t know what it was.        Hearth closed her eyes and breathed in deeply and then exhaled. “Sorry, Magistrate Rarity.”        “It is quite alright, and again, call me Rarity, Applejack is a friend. Now what happened?”        “A letter just arrived Magistrate Rarity, by crystal. I have it with me if you would like to see it but it states that Twilight Sparkle, the daughter of Night Light, will be arriving in Ponyville and staying for a few days. Along with her is a Guard Squad headed by her brother, Shining Armor, and her servant, Spike. They are expected to arrive by train in only two hours.” As she spoke Rarity’s eyes widened. Normally this would be wonderful news, but after what she just learned this was turning into a recipe for disaster.        “Thank you Hearth, two hours you said? Perfect. We will meet them at the train station. Could you find a place for them to stay please Hearth? I don’t believe we have any space here to house them but one of the hotels nearby maybe, covered of course by the town’s funds.” Rarity’s mind started working right away, working out the details of the sudden arrivals.        “Right away, Magistrate Rarity.” Hearth turned and almost ran out the door, stopping to close it behind her        “I asked you to call me Rarity! Oh my, how am I ever going to convince her to stop doing that,” spoke Rarity, she was near to pleading with the mare to cease the formalities when they weren’t needed.        “Getting under your skin is it? She’ll come around. She still sees you as a kind pony larger than life almost. You did help her out by giving her that job,” replied Applejack.        “That may be so but all this Magistrate Rarity. I work with her! She should feel comfortable enough around me to call me Rarity. Not important right now,” Rarity looked straight at Applejack, her eyes and body posture changing to one demanding attention, “with this Twilight Sparkle coming into town you can not, and I mean CAN NOT, let anything bad happen while they are here! It would spell disaster. And I don’t mean more martial law kind of disaster, worse.”        “Wha? What do you mean? It’s just one pony, okay a few, but what’s so special about her?” asked Applejack, she felt like she was missing an important detail.        “She is the daughter of Night Light. Night Light is the Dean of the Canterlot University,” answered Rarity, speaking as if that answered the question.        “Oookay. Ah still don’t understand,” said Applejack.        “He is also a member of the Canterlot council. You know, the people we are trying to convince to lift martial law? And worse he is the most influential one! If something happened to his daughter the martial law will never be lifted! Or worse. There won’t be a need for martial law because there won’t be a Ponyville anymore! Nothing, NOTHING, can happen while she is here Applejack! And you can forget about trying to get her to leave, or even myself. Daughters of nobles don’t just go around to town randomly, she’s here for a reason. And until whatever reason that is is satisfied she’ll stay here. Do you understand? Oooo why couldn’t this have happened a few weeks ago.” Rarity had suddenly put on a strained appearance, if Applejack knew her Rarity would already be trying to plan the exactly perfect events for this Twilight, Rarity always focused too much on the details in Applejack’s opinion.        “Alright, alright. Ah get it. Ah’ll try to make sure nothing happens but Ah can’t promise it. The tensions are already pretty high. Ah better meet this Twilight Sparkle though. Ah might be able to talk them down if Ah can bring them something about her. Ah’m goin to grab a bite to eat before heading to the train station, would ya like to join Rarity?”

Chapter Four: Introductions

        Down the hill the train ran, at the head an older model engine, blue colors zipping over the landscape. Only a handful of cars followed the engine down, mostly cargo cars filled with materials for outlying towns, the two passenger cars were lightly populated. Inside the second passenger car eight ponies and one dragon masquerading as a pony in armor sat.

        “So that’s pretty much the experiment in a nutshell. It shouldn’t take long to do once we find a good place to it set up.” Twilight said as she smiled at her brother and the other two ponies. Shining had remained quiet through her explanation, Pyro had known most of the details already and had spent most of the time dozing off, Strong Hold, one of two ponies that hadn’t been present when Shining had agreed to take his squad out to help his sister, had been held in rapt attention by Twilight’s idea and experiment and had stopped her a few times to ask questions. Two seats away Stomper and Crusher were playing some kind of card game with each other. The last two ponies in the train, Shining’s two pegasi, were longing on opposite ends of the train car, this was one of the few moments when Flick wasn’t flying, the speed of the train made him nervous about flying while on it.        “Alright, sis. So then where are we doing this? If you can’t do it up in Canterlot you must have some thought on where you are planning to do this,” Shining asked his sister.        “The space I need to do this is fair large but there is another factor,” Twilight nervously rubbed her hooves together, she had spent some time trying to figure out how to convince her brother to agree to go into the Everfree Forest, “I need excess magic to power the magic circle. I may be able to provide enough power to it, but I don’t even know if I have enough to set up the circle correctly.”        “So we will have to recruit unicorns from inside Ponyville. That might be problematic, Twiley.” Shining tapped the cushions of his seat for a moment, “There might be some unicorns deployed out here with the militia we can pull to help us out.”        “Actually, there is a certain location we will have to go to. It has excess magic residue so focusing that into the magic circle instead of trying to use anypony else will be simplier. It’s just a bit out of the way from Ponyville, but nothing too bad I’m sure!” Twilight bounced happily in her seat, smiling at the other unicorns.        “Alright, where is this place Twilight?” asking Shining.        “It’s castle in the middle of the Everfree Forest. Only about half a days trip into the forest itself.” Twilight was quick to answer her brother, trying to make it sound like it wasn’t that bad.        Which went over as well as expected. Between the three other unicorns the range of reactions of quite amazing. Shining wore a blank expression, mainly because he was still processing what was just said. Pyro was trying to hold in a giggle of joy at the idea of being inside a forest full of deadly animals. Strong merely looked terrified at the idea.        After a few moments of it processing what Twilight said finally clicked in Shining’s head. “No Twilight. You are not going into that forest. We are coming along to protect you in Ponyville and not in a forest that is out to kill you!”        “We’d be fine! You all are perfectly capable of protecting me in the forest! You all were trained for far worse than this!” Twilight pleaded with her brother.        “Plus,” Pyro interjected, “she has training in how to defend herself. And it looks like she is going one way or another, you can either agree or she’ll go on her own.”        Shining glanced at Pyro, his expression marking her a traitor. “Fine. I’m not happy about this Twilight but knowing you Pyro is correct. Next time though,” Shining turned and pinned his sister with a glare, “you are telling me everything that you are planning. I’m surprised at you for lying but don’t try it again.”

        The train slowed to a halt on the platform. Seeing the train stopping Rarity steps up from where she and Applejack were sitting, fidgeting slightly as she walking up towards the train. Applejack stood up slower behind her and walked up to join her friend. “Now Rar, there is no need to get so worked up. It is just a few ponies from Canterlot.”        “Just some ponies?  Applejack these are high society ponies! Even just a little misstep in greeting them will be an insult!” Rarity turned around and glanced at Hearth, who was walking up to stand a little bit behind and next to Rarity. “You are sure the rooms are good enough Hearth? We can’t insult these ponies.”        “Yes, Magistrate Rarity. The rooms booked at the White Clearing are the best they have to offer. The staff assured me that the rooms would be extra clean and ready for use by the time we walk over there with the guests. They also said they would do everything in their power to ensure a comfortable stay for them,” Hearth said, for the third time, to Rarity.        “Good, good. Alright, best face forward it’s time to meet these ponies.” Rarity turned back around to the train standing up straight on her four hooves and waited.        The train doors opened up as if on cue from Rarity and quickly the handful of ponies on the first passenger car filed off. At the same time the station ponies headed up to the cargo cars along the train and opened them, unloading the supplies and crates inside them. Rarity glanced at the ponies that had stepped off the train, none of them looked like an escort group or a high society pony, most of them looked like business ponies or working ponies.        Rarity looked around, surely they hadn’t missed the train or decided not to come, the note had seemed important given how short a time span it had been sent on. Just as her worrying was reaching a peak a pony stepped off the second passenger car. Or rather, it looked like a pony, it was covered in a heavy cloak and what parts weren’t covered showed heavy armor. This must have been the Guard Captain, Shining Armor, the pony was certainly dressed for the part. Rarity stood still for a moment looking at this figure then swallowed her fear and moved towards the pony, Applejack and Hearth following her.        However before Rarity greeted the pony it stepped forward and off stepped a white coated stallion wearing slightly less armor. Behind him a small group followed, two heavy set earth ponies, two unicorns, and two pegasi. Each one of the group had the air of a well trained Guard pony to them and all of them spent at least a moment sweeping the area with their eyes before they arranged themselves around the white stallion in what could only have been a relaxed formation that could tighten up if any threat presented itself. Finally a last pony stepped off the train, a purple unicorn carrying a simple packing bag on her back. Rarity looked over the group and stepped forward, catching the eye of the white stallion, which must have actually been Shining Armor with the way the others moved around him.        “Welcome to Ponyville! I am the Magistrate of this town, Rarity. It is my honor to welcome you here. We have set up rooms for you in the White Clearing inn near the center of town. With me here are Hearth, my assistant, and Applejack, one of the members of the Apple Clan who have been good friends to both myself and the rest of the town.” Rarity bowed slightly as she finished her introductions, both Hearth and Applejack doing the same, though Applejack with less elegance then the other two.        The cloaked pony stepped forward at a glance from Shining. “Thank you for the welcome, Magistrate Rarity. Allow me to introduce our small group here. I am Spike, servant to Twilight Sparkle and the Sparkle family. Here,” Spike carefully motioned with one armored claw towards Shining armor and the other Guard ponies, “are Shining Armor, Guard Major, and the rest of his squad, Pyro Spark, Stomper and Crusher Grounder, Flick Flyer, Swirl Black, and Strong Hold.” Each pony lowered their head in greeting as their name was sounded off, “And, of course, Twilight Sparkle, Professor at the Advanced Studies University in Canterlot and daughter of Night Light, Dean of the same university and sitting member of the Council in Canterlot.” Spike bowed as he finished out the introductions.        Rarity looked the group over again, having also given a nod in greeting to each pony. Here eyes stuck to Twilight Sparkle though, who was looking right back at her. “Wonderful! If you don’t mind me asking though, why are you in Ponyville? The message was rather light with details on that.”        Spike looked back at Twilight, who blinked back at him and shrugged. “Well,” said Spike looking back at Rarity, “we are here to test a theory. It shouldn’t take more than a few days to test and then will be out of your town. However we will need your assistance. We will need a guide for the Everfree Forest tomorrow morning. The experiment we have planned to test the theory must take place at a point of large magic concentration, of which there is a substantial one in the middle of the forest, in some castle ruins if we are correct. We will need to reach that point as quickly as we can.”        Silence descended on the group for a moment. “Well, I do not know of anypony within town that could guide you in the forest. Most ponies avoid the forest. I will do what I can to find somepony of course, but I do not know if we will be able to locate one by tomorrow morning.” Rarity looked at the group, a trace of her nervousness creeping into her pose.        “Ah know someone.” Applejack spoke up from behind Rarity. “My family’s farm has a boundary near the Everfree Forest. We do not dare go into the forest but there’s a small family that has been living near our farm for as long as Ah can remember. Used to play with their kid. They know the forest well. Ah’ll see if they would be willing to help ya’ll out.”        Shining Armor looked at Applejack. “I’d like to meet this pony before we go out, is there a way for her to come over to the inn tonight?”        Applejack shook her head. “Not at any reasonable hour. I have to get back to my farm and then get over to talk to her. By that point the Day Star will be completely down and it’ll be too late to head back into town. Assuming the pony agrees I can bring you all out tomorrow morning.”        “That will have to do I guess. Very well we will hope to see you tomorrow morning. Speaking of which, is there any place we could purchase supplies locally?” said Shining.        “Ah can see if a local food shop can whip up something for ya’ll by tomorrow morning. Ah’ll have it brought out as well tomorrow morning if that suits you all,” replied Applejack.        “Perfect. Well it has been a long trip and I believe we would like to see our rooms,” Shining looked back at Rarity, “if you could show us the way Magistrate?”        “I would love to,” replied Rarity, turning to head away from the train station and deeper into town with the collection of ponies following her, minus Applejack who broke off and headed elsewhere in town.

        “And these are your room, Miss Sparkle” the cleanly groomed stallion said, holding open a door into a large room that was dominated by a single bed. “Everything should be prepared for you. This room is your’s for as long as you need it. Please let us know if there is anything we can do for you.” The stallion stepped aside as Twilight entered the room, closing the door quietly.        “Well I will say they are quite polite.” Beside her Spike moved into the room and set their bags down next to the bed. “Almost obsessively so.”        Twilight headed over to the desk in the room. The desk took up a large section of the wall pointed out to the rest of the town. “Can you grab the map Spike? I want to check this farm that Applejack mentioned.”        Spike opened up the smaller of their bags and pulled out a folded up map and walked over to the desk with Twilight. He laid it out and spread it out on the table. The small map showed Ponyville in the center with the surrounding area.        “Alright, let’s see where this farm is, the Apple Clan was it?” Twilight leaned over the map, tapping the center of Ponyville with her hoof while she glanced around the edges of the town. “Ah! Here it is!” Tracing out to the west on the map Twilight centers her hoof on the Apple Clan’s farm. “A little south and west. And yep, border with the Everfree. Fairly large farm too, they must produce most of the food in the area.”        Spike glanced over Twilight’s shoulder at the map, looking over the area. “Hey, what’s the larger area encircling it?” He reached over a tapped the larger words over the label for the Apple Clan’s farm. “Sweet Apple Acres? Do they own all that land but only farm that part?”        Both of them moved their limbs off the map. Within the larger borders of the Sweet Apple Acres were thinner borders, marking off different farms, the two largest sections were marked for the Apple Clan and the Carrot Clan, there were smaller farms marked off for smaller families between the two larger sections. “Interesting. So whoever owns the who Sweet Apple Acres actually lets other families farm on it as well. Must allow them to centralize the shipping of their produce and help each other out.”        A knock sounded from the door, causing both of them to look at it. “Miss Sparkle, Captain Shining Armor sent me over to cast a few protection wards on your room, may I enter?” spoke Stronghold from the other side.        “You may enter Stronghold.” Twilight moved over to the center of the room as the door opened and Stronghold entered the room, still wearing his Guard pony armor. “And are you ever going to get over calling me ‘Miss Sparkle’, I’ve known you all for long enough.”        “Oh, maybe in time. Right now though it’s important for the ponies of the town to know who you are, so formalities.” Stronghold closed the door gently with his magic, looking around the room before moving to the window next to the desk. A quick glance at the desk while his horn lit up and a glow encircled the window, slowly spreading across the rest of the wall. “Looking over the local area?”        “Yeah, we were trying to find the Apple Clan’s farm. Found them and the rest of the farms with the area of Sweet Apple Acres. It’s interesting that all of them would be in one location. I would think the farmers would spread themselves out a bit to not step on each other’s hooves with watering concerns or anything else,” Twilight replied, watching as the glow of Stronghold’s magic snapped into place on the wall, a seven pointed star rune formed at the center of the window, the edges of the rune glowing brighter than the rest before vanishing along with the rest of the magic.        “Well knowing a bit about the town’s farmers might help. The town is mainly formed of farmers, plenty of extra pony’s around sure but the main export for the town, and thus their main income, is the farming here. When the town was first made the Apple Clan actually owned most of the land out here. The City bought most of it up to set up for the town itself but the Apple’s kept that land over there. Ended up letting other farming families rent sections of their land to plant and grow on. They did it at first to help these farmers settle here and start producing while they find their own land. As time went however the farmers that rented from the Apple Clan stuck around there and the Apple’s didn’t seem to mind that much. Actually ended up being a smart move for everyone. The farmers can help each other out as needed and centralizes the shipping. And for the Apple Clan, well, they still managed the land and handle the go between for most of the farmers and any buyers. Basically the farmers themselves sell their crops to the Apple Clan and then the Apples sell all of it to the buyers. It’s created a strong community over there, one that has actually helped make this town into what it is now.” Stronghold stopped as he reached the middle of the room, his horn glowing again as magic spread from his feet across the floor then up the other walls.        “So that’s why. But wouldn’t the other farmer’s want to get out from under the Apple Clan since they only started farming their while they found their own land? Doesn’t it prevent them from making as much as they could by selling directly to the buyers instead of through the Apple Clan?” Twilight asked as the magic ward snapped again into place in the room, a smaller version of the same seven star rune forming under Stronghold’s hoof, repeating the same process of glowing at the tips before vanishing.        “No, actually. Beyond the advantages of the community that the farmers have over there, the centralization of the selling causes it to be cheaper. The Apple Clan make only a little profit from what they buy from the other farmers, and that money is sent into maintaining good food storage to contain the food in different seasons, maintaining the roads between the farms, securing transport for all the food to wherever the buyers want it loaded, normally the train station in town, and then any remaining profit is actually set aside into a fund managed by the Apple Clan but available to all the farmers on their land to help cover emergencies, something like a kid getting sick for a planting seasons. Sure the other farmers come in to help but the fund pays out a little bit to each family that helped and pays for any expenses to take care of the sick kid. All in all, it’s a really great deal for the farming families. Sure some of them could buy the land they are on out right from the Apples now, or land elsewhere around town, but they don’t want it. If they did, they’d have to manage the selling, securing of transport, any roads they used, storage, and then any emergency spending on their own. It is much better for them to continue working with the Apple Clan. One moment.” Stronghold stopped in front of the door to the room, his horn lighting up as the magic reached out and surrounded the door. The glow of the magic this time was denser in the casting, causing a brighter glow from Stronghold’s magic. Once surrounded the same seven pointed star rune appeared but this time the center pulsed with light before vanishing.        “And lastly, the Apple Clan is known for their honest dealings. After working together for so long the Apple’s don’t actually pay the other farmers until after the sell of all the produce is done. Normally that would cause a family that depends on the money from the sell to panic, but it works better for everypony on that farm to let things work this way. They know they will see the money from the Apples and they don’t have to worry about much of anything at all. It’s a rather interesting affair over there. Made for some interesting reading a while back.” Stronghold said as he turned to look at Twilight.        “Interesting reading? Now why would you be reading up on the farming set up in this town?” Twilight asked.        “It was actually reading about the town in general. With it being a possible hotspot for trouble, I know you and Captain Shining have been working with your father looking over the proposals they keep sending to lift the Martial Law, we were all required to read up on the town when we joined the squad. Also had to read up on the current situations in the border towns and neighboring cities. By far the farming community here was the most interesting, I ended up reading up on all the details about them. The pony we met earlier? Applejack? Actually in line to take over the managing of the whole Sweet Apple Acres farm when her grandmother passes, her older brother, a stallion named Big Mac, is already running the Apple Clan’s farm. Her younger sister, a filly named Apple Bloom, is assumed to follow in Applejack’s foot steps and help her out, she hasn’t taken to farming well at all, though she doesn’t have her cutie mark yet so that could change. The Carrot Clan recently lost one of their sons, a stallion just entering his prime named Clear Cut, and has asked for help from the rest of the farmers to manage a bit of the farm. It was quite the blow to the Carrot Clan who have been the biggest supporters of keep the Sweet Apple Acres farm the way it is. Like the Apple Clan the are involved in managing the whole estate over there. They provide a good chunk of the extra labor when it comes to maintaining the roads.” Stronghold stopped for a moment, deciding against continuing.        “Sorry, I got rambling there, Miss Sparkle.” Stronghold opened the door with his magic, the ward glowing for a moment to check who it was before disappearing into the door. He stepped out of the room and turned around and bowed to Twilight. “The wards are in place, feel free to check their strength if you wish. They are general wards for right now, mostly to alert us if somepony tried to break into your room as well as provide additional strength to the walls against both physical assault and magical. Capitan Shining Armor has one of us posted outside your door for security as well, each of us is registered to the ward so it will allow us passage through them should something happen, no one else will be able to open the door should the wards be activated. So long as the runes aren’t activated by somepony attempting to force entry or any other signs of struggle the ward on the door will allow anyone in so long as you or Mister Spike invites them in. Sergeants Stomper and Crusher Grounder have the first watch,” both of the mentioned earth ponies waved at Twilight from the other side of the door having taken up their posts while Stronghold was getting the wards set up, “and Sergeant Pyro Spark will take over after them with Corporal Flick Flyer finishing out the night. The farmers, and thus the town itself, wakes up with the Day Star so we expect Miss Applejack to be along shortly after that. Please wake up when the Day Star rises so we can all be ready when Miss Applejack arrives. Having a good evening, Miss Sparkle.” Stronghold bowed again and then closed the door.        “Well, it’s late in the day and the Day Star will be setting soon. How about we have a little snack and then get some sleep Twilight?” asked Spike, already moving to their bags to pull out some of the snacks he had packed from Canterlot.        “That sounds like a good idea,” said Twilight joining Spike.        Unnoticed outside their window a single brown stallion tipped his hat at Twilight’s window, another piece had arrived on the board, it would be interesting to see how it would affect what he had already set in motion.

Prolouge: Meeting a Goddess

        Faded. That’s what they were said to be. Faded stars. According to legend they had once shown brightly in the night sky, light pinholes of light in the sea of the sky. Sure you could still see them even now but they hardly stood out any more next to the majestic images in the sky. They said the Day Star was the same way. That it used to brighten up the sky and paint it a light blue, now though it was little more than a moving circle of light in the sky. Sure it lit up the days still, but it did nothing to push the curtain of the night sky back.

        However, faded as they were they still looked down on the world. And because of this the stars whispered to her still. They spoke to her often, but now, just like her, they sounded old. Aged. But still they saw, and thus they told her about the pony walking up the mountain near her cave. An earth pony they said, just reaching adulthood. Hiking up the tall mountain and through the cold. Weak, they said, suffering from the cold winds and the freezing snow. What was he doing here, the stars asked, even the pegasi didn’t fly this high.        And so she walked out of her cave, heading towards this earth pony. He wasn’t far, only a short walk down the mountain. When she reached him he hardly noticed, his head down while he pushed forward. She walked up next to him and spread a wing over his body. The sudden increase in temperature finally got his attention and he looked up at her, shocked to find another pony. He opened his mouth to speak but she shook her head and motioned forward, moving along side him back to her cave.        It wasn’t long before they were inside, seated down by a small fire with two cups of tea. The stars pestered her to find out his intentions, something was bothering them, something they wouldn’t say yet. However, she ignored them. The answers would be forthcoming in time, right now she needed the care for the stallion. He needed to eat something to regain strength. She didn’t keep much food up here, she really didn’t need to after all. However her guest had packed plenty it seemed.        “Why did you pack so much food, stallion?” the voice echoed off the walls. It had been so long since she had spoken, or heard a voice. The only contact she had had for ages had been the stars, the moon, and the sun, and they spoke without words.        “I am traveling to the top of this mountain, ma’am. I packed for double the length of time I thought it would take me.” His deeper voice rested easily on her, filling the space in the small cave.        “Why would you do that? There is nothing up there,” spoke the mare        “I go on a pilgrimage to the top. To mediate on stories my teachers have told me. They said that I am too prone to ignore what they say when others are around so they have sent me to where there are no other ponies. Though finding you is a great miracle, I was sure I would freeze to death,” replied the stallion, his voice gaining strength as he sipped from the tea.        “You would. This is no place for ponies, stallion. Once you have rested you should return to your teachers,” the mare’s stern and commanding voice would not take his refusal well.        “I believe that I should. But before I rest, might I ask your name wise mare?” the stallion asked politely, the mare had taken him in and warmed him up and was preparing to share a meal with him at least he could ask her name.        The stars were buzzing now. Meeting this stallion may have been chance but it would set in motion much more. The stars were certain of it, times would be changing soon. A great change was coming, a great conflict. She would have to find out more later. For now her guest, the first contact with another pony she had had in too long.        The old mare smiled at him, “My name is Luna.”

Chapter One: Demands and Conditions

        “Can you believe them! Arrogant, annoying, idiots! ARGH! Why do they continue to insist that my theory is wrong!” The purple unicorn looked to be about to rip her mane out as she spoke. A necklace, made of strong twine and a green pendant, hung around her neck noting her as a research professor, though at this moment she was tempted to just rip it off and throw it into the nearest wall.

        “Just because we have assumed for centuries that the limit of magic a unicorn can pull is proportional to the amount of magical reserve they have doesn’t mean it is true!” Student also walking down the street with her were keen to give her a wide berth, although they knew she wouldn’t take any frustration that the research board caused again out on them they didn’t want to risk it, anyways it provided a great reason for them to hurry on to their classes.        “So what the experiments will push unicorns to their limits, and hopefully beyond, we can’t know more without taking some risk! That’s the nature of science! If we stay within what we know we will never get beyond it!” A few steps behind her and to her right the armored pony remained calm, his heavy metal armor covering all parts of him that could be seen and those that it didn’t cover were under a robe. Overall an impressive figure, and one that would give anypony pause before approaching and attacking his charge, though anypony likely to do that wouldn’t be able to for long, after all the hospital in Canterlot wasn’t known for releasing ponies that had been hit by a magical blast quickly, too many side effects.        “It’s like they don’t WANT us to make any more progress! The professors over in Trottingham are already working on new theories and experimenting!” The pair walked into the square the street emptied into. The bubbling of the fountain in the center and the conversations of nearby ponies had thankfully prevented anyone in the square from hearing the ranting from the unicorn. Sensing a lull in her ranting the armored pony spoke up.        “Twilight, not one of them actually shot down your theory, merely the experiment. If I remember right their concern was that you wanted yourself to be the in the experiment group and that you planned to have the group casting high level spells day and night until you had your results, doesn’t that seem a bit like overboard?” This wasn’t the first time the pair had been before the research board with this experiment. Twilight was determined to run this experiment and while she had tweaked it the board still wasn’t satisfied that it was safe, and personally her guard and servant was getting tired of listening to the same debate between Twilight and the research board.        Twilight paused in her walking to look back at the armored pony, a look somewhere between annoyed and disappointed on her face. “You know Spike, it almost sounds like you agree with them. I suppose though you are right, we’ll have to look back over the experiment again tonight after class. Speaking of which I do believe we have just enough time to grab something to eat before we have to be there, how does the sandwich shop sound to you?”        Just as Spike was about to respond another voice spoke up, one clearly both trained for speaking in a crowd and amplified by magic. “Come my fellow ponies, come with me. Come and hear the wondrous words of our long forgotten goddesses. They who….” The pony continued speaking, both Spike and Twilight knew what they pony was talking about, the Cult of the Two Sisters. An old religious group that maintains that there used to be ponies that moved the sun, moon, and stars. Most ponies merely ignored their existence, and normally Twilight did as well. However today hadn’t been without its bumps. For a brief moment Spike thought Twilight would just ignore it and they could keep going, but then Twilight ears went back and flat against her head. Ah damnit, here we go. Hopefully she’ll yell herself out and we can still grab some food while we run to her lecture.        Twilight whipped her head around towards the fountain in the middle of the square and started marching off, Spike hurrying along beside her. Sure enough there standing on the edge of the fountain was an pale green unicorn with a dark blue robe, an image of a bright sun and a moon dancing across the twilight sky depicted on the robe. Some lower member if the cult if I remember right, likely recently joined, this should go faster than I thought.         Twilight stopped shorted of the unicorn, glaring up at him and waited. Even though she wanted to just rip into their flawed rhetoric she was still a professor at the university and that meant she was bound by some rules about allowed people to publicly speak their opinion. However, once he finished she marched the last few steps forward and stopped holding back.        “So, you all believe that the sun, moon, and stars were once controlled by these super magical ponies? Have you listened to what you said? There’s no way they could be controlled by any piny, they follow, exactly, a predictable path through the sky! We have mapped out their passage for centuries now! We can predict, exactly, where any of them will be! No pony can be THAT accurate, no matter who it is! That belief is crazy! And then the whole ‘the sun used to fill the sky with light blocking out the lesser stars’! Have you LOOKED at a sky recently? Or any sky maps in the past centuries! All of them show the same thing! The Day Star, or ‘sun’ as you call it, barely gives off enough light to brighten up the lands! Much less enough to block out any other stars! You all have these beliefs that if you looked at the world around you, like the rest of ponykind has, you know are false! Now this is a scientific institute so unless you have some kind of proof to these claims that we can review go back into your little cult buildings and stay there!” Twilight ended her short diatribe by pounding her hoof in the ground. The cultist at first had seen taken aback by Twilight anger induced speech but had slowly gone from shocked to angered himself.        “Maybe if you all would be quiet for a moment a listen you’d actually care to hear what we have to say!” The pony’s voice, a soft deep bass, responded in much the same tone as Twilight, annoyed, frustrated and ready to prove something. “Our beliefs are based on more than just the rambling of an old fool! We have proof!”        "If you had any real proof you’d show it to the rest of ponykind! Whatever proof you have clearly doesn’t hold up to anyone if you aren’t willing to put it up for other ponies to see!” Twilight’s frustration with the research board was causing her to be more aggressive with this pony.        “Of course we’d show other! But it’s a matter of respect!” replied the cultist pony.        “Respect my tail! You don’t want others seeing it! If you have proof show me!” said Twilight.        “We respect those who-” countered the cultist pony.        “So you have nothing then? You have no proof, nothing to support what you say?” asked Twilight.        “FINE! I’ll show you your proof!” yelled the cultist pony.        At this both parties stopped, shocked at what the cultist pony had said. Twilight had been assured that this pony would never agree to showing anything close to proof to anypony not in their cult. The grin of a child that had just been presented with a bag of sweets spread across her face. For his part the cultist pony went wide eyed with shock at what he just agreed to, the reaction of this purple unicorn also seemed disturbing. For a moment he was silent then opened his mouth to speak but was cut off.        “Spike, go teach my class, you know the lecture, it’s the one on magic when attempted to manipulate a dampener. I’ll see you after class! I’m sure my father will want to speak to us. And now Sir Cultist, let us go, you can teleport us there I am sure, no time like the present let’s go!” Twilight was nearly jumping for joy at the idea of seeing this so called proof, more knowledge for her to file away, maybe it was a library of books, she’d be able to read them for days!        The cultist unicorn held up a hoof and opened his mouth to argue when Twilight turned to look at him, a determined look that wouldn’t allow him to back out of his agreement now. A sigh and the cultist wrapped a simple teleport spell around the two of them and vanished into the air leaving Spike standing there in his armor, a chill running up his spine as the two unicorns vanished.Ah crap. Her father is going to kill me. Maybe I can redirect it onto her this time. A sigh and the armored pony turned to head out of the square and down another street, lunch would have to wait there was a lecture to teach, hopefully he could get that brown unicorn to do the demonstrations for him, she did seem to always ask if he needed something.

        The spell faded away, the two unicorns appearing outside a cave much higher up the mountain. The snow under them crunched as they appeared into the space that was empty a moment before. The pale green unicorn tugged his robe closer around him as he headed into the cave, glancing back at Twilight who shivered for a moment and glanced around.        “Where are we? That teleport took a few moments to finish. We must have traveled a good distance from the city. And there’s snow, how jeez! I didn’t even bring anything I forgot to ask! Ah! a simple heat spell should do.” Even as her horn glowed with magic and wrapped her body in a heat spell to force off the worst of the cold weather she still was taking in her surroundings and processing them. “Higher too, we teleported high up a mountain? Only one near here that is within average teleport range for a unicorn is the Canterlot mountain, how high up are we? Above clouds it looks like.”        Before she could continue speaking her speculations out loud the green unicorn turned and spoke back at her. “We are high above Canterlot on its mountain, yes. Just a few dozen paces above cloud cover actually, now would you please come here, the faster you meet her and I get you back off the mountain the less likely someone else is to come up here. I would like to not get yelled at.”        Twilight broke out of her thoughts as the unicorn spoke and trotted over to join him at the mouth of the cave. As the pair headed in however she couldn’t resist one question. “You said meet her, your proof is another pony?”        “She will be able to answer your questions better, now do be polite to her at least. It may be hard for a pony like you to be anything other than rude it seems, but do respect your elders. She’ll answer what she can I am sure.” Ending the conversation with that the green unicorn led her further into the cave, light bounced around a corner, flickering and crackling as the fire that provided the light burned deeper in the cave. As the pair rounded the turn Twilight saw her, the fire, and the room. A simple room carved from the rocks, a bed to one side, a fireplace carved into the opposite wall, a writing desk placed next to the bed, a small collection of books against the wall next to the fireplace, basic kitchen tools and what seemed to be an enchanted cold box placed into the other wall. And to finish it all out, sitting next to the fire a large pony. The cloak covering the pony’s body prevented Twilight from seeing any body features but the pony was tall, the head and mane were uncovered, a deep gray blue coat and a mane that seemed to almost flow instead of falling to gravity, the gray hairs mixed in with the darker blues almost made it look like a faded night sky. The pony turned its face to them, showing a long slender horn, white glossed over eyes and wrinkles covering most of the face.This pony is old. Older than any I have ever known. How long has this pony been alive? Twilight thought to herself while she looked at the pony. The green unicorn stepped forward and bowed deep.        “I know you don’t like to be bother, but this unicorn was insistent to meet you, Luna.”Wait, Luna? That’s the name some of the old books give to the moon, isn’t it? Don’t these Cultists believe that Luna was one of these sister deities they worship? thought Twilight, her mind speeding ahead with questions to ask.        The pony turned to face them completely, a smile crossing its face. “It’s alright Green Tree.” A smooth voice came from the aged pony, it sounded like the voice of a mother used to calming children who got out of hand. “While she may seem to be insistent she is a good pony. Now then, why don’t the two of you come over here and sit with me by the fire? I’ll make us some tea.”        A nervous Green Tree stood up and waved Twilight forward into the room. Both moved up next to the fire as the aged Luna stood up and walked over to the kitchen supplies. A moment later Green Tree snapped rigid and looked over at Luna. “Ah, Luna, let me. You should rest, I’ll start the tea.” He started to move in her direction when Luna turned and stared at him, stopping him dead in his tracks.        “I have told you and your fellows, I have lived just fine on my own for centuries. Blind I might add. Just because you all managed to make your way up the mountain and found me does not mean I suddenly need your help. I appreciate what you all have done for me to make this space more homely but I am not some filly unable to prepare tea for my guests, now sit your flank down next to the fire and let me get the tea started.” Green Tea turned in place and moved a bit closer to the fire, trying to make up for what he felt was an error by obeying her just a little bit more. Twilight held a hoof up to her mouth to cover a smile at the interaction before finally lowering the heating spell from her body and sitting down and letting the fire warm her.        Luna quickly grabbed a few tea leaves and placed them into a teapot, the leaves floating along the water. Picking it up with her mouth she walked back over and placed the teapot over the fire, hanging it where it would heat quickly. Heading back Luna picked up three small mugs and brought them over before settling herself back next to the fire.        “If you don’t mind me asking Luna, how long have you been up here? You certainly seem to know this little cave quite well.” Twilight asked the question as calmly as she could get herself to sound, though the desire to know, and the many questions behind this one, clawed their way through her tone.        A small smile spread across Luna’s face at Twilight question. “I have been living in this cave for quite a while, young pony. Longer than any other pony will remember. Found it in a much smaller state at first but it wasn’t hard to set up a small home inside what it used to be. About half this size if I remember right. Only a hundred years or so ago this pony came up the mountain. First one I had seen in...oh ages. He was cold, nearly frozen, and near death. I brought him in a helped him recover his strength. Turned out he was a member of some cult and soon enough him and some others returned and insisted on turning this into a better living space for me. Well actually at first they insisted I leave the mountain with them but well, I rather enjoy my peace up on this mountain. After the many lifetimes I have lived I just want some peace. They finally let up and forced, forced mind you, me to let them improve my little home up here. Took some getting used to but I will admit, in private so they don’t know, it is better.”        As Luna spoke the water in the teapot start boiling, letting out a soft whistle. Once she finished Luna leaned in and carefully picked up the teapot by its handle, pouring the three fresh tea into the three mugs. Setting the teapot next to the fire to stay warm Luna picked the mug up with her hoof, Twilight and Green Tree wrapping their mugs in magic and lifting them up. Giving it a few moments to cool Twilight sipped the hot tea, letting the flavors hang around in her mouth for a moment.        “Before you start with another question young mare, might I ask your name? I am sure once you swallow your first sip you’ll be bombarding me with questions.” Once asked Luna also sipped at her tea, eyeing Twilight carefully.        Twilight went wide eyed, an embarrassed blush spreading across her face, and quickly swallowed the first sip and lowered her mug. “Oh no! Sorry, I completely forgot my manners! I am Twilight Sparkle, Research Professor at the Canterlot University, with a specialty in Magic.” As she repeated the formally introduction, maybe a bit too formal to cover up her embarrassment at her error, she calmed down.        “Well welcome Miss Sparkle to my small home. And now that I know your name we can continue this conversation in a slightly more relaxed nature. So ask away, young pony.” Luna raised the mug of tea to her lips as she listened for Twilight’s next question.        “Hmmmmm, well okay. There are so many I want to ask you. Oh!” The excited sound almost sounded like a squeak coming out of the pony. “The Cultists, like Green Tree over there, say you are the proof of their beliefs. Well more Green Tree said he would show me proof of what they believe. So what is these proof?”        “Ah. Well to be fair I never offered them any proof of anything. They also never asked, though I suppose what Renen saw may have been enough for them. I guess young Green Tree there was referring to me directly as the proof, would that be correct Green Tree?” Luna turned to face him, nothing in her expression showing anger or annoyance, only seeking an answer.        Though even with the soft expression Green Tree looked like a foal caught with his hoof in the candy drawer. “Um...Yes. Yes that would be correct.” Thankfully it was impossible to use magic to shrink yourself to be smaller, though if he could have Green Tree certainly looked like he would.        “Well then. I am what was once referred to as an Alicorn, Twilight. A pony that possessed the strengths of all three pony tribes. I can also move the celestial bodies around in the sky with my magic, though it requires much of my focus to move the sun, I believe you all call it the Day Star, around without my sister. Beyond that, well it has been a few centuries since I last interacted with ponies so I don’t know what else I could give you as proof.”        Twilight ran her hoof along the edge of the mug for a moment, looking into the tea as if it would help give her the next bit to say. After a few seconds Twilight looked up at Luna. “Wait, but I only see a horn, wouldn’t an Alicorn also share the wings of a Pegasus? And if you have magic why didn’t you handle the teapot with that instead of grabbing with your teeth? Those facts don’t add up. Sure, that’s a nice story but sounds like a crafted one to me. No offense to you, but it would make more sense that would were a changeling trying to feed off these Cultists. Would certainly be quite the feast if my understanding of changeling feed habits are correct.” Twilight had gone from looking at Luna to staring at the ceiling of the little cave, a hoof rubbing her chin. As such Twilight didn’t notice the expression on either Luna or Green Tree’s face.        Luna, for her part, mostly just seemed confused. She had placed the mug of tea down with Twilight’s questions so to respond but now was looking at the mare, and although she was blind, blinking her eyes in what amounted to her trying to ensure she had heard what Twilight just said correctly. Green Tree on the other hand was staring wide eyed at Twilight with his jaw hanging open, the sheer concept of what she had just said rattling around in his head, she had just basically insulting Luna! LUNA! And it didn’t seem like this crazed mare even knew it! Thankfully the thoughts running around in his head caused him to lose the magic holding the mug in the air and it crashed into the ground, causing three things at once. First was his reaction, going from stunned embarrassed in only a matter of moments took a lot of work, almost at once he was attempting to clean up the shattered mug and the tea that had split from it.        Second, Twilight was jerked out of her thoughts by the sound and a moment later realized what she had just thought hadn’t said in her thoughts, she quickly raised her hooves and waved them as if to ward off some charging beast, “I didn’t mean to imply that you were a changeling! It was merely a thought! Like that you could also be who you say you are! Or an old wise unicorn mare!”        And lastly Luna, with the sound breaking her out of attempting to confirm reality but proving that, yes, this was reality and, yes, Twilight had just said that, took a long drink from her mug of tea while Twilight panicked next to her. Placing her mug back on the ground as Twilight finished, Luna stood up and snapped her wings out from under the cloak, the feathers showing signs of age just like the rest of her, the older midnight blue feathers giving way to newer gray blue feathers. Sitting back down with her wing stretched out Luna rolled her head from side to side, stretching other muscle along her body as well. After giving Twilight a few moments to stare at the wings Luna spoke, “I do hope that these help your scientific mind come to terms with the fact that I am indeed an Alicorn, Twilight, not a changeling.”        Next to her Twilight silently nodded her head, still staring at the extended wings. “Now then Twilight, as for your other question, my magic. I…” Luna hesitated here, a small sigh escaping her lips, “I do not wish to talk about that. Many things have happened in my life and some I still struggle with today. It may not be the answers that you exactly sought when you came up here but I hope that what you have seen and heard today is enough to at least get you to trust me enough for me to request something. I will give you more proof but I can’t do it here. To the south of here there is a forest. A rather large one called the Everfree Forest. It is avoiding nowadays, ponies believe it is a dark place in which monsters live. Inside of the forest there are ruins of an old castle near the middle. Meet me there in three nights, I will be able to tell you more there. Will you do this Twilight Sparkle?”        Twilight stood still for a moment before responding. “Yes. Three nights time at the castle inside the Everfree Forest.”        “Good, meet me in the throne room there. It will be simplier. Now, you two have been up here for quite some time and should head back down. I will see you there Twilight. And Green Tree,” the stallion in question looked up at her, “thank you from bringing this young brilliant mind up here, and give your fellows my thanks.”        With that Green Tree and Twilight headed back out of the cave, a popping sound of the teleport spell taking them back away echoing back into the cave. Luna gathered her cloak back around her, wrapping her wings tightly to her body as she stepped around the turn of her cave, looking at the snow falling outside.        “Sister...Tia. I hope that I am doing the right thing. You said that a thousand years would pass before there was another major threat to our nation. But our Equestria...Oh Tia, I can feel it in her. That strength, the will to push through, the calling. She doesn’t know what she is looking for, but I can feel it in her. Tia, how would you convince her? You always had the gentler touch with our ponies. I can only do so much and the age has creeped its way into my bones as well. I just hope that whatever is coming she will listen to me.” Luna turned back into the cave, she need to rest, she had a long flight ahead of her and it was only a few hours until nightfall.