Applejack looked up and quickly lifted her hoof and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Ahead of her an obstacle course was set up with a few barrels, slats of wood and bales of hay.
“READY!” Applejack spared a glance at her family watching on the sidelines. Applebloom, wearing Applejack’s hat that was clearly too big for her, holding a microphone to play the part of an announcer. Big Mac, Standing stoically next to Granny, who for once was wide awake in her rocking chair.
“SET!”
Eyes straight ahead again, focused on the course.
“GO!”
And she was off, hooves thumping on the hardened dirt track as her sister made a play by play of her every move. Applejack came up to the line of barrels and wound past each one in a tight circle before moving on to the next. Then the wooden beams loomed ahead of her, hurdles, each one subsequently taller than the previous. After clearing the final hurdle, one taller than herself, Applejack sprinted to the bales of hay, collecting each one and sprinting back to a wagon on the side and stacking them neatly on it.
“TIME!” Yelled Applebloom, looking at the watch held in her brother's hand. “Two minutes and twelve seconds!” Applejack walked over and took her hat back from her sister.
“Shoot, thought I did good that time.”
“That was better than good, That was amazin’!” Piped up Applebloom, “You were perfect! You didn’t knock down a single barrel, and you easily cleared all the jumps.”
“Eeyup.” Agreed Big Mac.
“I’ll do another round tomorrow, I bet I could beat two minutes.” Applejack pauses for a second to catch her breath, “Ok Apples, We’ve been sittin’ around long enough. time to get back to work, the fields ain’t gonna work themselves.” Applejack began to walk toward the half plowed field with Big Mac as Applebloom led Granny Smith back to the house where they would begin inspecting apples Big Mac had brought in earlier.
“Cider season is just right around the corner and we had better have everything else taken care of by then so we can focus all our attention on pressing apples so we can have a large supply by the time we officially open.” She paused for a second to help strap the plow onto her brother. “We should probably replace the fence out front, seein’ as the paint has started to turn yellow and flake a bit. Wouldn't want customers seeing something like that. Applebloom has said that she and her crusader friends will make a new sign to put in front. One that will ‘show the world how super awesome the cider is once and for all’."
Macintosh gave the slightest shudder at the thought of what kind of mess his youngest sister could get into with that kind of project.
+0+0+
As they brought the plow into town for sharpening, they passed by Zecora who was surrounded by the Cutie Mark Crusaders. They were bounding about her legs and chattering about their next attempt at getting their marks. When Zecora saw Applejack, she walked over, being careful to not trip over the little ones following her. She greeted them with her natural rhythmic speech.
“Here is a pony I want to see, I have something I think you will need.” She reached into her bag and pulled out a little book which she held out to Applejack. “Our princess wants answers about Harmony? I think this may help, let her see. These are some notes of my own, of legends from where I roam.” Applejack was going to reply but the crusaders, done with their fun for the night, disbanded and Applebloom pushed herself between her siblings.
“Zecora let us use her Cauldron to mix potions in order to get our potion making marks. It’ didn’t work but we almost painted Zecora’s house. I think that almost got us all Cutie Marks! We will definitely get it when we paint the sign for cider season!"
+o+o+
That evening, Princess Twilight Sparkle watched from her window as Princesses Celestia and Luna replaced the sun with the moon as they did every evening. She thought, as she watched Luna disappear into the night sky, of her own job as princess. The first time she witnessed the Summer Sun Celebration as royalty she was able to add her own flair to the changing of the heavenly orbs. A Sonic rainboom in the shape of her cutie mark. She still couldn't decide if that was what was meant to happen. At the time she just felt like it was something she was meant to do, Celestia had mentioned fulfilling her destiny the night before, she probably knew it would happen from the very first day. Just like she had known that Nightmare Moon, now Princess Luna, was going to return and that Twilight would use the Elements of Harmony to help her see the magic of friendship again. The Elements, what is going to happen to them? What will happen to Equestria? Without their most powerful protection magic what would happen if the changelings come back? Or King Sombra? What if Discord realizes that we have no power over him and spreads chaos again? Spike’s snoring snapped her from her worrying. She turned and caught him drooling, asleep, on the list she had him in the middle of writing.
She should probably hit the hay herself she thought as she tucked him into his little bed. Yawning, Twilight decided to look over the list one last time before going to bed. It was a list of all the places she could look for leads on the magics of harmony. Most of the helpful books would probably be in the Canterlot Royal Library, But she planned to send a messenger to the Crystal Empire. Their library, being hidden for a thousand years, would be the next best place to look for history.
She would have relished the chance to go retrieve them herself and see Shining Armor and Cadence. But she had duties as a princess as well as lessons from Celestia, and at times Luna, how best to go about her new royal duties. So instead she would give the list to a messenger headed that way and have him get them. It still felt weird being able to order people to do her work and she hated doing it. But she needed these books. Anything, anything at all that could help shed light on what was happening with the elements would be a great help. And the box, she couldn’t seem to get that case and its six locks out of her mind. Sleep didn’t even help there, even her dreams all seemed to revolve around it. Another yawn. Sleep, yep, definitely need some of that.
Twilight found herself standing at the entrance of the cave where they found the Tree of Harmony. She stepped in, following the glow she knew emanated from the crystalline tree. It was how they last left it. Each branch holding Elements of Harmony still in the shape of her friend’s cutie marks, Laughter, Kindness, Generosity, Loyalty, and Honesty. Each branch had a vein tracing to the trunk where her own Element, Magic, was held. They connected there and continued down where Celestia’s and Luna’s marks were. It passed through them to the crystal chest sprouting from the roots. Six key holes kept it locked and kept whatever is inside a secret.
But then, a change… The creeping vines of the Everfree Forest returned, before Twilight’s very eyes they covered the tree and began to pick at the Elements, attempting to pry them off. The Elements protected themselves as much as they could, flashes of light could be seen and the vines would retreat for a second, only to move back again. Knowing she had to stop this, Twilight ran to the endangered tree. When she came in reach of the vines, they turned on her. Wrapping around her, crushing and cutting her again. The last thing she saw was Princess Luna appearing from the darkness, dispelling the vines around her.
Twilight awoke to find the sun shining into her room from slits between the curtains. She got up and began to make her way to the throne room to tell Celestia about her dream when Luna caught her in the halls.
“I heard that you were awake. What happened last night?”
“I really don’t know, The… Discord’s plunderseeds are growing again and are attacking the tree.” Twilight began to prance in place with panic, “We’ve got to do something about it! What can we do? Without the Elements of Harmony how can we save the Elements of harmony?”
“Twilight Sparkle.” Luna’s use of the Equestrian voice made Twilight stop fluttering. Luna cleared her throat and lowered her voice “That was a nightmare. There is no trouble, the tree is safe. Celestia and I looked into it this morning and it is unharmed. What worries me is that you had a nightmare in the first place, I have enchantments that are supposed to ensure that we, as royalty, have restful sleep. How then have you had a nightmare?”
“I don’t… Maybe the enchantments are not made to include me. Maybe I am not full royalty. Maybe I wasn’t meant to be a princess.” Twilight hung her head.
Luna stepped in front the younger princess and looked pityingly upon her downcast face.
“You are a true princess. Is there anything missing that would prove otherwise? A pair of wings, a horn perhaps? You have the strong heart of the earth ponies, so that’s not missing. Look at me Twilight. You are just as much a princess as myself, Celestia, or Cadence.” As Twilight finally looked her in the eyes she continued, “Just as we have important parts to play in ruling Equestria, it seems you have yours. You just have to look for it.”
“How did you know what you were supposed to do?”
“Celestia and I found our meaning after the defeat of Discord. Even though he was gone, the chaos he spread was not. The world was in ruins, and the sun and moon travelled as they pleased and it was not rare to see them in the sky together. It was when we created day and night and began to rule Equestria in Discord’s absence, to reverse the effects of chaos, when we created order, did we find our purpose. Yet the world still was not completely repaired, and nor could it be without help. Celestia and I could control the forces of the world, but we could not change the ponies inhabiting it. That we found, was the part of Cadence, everywhere she went, she spread love and peace, healing the broken hearts, and helping them start anew. Together, the three of us were able to fully bring peace to the world. But our true power was in the Elements of Harmony we wielded. Anytime a force of darkness approached-” Luna paused, remembering her own time as Nightmare Moon on the receiving end of the elements. “-We were able to match its power using the elements.”
“But we don’t have the Elements of Harmony anymore.”
“We have you.”
It was almost noon when Twilight had a knock on her door. Twilight got up from the book she was reading and almost fell on top of Spike, who was lying in bed reading his own comic. She opened the door and let her friends into the room. Rarity came first, instantly beginning to assess Twilight’s castle suite, checking design and color schemes she was carrying. The rest followed behind, each carrying more of Rarity’s supplies.
“Will all of this really be necessary?” Twilight moved out of the way as Applejack came through the door carrying a stack of suitcases.
Rainbow Dash flew in the door after her, carrying another collection of bags. “It’s as if she is planning on moving in instead of you.”
“I’m not moving in. This is only my room when I need to stay in Canterlot for the meetings with all the princesses. The Ponyville library is still my home.”
“But who knows how many times you will be called for those meetings. After all day at a proper meeting with royalty I would certainly not want to come back to this plain room. No offense darling.”
Pinkie Pie bounced in and dropped the suitcase she was carrying. “Does this mean that you will have two castles? Because after we clean up the old one in the everfree forest that will be your castle too. Right?”
“It is not my castle. It is the Castle of the Two Royal Sisters, it is where Luna and Celestia used to rule together before the everfree forest grew and forced Celestia to move.”
“But you are eventually going to move in right? Ain’t that the reason we’re fixin’ it up?”
“Well yes, but, I’ll still be next to Ponyville. I can visit at anytime.”
“We aren’t saying you can’t dear, but why do you become so defensive about being a princess? That is everypony’s dream.” She glanced over at Rainbow Dash. “Well, maybe not everypony’s dream.”
Twilight sighed in resignation and flopped on her bed.“Because I don’t want you to think that me being royalty changes anything.”
“It doesn’t change anythin’. We learned that when we returned the Elements of Harmony. We tried to keep you back but realized that we’re all in these things together.”
A guard knocked on the doorframe and frightened Fluttershy who was standing there. “Princess Twilight Sparkle.”
The princess got off the bed and went to the door, where the guard was holding a box.
“thank you.” Twilight took the package and the messenger bowed and left. “Must be some books. I requested that all the cities in Equestria send anything that may have any information of importance to the Elements.”
“Hold on, I have a book too, Zecora gave it to me.” Applejack pulled the book out of one the bags. “She thinks this may help you find some answers about the elements.”
Twilight took the book from Applejack and brought it and the box to her desk. When she turned around again, Rarity had already decorated an entire wall with a tapestry depicting Twilight spreading her wings for the first time. It was clear that Rarity had embezzled it quite a bit. An aura of light, spread from behind the newly made princess, her hair seemed to have the same quality as Celestia and Luna, and her horn and new wings were much larger than reality.
Rarity noticed Twilight staring at her banner and spoke over her shoulder as she tested the look of ribbon around Twilight’s bed. Spike was following her around, arms loaded with coils of colorful fabric.
“Do you like it? I wanted to capture the regality of the moment where we first laid eyes on a new princess.”
Celestia watched as Twilight walked her friends to the train station, They had been playing around her room for most of the day and Celestia popped in when she could. Discord also enjoyed the prospect of royal decoration and he “helped” their efforts. Now though, it was almost time to find Luna to change shifts. Guards reported that she wasn’t in her own quarters. She was probably waiting in the observatory watching the ponies in their evening rituals. Most people used the telescopes to look at the stars, but since she spent most of her own waking hours among them, she didn’t find them as exciting as the ponies she ruled. While she often visited them in dreams, she felt it was not the same as viewing them when they were awake.
Her sister was right where she thought she would be and greeted her in a somber tone.
“All is not well in our kingdom Tia. Her dream is only a small part of some larger catastrophe.” Luna turns away from the telescope and toward Celestia, “If what this messenger says is true…”
Celestia turned to face a unicorn stallion standing off to the side.
The messenger bowed, and spoke with his muzzle nearly touching the ground.“ Good evening your highness.” Returning from the bow, “Changelings have been caught all across Equestria. I don’t have any numbers of current infiltrators in the land already, we are deporting them as we find them. Our estimated efficiency though, only finds one out of fifteen. Long report short, looks like full scale invasion. But I think the part Princess Luna is worried about is that they also seemed to have developed the ability to enter dreams and feed there. Direct access to the most raw emotions.”
“If what you say is true, then we have a very serious problem on our hands.” Celestia took a step forward, “We-”
“I trust you will take care of it, or rather… good enough.” He started down the steps but then poked his head over the railing. “Last words. One, you should look into the ability of your guards, and two, it is delightful to see a family united again.” With that, he turned back down the stairs and disappeared.
Twilight was looking through the books brought to her that day when Discord reached for the one Applejack gave her.
“That one looks promising…” Discord was coiled around the bedpost above her. “The zebra’s are quite fascinating. They write the same way they talk, which makes for some really interesting reads.” Twilight opened the book and skimmed through it.
“These are Zecora’s notes. Before she settled in ponyville she travelled the entire world and researched the legends from the lands she travelled.”
“Well now, couldn’t that could be helpful? Aren’t you happy you have such a good friend as me to help?”
“Yes, I am very happy you are my friend, but sometimes friends need time alone.”
“Oh fine, maybe our dear Fluttershy will be more attentive to something besides books.” With that Discord disappeared in a puff of smoke that left Twilight coughing.
She continued to peek through the books, not really finding anything that could be of any great use. It seems that anything about the Tree of Harmony is so far outdated that it is all lost. Two places would have the information she needed. The crystal empire, being over a thousand years old itself, would have a large amount of older texts, and Celestia and Luna. The sisters having first hand experience with it.
