A New Age

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.”

• 0 + 0 +

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.

• 0 + 0 +

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.