Chapter 1-0:

Chapter 1-0: Cheating Death

That night in Ponyville the world was alight with flickering lights. Sure Luna’s night was pretty and all, but the aforementioned lights weren’t the stars in the sky above. No, the lights in question were the 400 candles carried by the citizens of Ponyville. Tonight was a night for mourning, as the crowd gathered around the Golden Oak Library.

Six years ago that day, the Town’s beloved Princess Twilight had been working on an experiment. From what had been gathered in the aftermath it was believed that she had been experimenting with mixing the magical properties of potions with spell magic, the result had been more than potent. At around 12:00 that day Spike had just went out for lunch when an explosion of epic proportions rippled through Ponyville, and just like that Twilight was gone, forever.

What remained of the Golden Oak had been made into a memorial, and since then every year on this day the inhabitants of Ponyville, and a few others from across Equestria would gather to celebrate her life and mourn her death. All events proceeded as they always did, candle lit procession, a few words about the accomplishments and impacts of Twilight’s life, and then a prayer vigil offered up to the King, that Twilight’s essence may be granted eternal paradise.

For the five remaining bearers of the Elements of Harmony, today was the anniversary of the day when they lost not just a beloved ruler, but also a best friend. At the time the prayers started things started to diverge from the planned events.

When the ponies should have been focusing their good wishes on Twilight, they were distracted by a meteor shower of such majesty that Luna would later try and fail to recreate. After this unexpected spectacle one of the bearers of the elements, Applejack, remembered that Twilight had an obsession with astronomy, and probably would have spent the last week ranting on about the trajectories, vectors, and other fancy terms describing it, had she still been alive that is. It hurt to remember that, all the things she had taken for granted about Twilight, she now missed more than ever.

As she tried returning her mind to her prayers another interruption, Winona began barking, a tad bit frustrated Applejack “Aw fiddle sticks, ah knew I shouldn’t have brought the dog!” Applejack fumed under her breath. She made her way around the great tree husk to where she had tied Winona to an exposed root. “Girl, what’s wrong? You’re normally so well behaved.” Applejack groan as she put a hoof on Winona. Comforted by her master’s company, the dog stopped barking, and in the silence Applejack heard what had gotten Winona so riled up, breathing. From the crater under the tree came the unmistakable sound of heavy panicked breathing. Applejack cautiously made her way to the edge, just because the elements were gone didn’t mean that she couldn’t try to help, and called down, “Hey, are yall ok down there?” From the gloom came the sound of a gallop, then the swoosh of wings, then, just as she could make out a faint violet magical aura, she was smacked across the face with a large wooden paddle-like object.

Knocked to the ground by the blow, Applejack could taste a distinct coppery taste and her entire jaw hurt immensely. Before she could get back to her hooves, the being from the crater stood over her silhouetted by the moon, and pointed the other end of the paddle, a metal pipe of some sorts, in her face. “Say something only Applejack would know!” The figure demanded. The voice was… It took Applejack a moment, but when it finally clicked, it shock her, violet aura, that voice…

“Twi?” Applejack questioned. the only response she got was a rough poke with the… pipe. Applejack had to think for a minute, what had she told Twi and no one else… “Applebloom is adopted!” She blurted out.

The figure standing over her seemed to processes this for a bit, then, at a barely audible level whispered, “I’m… home…” Then proceeded to pass out.

Applejack pulled herself out from under the unconscious alicorn, and began screaming to the gathering crowd, “Help! Help! We need to get her to the hospital!”

By the next morning every paper in Equestria would be circulating the story of Twilight’s greatest trick, cheating death.

“Hey I think she’s waking up!” An enthusiastic voice chimed as Twilight’s eyes slowly cracked open.

“Now stand back, she may be disoriented and try to attack.” A heavily accented voice cautioned.

Twilight’s eyes where fully open now. She glanced around to take in her surroundings, she appeared to be in one of the overnight wards of the Ponyville General Hospital. When she tried to bring her forehooves to her eyes to wipe the sleep gunk away, she discovered that she had been hoof cuffed to the metal frame.

With a gasp she teleported 2 feet to her right, and landed on top of her friends Pinky Pie and Rainbow Dash. “Ow, sorry about that. Forgot to account for height.” She said sheepishly.

“Don’t sweat it, it’s just good to have you back.” Rainbow Dash said with a wide grin.

“Good to be back! Provided this is actually Equestria…” Twilight said then peaked through the curtains to see what time it was, preventing her from noticing the concerned looks she got from her friends.

“So is there any reason why ya hit me with that stick ya had?” Applejack asked from the other side of the door.

“Oh, sorry about that.” Twilight said when she noticed the bloody tissue AJ had stuffed up her left nostril. “I saw some stuff while I was away, and was a bit jumpy as a result.” She then used her magic to pull her friends in close and hugged them all, “I’ve missed you, I’ve missed you all so much.” Twilight said and allowed her herself to cry.

“One red coat, one metal chest plate, one pair of black pants, one hat, one knife, and one… arquebus?” Nurse Redheart said as she passed Twilight her belongings.

“Thank you.” Twilight replied as she put the coat and hat on, then put the rest of her stuff on her back for ease of carrying.

“Oh that coat is in a just dreadful condition!” Rarity exclaimed, most likely referring to  burns, mud stains, and tares it had. “Oh, let me fix it up.” Rarity offered, to which Twilight complied and took off the coat, then passed it to her friend.

“So…” Twilight trailed off, “What did I miss while I was away?”

“Not much.” Rainbow Dash replied, “There was a national day of mourning, the Princess choose a new student, some unrest in Unikraine, which is why Shining can’t be here at the moment, and some guy named Tirek showed up and tried to do something but Discord stopped him.”

“Oh, I would have thought he would have betrayed us.” Twilight replied as they exited the hospital.

“Discord is a nice reformed chaos spirit.” Fluttershy softly interjected.

“Sure.” Twilight replied and rolled her eyes. “Uh where is Spike?” She asked.

“Oh, he’s been living out in the woods with Zecora. Ah told Big Macintosh to fetch him the next time he visits Zecora.” Applejack answered. “Now what have ya’ll been up to for the past six years?” She questioned.

Twilight paused to think about it, “It’s a long story, but I’ll try to tell you guys it all.” Twilight stopped at the door to the library and glanced at the hole where the foundation used to be. “Dang it, my spare key must have been atomized.” She huffed, then pointed her Winchester Model 1876 rifle at the lock, “Royal North West Mounted Police! Search warrant!” She yelled, shot the lock, barged in, then after getting a candle she returned to the door way. “You’re welcome to enter my humble abode, so that I may begin my tale.” She said, and gestured for them to enter.