The fight for Equestria

Published Edit: 5/14/15

“Auntie Twilight.” Came the voice of a small filly from down the hall.

An elder Alicorn pony halted in her tracks and turned to the voice. Purple from horn to wings, and mane to tail, the only difference in color being that of the violet and pink streaks in her mane and tail, and her own personal cutie mark on her hindquarters of a large star with five smaller ones surrounding it. Twilight was well known around the land of Equus as the princess of friendship. Once a Unicorn of great magic potential, she quickly became the star pupil of Celestia, an elder Alicorn princess, known as the princess of the sun.

Twilight’s early life was all about magic and books, and proving herself to her mentor, and idol. In time things for her changed, with the warning of Nightmare Moon, she sent word to her mentor and was sent to Ponyville with little idea of what was to come.

Celestia had sent Twilight out, to this small town to make friends, and to find the root of her power. A spark, just something she felt from deep within when she came face to face with the returned princess of the night, and nightmares. This spark had remained dormant until the voices of those who quickly became friends with her showed her there was more to her life than dusty old books.

With this in mind her first test and challenge fell before Twilight Sparkle, but not just her, each of her five friends shared in this, and thus her first steps of becoming the princess of friendship had been taken, and few times did she find herself looking back since then.

A life filled with difficult times, and decisions, she remained strong as long as she remained true to her friends, and they to her.

Over the years, each friend became as close to her as family, thus when they had their children, the foals came to see her as ‘Auntie Twilight’.

Three of them came running up to her now, one small unicorn filly with something small levitated in a magical grip, quickly followed by two others. A room nearby, where the others were playing heard the calls and began to poke their heads out of the room.

The small Unicorn, fur white as new fallen snow, much like her mother, and a blue and violet mane, done up in a slightly curly way, came sliding up to Twilight’s hooves as she tried to halt her running through the castle. Her chest heaved somewhat, a slight blush on her cheeks from all the running. Her mother certainly would not have approved, as a lady, in her opinion, must always be poised and presentable.

“Why, hello there Silk Star. What do you have there?” Twilight asked, trying to get a look at what was still hovering in the sparkling light blue aura of Star’s magic grip.

Silk Star held the picture up to her, a picture of her and five other mares surrounding a young looking stallion with a smile on his lips, and a sad look in his eyes. The six mares held him in a group hug in the foreground of the picture, the background was of a lake, with a waterfall nearby.

“He did always love the water, didn’t he?” Twilight asked no one in particular, a lump forming in her throat as the image began to waver due to the tears forming in her eyes.

“Who is it, Auntie Twilight?” Asked a little colt. He had brown fur with a creamy golden colored mane, each curled in a peculiar way at the tips, colored white making one think of whipped cream. Pecan, was his name, Pecan Pie. He held a slight pudge in his body that reminded Twilight so much of his mother. They shared the same smile, imagination, and love of sweets. When he was born, Pinkie smiled down at him and said he looked just like a little round pecan pie with buttermilk whipped cream on top, thus she named him pecan, and loved him ever so much.

“Yea, yea, who is it, Auntie Twilight?” Asked a small gray pegasus behind the other two foals. Thunderclash was the foal of a certain cyan and rainbow colored pegasus mare, and the youngest of the group thus far. He was at the point of following Silk, and Pecan, the eldest, and at times mimicked them. Fortunately for Twilight, as well as their parents, the two took it in stride and let him tag along, as long as they were exploring and not working through any of their crusader antics.

Twilight turned and glanced at the room she was heading to, and spotted a few other foal sized heads peeking around the corner, after hearing the commotion, the others understandably were curious.

“How about a story, and I promise, that after I am done, you will know who this stallion is.”

All of the foals cheered, for their greatest love aside from visiting Auntie Twilight, was Story Time. They loved listening to all the stories she told of all her adventures, from Nightmare Moon, to Discord, Tirek, and many more. Twilight smiled and lifted the picture in her magick before Silk dropped it in her hurried excitement and made her way to the playroom where all the foals now sat around a soft cushioned couch. This corner was always neat and tidy for story time, just as Twilight preferred it. Granted she preferred the whole playroom to be picked up, but she already knew how to work that out.

Twilight let out a small satisfied sigh as she climbed up onto the couch and settled onto her hooves, and faced the children before her. She looked from one to another, before setting the framed picture down against the back of the couch of the empty cushion in front of her.

“So, you know the mares in the picture are of all of your mothers, and I. This,” she took a moment to point to the stallion before continuing, “Is my son. His name was colt.”

“Was?” Asked Silk Star.

Twilight realized her past tense term, caught by the intelligent young foal. Twilight lowered her head and closed her eyes for a moment. The torrent of emotions brewing up within her chest were threatening to burst forth, but a deep calming breathe before she opened her eyes and nodded.

“Yes, was. He,” Twilight paused, trying to keep from saying he was dead, then again, she was not entirely sure about those last few days, and the strange fact he had simply just vanished right before their very eyes. A thought came to her rescue, and she was grateful she was able to, alter the truth, “He had to leave to someplace urgently. I have not heard from him in a very long time.”

“So, the beginning of this story, is not the same as many other stories, the once upon a times, and such. Do you remember the story I told you not too long ago of Tirek?” The foals all nodded, their eyes wide, their attention seemingly spellbound by her voice. “Well, Two years had passed, summer was quickly coming to an end...”

The days were growing shorter, a cold winter was coming, guided by the weather pegasus, and Cloudsdale. A winter of this degree had not been known since the Wendigos all those years ago with the founding of Equestria, a winter, that not even the accidental snow-pocalypse created by Rainbow Dash could match. The strong winds that were occasionally released over the lands, even miles away could still be felt as far as Ponyville as Cloudsdale floated ever closer all the time. Despite the fact that Cloudsdale could be easily maneuvered by every pegasai of Cloudsdale, it had been agreed upon, that due to the ferocity of this winter’s storm, to release pressure as they went across all Equestria to keep it as contained as possible. The air as Celestia’s sun slowly lowered to the horizon held a crispness growing more substantial over the days and weeks.

It was, as word would have it, be sometime before Cloudsdale would even be seen upon the horizon that six mares would be arriving in town. This excited everypony in Ponyville, as their recent time away upon mediations to other countries and kingdoms had taken away those six who felt like family to the residents.

Still, a week before The start of the running of the leaves, Mayor Mare emerged from within Town Hall and began to make her way through town. Her smile seemed filled with life that many ponies she passed were curiously caught up in her enthusiasm. For her, though this was a momentus occasion, one everypony had been waiting for, so it was not long before her excitement came forth and she began to speak to other ponies informing them the rumors were indeed true, that Princess Twilight and all the bearers of the elements of Harmony, Heroes of Equestria, would be returning that very day. But it was still early, and Mayor Mare wanted to welcome their missing friends and family with more than open arms. She began to bring forth a small gathering, that grew with every block she passed heading towards the train station where a small platform and podium had been erected quickly.

The same moment Mayor Mare began to make her way to the podium, than several ponies walked into town and made their way to the curious crowd of ponies. Many were familiar, while others were rarely seen, all coming from the direction of Sweet Apple Acres. Many members of the Apple family had in fact been waiting for this day as well, several arriving to welcome home their missing member, and friends.

Mayor Mare looked out to everypony present and smiled wide, “Welcome one and all! I want to speak to you all about a few rumors. A few rumors regarding the Princess of Friendship, and the bearers of harmony. Princess Twilight, and her friends are indeed returning home to Ponyville, this very day.” Cheers of the crowd erupted, none louder than from the apple family. Mayor Mare waited for the crowd to settle down, before continuing. “Yes, I thought there would be excitement for this moment, however, I would ask a favor from those of us who know them as friends, and I dare say, as close as family. I wish to welcome them back with a celebration, one that would impress even Pinkie Pie. Are there any ponies brave enough to take on this task for the ones we love?” So many ponies began calling out, raising their hooves into the air, and more trying to get her attention.

Nearly the entirety of Ponyville was volunteering. Mayor Mare laughed aloud, and began working to organize many of the ponies, something she had studiously picked up from Twilight herself. Ponies raced off once they had their jobs assigned. The hours ticked by, and very quickly the whole town was decorated with such a large festive mood, one would indeed have thought Pinkie had been the mastermind behind it, especially since the Cakes had decided to bring out a few of Pinkie’s stored party canons.

Once the finishing touches were completed, the ponies again returned to the podium where Mayor Mare congratulated them on a job well done and looked to the sun.

“Yes, they should be arriving sometime very soon with an escort of guards on the next train.” The cheers erupted again, to quickly be drowned out by the arrival of the next train. The train rolled into the station, the steam of it stopping filling the walkway planks as it did upon every arrival. A few ponies got off the train, but none were the ponies the town was looking for. A murmur began to ripple through the crowd, the excitement that had been built the whole day seemed to vanish in bitter disappointment.

Mayor Mare called over her assistant who retained the scroll they had received from Princess Celestia fore-mentioning the arrival of Twilight and friends by train.

“Odd, there are no more trains scheduled for today, what could be wrong? Frost, run back and see if there have been any other letters to come from Canterlot.” The pale blue pony nodded once and took off.

Mayor Mare turned to the crowd and called their attention, “No worries everypony, No doubt there is a viable explanation for this. Please be patient, let us take some time to rest our bodies and minds with refreshments. We have plenty.” Some seemed to shrug at the odd situation and take on the suggestion and began to move to the various tables of drinks and foods set up just minutes before. Others seemed to want to remain in case, as the nearest group to the mayor stated to one another, the Princess and her friends could be holding out for a surprise entrance.

A call to Mayor Mare, caught many ponies attention as frost came running from through town. Once she reached the Mayor, she removed a letter from a satchel and passed it over. Reading the letter, the Mayor simply raised an eyebrow and looked to Frost, who could only shrug. She had only verified it was a late letter sent from Canterelot to them to in form a last minute change in plans.

Mayor Mare turned to get the attention of the ponies still around when there came a thunderous boom off in the distance coming from Canterlot. Everypony stopped and looked to the direction, where came a very strange thing. Two separated colored blurs shot overhead, one rainbow colored, the other purple. The colored streaks left the ponies below to gasp, eyes wide, wondering what was going on.

“I think they went this way, girls.” Came a familiar drawl.

Everypony turned to see an orange colored Mare with blonde mane and tail wearing a brown hat and three bright red apples on her flank for her cutie mark. She was quickly followed by a butter yellow pegasus, with pink mane and tail, with butterflies for her cutie mark, and finally A completely pink pony with three balloons for a cutie mark.

“Oh, pardon us Mayor, we need ta see ta our friends first. Sorry everypony.” Applejack called over her shoulder as she and the other two mares ran past the crowd.

Filled with the utmost curiosity, the crowd and Mayor Mare followed quickly, till they reached a large crystal blue tree, where they spotted two mares on the ground, worn out, their chests rising and falling in quick succession to show their exhaustion.

“Hoo-whee, Dash, did Twi actually beat ya?”

The rainbow colored mare looked at her friend incredulously, “Please... I’m too awesome... To beat. But, she has been getting better.” She added in looking over at the purple mare next to her with a smirk. Her sentence broken by her body working to get oxygen.

“Well, she certainly gave you a run fer yer bits.” Applajack said while laughing.

“Oh, my, are you girls okay? I was so worried the way you two took off. Did you hurt anything, did you crash. I have some extra supplies left over from my trip to Mareagascar.”

“No, I think we are good, Fluttershy, just need to rest.” Twilight finally spoke for the first time.

“Well, the two of you really should have stretched before jumping straight into a race like that.” Fluttershy chided, “I mean, that really would have been preferable, if you really wanted.” She mumbled out.

“Yea, buth we habn seen eath ofer fer so long. Om!” Replied the pink pony, a large pile of sweets in her arm, tossing a cupcake in as she finished her sentence, her mouth already filled with other delights.

“Uh, Pinkie, where did ya get that food?” Applejack asked.

Pinkie took a hug swallow, the lump of food making its way down to her indomitable stomach. How she did that without choking was anyponies guess.

“Oh, the whole town threw us a welcome home party, and it seemed a waste to let some of this awesome food they and the cakes made go to waste.” She finished before taking the rest of the food in her arm and shoving it all into her mouth, forcing her already slightly chubby cheeks to puff out like a chipmunk stuffing food into their cheeks for storage.

Now the five mares turned to the crowd they had neglected and looked around to see all the banners reading, ‘Welcome Home’, as well as streamers between all the houses, and buildings, and dozens of tables all packed with foods of every kind, two of the nearest looking like a hurricane had passed over it. A pink hurricane to be specific.

“Oh, sorry Mayor, everypony. We haven’t seen each other fer so long, well, we kind of got caught up with each other. We really weren’t expectin y’all ta go through all this fer just us.” Applejack said, removing her hat and placing it over the barrel of her chest.

Mayor Mare stepped up, her gray hair still nice and neat, her brown coat shining in the sunlight, and her spectacles slightly askewed. She took a moment to adjust them, before offering her brightest smile.

“Well, We just missed you girls so much, it has been like a hole in our hearts with you all gone. We wanted you to know how much we all missed you.” She turned to the crowd gathered before them all, “Now, let us welcome back our dearest friends.” She called out.

No sooner had her words left her mouth than the crowd began to cheer and scream for the girls. A white mare and a pony sized purple green dragon just finished skirting the crowd and walked up to the others.

“Well, this is quite the welcome home enthusiasm we weren’t expecting.” Rarity commented before turning and leaning her head close to Applejack, “So who won?” she whispered.

“Dash, o’course, but Twi was literally right on her tail.” The two shared a small laugh.

The group shared a look before moving on to enjoy the festivities the town had worked so hard for.