Descendants of Starswirl

Night in Equestria was a wonderful sight to behold. The stars shone brightly though the clear purple sky. The air was crisp and refreshing, like the bite of an apple.

A lonesome figure stood in the countryside, peering at the mountain in the distance which held, on its peak, the city of Canterlot. The figure removed its hood, revealing the long white mane of an exotic-looking mare.

She breathed in the night air and savored it, as though she had never experienced anything so wonderful. Peering once again at the sign she was reading, the mare smiled and set off in an excited trot down the road.

Deep in the Crystal Castle of Ponyville, Princess Twilight Sparkle yawned and rubbed her eyes. Stretching, she closed the book in front of her with a snap and lifted it by magic to its rightful shelf.

Glancing at the position of the moon outside, which bore an uncanny resemblance to Nightmare Moon, she found it was almost midnight.

Sighing, she got up and grumpily traversed the stairs up to her chambers. She fell down on her bed in much the same way a tree does when cut down.

Barely had she closed her burning eyes, came the resounding chimes of a hoof knocking frantically on the crystal from the front doors. Her eyes snapped open and she got up very, very reluctantly.

Opening the crystal door a few moments later, Twilight stared into the eager face of Pinkie Pie. "Ugh, FINALLY!" She barged her way into the castle and Twilight shut the door behind her. "My tail's a-twitchin'! - and you know what that means!"

"Pinkie," Twilight grumbled, grinding her teeth, "It's the middle of the night!"

"I know!" she gasped excitedly, "Isn't it exciting?" Pinkie's eyes locked into Twilight's. "But seriously, my Pinkie Sense is going haywire!"

Twilight rolled her eyes. "Alright," she plonked a hoof atop her head and pulled it over her snout like a window wiper, "What's going on?"

"I don't know!" Pinkie glanced at her twitching tail, "Whatever it is," her eyes met Twilight's, "it's gonna be BIG!"

Twilight's face looked like a pumpkin that was left out in the sun too long after Nightmare Night. With no warning, she suddenly opened the door with magic and practically forced Pinkie out. "Well," she said over Pinkie's loud protests, "When you figure it out, let me know OK?" She slammed the door and slumped against it, fast asleep.

"Twilight?" came Pinkie's muffled voice from the other side as she hammered on the crystal, "I figured it out!" Silence. "Hello? Twilight? I figured it out!" The knocking resumed, with each frantic tap, Twilight's purple head slid a little on the door's surface. "Oh well," Pinkie sighed, "I'll tell you later then!" She hopped away into the night and all was quiet.

Early the next morning, Twilight was awoken by a sharp pain on her forehead.

"Twilight, wake up!" said a voice somewhere far away from her and she received another prod on the forehead.

Her eyes creaked open like a rusty barn door and she glanced upwards groggily. Something purple swam into her field of vision, blurred and swaying.

Twilight blunk a few times to focus on the face of Spike, her little dragon assistant.

"Morning, Spike." she slurred, her cheek stuck to the crystal in a pool of drool.

"Morning, Twilight. Say, what happened last night to fall asleep on the floor?"

Twilight pulled her face free from the door and rubbed her cheek with a hoof.

"Pinkie Pie."

The sound of chatter outside made Spike peer out the window. His green eyes lit up. "Oh, what a coincidence! She's outside right now!"

Twilight sighed, got up and shuffled down the corridor to the kitchen. "It's too early in the morning to deal with a pony like Pinkie." she mumbled and took a carrot from the fruit bowl on one of the counters.

Sitting down at the large round blue crystal table in the middle of the kitchen, she started eating breakfast.

A resounding chime blew through the castle as the front door was slammed open. Twilight silently counted the precious seconds of peace she had left; three, two, one...

"TWILIGHT!" Pinkie's voice, which was magnified by the enclosed bowl-shape of the room, hit her like a hammer and she nearly jumped out of her pelt.

Thinking of all the unpleasant things she could do to that pink pony to help her remember that sound travels extremely well over crystal, she was halted this train of thought by the sound of her good friend Applejack's country accent.

"Simmer down there, Pinkie! I'm sure Twilight heard you!"

Her curiosity peaked, she heard another, more sophisticated voice say, "Show some decorum, Pinkie dear. This is, after all, a princess' castle."

Ah yes, thought Twilight, as she continued her breakfast of acorn- flavored hay and wheat grass juice, that would be Rarity.

She heard more chatter and then a sharp crack as some fragile decoration piece smashed on the floor.

Heaving a sigh, Twilight finished her breakfast and cleared her throat.

"I'm in the kitchen, in case you were wondering, girls!" she called to the front porch.  "And Pinkie, get Rarity to fix that vase you just knocked over!"

"Sorry, Twilight! I got a bit carried away there!"

Yep, that's always the case, isn't it? thought Twilight and sipped her juice.

An orange earth pony poked her head into the kitchen at this point.

"Mornin', sugarcube," said Applejack, and stepped out of the way to let Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy enter behind her.

"Morning Applejack." Twilight nodded to each of the other four ponies individually. "Morning, girls."

Rarity nodded, Rainbow Dash saluted her in a chipper sort of way and Fluttershy whispered something that was drowned out by Pinkie's excited noises.

The mares took their seats at the round table.

"So let me guess," said Twilight, finishing her juice," Pinkie won't tell you why you are all dragged here?"

Every pony except Pinkie nodded.

"She just showed up in the middle of the night, actin' all crazy-like." said Applejack and nodded at Pinkie next to her. "Come to think of it, that's kinda normal, seein' as it's Pinkie an' all."

Rarity, the white unicorn, swung her head elegantly sideways to get her turquoise mane out of her eyes.

"I agree." She glanced at Pinkie opposite her, as if somepony was showing her something she wasn't really interested in but was forced to watch out of politeness. "She was ever so distracting in my boutique, I can tell you!"

"Oh," whispered the pale yellow pegasus Fluttershy, looking directly at Pinkie through her draping bugglegum mane, "You weren't bothering me at all, Pinkie."

Silence drifted across the table.

Fluttershy looked awkwardly at the nonplussed faces of her friends and added, more to herself than them,

"well, maybe a teensy little bit..."

Twilight turned her attention to the pink pony, practically bouncing up and down in her seat like a filly throwing a tantrum. "What is this all about, Pinkie?"

"Does it have anything to do with your Pinkie Sense?" asked Spike, poking his head into the room, evidently eavesdropping.

Pinkie Pie stared at nothing in particular, they could practically see a light flickering behind her glassy eyeballs.

"OH!" she exclaimed suddenly, launching out of her chair and hitting the curved ceiling with such force that the chandelier next door chimed musically.

She fell back onto her seat again, and swayed slightly. "I remembered why I came here!" she said, slightly cross-eyed. "Oh look! Birds!" she waved her hooves wildly about  the air around her head and fell off her chair.

At this point, a loud belch filled the kitchen, accompanied by a flash of smokey green light. They all turned to see Spike holding an official-looking scroll in his clawed little hand.

Applejack leaned backwards from behind Rainbow Dash to get a look at him.

"Is that a letter from Princess Celestia?" she asked.

Spike glanced down at the little golden clasp binding the parchment ,emblazoned with a little 'C'. "Yeah." he said.

At the mention of a letter, Pinkie's blurred tail suddenly froze in mid-twitch. "Wait!" she gasped and jumped up on all fours fast as a bolt of lightning.

She glared at Spike, bug-eyed. "Say that again!"

"Um," he muttered awkwardly, "Yeah?"

Pinkie waved a frantic hoof in the air. "No, no, no! Not that!"

she honed in on Applejack like a magnet to metal. "The letter thing! Repeat what you said about the letter!"

"All I asked was if it were a letter from Princess Celestia?" the earth pony replied, shifting uncomfortably under Pinkie's stare.

"YES!" she bellowed excitedly, launching backwards into the air again, accidentally colliding with Twilight.

While the alicorn picked herself up grumpily from the floor, the pink pony alternated between staring at her tail and the letter in Spike's hand.

"That was the doozie!"

"Hey!" came the brisk voice of Rainbow Dash, observing everything whilst hovering a few inches from the ceiling, "Is somepony actually gonna read the letter?"

"Oops!" said Spike, laughing awkwardly. Clearing his throat, he unclipped the band, held the letter out and read it out loud to the kitchen:

" 'My dearest Princess Twilight,

My apologies for imposing on you but I would not disrupt your time with your friends if the situation here in Canterlot weren't so peculiar.

A matter of great interest has arisen in Canterlot. We have recieved a guest who was unlike anything Equestria had ever seen.

I intended to ask Cadence or Luna for help in this matter, but they are occupied elsewhere on royal duties so it has come down to you.' "

"What are they doing, do you think?" Rarity asked Twilight.

"I don't have a clue." she shrugged. "I've been out of touch with Canterlot for a while."

" 'Until very recently, it was assumed that the wilderness beyond the Silver Rim was just that - A wilderness. However, it was not what we thought.

In light of this new discovery,  I plan to send an expedition team to make contact with this nation, and I ask you now if you would lead this team.

I realize what a tremendous favor it is I bestow upon you now, so I think it would be better to have the other five Elements accompany you, just in case.

I hope to see you soon and I eagerly await your reply.

Yours sincerely,

Princess Celestia.' "

Twilight put a hoof on her chin as she mulled over what to do. Glancing at her friends, she recieved a bouquet of encouraging smiles in return.

Making up her mind, she grinned and cleared her throat. "Spike, take a letter."

The little purple dragon scampered away to the cupboards against the kitchen wall , opened a utensil drawer and pulled out a quill.

Rarity spotted this and unwittingly poked her elbow into somepony so she could point out how odd she thought this was, which happened to be Rainbow Dash.

"Ow!" Rainbow cried and massaged her side, glaring at Rarity, who had her sapphire eyes locked on Spike.

"Funny place to keep quills, the kitchen drawer."

"What did you poke me for?!" demanded the Pegasus.

Rarity broke eye contact with the little dragon and swung  her head over to Rainbow.

"I'm sorry, Rainbow-dear. Did you say something?"

Rainbow continued to glare at her for a few seconds, then sighed. "Never mind."

Spike returned to the table with a silky blue quill in one little hand and a scroll of parchment in the other. "Ready!" he said, beaming.

"Dear Princess Celestia," Twilight said out loud and Spike began to write frantically,

"I am very excited to hear about the new discovery concerning the Silver Rim, so I would be glad to offer you all the help I can.

I will depart for Canterlot quite soon and I will be joined by the Elements.

Hope to see you soon.

Please keep me informed of any new developments.

Your faithful student and friend,

Princess Twilight Sparkle."