A change of destiny

Chapters

The end of a Nightmare
…and the beginning of another.
Stories of Ponyville

The end of a Nightmare

A white alicorn with a long flowing pastel rainbow mane and sun cutie mark was walking along a snow covered field. Her name was Princess Celestia of Equestria, Bringer of the Sun, Sister of Luna, and a bunch of other titles she let fall into disuse. Princess Celestia could tell the snow wasn’t pegasus-made by the way it crunched. In fact it was reminiscent of the snow of the windigos. Now there was an age she didn’t want to think about. Needless to say, that age was more terrible and war-torn than the traditional hearth's warming play made it out to be. Scattered around the field were trees devoid of life. Other than Celestia’s hoof steps the air was deathly quiet, not an animal, nor even a breeze. And it was cold, way below freezing cold. The only thing around that didn’t speak of death was the night sky. Luna’s moon was full and her stars were bright.

Suddenly a laugh Celestia hadn’t heard in a thousand years rang out over the field and, despite only having heard it once before, she would never forget this laugh. It was the laugh of the monster that had taken her sister away from her, the laugh of Nightmare Moon.

“Mwahahaha~ Celestia, do you like my night? Beautiful, isn’t it? Too bad you and I are the only ones left to appreciate it,” said Nightmare’s voice from everywhere at once.

Celestia raised her head and faced the night. “Sister, stop! Even now it is not too late to turn from this path.”

“Stop? When I have everything I always wanted. Everything that lives has no choice but to enjoy my night! Mwahaha~”

Princess Celestia shot up in bed, sweating. She looked out her window at the moon, where the symbol of the mare in the moon, a darkness in the shape of a pony head, was still there. I can’t let that happen! I hope all I have done to help Twilight on her quest is enough. Sister, why didn’t I see… why didn’t I see what was happening to you?

Meanwhile Twilight was setting a lab in the basement of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, blissfully unaware of the threat in the coming days. Celestia’s latest letter was still in her mail box back at the dorms.

In a room in Ponyville Hospital three ponies slept. The eldest was an earth pony mare, while the younger two were a unicorn stallion and a pegasus mare. All three ponies had the same snow white coat. The younger twos’ manes and tails were both a soft yellow, while the older mare’s mane and tail was a mix of a cheerful yellow and a perky orange. The Earth pony’s cutie mark was of a cheerleading pom-pom while her two younger siblings shared the same cutie mark of a broken heart held together with a Band-Aid.

The twins rubbed their heads and opened their grass green eyes. “Ugh, what hit me?” said the twins with such perfect sync that it sounded like one pony talking out of two mouths. The twins stared at their hooves. “Am I?” They looked down their flanks.

The young pegasus jumped out of bed and started prancing while saying, “I’m a pony!” over and over again until something else seeped in. “Wait a second, my voice. Am I a mare?” The young pegasus ran to the nearest reflective surface and looked at herself. “Yahoo. I’m a mare!” She then repeated her earlier prancing, this time saying “I’m a mare!” over and over again until: “Wait a second, why am I dreaming about being a pony mare? I should be a stallion.” The Pegasus looked at her brother/male self.

The twins stared at each other. “Ok, apparently I’m a unicorn stallion, and a pegasus mare. Weirdest dream ever,” said the pegasus mare and the unicorn stallion together. “But still My Little Pony dream!”

Just then the earth pony mare started stirring. She sat up and started rubbing her forehead. “Ugh, who spiked the punch? Wait a second, I wasn’t at a party last night.”

The twins rushed over. “Brenda is that you?” said the pegasus and unicorn simultaneously.

The earth pony mare named Brenda opened her Harlequin green eyes and stared at the two ponies in front of her. “John, is that you? And who’s the filly?”

The pegasus bopped Brenda on the head. “I’m a mare thank you very much. And for your information I’m John’s female half. Wait, what?” The pegasus blinked. “Uh, Whatever, I will just run with it. If this dream says I’m a female pony named Charity and one and the same as my brother John, so be it. I have more important things to do than trying to figure out this bit of dream logic.”

Brenda blinked and looked over at the unicorn stallion named John. “Um, John, am I going crazy or are we ponies?”

“Yep,” said John.

“Oh. Wait, was that yes to crazy or ponies?”

“Ponies. Just run with it. It could be fun while it lasts. So anyways, I think I’m going to visit Rainbow Dash and Charity’s going to visit Twilight. What do you want to do?”

“Twilight, definitely Twilight. I could use some grounding right now, even if it’s a scholarly grounding.”

The siblings left the hospital together, to the utter terror of the nurse that entered the room ten minutes later.

Charity and Brenda entered the Golden Oak Library to find a sky blue unicorn mare with black glasses instead of the purple alicorn they were expecting. The unicorn had a short brown mane and gray eyes. Her cutie mark was of an open book, which was fitting because that was just what she had in front of her.

“Um, excuse me, but is Twilight Sparkle around?” asked Charity.

“Twilight isn’t here at the moment. In fact I’m waiting for her to come home right now.” The unicorn looked up at Charity. “Wait a second, who are you? I don’t recognize you.”

“Um, Charity Pope and this is my sister Brenda.”

“I’m Sophia Homes. Charity? Interesting. And what would you say if I asked you how many fingers the average human has?”

“Ten, why?”

“And what channel is My Little Pony on?”

“The Hub, again why?”

“You’re a human from earth aren’t you?”

“Uh, ya, that’s one way of putting it.” Charity shook hooves with Sophia. (Don’t ask Charity how, but she did.)

“So is Spike here?”

“No, and I wouldn’t expect him back tonight.”

“Why, what is he doing?”

“No idea, but his bed is nowhere to be seen. So--”

“You live up to your name, don’t ya?”

“Which one? Sophia which means wisdom in Greek or Holmes as in Schlock Holmes?”

“Both, I guess. So do you want to go visit Pinkie Pie?”

“Na, I’d rather stay here and keep trying to prove that Star Swirl the Bearded isn’t Discord.”

“Ugh. Why are you even trying to disprove that theory? It’s obvious that they never were intended to be the same person. I mean. Star Swirl is a minor background character from the pre-classical era, and Discord is a chaos spirit that terrorizes ponies. The only thing they share in common is not understanding friendship.”

“Yes, but apparently Star Swirl created both amniomorphic and omnimorphic spells. Which leads to the question of why Twilight thought spells for correcting birth defects in utero were more important than shape changing spells.”

“Fine, I will leave you to your research project. I’m going to have fun with Pinkie. Brenda, are you coming?”

“No, I think I will stay here and see if they have any joke books.”

“Sure. That makes sense. Reading a book, instead of going to see the living embodiment of laugher. Suit yourself.” Charity walked out the door and started heading toward Sugar Cube Corner.

Meanwhile John was trying to find Rainbow Dash’s cloud home when somepony crashed into him.

John looked up into the sky blue eyes of the mare that just crashed into him. Her coat was fawn brown. Her coffee brown mane was styled into a low pony tail.

“Sis, are you alrigh—Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to peek on you and your boyfriend,” cried a young female voice.

The mare on top of John blushed, turned her head around and said, “Faith! He’s not my boyfriend. We’ve just met for heaven’s sake!”

“Does that mean we can get back to looking for Rainbow Dash?”

“Ya. Just a second.” The mare lifted herself five feet into the air and hung there using her wings as the muscles in her barrel rippled with each wing beat. John could now see that the mare’s cutie mark was of a basketball. Her body was lean and streamlined, reminding John of a cheetah. The mare turned towards John and said, “I’m Alex Martinez. Sorry about crashing into you. I’m still getting used to these babies. Wait a second, why am I above you?” Alex looked back at her wings. “Oh, come on! Now I can fly, where were you like ten seconds ago when I crashed into the cute boy!” Alex blushed. “Um, I mean… Wait a second why am I blushing? He’s a horse!”

“He’s not a horse! He’s a pony!” said Faith. Now that John wasn’t pinned to the ground he could see that the voice was coming from a little pegasus filly maybe Scootaloo’s age. Her mahogany brown mane and tail were almost identical in cut to Rainbow Dash’s. She had the same fawn brown coat and sky blue eyes as her older sister.

“Same diff. He’s still not human.”

“Actually I was until last night.” John rolled over and got back onto his hooves. “I’m John Pope. And I’m also looking for Rainbow Dash.”

“You are! Where is she? Where is she?” said Faith.

“I said I was looking. I haven’t found her yet. Have you asked somepony?”

“Ya, but we keep getting directed to an earth pony that’s strangely into fashion.”

“An earth pony?”

“Ya, she’s scary.”

John and the Martinez siblings continued their search together.

While John was searching for Rainbow Dash with the Martinez siblings, Charity decided to get something to eat before continuing on to Sugar Cube Corner. However, she soon realized she didn’t have any bits.

Where do ponies keep their money? thought Charity. I mean it’s not like they have pockets. Wait a second Fluttershy kept money in her saddle bags. Ok, that’s informative but I still don’t have any money.

Suddenly an orange appeared in front of Charity’s face.
Charity grabbed the orange with her right wing and looked around for the pony that gave it to her. She found a white unicorn mare standing to her left.

The mare had a midnight black mane that she kept back with a yellow headband. Her eyes were a very dark brown. Charity had thought they were black until the light caught them just right, and they had a vaguely Asian slant. The mare’s cutie mark was of a white triangle over the outline of another triangle and three black circles.

“Hi, there. Did you give this to me?” Charity held the orange forward.

The unicorn nodded shyly.

“Well, thank you. What is your name?”

The mare mumbled something very softly.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t catch that. Come on, don’t be shy. I mean, I doubt your name is sillier then Rainbow Dash or Twilight Sparkle.”

“I’m Megumi Nakamura.” Megumi said, just barely audible.

“Well, Megumi, I’m Charity Pope.”

Just then Megumi’s stomach rumbled.

“You’re hungry, too. Wait, did you give me your lunch?”

Megumi blushed. “Kinda.”

“Here.” Charity offered the orange. “I can’t take this.”

“No, no, that’s ok. I want you to have it. I’m not that hungry.”

“No, No. I couldn’t.”

“No, you should take it.”

“You’re not going to take it back, are ya?” said Charity.

Megumi shook her head.

Charity peeled the orange and split it in half. “Here, you take half.”

“That’s alright.”

“I insist. It’s the least I can do after you were so generous.” Charity lifted one of Megumi's hooves and put half the orange in it.

Megumi lifted her share of the orange with her magic. She peeled off a slice and put it in her mouth.

“So, Megumi, I’m going to Sugar Cube Corner to see Pinkie Pie. Do you want to come along?”

Megumi shook her head.

“Why not?”

Megumi swallowed the orange slice and said “I’m not any good at parties.”

“What makes you—Oh, you’re from the human world and are afraid that Pinkie Pie will throw you a welcoming party.”

Megumi nods.

“Ok, I guess I will see you around.” Charity continued her journey to Sugar Cube Corner.

Ten minutes later Charity entered Sugar Cube Corner to find Mrs. Cake behind the counter.

“Hi, Mrs. Cake. Is Pinkie Pie around?”

“Who’s Pinkie Pie?”

“You know, Pinkie Pie. She’s a pink mare about this tall, likes to party, she lives with you and Mr. Cake.”

“I’m sorry. But only me and my husband live here.”

“What do you mean only you and your husband live here!? What about Pinkie Pie or your twins!?”

“How Did You Know I Was Pregnant With Twins!? We Haven’t Told Nopony Yet!”

“You’re pregnant right now!? Wait that means— Quick, when is the summer sun celebration?”

“Um, It’s tonight, but--?”

“TONIGHT! NIGHTMARE MOON IS RETURNING TONIGHT AND PINKIE IS AWOL! Quick, is there a shop called Carousel Boutique run by a unicorn named Rarity? Do you know a pegasus named Rainbow Dash? Or one named Fluttershy? Or an earth pony named Applejack? Did a unicorn named Twilight Sparkle arrive today?”

Mrs. Cake quickly answered the crazed mare in her shop. “Um, no, no, no, yes and, no.”

“You know Applejack? Where is she!?”

“You’d have to ask her family.”

“Where’s Sweet Apple Acres?”

“Um, it’s off Sabino Road, east of town.”

“Thanksforallyourhelpbye.” Charity turned and galloped toward Sweet Apple Acres.

Charity ran into Sweet Apple Acres and grabbed a little yellow filly named Appleboom. “Appleboom, Where’s your sister? Nightmare Moon is coming tonight and we need her to power the Elements of Harmony!”

“Elements of what now? And Nightmare Night isn’t for another couple of months. And what the hay does any of that have to do with Applejack?”

“WHERE IS APPLEJACK!?”

“Ahem. Miss--” said a dirty lawn green mare with a southern twang, but different twang than Applejack and Applebloom, if Charity had to guess she was from the Deep South. The mare had a rusty red mane, which she wore in a short loose pony tail. Her eyes were denim blue. The mare’s cutie mark was of a plow, the plow wasn’t brand new but it was clean and well cared for.

“Pope, Charity Pope.”

“Libby Gardener. As I was sayin’, could you put Appleboom down? We have a lot of work to do and—WAIT DID YOU SAY NIGHTMARE MOON!? This Is That Summer Sun Celebration!?”

“Yes, and none of the main six are here! We have to find them so they can use the Elements of Harmony to defeat Nightmare Moon!”

“No, that will take too long. Now where are we going to find six to--? Wait, how many human turned ponies, includin’ yourself do you know of?”

“Eight. There’s you, me, my brother John, my sister Brenda, Sophia, Alex, her little sister Faith, and Megumi. Why?”

“So six mares, a stallion and a filly. I wonder why he’s a stallion instead of a dragon.”

“Why would he be a— Oh no. No way. We’re not—“

“We are.”

“No we’re not.”

Suddenly a sharp whistle came from the filly still in Charity’s hooves. “What the hay are you two talkin’ about?”

Libby and Charity looked at each other. Libby said, “Short version. Nightmare Moon is real, and she’s comin’ back tonight. We are goin’ to use an ancient artifact called the Elements of Harmony to defeat her.”

“No, we are not.” Charity interjected.

“Or at least we will once we get on the same page. Which is more important? Defeatin’ Nightmare Moon or followin’ the plot of a little girl’s TV show?”

“Stopping Nightmare Moon, but—“

“But nothin’! These here plants will die without enough sunlight.”

“Fine, but after we defeat Nightmare Moon we’re looking for the main six.”

“Deal.”

“Oh, good you have a plan. Can You Put Me Down Now!” said Applebloom.

“Oh sorry.” Charity set Applebloom down on the ground.

Applebloom galloped away.

Charity and Libby headed into town.

Charity and Libby arrived at the Golden Oak Library just before nightfall. As they entered Charity said, “Sophia. Nightmare Moon is returning tonight and none of the main six are here. Do you know where the book on the Elements of Harmony is?”

Sophia lifted up one of the books in front on her. “It’s right here. But I have already drawn us a map, found a couple maps of the Everfree Forest, found a bestiary and found a Survival guide, so we don’t need it anymore.”

“You already know--?”

“That Nightmare Moon is returning. Yes, but the fact that Twilight Sparkle and the others aren’t around is new, but it does explain why Pinkie Pie isn’t setting up a party in here.”

Just then John, Alex and Megumi entered the library.

Alex started counting the ponies in the library “—six and seven. Alright, everyone’s here. Let’s go get these elements of something and kick this Nightmare Loon’s butt.”

“That’s Nightmare Moon, and we have until dawn before she even shows up. We can afford to plan a little,” said Libby.

“This is a little kids’ show, right? We can handle anything this never free forest throws at us,” said Alex.

“That’s Everfree Forest, and no, we can’t. That is unless you know how to handle a bear bigger than a house, a chicken snake hybrid that can turn us to stone with a glance and regeneratin’ wolves made out of wood,” said Libby.

“Wolves made out of wood, seriously?” asked Alex.

“Yes and they are much more dangerous than they sound,” replied Libby.

“Ok, Ok. I get it; we need to do a little planning beforehand,” said Alex.

One hour later.

“Ok is everyone clear on the plan?” asked Sophia.

“Ya, me and Charity grab the elements off the pedestal and drop them down to you guys and we each carry one of them back to Ponyville and then we prepare to face Nightmare Moon. And if we get separated on the way back we meet up here,” said Alex.

“You forgot the second backup plan. If for some reason the elements get destroyed we split up and gather the six,” said Libby.

“Ya, ya. I go to that city in the cloud something dale and start looking for Rainbow Dash.”

“That’s Cloudsdale. And I’m surprised you nailed Rainbow Dash’s name.”

“My sister is her biggest fan. It’s Rainbow Dash this and Rainbow Dash that every day. I couldn’t forget her name if I tried.”

“And I’m goin’ to Appleloosa to retrieve Applejack.”

“I go to Cloudsdale and look for Fluttershy,” said Charity.

“I go to Canterlot and find Twilight Sparkle,” added Sophia.

Brenda jumped in, “And I Pinkie Promise to find the Pinkie Diane Pie. No matter if I have to go the ends of Equestria. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye. But seriously she’s probably still on her family’s rock farm.”

“And I stay around here and look for Rarity or her family, ” whispered Megumi.

“And I stay here and keep Nightmare Moon occupied,” finished John.

Alex headed for the door. “Alright. Let’s go girls.”

“Hey!” said John.

“Oops, I forgot you were, you know.”

“That wasn’t what you said when you literally ran into me this morning.”

Alex blushed. “That was an accident!”

“John, save the flirting until after we’ve defeated Nightmare Moon,” said Brenda.

“We aren’t flirting! He’s a horse, for heaven’s sake!” said Alex.

“So are you,” said Libby.

“Alex, it’s not surprising that you’re attracted to John. After all Twilight Sparkle was attracted to human Flash Sentry when she was in the human world,” said Sophia.

“But I thought that was non-canonical and anyways Spike likes Rarity. So assuming he isn’t an oddball, Equestrians are attracted to anything sentient, so it’s not surprising that Twilight was attracted to Flash even if he was a little oddly shaped from her point of view,” said Charity.

“Can we stop discussing the love lives of ponies and defeat this nightmare goon person already!” said Alex.

The little ponies exited the library and headed toward the Everfree Forest.

Just as the gang was about to enter the everfree forest—

Charity stopped and listened. “Wait, everybody. I think there’s an animal trapped in that bush.”

“You’re stopped our Equestria saving adventure, to free an animal from a bush?” asked Alex.

“Yes. Just because we’re trying to saving Equestria doesn’t mean we shouldn’t help a poor little animal in trouble.” Charity walked over to the crying bush and moved the thorny branches with her wing.

A small white rabbit scampered out and away without as much as a thank you.

“See. That didn’t take much time and now the poor little guy is safe and sound.”

Alex rolled her eyes.

The rest of trip to the ruin that held the elements was uneventful until they ran into a downed rope bridge over a chasm of undetermined depth.

“Ok, I guess me and Alex are up.” Charity took off and did a couple loop-de-loops, a barrel roll, and flew inverted for ten feet before crashing face first into a tree--which would have been fine if she meant to do any of that. “Hee, Hee, guess I should have practiced beforehand. Alex, would you go tie off the bridge while I get the hang of flying?”

“Fine.” Alex took off and flew down and grabbed the untied end of the rope bridge. She landed on the other side of the chasm. She had started tying off the bridge when she heard footsteps behind her. Alex turned around and came face to face with a midnight blue pony a little bigger than her with a unicorn horn and wings. The winged unicorn’s mane and tail looked exactly like the night sky in fact if the sky had been behind her instead of a ruin, Alex might have had a hard time telling she even had a mane. At the point where her neck met the rest of her body she wore a black hole breast plate with a stylized crescent moon.

One of her friends screamed something, but Alex couldn’t understand.

“Greetings, we are Princess Luna of Equestria, Regent of the Moon, Guardian of Dreams, Day’s End and the rightful Ruler of the Night.”

“Um, Hi your Highness. Are you here to help us defeat this Nightmare Goon person?”

Alex thought she saw Luna’s eyebrow twitch for a second, but it was gone so quickly she couldn’t be sure. “Actually no, we cameth here to offer thou a way back to the land of thy birth.”

“Huh?”

“We know thou come from a far off land--the like of which isn’t to be found in all of Equestria. We offer thou and thy kin transport across the dimensional barriers between here and thy sires.”

“Cool, just let me finish tying off this bridge and make sure the others don’t need me then—“

“Thou misunderstandeth, Thou must come with us right now. The dimensional barriers are already closing. Thou hasn’t time for tying of bridge knots.”

Alex looked at her friends and said “I’m sorry—“

Luna’s lips started to curl upwards.

Alex turned toward Luna. “—I can’t take you up on your offer.”

Luna frowned. “Is the securing of a bridge more important than seeing thy sires!?”

“Yes. Yes, it is. See there’s this Nightmare goon person and –“

“Enough! If thou desire to secure a bridge more than seeing thy sires. Fine! But know this, thou wilt be trapped here until thy grave!” Luna then melted into her mane and flew off.

Alex finished tying the bridge to its anchor points and walked back across the bridge, testing it along the way.

Charity rushed forward and hugged Alex when she came back into view. “Alex, are you ok? She didn’t hurt you, did she?”

“Who? Luna? She might’ve not been happy I wasn’t taking her offer, but she never laid a hand on me.”

“Alex, that wasn’t Luna. Well, I guess it was technically, but, never mind. That was Nightmare Moon!”

“That was Nightmare Moon!? That explains why she didn’t want me to secure the bridge.”

“Wait, she didn’t …? I guess we’ve found our element of loyalty.”

The seven friends entered the castle and found a pedestal with five stones.

“There they are girls! The Elements of Harmony.” Sophia waved her hoof at the pedestal with the stones.

“Those stone things? How come there’s only five? I thought you said there were six.” said Alex.

“Oh, ya. I can’t believe we forgot that part. Alex, the sixth appears when the spark of friendship happens in the presence of the other five. Ok girls, let’s get this over with, so we can find the main six,” said Charity.

Suddenly an alicorn mare with a coat of the blackest night dropped in front of the Elements of Harmony. Her horn was longer than the average pony’s head and sharp as a tack. She wore a helmet with holes for her ears and horn. Her cutie mark was of the moon in the night sky. The alicorn’s mane and tail looked like two pieces of the night sky that had been bound to the alicorn’s head and dock. Charity recognized her right away as Nightmare Moon, the demon mare of the night.

“Nightmare Moon!” cried John, Charity, Brenda, Sophia, Libby, Megumi together.

“What are you doing here!? We left Ponyville just after sundown. You weren’t even free yet,” said John.

“You can thank that little foal that told me that some fashionista and her friends were going to banish me. AGAIN! No matter. That stain on everything pony is no danger to me anymore.”

“If You Hurt My Sister, I’ll—“ said Alex.

“I didn’t lay a hoof on the foal, the fashionista however, well, she’s, she’s…” Nightmare Moon broke down into laugher, not evil laugher, more like the laugher that happens after a funny joke.

Sophia started sneaking behind Nightmare Moon while she was distracted.

“You find that funny!” cried Brenda.

“Thou wouldst too, if thou sawst what I sawest.”

“Thou? What did the pony say when it had a sore throat?”

“Huh?” said everypony.

“I apologize, I am a little horse!” said Brenda.

John sweatdropped. “Sis, I don’t think this is the time for jokes.”

“No this is the perfect time for jokes. You heard her. She started talking in the royal canterlot voice. Only Luna did that. I think if we can fill her with love and light then we can defeat Nightmare Moon without the Elements of Harmony or main six.”

“ENOUGH! WE ARE NOT AMUSED!” said Nightmare Moon.

“What are we, British royalty?” said Brenda.

“Thy pathetic anecdotes were stale even before we were banished, and will not keep us from taking thy life! But we aren’t without mercy. Run now, my little ponies, and thy lives may yet be spared.”

“NO! We will not let you win!” John lowered his head and start pawing the ground, preparing to charge.

Nightmare Moon blinked. “Thou art kidding. Thou art kidding, right?”

John charged Nightmare Moon, but Nightmare Moon knocked him to the side with her mane.

“Thy attempts to hurt me are truly pathetic. Wait, where is the blue horned one?” Nightmare Moon turned around to see a blue magic glow around the Elements of Harmony. “No, no!” Nightmare Moon rushed toward the Elements, but she knocked one of the Elements onto the floor where it shattered. Everypony (including Nightmare Moon) stared at the shattered element. Nightmare Moon took a close look at another of the elements. “Wait a second. These aren’t the Elements. They were gems of the highest quality. These are but mere rocks.”

“I thought you said those were the Elements of Harmony!” said Alex.

“I thought they were,” Charity answered, sweat dropping.

“So what do we do now?” asked Alex.

Charity stood up straighter. “I think it’s time for plan B. RUN!”

Charity and her friends scattered, but they found themselves blocked by the appearance of a star-filled wall.

“And where dost thou think thou art going, my little ponies?” said Nightmare Moon. As the six turned back they could see that the wall was Nightmare Moon’s tail.

“Well, we were—Wait a second, I know where the Elements are!” said Charity.

“Tell us where they are and we may yet spare thy life.”

“They are right here in front of you. We are the Elements of Harmony!” Suddenly the remaining rocks shattered. Glowing shards floated among the ponies.

“What?”

“Brenda, who tried to defeat a villain with a laugh, represents the spirit of laugher!”

The shards nearest Brenda converged on her and formed a necklace in the shape of a blue pom-pom.

“Alex, who stuck with us despite being offered a way home, represents the spirit of loyalty!”

A set of shards converged on Alex and formed a red basketball necklace.

“Megumi, who gave her lunch away even though she was in pain herself, represents the spirit of generosity!”

The shards converged on Megumi and formed a violet necklace in the shape of a v.

“Libby, who always told the truth even when it wasn’t what I wanted to hear, represents the spirit of honesty!”

The shards nearest Libby converged on her and formed an orange plow set in a necklace.

“And um, shoot. We don’t have an element of kindness.”

Everypony else facehooved. “Yes we do!” said Brenda. “Charity, who stopped to save a sociopathic bunny, represents the spirit of kindness!”

Charity blushed. “Oh, right.”

A set of shards converged on Charity and formed a pink necklace in the shape of a heart.

“And finally, Sophia, whose careful planning eased a dangerous journey, represents the spirit of magic!” said Charity.

A crown with a purple six-pointed star materialized and settled itself on top of Sophia’s head. As soon as it had settled in place, it and the other Elements started glowing and a rainbow stretched itself between the Elements before heading toward Nightmare Moon.

“Nooo! Nooo! My Night! My Beautiful Night!”

The rainbow hit Nightmare Moon and everypony was blinded for a second.

“Ugh, My head,” said Alex.

“Everypony ok?” asked Brenda.

“You do realize you just did the same two lines as the show after Nightmare Moon was defeated, right?” said Libby.

“Of course, why did you think I said that after she said Rainbow Dash’s line?”

“We’ve defeated Nightmare Loon, so now what?”

“We find the real six. We’re just temps. Wait a second. Brenda, why is your necklace of a pom-pom? It should be of a balloon.” Charity look around at the other necklaces and then at her own. “No, No! This is all wrong.” Charity pointed at Libby. “Yours should be an apple, not a plow.” Charity pointed at Megumi. “Yours should be a diamond, not a v.” Charity pointed at Alex. “Yours should be a lightning bolt, not a basketball. And mine should be a butterfly, not a heart! The only one that’s right is Sophia’s crown, and the element of magic has always been like that!”

“Calm down, my little pony.” A ball of bright light rose like the sun over the horizon and landed in the room. After the light dissipated, everypony could see Princess Celestia standing there. “Now, what’s got you in such a tizzy, little one?”

“I’msorrywewereonly—“

“Slow down, please. I can’t understand you when speak at such a quick pace.”

“We were only supposed to be temps, but now the Elements of Harmony are in the shape of our cutie marks and—“

“Whoa, who said anything about temps? The spell I used was to gather six heroes that could do what I could not do a thousand years ago.”

“Ya, those were supposed to be—Wait a second, spell? What spell?”

“That would be the spell I used to summon you to Ponyville when the scrying spell failed to find suitable ponies already living there.”

“Wait? Scrying spell? You set Twilight Sparkle up! You selected five suitable ponies to lead the preparations for the summer sun celebration! So she and they could become friends and wield the Elements of Harmony and defeat Nightmare Moon!”

Princess Celestia blinked, genuinely confused by Charity’s comments. “I’m afraid I don’t understand. I didn’t select you to do anything, let alone force you to be friends with Twilight. You five did that on your own. Wait, where is Twilight?”

“Not here,” said Sophia as she stepped forward. “Princess Celestia, I’m afraid we have a major problem on our hooves. Twilight isn’t the only pony that should have been here but isn’t. In fact, none of us are the ponies that were supposed to be here are here right now. I believe something or someone has altered the timeline.”

“I see. I expect you seven to come to Canterlot with me and my sister. Speaking of my sister…” Celestia stepped toward a blue mare with a light blue mane. “Princess Luna!”

The blue mare gasped and hid her face behind her hooves.

“It has been a thousand years since I have seen you like this. It is time to put our differences behind us. We were meant to rule together, little sister. Will you accept my friendship?”

Princess Luna peeked out from behind her hooves. Luna stood up, nuzzled Celestia, and said. “I'm so sorry! I missed you so much, big sister!”

“No, it is I who is sorry. I should’ve seen you were in pain sooner.” The two sisters cried together.

Charity, John, Libby, Sophia and Megumi looked expectantly at Brenda.

“What?” said Brenda.

“Aren’t you going to do Pinkie’s line?” asked Charity and John.

“A little late for it now, but I will see if I can reorganize the celebration already set up in Ponyville into a welcome back party.”

Just as the nine ponies entered Ponyville a scream rang out. “MY HAIR!”

“We think we owe the fashionista we shaved while the nightmare an apology,” said Luna.

“MY CLOTHES!”

“A couple apologies.”

“WHY AM I HANGING FROM THE CEILING!?”

“A lot of apologizing.”

“Um, Luna, why did you shave Rainbow Dash?” asked Alex.

“Um, that’s not—“ said Libby.

“Earth Pony Rainbow Dash. Anyways why did you shave her?”

“How else were we to tie her to the ceiling?” said Luna.

“I don’t know, normal rope?”

Luna blushed. “Oh. Yes that would have worked better.”

“Wait, wait. Why did you tie G3 Rainbow Dash to the ceiling?” asked John.

“Well we were Nightmare Moon at the time and we thought it would keep her occupied while we secured the elements.”

“But why did you think—let me guess. A little brown filly said Rainbow Dash and her friends would defeat you.”

Luna nodded.

“She was talking about a Pegasus called Rainbow Dash, not the earth pony G3 version.”

“But she said that the earth pony was—the filly lied to me didn’t she?”

“Yep.”

Suddenly a high pitched filly voice said “There you three are!” The voice was coming from a tan filly wearing a nurse’s cap. “Do you know how worried we’ve been? The hospital has a check out pro-pro- method for a reason!”

“You forgot to check out of the hospital?” asked Libby.

The Popes rubbed their heads sheepishly.

An hour later John and Charity were waiting in one of the exam rooms for ‘a very important pony’, when Princess Celestia came in led by Doctor Horse, an amber stallion with an electrocardiograph as a cutie mark. “This is the alicorn we told you about. Or at least they were an alicorn before they separated.”

“Separated?” said John, Charity and Celestia together, although Celestia was little out of sync with the other two.

“Yes, we were treating him for severe trauma--including but not limited to a cracked horn, a fractured wing and numerous bruises and lacerations--when he reacted badly to one of the healing magics we were using and started crashing. Uh, that’s what we call it when a pony’s heart stops doing its job bad enough the pony will die without immediate help. We did standard defibrillation, when there was a flash of light, and suddenly we had two patients and one of them was a mare.”

“Wait, Wait. I was an alicorn? Why was I an alicorn?” said John and Charity in unison.

“Because that is what you entered Equestria as,” said Celestia.

“THAT’S IT!? That’s the best you can come up with!? Facing Nightmare Moon. Fine. Leading the main six back to their destiny. I don’t like it but I will do it. But me being an alicorn! Not going to happen! Not without a very good explanation! So subconscious either come up with one or retcon it away!” said the Popes simultaneously.

“Now Mr. Pope, calm down,” said Doctor Horse.

“Not until this travesty of everything my little pony is gone!”

“John, Charity, calm down. This isn’t a dream or a hallucination or whatever you think it is. I and Equestria are very real. You will get your answers in time but I don’t have them at the moment,” said Princess Celestia.

“How do I know that anything you say is true? I could be just dreaming that answer,” said John.

“Because if you were dreaming and knew you were dreaming, you would have complete control of the dream and could do anything you liked. Like making it night. Can you make it night?”

John focused on moving the sun but nothing happened. “No. Wait, that means I charged Nightmare Moon. The real Nightmare Moon! I could’ve died!”

Princess Celestia put her wing around John. “Shh. Shh. It’s ok. You’re ok.”

“But I could have…”

“Yes, you could have. But you didn’t. You’re just suffering some post combat jitters. It happens to everypony the first time they see action. Why don’t you take a nap on the way to Canterlot? It will help you feel better.”

“Ok.”

Author's Note

John's (previous) alicornhood came out of the fact he wanted to be a unicorn and Charity wanted to be a pegusus. My plans for them are complex but it will come up again and there will be an story/arc or two touching on it. Which may or may not end on them being a alicorn(s) (see their opinion on alicornhood).

…and the beginning of another.

Later that day in Canterlot the humans turned ponies were sitting at a table in a meeting room waiting for Princess Celestia.

“So, how we going to find the main six?” asked Charity.

“Do we even need to?” asked Sophia. “I mean we have confirmed that the elements of harmony work for us.”

“Don’t need to! Don’t need to!” screamed Charity. “Of course we need to! We need to fix Equestria!”

Brenda put a hoof on Charity. “I know you dislike alternate universe fics but is us holding the elements so bad?”

“YES!” screamed Charity.

“Ignoring the drama queen,” said Libby. “I have a good reason to seek them out. I don’t know about you all but I want to go home but while we hold the elements we can’t do that without depriving Equestria of one of its defenses. And the original six are known to able to handle the elements, or at least they could in the show.”

“Yes home is good but more importantly,” said Alex, “I want my hands back! How am I supposed to hold anything with these things?” Alex stuck out her hooves.

“Use your wings, duh,” said Faith. “That’s what Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash do.”

“My wings aren’t hands!” screamed Alex. “They don’t have fingers.”

Sophia picked up a sheet of blank paper with her hooves and gave it to Alex.

Alex blinked. “How did you do that?”

Sophia shrugged. “How do you fly?”

“I don’t know. They just suddenly decided to work,” replied Alex.

“Getting back on topic,” said Sophia. “I guess there are a few good reasons to seek out the main six. Least of which is the Element of Magic still seems to be modeled after Twilight’s cutie mark.”

Princess Celestia entered the room and sat down. “Sorry to keep you waiting. Now to explain why I asked you to wait until I could meet with you. Frankly, you know things that only highest level unicorns are supposed to know.”

“Your majesty, I don’t think we know any state secrets. It is a kid’s TV show, after all,” said Sophia.

“You’d be surprised. But I speak of your knowledge of what the future holds, or rather what it could hold. That kind of knowledge can be dangerous. Often, when acting on such knowledge, you get tunnel vision, fixing the problems you saw and ignoring everything else. Also such visions can be deceptive, especially in cases such as this where the events leading up to what you saw have already changed.”

“Then how should we proceed, your majesty?” asked Sophia.

“I agree that Twilight Sparkle is and always has been the element of magic. As for the others, well, having backups never hurts. But remember, these mares aren’t the same ones from this TV show. Also remember that you were selected for who you are, not what you know; tread cautiously when acting on what you think you know. Anyways, enough of that dour subject, I believe we have six mares that are needed in Ponyville.” Princesses Celestia picked up a sheet of paper and started reading “Ok, AppleJack is in Appleloosa. Rainbow Dash is a racer on the Equestrian Terra circuit. She’s currently in Fillydelphia attending the Fillydelphia Open. Rarity is in Manehattan working under Glory. Fluttershy works and lives at the Hoofington Mare Shelter. Pinkamena Pie lives with family on their rock farm between Ponyville and Trottingham. And of course, Twilight Sparkle is here in Canterlot at my school for gifted unicorns.”

“When you say mare shelter, are we talking about a place where—“ asked Charity and John simultaneously.

“Battered, beaten or otherwise abused mares can hide from the stallions that abused them. Yes, and for that reason Charity should go alone. Now if there aren’t any more questions, I have royal carriages ready to take you to your destinations. Charity, yours is the one pulled by mares. We’ll meet up at the Ponyville Public Library at sundown.”

The non-royal ponies began to leave.

“John, could you stay for a bit. There are some things we need to talk about.”

“Ok.”

When only John and Princess Celestia remained in the room, she said, “I want to ask you some things, but I sense that you have some questions of your own.”

“Ya, um. Charity, what is she?”

“A pegasus mare. A very happy one as far as I can tell.”

“But she didn’t exist until yesterday.”

“I highly doubt that. Think. Was there a time when you were unhappy with your body?”

“Ya, but I was just being silly. I was born—“

“A colt? As was I.”

“WHAT!!? But you… How can…”

“Or to be more accurate I was born a filly in a colt’s body.”

“How can that be a stallion’s body!?”

“I have Discord to thank for that. He thought it would be funny to turn the prince in to a princess. But John, I understand what you are going through. It, too, took me time to accept that I was happier as a mare than as a stallion.”

“But I’m happy as a stallion.”

“And that’s where we differ, I was a mare trapped in a stallion’s body, but you were a bi-gendered pony trapped in a colt’s body on the cusp of stallionhood.”

“Bi-gendered?”

“It either means you are both male and female or that you have two genders. Both meanings are equally valid in your case. Does that answer all your questions?”

“Ya, except why I was an alicorn.”

“And I am afraid I don’t have any more answers for you than I had three hours ago. So let’s move on to my questions. First is there anypony else that you can think of that could’ve been affected by this changed timeline?”

“Hm. Spike! He’s a little—“

“Green and purple baby dragon?”

“Ah, yes. Well, in the show Twilight hatched him during her test to enter your school for gifted unicorns. He was her little brother/assistant. So I take it he’s already hatched.”

“Yes, his egg spontaneously hatched eight years ago. I was unable to explain it until now, but now I think he hatched when Twilight’s magic went out of control. You were wise to think of him. His destiny is almost surely tied to Twilight’s. I will talk to him later today. Anything else you can think off hoof that we may need to correct?”

“Is Twilight’s brother, Shining Armor, dating your niece Cadence?”

Celestia giggled into her hoof. “They think I don’t know, but yes they are.”

“Is Discord still in the sculpture garden?”

Celestia turned and stared at John. “How Do Know About That!? That’s something only my sister and I know about—“ She facehoofed. “He going to escape isn’t he?”

“Ya.”

“When?”

“I don’t know exactly. It’s not like the show had exact dates on each episode.”

“We will just have to keep a close eye on him. Anything else?”

“Has the Crystal Empire returned yet?”

“No, but I expect it will within the next year or two.”

“Do you know where Star Swirl the Bearded’s last spell is?”

Celestia nodded.

John fidgeted. “I don’t know if I should be telling you this, but Discord planted Plunder Seeds, they should start overtaking the Tree of Harmony and kidnap you and Luna right before the next Summer Sun Celebration.”

“I assume Twilight was able to handle the situation?”

“Yes, she was. I mean, she will. She would have been—“

Celestia raised her hoof. “I understand. Is that everything?”

“I think so.”

Just then there was a flash of light outside the window.

“Sorry, there was more I wanted to talk to you about, but it will have to wait for another time,” said Princess Celestia as she flew out the window.

A little bit earlier, Sophia had just entered the main building of Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns when…

“I’m late! I’m late!” said a speeding purple and white blur that sounded a lot like Twilight Sparkle. “I can’t believe I forgot my nine thirty two magic purge!” Twilight ran past Sophia and out the door. Soon after this a bolt of pure magic went skyward.

Sophia walked outside to where Twilight was putting some kind of metal ring onto her horn. Twilight looked a lot like her cannon self except she wore a white bodysuit and the aforementioned ring, which despite its intricate set of runes, would have looked more appropriate on a prisoner then on a magic student.

“Hello, are you Twilight Sparkle? I’m Sophia Homes.”

“Yes. What can I do for you?”

“Princess Celestia would like you to go to Ponyville and—“

“Stop. I don’t know what my brother has been telling the Princess, but tell her she’s been misinformed. I am much too dangerous to leave this campus, let alone travel anywhere.”

Just then Celestia landed in the courtyard. “Actually, this order came directly from me. And yes, it is an order. Your destiny has been sidetracked enough. I thought our talk last year had helped clear your head of those silly ideas, but I guess I was wrong. So Twilight Sparkle, let me be perfectly clear. You are capable of fully controlling your magic, and I don’t mean with magic restraints, or magic purges or any of the other silly tricks you have been trying. I mean you, on your own, without anything or anypony else helping you. You will be going to Ponyville. You will learn everything this mare and her friends have to teach you, and you won’t hurt anypony.”

“But…”

“I assume you read all the books I gave you.”

“Yes, but what does those old pony tales have to do with—“

“Then I guess you haven’t read my last letter yet. Yesterday was the thousandth Summer Sun Celebration since I banished Nightmare Moon.”

“The thousandth? But that means…”

“Yes, she returned and if you had read my letter and decoded the message it contained, you would’ve known you needed to go to Ponyville to gather five ponies that exemplify the elements and use them to purify my sister. But, because you weren’t there, this pony here had to take your place and cleanse my sister. And that was partly my fault. I had to hide my intentions from the monster that my sister became. But the rest lies on you and your stubbornness. Might I ask what you were doing instead of reading your mail?”

“Um, I was preparing one of the experimental magic rooms to contain any magic surges I might suffer during the Summer Sun Celebration. It was a very magical time, after all.”

“I see. Twilight Sparkle, I trust you understand what you must do now?”

“Yes. Um… I will just go pack and be right back.” Twilight dashed toward the school’s dorms.

“Celestia, what did you mean when you said that you had to hide your intentions from your sister?” asked Sophia.

“My sister’s mastery of divination is unmatched even by me and while I could hide my thoughts from her, there was no way I could hide all my actions. So I had to use the clues I put in place nearly a thousand years ago to try to direct Twilight to understand what she needed. Unfortunately, at the time I wrote those stories I didn’t know that one pony per element was needed for full effect and by the time I did, I couldn’t be sure Nightmare Moon hadn’t already figured out a way to watch me even from inside the moon. I hope that answers your question and helps to explain my actions in the timeline you observed before you arrived here.”

“Wait, couldn’t your whole plan have been ruined if Nightmare Moon recognized Twilight’s cutie mark?”

“It was possible, yes, but remember it’s been a thousand years since she last saw the elements, and I didn’t even let on that someone else was going to wield them or that my plan even involved them or that my plan involved anything or anyone other than her, myself, and an abandoned cave. Therefore, it’s unlikely she was looking for somepony that could wield the elements of harmony.”

“But in the show Twilight sent you a letter about the return of Nightmare Moon. Wouldn’t that set her apart?”

“No, it wouldn’t have. Nearly one hundred ponies sent me such warnings. ‘Predictions and Prophecies’ was covered last semester and the Rise and Fall of the Diarchy was on the summer reading list.”

“And those two things happened to coincide this year of all years?”

“Like I said, plans that were set down years ago, in this case hiring Professor Hidden Lore after he retired from actively seeking the ancient relics of Equestria’s past. He knows both the value of discretion and the need for backup plans.”

“Wait, if they were on the reading list, why did you give the books to Twilight?”

“Because ‘Predictions and Prophecies’ was covered at my School for Gifted Pegasi in Cloudsdale, and while professor Hidden Lore did give a guest lecture at the School for Gifted Unicorns, Twilight unfortunately didn’t attend. Excuse me, I have other matters I need to attend to.” With that Celestia flew off.

Libby arrived in Appleloosa and soon found Applejack in the Appleloosa Apple orchard.

Applejack was an orange mare with dirty blonde hair (whether Applejack’s hair was naturally that color or just covered in dirt, Libby couldn’t tell). She wore a cowboy hat and a pair of cowboy chaps that covered her flanks. Applejack was currently adjusting the orchard’s water gates.

“You are Applejack, right?” asked Libby.

“That’s my name. What can I do for ya?”

“Well—“ Great, what do I say? The truth sounds crazy. But I don’t want to lie. Wait a second, there is something that is true that can get her home. “Your family back in Ponyville misses ya and were wondering when you were coming back.”

“Never, that’s when! Wait, don’t tell them that! It’s just how can I go back when I am such a failure?”

“You’re not a failure, Applejack.”

“Yes I am. Who ever heard of a mare my age without her cutie mark? No pony, that’s who!”

Great, what we have here is a catch twenty two. Applejack doesn’t want to go back without her cutie mark, but she needs to go back to get her cutie mark. Libby got an idea changed her stance to more confrontational one. “And what’s so bad about not having a cutie mark?”

“That’s easy for you to say you have your cutie mark.”

“No, it not. Until a couple days ago I didn’t have a cutie mark either,” said Libby. Of course a couple days ago I was human and nobody had a cutie mark but I can tell her that part later.

“You didn’t… ok, maybe I’m not as much a freak as I thought but how can I face them when I ran away.”

“Ran away?”

“Ok, walked away but it the same thing I walked away from what my family has been doing for generations because I wanted to be a city pony. A city pony!”

“And what are you doing here?” Libby waved her hoof over the apple orchard.

“Um.”

“You might have walked away but you also walked back. Now all you have to do is return to Sweet Apple Acres and you will truly have came home.”

“Ok, Ok, I get ya. Just let me finish with these apple trees and say goodbye to my kin. Then we’ll go.”

Brenda was heading for the Pie Family Rock Farm, when a light gray mare with dark gray hair covering one eye ran past. A cotton candy pink mare with a puffy raspberry pink mane and a triple balloon cutie mark ran after the gray mare. “Marble, where are you going? This isn’t the way to your party!”

Ok, other than maybe going overboard on partying, Pinkie seems fine, thought Brenda.

Pinkie warped next to Brenda. “Hi. I haven’t seen you before. Are you here for my sister’s birthday party? She was born right after the Summer Sun Celebration and we’ve never celebrated her birthday before. Can you believe that? We’ve never celebrated my sister’s birthday. Well no more! So I invited all her friends, but that was like only five ponies, so then I invited everypony I knew, but that was still like only fifty ponies, so I posted an open invite in Ponyville, and look, there must be over two hundred ponies here. Oh wait here a second, I still have to get Marble.” Pinkie dashed by Brenda.

Ok, definitely a little party crazy and note to self: distract Pinkie after introducing Megumi.

“Metamorphic,” said a mare to Brenda’s left in a monotone voice. Brenda turned toward the voice and saw a slate gray mare with an amethyst purple mane and turquoise blue eyes. She wore a steel blue frock with an onyx black belt. The mare was holding a white rock in her right hoof. Her face was about as emotionally expressive as the rock she was holding. “This is a metamorphic rock.”

“Oh kay. That’s… fascinating. I’m Brenda, what’s your name?”

“Maud. I like rocks.”

“Really, I never would have guessed.”

“Yes, they are fascinating. Like this one. It breaks in a way that makes it perfect for sculpting. However, this one isn’t big enough for that. Or this one, which is resistant to erosion but easy to shape, which makes it prefect for building. Or--”

An hour later. “….Sedimentary rocks are formed when fine particles of sand or dirt pile on top each other until they fuse into a sedimentary rock,” finished Maud.

“Not that this hasn’t been fascinating, but I should see if I can find Pinkie. I need to talk to her about something,” said Brenda

“Hi, Maud. I see you met my new friend,” said Pinkie from behind Brenda.

“Yes. We were talking about rocks,” said Maud.

“What kind, sedimentary, igneous or metamorphic?”

Brenda sighed. “All of the above for over an hour.”

Pinkie bounced up and down. “Did she tell you how to tell if there are gems inside?”

“No, that’s the one thing that didn’t get covered.”

“Well, you see, you look at the—“ started Pinkie.

“No! I don’t need to know.”

“Then what did you want to talk about? Oh, oh, I know! You want to talk about the party, or the weather or—“
Brenda put her hoof in Pinkie’s mouth. “Actually I want to talk to you about you moving to Ponyville.” Brenda removed her hoof.

Pinkie tilted her head. “Why would I want to do something like that?”

“Well, because… your friends are there.”

“They are? But I thought…”

“Listen, you should have already been there, but something changed the timeline. And I need you come with me to meet your best friends and become the element of laugher and save Equestria. And yes, you will have plenty of fun along the way.”

Pinkie eyed Brenda suspiciously. “You Pinkie promise?”

Brenda nodded. “Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.”

Pinkie blinked. “Whoa. How did you know the promise I came up with just now?”

“Um, this might sound crazy but I come from an alternate world and watched you on TV.”

Pinkie blinked once, twice, then a third time then said “Ok.”Pinkie spun around and yelled. “Mom, I’m leaving with Brenda, I’ll be back for your birthday!” Pinkie grabbed Brenda’s tail with her mouth and galloped toward Ponyville.

“Pinkamena Diane Pie! You get back here this second and tell me where you’re going!” cried Pinkie’s mother, a light gray mare with a slate gray mane and cyan eyes named Cloudy Quartz. Cloudy Quartz turned to Maud and said “Maud, where did your sister go?”

“Pinkie went to Ponyville to fulfill her destiny with Brenda.”

“SHE WHAT!?”

“Pinkie went to Ponyville to fulfill her destiny with Brenda.”

Cloudy Quartz turned and galloped toward Ponyville. “PINKAMENA DIANE PIE! You Come Back Here And Stop Herding With Strange Mares!”

Maud blinked. “Oh, Mom thought I meant Pinkie’s ‘destiny with Brenda’.”

Meanwhile Princess Celestia was visiting her ward, Spike. Spike was an eight year old purple dragon. Green spines went from the top of his head to the end of his spade shaped tail.

“Mom- I mean Princess- I mean-“ said Spike.

“Spike, how many times do I have to tell you, you can call me Celestia. But, as much as I enjoy our talks, I’m here because I have a job for you. There’s a group of, let’s call them very special ponies, in Ponyville that could uses the skills of a scribe and messenger.”

“Celestia, are you sending me away?”

“Of course not. It’s just that I have reason to believe that your destiny lies with this group. Because, you see, one of their number is responsible for your birth. Her name is Twilight Sparkle. She experienced a magic surge when she gained her cutie mark. During that surge your egg hatched. In a way, you could call her your mother.”

“Twilight Sparkle!? You mean the one pony disaster!?”

“Spike! You know better than to listen to gossip. None of that was her fault.”

“She turned her family into plants!”

“Yes, and the royal mages fixed them. She was eight years old. It wasn’t her fault.”

“She has explosive outbursts of magic every day.”

“Yes, she has a problem with magic buildup, but that’s because she’s overtaxing herself with those foolish magic purges of her’s and, if she would stop doing them, her magic would settle down in a few weeks.”

“But she’s always wearing that…”

“Spike! Yes, Twilight has her problems, but nothing a good friend or twelve can’t help her with. Will you at least come with me and meet her?”

“Fine,” said Spike with all the emotion of a child being told to eat his vegetables.

“Good. Fellow me to the carriage.”

Megumi entered Glory’s fashion studio in Manehatten. Dresses of all kinds and shapes hung around the shop. There were dresses with wing holes. There were dresses that went all the way around the barrel and dresses held on only at the neck. There was even was a dress designed for a pony of Princess Celestia’s stature.

“Welcome to Glory’s Glories, where everything is fashionable, trendy and made to order. I’m Topstitch. I will be your tailor today. Do you want to look around or do you already know what you want?” said a green mare with a cinnamon brown mane and a sewing needle cutie mark.

“Um, actually I’m here to see Rarity.”

“Oh. Just a moment.” Topstitch walked to a door in the back of the shop.

A minute later a very light platinum gray mare with a curly amethyst purple mane walked out. The mare’s cutie mark was of three light cerulean diamonds. Her tail was the same shade of purple as her mane and styled into a corkscrew. She walked with a grace and elegance all her own. The mare’s eyes were a deep, almost jewel like shade of blue. She was Rarity. “What do you need, darling?” asked Rarity.

“Um, Ponyville move need element harmony.”

“We need to move Ponyville because of harmony elementals? Have you tried Princess Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? I hear they have some of the biggest heads in Equestria. Surely one of them knows about harmony elementals with all that space.”

Megumi giggled.

“Now what do you really need?”

Megumi fidgeted. “Um, you are needed in Ponyville to take up the element of generosity.”

Rarity blinked. “Pardon? What made you think of me for such a task?”

Megumi tapped the bottoms of her fore hooves together. “Because you embody generosity.”

Rarity laughed. “Me, generous? That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. I may have been that naive a long time ago, but I have long since learned it’s everypony for herself in this world.”

“But…”

“Look for another pony, Darling. I have neither the desire nor the qualifications to participate in your little project. And may I recommend trying some place less cosmopolitan, where a pony can hold such ridiculous notions as generosity.”

“But…”

“Good day.” Rarity walked into the back room.

Well that went as well as oil based paint on water color paper. I’m just too shy. Maybe I should ask princess Celestia to-- No, I can do this!... Maybe. I can do this, I’ve just been going about this the wrong way. I just need something to convince Rarity to return to Ponyville. Or somepony! Sweetie Bell! She got Rarity to go camping. She surely can get Rarity to come home. Now all I have to do is ask one of guards to get her one of the big, tall, important royal guards. Megumi approached one of the guards hooked to the royal carriage outside. “Um, can you, um, go to Ponyville and get a filly named Sweetie Bell? If you don’t mind?”

Corporal Iron Horseshoe of the EPU Transport and Escort Division, relaxed his stance, trusting his partner to spot any trouble. “And what should I tell her parents this day trip is for? Miss Nakamura.”

“Oh, right. They will want to know that. Tell them it’s to get their elder daughter to come home.”

“Ok.” Corporal Iron Horseshoe unhooked himself and flew off at top speed.

This had been an interesting day for Sweetie Bell: first she met Nightmare Moon in pony, then the leaser of her family’s dress shop had apparently gone bald overnight and was leaving, and now she was on her way to Manehatten to bring her sister home. Why the Crown wanted her sister back in Ponyville was apparently classified. The Corporal that Sweetie was riding landed next to another royal guard and a black maned mare. “Miss Bell. This is Megumi Nakamura. She is the mare in charge of getting your sister to Ponyville.”

Sweetie Bell looked at the blushing unicorn mare. “You work for Princess Celestia?”

Megumi tapped her hooves together. “I guess, it’s more of a cooperative thing.”

Corporal Iron Horseshoe cleared his throat. “Maybe, we should get to why you wanted Miss Bell.”

“Oh, right. I need to, um, use your, ah, sisterly wiles to convince Rarity to return home.”

“Fine. But I want a chocolate hay bar,” said Sweetie Bell.

Megumi looked toward Corporal Horseshoe. “It’s a candy bar. It’s popular with fillies.”

“I guess it’s ok. As long as your parents agree, I will get you one,” said Megumi.

“Yes! Now where’s Rarity?” asked Sweetie Bell.

“In there.” Megumi pointed to Glory’s Glories.

Sweetie Bell ran inside and screamed “RARITY!”

Rarity poked her head out of the back room. “What the—Sweetie Bell!?”
Sweetie Bell tackled hugged Rarity. “Big Sis!”

“Sweetie, what are you doing here?”

Sweetie let go and made huge puppy dog eyes. “Big Sis, when are you coming home?”

“Sweetie, I’m not. I live here now.”

“But I-I don’t see you a-anymore,” said Sweetie.

“Please understand, my work is here in Manehatten.”

Sweetie put her forehooves on Rarity. “But you gotta come home, You gotta.”

“But-“

“Please.”

“But-“

“Pretty please.”

“But-“

“Pretty please with a cherry on top.”

“Sweetie Bell! My work is here! This is my home now.”

Sweetie ran out of the shop and straight into Megumi. Sweetie stepped back and rubbed her right hoof over her left. “I tried but…”

Megumi sighed. “I don’t suppose you have any ideas?”

“Hm. She’s staying here because of her job right?”

Megumi nods.

“Well, the leaser of Carousel Boutique left town after that incident with her hair. What if we offered Rarity her own shop?”

“Your family owns Carousel Boutique?”

“Well, it’s technically Auntie Sparkler’s, but Mom and Dad have been managing it for her ever since she moved out here.”

“I couldn’t help but overhear. But Sparkler’s old shop is available?” said a white mare. The mare had an elegant royal purple mane with a sapphire blue stripe that swept around one side of her face. Her cutie mark was of a silver five-pointed star with a violet tail that sparkled as she moved. “I’m Glory, the owner of Glory’s Glories and friendly rival of Sparkler.” Glory turned to Sweetie bell. “You wouldn’t happen to be Sparkler’s niece and Rarity’s sister, Sweetie Bell, would you?”

Sweetie nods.

Glory turned to Megumi. “And you are?”

“Megumi Nakamura,” said Megumi softly.

“And why are you two talking about Sparkler’s old shop in front of my establishment?”

Sweetie stepped forward. “We’re trying to get my sister to come home because…” Sweetie turned to Megumi. “Why are we trying to get her home for anyways?”

“Um, because Princess Celestia and the others thought it was a good idea,” said Megumi.

“Princess Celestia! Why does Princess Celestia care about a designer in my employ?”

“Um, I am not sure I can say. It may be a state secret. Sorry.”

“So if Rarity went to Ponyville, would she have time to operate Carousel Boutique in addition to her work for the Princess?”

Megumi nods. “Yes, the job would take very little of her time but would require her to be in Ponyville.”

“Just a second, I will go tell Rarity the news.” Glory walked into her shop.

Thirty minutes later. Rarity walked out of Glory’s glories and over to Megumi. “So you represent the crown? And this project you’re working on is under her authority?”

“Sorta. She knows about it and supports it, but my friends came up with it.”

“Hmm. I will go with you, but I can’t guarantee I will be able to use this, this generosity thing.”

“Oh thank you!” Megumi grabbed Rarity’s hoof. Megumi let go. “Sorry.”

Alex and Faith were walking through the Fillydelphia racetrack when Faith spotted a cerulean blue mare with a windswept rainbow mane and tail. She wore a deep sky blue vest which left only one of her wings visible. Her legs had the muscles of professional race horse.

Faith ran towards Rainbow Dash. “Rainbow Dash!”

“Hey there, kiddo. I’m guessing you want an autograph?”

Faith shook her head. “We’re here to bring you to your destiny.”

Rainbow Dash blinked. “My destiny?”

“Uh huh. You need to go to Ponyville and become the Element of Loyalty.”

“Element of what now?”

Alex finally caught up with her sister. “Faith, You’re confusing her. But my sister is right. The fate of Equestria could rest in you coming to Ponyville and taking up the mantle of the Element of Loyalty. I don’t understand it all myself but you are one of six people—“

“Ponies!” said Faith.

“Six ponies, whatever, that are destined to wield a rainbow shooting super weapon.”

“The Elements Of Harmony Aren’t A Weapon! They’re the most powerful magic known to pony kind!” Faith’s eyes landed on Rainbow Dash’s Lighting Bolt cutie mark. “That’s your cutie mark!?”

“And what’s wrong with her cutie mark?” asked Alex

“It’s the wrong one, that’s what! It supposed to be a rainbow colored lightning bolt and cloud!”

“So she doesn’t have the same cutie mark, big deal.”

“It Is A Big Deal! It Means Her Destiny Is Messed Up!”

“Ah, ya we already knew that.”

“No, not her destiny, her Destiny!”

Alex turned to Rainbow Dash. “Are you following any of this?”

“Sort of. Listen, kid, your cutie mark is what you make of it, it doesn’t define who you are.”

“That wasn’t what you said when you had Fluttershy’s cutie mark,” said Faith.

“That because… Ok, now I’m officially lost. What’s the kid talking about?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“Let’s put it this way. My little sister is familiar with an alternate version of your life. Wait. Different cutie mark? Sis, what was that story you were telling me on the way here? Something about Rainbow Dash helping the others gain their cutie marks?”

Faith nodded. “Ya, Rainbow Dash performed her first sonic rainboom, which scared the animals, startled Twilight, led Applejack home, made Pinkie Pie smile, and broke the diamond filled rock, which led to the others gaining their cutie marks.”

“Sonic what now?” said Rainbow Dash.

“How can you not know about the Sonic Rainboom!? You invented it!”

“Except this version of her didn’t. I think we found where to start looking for what went wrong with the main six’s destiny.” Alex handed Faith 5 bits. “Here, why don’t you get us some snacks while I talk to Rainbow?”

Faith dashed off without saying a word.

“Rainbow, I don’t think my sister noticed, but you only have one wing.”

Rainbow sighed. “One of my wings had to be amputated when I was a little filly.”

“What happened, if you don’t mind me asking?”

“I got cocky. I was racing and going faster than I should’ve been and I crash-landed in a forest. Both my wings were messed up pretty bad. They managed to save one but the other… I’ve been stuck on the ground ever since.”

“Oh, sorry.”

“It’s ok. It happened a long time ago.”

“So, about moving to Ponyville?”

“Sure, it’s a while before my next race. It could be fun to hang out some place new.”

Charity’s chariot landed in front of what looked like a large house. Charity went up to the door and knocked. A minute later a brown middle aged earth pony opened the door and asked, “I’m Stardancer. May I help you?”

“Ya, is there a mare named Fluttershy here?”

“Yes, there is. She is currently in the back caring for the center’s animals. But a word of warning: she has a justified fear of stallions, even the mention of them can—“

“RUBY!” screamed a voice that Charity recognized as Fluttershy’s.

Stardancer rubbed her head with her hoof. “What is that little filly doing this time? Come on, we better go see.”

Charity followed Stardancer out to the back of the shelter. She saw Fluttershy on the roof, apparently afraid to come down. Fluttershy was a yellow Pegasus mare with a carnation pink mane. On her flank was a trio of pink butterflies that looked like they wanted to be anywhere but there, but couldn’t leave (because they were actually part of Fluttershy). Fluttershy was holding a yellow unicorn filly with rose pink hair held with a black headband.

“I’m guessing the little unicorn is Ruby,” said Charity.

“Yes, that would be Fluttershy’s little trouble maker. That little filly wants to watch everypony work so she can find her special talent and earn her cutie mark.”

“Fluttershy’s, but she’s—“ Suddenly the phrase ‘justified fear of stallions’ ran though Charity’s head. “She wasn’t.”

“I’m afraid so. Why, if I ever had gotten my hands on the stallion that done it, well let’s just say he wouldn’t have any need for a mare anymore!”

Charity flinched at what the older mare was threatening but couldn’t blame her. Charity flew up to the roof and landed next to Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, would you let me take Ruby down?”

Fluttershy slowly nodded and released her tight grip on Ruby.

Charity laid down on the roof and let Ruby climb on. “Now hold tight.” Charity felt Ruby wrap her fore hooves around her neck. Charity choose a gentle glide path down to the ground, stopping only when her passenger decided that hopping down to the ground from one and half mare heights was faster and was caught by her speeding mother.

“Ruby, don’t do things like that! You could’ve broken a leg!” said Fluttershy.

“I’m sorry, Fluttershy. If I’d known she would do that I would’ve strapped her to my back,” said Charity.

“It’s not your fault. Ruby doesn’t know her limits sometimes.”

“How can I know my limits? Mom won’t let me test any of them,” pouted Ruby.

“She just doesn’t want you to be hurt,” said Charity.

“I wouldn’t have been hurt. The worst that could’ve happened is that I sprained my hoof.”

“Should I be worried that she seems to speak from experience?” asked Charity.

“Yes, very worried,” said Fluttershy. “And that’s not the worst that could’ve happened, Ruby. You could’ve landed badly and fractured a bone. You don’t want to be stuck in bed for two months again do you?”

“No.” Ruby pouted.

“Anyway, Fluttershy,” said Charity, “I am here to extend a personal invite from Celestia to move to Ponyville, I’m sure with your skill with animals and Ponyville being on the edge of the Everfree Forest you could find a job.”

“Ponyville! As in outside where they are, no I couldn’t. I mean I’m honored but…”

“Please, Fluttershy. There a cottage on the edge of town you can use, and I’m sure there will be a mare or five willing to get you anything you might need from town. Please. Equestria needs your help.”

“Please, Mom can we go?” asked Ruby with the biggest puppy dog eyes Charity ever seen.

“Ok, but could we maybe go at night when they are asleep?” said Fluttershy.

“No need. I came by royal chariot pulled by female guard ponies.”

Ruby started bouncing. “There are female royal guard ponies?”

“Yes, there are, and if you are good and stay inside the carriage you can watch them as the transport us to Ponyville.”

Ruby zipped around the shelter for a second before returning. “They’re pegasi.”

“How did you think they were going to fly us though the air?”

“FLY!” screamed Fluttershy.

Oh, right. Fluttershy is afraid of heights, thought Charity. She said, “How can you be afraid of heights? You lived in Cloudsdale, where if you fell you’d—fall onto a cloud! Is that it? You’re afraid of hitting the ground?”

Fluttershy nods.

“Stardancer, can you secure Ruby to the chariot while I see if I can find a suitable cloud.”

An hour later Charity, Fluttershy and Fluttershy’s pet, a big black bat with white eyebrows and two fangs named Fluffy, were on a speeding cloud powered by Fluttershy’s wings, following Ruby in the royal carriage. Originally Charity had been pushing the cloud, but found her wings weren’t yet ready for long distance flight yet, so she took a break on the cloud, letting the royal guard pulling the carriage go ahead. But Fluttershy decided she was more afraid of what could happen to her daughter (Or what trouble said daughter could get into) than falling off, so she started powering the cloud forward with her wings while hugging it from above. Charity joined in as soon as her wings recovered. Soon they were descending toward Fluttershy’s new home.

As soon as the carriage touched the ground, Ruby jumped off and started exploring her new home.

Private Pansy (she was named for the founder and with her family’s military tradition it was likely at some point that she would be a private) unhooked herself and followed the filly. It wasn’t the first time is she had ended up as a glorified babysitter. At least this time it wasn’t a diplomat, or a noble, or Prince Blueblood.

Charity and Fluttershy disembarked the cloud. Meanwhile Fluffy went inside and found a nice rafter to nap on until sunset.

Charity cleared her throat. “Fluttershy, um, There’s something I think you need to know about me. Celestia told me she thinks I’m bi-gender, which means I’m a mare as well as a stallion.”

“You have both…” Fluttershy pointed to Charity’s backside.

“No. I’m physically a mare, but I didn’t start out like that. I was born a colt, but I had a magical accident. And well, I gained a female body.”

“I don’t understand. Wouldn’t that make you a mare?”

“Why would…? Oh, John’s still around, I’m just here now too.”

“John?”

“My male side. Maybe it’s easier to show you. Come on. He’s at the Golden Oaks Library. Oh, and don’t worry, I will be beside you the whole way, and he knows to keep his distance.”

Fluttershy looked down and thought. “Ok.” Fluttershy raised her head and said “Ruby.”

Ruby ran from inside the cottage. “Yes, mother.”

“We’re heading to the library now.”

“Library? Ugh, do they at least have Daring Do?”

Charity stepped forward. “I’m sure they do, and even if they don’t, Alex’s little sister and Spike are your age and should be there soon.”

“Spike?” asked Ruby Rose.

“A little baby dragon.”

“Baby Dragon!” chorused mother and daughter together. Ruby put more emphasis on ‘dragon’, while her mother put more on ‘baby’.

Ruby ran ahead. “Mom, come on.”

Fluttershy looked at Ruby and then at Charity with concerned eyes.

“Don’t worry Fluttershy. Spike is the kindest gentlest dragon you ever will meet, just don’t tell him that.”

The two older mares followed the filly, correcting her whenever she went the wrong way.

Thirty minutes later they arrived at the Golden Oaks Library. Inside, John was on the far side of the room.

“Fluttershy, meet my male half, John.”

John bowed. Wait a second. Did I just? Well I guess a little formality could help Fluttershy be comfortable around me. But I just instinctively did it.

“H-Hello,” said Fluttershy.

Meanwhile Ruby spotted something very important. “You’re a unicorn!”

John stood up. “Uh, ya. Don’t tell me you’ve never met another unicorn before?”

Ruby looked down and swung her left forehoof. “Not any willing to teach me magic.” Ruby looked straight at John with the biggest puppy dog eyes he had ever seen. “Please teach me magic.”

“I can’t. I sort of need to learn it myself.”
Ruby’s eyes returned to normal and she looked away. “Nightmare Moon’s Sharp Teeth!” Ruby swore.

Fluttershy stared at Ruby and her mouth hung open for a second. “Ruby, where did you learn such language!?”

“From Trixie.”

“I will have to have a talk with Miss Lulamoon when she’s in town again. Ruby. we don’t swear, especially about N-Nightmare M-Moon and her pony gobbling teeth.”

John and Charity stepped toward Ruby. “Your mother’s right. You shouldn’t swear by Princess Luna’s dark side. It could hurt her feelings,” said the twins in such perfect sync that it sounded like one pony talking out of two mouths.

Ruby looked between John and Charity. “Cool. Are you the shadow pony?”

“The what?”

Fluttershy shivered. “Ruby, don’t you d-dare. The s-shadow pony is just a story. One Firefly shouldn’t’ have never told you.”

“Aw, but it’s a good one. You should’ve seen the faces of the other fillies when Firefly was done.”

“Ghost story?” asked Charity.

Fluttershy nodded rapidly.

John stepped back. “Anyway, the meeting should start soon. Are you ok with me down here or should I head upstairs?”

Fluttershy jumped back and glued her eyes to John. “U-Upstairs, please.”

Awhile later the main six and the humans turned ponies were inside the Ponyville Public Library.

Just then Princess Celestia and Spike walked through the door. “I hope I haven’t kept you waiting long.”

Everypony in the room bowed.

“Please. That’s not necessary. I’m here for you.”

Ya, and you need the elements and Twilight Sparkle up and running as a safety net, thought Sophia.

“Now why doesn’t everypony introduce themselves.”

The instructions went smoothly until Ruby introduced Fluttershy as her ‘mom’.

“MOM!?” said Brenda, Faith, Libby, Sophia, and Rainbow Dash.

Fluttershy blushed.

Rainbow Dash struggled to form words. “But she’s… But we were in flight camp together, so you’re… How the hay does a seventeen year old mare have a seven year old filly?”

“Not by choice,” said Ruby.

Everypony stared at Ruby.

“What?”

“How the hay do you know that?” asked Applejack.

Ruby rolled her eyes. “I’ve been around battered mares and therapists my entire life. I know what rape is.”

Fluttershy blushed redder.

“What is Rape?” asked Faith.

“Mom will tell you when you are older,” said Alex.

“Is it like where babies come from or the sounds from mom and dad’s bed—“

“YES!”

“Spike, why don’t you introduce yourself,” said Princess Celestia.

Spike shook himself out of staring at the beautiful white unicorn whose name meant ‘blessing of the middle village’ in Japanese, but Spike thought it sounded better in its native tongue. Spike bowed to his love, Megumi Nakamura. “Watashi wa supaikudoragon, Canterlot no kyūtei no byōtōdesu. Anata wa, utsukushī mujitsu to kyōryokuna joseidesu.

Megumi blushed.

“Um, in Equestrian, please,” said Rainbow Dash.
Spike rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’m Spike the dragon, ward of the royal court of Canterlot.”

“And I’m Celestia Sunbringer and I like feeling the first rays of dawn on my coat. Now as to why you are all here, there has been a change in time. Because of that change new heroes were required to wield the Elements of Harmony and save my sister. But these heroes come from a far off land, a land that they wish to return to. In the land they come from we were naught but fiction. So they gathered the heroes from the story they knew. And this is where the rest of you come in. You are those heroes.”

“So, I’m going to save Equestria. COOL!” said Ruby Rose.

“Um, no,” said Charity. “That’s your mother’s job. You didn’t exist in the timeline we saw. But who knows what’ll happen when you’re older.”

“Aww, I was hoping to get my cutie mark saving Equestria.”

“Don’t worry little one, your cutie mark will come in time,” said Princess Celestia. “Is there anything else that needs to be discussed before we finish?”

Alex stepped forward. “Ya, I think me and my sister identified where and how the timeline changed. When Rainbow Dash was racing the bullies teasing Fluttershy she crash-landed instead of doing a sonic rainboom. Does that seem right to everyone?”

“Um, how does somethin’ in Rainbow’s past affect us all?” asked Applejack.

“Because her rainboom led to you gaining your cutie marks,” said Faith.

The main six blinked.

“Listen, it was through a series of coincidences. It will be easier if we just ask some questions. Rarity what happened with the rock your horn led you to?” asked Charity.

“Oh, that old thing, nothing. I suppose it’s still up there.”

“So how did you get your cutie mark?”

“It was just after I had moved to Manehattan with my Aunt Sparkler. I was working on my first piece when my horn pulled me toward a jewelry store where I found the perfect bracelets to compliment to the dress I was making. I ran back to Sparkler, and together we bought those bracelets and finished that dress. The next day a filly bought that dress and I gained my cutie mark.”

“Twilight, what happened with the exam to get into Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns? The first one if there was more than one.”

“Um, I, ah… I failed OK! The only reason I got in was because I was too dangerous to leave untrained!”

Princess Celestia stepped forward. “Is that what you think?”

“I turned my parents into plants. What else could it be?”

“Twilight, you passed.”

“But I didn’t hatch the egg.”

“Actually you did, but that’s beside the point. That was a test of character. It was to see how the student reacts when faced with something they can’t do. Didn’t they explain that when you were accepted?”

Twilight scratched the back of her head. “They may have but I was sort of mana depleted and loopy at the time.”

“Moving on. Fluttershy, what happened after the racers knocked you to the ground?” asked Charity.

Fluttershy spoke in a voice so quiet that any sound would’ve drowned it out. “I played with the animals for a while until one of the camp counselors found me and we went back up to camp.”

“And you didn’t get your cutie mark?”

“That happened later. Well, I… I sort of snuck down to the ground then he… after that I hid in the Everfree Forest. The next day I found an injured ursa minor, I helped it and my cutie mark must have shown up sometime after that because the next time I looked butterflies were there.”

“Wait, you lived in the Everfree Forest?”

“For 2 months.”

“Applejack, um, when was the race anyways?”

“August 8, 991 afternoon,” said Rainbow Dash.

“So what happened to you the afternoon of August 8, 991?”

“You expect me to remember what happened on a random date eight years ago?” said Applejack.

“Ooo, ooo, I know, I know, I was rotating the rocks from the south field to the east field,” said Pinkie.

“How the hay do you know that?” said Applejack

Pinkie shrugged. “It’s what my family does that time of year every year.”

“I’m guessing you didn’t return home around that time, Applejack,” said Charity.

“Nope.”

“And I’m guessing you didn’t throw your first party around that time, Pinkie?”

“My first party was earlier today, silly,” said Pinkie.

“Earlier today? Pinkie when was your first smile?”

“Why it was today. See there was this column of light that exploded into rainbows just before sunrise.”

“Column of light? Sunrise? Are you telling us your first smile was just after we cured Luna?”

“Fate works in mysterious ways, my little pony. But in this case I don’t think it was just fate. The elements acted out your will, your full will. And while they couldn’t reach out and heal everypony they could give Miss Pie something to smile about,” said Princess Celestia.

“So what now? I mean I’m going to help run Sweet Apple Acres, but how do I handle these here elements things?” asked Applejack.

“You need to embody the virtue you represent. For Applejack, honesty, Rarity, generosity, Fluttershy, kindness, Rainbow Dash, loyalty, Pinkamena Pie, Laugher, and finally Twilight Sparkle, you are the element of magic,” said Celestia.

Suddenly Cloudy Quartz dashed inside the tree. “Pinkamena Diane Pie Stop This At Once And Come Home!”

“Mom? What’s wrong?” asked Pinkie.

“Pinkamena you’re too young to go forming herds with mares you hardly know.”

“Mom, what are you talking about? I’m not herding with anypony.”

“You’re not? Then what are you – We need to teach that girl to choose her words more carefully. So, what is the destiny your sister was talking about?”

“Being the Element of Laugher and making friends, silly.”

“Mom, what’s herding?” asked Ruby Rose.

“Um, well, it’s…” said Fluttershy.

“It’s an archaic term for family coming from an old earth pony tradition,” said Twilight.

“Artwhatic?” said Ruby.

“Archaic, it means an old or outdated term for something.”

“But if it’s outdated why is Pinkie’s mom using it?”

“Because it refers to a specific kind of family. Your mother will tell you more about it when you’re older.”

“No, the kid’s right. If Pinkie was with Brenda she wouldn’t have been herding, she would’ve…” said Rainbow Dash.

“RAINBOW!” said Twilight.

“What? I was going to say dating. She would’ve been dating Brenda.”

The ponies started to leave the library and go their separate ways. Ruby was dragging her mother because Spike wasn’t as cool as she thought he would be.

Author's Note

Charity and John are a mix of Trans* and a Gender Bender. The term Celestia uses Bigender is appropriate for them because while they are 99% the same there's a 1% difference between them. I.E lines or actions that feel more appropriate for one than the other.
Spike's crush on Megumi is basically for difference sake, I have nothing against Spike/Rarity I just can't think of anything new to do with it. But change his crush to a radically different unicorn and everything is new again. Especially because Megumi knows he could have had a crush on Rarity and has to wonder what she has that Rarity doesn't.

10/14/2015: minor edit to better fit a background change.

4/14/2019: corrected Rarity reference to her aunt.

Stories of Ponyville

The next day all of the humans turned ponies were gathered in Twilight’s library where most of them had stayed the night.

Two days after Luna’s return, all of the humans turned ponies were gathered in Twilight’s library, where most of them had stayed the night.

The last to arrive, Libby walked into the library. “Ok, first order of business: Get out of Twilight’s library and into our own homes. Second: you all need jobs.”

“What about fixing the main 6?” asked Charity.

“Remember what Celestia said, we should be careful about acting on our knowledge of My Little Pony,” said Sophia.

Charity responded back with, “Ya, but you can’t dispute that the main 6 have problems. Like Rainbow Dash’s missing wing or Fluttershy’s, uh, problems.”

“Rainbow Dash’s wing is fixable. But can you honestly say you are qualified to help Fluttershy?” asked Sophia

“I can be a good friend,” replied Charity.

“Exactly,” said Sophia. “That’s what we need to focus on, being friends with these ponies, who we honestly don’t know that much about. Not fixing them.”

The humans turned ponies looked at each other. Alex asked, “So any ideas of how to get jobs, guys?”

“You can try the career center at town hall,” said Libby. “Mark Matcher was the one who told me Sweet Apple Acres was looking for workers. Meanwhile since I already have work, in the short term as least, I will look into what kinds of homes are available.”

The ponies headed out.

The humans turned ponies (minus Libby) woke Twilight and found Pinkie Pie (the only two of main six to not already have a job). Then all eight ponies headed for the town hall career center. Inside they found a job board filled with little jobs like lawn mowing but there were also jobs like baker at Sugar Cube Corner.

Behind the desk was a green unicorn mare. Her cutie mark was a set of post-it notes with names of jobs like baker or actor. “Hello, my name is Mark Matcher. What can I do for you?”

Twilight stepped forward. “Um, we are here for jobs.”

“What work have you been doing?” asked Mark Matcher.

“These would be our first jobs, I think,” said Twilight. The others nodded.

Mark Matcher pulled out a clipboard and quill. “Ok, then let’s start with what your cutie marks mean.”

“PARTIES!” screamed Pinkie Pie.

“And can you think of a way to make money with that talent?” asked Mark Matcher.

“Um, ah,” said Pinkie Pie.

“How about charging for a party planning service?” asked Mark Matcher.

“CHARGING FOR A PARTY! Are you crazy!?” asked Pinkie.

Mark Matcher wrote a line on the clipboard then said, “It just an idea. But maybe we’ll turn up other skills you could use. Next.”

Twilight went next. “Um, my cutie mark means magic but I’m a little too good at it. I have trouble controlling my abilities.”

“Do you have theoretical knowledge to back up that talent?” asked Mark Matcher.

Twilight nodded. “Yes, I studied at Celestia’s school for gifted unicorns and I am a licensed journeyman wizard and I just have to master a couple more schools and create a new spell to get my masters.”

Mark Matcher made a note on her clipboard. “Those are impressive credentials, Miss Sparkle.”

Twilight blushed. “Thank you.”

“However, we don’t have many callings for master mages around here. You may have to try other cities,” said Mark Matcher.

“But I need a job here!” Twilight panicked. “If I don’t get a job in Ponyville—“

Sophia put her right hoof on Twilight’s muzzle. “Relax, you have other talents. You have organization skills and you know libraries, right? Miss Mark Matcher, is there a librarian position open?” Sophia lowered her hoof.

“Ya, the caretaker of Golden Oak Library just retired, so the position is open,” said Mark Matcher. “Does that sound like something you like to do?”

“I guess,” said Twilight.

“Then I will get the forms you need to fill out after we’re done here. Ok, what about the rest of you?” asked Mark Matcher.

“Um, the rest of us are not sure what they mean. We didn’t have them until a couple days ago,” answered Charity.
“Guess then. They are your cutie marks, they should have meaning for you,” said Mark Matcher.

Charity looked back at her cutie mark. “Ok, a broken heart with a bandage. Healing broken hearts?”

Mark Matcher took some notes. “Sounds like you would be a good fit for the therapist position down at Ponyville hospital.”

“WHAT!?” screamed Charity. “I’m not qualified for that kind of work.”

“You would be surprised, but yes, your work load will probably be geared to your experience. And you?” said Mark Matcher, pointing to Sophia.

“I like reading but also I’m good with books. Like for example I know the Dewey Decimal and Library of Congress library organization systems by heart.”

“And how are you with ponies?” asked Mark Matcher.

Sophia thought a bit then said, “Um, I guess I come off a little cold sometimes, but that’s because I don’t like being emotional. However when the subject is intellectual instead of emotional I think I do well.”

Mark Matcher wrote on the clipboard then said, “Sounds like you are a better fit for town librarian than Twilight.”

“But—“ Charity cut in.

Sophia held up a hoof. “The job will go to whoever is better qualified; I will make sure of it. And it’s not like either one us cannot get another job.”

“Next, you.” Mark Matcher pointed at Brenda.

“Ok, cheerleading pom-pom. Well the obvious is cheerleading. Ponyville doesn’t happen to have a hoofball team does it?”
“Not as such. But you’re thinking too literally, not surprising for an earth pony,” said Mark Matcher.

Pinkie Pie zipped in front of Mark Matcher. “Hey, what do mean for an Earth Pony!?”

“I meant no offence, Miss Pie,” Mark Matcher replied. “Earth Ponies tend to think in concrete terms because that’s what they deal with on a day to day basis. So Brenda, can you think of any other meanings for your Cutie Mark?”

“A cheerleading pom-pom.” Brenda thought a moment. “Well, it’s soft and doesn’t have definite form. The act of cheerleading is rousing the crowd to cheer. So it has to do with emotions like my sister’s but in a different way. And none of this seems related to a job.”

“That’s ok,” said Mark Matcher. “Not everypony gets a job related to their cutie mark. What skills do you have?”

“Let’s see,” said Brenda, “I do stand up and/or improvisational comedy at talent shows. I can tumble, cheer, cheerlead and sing; I am also good at non-sequiturs and herding cats. Only cats.”

“I don’t think anypony needs any cats herded,” replied Mark Matcher, “but the Pony Tones are looking for a fourth member, you wouldn’t happen to be a Soprano?”

Brenda nods.

“Torch Song lives off Rohan road. Just pass the Shire. If you reach Mordor you’ve gone too far. Ok, now you.” Mark Matcher pointed at Alex.

“Ok, a basketball. Well, I do like to play but that’s because my friends played. Oh, wait it’s a team sport. So, I like being a part of a team. But it also competitive—“

“That’s enough,” said Mark Matcher. “There is such a thing as over analyzing your cutie mark. Would you call yourself an athlete?”

“I guess,” replied Alex.

“Are you good at picking up physical skills?” asked Mark Matcher. “I mean are you good at wide range of physical activities?”

Alex nodded.

“Are you an outdoors person? More specifically, do you mind rain?” asked Mark Matcher.

“Well, I don’t like wet clothes, which isn’t exactly a problem anymore,” said Alex. “But yes, I am an outdoors person.”

“You might do well with weather work. I’ll introduce to the overseer after this. Finally you, little filly.” Mark Matcher pointed toward Megumi.

“Um. It’s an optical illusion and I am artistic, so skill with illusions?”

“Yes, that is very possible,” said Mark Matcher. “Unfortunately I don’t know of any opening calling for that skill. We will look at your other skills but your best path might be to go into business for yourself.”

“Myself!? I couldn’t… I wouldn’t… I can’t…” Megumi fainted.

“Pinkie, why don’t you stay here with Megumi and see if Mark Matcher has any more ideas for you two,” said Sophia.

Charity and John entered the Ponyville hospital lobby and walked up to the receptionist. He was a silver pegasus with a short blue mane.

“Um, hi, Mark Matcher referred me here for a therapist job but I don’t have experience or training.” said Charity.

The receptionist glanced at Charity’s cutie mark then, back at John’s. “You two just out of school and looking for your first job or something?”

“Yes, something like that.”

“Ok, you are little older than normal but there isn’t that much training before you are this age anyways. You want to see Doctor Sound Mind he’ll get you set up with training. His office is down that way, room 151.” The receptionist pointed to the right.

John and Charity said, “thank you,” and walked down the hall.

A couple minutes later John and Charity found the right room and stepped into the open door. Room 151 was a therapist’s office with all that applied. The room was decorated in calming earth tones. On the opposite wall was a sliding glass door that lead out to a secluded grove of trees, even from where she was, Charity could see the grove was surrounded on all sides by hedges. By the sliding glass door was an opaque beige curtain that could be slid across the door. The books on the book shelf on the right hand wall ran from things like ‘How to Listen’ to ‘Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders’.

Over by a wooden filing cabinet was a mature gray unicorn stallion. Charity guessed he was Doctor Sound Mind. His face was starting to get wrinkles like those on a kindly grandfather. Charity could tell Sound Mind’s mane and tail had once been blue but was now silver with only the most subtle blue highlights. His cutie mark was of a brain. Sound Mind looked up from the magazine he was reading and spotted Charity by the door. “Oh, guests. Come in, come in.”

Charity and John stepped inside Sound Mind’s office.

“I’m Doctor Sound Mind. Now what brings you two to me?” asked Sound Mind.

John rubbed his left forehoof with his right. “We are looking for a job. Mark Matcher directed us to the hospital for a therapist job then the hospital receptionist directed me to you. I don’t have any training or experience but I am eager to learn.”

“And what about your sister?” asked Sound Mind.

“How did you know I had a sister? And what does Brenda have to do with a job here?” asked John and Charity together.

“I meant this little filly here.” Sound Mind pointed at Charity.

Charity rubbed her head. “Oh, Right. Everything John said applies to me as well because we are sort of the same pony. Doctor Horse might be able to explain it better.”

Sound Mind blinked. “Oh, you are the one patient that became two. Ok, we’ll have you two fill out some paper work. Then we’ll spend a week making sure your reflective listening skills are up to snuff then we’ll have you visiting patients.”

Charity raised her right hoof. “Not to tell you how to do your job, but shouldn’t I have more training than that before I see my first patient.”

“Patients in the general care areas,” replied Dr. Sound Mind. “Most of them are mentally sound but could use a listening ear once in a while and if you do run in to some pony who needs real help refer them to me, at least for right now. Who’s knows, in a year or two I may be referring clients to you.”

“I think it going to be awhile before that happens,” said John and Charity.

A dark gray coated earth pony stallion stood on the top of the Ponyville dam looking down the dry, high side. His name was Granite Mine. He was a rock farmer, or at least he was until that incident three years ago. The second daughter of his employers nearly got killed by Timber Wolves, they didn’t blame him but he was the senior worker and he knew she wasn’t the happiest mare and often did the work mechanically.
Ever since then he asked himself what he was doing with his life, he grew rocks which were used to build and decorate the houses of the rich and to make luxury items, for heaven's sake. All the while his fellow ponies were being hurt around him.

So he quit his job and started searching for more meaningful work. But his only marketable skills were in rock farming. So here he was preparing to end his life. He backed up to get a running start on his suicidal jump when--

“HI!” Granite Mine’s vision was filled with two pools of blue in a landscape of pink. “I’m Pinkamena Diane Pie, call me Pinkie Pie. I’m new here,” said the pink blob.

Pinkamena Pie! It’s Her! The mare that nearly got killed by Timber Wolves.

“I saw you up here and you looked lonely. And that was sad. Then I got the greatest idea ever! I’m throwing you a party, then you can meet and talk to a lot of ponies! *Gasp* I recognize you! You worked for my family! This is great! We are going to have so much fun!” Pinkie grabbed Granite and dragged him over the edge he meant to jump off of just seconds ago.

Granite Mine saw the ground rushing at him. SHE GOING TO KILL ME! She’s insane and is going to kill me! Correction she already did I just haven’t died yet. I changed my mind! I Want To Live! Celestia, Nightmare Moon, Discord, Anypony, I swear if I survive this I’ll do whatever you say!

The crazy pink mare beside him pulled a trampoline from her mane and threw it down on the ground. Pinkie and Granite bounced off the trampoline. “Weee~” went Pinkie. She dragged Granite into town and to the one party he would remember for the rest of his life.
After the party he went back to the Pie family rock farm and begged for his old job back. After all he did swear his life to whoever saved him, and they did even if indirectly by giving birth to that pink mare and if he had to choose between a dull life as a rock farmer or a life near the powderkeg Pinkamena had become he’d choose rock farming every time.

Alex and Mark Matcher walked into Storm Cloud’s office. Storm Cloud was a middle aged pegasus stallion. His coat was a dark gray. He had a midnight black mane. On his flank were three lightning bolts from a white cloud. He was skimming one document before going to the next from his desk at a rapid pace.

“Storm Cloud, this Alex. She wants to see if weather work is for her,” said Mark Matcher.

He set down his latest document and looked at Alex. “Hm, I can always use another worker. Do you have any experience with weather work?”

Storm Cloud’s voice sounded like her old coach at his most serious, so Alex responded the same way she would to him. “No, sir. But willing to learn, sir.”

“Your training should take a couple of weeks, during which you will only get half pay,” said Storm Cloud. “Dependability is the most important quality in this line of work, so be on time and do exactly what I and the other members to the team tell you.”

Alex nodded once strongly.

Storm got up from his desk. “Ok, let’s get you started on the cloud handling course.”

Two hours later Alex was getting the hang of weather work (actually she got hang of it in an hour but practice makes perfect and Storm Cloud did say to keep running though the course until he came back).

As Storm Cloud was coming out to teach Alex cloud busting, an autumn orange pegasus mare entered the yard.

“Storm, we have a windigo,” said the orange pegasus.

Storm rubbed his head. “That’s the third one this month. Tell the mayor it’s time for a town meeting, we need to find the source.”

Alex stopped her cloud and came down. “Is there any way I can help?”

“The best way you can help is by staying out of the way. You aren’t ready to take down a windigo yet,” said Storm.

“What if I tell the mayor about the windigo?” asked Alex. “That will clear up another of your already trained workers to handle it.”

Storm thought a moment. “Ok, stay on the ground though. Tell the mayor that we need a town meeting about the windigos then stop by the hospital and tell them to expect casualties.”

“Mayor, town meeting, windigo, then hospital, expect casualties, got it,” repeated Alex.

Storm Cloud and the orange pegasus flew off.

Alex dashed towards town hall.

Forty-five minutes later, Alex was on the way back to the weather station to wait for Storm Cloud to return. When she saw a bunch of pegsi chasing a white transparent horse whose body ended in wispy smoke behind its fore-hooves.

Is that the Windigo? thought Alex.

The Windigo turned its head and released a bluish white beam. As the beam cleared Alex could see little pieces of fog.

Fog? It froze the air!

Alex’s conclusion was verified when it released the beam again and hit one of the pegsi, turning him white with frost. The chilled pegsi fell out of the sky.

Alex jumped into action; she jumped into the air and caught the falling stallion.

“Alex, I thought I *cough* told you to stay away,” said Storm Cloud from Alex’s hooves.

“No, time to talk, chief. We need to get you out of here.” Alex flipped Storm onto her back. She turned and flew toward the hospital when a bluish white beam swept across her path. Alex swerved away from where the beam had crossed. “This thing doesn’t seem to want us to leave.”

“Windigos *cough* can feed on the hate of anypony they have frozen.”

“Translation: It’s going to target us until it has frozen us. Ok, where are you trying to get this thing?” Dodge left.

“*cough* Don’t try to be a hero.”

Dodge right. “I’m not, but until we lose this thing we might as well lead it in the right direction.”

“The Everfree, there’s things in there that will chew it up like fruit in a blender. *cough* But don’t enter, there’s things in there that will chew you up.”

“Don’t worry. Sophia told me enough about what we could have faced if we hadn’t planned our trip. I’m in no hurry to go back in there.” Drop down.

“You’ve *cough* been in the Everfree?”

“Ya, long story. I will tell you later. For now, hang on.” Alex flew straight at the forest as she dodged the windigo’s beams. As she neared the forest she dug her hooves in the ground and turned her wings up and into a pair of parachutes. At the very edge of the forest she spun 180 degrees and kicked off a tree and used both her hooves and wings to return to speed. Once her fellow pegsi were between her and the windigo she headed straight for the hospital.

Later Alex was waiting for the one of the doctors to tell her if Storm Cloud would be ok.

A nurse entered the waiting room. “You can see him now.” The Nurse turned and guided Alex to Storm’s room.

Alex approached the bed of the stallion she had known for only a few hours but already liked. “Storm…”

“I told you not to get involved! That was possibly the most foolhardy, idiotic, bravest thing I have ever seen. You saved my life, but don’t think that gets you off the hook. I’m giving you an additional week of training, and that’s after you help me in the office while I get back on my hooves! By the time I’m done with you, you will know Cumulostratus’s compendium of wild weather back to front!”

That afternoon the humans turned ponies, Pinkie and Twilight gathered again in the Golden Oaks Library.

“So, did everypony find work?” asked Sophia.

“Yes, Sound Mind walked me though the basics of reflective listening,” said Charity. “Tomorrow, I will be studying the techniques more in-depth then shadowing nurse Red Heart on one of her rounds to see reflective listening in action, while John will be going to the Ponyville retirement home with Sound Mind.”

“The Apple family still needs help, even with Applejack back, so I still have a job,” said Libby.

“Torch Song said my voice was prefect for Soprano parts,” said Brenda. “Then I got dragged to sugar cube corner by Pinkie. It turns out they need two assistant bakers in the short term due to Mrs. Cake’s pregnancy.”

“My turn, My Turn!” cried Pinkie. “You are looking at the senior assistant baker and head party planner of sugar cube corner. They even had an extra room I could use.”

Alex blushed. “I got extra mandatory training on my first day but I do have a job as a weather pony.”

“Um, I didn’t get one. I will have to try again tomorrow.” whispered Megumi.

Sophia spoke up. “On our end, I technically got the librarian job but at city hall we found there might be a calling for an enchanter here in Ponyville. Although that’s a bit of a misnomer, since most of the spells Twilight will be cast will probably be permanent or lasting, rather than actual enchantments.”

“Ah, what’s the difference between permanent and enchantment spells?” asked John.

Twilight cleared her throat. “Permanent is the natural extension of lasting spells and shares the weaknesses there-of, enchantment—“

“Never mind, I don’t need to know,” said John.

Twilight stomped her right hoof. "You do too need to know. Basic spell theory is something every unicorn needs to know. As I was saying enchantment spells work the magic into the object in question so it is truly permanent—“

Two hours later. “—And that’s the end of basic spell theory. Any questions?”

Everypony except Sophia was having trouble keeping their eyes open.

Sophia was going to raise her hoof but Brenda caught it.

“Why don’t we save that until after we go over housing,” said Brenda. “Libby did you have any luck.”

“Huh, what?” Libby shook her self-awake. “Oh, right. First up is a cloud house, one bedroom but two beds would be easy be fit in. Next is a small studio apartment on the upper east side. The final one is the biggest but also surprisingly cheap, it was built as one story two bedroom home but the last family to live in it added a second story with a third bedroom using cloud construction, needless to say the third bedroom is only useable by pegsi.

“Dibs on the cloud house!” cried Faith.

“Considering you’re the only family that can use it, it’s yours,” said Sophia.

“What about…?” said Faith pointing at Rainbow Dash.

Rainbow flexed her one wing.

“Oh, right,” said Faith.

“I guess me and Brenda are taking the hybrid, considering we are the only family who can use all the bed-rooms and contains a pegsi,” said Charity

Sophia stepped forward. “Fluttershy is taking the animal care taker cottage outside of town; me, Twilight and Spike are settling in to the library; Rarity’s store has bedroom; Applejack is of course is staying with her family and I’m assuming Libby you are still staying at Sweet Apple Acres.”

Libby nodded.

“That leaves Pinkie, Rainbow Dash and Megumi and one small apartment.”

“Megumi can take it. I’ll just find somewhere to crash for now,” said Rainbow Dash.

“Crash but this is your home now,” said Charity.

“Not really. I mean, it seems like a nice place to hang, it sure beats my parent’s house, but I have only been here one day.”

Author's Note

This is the end of the intro arc the rest of the stories are more episodic and the first should be done soon (first pass by editors done, I just need to rewrite and get comments on the changed part). -1/14/2016