Twilight Sparkle trotted in circles around the center pedestal that sat on the first floor of the Golden Oaks Library. It hadn’t been long since she’d become a princess, but she had already received a letter requesting her presence in Canterlot. She was unsure as to what to make of the request, as it was incredibly vague.
“Twilight,” she started rereading the letter for the umpteenth time, “As you are now a princess of Equestria, and have been for some time now, I feel that it is time for you to learn of a secret that only my sister, Luna; Cadance; and I are aware of. I would like you to meet me in Canterlot, alone, in two days.”
“I don’t understand why she wants you alone.” Spike stated as he listened to Twilight and quickly tried to follow her.
“It must be a really big secret.” Twilight mused as she reached the end of the hall and turned back to retrace her steps, Spike quickly scampering afterwards. “Why else would only the princesses know about it?”
“Yeah, but every time that she wants you to do something alone, like save the Crystal Empire, she lets you bring all of us along, and even lets us help. This time, she’s stopping anyone else from even going with you, including me.” Spike replied as he tried to intercept Twilight.
Twilight used her wings to clumsily lift herself over top of Spike and continue on her path. “But this time, it has to do with princess duties, I think… Why else would only the other princesses be aware of the secret?”
“Twilight!” Spike shout, interrupting Twilight’s thoughts and bringing her to a halt.
“What?” she asked as though she had just woken up from sleeping.
“Eat this, and then go to the train station. Your train is leaving in about an hour.” Spike said, giving Twilight a sandwich and urging her back to the door.
“What?” Twilight asked, frozen in place.
“You’ve been pacing here for most of the two days that you were given. I bought you a train ticket and told you yesterday, and that train will be leaving in an hour.” Spike explained. “Go!”
“Oh no!” Twilight gasped, running out the castle doors before turning back to grab the sandwich that Spike had made for her. “Thank you Spike!”
Twilight galloped through the nearly vacant streets of Ponyville, wondering what time it was. As she made her way through the town, she pulled the train ticket out of the saddlebags that Spike had prepared for her. It said that it was for a train at nine in the morning. That would explain why nopony was outside, it was a weekend and so most of Ponyville was sleeping in.
Twilight sat down on a bench in the train station as she waited for the train’s arrival. The kept mumbling to herself about possibilities of what was going to be revealed to her. To the few ponies that passed by the station, she must have seemed as though she was going through another mental breakdown.
It wasn’t long before the train screeched to a halt inside the confines of the station and Twilight made her way on board. There were a couple of other ponies on board from the previous stops, so she made her way to a car that didn’t have anypony inside.
The alicorn pressed a hoof to her chest and inhaled deeply, letting the air out as she moved her hoof slowly away from her. “It’s probably nothing. Just something that she wants to tell me.” she assured herself.
It felt like no time had passed between leaving Ponyville and arriving in Canterlot. Twilight was immediately greeted by a pair of unicorn guards who led her to the castle so that she could meet with Celestia. As they made their way through the streets of Canterlot, the guards inquired about the reason behind Twilight’s visit.
“Princess Twilight, what’s the reason for your visit today?” one of the guards asked.
“Princess Celestia wanted to speak with me about something. To be honest I’m not sure what it is, or even how important it is.” Twilight responded as she followed the guards past the gates that allowed entrance into the castle.
Princess Celestia was standing outside in the gardens that filled the space between the gate and the main entrance to the castle. Upon seeing Twilight and her escorts, the princess waved a hoof, dismissing the guards so that she and Twilight could speak in private. As the nervous feeling began to rise up inside of Twilight again, she attempted to quell it with the thought that if it was major, she wouldn’t have been given two days before the meeting.
“Twilight, it’s good to see you.” Princess Celestia stated as Twilight stopped in front of her.
“What’s wrong Princess, why’d you call me here?” Twilight asked.
“I have spoken with my sister and I feel that it is time for me to reveal to you something that will change the way that you look at the world.” Celestia stated with an astonishing level of certainty.
“What is it?” Twilight asked, scared of what was yet to come.
“It is not something that can be told and completely understood, and so I will show you. We will be taking a secret train on a trip that will take a day to reach our destination and a day on the way back. We will, in all likelihood, spend at least one day on site, possibly more if you need it.” Celestia explained, omitting as many details as she possibly could.
“All right.” Twilight said after a long pause. Whatever was going on, it was something that Princess Celestia did not want most ponies to know about, and it was probably something that was unfathomably important.
Celestia sighed as she started walking toward a nearby hedge. Her horn glowed a brilliant yellow and the branches within the hedge began to part ways, revealing a narrow underground tunnel. She nodded her head signaling for Twilight to enter first, before following afterwards herself.
Once inside the tunnel, Celestia took the lead again, making her way down a staircase that ended in complete darkness. With a flash from her horn, Celestia lit up several glass bars that lined the ceiling. Twilight caught herself staring up at the lights, mesmerized by their luminescence.
“Those are just the first part of what has yet to come.” Celestia explained, seeing where Twilight was focused. “If we hurry, we might be able to make it before noon tomorrow.”
Twilight nodded as Celestia led her onto a strange looking train. The train wasn’t nearly as tall as the trains normally seen in Equestria, and the entire thing was made of metal. The steel color created an entirely different feeling than the usual vibrant colors that trains were composed of. There was no section for a conductor to stand as the front of the train was closed off.
Without warning, the train silently began to move forward. As speed was gained, a low humming noise started emanating from the front. To Twilight’s surprise, there was no smoke from the coal powered engine, leading her to believe that the train was powered by something else. She began to ponder what the possible source of the train’s ability was; first assuming that the location for the smoke to leave was simply hidden, but she later dismissed that idea. She then assumed that there could be something magical that was forcing the train forward.
Eventually, she gathered up the courage to break the standing silence between herself and Celestia with the inquiry. “Um… Princess Celestia?”
“Hm?” Celestia responded quietly.
“How is this train moving? I don’t see any smoke or anything like that, so is it magic?”
Celestia shook her head. “Where we are going, magic will be irrelevant. It is a world completely unlike our own. This machine is powered by electricity, which, as you know, is a very unstable resource in Equestria.”
“How is this train using it then?” Twilight asked.
“To be honest, I’m not fully aware of the inner workings of this machine, as I rarely ever use it. However, even if I was aware, I would not be able to inform others, as this kind of technology is not meant to be in Equestria, as per the rules.”
“Rules?” Twilight asked, cocking her head to the side. “Whose rules?”
“You shall see soon enough. Until then, I would suggest that you rest some.” Celestia said before closing her eyes and leaning her head up against her seat’s window.
Twilight thought for a moment before deciding that she would take Celestia’s advice, it wasn’t like there would be much to do on the train, at least not enough for an entire day. Twilight slowly closed her eyes and attempted to go to sleep.
~~ ----- ~~
Twilight was awakened by Celestia just as the train began to slow down. Celestia had a blank expression on her face, bringing up the concern that Twilight had tried so hard to suppress. She knew that she was about to see something that most ponies would never see, but she was unsure as to if it was a good thing, or a bad thing. For all Twilight knew, Celestia had taken her to Tartarus to help oversee something about one of the prisoners held there.
The Twilight’s surprise, when the metal door slid open, she was greeted by sunlight. A blue, nearly cloudless sky hung overhead, and lush green grass covered the ground underhoof. With a sigh of relief, Twilight dismissed the Tartarus possibility. With that out of mind, she began to wonder what Celestia had been dreading so much.
“Here we go.” Celestia whispered as she stepped off of the train and contorted her face into a smile. “Twilight, this is what you needed to see, but you have to swear to me that you will not tell anypony what you see here. Not your fellow Elements of Harmony, not even Spike.”
“I promise. Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” Twilight performed the motions that went along with the Pinkie Pie Promise.
“Follow me.” Celestia said as she stepped into a barn like building that the train left them next to.
Inside the barn was something that Twilight would have never expected to see in a place as peaceful looking as the one that she had found herself in. There were ponies locked inside wooden cells staring out at her and Celestia. She counted them as they trotted through the room, there were four ponies being held captive there.
She immediately found herself assuming that they were going to be negotiating with some hideous monster that had taken captive. Celestia wanted her to come along just in case anything went awry. It all made sense at that moment, that was why only the princesses knew about it. As she thought harder though, contrary evidence came to mind, revealing to her that there was more at hoof than just a hostage situation. Celestia herself had stated that this “would” change everything, not that it might. This didn’t quite change everything that Twilight knew, so she began to ponder as to what else there could be.
As they neared the other end of the barn, Twilight could hear a faint roaring coming from the distance. However, between them and the roaring was an enormous house, with architecture unlike anything that Twilight had ever seen before. As Twilight stood, mesmerized by the house, and simultaneously horrified by the roaring, something else approached. It was a huge bipedal monster that towered over Princess Celestia. It was solid red except for what appeared to be a blue “1” on its chest. It wore socks that went almost halfway up its legs, which had to have made up at least two thirds of his height. Its right arm was just as long as its legs and its hand ended in long fingers. The other arm was almost entirely missing with stiches near the end, leading Twilight to believe that something had happened to it. The head was long with a huge smile dominating it, and two eyes. The eyes came off of the head like those of a snail or a slug, and only one eye was normal, the other was smaller and seemed to have been crushed by something.
“Oh, hi Princess, I’m sorry. I was expecting your sister still.” the monster said, its voice revealing that it was male.
“It’s fine.” Celestia nodded back. “She’s been here for a while, and so I thought that I should come by and see how the home is doing as well as pick up the newest batch.”
“And who’s this?” the creature asked as he bent over and looked down at Twilight.
“This is Twilight Sparkle.” Celestia answered. “Twilight, I’d like for you to meet Wilt. He’s one of the most helpful friends here.”
“Friends?” Twilight asked, confused by the usage of that word in the context.
“Imaginary friends. This is what I needed to show you.” Celestia replied quietly.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Is that okay? I didn’t know that she was new to this. Didn’t you tell the last one ahead of time?” Wilt asked.
“Yes, Wilt, and you saw how that worked out. Cadance almost had a heart attack anyway. I decided that with Twilight, I would take a chance and get her straight in the deep end of the pool.”
“Okay. Well, do you want me to give her the tour?” Wilt asked.
“No, just bring out Frankie.” Celestia answered before looking back down at Twilight.
“Okay, just a sec.” Wilt replied before walking off in the direction of the house.
Twilight looked around at her surroundings, taking note of everything that she saw as though it could potentially hold the secrets of the universe. Celestia watched Twilight for a few seconds before speaking to her again.
“Twilight…” Celestia started before noticing that Twilight wasn’t paying the slightest bit of attention, still drawn in by the wonders that surrounded her. “Twilight, I need you to listen to me.”
“Hmm?” Twilight mused, looking back up at her former teacher. “What is this place? Who was that… thing?”
“This is a place known as Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends. This is where we are all from; however, I feel that there is someone better suited to explain the situation to you.” Celestia stated.
“Is there any chance that you can answer a couple of questions for me?” Twilight asked, not breaking eye contact.
“We only have a few minutes, but yes. I will answer any question that I am able, and I will do so to the best of my abilities. What is your question?”
“That cell over there, what is it?” Twilight asked, aiming a hoof at a large metal cell that was tied down with chains and shook violently.
“That is where the most dangerous friends are kept, they call them Extremosaurs, but we know their home as Tartarus. This is where the darker bedtime stories all originate, with faint ancestral memories of encounters with these, not-so-friendly friends.” Celestia explained.
Celestia looked up as she heard the grass shifting as someone approached them. Wilt was being accompanied by a much smaller bipedal creature. This one was not red like Wilt, nor did it have the strange eyes. It was something that Twilight had seen in a very old book that she had seen back when she was a little filly. The creature beside Wilt was a human. She was wearing a white shirt with three small images on it, a green jacket, and a dark purple skirt.
“Princess, it’s been a while.” she said, greeting Celestia. “And is that…” her voice trailed off as her eyes met Twilight’s.
“Yes. It is.” Celestia replied, nodding to Twilight. “I think that it would be best if you were to explain everything to her, Frankie.”
“All right.” the human replied. “Princess, if you don’t mind, could you go ahead and load up the train. I’m sure that the friends would enjoy being out of the pens.”
Celestia nodded before walking away. Leaving Twilight and Frankie alone together, as Wilt had turned back halfway to the ponies.
“So, how are you?” Frankie asked cautiously, as if she were trying to speak with a dangerous monster.
“I’m… I’m fine. I’m a little confused, but I’m fine.” Twilight answered.
“Well, I can help you with that.” Frankie smiled softly. “Follow me, and I’ll explain everything that you want to know.”
Twilight nodded and followed as Frankie started walking into the yard of the house until the roaring in the distance faded away into complete silence. Frankie sat down on a wooden bench that looked out into the distance. Twilight joined her after a few seconds.
“All right… where to begin?” Frankie muttered quietly to herself. “I guess that the earliest part that I know of is a good starting place.” Frankie took in a deep breath before speaking again. “A long time ago, my grandmother, a great woman who went by Madam Foster opened her house up as a safe haven for imaginary friends. Something that most people don’t know though, is that she had an older sister. That older sister had two imaginary friends; she named them Celestia and Luna.”
“Wait, what?” Twilight gasped, taken back by the mention that the first two princesses were the imaginary friends of someone from not all that long ago. “But how?”
“Oh, um, well, you see, when a child creates an imaginary friend, they become real. And that is how the first ponies like you all came to be.” Frankie paused for a few seconds. “Anyway, once Madam Foster set up this home for abandoned imaginary friends, she started to notice something. For some unexplained reason, prolonged lack of exposure to their creators left many pony imaginary friends without any memory of people at all. They began to think that they were born and died just like most living creatures, and so she purchased a large area of land and started work on what she called the Equestrian World, which later became Equestria.”
“But I know for a fact that Mr. and Mrs. Cake had foals.” Twilight argued refusing to believe what she was hearing.
“That’s where the second anomaly came to be. As time passed, the ponies started being able to have children of their own, despite the fact that it shouldn’t have been possible. Before long, Equestria became filled with ponies, both imagined, and not.”
“What about the ponies that died?”
“Just like they can be born, they can die. Most of you are not imaginary friends, but some of you are, just like the group that you will be returning with.”
“What… what about me? Am I real?” Twilight asked, tears welling up in her eyes.
“Of course you’re real.” Frankie answered. “However, that doesn’t stop you from being an imaginary friend. Have you ever wondered why you became the Princess of Friendship? It is because you are a friend. My friend.” Frankie explained. “I created you when I was a little girl, but my grandma felt that it was time for me to let you go.”
“But I remember being a filly and growing up in Equestria.” Twilight replied.
“Princess Celestia used some of her magic on you to make you younger and hide your wings. She also made you forget most of the outside world, but trust me when I say that I know you and that you are my friend.” Frankie pled.
Twilight thought back as far as she could, back to the days of her fillyhood. As far back as she could remember, and then it came to her. She could vaguely recall something from before her earliest fillyhood memory. She remembered being older and looking at a picture album and seeing a picture of a young girl who looked a lot like Frankie. It was the same memory as the one that she had recalled upon to remember what a human was. Frankie was the human from the book.
“I… I remember you.” Twilight said weakly. “We used to play in this yard. You would run around and I would try to catch you.”
“Yes.” Frankie bit her lip as she was overcome with joy from finally being reunited with her lost imaginary friend.
“Why did Madam Foster send me away?” Twilight asked.
“You were getting old enough so that if we waited much longer, you wouldn’t forget. I didn’t want you to leave, but if I didn’t go along with it, then you would have never been able to live your own life.”
“Why all of the secrecy?” Twilight asked.
“Most ponies are no longer imaginary friends. Most of them are born, live, and die. I agree with grandma that some things are best left unsaid. Revealing this information could change their lives forever, and even as far as imaginary friends go, you’re all special.”
With that said Twilight and Frankie talked for some time about nothing in particular until Princess Celestia came along and informed Twilight that it was time to go. The parting between Twilight and Frankie was brief, but neither one expected it to last for too long.
“Princess Celestia, is there any way that I can return here later so that I can see Frankie again?” Twilight asked as she and Celestia boarded the train.
“Yes. I will give you access to this train whenever you want.” Celestia replied with a smile. “But for now, it is time for us to return home.”
Author's Note
All right, as I said, I would be grateful for feedback, both positive and negative (but please keep it constructive rather than destructive). This was inspired by my vague memory of Wilt's tour of the Home and its residents, namely the four horse friends that he shows Mac and Bloo. Please use Spoiler Tags for anything regarding the Home. Thank you for your consideration.