Hearthstone and the Forest Guardian

by Sun Aura

Rating: everyone
Tags: Sunset Shimmer, Twilight Sparkle, Timber Spruce, Princess Celestia, Slice of Life, Original Character, Mystery, Romance, Equestria Girls
Length: 6092

Twilight Sparkle goes to the Ancient Castle alone at night. There, she meets an interesting guy who tells her some secrets of the universe.

Things weren't making sense. Ponies, not-Ponies, and even an entire Empire had been erased from history, and no one knew why. So what does Twilight Sparkle do when something doesn't make sense? Research it until it does.
She heads out to the castle in Everfree. There she meets the Forest Guardian, who shows her where to look. Of course, the answers raise more questions. That, and she wonders if she can trust the word of some stallion that could really be a cute forest-dwelling conspiracy theorist.

Part of the Cornerverse-MLP Universe.

Published 2017-04-15 05:40:01 UTC
Last updated 2017-04-15 05:40:01 UTC

Chapter 1

Twilight Sparkle stood in the library of the Ancient Castle. She frowned and pulled another book from the shelf. It was getting annoying now. All the books here were too vague. Which was odd for a history book.

While she was usually very absorbed in what she was doing, she did have some sense. Literally. She felt a powerful surge of magic to her left. Turning, she charged up several spells in case she needed to fight.

“Who’s there?” she called into the darkness.

“I mean no harm!” someone answered. “You set off the wards, and I came to investigate!”

“Wards?” she asked, trying to see whoever was just out of reach of her light spell.

“Didn’t Princess Celestia tell you why you’re supposed to check in before coming here?” they asked.

“She said it was because of the trap doors,” she tilted her head. “In case I got stuck.”

“That’s part of it,” they mused. “Also, why are you in the dark?”

Before she could answer, light flooded the room. She cast a shield on reflex, but nothing attacked her. Not dropping the other spells, she looked around. Every few feet, a light shone out of the wall.

“Light gems,” Twilight said. “I didn’t notice-“

She frowned in confusion. There was a pony in front of her. A stallion, obviously. His coat was brown, maybe rust-colored, and his mane had two greens. He was rather cute too, not that it mattered. Yet that wasn’t what confused her. She circled him, looking him over.

“You’re an Earth Pony,” she said.

“Yes?” he gave a half chuckle.

“I could’ve sworn I felt a spell building,” she muttered. “I guess it was lucky, since I get to meet you.”

“And I got to meet you as well,” he smiled.

“So, uh, what were you saying about wards?” she asked, looking anywhere but his face.

“Oh! The alarm wards!” he said, looking just as embarrassed. “There are spells on the castle that trigger alarms if someone shows up. It’s really a cool setup. But anyway, if someone comes in when they’re not supposed to, I get to check it out.”

“Why you?” she wondered.

“Runs in the family,” he answered.

She just raised an eyebrow. It was a half-answer. She wasn’t going to let him get away with just that.

“One thousand years ago,” he explained, “when Princess Celestia left for the castle in Canterlot, she entrusted my ancestor, Gaia, to protect this place and all that was left in it. Gaia passed down the duty to her kids, and so on and so forth. My sister and I are the current Forest Guardians.

“We’re supposed to keep everything here safe,” he continued. “Unless Princess Celestia orders us different. For example, just the other year we got a letter saying a few ponies would be taking six very important items out of here!”

“You’re talking about the Elements of Harmony,” she said. “But if the Elements aren’t here anymore, why are you guarding the place?”

“Well, there’s more than just the Elements,” he said. “No one’s allowed to take things unless they have permission from a princess. Which is why I was going to leave you to whatever you were doing before you noticed me.”

“What?” she asked. Then she looked to her sides. “Right, the wings. Keep forgetting about those.”

He snorted with laughter. She felt her face heat up as her wings shuffled at her sides. The worst part was that he had a nice laugh.

“So what are you doing at an abandoned castle at three in the morning?” he asked.

“I couldn’t sleep,” she said. “I started thinking over some things, and it led places, some things didn’t make sense, so I had to research the history here.”

“So you decided to come to an abandoned castle at three in the morning?” he smirked.

“Well…” she shifted her wings again. “Last time I went to Canterlot’s library at three in the morning, I ended up putting myself in a Time Loop and making myself panic about an ‘impending apocalypse’ that was really a bunch of bad luck due to me worrying about said apocalypse, and sending myself back through time to warn myself, and causing said panic.”

“I bet that was an adventure,” he said. “But you’re looking in the completely wrong place.”

“The organization here is a bit outdated,” she said, peering at the books again. “Then again, this place has been abandoned for one thousand years. You should’ve seen me trying to figure out the Crystal Empire’s systems. Huh, maybe they’d have some good history books.”

“True, but that’s not what I mean,” he said. “All the decent history books were moved to Canterlot with Princess Celestia. Trust me, I’ve read a lot of books here. If you want history, you’d have to go down to Hearthstone. Or maybe Azura’s workshop still has some stuff. It was sealed for years after all.”

“Hearthstone? Azura?” she asked. “I’ve come across the name Azura when looking up the Crystal Empire, but I’ve never heard of Hearthstone.”

“You’re an Alicorn!” He exclaimed. “How have you not grown up hearing about this?”

“Well I’m still kind of new to the Alicorn thing,” she said.

She ruffled her wings again. This time, it wasn’t out of embarrassment. It was restlessness. Because this guy knew something she didn’t.

“Right, you’re the Crafted Alicorn,” he said. “Still, you were Princess Celestia’s personal student! How did she not tell you about this stuff? Then again, no one knew Princess Luna was real until the other year. Stars, I’m sending angry letter when I get home. Okay, we’re going to stop here. I’ll tell you everything I know about Azura and Hearthstone and everything else, but we have to go to a different part of the castle.”

“What kind of things are you telling me?” she asked.

“About the rewritten history!” he said. “I mean, you said you came here because things didn’t make sense, and you’re looking up history. It doesn’t take a genius to guess that you noticed how many things are missing.”

She kept quiet. He’d hit the nail on the head with that. Luna and Nightmare Moon had been legends. Discord, the Crystal Empire, Chrysalis and Changelings in general weren’t mentioned at all. Eventually she’d thought back to the Hearth’s Warming story, how the three tribes created Equestria. If they created Equestria, how did Celestia and Luna come to rule it? What part did Discord play?
However, this stallion’s comment about ‘rewritten history’ made her question if that story had any truth to it at all. Wouldn’t Celestia have told her? Despite how much she trusted her former teacher, she knew that Celestia had a history of half-truths.

“No offense, but how can I trust you?” Twilight asked. “We’ve just met, and you’re telling me that a lot of things I know are wrong. Besides, it’s one thing to be alone in Everfree, but it’s another to be alone in Everfree with an unknown guy.”

“You can ask Princess Celestia about it once you leave,” he said. “I’ve read through most of the books in this castle, or at least skimmed the more boring ones. I can find a good hoofful of things that would convince you. As for trusting me as a pony, well, I don’t think I can really defend myself on that, because if I was trying something, I probably wouldn’t tell you. But as you pointed out, I’m an Earth Pony. If I was the type to do something creepy, you could overpower me with magic or fly away.”

“Unless you’re some kind of supervillain in disguise,” she said.

“Fair enough,” he chuckled. “Can’t do much aout hypothetical supervillainy!”

“You could at least tell me your name,” she suggested. “Because you haven’t yet.”

“You haven’t introduced yourself either,” he said.

“Well, I, uh,” she stammered, hating that he had a point.

“It’s okay,” he laughed. “Honestly I just wanted to see you make that face again. It’s cute.”

She must look real adorable right now, because she felt her face heat up again. Considering she’d called him cute too, it was more than fair. She attempted to pull herself into a more dignified expression.

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” she said. “And please don’t call me ‘princess’.”

“Alright,” he agreed. “I’m Timer Spruce.”

“Well, Timber,” she smiled. “You said something about a trip through the castle?”

“Right this way!” he said.

Se followed him through the library and down the staircase. She lit their way with a spell. While she trusted him enough, she did still keep a spell at the ready. Just in case he really was a supervillain of some sort.

As they made their way further and further into the castle, the buildings became older and older. Timber told her it was because the castle kept getting extensions built onto it for a thousand years. Every century was like a layer of age.

Soon enough, they reached their destination.

“Welcome to Hearthstone!” Timber said, activating another set of Light Gems.

“This is amazing!” Twilight exclaimed, looking at every bit of the architecture. “The placement and architecture suggests that it’s the oldest building, but it looks as new as Canterlot!”

“You can thank Princess Celestia for that,” he said. “She put the most powerful protection spells on this place, and renews them often. The outer walls could crumble to dust, and this place would still be standing!”

“Why?” she wondered. “What’s so important about this part of the castle?”

“You really have no idea what this place is, do you?” he said. “This is the literal birthplace of the world!”

“You’re not talking about Hearth’s Warming, are you?” she asked.

His face was enough of an answer. She felt conflicted about that. Still, she wanted to know more.

“This is the literal place where the world began to exist,” he said. “Just- Imagine nothingness. A pony pops into existence, just comes from nowhere, and breaths magic into the world. Another appears and creates a river. A third makes trees and flowers, and the fourth brings storms. The fifth lights her horn, and raises the Sun, creating the Day.”

“Only Princess Celestia can raise the Sun on her own,” she said.

“Exactly,” he nodded. “The Immortals came into existence and created the world, created all creatures. They built Hearthstone, and their history is in these walls.”

“Why would Celestia hide this then?” she asked.

“No idea,” he said. “Maybe I want to think the best of her, but I don’t know if she did. I don’t know her too well, but she doesn’t seem like the type to want to forget the past. My best guess is that there were ponies, mortal ponies, who wanted something different. But I can prove I’m not just a crazy conspiracy theorist.”

“Show me,” she said.

“Gladly!” he replied. “First, the thrones, since they’re at the end of the hall!”

Sure enough, there were thrones at the end of the hall. Several in fact. They walked up, and she could count eight in total.”

“I bet you can guess who the middle two belong to!” Timber said.

Twilight inspected the two thrones. One was gold, a shining Sun carved into the metal. The other was silver with an image of the moon.”

“Celestia and Luna,” she said. “And the others?”

“Other Immortals,” he said.

“There were more?” she asked.

“Yeah,” he said. “Half of them gave up Immortality though.”

“Why would anypony do that?” she wondered.

“Love, appearently,” he said. “At least from what I’ve read of them.”

Twilight analyzed the other thrones. One was made of wood, carved into vines and flowers. Another almost looked like a sandcastle. There was a throne of clouds and one made of gemstones. Another was some sort of black stone, with deep turquoise designs painted on it. The last was quite tall, gray stone with emeralds in it, and antlers carved into the top.

“This should be red,” Twilight muttered.

“Red?” Timber asked.

“I could swear I’ve seen this throne before,” she said, pointing with her wing. “But the greens were reds.”

“I’ve only seen it in green,” he shrugged. “Though if you had seen it before, you should’ve seen the others.”

“Yeah, maybe,” she said. “Maybe it as just a similar throne? I can’t remember where I saw it.”

“Well, in that case,” he began, “There’s more I can show you.”

“Lead the way,” she agreed.

Up a set of stairs they went. Twilight inspected every inch along the way. A part of her wanted to find some way this couldn’t be real. As if he could have somehow made the thrones and put them there just to trick her.

The next place they were in was a long hallway. It wrapped around in a square, doors to rooms on each side. There were faded Cutie Marks painted on most of them.

“Are these bedrooms?” Twilight asked.

“Yep!” Timber answered. “They belonged to the First Beings of Equestria. You know, everyone who popped into existence. Most of them are long-gone, but there are four Immortals left.”

“What’s this one?” she asked, walking toward a door. “It doesn’t have a Cutie Mark on it.

“Don’t touch that one!” he tried to warn.

As soon as Twilight’s magic touched the handle, the door moved. Though it didn’t open. No, the door, frame and all, slid up to the ceiling. She tried again, only for the door to slide down the hall and out of sight.

“What in the what?” Twilight asked.

“That one’s boobytrapped,” Timber chuckled. “First time I tried opening it, my sister and I ended up swapping mane colors for a week. It’ll come back eventually.”

“Glad it didn’t do that to us,” she said. “Imagine having to explain that when I got home.”

“You’d look great in green,” he said.

“Think you could pull off blue, pink, and purple?” she smirked.

“I pulled off pink when my sister and I switched,” he laughed.

“I bet you did,” she laughed with him.

“I bet you have a spell for that, if you really wanted to see,” he said. “But anyway, the room we need is this one here.”

He gestured to another door. Twilight looked at the faded Cutie Mark, an all too familiar Sun. She gently pushed the door open and stepped into the room.

It was a bedroom, as expected. Yet it was also fairly simple. A simple bed with many pillows, a vanity still with brushes, a bookshelf. The colors were all pastels, oranges and pinks and blues. Like the rest of Hearthstone, it was well preserved.

“The book on the vanity,” Timber said, pointing to it.

Twilight picked the book up in her magic. It reminded her of the journal she’d found in the castle before, but she could feel magic within it. More preservation spells. She flipped it open, looking at the words.

“This is Celestia’s hoofwriting!” Twilight exclaimed.

“It’s hers,” Timber confirmed. “From two thousand years ago.”

Twilight raised an eyebrow at him. Still, she turned back to the book. The writing looked exactly like Celestia’s. She couldn’t help but hear her voice as she read.

Azura has suggested that we write down what has happened to us, and what will happen. A journal, of sorts. We seem to be the first creatures in a new world. No, that’s not right. We created the world. I do not know of what happened before I came into existence. From what my sisters told me, Azura was first. Then Mira came and created the river. Flora made the forest and Sora made the storms.

Then I was next. I do not know how. All I know is that in one second, I began to exist with no other memory than my name. The world was dark and cold. It felt like ‘nothingness’. It was honestly terrifying. But the four of them were there with me. They had their horns lit, giving us what little light they could.

I lit my horn as well, yet I felt something else within my magic. I reached for it, and as I did the Sun rose into the sky for the first time. I had wondered if the Sun had existed before me and I just brought it to us, or if I had brought it into being. I didn’t know until Luna created the Moon. After that, I could always feel it alongside my Sun.

Twilight closed the book. It mentioned Azura. It called her and three other ponies ‘sisters’. And it had Celestia not only raising the Sun, but creating the Sun. Luna created the Moon as well, and one of these ‘sisters’ created storms. In Hearth’s Warming, Unicorns moved the Sun and Moon while Pegasai created the weather. Technically they still did, but since this ‘Sora’ was no longer around, she assumed somepony had to take over the job.

“Am I allowed to take this with me?” Twilight asked.

“As a Princess, you have the authority,” Timber said.

“This is a lot to take in,” she sighed.

“Well, I know one thing that could cheer you up,” he said. “Ever wanted to see a painting of Starswirl the Bearded before he had a beard?”

“Wait, really?” she laughed.

“Yeah,” he said. “Starswirl was one of the first Unicorns of Equestria. And one of the other ponies was an artist who made a lovely group picture of all of them.”

“Okay, you’ve got to show me that,” she laughed.

“Right this way!” he said.

She followed him back into the hallway. The boobytrapped door was still gone. They walked past a few doors to another door with a Sun on it. This one was more gold-colored, and a bit more like a compass rose.

This room was a lot like the other one, mostly just the bed and vanity. But there were sketchbooks and notebooks and pictures all around. It felt almost like Pinkie’s room, organized by her own system.

“This one, on the wall,” Timber said, walking straight to a painting. “Starswirl’s right here.”

The painting itself was huge, taking up the whole wall. It had a large group of not only ponies, but Dragons, Zebras, Changelings looking colorfull like they do now, Sirens, and every other type of sapient creature in Equestria.

Timber was pointing at one of the ponies, a Unicorn Stallion. He looked about their age, even with a gray coat. His mane was brown and curly, and his eyes were two different colors. One brown, the other blue. She wondered if it was Starswirl, but the picture did have his Cutie Mark.

“That’s so weird!” she laughed. “Stars, he doesn’t even have the hat and bells!”

“Apparently those were a gift to go along with the beard,” Timber said. “It’s in one of the other journals.”

She looked over the rest of the painting. There were a few ponies that looked vaguely familiar. One had Rainbow Dash’s mane, another had Applejack’s freckles. There was a Pegasus that had similar colors to Shining Armor. There was even a Dragon that looked a little like Spike. Considering these were the first creatures, they were probably ancestors.

The ponies who held her attention were the Alicorns. Despite the differences, Celestia and Luna were easy to see. Luna looked like she had when Twilight first met her, after the defeat of Nightmare Moon. Apparently it was a form with less power, a result of being blasted as she had been. Here, it looked more like it was because she was younger. Celestia was like that too. Her mane was only pink, instead of its usual multiple colors.

Considering Celestia looks like the Day and Luna looks like the Night, she could guess which Alicorn was which by their magics. The gray one with a fluffy mane would be Sora, and the one with deep greens and browns would be Flora. Mira would be the sandy-brown one, with her mane in blues and whites.

Azura looked almost like Cadence. It was the actual features and face shapes, more than the color, though they had a few similar ones. Her coat was a darker pink, and she did have three streaks in her mane that looked like pale versions of Cadence’s pink, purple, and yellow. But her eyes were blue, and most of her mane was black.

Her eyes wandered, and she saw to more that were all so familiar. It seemed impossible, but if everything else was real, why couldn’t this be too? She remembered where she had seen the red version of that throne, and she had a guess of who would boobytrap a door.

“How the stars?” she wondered aloud.

She opened the book, searching for their names. Sure enough, she found them. Right after where she left off.

After me, another came to be. She was different than we were. A curved horn, and her wings were translucent instead of feathers. She lit her horn as we all had done. I wondered what she would create.

She created other creatures. Some were like us, intelligent for lack of a better word. Others were simple animals. The one who had created them told us her name was Chrysalis. Since she was like us, she became another sister.

We probably wouldn’t have noticed another showing up, had he not appeared right above me while I was flying. He was quite strange, looking like someone had taken pieces from each of the other creatures. Azura was the one to offer a hoof to him, to ask his name. I wondered what Discord would create, yet he didn’t ‘make’ anything. Still, when I lowered the Sun, he was the only one not to fear the Nothingness that replaced it. It made me feel better, knowing that our new brother would protect us.

“This doesn’t make sense,” Twilight said, closing the book again. “She called them family, but they turned against her.”

“To be fair, so did Luna,” Timber said. “She became Nightmare Moon.”

“Yeah,” she agreed, looking at the painting again. “They look…. Better here. Physically too. Chrysalis looks healthier, and Discord looks younger, but a different ‘younger’ than a normal pony, if that makes sense. Leave it to him to make no sense.”

“You’d need to read the other journals for that,” he said quietly.

He looked almost sad at the thought. She wondered what could be in those other journals.

“Okay, after I talk to Celestia about this, I’m coming back to read the rest of this castle,” she said.

“Considering you’ve been up all night, I’d suggest a nap first,” he said.

“Maybe you’re right,” she agreed, stifling a yawn at the thought. “After I talk with Celestia.”

“So, when you come back, would you like a guide?” he asked. “This place was a playground for me, so I can lead you wherever.”

“That’d be nice,” she grinned. “I was just about to ask how to talk to you without tripping the alarms again.”

“Wouldn’t want that,” he laughed. “But when I’m not being the Forest Guardian, my family runs a campsite on the edge of the forest, near Rambling Rock Ridge.”

“I’ll be sure to visit then,” she said. “You know, I never did get a chance to go camping as a filly.”

“Well, I’m sure I could provide a fun experience,” he said.

Twilight had decided on teleporting to Canterlot after a little bit longer with Timber. She knew Celestia and Luna wouldn’t be up until they needed to raise the Sun and lower the Moon. The Lunar Guard Captain, Gale Strike, promised to tell Celestia to meet her once the Sun was up.

She spent the time waiting by reading the rest of the Journal. It had a lot of information in it. Not only their lives, but on the Elements of Harmony as well. The Elements occur naturally, but Azura and Starswirl and a few other names she didn’t recognize created the necklaces and crown to channel the magic.

One section she found interesting was the mention of the first ponies to be born naturally. Twin daughters of Starswirl and a mare named Frosed Cake, Clover and Smart Cookie. She recognized the names from the Hearth’s Warming story; ‘Clover the Clever’ was the royal advisor of the Unicorn Princess, and ‘Smart Cookie’ had been secretary to the Chancellor. Maybe when the story was written, they’d taken other famous ponies to put into the story. She wondered where she’d find the other four ‘founders’.

Before she could find out, she heard the door opening. Looking up, she watched Celestia walk in. She hadn’t realized it was already light out.

“Good morning, Twilight,” Celestia greeted. “Captain Strike said you came here early this morning to ask me about something?”

“I did,” Twilight took a breath to ready herself. “Earlier last night, I couldn’t sleep. So I went to the castle in Everfree. I met a stallion who called himself a Forest Guardian.”

“I figured you would, eventually,” she sighed. “I suppose you looked through the rest of the castle as well.”

“Only what he showed me,” she said. “I wanted to ask you before I continued researching this. And since you already confirmed that he’s real, is everything in this real too?”

Twilight held up the journal in her magic. Celestia’s face softened at the sight of it. It wasn’t fear or shame of hiding it. No, she saw sadness.

“Yes,” Celestia said. “Whatever you find in Hearthstone is real.”

“Why?” Twilight asked. “Why is there a whole history we don’t know about?”

“Probably the same reason no pony knew of me until my return.”

Twilight jumped, not knowing when or how Luna had walked up next to her chair.

“Twilight, believe that I never wanted that,” Celestia said. “I may be ruler of Equestria, but even I cannot keep them from doing what they think is best. They wanted a cleaner history, one with black and white morality. So they rewrote things. It’s easier to say ‘Our beloved Princess defeated evil’ than it is to admit that there are hard decisions I had to make. It makes them feel safer.”

“But they rewrote your family,” Twilight said. “You-you called them siblings.”

“As I said, I didn’t want that,” she sighed. “As ruler, I am a guide. I lead them in the direction I feel is best, but if they want something badly enough to defy me, I cannot stop them without becoming a tyrant.”

“Can’t have that now, can we?”

Still on edge from her previous scare, when Twilight jumped at Discord’s voice she vaulted over Luna in an attempt to hide.

“Rude,” was Discord’s only response.

“What’s with you two and dramatic entrances?” Twilight demanded.

“No idea,” he shrugged. “But you ponies are the dramatic ones. Honestly, since my return quite a few ponies have made guesses at what all my ‘Reign of Chaotic Terror’ entailed. Some of the nicer ideas have been tucked away in a file for later, but far too many write of literal physical torture and driving ponies insane until they howl at the moon. Or write song lyrics about ‘sleeping in the middle of a summer afternoon’ being something weird. I mean, a nice summer afternoon asleep in a hammock sounds great to me. I’m Chaotic, not evil. Besides, it only lasted a few days before statueification.

“So why did the ‘Reign of Chaotic Terror’ even happen?” she asked.

“Well, the answer is simple,” he said. “You see, dear Twilight-“

With that, he disappeared in a puff of lime-scented smoke. Twilight glanced at the two left in the room, whose expressions were a mix of accepted exasperation and sadness.

“Okay, if he can hear me I’m sorry,” Twilight called into the metaphorical void.

“Twilight,” Luna began. “We are still ponies. Well, Discord is not a pony, but you get the point. And we are also Immortal beings with great powers, essentially beings made of Magic put into form and given life. Fights, rages, mental breakdowns, all of those become large-scale for us. Had I a Mortal lifespan, Nightmare Moon would be a fight between family members, not a battle for the crown and potential destruction of the world. For him, well, all I can say is that some do not handle the downsides of Immortality well.”

“And Chrysalis?” Twilight asked. “I saw her name in the book, and the pictures looked like how I imagine she would if she were, um, healthier?”

“I do not know,” Celestia answered. “She disappeared before the Crystal Empire did. I looked for her over the years, but it’s difficult to find a shapeshifter who does not wish to be found. I suspected something when the Changelings began to disappear, that maybe she was creating her own kingdom, but I didn’t expect any of this.”

“None of us did,” Luna said.
Twilight wondered what had actually happened. After all, the Changelings she’d seen in the painting had all been colorful like they were now. If she could manipulate them into a form like that, who knew what she could do. She could tell they were thinking the same.

“If I may,” Twilight said, wanting to change the subject. “We should set the records straight. Literally. Tell Equestria about the real history.”

“I agree,” Luna said. “They need to know.”

“You do realize that at this point it will be a political nightmare?” Celestia said.

“Because you’ve never handled a political nightmare,” she rolled her eyes. “Besides, is that really going to stop you from telling them?”

“No,” she answered. “I was just preparing you for what is to come. I figured someone would connect the dots once you returned. And with the Crystal Empire back as well, it was only a matter of time before they found out about the changes and caused an uproar. Twilight finding out was probably the best option.”

“On that note,” Twilight yawned. “I’m going home to take a nap before going back and having Tmber give a full tour.”

“Timber?” Luna wondered.

“Forest Guardian,” Celestia answered. “The real question is, are you going back to research, or to see him?”

“I’m not answering that,” Twilight said, walking out the door.

“That means ‘him’,” she stage whispered to Luna.

Twilight reappeared in her castle. She stopped by the kitchen to grab a granola bar, since she hadn’t eaten since yesterday afternoon, and headed up the stairs. She was half-way up when she heard her book ringing.

With a sigh, she walked back down to the book that was connected to Sunset’s in the other dimension. She hoped it was just a normal update, but she still wanted to check in case there was an emergency. She opened the book.

Hey, so remember how we went to a camp for a school field trip? Well, we had a whole bunch of magical shenanigans. What else should we have expected, right? Anyway, I’ll give you a full report later, but for now, we found these crystals with magic in them, and while I’m pretty sure I know what they are, I’d like a second opinion.

Twilight debated about going to see her or sleeping. On one hoof, she’d get to see Sunset. On the other hoof, the sooner she went to sleep, the sooner she could go see Timber again.

She decided that her wanting to see Timber was mostly her own thing, while Sunset wanted help. Not that she didn’t love seeing Sunset, but help takes priority. So she walked down to where she kept the portal.

As soon as she stepped through, she saw all the girls waiting for her.

“Sorry, can’t stay long,” she yawned. “I’ve been up all night, and it’s been quite a night. Full of wild conspiracy theories that turned out to be true. I’ll elaborate later.”

“Well we have our own stories to tell about camp,” Sunset shrugged. “We can sit at my place and have a full talk later.”

“Thanks,” she sighed. “So, what’re the magic crystals you told me about?”

“These,” she said, handing over her own necklace.

Twilight took the offered necklace in her hand. She immediately felt a rush of magic. Very familiar magic. She couldn’t do more than stare at it for a minute.

“This-this is an Element of Harmony!” Twilight exclaimed once she found her voice.

“Ain’t those back in your world?” Applejack asked.

“Yeah, like in a tree made of crystal with the box of magic upgrades?” Pinkie wondered.

“Yes, but this is definitely an Element of Harmony,” Twilight frowned. “The crystals are too big to have somehow been shards that fell off my crown without noticing, not to mention that the other gems never came here.”

“I thought so,” Sunset said. “I think this world is becoming more magical, so things started to manifest. Still don’t get why having the Elements would make us more powerful, since in your world you gained more magic by not using them.”

“Gems are conductors,” she reminded her. “The Elements themselves are in us. Remember how when we blasted you, again sorry about that, none of us had the physical gem but we still used the Elements? We can use them on our own, but the gems let us channel it easier. So you’re channeling your magic easier now, which means you can use more powerful magic without as much effort.”

“Makes sense to me!” Pinkie said.

“I’ll still have to do some research,” she said. “I found a great place that might have some information on the Elements.”

“Of course you’d love a research project,” Rainbow laughed.

“Yeah, research,” she muttered.

Twilight didn’t really hear her. Her mind was back in Equestria, thinking of going back to the castle and looking through the whole place with Timber. Maybe she would bring something to eat; after all, it was a big castle. They’d probably take a few days to get to it, even with a speedreading spell. Now that she thought about it, there might be more information in the Crystal Empire. Maybe they could make a weekend trip out of it.

“I think we’ve lost her,” Fluttershy said.

“I know that look!” Rarity exclaimed. “I think we’ve all seen it on our own Twilight this past week, have we not?”

“Oh no,” the Human Twilight sighed. “While I’m happy to have the focus not on me, don’t go after her.”

“Technically, the focus would still be on ‘you’!” Pinkie laughed.

“Hm, what?” the Pony Twilight asked.

“So, who’s the lucky guy?” Rarity asked.

“What?” she asked.

“Come on dear,” she smiled and rolled her eyes. “You’re obviously thinking of someone you like. I think we’ve seen that enough to know.”

“Oh,” she said, catching on. “Well, I-“

“They’re just teasing,” Applejack said. “Y’all shouldn’t push it this time.”

“No way!” Rainbow said. “Fair’s fair! If I had a crush on a guy, I’d tell you girls!”

“Bright Heart,” Applejack retorted.

“You leave that out of this!” she huffed.

“I have to agree with Rainbow on this one,” Sunset said. “If only so we can make sure they’re good enough for our Twilight. So, who is he and how’d you meet him? Or is it a she?”

“No, it is a stallion” Twilight sighed. “I mean, I just met him so I don’t know if you’d call that a crush, but whatever. So you know that Castle in Everfree? Apparently it has a family of Guardians protecting the stuff still there, so when I show up at three in the morning and trip the alarm spell, he shows up to see what’s going on. Of course we end up talking for a while and he’s the one who helped me find all that conspiracy theory stuff I mentioned. And I kind of promised I’d come back and he could give me a full tour of the castle?”

“Sounds like a perfect first date for you,” Rarity said.

“A date full of research,” Rainbow rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised?”

“Still haven’t heard a name!” Pinkie added.

Oh, right,” Twilight said. “He told me his name was Timber Spruce.”

Everyone went silent. They glanced between both Twilights. Then they all burst into hysterical laughter.

Author's Note

Long-time followers might recognize some of this from one of my canceled stories. Well, this is one of the bigger parts of the Cornerverse-MLP lore, as well as the literal oldest.