Twillight sparkle, valedictorian of the Canterlot Royal War-caster Academy, personal disciple of her royal majesty Queen Celestia and current bearer of the element of Magic, paced back and forth in the waiting room just outside the surgery room her brother was being operated on, a heavy frown set in her features as she mentally went over a list of spells she could have used to stop, subdue or slay the creatures had she been in the city during the attack.

“Oh would you give it a rest already?” the gruff voice of her other brother snapped the purple unicorn from her funk. Twilight turned to glare at the young dragon known as Spike. Said dragon was busying himself by sharpening the blade of his axes. Twilight took a second to study her brother and companion. The dragon had grown much in the years she’d known him, with the help of enchantments and alchemical concoctions he had come a long way from the little runt that popped out of the egg that was her entry test.

Spike was what one would refer as a near perfect specimen of an adolescent dragon, tall and muscular yet agile and quick on his feet. A long, strong tail, a pair of strong wings capable of carrying him through hail and storm, powerful legs and arms tipped with deathly claws, a strong jaw capable of crushing even the hardiest enchanted armor and an enchanted flame that would eat through any barrier, physical or otherwise. All that coupled with protective runes meticulously engraved into each and every scale of his body, along with his choice of weaponry made of Spike a formidable combatant, and a worthy companion for a war-caster like Twilight.

“I can’t help it Spike, I worry, it’s my duty as little sister” huffed the purple unicorn, stomping her hoof on the tiled floor, only barely twitching at the cracks she made ‘right, the enhancement runic arrays are still activated’. Twilight glared at Spike when the dragon chuckled at her slight oversight even as her body was briefly lit up by flashing rune-work, “anyways” muttered the dragon, stretching a bit and leaving his axes leaning against the nearest wall.

“Mind telling me how exactly did that thing got past Shiny’s shield?” Spike tilted his head. Glowing, slitted eyes focusing on the unicorn “wasn’t his shield supposed to be almost impervious?” Twilight sighed, sitting by her younger brother.

“A combination of factors. The creature had a wingspan similar to that of a dragon in the beginning stages of adulthood, and despite it’s bizarre physiology, weighted a little more than one too. And if that wasn’t enough, it was moving at an estimated two hundred miles per hour” Spike grunted, straightening up and nodding in understanding “ah, that much force, concentrated in a narrow, sharp point, yeah, I can see what happened then” he muttered, sighing “those things where literally the worst matchup for Shiny”.

Further conversation was put on the backburner when the door to the surgery room opened, and out walked the head surgeon. Both siblings got up, walking up to the doctor, who, despite the rather intimidating form they cut, remained completely and utterly unfazed. He held up a hoof to stop their questions “he is fine” began the stallion, “he will make a complete recovery, Princess Cadenza made sure of that” he blinked, reading something on a tablet he was carrying.

“On that note, Mr. armor won’t be available for visits until tomorrow, there are some things not even Princess Cadenza is capable of healing, don’t worry!” he rose his voice, interrupting whatever the two were going to say “it’s nothing dangerous, Mr. armor only needs rest” the doctor’s reassurances served their purpose, calming the unicorn mare and the adolescent dragon down.

“Well, that’s a b-worp!” whatever Spike was going to say, it was interrupted by a sudden belch, the resulting gout of flame was harmlessly encapsulated in a spherical purple force field. Once the flames suffocated themselves out, the three beings saw a roll of parchment, sealed shut by a wax seal with her majesty’s symbol on it.

Taking the roll, Twilight opened it and read the contents, sighing seconds later “her Majesty needs us Spike, let’s go” she grumbled, turning to walk away, the dragon grunted, moving to follow his adopted sister after bidding farewell to the doctor.

Their arrival at the throne room was heralded by a brief salute from the guards positioned inside and at the doors. The pair walked along the carpeted floor, bowing deeply to their queen as they stooped at the foot of her throne, “your Majesty” they muttered at the same time, lowering their heads.

Queen Celestia smiled, nodding at both unicorn and dragon, “arise, I won’t have my children bowing to me like this” she ordered softly, looking at them with a small frown. Both unicorn and dragon rose, looking at their queen and surrogate mother expectantly. The solar alicorn rose from her throne, drawing both into a hug that they happily returned, once they separated, Celestia walked off, gesturing for her children to follow “I wish we could catch up, but this mater can’t wait” she explained, marching ahead.

The siblings shared a look, following after the queen, “so, what is the issue?” asked Spike, tilting his head at his mother and queen. Celestia looked up in thought, eyes glazing slightly as she became briefly lost in her memories.

“As you know, tomorrow will be the thousandth anniversary of my sister’s banishment” she began, lowering her head as old regrets began bubbling to the forefront of her mind “tomorrow will be the day her imprisonment will be over” she didn’t need to turn around to know her children had put two and two together.

“So… it’s time then?” asked Twilight, ears lowering at the prospect of what was to come while Spike clenched his jaw.

“Indeed” answered the alabaster alicorn, “you two will be departing to poniville in a few hours, there you will meet with the other element bearers and remain on standby, should I fall, it will depend on you to stop my sister’s rampage” Celestia sighed, “and hopefully cleanse her of the parasite”.

After they arrived at the Queen’s quarters, there, the queen turned around, finally allowing herself to drop any and all pretenses, drawing both siblings close and into a hug as she silently shook, both teens returned the hug. The peculiar family holding each other, no words were exchanged, they weren’t needed.

Shortly after their meeting with the Queen, Twilight and Spike returned to the hospital, to try and pay Shining armor a visit before they had to depart; this time they were guided to a room in the intensive care wing of the hospital.

There they found their brother, barrel bound as he laid in the room’s only bed, with Princess Cadenza by his side, both siblings marched to their brother’s side.

“Hey guys” mumbled Shiny, smiling weakly at the approaching pair, Cadenza smiling at them, offering them a nod but not saying a word, and sipping from a cup of something honey scented.

“How are you feeling?” asked Twilight, standing by her elder brother’s bedside while Spike took a seat at her side.

The older unicorn shifted a bit in bed with a grimace, trying to get comfortable, “like the luckiest stallion in the world” he said “the doctors say that the creature’s beak almost hits my heart, and that it’s thanks to the Queen that I survived long enough to get treatment” the stallion grimaced in discomfort, but settled when Cadenza laid a hoof on his shoulder and her horn touched his, magic flowing to and fro.

“So, any reason Candace has yet to speak once?” grunted Spike, raising an eyebrow at the bedridden pony and his pink companion, bringing up a point that had been niggling at him since entering, Cadenza was usually a very talkative mare, so her being quiet for longer than a minute was a bit worrying.

The alicorn in question flexed her magic again, and a couple of paper sheets floated into view from their place on the ground “long day in the hospital, sang myself hoarse” they read, and the dragon made an acknowledging grunt, settling back into his seat.

Twilight frowned at the revelation, “that… how?” she asked “how many ponies did you have to heal?” the mare’s incredulity was palpable, and it only grew when Cadenza only gave her a sad little smile, the meaning clear. The pink alicorn’s horn glowed, and this time, instead of a sign, her own magic solidified into words midair “there was a collapse in the mines, many near fatal wounds from the crystals falling on unfortunate miners” they read.

“But at least no one actually died thanks to you” said Shiny, smiling at Cadenza, who looked to the side, cheeks darkening a little and a shy smile appearing on her lips. Twilight and Spike shared an unimpressed look, before turning back to the older duo; Twilight cleared her throat “before you two get any more lovey dovey” she began, ignoring their embarrassed responses “I have come with grave news, the queen’s sister will return during this summer sun celebration”

Both older ponies lost all sense of cheer at that news “and here I am, strapped to a bed and unable to help” muttered the stallion, gritting his teeth in frustration, before going limp with a resigned sigh “looks like you’re leaving me behind again little sis” he chuckled ruefully, smiling with both nostalgia and pride at Twilight.

Said mare got closer, hugging her brother “don’t say that” she chastised softly “I just was lucky to resonate with the element” breaking the hug, Twilight held her brother at foreleg length “you focus on recuperating and getting on your hooves alright?” at his nod, the mare continued “Spike and I are being sent to poniville to gather the other bearers and prepare for a worst case scenario, when you get out of the hospital, you should gather your forces and do the same”.

Both older ponies nodded, with Cadenza’s horn glowing again, showing another message "i will assist the Queen, hopefully Love may be able to overcome the parasite" it read, a hope they all held, after all, in this world were feelings were tied to primordial forces of magic and nature, few things could match Love, but those that could… well, the less spoken about them, the better.

Before anything else could be said, Spike grunted, standing up “it’s time to go, or we’ll miss the train” he said, pointedly looking at a wall clock, Twilight sighed, giving her brother and her friend one last hug each, before turning to walk out “take care you two” she said, finally walking out of the room followed by Spike, who gave them a parting nod”

The train ride was uneventful at best, both siblings spent the ride quietly preparing themselves for what was to come. Soon, their ride came to a stop, and both got out.

And their world became Pink.

“Hi! You two must be Twilight and Spike! Welcome to poniville! I’m Pinky! Expert demolitionist and baker extraordinaire!” the pink mare rattled off shaking the unicorn mare’s hoof… and shaking the mare herself in the process too, then she zipped to Spike, leaving Twilight to try and gather her thoughts, and her things, that had all ended up being literally shaken loose from her person.

“We’ve been waiting for you two! Come on come on, the others are waiting!” chirped the mare after giving Spike a thorough shaking like she did with Twilight, before turning around and… bouncing away; somehow managing to blend into the crowd despite being bright pink. The two siblings looked at each other “the dossiers weren’t joking” whispered the dragon, an expression of dawning horror on his face.

Already feeling the headache coming, Twilight sighed, “doesn’t matter, we have a mission, let’s go” both siblings followed after the pink mare, a task made infuriatingly difficult with said mare’s ability to go unnoticed as long as she wished “how is she doing this?” grumbled Spike, sniffing the air to try and find any hint as to where Pinky went, and ignoring how the rest of the ponies here gave him a wide berth. “I don’t know, and I’m not sure I want to know” answered Twilight, horn and runes lighting up to cast a tracking spell, only to have it fizzle out, much to her consternation.

Eventually, they managed to find a track, that lead to a quiet farm on the outer rim of the little town, the Apple family’s apple farm called sweet apple acres. The apple clan was, to put it simply, extensive, there was at least one or two branches of the apple clan on every settlement in Equestria, their family’s bloodline could be traced back to times before the sister queens, before the great alliance was forged, before even the Chaos Emperor’s reign. It could be traced back to the times where the great tree stood still, long before the dark one and his monstrous children blighted the world with their foul existence.

Hel, Twilight had even read some legends that may or may not hint at the apples being blood descendants of the Thunderer, the very first earth pony borne Alicorn!

A soft thump on the back of her head from Spike snapped Twilight out of her ‘science/research’ mode, as the dragon had taken to call her fugue-like state whenever she got invested in something of intellectual nature; and made her focus on the now, and the mares currently standing before her ‘wait… when did i… oh fuck me, I zoned out again’ she grumbled in her head, shooting the amused dragon a disgruntled glare.

“About time you snapped out of your daydream” snorted one of the mares, a cyan coated Pegasus with a rainbow mare and tail, currently lounging in a piece of cloud a little above Spike’s head level. Rainbow Dash, the fastest Pegasus to ever live, Equestria’s hurricane, as she was known in the higher echelons of the military, and bearer of the element of loyalty “I would introduce myself, but I get the feeling that you already know who I am” she said, throwing Twilight a lazy smirk.

“Indeed I do, miss Dash” intoned the unicorn in question, looking at each of the mares present “I know every single one of you” she said, making them stand a bit straighter, or in Dash’s case, sit up.

“Applejack Apple” she began, looking at the orange furred mare, who tipped her hat at her with a friendly smile “current manager of the sweet apple acres, daughter of Pear Butter and Bright Mac, the two most famous gunslingers of Equestria, and the ones responsible for putting an end to the blood feud between the Pears and the Apples” the orange mare nodded “damn right” she stated firmly, her pride in her parent’s history as clear as day.

Then Twilight turned to her fellow unicorn “Rarity Belle” she began, making the white coated unicorn smile and nod politely “famous seamstress, the current apprentice to Equestria’s master of whispers, and potion mistress to be” she said, and the amethyst maned unicorn bowed “the very same my darling war mage, it is a pleasure meeting you~” she purred, favoring Twilight and Spike with a half lidded smile, licking her lips in a very… suggestive… way that had them both shifting around a bit, adverting their gaze while feeling their cheeks get a bit warmer.

Clearing her throat, Twilight locked gazes with the next mare, who smiled shyly from behind her soft pink mane “miss Fluttershy, no last name” she began, noting the slight flinch of the Pegasus mare, “ranger of the Everfree forest, wildlife expert and beast master” the unicorn smiled slightly, nodding in respect at the shy Pegasus, “in the name of the celestial corps, I thank you for maintaining the beasts of the Everfree under control”

Fluttershy smiled hesitantly “i-it’s n-nothing, j-just doing m-my job”.

“Speaking of jobs” butted in the rainbow maned Pegasus, head hanging lazily from the cloud as she stared at Twilight and Spike “care to tell us what brings you to our little corner of Equestria?” she drawled, raising a lazy eyebrow.

Letting the smile slip from her lips, Twilight straightened “simple, the fallen Queen’s return will be tomorrow night” the revelation killed all activity, the mares all stilling and giving Twilight and Spike their undivided attention.

“Are you absolutely sure of this? Has it been confirmed?” asked Rainbow Dash, no longer lounging on her cloud. a severe frown set upon her features when Twilight nodded gravelly. The others had similar reactions; Applejack had her face hidden by her hat, but the war mage could see the muscles tensing and rippling under her coat.

Pinky was no longer smiling or bouncing, her hair had, somehow, straightened and darkened, covering half of her face, while the still visible half now sported a cold, calculative look.

Rarity kept a polite smile, but the dangerous glint in her eyes betrayed the mask.

Fluttershy lowered her head, a pensive, dread filled frown upon her brow, which, curiously enough, changed to an expression of grim determination as she rose her head once more, staring at Twilight in the eyes, but staying silent.

“What’s the plan then?” asked the rainbow manned Pegasus, staring at the siblings. Spike cleared his throat, drawing the attention of the five mares to him “quite simple really” he said “by orders of the Queen, we are to stay within the town limits at all times, and you ladies, are to begin the preparations necessary to awaken and bond with the Elements of Harmony, in case her majesty fails to separate her sister and the parasite”.

All five mares froze, staring in open shock at the revelation, unable to comprehend what the dragon just said. Spike meanwhile. stretched a bit, groaning as his back popped and yawning widely “and while you do that, I will check on the town’s militia, make sure they are in proper fighting shape, and check on patrol routes, just to be safe” he grunted, cracking his neck.

[] Follow Twilight and her ‘friends’

[] Follow Spike

Author's Note

Well... here it is... about eight months later... sorry, can't really say anything other than real life being it's usual bitchy self, hopefully the next chapter will be before eight days pass, i hopw y'all enjoy this one.

i was going to add a bit about a certain thing that got dropped in the dragon lands, but that's better left for later on

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