Always Has Been

by Eakin

Rating: everyone
Tags: Other, Adventure, Random, Main 6, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic
Length: 8023

Overuse of the Elements of Harmony is breaking down the barriers between worlds, with consequeces

After a decade of protecting Equestria with the Elements of Harmony, Ponyville is a very different place. Or maybe it's exactly the same. Either way, the Bearers of the eight Elements of Harmony better get to the bottom of it.

A slightly more mind screwy adventure story than my usual, that will be updated irregularly.

Published 2012-08-14 04:14:01 UTC
Last updated 2012-08-16 05:53:21 UTC

Chapter 1

ALWAYS HAS BEEN

Chapter 1:
Twilight stepped off the express train from Canterlot onto the platform of the Ponyville train station.

“Back at last. Come on guys, let’s go home. I could use a few days off before the Princess calls us back again to deal with whatever elemental spirit of destruction or eldritch abomination from beyond the stars shows up tomorrow,” she said over her shoulder. At her order her cadre of pets and helpers stepped out as well. Spike, her number one assistant and second in command, was as always the first to run to her side. Owlysious followed, along with the two phoenixes; Philomena's daughter Phillamini and youngest son PeeWee. Twilight’s pony friends had all caught earlier trains home, while she had gotten stuck with the paperwork for their latest use of the Elements of Harmony.

She cast her thoughts back to earlier days, when she and her friends could just show up in Canterlot, ask the Princess to borrow the Elements to fight whatever menace was threatening Equestria this time, set out to battle and been home by supper. But that could never work now. With all the action the Elements and their Bearers saw these days, the ancient relics needed to be properly checked in and out so the unicorns of the magic academy could recharge them as quickly as possible.

“Twi, let’s get moving. I’d like to get home before second sundown for once,” prompted Spike. Glancing upward Twilight realized he was right. Celestia’s sun had already set, and the smaller orb that her son Lucifer rose and set each day was getting ready to follow it. Titania’s moon had already been up for nearly two hours, with Luna’s and Artemis’ moons soon to come.

“Lead the way, number one assistant,” said Twilight as she gave the young dragon an affectionate nudge with her muzzle.

They walked along in silence. Twilight took the opportunity to contemplate the town. Her life had changed in so many ways since she moved here a decade ago. Life in Canterlot had certainly been a lot less exciting. She’d lost track of all the natural disasters, monster attacks, scientific experiments gone wrong (an embarrassingly large portion of which were her fault), and other forms of mass destruction that had rolled through Ponyville over the years. No matter how bad the destruction got though, the town always bounced back as if it had never happened at all.

A few months ago, on a whim, she’d sifted through the official Hall of Records archive to get an exact count. There had been 3437 incidents that had been classified at the “Total Calamity” level or higher over the last 10 years. They seemed to occur about once a week.

Something had bothered her about those numbers, but she remembered each and every one of the disasters as having happened. Usually she and her friends had been in the middle of it.

She turned at the corner where Sugarcube Corner stood, pausing a moment to glance inside. She saw Pinkie Pie directing the four Pie fillies who helped run the bakery while she was away fighting evil and saving the world all the time. Even though Pound and Pumpkin as well as their younger siblings Angel Food and Devil Food were still too young to take over on their own, they’d developed into a wonderful team. They were, collectively, stunningly independent for their age. The Cake’s second set of twins had been born a year and a half after the first. The Cakes were delighted to finally find themselves the parents of an Earth pony son. Not that they had been any less pleased about their Seapony daughter, she had been a joyful surprise. Heavy on the surprise.

It wasn’t that seaponies weren’t an incredibly important part of Ponyville, of course. They always had been, doing as much as any other pony to make the town work. Even her friend Rarity’s mother was a sea pony. Twilight had met her one day when she had walked Sweetie Belle over to Carousel Boutique while Twilight had been there ordering a new dress, and they’d had a nice chat about the finer points of oceanic currents.

No, wait, Rarity’s mother was a unicorn. The conversation had been about thaumaturgical currents, not the oceanic variety.

No, that wasn’t right, she had definitely been a sea pony. Now that she thought about it, she clearly remembered BOTH conversations. They’d been surprisingly similar, really. But it wasn’t like Rarity had two mothers...

Twilight felt a sharp lance of pain in her head. Great, yet another migraine. They seemed to be happening more and more frequently these days. Probably just all the stress she’d been under. She would feel better once she was home and had a good night's sleep.

The small entourage continued down the street. Twilight stole a glance at the shop across the way from Sugar Cube Corner. She liked Pinkie’s sister, she really did. They’d even become good friends. But she could never feel entirely comfortable about Pinkamena’s Pikes, Pistols, and Partisans, the weapon shop she ran. It just didn’t seem to fit comfortably in Twilight’s mental picture of Ponyville. It was nice that the two of them had moved from their family’s rock farm to Ponyville together, but Twilight couldn’t imagine a more different pair of identical twins.

Almost home now. She could already see the grove of oak trees that had created the frame of her library. The three humongous trees grew so close together that bridges between the upper floors had been woven out of their branches. The library was a botanical miracle. Everything Twilight knew about plants suggested that they shouldn’t have been able to grow that way at all. Their root systems should have tied each other into a hopeless mess, and one of the trees should have overshadowed the other two, slowly starving them of Celestia’s (and Lucifer’s, can’t forget Lucifer) life giving sunlight. Still here they were, against all odds, just like they always had been.

Twilight’s party opened the front door and was immediately rewarded with the delicious smells of a home cooked meal. Homemade wheatgrass curry, her absolute favorite.

“Dawn, you are far too good to me” said Twilight, her mouth already beginning to water as she carried Phillamini and PeeWee to their perch and poured them a bowl of phoenix feed.

“Hey, it’s my favorite too” said Dawn from the kitchen. The purple unicorn stepped out into the foyer to greet Twilight. “Welcome home, sis.”

If Pinkamena and Pinkie were the least similar identical twin Twilight could imagine, she and Dawn were the most similar and always had been. They had the same taste in... well... everything. The same special talents, the same cutie marks. They had even been accepted together by Celestia as her personal students. Twilight was proud to have fought beside her sister against everything Equestria could throw at them, first as fellow mages and later as fellow Element bearers.

“Well, I don’t know about you...” both ponies smiled at Dawn’s little joke. They had always been able to tell exactly how the other thought or felt. It was just the special bond they shared as twins. “...but I think we should eat. Then I’m looking forward to bed, honestly. That last mission really left me drained.”

“No kidding,” added Spike. “At least we should have some time to catch up on rest now. I feel like I could- *cough* -sleep for- *cough* a week.” With those last few words and another hacking cough, Spike produced a spurt of green dragon fire. As it cleared, a letter fell onto the oak table. A letter than bore the royal seal of Canterlot. Twilight stared at it, her curry momentarily forgotten. It couldn’t be another mission already, they had JUST saved the nation of Equestria not a dozen hours before. Besides, the Elements were drained as dry as Twilight had ever seen them. They needed time to recharge and recuperate, just like their bearers. Maybe it wasn’t a mission. Maybe it was an invitation to some sort of celebration. Or heck, maybe it was just a simple thank you note.

“I don’t suppose” said Dawn “that she might have just sent us a friendly letter or an invitation to her birthday party, do you?” They shared a sideways glance and both rolled their eyes. “It’s your turn to open it, Twi.”

Twilight broke the seal and unfurled the letter. She quickly read the letter. It was brief and straight to the point, as if Princess Celestia had grown as tired of writing these sorts of letters as Twilight had of receiving them.

“She wants an audience with all of us first thing tomorrow.”

Dawn groaned. “Does it say why?”

“The usual. ‘A matter of utmost importance to the future of Equestria.’” Twilight rose wearily and walked over to Owlysious’ perch. “Would you mind taking this to the other bearers tonight, please?”

“Hoo?”

“Don’t start that. I’m much too tired right now.”

“...You’re no fun anymore, Twilight” Owlysious said in perfect Equestrian. “I take it you’ll be asleep before I get back?”

“Well before, I hope.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow, then. Try to get some rest Twilight, you look exhausted.”

She smiled wearily. “I’ll try. See you tomorrow Owlysious.” She returned to the dinner table as Owlysious flew out into the night to deliver the letters. The news of her early morning appointment had killed the anticipation she’d felt for her meal, but she mechanically dug into the curry anyway. It was delicious. Dawn had become an excellent cook over the last few years, much better than Twilight was. Not that that was saying much. Twilight had slowly taken more and more of the responsibilities of leading the Bearers after they had both agreed (naturally) that identical twins or not the team needed a single leadership figure to rally around. Twilight had won their traditional coin flip. In response to her sister’s new responsibilities Dawn had picked up a lot of her slack on the domestic front. It bothered her that they were different from one another in even minor ways. They had always been identical in every regard, and now that they weren’t Twilight felt like she had lost something she hadn’t realized she had relied on always having.

They ate in silence, exhausted from the months of lurching from disaster to disaster, alway hoping against hope that after this one things would surely calm down, that they’d be able to relax at last. But it was getting harder and harder to find even a moment of peace. After dinner, they decided to leave the dishes for the following day, or whenever the next time they returned to the library might be. Retiring for the evening, Twilight set her alarm for before daybreak and was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

Chapter 2

CHAPTER 2

The next morning, eight ponies stood before the royal throne in Celestia’s royal court. All eight of them were household names, declared “Heroes of Equestria” and showered with honors a dozen times over. All of them also looked like they’d rather be somewhere else. The sheen of an exclusive audience with the Princess had long since worn away.

Princess Celestia regarded them with her practiced, unreadable smile. As students Twilight and Dawn had spent years studying that smile, trying to figure out if she disapproved of the answer they were giving to one of her questions or if they were completely off track. They were no closer to cracking it then they had been the day they had met her.

“My little ponies,” Celestia began as she always did, “thank you all for coming. I’m sorry to call you back so soon after your last trial, but Equestria finds itself in need of your services once again.” Celestia had arranged for the meeting to be completely private, dismissing even her royal guards from the hall. She had even asked the bearers to leave their pets and companions in Ponyville. No doubt Spike had already unlocked the door to the gem cellar and was polishing off the block of aged jade Twilight had been planning to give him for his birthday. Oh well, he deserved it.

Applejack stepped forward and bowed. “Princess, with all due respect, ma’am, you can skip all the fancy talk with us. We know what we gotta do, just point us in the direction of whatever it is we gotta zap with the Elements today and we’ll git ‘er done.” The others nodded in agreement.

Celestia broke into a smile, an authentic one this time. Twilight suspected that she actually enjoyed these audiences with the Element bearers, despite the dire circumstances that usually prompted them. She respected those who weren’t cowed by her power and title. These days the Bearers were pretty tough to intimidate. With the Elements’ aid they had thwarted entities several orders of magnitude more powerful than either Princess.

“I appreciate that you’re probably sick of the formalities. So am I, to be completely honest. However, this isn’t the sort of mission you’ve grown accustomed to over the last few years. There’s no giant monster, or robots, or rampaging hell-beasts threatening Equestria this time. In fact, you won’t even be taking the Elements with you.” Celestia paused to give the news a chance to sink in.

The pink earth pony standing between Applejack and Rarity spoke up. “I’m afraid I have to object to being summoned here, then. Whatever errand you need run, some other pony is surely better suited to it. Our utility to Equestria can be maximized if you limit our duties to tasks that require the Elements. Frankly, we’re already overworked and pushing us harder will only increase the chances of a disastrous failure during some future mission” said Pinkamena. She did have a gift for bluntly saying what the rest of them felt but didn’t dare to speak aloud. “Plus, if I’m not going to get to kill something with the Element of Pragmatism today I need to find something else to amuse me.”

“‘Mena! I’m sorry, Princess, my sister doesn’t mean to a rude mc’rudypants, we’re all just kinda tired is all,” Pinkie apologized on Pinkamena’s behalf. Pinkamena just rolled her eyes at her sister’s fawning behavior. “Although... if you don’t need the elements, why did you ask us to come?”

“You won’t need the Elements themselves,” said Celestia, “but the connection you share with them means that what I’m about to ask of you is something that only you can accomplish. Twilight, Dawn, my faithful students, you’ve been studying how the Elements work have you not?”

Dawn and Twilight looked at one another, puzzled at the apparent change in topics. “Well, Princess,” began Dawn, slipping into what Twilight usually thought of as ‘book report mode,’ “while their exact mechanism of operation is unknown we do know that the Elements of Harmony, when properly combined and activated by the magic inherent in friendships between a group of ponies, alter the nature of a target at the subatomic level. In laypony’s terms, they effectively ‘rewrite’ them into a form that no longer threatens the natural harmony of Equestria” she finished with a small flourish.

“Very good, Dawn,” said Celestia “but your explanation is incomplete.” Dawn’s eye twitched at the word ‘incomplete’ and Twilight shuddered in sympathy. Words like ‘incomplete’, ‘unsatisfactory’, and ‘tardy’ were the last things they wanted to hear from their former teacher. Celestia took notice of their discomfort. “Don’t feel bad, these last few years I’ve had a chance to look into the nature of the Elements more deeply, and I have some new findings. The Elements are actually NOT capable of rewriting the nature of any being from scratch.”

The assembled ponies looked at one another in confusion. “Umm... Excuse me, Princess, I don’t mean to interrupt or contradict you, but, um, they can do that. We’ve seen it for ourselves. One second, there’s a big cranky monster, then we use the Elements, and then they’re gone and there’s something friendly or less dangerous where they used to be. If that’s OK with you, I mean...” Fluttershy trailed off as her courage ran out.

“You’re right of course, Fluttershy” said Celestia. “The Elements certainly do alter the things they’re used against, but they don’t change it themselves. The true power of harmony lies in joining different things together. The best way I can explain it is that the Elements go looking for another world, identical to ours except that whatever their target is either does not exist or exists only in a non-threatening form. Then the Elements join those two worlds together as one. When done properly the two worlds align so closely that the only thing that’s changed is the target. No pony should be able to tell the difference between the old world and the new, joint one.”

“Well, I’m sure that’s really cool, Princess. For eggheads who like to study and write papers about stuff like that, anyway. But if no pony can tell the difference, who really cares why they work the way they do?” asked Rainbow Dash.

“That’s the thing, Rainbow. Most of the power expended by the Elements is used not in replacing whatever their target is, but rather in searching for the appropriate world to merge with. To function as they were originally meant to they need to rest for, at the bare minimum, a decade between uses.”

“Well, we’ve certainly used them a great deal more often than that. Especially lately,” said Rarity.

“Yes you have. At my request. I take full responsibility for the consequences,” said Celestia.

Twilight realized what the Princess was driving at. “So what happens when the Elements are fired improperly?”

Princess Celestia’s eyes sparkled with pride. She’d known that Twilight and Dawn would catch on quickly. “Exactly. You’ve already seen that they are still quite effective at changing the natures of their targets. In order to do so, they conserve energy by neglecting their other function. Rather than sifting through the infinite multiverse of worlds to find one an identical one, they just... use whatever one happens to be at hoof, so to speak. The lower their energy reserves get, the less exacting their standards become.”

“Wait just an apple buckin’ minute! You mean the elements are changin’ other things besides the monsters we use ‘em against? I don’t remember anything else bein’ different after we’ve used ‘em last time,” said Applejack.

“No, I suppose you wouldn’t have” said Celestia, unperturbed by her champion’s interruption. “What you have to realize is that the Elements don’t just join the worlds together at the moment of their use. They join the pasts of those worlds as well. So any changes they make when you use them are made in the past as well as the present. Excepting the old and new form of the target you use them on, of course.”

“So if the Elements are finding different worlds, and joining the pasts of those worlds together with ours...” Dawn trailed off, stunned at the implications of what she was saying.

“Every time we use the elements we replace our own past with another world’s,” said Twilight finishing her thought.

“Not replace, combine. The versions of you that lived through each past are merged into the same pony, remembering both worlds’ histories” said Celestia. “The more we use the elements, the greater the divergence in worlds they merge ours with, and the more things they try to bring together. Including, I believe, many of the creatures that we’ve been using the Elements of Harmony against recently. Bit of a paradox, isn’t it?”

“I get it!” shouted Pinkie, “It’s like if you have two bowls of chocolate chip cookie dough and mix ‘em up together, you can still bake chocolate chip cookies ‘cause it’s the same kind of dough. But if you mix up a bowl of peanut butter cookie dough and chocolate chip cookie dough they don’t really stick together right, and if you try to bake ‘em some parts will be be burned and other parts will be mushy and undercooked because they’re supposed to cook at different temperatures!”

Celestia considered what Pinkie had just said. From a technical standpoint, the metaphor was incorrect in quite literally every single possible way. “That’s a pretty good way to think about it, actually,” she finally admitted. “However, things have progressed to the point where, er, one of the bowls is full of brownie batter rather than cookie dough.”

Pinkie was struck dumb, slumping to the cold marble floor as her legs gave out from under her. Either she was stunned by having her entire conception of reality overturned in a single stroke, or she was getting an idea for a really tasty new kind of party snack. Or both.

“But if our memories are changed, how are we ever to know when something isn’t as it once was?” asked Rarity. “Or rather I suppose, that something has only been the way it always has been for a short time?” She placed a hoof against her forehead “Oh dear, this is going to become very confusing, isn’t it?”

“You’ll simply have to be on the lookout for inconsistencies in things you’ve taken for granted. Had you not been run so ragged by all the new ancient enemies that have become a threat to Equestria you likely would have noticed it on your own. After all, it’s a very difficult thing to actively believe in two mutually exclusive facts, and your connections to the Elements should give you some slight protection from their effects. I’m certain that in time you’ll be able to pick out the differences. They may take the form of mental or physical changes in yourselves or those around you, or if the differences would be too great to reconcile, the appearance of a whole new pony altogether.”

“Well, uh, I don’t think that I’ve noticed anything like that, Princess. I mean, I guess I haven’t really been looking for any, since I’ve been awfully busy with taking care of my bunnies and saving the world all the time,” said Fluttershy, “do you think you could give us an example of something that’s changed?”

Celestia closed her eyes and took a moment to compose herself. She had hoped to break the news to them more gradually than this, but they were taking it better than expected so far. Perhaps it would be best to rip away their illusions as quickly as possible. She opened her eyes again and looked down at the eight Bearers, then up at the Great Hall. It was a symbol of everything the eight of them had already given so much to protect. Every stained glass window in the hall depicted one of their victories over a titanic foe, spirits and deities that could have crushed a pony with a thought, and even overthrown the Princesses with ease. But in every case the Bearers had stood up to them and saved the day. Celestia smiled. What ever had made her think she needed to protect these ponies? Least of all from the truth?

“Even with all my power, I am quite sure that I can only perceive a small fraction of the changes that have occurred. However... what would you say if I told you that a decade ago, Rainbow Dash wasn’t a stallion?”

Dash gave a nervous chuckle as his seven friends looked over at him, confused looks on their faces. “Yeah, I guess I was barely more than a colt back then, wasn’t I? Crazy times, am I right?”

No other pony was laughing with him.

“I’m afraid I mean that much more literally, Rainbow Dash,” said Celestia as gently as she could.

“What, you’re saying that I used to be a mare? That’s pretty good Princess, did Pinkie put you up to this? Because that was a really awesome prank. Is it April Foals day already? You guys totally had me going there. Guys?” he saw that he was still the only pony laughing. Pinkie, at least, should have been cracking up by now, that mare had no poker face at all. But instead she was was just looking at him with... pity? It could actually be true, though, right?

Rainbow sat down on the floor. His ears seemed to be full of a loud buzzing noise. Dawn reached over and put a hoof on his shoulder, not sure what she could say. Rainbow was lost in thought trying to process what he’d just been told and didn’t hear anything else the Princess said as she forged ahead with her explanation.

“There is one power in Equestria on par with friendship and harmony; namely love. The love between two alicorns, channeled with the proper rituals, should be able to overwhelm the Elements and destroy them utterly. Prince Solaris and I will provide this. Ever since your use of the Elements against Tiamat last night, we have been married for the last 5000 years and our love for each other is strong.”

“Wait, Princess, you’ve been married to the Prince, like, foreeeeeever! We musta met him a bajillion times since we started doing this!” exclaimed Pinkie. “Why wait until now if you’ve knew it was gonna be a problem?”

“I know you think of me as being married to him since times immaterial, but can you remember if you remembered him being my husband of 5 millenia yesterday?” asked Celestia.

“No, I remember remembering you as not married yesterday... but now you’ve been married for the last 5000 years?” asked Pinkie.

“That’s right, Pinkie,” confirmed Celestia. “That’s why only now do we have the ability to break the Elements apart and unspool the connections they’ve created between the different timelines.”

Pinkie sat back and grasped her head between her front hooves as she contemplated this new development. “Princess! Do you realize what this means? What the implications of this are? This means I have to throw you two 5000 anniversary parties!”

A fed-up Pinkamena pushed her sister aside, where she settled into a corner and began to eagerly plan 5000 simultaneous parties. “Now that Pinkie has the really important stuff well in hoof, can we turn our attention back to the ‘destroying the Elements of Harmony’ thing? Because that sounds like the kind of thing that could either blow up the planet or, best case scenario, just kill all of us horribly.”

“It is not without risk, which is why your assistance is necessary. I must stay at the palace and make preparations, but the ritual is too dangerous to try unless we know what has been changed and what hasn’t been. If we try to unravel what we think is a connection, but is actually a fundamental part of Equestrian reality...” she trailed off. In truth even she had no idea what might happen, but every pony in the room knew that they didn’t want to find out.

“I suppose that if the changes are affecting time itself, any written records would be compromised, too,” said Twilight, “and we know we can’t trust our own memories. How can we possibly find an account of what happened before, or, well, maybe originally is a better word to describe it? I think we’re going to need some new grammar if we’re going to be discussing this regularly.”

“It’s true that most books will reflect the new timeline. However, there may be a single exception,” said Celestia. “Legends speak of an ancient tome, somewhere in Equestria, that they refer to as the Book of Fate. According to these legends, everything that ever has and ever will happen is written within it. It exists outside of what we would properly consider time to be, and if we are fortunate it may have been unaffected by the Element’s magics.”

“Ah don’t suppose you know where it is?” asked Applejack hopefully.

“I’m afraid not, Applejack. But I’ve had researchers combing the archives for the last several weeks looking for clues. They will deliver their notes and any texts that you require up to the suite that we’ve prepared for you,” said Celestia. “Time is of the essence. The Elements have become too unstable to use any more, but the threats they have protected us from are still out there. We must find the Book of Fate and conduct the ritual before Canterlot is overwhelmed.”

Twilight stepped forward. “You can count on us, Princess!” The others nodded behind her. “By your leave, we’d like to get started right away.” She glanced over at Rainbow Dash, who was still dazed from what the Princess had told him. “I think we all have some things we’re going to want to talk to one another about, but please have the information sent up in an hour or so.”

“Thank you so much, my little ponies. I’m sorry that this task falls to you when you’ve all given the kingdom so much already. Of course I’ll have everything sent up whenever you’d like it, along with some meals,” said Celestia. Dawn shook Rainbow Dash, finally rousing him from his stupor and the group turned to leave.

Celestia watched them go, tempted to leave it at that. After all, she’d given them a big enough shock for a single day. Another part of her mind objected, chiding her for her cowardly rationalizations. They deserved to know.

“One final thing, actually,” said Celestia as the Bearers reached the door. “As I said before, I’m not sure of everything that’s changed since we began using the Elements. However, I remember very clearly that when I used them over 1000 years ago to banish Nightmare Moon, there were only six. Not eight as there are today.” She swallowed hard, unable to put off telling them the bad news any longer.

“I want you to prepare yourselves for the possibility that if we are successful... some of you may no longer exist.”

Chapter 3

CHAPTER 3

The walk from the throne room up to the royal apartments had been a quiet, dreary affair. Usually after receiving an assignment from Celestia to go into battle they would be in high spirits. Rainbow Dash and Applejack would be bantering about which one of them would land the first kick on the thing’s face, or Pinkamena would be trying to goad Rarity into a snit by asking if she could turn the monster’s pelt into a new hat. This time was different though, and Celestia’s final warning had left them all shaken.

The eight Bearers walked into the elaborate 4-bedroom suite that had been their home away from home many a night for the last few years. Subtle and unobtrusive artwork hung on the walls, the main decoration in the room since the Canterlot Museum curators had ordered all breakable antique objects back to the vault after the ‘Rainbow Dash and Pinkie Pie play tag’ incident. No expense had been spared to bring the eight heroes every creature comfort the kingdom could provide. There were even personalized gift baskets on each one of the ponies’ beds.

None of it seemed all that appealing to any pony at the moment. As soon as he entered his room Rainbow Dash trotted over to a bay window that looked out over the plains that lay below Canterlot. While the others began unpacking the things they had brought with them from Ponyville he hopped up onto the cushioned seat and just stared out at the sky.

Dash tried to wrap his mind around what Celestia had just told him. He knew the Princess wouldn’t lie about something like this, but the idea of himself as a mare just seemed so ridiculous. When he tried as hard as he could, he could kind of pick out a few hazy memories of himself, but much younger and a filly. Did that even prove anything? It might be one of those things, like when some pony tells you not to think of an orange and yellow zebra and you can’t think of anything else. He wondered what he had been like as a mare. Had he been as awesome as he was now? Sure, his seven best friends were examples of just how awesome mares could be, but he was Rainbow Dash! Could you really improve something that was already pretty much perfect?

His friends. It always had seemed a little weird to him that only one of the eight Elements had gone to a colt. Over the years he’d just gotten used to shrugging off the question when it came up, not to mention the bawdy jokes that some colts liked to make about how he was so lucky to have ‘his own personal harem.’ None of the girls had ever held his gender against him or believed there had been anything to the jokes of course. They all just laughed it off with him.

Still, working so closely together in such a dangerous job for so long, it had probably been inevitable that romance bloomed within their little group. Over time they’d grown closer, and for nearly five years he’d been in a relationship with one of his best friends, feeling like the luckiest pegasus in the world. Sifting through his memories in the harsh new light Celestia had cast on them, though, he was starting to realize something.

He wasn’t sure which one of them it was.

He had never even considered cheating, he knew that much for sure. What kind of Element of Loyalty would two-time his own marefriend? But he remembered how nervous he had been when he’d asked Rarity out on their first date. He remembered the first kiss he’d shared with Dawn under the night sky. He remembered the random food fight with Pinkie Pie that had degenerated into them both making out on the floor of Sugar Cube Corner. He remembered the anniversary of his first date with Fluttershy when he had tried to surprise her with a home-cooked meal and nearly burned down her cottage. Hundreds of memories like that, with him ecstatic to be in a monogamous relationship with each of his seven teammates, apparently all at the same time and yet not. Rainbow Dash wondered what the other seven remembered about him, and how they would react if they realized the same thing he just had. Ideally, he would have tried to talk to them about it right away, but the present circumstances were hardly ideal.

Twilight and Dawn were the first to finish unpacking, putting every piece of clothing and equipment they had brought into the same carefully considered place as it always went when they visited. They returned to the main seating area and settled in while the others slowly finished as well and trickled back to the common area. Twilight decided to leave Rainbow Dash alone for the time being, trusting that he would come over on his own once he was ready to talk. Once the seven mares were all seated together, she stood and addressed them. “Well, until the research gets up here I think we should start brainstorming how we’re going to divvy up the search so it gets done as efficiently as possible. Dawn and I will start with the texts. Rarity, I’d like you and Applejack to talk to the scholars and see what they’ve-”

“Are you really going to ignore the fact that Celestia just told us that some of us aren’t supposed to exist?” asked Pinkemena, interrupting her.

“We need to get to work if we’re going to find this Book of Fate. We don’t have time to speculate about that kind of thing right now,” said Twilight.

“That’s stupid. If we can figure out which of us it is then at least the other six can stop worrying that they might be one. Besides, I think it’s pretty obvious who one of them is,” said Pinkemena.

Before Twilight could think better of it, she asked, “It is? Who?”

“Pinkie Pie, duh,” said Pinkemena, pointing a hoof in her sister’s direction. “I mean, you all must have noticed that she doesn’t exactly fit in with the rest of the world, right? All the weird stuff that goes on around her? Pinkie sense? What other pony do you know who can do any of that?”

A pink blur darted through the circle they were seated in, slamming into Pinkemena and knocking the chair she was sitting in over backwards. Two pink ponies tumbled head over heels, and when they came to rest Pinkie Pie was sitting on her sister’s chest, pinning her back to the floor.

“Take it back, ‘Mena! You take that back RIGHT NOW!” Pinkie shouted, stomping a hoof into Pinkemena’s chest for emphasis as their friends looked on, stunned by the display of violence from their usually sweet and easygoing friend. “If you don’t take it back this second I’ll... I’ll...”

Pinkemena looked up at her with a sneering grin on her face. “You’ll what? Stop existing at me?”

Pinkie screamed in rage and punched her sister in the face. Twilight finally snapped out of her shock and grabbed Pinkie in a field of magic, lifting the struggling pony off of Pinkemena. Pinkie struggled helplessly in the air, flailing her limbs in rage as she tried to get out of Twilight’s spell and back at her sister. Pinkemena sat up and wiped her foreleg against her muzzle. When it came away with some blood on it, she looked more impressed than angry.

“Damn, Pinkie,” she said, spitting a glob of saliva and blood onto the white carpeted floor “I never thought you had it in you. Maybe you really are my sister after all.”

For her part, Pinkie’s struggling slowed down as she tired herself out. Finally, she stopped and Twilight lowered her to the ground. Pinkie stared at her sister with tears in her eyes.

“Um, actually, Princess Celestia never said that she knew for sure that some of us, well, might not be from here. She just said there were two more Elements than there used to be, right? Well, um, maybe two of us were just normal ponies before something changed and we thought we had been using the Elements the whole time. I mean, sometimes I can’t believe I’m really the Element of Kindness. Maybe I wasn’t before. That wouldn’t be so terrible, would it?” suggested Fluttershy.

Twilight seized on Fluttershy’s words. “That’s an excellent point, Fluttershy, I’m sure the Princess just wanted to let us know what the most extreme scenario would be. There’s no reason for us to immediately assume the worst,” she assured her friends. Pinkie didn’t seem convinced. She stormed out of the circle.

“I’m gonna check on Dashie,” said Pinkie without turning her head. As she walked away, Applejack glared at Pinkemena, who scoffed and rolled her eyes. Twilight considered ordering Pinkemena to apologize, but knew from experience that she wasn’t likely to get very far. Deciding that she would rather move past the incident as quickly as possible, she cleared her throat.

“Well, I’m going to go downstairs and ask the library to send all their material up so we can get started right away. And I’ll see if they can send up lunch early, I skipped breakfast to catch the train this morning,” she said, pushing open the heavy oak doors with her magic. “I’ll be right back.”

Twilight walked through the halls of the royal apartments. Since it was the middle of the morning, most of the ponies she encountered were servants and maids, cleaning up after the departed residents from the night before. She gave them a friendly wave but didn’t stop to chat, letting them get on with their dusting and polishing of the hall’s trappings. All the bedrooms were vacant, save for one down Luna’s side of the hallway. Twilight’s ears perked up as she heard giggling voices from the room next to Luna’s personal chambers. She walked over and peeked through the door which had been left ajar.

Luna sat inside, laughing at something Twilight hadn’t heard. On either side of her were her daughters, Titania and Artemis. The two alicorn fillies took strongly after their mother in appearance. Just like Luna, they had dark coats although in Artemis’ case this contrasted with a stark white blaze in the shape of a five pointed star just below her horn. Their cutie marks all reflected different phases of the moons that they moved each night. Titania, the elder sister, was right on the cusp of marehood, approaching her 1500th birthday in just a few months time. Artemis, on the other hoof, was still an adolescent filly. She had barely been even 20 years old when Luna had been banished to the moon 1010 years ago.

The banishment had been hard on both of them. Artemis' father had helped them get through the initial stages of their grief over losing their mother, but being mortal he soon passed and it fall to their Aunt Celestia to take them in and raise them. Artemis had still been too young to understand what had happened, but Titania had been furious at being raised by the pony who she felt had betrayed her mother and locked her away. Celestia had told Twilight and Dawn stories of temper tantrums that had reduced mountains to rubble and arguments that had lit seas ablaze.

As the centuries wore on, though, Titania had grown to accept what had happened. By the time Dusk and Twilight had come to the castle she had let go of her rage and her adolescent rebellions had mellowed to things like dyeing her coat an especially neon shade of pink. The difference in maturity meant they hadn’t had much common ground with one another. Artemis, however, had been much closer to the twins in terms of maturity. Celestia had even arranged for her to foalsit the two unicorns on occasion, and the three of them hit it off. Twilight’s reminiscence was sullied when she remembered that now she had to try to figure out if any of that had ever actually happened, but she put her worries aside for the moment.

Currently the three alicorns were gathered around a Ponopoly board. Titania appeared to be far in the lead, gently teasing her sister for landing on North Marolina Avenue, fully upgraded to a palace. Twilight pushed the door open a little and stuck her head in, waving a hoof to catch Luna’s eye.

“Oh! Twilight!” said Luna, “I didn’t see you there, come on in.”

The bedroom was just as Twilight remembered it. Black silks and heavy velvet lay over dark wooden chairs, with two canopied beds across the room from one another where the sisters slept. They had begun sharing a bedroom as soon as they moved into the palace, so they could be close by to comfort each other, and the habit stuck even though they had the entire royal apartments available to them. The bed room's only window had heavy shutters that blotted out the midday sunlight when closed. But the real draw of the room was the ceiling. It was painted with an enchanted map of the stars in the night sky, slowly turning to match the real ones outside. Twilight and Dawn had spent hours staring up at it with Artemis, who had taught them everything they knew about astronomy. She wished she had time to linger there now.

“Oh, I can’t stay, I’m just making a snack run for my friends and picking up some research material, but I wanted to say hello,” said Twilight.

Luna shrugged. “Suit yourself. Actually, it’s about time for these two to get to bed anyway.”

Artemis and Titania groaned, but Luna raised a hoof to stifle any objections. “I won’t hear it. You should have been in bed an hour ago. Titania, you need to be up to raise your moon in not that long and I won’t have you pulling an all dayer. Go brush your teeth while I help your sister put on her pajamas,” she said.

Titania grumbled under her breath, but complied with her mother’s demand. “OK, good day everypony,” said Twilight from the doorway. She pulled her head back and shut it, resuming her trip to the kitchen. She couldn’t help but smile. It was funny in retrospect how Celestia had been so worried that Luna would become withdrawn and isolated after she had returned from her banishment. After she was defeated by the Bearers on their first mission together, she had moped for maybe an hour, or however long the chariot ride from Ponyville to Canterlot had taken exactly. Then came the moment she had been reunited with her daughters. Titania, especially, had been ecstatic to have her back. They’d hugged and cried for hours. The three alicorns had spent their first evening, night, and following day together in that very bedroom, just talking until the three of them passed out in a heap on the floor, exhausted but happier than any of them had been in a long time.

From the moment she awoke the next night, Luna was a whole new mare. She threw herself into every facet of modern day Equestria with a desperate energy, hungry to make up for lost time with her girls in any way she could. These days she probably knew more about Equestrian culture and society than any other pony, including Celestia.

By the time Twilight reached the kitchen, she found the cooks had already started assembling a platter of sandwiches and fruit for the Bearers. She chatted with them for a few minutes about families and goings-on in the castle, but didn’t mention the circumstances that had brought her there. Technically it was a state secret, but even if it weren’t Twilight didn’t see the need to share information that would shake them so dramatically when there was nothing they could do about it. Still, she found herself analyzing everything they said, trying to pick up hints of discrepancies that might indicate something had been altered.

Carrying the tray back the way she came, she ran into the scholars she had been planning to meet with coming out of the library, pulling a cart full of books behind them. The walked back to the suite together, and Twilight gathered that while they hadn’t really found anything definitive pointing to the location of the Book of Fate they at least had a few suggestions of where to start looking for clues.

Twilight entered the suite with everything she’d gathered up in the last half an hour. She looked around at what her friends had been up to in the meantime. Pinkie and Pinkemena were sitting on opposite ends of a couch with Dawn in between, trying to get them to reconcile. Twilight beamed with pride. That was her sister all right. The Element of Friendship had clearly known what it was doing when it chose her.

Applejack was chatting with Rainbow Dash, trying to cheer him up a little. Probably by trying to pick a fight, knowing them.

Rarity sat in a creaky rocking chair, staring out a window at nothing. Two knitting needles were suspended in a teal magic field, clattering away against each other as they worked on the beginnings of some garment, it was too soon to tell exactly what. Twilight knew that Rarity usually broke out her knitting needles when she wanted time to think, and took their presence as a good sign.

At first Twilight couldn’t figure out where Fluttershy had gotten off to until she glanced into her bedroom. The pegasus was napping, already worn out from the morning’s stress. Twilight lifted one of the larger tomes from the cart behind her and released it over the coffee table. It landed with a heavy THUMP. Everypony in the room turned their attention to her.

“Alright team,” said Twilight, “break’s over. Let’s get to work.”