The Secret of the Elements: Part 1
The papers, the tired eyes, the messy mane, and the half-eaten food. That was all Princess Luna could see when she walked in on her sister on the day that everything changed. She still couldn’t help but laugh at the sight. Celestia gave an irritated groan in return.
Celestia was half asleep at a desk in her bedroom with papers scattered all about. She was obviously up all night trying to fill them out. She still managed to make breakfast for herself not too long ago, or was it a midnight snack?
Luna approached her sister while using her magic to pick up the papers and arrange them into one stack before placing them on an empty spot on the desk. She knew what they were for and she couldn’t tell if she was excited or scared about it.
“How much sleep did you get last night?” she asked the older mare.
Celestia raised her off of the desk and turned towards Luna, “I don’t even think I slept. There was too much to do in so little time. It was worth it because I got it all done.” She raised the stack of papers and held it up to Luna’s face.
Luna pushed the papers down with her hoof, “Yes, but look at you. You’re not in a good condition to go out and adopt some random ponies to take to our place,” she said in an annoyed tone.
Yes, today was the day Princess Celestia was going to go pick up the ponies she adopted and take them to their new home. She brought the idea up to Luna about a year ago. Luna was never really on board with it. She thought that there was no need; the two of them were ruling Equestria pretty fine all by themselves, and it didn’t seem like they were going anywhere anytime soon.
Still, Celestia went on with it and visited the Canterlot orphanage to view her options. She managed to find three ponies that she found quite intriguing. What Luna didn't expect is for them to be already grown mares.
"The oldest is 17, sister," Luna said when Celestia first told her about who she chose, "She's practically an adult, and the other two aren't that much younger than her. Why these ones?"
"I don't know," Celestia responded, thinking to herself, "Something about them really gravitated me towards them. It's like destiny. We were meant to meet in one way or another."
Luna couldn't even begin to believe what she was hearing, "So you're telling me that you went out of your way to adopt children that you don't need, not even children, grown mares, and bring them to live in our castle with the goal of having them take over for us because of DESTINY!"
Coming from Luna's mouth did make it sound a bit unprofessional, Celestia admitted, but Celestia couldn't just give up. She felt deep inside that this was meant to happen. She didn't know who or what was making her feel that, but she just hoped they were right.
But today was a whole new thing. Today the mares will actually show up at the castle and begin their training to, one day, claim the thrown when it was time for the two sisters to step down. It was the day that Luna would meet these mares that Celestia insisted so much on adopting.
She just hoped it wasn't going to be a waste.
Luna turned back towards her sister to still find her half asleep. She picked up a nearby blanket and pulled it over her with her magic . She thought to herself when they were supposed to pick those mares up from the orphanage. It wasn’t long before that.
“Celestia? Why don’t I send a carriage down to pick them up while you stay here and take nap? You’ll be awake and refreshed once they get here... hopefully,” she said that last part under her breath.
Celestia mumbled something that Luna couldn’t quite make out before collapsing onto her desk. Luna took that as a yes.
“On a day as important as this, someone should know not to sleep in,” she said to herself as she exited the room.
"D.J, wake up. D.J... WAKE UP! The carriage could show up at any moment to take us to the castle, and we don't want to keep the princesses waiting."
D.J slightly opened her eyes and looked up to see a green pair looking right back at her. She grunted, closed them, and turned the other way, burying her face in her pillow. Today was the day they were supposed to leave, and she had to pack her things, but it can wait a minute or two... or five.
"Fine then, go back to sleep. Just don't yell for us to wait up when we leave without you," the voice continued. D.J heard the pony with the green eyes get up and walk away from the bed, leaving her in peace for a few moments. Then the alarm went off on her clock. D.J raised her hoof and shut it off without lifting her head from her pillow. She got up, rubbed her eyes, and fully opening them, revealing the purple in her iris'.
"Alright, rise and shine. Ready for another day." she said as she jumped off her bed and made her way to the other side of the room where the same pair of green eyes were giving her a judgmental look.
"C'mon Rainblossom, you won't get any packing done just standing there lookin' at me," D.J said as she started gathering her things with an obviously fake smile on her face, "The carriage could show up at any moment to take us to the castle, and we don't want to keep the princesses waiting."
Rainblossom furrowed her brows and rolled her eyes, "Shut up. Sugarhearts and I are already packed and ready to go, so I suggest that you get a move on. And you may want to brush your hair while you're at it," she said before exiting their room.
D.J chuckled to herself as she started to put her belongings in a duffle bag. Not much went in there. Mainly small things like her toothbrush and hairbrush. She did pack some sentimental stuff like a small photo she owned of her and her birth father.
She was really young when the photo was taken, maybe 2 years old? It was a simple photo: her laying down in front of her father on some grass while they were looking at the sunset. Yet, it held so much value for her. She shook her head and put it in the bag.
She looked for anything else she missed to put in. While looking under her bed, she spotted a small mirror. She got it out and observed it. It wasn't even hers. She assumed it was Rainblossom's and took it anyways in case she missed it. She took a good look at herself before she put it in the bag.
Why would Rainblossom want her to brush her hair? It looked like it would on any other day. Granted, her hair was probably messier than her childhood, but she liked it that way. It went along with the look she was trying to portray. She had the messy purple and dark blue hair accompanied by the double-pierced ear. How much more "edgy teenager" can you get? It even went along with the blue coat, how fitting.
The last thing she did was fold the blanket on her bed and shoved it into the bag before leaving the room and not looking back. As she walked into the courtyard, she spotted a light pink figure flying about excitedly. As they turned their head towards D.J, they made eye contact. They then flew at full speed towards her, just barely stopping before they collided.
"D.J, you're finally up! Can't you believe it! Today's the day! The day we go to our new home! And a castle too! What were the chances of that happening to us?" they said excitedly as they followed D.J, who was walking to the center of the courtyard.
"Let me tell ya, Sugarhearts, very low," D.J responded. The two of them met up with Rainblossom, who was standing in the center of the courtyard.
"Why yes," Rainblossom started, "I mean, three ponies our age still getting adopted, and by Princess Celestia of all ponies? It almost feels like a scene out of a book."
"You said it, Rain!" Sugarhearts said, her bright yellow eyes flashing a look of joy.
While D.J liked the fact that she had messy hair and pierced ears, she still felt out of place when she was with the other two.
Rainblossom cared about her looks more than anyone D.J had ever known. The unicorn kept her magenta mane in curls and kept the strips of blue and light pink swept to the side as bangs. Her dark pink coat was always clean and smooth from washing it every other day and keeping away from activities that involved getting severely dirty. She even kept a few flowers on her head as the cherry on top.
Sugarhearts didn’t really care about how she looked, but that didn’t mean she didn’t put at least a little bit of effort into it. She always kept her pink and purple mane in a tight braid that ran all the way down to her lower back when she sat down and left her bangs untouched, leaving them to be quite messy. She washed her coat regularly but doesn’t do it as obsessively as Rainblossom. D.J assumed that Sugarhearts made up for it with her personality.
“It’s good and all,” D.J started, “but it kind of threw off our whole plan.”
“Oh, the plan?” Rainblossom recalled, “D.J, this is a much better outcome than the plan.”
When the three mares were younger and first became friends, they made a plan. When Rainblossom turns the legal age to leave the orphanage, she would take the other two with her. They would get their own place to live and work jobs to earn money. It was their fallback plan if they never got adopted.
D.J didn’t admit it, but she was looking forward to that since they all became “too old” to be desirable by foster parents. She realized it would be better to go with that than to stick it out on her own. She’s already done plenty of that, thank you very much.
“D.J, think about it. This is a massive upgrade,” Sugarhearts said as she wrapped an arm around D.J to pull her in closer, “We were going to have to work day and night to make a couple of bits, but now we’re living in a castle, and with one year to spare too.”
How could D.J fight against that? Yeah, the idea of running off and making a living with the only friends she’s ever had was something straight up her ally, but was it what the other two really wanted? They’ve all grown up down on their luck, so this could’ve been their reward for not giving up.
“Girls?” the three mares turned around and saw the orphanage owner, Morning Glory, approaching them, “The carriage is here to pick you up. I think it’s about time you three head home.”
At last, the moment has arrived. The three mares were led by Morning Glory to the entrance of the orphanage to find a carriage with... no one in it. The only other ponies there were the pegasi who were pulling it. There were no princesses in sight.
“I’m sorry, girls,” Morning Glory started, “I didn’t know they weren’t going to show up until earlier this morning. I wish I could’ve told you.”
“No, it’s fine. You did nothing wrong,” D.J said dismissively, “but I guess it’s time for us to leave.” She got on the carriage and waited for the others to get on without looking back.
The other two looked back at the older mare, “Thank you, Morning Glory, for all you’ve done for us,” Sugarhearts said with a warm smile on her face.
“Yeah,” Rainblossom continued, “We couldn’t have asked for a better pony to look after us for all these years.”
Morning Glory smiled at them and shook her head, “Oh geez, you two are going to make me tear up. Now, get out of here before I bawl like a baby.”
They all exchanged goodbyes as the two younger mares joined D.J on the carriage. Soon after, the carriage lifted off the ground and started to head for the castle, leaving the orphanage far behind.
Once they couldn’t see the orphanage, Rainblossom turned towards D.J and slapped her in the arm, “Hey!” the earth pony yelled out.
“What was that back there?” Rainblossom asked, “I swear this attitude you have all the time will catch up to you one day and bite you in the flank.”
D.J rolled her eyes and slumped down in her seat, “I’m sorry. Shouldn’t you be more disappointed that the princesses didn’t even care to show up. I thought you guys idolized them so much.”
“You don’t you even know why they’re not here. For all we know, they could be busy with their royal... duties,” Rainblossom said, trying to think of legitimate reasons as to why they wouldn’t show up.
It was quiet for a moment before Sugarhearts perked up and got the others’ attention, “Hey, let’s look on the bright side of this. Sure, they might’ve not shown up, but at least we finally have a home. We finally have a family. So, let’s leave the bad stuff that happened to us in the past and focus on the good stuff that can happen to us in the future. We have a chance to turn our lives around, and I suggest that we take full advantage of it.”
Rainblossom smiled at her while D.J sighed and looked away. At least the speech worked on one of them. The other two looked at each other and shrugged it off. The only thing they can do now is let her cool off. They just hoped it would happen before they got to the castle.
“Geez, Sugarhearts what do you keep in this thing?” Rainblossom said as she struggled to lift up the mare’s bag with her magic, “It’s really heavy.”
She threw it down at Sugarhearts who caught it with ease, “You know... sentimental stuff.” D.J raised an eyebrow in disbelief.
The three of them had just landed in front of the castle after a short flight from the orphanage. They were unloading their bags from the carriage, but there was not much to unload. Both D.J and Sugarhearts carried duffle bags, but Rainblossom had a small purple suitcase.
The three of them got off with their things and turned to look at the castle in front of them. They’ve always heard stories from ponies back at the orphanage that described how the Canterlot castle looked like, but that could’ve never prepared them to see its radiance in real life. Rainblossom and Sugarhearts admired its beauty and were both at a loss for words.
“It’s cold. Let’s go inside,” D.J said without a minute to spare, walking right past them and towards the main entrance. The other two were snapped out of their thoughts and followed her, Rainblossom being rather annoyed. As they got up to the main entrance, the three stopped and hesitated.
“Our new lives start right behind these doors. I suggest that we open them, unless D.J’s too scared to,” Sugarhearts said, flashing the earth pony a grin. D.J rolled her eyes and quickly pushed the doors open.
The three walked in and saw no one but one older unicorn mare with a gray coat and a purple mane pulled back into a bun. She looked at the three mares through the glasses on her face.
“Ah, you three must be the mares Celestia adopted. Follow me; the princess is excited to see you,” she said. She started walking out and the others followed after her. She led them towards the throne room where they saw Princess Celestia sitting on her giant throne at the far end of the room. Princess Luna was sitting next to her.
“Your highness,” the older mare called out, grabbing the princesses' attention, “the mares you were expecting have arrived.”
Princess Celestia perked up, “Thank you, Silver Lining. You may leave.” The older mare, whose name was apparently Silver Lining, turned and exited the room, leaving the three mares and the princesses alone.
Things were quiet for a moment before Celestia spoke up, “I want to start off with apologizing for not showing up this morning. I stayed up last night to focus on the adoption papers. Luna sent the carriage without me.”
Luna looked away from everyone, "It's not my fault you decided to stay up all night, knowing that you were supposed to do something important today. It's rather irresponsible if you ask me." Celestia gave her a small glare before looking back at the three younger mares. She saw that they looked at her rather awkwardly, like they didn't know what to say.
The idea as to why finally came to her head, "Oh, where are my manners? Welcome to your new home. I am Celestia and this is Luna. We both, as well as everyone else in the castle, are beyond excited for you three to join our royal family," she got up from her throne and started to make her way towards them.
"Thank you, your majesty, for welcoming us here," Rainblossom started, "I'm sure you already know us, but I'm Rainblossom, this is Sugarhearts, and this is D.J," she said, gesturing towards the other ponies when she said their names. Sugarhearts waved enthusiastically, while D.J did a single motion with her hoof that almost looked like a wave.
Celestia looked at the luggage they were carrying, "If you want, I could lead you towards your room to drop off your things before we take a tour of the castle." The three silently nodded before following the princess as she left the room. Luna sighed and mumbled something to herself as they left.
"Here you are. This is where you three will be staying," Celestia said as she gestured towards three doors.
"Our own rooms?! Wow!" Sugarhearts exclaimed with a wide grin on her face, "Which one's mine?"
"You'll know once you look inside. I did a bit of research on your interests and tried to decorate your rooms accordingly," Celestia answered, "Well, I'll leave you three to unpack. Let us know when you want to take a tour." She turned to walk away, leaving the three mares alone.
Before anyone could say anything, Sugarhearts quickly flew to the room on the far right and opened the door. The others could hear her squeal when she saw what was inside.
"I found mine!" she said.
The other two looked inside and couldn't think of a room that could fit Sugarheart's interests more than this one. The walls were pink and decorated with drawings of hearts and sprinkles. The furniture fit the same theme, being purple and being painted to look like they were covered in white frosting. Her bed had big fluffy pillows and a stuffed monkey. There was even a small cup on her nightstand with a few lollipops inside. It strangely resembled the pegasus' cutie mark: a pink heart covered in white frosting and sprinkles with a purple lollipop shot through like an arrow.
"I guess the princess really did her research," Rainblossom said as she approached the bed and picked up the stuffed monkey with her magic, "She even got your favorite animal right."
"But also, one look at Sugarhearts and you can tell that her personality is nothing but sunshine and lollipops," D.J butted in.
The other two dismissed the comment, "Hey, you guys should go check out your rooms too!" Sugarhearts said. Rainblossom nodded and left the room. As the other two exited a little after, they saw that the door to the room on the far left was wide open. As they stepped in, they saw the unicorn admiring the environment around her.
The walls were a fair purple color with green grass painted at the bottom. There was a bookshelf right next to a desk in on corner of her room filled with many types of books having to do with flora and fauna. Instead of various pictures on the walls, there were posters with the different classifications of plants and animals. There was even a small garden at her window with packets of seeds and a watering can. Like Sugarhearts' room, this room had "Rainblossom" written all over it. It was easy to tell that she had a talent for gardening from her cutie mark: a flower inside of a tear drop, but the fact that animals were also a reoccurring theme in this room seemed to have made Rainblossom fairly impressed.
"It feels... like we’re in a classroom," D.J said.
Rainblossom rolled her eyes, "You're only saying that because science wasn't your strong suit in school."
"Bold of you to assume I had a strong suit in school," D.J shot back. Rainblossom wondered if D.J knew she was only insulting herself in that comeback, which did seem to prove her point.
"Well, if you hate my room so much, maybe you should go see yours. I'm already picturing it: no windows, no light, just darkness."
"Ha ha… so funny," D.J said in a monotone voice. She proceeded to turn around and leave the room. As she did, she saw the door in middle, which she knew was obviously hers by now. She slowly walked towards it and pushed it open.
Inside she saw dark blue walls with single stripes of black at the very top and bottom. Interestingly, her walls weren't decorated with anything. Guess, good ol' Celestia couldn't find out much about her. She had a simple bed and nightstand, nothing too remarkable that stood out. She looked at the corner farthest from her and saw a lone guitar on a guitar stand. She walked up to it and grabbed it. She held it properly and strummed it once just to make sure it was tuned correctly. There seemed to be nothing wrong, so she put it back. Music was something she found nice and it was easy to tell because her cutie mark was a single music note surrounded by some sort of magic.
Other than the guitar, there was nothing remotely personal about her room, so she stopped looking around. She just opened her duffle bag and started to unpack the few items she had. She walked up to her nightstand with her hairbrush and the picture of her and her father. She placed the picture on top of the nightstand and looked at it, making sure it was at the right angle. She then opened the drawer to place her hairbrush inside, but it was already occupied.
D.J quickly slammed the drawer shut and stepped back when she saw what was inside. Why would that be in there? Why would Celestia think she would like that? Maybe she just didn’t see it right. She went back to the drawer, slowly opened it again, and saw the same thing inside: jewels.
She backed up again and hit a wall with a loud thud. She rubbed the back of her head and hoped no one heard it.
“D.J, are you okay?” Rainblossom said as she entered the room, “I heard a loud noise.”
“D.J!” Sugarhearts quickly flew in and crashed into D.J, causing the both of them to fall over, “What happened?!”
D.J got up and shook her head, “Nothing, it’s just- Did I say anything when we were talking to Celestia?”
Rainblossom shook her head, “You didn’t open your mouth once. Why?”
“I found jewels in my drawer and I’m just... confused.”
“Jewels? Why would you need-“ Sugarhearts stopped for a moment, “Oh...”
Rainblossom looked inside the drawer to see for herself, "How would Celestia know about... you?"
"That's what I'm thinking," D.J said as she picked up the mirror from inside the bag. She looked at herself and opened her mouth to examine her teeth. There were two sharp fangs on both the top and bottom rows of her teeth.
"No one knows about them but us," Sugarhearts said, "How could she know?"
"I have no idea," Rainblossom answered, "Maybe we should ask her that during the tour, and if she knows anything else about D.J. I mean, knowing someone's favorite animal or interests is one thing, but knowing that someone's a sort of hybrid? That's concerning."
The three of them looked at each other for a little while without saying anything, "Alright," D.J said, "let's go." She headed out of the room and the others followed closely after. D.J couldn't help but finally giving the princess props for really doing her research.
"Everything looks to be in shape. There's nothing too different," Spike said as he walked around the Tree of Harmony, "Why did you want to come here anyway, Twilight?"
Twilight Sparkle flew up to each element and inspected them closely, "Something just seemed off. I had a vivid dream last night that something happened to the elements. I just thought that it was a sign for something."
"Well, nothing's wrong. Maybe you're just paranoid because of what happened with Tirek. You've been through a lot of change recently. Maybe you should just rest and not be so scared."
Twilight thought to herself for a moment then sighed, "You're right, Spike. After all, it was just a dream. I just can't help but think about if something were to happen to the elements. Equestria would go to ruin."
As Twilight continued to talk about her anxieties, Spike's cheeks puffed up. He then proceeded to burp out a letter. Twilight turned her attention towards him.
"A letter from Princess Celestia? What for? Is something wrong?" Twilight asked nervously as Spike read over the piece of paper.
"Not exactly," Spike said as he handed the paper over to her. Twilight picked up the paper with her magic and read it for herself.
Dear Twilight Sparkle,
I am writing to you because I have some exciting news to share. As of today, I have adopted three mares to take on both mine and my sister's roles as the leaders of Equestria when their time comes. They are not aware of this yet, but I know they will be able to rule this kingdom fairly in the future if we teach them right.
This is where you come in. I have noticed that the three of them aren't the most social of ponies. I don't blame them; they've only had each other growing up. I thought that no one would be better at teaching them how to be more open than the Princess of Friendship herself. I have decided to send them over to Ponyville in a few weeks to learn from you.
Please answer as soon as possible. More information on them will be sent if you agree to take on this task.
- Celestia
"What?!" Twilight exclaimed. This wasn't at all what she was expecting from Celestia, "Why would she adopt three ponies? Why would she send them here on such short notice?"
"Who knows what Celestia could be thinking at this point," Spike answered, "I mean, didn't she send us here on such a short notice? You ended up making new friends, defeating Nightmare Moon, and becoming the Element of Magic because of it. Don't you think that she has something planned for these ponies' too?"
Twilight didn't think about it that way until Spike brought it up. Maybe he's right. Maybe Celestia has something in mind for them.
"Alright, Spike, you convinced me," she turned and started walking towards the stairs that lead out from where they are, "Let's go back to the castle and write a letter back to Celestia. We already know that there's nothing wrong with the tree."
Spike followed after and the two left the tree alone. If only they stayed back for a few minutes. They would've noticed the magical substance enter the area where the tree was. They would've noticed it swirling around before entering the soil where the tree's roots were. They would've noticed that maybe Twilight' dream wasn't too far off.
Author's Note
And the story begins!
This will be my best attempt to reboot an old story I wrote years ago. Even though it was pretty bad back then, these characters have always had a special place in my heart for being the first OC's I've created. I just hope I can rewrite this story in a much better way.
I hope you enjoyed reading!
