Author's Note

This is the first chapter in the new direction I'm pursuing. Explanations below, but tl;dr = I'm moving this story into another direction to focus a bit more on some characters so it doesn't jump around aimlessly.

I firstly made this story because I had an idea in mind, and I think things out as I write. This might be a good way to write linear adventure stories, but as time went on I realized that that won't cut it. So, I went back to the drawing board and planned an entire set of chapters beforehand. I ended up planning to split the story into three parts, and this title will be the first part. I maybe have to edit the story description too, but it won't be too far off from the first pitch, just focusing on one part instead of the whole.

That planning took a lot of time, probably almost a week. Thanks to feedback from you lovely individuals, I realized just how holey and incomplete the story so far was. I did say to one guy that I won't be editing previous chapters, but apparently I'm too much of a hypocrite for that. I can't say that I edited them to perfection, but hopefully I succeeded in patching some of the more glaring issues, especially ooc stuff and unexplained convenient details. I plan to let several chapters pool before I publish them, incase I remember/realize a hole I can fill or new ideas cooks up.

Now, on the inverse of updates: homeworks and other group projects have been popping up left and right. I managed to spare time to edit each chapter and all that, but I can't guarantee that I'll be working on this often, at least not until July. Updates will be sparse, varying from every few days to biweekly, and I can't Pinkie Promise consistency, but I am working on it.

For those that had read the old chapters: I have left changelogs on the bottom of each edited chapters so those who already read the story can just look there and re-read what I changed. I'm sorry if the changes might not be to your liking, but I find the timeskip in the old chapter 4 is too abrupt.

Chapter 4: Elements of Homecoming

Twilight and her friends looked at each other in confusion and crushed expectations, then back to the unfolding scene.

Princess Celestia was there, silently doing paperwork, only grunting and groaning every so often as Princess Luna berated her for her antics.

“Sister, you have to understand that I am doing this for your own good. Eyebags formed under your eyebags! You require sleep, and I shall drag you to your chambers if I must!” Luna reasoned, failing to push the sun diarch for even an inch.

Celestia grunted, stamping more paperworks as she went on.

“Stop it, sister, stop it! Your eyes are glazed over the fog of million hours!” Luna picked a bunch of stamped paperworks onto Celestia’s eyes. “Verily, observe what calamity have you brought upon our lands. Twenty consecutive approvals for a nobility carnival? Preposterous! You are unfit for your duty, Celestia, scram and do not come back until you are well-rested!”

Celestia groaned and shook her head. “M- my… ponies… paperwork… guh.”

Luna went slack with exasperation. “Last chance, dear sister, lest thee fancies facing mine ultimate weapon!”

Celestia shook her head.

“Then there shall not be anything holding me back from using my last resort.” Luna lit up her horn and touched it to her sister’s horn. Celestia recognized the spell, and in a shot of clarity, pushed her sister forward as she recoiled and crashed into a stack of paper.

Spike groaned. “Aww princess, I just stacked that! Now I’ll have to do it again…”

Stars orbited Celestia’s head until she was able to regain what was left of her coherency. “S- sister?! How could you!” she hissed. “I have work to do, and a nation to save! I will not have anypony, anyone ruin the country again!”

Luna leaped towards Celestia and pinned her to the ground, sending them both crashing into another stack of stamped papers. Spike screamed. “NOW EVERYTHING’S MIXED TOGETHER! THANK’S A LOT, PRINCESS!”

“SPIKE!” Twilight reprimanded to no one’s care.

Luna stared deep into Celestia’s black-ringed, reddened eyes. “Truly, I understand, but you are in no condition to work! Now rest, mine sister, and wake up not until you are well and truly rested.”

Luna touched her horn to Celestia’s, and shot a pulse of blue into it.

Celestia’s eyes widened as she flailed. “L- L- Luna, you can’t do- do that… to… me…” The flailing slowed and stopped, before she landed on her back with her hooves splayed outwards.

The five Elements gasped. “Princess Luna, what did you do?!” Twilight asked in panic.

“Do calm your tempers, Elements. ‘Tis naught but a sleep spell,” Luna assured. “Though the dose we delivered would kill any ordinary pony, rest assured that alicorns have significant defense in spell affliction. Still, she will not wake up until the dawn of next week.”

“P- pardon me princess, b- but is that really necessary?” Rarity asked.

“To great shame, we have to say yes. Our sister can be… overzealous in her work.” Luna arranged an impromptu book bed for her sister, before sitting in front of the work table, waiting for Spike to reorganize the mixed stacks. “Now, what seems to be the problem?”

Twilight stepped forward, finally able to voice her need. “Yes, princess. As happy as we are to help organize relief efforts and capture missions this past few days, we have to return to Ponyville.”

Luna sent a wink to Twilight, who did not receive it as she should have.“The Elements are a familiar face, fair Sparkle. You are needed in the city as a strong and hardworking figure, boosting the morals of ponies alike,” she argued. “And Twilight, we personally requested your assistance in bringing us… ‘up to speed’, as they say today.”

Twilight nodded. “Yes, and I accepted your request. My friends, however, have to return back to Ponyville. Except for myself, we didn’t plan to stay in Canterlot this long.”

“And pray tell, what does that entail? Should your absence be of our concern?”

Twilight’s ears flopped. “P- princess? What are you-”

Pinkie stomped and interjected. “Princess, as fun as it has been helping Canterlot, we still have our own lives back in Ponyville. We have sisters to care of, jobs to maintain, an uncertain future to prepare for, and… well, I wanted to say ‘parties to attend’, but it won’t be possible with the current climate now, would it?” She chuckled at her own joke. Her friends looked at her as if she grew a second head. Pinkie, renouncing parties? Impossible!

“Instead, how about we help around in Ponyville? If the reports are true, then every city in Equestria is understaffed and underponied. Five girls won’t make much difference in a city as big as Canterlot, but we will certainly make useful dents in Ponyville!” she finished. Pinkie then went into a tangent on how dents are most likely not useful, and how you can’t physically dent a town except in special circumstances that were left undescribed due to a light blue hoof shoved into her mouth.

Luna smiled and nodded. “Proposal accepted.” She then turned to Twilight. “We are sorry for the impromptu negotiation lessons. It will do well for you to learn how to weave a convincing argument from your pink friend there.” Twilight turned away with a nervous laugh as she muttered things about ‘winking’ and ‘unprepared’.

“D- does that mean we can leave?” Fluttershy asked.

“Yes, you may. Twilight, it will do your son well for you to help with organizing the papers strewn about,” Luna instructed.

“S- s- SON?” Twilight and Spike shrieked.

“Yes, art you not?” Luna said to Spike. “Fair Twilight hatched your egg during her test in magic school. Is it not correct that those who hatched an egg claim ownership of said offspring?”

“W- well yes, but actually no! It- it doesn’t work like that, princess!” Twilight said, her cheeks tinting red. Spike screamed all the time as Twilight sputtered, trying to form words from her crashing mind.

The four ponies watching the exchange looked at each other and unanimously decided that the sooner they were out of the castle, the better.

Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, Rarity, and Pinkie left their purple friend to deal with Princess Luna. They returned to their own rooms and packed their stuff up. It wasn’t long until they were finished, especially since they already planned to leave in a jiffy in case an emergency happened.

They left the castle after meeting with Twilight once more and saying their goodbyes. Their baggage was... highly unbalanced, to put it lightly.

“Luna’s sake, Rarity, why did you even bring so much, anyways?” Rainbow threw her hooves up in exasperation.

Rarity puffed in exertion as she barely kept her 12 suitcases afloat in her magic, sweat racing furiously along her forehead. “These are my sewing kits, thank you very much. Without all these, we won’t have a dress for what should’ve been Princess Cadance! Guh!” Her baggage slammed onto the ground as her magic sputtered and failed. The mare in question flopped to the ground as she slowly caught her breath.

The other three brought respectable amounts of luggage, Pinkie having three suitcases being most out of them. Even if Rarity was an Earth Pony, she still wouldn’t be able to carry all her luggage without a specialized item saddle.

“Umm, Rarity? Not that I want t- to be rude or anything, but we really have to move. The train is scheduled to leave in 30 minutes,” Fluttershy said.

“Just a- *huff* -minute, and I- *huff* -will be right- *huff* -as rain.” Rarity said.

“Yeah, no. You look abso-very-lutely exhausted, Rary-wary. Maybe we should get a cart or something,” Pinkie suggested.

“Good idea, Pinks. If only there’s a vendor out here somewhere…” Rainbow said, looking around as she hovered several hooves above the ground. “Hey, there’s one over there!”

The girls turned to see a half-destroyed shop, with wagons and pull carts and everything in between on display. They helped Rarity move her luggage to the front of the shop, and began browsing. There were carts of all sizes, with all sorts of attachments for different ages and species. Fancy carts decorated with gems and shiny metals placed next to dilapidated wagons ready to break an axle.

The four entered the narrow shop one at a time. The door jingle notified the owner of the shop, who was a plain white unicorn stallion with a long, blond mane. “Hello! Looking for a cart? A wagon? Anything on wheels? Welcome to Speed Wagon’s Speedy Wagons! How may I help you?” Speed Wagon proceeded to kiss Rarity’s hoof.

“Ah, such a gentlestallion. My name is Rarity, and we are looking for a pull cart,” Rarity explained. “Nothing special, mind you, just a cheap cart to last us a day.”

Speed Wagon nodded. “Ah, I have just what you need. Please, it’s outside.” All of them exited the store as they were directed to a wagon on the corner of the gaggle. It was a battered wooden cart of average size that had definitely seen better days. “Well, this little toughie had seen a trek through all of Equestria. It might be coarse, but judging by the luggage on my doorstep, I guess you are looking to carry them all to the train station?”

Pinkie leaned to Rainbow’s side and whispered, “Wow, he’s good.”

Rarity nodded at the statement. “Yes, how observant. Then, let us not dally: how much for the cart?”

“Hmm, it has been sitting there for quite a while. I’ll sell it for 15 griffbits,” Speed Wagon offered.

Rarity scrunched her face in confusion as she mulled the word in her mouth. “Griffbits?”

“Griffonian bits, Rares. They use different bits outside of Equestria,” Rainbow explained, before she turned to the wagon seller. “Why, though? We’re in Equestria, shouldn’t you take ponebits too?”

“Well, there’s the problem.” Speed Wagon pointed at Rainbow. “Let me ask you a question: can you call them ‘ponebits’ if they were stamped by changelings?” he asked.

“Well, if they look like actual bits, complete with the magical sign of legitimacy, sure?” Rarity answered. Speed Wagon turned to Rainbow, who just shrugged. Pinkie and Fluttershy weren’t even listening.

Speed Wagon shook his head. “Changelings have hooves as well, and you know they- wait, nevermind. My point is, changelings are not ponies, but they stamped ponebits. That’s a problem I won’t take.”

“What, so just because they’re changelings then it’s illegal money?” Rainbow asked with a twinge of irritation. From her few encounters with the other, non-Chrysalis changelings, she could safely say that the bugs were pony at heart. Sure, the entire neck-deep conspiracy was alarming and prime tinfoil-hatter material, but it didn’t seem like they were blending in to stage a take over of Equestria. Although yes, a few things didn’t add up. She made a point to discuss that further with her friends later.

“Worse. They can start counterfeiting money like they own it, tamper with existing bits, and more.”

Rarity’s eyebrows furrowed. “They are contained in a single place with the treaty. I am quite sure they won’t have enough time to establish an entire operation, especially with them leaving in due time.”

“Their leave is dependent on whether they find every single one of their changelings. What’s restricting them from saying they have one too few changelings?” Speed Wagon shook his head. “In any case, I am truly sorry, but I’m not taking ponebits. I’ll advise you girls to swap to griffbits or drakebits when you can, because there would be more of us that refuse ponebits.”

Rarity bit her lips. “Thank you for the advice, but as you can see, we’re short on griffbits. Please, can’t you spare an exception for this poor mare?” Speed Wagon kept his gentle smile even as he shook his head. Rarity grumbled.

“Wait, I think I have a few left from my time hanging out in Griffonstone.” Rainbow rummaged through her wallet, tossing griffbits to Rarity as she dug for more. “There’s one, two, three, umm… six, ten, twelve… twelve, twelve… oh crap. Sorry, but I only have 12 griffbits. Can we negotiate for that?” she offered.

“Eh, sure, 12 griffbits it is then,” Speed Wagon accepted with a shrug. He proceeded to help Rarity hook up to the cart, and even place her luggage in it. “Enjoy your purchase!” he said as he waved the group away.

Rainbow scoffed at the send off.

While the four girls resumed their walk, Rarity began mulling over what the wagon pony said earlier on. She pulled a bit from her purse and compared it with what she saw of Rainbow’s griffbits. The griffbit was made with mostly the same style and printing, with the exception of a simplistic talon replacing the horseshoes present in ponebits.

“Girls,” Rarity called, showing the bit to them. “What do you think of Speed Wagon’s suggestion?”

“I have no ideeaaa~” Pinkie bellowed with a weird, bipedal stance, before dropping back to her four legs. “For realsies though, I won’t worry about it. Bits of various makes are spread throughout the world. Even if ponies ate the cake and dumped bits around, it won’t change the value much outside.”

Rarity nodded. “I see, what about you, Rainbow?”

Rainbow rubbed her chin. “I think you need to take it seriously, but I’m no econ- ecan- money-egghead-ist though, so well… I dunno.”

“Hmm, alright. And what about you, Fluttershy?” Rarity asked. She lifted an eyebrow as Fluttershy retreated behind her mane, a bit shyer than usual.

“U- umm, well…” Fluttershy eventually started. “I- I actually have a stash of griffbits back in Ponyville… I have to import meat at times, for my carnivorous animals.”

Rarity just hummed and continued walking.

“Oh dear, I just realized! Sweetie Belle! I left her alone for a few days, with no supervision! Oh the poniaty, where did I lose her? The horror!” Rarity suddenly exclaimed, putting a fetlock to her forehead.

“Umm, Rarity, didn’t we send her home with her friends on a flying chariot? You know, after the changeling meeting?” Fluttershy asked. “We thought you knew, since you didn’t say anything when we told you.”

“O- oh, really? I must have not been listening. Pardon my outburst, darling, eheh...” Rarity rubbed the back of her head. An awkward silence followed, giving her the itches. “U- umm, anyways, here we are!” she gestured to the train station directly in front of them.

The train station was supposed to be a big long blue building with golden embellishments and a large clock in the middle of it. Instead, it was by then reduced to nothing more than a destroyed pile of rubble with a cleared path leading to the platform, where several ponies also waited around.

Several train cars of various colours were parked by the platform. Instead of steam-crystal locomotives, however, buffaloes were attached to a pulling apparatus that connected them to their designated cars. The cars themselves were standard economy cars, with a comparatively spartan-looking luggage attachment to their rear. They were marked with their own numbers, representing their destinations as how the system worked with actual locomotive sets.

“That is… interesting,” Fluttershy mused. Her eyes darted back to the buffaloes every so often.

“Yeah, but what works, works. Cmon girls, Ponyville line is number 5. I need my nap ASAP,” Rainbow ushered. Rarity rolled her eyes while Pinkie just giggled.

Fortunately for them, the ticket seller took regular pony bits, albeit at double the price. The process was even streamlined: they paid for tickets at the front of the car entrance, which would be clipped by the seller and hoofed to them as they entered. Rarity was charged double-price for her luggage, but after some whining and protests, they managed to get it down to ‘normal’ price. The fact that nopony else were interested in that particular route probably helped.

Rainbow practically jumped into her seat and was out like a light in a few seconds. Rarity and Pinkie took their respective seats only to see Fluttershy going to the front of the car.

Fluttershy arrived on the railings just outside the car’s tiny front compartment, which held the toilet on another door to the side. In front of her were the buffaloes who would pull the train car. She had been particularly interested in them, especially since she never truly made conversation with one, even in Appleloosa. If she could just gather enough courage to… ask…

Here goes nothing… she thought.

“U- umm, excuse me, buffalo sir? Or ma’am? U- umm, whoever you are?” Fluttershy called.

One of the buffaloes’ ears twitched. He turned to Fluttershy and flashed a smile. “Oh, sure. What do you need, ma’am?”

“I- I just want to know more about buffaloes,” Fluttershy admitted.

“Well, we’re not moving for ten more minutes. Ask away.”

“Why are you guys pulling the cars?” Fluttershy blurted. It wasn’t what she wanted to ask, but it was as good a question as any, she supposed.

“Well, I agreed to help,” the buffalo shrugged. “Train never came to Appleloosa in three days, so everybuff got curious. We ran all the way to Canterlot, and the first thing the ponies here did was ask for help.”

“What about the trains?” Fluttershy continued asking.

“The trains needed daily maintenance, something they can’t do because of ‘extremely hot factories’ or something. Weird how ponies built factories too hot for creatures with fur coats, such as them themselves, but what do I know,” the buffalo shrugged. “Come to think of it, Appleloosan ponies are built for the heat, maybe they can hire them or something.”

Fluttershy perked up. “Oh, you come from Appleloosa?”

“Me? Haha, not us buffaloes. That is still our sacred grounds, anyhow, and we call it the Yanamesa,” the buffalo explained. “While we agreed on a compromise, that don’t mean we don’t have our own thing.”

Fluttershy ended up talking with the buffalo along the ride, for hours and hours, until they all arrived in Ponyville.

“Well girls, here we are, home sweet home!” Pinkie sniffed the air, and let it all out in an over-exaggerated exhale. “Ahhh…”

The others were slightly less enthusiastic, though. “Pinkie, I understand that we’re home and all, but this… well, Ponyville sure changed a bunch since we left,” Rainbow observed.

The thick evening sun shone just above the horizon, lighting the view of Ponyville in full. The town had definitely seen better days. Half of all houses erected in the little town were either ruined, destroyed, or at least damaged. The town hall collapsed in on itself. Tumbleweeds tumbled through the significantly more drab town than it was a week ago. A single guard could be seen escorting several changelings out of the town, one of whom was talking with a mint green unicorn as they walked.

“W- what happened to Ponyville?” Fluttershy asked, not actually expecting an answer.

“Well girls, not to worry, I suppose. Speaking from experience, there would be a volunteer request for clean up, like it always had been. I’m quite sure it will be fine and dandy in a week,” Rarity said, sounding unsure herself.

“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see. I’m going back to my house; all of my little animal friends must be worried sick,” Fluttershy said. “See you girls… whenever?”

“Yeah, I’m sure that devil bunny of yours missed… you...” Rainbow trailed off, looking at the clouds. “Ahh horseapples! What happened to my house?!”

True to her words, her cloud-based house floated off lazily over the outskirts of Ponyville. A significant chunk of the house’s roof was missing, half of it’s packed cloud foundation material puffed and expanded as dark grey storm clouds, furniture sticking out of the underside of the house, and the entire structure itself was tilted 30 degrees to the side.

“And my boutique too! Ohh, what cruelty!” Rarity exclaimed with a fetlock on her forehead, flopping down onto her trusty fainting couch.

Under Rainbow’s house was Rarity’s Carousel Boutique. True to her outburst, the boutique was partially coloured in rainbow, no doubt from the leftovers from Rainbow’s fountain. Half of it’s windows were visibly missing, and a hole large enough to be seen from their position gaped on it’s side.

Pinkie looked to the visible roof of Sugarcube Corner, just in case a chain effect was in motion. Thankfully for her, it appeared as intact and vibrant as ever.

“I guess you two have your work cut out. I’ll take a look around then, see you all soon, girls!” Pinkie proked away with a wave.

Rarity and Rainbow Dash said nothing and rushed to tend to their own broken houses. Fluttershy watched as they left, before she finally went home herself, worrying for the future.