Friends of a New Era

by Solar Rocker

Rating: everyone
Tags: Twilight Sparkle, My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic, Alternate Universe, Main 6, Nightmare Moon, Drama, Rainbow Dash, My Little Pony: A New Generation, Adventure, Daybreaker
Length: 11926

In a world where Earth Pony Twilight creates a glider that leads her to discover a whole other world beyond Ponyville, she’ll have to confront the forces of Daybreaker and Nightmare Moon.

Young inventor Twilight Sparkle has always been a creative mare, and that creativity is about to pay off in a world where she’ll uncover the existence of pegasi and unicorns, tribes long forgotten in Equestrian history, and ends up having to deal with the return of the legends of Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker.

Note: I know that a few people have done this, so I wanted to make a story of my own for if we’d gotten the Mane 6 as we saw them in the Gen 5 concept art and what I would do. Know that I did mix and match some concept art designs based on what I felt would work, and that I had to come up with Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker’s designs on my own.

Also, a surprise character will be joining the Mane 6 (making it rather the Mane 7). You’ll know who it is soon enough.

{My first fanfiction so knowing where think I can improve would be greatly appreciated, also, I started making this on the 31st July 2022}

WARNING: I’m not very good at world building, so don’t expect much, or any. Keep that in mind as you’re reading this. Fortunately, that means the way everything looks is open to interpretation.

Published 2022-08-08 00:30:00 UTC
Last updated 2022-08-13 01:43:56 UTC

Ponyville

Nearly a thousand years ago, there lived three tribes: unicorns, earth ponies, and pegasi, all three tribe united under two alicorn sisters. Alicorns themselves live for centuries longer than normal ponies, 5000 years to be exact. The eldest alicorn governed the day, while the youngest governed the night. Both lived in harmony with each other. Unfortunately, both also felt slightly disrespected by the tribes, and each other. The younger sister, for her first few years, kept doubting herself until she had met a pony who helped her learn about how to raise the moon. That pony, she held very close to her heart. When this pony passed away due to old age, the younger sister, as time went on, was scared and misled into thinking that ponies not seeing her night, or her own elder sister not letting them, would make them forget the pony who had helped her, and, while she could dreamwalk, which allowed her to see every pony’s dreams and bring the night with her as she comes to comfort them, it seemed increasingly to her that the moon had to rise every night or else every pony would forget the existence of the one who helped her. The elder sister meanwhile, was becoming increasingly jealous of her younger sister having the power of dreamwalking, because while she kept order in the day, it was her younger sister who ponies came to for comfort, and thus, the younger sister had a more personal connection with the ponies. The eldest was jealous and the youngest was misguided, and soon, after the eldest got manipulated by the essence of the one they call Discord, whom was already defeated at the time, and started refusing to lower the sun, a chain reaction occurred and they started to fight.

As the Two Sisters fell out, they both soon became monsters. The youngest became Nightmare Moon, a being driven towards eternal night so that ponies wouldn’t forget the pony who had helped her through her struggle, as she had helped them, while the eldest, became the much more infamous legend known as Daybreaker, fuelled by the desire for eternal day as she wished for the same personal connection her sister had with the ponies.

Their battle could’ve gone on for eternity, but then came a group of six powerful ponies: The Bringers of Hope. These Bringers had powerful magic that was used to confront the feuding sisters, and very soon, Nightmare Moon was banished to the moon, while Daybreaker was imprisoned within the sun, and the Bringers used a mystical day-night amulet to control the day and night, and, since then, there has been no trace of Nightmare Moon, Daybreaker, or even the Bringers of Hope. It is said, however, that Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker will both return on the longest day, the day they were both defeated a thousand years ago, while the Bringers of Hope, regardless of lineage, have passed their magic onto six ponies of a new generation. These ponies, are the ones chosen in defeating the Fallen Two Sisters when they are to inevitably return. Over time however, when Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker were defeated, the three tribes slowly separated, and have all, since then, completely forgotten each other’s existence. It’s said however, that when the time is right, the prophecy of the new Bringers of Hope will begin.

When the youngest has performed the blast,
The six forces will come together at last.
The eldest will unite the forgotten tribes
And soon changes shall further occur for many other lives.
Others will be effected
But much lesser detected.
When all fates are ready and all secure
The fight against enmity will endure!

This is how the story of the Bringer is said to start.
Now, may the story soon begin.

Twilight Sparkle then closes the book telling that story. It was one she use to read, before she began to get inventive. She had read the book for inspiration, mainly because she remembered a tribe who ponies had tried replicating, but she couldn’t remember why it was, but knew it was mentioned in that book: Pegasi. She had always found the story of the Fallen Two Sisters interesting because of its mentioning of other tribes. While she never really believed the story because there is still no proof that unicorns or pegasi exist, it was still interesting to see what could be used as inspiration from the story. And she decided that maybe she should consider making a glider to replicate pegasus flight. It was, after all the third most common thing she’d hear ponies talk about when discussing the story of the Fallen Two Sisters, after only that of the Fallen Two Sisters themselves, and the Bringers of Hope. Among the Fallen Two Sisters, it is usually Daybreaker who is the most talked about.

Twilight in question, was a lavender earth pony mare with slightly darker purple eyes. She had a mostly horizontally straight manecut, mostly. There were small splits at the side. In terms of the colours in Twilight’s mane, they were dark blue, and purple in a vertical stripe pattern of three purple stripes and four blue ones. The part of Twilight’s mane that hung over her shoulders, and goes down to between her fore and rear hooves, has two purple stripes and four blue ones. Twilight’s tail also has a vertical stripe pattern of two purple stripes, and two blue ones. Twilight’s cutie mark is a pinkish purple six pointed star with ten white stars surrounding it and and ethereal pattern of white and purple entering the top part of the large star. Twilight’s coat was mostly fluffy at the chest, with small splits running down, and same goes for the back of her hooves, the bottom part of Twilight’s hooves were a lighter pink and, like all ponies in Ponyville, were solid rather than fluffy, and were sparkling.

After months of working and reworking the glider so that it could fly rather than glide, Twilight concludes that today would be the best time for a test flight, and decides to perform it at sunset. So she heads outside, of her home (which is a windmill) to ask her friend, Applejack if she would like to see her try out her glider. Applejack had just finished apple bucking and was headed home when she saw Twilight approaching her.

“Howdy, Twilight! Didn’t think you’d be here at this time.” she says before noticing the glider on Twilight’s back. “What that be on your back?” she adds, referring to the glider.

Earlier

Applejack had just finished bucking several apples from an apple tree. Her family were a bunch of farm ponies who make a living off of bucking apples and making different apple themed foods and drinks to sell to local ponies. She took pride in this, and would usually get herself up early to get to apple bucking as quickly as possible. It had been hobby to her, and something she did to help out her family as much as possible. Sadly, all hobbies must come to an end, so, when the day for bucking apples was over, she had decided to pay her friend, Twilight, a visit.

Applejack was a tan coloured earth pony mare with green eyes and white patches on her coat. The patches were shaped into a white, fully shaded circle in her forehead, that then goes down to around her muzzle. Her chest also had a white patch, except this one was more fluffy, and a diamond shape that went down to between her forehooves. Her mane and tail were a cream yellow, that down the right side of her mane, and down her tail, both had a pigtail with a red band. The solid bit of her hooves were green and also sparkle, and we’re shaped similarly to Twilight’s, (in fact Twilight’s and Applejack’s hoof shape is how Earth Pony hooves are usually shaped). And her cutie mark was an apple with four small green leaves surrounding it, with a slightly lighter tan colour patch surrounding it.

“Oh, that?” Twilight asks pointing to her glider. “Well, that’s why I came to see you. You know the story of the Fallen Two Sisters, right?”

“Yes. What’s that gotta so with it?”

“Well, while reading it, I found it mention pegasi, which are ponies that can fly (and control the weather) and I thought about replicating their flight.”

“Ain’t that gonna be dangerous?”

“Possibly.”

“Then why are you doing this?”

“Because I want to see if I can make such a machine work. I do this because I like finding things out.”

“There ain’t no talking ya outta this?” Applejack asks with little emotion.

“Nope.” Twilight says with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

“Why do I even bother?” Applejack asks herself, “Can I at least watch you just to make sure that I can get you to a hospital as quickly as possible if you get hurt?”

“Sure. That’s actually why I came to see you, so that I could ask if you’d like to see me try it out.”

Applejack let’s out a small “Heh.” in satisfaction. While Twilight’s ideas have had a frequency of putting her in danger, she was thankfully willing for some pony to watch her and keep her out of danger. So there’s that at least. It would help however if she could actually dissuade her, but, it’s seem like that’s not possible. But she digresses.

Very soon, at around sunset, Twilight and Applejack reach a cliff with a clear majestic view of their home of Ponyville, a small town of around 270,000 ponies.

“Okay. I didn’t think you’d go for this time. What made you want to test that there glider at sunset?”

“A sort of… tribute to the story. It is what inspired me to make the glider after all.”

“But there’ll already be a tribute to the story in the next three days, Twilight.”

“Really? Three day? I didn’t know that.”

“You didn’t? In three days, it’ll have been a thousand years since the time the story of the Fallen Two Sisters supposedly took place, and the government has agreed to officially celebrate this special occasion.”

“Huh. Then we’d best get this test done before Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker return.” Twilight jokingly remarks.

Applejack chuckles. “Indeed we should, Sugarcube. Let me know if you ever get in danger.”

“I will.” Twilight says before leaping into the air with her glider wings open. She had already tested it a few times already, at least seven times, each one (minus tests 2 and 5) saw her in the air for longer than previously. She had hope for test 8, and hope was what she’d need as it turns out. As her glider wings sprung open, she flapped the wings, but this time used her analysis on how birds flap their wings as inspiration, and it worked. But there was one problem she did plan to figure out: stopping while staying in midair. She began swooping all over and above Ponyville, cheering in joy as she swooped up, down, left, and right while singing her joy.

Twilight Sparkle

After eight tests, it’s near-complete
This is why the best minds
Don’t give in to defeat.
This is the fun of being creative
Looking at the boundaries before us
Finding way around by being inventive
And seeing if the boundaries will ignore us!

As the sun is setting
No pony will be forgetting
The work moving past their very eyes
To think of what I’ve just achieved
Exceeding my own dreams?
Even I am that surprised!
Eight whole tests in two whole days!

Unfortunately, she was so caught up in the accomplishment that she didn’t realise that she was starting to swoop away from Ponyville, even when Applejack’s voice called out to tell her, until she was several miles away. Only after she swooped under a rain cloud did she realise the predicament she’d founde herself in. Realising she would need to stop and find her way back to Ponyville, she lowers herself to the ground and observes her surroundings, looking for a cliff side for her to use to swoop from. But, all she could see was an endless grassy plain.

“What’s up with those wings?” a raspy voice suddenly calls out from above.

Twilight then looks up to the clouds and sees something unnatural to her: a magenta-eyed cyan mare sitting on a cloud. The mare had an unkempt rainbow mane and tail, each colour shaped into resembling a bolt of lightning, while the pony had a pair of wings that were not pony-made like her’s, but organic, and sparkling. Even stranger still, these wings each appeared have rainbow pinions that are red at the top, before fading to green at the bottom, with orange and yellow in between. The pony also had unique characteristic in her hooves, which were a slightly darker blue than the rest of her body, and unlike the ponies in Ponyville, this pony’s hooves, not only didn’t sparkle, but also had three risen smooth-ended points at the back. And the front part of her body (and rear hooves) looked as though the wind had almost always been flowing through her fur, generating a sort of shimmer at the front with a shiny spiked pattern surrounding the top part of the hard end of the pony’s hooves, with the front of her chest having a shimmering shape that could best be described as a horizontally stretched V shaped with two lightning bolts.

A pegasus? Twilight thought to herself upon seeing the strange pony.

“Are those really your wings? It looks as if you built them yourself.” the mare asks.

“Oh, um… that’s because they actually are.” Twilight admits.

The pegasus raises a brow before asking “You’re serious?”

“Yep.”

The pegasus then looks down to Twilight hooves. “I guess that would explain the sparkling hooves.” she deduces, “Speaking of which, who are you? We’ve never met.”

“Oh, right. Sorry. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Rainbow Dash.” the pegasus, now known as Rainbow Dash greets. “Wait. If you don’t have wings… and you have sparkling hooves… are you one of those… um dirt ponies…”

“Earth ponies.” Twilight corrects her.

“Yeah, that. Are you one of them? I’ve never seen one before. I didn’t even know they existed.”

“First, yes. Second, I thought the same thing about pegasi. I only know one book that mentioned them and that book was called ‘The Fallen Two Sisters’.”

“Huh. And here, I thought only we would know that story but… it sounds like it could’ve happened. How else could there possibly be two of the same story for tribes that have forgotten each other?”

“We can’t be sure of it until we’ve… wait. Rainbow, do you have a copy of the book for me to read by any chance?”

“Sure. I’m not that big into reading, so… you can have it. Just let me go and fetch it. I’ll be back in ten seconds.”

“Okay.”

Rainbow then turns around and Twilight gets just enough time to see her cutie mark. It’s a red, yellow, and blue lightning bolt, and there’s a slightly pale cloud-shaped patch surrounding it. Twilight had enough time to see it just as Rainbow zipped away to retrieve her book.

When Rainbow said “ten seconds”, Twilight probably didn’t think she literally meant that, but, turns out she did. Twilight, understandably, was bewildered.

“Here.” Rainbow says, holding the book out to Twilight with her right wing.

“Wha… but… how did you—“ Twilight stammers out, still trying to figure out how Rainbow moved so fast.

“What did I say? Ten seconds.”

“But… but I didn’t think you literally meant that. I thought you were simply just using figurative language.”

“I have no idea what ‘figurative’ means.” Rainbow admits.

“I basically didn’t think you actually meant it when you said ‘ten seconds’. How far is your home anyway?”

“You’d be surprised. But I doubt earth ponies can walk on clouds like pegasi… so, what do we do about this?”

“Hmm. Maybe you could lift me with my glider and show me where it is.”

“That could work. But if we do… please, be careful.”

“Why?”

“Because one pony up there gets crazy over every new pony she sees, and I think she’d go even crazier than she normally does is she saw you.”

“Why would…” Twilight asks before she remembers that she didn’t know pegasi exist, and Rainbow didn’t know earth ponies exist. So if this other pony gets crazy over every new pony she sees, she’d likely get even crazier over her since Twilight would be the first earth pony this pegasus would’ve met. “Oh…” Twilight realises after she had answered her own question within her thoughts.

“Yeah.” Rainbow bluntly answers “So, maybe once you’ve read that book, you could stretch the wings of that… um…”

“Glider.” Twilight says.

“Yeah. That, and I can—“

“Dashie!” a high pitch, overexcited voice yells out from behind Rainbow. “I’ve been searching all over for you!”

Reluctantly, Rainbow turns to face the source of the voice. “Now is not the best time, Pinkie.” Rainbow explains.

The voice, now known as Pinkie, asks “What’s not a good time? I thought every time was a good time.”

From Rainbow’s view, Pinkie was a blue-eyed pink pegasus mare with a slightly darker pink at the bottom of her hooves, as well as surrounding her eyes, and the patch that surrounds her cutie mark, with the patch stretching to her wings. Her mane was all long, puffy, risen, and swirly, with her tail resembling candy floss. Her sparkling wings had the same colour as her mane on the first row of feathers, while her pinions were a very light pink. Her hooves were shaped similar to Rainbow’s, with three smooth risen points at the back. The hard bit of her hooves was a darker pink from the lower part of her coat. Her cutie mark was three balloons with the centre balloon being yellow held under a blue string, while the two surrounding it were blue held under a yellow string.

“She meant you came at an inconvenient—“ Twilight says before Rainbow interrupts her.

“She knows that what I meant, Twilight.” Rainbow warns “And don’t answer her question. She’ll just notice you.” thankfully, Rainbow was at a distance that allowed her to speak with Twilight quietly without Pinkie being in hearing distance, although Rainbow did turn her gaze towards Pinkie a few times, most likely to make sure she wasn’t eavesdropping.

Twilight doesn’t finish what she was going to say, upon realising that ‘Pinkie’ may be the name of the pony that Rainbow was warning her about.

“Who said that? I don’t see anypony who speaks with that voice nearby, and I know lots of ponies.” Pinkie asks. Twilight and Rainbow both realise that the damage was already done and Pinkie was now inevitably going to find out. “And why are you near the edge of that cloud, Rainbow?” Pinkie adds. Because she called Rainbow by her actual name and not ‘Dashie’, Rainbow could tell she was actually serious about the question, and thus was catching on much faster than she could in covering it up. If Pinkie found out about Twilight, she’d go crazy, and Rainbow would have to just hope that Pinkie leaves Twilight alone soon.

Pinkie walks toward Rainbow, but not directly towards her, more likely wanting to see what’s beyond the edge of the cloud that has got her attention. In an effort to hide from Pinkie, Twilight tries walking under the cloud, hoping that Pinkie wouldn’t notice her that way. When Pinkie reaches the edge, Rainbow quickly tries to stand in front of her, but to no avail as Pinkie simply doubles back to pull a party cannon out from under the cloud, points it at Rainbow, fires it, blocking Rainbow’s view of her, and then runs past her to the edge of the cloud.

“Wow. I admit, Dashie, I never thought you would try to delay me, let alone for quite a bit of time. But if only you were able to delay me by an extra seven halves of a second.” Pinkie remarks.

“Where did you even get that?” Rainbow asks.

“I have spare party cannons all over Cloudsdale for any party cannon emergency, although I admit, this wasn’t exactly what I was picturing my first party cannon emergency to be, but hey, you’re the first time I’ve used an emergency item in a way I’d never normally intend to use it.”

After that failed attempt by Rainbow to delay her, Pinkie looks down towards the grassy plain beneath the edge of the cloud. Fortunately, she found nothing. Unfortunately, Pinkie isn’t stupid. She immediately looks under the cloud, and sees Twilight, who had taken her glider off to limit the amount of noise it would make if it were jiggling on her back.

Upon seeing Twilight, Pinkie gasps. “A new pony?!” Pinkie yells out before getting a good look at Twilight. “Wait. Where are her wings? And why are her hooves… sparkling… wait.” upon noticing, Pinkie gasps even louder, and yells out “ANOTHER TRIBE?!” she then moves to face Rainbow. “Dashie, how long have you known about this?!”

Rainbow chuckles, before admitting “Just a short while before you did.”

“Oh! We need to set up a party— no, a CELEBRATION for this! We’re seeing history here before our very eyes! There is whole other world out there, and that wingless lavender pony is proof!”

Rainbow chuckles. She’s not sure what to do here. She had never seen Pinkie act with this much enthusiasm before.

“Hey, Pinkie. In three days, it’ll be a thousand years since the time that the story of the Fallen Two Sisters took place, why don’t we celebrate then? That’ll make it a tad more special, and, might I say… memorable.” Twilight suggests having finished reading Rainbow’s copy of ‘The Fallen Two Sisters’.

Pinkie’s eyes widen at the suggestion. “Lavender-pony-I-don’t-know, normally, I prefer parties/celebrations to occur on the day I come up with them, but I’ll make an exception because that would work wonderfully! The story said that there were three tribe who forgot each other, and the celebration would mark the beginning of the reunification of the tribes, if I’m right to think that unicorns exist and your tribe are called earth ponies. Speaking of, what’s your name?”

“Oh. My name is Twilight Sparkle.”

“Nice to meet you, Twilight. My name is Pinkie Pie. So… what brings you here?”

“Oh, well, I was testing this glider,” she points to the glider, “but I ended up being so caught up in the moment when it worked that I ended up here, in… um… what’s this place called?”

“Cloudsdale.” Rainbow answers.

“Yeah. Cloudsdale. And I don’t know my way back to my home in Ponyville.”

“Huh.” Pinkie says, “Well, I don’t know where Ponyville is, and it won’t be easy finding it in this large world, but I do want you here for the celebration here, and it would be great to have both pegasi and earth ponies come together for this, and it would be good to find the unicorns, so…”

As Twilight thinks about a way they can solve this problem, a frightening realisation hits her. “Wait. If earth ponies exist, and so do pegasi, and maybe unicorns, could the Fallen Two Sisters also exist?”

Rainbow then looks to Twilight and after thinking about it, realises the same thing, and adds “If they do, then…”

“We are all in danger!” Twilight and Rainbow tell each other, unfortunately, Pinkie wasn’t listening.

“Okay. I’ll be headed to my house to plan out and prepare the celebration.” Pinkie says “You two do whatever floats your boat. Later! La, la, la, la, la, la, la~“ Pinkie then hops away to her house.

“Wh- why doesn’t she just fly to her house?” Twilight asks.

“Apparently she enjoys it. Do understand that Pinkie is actually completely random because she’s meant to be a… rather slapstick pony to the point that some of her actions might not make much sense to you.”

“I’m not going to ask for examples of that, because I wouldn’t be surprised if she really is random.”

“Good, because I can name plenty of examples.” she then looks around and after a few moments of silence, asks “So, did you see anything different between my copy of the book and yours?”

“No, not really, aside from your copy mentioning a place called ‘Canterlot’.”

“Wow. That is strange. It’s almost like…”

“Someone or something is trying to send us there. But why?

“So… what should we do?”

“First, can you show me how far your house is from here? Then we’ll go searching for Canterlot, and who knows, we might find unicorns there. Just in case, I’ll take your copy of the book with us, just so that if there’s a unicorn version, I can see the difference between the two.” Twilight asks.

“Okay.”

Twilight then puts on her glider and Rainbow lifts it by the wings.

Author's Note

Incase you were wondering about the designs I used, I based it off of each row of concept art. Twilight - Row 3, Applejack - Row 3, and Rainbow Dash - A mix of Rows 2 and 3 (the wings are shaped like her row two design), Pinkie Pie - A mix of Row 2 and 3 (Row 2 with the hoof shape and sparkling wings of her Row 3 design, with the hard part of her hooves being a brighter pink like her Row 3 design, rather than the golden colour of her Row 2 design), Rarity - A mix of Row 2 and 3 (has a sparkling horn, and the hoof shape of her Row 3 design), and Fluttershy - A mix of Row 3 (but has the horn shape and colour (still sparkling), and the flowers of her Row 2 design instead of the butterflies (not that I have a problem with them)). Oh, and just for consistency, all pony’s would have their Row 3 hooves.
P.S: sparkling hooves are something all earth ponies have, while a sparkling horn is what all unicorns have, and sparkling wings are what all pegasi have.

As for Nightmare Moon and Daybreaker, I based Daybreaker’s origin off of a theory I found on the YouTube about how Celestia could’ve actually become Daybreaker instead of Luna becoming Nightmare Moon in an alternate universe, and as for Nightmare Moon, I based her origin off of a comment I found when I browsing through the comments section of a beautiful MLP animation that I had found, once again, on YouTube.

If you’re wondering how Daybreaker’s ambitions for eternal day resulted in Nightmare Moon’s desire for eternal night, what happened was that Daybreaker’s desires placed heavy stress on Luna’s mind. That, combined with Luna’s fear of Starswirl being forgotten, led Luna to start thinking eternal night was the only way to save all memory of Starswirl the longer she spent trying, and failing, to get through to Celestia/Daybreaker until she had ultimately become Nightmare Moon (because the elements of harmony don’t exist in this story), if you know what I mean.

I was intending to make this story all one chapter, but decided it would be easier to separate them into chapters.

Canterlot

Earlier…

“Twilight!” Applejack calls out from a far as her friend zooms away from Ponyville. She sighs and decides to go after her, but not before she suddenly hears a voice in her head ask her to take Twilight’s copy of ‘The Fallen Two Sisters’. As much as she would like to know why she is feeling the urge to bring it, she can’t, so she decides to head to Twilight’s house, grab the book and lock the door just so that no pony tries to break in.

As Applejack enters the forest in search of Twilight, she reads through the book only to find that, at the end page, a map has appeared showing her four places: Ponyville, Cloudsdale, Canterlot, and Everfree Forest.

Based on the direction Twilight took, it seems to Applejack like she’s headed to ‘Cloudsdale’, so that is where she’s headed.

Now…

Twilight was surprised to learn that Rainbow can fly at a max speed of roughly 749 mph, which is crazy fast, and apparently she at one point broke the sound barrier, even if briefly, and performed a sonic rainboom. Twilight realised that it meant that most of the ten seconds Rainbow spent to fetch her copy of the book, was mostly spent searching for it, it took six seconds, apparently. Rainbow also seems very stubborn about reading. Maybe Twilight should try getting her into reading a bit more, especially after that moment where Rainbow failed to understand what “figurative” meant, scarily enough. Either way, what’s done is done and they’re heading over to locate Canterlot. This wasn’t going to be easy. It was already evening and thus, they really have two days before the day when the Fallen Two Sisters return. As they search, Twilight decides to pass the time with a conversation with Rainbow. “So, what do you think will happen when we get to Canterlot?”

Rainbow looks down to Twilight in confusion. “Excuse me?”

“What do you think will happen when we’re at Canterlot?”

“I don’t know. Never been there. What do you think will happen?”

“Well, I expect would them to ask plenty of questions about us because as far as they’re probably aware, we don’t exist.”

“True. But hey, that means we can expect a few shocked reactions when we arrive.”

“Heh. Yeah, but, we would also have to expect several conservatives who wouldn’t trust us.”

Rainbow sighs. “Conservatives. They never give change a chance, always see it as bad and it sickens me.”

“Yeah. But hey, I would hope for the majority to accept us, which means we’ll have give them a good first impression.”

“Yeah.” Rainbow replies before slowly starting to sing.

Rainbow Dash
Can’t expect little from the next two days
It’s going to be strange in many ways
Such as possible meeting an entire once forgotten tribe.

Twilight Sparkle
Well, at least somepony else will be there
To see what that strangeness has to bare
This is the start of a change in life!

Rainbow Dash
Oh, true there.

Twilight Sparkle
I’ll look out for you
When you’re swooping off course
Or pushed back by fierce force
As an earth pony, I made a glider ‘cause I could,
Never thought it’d lead to something so good!
Now I’ll be looking out for you!

Rainbow Dash
Just before we met, I felt life was getting dull
Sure I had Pinkie to add some fun
But she could get it overdone
But then I met you, and you made this get even better
Turns out adventure was waiting for us to come together
And now I see, that I needed you,
And thus, I’ll be looking out for you!

Both
I’ll be looking out for you!
When you’re off course
Or pushed back by force
I’ll be looking out for you!
I
WILL
BE~
Looking out for you!

Just then, as the sun is about to rise, Twilight notices something.

“Over there!” Twilight yells out, pointing her right hoof towards a castle on the mountain side in the distance. “That must be it! We just need a place to land. Preferably outside of the castle, or else we could be seen as intruders.”

Rainbow nods. She then spots a pathway and decides to land there, just outside walls to what could be Canterlot. Unlike Cloudsdale, Twilight got a full look at the city, which was white with a golden edge around the top with several armoured guard looking down at them, each one being pure white with a sparkling horn, as far as Twilight and Rainbow could see.

It was late in the evening. As Applejack finally reaches where Cloudsdale should be, all she sees is an endless green plain. Nothing there, until she hears a sudden gasp, and a high-pitch, overexcited voice suddenly squeal out “Another earth pony?!”

Applejack looks up to sees Pinkie Pie looking down at her from a cloud.

“This is the second one I’ve encountered thus far!” Pinkie adds.

Pegasi? They exist? Applejack thinks to herself before realising “Wait. Did you just say that I’m the second earth pony you’ve encountered?”

“Mmhm.”

“Was this other earth pony, by any chance—“ Applejack asks before being suddenly interrupted by Pinkie’s answer.

“Lavender? Horizontally flat mane? Sparkly purple hooves? Purple eyes? Wore a glider?”

“Yup. So, you met her?”

“Only for a short while. I just saw her leaving here with my friend: Rainbow Dash.”

“‘Rainbow Dash’?” Applejack asks.

“Cyan pegasus mare with a rainbow mane. Quite the athlete at heart.”

“Huh. I’d actually like to meet her. Do you know where they were headed?”

“Not really. But I did overhear them say something about the Fallen Two Sisters story.”

“Now that’s interesting because that is actually how I got here. Twilight was more ‘why I went here’.”

“How did that story get you here? I have a copy of the book and it can’t do that.”

“Oh, a map appeared when I was reading it at sunset while searching for Twilight.”

“Why were you reading it at sunset while searching for Twilight?”

“I… dunno. Something about it just kept… eating away at me.”

“Huh. I would normally joke about that and say that I see no bite marks, but I feel as though I should keep that in mind. Also, you actually have a copy of the book?”

“Yeah. Why do you ask?”

“Because, as I previously said, I have one too, and yet…” Pinkie pauses for three seconds, “can I read your copy?” she asks, in a slightly more serious voice.

“Well, it’s actually Twilight’s copy, but sure. Why do you ask?”

“Because I need to know how similar both copies are. If they’re very similar, then I think someone or something is trying to get our attention.”

“Okay.”

After Pinkie read through Twilight’s copy of the book, she notices something. “Huh.”

“What is it?” Applejack asks.

“This copy says nothing about Canterlot, and there really is a map.”

“Canterlot? Do you think that’s where they might be headed?” Applejack asks as Pinkie returns her the book.

“Maybe. Ooh! This could be journey between us! You… uh, oh. I forgot we haven’t introduced ourselves.”

“Oh. Sorry. I’m Applejack, and you are?”

“Pinkie Pie!” Pinkie says, more joyously.

“Well, Pinkie Pie, I think I know where we’d be headed.”

“Canterlot?”

“Canterlot.”

“Yippee!” Pinkie screams over energetically, “Oh, there’ll be so many new ponies to see! Who know, maybe they’ll like to party! Oh, I need to get my party cannon! Oh, and I also need some papers to note down everything about every pony, and Applejack—“ Pinkie turns around only to see that A.J is walking away from her, most likely headed for Canterlot, still carrying the book. “Gah! Wait for me!” Pinkie screams as she swoops to catch up with Applejack without bringing anything with her. Guess I won’t be throwing any surprise parties when we arrive. Pinkie thinks in total disappointment as she follows her.

“Who goes there?!” One of the guards yells out to Twilight and Rainbow before realising what, to him, is rather unnatural. He quickly identifies Twilight to be wearing a glider. “Wait. A pegasus, and an earth pony? Real? Out here? Well there’s something you don’t see everyday, let alone on guard duty.” he says to himself. Another guard, seemingly a commander, then approaches the guard.

“So, Sharp Blade, what’s the status been?” the commander asks.

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, sir.” the guard explains.

“And why not?”

“It’ll be easier to explain if I show you, sir.” the guard answers, gesturing down towards Twilight and Rainbow. The commander looks down, and is rather surprised by what he sees. He then turns to face the guard.

“Send them in. I want a better look at what I’m seeing here, and afterwards, I want you to send them to Princess Rarity.” the commander orders.

“Yes, sir.” the guard answers. He then walks down the barrier and opens the gates. “You may come in.” he tells Twilight and Rainbow. The two walk in, before the guard asks Twilight “Take off that glider, please.”

Twilight quickly takes it off, not wanting to question why. Besides, at this point, she doesn’t exactly need it. Upon taking the glider off, a guard asks her and Rainbow a question.

“Who are you two?”

“I’m Twilight Sparkle,” Twilight answers before pointing a hoof towards Rainbow, “and this is Rainbow Dash.”

“And what are you two?” the guard asks.

“I’m an earth pony and she’s a pegasus.” Twilight answers.

To test that they aren’t lying, the guard fires a spell at them that is to get rid of any magic shrouds. When nothing happens, he accepts their answer. “And why are you two here?” he asks.

“Well, we came because we only just met each other, and we started to worry about the possibility that the Fallen Two Sisters will return in the next three, now two, days.” Rainbow answers.

“I see. Normally I would ignore such an answer, but looking at the current circumstances, and seeing as you both appear to each be one of the other tribes from the story, I can actually believe such worries from you both. However, I’d say that you should simply just keep your guard up. It hasn’t been proven, or even debunked anymore, that the Fallen Two Sisters are real and will return, meaning that now, the thousandth year will be the moment of confirmation, so until the day ends we will have to stay on our guard. Also, I ask you come with me so that I can get Princess Rarity’s opinion on this. Okay?”

“Okay.” Twilight and Rainbow reply at exactly the same time.

Rarity is a dark blue-eyed, pure white unicorn mare with a long white mane that fades to purple further down, and same goes for her tail, which twirls at the purple part. On her forehead, just below her sparkly white horn, she wears a blue, V-shaped crown with a purple gem in the centre. On her right forehoof, are two blue bands separated from each other, and her hooves have three separated, nicely combed strands of fur that, while slightly longer than the fur at the end of an earth pony’s hooves, are only just long enough to trail across the floor. On top of that, the hard part of Rarity’s hooves are a slightly pale blue. Her cutie mark was three diamonds within a pale blue patch.

Rarity was sitting on her throne when a guard enters.

“Princess Rarity!” a guard calls out, entering the door, “We have two visitors who we want you to see. They go by the names of ‘Twilight Sparkle’ and ‘Rainbow Dash’.”

Rarity tilts her head. “Really?” she asks “Why do you want me to see them?”

“The answer will probably be much clearer if you see for yourself.”

“Very well. Send them in.”

“Of course, Your Highness.”

Rarity sighs. While she has never been very keen on being addressed by her title and status, due to being a fashionista at heart, she did become the surrogate heir to the throne after an accident killed her biological parents, and she and her sister - Sweetie Belle were adopted by the Canterlot royal family, who themselves, were unable to produce a biological heir. Heck, the press has never even addressed her by her title since eight years ago when Rarity asked that they don’t.

The guard exits and in come Twilight and Rainbow. When Rarity was told she’d have to see it to believe it, she wasn’t entirely sure why, but now she knew. “What? Earth ponies and pegasi are real?”

“Hi,” Twilight greets, “So I guess you’re Princess Rarity?”

“Why of course,” Rarity replies, “but I’d personally prefer it if you didn’t call me by my title. You can just call me ‘Rarity’.”

“Oh. Okay, Rarity.” Twilight answers.

“Thank you. And I guess you’re Twilight?” she asks the earth pony.”

“Yep.”

“And I supposed that would make the rainbow-maned pegasus with the… rather poor taste in fashion, Rainbow Dash?”

“Indeed.”

Rarity nods before asking “Why are you here?”

“Oh, right. That well… we got a bit worried over the Fallen Two Sisters story. What with there being three tribes that seem to not know each other and all, but we have yet to confirm if the tribes knew each other at all, and only now have we just found out each other’s existence.”

“True… wait. How did you even find us?”

“Well, it came down to me finding Rainbow. She has a copy of ‘The Fallen Two Sisters’ that she allowed me to borrow, and we noticed its mention of Canterlot, which was something that my copy, which I left back home, doesn’t have.”

“And where is your home?” Rarity asks Twilight

“In Ponyville.”

“And are you planning on staying here?”

“Well, not really.”

“I see. Wait. Do you any friends or family? Won’t they be searching for you?”

Twilight and Rainbow then look at each other. Twilight has just realised that Applejack may be searching for her, and Rainbow realises that Pinkie may also be searching for her.

“Pinkie Pie, has anypony ever told you that you are completely random?” Applejack asks, having noticed how absurd Pinkie’s antics can be. Right now, they are in a forest (not Everfree Forest).

“Of course they haven’t not, Applejack. It’s really that common of a description about me. It began when I got my cutie mark twelve years ago. Before then,”— Pinkie’s once joyful expression quickly turns into one of sorrow, —“I was quiet glum and miserable, and made even more miserable because of how easily I was picked on, with some bullies calling me ‘Pinkamoana’, which was a mean spin on my full name. I don’t like talking about it. It was unbearable to say the least.” Pinkie sighs before she looks back with a smile on her face, but not her usual over-the-top overexcited smile, but a gentle, almost peaceful smile, which, by that point, Applejack hadn’t yet seen from her,“Until one day, the day that I would become friends with Rainbow. She wanted to defend me, saying that my misery was only there because of the bullying I had to endure. I admit, when we met, and she defended me like that, I felt, for the first time, happy, and may’ve shown a public display of affection.” Pinkie admits as she lets out a small chuckle “One day, she got into a race so that she could win against some bullies who refused to stop picking on me, and… a group of stallions tried to ruin it for everypony by getting rid of all the contenders for some reason, but Dashie foiled their plan, in a way that reminded me of her… loyalty and how it gave me hope. I saw something that… not only gave me more hope, this time, that Rainbow had won, but gave me such a sense of joy as a result of that hope. What I saw… was a large, expanding rainbow shockwave that messed up my mane into how you see it now, while it kicked those meanies off of Cloudsdale. The shockwave itself, somehow tickled me. The hope and joy it gave off on me, combined with my new sense of laughter, something I had never felt until then, was enough to make me realise my purpose and, despite no pony believing that the shockwave was because of Rainbow like she claims, and even if I somehow didn’t know it was her, I’d still like to think it was because it gave me hope. Just like she did, and that hope gave me joy, and that joy, gave me my purpose, which as you can clearly see, involves being, I admit, absurdly funny. I admit, I do still feel indebted to Rainbow, and I’ll do anything to pay it off for her.”

“Wow. Sounds like she means a lot to you.”

“Yeah. She was the first time I felt like I had somepony to look out for me. And I think it would be impossible for me to become who I am now without her.”

“Heh.” Hmm, twelve years ago? Her cutie mark might be just as, if not, exactly as old as mine Applejack thinks before wanting to put her theory to the test. She then asks “Pinkie, you mentioned an expanding rainbow shockwave, right?”

“Yes.”

“What day did it happen?”

“Why do you want to know that, A.J?”

“Because I want to know if it’s the same one that gave me my cutie mark.”

“Okay. June 17th.”

“That’s the same day I got mine, the exact same day. Right down to the year.”

“What? How is that possible?!”

“I don’t know, but I think we were always meant to meet each other. This is too big to be a coincidence.” Applejack theorises, “But just that leaves us both with the question of why? Why us? Could this possibly signify that you, me, and Rainbow Dash are actually three of the future Bringers of Hope as prophesied in the book?”

Just then, they hear faint growling from behind, and when Applejack and Pinkie turn to face of the growling, they turn to see a large, flaming bird with three feathers on its head, and three long flaming feathers for its tail, and roughly the size of a full grown mare. “DAYPHOENIX!!!” Applejack screams out.

“RUN!!!” Pinkie adds as she and Applejack flee from their chasers through the forest. As the flee, the dayphoenix shoot fireballs at several tree to stop A.J and Pinkie from escaping. A.J however, jumps over the fallen trees while Pinkie flys over them. From behind, a tree drops on the dayphoenix, who simply hurls it away. As they flee, Applejack struggles across the forest’s rather bumby, uneven, and constantly ascending/descending terrain until she slips and falls on her chest.

“A.J!” Pinkie screams out as she notices Applejack laying on the ground.

“Go on without me Pinkie! You’ll die if you help me!” Applejack pleas.

“No! I am not going to head over to Twilight and tell her ‘Hey, your friend got eaten by a dayphoenix’!” Pinkie yells out as she swoops towards Applejack to help her up. She doesn’t care if she’ll put herself in danger. Friends don’t leave each other hanging.

As the dayphoenix approaches, it is stopped by a sudden turquoise flash. The flash then a yellow unicorn mare with a long, pink mane and tail, with the mane covering the lower part of her horn. The mare has a flower on her ear, and one on her tail, with the stem enveloped around and running down her tail, with that stem having numerous leaves and two flowers on it. Her hooves have three separated, natural, yet nicely done, strands of fur on each hoof that, while slightly longer than the fur at the end of an earth pony’s hooves, are only just long enough to trail across the floor. The hard part of the mare’s hooves are a peach colour, and her cutie mark is one of two blue butterflies, within a sparkly pink patch with a few yellow holes within said patch.

“Bad dayphoenix! Bad!” the mare shouts, staring directly at it.

The dayphoenix lets out a few nervous growls, as if apologising. Applejack and Pinkie Pie couldn’t believe what they were seeing. It looked as if this mare was hardly intimidated by it.

“Look, I know you were just doing what Daybreaker asked of you, but that doesn’t mean her orders are good.” the mare replies.

She can actually understand that thing? Applejack thinks to herself.

The dayphoenix whimpers.

“I know she’s driving you insane, but I also know this isn’t you. If you ever get troubled by Daybreaker again, just let me know.” the mare asks.

The dayphoenix nods, and even chirps at the mare, before swooping away.

The mare then turns to face A.J and Pinkie, but suddenly does a 180 and all anxious around them. She could stand up to dayphoenix and yet was all shy around two mares. And A.J couldn’t understand why.

“Hi, my name is Fluttershy…” the mare says.

“What?” Applejack asks.

“I said my name is Fluttershy…” the mare tries again, but once again, Applejack and Pinkie cannot read her, or at least Applejack couldn’t.

“Nice to meet you, Fluttershy!” Pinkie yells out right in the mare’s face, “I’m Pinkie Pie!”

The mare, now known as Fluttershy, stumbles back in fright and she falls backwards to the ground.

“Woah, Pinkie! Give her some space!” A.J calls out before approaching the mare and calmly asking “Is your name ‘Fluttershy’?”

Fluttershy simply nods and A.J lends a hoof, offering to help Fluttershy onto her hooves.

“Thank you.” Fluttershy whispers, just enough that Applejack can hear her.

“No. Thank you.” A.J corrects, “If it weren’t for you, that dayphoenix would’ve scorched us.”

“Oh. You’re welcome.”

“I’m Applejack, by the way. And the pink pegasus is Pinkie Pie.”

“Pegasus?” Fluttershy wonders.

“Yeah. Never heard of one.”

Fluttershy nods in denial.

“Huh. Well, I’m an earth pony if you’re wondering.” Applejack adds.

“Okay. Sorry about Engulf. He only attacked you two because he was asked to by Daybreaker.” Fluttershy explains.

“Daybreaker?!” Applejack and Pinkie Pie yell out, familiar with the name.

“Yes. You know her?” Fluttershy asks, wincing at first when they yelled it out.

“We thought she was a legend! One of the Fallen Two Sisters, but… if she’s real, then she’ll be returning in just two days, and so will Nightmare Moon.”

“Wait. Nightmare Moon? Fallen Two Sisters? Why do I feel like I’ve read something containing those names before? I knew I had heard the name ‘Daybreaker’ somewhere before, but I don’t know where.”

Applejack then lends her Twilight’s copy of ‘The Fallen Two Sisters’. “Maybe in this?” A.J asks as she offer the book to Fluttershy, who reads it and is immediately scared.

“So that’s where I heard their names.” Fluttershy mutters as she returns the book to Applejack.

“We were headed to Canterlot to find two of our friends there.” Applejack explains.

“Wait. Canterlot?”

“Yes!” Pinkie asks before gasping, “You been there?! What’s it like?! What can we expect?! Do they party?! Is it big?! Is it small?! Is…”

“Pinkie.” Applejack asks slowly.

“…Is there a cupcake store?! Is there a café?! Is there…”

“Pinkie!” Applejack asks, a bit quicker and slightly louder.

“…Is there a mirror maze?! Is there a circus—“

“PINKIE PIE!!!” Applejack suddenly yells out.

That finally got Pinkie’s attention and she finally notices that she’s up in Fluttershy’s face and sees just how shaken she now is.

“Oh. Oops. Sorry.” Pinkie says.

Applejack sighs. “Pinkie, allow me to do the talking, okay.”

“Okay.” Pinkie replies.

“Now, Fluttershy, you’ve been to Canterlot?” Applejack asks.

“Yes. It’s actually where I was born.” Fluttershy answers.

“Really? Then why are you here?”

“I just prefer it here. Not as loud and busy, and I enjoy interacting with animals. Why do you ask?”

“Just curious. We were headed to Canterlot ourselves because we think two of our friends are there. Can you lead us there?”

“Sure. I don’t see why not. I’ve fed all the animals at my house and Canterlot isn’t far.”

“Thank you, sugarcube.”

“You’re welcome.” Fluttershy replies.

As they exit the forest, Fluttershy informs Pinkie and A.J that “Before we find your friends, I need to visit my friend - Rarity. I want to let you know that you two are here.”

Pinkie and Applejack nod before Applejack asks “But why?”

“Well, Rarity is the princess of Canterlot. But I should make it clear that Rarity is one of the few princesses who would much prefer it that you don’t address her by any royal titles.”

As Twilight and Rainbow turn to face Rarity, a guard enters the throne room.

“Princess Rarity!” the guard calls out, “Another earth pony and pegasus have arrived. They say they’re friends of Twilight and Rainbow. Fluttershy has arrived also, she asks to come with them. Shall I ask that they wait for—“

“No.” Rarity replies, “Send them in immediately, please.”

“Of course, Your Highness.” the guard replies.

The guard leaves the throne room, and a few seconds later, Applejack, Pinkie Pie, and Fluttershy all enter.

Immediately, Pinkie charges at Rainbow. “Dashie!” Pinkie screams out, knocking Rainbow to the floor, much to Rarity’s own chagrin.

“Seriously?” Rarity mutters “I just cleaned up these floors. Can we just keep it clean for ten minutes?”

Unfortunately for Rarity, no pony is listening.

“Pinkie, can you please get off me.” Rainbow groans.

Pinkie, upon realising her friend’s lack of comfort, nervously chuckles as she gets off of Rainbow. “Oops. Sorry.”

Applejack then looks at Rarity. “I take it you’re Rarity?”

“Yes.” Rarity answers, happy to not be addressed by her title.

Applejack nods before turning towards Twilight. “Twilight.” Applejack warns, “We’ve come to a horrific discovery.”

“You have? What is—“ Twilight asks before being interrupted by a rumbling of her stomach, which Rarity is quick to identify.

“Um. Perhaps you should explain it at dinner.” Rarity suggests.

“Good idea. I forgot that we’ve had nothing to eat all day.” Rainbow acknowledges.

“What?!” Pinkie yells out. “You’ve not eaten anything, until it’s already 6:17pm.”

“How do you know that, um…” Rarity asks.

“Oh, I’m Pinkie Pie.” Pinkie answers.

“Right. And how do you know the time?”

Pinkie then answers the question with “It says so on the clock.” as she points to a giant clock above the door and in front of Rarity’s throne.

“Huh. Was that there before?” Rarity asks herself before meeting her gaze with Fluttershy. “Fluttershy, darling. What are you doing here? I haven’t seen you for three years.”

“I came because I wanted to let you know about Applejack and Pinkie Pie.”

“Right. Am I right to assume that Applejack is the tan coloured earth pony and that Pinkie Pie is the pink pegasus?”

“Yes.”

“Thank you.”

The six mares gather at the dining room. Their dinner will be served in 25 minutes, after they had spent 15 minutes waiting. Having introduced themselves to each other, Twilight decides to ask Applejack about what she wanted to warn her about.

“So, what is it you wanted to tell us?” Twilight asks Applejack.

A.J gulps. “Well, I think the Fallen Two Sisters might actually be real.”

Twilight’s eyes shrink significantly. “What. What makes you think that.”

“When Pinkie and I were searching for you and Rainbow, we were ambushed and forces to run from a dayphoenix. Fluttershy got it—“

“Engulf does have a gender, you know.” Fluttershy adds.

“Right. Got him to stop and asked him to leave us alone, and despite not remembering any of the story, mentioned that ‘Engulf’ was ordered to kill us by Daybreaker.” Applejack explains.

“Oh. Now that does sound as if Daybreaker will return. It does sound to me like Nightmare Moon is doing a much better job at staying under the radar, even if we know she’ll return since Daybreaker will.” Twilight concludes.

Applejack then asks everypony “I have a quick question to ask.” upon saying that, the five other look to face each other. “Pinkie Pie has already answered this question, but I need to know: how did each of y’all get your cutie marks and what day did you get them.”

“Why do you want to know that.” Rainbow asks.

“Because I believe the answer will be the same for all of us in terms of the date.”

“June 17th.” everypony answers before looking at each other in surprise.

“Thought so.” Applejack concludes. “How long ago?”

“Twelve years ago.” everypony replies, once more noticing how they all said the exact same thing.

“Okay, so that’s one thing we all have in common about our cutie marks: We all got them on the exact same day. Now tell me, one at a time: How did y’all get your cutie marks. I’ll let Pinkie explain her story first because I already how she did, but y’all don’t, with the possible exception of Rainbow Dash, so I want us to know as much about how we got our cutie marks as each other. Sound fair?”

Everypony nods.

After Pinkie tells her story, “Now that we have an equal amount of knowledge about how we each got our cutie marks, I’ll tell you my story, then Fluttershy will tell us her’s, then Rarity, then Twilight, and finally, Rainbow. Sound good?”

Everypony nods.

“Good. So twelve years ago, I had actually tried leaving Sweet Apple Acres with little explanation to my family because two strange sinister stallions kept following and watching me there. I even heard the voice of their leader, who only called himself the Outsider, whose group apparently called themselves ‘The Novolts’. The moment I heard about the Outsider and the Novolts, I feared they were after me after I heard the Outsider refer to me by name. Only me. I left for a more hidden life in Ponyville, rather than begin apple bucking because I thought if I told my family about the Novolts, I’d… pretty much become an orphan. The longer I waited, the more homesick I became, until one day, a rainbow shockwave came across the sky and sent two stallions on the roof, which I’m starting to think were the Novolts, out of Ponyville. That is when I met Twilight, who was looking for somepony to help her with finding the source of the shockwave. While I am no inventor, I was willing to help her with her work by being there if it failed in ways that may hurt her. And two hours later, I told her about my predicament. She told me that I should just tell my family about the Novolts and if things go sour, I can just go live with her, and not risk being alone. It was a comforting suggestion, so, knowing that some pony would be there to look out for me if the Novolts were to kill my family, I went back to Sweet Apple Acres, and told my mum, dad, and big brother about why I had left with little explanation. They understood, and told me that if the Novolts were to come and threaten me or my family, they’d be ready. That’s when I got my cutie mark and, not only have I no seen any of the Novolts since then, but I have been living in the farm ever since my fear of them was gone, but, in an ironic twist fate, because I went into hiding to escape the Novolts, when my fear of them was gone, I had the extra of paying Twilight a visit every now and then whenever she was working on a project when my schedule was open.”

“Wow.” Rarity comments, “So these Novolts tried to drive you away from your home, but all ended up doing instead, was allow you to make a new friend?”

“Yep.” Applejack answers.

“Oh. Now I wish you were able to the look on that mean old Outsider’s face when his plan just blew up in his face.” Pinkie replies, “He was probably so mad.”

“Yeah, that would’ve been satisfactory after all the torment he dealt me. So Fluttershy, what’s your story?”

“Right. Well, Rarity was busy trying out a gem tracking spell, so I was on my own. I was always mocked for being so shy, and Rarity was the only one who would defend me, so without her, I ran away. I ended up getting lost, and soon felt lonely. That is when I saw a majestic hoard of butterflies. I’d never seen so many in Canterlot, so seeing so many in the forest was so beautiful to me. I then saw numerous birds, squirrels, and bunnies. The wildlife was so beautiful, I felt as though I could stay forever. I was planning to leave them, but then there came a loud rainbow shockwave, and very soon, the animals started to flee. In response, I looked at where they were hiding, and comforted them. They had chosen to comfort me, so after seeing them so scared, I decided to return the favour and comfort them, and assure them there was nothing to be afraid of. Somehow, without even using my horn, I was able to communicate with the animals on a different level. That’s how I ended getting my cutie mark.”

“Hmm. Now that is interesting.” Twilight notes “It sounds like four of us are connected to this shockwave. Hmm. ‘When the youngest has performed the blast, the six forces will come together at last.’. Hmm… how old is everypony? I’m 23.” Twilight asks.

“21.” Applejack replies.

“21.” Fluttershy replies.

“22.” Rarity replies.

“20.” Pinkie Pie replies.

“19.” Rainbow replies.

Upon revealing their ages, Twilight realises that Rainbow is the youngest of the six, meaning that the blast may actually have been her as Pinkie said.

“Okay. So Rainbow is definitely the youngest among us, further backing up Pinkie’s belief that the shockwave was her.” Applejack, looking at Rainbow, before turning to face Rarity, “Rarity, please tell us, how did you get your cutie mark?”

“Sure thing, darling. You see, as Fluttershy said, I was testing out a new gem tracking spell. I was searching for gems because I was wanting to make better costumes because of my desire to be a fashionista. The problem was that the costumes I made were for an upcoming play scheduled that night. By that point, I had tried everything I could think of, but nothing seemed to work. The costumes just weren’t right, and with much stress, I tried out the gem tracking spell. Unfortunately, it turned out two ponies were trying to sabotage me and mess with my spell, but I never knew that until I found myself face to face with a large boulder. I attempted to turn away, but my attention was drawn to the sound of laughter. It was these stallions sabotaging my spell. I saw them using the magic from their horns to telekinetically lift themselves over the rock. It was then that those ponies were struck by karma, or rather a rainbow shockwave. The blast sent them hurdling for miles and shattered the rock they lured me towards. Inside the rock were a ton of shiny, diversely coloured gems. With these gems, I added them to the costumes, and they shined beautifully. The crowd watching sure agreed. And thus, realising what I could make, I achieved my cutie mark. Unfortunately, because I got it just after my first encounter with them, and I at points wondered who they were. The result of my lack of knowledge about that question resulted in my… losing my parents, and thus, ended with me and my sister being adopted into the royal family.”

“Oh.” Applejack realises, “I am so sorry, Rarity. I didn’t realise—“

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” Rarity explains before facing Twilight, “So, Twilight. How did you get your cutie mark?”

“Now that’s an interesting story. Before I did, I was usually quite isolated and hardly interacted with anypony. I did invent things every now and again, but it wasn’t something I did very often, until one day… a rainbow shockwave went by. I had reread every book I had just two days ago, and the shockwave wasn’t in any of them. Normally I would have my parents or brother watching me, but none of them were around, so I knew I would need somepony with me if I wanted to see if I could replicate the shockwave because, with its size, I knew I wouldn’t be able to trace it to its source, so I felt the next best thing I could do was try to replicate it. That is when I met Applejack, and you already know why she was there. At first, I was only focused on the project, until half an hour later when she asked me what it was. Now the ponies that I asked before her that day didn’t know what I was talking about, or believe me, but when I told Applejack, she knew what I was talking about, and we spent the next hour getting to know each other until A.J told me why she wasn’t with her family and how she was scared of the Novolts. You know how that went, and she felt comfortable returning home. As for me, I realised that I could get help from numerous sources if I needed, which I knew I would, and found my love of inventing. So I had not only found a new friend in A.J, but I also earned my cutie mark.”

“Wow. That shockwave really did blow up in the Outsider’s face.” Pinkie comments.

“I agree.” Fluttershy admits, “And now all that’s left is for Rainbow to tell her story.”

“Indeed she should, sugarcube.” Applejack admits, “So Rainbow, how did you get your cutie mark?”

“You want to know A.J? Well, you’re going to be impressed.”

“I’ll be the judge of that.”

“If you insist. So the story began with the race that Pinkie mention. During that race, two ponies tried to sabotage the race for everypony and knocked out most of the other contenders and were focused on me. They tried everything, even tricks I didn’t know were possible, like balls of lightning, string blasts of wind, even slashing at me with their wings, and nothing worked. Eventually, I ended up breaking the sound barrier. Everypony thought the sonic rainboom was a legend, well I ended up rainbooming these jerks out of Cloudsdale, and they haven’t been seen since then. On that day, the day I discovered my love of racing, I prove the legend was true, and kicked a group of dirty saboteurs off of Cloudsdale, on the same day. I made the impossible possible.”

Applejack was speechless. Did Rainbow actually live through that, or is she making it up. After a while, A.J, upon remembering Pinkie mentioning that last part of the story, concludes that she wasn’t making it up, and it did actually happen, and that Rainbow was pretty much the. “Wow. Now I’m actually kinda sad I wasn’t there to see it, Rainbow.” Applejack admits.

“So, I guess that means that we are the new Bringers of Hope?” Rarity asks.

“Sure looks that way.” Twilight agrees.

Just then, the door to the kitchen opens and a chef mare announces “Dinner is served.”

Once everything is on the table, the six mares examines the diverse array of food to choose from. Upon seeing the quesadilla however, Twilight suddenly screams… and runs… out of the room.

“Twilight, are you okay?” Rainbow asks, looking rather confused along with her friends at Twilight’s seemingly contextless reaction to a quesadilla. Even Applejack was slightly befuddled.

“Get that thing away from me!” Twilight pleas, staring through a small gap in the door, as if hiding from a horrific beast and waiting to see if it was gone.

Rainbow looks at the quesadilla, the back at Twilight. “This?” Rainbow asks, pointing to the quesadilla.

“Yes. That. Don’t let it touch me!”

“Why? Are you seriously saying you’re afraid of quesadillas?”

Twilight then realises that she’s kinda proving Rainbow’s point by hiding herself, and so she re-enters the dining room, with all her friends looking at her in confusion. “No, I’m not.” she stammers, before whispering out “They’re just so…” she shudders, “cheesy…”

Rainbow however, wasn’t falling for it, “If that’s the case, then why did you scream and flee the dining room like a little filly.”

“I… um… well…” Twilight stammers, struggling to form an explanation that wouldn’t sound so immature.

Rainbow sighs. “Twilight, maybe it would be better that you only share it with me.” she suggests, hoping Twilight would agree.

Twilight nods and she and Rainbow leave the dining room in silence, with Rainbow slowly closing the door behind her.

“So, why did you react so scared there?

Twilight sighs “Please don’t mock me for this, but seeing quesadilla brings back bad memories. I’m always afraid of getting it in my mane.”

“What… why?”

“Before I even met A.J, I had a day at school where a food fight began, and one of the students accidentally got the cheese of their quesadilla in my mane and…”

“And it was soon stuck in your mane and—“

“Had to be trimmed. For three months, my mane was uneven. And every time I see a quesadilla, it’s like my mind imprinted how much I was laughed at for those past—“ Twilight explains with a sniffle.

“Don’t worry, Twilight.” Rainbow interrupts, “If you want, your secret is safe with me.”

“Thank you, Rainbow.”

The two friends re-enter the room too see the other four mares staring at them.

“So… why is Twilight so scared of quesadillas?” Applejack asks.

Twilight and Rainbow look at each other, then back A.J. “We’ll explain later.” Twilight answers.

“I’m sure you will.” Applejack replies.

After dinner, and a rather awkward moment where they argued about why quesadillas is NOT an irrational fear (which, you can imagine how that went), the group were getting ready to retire for the night, in the castle, but then a guard arrives in Rarity’s chamber.

“Your Highness!” the guard calls out, waking Rarity up.

“Huh. Wha… what is it?” Rarity asks.

“It’s your drawers,Your Highness. Several of your gems have been stolen.”

“What? How? And… why?”

Author's Note

Didn’t expect this one to come out today, did you? I originally uploaded this a few hours earlier, but decided that I really should improve it first. I felt that I should work on improving the ending a little more, rather than just end it with Twilight’s fear of quesadillas, I decided to end it on a sort of cliffhanger. However, don’t expect chapter 3 to be uploaded tomorrow, I already had most of chapter 2 done when I was working on what would be chapter 1.

I initially didn’t intend to include part of the story from Applejack’s and Pinkie Pie’s perspective. On top of that, I was originally planning for Fluttershy to appear in Twilight and Rainbow’s story alongside Rarity, but when I realised it made little sense for Applejack and Pinkie Pie to just leave Twilight and Rainbow to go somewhere they know little about, so I decided to give them their own side of the story, which I felt I was able make feel more important to the story because it was before I had written up how they would all come together. It was also then that felt it would be more fitting for them to meet Fluttershy before Twilight and Rainbow, who would meet only Rarity.

I hope you’re okay with the ages I gave each of the Mane 6.

I skipped Pinkie telling her backstory to the Mane 6 because it would just be her saying what she already told Applejack.