Author's Note

Note this and the next part were supposed to be one chapter.

I biffed it a bit and over estimated the amount of story to be told.

SO it's split into two parts, just like the show would do.

Enjoy~!

Chapter 1: The Map of Harmony - Part 1

A series of violent convulsions abruptly shatter Twilight's peaceful slumber. Her body and horn flicker with a faint, erratic magic as she battles an unseen force in her dreams. With a sudden surge of adrenaline, she jolts awake, her head colliding with the baseboard of her bed. Her disguise spell had worn off in her sleep, leaving her in a form too large for her tiny bed.

"Ponyfeathers," Twilight says as she looks at the baseboard, which has been scratched and broken by her horn as she tossed and turned in her sleep. The headbutt caused the already damaged object to fall apart entirely, the pieces that her horn carved out clunking to the floor with loud, piercing rings from contact with the crystal. Twilight stares at the pieces with a squinted look before facehoofing. "Nope. Just. Deal with it later."

Twilight exits her room after cleaning up the discarded pieces of wood, entering her nearby bathroom to freshen up a little. After tossing some water in her face and drying it off, her eyes meet with her reflection's gaze. Taking a deep breath and with a small burst of magic, Twilight's larger form disappears, replaced with her smaller alicorn form yet again. Clearing her throat, Twilight tilts her head side to side, each bob accompanied by a smile. "Mm. Too wide." She mumbles out as she cycles through different smiles and pitches of voice.

Twilight spends around half an hour speaking to herself in the mirror, a ritual she got in the habit of doing when she was queen. Yet this time, it wasn't because she was publicly speaking or preparing to meet with other world leaders. This time, she aimed to look warm and friendly like she used to be, something she hadn't really thought about in several years. A small photo of her and the other element bearers rests on the mirror, nostalgia, and longing for her past self, making her give a half-cocked, comfortable smile. It'd be best just to let it come naturally. Does she need to practice her smile just for a meeting with her friends?

Twilight contemplates this momentarily, a knock on her bathroom door derailing her train of thought. "Twilight, you still in there? Sunset and the others are waiting for you in the big main room!" Spike says while he's worried about Twilight, he isn't going to bring it up over and over again. Twilight's new routine was odd, especially compared to her old one, but he takes quite a bit of time to get ready in the morning himself, so he has no right to complain. After all, scales are pretty tricky to clean properly!

Twilight blinks as she opens the door. "Wait wha? I thought they were coming at noon!" She quickly says as she rushes out of the bathroom. Spike watches Twilight as she cleans up the room with a flash of magic.

"It is noon," Spike sighs as he watches Twilight finally leave the room. "Didn't your alarm clock go off?"

Twilight tilts her head quietly as she looks up to the ceiling. "Not. Sure honestly. I didn't see it on my end table when I woke up. It's probably outside in the dirt. Or in Canterlot." She shrugs, curious about where her absurd strength could have thrown the alarm clock. Hopefully, it didn't hit anything important, like someone's house or cart.

Before entering the room, Twilight takes a deep breath. With a swift push on the door with her hoof, she puts on the most natural smile she can muster. "Sorry I'm late, I overslept," Twilight says as her eyes meet her friend's faces. Just for a moment, she thought she saw her friends from the past, but Twilight shook the cobwebs loose before she could get nostalgic.

"No problem, Twilight, I just got here myself," Sunset says with an awkward smile, standing up from a little fold-out chair she brought from the other world. "We were just talking about how we need a table here. It's kinda empty."

The other girls nod and murmur to each other. Rarity chimed in. "Oh, I have a lovely wooden table that we can put right in the center of the room. Granted, it would only fit some of the decor... Hm... Perhaps the Crystal Empire has some paint or varnish to make it shiny?"

Twilight giggles a little and looks towards the center of the room with a squint. "Hm." While the others are speaking about tables to put in the room, Twilight pokes at the indent in the ground, peeking down at it and searching around the area quietly. Spike tilts his head as he looks towards the floor and sees the little gap.

"This part... looks like it raises up," he says toward the group and Twilight before taking his seat, Twilight still wandering around the room and tapping her chin with her hoof.

"Mhm. Although I don't see any way to raise it up. Eh, oh well. A table will do." She says as she sits down on her throne chair thingy.

Suddenly, a loud noise rings out as the magic from the tree finally activates. Twilight's body gets a chill as she recognizes the feel of the sudden burst of magic. That ice-cold, almost analytical magic that believes in nothing but peace in its most perfect form. Yet, it felt... warmer than the last time she felt it. An almost relaxing, warm feeling washes over her, suppressing her growing panic attack as if she were being calmed. Beams of light spring out from the thrones, the beams of light shining up and into the crystal above. A large burst of magic shoots down onto the floor, which shifts as the castle's map and table rise from its resting point in the ground. The beams then redirect, returning to the chairs that they came from. The castle gently shakes as it settles, the map activating and showing each element bearer's cutiemarks floating above a small town in the middle of nowhere. Twilight's mark seems... different, though, as the floating mark is split in two, half showing Twilight's cutie mark and the other half showing Sunset's as it spins above the location.

"I didn't even know there was anything out there," Twilight says as she tilts her head and looks over the map. "This is a really accurate map of Equestria, too. Look, there's even a little Celestia and Luna in Canterlot Castle." She says as she peeks into the castle window. The little Celestia perks up and pouts at the sky before she poofs from the little hologram. Twilight let out a tiny smirk. "Well. I guess we know what we're doing today."

"Hold up, are we just gonna go follow a map that appeared out of the ground like that? It could be a trap, ya know. Who knows what we'll find out there!" Rainbow Dash says after a minute. "At the very least, we must be a bit prepared."

"The map is clearly magical, Rainbow Dash. Besides, if some ponies need our help, we should help them." Twilight mumbles. "Course, that does mean we'll have to put off the little tour of Ponyville Sunset. Is that alright with you?" Twilight says as she continues to observe the map, taking in all the little minute changes. A mountain here, a river there.

"I don't mind. Besides, not every day that you get to go on a magical quest given to you by a magical map that came out of the floor of a magical castle, ya know." Sunset then stands up and stretches a little bit. "When do you think we'll be heading out? An hour?"

Twilight and the others look at each other. "Honestly, an hour sounds fine. Usually, we head out when these things pop up, but." She tilts her head a little. "Why did we used to rush out to handle stuff like this before?"

Applejack sits back and thinks for a moment. "Ah, suppose it was because most of the issues were pretty on our faces. Waitin wasn't really an option. But this doesn't look like something we need to rush to. We'd need to take the train to get there, so we'll need to check the schedule." She says after a moment. Spike nodding

"I'll go check the train schedule, I'd go with it, but I still have a lot of stuff to do in the castle, so the rest of it is... liveable. There are a lot of things that fell through the cracks, even with us looking after the castle while Twilight was missing. Some of the upstairs rooms are pretty bad." He says with a nod. "You all being out actually helps with that. I can focus on cleaning up and fixing things."

Twilight smiles and gives Spike a hug. "Hey, you're part of this group too. Don't exclude yourself on our behalf." She says loudly before reducing to a whispering voice. "Besides, I could use your help if anything happens, Spike. Having Celestia and Luna one letter away would be beneficial if things go wrong."

Spike is taken slightly aback, mostly because he had hardly been invited to adventures for quite a while now. "Sure. I mean. I'm not gonna say no to that!" He says excitedly. "Guess I'm going! Let's all have some fun and do whatever we need to." Spike grins, laughing a little. "I'm gonna go get our train tickets and stuff."

The group watches Spike leave, Sunset tilting her head curiously. "Are you sure you want to bring Spike along?" Twilight nods.

"I want to enjoy myself with every creature, including Spike. A little quest isn't gonna get in the way of that!" Twilight says with a laugh. "I'll pack some snacks for the trip, too, Pinkie. I can make a mean sandwich now." Twilight says proudly. Her sandwiches were legendary in the past, and with the full line of ingredients in modern times, they're probably gonna be even better!

Pinkie nods quickly. "Okely, dokelie! I'll bring some cupcakes and other sweets then~! Who knows, maybe the quest can be fixed by filling up some bellies!" She smiles, and the group chatters a little before they disperse to prepare for an adventure!

Twilight meets the group at the train station, where the train waits for its royal passenger. Twilight isn't even late, yet the conductor is set to go when she arrives. Spike waves to Twilight, the last to arrive, although she hardly packed anything worth noting besides a few sandwiches. "Everypony got here way earlier than I thought. I guess the train came in early?"

Sunset nods. "Yep, so the conductor is taking a break and having the carriage we're gonna be riding in cleaned up. Said he didn't want a princess to ride in an unclean carriage." She says with a giggle. "You got a ton of fans, don't you, Twilight?"

Twilight turns a little red in response. Twilight only thought of her title once she was queen. Now, being called a princess makes her feel... strange? A good kind of strange, though, as she had none of the big responsibilities of running Equestria. "It's very nice of the conductor to clean up the train in his spare time. At least he isn't using his well-earned break to do it. Otherwise, then we'd have an issue." Twilight giggles a little, thinking back to her never-ending nights of work and times when she would skip her break to work more. "More healthy, too."

The group is greeted by the train conductor opening the door. "All heading to middle o' nowhere station! We're set for ya!" He says excitedly. He hasn't seen the element bearers use the train in ages, so this is both nostalgic for the aging pony and generally a happy day for him! The group giggles a little, Spike being the first to hop on and Sunset taking up the rear. Everyone gets settled down on the freshly cleaned and steamed train, the seats feeling soft, and the smell of clean linen is in the air. Everypony sits down in their groups, Sunset and Spike joining Twilight, Rarity and Fluttershy in the larger booth while Rainbow Dash, Applejack and Pinkie all play cards in the adjacent tabled seats. The ride is a three-hour ordeal, so they all get settled to pass the time.

Twilight stretches as she wanders the train. There was only around half an hour left on their trip, but her legs were getting cramped from sitting constantly. She liked to be more active than that.

This ended up being a mistake. Twilight's gaze was met with a sight out the window: the train rolling down the tracks, a small gorge in the distance, and two small hills, one with a single tree atop. Twilight's breathing started to get a little shallow; that day was not that long ago for her. Stumbling back into a seat, she broke her eyes away from sight and closed them. "It's fine. It's fine. I'm fine. It's okay. Calm down. Calm down." She says quickly to herself as flashes of very fresh memories run through her mind.

Twilight's eyes open to the empty field. The soft grass ran underneath her hooves as she looked to the sky. A figure flying above, ready to attack her. No one would be coming this time.

And Twilight lost.

With a jolt of adrenaline, Twilight pulls herself out of her thoughts of what could have been. Gasping and trying to catch any little bit of air she possibly could. The empty cart jostles as the tracks get a little lower in quality. With a quick hoof press to her chest, she instinctively needed to check her heart to see if it was still beating. Pupils dilated and her entire body tense, she finally took in her surroundings. She didn't know how long she was spiraling. Honestly, she didn't care at the moment. She was just glad to be out of her own head at this point.

But it didn't stop, unbidden tears flowing from her eyes. "Faust, dammit. You loyal fool." She says quietly to herself as she gently lets out a dry chuckle.

After a few more moments, Twilight stands up and wanders to the nearby washroom on the train. Her movements are akin to those of a tired zombie, or worse, just a regular zombie. "That... That was a light one." She says to herself in the mirror. "Just gotta keep busy. Don't think about it. Deal with it later." Twilight's mumbles are the only noise coming from the room as she re-adjusts her mane and splashes water in her face, trying to get back some semblance of life in her eyes.

It barely works. "It's fine. As long as nothing else sets me off, I should be able to avoid any meltdowns. Right? Yeah, Right..." She then deadpans as she rolls her eyes at her reflection. "Is my entire family cursed with the need to talk to themselves when stressed or alone? Ugh." She exits the washroom, returning to her friends to sit and relax. The group was a little curious about where she went, but her explanation of exploring the train again was an acceptable enough reason.

The group arrives at the quaint and quiet little station. They hop down from the train and look towards the nearby mountain they have to circumnavigate to reach their destination. Twilight smiles, "I got this." She then, with a whip of her horn, teleports the group right to the other side of the mountain. "A simple calculated teleportation spell always does the trick." Twilight proudly says. "Granted we still have to walk the rest of the w-wayyyyy WHA?!"

The rest of the group is similarly surprised as they are greeted by a sprawling metropolitan city. Every house is uniform and straight lines through and through. Each pair of house lines is topped off with a single house at the end. Various equally high skyscrapers and identical town halls are littered throughout the city. The cloud layer prevents the group from seeing the ground area. But each 'house' is clearly less of a house and more of an apartment block. Each line of buildings has exactly 5 apartment buildings. Each building has exactly 100 rooms. It's a symmetrical paradise.

Sunset coughs and breaks the tension. "Uh. I take it that this isn't normal? Metropolitan cities are standard in the other world. But yeesh, this one gives off an awful feeling, honestly."

Pinkie twitches and is the first to bolt down the mountainside. "Come on! We have to see what's going on!"

The rest of the group follows suit, Twilight's brow furrowing a little. "It can't be." She mumbles to herself.

As the group finds themselves just out of the town, they can finally see into it. It's a sprawling city with hundreds, if not thousands, of ponies. Each pony seems to have a wide, almost frightening smile, all with uniform manes and clothing. The females wear grey suits and skirts while the males wear black suits and ties. Each one marched to the beat of the other's hoof steps.

Each with an equal sign in place of their cutie marks.

"No," Twilight says as she sees the horrible sight before her. Breaking the silence. "No... No. No."

The rest of the group turns to their friend. Twilight's eyes dilated, and her breathing speeds up dramatically. Fluttershy immediately knows what's happening. "No. It can't. That's impossible. That's not possible."

Fluttershy speaks up quickly. "Rarity! Pillow!"

Rarity blinks. "Fluttershy, I don't just carry around a pillow with me at all times." She says as she digs through her bag. "But I did this time for the train ride." She then gives Fluttershy the pillow, quickly catching Twilight's head with it. The alicorn collapsed into a heap of nerves and stress.

"No... NO! Make it go away! I never want to see that again! I buried it. I BURIED IT!" Twilight yells out. Her friends are trying to help her get a grip on herself, but aside from Fluttershy, Rarity, and Sunset, the others don't know how to react. Spike helps by grabbing some water from Twilight's bag before joining in and trying to talk Twilight down.

Almost half an hour later, Twilight finally passed out from her meltdown. The group had moved her to a nearby cave system, Rarity laying Twilight on her emergency fainting couch. Rarity sighs a little. "Well, she's out finally. Although a meltdown that large typically means she won't be waking up. Nor will she be having any good dreams either." She sighs a little. "Someone should stay with her. Preferably one that can actually manage panic attacks." She taps her chin a little.

Spike raises his claw. "I'll stay with her. That was the worst panic attack I've ever seen her have, but she's still Twilight. I should be able to reign in any more of them as they come. That one just... Really caught me off guard."

Fluttershy continues to look Twilight over. "She'll probably be sleeping for a few hours. I haven't seen stress that bad since Mr. Fox couldn't find food for Mrs. Fox."

"What was that all about anyways?! She saw the ponies and instantly flipped! Twilight's usually way more level-headed than that." Rainbow says after a minute. Tapping her hoof a little. "Buried it? Buried what? This doesn't make any sense!"

Applejack chimes in. "Ah'm not the best one to say much about this, considerin that the way I deal with stress is just workin harder. But have yall been gettin the feelin that Twilight's been... ah dunno. Hidin somethins from us?"

The group murmurs a little and nods after a moment. "That's what ah thought. I don't want ta intrude on her stuff, but now ahm worried about her. Like real worried."

Sunset taps her chin. "She probably has a reason for not saying anything yet. Although if she does pass out again, we should all talk with her about it."

After a moment of mumbling, Applejack nods. "Ah, agree. Secrets are fine as long as they don't affect yer friends. Everyon has some. Just as long as she don't be lyin about them no more. She needs ta talk to us when these things might happn."

Fluttershy nods. "But we should give her a chance to say it first. I-I think. That's what I'd do, at least."

Sunset thinks for a moment. "Well. We still have a job to do here. The faster we get done, the quicker we can take Twilight back to Ponyville. The train only stops at." Suddenly, her face gets dark, and thunder roars behind her. "The end of the line!..." her face returns to normal afterward. "...Twice a day, so we need to try and get through this to make it before it leaves for the second time."

Spike nods and raises his claw. "I'll stick with Twilight, and if anything goes wrong, I'll send a letter to Celestia. The rest of you go and do your thing. Save lives and make things right. Just like superheroes!" He says with a grin, trying to get the group hyped up.

The ponies nod and put their hooves together. "Lets. Do. This." They say together... but they wait. Looking over to Sunset. "Come on! You're part of the group, too, Sunset. Get in on this!" Rainbow Dash says with a grin. The orange pony blinked in surprise and joined in. Holding her hoof awkwardly forward. She's still getting used to standing on three of four limbs for situations like this. "Let's go!" They break with flair before heading out of the cave.