Several forms stood facing each other in a room to dark for any creature but a Diamond Dog to see in. The first speaker, as in all their meetings, greeted the others.
“How is everypony? It has been a long time since I have last seen my sisters.”
“The city of Appleloosa is doing as well as y’all would expect, it’s grown a lot since we were young.” Came the voice of the second speaker.
“The Everfree is calmer then you would think. The worst I’ve seen this decade is an increase in the bunny population from all the new grasslands that are slowly popping up.” The third speaker said. A few quick flaps of Pegasus wings could be heard before another voice made itself known.
“Cloudsdale and the weather factories are working at peak performance, as you would expect.”
“Honestly sister,” came the voice of the fifth speaker. “You never did get over that nasty pride of yours, put your wings away.” Once again the sound of wings could be heard. “Manehatten and Fillydelphia are a bit overcrowded, but nothing I can’t handle.”
“I don’t think there are any problems up north, too much snow for anything but sledding and snow ponies.” Sounded the voice of the sixth, and final speaker.
“Sisters,” the first speaker said, “I’m glad to hear you all are doing well, but I’m afraid my own report is… significantly less positive than what you have told me.”
“Ya never do call us all here for good news do ya?” said the second speaker. “When the letter trickled down to me I knew we’d be in for a mess.”
“Don’t tell me you’re having problems in Canterlot,” said the fifth speaker. “We haven’t seen trouble there since the reign of Celestia.” The room took on a sudden silence. In the dark, time passed unnoticed as its inhabitants listened to the echo of that heavy word inside their heads. “I’m sorry, it has been so long… I had forgotten-”
“Do not apologize sister,” said the first speaker. “Celestia wielded the Elements of Harmony in a troubled time, it is unfortunate that her sister’s betrayal led to the end of her time with us, but when the time came to step down she did what she knew was right. May we make the same decision when our time comes.”
“IF that time comes,” the fourth speaker said, her voice loud and confident. “I doubt any of us would want to hold out against the power the Elements possess. It seems not too long ago we used them to vanquish such mighty foes as Discord and Nightmare Moon.”
“Not long ago to us is not the same as not long ago to the world sister.” Came the third voice. “I have seen generation after generation in Ponyville come and go, as you have seen the same in your own respective cities, sisters, we are not the same young mares that preformed these great feats. You know as well as I do how nearly Discord bested us then, should he return I doubt he would have as much trouble.”
“We may no longer be young, but you have forgotten the changes we have made for the better.” Said the sixth speaker as she lit her horn. “I didn’t have this when he last challenged us. I’d like to see that big meanie stop us with all the time we’ve had to practice-”
“Sisters,” the first speaker’s voice was full of authority as she spoke. Though it was nowhere said she was the head of her co-rulers; her tone was more than enough to draw all attention to her. “Though I’d love to talk further of our past achievements, there is something you must see before anything else can be done. I’m afraid we don’t have much time and what time we do have is quickly going to become useless if we do not act now.”
On the floor in the center of the room was a large flat disk that sparked to life as the first speaker finished. Gathering around the circle, the sisters gazed at an image of Canterlot’s sprawling University of Magic.
“What’s this thing?” The second speaker asked as she looked in wonder at the display before her.
“A recent addition to the palace. This portal allows me to view any moment of the past in any place I desire. It still cannot display the future, but I suspect that will not be a limitation for long. What you are looking at now is the University as it appeared last week, the day I sent you your invitations to join me here.”
“That’s nice, but if you wanted us to see your school why didn’t you just send this picture to us?” The sixth speaker said, confused.
“Keep looking, and I’ll show you.” As the ponies watched, the picture before them slowly began to change. The sun started to make its way across the sky, and ponies that previously stood still began to move. The still picture had turned into a moving image of that day, slowly showing its progression. After a moment, a monstrous explosion ripped through the top of the University, causing everypony present (excluding the first speaker) to jump. A huge hole was left in the ceiling, and arcs of pink magical energy flickered in and out of being.
“What was that!” said the sixth speaker. The picture zoomed in on the hole, as a small pink filly with a light orange mane lay shivering on the floor of what looked to be an auditorium. The unmoving forms of several ponies lay against the walls, their manes and clothes singed.
“THAT, was a young filly discovering her potential.” Said the first speaker. “She has an amazing magical prowess, stronger than I’ve ever seen, possibly even stronger than my own. I have taken her as my personal apprentice; she will need much instruction if she is to win against what is to come.”
“What exactly is to come?” Said the third speaker.
“I do not know, but I suspect if I find out what it is, it will be the last thing I ever do.”
“Sister you speak nonsense,” The fifth speaker said, her voice full of worry. “We have seen ten thousand years go by in Equestria, what makes you think we will not live through whatever threat you fear the future holds?”
“As you have said my sisters.” The first speaker responded, “we are not the same young mares we were before. When Celestia handed her power to us, when the Elements chose us as their avatars, we were only given these gifts on loan.” A long pause dominated the now dimly lit room, as none of the others wished to give voice to what the first speaker had suggested. After a moment that lasted far shorter then it felt, the first speaker spoke again. “I believe this young filly is the next Element of Magic. We are then, working on borrowed time.”
“Are you sure, is there nothing else this could mean?” Said the fourth speaker.
“I assure you, if there was anything else this could be I would not have called you all here. Even now I hope I am wrong when I tell you this, but I know I am not. Celestia found me when I was just older than my new student, if we are given triple the time she had to find the other avatars I fear we would still fail in our task. As it stands however, we must devote all our efforts to discovering their new identities.”
“How long do you think we have?” the third speaker asked.
“I cannot say. All I know is the longer we wait to find them, the weaker we will become. You all remember how Celestia looked in her final days.” The room was briefly silent again.
“And where do y’all think we should be looking for these new avatars?” The second speaker said.
“I cannot tell you where to look, but I can tell you how you will know when you found them.” A crown once bearing a purple star gem floated to the center of the room surrounded by a magical purple aura. Where the gem once resided, there was now only empty space. “This was what I came upon when I checked the Elements in their chamber. I suspect it has relocated itself to the Everfree where we found it, though I can not be sure.”
“Then there is no doubt about it, all we can do now is find the others and wait.” The fifth speaker said.
“We do not have the luxury of waiting, we must prepare to help the new Elements in any way we can.” Said the fourth speaker.
The sixth speaker looked at the shivering form in the picture. “She’s only a filly,” she said.
“So were we.” The first speaker replied, and there was silence.
6 months later
“How many would that make?” The fourth speaker asked. Her voice lacked its usual arrogant tone as she sat sternly on the cloud throne of her castle in the sky. In reality, the building itself resembled a rundown factory more than it did a castle. However, the name had been given to it long ago by a friend she dearly cared about and so the fourth speaker loathed to change it, despite its inaccuracy.
“Three princess, should the workers decide to fulfil their threats, it will be the third strike this year.” The fourth speaker sat back in her throne. Had her sister said nothing of the Elements, had she not known the true state of Equestria, perhaps this inconvenience could simply be allowed to work itself out. But the fourth speaker found her energy drained from the endless days she had spent searching, combing over every Pegasus in Cloudsdale, and she simply had nothing left to properly administer the city. She quickly racked her brain for some sort of lie she could tell the workers for now, at least until she had no choice but to deal with them.
“Tell them to send me their demands and I’ll look them over. If they want me to come down there and read them they’re fooling themselves. Say I’ll only listen if in the meantime they keep the factory going, we can’t afford to go without rain for another week.” The messenger Pegasus who had delivered this news bowed and then quickly rushed out of the room.
The fourth speaker breathed a heavy sigh. In the short months after it was revealed the next Element of Magic had been discovered, things had taken a turn for the worse in every conceivable way. The fourth speaker’s return to her home city, which was usually met with celebration, was instead greeted with news that the Weather Factory had ground to a halt. Not a single snowflake had been made in the time she had been gone.
Never, in her ten thousand year reign, had the Weather Factory so completely put on hold all production. Had her sister in Canterlot failed to convince her of the dire need to find the other Elements, this alone would have been enough. But every day now it seemed there was a new problem to deal with and the search for her own replacement was going nowhere. The fourth speaker drove her hoof down onto the arm of her seat, punching right through the cloud in frustration. What could she possibly do but buy herself time and keep looking? She couldn’t expect the filly she was searching for to burst into her room and announce she was the next Element of-”
Before the fourth speaker could finish her thought, a loud bang was heard on the door to her throne room. (Or the equivalent of a bang for a door made of cloud). The fourth speaker cast a curious glance at the doorway. Usually the guards would enter directly after knocking, but several seconds of silence past and nopony came to explain what that noise had meant. Another noise found its way to the speaker’s ears, this time a muffled cry that just barely filtered through the cracks between the clouds.
Carefully, the fourth speaker stood and walked to the door. As she drew near to it she began to hear the sounds of her guards grunting mixed with small high pitched yells. Occasionally something would hit the door causing the noise she had originally heard to echo through the room. Her curiosity peaked; the fourth speaker took the door handle in her magical aura and slowly opened it toward herself.
What she saw in the passageway outside was her guards wrestling on the floor with a young foal as they struggled to detain him. Pegasus guards may not be the best with their hooves in the Equestrian Army, but even they should be able to stop a minor. The fourth speaker stood idly for a moment as the foal somehow managed to wiggle his way out of every lock they put him in, until she decided to give her guards a little assistance.
Capturing the foal’s form in her magic and lifting him above her guards, who took a moment to realize what was happening, the fourth speaker waited for them to stand before she spoke.
“What’s going on out here? Who is this?” The fourth speaker looked at the young foal as he wiggled about, constantly trying to escape the bubble of magic he was being held in. He was an exceptionally young Pegasus with a coat that was a very dark shade of green with a golden mane that now lay mattered atop his head. The two guards looked at each other before one took a step forward.
“He’s my son princess. We…we were just—”
“Spit it out.” Of the many, MANY things that had come to annoy the fourth speaker as of late, the timid nature of her guards when addressing her was near the top of the list.
“Princess, my son wanted to speak with you and I was instructing him not to do so.” The guard looked pleadingly up at the fourth speaker, meeting her harsh gaze with a worried look.
“Dad, we need to get out of here, help me!” The foal said as he flapped his wings pitifully. “She’s lying!” The princess turned to the pony she had suspended above his father’s head and stepped closer to him.
“I haven’t said anything to your father that could be a lie, what are you talking about?”
“You lied to the messenger! You’re not going to fix anything!” The foal had stopped his squirming and now was focused on aligning himself with the ground, a rather difficult task when held in another’s magical grasp. Something about him held the fourth speaker’s attention, his gaze looked so sure, like there was no way he could be wrong.
“Guard, was this foal listening to my conversation with the messenger?” the princess asked, never taking her eyes off the foal.
“Yes princess.” The guard’s response was uncertain and nervous.
“And you allowed your son to listen in to a matter of royal importance?”
“Yes princess.” This time the guard put a slight pause before the word princess. As the fourth speaker looked into the eyes of the young pony she was overcome with curiosity.
“Then it seems your son has heard sensitive information. I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to detain him for interrogation.” The guard stepped in front of the fourth speaker to get her attention.
“But princess, he’s only a child! I’m sure if you just give him to me I could…” The princess cut him off there with a shake of her head. There was something very strange about this foal, and the fourth speaker was determined to find out what.
* * *
The foal had been placed in a small room with the ceiling, floor, and all four walls painted the same shade of light blue. There was nothing in the room but the lighting fixture on the ceiling and two chairs that sat facing each other in the center. The foal had gotten incredibly bored despite the fact that he had only been there for a few minutes. However when the princess entered the room (having to duck through the door) he straightened his back and narrowed his eyes at her.
“That was really mean, what you did to my dad, making him bring me here.” Unlike his father the foal didn’t seem nervous at all.
“I don’t think it was that bad, your father knows I could have been much harsher on you than I was.”
“You say that, but what you’re already doing is pretty harsh.” The foal’s eyes held the fourth speaker captive, his accusation was relatively light but the way he looked at her made it carry a weight far beyond what it should.
“What makes you say that, do you know the punishment for stealing royal secrets?”
“We don’t have one, the princesses sort out punishments based on the situation.” In truth the young colt was right, but the fourth speaker wanted to give him a little scare.
“For what you have done I could easily have you moved to Canterlot and put into the Equestrian guard. If you already know our secrets you might as well guard them.” The princess expected the foal to change his tune after that remark, but his expression and resolve only strengthened.
“That’s a lie, you don’t have the power to do that.” The princess was about to speak, but stalled as she processed what the foal had just said.
“What? You don’t think I have the power? Do you know who you’re talking to?”
“Yes, I know who you are, but I also know you’re lying to me.” The room was silent for a minute as the fourth speaker stood staring at the colt.
“You realize this is the second time you have accused me of lying.”
“And the second time you have done it.”
“What makes you so sure that I’m lying to you?” The colt opened his mouth to respond, but quickly closed it again. After another moment of silence he looked away from her at the chair in front of him.
“I just know you are.” The fourth speaker approached the chair and sat down, she still towered over the foal’s small form, but the difference was now much more apparent as she was a considerable distance closer.
“Why were you listening to what I said to the messenger, and why did you come here today?”
“My mom works at the weather factory, I wanted to know if you were going to help her. Dad said I could come with him to listen to the messenger tell you about the strike but he wouldn’t let me talk to you.” The foal looked up into the princess’s eyes. “You’re not going to help them at all.”
“Now there's no way you can know that. I’m going to do everything I can to—”
“You’re not going to read their demands. You said if they sent you a list of what they wanted you’d read it over but you’re not going to. You just want them to get back to work.” The foal’s expression had turned to one of anger as he narrowed his eyes at the fourth speaker. “You don’t really care about them.” That comment struck the fourth speaker hard. One of the things she regretted most about devoting her energy to the search was how neglectful she had been of her home city and its citizens.
“Yes I do! What gives you the right to—”
“Wait!” The foal said, his eyes shooting wide open. “Say that again.”
“Of course I care about the workers.” The fourth speaker didn’t know why she was allowing herself to be put on the defensive, but the way this foal had spoken to her before, so sure of himself, and the way he said she didn’t care about the ponies under her rule. She wanted to tell him he was wrong on this one. “ I just don’t have the energy to look at them right now.” The foal stared up at her for a second before responding.
“I don’t understand, my mother told me you haven’t done anything for Cloudsdale for months, how can you be out of energy?” That was a question the fourth speaker had no intention of answering.
“A special project, and it’s taking a lot of time to do.”
“What type of project?”
“This isn’t about me!” The fourth speaker almost shouted, before realizing she was after all only talking to a foal. “We’re here to talk about you.” The foal perked up again.
“That’s another lie.” The foal’s expression changed again, this time to confusion. “But that’s even more confusing, why did you bring me here if it wasn’t to find out what I knew? That’s what you told my father isn’t it?” The fourth speaker had gotten slightly fed up with this foal calling her a liar, and would have yelled at him if she hadn’t caught herself. She hadn’t really even been lying to him had she? She DID intend to deal with the workers and she DID call him here to ask him about why he was listening in…at least that’s what she was telling herself was the truth.
“What makes you so sure I’m lying to you?”
“Because you are.”
“There’s no way you could just know when I’m going to lie.”
“I don’t know when your going to lie, I only know you lied when you do.”
“And how are you able to do that?”
“I can’t tell you that.”
“Why not?” The foal was silent for a moment.
“Because I just can’t”
“There must be some explanation for how you’re able to do that. Are you able to tell every time somepony lies to you?”
“Yes but it’s not just to me, I can tell when somepony lies to anypony.”
“You seem pretty confident in yourself.”
“Well one hundred percent accuracy makes one confident.”
“Alright there's no way you can be right all the time.”
“Well I’ve never been wrong about it before.”
“HOW! How is that possible?” This time the fourth speaker did shout.
“I can’t tell you.” The fourth speaker let out a yell of frustration and stormed out the door of the room slamming it behind her. As she let herself cool down, she slowly became aware of the stallion beside her. When she turned to look at him she realized it was the colts father.
“Is…is there something wrong princess. I know my son can be hard to talk to but-”
“It’s fine, I just don’t understand how he’s able to tell when I’m telling the truth. You’re his father, is he really able to do that with everypony?” The stallion became even more uneasy with that question.
“Yes…his mother and I try to keep him from talking about it, but he has this kind of gift. Whenever somepony is telling anything but the complete truth he’s able to tell somehow. We don’t know where it came from.” The fourth speaker turned to the door the foal was behind and then back to the foal’s father. An idea was starting to form itself in her head but there was no way he was what she was thinking he was.
“How long have you known about this gift?”
“Over half a year now, why?” The princess didn’t say anything back, but stood processing that for a moment. Was it really possible? Twilight didn’t say she would have to find her own replacement. Could this foal really be…? Without any further acknowledgment to the guard the fourth speaker reentered the room with the foal.
“How old are you?” The foal jumped with surprise as the fourth speaker returned and flung this question at him.
“I’m thirteen.” The foal tried to straighten himself but when he saw the princess’s worried face he spoke again. “Why…why do you ask?” The fourth speaker didn’t say anything for a long while; she just stared down at the colt who shifted uncomfortably in his chair. Six months had passed since her sister had said anything about it, but this foal did look very young for what the fourth speaker had in mind.
“Because…I am ten thousand thirteen.”
“That’s a rather long time to rule Equestria.” The foal said. It was clear he wanted desperately to get out from under the princess’s gaze but his nervous conversation was only making it harder for the princess to think.
“Maybe, but I haven’t ruled Equestria for all of it.”
“When did you start then?” The foal was still very uncomfortable under the princess’s gaze, but his question sounded slightly intrigued as to the answer.
“A very long time ago, but right now I-”
“Were you always called princess?” The fourth speaker hesitated for a moment. It had been a very long time since she had heard her real name. So long in fact, that if she did not remind herself what it was almost daily she would have forgotten it by now. A wave of remorse washed over her as she realized what this meant for the young foal before her, if indeed he was who she thought he was. There is so much he will see happen, and so much he will wish he never saw.
“No, not always.”
“Then what were you called before?”
“You sure have a lot of questions all of the sudden.” The fourth speaker intended that to be slightly stronger then it came out, but the weight she thought would be lifted from her shoulders only had another added to it.
“Well I don’t know what else to say, you just barged in here asking me how old I was and then started staring at me.”
“Right, I did didn’t I. You’ll have to excuse me for that, I have a lot on my mind right now. I just have one more question for you, and then you can go. Do you have any friends, like any really good friends?” The foal thought it over with a puzzled expression.
“No, nopony worth mentioning.”
“Alright, I’m going to go talk to your father, just stay here for a minute ok?”
“Ok.” The fourth speaker turned to leave, but as she was opening the door she said one final comment to the foal over her shoulder.
“It’s a real shame, everypony should have good friends.” When the fourth speaker was out of the room she softly shut the door behind herself and turned to the guard.
“What is your sons name?” The fourth speaker addressed the guard in a gentle tone this time, but her face was contorted into a look of sadness.
“True Heart.” The guard noticed the princess’s expression and took on one showing even more concern. “Is there something wrong princess.”
“Nothing that you should be concerned with, but with your permission I’d like to take your son on a trip with me. There is something in Canterlot I would like to show him.”
3 weeks later
True Heart and the fourth speaker left Canterlot Castle after a very revealing visit. The first speaker stood on a balcony overlooking them as they headed out to look at the city.
“Did you know that your sister was coming to visit you?” Said a small voice from the room that connected the balcony to the rest of the castle.
“No I didn’t, but I’m very glad she did.”
“It must be hard for you, being away from your sisters all the time. I miss my family a lot sometimes, and I can go see them whenever I want.” The first speaker turned to the little pink filly that stood in the doorway to the balcony.
“I do miss my sisters, but they have their own lives to live and their own parts of Equestria to rule. I get by on their letters and occasional visits.” The filly laughed at the princess’s comment.
“I’m sorry princess, but their last visit was months ago, and the one before that had an even larger gap. How can you call that occasional?” The first speaker thought the question over for a second.
“I suppose when you’ve lived as long as I have, occasional can mean a much longer period of time.” The filly walked onto the balcony and looked out at the city below.
“Has Canterlot changed much since you first ruled?”
“A little, ponies come and go, I’ve seen houses and businesses change hooves many times. The basic use of everything has stayed the same though, the market square has always been where it is now, the residential district has nearly all the same buildings it did when I was young, and i’ve taken great pains to preserve the castle in its original form. So what you see here has always looked the way it does now for the most part.”
“Always? Did you build this castle?”
“No.”
“Then how can you say it has always been like this if you didn’t build it? Couldn’t the previous owners have changed it?” The first speaker joined the filly in looking over the city.
“That’s exactly what I’m trying to keep, the changes they made. It was they who built this castle to begin with, and when it passed to me I made sure it stayed as close to what they wanted as possible.”
“How did this come to pass to you? Weren’t you always the princess?” The first speaker took in a deep breath. That question went a little too far down a road she wasn’t quite ready to show her student.
“The answer to that question will have to wait for another time, it’s almost time for me to lower the sun and I need to do something before then. Why don’t you go study some more before the light is gone.”
The young filly nodded her head and happily ran back into the castle. The fourth speaker almost smiled at how much the look on the filly’s face resembled the one she would have worn many years ago if asked to do the same thing, but there were other matters to attend to. Hidden in the corner of the balcony was a small pile of golden necklaces, each holding a gem in their center that shown the cutie mark of their previous bearer. The princess brought them to her eye level in her magic aura, and saw that one of them was now missing its gem. Looking closely, she confirmed that it was indeed the element of honesty her sister had found.
“There are only four left, then.” The princess said to herself. “Hopefully the others will show themselves soon.”
