The combined gasp of all those present except Princess Celestia could have made the Weather Team proud. If there had been clouds above them when it happened, Twilight was sure there wouldn’t have been one afterword.
“You’re kidding, right?” Discord said; he was the first to recover from the shock. It was a strange sensation to be so baffled and surprised. As Spirit of Chaos, he generally was incapable of being surprised, but this purple pony had perfected it. This was the second time in two years that she had surprised him. The only other of these little ponies who had was the one sitting next to him, with the sun-yellow coat and the bubblegum-pink hair.
“Nope,” Twilight said with a smile.
“You don’t seriously think that we’re going to send our little sisters off to some unknown land in hopes that they will fetch something that not even one of the most powerful beings can control?” Rarity ranted, second to overcome her shock.
“And I promised Scootaloo that I’d teach her to fly,” Rainbow said. “I can’t do that if she’s in some ‘Chaos Continuum’ thing.”
“There ain’t no way Ah’m sending Applebloom to the end of anything father than the road at the end of Ponyville. Ah have enough problems with her goin’ to see Zecora in the Everfree forest.”
“There has to be another way,” Rarity said. “My parents would kill me if I agreed to something.”
“I can talk to them,” Twilight said.
“Ah don’t see your logic, Twi.” Applejack was confounded. How could she think that her little sister was ready for such an adventure?
“It was those ponies who released me from my stony prison, need I remind you,” Discord said, with an incredulous stare at the leader of the Elements of Harmony. She was seriously considering sending these dysfunctional fillies into the end of his Chaos Continuum.
But to Twilight, they were anything but dysfunctional. They were steeled to the chaos that threatened to tear apart their friendship. They had been through fights and troubles, but through it all, they had never given up on their friendship. She was certain that whatever ‘Discording’ the Fang could throw at them, they would still be friends.
“I am completely sure, Discord. Have a little faith.”
It was finally the CMC’s turn to say something: “Ah appreciate that yer thinkin’ of us, Twilight, but I dun think we could actually do somethin’ like that,” Applebloom voiced her concern.
“Yeah, that and we have school and stuff,” Sweetie Belle said.
“And I need to learn how to fly before I do anything near as cool as that,” Scootaloo said.
“I believe you can,” Twilight said, “and you all know how powerful hope and belief can be.” She nodded her head toward the Crystal Empress sitting with her jaw extended still. “As far as school, I can talk to Cherilee and get you excused. I’m sure the Fate of Equestria is more important than a week of school that you can take anytime. As for your flying, Scootaloo, I happen to know one Pegasus sitting at this table that has made a great life for herself without flying.” Twilight looked at Fluttershy, who gave a sheepish grin then took a sip of tea as her face turned red.
“But I don’t want to take care of animals! I tried that once al—“ Applebloom stuffed her hoof in Scootaloo’s mouth with a bit of force. There was a glower between the two of them before Applebloom spoke again.
“Ah just don’t think we’re ready, Twilight. It’s nothing against ya, but ya know, we are fillies.”
“And I have complete faith in you that you will do well,” Twilight said. “We have a week to get you prepared for anything that you might encounter.”
“Twilight, I must severely decline your wishes,” Rarity said. “It is simply not a prudent decision.”
“I have made my choice, and I am going to stick by it.”
“I’m one for chaos and having fun,” Discord said in a rather disgruntled tone. “But this is a bit ridiculous. Can we please have your real choices for the champions?”
“They are my real choices, Discord.”
The draconequus was speechless. This was something he had no expectation of, and it was something he certainly would have never guessed in a thousand years. What this new princess was implying was that perhaps the three most misguided of all ponies in Equestria were going to go to the end of the Chaos Continuum to retrieve the Left Fang, save Equestria, and be heralded for all time.
“Twilight Sparkle, I know you are the Element of Magic, but what you need is a miracle for this to work.”
“Honestly, Discord, I think this is the best chance we have.”
“I want them ready sooner than the end of the week. I don’t think that they’ll be able to take on the threat that’s tunneling toward my Left Fang head on. We need to get there first.”
“I think I know just the spell, Celestia, if you’d let me perform it.”
With a nod, they walked the whole assembly toward the Canterlot Library. The guards immediately let Celestia into the Star Swirl the Bearded Wing. Twilight immediately knew who to ask.
“Pinkie Pie, I need an age spell.” Within a matter of two minutes, the pink pony disappeared behind the bookcases, then emerged again carrying a scroll, with a spring in her step.
“How did you know where it was?” Princess Celestia asked.
“Well, Twilight and I were here looking for a spell to stop time once!”
“Oh, was that a Tuesday?”
Twilight gave a grimace as she thought about that night that she snuck into the Canterlot Archives.
“Twilight, I’ll have to talk to you about that later.”
“It was already in the letter, Princess.” Twilight rolled her eyes and walked over to Pinkie Pie to collect the spell. As she read it, she knew even more that it was going to work. This would give the Cutie Mark Crusaders the physical capabilities to perform what she was going to teach them. As her horn glowed and the aura flowed around Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle.
“Ah feel strange Twahlight,” Applebloom cried out, as she began growing first to a full mare’s size. Shortly after, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle started growing too.
“This is so unnatural!” Scootaloo said.
“I don’t like this at all!” Sweetie Belle said.
When the aura wore off, there were three fully grown mares where once three fillies stood. Each took a few moments to flex all their muscles, Scootaloo flapped her wings a few times, trying out the lift their full grown implementations would provide, but they only got her a few feet off the air before she grew weary and landed back on her hooves.
“Okay,” Applebloom said before shoving her hoof in her mouth. She was startled by her new voice and how it didn’t squeak. It was a mixture of her innocence and the experience of Applejack’s voice. Her sister gave her a look that was just as incredulous as the one who spoke.
“What happened—“ Sweetie Belle said before startling herself with her voice, which no longer squeaked either, but instead flowed more with the melody of the songs she loved to sing. Her hoof covered her mouth mid-way through her sentence.
Scootaloo looked at the both of them before starting to laugh. “Your voi—“ she interrupted herself as she noticed her voice had matured and smoothed itself out.
“What did you do, Twilight?” Rarity said, rushing up and inspecting her sister. The pink and lavender mane was still the same, her white coat was as healthy as ever, her horn had grown to full size. She seemed to have aged normally in the span of a few seconds.
“I advanced their ages so that they’ll be physically capable to defend Equestria. Don’t worry, the spell isn’t permanent. They’ll turn back to their original selves to discover who they truly are in a week.” This reminded Applebloom: she spun on her heels, trying to get a good look at her flank, only to discover it was still bare. In fact, none of the Cutie Mark Crusaders had their cutie marks.
“We’re all grown up an’ we still don’t have our cutie marks!” Applebloom lamented.
“Because ya didn’t find out what yer talent is, Applebloom,” Applejack said. “Ya just got a little older.” Applejack had her turn inspecting her younger sister. Her red mane was still decorated by the same pink bow, it just didn’t outsize her as much. Applebloom gave a concerned look to her older sister.
“I still can’t fly!” Scootaloo acknowledged.
“You didn’t train up your wing muscles, Scoots,” Rainbow said, checking out her protégé.
“Ah don’t see how this is gonna help us. Now we’re all awkward,” Applebloom said, tripping over her new legs.
“Have some faith, my little ponies,” Princess Celestia said, breaking her silence. “I have complete confidence in Twilight’s choices. The Cutie Mark Crusaders are certainly capable of handling themselves.”
“I knew there was a few screws loose on you, Princess,” Discord said, in utter disbelief, “but I didn’t think you had lost all your good sense.” His retort garnered glares from the princesses, and most of the others present.
“They’re still not ready yet,” Twilight mentioned. “There’s one more spell that I’ve been working on that I think will prepare them.” She looked at Discord. “Could you take us back to the Library?”
“I am not your servant,” Discord refuted.
“Oh, Discord, would you please take us back to Golden Oaks Library?” Fluttershy asked in her soft tone. Discord gave a disappointed look, but he couldn’t ignore a friend’s request. He snapped his fingers and the whole cavalcade was stuffed into the Library. Twilight immediately levitated a book off the table to her, pulled out a quill, some ink, and made one more edit before her horn glowed. Pleased with the results, she opened the door, and everypony filed out.
“So what’s this spell about?” Rainbow asked.
“It’s a memory transfer spell. I was inspired by the spell I used when I rescued you all from Discord’s grasp.”
“So that’s how you got all the Elements of Harmony back,” Discord muttered to himself.
“It was actually inspired from Princess Celestia. She was the one who sent me back all the scrolls about our friendship. So since then, I had been working on a spell that would allow me to transfer memories from ourselves to the next Elements of Harmony, so that they will know everything we know.” Instantly, looks of concern grew on some of their faces.
“Don’t ya think that’s kinda an invasion of our privacy, Twi?”
“I won’t take every memory, just the ones that relate to the task at hand—all about our Elements of Harmony and the skills we put forth to them.” She smiled bright. “So who wants to be first?” She looked at the Cutie Mark Crusaders.
“I think Scootaloo should go first,” Applebloom said, pushing her Pegasus friend roughly in front of Twilight. “She’s always wanting to be more like Rainbow Dash!”
“Hehe, I think Sweetie Belle should go first,” Scootaloo offered in response, flapping her wings enough to lift herself over top of Applebloom, who fell roughly to the ground without the pony in front of her to push back. “She’s the magical one, after all.”
“Me? I think Applebloom should go first! She’s our leader!” Sweetie Belle rebutted, levitating Applebloom roughly to her position in front of Twilight.
“Fine then, Ah’ll go first. Both of ya’ll are chickens.”
“I resent that!” Sweetie Belle said. “I’m a dictionary!”
Scootaloo could only glare in response.
“Applebloom, as Applejack’s younger sister, you will take on Honesty and as an Earth Pony, you shall take Laughter.” Pinkie happily hopped into place behind Applebloom, but Applejack stayed put.
“Ah still don’t like this idea,” Applejack defended.
“It’s the best way I can think of,” Twilight explained.
“Like using the ‘Want it, Need it’ spell?” Applejack retorted.
“That… that was a different Twilight!” she said, holding her air of dignity still. “I didn’t know better.”
“We need some faith for this to work,” Princess Celestia said in aid to her prized pupil. “The faith we have in our champions is what will keep them safe and sound.”
“Ah don’t want my little sis knowin’ all that Ah know. There’s just things she don’t need to know in there.”
“Like what, Applejack?”
“Ah said she don’ need to know.” Applejack lifted her nose in the air to signify that she wasn’t taking any further questions about the matter.
“I’m only going to take the lessons about friendship that you’ve learned.”
“And Ah’m not comfortable with Applebloom knowin’ why I know what I know about friendship.”
“Is this about Braeburn?” Rarity asked.
“This ain’t about Braeburn! I told ya’ll that never actually happened!” She then whispered to herself, “like that.”
“Then is this about...” Rainbow started before dropping to a whisper that only Applejack should have heard, but Twilight and the other Princesses did too: “your parents?”
“Ya’ll are goin’ to far with this. Ah don’t want Applebloom knowin’ those memories,” she said, her eyes starting to tear up. “There’s a reason Ah don’t tell her.”
“Why won’t you tell me about ma and pa?” Applebloom said. Though she had grown up without them, Applebloom knew there was someone missing in her family, and she had gathered who it was. Unless… Applebloom didn’t want to talk about that. It wasn’t possible.
“There are sometimes things ya don’t need to know about those things, Applebloom.”
“I promise, I’ll only go back as far as when I meet you, Applejack. I won’t delve any deeper into your memories than that.”
There was a long time where she considered the possibilities. Applejack didn’t want to divulge the information about their parents to Applebloom. It would cause a rift between her and her favorite little Apple. The tears in her eyes didn’t go unnoticed.
“Darling, don’t cry,” Rarity consoled. “Things were rough for you, but remember you have friends to help you through.” She put a hoof around her friend. They were the only two of them that had grown up in Ponyville, and one of the only pairs of the friends that knew each other before they all arrived in the town, the other being Fluttershy and Rainbow.
“Thanks, Rare, but Ah…”
“If it would help,” Princess Celestia offered, “I could assist Twilight with the spell, to be certain that she doesn’t pull too deep from your memories.”
“That would be nice,” Applejack smiled, “if ya wouldn’t mind, Princess.”
“In fact,” Princess Celestia continued, “I think I have some memories with might assist Applebloom. As would both of you,” she said to Cadence and Luna. “If you don’t mind, Twilight?”
“The more experiences we can teach them, the better the chance they have to succeed,” Twilight agreed. “Are you ready, Applebloom?”
“Ya mean to say that Ah’m gonna have some of Princess Celestia’s memories in mah head?”
“Yes, my little pony, there are some memories I wish to have imparted upon the future Elements of Harmony.” The Princess of the Sun smiled at her young constituent. The calming effect it had relaxed Applebloom as she put a look of determination on her face.
“Then Ah’d be honored!”
“Scootaloo, as Rainbow’s biggest fan and student, you’ll take the Element of Loyalty, and as a Pegasus, you’ll take the Element of Kindness.”
Princess Luna stepped forward. “As the only one of you three that we-I have spent time with, I shall bequeath some of my memories to aid you.”
“Thanks, Princess,” Scootaloo responded.
“Please, call me Luna,” Luna requested. “And I am glad to see that you followed my advice,” Luna added in a whisper.
“Then there’s you, Sweetie Belle,” Twilight said with a smile. “As you’re Rarity’s sister, you’ll take the Element of Generosity, and as a unicorn, you’re the only one who can take the Element of Magic.”
Cadence took her place behind Sweetie Belle. “And I think you’re the perfect little pony to represent the Princess of Love,” she said with a smile and a hug.
Applejack finally took place behind Applebloom, as did Princess Celestia. The two alicorns, one of Day and one of Friendship, let their magic flow. Immediately, auras appeared around Applejack, Celestia, and Pinkie Pie. The auras changed from a mixture of Twilight’s maroon and Celestia’s blue to the colors that best represented the mares that they were in contact with: orange for Applejack as it shaped the jewel on her Element of Harmony, blue for Pinkie Pie, as it too reformed into a balloon as on her Element. The aura around Princess Celestia glowed bright golden, like the sun, as it echoed the shape on her flank. All three auras flowed into Applebloom, and the memories reflected in her eyes.
Luna stood behind Rainbow and Fluttershy, assisting in transferring the Elements of Loyalty and Kindness to Scootaloo. The auras glowed like a red lightning bolt for Rainbow, a pink butterfly for Fluttershy, and a brilliant white moon for Luna.
Finally, Cadence took place behind Rarity as the Auras wrapped around Twilight, forming a magenta star, Rarity, forming a purple gem, and Cadence, forming a pink heart.
With the spell over, the three Cutie Mark Crusaders fell to the ground, motionless. The Elements of Harmony all gasped for air as the spell had taken them for quite the ride. Twilight and the other Princesses breathed heavy from the exertion the spell had on them.
“Let’s just hope it worked.”