Ponyville
Present Day
Twilight looked up at the sky. The weather team had really outdid themselves today, clearing the sky of clouds for miles and even taking the initiative to push back a fog bank that had been creeping in from the Everfree Forest.
She had returned to the library briefly to finish reshelving a number of books, but then she had decided to seek out those of her friends involved with the Guild to wish them luck. Spike had come as well this time.
They went to the Carousel Boutique first, thinking that it had been Rarity who had been nervous more so than Pinkie or Applejack. On the way, they passed Stone Cutter talking animatedly with a woodcarver whose name Twilight didn’t know; they seemed to be arguing about some facet of a carved owl sitting on a table between the two of them.
As they approached the Boutique, they began hearing raised voices from within. Twilight was debating leaving so as not to disturb Rarity and whoever she was arguing with, but before she could the front door slammed open and Shimmerthread stalked out, nearly running into Twilight.
“You there! You agree, don’t you?” she said loudly. Before Twilight could respond, Shimmerthread continued, “Never mind, of course you don’t. Otherwise why, of all the places in Equestria, or even the entire world, would you choose to be here?” Raising her voice, she turned back towards the Boutique and yelled at Rarity (who was standing in the doorway), “You may be content to stagnate in this mudhole of a town with the rest of the dirt-diggers, but don’t expect me to condone, let alone endorse it. I wash my hooves of you.” She then stalked off down the street, grumbling to herself.
Rarity brightened considerably upon seeing Twilight. “Come in, darling. I’m terribly sorry you had to see that, but come in, it’s good to see you.”
Twilight and Spike followed Rarity into her kitchen, where a pot of tea was already prepared. “I had intended to offer some of this to Shimmerthread whilst discussing her review, but I suppose you saw how that turned out.”
Twilight accepted Rarity’s offer of a cup of tea, but Spike declined. Instead, he asked, “What exactly happened? You both seemed pretty worked up about something.”
Rarity took a sip of tea before responding. “Well, it was entirely her fault. I tried to keep our discussion civil, and indeed succeeded admirably for the first fifteen minutes or so. Around that point, she commented, offhand, and this is more or less a direct quote, ‘you should get out of this mudhole of a town before it ruins your career.’ Now, Ponyville is hardly Canterlot, I’ll grant her that, but I grew up here and I’ll be damned if I let some pompous little…” Rarity cleared her throat. “Anyway, even then, I tried to keep things civil, I said in what I’m pretty sure was as pleasant a tone of voice as I could muster, ‘Well, to be sure, all of my friends live here. I don’t think I’d be comfortable just picking up stocks and leaving just to avoid disapproving looks.’ It was about there she started on me.”
“That’s unfortunate,” said Twilight. “I know how excited you were about getting her approval.”
“True enough, but the price of her approval simply turned out to be too great. And eventually, I managed to glean from her comments that she wasn’t so much against the town because of its social status, but because of the fact that it was established by earth ponies. Wait until Fancy Pants hears about this!”
“I thought you said Fancy Pants had no power over Shimmerthread?”
“Not in the fashion industry, he doesn’t. But socially, he could destroy her with a few words. And he will, too, when he hears about what she said. He told me once that if there’s one thing he can’t stand, it’s bigots, and frankly I couldn’t agree more.”
“Well, it’s nice to see you’re handling this well.”
“Yes. It’s all very well to insult my business, and to be honest I think I might have locked myself in my room again had that happened, but insult my friends? Oh, darling, it. Is. On.” Rarity rubbed her hooves together.
From outside there came a blaring ‘Dun dun DUNN’ played by what sounded like a full orchestra ensemble. The two mares looked at each other in confusion, while Spike looked at the wall and scratched his head. Curious, the three returned to the front door and looked out.
Sure enough, Pinkie Pie was standing there, having just played the music that they had heard on her parasprite deterrent apparatus, a giant one-mare band setup she had cobbled together during a parasprite infestation several years back.
“Hi, Rarity! Hi, Twilight! Hey, Spike!” She disassembled the entire setup and somehow stored most of it in her mane, as well as putting a harmonica in the knot of a nearby tree, storing a pair of drum sticks in the bushes, and hanging a Pan flute around her neck.
“Pinkie?” asked Rarity. “Shouldn’t you be in Sugarcube Corner right now, waiting for Macaroon?”
“Don’t worry, I timed it perfectly! If we leave now, walking at a fairly sedate trot, we should arrive back at the Corner at exactly the same time as Mac.”
Spike raised a hand in confusion. “Wait, ‘we?’”
“Oh, that’s right! I wanted to introduce you all formally to Mac. I can’t believe I forgot to mention that! I already invited Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash, and Applejack is busy showing off the farm to Grain Chaff. So I came to get you three!”
Spike looked back at Twilight and Rarity.
Twilight shrugged. “Why not? It might be fun.”
Rarity nodded. “Not a bad idea. My letter to Fancy Pants can wait.”
“All right,” said Spike, “Let’s go.”
The group started off in the direction of Sugarcube Corner, urged on by the exceptionally excited Pinkie Pie.
“Oh, I know you’re all just going to love Mac. We’re like two peas in a pod. Except neither of us are peas, that would be silly. And we’re not in pods either, unless the Changelings have taken over and this is all a magic-induced dream. So we’re more like two ponies in Equestria. But that would describe pretty much anypony, wouldn’t it?...”
Pinkie had barely stopped talking for their entire journey, and seemed to never change topic either, although she ended up saying, “Griffons aren’t really omnivores, did you know that? It’s a media thing – oh hey, we’re here!”
Sure enough, they had arrived in front of Sugarcube Corner. And, just like Pinkie had said, Macaroon was just approaching the door.
“Hey, Mac!”
“Hey, Pink! It’s been a while!”
“It sure has! Have you met my other friends yet? This is Twilight and this is Rarity and this is Spike.” As she named each one of them, Pinkie pulled them forward and stood them in front of Macaroon, who shook their hoof energetically in turn.
“Great to meet you all! Pinkie has told me so much about you! Including the fact that there are supposed to be seven of you, including Spike.” She pointed to Spike, riding on Twilight’s back. “Where are the other three?” She turned to Pinkie.
“I’m pretty sure Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy are already inside. Applejack couldn’t make it right now, but she’ll be attending the party later.”
“Well then, we’d better go inside then.”
At Mac’s suggestion, the four filed inside the sweetshop, Pinkie and Mac hopping more than trotting. Inside, a couple of ponies were sitting at tables enjoying various confections that they had recently purchased. Sure enough, one table was occupied by Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash.
“Hey, Fluttershy! Hey, Rainbow Dash! Glad you could make it!”
The two mares smiled in return, Rainbow calling out, “Hey, Pinkie!” The group at the door trotted over to the table, where Mac shook Fluttershy’s hoof (“You must be Fluttershy! I can tell because you’re trembling. You really don’t need to be scared of little old me!”) and shared a hoof-bump with Rainbow Dash (“That’s quite the mane you’ve got there.”).
Mac sat down at the table, and the other four followed suit. “So you’re the bearers of the Elements of Harmony, are you?” Both she and Pinkie had calmed down considerably now that everypony was officially introduced. “I mean, five of you are five of the Element bearers. Spike is Spike. That’s amazing!”
“Oh, it isn’t really that amazing, Miss Macaroon,” said Rarity.
“It totally is. And please call me Mac. Everypony everywhere has heard about what you did. The thing is, practically nopony has ever seen you in the context of Element bearing. A fair few ponies I’ve met are certain you all live in Canterlot, are all unicorns, et cetera. You’d be surprised how many, actually. If I had never known Pinkie, I would probably have made the same assumptions.”
“Well, I used to live in Canterlot, before we all met,” said Twilight. “I had zero friends then. I mean, except for the Princess, and I was her personal student. I still am, but we correspond mostly through mail nowadays. It’s well worth it to live out here where my friends are.”
Mac whistled. “Princess Celestia’s personal student, eh? I imagine that comes with a lot of benefits.”
“Not really. I mean, other than full access to the Canterlot Archives. And that’s not really much use since I moved here. I mean, I live in the library, after all.”
Mac raised an eyebrow. “You live in the library? And the librarian just allows that?”
“Well, I suppose I am the librarian. I never really thought about it before, but I guess it’s true.”
Mac looked at the clock and cringed slightly. “That might be a little bit bad.”
Twilight looked at Mac oddly. “Bad? Bad how?”
“Well, it’s a long story. Even though the machinist’s guild is the oldest of the seven, it’s still the smallest by far. Axle is done with inspections long before the rest of us are. And when he’s waiting for the rest of us, he loves to go to the local library and read. Doesn’t really matter what, just reads for hours on end. The point is, he likes to at least meet the local librarian, first thing. I’m sorry to interrupt our little gathering, but it’s really important to him, and he did only have one pony he needed to see in Ponyville.” She looked at the clock again. “If you hurry, you might be able to make it there before he does.”
Pinkie looked at Twilight. “It’s fine, go on. We’ll see you at the party tonight!”
Thanking Mac for telling her, Twilight gathered up Spike and trotted rapidly off in the direction of the library.
On her return to the Golden Oaks Library, she discovered that Axle had in fact already arrived. He and Poison Point were seated at one of the lecterns, reading a book propped thereon. He was still wearing his cloak, not that she’d expected anything different.
Twilight cleared her throat. “Mr. Grease?” He turned and looked at her, as did Poison Point. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle. I’m technically the librarian here.”
“Ah, yes. Miss Sparkle. Poison here mentioned you. I believe you are our esteemed Solar Princess’ protégé, not to mention the bearer of the Element of Magic, yes?”
“Yes, I am, sir. Although I’m perfectly satisfied to be just Twilight Sparkle in a non-formal setting.”
Axle Grease chuckled lightly. “I quite agree with you there. So what say you call me Axle and I’ll call you Twilight, hmm?”
Twilight smiled. “That would be nice, Axle.” Twilight’s first impressions of Axle Grease reminded her almost of Celestia, only male, and with a much older appearance and voice. As a result, she took an immediate liking to him.
“Would you come over here for a moment and look at this?” he asked. Twilight complied, trotting over to sit next to the Guildmaster and look at the book he was reading. “I find this subject material fascinating. Have you read this particular tome before?”
Looking at the page, Twilight was surprised to find that she had not. The full-page illustration, depicting a group of six ponies sitting in a cave (two female unicorns, two male earth ponies, and a male and a female Pegasus) chatting around a fire was unfamiliar to her. It was not colored, and so she couldn’t tell exactly what color the ponies were, and their cutie marks were obscured by their clothing, but she did note that one of the unicorns bore a tall crown embedded with several gems, while each of the pegasi bore six long, sharp lances tied into their saddlebags. The earth ponies were clothed simply, while both unicorns wore long gowns and the pegasi wore full suits of armor. “No, I haven’t. What’s it about?”
“It’s a history book, detailing the complete history of the city of Equulaneum from the point it was founded to its fall at the beginning of the Years of Discord. This picture,” he indicated the full page illustration, “is a tracing of one of the earliest known depictions of what we now call the Hearth’s Warming Eve myth. It bears several details that have been omitted from later representations, most notably the lack of stylisation of the Platinum Crown,” he touched the crowned unicorn, who Twilight now realised was Princess Platinum herself, “and the pegasi’s weapons here.” He indicated Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy. “The world likes to forget that those two came to Equestria with every intention of killing any unicorn who tried to come after them, and they brought the best weapons for the job. Oh, but forgive an old stallion’s rambling.” He laughed. “I’ve been fascinated with ancient history like this since I was a young colt, acting in a Hearth’s Warming Eve play of my very own. Anyway, what few ponies realise is that that very cave where the Six Refugees drove back the Windigoes with the Fire of Friendship is to this day underneath the stone of Canterlot.”
“Canterlot’s Crystal Caves, yes. I was there myself, once,” said Twilight. “If this is a history of Equulaneum, does that mean that Equulaneum is Canterlot?”
“New Canterlot, as it’s properly known. Princess Celestia changed the name after she brought down Discord. The name comes from her old walled city in the Everfree Forest, Old Canterlot. The place is ruined now, but as I recall you’re intimately familiar with the place.” He coughed slightly.
“I wouldn’t say intimately, but I have been there. I didn’t realise it was a walled city, though. I thought it was just a castle.”
“Oh yes. Ponies took refuge there after Discord took over. For some reason, he couldn’t touch it.”
Twilight looked back at the picture of the six ponies. “Something that’s always bugged me about the Hearth’s Warming Eve story is how Celestia and Luna aren’t there. Up until I read the story for the first time I thought that they had always existed.”
Axle coughed again, shifting to laughter midway through. “Many think that nowadays, even those who are aware of the story. They believe that the Princesses were simply elsewhere, and that all talk of the sun and moon of the time being moved by groups of unicorns were simply fabrication by the author. There’s even a cult dedicated to the idea in the Baltimare area. But no, Celestia and Luna didn’t come onto the scene until around 398 AE, when Queen Cruelthorn made them the Governesses of the Everfree.” He flipped through the pages, eventually coming upon a colored portrait of a pale grey unicorn stallion cloaked in a red velvet cape, looking off to the side of the frame with his eyes half-closed derisively. His long, silvery mane was pulled back behind his ears. “This fellow is the reason.”
Twilight noticed that the stallion was wearing the same crown as the earlier picture of Platinum. In color, it was obvious that the gems in the crown – set near the top of elaborate spires – consisted of a single diamond in the front, with an alternating pattern of sapphires and rubies circling around the sides.
“King Silvertongue Silver-Blood. The only tyrant king that Equestria has ever lived under. Celestia and Luna helped Cruelthorn unseat him, so she rewarded them with dominion over the Everfree Forest.” He flipped forward several pages to an image of six ponies in a row. He pointed to the one in the center, a dark green unicorn mare with a maroon mane that framed her face in a pair of dark curtains. On her head sat the Platinum Crown. “That’s Cruelthorn, there.”
“Her name doesn’t sound very nice.”
“That’s true, but she is perhaps the best example of a pony breaking free of her destiny. Despite her name and even her cutie mark, she became one of the greatest queens ever to sit in the throne at Equulaneum, earning the title Cruelthorn the Penitent. Ponies at the time practically worshipped her.”
At that moment, Axle began to cough violently. When he showed no signs of stopping, Poison Point picked up a small flask that had been sitting next to Axle. She uncorked it and handed it to him, at which point he raised it to his hood and drank deeply.
It smelled so incredibly foul that Twilight almost shied away. It smelled of rotten eggs, machine oil, and burning hair.
Corking the flask and putting it away, Axle turned to Twilight. “I’m terribly sorry about that. It’s a side effect of my wounds. This concoction,” he indicated the flask, “is something a nice zebra down the road from my home brewed up to soothe the symptoms, but it’s far from a permanent cure. It helps for perhaps a few hours at most, and fewer and fewer every year.” He cleared his throat. “But let’s not talk about that now.”
“Is there anything I can do?” asked Twilight.
“Nothing, I’m afraid. Nothing at all.” He flipped through the book a little further in silence.
Then he looked up, seeming almost hopeful under the concealing cloak. “There is… something,” he said hesitantly. “I mean, I would understand if you were to refuse, but… I should like to see the Platinum Crown just once, before I die. All those years of history, thousands of ponies sitting on the throne and each one bearing the crown. The rise and fall of not only Equulaneum, but Roan – the capital of Old Unicornia - as well, and the Platinum Crown has borne witness to it all. I should like to sit before it, even for a moment, and see with my own eyes the object that has lasted throughout so many centuries.” He turned away. “I would understand if you were to refuse, of course.”
Twilight raised an eyebrow. “Why do you need my help to see the Crown? Surely it’s in a museum somewhere?”
“In a manner of speaking, I suppose. But not just anypony can get in to see it. It’s in the Secure Wing of the Canterlot National Archives. The ponies with clearance to enter are only the Princesses, the Dean of Celestia’s School for Gifted Unicorns, and you. I’m sorry, perhaps I was too presumptuous. After all, we’ve only just met-”
“I’ll do it.”
Axle looked to her again. “Really? You’re sure?”
Twilight nodded. “I can see this is important to you. I’m sure I can get you in to see the Crown for a few moments.”
“Bless you, Twilight Sparkle. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.” At that moment, the elderly stallion simply broke down, sobbing slightly, and threw his forehooves around Twilight’s shoulders.