Equestria. The most peaceful place in all the worlds to visit and live. Anypony knows that. Ruled by Princess Celestia and her younger sister, Princess Luna, the duo work together to make sure that very peace thrives forever.

In the heart of this area, there lies a small village by the name of Ponyville. A quaint town. Not really a lot of tourists but everypony who lived there preferred it that way. They didn’t want their quiet little town being overrun with loud obnoxious tour ponies. Yep. It was peaceful alright. Especially for six special ponies who resided there in that town. And one of them, a purple pony with a pink star for a cutie mark, she was just relaxing in her library/house just reading like usual. Twilight Sparkle is her name. And her dragon companion, Spike was there with her.

After nearly hours of reading, Spike was starting to get bored because he wasn’t allowed to leave unless Twilight did or if she asked him to go somewhere. It was one of the many rules she put in place. But luckily for him, his boredom was gonna be gone for a while. Because the door of the library opened up and all five of Twilight’s friends came through the door. Applejack, Rarity, Fluttershy, Rainbow Dash, and Pinkie Pie.

“Hey, girls. What’s going on?” Twilight asked wanting to know why all of them were there.

“We’re just heading out to Zecora’s place in the Everfree Forest.” Rainbow Dash replied.

“Applebloom told us she wanted to see us all in person when she came back from her last visit. She said she didn’t know why.” Applejack said.

“So…we’re going to Zecora’s and we don’t know why?” Twilight asked to be sure.

“Maybe it’s a surprise party! I knew my ways would rub off on her!” Pinkie Pie shouted.

“You’ve only met Zecora in person ONCE, Pinkie.” Rarity informed the pink one.

“Well, let’s go then.” Twilight closed her book. “Spike put that back and then let’s go.”

“Got it.” Spike the dragon acknowledged her.

He picked up the book, and got on a ladder to stick it back where it used to go. But it didn’t fit all the way in. So he started to push. He pushed so hard to the point where his grunting became noticeable to his friends.

“Spike, don’t force it.” Twilight warned him.

“I can get it in there.”

With one more big push, the book slammed into place. But then something happened. Something very strange happened. As soon as Spike pushed that book into place, the force at which he pushed it must have shook something in that house loose. Because from the side of the far wall, a trapdoor-like hatch opened up. The door swung back and forth a few times before just hanging there.

The six ponies and Spike just stared at the door wondering what it was even doing there.

“Twi? Did you know that was there? Please tell me you did.” Applejack said.

“Sorry, AJ. I’ve been living here for months. And I’ve never even noticed a door like that before.” Twilight answered.

“Well…what’s in there?” Rarity asked.

Spike decided to go and check it out. But when he poked his head inside the door, he couldn’t see anything because it was too dark.

So Twilight went over herself and used her magic to shine a light from her horn. Then she saw what was inside the door. It was a small space presumably used for storing old things. But there was only one thing inside there. She grabbed it using her magic and pulled it out. And then Spike closed the door back up.

“What a surprise. It’s a book.” Rainbow Dash said with obvious sarcasm.

It was indeed a book Twilight pulled out. It was the only thing in the whole secret area. The cover was old, dusty, and brown colored with six funny looking symbols on the cover. She didn’t understand what the symbols meant. Nor could she read the cover.

“What is it, Twilight?” Spike asked. “What book is this?”

“I…don’t know.” Twilight replied. “I’ve never seen a book like this. It’s printed in a whole different language.”

“We can talk about the book later, Twilight. Right now, Zecora wants us.” Fluttershy reminded her.

That was indeed true. But Twilight was still curious. So she decided to take the book with her. Spike hopped on her back and they went right into the Everfree Forest. As they walked, they talked with each other.

“So why do you think she wants to see us?” Fluttershy asked anyone.

“Beats me.” Rainbow Dash replied. “Maybe she wants to eat us all in one batch.”

“Rainbow, you know Zecora’s not like that.” Applejack told her. “She’s just misunderstood is all because she’s not from Equestria. And speaking of not from Equestria, Twilight why are you still looking at that?”

The whole time they were walking, Twilight was flipping through the pages of the foreign languaged book.

“If it’s not in our language, why are you still trying to read it?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“I’m trying to at least get a clue of what this book is or where it’s from.” Twilight responded. “I knew I should have studied foreign languages while I was in Canterlot.”

“You mean you went to school there for years and there wasn’t one class about different languages?” Rarity asked. “I find that very hard to believe, darling. Even Ponyville offers language lessons.”

“I didn’t say there WEREN’T classes in other languages, Rarity.” Twilight corrected. “I just said I didn’t bother to take any. I was too occupied learning about magic to concentrate on other things.”

That was Twilight. Sometimes she gets too involved in one thing and doesn’t bother to get involved in another. But it was what made Twilight herself. And nopony, especially her five main friends, would ever change that about her.

As they neared Zecora’s place, Twilight shut the book and placed it in Spike’s hands. Applejack knocked on the door and seconds later, Zecora opened the door up.

“Ah my friends, how good to view. But I must ask something of you.”

Zecora always spoke in verse. It was just how she spoke coming from a foreign land and all. They all found it quite interesting. How she was able to find rhymes just like that.

“What’s this all about, Zecora?” Applejack said. “Applebloom said you wanted to see all six of us.”

Zecora nodded and got right to the point.

“I am going away for two weeks to my home. And all my things will be left alone.”

Okay. So she was gonna go visit her homeland for a couple weeks. How did that involve them?

“And since I will be gone for long, would you six mind house-sitting while I’m gone?”

There it was. House-sitting. That didn’t sound so bad.

“Sure. We can do that no problem.” Rainbow Dash said. “As long as it doesn’t cut into my trick practice.”

Zecora placed a key to her front door in front of them and Rarity picked it up with her own magic.

“What do you want us to do while you’re gone Zecora?” Applejack asked.

Zecora had a list which she placed on the table near her giant cauldron. Fluttershy picked it up and looked at it. Flower the plants, dust the cauldron, polish the relics, it seemed simple enough.

Zecora had already had her bags packed and she was ready to go. But Spike had an idea.

“Hey Twi.” He whispered. “Zecora’s not from Equestria. Maybe she knows what language this is.”

He was referring to that book. And Twilight thought it was a good idea.

“Zecora, before you go, would you mind telling me if you know what language this is?”

Twilight showed Zecora the book she found and the zebra examined it closely.

“It is the language of my home country. Wherever did you come across this read?”

“We found it in an old storage compartment that was secretly built into the library Twilight lives in.” Rainbow Dash said.

“Do you think you could tell us what it says?” Twilight asked.

Zecora chuckled and gave another verse.

“You are the one who knows magic so well. Why not simply cast a translation spell?”

A translation spell? Twilight slapped her hoof to her own face for not thinking of it before.

“Whoops.”

Her horn glowed purple and then concentrated a spell onto the book. A few seconds later, the spell took effect, and all the symbol text in the book transformed into lettered words that Twilight and the others could easily read. The only thing that remained the same was the six symbols on the cover. But the words above it had changed revealing the title of the book.

“THE HISTORY OF ALAMANTE”

The other five ponies looked at the title strangely.

“Alamante? What’s Alamante?” Rainbow Dash asked.

“Tis the country where I am from. A tribal place, but dangers have come.”

From what Twilight got from that, it meant, Zecora’s homeland is another country called Alamante. It’s a peaceful place with tribes, but the danger part is what got Twilight concerned.

“What dangers, Zecora?” the purple unicorn asked wanting to know.

“Do not concern yourself, Twilight. I’m sure in time, it will be alright.”

With that last verse, Zecora closed her bag and headed for the door.

“We’ll take really good care of all your things, Zecora.” Fluttershy assured the zebra.

Zecora nodded at them and then closed the door. Afterwards, the six young ponies left the house as well and Rarity locked the door with the key. As they made their way out of the forest, Twilight was reading the book out loud. And he was quite surprised at what she found in the first few pages.

“There are six tribes in Alamante that make up the core society. The Aero, Ember, Eneoji, Hydro, Frost, and Geo Tribes all thrive and live by their names. Each tribe has their own special unique ability to harness and manipulate one of the six elements of nature. Fire, water, wind, ice, earth, and plasma.”

“Cool!” Pinkie Pie said a little louder than necessary. “There are six elements of nature and six Elements of Harmony. There’s one for each of us.”

“I don’t think the Elements of Harmony have anything to do with the elements of nature.” Rainbow Dash told her. “But If I lived in Alamante, I would totally be wind.”

That got everyone thinking about what element they would be if they were from Alamante as well.

“I’d definitely wanna be part of that earth tribe. Being an Earth Pony and all. I take pride in it.” Applejack said.

“I would be ice of course.” Rarity added. “It’s the closest element of nature that resembles a gemstone.”

“I’d want water.” Pinkie Pie put in her opinion. “I’m always moving, and if I’m always moving, I gotta stay hydrated, and if I could stay hydrated all the time, I would never have to stop again.”

“Okay. We all have a new objective in life. No more water for Pinkie Pie.” Rainbow joked.

That earned her a laugh from her friends. Even Pinkie laughed too. Bu then when Twilight turned the page, a small thin object fell out from between the pages she had yet to reach. It was a small wrinkled, and folded up piece of paper. All the other ponies spotted it as well. Since Twilight was already focusing her magic carrying the book, Rarity used her magic to lift the tiny paper.

“What is it, Rarity?” Pinkie Pie asked.

“It looks like an old letter.” Rarity observed. “Let’s see what it says.”

Using her magic, Rarity unfolded the little piece of paper. And since it was inside the book when Twilight used her translation spell, it also got deciphered from it’s foreign language. Clearing her throat and putting on the glasses she wears when she makes outfits, Rarity read the letter.

“To anyone who finds this book,

I’m afraid my time is running out. So please hear my request. I hail from the country of Alamante. Long ago, it used to be a peaceful country and the six tribes lived together in harmony. But recently, strange events have been occuring in these parts that have had everypony clueless as to why they are happening. Eventually, the tribes started to blame each other. And then civil war broke out.”

“Civil war?” Fluttershy whimpered at the sound of that last word.

“Like a full on fight to the death war, or a diplomatic over the table war?” Twilight asked.

The next sentence in the letter answered that question.

“Already countless innocent ponies have been slaughtered.” Rarity read.

Now the six of them started to get nervous.

“Okay. Not so diplomatic.” Twilight lightly murmured.

Rarity went on to read the rest of the note.

“The fighting still rages on to this very day. But a prophecy that is spoken of in the very book you now posses, tells of six heroes, one from each of the six tribes that will come together and save Alamante from it’s turmoil. I had the pleasure of instructing one of these ponies in martial arts for many years. You will know them by the marks on their flanks, for if they are the ones spoken of in the prophecy, they will carry the very marks of the elements themselves. I beg of you to seek out these ponies and tell them of my note. The element of fire will know my name when you tell it.

They should be somewhere in Equestria. They used their powers over the elements to cross the sea over to your country. But I fear the being that is truly responsible for the attacks on Alamante has followed them there to ensure the prophecy does not come true. Please find them as soon as you can. They are Alamante’s last hope for peace. And possibly Equestria’s.

The elder

Hitashi Ma.”

That was the whole letter. And Rarity just looked stunned at what she just read. In fact, all of them did. That was a lot of information to take in just a few minutes.

“Hitashi Ma?” Applejack repeated. “Who was this pony?”

“I don’t know. But he obviously wrote this letter for a reason.” Rainbow Dash explained. “He totally wanted someone to find this book. But the thing is, we don’t even know how long ago he wrote this. This could have been a hundred years ago. The war could be over by now.”

“I don’t think so. Look closer. He put a date.” Rarity said.

They all looked closer at the bottom of the paper. The date was set nearly eleven months ago. On August of last year.

“Eleven months ago.” Twilight knew that date. “That’s right before I moved to Ponyville.”

The letter wasn’t that old then. And the war could still be going on. And the six ponies this Hitashi Ma wrote of could be somewhere in Equestria.

“What should we do?” Fluttershy wondered. “Do we take this seriously and look for these six ponies?”

“Oh please, sugar-cube. Don’t be ridiculous.” Applejack wasn’t a believer. “I mean come on. That whole prophecy business is just weird if you ask me.”

“What about Nightmare Moon?” Pinkie Pie asked. “Technically, WE were spoke of in a prophecy. Being the Elements of Harmony and whatnot.”

Pinkie did have a strong point there. And that made it a five to one count against Applejack in Twilight’s next question.

“All in favor of carrying out this request, raise your hoof.”

Twilight, Fluttershy, Rarity, Pinkie Pie, and Rainbow Dash all raised their hooves to the proposal. Applejack wasn’t still for it, but seeing as how she was outnumbered, she raised her hoof too.

“Then it’s settled. Everyone meet back at my house tomorrow morning. We’re going on a camping trip.”

It was gonna take more than one day to find these ponies if their location in Equestria was unknown. So turning into a camping trip seemed like the perfect idea.

“Wait. What about Zecora’s house? We’re supposed to house-sit. Remember?” Applejack pointed out.

“Just have Applebloom, Sweetie Belle, and Scootaloo do it. We shouldn’t be gone for very long.” Twilight suggested.

It seemed like a fair idea. Applebloom liked Zecora a lot anyways. As the six departed ways to head for their own houses, all of them prepared to leave early tomorrow. Packing the essentials, they all seemed ready to go. Twilight was of course gonna bring the book and try to find something in there about the prophecy this Hitashi Ma spoke of.

But none of them new that this little trip was gonna end up being one of the most brilliant adventures any of them had ever been on. And when it was over, Twilight was gonna have even more lessons in friendship to tell the princess about. But not only in friendship. But family as well.