"C'mon, girls! Try to keep up!" Wind Whistler called back to the others, as four mares climbed the path up towards the colorful community. "The view Hollywood and I are seeing from up here!"
"Majesty... Applejack... you're not going to believe this, but I thin this place might be more beautiful than flutter valley!" Hollywood gasped, fluttering beside her Pegasus friend. "I-I've never seen anything like it in my life!"
The city of Rainbow Falls... the oldest continuously inhabited town in Ponyland. Going all the way back to the time of the ancients, this community was like a slice of the distant past, manifested in the modern world. Small homes and cottages dotted the plateau, most so old their actual construction date was lost to history. Rainbows were painted on every house and store, giving the whole town a look more bright and cheerful than anything that Majesty, wind Whistler, or Hollywood had ever seen before.
But Rainbow Fall's greatest feature, was the town was situated right beneath the great rainbow that stretches across the confederacy and serves as the gateway to earth. Due to this, Rainbow falls has the blessing of all the waterfalls and rain that cascade down from the heavens are all rainbow colored. These colorful waters, having filtered through the great rainbow on their descent, feed into several rivers and lakes all over the confederacy, including Dream Valley's own waterfall and Rainbow River.
"Bright, colorful, and alive..." Applejack snorted, as if she had expected this. "This place never seems to change, no matter how many years pass."
"Really? You sound as if you've seen this place before." Hollywood commented, flutter in front of the earth pony curiously. "Have you been here before, Applejack?"
"A long time ago, kid." A.J. replied, shaking her mane as if to knock a faint memory loose. "Long before you were fluttering around, and asking silly questions."
"Ohh, quit talking like an old Lady, A.J.!" Windy chided her. "Ohhh, lookie there! There's already a whole bunch of ponies here for the party, too!"
Majesty looked all around the village, and surprised by the largest and most diverse crowd of ponies she had ever seen. Snow Ponies, Twinkle-eyed ponies, Breezies, and Crystal ponies milled about the town's streets, stopping to visit the various vendors stalls and merchant stands set up for the fall festival. The princess had seen many a large fete like this one for Dream Valley's feast days, but never and she gazed upon such a mix of equines from all over the confederacy!
"They must all be here for the fall festival... makes sense, given how pretty the leaves will be at the turning." Hollywood commented, gazing over at the rainbow-colored water in the town's waterways. "Hey, are those sea ponies in the rivers? Whoa, every pony type really IS here for the festival!"
"Okay everybody, I know this festival looks exciting and everything, but let's try to stay calm and-" Majesty turned, and saw that all of her friends had scattered all over the festival. "-stay together." She sighed, burying her face in her hooves.
The four mares scattered throughout the festival, racing to try various foods and play various games. Holly went over to one booth to try some pumpkin pie, while Wind Whistler raced to an arts and crafts booth to help weave dead corn stalks into harvest wreaths. Applejack stop and a farmer's tent, and began to scarf large amounts of hot buttered corn, while Majesty simply stood there, watching her friends go about their crazy and goofy antics.
"You know, my princess, harvest festival activities are more fun to participate in, than they are to merely sit back and watch." A voice from behind the unicorn told her. "Why don't you go out there and join your friends, Fraulein? "
Surprised, Majesty spun around to find an earth pony staring at her from the shadows. Majesty noted the stranger had a blue coat and crescent moon and two star cutie mark, and was slowly trotting towards her through the crowd. The princess took a hesitant step back at first, until she noticed the flowing rainbow mane flowing on top of the mare's head.
"Oh my goodness, a rainbow pony!" Majesty bowed politely, suddenly remembering her manners. "I'm so sorry, I meant no offense."
"None taken, Princess Majesty." The mare replied, trotting up to stand beside the other pony. "My name is Nachlicht, and I am a rainbow pony from the northern lands."
"It's a pleasure to meet you here, your grace. I have nothing but respect and admiration for the ponies who act as the spiritual leaders of all of Ponydom." The unicorn smiled at the other pony. "I cannot wait for you and your sisters of the rainbow order, to turn the leaves at the ceremony tomorrow."
"Do you truly believe we rainbow ponies cause the leaves to turn?" Nachlicht asked in surprised. "No, my good Majesty, our rainbow magic asks nature to change the color of the leaves, and to spread color throughout Ponyland. We do not command such power ourselves."
"Really? But I thought you rainbow ponies controlled the colors, like my mothers orders around her subjects." Majesty protested. "Are not the forces of nature under your control? Is not your power to command and order the world in B'zekre's name?"
"We rainbow ponies are the servants and messengers of B'zekre. We ask the almighty to favor us, we do not tell her." The rainbow pony explained. "The leaves will turn themselves, Prinzessin, we rainbow ponies merely perform the ceremony thanking the higher powers for the color and beauty the provide us." Nachlicht replied. "The changing of the leaves is like the changing of the seasons- nature moves at it's own pace, we ponies merely ride the tide of nature's changes."
"But, didn't the ancients command both the weather and nature?" Majesty asked, remembering the fairy tales she had head as a filly. "Or are those merely the whispers of legend?"
"The ancients did indeed command nature, and tried to arrogantly control the entire world around them. That was the arrogance led to their downfall." Nachlicht agreed, before trotting off. "Make sure you do not fall into that same trap, my good princess. Do not try to command and control every aspect of your world and the ponies in it, when you should instead be acting as a living part of that world yourself."
The rainbow pony departed, leaving a very confused Majesty to contemplate the meaning of her words....