//------------------------------// // A Group Effort // Story: Rise of Equestria: The War Begins // by Israel Yabuki //------------------------------// In the land of Equestria, peace and harmony had been spread across through different towns and cities and villages with the help of Twilight and her friends. They had accomplished so much in the past that some of her friends wished they could do it all over again. But for the Princess of Friendship, she was glad to have those old problems over and dealt with. But Twilight had to deal with a few changes in her life both good and bad. Her friend, Starlight Glimmer had left Ponyville in order to try and get settled into her new life with her new fiance, Sunburst. He asked for her hoof in marriage about a week ago and of course, Starlight accepted. Another thing that changed was that Twilight's friend, Sunset Shimmer had just graduated Canterlot High School and moved back into Ponyville with Twilight and Spike. As for Spike, he started growing a bit taller and aged a bit more maturely with the added bonus of now being able to fly. Luckily, this wasn't caused by his greed, but instead, he was just growing up on his own. He was tall enough to reach Big Mac's height. But he still had no luck with trying to win Rarity's affection, due to her obliviousness of the dragon growing up. Today, Twilight and her friends were at Fluttershy's cottage, having a nice picnic in her backyard conversing and sharing giggles and laughs about what's been happening lately. "I'm not kidding, girls! You should've seen the way Soarin got sucker punched by Spitfire! The look on his face was PRICELESS!" Rainbow Dash says, before she laughs. "Oh, sweet Celestia, I wish I had a camera to capture that!" Pinkie said, before she giggled. "Too late, Discord captured it for me. Take a look for yourself!" Rainbow gave Pinkie Pie the photo and it showed Soaring getting uppercutted up into the clouds by Spitfire, who had her Wonderbolts outfit on and a mad look on her face. Pinkie soon bursted out laughing so much that she started gripping her sides from the laughing pain. Fluttershy took a look at the photo and felt a little bit of pity for Soarin. "Poor Soarin, he didn't deserve that. She could've just asked nicely for him to stop, right?" Fluttershy asked. "It's not that simple, darling." Rarity says. "Soarin's a bit of a..."helpless romantic" when it comes to finding a mare. The more he tried to pursue, the more Spitfire got agitated, which in return caused her to do...that." "That's pretty smart coming from somepony who's a helpless romantic herself." Pinkie says with a sly smile towards Rarity. Rarity blushed and turned away with a slight "hmph." "Well, I cannot help it if I'm desperate." Rarity retorts. She then takes a sip of her tea, calming her nerves. "Ah ain't desperate 'bout it." Applejack added. "Was there a reason why you weren't looking for a stallion in the first place, AJ?" Spike asked. "Ah had 2 jobs to worry about. One, helpin' out with friendship problems, and two, workin' on the farm." "Oh, well I hope you find somepony special very soon, AJ." "Aww shuck, thanks Spike. Yer a real pal." Applejack gave Spike a playful jab on the arm. "And good luck with tryin' to win Rarity's affections if you ever get the opportunity." she says, making Spike blush. "Ah, jeez." Spike says, burying his face in his claws. "Now now, Applejack. I think it's adorable that Spike feels so strongly about me. Isn't that right my wittle Spikey-Wikey?" Rarity asked, pinching Spike's slightly chubby cheeks. Spike had a fake smile on his face. "Uh...sure, thanks, Rarity." Spike replies. 'But sometimes I wish you'd stop babying me. I'm not a baby dragon anymore. Oh, why do I even bother trying, she still thinks I'm too young. But...why? We're only 4 years apart.' Spike thought sadly. "Rarity, you do realize that Spike is growing up, so why do you baby him? I mean, he is a teenager." Sunset says. "I know, but I just can't help it. I know he's a getting bigger, but I still see my cute and darling little Spikey-Wikey deep down inside of him." Rarity says. "He's not little anymore, Rarity." Twilight says. "He even shows he's growing up because he helps keep the castle clean without having to be told to do it. He goes out on his own and leaves a note telling where he'll be and for how long." "Speaking of growing up... Applejack, Rarity, have you two noticed how our little sisters seem to be acting different than they usually do?" Rainbow asks. "You betcha. Lil' Applebloom's told me she's been seeing somepony special. Ah believe the little feller went by the name of Tender Taps." AJ says. "And Sweetie Belle has been hanging around Button Mash lately. Those two can't seem to stop playing together and it just warms my heart. I'm so proud of my little sister for finding a nice friend colt who's making my dear little sister so happy." Rarity says before sipping her tea. "I don't know if I can trust that Rumble kid, Scootaloo's been hanging out with. I know she's growing more independant and she's grasping the ability to fly, but I still kinda worry about her." Rainbow said. "Wow, Rainbow Dash. I didn't know you could sound so...motherly. If you acted like this back when Spike was still a baby dragon, I'd have asked you to foalsit him." Twilight says with a smile. "What's that suppose to mean?" Rainbow asked, a little bit insulted. But just before Twilight could answer, all the girls saw that their own cutie marks were starting to act up. Except for Sunset Shimmer, since she was still fairly new. "OOH, OOH, OOH!!! ANOTHER FRIENDSHIP PROBLEM!!! YIPPEE!!!" Pinkie shouted happily. "Sunset, follow us to the castle, we might need all the help we can get." Twilight says. Twilight gathered the girls in a circle and gained the extra aid from Rarity and Sunset to teleport to the castle. Spike, however, was left all by himself by accident. He just shrugged it off and got up, unfolded his wings and flew off to the castle. "Oh well, at least I'll be able to get a good workout from all of this." Spike says to himself. Twilight and the others managed to teleport into the room with the Map of Equestria without much of a fuss. The girls all took their seats and took a look at the map to see what the problem was. Twilight explained to Sunset the details on how the map works. "Okay, Sunset, here's how it works: Whenever there's a friendship problem in Equestria, our cutie marks react in a way where they start blinking as you saw earlier today. Now, depending on which of us is really needed for the job, the map'll display either one or two cutie mark symbols over a specific location." "Okay, but... why is my cutie mark on there?" Sunset asks, pointing at her cutie mark, floating above the map. Twilight was surprised when she saw this, but what she sees next, shocks her even more: Every single one of her friend's cutie marks were on the map...including Princess Celestia's cutie mark, surprisingly. "What the? What's going on here?" Twilight asks herself. "Princess Celestia is needed for this, too?" "Needed for what?" Spike asks, coming into the room and closing the doors. Twilight turns to Spike with a confused look. "Spike? Why didn't you teleport with us?" "You left in such a hurry, Twilight, that I decided to fly here. Why do you ask?" Spike responded casually. "Oops, sorry." she replied with a nervous chuckle. "Don't worry, it was for a good reason." he forgave, sincerely. "So, who was it that you said was "needed?" "Surprisingly, all of us, including me... As well as Princess Celestia." Sunset Shimmer answers. "THE PRINCESS?!" Spike asks, with wide eyes. "Oh boy, something tells me that this is gonna be one tough friendship problem if it's gonna require the princess' help." "Well, it's nice to hear that, Spike." said Celestia. The girls and Spike all saw the princess standing right in front of them. "Princess, I'm pretty sure you're aware of the--" Twilight says before she's cut off. "I know Twiilight. I was quite surprised when the Map of Equestria called out to me just as much as you were. Now why don't we check to see where we're needed in Equestria." Celestia says, walking towards the map. Everypony was looking at the map to see where their cutie marks were going too. Their marks traveled all the way towards the west side of the map, almost going out of bounds. Soon their marks started blinking red. Twilight was getting rather confused about all of this. "I don't get it? It's never done that before, what does this mean?" Twilight asks. "Do you know, princess?" "Perhaps, there exists a place somewhere in the far west of Equestria. A place probably unknown to this map. There's only one thing we need to do in order to grasp the situation." Celestia says calmly. Her horn started to light up and she used her magic to widen the map of Equestria and allowing the cutie marks to move out more until they finally stopped right above what looked like a town in the middle of a valley surrounded by dens. "Hmm... now that's peculiar." she says. "What is that place? I've never seen or heard of this place before." Twilight says, gazing at the town on the map. "Doesn't look like any place in Equestria we've been to." Spike says. He got a look at the dens in certain parts of the town on the map and got an idea on what they were. "Hmm, I might not have been there, but something tells me those are lion dens." "You could be right, Spike. But we won't know for sure unless we investigate. We need to act quickly, come on." Princess Celestia says in a serious tone that slightly scared Spike. The girls and Spike followed Celestia out of the castle, still questioning about this unknown town and why it was so serious that it required Princess Celestia's help as well. "What do you think this new place will be like?" Fluttershy asks Celestia. The princess had a bit of a troubled look on her face, like she knew what this place was. Regardless, she looked over at Fluttershy with a casual look on her face. "No pony knows, but I'm sure we'll find out soon enough once we get there. We just have to have a little patience." Celestia says with reassurance, earning a nod from the timid pegasus. 'Of course, I already know what lies ahead. I just hope he isn't in any kind of danger or anything.' Celestia thought to herself. Once the group was outside the castle, they find that Celestia has arranged for a couple of carriages for her and the girls. "Wow, princess. You sure plan ahead." Twilight said in amazement. "Like my mother always said: Always be prepared." Celestia says. The girls all got into one carriage one at a time, but unfortunately, there wasn't enough room for Spike to squeeze in. Luckily, Princess Celestia allowed Spike to sit in the other carriage with her. With everypony all saddled up and ready to go, Celestia called out to the Royal Guards to pull the carriages and were on their way. All the while, Spike was pondering about Celestia's behavior earlier. Celestia could tell Spike was concerned. "Something on your mind, Spike?" Celestia addressed. "Huh? Oh, no. It's nothing, really." Spike lies. "Spike, you can tell me anything. Whatever it is that's on your mind, you can tell me." "Alright. But can you keep it a secret?" "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." "Okay, then. I was a little curious as to why you looked so...perturbed when you were reassuring Fluttershy of what was at this unknown town, it was like... you knew this place. It was like you've been to this place before." Spike said. Celestia turned her eyes away a little bit, knowing that Spike was actually right. Celestia sighed and leaned in until she was eye-to-eye with the young dragon. "Spike, what I'm about to tell you should be kept a secret between you and me." Celestia whispered. "Can I trust you?" "Cross my heart, hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye." Spike whispered. Meanwhile, in the other carriage, Fluttershy was worried and she couldn't stop thinking about why Celestia suddenly had that doubtful look in her eyes when she tried reassuring her about the trip. "Girls, have you noticed that Princess Celestia is acting...weirder than usual?" Fluttershy asked. "You've noticed it, too, huh?" Twilight asked. "Could the princess have another life that she had to leave some time ago?" Sunset asked. "But if she did, why would she keep it a secret from us?" Fluttershy asked again. "She probably has her own reasons as to why she's not telling us, so I think it's best that we just let it be for now and wait until she's ready to tell, or at least, show us." Sunset says. "You could be right, Sunset, dear. Who knows what kind of secret she might have that she doesn't want us to know yet." Rarity says, looking out the window and at the other carriage. "OOH! Maybe she's got a husband and full-grown children! *GASP* If she does, that means... ROYAL CHILDREN!!!" Pinkie shouts, bouncing on her seat. "Ah highly doubt that. Ah mean, Princess Celestia's been livin' in Canterlot ever since she banished her sister to the moon a little over a thousand years ago, sugarcube. The only pony I know she use to go out with was Discord and even she told me how she broke up with him because of him givin' into his selfish desire to turn all of Equestria into a world of chaos." Applejack explained. "Honestly, if she did have royal children...I hope they're princes." Rarity says, staring into space, daydreaming like a helpess romantic. "Is that all you ever think about, Rarity? What about Spike? He's been eyeing you ever since he was a baby dragon when he and Twilight first came here to Ponyville." Rainbow says. "Oh, I know. But, I just don't know if it'd work out between us. I know he's volunteered to help me throughout the years since I've known him and I do appreciate it a lot." Rarity says. "So then...give him a chance. He is getting older, you know. Not to mention, he's growing more handsome than cute. I don't see what the big deal is, Rarity." Pinkie says. "Darling, please. Let's not talk about Spikey at a time like this." Rarity says, getting a bit agitated. "I think we just pushed her buttons big time." Rainbow whispered into AJ's ear, chuckling. "What buttons, I don't see any buttons on Rarity. She's not even wearing a dress. Is it even possible to push clothes buttons? Even I don't think that's possible to do." Pinkie said. All the girls just laughed at what Pinkie said. "Pinkie, you are too much!" Rainbow says. "Too much what?" Pinkie asked with a tilted head. She tilts her hhead straight up shortly afterwards with a smile. "Just kidding, I know what you meant by that." she giggled. The girls just couldn't stop laughing and having a good time during their trip. But with Spike and Celestia, there was nothing to laugh at after Celestia told Spike her deep secret. "I never even knew, princess. How long have you been living with this whole ordeal?" Spike asked with sincerity. "I'd rather not speak anymore about it, Spike. It's just... too heartbreaking." Celestia says, turning her head away as old memories of her past life came flooding into her mind. The memories of three baby colts, smiling up at her started flooding her mind. Next thing that came flooding in her mind was a stallion's silhouette as well as his warm and loving smile, which was directed straight at her. Those memories soon left Celestia crying a little bit and it certainly didn't go unnoticed. Spike has never seen Celestia cry like this. Not since Luna had returned to her former self after the dark magic was expelled from her long ago. Spike sat next to Princess Celestia and gentley stroked her hoof, trying to give her some comfort. Princess Celestia smiled at Spike with tears still in her eyes. She leaned her head down and wrapped her hoof around Spike's back, allowing him to give her a hug. She buried her face into Spike's shoulder, sobbing quietly. Spike didn't like to see Princess Celestia crying like this. For a long time, Spike has always loved Princess Celestia like she was his own mother. She helped raise him from an egg and gave him all the love and affection his real parents couldn't since he never got a chance to meet them. But he didn't care, because to him, Princess Celestia has always been his mother and he was grateful to know that she had been there for him until the day he left with his "sister," Twilight to live in Ponyville. And to see his own mother crying like this breaks his heart. He continued to hold Princess Celestia in a warm embrace until she was satisfied. The hug felt like forever to Spike, but he didn't seem to mind at all as long as his mother got a little better at least. 'There there. I'm right her Celes..er... mom. Don't worry. You've been there for me, now I'm here for you. I know we'll find a way to heal those inner wounds.' Spike thought to himself, still hugging Celestia.