//------------------------------// // Unexpected Meets & Greets & Reunions // Story: Rise of Equestria: The War Begins // by Israel Yabuki //------------------------------// Spike was still awe-struck at the sight of the town, which looked more like a much more tougher, hard-working version of Ponyville and even the residents were mostly 70% male. It was definitely both similar to and different from Ponyville. Spike wondered what the rules of this town were like. Were they strict, difficult, or easy enough to understand? If there's one thing Spike knew, he wasn't going to find out from just staring out the carriage window. He opened up the door and stepped out the carriage and stretched out his body. The rest of the girls stepped out of the carriages as well, stretching their tired bodies. The girls walked up to Princess Celestia, unsure of what the customs of the town are. Even Princess Celestia was unsure of the customs, but it didn't stop her from telling the girls what they need to know. "Alright, everypony, listen up. Just like every other place, except for our hometowns, we're only guests here. So try to be on your best behaviors and don't try to start any trouble. Can I trust you all with this one simple request, girls?" Celestia asked the group. "Yes, Princess." They say in unison. "Excellent, now let's not waste any time. I suggest that we all split up so we’ll have better chances with finding anypony with a friendship problem." Celestia implied. The others nodded and split up into different directions. Rainbow Dash searched through the skies to see if there was anypony who was in need of help. But then out of nowhere, something yellow sped past her, causing her to spin out of control in the air. She didn't know what it was, but she definitely wasn't going to let whatever that was, slide that easily. She chased the thing that sped past her. Pinkie Pie took the opportunity to pig out at the ice cream parlor. The other ponies just looked at her all surprised and confused as to how she was able to eat so much sugar and not get sick or have a bloated belly. This disturbed the locals in ways where they suddenly lost their appetite because of Pinkie's sloppy eating. Fluttershy trotted along the path of the town, not knowing who or what she was looking for. But then, she came across what looked like the town's local zoo. For some reason, she felt like she was being drawn to it, so she decided to check it out. She paid to get inside and looked around, seeing all kinds of exotic animals, much different than the ones in the private garden at Celestia's castle. Applejack searched the east part of the town and walked into what looked like farmlands. Each farm was planting and harvesting all kinds of fruits and vegetables for the upcoming winter. But then, something caught Applejack's eye. An earth pony stallion who was helping out one of the elderly ponies, who looked like they broke their backs. His fur was a tan color and his mane was brown. His eyes were darker shade of green than her own and his cutie mark was what looked like an erupting volcano. She realized then that she had a job to do and kept searching for any kind of problem the locals might actually have. Rarity searched the west part of the town, which was actually the market. But sadly, none of the ponies here looked like they were having any struggles with their daily lives. They all seemed very chatty and satisfied. Nevertheless, Rarity kept looking, eventually bumping into somepony when she wasn't looking and fell. "Oh dear, I'm so sorry about that." she said. "No need to be sorry, it wasn't your fault miss." said a male voice. He sounded like he was a Canterlot pony, but he wasn't. Rarity looked up and saw a light blue stallion with brown eyes and a black mane. He looked like the type of stallion who's a sheltered genius who was groomed for success his whole life. He was carrying what looked like medical books in his saddle bags. His cutie mark showed what look like a wave from the ocean. "Are you alright?" he asked, offering to help her up. "I'm fine, I just wasn't looking where I was going. My name's Rarity." she introduces herself. "My parents call me Tidal Wave. Pleased to meet you. Well, I'd better get home. Mother is almost done cooking up supper." "Well, alright. Take care." "You too, Rarity." As soon as he turned the corner on one of the paths, Rarity continued her search. Twilight and Sunset searched the southern part of the town, and stumbled upon the local town library. But this library was in the form of a tree, similar to the Golden Oaks Library that Twilight use to live in before Tirek destroyed it. The memories of that library still left a few scars and a broken heart inside Twilight. Sunset could tell that Twilight was hurting inside. She gave Twilight a big hug, comforting her. "Hey, it's alright, Twilight. I'm right here for you." Sunset says. "Thanks, Sunset. I'm glad to have one of my best friends by my side." Twilight says, returning the hug. She and Sunset eventually broke free and headed inside the library. The moment they stepped in, Twilight went over to one of the shelves, grabbed a few books and took them with her to a table and started reading. Sunset walked over and sat next to her. "Um, Twilight, what are you doing? We have to keep looking or we won't get our job done." Sunset asks quietly. "I'm just looking over the rules and history of this town. It'll give us better grasp on how things work here. Go ahead and grab a book or two, maybe they might have more info on this place as well." Twilight implied. Sunset sighed and got out of her chair. She walked over to one of the shelves and only took one book. She went back to sit with Twilight and opened up the book. Twilight looked over Sunset's shoulder and saw the title on the first page: Freedom Valley Legends. "Ooh, very good choice." she said before she got back to reading. With Princess Celestia and Spike, however, they traveled to the north part of town, passing by a beautiful neighborhood where some of the wooden houses had watermills in the backyard and lovely gardens. The fillies and colts were chasing each other, playing tag and hide and seek, and even playing jump rope. Princess Celestia smiled just as much as Spike was seeing the young ones having fun. Further down the path, stood a big wooden house that was about 3 stories tall. There was a balcony on the 3rd floor. Spike could only guess that it probably belonged to the leader. "Wait here." Celestia says as she advances. She walked up to the front door and knocked on it. She got no response and waited for a few seconds before knocking again. This time, the door opened up to reveal an alicorn stallion with the same fur color as her, but his mane and eyes were sapphire blue. Both she and the alicorn stallion’s eyes shrunk when they finally met each other. “Strange, you look so familiar, yet I can’t exactly put my hoof on it.” said the stallion. Princess Celestia was about to giggle, but she kept it in check so the stallion would figure it out. Spike looked up at the princess with a confused look on his face. “Um, mom? Is he...you know?” Spike asks vaguely. Celestia only glanced at Spike, giving him a simple nod. Spike looked at the stallion and asked him. “Excuse me, sir? Um, if you don’t mind me asking, what’s the name of this place exactly?” “Oh this town right here is called the Freedom Village, but as you may have noticed how the rest of the outside land is nothing but a wide open grassland, that’s what our ancestor’s call The Freedom Valley, a beautiful place where we work hard and roam free.” explained the stallion. “My name is Blue Blaze and I’m the leader of this whole town and my job is to protect it.” “Wow, that’s pretty cool. How’d this place get its name?” Spike asked. Blue Blaze chuckled at the young dragon’s curiousity and stepped aside. “Why don’t you both come in and I’ll tell you all about it. Usually my father would tell you, but he’s still taking care of some business with his old combat partner. My wife loves it whenever we have kind visitors over, including our daughter.” Blue Blaze says. “Oh, why thank you, Blue Blaze.” Celestia says. “Come on, Spike.” “Okay mom.” Spike and Celestia walked inside the house before Blue Blaze closed the door and guided them to the living room on the left hand side of the house. Celestia and Spike took a seat by the window while Blue Blaze went into the kitchen where there was a mare with dark red fur and silky smooth bright red mane. The two of them started talking quietly to each other about who-knows-what and something told Spike it wasn’t exactly going to be pleasant. Blue Blaze walked back into the living room and sat in his chair, clearing his throat. “Sorry about the wait. Also, if you don’t mind me asking, young dragon did I just hear you refer to the mare right next to you as your mother earlier?” Blue Blaze asks. “Oh, yeah. She might not be my real mom, but she helped raise me when I was just a little hatchling, along with the help of Twilight.” Spike replied. “I see, so what might your names be?” “My name’s Spike.” “And I’m Princess Celestia.” just as she answered, Blue Blaze’s eyes shrunk a bit. “What’s the matter, Blue Blaze, is there something wrong?” “My... my mother was a princess... a princess that my father married 20+ years ago, but my memories of my mother are so hazey that I forgot what she looked like.” Blue Blaze took one more look at Princess Celestia to see if his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. “It can’t be... is it really you?” The only thing Celestia could so was give Blue Blaze a warm and loving smile. “So you’re finally remembering? I’m glad to hear that... my son.” Celestia says. Right on cue, Blue Blaze calmly got out of his chair and walked over to his mother that he finally remembered and gave her a big hug and she hugged him back. “To think that after all these years, you’ve changed from a simple unicorn to an alicorn, and you’ve become a well-respected king.” “A king? But I thought all kings were bad.” Spike said. “Not all kings, Spike. In this particular town, the king and queen are highly respected just as much as they are highly respective of their citizens. It’s true that even I was once a queen here, but with Blue Blaze and his wife, well, you can already put two and two together.” Celestia explains. “Hmm, there’s somethings you don’t hear every day.” Spike says, earning a chuckle from his mom. Back at the town’s library, Twilight was still buried deep in the books, gaining as much knowledge of the town’s history as possible, but jumped in surprise by Sunset’s gasping. “Sunset, you almost gave me a heart attack!” Twilight whispered. “Sorry Twilight, but there’s something you need to see.” Sunset showed Twilight a specific page on the book that eventually gave her the same surprised look. “It... It can’t be!” Twilight said “But, what if it’s true?” Sunset asked. “If it is true, we should probably alert the princess right away!” “How? We don’t know where she might be in this town?” “Don’t know where who might be in this town?” asked a male voice. Twilight and Sunset turned and saw a pegasus with light yellow fur, orange mane and purple eyes just like Celestia’s. His cutie mark was a flame that was moving really fast. “Umm, are you a resident of this town?” Twilight asked. “Sure, I live with here with my two older brothers and my dad.” he said. “Well, do you think you can tell us if you’ve seen a white alicorn walking around with a teenage purple dragon anywhere in this town?” Sunset asks. “Hmm, now that I think about it, I did see somepony with those exact descriptions being let into my house by my big brother earlier.” he said. “Well, can you take one of us there? It’s kind of important.” Twilight asks. “Sure, by all means, come with me.” he agreed. Twilight looked over at Sunset and she nodded in approval to let Twilight go with the stallion while she stayed behind and read some more. Twilight and the pegasus stallion walked out of the library and down the path to his house. “By the way, my name’s Twilight Sparkle.” “My name’s Heat Blitz.” “Hmm, interesting name. Did your dad give it to you?” “Yeah. My dad thought it’d be a nice name since I wasn’t born a unicorn like my two older brothers were, but I felt a little better when my oldest brother became an alicorn.” “Really? How’d that happen?” “It wasn’t exactly a pleasant event, but... it happened at our grandpa’s funeral.” “Oh, I’m really sorry for your loss.” “Thanks, Twilight. You see, it was back when Blue Blaze gave out his speech about grandpa, saying how he was a wonderful leader and a loving grandfather to us and loving father to our dad. But the last thing he said that truly earned him his wings was how he said that he’d pick up the pieces and continue on where our grandpa left off and keep our whole town safe.” “That’s great! So what was your other brother like?” “Oh...you mean Eternal Flames?” “That’s his name?” “Yeah... our... our mother gave him that name... before she disappeared.” “What’s your brother, Eternal Flames like?” “Well... he doesn’t really talk much these days. He spends most of his time in his room, watching the town from his bedroom window all day. Before this whole grandpa passing away, he was always a hard working and slightly sociable stallion, but now he doesn’t socialize at all. He feels as if the whole entire world turned against him when it took away our beloved grandpa.” “What was your grandfather like?” “He was one of the bravest unicorn stallions we’ve ever had, next to our dad and my brothers, of course, and he was so kind, smart and very wise. He even referred to his subjects as his own family, just like he did for his real family. It broke our hearts that he had to leave us so soon. But it really affected Eternal Flames the most and now it’s like the family is falling apart so quickly. He’s also been pushing himself past the point of exhaustion trying to become the best combat specialist he can be. He feels like it’s his duty and his alone.” “That doesn’t seem like a very good idea. That’d just add more stress to himself than what he already has and it could probably break him.” This was way past the point of what the true problem was in this town and it was all thanks to a brand new friend she made. “You know, if it helps, I could gather my friends and we can all try to cheer him up, help him move forward, which is what his grandfather would’ve wanted.” “What? Gee, I don’t know, Twilight. I mean, he doesn’t like to burden somepony he doesn’t know with his personal problems at all. He’s got some strict principles for himself.” Heat Blitz explained. “Even so, it wouldn’t hurt for him to hear us out.” Heat Blitz was about to explain, but Twilight cut him off, “Please, it’s our job to help solve friendship problems. Whether as a team or as individuals, it’s our solemn duty to help fix any and all friendship problems.” Heat Blitz took a little time to think it over as they got closer to his house and then finally, “Alright Twilight, I’ll even let my brother, Blue Blaze know about this.” “Thanks for understanding, Heat Blitz.” After their little agreement, Both ponies reached the three-story wooden house and went inside before Heat Blitz closed the door behind them. Heat Blitz and Twilight walked over to the living room where Blue Blaze was sitting next to his wife, Crimson Ruby and in front of Princess Celestia and Spike. Heat Blitz was a little confused with who the mysterious mare was, since he never met her before or the dragon. But there was something about her that made him feel like he’s related to her in some strange way. “Ah, Heat Blitz, come sit. And you too, miss.” said Blue Blaze to Twilight. “Oh, thanks.” Twilight walked over to one of the chairs and sat on it. “My name’s Twilight Sparkle, and I’m guessing you’ve met Princess Celestia.” “Indeed I have. There’s even a little something I never knew about her up until just recently and boy did it ever leave me so surprised and so happy.” Blue Blaze said. “What do you mean, bro?” Heat asked. “Tell me, Heat. Have you ever wondered where our beloved mother was? Or ever pondered about whether or not she was even alive?” “Sometimes, yes. Why do you ask?” “Well, you can stop now. She’s found us.” Heat Blitz’s eyes shrunk and his attention turned to Celestia. He felt like his jaw had dropped to the ground and broke through the floor. “Y-YOU MEAN?!” “I know I can never turn back the clock on what has happened over these pasts 20+ years, but I’m just so glad to see my boys have grown up so much.” Celestia says, getting up out of her chair and walking towards Heat Blitz, giving him a hug. “M-M-M-M-Mom? Is that really you?” Heat Blitz asked with tear-filled eyes. “I’m here now, son.” Heat Blitz’s heart had started pounding fast and his sobbed quietly into his mother’s shoulder, now feeling satisfied that she had found him. “Shhhh, it’s alright. Mother’s here now, sweetie.” Celestia whispered in his ear, while he let loose a steady stream of his happy tears. “Princess Celestia?” Twilight asked. “Yes, Twilight?” “You actually have children? I mean, I get that you raised Spike when he was just a hatchling, but how come you never told me that you had 3 other sons before him?” “It’s a long story, Twilight. And I don’t think now is the best time.” “B-But...” Just as she was about to start, she remembered an important errand she had to run that she had completely forgotten along the way. “Oh no! I forgot to tell you, Princess. But while Sunset and I were at the library, we sort of found something that kind of... gave us another reason to come here.” “Oh? What might that be, Twilight?” “Well, I’d tell you, but I think you’re hooves are full at the moment. I can certainly relate to Heat Blitz when my big brother would always be training at the castle while he was working as Captain of the Royal Guard, so I don’t see why I should interrupt this tender moment.” “Spoken like a real Princess of Friendship. Mom really taught you well.” Spike said. “Yes she did, Spike.” Twilight agreed. Back with Fluttershy, she had been traveling all over the local town zoo, gazing at all of the exotic animals and then finally coming across what looked like a large tiger exhibit. What she saw inside the exhibit had given her a surprised look on her face and it wasn’t because of how big the tigers were or how many there were inside, but because of who the pony was that was caring for them. The pony she saw, was a pegasus with a silver colored mane and a minty-green fur coat and his cutie mark showed a tornado with three leaves on each side like they were wings. Two of the three tigers were being given a nice, relaxing belly rub each, while the third one was enjoying its cat nap. All the while, the pegasus was humming a gentle and soft tune, like a melodious lullaby. Fluttershy was dumbfounded to find out that there was somepony else in this town who knew how to approach and care for animals, similar to how she does it. She then sees the tigers pushing him away with their big paws, telling him that’s more than enough. He backed off with a smile and flew out of the exhibit right next to where Fluttershy was standing. “You have a way with animals, don’t you?” she asked, getting his attention. “Hmm? Oh, yeah. It’s always been my passion.” he replied. “Are there any other ponies working here? I haven’t seen any other ponies looking after the other animals, are you the only one working here?” “Sadly yes. There use to be 4 others that once worked here, but 3 of them quit and the other passed away from a sickness that went on for too long.” “Oh dear, I hope they rest in peace.” “I’m sure she is. And I know she’s smiling from above.” “Hmm, yes. You’re right.” Fluttershy then got an idea. “Um, would it be too much trouble if I helped you out around the zoo a little bit? I know how to care for animals.” “Well, I don’t know, I don’t exactly make a lot of bits in this zoo.” “Oh, I’m not doing it for the bits, I just want to help because I figure these animals get so lonely when they don’t have enough ponies to help love and care for them.” “Are you sure?” “Of course...umm... if you don’t mind, that is?” the pegasus pondered about it for a moment before he gave Fluttershy a straight answer. “Alright, you can help. It’s not gonna be an easy job, but I do appreciate the help. By the way, I forgot to tell you, my name’s Hurricane Breeze.” “Pleased to meet you, Hurricane. My name’s Fluttershy.” “Nice to meet you, too, Fluttershy. Here, come along with me. I’ll introduce you to some of the animals here that I know who will love to see new faces.” Hurricane guided Fluttershy over to the back part of the zoo, showing her the other kinds of exhibits: kangaroos, warthogs, tapirs, orangutans and even a reptile exhibit with different reptiles that Fluttershy has never seen before, such as the komodo dragon. Unlike other dragons, this one didn’t have any wings, despite its full-grown shape and size. Back at the library, Sunset was still reading through the book that she had found on the Freedom Valley and the legendary tales of the supposed myth. But what was strange about this particular legend was that she feared it could actually be as true as the Nightmare Moon legend. And this could only mean that she and her friends were probably going to be put through yet another difficult challenge. “5 of them are known, but the 6th is a mystery, huh?” Sunset asked herself. “Hmm... I never would’ve guess... that there was a legend about these so-called "Elements of Freedom.” She read through the book more to see if there was anything about the Elements that might be helpful, like where they might be hidden away or who the chosen wielders are. She wanted to skip ahead, but she was afraid that she might end up skipping the page with the exact info she needed. She read the books carefully from page to page, gathering as much info as she possibly could. It then on the 5th page, she finally found the info she needed and found out all she needed to know about the newly discovered six hidden “Elements of Freedom” and their chosen wielders. The only thing left to do for Sunset was to alert Princess Celestia about this.