Temple of Harmony, Equestria. May, 1252.
The warm, moist air in the little stone building swirled with floral fragrances. The zebra stood, head erect, all four hooves planted on the dirt floor. Before him Celestia sat, her manner dignified beyond her situation. Between the two, a small jeweled kettle rested on a little mat, boiling without flame.
Celestia spoke. Her eyes fluttered shut. "You honor me with your presence, Lord Bakora. I regret I cannot make myself easy for ambassadors to find, but admire your diligence."
He bowed. It was a crisp, short bow, refined over a lifetime and executed with unerring precision. "No distance is too great to travel, if it is to give the reverent greetings of the Sublime Council of the Zebra Tribes to one so deserving." He spoke excellently, with only the slightest hint of a Zebra accent. Celestia suspected even that trace of imperfection was deliberate.
She smiled blandly in return. "Your Excellency, you must be exhausted. We needn't discuss matters of state this afternoon. I would be honored if you would rest here a while--and perhaps accept an invitation to take dinner with me--allowing us to discuss your matters later, with the sort of attention they undoubtedly deserve."
He did not return the smile. "I extend the sincerest apologies of the Sublime Council to Your Royal Highness. I am afraid that they have declared I would seek you and discuss a matter of the greatest importance, and that I would not rest until the matter has been resolved."
Celestia nodded, still smiling gently. "Of course, Your Excellency. Your dedication is exemplary." Her horn glowed gently, and without shifting her attention, she floated the kettle over to a table, poured the liquid into two cups, set the kettle down, then floated a cup in front of her and a cup in front of the zebra ambassador. "A tisane of rose hip and hibiscus, Your Excellency, both of which were grown on the temple grounds. Surely it would not be the wishes of the Sublime Council to refuse such a minor hospitality."
"I thank you," he said. He then bowed slightly, and brought the cup to his lips. Celestia took note--she had dealt with many zebras and many ambassadors over the centuries, and knew Lord Bakora well. Today the ambassador didn't even attempt to refuse the offer, nor did he reiterate the importance of his request before accepting the gift. He was obviously far more tired than he appeared to be. To her advantage, that meant he wouldn't be as sharp as usual. To her disadvantage, that also meant that he probably wasn't lying about bearing a matter of enormous national concern. She waited for him to finish his drink. It didn't take long.
"Now," she said as he set his cup down, "I am sure you have much to discuss. Please, tell me the concerns of the Sublime Council so that I might remedy or reassure."
He bowed again. "The Sublime Council is outraged by your misguided and bloodthirsty acts in our sacred lands." He spoke as calmly as ever.
"You know very well that our divine influence does not extend to the lands of Punda-Milia." She raised her cup to her lips, and immediately felt a tinge of irritation. The tea was slightly too strong. Hmph. Sloppy of me. The war must be taking its toll.
"I am referring to the agent you have unleashed in our territory. This is an outrageously disproportionate act."
Celestia raised an eyebrow. "Disproportionate, ambassador? And tell me, then, why I should have done any less."
"Are you defending this slaughter?" His voice had a razor's edge to it.
Celestia calmly sipped her tea again. "No. I am inviting your Council to defend itself."
"This--this is outrageous! Our contacts with the Kingdom of Gryphonia have been purely cultural! What could possibly have led you to authorize something like this?"
Celestia laughed gently. "To be honest, I have no idea what you're talking about, Your Excellency. None whatsoever. I wasn't even aware you had 'cultural contacts' with the Gryphon King during this war, though I do thank you for finally deciding to tell me you've been working with our enemy--however inadvertant your decision was. As for your allegations, I haven't issued a directive related to your homeland since our open-ports agreement years ago."
The ambassador sneered. "I am a zebra, Your Royal Highness, not one of your ponies. Professions of ignorance may help you pull the strings of your trusting subjects, but those who live beyond Equestria are not your puppets."
"Temper, dear." She sipped her tea, her eyes closed. "What makes you think I have anything to do with your problem?"
"As the problem is a pony, we find that the burden is on you to convince me you aren't responsible."
"Hm, yes. I'm afraid that would be difficult to do, Your Excellency, as you haven't even told me what it is I'm meant to have ordered."
"The problem is that a pony has killed hundreds of our subjects, cutting a seemingly arbitrary swath of murder through our lands."
"If your story is true, then I apologize for the criminal pony that has taken it upon him or herself to go to your lands. But many thousands of my subjects have been killed--and are being killed--by a criminal invasion that threatens my throne and my country. I am afraid I cannot spare any resources to help you apprehend one criminal. Do you have no soldiers of your own? "
"Do not toy with me! This is no criminal; she has cast dozens of zebras aside in a blink of an eye! Such magic power has only been demonstrated by you and your...your special students."
Celestia shrugged. "I rule over many ponies. I know nothing of this one."
He laughed derisively. "Come now, are we to believe the Pony Queen had such a weapon in her lands and did not incorporate it into her unnatural machine?"
Celestia stood up immediately, a flare of rage in her eyes. "Watch yourself, ambassador; 'cultural contacts' or not, there is no reason to be repeating Gryphonic propaganda in my presence. I am Princess Celestia of Equestria, and you will refer to me as such. I am a fair, responsible, and equitable ruler of my ponies, and you will treat me as such. And, for that matter, our intrinsic nature is not mechanical and is not unnatural, and I will not apologize for ponykind's divine gifts."
The ambassador had been backing away nervously as he looked for an opporunity to interject and apologize. He recognized the danger in her tone of voice. He was exhausted and emotional, and he knew that deliberate line-crossing was generally dismissed as part of the game with a consummate statespony like her, but regardless he knew that sparking a personal grudge with an immortal sovereign was one of the stupidest things he could do as a diplomat. Half of Equestria's foreign policy relied on the longevity of the Princesses: an affront to the Sublime Council of the Zebra Tribes might be forgotten with the election of new tribal heads, while an affront to Celestia or Luna might be remembered eternally and repaid many times over.
But he found no opening, and she continued her verbal assault, following him as he backed away. "You are making a direct attack on me and on my subjects, and are casting aside every pretense of diplomatic objectivity to do so. Cast aside for the moment whatever gryphon poisons you have swallowed, remember your position as a diplomatic agent of a neutral state, and look at my own position. If I had such an asset in my employ, do you honestly believe I would send it halfway across a continent simply to commit arbitrary murder against zebras who have done me no wrong? Do you honestly believe that as the Gryphonic talons consume and defile the greater part of my lands, I would decide to commit acts of war against a distant friend? Did you think for a minute about what you were suggesting before you decided to seek me out to suggest it? Ambassador, this conversation nears a close. If your aim is war and wished only to establish a false cover for an opportunistic invasion, then nothing we say here matters and you may leave. If you wish to establish whether I was responsible for your problem pony, then you have your answer and you may leave. If you wished only to infuriate an already humiliated sovereign, then you have succeeded and you may leave."
"--I apologize, Your Royal Highness. I apologize. Please forgive me. I apologize truthfully and completely. I spoke from the weakness of my body and the exhaustion of my mind. I did not speak for the Sublime Council, and they would surely have my head if they knew I had committed such an offense in their name."
She raised a single eyebrow, but the rest of her expression remained unchanged.
He spoke hurriedly. He knew he wouldn't have long to change her mind. "You must understand; you are renowned for your magical ability, and your mentorship of future servants of the state is famed throughout the world. Furthermore, we understand you are at war, and that in war, innocuous communications may be honestly misinterpreted. When we find a pony with astounding magical ability wreaking havoc in our lands--speaking your name all the while--it is not out of the question to suspect there may be a link
There was a pause. Celestia spoke with a too-perfect calmness that betrayed a rising panic.
"She...she spoke my name?"
"Few zebras speak your language, but many survivors of her rampages distinctly recall the pony making inquiries involving your name before she began to kill. We assumed she was making some sort of demand."
"How...if I might ask, how does she kill?" Celestia's expression remained tranquil. She blinked deliberately, focusing all her sudden tension in a twitch of her eyelids.
The zebra leaned forward a few inches. "It's always unpredictable. She crushes them. She explodes them. She turns their bodies into other things. She pulls them apart like toy dolls. She tosses them into things. She sets them on fire or rains acid on them. Sometimes they just disappear. She acts normally, but once she begins to kill, she destroys everything that gets in her way. We can't use magic against her. We can't even approach her. Does this sound familiar, perhaps?"
"What does she look like?" Celestia's heart pounded despite her attempts to slow it.
"Lavender. Violet and white mane. A small hat. Do you know her?"
"Her cutie mark, ambassador. What does it look like?"
"Our eyewitnesses were more concerned with fleeing for their lives than taking fashion notes. Your Royal Highness, if I might be so bold, you seem rather interested in this pony, considering that it's an inconsequential criminal you have no links to. Perhaps an asset of yours has gone missing recently?"
"No...no, nothing of the sort...no," she said. She ran her tongue across her teeth. Her mouth was nearly dry. "But...Your Excellency...is there anything else you know about her? Anything at all?"
"Your Royal Highness, it certainly does sound as if you have knowledge of this pony. Your excuse, perhaps, will be an overzealous subordinate? A tragic miscommunication between yourself and your agent that resulted in an 'entirely accidental' retributory act against our people...which you tell me of with the implicit understanding that our good behavior will result in no such further accidents?"
Celestia shook her head sharply. "I told you, nothing like that. Ambassador, I promise you I am not playing games. If this pony is who I think she is, she is not affiliated with Canterlot nor does she have its interests in mind. Indeed, she is a threat to far, far more than you realize. I will explain everything I know, but, ambassador, for me to do that I am going to need some information."
"I've told you all I know, Your Royal Highness."
"I don't mean that kind of information--not about this pony. No. I mean a different kind of information. I am going to need the entirety of your recent cultural communications with the Kingdom of Gryphonia. Every word of every message, sent and received."
He pulled his head back sharply. "We are under no obligation to share diplomatic correspondance with anyone, and certainly not to nations with whom our correspondants are at war. We are a neutral state, Your Royal Highness, not a pony dependency."
She shook her head again. "It isn't a matter of diplomatic obligation, ambassador. It is a matter of literally unlimited danger to your homeland, to myself, and to the rest of the world."
"So...this is blackmail, then? You have unleashed some demon to force us to reveal our diplomatic dealings with Gryphonia?"
Celestia sighed, then her horn began to glow. An envelope floated off her table and in front of the zebra. "Ambassador, I did not wish to reveal my knowledge of Gryphonic plots to those I cannot trust, but the information I have asked for is of importance you cannot yet understand. Write a request to your Sublime Council to release those correspondances to me. Include this letter. I will send it when you are ready."
He looked over the document, then up at her. "I don't understand, Your Royal Highness. This is just some gryphon correspondance about some troop orders and a vague assassination plot. This doesn't say anything about anything."
"Your Council is wise. They will compare this letter with what they have provided the gryphons. If my guess regarding your 'demon' is correct, they will understand and provide the information I require. If my guess is incorrect, they will not. And once I have my information, I will fully explain to both you and your Council what has happened."
"This is quite suspicious, Your Royal Highness. Why not simply explain now?"
"Your Council has its secrets, ambassador. We have ours. We will reveal all that is necessary, but only when convinced it is necessary to do so. I trust your Council will do the same."
He watched her expression for few seconds, then nodded. "I will relay your request to the Sublime Council, if there is no further need of me. But I must warn you that I was sent because the Council is determined to find a resolution to this problem. If they do not believe these somewhat...evasive denials, then they may find a non-diplomatic resolution is in order."
Celestia finished her cup of tea and set it down before she replied. "Understood. You may take your leave at your pleasure, Your Excellency, though your company is always welcome. I anxiously await their reply."
The ambassador rose, bowed, walked backwards five paces, then turned and left.
Celestia sat alone. She bit the inside of her lip as she thought. She only stopped when she tasted blood.
----
Twilight Sparkle lay in her bed, the sweat-stained white sheets pulled up to her elbows. Her head ached. Her body ached. Her horn especially ached. And, as always, she felt exhausted. In front of her face, she floated an old and massive book, which she flipped slowly through. She could barely understand the archaic language and byzantine structure, and she found her eyes would defocus for pages at a time, but she didn't care. She was reading again, and she was doing magic again. And though her horn hurt, levitating the book for hours on end seemed almost as if it relieved some sort of pressure.
"Is it interesting?" a voice said.
In her surprise Twilight sent the book flying across the room. It clattered against the wall and fell onto an unused bucket. She twisted her neck around, looking behind her for the sudden intruder, then finally saw that Princess Celestia was sitting at the foot of her bed.
"A simple 'no' would have sufficed, dear, though honestly I could have guessed that a late-classical treatise on the history of palatial and religious architecture wasn't going to be terribly thrilling. It wasn't even that interesting at the time."
"P-Princess," Twilight sputtered, "I didn't--no, it was really--I mean I wasn't expecting--it was--you were--it was good? How. Um. How long have you been there?"
"Perhaps ten minutes. I didn't mean to be so long, but I found watching you read to be unexpectedly soothing. I hope you don't consider it an intrusion, but it's so rare these days to see a pony at peace."
"I...thanks? Um. Why are you here? Um, Princess?"
"Something has come up. A few things, rather. And while I understand you have been in desperate need of some peace and quiet, I'm afraid the time has come for you to begin engaging the world again."
Twilight moaned softly. "The Elements? But...oh, Princess. I can't do it again. I think the last time nearly killed me."
"That is slightly dramatic, Twilight. You were in no danger. It was simply not something your mind was expecting."
Twilight pulled her pillow over her eyes. "Ugh. Why me?"
"Because you are the element of Magic."
"Why do I have to be that? The other girls have been running around this place for days. I still feel like I've just been sat on by an Ursa Major. Magic doesn't even make sense as an Element. This is dumb. We're all dumb. Let me sleep."
Celestia effortlessly sent the pillow flying. Twilight covered her eyes with a foreleg. "Twilight, your magical ability is astounding. The other five ponies were chosen by the Elements because their minds are well suited to embrace their cardinal virtues and to open their controlled gates to the Flow. You were chosen because your mind is well suited to creating connections to ponies, and to synthesizing and harnessing the torrents of unbound magic that course through those connections when the Elements are active."
"I. Know. That. That's the problem. I don't wanna do that again. It hurts."
"Twilight, it hurt because you weren't prepared for it. Did it hurt after the first two times?"
"...no. But this time was bigger."
"The Elements are infinite in their potential. They always have been."
There was silence.
"Princess?"
"Yes, Twilight?"
"Do I really have to get out of bed?"
"Yes, Twilight."
"Okay."
The purple unicorn climbed out of her tangled mess of sheets, wincing all the while. She swung her feet over the side of the bed, popped down to the ground, shivered, and then looked up at the Princess.
"I'm still sore," she said reproachfully.
"I didn't think getting out of bed would fix that, dear."
"Yeah...I guess I didn't either," she admitted. "Are we going to go somewhere now?"
Celestia smiled gently, and began to walk towards the door. Twilight followed on unsteady legs.
"Yes," Celestia said, looking over her shoulder. "Your friends would like to see you again."
---
Twilight Sparkle walked alone through the dusky courtyard. Vines grew on and through the crumbling walls, and the grasses were tall and unkempt. Above, enormous trees blocked the sky; all around, torches flickered. It was impossible to tell whether it was night or day. A thousand unfamiliar sounds buzzed and whistled and crackled; all around the temple, nature in all its untamed virility was free to exist.
She heard a rustling noise from a dense patch of ragged shrubbery to her side. Her ears pricked up, and she turned to face it. The noise came again, and she saw a branch move. She walked slowly towards the bush.
Then, suddenly, she felt a heavy weight crashing into her side. She hit the ground hard, and felt the air rush out of her lungs. She tried to breathe in. She couldn't; the wind was knocked out of her. In a panic she tried to look at her attacker, but her eyes wouldn't focus. She felt a hoof grab at her face roughly and pull her head to face...something. To face a pony. To face a pink pony. To face Pinkie Pie.
"OH MY GOSH OH MY GOSH YOU'RE FINALLY UP TWILIGHT WE MISSED YOU IT'S BEEN AGES AND AGES AND AGES!"
Twilight winced, and tried to sit up. She couldn't; Pinkie Pie was sitting square on her chest. She tried to ask Pinkie to get off. She couldn't; with the weight of the pony on her ribcage she could hardly breathe. She pushed at Pinkie with her foreleg. Pinkie ignored it.
"GIRLS! SHE'S HERE! C'MON OUT!"
Applejack slowly and haltingly emerged from the bush Twilight had seen rustling, and Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash flitted down from unmanaged, bushy treetops. Rarity walked out from behind the tree Fluttershy had perched in. Each wore a New Equestrian Army uniform, clean and bright and crisp.
"Twilight," Pinkie laughed, "get up and say hi to us! I know you're a real sleepyhead nowadays but it's not naptime yet!"
With a choked grunt, Twilight struggled in vain to lift the pink pony off her chest. Pinkie chuckled and shook her head.
"Oh, Twilight, I didn't say I wanted you to get me up. Here. Let Auntie Pinkie help you out." Using a single rear hoof, Pinkie leapt off Twilight, knocking the wind out of the unicorn for a second time. She then jammed her head under Twilight's neck, and with a shoveling motion popped her into a standing position. Twilight wobbled and coughed.
"Man," Applejack said, "you don't look so hot. Maybe the Princess was right about you needin' all that rest."
"...nng. I'm fine, girls," Twilight grunted. "I just had Pinkie on my--"
"--yep! You had me on the case--the mystery of the missing mare. Where did Twilight go? No worries. Pinkie found her! Right where the Princess said she'd be, ten minutes ago. Case: closed!"
Twilight Sparkle looked skeptically at Pinkie Pie. She was a giddy pink ball of happiness in a rumpled but clean uniform, her long, straight hair falling in gentle, shining waves along her neck.
"Applejack," Twilight said slowly, "is Pinkie still having issues...you know...coping?"
"Well," the farmpony replied, "Can't say I rightly know. We ain't seen anything much to cope with while we been holed up in this pile o' rocks."
"Rainbow Dash," Twilight said in the same tone of voice. "Is Applejack still refusing to tell anypony anything?"
Rainbow Dash shrugged. "I dunno. Can't say I've spoken much with her. Not a whole lot to talk about, you know? I've been pretty busy trying to coordinate the efforts to track down all the cavalry that fled the battle. We've tracked down a couple thousand already, but that's all the big groups of 'em. I'm thinking that tracking down individual stragglers might not be worth the time. There are a heck of a lot of 'em, but it might be easier to let 'em come to us."
Twilight licked her lips. She found they were cracked and chapped. "Rarity, is Rainbow Dash still refusing to be friends with anypony?"
"Well, dear, I have to say...I'm not entirely certain. I've been quite busy as well. You know how it is; when you can feed ten mouths a hundred show up, and when you can feed a hundred mouths a thousand show up. Though, I can say that on the few occasions I've had to talk with her, she's certainly seemed polite enough...er, you know. For Rainbow Dash."
Twilight glanced around the yard in a panic. Her eyes fell on a familiar demure yellow face.
"Fluttershy! Oh, it's good to see you. Is Rar--no, I can see the pattern here." She shook her head gently. "I'll just go to the source. Are you still too afraid to fight?"
"No. I don't think so," she replied, her voice thoughtful. "I haven't had to yet. But...I don't want to run away this time."
"Okay, good. Is Rarity still being...er...would you describe Rarity as being, you know...cruel? Like, spitefully opposed to helping anypony else?"
"...um, no. No, I don't think so. She doesn't seem cruel to me. But maybe I'm not very good at noticing things like that."
"Good enough. Is Rainbow Dash still afraid to be friends with ponies?"
"Well...she's really busy. We're all really busy. But she's still my friend. At least I think she's my friend. I mean...I always thought she was my friend. Hm." Fluttershy looked at the ground, then at Rainbow Dash. "Um, if you don't mind my asking...are we still friends?"
"Uh...yeah? Of course we are. That's kind of a dumb question, Fluttershy."
"Oh! I thought we were! But then Twilight said maybe we weren't and I got nervous. Thank you." She turned to face Twilight Sparkle. "No. We're still friends."
Twilight felt her heart ease a bit. "Applejack, tell me. What happened to your soldiers at that battle?"
"Well...don't much like talkin' 'bout it, but I reckon you oughta know seein' as you just got outta your room and all. I didn't tell 'em what we were doin' and why, and they got all panicky and when they saw the gryphons they ran off like a cat that got its tail stepped on. Then the whole barn came tumblin' down. Downright stupid of me I guess."
Twilight was torn between smiling and crying. It was horrible. But Applejack was talking. She asked another question, her voice even: "Is that what happened, Pinkie?"
Pinkie's joy evaporated. She bit her lip and and nodded. "...yeah. Yeah, it was. And then my girls got caught in it, and it was really--" she stopped speaking for a second and winced, "--really, really bad. I think most of them died. And I lost part of my leg. See?"
She turned awkwardly around. In place of one hoof, she had a clumsy-looking metal contraption that went halfway up the leg. "It's not as bad as it looks, really. I mean...I don't have that hoof and I can't run any more and I can only jump using one leg. But I didn't lose the whole leg. This is just until we can make a better fake leg." She waggled her leg stiffly in the air. "Lots of ponies have lost legs. They say that if you get a good replacement with springs and joints and everything, you can get around almost as well once you're used to it. And...I guess that's okay. It's good, I think. I mean...I mean, I'm alive, right?" She said the last bit as if she were begging the words to mean something.
"Oh, Pinkie Pie, I'm so sorry to hear that. I...I didn't know you lost so much. I'm sorry I..." Twilight trailed off. She couldn't put her hoof on exactly what she was sorry about.
"Well, we pretty much all lost somethin'," Applejack said, tossing her head back in the direction of her tail. Her rear end was hooked into a little two-wheeled cart, and her tightly bound legs dangled awkwardly. "The Princess has all sortsa fixin' magic, but my legs got tore up somethin' fierce. I've still gotta keep all weight off 'em for a few more days at least, and they ain't ever gonna be what they was."
Rainbow Dash nodded. "And I lost...well, I lost somepony I was close to. And that I should have been a lot closer to. But...but I still got something from her before she died. We all got something, too."
Twilight suddenly felt very guilty about having complained of a few aches and sores.
Rarity chipped in. "I can't undo what I've done. But I learned I can stop doing it. I've learned I must stop doing it. Even though I don't know quite what that means yet. And Twilight...there's something else. Something I've meant to say the whole time you were in bed. We learned you were right--right about us. About who we were. About trying to keep up our friendship. I don't know what it is I need to do. At all, really. About anything. But Twilight, dear, I do know that I can only figure it out with the help of you five."
"Yeah," Dash said. "I was kinda dumb. I learned some good things about being a leader. We all learned some good things that we had to learn. But we forgot that we need to learn together. And we learned some bad things too."
"...I missed you girls," Pinkie said quietly.
"...I really missed you," Fluttershy said.
Twilight felt herself beginning to cry. She smiled, and moved closer to the others. They moved in, too. And they stood, head to head to head to head to head to head, crying in relief.
And from a balcony overlooking the courtyard, Celestia smiled: the smile of a mother seeing her estranged children reuniting. The smile of a mentor seeing her troubled students succeeding. The smile of a general seeing her secret weapon nearing completion.
---
Maps were spread all over the table, each one so covered in flags and lines and boxes it was nearly unreadable. Celestia and Luna moved pins and string around the maps with whirlwind speed, Celestia moving blue pins and Luna moving red pins. Every few minutes, the "Gryphon" forces Luna commanded won. And so, every few minutes, they'd pull all the pins off the map and start over.
Twilight Sparkle entered the decrepit torchlit hall. "Um...Princess? I mean, Princesses? You called for me?"
Celestia's horn ceased glowing, and the blue pins fell scattered across the map. She turned and walked towards Twilight. Luna puffed her cheeks out, then exhaled a sudden burst of air. She then picked up Celestia's pins as well as her own, and began playing both sides of the wargame.
"We must be brief," Celestia said. "Luna and I are attempting to find a path out of our predicament. It is not easy."
"Princess...what is our predicament? You never told me when I was in bed. You just told me to rest."
"And you did need to rest. But I think we can discuss what has happened now. You ended up involuntarily activating the Elements of Harmony. Or, perhaps I could say, the Elements of Harmony ended up activating themselves without you having requested it--though I would be speaking somewhat metaphorically."
"I don't mean to be rude, Princess, but I think all six of us figured that part out when it was happening."
"Yes, but it helps to start at the beginning. The Elements are a force of near infinite power. When you activate them, they do exactly what you want them to do--and though you cannot remember it, when they are activated you have the vision of a god by virtue of your link to the Flow. And I do mean you, Twilight Sparkle, as the controlling element of Magic. When both I and you used them again Discord, we wanted to subdue the spirit of chaos; the Elements allowed us to turn him into perfectly ordered, perfectly static rock. When I used them by myself against Night Mare Moon, I wished for her to give me Luna back--and saw that acting alone I did not have the control necessary to do so, and so I chose to imprison her safely until you could arrive and Luna could be redeemed. When you used them against Night Mare Moon, you wished for Night Mare Moon to be eradicated, and saw that could be done best by freeing Luna from her grasp. We do not remember seeing these things, of course, or even being conscious of those wishes. But we wished and saw regardless."
"At the end of the battle, I was in the front lines. I was a target, of course, and wished to be one--I am far more capable of defending myself than most ponies are. But I found I was unable to hold them off for long. I was wounded--not gravely, but wounded regardless, and the blade came as a surprise. So I channeled all my consciousness--all my power--into an appeal to the Elements, as one might appeal to an ex-lover. Fortunately, you were all in a state of mind to accept the Elements again, even if only temporarily."
"You wished two things: you wished to escape with me and you wished for the slaughter to end. And so you accomplished both things. It, of course, would have been better if you had wished for the war to be won, but the Elements respond to emotion and not to logic. And so we seven were brought here, to the Temple of Harmony--the former home of Luna and myself, and the former resting place of the Elements. Before doing that, you sent out a mental shockwave that stunned every mind within miles for hours. Ponies recovered more quickly than gryphons, and most used the opportunity to escape."
Twilight's mind raced with questions. "So we're in the Everfree Forest now? At the castle where we fought Night Mare Moon?"
"Yes."
"Is the army here with us?"
"Several thousand ponies, all survivors of the battle, though we are nowhere near capable of fighting as an army."
"How many survivors were there in the battle?"
"We do not know precisely. We believe that about half of our army survived unharmed. The rest were likely killed, were wounded and taken prisoner, or have deserted with no intention of returning."
"But...Rainbow Dash is trying to get the survivors back here."
"She is one of many ponies attempting to do that, yes. Though we will not be here for long."
"And the Gryphons don't know we're here?"
"They do not, no. And they would not be likely to look for us here, as for religious reasons they consider the Everfree Forest to be hostile territory for us. Which, in a sense, it is--but not in a militarily meaningful sense."
"So why are we leaving?"
"Because ponies know I am here, and that means it is dangerous to stay in one place. I roused you from your bed because we are leaving within several days, and it would be best for you to begin re-acquainting yourself with your responsibilities before we must confront the rigors of campaigning."
"Free ponies wouldn't tell gryphons where we are, Princess."
"No. But they would tell a pony, Twilight. And that's all I can say about it today. I promise you I will explain more, but only when I know more. For now, prepare to move out. Our time of rest is over."
---
Mobakilama crossroads, Punda-Milia. May, 1252.
The grasses blew in the hot wind. High above, towering black clouds slid in front of the sun. A front was moving in. The rains would come. At the crossroads market, Lazy Fare packed her fabrics into a leather bag--animal-skin products were a distasteful thing to own, but they were cheap in Punda-Milia and they kept the rain off her more delicate goods. Still, she didn't like the idea of them. When her travels took her to Equestria, she'd replace them with something she could touch without shuddering, but for now she made do. Such was the life of a roaming trader in luxuries and curios.
"Excuse me," a voice said behind her. It was a high-pitched, eager little voice--not like a filly's, but rather like an mare emulating a filly's.
"Hm," Lazy Fare replied.
"You aren't a stripey pony. Maybe you know how to talk!"
"Uh...yeah. Yeah, I can talk. Of course I can talk. In five languages, in fact." She turned around. A smiling purplish pony with a violet-and-white mane stood uncomfortably close. Lazy Fare took a step backwards. The pony took a step forward, in a manner that might have been threatening if the she didn't appear to be completely oblivious to Lazy Fare's discomfort.
"Wow! That's really cool! I can talk, too. Ha ha. But you know that! Because you can hear me talk. Wait. You can understand me, right? I think that's how it works. If you understand one thing I say you understand all of them. Is that how it works?"
"Uh...well, not really? Like sometimes people just know trade pidgins or something. But, um...yeah, I can understand you. I'm a pony. I was born in Equestria...um...can I help you?"
"Ooh! Equestria! I think I was born there too! Do you know Princess Celestia?"
"Wow. Um. Do you...have anyone here you're with? Like a parent or a friend or something?" She looked around for another pony she could talk to. There were only zebras.
"No! I had friends but then they died and now I don't have them. Do you know Princess Celestia?"
"Oh. Wow. Um...wow. So you're all alone? Can you...you know...take care of yourself?"
"Of course," she said, her eyes narrowing. "Of course I can. I can do whatever I want. Do you know Princess Celestia?"
"Well, with that kind of persistance I'm not surprised. I'm glad you're all right," she replied, feeling a bit more at ease. "But as for your question? Nah, I don't know her. I'm just a trader. I've sold the palace some neat stuff I've picked up in particularly far-off places, but that's all handled through buyers. I never see her, but I do like to think that maybe she likes some of the stuff I've found. Like...I like to think that in some small way, I've got a connection with her, you know?"
Screwball took a step closer. She was eye-to-eye with the trader. "So you say you don't know Princess Celestia. But then you say you know where she lives and that you sell her toys. Do you know who she is or not!? I don't like ponies who play tricks on me!"
"Whoa, it wasn't a trick," Lazy Fare said, her back now against another trader's tent. "I thought you asked if I knew her, like personally. Yeah, of course I know who she is. Everypony does. She's the Princess."
Screwball smiled happily. "Good! Nopony here seems to know anything about her. Where is she?"
"Uh...I hear there's a war going on. She's probably fighting it."
"Where?"
"I don't know."
"But you just said there was a war."
"Yeah, but...like, I don't know where she is."
"Where is the war?"
"It's all over Equestria."
"Where's that?"
Lazy Fare pointed in a northerly direction. "Uh, you know. Equestria. North."
Screwball squinted in the direction Lazy Fare's hoof was pointing. "I don't see a war on that hill."
"Oh, for the love of...no. It's really far in that direction. Like, really, really far. Are you sure you can take care of yourself? How long have you been alone?"
"Weeks, probably. And yes, I can take care of myself. I told you. I can do whatever I want to do." She pouted aggressively.
Lazy Fare laughed. "Yeah, you got that right. Anything you want. That's why I travel alone, too--it's nice having nopony holding you back from where you want to go. And I guess you've got to be more put-together than you look, if you're surviving just fine out here by yourself."
Screwball smiled contentedly. "Yep. So how do I get to Princess Celestia?"
"Well...I'd head up to Equestria and then start asking around, though I'm sure it's not easy to find her during a war. Hey, do you want to buy a map? I've got a map of the entire region here, with all the roads laid out."
"Nope! I can't read."
"No, it's a map, see? It's a picture. You can look at the picture and it tells you where to go. Look, I believe you that you take care of yourself, but...how do you survive out here?"
"I do whatever I want with my magic," she said offhandedly, "but I want to see the picture that talks to you! Let me see! Let me see!" She bounced in a little circle as Lazy Fare pulled a rolled map out of her bag and spread it on the ground.
"See? This is us, right here. And this is the rest of the zebra lands. And over here is the antelope lands, and up here is the Southwest Desert. And way up here is Equestria!"
Screwball looked dejected. "You said it would talk. It's just drawings of lines."
"Well, no, it doesn't talk, but it still tells you things."
"No. It doesn't. You lied to me. Is Equestria really that way past the hill?"
"Yeah, of course! It's really, really far. Like weeks and weeks away. But it's still that direction."
"Hmph. We'll see. But I'll believe you. Even though you lied about this map." Screwball began rolling the map up.
"So...you'll take the map, then?"
"Yes. Even though it's a lie. Maybe someone else will tell me what it really does and if it can help me get to Princess Celestia." She put the map in a strangely misshapen, ruddy-colored bag, and began walking off.
"Hey! Hey, you didn't pay for it yet. You need to give me money."
Screwball wheeled around, anger in her eyes. "First you told me that you didn't know Celestia and then you said you did. Then you said the map would talk and it didn't. Then you asked me if I wanted a map and then you tried to take my money after you gave it to me. You keep lying to me. And you keep saying I'm too dumb to survive on my own and that's a lie too. I don't like you."
"Look, kid, or, uh, lady, I don't mean to fight with you or anything like that. I swear I'm not trying anything funny. But I need to make money to live, you know? If you want the map, I'll sell it to you at cost, okay? Ten bits. That's what I paid. Ten bits and it's yours."
"You like money."
There was silence. She didn't know how to reply. "Uh...I need to eat. Like everypony."
"You like money, don't you?"
"...sure. Yeah, I like money."
"Like a purse. You're like a little purse."
"What are you talking about? Look, do you want to buy the map or not?"
"But you're bigger than a purse."
"The heck are you going on ab-"
The tents and tarps of the crossroads market burned in the distance as the first raindrops of the season fell. Screwball walked happily in the rain, her one flip-flop splashing in the new puddles, her new coinpurse jingling on her belt, and her bag filled with new tasty fruits--and with a map, whatever that was. She walked on. The lying pony said Princess Celestia was this way. And maybe she was. But she had a map, and she could ask other ponies and zebras who woudn't lie. Even zebras could look at pictures and point, even if they couldn't talk right. And they wouldn't all be liars like that pony was. She shook her wet mane and laughed with delight. Wherever Princess Celestia was, Screwball would find her. And then...and then...
She giggled in the downpour.