The seeds of Ponyville's present... are buried in Equestria's past.
Ponyville; four hundred years after the time of the mane six...
Her books... they were the mare's greatest treasure, that filled the room all around her. Books on magic, books on history, books on things on both things fiction and fact. Long before she had earned her wings, this mare loved having the repository of all pony knowledge right at the tip of her hooves. And the largest and most elaborate room in her luxurious Ponyville castle, was the library that held all of the books that she had collected over her long alicorn lifetime. One thing that was truly certain, was that everybody knows that these ancient tomes were the princess of Friendship's greatest treasure.
"Which means," Princess Pink Sparkle thought to herself, reading from the dusty old tome she had discovered in the castle's ancient library, "she was a far greater princess than I."
As she wandered through the halls of Celebration Castle, the little pink earth pony with a shining heart cutie mark could only look around at her surroundings, and sigh. Being the latest in the royal line of Ponyville princesses, Pink was set to inherit this palace, along with leadership of the town, from her mother, Princess Wisteria. But the little filly was unsure if she could handle the burden, let alone if she could even be a Ponyville princess without screwing it up.
"Ohhh, I'd much rather be playing hopscotch with my friends in town, than sit on some dusty old throne and rule!" The little thirteen year-old-filly thought to herself, trotting away from the library, and back down the hall to the royal study. "How do I even know I'm going to be any good at it, anyway?"
Most of the servants had taken off for the holiday, and her mother was in Ponyville overseeing the day's festivities, so Pink didn't expect to run into anybody in the palace today. The endless corridors of Celebration Castle were vast and maze-like, filled with dusty old furniture, and antiques from long before even her mother's time. But as she forlornly trotted though the hallways of this ancient castle, Pink Sparkle failed to notice the sound of two scaly feet came plodding up behind her.
"Um, excuse me, Princess Sparkle?" A high pitched, posh voice called out from behind her. "But you seem a bit lost, may I be of some assistance?"
"YEEK!" The little princess squeaked, nearly jumping out of her coat. Spinning around, she recognized the small blue dragon standing behind her. "Oh, Spike, it's only you!" The little filly sighed with relief, recognizing her family's oldest servant. "Oh, I wasn't lost. I know this castle like the back of my hoof; I did grow up here, after all."
"And I've been here since this castle was first grown- er, built, I mean." The dragon quickly corrected himself. "And let me tell you, it looked better back in my day! Back then, the castle looked like a giant crystal tree, instead of the big and girly mess it is now. Yes sir, Celebration Castle was quite a different place, back when the princess of friendship ruled Ponyville!"
"Yeah, the princess of friendship, my great ancestor who was the first princess of Ponyville." Pink Sparkle rolled her eyes. "I've heard all about her a million times... and how could I possibly live up to that kind of reputation? I could never be a princess as good as she was!"
"Oh, well now, I wouldn't say that! She may have been a great princess, my dear, but as she herself would've pointed out, the princess of friendship was far from perfect." Spike the dragon replied with a chuckle. "Actually, she was just as worried as you are about being able to do her best, and trying her hardest!"
"Oh yeah?! And how would you know?" The princess scoffed, narrowing her eyes at the dragon. "I know you've been serving our family an awful long time, but even you can't possibly be that old!"
"My dear Princess Pink, I'll just have you know that I am well over a thousand years old by dragon reckoning, and I started my career as a number-one assistant to the princess of friendship herself." Spike snorted. "And I can tell you more about her than anybody alive in Ponyville today."
"Wait a sec... you, like really knew her?!" Princess Pink suddenly got excited. "Ohmygosh, you have so got to tell me everything! What was she like? What were her hobbies? Did she play hopscotch? Did she like rainbow juice or milk with her cookies? What was her favorite-"
"Now just wait a minute, here! One question at a time!" Spike sighed, exasperated. "You know what? I think instead of telling you about the princess of friendship, my lady, I think I'll just show you."
Motioning for the young princess to follow him, the old dragon led Pink Sparkle to a bookcase in the library, where he pulled out a book titled 'friendship is magic', and the princess heard a soft *click*. The bookcase swung open, revealing a set of stairs, that the small dragon began to climb.
"Hey,I've been in this library a thousand times, and I never knew those stairs were there." Pink whispered in awe. "Hey, where does this passage lead, anyway?"
"To the only chamber in this whole castle that wasn't remodeled after the princess of friendship passed away." Spike replied, a tinge of sadness echoing in his voice. "This room has not been used in over three hundred years."
The dragon pulled an old, dusty tarp off of a table and some chairs, revealing six thrones, and a large crystalline table. Pink Sparkle put her hooves on the large table's surface, and it magically lit up at the earth pony's touch.
"Ohhhhh," The princess whispered, staring at the map of the landscape before her. "So pretty..."
"In ages past, this was called the cutie map, and it was used to show the princess of friendship and her handmaidens where they could find friendship problems." The dragon explained. "But you can use it to see events of the past, that transpired in this very castle... or the library that preceded it."
"Really? That is so cool!" Pink Sparkle squealed, sitting down in the mane throne with the princess of friendship's cutie mark on it. "Okie dokie, cutie map! Show me stuff about the princess of friendship!"
And as Spike sat down on the small throne next to hers, the surface of the table began to shimmer and shift, revealing moving images of the past....