Applejack grunted as she neatly stacked barrels on top of each other. The barrels were stacked five high with the use of a pulley system she and Big Macintosh, her brother, had constructed years back in the barn. She grinned in triumph at the neat stack of barrels ready to be shipped out come tomarrow and wiping the sweat off her brow she slowly dragged her weary body to the barn door. Her intent was to check how her big brother's chores were going, but she was suddenly blocked off by a frightened purple unicorn. "Twilight? What's got ya' ah flustered?" Applejack asked as she stared at her friend.
"Applejack I need you to come with me! I need your help, the fate of all of equestria may hang in the balance!" Twilight said quickly as she ran out the barn door and a few paces away, before stopping to stare at the confused earth pony.
"Well now hol' on sugar cube, why don't yah tell me whats got your saddle all bunched?" The orange mare moved out of the barn casually, closing the large door behind her with a swift kick. "If it's really that important we should go an' fetch the others."
"There's no time! Applejack we need to go now!" The jumpy unicorn whined as she tugged on the orange mare's mane.
"Well hold on just a apple pickin' minute. If it's all that important, let meh go an' fetch Big Macintosh. It'll jus' take a moment." As she said that, she couldn't help but think anger flashed on her purple friend's face. But it was only there for a moment, and she decided it must have been her imagination. She galloped off to go and grab her big brother.
******
The everfree forest was one of the scariest places to pony kind, a strange place filled with its own magic and creatures. The creatures themselves almost never left the forest itself unless ponies caused them undo strife, but most ponies were still fearful to be anywhere near the forest itself. It made the land around it extremely cheap to buy with low ownership taxes, which was one of the main reasons the Apple family orchards were seperated from it only by a small fence to keep the animals in and a small rarely used back road that went around the Apple family farmstead. It was on this road that Applejack met up with Twilight. Her brother, a large red stallion with a open green apple as his cutey mark, stood besides her.
"So let me get this straight. We're goin' IN the everfree forest? What exact- Hey! Get your purple flank back here!" Applejack yelled as her friend ran into the forest. She shook her head before turning to her brother, "Twilight may be the brightest pony I know, but I swear sometimes she can be right thick." Applejack grumbled before she chased after the pony.
"Eeyup." Big Mac said as he followed after his sister, what kind of big brother would he be if he let her wander off alone in the everfree forest? Well except the times she did. But usually that was fate of the world, elements of harmony stuff.
"Twilight this better not be like that letter fiasco! Where in tarnation are you leading us?" Applejack yelled after her friend, her legs throbbing already from the run. It was bad enough she'd spent the whole day lugging around barrels and setting up tomarrows shipment, but now she had to run a marathon through the everfree forest? And when had Twilight gotten so fast? She could barely keep up with the little bookworm!
And then out of nowhere the little unicorn stopped. Applejack let out a shriek as both her and Big Mac toppled into her, sending the three crashing to the ground. The orange mare slowly got to her feet as she coughed out dirt, glaring at her purple friend. "Ok we're here, so what in tarnation made you drag us all the way out here?" Applejack looked around, but all she could see was that they were in a small grassy clearing, surrounded by trees. A large fountain, overgrown with weeds and vines and still bearing the bottom half of a statue of a rearing stallion, dominated the center of the clearing. The air was filled with a light buzzing sound, so she imagined a hive of bees resided nearby.
"Simple Applejack. The fate of all equestria hangs in the balance." The pony turned around, her eyes glowing green as the buzzing got louder. "It's a shame you brought the other pony into this, but it's no matter." The trees began to move, as creatures began to walk out from them. The creatures were black with curved horns and clear bug like wings. They were shaped like ponies except all over their bodies chunks had been removed, as if something had bitten holes out of them. Changelings. Applejack recognized them almost immediately, but this time something was different. The holes in their bodies which were once empty were now filled with a strange purple gel.
"Oh horse apples." Applejack said as she backed up, getting back to back with Big Mac. "You see a way out?"
"Nope." The less than talkative stallion said as the creatures charged.
******
Just outside the forest but far from the apple orchard a small yellow pegasus hummed softly to herself as she fed a large number of animals. Weasels, ferrets, bunnies, falcons, robins, turtles, all manners of animals had gathered onto Fluttershy's front lawn and were sitting in front of a tree stump, making quite a large racket. The shy pegasus did her best to be inconspicuous as Angel, her little tiny rabbit and assistant, stood besides Owlowiscious, her dear friend Twilight's pet owl, as they used the stump as a makeshift stage. Having deposited small amounts of grub for all the animals, including a small plate of carrots for Angel and nuts for Owlowiscious, she took a seat near the back so as to not disturb whatever they were planning.
Watching the bunny hop up and down made Fluttershy a little nervous. She hated when Angel was like this, so angry and upset. It definately could not be good for him. And she felt guilty just standing by while Angel dragged Owlowicious into whatever trouble her mischievious rabbit had planned.
Her eyes were drawn away from the rooted stage as she saw five ponies heading towards her small cottage. Twilight, Rainbow, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, and Rarity. Seeing them caused a sudden feeling of dread in the pit of her stomach. It wasn't that she was unhappy to see them, and she did love her friends dearly. But Pinkie Pie wasn't hoping around, looking excited, or even laughing. Whatever brought them here must have been absolutely dreadful. Slowly she got to her hooves as the animals turned silent. "Ummm... Hello everypony..." The yellow pegasus said softly as she looked down at her hooves, "is everything ok?"
Twilight moved towards the shy caretaker slowly. "Ofcourse Fluttershy, I just needed to- Ow! EEK!" Twilight let out a shriek of fright and pain as suddenly a weasel darted forward and bit her leg. It turned into a high pitched scream as even more creatures dog piled on the purple unicorn.
"No... Stop... Please..." Fluttershy said weakly, as the other four ponies moved in to assist Twilight. Her eyes went as wide as saucers as a small war broke out in the front of her lawn, pony and woodland animal engaged in fierce struggle. And then as suddenly as it had began, it ended as green flashes enveloped the tussel and within moments the critters were stuck to the ground. They were enveloped in some green gel substance, only Angel remaining free.
Fluttershy's pony friends glared at her, their bodies covered in shallow bleeding cuts. "I-I'm so sorry. I don't know what came over them... Angel why are you- eek!" She ducked as an apple flew over her head to strike across Twilight's face.
"ENOUGH!" The angry unicorn yelled as her horn glowed. "I must admit you move faster than I would have guessed, we thought we would catch you by surprise. However your pitiful army has been defeated little pegasus pony." Fluttershy stared at her friends in confusion, until all of them except for Twilight suddenly changed form, their bodies turning into changelings.
"But... But but... You were all s-sent away." Fluttershy squeaked as she backed up. She almost paniced when she felt a small pressure on her back, but she let out a soft sigh of relief when she realized it was only Angel having jumped onto her.
"We weren't sent far enough. Surrender peacefully and your suffering will be slight. Gain our ire and your pain will be un- AGH!" The fake Twilight shrieked as a badger bit into her hoof. The changelings turned to their leader and attempted to help her, leaving Fluttershy for the moment.
A sudden thump on the frightened pegasus's back made her turn to Angel who was motioning to run towards the everfree forest. Suppressing her desires to go and help the injured changeling, not to mention the trapped critters, she turned and ran into the forest at her bunnies direction, soon the last flash of yellow disappearing amongst the trees.
"Leave her." The fake Twilight said as she sucked on her wounded hoove. She glared at the assorted captured animals. "Have them taken as prisoner's, and have word sent to our patrols of the pegasi's escape into the woods. She is in our territory now so she won't get far." A wicked grin flashed on her face as another changeling walked towards the cottage, form altering to that of the animal's loving caretaker. The purple faker glanced back down the pathway as the other 3 changelings flew off to report her orders. Assuming all went as plan the changelings now had two bases of operation outside the everfree forest, as well as two less elements to worry about. Slowly the changelings eye's wandered to the castle. Once word reached the queen, the fun would begin.
******
Far away from the single cottage, in a castle built into a mountain, a white Alicorn laid in her bed after a long and tiring morning. The sun filtered in through the open balcony door, a light breeze keeping the princess of the sun, Celestia, from being uncomfortably hot. Her horn glowed as a small cabinet opened across the room revealing a number of scrolls, neatly arranged in little cubi holds. She pulled one out and draw it through the air towards her before slowly reading. 'Dear Princess Celestia' it began. She glanced nervously at the sundial in her room. She had about thirty minutes before her next meeting, a very limited time to lose herself in one of her students letter. She had all of them memorized but she still enjoyed the feel of reading them from the scroll, taking note of Spike's hand writing, the occasional misspelling, the youthful innocence that even now made her stress start to ebb away.
'I met somepony tonight who was having the same problem...' She chuckled a little bit as she thought of the night this letter had been written, when her younger sister had went to enjoy the festivities. She could still remember how excited Luna had been preparing for that night with bated breath. She had done her best to prepare her little sister for what she would find but Luna had insisted that she kept her interference to a minimum. The princess of the sun let out a soft sigh of relief, content in knowing her student was able to handle even situations such as these.
'Best things you can do with friendship, is to gi-' Her reading was interupted as the light in her room dimmed conciderably before finally being blocked out completely. "What?" Her horn glowed casting light in the room as she jumped to her hooves. She quickly ran to the balcony and gazed out at equestria. Night had over taken the land, the sun blotted out by the moon. "Luna!" Celestia yelled in disappointment. "This prank is to far." She stormed off heading towards her sisters tower, magically flipping on lights as she went. However before she arrived at the door she stopped and took a deep breath. "No... I will handle this calmly. She's still getting used to the new world and was probably just playing around. I'll just explain that doing such things are to far." Knocking on the door she found her sister sleeping. A green pegasus pony was tending to the room while the dark blue alicorn slept in her bed. She motioned the servant to wait outside. Waiting until the door was closed again the princess slammed a hoof down, nearly denting the stone floor. "Sister!" Her voice boomed echoing through the room. Maybe she should have had the servant wait farther than outside the door.
"What?!" Luna shrieked as she jumped out of the bed, her horn glowing. She looked around frantically, "Did I over sleep? Is it time to raise the moon?" She asked as panic filled her voice.
"Theres no need for that sister." Celestia said with a sigh. "You need to place the moon back. This prank has gone a little to far. Though I do admire the effort."
"Prank? What prank?" Luna looked around the dim room, the only light coming from the princesse's glowing horns. Celestia motioned to the window and Luna quickly moved over to open the blinds. Seeing the darkness caused her to let out a gasp. "I'm not doing it!" She said quickly as she turned to her sister.
"Sister... No one else aside from you can move the moon. Please lower it."
"I swear its not me. I'll lower it but I did not raise it. I swear." She repeated, shuffling her hooves nervously as her horn glowed powerfully. She focused on the task of moving the moon, but while she could feel the magic being burnt away, the moon itself didn't budge. It wasn't long before the light dimmed from her horn and she began to pant, sweat dripping from her brow. "I... I can't move it." She said, her voice a mix of confusion and exhaustion.
"Thats impossible. Luna this is no time for games."
"I mean it! I can't, it won't budge." The princess of the night repeated, trying to clear her head from the drain the attempted magic made her feel.
"Luna, I-" Celestia froze mid sentence, her head turning towards the door, "Discord!" She turned and ran, nearly toppling over the green pegasi servant as she went. Within moments she could hear her sister's hoofsteps behind her, as the smaller alicorn attempted to keep up with her elder sister. As they stood in front of the statue the two began to circle it, using the lights of their horns to search for any cracks.
After a few minutes of careful inspection Luna spoke gently, "Its fine. There's not a mark on it and it hasn't moved. He's still trapped."
Celestia let out a soft sigh, before turning to her sister, "And your sure you have nothing to do with this?" The dark blue alicorn shook her head quickly. The elder alicorn looked to the sky. The smallest outline of her sun could be seen around the moon but it gave almost no light. She closed her eyes as her horn glowed. Slowly the sun began to move across the sky, pushed beyond its normal speed by the urgings of the powerful alicorn. Light filled the world yet again as the golden orb was no longer blocked by the moon. However the moon remained still, refusing to move from its position in the center of the sky. Celestia's eyes wandered back to her sister again.
"I'm not doing it. I swear." Luna stared into her sisters eyes a small amount of fear showing through, as guilt began to flow into Celestia's heart.
"Of course its not." The white alicorn said as she moved closer, a wing moving out to pull her little sister to her side. "I shouldn't doubt you. But the moon is in your domain now, I can no longer control it. If you are not controlling it then it should not move at all. Please. You must find out why it is ignoring your command, and fix this." She leaned down to gently place a kiss on her sisters forehead. "It will be ok. I know you can do this." The princess of the sun released her sister and headed back into the castle. She would do her best to maintain peace, tell her subjects that all was well. It was safer for them to not worry until she knew there was an actual threat.
Luna watched her sister walk away with sadness in her eyes. She didn't know why the moon was ignoring her orders, but as she turned to head towards the spell compendium, she knew she would find out. After all, as her sister had said, the moon was her domain.