//------------------------------// // ch.3 // Story: Harmony's Chosen Guardian in Training // by ShimmeringMist //------------------------------// Ch.3 Morning of Summer Sun Celebration eve~~~ A tall, elegant mare with an alabaster coat very faintly tinged pink, grudgingly rolled out of bed to raise the sun, industrial strength curlers still within her pastel mane and tail. Eons of practice had the mare sipping tea as she brought upon morning for her subjects. Still half asleep, Princess Celestia ambled slowly through the halls of her palace's private wing, heading towards the dining room for breakfast. Her thoughts turned melancholy as she passed the alcoves containing shrines to close friends lost. Sunset Shimmer, her personal student; overtaken by greed for power, Flower Dream, a friend of the Royal Family; in an eternal cursed sleep from saving Princess Candace's life, Twilight Sparkle, Candace's favorite filly to foal-sit; so intelligent, so determined, so full of magic and potential, gone in a surge of out of control magic before she could save her... The Princess paused to pay her respects with a bow of head, continued on her way, her niece soon joining her. "Good morning Auntie Tia!" Princess Cadence is, ironically, the morning pony that Princess Celestia is not. "Hmmguhg, guuhc umigh", the mare that the public idolize to the level of gods, slumped in a chair and promptly face-planted into a pillow placed on the table for that very purpose. "Huh, that was almost coherent this time. Aqua Lilly? I think I'll have waffles, hash-browns, a fruit cup, and a strawberry-banana-chocolate smoothie. You know to get Celestia her usual ultra strength tea and have somepony ensure that her regalia is polished, so I'll let you go on. Thank you Aqua Lilly." As the maid hurried off, the pale pink alicorn sighed and began to take out the curlers in Celestia's hair, wondering why the elder mare's emotions seemed gloomy. Cadence's food had arrived and with it a much more coherent Sun Princess who ordered her own breakfast and put on her shining regalia. "So Auntie, why are your emotions gloomy?", Cadence not so tactfully prodded. "The shrines made me think of Sunset, Flower, and... Twilight Sparkle...." "Oh..." A somber silence reigned. A knock on the dining hall door announced the entrance of the Captain of the Royal Guard and Princess Cadance's fiance, Shining Armor. Unknowing of the somber atmosphere he had broken, Shining Armor brought out of his bags, battle plans and maps with his pale rose colored magic and set up a spot on the table to go over the plan for the coming Summer Sun Celebration. Elsewhere... At the Apple Orchard... Apple Jack cored the apple on the machine, set the peeling blades in place and started cranking the arm. It was a mind-numbing part of preparing for the celebration tomorrow, but it was necessary. Big McIntosh, Apple Bloom, Granny Smith, Apple Fritter,Apple Bumpkin, Red Delicious, Golden Delicious, Caramel Apple, Apple Strudel, Apple Tart, Baked Apples,Apple Brioche, Apple Cinnamon Crisp, Apple Cider, Apple Cobbler, and the rest of the Apple family were preparing along side her as well. "Uuuuuggggggggggggghhhhhhh! This is boring! Does anyone have stories to tell? Its too quiet!" "Apple Bloom! If ah tell ya'll a story would you be happy an' quit whinin'?" The filly was nodding her head so hard that her large bow would have fallen out if it was anypony but Apple Jack that tied it. Now... What story should ah tell? Hmmm... Ah know! Ah'll talk about that strange forest cat! "Have any of y'all heard about the strange cat living in the EverFree Forest?" Apple Jack called out to her numerous family members. "Ya mean the rumors that there's something more living in tha' forest? More than the usual monsters like Hydras, Timber Wolves, an' the like? The cat is new though..." Apple Cobbler replied back, taking a break from making pastry dough. "It ain't just a rumor 'round these parts, Cobbler. Since our branch of Apples settled here way back then, we've had a great many o' encounters with the so called rumor. Why, Granny Smith saw tha' strange cat when she discovered the Zap Apples that started our town!" Apple Jack was getting into the story telling role as she continued her task. "We even keep a record book of tha' strange forest cat, and some entries are so old Canterlot didna' exist yet! Instead it was someplace called 'The City of Two Sisters', the EverFree didna seem so dangerous in those times. In fact! they called it peaceful! Can you imagine it? The forest was young and the City of Two Sisters was bustling, full of ponies of types and classes. Now, our ancestors were farmers even then, and they set up shop in the city square. There so many entries in that old book about sales, rude customers and praises to these... Sisters of the Sun and Moon. I didna understand that part but there were many mentions of our forest cat in that book too, well it was a kitten at that time, but it was the same one. " Apple Jack stopped to take a drink of water. "How do ya know that its tha same one?" Baked Apples asked. "The colors of course! In the record book, every sighting of tha cat is recorded and the colors are mentioned every single time! The first pony that wrote about tha' darn cat was obsessed with finding the official color names! "Medium violet is such a odd eye color for a cat. Why, it's fur is a pale grayish mulberry color with purple and raspberry spots! It's been decades and somehow that strange cat has gained crystal blue spots!"" Apple Jack had to pause for a moment so she wouldn't ruin the apple she was working on in her frustration. "Ah had to ask our local seamstress Rarity what that all meant, ya'll wouldn't believe the fuss that caused.... Anyway this strange cat was a fuzzy kitten for years! Can ya'll imag-" "Boring! Apple Jack, I thought this story would be cool, but its all nerdy!" a prismatic​ haired blue pegasus was oblivious to the glares she was getting for her interruption. She had been lounging on a cloud above the farm and ended up listening in on the Apple Family as they worked. "When are you going to tell the story about actually meeting her! The Forest Witch Cat is so cool! Who cares that she so old that your ancestors meet her in some old city! She bosses the the EverFree monsters around! How awesome is that!" "Rainbow Dash! You are a close friend but ah am telling this story, mah way. Ahm sorry folks, this rude-""Hey!""- mare here is Rainbow Dash, part of the town's weather team. She's a bit brash-""Again, hey!""- but she makes sure tha' the farms surrounding the town don't suffer too much when a dry patch hits." The Apple clan nodded, a good weather mare was treasured among farmers. "Anyway, whenevah there was a disaster like fires, outah control storms, or once there was an earthquake; folks would always say that the cat lead them to safety! In one of those rescues, our own ancestor Apple Luck was a little filly playing in tha city when a great big fire started! The Record Book says that the fire devoured half the city! Apple Luck was lead to a stone cellar under the city by that cat and it became a refuge to hundreds of others because of that strange cat." Apple Jack knew she was rambling, but she was fascinated by the honest history of the land around her. She didn't like most of the history books in the library in town, they felt slimy and twisted the truth of the topic to the writer's benefit. The family Record Book on the other hoof was an unedited look back in time by many different ponies and Apple Jack was proud to share what she had learned from it. "That's awesome AJ! So does that mean that you guys wouldn't be here if Apple Luck wasn't rescued?" Rainbow Dash asked as she stole a fresh apple fritter off the table of finished treats for tomorrow's celebration. "Stop eating the food Rainbow! If you're gonna hang around, you might as well peel apples with me, and yeah its possible that we wouldn't be here if it weren't for that cat saving Apple Luck." Apple Jack pulled Rainbow Dash besides her and set up another peeling machine. The Apple Clan and Rainbow Dash fell into light chatter about what they had learned and tomorrow's Summer Sun Celebration as they worked, unknowing of what it will bring.