Although Twilight was focused on her self-imposed quest, her spirit filled with burning, blind ambition and courage, her hope was fragile.
She often had to face problems on her own, because her friends didn’t believe her, didn’t take her serious or didn’t want to listen. It is very unfortunate that they often acted that way, especially because she was right nearly every time.
Still, she never questioned the bound between her and her friends. Maybe that is true friendship, the Elements of Harmony’s wellspring of power, the light that overcomes any darkness.
That is possibly why Twilight didn’t even think about it a second and immediately asked her friends to help her, although she had a bad feeling about the others reaction.
I must admit, even darkness itself would be fascinated of such confidence.
========
Already in the very early morning, Twilight’s friends assembled in the library, but unfortunately nopony knew why despite Twilight. Predictable Rainbow Dash was the first to complain.
“Gosh darn it, Twilight. *yawn* It’s just seven in the morning…”
“No time to sleep. We have an emergency!”
“An emergency?! What happened?! Did somepony steal all cupcakes?! Did they ponynapped Vinyl Scratch? Did Apple Boom get her Cutie Mark?!”
“No, Pinkie…”
“Hold on a second. What’s so bad about mah sister gettin’ her Cutie Mark?”
“Well… Apple Bloom, Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle are the most favored foals of all. The audience would surely be sad if there weren’t any adventures with the Cutie Mark Crusaders anymore.”
Nearly as always, the other pones had no idea how to deal with Pinkie Pie and her random behavior, so they had no other possibility than just asking her.
“Ääähm… audience?”
“You mean the other ponies in our town?”
“Also!”
“What in tarnation do you…?”
A sudden, shrill whistle stunned everypony and their focus were now on Spike, who was actually the one who whistled. “Guys, concentration!”
But Rainbow Dash was not in the mood to just stay quite. “So early? No, thanks.”
She suddenly heard a groan, a very threatening groan of Twilight. She was furious about the behavior of her friends and finally wanted silence. “Listen… to me!”
The others didn’t want her to become furious, so they automatically stopped complaining and focused on her.
“All right Twilight, we’ll listen. Just tell us what that this emergency is.”
“It’s Pariah.”
Her words threw the others for a loop. They were confused, but also slightly afraid. “P… P.. Pa.. Pariah…?”
“You mean the Pariah of the legend?”
“Indeed. I mean the dark pony.”
Like many other times, Rainbow Dash did not take her serious and questioned her state of mind. “Pariah… yeah... of course. And how is he involved in this emergency…?”
“I will explain it. The historical tradition said that we, the harmonies, have to bring the old artifact, I guess the amulet the princesses use to initiate the festival, to a distant place, so something powerful will be released that prevents Pariah from destroying the world.”
“So that was it you were mumbling about all the time this night? I can’t believe it…” Spike murmured sneeringly when suddenly Rainbow Dash confronted Twilight.
“Woah, stop right there! Pariah has been sealed away. It is impossible for him to escape, you are aware of that?!”
“Like it was impossible for Nightmare Moon to escape, or for Discord?”
“Ääähm… ok, that’s a point, hehe. I’ll take it back, at least for now…” While Rainbow Dash suffered a bit in her self-humiliation, the other ponies took the chance to question Twilight.
“Granted that Pariah would return, what kind of advantage would this power bring? The ol’ heroes used the Elements of Harmony to get rid of him. We should simply do the same.”
“To be honest, due to the tradition, I have doubts about the validity of the legend.”
Rarity couldn’t believe what Twilight just said. After all they went through, together with Celestia, this couldn’t be her true opinion. “What? You dare calling our gracious, honored princess liars? This borders on blasphemy, Twilight!”
“No! Of course not! Maybe they just can’t remind themselves of what really happened. 1250 years are a very long time span after all.”
Still, the uncertainness was apparent in everypony’s eyes and Fluttershy was the first one to reveal her bad feelings about the whole situation.
“I don’t know, Twilight. It just sounds a bit… ridiculous…”
“Yup! Fluttershy has a point. It really sounds far out, no offense.”
“What about the party? We can’t just leave! We would miss it.”
“If I may interrupt!” Spiked yelled intercreatively “Even if it’s true what you say Twilight, how do you want to get that vessel… artifact thingy anyway?”
“To be honest… I already have it.”
Twilight put the artifact out of her saddlebag and presented it her friends. “I took it this night, while everypony else was asleep. I also took the Elements of Harmony. We might have to use them, although it’s unclear if they will really help us.” She explained relatively quiet and anxious.
“What!? You simply stole them? Do the princesses know just anything about that?”
“No…” She replied even more anxiously than before. The others recognized that she seemed to conceal something and wanted to know what and why.
Applejack slowly walked towards her and consoled her. “Hey sugarcube. There ain’t nothing you have to hide from us. We also want closure, so please, tell us everything you know. We can only help ya if you’re completely honest, ok?”
For a few second, Twilight went into herself and realized that the only way to gain her friends help was to tell them every detail she could remember. “Ok. You’re right. It was different this night than I have told you. I… I met the princesses…”
--------------
Although it was summer, it was a mild night. Twilight cantered through Ponyville to reach the tribune where the artifact and the Elements of Harmony had been left. She stood right before the basement and stared at the luminescent gleam inside the vessel, suddenly feeling something like a warm, little heartbeat.
“Unbelievable…” Twilight enthused about the gleam in a whisper. She just meant to touch it when apparently two, big figures appeared behind her without her to recognize.
“Fascinating, isn’t it?”
Twilight jumped screamingly into the air and turned around to see who scared her.
“Princess Celestia… Princess Luna…?”
“Calm down, my student.” Celestia told Twilight so she was able to get a grip on herself.
“It is a delightful night, isn’t it?” Luna remarked, but Twilight was not interested in chatting. She was confused about the appearance of both princesses and wanted to know why.
“May I ask you what are you doing here this time?” She asked nervously.
“We could ask you the same, you know?” Luna replied slightly gloatingly, but furthermore seriously.
“Well… ääähm… I just… wanted… to…” Twilight stuttered, but immediately got interrupted by Celestia.
“It’s ok, Twilight. We are aware of why you are here.”
“You… you are?”
The princesses pointed at the artifact and Twilight nodded aggrievedly. “Yes… you’re right.”
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it? We also wanted to enjoy it when nopony is here, but I guess we are in a threesome now, right?”
Twilight realized that the princesses didn’t seem to know the true reason for her appearance, so she just nodded. Celestia recognized that her faithful student seemed to feel poorly and consoled her.
“Still worrying about the legend, Twilight?”
“Yes, a bit. It’s not like I don’t believe you. It’s just… I am scared.”
“Never fear! As long as the harmony doesn’t give up hope, the world will be safe.”
“What…?” Twilight asked suspiciously. She could feel that the princesses we’re still hiding something, but she couldn’t ask them. If she would, they would possibly forbid her to take the artifact and the elements.
“I guess you’re right...” Twilight lied directly into Celestia’s eyes.
“Well then, we should better go to bed, or we won’t have enough power to endure the next 2 days.” Luna suggested merrily.
“You are right sister. You should go to bed as well, Twilight. I wish you a good night.”
“I will take your advice. Good night, princesses.”
When Twilight wasn’t able to see the princesses anymore, she took the artifact and the elements and galloped as fast as possible back to the library and put the things she took into her saddlebag.
What she didn’t know was that the princesses immediately returned to the tribune and saw that the artifact and the elements were missing. Both shook their heads anxiously and comprehended the situation.
“There was no other way… right? We couldn’t prevent it from to happen…” Luna asked Celestia gloomily.
“No… Only the harmonies can prevent what’s to come. It now rests in their hooves. The only thing we can do… is to trust that they will find a way… to finally end this nightmare.”
“Or…”
“… Everything was in vain…”
--------------
“So… you just stole everything?” Fluttershy asked Twilight, seemingly being very disappointed of her.
“I had no other choice!” Twilight yelled, making Fluttershy shy away from her.
“I’m… I’m sorry…” Twilight realized what she just did. She screamed at one of her friends. She began to feel guilt and apologized to her. “No. I am sorry. This whole situation just stresses me…
“Guys… I have to admit that I don’t understand anything, too. But this hidden paragraph of the tradition proofs at least that there is something more.”
She then took a deep breath and continued to explain herself. “Listen, I know it sounds crazy, but I feel that we are confronted with a catastrophe… and this time, the Elements of Harmony aren’t enough to hinder it, well, at least not completely.”
But her friends seemed unsure and didn’t really believe what Twilight said. She realized that and became upset.
“Well. Then I’ll do it on my own. Don’t worry about me and enjoy the party. I will make it.”
Although Twilight pretended to be happy, her friends knew she was not. When she walked out of the door, she got interrupted by them.
“Twilight! Wait!” Rainbow Dash shouted to gain her attention. Twilight stood still and the others went out of the library as well.
“What is it?” Twilight asked hopefully.
“We’re comin’ with ya. We just can’t let you go all alone through this dangerous walk on the wild line.”
“Without your smile, this party wouldn’t be any fun. I want everypony to smile!”
“Besides… we often didn’t believe you. No matter how unlikely something was, you we’re right, especially with the changelings. That wasn’t very kind.”
“And honey, we’re absolutely not going to do this mistake another time. That would truly be the worst possible thing.”
“We remain at your side, no matter what! We’ll show this swell-headed wannabe what a good dressing down is!”
“As your friends, we owe you that. You can count on us!” Spike shouted and finished the speech that way.
Twilight was visibly moved to tears because of her friends’ sight, standing in a row, faithful, adamant and prepared to follow Twilight into any obstacle.
“Thank you very much. And if everything was just fiddle-faddle after all, don’t worry. I’ll take the full responsibility. So or so, I always wanted go on vacation and see the moon’s backside!”
The group began to giggle, but soon focused again on their self-imposed quest.
“O.K! We’ll get together in 1 hour at the entrance to the Everfree Forrest. Unfortunately we have to travel through it, again.”
With her magic, Twilight levitated a scroll out of her saddlebag, entitled *Checklist*.
“Pinkie Pie, you’ll bring food, all right?”
“Okeydokeylokey!”
“Applejack, can you offer some… healthy food… and some cider?”
“Ain’t a problem!”
“Rarity, after we traveled through the Everfree Forest, we have to climb several mountains. We need fleecy scarves or we could freeze to death.”
“Don’t worry about that anymore. You’ll get them.”
“Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy, you don’t have to bring anything. But we need you as an air-scout Rainbow Dash. There is a high chance for us to get lost.”
“You can count on me!”
“And Fluttershy, I know you don’t like to fly much, that’s why I have a more appropriate task for you. We will possibly encounter wildlife. Are you prepared to communicate with wild animals?”
“Ääähm… well, I’ll do the best I can.”
“And nopony expects anything more from you. Good, then I guess we have…”
“Hey, what about me? What can I do?” Spike asked her excitedly.
“Well… hmm… ah! I know something. You could keep records of our journey. You know, if it should reveal itself as the biggest adventure ever, we’ve got material.”
“Got it!”
“All right then! We’ll get together at quarter past 8 at the entrance to the Everfree Forest. Let’s get to work!”
“One for all and all for one!” The group yelled to represent their strong bond.
Everypony despite Twilight rushed back home to gather everything they required. Twilight was already prepared and cantered to the entrance of the Everfree Forest, together with Spike on her back.
“Did you tell us the truth, Twilight? You know, about that you don’t understand anything so far.”
“I did. There are names nopony knows, an apparent vision of the future, the princesses ignore me or just keep something secret for a reason I don’t know and of course the world’s imbalance. The sun shines, birds sing and everypony is happy. Doesn’t seem like an imbalanced world. It is… filled with light…”
“You are actually hoping that you are wrong, right?”
“This time? Yes. I pray for that I’m totally mistaken..."
========
Poor child, perished by thoughts. There was actually nothing she could latch on. She knew that nothing made any sense. She just made sure that she was prepared for anything. Anything that could matter was involved in her plan. The Elements of Harmony, the amulet, her friends, the historical tradition.
That was it. She had no proof, no idea about what’s to come, not even trust in what the historical tradition said. Still, she never meant to give up. She had to find out the truth, her natural desire besides knowledge.
Ponykind should thank her for her passion, or else… everything would have been obliterated.