At Canterlot…
Mom was in the air, flapping her wings awkwardly still not really used to using her wings yet. Rainbow Dash was in the air with her trying to help her out. “You gotta really flap em’ hard!” she exclaimed. Mom just nodded and tried flapping her wings as hard as she could… until she almost fell from the sky. “Uh… maybe not that hard.”
Mom just went down to the ground and sighed. “This is ridiculous... How am I supposed to be prepared for the celebration in time?”
“You could try levitation like I do.” I say using my magic to levitate myself up in the air.
“No way!” Rainbow exclaimed. “It has to be with her wings! And besides, you can’t go nearly as fast when you use magic!”
“Oh yeah?” I asked lowering myself to Rainbow Dash. “And what makes you so sure?”
“Please! If it were a race, I could fly circles around somepony using magic to fly!”
“You wanna bet??”
“Uh… girls? Can we focus on my flying--” Mom asked before getting cut off.
“Loser buys everpony cider??”
“What!?” Mom exclaimed. “No that’s not--”
“You’re on!” I exclaimed getting ready to start… until I felt myself frozen and unable to move. I look over at Rainbow who’s in the same state. “Hey!”
“You are not racing here!” Mom exclaimed at me before turning to Rainbow. “And definitely not when somepony makes a bet for it!” Rainbow just chuckled a bit. “Can we please just focus on the performance for the celebration!?”
“Alright you don’t have to yell!” Rainbow exclaimed regardless. “Can you let us go??”
Mom just sighed letting go of both of us. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m just really nervous for this performance… What if I can’t do it right and I let Princess Celestia down?”
“Aw come on Twilight.” Spike started. “You’ll do great! And we’ll all be here to support you all the way.”
“Yeah! Now get up there and show everypony your big finish!” Rainbow exclaimed.
Mom just nodded and flapped her wings and took flight into the air. She went pretty high up and was flying pretty fast… until she eventually lost control flying through a bunch of cloud. Without realizing it, she stopped flapping her wings and started falling. She just screamed trying to flap her wings again, doing circles in the sky… until finally she crash landed into the ground. “Mom!” I exclaimed going over to the crater she made in the ground.
“Wow! That was a big finish!” Pinkie exclaimed looking into the hole.
“Ugh…” Mom just groaned from inside the hole.
“Maybe we should take a break…?” I suggest. “You’ve been practicing for a while, Mom.”
“Crystal’s right sugarcube… don’t wanna overwork yourself now do ya?” Applejack said helping me up.
“I guess not…” Mom said before turning to me and the others. “Why don’t we go for a walk inside the castle?”
“Yeah… would be nice after the crazy teleportation hiccups I had.” I said walking to the castle with the others.
“Teleportation hiccups?” Fluttershy asked walking to the side of me.
“Remember when I fell into the field of poison joke?” I asked. “Well… that was the side effect I got; teleporting everytime I had a hiccup.”
“Wait you fell into poison joke too!?” Rainbow exclaimed at me.
I just sighed and nodded in response. “I was going to visit Zecora but then some weird plants just attacked me and Fluttershy.”
“You were attacked by… plants…?” Rarity asked tilting her head.
“It was very strange…” Fluttershy answered as we all started heading to the castle. “I had never seen plants like these before… ever.”
“Well whatever these plants are, I’m sure that Zecora will take care of them.” Rarity responded.
“I hope so…” I said looking a little worried. “If plants like those got into Ponyville, it could be bad.”
“Please darling!” Rarity said. “Don’t even suggest such a horrid idea… as far anypony is concerned, anything in the Everfree Forest stays in the Everfree Forest.”
“Well it’s not completely out of the question…” Mom added. “Not everything is really known about the Everfree Forest after all.”
“I suppose so…” Rarity rolled her eyes a bit.
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Inside the Castle…
All of us were just walking down the hall, passing the multiple stained glasses… most of them having my mom and her friends on them. “Wow… all of you really did a lot huh…?” I asked looking in awe at the glass.
“Well if it weren’t for us, a lot of Equestria… well… actually, I don’t know what Equestria would be like without the elements… it seems like without them, Equestria would be in ruin.” Mom said starting to think a bit to herself.
Eventually we all stopped walking in front of the stained glass with the picture of Mom on it with her wings. “I must say darling… they really did capture your regality.” Rarity cooed looking up at the glass.
“I suppose…” Mom sighed a bit.
“Oh, don't be so modest. It's everypony's dream to someday wear a crown and have their coronation ceremony preserved in stained glass for all to see.” Rarity smiled.
Rainbow Dash just rolled her eyes. “I don’t think that’s everypony’s dream…”
“Most of my dreams are about frosting!” Pinkie beaming licking her lips.
“Hey.” I started. “Shouldn’t you girls get going? It’s getting pretty late.”
“Crystal’s right.” Applejack responded. “Don't know about y'all, but I've still got bushels to do to get ready. The official celebration may be here in Canterlot, but hoo-wee, has the Mayor put us in charge of one heck of a party back home.” Mom just looked down kind of upset… “Aw, don't look like that, sugarcube. You get to be right there with the other Princesses when Celestia raises the sun.”
“And I'm honored... Really, I am. It's just that the Summer Sun Celebration is what first brought us all together. It just doesn't feel right not getting to spend such a special day with my Ponyville friends.” Mom sighs looking to the side.
“It doesn't feel right to us either, darling... If the Mayor wasn't so desperate for our assistance, we'd most certainly stay here in Canterlot. And of course we do understand that your royal duties must come first.” Rarity responded.
“The Summer Sun Celebration may have brought us together, but it's something much bigger that'll always keep us connected.” Applejack stopped to walk up to one of the stained glasses. “Exhibit A: The six of us are united by the Elements of Harmony. No amount of royal duties is gonna change that. Right, everypony?” Rainbow, Rarity and Fluttershy all nod in agreement.
“Right Pinkie Pie??” Applejack added.
“Creamy, creamy frosting…” Pinkie responded with her mouth still watering.
“Uh… let’s take that as a yes.” Fluttershy giggled a bit. I just looked at everypony and sighed a bit. “Something wrong Crystal?”
“It’s nothing important…” I responded rubbing the back of my head. “Guess I’m a little nervous for the celebration myself.”
“Oh that’s right… Twilight did mention something about you having a part in the Celebration as well, correct?” Rarity asked.
“Mhm… and I’ve been practicing a lot…”
“Well what were you going to do?”
“Nothing crazy… But it still needs work.” I say before making a ball of light… throwing it in the air before firing a magic beam at it. Only to miss and shoot a hole through the wall.
Mom just stared at the hole in shock. “We should go. Now!” She exclaimed running out while the others followed.
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Eventually after a bit we reached the train station. “So what was that supposed to be?” Rainbow asked.
“It was supposed to be that when I shoot that light, it’s supposed explode like a firework… but I need to work on my aim.”
“You could always try making the ball bigger.” Mom suggested. “Give yourself a bigger target… actually it might even give you a bigger explosion as well.”
“I guess I could try that…”
Suddenly the train whistle could be heard. “Oh! We have to go!” Rarity exclaimed.
“We're gonna write you and give you so many details, it'll be like you're in Ponyville with us! Right, girls?” Pinkie asked looking back at the four.
“Cross my heart and hope to fly, stick a cupcake in my eye.” The four chanted while moving their hooves at the same time.
“All aboard for Ponyville!” The conductor shouted as the others ran on… Me, Mom, and Spike just headed back to the castle.
Mom just sighed. “What’s wrong Twilight?” Spike asked.
“I can’t help it Spike… it’s only been a minute, and I already feel like I’m missing something.” She responded.
Just on cue, Spike burper up an envelope with a litter in it. Spike took the letter to read it. “Dear Twilight, you aren't missing anything. Your friend, Pinkie Pie.”
“That’s me!!” Pinkie shouted in the distance, followed by confetti coming out of the train.
“Come on Mom… everything will be just fine. It’s only for a little while after all.”
“I know sweetie… sorry. I’m just so used to being with my friends for so long… It’s hard to imagine us being separated again.”
Well… I can understand that.” I responded rubbing the back of my head. “I can’t imagine my life without you either, Mom.”
Mom just smiled at me when I said that. “We should hurry back… Princess Celestia will probably be waiting for us.”
“Right.” I said levitating myself to go ahead to the castle.
“Hey! Wait for me!” Mom exclaimed chasing after me.
When we got back to the castle, Mom and Spike were getting things prepared. Spike had his checklist checking everything that Mom went over with him. And I just… kinda sat in bed and watched while it was all going on.
“Check, check, check, check, and... check! Huh, whaddaya know? We're way ahead of schedule! I credit your extremely competent assistant.” Spike said with a smug grin.
“So do I.” Mom smiled petting his head.
“You know, Mom… the celebration isn't until the day after tomorrow... We could still fit in a quick trip to Ponyville and be back in plenty of time to finish off these last few things before the main event.” I suggested. “Plus I’m kind of bored.”
Mom just sighed. “That would be nice, Crystal, but what if something else came up while we were gone? What if we were delayed getting back and I wasn't able to finish everything on that list? What if we lost the list on the way to Ponyville and then couldn't remember which things we'd done and which things we hadn't done, and then spent so much time trying to figure out what we hadn't done and what we had done, and we ruined the entire Celebration by not doing the one really important thing that we were supposed to do?!” She exclaimed before hitting her head on the ceiling… from flying up without even realizing it.
“...is that a no?” I asked groaning a bit.
“I’m sorry Crystal… but it’s my duty as Princess. And it’s a duty that Celestia entrusted me with… I don’t want to let her down.”
“And I'm sure you won't.” Said a voice coming from the door. Looking over we both could see Princess Celestia smiling at us.
I just quickly walked up to Celestia hugging her… While Mom still bowed to her. “Now Now, there’s no need for that Twilight.” she said while rubbing the back of my head. “And how are you doing Crystal? Have you been sleeping soundly?”
“Wait huh?” I asked looking at her.
“Well… Twilight did mention that you were having some issues sleeping.”
“Oh… well, honestly I haven’t had any problems sleeping anymore!... Even though some of my dreams have been a little weird.”
“Hm? Weird how exactly?”
“Well… I’ve been dreaming about things I haven’t even seen before.” I started trying to remember my dreams a bit. “I don’t know… probably not important.”
“well other than your dreams, how are you adjusting to your life here in Equestria? It has been some time since you first arrived after all.”
“Are you kidding? I’ve made so many friends here in Equestria that I don’t think I ever want to leave!”
Princess Celestia just giggled a bit. “Well I’m happy to hear it… and I’m happy that you’ll be able to join us for the Summer Sun celebration… it feels wonderful to actually look forward to it this year.”
“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked.
“Well… for my subjects it has always been a celebration of my defeat of Nightmare Moon. But for me…” she stopped to let out a sigh. “It was just a terrible reminder that I’d had to banish my own sister…”
“You had to banish… your own sister…?” I asked looking down a bit. “I don’t remember Mom telling me about that…”
“At the time it was what I had to do… I had to do it for the future of Equestria.”
“For the future…” I just repeated.
…
“I did what I felt was necessary for the future…” I could hear in my own head.
“uunngh….” I groaned holding my head.
“Crystal?” Mom asked walking over to me. “Sweetie, are you okay?”
“I’LL KILL YOU!!” I could hear again. “AAHH!” I just yelled out gripping my head.
“Crystal! What’s--!” Mom exclaimed stopping mid-sentence just staring at me… I could feel tears running down my face… For some reason I just started feeling so angry and I don’t know why!
…
Then everything just stopped… I was panting hard trying to catch my breath. The next thing I knew, I could see Mom holding onto me tight. “Mom…?” Mom just looked over Celestia… who was looking back at me with worry in her eyes. “What just happened…?”
“I’m afraid that’s my fault…” Princess Celestia just sighed. “When your mother told me what was in your nightmares, I tried to have my sister change your dreams to only be happy ones… but it appears that was only suppressing the nightmares.”
“Princess Luna was changing my dreams this whole time…?’
“We were just trying our best to help as much as we could…”
“So I’m not really better then…?” I asked looking down.
“I’m sorry Crystal… but until we find a real solution, I’m afraid this is the best that we can do.”
“Come on… why don’t we get some rest?” Mom suggest placing a wing on me.
I just sighed. “I know i said I wouldn’t ask anymore… but this is just hard…”
Celestia just looked at Mom for a moment before looking back at me. "In time, you will understand... I promise. For now, try and get some rest." Mom and I just nodded as Celestia walked out.
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As Celestia is walking down the hall... unknowingly to her, a vine was creeping up behind her.
"wha--... Ah!!"