The New Day
Twilight woke up with the morning, a stupid grin on her face.
She felt the Harmony of the Roots flowing in her once again. She could feel the spirits of her ponies, the magic of the world… Everything was as it should be.
Ichor noticed she was awake. “Good morning!”
Twilight chuckled, getting out of bed and stretching her wings. “Morning, Ichor. Did anything explode in the night?”
“Nope! Everything went smoothly. The shaper dignitaries came back, there’s been no sign of a blairne assault, and Discord fixed the food mountain! Everything’s… great!” She rushed Twilight into a hug. “And now it’s better because you’re awake!”
Twilight stroked Ichor’s mane. “That’s good to hear. Is the picnic still on?”
“Duh, of course it is! I even packed everything for you!” She pulled a picnic basket out from behind the bed, giving it to Twilight. “Spike, uh, helped.”
Twilight chuckled, kissing Ichor on the forehead. “He is the number one assistant for everyone, isn’t he?”
“Yep! Now go, shoo, enjoy the picnic with your friends, I can pretend to be regal long enough to keep everyone happy.”
Twilight laughed, trotting out of her bedroom. She passed by Spike and Smolder sitting in the main hall.
“Question,” Spike said. “How do we teach them dragonball if I’ve never played and you need at least four dragons to work it?”
Smolder scratched her chin. “I think Seabreeze and Gallus might be able to work. Wings and claws are all you really need.”
“Fire?”
“Just ask Discord. Actually, Discord could turn ponies into dragons temporarily!”
“Careful relying on Discord,” Twilight suggested as she passed.
Spike rolled his eyes. “We know!”
“...So, it sounds like you two have worked things out remarkably quickly.” She smirked. “Should I tell Rarity to start designing the dress?”
Smolder facepalmed. “Give it time, sparklebutt.”
“I will,” Twilight giggled, winking at Spike before continuing on her way. She found Sunset and Celestia standing at the front doors of the castle, looking at the sun through a window.
“You sure you set it back on the right rhythm?” Sunset asked, squinting her eyes. “I feel like it should be earlier in the day…”
Celestia rolled her eyes. “Trust me, I set it back exactly as it was, and I did account for the few minutes it was offset. I raised the sun for over a millennium, I know how to fix it if it goes off course.”
“Just sayin’, those shaper dignitaries are gonna accuse you of messing stuff up.”
“And they’ll be wrong.”
“Right.” Sunset noticed Twilight coming. “Ah, Twilight! I was going to talk to you about something. Since we can connect mana founts together and we don’t have to bother with the ritual, I was thinking, we could use that magic for something.”
“Such as…?” Twilight asked.
“Well, this is just a crazy theory, bu-”
Celestia held up a wing. “I think we shouldn’t keep Twilight from the picnic. She needs to unwind before her mind spirals off into intellectual pursuits.”
“Oh. Right.” Sunset rubbed the back of her head. “Talk to you later, Twilight.”
Twilight smiled. “I’m already intrigued and I have no idea what your plan is!” She giggled, turning to Celestia.
Twilight decided to hug the Princess. “We’re good, Celestia. Don’t worry.”
Celestia enclosed her wings around her once-student. “You shouldn’t either.”
The two broke off the Embrace. Twilight pushed the front doors open and entered New Equestria. For the first time since they had arrived, New Equestria looked populated. Dozens of ponies of all shapes and sizes walked alongside each other - earth ponies, pegasi, unicorns, wraiths, shapers, and even a few changelings. There were only two blairne, though - Frostfire and the Empire’s new dignitary, Verberate. She had arrived just before Twilight went to sleep last night, and she had been welcomed relatively easily. After all, the sound blairne was a familiar face who had tried to understand them the last time she was here. Currently, Ebony and that Gourd Twilight could never remember the name of were talking to her.
“A book the blind can read…?” Verberate asked, looking at Ebony like she was crazy.
“They have many odd magical marvels,” Ebony said, holding up her book of riddles.
Verberate was hesitant to get that close to an object a wraith had touched, but her curiosity pushed her past it, allowing her to rub her hoof across some words and gain understanding about a number puzzle. “Everything adds up to twenty-seven? A simple matter of math!”
“That’s what they all say,” Ebony deadpanned.
“And the seeds of change are sown,” the Gourd said with an air of poetic charm. He turned to Twilight. “There’s a long road ahead of us.”
Twilight nodded in his direction. “And we’ll be with you if you’ll let us.”
The Gourd grinned. “You understand. Good.”
I haven’t the foggiest, but all right. She nodded curtly to the Gourd and continued on her way, purposefully seeking Frostfire out.
“That was some nice work with your jaw,” Frostfire was telling Red Fox.
“I was trained as a hunter,” Fox said, waving a dismissive hoof.
“You were awesome!” Eagle cheered. “Dad, why can’t you do stuff like that?”
“Because I’m Beaver,” Beaver said. “If felling a tree would save the day, I’d do it. Otherwise… well, toss a wand to Frostfire and hope it works.”
“Alas, I will never know what I could do with the wand…” Frostfire put a hoof to his forehead. “The secrets to creating them are probably locked away in some long-forgotten chest beneath the palace rubble.”
“I can probably make you one,” Twilight said, walking up to Frostfire. “...I owe you much more than that, but it’s the least I can do.”
“Owe me?”
“Out of all the ponies who stayed by us, you were the one who had the least reason to. We were fighting your people, we had not saved you from any sort of danger, and we didn’t really show you anything all that new. You just… stayed.” She put a comforting hoof on his back. “I think you’re more generous than you realize.”
Frostfire broke out into a smile. “About time somepony recognized my greatness.”
Eagle facehooved. “Oh boy…”
“You still have a long way to go… but I’ll see about making that wand. Still, though, I wanted to thank you.” She turned to Fox and her family. “All of you, for standing by us.”
“Don’t mention it,” Beaver said. “It just… seemed like the right thing to do.”
Twilight beamed. “You have no idea how great that makes me feel.” One at a time, she shook their hooves before continuing on her way. Her plan was to go right to the picnic after this, but Discord’s little game interrupted her.
“The demogorgon cometh!” Discord declared. Twilight looked up, seeing him and his group of ‘adventurers’ descend from the overhead Discordia. He lifted up a cardboard cutout of a humanoid creature with a bunch of toothy petals for a head. “This is the monster that has been terrorizing the village for years… finally in a place where you can see it clearly. What do you do?”
Big Mac looked to his adventuring companions. Scootaloo was frantically trying to pull out the right arrow for the occasion, Zephyr had already been knocked out by a previous trap, and Marble…
...was confidently strutting up toward the monster?
“Mhm!” Marble declared, ramming her hoof into the ground. Using the geomancer class’ ability, her magic became one with the earth. A crevasse opened up in the earth, swallowing the demogorgon. However, it wasn’t quite done. It managed to hold onto the edge of the crevasse, lunging at Marble.
She pulled out her geomancer’s scepter and thwacked it in the head. The cardboard cutout disintegrated from the critical hit.
“Mhm!” Marble grinned, planting her staff in the ground like some kind of flag.
Everyone was staring at her in surprise. When she realized this, her smile vanished and she shrunk back.
Until they started clapping.
“Those were some pretty good moves!” Spitfire said.
“Awesome!” Scootaloo added.
“I believe it could be true, a master of the earth are you,” Zecora suggested.
Marble allowed herself to smile.
“Huh. And here I was thinking I’d have to write a whole new curriculum for her,” Sweetie said, letting Twilight know she was at her side.
“Headmare Belle, huh?” Twilight asked with a smirk.
“Yep! That’s what it’s looking like!” Sweetie stretched her legs and excitedly tapped the ground. “I am stealing your jooooob!”
Twilight chuckled. “I don’t mind. It’s nice to have one less thing to worry about. I’m sure you’ll do great.”
Sweetie saluted. “Now go get to your picnic.”
Twilight rubbed the back of her head. “Right, right… wouldn't want to be late!” She decided it was probably a good idea to teleport, so she wouldn’t get stopped again.
Even with this jump, she was the last to appear on the red-and-white checkered blanket. Her five closest friends were already there, having brought their own baskets of food to share in the shadow of Princess Luna’s statue. Twilight set her basket down and grinned. “Sorry girls, got stopped a lot.”
“You stopped yourself on Frostfire,” Rainbow jabbed, though she was grinning.
“Fair, fair…” She sat down on the blanket and opened up her basket, pulling out a few sandwiches and a salad. She looked up at the statue of Luna - and smiled.
“...Finally, we can just have… a picnic,” Rarity said with a sigh of relief. “No army threatening us, no panic, no worry about the ponies in the Roots… everyone’s here.”
“Everyone,” Pinkie said, turning to Twilight. “Even you.”
“Thank you all,” Twilight said. “For saving me, yes, but also… for being friends. For being there for each other. For being strong enough to survive the destruction of almost everything.” She glanced at Luna’s statue. “Our world was destroyed… and we lost, so, so much.”
“But we’ve gained somethin’ here, haven’t we?” Applejack said.
“A new life… a new way…” Fluttershy smiled. “We’ve brought friendship to this confused, angry world.”
“Dear, we haven't done that yet,” Rarity said. “We barely got them to stop attacking us! The blairne aren’t exactly thrilled at our actions, and the shapers will probably be at each others’ throats soon.”
“Give it time,” Pinkie said. “We’ve planted the seeds…”
“The Gourd was saying something similar,” Twilight recalled.
“I swear, they speak in metaphors have the time,” Rainbow grunted. “And the other half they don’t even try to make sense.”
Pinkie shrugged. “Close enough!”
Twilight took a deep breath, allowing the air of New Equestria to fill her. It no longer felt alien to her, the air of the Sphere. It felt… warm. Comforting. Fresh.
It felt like home, finally.
With a stupid grin on her face, she took a bite of her sandwich and felt alive.