The Archivist

by Lets Do This

Command Performance

Sunny opened her eyes, then blinked and rubbed them.

It was still dark out, but from the pale blue coloring of the sky to the East, it felt close to sunrise-time. Summoning her horn and wings, she raised the Sun. And its warmth and light quickly roused the others, too.

"Wow," Hitch said, as he yawned and stretched. "That's one heck of a wake-up call. Thanks, Sunny!"

"No problem," Sunny replied. She squinted cautiously up at the sky, double-checking her work. "You know, it's funny? I used to hit the snooze button like three times every morning. And now? I'm up at the crack of dawn... because I'm the pony running it."

Pipp smiled. "And we think you're doing a fantastic job. Right, Zipp?"

"Little early for schmoozing, isn't it?"

"Pro tip," Pipp warned her, "always be complimentary to a pony with the power to move the Sun."

"Yeah, point taken." Zipp nodded. "So, what's first on the agenda?" Then she looked over her shoulder, up towards the peak of the hill. "Oh yeah. Right. Tree."

It stood there, stolid and wooden as always, wreathed in early-morning mist that glowed softly and pearlescently in the dawn light.

"Where's Trixie?" Izzy asked, looking around.

They saw the door to Trixie's wagon was open. There was assorted muffled muttering and cursing coming from inside. With the others close behind her, Sunny mounted the steps and peered in.

The wagon's interior was spare and neat, apart from a disheveled hammock strung against a side window. And the numerous trunks and boxes of books and scrolls, stacked everywhere. Trixie was in the midst of these, rummaging in one of them. Bringing out a heavy tome with her magic, she thunked down on the floor, paging through it with rising agitation.

"You'd think," she grumbled, "with something as important as a magical Tree underpinning the powers of the entire realm, they'd have, I don't know, a how-to guide?" She slammed the volume shut. "Unhappily, I don't seem to have anything with me."

"It's okay," Sunny said. "We'll just have to figure it out. Together, right?"

"I suppose," Trixie said, looking doubtful. Nevertheless she willingly set the book aside and followed Sunny and the others, out of the wagon and up the hill, where they all stood looking up at the tree.

"So, what do we try first?" Zipp said. "Thinking happy thoughts? Or singing a song? Or both at once?" Despite all their brainstorming the previous evening, they hadn't come up with anything much more concrete.

"Maybe there's some kind of spell? Or ritual?" Sunny trotted around the base of the tree, looking for a sign, a sigil, markings of any kind. Even a convenient weathered stone marker in the ground with Instructions for Waking The Tree. But there was nothing of the sort. Nothing but the meadow and the daisies and the tree itself.

Trixie was sitting off to the side, frowning and thumping her head with a hoof. "C'mon, Trixie. Think! Think, think, think! What would Starlight do in a situation like this? What would Twilight do?"

And then she looked up. "Which are your Elements?"

The others looked at her.

"Our... elements?" Pipp asked.

Trixie nodded. "Twilight and the others, each of them had some kind of Element, something special about them. It was the same for Star Swirl and his bunch. Starlight explained it to me once. You figure out which element each pony represents, you put them together and..." She gestured vaguely with her hooves. "Hang onto your hat I guess. 'Cause it gets weird from there."

Sunny was nodding. "The Elements of Harmony," she whispered. "Dad mentioned them. They were all aspects of Friendship, somehow."

"One was Kindness," Trixie said, nodding. "I'm pretty sure of that. Another was Loyalty. I think. And, er... sorry, that's all I've got."

Sunny looked around at her friends. "Well, if any of us was Kindness," she said. "It'd be you, Hitch."

"Me?"

"Uh huh." Sunny nodded. "The way you're so patient and understanding. Particularly with the critters when they follow you around."

"Well, what else can I do?" Hitch said, amused. "It's not like I can yell at them or anything. They don't know any better. And I'm the Sheriff, so I have to set an example... critters included."

"And that's why everypony in town looks up to you," Sunny went on. "You're a pillar of strength. They know they can rely on you." Sunny considered it. "Hmm. Strength and Kindness... Authority, perhaps?"

Hitch shrugged. "Works for me."

"And Zipp," Sunny said, "you'd be Loyalty, I think. The way you never give up, and stick by your friends."

"Sure. I've got anypony's back who's got mine." Zipp smirked. "But I don't trust just anypony. I choose my friends carefully. As you can tell from this crowd." She gestured with a wing.

"Right," Sunny nodded. "You're cautious, always seeking the truth..."

"A bit of a skeptic?" Pipp added, smiling. "Maybe more than a bit?"

Zipp shrugged. "Hey, I'll put my hoof up to that. If I'm gonna believe in something, I want to be sure it's the real deal."

"So... Loyalty, plus a healthy dose of Skepticism," Sunny summed up. "Trust, maybe?"

"Suits me," Zipp agreed.

"Oooh! Oooh! Me next!" Izzy beamed. "Uhh... I'm really creative... and have loads of inspiration... and I make friendship bracelets!"

"Plus you can't sit still for more than five seconds," Zipp murmured. She exchanged a smile with Pipp.

"Right," Sunny agreed. "Loads of Energy, and Creativity too. But it's more than that, Izzy. You can always find the bright side to any situation. So... Optimism, I guess?"

"Sold!" Izzy grinned. "Don't bother wrapping it, I'll wear it with pride!"

"And Pipp," Sunny said. "You've got name-brand recognition, and an incredible following. Ponies listen to you and believe in you, because you make them feel better about themselves."

Pipp nodded. "Early on, I learned a very important rule: take care of your fans and they'll take care of you. I've never forgotten it, and it's never steered me wrong."

Sunny nodded. "Okay, so Fame and... I don't know..."

"Networking?" Pipp quickly suggested, with a smile.

"That works." Sunny nodded. "So, uh... Influence?"

"Ding!" Pipp replied. She held up her phone. "And look at that, it's got five plus-hooves already!"

"What about you, Sunny?" said Hitch. "You get one of these elements too, right?" He looked around at the group. "Me, I'd say it's Empathy. Because you always listen to what ponies are saying and feeling. You're always reaching out. You always want to make things right."

"But she also knows," said Zipp, "when to put her hoof down. There's times when you've set us all straight, Sunny, just by being loud and determined about the right way to go."

"Decisiveness," Pipp agreed. "Whenever we're fighting with each other, and can't make up our minds, you lead the way."

"Okay, so... Leadership?" Izzy suggested.

The others nodded.

"Leadership," Hitch said. "Says it all."

"Works for me," Zipp said.

"And me," Pipp agreed.

Sunny smiled at them. "Thanks, everypony. Okay, so we each have an Element, of sorts. But what do we do with them?"

Trixie looked doubtful. "Maybe you gather in a circle around the Tree? And name your elements? I seem to remember Starlight mentioning something like that being part of it."

Sunny and her friends did so. Feeling just a little foolish, they called out the elements they'd settled on:

"Optimism!"

"Authority!"

"Trust!"

"Influence!"

"... and Leadership," Sunny called out, self-consciously.

And then they waited. And waited some more. Nothing happened.

"Anypony got a Plan B?" Zipp said.

"Maybe we didn't pick the right ones?" Hitch suggested. "Or maybe it's something silly, like we didn't say them in the right order."

"No, they seem right to me..." Sunny said. And thought about it. She thought back to the Friendship gem: the three crystals, one for each of the tribes. And how in the end, it wasn't the crystals that were important. It was the ponies they were trying to bring back together.

Then she thought back to Twilight and her friends. And realized...

"There were six of them! Twilight and the others: six elements, six ponies." Sunny looked around at the others. "And there were two of each: two earth ponies, two pegasi... and two unicorns."

"Well, we've got two unicorns," Pipp said.

"Uh huh!" Izzy nodded. "Me and my brilliant study-buddy: Counselor Trixie!"

Sunny looked at Trixie. "How about it, Trixie?"

The showmare looked stunned. "You want me?"

"Yeah, I think we need you." Sunny nodded encouragingly. "To make this work."

"Um. Okay..." Trixie said, trotting forwards. "If you think so..."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Izzy said. "What's Trixie's Element? Trixie gets one too, right?"

The ponies looked at each other. And Trixie looked at them.

"Well..." Trixie said hesitantly, "you did so great choosing your own. What do you think it should be?"

"How about Experience?" Pipp said. "From the way you handle yourself live-streaming, Trixie, I'd say you've been around."

"Plus the way you know how to rough it out here," Zipp added. "I'm proud I can even light a fire. But you know how to live on the road."

"Experience," Sunny agreed, nodding. "That's something you have, Trixie, that none of us have. You know things we don't, because you've been there. You lived in a time when there was magic like this. You remember how things were. We're gonna need that."

"She sure knows a lot about magic!" Izzy said proudly.

Trixie shrugged. "At least, for spells I've practiced."

"And that's something else," Sunny said. "Throughout all this, you've been honest and up-front with us, about what you know and what you can do. Plus you don't sugar-coat things, Trixie. You tell it like it is. We're going to need that kind of plain truth, that kind of tough love. So... Experience and Truth... uh, Wisdom, maybe?"

"Wisdom," Pipp said, nodding.

"Sounds right to me," Hitch agreed.

"Wisdom!" Izzy crowed.

And Trixie gave them all a look.

"If I'm Wisdom," she muttered, "you're all in trouble..."

Nevertheless she stepped forward to join the circle of ponies. Again they named their elements, with Trixie chiming in last: "Uh... Wisdom?"

Again, nothing happened.

Zipp looked miffed. "Okay," she said dryly, "anypony got a Plan C?"

Trixie slumped miserably. "I guess I'm not really the unicorn you need."

"No..." Sunny said, drawing surprised looks from her friends. Then she went on. "We do need you, Trixie. But more than that, we need the real you..."

She glanced around at the others, then looked at Trixie again.

"... we need the Great and Powerful Trixie."

Trixie froze. She looked horrified. "Are you sure?"

Sunny nodded encouragingly. So did her friends.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie," Hitch agreed.

"The Great and Powerful Trixie!" Izzy cheered excitedly.

"Heh. Time to step up to the big leagues," Zipp said.

But to Trixie it was no joke. She swallowed nervously.

"Okay, but... just give me one minute, will you?"

Turning, she hared away down the hill to her wagon, and disappeared inside.

"What happened?" Pipp asked. "Did we say something wrong?"

"I'm not sure," Sunny said. "Wait here." Motioning for the others to stay put, she followed after Trixie.

On reaching the wagon's doorway, she looked in. And found Trixie sitting inside, facing a mirror hanging on the side wall. Trixie had already put on the star-spangled magician's cloak, and was nervously settling the peaked hat onto her mane.

"Trixie never turns down a performance," she said. "But I gotta look the part. Hmph. A little threadbare, but it'll have to do." She gave the brim of the hat a stroke with a forehoof.

And smiled, as if in recognition.

"Ya know..." she said softly, "for the first time in a really long while... I feel like myself again."

She turned to look at Sunny. "Thanks."

Sunny smiled encouragingly. "I know you can do this, Trixie."

"But of course!" Trixie replied archly. "If Trrrixie can't do it, nopony can..." For a moment, she looked uncertain again. "... right?"

Sunny nodded. Together she and Trixie turned back up the hill, towards the tree.

And they quickly met the others, coming back down it.

"Sunny!" Hitch shouted, "something's going on up there!"

Sunny stared. "Trixie, what're you doing?"

"Me?" Trixie squeaked. "I was hoping it was you!"

All round the base of the tree, seemingly out of the sunlit mist itself, walls were steadily materializing. Broken walls, a staircase, doors... a ghostly ruins in fact, which seemed to become more substantial the closer they got to it.

Cautiously approaching the doors, they climbed the stairs leading up to them. Glancing at each other, Sunny and Trixie reached out together and, finding the doors solid to the touch, pushed them open.

In the mist-wreathed courtyard beyond stood the tree, surrounded by the shattered ruins of the ancient palace.

Trixie nodded. "This is how I remember things," she whispered. "So this must be the place. This must be the Tree."

"Why is it all wispy and see-through?" Izzy asked. "Are the ruins really here, or is it just illusion?"

Trixie looked puzzled. For all of a brief moment. Then she lofted her snout proudly.

"Trixie has no idea what's going on," she said. "But that's never stopped Trixie. In fact," she added, "the All-Wise and Thoroughly Experienced Trixie has always played the cards she's dealt. Except the ones she keeps up her sleeves, of course." She mischievously fanned a deck of cards from nowhere, then made them disappear again. "All right," she called out. "If we're gonna do this, let's do it right. Time to put on a show!"

Striding forwards, she turned to face them, lofting her forehooves dramatically.

"Mares and stallions! Fillies and colts of all ages! The Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie will now attempt the awesomely difficult, and technically unexplainable Waking the Tree spell! With, of course, the kind help of her capable assistants from the audience." She gestured to them all. "Now -- places, everypony! Sunny, you're fine where you are. Hitch, you're over that side, that's right. Zipp and Pipp, over that way, that's fine, but spread out a little. And Izzy, right over there. Perfect!"

Glancing around, Trixie adjusted her hat, then gestured like a conductor.

"Let's make this one count, everypony. Nice and loud, like ya mean it! On the count of three... one, two..."

Once again, the ponies named their elements in order, with Trixie adding hers at the end, firmly and grandly:

"Wisdom!"

And she clapped her forehooves together, setting off a fountain of glittering fireworks.

And... again nothing happened.

In the distance, a bird chirped. Otherwise, all was silent.

"Well, it was a good try anyway." Hitch said, sounding disappointed. The others looked similarly downcast. Sunny in particular, who stared at the tree in bafflement.

"I was sure we had it there. I was sure we'd figured it out..."

Trixie stared as well. Then she frowned. And growled angrily.

Storming over to the base of the Tree, she glared up at it. "Now you listen here!" she snarled. "Tree of Harmony, or whatever it is you are. You've got five ponies here who could really use some help with the magic that's been dropped on them. Plus you've got the Great and Powerful Trixie, who doesn't need help, thanks, but that's beside the point. And these are good ponies, all of them, Trixie can tell. They're pouring their hearts out here, trying to do the thing right, trying to be the ponies this age needs them to be. And you just sit there, like a... like a big freaking tree!"

Trixie was furious. Trixie was livid. And all the more so because the Tree was utterly failing to respond to her tirade.

"Well, Trixie isn't going to stand for it!"

Whirling about, Trixie struck out with a hind hoof, smacking the gnarled bark. "There! Ha! That should wake you up!"

For a moment, all was shocked stillness.

And then, right where Trixie's hoof had struck the bark, a crack formed. It spread, snaking up the trunk and feathering out to the sides. There was a building thrum, a rumbling of tension in the air.

"Aaah!" Trixie bolted, and ended up crouching behind Sunny. "Oh! What the hay have I done now, Sunny?"

"I'm not sure..." Sunny whispered. But she almost was, sort of. Summoning her horn and wings, she waited, watching in awe. Taking their cue from her, her friends stayed put, watching in wide-eyed amazement.

Before them, the cracking of the bark was spreading all over the tree, up its numerous branches. From within, a warm, blinding radiance was leaking out. And before Sunny and her friends could do anything, even just look away, the radiance ramped up into a huge outrush of energy. It atomized the bark and leaves of the tree, whirling them away to nothingness.

In their place, the true Tree was revealed: tall and stately, and utterly ethereal. No longer bound by physical form, it spread branches of sheer magic into the air, and dug roots of power deep into the ground, reconnecting with the restored power of the realm.

A nimbus of gleaming magic formed around Sunny, and around each of her friends -- Trixie included. They were lifted into the air and swept into a proper circle around the Tree. And they could feel the unleashed magic connecting them, linking them all together, in a bond that the realm had known only twice before.

At last, a voice said. Whether it was spoken aloud or just in their heads, it was difficult to tell. The link has been reforged. And not merely amongst your three tribes. But with the past. You begin to remember, as do I...

"Sunny..." Hitch said nervously, "why is the Tree speaking in your voice?"

"Seriously?" Zipp asked. "A tree talking at all isn't weird enough for you?"

This is the voice you listen to, the Tree said. The voice you believe in. The voice you respect... There was a slight but unmistakable edge in its tone.

"Um..." Trixie offered nervously, "Sorry I kicked you. I was a little fed up, that's all."

They felt a gentle warmth, a sparkling in the Tree's magic. It was like laughter, but without the physical expression of it.

Tough love indeed, the Tree said. And just when it was needed. You are true to your Aspect, Trixie Luna Moon. As are each of you. That is well. This will be needed, in times ahead.

"That's why we're here," Sunny said. "We want to be sure we're ready, that we know what to do. That I know what to do," she added with a nervous smile.

Get used to uncertainty, the Tree advised. But trust in yourself and your friends. You all have an unusual destiny. Others before have sought what was already there. But you must now seek what was, reunite the present and the past. Yet you have what you need: ancient magic, and modern technology, and the friendships that you will reawaken, all across this land.

"No pressure, huh?" Hitch whispered, making Sunny smile.

Be on guard though, the Tree warned. Not every creature, not every force you awaken will be friendly. Not everyone who claims friendship will be true. It will be up to you to decide which is which. You are the Aspects of Friendship now. And you will know what must be done...

The power gently released them, and Sunny and her friends settled back to the ground. Before them, the glowing Tree's magic flowed away, outwards and downwards, along otherwise invisible channels in the fabric of magic itself. It slipped away entirely, leaving behind only the creeper-tangled stone ruins, now fully solid once again.

And six utterly amazed ponies.

Sunny and the others crossed to the doors of the ruins, and looked out through them, down the stairs. Beyond they saw only the empty, daisy-strewn meadow. Plus Trixie's wagon, and the two pegasi guards who'd been cowering behind it the entire time.

Sunny and her friends looked at each other, astonished and speechless.

Then Trixie proudly gestured with her hooves.

"Ta daaaa! Now, who's for ice cream to celebrate, huh?"

Sunny and the others laughed.

"Sure," Sunny said. "Soon as we get back to town. And I'm buying."

Late the following morning, they were back in Maretime Bay. The entire group was sitting around a table next to the ice-cream stand on Shore Street, looking out on the bay. And each of them had a dish or cone of his or her favorite flavor.

Trixie had just taken a large chomp out of her cone, and was squinting at the resulting brain-freeze.

"Er, excuse me?" said a nervous voice behind them. "Are you Sunny Starscout?"

Sunny and her friends turned to look, and saw a trio of nervous-looking unicorns, dressed in star-spangled robes, their carryalls loaded down with quills and scrolls and other research gear.

"Yep." Sunny smiled. "Sunny Starscout, that's me."

The ginger-haired unicorn who'd spoken touched a forelock of his mane courteously. "We're a delegation from the Archivists," he said. "It's a group dedicated to carrying on the tradition of scholarship established by the Royal Archives of Old Equestria. Up to now, we've had to remain in hiding, but with the return of magic, well... we thought we'd ask if you're considering maybe re-establishing the Archives? We'd be more than willing to offer our services as scribes and researchers. And maybe one day, with diligence and study, we might be able to recover some small amount of the knowledge ponies once had about magic and spellwork."

Sunny exchanged an amused glance with her friends. "Well," she said. "I think you ought to take that up with the current Head of the Archives." She gestured with a hoof. "Which would be Trixie here."

"Oooh..." Izzy warned, "but it's not just Trixie, remember..."

Trixie herself gestured with a forehoof, invoking an ethereal mirror in midair. She used it to make sure her hat and robe were on straight. Then she dismissed the mirror with another wave of her hoof.

And finally turned round, to eye the nervous scholars loftily and scornfully. She smirked.

"How may the Grrreat and Powerful Trrrixie... be of service?"

In another place -- a shimmering, placid realm as distant as a sunset, yet as inescapably encroaching as one's own shadow -- a Princess looked down on the scene.

And smiled, reminiscently.

Behind her, there was a darkly smug chuckle. And Twilight rolled her eyes.

"You are having way too much fun."

She turned her head to look at the flame-eyed, night-dark shape looming behind her, wreathed in coruscating fire. The other Princess shrugged indifferently.

"The little fraud always wanted to be powerful... and great. Who are we not to oblige, hmm?"

Twilight shook her head reprovingly, but didn't object outright. She just kept smiling as she returned her attention to the six ponies -- the Aspects of Friendship -- celebrating that friendship together.

She sighed. The sight made her feel just a little bit better.

It was so like old times...