//------------------------------// // Ponyville // Story: Beneath a princess // by Aether Nexus //------------------------------// After gathering her saddlebags, Applejack left the station and began the long walk home, if only she didn’t have to go through Ponyville. It was rather late in the day now, and Celestia’s sun was nearing the horizon, and most ponies had returned to their homes. Applejack wished there was some pony to distract her if only to distract her from her thoughts. She passed the ‘Seed and Petal’, the diner where she and Twilight had gone on their first date. The date started as a disaster, the pair could barely say two words to one another let alone look each other in the eye. That was until they accidentally made eye contact, in that moment, the ice was broken, and finding the situation beyond ridiculous, they couldn’t help breaking out into fits of laughs and giggles. From there, the night was simply magical! They’d laughed, shared stories, learned so much about one another, and at the end of the night, under Luna’s moon, they’d shared their first kiss, the first of many. Further along, Applejack passed Sugarcube Corner. The bakery was lifeless now, even Pinkies room, usually aglow as the pink party pony planned out her many parties until the early hours, now lay dark and uninviting. It was here, that with Twilight by her side, they revealed the nature of their relationship to their friends. Of course, Pinkie already had a “Congratulations Twijack” banner and matching cakes to match, it was part of her ‘sudden shipping supplies kit’ whatever that meant, not even Twilight wanted to find out. Fluttershy and Rarity were elated of course, and claimed to be surprised, though over the evening their white lie broke down. First, Rarity made an off-hoof comment that she’d noticed the couple spending a lot of time together recently, which was followed by Fluttershy mentioning seeing them at a date the previous month. By the end of the evening, both admitted to having worked out when the couple had started dating and even had a friendly guessing game as to when they would go public. Fluttershy was the winner. Rainbow Dash however had the strangest reaction and remained in a daze for quite some time. When the pegasus returned to the land of the living, Pinkie had outfitted her with two party hats and had a “Do not disturb” sign. Rainbow hadn’t said much that night but apologised for her behavior the next day, though wouldn’t talk about why she had reacted that way. When any pony tried to ask her about it, the prismatic mare would quickly realise that a cloud was in the wrong place and fly away. Twilight had grown concerned until Rarity let some gossip, ever since that night, Rainbow Dash had been spending more and more time on the ground, in the company of Ponyvilles resident mail mare. Applejack hoped that those two would work, Celestia knew that Derpy deserved someone as wonderful as Rainbow in her life. The thought brought Applejack a small smile, but it quickly disappeared when she realised where she currently stood. As Applejack looked, she saw the place where everything went wrong, the last place she wanted to be here right now. The Golden Oaks Libary. ******************** She was gone! After fixing whatever had caused all their cutie marks to swap, Twilight had said that she knew why the spell failed and wanted to try again. Why wouldn’t Applejack trust her? Sure it went wrong the first time, but Twilight was the most magical pony in Equestria, if she believed she could do it, Applejack would support her. But this just wasn’t fair. Where Twilight once stood, now only the charred floor of the Golden Oaks library remained, empty of purple unicorn. She was vaguely aware of her friends around her, were they startled like her? Calling out for Twilight? Crying for their lost friend? A single thought drowned all of it, the mare she loved, was gone. A bright white light illuminated the library through the windows, far too bright to be any star that should be glowing in Luna's night, could it be Twilight? Wasting no time, Applejack ran through the door, with the other close behind. It was so bright, she had to use a hoof to shield her eyes, then the light exploded, and in its place shone a large pink starburst, surrounded by six smaller white stars. The star descended to the ground before her, and as its light faded, the outline of a pony emerged, could it be Twilight? Oh please Celestia let it be her. “Twilight, is that you?” She desperately wanted it to be her mare-friend, anything other than their final parting resulting in nothing more than scorch marks on the library's floor. Rising to their full height, a purple mare now stood before her, it was Twilight! She was alive! Then Twilight did the impossible, her mare-friend unfurled a pair of majestic lavender wings, and her mare-friend became an Alicorn. Applejack approached her mare friend, “I … I’ve never seen anything like it.” “Ha, Twilight’s got wings, AWESOME! A new flying buddy.” “Why, you’ve become an alicorn, I didn’t even know that was possible.”  Rainbow and Rarity added, admiring Twilight’s new wings. “AALLIIICCCOOORRRNNNN PARTY!” “Wow, you look just like a princess.” Pinkie Pie shouted enthusiastically, much different than Fluttershy’s reserved response. “That's because she is a princess.” Turning towards the new voice, Applejack was shocked Celestia had appeared, but what had she just said? That Twilight is a princess, a princess of Equestria? “What do I do now? Is there a book about being a princess I should read?”  Applejack couldn’t help but smile, it really was her Twilight, no pony else would ask if there was a book she should read about becoming a princess … But if Twilight was a Princess, where did that leave her? Would Celestria and the noble ponies of Canterlot allow their newest princess to date another mare? Was there anything that a simple earth pony apple farmer could even offer a princess?  ~~~~ The next few days passed so fast that before Applejack even knew it, she was standing in Canterlot Castle, watching Twilight Sparkle’s coronation. She’d barely been able to speak to Twilight with how busy the new alicorn had been. Between planning, paperwork, and princess lessons from the princesses. But Twilight looked so happy. Surrounded by the nobility, her old mentor, and finary that only Canterlot could offer, Twilight Sparkle shone. It was as if she’d been born for this role, or perhaps made for it. Considering Twilight was Princess Celestia's student, could this have been her destiny all along? As Twilight was crowned, it became clear to Applejack, Princess Sparkle was akin to a god, she was equal to those who controlled the sun and moon, while she was just an earth pony, did she still have the right to speak to her? Was she even allowed to still call the New Princess her marefriend? ~~~~ The next few weeks felt like living in Tartarus. Every day The Princess would be studying law and etiquette, spending time with the other princesses, or learning to fly with Rainbow Dash, the latter activity was the most Applejack would see of The Princess. Watching her fly through the skies was torture, she was beautiful, and Applejack could easily see how graceful the ex-unicorn would one day be with her regal wings, but with every fall she felt a piece of her heart crumble. She wanted to run over and make sure that her mare … Princess wasn’t hurt, but what would the upper-class ponies around say? When she felt their eyes upon her she felt her coat itch, and could almost hear their whispers, about what a mare like her was doing near their majestic Princess.     Leaving Canterlot had been both a blessing and a curse. She’d barely seen the Princess and certainly hadn’t managed to share any alone time, but at least now that she was going back to Ponyville and the farm. Hopefully, she’d be able to lose herself in farm work and tire herself out enough to get a good night's sleep. Then those darn vines came. Everything seemed so hopeless, Ponyville had been overrun by the cursed things. That was when our Princess returned, and after some guidance from Zecora, and no help from Discord, she led us once again into the Everfree Forest. ~~~~ “A Cragardile, run for your lives!” At Rarity's cry, none of us argued. As we scattered, I couldn’t help but look back to check on The Princess. She was trapped! And worse, the Cragadile was closing in on her. “Girls, it cornered Twi!” Had she said that? Before Applejack had even registered what had escaped her mouth, she’d grabbed a vine and lassoed the Cragadile, narrowly saving both Spike and Their Princess. Six vines later, we’d got the Cragadile secured, no danger to any pony now that it was dangling like a pinata, but it had been so close, if we’d been just a few seconds slower … “That was close.” Admitted Twilight. “A little too close if you ask me, you sure you’re all right?” She looked fine, but was she hiding an injury? Perhaps she bumped into a thorny viny? Why didn’t she fly away like Flutters and Dash!? “I’m fine.” Thank Celestia. “I just can’t seem to get these new wings to do what I want them to do when I want them to do it.” “Ah, you’ll figure it out eventually.” That’s not now though is it Dash! “Eventually isn’t soon enough” The princess replied. Exactly, she isn’t safe here, Equrestia needs her, surely she can see that! “You have been having a lot of trouble with those things, and well, who knows what else is goin’ to come after us so.” Deep breath, please don’t fight me on this. “Maybe, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for Twilight to go back to Ponyville, and let us look for the Tree of Harmoney without her.” Oh boy, “What! Why!?” she ain’t happy, but it's for the best. “Well, for starters, you just about got eaten by a Cragadile!” “We all did, he wasn’t after just me.” But you’re the one that matters why can’t ya see that? “Sure, but well, the rest of us aren’t princesses” “What's that got to do with anything!?” “Princess Celestia and Princess Luna are gone. If something were to happen to you, ah just don’t think Equestria can risk losin’ another princess.” Ah don’t think I could take seein' ya hurt. “Applejack does make a valid point.” Rarity added, coming to my rescue. “Even if we managed to save the Tree of Harmoney, it won’t necessarily mean Princess Celestia and Luna return. Equestria will need some pony to lead in their absence.”   “But the Tree of Harmoney, I’m the only one who has seen it and knows what it looks like.” Darn, she makes a good point. “Huge tree, cutie marks on the trunk, probably been attacked by something hideously awful? Pretty sure we’ll know it when we see it.” Way to go Dash! I knew I could count on you! “All of you feel this way? Feel like, I shouldn’t be here?” She was crying. I can feel my heart breaking but, if something happened to her, what then? “It is probably for the best” It was Fluttershy who spoke last, she locked eyes with me before she dropped her head and began her walk back to Ponyville. I wanted to be sick, the mare I love more than anything is miserable because of me, but it's for the greater good. If something happened to us, Equrestia would move on, but if something happened to her, Equestria as a whole would suffer. This was for the best.   ~~~~ It was a mistake, we found the tree, but without her, we had no clue how to save it. When Spike caught up to us and told us Twilight was in trouble, we rushed to her rescue. Fortunately, we’d been able to save her, but if she’d never left us, if I’d never sent her away, she would have been fine. She even knew how to fix the tree, all it would cost us were the elements. A small price to pay for saving Equestria. She said that it wasn’t the Elements that kept us together, but our friendship, she even said it was more important than any magic. She’d sure come a long way since we met her, but now she would be surrounded by lots of important ponies. So we gave up the Elements, and it was the right call. The Tree destroyed the vines, and it turned out that Princess Celestia and Princess Luna were here, captive of the vines. We’d saved Equestria, but I just couldn’t shake the feeling, I wasn’t even an Element bearer anymore, I was even less important than before, and Twilight had just saved Equestria again! The gap between us could fit an entire country inside it, a country called Equestria. ~~~~ Later that week, we were all invited to Canterlot to watch the raising of the sun for the Summer Sun Celebration, for the first time in a thousand years, two princesses stood side by side, one lowered her moon, and the second raised her sun. As the two celestial bodies passed one another in the sky, a familiar purple streak shot into the sky, creating a purple starburst between the sun and moon. As Princess Twilight landed between the other princesses I couldn’t help but admire how divine she was. I also saw that this was where she was meant to be, a royal of Equestria bettering the lives of every pony, my place was on the farm, as just a common earth pony harvesting simple apples. ******************** With tears in her eyes, Applejack finally tore herself away from the now vacant tree house. No pony or dragon called the library home now, perhaps they'd already left Equestria, maybe to never return. Regardless, there was only one thing that was certain, Twilight Sparkle was gone, and it was her fault.