//------------------------------// // Prologue // Story: The Ash // by Raging Mouse //------------------------------// Prologue: Celestia Falls A million things had to happen for this story to be at all possible. Most of those can be glossed over, or assumed common knowledge. Where to start the tale is still problematic. One very definite beginning occurred so far away in timespace that quantifying the distance is pointless. Suffice to say that a very, very large star died in a most spectacular manner. This had, of course, a profound effect on the immediate neighbourhood, but we aren't now relating the fates of those who were directly touched. That much drama is mere statistic. As a starting point, that event has the problem that the myriad following events were exciting and interesting, but not in any way critical to the story we shall tell. Let us therefore leap across those immense spans of time and untold stories by stating that the next beginning we choose to narrate happened aeons later, during Commoners' Day Court. ~~~~~~ Princess Celestia's front hooves flew up in front of her face at the same time as she threw her body back and to the right. The sudden motion caused her to tumble over the upper legrest of her throne and fall to the carpet lying on the marble dais that also held her throne. She had lowered her hooves as one reflex receded and another took its place and managed to halt her fall before her head would have impacted the floor. Still, her crown was wrenched from her head by its momentum, and the muffled clang as it bounced on the deeply layered velvet seemed jarringly loud in the hall, managing to fill the shocked absence of sound that had interrupted the usual droning murmur of commoners' court. She stayed motionless for two heartbeats, holding a gasp, eyes staring wildly in front of her, though nopony was in a position to gaze at her face and wonder what she could be seeing. Then she shoved with her front hooves, rising and turning around to gaze at the room. After a split second of taking in the scene, she spoke: ”Guards, stand down. He is not to blame for- for this.” A by now deathly pale supplicant managed to still his quaking a bit as the two armor-clad pegasi who had reacted appropriately (yet erroneously) backed away from him and folded away their wingdaggers. The princess made an effort to regain some of her decorum as she repositioned herself on the throne of Night and Day. She lowered her head as she saw her errant crown float towards her, enveloped in the magical aura belonging to the Royal Secretary, who had fetched it. The Secretary was an elderly stallion, and Celestia felt a twinge of remorse as she glanced at his pained face -keeping the Royal Garments was part of his duty, and Celestia doubted he'd ever seen the crown be so mistreated before. Still, while what was done could not be undone, the crown could certainly be undented and repolished. She cleared her throat. ”Steward?” Another elderly pony reacted to her title being called, and trotted forward to stand next to the supplicant. ”Yes, Princess Celestia?” The princess indicated the supplicant with a hoof and spoke. ”Please make sure this poor pony's needs are attended so he can collect himself before resuming his appeal. Once that is done, I would have word sent out to the University that their professors of geology and magic are to convene in this hall, one hour after dawn on the first Saturday of leaves' fall.” The steward raised an eyebrow, being unable to fully suppress his curiosity, while giving the still-quite-shaken pony beside her a reassuring pat. ”Shall we suspend court, your majesty?” The princess shook her head. ”We shall continue. What item is next?” The court resumed. ~~~~~ The dawn of the first Saturday of leaves' fall was cold and still. Frost fought and lost against the invading rays of the sun on every windowpane. The ground was artfully covered by the shed parchment of spring and summer, stiff and sugar-coated by ice. Some ponies are never content to just savor the moment, though. Several piles of leaves already reached higher than the average muzzle, and were still being added to. A group of particularly sizeable heaps were located at Sweet Apple Acres, leaning against one of the long walls of the barn. ”Pinkie, for the last time, less jumping and more helping!” The affronted partymachine ceased her bouncing, blew away a leaf that clung to her chin and glared at the orange pony who had spoken. ”But I AM helping! I'm patting down all the leaves for you!” Applejack sighed and rolled her eyes. ”We're not going to compost them against the barn wall, dummy. Big Mac and I will move all of this next to the beehives before the snows start, but we don't have the frames ready. This is temporary storage!” Pinkie Pie gasped, staring wide-eyed at the farm pony. ”So you need them uncompacted? Okie-dokie-Loki!” She became a blur as she resumed moving, and the leaf-pile erupted as if struck by a tornado. Applejack groaned and pulled her hat in front of her eyes, while behind her four bouts of laughter pealed. ”You should have seen that coming, Applejack!” She glared up at the source of the remark, Rainbow Dash, and rolled her eyes. ”Sure, Miss Hindsight; Pinkie here is so predictable, all things considered.” Dash hovered lower and moved her grinning face closer to Applejack's level. ”She can be one hundred and twenty percent relied upon to have fun.” ”I'd be really happy if she could simmer down just a bit.” Applejack’s mouth was a straight line. Rainbow Dash chuckled and flew higher in order to perform some lazy aerial stunts around the leaves who had been thrown highest. She ceased doing so as a blue aura of magic enveloped the leaves, halting their escape and bringing them back towards the pile. The pearly unicorn whose horn was glowing spoke without looking up from her own task. ”Pinkie darling, be a dear and stop causing such a mess!” This caused the disturbed pile to eject its agent of destruction in a great arc, Pinkie landing on all fours in front of the unicorn and immediately coming to a perfect stop in a calculated insult to Newtonian physics. ”Sure thing, Rarity!” Rarity passed the hyper pony a mug of hot chocolate, dismissing the thought of what that would do to her activity level. Pinkie was always active, sugar or no sugar. Meanwhile, Applejack turned towards a yellow-coated pegasus who was demurely sipping on her own cup of chocolate. ”Fluttershy, how many homeless hedgehogs need housing? Hah! Say that three times fast!” Fluttershy raised her eyes momentarily to meet the farmer's gaze and mumbled into her cup. ”Um, three families. If you don't mind.” ”I don't mind one bit. We'll make sure there are three frames with good entrances.” The timid pegasus smiled gratefully, raising her face to look straighter at Applejack. ”Thank you. They are very grateful as well, I am sure.” ”Oh you know me, Fluttershy, always ready to lend a helping hoof. Though... if they could, say, patrol the hayloft and watch for insect pests whenever they happen to wake up, then that would be mighty helpful for me...” ”Of course, Applejack. I'll ask them.” ”Ooh, what a great example of symbiosis!” Applejack and Fluttershy turned towards the purple unicorn who had said the last remark, and the former tilted her head. ”Symbol of what now?” Twilight Sparkle was floating a notepad and quill in the purple shimmer of her magical aura. She lowered these slightly. ”Symbiosis is the cooperation of two different species for mutual benefit. There are numerous examples, such as-” She interrupted herself as she noticed that Fluttershy apparently was wrestling with an urge to add something to the discussion. ”What is it?” ”Um, wouldn't symbiosis only happen naturally, and not as a result of planning?” Twilight was momentarily speechless. ”Well, that depends on how exactly you define symbiosis. This might not be evolved mutualism, but still.” She seemed quite surprised by Fluttershy’s objection. A mug of hot chocolate gripped in a blue aura floated over to the purple-coated librarian, and she nodded over to Rarity as her own aura enveloped it. ”Thank you.” Rarity also floated one cup each over to Applejack and Rainbow Dash, the latter landing to savour the drink. Then the neat unicorn picked up her own cup and carefully sipped at the viscous liquid through a straw. She'd brought napkins, of course: her friends were certain to need them, but if you needed a napkin you were already dirty or resigning to be so shortly. Small-talk and idle chatter gained strength as the sextet of friends went from expressing satisfaction at their finished task to basking in the rays of the autumn sun and relishing the cool, clear air. Eventually Applejack glanced at the sky and spoke. ”Well girls, I am mighty thankful you all helped out and I've agreed to let Rarity decide how I should repay you in turn.” Rarity enjoyed the inquisitive attention of her five companions and displayed them a predatory grin. She kept silent while waiting for her friends to work out what exactly she could have asked for and chuckled as each reacted according to their personalities. Applejack's smile was a mixture of embarrassment and apology and she avoided her friends' eyes by glancing a second time at the sky, Pinkie was hopping in place and cheering joyously, Fluttershy and Twilight looked delighted at what they assumed Rarity had chosen while Rainbow Dash stopped glaring at Applejack, let out an exasperated groan and voiced her complaint. ”It's going to be the Spa, isn't it? It's always the Spa!” The fashionista stuck up her nose at Rainbow Dash. ”It wouldn't shatter your public image to admit you enjoy the pampering, Rainbow.” ”Never!” Dash turned towards Applejack. ”Come on, big guy; you call this repaying a favour? Don't be ridiculous!” Rarity interrupted any answer the earth pony might have supplied with her own. ”Rainbow, did you know that Aloe has studied athletic therapy at Manehattan Sports Academy? I hear she's an expert at deep wing massage. I thought I'd have to treat you to something a little extra, so I went ahead and booked a full athletic treatment for you and Applejack while the rest of us have my usual care package.” This caused Rainbow Dash to land beside Rarity, fold her wings neatly and regard the unicorn with her undivided attention. ”So when is it?” Rarity smiled victoriously. ”I booked it at noon, so we should have -uh-” She looked up at the sky. ”Applejack, what time is it? It seems I can’t tell.” Applejack was already peering at the sun. ”Now that you mentioned it, Rarity, I've been wondering. It should be just a couple hours after dawn; we haven't worked on these piles for more than three hours at most, but I...” She looked confused. ”I don't know what the time is either. The sun is wrong somehow.” Twilight chuckled. ”Maybe we took more or less time than we thought! But I'll be sure to send Princess Celestia a letter chiding her erratic guidance todaaaAAAAH!” Twilight's scream was only the loudest of six exclamations of shock and surprise. They had by that point all been peering, through slitted eyelids, up at the sun.