Princess Celestia paced her luxurious room nervously with her long, succulent legs. She had a lot on her mind, thankfully it was nothing too important, so she hadn't lost any sleep or anything. That would just be the absolute worst thing.
Eventually, just the pony princess she was waiting for entered the room. "My sister, stop all this pacing! You know the joints in your spindly legs can't handle as much stress as the normal ponies!" Luna scolded.
It's an unfortunate but all too real side effect of being an alicorn. Throughout their seemingly eternal lives, their legs never stop growing. Eventually it gets to a point where it becomes a health issue. For Celestia they've gotten so long that even walking has become difficult. They may be immortal, but the bane of all alicorns is their own legs.
Celestia knew that her sister's words held no malice, but she couldn't help but feel a stinging in her heart at the unwanted memories they brought up. She remembered when she was young and her parents were still alive. More specifically, when she was walking around the castle with her dad. His legs were over eleven feet long since he was so old, making him tower over even the tallest of regular ponies. Unfortunately, though, as they went to walk down a flight of stairs, he lost his balance. It was very messy. So, so very messy. There was literally blood everywhere.
Their mother lived for a few more years after that, but her legs were already so long... There was no saving her. One day they just snapped in half. Like twigs! It was all so sudden, no pony could have possibly predicted it. Once again, it was very messy.
Celestia tried hard not to start crying at the memories, but no matter what she did the tears were still prevalent in her eyes. Her sister didn't seem to notice though, or she just didn't care. Still, Celestia thought she saw a hint of a smile appear on her sister's face for just a moment. Perhaps this was some kind of small payback for a thousand years of imprisonment in a barren, airless wasteland. Then again, she could have just imagined it.
"Anyway, what is this about?" Luna asked, as though she had important things that needed to be done (she didn't).
After a few seconds, Celestia was able to get control of her tear ducts back, and she promptly sucked all the moisture from her eyes back into them. "It's king Sombra." She stated simply.
"Really, Celestia...? Really?" Asked Luna, who now seemed thoroughly pissed off and slightly insulted that her sister would waste her time with something as stupid as this.
Celestia must have caught on to why her sister was so annoyed by the idea, and butted in to explain before Luna could overreact too much. "Don't worry." She reassured. "It's not how you think." She took a moment to organize her thoughts before continuing. "Twilight explained to me that when the crystal heart was used by the crystal ponies in crystal city, it disintegrated king Sombra."
Luna's eyes immediately widened in surprise. "But... That's not possible!" She sputtered out worriedly.
Celestia simply placed a hoof on her sister's shoulder to calm her down.
"He can't have been disintegrated, that would imply that he was killed!" She continued. "This is Equestria, he can't have possibly died!"
Celestia nodded her head as though she understood exactly what her sister meant. "I was thinking the same thing. There's no way he could have possibly been properly killed."
Luna's shock died away and was instead replaced with a frown. "Now that I think about it, I fail to see how this is important. King Sombra is a background villain at best. I mean, I've seen scarier things in my toilet. Why does this concern us?"
Once again, Celestia understood exactly what her sister meant. She had seen some really horrifying things in her own toilet, and she could only imagine what twisted demonic spawns inhabited her sister's toilet. If only she just explained everything herself, it would have saved a lot of everyone's time. "He may just be a background villain, but we don't want to leave open ends." Otherwise who knows how many fanfics there will be about him?
"So what, do you suggest we just fly into the arctic wherever he is and vanquish him? That sounds like a big waste of both our time if I do say so myself." Said Luna as though her time is important in the slightest. She's a background princess at best (which is still more important than the average pony).
Like always, Celestia seemed to have all the answers. "No. We are much too important to go deal with a background villain ourselves. What I'm suggesting is that we send less important ponies to deal with him instead."
Luna instantly understood her sister's reasoning. "Of course, it's brilliant! We send a bunch of less important ponies to do our dirty work." Her mood drooped a bit as she thought about it. "We can't send Twilight or any of her best friends, though. The elements of harmony are much too important for such a rudimentary task. And we can't send any of our guards. They're all worthless. Who would lead such a group?"
Celestia smiled widely as she knew exactly who she could send.
--
"Kicking trees, kicking trees, kicking tree-hee-hee-hees!" Sang Applejack as she kicked trees in the apple orchard that everypony in her family is named for. After filling up yet another cart full of scrumdiddlyumptious red apples she lifted her hat and wiped the sweat off her brow. "Wooo-wee! Nothin' like ah good hard days work!" She yelled to herself in her southern accent, despite the fact that there is no southern United States in Equestria world.
Redepositing the stetson back onto her big, orange head, Applejack hitched the cart to herself using her ultra-malleable hooves and started pulling it back towards the barn where the cargo would be deposited with thousands of its piers. She was hardly half way down the road when she saw none other than her big red brother coming down the road towards her.
"Yeeup." He stated once he got within spitting distance of the mare.
Using the powers of earth pony magic, Applejack understood exactly what he meant, but she was kind enough to repeat it in question form for all our sakes. "Twilight Sparkle is at the house?"
"Yeeup." He once again said, somehow both answering her question and providing more information at the same time.
"She has a letter from the princesses?"
"Yeeup."
"And she's waiting for me?!" Applejack practically jumped out of the cart, but then she remembered she isn't Pinkie Pie. Instead she was forced to unstrap herself before running off towards the house, completely forgetting about the cart full of apples.
Big Mac sighed as he realized now he would have to do all his sister's work as well as his own as she would likely go running off somewhere with all her friends.
No more than thirty seconds later, Applejack barged through the door of her house. She had used her ultimate earth pony magic to run really extra fast, so it hardly took any time at all to reach the place. She didn't want to leave Twilight waiting, after all.
Twilight was sitting in the living room on a comfortable looking reclining chair sipping a cup of tea that Granny Smith had brought for her. She was wearing a small pair of black-rimmed glasses that rested on the end of her snout as she read some book she had. Applejack approached her and the purple mare reluctantly put the book down on a side table.
"Howdy there Twilight, haven't seen you for a few days." She greeted her unicorn friend politely.
For her part, Twilight did a good job not outright laughing at the orange pony's ridiculous accent, however, she couldn't stop a small smile from spreading across her muzzle. But it was gone a moment later as she remembered why she was forced to come all the way out here. "Hello Applejack, I assure you I'm here for business and nothing more." She said in a professional manner that was completely unfamiliar to the farm-raised pony.
She cleared her throat before continuing. "A little over half an hour ago I got a letter and package from the princess along with a set of instructions. The instructions wanted me to deliver the letter to you without reading it myself, for some reason. Though I hate being forced to act the part of a delivery boy, I trust the princesses wouldn't make me do this unless it's very important."
"Wow." Was all Applejack could say for a few moments. She'd never gotten a letter from the princess specifically for her before. "Why thank ya' Twilight, I much appreciate you comin' all the way down here just fo-." She was promptly cut off as Twilight used her magic to close her mouth.
"Yes, yes. Say no more." Twilight picked up her book as she walked towards the door. "Now then, I was doing some very important things before I was forced to walk all the way out here." With that said she walked out with her book being levitated behind herself. She wasn't at all upset about having her personal mentor send Applejack a letter instead of herself. Not at all...
Applejack stared after her for a few moments before remembering that she had a very important letter that required her attention. "Boy, I sure wonder what the princesses could want." She asked herself as she picked up the tightly wound scroll that was left on the table in her magical hoof-grip.
It took her a few minutes to pry it open, as removing a royal seal is difficult without unicorn magic (or fingers). Eventually, she got though it, and was able to begin reading.
Dear Applejack,
I trust this letter has reached you well as I am in need of your assistance.
"Yeeeee-haw!" Shouted Applejack, excited at the concept of helping out the princesses. Thankfully it was written in plain old times new roman size 12 font instead of those strange wing-dings that Twilight reads, so she was able to read it easily enough (even if it is italicized for some reason).
I'm going to cut right to the chase here. We suspect that king Sombra is still alive out there somewhere. Seeing that we're very busy, we need somepony else to deal with this for us. My sister and I could think of no pony better suited for the job than you. We would send Twilight Sparkle, and the other elements of harmony, but I'm afraid they are much too busy for the time being and should, under no circumstance, be bothered with this.
"What does she mean 'other' elements a' harmony?" She wondered, seeing as she's the element of loyalty. She quickly pushed those thoughts aside. Every pony trusted the princesses' judgement too much to question it. "Oh well, I'm sure it was just ah small mistake."
I need you to collect a group of other ponies that would be willing to come (NOT THE ELEMENTS OF HARMONY!), and go to the crystal pony's city to stop whatever evil schemes king Sombra might be up to. I trust you also received the package that came with the letter. Do not under any circumstances open it until it's time to defeat the king. Inside are instructions on how to use it. I have the utmost faith in your abilities.
Princess Celestia
PS: Only show this letter to ponies you're bringing with you, the last thing I need right now is a mass panic over such a small thing.
Applejack put the letter down and looked over to the box that was set down beside it. It was just a small cardboard box sealed with clear packaging tape. She briefly wondered what was in it, but decided that she could figure that out when the time came.
"Hey Granny!" She called. "I'm gonna' be out fer a couple a' days!"
"WHAT?!" Questioned the senile hag from the other room, but Applejack had already walked out the door.
"Well then, time to go round up a proper group a' ponies." She said in the best accent I could type as she walked into town with her package and letter now secured in a saddlebag.