//------------------------------//
// The Lost Princess 
// Story: Flying High 
// by arglefumph 
//------------------------------//

Present Day

If Twilight Sparkle ever had to say what she liked best about being a pegasus, she was pick the ability to lie on clouds. Flying was fun, and controlling the weather was amazing, but she loved being on clouds the most.

Things were just so peaceful, up in the sky. She could rest on a cloud, thirty feet above the rest of the world, and forget about all her problems. On the ground, other ponies would interrupt her, or make her feel uncomfortable, and sometimes they'd even tease her for being out of place. But here on the clouds, nopony would ever bother her. She could have peace for as long as she wanted.

Twilight especially liked the peace and quiet in the sky. It was perfect for her favorite activity: reading. Twilight Sparkle loved to read, as you could easily tell from her book-shaped cutie mark. She was even the official assistant librarian at Princess Celestia's School for Gifted Unicorns.

Among the staff and students, Twilight was treated as sort of a joke—what unicorn school hires a pegasus as a librarian?—but she took her job very seriously. She made it her duty to read every single book in the library, even though she couldn't understand most of the books about magic.

Twilight was currently making her way through the E section of the library. That was why she was reading Equestrian Legends. Chapter Four was all about Nightmare Moon. Twilight knew the basic legend—everypony who celebrated Nightmare Night did—but she was fascinated to find out there was more to the story.

"I never knew Princess Celestia had a sister," Twilight said. "I wonder why she's not around anymore. Did Nightmare Moon defeat her?"

Twilight kept reading. It turned out that Princess Celestia's sister was Nightmare Moon, in a sense. Somehow—the book didn't give specifics—jealousy caused the Princess of the Night to be replaced by the twisted Nightmare Moon. She appeared in ponies' dreams, turning them all into nightmares, until Princess Celestia was forced to banish the monster who had once been her beloved sister.

Not wanting to kill the former princess, Celestia decreed that, on the longest day of the thousandth year, she would be allowed to return from the moon. On that date, (which astronomers quickly determined is June 21st, 1999), a pony will arrive in our fair land. But will it be the benign Princess Luna or the evil Nightmare Moon? Only time will tell.

"June 21st, 1999?!" Twilight gasped. "That's a month from now!"

Twilight immediately put the book in her saddlebag and flew towards the library at top speed.

Twilight flew into the open window of the school library. She always kept that particular window open, so she could make a quick entrance (or exit, as the case may be). A few papers were scattered into the air as Twilight flew by, coming to a screeching halt in front of her boss, an elderly bird lover named Wren Calls.

"Twilight, how many times have I told you to not to fly in the library?" Wren admonished.

"Where's Spike?" Twilight asked.

"It's unnatural, and you always knock books off the top shelf—" Wren said.

"This is an emergency!" Twilight said, cutting Wren off in mid-lecture. "Where's Spike?"

"How should I know?" Wren asked. "I'm not his guardian!"

"Ughhh..." Twilight groaned. Wren Calls was not a helpful pony, even at the best of times; that was how she got the nickname "Wrinkles" among some of the younger ponies. Twilight couldn't wait for the older pony to finally retire and give Twilight the job as Head Librarian.

"I'll go look somewhere else then," Twilight said. She bent down on her hooves and spread out her wings to full capacity.

"No you don't!" Wren crowed. "You've got a whole cart of books to shelve and—"

"I'll do it later!" Twilight called behind her, as she flew through the open window.

Wren muttered to herself about irresponsible pegasus assistants.

Spike and Twilight were casual acquaintances at best, who only knew each other through the princess. As such, Twilight didn't know where to find him. She tried checking the cafeteria and the mailroom (where he sometimes delivered express mail with his flame breath, in exchange for bits), but he wasn't there.

Twilight ended up finding Spike lying down near one of the many statues of Princess Celestia that decorated all of Canterlot.

"Spike!" Twilight said, landing on the ground. "There you are! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

The only response Spike gave was a small snore. The baby dragon was sleeping. Twilight smiled to herself at how cute Spike was. Who knew dragons could look so harmless? 

Twilight opened her right wing and rubbed one of her feathers under Spike's nose. His nose twitched, and he sneezed violently.

"Huh? Wha?" Spike asked.

"Hey, Spike," Twilight said. "Glad to see you're awake!"

"Uh...oh, it's you," Spike said. "The pegasus. What brings you here?"

"It's Twilight Sparkle," Twilight said. "And I have to send a letter to Princess Celestia right away!"

"Oh, okay," Spike said. He yawned, then stood up. "What's the big hurry?"

"Her sister is going to be here in a month, that's the hurry!" Twilight said. "Do you have a pen and paper?"

"Princess Celestia has a sister?" Spike asked. "Since when?"

"Apparently, for about ten thousand years," Twilight said. "I can't believe this isn't all over the news! A lost princess, returning after a thousand years?"

"Woah..." Spike said. "Is that true?"

"We'll find out, as soon as Princess Celestia responds to the letter!" Twilight said. "Let's go!"

"Right," Spike said. "Let's go get some paper!"

While Spike and Twilight went to get some paper and a pen, Twilight explained the situation to Spike. Together, they sent a message to the princess, asking about Princess Luna's return. Spike sent it to her through dragon mail, and in ten minutes, they got a response.

Spike undid the scroll and read, "My dear friend, Twilight Sparkle..."

"Hey, don't read my mail!" Twilight said. She swiped the parchment from Spike's hands and read it herself, silently.

"What's it say?" Spike asked.

"...She wants to meet with me," Twilight said. "Tomorrow."

"Did she say anything about me?" Spike asked, trying to sneak a peek at Twilight's letter.

"I've got a meeting with the Princess tomorrow!" Twilight said, a slight edge of panic to her voice. "And I haven't fully researched Nightmare Moon yet! There must be at least three more books in our library which mention her! I've got to get going!"

"Uh..." Spike said.

"This is bad! This is bad!" Twilight said, dancing on hooves. "What do I do? What do I do?"

"Calm down," Spike advised. "I'm sure the princess isn't going to get mad at you."

"You're probably right, but there's no sense in being unprepared!" Twilight said. "Thanks for sending that letter, Spike. I've got research to do!"

"Gee, you're—"

There was a loud fwoosh as Twilight flew straight up into the air, like a bottle rocket. She turned and went straight for the library, with her letter in hoof.

"—welcome?" Spike asked. He scratched his head. Was Twilight always that stressed out?

The next day, Twilight went to Canterlot Castle. She took a deep breath, then nudged open the doors to the Royal Hall and timidly looked inside.

"Princess Celestia?" Twilight asked.

Twilight Sparkle was still somewhat nervous around Princess Celestia. The two of them were friends, but it wasn't like she was the princess' personal student who met with her every day. The princess hadn't had any personal students, ever since...well, ever since the incident that the princess never talked about.

Her Royal Highness was sitting on her throne, going through weather reports from Cloudsdale. Her face lit up when she saw Twilight. She instantly put the reports down on a side table and leapt up.

"Twilight Sparkle!" Princess Celestia said. "Please, come in! It is good to see you again!"

Twilight walked inside, a bit awed by the size of the room and by the fierce-looking guards. "Hello, Princess," Twilight said. "It's good to see you, too."

Celestia walked towards Twilight. "I asked the guards to clear the Glass Hallway, so we could speak there in private," she said. "I hope you don't mind?"

"Oh, no, that doesn't bother me," Twilight said. "I love the Glass Hallway."

"Excellent," Celestia smiled. She led Twilight out of the room and together, they went to the Glass Hallway.

If you ever get the chance to visit Canterlot, it is highly recommended that you go to the Glass Hallway while you're there. It is definitely worth the three bits for a personal tour. The Glass Hallway is a utterly magnificent area, which is over a hundred yards long. The walls are coated with dozens of beautiful stained glass windows, some of them fifteen feet high.

The Glass Hallway was personally designed by Princess Celestia, four thousand years ago. As the Princess of the Sun, she loved to see her sunlight reflected through the windows, creating a myriad of brilliant colors.

"I was pleasantly surprised when I received your letter," Princess Celestia said. "I am glad to learn that your research has been progressing well."

"Well, there hasn't been much material for me to research lately..." Twilight said. She wasn't being modest; she was telling the truth. As a non-unicorn, she couldn't do a lot of research in magic, which made up the bulk of the material in the unicorn school's library.

"Do not sell yourself short," Celestia said. "You should be proud of your research skills. You're the first pony to notice that Nightmare Moon's return is imminent."

"So she is coming here next month?" Twilight asked.

"Yes," Celestia said. "Most ponies think she is just a myth, but I can assure you that she is very real. Even after a thousand years, I haven't forgotten her."

"But..." Twilight began to say. Her ears lowered. "I'm sorry if I'm being intrusive, but...how does Nightmare Moon relate to your sister? None of the books I found mentioned that."

"Princess Luna is trapped inside Nightmare Moon," Celestia said. "I'm still not entirely sure how it happened, but I'm convinced that my sister is still alive, inside the horrible monster. I can sense it."

"I...I see..." Twilight said.

Celestia stopped in front of a window and gestured towards it. "I brought you here, because I wanted you to see this," she said to Twilight. "What do you see?"

Twilight looked at the window. She had never seen it before, for good reason; it had recently been brought out of storage. The bottom of the window was a horrific scene. It looked like ponies were being tortured by a horned, dragon-like creature intent on destruction and chaos. At the top of the window were two alicorns: one white and one blue. Their bodies formed complimentary halves of a brilliant circle.

Twilight recognized the white alicorn immediately, thanks to the sun cutie mark on her flank. The darker alicorn had a moon for a cutie mark.

"That's you at the top," Twilight said. "Is the other pony your sister?"

"Yes," Celestia said. "That is a picture of Princess Luna and me, defeating Discord."

"Discord?" Twilight asked. She looked at the window more closely. A light was emanating from the Royal Sisters, and it focused on the horned creature. "Is that the name of the monster here?"

"Yes," Celestia said. "We defeated Discord with the Elements of Harmony."

"The Elements of Harmony!" Twilight said, happy for an opportunity to show she had done her research. "One of the books mentioned that! The Elements can be used to stop evil creatures, like changlings!"

"They can," Celestia confirmed. "They can even stop Nightmare Moon."

Twilight gasped. "Is that...is that true?" she asked.

"It is indeed," Princess Celestia said. "If we could use the Elements of Harmony on Nightmare Moon, I'm sure they would destroy her and save my sister. The only problem is that—"

"One of the Elements is unknown!" Twilight said. Seeing the look on Celestia's face, she stopped. "Sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt. I just read it in a book."

"I see," Celestia said. "What did the book say?"

"Well..." Twilight said. She flew up a few feet, so she was level with the top of the stained-glass window. From here, she had a better view of the princesses. In between the two alicorns were six circles, each one with a symbol on it.

"There are six Elements of Harmony, and each one represents something different," Twilight said. She pointed at one circle, which had a heart on it. "I think this one represents kindness. There's also laughter and...let's see, that's loyalty and that's honesty, which means that one is...giving?"

"That is the Element of Generosity."

"Right. But the last one...nopony knows what it is. Hmmm...it looks sort of like a compass."

"Yes," Celestia said simply. "That's right. Nopony knows what the last Element of Harmony is."

Something in Celestia's voice sounded off. Twilight landed on the ground and looked worriedly at her. "Princess?"

Celestia's thoughts were elsewhere, and it took a moment for Celestia to refocus on the task at hand. She shook her head and looked at Twilight.

"Forgive me," Celestia said. "I got distracted for a moment. Twilight Sparkle...I have a job for you to complete. A very important job."

Twilight gulped. She didn't like the seriousness in the princess' voice. "What is it?" she asked.

"I've been thinking about this for a while now," Princess Celestia said. "And now that you know about the Elements of Harmony, there's no sense in putting it off any longer. I want you to move to Ponyville."

"Whaaaaaat?" Twilight asked. "I can't move away from Canterlot! This is my home! My family lives here!"

"I know that," Celestia said. "But there's an opening for a government position in Ponyville. They need a new head librarian."

"A head librarian?" Twilight asked. Her eyes almost sparkled with joy. "I'm getting a promotion?"

"Exactly. I think you would be the perfect pony for the job...but that's not all I want you to do."

"There's something else?"

"As you may know, the Summer Sun Celebration this year is being held in Ponyville," Celestia said. "They need somepony organized to help them prepare for the event. I want you to be that pony."

"You want me to be in charge of the Summer Sun Celebration?" Twilight asked. "But...isn't that coming up really soon? I might not have enough time."

"The Summer Sun Celebration this year is on June 21st," Princess Celestia said.

Twilight's eyes widened. "June 21st?" she asked. "But that's the day that Nightmare Moon is going to return!"

"And we need to be ready," Celestia said. "While you go around town, preparing for the festival, I want you to find ponies who can wield the Elements of Harmony."

Twilight's jaw dropped. "You're making me a secret agent?"

Celestia chuckled. "In a sense, yes," she said. "But it's nowhere near as dramatic as that. All you have to do is find ponies who match the elements. Find a pony who is kind, a pony who is honest, a pony who is loyal, and so on."

"I...guess I could do that," Twilight said. "Sure."

"You have to do it, Twilight," Celestia said. "This is of the utmost importance."

Twilight stood up as straight as she possibly could. "I won't let you down, Princess Celestia!" she said. "You've done so much to help me already...I will help save your sister!"

"Excellent," Celestia said. "I knew I could depend on you. Let's make preparations immediately."