Prologue
It was in a little corner of Equestria, tucked away where few braved to look. Past Canterlot, under Cloudsdale, through the Badlands... So few found this place, and those that did left it untouched, left it pure for those who were next on the list to find it. Many adventurers had tried to find it and failed, from seasoned experts to the foolish amateurs. Even the writer of the Daring Do books had tried to find it, to gain a reference for their next novel, but failed. So for a trio of three ponies, who hadn't even known one another at the start, to find it was rather surprising. But then again, only one of them started it, the others drawn in through a mix of circumstance and fate. Funny how those things coincided with one another. So how did these three ponies find it? Well, Elysium is not sought out so easily. Only when it wants to be found will it appear, just beyond a green hill.
The first one to the top of the hill was a yellow Pegasus, her bright blue mane chopped short, a bright smile on her face as her wings flapped. Starry Sky's flank showed stitches as she turned back to look at her companions, brightly smiling as always as she floated in the air. Not even a wayward step into a ravine could make a dent in her cheerful, carefree spirit. “Come on, girls! We made it! Hurry up!” Excitement tinged every word of her happy, bright voice.
Trotting up next was a blue unicorn, her braided hair hanging on one side as usual, fluffy tail left untamed. Buttonstitch allowed a reproachful look to come across her face, despite the eye patch over her right eye. “Give her time, Star. She’s still healing.” A button anklet rested around her back left leg, in shades of yellow and red. Star had a similar one in blue and red on her back right leg, snug, but not tight. Buttonstitch shook her head with a sigh. "Even after all this time, you can be so..."
“It’s fine, Button.” The third voice, a deeper one, came from a white earth pony as she cut off the unicorn. She walked slowly, her front legs bandaged from hoof to middle. Each step was pain, but she was too proud to let such a thing show, her mane still as bouncy and full as ever around her. Around her back right leg rested a third button anklet, blue and yellow pressed gently into her coat. A symbol of friendship, a bond given physical form. But even if the anklets were to break, the bond would remain. Friendship was powerful, a force greater than most things in Equestria. A magical, wondrous thing... One that had led them here.
Blue eyes focused on the scenery ahead of her, and Ruby Sharp Shoe smiled as she stopped between them. “We really made it. Elysium... To think it was here...” The journey was long, and fun; more fun than Ruby could have ever hoped. It wasn’t always easy; so many things, natural and pony alike, had tried to keep them from here. Ruby was nothing if not stubborn, and once you combined that with Button's determination and Star's never-say-die attitude, they were a force to be reckoned with, hoof to tail. She would have it no other way.
Seeing the look of pure joy on her best friend’s face, Buttonstitch couldn’t fight her own smile. Her own journey had began so simply, but it had evolved into so much more. After all, she had fully anticipated being alone. She figured they all did, at the start. Again, fate worked in mysterious ways, and even the best-laid plans could hold unexpected twists. Those twists were not always welcome, and Buttonstitch couldn't fight the lingering question: Would she have done anything different?
The answer came from within, and lacked any hesitation: Nothing. At all.
As Ruby winced from standing for so long, the reverie ended, Button quickly used magic to ease Ruby so she was laying down on her stomach, not putting any weight on her injured front hooves. “Just rest for a spell, Ruby dear.” Button laid next to her, concerned as the earth pony sighed in relief.
The yellow Pegasus nodded, flying down to rest on Ruby’s opposite side. “That’s right! We made it, so we don’t need to rush into anything.” As much as she hated staying still, she would, for Ruby. For either of them. Starry Sky knew her mane was short and uneven, her prized curls lost for now, but hair grew back. Her mane would return to its former glory. What she had sacrificed it for was far more important.
Still beaming, she extended a yellow leg in front of Ruby, Button laying her own blue over the yellow as they both looked to Ruby. With a small grin and a faint chuckle, Ruby gently rested her own bandaged leg atop it, able to do at least that much without pain. For a while, they just sat like that, looking over that which they had tried so hard to find. They were silent, even Star not saying a word as she looked around in amazement. It was beyond all description, all words. Nothing existed to properly describe Elysium, which perhaps was the whole point.
Button’s grin turned playful as she gently nuzzled Ruby. “Do you remember when we first met?”
Ruby tilted her head back and laughed. “Do I ever! I seriously thought you were crazy, sitting there outside Canterlot...”
“Ooh, you never told me this story!” Star perked up, her wings flaring out as she beamed. “Tell me, tell me!”
Ruby shook her head some, exasperated, but smiling. “Well, I suppose it can’t hurt. This was before you joined us, back when this idea hadn’t even fully formed...”
As the sunlight shone on the trio, Ruby began to tell her story, perhaps if only to set the record straight in her own mind. After all, it was a good one. And after meeting so many ponies along the way, Ruby wanted to remember them.