//------------------------------//
// The Spring Resolution 
// Story: Celestia Gambit 
// by mm1145 
//------------------------------//

Celestia, co-ruler of Equestria and Princess of the sun walked slowly through the caves lost in her memories. Since her sister had returned she had been thinking a lot about the past and she wanted to spend a bit of time with her recollections. These caves had particularly strong memories for her, more so because they had remained undisturbed for nearly eight hundred years. Not many ponies felt like visiting this gloomy place. 

“Tia,” a voice called, echoing through the caves. 

Celestia's sister Luna came trotting round the corner, her glowing horn creating a circle of light in the gloom. Her sister was looking a lot better, Celestia thought. It had been only a few months since her return but already her coat was a lot darker and her mane was starting to shine like it should. She was still very weak - spending most of her time either in her room or in the library reading - but she was recovering. 

“There you are Tia. Wing said you were down here.”  Luna stopped and looked around, taking in the gloomy caves and the iron bars and doors. “Tia,” she asked quizzically. “Why do we have a dungeon below Canterlot? I cannot believe that we ever needed to build this to imprison ponies?”  

“We did not dear sister,” Celestia responded. “There are a remnant from what was here before.” Luna looked curious. “These are from when the place where Canterlot is was called the 'smoky mountain' and was ruled by a dragon clan,” Celestia told her still puzzled sister. 

“I remember reading some of that in the history,” Luna said, looking thoughtful. “But I have not got far. What are you doing down here, it is a bit dark and gloomy?” 

Celestia walked over to her sister. “Remembering,” she said. “To most ponies this is just history. The assault on the mountain was over eight hundred years ago; unless they have studied it most ponies do not even really know about it. They just know that it was a great victory, even to those who do study it is just so much dusty history.” The two royal sisters walked slowly back through the maze of tunnels. “To them it is just statements and plans of the assault; at most it is stories of heroism and triumph. But it is part of me,” Celestia continued. “I was here. I remember the smells, sounds and the sights of this place and even after all these years it brings back the memories.” 

She gestured a hoof at the centre of a large cavern that they passed through. “It was there that I first teleported in.” She waved at where an ancient door lay on the floor of one of the cells, scarcely more than a pile of rust after all the years. “That was the door that Stormcloud kicked off its hinges. He was so young. Still a blankflanked colt but he was strong even then. And it was there...“ She waved a hoof at a piece of passage seemingly no different than the rest. “...that I first saw Sunrise. She and a bunch of foals were throwing rocks and gems at the guards that were rushing to stop us. The guards had put magic dampening collars on the mature unicorns but they had not on the foals. Sunrise made them regret that.” Celestia paused, lost in thought. “So many memories,” she finished. 

Luna looked up at her elder sister. “I am sorry Tia.” 

Celestia looked down at her. “Whatever for?” 

Luna waved her hoof all round her. “All of this. The damage I did to the land and our ponies with my jealously.” 

Celestia looked at her sister and impulsively nuzzled her. “Oh Luna, this was not your fault. I am as much to blame for this as you are. After you left me...” Celestia could never bring herself to think of the creature Nightmare Moon as her sister and preferred in her memories to think of Luna as lost from the transformation onwards. “Well, I could not go on without you and I left our little ponies all alone. When I was finally reminded of the duty I owed them I returned to find the land in the state it was.” Celestia saw Luna was shivering and her eyes where watering. “Let's not dwell on it Luna,” she finished. “You are back now and all this...” She waved her wing around the tunnels. “...is all just history.” She nuzzled her sister some more. “Now why did you come down here looking for me?” 

Luna pulled her head away from her sister. “Oh yes, I almost forgot. The Mayor of Ponyville is waiting for you.” 

Celestia remembered that the Mayor had been scheduled to travel from Ponyville sometime this week. “Well, I'd better not keep her waiting too much longer,” Celestia said cheerfully, making her way towards where the stairs led up to the royal palace proper, guiding her younger sister with her wing. “Are you going to join us?” she asked.

Luna shook her head. “I am feeling a bit weak Tia. I think I will retreat to the library and do some more reading." 

“Ok Lun” Celestia said. “But you cannot use the library to hide from the world forever.”

“I know Tia, but maybe a little longer.”  

Celestia smiled. “Just get yourself well sister. I missed you when you where gone.”  

The royal sisters walked slowly up the winding stairs to the palace and Luna disappeared through the door into the library. Celestia continued along the corridor to where two of the white coated royal guards stood outside the doors to her rooms. As always when they were on official guard duty they stood stiffly upright and stared straight ahead. Luna had said that she found the behaviour a little creepy but Celestia did not mind it. Wing had explained that it was to do with discipline or something like that. She walked past them, resisting the urge to tickle them with her feathers and through the doors into her rooms. Winged Sword was standing in the middle of the room and snapped her a salute with his forehoof. 

"Since I am still officially resting Wing,” Celestia said. “You need not salute me as I am of course not here.” 

Winged Sword grinned. “In that case I will return to guarding your door. The Mayor of Ponyville is in the Sunrise Room - you will probably want to see her before you wake up.” 

Celestia waved a wing at him. “Off with you.” 

He saluted again. “I will endeavour to make sure that your royal sleep is undisturbed,” he said before trotting out of the room. 

Celestia smiled - Winged Sword was a good friend and as loyal as they came but he had a silly sense of humour at times. The Sunrise Room was one of several rooms that Celestia used to see ponies less formally than the throne room or the great hall. It allowed her to have informal meetings with friends and other ponies without having all the formal bother and sometimes, like now, without formal records. When she entered the room she saw a gray maned earth pony staring curiously at what looked like a pile of orange feathers sitting under a perch. When the earth pony heard the door open she spun round and bowed her head. 

“Highness,” she said. Celestia gave her a stern look. “You know I do not really feel comfortable referring to the ruler of the land by her first name.” The pony whose official title was Mayor of Ponyville said with a slightly embarrassed tone to her voice. 

“...and I do not really feel comfortable when my oldest friend refers to me by my formal title. How long have you known me?” 

The Mayor looked even more embarrassed. “Since before I got my cutie mark Celestia,” she said. 

“There you go I knew you would remember my name eventually,” Celestia said, walking over to her visitor. “I see you and Philomena were just getting reacquainted. The pile of feathers lifted its head and cooed at the sound of its name.

“She does look a bit tired Celestia,” the Mayor said, looking back as the phoenix picked itself up and climbed slowly back onto its perch. 

“She is nearly ready to renew herself,” Celestia said, levitating a pile of bird seed into the food tray by the perch. “She will be better when she has done that. Won't you Phily.” The phoenix cooed again and started to peck at the food. Celestia waved a forehoof at the seats and the Mayor sat down. “I see that spring has arrived on time this year,” Celestia said, taking one of the other seats. “I assume that this means that our Twilight managed successfully?”

The Mayor looked relieved. “Indeed Celestia. After a few false starts Twilight jumped into the coordinator role very quickly and managed to unwind the various knots that I had been building in the winter wrap up team for the past few years.” 

Celestia smiled. “That must have come as a relief.” 

“Indeed. You do not know how hard it has been to sit and watch as everypony made a mess of simple things or to recommend ponies for team leaders specifically so that they will work too slowly or too quickly and then to let them keep doing it till everypony got so badly on each other's nerves that the whole thing ended up in a shouting match. It was quite depressing. Last year and we ended up with nearly an extra week of winter...and two fights."

Celestia nodded. Even though they just used a spell to change the seasons in Canterlot it was still a lot of work. They needed several teams of some of the best magical and weather skilled unicorns to concentrate their efforts; it was a matter of pride to Ponyvillians that they changed the seasons by hoof. Right from its founding Ponyville had been a home for all types of ponies, but the earth ponies who ran its farms saw the town as a symbol of their ability to return to the land that was theirs, as such they had always done as much of the work by hoof as possible.

“Were there any additional problems?” Celestia asked. “I received Twilight's letter but she often leaves out the details.” 

The Mayor shook her hoof. “There were some interesting points,” she said. “I was a bit worried that Miss Sparkle would notice that she had been left out of the teams when they had been assigned, but she seemed to over look this. Unfortunately she tried to use her magic to solve the problems despite the taboo against it during winter wrap-up.” 

Celestia nodded. Some ponies tended to stick quite heavily to their talent even in situations where it was not appropriate.  Especially if it was something as general as magic. This was not usually an issue, but with some of the more magical unicorns it could lead to some interesting problems - the incident with that apprentice and the singing mops had been a notable example. 

“Fortunately,” the Mayor continued, “Applejack was there and she reminded Miss Sparkle that it was Not The Done Thing. You can always rely on Applejack to tell you what you need to know.”  

“So you think that our new little ponies are progressing well?” 

“I believe so Celestia, they are starting to look to Twilight for - if not actual leadership - then at the very least organisation.” 

“You think that we are getting them back on target?” Celestia asked the Mayor.

The other mare thought for a bit. “I think that the more they get used to working together as a team the better they will get. The more they learn to trust each other and work together rather than rely on their individual talents then the better they will be. That after all is the nature of the Elements of Harmony.” 

Celestia nodded agreement. Even with just herself and Luna wielding them, it was apparent that the Elements of Harmony worked better when there was a consensus of minds rather than one will. 

“With that in mind Celestia, I have something else that you might like to consider.” 

Celestia nodded at the Mayor to continue. The Mayor reached into her saddle bags and brought out a small sheaf of papers. 

“Some of my agents in the town have had their eyes on these for a while, obviously, but recently it looks like there might be interesting developments.” 

Celestia used her magic and spread the papers out so she could see them. “The cutie mark crusaders?” she asked quizzically. “Who or what are the 'cutie mark crusaders'?”  

The Mayor chuckled. “Trouble mostly,” she replied. "They are a group of young fillies that have yet to earn there cutie marks.” Celestia gestured at the Mayor to proceed. “Well, we have of course kept a close eye on the younger siblings of the bearers, so we were watching Miss Applebloom and Miss Sweetie Belle closely. While they were  of a similar age they did not socialise, but recently Sweetie Belle introduced Applebloom to her friend, Miss Scooterloo.” 

Celestia looked through the pile of paper in front of her and found pictures of the three fillies in question. “And what is so special about them?” she asked, looking at a picture of the three sharing a cupcake. 

“Well we think that they could be the beginning of a equilateral trio.” 

“A different type of friendship match?” Celestia asked quizzically. She vaguely remembered listening to a lecture that Book Dancer had given on the subject - but she suspected she had fallen asleep half way through and her memory of it was muddled...and it was over 400 years ago. 

“Yes it is a special type of friendship match,” the Mayor explained. “It is from the same group as the 'natural arch' but it has different requirements. It requires three ponies of a very similar age and most importantly there must be one pony of each type. Unlike the natural arch it cannot be formed immediately but requires years to grow together. It can be a particularly strong bond and, as two of the young ponies are related to the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony, I thought it might be worth watching very carefully. They might be useful in future.” 

While the Mayor had been explaining this Celestia had looked through the rest of the information on the three 'cutie mark crusaders.' “They all seem to be late developers,” she commented. “Not only do they not have their cutie marks yet but I see that Scooterloo hasn't even managed a solo flight and Sweetie Belle isn't in possession of her magic.” Most ponies Celestia had known were very capable even before they earned their cutie marks - and in the darker times ponies younger than these three had been fully effective members of the herd. 

Now she thought about it, the six little ponies that had clung to her back as she teleported into the dungeons of the smoky mountain could not have been much older than this trio. Volunteers all; Stormcloud, Bright Spark, Hopeful, First Light, Dark Sky and Twisted, names etched in her memory. Sunrise had been even younger. 

“Yes Celestia, that is in fact one of the things that has peaked our interest in the three. Three underdeveloped ponies who are determined to find their cutie marks together could grow in to a very close friendship.” Celestia nodded. “Anyway I have suggested to Ms. Cheerilee, the school teacher, that she reshuffles the classes so those three are together. As Sweetie Belle and Applebloom are the sisters of Applejack and Rarity they will spend a lot of time with their sisters and therefore with each other. Scooterloo idolises Rainbow Dash and seems to be as capable of causing chaos as her.” 

Celestia looked at a picture of the orange coated pegasus filly on a scooter jumping over a shocked crowd of ponies. “You think they might be useful to us?” Celestia asked, restacking the papers.

“It is definite a possibility,” the Mayor replied, replacing the papers in her saddle bags. “Their close relationship with the current bearers of the Elements of Harmony is certainly interesting and opens up opportunities.” 

“You think that they might be able to wield the Elements themselves?” 

The Mayor's mouth fell open and she sat there shocked for a while.

“Are you okay?” Celestia eventually asked.

The Mayor shook her head. “I am very sorry. The thought of cutie mark crusaders 'Defenders of Harmony' conjures some vivid images to say the least. But no. Not themselves at least. Even if they could manage to represent two elements each there are some notable gaps. For example it is unlikely that Sweetie Belle's talent is magic - not unless she develops some substantive power very quickly and without the focusing sixth element there is no effect. It is possible in an emergency that they might be able to substitute for one or more of the current bearers but as their friendship has only a tenuous connection to the current bearers of the Elements the effect would be severely diminished. No, my current thoughts where more along the lines of keeping an eye on them and seeing about recruiting them when they became more mature.” She seemed to think about this. “A lot more mature in some cases. Still they are worth watching closely - if they do manage to form a equilateral trio then it is very likely they will prove to be of significance.”

Celestia nodded. “I will trust to your judgment on this.” She did trust her judgment - after all it was her special talent. The Mayor could sense in a very limited fashion the, well, call it the possible future paths of a pony's destiny, and was able to subtlety change it. She could see which ponies might become villains in the future and gave them the friends they needed to turn them away from their darkness. In the same way she could see who might become a hero and give them a teacher who could inspire them, so when their time came they would remember, and act.

That was what her cutie mark meant, that scroll represented the unwritten stories of the future and she was the caretaker of Equestria's future history. It was possible that outside of Celestia and her circle of friends nopony would know how much the Mayor had done for the kingdom. Because of her there where many less Sun Dancers or Dark Stars or even Nightmare Moons and many more Twilight Sparkles and for that Celestia was very thankful to her friend.  “We shall just have to see what our little trio becomes. Are there any more problems?” 

The Mayor shrugged. “As is usual the arrival of spring has stirred up the creatures of the Everfree Forest and the surrounding lands. There have been scattered reports of hydras near Foggy Bottom bog but this is to be expected. More worryingly I have received reports from some of my eyes and ears that the diamond dog tribes may be getting more...” She stopped, searching for a word. “...brave.” 

This last did worry Celestia. The diamond dogs were not a problem in the current age. They were fractious, tended to bickering and internal strife if their numbers got too great. Celestia was ever mindful however of the fact that in the past they had been a serious threat to the ponies of Equestria. “Are they likely to be a problem?” she asked. 

The Mayor shrugged again. “It is too early to tell your Highness. I have instructed appropriate ponies in Ponyville to keep an eye on them and I will of course inform you if more drastic action is required.” 

Celestia nodded. She hopped it would not come to that but diamond dogs had a violent streak and several times in the recent past it had come to direct action. She glanced at the clock on the wall. “I think soon the royal princess will have to awake from her rest and attend to official affairs.” She stood up and the Mayor followed suite. “Will you make it to the best young flyers competition?” she asked - even thought she was an earth pony the Mayor often called upon a friendly unicorn to get her to Cloudsdale - a lot of the entrants in the competition were from Ponyville and she liked to show her support. 

The Mayor shook her head. “I cannot this year. But I will make sure one of our friends is there to keep an eye on Miss Dash and the rest of our little ponies. 

Celestia nodded as she opened the door and ushered her friend out.  “I am sure one of the guards will escort you out,” she said, gesturing to the main doors. “I have to go and wake myself up. Goodbye my little pony.” She bent her head down. 

“Good by Celestia.” The Mayor responded familiarly, rubbing her head against Celestia's “I hope you slept well.”