Disclaimer: This disclaimer brought to you by no-one. I don’t own My Little Pony

Chapter Nine: Things Fall Apart

I spoke at length with Her Highness about the plan. We have already managed to surmount one of the greatest hurdles we faced, reconciliation with Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy. It’s rather hard to look a pony in the face after you've wronged them so, believe me. Private Pansy is one of the kindest, most caring ponies I've ever met, a fact I wish I'd have known on that terrible day so long ago. Knowing what I now know, it should come as no surprise that Private Pansy did what she did on that day. Still, it would have brought tears to a stone to see Princess Platinum tearfully beg Private Pansy for forgiveness, and to see Private Pansy grant that forgiveness.

My opinion of Commander Hurricane has also changed a great deal over the years. It has been a long while since she retired after the last of the earth pony rebellions were put down. Longer still since that horrible day that started all of this. Yet, Commander Hurricane still makes the time every day to see to it that Private Pansy lacks for nothing. It is one thing to say that you will look after another for your whole life, it is quite another to make good on that promise. I thought I understood Commander Hurricane’s loyalty merely by her service to New Unicornia. To see her stand by a pegasus shunned by others, however, makes me rethink all I knew about the word. And it makes me wish we had attempted this reconciliation a lifetime ago.

It will be good to have ponies like them around. Princess Platinum and myself are already suffering the cost of success. We've become ‘legends’ in our own time. I could scarcely believe it when the ponies constructing that new school approached me and asked if I would do them the honor of allowing them to name it after me. Me, doing them the honor? I thought myself honored when Starswirl-the-Bearded took me as his student, I thought myself at the height of honor when Princess Platinum asked me to be her adviser and confidant, I can still scarcely think of myself as worthy of having a school bear my name.

And that is why it will be good to have Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy around. Too many ponies these days think that Platinum and I can do no wrong. The rest believe that something is wrong just because we say it. The plan, monstrously complex as it is, is no different. Our devotees think that sealing those horrible monsters once and for all will lift us to the status only held by such myths as Celestia and Luna. Our detractors say that it will only bury us all under winter. Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy have seen us at our worst, but I hope that recent events have shown them the better parts of what unicorns can do.

It is true that I will have to undo the original seal I placed in order to build this new magic, but I cannot see us living forever with this mirage of summer we have now. I almost want to tell those backwards unicorn nobles that once we've used the magic of all three pony tribes to restore the seasons, Princess Platinum will use that as an excuse to give the earth ponies the liberty they deserve. I won’t, Her Highness certainly failed to appreciate it when I made the joke.

I don’t know when I’ll have the opportunity to put more of my thoughts to paper outside of what I have to write down to keep this new spell straight. There is so much to do and so little time to do it. Starswirl-the-Bearded laughs when I say it, but I can feel my advancing years. And I wonder how long we can last before some falling out must happen between those who support Platinum and those who would rather see us freeze and starve than admit that earth ponies are no less than the rest of us.

“That’s it!” Twilight exclaimed with joy. “That’s why Clover’s first spell didn’t work. When Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie were killed they lost the ability to use earth pony magic in the seal. And I doubt that Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy would have been willing to donate pegasus magic either. It also means that Sombra’s plan will never work. He’ll run out of earth ponies to fuel his magic eventually, and then it’s lights out for pony-kind.”

Twilight turned to the wall she’d taken up with papers trying to uncover the mysteries of Clover the Clever’s last spell. It was full of figures, diagrams, and charts that had never quite seemed to add up to a complete, working spell. Until Clover the Clever had reached out across the centuries from her grave to give Twilight her last clue. Oh there were still the details, and they could prove as tricky as any spell ever attempted, but Twilight finally had the full picture of what she had to do.

“Okay, let's go back over this from square one. I have to make absolutely sure that I understand this spell perfectly from start to finish before I can even think about casting it. Clover the Clever confirmed my fears that we’re going to have to let the Wendigos free to seal them back up, so we only have one shot at this. But now I think I know what I have to put into each part to make this work.”

To most ponies, digging into a stack of complex spell-work nearly as tall as they were would have seemed like punishment verging on torture. Twilight Sparkle dove back in with a smile on her face.

Necromancy is a fearful business. It’s a dangerous and unpredictable magic under the best of circumstances, and we will hardly be going into the so-called ‘best’ of circumstances. Yet, I fear we have little choice. Clover the Clever insists that we need to use magic from all three tribes if we are to succeed. I can scarcely make sense of the mountain of spell-work she put in front of me, but she has never steered me wrong before. Even when I've ignored her and steered myself wrong.

No, Platinum, how many times do you have to write this to yourself? Yes you made a terrible mistake when you struck out at Chancellor Puddinghead and Smart Cookie. But you have to soldier on if you’re ever going to fix that mistake. Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy forgave you. In fact, it was easier than you’d ever dreamed it would be, and that’s a good sign. Of course you didn’t kill Commander Hurricane and Private Pansy and then harness their life energy to fuel a spell to hold back abominations.

I just hope that their spirits haven’t been consumed by anger and a desire for revenge. Clover tells me that there’s no way to tell before we summon them from beyond the grave, so all I can do is hope. I am also afraid of what will happen to New Unicornia while Clover and myself are gone. Even a unicorn as magically average as myself knows that if you’re going to chance necromancy it has to be where the pony you’re trying to contact left this world.

That means the four of us will be taking a very long trip to a place I’d dearly hoped to never see again. In the past, I've been able to leave Clover the Clever here whenever I left The Capital -I can hardly believe some ponies are campaigning to rename it Platinum City- and be sure that things would be well. However, I see no other choice if we are to have any chance of success.

Still, if the ponies I've wronged above all others can find it in their ghostly hearts to forgive and aid us, then I think Clover’s spell can really work. And if it does it will be proof above all else that the three tribes are meant to work together as equals. I shall not write in this journal again in the country of New Unicornia, for when we return I shall rename it Equestria, a country for all ponies.

“And what if you didn’t return?” Rarity sighed as she flipped through the rest of the blank pages to the back cover. “Well, I suppose I have one hoof up on you. I haven’t been assassinated, yet.”

She’d rather coldly split Masquerade open thanks to adrenaline, but once she’d gotten behind a closed door, Rarity had been all shakes until falling asleep for nearly a whole day. Her only consolation in wasting so much time was that Twilight had woken up three hours after her. Still, who knew how many earth ponies Sombra had killed in that lost day, and who knew where the next would-be assassin lurked. No assassins had shown up for the past week while Twilight labored to decipher Clover the Clever’s last spell, but that was another week of Sombra exterminating earth ponies without resistance.

“Perhaps fate, or the Divine Sisters, or, or whatever is simply waiting until I embark on the same quest as you to gift me the same end. I can see the summation of my own life now; didn’t kill a pair of earth ponies and later came to regret it, but tried all the same to bring equality to the three tribes and got assassinated for it on the same adventure that claimed you. There, I’ll just be an appendix to your biography.”

Before she could go any further, Rarity’s door burst open. She was already reaching for her axe in a panic when she saw that Twilight was her intruder.

“Twilight, darling, whatever brings you here in such a rush?” Rarity looked past Twilight to see that she’d dragged Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Pinkie Pie along.

“Start packing your bags.” Twilight almost quivered with eagerness. “We have to go to the cave where it all happened if this is going to work.”

“Not a hundred percent.” Twilight waved a hoof to show what she thought of that so-called minor detail.” But I’m confident I can get the last bit figured out on the way. And yes, all of us. It’s going to take magic from all three pony tribes, that’s why Clover the Clever could only put up a partial seal.”

“I don’t wanna be a worm in your apple,” Applejack shouldered her way next to Twilight, “but I’m still not sure this is gonna work. You two really wanna help, I get it, but we’re a long way from ‘complete trust and harmony.’ Didn't you say that’s what we’d need to make this work?”

“Well, yes.” Twilight admitted. “I’m kinda hoping we pick that up on the way. It’s going to be a long, hard trip up into the mountains. If we’re going to make it we’re going to have to trust each other with our lives and work together as a team. Hopefully, if we can get there we’ll have come together enough to cast the spell. Besides, the alternative is fighting a long, bloody civil war to overthrow Sombra and restore Rarity to the throne. Even if we win he’s going to kill off every earth pony left in Platinum City, not to mention the nobles loyal to him will be slaughtering their earth ponies. And that's before we even get started on how many ponies will get killed by the war itself.”

“Okay, okay, I get the point.” Applejack was doubtless thinking of her family back in Platinum City. “But are you sure you don’t wanna wait while we get to know each other here?”

“I'd love to, but I don’t know if we have the time,” Twilight said. “It’s the unity, to use the term a bit generously, between the three tribes that’s keeping Clover’s original seal up. Once Sombra starts really killing off the earth ponies, and unicorns and pegasi start killing each other in a civil war, that seal is going to get mighty thin in a hurry.”

“We’re all going to be the bestest of friends!” Applejack and Twilight Sparkle suddenly found themselves wrapped up in Pinkie Pie’s hug. "Yay!”

Over the last week spring had finally seemed to realize that it was time for the mad dash to summer, fall, and the harvest that would, hopefully, see them through the long winter. The many gardens and open spaces across Ponyville were a riot of greens, yellows, purples, blues, and all the colors life could bring forth.

“Bon Bon, have you never actually seen green stuff up close that’s not food?” Lyra asked. “I can’t believe this!”

“Of course I've seen plants.” Bon Bon realized that she had to nip Lyra’s building apoplectic fit in the bud. “There are parts of Dirtville that no one’s built on. Of course they aren't tended at all, and they usually aren't very safe because gangs and drug dealers take them over. But no, this is not my first time stopping to smell the roses. Besides, lots of earth ponies in Dirtville keep small gardens for food, and we’ll throw in a few flowers just for looks.”

“Oh,” Lyra visibly deflated. “Sorry, I just figured it was one more thing that unicorns wouldn't let earth ponies have.”

“It’s okay.” Bon Bon laughed. “Really, it is. I mean even if I don’t need it most of the time, it’s nice to know that you’re looking out for me. And there are plenty of beautiful places back in Dirtville as long as you know where to go, when to go there, and how not to draw too much attention to yourself. I always wanted to take you, but you kind of come across as a unicorn even under the cloak. It’s the walk, you walk around like you own the place, no earth pony would ever look so sure of themselves for fear of drawing the attention of the guards.”

Lyra blinked a few times before collapsing in a fit of laughter that drew looks from a few passers-by.

“I knew it! When Twilight Sparkle first had me bring her down into Dirtville I thought to myself that the way she just bulled down the street expecting everyone to get out of her way practically screamed outsider. I wanted to ask you if I acted all unicorn-ish too, but stuff started happening pretty fast after that and I never found the chance.”

“Come on, let’s go get some food into your unicorn-ish mouth. I saw a cafe a few blocks down the street advertising food with the spring flowers. It’s been forever since I had a daisy sandwich, and I’m not going to pass this opportunity up.”

At first, Lyra and Bon Bon had been nervous going out into Ponyville together. Despite all the evidence in front of them that Ponyville treated its earth ponies infinitely better than Platinum city they were both wary of advertising any sort of relationship. It hadn't taken long, however, to see that earth ponies in Ponyville casually went around with pegasi and unicorns for reasons both professional and personal.

The earth pony waiter at the cafe seemed to take no particular notice of an earth pony sitting down with a unicorn, she merely wrote down their orders with an ease that showed she’d had the schooling denied so many earth ponies in Platinum City.

While they waited for their orders, Lyra and Bon Bon contented themselves with watching the flow of pony-kind up and down the street. Several times ponies who had come from Platinum City waved at them, and a few even stopped to talk. Bon Bon had initially felt some guilt that she wouldn't be following them into the forest and onto the farms, but a pointed reminder that she’d grown up in Platinum City and didn’t know the first thing about farming or wood chopping had silenced her vocal complaints.

Bon Bon had also, much to her embarrassment, become something of a leader among the newly arrived earth ponies. The refugee earth ponies would have run up statues of Rarity and Twilight Sparkle for getting them out of Platinum City if they’d had the opportunity, but those two were off in the castle planning… whatever it was they were planning. That left Lyra and Bon Bon as ponies the new arrivals could bring their problems too. It surprised neither Lyra nor Bon Bon that the earth ponies chose Bon Bon the great majority of the time.

“This place is great,” Lyra said around a mouthful of her hay shake, “I’d move here if I could.”

Bon Bon paused with her daisy sandwich halfway to her mouth as a thought struck her. “Why not? Why don’t we move here? I mean if we never manage to get back to Platinum City we’ll kind of be here by default, but even if we can go back to Platinum City why shouldn't we just pack up what we can and come back here?”

“You really think we can?” Lyra asked. “I mean we’re talking about picking up everything here. All of my customers are back in Platinum City, and so are yours.”

“Definitely,” Bon Bon said. “Even if Twilight Sparkle’s plan works perfectly and Rarity shouts from the palace that earth ponies are equal to pegasi and unicorns it won’t change much. We’ll still be poor, illiterate, and most of the pegasi and unicorns in Platinum City will keep right on hating us. The guards might not arrest us if we wanted to take a stroll around the palace gardens together, but I doubt they’d do much if a lynch mob decided to do the job for them. It’ll be tough, but I want to live somewhere where I won’t be afraid that a bunch of angry ponies will set our house on fire just because we’re there.”

“We’re going to have to find a house first, and that might not be the easiest thing in the world with three hundred other ponies looking.”

“Adventure one of our move.” Bon Bon smiled. “I kinda feel bad though, here we are getting all pumped up about moving here so no one will care about us, and all it took was a genocidal maniac plunging New Unicornia into civil war.”

“Hey,” Lyra grabbed one of her hooves, “Sombra would have done all his crazy stuff eventually regardless of what we did. We got three hundred earth ponies and you out of Platinum City and beyond his reach. I want Twilight Sparkle’s plan to work yesterday so Sombra can’t kill any more earth ponies, but neither of us can do anything about that, so I think the best thing we can do is be ourselves. After all, didn’t Twilight Sparkle say that Sombra thought ponies like us were the biggest threat to everything he wants to build?”

“Pretty hard to think of myself as important.” Bon Bon laid down a few bits for their lunch as they started walking down the street again.

“Don’t say that.” Lyra jumped in front of her with a surprisingly serious look on her face. “You’re important to a lot of ponies, you’re the most important pony I have. Sombra should be quaking in his horseshoes whenever he thinks of you.”

“Hey, look at that.” Bon Bon pointed a hoof in an effort to hide just how flustered Lyra had gotten her. “What’s a big place like that doing abandoned in a small town like this?”

Indeed, a large oak tree was sitting in a spot of cleared out ground. Someone had put a door and windows, and even a balcony on an upper floor, but the windows were dark and the door boarded over.

“Excuse me.” Bon Bon grabbed a passing pony, a brown earth pony stallion with an hourglass for a cutie mark. “What’s with this big abandoned tree?”

“Oh, that,” the stallion said in an accent that neither Lyra nor Bon Bon found quite familiar. “That’s the town library, or it was going to be the town library. A few years back, just before it was going to open some ponies from Platinum City visited, I gather they made it rather clear that opening a library that would serve earth ponies would wind up being very bad for Ponyville. I'm sorry don’t know all the specifics, but I’m fairly new here myself.”

“Bon Bon, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Lyra looked at her with the mischievous look that more often than not promised Bon Bon would end the day giving yet more ponies reason to think she was never happy about anything.

“They’re not using that tree for anything.” Lyra grabbed her and turned her to face the oak tree. “And I’d say we know a few important ponies around this town who owe us a favor or three.”

“Only one way to find out!” Lyra set off for the castle with Bon Bon quite literally in tow.

Twilight was quite impressed with the stocks of cold weather gear Ponyville had acquired. She’d traded in her cloak for proper boots, a coat that tucked quite neatly into her boots, and a hat that could pull down to cover her face and neck as well. It might have seemed like overkill in Ponyville where spring was taking hold, and it was, but up in the mountains where the Wendigos were sealed spring hadn't been seen since before there was a New Unicornia.

“Here,” Shining Armor walked up to her with a strange looking object, “you might want to take this along too.”

“What exactly is it?” Twilight floated it around. It appeared to be some sort of length of what felt like bone with two slits cut into it and a cord hanging from two holes at the side.

“Eye protection,” Shining Armor said. “Gem hunters going out of Ponyville up into the mountains made them so they could still work during blizzards, and on the rare occasion the sun comes out and shines off all that white snow.”

“Thanks,” Twilight slipped the bone into her backpack. “Now let’s go see if the others are ready.”

“Do we really have to carry all of this?” There was no mistaking Rarity whining, and no door that could hope to overcome her volume.

“Yes, you do.” Rainbow Dash was tightening the various straps of Rarity’s backpack as Twilight and Shining Armor entered the room. “Once we get out of the Everfree Forest, which is plenty dangerous by the way, we’re going to have to carry everything because there’s exactly zero food or stuff to burn for fire once we head into the mountains. Plus we’ll need snowshoes and spare boots and I don’t think you want to be sleeping outside so we’re bringing some tents. Hay, you have the lightest pack.”

“Twilight!” Rarity spotted her. “Darling, could you please do something about these fashion… abominations we've been given? I can accept that when I fled Platinum City I hadn't the time to pick a cloak worth being seen in, but we have the time to prepare now, and I for one refuse to be seen in such a state if it can be helped.”

“Rarity,” Twilight rolled her eyes, “no one is going to see you in that coat and hat combination. By the time we have to wear them we’ll all be crusted over white with snow. I think we’ll all be a bit busy trying to find the Wendigos cave without freezing to death to care about whether or not we’re showing up in the latest fashion.”

“No mistakin where y’all got to.” Applejack walked into the room seemingly unburdened by the heaviest pack.

“Um, I’m not interrupting anything, am I?” Fluttershy slipped in behind Applejack.

As if her name were a magical summons, Pinkie Pie appeared. “Come on you sillies, I've been standing outside waiting forever for you. I can’t wait to get out there and start making friends! Oh this is going to be so much fun, I don’t know if I've ever made so many friends at once.”

“You know you don’t have to do this alone,” Shining Armor said as they walked out towards the gates of Ponyville. “I can spare plenty of ponies to help you get through the Everfree Forest and look for this place. Hay, I can spare myself if this is really that important.”

“Hey!” They all turned to see Lyra dragging Bon Bon, quite literally, towards them. “There you are, listen…”

Lyra was cut off as Pinkie Pie grabbed Bon Bon away from her in a tearful embrace. “Oh I’m so sad I have to leave you and everyone else behind. I hate saying goodbye to friends, even if it’s to make new ones! You were the bestest most funnest boss I ever had.”

“It’s okay Pinkie Pie.” Bon Bon took her circumstances in stride. “I’m sure you’ll all be back with good news before you know it. That will make plenty of ponies happy. And when you get back I’ll even let you throw a moving party for Lyra and I.”

“Yep,” Lyra said in a manic tone that perfectly matched Pinkie Pie. In that moment, Twilight and the others began to understand Bon Bon’s fears of Lyra and Pinkie Pie being in close proximity for any length of time. “We love it here. In fact, any of you think you might be able to pull some strings with yourselves and let us buy that old tree you were going to make a library?”

“Library?” Shining Armor looked at her in confusion. “Wait! Oh, how could I not have thought of that? It’s perfect! You two can definitely have that place, you’ll have to share it with some other ponies for awhile though. It’s going to be awhile before we can build enough houses for all the ponies you brought from Platinum City, and a big place like that is just what we need to start spreading them out.”

“It appears you’ll have your hooves full here for awhile longer.” Rarity seemed to have gotten the whining out of her system and had gone back to being all business. “Besides, Rainbow Dash assures me that six ponies have a much better chance of making it through the Everfree Forest unmolested than would sixty, or however many ponies we took with us.”

“Not to mention,” Twilight Sparkle added, “Sombra is going to keep you busier than you know what to do with before long. Rarity sent out all those notes when we arrived, they should just be reaching their destinations about now, and that means civil war in a few days time.”

“I appreciate everything, really,” Rarity said. “But one of us has to stay here.”

“A great deal of our problems could have been avoided had my father simply drawn up a will. That’s a mistake I’ll not be making. You, Shining Armor, have to stay here because with Twilight and myself gone you’re in charge of things as it were.”

“I’m what?” Shining Armor looked at the envelope as though it had suddenly turned into a venomous snake.

“If I die, and there’s danger enough ahead, Sweetie Belle will need a regent for years. I’m trusting you and Twilight Sparkle to see New Unicornia safe until she’s old enough to take the throne, and probably for quite awhile after that.”

“Oh hush dear.” Rarity put up a hoof to stall her. “I've no plans of dying anytime soon, no more than you do. But, like I said, our problems would be far less had father made it clear when I was supposed to take over for him. Making it clear that Shining Armor is in charge will also ensure that the ponies who rally to our cause will fight under one banner. I have high hopes that this spell will end our problems, but if there is to be a civil war than I certainly intend to win it.”

“It’s probably going to take two, maybe two and a half weeks to get across the Everfree Forest.” Rainbow Dash shifted her backpack. “It’s not that kind of far, but we’ll probably lose a lot of time hiding from the creatures in there. Once we get into the mountains it all depends on how fast we find that cave. Even if it’s not that far it could still take days. I was talking to some gem miners, and they said that if it’s blowing snow and freezing cold and you’re trying to keep a bearing you might go a hundred meters in an hour.”

“It shouldn't take that long once we’re out of the Everfree Forest,” Twilight said. “Both Princess Platinum and Clover the Clever left maps to where they sealed the Wendigos. Things have probably shifted after more than a thousand years, and the weather won’t be any help, but we’ll know the general area to look in.

“One more thing.” Twilight gave a folded piece of paper to her brother. “When we escaped Platinum City I hid Sweetie Belle. I wrote down where on that sheet of paper. If Rarity and I don’t make it back it’s going to be up to you to get her out of Platinum City.”

Shining Armor sighed. “Anything else you need me to take care of while you’re gone? Win the war, save the princess, should I have scones waiting for you when you come back?”

“You don’t necessarily have to do this yourself,” Twilight said. “But I left all my notes about Clover’s spell in my room. If we fail, you can always get another group of ponies to learn from whatever we did wrong and try again.”

“You don’t have to get ponies to move into the library.” Bon Bon pointed out. “I’m sure Lyra and I can take care of that, and it’s one less thing you have to worry about.”

“Why can’t you be like these two and actually be helpful?” Twilight snorted at her brother’s humor.

“One last thing,” Rarity said. “Princess Platinum intended to rename New Unicornia had she not been assassinated on her own quest to seal the Wendigoes. I suppose it falls to me to carry out her last wish in that case. Princess Platinum wanted this land to be called Equestria, and she wanted it to be a land of all ponies, by all ponies, for all ponies.”

Such a quaint little town, she reflected. She almost felt bad she was going to set Ponyville to the torch and kill every pony within its walls. Wait, no she didn’t. She looked forward to seeing those sub-pony earth ponies scream their last torment the way another pony might look forward to fine music. She would be almost as glad to see the unicorn and pegasus traitors die as well. Maybe she’d spare a few of them to drag back to Platinum City in chains to face King Sombra’s justice.

“Rest up.” She turned to the rest of her hoof picked band of ponies. Each and every one of them would hardly need the order to start spreading mayhem and killing earth ponies. “We’ll attack at sundown.”

Hearth's Warming Evil

by Tortfeasor

Things Fall Apart