In a tree on a hill lived a Unicorn. Not a wet nasty tree full of worms and such. Nor yet a dry crumbly tree ready to fall apart. But a Unicorn tree and that means comfort.
What is a Unicorn you ask? I suppose I should describe Unicorns in this day and age when they are little more than legends.
If you were lucky enough to see a Unicorn from a distance you’d think them little different from humans. They were more or less the same height and shape as men. It wasn’t until you got closer that you could tell the difference. Large horse-like ears grew from the top of their heads, long white horns grew from their foreheads, short brightly colored fur grew all over their bodies and long equine tails grew from their coccyx. Unicorns were legendary in there love for food and harmony. Very few stories of their exploits were chronicled.
This particular Unicorn’s name was Twilight Sparkle, librarian for the small town of Unicornville. In those days Unicornville was located in the east of the world. Either over the river and through the woods or over hill and dale. Unicornville was a quiet backwater long forgotten by the outside world.
Ever since the old librarian had retired Twilight had lived in the library the way generations of librarians had before her.
For years she had enjoyed her job, wanting to do nothing else. As time went on though she began to feel… bored. She yearned for something different to happen even if she wasn’t sure what it was.
One day long ago when everything was still brightly colored and cartoon like, Twilight Sparkle sat outside her front door reading a book.
Suddenly a dark shadow fell over her. Frowning she looked up. Twilight gasped in surprise. Standing before her was the legendary wizrardress Celestia. Celestia! If you’d heard half the stories Twilight had heard about the wizardress you would have been amazed.
The gorgeous wizardess was at least six inches taller than the Unicorn. She had long flowing pastel blue, green and purple stripped hair. Like Unicorns she had a long white horn growing from her forehead. She also had two large white wings growing from her back. She wore a white robe edged with gold and a tall pointy hat. The robe had a large yellow and gold colored sun emblem emblazoned on it’s front.
Mistress of magic and adventure, Celestia appeared one day and vanished the next. When she came she brought presents, laughter and fireworks. When she left she sometimes took Unicorns with her. Many of them were never seen again.
Legions of dark rumors were whispered about her. Many amazing adventures featured her. No one knew the truth about her.
“Nice day to sit outside.” the beautiful wizardress commented.
“Certainly is!” Twilight eagerly agreed.
“So what brings you to these parts? If your looking for adventurers you’ve come to the wrong part of the world.” Twilight asked.
“Adventurers are found in all sorts of odd places. Usually where you least expect to find them. It’s been awhile since I’ve visited and I just thought I’d check up on the place.”
“Would… would you care for some tea?” Twilight asked nervously.
The wizardress fascinated her, she didn’t want her to leave just yet.
“Nice to know that the descendant of Starswirl hasn’t forgotten her manners. Thank you for your offer.”
Twilight looked uncomfortable at the mention of her famous ancestor.
Hastily she got up and in a twinkle of an eye she had set out a small table covered in as many delectable viands as she could scrounge up.
Sitting next to the famous wizardress and sipping tea Twilight wanted desperately to ask her about her amazing adventures and legendary encounters with other magical beings. She was too shy to say anything though. So they sat there silently enjoying the warm spring day.
Finally Celestia set down her tea cup with a sigh.
“It’s been long and long since I’ve truly had a chance to relax. Thank you, my dear. As a reward for your hospitality I’ve decided to throw you a party.”
“A.. a party?” Twilight asked.
“Yes! A long expected party! I’ll have it here. Next Wednesday 11 a. m. sharp, don’t forget!
Before Twilight could protest this ham handed behavior Celestia scratched a symbol on her door, strode off and quickly vanished over the hill.
Twilight shook her head, wondering if the whole thing had been a dream.
Twilight had very nearly forgotten the whole encounter by Wednesday. She was busy returning books to their shelves. Just then there was a loud knock on her door.
“Who could be visiting?” she wondered.
She looked up at the clock and saw it was 10 a. m. All at once her bizarre encounter with Celestia came back to her.
Twilight rushed to the door and opened it expecting Celestia to be standing there. Instead she saw a bright pink Earth Pony. The pony had a wild mass of pink hair and wore pink armor. For some strange reason the Earth Pony was wearing a large fake beard.
“May I help you?” Twilight asked.
“I bet I can help you.” the pony chirped. “You completely forgot Celestia’s party, didn’t you?”
“How did you…?” Twilight sputtered.
“Don’t worry. Earth Pony party planner supreme is here to help!”
“Why are you wearing a fake beard?” Twilight asked.
“Aren’t all Earth Ponies supposed to have beards?”
“Only the male ones, as far as I know.” Twilight pointed out.
“Of course! How silly of me!” she giggled and ripped off her beard.
The pony bounced into Twilight’s house and looked around.
“Hi! I’m Pinky Pie! Which way to the kitchen?” she asked.
Flummoxed, Twilight automatically pointed.
She headed off to the kitchen. Twilight watched in fascination as a pink blur turned her home into party central, complete with balloons, streamers and confetti.
At 11 there was another knock. Twilight hurried to the door hoping Celestia would explain what was going on.
Instead it was another Earth Pony. This one was pure white with elaborately coiffed purple hair. She wore purple armor and carried a rapier.
“Oh darling.” she exclaimed as she barged in. “I just love what you’ve done to the place. Rarity’s the name, designing fashion armor’s my game.”
“Pleased to meet you.” Twilight responded weakly.
A minute or so later there was another knock. Resigned, Twilight sighed and opened the door. She wasn’t the least surprised to find another Earth Pony. This one was yellow and had long straight pink hair. She wore green armor and carried a large shield.
“I hope you don’t mind me showing up?” the pony asked timidly.
“Might as well come in, everybody else is here.” Twilight said as kindly as she could.
“My name is Fluttershy.” she whispered so softly Twilight could barely hear her.
“Twilight Sparkle at your service.” the unicorn introduced herself, finally remembering her manners.
“I hope we can be friends.” Fluttershy said, smiling warmly at her.
Next was an imposingly large, rather well muscled tan Earth Pony with blonde hair. She wore tan armor and carried a huge battleaxe.
“Howdy there sugarcube.” the pony said smiling warmly. “This here’s where the party’s at?”
“I guess so.” Twilight replied, doing her best to keep her annoyance to herself.
“Twilight Sparkle at your service.”
“Applejack at yours and your family.” the pony responded, shaking her hand violently.
Twilight was starting to get anxious when four teenaged Earth Ponies showed up. How many guests had Celestia invited?
“Hi, I’m Scootaloo, this is Applebloom, Sweetie Belle and Babs Seed. Together we’re the Earth Pony Crusaders. Where‘s the grub?”
Scootaloo was orange with fushia hair, Applebloom was yellow with orange-red hair Sweetie Belle was white with pink and purple hair and Babs Seed was tan with pink striped hair. They all wore traditional crusader style armor and carried broad swords.
Finally Celestia arrived, standing next to her was a lovely rainbow haired Earth Pony with blue fur. She wore blue armor and was carrying a large wooden club.
“Is this the one?” she asked, eyeing Twilight as if she were a bug.
“Rainbow Dash, leader of the Earth Ponies of the Lonesome Mountain.” Celestia announced.
Twilight bowed and introduced herself.
“Service?” the rainbow haired pony huffed. “We’ll see.”
“What’s going on?” she whispered to Celestia.
“Can’t have a party with just two people.” Celestia said heartily, then headed off to eat with the others.
Twilight watched morosely as they quickly depleted her larder. Sure she’d have to spend all next day cleaning up, Twilight was surprised when the Earth Ponies whisked everything off the table and cleaned it. In an instant all the dishes were put away.
After dinner the nearly all the lights were extinguished and the Earth Ponies sang an ancient Earth Pony lay.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2b0kuM4AWbw
After the song ended Rainbow called for silence.
“I think we all know why we’re here.” the cyan Earth Pony began.
Twilight timidly raised her hand and spoke.
“Act… actually, I don’t have a clue.” she stuttered.
“Celestia!” Rainbow Dash exclaimed. “I thought you were supposed to explain things.”
Celestia just smiled smugly. “I thought it would be a good idea to go over everything one last time. What better time than now?”
Rainbow just sighed and did a face palm.
“Very well then. Once long ago my ancestor Rainbow the First grew tired of working for others. She headed west with a small band of loyal followers and found a lovely mountain that she sensed was full of riches. It was here at the place they named the Lonesome Mountain that she founded her kingdom. For many, many long years her kingdom thrived and grew until it’s riches were legendary.
The problem with legendary riches is that word of their existence spreads and soon falls on greedy ears.
Deep, deep in mountain fastnesses long forgotten a rumor reached the ears of a large and powerful dragon named Spike.
Spike flew north to see what he could see.
Perhaps in our pride we’d grown complacent. Whatever the cause our unsleeping vigilance failed.
I was but a small filly at the time but I still remember it like it was yesterday.
The first we knew of his coming was when he set fire to Drail, the human village which lay before the gates of the Lonesome Mountain. Before we even had a chance to prepare the dragon was at the entrance driving all before him. My father, mother and I barely escaped with our lives. Soon all our hard earned wealth, our centuries of labor, our very home belonged to the evil wyrm!
Celestia has convinced me the time has come. The time for revenge! The time to take back what was ours! The time to rid the world forever of this vile being known as Spike!”
Twilight had so many objections to this ridiculous plan of action she didn’t know where to start. She was about to open her mouth to object when Celestia caught her gaze. There was something in the wizardress’ eyes that kept her from saying anything.
Instead she asked. “What does this all have to do with me?”
“It is well known that nine is an unlucky number. Celestia has therefore persuaded me to seek a tenth member to add to our group. She has highly recommended you as a skilled burglar.”
“Burglar?” Twilight sputtered offended.
“Certainly.” Celestia answered. “Aren’t Unicorns well known for their hiding and vanishing skills. Perfect for a thief. Not to mention your ancestor. Starwirl the Bearded was well known for his deviousness. We’ll need all the brains we can get on this venture!”
Twilight thought about telling the wizardress that she was more likely to get the dragon to return his overdue library books than ever be able to steal a single coin from him, but for some reason she stopped.
Twilight had wanted adventure and here it was staring her in the face. Even though the Earth Pony’s plan was ridiculous she wanted to go! Somehow, someway she’d figure something out!
“Well, I may not be Starswirl the Bearded, but I’ll do the best I can!” Twilight said aloud.
Celestia nodded in satisfaction and smiled warmly at her.
“I was highly dubious when Celestia recommended a Unicorn, but I see now that you’re 120 percent cooler than I thought!” Rainbow Dash said.
“Thank… thank you.” Twilight replied, looking uncomfortable at this praise.
“Get some sleep we leave early tomorrow.” Celestia suggested.
“Celestia, I…” Twilight hesitated.
“I know you’ll… we’ll figure it out. I have confidence in you, otherwise I wouldn’t have chosen you.”
Twilight wasn’t sure whether to thank her or curse her.
Next morning Celestia prodded Twilight awake and thrust a large heavy backpack into her hands. Even though Twilight knew she’d soon grow weary of carrying such a burdensome load, the pack seemed far too small.
“What about…” she started.
“No room!” Celestia cried gaily.
“At least let me…”
“No room!”
They ate a hasty breakfast polishing off the last of Twilight’s supplies. With a small twinge of regret Twilight locked the door of the library behind her and left the key under the doormat. The adventurers then headed down the road. The Unicorn felt as if she were being swept away.
That night Twilight sat around the fire and jested with her new found companions. As she sat there she looked around. She was exhausted, she was sweaty, she was cold, she was hungry and she was covered with bug bites. Despite all these things she was content. She realized that it wasn’t adventure that she’d been yearning for, it was friends.
With a smile on her face, Twilight laid down and fell into a deep sleep.
The End