I kicked a luminous toadstool and watched the small sparkles as it scattered in the grass. I was really wishing I'd never been sent to this blasted place. I sighed and punched a tree. Hard. The pain helped steady me. "Dammit!" I hadn't handled that at all well. I'd been almost rude to her and for no reason. I was mad at myself but I was even more angry at whatever had decided to put me in this position.
The decision, I'd realised, wasn't Celestia or Luna. I knew that, now. Celestia had to rule. It was whether Luna ruled with her that was the real question. Celestia had been right. She was needed. Luna was doing a great job, but she could only control the moon, and it seemed that using her power to do that was leaving her little with which to do anything else. It couldn't go on. Luna's Equestria was hanging on by the skin of its collective teeth. Despite Luna's best efforts, they needed the sun. And for that, they needed Celestia to return.
I still couldn't work out why I'd been 'selected' to cope with this. There were plenty of people smarter than I was; more knowledgeable of the ponies than I was and with far more skills than I had to be able to cope with something like this. If there were awards for 'smarts', I wouldn't get a thing. If there were awards for 'dumbs' I'd have all I could handle. Yeah, I definitely didn't give myself any points for brains. So why? It was a question that had been plaguing me ever since Luna told me that I was the one who would decide the fate of Equestria.
I couldn't just ignore it and hope it'd go away. I could see that the situation was worsening by the day. Before this, I'd scoffed and thought the show was stupid, but now I had a problem These ponies, especially the ones in Ponyville, had begun to matter to me. When they hurt, I hurt; when they were happy; I was happy. I laughed when I watched foals playing in the moonlight. I'd fought the Dogs to get Aura back, and every argument or fight grated on me. I couldn't just flip a coin or make this decision lightly. As I'd realised earlier, these ponies, this place, mattered now.
I wended my way back to Ponyville, sat down on a log and did some serious thinking. Then I got up and went for a walk, coming back after moonset.
Days passed and every day I looked for something, some sign that would show where I was to become involved. I'd been told that the fate of Equestria was in my hands yet, for the life of me, I couldn't see how. I guessed there'd be some pivotal point somewhere, and I believed that my having been placed—by whatever force had done it—where I had meant that Ponyville held the key. It would be no use me looking in Manehattan or Canterlot or any of the other villages. In Ponyville I'd been put and it seemed that Ponyville was where whatever was going to happen would happen. I guessed that I'd have to intervene on something and I guessed that 'something' was to do with the two princesses, but I didn't know what. I also didn't know when. When would Celestia attempt to come back? When would she feel that she had enough strength and power to take over Equestria from her sister?
There was something new, now, as well. Tremors. Like the ones I'd felt when I'd been talking to Celestia. Only they were getting stronger. They often unnerved the ponies and together we made plans in case an earthquake should happen. While admitting that I'm no structural engineer, I believed that, while their houses looked nice, they weren't exactly earthquake proof. We all hoped that the tremors would settle down and go away, but I had an annoying feeling that they wouldn't. At least not until everything was settled. I wasn't the only one worried about this and one night we got together and worked out what we should do in the event of a major earthquake. Of course, we all hoped it wouldn't happen, but we got ready and I also sent out warnings to Princess Luna at Canterlot as well as Manehattan and other places.
Confused yet? I knew I was. I knew one thing. I knew that I was the one to decide the fate of Equestria. How, when, where and why were all questions that still had to be answered.
I was getting towards the end of my tether. The strain was getting to me and I was even beginning to snap at others. It certainly wasn't the most pleasant of times. It sucks big time when you've been told that you hold the lives of others in your hands, yet you can only stand and watch and cannot really do anything to improve a steadily worsening situation.
Yes, I did call a great many in Ponyville my friends. Despite the tension that radiated through the place, they were still trying. They would come to me for advice – heaven knows why – or sometimes we would sit in the barn and talk. I'd tell them stories of where I'd come from. Some of them were things that had happened to me. Others were just stories, some true, some not. I don't think it really mattered, they weren't really there to listen to the stories I told. They were there to get their minds off what was going on around them. The barn became like a shelter from the world, where they could sit, relax somewhat, and get carried away on my words. Not that I'm a fantastic storyteller, mind you. It's just... Really, I think anyone could have been telling a story about anything other than the current situation and they would have listened just as avidly.
The others told stories, too. They'd just make up strange tale—or perhaps they were true, I'm not sure—and the imagination of the foals would be caught up in their tale and the mothers could relax, even if it was just a little, for a short while.
Pinky was incredible. That little pink mare worked her hooves off trying to stop the depression from sinking too deep into all of us. She, too, I grew to like. Her colouring, that had once seemed so wrong, I was growing accustomed to, in fact I even began to think that it suited her. There was a keen mind behind that fluffy forelock and her very frivolity had a purpose. Yes, they all meant something to me now. Even little Pinky Pie.
Splash and Aura, I had to admit, were my favorites. Despite our rather unusual and, at least for Aura, somewhat painful and messy introduction, we'd got on quite well. It helped, I suppose, that Splash was grateful to me for saving her but... Since she'd been foalnapped ('foalnapped?') because of me, I had felt responsible and that feeling continued even after I'd seen her safely back to her mother.
I had to admit, she was a cutie and I could only hope they both survived this mess.
I was talking to her the fifth morning after my chat with Celestia when I suddenly noticed the Six fighting. No lighthearted argument this. Hooves and teeth were being used and they were screaming at each other. The Elements of Harmony, fighting? I started forward to intervene when the meaning of the whole thing hit me like a hammer-blow. I knew. I knew why all this was happening. I cursed myself for not recognising it sooner.
As I was still reeling from this mental shock, earthquake struck.