//------------------------------// // II: Beginnings, Part I // Story: Thirteen Moons // by Silent_Witness //------------------------------// Chapter II: Beginnings, Part I   Twilight motioned the boy in the dragon armor. “And this is Spike, my assistant and bodyguard.” The boy in the dragon armor- Spike- waved to the group. “Hey.” Sunset stumbled back, eyes wide, struggling to string her words together. “H… How… How did you get here? The portal isn’t supposed to open for another year.” Twilight raised an eyebrow in confusion. “…I do apologize, but I do not believe I have ever met you before today. Have you perhaps mistaken me for someone else?” Sunset was just about to say something else when a hand rested on her shoulder. She looked back- it was Rainbow Dash. Rainbow shook her head wordlessly, before she looked back and beckoned to the others. As soon as everyone had gathered around her, Rainbow said bluntly, “I don’t like this.” “No kiddin’. Ah thought the portal was still closed,” Applejack added. “It is,” Sunset replied, “and it won’t open for another fourteen moons.” Fluttershy stuttered, “…Do you think she had something to do with that… monster?” “No way,” Sunset replied. “I mean, it doesn’t make sense. Why would they make a monster attack us, and then turn around and kill it?” “Well duh!” Rainbow whispered harshly. “They’re trying to lead us into a false sense of security!” Rarity looked to Rainbow. “Rainbow Dash, you’re being far too paranoid about this.” She then looked to Pinkie and said, “You’ve been awfully quiet, Pinkie. What do you think of all this?” Pinkie wordlessly rubbed her chin in thought, before she snapped her fingers as though she’d had a sudden realization. “What if this is the Twilight from this world?” she asked. Applejack looked to Pinkie. “Huh?” “Think about it. Twilight said her world had counterparts for all of us. So what if the opposite is true? What if this Twilight is our world’s counterpart for that Twilight?” Applejack merely raised her eyebrow and repeated, “…Huh?” Fluttershy asked, “You really think so, Pinkie?” “You have to admit, it certainly isn’t impossible,” Rarity replied. Sunset had to admit, Rarity did have a point. It wasn’t impossible that a Twilight Sparkle could exist in this world as well, residing in some distant region she’d yet to visit. “I s’pose it ain’t,” Applejack said in agreement. “‘Sides, the first Spike we met was a dog, wasn’t he?” “Why don’t we just hear her out?” Sunset asked. “Once we find out what she wants, we’ll decide what to do then.” The others agreed with Sunset’s idea… save Rainbow Dash. “Well I still don’t like this…” she said glumly. “Come now, Rainbow Dash,” Rarity admonished, “You’re overreacting.” The six broke their huddle and looked over to Twilight. “You were right,” Sunset said. “We confused you with someone else we know.” “But why are you here?” Rarity asked. “And what do you want with us?” “And why did you call Sunset a ‘catalyst?’” Pinkie added. Before Twilight could answer, the sound of approaching sirens met their ears. “…Maybe we should talk somewhere else,” Fluttershy said. “Agreed,” Sunset replied. “Let’s head back to the school. We can talk there.” But Pinkie stopped them. “Hold on just a sec.” She reached into her pocket and tossed a roll of bills onto the counter. “There you go, Snips! Sorry about the diner!” She then climbed through the hole, saying to her friends, “Okay. Let’s go.” As the group left the diner, Snips replied, “Yeah um… no, no problem… Pinkie.” A few minutes later, the eight were in front of Canterlot High. A few police cars had passed them as they made their way to the school, but seemingly found nothing suspicious about them, since they continued on their way. “Well here we are,” Applejack said. “Now Ah believe ya were just about to explain what y’all were doing here.” “Wait wait wait!” Pinkie shouted, stepping into the middle of the group. “Sorry. But it’s just that we’ve gotten this far, and we haven’t even introduced ourselves yet.” She pointed to herself. “I’m Pinkie Pie.” She then pointed to each of the others. “That’s Applejack, Fluttershy, Sunset Shimmer, Rainbow Dash, and Rarity.” She looked to Twilight. “Okay, you can keep going.” Twilight looked at Pinkie for several moments in annoyance, before she said, “I have spent the last several months studying numerous abnormal phenomena that have manifested across the globe over the past year. I have traced these various phenomena to their point of origin, and they have all led me here, to this nation, to this city…” She pointed to Sunset. “…to you.” “O… kay…” Rainbow said slowly. “…So what?” Twilight’s jaw dropped slightly, seemingly in disbelief. “…You have absolutely no idea what your actions have unleashed upon the world, do you?” Sunset crossed her arms over her chest. “Should I?” Twilight held up her hand. “Yes. You should.” Twilight then snapped her fingers- immediately, flames erupted around her hand. The others gasped- even Sunset Shimmer’s eyes widened in surprise. She was no stranger to using magic, but it was the first time Sunset had ever seen one of this world’s inhabitants use it. At least, since over a year and a half ago. “What you see is no trick, no illusion,” Twilight said. “It is magic. Real magic, returned to our world after an absence millennia long.” “Wait, returned?” Rainbow said, incredulous. “That’s impossible! Our world’s never had magic!” “Oh, but it did,” Twilight replied. “There is evidence demonstrating that this world was once saturated with magical energies. But approximately three thousand years ago, the magic simply… vanished.” She clenched her hand into a fist, extinguishing the flames. “…sealed away by the sages of old, if the legends are to be believed. And now, after all this time, it has reappeared. But make no mistake- the return of magic is not a natural phenomenon. I do not know how, nor for what purpose, but whether unintended or deliberate, I know that the return of magic has come through human action.” Sunset and the others were silent for several moments, before Fluttershy finally said, “…I think we might know what ‘human action’ brought magic back.” Twilight looked to her, surprised. “Do you?” She held out a hand invitingly. “Then by all means. Share what you know.” The group looked to each other briefly, before Applejack said, “Ya might wanna sit down for this one.” Twilight sat, as did the others. And after a moment, Sunset began to tell Twilight everything that had happened. How she had initially discovered the human world after passing through a magic mirror, and how she’d quickly established herself at the top of Canterlot High’s pecking order. How when thirty moons had passed, she returned to her original world and stole a powerful magical artifact- the Element of Magic- and how its owner, Twilight Sparkle, followed her in order to retrieve it. How she used the Element’s power to transform herself into a monstrous demon, hypnotize the students of Canterlot High, and nearly kill Twilight and the others. And how Twilight and the others had used their own magic- the magic of friendship- to defeat Sunset. And, she told how Twilight had taken back the Element of Magic, and returned to her world. Twilight sat in silence, her hand on her chin. “Hmm… and when exactly did this conflict take place?” “It would have been… nearly seventeen moons ago,” Rarity replied. Twilight rose to her feet. “I see. Around that same time, cities across my homeland suffered electrical overloads and blackouts. No doubt they were caused by the magics unleashed during your conflict.” “Alright, so we know who you are, and why you came here,” Sunset said. “But what does all of this have to do with us?” Twilight replied, “Simple: You are the cause of all of this. Thus, you will aid me in setting things right.” “Hey, hold on!” Rainbow shouted. “You can’t just come here and dump this on us! …Well, I guess it is kinda Sunset’s fault, but the rest of us had nothing to do with it!” Sunset immediately shot a dirty look at Rainbow. Twilight crossed her arms and gave Rainbow a hard glare. “I am not ‘dumping’ anything on you, as you put it. And blame is irrelevant. I require assistance in my mission, and thus am requesting it from you.” She looked back, in the direction of the diner- the faint sounds of sirens could still be heard floating over the buildings. “You saw that chimera with your own eyes, did you not?” She looked back to Rainbow. “Mutations such as those have been occurring almost from the moment magic reemerged. And the situation will only continue to worsen. If the levels of magic are allowed to rise unregulated, they will begin to mutate humans, and eventually destabilize the world itself.” She looked to Spike. “Spike? The map please.” Spike pulled out a rolled paper from inside his armor as he approached, and laid it out on the ground in front of everyone. On its surface was drawn a map of the world, covered in various multicolored lines, circles, and other shapes. Twilight tapped her finger on the map. “Ever since my abilities first manifested, I have studied all the documents pertaining to magic that I could find. From my research, I have learned that in ancient times, there were four locations which play some sort of role in directing the flow of the world’s magical energies. Their exact locations have been lost to time, but I-”  “Just a moment, if you would,” Rarity interrupted. “What exactly will happen when the world destabilizes?” “I cannot say with any certainty what will happen if the world reaches that point. What I can say is that whatever event take place, it will result in the death of every living thing on this planet. Now as I was saying, these locations-” But Twilight was interrupted again, this time by Fluttershy: “Um, excuse me? How much time do we have before the world is… you know.” “I cannot give an exact estimate. But if we were to simply do nothing, and taking into account the damage that has been done thus far… then the world will be utterly destroyed in less than a year. Now-” “Then what’re we wasting time fer?” Applejack said frantically. “We need ta get the hell outta here! Sunset, d’ya think-” “Calm yourself.” Twilight ordered. “The destabilization will slow as each site resumes regulating the world’s magic currents. But unless all four are activated, this will merely delay the inevitable.” Twilight looked to the others, agitation evident on her face, as if waiting for another interruption. But there was none. So she continued, “...Now as I was saying, the exact locations of these four sites have been lost to time, but through my research, I’ve narrowed down a number of potential locations. From this city, Canterlot, the first is far to the north, within the ruins of the Crystal Empire. The second is to the southeast, near the Griffon Islands. The third is to the south, beyond the Zebra Nation and somewhere in the vicinity of the Cape of Storms. And the last is to the far west, somewhere in the Long Zhao Mountain Range in the Land of Fire, across the Ceres Ocean.” As she spoke, Twilight’s hand glided over the map, tracing lines to each location, which were marked by a red circle. “Those places seem awfully specific,” Rainbow Dash said, narrowing her eyes. “I have taken dozens of other potential locations into consideration.” Twilight pointed to several other circles scattered across the map. “And from information I have gathered in my research, I have concluded that the four previously mentioned locations have the highest probability of containing a magic site.” Twilight began rolling up the map. At that moment, Pinkie leapt forward. “Alright!” she cheered. She then cleared her throat and said calmly, “Everyone, please line up in an orderly fashion so I can give you your gear in a timely manner.” “Gear? Wait, you planned for something like this?” Rainbow asked. “An adventure all around the world with monsters and magic? Are you kidding? I made costumes for everyone!” Pinkie dropped her backpack on the ground and opened it. “I’ve been carrying around all this stuff for five months. It was killing my back, but today makes it all worth it!” She reached inside. “Okay Sunset, you’re up first! And after what happened at the Fall Formal, I knew there was only one job for you- Red Mage!” Pinkie pulled something out of her bag and dashed towards Sunset- a moment later, Sunset was suddenly wearing a long red cloak, a black undershirt, white pants, boots, and a red hat with a feather in it. Sunset looked down at her new attire, stunned. “What the- how did you even do that!?” “Oh you’ll need this, too!” Pinkie continued, and pushed a sheathed sword into Sunset’s hands. Sunset could only look down at the blade in stunned silence as Pinkie moved on. “I have to admit, I wasn’t sure who else would get magic- so I made sure the White Mage robe would fit everyone. And it looks like Fluttershy is the one who gets to wear it!” Pinkie pulled a long swath of cloth from her bag and sprinted to Fluttershy- Fluttershy yelped, and in an instant was wearing a hooded white robe lined with red triangles. “You get to keep this, too.” Pinkie then gave Fluttershy a carved wooden staff. “Um, thank… you?” Fluttershy replied, unsure of how to respond. Pinkie returned to her bag. “Figuring out your job was actually the toughest part, Rainbow Dash. But after reeeeally thinking about it, I figured it out: you’re the fastest runner out of all of us. Which makes you the perfect Thief!” She ran towards Rainbow, holding a green bundle close to her chest… But she skidded to a stop when Rainbow said, “Just… hand it to me.” Pinkie did as Rainbow asked, and handed her the bundle. “Here you go!” Rainbow unrolled it, revealing a white shirt, green athletic shorts, and a dark green bandanna. “Oh, you’re gonna need this too.” Pinkie then held out a very strange object to Rainbow- it looked like a wheel the size of a large dinner plate, lined with blades, and with a cross-shaped handle on the inside. Rainbow took the object, albeit reluctantly. “Uh, Pinkie? Should you really be handing out deadly weapons to all of us?” “The world outside of this city is not as kind as you may believe it to be,” Twilight said. “You will need means to protect yourself.” Pinkie skipped over to Applejack. “Applejack, you told me once that you knew your way around guns. So I knew that Gunner was the only job for you. So I got you these!” She handed Applejack a rolled bundle, smiling broadly. Applejack unrolled the bundle, revealing it to be a long, dark brown duster coat, a pair of long black pants, and a pair of holsters. It was exactly the sort of outfit that would be right at home in a cowboy movie. She looked at the outfit with disapproval. “Yeah… I ain’t wearin’ this.” She began rolling up the outfit, mumbling to herself, “…Ah will take those pants, though…” “Oh, you’ll need these, too.” Pinkie held out a pair of guns toward Applejack, grip-first- a boxy black semiautomatic pistol, and a dull grey revolver. Applejack took the guns. “Sugarcube, Ah’m not even gonna ask how ya…” She trailed off, amd looked at the revolver more closely. “…Wait a second… this one’s mine!” She looked to Pinkie. “Pinkie, did ya take this from mah house?” “No way! It’s the same kind as the one you showed me over Winter Break, but it’s a different gun, I promise!” She then continued as if nothing had happened, saying, “I wasn’t sure if you liked semiautomatics or revolvers more, so I got you one of each!” “Um… thanks…” Applejack said. She began inspecting the guns as Pinkie turned away, saying to herself. “…well at least they weren’t loaded.” Finally, Pinkie approached Rarity. “Hey Rarity, remember freshmen year when you told me you were taking martial arts? Because I do!” She reached into her bag. “So there was only one job for you- Monk!” She then handed Rarity a light blue gi with navy trim, before she skipped away. “Pinkie, dear…” Rarity began, as she looked at the gi with a slight touch of disapproval. “I don’t mean to… question your methods, but where’s my weapon?” Pinkie turned and smiled cheerfully at her. “Monks don’t use weapons, silly! They fight with their bare hands!” She quickly added, “And sometimes knuckles, but I don’t have any of those.” Rarity looked at Pinkie in disbelief, before looking down at her own hands. “My… bare hands?” “Wait, why’re you the only one who doesn’t hafta wear a goofy costume?” Applejack asked. “What the heck are ya supposed to be anyway?” “Easy. I’m...” Pinkie pulled off her clothes to reveal... the exact same outfit underneath. “…the Mime!” Rainbow looked at the others, and after a moment of thought exclaimed, “Hey wait a minute, I recognize all this stuff! This is from that game you showed me!” “That’s right!” Pinkie replied excitedly, as she tied her first skirt around her neck to make a sort-of cloak. “Isn’t it neat?” “Are you quite finished?” Twilight said impatiently. “The fate of our world hangs in the balance, and you choose to waste time with these frivolities. Now, if there are no more interruptions-” “Now hold on just a minute,” Applejack interrputed. “What is it!?” Twilight snapped, making everyone- Spike included- jump in surprise. Applejack continued reluctantly, “Uh… ya see that statue over there?” She pointed to the statue in front of the school. “That statue ain’t just an ordinary statue. It’s a portal to another world. Sunset Shimmer’s world.” “The portal is closed right now,” Rarity continued, “but after thirty moons- well, fourteen presently- the portal will reopen. But it’ll only be open for a short time- three days to be precise. After that, it’ll close, and Sunset Shimmer will have to wait another thirty moons for it to open again.” Twilight’s anger faded, to be replaced by seemingly genuine surprise. “Is that so? May I examine it?” All eyes fell on Sunset. She hesitated for several moments, before she reluctantly answered, “…go ahead.” Sunset watched as Twilight approached the statue, tensing up as Twilight reached toward the slate. But Twilight merely rested her hand against its surface and closed her eyes, as if concentrating. She then pulled her hand away, and looked to the group. “The concentration of magic at the base of this statue is abnormally high. This suggests the statue is indeed a magical artifact of great potency.” Twilight returned to the group. “The full moon is tonight- this means there are only thirteen moons between now and when this portal opens. Having taken this new information in consideration, I believe the best course of action would be to divide our current group into four pairs. Each pair will then venture to one of the four sites independently, and activate it. You may decide amongst yourselves both your travelling partner, and your destination.” Twilight looked to the road. “Afterwards, we must be on our way.” “Now hold on,” Applejack said. “We hafta leave, right now?” Twilight looked to her. “Yes. We cannot afford to waste even a second. We must leave, now.” “Okay listen,” Rainbow began. “I’m not gonna lie- I still don’t trust you. But that thing back at the diner was real enough, and that tells me we need to do something. So we’ll help you out with whatever it is you want us to do, but you gotta give us time first.” Twilight crossed her arms and asked, “Time to do what?” “To pack supplies!” Rainbow responded, incredulous. “To map out where we’re going! To say goodbye to our families!” “Journeying halfway around the world isn’t business that can be done at the drop of a hat, you know,” Rarity added. Twilight opened her mouth to respond, but was stopped when Spike rested a hand on her shoulder. “They do have a point, Twilight,” he said. “Not to mention, we need to restock our own supplies.” Twilight looked at Spike, before returning her attention to the others. “…Very well. We will reconvene here at noon. Do not be late.” Twelve chimes rang out over Canterlot. The sun was high overhead, and the mist of the morning had long since been driven away. Sunset and Rainbow walked down the sidewalk leading back to Canterlot High. Their packs were laden with supplies for the journey ahead. For a few moments, the two girls simply walked in silence, until Rainbow said, “I can’t believe you’re still wearing that thing.” “What’s wrong with it?” Sunset asked in reply. “Sure, the hat was a bit much, but it’s comfortable, and it beats having to fight monsters in a skirt.” Rainbow adjusted her pack. “Yeah, fighting in a skirt’s a real pain in the ass.” “And yet you’re still wearing one.” Rainbow lightly punched Sunset in the arm. “Oh shut up, you.” The two finally reached the school, passing by the sign out front. Only a few hours prior, the sign had read, “Have a Great Spring Break!” Now, it said: “Closed Indefinitely for the Foreseeable Future.” Applejack, Rarity, and Fluttershy were already waiting in front of the school statue. Fluttershy was still wearing the robe Pinkie had given her, while Applejack had traded her skirt for her black pants; Rarity’s outfit remained unchanged. “Hello darlings,” Rarity said. “Did you happen to see Twilight and Spike out there?” “We didn’t, sorry,” Sunset replied. “Hey guys, can I say something?” Rainbow asked. “And can it stay between us?” “What is it, Rainbow?” Fluttershy asked. “Aren’t you weirded out by all of this?” Applejack asked, “What, with Twilight and Spike showin’ up?” “Yeah! I mean, don’t you think it’s a little too convenient? First, we get attacked, then they come and save us. And then they explain everything that’s going on, and what we need to do to fix it. You don’t think all that’s suspicious? Not even a little bit?” Before anyone could answer, Pinkie’s cry of “I’m back!” filled the air. She ran up to the others, smiling broadly, but her smile rapidly faded as she looked upon her friends. “Aw man,” Pinkie said, slumping over. “It took me forever to make all those costumes and you’re not even wearing them!” “Uh… green isn’t really my color, Pinkie,” Rainbow replied sheepishly. “I’ll… change when we’re on the road,” Rarity replied, her tone unconvincing. “I’m wearing mine,” Fluttershy said, trying to cheer Pinkie up. “Ah’m wearin… half,” Applejack said. “That counts fer somethin’, right?” “Excellent, you’re all here,” the group heard Twilight say. She approached the group, followed by Spike. “Now, we still have the matter of deciding each of our destinations. The four are-” “We know what they are,” Rainbow interrupted. “The Crystal Empire, the Griffon Islands, the Cape of Storms, and the Land of Fire.” “So you do. In that case, I choose to venture to the most inhospitable of the four sites- the ruins of the Crystal Empire.” “I’ll go with you,” Spike replied. But Twilight’s response was a flat “No, you will not.” Spike looked up at her, surprised. “What? But Twilight-” “You know as well as I do that I am perfectly capable of defending myself. But there are others in this group who require your skills more than I.” Spike was silent for a moment. “…Alright, I guess I’ll head east, then. Even without the monsters, the Land of Fire is supposed to be one of the most dangerous regions in the world.” “Hey Twilight, since Spike can’t go with you, can I go with you?” Pinkie asked, beaming. “I’ve always wanted to go up to the north pole.” In the background, Rainbow called, “Pinkie, there’s nothing at the north pole. We talked about this.” Twilight brought her hand to her chin and was silent for several moments, in deep thought. Pinkie’s smile slowly faded, until Twilight said, “…You may.” “I’ll go to the Griffon Islands,” Sunset said as Pinkie cheered excitedly. “I’ve always wanted to go, but I never got the chance to back home.” “I’ll go with you,” Rainbow said. “I went there once a long time ago. Maybe I can show you around.” Applejack looked to Rarity and Fluttershy. “…Well, Ah guess that leaves us with either the Land of Fire or the Cape of Storms.” She added, “Personally, Ah’m partial to the Cape of Storms. I got some family down near the southern border- maybe they could help us out.” “I don’t know…” Fluttershy said. “Both of those places sound awfully dangerous.” “Well, in either case, Ponyville is just a few miles southeast of Canterlot,” Rarity said. “Perhaps we should make a stop there before finalizing any decisions.” Twilight replied, “Fair enough. But I recommend you not spend too much time dwelling on your decision. We have precious little of it.” She adjusted her pack. “Now that everyone has their destinations, let us be off.” “One moment please,” Rarity interrupted. “Suppose we do split up and reach one of these… sites. If we find that there’s nothing there, and with all of us are scattered to four corners of the globe, how are we supposed to contact you?” Twilight looked to Rarity, crossing her arms. “I was under the impression that the vast majority of individuals within your particular age group owned a cellular telephone.” Rainbow pulled out her cellphone. “Okay. So why don’t we swap numbers, and we’ll all head out.” “Very well.” Twilight pulled out a cellphone from her bag- she looked down at it for several moments, before she said, “Spike? Assistance please.” Spike looked over her shoulder. “Dial pound-100. Then push the green button.” “…which is the pound button?” “The one that looks like a number sign.” Twilight dialed the numbers, and held out her phone. “This is my telephone number.” The others crowded around Twilight’s phone, trying to read her number on the small screen. “Spike, show them yours, please.” Spike complied, and held out his phone for the others to see. After a flurry of clicking buttons, Sunset said, “Alright. We’ll all call both of you later today. It’ll be faster than for us to try and give you our numbers one at a time.” “Fair enough,” Twilight replied as she put her phone away. For a few moments afterward, the pairs simply looked at one another: Twilight and Pinkie; Sunset and Rainbow; and Applejack, Fluttershy, Spike, and Rarity. Eventually, Rainbow said, “Okay guys… I guess this is it.” “Be safe everyone!” Pinkie said cheerfully. “Guys?” Applejack asked. “Ah want ya ta promise me something. Promise me that when these thirteen moons are up, we’re all gonna come back to this spot, and we’re all gonna come back alive.” She held out her hand. “Okay?” Sunset reached out, and rested her hand on top of Applejack’s. “Don’t worry. We’ll all make it.” Then, one by one, each of Sunset’s friends wordlessly put their hand on top of Sunset’s. The girls held their circle for several moments… before their hands fell away. Then, slowly, the eight turned, and began to go their separate ways.