Chapter 1
The sun was setting over the Everfree Forest as Twilight Sparkle started her journey back towards Ponyville from The Castle of the Two Sisters and the legendary Tree of Harmony. She went to this sacred place every day since defeating the Sirens in the world beyond the mirror.
As she walked she remembered the last time she had been at the Tree with all her friends, barely two weeks before, during that terrible fight with the dark centaur, Lord Tirek. She still couldn’t believe that, after causing her friends to be imprisoned and enabling Tirek to take their special talents, Discord ultimately saved the day.
“I guess Princess Celestia charging us with reforming him worked out after all”, Twilight mused, remembering the stress she and her friends had gone through attempting to reform the spirit of disharmony.
Thinking about Discord and the trouble he managed to bring into their lives, from turning Sweet Apple Acres into an outdoor ice rink, to making it impossible for Twilight to spend the day with Cadence at the Star Swirl the Bearded Exhibit, reminded Twilight of Discord’s biggest act of mischief: his betrayal of his friends in helping Tirek drain all the magic, strength, and flight out of the ponies of Equestria.
Ultimately though, when Tirek showed his true colors and betrayed Discord by siphoning his chaos magic Discord revealed that he truly did care for his pony friends more than causing havoc for others. Discord gave Twilight the necklace originally given to him by Tirek, which enabled her, Pinkie Pie, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy, Applejack, and Rarity to unlock the chest of harmony. Doing so allowed Twilight and her five friends to release the Rainbow Power and defeat Tirek, banishing him back to Tartarus where he still remained.
“Hopefully, what with Tirek being imprisoned, life can get back to normal”, thought Twilight. “Well, as normal as life can be, what with me being the official Princess of Friendship and my friends being the Advisors of Friendship.”
As Twilight continued her journey back through the Everfree Forest, she heard a twig snap nearby, causing her to jump slightly. Looking around she realized she couldn’t see much of anything. Figuring it must have been a rabbit or something small like that, Twilight looked up and saw that Celestia must have lowered the sun since she could see Lunas’ moon floating in the sky.
“Heh, heh, heh. I didn’t realize it was that late. I should probably get going”, chuckled Twilight as she quickened her pace. “No matter how many times I come in here I still get creeped out by this place”, Twilight said, looking around at the low hanging leaves and gnarled roots that made the Everfree Forest so intimidating to ponykind. “Maybe I could mention putting in lights along the path between Ponyville and the castle to Princess Celestia the next time we’re in Canterlot”.
Twilight’s return trip brought her to the statue of Nightmare Moon, where the fillies and colts of Ponyville left their offering of candy every Nightmare Night. Surprisingly she saw Zecora the zebra standing there looking up at the statue.
“Oh, hello Zecora. What are you doing here?” Twilight asked.
“Hello Twilight, I am simply enjoying this very warm and lovely night”, said Zecora in her own strange way of speaking. “On calm evenings when the moon is high, I come to this place to remember the story of the mare in the sky”.
“Oh, that’s wonderful that you are so interested in history. You know I am something of a history buff myself”, Twilight boasted, remembering all the hours she had spent in the Canterlot library reading the old dusty scrolls that were written back before Discord’s imprisonment.
“Yes, I was aware that you are quite the studious mare”, Zecora rhymed. Looking up, the zebra spotted something approaching.
“Well it would appear that a few of your friends are near” Zecora said, pointing up at the sky.
Twilight followed her hoof and saw a cyan mare with a rainbow mane come zipping down out of the sky.
“Oh hello Rainbow, what are you doing here?” Twilight asked Rainbow once the latter touched down on the ground.
“Looking for you, Twilight,” Rainbow stated. “You were gone so long we started to get worried that something had happened to you.”
“What do you mean, ‘we’?” Twilight asked. But Rainbow was already digging around in the saddlebag she had brought with her, which Twilight just now noticed.
“Aha, here it is!” Rainbow exclaimed, completely ignoring her alicorn friend’s question. She reached in and grabbed a flashlight with her hoof and pointing it into the sky shined a light in the shape of her cutie mark, a cloud with a rainbow lightning bolt coming down, into the sky.
After a few seconds other beams of light displaying Twilight’s other friends’ cutie marks appeared in the sky indicating that they had seen Rainbow’s message that she had found Twilight. In a few minutes, the rest of Twilight’s friends came bursting into the meadow each carrying her own pony signal flashlight.
“Twilight, where have you been?” asked Rarity, her curled purple mane billowing as she ran up. “We’ve been looking for you for positively ages!”
“I’m sorry everypony”, Twilight said. “I was at the Tree of Harmony and I guess I lost track of time. I didn’t mean to make you have to all come out and search for me.”
“Well, Twilight’ I reckon we should probably be gettin’ back home”, stated Applejack. “I’m sure yer plum tuckered out after your ordeal on the other side of that strange mirror. After all it’s been only three days since ya came back.”
“I know, I mean we haven’t had a party with you to celebrate you coming back in like five days”, said Pinkie, bouncing around like her usual self.
“You do know I was still over there five days ago, right Pinkie?” Twilight asked, raising an eyebrow at her pink friend.
“Well duh. I had a Pre ‘Twilight coming back after defeating the Sirens in the weird mirror place’ party while you were still gone” stated Pinkie.
“Alright, well let’s head home then”, said Twilight. Turning to face Zecora she said, “It was a real treat seeing you again Zecora, Next time you come to Ponyville you should stop by and I can show you the library at the tree-palace. Princess Celestia has sent over hundreds of scrolls on all kinds of subjects.”
“To thank you for a wonderful offer I shall bring my bread made of apple nut”, Zecora said. “Until that time, I shall most likely be in my hut.” With that the zebra walked off into the forest in the direction of her abode leaving Twilight surrounded by her six dear friends.
“Um, Twilight?” asked Fluttershy, her pale green eyes darting everywhere as if afraid something might jump out and attack them. “Do you think we might be able to head home now? The forest is no place for ponies at night.”
“Sure Fluttershy, I want to have a chance to reorganize the scrolls that Celestia sent me while I was away before turning in for the night” Twilight said. “Ooh, I have a wonderful idea, why don’t you girls help me? We can have an ‘organize the library’ sleepover!”
“Yeah, no offense Twilight, but that sounds like the exact opposite of wonderful” Rainbow stated as they started their journey back towards Ponyville. “Unless you have an original manuscript of ‘Daring Do and the Quest for the Sapphire Statue’ in the library, I’m gonna have to pass”.
After a bit, the six friends had finally made it to the outskirts of Ponyville. As they walked down the main road towards Twilight’s palace, she still felt a little awkward about how big the palace was. Looming over everything in the whole town the palace almost reached as high as Rainbow’s house.
“I know that nopony thinks I’m showing off, but I kind of wish the palace was just a little smaller” Twilight said to their friends as they passed Sugarcube Corner. Pinkie didn’t leave the group to go inside, but Twilight didn’t find that strange at all.
Ever since she had come back from the world of Canterlot High her friends had been spending every night in the castle with her. Indeed she had not slept alone in the castle since it sprang up after the battle with Tirek.
“I personally think it isn’t big enough, my dear” said Rarity. “You are a princess after all and you should have an abode to match your title. It would be nicer if it wasn’t so drafty I’ll admit, but as far as castles go it is quite quaint.”
In time the six friends finally reached the castle. Twilight remembered first seeing the palace. With its several different platforms it reminded her of the Ponyville library. While it was very similar in shape and size to the library that had been her home for the past four years, she felt it was a little too cold and detached from the rest of Ponyville.
“So, what do you girls want to do tonight?” Twilight asked, using her magic to open up the large front doors. “Ooh, we could have hooficures. We might even manage to persuade Spike to make us some of his delicious nachos” She looked around for her little dragon friend. “I wonder where he is? Did he decide to go to bed?” Twilight started to head up the grand staircase that led to the upper floors of the palace.
“Sure, sounds great. I think I saw him in the library ‘fore we left to go look for ya” Applejack said, heading towards off to the left towards the doors that led to the library section of the castle.
“He really is the number one assistant a pony could ask for” said Twilight, using her magic to open the doors to the library.
Inside the library was dark, with no lights to indicate where the little dragon was. “Spike? Where are you?” called Twilight.
Twilight’s eyes snapped shut as light from somewhere above her assailed them. Accustomed as her eyes were to walking around in the night outside, the light that shined was enough to blind her, even though it was just a normal room light. When Twilight’s eyes adjusted and she could see again, her mouth dropped open.
There in the center of the library were some of the ponies that she cared for most in all of Equestria. There was her former mentor and the ruler of Equestria, Princess Celestia, along with her sister Princess Luna. Also there was her brother Shining Armor and her sister-in-law/old foalsitter, Princess Cadence and there, standing in the middle, with a smile that betrayed him as the mastermind behind this gathering, stood her oldest and dearest friend, Spike.
“What are all of you doing here?” Twilight asked once she stopped smiling enough to speak.
“They’re here to party with us, silly” said Pinkie, as Twilight and her friends entered the library. “I mentioned that we haven’t had a party with you since you went through the mirror.”
Twilight finally reached the other ponies that had been waiting for her. The first one she reached was Cadence.
“Cadence, it’s so great to see you!” Twilight said, dropping down to the floor as Cadence did the same.
“Sunshine, sunshine, ladybugs awake. Clap your hooves and do a little shake!” they both said, as they went through their usual greeting Cadence taught Twilight back when the two were younger.
“It’s great to see you again Twily” said Shining Armor, as he embraced his younger sister. “I haven’t seen you since the Equestria Games closing ceremonies.”
Once Twilight had finished hugging her older brother she turned to Celestia. “Hello princess, I’m so glad to see you again. Both of you.” she said bowing to both Celestia and Luna.
“It is always a pleasure to see our subjects in an informal setting.” Luna said. “Especially ones to whom we owe so much.”
“It’s so wonderful to see you all, but why are you here?” Twilight asked.
“It is thanks to Spike and Pinkie Pie that we all came to this impromptu party” said Celestia. “Spike had noticed how you seemed to lose yourself in your memories ever since you came back from the other realm.”
“So he mentioned it to me and I figured the best way to help was to throw a party!” said Pinkie Pie.
“Pinkie, you always think the solution is a party,” said Rainbow Dash. “and you’re usually right.”
Twilight had a wonderful time visiting with all the important ponies in her life. Over the course of the evening she finally shared what happened when she went through the mirror for the second time. Everyone was surprised to hear that there were copies of ponies in this other world. Celestia in particular was very interested in everything that concerned Sunset Shimmer and how she seemed to be faring in this other world.
“I’m glad that she is doing so well over there” Celestia said after Twilight mentioned that it had been Sunset Shimmer who broke the Sirens’ spell, finally accepting friendship into her heart. “Although I do wish that she had come back to Equestria so I could see her one last time.”
Rarity was, unsurprisingly, very interested in the fashions of the inhabitants of the other world. “So you’re saying they have multiple clothes to wear on any day of the week?” she asked when Twilight finally reached the climax of her story with the Battle of the Bands. “I do hope you remember what some of these fashions look like so that I might try to emulate some of them.”
“I think so. One of the major things I noticed was that everyone had some kind of pattern on their clothing that was similar to a cutie mark” Twilight said. “I’ll come over tomorrow and try to help you make some clothes like what I saw.”
Eventually though the party started to wind down and everypony decided to turn in for the night. There was plenty of room so Twilight suggested everypony just stay there for the night, but Cadence and Shining Armor had to be back in the Crystal Empire the next day to open the new stadium that was completed after the Equestria Games.
Princesses Luna and Celestia had to make preparations for the upcoming Summer Sun Celebration and were meeting with several dignitaries in the morning.
“We’re really sorry Twilight”, said Cadence as she and Shining Armor got ready to leave. “But we should definitely get together soon and spend a lot more time together.” Cadence embraced her sister-in-law and squeezed tightly. “We should get together every other week and share stories.”
“Sounds great” Twilight said now embracing her brother. “Do you want to get together next week?” After Twilight and Cadence made plans to meet in the salon in the Crystal Empire, Cadence and Shining Armor left for the train station.
“So girls, what do you want to do now?” Twilight asked.
“How ‘bout we take a look at some of those scrolls y’all mentioned earlier”, said Applejack.
“Ok, they’re all over there in that pile” Twilight stated pointing. The others looked and saw the pile that Twilight was pointing at arranged in a pyramid like pile.
“That’s all? We can do that in ten seconds flat” said Rainbow Dash. Flying over and picking up the top scroll of the pile. “Let’s see, ‘An Examination of Friendship in The Lord of the Mares’ by J.R.R Stallion. Should this go under A or E, Twilight?”
“It goes under E, Rainbow Dash. Ignore the letters ‘I’ or ‘A’ and you also ignore the word ‘The’ when sorting alphabetically” Twilight said.
“Okey-Dokey let’s get this ‘organizing Twilight’s library’ party started” said Pinkie Pie grabbing the closest scroll, which was at the bottom of the pile.
CRASH. All the scrolls tumbled down on top of Pinkie.
“You really should be more careful dear” said Rarity after Twilight levitated Pinkie out of the pile of scrolls. “You’re lucky that it was scrolls and not books.”
Pinkie spit out the scroll that she had in her mouth, “Ha-ha, sorry.”
“It’s a’ight sugarcube. Just be more careful…and make sure to grab from the top” Applejack said, as Pinkie reached for another scroll.
As the sorting began in earnest, Spike came in with his Ponyville-famous Dragon-Jewel Nachos. When he put them down he announced that he was going to bed and told his pony friends goodnight. Everyone but Twilight responded to his farewell, but Spike didn’t mind. He was used to Twilight ignoring him when it came to books; sometimes she would forget to even eat or drink if she was absorbed in a good novel. Finally, after much sorting and resorting (and breaks for nachos), the sorting was completed.
“Thanks so much, girls, for your help” said Twilight. “But right now I think we should all go to bed”
As the ponies trudged up the main stairs to the bedrooms that had been created for them when the Chest of Harmony sank into the remains of Twilight’s library they chatted about some of the books they had seen while sorting.
“I can’t believe ya got that ‘Report on the phenomena of the Zap Apples’ by my great auntie Apple Jam” Applejack said as they reached the bedrooms.
There were three bedrooms on each side of the hall. Each door had a mark on it that was the same as the cutie marks of one of the ex-bearers of the Elements of Harmony. Fluttershy’s three butterflies was the first on the left, with Rainbow Dash’s lightning bolt next to it. Applejack’s apple-marked room was at the far end. Twilight’s, Rarity’s and Pinkie’s were on the other side.
“Good night everypony” said Fluttershy opening her door and stepping inside. Everyone said the same to each other and walked into their rooms.
As the six friends fell asleep, the clouds above the castle suddenly cleared. A giant circle of the sky seemed to just disappear, leaving behind a black void. Inside the blackness a light started to shine. It shone brighter and brighter until a ball of fire hurtled toward the ground. When it hit the flames died out leaving a unicorn with red hair and an orange, red, and yellow mane lying on the ground in front of the doors of Twilight’s crystal tree palace. After the ball of fire had flown through, the dimensional hole through which the red pony had rocketed out, closed up leaving no evidence of its existence, save for the pony that would change the future of Equestria.