“Did you hear me? Who are you and what are you doing here!?” I was shocked by the image in front of me and I almost thought that I was seeing a ghost. After blinking a few times I realize that Rainbow Dash didn’t have cat-like eyes and, while she was blue, her fur wasn’t as dark a blue as what I was seeing. She also didn’t have wings in the shape of a bat that were spread out impressively behind the mare in front of me. I notice from her stance that she is trying to intimidate me, but I recognize the signs hinting that it is all an act and she is in fact scared.
She reminds me so much of Rainbow Dash that it’s no surprise that I thought it was her at first. Even her voice is almost the same, if a bit deeper due to her thestral nature. “Hey, are you going to say something or just keep staring all day? It’s getting a bit creepy. And what’s with that dark cloak, you trying to hide or something?” I realize that I had been staring and I let out a light chuckle as I notice her curiosity starting to overcome her caution.
“Sorry about that, you just reminded me of someone I used to know. As for your previous question I would think that I should be the one asking that as when I last checked I was the owner of this place.” This caused her to shrink back in fear once again as her eyes started darting around nervously. “What are you talking about? I’ve been here for years now and I have yet to see or even hear about you.”
One of my ears perks up at her choice of words as I look over her once again. She looked like she was just short of adulthood, maybe about fifteen or sixteen, yet I found myself looking down at her. Have I grown taller since I was last here or did the ponies just shrink? If her words were true though then that means she had been here, possibly on her own, as an even younger child. “Well I have been out of the country for a long time now and just returned today. Of course I didn’t expect to find a thestral here to greet me, and an orphaned one at that. It brings back some fond memories really.”
While she looks shocked at my words I think back to Scootaloo and Selene when I first invited them into my home, though my attention is drawn back to the mystery thestral sputtering. “Who said anything about me being an orphan? And how do I know you aren’t lying about owning this place, do you have any proof?” I just chuckle at her as I nod my head off to the side. “Well to answer the second question first, does the fact that we are standing under a portrait of me count? Otherwise I could always get the filly I helped take care of or one of my old friends to vouch for me. As for the first question you pretty much just told me with your reaction as well as the fact I haven’t seen signs of anyone else and you are too young to have been here as long as you say and not be one.”
Her mouth drops open at my reasoning, further proving that I was correct, before she looks up at the portrait which causes her to narrow her eyes. “Wait a minute, how can that be you, it looks nothing like a pony?” I raise an eyebrow, though she can’t see it, before I calmly ask. “Who ever said I was a pony?” I lower the hood of my cloak to reveal my vulpine features to her which causes her to start backing away from me. She doesn’t get far as she bumps into Rose who had snuck up behind her while we were talking. She looks up to find herself face-to-face with my timberwolf and promptly lets out a squeal when Rose licks her nose causing her to promptly faint.
“That might have been a bit much there Rose. Ponies tend to be a bit squeamish when confronted with predators, especially timberwolves. That reminds me to actually look into the magic that changed the ones that currently inhabit the Everfree when I have time.” I levitate the unconscious form up onto Rose’s back. “You might as well take her back to the room she was using and put her to bed. It’s most likely the one open door I see down the hall. Keep an eye on her until I get back since I should explore the rest of the manor to see if there is anything else hiding here.”
I sigh as I make my way downstairs to search the rest of my home for any other surprises. Luckily nothing else seems to be hiding out here as most of it is still relatively untouched. I find signs of the mystery pony’s presence in the kitchen when I find her stash of food, but beyond that everything is as it should be. Before I leave the kitchen I place the appropriate stones in both the oven and the pantry so that they could be used once again and make my way into the basement.
I meet my two guards as I reach the bottom of the stairs and pause to speak to them. “It appears that we have a little visitor upstairs that had been living here for a while. I have Rose keeping an eye on her until I can speak with her so don’t be surprised if you see her.” They look a bit surprised at this news but just nod as they start heading upstairs to familiarize themselves with the rest of the house. Cassidy pauses for a moment before turning to me. “Princess, there is one door that we couldn’t open at the end of the passageway.” I nod to her. “Yes, that’s part of why I’m down here. It’s my old lab where I kept some of my more dangerous experiments, mostly of the explosive variety.” Her eyes widen as she slowly backs her way up the stairs as she finds somewhere safer to be.
I have a feeling that they are going to be reacting like that a lot now that I’m not restricted in what magic I can use. There is so much that they still don’t know about me. I chuckle to myself as I move to the center of the basement and just immerse myself in the feeling of the magic given off by the hearth stone. I take a moment to pour a little bit of magic into it to give it enough power to start recharging itself properly before heading towards my underground lab.
The lab was sealed just as I remembered it, and after draining the barrier on it I entered it for a quick look. Like everything else it was just as I remembered leaving it and soon my attention was drawn to the storage area in the corner. I ponder for a moment before shrugging to myself as I open it to remove some of the fireworks and place them in my bags. “Never know when I’ll need these. Maybe I’ll use them to get Twilight’s attention by announcing my return to Ponyville with them.”
Turning back I leave the lab, placing a less power intensive lock on it, and make my way back upstairs. Arriving in what is now the room the mystery mare is occupying, and interestingly enough used to be Scootaloo, I find her awake once again but cowering in the corner of her bed in fear. The reason was obvious as Rose was also on the bed watching her closely, though I could tell she was trying to not be threatening about it. “Rose that’s enough; you’re scaring the poor filly.”
My words cause a reaction in her that I should have expected considering the similarities that I noticed. “Hey! I’m not scared of anything and I’m not a filly. I can take care of myself and I even have an important job to do!” I raise an eyebrow at her as I realize I poked at her pride a little with my comment. “Oh? And what job would that be then? Especially for someone lacking a cutie mark still?” I point out that last point as I notice that she is still a blank flank which is rather odd considering her age. Her nose flares a bit as she responds a tad angrily, forgetting about Rose completely now.
“I’ll have you know that I’m the top courier for what is left of the delivery services in Equestria. I can get some of the largest loads to anywhere that they are needed by myself and even the gryphon scouts can’t even catch me no matter how much I’m carrying. I don’t need a cutie mark telling me what to do when it’s more important to help out however I can.” My eyes widen as I feel a familiar wave of something flow off of her, but it’s quickly gone again as she crosses her forelegs and starts grumbling to herself. I know I have felt something like that before, but I can’t think of where for some reason. Still her words worry me and I don’t think I like where they are leading.
“What do you mean by what is left of the delivery services? And why would gryphon scouts be a problem?” She looks back at me with a raised eyebrow and a look of confusion. “Where have you been that you haven’t heard about the war that has been going on? It’s been going on for hundreds of years now between Equestria and the Gryphon Empire and whatever allies they could get ahold of.” I close my eyes as I realize that I had left one war with my kind and was about to drag them into another.
“Like I said, I’ve been gone a really long time. It looks like I may need to visit Twilight even sooner than I thought if this is what I’m coming home to.” I look up at her to see a look of shock on her face as I snarl out the next line. “At least this time I won’t be holding anything back if I can help it.” I thought the shock was due to my anger, but at her next question I realize I slipped a little. “Who are you to be calling the Princess by her first name only?”
This gets a small chuckle out of me as I remember Twilight’s old aversion to being called that. “Well I did say that I had some old friends that I could call on. She was one of the ones that I was talking about along with the other four princesses. In fact I helped raise Selene for a while before she finally moved to Canterlot. Though speaking of names, I never did get yours, mine is Flarenza.” I think I might have overloaded her a bit with this information as she freezes a bit. “Aurora Dreams; and you mean that I had been slumming in the home of a personal friend of not one but all five princesses?! I am so screwed.”
I burst out laughing at her tone of defeat which earns me a scathing glare from her. “Oh don’t worry about that, it’s actually amusing to find that another orphan managed to take up residence in the exact same room as before. I don’t really mind too much as long as you pick up after yourself, but you’ll have to get used to living with some different races while you’re here, though you seem to have gotten used to Rose a bit.” She looks a bit relieved at my words, though her curiosity returns as she looks at Rose and lifts a hoof to poke at her side.
“Thanks for reminding me about her, but what is she? I could have sworn that she was a timberwolf yet she looks nothing like the ones in the Everfree Forest.” I pause for a moment as I get an idea regarding the timberwolves to file away for later before answering. “That’s exactly what she is, though to be more specific she is what a timberwolf is supposed to look like, or at least the alphas. All of the ones in the Everfree were corrupted long ago though interestingly enough they will still follow the directions of the uncorrupted ones.”
Her hoof jerks back when I say that Rose really is one, though settles back and starts brushing along her side as I clarify. “How do you keep her from attacking others like the other timberwolves do?” I see Rose roll her eyes though I expect the two will get along eventually considering how similar they are. “She has no reason to attack them and I don’t control her. I think of her as a friend and it’s her loyalty to me which is why she listens to what I ask.”
I thought I saw a glimmer in Aurora’s eye when I say that though I think I imagined it. I look out the window to see that the sun has risen a good amount now and Aurora follows my look to see it as well. “Oh ponyfeathers I’m late, I’d stay to talk but I have to get to work!” With that she opens the window and dives out before Rose or I could stop her. I look at Rose before making on last comment. “The more I see of her the more I see of one of my old friends. I hope that doesn’t make things odder than they have to be.” I am answered by an amused chuff from the timberwolf as I vacate the room and head downstairs once again.
After letting my two guards know where I was going I pull up my hood once again and head outside with Rose following me, with her aversion enchantments active. I do a quick walk around the manor to take in the outside, yet everything is looking good except for one major issue. “The Everfree Sure grew a bit since I was last here; it’s almost up to the back of the manor now. It looks even worse off in the direction away from town. I’ll need to push it back a bit later on, especially if I want to see my garden again.”
I walk towards Ponyville and take in the site of it as my mind dwells on my memories. The town hasn’t actually grown much since I was last here and it might even be a bit smaller. I notice that the town has moved away from the thatched roof look and has gone more with fully wooden buildings with shingles. They do look a bit artistic as it looks like support beams are lining the outside of the buildings as well. I also notice that the town doesn’t seem as colorful as I remember and even feels a bit greyed out. Glancing up I feel that something is wrong and it takes a moment to realize that the weather looks off.
“Has the weather been left to itself? Have things really gotten to the point where they just let it run wild?” I watch as a line of clouds slowly moves in from the Everfree and soon a light drizzle starts to fall. As I enter the town I see a few ponies roaming around, yet the warmth that I remember doesn’t seem to be with them as they just pass by each other without any kind of greeting. Is this really the same Ponyville that I left all those years ago? Has the magic of this little town been lost over the centuries? I pause for a moment as I hear a tune float through the air before I begin to sing.
This town used to be filled with so many wonders
All that came here its spell they fell under
My mind trails back to the friends I once had in the town as well as the huge variety of personalities that lived in Ponyville together.
Yet what happened to this place while I was gone
Everyone just seems to have withdrawn
Looking around in the present I watch as ponies just pass by each other and sometimes even shouldering each other out of the way.
I just can’t bring myself to believe
That all this time I had been so naïve
I walk up to the fountain in the center of the marketplace and gaze on the stone figures of the Elements of Harmony with my curled up at their hooves.
That this place has gone so far downhill
That I can no longer recognize it as Ponyville
I raise my eyes to the sky as I let the rain fall onto my face and I spot a rainbow blur streak across the sky as I remember Aurora.
Yet there may still yet be something here
That can put to rest all of my fears
I think back to those things that I saw in Aurora as I was talking to her and I realize that I had felt some of the same things from Rainbow Dash as well.
The Loyalty that I have felt from one so young
Tells me that maybe there are still to be sung
I look around with a look of resolve on my face as the music in the background changes a bit to something with a stronger feel.
I just can’t bring myself to believe
That all this time I had been so naïve
I leap away from the fountain and pick up the pace as I move through town faster than I was initially.
That this place has gone so far downhill
That I can no longer recognize it as Ponyville
I slow down as I start to see colts and fillies moving through the town at a slow pace along with the adults.
Where there is one there are sure to be the rest
Honesty and Generosity may just be repressed
I stop near a filly that is looking sad as I form a ball made from a barrier with my magic and bounce it in front of her until she giggles and chases after it.
Maybe all that’s needed is a little shove
For Laughter and Kindness to rise above
I move to help a colt that tripped into the mud spraining an ankle where I clean the mud from him and heal the injury with a burst of magic.
I just won’t bring myself to believe
That all this time I had been so naïve
I watch as other colts and fillies start to get into things and join in the chase of the ball as laughter starts to fill the air.
That this place has gone so far downhill
There is still a hint of my home known as Ponyville
Moving through Ponyville I watch as the grey tinge to it slowly begins to fade away as moods begin to improve.
Maybe all that this place truly needs
Is a bit of watering of the seeds
Getting an idea I bring the firework out of my bags and start firing them all off into the air to the enjoyment of those around me.
So that friendship can once again bloom
The kind that once started with a Rainboom
With a final flourish I launch the last one up into the cloud cover and watch as it explodes in a rainbow circle of colors as it clears the sky around Ponyville of clouds.
It was right for me to still believe
And I really was not all that naïve
I fade back into the crowd as they stare in at the finale which clears away the rain in an explosion of color and sound.
This town may have gone a bit downhill
But I am glad I know this town as Ponyville
I smile as I settle down under a tree in a nearby park knowing that, while things may not be perfect, the town can still be what I remember it to be.
I pull out a book that I had decided to read through again, especially as I had a copy made especially for Twilight. Before I even got through a single page my head jerked up as I peered back along the way I came. “Since when did I start walking through the town singing?”