//------------------------------// // Legend of the Millennium's End // Story: The Witch of the Everfree // by MagnetBolt //------------------------------// I have to admit, between Twilight’s smarts and Cadance’s raw power, I was starting to realize just how out of line my ego had been. I was still the strongest unicorn in Equestria, of course, but if it really came down to it, the three of us were more or less equal. Cadance might eventually surpass us, if she ever used her horn for anything other than making ponies kiss. I was surprised by how little that really bothered me. I guess once you’d already bowed out of the race, it didn’t matter who won in the end. Celestia had chosen my successor well, at least. “Sunset! Something terrible is happening and nopony is taking it seriously except me!” I take that back. Twilight still had some rough edges. Like her tendency to get worked into a paranoid panic at the slightest provocation. I rubbed my nose before answering, turning to look at the book and calming myself down. “Twilight, this had better not be like those readings you took on the statue garden that had you convinced some piece of art was a secret chaos god about to break free and kill us all.” She’d tried to get me to go to Canterlot to confirm her readings. To the castle. I wasn’t sure if she’d been planning something, or if she just genuinely was that crazy. “Those readings were real! But this is more important, and I’m not going to argue with you today. Celestia’s kicking me out of the castle!” That made my mane stand on end. I ran over to the book to make sure the text-to-speech spell wasn’t messing up. When I saw that she’d really written that, my breath caught in my throat. Was this my fault? “What happened?!” I could feel a panic attack coming on. “Was it my fault? Did she find out? Just apologize and- and blame it all on me! I’m a terrible influence! I take full responsibility!” “She wants me to go out and make friends instead of studying!” I slumped to the floor with relief. So Twilight had finally gotten to the point of her lessons where I’d started making my own big mistakes. Thankfully, I knew where I’d gone wrong, and I could make sure she didn’t end up like me. “Do what she says,” I sighed. “Trust me. It’s a lot easier than arguing with her, and having friends is nice. If it wasn’t for you and the other ponies I met, I’d have gone crazy by now.” Of course I did live in a ruined castle and I was talking to a book. Maybe I’d gone right past crazy already and not noticed it. “You don’t understand either! The day after tomorrow is the thousandth year of the Summer Sun Celebration!” I waited for the other horseshoe to drop. It didn’t. “...And?” “And according to this storybook, that means Nightmare Moon, the Mare in the Moon, will return and bring eternal darkness to Equestria!” I stood up and brushed myself off. I had a pretty good idea of what was going on now. Twilight had found a scary story and was overreacting. Again. I knew how to deal with this - just keep her distracted and away from anything explosive and wait for her to realize she’d been wrong all along. At least this time we wouldn't have to find a spell to quickly regrow her mane before anypony realized she'd been set on fire. “Look, Twilight, don’t you think that maybe if that was true, Celestia would already know about it and have plans in place? She’s not stupid.” “I tried to contact her first. She brushed me off! Me! Instead of taking this seriously, she wants me to go and get the celebration preparations done for her.” “Well, go and do that, then.” I sighed and started back to what I’d been doing. I’d been brewing a potion and making lunch and I’d completely forgotten which was which. Some days I was an awful witch. Hopefully the cauldron on the right was my lunch, because otherwise I was going to turn blue for a week. “I don’t have much of a choice. At least you can give me a hoof with it.” I rolled my eyes and shook my head. “Twilight, you know I don’t like to travel.” “No, that’s the good news! It’s in Ponyville!” “Celestia is coming here?!” I dropped my spoon. “Should I have mentioned that first?” I paced back and forth in front of the library, clutching my cloak tightly around me. I had a hard decision to make - wait for Celestia to show up before I ran away, or go now so I could get a head start? I hated to admit it, but I was sort of attached to the town, and it was going to be hard to find a place safer than the old castle. Well, safer to avoid detection. There were plenty of places safer than enchanted ruins in the middle of a forest so full of wild magic that most unicorns couldn’t even enter without giving themselves splitting headaches. And that didn't even cover the traps. I'd decided to leave most of the castle alone after a hidden slide had almost dropped me into the ravine outside. I just needed to calm down. I looked up at the sky. And saw Royal Guards. “Nope!” Calming down was cancelled for the day. Time to have the rest of that panic attack. I teleported away before I lost my composure. Unfortunately, I was awful at actually aiming teleport spells while in blind panic mode, and ended up in the branches of the library-tree. I’d make a joke about the local branch not having any good magic books, but I was curling up into a ball and trying to stay still so the Guards wouldn’t see me, arrest me, drag me off into a dungeon, and do other horrible things to me. “Sunset Shimmer?” I distantly heard my name. “Where is she? She was supposed to meet us here…” My hooves started to slip. Ponies weren’t really built to be arboreal creatures, as my rapidly weakening grip proved. Like an overripe, terrified fruit, I fell, plunging towards the ground until my drop was arrested by the grip of another unicorn’s magical field. “There you are!” Twilight said, all too-happily. “What were you doing in the tree?” “What were you doing with the Royal Guard?!” I countered, shivering. She put me down on my hooves and bit her lip. “I told you we should have taken the hot air balloon,” Spike grumbled, hopping down from Twilight’s back. “Don’t worry, Sunset. They’re gone. Twilight just didn’t think ahead about what it would look like.” I took a deep breath and tried to calm down. It wasn’t easy. “I have a plan detailed out,” Twilight said, a checklist appearing in her grip. “We’re going to go through the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration, then as soon as that’s settled, we’ll research the Elements of Harmony, since they’re the only thing that can stop the Mare in the Moon!” I raised an eyebrow. “Elements of Harmony… I’ve heard of those somewhere before…” It seemed like the kind of thing I should have known about. “What about the other thing the Princess wanted?” Spike asked. “You know, about making friends?” “Spike, the fate of Equestria does not depend on me making friends! Besides, I have friends. There’s my brother, and Cadance, and Sunset!” She pointed to me. “See? Plenty of friends!” “I just mean, friends who aren't your sibling or foalsitter or teacher... Never mind.” Spike sighed. “Here,” Twilight said, passing him the scroll. “You’re in charge of the checklist. What’s first on the list?” “Um… number one, banquet preparations: Sweet Apple Acres.” Sweet Apple Acres. It had probably been the same since Ponyville was founded. Most of it, anyway. The barn ended up being replaced every year or two. It was bad enough that Applejack had made me cast spells to see if there was some kind of ancient Deer burial ground under it, or a gypsy curse, or gremlins. I hadn’t found any curses, but I had found termites. Which had led to the barn being torn down and rebuilt. Again. “Hey there sugarcube!” Applejack yelled, waving her hoof as we approached the farm. There was a lot of activity, and from all the ponies I could see, it looked like she’d brought in the whole family to help with festival preparations. “Hey Applejack!” I yelled back, smiling. We hugged as we met, Twilight trailing behind us. Twilight coughed. “Good afternoon. My name is Twilight Sparkle and-” “Well howdy-doo, Miss Twilight!” She grabbed Twilight’s hoof and shook it. “A pleasure makin’ your acquaintance! I’m Applejack. We here at Sweet Apple Acres sure do like making new friends, and any friend of Sunset is a friend of ours!” “So you two… know each other?” Twilight frowned. “Shucks, Sunset is practically a member of the family with how much she comes out here so much.” She wrapped her hoof around my shoulders. “So, what can I do you for?” “Costs more than Cadance, unsurprisingly,” I muttered. Spike snickered at that. “N-no,” Twilight sputtered. “I am in fact here to supervise preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. According to the agenda, you’re in charge of the food?” “Sure as sugar! Care to sample some?” Twilight didn’t look sure, so I coughed. “Trust me, they’re the best cooks in the town.” “Well I suppose-” Twilight started. Applejack pulled her away and started introducing her around. Spike sighed and sat next to me. “Why don’t you go get something to eat?” I asked. “The fritters are really good, and I know a certain somedragon who loves fried food.” I grabbed one off of a tray with my telekinesis and levitated it over to him. “Thanks, Sunset.” He bit into it, making happy sounds. “This is really good!” “That’s what I said,” I snorted. “She hasn’t forgotten to feed you again or anything, has she?” “Are you kidding?” Spike rolled his eyes. “These days I have to make sure she eats. She gets so obsessed with research that she’ll forget to eat anything for two days in a row!” “That does sound like her,” I sighed. “Hey, y’all wanna stay for brunch?” Applejack asked, shouting over to me. “Sure!” I said, before Twilight could say no. No sane pony refused a free meal. “Food’s all taken care of,” Spike noted, checking the box off on the checklist. “Next is weather.” “I think I’m going to explode!” Twilight groaned. “I ate too much pie…” “Most of it ended up on your face,” I laughed. “I thought you learned table manners from the Princess.” “I have excellent table manners!” Twilight protested. “In Gryphonia, it’s considered the height of manners to eat quickly and messily, because it shows your appreciation to the cook.” “Unfortunately we’re not in Gryphonia,” I said. "This is Equestria, where unicorns invented silverware just so they wouldn't have to pick up their food directly with magic." “The local weather manager is named… Rainbow Dash,” Spike said, reading off the list. “Yeah, she just got promoted a few weeks ago,” I said. “The old manager was slacking off and almost got a lot of ponies hurt. Dash managed to save the day, as she’ll no doubt mention repeatedly since you haven’t heard the ‘awesome story’ yet.” “Well she isn’t doing a very good job,” Twilight said, gesturing up at the sky. It was still dotted with clouds from the rainshower the day before. “She’s probably taking a nap somewhere,” I sighed. “Most of the weather team has the day off for the Celebration.” I stepped away to look at the nearby clouds for a burst of color, and narrowly avoided a rainbow-colored streak. Twilight wasn’t so lucky, tumbling head over hooves into a grimy puddle. “Gah!” She shouted, sputtering. I had to laugh at the sight. She was covered head to hoof in a coat of mud. “My bad,” Rainbow Dash said, picking herself out of the puddle and shaking off the water like a dog. “I was aiming for Sunset. I owe her for the prank she pulled on me with the exploding hoops.” “It wasn’t supposed to explode, Dash. I told you before that you were too close to the edge, and the fire spell was picking up some kind of charge from your flight magic.” I still hadn’t figured out just how. Either I’d done something wrong, or Dash was putting out enough magic to set records. The hoops had been pranked, of course. They were just supposed to turn her feathers white and make her voice sound like a chicken, not blow up. I’d get it right next time. “Yeah, yeah,” Dash snorted. “I’ll be right back.” She was off in a flash. Twilight turned to me and glared. “Are you sure she’s the manager and not just the local troublemaker?” "I'm the local troublemaker," I said. "Comes with being a witch." “Hold still!” said a voice from above. Rainbow Dash was looking down at us from a mostly-used raincloud. She hopped up and down on it, and a torrent of water poured out as she released the cloud’s payload all at once, drenching Twilight. “...That’s better than mud, I suppose,” Twilight sighed. “No, wait, I can totally fix that,” Dash said. She zoomed down and circled Twilight quickly enough to form a miniature tornado, drawing the water away and leaving Twilight dry. “Um…” I looked up at her mane. “Nah, never mind.” She looked like a giant hairball. I doubted she cared. “Not bad, right?” Rainbow Dash looked at me for approval. “Let me guess, you’re Rainbow Dash,” Twilight sighed. “The one and only. Let me guess, Sunset told you all about me.” “What I heard is that you’re supposed to be in charge of the weather,” Twilight said, rubbing at her temples. Even I could see she was starting to get a migraine. “I’m Twilight Sparkle, and the Princess sent me to check on the weather.” “Yeah, yeah,” Dash waved off her concern. “I’ll take care of it.” “There’s no time to take care of it!” Twilight yelled. “This needs to get done today!” “No time?” Dash grinned. “I’ll show you ‘no time at all’!” She took off, smashing through the scattered clouds. I watched her trail bounce from nimbus to cirrus and back again, turning them into vapor (well, into more scattered vapor than a normal cloud) with the slightest touch. She was back before you could say ‘Wonderbolts’ ten times fast. Which I was halfway sure she did while she was flying just to get herself pumped up. The last cloud exploded, and she glided back to us with a smirk on her face. “There!” She said, panting. “Totally clear! What was my time, Sunset?” “Ten and a half,” I said. Dash’s expression fell. “I’m kidding. Nine point eight. And you’d cut more off if you didn’t do the loop-the-loops.” “I gotta do the loop-the-loop,” Dash said. “It’s about style and speed. We’ll hang later!” She waved and took off again. “She’s amazing!” Spike said. “She’s lazy,” Twilight sighed. “She’s working with a handicap,” I said. Twilight and Spike turned to me, so I continued with my explanation. “If she’d gone into the Guard or ROTC, she’d probably be a Wonderbolt already. She dropped out of school to come here instead.” “Dropped out of school?!” Twilight’s expression was a mask of abject horror. “Dash wanted to stick close to her best friend. Fluttershy nearly died in an accident and… Dash sort of blamed herself for not being there. She told me once that to her, really being a good pony and a friend means just being there, every day, no matter what.” “That’s still no reason to drop out of school,” Twilight said. “I mean, how could anypony respect somepony-” “I dropped out, as you’ll remember. Literally. Into a river canyon.” “But that's… different,” Twilight mumbled, blushing. “I’m gonna have a quick word with Dash about something. I’ll catch up to you two.” I smiled. Twilight nodded and trotted off, looking down and muttering something. I caught up to Dash near the town square. She was grabbing a hayburger and fries, like she always did after she showed off. “Hey Sunset!” Dash yelled, waving as she spotted me. I frowned and walked faster. “Dash, I’m trying to keep a low profile. You know that.” I glared at her. “That doesn’t mean you should shout my name across the town, especially if Celestia has secret agents looking for me!” “Yeah… I still think you’re, like, super paranoid about that.” Dash rolled her eyes. “Speaking of strange ponies, your marefriend is kind of a jerk.” “Twilight’s not a jerk,” I said. “And she’s not my marefriend.” “So that’s your order of priorities, huh?” Dash laughed. “Look, Dash, I need you to do me a favor,” I said. “You’ve got storm clouds in for a big thunderhead to clear up all the loose weather magic, right?” “It’s scheduled for next week,” Dash said, shrugging. “But yeah. Cloud Kicker and Thunderlane wrangled them into the storage area yesterday. Then spent the rest of the day wrangling each other~” “Dash, I super don’t want to hear about that,” I cut her off. “You know that favor you owe me?” “What favor?” Dash frowned. “The one where I pretended to be your supervisor and said you’d gotten shocked by a faulty supercell so you didn’t have to explain why you had electrical burns, you know-” “Shut up!” Dash hissed. “Ponies are looking! Yes! Fine! Favor!” “Great,” I smiled. “Now let’s talk about those rain clouds…” I heard a scream, coming from inside Town Hall. A scream of terror and woe, what some scholars might refer to as the sound of ultimate fabulousness. I’d heard it a lot over the last few years, and walked into the building, not terribly worried. Rarity was recoiling in abject horror. “Oh my stars, darling! Whatever happened to your coiffure?!” She pointed to Twilight’s mane. Twilight glanced up at the ruined style and shrugged. She cared about her mane the same way I did - as long as it stayed out of my eyes I could usually care less. “My mane? That’s kind of a long story. If you could just sign off on a few things, I can get out of your hair.” “Out of my hair? What about your hair? No, I simply must fix this. It’s even worse than when Sunset Shimmer showed up on my opening day with a mane that had several small animals living in it.” Rarity paused. “Is this a common problem for witches?” “I’m not a witch,” Twilight protested. “The Princess sent me from Canterlot-” “From Canterlot?!” Rarity gasped. “Oh we’ll have so much to talk about!” She pushed Twilight, dragging her away towards what I could only assume would be a fabulous new manestyle. Twilight looked back at me, reaching out for help. I shook my head. There was nothing I could do. I sat down as Rarity dragged her away, and looked around at the town hall. Banners and decorations were everywhere, and Rarity had cleared the place of other ponies so she could work. I grinned. I didn’t really believe Twilight and her story about Nightmare Moon, but I was pretty sure Celestia was going to be around. I knew I couldn’t match her power, but I knew exactly where she’d be standing, and I had at least a few hours while Rarity molested Twilight’s scalp. I rubbed my hooves together and got to work. I’d snuck a look at Twilight’s list, so I had a pretty good idea of where she’d be. Fluttershy was the last name on it, and with any luck, they’d be quiet and introverted at each other enough that Twilight would be in a better mood by the time she got back to the library, if she was even able to find Fluttershy in the first place. I was wrong. Oh, how I was wrong. “...and that's the story of my whole entire life! Well, up until today. Do you wanna hear about today?” Spike smiled. He hadn’t stopped talking. Fluttershy trotted along behind Twilight, enraptured by the baby dragon. I wasn’t all that surprised. She loved meeting new animals, and she’d always liked the more exotic ones like dragons or chimaerae. “Oh yes, please!” Fluttershy said, happily. Twilight glanced up at the library. “Sunset! There you are!” She spotted me and gave me an exhausted and somewhat manic smile. “Well, this is where I’m staying and my poor baby dragon needs his sleep.” She shoved Spike towards the door hard enough that he stumbled. “He’s so tired he can barely stay on his feet. Sunset, how about you help me get him into a nice, quiet, bed where we can do research and stop the world from ending!” “I don’t know if beds really help with stopping the end of the w-” Fluttershy started. Twilight shot her a look that made her meep, then walked inside. “Sorry about that, Fluttershy,” I said. “She’s just kind of on edge. Twilight doesn’t deal with pressure well, and… well, you know what that’s like.” Fluttershy nodded. “I hope she feels better before the celebration.” “I’m sure she will,” I said, breaking out into a smile. “Just don’t expect me to be there after Celestia shows up.” “I understand,” Fluttershy smiled. “I’m sure if you ask nicely, Pinkie Pie will save some cake and punch for you.” “Come to think of it,” I said, looking around. “I haven’t seen her all day. And I’ve been with a pony she hasn’t met before. I guess preparing for the Summer Sun Celebration must be taking up all of her attention.” “SURPRISE!” “Never mind,” I sighed. “I think I have a pretty good idea of where Pinkie went.” “Should we…?” Fluttershy asked. “Yeah,” I said. “Might as well. Maybe I can keep her from using a Concussive Blast spell to throw everypony into the Badlands.” It turned out I didn’t really have to worry about that at all. Twilight escaped the party all on her own, retreating up into one of the offices. She wasn’t terribly polite about it, either. We really were a lot alike. “Do you think she doesn’t like this music?” Pinkie asked, worried. “I can put on something else! Maybe some polka?” “She’s just not feeling that good,” I said, putting a hoof on Pinkie’s shoulder. Of the ponies I’d gotten to know in Ponyville, she was the one I understood the least in some ways. But I did understand how hard she worked to get things just right. “It’s a great party, Pinkie. She’s just… you know how Fluttershy is with new ponies?” Pinkie Pie nodded in understanding. “I get it. We just have to be patient, right?” “Yeah,” I smiled. “She’s overwhelmed and worried. I know a party is how you like to unwind, but she just needs to be alone for a bit.” “But…” Pinkie bit her lip. “How about I bring her a cupcake? Nopony alive can resist anything you bake.” Pinkie brightened up at that and gave me a cupcake with purple icing. “This one should be perfect!” “It’s even the color of her coat,” I laughed. “I’m sure she’ll feel a little better after she eats, too.” I walked upstairs and knocked on the office door. It opened almost instantly with Twilight’s pink magical glow, and slammed behind me after I entered. “No offense, Sunset, but your friends are all crazy.” “They’d have to be,” I snorted. “No sane pony would be friends with a witch, right, best friend, and thus most crazy pony?” “Well that’s- that’s different!” Twilight grumped. “Do you know what time it is?! They should stop partying and go to bed so I can read!” “It’s the eve of the Summer Sun Celebration,” I said. “They’re all staying up so they can watch the Princess raise the sun. Here,” I offered her the cupcake. “Eat this. You’re getting grumpy.” “Yes, mom,” she huffed, taking the cupcake and biting into it. Her ears perked up after the first taste and she shoved the rest into her mouth so quickly I was worried she’d choke. “Oh wow, that’s really good…” “Of course it’s good. Pinkie Pie made it. She’s better than the Cakes at baking, when she isn’t trying some bizarre new flavor experiment, and they’ve got baking cutie marks. Goes to show that hard work sometimes trumps cutie mark talents.” “And where were you all day?” Twilight frowned. “I thought you were going to help me! If we’d split up and each taken half of the list, we could have been here hours ago and already finished our research!” “I had a few things that I needed to get ready, and it took a while.” I just hoped nopony looked too closely at the decor in the town hall. They probably wouldn’t set anything off, but I wouldn’t want to get caught in what I’d prepared. “Look, Twilight, let’s be logical about this,” I said, climbing up to sit next to her as she looked out the window at the moon. “You’re assuming a lot of things.” “It’s the thousandth year, Sunset!” She grabbed a book from her saddlebags. “Listen: ‘Legend has it that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars will aid in her escape, and she will bring about everlasting night.’ That seems pretty cut and dry to me!” “First, the book only says it’s a legend,” I pointed out. “Second, all the old prophecies say a thousand years. If they were all true, do you know how many disasters would hit all at once?” “Around fifty,” Twilight muttered. “Exactly. Both of us know back in those days, it was fashionable to say a thousand years when they just meant forever, or a really long time.” I shrugged. “And even if it was right, the calendar itself might be wrong. The griffons adjust their dates every four years because of some crazy wind calendar they use.” “That might be true,” Twilight admitted. “Who would be the one pony who would know best if it was true, and if a thousand years had really passed?” I asked. “Princess Celestia,” Twilight said, deflating. “Who told me to stop worrying and to make some friends.” “Exactly,” I said, putting a hoof around her. She nuzzled up to my chest, starting to calm down. “You just got carried away a little. I don’t think some evil Princess of Darkness is going to show up and declare eternal night.” “But what if it does happen?” Twilight asked. “We haven’t even had time to research the Elements…” She groaned and leaned into me, her flank pressing against mine. She was quite a hugger. “I just… she never ignored me like this, Sunset.” There was the real issue. “You want to know what I think?” I asked. Twilight looked up at me. “I think she does have something planned. Think about it. She decided to hold the Celebration here, and who does she have do the planning? All of my friends.” Twilight’s eyes widened. “You think she knows you’re here!” I nodded. “Ever since I saw that list of yours, it’s what I’ve suspected. It makes sense, doesn’t it? She’d probably spent years researching it. She might even have sent you that book just to make sure you were too distracted to think about what she might be doing herself.” “...That would make sense,” Twilight admitted. “And if she’s inviting all of your friends… she’s probably trying to show me that making friends isn’t a bad thing.” “Exactly!” I smiled. “Of course, both of us saw right through it once we put our heads together. I bet she didn’t tell you because she wanted to keep it a surprise from me.” “I feel so stupid!” Twilight groaned. “Don’t. We actually figured out her plan before she could spring her trap.” I nuzzled her, laughing a little. “There are very, very few ponies who can say that.” “I guess,” Twilight sighed. “So what do we do?” “We don’t have time for a real plan, but knowing there’s a trap means you aren’t going to get caught so easily.” I smiled. “I’ll find somewhere to hide until she leaves. I know a few illusion and counter-scrying spells that I’ve been wanting to try out anyway.” “Wait!” Twilight said. “I don’t… if something does happen with the Mare in the Moon, I need you to be there!” “Why?” I raised an eyebrow. “Because I’m not going to trust Charity-” “Rarity,” I corrected. “-Rarity to help me banish some ancient evil! I doubt she even knows how to cast a fireball spell!” I sighed. There was no way I was going to get out of this one. “Fine,” I said. “I’ll hang around, at least until the Princess shows up. If she’s really looking for me, actually being in the room with her might be the last thing she expects anyway.” Not that I’d be visible. I was still planning on hiding well enough that Cerberus himself wouldn’t be able to sniff me out. And I’d made arrangements just in case. Twilight grinned and hugged me again. “Thanks, Sunset. I just… I don’t think I could deal with this alone.” “Twilight, I’ll make a bet with you,” I said. “When no ancient evil shows up, you admit you were wrong, and you have to bring the newest edition of the Compendium Magika with you next time you visit. If one does show up, I’ll admit I was wrong and I’ll owe you any favor you want.” Not that it would matter, since if the Mare in the Moon did show up, it was basically the end of the world. Sort of a win-win situation since I’d never have to pay out. But only sort of, since the world would be ending. “Deal,” Twilight giggled. “Hey girls!” Spike yelled, opening the door. “It’s time to watch the sunrise!”