Chapter 1: The night before.
By Gingerquill
“Whooo-weee! I say again, that there is one of the prettiest gems I ever did see!” Applejack’s boisterous drawl carried through Sugar Cube Corner, “and it’s good to see you smiling again Twilight, seen precious little of that lately.”
“I must agree with Applejack on both counts sweetie,” Rarities cultured and refined tones stood in contrast, “you have such a dazzling smile, I’m so glad we get to see it again. And now you have a truly regal accessory to match. Such a shame there was only one,” she continued wistfully, “why if I had such a piece in my collection, I’d never take it off!”
“Thanks girls,” Twilight swelled with gratitude, beaming at her friends, “you’re the very best friends any pony could ever wish for.”
“Well duh!” Pinkie chirped. “You’ve been such a super sad, grumpy sad pants, what kind of friends would we be if we didn’t try to make you a super happy, smiley happy pants?”
“Awww, Thank you, Pinkie.” Twilight’s heart melted with the warm feelings her friends inspired.
“I mean, it’s not every day your home gets blown up by a demented megalomaniac hell bent on world domination.” Pinkie cheerfully continued.
“Yes… thank you.”
“And with all your worldly possessions inside too, bet they were burnt to a crisp!”
“Err, Pinkie…” Fluttershy tried in vain to silence her, but Pinkie was oblivious to her futile efforts and the darkening mood in the room as she careered onwards like an out of control locomotive.
“All your favorite books, your telescope and science toys, and don’t forget the knick knacks and souvenirs too, all gone up in sm-erfhl!” Her growing crescendo was brought to an abrupt halt as Rainbow Dash stuffed a hoof in her mouth.
“I think what Pinkie is trying to say, is that we’re here for you.” Her brash, winning grin quickly infected the others, bringing the smile back to every ponies face. Twilight looked round at her friends, her heart swelling once again as she did.
“You’ve all always been so kind to me, ever since my first day in Ponyville. I love all of you dearly, I honestly don’t know what I’d do without you. But...” Twilight trailed off uncertainly.
“Go on darling, you can tell us.” Rarity prompted with a comforting hoof over her shoulder.
“It’s silly but…” Twilight paused, trying to find the courage put her thoughts into words. “In their attempts to stop Tirek, the princesses gave me all their powers for safe keeping. For a time, I had all their magic, as well as my own. Power over the Sun and Moon, the power of love.” She drifted away again, remembering the sensations of trying to control and harness the colossal flood of magic. “Hard and scary as it was, I have to admit, it was kind of exciting at the same time. That much raw power was, kind of a rush…” She finished with an embarrassed smile.
“Yeah, but then we totally kicked flank when we unlocked the box of harmony!” Dashie piped in, “it was so awesome, my mane was too cooool!”
“Yes, yes, we all looked absolutely fabulous,” Rarity rolled her eyes, “but I for one can sympathize with dear Twilight. When the inspiration spell took hold of me, I had the power to reshape all Equestria as I saw fit. Coming back down to the ground after that can be quite the bump.”
“I know.” Twilight gave another big sigh and her whole body sagged. “I guess there’s just a greedy part of me that misses it.”
Fluttershy took her turn to speak in her soft and graceful voice.
“Oh Twilight, we all have a greedy little part of us, but that’s why we have friends, so they can share their blessings with us, and we with them.” She smiled, the very incarnation of elegance and poise.
“That’s what I was trying to say!” Pinkie blurted out with all the elegance and poise of a criminally flatulent swamp beast, “I was going to say all that, give everypony a giant group hug and then we were all going to have triple chocolate chip, fudge sauce cake with frosting and vanilla icing, but it’s all been said now.” She moped, ears drooping as she felt sorry for herself at missing the moment.
Then her mind finally began to catch up with her hyperactive mouth to register something in that last sentence. Something of great importance and significance.
“TRIPLE CHOCOLATE CHIP, FUDGE SAUCE CAKE WITH FROSTING AND VANILLA ICING!” She screeched, vanishing in a pink blur that left everypony clinging to the table to stay upright, their manes hanging at a funny angle.
“Okay, I’m not the only one who just saw that happen, right?” Rainbow Dash asked as they all straightening out their manes, just before another pink maelstrom heralded Pinkies return, now bearing an unfeasibly vast chocolate cake loaded more frosting and icing than any single kitchen should reasonably be expected to store.
“Triple chocolate chip, fudge sauce cake with frosting and vanilla icing!” She chirped with a giant grin, as though it was somehow the most obvious answer to whatever question may, may not or could possibly have been asked. Her bemused friends looked to each other uncertainly.
“That thing’s bigger than we are,” Applejack said in quiet awe, “how in tarnation are we meant to eat it all?”
“Have you ever actually met Pinkie Pie?” Dashie replied. The two of them looked at each other before sniggering, then giggling, before finally letting go and laughing out loud. The joy quickly spread and the room was filled with the sound of laughter as the six friends were gleefully lost in the moment.
Twilight, her dark mood dispelled and forgotten, looked around at the five best ponies she had ever known.
They were the pillars of her life, who had stood beside her and carried her forward in the face of the impossible, who would always be there with her to share joys, triumphs and even miseries, and who she could hardly picture a world without. They were the greatest gift she could ever have hoped for.
They were her friends.
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Twilight relaxed on the plush bed in her private chambers. Luna had brought forth a cool and peaceful night for her subjects, the stars twinkling serenely from their places in the heavens, while her moon poured silver light over all Equestria and Twilight’s palace.
Her palace.
The notion still felt very strange to her. Even though she had been a princess for some time now, there were still occasions when she felt out of place and intimidated by the sheer mass of that fact, the royal duties and expectations that came with the title. And while the company of her fellow princess’s had long ceased to cause her any unease, indeed she welcomed their presence, the simple act of being treated as their equal was deeply unsettling and unnatural to her. She certainly didn’t feel their equal, she was just herself.
Idly, she levitated her new necklace from the draws of her bedside table to admire it for a while. As it dangled before her, she reached out to carefully wipe away some perceived speck of dust from the ocean green gem at its heart.
The amulet had quickly become a source of great comfort to her, though she couldn’t say why. Despite her best efforts and several long nights spent pouring over volume after volume of magical lore, she hadn’t been able to uncover anything about it, either in the books retrieved from the Palace of the Two Sisters or in the few tomes recovered from Golden Oaks. But the more she pondered it, the less and less relevant the question seemed to become.
Perhaps it was simply the allure of mystery that drew her to the rich colour of the gem, the deepest and most enticing green she had ever seen. It seemed to promise answers if only she would gaze deeply enough and lose herself inside.
Twilight yawned widely. Pinkies parties were the best, but exhausting at the same time. She wondered how the girl kept it up, but then just a quickly dismissed the question. Like the gem, she smiled fondly, Pinkie was clearly just another one of life’s little mysteries that isn’t meant to be solved.
Slipping the amulet around her neck and settling down in bed, Twilight made herself comfortable and began to drift off. Somehow, she felt more content simply feeling it close by.
As sleep took her, a thought slipped into her mind. Tomorrow she would get the necklace replaced, something tasteful, yet elaborate to frame the beautiful gem.
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Bells woke her with a start.
Her mind was confusion as she looked round her unfamiliar surroundings. Crystalline walls, elaborate, plush furniture, four poster bed, “where was Golden Oaks” she thought. Her chambers, still foreign to her, further confused her disordered mind, jolted unwillingly from a dream of green fields as far as she could see.
Still the bells rang, urgent in their clamor, while an orange glow outside her curtains softly lit the room.
“I’m up, I’m up.” She grumbled, sluggishly lumbering to the window to investigate whatever commotion had dragged her from her dreams. She yawned, pondering whether she could just go back to bed as she pulled the long drapes aside.
Focus came to her in an instant.
Ponyville was on fire.