The sun hung high in the endless expanse of blue of the sky above Equestria. Some white fluffy clouds were pushed in by some Pegasi and once released slowly floated by on their own, caught on the currents of wind. Pegasi and the city of Cloudsdale still controlled the weather, although the rising of the sun and the moon were now left for nature to govern. Below, a lush green valley stat nestled in-between two mountain ranges. A slight breeze filtered by, the large expanse of emerald green sighing as the wind pushed over long blades of wild uncut grass, sending a visible wave of a slightly duller green-the under side of the grass before they righted themselves again. Little pockets and groves of trees spotted the country side as some branches waved here and there just slightly from the wind. Beyond the vast grass fields that rose and fell over small rolling hills lay a river, it’s pure dark blue reflecting the sunlight above, the surface of the water sparkling like bright lights on a precious gemstone. The river grew into a fork, each twisting and turning in separate directions. It was here in the middle of the fork in the river where the town of ponyville was situated.
The yellow thatched roofs of old European type buildings stretched out, opening up and filling the space in-between the two rivers. Bridges to and from the village crossed the rivers, coble stone roads cris-crossed one another within the town, like silk strands on a spider web before stretching out of the town. Some followed their course to the small mountain range behind where the ruined city and castle of Canterlot lay, to the East. The once majestic castle striking out on the side of the mountain crumbled into ruin. Only the crane and gantries towers were visible, like long bony fingers stretching up towards the early summer sky. Other roads made their way west to the vast fields beyond, Sweet Apple Acres, and the ever free forest which stretched for miles and miles before it rain against the base of a long mountain range. Some of the peaks were round, capped with the ever permanent frost above. Others faded into jagged crags and peaks.
It had been some months since the curse had been lifted and the end of what was being called the Great Griffin War. Winter, then spring had come and gone, and Equestria found itself in a early warm summer. The royal city of canterlot and the palace still lay in ruins due to the last ditch efforts of the elements of harmony to stop the approaching Griffin armies from completely overwhelming ponyville and then Equestria proper. Using the stagnate and highly flammable air in the ancient sewers below the city and castle, they used a simple long fuse while hiding every pony else in a cave system to avoid the blast. The resulting blast and destruction had never before seen with pony eyes. It was so tremendous, so powerful that it whipped out more then half of the advancing Griffin hoard, causing the survivors to retreat in panic. Twilight and the others remained unscathed thankfully, due to the purple mares quick thinking as she conjured up a magical barrier at the last moment.
With the war and the struggles behind them, all of Equestria set about the task of rebuilding. As soon as it was warm enough to go outside after winter subsided, the sounds of hundreds of hammers and the raspy metallic sounds of saws cutting into wood echoed from the village of Ponyville, and villages like it from dawn until dusk. The whole of the town was being rebuilt, if not in its exact image as it was before, with some alterations here and there. The large city centers like Phillydelphia and Manehatten were slowly adjusting, and taking some time to complete as all the magic users save for some few unicorns went to help restructure the large cities.
Every building was now taller and slightly wider to house the new bipedal forms that every pony had found themselves with. Doorways were lengthened height wise, as now ponies wouldn’t accidentally bump their heads while leaving or entering their own homes. Subsequently windows were also lengthened to show the new view into the outside world. High above them in the mountains in Canterlot, wooden crane structures and gantries were slowly erected to begin the reconstruction and the preservation of the royal history for generations to come. Even with magic, the whole thing was a very tedious process and the reconstruction of Canterlot would take some years to complete.
As for the six who had freed the land of the curse, of their invisible shackles, and ushered in a new golden age? They were still currently hard at work. With both crown Princesses of Equestria gone, Celestia’s ex-personal student Twilight Sparkle was still tasked with the highly important duty to help find a suitable and stable new system of government between the various princes, barons, and mayors of Equestria. It gave her something to do in place of the friendship reports. To her, it was a bit like managing squabbling children sometimes, with the many disagreements that tended to come up, and the not so easy task of smoothing them out. Not to mention the reconstruction of Canterlot for her to oversee. All in all, Twilight had her work cut out for her.
For Rainbow Dash, things couldn’t have gotten any better. She was ecstatic to finally receive the acceptance letter that sky blue Pegasus had worked her whole life to be accepted into. The Wonderbolts! However things were now somewhat different now due to the failed Griffin invasion that happened some months prior. Not only were the Wonderbolts an aerial stunt group, but were now added with the additional task of creating Equestria’s air force. This included patrolling Equestria’s air space and borders, to make sure that any small bands of marauding Griffins still foolish enough to try and sneak in were kept out, and training the large number of new recruits the ins and outs of aerial combat. It wasn’t all that bad though, since the royal palace was still in need of being rebuilt, the royal Pegasus guards were currently out of a job opted to help. That coupled with the official adoption of Scootaloo, Rainbow Dash had her hands full.
Sugarcube Corner was still alive with the sound of party music and the smell of baked goods. An excuse was not necessary when it came to Pinkie throwing parties. The ever enthusiastic Pinkie Pike still helped out Mr. and Mrs. Cake with the bakery orders. It became more of a tradition in a sense to go to one of Pinkie’s many parties that she threw at the end of the hard work days to help others forget the stress and worries. With her bright personality, every pony that entered had a great time, and found themselves laughing and smiling their problems away. They enjoyed themselves before finally bidding good bye, and promises of showing up at the next large party Pinkie had, before retiring for the night to get some rest prior to starting on the reconstruction work the next day.
The Carousel Boutique had under gone a sort of transformation in the last couple months. The circular white, blue, and purple building had the second floor renovated. The shop had been quite busy as crowds came to find Rarity for the sudden essential need of clothing. Rarity, with bulk orders up to her neck had little choice but to start taking on employees to help with the heavy work load. Some had very basic knowledge as a tailor or seamstress, and some had no idea what they were doing, which took Rarity even longer to teach those with or without magical abilities how to sew. Even now, the doors to the shop were wide open, still as busy as ever. The second floor was a small shopping center, filled with clothing in different sizes from big to small, along with designs ranging from simple every day use to; in Rarity’s words ‘fabulous’.
At Sweet Apple Acres however, things didn’t really much change as everywhere else. The old farm house was still there, along with the large red barn which had been in the family for generations. They weren’t going to tare it down or do needless construction on it just because the windows and doors were just a bit lower to their new heights. After all, there was money to be spent on wiser things. Big Mac had finally adjusted to his new form. Instead of trying to pull a plough through the soil on just two legs, the task impossible with only two legs instead of the four that Mac was used to which gave him strength. He was now using what seemed to be a tractor of some sorts. It was powered not by gas, but leg power as one only had to sit high above the contraption, and cycle idly away while steering with handle bars as it moved through the soil behind it effortlessly. That same machine was able to also pull around the large carts that were filled almost to the bursting point with apples, which Applejack still bucked with her hind legs once the apples were ripe enough.
Last, but not least was Fluttershy. Due to her almost solitary life among the edges of the ever free forest, she stayed near her cottage tending to the animals and other forest creatures. The butter yellow Pegasus always did enjoy talking and mending animals that she did find, yet nothing replaced the slightly lonely feeling that she had. She missed her friends, and they also missed each other. With her free time, Fluttershy made sure to visit every one of her friends, and fill them in on what she had seen, or what sparrow’s wing was broken, and how long it took to be nursed back to health. Since the others couldn’t really exactly leave from the sudden new duties that they found themselves in, she also carried words of encouragement or greeting from one friend to another.
For everyone being so busy, it was quite peaceful. And a certain animal loving Pegasus was taking full advantage of the lazy summer morning. She had left her rustic cottage in the beginning of the day, to tend and feed the animals. Thankfully she had no patients that she was currently looking after which gave her time to finally take care of herself. One of which included getting used to her new form. Twilight had explained first to them, and then to every one else about the curse, and that this was how the ancient ponies looked before hand. Fluttershy felt her thoughts drifting as she took a leisurely stroll through the edge of the White Tail woods. Things weren’t as so scary here, the trees were not as grouped together, and allowed the sun to pass through the leaves, bathing the soft loamy forest floor with gentle streams of golden hued light between forest green.
She could recall when she awoke after passing out, and was the last out of their group to do so. Fluttershy, upon realizing what had happened, had let out a startled squeak. Perhaps it was the after effects of the transformation, instinct, or perhaps some subconscious memory that told her to cover up. And she did just that, using her now larger wings to cover herself from prying eyes. She could recall Twilight explaining the whole thing over to them once everyone was awake. “Part of the curse had to do with memory. When Celestia cursed everypony to live on four legs, she also removed their memory of their lives before. So now that she and the curse are gone, so is the memory loss. But, we’re the only ponies alive today who have any memories from before the curse, since the six of us are incarnate forms of the Elements of Harmony.”
That didn’t make things easier for the residents of Ponyville after all was said and done. There was a lot of confusion, and fear at first about their new forms. Twilight had to explain about what had happened. Coming from a source, and someone that the ponies trusted, especially so close to Princess Celestia accepted it grudgingly. Others took even more time to convince, as they thought Twilight had removed the Princesses and wanted to take power for herself. Twilight had told the doubters, that if that were true, then the moon and the sun would have stopped rising, which they hadn’t even with the princesses gone. They also had problems with everyone learning to cope with their new legs, as everyone was now in the same boat. It was all the matter of having to learn to balance on two instead of four legs, which after some practice turned to work out just fine.
Fluttershy, coming back to the here and now, took the time to examine herself again. Her pelvic structure was radically different, with a much wider range of movement at the hip. Her torso was much flatter then before; her ribcage was shallow enough that she could see the tips of her hind hooves without craning her neck forward. Two squishy mounds on her chest framed the view, each one about the same size of a ripe cantaloupe. The appendages that replaced her front legs were longer, slenderer, and tapered into unusual structures. They looked something like Spike’s claws, but chunkier, fleshier, as Twilight explained that they reminded her of ‘bony spiders’ (Fluttershy shivered slightly, she hated spiders) and were called ‘hands’.
Rarity had done very well out of the situation, which was why she was so busy at the moment. However the seamstress had went out of her way to make sure each of her friends were properly dressed first. Fluttershy absolutely loved the way the dress had turned out. It was a simple shoulder less yellow sun dress that came to rest just at her ankles. Bright blue trimming, what reminded her of flower petals framed the end of the short sleeves, and the low neck line. To top it off, there was a simple green sash that wrapped around her abdomen, right below her ribs and held together by a blue butterfly pin. Near the hem of her dress was her cutie mark- three butterflies, their main bodies blue, while their wings were bright pink like her hair.
Fluttershy examined her clothing once more, before twirling around in a circle, her long pink hair flying about and around her as the dress flared out around her as she moved. Giggling to herself, she ran her hands down the front of her body to smooth out the dress once more before continuing on her walk through the forest. After just a bit more of walking, Fluttershy reached her destination. It was a small clearing, with a fallen tree in the middle, the grass around it short soft and sweet smelling. However it was slightly more inwards of the forest than she would like to admit.
Sitting down upon the log, she crossed her legs at the ankles, shifting slightly to the left to get herself into a more comfortable position, her long pink hair falling over her shoulder, and her tails mixing together in a slight pool over the log. She let out a sigh, closing her soft blue green eyes, and tilted her head slightly toward the sun to allow its rays to bathe upon her with its warm glow. Birds twittered and chirped high in the trees around her, and a tranquil feeling spread over her. With her eyes still closed she began to sing, her voice soft, light and gentle, although its strength rose and fell with the volume. It was just something that she felt most comfortable with when she was alone, although sometimes she allowed her friends to hear her singing.
The song was wordless, its tune light and cheery. Around her from the forest, animals cautiously approached, drawn to Fluttershy by her singing. A raccoon from its burrow underneath one of the trees on her right, a chipmunk from under the fallen log that she was currently sitting on, a squirrel chattered away in apparent like for her music. It paused, chattering more before clambering down the length of another tree, its friends bounding from one branch to another, following before also joining it on the ground below near her hind hooves. Three or four birds landed on one of the branches closest to her.
An ear swiveled and twitched just slightly at the new sounds that came alive around her. The scampering of little feet, and the flutter of wings before Fluttershy opened her eyes and caught the sight of the little audience around her. A rush of heat climbed up to her cheeks, turning them a slight rosy pink. One of the squirrels zipped off and returned moments later with a wild flower, its purple buds and small petals traveling down the stalk, only to end an inch or two where the stalk was bare. Fluttershy smiled gently, bending down to take the flower. “For me Mr. Squirrel? Thank you.” She replied with her soft tone of voice.
Though unfortunately the heartwarming scene was interrupted, cut short by a sudden blinding flash of light that lasted for a minute. The startled and afraid animals took off into the forest, up into the air, or back into their burrows in fear. Fluttershy let out a startled and high pitched mewl of fear as she too took off. Her new size betrayed some of the speed that she still had, being a Pegasus as she zipped along the ground and into the nearest bush. It worked fine when Fluttershy was in her smaller, four legged form, but now it was very much a hindrance, as she found out the hard way. Branches entangled themselves in her hair, bit into and tugged the fabric of her dress, and scratched the shorter much finer hair and skin beneath. “W-What was that?” She spoke to herself, her voice shaking and betraying the sudden fear that she had within.
All over Equestira, every pony had stopped what they were doing and looked for the source of what had caused such a thing, and indeed had wondered the same thing. ‘What in Celestia was that?” The earth trembled slightly, the vibrations being strong enough to knock dining sets and cuttary out of cabinets, objects off shelves and rattled the window panes of Ponyville. As the light slowly started to die down and fade away, if any pony was still watching the skies, several streaks of light- Red, Silver, Yellow, Green, Blue, Cyan and Violet streaked through the bright early afternoon sky. The silent blast of light had sent flocks of startled birds of all shapes and sizes up into the air as they fled in panic. Minutes later, five puffs of black smoke and green fire appeared in select locations around ponyville; The farm house at Sweet Apple Acres, The Carousel Boutique, Sugar Cube Corner, a Greek/Roman styled house made completely out of rainbows and clouds, and a small cottage by the woods. As each puff of smoke faded away, it revealed a rolled up scroll.
While each of them were so busy, some didn’t even get the letters, but all five none the less made their way to the center of the town, as such a sudden and blinding blast of light seemingly out of nowhere only served as trouble. Near the center of ponyville stood the library, which also doubled as Twilight Sparkles home. The library was a giant four story tree, pot marked with windows on each floor. Some moss or vines had grown over some of the awnings, and balconies that jutted out of the tree. A single ornate balcony was supported by a large and sturdy tree branch jutting out from the second floor, just behind one of the windows. A second balcony jutted out from the left of the tree, which sported a walk out glass door, and a lantern which was attached to a long metal poll that was screwed into the large archway’s apex. Other windows, tinted a light pink, shown just barely through the thick leaves of the tree, while a third much larger balcony and the highest on the tree itself sported a telescope for gazing at the starts late at night.
The inside the tree library and house was also just as rare looking. The whole interior was carved out of the tree, including the book cases that lined the walls, the book holders, and tables. A set of carved steps lead up further into the tree, splitting into a fork, one going to a door that lead further up into the tree, and its balconies. The other fork leading to Twilights room. Even the large bust of a horse’s head, its mane sticking straight up was carved from wood. Currently the two half doors leading into the library were wide open, as Twilight was expecting her friends. In a corner of the library, her assistant and best friend, a purple and green baby dragon named Spike, burped slightly and held one claw over his chest like he was suffering from a case of indigestion or heartburn. The normally wide youthful eyes were half shut as he watched Twilight pace back and forth. Twilight currently had on a purple vest over a white button down blouse which was tucked into the waist of a pair of black caprees.
Twilight had been startled out of her reading of a book labeled ‘The In’s and Out’s of Government.” By the sudden silent explosion of light, and the tremors shortly afterwards that shook the very foundation of the tree, and scattered all her neatly arranged volumes of books all over the library floor in heaps. “Geeze Twilight. You could of you know, sent the mail the other way?” Spike complained, fighting back another burp. “It was kinda rough on my tummy.” Twilight sighed and shook her head in exasperation, rolling her dark purple eyes. “I could, but they wouldn’t have gotten to the others in time. With that explosion and all, it’s a very serious situation Spike!” Twilight replied, before continuing. “Your method of delivery was the fastest way I could think of. Besides, not everyone has a dragon as a messenger service.”
“Yea, I guess..” Spike replied with a defeated tone in his voice. “Besides-“ Twilight spoke again, gesturing to all the books scattered around the library floor. “-With that out of the way, the two of us can start picking these things up until the others get here.” Twilight started organizing the books in alphabetical order, rambling off the titles of the books as Spike stood off to the side until she was done to pick them back up again.
“What’s this?!” Twilight Exclaimed as she pulled one of the few remaining books that somehow hadn’t fallen off the shelf. “Magically enhanced items and objects by Starswirl the bearded.”
Spike looked over at Twilight for a moment, blinking. “Wasn’t that who you were dressed up as for last years Nightmare Night?” The baby dragon asked, peering over her shoulder on top of a hastily stacked tower of books. The weight on top of the books caused them to sway slightly. Spike gasped, throwing his arms out and started waving them around, trying desperately to regain his balance before he fell. “Wooooh!” Spike’s surprised wail was cut off as the books fell out from under him- only for a bright purple light to surround the baby dragon and set him down gently on the floor. “Thanks Twilight!” Twilight nodded silently for a moment, her mind elsewhere as she regarded the old and worn looking book with a growing sense of uneasiness.
The last time she had opened and read through some old and dusty book, it ended up turning the whole of Equestira, no, rather the world on its head! However curiosity got the better of her once again, and soon she was trying to pry open the book with her fingers to no avail. “Hmn, it seems that the book is somehow magically locked shut. A simple spell should open it.” Twilight began, closing her eyes and concentrating, tipping her head toward the book, her horn glowing and spitting off sparks of purple magical energy.
A large gust of wind broke Twilight out of her concentration needed for the spell, and the gathering energy was dissipated once her concentration was broken, looking up in a frazzled look of half annoyance. Rainbow Dash hovered in mid air, her powerful wings keeping her afloat, having just flew through the open door, before lowering herself to the library floor. “Hey Twilight! Sorry I’m late.” The slight raspy tone of the sky blue and rainbow maned Pegasus was given to her from the high altitudes and the cold weather she had to endure every day since she was born. Dash was currently wearing a sleeveless blue and white track top with tight fitting black racers pants. The track suit was close fitting as it could go, so that it would provide less drag while she was flying at high speeds.
“I got here as fast as I could after I got that note from scoot-“After finally noticing what happened to Twilight’s library, her mouth hung open slightly in surprise. “What happened? Did someone trash your library!? Do I have to beat them up for you?” Just to prove her point, Rainbow Dash took up a fighter’s stance in mid air and did a couple kicks for good measure. Twilight shook the annoyance away, and then smiled at Rainbow Dash and her antics. “Your not late Dash, in fact your early! As for the library, since you are here, and can get to high places, you can help me and Spike put these books away until the others arrive. Then we’ll talk.” Dash huffed, before complaining in a slight whine, while crossing her arms underneath her bosom. “But that’s soooo boring!”
“Well, I guess you don’t want to hear about the secret I just found out.” Twilight hinted at Dash, who was currently still pouting and mumbling under her breath about how lame books were, her ears pressed flat against her multihued hair. However at Twilight mentioning a secret she found out, and just recently, the sky blue ears perked back up again, interest apparently piqued. “Well, I guess it can’t hurt to help you put some books away-” Rainbow started, swooping down and grabbing the stacks of books that Twilight had already arranged before her arrival, and flew them over to the highest shelves, per the dusk colored mare’s instructions.
Though Dash was cut off by a bubbly higher tone of voice: “Secrets!? I love secrets! Tell me tell me tell me tell me!” The words ‘tell’ and ‘me’ were each punctuated with a hop as it’s owner- a bubble gum pink covered mare, bounced around the library. Her darker, cotton candy pink mane and tail, it’s curly volume bounced along with her in each step. True to her image she was also wearing a tank top and skirt that were bright blue and white horizontal candy stripes. A rather large grin was plastered across her face as her blue eyes shimmered in contained laughter. The other two mares slowly fallowed the pink mares progress around the room, not really sure of what to say. Finally Twilight broke the silence on their part. “Uh, Pinkie?” Twilight slowly began, gathering her thoughts, and getting over the shock of how the pink mare could just appear out of nowhere. It didn’t make sense to her, but then again, Pinkie never did make sense anyways. “How long have you been here?” She asked, even as Pinkie still continued to bounce around the room.
“Well-“ Pinkie finally stopped, moving a hand to her chin and stroked it like she was deep in thought. “I had finished working for Mr. and Mrs. Cake early, since with my help they were able to get through the orders faster! So with having some time on my hands, or is that still hooves.” Pinkie pondered for a moment before continuing “ I decided to play hide and seek with Gummy. Gummy is such a good hider. The last time we played hide and seek and he hid, it took me weeks to find him again. That’s the first time you met Gummy, Twilight, as I found he was hiding in the bathtub!” Twilight had a confused look on her face, as Dash floated above her with a smirk. “But, how does that have to do with how long you have been here in the Library?” Twilight asked, obviously lost and not quite following her bright pink friend.
It seemed that Pinkie quite didn’t hear what Twilight had asked her as it went right in one ear and out the other. Pinkie went back to her rambling speech. “Well, since I couldn’t find him inside sugar cube corner, I decided to look out side! I mean, I looked everywhere, under rocks, trees, bird’s nests, bushes, you name it! And then I saw that bright flash of light!” She raised her hands high and to the sides above her as Pinkie made a mighty ‘wooshing’ sound from her lips, showing them how big and bright it was in her mind. “So I thought, hey! That’s not like Dashie, making a sonic rainboom without the ‘boom!’ besides, where’s all the pretty colors!? Then I saw the colors, and felt the boom, but didn’t hear it. There were only seven of the colors, instead of a whole bunch of them, and they zoomed off in all sorts of directions so fast I couldn’t see where they went! But then I saw Dashie flying by, and decided to follow her to the library!”
Twilight finally nodded her head in agreement with Pinkie’s explanation. “Well, you could of just said you followed Rainbow Dash to the library after seeing her fly by.” However, what Pinkie had said afterward had caught Twilights attention and curiosity. “Besides, you said that you saw some sort of several streaks of light, each a different color? Rainbow Dash, did you see anything while coming on your way here?-“ Twilight’s question to Rainbow Dash was cut off with a yelp of surprise as she felt something latch onto her tail. “Ahhh! Get it off- get it off!” Twilight cried spastically as she quickly spun around to see what had latched onto her tail, pulling it out of a small mountain of books that were still not cleaned up. Pinkie Pie’s eyes sparkled even more then previously thought possible as Gummy hung limply on the end. “And you found Gummy for me again Twilight! The library would be the last place I would think to have looked! Perhaps your better at hide and seek then me!” Pinkie exclaimed and calmly took the baby alligator off Twilight’s tail before hugging the toothless gator in her arms.
Rainbow Dash snickered a second time, as the scene played itself out in front of her. Once Gummy bit onto Twilight’s tail, her reaction, plus the after comment from Pinkie did her in, reducing her to a roaring ball of laughter. “Bwahahahahaha!” She laughed, ears pinned back against her rainbow colored mane, tears of laughter escaping her red/orange colored eyes. “Pinkie Pie-“ Dash began, returning to a fit of giggles before composing herself once more. “You are soooo random!” She exclaimed, after finding the breath to talk again through her mirth.
Once Twilight had found her composure again, the library was tidied up in short order between Pinkie, Rainbow Dash, Spike and Twilight. Once finished, only the old dusty tome of a book was still sitting on the center library table. Spike currently puttered around once again with the pink and purple magically made feather duster and apron doing his best to clean up what was left of all the dust that was kicked up by all the books falling onto the floor earlier, all the while mumbling about how much of a neat freak Twilight was underneath his breath. Twilight, Pinkie, and Rainbow Dash talked amongst themselves, filling in each other about their last previous months since they had last seen one another. Rainbow Dash couldn’t stop gushing about her position as a junior Wonderbolt. Pinkie was once again rambling on about all the amazing parties that she had hosted, and Twilight had found herself in the middle, trying to listen to both of her friends at once with a frazzled look upon her face.
“Howdy ya’ll sorry we’re late. I had some chores to finish up on the farm.” Twilight breathed a sigh of relief as she looked up to see Applejack make her way into the library with Rarity shortly behind her. The two couldn’t be any better examples of opposites, despite being friends. Rarity had a classic black evening dress that was flattering to her form, and made her luxurious white coat and styled purple mane stand out. A slim white belt hugged her waist and slid gently off to the right side of her hip, rare blue diamonds arranged in groups of three like her cutie mark.
While Rarity was elegant, Applejack was simple. A pair of off gray dusters with fringes lacing down the outside of the pant legs hung close- fit, but not snug against her lower half. An orange long sleeved button down shirt was tucked into the rim of the pants, sleeves unbuttoned and rolled up just above her elbows. Half the shirt was unbuttoned, a plain white t-shirt showed from beneath. Her trade mark cowboy hat was altered just slightly with a big red apple pin in the middle as it rested back against her head, allowing her golden yellow bangs to fall out and frame her face.
“Yes, I do apologize Twilight. I had a rather difficult time getting here through all the customers from my store.” Rarity followed up Applejacks explanation as she took a seat at the table they had all gathered around, legs crossed daintily. Twilight frowned slightly as she heard from Rarity and Applejack. “Girls, I’m sorry. I knew that you were all so busy, I would of rescheduled for a different time.” Rarity shook her head in disagreement. “Nonsense!, with all that raucous outside, and then the letter from dear Spike, I knew that I had to come over as soon as I could. Besides, I have employees that can handle the business for awhile while I’m out.” She paused, muttering slightly to herself, royal blue eyes shifting slowly to the right while thinking back on how much energy it took her, and all the mishaps she dealt with while teaching the newer employees. “I hope..”
“Well, I suppose so.” Twilight responded, not thoroughly convinced, but went along with it anyway, for their sake. “Since everypony is here, lets catch up on what’s been going on.” Twilight made her way over to the table that they were all gathered around, while doing a quick head count. ‘Lets see, there’s Applejack, Pinkie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash, and Fluttershy. Right, everyone’s here-‘ Though after her eyes rested on thin air did she realize that Fluttershy was indeed missing. A surge of worry rose into her chest. It had only been around an hour since the mysterious white flash of light, and the yellow Pegasus would have been here by now. She wasn’t normally late. Twilight spoke up. “Uh, girls where’s Fluttershy?”
All of them looked around the room quickly to confirm that Fluttershy was not among them, instead of having just slipped in unnoticed due to her quiet nature. “I thought that she was with you Rainbow Dash.” Applejack spoke, green eyes resting on the Pegasus in question. “Me? I haven’t seen her at all lately! I’m not some baby sitter. I have had enough of that up at Cloudsdale helping train the new air force. Besides-“ Dash waved her hand in a dismissive manner, leaning back in mid air, then folding her arms behind her head with her wings flapping lazily keeping her aloft. “She’s probably tending to her animals right now and hasn’t gotten the letter yet.” Applejack’s expression turned to one of puzzlement. “Letter?, what letter? Ah just made mah’ way over here after that there flash.”
“My point exactly.” Dash replied. Taking it as some sort of insult, Applejack stood -drawing herself up to her full height, while sticking out her chest and shoulders to make herself look bigger. “And what jus’ do you mean by that?” Applejack accused, making to stomp her way toward the blue Pegasus. Dash just rolled her eyes. “I didn’t mean anything about it. I was just saying-“ Dash stressed the point which further irritated Applejack. “That some of us didn’t get the letter that Twilight sent to have us meet up here at the library, and that Fluttershy, like you Applejack, didn’t get the message.”
Pinkie was quiet for once, her attention on Gummy while Rarity pretended to fuss over a split end. They both knew it was better to stay out of the arguments that the earth pony and the Pegasus found themselves in. Applejack made to open her mouth to say something, but Twilight cut her off, her voice flustered but at the same time holding an edge of seriousness. “Girls, this is no time to be fighting!” Twilight exclaimed before things got physical between the two. Applejack and Rainbow Dash both looked at each other, their eyes widening just slightly in realization that Twilight was right, and then down in the ground in shame as the purple mare continued on. “Fluttershy could be in danger, or hurt! In fact-“
“I’m right here.” A soft and gentle voice said, yet just loud enough to be heard over Twilight. “-Right, she’s right there.” Twilight replied with a curt nod of satisfaction before shaking her head in a double take, turning to face Fluttershy with the rest of her friends, the argument forgotten. Fluttershy stood there in the doorway of the library, arms folded together in front. “Oh dear, I hope that your not arguing because of me. I’m so sorry..” Fluttershy continued, greenish blue orbs sadly downcast as they stared at the floor. Her normally long and slightly wavy ankle length soft pink hair tussled up into disarray; stray strands of hair sticking out either which way with berries, leaves, and twigs with some leaves still on them, which had entangled themselves within. Her yellow sun dress was ruffled and smudged with dirt, a tear here and there along the hem of the dress where the bushes branches snagged onto her and refused to let go.
“Land sakes, sugar-cube! You look a lot like me when I got caught up in tumbleweed at Appleloosa! What happened to you?” Fluttershy stood there for a moment, still looking down at the floor, her hair covering one side of her face which made it easier to hide from all the questioning eyes. “Well..I-um-you see-“ She began, her voice softening even more and all those present in the library leaned a bit forward to hear what she had to say due to her soft voice, and of the suspense. In turn she shrunk away, trying to make herself as small as possible. “I got scared.” She mumbled out. It took a moment before Twilight offered a soft smile at her meek friend. “Could you say that a bit louder? I don’t think everyone heard you, Fluttershy.” The yellow Pegasus squeaked slightly and then a bit reluctantly. “I-um- I got scared, by this flash, and you see I -uh-hid in a bush.”
“Oh, is that all!?” Pinkie exclaimed, while Dash just face palmed. “Well, I am just glad that you are okay Fluttershy.” Twilight replied, giving her another smile to try and calm the easily startled Pegasus. “But you have to remember that you aren’t as little as you were in your four legged form, so you can’t just go running head long into bushes and not expect to be caught up in them. But again, thank you for bringing that up Fluttershy. The reason why we are all meeting here this afternoon is because of that flash over Equestria. We don’t know what it was, and it could be some sort of emergency.”
“I’ll say that it’s an emergency all right!” Rarity almost shouted. “It’s a fashion emergency! Fluttershy darling, look at your hair, and your dress!” The white unicorn fussed and tisked slightly, like a school master disappointed in a pupil. Fluttershy looked taken aback in the way which Rarity spoke as she approached her. “Oh- oh my, its nothing. You don’t have to worry about me.” She eked out. “Nonsense! I, Rarity, will have you looking manufique by the end of the day!” Rarities horn glowed a slight pinkish color as a brush appeared and took form out of the magical energy, before getting to work on Fluttershy’s hair. Fluttershy just whimpered slightly, and gave up. There was nothing to change Rarities mind when she started on a task. She spoke gently once Rarity started combing through her hair and picking out the foreign objects lodged in her mane.
As Rarity fussed over Fluttershy’s mane, Applejack turned to regard Rainbow Dash who was currently still floating lazily in the air with her back turned toward her. Frowning, she was the first to speak up. “Mighty sorry Rainbow, ah’ guess the stress has jus’ been getting to me lately. Didn’t mean to snap at you like that, after all this is the first time in a long while that all six of us have been together like this.”
“Likewise.” Rainbow responded after a long moment, her words mixed with a sigh. “And your right, although working with the wonderbolts is awesome, it doesn’t give me much time to do anything even more. Not even stretching out my wings and going for a solo flight. But yea, no hard feelings.”
“Please don’t do anything with my hair or my dress. I like it the way it is.” Rarity looked up from the work on the long pink strands of hair and Fluttershy blushed as she realized her mistake. She had spoken too soon. “I mean, if that’s okay with you…” Fluttershy trailed off. Rarity smiled kindheartedly at Fluttershy. “If that’s the way you want it, then I won’t change a thing! Now, as you were saying Twilight?” Rarity turned the attention back on the mare in question, whom sighed after Rarities outburst. “Right, as I was saying, I called everyone here after that flash that every pony experienced today. No pony knows where it came from right? Did some pony see what happened besides Pinkie?” Each of them recanted the same story, going along their daily business before the flash interrupted everything and caused them to stop in confusion. “Okay, so Pinkie was the only one so far whom seen those separate different colors after the flash. Since every pony is here now, why don’t you tell us exactly what you saw again. ”
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He coughed, his vision wavering in and out like he looking upon the scene from underwater. Thick noxious black smoke burned at the back of his throat and lungs from the wreckage around him. It stung at his eyes and caused them to water, thus creating the odd vision that he was experiencing. He fumbled around for a bit in the darkness, gloved hands feeling about familiar buttons, knobs and switches, before finally finding what he was looking for. As he felt at it, the picture came to him in his mind. It was a large see through hard plastic cover, made into a shallow box with black and yellow warning stripes around the edges. But what was important was what the plastic covering was protecting- a simple red button. Flipping open the case and pressing the button, a large hiss of pressurized air escaping from within his entrapment to the air outside and equalizing.
The ever grinning visage of the Egg Emperors head wobbled slightly back and forth like some unseen force was making it unstable, shaking it off the shoulders of the massive robot before the head just fell off with a loud echoing ‘clang’ revealing the inner controls of the egg mobile, and the coughing and sputtering doctor within. The hanger was in complete ruins, half of the massive structure caved in. Small fires burned in some places, still feeding off of the remains of the shuttle that exploded earlier which was causing the small chamber to be filled with smoke. ‘Future note to self: Do not mention that the Death Egg is powered by all seven chaos emeralds before delivering the final blow against your mortal enemy.’ The Doctors hands worked fast, fingers flicking and pressing switches in a smooth and practiced order, the once non responsive Egg Mobile’s blacked out control panel sputtering to life. The neon green and white heads up display flickered on and off, pulsing in the near darkness before solidifying.
Soot covered Eggmans face and even his large orange mustache, its ends more frizzled and flushed out then normal. The goggles on top of his head lay askew and the glasses that lay upon his rather large and hawkish nose were crooked, allowing the blood red pupil of his eye to be seen just slightly, before he readjusted the objects back to their original place. The shrill rising whine of gyros beginning to spin within the egg mobile rose to a higher pitch before becoming un-hearable all together as the anti gravity systems engaged, allowing the floating command chair to slowly raise into the air, parting itself from the ruined metal giant. It was slightly off kilter, leaning off almost dangerously to the left due to the massive damage it received. Puffs of black smoke pushed out the back of the Egg Mobile as the reflecting crystal within the center of the front of the craft glowed a hot green before a short blast of a laser shot out, melting the sealed door that separated the hanger to the rest of the Death Egg.
Even with the schematics of the large battle station in front of him, Eggman had a hard time getting to the main control room, and often had to ‘improvise’ in finding ways to get there. Hallways were caved in, corridors crushed, and other sections just completely gone, vaporized into molten metal. Eggman paused on his trek looking out from one of the large gaping holes. The rushing vacuum of space did not rush up to greet him, but instead barren wasteland of black, gray, and brown rock stretched out as far as the eye could see, in the distance old extinct volcanoes once again erupted with fury-caused by the Death Egg’s crash landing. “I hate that hedgehog”. The doctor muttered, and he couldn’t stress it enough. Perhaps it was a mixed blessing that the damned Sonic had vanished- disappeared in front of his own eyes before everything had exploded in a giant flash of white, which struck out from the hedgehog at its very center!
“Bah, it doesn’t matter. It might take some time, but once the Death Egg is back up to one hundred percent operational capacity, I will make sure that the hedgehog will dearly pay for his mistake.” There was no one else to reply to his remarks, only silence. Yet the doctor’s voice continued to drift down the ruined hallways as he plotted and schemed before arriving at his destination. The control room was thankfully still in once piece, as the doctor made sure to surround the very nerve center of the battle station with the hardest metals and alloys known to man in case such a event that had just happened did occur. The doors hissed and slid open as Eggman entered before sliding shut behind him. The massive amounts of screens flickered with data- both about the Death Egg itself, and the outside world.
A form of a much smaller man was already standing at the main controls and monitoring the situation. The elegant, green coat hugged his almost frail looking body. The coat sported two square metal buttons on both sides of the chest in gold with white stripes and yellow cuffs on the sleeves. White gloves also covered his hands, and a pair of black pants the matching boots seemingly attached to them, and bearing circular silver plates on the both sides of the ankles while three square ones riding up the shins. The man as also balled except for six strands of very long scraggily black hair. Blue eyes currently scanned the information in front of him while his face was set with a very long almost beak looking nose.
“Status report, Snively.” Eggman ordered, his Egg Mobile setting uneasily down upon its docking station on the floor and locked into place. As he stepped out of his floating command chair the floors around it opened up, metal tendrils and wires of all sorts of shapes and sizes slid out and quickly attached themselves. Small bugged sized robots skittered forth soon after, and small tiny sparks and whips of smoke floated in the air as the repair bots worked on the damaged systems to bring it back into working order. This scene happened all across the Death Egg, as larger repair bots, some sporting three legs on each side, almost beetle like pulled away debris to be recycled as other assortments of robots worked to return the fortress back to its former glory.
The smaller man jumped and turned around letting out a slight gasp of surprise. “Uncle- I mean Eggman sir, the situation as follows-“ The smaller frail man began, nervously stuttering. Snively had been currently distracted from his uncle’s arrival, trying to get into the most secret of data to gain an edge against his hated uncle. And for the most part, blessed his luck that Eggman didn’t seem to notice it. ‘Damn it. I was hoping the ‘good doctor’ had an unfortunate accident. After that explosion it certainty looked like it, but just like that blue one, he seems to always survive. It’s just so frustrating, dealing with all the humiliation you put me through!’ Snively bitterly thought. ‘Sooner or later, I will be the one to humiliate –you-‘ All the while however, the smaller man had kept up his cover as Eggman’s loyal lackey.
The thin longish looking fingers made Snively’s hands look almost claw like as they danced quickly across the command consul, the room silent besides the humming of the computers and the clicking of the keys on the keyboard. The screens flickered to life, bringing up the schematics of the Death Egg itself. Then on a second screen a rough yet blurry outline of the planets land masses and oceans appeared, taken during the space battle stations fall from the heavens. The first of the two pictures was enlarged, the schematics different colors ranging from green, fading into yellow, and then a blood red. Most of the Death Egg was cris-crossed with yellows and reds, greens present but very scarce.
“A-as you can see Sir, the Death Egg is severely damaged.” Snively’s comment was an understatement of the most epic proportions. One half of the egg shaped craft was completely crushed- flattened against the un-yielding surface of the planet. “Boosters are off line, destroyed. Turbo lifts, robot factories also destroyed. Main power plant is- well, there’s almost nothing left of that.“ Snively trembled slightly in fear, expecting a beating or at least a verbal tongue lashing from his Uncle. Eggman had always seemed to blame his failures on others, more so then often on his Nephew. “Most of what’s left is being run on emergency power from the power ring generator. I’ve selected the most important areas that should be repaired first to keep the power drain to minimal levels and prevent catastrophic failure to the rest of the systems from power surge.”
Snively could feel the hairs on the back of his neck stand upright as he could hear the distinctive sound of heavy breathing from behind. The mole like man tried to fight the urge to turn around as his uncle loomed behind him, white gloved fists clenched angrily at his sides. “And the Chaos Emeralds?” Eggman hissed through clenched teeth. “They are um- they’re gone. Most likely returned to places similar to their colors or their special zones.” Snively replied, his words rambled on together in fear as his uncle had heard enough of his explanations and lifted the smaller man by the collar of his shirt. Snively knew what was coming next- ‘he’s going to beat me again!’ Snively thought in dawning horror as he struggled to get out of the iron like grip that his uncle possessed.
“Ah! Uncle, wait!” He shrieked, flailing in Eggman’s grip. “Make it quick.” Eggman replied with a snarl. He was furious that once again his carefully laid plans had fallen through and it seemed that not even putting into the account of Sonic’s embodiment of Chaos was enough to put a stop to his medaling. “Sir, the primary scans of the planet has revealed that we are not on Mobius/Earth anymore. We are someplace completely different. The land masses and oceans don’t even match what are on the databases anymore and- ahh!” Snively shrieked as Eggman tossed his small nephew across the control room where he crumbled in a heap a short distance away. “That –is- some interesting news.” Eggman started, turning to regard his fallen nephew. “And for that it saved you from a much harsher punishment. Pick yourself up and after that release the spyders. We have work to do.”
The spyders were one of Eggman’s newer inventions. As the name suggested, it was a machine designed for recon and intelligence work. The machine was round and black in color, with eight legs for balance and speed. Each segmented metallic leg came out from the round metallic object that was the body. Three red sensor eyes were aligned in the front of the body, while small antenna dishes swiveled and turned to beam the images back, as well as receive orders. The whole of the small robot was black in color which allowed it to slip in and out of shadows easily. For areas that it couldn’t stick to the shadows it sported a mirage generator, which allowed it to actively cloak itself, bending the light around it to make it invisible. These were small, almost a size of a quarter with legs included. For long distance travel, a long thin strand of nano-fibers allowed it to catch the wind and currents, allowing it to be carried along.
The doctors heavily tinted glasses reflected the bluish green light in front of him as the monitors showed the little insect like robots being gathered and up swept off the death egg in long sweeping clouds of black, almost like thick smoke as they were blown to the far reaches of the planet. For now, Eggman waited, his thoughts turning on this new place he had found himself in, and the beginnings of a plan starting to form within his mind. There were new places and things to take over.
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The first thing his senses picked up was warmth. The steady flowing warmth that wrapped around his body and reminded him of a warm blanket on a cold winter’s day. His ear twitched, hearing the soft chirps and twittering of birds overhead as they flittered about and soared across the air currents without a care in the world. Slowly yet surely, green eyes slowly opened up to the world around him. Carefully he pulled himself up from a lying to a sitting position. “Ugh. My head, what happened?” He asked himself out loud, looking around to get his bearings straight. Around him was a large expanse of a field, in the distance rolling hills met towering snow capped mountains. The last thing he recalled was harnessing the power of the Chaos Emeralds to return the planet back to the way it was supposed to be before it ripped itself apart.
Afterwards he made his way to one of the large windows overlooking the planet and gazed downwards in a fondness he didn’t remember himself having for… well who exactly was that anyway? He shook his head slightly, as if trying to clear out cobwebs from his memory. “Well, you’d think that I’d still be on the Death Egg instead of the middle of nowhere.” He mused slightly. Though his aloof way of caring turned to that of alarm as everything flooded back. The Death Egg, Eggman, Tails- “Tails!” He shouted, bolting upright the way past cool hero Sonic The Hedgehog leapt to his feet. He raised his white gloved hand up to shield his eyes from the brightness of the sun to really get a good look around. Having traveled and been almost everywhere on Mobius/Earth, the mountain ranges in the distance didn’t really register with him. They were foreign and strange looking, with their rounded peaks.
“Man! First time I ever really felt myself lost-- never mind that. I have to find that kid! I hope Tails is okay.” Sonic felt himself growing worried for his younger twin tailed friend. Usually he could take care of himself, but every once and awhile his partner had found himself in trouble, and Sonic had to come and bail him out. However lately he had been maturing, and even was almost as fast as him. Sonic smiled at that, Tails was growing up. However the worry of his friend couldn’t really be shaken off all that easily. Sonic gave himself the leisure of a runners stretch, crouching and stretching out the right leg while the left was bent, and then the left while the right was bent. Satisfied, he returned to a standing position.
Sonic kicked off the grass below him, causing some of the blades to shoot up into the air behind him at the sudden start. The ground flashed below his feet as Sonic streaked forward, the blades of grass ‘floating’ in place where he just was. The world around him blurred into smudgy mixes of blues and greens as his legs pumped underneath him. He couldn’t help but let a grin split his face as the wind blew through his hairquills, ruffling them back and forth as he ran. For him this was freedom, the way to go anywhere. Pouring on the speed, the world blurred further, a slight cone of water vapor starting to materialize around him, the point forming just in front of his form, as if trying to hold him from going further.
Sonic’s grin just widened as the barrier strained and then broke, the vapor scattering around him in a circle as the sound barrier was broken, shattering his surroundings with a earth shattering boom. However, Sonic was going so fast that the sound that he had broken didn’t catch up to him. He was already out of the valley and the mountains were quickly approaching and looming above him. Keeping up the speed, Sonic started to run up the mountain’s face. The slow slope of the mountain quickly got steeper before it was a vertical drop. Feeling his momentum slowing slightly, Sonic sprung off the rocky cliff and tucked himself into a half flip, his feet finding purchase on a large rock outcropping.
Bending his knees, Sonic used the speed behind him to leap off the large boulder to another, and repeated the processes, shooting up the side of the mountain in a blue blur. Leaping off one of the last boulders that the mountain had, he tucked himself into a tight ball to continue the last of his momentum before launching up into the cold air of the mountains summit. Untucking himself out of the ball he landed feet first, and looked out onto the valley on the other side. ‘This proves to make a good vantage point’ Sonic thought, looking to the valley below him. In the distance he could see a small village, and what looked like a old ruined castle high above rested within the peaks of a large jagged mountain. “Huh. Never noticed that place before. I wonder where the heck I am.”
-End of Chapter 1-