Twilight Then, Twilight now

by Paradise Oasis


chapter 5

FIVE

Then….

Dear Princess Celestia,

I write to you now under the most urgent of circumstances. Much as our beloved kingdom of Equestria has been previously threatened by the returning menaces of Nightmare Moon and Discord, so I now believe a new threat now brings us to the precipice of disaster. My friends and I received a vision of another time deep within the everfree forest... a place where your and your sister's magic still runs strong. This vision, when tied with a reading from the great Equestrian book of prophecy (the page number enclosed beneath my letter) , is warning doom for the entire nation. It is my personal opinion that this matter needs your immediate attention.

Your Student,

Twilight Sparkle

After reading Twilight Sparkle's letter, and looking up the indicated prophecy, the normally serene and calm Princess Celestia began to worry. Twilight was rarely wrong about these things, and the solar princess's instincts were telling her something was indeed about to go wrong. But what was the source of this new danger? She could think of no other ancient enemy she had sealed away who was in danger of returning, and few foes outside of equestria possessed the power to be such a threat.

No, she thought to herself, this menace must come from within the kingdom, and from the present day. And there was only one place she could think of that dangerous and experimental magic was being developed and used... magical experimentation that she herself had forbidden at her own magical academy. Only one pony was supporting this 'innovative' spell work.

"Princess Luna" Celestia muttered under her breath.

...

After receiving a response from the princess, Twilight Sparkle went about gathering her five friends. They met at her library, coming as soon as they heard Princess Celestia had a mission for them.

"Thank you for coming so quickly, girls." Twilight Sparkle told them. "The Princess is counting on us to help prevent this potential crisis."

"So what's the problem this time, Twilight?" Pinky Pie asked enthusiastically. "Dragons in Fillydelphia? Pony Zombies in Trottingham?"

"Does this have to do with the visions we saw in the Everfree forest, Twi?" Applejack asked cautiously.

"Indeed it does." Twilight Sparkle replied. "The princess had reason to believe these dire warnings may be related to one of princess Luna's royal projects she's doing on the side, and she wants the five of us to investigate."

"But wait a sec." Rainbow Dash interjected. "Didn't we turn Luna good during that whole 'Nightmare Moon' thing? Why does the Princess think it's her sister again?"

"Luna may mean well, Dash." Twilight shook her head. "But her experimentation with magic could have more dangerous consequences than even she realizes."

"Where exactly will we be going to investigate Luna's work, darling?" Rarity asked curiously.

"To the city of Tambleon." Twilight replied, opening up a map, and pointing to a city. "It's where Luna has a secret academy, where her mages work on all sorts of spells and projects for her."

"Tambleon, is it?" Rarity asked. "If we're going that far north, I'll need to find a fashionable scarf to wear."

"All right!" Rainbow Dash exclaimed excitedly. "Another chance to Save Equestria from the bad guys!"

"All right! I've heard their are some really cool party spots in Tambleon!" Pinkie yelled excitedly. "This is going to be so much fun!"

At that moment, Applejack noticed Fluttershy was sitting over in the corner, looking around fearfully.

"Y'all right, sugar cube?" AJ asked the frightened Pegasus. "You don't look so well."

"I-I'm scared, Applejack." Fluttershy replied meekly. "I don't like ghosts, and if this has anything to do with those spooks we saw in the forest..."

"Don't worry yerself none." The orange earth pony replied reassuringly. "Ah don't think we'll run into anymore spooks on this adventure."

She left out her silent fear that they might run into things far worse than ghosts...

"Ok Girls, let's meet at the edge of Town in an hour." Twilight told them. "Then we're off to Tambleon!"

...

Now...

"You ladies would not believe the progress we've been making here."

As they descended into the Equestria valley, Twilight and her friends were guided by Galaxy, the twinkle-eyed pony who was Dream Valley's astronomer. She continued to ramble on and on about what they had found in the dig during the past few months. It wasn't long before they reached the valley floor, and not long after that they came to the first dig site. There, a blue Pegasus with pink hair was at the edge of one of the Pits, inspecting the artifacts meticulously.

"Wind Whistler!" Glory yelled in greeting. "We're so glad to see you!"

"Ah, hello my fellow mares." Wind Whistler replied, looking up. "I am pleased to gaze upon your countenances once more, as I am pleased that your life experiences have kept you safe from unnecessary harm."

"What did she say?" Glory asked, confused.

"She said she's happy to see us." Bow Tie replied.

"Oh." Glory nodded.

"Please, come this way." Wind Whistler flew down into the pit. "This was the site of an agricultural production center where they grew produce for trade and sale. This particular spot was the site of a storage facility for bovines, who would produce the liquid dairy confections the Equestrian Ponies who lived here would sell at market."

"Huh?" Glory asked, confused again.

"This was the site of a farm in the Equestrian age." Bow Tie explained. "And this pit was where the barn where they kept the cows, who they got milk from."

"Oh." Glory replied. "Well why didn't she just say so?"

Turning away from the others, Twilight noticed Applejack off by herself, looking over the whole farm site. As she drew close, The pink Unicorn noticed AJ's eyes were tearing up.

"Applejack, are you all right?" Twilight asked. "You look like you're about to cry."

"Sweet Apple Acres." Applejack replied softly. "That's what this place was called."

"Why Applejack, that's entirely correct!" Wind Whistler replied, flying up next to the two other ponies. "We discovered a petrified sign buried in the soil with that very name on it. But how could you possibly know that?"

Applejack said nothing, and simply stared. She could almost picture a barn where the one pit was now, and a house where the second larger pit was, father away. She could see rows and rows of Apple trees, lovingly cared for by the Apple Family, who had once lived here. This had been a home, a place to be passed from generation to generation, keeping the Apple family tradition alive.

Now, not a single apple tree grew anywhere on the landscape, and the nutrients in the soil were long since worn out. Having been abandoned by the apple family when the dark times began, nothing but weeds had grown here since the fall of Equestria five hundred years ago.

This place had once been the prize jewel of the Apple family.

Now, it was nothing but a few dirty holes in the ground.

Soon Galaxy came trotting up. "Oh! We also found the remains of a cemetery near here, on the farm property! We excavated the graves of an old mare, a large stallion, and the grave of another mare who died probably fifty years after the first one."

"You did WHAT!" Applejack screamed, turning pale. Twilight swore her friend looked like she was about to explode.

"We excavated some long forgotten graves on an archeological site." Wind Whistler replied logically, looking over at the tarp the bones and other artifacts were laid out on. "These ponies have been dead for over a thousand years, what pony alive could possibly have know them?"

"Is nothing sacred to the Ponies of this darkened age?" Applejack cried, tears streaming down her face.

"We are treating these remains with the greatest respect." Galaxy replied defensively. "And when our research is completed, we will respectfully re-bury them with full reverence."

But Applejack had already trotted off, sobbing to herself.

"Don't worry, you girls go ahead." Bow Tie sighed. "I'll see what's bothering her."

"Please, come with me." Wind Whistler beckoned to the others. "We made the most exciting finds in the town ahead."

As they trotted towards the Ponyville ruins, Twilight almost felt like something... calling to her, beckoning her towards the town. She stopped, staring into space as a strange feeling enveloped her.

"Twilight, what is it?" Firefly asked, landing next to her. "Is something wrong?"

"Something in the ruins ahead." The Pink unicorn replied. "Calling to me..."

"I'm not exceptionally surprised to hear you say that..." Wind Whistler replied ominously. "Considering what we found in one of the excavation pits."

"Whistler, is they're something you're not telling us?" Medley asked in a worried tone.

Galaxy shook her mane. "It would be easier to show you rather than tell you."

"Then lead on." Twilight replied.

Galaxy nodded, and the five ponies walked on towards the town.