Twilight Sparkle was not a pony for doing things at the last minute. After all, for her exam to go into magic school, she had been walking out the door when her magic activated and she completed the test. Though she had successfully hatched the dragon egg, she had also done a lot of other crazy things until Princess Celestia herself came, and she stopped the excess magic.
After that, Princess Celestia had made Twilight her own personal prodigy, and also had her take care of the baby dragon she had hatched (she named him Spike). Though his egg had been purple, he ended up being light green with dark green spikes, but it didn't really matter. Judging what color he was going to be after hatching was like judging a book by it's cover.
To say that Twilight had only one close call at something such as her cutie mark would be very wrong. There had been many other close calls (or as Princess Celestia called them, "close Twilights"; Twilight didn't find this amusing) such as the time she had nearly been hit by a chariot because she was reading. Her hoof still got banged, though.
Today, Twilight was studying some history, including an interesting legend about the Mare in the Moon. The legend said that on the longest day of the thousandth year, the stars would aid in her escape, and she would return. There was also information that she was originally a "good pony" and that she was the first, and only, pony to go into outer space.
"Spike!" called Twilight calmly, "I require you to assist me in writing me a letter!"
Spike came to Twilight's side quickly with parchment and quill in his claws.
"To Princess Celestia, I assume?" he asked politely.
"Correct. Ahem, Dear Princess Celestia, I have just read about the legend of the Mare in the Moon, which claims that she would return on the longest day of the thousandth year. According to my calculations, that would be on the Summer Sun Celebration, which will be happening soon in the town of Ponyville. I believe that when she returns, still will try and attack you or harm you during the celebration. If this is true, then I wish to go to Ponyville to oversee the preparation of the Celebration, as well as find a way to stop the Mare in Moon when she returns. Sincerely, Twilight Sparkle."
Spike rolled up the scroll and breathed green fire on it, transporting it to Princess Celestia. Within just a few moments, he breathed golden fire, and another scroll materialized from the fire.
"Well, that was a quick reply. Could you please read me the letter?"
"Sure thing, Twilight. To my faithful student, Twilight Sparkle, Though the legend you speak of is quite silly, I will still allow you to go and oversee the Summer Sun Celebration preparations in Ponyville. I will be sending you a list shortly, as well as a chariot to take you to Ponyville. Sincerely, Princess Celestia."
"Silly? This is definitely not a laughing matter! Well, when I stop the Mare in the Moon, perhaps I can tell Princess Celestia 'I told you so'."
Both Twilight and Spike laughed at this.
"Okay, I would never say that to her!" said Twilight, "Anyways, I'm going to just grab some books to bring with me."
"I would also suggest you brush your mane," said Spike, "It's a bit of a mess."
Glancing in a mirror, Twilight saw that her dark purple mane was a bit tangled, and she quickly pulled a brush through it. She then grabbed a few books, including the book with the legend, and went outside with Spike to wait for the chariot, and Princess Celestia's list of what they needed to check on.
"The preparations we need to check on is the food, the weather, the decorations, and the music." said Spike, holding on tightly to the letter Princess Celestia had just sent so it wouldn't blow away in the air.
"Is that all we need to do?" asked Twilight.
"No, there's one more note at the bottom. Make some friends."
"Make friends? Well, I guess if Princess Celestia thinks it's what I should do..."
The chariot landed and Twilight stepped off with Spike on her back.
"Thank you for flying us here." said Twilight to the royal guards, who gave her a nod before taking off again, "Spike, where do we need to go to check on the food preparations?"
"Sweet Apple Acres." he replied, glancing at the note.
Twilight glanced around until she noticed an Earth pony with a pink coat and mane standing nearby.
"I think I'll ask her where that's located." said Twilight walking over and lightly tapping the pony's shoulder, "Excuse me."
The pony turned around in a bounce, with a grin on her face.
"Hiya!" she said in a peppy voice, "My name is Pinkie Pie! What's your name? Ooh! Are you new to town? Have you moved to Ponyville? Where are you moving to?"
"Slow down!" said Twilight, surprised by the rush of words, "My name is Twilight Sparkle, and I'm here to oversee the preparations of the Summer Sun Celebration. And no, I'm not moving to Ponyville. I just need to know where Sweet Apple Acres is located."
"So you're checking on the food?"
"Yes."
"Are you going to see Applejack?"
Twilight glanced towards Spike, who gave her a nod in response.
"It seems like we are."
"But she's not at Sweet Apple Acres right now!"
"Oh, where is she?"
"She's at Fluttershy's house! Follow me!"
Pinkie started bouncing down the road, with Twilight and Spike following her.
"Hey, Twilight?" asked Spike.
"Yes, Spike?"
"The list also says that you're meeting a pony named Fluttershy, who should be working on the music."
"Huh, that's somewhat odd. Who else are we supposed to meet with?"
"Besides Applejack and Fluttershy, Rarity and Rainbow Dash. Rarity is working on the decorations, and Rainbow Dash is working on the weather."
"Did you say 'Rainbow Dash'?" asked Pinkie, turning around and bouncing backwards.
"Yes, why?" asked Twilight.
"Do you know her? Are you her friends? Do you know where's she from? How do you know her?"
"I don't know her, it just says that I need to meet with her on my list. She's the weather manager?"
"You have a funny list! Rainbow Dash only showed up in town a few days ago! Applejack found her in her orchard, and brought her to the hospital because she was ice cold! And then Fluttershy visited her because she knew who she was, but Rainbow Dash only kinda knew her! And then I threw her a 'Welcome to Ponyville Party'! And she's at Fluttershy's house right now! And so is Rarity!"
"How do you even know all of that?"
"Duh! Rarity is standing right in front of the door!"
Twilight looked around Pinkie to see a white unicorn with an indigo mane standing in front of a small cottage with animals around it.
"Hi, Rarity!" said Pinkie, bouncing in front of her, "I brought a new friend with me because she wanted to see Applejack! What are you doing her?"
Disregarding Pinkie's second question, Rarity turned towards Twilight and Spike.
"Why hello, darling," said Rarity in an odd accent, "My name is Rarity, what is your name?"
"My name is Twilight Sparkle. Princess Celestia sent me here to oversee the Summer Sun Celebrations."
"Princess Celestia?"
"Yes, I'm her personal student."
"So... You're from Canterlot?"
"Yes-"
"OOOH!!!"
Twilight stepped back in surprise as Rarity squealed with glee.
"You're from Canterlot! My goodness! And you're in reference with the Princess!"
"Er..."
"I've always wanted a boutique in Canterlot!"
"Then why not buy one?"
"Not enough money, darling! And even if I did, I wouldn't be popular or well known!"
Twilight stayed silent as Rarity rambled on about fashion and popularity. She knocked lightly on the door, and then waited, trying to block out Rarity's (and Pinkie's) chatter.
"Just a second!" called a voice with a strong accent, followed by a few crashes, "Mah bad!"
The door opened to reveal an Earth pony with an orange coat, blonde mane, and a stetson hat.
"Sorry 'bout that," she said, "Ah'm not familiar with Fluttershy's house that much."
"Are you Applejack?" asked Twilight stepping forward.
"Yes, Ah am! Who are you?"
"Twilight Sparkle. I'm here to oversee preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. I was going to see you to check on the food."
"Oh! Ah nearly forgot about makin' sure that the food was bein' prepped nicely! Ah've been preoccupied with helpin' out Fluttershy!"
"With what?" asked Rarity.
"Takin' care of her animals, as she's been so busy takin' care of Rainbow Dash."
"Hold up!" said Spike, surprising Rarity and Applejack who hadn't noticed him, "Is everypony that we need to meet with here right now?"
"I think so," said Twilight, "Do you think I could speak with Fluttershy and Rainbow Dash?"
"Ah don't see why not!"
Rarity and Spike glanced towards each other as the three ponies (and one dragon) walked into house. Both of them turned away, each with slight blush on their cheeks.
"Fluttershy!" called Applejack softly, "There's a pony here to check on the music for the Summer Sun Celebration!"
Rainbow Dash anxiously flipped through her book again, stopping at a bookmarked page. She had been looking through as many books as possible since she had returned to Equestria, but had found scarce information about Nightmare Moon. It didn't help that Fluttershy wasn't letting her wander farther than the edges of her cottage.
"Longest day of the thousandth year... Longest day of the thousandth year..." she muttered to herself, "Thousandth year of what? Is it the thousandth year since she was banished to the moon? Or is it the thousandth year since something completely random and obscure?"
"Rainbow Dash?" asked Fluttershy, peeking into Rainbow's temporary room, "Are you doing okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine..." she trailed off in thought.
"It's just that you, um, have been acting kind of weird. I mean, not in a bad way! But, it's just that I remember you being more of an athlete who was mostly concerned about flying... And..."
"And what?" Rainbow looked up from her book.
"You know, you going on about how you had traveled through time..."
"I did travel through time! I just haven't figured out how it happened, yet!"
"Sorry if I upset you..."
"It's okay. I've just been trying to figure something out. Also, thanks for letting me stay with you while I try to get a place of my own."
"It's no trouble, I let plenty of my animal friends stay here, so of course I could also let one of my pony friends stay here, too. Plus, it's the least I could do for you standing up for me in Flight School."
"You know, whenever you mention Flight School, I suddenly picture a unicorn, an alicorn, and a dragon in the sky. I have no idea why, though..."
"I'm just going to get you some leek soup, okay?"
"Thanks, Fluttershy."
Fluttershy pulled her head back out of the doorway, lightly shutting the door behind her. Rainbow turned back to her book, and continued to mull over what day Princess Luna would return as Nightmare Moon. On the moon, she had said that she would return soon, but how soon? She had been on the moon for over nine hundred years, so for her, a year would qualify as soon.
"Why couldn't you have told me what day you'd come back on? Did you not know? Were you not sure? Come on, Luna! You could have given me something to work with!"
"Fluttershy!" Rainbow started at hearing Applejack's voice, "There's a pony here to check on the music for the Summer Sun Celebration!"
"Summer Sun Celebration?" muttered Rainbow, "I think I heard Fluttershy mention that she was practicing with her birds for that... Wait... Summer Sun Celebration?" she quickly picked up another book she had and flipped through it, "The Summer Sun Celebration is a celebration in which Princess Celestia publicly lowers the moon, and raises the sun for the entire day. It is the longest day of the year, and is celebrated each year in a different location that the previous year. The longest day! And it's coming up soon enough! This has to be when the stars will aid in her escape!"
"Um, Rainbow?" asked Fluttershy, poking her head in again, "There's a pony here to see you..."
"Wait, what?"
"She said something about the weather and her list..."
"Uh, okay!"
Rainbow neatly placed her book back down and flew past Fluttershy to see whoever this pony was. She noticed that there were quite a few ponies in Fluttershy's house; Applejack, Pinkie Pie, a white unicorn (wasn't her name "Rarity"?), a purple unicorn, and a green dragon.
"Hello," said the purple unicorn, "My name is Twilight Sparkle. I'm assuming that you're Rainbow Dash?"
"Yeah..." why was this unicorn and that dragon so familiar?
"I was sent here by Princess Celestia to check on the preparations for the Summer Sun Celebration. According to the list she delivered to me, you're the weather manager for Ponyville."
"Weather manager? I don't even have a job yet! I only came to Ponyville a little bit ago!"
"How long ago did you move to Ponyville?"
"Well, I wouldn't say that I moved here-"
"More like mysteriously arrived..." muttered Applejack.
"But I did come here around three days ago." finished Rainbow, choosing to ignore Applejack.
"Three days ago?" asked Twilight, "If you've only been here for three days, why would Princess Celestia believe that you were the weather manager? Or even lived in Ponyville? Something's not right, here..."
"You're telling me! I can barely even remember anything from before I went into space!"
"You went into space?!?" asked everypony, staring at Rainbow.
"Uh, yeah..."
"How did you get into space?" asked Twilight, "Only Nightmare Moon has gone into space!"
"I flew. Duh."
"That's not possible! Unless you used a machine, maybe. Did you use a machine?"
"No, I just made a space suit and flew up using my wings."
"But that is physically impossible! You could only get somewhere if you go fast enough, not if you just go up!"
"Wait, what?"
"And every time you flapped your wings, you should have gone nowhere! If you pushed your wings backwards and forwards, since you had no air, those actions would have cancelled each other out and you should have gone nowhere! The only way you could have done this was with magic! And I'm sure that only an alicorn or extremely skilled unicorn could have preformed a spell to make you negate physics!"
"Alicorn? Wait, an alicorn! That's why you're so familiar!"
"Sorry, what?"
"And the dragon was there, too! And that's where I met Fluttershy!"
"Rainbow, you're not making any sense..." said Fluttershy softly.
"That unicorn! She's not here, is she?"
"Darling, could you slow down and explain what you're talking about?" asked Rarity.
"That explains everything!" finished Rainbow triumphantly.
"Could ya explain why everything makes sense now?" asked Applejack.
"And how you went into space?" asked Twilight.
"And where you've been all these years?" asked Fluttershy.
"Oh, yeah!" said Rainbow, "You guys have no idea what I'm thinking! Sorry! Okay, so it all started when I was a filly in Flight School, and I had been defending Fluttershy from some bullies..."
