On Ashes

by Temp001

Chapter 00 - Reunion (Prologue)

Chapter Zero – Reunion (Prologue) / by Libritium

Twilight Sparkle was pacing in her library in Ponyville, very nervous because of a talk she had a day prior with her former mentor - princess Celestia, who had tasked Twilight with her first assignment as a princess - to investigate the Everfree forest, more specifically, the ruins of the royal sister’s castle.
The next day she wrote to her friends to meet her in Ponyville’s library and she flew there herself with Spike on her back and a few things she packed in her saddlebags to take with her.

After her coronation the princesses, Celestia and Luna asked Twilight what gift she would like to receive from them for her accomplishment. The only thing she asked for was the library in Ponyville, a place she loved with all her heart, a place that reminded her of all the years she spent with her friends when she lived there, she couldn’t give up on it and they agreed. She always considered the library to be hers, but now it was official, they even renamed the place from “Golden Oaks Library” to “Sparkle Library”, though she slightly disagreed being used to the old name.

In all the time that she was missing Twilight still kept good contacts with her friends via post mail on regular basis and now they were late to meet her return.

“They’ll be here soon Twilight,” said Spike – a mulberry dragon with green spikes. Her temper has started to anger him. “That’s what happens when you send a letter saying: ‘Meet me in a few hours in the library’. You don’t expect them to ignore a royal princess summon command, after all” he added with a smirk.

“Very funny Spike,” she shot at him. “You’re so-“

“Private Rainbow Dash answering your summon princess Sparkle!” a cyan Pegasus pony with a rainbow mane and tail broke into the library, and stood in attention facing her. “What will be you orders, princess?”

They stared into each other, while Twilight was surprised to the level of speech-loss; Rainbow had a concentrated emotionless expression with her eyes looking at Twilight. Then, after a few seconds, Rainbow Dash couldn’t hold herself any longer and bursted into laughter barely having enough air to fill her lungs with.
Twilight released a breath she hadn't noticed she was holding.
Rainbow always loved to prank other ponies but this time she really got her. The only time she saw Rainbow laughing that hard was when she and Applejack heard that Twilight was participating in the “Running of the Leaves”. She allowed herself to chuckle a bit both from relief and Rainbow’s addicting laughing.

Spike joined in soon after Twilight but they were shortly interrupted by a knock on the door of the library.
Spike jumped to open the door to allow Rarity, a white unicorn pony with a stylish indigo mane and tail, enter the library. “Oh, I’m so happy to see you again Twilight, how are things back in Canterlot?”

“I’m too happy to see you Rarity. And nothing really changed since my last letter,” Twilight answered. “I see, Hello to you too my Spiky-wiky and to you Dash.”

“Hi Rare, what’s up?”

“The usual,” said Rarity before she received a warm hug from Spike.

“Oh Spike you’ll choke me in this rate!” she murmured.

“Sorry, I just missed you so much these past few weeks,” he said releasing Rarity. “Me too Spike.”

Another knock, this time Twilight opened the door with her magic. Two ponies entered the room: An orange earth pony with a yellow hair color and a yellow pegasus with a pink mane and tail. “Hi Twilight, we’re sorry we are late, I hope you’re not mad at us,” said the yellow pegasus. “Not at all Fluttershy, come right in, I’m very happy to see you two again.”

“Me to Twi, how are you doin’?” the orange earth pony entered the room greeting all the present ponies with a nod. “Fine Applejack, do you know where’s Pinkie-”

“HERE I AM!” a pink mass jumped on Twilight from nowhere and wrapped Twilight in a hug. Then Pinkie popped out a present, again, from nowhere and hanged it to Twilight. Twilight took it in her magic and opened it to discovered a cake with a “welcome back!” written on it. “Thank you Pinkie Pie, you really shouldn’t-“ The pink earth pony interrupted her again, “Oh Twilight, when you wrote that you wanted to meet us all again in your library I wanted to do a welcome-back party but then, you wrote that you don’t want one so the least I could do is make a welcome-back cake, so here it is! Do you like it?”

“Yes Pinkie. Thank you,” Twilight answered, “that’s really nice. Spike please, can you arrange us a tea table?”

“Yes Twilight, right away.” He ran to the kitchen.

When the tea was ready and the cake was cut Twilight and all of her friends took their seats around the table and Twilight filled each cup of her friends with tea using her magic. “So, you told us in your letter that Princess Celestia tasked you with an important mission or something like that,” said Rainbow after a few sips and pieces of cake.

“I know, I wasn’t quite big on details,” started Twilight. “She asked me to investigate the old ruins of the royal pony sisters castle, you know, the place where we first found the Elements of Harmony as stone spheres,” -everypony nodded- “so she want me to investigate the place and make sure it’s completely empty. We already found the Elements of Harmony, so who knows what other thing the princesses might’ve left there.”

“Wait, wait, wait! Wasn’t it hers castle?” Rainbow interrupted her. “She must’ve know what she left behind to just lie there! And by the way, how the hay she left the Elements of Harmony, the most powerful weapon known to Equestria to just lie there?”

“You don’t understand, Rainbow,” Twilight looked at her, “the princess was hiding it in the forest, keeping it safe there, everypony knows how dangerous the forest is so they wouldn’t go there, it makes for a good protection. Actually, the history of this castle is very interesting, when I asked Celestia about it; she told me that this place is very ancient; she claims that she and Luna build it themselves to live there, far from the main civilizations until the first Discord incident, then they had to abandon it in order to rule the ponies from a less remote location, so they moved to Canterlot. They decided to leave the Elements there in hope that they’ll never have to use them again. She told me that once it was a beautiful castle, she and Luna were able to take care of it by themselves because it wasn’t that big but now the place is just an old ruins.”

“And what about the creatures that live in the forest?” asked Fluttershy.

“The castle is on a remote island high in the mountains, we had to pass a broken bridge if you remember. Every other creature that could reach them like manticores soon learned to keep out of the castle; those are goddesses we are talking about. Even today they don’t dare to get near it,” Twilight answered her.

“It’s very interestin’ and all, but where is the part where we come in?” asked Applejack. “Ah mean, she asked you to investigate, how are we related to it?”

“Actually, you don’t have to come. I just thought that it’ll be a nice opportunity for us to go on another nice, calm and not dangerous trip together,” said Twilight with a friendly smile on her face.

“But darling, since when does the Everfree Forest considered as a nice and not so dangerous place?” all heads nodded in agreement with Rarity.

“Well, since I’m an alicorn princess,” Twilight replied with a chuckle. “Celestia taught me a few offensive spells and fighting techniques so I’m pretty confident to vouch for your safety.”

The room fell silent for a few moments while the ponies were thinking about the opportunity and finishing their portions of the cake. Twilight really was tasked with a mission she could take by herself, even without Spike, but she missed her friends so much that she decided to invite them to join her.

“I vote for the adventure.” Twilight believed her ears to impertinently deceive her because those words couldn’t have come from the direction she thought they did, but this thought had vanished as all the present slowly turned their surprised faces toward Fluttershy. She blushed and turned her head away.

Now, all of them were forced to agree to the adventure.

“So we have an adventure,” said Rainbow.

“Count me in!” – Applejack.

“Me too!” – Pinkie Pie.

“I suppose I can make a good enough window in my orders, so yes, I agree!” – Rarity.

“And mah brother can handle the farm by himself for a couple of days, and… Ah didn’t had a decent vocation in a while,” – Applejack.

“If I leave enough food for my animals, they’ll manage alone just fine. For a few days. I hope,” – Fluttershy.

Only now they noticed that they sat there for a couple of hours and that it was night already.

“We’ll meet here tomorrow in 6 o’clock,” said Twilight. “Now go home and prepare for a 5-days-top trip, we are heading out tomorrow.

They all said their goodnights and everypony went to her home. Twilight was left only with Spike and they started to clean the table.
One thought bothered Twilight though, deep inside her she thought that her friends agreed to join her only because of her royal status and it disgusted her. She hasn’t shared her concerns with Spike, only wished him a good night when they finished cleaning and went to her old bed on the second floor. She noticed it to be smaller than what she remembered, it’s probably because I got higher - she thought. Still, it suited her perfectly and she quickly fell asleep and soon her mind brought her to the world of dreams.