In Fine

by Elegy Fermata

Inception

Chapter One
Inception

27th September 2145 A.C.
Golden Oak Library, Ponyville
1426Z

Dear Princess Twilight Sparkle,

I come to you now with news that require your urgent attention. Something is destroying this world. I do not know what it is that is causing this to happen, but this world is crumbling, and I fear that before long it will be of no more.

Luna and I are looking feverishly into this matter to see what the cause of it is, and to prevent any more damage to occur. This, of course, depends on whether it is possible to stop this deterioration in the first place.

I need you to leave as quickly as possible. Gather your friends and go. I want to protect you all as a last resort should we fail. I have enclosed a map which will guide you to where you need to go. Make sure to bring all the money you have with you to keep yourselves well fed and safe at night, and to pay for the modes of transportation that you take. I will reimburse you with a reward if we succeed. If we do not, then there will be no use of money anymore.

You will arrive at a temple, of which unfathomable power is held. It is believed that this building is what created this universe and life itself. I believe that the six of you can unlock this power. Luna and I, however, were unable to. This is our last hope should this world turn to dust. If it comes to that, we will come to your aid and protect you. With luck, we won’t need to.

If you manage to take control of its power, I need you to bring this world back to life and to nullify the destruction. I believe that you and your friends can do this.

May fortune be with us all.

Princess Celestia

Twilight Sparkle’s heart palpitated, eyes affixed to the scroll hovering before her. Words roiled about in her mind while the letter became a blurred, meaningless jumble as though written in a language beyond her understanding.

“Twilight… what is it?”

She stared at the purple baby dragon before her – eyes wide and mouth agape. She rolled the scroll. Her expression became solemn as she commanded, “Get yourself ready. We’re going.” She trotted away, leaving the dragon in a state of befuddlement.

Twilight pondered upon the letter as she hastily gathered her wealth into a saddlebag. She wondered what exactly was happening, and imagined the world caving in on itself. A great fire blazing as the hellish bowels became unchained, consuming cottages and skyscrapers; huts and castles… Ponyville and Canterlot. Ponies screaming, galloping aimlessly, with not a single one being able to escape the widening, glowing maw of the earth.

“It cannot be true,” she muttered. She felt tears well up, but they did not fall.

The young alicorn felt a cruel tug of war being played within her, feeling certain that the plight could not possibly be true, yet knowing that Princess Celestia would not, under any circumstances, ever lie to her about something so important. Her mind roiled, trying to comprehend the situation, but she couldn’t think properly and decided not to.

Her hoof idly traced the spines of leather-bound books within her bookcases. She mourned the wealth of knowledge they held and let their titles become etched within her heart. She stole herself all of a sudden and planted her hoof to the wooden floor. She’ll keep her spirits high, she decided – despite the news she had received – for if she allowed herself to become sombre, it will surely result in her demise. She could not, however, part with her copy of Encyclopaedia Magica, and snuck it inside her saddlebag.

She hefted the saddlebag onto her back, and the coins inside jingled. She made a ritual of closing all curtains despite it being early afternoon, and left her home behind, never looking back with her little dragon in tow.

The dragon asked, “Where are we going?” He was hobbling quickly beside the purple mare who was in a hurry.

“To our friends,” she replied curtly.

The dragon let it slide – at least for a few minutes before his nagging curiosity got the better of him. “What’s going on? Can’t we slow down?”

“Spike, you don’t need to know what’s happening. We just need to gather our friends and go. That’s what Princess Celestia has requested, and we need to be swift. That’s all you need to know.” Twilight stopped abruptly, and a moment later, Spike did so. She gave him a wry smile. “Come on, little guy, hop onto my back.”

“I’m not little, you know,” Spike responded bitterly and hoisted himself onto Twilight’s back.

Twilight galloped through lanes of thatched, timber framed houses. She was unrelenting with her strides and ignored cries of protest of the ponies she overtook and occasionally knocked into. Spike hugged Twilight’s neck fiercely as he bounced upon her back.

“Don’t worry Spike, everything is going to be fine. There’s nothing to worry about. There’s a small problem that Luna and Celestia are trying to fix, and we need to go just to be on the safe side.”

“So does that mean we’re going to be helping them?”

“Not exactly. They’re going to try to solve the problem themselves, but we need to go elsewhere – a place which should help us if things don’t go so well.”

Spike asked in agitation, “What will happen if it… doesn’t go well?”

“You don’t need to know about that until we’re needed. It’s none of your concern for now.”

“I wish it was,” he grumbled. “Where do we need to go, anyway?”

“It’s going to be a long journey.” Spike moaned. “Nopony knows exactly how to use the power held within the temple – not even Luna or Celestia themselves – and it’s up to us to figure out how to use it.”

“A temple? Will there be treasure inside?” Spike’s eyes lit with the vision of a mountain of glittering gems. A drop of saliva slid from the corner of his lips.

“Maybe. Maybe not.” Spike’s expression soured. “I don’t know, but what I do know is that it doesn’t matter.”

They travelled in silence, and for this period of time, Twilight felt a great numbness in her soul as everything around her became increasingly meaningless. Meanwhile, Spike became sullen and uncertain about the urgency of this predicament Twilight and her friends seemed to be in and how great of a problem they may be in. He breathed in the lavender scent of Twilight’s mane as it blew towards him. It provided him some form of comfort, and his muscles became lax.

“Twilight… I really think you need slow down,” Spike murmured.

“I can’t. I told you already-”

“We shot past Fluttershy, you know.”

“What?” Twilight yelped and dug her hooves hard into the earth and halted. A scream rang out as Spike was flung before Twilight, and the purple mare caught hold of him with a swift burst of magic that coursed from her horn. Spike was suspended before Twilight from his feet and he stared blankly at her. “Where is she?”

Spike pointed towards a rowdy throng of thuggish stallions who were gathered in the vicinity of the town’s market. Fluttershy was cowering before them with a little white rabbit clutched to her chest. Her eyes were wide and glittered beneath the early afternoon sun.

With a whomp, Spike hit the ground as the magic that held him aloft was severed. Wind was knocked out of his lungs and he released a gasp. “You’re welcome,” he wheezed, clutched his head and staggered to his feet, but Twilight did not pay attention.

“What’s going on over here?” Twilight bounded towards the stallions, who in turn paid no attention to her. “Hey! Hey! Listen to me!” Magic seethed from her horn and the group of stallions were hoisted into the air. Fluttershy looked at Twilight with an expression of shock.

“Now answer me: what are you doing to Fluttershy?”

The stallions looked about them frantically, and one exclaimed, “We don’t want no trouble with you! Let us go!”

“Then tell me what you were doing to Fluttershy,” she said as she stopped before the stallions, her expression stern.

“I… I don’t know what you’re talking about,” another stallion spoke up.

Twilight snarled, “Liar!” The stallion trembled, curling up within himself.

“We really don’t know what you’re talking about,” another gabbled, “who’re you talking about? Who’s Fluttershy?”

“The mare in front of you. Who else?”

“Oh,” a nervous laugh was released, “so that’s the gal’s name.”

“What were you doing to her?” Twilight constricted the magic holding the stallions in the air, forming a technicolour ball of fur and flesh.

“Hey, hey, easy! We have no quarrel with you or this gal here. Just put us down and we’ll explain, okay?”

“You explain now, then I’ll let you go depending on whether I deem you fit to leave or not.”

“Okay, okay, fine. Look, we came all the way from Maneopolis.”

“Maneopolis?” Twilight frowned.

The stallion who was speaking fell silent, and everypony was quiet for a moment. The meek stallion spoke up again: “We were unhappy with Maneopolis, so we decided to escape and be free. We’ve stuck together throughout our journey and… well, we saw this mare here… what’s her name again?” Twilight responded curtly, with a sickening feeling within her. “Ah, Fluttershy, yes. Well, we saw her and this little creature we ain’t never seen nor heard of before and… well…” He trailed off into silence.

“We just wanted to take a look at it, is all,” another continued. “We didn’t mean no harm. I’m… we’re sorry if we wronged you… or Fluttershy.” His eyes trailed to the ground, expression downcast.

“Could you not see that you were frightening her at all?”

There was a pause. “We were?”

“Look at her!” Twilight’s yell exacerbated Fluttershy’s fear as she hugged her rabbit harder, brow creased.

Again, silence perpetuated in the air. “We, umm… we’re sorry. We didn’t realise. We didn’t mean to frighten her like that. We were just eager to see this creature she has in her hooves. That’s all we wanted to do. Honest.”

The air became still as Twilight processed the information. Her eyes closed and she focussed on her slow breathing. Each breath relaxed her body and eventually, her magic also relaxed. The stallions were still held in the air, but were no longer cramped together.

Twilight opened her eyes and lowered the stallions to the ground. “I’ll let you go, but first let me tell you something. Don’t ever, ever, become ignorant to another pony’s feelings. You may want something desperately from somepony, but pay attention to how that pony feels and don’t bug them like you did with Fluttershy. I can’t blame you entirely for this. You were insensitive and unaware of how Fluttershy was feeling, but you’re still to blame nonetheless. Next time, don’t let your eagerness get the better of you. Now scram!” Twilight zapped the air above the stallions and with a sharp cry they galloped away.

Twilight gazed solemnly at the stallions as they faded into the distance, turned a corner and vanished from sight. “They’re gone.” She turned to face Fluttershy. “Are you okay?”

Fluttershy let go of the white rabbit, which promptly leapt from her hooves. She stood on her four hooves and smiled, “I’m alright.” After a slight hesitation, she added, “Thank you for helping me. They weren’t bad ponies at all… they just startled me. That’s all. They didn’t do-”

“I know.” Twilight returned the smile. “That last display was to get them off your back so they hopefully won’t bother you again.” Twilight took a deep breath and promptly moved on. “Look, I need you to go find Rainbow Dash right away and I need you to find her quickly and bring her outside the town hall. I don’t know how long either of us will take, so if I’m not there just wait outside and I’ll eventually turn up.”

“If you don’t mind me asking… what’s going on?”

“What do you mean?”

Fluttershy nudged a flower with a hoof. “Well, something’s the matter. You told me I have to be quick about it. I was just wondering why the urgency is necessary.” She raised her gaze. “Is it about Rainbow Dash?”

Twilight closed her eyes and heaved a sigh.

“Twilight told me we have to go on a journey,” Spike piped up and was hobbling towards the two ponies.

“Oh…” Fluttershy waited expectantly, but when she didn’t receive further information, she added, “Well, what is this journey about?”

There was an awkward silence between the trio, and Spike eventually gave Twilight a hard nudge. “Look, you don’t need to know about it in fine detail, but we have to find a temple. It’s… a journey that will take a long time to complete, but it’s one that we must go on. That requires us to bring all the money we have to be able to survive. If we complete it and everything turns out all right, Princess Celestia and Princess Luna will reward us for it. We’ll get the money back so you don’t need to worry about that at all.”

Fluttershy became crestfallen and she looked at her rabbit, who in turn looked up at Fluttershy.

Fluttershy looked back at Twilight. “I’ll need to find someone to look after Angel and all the other animals.”

“Don’t worry about that: I’ll find someone for you. Just make sure you’re ready to leave and have Rainbow Dash waiting for us, okay?”

Fluttershy smiled. “Thank you, Twilight.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Come on, Angel. Let’s go.” The little white rabbit jumped into Fluttershy’s forelegs and with a gentle gust of wind, Fluttershy took off into the air.

The unsettled breeze blew over Twilight as she watched Fluttershy disappear over the maredieval buildings of Ponyville. She continued to stare into the distance in a trance, which Spike tentatively broke.

“Umm… Twilight? Are you okay?”

She blinked, then she blinked another couple of times and turned to Spike with a tentative smile. “Come on, let’s go find Rarity, shall we?”