The Long Twilight

by ultiville

Reunions

The discovery of magic strange even for the Everfree had shaken Twilight, Sweetie Belle, and the guards. By the time they emerged from the darkness under the Everfree's canopy, the bright Ponyville sun revealed their dusty coats and downcast eyes. Sweetie's magical sight spell was long gone, so only her normal senses registered the beautiful rural day. Nonetheless, every time she turned her head, she thought she saw motes of crimson, and shivered in the warm sun. Beside her, Twilight scowled, an open copy of Autumn Bonny's Magic Identification Guide levitating in front of her. The guards were similarly terse. They'd been hauling heavy carts of books and artifacts for several hours, and their tired legs and sweaty coats only added to their discomfort at their Princesses' nervous confusion.

So Sweetie kept her nervousness to herself, and soon found it fading in the sun. The familiarity of the outskirts of Ponyville calmed her, and before long they could hear the sounds of town as well. Her heart slowed, her vision cleared. They passed over the creek near Fluttershy's cabin, and she discovered a little smile on her face. Then they crested the rise and saw the town below them, streets bustling, carts backed up along Apple Lane towards the Acres. Even this far out, the road was busier than usual, and several ponies passed them on the road.

"D'ya think this is all for the reunion?" Sweetie asked Twilight.

"Sure is," a passing stallion said before she could answer, "I hear it's the biggest they've ever had. And everypony brought stuff too, photo albums and antiques and stuff. Seems like all the Apples want to be in this book."

"Wow," Sweetie said, "I bet Apple Bloom's doing all sorts of exciting stuff! Maybe she even got her cutie mark already for, like, scrapbooking or something! Twilight, I gotta go see her, can I?"

"Of course," Twilight laughed. Sweetie thought her face had lightened, too. "Tell Applejack I'll be over soon if you see her, I just need to get this stuff back to the castle. I'm sure she's frantic, so don't pester her." Sweetie nodded. "Oh, and have fun."

Sweetie caught sight of Twilight lifting the book to her muzzle again, then she was off. She knew the clogged Apple Lane would take forever, but no founding Cutie Mark Crusader cared about following the beaten path. Sweetie weaved between buildings and through alleys, and anypony trying to follow her would have become lost barely after getting out of sight of Twilight. She left town and wriggled under hedges picked through bramble patches, following trails the Crusaders had known for years. Through field and park and thicket, over a creek on a fallen log, and finally along the overgrown outskirts of the orchard, she came finally to the Crusader clubhouse.

Sweetie could hear the noise and commotion at the farm even from here, and so she didn't really expect to find her friends present. To her surprise, though, Apple Bloom and Scootaloo sat on the deck of the clubhouse, gazing dejectedly off at the ground.

"Hey girls," Sweetie called, "what's wrong?" Both looked over at her. Scootaloo jumped to her hooves, flaring her wings, and Apple Bloom's muzzle lifted in a small smile.

"Aw, it's no big deal," Scootaloo said, "Applejack said we were causing trouble when we tried to help out."

"Yeah," Apple Bloom said, "she's just stressed what with all these folks at the farm. We've never had a reunion this big, and they all brought stuff to show her! But who cares, now you're back!"

"You've gotta tell us all about your adventures in the Everfree with Twilight," Scootaloo added. "I bet you did some real serious hero stuff!"

"Well," Sweetie said, flattening her ears, "kinda...but hero stuff is pretty scary."

"Ooh," Apple Bloom said, "you'd better tell us inside, we have a bottle of cider, and some cookies!"

Sweetie smiled and trotted up the ramp. "You girls sure know how to make it easy to tell a scary story."

---

Above the clubhouse, Twilight flew towards Sweet Apple Acres proper. Though the student in her begged to catalog and investigate her new acquisitions, the Princess of Friendship knew they’d still be there after the reunion.

Even from this far out and up, the unprecedented size of the gathering was clear. The whole of the south field, fallow this season, was covered in wagons, carts, and carriages. Those vehicles in turn were linked into a tented mass by tablecloths, tarps, blankets, quilts, curtains, and any other piece of cloth larger than a pony that seemed to be at hand. Or, indeed, available at all. It seemed the whole town must have come together to help supply materials. Twilight recognized a dozen or more cutie marks, plus half the items seemed to have Rarity’s unmistakable, jewel-encrusted style. She even caught sight of Rainbow Dash’s unmistakable mane, moving rain-laden clouds into what looked to be a shower and privy area.

Outside the farmhouse itself, she caught sight of Applejack talking to two aged family members Twilight didn’t recognize. Her farmer friend looked harried, but not exhausted, and Twilight felt relieved she’d come in time. She landed next to them and folded her wings. The two older Apples began to bend their aging knees towards her, but she quickly shook her head.

“No need to bow, please,” she said, “I’m not here as a Princess, I’m here as a friend. How’re you holding up, Applejack?”

“We’re makin’ do, Twi’,” Applejack replied, “though it’s a mite bigger’n last time. Everypony pitched in to help give ‘em a place to stay, and the weather’s clear ‘till the end.”

“Sorry I was gone,” Twilight frowned, “I didn’t realize they’d start arriving so soon.”

“Neither did I. Seems like everypony wants to get their story in for the book.”

“Well,” Twilight said, and giggled, “I’ve cleared my schedule for the next three days. Your research assistant is at your disposal, Professor Applejack.” She saluted with a wing, and the one of the older ponies had to put her hoof to her gaping mouth to stop her false teeth from falling out.

Applejack laughed back, and some of the lines lifted from her face. “None of that, Twi’, the family don’t know you as well as I do, they’ll think I’m puttin’ on airs. But it’s mighty nice to hear, I was a bit worried. It’ll be a big help to have somepony that’s done this before helping out.”

“I’m excited,” Twilight said, “I haven’t done a real research project like this since I was Celestia’s student. It should be fun!”

“If you say so,” Applejack said. “But for now, I could really use some help haulin’ water and servin’ food. If that ain’t too simple work for a research assistant.”

“Not at all,” Twilight’s smile didn’t fade, and she followed Applejack into the farmhouse.

---

The next three days passed in a blur. Even for Twilight, the amount of information was massive. It seemed like every Apple family member Applejack had been able to contact had decided to attend, or at least send their mementos with a relative who was. Even Pinkie Pie, still high on her potential connection, had convinced Maud to attend and bring all the rock farm’s records from the days of their potential common ancestor. Written records were the easiest for Twilight to compile, what with her countless notetaking spells, but the rock farm records were so extensive that they took nearly an hour to copy even at the thousands of characters per minute the spell could handle. The primary written sources went on and on - diaries, family trees, town records, business records, old letters of love and hate and business. If they’d had to copy them all, three days wouldn’t have been enough, but fortunately for all but the still-in-use business records, the owners were glad to part with them, and so they finished taking the account of them quite quickly.

More interesting, but also more difficult, were the hundreds of scrapbooks, antiques, artifacts, and other physical pieces of evidence. Here again, the owners were mostly happy to place them on loan for the duration of the project. Many seemed happy to part with them for even longer, and Twilight made a note to raise the possibility of a museum with Applejack later. Still, a surprising number of even the very old items were still in regular use and important to the families. For these there was nothing for it but to take extensive notes on their use and history, and then take a photograph.

Everything else, though, paled in comparison to gathering the anecdotal data. Like Ponyville’s own Granny Smith, all of the older generation of Apples had endless stores of anecdotes about the family, and even longer lists of ancient wisdom about whatever part of Equestria they’d settled in. Often the two were inextricably linked together, like Granny Smith’s Zap Apple Jam techniques, combining the technique with a story about the pony that discovered it. These Twilight found the most fascinating, for it seemed to her like each of them was their own Starswirl the Bearded, making discoveries that, for all they were not as flashy, saw far more daily use on their farms and in their towns than his admittedly obscure magical threory.

For all they were fascinating, though, the anecdotes seemed endless, and Twilight and Applejack insisted on doing each one together. Twilight held that Applejack, as the author, needed to hear how the pony told the story, as much as just the words, and Applejack agreed. Meanwhile, the farmpony’s hoofwriting, while precise, was nowhere near as swift as Twilight’s magical transcription, and couldn’t keep up with a natural rate of speech. So both of them sat with an endless progression of Apples of all ages, listening intently to tales of farms and ranches from Las Pegasus to Baltimare, Galloping Gorge to the Macintosh Hills, and everywhere in between, then asking questions. They talked and listened throughout the days and late into the night, breakfasting with one relative and sharing cider around the evening fire with another. Technically they slept, but for such a short time each night that by the end, Twilight felt as if she’d pulled two consecutive all-nighters studying.

At that end, though, they’d heard them all, and within the three days they’d scheduled for the reunion. Through a desperate determination to be done with it, the adrenaline that comes from the end being in sight, and a liberal use of alicorn magic, they managed to clear up the remains of the encampment in record time, and sort out the loaned textiles by owner. Several barns were full of their assorted research materials, but they were organized enough that even Twilight was willing to leave the precise cataloging for another day.

“Whew,” Applejack said, voice dry with overuse, “I feel like I just had another Iron Pony competition with Dash.”

“Yeah,” Twilight said, horn aching, “I haven’t worked that hard since my second dissertation.”

Applejack laughed. “I guess it’s just the beginning, huh?”

“Mmm,” Twilight nodded, “but the rest won’t be as frantic, and I suspect just from hearing the stories you’ll have a good idea of the big picture. Everything else is the details. There’s still a lot of work to be done, and we’ll have to make sure nothing contradicts any of the personal stories you heard. Still, I’m really impressed, AJ. This is going to be a great book, I can tell already.”

“Thanks, Twi’. It means a lot, coming from somepony that’d know. Still, I think that’ll have to wait. I’m beat.”

Twilight yawned, and leaned against Applejack affectionately. “Me too. I know it’s early, but I could use a nap. Or maybe I’ll sleep right through to morning. I must be getting old, I’m not sure I can fly straight.”

“The guest bed’s still made up, if you’d rather not. I couldn’t figure out which relative to let use it.”

Twilight nearly declined out of habit, but a yawn cut her off and gave her a bit of time to think.

“Actually,” she said, “that sounds great.” She followed Applejack into the farmhouse.

---

The Cutie Mark Crusaders, more out of pique than any fear of punishment, had indeed spent the reunion out from under Applejack’s hooves. Sweetie was still high on the possibility of being Twilight’s student, and reluctant to bother her. Apple Bloom and Scootaloo were just as happy to oblige, after hearing the story of her adventure.

Cookies and cider did their job, and at first the other Crusaders wanted to go out in search of the mysterious pony-like creatures. Sweetie remembered the strange motes, the glow in their eyes, and shuddered, and soon her friends wrapped her in a tight embrace, and reconsidered. Instead, they asked her to show off her new spells.

“I guess I could,” Sweetie replied, “but I don’t think there’ll be much for you to see. They let me see magic trails, but I don’t know if I can use them on anypony else. If I can, I don’t know how yet.”

“Ooh, can you see our magic? Like, the magic inside us? Maybe it’d show you why I can’t fly yet,” Scootaloo said.

“Sorry Scoots,” Sweetie said, remembering Twilight’s explaination back in the castle, “all ponies lots of complicated magic in them, so the spell doesn’t show anything about them or other animals. It just shows magic that’s in the air, or on plants or things.”

“What a rip,” Scootaloo said.

“Oh, but you can track magic, right? I wonder if any unicorns have been snooping around out near our clubhouse,” Applebloom said. “You could track ‘em if they were, right?”

“Probably,” Sweetie said. “If it was recent, and nopony else used magic and confused the trail. We could take a look, anyway.”

So they went outside, and Sweetie hummed her little tune and lit her horn as she worked the spell. She noted Scootaloo and Apple Bloom humming along.

“You know that song too? Twilight was wondering what it was,” she said. “Where’d we hear it?” Slowly the spell took effect, and the motes of magic popped into view all around her.

Instead of answering, her fellow Crusaders just gaped.

“Sweetie,” Apple Bloom said, “does magic look like...a bunch of glowing dots?”

“Uh, yeah,” Sweetie said, “why?”

“Are there a bunch of green ones right in front of me, on the edge of this railing?” Scootaloo asked slowly.

“Yeah, how’d...wait, you can see them too?”

“I can too,” Apple Bloom said.

Sweetie stared at them for a moment, then grinned.

“I guess we weren’t lying when we promised the Crusaders’d share everything!”

“But, you said you didn’t know how to do this, or even if you could,” Apple Bloom said.

“Well, I guess we know I can. Come on AB, this is great, now I don’t have to tell you what I see, we can all check it out together!”

“Yeah,” Scootaloo said, slowly smiling, “think about all the new ways we can try to find our special talents! Sure, we tried being Cutie Mark Crusader Detectives, but not Magic Detectives! They’re totally different things!”

“I dunno, girls,” Apple Bloom said, “this seems kind of weird. Are you sure it’s safe, Sweetie?”

“Twilight would’ve warned me if it wasn’t,” she said, “besides, it’s just another way to see things. What could be dangerous about that?”

“I guess you’re right,” Apple Bloom said. “So what do they all mean?”

“I don’t really know,” Sweetie admitted. “I think the green’s for plant magic. That’s where you always lean, Apple Bloom, so maybe some of your earth pony magic’s rubbed off on the railing.”

“Neat,” Apple Bloom said, “you think it’ll sprout or something next spring?”

“Huh, I dunno, that’d be cool.”

“Yeah, sure, whatever,” Scootaloo said, “what’s that purple trail leading off into the woods? That totally looks like it could be a snooping unicorn!”

“Hey, you’re right,” Sweetie said, following the line of her hoof. “C’mon girls, let’s follow it!” Without another word, the three fillies dashed off into the woods.

They didn’t find a snooping unicorn, but trail did lead to a small nest of tanuki, magical racoon-like creatures that dwelled in burrows and were supposed to bring good luck. They left the benign creatures alone, but caught sight of a trail of indigo sparks leading off towards the park, which eventually led them to a mundane raccoon that had somehow absconded with one of Rarity’s magical hatpins. On their way to Carousel Boutique to return it, they encountered a half-dozen other interesting trails, leading to everything from Lyra playing her lyre in the park to a spilled potion sizzling on the road. It was nearly dark by the time they reached the Boutique, so they stayed the night there. The next morning they were off again, and so it went for the next two days, the Crusaders supplementing their extensive knowledge of Ponyville’s mundane secrets with an understanding of its magical ones.

Finally, their explorations took them to Fluttershy’s cabin, where they discovered Manny Roar was raising cubs safe from the hostile inhabitants of the forest. They were subsequently Pinkie-sworn to secrecy by the pegasus.

“Wow,” Scootaloo said as they walked back towards town proper, “who knew all that stuff was going on and we had no idea?”

“Yeah,” Apple Bloom said, “it was creepy at first, but I’m glad you can share the spell with us, Sweetie.”

“Me too,” Sweetie said, “but it still seems weird that I can. I’ll have to ask Twilight about it next time I see her.”

“Get her to teach you some more, too,” Scootaloo said, “maybe you can share those, too! Like, I dunno, one to see through walls or something.”

“I’m not going to use my magic to help you spy on Rainbow Dash in the shower, Scoots.”

“H-hey, who said anything about that?”

“Why else would you want to see through walls?”

“Girls,” Apple Bloom’s flat, unamused voice cut off Scootaloo’s reply. “Look.” She pointed with her hoof.

The underside of Fluttershy’s bridge was mostly hidden from town, and even from this side, you had to be approaching from a certain angle, or be the height of a foal, to see the water under the low bridge for any length of time. Being foals, though, and being under the influence of a magical sight spell, the Crusaders were just the right height to see the dark surface of the water beneath it.

And to see the unnerving crimson motes, of a kind Sweetie had seen only once before, clinging to the bottom of the bridge.

Author's Note:

Whew, sorry this one took so long, folks. I'm ending up having to re-write much more of this story than expected. It's for the best, and it'll be stronger for it, but it does take some time to plan out how to integrate it with things I already have written.

Thanks for your patience, and thanks for reading!